Makers of History

 Pyrrhus

 BY JACOB ABBOTT

 WITH ENGRAVINGS

 NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1901

 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. 

[Illustration: PYRRHUS VIEWING THE ROMAN ENCAMPMENT. ]

PREFACE. 

In respect to the heroes of ancient history, who lived in timesantecedent to the period when the regular records of authentic historycommence, no reliance can be placed upon the actual verity of theaccounts which have come down to us of their lives and actions. Inthose ancient days there was, in fact, no line of demarkation betweenromance and history, and the stories which were told of Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, Romulus, Pyrrhus, and other personages as ancient as they, areall more or less fabulous and mythical. We learn this as well from theinternal evidence furnished by the narratives themselves as from theresearches of modern scholars, who have succeeded, in many cases, indisentangling the web, and separating the false from the true. It isnone the less important, however, on this account, that these ancienttales, as they were originally told, and as they have come down to usthrough so many centuries, should be made known to readers of thepresent age. They have been circulated among mankind in theiroriginal form for twenty or thirty centuries, and they have mingledthemselves inextricably with the literature, the eloquence, and thepoetry of every civilized nation on the globe. Of course, to know whatthe story is, whether true or false, which the ancient narratorsrecorded, and which has been read and commented on by every succeedinggeneration to the present day, is an essential attainment for everywell-informed man; a far more essential attainment, in fact, for thegeneral reader, than to discover now, at this late period, what theactual facts were which gave origin to the fable. 

In writing this series of histories, therefore, it has been the aim ofthe author not to _correct_ the ancient story, but to repeat it as itstands, cautioning the reader, however, whenever occasion requires, not to suppose that the marvelous 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 111

 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

[Illustration: MAP--EMPIRE OF PYRRHUS. ]

PYRRHUS. 

CHAPTER I. 

OLYMPIAS AND ANTIPATER. 

B. C. 336-321

Situation of the country of Epirus. --Epirus and Macedon. --Theirpolitical connections. --Olympias. --Her visits toEpirus. --Philip. --Olympias as a wife. --She makes manydifficulties. --Alexander takes part with his mother in herquarrel. --Olympias is suspected of having murdered herhusband. --Alexander's treatment of his mother. --His kindand considerate behavior. --Antipater. --Character ofAntipater. --Alexander's opinion of him. --Olympias makes a greatdeal of trouble. --Alexander sends Craterus home. --Alexander's wifeRoxana. --Her babe. --Aridĉus. --The two competing claimants to thecrown. --Some account of the Ptolemaic dynasty. --The distribution ofAlexander's empire. --Compromise between the rival claims. --Question ofmarriage. --Cleopatra. --Nicĉa. --Nicĉa is sent to Babylon. --Antipater'splan. --Another matrimonial question. --Cynane. --Excitement in thearmy. --Ada's new name. --Various intrigues. --Schemes of Antipaterand Ptolemy. --Nicĉa. --Perdiccas' plans. --A battle. --Craterus iskilled. --Discontent. --Unpopularity of Perdiccas. --Transit of theNile. --Extraordinary incident. --Great numbers swept into the riverand destroyed. --The kings are to be sent back to Babylon. --Antipaterreturns to Macedon full of honors. 

Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, entered at the very beginning of his lifeupon the extraordinary series of romantic adventures which sostrikingly marked his career. He became an exile and a fugitive fromhis father's house when he was only two years old, having beensuddenly borne away at that period by the attendants of the household, to avoid a most imminent personal danger that threatened him. Thecircumstances which gave occasion for this extraordinary ereption wereas follows:

The country of Epirus, as will be seen by the accompanying map, wassituated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, [A] and on thesouthwestern confines of Macedonia. The kingdom of Epirus was thusvery near to, and in some respects dependent upon, the kingdom ofMacedon. In fact, the public affairs of the two countries, through thepersonal relations and connections which subsisted from time to timebetween the royal families that reigned over them respectively, wereoften intimately intermingled, so that there could scarcely be anyimportant war, or even any great civil dissension in Macedon, whichdid not sooner or later draw the king or the people of Epirus to takepart in the dispute, either on one side or on the other. And as itsometimes happened that in these questions of Macedonian politics theking and the people of Epirus took opposite sides, the affairs of thegreat kingdom were often the means of bringing into the smaller one aninfinite degree of trouble and confusion. 

[Footnote A: See the opposite map. ]

The period of Pyrrhus's career was immediately subsequent to that ofAlexander the Great, the birth of Pyrrhus having taken place aboutfour years after the death of Alexander. At this time it happened thatthe relations which subsisted between the royal families of the twokingdoms were very intimate. This intimacy arose from an extremelyimportant intermarriage which had taken place between the two familiesin the preceding generation--namely, the marriage of Philip ofMacedon with Olympias, the daughter of a king of Epirus. Philip andOlympias were the father and mother of Alexander the Great. Of course, during the whole period of the great conqueror's history, the peopleof Epirus, as well as those of Macedon, felt a special interest in hiscareer. They considered him as a descendant of their own royal line, as well as of that of Macedon, and so, very naturally, appropriated tothemselves some portion of the glory which he acquired. Olympias, too, who sometimes, after her marriage with Philip, resided at Epirus, andsometimes at Macedon, maintained an intimate and close connection, both with her own and with Philip's family; and thus, through variousresults of her agency, as well as through the fame of Alexander'sexploits, the governments of the two countries were continuallycommingled. 

It must not, however, by any means be supposed that the relationswhich were established through the influence of Olympias, between thecourts of Epirus and of Macedon, were always of a friendly character. They were, in fact, often the very reverse. Olympias was a woman of avery passionate and ungovernable temper, and of a very determinedwill; and as Philip was himself as impetuous and as resolute as she, the domestic life of this distinguished pair was a constant successionof storms. At the commencement of her married life, Olympias was, ofcourse, generally successful in accomplishing her purposes. Amongother measures, she induced Philip to establish her brother upon thethrone of Epirus, in the place of another prince who was more directlyin the line of succession. As, however, the true heir did not, on thisaccount, relinquish his claims, two parties were formed in thecountry, adhering respectively to the two branches of the family thatclaimed the throne, and a division ensued, which, in the end, involvedthe kingdom of Epirus in protracted civil wars. While, therefore, Olympias continued to hold an influence over her husband's mind, sheexercised it in such a way as to open sources of serious calamity andtrouble for her own native land. 

After a time, however, she lost this influence entirely. Her disputeswith Philip ended at length in a bitter and implacable quarrel. Philipmarried another woman, named Cleopatra, partly, indeed, as a measureof political alliance, and partly as an act of hostility and hatredagainst Olympias, whom he accused of the most disgraceful crimes. Olympias went home to Epirus in a rage, and sought refuge in the courtof her brother. 

Alexander, her son, was left behind at Macedon at this separationbetween his father and mother. He was then about nineteen years ofage. He took part with his mother in the contest. It is true, heremained for a time at the court of Philip after his mother'sdeparture, but his mind was in a very irritable and sullen mood; andat length, on the occasion of a great public festival, an angryconversation between Alexander and Philip occurred, growing out ofsome allusions which were made to Olympias by some of the guests, inthe course of which Alexander openly denounced and defied the king, and then abruptly left the court, and went off to Epirus to join hismother. Of course the attention of the people of Epirus was stronglyattracted to this quarrel, and they took sides, some with Philip, andsome with Olympias and Alexander. 

Not very long after this, Philip was assassinated in the mostmysterious and extraordinary manner. [B] Olympias was generally accusedof having been the instigator of this deed. There was no positiveevidence of her guilt; nor, on the other hand, had there ever been inher character and conduct any such indications of the presence of eventhe ordinary sentiments of justice and humanity in her heart as couldform a presumption of her innocence. In a word, she was such a womanthat it was more easy and natural, as it seemed, for mankind tobelieve her guilty than innocent; and she has accordingly been verygenerally condemned, though on very slender evidence, as accessory tothe crime. 

[Footnote B: For a full account of this transaction, see "History ofAlexander the Great. "]

Of course, the death of Philip, whether Olympias was the procurer ofit or not, was of the greatest conceivable advantage to her in respectto its effect upon her position, and upon the promotion of herambitious schemes. The way was at once opened again for her return toMacedon. Alexander, her son, succeeded immediately to the throne. Hewas very young, and would submit, as she supposed, very readily to theinfluence of his mother. This proved, in fact, in some sense to betrue. Alexander, whatever may have been his faults in other respects, was a very dutiful son. He treated his mother, as long as he lived, with the utmost consideration and respect, while yet he would not inany sense subject himself to her authority and influence in hispolitical career. He formed his own plans, and executed them in hisown way; and if there was ever at any time any dispute or disagreementbetween him and Olympias in respect to his measures, she soon learnedthat he was not to be controlled in these things, and gave up thestruggle. Nor was this a very extraordinary result; for we often seethat a refractory woman, who can not by any process be made to submitto her husband, is easily and completely managed by a son. 

Things went on thus tolerably smoothly while Alexander lived. It was_only_ tolerably, however; for Olympias, though she always continuedon friendly terms with Alexander himself, quarreled incessantly withthe commanders and ministers of state whom he left with her at Macedonwhile he was absent on his Asiatic campaigns. These contentions causedno very serious difficulty so long as Alexander himself was alive tointerpose, when occasion required, and settle the difficulties anddisputes which originated in them before they became unmanageable. Alexander was always adroit enough to do this in a manner that wasrespectful and considerate toward his mother, and which yet preservedthe actual administrative power of the kingdom in the hands to whichhe had intrusted it. 

He thus amused his mother's mind, and soothed her irritable temper bymarks of consideration and regard, and sustained her in a verydignified and lofty position in the royal household, while yet heconfided to her very little substantial power. 

The officer whom Alexander had left in chief command at Macedon, whileabsent on his Asiatic expedition, was Antipater. Antipater was a veryvenerable man, then nearly seventy years of age. He had been theprincipal minister of state in Macedonia for a long period of time, having served Philip in that capacity with great fidelity and successfor many years before Alexander's accession. During the whole term ofhis public office, he had maintained a most exalted reputation forwisdom and virtue. Philip placed the most absolute and entireconfidence in him, and often committed the most momentous affairs tohis direction. And yet, notwithstanding the illustrious position whichAntipater thus occupied, and the great influence and control which heexercised in the public affairs of Macedon, he was simple andunpretending in his manners, and kind and considerate to all aroundhim, as if he were entirely devoid of all feelings of personalambition, and were actuated only by an honest and sincere devotednessto the cause of those whom he served. Various anecdotes were relatedof him in the Macedonian court, which showed the estimation in whichhe was held. For example, Philip one day, at a time when placed incircumstances which required special caution and vigilance on hispart, made his appearance at a late hour in the morning, and heapologized for it by saying to the officers, "I have slept rather latethis morning, but then I knew that Antipater was awake. " Alexander, too, felt the highest respect and veneration for Antipater'scharacter. At one time some person expressed surprise that Antipaterdid not clothe himself in a purple robe--the badge of nobility andgreatness--as the other great commanders and ministers of state wereaccustomed to do. "Those men, " said Alexander, "wear purple on theoutside, 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 submittedvery readily to his sway during the absence of Alexander. Olympias, however, caused him continual trouble. In the exercise of his regency, he governed the country as he thought his duty to the people of therealm and to Alexander required, without yielding at all to thedemands or expectations of Olympias. She, consequently, finding thathe was unmanageable, did all in her power to embarrass him in hisplans, and to thwart and circumvent him. She wrote letters continuallyto Alexander, complaining incessantly of his conduct, sometimesmisrepresenting occurrences which had actually taken place, andsometimes making accusations wholly groundless and untrue. Antipater, in the same manner, in his letters to Alexander, complained of theinterference of Olympias, and of the trouble and embarrassment whichher conduct occasioned him. Alexander succeeded for a season insettling these difficulties more or less perfectly, from time to time, as they arose; but at last he concluded to make a change in theregency. Accordingly, on an occasion when a considerable body of newrecruits from Macedon was to be marched into Asia, Alexander orderedAntipater to accompany them, and, at the same time, he sent homeanother general named Craterus, in charge of a body of troops fromAsia, whose term of service had expired. [C] His plan was to retainAntipater in his service in Asia, and to give to Craterus thegovernment of Macedon, thinking it possible, perhaps, that Craterusmight agree better with Olympias than Antipater had done. 

[Footnote C: For the route from Macedonia to Babylon, see map. ]

Antipater was not to leave Macedon until Craterus should arrive there;and while Craterus was on his journey, Alexander suddenly died. Thisevent changed the whole aspect of affairs throughout the empire, andled to a series of very important events, which followed each other inrapid succession, and which were the means of affecting the conditionand the fortunes of Olympias in a very material manner. The state ofthe case was substantially thus. The story forms quite a complicatedplot, which it will require close attention on the part of the readerclearly to comprehend. 

The question which rose first to the mind of every one, as soon asAlexander's death became known, was that of the succession. There was, as it happened, no member of Alexander's own family who could beconsidered as clearly and unquestionably his heir. At the time of hisdeath 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 herprisoner, with some other ladies, at a fort on a rock, where herfather had placed her for safety. Roxana was extremely beautiful, andAlexander, 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 onlyabout four years after her marriage that Alexander died, she was stillin 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, whoseclaims to the succession seemed to be more direct, for he was livingat the time that Alexander died. The name of his brother was Aridĉus. He was imbecile in intellect, and wholly insignificant as a politicalpersonage, except so far as he was by birth the next heir to Alexanderin the Macedonian line. He was not the son of Olympias, but of anothermother, and his imbecility was caused, it was said, by an attempt ofOlympias to poison him in his youth. She was prompted to do this byher rage and jealousy against his mother, for whose sake Philip hadabandoned her. The poison had ruined the poor child's intellect, though it had failed to destroy his life. Alexander, when he succeededto the throne, adopted measures to protect Aridĉus from any futureattempt which his mother might make to destroy him, and for this, aswell as perhaps for other reasons, took Aridĉus with him on hisAsiatic campaign. Aridĉus and Roxana were both at Babylon whenAlexander died. 

Whatever might be thought of the comparative claims of Aridĉus and ofRoxana's babe in respect to the inheritance of the Macedonian crown, it was plain that neither of them was capable of exercising any actualpower--Alexander's son being incapacitated by his youthfulness, andhis brother by his imbecility. The real power fell immediately intothe hands of Alexander's great generals and counselors of state. Thesegenerals, on consultation with each other, determined not to decidethe question of succession in favor of either of the two heirs, but toinvest the sovereignty of the empire jointly in them both. So theygave to Aridĉus the name of Philip, and to Roxana's babe that ofAlexander. They made these two princes jointly the nominal sovereigns, and then proceeded, in their name, to divide all the actual poweramong themselves. 

In this division, Egypt, and the African countries adjoining it, wereassigned to a very distinguished general of the name of Ptolemy, whobecame the founder of a long line of Egyptian sovereigns, known as thePtolemaic dynasty--the line from which, some centuries later, therenowned Cleopatra sprang. Macedon and Greece, with the other Europeanprovinces, were allotted to Antipater and Craterus--Craterus himselfbeing then on the way to Macedon with the invalid and disbanded troopswhom Alexander had sent home. Craterus was in feeble health at thistime, and was returning to Macedon partly on this account. In fact, hewas not fully able to take the active command of the detachmentcommitted to him, and Alexander had accordingly sent an officer withhim, named Polysperchon, who was to assist him in the performance ofhis duties on the march. This Polysperchon, as will appear in thesequel, took a very important part in the events which occurred inMacedonia after he and Craterus had arrived there. 

In addition to these great and important provinces--that of Egypt inAfrica, and Macedon and Greece in Europe--there were various othersmaller ones in Asia Minor and in Syria, which were assigned todifferent generals and ministers of state who had been attached to theservice of Alexander, and who all now claimed their several portionsin the general distribution of power which took place after his death. The distribution gave at first a tolerable degree of satisfaction. Itwas made in the _name_ of Philip the king, though the personage whoreally controlled the arrangement was Perdiccas, the general who wasnearest to the person of Alexander, and highest in rank at the time ofthe great conqueror's decease. In fact, as soon as Alexander died, Perdiccas assumed the command of the army, and the general directionof affairs. [D] He intended, as was supposed, to make himself emperorin the place of Alexander. At first he had strongly urged thatRoxana's child should be declared heir to the throne, to the exclusionof Aridĉus. His secret motive in this was, that by governing asregent during the long minority of the infant, he might prepare theway for finally seizing the kingdom himself. The other generals of thearmy, however, would not consent to this; they were inclined to insistthat Aridĉus should be king. The army was divided on this question forsome days, and the dispute ran very high. It seemed, in fact, for atime, that there was no hope that it could be accommodated. There wasevery indication that a civil war must ensue--to break out first underthe very walls of Babylon. At length, however, as has already beenstated, the question was compromised, and it was agreed that the crownof Alexander should become the joint inheritance of Aridĉus and of theinfant child, and that Perdiccas should exercise at Babylon thefunctions of regent. Of course, when the division of the empire wasmade, it was made in the name of Philip; for the child of Roxana, atthe time of the division, was not yet born. But, though made in KingPhilip's name, it was really the work of Perdiccas. His plan, it wassupposed, in the assignment of provinces to the various generals, wasto remove them from Babylon, and give them employment in distantfields, where they would not interfere with him in the execution ofhis plans for making himself master of the supreme power. 

[Footnote D: The death of Alexander took place, and the distributionhere referred to was made at Babylon. For the situation of this cityin reference to Macedon and the intervening countries, see map. ]

After these arrangements had been made, and the affairs of the empirehad been tolerably well settled for the time being by thisdistribution of power, and Perdiccas began to consider what ulteriormeasures he should adopt for the widening and extending of his power, a question arose which for a season greatly perplexed him: it was thequestion of his marriage. Two proposals were made to him--one byOlympias, and one by Antipater. Each of these personages had adaughter whom they were desirous that Perdiccas should make his wife. The daughter of Olympias was named Cleopatra--that of Antipater wasNicĉa. Cleopatra was a young widow. She was residing at this time inSyria. She had been married to a king of Epirus named Alexander, butwas now residing in Sardis, in Asia Minor. Some of the counselors ofPerdiccas represented to him very strongly that a marriage with herwould strengthen his position more than any other alliance that hecould form, as she was the sister of Alexander the Great, and by hismarriage with her he would secure to his side the influence ofOlympias and of all of Alexander's family. Perdiccas so far accededto these views that he sent a messenger to Sardis to visit Cleopatrain his name, and to make her a present. Olympias and Cleopatraaccordingly considered the arrangement a settled affair. 

In the mean time, however, Antipater, who seems to have been more inearnest in his plans, sent off his daughter Nicĉa herself to Babylon, to be offered directly to Perdiccas there. She arrived at Babylonafter the messenger of Perdiccas had gone to visit Cleopatra. Thearrival of Nicĉa brought up very distinctly to the mind of Perdiccasthe advantages of an alliance with Antipater. Olympias, it is true, had a great name, but she possessed no real power. Antipater, on theother hand, held sway over a widely-extended region, which comprisedsome of the most wealthy and populous countries on the globe. He had alarge army under his command, too, consisting of the bravest andbest-disciplined troops in the world; and he himself, though advancedin age, was a very able and effective commander. In a word, Perdiccaswas persuaded, by these and similar considerations, that the allianceof Antipater would be more serviceable to him than that of Olympias, and he accordingly married Nicĉa. Olympias, who had always hatedAntipater before, was now, when she found herself thus supplanted byhim in her plans for allying herself with Perdiccas, aroused to thehighest pitch of indignation and rage. 

Besides the marriage of Perdiccas, another matrimonial question aroseabout this time, which led to a great deal of difficulty. There was alady of the royal family of Macedon named Cynane--a daughter of Philipof Macedon, and half-sister of Alexander the Great--who had a daughternamed Ada. Cynane conceived the design of marrying her daughter toKing Philip, who was now, as well as Roxana and her babe, in the handsof Perdiccas as their guardian. Cynane set out from Macedon with herdaughter, on the journey to Asia, in order to carry this arrangementinto effect. This was considered as a very bold undertaking on thepart of Cynane and her daughter; for Perdiccas would, of course, beimplacably hostile to any plan for the marriage of Philip, andespecially so to his marrying a princess of the royal family ofMacedon. In fact, as soon as Perdiccas heard of the movement whichCynane was making, he was enraged at the audacity of it, and sentmessengers to intercept Cynane and murder her on the way. Thistransaction, however, as soon as it was known, produced a greatexcitement throughout the whole of the Macedonian army. The army, infact, felt so strong an attachment for every branch and every memberof the family of Alexander, that they would not tolerate any violenceor wrong against any one of them. Perdiccas was quite terrified at thestorm which he had raised. He immediately countermanded the orderswhich he had given to the assassins; and, to atone for his error andallay the excitement, he received Ada, when she arrived at Babylon, with great apparent kindness, and finally consented to the plan of herbeing married to Philip. She was accordingly married to him, and thearmy was appeased. Ada received at this time the name of Eurydice, andshe became subsequently, under that name, quite renowned in history. 

During the time in which these several transactions were taking place, various intrigues and contentions were going on among the governors ofthe different provinces in Europe and Asia, which, as the results ofthem did not particularly affect the affairs of Epirus, we need nothere particularly describe. During all this period, however, Perdiccas was extending and maturing his arrangements, and laying hisplans for securing the whole empire to himself; while Antipater andPtolemy, in Macedon and Egypt, were all the time holding secretcommunications with each other, and endeavoring to devise means bywhich they might thwart and circumvent him. The quarrel was an exampleof what very often occurs in such political systems as the Macedonianempire presented at this time--namely, a combining of the extremitiesagainst the centre. For some time the efforts of the hostile partieswere confined to the maneuvers and counter-maneuvers which theydevised against each other. Antipater was, in fact, restrained fromopen hostility against Perdiccas from a regard to his daughter Nicĉa, who, as has been already mentioned, was Perdiccas' wife. At length, however, under the influence of the increasing hostility whichprevailed between the two families, Perdiccas determined to divorceNicĉa, and marry Cleopatra after all. As soon as Antipater learnedthis, he resolved at once upon open war. The campaign commenced with adouble operation. Perdiccas himself raised an army; and, taking Philipand Eurydice, and also Roxana and her babe in his train, he marchedinto Egypt to make war against Ptolemy. At the same time, Antipaterand Craterus, at the head of a large Macedonian force, passed acrossthe Hellespont into Asia Minor, on their way to attack Perdiccas inBabylon. Perdiccas sent a large detachment of troops, under thecommand of a distinguished general, to meet and encounter Antipaterand Craterus in Asia Minor, while he was himself engaged in theEgyptian campaign. 

The result of the contest was fatal to the cause of Perdiccas. Antipater advanced triumphantly through Asia Minor, though in one ofthe battles which took place there Craterus was slain. But whileCraterus himself fell, his troops were victorious. Thus the fortunesof war in this quarter went against Perdiccas. The result of his ownoperations in Egypt was still more disastrous to him. As he approachedthe Egyptian frontier, he found his soldiers very averse to fightingagainst Ptolemy, a general whom they had always regarded with extremerespect and veneration, and who, as was well known, had governed hisprovince in Egypt with the greatest wisdom, justice, and moderation. Perdiccas treated this disaffection in a very haughty and domineeringmanner. He called his soldiers rebels, and threatened to punish themas such. This aroused their indignation, and from secret murmuringsthey proceeded to loud and angry complaints. Perdiccas was not theirking, they said, to lord it over them in that imperious manner. He wasnothing but the tutor of their kings, and they would not submit to anyinsolence from him. Perdiccas was soon quite alarmed to observe thedegree of dissatisfaction which he had awakened, and the violence ofthe form which it seemed to be assuming. He changed his tone, andattempted to soothe and conciliate the minds of his men. He at lengthsucceeded so far as to restore some degree of order and discipline tothe army, and in that condition the expedition entered Egypt. [E]

[Footnote E: For the route taken by this expedition, see map. ]

Perdiccas crossed one of the branches of the Nile, and then led hisarmy forward to attack Ptolemy in a strong fortress, where he hadintrenched himself with his troops. The forces of Perdiccas, thoughmuch more numerous than those of Ptolemy, fought with very littlespirit; while those of Ptolemy exerted themselves to the utmost, underthe influence of the strong attachment which they felt for theircommander. Perdiccas was beaten in the engagement; and he was so muchweakened by the defeat, that he determined to retreat back across theriver. When the army arrived at the bank of the stream, the troopsbegan to pass over; but after about half the army had crossed, theyfound, to their surprise, that the water, which had been growinggradually deeper all the time, became impassable. The cause of thisdeepening of the stream was at first a great mystery, since thesurface of the water, as was evident by marks along the shore, remained all the time at the same level. It was at length ascertainedthat the cause of this extraordinary phenomenon was, that the sands inthe bottom of the river were trampled up by the feet of the men andhorses in crossing, so that the current of the water could wash themaway; and such was the immense number of footsteps made by thesuccessive bodies of troops, that, by the time the transportation hadbeen half accomplished, the water had become too deep to be forded. Perdiccas was thus, as it were, caught in a trap--half his army beingon one side of the river, and himself, with the remainder, on theother. 

He was seriously alarmed at the dangerous situation in which he thusfound himself placed, and immediately resorted to a variety ofexpedients to remedy the unexpected difficulty. All his efforts were, however, vain. Finally, as it seemed imperiously necessary to effect ajunction between the two divisions of his army, he ordered those whohad gone over to make an attempt, at all hazards, to return. They didso; but in the attempt, vast numbers of men got beyond their depth, and were swept down by the current and drowned. Multitudes of thebodies, both of the dead and of the dying, were seized and devoured bythe crocodiles which lined the shores of the river below. There wereabout two thousand men thus lost in the attempt to recross the stream. 

In all military operations, the criterion of merit, in the opinion ofan army, is success; and, of course, the discontent and disaffectionwhich prevailed in the camp of Perdiccas broke out anew in consequenceof these misfortunes. There was a general mutiny. The officersthemselves took the lead in it, and one hundred of them went over in abody to Ptolemy's side, taking with them a considerable portion of thearmy; while those that were left remained with Perdiccas, not todefend, but to destroy him. A troop of horse gathered around his tent, guarding it on all sides, to prevent the escape of their victim, andthen a certain number of the men rushed in and killed him in the midstof his terror and despair. 

Ptolemy now advanced to the camp of Perdiccas, and was received therewith acclamation. The whole army submitted themselves at once to hiscommand. An arrangement was made for the return of the army toBabylon, with the kings and their train. Pithon, one of the generalsof Perdiccas, took the command of the army, and the charge of theroyal family, on the return. In the mean time, Antipater had passedinto Asia, victorious over the forces that Perdiccas had sent againsthim. A new congress of generals was held, and a new distribution ofpower was made. By the new arrangement, Antipater was to retain hiscommand in Macedon and Greece, and to have the custody of the kings. Accordingly, when every thing had thus been settled, Antipater set outon his return to Macedon, with Philip and Eurydice, and also Roxanaand the infant Alexander, in his train. The venerable soldier--for hewas now about eighty years of age--was received in Macedon, on hisreturn, with universal honor and applause. There were severalconsiderations, in fact, which conspired to exalt Antipater in theestimation of his countrymen on this occasion. He had performed agreat military exploit in conducting the expedition into Asia, fromwhich he was now triumphantly returning. He was bringing back toMacedon, too, the royal family of Alexander, the representatives ofthe ancient Macedonian line; and by being made the custodian of theseprinces, and regent of the empire in their name, he had been raised tothe most exalted position which the whole world at that period couldafford. The Macedonians received him, accordingly, on his return, withloud and universal acclamations. 

CHAPTER II. 

CASSANDER. 

B. C. 320-316

Antipater's difficulties--Trouble with Olympias and Eurydice. --Characterof Eurydice. --Her dictatorial and overbearing demeanor. --The conventionof Triparadeisus. --Violence of Eurydice. --Antipater's life indanger. --Eurydice forced to submit. --Antipater is dangerously sick. --Thearrangements made by him. --Antipater's arrangements for thesuccession. --Polysperchon. --Polysperchon invites Olympias to returnto Macedon. --Cassander plans a rebellion. --His pretended huntingparty. --Cassander explains his designs to his friends. --They agreeto join him. --Olympias is afraid to return to Macedon. --War betweenCassander and Polysperchon. --Curious incident. --Polysperchon'smine. --Success of it. --The conflict. --Consternation produced by theelephants. --Plan of defense against them. --The iron spikes. --Olympiasfinally concludes to go to Macedon. --Eurydice's troops deserther. --Olympias in her chariot. --Eurydice is captured. --She is sent toa dungeon. --Death of Philip. --Eurydice's despair. --he cell. --Eurydice'sdreadful end. --Cassander's movements. --Olympias acts in the mostenergetic manner. --The siege of Pydna. --Movement of Cassander. --Thecarrying away of Pyrrhus. --Olympias resorts to a stratagem. --Olympiasin prison. --Her end. 

Although Antipater, on his return to Macedon, came back loaded withhonors, and in the full and triumphant possession of power, hissituation was still not without its difficulties. He had for enemies, in Macedon, two of the most violent and unmanageable women that everlived--Olympias and Eurydice--who quarreled with him incessantly, andwho hated each other even more than they hated him. 

