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•■.(-.^KBWrti«n 
 
HISTORY 
 
 PTUHUS 
 
 BY JACOB ABBOTT. 
 
 aarrtji isnarabrnus. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 82 BEEKMAN STREET. 
 
 18 5 4. 
 
 Vm(.-\ 
 
 ' 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-four, by 
 
 Harper & Brothers, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
 of New York. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 In respect to the heroes of ancient history, 
 who lived in times antecedent to the period 
 when the regular records of authentic history 
 commence, no reliance can be placed upon the 
 actual verity of the accounts which have come 
 down to us of their lives and actions. In those 
 ancient days there was, in fact, no line of de- 
 markation between romance and history, and 
 the stories which were "told of Cyrus, Darius, 
 Xerxes, Romulus, Pyrrhus, and other person- 
 ages as ancient as they, are all more or less fab- 
 ulous and mythical. We learn tins as well from 
 the internal evidence furnished by the narra- 
 tives themselves as from the researches of mod- 
 ern scholars, who have succeeded, in many cases, 
 in disentangling the web, and separating the 
 false from the true. It is none the less impor- 
 tant, however, on this account, that these an- 
 cient tales, as they were originally told, and as 
 they have come down to us through so many cen- 
 turies, should be made known to readers of the 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 present age. They have heen circulated among 
 mankind in their original form for twenty or 
 thirty centuries, and they have mingled them- 
 selves inextricably with the literature, the elo- 
 quence, and the poetry of every civilized nation 
 on the globe. Of course, to know what the 
 story is, whether true or false, which the ancient 
 narrators recorded, and which has been read and 
 commented on by every succeeding generation 
 to the present day, is an essential attainment 
 for every well-informed man ; a far more essen- 
 tial attainment, in fact, for the general reader, 
 than to discover now, at this late period, what 
 the actual facts were which gave origin to the 
 fable. 
 
 In writing this series of histories, therefore, 
 it has been the aim of the author not to correct 
 the ancient story, but to repeat it as it stands, 
 cautioning the reader, however, whenever oc- 
 casion requires, not to suppose that the marvel- 
 ous narratives are historically true. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. OLYMPIAS AND ANTIPATER 13 
 
 II. CASSANDER 40 
 
 III. EARLY LIFE OF PYRRHUS 64 
 
 IV. WARS IN MACEDON 86 
 
 V. WAR IN ITALY Ill 
 
 VI. NEGOTIATIONS 134 
 
 VII. THE SICILIAN CAMPAIGN 159 
 
 VIII. THE RETREAT FROM ITALY 188 
 
 IX. THE FAMILY OF LYSIMACHUS 210 
 
 X. THE RECONQUEST OF MACEDON 235 
 
 XI. SPARTA 249 
 
 XII. THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF PYRRHUS 268 
 
ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Page 
 
 the roman encampment Frontispiece. 
 
 MAP EMPIRE OF PYRRHUS 12 
 
 EURYDICE IN PRISON 57 
 
 MAP GRECIAN EMPIRE 110 
 
 THE TROPHIES 132 
 
 THE ELEPHANT CONCEALED 145 
 
 THE ASSAULT 177 
 
 THE ROUT 206 
 
 THE FALLEN ELEPHANT 223 
 
 THE CHARGE 283 
 
 THE DEATH OF PYRRHUS 300 
 

 H K i 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 *v. 
 
 ^ 
 
P Y R R H U S. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Olympias and Antipater. 
 
 Situation of the country of Epirus. 
 
 PYRRHUS, King of Epirus, entered at the 
 very beginning of his life upon the extra- 
 ordinary series of romantic adventures which 
 so strikingly marked his career. He became 
 an exile and a fugitive from his father's house 
 when he was only two years old, having been 
 suddenly borne away at that period by the at- 
 tendants of the household, to avoid a most im- 
 minent personal danger that threatened him. 
 The circumstances which gave occasion for this 
 extraordinary ereption were as follows : 
 
 The country of Epirus, as will be seen by the 
 accompanying map, was situated on the eastern 
 shore of the Adriatic Sea,* and on the south- 
 western confines of Macedonia. The kingdom 
 of Epirus was thus very near to, and in some 
 
 * See the opposite map. 
 
14 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 336. 
 
 Epirus and Macedon. Their political connections. 
 
 respects dependent upon, the kingdom of Mace- 
 don. In fact, the public affairs of the two coun- 
 tries, through the personal relations and con- 
 nections which subsisted from time to time be- 
 tween the royal families that reigned over them 
 respectively, were often intimately intermin- 
 gled, so that there could scarcely be any im- 
 portant war, or even any great civil dissension 
 in Macedon, which did not sooner or later draw 
 the king or the people of Epirus to take part in 
 the dispute, either on one side or on the other. 
 And as it sometimes happened that in these 
 questions of Macedonian politics the king and 
 the people of Epirus took opposite sides, the af- 
 fairs of the great kingdom were often the means 
 of bringing into the smaller one an infinite de- 
 gree of trouble and confusion. 
 
 The period of Pyrrhus's career was immedi- 
 ately subsequent to that of Alexander the Great, 
 the birth of Pyrrhus having taken place about 
 four years after the death of Alexander. At 
 this time it happened that the relations which 
 subsisted between the royal families of the two 
 kingdoms were very intimate. This intimacy 
 arose from an extremely important intermar- 
 riage which had taken place between the two 
 families in the preceding generation — namely, 
 
B.C. 336.] Olympus and Antipater. 15 
 
 Olympias. Her visits to Epirus. Philip. 
 
 the marriage of Philip of Macedon with Olym- 
 pias. the daughter of a king of Epirus. Philip 
 and Olympias were the father and mother of 
 Alexander the Great. Of course, during the 
 whole period of the great conqueror's history, 
 the people of Epirus, as well as those of Mace- 
 don, felt a special interest in his career. They 
 considered him as a descendant of their own 
 royal line, as well as of that of Macedon, and 
 so, very naturally, appropriated to themselves 
 some portion of the glory which he acquired. 
 Olympias, too, who sometimes, after her mar- 
 riage with Philip, resided at Epirus, and some- 
 times at Macedon, maintained an intimate and 
 close connection, both with her own and with 
 Philip's family ; and thus, through various re- 
 sults of her agency, as well as through the fame 
 of Alexander's exploits, the governments of the 
 two countries were continually commingled. 
 
 It must not, however, by any means be sup- 
 posed that the relations which were established 
 through the influence of Olympias, between the 
 courts of Epirus and of Macedon, were always 
 of a friendly character. They were, in fact, 
 often the very reverse. Olympias was a woman 
 of a very passionate and ungovernable temper, 
 and of a very determined will ; and as Philip 
 
16 Pyrrhus. [B.C.33G. 
 
 Olympias as a wife. She makes many difficulties. 
 
 was himself as impetuous and as resolute as 
 she, the domestic life of this distinguished pair 
 was a constant succession of storms. At the 
 commencement of her married life, Olympias 
 was, of course, generally successful in accom- 
 plishing her purposes. Among other measures, 
 she induced Philip to establish her brother upon 
 the throne of Epirus, in the place of another 
 prince who was more directly in the line of suc- 
 cession. As, however, the true heir did not, on 
 this account, relinquish his claims, two parties 
 were formed in the country, adhering respect- 
 ively to the two branches of the family that 
 claimed the throne, and a division ensued, 
 which, in the end, involved the kingdom of 
 Epirus in protracted civil wars. While, there- 
 fore, Olympias continued to hold an influence 
 over her husband's mind, she exercised it in 
 such a way as to open sources of serious calam- 
 ity and trouble for her own native land. 
 
 After a time, however, she lost this influence 
 entirely. Her disputes with Philip ended at 
 length in a bitter and implacable quarrel. Phil- 
 ip married another woman, named Cleopatra, 
 partly, indeed, as a measure of political alliance, 
 and partly as an act of hostility and hatred 
 against Olympias, whom he accused of the most 
 
B.C. 336.] Olympus and Antipater. 17 
 
 Alexander takes part with his mother in her quarrel. 
 
 disgraceful crimes. Olympias went home to 
 Epirus in a rage, and sought refuge in the court 
 of her brother. 
 
 Alexander, her son, was left behind at Mace- 
 don at this separation between his father and 
 mother. He was then about nineteen years of 
 age. He took part with his mother in the con- 
 test. It is true, he remained for a time at the 
 court of Philip after his mother's departure, but 
 his mind was in a very irritable and sullen 
 mood ; and at length, on the occasion of a great 
 public festival, an angry conversation between 
 Alexander and Philip occurred, growing out of 
 some allusions which were made to Olympias 
 by some of the guests, in the course of which 
 Alexander openly denounced and defied the king, 
 and then abruptly left the court, and went off 
 to Epirus to join his mother. Of course the at- 
 tention of the people of Epirus was strongly at- 
 tracted to this quarrel, and they took sides, some 
 with Philip, and some with Olympias and Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 Not very long after this, Philip was assassin- 
 ated in the most mysterious and extraordinary 
 manner.* Olympias was generally accused of 
 
 * For a full account of this transaction, see " History of 
 Alexander tlie Great." 
 
 B 
 
18 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 336. 
 
 Olympias is suspected of having murdered her husband. 
 
 having been the instigator of this ^eed. There 
 was no positive evidence of her guilt ; nor, on 
 the other hand, had there ever been in her char- 
 acter and. conduct any such indications of the 
 presence of even the ordinary sentiments of 
 justice and humanity in her heart as could 
 form a presumption of her innocence. In a 
 word, she was such a woman that it was more 
 easy and natural, as it seemed, for mankind to 
 believe her guilty than innocent ; and she has 
 accordingly been very generally condemned, 
 though on very slender evidence, as accessory 
 to the crime. 
 
 Of course, the death of Philip, whether Olym- 
 pias was the procurer of it or not, was of the 
 greatest conceivable advantage to her in respect 
 to its effect upon her position, and upon the pro- 
 motion of her ambitious schemes. The way 
 was at once opened again for her return to 
 Macedon. Alexander, her son, succeeded im- 
 mediately to the throne. He was verv young, 
 and would submit, as she supposed, very readily 
 to the influence of his mother. This proved, 
 in fact, in some sense to be true. Alexander, 
 whatever may have been his faults in other re- 
 spects," was a very dutiful son. He treated his 
 mother, as long as he lived, with the utmost 
 
B.C. 330.] Olympus and Aktipater. 19 
 
 Alexander's treatment of his mother. 
 
 consideration and respect, while yet lie would 
 not in any sense subject himself to her author- 
 ity and influence in his political career. He 
 formed his own plans, and executed them in his 
 own way ; and if there was ever at any time 
 any dispute or disagreement between him and 
 Olympias in respect to his measures, she soon 
 learned that he was not to be controlled in these 
 things, and gave up the struggle. Nor was this 
 a very extraordinary result; for we often see 
 that a refractory woman, who can not by any 
 process be made to submit to her husband, is 
 easily and completely managed by a son. 
 
 Things went on thus tolerably smoothly while 
 Alexander lived. It was only tolerably, how- 
 ever ; for Olympias, though she always con- 
 tinued on friendly terms with Alexander him- 
 self, quarreled incessantly with the command- 
 ers and ministers of state whom he left with 
 her at Macedon while he was absent on his 
 Asiatic campaigns. These contentions caused 
 no very serious difficulty so long as Alexander 
 himself was alive to interpose, when occasion 
 required, and settle the difficulties and disputes 
 which originated in them before they became 
 unmanageable. Alexander was always adroit 
 enough to do this in a manner that was respect- 
 
20 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 323. 
 
 His kind and considerate behavior. Antipater. 
 
 ful and considerate toward his mother, and 
 which yet preserved the actual administrative 
 power of the kingdom in the hands to which he 
 had intrusted it. 
 
 He thus amused his mother's mind, and 
 soothed her irritable temper hy marks of con- 
 sideration and regard, and sustained her in a 
 very dignified and lofty position in the royal 
 household, while yet he confided to her very 
 little substantial power. 
 
 The officer whom Alexander had left in chief 
 command at Macedon, while absent on his Asi- 
 atic expedition, was Antipater. Antipater was 
 a very venerable man, then nearly seventy years 
 of age. He had been the principal minister of 
 state in Macedonia for a long period of time, 
 having served Philip in that capacity with great 
 fidelity and success for many years before Alex- 
 ander's accession. During the whole term of 
 his public office, he had maintained a most ex- 
 alted reputation for wisdom and virtue. Philip 
 placed the most absolute and entire confidence 
 in him, and often committed the most moment- 
 ous affairs to his direction. And yet, notwith- 
 standing the illustrious position which Antipa- 
 ter thus occupied, and the great influence and 
 control which he exercised in the public affairs 
 
B.C. 323.] Olympus and Antipater. 21 
 
 Character of Antipater. Alexander's opinion of him. 
 
 of Macedon, he was simple and unpretending in 
 his manners, and kind and considerate to all 
 around him, as if he were entirely devoid of all 
 feelings of personal ambition, and were actuated 
 only by an honest and sincere devotedness to 
 the cause of those whom he served. Various 
 anecdotes were related of him in the Macedo- 
 nian court, which showed the estimation in 
 which he was held. For example, Philip one 
 day, at a time when placed in circumstances 
 which required special caution and vigilance on 
 his part, made his appearance at a late hour in 
 the morning, and he apologized for it by saying 
 to the officers, " I have slept rather late this 
 morning, but then I knew that Antipater was 
 awake." Alexander, too, felt the highest re- 
 spect and veneration for Antipater' s character. 
 At one time some person expressed surprise that 
 Antipater did not clothe himself in a purple robe 
 — the badge of nobility and greatness — as the 
 other great commanders and ministers of state 
 were accustomed to do. " Those men," said 
 Alexander, " wear purple on the outside, but 
 Antipater is purple within." 
 
 The whole country, in a word, felt so much 
 confidence in the wisdom, the justice, and the 
 moderation of Antipater, that they submitted 
 
22 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 323. 
 
 Olympias makes a great deal of trouble. 
 
 very readily to his sway during the absence 
 of Alexander. Olympias, however, caused him 
 continual trouble. In the exercise of his re- 
 gency, he governed the country as he thought 
 his duty to the people of the realm and to Alex- 
 ander required, without yielding at all to the 
 demands or expectations of Olympias. She, 
 consequently, finding that he was unmanage- 
 able, did all in her power to embarrass him in 
 his plans, and to thwart and circumvent him. 
 She wrote letters continually to Alexander, com- 
 plaining incessantly of his conduct, sometimes 
 misrepresenting occurrences which had actually 
 taken place, and sometimes making accusations 
 wholly groundless and untrue. Antipater, in 
 the same manner, in his letters to Alexander, 
 complained of the interference of Olympias, and 
 of the trouble and embarrassment which her 
 conduct occasioned him. Alexander succeeded, 
 for a season in settling these difficulties more 
 or less perfectly, from time to time, as they 
 arose ; but at last ho concluded to make a 
 change in the regency. Accordingly, on an oc- 
 casion when a considerable body of new re- 
 cruits from Macedon was to be marched into 
 Asia, Alexander ordered Antipater to accompany 
 them, and, at the same time, he sent home an- 
 
B.C. 323.] Olympus and Antipater. 23 
 
 Alexander sends Craterus home. 
 
 other general named Craterus, in charge of a 
 hody of troops from Asia, whose term of service 
 had expired.* His plan was to retain Antipa- 
 ter in his service in Asia, and to give to Crate- 
 rus the government of Macedon, thinking it pos- 
 sible, perhaps, that Craterus might agree better 
 with Olympias than Antipater had done. 
 
 Antipater was not to leave Macedon until 
 Craterus should arrive there ; and while Crate- 
 rus was on his journey, Alexander suddenly died. 
 This event changed the whole aspect of affairs 
 throughout the empire, and led to a series of 
 very important events, which followed each 
 other in rapid succession, and which were the 
 means of affecting the condition and the fortunes 
 of Olympias in a very material manner. The 
 state of the case was substantially thus. The 
 story forms quite a complicated plot, which it 
 will require close attention on the part of the 
 reader clearly to comprehend. 
 
 The question which rose first to the mind of 
 every one, as soon as Alexander's death became 
 known, was that of the succession. There was, 
 as it happened, no member of Alexander's own 
 family who could be considered as clearly and 
 unquestionably his heir. At the time of his 
 
 * For the route from Macedonia to Babylon, see map. 
 
24 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 323. 
 
 Alexander's wife Roxana. Her babe. Aridams. 
 
 death he had no child. He had a wife, however, 
 whose name was Roxana, and a child was born 
 to her a few months after Alexander's death. 
 Roxana was the daughter of an Asiatic prince. 
 Alexander had taken her prisoner, with some 
 other ladies, at a fort on a rock, where her fa- 
 ther had placed her for safety. Roxana was 
 extremely beautiful, and Alexander, as soon as 
 he saw her, determined to make her his wife. 
 Among the thousands of captives that he made 
 in his Asiatic campaign, Roxana, it was said, 
 was the most lovely of all ; and as it was only 
 about four years after her marriage that Alex- 
 ander died, she was still in the full bloom of 
 youth and beauty when her son was born. 
 
 But besides this son, born thus a few months 
 after Alexander's death, there was a brother of 
 Alexander, or, rather, a half-brother, whose 
 claims to the succession seemed to be more di- 
 rect, for he was living at the time that Alexan- 
 der died. The name of his brother w T as Ari- 
 dasus. He was imbecile in intellect, and wholly 
 insignificant as a political personage, except so 
 far as he was by birth the next heir to Alexan- 
 der in the Macedonian line. He was not the 
 son of Olympias, but of another mother, and his 
 imbecility was caused, it was said, by an at- 
 
B.C. 323.] Olympias andAntipater. 25 
 
 The two competing claimants to the crown. 
 
 tempt of Olympias to poison him in his youth. 
 She was prompted to do this by her rage and 
 jealousy against his mother, for whose sake 
 Philip had abandoned her. The poison had 
 ruined the poor child's intellect, though it had 
 failed to destroy his life. Alexander, when he 
 succeeded to the throne, adopted measures to 
 protect Aridaeus from any future attempt which 
 his mother might make to destroy him, and for 
 this, as well as perhaps for other reasons, took 
 Aridaeus with him on his Asiatic campaign. 
 Aridaeus and Roxana were both at Babylon 
 when Alexander died. 
 
 Whatever might be thought of the compara- 
 tive claims of Aridseus ,and of Roxana's babe 
 in respect to the inheritance of the Macedonian 
 crown, it was plain that neither of them was 
 capable of exercising any actual power — Alex- 
 ander's son being incapacitated by his youth- 
 fulness, and his brother by his imbecility. The 
 real power fell immediately into the hands of 
 Alexander's great generals and counselors of 
 state. These generals, on consultation with 
 each other, determined not to decide the ques- 
 tion of succession in favor of either of the two 
 heirs, but to invest the sovereignty of the em- 
 pire jointly in them both. So they gave to 
 
26 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 323. 
 
 Some account of the Ptolemaic dynasty. 
 
 Aridseus the name of Philip, and to Roxana's 
 babe that of Alexander. They made these two 
 princes jointly the nominal sovereigns, and then 
 proceeded, in their name, to divide all the act- 
 ual power among themselves. 
 
 In this division, Egypt, and the African coun- 
 tries adjoining it, were assigned to a very dis- 
 tinguished general of the name of Ptolemy, who 
 became the founder of a long line of Egyptian 
 sovereigns, known as the Ptolemaic dynasty 
 ■ — the line from which, some centuries later, 
 the renowned Cleopatra sprang. Macedon and 
 Grreece, with the other European provinces, 
 were allotted to Antipater and Craterus — Cra- 
 terus himself being then on the way to Mac- 
 edon with the invalid and disbanded troops 
 whom Alexander had sent home. Craterus 
 was in feeble health at this time, and was re- 
 turning to Macedon partly on this account. In 
 fact, he was not fully able to take the active 
 command of the detachment committed to him, 
 and Alexander had accordingly sent an officer 
 with him, named Polysperchon, who was to as- 
 sist him in the performance of his duties on the 
 march. This Polysperchon, as will appear in 
 the sequel, took a very important part in the 
 events which occurred in Macedonia after he 
 and Craterus had arrived there. 
 
B.C. 323.] Olympus and Antipater. 27 
 
 The distribution of Alexander's empire. 
 
 In addition to these great and important 
 provinces — that of Egypt in Africa, and Mace- 
 don and Greece in Europe — there were various 
 other smaller ones in Asia Minor and in Syria, 
 which were assigned to different generals and 
 ministers of state who had been attached to the 
 service of Alexander, and who all now claimed 
 their several portions in the general distribution 
 of power which took place after his death. The 
 distribution gave at first a tolerable degree of 
 satisfaction. It was made in the name of Phil- 
 ip the king, though the personage who really 
 controlled the arrangement was Perdiccas, the 
 general who was nearest to the person of Alex- 
 ander, and highest in ratik at the time of the 
 great conqueror's decease. In fact, as soon as 
 Alexander died, Perdiccas assumed the com- 
 mand of the army, and the general direction 
 of affairs.* He intended, as was supposed, to 
 make himself emperor in the place of Alexan- 
 der. At first he had strongly urged that Rox- 
 ana's child should be declared heir to the throne, 
 to the exclusion of Arideeus. His secret motive 
 
 * The death of Alexander took place, and the distribu- 
 tion here referred to was made at Babylon. For the situ- 
 ation of this city in reference to Macedon and the inter- 
 vening countries, see map. 
 
28 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 323. 
 
 Compromise between the rival claims. 
 
 in this was, that by governing as regent during 
 the long minority of the infant, he might pre- 
 pare the way for finally seizing the kingdom 
 himself. The other generals of the army, how- 
 ever, would not consent to this ; they were in- 
 clined to insist that Aridaeus should be king. 
 The army was divided on this question for some 
 days, and the dispute ran very high. It seemed, 
 in fact, for a time, that there was no hope that 
 it could be accommodated. There was every 
 indication that a civil war must ensue — to 
 break out first under the very walls of Baby- 
 lon. At length, however, as has already been 
 stated, the question was compromised, and it 
 was agreed that the crown of Alexander should 
 become the joint inheritance of Aridagus and of 
 the infant child, and that Perdiccas should ex- 
 ercise at Babylon the functions of regent. Of 
 course, when the division of the empire was 
 made, it was made in the name of Philip ; for 
 the child of Roxana, at the time of the division, 
 was not yet born. But, though made in King 
 Philip's name, it was really the work of Perdic- 
 cas. His plan, it was supposed, in the assign- 
 ment of provinces to the various generals, was 
 to remove them from Babylon, and give them 
 employment in distant fields, where they would 
 
B.C. 321.] Olympus and Antipater. 29 
 
 Question of marriage. Cleopatra. Nicaea. 
 
 not interfere with him in the execution of his 
 plans for making himself master of the supreme 
 power. 
 
 After these arrangements had been made, 
 and the affairs of the empire had been tolerably 
 well settled for the time being by this distribu- 
 tion of power, and Perdiccas began to consider 
 what ulterior measures he should adopt for the 
 widening and extending of his power, a question 
 arose which for a season greatly perplexed him : 
 it was the question of his marriage. Two pro- 
 posals were made to him — one by Olympias, 
 and one by Antipater. Each of these person- 
 ages had a daughter whom they were desirous 
 that Perdiccas should -make his wife. The 
 daughter of Olympias was named Cleopatra — 
 that of Antipater was Nicaea. Cleopatra was 
 a young widow. She was residing at this time 
 in Syria. She had been married to a king of 
 Epirus named Alexander, but was now residing 
 in Sardis, in Asia Minor. Some of the counsel- 
 ors of Perdiccas represented to him very strongly 
 that a marriage with her would strengthen his 
 position more than any other alliance that he 
 could form, as she was the sister of Alexander 
 the, Great, and by his marriage with her he 
 would secure to his side the influence of Olym- 
 
30 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 321. 
 
 Nic»a is sent to Babylon. Antipater's plan. 
 
 pias and of all of Alexander's family. Perdic- 
 cas so far acceded to these views that he sent a 
 messenger to Sardis to visit Cleopatra in his 
 name, and to make her a present. Olympias 
 and Cleopatra accordingly considered the ar- 
 rangement a settled affair. 
 
 In the mean time, however, Antipater, who 
 seems to have been more in earnest in his plans, 
 sent off his daughter Mcsea herself to Babylon, 
 to be offered directly to Perdiccas there. She 
 arrived at Babylon after the messenger of Per- 
 diccas had gone to visit Cleopatra. The arrival 
 of Niceea brought up very distinctly to the mind 
 of Perdiccas the advantages of an alliance with 
 Antipater. Olympias, it is true, had a great 
 name, but she possessed no real power. Anti- 
 pater, on the other hand, held sway over a wide- 
 ly-extended region, which comprised some of the 
 most wealthy and populous countries on the 
 globe. He had a large army under his com- 
 mand, too, consisting of the bravest and best- 
 disciplined troops in the world ; and he himself, 
 though advanced in age, was a very able and 
 effective commander. In a word, Perdiccas was 
 persuaded, by these and similar considerations, 
 that the alliance of Antipater would be more 
 serviceable to him than that of Olympias, and 
 
B.C. 321.] Olympus and Antipater. 31 
 
 Another matrimonial question. Cynane. 
 
 lie accordingly married Nicsea. Ofympias, who 
 liad always hated Antipater before, was now, 
 when she found herself thus supplanted by him 
 in her plans for allying herself with Perdiccas, 
 aroused to the highest pitch of indignation and 
 rage. 
 
 Besides the marriage of Perdiccas, another 
 matrimonial question arose about this time, 
 which led to a great deal of difficulty. There 
 was a lady of the royal family of Macedon 
 named Cynane — a daughter of Philip of Mace- 
 don, and half-sister of Alexander the Great — 
 who had a daughter named Ada. Cynane con- 
 ceived the design of marrying her daughter to 
 King Philip, who was now, as well as Roxana 
 and her babe, in the hands of Perdiccas as their 
 guardian. Cynane set out from Macedon with 
 her daughter, on the journey to Asia, in order 
 to carry this arrangement into effect. This was 
 considered as a very bold undertaking on the 
 part of Cynane and her daughter ; for Perdiccas 
 would, of course, be implacably hostile to any 
 plan for the marriage of Philip, and especially 
 so to his marrying a princess of the royal family 
 of Macedon. In fact, as soon as Perdiccas heard 
 of the movement which Cynane was making, 
 he was enraged at the audacity of it, and sent 
 
32 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 321. 
 
 Excitement in the army. Ada's new name. Various intrigues. 
 
 messengers to intercept Cynane and murder her 
 on the way. This transaction, however, as soon 
 as it was known, produced a great excitement 
 throughout the whole of the Macedonian army. 
 The army, in fact, felt so strong an attachment 
 for every branch and every member of the family 
 of Alexander, that they would not tolerate any 
 violence or wrong against any one of them. 
 Perdiccas was quite terrified at the storm which 
 he had raised. . He immediately countermand- 
 ed the orders which he had given to the assas- 
 sins ; and, to atone for his error and allay the 
 excitement, he received Ada, when she arrived 
 at Babylon, with great apparent kindness, and 
 finally consented to the plan of her being mar- 
 ried to Philip. She was accordingly married to 
 him, and the army was appeased. Ada received 
 at this time the name of Eurydice, and she be- 
 came subsequently, under that name, quite re- 
 nowned in history. 
 
 During the time in which these several trans- 
 actions were taking place, various intrigues and 
 contentions were going on among the governors 
 of the different provinces in Europe and Asia, 
 which, as the results of them did not particu- 
 larly affect the affairs of Epirus, we need not 
 here particularly describe. During all this pe- 
 
B.C. 321.] Olympus and Antipater. 33 
 
 Schemes of Antipater and Ptolemy. 
 
 riod, however, Percliccas was extending and ma- 
 turing his arrangements, and laying his plans 
 for securing the whole empire to himself ; while 
 Antipater and Ptolemy, in Macedon and Egypt, 
 were all the time holding secret communica- 
 tions with each other, and endeavoring to devise 
 means by which they might thwart and circum- 
 vent him. The quarrel was an example of what 
 very often occurs in such political systems as 
 the Macedonian empire presented at this time — 
 namely, a combining of the extremities against 
 the centre. For some time the efforts of the 
 hostile parties were confined to the maneuvers 
 and counter - maneuvers which they devised 
 against each other. Antipater was, in fact, re- 
 strained from open hostility against Perdiccas 
 from a regard to his daughter Nicsea, who, as 
 has been already mentioned, was Perdiccas' 
 wife. At length, however, under the influence 
 of the increasing hostility which prevailed be- 
 tween the two families, Perdiccas determined 
 to divorce Nicsea, and marry Cleopatra after all. 
 As soon as Antipater learned this, he resolved 
 at once upon open war. The campaign com- 
 menced with a double operation. Perdiccas 
 himself raised an army ; and, taking Philip and 
 Eurydice, and also Roxana and her babe in his 
 C 
 
34 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 321. 
 
 Perdiccas' plans. A battle. Craterus is killed. 
 
 train, he marched into Egypt to make war 
 against Ptolemy. At the same time, Antipater 
 and Craterus, at the head of a large Macedonian 
 force, passed across the Hellespont into Asia 
 Minor, on their way to attack Perdiccas in Bab- 
 ylon. Perdiccas sent a large detachment of 
 troops, under the command of a distinguished 
 general, to meet and encounter Antipater and 
 Craterus in Asia Minor, while he was himself 
 engaged in the Egyptian campaign. 
 
 The result of the contest was fatal to the 
 cause of Perdiccas. Antipater advanced tri- 
 umphantly through Asia Minor, though in one 
 of the battles which took place there Craterus 
 was slain. But while Craterus himself fell, his 
 troops were victorious. Thus the fortunes of 
 war in this quarter went against Perdiccas. 
 The result of his own operations in Egypt was 
 still more disastrous to him. As he approached 
 the Egyptian frontier, he found his soldiers very 
 averse to fighting against Ptolemy, a general 
 whom they had always regarded with extreme 
 respect and veneration, and who, as was well 
 known, had governed his province in Egypt 
 with the greatest wisdom, justice,and modera- 
 tion. Perdiccas treated this disaffection in a 
 very haughty and domineering manner. Ho 
 
B.C. 321.] Olympias and Antipater. 35 
 
 Discontent. Unpopularity of Perdiccas. 
 
 called his soldiers rebels, and threatened to pun- 
 ish them as such. This aroused their indigna- 
 tion, and from secret murmurings they pro- 
 ceeded to loud and angry complaints. Perdic- 
 cas was not their king, they said, to lord it over 
 them in that imperious manner. He was noth- 
 ing but the tutor of their kings, and they would 
 not submit to any insolence from him. Perdic- 
 cas was soon quite alarmed to observe the de- 
 gree of dissatisfaction which he had awakened, 
 and the violence of the form which it seemed 
 to be assuming. He changed his tone, and at- 
 tempted to soothe and conciliate the minds of 
 his men. He at length succeeded so far as to 
 restore some degree of 'order and discipline to 
 the army, and in that condition the expedition 
 entered Egypt.* 
 
 Perdiccas crossed one of the branches of the 
 Nile, and then led his army forward to attack 
 Ptolemy in a strong fortress, where he had in- 
 trenched himself with his troops. The forces 
 of Perdiccas, though much more numerous than 
 those of Ptolemy, fought with very little spirit ; 
 while those of Ptolemy exerted themselves to 
 the utmost, under the influence of the strong 
 attachment which they felt for their command- 
 * For tko route taken by this expedition, see map, 
 
36 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 321. 
 
 Transit of the Nile. Extraordinary incident. 
 
 er. Perdiccas was beaten in the engagement ; 
 and he was so much weakened by the defeat, 
 that he determined to retreat back across the 
 river. When the army arrived at the bank of 
 the stream, the troops began to pass over ; but 
 after about half the army had crossed, they 
 found, to their surprise, that the water, which 
 had been growing gradually deeper all the time, 
 became impassable. The cause of this deepen- 
 ing of the stream was at first a great mystery, 
 since the surface of the water, as was evident 
 by marks along the shore, remained all the time 
 at the same level. It was at length ascertained 
 that the cause of this extraordinary phenome- 
 non was, that the sands in the bottom of the 
 river were trampled up by the feet of the men 
 and horses in crossing, so that the current of 
 the water could wash them away ; and such 
 was the immense number of footsteps made by 
 the successive bodies of troops, that, by the time 
 the transportation had been half accomplished, 
 the water had become too deep to be forded. 
 Perdiccas was thus, as it were, caught in a trap 
 ■ — half his army being on one side of the river, 
 and himself, with the remainder, on the other. 
 He was seriously alarmed at the dangerous 
 situation in which he thus found himself placed, 
 
B.C. 321.] Olympus and Antipater. 37 
 
 Great numbers swept into the river and destroyed. 
 
 and immediately resorted to a variety of expe- 
 dients to remedy the unexpected difficulty. All 
 his efforts were, however, vain. Finally, as it 
 seemed imperiously necessary to effect a junc- 
 tion between the two divisions of his army, he 
 ordered those who had gone over to make an 
 attempt, at all hazards, to return. They did 
 so ; but in the attempt, vast numbers of men 
 got beyond their depth, and were swept down 
 "by the current and drowned. Multitudes of 
 the bodies, both of the dead and of the dying, 
 were seized and devoured by the crocodiles 
 which lined the shores of the river below. 
 There were about two thousand men thus lost 
 in the attempt to recross the stream. 
 
 In all military operations, the criterion of 
 merit, in the opinion of an army, is success ; 
 and, of course, the discontent and disaffection 
 which prevailed in the camp of Perdiccas broke 
 out anew in consequence of these misfortunes. 
 There was a general mutiny. The officers 
 themselves took the lead in it, and one hundred 
 of them went over in a body to Ptolemy's side, 
 taking with them a considerable portion of the 
 army ; while those that were left remained with 
 Perdiccas, not to defend, but to destroy him. 
 A troop of horse gathered around his tent, guard- 
 
38 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 321. 
 
 The kings are to be sent back to Babylon. 
 
 ing it on all sides, to prevent the escape of their 
 victim, and then a certain number of the men 
 rushed in and killed him in the midst of his 
 terror and despair. 
 
 Ptolemy now advanced to the camp of Per- 
 diccas, and was received there with acclama- 
 tion. The whole army submitted themselves 
 at once to his command. An arrangement was 
 made for the return of the army to Babylon, 
 with the kings and then* train. Pithon, one of 
 the generals of Perdiccas, took the command of 
 the army, and the charge of the royal family, 
 on the return. In the mean time, Antipater had 
 passed into Asia, victorious over the forces that 
 Perdiccas had sent against him. A new con- 
 gress of generals was held, and a new distribu- 
 tion of power was made. By the new arrange- 
 ment, Antipater was to retain his command in 
 Macedon and Greece, and to have the custody 
 of the kings. Accordingly, when every thing 
 had thus been settled, Antipater set out on his 
 return to Macedon, with Philip and Eurydice, 
 and also Roxana and the infant Alexander, in 
 his train. The venerable soldier — for he was 
 now about eighty years of age — was received in 
 Macedon, on his return, with universal honor 
 and applause. There were several considera- 
 
B.C. 321.] Olympus and Antipater. 39 
 
 Antipater returns to Macedon full of honors. 
 
 tions, in fact, which conspired to exalt Antipa- 
 ter in the estimation of his countrymen on this 
 occasion. He had performed a great military 
 exploit in conducting the expedition into Asia, 
 from which he was now triumphantly return- 
 ing. He was bringing hack to Macedon, too, 
 the royal family of Alexander, the representa- 
 tives of the ancient Macedonian line ; and by 
 being made the custodian of these •princes, and 
 regent of the empire in their name, he had been 
 raised to the most exalted position which the 
 whole world at that period could afford. The 
 Macedonians received him, accordingly, on his 
 return, with loud and universal acclamations. 
 
40 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 320. 
 
 Antipater's difficulties. Trouble with Olympias ami Eurydice. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 Cassander. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Antipater, on his return to 
 Macedon, came back loaded with honors, 
 and in the full and triumphant possession of 
 power, his situation was still not without its 
 difficulties. He had for enemies, in Macedon, 
 two of the most violent and unmanageable 
 women that ever lived — Olympias and Euryd- 
 ice — who quarreled with him incessantly, and 
 who hated each other even more than they 
 hated him. 
 
 Olympias was at this tune in Epirus. She 
 remained there, because she did not choose to 
 put herself under Antipater's power by residing 
 in Macedon. She succeeded, however, by her 
 maneuvers and intrigues, in giving Antipater 
 a great deal of trouble. Her ancient animos- 
 ity against him had been very much increased 
 and aggravated by the failure of her plan for 
 marrying her daughter Cleopatra to Perdiccas, 
 through the advances which Antipater made 
 in behalf of his daughter Mcaca ; and though 
 
B.C.320.] Cassander. 41 
 
 Character of Eurydice. Her dictatorial and overbearing demeanor. 
 
 Mcaea and Perdiccas were now dead, yet the 
 transaction was an offense which such a wom- 
 an as Olympias never could forgive. 
 
 Eurydice was a still greater source of an- 
 noyance and embarrassment to Antipater than 
 Olympias herself. She was a woman of very 
 masculine turn of mind, and she had been 
 brought up by her mother, Cynane, to martial 
 exercises, such as those to which young men 
 in those days were customarily trained. She 
 could shoot arrows, and throw the javelin, and 
 ride on horseback at the head of a troop of 
 armed men. As soon as she was married to 
 Philip she began at once to assume an air of 
 authority, thinking, apparently, that she herself, 
 being the wife of the king, was entitled to a 
 much greater share of the regal authority than 
 the generals, who, as she considered them, were 
 merely his tutors and guardians, or, at most, only 
 military agents, appointed to execute his will. 
 During the memorable expedition into Egypt, 
 Perdiccas had found it very difficult to exercise 
 any control over her ; and after the death of 
 Perdiccas, she assumed a more lofty and im- 
 perious tone than ever. She quarreled inces- 
 santly with Pithon, the commander of the army, 
 on the return from Egypt ; and she made the 
 
42 Py it rhus. [B.C. 320. 
 
 The convention of Triparadeisus. Violence of Eurydice. 
 
 most resolute and determined opposition to the 
 appointment of Antipater as the custodian of 
 the persons of the kings. 
 
 The place where the consultation was held, at 
 which this appointment was made, was Tripar- 
 adeisus,* in Syria. This was the place where 
 the expedition of Antipater, coming from Asia 
 Minor, met the army of Egypt on its return. 
 As soon as the junction of the two armies was 
 effected, and the grand council was convened, 
 Eurydice made the most violent opposition to 
 the proceedings. Antipater reproved her for 
 evincing such turbulence and insubordination 
 of spirit. This made her more angry than ever ; 
 and when at length Antipater was appointed to 
 the regency, she went out and made a formal 
 harangue to the army, in which she denounced 
 Antipater in the severest terms, and loaded him 
 with criminations and reproaches, and endeav- 
 ored to incite the soldiers to a revolt. Antipa- 
 ter endeavored to defend himself against these 
 accusations by a calm reply ; but the influence 
 which Eurydice's tempestuous eloquence exert- 
 ed on the minds, of the soldiery was too much 
 for him. A very serious riot ensued, which 
 threatened to lead to the most disastrous results. 
 
 * See map. 
 
B.C.320.] Cassander. 43 
 
 Antipater's life in danger. Eurydice forced to submit. 
 
 For a time Antipater's life was in most immi- 
 nent danger, and he was saved only by the in- 
 terposition of some of the other generals, who 
 hazarded their own lives to rescue him from the 
 enraged soldiery. 
 
 The excitement of this scene gradually sub- 
 sided, and, as the generals persisted in the ar- 
 rangement which they had made, Eurydice 
 found herself forced to submit to it. She had, 
 in fact, no real power in her hands except that 
 of making temporary mischief and disturbance ; 
 and, as is usually the case with characters like 
 hers, when she found that those around her 
 could not be driven from their ground by her 
 fractiousness and obstinacy, she submitted her- 
 self to the necessity of the case, though in a 
 moody and sullen manner. Such were the re- 
 lations which Antipater and Eurydice bore to 
 each other on the return of Antipater to Mace- 
 don. 
 
 The troubles, however, in his government, 
 which Antipater might have reasonably expect- 
 ed to arise from his connection with Olympias 
 and Eurydice, were destined to a very short 
 continuance, so far as he personally was con- 
 cerned ; for, not long after his return to Mace- 
 don, he fell sick of a dangerous disease, under 
 
44 Pvrrhus. [B.C. 320. 
 
 Antipater is dangerously sick. The arrangements made by him. 
 
 which it was soon evident that the vital princi- 
 ple, at the advanced age to which he had attain- 
 ed, must soon succumb. In fact, Antipater him- 
 self soon gave up all hopes of recovery, and be- 
 gan at once to make arrangements for the final 
 surrender of his power. 
 
 It will be recollected that when Craterus 
 came from Asia to Macedon, about the time of 
 Alexander's death, he brought with him a gen- 
 eral named Polysperchon, who, though nom- 
 inally second in command, really had charge of 
 the army on the march, Craterus himself being 
 at the time an invalid. When, some time after- 
 ward, Antipater and Craterus set out on their 
 expedition to Asia, in the war against Perdiccas, 
 Polysperchon was left in charge of the kingdom 
 of Macedon, to govern it as regent until An- 
 tipater should return. Antipater had a son 
 named Cassandcr, who was a general in his 
 army. Cassander naturally expected that, dur- 
 ing the absence of his father, the kingdom would 
 be committed to his charge. For some reason 
 or other, however, Antipater had preferred Poly- 
 sperchon, and had intrusted the government to 
 him. Polysperchon had, of course, become ac- 
 quainted with the duties of government, and 
 had acquired an extensive knowledge of Mace- 
 
B.C.319.] Cassander. 45 
 
 Antipater's arrangements for the succession. Polysperchon. 
 
 donian affairs. He had governed well, too, and 
 the people were accustomed to his sway. An- 
 tipater concluded, therefore, that it would be 
 tetter to continue Polysperchon in power after 
 his death, rather than to displace Polysperchon 
 for the sake of advancing his son Cassander. 
 He therefore made provision for giving to Cas- 
 sander a very high command in the army, but 
 he gave Polysperchon the kingdom. This act, 
 though Cassander himself never forgave it, 
 raised Antipater to a higher place than ever in 
 the estimation of mankind. They said that he 
 did what no monarch ever did before ; in deter- 
 mining the great question of the succession, he 
 made the aggrandizement of his own family 
 give place to the welfare of the realm. 
 
 Antipater on his death-bed, among other coun- 
 cils which he gave to Polysperchon, warned him 
 very earnestly against the danger of yielding to 
 any woman whatever a share in the control of 
 public affairs. "Woman, he said, was, from her 
 very nature, the creature of impulse, and was 
 swayed in all her conduct by the emotions and 
 passions of her heart. She possessed none of 
 the calm, considerate, and self-controlling prin- 
 ciples of wisdom and prudence, so essential for 
 the proper administration of the affairs of states 
 
46 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 319. 
 
 Polysperchon invites Olympias to return to Macedon. 
 
 and nations. These cautions, as Antipater ut- 
 tered them, were expressed in general terms, 
 but they were understood to refer to Olympias 
 and Eurydice, whom it had. always been very 
 difficult to control, and who, of course, when 
 Antipater should be removed from the scene, 
 might be expected to come forward with a 
 spirit more obtrusive and unmanageable than 
 ever. 
 
 These counsels, however, of the dying king 
 seemed to have had very little effect upon Po- 
 lysperchon ; for one of the first measures of his 
 government, after Antipater was dead, was to 
 send to Epirus to invite Olympias to return to 
 Macedon. This measure was decided upon in 
 a grand council which Polysperchon convened to 
 deliberate on the state of public affairs as soon as 
 the government came into his hands. Polysper- 
 chon thought that he should greatly strength- 
 en his administration by enlisting Olympias on 
 his side. She was held in great veneration by 
 all the people of Macedon ; not on account of 
 any personal qualities which she possessed to 
 entitle her to such regard, but because she was 
 the mother of Alexander. Polysperchon, there- 
 fore, considered it very important to secure her 
 influence, and the prestige of her name in Ins 
 
B.C. 319.] Cassander. 47 
 
 Cassander plans a rebellion. His pretended hunting party. 
 
 favor. At the same time, while he thus sought 
 to propitiate Olympias, he neglected Cassander 
 and all the other members of Antipater's fam- 
 ily. He considered them, doubtless, as rivals 
 and antagonists, whom he was to keep down by 
 every means in his power. 
 
 Cassander, who was a man of a very bold, de- 
 termined, and ambitious spirit, remained quietly 
 in Polysperchon's court for a little time, watch- 
 ing attentively all that was done, and revolving 
 silently in his mind the question what course 
 he himself should pursue. At length he formed 
 a small party of his friends to go away on a 
 hunting excursion. When he reached a safe 
 distance from the court~"of Polysperchon, he 
 called his friends around him, and informed 
 them that he had resolved not to submit to the 
 usurpation of Polysperchon, who, in assuming 
 the throne of Macedon, had seized what right- 
 fully belonged, he said, to him, Cassander, as his 
 father's son and heir. He invited his friends to 
 join him in the enterprise of deposing Polysper- 
 chon, and assuming the crown. 
 
 He urged this undertaking upon them with 
 very specious arguments. It was the only 
 course of safety for them, as well as for him, 
 since they — that is, tho friends to whom Cas- 
 
48 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 318. 
 
 Cassander explains his designs to his friends. They agree to join him. 
 
 sander was making these proposals — had all 
 been friends of Antipater ; and Olympias, whom 
 Polysperchon was about to take into his coun- 
 sels, hated the very name of Antipater, and 
 would evince, undoubtedly, the most unrelent- 
 ing hostility to all whom she should consider as 
 having been his friends. He was confident, he 
 said, that the Asiatic princes and generals would 
 espouse his cause. They had been warmly at- 
 tached to Antipater, and would not willingly see 
 his son and rightful successor deprived of his 
 legitimate rights. Besides, Philip and Euryd- 
 ice would join him. They had every thing to 
 fear from Olympias, and would, of course, op- 
 pose the power of Polysperchon, now that he 
 had determined to ally himself to her. 
 
 The friends of Cassander very readily agreed 
 to his proposal, and the result proved the truth 
 of his predictions. The Asiatic princes furnish- 
 ed Cassander with very efficient aid in his at- 
 tempt to depose his rival. Olympias adhered to 
 Polysperchon, while Eurydice favored Cassan- 
 der's cause. A terrible conflict ensued. It was 
 waged for some time in Greece, and in other 
 countries more or less remote from Macedon, 
 the advantage in the combats being sometimes 
 on one side and sometimes on the other. It is 
 
B.C. 318.] Cassander. 49 
 
 Olympias is afraid to return to Macedon. 
 
 not necessary to detail here the events which 
 occurred in the contest so long as the theatre 
 of war was heyond the frontiers of Macedon, for 
 the parties with whom we are now particularly 
 dealing were not directly affected hy the conflict 
 until it came nearer home. 
 
 It ought here to be stated that Olympias did 
 not at first accept the invitation to return to 
 Macedon which Polysperchon sent to her. She 
 hesitated. She consulted with her friends, and 
 they were not decided in respect to the course 
 which it would be best for her to pursue. She 
 had made a great many enemies in Macedon 
 during her former residence there, and she knew 
 well that she would have^a great deal to fear 
 from their hostility in case she should return, 
 and thus put herself again, as it were, into their 
 power. Then, besides, it was quite uncertain 
 what course affairs in Macedon would finally 
 take. Antipater had bequeathed the kingdom 
 to Polysperchon, it was true ; but there might 
 be great doubt whether the people would acqui- 
 esce in this decision, and allow the supreme pow- 
 er to remain quietly in Polysperchon's hands. 
 She concluded, therefore, to remain a short time 
 where she was, till she could see how the case 
 would finally turn. She accordingly continued 
 P 
 
50 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 318. 
 
 War between Cassander and Polysperchon. Curious incident. 
 
 to reside in Epirus, keeping up, however, a con- 
 tinual correspondence with Polysperchon in re- 
 spect to the measures of his government, and 
 watching the progress of the war hetween him 
 and Cassander in Grreece, when that war broke 
 out, with the utmost solicitude and anxiety. 
 
 Cassander proved to be too strong for Poly- 
 sperchon in Grreece. He had obtained large 
 bodies of troops from his Asiatic allies, and he 
 maneuvered and managed these forces with so 
 much bravery and skill, that Polysperchon could 
 not dislodge him from the country. A some- 
 what curious incident occurred on one occa- 
 sion during the campaign, which illustrates the 
 modes of warfare practiced in those days. It 
 seems that one of the cities of Peloponnesus, 
 named Megalopolis, was on the side of Cassan- 
 der, and when Polysperchon sent them a sum- 
 mons to surrender to him and acknowledge his 
 authority, they withdrew all their property and 
 the whole of their population within the walls, 
 and bid him defiance. Polysperchon then ad- 
 vanced and laid siege to the city. 
 
 After fully investing the city and commencing 
 operations on various sides, to occupy the atten- 
 tion of the garrison, he employed a corps of sap- 
 pers and miners in secretly undermining a por- 
 
B.C. 318.] Cassander. 51 
 
 Polysperchon's mine. 
 
 tion of the wall. The mode of procedure, in 
 operations like this, was to dig a subterranean 
 passage leading to the foundations of the wall, 
 and then, as fast as these foundations were re- 
 moved, to substitute props to support the super- 
 incumbent mass until all was ready for the 
 springing of the mine. When the excavations 
 were completed, the props were suddenly pulled 
 away, and the wall would cave in, to the great 
 astonishment of the besieged, who, if the opera- 
 tion had been skillfully performed, knew nothing 
 of the danger until the final consummation of 
 it opened suddenly before their eyes a great 
 breach in their defenses. Polysperchon's mine 
 was so successful, that three towers fell into 
 it, with all the wall connecting them. These 
 towers came down with a terrific crash, the ma- 
 terials of which they had been composed lying, 
 after the fall, half buried in the ground, a mass 
 of ruins. 
 
 The garrison of the city immediately repaired 
 in great numbers to the spot, to prevent the in- 
 gress of the enemy ; while, on the other hand, 
 a strong detachment of troops rushed forward 
 from the camp of Polysperchon to force their 
 way through the breach into the city. A very 
 desperate conflict ensued, and while the men of 
 
52 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 318. 
 
 Consternation produced by the elephants. 
 
 the city were thus engaged in keeping back the 
 invaders, the women and children were employ- 
 ed in throwing up a line of intrenchments fur- 
 ther within, to cover the opening which had 
 teen made in the wall. The people of the city 
 gained the victory in the combat. The storm- 
 ing party were driven back, and the besieged 
 were beginning to congratulate themselves on 
 their escape from the danger which had threat- 
 ened them, when they were suddenly terrified 
 beyond measure by the tidings that the be- 
 siegers were arranging a train of elephants to 
 bring in through the breach. Elephants were 
 often used for war in those days in Asiatic coun- 
 tries, but they had seldom appeared in Greece. 
 Polysperchon, however, had a number of them 
 in the train of his army, and the soldiers of 
 Megalopolis were overwhelmed with consterna- 
 tion at the prospect of being trampled under 
 foot by these huge beasts, wholly ignorant as 
 they were of the means of contending against 
 them. 
 
 It happened, however, that there was in the 
 city of Megalopolis at this time a soldier named 
 D amides, who had served in former years under 
 Alexander the G-reat, in Asia. He went to the 
 officers who had command within the city and 
 
B.C. 318.] Cassander. 53 
 
 Plan of defense against them. The iron spikes. 
 
 offered his aid. " Fear nothing," said he, "hut 
 go on with your preparations of defense, and 
 leave the elephants to me. I will answer for 
 them, if you will do as I say." The officers 
 agreed to follow his instructions. He immedi- 
 ately caused a great number of sharp iron spikes 
 to be made. These spikes he set firmly in the 
 ends of short stakes of wood, and then planted 
 the stakes in the ground all about the intrench- 
 ments and in the breach, in such a manner that 
 the spikes themselves, points upward, protruded 
 from the ground. The spikes were then con- 
 cealed from view by covering the ground with 
 straw and other similar rubbish. 
 
 The consequence of this arrangement was, 
 that when the elephants advanced to enter the 
 breach, they trod upon these spikes, and the 
 whole column of them was soon disabled and 
 thrown into confusion. Some of the elephants 
 were wounded so severely that they fell where 
 they stood, and were unable to rise. Others, 
 maddened with the pain which they endured, 
 turned back and trampled their own keepers 
 under foot in their attempts to escape from the 
 scene. The breach, in short, soon became so 
 choked up with the bodies of beasts and men, 
 that the assailants were compelled to give up 
 
54 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 318. 
 
 Olympias finally concludes to go to Macedon. 
 
 the contest and withdraw. A short time after- 
 ward, Polysperchon raised the siege and aban- 
 doned the city altogether. 
 
 In fact, the party of Cassander was in the end 
 triumphant in Greece, and Polysperchon deter- 
 mined to return to Macedon. 
 
 In the mean time, Olympias had determined 
 to come to Macedon, and aid Polysperchon in 
 his contest with Cassander. She accordingly 
 left Epirus,.and with a small body of troops, 
 with which her brother Alexander, who was 
 then King of Epirus, furnished her, went on 
 and joined Polysperchon on his return. Euryd- 
 ice was alarmed at this ; for, since she consid- 
 ered Olympias as her great political rival and 
 enemy, she knew very well that there could be 
 no safety for her or her husband if Olympias 
 should obtain the ascendency in the court of 
 Polysperchon. She accordingly began to call 
 upon those around her, in the city where she 
 was then residing, to arm themselves for her 
 defense. They did so, and a considerable force 
 was thus collected. Eurydice placed herself at 
 the head of it. She sent messengers off to Cas- 
 sander, urging him to come immediately and 
 join her. She also sent an embassage to Poly- 
 sperchon, commanding him, in the name of 
 
B.C. 317.] Cassander. 55 
 
 Eurydice's troops desert her. Olympias in her chariot. 
 
 Philip the king, to deliver up his army to Cas- 
 sander. Of course this was only a form, as she 
 could not have expected that such a command 
 would have heen obeyed ; and, accordingly, af- 
 ter having sent off these orders, she placed her- 
 self at the head of the troops that she had raised, 
 and marched out to meet Polysperchon on his 
 return, intending, if he would not submit, to 
 give him battle. 
 
 Her designs, however, were all frustrated in 
 the end in a very unexpected manner. For 
 when the two armies approached each other, 
 the soldiers who were on Eurydice's side, in- 
 stead of fighting in her cause as she expected, 
 faded her entirely at the time of trial. For 
 when they saw Olympias, whom they had long 
 been accustomed almost to adore as the wife of 
 old King Philip, and the mother of Alexander, 
 and who was now advancing to meet them on 
 her return to Macedon, splendidly attended, and 
 riding in her chariot, at the head of Polysper- 
 chon's army, with the air and majesty of a 
 queen, they were so overpowered with the ex- 
 citement of the spectacle, that they abandoned 
 Eurydice in a body, and went over, by common 
 consent, to Polysperchon's side. 
 
 Of course Eurydice herself and her husband 
 
56 Pyerhus. [B.C. 317. 
 
 Eurydice is captured. She is sent to a dungeon. 
 
 Philip, who was with her at this time, fell into 
 Polysperchon's hands as prisoners. Olympias 
 w T as almost beside herself with exultation and 
 joy at having her hated rival thus put into her 
 power. She imprisoned Eurydice and her hus- 
 band in a dungeon, so small that there was 
 scarcely room for them to turn themselves in 
 it ; and while they were thus confined, the only 
 attention which the wretched prisoners received 
 was to be fed, from time to time, with coarse 
 provisions, thrust in to them through a hole in 
 the wall. Having thus made Eurydice secure, 
 Olympias proceeded to wreak hejr vengeance 
 on all the members of the family of Antipater 
 whom she could get within her power. Cas- 
 sander, it is true, was beyond her reach for the 
 present ; he was gradually advancing through 
 Thessaly into Macedonia, at the head of a pow- 
 erful and victorious army. There was another 
 son of Antipater, however, named Nicanor, who 
 was then in Macedon. Him she seized and put 
 to death, together with about a hundred of his 
 relatives and friends. In fact, so violent and 
 insane was her rage against the house of Anti- 
 pater, that she opened a tomb where the body 
 of another of his sons had been interred, and 
 caused the remains to be brought out and 
 
B.C. 317.] 
 
 Death of Philip. 
 
 Cassander. 
 
 Eurydice's despair. 
 
 57 
 
 thrown into the street. The people around her 
 began to remonstrate against such atrocities ; 
 but these remonstrances, instead of moderating 
 her rage, only excited it still more. She sent 
 to the dungeon where her prisoners, Philip and 
 Eurydice, were confined, and caused Philip to 
 be stabbed to death with daggers ; and then, 
 when this horrid scene was scarcely over, an 
 executioner came in to Eurydice with a dagger, 
 a rope, and a cup of poison, saying that Olym- 
 
 Eurydice in Prison. 
 
 pias sent them to her, that she might choose 
 herself by what she would die. Eurydice, on 
 
58 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 317. 
 
 Eurydice's dreadful end. Cassander's movements. 
 
 receiving this message, replied, saying, " I pray 
 Heaven that Olympias herself may one day have 
 the like alternative presented to her." She then 
 proceeded to tear the linen dress which she wore 
 into bandages, and to bind up with these band- 
 ages the wounds in the dead body of her hus- 
 band. This dreadful though useless duty being 
 performed, she then, rejecting all three of the 
 means of self-destruction which Olympias had 
 offered her, strangled herself by tying tight about 
 her neck a band which she obtained from her 
 own attire. 
 
 Of course, the tidings of these proceedings 
 were not long in reaching Cassander. He was 
 at this time in Greece, advancing, however, 
 slowly to the northward, toward Macedon. In 
 coming from Greece into Thessaly, his route 
 lay through the celebrated Pass of Thermopylae. 
 He found this pass guarded by a large body of 
 troops, which had been posted there to oppose 
 his passage. He immediately got together all 
 the ships, boats, galleys, and vessels of every 
 kind which he could procure, and, embarking 
 his army on board of them, he sailed past the 
 defile, and landed in Thessaly. Thence he 
 marched into Macedon. 
 
 While Cassander had thus been slowly ap- 
 
B.C. 317.] Cassander. 59 
 
 Olympias acts in the most energetic manner. 
 
 preaching, Polysperchon and Olympias had been 
 very vigorously employed in making prepara- 
 tions to receive him. Olympias, with Roxana 
 and the young Alexander, who was now about 
 five years old, in her train, traveled to and fro 
 among the cities of Macedonia, summoning the 
 people to arms, enlisting all who would enter 
 her service, and collecting money and military 
 stores. She also sent to Epirus, to .ZEacides the 
 king, the father of Pyrrhus, imploring him to 
 come to her aid with all the force he could bring. 
 Polysperchon, too, though separate from Olym- 
 pias, made every effort to strengthen himself 
 against his coming enemy. Things were in this 
 state when Cassander entered Macedon. 
 
 Cassander immediately divided his troops into 
 two distinct bodies, and sending one, under the 
 command of an able general, to attack Polysper- 
 chon, he himself went in pursuit of Olympias. 
 Olympias retreated before him, until at length- 
 she reached the city of Pydna, a city situated 
 in the southeastern part of Macedon, on the shore 
 of the iEgean Sea.* She knew that the force 
 under her command was not sufficient to enable 
 her to offer her enemy battle, and she according- 
 ly went into the city, and fortified herself there. 
 * See map. 
 
60 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 317. 
 
 The siege of Pydna. Movement of Cassander. 
 
 . , c 
 
 Cassander advanced immediately to the place, 
 and, finding the city too strongly fortified to be 
 carried by assault, he surrounded it with his ar- 
 my, and invested it closely both by land and sea. 
 The city was not well provided for a siege, 
 and the people within very soon began to suffer 
 for want of provisions. Olympias, however, 
 urged them to hold out, representing to them 
 that she had sent to Epirus for assistance, and 
 that iEacides, the king, was already on his way, 
 with a large force, to succor her. This was very 
 true ; but, unfortunately for Olympias, Cassan- 
 der was aware of this fact as well as she, and, 
 instead of waiting for the troops of .ZEacides to 
 come and attack him, he had sent a large arm- 
 ed force to the confines between Epirus and 
 Macedon, to intercept these expected allies in 
 the passes of the mountains. This movement 
 was successful. The army of iEacides found, 
 when they reached the frontier, that the passages 
 leading into Macedonia were all blocked up by 
 the troops of the enemy. They made some in- 
 effectual attempts to break through ; and then 
 the leading officers of the army, who had never 
 been really willing to embark in the war, re- 
 volted against iEacides, and returned home. 
 And as, in the case of deeds of violence and rev- 
 
B.C. 317.] Cassander. 61 
 
 The carrying away of Pyrrhus. 
 
 olution, it is always safest to go through and 
 finish the work when it is once begun, they de- 
 posed iEacides entirely, and raised the other 
 branch of the royal family to the throne in his 
 stead. It was on this occasion that the infant 
 Pyrrhus was seized and carried away by his 
 friends, to save his life, as mentioned in the 
 opening paragraphs of this history. The par- 
 ticulars of this revolution, and of the flight of 
 Pyrrhus, will be given more fully in the next 
 chapter. It is sufficient here to say, that the 
 attempt of iEacides to come to the rescu© of 
 Olympias in her peril wholly failed, and there 
 was nothing now left but the wall of the city to 
 defend her from her terrible foe. 
 
 In the mean time, the distress in the city for 
 want of food had become horrible. Olympias 
 herself, w _ ith Roxana and the boy, and the other 
 ladies of the court, lived- on the flesh of horses. 
 The soldiers devoured the bodies of their com- 
 rades as they were slain upon the wall. They 
 fed the elephants, it was said, on saw-dust. The 
 soldiers and the people of the city, who found 
 this state of things intolerable, deserted continu- 
 ally to Cassander,/: letting themselves down by 
 stealth in the night from the wall. Still Olym- 
 pias would not surrender ; there was one more 
 
62 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 317. 
 
 Olympias resorts to a stratagem. 
 
 hope remaining for her. She contrived to dis- 
 patch a messenger to Polysperchon with a letter, 
 asking him to send a galley round into the har- 
 bor at a certain time in the night, in order that 
 she might get on hoard of it, and thus escape. 
 Cassander intercepted this messenger. After 
 reading the letter, he returned it to the messen- 
 ger again, and directed him to go on and deliver 
 it. The messenger did so, and Polysperchon 
 sent the galley. Cassander, of course, watched 
 for it, and seized it himself when it came. The 
 last hope of the unhappy Olympias was thus ex- 
 tinguished, and she opened the gates and gave 
 herself up to Cassander. The whole country im- 
 mediately afterward fell into Cassander's hands. 
 The friends of the family of Antipater were 
 now clamorous in their demands that Olympias 
 should he "brought to punishment for having so 
 atrociously murdered the sons and relatives of 
 Antipater while she was in power. Olympias 
 professed herself willing to he tried, and appeal- 
 ed to the Macedonian senate to he her judges. 
 She relied on the ascendency which she had so 
 iong exercised over the minds of the Macedoni- 
 ans, and did not believe that they would con- 
 demn her. Cassander himself feared that they 
 would not ; and although he was unwilling to 
 murder her while she was a defenseless prison- 
 
B.C. 316.] Cassander. 03 
 
 Olympias in prison. llcr end. 
 
 er in his hands, he determined that she should 
 die. He recommended to her secretly not to 
 take the hazard of a trial, but to make her es- 
 cape and go to Athens, and offered to give her 
 an opportunity to do so. He intended, it was 
 said, if she made the attempt, to intercept and 
 slay her on the way as a fugitive from justice. 
 She refused to accede to this proposal, suspect- 
 ing, perhaps, Cassander's treachery in making 
 it. Cassander then sent a band of two hundred 
 soldiers to put her to death. 
 
 These soldiers, when they came into the pris- 
 on, were so impressed by the presence of the 
 queen, to whom, in former years, they had been 
 accustomed to look up with so much awe, that 
 they shrank back from their duty, and for a 
 time it seemed that no one would strike the 
 blow. At length, however, some among the 
 number, who were relatives of those that Olym- 
 pias had murdered, succeeding in nerving their 
 arms with the resolution of revenge, fell upon 
 her and killed her with their swords. 
 
 As for Roxana and the boy, Cassander kept 
 them close prisoners for many years ; and final- 
 ly, feeling more and more that his possession of 
 the throne of Alexander was constantly endan- 
 gered by the existence of a son of Alexander, 
 caused them to be assassinated too. 
 
64 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 332. 
 
 The family of Epirus. Their difficulties. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Early Life of Pyrrhus. 
 
 IN the two preceding chapters we have relat- 
 ed that portion of the history of Macedonia 
 which it is necessary to understand in order 
 rightly to appreciate the nature of the difficul- 
 ties in which the royal family of Epirus was 
 involved at the time when Pyrrhus first appear- 
 ed upon the stage. The sources of these diffi- 
 culties were two : first, the uncertainty of the 
 line of succession, there heing two branches of 
 the royal family, ea^h claiming the throne, 
 which state of things was produced, in a great 
 measure, by the interposition of Olympias in 
 the affairs of Epirus some years before ; and, 
 secondly, the act of Olympias in inducing iEa- 
 cides to come to Macedonia, to embark in her 
 quarrel against Cassander there. Of course, 
 since there were two lines of princes, both 
 claiming the throne, no sovereign of either line 
 could hold any thing more than a divided em- 
 pire over the hearts of his subjects ; and conse- 
 quently, when iEacides left the kingdom to 
 
B.C. 332.] Early Life of Pyrrhus. 65 
 
 The two Alexanders. Their different destinies. 
 
 fight the battles of Olympias in Macedon, it 
 was comparatively easy for the party opposed 
 to him to effect a revolution and raise their 
 own prince to the throne. 
 
 The prince whom Olympias had originally 
 made king of Epirus, to the exclusion of the 
 claimant belonging to the other branch of the 
 family, was her own brother. His name was 
 Alexander. He was the son of Neoptolemus. 
 The rival branch of the family were the chil- 
 dren of Arymbas, the brother of Neoptolemus. 
 This Alexander flourished at the same time as 
 Alexander the Great, and in his character very 
 much resembled his distinguished namesake. 
 He commenced a career of conquest in Italy at 
 the same time that his nephew embarked in his 
 in Asia, and commenced it, too, under very sim- 
 ilar circumstances. One, went to the East, and 
 another to the West, each determined to make 
 himself master of the world. The Alexander 
 of Macedon succeeded. The Alexander of Epi- 
 rus failed. The one acquired, consequently, 
 universal and perpetual renown, while the 
 memory of the other has been almost entirely 
 neglected and forgotten. 
 
 One reason, unquestionably, for the difference 
 in these results was the difference in the char- 
 E 
 
66 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 332. 
 
 Adventures of Alexander of Macedon. 
 
 acter of the enemies respectively against whom 
 the two adventurers had to contend. Alexan- 
 der of Epiras went westward into Italy, where 
 he had to encounter the soldiery of the Romans 
 — a soldiery of the most rugged, determined, 
 and indomitahle character. Alexander of Ma- 
 cedon, on the other hand, went to the East, 
 where he found only Asiatic races to contend 
 with, whose troops, though countless in num- 
 bers and magnificently appointed in respect to 
 all the purposes of parade and display, were yet 
 enervated with luxury, and wholly unable to 
 stand against any energetic and determined foe. 
 In fact, Alexander of Epiras used to say that 
 the reason why his nephew, Alexander of Mace- 
 don, had succeeded, while he himself had failed, 
 was because he himself had invaded countries 
 peopled by men, while the Macedonian, in his 
 Asiatic campaign, had encountered only women. 
 However this may be, the campaign of Alex- 
 ander of Epirus in Italy had a very disastrous 
 termination. The occasion of his going there 
 was a request which he had received from the 
 inhabitants of Tarentum that he would come 
 over and assist them in a war in which they 
 were engaged with some neighboring tribes. 
 Tarentum was a city situated toward the west- 
 
B.C. 326.] Early Life of Pyrrhus. 67 
 
 The Gulf of Tarentum. Oracle ofDodona. 
 
 era shore of Italy. It was at the head of the 
 deep bay called the Gulf of Tarentum, which 
 hay occupies the hollow of the foot that the 
 form of Italy presents to the eye as seen upon a 
 map.* Tarentum was, accordingly, across the 
 Adriatic Sea from Epirus. The distance was 
 about two hundred miles. By taking a south- 
 erly route, and going up the Grulf of Tarentum, 
 this distance might be traversed wholly by sea. 
 A little to the north the Adriatic is narrow, the 
 passage there being only about fifty miles across. 
 To an expedition, however, taking this course, 
 there would remain, after arriving on the Ital- 
 ian shore, fifty miles or more to be accomplish- 
 ed by land in order to reach Tarentum. 
 
 Before deciding to comply with the request 
 of the Tarentines that he would come to their 
 aid, Alexander sent to^a celebrated oracle in 
 Epirus, called the oracle of Dodona, to inquire 
 whether it would be safe for him to undertake 
 the expedition. To his inquiries the oracle gave 
 him this for an answer : 
 
 "The waters of Acheron will be the cause of your death, 
 and Pandosia is the place where you will die." 
 
 Alexander was greatly rejoiced at receiving 
 this answer. Acheron was a stream of Epirus, 
 
 * See map. 
 
68 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 326. 
 
 Pandosia. The equivocal prediction. 
 
 and Pandosia was a town upon the hanks of 
 it. He understood the response to mean that 
 he was fated to die quietly in his own country 
 at some future period, probably a remote one, 
 and that there was no danger in his undertak- 
 ing the expedition to which he had been called. 
 He accordingly set sail from Epirus, and land- 
 ed in Italy ; and there, believing that he was 
 fated to die in Epirus, and not in Italy, he fought 
 in every battle with the most desperate and 
 reckless bravery, and achieved prodigies of valor. 
 The possibility that there might be an Acheron 
 and a Pandosia in Italy, as well as in Epirus, 
 did not occur to his mind. 
 
 For a time he was very successful in his ca- 
 reer. He fought battles, gained victories, con- 
 quered cities, and established his dominion over 
 quite an extended region. In order to hold 
 what he had gained, he sent over a great num- 
 ber of hostages to Epirus, to be kept there as 
 security for the continued submission of those 
 whom he had subdued. These hostages con- 
 sisted chiefly, as was usual in such cases, of 
 children. At length, in the course of the war, 
 an occasion arose in which it was necessary, for 
 the protection of his troops, to encamp them on 
 three hills which were situated very near to each 
 
B.C. 326.] Early Life of Pyrriius. 69 
 
 Tho unexpected inundation. 
 
 other. These hills were separated by low in- 
 terval lands and a small stream ; but at the 
 time when Alexander established his encamp- 
 ment, the stream constituted no impediment to 
 free intercommunication between the different 
 divisions of his army. There came on, how- 
 ever, a powerful rain ; the stream overflowed its 
 banks ; the intervals were inundated. This en- 
 abled the enemy to attack two of Alexander's 
 encampments, while it was utterly impossible 
 for Alexander himself to render them any aid. 
 The enemy made the attack, and were success- 
 ful in it. The two camps were broken up, and 
 the troops stationed in them were put to flight. 
 Those that remained with Alexander, becoming 
 discouraged by the hopeless condition in which 
 they found themselves placed, mutinied, and 
 sent to the camp of the enemy, offering to de- 
 liver up Alexander to them, dead or alive, as 
 they should choose, on condition that they them- 
 selves might be allowed to return to their na- 
 tive land in peace. This proposal was accept- 
 ed ; but, before it was put in execution, Alexan- 
 der, having discovered the plot, placed himself 
 at the head of a determined and desperate band 
 of followers, broke through the ranks of the en- 
 emies that surrounded him, and made his cs- 
 
70 
 
 Pyrrhus. 
 
 [B. C. 326. 
 
 Bridge carried away. 
 
 
 The River of Sorrow. 
 
 cape to a neighboring wood. From this wood 
 lie took a route which led him to a river, in- 
 tending to pass the river by a bridge which he 
 expected to find there, and then to destroy the 
 bridge as soon as he had crossed it, so as to pre- 
 vent his enemies from following him. By this 
 means he hoped to make his way to some place 
 of safety. He found, on arriving at the brink 
 of the stream, that the bridge had been carried 
 away by the inundation. He, however, pressed 
 forward into the water on horseback, intending 
 to ford the stream. The torrent was wild, and 
 the danger was imminent, but Alexander press- 
 ed on. At length one of the attendants, seeing 
 his master in imminent danger of being drown- 
 ed, exclaimed aloud, " This cursed river ! well 
 is it named Acheron." The word Acheron, in 
 the original language, signifies River of Sorrow. 
 By this exclamation Alexander learned, for 
 the first time, that the river he was crossing 
 bore the same name with the one in Epirus, 
 which he supposed had been referred to in the 
 warning of the oracle. He was at once over- 
 whelmed with consternation. He did not know 
 whether to go forward or to return. The mo- 
 ment of indecision was suddenly ended by a 
 loud outcry from his attendants, giving the 
 
B.C. 326.] Early 
 
 L 1 P E 
 
 of Pyrkiius. 71 
 
 Alexander killed. 
 
 
 His body falls into the river. 
 
 alarm that the traitors were close upon him. 
 Alexander then pushed forward across the wa- 
 ter. He succeeded in gaining the bank; but 
 as soon as he did so, a dart from one of his ene- 
 mies reached him and killed him on the spot. 
 His lifeless body fell back into the river, and 
 was floated down the stream, until at length it 
 reached the camp of the enemy, which happen- 
 ed to be on the bank of the stream below. Here 
 it was drawn out of the water, and subjected to 
 every possible indignity. The soldiers cut the 
 body in two, and, sending one part to one of the 
 cities as a trophy of their victory, they set up 
 the other part in the camp as a target for the 
 soldiers to shoot at with darts and javelins. 
 
 At length a woman came into the camp, and, 
 with earnest entreaties and many tears, begged 
 the soldiers to give the-mutilated corpse to her. 
 Her object in wishing to obtain possession of it 
 was, that she might send it home to Epirus, to 
 the family of xllexander, and buy with it the 
 liberty of her husband and her children, who 
 were among the hostages which had been sent 
 there. The soldiers acceded to this request, and 
 the parts of the body having been brought to- 
 gether again, were taken to Epirus, and deliv- 
 ered to Olympias, by whom the remains were 
 
72 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 326. 
 
 A woman rescues the remains. Olympias. 
 
 honorably interred. We must presume that 
 the woman who sent them obtained the expect- 
 ed reward, in the return of her husband and 
 children, though of this we are not expressly 
 informed. 
 
 Of course, the disastrous result of this most 
 unfortunate expedition had the effect, in Epi- 
 rus, of diminishing very much the popularity 
 and the strength of that branch of the royal fam- 
 ily — namely, the line of Neoptolemus — to which 
 Alexander had belonged. Accordingly, instead 
 of being succeeded by one of his brothers, 2E a- 
 cides, the father of Pyrrhus, who was the rep- 
 resentative of the other line, was permitted qui- 
 etly to assume the crown. It might have been 
 expected that Olympias would have opposed his 
 accession, as she was herself a princess of the 
 rival line. She did not, however, do so. On 
 the contrary, she gave him her support, and al- 
 lied herself to him very closely ; and he, on his 
 part, became in subsequent years one of her 
 most devoted adherents and friends. 
 
 AVhen Olympias was shut up in Pydna by 
 the army of Cassander, as was related in the 
 last chapter, and sent for ./Eacides to come to 
 her aid, he immediately raised an army and 
 marched to the frontier. He found the passes 
 
B.C. 318.] Early Life of Pyrrhus. 73 
 
 jEacides marches to relieve Pydua. 
 
 in the mountains which led from Epirus to Mac- 
 edonia all strongly guarded, but he still determ- 
 ined to force his way through. He soon, how- 
 ever, began to observe marks of discontent and 
 dissatisfaction among the officers of his army. 
 These indications increased, until at length the 
 disaffection broke out into open mutiny, as 
 stated in the last chapter. iEacides then call- 
 ed his forces together, and gave orders that all 
 who were unwilling to follow him into Macedon 
 should be allowed freely to return. He did not 
 wish, he said, that any should accompany him 
 on such an expedition excepting those who went 
 of their own free will. A considerable part of 
 the army then returned, but, instead of repair- 
 ing peaceably to their homes, they raised a gen- 
 eral insurrection in Epirus, and brought the 
 family of Neoptolemus again to the throne. A 
 solemn decree of the state was passed, declar- 
 ing that iEacides, in withdrawing from the 
 kingdom, had forfeited his crown, and banish- 
 ing him forever from the country. And as this 
 revolution was intended to operate, not merely 
 against iEacides personally, but against the 
 branch of the royal family to which he belong- 
 ed, the new government deemed it necessary, 
 in order to finish their work and make it sure, 
 
74 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 318. 
 
 The flight of the family with Pyrrhus. 
 
 that many of his relatives and friends, and es- 
 pecially his infant son and heir, should die. Sev- 
 eral of the members of .ZEacides' family were 
 accordingly killed, though the attendants in 
 charge succeeded in saving the life of the child 
 by a sudden flight. 
 
 The escape v/as effected by the instrumental- 
 ity of two of the officers of .ZEacides' household, 
 named Androclides and Angelus. These men, 
 as soon as the alarm was given, hurried the 
 babe away, with only such nurses and other at- 
 tendants as it was necessary to take with them. 
 The child was still unweaned ; and though 
 those in charge made the number of attendants 
 as small as possible, still the party were neces- 
 sarily of such a character as to forbid any great 
 rapidity of flight. A troop was sent in pursuit 
 of them, and soon began to draw near. When 
 Androclides found that his party would be over- 
 taken by the troop, he committed the child to 
 the care of three young men, bidding them to 
 ride on with him, at their utmost speed, to a 
 certain town in Macedon, called Megarse, where 
 they thought he would be safe ; and then he 
 himself, and the rest of his company, turned 
 back to meet the pursuers. They succeeded, 
 partly by their representations and entreaties, 
 
B.C. 318.] Early Life of Pyrrhus. 75 
 
 The party meet with a narrow escape. 
 
 and partly by such resistance and obstruction 
 as it was in their power to make, in stopping 
 the soldiers where they were. At length, hav- 
 ing, though with some difficulty, succeeded in 
 getting away from the soldiers, Androclides and 
 Angelus rode on by secret ways till they over- 
 took the three young men. They now began 
 to think that the danger was over. At length, 
 a little after sunset, they approached the town 
 of Megarre. There was a river just before the 
 town, which looked too rough and dreadful to 
 be crossed. The party, however, advanced to 
 the brink, and attempted to ford the stream, but 
 they found it impossible. It was growing dark ; 
 the water of the river, having been swelled by 
 rains, was very high and boisterous, and they 
 found that they could not get over. At length 
 they saw some of the people of the town coming 
 down to the bank on the opposite side. They 
 were in hopes that these people could render 
 them some assistance in crossing the stream, 
 and they began to call out to them for this pur- 
 pose; but the stream ran so rapidly, and the 
 roaring of the torrent was so great, that they 
 could not make themselves heard. The dis- 
 tance was very inconsiderable, for the stream 
 was not wide ; but, though the party with Pyr- 
 
76 P ye rhus. [B.C. 318. 
 
 Ingenious mode of sending a letter. 
 
 rims called aloud and earnestly, and made signs, 
 holding up the child in their arms to let the 
 people see him, they could not make themselves 
 understood. 
 
 At last, after spending some time in these 
 fruitless efforts, one of the party who were with 
 Pyrrhus thought of the plan of writing what 
 they wished to say upon a piece of hark, and 
 throwing it across the stream to those on the 
 other side. They accordingly pulled off some 
 hark from a young oak which was growing on 
 a hank of the river, and succeeded in making 
 characters upon it hy means of the tongue of a 
 huckle, sufficient to say that they had with 
 them Pyrrhus, the young prince of Epirus, and 
 that they were flying with him to" save his life, 
 and to implore the people on the other side to 
 contrive some way to get them over the river. 
 This piece of hark they then managed to throw 
 across the stream. Some say that they rolled 
 it around a javelin, and then gave the javelin to 
 the strongest of their party to throw ; others 
 say that they attached it to a stone. In some 
 way or ether they contrived to give it a sufficient 
 momentum to carry it across the water ; and 
 the people on the other side, when they ohtain- 
 ed it, and read what was written upon it, were 
 
B.C. 318.] Early Life op Pyrrhus. 77 
 
 Pyrrhus is carried to Illyria. 
 
 greatly excited by the tidings, and engaged at 
 once with ardor and enthusiasm in efforts to 
 save the child. 
 
 They brought axes and "began to cut down 
 trees to make a raft. In due time the raft was 
 completed; and, notwithstanding the darkness 
 of the night, and the force and swiftness of the 
 current of the stream, the party of fugitives 
 succeeded in crossing upon it, and thus brought 
 the child and all the attendants accompanying 
 him safely over. 
 
 The party with Pyrrhus did not intend to stop 
 at Megarse. They did not consider it safe, in 
 fact, for them to remain in any part of Mace- 
 don, not knowing what course the war between 
 Polysperchon and Cassander would take there, 
 or how the parties engaged in the contest might 
 stand affected toward Pyjrhus. They determ- 
 ined, therefore, to press forward in their flight 
 till they had passed through Macedon, and 
 reached the country beyond. 
 
 The country north of Macedon, on the west- 
 ern coast, the one in which they determined to 
 seek refuge, was Illyria. The name of the King 
 of Illyria was OHaucias. They had reason to 
 believe that Grlaucias would receive and pro- 
 tect the child, for he was comiected by mar- 
 
78 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 318 
 
 Little Pyrrhus at the court of Glaucias. 
 
 riage with the royal family of Epirus, his wife, 
 Beroa, being a princess of the line of iEacides. 
 When the fugitives arrived at the court of Glau- 
 cias, they went to the palace, where they found 
 Glaucias and Beroa ; and, after telling the story 
 of their danger and escape, they laid the child 
 down as a suppliant at the feet of the king. 
 
 Glaucias felt not a little embarrassed at the 
 situation in which he was placed, and did not 
 know what to do. He remained for a long time 
 silent. At length, little Pyrrhus, who was all 
 the while lying at his feet, began to creep closer 
 toward him; and, finally, taking hold of the 
 king's robe, he began to climb up by it, and at- 
 tempted to get into his lap, looking up into the 
 king's face, at the same time, with a counte- 
 nance in which the expression of confidence and 
 hope was mingled with a certain instinctive in- 
 fantile fear. The heart of the king was so 
 touched by this mute appeal, that he took the 
 child up in his arms, dismissed at once all pru- 
 dential considerations from his mind, and, in the 
 end, delivered the boy to the queen, Beroa, di- 
 recting her to bring him up with her own chil- 
 dren. 
 
 Cassander soon discovered the place of Pyr- 
 rhus's retreat, and he made great efforts to in- 
 
B.C. 306.] Early Life of Pyrrhus. 79 
 
 Pyrrhus becomes a large boy. Cassandcr's plans. 
 
 duce Glaucias to give him up. He offered 
 Glaucias a very large sum of money if he would 
 deliver Pyrrhus into his hands; but Glaucias 
 refused to do it. Cassander would, perhaps, 
 have made war upon Glaucias to compel him to 
 comply with this requisition, hut he was then 
 fully occupied with the enemies that threaten- 
 ed him in Greece and Macedon, He did, sub- 
 sequently, make an attempt to invade the do- 
 minions of Glaucias, and to get possession of 
 the person of Pyrrhus, but the expedition failed, 
 and after that the boy was allowed to remain in 
 Illyria without any further molestation. 
 
 Time passed on, until at length Pyrrhus was 
 twelve years old. During this interval great 
 changes took place in the affairs of Cassander in 
 Macedon. At first he was very successful in 
 his plans. He succeeded in expelling Polysper- 
 chon from the country, and in establishing him- 
 self as king. He caused Roxana and the young 
 Alexander to be assassinated, as was stated in 
 the last chapter, so as to remove out of the way 
 the only persons who he supposed could ever 
 advance any rival claims to the throne. For a 
 time every thing went well and prosperously 
 with him, but at length the tide of his affairs 
 seemed to turn. A new enemy appeared against 
 
80 Py ii riius. [B.C. 301. 
 
 Glaucias establishes Pyrrhus on his throne. 
 
 him in Asia — a certain distinguished command- 
 er, named Demetrius, who afterward became 
 one of the most illustrious personages of his age. 
 Just at this time, too, the King of Epirus, Alce- 
 tus, the prince of the family of Neoptolemus, 
 who had reigned during Pyrrhus's exile in II- 
 lyria, died. GHaucias deemed this a favorable 
 opportunity for restoring Pyrrhus to the throne. 
 He accordingly placed himself at the head of 
 an army, and marched into Epirus, taking the 
 young prince with him. No effectual resist- 
 ance was made, and Pyrrhus was crowned king. 
 He was, of course, too young actually to reign, 
 and a sort of regent was accordingly establish- 
 ed in power, with authority to govern the coun- 
 try in the young king's name until he should 
 come of age. 
 
 This state of things could not be very stable. 
 It endured about five years ; and during this 
 time Pyrrhus seemed to be very firmly estab- 
 lished in power. The strength of his position, 
 however, was more apparent than real ; for the 
 princes of the other branch of the family, who 
 had been displaced by Pyrrhus's return to pow- 
 er, were of course discontented and restless all 
 the time. They were continually forming plots 
 and conspiracies, and were only waiting for an 
 
B.C. 301.] Early Life of Pyrrhus. 81 
 
 Pyrrhua once more an exile. 
 
 opportunity to effect another revolution. The 
 opportunity at length came. One of the sons 
 of (xlaucias was to be married. Pyrrhus had 
 been the companion and playmate of this prince 
 during his residence in Illyria, and was, of 
 course, invited to the wedding. Supposing that 
 all was safe in his dominions, he accepted the 
 invitation, and went to Illyria. "While he was 
 there, amusing himself in the festivities and re- 
 joicings connected with the wedding, his rivals 
 raised a rebellion, took possession of the gov- 
 ernment, and of all of Pyrrhus's treasures, kill- 
 ed or put to flight his partisans and friends, and 
 raised a prince of the family of Neoptolemus to 
 the throne. Pyrrhus found himself once riiore 
 an exile. 
 