Olympias was at this time in Epirus. She remained there, because shedid not choose to put herself under Antipater's power by residing inMacedon. She succeeded, however, by her maneuvers and intrigues, ingiving Antipater a great deal of trouble. Her ancient animosityagainst him had been very much increased and aggravated by the failureof her plan for marrying her daughter Cleopatra to Perdiccas, throughthe advances which Antipater made in behalf of his daughter Nicĉa; andthough Nicĉa and Perdiccas were now dead, yet the transaction was anoffense which such a woman as Olympias never could forgive. 

Eurydice was a still greater source of annoyance and embarrassment toAntipater than Olympias herself. She was a woman of very masculineturn of mind, and she had been brought up by her mother, Cynane, tomartial exercises, such as those to which young men in those days werecustomarily trained. She could shoot arrows, and throw the javelin, and ride on horseback at the head of a troop of armed men. As soon asshe was married to Philip she began at once to assume an air ofauthority, thinking, apparently, that she herself, being the wife ofthe king, was entitled to a much greater share of the regal authoritythan the generals, who, as she considered them, were merely his tutorsand guardians, or, at most, only military agents, appointed to executehis will. During the memorable expedition into Egypt, Perdiccas hadfound it very difficult to exercise any control over her; and afterthe death of Perdiccas, she assumed a more lofty and imperious tonethan ever. She quarreled incessantly with Pithon, the commander of thearmy, on the return from Egypt; and she made the most resolute anddetermined opposition to the appointment of Antipater as the custodianof the persons of the kings. 

The place where the consultation was held, at which this appointmentwas made, was Triparadeisus, [F] in Syria. This was the place where theexpedition of Antipater, coming from Asia Minor, met the army of Egypton its return. As soon as the junction of the two armies was effected, and the grand council was convened, Eurydice made the most violentopposition to the proceedings. Antipater reproved her for evincingsuch turbulence and insubordination of spirit. This made her moreangry than ever; and when at length Antipater was appointed to theregency, she went out and made a formal harangue to the army, in whichshe denounced Antipater in the severest terms, and loaded him withcriminations and reproaches, and endeavored to incite the soldiers toa revolt. Antipater endeavored to defend himself against theseaccusations by a calm reply; but the influence which Eurydice'stempestuous eloquence exerted on the minds of the soldiery was toomuch for him. A very serious riot ensued, which threatened to lead tothe most disastrous results. For a time Antipater's life was in mostimminent danger, and he was saved only by the interposition of some ofthe other generals, who hazarded their own lives to rescue him fromthe enraged soldiery. 

[Footnote F: See map. ]

The excitement of this scene gradually subsided, and, as the generalspersisted in the arrangement which they had made, Eurydice foundherself forced to submit to it. She had, in fact, no real power in herhands except that of making temporary mischief and disturbance; and, as is usually the case with characters like hers, when she found thatthose around her could not be driven from their ground by herfractiousness and obstinacy, she submitted herself to the necessity ofthe case, though in a moody and sullen manner. Such were the relationswhich Antipater and Eurydice bore to each other on the return ofAntipater to Macedon. 

The troubles, however, in his government, which Antipater might havereasonably expected to arise from his connection with Olympias andEurydice, were destined to a very short continuance, so far as hepersonally was concerned; for, not long after his return to Macedon, he fell sick of a dangerous disease, under which it was soon evidentthat the vital principle, at the advanced age to which he hadattained, must soon succumb. In fact, Antipater himself soon gave upall hopes of recovery, and began at once to make arrangements for thefinal 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 generalnamed Polysperchon, who, though nominally second in command, reallyhad charge of the army on the march, Craterus himself being at thetime an invalid. When, some time afterward, Antipater and Craterus setout on their expedition to Asia, in the war against Perdiccas, Polysperchon was left in charge of the kingdom of Macedon, to governit as regent until Antipater should return. Antipater had a son namedCassander, who was a general in his army. Cassander naturally expectedthat, during the absence of his father, the kingdom would be committedto his charge. For some reason or other, however, Antipater hadpreferred Polysperchon, and had intrusted the government to him. Polysperchon had, of course, become acquainted with the duties ofgovernment, and had acquired an extensive knowledge of Macedonianaffairs. He had governed well, too, and the people were accustomed tohis sway. Antipater concluded, therefore, that it would be better tocontinue Polysperchon in power after his death, rather than todisplace Polysperchon for the sake of advancing his son Cassander. Hetherefore made provision for giving to Cassander a very high commandin the army, but he gave Polysperchon the kingdom. This act, thoughCassander himself never forgave it, raised Antipater to a higher placethan ever in the estimation of mankind. They said that he did what nomonarch ever did before; in determining the great question of thesuccession, he made the aggrandizement of his own family give place tothe welfare of the realm. 

Antipater on his death-bed, among other councils which he gave toPolysperchon, warned him very earnestly against the danger of yieldingto any woman whatever a share in the control of public affairs. Woman, he said, was, from her very nature, the creature of impulse, and wasswayed in all her conduct by the emotions and passions of her heart. She possessed none of the calm, considerate, and self-controllingprinciples of wisdom and prudence, so essential for the properadministration of the affairs of states and nations. These cautions, as Antipater uttered them, were expressed in general terms, but theywere understood to refer to Olympias and Eurydice, whom it had alwaysbeen very difficult to control, and who, of course, when Antipatershould be removed from the scene, might be expected to come forwardwith a spirit more obtrusive and unmanageable than ever. 

These counsels, however, of the dying king seemed to have had verylittle effect upon Polysperchon; for one of the first measures of hisgovernment, after Antipater was dead, was to send to Epirus to inviteOlympias to return to Macedon. This measure was decided upon in agrand council which Polysperchon convened to deliberate on the stateof public affairs as soon as the government came into his hands. Polysperchon thought that he should greatly strengthen hisadministration by enlisting Olympias on his side. She was held ingreat veneration by all the people of Macedon; not on account of anypersonal qualities which she possessed to entitle her to such regard, but because she was the mother of Alexander. Polysperchon, therefore, considered it very important to secure her influence, and the prestigeof her name in his favor. At the same time, while he thus sought topropitiate Olympias, he neglected Cassander and all the other membersof Antipater's family. He considered them, doubtless, as rivals andantagonists, whom he was to keep down by every means in his power. 

Cassander, who was a man of a very bold, determined, and ambitiousspirit, remained quietly in Polysperchon's court for a little time, watching attentively all that was done, and revolving silently in hismind the question what course he himself should pursue. At length heformed a small party of his friends to go away on a hunting excursion. When he reached a safe distance from the court of Polysperchon, hecalled his friends around him, and informed them that he had resolvednot to submit to the usurpation of Polysperchon, who, in assuming thethrone of Macedon, had seized what rightfully belonged, he said, tohim, Cassander, as his father's son and heir. He invited his friendsto join him in the enterprise of deposing Polysperchon, and assumingthe crown. 

He urged this undertaking upon them with very specious arguments. Itwas the only course of safety for them, as well as for him, sincethey--that is, the friends to whom Cassander was making theseproposals--had all been friends of Antipater; and Olympias, whomPolysperchon was about to take into his counsels, hated the very nameof Antipater, and would evince, undoubtedly, the most unrelentinghostility to all whom she should consider as having been his friends. He was confident, he said, that the Asiatic princes and generals wouldespouse his cause. They had been warmly attached to Antipater, andwould not willingly see his son and rightful successor deprived of hislegitimate rights. Besides, Philip and Eurydice would join him. Theyhad every thing to fear from Olympias, and would, of course, opposethe power of Polysperchon, now that he had determined to ally himselfto her. 

The friends of Cassander very readily agreed to his proposal, and theresult proved the truth of his predictions. The Asiatic princesfurnished Cassander with very efficient aid in his attempt to deposehis rival. Olympias adhered to Polysperchon, while Eurydice favoredCassander's cause. A terrible conflict ensued. It was waged for sometime in Greece, and in other countries more or less remote fromMacedon, the advantage in the combats being sometimes on one side andsometimes on the other. It is not necessary to detail here the eventswhich occurred in the contest so long as the theatre of war was beyondthe frontiers of Macedon, for the parties with whom we are nowparticularly dealing were not directly affected by the conflict untilit came nearer home. 

It ought here to be stated that Olympias did not at first accept theinvitation to return to Macedon which Polysperchon sent to her. Shehesitated. She consulted with her friends, and they were not decidedin respect to the course which it would be best for her to pursue. Shehad made a great many enemies in Macedon during her former residencethere, and she knew well that she would have a great deal to fear fromtheir hostility in case she should return, and thus put herself again, as it were, into their power. Then, besides, it was quite uncertainwhat course affairs in Macedon would finally take. Antipater hadbequeathed the kingdom to Polysperchon, it was true; but there mightbe great doubt whether the people would acquiesce in this decision, and allow the supreme power to remain quietly in Polysperchon's hands. She concluded, therefore, to remain a short time where she was, tillshe could see how the case would finally turn. She accordinglycontinued to reside in Epirus, keeping up, however, a continualcorrespondence with Polysperchon in respect to the measures of hisgovernment, and watching the progress of the war between him andCassander in Greece, when that war broke out, with the utmostsolicitude and anxiety. 

Cassander proved to be too strong for Polysperchon in Greece. He hadobtained large bodies of troops from his Asiatic allies, and hemaneuvered and managed these forces with so much bravery and skill, that Polysperchon could not dislodge him from the country. A somewhatcurious incident occurred on one occasion during the campaign, whichillustrates the modes of warfare practiced in those days. It seemsthat one of the cities of Peloponnesus, named Megalopolis, was on theside of Cassander, and when Polysperchon sent them a summons tosurrender to him and acknowledge his authority, they withdrew alltheir property and the whole of their population within the walls, andbid him defiance. Polysperchon then advanced and laid siege to thecity. 

After fully investing the city and commencing operations on varioussides, to occupy the attention of the garrison, he employed a corps ofsappers and miners in secretly undermining a portion of the wall. Themode of procedure, in operations like this, was to dig a subterraneanpassage leading to the foundations of the wall, and then, as fast asthese foundations were removed, to substitute props to support thesuperincumbent mass until all was ready for the springing of the mine. When the excavations were completed, the props were suddenly pulledaway, and the wall would cave in, to the great astonishment of thebesieged, who, if the operation had been skillfully performed, knewnothing of the danger until the final consummation of it openedsuddenly 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 aterrific crash, the materials 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 thespot, to prevent the ingress of the enemy; while, on the other hand, astrong detachment of troops rushed forward from the camp ofPolysperchon to force their way through the breach into the city. Avery desperate conflict ensued, and while the men of the city werethus engaged in keeping back the invaders, the women and children wereemployed in throwing up a line of intrenchments further within, tocover the opening which had been made in the wall. The people of thecity gained the victory in the combat. The storming party were drivenback, and the besieged were beginning to congratulate themselves ontheir escape from the danger which had threatened them, when they weresuddenly terrified beyond measure by the tidings that the besiegerswere arranging a train of elephants to bring in through the breach. Elephants were often used for war in those days in Asiatic countries, but they had seldom appeared in Greece. Polysperchon, however, had anumber of them in the train of his army, and the soldiers ofMegalopolis were overwhelmed with consternation at the prospect ofbeing trampled under foot by these huge beasts, wholly ignorant asthey were of the means of contending against them. 

It happened, however, that there was in the city of Megalopolis atthis time a soldier named Damides, who had served in former yearsunder Alexander the Great, in Asia. He went to the officers who hadcommand within the city and offered his aid. "Fear nothing, " said he, "but go on with your preparations of defense, and leave the elephantsto me. I will answer for them, if you will do as I say. " The officersagreed to follow his instructions. He immediately caused a greatnumber of sharp iron spikes to be made. These spikes he set firmly inthe ends of short stakes of wood, and then planted the stakes in theground all about the intrenchments and in the breach, in such a mannerthat the spikes themselves, points upward, protruded from the ground. The spikes were then concealed from view by covering the ground withstraw and other similar rubbish. 

The consequence of this arrangement was, that when the elephantsadvanced to enter the breach, they trod upon these spikes, and thewhole column of them was soon disabled and thrown into confusion. Someof the elephants were wounded so severely that they fell where theystood, and were unable to rise. Others, maddened with the pain whichthey endured, turned back and trampled their own keepers under foot intheir attempts to escape from the scene. The breach, in short, soonbecame so choked up with the bodies of beasts and men, that theassailants were compelled to give up the contest and withdraw. Ashort time afterward, Polysperchon raised the siege and abandoned thecity altogether. 

In fact, the party of Cassander was in the end triumphant in Greece, and Polysperchon determined to return to Macedon. 

In the mean time, Olympias had determined to come to Macedon, and aidPolysperchon in his contest with Cassander. She accordingly leftEpirus, and with a small body of troops, with which her brotherAlexander, who was then King of Epirus, furnished her, went on andjoined Polysperchon on his return. Eurydice was alarmed at this; for, since she considered Olympias as her great political rival and enemy, she knew very well that there could be no safety for her or herhusband if Olympias should obtain the ascendency in the court ofPolysperchon. She accordingly began to call upon those around her, inthe city where she was then residing, to arm themselves for herdefense. They did so, and a considerable force was thus collected. Eurydice placed herself at the head of it. She sent messengers off toCassander, urging him to come immediately and join her. She also sentan embassage to Polysperchon, commanding him, in the name of Philipthe king, to deliver up his army to Cassander. Of course this was onlya form, as she could not have expected that such a command would havebeen obeyed; and, accordingly, after having sent off these orders, sheplaced herself at the head of the troops that she had raised, andmarched out to meet Polysperchon on his return, intending, if he wouldnot submit, to give him battle. 

Her designs, however, were all frustrated in the end in a veryunexpected manner. For when the two armies approached each other, thesoldiers who were on Eurydice's side, instead of fighting in her causeas she expected, failed her entirely at the time of trial. For whenthey saw Olympias, whom they had long been accustomed almost to adoreas the wife of old King Philip, and the mother of Alexander, and whowas now advancing to meet them on her return to Macedon, splendidlyattended, and riding in her chariot, at the head of Polysperchon'sarmy, with the air and majesty of a queen, they were so overpoweredwith the excitement of the spectacle, that they abandoned Eurydice ina body, and went over, by common consent, to Polysperchon's side. 

Of course Eurydice herself and her husband Philip, who was with herat this time, fell into Polysperchon's hands as prisoners. Olympiaswas almost beside herself with exultation and joy at having her hatedrival thus put into her power. She imprisoned Eurydice and her husbandin a dungeon, so small that there was scarcely room for them to turnthemselves in it; and while they were thus confined, the onlyattention which the wretched prisoners received was to be fed, fromtime to time, with coarse provisions, thrust in to them through a holein the wall. Having thus made Eurydice secure, Olympias proceeded towreak her vengeance on all the members of the family of Antipater whomshe could get within her power. Cassander, it is true, was beyond herreach for the present; he was gradually advancing through Thessalyinto Macedonia, at the head of a powerful and victorious army. Therewas another son of Antipater, however, named Nicanor, who was then inMacedon. Him she seized and put to death, together with about ahundred of his relatives and friends. In fact, so violent and insanewas her rage against the house of Antipater, that she opened a tombwhere the body of another of his sons had been interred, and causedthe remains to be brought out and thrown into the street. The peoplearound her began to remonstrate against such atrocities; but theseremonstrances, instead of moderating her rage, only excited it stillmore. She sent to the dungeon where her prisoners, Philip andEurydice, were confined, and caused Philip to be stabbed to death withdaggers; and then, when this horrid scene was scarcely over, anexecutioner came in to Eurydice with a dagger, a rope, and a cup ofpoison, saying that Olympias sent them to her, that she might chooseherself by what she would die. Eurydice, on receiving this message, replied, saying, "I pray Heaven that Olympias herself may one day havethe like alternative presented to her. " She then proceeded to tear thelinen dress which she wore into bandages, and to bind up with thesebandages the wounds in the dead body of her husband. This dreadfulthough useless duty being performed, she then, rejecting all three ofthe means of self-destruction which Olympias had offered her, strangled herself by tying tight about her neck a band which sheobtained from her own attire. 

[Illustration: EURYDICE IN PRISON. ]

Of course, the tidings of these proceedings were not long in reachingCassander. He was at this time in Greece, advancing, however, slowlyto the northward, toward Macedon. In coming from Greece into Thessaly, his route lay through the celebrated Pass of Thermopylĉ. He found thispass guarded by a large body of troops, which had been posted there tooppose 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, andlanded in Thessaly. Thence he marched into Macedon. 

While Cassander had thus been slowly approaching, Polysperchon andOlympias had been very vigorously employed in making preparations toreceive him. Olympias, with Roxana and the young Alexander, who wasnow about five years old, in her train, traveled to and fro among thecities of Macedonia, summoning the people to arms, enlisting all whowould enter her service, and collecting money and military stores. Shealso sent to Epirus, to Ĉacides 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 Olympias, made every effort tostrengthen himself against his coming enemy. Things were in this statewhen Cassander entered Macedon. 

Cassander immediately divided his troops into two distinct bodies, andsending one, under the command of an able general, to attackPolysperchon, he himself went in pursuit of Olympias. Olympiasretreated before him, until at length she reached the city of Pydna, acity situated in the southeastern part of Macedon, on the shore of theĈgean Sea. [G] She knew that the force under her command was notsufficient to enable her to offer her enemy battle, and sheaccordingly went into the city, and fortified herself there. Cassander advanced immediately to the place, and, finding the citytoo strongly fortified to be carried by assault, he surrounded it withhis army, and invested it closely both by land and sea. 

[Footnote G: See map. ]

The city was not well provided for a siege, and the people within verysoon began to suffer for want of provisions. Olympias, however, urgedthem to hold out, representing to them that she had sent to Epirus forassistance, and that Ĉacides, the king, was already on his way, with alarge force, to succor her. This was very true; but, unfortunately forOlympias, Cassander was aware of this fact as well as she, and, instead of waiting for the troops of Ĉacides to come and attack him, he had sent a large armed force to the confines between Epirus andMacedon, to intercept these expected allies in the passes of themountains. This movement was successful. The army of Ĉacides found, when they reached the frontier, that the passages leading intoMacedonia were all blocked up by the troops of the enemy. They madesome ineffectual attempts to break through; and then the leadingofficers of the army, who had never been really willing to embark inthe war, revolted against Ĉacides, and returned home. And as, in thecase of deeds of violence and revolution, it is always safest to gothrough and finish the work when it is once begun, they deposedĈacides entirely, and raised the other branch of the royal family tothe throne in his stead. It was on this occasion that the infantPyrrhus was seized and carried away by his friends, to save his life, as mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this history. Theparticulars of this revolution, and of the flight of Pyrrhus, will begiven more fully in the next chapter. It is sufficient here to say, that the attempt of Ĉacides to come to the rescue of Olympias in herperil wholly failed, and there was nothing now left but the wall ofthe city to defend her from her terrible foe. 

In the mean time, the distress in the city for want of food had becomehorrible. Olympias herself, with Roxana and the boy, and the otherladies of the court, lived on the flesh of horses. The soldiersdevoured the bodies of their comrades as they were slain upon thewall. They fed the elephants, it was said, on saw-dust. The soldiersand the people of the city, who found this state of thingsintolerable, deserted continually to Cassander, letting themselvesdown by stealth in the night from the wall. Still Olympias would notsurrender; there was one more hope remaining for her. She contrivedto dispatch a messenger to Polysperchon with a letter, asking him tosend a galley round into the harbor at a certain time in the night, inorder that she might get on board of it, and thus escape. Cassanderintercepted this messenger. After reading the letter, he returned itto the messenger again, and directed him to go on and deliver it. Themessenger did so, and Polysperchon sent the galley. Cassander, ofcourse, watched for it, and seized it himself when it came. The lasthope of the unhappy Olympias was thus extinguished, and she opened thegates and gave herself up to Cassander. The whole country immediatelyafterward fell into Cassander's hands. 

The friends of the family of Antipater were now clamorous in theirdemands that Olympias should be brought to punishment for having soatrociously murdered the sons and relatives of Antipater while she wasin power. Olympias professed herself willing to be tried, and appealedto the Macedonian senate to be her judges. She relied on theascendency which she had so long exercised over the minds of theMacedonians, and did not believe that they would condemn her. Cassander himself feared that they would not; and although he wasunwilling to murder her while she was a defenseless prisoner in hishands, he determined that she should die. He recommended to hersecretly not to take the hazard of a trial, but to make her escape andgo to Athens, and offered to give her an opportunity to do so. Heintended, it was said, if she made the attempt, to intercept and slayher on the way as a fugitive from justice. She refused to accede tothis proposal, suspecting, perhaps, Cassander's treachery in makingit. Cassander then sent a band of two hundred soldiers to put her todeath. 

These soldiers, when they came into the prison, were so impressed bythe presence of the queen, to whom, in former years, they had beenaccustomed to look up with so much awe, that they shrank back fromtheir duty, and for a time it seemed that no one would strike theblow. At length, however, some among the number, who were relatives ofthose that Olympias had murdered, succeeding in nerving their armswith the resolution of revenge, fell upon her and killed her withtheir swords. 

As for Roxana and the boy, Cassander kept them close prisoners formany years; and finally, feeling more and more that his possession ofthe throne of Alexander was constantly endangered by the existence ofa son of Alexander, caused them to be assassinated too. 

CHAPTER III. 

EARLY LIFE OF PYRRHUS. 

B. C. 332-295

The family of Epirus. --Their difficulties. --The two Alexanders. --Theirdifferent destinies. --Adventures of Alexander of Macedon. --The Gulf ofTarentum. --Oracle of Dodona. --The equivocal prediction. --Pandosia. --Theunexpected inundation. --Effects of it. --Bridge carried away. --The Riverof Sorrow. --Alexander killed. --His body falls into the river. --A womanrescues the remains. --Olympias. --Ĉacides marches to relieve Pydna. --Theflight of the family with Pyrrhus. --The party meet with a narrowescape. --Ingenious mode of sending a letter. --The raft. --Pyrrhus iscarried to Illyria. --Little Pyrrhus at the court of Glaucias. --Pyrrhusbecomes a large boy. --Cassander's plans. --Glaucias establishes Pyrrhuson his throne. --Rebellion. --Pyrrhus once more an exile. --Pyrrhus entersinto the service of Demetrius. --Pyrrhus acquires great renown. --Hebecomes a hostage. --The situation of a hostage. --Pyrrhus in the courtof Ptolemy. 

In the two preceding chapters we have related that portion of thehistory of Macedonia which it is necessary to understand in orderrightly to appreciate the nature of the difficulties in which theroyal family of Epirus was involved at the time when Pyrrhus firstappeared upon the stage. The sources of these difficulties were two:first, the uncertainty of the line of succession, there being twobranches of the royal family, each claiming the throne, which state ofthings was produced, in a great measure, by the interposition ofOlympias in the affairs of Epirus some years before; and, secondly, the act of Olympias in inducing Ĉacides to come to Macedonia, toembark in her quarrel against Cassander there. Of course, since therewere two lines of princes, both claiming the throne, no sovereign ofeither line could hold any thing more than a divided empire over thehearts of his subjects; and consequently, when Ĉacides left thekingdom to fight the battles of Olympias in Macedon, it wascomparatively easy for the party opposed to him to effect a revolutionand raise their own prince to the throne. 

The prince whom Olympias had originally made king of Epirus, to theexclusion of the claimant belonging to the other branch of the family, was her own brother. His name was Alexander. He was the son ofNeoptolemus. The rival branch of the family were the children ofArymbas, the brother of Neoptolemus. This Alexander flourished at thesame time as Alexander the Great, and in his character very muchresembled his distinguished namesake. He commenced a career ofconquest in Italy at the same time that his nephew embarked in his inAsia, and commenced it, too, under very similar circumstances. Onewent to the East, and another to the West, each determined to makehimself master of the world. The Alexander of Macedon succeeded. TheAlexander of Epirus failed. The one acquired, consequently, universaland perpetual renown, while the memory of the other has been almostentirely neglected and forgotten. 

One reason, unquestionably, for the difference in these results wasthe difference in the character of the enemies respectively againstwhom the two adventurers had to contend. Alexander of Epirus wentwestward into Italy, where he had to encounter the soldiery of theRomans--a soldiery of the most rugged, determined, and indomitablecharacter. Alexander of Macedon, on the other hand, went to the East, where he found only Asiatic races to contend with, whose troops, though countless in numbers and magnificently appointed in respect toall the purposes of parade and display, were yet enervated withluxury, and wholly unable to stand against any energetic anddetermined foe. In fact, Alexander of Epirus used to say that thereason why his nephew, Alexander of Macedon, had succeeded, while hehimself had failed, was because he himself had invaded countriespeopled by _men_, while the Macedonian, in his Asiatic campaign, hadencountered only women. 

However this may be, the campaign of Alexander of Epirus in Italy hada very disastrous termination. The occasion of his going there was arequest which he had received from the inhabitants of Tarentum that hewould come over and assist them in a war in which they were engagedwith some neighboring tribes. Tarentum was a city situated toward thewestern shore of Italy. It was at the head of the deep bay called theGulf of Tarentum, which bay occupies the hollow of the foot that theform of Italy presents to the eye as seen upon a map. [H] Tarentum was, accordingly, across the Adriatic Sea from Epirus. The distance wasabout two hundred miles. By taking a southerly route, and going up theGulf of Tarentum, this distance might be traversed wholly by sea. Alittle to the north the Adriatic is narrow, the passage there beingonly about fifty miles across. To an expedition, however, taking thiscourse, there would remain, after arriving on the Italian shore, fiftymiles or more to be accomplished by land in order to reach Tarentum. 

[Footnote H: See map. ]

Before deciding to comply with the request of the Tarentines that hewould come to their aid, Alexander sent to a celebrated oracle inEpirus, called the oracle of Dodona, to inquire whether it would besafe for him to undertake the expedition. To his inquiries the oraclegave 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 astream of Epirus, and Pandosia was a town upon the banks of it. Heunderstood the response to mean that he was fated to die quietly inhis own country at some future period, probably a remote one, and thatthere was no danger in his undertaking the expedition to which he hadbeen called. He accordingly set sail from Epirus, and landed in Italy;and there, believing that he was fated to die in Epirus, and not inItaly, he fought in every battle with the most desperate and recklessbravery, and achieved prodigies of valor. The possibility that theremight be an Acheron and a Pandosia in Italy, as well as in Epirus, didnot occur to his mind. 

For a time he was very successful in his career. He fought battles, gained victories, conquered cities, and established his dominion overquite an extended region. In order to hold what he had gained, he sentover a great number of hostages to Epirus, to be kept there assecurity for the continued submission of those whom he had subdued. These hostages consisted chiefly, as was usual in such cases, ofchildren. At length, in the course of the war, an occasion arose inwhich it was necessary, for the protection of his troops, to encampthem on three hills which were situated very near to each other. These hills were separated by low interval lands and a small stream;but at the time when Alexander established his encampment, the streamconstituted no impediment to free intercommunication between thedifferent divisions of his army. There came on, however, a powerfulrain; the stream overflowed its banks; the intervals were inundated. This enabled the enemy to attack two of Alexander's encampments, whileit was utterly impossible for Alexander himself to render them anyaid. The enemy made the attack, and were successful in it. The twocamps were broken up, and the troops stationed in them were put toflight. Those that remained with Alexander, becoming discouraged bythe hopeless condition in which they found themselves placed, mutinied, and sent to the camp of the enemy, offering to deliver upAlexander to them, dead or alive, as they should choose, on conditionthat they themselves might be allowed to return to their native landin peace. This proposal was accepted; but, before it was put inexecution, Alexander, having discovered the plot, placed himself atthe head of a determined and desperate band of followers, brokethrough the ranks of the enemies that surrounded him, and made hisescape to a neighboring wood. From this wood he took a route whichled him to a river, intending to pass the river by a bridge which heexpected to find there, and then to destroy the bridge as soon as hehad crossed it, so as to prevent his enemies from following him. Bythis 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 beencarried away by the inundation. He, however, pressed forward into thewater on horseback, intending to ford the stream. The torrent waswild, and the danger was imminent, but Alexander pressed on. At lengthone of the attendants, seeing his master in imminent danger of beingdrowned, exclaimed aloud, "This cursed river! well is it namedAcheron. " The word Acheron, in the original language, signifies Riverof Sorrow. 

By this exclamation Alexander learned, for the first time, that theriver he was crossing bore the same name with the one in Epirus, whichhe supposed had been referred to in the warning of the oracle. He wasat once overwhelmed with consternation. He did not know whether to goforward or to return. The moment of indecision was suddenly ended by aloud outcry from his attendants, giving the alarm that the traitorswere close upon him. Alexander then pushed forward across the water. He succeeded in gaining the bank; but as soon as he did so, a dartfrom one of his enemies reached him and killed him on the spot. Hislifeless body fell back into the river, and was floated down thestream, until at length it reached the camp of the enemy, whichhappened to be on the bank of the stream below. Here it was drawn outof the water, and subjected to every possible indignity. The soldierscut the body in two, and, sending one part to one of the cities as atrophy of their victory, they set up the other part in the camp as atarget for the soldiers to shoot at with darts and javelins. 

At length a woman came into the camp, and, with earnest entreaties andmany tears, begged the soldiers to give the mutilated corpse to her. Her object in wishing to obtain possession of it was, that she mightsend it home to Epirus, to the family of Alexander, and buy with itthe liberty of her husband and her children, who were among thehostages which had been sent there. The soldiers acceded to thisrequest, and the parts of the body having been brought together again, were taken to Epirus, and delivered to Olympias, by whom the remainswere honorably interred. We must presume that the woman who sent themobtained the expected reward, in the return of her husband andchildren, though of this we are not expressly informed. 

Of course, the disastrous result of this most unfortunate expeditionhad the effect, in Epirus, of diminishing very much the popularity andthe strength of that branch of the royal family--namely, the line ofNeoptolemus--to which Alexander had belonged. Accordingly, instead ofbeing succeeded by one of his brothers, Ĉacides, the father ofPyrrhus, who was the representative of the other line, was permittedquietly to assume the crown. It might have been expected that Olympiaswould have opposed his accession, as she was herself a princess of therival line. She did not, however, do so. On the contrary, she gave himher support, and allied herself to him very closely; and he, on hispart, became in subsequent years one of her most devoted adherents andfriends. 

When Olympias was shut up in Pydna by the army of Cassander, as wasrelated in the last chapter, and sent for Ĉacides to come to her aid, he immediately raised an army and marched to the frontier. He foundthe passes in the mountains which led from Epirus to Macedonia allstrongly guarded, but he still determined to force his way through. Hesoon, however, began to observe marks of discontent anddissatisfaction among the officers of his army. These indicationsincreased, until at length the disaffection broke out into openmutiny, as stated in the last chapter. Ĉacides then called his forcestogether, and gave orders that all who were unwilling to follow himinto Macedon should be allowed freely to return. He did not wish, hesaid, that any should accompany him on such an expedition exceptingthose who went of their own free will. A considerable part of the armythen returned, but, instead of repairing peaceably to their homes, they raised a general insurrection in Epirus, and brought the familyof Neoptolemus again to the throne. A solemn decree of the state waspassed, declaring that Ĉacides, in withdrawing from the kingdom, hadforfeited his crown, and banishing him forever from the country. Andas this revolution was intended to operate, not merely against Ĉacidespersonally, but against the branch of the royal family to which hebelonged, the new government deemed it necessary, in order to finishtheir work and make it sure, that many of his relatives and friends, and especially his infant son and heir, should die. Several of themembers of Ĉacides' family were accordingly killed, though theattendants in charge succeeded in saving the life of the child by asudden flight. 

The escape was effected by the instrumentality of two of the officersof Ĉacides' household, named Androclides and Angelus. These men, assoon as the alarm was given, hurried the babe away, with only suchnurses and other attendants as it was necessary to take with them. Thechild was still unweaned; and though those in charge made the numberof attendants as small as possible, still the party were necessarilyof such a character as to forbid any great rapidity of flight. A troopwas sent in pursuit of them, and soon began to draw near. WhenAndroclides found that his party would be overtaken by the troop, hecommitted the child to the care of three young men, bidding them toride on with him, at their utmost speed, to a certain town in Macedon, called Megarĉ, where they thought he would be safe; and then hehimself, and the rest of his company, turned back to meet thepursuers. They succeeded, partly by their representations andentreaties, and partly by such resistance and obstruction as it wasin their power to make, in stopping the soldiers where they were. Atlength, having, though with some difficulty, succeeded in getting awayfrom the soldiers, Androclides and Angelus rode on by secret ways tillthey overtook the three young men. They now began to think that thedanger was over. At length, a little after sunset, they approached thetown of Megarĉ. There was a river just before the town, which lookedtoo rough and dreadful to be crossed. The party, however, advanced tothe brink, and attempted to ford the stream, but they found itimpossible. It was growing dark; the water of the river, having beenswelled by rains, was very high and boisterous, and they found thatthey could not get over. At length they saw some of the people of thetown coming down to the bank on the opposite side. They were in hopesthat these people could render them some assistance in crossing thestream, and they began to call out to them for this purpose; but thestream ran so rapidly, and the roaring of the torrent was so great, that they could not make themselves heard. The distance was veryinconsiderable, for the stream was not wide; but, though the partywith Pyrrhus called aloud and earnestly, and made signs, holding upthe child in their arms to let the people see him, they could not makethemselves understood. 

At last, after spending some time in these fruitless efforts, one ofthe party who were with Pyrrhus thought of the plan of writing whatthey wished to say upon a piece of bark, and throwing it across thestream to those on the other side. They accordingly pulled off somebark from a young oak which was growing on a bank of the river, andsucceeded in making characters upon it by means of the tongue of abuckle, sufficient to say that they had with them Pyrrhus, the youngprince 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 toget them over the river. This piece of bark they then managed to throwacross the stream. Some say that they rolled it around a javelin, andthen gave the javelin to the strongest of their party to throw; otherssay that they attached it to a stone. In some way or other theycontrived to give it a sufficient momentum to carry it across thewater; and the people on the other side, when they obtained it, andread what was written upon it, were greatly excited by the tidings, and engaged at once with ardor and enthusiasm in efforts to save thechild. 

They brought axes and began to cut down trees to make a raft. In duetime the raft was completed; and, notwithstanding the darkness of thenight, and the force and swiftness of the current of the stream, theparty of fugitives succeeded in crossing upon it, and thus brought thechild and all the attendants accompanying him safely over. 

The party with Pyrrhus did not intend to stop at Megarĉ. They did notconsider it safe, in fact, for them to remain in any part of Macedon, not knowing what course the war between Polysperchon and Cassanderwould take there, or how the parties engaged in the contest mightstand affected toward Pyrrhus. They determined, therefore, to pressforward in their flight till they had passed through Macedon, andreached the country beyond. 

The country north of Macedon, on the western coast, the one in whichthey determined to seek refuge, was Illyria. The name of the King ofIllyria was Glaucias. They had reason to believe that Glaucias wouldreceive and protect the child, for he was connected by marriage withthe royal family of Epirus, his wife, Beroa, being a princess of theline of Ĉacides. When the fugitives arrived at the court of Glaucias, they went to the palace, where they found Glaucias and Beroa; and, after telling the story of their danger and escape, they laid thechild down as a suppliant at the feet of the king. 

Glaucias felt not a little embarrassed at the situation in which hewas placed, and did not know what to do. He remained for a long timesilent. At length, little Pyrrhus, who was all the while lying at hisfeet, began to creep closer toward him; and, finally, taking hold ofthe king's robe, he began to climb up by it, and attempted to get intohis lap, looking up into the king's face, at the same time, with acountenance in which the expression of confidence and hope was mingledwith a certain instinctive infantile fear. The heart of the king wasso touched by this mute appeal, that he took the child up in his arms, dismissed at once all prudential considerations from his mind, and, inthe end, delivered the boy to the queen, Beroa, directing her to bringhim up with her own children. 

Cassander soon discovered the place of Pyrrhus's retreat, and he madegreat efforts to induce Glaucias to give him up. He offered Glauciasa very large sum of money if he would deliver Pyrrhus into his hands;but Glaucias refused to do it. Cassander would, perhaps, have made warupon Glaucias to compel him to comply with this requisition, but hewas then fully occupied with the enemies that threatened him in Greeceand Macedon. He did, subsequently, make an attempt to invade thedominions of Glaucias, and to get possession of the person of Pyrrhus, but the expedition failed, and after that the boy was allowed toremain in Illyria without any further molestation. 

Time passed on, until at length Pyrrhus was twelve years old. Duringthis interval great changes took place in the affairs of Cassander inMacedon. At first he was very successful in his plans. He succeeded inexpelling Polysperchon from the country, and in establishing himselfas 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 theonly persons who he supposed could ever advance any rival claims tothe throne. For a time every thing went well and prosperously withhim, but at length the tide of his affairs seemed to turn. A new enemyappeared against him in Asia--a certain distinguished commander, named Demetrius, who afterward became one of the most illustriouspersonages of his age. Just at this time, too, the King of Epirus, Alcetus, the prince of the family of Neoptolemus, who had reignedduring Pyrrhus's exile in Illyria, died. Glaucias deemed this afavorable opportunity for restoring Pyrrhus to the throne. Heaccordingly placed himself at the head of an army, and marched intoEpirus, taking the young prince with him. No effectual resistance wasmade, and Pyrrhus was crowned king. He was, of course, too youngactually to reign, and a sort of regent was accordingly established inpower, with authority to govern the country in the young king's nameuntil he should come of age. 

This state of things could not be very stable. It endured about fiveyears; and during this time Pyrrhus seemed to be very firmlyestablished in power. The strength of his position, however, was moreapparent than real; for the princes of the other branch of the family, who had been displaced by Pyrrhus's return to power, were of coursediscontented and restless all the time. They were continually formingplots and conspiracies, and were only waiting for an opportunity toeffect another revolution. The opportunity at length came. One of thesons of Glaucias was to be married. Pyrrhus had been the companion andplaymate of this prince during his residence in Illyria, and was, ofcourse, invited to the wedding. Supposing that all was safe in hisdominions, he accepted the invitation, and went to Illyria. While hewas there, amusing himself in the festivities and rejoicings connectedwith the wedding, his rivals raised a rebellion, took possession ofthe government, and of all of Pyrrhus's treasures, killed or put toflight his partisans and friends, and raised a prince of the family ofNeoptolemus to the throne. Pyrrhus found himself once more an exile. 

The revolution in Epirus was so complete, that, after carefulconsideration and inquiry, Pyrrhus could see, with the resources hehad at his command, no hope of recovering his throne. But, being of anambitious and restless spirit, he determined not to remain idle; andhe concluded, therefore, to enter into the service of Demetrius in hiswar against Cassander. There were two considerations which led him todo this. In the first place, Cassander was his most formidable enemy, and the prospect of his being ultimately restored again to his thronewould depend almost entirely, he well knew, upon the possibility ofdestroying, or at least curtailing, Cassander's power. Then, besides, Demetrius was especially his friend. The wife of Demetrius wasDeidamia, the sister of Pyrrhus, so that Pyrrhus looked upon Demetriusas his natural ally. He accordingly offered to enter the service ofDemetrius, and was readily received. In fact, notwithstanding hisyouth--for he was now only seventeen or eighteen years ofage--Demetrius gave him a very important command in his army, and tookgreat pains to instruct him in the art of war. It was not long beforean opportunity was afforded to make trial of Pyrrhus's capacity as asoldier. A great battle was fought at Ipsus, in Asia Minor, betweenDemetrius on one side and Cassander on the other. Besides these twocommanders, there were many princes and generals of the highest rankwho took part in the contest as allies of the principal combatants, which had the effect of making the battle a very celebrated one, andof causing it to attract very strongly the attention of all mankind atthe time when it occurred. The result of the contest was, on thewhole, unfavorable to the cause of Demetrius. His troops, generally, were compelled to give way, though the division which Pyrrhuscommanded retained their ground. Pyrrhus, in fact, acquired greatrenown by his courage and energy, and perhaps still more by hissuccess on this occasion. Young as he was, Demetrius immediately gavehim a new and very responsible command, and intrusted to him thecharge of several very important expeditions and campaigns, in all ofwhich 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 subsequent renown. 

At length an alliance was formed between Demetrius and Ptolemy, kingof Egypt, and as security for the due execution of the obligationsassumed by Demetrius in the treaty which they made, Ptolemy demanded ahostage. Pyrrhus offered to go himself to Egypt in this capacity. Ptolemy accepted him, and Pyrrhus was accordingly taken in one ofPtolemy's ships across the Mediterranean to Alexandria. 

In Egypt the young prince was, of course, an object of universalattention and regard. He was tall and handsome in person, agreeable inmanners, and amiable and gentle in disposition. His royal rank, thefame of the exploits which he had performed, the misfortunes of hisearly years, and the strange and romantic adventures through which hehad passed, all conspired to awaken a deep interest in his favor atthe court of Ptolemy. The situation of a hostage, too, is always onewhich strongly attracts the sympathy and kind feelings of those whohold 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 andcommiseration, still the kind feeling is always modified by the factthat the object of it, after all, though disarmed and helpless, isstill a foe. A hostage, however, is a friend. He comes as security forthe faithfulness of a friend and an ally, so that the sympathy andinterest which are felt for him as an exile from his native land, areheightened by the circumstance that his position makes him naturallyan object of friendly regard. 

The attachment which soon began to be felt for Pyrrhus in the court ofPtolemy was increased by the excellent conduct and demeanor which heexhibited while he was there. He was very temperate and moderate inhis pleasures, and upright and honorable in all his doings. In aword, he made himself a general favorite; and after a year or two hemarried Antigone, a princess of the royal family. From being a hostagehe now became a guest, and shortly afterward Ptolemy fitted out anexpedition to proceed to Epirus and restore him to his throne. Onarriving in Epirus, Pyrrhus found every thing favorable to the successof his plans. The people of the country had become discontented withthe government of the reigning king, and were very willing to receivePyrrhus in his place. The revolution was easily effected, and Pyrrhuswas thus once more restored to his throne. 

CHAPTER IV. 

WARS IN MACEDON. 

B. C. 295-288

Pyrrhus is restored to his throne. --Acelebration. --Festivities. --Gelon's gift. --Gelon and Myrtilus forma plot. --The cup-bearer pretends to join the plot. --Conversationoverheard in a very singular manner. --Quarrel between Cassander'sheirs. --Pyrrhus takes his first independent command. --Anecdotes ofPyrrhus. --His popularity. --Pyrrhus detects a forgery. --Plan of theforgers. --The war is ended. --Pyrrhus returns home. --Interview withDemetrius on the frontier. --Plots and counterplots. --Demetriustriumphs. --Relations between Demetrius and Pyrrhus. --War breaks outbetween them. --Thebes. --Recklessness and cruelty of Demetrius. --Warbetween Pyrrhus and Demetrius. --Pantauchus. --The singlecombat. --Pyrrhus wounded. --Pantauchus narrowly escapesdeath. --Demetrius is hated by his subjects. --His famous garment. --Itis left unfinished. --Pyrrhus's wives. --His motive for marryingLanassa. --Lanassa is discontented, and deserts Pyrrhus. --Warprotracted for many years. 

The prince whom Pyrrhus displaced from the throne of Epirus on hisreturn from Egypt, as narrated in the last chapter, was, of course, ofthe family of Neoptolemus. His own name was Neoptolemus, and he wasthe second son of the Neoptolemus who gave his name to the line. 

Pyrrhus exercised an uncommon degree of moderation in his victory overhis rival; for, instead of taking his life, or even banishing him fromthe kingdom, he treated him with respectful consideration, andoffered, very generously, as it would seem, to admit him to a share ofthe regal power. Neoptolemus accepted this proposal, and the two kingsreigned conjointly for a considerable time. A difficulty, however, before long occurred, which led to an open quarrel, the result ofwhich was that Neoptolemus was slain. The circumstances, as related bythe historians of the time, were as follows:

It seems that it was the custom of the people of Epirus to celebratean annual festival at a certain city in the kingdom, for the purposechiefly of renewing the oaths of allegiance on the one part, and offealty on the other, between the people and the king. Of course, therewere a great many games and spectacles, as well as various religiousrites and ceremonies, connected with this celebration; and among otherusages which prevailed, it was the custom for the people to bringpresents to the king on the occasion. When the period for thiscelebration recurred, after Pyrrhus's restoration to the throne, bothPyrrhus and Neoptolemus, each attended by his own particular followersand friends, repaired to the city where the celebration was to beheld, and commenced the festivities. 

Among other donations which were made to Pyrrhus at this festival, hereceived a present of two yoke of oxen from a certain man named Gelon, who was a particular friend of Neoptolemus. It appears that it was thecustom for the kings to dispose of many of the presents which theyreceived on these occasions from the people of the country, by givingthem to their attendants and the officers of their households; and acertain cup-bearer, named Myrtilus, begged Pyrrhus to give these oxento him. Pyrrhus declined this request, but afterward gave the oxen toanother man. Myrtilus was offended at this, and uttered privately manymurmurings and complaints. Gelon, perceiving this, invited Myrtilus tosup with him. In the course of the supper, he attempted to excitestill more the ill-will which Myrtilus felt toward Pyrrhus; andfinding that he appeared to succeed in doing this, he finally proposedto Myrtilus to espouse the cause of Neoptolemus, and join in a plotfor poisoning Pyrrhus. His 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 ofNeoptolemus, that he might rely on the most ample and abundantrewards. Myrtilus appeared to receive these proposals with greatfavor; he readily promised to embark in the plot, and promised tofulfill the part assigned him in the execution of it. When the propertime arrived, after the conclusion of the supper, Myrtilus took leaveof Gelon, and, proceeding directly to Pyrrhus, he related to him allthat had occurred. 

Pyrrhus did not take any rash or hasty measures in the emergency, forhe knew very well that if Gelon were to be then charged with thecrime which he had proposed to commit, he would deny having everproposed it, and that then there would be only the word of Myrtilusagainst that of Gelon, and that impartial men would have no positivemeans of deciding between them. He thought, therefore, very wisely, that, before taking any decided steps, it would be necessary to obtainadditional proof that Gelon had really made the proposal. Heaccordingly directed Myrtilus to continue to pretend that he favoredthe plan, and to propose to Gelon to invite another cup-bearer, namedAlexicrates, to join the plot. Alexicrates was to be secretlyinstructed to appear ready to enter into the conspiracy when he shouldbe called upon, and thus, as Pyrrhus expected, the testimony of twowitnesses would be obtained to Gelon's guilt. 

It happened, however, that the necessary evidence against Gelon wasfurnished without a resort to this measure; for when Gelon reported toNeoptolemus that Myrtilus had acceded to his proposal to join him in aplan for removing Pyrrhus out of the way, Neoptolemus was so muchoverjoyed at the prospect of recovering the throne to his own familyagain, that he could not refrain from revealing the plan to certainmembers of the family, and, among others, to his sister Cadmia. At thetime when he thus discovered the design to Cadmia, he supposed thatnobody was within hearing. The conversation took place in an apartmentwhere he had been supping with Cadmia, and it happened that there wasa servant-woman lying upon a couch in the corner of the room at thetime, with her face to the wall, apparently asleep. She was, inreality, not asleep, and she overheard all the conversation. She laystill, however, and did not speak a word; but the next day she went toAntigone, the wife of Pyrrhus, and communicated to her all that shehad heard. Pyrrhus now considered the evidence that Neoptolemus wasplotting his destruction as complete, and he determined to takedecisive measures to prevent it. He accordingly invited Neoptolemus toa banquet. Neoptolemus, suspecting nothing, came, and Pyrrhus slew himat the table. Henceforward Pyrrhus reigned in Epirus alone. 

Pyrrhus was now about twenty-three years of age, and inasmuch as, withall his moderation in respect to the pursuit of youthful pleasures, hewas of a very ambitious and aspiring disposition, he began to formschemes and plans for the enlargement of his power. An opportunitywas soon afforded him to enter upon a military career. Cassander, whohad made himself King of Macedon in the manner already described, diedabout the time that Pyrrhus established himself on his throne inEpirus. He left two sons, Alexander and Antipater. These brothersimmediately quarreled, each claiming the inheritance of their father'scrown. Antipater proved to be the strongest in the struggle; andAlexander, finding that he could not stand his ground against hisbrother without aid, sent messengers at the same time to Pyrrhus, andalso to Demetrius, in Thessaly, calling upon both to come to hisassistance. They both determined to do so. Demetrius, however, wasengaged in some enterprises which detained him for a time, but Pyrrhusimmediately put himself at the head of his army, and prepared to crossthe frontier. 

The commencement of this march marks an important era in the life ofPyrrhus, for it was now for the first time that he had an army whollyunder his command. In all the former military operations in which hehad been engaged, he had been only a general, acting under the ordersof his superiors. Now he was an independent sovereign, leading forthhis own troops to battle, and responsible to no one for the manner inwhich he exercised his power. The character which he displayed in thisnew capacity was such as very soon to awaken the admiration of all histroops, and to win their affection in a very strong degree. His finepersonal appearance, his great strength and dexterity in all martialexercises, his kind consideration for his soldiers, the systematic andskillful manner in which all his arrangements were made, and a certainnobleness and generosity of character which he displayed on manyoccasions, all combined to make him an object of universal favor andregard. 

Various anecdotes were related of him in camp, which evinced thesuperiority of his mind, and that peculiar sense of confidence andstrength which so often accompanies greatness. At one time a personwas accused of being disaffected toward him, and of being in the habitof speaking evil of him on all occasions; and some of his counselorsproposed that the offender should be banished. "No, " said Pyrrhus;"let him stay here, and speak evil of me only to a few, instead ofbeing sent away to ramble about and give me a bad character to all theworld. " At another time, some persons, when half intoxicated, at aconvivial entertainment, had talked very freely in censure ofsomething which Pyrrhus had done. They were called to account for it;and when asked by Pyrrhus whether it was true that they had reallysaid such things, they replied that it was true. "And there is nodoubt, " they added, "that we should have said things a great dealworse if we had more wine. " Pyrrhus laughed at this reply, anddismissed the culprits without any punishment. These, and othersimilar indications of the magnanimity which marked the general'scharacter, made a great and very favorable impression upon the mindsof all under his command. 

Possessing thus, in a very high degree, the confidence and affectionof his troops, Pyrrhus was able to inspire them with his own ardor andimpetuosity when they came to engage in battle, and his troops werevictorious in almost every conflict. Wherever he went, he reduced thecountry into subjection to Alexander, and drove Antipater before him. He left garrisons of his own in the towns which he captured, so as tomake his conquests secure, and in a short time the prospect seemedcertain that Antipater would be expelled from the country, andAlexander placed upon the throne. 

In this crisis of their affairs, some of the allies of Antipaterconceived the design of circumventing their enemy by artifice, sinceit appeared that he was so superior to them in force. They knew howstrong was his feeling of reverence and regard for Ptolemy, the Kingof Egypt, his father-in-law, and they accordingly forged a letter tohim in Ptolemy's name, enjoining him to make peace with Antipater, andwithdraw from Macedon. Antipater, the letter said, was willing to payhim three hundred talents of silver in consideration of his doing so, and the letter strongly urged him to accede to this offer, andevacuate the kingdom. 

It was much less difficult to practice a successful deception of thiskind in ancient days than it is now, for then writing was usuallyperformed by scribes trained for the purpose, and there was thereforeseldom any thing in the handwriting of a communication to determinethe question of its authenticity. Pyrrhus, however, detected theimposition which was attempted in this case the moment that he openedthe epistle. It began with the words, "King Ptolemy to King Pyrrhus, greeting;" whereas the genuine letters of Ptolemy to his son-in-lawwere always commenced thus: "The father to his son, greeting. "

Pyrrhus upbraided the contrivers of this fraud in severe terms fortheir attempt to deceive him. Still, he entertained the propositionthat they made, and some negotiations were entered into, with a viewto an amicable settlement of the dispute. In the end, however, thenegotiations failed, and the war was continued until Alexander wasestablished on his throne. Pyrrhus then returned to his own kingdom. He received, in reward for his services in behalf of Alexander, agrant of that part of the Macedonian territory which lies upon thecoast of the Adriatic Sea, north of Epirus; and thus peace wasrestored, and all things seemed permanently settled. 

It will be recollected, perhaps, by the reader, that at the time thatAlexander sent for Pyrrhus to assist him, he had also sent forDemetrius, who had been in former years the ally and friend ofPyrrhus. In fact, Deidamia, the sister of Pyrrhus, was Demetrius'swife. Demetrius had been engaged with the affairs of his owngovernment at the time that he received this message, and was not thenready to grant the desired aid. But after a time, when he had settledhis own affairs, he placed himself at the head of an army and went toMacedon. It was now, however, too late, and Alexander was sorry tolearn that he was coming. He had already parted with a considerableportion of his kingdom to repay Pyrrhus for his aid, and he fearedthat Demetrius, if he were allowed to enter the kingdom, would not hesatisfied without a good part of the remainder. 

He accordingly advanced to meet Demetrius at the frontier. Here, at aninterview which he held with him, he thanked him for his kindness incoming to his aid, but said that his assistance would now not berequired. Demetrius said that it was very well, and so prepared toreturn. Alexander, however, as Demetrius afterward alleged, did notintend to allow him to withdraw, but formed a plan to murder him at asupper to which he designed to invite him. Demetrius avoided the fatewhich was intended for him by going away unexpectedly from the supperbefore Alexander had time to execute his plan. Afterward, Demetriusinvited Alexander to a supper. Alexander came unarmed and unprotected, in order to set his guest an example of unconcern, in hopes thatDemetrius would come equally defenseless to a second entertainmentwhich he had prepared for him the next day, and at which he intendedto adopt such measures that his guest should not be able by anypossibility to escape. Demetrius, however, did not wait for the secondattempt, but ordered his servants to kill Alexander, and all who werewith him, while they were at _his_ table. One of Alexander's men, whenthe attack was made upon them, said, as the soldiers of Demetrius werestabbing him, "You are too quick for us by just one day. "

The Macedonian troops, whom Alexander had brought with him to thefrontier, when they heard of the murder of their king, expected thatDemetrius would come upon them at once, with all his army, and cutthem to pieces. But, instead of this, Demetrius sent them word that hedid not intend them any harm, but wished, on the contrary, for anopportunity to explain and justify to them what he had done. Heaccordingly met them, and made a set harangue, in which he related thecircumstances which led him to take the life of Alexander, andjustified it as an act of self-defense. This discourse was receivedwith great applause, and the Macedonian soldiers immediately hailedDemetrius king. 

How far there was any truth in the charge which Demetrius broughtagainst Alexander of intending to kill him, it is, of course, impossible to say. There was no evidence of the fact, nor could therebe any evidence but such as Demetrius might easily fabricate. It isthe universal justification that is offered in every age by theperpetrators of political crimes, that they were compelled to performthemselves the deeds of violence and cruelty for which they arecondemned, in order to anticipate and preclude the performance ofsimilar deeds on the part of their enemies. 

Demetrius and Pyrrhus were now neighboring kings, and, from thefriendly relations which had subsisted between them for so many years, it might, perhaps, be supposed that the two kingdoms which theyrespectively ruled would enjoy, from this time, a permanent andsettled peace, and maintain the most amicable intercourse with eachother. But the reverse was the fact. Contentions and quarrels arose onthe frontiers. Each nation complained that the borderers of the othermade inroads over the frontier. Demetrius and Pyrrhus gradually gotdrawn into these disputes. Unfortunately for the peace of the twocountries, Deidamia died, and the strong band of union which she hadformed between the two reigning families was sundered. In a word, itwas not long before Pyrrhus and Demetrius came to open war. 

The war, however, which thus broke out between Demetrius and Pyrrhusdid not arise wholly from accidental collisions occurring on thefrontiers. Demetrius was a man of the most violent and insatiableambition, and wholly unscrupulous in respect to the means ofgratifying the passion. Before his difficulties with Pyrrhus began, hehad made expeditions southwardly into Greece, and had finallysucceeded 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 wasbesieging Thebes, one of the principal cities of Greece, and one whichwas obstinately determined not to submit to him. In fact, theinhabitants of the city had given him some special cause of offense, so that he was excessively angry with them, and though for a long timehe made very little progress in prosecuting the siege, he wasdetermined not to give up the attempt. At one period, he was himselfcalled away from the place for a time, to engage in some militaryduty demanding his attention in Thessaly, and during his absence heleft his son to conduct the siege. On his return to Thebes, he foundthat, through the energetic and obstinate resistance which was made bythe people of Thebes, great numbers of his men were continuallyfalling--so much so, that his son began to remonstrate with himagainst allowing so great and so useless a slaughter to go on. "Consider, " said he, "why you should expose so many of your valiantsoldiers to such sure destruction, when--"

Here Demetrius, in a passion, interrupted him, saying, "Give yourselfno concern about how many of the soldiers are killed. The more thereare killed, the fewer you will have to provide subsistence for!"

The brutal recklessness, however, which Demetrius thus evinced inrespect to the slaughter of his troops was not attended, as such afeeling often is, with any cowardly unwillingness to expose himself todanger. He mingled personally in the contests that took place aboutthe walls of the city, and hazarded his own life as freely as herequired his soldiers to hazard theirs. At length, on one occasion, ajavelin thrown from the wall struck him in the neck, and, passingdirectly through, felled him to the ground. He was taken up for dead, and borne to his tent. It was there found, on examination, that nogreat artery or other vital part had been wounded, and yet in a veryshort time a burning fever supervened, and for some time the life ofDemetrius was in imminent danger. He still, however, refused toabandon the siege. At length, he recovered from the effects of hiswound, and, in the end, the city surrendered. 

It was on the return of Demetrius to Macedon, after the close of hissuccessful campaign in Greece, that the war between him and Pyrrhusbroke out. As soon as it appeared that actual hostilities wereinevitable, both parties collected an army and prepared for theconflict. 

They marched to meet each other, Pyrrhus from Epirus, and Demetriusfrom Macedon. It happened, however, that they took different routes, and thus passed each other on the frontier. Demetrius entered Epirus, and found the whole country open and defenseless before him, for themilitary force of the country was all with Pyrrhus, and had passedinto Macedon by another way. Demetrius advanced accordingly, as far ashe chose, into Pyrrhus's territories, capturing and plundering everything that came in his way. 