 The revolution in Epirus was so complete, 
 that, after careful consideration and inquiry, 
 Pyrrhus could see, with the resources he had at 
 his command, no hope of recovering his throne. 
 But, being of an ambitious and restless spirit, 
 he determined not to remain idle ; and he con- 
 cluded, therefore, to enter into the service of 
 Demetrius in his war against Cassander. There 
 were two considerations which led him to do 
 this. In the first place, Cassander was his most 
 formidable enemy, and the prospect of his being 
 F 
 
82 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 301. 
 
 Fyrriius enters into the service cf Demetrius. 
 
 ultimately restored again to his throne would 
 depend almost entirely, he well knew, upon the 
 possibility of destroying, or at least curtailing, 
 Cassander's power. Then, besides, Demetrius 
 was especially his friend. The wife of Deme- 
 trius was Deidamia, the sister of Pyrrhus, so 
 that Pyrrhus looked upon Demetrius as his nat- 
 ural ally. He accordingly offered to enter the 
 service of Demetrius, and was readily received. 
 In fget, notwithstanding his youth — for he was 
 now only seventeen or eighteen years of age — 
 Demetrius gave him a very important command 
 in his army, and took great pains to instruct 
 him in the art of war. It was not long before 
 an opportunity was afforded to make trial of 
 Pyrrhus's capacity as a soldier. A great battle 
 was fought at Ipsus, in Asia Minor, between 
 Demetrius on one side and Cassander on the 
 other. Besides these two commanders, there 
 were many princes and generals of the highest 
 rank who took part in the contest as allies of 
 the principal combatants, which had the effect 
 of making the battle a very celebrated one, and 
 of causing it to attract very strongly the atten- 
 tion of all mankind at the time when it occur- 
 red. The result of the contest was, on the 
 whole, unfavorable to the cause of Demetrius. 
 
B.C. 300.] Early Life of Pyrriius. 83 
 
 Pyrrhus acquires great renown. He becomes a hostage. 
 
 His troops, generally, were compelled to give 
 way, though the division which Pyrrhus com- 
 manded retained their ground. Pyrrhus, in 
 fact, acquired great renown by his courage and 
 energy, and perhaps still more by his success 
 on this occasion. Young as he was, Demetrius 
 immediately gave him a new and very respon- 
 sible command, and intrusted to him the charge 
 of several very important expeditions and cam- 
 paigns, in all of which the young soldier evinced 
 such a degree of energy and courage, combined, 
 too, with so much forethought, prudence, and 
 military skill, as presaged very clearly his sub- 
 sequent renown. 
 
 At length an alliance was formed between 
 Demetrius and Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and as 
 security for the due execution of the obligations 
 assumed by Demetrius in-ihe treaty which they 
 made, Ptolemy demanded a hostage. Pyrrhus 
 offered to go himself to Egypt in this capacity. 
 Ptolemy accepted him, and Pyrrhus was ac- 
 cordingly taken in one of Ptolemy's ships across 
 the Mediterranean to Alexandria. 
 
 In Egypt the young prince was, of course, an 
 object of universal attention and regard. He 
 was tall and handsome in person, agreeable in 
 manners, and amiable and gentle in disposition. 
 
84 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 295. 
 
 The situation ol a hostage. 
 
 His royal rank, the fame of the exploits which 
 he had performed, the misfortunes of his early- 
 years, and the strange and romantic adventures 
 through which he had passed, all conspired to 
 awaken a deep interest in his favor at the court 
 of Ptolemy. The situation of a hostage, too, is 
 always one which strongly attracts the sympa- 
 thy and kind feelings of those who hold him in 
 custody. A captive is regarded in some sense 
 as an enemy ; and though his hard lot may 
 awaken a certain degree of pity and commiser- 
 ation, still the kind feeling is always modified 
 by the fact that the object of it, after all, though 
 disarmed and helpless, is still a foe. A hostage, 
 however, is a friend. He comes as security for 
 the faithfulness of a friend and an ally, so that 
 the sympathy and interest which are felt for 
 him as an exile from his native land, are height- 
 ened by the circumstance that his position 
 makes him naturally an object of friendly re- 
 gard. 
 
 The attachment which soon began to be felt 
 for Pyrrhus in the court of Ptolemy was in- 
 creased by the excellent conduct and demeanor 
 which he exhibited while he was there. He 
 was very temperate and moderate in his pleas- 
 ures, and upright and honorable in all his do- 
 
B.C. 295.] Early Life of Pyrrhus. 85 
 
 Pyrrhus in the court of Ptolemy. 
 
 ings. In a word, he made himself a general 
 favorite ; and after a year or two he married 
 Antigone, a princess of the royal family. From 
 being a hostage he now became a guest, and 
 shortly afterward Ptolemy fitted out an expedi- 
 tion to proceed to Epirus and restore him to his 
 throne. On arriving in Epirus, Pyrrhus found 
 every thing favorable to the success of his plans. 
 The people of the country had become discon- 
 tented with the government of the reigning king, 
 and were very willing to receive Pyrrhus in his 
 place. The revolution was easily effected, and 
 Pyrrhus was thus once more restored to his 
 throne. 
 
86 Pyrehus. [B.C. 295. 
 
 Pyrrhus is restored to his throne. 
 
 Chapter I "V . 
 Wars in Macedon. 
 
 THE prince whom Pyrrhus displaced from 
 the throne of Epirus on his return from 
 Egypt, as narrated in the last chapter, was, of 
 course, of the family of Neoptolemus. His own 
 name was Neoptolemus, and he was the second 
 son of the Neoptolemus who gave his name to 
 the line. 
 
 Pyrrhus exercised an uncommon degree of 
 moderation in his victory over his rival ; for, in- 
 stead of taking his life, or even banishing him 
 from the kingdom, he treated him with respect- 
 ful consideration, and offered, very generously, 
 as it would seem, to admit him to a share of the 
 regal power. Neoptolemus accepted this pro- 
 posal, and the two kings reigned conjointly for 
 a considerable time. A difficulty, however, be- 
 fore long occurred, which led to an open quarrel, 
 the result of which was that Neoptolemus was 
 slain. The circumstances, as related by the 
 historians of the time, were as follows : 
 
 It seems that it was the custom of the people 
 
B.C. 295.] Wars in Mace don. 87 
 
 A celebration. Festivities. Gelon's gift. 
 
 of Epirus to celebrate an annual festival at a 
 certain city in the kingdom, for the purpose 
 chiefly of renewing the oaths of allegiance on 
 the one part, and of fealty on the other, between 
 the people and the king. Of course, there were 
 a great many games and spectacles, as well as 
 various religious rites and ceremonies, connected 
 with this celebration ; and among other usages 
 which prevailed, it was the custom for the peo- 
 ple to bring presents to the king on the occasion. 
 When the period for this celebration recurred, 
 after Pyrrhus's restoration to the throne, both 
 Pyrrhus and Neoptolemus, each attended by his 
 own particular followers and friends, repaired to 
 the city where the celebration was to be held, 
 and commenced the festivities. 
 
 Among other donations which were made to 
 Pyrrhus at this festivaL^hc received a present 
 of two yoke of oxen from a certain man named 
 Gelon, who was a particular friend of Neopto- 
 lemus. It appears that it was the custom for 
 the kings to dispose of many of the presents 
 which they received on these occasions from the 
 people of the country, by giving them to their 
 attendants and the officers of their households ; 
 and a certain cup-bearer, named Myrtilus, beg- 
 ged Pyrrhus to give these oxen to him. Pyrrhus 
 
88 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 295. 
 
 Gelon and Myrtilus form a plot. 
 
 declined this request, but afterward gave the 
 oxen to another man. Myrtilus was offended 
 at this, and uttered privately many murmurings 
 and complaints, Gelon, perceiving this, invited 
 Myrtilus to sup with him. In the course of the 
 supper, he attempted to excite still more the ill- 
 will which Myrtilus felt toward Pyrrhus ; and 
 finding that he appeared to succeed in doing 
 this, he finally proposed to Myrtilus to espouse 
 the cause of Neoptolemus, and join in a plot for 
 poisoning Pyrrhus. Plis office as cup-bearer 
 would enable him, Gelon said, to execute such 
 a design without difficulty or danger, and, by 
 doing it, he would so commend himself to the 
 regard of Neoptolemus, that he might rely on 
 the most ample and abundant rewards. Myr- 
 tilus appeared to receive these proposals with 
 great favor ; he readily promised to embark in 
 the plot, and promised to fulfill the part assign- 
 ed him in the execution of it. When the proper 
 time arrived, after the conclusion of the supper, 
 Myrtilus took leave of Gelon, and, proceeding 
 directly to Pyrrhus, he related to him all that 
 had occurred. 
 
 Pyrrhus did not take any rash or hasty meas- 
 ures in the emergency, for he knew very well 
 that if Gelon were to be then charged with the 
 
B.C 295.] Wars in Macedon. 89 
 
 The cup-bearer pretends to join the plot. 
 
 crime which he had proposed to commit, he 
 would deny having ever proposed it, and that 
 then there would be only the word of Myrtilus 
 against that of Grelon, and that impartial men 
 would have no positive means of deciding be- 
 tween them. He thought, therefore, very wise- 
 ly, that, before taking any decided steps, it 
 would be necessary to obtain additional proof 
 that Gelon had really made the proposal. He 
 accordingly directed Myrtilus to continue to 
 pretend that he favored the plan, and to propose 
 to Grelon to invite another cup-bearer, named 
 Alexicrates, to join the plot. Alexicrates was 
 to be secretly instructed to appear ready to enter 
 into the conspiracy when he should be called 
 upon, and thus, as Pyrrhus expected, the testi- 
 mony of two witnesses would be obtained to 
 Cretan's guilt. ^ 
 
 It happened, however, that the necessary evi- 
 dence against Grelon was furnished without a 
 resort to this measure ; for when Grelon report- 
 ed to Neoptolemus that Myrtilus had acceded to 
 his proposal to join him in a plan for removing 
 Pyrrhus out of the way, Neoptolemus was so 
 much overjoyed at the prospect of recovering 
 the throne to his own family again, that he 
 could not refrain from revealing the plan to 
 
90 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 295. 
 
 Conversation overheard in a very singular manner. 
 
 certain members of the family, and, among 
 others, to his sister Cadmia. At the time when 
 he thus discovered the design to Cadmia, he 
 supposed that nobody was within hearing. The 
 conversation took place in an apartment where 
 he had been supping with Cadmia, and it hap- 
 pened that there was a servant-woman lying 
 upon a couch in the corner of the room at the 
 time, with her face to the wall, apparently 
 asleep. She was, in reality, not asleep, and she 
 overheard all the conversation. She lay still, 
 however, and did not speak a word; but the 
 next day she went to Antigone, the wife of 
 Pyrrhus, and communicated to her all that she 
 had heard. Pyrrhus now considered the evi- 
 dence that Neoptolemus was plotting his de- 
 struction as complete, and he determined to 
 take decisive measures to prevent it. He ac- 
 cordingly invited Neoptolemus to a banquet. 
 Neoptolemus, suspecting nothing, came, and 
 Pyrrhus slew him at the table. Henceforward 
 Pyrrhus reigned in Epirus alone. 
 
 Pyrrhus was now about twenty-three years 
 of age, and inasmuch as, with all his modera- 
 tion in respect to the pursuit of youthful pleas- 
 ures, he was of a very ambitious and aspiring 
 disposition, he began to form schemes and plans 
 
B.C. 295.] Wars in Macedon. 91 
 
 Quarrel between Cassander's heirs. 
 
 for the enlargement of his power. An opportu- 
 nity was soon afforded him to enter upon a mil- 
 itary career. Cassander, who had made him- 
 self King of Macedon in the manner already de- 
 scribed, died about the time that Pyrrhus estab- 
 lished himself on his throne in Epirus. He left 
 two sons, Alexander and Antipater. These 
 brothers immediately quarreled, each claiming 
 the inheritance of their father's crown. Anti- 
 pater proved to be the strongest in the struggle ; 
 and Alexander, finding that he could not stand 
 his ground against his brother without aid, sent 
 messengers at the same time to Pyrrhus, and 
 also to Demetrius, in Thessaly, calling upon 
 both to come to his assistance. They both de- 
 termined to do so. Demetrius, however, was 
 engaged in some enterprises which detained 
 him for a time, but Pyrrhus immediately put 
 himself at the head of his army, and prepared 
 to cross the frontier. 
 
 The commencement of this march marks an 
 important era in the life of Pyrrhus, for it was 
 now for the first time that he had an army 
 wholly under his command. In all the former 
 military operations in which he had been en- 
 gaged, he had been only a general, acting under 
 the orders of his superiors. Now he was an 
 
92 Pyrkhus. [B.C. 295. 
 
 Pyrrhus takes his first independent command. 
 
 independent sovereign, leading forth his own 
 troops to tattle, and responsible to no one for 
 the manner in which he exercised his power. 
 The character which he displayed in this new 
 capacity was such as very soon to awaken the 
 admiration of all his troops, and to win their af- 
 fection in a very strong degree. His fine per- 
 sonal appearance, his great strength and dex- 
 terity in all martial exercises, his kind consider- 
 ation for his soldiers, the systematic and skillful 
 manner in which all his arrangements were 
 made, and a certain nobleness and generosity 
 of character which he displayed on many occa- 
 sions, all combined to make him an object of 
 universal favor and regard. 
 
 Various anecdotes were related of him in 
 camp, which evinced the superiority of his 
 mind, and that peculiar sense of confidence and 
 strength which so often accompanies greatness. 
 At one time a person was accused of being dis- 
 affected toward him, and of being in the habit 
 of speaking evil of him on all occasions ; and 
 some of his counselors proposed that the offend- 
 er should be banished. " No," said Pyrrhus ; 
 " let him stay here, and speak evil of me only 
 to a few, instead of being sent away to ramble 
 about and give me a bad character to all the 
 
B.C. 295.] WarsinMacedon. 93 
 
 Anecdotes of Pyrrhus. His popularity. 
 
 world." At another time, some persons, when 
 half intoxicated, at a convivial entertainment, 
 had talked very freely in censure of something 
 which Pyrrhus had done. They were called to 
 account for it ; and when asked hy Pyrrhus 
 whether it was true that they had really said 
 such things, they replied that it was true. 
 " And there is no doubt," they added, " that we 
 should have said things a great deal worse if 
 we had had more wine." Pyrrhus laughed at 
 this reply, and dismissed the culprits without 
 any punishment. These, and other similar in- 
 dications of the magnanimity which marked 
 the general's character, made a great and very 
 favorable impression upon the minds of all un- 
 der his command. 
 
 Possessing thus, in a very high degree, the 
 confidence and affectionr of his troops, Pyrrhus 
 was able to inspire them with his own ardor 
 and impetuosity when they came to engage in 
 battle, and his troops were victorious in almost 
 every conflict. Wherever he went, he reduced 
 the country into subjection to Alexander, and 
 drove Antipater before him. He left garrisons 
 of his own in the towns which he captured, so 
 as to make his conquests secure, and in a short 
 time the prospect seemed certain that Antipater 
 
94 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 294. 
 
 Pyrrhus detects a forgery. Plan of the formers. 
 
 would be expelled from the country, and Alex- 
 ander placed upon the throne. 
 
 In this crisis of their affairs, some of the allies 
 of Antipater conceived the design of circum- 
 venting their enemy by artifice, since it appear- 
 ed that he was so superior to them in force. 
 They knew how strong was his feeling of rev- 
 erence and regard for Ptolemy, the King of 
 Egypt, his father-in-law, and they accordingly 
 forged a letter to him in Ptolemy's name, en- 
 joining him to make peace with Antipater, and 
 withdraw from Macedon. Antipater, the letter 
 said, was willing to pay him three hundred tal- 
 ents of silver in consideration of his doing so, 
 and the letter strongly urged him to accede to 
 this offer, and evacuate the kingdom. 
 
 It was much less difficult to practice a suc- 
 cessful deception of this kind in ancient days 
 than it is now, for then writing was usually 
 performed by scribes trained for the purpose, 
 and there was therefore seldom any thing in 
 the handwriting of a communication to determ- 
 ine the question of its authenticity. Pyrrhus, 
 however, detected the imposition which was at- 
 tempted in this case the moment that he opened 
 the epistle. It began with the words, " King 
 Ptolemy to King Pyrrhus, greeting ;" whereas 
 
B.C. 294.] Wars in Macedon. 95 
 
 The war is ended. Pyrrhus returns home. 
 
 the genuine letters of Ptolemy to his son-in-law 
 were always commenced thus : " The father to 
 his son, greeting." 
 
 Pyrrhus upbraided the contrivers of this fraud 
 in severe terms for their attempt to deceive 
 him. Still, he entertained the proposition that 
 they made, and some negotiations were entered 
 into, with a view to an amicable settlement of 
 the dispute. In the end, however, the negotia- 
 tions failed, and the war was continued until 
 Alexander was established on his throne. Pyr- 
 rhus then returned to his own kingdom. He 
 received, in reward for his services in behalf of 
 Alexander, a grant of that part of the Macedo- 
 nian territory which lies upon the coast of the 
 Adriatic Sea, north of Epirus ; and thus peace 
 was restored, and all things seemed permanent- 
 ly settled. ^ 
 
 It will be recollected, perhaps, by the reader, 
 that at the time that Alexander sent for Pyr- 
 rhus to assist him, he had also sent for Deme- 
 trius, who had been in former years the ally 
 and friend of Pyrrhus. In fact, Deidamia, the. 
 sister of Pyrrhus, was Demetrius's wife. De- 
 metrius had been engaged with the affairs of 
 his own government at the time that he receiv- 
 ed this message, and was not then ready to 
 
9G Pyrrhus. [B.C. 294. 
 
 Interview with Demetrius on the frontier. 
 
 grant the desired aid. But after a time, when 
 he had settled his own affairs, he placed him- 
 self at the head of an army and went to Mace- 
 don. It was now, however, too late, and Alex- 
 ander was sorry to learn that he was coming. 
 He had already parted with a considerable por- 
 tion of his kingdom to repay Pyrrhus for his 
 aid, and he feared that Demetrius, if he were 
 allowed to enter the kingdom, would not be 
 satisfied without a good part of the remainder. 
 He accordingly advanced to meet Demetrius 
 at the frontier. Here, at an interview which 
 he held with him, he thanked him for his kind- 
 ness in coming to his aid,' but said that his as- 
 sistance would now not be required. Deme- 
 trius said that it was very well, and so pre- 
 pared to return. Alexander, however, as De- 
 metrius afterward alleged, did not intend to al- 
 low him to withdraw, but formed a plan to mur- 
 der him at a supper to which he designed to in- 
 vite him. Demetrius avoided the fate which 
 was intended for him by going away unexpect- 
 edly from the supper before Alexander had time 
 to execute his plan. Afterward, Demetrius in- 
 vited Alexander to a supper. Alexander came 
 unarmed and unprotected, in order to set his 
 guest an example of unconcern, in hopes that 
 
B.C. 294.] Wars in Macedon. 97 
 
 Plots and counterplots. Demetrius triumphs. 
 
 Demetrius would come equally defenseless to a 
 second entertainment which he had prepared for 
 him the next day, and at which he intended to 
 adopt such measures that his guest should not 
 be able by any possibility to escape. Deme- 
 trius, however, did not wait for the second at- 
 tempt, but ordered his servants to kill Alexan- 
 der, and all who were with him, while they 
 were at his table. One of Alexander's men, 
 when the attack was made upon them, said, as 
 the soldiers of Demetrius were stabbing him, 
 " You are too quick for us by just one day." 
 
 The Macedonian troops, whom Alexander had 
 brought with him to the frontier, when they 
 heard of the murder of their king, expected that 
 Demetrius would come upon them at once, with 
 all his army, and cut them to pieces. But, in- 
 stead of this, Demetrius -sent them word that 
 he did not intend them any harm, but wished, 
 on the contrary, for an opportunity to explain 
 and justify to them what he had done. He ac- 
 cordingly met them, and made a set harangue, 
 in which he related the circumstances which led 
 him to take the life of Alexander, and justified 
 it as an act of self-defense. This discourse was 
 received with great applause, and the Macedoni- 
 an soldiers immediately hailed Demetrius king. 
 
 a 
 
98 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 294. 
 
 Relations between Demetrius and Pyrrhus. 
 
 How far there was any truth in the charge 
 which Demetrius brought against Alexander of 
 intending to kill him, it is, of course, impossible 
 to say. There was no evidence of the fact, nor 
 could there be any evidence but such as Deme- 
 trius might easily fabricate. It is the universal 
 justification that is offered in every age by the 
 perpetrators of political crimes, that they were 
 compelled to perform themselves the deeds of 
 violence and cruelty for which they are con- 
 demned, in order to anticipate and preclude the 
 performance of similar deeds on the part of their 
 enemies. 
 
 Demetrius and Pyrrhus were now neighbor- 
 ing kings, and, from the friendly relations which 
 had subsisted between them for so many years, 
 it might, perhaps, be supposed that the two 
 kingdoms which they respectively ruled would 
 enjoy, from this time, a permanent and settled 
 peace, and maintain the most amicable inter- 
 course with each other. But the reverse was 
 the fact. Contentions and quarrels arose on the 
 frontiers. Each nation complained that the 
 borderers of the other made inroads over the 
 frontier. Demetrius and Pyrrhus gradually got 
 drawn into these disputes. Unfortunately for 
 the peace of the two countries, Deidamia died, 
 
B.C. 801.] Wars in Macedon. 99 
 
 War breaks out between them. 
 
 and the strong band of union which she had 
 formed between the two reigning families was 
 sundered. In a word, it was not long before 
 Pyrrhus and Demetrius came to open war. 
 
 The war, however, which thus broke out 
 between Demetrius and Pyrrhus did not arise 
 wholly from accidental collisions occurring on 
 the frontiers. Demetrius was a man of the 
 most violent and insatiable ambition, and wholly 
 unscrupulous in respect to the means of gratify- 
 ing the passion. Before his difficulties with 
 Pyrrhus began, he had made expeditions south- 
 wardly into Greece, and had finally succeeded 
 in reducing a large portion of that country to 
 his sway. He, however, at one time, in the 
 course of his campaigns in Greece, narrowly 
 escaped a very sudden termination of his career. 
 He was besieging Thebes, one of the principal 
 cities of Greece, and one which was obstinately 
 determined not to submit to him. In fact, the 
 inhabitants of the city had given him some 
 special cause of offense, so that he was excess- 
 ively angry with them, and though for a long 
 time he made very little progress in prosecuting 
 the siege, he was determined not to give up the 
 attempt. At one period, he was himself called 
 away from the place for a time, to engage in 
 
100 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 291. 
 
 Recklessness and cruelty of Demetrius. 
 
 some military duty demanding his attention in 
 Thessaly, and during his absence he left his son 
 to conduct the siege. On his return to Thebes, 
 he found that, through the energetic and obsti- 
 nate resistance which was made by the people 
 of Thebes, great numbers of his men were con- 
 tinually falling — so much so, that his son began 
 to remonstrate with him against allowing so 
 great and so useless a slaughter to go on. " Con- 
 sider," said he, " why you should expose so 
 many of your valiant soldiers to such sure de- 
 struction, when — " 
 
 Here Demetrius, in a passion, interrupted 
 him, saying, " Give yourself no concern about 
 how many of the soldiers are killed. The more 
 there are killed, the fewer you will have to pro- 
 vide subsistence for !" 
 
 The brutal recklessness, however, which De- 
 metrius thus evinced in respect to the slaughter 
 of his troops was not attended, as such a feeling 
 often is, with any cowardly unwillingness to 
 expose himself to danger. He mingled person- 
 ally in the contests that took place about the 
 walls of the city, and hazarded his own life as 
 freely as he required his soldiers to hazard theirs. 
 At length, on one occasion, a javelin thrown 
 from the wall struck him in the neck, and, pass- 
 
B.C.290.] Wars in Macedon. 101 
 
 War between Pyrrhus and Demetrius. 
 
 ing directly through, felled him to the ground. 
 He was taken up for dead, and borne to his tent. 
 It was there found, on examination, that no 
 great artery or other vital part had been wound- 
 ed, and yet in a very short time a burning fever 
 supervened, and for some time the life of De- 
 metrius was in imminent danger. He still, 
 however, refused to abandon the siege. At 
 length, he recovered from the effects of his 
 wound, and, in the end, the city surrendered. 
 
 It was on the return of Demetrius to Mace- 
 don, after the close of his successful campaign 
 in Greece, that the war between him and Pyr- 
 rhus broke out. As soon as it appeared that 
 actual hostilities were inevitable, both parties 
 collected an army and prepared for the conflict. 
 
 They marched to meet each other, Pyrrhus 
 from Epirus, and Demetrius from Macedon. It 
 happened, however, that they took different 
 routes, and thus passed each other on the front- 
 ier. Demetrius entered Epirus, and found the 
 whole country open and defenseless before him, 
 for the military force of the country was all with 
 Pyrrhus, and had passed into Macedon by anoth- 
 er way. Demetrius advanced accordingly, as far 
 as he chose, into Pyrrhus's territories, capturing 
 and plundering every thing that came in his way. 
 
102 Pyrriius. [B.C.- 289. 
 
 Pantauchus. The single combat Pyrriius wounded. 
 
 Pyrrhus himself, on the other hand, met with 
 quite a different reception. Demetrius had not 
 taken all his army with him, but had left a 
 lars:e detachment under the command of a sen- 
 eral named Pantauchus, to defend the country 
 during his absence. Pyrrhus encountered Pan- 
 tauchus as he entered Macedon, and gave him 
 battle. A very hard-fought and obstinate con- 
 flict ensued. In the course of it, Pantauchus 
 challenged Pyrrhus to single combat. He was 
 one of the most distinguished of Demetrius's 
 generals, being celebrated above all the officers 
 of the army for his dexterity, strength, and cour- 
 age ; and, as he was a man of very high and 
 ambitious spirit, he was greatly pleased with 
 the opportunity of distinguishing himself that 
 was now before him. He conceived that a per- 
 sonal rencounter with so great a commander as 
 Pyrrhus would add very much to his renown. 
 
 Pyrrhus accepted the challenge. The pre- 
 liminary arrangements were made. The com- 
 batants came out into the field, and, as they ad- 
 vanced to the encounter, they hurled their jave- 
 lins at each other before they met, and then 
 rushed forward to a close and mortal combat 
 with swords. The fight continued for a long 
 time. Pyrrhus himself received a wound ; but, 
 
B.C.289.] Wars in Macedon. 103 
 
 Fantauchus narrowly escapes death. 
 
 notwithstanding this, he succeeded in bringing 
 his antagonist to the ground, and would have 
 killed him, had not the friends of Pantauchus 
 rushed on and rescued him from the danger. 
 A general battle between the two armies en- 
 sued, in which Pyrrhus was victorious. The 
 army of Pantauchus was totally routed, and five 
 thousand men were taken prisoners. 
 
 The Macedonian troops whom Pyrrhus thus 
 defeated, instead of being maddened with re- 
 sentment and anger against their conqueror, as 
 it might have been expected they would be, 
 were struck with a sentiment of admiration for 
 him. They applauded his noble appearance 
 and bearing on the field, and the feats of cour- 
 age and strength which he performed. There 
 was a certain stern and lofty simplicity in his 
 air and demeanor which reminded them, as they 
 said, of Alexander the Great, whom many of 
 the old soldiers remembered. They compared 
 Pyrrhus in these respects with Demetrius, their 
 own sovereign, greatly to the disadvantage of 
 the latter ; and so strong was the feeling which 
 was thus excited in Pyrrhus's favor, that it was 
 thought at the time that, if Pyrrhus had ad- 
 vanced toward the capital with a view to the 
 conquest of the country, the whole army would 
 
104 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 289. 
 
 Demetrius is hated by his subjects. 
 
 have gone over at once to his side, and that he 
 mi^ht have made himself king of Macedon 
 without any further difficulty or trouble. He 
 did not do this, however, hut withdrew again 
 to Epirus when Demetrius came back into Ma- 
 cedonia. The Macedonians were by no means 
 pleased to see Demetrius return. 
 
 In fact, Demetrius was beginning to be gen- 
 erally hated by all his subjects, being regarded 
 by them all as a conceited and cruel tyrant. 
 He was not only unscrupulously ambitious in 
 respect to the dominions of his neighbors, but 
 he was unjust and overbearing in his treatment 
 of his own friends. Pyrrhus, on the other hand, 
 was kind and courteous to his army, both to the 
 officers and soldiers. He lived in habits of great 
 simplicity, and shared the hardships as well as 
 the toils of those who were under his command. 
 He gave them, too, their share of the glory which 
 he acquired, by attributing his success to their 
 courage and fidelity. At one time, after some 
 brilliant campaign in Macedon, some persons in 
 his army compared his progress to the flight of 
 an eagle. " If I am an eagle," said he in reply, 
 "I owe it to you, for you are the wings by 
 means of which I have risen so high." 
 
 Demetrius, on the other hand, treated the 
 
B.C.288.] Wars in Macedon. 105 
 
 His famous garment. It is left unfinished. 
 
 officers and men under his command with a 
 species of haughtiness and disdain. He seem- 
 ed to regard them as very far heneath him, and 
 to take pleasure in making them feel his vast 
 superiority. He was vain and foppish in his 
 dress, expended great sums in the adornment 
 of his person, decorating his robes and vest- 
 ments, and even his shoes, with gold and pre- 
 cious stones. In fact, he caused the manufac- 
 ture of a garment to be commenced which he 
 intended should outvie in magnificence and in 
 costly adornments all that had ever before been 
 fabricated. This garment was left unfinished 
 at the time of his death, and his successors did 
 not attempt to complete it. They preserved it, 
 however, for a very long time as a curiosity, 
 and as a memorial of vanity and folly. 
 
 Demetrius, too, was addicted to many vices, 
 being accustomed to the unrestrained indul- 
 gence of his appetites and propensities in every 
 form. It was in part owing to these excesses 
 that he became so hateful in manners and char- 
 acter, the habitual indulgence of his animal ap- 
 petites and propensities having had the effect of 
 making him morose and capricious in mind. 
 
 The hostility between Pyrrhus and Deme- 
 trius was very much increased and aggravated 
 
106 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 288. 
 
 Pyrrhus's wives. His motive for marrying Lanassa. 
 
 at one time by a difficulty in which a lady was 
 concerned. Antigone, the first wife of Pyrrhus, 
 died, and after her death Pyrrhus married two 
 or three other wives, according to the custom 
 which prevailed in those days among the Asi- 
 atic kings. Among these wives was Lanassa, 
 the daughter of Agathocles, the king of Syra- 
 cuse. The marriage of Pyrrhus with Antigone 
 was apparently prompted by affection ; but his 
 subsequent alliances seem to have been sim- 
 ple measures of governmental policy, designed 
 only to aid him in extending his dominions or 
 strengthening his power. His inducement for 
 marrying Lanassa was to obtain the island of 
 Corcyra, which the King of Syracuse, who held 
 that island at that time under his dominion, 
 was willing to give to his daughter as her dow- 
 ry. Now the island of Corcyra, as will be seen 
 from the map, was off the coast of Epirus, and 
 very near, so that the possession of it would 
 add very considerably to the value of Pyrrhus's 
 dominion. 
 
 Lanassa was not happy as Pyrrhus's bride. 
 In fact, to have been married for the sake of an 
 island brought as dowry, and to be only one of 
 several wives after all, would not seem to be 
 circumstances particularly encouraging in re- 
 
B.C. 288.] Wars in Macedon. 107 
 
 Lanassa is discontented, and deserts Pyrrlms. 
 
 spect to the promise of conjugal bliss. Lanassa 
 complained that she was neglected ; that the 
 other wives received attentions which were not 
 accorded to her. At last, when she found that 
 she could endure the vexations and trials of her 
 condition no longer, she left her husband and 
 went back to Corcyra, and then sent an invita- 
 tion to Demetrius to come and take possession 
 of the island, and marry her. In a word,v she 
 divorced herself and resumed possession of her 
 dowry, and considered herself at liberty to dis- 
 pose of both her person and her property anew. 
 
 Demetrius accepted the offer which was made 
 him. He went to Corcyra, married Lanassa, 
 and then, leaving a garrison to protect the isl- 
 and from any attempt which Pyrrhus might 
 make to recover it, he went back to Macedon. 
 Of course, after this transaction, Pyrrhus was 
 more incensed against Demetrius than ever. 
 
 Very soon after this Pyrrhus had an opportu- 
 nity to revenge himself for the injury which De- 
 metrius had done him. Demetrius was sick ; 
 he had brought on a fever by excessive drink- 
 ing. Pyrrhus determined to take advantage of 
 the occasion to make a new invasion of Mace- 
 donia. He accordingly crossed the frontier at 
 the head of a numerous army. Demetrius, sick 
 
108 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 288. 
 
 War protracted for many years. 
 
 as he was, mounted on horseback, and put 
 himself at the head of his forces to go out to 
 meet his enemy. Nothing important resulted 
 from this campaign ; but, after some ineffectual 
 attempts at conquest, Pyrrhus returned to his 
 own country. 
 
 In this way the war between Pyrrhus and 
 Demetrius was protracted for many years, with 
 varying success, one party being sometimes tri- 
 umphant, and sometimes the other. At last, 
 at a time when the tide of fortune seemed in- 
 clined to turn against Pyrrhus, some circum- 
 stances occurred which were the means of at- 
 tracting his attention strongly in another direc- 
 tion, and ended in introducing him to a new 
 and very brilliant career in an altogether differ- 
 ent region. These circumstances, and the train 
 of events to which they led, will form the sub- 
 ject of the following chapter. 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. Ill 
 
 The grand expedition into Italy. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 "War in Italy. 
 
 THE grand undertaking in which Pyrrhus 
 now engaged, as indicated in the last chap- 
 ter, the one in which he acquired such great 
 renown, was an expedition into Italy against 
 the Romans. The immediate occasion of his 
 emharking in this enterprise was an invitation 
 which he received from the inhabitants of Ta- 
 rentum to come to their aid.* His predecessor, 
 Alexander, had been drawn into Italy precisely 
 in the same way ; and we might have supposed 
 that Pyrrhus would have been warned by the 
 terrible fate which Alexander met with not to 
 follow in his steps. But military men are nev- 
 er deterred from dangerous undertakings by the 
 disasters which others have encountered in at- 
 tempting them before. In fact, perhaps Pyrrhus 
 was the more eager to try his fortune in this 
 field on account of the calamitous result of his 
 uncle's campaign. He was unwilling that his 
 kingdom of Epirus should rest under the dis- 
 
 * See map. 
 
112 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 The dominion of the Romans. The Tarentines. 
 
 credit of a defeat, and he was fired with a spe- 
 cial ambition to show that he could overcome 
 and triumph where others had been overborne 
 and destroyed. 
 
 The dominion of the Romans had extended 
 itself before this time over a considerable por- 
 tion of Italy, though Tarentum, and the region 
 of country dependent upon it, had not yet been 
 subdued. The Romans were, however, now 
 gradually making their way toward the eastern 
 and southern part of Italy, and they had at 
 length advanced to the frontiers of the Tarentine 
 territory ; and having been met and resisted 
 there by the Tarentine troops, a collision ensued, 
 which was followed by an open and general war. 
 In the struggle, the Tarentines found that they 
 could hot maintain their ground against the 
 Roman soldiery. They were gradually driven 
 back ; and now the city itself was in very im- 
 minent danger. 
 
 The difficulties in which the Tarentines were 
 placed were greatly increased by the fact that 
 there was no well-organized and stable govern- 
 ment ruling in the city. The government was 
 a sort of democracy in its form, and in its ac- 
 tion it seems to have been a democracy of a 
 very turbulent character — the questions of pub- 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 113 
 
 Various parties formed at Tarentum. 
 
 lie policy being debated and decided in assem- 
 blies of the people, where it would seem that 
 there was very little of parliamentary law to 
 regulate the proceedings ; and now the dangers 
 which threatened them on the approach of the 
 Romans distracted their councils more than 
 ever, and produced, in fact, universal disorder 
 and confusion throughout the city. 
 
 Various parties were formed, each of which 
 had its own set of measures to urge and insist 
 upon. Some were for submitting to the Ro- 
 mans, and thus allowing themselves to be incor- 
 porated in the Roman commonwealth ; others 
 were for persevering in their resistance to the 
 last extremity. In the midst of these disputes, 
 it was suggested by some of the counselors that 
 the reason why they had not been able to main- 
 tain their ground againstf their enemies was, 
 that they had no commander of sufficient pre- 
 dominance in rank and authority to concentrate 
 their forces, and employ them in an efficient and 
 advantageous manner ; and they proposed that, 
 in order to supply this very essential deficiency, 
 Pyrrhus should be invited to come and take the 
 command of their forces. This plan was strong- 
 ly opposed by the more considerate and far-sight- 
 ed of the people ; for they well knew that when 
 H 
 
114 P YE RHUS. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Boisterous meetings. Meton's artifice. 
 
 a foreign power was called in, in such a manner, 
 as a temporary friend and ally, it almost always 
 became, in the end, a permanent master. The 
 mass of the people of the city, however, were so 
 excited hy the imminence of the immediate 
 peril, that it was impossible to impress them 
 with any concern for so remote and uncertain 
 a danger, and it was determined that Pyrrhus 
 should he called. 
 
 It was said that the meetings which were 
 held by the Tarentines while these proceedings 
 were in progress, were so boisterous and disor- 
 derly that, as often happens in democratic as- 
 semblies, the voices of those who were in the 
 minority could not be heard ; and that at last 
 one of the public men, who was opposed to the 
 plan of sending the invitation to Pyrrhus, resort- 
 ed to a singular device in order to express his 
 opinion. The name of this personage was Me- 
 ton. The artifice which he adopted was this : 
 he disguised himself as a strolling mountebank 
 and musician, and then, pretending to be half 
 intoxicated, he came into the assembly with a 
 garland upon his head, a torch in his hand, and 
 with a woman playing on a sort of flute to ac- 
 company him. On seeing him enter the assem- 
 bly, the people all turned their attention toward 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 115 
 
 Meton succeeds in accomplishing his aim. 
 
 him. Some laughed, some clapped their hands, 
 and others called out to him to give them a 
 song. Meton prepared to do so ; and when, af- 
 ter much difficulty, silence was at length ob- 
 tained, Meton came forward into the space that 
 had been made for him, and, throwing off his 
 disguise, he called out aloud, 
 
 " Men of Tarentum ! You do well in calling 
 for a song, and in enjoying the pleasures of mirth 
 and merriment while you may ; for I warn 
 you that you will see very little like mirth or 
 merriment in Tarentum after Pyrrhus comes." 
 
 The astonishment which this sudden turn in 
 the affair occasioned, was succeeded for a mo- 
 ment by a murmur of assent, which seemed to 
 pass though the assembly ; the good sense of 
 many of the spectators being surprised, as it 
 were, into an admission that the sentiment 
 which Meton had so surreptitiously found means 
 to express to them was true. This pause was, 
 however, but momentary. A scene of violent 
 excitement and confusion ensued, and Meton 
 and the woman were expelled from the meet- 
 ing without any ceremony. 
 
 The resolution of sending for Pyrrhus was 
 confirmed, and embassadors were soon afterward 
 dispatched to Epirus. The message which they 
 
116 Pyerhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Pyrrhus is invited to come to Tarcntum. 
 
 communicated to Pyrrhus on their arrival was, 
 that the Tarentines, being engaged in a war 
 with the Romans, invited Pyrrhus to come and 
 take command of their armies. They had 
 troops enough, they said, and all necessary pro- 
 visions and munitions of war. All that they 
 now required was an able and efficient general ; 
 and if Pyrrhus would come over to them and 
 assume the command, they would at once put 
 him at the head of an army of twenty thousand 
 horse and three hundred and fifty thousand foot 
 soldiers. 
 
 It seems incredible that a state should have 
 attained to such a degree of prosperity and pow- 
 er as to be able to bring such a force as this 
 into the field, while under the government of 
 men who, when convened for the consideration 
 of questions of public policy in a most moment- 
 ous crisis, were capable of having their atten- 
 tion drawn off entirely from the business before 
 them by the coming in of a party of strolling 
 mountebanks and players. Yet such is the ac- 
 count recorded by one of the greatest historians 
 of ancient times. 
 
 Pyrrhus was, of course, very much elated at 
 receiving this communication. The tidings, 
 too, produced great excitement among all the 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 117 
 
 Great numbers of volunteers. 
 
 people of Epirus. Great numbers immediately 
 began to offer themselves as volunteers to ac- 
 company the expedition. Pyrrhus determined 
 at once to embark in the enterprise, and he 
 commenced making preparations for it on a very 
 magnificent scale ; for, notwithstanding the as- 
 surance which the Tarentines had given him 
 that they had a very large body of men already 
 assembled, Pyrrhus seems to have thought it 
 best to take with him a force of his own. 
 
 As soon as a part of his army was ready, he 
 sent them forward under the command of a dis- 
 tinguished general and minister of state, named 
 Cineas. Cineas occupied a very high position 
 in Pyrrhus's court. He was a Thessalian by 
 birth. He had been educated in Grreece, under 
 Demosthenes, and he was a very accomplished 
 scholar and orator as well as statesman. Pyr- 
 rhus had employed him in embassies and nego- 
 tiations of various kinds from time to time, and 
 Cineas had always discharged these trusts in a 
 very able and satisfactory manner. In fact, 
 Pyrrhus, with his customary courtesy in ac- 
 knowledging his obligations to those whom he 
 employed, used to say that Cineas had gained 
 him more cities by his address than he had 
 ever conquered for himself by his arms. 
 
118 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Cincas propounds questions to Fyrrhus. 
 
 Cineas, it was said, was, in the outset, not 
 much in favor of this expedition into Italy. 
 The point of view in which he regarded such 
 an enterprise was shown in a remarkable con- 
 versation which he held with Pyrrhus while 
 the preparations were going on. He took occa- 
 sion to introduce the subject one day, when 
 Pyrrhus was for a short period at leisure in the 
 midst of his work, by saying, 
 
 " The Romans are famed as excellent sol- 
 diers, and they have many warlike nations in 
 alliance with them. But suppose we succeed 
 in our enterprise and conquer them, what use 
 shall we make of our victory ?" 
 
 "Your question answers itself," replied the 
 king. " The Romans are the predominant pow- 
 er in Italy. If they are once subdued, there 
 will be nothing in Italy that can withstand us ; 
 we can go on immediately and make ourselves 
 masters of the whole country." 
 
 After a short pause, during which he seemed 
 to be reflecting on the career of victory which 
 Pyrrhus was thus opening to view, Cineas 
 added, 
 
 " And after we have conquered Italy, what 
 shall we do next ?" 
 
 "Why, there is Sicily very near," replied 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 119 
 
 Pyrrlius explains his designs and plans. 
 
 Pyrrhus, " a very fruitful and populous island, 
 and one which we shall then very easily he 
 able to subdue. It is now in a very unsettled 
 state, and could do nothing effectual to resist 
 us." 
 