Pyrrhus himself, on the other hand, met with quite a differentreception. Demetrius had not taken all his army with him, but had lefta large detachment under the command of a general named Pantauchus, todefend the country during his absence. Pyrrhus encountered Pantauchusas he entered Macedon, and gave him battle. A very hard-fought andobstinate conflict ensued. In the course of it, Pantauchus challengedPyrrhus to single combat. He was one of the most distinguished ofDemetrius's generals, being celebrated above all the officers of thearmy for his dexterity, strength, and courage; and, as he was a man ofvery high and ambitious spirit, he was greatly pleased with theopportunity of distinguishing himself that was now before him. Heconceived that a personal encounter with so great a commander asPyrrhus would add very much to his renown. 

Pyrrhus accepted the challenge. The preliminary arrangements weremade. The combatants came out into the field, and, as they advanced tothe encounter, they hurled their javelins at each other before theymet, 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, notwithstanding this, he succeeded in bringing his antagonist tothe ground, and would have killed him, had not the friends ofPantauchus rushed on and rescued him from the danger. A general battlebetween the two armies ensued, in which Pyrrhus was victorious. Thearmy of Pantauchus was totally routed, and five thousand men weretaken prisoners. 

The Macedonian troops whom Pyrrhus thus defeated, instead of beingmaddened with resentment and anger against their conqueror, as itmight have been expected they would be, were struck with a sentimentof admiration for him. They applauded his noble appearance and bearingon the field, and the feats of courage and strength which heperformed. There was a certain stern and lofty simplicity in his airand demeanor which reminded them, as they said, of Alexander theGreat, whom many of the old soldiers remembered. They compared Pyrrhusin these respects with Demetrius, their own sovereign, greatly to thedisadvantage of the latter; and so strong was the feeling which wasthus excited in Pyrrhus's favor, that it was thought at the time that, if Pyrrhus had advanced toward the capital with a view to the conquestof the country, the whole army would have gone over at once to hisside, and that he might have made himself king of Macedon without anyfurther difficulty or trouble. He did not do this, however, butwithdrew again to Epirus when Demetrius came back into Macedonia. TheMacedonians were by no means pleased to see Demetrius return. 

In fact, Demetrius was beginning to be generally hated by all hissubjects, being regarded by them all as a conceited and cruel tyrant. He was not only unscrupulously ambitious in respect to the dominionsof his neighbors, but he was unjust and overbearing in his treatmentof his own friends. Pyrrhus, on the other hand, was kind and courteousto his army, both to the officers and soldiers. He lived in habits ofgreat simplicity, and shared the hardships as well as the toils ofthose who were under his command. He gave them, too, their share ofthe glory which he acquired, by attributing his success to theircourage and fidelity. At one time, after some brilliant campaign inMacedon, some persons in his army compared his progress to the flightof 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 officers and men under hiscommand with a species of haughtiness and disdain. He seemed to regardthem as very far beneath him, and to take pleasure in making them feelhis vast superiority. He was vain and foppish in his dress, expendedgreat sums in the adornment of his person, decorating his robes andvestments, and even his shoes, with gold and precious stones. In fact, he caused the manufacture of a garment to be commenced which heintended should outvie in magnificence and in costly adornments allthat had ever before been fabricated. This garment was left unfinishedat the time of his death, and his successors did not attempt tocomplete it. They preserved it, however, for a very long time as acuriosity, and as a memorial of vanity and folly. 

Demetrius, too, was addicted to many vices, being accustomed to theunrestrained indulgence of his appetites and propensities in everyform. It was in part owing to these excesses that he became so hatefulin manners and character, the habitual indulgence of his animalappetites and propensities having had the effect of making him moroseand capricious in mind. 

The hostility between Pyrrhus and Demetrius was very much increasedand aggravated at one time by a difficulty in which a lady wasconcerned. Antigone, the first wife of Pyrrhus, died, and after herdeath Pyrrhus married two or three other wives, according to thecustom which prevailed in those days among the Asiatic kings. Amongthese wives was Lanassa, the daughter of Agathocles, the king ofSyracuse. The marriage of Pyrrhus with Antigone was apparentlyprompted by affection; but his subsequent alliances seem to have beensimple measures of governmental policy, designed only to aid him inextending his dominions or strengthening his power. His inducement formarrying Lanassa was to obtain the island of Corcyra, which the Kingof Syracuse, who held that island at that time under his dominion, waswilling to give to his daughter as her dowry. Now the island ofCorcyra, as will be seen from the map, was off the coast of Epirus, and very near, so that the possession of it would add veryconsiderably to the value of Pyrrhus's dominion. 

Lanassa was not happy as Pyrrhus's bride. In fact, to have beenmarried for the sake of an island brought as dowry, and to be only oneof several wives after all, would not seem to be circumstancesparticularly encouraging in respect to the promise of conjugal bliss. Lanassa complained that she was neglected; that the other wivesreceived attentions which were not accorded to her. At last, when shefound that she could endure the vexations and trials of her conditionno longer, she left her husband and went back to Corcyra, and thensent an invitation to Demetrius to come and take possession of theisland, and marry her. In a word, she divorced herself and resumedpossession of her dowry, and considered herself at liberty to disposeof 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 islandfrom any attempt which Pyrrhus might make to recover it, he went backto Macedon. Of course, after this transaction, Pyrrhus was moreincensed against Demetrius than ever. 

Very soon after this Pyrrhus had an opportunity to revenge himself forthe injury which Demetrius had done him. Demetrius was sick; he hadbrought on a fever by excessive drinking. Pyrrhus determined to takeadvantage of the occasion to make a new invasion of Macedonia. Heaccordingly crossed the frontier at the head of a numerous army. Demetrius, sick as he was, mounted on horseback, and put himself atthe head of his forces to go out to meet his enemy. Nothing importantresulted from this campaign; but, after some ineffectual attempts atconquest, Pyrrhus returned to his own country. 

In this way the war between Pyrrhus and Demetrius was protracted formany years, with varying success, one party being sometimestriumphant, and sometimes the other. At last, at a time when the tideof fortune seemed inclined to turn against Pyrrhus, some circumstancesoccurred which were the means of attracting his attention strongly inanother direction, and ended in introducing him to a new and verybrilliant career in an altogether different region. Thesecircumstances, and the train of events to which they led, will formthe subject of the following chapter. 

[Illustration: MAP--GRECIAN EMPIRE. ]

CHAPTER V. 

WAR IN ITALY. 

B. C. 280

The grand expedition into Italy. --The dominion of the Romans. --TheTarentines. --Various parties formed at Tarentum. --Boisterousmeetings. --Meton's artifice. --Meton succeeds in accomplishing hisaim. --Pyrrhus is invited to come to Tarentum. --Great numbers ofvolunteers. --Cineas. --Cineas propounds questions to Pyrrhus. --Pyrrhusexplains his designs and plans. --The opinion of Cineas on thesubject. --Pyrrhus sets sail. --His fleet and army. --Pyrrhus narrowlyescapes death by shipwreck. --He establishes himself at Tarentum. --Hisenergy. --Pyrrhus adopts very decisive measures. --The Tarentines wereGreeks in origin. --Troops come in slowly. --Lĉvinus. --Pyrrhus sees aRoman encampment. --The Romans attack Pyrrhus by crossing theriver. --Extraordinary spectacle. --Pyrrhus conspicuous. --Conversationbetween Pyrrhus and Leonatus. --Pyrrhus in dreadful danger. --Theelephants. --Trophies borne through the field. --Pyrrhus showshimself. --The Romans defeated. 

The grand undertaking in which Pyrrhus now engaged, as indicated inthe last chapter, the one in which he acquired such great renown, wasan expedition into Italy against the Romans. The immediate occasion ofhis embarking in this enterprise was an invitation which he receivedfrom the inhabitants of Tarentum to come to their aid. [I] Hispredecessor, Alexander, had been drawn into Italy precisely in thesame way; and we might have supposed that Pyrrhus would have beenwarned by the terrible fate which Alexander met with not to follow inhis steps. But military men are never deterred from dangerousundertakings by the disasters which others have encountered inattempting them before. In fact, perhaps Pyrrhus was the more eager totry his fortune in this field on account of the calamitous result ofhis uncle's campaign. He was unwilling that his kingdom of Epirusshould rest under the discredit of a defeat, and he was fired with aspecial ambition to show that he could overcome and triumph whereothers had been overborne and destroyed. 

[Footnote I: See map. ]

The dominion of the Romans had extended itself before this time over aconsiderable portion of Italy, though Tarentum, and the region ofcountry dependent upon it, had not yet been subdued. The Romans were, however, now gradually making their way toward the eastern andsouthern part of Italy, and they had at length advanced to thefrontiers of the Tarentine territory; and having been met and resistedthere by the Tarentine troops, a collision ensued, which was followedby an open and general war. In the struggle, the Tarentines found thatthey could not maintain their ground against the Roman soldiery. Theywere gradually driven back; and now the city itself was in veryimminent danger. 

The difficulties in which the Tarentines were placed were greatlyincreased by the fact that there was no well-organized and stablegovernment ruling in the city. The government was a sort of democracyin its form, and in its action it seems to have been a democracy of avery turbulent character--the questions of public policy beingdebated and decided in assemblies of the people, where it would seemthat there was very little of parliamentary law to regulate theproceedings; and now the dangers which threatened them on the approachof 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 measuresto urge and insist upon. Some were for submitting to the Romans, andthus allowing themselves to be incorporated 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 thecounselors that the reason why they had not been able to maintaintheir ground against their enemies was, that they had no commander ofsufficient predominance in rank and authority to concentrate theirforces, and employ them in an efficient and advantageous manner; andthey proposed that, in order to supply this very essential deficiency, Pyrrhus should be invited to come and take the command of theirforces. This plan was strongly opposed by the more considerate andfar-sighted of the people; for they well knew that when a foreignpower 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 ofthe people of the city, however, were so excited by the imminence ofthe immediate peril, that it was impossible to impress them with anyconcern for so remote and uncertain a danger, and it was determinedthat Pyrrhus should be called. 

It was said that the meetings which were held by the Tarentines whilethese proceedings were in progress, were so boisterous and disorderlythat, as often happens in democratic assemblies, the voices of thosewho were in the minority could not be heard; and that at last one ofthe public men, who was opposed to the plan of sending the invitationto Pyrrhus, resorted to a singular device in order to express hisopinion. The name of this personage was Meton. The artifice which headopted was this: he disguised himself as a strolling mountebank andmusician, and then, pretending to be half intoxicated, he came intothe assembly with a garland upon his head, a torch in his hand, andwith a woman playing on a sort of flute to accompany him. On seeinghim enter the assembly, the people all turned their attention towardhim. Some laughed, some clapped their hands, and others called out tohim to give them a song. Meton prepared to do so; and when, after muchdifficulty, silence was at length obtained, Meton came forward intothe 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 enjoyingthe pleasures of mirth and merriment while you may; for I warn youthat you will see very little like mirth or merriment in Tarentumafter Pyrrhus comes. "

The astonishment which this sudden turn in the affair occasioned, wassucceeded for a moment by a murmur of assent, which seemed to passthrough the assembly; the good sense of many of the spectators beingsurprised, as it were, into an admission that the sentiment whichMeton had so surreptitiously found means to express to them was true. This pause was, however, but momentary. A scene of violent excitementand confusion ensued, and Meton and the woman were expelled from themeeting without any ceremony. 

The resolution of sending for Pyrrhus was confirmed, and embassadorswere soon afterward dispatched to Epirus. The message which theycommunicated to Pyrrhus on their arrival was, that the Tarentines, being engaged in a war with the Romans, invited Pyrrhus to come andtake command of their armies. They had _troops_ enough, they said, andall necessary provisions and munitions of war. All that they nowrequired was an able and efficient general; and if Pyrrhus would comeover to them and assume the command, they would at once put him at thehead of an army of twenty thousand horse and three hundred and fiftythousand foot soldiers. 

It seems incredible that a state should have attained to such a degreeof prosperity and power as to be able to bring such a force as thisinto the field, while under the government of men who, when convenedfor the consideration of questions of public policy in a mostmomentous crisis, were capable of having their attention drawn offentirely from the business before them by the coming in of a party ofstrolling mountebanks and players. Yet such is the account recorded byone of the greatest historians of ancient times. 

Pyrrhus was, of course, very much elated at receiving thiscommunication. The tidings, too, produced great excitement among allthe people of Epirus. Great numbers immediately began to offerthemselves as volunteers to accompany the expedition. Pyrrhusdetermined at once to embark in the enterprise, and he commencedmaking preparations for it on a very magnificent scale; for, notwithstanding the assurance which the Tarentines had given him thatthey had a very large body of men already assembled, Pyrrhus seems tohave 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 underthe command of a distinguished general and minister of state, namedCineas. Cineas occupied a very high position in Pyrrhus's court. Hewas a Thessalian by birth. He had been educated in Greece, underDemosthenes, and he was a very accomplished scholar and orator as wellas statesman. Pyrrhus had employed him in embassies and negotiationsof various kinds from time to time, and Cineas had always dischargedthese trusts in a very able and satisfactory manner. In fact, Pyrrhus, with his customary courtesy in acknowledging his obligations to thosewhom he employed, used to say that Cineas had gained him more citiesby his address than he had ever conquered for himself by his arms. 

Cineas, it was said, was, in the outset, not much in favor of thisexpedition into Italy. The point of view in which he regarded such anenterprise was shown in a remarkable conversation which he held withPyrrhus while the preparations were going on. He took occasion tointroduce the subject one day, when Pyrrhus was for a short period atleisure in the midst of his work, by saying, "The Romans are famed as excellent soldiers, and they have manywarlike nations in alliance with them. But suppose we succeed in ourenterprise and conquer them, what use shall we make of our victory?"

"Your question answers itself, " replied the king. "The Romans are thepredominant power in Italy. If they are once subdued, there will benothing in Italy that can withstand us; we can go on immediately andmake ourselves masters of the whole country. "

After a short pause, during which he seemed to be reflecting on thecareer of victory which Pyrrhus was thus opening to view, Cineasadded, "And after we have conquered Italy, what shall we do next?"

"Why, there is Sicily very near, " replied Pyrrhus, "a very fruitfuland populous island, and one which we shall then very easily be ableto subdue. It is now in a very unsettled state, and could do nothingeffectual to resist us. "

"I think that is very true, " said Cineas; "and after we make ourselvesmasters of Sicily, what shall we do then?"

"Then, " replied Pyrrhus, "we can cross the Mediterranean to Lybia andCarthage. The distance is not very great, and we shall be able to landon the African coast at the head of such a force that we shall easilymake ourselves masters of the whole country. We shall then have soextended and established our power, that no enemy can be found in anyquarter who will think of opposing us. "

"That is very true, " said Cineas; "and so you will then be able to putdown effectually all your old enemies in Thessaly, Macedon, andGreece, and make yourself master of all those countries. And when allthis is accomplished, what shall we do then?"

"Why, then, " said Pyrrhus, "we can sit down and take our ease, andeat, drink, and be merry. "

"And why, " rejoined Cineas, "can not we sit down and take our ease, and enjoy ourselves now, instead of taking all this troublebeforehand? You have already at your command every possible means ofenjoyment; why not make yourself happy with them now, instead ofentering on a course which will lead to such dreadful toils anddangers, such innumerable calamities, and through such seas of blood, and yet bring you after all, at the end, nothing more than you have atthe beginning?"

It may, perhaps, be a matter of doubt whether Cineas intended this asa serious remonstrance against the execution of Pyrrhus's designs, oronly as an ingenious and good-humored satire on the folly of ambition, to amuse the mind of his sovereign in some momentary interval ofleisure that came in the midst of his cares. However it may have beenintended, it made no serious impression on the mind of Pyrrhus, andproduced no change in his plans. The work of preparation wentvigorously on; and as soon as a portion of the troops were ready toembark, Cineas was put in command of them, and they crossed theAdriatic Sea. After this, Pyrrhus completed the organization of theremaining force. It consisted of twenty elephants, three thousandhorse, and twenty thousand foot, with two thousand archers, andtwenty thousand slingers. When all was ready, Pyrrhus put these troopson board a large fleet of galleys, transports, and flat-bottomedboats, which had been sent over to him from Tarentum by Cineas for thepurpose, and at length set sail. He left Ptolemy, his eldest son, thenabout fifteen years old, regent of the kingdom, and took two youngersons, Alexander and Helenus, with him. The expedition was destined, itseems, to begin in disaster; for no sooner had Pyrrhus set sail than aterrible storm arose, which, for a time, threatened the totaldestruction of the fleet, and of all who were on board of it. The shipwhich conveyed Pyrrhus himself was, of course, larger and bettermanned than the others, and it succeeded at length, a little aftermidnight, in reaching the Italian shore, while the rest of the fleetwere driven at the mercy of the winds, and dispersed in everydirection over the sea, far and wide. But, though Pyrrhus's shipapproached the shore, the violence of the winds and waves was sogreat, that for a long time it was impossible for those on board toland. At length the wind suddenly changed its direction, and began toblow very violently off the shore, so that there seemed to be greatprobability that the ship would be driven to sea again. In fact, soimminent was the danger, that Pyrrhus determined to throw himself intothe sea and attempt to swim to the shore. He accordingly did so, andwas immediately followed by his attendants and guards, who leaped intothe water after him, and did every thing in their power to assist himin gaining the land. The danger, however, was extreme; for thedarkness of the night, the roaring of the winds and waves, and theviolence with which the surf regurgitated from the shore, rendered thescene terrific beyond description. At last, however, about daybreak, the shipwrecked company succeeded in gaining the land. 

Pyrrhus was almost completely exhausted in body by the fatigues andexposures which he had endured, but he appeared to be by no meansdepressed in mind. The people of the country flocked down to the coastto render aid. Several other vessels afterward succeeded in reachingthe shore; and as the wind now rapidly subsided, the men on board ofthem found comparatively little difficulty in effecting a landing. Pyrrhus collected the remnant thus saved, and marshaled them on theshore. He found that he had about two thousand foot, a small body ofhorse, and two elephants. With this force he immediately set out onhis march to Tarentum. As he approached the city, Cineas came out tomeet him at the head of the forces which had been placed at hiscommand, and which had made the passage in safety. 

As soon as Pyrrhus found himself established in Tarentum, heimmediately assumed the command of every thing there, as if he werealready the acknowledged sovereign of the city. In fact, he found thecity in so disorganized and defenseless a condition, that thisassumption of power on his part seemed to be justified by thenecessity of the case. The inhabitants, as is often the fact with menwhen their affairs are in an extreme and desperate condition, hadbecome reckless. Every where throughout the city disorder and idlenessreigned supreme. The men spent their time in strolling about fromplace to place, or sitting idly at home, or gathering in crowds atplaces of public diversion. They had abandoned all care or concernabout public affairs, trusting to Pyrrhus to save them from theimpending danger. Pyrrhus perceived, accordingly, that an entirerevolution in the internal condition of the city was indispensablyrequired, and he immediately took most efficient measures foreffecting it. He shut up all the places of public amusement, and eventhe public walks and promenades, and put an end to all feastings, revels, and entertainments. Every man capable of bearing arms wasenrolled in the army, and the troops thus formed were brought outdaily for severe and long-protracted drillings and reviews. The peoplecomplained loudly of these exactions; but Pyrrhus had the power in hishands, and they were compelled to submit. Many of the inhabitants, however, were so dissatisfied with these proceedings, that they wentaway and left the city altogether. Of course it was those who were themost hopelessly idle, dissolute, and reckless that thus withdrew, while the more hardy and resolute remained. While these changes weregoing on, Pyrrhus set up and repaired the defenses of the city. Hesecured the walls, and strengthened the gates, and organized acomplete system of guards and sentries. In a word, the condition ofTarentum was soon entirely changed. From being an exposed anddefenseless town, filled with devotees of idleness and pleasure, itbecame a fortress, well secured at all points with material defenses, and occupied by a well-disciplined and resolute garrison. 

The inhabitants of the southeastern part of Italy, where Tarentum wassituated, were of Greek origin, the country having been settled, as itwould seem, by emigrants from the opposite shores of the Adriatic Sea. Their language, therefore, as well as their customs and usages oflife, were different from those of the Roman communities that occupiedthe western parts of the peninsula. Now the Greeks at this periodregarded themselves as the only truly civilized people in the world;all other nations they called barbarians. The people of Tarentum, therefore, in sending for Pyrrhus to come to their aid against theRomans, did not consider him as a foreigner brought in to help them ina civil war against their own countrymen, but rather as afellow-countryman coming to aid them in a war against foreigners. Theyregarded him as belonging to the same race and lineage withthemselves, while the enemies who were coming from beyond theApennines to assail them they looked upon as a foreign and barbaroushorde, against whom it was for the common interest of all nations ofGreek descent to combine. It was this identity of interest betweenPyrrhus and the people whom he came to aid, in respect both to theirnational origin and the cause in which they were engaged, which madeit possible for him to assume so supreme an authority over all theiraffairs when he arrived at Tarentum. 

The people of the neighboring cities were slow in sending in toPyrrhus the quotas of troops which the Tarentines had promised him;and before his force was collected, the tidings arrived that theRomans were coming on at the head of a great army, under the commandof the consul Lĉvinus. Pyrrhus immediately prepared to go forth tomeet them. He marshaled the troops that were already assembled, andleaving the city, he advanced to meet the consul. After proceedingsome way, he sent forward an embassador to the camp of Lĉvinus topropose to that general that, before coming to extremities, an effortshould be made to settle the dispute between the Romans and Tarentinesin some amicable manner, and offering his services as an umpire andmediator for this purpose. To this embassage Lĉvinus coolly replied"that he did not choose to accept Pyrrhus as a mediator, and that hedid not fear him as an enemy. " Of course, after receiving such amessage as this, there was nothing left to Pyrrhus but to prepare forwar. 

He advanced, accordingly, at the head of his troops, until, atlength, he reached a plain, where he encamped with all his forces. There was a river before him, a small stream called the RiverSiris. [J] The Romans came up and encamped on the opposite side of thebank of this stream. Pyrrhus mounted his horse and rode to an eminencenear the river to take a view of them. 

[Footnote J: See map. ]

He was much surprised at what he saw. The order of the troops, thesystematic and regular arrangement of guards and sentinels, and theregularity of the whole encampment, excited his admiration. [K]

[Footnote K: See Frontispiece. ]

"Barbarians!" said he. "There is certainly nothing of the barbarian intheir manner of arranging their encampment, and we shall soon see howit is with them in other respects. "

So saying, he turned away, and rode to his own camp. He, however, nowbegan to be very seriously concerned in respect to the result of theapproaching contest. The enemy with whom he was about to engage wasobviously a far more formidable one than he had anticipated. Heresolved to remain where he was until the allies whom he was expectingfrom the other Grecian cities should arrive. He accordingly tookmeasures for fortifying himself as strongly as possible in hisposition, and he sent down a strong detachment from his main body tothe river, to guard the bank and prevent the Romans from crossing toattack him. Lĉvinus, on the other hand, knowing that Pyrrhus wasexpecting strong re-enforcements, determined not to wait till theyshould come, but resolved to cross the river at once, notwithstandingthe 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 troopswere divided, and the several columns advanced to the river andentered the water at different points up and down the stream, thefoot-soldiers at the fords, where the water was most shallow, and thehorsemen at other places--the most favorable that they could find. Inthis manner the whole river was soon filled with soldiers. The guardwhich Pyrrhus had posted on the bank found that they were whollyunable to withstand such multitudes; in fact, they began to fear thatthey might be surrounded. They accordingly abandoned the bank of theriver, and retreated to the main body of the army. 

Pyrrhus was greatly concerned at this event, and began to considerhimself in imminent danger. He drew up his foot-soldiers in battlearray, and ordered them to stand by their arms, while he himselfadvanced, at the head of the horsemen, toward the river. As soon as hecame to the bank, an extraordinary spectacle presented 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 ofthe horsemen and footmen who were coming over. As fast as the Romanslanded, they formed an array on the shore, and Pyrrhus, advancing tothem, gave them battle. 

The contest was maintained, with the utmost determination and fury onboth sides, for a long time. Pyrrhus himself was very conspicuous inthe fight, for he wore a very costly and magnificent armor, and soresplendent in lustre withal as to be an object of universalattention. Notwithstanding this, he exposed himself in the hottestparts of the engagement, charging upon the enemy with the mostdauntless intrepidity whenever there was occasion, and moving up anddown the lines, wherever his aid or the encouragement of his presencewas most required. At length one of his generals, named Leonatus, rodeup to him and said, "Do you see, sire, that barbarian trooper, on the black horse withthe white feet? I counsel you to beware of him. He seems to bemeditating some deep design against you; he singles you out, and keepshis eye constantly upon you, and follows you wherever you go. He iswatching an opportunity to execute some terrible design, and you willdo well to be on your guard against him. "

"Leonatus, " said Pyrrhus, in reply, "we can not contend against ourdestiny, 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 whomLeonatus had pointed out coming down upon him at full speed, with hisspear grasped firmly in his hands, and the iron point of it aimeddirectly at Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus sprang immediately to meet hisantagonist, bringing his own spear into aim at the same time. Thehorses met, and were both thrown down by the shock of the encounter. The friends of Pyrrhus rushed to the spot. They found both horses hadbeen thrust through by the spears, and they both lay now upon theground, dying. Some of the men drew Pyrrhus out from under his horseand bore him off the field, while others stabbed and killed the Romanwhere he lay. 

Pyrrhus, having escaped this terrible danger, determined now to bemore upon his guard. He supposed, in fact, that the Roman officerswould be made furious by the death of their comrade, and would makethe most desperate efforts to avenge him. He accordingly contrived tofind an opportunity, in the midst of the confusion of the battle, toput off the armor which made him so conspicuous, by exchanging withone of his officers, named Megacles. Having thus disguised himself, hereturned to the battle. He brought up the foot-soldiers and theelephants; and, instead of employing himself, as heretofore, inperforming single feats of personal valor, he devoted all his powersto directing the arrangements of the battle, encouraging the men, andrallying them when they were for a time driven away from their ground. 

By the exchange of armor which Pyrrhus thus made he probably saved hislife; for Megacles, wherever he appeared after he had assumed thedress of Pyrrhus, found himself always surrounded by enemies, whopressed upon him incessantly and every where in great numbers, and hewas finally killed. When he fell, the men who slew him seized theglittering helmet and the resplendent cloak that he wore, and borethem off in triumph into the Roman lines, as proof that Pyrrhus wasslain. The tidings, as it passed along from rank to rank of the army, awakened a long and loud shout of acclamation and triumph, whichgreatly excited and animated the Romans, while it awakened in the armyof Pyrrhus a correspondent emotion of discouragement and fear. Infact, for a short time it was universally believed in both armies thatPyrrhus was dead. In order to correct this false impression among hisown troops, which threatened for a season to produce the most fataleffects, Pyrrhus rode along the ranks with his head uncovered, showinghimself to his men, and shouting to them that he was yet alive. 

[Illustration: THE TROPHIES. ]

At length, after a long and very obstinate conflict, the Greeks gainedthe victory. This result was due in the end, in a great measure, tothe elephants which Pyrrhus brought into the battle. The Roman horses, being wholly unused to the sight of such huge beasts, were terrifiedbeyond measure at the spectacle, and fled in dismay whenever they sawthe monsters coming. In fact, in some cases, the riders lost allcommand of their horses, and the troop turned and fled, bearing downand overwhelming the ranks of their friends behind them. In the endthe Romans were wholly driven from the field. They did not even returnto their camp, but, after recrossing the river in confusion, they fledin all directions, abandoning the whole country to their conqueror. Pyrrhus then advanced across the river and took possession of theRoman camp. 

CHAPTER VI. 

NEGOTIATIONS. 

B. C. 280-279

Effects of the victory. --Public opinion at Rome. --Expectations ofPyrrhus. --His mistake. --Cineas sent an embassador to Rome. --Cineas'splans for bribing the Roman senators. --Speech of Cineas in the Romansenate. --Debate in the senate. --An incident of the discussion. --AppiusClaudius is brought on a bed to the senate. --Speech of AppiusClaudius. --Effect of his speech on the senate. --Cineas makes report ofhis mission. --Fabricius sent to Pyrrhus. --His reception. --The elephantconcealed in the tent. --Pyrrhus makes great offers to Fabricius. --TheRoman armies advance. --The two generals. --The armies encamp in sightof each other. --His military honors. --Story of Decius Mus. --Thevision. --Extraordinary alternative proposed. --The two consuls drawlots. --Decius sacrifices himself. --Superstitious fears of thesoldiers. --Decius Mus. --Reply of Decius Mus to Pyrrhus. --The Romansafraid of the elephants. --The battle. --The elephants. --Warchariots. --Doubtful victory. --Winter-quarters. --Nicias. --Pyrrhus'sphysician. --His treachery. --A generous exchange of prisoners. --Nopeace. 