 "I think that is very true," said Cineas ; 
 " and after we make ourselves masters of Sicily, 
 what shall we do then ?" 
 
 " Then," replied Pyrrhus, " we can cross the 
 Mediterranean to Lybia and Carthage. The 
 distance is not very great, and we shall be able 
 to land on the African coast at the head of such 
 a force that we shall easily make ourselves mas- 
 ters of the whole country. We shall then have 
 so extended and established our power, that no 
 enemy can be found in any quarter who will 
 think of opposing us." 
 
 " That is very truef" said Cineas ; " and so 
 you will then be able to put down effectually 
 all your old enemies in Thessaly, Macedon, and 
 Greece, and make yourself master of all those 
 countries. And when all this is accomplished, 
 what shall we do then ?" 
 
 " Why, then," said Pyrrhus, " we can sit 
 down and take our ease, and eat, drink, and be 
 merry." 
 
 "And why," rejoined Cineas, "can not we 
 
120 P ye rhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 The opinion of Cineas on the subject. 
 
 sit down and take our ease, and enjoy ourselves 
 now, instead of taking all this trouble before- 
 hand? You have already at your command 
 every possible means of enjoyment ; why not 
 make yourself happy with them now, instead 
 of entering on a course which will lead to such 
 dreadful toils and dangers, such innumerable 
 calamities, and through such seas of blood, and 
 yet bring you after all, at the end, nothing more 
 than you have at the beginning ?" 
 
 It may, perhaps, be a matter of doubt whether 
 Cineas intended this as a serious remonstrance 
 against the execution of Pyrrhus's designs, or 
 only as an ingenious and good-humored satire 
 on the folly of ambition, to amuse the mind of 
 his sovereign in some momentary interval of 
 leisure that came in the midst of his cares. 
 However it may have been intended, it made 
 no serious impression on the mind of Pyrrhus, 
 and produced no change in his plans. The 
 work of preparation went vigorously on ; and 
 as soon as a portion of the troops were ready to 
 embark, Cineas was put in command of them, 
 and they crossed the Adriatic Sea. After this, 
 Tyrrhus completed the organization of the re- 
 maining force. It consisted of twenty elephants, 
 three thousand horse, and twenty thousand foot, 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 121 
 
 Pyrrhus sets sail. His fleet und army. 
 
 with two thousand archers, and twenty thou- 
 sand slingers. When all was ready, Pyrrhus 
 put these troops on board a large fleet of gal- 
 leys, transports, and flat-bottomed boats, which 
 had been sent over to him from Tarentum by 
 Cineas for the purpose, and at length set sail. 
 He left Ptolemy, his eldest son, then about fif- 
 teen years old, regent of the kingdom, and took 
 two younger sons, Alexander and Plelenas, with 
 him. The expedition was destined, it seems, to 
 begin in disaster ; for no sooner had Pyrrhus 
 set sail than a terrible storm arose, which, for a 
 time, threatened the total destruction of the 
 fleet, and of all who were on board of it. The 
 ship which conveyed Pyrrhus himself was, 
 of course, larger and better manned than the 
 others, and it succeeded at length, a little after 
 midnight, in reachingjfche Italian shore, while 
 the rest of the fleet were driven at the mercy 
 of the winds, and dispersed in every direction 
 over the sea, far and wide. But, though Pyr- 
 rhus's ship approached the shore, the violence of 
 the winds and waves was so great, that for a 
 long time it was impossible for those on board 
 to land. At length the wind suddenly changed 
 its direction, and began to blow very violently 
 off the shore, so that there seemed to be great 
 
122 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Pyrrhus narrowly escapes death by shipwreck. 
 
 probability that the ship would be driven to sea 
 again. In fact, so imminent was the danger, 
 that Pyrrhus determined to throw himself into 
 the sea and attempt to swim to the shore. Ho 
 accordingly did so, and was immediately fol- 
 lowed by his attendants and guards, who leap- 
 ed into the water after him, and did every thing 
 in their power to assist him in gaining the land. 
 The danger, however, was extreme ; for the 
 darkness of the night, the roaring of the winds 
 and waves, and the violence with which the 
 surf regurgitated from the shore, rendered the 
 scene terrific beyond description. At last, how- 
 ever, about daybreak, the shipwrecked company 
 succeeded in gaining the land. 
 
 Pyrrhus was almost completely exhausted in 
 body by the fatigues and exposures which he 
 had endured, but he appeared to be by no means 
 depressed in mind. The people of the country 
 flocked down to the coast to render aid. Sev- 
 eral other vessels afterward succeeded in reach- 
 ing the shore ; and as the wind now rapidly sub- 
 sided, the men on board of them found compar- 
 atively little difficulty in. effecting a landing. 
 Pyrrhus collected the remnant thus saved, and 
 marshaled them on the shore. He found that 
 he had about two thousand foot, a small body 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 123 
 
 He establishes himself at Tarentum. 
 
 of horse, and two elephants. "With this force 
 he immediately set out on his march to Taren- 
 tum. As he approached the city, Cineas came 
 out to meet him at the head of the forces which 
 had been placed at his command, and which 
 had made the passage in safety. 
 
 As soon as Pyrrhus found himself established 
 in Tarentum, he immediately assumed the com- 
 mand of every thing there, as if he were al- 
 ready the acknowledged sovereign of the city. 
 In fact, he found the city in so disorganized and 
 defenseless a condition, that this assumption of 
 power on his part seemed to he justified by the 
 necessity of the case. The inhabitants, as is 
 often the fact with men when their affairs are 
 in an extreme and desperate condition, had bo- 
 come reckless. Every where throughout the 
 city disorder and idleness reigned supreme. The 
 men spent their time in strolling about from 
 place to place, or sitting idly at home, or gath- 
 ering in crowds at places of public diversion. 
 They had abandoned all care or concern about 
 public affairs, trusting to Pyrrhus to save them 
 from the impending danger. Pyrrhus perceived, 
 accordingly, that an entire revolution in the in- 
 ternal condition of the city was indispensably 
 required, and he immediately took most em- 
 
124 Pyrrhus. [B.C.2S0. 
 
 « ' 
 
 Pyrrhus adopts very decisive measures. 
 
 cient measures for effecting it. He shut up all 
 the places of public amusement, and even the 
 public walks and promenades, and put an end 
 to all feastings, revels, and entertainments. 
 Every man capable of bearing arms was enrol- 
 led in the army, and the troops thus formed were 
 brought out daily for severe and long-protract- 
 ed drillings and reviews. The people complain- 
 ed loudly of these exactions ; but Pyrrhus had 
 the power in his hands, and they were compel- 
 led to submit. Many of the inhabitants, how- 
 ever, were so dissatisfied with these proceed- 
 ings, that they went away and left the city al- 
 together. Of course it was those who were the 
 most hopelessly idle, dissolute, and reckless that 
 thus withdrew, while the more hardy and reso- 
 lute remained. While these changes were going 
 on, Pyrrhus set up and repaired the defenses of 
 the city. He secured the walls, and strength- 
 ened the gates, and organized a complete sys- 
 tem of guards and sentries. In a word, the con- 
 dition of Tarentum was soon entirely changed. 
 From being an exposed and defenseless town, 
 filled with devotees of idleness and pleasure, it 
 became a fortress, well secured at all points 
 with material defenses, and occupied by a well- 
 disciplined and resolute garrison. 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 125 
 
 The Tarentines were Greeks in origin. 
 
 The inhabitants of the southeastern part of 
 Italy, where Tarentum was situated, were of 
 Greek origin, the country having been settled, 
 as it would seem, by emigrants from the oppo- 
 site shores of the Adriatic Sea. Their language, 
 therefore, as well as their customs and usages 
 of life, were different from those of the Roman 
 communities that occupied the western parts of 
 the peninsula. Now the Greeks at this period 
 regarded themselves as the only truly civilized 
 people in the world ; all other nations they call- 
 ed barbarians. The people of Tarentum, there- 
 fore, in sending for Pyrrhus to come to their aid 
 against the Romans, did not consider him as a 
 foreigner brought in to help them in a civil war 
 against their own countrymen, but rather as a 
 fellow-countryman coming to aid them in a war 
 against foreigners. They regarded him as be- 
 longing to the same race and lineage with them- 
 selves, while the enemies who were coming 
 from beyond the Apennines to assail them they 
 looked upon as a foreign and barbarous horde, 
 against whom it was for the common interest 
 of all nations of Greek descent to combine. It 
 was this identity of interest between Pyrrhus 
 and the people whom he came to aid, in respect 
 both to their national origin and the cause in 
 
126 
 
 Pyerhus. 
 
 [B.C. 280. 
 
 Troops cornc in slowly. 
 
 
 Lcsvinus. 
 
 which they were engaged, which made it possible 
 for him to assume so supreme an authority over 
 all their affairs when he arrived at Tarentum. 
 
 The people of the neighboring cities were slow 
 in sending in to Pyrrhus the quotas of troops 
 which the Tarentines had promised him; and 
 before his force was collected, the tidings ar- 
 rived that the Romans were coming on at the 
 head of a great army, under the command of 
 the consul Lsevinus. Pyrrhus immediately pre- 
 pared to go forth to meet them. He marshal- 
 ed the troops that were already assembled, and 
 leaving the city, he advanced to meet the con- 
 sul. After proceeding some way, he sent for- 
 ward an embassador to the camp of Laevinus to 
 propose to that general that, before coming to 
 extremities, an effort should be made to settle 
 the dispute between the Romans and Taren- 
 tines in some amicable manner, and offering Ins 
 services as an umpire and mediator for this pur- 
 pose. To this embassage Lsevinus coolly re- 
 plied "that he did not choose to accept Pyrrhus 
 as a mediator, and that he did not fear him as 
 an enemy." Of course, after receiving such a 
 message as this, there was nothing left to Pyr- 
 rhus but to prepare for war. 
 
 He advanced, accordingly, at the head of his 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 127 
 
 Pyrrlms sees a Roman encampment. 
 
 troops, until, at length, he reached a plain, where 
 he encamped with all his forces. There was a 
 river before him, a small stream called the River 
 Siris.* The Romans came up and encamped 
 on the opposite side of the hank of this stream. 
 Pyrrmis mounted his horse and rode to an emi- 
 nence near the river to take a view of them. 
 
 He was much surprised at what he saw. The 
 order of the troops, the systematic and regular 
 arrangement of guards and sentinels, and the 
 regularity of the whole encampment, excited 
 his admiration.! 
 
 " Barbarians !" said he. " There is certainly 
 nothing of the barbarian in their manner of ar- 
 ranging their encampment, and we shall soon 
 see how it is with them in other respects." 
 
 So saying, he turned away, and rode to his 
 own camp. He, however, now began to be very 
 seriously concerned in respect to the result of 
 the approaching contest. The enemy with whom 
 he was about to engage was obviously a far 
 more formidable one than he had anticipated. 
 He resolved to remain where he was until the 
 allies whom he was expecting from the other 
 Grecian cities should arrive. He accordingly 
 took measures for fortifying himself as strongly 
 * See map. t See Frontispiece. 
 
12S Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 The Romans attack Pyrrhus by crossing the river. 
 
 as possible in his position, and he sent down a 
 strong detachment from his main body to the 
 river, to guard the bank and prevent the Ro- 
 mans from crossing to attack him. Leevinus, 
 on the other hand, knowing that Pyrrhus was 
 expecting strong re-enforcements, determined 
 not to wait till they should come, but resolved 
 to cross the river at once, notwithstanding the 
 guard which Pyrrhus had placed on the bank 
 to dispute the passage. 
 
 The Romans did not attempt to cross the 
 stream in one body. The troops were divided, 
 and the several columns advanced to the river 
 and entered the water at different points up and 
 down the stream, the foot-soldiers at the fords, 
 where the water was most shallow, and the 
 horsemen at other places — the most favorable 
 that they could find . In this manner the whole 
 river was soon filled with soldiers. The guard 
 which Pyrrhus had posted on the bank found 
 that they were wholly unable to withstand such 
 multitudes ; in fact, they began to fear that 
 they might be surrounded. They accordingly 
 abandoned the bank of the river, and retreated 
 to the main body of the army. 
 
 Pyrrhus was greatly concerned at this event, 
 and began to consider himself in imminent dan- 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 129 
 
 Extraordinary spectacle. Pyrrhus conspicuous. 
 
 ger. He drew up his foot-soldiers in battle ar- 
 ray, and ordered them to stand by their arms, 
 while he himself advanced, at the head of the 
 horsemen, toward the river. As soon as he came 
 to the bank, an extraordinary spectacle present- 
 ed itself to view. The surface of the stream 
 seemed covered in every part with shields, rising 
 a little above the water, as they were held up 
 by the arms of the horsemen and footmen who 
 were coming over. As fast as the Romans land- 
 ed, they formed an array on the shore, and Pyr- 
 rhus, advancing to them, gave them battle. 
 
 The contest was maintained, with the utmost 
 determination and fury on both sides, for a long 
 time. Pyrrhus himself was very conspicuous 
 in the fight, for he wore a very costly and mag- 
 nificent armor, and so resplendent in lustre 
 withal as to be an objoet of universal attention. 
 Notwithstanding this, he exposed himself in the 
 hottest parts of the engagement, charging upon 
 the enemy with the most dauntless intrepidity 
 whenever there was occasion, and moving up 
 and down the lines, wherever his aid or the en- 
 couragement of his presence was most required. 
 At length one of his generals, named Leonatus, 
 rode up to him and said, 
 
 " Do you see, sire, that barbarian trooper, on 
 I 
 
130 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Combat between Pyrrhus and Leonatus. 
 
 the black horse with the white feet ? I counsel 
 you to beware of him. He seems to be medi- 
 tating some deep design against you ; he singles 
 you out, and keeps his eye constantly upon you, 
 and follows you wherever you go. He is watch- 
 ing an opportunity to execute some terrible de- 
 sign, and you will do well to be on your guard 
 against him." 
 
 " Leonatus," said Pyrrhus, in reply, " we can 
 not contend against our destiny, I know very 
 well; but it is my opinion that neither that 
 man, nor any other man in the Roman army 
 that seeks an encounter with me, will have any 
 reason to congratulate himself on the result of 
 it." 
 
 He had scarcely spoken these words when he 
 saw the horseman whom Leonatus had pointed 
 out coming down upon him at full speed, with 
 his spear grasped firmly in his hands, and the 
 iron point of it aimed directly at Pyrrhus. Pyr- 
 rhus sprang immediately to meet his antagonist, 
 bringing his own spear into aim at the same 
 time. The horses met, and were both thrown 
 down by the shock of the encounter. The friends 
 of Pyrrhus rushed to the spot. They found both 
 horses had been thrust through by the spears, 
 and they both lay now upon the ground, dying. 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 131 
 
 Pyrrhus in dreadful danger. The elephants. 
 
 Some of the men drew Pyrrhus out from under 
 his horse and bore him off the field, while others 
 stabbed and killed the Roman where he lay. 
 
 Pyrrhus, having escaped this terrible danger, 
 determined now to be more upon his guard. 
 He supposed, in fact, that the Roman officers 
 would be made furious by the death of their 
 comrade, and would make the most desperate 
 efforts to avenge him. He accordingly con- 
 trived to find an opportunity, in the midst of 
 the confusion of the battle, to put off the armor 
 which made him so conspicuous, by exchang- 
 ing with one of his officers, named Megacles. 
 Having thus disguised himself, he returned to 
 the battle. He brought up the foot-soldiers and 
 the elephants ; and, instead of employing him- 
 self, as heretofore, in performing single feats of 
 personal valor, he devoted all his powers to di- 
 recting the arrangements of the battle, encour- 
 aging the men, and rallying them when they 
 were for a time driven away from their ground. 
 
 By the exchange of armor which Pyrrhus 
 thus made he probably saved his life ; for Me- 
 gacles, wherever he appeared after he had as- 
 sumed the dress of Pyrrhus, found himself al- 
 ways surrounded by enemies, who pressed upon 
 him incessantly and every where in great num- 
 
132 
 
 Pyrrhus. 
 
 Trophies borne through the field. 
 
 [B.C. 280. 
 
 bers, and he was finally killed. When he fell, 
 the men who slew him seized the glittering 
 helmet and the resplendent cloak that he wore, 
 and bore them off in triumph into the Roman 
 
 The Trophies. 
 
 lines, as proof that Pyrrhus was slain. The tid- 
 ings, as it passed along from rank to rank of the 
 army, awakened a long and loud shout of ac- 
 clamation and triumph, which greatly excited 
 and animated the Romans, while it awakened 
 in the army of Pyrrhus a correspondent emotion 
 of discouragement and fear. In fact, for a short 
 time it was universally believed in both armies 
 that Pyrrhus was dead. In order to correct this 
 false impression among his own troops, which 
 
B.C. 280.] War in Italy. 133 
 
 Pyrrhus shows himself. The Romans defeated. 
 
 threatened for a season to produce the most fatal 
 effects, Pyrrhus rode along the ranks with his 
 head uncovered, showing himself to his men, 
 and shouting to them that he was yet alive. 
 
 At length, after a long and very obstinate 
 conflict, the Greeks gained the victory. This 
 result was due in the end, in a great measure, 
 to the elephants which Pyrrhus brought into 
 the battle. The Roman horses, being wholly 
 unused to the sight of such huge beasts, were 
 terrified beyond measure at the spectacle, and 
 fled in dismay whenever they saw the monsters 
 coming. In fact, in some cases, the riders lost 
 all command of their horses, and the troop turn- 
 ed and fled, bearing down and overwhelming 
 the ranks of their friends behind them. In the 
 end the Romans were wholly driven from the 
 field. They did not even return to their camp, 
 but, after recrossing the river in confusion, they 
 fled in all directions, abandoning the whole 
 country to their conqueror. Pyrrhus then ad- 
 vanced across the river and took possession of 
 the Roman camp. 
 
134 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 2S0. 
 
 Effects of the victory. Public opinion at Rome. 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 Negotiations. 
 
 THE result of the battle on the banks of the 
 Siris, decisive and complete as the victory 
 was on the part of the Greeks, produced, of 
 course, a very profound sensation at Rome. In- 
 stead, however, of discouraging and dishearten- 
 ing the Roman senate and people, it only aroused 
 them to fresh energy and determination. The 
 victory was considered as wholly due to the ex- 
 traordinary military energy and skill of Pyrrhus, 
 and not to any superiority of the Greek troops 
 over those of the Romans in courage, in disci- 
 pline, or in efficiency in the field. In fact, it was 
 a saying at Rome at the time, that it was Lre- 
 vinus that had been conquered by Pyrrhus in 
 the battle, and not the Romans by the Greeks. 
 The Roman government, accordingly, began im- 
 mediately to enlist new recruits, and to make 
 preparations for a new campaign, more ample 
 and complete, and on a far greater scale than 
 before. 
 
 Pyrrhus was much surprised when he heard 
 
B.C.2S0.] Negotiations. 135 
 
 Expectations of Pyrrhus. His mistake. 
 
 these things. He had supposed that the Romans 
 would have heen disheartened hy the defeat 
 which they had sustained, and would now think 
 only of proposals and negotiations for peace. He 
 seems to have heen hut very imperfectly inform- 
 ed in respect to the condition of the Roman com- 
 monwealth at this period, and to the degree of 
 power to which it had attained. He supposed 
 that, after suffering so signal and decisive a de- 
 feat, the Romans would regard themselves as 
 conquered, and that nothing remained to them 
 now hut to consider how they could make the 
 hest terms with their conqueror. The Roman 
 troops had, indeed, withdrawn from the neigh- 
 horhood of the place where the hattle had been 
 fought, and had left Pyrrhus to take possession 
 of the ground without molestation. Pyrrhus 
 was even allowed to advance some considerable 
 distance toward Rome; but he soon learned 
 that, notwithstanding their temporary reverses, 
 his enemies had not the most remote intention 
 of submitting to him, but were making prepara- 
 tions to take the field again with a greater force 
 than ever. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Pyrrhus was for 
 a time somewhat at a loss what to do. Should 
 he follow up his victory, and advance boldly to- 
 
136 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Cineas sent an embassador to Home. 
 
 ward the capital, with a view of overcoming the 
 Roman power entirely, or should he he satisfied 
 with the advantage which he had already gain- 
 ed, and be content, for the present, with being 
 master of Western Italy ? After much hesita- 
 tion, he concluded on the latter course. He ac- 
 cordingly suspended his hostile operations, and 
 prepared to send an embassador to Rome to pro- 
 pose peace. Cineas was, of course, the embas- 
 sador commissioned to act on this occasion. 
 
 Cineas accordingly proceeded to Rome. He 
 was accompanied by a train of attendants suit- 
 able to his rank as a royal embassador, and he 
 took with him a great number of costly presents 
 to be offered to the leading men in Rome, by 
 way, as it would seem, of facilitating his nego- 
 tiations. The nature of the means which he 
 thus appears to have relied upon in his embassy 
 to Rome may, perhaps, indicate the secret of 
 his success in the diplomatic duties which he 
 had performed in Greece and in Asia, where he 
 had acquired so much distinction for his dexter- 
 ity in negotiating treaties favorable to the inter- 
 ests of his master. However this may be, Cin- 
 eas found that the policy which he conterr 
 plated would not answer in Rome. Soon after 
 his arrival in the city, and in an early stage of 
 
B.C.280.] Negotiations. 137 
 
 Cineas's plans for bribing the Roman senators. 
 
 the negotiations, he began to offer his presents 
 to the public men with whom he had to deal ; 
 but they refused to accept them. The Roman 
 senators to whom the gifts were offered return- 
 ed them all, saying that, in case a treaty should 
 be concluded, and peace made between the two 
 nations, they should then have no objections to 
 an interchange of such civilities ; but, while the 
 negotiations were pending, they conceived it im- 
 proper for them to receive any such offerings. 
 It may, perhaps, be taken as an additional proof 
 of the nature of the influences which Cineas was 
 accustomed to rely upon in his diplomatic under- 
 takings, that he offered many of his gifts on this 
 occasion to the ladies of the Roman senators as 
 well as to the senators themselves ; but the 
 wives were found as incorruptible as the hus- 
 bands. The gifts were^all alike returned. 
 
 Not discouraged by the failure of this attempt, 
 Cineas obtained permission of the Roman sen- 
 ate to appear before them, and to address them 
 on the subject of the views which Pyrrhus en- 
 tertained in respect to the basis of the peace 
 which he proposed. On the appointed day 
 Cineas went to the senate-chamber, and there 
 made a long and very able and eloquent ad- 
 dress, in the presence of the senate and of the 
 
138 Pyrriius. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Speech of Cineas in the Roman senate. 
 
 principal inhabitants of the city. He was very 
 much impressed on this occasion with the spec- 
 tacle which the august assembly presented to 
 his view. He said afterward, in fact, that the 
 Roman senate seemed to him like a congress 
 of kings, so dignified and imposing was the ap- 
 pearance of the body, and so impressive was the 
 air of calmness and gravity which reigned in 
 their deliberations. Cineas made a very able 
 and effective speech. He explained the views 
 and proposals of Pyrrhus, presenting them in a 
 light as favorable and attractive as possible. 
 Pyrrhus was willing, he said, to make peace on 
 equal terms. He proposed that he should give 
 up all his prisoners without ransom, and that 
 the Romans should give up theirs. He would 
 then form an alliance with the Romans, and 
 aid them in the future conquests that they 
 meditated. All he asked was that he might 
 have the sanction of the Roman government to 
 his retaining Tarentum and the countries con- 
 nected with and dependent upon it ; and that, 
 in maintaining his dominion over these lands, 
 he might look upon the Roman people as his 
 allies and friends. 
 
 After Cineas had concluded his speech and 
 had withdrawn from the senate-chamber, a de- 
 
B.C. 280.] Negotiations. 139 
 
 Debate in the senate. An incident of the discussion. 
 
 bate arose among the senators on the proposi- 
 tions which he had made to them. There was 
 a difference of opinion ; some were for rejecting 
 the proposals at once ; others thought that they 
 ought to be accepted. Those who were in- 
 clined to peace urged the wisdom of acceding 
 to Pyrrhus's proposals by representing the great 
 danger of continuing the war. " "We have al- 
 ready," said they, "lost one great and decisive 
 battle ; and, in case of the renewal of the strug- 
 gle, we must expect to find our enemy still more 
 formidable than he was before ; for many of the 
 Italian nations of the eastern coast have joined 
 his standard since hearing of the victory which 
 he has obtained, and more are coming in. His 
 strength, in fact, is growing greater and greater 
 every day ; and it is better for us to make peace 
 with him now, on the-honorable terms which 
 he proposes to us, rather than to risk another 
 battle, which may lead to the most disastrous 
 consequences." 
 
 In the midst of this discussion, an aged sen- 
 ator, who had been for a long time incapaci- 
 tated by his years and infirmities from appear- 
 ing in his seat, was seen coming to the assem- 
 bly, supported and led by his sons and sons-in- 
 law, who were making way for him in the pas- 
 
140 Pyrkiius. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Appius Claudius is brought on a bed to the senate. 
 
 sawes and conducting him in. His name was 
 Appius Claudius. He was blind and almost 
 helpless through age and infirmity. He had 
 heard in his chamber of the irresolution of the 
 senate in respect to the further prosecution of 
 the war with Pyrrhus, and had caused himself 
 to be taken from his bed and borne through the 
 streets by servants on a chair to the senate- 
 house, that he might there once more raise his 
 voice to save, if possible, the honor and dignity 
 of his country. As he entered the chamber, he 
 became at once the object of universal atten- 
 tion. As soon as he reached his seat, a respect- 
 ful silence began to prevail throughout the as- 
 sembly, all listening to hear what he had to say. 
 He expressed himself as follows : 
 
 " Senators of Rome, — I am blind, and I have 
 been accustomed to consider my blindness as a 
 calamity ; but now I could wish that I had been 
 deaf as well as blind, and then I might never 
 have heard of the disgrace which seems to im- 
 pend over my country. Where are now the 
 boastings that we made when Alexander the 
 Great commenced his career, that if he had 
 turned his arms toward Italy and Rome, in- 
 stead of Persia and the East, we would never 
 have submitted to him ; that he never would 
 
B.C. 280.] Negotiations. 141 
 
 Speech of Appius Claudius. 
 
 have gained the renown of heing invincible if 
 he had only attacked us, but would, on the 
 other hand, if he invaded our dominions, only 
 have contributed to the glory of the Roman 
 name by his flight or his fall ? These boasts we 
 made so loudly that the echo of them spread 
 throughout the world. And yet now, here is 
 an obscure adventurer who has landed on our 
 shores as an enemy and an invader, and be- 
 cause he has met with a partial and temporary 
 success, you are debating whether you shall not 
 make an ignominious peace with him, and al- 
 low him to remain. How vain and foolish does 
 all our boastful defiance of Alexander appear 
 when we now tremble at the name of Pyrrhus 
 — a man who has been all his life a follower and 
 dependent of one of Alexander's inferior gener- 
 als — a man who has scarcely been able to main- 
 tain himself in his own dominions — who could 
 not retain even a small and insignificant part 
 of Macedon which he had conquered, but was 
 driven ignominiously from it ; and who comes 
 into Italy now rather as a refugee than a con- 
 queror — an adventurer who seeks power here 
 because he can not sustain himself at home ! I 
 warn you not to expect that you can gain any 
 thing by making such a peace with him as he 
 
142 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Effect of his speech on the senate. 
 
 proposes. Such a peace makes no atonement 
 for the past, and it offers no security for the fu- 
 ture. On the contrary, it will open the door to 
 other invaders, who will come, encouraged hy 
 Pyrrhus's success, and emboldened hy the con- 
 tempt which they will feel for you in allowing 
 yourselves to be thus braved and insulted with 
 impunity." 
 
 The effect of this speech on the senate was 
 to produce a unanimous determination to carry 
 on the war. Cineas was accordingly dismiss- 
 ed with this answer : that the Romans would 
 listen to no propositions for peace while Pyrrhus 
 remained in Italy. If he would withdraw from 
 the country altogether, and retire to his own 
 proper dominions, they would then listen to any 
 proposals that he might make for a treaty of al- 
 liance and amity. So long, however, as he re- 
 mained on Italian ground, they would make no 
 terms with him whatever, though he should 
 gain a thousand victories, but would wage war 
 upon him to the last extremity. 
 
 Cineas returned to the camp of Pyrrhus, bear- 
 ing this reply. He communicated also to Pyr- 
 rhus a great deal of information in respect to 
 the government and the people of Rome, the 
 extent of the population, and the wealth and 
 
B.C. 280.] Negotiations. 143 
 
 Cineas makes report of his mission. 
 
 resources of the city ; for while he had been 
 engaged in conducting his negotiations, he had 
 made every exertion to obtain intelligence on all 
 these points, and he had been a very attentive 
 and sagacious observer of all that he had seen. 
 The account which he gave was very little cal- 
 culated to encourage Pyrrhus in his future hopes 
 and expectations. The people of Rome, Cineas 
 said, were far more numerous than he had be- 
 fore supposed. They had now already on foot 
 an army twice as large as the one which Pyr- 
 rhus had defeated, and multitudes besides were 
 still left in the city, of a suitable age for enlist- 
 ing, sufficient to form even larger armies still. 
 The prospect, in a word, was very far from such 
 as to promise Pyrrhus an easy victory. 
 
 Of course, both parties began now to prepare 
 vigorously for war. Before hostilities were re- 
 sumed, however, the Romans sent a messenger 
 to the camp of Pyrrhus to negotiate an ex- 
 change of prisoners. The name of this embas- 
 sador was Fabricius. Fabricius, as Pyrrhus 
 was informed by Cineas, was very highly es- 
 teemed at Rome for his integrity and for his 
 military abilities, but he was without property, 
 being dependent wholly on his pay as an officer 
 of the army. Pyrrhus received Fabricius in 
 
144 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 279. 
 
 Fabricius sent to Pyrrhus. His reception. 
 
 the most respectful manner, and treated him 
 with every mark of consideration and honor. 
 He, moreover, offered him privately a large sum 
 of money in gold. He told Fabricius that, in 
 asking his acceptance of such a gift, he did not 
 do it for any base purpose, but intended it only 
 as a token of friendship and hospitality. Fa- 
 bricius, however, refused to accept the present, 
 and Pyrrhus pressed him no further. 
 
 The next day Pyrrhus formed a plan for giv- 
 ing his guest a little surprise. He supposed 
 that he had never seen an elephant, and he ac- 
 cordingly directed that one of the largest of 
 these animals should be placed secretly behind 
 a curtain, in an apartment where Fabricius 
 was to be received. The elephant was covered 
 with his armor, and splendidly caparisoned. 
 After Fabricius had come in, and while he was 
 sitting in the apartment wholly unconscious of 
 what was before him, all at once the curtain 
 was raised, and the elephant was suddenly 
 brought to view ; and, at the same instant, the 
 huge animal, raising his trunk, flourished it in 
 a threatening manner over Fabricius's head, 
 making at the same time a frightful cry, such 
 as he had been trained to utter for the purpose 
 of striking terror into the enemy, in charging 
 
B.C. 279.] Negotiations. 145 
 
 The elephant concealed in the tent. 
 
 The Elephant concealed. 
 
 upon them on the field of battle. Fabricius, 
 instead of appearing terrified, or even astonish- 
 ed at the spectacle, sat quietly in his seat, to all 
 appearance entirely unmoved, and, turning to 
 Pyrrhus with an air of the utmost composure, 
 said coolly, " You see that you make no impres- 
 sion upon me, either by your gold yesterday or 
 by your beast to-day." 
 
 Pyrrhus was not at all displeased with this 
 answer, blunt as it may seem. On the contra- 
 ry, he seems to have been very deeply impress- 
 ed with a sense of the stern and incorruptible 
 virtue of Fabricius's character, and he felt a 
 K 
 
146 P. ye rhus. [B.C. 279. 
 
 Pyrrhus makes great offers to Fabricius. 
 
 strong desire to obtain the services of such an 
 officer in his own court and army. He accord- 
 ingly made new proposals to Fabricius, urging 
 him to use his influence to induce the Romans 
 to make peace, and then to go with him to Epi- 
 rus, and enter into his service there. 
 
 " If you will do so," said Pyrrhus, " I will 
 make you the chief of my generals, and my own 
 most intimate friend and companion, and you 
 shall enjoy abundant honors and rewards." 
 
 " No," replied Fabricius, " I can not accept 
 those offers, nor is it for your interest that I 
 should accept them ; for, were I to go with you 
 to Epirus, your people, as soon as they came to 
 know me well, would lose all their respect for 
 you, and would wish to have me, instead of 
 you, for their king." 
 
 We are, perhaps, to understand this rejoinder, 
 as well as the one which Fabricius made to 
 Pyrrhus in respect to the elephant, as intended 
 in a somewhat jocose and playful sense ; since, 
 if we suppose them to have been gravely and 
 seriously uttered, they would indicate a spirit 
 of vanity and of empty boasting which would 
 seem to be wholly inconsistent with what we 
 know of Fabricius's character. However this 
 may be, Pyrrhus was pleased with both ; and 
 
B.C. 279.] Negotiations. 147 
 
 The Roman armies advance. The two generals. 
 
 the more that he saw and learned of the Ro- 
 mans, the more desirous he became of terminat- 
 ing the war and forming an alliance with them. 
 But the Romans firmly persisted in refusing to 
 treat with him, except on the condition of his 
 withdrawing first entirely from Italy, and this 
 was a condition with which he deemed it im- 
 possible to comply. It would be equivalent, in 
 fact, to an acknowledgment that he had been 
 entirely defeated. Accordingly, both sides be- 
 gan again to prepare vigorously for war. 
 
 The Romans marched southward from the 
 city with a large army, under the command of 
 their two consuls. The names of the consuls 
 at this time were Sulpicius Saverrio and Decius 
 Mus. These generals advanced into Apulia, a 
 country on the western coast of Italy, north of 
 Tarentum. Here they -encamped on a plain at 
 the foot of the Apennines, near a place called 
 Asculum. There was a stream in front of their 
 camp, and the mountains were behind it. The 
 stream was large and deep, and of course it 
 greatly protected their position. On hearing of 
 the approach of the Romans, Pyrrhus himself 
 took the field at the head of all his forces, and 
 advanced to meet them. He came to the plain 
 on which the Roman army was encamped, and 
 
148 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 279. 
 
 The armies encamp in sight of each other. 
 
 posted himself on the opposite bank of the 
 stream. The armies were thus placed in close 
 vicinity to each other, being separated only by 
 the stream. The question was, which should 
 attempt to cross the stream and make the at- 
 tack upon the other. They remained in this 
 position for a considerable time, neither party 
 venturing to attempt the passage. 
 
 While things were in this condition — the 
 troops on each side waiting for an opportunity 
 of attacking their enemies, and probably with- 
 out any fear whatever of the physical dangers 
 which they were to encounter in the conflict — 
 the feeling of composure and confidence among 
 the men in Pyrrhus's army was greatly dis- 
 turbed by a singular superstition. It was ru- 
 mored in the army that Decius Mus, the Ro- 
 man commander, was endowed with a species of 
 magical and supernatural power, which would, 
 under certain circumstances, be fatal to all who 
 opposed him. And though the Greeks seem to 
 have had no fear of the material steel of the Ro- 
 man legions, this mysterious and. divine virtue, 
 which they imagined to reside in the command- 
 er, struck them with an invincible terror. 
 
 The story was, that the supernatural power 
 in question originated in one of the ancestors of 
 
B.C. 279.] Negotiations. 149 
 
 Story of Decius Mua. His military honors. 
 
 the present Decius, a brave Roman general, 
 who lived and flourished in the century preced- 
 ing the time of Pyrrhus. His name, too, was 
 Decius Mus. In the early part of his life, when 
 he was a subordinate officer, he was the means 
 of saving the whole army from most imminent 
 danger, by taking possession of an eminence 
 among the mountains, with the companies that 
 were under his command, and holding it against 
 the enemy until the Roman troops could be 
 drawn out of a dangerous defile where they 
 would otherwise have been overwhelmed and 
 destroyed. He was greatly honored for this ex- 
 ploit. The consul who commanded on the 
 occasion rewarded him with a golden crown, a 
 hundred oxen, and a magnificent white bull, 
 with gilded horns. The common soldiers, too, 
 held a grand festival and celebration in honor 
 of him, in which they crowned him with a 
 wreath made of dried grasses on the field, ac- 
 cording to an ancient custom which prevailed 
 among the Romans of rewarding in this way 
 any man who should be the means of saving an 
 army. Of course, such an event as saving an 
 army was of very rare occurrence ; and, accord- 
 ingly, the crowning of a soldier by his com- 
 rades on the field was a very distinguished hon- 
 
150 Pyrriius. [B.C. 279. 
 
 The vision. Extraordinary alternative proposed. 
 
 or, although the decoration itself was made of 
 materials so insignificant and worthless. 
 
 Deems rose rapidly after this time from rank 
 to rank, until at length he was chosen consul. . 
 In the course of his consulship, he took the field 
 with one of his colleagues, whose name was 
 Torquatus, at the head of a large army, in the 
 prosecution of a very important war in the inte- 
 rior of the country. The time arrived at length 
 for a decisive battle to he fought. Both armies 
 were drawn up on the field, the preparations 
 were all made, and the battle was to be fought 
 on the following day. In the night, however, a 
 vision appeared to each consul, informing him 
 that it had been decreed by fate that a general 
 on one side and the army on the other were to 
 be destroyed on the following day ; and that, 
 consequently, either of the consuls, by sacrific- 
 ing himself, might secure the destruction of the 
 enemy. On the other hand, if they were to take 
 measures to save themselves, the general on the 
 other side would bo killed, and on their side the 
 army would be defeated and cut to pieces. 
 
 The two consuls, on conferring together upon 
 the following morning, immediately decided 
 that either one or the other of them should die, 
 in order to secure victory to the arms of their 
 
B.C. 279.] Negotiations. 151 
 
 The two consuls draw lots. Decius sacrifices himself. 
 
 country ; and the question at once arose, what 
 method they should adopt to determine which 
 of them should be the sacrifice. At last it was 
 agreed that they would go into battle as usual, 
 each in command of his own wing of the army, 
 and that the one whose wing should first begin 
 to give way should offer himself as the victim. 
 The arrangements were made accordingly, and 
 the result proved that Decius was the one on 
 whom the dire duty of self-immolation was to 
 devolve. The wiiia: under his command began 
 to give way. He immediately resolved to ful- 
 fill his vow. He summoned the high priest. He 
 clothed himself in the garb of a victim about to 
 be offered in sacrifice. Then, with his military 
 cloak wrapped about his head, and standing 
 upon a spear that had been previously laid down 
 upon the ground, he repeated in the proper form 
 words by which he devoted himself and the 
 army of the enemy to the God of Death, and 
 then finally mounted upon his horse and drove 
 furiously in among the thickest of the enemy. 
 Of course he was at once thrust through with a 
 hundred spears and javelins ; and immediately 
 afterward the army of the enemy gave way on 
 all hands, and the Romans swept the field, com- 
 pletely victorious. 
 
152 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 279 
 
 Superstitious fears of the soldiers. Decius Mus. 
 
 The power which was in this instance super- 
 naturally granted to Decius to secure the vic- 
 tory to the Ptoman arms, by sacrificing his own 
 life on the field of battle, afterward descended, 
 it was supposed, as an inheritance, from father 
 to son. Decius Mus, the commander opposed 
 to Pyrrhus, was the grandson of his namesake 
 referred to above ; and now it was rumored 
 among the Greeks that he intended, as soon as 
 the armies came into action, to make the de- 
 struction of his enemies sure by sacrificing 
 himself, as his grandfather had done. The sol- 
 diers of Pyrrhus were willing to meet any of 
 the ordinary and natural chances and hazards 
 of war ; but, where the awful and irresistible 
 decrees of the spiritual world were to be against 
 them, it is not strange that they dreaded the 
 encounter. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Pyrrhus sent a 
 party of messengers to the Roman camp to say 
 to Decius, that if in the approaching battle he 
 attempted to resort to any such arts of necro- 
 mancy to secure the victory to the Roman side, 
 he would find himself wholly unsuccessful in 
 the attempt ; for the Greek soldiers had all been 
 instructed not to kill him if he should throw 
 himself among them, but to take him alive and 
 
B.C. 279.] Negotiations. 153 
 
 Reply of Decius Mus to Pyrrhus. 
 
 bring him a prisoner to Pyrrhus's camp ; and 
 that then, after the battle was over, he should 
 be subjected, they declared, to the most cruel 
 and ignominious punishments, as a magician 
 and an impostor. Decius sent back word, in 
 reply, that Pyrrhus had no occasion to give 
 himself any uneasiness in respect to the course 
 which the Roman general would pursue in the 
 approaching battle. The measure that he had 
 referred to was one to which the Romans were 
 not accustomed to resort except in emergencies 
 of the most extreme and dangerous character, 
 and Pyrrhus ought not to flatter himself with 
 the idea that the Romans regarded his invasion 
 as of sufficient consequence to require them to 
 have recourse to any unusual means of defense. 
 They were fully convinced of their ability to 
 meet and conquer him by ordinary modes of 
 warfare. To prove that they were honest in 
 this opinion, they offered to waive the advantage 
 which the river afforded them as a means of 
 defense, and allow Pyrrhus to cross it without 
 molestation, with a view to fighting the battle 
 afterward upon the open field ; or they would 
 themselves cross the river, and fight the battle 
 on Pyrrhus's side of it — whichever Pyrrhus 
 himself preferred. They asked for no advant- 
 
154 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 279. 
 
 The Romans afraid of the elephants. 
 
 age, but were willing to meet their adversaries 
 on equal terms, and abide by the result. 
 
 Pyrrhus could not with honor decline to 
 accept this challenge. He decided to remain 
 where he was, and allow the Romans to cross 
 the stream. This they accordingly did ; and 
 when all the troops had effected the passage, 
 they were drawn up in battle array on the plain. 
 Pyrrhus marshaled his forces also, and both par- 
 ties prepared for the contest. 
 
 The Romans stood most in awe of the ele- 
 phants, and they resorted to some peculiar and 
 extraordinary means of resisting them. They 
 prepared a great number of chariots, each of 
 which was armed with a long pointed spear, 
 projecting forward in such a manner that when 
 the chariots should be driven on toward the el- 
 ephants, these spears or beaks should pierce the 
 bodies of the beasts and destroy them. The 
 chariots, too, were filled with men, who were all 
 provided with fire-brands, which they were to 
 throw at the elephants, and frighten them, as 
 they came on. These chariots were all careful- 
 ly posted in front of that part of Pyrrhus's army 
 where the elephants were stationed, and the 
 charioteers were strictly ordered not to move 
 until they should see the elephants advancing. 
 
B.C. 279.] Negotiations. 155 
 
 The battle. The elephants. War chariots. 
 