The result of the battle on the banks of the Siris, decisive andcomplete as the victory was on the part of the Greeks, produced, ofcourse, a very profound sensation at Rome. Instead, however, ofdiscouraging and disheartening the Roman senate and people, it onlyaroused them to fresh energy and determination. The victory wasconsidered as wholly due to the extraordinary military energy andskill of Pyrrhus, and not to any superiority of the Greek troops overthose of the Romans in courage, in discipline, or in efficiency in thefield. In fact, it was a saying at Rome at the time, that it wasLĉvinus that had been conquered by Pyrrhus in the battle, and not theRomans by the Greeks. The Roman government, accordingly, beganimmediately to enlist new recruits, and to make preparations for a newcampaign, more ample and complete, and on a far greater scale thanbefore. 

Pyrrhus was much surprised when he heard these things. He hadsupposed that the Romans would have been disheartened by the defeatwhich they had sustained, and would now think only of proposals andnegotiations for peace. He seems to have been but very imperfectlyinformed in respect to the condition of the Roman commonwealth at thisperiod, and to the degree of power to which it had attained. Hesupposed that, after suffering so signal and decisive a defeat, theRomans would regard themselves as conquered, and that nothing remainedto them now but to consider how they could make the best terms withtheir conqueror. The Roman troops had, indeed, withdrawn from theneighborhood of the place where the battle had been fought, and hadleft Pyrrhus to take possession of the ground without molestation. Pyrrhus was even allowed to advance some considerable distance towardRome; but he soon learned that, notwithstanding their temporaryreverses, his enemies had not the most remote intention of submittingto him, but were making preparations to take the field again with agreater force than ever. 

Under these circumstances, Pyrrhus was for a time somewhat at a losswhat to do. Should he follow up his victory, and advance boldlytoward the capital, with a view of overcoming the Roman powerentirely, or should he be satisfied with the advantage which he hadalready gained, and be content, for the present, with being master ofWestern Italy? After much hesitation, he concluded on the lattercourse. He accordingly suspended his hostile operations, and preparedto send an embassador to Rome to propose peace. Cineas was, of course, the embassador commissioned to act on this occasion. 

Cineas accordingly proceeded to Rome. He was accompanied by a train ofattendants suitable to his rank as a royal embassador, and he tookwith him a great number of costly presents to be offered to theleading men in Rome, by way, as it would seem, of facilitating hisnegotiations. The nature of the means which he thus appears to haverelied upon in his embassy to Rome may, perhaps, indicate the secretof his success in the diplomatic duties which he had performed inGreece and in Asia, where he had acquired so much distinction for hisdexterity in negotiating treaties favorable to the interests of hismaster. However this may be, Cineas found that the policy which hecontemplated would not answer in Rome. Soon after his arrival in thecity, and in an early stage of the negotiations, he began to offerhis presents to the public men with whom he had to deal; but theyrefused to accept them. The Roman senators to whom the gifts wereoffered returned them all, saying that, in case a treaty should beconcluded, and peace made between the two nations, they should thenhave no objections to an interchange of such civilities; but, whilethe negotiations were pending, they conceived it improper for them toreceive any such offerings. It may, perhaps, be taken as an additionalproof of the nature of the influences which Cineas was accustomed torely upon in his diplomatic undertakings, that he offered many of hisgifts on this occasion to the ladies of the Roman senators as well asto the senators themselves; but the wives were found as incorruptibleas the husbands. The gifts were all alike returned. 

Not discouraged by the failure of this attempt, Cineas obtainedpermission of the Roman senate to appear before them, and to addressthem on the subject of the views which Pyrrhus entertained in respectto the basis of the peace which he proposed. On the appointed dayCineas went to the senate-chamber, and there made a long and very ableand eloquent address, in the presence of the senate and of theprincipal inhabitants of the city. He was very much impressed on thisoccasion with the spectacle which the august assembly presented to hisview. He said afterward, in fact, that the Roman senate seemed to himlike a congress of kings, so dignified and imposing was the appearanceof the body, and so impressive was the air of calmness and gravitywhich reigned in their deliberations. Cineas made a very able andeffective 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. Heproposed that he should give up all his prisoners without ransom, andthat the Romans should give up theirs. He would then form an alliancewith the Romans, and aid them in the future conquests that theymeditated. All he asked was that he might have the sanction of theRoman government to his retaining Tarentum and the countries connectedwith and dependent upon it; and that, in maintaining his dominion overthese lands, he might look upon the Roman people as his allies andfriends. 

After Cineas had concluded his speech and had withdrawn from thesenate-chamber, a debate arose among the senators on the propositionswhich he had made to them. There was a difference of opinion; somewere for rejecting the proposals at once; others thought that theyought to be accepted. Those who were inclined to peace urged thewisdom of acceding to Pyrrhus's proposals by representing the greatdanger of continuing the war. "We have already, " said they, "lost onegreat and decisive battle; and, in case of the renewal of thestruggle, we must expect to find our enemy still more formidable thanhe was before; for many of the Italian nations of the eastern coasthave joined his standard since hearing of the victory which he hasobtained, and more are coming in. His strength, in fact, is growinggreater and greater every day; and it is better for us to make peacewith him now, on the honorable terms which he proposes to us, ratherthan to risk another battle, which may lead to the most disastrousconsequences. "

In the midst of this discussion, an aged senator, who had been for along time incapacitated by his years and infirmities from appearing inhis seat, was seen coming to the assembly, supported and led by hissons and sons-in-law, who were making way for him in the passages andconducting him in. His name was Appius Claudius. He was blind andalmost helpless through age and infirmity. He had heard in his chamberof the irresolution of the senate in respect to the furtherprosecution of the war with Pyrrhus, and had caused himself to betaken from his bed and borne through the streets by servants on achair to the senate-house, that he might there once more raise hisvoice to save, if possible, the honor and dignity of his country. Ashe entered the chamber, he became at once the object of universalattention. As soon as he reached his seat, a respectful silence beganto prevail throughout the assembly, all listening to hear what he hadto say. He expressed himself as follows:

"Senators of Rome, --I am blind, and I have been accustomed to considermy blindness as a calamity; but now I could wish that I had been deafas well as blind, and then I might never have heard of the disgracewhich seems to impend over my country. Where are now the boastingsthat we made when Alexander the Great commenced his career, that if hehad turned his arms toward Italy and Rome, instead of Persia and theEast, we would never have submitted to him; that he never would havegained the renown of being invincible if he had only attacked _us_, but would, on the other hand, if he invaded our dominions, only havecontributed 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 throughoutthe world. And yet now, here is an obscure adventurer who has landedon our shores as an enemy and an invader, and because he has met witha partial and temporary success, you are debating whether you shallnot make an ignominious peace with him, and allow him to remain. Howvain and foolish does all our boastful defiance of Alexander appearwhen we now tremble at the name of Pyrrhus--a man who has been all hislife a follower and dependent of one of Alexander's inferiorgenerals--a man who has scarcely been able to maintain himself in hisown dominions--who could not retain even a small and insignificantpart of Macedon which he had conquered, but was driven ignominiouslyfrom it; and who comes into Italy now rather as a refugee than aconqueror--an adventurer who seeks power here because he can notsustain himself at home! I warn you not to expect that you can gainany thing by making such a peace with him as he proposes. Such apeace makes no atonement for the past, and it offers no security forthe future. On the contrary, it will open the door to other invaders, who will come, encouraged by Pyrrhus's success, and emboldened by thecontempt which they will feel for you in allowing yourselves to bethus braved and insulted with impunity. "

The effect of this speech on the senate was to produce a unanimousdetermination to carry on the war. Cineas was accordingly dismissedwith this answer: that the Romans would listen to no propositions forpeace while Pyrrhus remained in Italy. If he would withdraw from thecountry altogether, and retire to his own proper dominions, they wouldthen listen to any proposals that he might make for a treaty ofalliance and amity. So long, however, as he remained on Italianground, they would make no terms with him whatever, though he shouldgain a thousand victories, but would wage war upon him to the lastextremity. 

Cineas returned to the camp of Pyrrhus, bearing this reply. Hecommunicated also to Pyrrhus a great deal of information in respect tothe government and the people of Rome, the extent of the population, and the wealth and resources of the city; for while he had beenengaged in conducting his negotiations, he had made every exertion toobtain intelligence on all these points, and he had been a veryattentive and sagacious observer of all that he had seen. The accountwhich he gave was very little calculated to encourage Pyrrhus in hisfuture hopes and expectations. The people of Rome, Cineas said, werefar more numerous than he had before supposed. They had now already onfoot an army twice as large as the one which Pyrrhus had defeated, andmultitudes besides were still left in the city, of a suitable age forenlisting, sufficient to form even larger armies still. The prospect, in a word, was very far from such as to promise Pyrrhus an easyvictory. 

Of course, both parties began now to prepare vigorously for war. Before hostilities were resumed, however, the Romans sent a messengerto the camp of Pyrrhus to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. The nameof this embassador was Fabricius. Fabricius, as Pyrrhus was informedby Cineas, was very highly esteemed at Rome for his integrity and forhis military abilities, but he was without property, being dependentwholly on his pay as an officer of the army. Pyrrhus receivedFabricius in the most respectful manner, and treated him with everymark of consideration and honor. He, moreover, offered him privately alarge sum of money in gold. He told Fabricius that, in asking hisacceptance of such a gift, he did not do it for any base purpose, butintended it only as a token of friendship and hospitality. Fabricius, however, refused to accept the present, and Pyrrhus pressed him nofurther. 

The next day Pyrrhus formed a plan for giving his guest a littlesurprise. He supposed that he had never seen an elephant, and heaccordingly directed that one of the largest of these animals shouldbe placed secretly behind a curtain, in an apartment where Fabriciuswas to be received. The elephant was covered with his armor, andsplendidly caparisoned. After Fabricius had come in, and while he wassitting in the apartment wholly unconscious of what was before him, all at once the curtain was raised, and the elephant was suddenlybrought to view; and, at the same instant, the huge animal, raisinghis trunk, flourished it in a threatening manner over Fabricius'shead, making at the same time a frightful cry, such as he had beentrained to utter for the purpose of striking terror into the enemy, incharging upon them on the field of battle. Fabricius, instead ofappearing terrified, or even astonished at the spectacle, sat quietlyin his seat, to all appearance entirely unmoved, and, turning toPyrrhus with an air of the utmost composure, said coolly, "You seethat you make no impression upon me, either by your gold yesterday orby your beast to-day. "

[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT CONCEALED. ]

Pyrrhus was not at all displeased with this answer, blunt as it mayseem. On the contrary, he seems to have been very deeply impressedwith a sense of the stern and incorruptible virtue of Fabricius'scharacter, and he felt a strong desire to obtain the services of suchan officer in his own court and army. He accordingly made newproposals to Fabricius, urging him to use his influence to induce theRomans to make peace, and then to go with him to Epirus, and enterinto his service there. 

"If you will do so, " said Pyrrhus, "I will make you the chief of mygenerals, and my own most intimate friend and companion, and you shallenjoy abundant honors and rewards. "

"No, " replied Fabricius, "I can not accept those offers, nor is it foryour interest that I should accept them; for, were I to go with you toEpirus, your people, as soon as they came to know me well, would loseall 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 onewhich Fabricius made to Pyrrhus in respect to the elephant, asintended in a somewhat jocose and playful sense; since, if we supposethem to have been gravely and seriously uttered, they would indicate aspirit of vanity and of empty boasting which would seem to be whollyinconsistent with what we know of Fabricius's character. However thismay be, Pyrrhus was pleased with both; and the more that he saw andlearned of the Romans, the more desirous he became of terminating thewar and forming an alliance with them. But the Romans firmly persistedin refusing to treat with him, except on the condition of hiswithdrawing first entirely from Italy, and this was a condition withwhich he deemed it impossible to comply. It would be equivalent, infact, to an acknowledgment that he had been entirely defeated. Accordingly, both sides began again to prepare vigorously for war. 

The Romans marched southward from the city with a large army, underthe command of their two consuls. The names of the consuls at thistime were Sulpicius Saverrio and Decius Mus. These generals advancedinto Apulia, a country on the western coast of Italy, north ofTarentum. Here they encamped on a plain at the foot of the Apennines, near a place called Asculum. There was a stream in front of theircamp, and the mountains were behind it. The stream was large and deep, and of course it greatly protected their position. On hearing of theapproach of the Romans, Pyrrhus himself took the field at the head ofall his forces, and advanced to meet them. He came to the plain onwhich the Roman army was encamped, and posted himself on the oppositebank of the stream. The armies were thus placed in close vicinity toeach other, being separated only by the stream. The question was, which should attempt to cross the stream and make the attack upon theother. They remained in this position for a considerable time, neitherparty venturing to attempt the passage. 

While things were in this condition--the troops on each side waitingfor an opportunity of attacking their enemies, and probably withoutany fear whatever of the physical dangers which they were to encounterin the conflict--the feeling of composure and confidence among the menin Pyrrhus's army was greatly disturbed by a singular superstition. Itwas rumored in the army that Decius Mus, the Roman commander, wasendowed with a species of magical and supernatural power, which would, under certain circumstances, be fatal to all who opposed him. Andthough the Greeks seem to have had no fear of the material steel ofthe Roman legions, this mysterious and divine virtue, which theyimagined to reside in the commander, struck them with an invincibleterror. 

The story was, that the supernatural power in question originated inone of the ancestors of the present Decius, a brave Roman general, who lived and flourished in the century preceding the time of Pyrrhus. His name, too, was Decius Mus. In the early part of his life, when hewas a subordinate officer, he was the means of saving the whole armyfrom most imminent danger, by taking possession of an eminence amongthe mountains, with the companies that were under his command, andholding it against the enemy until the Roman troops could be drawn outof a dangerous defile where they would otherwise have been overwhelmedand destroyed. He was greatly honored for this exploit. The consul whocommanded on the occasion rewarded him with a golden crown, a hundredoxen, and a magnificent white bull, with gilded horns. The commonsoldiers, too, held a grand festival and celebration in honor of him, in which they crowned him with a wreath made of dried grasses on thefield, according to an ancient custom which prevailed among the Romansof rewarding in this way any man who should be the means of saving anarmy. Of course, such an event as saving an army was of very rareoccurrence; and, accordingly, the crowning of a soldier by hiscomrades on the field was a very distinguished honor, although thedecoration itself was made of materials so insignificant andworthless. 

Decius rose rapidly after this time from rank to rank, until at lengthhe was chosen consul. In the course of his consulship, he took thefield with one of his colleagues, whose name was Torquatus, at thehead of a large army, in the prosecution of a very important war inthe interior of the country. The time arrived at length for a decisivebattle to be fought. Both armies were drawn up on the field, thepreparations were all made, and the battle was to be fought on thefollowing day. In the night, however, a vision appeared to eachconsul, informing him that it had been decreed by fate that a_general_ on one side and the _army_ on the other were to be destroyedon the following day; and that, consequently, either of the consuls, by sacrificing himself, might secure the destruction of the enemy. Onthe other hand, if they were to take measures to save themselves, thegeneral on the other side would be 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 country; and thequestion at once arose, what method they should adopt to determinewhich of them should be the sacrifice. At last it was agreed that theywould go into battle as usual, each in command of his own wing of thearmy, and that the one whose wing should first begin to give wayshould offer himself as the victim. The arrangements were madeaccordingly, and the result proved that Decius was the one on whom thedire duty of self-immolation was to devolve. The wing under hiscommand began to give way. He immediately resolved to fulfill his vow. He summoned the high priest. He clothed himself in the garb of avictim about to be offered in sacrifice. Then, with his military cloakwrapped about his head, and standing upon a spear that had beenpreviously laid down upon the ground, he repeated in the proper formwords by which he devoted himself and the army of the enemy to the Godof Death, and then finally mounted upon his horse and drove furiouslyin among the thickest of the enemy. Of course he was at once thrustthrough with a hundred spears and javelins; and immediately afterwardthe army of the enemy gave way on all hands, and the Romans swept thefield, completely victorious. 

The power which was in this instance supernaturally granted to Deciusto secure the victory to the Roman arms, by sacrificing his own lifeon the field of battle, afterward descended, it was supposed, as aninheritance, from father to son. Decius Mus, the commander opposed toPyrrhus, was the grandson of his namesake referred to above; and nowit was rumored among the Greeks that he intended, as soon as thearmies came into action, to make the destruction of his enemies sureby sacrificing himself, as his grandfather had done. The soldiers ofPyrrhus were willing to meet any of the ordinary and natural chancesand hazards of war; but, where the awful and irresistible decrees ofthe spiritual world were to be against them, it is not strange thatthey dreaded the encounter. 

Under these circumstances, Pyrrhus sent a party of messengers to theRoman camp to say to Decius, that if in the approaching battle heattempted to resort to any such arts of necromancy to secure thevictory to the Roman side, he would find himself wholly unsuccessfulin the attempt; for the Greek soldiers had all been instructed not tokill him if he should throw himself among them, but to take him aliveand bring him a prisoner to Pyrrhus's camp; and that then, after thebattle was over, he should be subjected, they declared, to the mostcruel and ignominious punishments, as a magician and an impostor. Decius sent back word, in reply, that Pyrrhus had no occasion to givehimself any uneasiness in respect to the course which the Romangeneral would pursue in the approaching battle. The measure that hehad referred to was one to which the Romans were not accustomed toresort except in emergencies of the most extreme and dangerouscharacter, and Pyrrhus ought not to flatter himself with the idea thatthe Romans regarded his invasion as of sufficient consequence torequire them to have recourse to any unusual means of defense. Theywere fully convinced of their ability to meet and conquer him byordinary modes of warfare. To prove that they were honest in thisopinion, they offered to waive the advantage which the river affordedthem as a means of defense, and allow Pyrrhus to cross it withoutmolestation, with a view to fighting the battle afterward upon theopen field; or they would themselves cross the river, and fight thebattle on Pyrrhus's side of it--whichever Pyrrhus himself preferred. They asked for no advantage, but were willing to meet theiradversaries on equal terms, and abide by the result. 

Pyrrhus could not with honor decline to accept this challenge. Hedecided to remain where he was, and allow the Romans to cross thestream. This they accordingly did; and when all the troops hadeffected the passage, they were drawn up in battle array on the plain. Pyrrhus marshaled his forces also, and both parties prepared for thecontest. 

The Romans stood most in awe of the elephants, and they resorted tosome peculiar and extraordinary means of resisting them. They prepareda great number of chariots, each of which was armed with a longpointed spear, projecting forward in such a manner that when thechariots should be driven on toward the elephants, these spears orbeaks should pierce the bodies of the beasts and destroy them. Thechariots, too, were filled with men, who were all provided withfire-brands, which they were to throw at the elephants, and frightenthem, as they came on. These chariots were all carefully posted infront of that part of Pyrrhus's army where the elephants werestationed, and the charioteers were strictly ordered not to move untilthey should see the elephants advancing. 

The battle, as might have been expected from the circumstances whichpreceded it, and from the character of the combatants, was fought withthe most furious and persevering desperation. It continued through thewhole day; and in the various parts of the field, and during thedifferent hours of the day, the advantage was sometimes strongly onone side, and sometimes on the other, so that it was wholly uncertain, for a long time, what the ultimate result would be. The elephantssucceeded in getting round the chariots which had been posted tointercept them, and effected a great destruction of the Roman troops. On the other hand, a detachment of the Roman army made their way tothe camp of Pyrrhus, and attacked it desperately. Pyrrhus withdrew apart of his forces to protect his camp, and that turned the tideagainst him on the field. By means of the most Herculean exertions, Pyrrhus rallied his men, and restored their confidence; and then, fora time, the fortune of war seemed to incline in his favor. In thecourse of the day Decius was killed, and the whole command of theRoman army then devolved upon Sulpicius, his colleague. Pyrrhushimself was seriously wounded. When, at last, the sun went down, andthe approaching darkness of the night prevented a continuance of thecombat, both parties drew off such as remained alive of theirrespective 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 thisbattle, neither party seemed to be in haste to bring on anothercontest. They both drew away to places of security, and began tosend for re-enforcements, and to take measures to strengthenthemselves for future operations. They remained in this state ofinaction until at length the season passed away, and they then wentinto winter-quarters, each watching the other, but postponing, bycommon consent, all active hostilities until spring. In the springthey took the field again, and the two armies approached each otheronce more. The Roman army had now two new commanders, one of whomwas the celebrated Fabricius, whom Pyrrhus had negotiated with onformer occasions. The two commanders were thus well acquainted witheach other; and though, as public men, they were enemies, in privateand personally they were very good friends. 

Pyrrhus had a physician in his service named Nicias. This manconceived the design of offering to the Romans to poison his masteron condition of receiving a suitable reward. He accordingly wrote aletter to Fabricius making the proposal. Fabricius immediatelycommunicated the letter to his colleague, and they both concurred inthe decision to inform Pyrrhus himself of the offer which had beenmade them, and put him on his guard against the domestic traitor. Theyaccordingly sent him the letter which they had received, accompaniedby one from themselves, of the following tenor:

 "Caius Fabricius and Quintus Ĉmilius to King Pyrrhus, greeting:

 "You seem to be as unfortunate in the choice of your friends as you are in that of your enemies. 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, offers to poison you. We give you this information, 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. "

Pyrrhus was very much struck with what he considered the extraordinarygenerosity of his enemies. He immediately collected together all theprisoners that he had taken from the Romans, and sent them home to theRoman camp, as a token of acknowledgment and gratitude on his part forthe high and honorable course of action which his adversaries hadadopted. They, however, Roman-like, would not accept such a tokenwithout making a corresponding return, and they accordingly sent hometo Pyrrhus a body of Greek prisoners equal in number and rank to thosewhom Pyrrhus had set free. 

All these things tended to increase the disinclination of Pyrrhus topress the further prosecution of the war. He became more and moredesirous every day to make peace with the Romans, preferring very muchthat such a people should be his allies rather than his enemies. They, however, firmly and pertinaciously refused to treat with him on anyterms, unless, as a preliminary step, he would go back to his owndominions. This he thought he could not do with honor. He wasaccordingly much perplexed, and began earnestly to wish that somethingwould occur to furnish him with a plausible pretext for retiring fromItaly. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE SICILIAN CAMPAIGN. 

B. C. 291-276

Lanassa. --The tyrant her father. --His adventures. --Agathocles's flightfrom Africa. --Terrible consequences. --The sea dyed with blood. --Shockingstory. --Texina and her children. --Extraordinary story. --Mĉnon'scontrivance for administering poison. --Dangers of usurpation. --Mĉnon'scareer. --Pyrrhus receives two tempting invitations. --Pyrrhus'sperplexity. --He decides to go to Sicily. --He makes great preparationsat Tarentum. --The Tarentines remonstrate. --Their arguments. --Pyrrhussends Cineas in advance to Sicily. --Form of Sicily. --Situation ofMessana. --Conduct of the Mamertines in Sicily. --The Mamertines takecomplete possession of Messana. --Three objects to be accomplished inSicily. --The grand expedition sails to Sicily. --He determines to takeEryx by storm. --Pyrrhus at the head of the column. --Combat on thewalls. --Pyrrhus victorious. --Grand celebration. --Result of thebattle. --He attacks the Mamertines. --Is victorious. --Pyrrhus formsnew schemes. --Want of seamen. --The Sicilians are opposed to hisplans. --General rebellion in Sicily. --Pyrrhus's character. --Hepossesses no perseverance. --New plan. --Disastrous attempt to get backto Italy. --Terrible conflict. --Pyrrhus is wounded in the head. --Shockingspectacle. --The Mamertine champion. --Pyrrhus succeeds in reachingTarentum. 

The fact has already been mentioned that one of the wives whom Pyrrhushad married after the death of Antigone, the Egyptian princess, wasLanassa, the daughter of Agathocles, the King of Sicily. Agathocleswas a tyrannical monster of the worst description. His army was littlebetter than an organized band of robbers, at the head of which he wentforth on marauding and plundering expeditions among all the nationsthat were within his reach. He made these predatory excursionssometimes into Italy, sometimes into the Carthaginian territories onthe African coast, and sometimes among the islands of theMediterranean Sea. In these campaigns he met with a great variety ofadventures, and experienced every possible fate that the fortune ofwar 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 himself inthe most desperate difficulties, and was frequently compelled to giveup every thing, and to fly alone in absolute destitution from thefield of his attempted exploits to save his life. 

On one such occasion, he abandoned an army in Africa, which he hadtaken there on one of his predatory enterprises, and, flying secretlyfrom the camp, he made his escape with a small number of attendants, leaving the army to its fate. His flight was so sudden on thisoccasion that he left his two sons behind him in the hands and at themercy of the soldiers. The soldiers, as soon as they found thatAgathocles had gone and left them, were so enraged against him thatthey put his sons to death on the spot, and then surrendered in a bodyto the enemy. Agathocles, when the tidings of this transaction came tohim in Sicily, was enraged against the soldiers in his turn, and, inorder to revenge himself upon them, he immediately sought out fromamong the population of the country their wives and children, theirbrothers and sisters, and all who were in any way related to them. These innocent representatives of the absent offenders he ordered tobe seized and slain, and their bodies to be cast into the sea towardAfrica as an expression of revengeful triumph and defiance. So greatwas the slaughter on this occasion, that the waters of the sea weredyed with blood to a great distance from the shore. 

Of course, such cruelty as this could not be practiced withoutawakening, on the part of those who suffered from it, a spirit ofhatred and revenge. Plots and conspiracies without number were formedagainst the tyrant's life, and in his later years he lived incontinual apprehension and distress. His fate, however, was still morestriking as an illustration of the manner in which the old age ofambitious and unprincipled men is often embittered by the ingratitudeand wickedness of their children. Agathocles had a grandson namedArchagathus, who, if all the accounts are true, brought the old king'sgray hairs in sorrow to the grave. The story is too shocking to befully believed, but it is said that this grandson first murderedAgathocles's son and heir, his own uncle, in order that he mighthimself succeed to the throne--his own father, who would have been thenext heir, being dead. Then, not being willing to wait until the oldking himself should die, he began to form plots against his life, andagainst the lives of the remaining members of the family. Althoughseveral of Agathocles's sons were dead, having been destroyed byviolence, or having fallen in war, he had a wife, named Texina, andtwo children still remaining alive. The king was so anxious in respectto these children, on account of Archagathus, that he determined tosend them with their mother to Egypt, in order to place them beyondthe reach of their merciless nephew. Texina was very unwilling toconsent to such a measure. For herself and her sons the proposedretiring into Egypt was little better than going into exile, and shewas, moreover, extremely reluctant to leave her husband alone inSyracuse, exposed to the machinations and plots which his unnaturalgrandson might form against him. She, however, finally submitted tothe hard necessity and went away, bidding her husband farewell withmany tears. Very soon after her departure her husband died. 

The story that is told of the manner of his death is this: There wasin his court a man named Mĉnon, whom Agathocles had taken captive whena youth, and ever since retained in his court. Though originally acaptive, taken in war, Mĉnon had been made a favorite with Agathocles, and had been raised to a high position in his service. The indulgencehowever, and the favoritism with which he had been regarded, were notsuch as to awaken any sentiments of gratitude in Mĉnon's mind, or toestablish any true and faithful friendship between him and his master;and Archagathus, the grandson, found means of inducing him toundertake to poison the king. As all the ordinary modes ofadministering poison were precluded by the vigilance and strictnesswith which the usual avenues of approach to the king were guarded, Mĉnon contrived to accomplish his end by poisoning a quill which theking was subsequently to use as a tooth-pick. The poison wasinsinuated thus into the teeth and gums of the victim, where it soontook effect, producing dreadful ulceration and intolerable pain. Theinfection of the venom after a short time pervaded the whole system ofthe sufferer, and brought him to the brink of the grave; and at last, finding that he was speechless, and apparently insensible, hisruthless murderers, fearing, perhaps, that he might revive again, hurried him to the funeral pile before life was extinct, and the firefinished the work that the poison had begun. 

The declaration of Scripture, "They that take the sword shall perishby the sword, " is illustrated and confirmed by the history of almostevery ancient tyrant. We find that they almost all come at last tosome terrible end. The man who usurps a throne by violence seems, inall ages and among all nations, very sure to be expelled from it bygreater violence, after a brief period of power; and he who poisons orassassinates a precedent rival whom he wishes to supplant, is almostinvariably cut off by the poison or the dagger of a following one, whowishes to supplant him. 

The death of Agathocles took place about nine years before thecampaign of Pyrrhus in Italy, as described in the last chapter, andduring that period the kingdom of Sicily had been in a very distractedstate. Mĉnon, immediately after the poisoning of the king, fled to thecamp of Archagathus, who was at that time in command of an army at adistance from the city. Here, in a short time, he contrived toassassinate Archagathus, and to seize the supreme power. It was notlong, however, before new claimants and competitors for possession ofthe throne appeared, and new wars broke out, in the course of whichMĉnon was deposed. At length, in the midst of the contests andcommotions that prevailed, two of the leading generals of theSicilian army conceived the idea of bringing forward Pyrrhus's son byLanassa as the heir to the crown. This prince was, of course, thegrandson of the old King Agathocles, and, as there was no otherdescendant of the royal line at hand who could be made therepresentative of the ancient monarchy, it was thought, by thegenerals above referred to, that the only measure which afforded anyhope of restoring peace to the country was to send an embassy toPyrrhus, and invite him to come and place his young son upon thethrone. The name of Lanassa's son was Alexander. He was a boy, perhapsat 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 himthat, on account of some revolutions which had taken place there, avery favorable opportunity was afforded him to secure for himself thethrone of that country, and urging him to come and make the attempt. Pyrrhus was for some time quite undecided which of these two proposalsto accept. The prize offered him in Greece was more tempting, but theexpedition into Sicily seemed to promise more certain success. Whilerevolving the question in his mind which conquest he should firstundertake, he complained of the tantalizing cruelty of fortune, inoffering him two such tempting prizes at the same time, so as tocompel him to forego either the one or the other. At length he decidedto go first to Sicily. 