 The battle, as might have been expected from 
 the circumstances which preceded it, and from 
 the character of the combatants, was fought 
 with the most furious and persevering despera- 
 tion. It continued through the whole day ; and 
 in the various parts of the field, and during the 
 different hours of the day, the advantage was 
 sometimes strongly on one side, and sometimes 
 on the other, so that it was wholly uncertain, 
 for a long time, what the ultimate result would 
 be. The elephants succeeded in getting round 
 the chariots which had been posted to intercept 
 them, and effected a great destruction of the 
 Roman troops. On the other hand, a detach- 
 ment of the Roman army made their way to 
 the camp of Pyrrhus, and attacked it desperate- 
 ly. Pyrrhus withdrew a part of his forces to 
 protect his camp, and that'turned the tide against 
 him on the field. By means of the most Her- 
 culean exertions, Pyrrhus rallied his men, and 
 restored their confidence ; and then, for a time, 
 the fortune of war seemed to incline in his fa- 
 vor. In the course of the day Decius was killed, 
 and the whole command of the Roman army 
 then devolved upon Sulpicius, his colleague. 
 Pyrrhus himself was seriously wounded . When, 
 at last, the sun went down, and the approach- 
 ing darkness of the night prevented a continu- 
 
156 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 279. 
 
 Doubtful victory. Winter quarters. 
 
 ance of the combat, both parties drew off such 
 as remained alive of their respective armies, 
 leaving the field covered with the dead and 
 dying. One of Pyrrhus's generals congratulated 
 him on his victory. " Yes," said Pyrrhus ; 
 " another such victory, and I shall be undone." 
 
 In fact, after trying their strength against 
 each other in this battle, neither party seemed 
 to be in haste to bring on another contest. They 
 both drew away to places of security, and began 
 to send for re-enforcements, and to take meas- 
 ures to strengthen themselves for future opera- 
 tions. They remained in this state of inaction 
 until at length the season passed away, and they 
 then went into winter-quarters, each watching 
 the other, but postponing, by common consent, 
 all active hostilities until spring. In the spring 
 they took the field again, and the two armies 
 approached each other once more. The Roman 
 army had now two new commanders, one of 
 whom was the celebrated Fabricius, whom Pyr- 
 rhus had negotiated with on former occasions. 
 The two commanders were thus well acquaint- 
 ed with each other ; and though, as public men, 
 they were enemies, in private and personally 
 they were very good friends. 
 
 Pyrrhus had a physician in his service named 
 Nicias. This man conceived the design of offer- 
 
B.C.279.] Negotiations. 157 
 
 Nicias. Pyrrhus's physician. His treachery. 
 
 ing to the Romans to poison his master on con- 
 dition of receiving a suitable reward. He ac- 
 cordingly wrote a letter to Fabricius making 
 the proposal. Fabricius immediately communi- 
 cated the letter to his colleague, and they both 
 concurred in the decision to inform Pyrrhus him- 
 self of the offer which had been made them, and 
 put him on his guard against the domestic trai- 
 tor. They accordingly sent him the letter which 
 they had received, accompanied by one from 
 themselves, of the following tenor : 
 
 " Caius Fabricius and Q,uintus iEmilius to 
 King Pyrrhus, greeting : 
 
 " You seem to be as unfortunate in the choice 
 of your friends as you are in that of your ene- 
 mies. The letter which we send herewith will 
 satisfy you that those around you, on whom you 
 rely, are wholly unworthy of your confidence. 
 You are betrayed ; your very physician, the 
 man who ought to be most faithful to you, of- 
 fers to poison you. We give you this informa- 
 tion, not out of any particular friendship for you, 
 but because we do not wish to be suspected of 
 conniving at an assassination — a crime which 
 we detest and abhor. Besides, we do not wish 
 to be deprived of the opportunity of showing the 
 world that we are able to meet and conquer you 
 in open war." 
 
158 Pyrriius. [B.C. 279. 
 
 A generous exchange of prisoners. No peace. 
 
 Pyrrhus was very much struck with what he 
 considered the extraordinary generosity of his 
 enemies. He immediately collected together 
 all the prisoners that he had taken from the Ro- 
 mans, and sent them home to the Roman camp, 
 as a token of acknowledgment and gratitude on 
 his part for the high and honorable course of ac- 
 tion which his adversaries had adopted. They, 
 however, Roman-like, would not accept such a 
 token without making a corresponding return, 
 and they accordingly sent home to Pyrrhus a 
 hody of Greek prisoners equal in number and 
 rank to those whom Pyrrhus had set free. 
 
 All these things tended to increase the disin- 
 clination of Pyrrhus to press the further prose- 
 cution of the war. He became more and more 
 desirous every day to make peace with the Ro- 
 mans, preferring very much that such a people 
 should be his allies rather than his enemies. 
 They, however, firmly and pertinaciously re- 
 fused to treat with him on any terms, unless, as 
 a preliminary step, he would go back to his own 
 dominions. This he thought he could not do 
 with honor. He was accordingly much per- 
 plexed, and began earnestly to wish that some- 
 thing would occur to furnish him with a plaus- 
 ible pretext for retiring from Italy. 
 
B.C. 291.] The Sicilian Campaign. 159 
 
 Lanassa. The tyrant her father. His adventures. 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 The Sicilian Campaign. 
 
 THE fact has already been mentioned that 
 one of the wives whom Pyrrhus had mar- 
 ried after the death of Antigone, the Egyptian 
 princess, was Lanassa, the daughter of Agatho- 
 cles, the King of Sicily. Agathocles was a ty- 
 rannical monster of the worst description. His 
 army was little better than an organized band 
 of robbers, at the head of which he went 
 forth on marauding and plundering expeditions 
 among all the nations that were within his 
 reach. He made these predatory excursions 
 sometimes into Italy, sometimes into the Car- 
 thaginian territories on the African coast, and 
 sometimes among the islands of the Mediterra- 
 nean Sea. In these campaigns he met with a 
 great variety of adventures, and experienced 
 every possible fate that the fortune of war could 
 bring. Sometimes he was triumphant over all 
 who opposed him, and became intoxicated with 
 prosperity and success. At other times, through 
 his insane and reckless folly, he would involve 
 
160 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 291. 
 
 Agathocles's liigbt from Al'rica. Terrible consequences. 
 
 himself in the most desperate difficulties, and 
 was frequently compelled to give up every thing, 
 and to fly alone in absolute destitution from the 
 field of his attempted exploits to save his life. 
 
 On one such occasion, he abandoned an army 
 in Africa, which he had taken there on one of 
 his predatory enterprises, and, flying secretly 
 from the camp, he made his escape with a small 
 number of attendants, leaving the army to its 
 fate. His flight was so sudden on this occa- 
 sion that he left his two sons behind him in the 
 hands and at the mercy of the soldiers. The 
 soldiers, as soon as they found that Agathocles 
 had gone and left them, were so enraged against 
 him that they put his sons to death on the spot, 
 and then surrendered in a body to the enemy. 
 Agathocles, when the tidings of this transaction 
 came to him in Sicily, was enraged against the 
 soldiers in his turn, and, in order to revenge 
 himself upon them, he immediately sought out 
 from among the population of the country their 
 wives and children, their brothers and sisters, 
 and all who were in any way related to them. 
 These innocent representatives of the absent of- 
 fenders he ordered to be seized and slain, and 
 their bodies to be cast into the sea toward Afri- 
 ca as an expression of revengeful triumph and 
 
B.C. 291.] The Sicilian Campaign. 161 
 
 The sea dyed with blood. Shocking story. 
 
 defiance. So great was the slaughter on this 
 occasion, that the waters of the sea were dyed 
 with blood to a great distance from the shore. 
 
 Of course, such cruelty as this could not be 
 practiced without awakening, on the part of 
 those who suffered from it, a spirit of hatred 
 and revenge. Plots and conspiracies without 
 number were formed against the tyrant's life, 
 and in his later years he lived in continual ap- 
 prehension and distress. His fate, however, 
 was still more striking as an illustration of the 
 manner in which the old age of ambitious and 
 unprincipled men is often embittered by the 
 ingratitude and wickedness of their children. 
 Agathocles had a grandson named Archagathus, 
 who, if all the accounts are true, brought the 
 old king's gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. 
 The story is too shocking to be fully believed, 
 but it is said that this grandson first murdered 
 Agathocles's son and heir, his own uncle, in or- 
 der that he might himself succeed to the throne 
 — his own father, who would have been the 
 next heir, being dead. Then, not being willing 
 to wait until the old king himself should die, 
 he began to form plots against his life, and 
 against the lives of the remaining members of 
 the family. Although several of Agathocles's 
 L 
 
162 Pvrriius. [B.C. 291. 
 
 Texina and her children. Extraordinary story. 
 
 sons were dead, having been destroyed by vio- 
 lence, or having fallen in war, he had a wife, 
 named Texina, and two children still remaining 
 alive. The king was so anxious in respect to 
 these children, on account of Archagathus, that 
 he determined to send them with their mother 
 to Egypt, in order to place them beyond the 
 reach of their merciless nephew. Texina was 
 very unwilling to consent to such a measure. 
 For herself and her sons the proposed retiring 
 into Egypt was little better than going into ex- 
 ile, and she was, moreover, extremely reluctant 
 to leave her husband alone in Syracuse, exposed 
 to the machinations and plots which his unnat- 
 ural grandson might form against him. She, 
 however, finally submitted to the hard necessi- 
 ty and went away, bidding her husband fare- 
 well with many tears. Yery soon after her de- 
 parture her husband died. 
 
 The story that is told of the manner of his 
 death is this : There was in his court a man 
 named Maenon, whom Agathocles had taken 
 captive when a youth, and ever since retained 
 in his court. Though originally a captive, 
 taken in war, Maenon had been made a favor- 
 ite with Agathocles, and had been raised to a 
 high position in his service. The indulgence, 
 
B.C. 291.] The Sicilian Campaign. 163 
 
 Msenon's contrivance for administering poison. 
 
 however, and the favoritism with which he had 
 been regarded, were not such as to awaken any 
 sentiments of gratitude in Msenon's mind, or to 
 establish any true and faithful friendship be- 
 tween him and his master ; and Archagathus, 
 the grandson, found means of inducing him to 
 undertake to poison the king. As all the ordi- 
 nary modes of administering poison were pre- 
 cluded by the vigilance and strictness with 
 which the usual avenues of approach to the 
 king were guarded, Msenon contrived to accom- 
 plish his end by poisoning a quill which the 
 king was subsequently to use as a tooth-pick. 
 The poison was insinuated thus into the teeth 
 and gums of the victim, where it soon took ef- 
 fect, producing dreadful ulceration and intoler- 
 able pain. The infection of the venom after a 
 short time pervaded the' whole system of the 
 sufferer, and brought him to the brink of the 
 grave ; and at last, finding that he was speech- 
 less, and apparently insensible, his ruthless mur- 
 derers, fearing, perhaps, that he might revive 
 again, hurried him to the funeral pile before 
 life was extinct, and the fire finished the work 
 that the poison had begun. 
 
 The declaration of Scripture, " They that 
 take the sword shall perish by the sword," is 
 
164 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 289. 
 
 Dangers of usurpation. Maenon's career. 
 
 illustrated and confirmed by the history of al- 
 most every ancient tyrant. We find that they 
 almost all come at last to some terrible end. 
 The man who usurps a throne by violence 
 seems, in all ages and among all nations, very 
 sure to be expelled from it by greater violence, 
 after a brief period of power ; and he who pois- 
 ons or assassinates a precedent rival whom he 
 wishes to supplant, is almost invariably cut off 
 by the poison or the dagger of a following one, 
 who wishes to supplant him. 
 
 The death of Agathocles took place about 
 nine years before the campaign of Pyrrhus in 
 Italy, as described in the last chapter, and dur- 
 ing that period the kingdom of Sicily had been 
 in a very distracted state. Msenon, immediate- 
 ly after the poisoning of the king, fled to the 
 camp of Archagathus, who was at that time in 
 command of an army at a distance from the 
 city. Here, in a short time, he contrived to as- 
 sassinate Archagathus, and to seize the supreme 
 power. It was not long, however, before new 
 claimants and competitors for possession of the 
 throne appeared, and new wars broke out, in 
 the course of which Maenon was deposed. At 
 length, in the midst of the contests and com- 
 motions that prevailed, two of the leading gen- 
 
B.C. 279.] The Sicilian Campaign. 165 
 
 Pyrrhus receives two tempting invitations. 
 
 erals of the Sicilian army conceived the idea of 
 bringing forward Pyrrhus's son by Lanassa as 
 the heir to the crown. This prince was, of 
 course, the grandson of the old King Agathocles, 
 and, as there was no other descendant of the 
 royal line at hand who could be made the rep- 
 resentative of the ancient monarchy, it was 
 thought, by the generals above referred to, that 
 the only measure which afforded any hope of 
 restoring peace to the country was to send an 
 embassy to Pyrrhus, and invite him to come 
 and place his young son upon the throne. The 
 name of Lanassa's son was Alexander. . He was 
 a boy, perhaps at this time about twelve years 
 old. 
 
 At the same time that Pyrrhus received the 
 invitation to go to Sicily, a message came to 
 him from certain parties" in Greece, informing 
 him that, on account of some revolutions which 
 had taken place there, a very favorable oppor- 
 tunity was afforded him to secure for himself 
 the throne of that country, and urging him to 
 come and make the attempt. Pyrrhus was for 
 some time quite undecided which of these two 
 proposals to accept. The prize offered him in 
 Greece was more tempting, but the expedition 
 into Sicily seemed to promise more certain sue- 
 
166 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 279. 
 
 Pyrrhus's perplexity. lie decides to go to Sicily. 
 
 oess. While revolving the question in his mind 
 which conquest he should first undertake, he 
 complained of the tantalizing cruelty of fortune, 
 in offering him two such tempting prizes at the 
 same time, so as to compel him to forego either 
 the one or the other. At length he decided to 
 go first to Sicily. 
 
 It was said that one reason which influenced 
 his mind very strongly in making this decision 
 was the fact that Sicily was so near the coast 
 of Africa ; and the Sicilians being involved in 
 wars with the Carthaginians, he thought that, 
 if successful in his operations in Sicily, the way 
 would be open for him to make an expedition 
 into Africa, in which case he did not doubt but 
 that he should be able soon to overturn the Car- 
 thaginian power, and add all the northern coasts 
 of Africa to his dominions. His empire would 
 thus embrace Epirus, the whole southern part 
 of Italy, Sicily, and the coasts of Africa. He 
 could afterward, he thought, easily add Greece, 
 and then his dominions would include all the 
 wealthy aud populous countries surrounding 
 the most important part of the Mediterranean 
 Sea. His government would thus become a 
 naval power .of the first class, and any further 
 extension of his sway which he might subse- 
 quently desire could easily be accomplished. 
 
- 
 B.C. 279.] The Sicilian Campaign. 167 
 
 He makes great preparations at Tarentum. 
 
 — 
 
 In a word, Pyrrhus decided first to proceed to 
 Sicily, and to postpone for a brief period his de- 
 signs on Greece. 
 
 He accordingly proceeded to withdraw his 
 troops from the interior of the country in Italy, 
 and concentrate them in and around Tarentum. 
 He began to make naval preparations, too, on a 
 very extensive scale. The port of Tarentum 
 soon presented a very busy scene. The work 
 of building and repairing ships — of fabricating 
 sails and rigging — of constructing and arming- 
 galleys — of disciplining and training crews — of 
 laying in stores of food and of implements of 
 war, went on with great activity, and engaged 
 universal attention. The Tarentines themselves 
 stood by, while all these preparations were go- 
 ing on, rather as spectators of the scene than as 
 active participants. Pyrrhus had taken the ab- 
 solute command of their city and government, 
 and was exercising supreme power, as if he 
 were the acknowledged sovereign of the coun- 
 try. He had been invited to come over from 
 his own kingdom to help the Tarentines, not to 
 govern them ; but he had seized the sovereign 
 power, justifying the seizure, as is usual with 
 military men under similar circumstances, by 
 the necessity of the case. " There must be or- 
 
168 Pyrriius. [B.C. 279. 
 
 The Tarcntines remonstrate. Their arguments. 
 
 der and submission to authority in the city," he 
 said, " or we can make no progress in subduing 
 our enemies." The Tarentines had thus been 
 induced to submit to his assumption of power, 
 convinced, perhaps, partly by his reasoning, and, 
 at all events, silenced by the display of force by 
 which it was accompanied ; and they had con- 
 soled themselves under a condition of things 
 which they could not prevent, by considering 
 that it was better to yield to a temporary for- 
 eign domination, than to be wholly overwhelm- 
 ed, as there was every probability, before Pyr- 
 rhus came to them, that they would be, by their 
 domestic foes. 
 
 When, however, they found that Pyrrhus was 
 intending to withdraw from them, and to go to 
 Sicily, without having really effected their de- 
 liverance from the danger which threatened 
 them, they at first remonstrated against the de- 
 sign. They wished him to remain and finish 
 the work which he had begun. The Romans 
 had been checked, but they had not been sub- 
 dued. Pyrrhus ought not, they said, to go away 
 and leave them until their independence and 
 freedom had been fully established. They re- 
 monstrated with him against his design, but 
 their remonstrances proved wholly unavailing. 
 
B.C. 278.] The Sicilian Campaign. 169 
 
 Pyrrhus sends Cineas in advance to Sicily. 
 
 "When at length the Tarentines found that 
 Pyrrhus was determined to go to Sicily, they 
 then desired that he should withdraw his troops 
 from their country altogether, and leave them 
 to themselves. This, however, Pyrrhus refused 
 to do. He had no intention of relinquishing the 
 power which he had acquired in Italy, and he 
 accordingly began to make preparations for 
 leaving a strong garrison in Tarentum to main- 
 tain his government there. He organized a sort 
 of regency in the city, and set apart a sufficient 
 force from his army to maintain it in power dur- 
 ing his absence. When this was done, he began 
 to make preparations for transporting the rest 
 of his force to Sicily by sea. 
 
 He determined to send Cineas forward first, 
 according to his usual custom, to make the pre- 
 liminary arrangements in~-Sicily. Cineas con- 
 sequently left Tarentum with a small squadron 
 of ships and galleys, and, after a short voyage, 
 arrived safely at Syracuse. He found the lead- 
 ing powers in that city ready to welcome Pyr- 
 rhus as soon as he should arrive, and make the 
 young Alexander king. Cineas completed and 
 closed the arrangements for this purpose, and 
 then sent messengers to various other cities on 
 the northern side of the island, making known 
 
170 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 278. 
 
 Form of Sicily. Situation of Messaiia. 
 
 to them the design which had been formed of 
 raising an heir of King Agathocles to the throne, 
 and asking their co-operation in it. He man- 
 aged these negotiations with, so much prudence 
 and skill, that nearly all that part of the island 
 which was in the hands of the Sicilians readily- 
 acceded to the plan, and the people were every 
 where prepared to welcome Pyrrhus and the 
 young prince as soon as they should arrive. 
 
 Sicily, as will be seen by referring to the map, 
 is of a triangular form. It was only the south- 
 ern portion which was at this time in the hands 
 of the Sicilians. There were two foreign and 
 hostile powers in possession, respectively, of the 
 northeastern and northwestern portions. In the 
 northeastern corner of the island was the city 
 of Messana — the Messina of modern days. In 
 the time of Pyrrhus's expedition, Messana was 
 the seat and stronghold of a warlike nation, call- 
 ed the Mamertines, who had come over from It- 
 aly across the Straits of Messana some years be- 
 fore, and, having made themselves masters of 
 that portion of the island, had since held their 
 ground there, notwithstanding all the efforts of 
 the Sicilians to expel them. The Mamertines 
 had originally come into Sicily, it was said, as 
 Pyrrhus had gone into Italy — by invitation. 
 
B.C. 278.] The Sicilian Campaign. 171 
 
 Conduct of the Mamertines in Sicily. 
 
 Agathocles sent for them to come and aid him 
 in some of his wars. After the object for which 
 they had been sent for had been accomplished, 
 Agathocles dismissed his auxiliaries, and they 
 set out on their return. They proceeded through 
 the northeastern part of the island to Messana, 
 where they were to embark for Italy. Though 
 they had rendered Agathocles very efficient aid 
 in his campaigns, they had also occasioned him 
 an infinite deal of trouble by their turbulent 
 and ungovernable spirit ; and now, as they were 
 withdrawing from the island, the inhabitants of 
 the country through which they passed on the 
 way regarded them every where with terror and 
 dread. The people of Messana, anxious to avoid 
 a quarrel with them, and disposed to facilitate 
 their peaceable departure from the land by ev- 
 ery means in their power, received them into 
 the city, and hospitably entertained them there. 
 Instead, however, of quietly withdrawing from 
 the city in proper time, as the Messanians had 
 expected them to do, they rose suddenly and 
 unexpectedly upon the people, at a concerted 
 signal, took possession of the city, massacred 
 without mercy all the men, seized the women 
 and children, and then, each one establishing 
 himself in the household that choice or chance 
 
172 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 278. 
 
 The Marncrtines take complete possession of Messana. 
 
 assigned him, married the wife and adopted the 
 children whose husband and father he had mur- 
 dered. The result was the most complete and 
 extraordinary overturning that the history of 
 the world can afford. It was a political, a so- 
 cial, and a domestic revolution all in one. 
 
 This event took place many years before the 
 time of Pyrrhus's expedition ; and though dur- 
 ing the interval the Sicilians had made many 
 efforts to dispossess the intruders and to recover 
 possession of Messana, they had not been able 
 to accomplish the work. The Mamertines main- 
 tained their ground in Messana, and from that 
 city, as their fortress and stronghold, they ex- 
 tended their power over a considerable portion 
 of the surrounding country. 
 
 This territory of the Mamertines was in the 
 northeastern part of the island. In the north- 
 western part, on the other hand, there was a 
 large province in the hands of the Carthagini- 
 ans. Their chief city was Eryx ; though there 
 was another important city and port, called 
 Lilybseum, which was situated to the southward 
 of Eryx, on the sea-shore. Here the Carthagini- 
 ans were accustomed to land their re-enforce- 
 ments and stores ; and by means of the ready 
 and direct communication which they could 
 
B.C. 278.] The Sicilian Campaign. 173 
 
 Three objects to be accomplished in Sicily. 
 
 thus keep up with Carthage itself, they were 
 enabled to resist all the efforts which the Sicil- 
 ians had made to dispossess them. 
 
 There were thus three objects to be accom- 
 plished by Pyrrhus in Sicily before his dominion 
 over the island could be complete — namely, the 
 Sicilians themselves, in the southern and central 
 parts of the island, were to be conciliated and 
 combined, and induced to give up their intes- 
 tine quarrels, and to acknowledge the young 
 Alexander as the king of the island ; and then 
 the Mamertines on the northeast part, and the 
 Carthaginians in the northwest, were to be con- 
 quered and expelled. 
 
 The work was done, so far as related to the 
 Sicilians themselves, mainly by Cineas. His 
 dexterous negotiations healed, in a great meas- 
 ure, the quarrels which prevailed among the 
 people, and prepared the way for welcoming 
 Pyrrhus and the young prince, as soon as they 
 should appear. In respect to the Carthaginians 
 and the Mamertines, nothing, of course, could 
 be attempted until the fleets and armies should 
 arrive. 
 
 At length the preparations for the sailing of 
 the expedition from Tarentum were completed. 
 The fleet consisted of two hundred sail. The 
 
174 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 278. 
 
 The grand expedition sails to Sicily. 
 
 immense squadron, every vessel of which was 
 crowded with armed men, left the harbor of 
 Tarentum, watched by a hundred thousand 
 spectators who had assembled to witness its 
 departure, and slowly made its way along the 
 Italian shores, while its arrival at Syracuse was 
 the object of universal expectation and interest 
 in that city. When at length the fleet appear- 
 ed in view, entering its port of destination, the 
 whole population of the city and of the sur- 
 rounding country flocked to the shores to wit- 
 ness the spectacle. Through the efforts which 
 had been made by Cineas, and in consequence 
 of the measures which he had adopted, all ranks 
 and classes of men were ready to welcome Pyr- 
 rhus as an expected deliverer. In the name of 
 the young prince, his son, he was to re-establish 
 the ancient monarchy, restore peace and har- 
 mony to the land, and expel the hated foreign 
 enemies that infested the confines of it. Ac- 
 cordingly, when the fleet arrived, and Pyrrhus 
 and his troops landed from it, they were re- 
 ceived by the whole population with loud and 
 tumultuous acclamations. 
 
 After the festivities and rejoicings which were 
 instituted to celebrate Pyrrhus's arrival were 
 concluded, the young Alexander was proclaim- 
 
B.C. 278.] The Sicilian Campaign. 175 
 
 He determines to take Egypt by storm. 
 
 ed king, and a government was instituted in his 
 name — Pyrrhus himself, of course, being invest- 
 ed with all actual power. Pyrrhus then took 
 the field ; and, on mustering his forces, he found 
 himself at the head of thirty or forty thousand 
 men. He first proceeded to attack the Cartha- 
 ginians. He marched to the part of the island 
 which they held, and gave them battle in the 
 most vigorous and determined manner. They 
 retreated to their cities, and shut themselves up 
 closely within the walls. Pyrrhus advanced to 
 attack them. He determined to carry Eryx, 
 which was the strongest of the Carthaginian 
 cities, by storm, instead of waiting for the slow 
 operations of an ordinary siege. The troops 
 were accordingly ordered to advance at once to 
 the walls, and there mounting, by means of in- 
 numerable ladders, to the parapets above, they 
 were to force their way in, over the defenses of 
 the city, in spite of all opposition. Of course, 
 such a service as this is, of all the duties ever 
 required of the soldier, the most dangerous pos- 
 sible. The towers and parapets above, which 
 the assailants undertake to scale, are covered 
 with armed men, who throng to the part of the 
 wall against which the attack is to be directed, 
 and stand there ready with spears, javelins, 
 
176 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 278. 
 
 Pyrrhus at the head of the column. 
 
 rocks, and every other conceivable missile, to 
 hurl upon the heads of the besiegers coming up 
 the ladders. 
 
 Pyrrhus, however, whatever may have been 
 his faults in other respects, seems to have been 
 very little inclined at any time to order his sol- 
 diers to encounter any danger which he was 
 not willing himself to share. He took the head 
 of the column in the storming of Eryx, and was 
 the first to mount the ladders. Previous, how- 
 ever, to advancing for the attack, he performed 
 a grand religious ceremony, in which he im- 
 plored the assistance of the god Hercules in the 
 encounter which was about to take place ; and 
 made a solemn vow that if Hercules would as- 
 sist him in the conflict, so as to enable him to 
 display before the Sicilians such strength and 
 valor, and to perform such feats as should be 
 worthy of his name, his ancestry, and his past 
 history, he would, immediately after the battle, 
 institute on the spot a course of festivals and 
 sacrifices of the most imposing and magnificent 
 character in honor of the god. This vow being 
 made, the trumpet sounded and the storming 
 party went forward' — Pyrrhus at the head of it. 
 In mounting the ladder, he defended himself 
 with his shield from the missiles thrown down 
 
B.C. 278.] The Sicilian Campaign. 177 
 
 Combat on the walls. 
 
 Pyrrhus victorious. 
 
 tipon him from above until he reached the top 
 of the wall, and there, by means of his prodig- 
 
 The Assault. 
 
 ious strength, and desperate and reckless brave- 
 ry, he soon gained ground for those that follow- 
 ed him, and established a position there both for 
 himself and for them, having cut down one aft- 
 er another those who attempted to oppose him, 
 until he had surrounded himself with a sort of 
 parapet, formed of the bodies of the dead. 
 
 In the mean time, the whole line of ladders 
 extending along the wall were crowded with 
 M 
 
178 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 278. 
 
 Grand celebration. Result of the battle. 
 
 men, all forcing their way upward against the 
 resistance which the besieged opposed to them 
 from above ; while thousands of troops, drawn 
 up below as near as possible to the scene of con- 
 flict, were throwing a shower >of darts, arrows, 
 javelins, spears, and other missiles, to aid the 
 storming party by driving away the besieged 
 from the top of the wall. By these means those 
 who were mounting the ladders were so much 
 aided in their efforts that they soon succeeded 
 in gaining possession of the wall, and thus made 
 themselves masters of the city. 
 
 Pyrrhus then, in fulfillment of his vow, insti- 
 tuted a great celebration, and devoted several 
 days to games, spectacles, shows, and public re- 
 joicings of all kinds, intended to express his de- 
 vout gratitude to Hercules for the divine assist- 
 ance which the god had vouchsafed to him in 
 the assault by which the city had been carried. 
 
 By the result of this battle, and of some oth- 
 er military operations which we can not here 
 particularly describe, the Carthaginians were 
 driven from the open field and compelled to 
 shut themselves up in their strongholds, or re- 
 tire to the fastnesses of the mountains, where 
 they found places of refuge and defense from 
 which Pyrrhus could not at once dislodge them. 
 
B.C. 278.] The Sicilian Campaign. 179 
 
 He attacks the Mamertines. Is victorious. 
 
 Accordingly, leaving things at present as they 
 were in the Carthaginian or western part of the 
 island, ho proceeded to attack the Mamertines 
 in the eastern part. He was equally success- 
 ful here. By means of the tact and skill which 
 he exercised in his military arrangements and 
 maneuvers, and by the desperate bravery and 
 impetuosity which he displayed in battle, he 
 conquered wherever he came. He captured 
 and destroyed many of the strongholds of the 
 Mamertines, drove them entirely out of the open 
 country, and shut them up in Messana. Thus 
 the island was almost wholly restored to the 
 possession of the Sicilians, while yet the foreign 
 intruders, though checked and restrained, were 
 not, after all, really expelled. 
 
 The Carthaginians sent messengers to him 
 proposing terms of peace. Their intention was, 
 in these proposals, to retain their province in 
 Sicily, as heretofore, and to agree with Pyrrhus 
 in respect to a boundary, each party being re- 
 quired by the proposed treaty to confine them- 
 selves within their respective limits, as thus as- 
 certained. Pyrrhus, however, replied that he 
 could entertain no such proposals. He answer- 
 ed them precisely as the Romans had answered 
 him on a similar occasion, saying that he should 
 
180 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 277. 
 
 Pyrrhus forms new schemes. Warn of seamen. 
 
 insist upon their first retiring from Sicily al- 
 together, as a preliminary step to any negotia- 
 tions whatever. The Carthaginians would not 
 accede to this demand, and so the negotiations 
 were suspended. 
 
 Still the Carthaginians were so securely post- 
 ed in their strongholds, that Pyrrhus supposed 
 the work of dislodging them by force would be 
 a slow, and tedious, and perhaps doubtful un- 
 dertaking. His bold and restless spirit accord- 
 ingly conceived the design of leaving them as 
 they were, and going on in the prosecution of 
 his original design, by organizing a grand ex- 
 pedition for the invasion of Africa. In fact, he 
 thought this would be the most effectual means 
 of getting the Carthaginians out of Sicily; since 
 he anticipated that, if he were to land in Afri- 
 ca, and threaten Carthage itself, the authorities 
 there would be compelled to recall all their 
 forces from foreign lands to defend their own 
 homes and firesides at the capital. He determ- 
 ined, therefore, to equip his fleet for a voyage 
 across the Mediterranean without any delay. 
 
 He had ships enough, but he was in want of 
 mariners. In order to supply this want, he be- 
 gan to impress the Sicilians into his service. 
 They were very reluctant to engage in it, part- 
 
B.C. 276.] The Sicilian Campaign. 181 
 
 The Sicilians are opposed to his plans. 
 
 ly from natural aversion to so distant and dan- 
 gerous an enterprise, and partly because they 
 were unwilling that Pyrrhus should leave the 
 island himself until their foreign foes were en- 
 tirely expelled. "As soon as you have gone," 
 they said, " the Carthaginians and the Mamer- 
 tines will come out from their hiding-places and 
 retreats, and the country will be immediately 
 involved in all the difficulties from which you 
 have been endeavoring to deliver us. All your 
 labor will have been lost, and we shall sink, 
 perhaps, into a more deplorable condition than 
 ever." 
 
 It was evident that these representations 
 were true, but Pyrrhus cduld not be induced to 
 pay any heed to them. He was determined on 
 carrying into effect his design of a descent upon 
 the coast of Africa. He accordingly pressed for- 
 ward his preparations in a more arbitrary and 
 reckless spirit than ever. He became austere, 
 imperious, and tyrannical in his measures. He 
 arrested some of the leading generals and min- 
 isters of state — men who had been his firmest 
 friends, and through whose agency it was that 
 he had been invited into Sicily, but whom he 
 now suspected of being unfriendly to his de- 
 signs. One of these men he put to death. In 
 
182 Pyre hub. [B.C. 276. 
 
 Ccneral rebellion in Sicily. Pyrrhus's character. 
 
 the mean time, he pressed forward his prepara- 
 tions, compelling men to join his army and to 
 embark on board his fleet, and resorting to oth- 
 er harsh and extreme measures, which the peo- 
 ple might perhaps have submitted to from one 
 of their own hereditary sovereigns, but which 
 were altogether intolerable when imposed upon 
 them by a foreign adventurer, who had come to 
 their island by their invitation,' to accomplish a 
 prescribed and definite duty. In a word, before 
 Pyrrhus was ready to embark on his African 
 campaign, a general rebellion broke out all over 
 Sicily against his authority. Some of the peo- 
 ple joined the Mamertines, some the Carthagin- 
 ians. In a word, the whole country was in an 
 uproar, and Pyrrhus had the mortification of see- 
 ing the great fabric of power which, as he imag- 
 ined, he had been so successfully rearing, come 
 tumbling suddenly on all sides to the ground. 
 
 As the reader will have learned long before 
 this time, it was not the nature of Pyrrhus to 
 remain on the spot and grapple with difficulties 
 like these. If there were any new enterprise to 
 be undertaken, or any desperate battle to be 
 fought on a sudden emergency, Pyrrhus was 
 always ready and eager for action, and almost 
 sure of success. But he had no qualities what- 
 
B.C.276.] The Sicilian Campaign. 183 
 
 He possesses no perseverance. New plan. 
 
 ever to fit him for the exigencies of such a cri- 
 sis as this. He had ardor and impetuosity, but 
 no perseverance or decision. He could fight, 
 hut he could not plan. He was recklessly and 
 desperately brave in encountering physical dan- 
 ger, but, when involved in difficulties and em- 
 barrassments, his only resource was to fly. Ac- 
 cordingly, it was soon announced in Sicily that 
 Pyrrhus had determined to postpone his plan of 
 proceeding to Africa, and was going back to 
 Tarentum, whence he came. He had received 
 intelligence from Tarentum, he said, that re- 
 quired his immediate return to that city. This 
 was probably true ; for he had left things in such 
 a condition at Tarentum, that he was, doubt- 
 less, continually receiving such intelligence from 
 that quarter. Whether he received any special 
 or extraordinary summons from Tarentum just 
 at this time is extremely uncertain. He, how- 
 ever, pretended that such a message had come ; 
 and under this pretense he sheltered himself in 
 his intended departure, so as just to escape the 
 imputation of being actually driven away. 
 
 His enemies, however, did not intend to al- 
 low him to depart in peace. The Carthagin- 
 ians, being apprised of his design, sent a fleet to 
 watch the coast and intercept him ; while the 
 
184 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 276. 
 
 Disastrous attempt to get back to Italy. 
 
 Mamertines, crossing the Strait, marched to the 
 place on the coast of Italy where they expected 
 he would land, intending to attack him as soon 
 as he should set foot upon the shore. Both these 
 plans were successful. The Carthaginians at- 
 tacked his fleet, and destroyed many of his 
 ships. Pyrrhus himself barely succeeded in 
 making his escape with a small number of ves- 
 sels, and reaching the shore. Here, as soon as 
 he gained the land, he was confronted by the 
 Mamertines, who had reached the place before 
 him with ten thousand men. Pyrrhus soon col- 
 lected from the ships that reached the land a 
 force so formidable that the Mamertines did not 
 dare to attack him in a body, but they blocked 
 up the passes through which the way to Taren- 
 tum lay, and endeavored in every way to inter- 
 cept and harass him in his march. They killed 
 two of his elephants, and cut off many separate 
 detachments of men, and finally deranged all 
 his plans, and threw his whole army into con- 
 fusion. Pyrrhus at length determined to force 
 his enemies to battle. Accordingly, as soon as 
 a favorable opportunity occurred, he pushed for- 
 ward at the head of a strong force, and attack- 
 ed the Mamertines in a sudden and most impet- 
 uous manner. 
 
B.C. 276.] The Sicilian Campaign. 185 
 
 Terrible conflict. Pyrrhus is wounded in the head. 
 
 s» A terrible conflict ensued, in which Pyrrhus, 
 as usual, exposed himself personally in the most 
 desperate manner. In fact, the various disap- 
 pointments and vexations which he had endured 
 had aroused him to a state of great exaspera- 
 tion against his tormenting enemies. He push- 
 ed forward into the hottest part of the battle, 
 his prodigious muscular strength enabling him 
 to beat down and destroy, for a time, all who 
 attempted to oppose him. 
 
 At last, however, he received a terrible wound 
 in the head, which, for the moment, entirely 
 disabled him. He was rescued from his peril 
 by his friends, though stunned and fainting un- 
 der the blow, and was borne off from the scene 
 of conflict with the blood flowing down his face 
 and neck — a frightful spectacle. On being car- 
 ried to a place of safety within his own ranks, 
 he soon revived, and it was found that he was 
 not dangerously hurt. The enemy, however, 
 full of rage and hatred, came up as near as they 
 dared to the spot where Pyrrhus had been car- 
 ried, and stood there, calling out to him to come 
 back if he was still alive, and filling the air with 
 taunting and insulting cries, and vociferations 
 of challenge and defiance. Pyrrhus endured 
 this mockery for a few moments as well as he 
 
186 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 276. 
 
 Shocking spectacle. The Mamertine champion. 
 
 could, but was finally goaded by it into a per- 
 fect phrensy of rage. He seized his weapons,, 
 pushed his friends and attendants aside, and, in 
 spite of all their remonstrances and all their ef- 
 forts to restrain him, he rushed forth and as- 
 sailed his enemies with greater fury than ever. 
 Breathless as he was from his former efforts, 
 and covered with blood and gore, he exhibited 
 a shocking spectacle to all who beheld him. The 
 champion of the Mamertines — the one who had 
 been foremost in challenging Pyrrhus to return 
 — came up to meet him with his weapon up- 
 raised. Pyrrhus parried the blow, and then, 
 suddenly bringing down his own sword upon 
 the top of his antagonist's head, he cut the man 
 down, as the story is told, from head to foot, 
 making so complete a division, that one half of 
 the body fell over to one side, and the other half 
 to the other. 
 
 It is difficult, perhaps, to assign limits to the 
 degree of physical strength which the human 
 arm is capable of exerting. This fact, however, 
 of cleaving the body of a man by a blow from 
 a sword, was regarded in ancient times as just 
 on the line of absolute impossibility, and was 
 considered, consequently, as the highest personal 
 exploit which a soldier could perform. It was 
 
B.C. 276.] The Sicilian Campaign. 187 
 
 Pyrrhus succeeds in reaching Tarcntum. 
 
 attributed, at different times, to several different 
 warriors, though it is not helieved in modern 
 days that the feat was ever really performed. 
 
 But, whatever may have been the fate of the 
 Mamertine champion under Pyrrhus's sword, 
 the army itself met with such a discomfiture in 
 the battle that they gave Pyrrhus no further 
 trouble, but, retiring from the field, left him to 
 pursue his march to Tarentum for the remain- 
 der of the way in peace. He arrived there at 
 last, with a force in numbers about equal to that 
 with which he had left Tarentum for Sicily. 
 The whole object, however, of his expedition 
 had totally failed. The enterprise, in fact, like 
 almost all the undertakings which Pyrrhus en- 
 gaged in, though brilliantly and triumphantly 
 successful in the beginning, came only to dis- 
 appointment and disaster'ln the end. 
 
188 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 276. 
 
 State of Pyrrhus's army. His enfeebled condition. 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 The Retreat from Italy. 
 
 THE force with which Pyrrhus returned to 
 Tarentum was very nearly as large as that 
 which he had taken away, but was composed 
 of very different materials. The Greeks from 
 Epirus, whom he had brought over with him in 
 the first instance from his native land, had grad- 
 ually disappeared from the ranks of his army. 
 Many of them had been killed in battle, and still 
 greater numbers had been carried off by expo- 
 sure and fatigue, and by the thousand other 
 casualties incident to such a service as that in 
 which they were engaged. Their places had 
 been supplied, from time to time, by new en- 
 listments, or by impressment and conscription. 
 Of course, these new recruits were not bound to 
 their commander by any ties of attachment or 
 regard. They were mostly mercenaries — that 
 is, men hired to fight, and willing to fight, in 
 any cause or for any commander, provided they 
 could be paid. In a word, Pyrrhus's fellow- 
 
B.C. 276.] Retreat from Italy. 189 
 
 Precarious situation of his affairs. 
 
 countrymen of Epirus had disappeared, and the 
 ranks of his army were filled up with unprinci- 
 pled and destitute wretches, who felt no inter- 
 est in his cause — no pride in his success — no 
 concern for his honor. They adhered to him 
 only for the sake of the pay and the indulgences 
 of a soldier's life, and for their occasional hopes 
 of plunder. 
 
 Besides the condition of his army, Pyrrhus 
 found the situation of his affairs in other re- 
 spects very critical on his arrival at Tarentum. 
 The Romans had made great progress, during 
 his absence, in subjugating the whole country 
 to their sway. Cities and towns, which had 
 been under his dominion when he went to Sici- 
 ly, had been taken by the Romans, or had gone 
 over to them of their own accord. The govern- 
 ment which he had established at Tarentum 
 was thus curtailed of power, and shut in in re- 
 spect to territory ; and he felt himself compel- 
 led immediately to take the field, in order to re- 
 cover his lost ground. 
 
 He adopted vigorous measures immediately 
 to re-enforce his army, and to obtain the neces- 
 sary supplies. His treasury was exhausted ; in 
 order to replenish it, he dispatched embassadors 
 to his various allies to borrow money. He knew, 
 
190 Pyrrhus. [B.C.276. 
 
 Ail'air of Locri. Pyrrhus recaptures it. 
 
 of course, that a large portion of his army would 
 abandon him immediately so soon as they should 
 find that he was unable to pay them. He was, 
 therefore, quite uneasy for a time in respect to 
 the state of his finances, and he instructed his 
 embassadors to press the urgency of his wants 
 upon his allies in a very earnest manner. 
 
 He did not, however, wait for the result of 
 these measures, but immediately commenced 
 active operations in the field. One of his first 
 exploits was the recapture of Locri, a city situ- 
 ated on the southern shore of Italy, as will be 
 seen by the map. This city had been in his 
 possession before he went to Sicily, but it had 
 gone over to the Romans during his absence. 
 Locri was a very considerable town, and the re- 
 covery of it from the Romans was considered 
 quite an important gain. The place derived its 
 consequence, in some considerable degree, from 
 a celebrated temple which stood there. It was 
 the temple of Proserpina, the Goddess of Death. 
 This temple was magnificent in its structure, 
 and it was enriched with very costly and valu- 
 able treasures. It not only gave distinction to 
 the town in which it stood, but, on account of 
 an extraordinary train of circumstances which 
 occurred in connection with it, it became the 
 
B.C. 276.] Retreat from Italy. 191 
 
 Proserpina, the Goddess of Death. Explanations. 
 
 occasion of one of the most important incidents 
 in Pyrrhus's history. 
 
 Proserpina, as has already heen intimated, 
 was the Groddess of Death. It is very difficult 
 for us at the present day to understand and ap- 
 preciate the conceptions which the Greeks and 
 Romans, in ancient times, entertained of the 
 supernatural beings which they worshiped — 
 those strange creations, in which we see his- 
 toric truth, poetic fancy, and a sublime super- 
 stition so singularly blended. To aid us in 
 rightly understanding this subject, we must re- 
 member that in those days the boundaries of 
 what was known as actual reality were very 
 imcertain and vague. Only a very small por- 
 tion, either of the visible world or of the domain 
 of science and philosophy, had then been ex- 
 plored ; and in the thoughts and conceptions of 
 every man, the natural and the true passed by 
 insensible gradations, on every hand, into the 
 monstrous and the supernatural, there being 
 no principles of any kind established in men's 
 minds to mark the boundaries where the true 
 and the possible must end, and all beyond be 
 impossible and absurd. The knowledge, there- 
 fore, that men derived from the observation of 
 such truths and such objects as were immedi- 
 
192 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 276. 
 
 Centaurs, mermaids, hippo-griffs, and other fables. 
 
 ately around them, passed by insensible grada- 
 tions into the regions of fancy and romance, 
 and all was believed together. They saw lions 
 and elephants in the lands which were near, 
 and which they knew ; and they believed in 
 the centaurs, the mermaids, the hippogriffs, and 
 the dragons, which they imagined inhabiting 
 regions more remote. They saw heroes and 
 chieftains in the plains and in the valleys be- 
 low ; and they had no reason to disbelieve in 
 the existence of gods and demi-gods upon the 
 summits of the blue and beautiful mountains 
 above, where, for aught they knew, there might 
 lie boundless territories of verdure and loveli- 
 ness, wholly inaccessible to man. In the same 
 manner, beneath the earth somewhere, they 
 knew not where, there lay, as they imagined, 
 extended regions destined to receive the spirits 
 of the dead, with approaches leading to it, 
 through mysterious grottoes and caverns, from 
 above. Proserpina was the Goddess of Death, 
 and the queen of these lower abodes. 
 
 Yarious stories were told of her origin and 
 history. The one most characteristic and most 
 minutely detailed is this : 
 
 She was the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. 
 She was very beautiful ; and, in order to protect 
 
B.C. 276.] Retreat from Italy. 193 
 
 Fabulous history of Proserpina. 
 
 her from the importunity of lovers, her mother 
 sent her, under the care of an attendant named 
 Calligena, to a cavern in Sicily, and concealed 
 her there. The mouth of the cavern was guard- 
 ed by dragons. Pluto, who was the god of the 
 inferior regions, asked her of Jupiter, her father, 
 for his wife. Jupiter consented, and sent Venus 
 to entice her out of her cavern, that Pluto might 
 obtain her. Venus, attended by Minerva and 
 Diana, proceeded to the cavern where Proser- 
 pina was concealed. The three goddesses con- 
 trived some means to keep the dragons that 
 guarded the cavern away, and then easily per- 
 suaded the maiden to come out to take a walk. 
 Proserpina was charmed with the verdure and 
 beauty which she found around her on the sur- 
 face of the ground, strongly contrasted as they 
 were with the gloom and desolation of her cav- 
 ern. She was attended by nymphs and zephyrs 
 in her walk, and in their company she rambled 
 along, admiring the beauty and enjoying the 
 fragrance of the flowers. Some of the flowers 
 which most attracted her attention were pro- 
 duced on the spot by the miraculous power of 
 Jupiter, who caused them to spring up in won- 
 derful luxuriance and splendor, the more effect- 
 ually to charm the senses of the maiden whom 
 N 
 
194 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 276. 
 
 Fabulous story of Proserpina. Ceres seeks her. 
 
 they were enticing away. At length, suddenly 
 the earth opened, and Pluto appeared, coming 
 up from below in a golden chariot drawn hy im- 
 mortal steeds, and, seizing Proserpina, he car- 
 ried her down to his own abodes. 
 
 Ceres, the mother of Proserpina, was greatly 
 distressed when she learned the fate of her 
 daughter. She immediately went to Jupiter, 
 and implored him to restore Proserpina to the 
 upper world. Jupiter, on the other hand, urged 
 Ceres to consent to her remaining as the wife 
 of Pluto. The mother, however, would not 
 yield, and finally her tears and entreaties so far 
 prevailed over Jupiter as to induce him to give 
 permission to Ceres to bring Proserpina back, 
 provided that she had not tasted of any food 
 that grew in the regions below. Ceres accord- 
 ingly went in search of her daughter. She 
 found, unfortunately, that Proserpina, in walk- 
 ing through the Elysian fields with Pluto, had 
 incautiously eaten a pomegranate which she 
 had taken from a tree that was growing there. 
 She was consequently precluded from availing 
 herself of Jupiter's permission to return to Olym- 
 pus. Finally, however, Jupiter consented that 
 she should divide her time between the inferior 
 and the superior regions, spending six months 
 
B.C. 276.] Retreat from Italy. 195 
 
 Mystical significancy of Proserpina's life. 
 
 with Pluto below, and six months with her 
 mother above ; and she did so. 
 
 Proserpina was looked upon by all mankind 
 with feelings of great veneration and awe as the 
 goddess and queen of death, and she was wor- 
 shiped in many places with solemn and impos- 
 ing ceremonies. There was, moreover, in the 
 minds of men, a certain mystical significancy in 
 the mode of life which she led, in thus dividing 
 her time by regular alternations between the 
 lower and upper worlds, that seemed to them 
 to denote and typify the principle of vegetation, 
 which may be regarded as, in a certain sense, 
 alternately a principle of life and death, inas- 
 much as, for six months in the year, it appears 
 in the form of living and growing plants, rising 
 above the ground, and covering the earth with 
 verdure and beauty, and then, for the six 
 months that remain, it withdraws from the 
 view, and exists only in the form of inert and 
 apparently lifeless roots and seeds, concealed in 
 hidden recesses beneath the ground. Proserpina 
 was thus considered the type and emblem of 
 vegetation, and she was accordingly worshiped, 
 in some sense, as the goddess of resuscitation 
 and life, as well as of death and the grave. 
 
 One of the principal temples which had be<?n 
 
196 P ye rhus. [B.C. 276. 
 
 Pyrrhus resolves to confiscate the treasures at Locri. 
 
 built in honor of Proserpina was situated, as has 
 already been said, at Locri, and ceremonials 
 and festivals were celebrated here, at stated in- 
 tervals, with great pomp and parade. This 
 temple had become very wealthy, too, immense 
 treasures having been collected in it, consisting 
 of gold and silver vessels, precious stones, and 
 rich and splendid paraphernalia of every kind — 
 the gifts and offerings which had been made, 
 from time to time, by princes and kings who 
 had attended the festivals. 
 
 When Pyrrhus had reconquered Locri from 
 the Romans, and this temple, with all its treas- 
 ures, fell into his power, some of his advisers 
 suggested that, since he was in such urgent 
 need of money, and all his other plans for sup- 
 plying himself had hitherto failed, he should 
 take possession of these treasures. They might, 
 it was argued, be considered, in some sense, as 
 public property ; and, as the Locrians had re- 
 volted from him in his absence, and had now 
 been conquered anew, he was entitled to regard 
 these riches as the spoils of victory. Pyrrhus 
 determined to follow this advice. He took pos- 
 session of the richest and most valuable of the 
 articles which the temple contained, and, put- 
 ting them on board ships which he sent to Locri 
 
B.C. 276.] Retreat from Italy. 197 
 
 The ships are wrecked and the treasures lost. 
 
 for the purpose, he undertook to transport them 
 to Tarentum. He intended to convert them 
 there into money, in order to obtain funds to 
 supply the wants of his army. 
 
 The ships, however, on their passage along 
 the coast, encountered a terrible storm, and were 
 nearly all wrecked and destroyed. The mari- 
 ners who had navigated the vessels were drown- 
 ed, while yet the sacred treasures were saved, 
 and that, too, as it would seem, by some super- 
 natural agency, since the same surges which 
 overwhelmed and destroyed the sacrilegious 
 ships and seamen, washed the cases in which 
 the holy treasures had been packed up upon the 
 beach ; and there the messengers of Pyrrhus 
 found them, scattered among the rocks and on 
 the sand at various points along the shore. Pyr- 
 rhus was greatly terrified at this disaster. He 
 conceived that it was a judgment of Heaven, 
 inflicted upon him through the influence and 
 agency of Proserpina, as a punishment for his 
 impious presumption in despoiling her shrine. 
 He carefully collected all that the sea had saved, 
 and sent every thing back to Locri. He insti- 
 tuted solemn services there in honor of Proser- 
 pina, to express his penitence for his faults, and, 
 to give a still more decisive proof of his desire 
 
198 , Pyrriius. [B.C. 276. 
 
 Pyrrhus is oppressed with superstitious fears. 
 
 to appease her anger, he put to death the coun- 
 selors who had advised him to take the treas- 
 ures. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these attempts to atone 
 for his offense, Pyrrhus could not dispel from 
 his mind the gloomy impression which had heen 
 made upon it hy the idea that he had incurred 
 the direct displeasure of Heaven. He did not 
 believe that the anger of Proserpina was ever ful- 
 ly appeased ; and whenever misfortunes and ca- 
 lamities befell him in his subsequent career, he 
 attributed them to the displeasure of the goddess 
 of death, who, as he believed, followed him every 
 where, and was intent on effecting his ruin. 
 
 It was now late in the season, and the mil- 
 itary operations both of Pyrrhus and of the Ro- 
 mans were, in a great measure, suspended until 
 spring. Pyrrhus spent the interval in making 
 arrangements for taking the field as soon as the 
 winter should be over. He had, however, many 
 difficulties to contend with. His financial em- 
 barrassment still continued. His efforts to pro- 
 cure funds were only very partially successful. 
 The people too, in all the region about Taren- 
 tum, were, he found, wholly alienated from him. 
 They had not forgiven him for having left them 
 to go to Sicily, and, in consequence of this aban- 
 
B.C. 276.] Retreat from Italy. 199 
 
 He goes forth from Tarentum to meet the Romans. 
 
 donment of their cause, they had lost much of 
 their confidence in him as their protector, while 
 every thing like enthusiasm in his service was 
 wholly gone. Through these and other causes, 
 he encountered innumerahle impediments in 
 executing his plans, and his mind was harassed 
 with continual disappointment and anxiety. 
 
 Such, however, was still his resolution and 
 energy, that when the season arrived for tak- 
 ing the field, he had a considerable force in 
 readiness, and he marched out of Tarentum 
 at the head of it, to go and meet the Romans. 
 The Romans themselves, on the other hand, had 
 raised a very large force, and had sent it for- 
 ward in two divisions, under the command of 
 the two consuls. These two divisions took dif- 
 ferent routes ; one passing to the north, through 
 the province of Samnium, and the other to the 
 south, through Lucania — "both, however, lead- 
 ing toward Tarentum. Pyrrhus divided his 
 forces also into two parts. One body of troops 
 he sent northwardly into Samnium, to meet the 
 northern division of the Roman army, while 
 with the other he advanced himself by the more 
 southern route, to meet the Roman consul who 
 was coming through Lucania. The name of 
 this consul was Curius Dentatus. 
 
200 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 275. 
 
 Pyrrhus meets Curias near Beneventum. 
 
 Pyrrhus advanced into Lucania. The Ro- 
 man general, when he found that his enemy 
 was coming, thought it most prudent to send 
 for the other division of his army — namely, the 
 one which was marching through Samnium — 
 and to wait until it should arrive before giving 
 Pyrrhus battle. He accordingly dispatched the 
 necessary orders to Lentulus, who commanded 
 the northern division, and, in the mean time, 
 intrenched himself in a strong encampment at 
 a place called Beneventum. Pyrrhus entered 
 Lucania and advanced toward Beneventum, 
 and, after ascertaining the state of the case in 
 respect to the situation of the camp and the 
 plans of Curius, he paused at some distance 
 from the Roman position, in order to consider 
 what it was best for him to do. He finally 
 came to the conclusion that it was very impor- 
 tant that his conflict with the Romans under 
 Curius should take place before Lentulus should 
 arrive to re-enforce them, and so he determined 
 to advance rapidly, and fall upon and surprise 
 them in their intrenchments before they were 
 aware of his approach. This plan he accord- 
 ingly attempted to execute. He advanced in 
 the ordinary manner and by the public roads 
 of the country until he began to draw near to 
 
B.C. 275.] Retreat from Italy. 201 
 
 He advances through a mountain path by torch-light. 
 
 Beneventum. At the close of the day he en- 
 camped as usual; but, instead of waiting in 
 his camp until the following day, and then 
 marching on in his accustomed manner, he pro- 
 cured guides to lead his troops around by a cir- 
 cuitous path among the mountains, with a 
 view of coming down suddenly and unexpect- 
 edly upon the camp of the Romans from the 
 hills very early in the morning. An immense 
 number of torches were provided, to furnish 
 light for the soldiers in traversing the dark for- 
 ests and gloomy ravines through which their 
 pathway lay. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the precautions which 
 had been taken, the difficulties of the route were 
 so great that the progress of the troops was very 
 much impeded. The track was every where 
 encumbered with bushes, rocks, fallen trees, 
 and swampy tracts of ground, so that the sol- 
 diers made way very slowly. Great numbers 
 of the torches failed in the course of the night, 
 some getting extinguished by accident, and oth- 
 ers going out from exhaustion of fuel. By these 
 means great numbers of the troops were left in 
 the dark, and after groping about for a time in 
 devious and uncertain paths, became hopelessly 
 lost in the forest. Notwithstanding all these 
 
202 Pyrrhits. [B.C. 275. 
 
 The Romans taken by surprise. Pyrrhus is repulsed. 
 
 difficulties and discouragements, however, trie 
 main body of the army pressed resolutely on, 
 and, just about daybreak, the van came out 
 upon the heights above the Roman encamp- 
 ment. As soon as a sufficient number were as- 
 sembled, they were at once marshaled in battle 
 array, and, descending from the mountains, 
 they made a furious onset upon the intrench- 
 ments of the enemy. 
 
 The Romans were taken wholly by surprise, 
 and their camp became immediately a scene of 
 the wildest confusion. The men started up ev- 
 ery where out of their sleep and seized their 
 arms. They were soon in a situation to make 
 a very effectual resistance to the attack of their 
 enemies. They first beat the assailants back 
 from the points where they were endeavoring to 
 gain admission, and then, encouraged by their 
 success, they sallied forth from their intrench- 
 ments, and became assailants in their turn. 
 The Greeks were soon overpowered, and forced 
 to retire altogether from the ground. A great 
 many were killed, and some elephants, which 
 Pyrrhus had contrived by some means to bring 
 up to the spot, were taken. The Romans were, 
 of course, greatly elated at this victory. 
 
 In fact, so much was Curius gratified and 
 
B.C. 275.] Retreat from Italy. 203 
 
 Adventures of Pyrrhus on the field of battle. 
 
 pleased with this success, and so great was the 
 confidence with which it inspired him, that he 
 determined to wait no longer for Lentulus, hut 
 to march out at once and give Pyrrhus cattle. 
 He accordingly brought forth his troops and 
 drew them up on a plain near his encampment, 
 posting them in such a way as to gain a cer- 
 tain advantage for himself in the nature of the 
 ground which he had chosen, while yet, since 
 there was nothing but the open field between 
 himself and his enemy, the movement was a 
 fair and regular challenge to battle. Pyrrhus 
 accepted this challenge by bringing up his forces 
 to the field, and the conflict began. 
 
 As soon as the combatants were fairly en- 
 gaged, one of the wings of Pyrrhus's army be- 
 gan to give way. The other wing, on the con- 
 trary, which was the one that Pyrrhus himself 
 personally commanded, was victorious. Pyr- 
 rhus himself led his soldiers on ; and he inspired 
 them with so much strength and energy by his 
 own reckless daring, that all those portions of 
 the Roman army which were opposed to them 
 were beaten and driven back into the camp. 
 This success, however, was not wholly owing to 
 the personal prowess of Pyrrhus. It was due, 
 in a great measure, to the power of the ele- 
 
204 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 275. 
 
 Onset of the elephants. They are terrified by the torches. 
 
 phants, for they fought in that part of the field. 
 As the Romans were almost wholly unaccus- 
 tomed to the warfare of elephants, they knew 
 not how to resist them, and the r huge beasts 
 bore down all before them wherever they moved. 
 In this crisis, Curius ordered a fresh body of 
 troops to advance. It was a corps of reserve, 
 which he had stationed near the camp under or- 
 ders to hold themselves in readiness there, to 
 come forward and act at any moment, and at 
 any part of the field wherever their services 
 might be required. These troops were now 
 summoned to advance and attack the elephants. 
 They accordingly came rushing on, brandishing 
 their swords in one hand, and bearing burning 
 torches, with which they had been provided for 
 the occasion, in the other. The torches they 
 threw at the elephants as soon as they came 
 near, in order to terrify them and make them 
 unmanageable ; and then, with their swords, 
 they attacked the keepers and drivers of the 
 beasts, and the men who fought in connection 
 with them. The success of this onset was so 
 great, that the elephants soon became unman- 
 ageable. They even broke into the phalanx, 
 and threw the ranks of it into confusion, over- 
 turning and trampling upon the men, and fall- 
 
; . V-'fe'H 
 
 i'!!i, '1 
 
B.C.275.] Retreat from Italy. 207 
 
 The young elephant and its mother. 
 
 ing themselves upon the slain, under the wounds 
 which the spears inflicted upon them. 
 
 A remarkable incident is said to have occur- 
 red in the midst of this scene of confusion and 
 terror, which strikingly illustrates the strength 
 of the maternal instinct, even among hrutes. 
 It happened that there was a young elephant, 
 and also its mother, in the same division of Pyr- 
 rhus's army. The former, though young, was 
 sufficiently grown to serve as an elephant of 
 war, and, as it happened, its post on the field 
 of battle was not very far from that of its moth- 
 er. In the course of the battle the young ele- 
 phant was wounded, and it uttered immediate- 
 ly a piercing cry of pain and terror. The mother 
 heard the cry, and recognized the voice that ut- 
 tered it through all the din and uproar of the bat- 
 tle. She immediately became wholly ungovern- 
 able, and, breaking away from the control of her 
 keepers, she rushed forward, trampling down 
 every thing in her way, to rescue and protect 
 her offspring. This incident occurred at the 
 commencement of the attack which the Ptoman 
 reserve made upon the elephants, and contrib- 
 uted very essentially to the panic and confusion 
 which followed. 
 
 In the end Pyrrhus was entirely defeated. 
 
208 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 275. 
 
 Pyrrhus's flight. His desperate expedient. 
 
 He was compelled to abandon his camp and to 
 retire toward Tarentum. The Romans imme- 
 diately advanced, flushed with victory, and car- 
 rying all before them. Pyrrhus retreated fast- 
 er and faster, his numbers continually dimin- 
 ishing as he fled, until at last, when he reached 
 Tarentum, he had only a few horsemen in his 
 train. He sent off the most urgent requests to 
 his friends and allies in Greece to furnish him 
 aid. The help, however, did not come, and 
 Pyrrhus, in order to keep the small remnant 
 that still adhered to him together, resorted to 
 the desperate expedient of forging letters from 
 his friends, promising speedy and abundant 
 supplies, and showing these letters to his offi- 
 cers, to prevent them from being wholly dis- 
 couraged and abandoning his cause. This mis- 
 erable contrivance, however, even if successful, 
 could only afford a momentary relief. Pyrrhus 
 soon found that all hope and possibility of re- 
 trieving his fortunes in Italy had entirely dis- 
 appeared, and that no alternative was left to 
 him but to abandon the ground. So, pretend- 
 ing to wonder why his allies did not send for- 
 ward the succors which they had promised in 
 their letters, and saying that, since they were 
 so dilatory and remiss, he must go himself and 
 
B.C. 274.] Retreat from Italy. 209 
 
 He arrives at length safely in Epirus. 
 
 bring them, but promising that he would im- 
 mediately return, he set sail from Tarentum, 
 and, crossing the sea, went home to his own 
 kingdom. He arrived safely in Epirus after an 
 absence of six years. 
 
 
 
210 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 284. 
 
 Some account of the family of Lysimachus. 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 The Family of Lysimachus. 
 
 THE reader will perhaps recollect that when 
 Pyrrhus withdrew from Macedon, before 
 he embarked on his celebrated expedition into 
 Italy, the enemy before he was compelled to re- 
 tire was Lysimachus. Lysimachus continued 
 to reign in Macedon for some time after Pyr- 
 rhus had gone, until, finally, he was himself 
 overthrown, under circumstances of a very re- 
 markable character. In fact, his whole history 
 affords a striking illustration of the nature of 
 the results which often followed, in ancient 
 times, from the system of government which 
 then almost universally prevailed — a system in 
 which the supreme power was considered as 
 rightfully belonging to some sovereign who de- 
 rived it from his ancestors by hereditary de- 
 scent, and who, in the exercise of it, was entire- 
 ly above all sense of responsibility to the sub- 
 jects of his dominion. 
 
 It has sometimes been said by writers on the 
 theory of civil government that the principle of 
 
B.C. 284.] Family op Lysimachus. 211 
 
 Remarks on the principle of hereditary succession. 
 
 hereditary sovereignty in the government of a 
 nation has a decided advantage over any elect- 
 ive mode of designating the chief magistrate, on 
 account of its certainty. If the system is such 
 that, on the death of a monarch, the supreme 
 power descends to his eldest son, the succession 
 is determined at once, without debate or delay. 
 If, on the other hand, an election is to take 
 place, there must be a contest. Parties are 
 formed ; plans and counterplans are laid ; a pro- 
 tracted and heated controversy ensues ; and 
 when, finally, the voting is ended, there is some- 
 times doubt and uncertainty in ascertaining the 
 true result, and very often an angry and obsti- 
 nate refusal to acquiesce in it when it is de- 
 termined. Thus the principle of hereditary de- 
 scent seems simple, clear, and liable to no un- 
 certainty or doubt, while^that of popular election 
 tends to lead the country subject to it into end- 
 less disputes, and often ultimately to civil war. 
 But though this may be in theory the opera- 
 tion of the two systems, in actual practice it 
 has been found that the hereditary principle 
 has very little advantage over any other in re- 
 spect to the avoidance of uncertainty and dis- 
 pute. Among the innumerable forms and pha- 
 ses which the principle of hereditary descent 
 
212 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 284. 
 
 Difficulties that often occur. 
 
 assumes in actual life, the cases in which one 
 acknowledged and unquestioned sovereign of a 
 country dies, and leaves one acknowledged and 
 unquestioned heir, are comparatively few. The 
 relationships existing among the various branch- 
 es of a family are often extremely intricate and 
 complicated. Sometimes they become variously 
 entangled with each other by intermarriages ; 
 sometimes the claims arising under them are 
 disturbed, or modified, or confused by conquests 
 and revolutions ; and thus they often become so 
 hopelessly involved that no human sagacity can 
 classify or arrange them. The case of France 
 at the present time* is a striking illustration 
 of this difficulty, there being in that country no 
 less than three sets of claimants who regard 
 themselves entitled to the supreme power — the 
 representatives, namely, of the Bourbon, the 
 Orleans, and the Napoleon dynasties. Each one 
 of the great parties rests the claim which they 
 severally advance in behalf of their respective 
 candidates more or less exclusively on rights 
 derived from their hereditary relationship to for- 
 mer rulers of the kingdom, and there is no pos- 
 sible mode of settling the question between them 
 but by the test of power. Even if all concern- 
 * January, 1852. 
 
B.C. 284.] Family of Lysimachus. 213 
 
 Examples. Return to Ihe history of Macedon. 
 
 ed were disposed to determine the controversy 
 by a peaceful appeal to the principles of the law 
 of descent, as relating to the transmission of 
 governmental power, no principles could he 
 found that would apply to the case ; or, rather, 
 so numerous are the principles that would be 
 required to be taken into the account, and so 
 involved and complicated are the facts to which 
 they must be applied, that any distinct solution 
 of the question on theoretical grounds would be 
 utterly impossible. There is, and there can be, 
 no means of solving such a question but power. 
 
 In fact, the history of the smaller monarchies 
 of ancient times is comprised, sometimes for 
 centuries almost exclusively, in narratives of 
 the intrigues, the contentions, and the bloody 
 wars of rival families, and rival branches of the 
 same family, in asserting- their respective claims 
 as inheritors to the possession of power. This 
 truth is strikingly illustrated in the events 
 which occurred in Macedon during the ab- 
 sence of Pyrrhus in Italy and Sicily, in connec- 
 tion with the family of Lysimachus, and his 
 successor in power there. These events we 
 shall now proceed to relate in their order. 
 
 At the time when Pyrrhus was driven from 
 Macedon by Lysimachus, previous to his going 
 
214 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 284. 
 
 Stories of Lysimachus's strength and courage. 
 
 into Italy, Lysimachus was far advanced in 
 age. He was, in fact, at this time nearly sev- 
 enty years old. He commenced his military 
 career during the lifetime of Alexander the 
 Grreat, having been one of the great conqueror's 
 most distinguished generals. Many stories were 
 told, in his early life, of his personal strength 
 and valor. On one occasion, as was said, when, 
 hunting in Syria, he encountered a lion of im- 
 mense size single-handed, and, after a very des- 
 perate and obstinate conflict, he succeeded in 
 killing him, though not without receiving se- 
 vere wounds himself in the contest. Another 
 story was, that at one time, having displeased 
 Alexander, he was condemned to suffer death, 
 and that, too, in a very cruel and horrible man- 
 ner. He was to be thrown into a lion's den. 
 This was a mode of execution not uncommon 
 in ancient times. It answered a double pur- 
 pose ; it not only served for a terrible punish- 
 ment in respect to the man, but it also effected 
 a useful end in respect to the animal. By giv- 
 ing him a living man to seize and devour, the 
 savage ferocity of the beast was stimulated and 
 increased, and thus he was rendered more val- 
 uable for the purposes and uses for which he 
 was retained. In the case of Lysimachus, 
 
B.C. 284.] Family of L ysim aciiu s. 215 
 
 Put in a dungeon with a lion. 
 
 however, both these objects failed. As soon as 
 he was put into the dungeon where the lion 
 was awaiting him, he attacked the beast, and, 
 though unarmed, he succeeded in destroying 
 him. Alexander admired so much the desper- 
 ate strength and courage evinced by this ex- 
 ploit, that he pardoned the criminal and re- 
 stored him to favor. 
 
 Lysimachus continued in the service of Al- 
 exander as long as that monarch lived ; and 
 when, at the death of Alexander, the empire 
 was divided among the leading generals, the 
 kingdom of Thrace, which adjoins Macedon on 
 the east,* was assigned to him as his portion. 
 He is commonly designated, therefore, in his- 
 tory, as the King of Thrace ; though in the sub- 
 sequent part of his life he obtained possession 
 also, by conquest, of the kingdom of Macedon. 
 He married, in succession, several wives, and 
 experienced through them a great variety of 
 domestic troubles. His second wife was a Sicil- 
 ian princess named Amastris. She was a wid- 
 ow at the time of her marriage with Lysima- 
 chus, and had two sons. After being married 
 to her for some time, Lysimachus repudiated 
 and abandoned her, and she returned to Sicily 
 
 * See map. 
 
216 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 284. 
 
 Amastris and her two sons. Arsinoc. 
 
 with, her two sons, and lived in a certain city 
 which belonged to them there. The young 
 men were not of age, and Amastris accordingly 
 assumed the government of the city in their 
 name. They, however, quarreled with their 
 mother, and finally drowned her, in order to 
 remove her out of their way. Lysimachus, 
 though he might justly have considered himself 
 as in some sense the cause of this catastrophe, 
 since, by deserting his wife and withdrawing 
 his protection from her, he compelled her to re- 
 turn to Sicily and put herself in the power of 
 her unnatural sons, was still very indignant at 
 the event, and, fitting out an expedition, he 
 went to Sicily, captured the city, took the sons 
 of Amastris prisoners, and put them to death 
 without mercy, in retribution for their atrocious 
 crime. 
 
 At the time when Lysimachus put away his 
 wife, Amastris, he married Arsinoe, an Egyp- 
 tian princess, the daughter, in fact, of Ptolemy, 
 the son of Lagus, who was at this time the king 
 of Egypt. How far Lysimachus was governed, 
 in his repudiation of Amastris, by the influence 
 of Arsinoe's personal attractions in winning his 
 heart away from his fidelity to his legitimate 
 wife, and how far, on the other hand, he was 
 
B.C. 284.] Family of Lysimachus. 217 
 
 Feud in Ptolemy's family. Origin of the quarrel. 
 
 alienated from her by her own misconduct or 
 the violence of her temper, is not now known. 
 At any rate, the Sicilian wife, as has been 
 stated, was dismissed and sent home, and the 
 Egyptian princess came into her place. 
 
 The small degree of domestic peace and com- 
 fort which Lysimachus had hitherto enjoyed 
 was far from being improved by this change. 
 The family of Ptolemy was distracted by a dead- 
 ly feud, and, by means of the marriage of Ar- 
 sinoe with Lysimachus, and of another marriage 
 which subsequently occurred, and which will 
 be spoken of presently, the quarrel was trans- 
 ferred, in all its bitterness, to the family of Ly- 
 simachus, where it produced the most dreadful 
 results. 
 
 The origin of the quarrel in the household of 
 Ptolemy was this : Ptolemy married, for his 
 first wife, Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater. 
 When Eurydice, at the time of her marriage, 
 went with her husband into Egypt, she was ac- 
 companied by her cousin Berenice, a young and 
 beautiful widow, whom she invited to go with 
 her as her companion and. friend. A great 
 change, however, soon took place in the relations 
 which they sustained to each other. From be- 
 ing very affectionate and confidential friends, 
 
218 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 284. 
 
 Account of the family. Ptolemy Ceraunus. 
 
 they became, as often happens in similar cases, 
 on far less conspicuous theatres of action, rivals 
 and enemies. Berenice gained the affections of 
 Ptolemy, and at length he married her. Ar- 
 sinoe, whom Lysimachus married, was the 
 daughter of Ptolemy and Berenice. They had 
 also a son who was named Ptolemy, and who, 
 at the death of his father, succeeded him on the 
 throne. This son subsequently became renown- 
 ed in history under the name of Ptolemy Phila- 
 delphus. He was the second monarch of the 
 Ptolemaic line. 
 
 But, besides these descendants of Berenice, 
 there was another set of children in Ptolemy's 
 family — namely, those by Eurydice. Eurydice 
 had a son and a daughter. The name of the 
 son was Ptolemy Ceraunus ; that of the daughter 
 was Lysandra. There was, of course, a stand- 
 ing and bitter feud always raging between these 
 two branches of the royal household. The two 
 wives, though they had once been friends, now, 
 of course, hated each other with perfect hatred. 
 Each had her own circle of partisans and ad- 
 herents, and the court was distracted for many 
 years with the intrigues, the plots, the dissen- 
 sions, and the endless schemes and counter- 
 schemes which were resorted to by the two par- 
 
B.C. 284.] Family of Lysimachus. 219 
 
 Transfer of the quarrel from Egypt to Macedon. 
 
 ties in their efforts to thwart and circumvent 
 each other. As Arsinoe, the wife of Lysima- 
 chus, was the daughter of Berenice, it might 
 have been expected that the influence of Ber- 
 enice's party would prevail in Lysimachus's 
 court. This would doubtless have been the 
 case, had it not been that unfortunately there 
 was another alliance formed between the two 
 families which complicated the connection, and 
 led, in the end, to the most deplorable results. # 
 This other alliance was the marriage of Agath- 
 ocles, the son of Lysimachus, with Lysandra, 
 Eurydice's daughter. Thus, in the court and 
 family of Lysimachus, Berenice had a represent- 
 ative in the person of her daughter Arsinoe, 
 the wife of the king himself; while Eurydice, 
 also, had one in the person of her daughter Ly- 
 sandra, the wife of the king's son. Of course, 
 the whole virulence of the quarrel was spread 
 from Egypt to Macedon, and the household of 
 Lysimachus was distracted by the dissensions 
 of Arsinoe and Lysandra, and by the attempts 
 which each made to effect the destruction of 
 the other. 
 
 Of course, in this contest, the advantage was 
 on the side of Arsinoe, since she was the wife 
 of the king himself, while Lysandra was only 
 
220 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 284. 
 
 Lysandra. Envy and hatred of Arsinoc. 
 
 the wife of his son. Still, the position and the 
 izifluence of Lysandra were very high. Agath- 
 ocles was a prince of great consideration and 
 honor. He had been very successful in his mil- 
 itary campaigns, had won many battles, and 
 had greatly extended the dominion and power 
 of his father. He was a great favorite, in fact, 
 both with the army and with the people, all of 
 whom looked up to him as the hope and the 
 pride of the kingdom. 
 
 Of course, the bestowal of all this fame and 
 honor upon Lysandra's husband only served to 
 excite the rivalry and hatred of Arsinoe the 
 more. She and Lysandra were sisters, or, rath- 
 er, half-sisters — being daughters of the same 
 father. They were, however, on this very ac- 
 count, natural enemies to each other, for their 
 mothers were rivals. Arsinoe, of course, was 
 continually devising means to curtail the grow- 
 ing importance and greatness of Agathocles. 
 Agathocles himself, on the other hand, would 
 naturally make every effort to thwart and coun- 
 teract her designs. In the end, Arsinoe suc- 
 ceeded in convincing Lysimachus that Agatho- 
 cles was plotting a conspiracy against him, and 
 was intending to take the kingdom into his own 
 hands. This may have been true. Whether 
 
B.C. 284.] Family of Lysimachus. 221 
 
 Lysandra's husband imprisoned. Danger of her children. 
 
 it was true or false, however, can now never be 
 known. At all events, Lysimachus was induced 
 to believe it He ordered Agathocles to be seiz- 
 ed and put into prison, and then, a short time 
 afterward, he caused him to be poisoned. Ly- 
 sandra was overwhelmed with consternation and 
 sorrow at this event. She was, moreover, great- 
 ly alarmed for herself and for her children, and 
 also for her brother, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who 
 was with her at this time. It was obvious that 
 there could be no longer any safety for her in 
 Macedon, and so, taking with her her children, 
 her brother, and a few friends who adhered to 
 her cause, she made her escape from Macedon 
 and went to Asia. Here she cast herself upon 
 the protection of Seleucus, king of Syria. 
 
 Seleucus was another of the generals of Alex- 
 ander' — the only one, in fact, besides Lysima- 
 chus, who now survived. He had, of course, 
 like Lysimachus, attained to a very advanced 
 period of life, being at this time more than sev- 
 enty-five years old. These veterans might have 
 been supposed to have lived long enough to have 
 laid aside their ancient rivalries, and to have 
 been willing to spend their few remaining years 
 in peace. But it was far otherwise in fact. 
 Seleucus was pleased with the pretext afforded 
 
222 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 281. 
 
 Lysandra's flight. An army raised. Desperate; battle. 
 
 liim, by the coming of Lysandra, for embarking 
 in new wars. Lysandra was, in a short time, 
 followed in her flight by many of the nobles and 
 chieftains of Macedon, who had espoused her 
 cause. Lysimachus, in fact, had driven them 
 away by the severe measures which he had 
 adopted against them. These men assembled 
 at the court of Seleucus, and there, with Ly- 
 sander and Ptolemy Ceraunus, they began to 
 form plans for invading the dominions of Lysim- 
 achus, and avenging the cruel death of Agath- 
 ocles. Seleucus was very easily induced to en- 
 ter into these plans, and war was declared. 
 
 Lysimachus did not wait for his enemies to 
 invade his dominions ; he organized an army, 
 crossed the Hellespont, and marched to meet 
 Seleucus in Asia Minor. The armies met in 
 Phrygia. A desperate battle was fought. Ly- 
 simachus was conquered and slain. 
 
 Seleucus now determined to cross the Helles- 
 pont himself, and, advancing into Thrace and 
 Macedon, to annex those kingdoms to his own 
 domains. Ptolemy Ceraunus accompanied him. 
 This Ptolemy, it will be recollected, was the son 
 of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, by his wife Euryd- 
 ice ; and, at first view, it might seem that he 
 could have no claim whatever himself to the 
 
B.C. 281.] Family op Lysimachus. 223 
 
 Ptolemy Ceraunus. His reckless and desperate character. 
 
 crown of Macedon. But Eurydice, his mother, 
 was the daughter of Antipater, the general to 
 whom Macedon had been assigned on the orig- 
 inal division of the empire after Alexander's 
 death. Antipater had reigned over the kingdom 
 for a long time with great splendor and renown, 
 and his name and memory were still held in 
 great veneration by all the Macedonians. Ptol- 
 emy Ceraunus began to conceive, therefore, that 
 he was entitled to succeed to the kingdom as 
 the grandson and heir of the monarch who was 
 Alexander's immediate successor, and whose 
 claims were consequently, as he contended, en- 
 titled to take precedence of all others. 
 
 Moreover, Ptolemy Ceraunus had lived for a 
 long time in Macedon, .at the court of Lysima- 
 chus, having fled there from Egypt on account 
 of the quarrels in which he was involved in his 
 father's family. He was a man of a very reck- 
 less and desperate character, and, while a young 
 man in his father's court, he had shown himself 
 very ill able to brook the preference which his 
 father was disposed to accord to Berenice and 
 to her children over his mother Eurydice and 
 him. In fact, it was said that one reason which 
 led his father to give Berenice's family the pre- 
 cedence over that of Eurydice, and to propose 
 
224 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Alliance of Ceraunus with Seleucus. His plans. 
 
 that her son rather than Ptolemy Ceraunus 
 should succeed him, was the violent and uncon- 
 trollable spirit which Ceraunus displayed. At 
 any rate, Ceraunus quarreled openly with his 
 father, and went to Macedon to join his sister 
 there. He had subsequently spent some con- 
 siderable time at the court of Lysimachus, and 
 had taken some active part in public affairs. 
 When Agathocles was poisoned, he fled with 
 Lysandra to Seleucus ; and when the prepara- 
 tions were made by Seleucus for war with Ly- 
 simachus, he probably regarded himself as in 
 some sense the leader of the expedition. He 
 considered Seleucus as his ally, going with him 
 to aid him in the attempt to recover the king- 
 dom of his ancestors. 
 
 Seleucus, however, had no such design. Pie 
 by no means considered himself as engaged in 
 prosecuting an expedition for the benefit of Ce- 
 raunus. His plan was the enlargement of his 
 own dominion ; and as for Ceraunus, he regard- 
 ed him only as an adventurer following in his 
 train — a useful auxiliary, perhaps, but by no 
 means entitled to be considered as a principal 
 in the momentous transactions which were tak- 
 ing place. Ceraunus, when he found what the 
 state of the case really was, being wholly un- 
 
B.C. 280.] Family of Lysimaciius. 225 
 
 Ceraunus's meditated treachery. 
 
 scrupulous in respect to the means that he em- 
 ployed for the attainment of his ends, determined 
 to kill Selcucus on the first opportunity. 
 
 Seleucus seems to have had no suspicion of 
 this design, for he advanced into Thrace, on his 
 way to Macedon, without fear, and without tak- 
 ing any precautions to guard himself from the 
 danger of Ceraunus's meditated treachery. At 
 length he arrived at a certain town which they 
 told him was called Argos. He seemed alarmed 
 on hearing this name, and, when they inquired 
 the reason, he said that he had been warned hy 
 an oracle, at some former period of his life, to 
 be vvare of Argos, as a place that was destined 
 to be for him the scene of some mysterious and 
 dreadful danger. Ho had supposed that another 
 Argos was alluded to in this warning, namely, 
 an Argos in Greece. He had not known before 
 of the existence of any Argos in Thrace. If he 
 had been aware of it, he would have ordered his 
 march so as to have av( id id it altogether ; and 
 now, in consequence of the anxious forebodings 
 that were excited by the name, he determined 
 to withdraw from the place without delay. He 
 was, however, overtaken by his fate before lie 
 could effect his resolution. Ptolemy Ceraunus, 
 watching a favorable opportunity which occur- 
 P 
 
226 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 280- 
 
 Ceraunus proceeds to Macedon. 
 
 red while he was at Argos, came stealthily up 
 behind the aged king, and stabbed him in the 
 back with a dagger. Seleucus immediately fell 
 down and died. 
 
 Ptolemy Ceraunus forthwith organized a 
 body of adherents and proceeded to Macedon, 
 where he assumed the diadem, and caused him- 
 self to be proclaimed king. He found the coun- 
 try distracted by dissensions, many parties hav- 
 ing been formed, from time to time, in the 
 course of the preceding reigns, each of which 
 was now disposed to come forward with its 
 candidates and its claims. All these Ptolemy 
 Ceraunus boldly set aside. He endeavored to 
 secure all those who were friendly to the an- 
 cient house of Antipater by saying that he was 
 Antipater's grandson and heir ; and, on the 
 other hand, to conciliate the partisans of Ly- 
 simachus, by saying that he was Lysimachus's 
 avenger. This was in one sense true, for he 
 had murdered Seleucus, the man by whom 
 Lysimachus had been destroyed. He relied, 
 however, after all, for the means of sustain- 
 ing himself in his new position, not on his rea- 
 sons, but on his troops ; and he accordingly 
 advanced into the country more as a conqueror 
 coming to subjugate a nation by force, than as 
 
B.C. 280.] Family of Lysimachus. 227 
 
 His rivals and enemies. Their various claims. 
 
 a prince succeeding peacefully to an hereditary 
 crown. 
 
 He soon had many rivals and enemies in the 
 field against him. The three principal ones 
 "were Antiochus, Antigonus, and Pyrrhus. An- 
 tiochus was the son of Seleucus. He maintain- 
 ed that his father had fairly conquered the king- 
 dom of Macedon, and had acquired the right to 
 reign over it ; that Ptolemy Ceraunus, hy as- 
 sassinating Seleucus, had not divested him of 
 any of his rights, but that they all descended 
 unimpaired to his son, and that he himself, 
 therefore, was the true king of Macedon. An- 
 tigonus was the son of Demetrius, who had 
 reigned in Macedon at a former period, before 
 Lysimachus had invaded and conquered the 
 kingdom. Antigonus therefore maintained that 
 his right was superior to that of Ptolemy, for 
 his father had been the acknowledged sovereign 
 of the country at a period subsequent to that 
 of the reign of Anti pater. Pyrrhus was the 
 third claimant. He had held Macedon by con- 
 quest immediately before the reign of Lysima- 
 chus, and now, since Lysimachus had been de- 
 posed, his rights, as he alleged, revived. In a 
 word, there were four competitors for the throne, 
 each urging claims compounded of rights of 
 
228 Pyrriius. [B.C. 280. 
 
 The first contest was with Antigonus. 
 
 conquest and of inheritance, so complicated and 
 so involved, one with the other, as to render all 
 attempts at a peaceahle adjudication of them 
 absolutely hopeless. There could he no possi- 
 ble way of determining who was best entitled 
 to the throne in such a case. The only ques- 
 tion, therefore, that remained was, who was best 
 able to take and keep it. 
 