It was said that one reason which influenced his mind very strongly inmaking this decision was the fact that Sicily was so near the coast ofAfrica; and the Sicilians being involved in wars with theCarthaginians, he thought that, if successful in his operations inSicily, the way would be open for him to make an expedition intoAfrica, in which case he did not doubt but that he should be able soonto overturn the Carthaginian power, and add all the northern coasts ofAfrica to his dominions. His empire would thus embrace Epirus, thewhole southern part of Italy, Sicily, and the coasts of Africa. Hecould afterward, he thought, easily add Greece, and then his dominionswould include all the wealthy and populous countries surrounding themost important part of the Mediterranean Sea. His government wouldthus become a naval power of the first class, and any furtherextension of his sway which he might subsequently desire could easilybe accomplished. 

In a word, Pyrrhus decided first to proceed to Sicily, and to postponefor a brief period his designs on Greece. 

He accordingly proceeded to withdraw his troops from the interior ofthe country in Italy, and concentrate them in and around Tarentum. Hebegan to make naval preparations, too, on a very extensive scale. Theport of Tarentum soon presented a very busy scene. The work ofbuilding and repairing ships--of fabricating sails and rigging--ofconstructing and arming galleys--of disciplining and trainingcrews--of laying in stores of food and of implements of war, went onwith great activity, and engaged universal attention. The Tarentinesthemselves stood by, while all these preparations were going on, rather as spectators of the scene than as active participants. Pyrrhushad taken the absolute command of their city and government, and wasexercising supreme power, as if he were the acknowledged sovereign ofthe country. He had been invited to come over from his own kingdom to_help_ the Tarentines, not to _govern_ them; but he had seized thesovereign power, justifying the seizure, as is usual with military menunder similar circumstances, by the necessity of the case. "There mustbe order and submission to authority in the city, " he said, "or wecan make no progress in subduing our enemies. " The Tarentines had thusbeen induced to submit to his assumption of power, convinced, perhaps, partly by his reasoning, and, at all events, silenced by the displayof force by which it was accompanied; and they had consoled themselvesunder a condition of things which they could not prevent, byconsidering that it was better to yield to a temporary foreigndomination, than to be wholly overwhelmed, as there was everyprobability, before Pyrrhus came to them, that they would be, by theirdomestic foes. 

When, however, they found that Pyrrhus was intending to withdraw fromthem, and to go to Sicily, without having really effected theirdeliverance from the danger which threatened them, they at firstremonstrated against the design. They wished him to remain and finishthe work which he had begun. The Romans had been checked, but they hadnot been subdued. Pyrrhus ought not, they said, to go away and leavethem until their independence and freedom had been fully established. They remonstrated with him against his design, but their remonstrancesproved wholly unavailing. 

When at length the Tarentines found that Pyrrhus was determined to goto Sicily, they then desired that he should withdraw his troops fromtheir country altogether, and leave them to themselves. This, however, Pyrrhus refused to do. He had no intention of relinquishing the powerwhich he had acquired in Italy, and he accordingly began to makepreparations for leaving a strong garrison in Tarentum to maintain hisgovernment there. He organized a sort of regency in the city, and setapart a sufficient force from his army to maintain it in power duringhis absence. When this was done, he began to make preparations fortransporting the rest of his force to Sicily by sea. 

He determined to send Cineas forward first, according to his usualcustom, to make the preliminary arrangements in Sicily. Cineasconsequently left Tarentum with a small squadron of ships and galleys, and, after a short voyage, arrived safely at Syracuse. He found theleading powers in that city ready to welcome Pyrrhus as soon as heshould arrive, and make the young Alexander king. Cineas completed andclosed the arrangements for this purpose, and then sent messengers tovarious other cities on the northern side of the island, making knownto them the design which had been formed of raising an heir of KingAgathocles to the throne, and asking their co-operation in it. Hemanaged these negotiations with so much prudence and skill, thatnearly all that part of the island which was in the hands of theSicilians readily acceded to the plan, and the people were every whereprepared to welcome Pyrrhus and the young prince as soon as theyshould arrive. 

Sicily, as will be seen by referring to the map, is of a triangularform. It was only the southern portion which was at this time in thehands of the Sicilians. There were two foreign and hostile powers inpossession, respectively, of the northeastern and northwesternportions. In the northeastern corner of the island was the city ofMessana--the Messina of modern days. In the time of Pyrrhus'sexpedition, Messana was the seat and stronghold of a warlike nation, called the Mamertines, who had come over from Italy across the Straitsof Messana some years before, and, having made themselves masters ofthat portion of the island, had since held their ground there, notwithstanding all the efforts of the Sicilians to expel them. TheMamertines had originally come into Sicily, it was said, as Pyrrhushad gone into Italy--by invitation. Agathocles sent for them to comeand aid him in some of his wars. After the object for which they hadbeen sent for had been accomplished, Agathocles dismissed hisauxiliaries, and they set out on their return. They proceeded throughthe northeastern part of the island to Messana, where they were toembark for Italy. Though they had rendered Agathocles very efficientaid in his campaigns, they had also occasioned him an infinite deal oftrouble by their turbulent and ungovernable spirit; and now, as theywere withdrawing from the island, the inhabitants of the countrythrough which they passed on the way regarded them every where withterror and dread. The people of Messana, anxious to avoid a quarrelwith them, and disposed to facilitate their peaceable departure fromthe land by every means in their power, received them into the city, and hospitably entertained them there. Instead, however, of quietlywithdrawing from the city in proper time, as the Messanians hadexpected them to do, they rose suddenly and unexpectedly upon thepeople, at a concerted signal, took possession of the city, massacredwithout mercy all the men, seized the women and children, and then, each one establishing himself in the household that choice or chanceassigned him, married the wife and adopted the children whose husbandand father he had murdered. The result was the most complete andextraordinary overturning that the history of the world can afford. Itwas a political, a social, and a domestic revolution all in one. 

This event took place many years before the time of Pyrrhus'sexpedition; and though during the interval the Sicilians had made manyefforts to dispossess the intruders and to recover possession ofMessana, they had not been able to accomplish the work. The Mamertinesmaintained their ground in Messana, and from that city, as theirfortress and stronghold, they extended their power over a considerableportion of the surrounding country. 

This territory of the Mamertines was in the northeastern part of theisland. In the northwestern part, on the other hand, there was a largeprovince in the hands of the Carthaginians. Their chief city was Eryx;though there was another important city and port, called Lilybĉum, which was situated to the southward of Eryx, on the sea-shore. Herethe Carthaginians were accustomed to land their re-enforcements andstores; and by means of the ready and direct communication which theycould thus keep up with Carthage itself, they were enabled to resistall the efforts which the Sicilians had made to dispossess them. 

There were thus three objects to be accomplished by Pyrrhus in Sicilybefore his dominion over the island could be complete--namely, theSicilians themselves, in the southern and central parts of the island, were to be conciliated and combined, and induced to give up theirintestine quarrels, and to acknowledge the young Alexander as the kingof the island; and then the Mamertines on the northeast part, and theCarthaginians in the northwest, were to be conquered and expelled. 

The work was done, so far as related to the Sicilians themselves, mainly by Cineas. His dexterous negotiations healed, in a greatmeasure, the quarrels which prevailed among the people, and preparedthe way for welcoming Pyrrhus and the young prince, as soon as theyshould appear. In respect to the Carthaginians and the Mamertines, nothing, of course, could be attempted until the fleets and armiesshould arrive. 

At length the preparations for the sailing of the expedition fromTarentum were completed. The fleet consisted of two hundred sail. Theimmense squadron, every vessel of which was crowded with armed men, left the harbor of Tarentum, watched by a hundred thousand spectatorswho had assembled to witness its departure, and slowly made its wayalong the Italian shores, while its arrival at Syracuse was the objectof universal expectation and interest in that city. When at length thefleet appeared in view, entering its port of destination, the wholepopulation of the city and of the surrounding country flocked to theshores to witness the spectacle. Through the efforts which had beenmade by Cineas, and in consequence of the measures which he hadadopted, all ranks and classes of men were ready to welcome Pyrrhus asan expected deliverer. In the name of the young prince, his son, hewas to re-establish the ancient monarchy, restore peace and harmony tothe land, and expel the hated foreign enemies that infested theconfines of it. Accordingly, when the fleet arrived, and Pyrrhus andhis troops landed from it, they were received by the whole populationwith loud and tumultuous acclamations. 

After the festivities and rejoicings which were instituted tocelebrate Pyrrhus's arrival were concluded, the young Alexander wasproclaimed king, and a government was instituted in his name--Pyrrhushimself, of course, being invested with all actual power. Pyrrhus thentook the field; and, on mustering his forces, he found himself at thehead of thirty or forty thousand men. He first proceeded to attack theCarthaginians. He marched to the part of the island which they held, and gave them battle in the most vigorous and determined manner. Theyretreated to their cities, and shut themselves up closely within thewalls. Pyrrhus advanced to attack them. He determined to carry Eryx, which was the strongest of the Carthaginian cities, by storm, insteadof waiting for the slow operations of an ordinary siege. The troopswere accordingly ordered to advance at once to the walls, and theremounting, by means of innumerable ladders, to the parapets above, theywere to force their way in, over the defenses of the city, in spite ofall opposition. Of course, such a service as this is, of all theduties ever required of the soldier, the most dangerous possible. Thetowers and parapets above, which the assailants undertake to scale, are covered with armed men, who throng to the part of the wall againstwhich the attack is to be directed, and stand there ready with spears, javelins, rocks, and every other conceivable missile, to hurl uponthe 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 hissoldiers to encounter any danger which he was not willing himself toshare. He took the head of the column in the storming of Eryx, and wasthe first to mount the ladders. Previous, however, to advancing forthe attack, he performed a grand religious ceremony, in which heimplored the assistance of the god Hercules in the encounter which wasabout to take place; and made a solemn vow that if Hercules wouldassist him in the conflict, so as to enable him to display before theSicilians such strength and valor, and to perform such feats as shouldbe worthy of his name, his ancestry, and his past history, he would, immediately after the battle, institute on the spot a course offestivals and sacrifices of the most imposing and magnificentcharacter in honor of the god. This vow being made, the trumpetsounded and the storming party went forward--Pyrrhus at the head ofit. In mounting the ladder, he defended himself with his shield fromthe missiles thrown down upon him from above until he reached the topof the wall, and there, by means of his prodigious strength, anddesperate and reckless bravery, he soon gained ground for those thatfollowed him, and established a position there both for himself andfor them, having cut down one after another those who attempted tooppose him, until he had surrounded himself with a sort of parapet, formed of the bodies of the dead. 

[Illustration: THE ASSAULT. ]

In the mean time, the whole line of ladders extending along the wallwere crowded with men, all forcing their way upward against theresistance which the besieged opposed to them from above; whilethousands of troops, drawn up below as near as possible to the sceneof conflict, were throwing a shower of darts, arrows, javelins, spears, and other missiles, to aid the storming party by driving awaythe besieged from the top of the wall. By these means those who weremounting the ladders were so much aided in their efforts that theysoon succeeded in gaining possession of the wall, and thus madethemselves masters of the city. 

Pyrrhus then, in fulfillment of his vow, instituted a greatcelebration, and devoted several days to games, spectacles, shows, andpublic rejoicings of all kinds, intended to express his devoutgratitude to Hercules for the divine assistance which the god hadvouchsafed to him in the assault by which the city had been carried. 

By the result of this battle, and of some other military operationswhich we can not here particularly describe, the Carthaginians weredriven from the open field and compelled to shut themselves up intheir strongholds, or retire to the fastnesses of the mountains, wherethey found places of refuge and defense from which Pyrrhus could notat once dislodge them. Accordingly, leaving things at present as theywere in the Carthaginian or western part of the island, he proceededto attack the Mamertines in the eastern part. He was equallysuccessful here. By means of the tact and skill which he exercised inhis military arrangements and maneuvers, and by the desperate braveryand impetuosity which he displayed in battle, he conquered wherever hecame. He captured and destroyed many of the strongholds of theMamertines, drove them entirely out of the open country, and shut themup in Messana. Thus the island was almost wholly restored to thepossession of the Sicilians, while yet the foreign intruders, thoughchecked 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 inSicily, as heretofore, and to agree with Pyrrhus in respect to aboundary, each party being required by the proposed treaty to confinethemselves within their respective limits, as thus ascertained. Pyrrhus, however, replied that he could entertain no such proposals. He answered them precisely as the Romans had answered him on a similaroccasion, saying that he should insist upon their first retiring fromSicily altogether, as a preliminary step to any negotiations whatever. The Carthaginians would not accede to this demand, and so thenegotiations were suspended. 

Still the Carthaginians were so securely posted in their strongholds, that Pyrrhus supposed the work of dislodging them by force would be aslow, and tedious, and perhaps doubtful undertaking. His bold andrestless spirit accordingly conceived the design of leaving them asthey were, and going on in the prosecution of his original design, byorganizing a grand expedition for the invasion of Africa. In fact, hethought this would be the most effectual means of getting theCarthaginians out of Sicily; since he anticipated that, if he were toland in Africa, and threaten Carthage itself, the authorities therewould be compelled to recall all their forces from foreign lands todefend their own homes and firesides at the capital. He determined, therefore, to equip his fleet for a voyage across the Mediterraneanwithout any delay. 

He had ships enough, but he was in want of mariners. In order tosupply this want, he began to impress the Sicilians into his service. They were very reluctant to engage in it, partly from naturalaversion to so distant and dangerous an enterprise, and partly becausethey were unwilling that Pyrrhus should leave the island himself untiltheir foreign foes were entirely expelled. "As soon as you have gone, "they said, "the Carthaginians and the Mamertines will come out fromtheir hiding-places and retreats, and the country will be immediatelyinvolved in all the difficulties from which you have been endeavoringto 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 couldnot be induced to pay any heed to them. He was determined on carryinginto effect his design of a descent upon the coast of Africa. Heaccordingly pressed forward his preparations in a more arbitrary andreckless spirit than ever. He became austere, imperious, andtyrannical in his measures. He arrested some of the leading generalsand ministers of state--men who had been his firmest friends, andthrough whose agency it was that he had been invited into Sicily, butwhom he now suspected of being unfriendly to his designs. One of thesemen he put to death. In the mean time, he pressed forward hispreparations, compelling men to join his army and to embark on boardhis fleet, and resorting to other harsh and extreme measures, whichthe people might perhaps have submitted to from one of their ownhereditary sovereigns, but which were altogether intolerable whenimposed upon them by a foreign adventurer, who had come to theirisland by their invitation, to accomplish a prescribed and definiteduty. In a word, before Pyrrhus was ready to embark on his Africancampaign, a general rebellion broke out all over Sicily against hisauthority. Some of the people joined the Mamertines, some theCarthaginians. In a word, the whole country was in an uproar, andPyrrhus had the mortification of seeing the great fabric of powerwhich, as he imagined, he had been so successfully rearing, cometumbling suddenly on all sides to the ground. 

As the reader will have learned long before this time, it was not thenature of Pyrrhus to remain on the spot and grapple with difficultieslike these. If there were any new enterprise to be undertaken, or anydesperate battle to be fought on a sudden emergency, Pyrrhus wasalways ready and eager for action, and almost sure of success. But hehad no qualities whatever to fit him for the exigencies of such acrisis as this. He had ardor and impetuosity, but no perseverance ordecision. He could fight, but he could not plan. He was recklessly anddesperately brave in encountering physical danger, but, when involvedin difficulties and embarrassments, his only resource was to fly. Accordingly, it was soon announced in Sicily that Pyrrhus haddetermined to postpone his plan of proceeding to Africa, and was goingback to Tarentum, whence he came. He had received intelligence fromTarentum, he said, that required his immediate return to that city. This was probably true; for he had left things in such a condition atTarentum, that he was, doubtless, continually receiving suchintelligence from that quarter. Whether he received any special orextraordinary summons from Tarentum just at this time is extremelyuncertain. He, however, pretended that such a message had come; andunder this pretense he sheltered himself in his intended departure, soas just to escape the imputation of being actually driven away. 

His enemies, however, did not intend to allow him to depart in peace. The Carthaginians, being apprised of his design, sent a fleet to watchthe coast and intercept him; while the Mamertines, crossing theStrait, marched to the place on the coast of Italy where they expectedhe would land, intending to attack him as soon as he should set footupon the shore. Both these plans were successful. The Carthaginiansattacked his fleet, and destroyed many of his ships. Pyrrhus himselfbarely succeeded in making his escape with a small number of vessels, and reaching the shore. Here, as soon as he gained the land, he wasconfronted by the Mamertines, who had reached the place before himwith ten thousand men. Pyrrhus soon collected from the ships thatreached the land a force so formidable that the Mamertines did notdare to attack him in a body, but they blocked up the passes throughwhich the way to Tarentum lay, and endeavored in every way tointercept and harass him in his march. They killed two of hiselephants, and cut off many separate detachments of men, and finallyderanged all his plans, and threw his whole army into confusion. Pyrrhus at length determined to force his enemies to battle. Accordingly, as soon as a favorable opportunity occurred, he pushedforward at the head of a strong force, and attacked the Mamertines ina sudden and most impetuous manner. 

A terrible conflict ensued, in which Pyrrhus, as usual, exposedhimself personally in the most desperate manner. In fact, the variousdisappointments and vexations which he had endured had aroused him toa state of great exasperation against his tormenting enemies. Hepushed forward into the hottest part of the battle, his prodigiousmuscular 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, forthe moment, entirely disabled him. He was rescued from his peril byhis friends, though stunned and fainting under the blow, and was borneoff from the scene of conflict with the blood flowing down his faceand neck--a frightful spectacle. On being carried to a place of safetywithin his own ranks, he soon revived, and it was found that he wasnot dangerously hurt. The enemy, however, full of rage and hatred, came up as near as they dared to the spot where Pyrrhus had beencarried, and stood there, calling out to him to come back if he wasstill alive, and filling the air with taunting and insulting cries, and vociferations of challenge and defiance. Pyrrhus endured thismockery for a few moments as well as he could, but was finally goadedby it into a perfect phrensy of rage. He seized his weapons, pushedhis friends and attendants aside, and, in spite of all theirremonstrances and all their efforts to restrain him, he rushed forthand assailed his enemies with greater fury than ever. Breathless as hewas from his former efforts, and covered with blood and gore, heexhibited a shocking spectacle to all who beheld him. The champion ofthe Mamertines--the one who had been foremost in challenging Pyrrhusto return--came up to meet him with his weapon upraised. Pyrrhusparried the blow, and then, suddenly bringing down his own sword uponthe top of his antagonist's head, he cut the man down, as the story istold, from head to foot, making so complete a division, that one halfof 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 physicalstrength which the human arm is capable of exerting. This fact, however, of cleaving the body of a man by a blow from a sword, wasregarded in ancient times as just on the line of absoluteimpossibility, and was considered, consequently, as the highestpersonal exploit which a soldier could perform. It was attributed, atdifferent times, to several different warriors, though it is notbelieved in modern days that the feat was ever really performed. 

But, whatever may have been the fate of the Mamertine champion underPyrrhus's sword, the army itself met with such a discomfiture in thebattle that they gave Pyrrhus no further trouble, but, retiring fromthe field, left him to pursue his march to Tarentum for the remainderof the way in peace. He arrived there at last, with a force in numbersabout equal to that with which he had left Tarentum for Sicily. Thewhole object, however, of his expedition had totally failed. Theenterprise, in fact, like almost all the undertakings which Pyrrhusengaged in, though brilliantly and triumphantly successful in thebeginning, came only to disappointment and disaster in the end. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE RETREAT FROM ITALY. 

B. C. 276-274

State of Pyrrhus's army. --His enfeebled condition. --Precarioussituation of his affairs. --Affair of Locri. --Pyrrhus recapturesit. --Proserpina, the Goddess of Death. --Explanations. --Centaurs, mermaids, hippogriffs, and other fables. --Fabulous history ofProserpina. --Ceres seeks her. --Mystical significancy of Proserpina'slife. --Pyrrhus resolves to confiscate the treasures at Locri. --Theships are wrecked and the treasures lost. --Pyrrhus is oppressedwith superstitious fears. --He goes forth from Tarentum to meet theRomans. --Pyrrhus meets Curius near Beneventum. --He advances through amountain path by torch-light. --The Romans taken by surprise. --Pyrrhusis repulsed. --Adventures of Pyrrhus on the field of battle. --Onset ofthe elephants. --They are terrified by the torches. --The young elephantand its mother. --Pyrrhus's flight. --His desperate expedient. --Hearrives at length safely in Epirus. --

The force with which Pyrrhus returned to Tarentum was very nearly aslarge as that which he had taken away, but was composed of verydifferent materials. The Greeks from Epirus, whom he had brought overwith him in the first instance from his native land, had graduallydisappeared from the ranks of his army. Many of them had been killedin battle, and still greater numbers had been carried off by exposureand fatigue, and by the thousand other casualties incident to such aservice as that in which they were engaged. Their places had beensupplied, from time to time, by new enlistments, or by impressment andconscription. Of course, these new recruits were not bound to theircommander by any ties of attachment or regard. They were mostlymercenaries--that is, men hired to fight, and willing to fight, in anycause or for any commander, provided they could be paid. In a word, Pyrrhus's fellow-countrymen of Epirus had disappeared, and the ranksof his army were filled up with unprincipled and destitute wretches, who felt no interest in his cause--no pride in his success--no concernfor his honor. They adhered to him only for the sake of the pay andthe indulgences of a soldier's life, and for their occasional hopes ofplunder. 

Besides the condition of his army, Pyrrhus found the situation of hisaffairs in other respects very critical on his arrival at Tarentum. The Romans had made great progress, during his absence, in subjugatingthe whole country to their sway. Cities and towns, which had beenunder his dominion when he went to Sicily, had been taken by theRomans, or had gone over to them of their own accord. The governmentwhich he had established at Tarentum was thus curtailed of power, andshut in in respect to territory; and he felt himself compelledimmediately to take the field, in order to recover his lost ground. 

He adopted vigorous measures immediately to re-enforce his army, andto obtain the necessary supplies. His treasury was exhausted; in orderto replenish it, he dispatched embassadors to his various allies toborrow money. He knew, of course, that a large portion of his armywould abandon him immediately so soon as they should find that he wasunable to pay them. He was, therefore, quite uneasy for a time inrespect to the state of his finances, and he instructed hisembassadors to press the urgency of his wants upon his allies in avery earnest manner. 

He did not, however, wait for the result of these measures, butimmediately commenced active operations in the field. One of his firstexploits was the recapture of Locri, a city situated on the southernshore of Italy, as will be seen by the map. This city had been in hispossession before he went to Sicily, but it had gone over to theRomans during his absence. Locri was a very considerable town, and therecovery of it from the Romans was considered quite an important gain. The place derived its consequence, in some considerable degree, from acelebrated 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 valuable treasures. It notonly gave distinction to the town in which it stood, but, on accountof an extraordinary train of circumstances which occurred inconnection with it, it became the occasion of one of the mostimportant incidents in Pyrrhus's history. 

Proserpina, as has already been intimated, was the Goddess of Death. It is very difficult for us at the present day to understand andappreciate the conceptions which the Greeks and Romans, in ancienttimes, entertained of the supernatural beings which theyworshiped--those strange creations, in which we see historic truth, poetic fancy, and a sublime superstition so singularly blended. To aidus in rightly understanding this subject, we must remember that inthose days the boundaries of what was known as actual reality werevery uncertain and vague. Only a very small portion, either of thevisible world or of the domain of science and philosophy, had thenbeen explored; and in the thoughts and conceptions of every man, thenatural and the true passed by insensible gradations, on every hand, into the monstrous and the supernatural, there being no principles ofany kind established in men's minds to mark the boundaries where thetrue and the possible must end, and all beyond be impossible andabsurd. The knowledge, therefore, that men derived from theobservation of such truths and such objects as were immediatelyaround them, passed by insensible gradations into the regions of fancyand romance, and all was believed together. They saw lions andelephants in the lands which were near, and which they knew; and theybelieved in the centaurs, the mermaids, the hippogriffs, and thedragons, which they imagined inhabiting regions more remote. They sawheroes and chieftains in the plains and in the valleys below; and theyhad no reason to disbelieve in the existence of gods and demi-godsupon the summits of the blue and beautiful mountains above, where, foraught they knew, there might lie boundless territories of verdure andloveliness, wholly inaccessible to man. In the same manner, beneaththe earth somewhere, they knew not where, there lay, as they imagined, extended regions destined to receive the spirits of the dead, withapproaches leading to it, through mysterious grottoes and caverns, from above. Proserpina was the Goddess of Death, and the queen ofthese lower abodes. 

Various stories were told of her origin and history. The one mostcharacteristic and most minutely detailed is this:

She was the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. She was very beautiful;and, in order to protect her from the importunity of lovers, hermother sent her, under the care of an attendant named Calligena, to acavern in Sicily, and concealed her there. The mouth of the cavern wasguarded by dragons. Pluto, who was the god of the inferior regions, asked her of Jupiter, her father, for his wife. Jupiter consented, andsent Venus to entice her out of her cavern, that Pluto might obtainher. Venus, attended by Minerva and Diana, proceeded to the cavernwhere Proserpina was concealed. The three goddesses contrived somemeans to keep the dragons that guarded the cavern away, and theneasily persuaded the maiden to come out to take a walk. Proserpina wascharmed with the verdure and beauty which she found around her on thesurface of the ground, strongly contrasted as they were with the gloomand desolation of her cavern. She was attended by nymphs and zephyrsin her walk, and in their company she rambled along, admiring thebeauty and enjoying the fragrance of the flowers. Some of the flowerswhich most attracted her attention were produced on the spot by themiraculous power of Jupiter, who caused them to spring up in wonderfulluxuriance and splendor, the more effectually to charm the senses ofthe maiden whom they were enticing away. At length, suddenly theearth opened, and Pluto appeared, coming up from below in a goldenchariot drawn by immortal steeds, and, seizing Proserpina, he carriedher down to his own abodes. 

Ceres, the mother of Proserpina, was greatly distressed when shelearned the fate of her daughter. She immediately went to Jupiter, andimplored him to restore Proserpina to the upper world. Jupiter, on theother hand, urged Ceres to consent to her remaining as the wife ofPluto. The mother, however, would not yield, and finally her tears andentreaties so far prevailed over Jupiter as to induce him to givepermission to Ceres to bring Proserpina back, provided that she hadnot tasted of any food that grew in the regions below. Ceresaccordingly went in search of her daughter. She found, unfortunately, that Proserpina, in walking through the Elysian fields with Pluto, hadincautiously eaten a pomegranate which she had taken from a tree thatwas growing there. She was consequently precluded from availingherself of Jupiter's permission to return to Olympus. Finally, however, Jupiter consented that she should divide her time between theinferior and the superior regions, spending six months with Plutobelow, and six months with her mother above; and she did so. 

Proserpina was looked upon by all mankind with feelings of greatveneration and awe as the goddess and queen of death, and she wasworshiped in many places with solemn and imposing ceremonies. Therewas, moreover, in the minds of men, a certain mystical significancy inthe mode of life which she led, in thus dividing her time by regularalternations between the lower and upper worlds, that seemed to themto denote and typify the principle of _vegetation_, which may beregarded as, in a certain sense, alternately a principle of life anddeath, inasmuch as, for six months in the year, it appears in the formof living and growing plants, rising above the ground, and coveringthe earth with verdure and beauty, and then, for the six months thatremain, it withdraws from the view, and exists only in the form ofinert and apparently lifeless roots and seeds, concealed in hiddenrecesses beneath the ground. Proserpina was thus considered the typeand emblem of vegetation, and she was accordingly worshiped, in somesense, as the goddess of resuscitation and life, as well as of deathand the grave. 

One of the principal temples which had been built in honor ofProserpina was situated, as has already been said, at Locri, andceremonials and festivals were celebrated here, at stated intervals, with great pomp and parade. This temple had become very wealthy, too, immense treasures having been collected in it, consisting of gold andsilver vessels, precious stones, and rich and splendid paraphernaliaof every kind--the gifts and offerings which had been made, from timeto time, by princes and kings who had attended the festivals. 

When Pyrrhus had reconquered Locri from the Romans, and this temple, with all its treasures, fell into his power, some of his adviserssuggested that, since he was in such urgent need of money, and all hisother plans for supplying himself had hitherto failed, he should takepossession of these treasures. They might, it was argued, beconsidered, in some sense, as public property; and, as the Locrianshad revolted 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 possession of therichest and most valuable of the articles which the temple contained, and, putting them on board ships which he sent to Locri for thepurpose, he undertook to transport them to Tarentum. He intended toconvert them there into money, in order to obtain funds to supply thewants of his army. 