 This question Ptolemy Ceraunus had first to 
 try with Antigonus, who came to invade the 
 country with a fleet and an army from Greece. 
 After a very short but violent contest, Antigo- 
 nus was defeated, both by sea and by land, and 
 Ceraunus remained master of the kingdom. 
 This triumph greatly strengthened his power 
 in respect to the other competitors. He, in 
 fact, contrived to settle the question with them 
 by treaty, in which they acknowledged him as 
 king. In the case of Pyrrhus, he agreed, in 
 consideration of being allowed peaceably to re- 
 tain possession of his kingdom, to furnish a cer- 
 tain amount of military aid to strengthen the 
 hands of Pyrrhus in the wars in which he was 
 then engaged in Italy and Sicily. The force 
 which he thus furnished consisted of five thou- 
 sand foot, four thousand horse, and fifty ele- 
 phants. 
 
B.C. 280.] Family of Ltsimachus. 229 
 
 Arsinoe and her children. Their retreat to Cassandria. 
 
 Thus it would seem that every thing was 
 settled. There was, however, one difficulty still 
 remaining. Arsinoe, the widow of Lysimachus, 
 still lived. It was Arsinoe, it will he recollect- 
 ed, whose jealousy of her half-sister, Lysandra, 
 had caused the death of Agathocles and the 
 flight of Lysandra, and which had led to the 
 expedition of Seleucus, and the subsequent rev- 
 olution in Macedon. When her husband was 
 killed, she, instead of submitting at once to the 
 change of government, shut herself up in Cas- 
 sandria, a rich and well-defended city. She had 
 her sons with her, who, as the children of Ly- 
 simachus, were heirs to the throne. She was 
 well aware that she had, for the time being, no 
 means at her command for supporting the claims 
 of her children, but she was fully determined 
 not to relinquish them, but to defend herself 
 and her children in the city of Cassandria, as 
 well as she was able, until some change should 
 take place in the aspect of public affairs. Ce- 
 raunus, of course, saw in her a very formidable 
 and dangerous opponent ; and, after having tri- 
 umphed over Antigonus, and concluded his peace 
 with Antiochus and with Pyrrhus, he advanced 
 toward Cassandria, revolving in his mind the 
 question by what means he could best man- 
 
230 Pyrrhus. {B.C. 280. 
 
 Ccraunus proposes marriage to Arsinoe. 
 
 age to get Arsinoe and her children into his 
 power. 
 
 He concluded to try the effect of cunning and 
 treachery before resorting to force. He accord- 
 ingly sent a message to Arsinoe, proposing that, 
 instead of quarreling for the kingdom, they 
 should unite their claims, and asking her, for 
 this purpose, to become his wife. He would 
 marry her, he said, and adopt her children as 
 his own, and thus the whole question would he 
 amicably settled. 
 
 Arsinoe very readily acceded to this proposal. 
 It is true that she was the half-sister of Cerau- 
 nus ; but this relationship was no bar to a mat- 
 rimonial union, according to the ideas that 
 prevailed in the courts of kings in those days. 
 Arsinoe, accordingly, gave her consent to the 
 proposal, and opened the gates of the city to Cc- 
 raunus and his troops. Ceraunus immediately 
 put her two sons to death. Arsinoe herself fled 
 from the city. Very probably Ceraunus allow- 
 ed her to escape, since, as she herself had no 
 claim to the throne, any open violence offered to 
 her would have been a gratuitous crime, which 
 would have increased, unnecessarily, the odium 
 that would naturally attach to Ceraunus's pro- 
 ceedings. At any rate, Arsinoe escaped, and, 
 
B.C. 280.] Family op Lysimachus, 231 
 
 Ceraunus finds himself in great prosperity. 
 
 after various wanderings, found her way back 
 to her former home in her father's court at Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 The heart of Ceraunus was now filled with 
 exultation and pride. All his schemes had 
 proved successful, and he found himself, at last, 
 in secure possession, as he thought, of a power- 
 ful and wealthy kingdom. He wrote home to 
 his brother in Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus — 
 by whom, as the reader will recollect, he had 
 been supplanted there, in consequence of his fa- 
 ther's preference for the children of Berenice — 
 saying that he now acquiesced in that disposi- 
 tion of the kingdom of Egypt, since he had ac- 
 quired for himself a better kingdom in Mace- 
 don. He proceeded to complete the organiza- 
 tion of his government. He recruited his ar- 
 mies ; he fortified his towns ; and began to con- 
 sider himself as firmly established on his throne. 
 All his dreams, however, of security and peace, 
 were soon brought to a very sudden termina- 
 tion. 
 
 There was a race of half-civilized people on 
 the banks of the Danube called G-auls. Some 
 tribes of this nation afterward settled in what is 
 now France, and gave their name to that coun- 
 try. At the period, however, of the events 
 
232 Pyrriius. [B.C. 280. 
 
 Invasion threatened. Ceraunus prepares to defend himself. 
 
 which we are here relating, the chief seat of 
 their dominion was a region on the hanks of the 
 Danube, north of Macedon and Thrace. Here 
 they had been for some time concentrating their 
 forces and gradually increasing in power, al- 
 though their movements had been very little re- 
 garded by Ceraunus. Now, however, a depu- 
 tation suddenly appeared at Ceraunus's capital, 
 to say that they were prepared for an invasion 
 of his dominions, and asking him how much 
 money he would give for peace. Ceraunus, in 
 the pride of his newly-established power, treat- 
 ed this proposal with derision. He directed the 
 embassadors to go back and say that, far from 
 wishing to purchase peace, he would not allow 
 peace to them, unless they immediately sent 
 him all their principal generals, as hostages for 
 their good behavior. Of course, after such an 
 interchange of messages as this, both parties 
 immediately prepared for war. 
 
 Ceraunus assembled all the forces that ho 
 could command, marched northward to meet 
 his enemy, and a great battle was fought be- 
 tween the two armies. Ceraunus commanded 
 in person in this conflict. He rode into the 
 field at the head of his troops, mounted on an 
 elephant. In the course of the action he was 
 
E.G. 273.] Family of Lysimachus. 233 
 
 Ceraunus thrown to the ground and killed. 
 
 wounded, and the elephant on which he rode 
 becoming infuriated at the same time, perhaps 
 from being wounded himself too, threw his rider 
 
 The fallen Elephant 
 
 to the ground. The Grauls who were fighting 
 around him immediately seized him. "Without 
 any hesitation or delay they cut off his head, 
 and, raising it on the point of a pike, they bore 
 it about the field in triumph. This spectacle 
 so appalled and intimidated the army of the 
 Macedonians, that the ranks were soon broken, 
 and. the troops, giving way, fled in all directions, 
 and the Gfauls found themselves masters of the 
 field. 
 
234 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 27:1 
 
 Consequences of the death of Ceraunus. 
 
 The death of Ptolemy Ceraunus was, of 
 course, the signal for all the old claimants to 
 the throne to come forward with their several 
 pretensions anew. A protracted period of dis- 
 sension and misrule ensued, during which the 
 Gauls made dreadful havoc in all the northern 
 portions of Macedon. Antigonus at last suc- 
 ceeded in gaining the advantage, and obtained 
 a sort of nominal possession of the throne, which 
 he held until the time when Pyrrhus returned 
 to Epirus from Italy. Pyrrhus, being informed 
 of this state of things, could not resist the de- 
 sire which he felt of making an incursion into 
 Macedon, and seizing for himself the prize for 
 which rivals, no better entitled to it than he, 
 were so fiercely contending. 
 
TIC. 273.] Reconquest of Macedon. 235 
 
 Fatal deficiencies in Pyrrhus's character. 
 
 Chapter X. 
 The Reconquest of Macedon. 
 
 IT was the great misfortune of Pyrrhus's life, 
 a misfortune resulting apparently from an 
 inherent and radical defect in his character, 
 that he had no settled plans or purposes, hut 
 embarked in one project after another, as acci- 
 dent or caprice might incline him, apparently 
 without any forethought, consideration, or de- 
 sign. He seemed to form no plan, to live for 
 no object, to contemplate no end, hut was gov- 
 erned by a sort of blind and instinctive impulse, 
 which led him to love danger, and to take a 
 wild and savage delight in the performance of 
 military exploits on their own account, and 
 without regard to any ultimate end or aim to 
 be accomplished by them. Thus, although ho 
 evinced great power, he produced no permanent 
 effects. There was no steadiness or persever- 
 ance in his action, and there could be none, 
 for in his whole course of policy there were no 
 ulterior ends in view by which perseverance 
 could be sustained. He was, consequently, al- 
 
236 Pyrriius. [B.C. 273. 
 
 Fickleness of Pyrrhus. Consequences which resulted from it. 
 
 ways ready to abandon any enterprise in which 
 he might be engaged as soon as it began to be 
 involved in difficulties requiring the exercise of 
 patience, endurance, and self-denial, and to em- 
 bark in any new undertaking, provided that it 
 promised to bring him speedily upon a field of 
 battle. He was, in a word, the type and exem- 
 plar of that large class of able men who waste 
 their lives in a succession of efforts, which, 
 though they evince great talent in those who 
 perform them, being still without plan or aim, 
 end without producing any result. Such men 
 often, like Pyrrhus, attain to a certain species 
 of greatness. They are famed among men for 
 what they seem to have the power to do, and 
 not for any thing that they have actually done. 
 In accordance with this view of Pyrrhus' s 
 character, we see him changing continually the 
 sphere of his action from one country to anoth- 
 er, gaining great victories every where, and 
 evincing in all his operations — in the organizing 
 and assembling of his armies, in his marches, 
 in his encampments, and in the disposition of 
 his troops on the field of battle, and especially 
 in his conduct during the period of actual con- 
 flict — the most indomitable energy and the most 
 consummate military skill. But when the bat- 
 
B.C. 273.] Reconquest op Macedon. 237 
 
 Examples of his want of perseverance. 
 
 tie was fought and the victory gained, and an 
 occasion supervened requiring a cool and cal- 
 culating deliberation in the forming of future 
 plans, and a steady adherence to them when 
 formed, the character and resources of Pyrrhus's 
 mind were found woefully wanting. The first 
 summons from any other quarter, inviting him 
 to a field of more immediate excitement and ac- 
 tion, was always sufficient to call him away. 
 Thus he changed his field of action successively 
 from Macedon to Italy, from Italy to Sicily, 
 from Sicily back to Italy, and from Italy to 
 Macedon again, perpetually making new begin- 
 nings, but nowhere attaining any ends. 
 
 His determination to invade Macedon once 
 more, on his return to Epirus from Italy, was 
 prompted, apparently, by the mere accident that 
 the government was unsettled, and that Antig- 
 onus was insecure in his possession of the 
 throne. He had no intention, when he first 
 embarked in this scheme, of attempting the con- 
 quest of Macedon, but only designed to make a 
 predatory incursion into the country for the pur- 
 pose of plunder, its defenseless condition afford- 
 ing him, as he thought, a favorable opportunity 
 of doing this. The plea on which he justified 
 this invasion was, that Antigonus was his ene- 
 
238 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 273. 
 
 Reasons for the proposed invasion of Macedon. 
 
 my. Ptolemy Ceraunus had made a treaty of 
 alliance with him, and had furnished him with 
 troops for recruiting and re-enforcing his armies 
 in Italy, as has already been stated ; but An- 
 tigonus, when called upon, had refused to do 
 this. This, of course, gave Pyrrhus ample jus- 
 tification, as he imagined, for his intended in- 
 cursion into the Macedonian realms. 
 
 Besides this, however, there was another jus- 
 tification, namely, that of necessity. Although 
 Pyrrhus had been compelled to withdraw from 
 Italy, he had not returned by any means alone, 
 but had brought quite a large army with him, 
 consisting of many thousands of men, all of 
 whom must now be fed and paid. All the re- 
 sources of his own kingdom had been wellnigh 
 exhausted by the drafts which he had made 
 upon them to sustain himself in Italy, and it 
 was now necessary, he thought, to embark in 
 some war, as a means of finding employment 
 and subsistence for these troops. He determ- 
 ined, therefore, on every account, to make a fo- 
 ray into Macedon. 
 
 Before setting off on his expedition, he con- 
 trived to obtain a considerable force from among 
 the Grauls as auxiliaries. Antigonus, also, had 
 Gauls in his service, for they themselves were 
 
B.C. 273.] Reconquest of Macedon. 239 
 
 In the outset Pyrrhus is successful. 
 
 divided, as it would seem, in respect both to 
 their policy and their leaders, as well as the 
 Macedonians ; and Antigomis, taking advant- 
 age of their dissensions, had contrived to enlist 
 some portion of them in his cause, while the rest 
 were the more easily, on that very account, in- 
 duced to join the expedition of Pyrrhus. Things 
 being in this state, Pyrrhus, after completing his 
 preparations, commenced his march, and soon 
 crossed the Macedonian frontier. 
 
 As was usually the case with the enterprises 
 which he engaged in, he was, in the outset, very 
 successful. He conquered several cities and 
 towns as he advanced, and soon began to enter- 
 tain higher views in respect to the object of his 
 expedition than he had at first formed. Instead 
 of merely plundering the frontier, as he had at 
 first intended, he began to think that it would 
 be possible for him to subdue Antigonus entire- 
 ly, and reannex the whole of Macedon to his 
 dominions. He was well known in Macedon, 
 his former campaigns in that country having 
 brought him very extensively before the people 
 and the army there. He had been a general 
 favorite, too, among them at the time when he 
 had been their ruler ; the people admired his 
 personal qualities as a soldier, and had been ac- 
 
240 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 273. 
 
 The country is disposed to submit to him. 
 
 customed to compare him with Alexander, 
 whom, in his appearance and manners, and in 
 a certain air of military frankness and generos- 
 ity which characterized him, he was said strong- 
 ly to resemble. Pyrrhus now found, as he ad- 
 vanced into the country of Macedonia, that the 
 people were disposed, to regard him with the 
 same sentiments of favor which they had for- 
 merly entertained for him. Several of the gar- 
 risons of the cities joined his standard ; and the 
 detachments of troops which Antigonus sent 
 forward to the frontier to check his progress, in- 
 stead of giving him battle, went over to him in 
 a body and espoused his cause. In a word, Pyr- 
 rhus found that, unexpectedly to himself, his 
 expedition, instead of being merely an incursion 
 across the frontiers on a plundering foray, was 
 assuming the character of a regular invasion. 
 In short, the progress that he made was such, 
 that it soon became manifest that to meet An- 
 tigonus in one pitched battle, and to gain one 
 victory, was all that was required to complete 
 the conquest of the country. 
 
 He accordingly concentrated his forces more 
 and more, strengthened himself by every means 
 in his power, and advanced further and further 
 into the interior of the country.' Antigonus be- 
 
B.C. 273.] Reconquest of Macedon. 241 
 
 Combat in the mountain defile. 
 
 gan to retire, desirous, perhaps, of reaching some 
 ground where he could post himself advantage- 
 ously. Pyrrhus, acting with his customary en- 
 ergy, soon overtook the enemy. He came up 
 with the rear of Antigonus's army in a narrow 
 defile among the mountains ; at least, the place 
 is designated as a narrow defile by the ancient 
 historian who narrates these events, though, 
 from the number of men that were engaged in 
 the action which ensued, as well as from the 
 nature of the action itself, as a historian de- 
 scribes it, it would seem that there must have 
 been a considerable breadth of level ground in 
 the bottom of the gorge. 
 
 The main body of Antigonus's troops was the 
 phalanx. The Macedonian phalanx is consid- 
 ered one of the most extraordinary military con- 
 trivances of ancient times. The invention of it 
 was ascribed to Philip, the father of Alexander 
 the Great, though it is probable that it was only 
 improved and perfected, and brought into gen- 
 eral use, but not really originated by him. The 
 single phalanx was formed of a body of about 
 four thousand men. These men were arranged 
 in a compact form, the whole body consisting 
 of sixteen ranks, and each rank of two hundred 
 and fifty-six men. These men wore each a 
 
242 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 273. 
 
 Account of the phalanx. Its terrible efficacy. 
 
 short sword, to lie used in cases of emergency, 
 and were defended by large shields. The main 
 peculiarity, however, of their armor, and the 
 one on which the principal power of the phalanx 
 depended as a military hody, was in the im- 
 mensely long spears which they carried. These 
 spears were generally twenty-one, and some- 
 times twenty-four feet long. The handles were 
 slender, though strong, and the points were tip- 
 ped with steel. The spears were not intended 
 to he thrown, hut to he held firmly in the hands, 
 and pointed toward the enemy ; and they were 
 so long, and the ranks of the men were so close 
 together, that the spears of the fifth rank pro- 
 jected several feet before the men who stood in 
 the front rank. Thus each man in the front 
 rank had five steel-pointed spears projecting to 
 different distances before him, while the men 
 who stood in ranks further behind rested their 
 spears upon the shoulders of those who were 
 before them, so as to elevate the points into the 
 air. 
 
 The men were protected by large shields, 
 which, when the phalanx was formed in close 
 array, just touched each other, and formed an 
 impregnable defense. In a word, the phalanx, 
 as it moved slowly over the plain, presented the 
 
B.C. 273.] Reconquest of Macedon. 243 
 
 Impossibility of making any impression upon it. 
 
 appearance of a vast monster, covered with 
 scales, and. bristling with points of steel — a sort 
 of military porcupine, which nothing could ap- 
 proach or in any way injure. Missiles thrown 
 toward it were intercepted by the shields, and 
 fell harmless to the ground. Darts, arrows, jav- 
 elins, and every other weapon which could be 
 projected from a distance, were equally ineffect- 
 ual, and no one could come near enough to men 
 thus protected to strike at them with the sword. 
 Even cavalry were utterly powerless in attack- 
 ing such chevaux de frise as the phalanx pre- 
 sented. No charge, however furious, could 
 break its serrated ranks ; an onset upon it could 
 only end in impaling the men and the horses 
 that made it together on the points of the innu- 
 merable spears. 
 
 To form a phalanx, and to maneuver it suc- 
 cessfully, required a special training, both on 
 the part of the officers and men, and in the Ma- 
 cedonian armies the system was carried to very 
 high perfection. When foreign auxiliaries, how- 
 ever, served under Macedonian generals, thej 
 were not generally formed in this way, but were 
 allowed to fight under their own leaders, and ill 
 the accustomed manner of their respective na- 
 tions. The army of Antigonus, accordingly, as 
 
244 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 273. 
 
 The elephants. Order of battle. The elephants overpowered. 
 
 lie was retiring before Pyrrhus, consisted of two 
 portions. The phalanx was in advance, and 
 large bodies of Gauls, armed and arrayed in 
 their usual manner, were in the rear. Of course, 
 Pyrrhus, as he came up with this force in the 
 ravine or valley, encountered the Gauls first. 
 Their lines, it would seem, filled up the whole 
 valley at the place where Pyrrhus overtook them, 
 •so that, at the outset of the contest, Pyrrhus had 
 them only to engage. There was not space suf- 
 ficient for the phalanx to come to their aid. 
 
 Besides the phalanx and the bodies of Grauls, 
 there was a troop of elephants in Antigonus's 
 army. Their position, as it would seem, was 
 between the phalanx and the Grauls. This be- 
 ing the state of things, and Pyrrhus coming up 
 to the attack hi the rear, would, of course, en- 
 counter first the Grauls, then the elephants, and, 
 lastly, the most formidable of all, the phalanx 
 itself. 
 
 Pyrrhus advanced to the attack of the Gauls 
 with the utmost fury, and, though they made 
 a very determined resistance, they were soon 
 overpowered and almost all cut to pieces. The 
 troop of elephants came next. The army of 
 Pyrrhus, flushed with their victory over the 
 Gauls, pressed eagerly on, and soon so surround- 
 
B.C. 273.] Reconquest of Macedon. 245 
 
 The phalanx. Pyrrhus invites the enemy to join him. 
 
 ed the elephants and hemmed them in, that the 
 keepers of them perceived that all hope of resist- 
 ance was vain. They surrendered without an 
 effort to defend themselves. The phalanx now 
 remained. It had hastily changed its front, and 
 it stood on the defensive. Pyrrhus advanced 
 toward it with his forces, "bringing his men up 
 in array in front of the long lines of spears, and 
 paused. The bristling monster remained im- 
 movable, evincing no disposition to advance 
 against its enemy, but awaiting, apparently, an 
 attack. Pyrrhus rode out in front of his lines 
 and surveyed the body of Macedonians before 
 him. He found that he knew the officers per- 
 sonally, having served with them before in the 
 wars in which he had been engaged in Macedon 
 in former years. He saluted them, calling them 
 by name. They were pleased with being thus 
 remembered and recognized by a personage so 
 renowned. Pyrrhus urged them to abandon 
 Antigonus, who had, as he maintained, no just 
 title to the crown, and whose usurped power he 
 was about to overthrow, and invited them to 
 enter into his service, as the ancient and right- 
 ful sovereign of their country. The officers 
 seemed much disposed to listen to these over- 
 tures ; in fine, they soon decided to accede to 
 
246 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus is victorious, and becomes master of Macedon. 
 
 them. The phalanx went over to Pyrrhus' s 
 side in a body, and Antigonus, heing thus de- 
 prived of his last remaining support, left the field 
 in company with a few personal followers, and 
 fled for his life. 
 
 Of course, Pyrrhus found himself at once in 
 complete possession of the Macedonian kingdom. 
 Antigonus did not, indeed, entirely give up the 
 contest. He retreated toward the coast, where 
 he contrived to hold possession, for a time, of a 
 few maritime towns ; but his power as King of 
 Macedon was gone. Some few of the interior 
 cities attempted, for a time, to resist Pyrrhus's 
 rule, but he soon overpowered them. Some of 
 the cities that he thus conquered he garrisoned 
 with Gauls. 
 
 Of course, after such a revolution as this, a 
 great deal was required to be done to settle the 
 affairs of the government on their new footing, 
 and to make the kingdom secure in the hands 
 of the conqueror ; but no one in the least degree 
 acquainted with the character and tendencies 
 of Pyrrhus's mind could expect that he would 
 be at all disposed to attend to these duties. He 
 had neither the sagacity to plan nor the stead- 
 iness of purpose to execute such measures. He 
 could conquer, but that was all. To secure the 
 
B.C. 272.] Reconquest of Macedon. 247 
 
 Complaints of the people. Pyrrhus pays little regard to them. 
 
 results of his conquests was utterly beyond his 
 power. 
 
 In fact, far from making such a use of his 
 power as to strengthen his position, and estab- 
 lish a permanent and settled government, he so 
 administered the affairs of state, or, rather, he so 
 neglected them, that very soon an extended dis- 
 content and disaffection began to prevail. The 
 Crauls, whom he had left as garrisons in the 
 conquered cities, governed them in so arbitrary 
 a manner, and plundered them so recklessly, as 
 to produce extreme irritation among the people. 
 They complained earnestly to Pyrrhus. Pyr- 
 rhus paid little attention to their representa- 
 tions. To fight a battle with an open enemy on 
 the field was always a pleasure to him ; but to 
 meet and grapple witri difficulties of this kind 
 — to hear complaints, and listen to evidence, 
 and discuss and consider remedies, was all 
 weariness and toil to him. 
 
 What he would have done, and what would 
 have been the end of his administration in Mac- 
 edon, had he been left to himself, can not now 
 be known ; for, very fortunately, as he deemed 
 it, he was suddenly relieved of all the embar- 
 rassment in which he was gradually getting in- 
 volved, as he had often been relieved in similar 
 
248 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrlius receives an unexpected invitation. 
 
 circumstances before, by an invitation which 
 came to him just at this time to embark in a 
 new military enterprise, which would draw him 
 away from the country altogether. It is scarce- 
 ly necessary to say that Pyrrhus accepted the 
 invitation with the most eager alacrity. The 
 circumstances of the case will be explained in 
 the next chapter. 
 
B.C. 1000.] Sparta. 249 
 
 Sparta. Some account of the city. The Spartan kings. 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 Sparta. 
 
 THE war in which Pyrrhus was invited to 
 engage, at the time referred to at the close 
 of the last chapter, arose out of a domestic quar- 
 rel in one of the royal families of Sparta. Spar- 
 ta was one of the principal cities of the Pelo- 
 ponnesus, and the capital of a very powerful 
 and warlike kingdom.* The institutions of 
 government in this commonwealth were very 
 peculiar, and among the most extraordinary of 
 them all was the arrangement made in respect 
 to the kingly power. There were two dynas- 
 ties, or lines of kings, reigning conjointly. The 
 division of power between the two incumbents 
 who reigned at any one time may have been 
 somewhat similar to that made in Rome be- 
 tween the consuls. But the system differed 
 from that of the consular government in the 
 fact that the Spartan kings were not elected 
 magistrates, like the Roman consuls, but he- 
 reditary sovereigns, deriving their power from 
 their ancestors, each in his own line. 
 
 * For the situation of Sparta, see map. 
 
250 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 Origin of the system. Oracle at Delphi. A difficulty. 
 
 The origin of this extraordinary system was 
 said to be this : at a very early period of the 
 Spartan history, a king died suddenly, leaving 
 two children twins, as his heirs, hut without 
 designating either one of them as his successor. 
 The Spartans then applied to the mother of the 
 two children to know which of them was the 
 first-born. She pretended that she could not 
 tell. They then applied to the oracle at Delphi, 
 asking what they should do. The response of 
 the oracle directed them to make both the chil- 
 dren kings, but to bestow the highest honors 
 upon the oldest. By this answer the Spartans 
 were only partially relieved from their dilemma ; 
 for, under the directions of the oracle, the ne- 
 cessity of determining the question of priority 
 in respect to the birth of the two children re- 
 mained, without any light or guidance being 
 afforded them in respect to the mode of doing it. 
 
 At last some person suggested that a watch 
 should be set over the mother, with a view to 
 ascertain for which of her children she had the 
 strongest affection. They supposed that she 
 really knew which was the first-born, and that 
 she would involuntarily give to the one whom 
 she regarded in that light the precedence in the 
 maternal services and duties which she render- 
 
B.C. 775.] Sparta. 251 
 
 The two lines of kings. A diarchy. Dissensions. 
 
 ed to the babes. This plan succeeded. It was 
 discovered which was the first-born, and which 
 was the younger ; and the Spartans, according- 
 ly, made both the children kings, but gave the 
 highest rank to the former, as the oracle had 
 directed. The children both lived, and grew up 
 to be men, and in due time were married. By 
 a singular coincidence, they married twin-sis- 
 ters. In the two families thus arising origin- 
 ated the Spartan lines of kings that reigned 
 jointly over the kingdom for many successive 
 generations. To express this extraordinary sys- 
 tem of government, it has sometimes been said 
 that Sparta, though governed by kings, was not 
 a monarchy, but a diarchy. 
 
 The diarchy, however, as might have been 
 expected, was found not to work very success- 
 fully in practice. Various dissensions and diffi- 
 culties arose ; and at length, about two hundred 
 years after the original establishment of the 
 two lines, the kingdom became almost wholly 
 disorganized. At this juncture the celebrated 
 lawgiver Lycurgus arose. He framed a system 
 of laws and regulations for the kingdom, which 
 j were immediately put in force, and resulted not 
 only in restoring the public affairs to order at 
 the time, but were the means, in the end, of 
 
252 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 Lycurgus. His family. Death of his father. 
 
 raising Sparta to the highest condition of pros- 
 perity and renown. 
 
 Lycurgus was indebted for his success in the 
 measures which he adopted not merely to the 
 sagacity which he exercised in framing them, 
 and the energy with which he carried them 
 into effect : he occupied personally a very pecul- 
 iar position, which afforded him great facilities 
 for the performance of his work. He was a 
 member of one of the royal families, being a 
 younger son of one of the kings. He had an 
 elder brother named Polydectes. His father 
 died suddenly, from a stab that he received in 
 a fray. He was not personally engaged in the 
 fray himself as one of the combatants, but only 
 went into it to separate other persons, who had 
 by some means become involved in a sudden 
 quarrel. In the struggle, he received a stab 
 from a kitchen knife, with which one of the 
 combatants was armed, and immediately died. 
 
 Polydectes, of course, being the eldest son, 
 succeeded to the throne. He, however, very 
 soon died, leaving a wife, but no children. About 
 eight months after his death, however, a child 
 was born to his widow, and this child, accord- 
 ing to the then received principles of hereditary 
 descent, was entitled to succeed his father. 
 
B.C. 775.] Sparta. 253 
 
 Lycurgus assumes the crown. Atrocious proposal. 
 
 As, however, at the time of Polydectes's death 
 the child was not born, Lycurgus, the brother, 
 was then apparently the heir. He accordingly 
 assumed the government — so far as the govern- 
 ment devolved upon the line to which his brother 
 had belonged — intending only to hold it in the 
 interim, and to give it up ultimately when the 
 proper heir should appear. In the mean time, 
 the widow supposed very naturally that he 
 would like to retain the power permanently. 
 She was herself also ambitious of reigning as 
 queen ; and she accordingly made to Lycurgus 
 the atrocious and unnatural proposal to destroy 
 the life of her child, on condition that he would 
 marry her, and allow her to share the kingdom 
 with him. Lycurgusjwas much shocked at 
 receiving such a proposition, but he deemed it 
 best, for the time being, to appear to accede to 
 it. He accordingly represented to the queen 
 that it would not be best for her to make the at- 
 tempt which she had proposed, lest she should 
 thereby endanger her own safety. "Wait," 
 said he, " and let me know as soon as the child 
 is born ; then leave every thing to me. I will 
 do myself whatever is required to be done." 
 
 Lycurgus, moreover, had attendants, provided 
 with orders to keep themselves in readiness 
 
254 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 Plan arranged for disposing ef the child. 
 
 when the child should he born, and, if it proved 
 to be a son, to bring the babe to him immedi- 
 ately, wherever he might be, or however he 
 might be engaged. If it proved to be a daugh- 
 ter, they were to leave it in the hands of the 
 woman who had charge of the queen. The 
 babe proved to be a son. The officers took it, 
 accordingly, and brought it at once to Lycur- 
 gus. The unnatural mother, of course, under- 
 stood that it was taken away from her to be 
 destroyed, and she acquiesced in the supposed 
 design, in order, by sacrificing her child, to per- 
 petuate her own queenly dignity and power. 
 Lycurgus, however, was intending to conduct 
 the affair to a very different result. 
 
 At the time when the attendants brought the 
 new-born babe to Lycurgus's house, Lycurgus 
 was engaged with a party of friends whom he 
 had invited to a festival. These friends consist- 
 ed of nobles, generals, ministers of state, and 
 other principal personages of the Spartan com- 
 monwealth, whom Lycurgus had thus assem- 
 bled in anticipation, probably, of what was to 
 take place. The attendants had been ordered 
 to bring the child to him without delay, wher- 
 ever they might find him. They accordingly 
 came into the apartment where Lycurgus and 
 
B.C. 775.] Sparta. 255 
 
 Generous conduct of Lyeurgus. 
 
 his friends were assembled, bringing the infant 
 with them in their arms. Lyeurgus received 
 him, and holding him up before the company, 
 called out to them, in a loud voice, " Spartans, 
 I present to you your new-born king !" The 
 people received the young prince with the most 
 extravagant demonstrations of joy ; and Lyeur- 
 gus named him Charilaus, which means, " Dear 
 to the people." 
 
 The conduct of Lyeurgus on this occasion 
 was thought to be very generous and noble, 
 since by bringing the child forward as the true 
 heir to the crown, he surrendered at once all his 
 own pretensions to the inheritance, and made 
 himself a private citizen. Very few of the sons 
 of kings, either in ancient or modern times, 
 would have pursued such a course. But, though 
 in respect to his position, he abased himself by 
 thus descending from his place upon the throne 
 to the rank of a private citizen, he exalted him- 
 self very highly in respect to influence and char- 
 acter. He was at once made protector of the 
 person of the child and regent of the realm dur- 
 ing the young king's minority ; and all the people 
 of the city, applauding the noble deed which he 
 had performed, began to entertain toward him 
 feelings of the highest respect and veneration. 
 
256 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 Serious difficulties encountered. Resentment of the queen. 
 
 It proved, however, that there were yet very- 
 serious difficulties, which he was destined to 
 meet and surmount before the way should be 
 fully open for the performance of the great work 
 for which he afterward became so renowned. 
 Although the people generally of Sparta greatly 
 applauded the conduct of Lycurgus, and placed 
 the utmost confidence in him, there were still a 
 few who hated and opposed him. Of course, 
 the queen herself, whose designs he had thwart- 
 ed, was extremely indignant at having been 
 thus deceived. Not only was her own personal 
 ambition disappointed by the failure of her de- 
 sign, but her womanly pride was fatally wound- 
 ed in having been rejected by Lycurgus in the 
 offer which she had made to become his wife. 
 She and her friends, therefore, were implacably 
 hostile to him. She had a brother, named Le- 
 onidas, who warmly espoused her cause. Le- 
 onidas quarreled openly with Lycurgus. He 
 addressed him one day, in the presence of sev- 
 eral witnesses, in a very violent and threatening 
 manner. " I know very well," said he, " that 
 your seeming disinterestedness, and your show 
 of zeal for the safety and welfare of the young 
 king, are all an empty pretense. You are plot- 
 ting to destroy him, and to raise yourself to the 
 
B.C. 775.] Sparta. 257 
 
 Lycurgus resolves on exiling himself from Sparta. 
 
 throne in his stead ; and if we wait a short time, 
 we shall see you accomplishing the results at 
 which you are really aiming, in your iniquitous 
 and hypocritical policy." 
 
 On hearing these threats and denunciations, 
 Lycurgus, instead of making an angry reply to 
 them, began at once calmly to consider what it 
 would he hest for him to do. He reflected that 
 the life of the child was uncertain, notwith- 
 standing every precaution which he might make 
 for the preservation of it ; and if by any casual- 
 ty it should die, his enemies might charge him 
 with having secretly murdered it. He resolved, 
 therefore, to remove at once and forever all pos- 
 sible suspicion, present or prospective, of the pu- 
 rity of his motives, by^vvithdrawing altogether 
 from Sparta until the child should come of age. 
 He accordingly made arrangements for placing 
 the young king under protectors who could not 
 be_suspected of collusion with him for any guilty 
 purpose, and also organized an administration 
 to govern the country until the king should be 
 of age. Having taken these steps, he bade 
 Sparta farewell, and set out upon a long and 
 extended course of travels. 
 
 He was gone from his native land many 
 years, during which period he visited all the 
 R 
 
258 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 Adventures of Lycurgus during his absence. 
 
 principal states and kingdoms of the earth, em- 
 ploying himself, wherever he went, in studying 
 the history, the government, and the institutions 
 of the countries through which he journeyed, 
 and in visiting and conversing with all the most 
 distinguished men. He went first to Crete, a 
 large island which lay south of the iEgean Sea, 
 its western extremity being not far from the 
 coast of Peloponnesus. After remaining for 
 some time in Crete, visiting all its principal cit- 
 ies, and making himself thoroughly acquainted 
 with its history and condition, he sailed for Asia 
 MinOr, and visited all the chief capitals there. 
 From Asia Minor he went to Egypt, and, after 
 finishing his observations and studies in the cit- 
 ies of the Nile, he journeyed westward, and 
 passed through all the countries lying on the 
 northern coast of Africa, and then from Africa 
 he crossed over into Spain. He remained long 
 enough in each place that he visited to make 
 himself very thoroughly acquainted with its phi- 
 losophy, its government, its civilization, its state 
 of progress in respect to the arts and usages of 
 social life — with every thing, in fact, which 
 could have a bearing upon national prosperity 
 and welfare. 
 
 In the mean time, the current of affairs at 
 
B.C. 775.] Sparta. 259 
 
 Account of Charilaus. His inefficiency. Discontent of the people. 
 
 Sparta flowed by no means smoothly. As years 
 rolled on, and the young prince, Charilaus, ad- 
 vanced toward the- period of manhood, he became 
 involved in various difficulties, which greatly 
 embarrassed and perplexed him. He was of a 
 very amiable and gentle disposition, but was 
 wholly destitute of the strength and energy of 
 character required for the station in which he 
 was placed . Disagreements arose between him 
 and the other king. They both quarreled, too, 
 with their nobles and with the people. The 
 people did not respect them, and gradually learn- 
 ed to despise their authority. They remember- 
 ed the efficiency and the success of Lycurgus's 
 government, and the regularity and order which 
 had marked the whole course of public affairs 
 during his administration. They appreciated 
 now, too, more fully than before, the noble per- 
 sonal qualities which Lycurgus had evinced' — 
 his comprehensiveness of view, his firmness of 
 purpose, his disinterestedness, his generosity ; 
 and they contrasted the lofty sentiments and 
 principles which had always governed him with 
 the weakness, the childishness, and the petty 
 ambition of their actual kings. In ft word, they 
 all wished that Lycurgus would return. 
 
 Even the kings themselves participated in 
 
260 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 Lycurgus is invited to return. He finally complies. 
 
 this wish. They perceived that their affairs 
 were getting into confusion, and began to feel 
 apprehension and anxiety. Lycurgus received 
 repeated messages from them and from the peo- 
 ple of Sparta, urging him to return, hut he de- 
 clined to accept these proposals, and went on 
 with his travels and his studies as before. 
 
 At last, however, the Spartans sent a formal 
 embassy to Lycurgus, representing to him the 
 troubled condition of public affairs in Sparta, 
 and the dangers which threatened the common- 
 wealth, and urging him in the most pressing 
 manner to return. These embassadors, in their 
 interview with Lycurgus, told him that they 
 had kings, indeed, at Sparta, so far as birth, 
 and title, and the wearing of royal robes would 
 go, but as for any royal qualities beyond this 
 mere outside show, they had seen nothing of 
 the kind since Lycurgus had left them. 
 
 Lycurgus finally concluded to comply with 
 the request. He returned to Sparta. Here he 
 employed himself for a time in making a care- 
 ful examination into the state of the country, 
 and in conversing with the principal men of in- 
 fluence in the city, and renewing his acquaint- 
 ance with them. At length he formed a plan 
 for an entire organization of the government. 
 
B.C. 775.] Sparta. 261 
 
 He consults the oracle at Delphi. The response. 
 
 He proposed this plan to the principal men, and, 
 having obtained the consent of a sufficient num- 
 ber of them to the leading provisions of his new 
 constitution, he began to take measures for the 
 public promulgation and establishment of it. 
 
 The first step was to secure a religious sanc- 
 tion for his proceedings, in order to inspire the 
 common people with a feeling of reverence and 
 awe for his authority. He accordingly left 
 Sparta, saying that he was going to consult the 
 oracle at Delphi. In due time he returned, 
 bringing with him the response of the oracle. 
 The response was as follows : 
 
 " Lycurgus is beloved of the gods, and is him- 
 self divine. The laws which he has framed are 
 perfect, and under them-a commonwealth shall 
 arise which shall hereafter become the most 
 famous in the world." 
 
 This response, having been made known in 
 Sparta, impressed every one with a very high 
 sense of the authority of Lycurgus, and disposed 
 all classes of people to acquiesce in the coming 
 change. Lycurgus did not, however, rely en- 
 tirely on this disposition. "When the time came 
 for organizing the new government, he stationed 
 an armed force in the market-place one morning 
 at a very early hour, so that the people, when 
 
262 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 Charilaus is terrified. He flies to a sanctuary. 
 
 they came forth, as usual, into the streets, found 
 that Lycurgus had taken military possession of 
 the city. The first feeling was a general ex- 
 citement and alarm. Charilaus, the king, who, 
 it seems, had not been consulted in these move- 
 ments at all, was very much terrified. He sup- 
 posed that an insurrection had taken place 
 against his authority, and that his life was in 
 danger. To save himself, he fled to one of the 
 temples as to a sanctuary. Lycurgus sent to 
 him, informing him that those engaged in the 
 revolution which had taken place intended no 
 injury to him, either in respect to his person or 
 his royal prerogatives. By these assurances the 
 fears of Charilaus were allayed, and thenceforth 
 he co-operated with Lycurgus in carrying his 
 measures into effect. 
 
 This is not the place for a full account of the 
 plan of government which Lycurgus introduced, 
 nor of the institutions which gradually grew up 
 under it. It is sufficient to say that the sys- 
 tem which he adopted was celebrated through- 
 out the world during the period of its continu- 
 ance, and has since been celebrated in every 
 age, as being the most stern and rugged social 
 system that was ever framed. The common- 
 wealth of Sparta became, under the institutions 
 
B.C. 775.] Sparta. 263 
 
 Nature and effects of the institutions of Lycurgus. 
 
 of Lycurgus, one great camp. The nation was 
 a nation of soldiers. Every possible device was 
 resorted to to inure all classes of the population, 
 the young and the old, the men and the wom- 
 en, the rich and the poor, to every species of 
 hardship and privation. The only qualities that 
 were respected or cultivated were such stern 
 virtues as courage, fortitude, endurance, insen- 
 sibility to pain and grief, and contempt for all 
 the pleasures of wealth and luxury. Lycurgus 
 did not write out his system. He would not 
 allow it to be written out. He preferred to put 
 it in operation, and then leave it to perpetuate 
 itself, as a matter of usage and precedent. Ac- 
 cordingly, after fully organizing the government 
 on the plan which he- had arranged, and an- 
 nouncing the laws, and establishing the cus- 
 toms by which he intended that the ordinary 
 course of social life should be regulated, he de- 
 termined to withdraw from the field and await 
 the result. He therefore informed the people 
 that he was going away again on another jour- 
 ney, and that he would leave the carrying for- 
 ward of the government which he had framed 
 for them and initiated in their hands ; and he 
 required of them a solemn oath that they would 
 make no change in the system until he return- 
 
264 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 775. 
 
 The character and spirit of the Spartans. Message sent to Pyrrhus. 
 
 ed. In doing this, his secret intention was 
 never to return. 
 
 Such was the origin, and such the general 
 character of the Spartan government. In the 
 time of Pyrrhus, the system had been in oper- 
 ation for about five hundred years.* During 
 this period the state passed through many and 
 various vicissitudes. It engaged in wars, offen- 
 sive and defensive ; it passed through many ca- 
 lamitous and trying scenes, suffering, from time 
 to time, under the usual ills which, in those 
 days, so often disturbed the peace and welfare 
 of nations. But during all this time, the com- 
 monwealth retained in a very striking degree 
 the extraordinary marks and characteristics 
 which the institutions of Lycurgus had en- 
 stamped upon it. The Spartans still were ter- 
 rible in the estimation of all mankind, so stern 
 and indomitable was the spirit which they man- 
 ifested in all the enterprises in which they en- 
 gaged. 
 
 It was from Sparta that the message came 
 to Pyrrhus asking his assistance in a war that 
 
 * The precise time at which the events connected with the 
 early history of Sparta really occurred is not satisfactorily de- 
 termined, so that the dates placed at the heads of the pages 
 can only he regarded as approximations. 
 
B.C. 272.] Sparta. 265 
 
 Account of Cleonymus. Areus becomes king. 
 
 was then waging there. The war originated 
 in a domestic quarrel which arose in the family 
 of one of the lines of kings. The name of the 
 prince who made application to Pyrrhus was 
 Cleonymus. He was a younger son of one of 
 the Spartan kings. He had had an older brother 
 named Acrotatus. The crown, of course, would 
 have devolved on this brother, if he had been 
 living when the father died. But he was not. 
 He died before his father, leaving a son, how- 
 ever, named Areus, as his heir. Areus, of 
 course, claimed the throne when his grandfather 
 died. He was not young himself at this time. 
 He had advanced beyond the period of middle 
 life, and had a son who had grown up to ma- 
 turity. ~- 
 
 Cleonymus was very unwilling to acquiesce 
 in the accession of Areus to the throne. He 
 was himself the son of the king who had died, 
 while Areus was only the grandson. He main- 
 tained, therefore, that he had the highest claim 
 to the succession. He was, however, overruled, 
 and Areus assumed the crown. 
 
 Soon after his accession, Areus left Sparta 
 and went to Crete, intrusting the government 
 of his kingdom, in the mean time, to his son. 
 The name of this son was Acrotatus. Cleony- 
 
266 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Affair of Cleonymus and Chilidonis. Appeal to Pyrrhus. 
 
 mus, of course, looked with a particularly evil 
 eye upon this young man, and soon began to 
 form designs against him. At length, after the 
 lapse of a considerable period, during which va- 
 rious events occurred which can not be here de- 
 scribed, a circumstance took place which ex- 
 cited the hostility which Cleonymus felt for 
 Acrotatus to the highest degree. The circum- 
 stances were these : 
 
 Cleonymus, though far advanced in life, 
 married, about the time that the events occur- 
 red which we are here describing, a very young 
 lady named Chelidonis. Chelidonis was a 
 princess of the royal line, and was a lady of 
 great personal beauty. She, however, had very 
 little affection for her husband, and at length 
 Acrotatus, who was young and attractive in 
 person, succeeded in winning her love, and en- 
 ticing her away from her husband. This affair 
 excited the mind of Cleonymus to a perfect 
 phrensy of jealousy and rage. He immediately 
 left Sparta, and, knowing well the character 
 and disposition of Pyrrhus, he proceeded north- 
 ward to Macedon, laid his case before Pyrrhus, 
 and urged him to fit out an expedition and 
 march to the Peloponnesus, with a view of aid- 
 ing him to put down the usurpers, as he called 
 
B.C. 272.] Sparta. 267 
 
 Pyrrhus determines to march into Greece. 
 
 them, and to establish him on the throne of 
 Sparta instead. Pyrrhus immediately saw that 
 the conjuncture opened before him a prospect 
 of a very brilliant campaign, in a field entirely 
 new, and he at once determined to embark 
 forthwith in the enterprise. He resolved, ac- 
 cordingly, to abandon his interests in Macedon 
 and march into Greece. 
 
268 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus makes preparations for his campaign. 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 The last Campaign of Pyrrhus. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY on receiving the invitation 
 of Cleonymus, Pyrrhus commenced making 
 preparations on a very extensive scale for the 
 intended campaign. He gathered all the troops 
 that he could command, hoth from Macedon 
 and Epirus. He levied taxes and contributions, 
 provided military stores of every kind, and en- 
 tered into all the other arrangements required 
 for such an enterprise. These preliminary oper- 
 ations required a considerable time, so that he 
 was not ready to commence his march until 
 the following year. When all was ready, he 
 found that his force consisted of twenty-five 
 thousand foot, two thousand horse, and a troop 
 of twenty-four elephants. He had two sons, 
 neither of whom, it would seem, was old enough 
 to be intrusted with the command, either in 
 Macedon or Epirus, during his absence, and he 
 accordingly determined to take them with him. 
 Their names were Ptolemy and Helenus. Pyr- 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 269 
 
 Pyrrhus's designs. Excitement in Greece. 
 
 rhus himself at this time was about forty-five 
 years of age. 
 
 Although in this expedition Cleonymus sup- 
 posed that Pyrrhus was going into Grreece only 
 as his ally, and that the sole object of the war 
 was to depose Areus and place Cleonymus on 
 the throne in his stead, Pyrrhus himself enter- 
 tained far different designs. His intention was, 
 while invading the country in Cleonymus's 
 name, to overrun and conquer it all, with a view 
 of adding it to his own dominions. Of course, 
 he gave no intimation to Cleonymus that he 
 entertained any such designs. 
 
 The approach of Pyrrhus naturally produced 
 great excitement and commotion in Sparta. 
 His fame as a military^commander was known 
 throughout the world ; and the invasion of their 
 country by such a conqueror, at the head of so 
 large a force, was calculated to awaken great 
 alarm among the people. The Spartans, how- 
 ever, were not much accustomed to be alarmed. 
 They immediately began to make preparations 
 to defend themselves. They sent forward an 
 embassage to meet Pyrrhus on the way, and de- 
 mand wherefore he was coming. Pyrrhus made 
 evasive and dishonest replies. He was not in- 
 tending, he said, to commit any hostilities against 
 
270 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus's army advances toward Sparta. Embassadors. 
 
 Sparta. His "business was with certain other 
 cities of the Peloponnesus, which had been for 
 some time under a foreign yoke, and which he 
 was now coming to free. The Spartans were 
 not deceived by these protestations, but time 
 was gained, and this was Pyrrhus's design. 
 
 His army continued to advance, and in its 
 progress began to seize and plunder towns be- 
 longing to the Spartan territory. The Spartans 
 sent embassadors again, demanding what these 
 proceedings meant. The embassadors charged 
 it upon Pyrrhus, that, contrary to the laws and 
 usages of nations, he was making war upon 
 them without having previously declared war. 
 
 " And do you Spartans," said Pyrrhus, in re- 
 ply, " always tell the world whatever you are 
 going to do before you do it ?" Such a rejoin- 
 der was virtually acknowledging that the object 
 of the expedition was an attack on Sparta it- 
 self. The embassadors so understood it, and bid 
 the invader defiance. 
 
 " Let there be war, then," said they, " if you 
 will have it so. We do not fear you, whether 
 you are a god or a man. If you are a god, you 
 will not be disposed to do us any injury, for we 
 have never injured you. If you are a man, 
 you can not harm us, for we can produce men 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 271 
 
 Pyrrhus arrives at Sparta. He postpones the attack. 
 
 in Sparta able to meet any other man what- 
 ever." 
 
 The embassadors then returned to Sparta, 
 and the people immediately pushed forward 
 with all diligence their preparations for putting 
 the city in an attitude of defense. 
 
 Pyrrhus continued his march, and at length, 
 toward evening, approached the walls of the 
 city. Cleonymus, who knew well what sort of 
 enemies they had to deal with, urgently recom- 
 mended that an assault should be made that 
 night, supposing that the Spartans would suc- 
 ceed in making additional defenses if the attack 
 were postponed until the morning. Pyrrhus, 
 however, was disposed not to make the attack 
 until the following day^ He felt perfectly sure 
 of his prize, and was, accordingly, in no haste 
 to seize it. He thought, it was said, that if the 
 attack were made in the night, the soldiers 
 would plunder the city, and thus he should lose 
 a considerable part of the booty which he hoped 
 otherwise to secure for himself. He could con- 
 trol them better in the daytime. He according- 
 ly determined to remain in his camp, without 
 the city, during the night, and to advance to the 
 assault in the morning. So he ordered the tents 
 to be pitched on the plain, and sat quietly down. 
 
272 P ye rhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Plans of the Spartans. They propose to remove the women. 
 
 In the mean time, great activity prevailed 
 within the walls. The senate was convened, 
 and was engaged in debating and deciding the 
 various questions that necessarily arise in such 
 an emergency. A plan was proposed for remov- 
 ing the women from the city, in order to save 
 them from the terrible fate which would inev- 
 itably await them, should the army of Pyrrhus 
 be successful on the following day. It was 
 thought that they might go out secretly on the 
 side opposite to that on which Pyrrhus was en- 
 camped, and thence be conducted to the sea- 
 shore, where they might be conveyed in ships 
 and galleys to the island of Crete, which, as will 
 appear from the map, was situated at no great 
 distance from the Spartan coast. By this means 
 the mothers and daughters, it was thought, 
 would be saved, whatever might be the fate of 
 the husbands and brothers. The news that the 
 senate were discussing such a plan as this was 
 soon spread abroad among the people. The 
 women were aroused to the most strenuous op- 
 position against this plan. They declared that 
 they never would seek safety for themselves by 
 going away, and leaving their fathers, husbands, 
 and brothers in such danger. They commission- 
 ed one of their number, a princess named Ar- 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 273 
 
 The women send a delegation into the senate-chamber. 
 
 chidamia, to make known to the senate the 
 views which they entertained of this proposal. 
 Archidamia went holdly into the senate-cham- 
 ber, with a drawn sword in her hand, and there 
 arrested the discussion in which the senators 
 were engaged by demanding how they could 
 entertain such an opinion of the women of Sparta 
 as to suppose that they could survive the de- 
 struction of the city and the death of all whom 
 they loved. They did not wish to be saved, the 
 said, unless all could be saved together ; and 
 she implored the senate to abandon at once all 
 ideas of sending them away, and allow them, 
 instead, to take their share in the necessary la- 
 bors required for the defense of the city. The 
 senate yielded to this appeal, and, abandoning 
 the design which they had entertained of send- 
 ing the women away, turned their attention 
 immediately to plans of defense. 
 
 While these earnest consultations and discus- 
 sions were going on in the senate, and in the 
 streets and dwellings of the city, there was one 
 place which presented a scene of excitement of 
 a very different kind — namely, the palace of 
 Cleonymus. There all were in a state of eager 
 anticipation, expecting the speedy arrival of 
 their master. The domestics believed confident- 
 S 
 
274 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Preparations for receiving Cleonymus. His wife. 
 
 ly that an attack would be made upon the city 
 that night by the combined army of Cleonymus 
 and Pyrrhus ; and presuming that it would be 
 successful, they supposed that their master, as 
 soon as the troops should obtain possession of 
 the city, would come home at once to his own 
 house, bringing his distinguished airy with him. 
 They busied themselves, therefore, in adorning 
 and preparing the apartments of the house, and 
 in making ready a splendid entertainment, in 
 order that they might give to Cleonymus and 
 his friend a suitable reception when they should 
 arrive. 
 
 Chelidonis, however, the young and beauti- 
 ful, but faithless wife of Cleonymus, was not 
 there. She had long since left her husband's 
 dwelling, and now she was full of suspense and 
 anxiety in respect to his threatened return. If 
 the city should be taken, she knew very well 
 that she must necessarily fall again into her 
 husband's power, and she determined that she 
 never would fall into his power again alive. So 
 she retired to her apartment, and there putting 
 a rope around her neck, and making all other 
 necessary preparations, she awaited the issue of 
 the battle, resolved to destroy herself the mo- 
 ment she should hear tidings that Pyrrhus had 
 gained the victory. 
 
B.C.272.] The last Campaign. 275 
 
 The Spartans resolve to attack Pyrrhus in the morning. 
 
 In the mean time, the military leaders of the 
 Spartans were engaged in strengthening the de- 
 fenses, and in making all the necessary prepar- 
 ations for the ensuing conflict. They did not, 
 however, intend to remain within the city, and 
 await the attack of the assailants there. With 
 the characteristic fearlessness of the Spartan 
 character, they determined, when they found 
 that Pyrrhus was not intending to attack the 
 city that night, that they would themselves go 
 out to meet him in the morning. 
 
 One reason, however, for this determination 
 doubtless was, that the city was not shut in 
 with substantial walls and defenses, like most 
 of the other cities of Greece, as it was a matter 
 of pride with the Spartans to rely on their own 
 personal strength and courage for protection, 
 rather than on artificial bulwarks and towers. 
 Still, such artificial aids were not wholly de- 
 spised, and they now determined to do what 
 was in their power in this respect, by throwing 
 up a rampart of earth, under cover of the dark- 
 ness of the night, along the line over which the 
 enemy must march in attacking the city. This 
 work was accordingly begun. They would not, 
 however, employ the soldiers in the work, or any 
 strong and able-bodied men capable of bearing 
 
276 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Bitch dug. Ramparts raised. The labors of the women. 
 
 arms. They wished to reserve the strength of 
 all these for the more urgent and dreadful work 
 of the following day. The ditch was accord- 
 ingly dug, and the ramparts raised by the boys, 
 the old men, and especially by the women. The 
 women of all ranks in the city went out and 
 toiled all night at this labor, having laid aside 
 half their clothes, that their robes might not 
 hinder them in the digging. The reader, how- 
 ever, must not, in his imagination, invest these 
 fair laborers with the delicate forms, and gentle 
 manners, and timid hearts which are generally 
 deemed characteristic of women, for the Spar- 
 tan females were trained expressly, from their 
 earliest life, to the most rough and bold expos- 
 ures and toils. They were inured from infancy 
 to hardihood, by being taught to contend in pub- 
 lic wrestlings and games, to endure every spe- 
 cies of fatigue and exposure, and to despise ev- 
 ery thing like gentleness and delicacy. In a 
 word, they were little less masculine in appear- 
 ance and manners than the men ; and accord- 
 ingly, when Archidamia went into the senate- 
 chamber with a drawn sword in her hand, and 
 there, boldly facing the whole assembly, de- 
 clared that the women would on no account 
 consent to leave the city, she acted in a manner 
 
B.C.272.] The last Campaign. 277 
 
 Digging the trench. Soldiers at work all night. 
 
 not at all inconsistent with what at Sparta was 
 considered the proper position and character of 
 her sex. In a word, the Spartan women were 
 as bold and stern, and almost as formidable, as 
 the men. 
 
 All night long the work of excavation went 
 on. Those who were too young or too feeble to 
 work were employed in going to and fro, carry- 
 ing tools where they were required, or bringing 
 food and drink to those who were digging in the 
 trench, while the soldiers remained quietly at 
 rest within the city, awaiting the duties which 
 were to devolve upon them in the morning. 
 The trench was made wide and deep enough to 
 impede the passage of the elephants and of the 
 cavalry, and it was guarded at the ends by 
 wagons, the wheels of which were half buried 
 in the ground at the places chosen for them, in 
 order to render them immovable. All this work 
 was performed in such silence and secresy that 
 it met with no interruption from Pyrrhus's camp, 
 and the whole was completed before the morn- 
 ing dawned. 
 
 As soon as it began to be light, the camp of 
 Pyrrhus was in motion. All was excitement 
 and commotion, too, within the city. The sol- 
 diers assumed their arms and formed in array. 
 
278 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 The women assist. Effect of the trench. The wagons. 
 
 The women gathered around them while they 
 were making these preparations, assisting them 
 to huckle on their armor, and animating them 
 with words of sympathy and encouragement. 
 " How glorious it will be for you," said they, " to 
 gain a victory here in the precincts of the city, 
 where we can all witness and enjoy your tri- 
 umph ; and even if you fall in the contest, your 
 mothers and your wives are close at hand to re- 
 ceive you to their arms, and to soothe and sus- 
 tain you in your dying struggles !" 
 
 When all was ready, the men marched forth 
 to meet the advancing columns of Pyrrhus's 
 army, and the battle soon began. Pyrrhus soon 
 found that the trench which the Spartans had 
 dug in the night was destined greatly to ob- 
 struct his intended operations. The horse and 
 the elephants could not cross it at all ; and even 
 the men, if they succeeded in getting over the 
 ditch, were driven back when attempting to as- 
 cend the rampart of earth which had been form- 
 ed along the side of it, by the earth thrown up 
 in making the excavation, for this earth was 
 loose and steep, and afforded them no footing. 
 Yarious attempts were made to dislodge the 
 wagons that had been fixed into the ground at 
 the ends of the trench, but for a time all these 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 279 
 
 Ptolemy, the son of Pyrrhus, removes the wagons. 
 
 efforts were fruitless. At last, however, Ptole- 
 my, the son of Pyrrhus, came very near suc- 
 ceeding. Pie had the command of a force of 
 about two thousand Gauls, and with this body 
 he made a circuit, so as to come upon the line 
 of wagons in such a manner as to give him a 
 great advantage in attacking them. The Spar- 
 tans fought very resolutely in defense of them ; 
 but the Gauls gradually prevailed, and at length 
 succeeded in dragging several of the wagons up 
 out of the earth. All that they thus extricated 
 they drew off out of the way, and threw them 
 into the river. 
 
 Seeing this, young Acrotatus, the prince 
 whom Areus his father, now absent, as the read- 
 er will recollect, in Crete, had left in command 
 in Sparta when he went away, hastened to in- 
 terpose. He placed himself at the head of a 
 small band of two or three hundred men, and, 
 crossing the city on the other side, he went 
 unobserved, and then, making a circuit, came 
 round and attacked the Gauls, who were at 
 work on the wagons in the rear. As the Gauls 
 had already a foe in front nearly strong enough 
 to cope with them, this sudden assault from be- 
 hind entirely turned the scale. They were 
 driven away in great confusion. This feat be- 
 
280 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 The triumph of Acrotatus. Pyrrhus's dream. 
 
 ing accomplished, Acrotatus came back at the 
 head of his detachment into the city, panting 
 and exhausted with the exertions he had made, 
 and covered with blood. He was received there 
 with the loudest applause and acclamations. 
 The women gathered around him, and over- 
 whelmed him with thanks and congratulations. 
 " Gro to Chelidonis," said they, " and rest. She 
 ought to he yours. You have deserved her. 
 How we envy her such a lover !" 
 
 The contest continued all the day, and when 
 night came on Pyrrhus found that he had made 
 no sensible progress in the work of gaining en- 
 trance into the city. He was, however, now 
 forced to postpone all further efforts till the fol- 
 lowing day. At the proper time he retired to 
 rest, but he awoke very early in the morning 
 in a state of great excitement ; and, calling up 
 some of the officers around him, he related to 
 them a remarkable dream which he had had 
 during the night, and which, he thought, pre- 
 saged success to the efforts which they were to 
 make on the following day. He had seen, he 
 said, in his dream, a flash of lightning dart from 
 the sky upon Sparta, and set the whole city on 
 fire. This, he argued, was a divine omen which 
 promised them certain success; and he called 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 281 
 
 The dream produces no effect. 
 
 upon the generals to marshal the troops and 
 prepare for the onset, saying, "We are sure of 
 victory now." 
 
 "Whether Pyrrhus really had had such a 
 dream, or whether he fabricated the story for 
 the purpose of inspiring anew the courage and 
 confidence of his men, which, as would nat- 
 urally be supposed, might have been somewhat 
 weakened by the ill success of the preceding 
 day, can not be absolutely ascertained. Which- 
 ever it was, it failed wholly of its intended ef- 
 fect. Pyrrhus's generals said, in reply, that the 
 omen was adverse, and not propitious, for it was 
 one of the fundamendal principles of haruspicial 
 science that lightning made sacred whatever it 
 touched. It was forbidden even to step upon 
 the ground where a thunder-bolt had fallen; 
 and they ought to consider, therefore, that the 
 descent of the lightning upon Sparta, as figured 
 to Pyrrhus in the dream, was intended to mark 
 the city as under the special protection of heav- 
 en, and to warn the invaders not to molest it. 
 Finding thus that the story of his vision pro- 
 duced a different effect from the one he had in- 
 tended, Pyrrhus changed his ground, and told 
 his generals that no importance whatever was 
 to be attached to visions and dreams. They 
 
282 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus tries another plan. The battle. 
 
 might serve, he argued, very well to amuse the 
 ignorant and superstitious, but wise men should 
 he entirely above being influenced by them in 
 any way. " You have something better than 
 these things to trust in," said he. " You have 
 arms in your hands, and you have Pyrrhus for 
 your leader. This is proof enough for you that 
 you are destined to conquer." 
 
 How far these assurances were found effect- 
 ual in animating the courage of the generals 
 we do not know ; but the result did not at all 
 confirm Pyrrhus's vain - glorious predictions. 
 During the first part of the day, indeed, he 
 made great progress, and for a time it appear- 
 ed probable that the city was about to fall into 
 his hands. The plan of his operations was first 
 to fill up the ditch which the Spartans had 
 made ; the soldiers throwing into it for this 
 purpose great quantities of materials of every 
 kind, such as earth, stones, fagots, trunks of 
 trees, and whatever came most readily to hand. 
 They used in this work immense quantities of 
 dead bodies, which they found scattered over 
 the plain, the results of the conflict of the pre- 
 ceding day. By means of the horrid bridging 
 thus made, the troops attempted to make their 
 way across the ditch, while the Spartans, form- 
 
B.C.272.] The last Campaign. 
 
 283 
 
 Work of the women. 
 
 Pyrrhus leads the troops forward. 
 
 ed on the top of the rampart of earth on the in- 
 ner side of it, fought desperately to repel them. 
 All this time the women were passing hack and 
 forth between them and the city, bringing out 
 water and refreshments to sustain the faint- 
 ing strength of the men, and carrying home 
 the wounded and dying, and the bodies of the 
 dead. 
 
 At last a considerable body of troops, consist- 
 ing of a division that was under the personal 
 charge of Pyrrhus himself, succeeded in break - 
 
 The Charge. 
 
 ing through the Spartan lines, at a point near 
 one end of the rampart which had been thrown 
 up. When the men found that they had forced 
 
284 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus's horse is wounded. Pyrrhus himself in great danger. 
 
 their way through, they raised loud shouts of 
 exultation and triumph, and immediately rush- 
 ed forward toward the city. For a moment it 
 seemed that for the Spartans all was lost ; but 
 the tide of victory was soon suddenly turned by 
 a very unexpected incident. An arrow pierced 
 the breast of the horse on which Pyrrhus was 
 riding, and gave the animal a fatal wound. 
 The horse plunged and reared in his agony and 
 terror, and then fell, throwing Pyrrhus to the 
 ground. This occurrence, of course, arrested 
 the whole troop in their progress. The horse- 
 men wheeled suddenly about, and gathered 
 around Pyrrhus to rescue him from his danger. 
 This gave the Spartans time to rally, and to 
 bring up their forces in such numbers that the 
 Macedonian soldiers were glad to be able to 
 make their way back again, bearing Pyrrhus 
 with them beyond the lines. After recovering 
 a little from the agitation produced by this ad- 
 venture, Pyrrhus found that his troops, discour- 
 aged, apparently, by the fruitlessness of their 
 efforts, and especially by this last misfortune, 
 were beginning to lose their spirit and ardor, 
 and were fighting feebly and falteringly all 
 along the line. He concluded, therefore, that 
 there was no longer any prospect of accomplish- 
 
B.C.272.] The last Campaign. 285 
 
 The army retires. Areus and Acrotatus. 
 
 ing his object that day, and that it would be 
 better to save the remaining strength of his 
 troops by withdrawing them from the field, 
 rather than to discourage and enfeeble them 
 still more by continuing what was now very 
 clearly a useless struggle. He accordingly put 
 a stop to the action, and the army retired to 
 their encampment. 
 
 Before he had opportunity to make a third at- 
 tempt, events occurred which entirely changed 
 the whole aspect of the controversy. The reader 
 will recollect that Areus, the king of Sparta, 
 was absent in Crete at the time of Pyrrhus's 
 arrival, and that the command of the army de- 
 volved, during his absence, on Acrotatus, his 
 son ; for the kings of -%he other line, for some 
 reason or other, took a very small part in the 
 public affairs of the city at this time, and are 
 seldom mentioned in history. Areus, as soon 
 as he heard of the Macedonian invasion, imme- 
 diately collected a large force and set out on 
 his return to Sparta, and he entered into the 
 city at the head of two thousand men just after 
 the second repulse which Acrotatus had given 
 to their enemies. At the same time, too, an- 
 other body of re-enforcements came in from 
 Corinth, consisting of allies of the Spartans, 
 
286 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Areus conies to succor the city. 
 
 gathered from the northern part of the Pelopon- 
 nesus. The arrival of these troops in the city 
 filled the Spartans with joy, and entirely dis- 
 pelled their fears. They considered themselves 
 as now entirely safe. The old men and the 
 women, considering that their places were now 
 abundantly supplied, thenceforth withdrew from 
 all active participation in the contest, and re- 
 tired to their respective homes, to rest and re- 
 fresh themselves after their toils. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, however, Pyrrhus was 
 not yet prepared to give up the contest. The 
 immediate effect, in fact, of the arrival of the 
 re-enforcements was to arouse his spirit anew, 
 and to stimulate him to a fresh determination 
 that he would not be defeated in his purpose, 
 but that he would conquer the city at all haz- 
 ards. He accordingly made several more des- 
 perate attempts, but they were wholly unsuc- 
 cessful ; and at length, after a series of losses 
 and defeats, he was obliged to give up the con- 
 test and withdraw. He retired, accordingly, to 
 some little distance from Sparta, where he es- 
 tablished a permanent camp, subsisting his sol- 
 diers by plundering the surrounding country. 
 He was vexed and irritated by the mortifica- 
 tions and disappointments which he had en- 
 
B.C.272.] The last Campaign. 287 
 
 Pyrrhus receives a new invitation. 
 
 dured, and waited impatiently for an opportuni- 
 ty to seek revenge. 
 
 While he was thus pondering his situation, 
 uncertain what to do next, he received one day 
 a message from Argos, a city in the northern 
 part of the Peloponnesus, asking him to come 
 and take part in a contest which had been 
 opened there. It seems that a civil war had 
 broken out in that city, and one of the leaders, 
 knowing the character of Pyrrhus, and his readi- 
 ness to engage in any quarrel which was offer- 
 ed to him, had concluded to -apply for his aid. 
 Pyrrhus was, as usual, very ready to yield to 
 this request. It afforded him, as similar propo- 
 sals had so often done before, a plausible excuse 
 for abandoning an enterprise in which he began 
 to despair of being able to succeed. He imme- 
 diately commenced his march to the northward. 
 The Spartans, however, were by no means dis- 
 posed to allow him to go off unmolested. They 
 advanced with all the force they could com- 
 mand, and, though they were not powerful 
 enough to engage him in a general battle, they 
 harassed him and embarrassed his march in a 
 very vexatious manner. They laid ambushes 
 in the narrow defdes through which he had to 
 pass ; they cut off his detachments, and plun- 
 
238 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 ryrrhus leaves Sparta, and is pursued. Death of Ptolemy. 
 
 dered and destroyed his baggage. Pyrrhus at 
 length sent hack a body of his guards under 
 Ptolemy, his son, to drive them away. Ptolemy 
 attacked the Spartans and fought them with 
 great bravery, until at length, in the heat of 
 the contest, a celebrated Cretan, of remarkable 
 strength and activity, riding furiously up to 
 Ptolemy, felled him to the ground, and killed 
 him at a single blow. On seeing him fall, his 
 detachment were struck with dismay, and, turn- 
 ing their backs on the Spartans, fled to Pyrrhus 
 with the tidings. 
 
 Pyrrhus was, of course, excited to the high- 
 est pitch of phrensy at hearing what had occur- 
 red. He immediately placed himself at the 
 head of a troop of horse, and galloped back to 
 attack the Spartans and avenge the death of his 
 son. He assaulted his enemies, when he reach- 
 ed the ground where they were posted, in the 
 most furious manner, and killed great numbers 
 of them in the conflict that ensued. At one 
 time, he was for a short period in the most im- 
 minent danger. A Spartan, named Evalcus, 
 who came up and engaged him hand to hand, 
 aimed a blow at his head, which, although it 
 failed of its intended effect, came down close in 
 front of his body, as he sat upon his horse, and 
 
B.C.272.] The last Campaign. 289 
 
 Combat with Evalcus. Pyrrhus's revenge. 
 
 cut off the reins of the bridle. The instant af- 
 ter, Pyrrhus transfixed Evalcus with his spear. 
 Of course, Pyrrhus had now no longer the con- 
 trol of his horse, and he accordingly leaped from 
 him to the ground and fought on foot, while the 
 Spartans gathered around, endeavoring to res- 
 cue and protect the body of E valcus. A furious 
 and most terrible contest ensued, in which many 
 on both sides were slain. At length Pyrrhus 
 made good his retreat from the scene, and the 
 Spartans themselves finally withdrew. Pyrrhus 
 having thus, by way of comfort for his grief, 
 taken the satisfaction of revenge, resumed his 
 march and went to Argos. 
 
 Arrived before the city, he found that there 
 was an army opposed to him there, under the 
 command of a general named Antigonus. His 
 army was encamped upon a hill near the city, 
 awaiting his arrival. The mind of Pyrrhus had 
 become so chafed and irritated by the opposition 
 which he had encountered, and the defeats, dis- 
 appointments, and mortifications which he had 
 endured, that he was full of rage and fury, and 
 seemed to manifest the temper of a wild beast 
 rather than that of a man. He sent a herald 
 to the camp of Antigonus, angrily defying him, 
 and challenging him to come down from his en- 
 T 
 
290 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus before the walls of Argos. A stratagem. 
 
 campment and meet him in single combat on 
 the plain. Antigonus very coolly replied that 
 time was a weapon which he employed in his 
 contests as well as the sword, and that he was 
 not yet ready for a battle ; adding, that if Pyr- 
 rhus was weary of his life, and very impatient 
 to end it, there were plenty of modes by which 
 he could accomplish his desire. 
 
 Pyrrhus remained for some days before the 
 walls of Argos, during which time various ne- 
 gotiations took place between the people of the 
 city and the several parties involved in the quar- 
 rel, with a view to an amicable adjustment of 
 the dispute, in order to save the city from the 
 terrors attendant upon a contest for the posses- 
 sion of it between such mighty armies. At 
 length some sort of settlement was made, and 
 both armies agreed to retire. Pyrrhus, how- 
 ever, had no intention of keeping his agreement. 
 Having thrown the people of the city somewhat 
 off their guard by his promise, he took occasion 
 to advance stealthily to one of the gates at dead 
 of night, and there, the gate being opened to 
 him by a confederate within the city, he began 
 to march his soldiers in. The troops were or- 
 dered to keep silence, and to step noiselessly, 
 and thus a large body of Gauls gained admis- 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 291 
 
 Attempt of the elephants to enter the city. 
 
 sion, and posted themselves in the market-place 
 without alarming or awakening the inhabitants. 
 To render this story credible, we must suppose 
 that the sentinels and guards had been previous- 
 ly gained over to Pyrrhus's side. 
 
 The foot-soldiers having thus made their en- 
 trance into the city, Pyrrhus undertook next to 
 pass some of his elephants in. It was found, 
 however, when they approached the gitc, that 
 they could not enter without having the towers 
 first removed from their backs, as the gates 
 were only high enough to admit the animals 
 alone. The soldiers accordingly proceeded to 
 take off the towers, and then the elephants were 
 led in. The towers were then to be replaced. 
 The work of taking down the towers, and then 
 of putting them on again, which all had to be 
 done in the dark, was attended with great diffi- 
 culty and delay, and so much noise was una- 
 voidably made in the operation, that at length 
 the people in the surrounding houses took the 
 alarm, and in a very short period the whole city 
 was aroused. Eager gatherings were immedi- 
 ately held in all quarters. Pyrrhus pressed for- 
 ward with all haste into the market-place, and 
 posted himself there, arranging his elephants, 
 his horse, and his foot in the manner best adapt- 
 
292 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Consternation of the inhabitants of Argos. 
 
 cd to protect them from any attack that might 
 be made. The people of Argos crowded into 
 the citadel, and sent out immediately to Antig- 
 onus to come in to their aid. He at once put 
 his camp in motion, and, advancing toward the 
 walls with the main body, he sent in some pow- 
 erful detachments of troops to co-operate with 
 the inhabitants of the city. All these scenes 
 occurring .in the midst of the darkness of the 
 night, the people having been awakened from 
 their sleep by a sudden alarm, were attended, 
 of course, by a dreadful panic and confusion ; 
 and, to complete the complication of horrors, 
 Areus, with the Spartan army under his com- 
 mand, who had followed Pyrrhus in his approach 
 to the city, and had been closely watching his 
 movements ever since he had arrived, now burst 
 in through the gates, and attacked the troops of 
 his hated enemy in the streets, in the market- 
 place, and wherever he could find them, with 
 shouts, outcries, and imprecations, that made 
 the whole city one widespread scene of unut- 
 terable confusion and terror. 
 
 The general confusion and terror, however, 
 produced by the assaults of the Spartans were 
 the only results that immediately followed them, 
 for the troops soon found that no real progress 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 293 
 
 Confusion of the soldiers. Pyrrhus waits for morning. 
 
 could be made, and no advantage gained by 
 this nocturnal warfare. The soldiers could not 
 distinguish friends from foes. They could not 
 see or hear their commander, or act with any 
 concert or in any order. They were scattered 
 about, and lost their way in narrow streets, or 
 fell into drains or sewers, and all attempts on 
 the part of the officers to rally them, or to con- 
 trol them in any way, were unavailing. At 
 length, by common consent, all parties desisted 
 from fighting, and awaited — all in an awful 
 condition of uncertainty and suspense — the 
 coming of the dawn. 
 
 Pyrrhus, as the objects that were around him 
 were brought gradually into view by the gray 
 light of the morning, was alarmed at seeing 
 that the walls of the citadel were covered with 
 armed men, and at observing various other in- 
 dications, by which he was warned that there 
 was a very powerful force opposed to him with- 
 in the city. As the light increased, and brought 
 the boundaries of the market-place where he 
 posted himself into view, and revealed the vari- 
 ous images and figures which had been placed 
 there to adorn it, he was struck with conster- 
 nation at the sight of one of the groups, as the 
 outlines of it slowly made themselves visible. 
 
294 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 The bronze statue. Ancient prophecy. ryrrhus's alarm. 
 
 It was a piece of statuary, in bronze, represent- 
 ing a combat between a wolf and a bull. It 
 seems that in former times some oracle or di- 
 viner had forewarned him that when he should 
 see a wolf encountering a bull, he might know 
 that the hour of his death was near. Of course, 
 he had supposed that such a spectacle, if it was 
 indeed true that he was ever destined to see it, 
 could only be expected to appear in some se- 
 cluded forest, or in some wide and unfrequent- 
 ed spot among the mountains. Perhaps, indeed, 
 he had paid very little attention to the prophe- 
 cy, and never expected that it would be literal- 
 ly realized. When, however, this group in 
 bronze came out to view, it reminded him of 
 the oracle, and the dreadful foreboding which 
 its appearance awakened, connected with the 
 anxiety and alarm naturally inspired by the sit- 
 uation in which he was placed, filled him with 
 consternation. He feared that his hour was 
 come, and his only solicitude now was to make 
 good his retreat as soon as possible from the 
 fatal dangers by which he seemed to be sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 But how to escape was the difficulty. The 
 gate was narrow, the body of troops with him 
 was large, and he knew that in attempting to 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 295 
 
 He resolves to retreat from the city. 
 
 retire he would be attacked from all the streets 
 in the vicinity, and from the tops of the houses 
 and walls, and that his column would inevita- 
 bly be thrown into disorder, and would choke 
 up the gateway and render it wholly impassa- 
 ble, through their eagerness to escape and the 
 confusion that would ensue. He accordingly 
 sent out a messenger to his son Helenus, who 
 remained all the time in command of the main 
 body of the army, without the walls, directing 
 him to come forward with all his force, and 
 break down a portion of the wall adjoining the 
 gateway, so as to open a free egress for his 
 troops in their retreat from the city. He re- 
 mained himself at his position in the market- 
 place until time had. elapsed sufficient, as he 
 judged, for Helenus to have received his orders, 
 and to have reached the gate in the execution 
 of them ; and then, being by this time hard 
 pressed by his enemies, who began early in the 
 morning to attack him on all quarters, he put 
 his troops in motion, and in the midst of a scene 
 of shouts, uproar, terror, and confusion indescri- 
 bable, the whole body moved on toward the 
 gate, expecting that, by the time they arrived 
 there, Helenus would have accomplished his 
 work, and that they should find a broad open- 
 
296 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus finds the streets blocked up. Dreadful confusion. 
 
 ing made, which would allow of an easy egress. 
 Instead of this, however, "they found, before 
 they reached the gate, that the streets before 
 them were entirely blocked up with an im- 
 mense concourse of soldiers that were pouring 
 tumultuously into the city. It seems that He- 
 lenus had, in some way or other, misunderstood 
 the orders, and supposed that he was directed 
 to enter the city himself, to re-enforce his father 
 within the walls. The shock of the encounter 
 produced by these opposing currents redoubled 
 the confusion. Pyrrhus, and the officers with 
 him, shouted out orders to the advancing sol- 
 diers of Helenus to fall back ; but in the midst 
 of the indescribable din and confusion that pre- 
 vailed, no vociferation, however loud, could be 
 heard. Nor, if the orders had been heard, could 
 they have been obeyed, for the van of the com- 
 ing column was urged forward irresistibly by 
 the pressure of those behind, and the panic 
 which by this time prevailed among the troops 
 of Pyrrhus's command made them frantic and 
 furious in their efforts to force their way onward 
 and get out of the city. An awful scene of 
 confusion and destruction ensued. Men press-* 
 ed and trampled each other to death, and the 
 air was filled with shrieks and cries of pain and 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 297 
 
 The fallen elephant in the gateway. 
 
 terror. The destruction of life was very great, 
 but it was produced almost entirely by the press- 
 ure and the confusion — men, horses, and ele- 
 phants being mingled inextricably together in 
 one vast living mass, which seemed, to those 
 who looked down upon it from above, to be 
 writhing and struggling in the most horrible 
 contortions. There was no fighting, for there 
 was no room for any one to strike a blow. If 
 a man drew his sword or raised his pike, his 
 arms were caught and pinioned immediately 
 by the pressure around him, and he found him- 
 self utterly helpless. The injury, therefore, 
 that was done, was the result almost altogether 
 of the pressure and the struggles, and of the 
 trampling of the elephants and the horses upon 
 the men, and of the men upon each other. 
 
 The elephants added greatly to the confusion 
 of the scene. One of the largest in the troop 
 fell in the gateway, and lay there for some time 
 on his side, unable to rise, and braying in a ter- 
 rific manner. Another was excited to a phrensy 
 by the loss of his master, who had fallen off 
 from his head, wounded by a dart or a spear. 
 The faithful animal turned around to save him. 
 With his trunk he threw the men who were in 
 the way off to the right hand and the left, and 
 
29S Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Pyrrhus is greatly alarmed. He lays aside his plume. 
 
 then, taking up the body of his master with his 
 trunk, he placed it carefully upon his tusks, and 
 then attempted to force a passage through the 
 crowd, trampling down all who came in his 
 way. History has awarded to this elephant a 
 distinction which he well deserved, by recording 
 his name. It was Nicon. 
 
 All this time Pyrrhus was near the rear of 
 his troops, and thus was in some degree re- 
 moved from the greatest severity of the press- 
 ure. He turned and fought, from time to time, 
 with those who were pressing upon his line from 
 behind. As the danger became more imminent, 
 he took out from his helmet the plume by which 
 he was distinguished from the other generals, 
 and gave it to a friend who was near him, in 
 order that he might be a less conspicuous mark 
 for the shafts of his enemies. The combats, 
 however, between his party and those who were 
 harassing them in the rear were still continued ; 
 and at length, in one of them, a man of Argos 
 wounded him, by throwing a javelin with so 
 much force that the point of it passed through 
 his breast-plate and entered his side. The wound 
 was not dangerous, but it had the effect of mad- 
 dening Pyrrhus against the man who had in- 
 flicted it, and he turned upon him with great 
 
&K» 
 
 Death of Pyrrhus. 
 
B.C.272.] The last Campaign. 301 
 
 He is struck by a tile thrown down upon him. 
 
 fury, as if he were intending to annihilate him 
 at a blow. He would very probably have kill- 
 ed the Greek, had it not been that just at that 
 moment the mother of the man, by a very sin- 
 gular coincidence, was surveying the scene from 
 a house-top which overlooked the street where 
 these events were occurring. She immediately 
 seized a heavy tile from the roof, and with all 
 her strength hurled it into the street upon Pyr- 
 rhus just as he was striking the blow. The 
 tile came down upon his head, and, striking 
 the helmet heavily, it carried both helmet and 
 head down together, and crushed the lower ver- 
 tebrae of the neck at their junction with the 
 spine. 
 
 Pyrrhus dropped the reins from his hands, 
 and fell over from his horse heavily to the 
 ground. It happened that no one knew him 
 who saw him fall, for so great had been the 
 crowd and confusion, that Pyrrhus had got sep- 
 arated from his immediate friends. Those who 
 were near him, therefore, when he fell, pressed 
 on, intent only on their own safety, and left him 
 where he lay. At last a soldier of Antigonus's 
 army, named Zopyrus, coming up to the spot, 
 accompanied by several others of his party, 
 looked upon the wounded man and recognized 
 
302 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 His dreadful death. The head borne away. 
 
 him as Pyrrhus. They lifted him up, and 
 dragged him out of the street to a portico that 
 was near. Zopyrus drew his sword, and raised 
 it to cut off his prisoner's head. At this instant 
 Pyrrhus opened his eyes, and rolled them up 
 with such a horrid expression as to strike Zopy- 
 rus with terror. His arm consequently falter- 
 ed in dealing the blow, so that he missed his 
 aim, and instead of striking the neck, only 
 wounded and mutilated the mouth and chin. 
 He was obliged to repeat the stroke again and 
 ajrain before the neck was sundered. At length, 
 however, the dreadful deed was done, and the 
 head was severed from the body. 
 
 Very soon after this, Halcyoncus, the son of 
 Antigonus, rode up to the spot, and after learn- 
 ing what had occurred, he asked the soldiers to 
 lift up the head to him, that he might look at it 
 a moment. As soon as it was within his reach, 
 he seized it and rode away, in order to carry it 
 to his father. He found his father sitting with 
 his friends, and threw down the head at his 
 feet, as a trophy which he supposed his father 
 would rejoice to see. Antigonus was, however, 
 in fact, extremely shocked at the spectacle. He 
 reproved his son in the severest terms for his 
 brutality, and then, sending for the mutilated 
 
B.C. 272.] The last Campaign. 303 
 
 Summary of I'yrrhus's character. 
 
 trunk, lie gave to the whole hody an honorable 
 burial. 
 
 That Pyrrhus was a man of great native 
 power of mind, and of extraordinary capacity 
 as a military leader, no one can deny. His ca- 
 pacity and genius were in fact so great, as to 
 make him, perhaps, the most conspicuous ex- 
 ample that the world has produced of the man- 
 ner in which the highest power and the noblest 
 opportunities may be wasted and thrdwn away. 
 He accomplished nothing. He had no plan, no 
 aim, no object, but obeyed every momentary 
 impulse, and entered, without thought and with- 
 out calculation, into any scheme that chance, or 
 the ambitious designs of others, might lay be- 
 fore him. He succeeded in creating a vast deal 
 of turmoil and war, in killing an immense num- 
 ber of men, and in conquering, though tempo- 
 rarily and to no purpose, a great many king- 
 doms. It was mischief, and only mischief, that 
 he did ; and though the scale on which he per- 
 petrated mischief was great, his fickleness and 
 vacillation deprived it altogether of the dignity 
 of greatness. His crimes against the peace 
 and welfare of mankind did not arise from any 
 peculiar depravity ; he was, on the contrary, 
 naturally of a noble and generous spirit, though 
 
304 Pyrrhus. [B.C. 272. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 in process of time, through the reaction of his 
 conduct upon his heart, these good qualities al- 
 most entirely disappeared. Still, he seems never 
 really to have wished mankind ill. He perpe- 
 trated his crimes against them thoughtlessly, 
 merely for the purpose of showing what great 
 things he could do. 
 
 The End.