The ships, however, on their passage along the coast, encountered aterrible storm, and were nearly all wrecked and destroyed. Themariners who had navigated the vessels were drowned, while yet thesacred treasures were saved, and that, too, as it would seem, by somesupernatural agency, since the same surges which overwhelmed anddestroyed the sacrilegious ships and seamen, washed the cases in whichthe holy treasures had been packed up upon the beach; and there themessengers of Pyrrhus found them, scattered among the rocks and on thesand at various points along the shore. Pyrrhus was greatly terrifiedat this disaster. He conceived that it was a judgment of Heaven, inflicted upon him through the influence and agency of Proserpina, asa punishment for his impious presumption in despoiling her shrine. Hecarefully collected all that the sea had saved, and sent every thingback to Locri. He instituted solemn services there in honor ofProserpina, to express his penitence for his faults, and, to give astill more decisive proof of his desire to appease her anger, he putto death the counselors who had advised him to take the treasures. 

Notwithstanding all these attempts to atone for his offense, Pyrrhuscould not dispel from his mind the gloomy impression which had beenmade upon it by the idea that he had incurred the direct displeasureof Heaven. He did not believe that the anger of Proserpina was everfully appeased; and whenever misfortunes and calamities befell him inhis subsequent career, he attributed them to the displeasure of thegoddess of death, who, as he believed, followed him every where, andwas intent on effecting his ruin. 

It was now late in the season, and the military operations both ofPyrrhus and of the Romans were, in a great measure, suspended untilspring. Pyrrhus spent the interval in making arrangements for takingthe field as soon as the winter should be over. He had, however, manydifficulties to contend with. His financial embarrassment stillcontinued. His efforts to procure funds were only very partiallysuccessful. The people too, in all the region about Tarentum, were, hefound, wholly alienated from him. They had not forgiven him for havingleft them to go to Sicily, and, in consequence of this abandonment oftheir cause, they had lost much of their confidence in him as theirprotector, while every thing like enthusiasm in his service was whollygone. Through these and other causes, he encountered innumerableimpediments in executing his plans, and his mind was harassed withcontinual disappointment and anxiety. 

Such, however, was still his resolution and energy, that when theseason arrived for taking the field, he had a considerable force inreadiness, and he marched out of Tarentum at the head of it, to go andmeet the Romans. The Romans themselves, on the other hand, had raiseda very large force, and had sent it forward in two divisions, underthe command of the two consuls. These two divisions took differentroutes; one passing to the north, through the province of Samnium, andthe other to the south, through Lucania--both, however, leading towardTarentum. Pyrrhus divided his forces also into two parts. One body oftroops he sent northwardly into Samnium, to meet the northern divisionof the Roman army, while with the other he advanced himself by themore southern route, to meet the Roman consul who was coming throughLucania. The name of this consul was Curius Dentatus. 

Pyrrhus advanced into Lucania. The Roman general, when he found thathis enemy was coming, thought it most prudent to send for the otherdivision of his army--namely, the one which was marching throughSamnium--and to wait until it should arrive before giving Pyrrhusbattle. He accordingly dispatched the necessary orders to Lentulus, who commanded the northern division, and, in the mean time, intrenchedhimself in a strong encampment at a place called Beneventum. Pyrrhusentered Lucania and advanced toward Beneventum, and, afterascertaining the state of the case in respect to the situation of thecamp and the plans of Curius, he paused at some distance from theRoman position, in order to consider what it was best for him to do. He finally came to the conclusion that it was very important that hisconflict with the Romans under Curius should take place beforeLentulus should arrive to re-enforce them, and so he determined toadvance rapidly, and fall upon and surprise them in theirintrenchments before they were aware of his approach. This plan heaccordingly attempted to execute. He advanced in the ordinary mannerand by the public roads of the country until he began to draw near toBeneventum. At the close of the day he encamped as usual; but, instead of waiting in his camp until the following day, and thenmarching on in his accustomed manner, he procured guides to lead histroops around by a circuitous path among the mountains, with a view ofcoming down suddenly and unexpectedly upon the camp of the Romans fromthe hills very early in the morning. An immense number of torches wereprovided, to furnish light for the soldiers in traversing the darkforests and gloomy ravines through which their pathway lay. 

Notwithstanding all the precautions which had been taken, thedifficulties of the route were so great that the progress of thetroops was very much impeded. The track was every where encumberedwith bushes, rocks, fallen trees, and swampy tracts of ground, so thatthe soldiers made way very slowly. Great numbers of the torches failedin the course of the night, some getting extinguished by accident, andothers going out from exhaustion of fuel. By these means great numbersof the troops were left in the dark, and after groping about for atime in devious and uncertain paths, became hopelessly lost in theforest. Notwithstanding all these difficulties and discouragements, however, the main body of the army pressed resolutely on, and, justabout daybreak, the van came out upon the heights above the Romanencampment. As soon as a sufficient number were assembled, they wereat once marshaled in battle array, and, descending from the mountains, they made a furious onset upon the intrenchments of the enemy. 

The Romans were taken wholly by surprise, and their camp becameimmediately a scene of the wildest confusion. The men started up everywhere out of their sleep and seized their arms. They were soon in asituation to make a very effectual resistance to the attack of theirenemies. They first beat the assailants back from the points wherethey were endeavoring to gain admission, and then, encouraged by theirsuccess, they sallied forth from their intrenchments, and becameassailants in their turn. The Greeks were soon overpowered, and forcedto retire altogether from the ground. A great many were killed, andsome elephants, which Pyrrhus had contrived by some means to bring upto the spot, were taken. The Romans were, of course, greatly elated atthis victory. 

In fact, so much was Curius gratified and pleased with this success, and so great was the confidence with which it inspired him, that hedetermined to wait no longer for Lentulus, but to march out at onceand give Pyrrhus battle. He accordingly brought forth his troops anddrew them up on a plain near his encampment, posting them in such away as to gain a certain advantage for himself in the nature of theground which he had chosen, while yet, since there was nothing but theopen field between himself and his enemy, the movement was a fair andregular challenge to battle. Pyrrhus accepted this challenge bybringing up his forces to the field, and the conflict began. 

As soon as the combatants were fairly engaged, one of the wings ofPyrrhus's army began to give way. The other wing, on the contrary, which was the one that Pyrrhus himself personally commanded, wasvictorious. Pyrrhus himself led his soldiers on; and he inspiredthem with so much strength and energy by his own reckless daring, that all those portions of the Roman army which were opposed to themwere 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 elephants, for they foughtin that part of the field. As the Romans were almost whollyunaccustomed to the warfare of elephants, they knew not how toresist them, and the huge beasts bore down all before them whereverthey moved. In this crisis, Curius ordered a fresh body of troops toadvance. It was a corps of reserve, which he had stationed near thecamp under orders to hold themselves in readiness there, to comeforward and act at any moment, and at any part of the field wherevertheir services might be required. These troops were now summoned toadvance 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, withtheir swords, they attacked the keepers and drivers of the beasts, and the men who fought in connection with them. The success of thisonset was so great, that the elephants soon became unmanageable. They even broke into the phalanx, and threw the ranks of it intoconfusion, overturning and trampling upon the men, and fallingthemselves upon the slain, under the wounds which the spearsinflicted upon them. 

[Illustration: THE ROUT. ]

A remarkable incident is said to have occurred in the midst of thisscene of confusion and terror, which strikingly illustrates thestrength of the maternal instinct, even among brutes. It happened thatthere was a young elephant, and also its mother, in the same divisionof Pyrrhus's army. The former, though young, was sufficiently grown toserve as an elephant of war, and, as it happened, its post on thefield of battle was not very far from that of its mother. In thecourse of the battle the young elephant was wounded, and it utteredimmediately a piercing cry of pain and terror. The mother heard thecry, and recognized the voice that uttered it through all the din anduproar of the battle. She immediately became wholly ungovernable, and, breaking away from the control of her keepers, she rushed forward, trampling down every thing in her way, to rescue and protect heroffspring. This incident occurred at the commencement of the attackwhich the Roman reserve made upon the elephants, and contributed veryessentially to the panic and confusion which followed. 

In the end Pyrrhus was entirely defeated. He was compelled to abandonhis camp and to retire toward Tarentum. The Romans immediatelyadvanced, flushed with victory, and carrying all before them. Pyrrhusretreated faster and faster, his numbers continually diminishing as hefled, until at last, when he reached Tarentum, he had only a fewhorsemen in his train. He sent off the most urgent requests to hisfriends and allies in Greece to furnish him aid. The help, however, did not come, and Pyrrhus, in order to keep the small remnant thatstill adhered to him together, resorted to the desperate expedient offorging letters from his friends, promising speedy and abundantsupplies, and showing these letters to his officers, to prevent themfrom being wholly discouraged and abandoning his cause. This miserablecontrivance, however, even if successful, could only afford amomentary relief. Pyrrhus soon found that all hope and possibility ofretrieving his fortunes in Italy had entirely disappeared, and that noalternative was left to him but to abandon the ground. So, pretendingto wonder why his allies did not send forward the succors which theyhad promised in their letters, and saying that, since they were sodilatory and remiss, he must go himself and bring them, but promisingthat he would immediately return, he set sail from Tarentum, and, crossing the sea, went home to his own kingdom. He arrived safely inEpirus after an absence of six years. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE FAMILY OF LYSIMACHUS. 

B. C. 284-273

Some account of the family of Lysimachus. --Remarks on the principleof hereditary succession. --Difficulties that oftenoccur. --Examples. --Return to the history of Macedon. --Stories ofLysimachus's strength and courage. --Put in a dungeon with alion. --Amastris and her two sons. --Arsinoe. --Feud in Ptolemy'sfamily. --Origin of the quarrel. --Account of the family. --PtolemyCeraunus. --Transfer of the quarrel from Egypt toMacedon. --Lysandra. --Envy and hatred of Arsinoe. --Lysandra's husbandimprisoned. --Danger of her children. --Lysandra's flight. --An armyraised. --Desperate battle. --Ptolemy Ceraunus. --His reckless anddesperate character. --Alliance of Ceraunus with Seleucus. --Hisplans. --Ceraunus's meditated treachery. --Argos. --Ceraunus proceedsto Macedon. --His rivals and enemies. --Their various claims. --Thefirst contest was with Antigonus. --Arsinoe and her children. --Theirretreat to Cassandria. --Ceraunus proposes marriage toArsinoe. --Ceraunus finds himself in great prosperity. --Invasionthreatened. --Ceraunus prepares to defend himself. --Ceraunus thrownto the ground and killed. --Consequences of the death of Ceraunus. 

The reader will perhaps recollect that when Pyrrhus withdrew fromMacedon, before he embarked on his celebrated expedition into Italy, the enemy before he was compelled to retire was Lysimachus. Lysimachuscontinued to reign in Macedon for some time after Pyrrhus had gone, until, finally, he was himself overthrown, under circumstances of avery remarkable character. In fact, his whole history affords astriking illustration of the nature of the results which oftenfollowed, in ancient times, from the system of government which thenalmost universally prevailed--a system in which the supreme power wasconsidered as rightfully belonging to some sovereign who derived itfrom his ancestors by hereditary descent, and who, in the exercise ofit, was entirely above all sense of responsibility to the subjects ofhis dominion. 

It has sometimes been said by writers on the theory of civilgovernment that the principle of hereditary sovereignty in thegovernment of a nation has a decided advantage over any elective modeof designating the chief magistrate, on account of its _certainty_. Ifthe system is such that, on the death of a monarch, the supreme powerdescends to his eldest son, the succession is determined at once, without debate or delay. If, on the other hand, an election is to takeplace, there must be a contest. Parties are formed; plans andcounterplans are laid; a protracted and heated controversy ensues; andwhen, finally, the voting is ended, there is sometimes doubt anduncertainty in ascertaining the true result, and very often an angryand obstinate refusal to acquiesce in it when it is determined. Thusthe principle of hereditary descent seems simple, clear, and liable tono uncertainty or doubt, while that of popular election tends to leadthe country subject to it into endless disputes, and often ultimatelyto civil war. 

But though this may be in _theory_ the operation of the two systems, in actual practice it has been found that the hereditary principle hasvery little advantage over any other in respect to the avoidance ofuncertainty and dispute. Among the innumerable forms and phases whichthe principle of hereditary descent assumes in actual life, the casesin which one acknowledged and unquestioned sovereign of a countrydies, and leaves one acknowledged and unquestioned heir, arecomparatively few. The relationships existing among the variousbranches of a family are often extremely intricate and complicated. Sometimes they become variously entangled with each other byintermarriages; sometimes the claims arising under them are disturbed, or modified, or confused by conquests and revolutions; and thus theyoften become so hopelessly involved that no human sagacity canclassify or arrange them. The case of France at the present time[L] isa striking illustration of this difficulty, there being in thatcountry no less than three sets of claimants who regard themselvesentitled to the supreme power--the representatives, namely, of theBourbon, the Orleans, and the Napoleon dynasties. Each one of thegreat parties rests the claim which they severally advance in behalfof their respective candidates more or less exclusively on rightsderived from their hereditary relationship to former rulers of thekingdom, and there is no possible mode of settling the questionbetween them but by the test of power. Even if all concerned weredisposed to determine the controversy by a peaceful appeal to theprinciples of the law of descent, as relating to the transmission ofgovernmental power, no principles could be found that would apply tothe case; or, rather, so numerous are the principles that would berequired to be taken into the account, and so involved and complicatedare the facts to which they must be applied, that any distinctsolution of the question on theoretical grounds would be utterlyimpossible. There is, and there can be, no means of solving such aquestion but power. 

[Footnote L: January, 1852. ]

In fact, the history of the smaller monarchies of ancient times iscomprised, sometimes for centuries almost exclusively, in narrativesof the intrigues, the contentions, and the bloody wars of rivalfamilies, and rival branches of the same family, in asserting theirrespective claims as inheritors to the possession of power. This truthis strikingly illustrated in the events which occurred in Macedonduring the absence of Pyrrhus in Italy and Sicily, in connection withthe family of Lysimachus, and his successor in power there. Theseevents we shall now proceed to relate in their order. 

At the time when Pyrrhus was driven from Macedon by Lysimachus, previous to his going into Italy, Lysimachus was far advanced in age. He was, in fact, at this time nearly seventy years old. He commencedhis military career during the lifetime of Alexander the Great, havingbeen one of the great conqueror's most distinguished generals. Manystories were told, in his early life, of his personal strength andvalor. On one occasion, as was said, when hunting in Syria, heencountered a lion of immense size single-handed, and, after a verydesperate and obstinate conflict, he succeeded in killing him, thoughnot without receiving severe wounds himself in the contest. Anotherstory was, that at one time, having displeased Alexander, he wascondemned to suffer death, and that, too, in a very cruel and horriblemanner. He was to be thrown into a lion's den. This was a mode ofexecution not uncommon in ancient times. It answered a double purpose;it not only served for a terrible punishment in respect to the man, but it also effected a useful end in respect to the animal. By givinghim a living man to seize and devour, the savage ferocity of the beastwas stimulated and increased, and thus he was rendered more valuablefor the purposes and uses for which he was retained. In the case ofLysimachus, however, both these objects failed. As soon as he was putinto the dungeon where the lion was awaiting him, he attacked thebeast, and, though unarmed, he succeeded in destroying him. Alexanderadmired so much the desperate strength and courage evinced by thisexploit, that he pardoned the criminal and restored him to favor. 

Lysimachus continued in the service of Alexander as long as thatmonarch lived; and when, at the death of Alexander, the empire wasdivided among the leading generals, the kingdom of Thrace, whichadjoins Macedon on the east, [M] was assigned to him as his portion. Heis commonly designated, therefore, in history, as the King of Thrace;though in the subsequent 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 ofdomestic troubles. His second wife was a Sicilian princess namedAmastris. She was a widow at the time of her marriage with Lysimachus, and had two sons. After being married to her for some time, Lysimachusrepudiated and abandoned her, and she returned to Sicily with her twosons, and lived in a certain city which belonged to them there. Theyoung men were not of age, and Amastris accordingly assumed thegovernment of the city in their name. They, however, quarreled withtheir mother, and finally drowned her, in order to remove her out oftheir way. Lysimachus, though he might justly have considered himselfas in some sense the cause of this catastrophe, since, by desertinghis wife and withdrawing his protection from her, he compelled her toreturn 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 Amastrisprisoners, and put them to death without mercy, in retribution fortheir atrocious crime. 

[Footnote M: See map. ]

At the time when Lysimachus put away his wife, Amastris, he marriedArsinoe, an Egyptian princess, the daughter, in fact, of Ptolemy, theson of Lagus, who was at this time the king of Egypt. How farLysimachus was governed, in his repudiation of Amastris, by theinfluence of Arsinoe's personal attractions in winning his heart awayfrom his fidelity to his legitimate wife, and how far, on the otherhand, he was alienated from her by her own misconduct or the violenceof her temper, is not now known. At any rate, the Sicilian wife, ashas been stated, was dismissed and sent home, and the Egyptianprincess came into her place. 

The small degree of domestic peace and comfort which Lysimachus hadhitherto enjoyed was far from being improved by this change. Thefamily of Ptolemy was distracted by a deadly feud, and, by means ofthe marriage of Arsinoe with Lysimachus, and of another marriage whichsubsequently occurred, and which will be spoken of presently, thequarrel was transferred, in all its bitterness, to the family ofLysimachus, 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 ofAntipater. When Eurydice, at the time of her marriage, went with herhusband into Egypt, she was accompanied by her cousin Berenice, ayoung and beautiful widow, whom she invited to go with her as hercompanion and friend. A great change, however, soon took place in therelations which they sustained to each other. From being veryaffectionate and confidential friends, they became, as often happensin similar cases, on far less conspicuous theatres of action, rivalsand enemies. Berenice gained the affections of Ptolemy, and at lengthhe married her. Arsinoe, whom Lysimachus married, was the daughter ofPtolemy and Berenice. They had also a son who was named Ptolemy, andwho, at the death of his father, succeeded him on the throne. This sonsubsequently became renowned in history under the name of PtolemyPhiladelphus. He was the second monarch of the Ptolemaic line. 

But, besides these descendants of Berenice, there was another set ofchildren in Ptolemy's family--namely, those by Eurydice. Eurydice hada son and a daughter. The name of the son was Ptolemy Ceraunus; thatof the daughter was Lysandra. There was, of course, a standing andbitter feud always raging between these two branches of the royalhousehold. The two wives, though they had once been friends, now, ofcourse, hated each other with perfect hatred. Each had her own circleof partisans and adherents, and the court was distracted for manyyears with the intrigues, the plots, the dissensions, and the endlessschemes and counterschemes which were resorted to by the two partiesin their efforts to thwart and circumvent each other. As Arsinoe, thewife of Lysimachus, was the daughter of Berenice, it might have beenexpected that the influence of Berenice's party would prevail inLysimachus's court. This would doubtless have been the case, had itnot been that unfortunately there was another alliance formed betweenthe two families which complicated the connection, and led, in theend, to the most deplorable results. This other alliance was themarriage of Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus, with Lysandra, Eurydice's daughter. Thus, in the court and family of Lysimachus, Berenice had a representative in the person of her daughter Arsinoe, the wife of the king himself; while Eurydice, also, had one in theperson of her daughter Lysandra, the wife of the king's son. Ofcourse, the whole virulence of the quarrel was spread from Egypt toMacedon, and the household of Lysimachus was distracted by thedissensions of Arsinoe and Lysandra, and by the attempts which eachmade 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 onlythe wife of his son. Still, the position and the influence ofLysandra were very high. Agathocles was a prince of greatconsideration and honor. He had been very successful in his militarycampaigns, had won many battles, and had greatly extended the dominionand power of his father. He was a great favorite, in fact, both withthe army and with the people, all of whom looked up to him as the hopeand the pride of the kingdom. 

Of course, the bestowal of all this fame and honor upon Lysandra'shusband only served to excite the rivalry and hatred of Arsinoe themore. She and Lysandra were sisters, or, rather, half-sisters--beingdaughters of the same father. They were, however, on this veryaccount, natural enemies to each other, for their mothers were rivals. Arsinoe, of course, was continually devising means to curtail thegrowing importance and greatness of Agathocles. Agathocles himself, onthe other hand, would naturally make every effort to thwart andcounteract her designs. In the end, Arsinoe succeeded in convincingLysimachus that Agathocles was plotting a conspiracy against him, andwas intending to take the kingdom into his own hands. This may havebeen true. Whether it was true or false, however, can now never beknown. At all events, Lysimachus was induced to believe it. He orderedAgathocles to be seized and put into prison, and then, a short timeafterward, he caused him to be poisoned. Lysandra was overwhelmed withconsternation and sorrow at this event. She was, moreover, greatlyalarmed for herself and for her children, and also for her brother, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who was with her at this time. It was obvious thatthere could be no longer any safety for her in Macedon, and so, takingwith her her children, her brother, and a few friends who adhered toher cause, she made her escape from Macedon and went to Asia. Here shecast herself upon the protection of Seleucus, king of Syria. 

Seleucus was another of the generals of Alexander--the only one, infact, besides Lysimachus, who now survived. He had, of course, likeLysimachus, attained to a very advanced period of life, being at thistime more than seventy-five years old. These veterans might have beensupposed to have lived long enough to have laid aside their ancientrivalries, and to have been willing to spend their few remaining yearsin peace. But it was far otherwise in fact. Seleucus was pleased withthe pretext afforded him, by the coming of Lysandra, for embarking innew wars. Lysandra was, in a short time, followed in her flight bymany of the nobles and chieftains of Macedon, who had espoused hercause. Lysimachus, in fact, had driven them away by the severemeasures which he had adopted against them. These men assembled at thecourt of Seleucus, and there, with Lysander and Ptolemy Ceraunus, theybegan to form plans for invading the dominions of Lysimachus, andavenging the cruel death of Agathocles. Seleucus was very easilyinduced to enter into these plans, and war was declared. 

Lysimachus did not wait for his enemies to invade his dominions; heorganized an army, crossed the Hellespont, and marched to meetSeleucus in Asia Minor. The armies met in Phrygia. A desperate battlewas fought. Lysimachus was conquered and slain. 

Seleucus now determined to cross the Hellespont himself, and, advancing into Thrace and Macedon, to annex those kingdoms to his owndomains. Ptolemy Ceraunus accompanied him. This Ptolemy, it will berecollected, was the son of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, by his wifeEurydice; and, at first view, it might seem that he could have noclaim whatever himself to the crown of Macedon. But Eurydice, hismother, was the daughter of Antipater, the general to whom Macedon hadbeen assigned on the original division of the empire after Alexander'sdeath. Antipater had reigned over the kingdom for a long time withgreat splendor and renown, and his name and memory were still held ingreat veneration by all the Macedonians. Ptolemy Ceraunus began toconceive, therefore, that he was entitled to succeed to the kingdom asthe grandson and heir of the monarch who was Alexander's immediatesuccessor, and whose claims were consequently, as he contended, entitled to take precedence of all others. 

Moreover, Ptolemy Ceraunus had lived for a long time in Macedon, atthe court of Lysimachus, having fled there from Egypt on account ofthe quarrels in which he was involved in his father's family. He was aman of a very reckless and desperate character, and, while a young manin his father's court, he had shown himself very ill able to brook thepreference which his father was disposed to accord to Berenice and toher children over his mother Eurydice and him. In fact, it was saidthat one reason which led his father to give Berenice's family theprecedence over that of Eurydice, and to propose that _her_ sonrather than Ptolemy Ceraunus should succeed him, was the violent anduncontrollable spirit which Ceraunus displayed. At any rate, Ceraunusquarreled openly with his father, and went to Macedon to join hissister there. He had subsequently spent some considerable time at thecourt of Lysimachus, and had taken some active part in public affairs. When Agathocles was poisoned, he fled with Lysandra to Seleucus; andwhen the preparations were made by Seleucus for war with Lysimachus, he probably regarded himself as in some sense the leader of theexpedition. He considered Seleucus as his ally, going with him to aidhim in the attempt to recover the kingdom of his ancestors. 

Seleucus, however, had no such design. He by no means consideredhimself as engaged in prosecuting an expedition for the benefit ofCeraunus. _His_ plan was the enlargement of his own dominion; and asfor Ceraunus, he regarded him only as an adventurer following in histrain--a useful auxiliary, perhaps, but by no means entitled to beconsidered as a principal in the momentous transactions which weretaking place. Ceraunus, when he found what the state of the casereally was, being wholly unscrupulous in respect to the means that heemployed for the attainment of his ends, determined to kill Seleucuson the first opportunity. 

Seleucus seems to have had no suspicion of this design, for headvanced into Thrace, on his way to Macedon, without fear, and withouttaking any precautions to guard himself from the danger of Ceraunus'smeditated treachery. At length he arrived at a certain town which theytold him was called Argos. He seemed alarmed on hearing this name, and, when they inquired the reason, he said that he had been warned byan oracle, at some former period of his life, to beware of Argos, as aplace that was destined to be for him the scene of some mysterious anddreadful danger. He had supposed that another Argos was alluded to inthis warning, namely, an Argos in Greece. He had not known before ofthe existence of any Argos in Thrace. If he had been aware of it, hewould have ordered his march so as to have avoided it altogether; andnow, in consequence of the anxious forebodings that were excited bythe name, he determined to withdraw from the place without delay. Hewas, however, overtaken by his fate before he could effect hisresolution. Ptolemy Ceraunus, watching a favorable opportunity whichoccurred while he was at Argos, came stealthily up behind the agedking, and stabbed him in the back with a dagger. Seleucus immediatelyfell down and died. 

Ptolemy Ceraunus forthwith organized a body of adherents and proceededto Macedon, where he assumed the diadem, and caused himself to beproclaimed king. He found the country distracted by dissensions, manyparties having been formed, from time to time, in the course of thepreceding reigns, each of which was now disposed to come forward withits candidates and its claims. All these Ptolemy Ceraunus boldly setaside. He endeavored to secure all those who were friendly to theancient house of Antipater by saying that he was Antipater's grandsonand heir; and, on the other hand, to conciliate the partisans ofLysimachus, by saying that he was Lysimachus's avenger. This was inone sense true, for he had murdered Seleucus, the man by whomLysimachus had been destroyed. He relied, however, after all, for themeans of sustaining himself in his new position, not on his reasons, but on his troops; and he accordingly advanced into the country moreas a conqueror coming to subjugate a nation by force, than as aprince succeeding peacefully to an hereditary crown. 

He soon had many rivals and enemies in the field against him. Thethree principal ones were Antiochus, Antigonus, and Pyrrhus. Antiochuswas the son of Seleucus. He maintained that his father had fairlyconquered the kingdom of Macedon, and had acquired the right to reignover it; that Ptolemy Ceraunus, by assassinating Seleucus, had notdivested him of any of his rights, but that they all descendedunimpaired to his son, and that he himself, therefore, was the trueking of Macedon. Antigonus was the son of Demetrius, who had reignedin Macedon at a former period, before Lysimachus had invaded andconquered the kingdom. Antigonus therefore maintained that his rightwas superior to that of Ptolemy, for his father had been theacknowledged sovereign of the country at a period subsequent to thatof the reign of Antipater. Pyrrhus was the third claimant. He had heldMacedon by conquest immediately before the reign of Lysimachus, andnow, since Lysimachus had been deposed, his rights, as he alleged, revived. In a word, there were four competitors for the throne, eachurging claims compounded of rights of conquest and of inheritance, socomplicated and so involved, one with the other, as to render allattempts at a peaceable adjudication of them absolutely hopeless. There could be no possible way of determining who was best entitled tothe throne in such a case. The only question, therefore, that remainedwas, who was best able to take and keep it. 

This question Ptolemy Ceraunus had first to try with Antigonus, whocame to invade the country with a fleet and an army from Greece. Aftera very short but violent contest, Antigonus was defeated, both by seaand by land, and Ceraunus remained master of the kingdom. This triumphgreatly strengthened his power in respect to the other competitors. He, in fact, contrived to settle the question with them by treaty, inwhich they acknowledged him as king. In the case of Pyrrhus, heagreed, in consideration of being allowed peaceably to retainpossession of his kingdom, to furnish a certain amount of military aidto strengthen the hands of Pyrrhus in the wars in which he was thenengaged in Italy and Sicily. The force which he thus furnishedconsisted of five thousand foot, four thousand horse, and fiftyelephants. 

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 be recollected, whose jealousy ofher half-sister, Lysandra, had caused the death of Agathocles and theflight of Lysandra, and which had led to the expedition of Seleucus, and the subsequent revolution in Macedon. When her husband was killed, she, instead of submitting at once to the change of government, shutherself up in Cassandria, a rich and well-defended city. She had hersons with her, who, as the children of Lysimachus, were heirs to thethrone. She was well aware that she had, for the time being, no meansat her command for supporting the claims of her children, but she wasfully determined not to relinquish them, but to defend herself and herchildren in the city of Cassandria, as well as she was able, untilsome change should take place in the aspect of public affairs. Ceraunus, of course, saw in her a very formidable and dangerousopponent; and, after having triumphed over Antigonus, and concludedhis peace with Antiochus and with Pyrrhus, he advanced towardCassandria, revolving in his mind the question by what means he couldbest manage to get Arsinoe and her children into his power. 

He concluded to try the effect of cunning and treachery beforeresorting to force. He accordingly sent a message to Arsinoe, proposing that, instead of quarreling for the kingdom, they shouldunite their claims, and asking her, for this purpose, to become hiswife. He would marry her, he said, and adopt her children as his own, and thus the whole question would be amicably settled. 

Arsinoe very readily acceded to this proposal. It is true that she wasthe half-sister of Ceraunus; but this relationship was no bar to amatrimonial union, according to the ideas that prevailed in the courtsof kings in those days. Arsinoe, accordingly, gave her consent to theproposal, and opened the gates of the city to Ceraunus and his troops. Ceraunus immediately put her two sons to death. Arsinoe herself fledfrom the city. Very probably Ceraunus allowed her to escape, since, asshe herself had no claim to the throne, any open violence offered toher would have been a gratuitous crime, which would have increased, unnecessarily, the odium that would naturally attach to Ceraunus'sproceedings. At any rate, Arsinoe escaped, and, after variouswanderings, found her way back to her former home in her father'scourt at Alexandria. 

The heart of Ceraunus was now filled with exultation and pride. Allhis schemes had proved successful, and he found himself, at last, insecure possession, as he thought, of a powerful 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, inconsequence of his father's preference for the children ofBerenice--saying that he now acquiesced in that disposition of thekingdom of Egypt, since he had acquired for himself a better kingdomin Macedon. He proceeded to complete the organization of hisgovernment. He recruited his armies; he fortified his towns; and beganto consider himself as firmly established on his throne. All hisdreams, however, of security and peace, were soon brought to a verysudden termination. 

There was a race of half-civilized people on the banks of the Danubecalled Gauls. Some tribes of this nation afterward settled in what isnow France, and gave their name to that country. At the period, however, of the events which we are here relating, the chief seat oftheir dominion was a region on the banks of the Danube, north ofMacedon and Thrace. Here they had been for some time concentratingtheir forces and gradually increasing in power, although theirmovements had been very little regarded by Ceraunus. Now, however, adeputation suddenly appeared at Ceraunus's capital, to say that theywere prepared for an invasion of his dominions, and asking him howmuch money he would give for peace. Ceraunus, in the pride of hisnewly-established power, treated this proposal with derision. Hedirected the embassadors to go back and say that, far from wishing topurchase peace, he would not _allow_ peace to them, unless theyimmediately sent him all their principal generals, as hostages fortheir good behavior. Of course, after such an interchange of messagesas this, both parties immediately prepared for war. 

Ceraunus assembled all the forces that he could command, marchednorthward to meet his enemy, and a great battle was fought between thetwo armies. Ceraunus commanded in person in this conflict. He rodeinto the field at the head of his troops, mounted on an elephant. Inthe course of the action he was wounded, and the elephant on which herode becoming infuriated at the same time, perhaps from being woundedhimself too, threw his rider to the ground. The Gauls who werefighting around him immediately seized him. Without any hesitation ordelay 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 appalledand intimidated the army of the Macedonians, that the ranks were soonbroken, and the troops, giving way, fled in all directions, and theGauls found themselves masters of the field. 

[Illustration: THE FALLEN ELEPHANT. ]

The death of Ptolemy Ceraunus was, of course, the signal for all theold claimants to the throne to come forward with their severalpretensions anew. A protracted period of dissension and misruleensued, during which the Gauls made dreadful havoc in all the northernportions of Macedon. Antigonus at last succeeded in gaining theadvantage, and obtained a sort of nominal possession of the throne, which he held until the time when Pyrrhus returned to Epirus fromItaly. Pyrrhus, being informed of this state of things, could notresist the desire which he felt of making an incursion into Macedon, and seizing for himself the prize for which rivals, no better entitledto it than he, were so fiercely contending. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE RECONQUEST OF MACEDON. 

B. C. 273-272

Fatal deficiencies in Pyrrhus's character. --Fickleness ofPyrrhus. --Consequences which resulted from it. --Examples of his wantof perseverance. --Reasons for the proposed invasion of Macedon. --Inthe outset Pyrrhus is successful. --The country is disposed to submitto him. --Combat in the mountain defile. --Account of the phalanx. --Itsterrible efficacy. --Impossibility of making any impression uponit. --The elephants. --Order of battle. --The elephants overpowered. --Thephalanx. --Pyrrhus invites the enemy to join him. --Pyrrhus is victorious, and becomes master of Macedon. --Complaints of the people. --Pyrrhus payslittle regard to them. --Pyrrhus receives an unexpected invitation. 

It was the great misfortune of Pyrrhus's life, a misfortune resultingapparently from an inherent and radical defect in his character, thathe had no settled plans or purposes, but embarked in one project afteranother, as accident or caprice might incline him, apparently withoutany forethought, consideration, or design. He seemed to form no plan, to live for no object, to contemplate no end, but was governed by asort of blind and instinctive impulse, which led him to love danger, and to take a wild and savage delight in the performance of militaryexploits on their own account, and without regard to any ultimate endor aim to be accomplished by them. Thus, although he evinced greatpower, he produced no permanent effects. There was no steadiness orperseverance in his action, and there could be none, for in his wholecourse of policy there were no ulterior ends in view by whichperseverance could be sustained. He was, consequently, always readyto abandon any enterprise in which he might be engaged as soon as itbegan to be involved in difficulties requiring the exercise ofpatience, endurance, and self-denial, and to embark in any newundertaking, provided that it promised to bring him speedily upon afield of battle. He was, in a word, the type and exemplar of thatlarge class of able men who waste their lives in a succession ofefforts, which, though they evince great talent in those who performthem, being still without plan or aim, end without producing anyresult. Such men often, like Pyrrhus, attain to a certain species ofgreatness. They are famed among men for what they seem to have thepower to do, and not for any thing that they have actually done. 

In accordance with this view of Pyrrhus's character, we see himchanging continually the sphere of his action from one country toanother, gaining great victories every where, and evincing in all hisoperations--in the organizing and assembling of his armies, in hismarches, in his encampments, and in the disposition of his troops onthe field of battle, and especially in his conduct during the periodof actual conflict--the most indomitable energy and the mostconsummate military skill. But when the battle was fought and thevictory gained, and an occasion supervened requiring a cool andcalculating deliberation in the forming of future plans, and a steadyadherence to them when formed, the character and resources ofPyrrhus's mind were found woefully wanting. The first summons from anyother quarter, inviting him to a field of more immediate excitementand action, was always sufficient to call him away. Thus he changedhis field of action successively from Macedon to Italy, from Italy toSicily, from Sicily back to Italy, and from Italy to Macedon again, perpetually making new beginnings, but nowhere attaining any ends. 

His determination to invade Macedon once more, on his return to Epirusfrom Italy, was prompted, apparently, by the mere accident that thegovernment was unsettled, and that Antigonus was insecure in hispossession of the throne. He had no intention, when he first embarkedin this scheme, of attempting the conquest of Macedon, but onlydesigned to make a predatory incursion into the country for thepurpose of plunder, its defenseless condition affording him, as hethought, a favorable opportunity of doing this. The plea on which hejustified this invasion was, that Antigonus was his enemy. PtolemyCeraunus had made a treaty of alliance with him, and had furnished himwith troops for recruiting and re-enforcing his armies in Italy, ashas already been stated; but Antigonus, when called upon, had refusedto do this. This, of course, gave Pyrrhus ample justification, as heimagined, for his intended incursion into the Macedonian realms. 

Besides this, however, there was another justification, namely, thatof necessity. Although Pyrrhus had been compelled to withdraw fromItaly, he had not returned by any means alone, but had brought quite alarge army with him, consisting of many thousands of men, all of whommust now be fed and paid. All the resources of his own kingdom hadbeen wellnigh exhausted by the drafts which he had made upon them tosustain himself in Italy, and it was now necessary, he thought, toembark in some war, as a means of finding employment and subsistencefor these troops. He determined, therefore, on every account, to makea foray into Macedon. 

Before setting off on his expedition, he contrived to obtain aconsiderable force from among the Gauls as auxiliaries. Antigonus, also, had Gauls in his service, for they themselves were divided, asit would seem, in respect both to their policy and their leaders, aswell as the Macedonians; and Antigonus, taking advantage of theirdissensions, had contrived to enlist some portion of them in hiscause, while the rest were the more easily, on that very account, induced to join the expedition of Pyrrhus. Things being in this state, Pyrrhus, after completing his preparations, commenced his march, andsoon crossed the Macedonian frontier. 

As was usually the case with the enterprises which he engaged in, hewas, in the outset, very successful. He conquered several cities andtowns as he advanced, and soon began to entertain higher views inrespect to the object of his expedition than he had at first formed. Instead of merely plundering the frontier, as he had at firstintended, he began to think that it would be possible for him tosubdue Antigonus entirely, and reannex the whole of Macedon to hisdominions. He was well known in Macedon, his former campaigns in thatcountry having brought him very extensively before the people and thearmy there. He had been a general favorite, too, among them at thetime when he had been their ruler; the people admired his personalqualities as a soldier, and had been accustomed to compare him withAlexander, whom, in his appearance and manners, and in a certain airof military frankness and generosity which characterized him, he wassaid strongly to resemble. Pyrrhus now found, as he advanced into thecountry of Macedonia, that the people were disposed to regard him withthe same sentiments of favor which they had formerly entertained forhim. Several of the garrisons of the cities joined his standard; andthe detachments of troops which Antigonus sent forward to the frontierto check his progress, instead of giving him battle, went over to himin a body and espoused his cause. In a word, Pyrrhus found that, unexpectedly to himself, his expedition, instead of being merely anincursion across the frontiers on a plundering foray, was assuming thecharacter of a regular invasion. In short, the progress that he madewas such, that it soon became manifest that to meet Antigonus in onepitched battle, and to gain one victory, was all that was required tocomplete the conquest of the country. 

He accordingly concentrated his forces more and more, strengthenedhimself by every means in his power, and advanced further and furtherinto the interior of the country. Antigonus began to retire, desirous, perhaps, of reaching some ground where he could post himselfadvantageously. Pyrrhus, acting with his customary energy, soonovertook the enemy. He came up with the rear of Antigonus's army in anarrow defile among the mountains; at least, the place is designatedas a narrow defile by the ancient historian who narrates these events, though, from the number of men that were engaged in the action whichensued, as well as from the nature of the action itself, as ahistorian describes it, it would seem that there must have been aconsiderable breadth of level ground in the bottom of the gorge. 

The main body of Antigonus's troops was the phalanx. The Macedonianphalanx is considered one of the most extraordinary militarycontrivances of ancient times. The invention of it was ascribed toPhilip, the father of Alexander the Great, though it is probable thatit was only improved and perfected, and brought into general use, butnot really originated by him. The single phalanx was formed of a bodyof about four thousand men. These men were arranged in a compact form, the whole body consisting of sixteen ranks, and each rank of twohundred and fifty-six men. These men wore each a short sword, to beused in cases of emergency, and were defended by large shields. Themain peculiarity, however, of their armor, and the one on which theprincipal power of the phalanx depended as a military body, was in theimmensely long spears which they carried. These spears were generallytwenty-one, and sometimes twenty-four feet long. The handles wereslender, though strong, and the points were tipped with steel. Thespears were not intended to be thrown, but to be held firmly in thehands, and pointed toward the enemy; and they were so long, and theranks of the men were so close together, that the spears of the fifthrank projected several feet before the men who stood in the frontrank. Thus each man in the front rank had five steel-pointed spearsprojecting to different distances before him, while the men who stoodin ranks further behind rested their spears upon the shoulders ofthose who were before them, so as to elevate the points into the air. 

The men were protected by large shields, which, when the phalanx wasformed in close array, just touched each other, and formed animpregnable defense. In a word, the phalanx, as it moved slowly overthe plain, presented the appearance of a vast monster, covered withscales, and bristling with points of steel--a sort of militaryporcupine, which nothing could approach or in any way injure. Missilesthrown toward it were intercepted by the shields, and fell harmless tothe ground. Darts, arrows, javelins, and every other weapon whichcould be projected from a distance, were equally ineffectual, and noone could come near enough to men thus protected to strike at themwith the sword. Even cavalry were utterly powerless in attacking such_chevaux de frise_ as the phalanx presented. No charge, howeverfurious, could break its serrated ranks; an onset upon it could onlyend in impaling the men and the horses that made it together on thepoints of the innumerable spears. 

To form a phalanx, and to maneuver it successfully, required a specialtraining, both on the part of the officers and men, and in theMacedonian armies the system was carried to very high perfection. Whenforeign auxiliaries, however, served under Macedonian generals, theywere not generally formed in this way, but were allowed to fight undertheir own leaders, and in the accustomed manner of their respectivenations. The army of Antigonus, accordingly, as he was retiringbefore 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 inthe ravine or valley, encountered the Gauls first. Their lines, itwould seem, filled up the whole valley at the place where Pyrrhusovertook them, so that, at the outset of the contest, Pyrrhus had themonly to engage. There was not space sufficient for the phalanx to cometo their aid. 

Besides the phalanx and the bodies of Gauls, there was a troop ofelephants in Antigonus's army. Their position, as it would seem, wasbetween the phalanx and the Gauls. This being the state of things, andPyrrhus coming up to the attack in the rear, would, of course, encounter first the Gauls, then the elephants, and, lastly, the mostformidable 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 soonoverpowered and almost all cut to pieces. The troop of elephants camenext. The army of Pyrrhus, flushed with their victory over the Gauls, pressed eagerly on, and soon so surrounded the elephants and hemmedthem in, that the keepers of them perceived that all hope ofresistance was vain. They surrendered without an effort to defendthemselves. The phalanx now remained. It had hastily changed itsfront, and it stood on the defensive. Pyrrhus advanced toward it withhis forces, bringing his men up in array in front of the long lines ofspears, and paused. The bristling monster remained immovable, evincingno disposition to advance against its enemy, but awaiting, apparently, an attack. Pyrrhus rode out in front of his lines and surveyed thebody of Macedonians before him. He found that he knew the officerspersonally, having served with them before in the wars in which he hadbeen engaged in Macedon in former years. He saluted them, calling themby name. They were pleased with being thus remembered and recognizedby a personage so renowned. Pyrrhus urged them to abandon Antigonus, who had, as he maintained, no just title to the crown, and whoseusurped power he was about to overthrow, and invited them to enterinto his service, as the ancient and rightful sovereign of theircountry. The officers seemed much disposed to listen to theseovertures; in fine, they soon decided to accede to them. The phalanxwent over to Pyrrhus's side in a body, and Antigonus, being thusdeprived of his last remaining support, left the field in company witha few personal followers, and fled for his life. 

Of course, Pyrrhus found himself at once in complete possession of theMacedonian kingdom. Antigonus did not, indeed, entirely give up thecontest. He retreated toward the coast, where he contrived to holdpossession, for a time, of a few maritime towns; but his power as Kingof Macedon was gone. Some few of the interior cities attempted, for atime, to resist Pyrrhus's rule, but he soon overpowered them. Some ofthe cities that he thus conquered he garrisoned with Gauls. 

Of course, after such a revolution as this, a great deal was requiredto be done to settle the affairs of the government on their newfooting, and to make the kingdom secure in the hands of the conqueror;but no one in the least degree acquainted with the character andtendencies of Pyrrhus's mind could expect that he would be at alldisposed to attend to these duties. He had neither the sagacity toplan nor the steadiness of purpose to execute such measures. He couldconquer, but that was all. To secure the results of his conquests wasutterly beyond his power. 

In fact, far from making such a use of his power as to strengthen hisposition, and establish a permanent and settled government, he soadministered the affairs of state, or, rather, he so neglected them, that very soon an extended discontent and disaffection began toprevail. The Gauls, whom he had left as garrisons in the conqueredcities, governed them in so arbitrary a manner, and plundered them sorecklessly, as to produce extreme irritation among the people. Theycomplained earnestly to Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus paid little attention totheir representations. To fight a battle with an open enemy on thefield was always a pleasure to him; but to meet and grapple withdifficulties 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 hisadministration in Macedon, had he been left to himself, can not now beknown; for, very fortunately, as he deemed it, he was suddenlyrelieved of all the embarrassment in which he was gradually gettinginvolved, as he had often been relieved in similar circumstancesbefore, by an invitation which came to him just at this time to embarkin a new military enterprise, which would draw him away from thecountry altogether. It is scarcely necessary to say that Pyrrhusaccepted the invitation with the most eager alacrity. Thecircumstances of the case will be explained in the next chapter. 

CHAPTER XI. 

SPARTA. 

B. C. 1000-272

Sparta. --Some account of the city. --The Spartan kings. --Origin ofthe system. --Oracle at Delphi. --A difficulty. --The two lines ofkings. --A diarchy. --Dissensions. --Lycurgus. --His family. --Death ofhis father. --Lycurgus assumes the crown. --Atrocious proposal. --Planarranged for disposing of the child. --Generous conduct ofLycurgus. --Serious difficulties encountered. --Resentmentof the queen. --Lycurgus resolves on exiling himself fromSparta. --Adventures of Lycurgus during his absence. --Account ofCharilaus. --His inefficiency. --Discontent of the people. --Lycurgusis invited to return. --He finally complies. --He consults the oracleat Delphi. --The response. --Charilaus is terrified. --He flies to asanctuary. --Nature and effects of the institutions of Lycurgus. --Thecharacter and spirit of the Spartans. --Message sent toPyrrhus. --Account of Cleonymus. --Areus becomes king. --Affair ofCleonymus and Chelidonis. --Appeal to Pyrrhus. --Pyrrhus determines tomarch into Greece. 

The war in which Pyrrhus was invited to engage, at the time referredto at the close of the last chapter, arose out of a domestic quarrelin one of the royal families of Sparta. Sparta was one of theprincipal cities of the Peloponnesus, and the capital of a verypowerful and warlike kingdom. [N] The institutions of government inthis commonwealth were very peculiar, and among the most extraordinaryof them all was the arrangement made in respect to the kingly power. There were two dynasties, or lines of kings, reigning conjointly. Thedivision of power between the two incumbents who reigned at any onetime may have been somewhat similar to that made in Rome between theconsuls. But the system differed from that of the consular governmentin the fact that the Spartan kings were not elected magistrates, likethe Roman consuls, but hereditary sovereigns, deriving their powerfrom their ancestors, each in his own line. 

[Footnote N: For the situation of Sparta, see map. ]

The origin of this extraordinary system was said to be this: at a veryearly period of the Spartan history, a king died suddenly, leaving twochildren twins, as his heirs, but without designating either one ofthem as his successor. The Spartans then applied to the mother of thetwo children to know which of them was the first-born. She pretendedthat she could not tell. They then applied to the oracle at Delphi, asking what they should do. The response of the oracle directed themto make both the children kings, but to bestow the highest honors uponthe oldest. By this answer the Spartans were only partially relievedfrom their dilemma; for, under the directions of the oracle, thenecessity of determining the question of priority in respect to thebirth of the two children remained, without any light or guidancebeing afforded them in respect to the mode of doing it. 

At last some person suggested that a watch should be set over themother, with a view to ascertain for which of her children she had thestrongest affection. They supposed that she really knew which was thefirst-born, and that she would involuntarily give to the one whom sheregarded in that light the precedence in the maternal services andduties which she rendered to the babes. This plan succeeded. It wasdiscovered which was the first-born, and which was the younger; andthe Spartans, accordingly, made both the children kings, but gave thehighest rank to the former, as the oracle had directed. The childrenboth lived, and grew up to be men, and in due time were married. By asingular coincidence, they married twin-sisters. In the two familiesthus arising originated the Spartan lines of kings that reignedjointly over the kingdom for many successive generations. To expressthis extraordinary system of government, it has sometimes been saidthat Sparta, though governed by kings, was not a monarchy, but a_diarchy_. 

The diarchy, however, as might have been expected, was found not towork very successfully in practice. Various dissensions anddifficulties arose; and at length, about two hundred years after theoriginal establishment of the two lines, the kingdom became almostwholly disorganized. At this juncture the celebrated lawgiver Lycurgusarose. He framed a system of laws and regulations for the kingdom, which were immediately put in force, and resulted not only inrestoring the public affairs to order at the time, but were the means, in the end, of raising Sparta to the highest condition of prosperityand renown. 

Lycurgus was indebted for his success in the measures which he adoptednot merely to the sagacity which he exercised in framing them, and theenergy with which he carried them into effect: he occupied personallya very peculiar position, which afforded him great facilities for theperformance 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 namedPolydectes. His father died suddenly, from a stab that he received ina fray. He was not personally engaged in the fray himself as one ofthe combatants, but only went into it to separate other persons, whohad by some means become involved in a sudden quarrel. In thestruggle, he received a stab from a kitchen knife, with which one ofthe 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. Abouteight months after his death, however, a child was born to his widow, and this child, according to the then received principles ofhereditary descent, was entitled to succeed his father. 

As, however, at the time of Polydectes's death the child was not born, Lycurgus, the brother, was then apparently the heir. He accordinglyassumed the government--so far as the government devolved upon theline to which his brother had belonged--intending only to hold it inthe interim, and to give it up ultimately when the proper heir shouldappear. In the mean time, the widow supposed very naturally that hewould like to retain the power permanently. She was herself alsoambitious of reigning as queen; and she accordingly made to Lycurgusthe atrocious and unnatural proposal to destroy the life of her child, on condition that he would marry her, and allow her to share thekingdom with him. Lycurgus was much shocked at receiving such aproposition, but he deemed it best, for the time being, to appear toaccede to it. He accordingly represented to the queen that it wouldnot be best for her to make the attempt which she had proposed, lestshe should thereby endanger her own safety. "Wait, " said he, "and letme know as soon as the child is born; then leave every thing to me. Iwill do myself whatever is required to be done. "

Lycurgus, moreover, had attendants, provided with orders to keepthemselves in readiness when the child should be born, and, if itproved to be a son, to bring the babe to him immediately, wherever hemight be, or however he might be engaged. If it proved to be adaughter, they were to leave it in the hands of the woman who hadcharge of the queen. The babe proved to be a son. The officers tookit, accordingly, and brought it at once to Lycurgus. The unnaturalmother, of course, understood that it was taken away from her to bedestroyed, and she acquiesced in the supposed design, in order, bysacrificing her child, to perpetuate her own queenly dignity andpower. Lycurgus, however, was intending to conduct the affair to avery different result. 

At the time when the attendants brought the new-born babe toLycurgus's house, Lycurgus was engaged with a party of friends whom hehad invited to a festival. These friends consisted of nobles, generals, ministers of state, and other principal personages of theSpartan commonwealth, whom Lycurgus had thus assembled inanticipation, probably, of what was to take place. The attendants hadbeen ordered to bring the child to him without delay, wherever theymight find him. They accordingly came into the apartment whereLycurgus and his friends were assembled, bringing the infant withthem in their arms. Lycurgus received him, and holding him up beforethe company, called out to them, in a loud voice, "Spartans, I presentto you your new-born king!" The people received the young prince withthe most extravagant demonstrations of joy; and Lycurgus named himCharilaus, which means, "Dear to the people. "

The conduct of Lycurgus on this occasion was thought to be verygenerous and noble, since by bringing the child forward as the trueheir to the crown, he surrendered at once all his own pretensions tothe inheritance, and made himself a private citizen. Very few of thesons of kings, either in ancient or modern times, would have pursuedsuch a course. But, though in respect to his position, he abasedhimself by thus descending from his place upon the throne to the rankof a private citizen, he exalted himself very highly in respect toinfluence and character. He was at once made protector of the personof the child and regent of the realm during the young king's minority;and all the people of the city, applauding the noble deed which he hadperformed, began to entertain toward him feelings of the highestrespect and veneration. 

It proved, however, that there were yet very serious difficulties, which he was destined to meet and surmount before the way should befully open for the performance of the great work for which heafterward became so renowned. Although the people generally of Spartagreatly applauded the conduct of Lycurgus, and placed the utmostconfidence in him, there were still a few who hated and opposed him. Of course, the queen herself, whose designs he had thwarted, wasextremely indignant at having been thus deceived. Not only was her ownpersonal ambition disappointed by the failure of her design, but herwomanly pride was fatally wounded in having been rejected by Lycurgusin the offer which she had made to become his wife. She and herfriends, therefore, were implacably hostile to him. She had a brother, named Leonidas, who warmly espoused her cause. Leonidas quarreledopenly with Lycurgus. He addressed him one day, in the presence ofseveral witnesses, in a very violent and threatening manner. "I knowvery well, " said he, "that your seeming disinterestedness, and yourshow of zeal for the safety and welfare of the young king, are all anempty pretense. You are plotting to destroy him, and to raise yourselfto the throne in his stead; and if we wait a short time, we shall seeyou accomplishing the results at which you are really aiming, in youriniquitous and hypocritical policy. "

On hearing these threats and denunciations, Lycurgus, instead ofmaking an angry reply to them, began at once calmly to consider whatit would be best for him to do. He reflected that the life of thechild was uncertain, notwithstanding every precaution which he mightmake for the preservation of it; and if by any casualty it should die, his enemies might charge him with having secretly murdered it. Heresolved, therefore, to remove at once and forever all possiblesuspicion, present or prospective, of the purity of his motives, bywithdrawing altogether from Sparta until the child should come of age. He accordingly made arrangements for placing the young king underprotectors who could not be suspected of collusion with him for anyguilty purpose, and also organized an administration to govern thecountry until the king should be of age. Having taken these steps, hebade Sparta farewell, and set out upon a long and extended course oftravels. 

He was gone from his native land many years, during which period hevisited all the principal states and kingdoms of the earth, employinghimself, wherever he went, in studying the history, the government, and the institutions of the countries through which he journeyed, andin visiting and conversing with all the most distinguished men. Hewent first to Crete, a large island which lay south of the Ĉgean Sea, its western extremity being not far from the coast of Peloponnesus. After remaining for some time in Crete, visiting all its principalcities, and making himself thoroughly acquainted with its history andcondition, he sailed for Asia Minor, and visited all the chiefcapitals there. From Asia Minor he went to Egypt, and, after finishinghis observations and studies in the cities of the Nile, he journeyedwestward, and passed through all the countries lying on the northerncoast of Africa, and then from Africa he crossed over into Spain. Heremained long enough in each place that he visited to make himselfvery thoroughly acquainted with its philosophy, its government, itscivilization, its state of progress in respect to the arts and usagesof social life--with every thing, in fact, which could have a bearingupon national prosperity and welfare. 

In the mean time, the current of affairs at Sparta flowed by no meanssmoothly. As years rolled on, and the young prince, Charilaus, advanced toward the period of manhood, he became involved in variousdifficulties, which greatly embarrassed and perplexed him. He was of avery amiable and gentle disposition, but was wholly destitute of thestrength and energy of character required for the station in which hewas placed. Disagreements arose between him and the other king. Theyboth quarreled, too, with their nobles and with the people. The peopledid not respect them, and gradually learned to despise theirauthority. They remembered the efficiency and the success ofLycurgus's government, and the regularity and order which had markedthe whole course of public affairs during his administration. Theyappreciated now, too, more fully than before, the noble personalqualities which Lycurgus had evinced--his comprehensiveness of view, his firmness of purpose, his disinterestedness, his generosity; andthey contrasted the lofty sentiments and principles which had alwaysgoverned him with the weakness, the childishness, and the pettyambition of their actual kings. In a word, they all wished thatLycurgus would return. 

Even the kings themselves participated in this wish. They perceivedthat their affairs were getting into confusion, and began to feelapprehension and anxiety. Lycurgus received repeated messages fromthem and from the people of Sparta, urging him to return, but hedeclined to accept these proposals, and went on with his travels andhis studies as before. 

At last, however, the Spartans sent a formal embassy to Lycurgus, representing to him the troubled condition of public affairs inSparta, and the dangers which threatened the commonwealth, and urginghim in the most pressing manner to return. These embassadors, in theirinterview with Lycurgus, told him that they had kings, indeed, atSparta, so far as birth, and title, and the wearing of royal robeswould go, but as for any royal qualities beyond this mere outsideshow, they had seen nothing of the kind since Lycurgus had left them. 

Lycurgus finally concluded to comply with the request. He returned toSparta. Here he employed himself for a time in making a carefulexamination into the state of the country, and in conversing with theprincipal men of influence in the city, and renewing his acquaintancewith them. At length he formed a plan for an entire organization ofthe government. He proposed this plan to the principal men, and, having obtained the consent of a sufficient number of them to theleading provisions of his new constitution, he began to take measuresfor the public promulgation and establishment of it. 

The first step was to secure a religious sanction for his proceedings, in order to inspire the common people with a feeling of reverence andawe for his authority. He accordingly left Sparta, saying that he wasgoing to consult the oracle at Delphi. In due time he returned, bringing with him the response of the oracle. The response was asfollows:

"Lycurgus is beloved of the gods, and is himself divine. The lawswhich he has framed are perfect, and under them a commonwealth shallarise which shall hereafter become the most famous in the world. "

This response, having been made known in Sparta, impressed every onewith a very high sense of the authority of Lycurgus, and disposed allclasses of people to acquiesce in the coming change. Lycurgus did not, however, rely entirely on this disposition. When the time came fororganizing the new government, he stationed an armed force in themarket-place one morning at a very early hour, so that the people, when they came forth, as usual, into the streets, found that Lycurgushad taken military possession of the city. The first feeling was ageneral excitement and alarm. Charilaus, the king, who, it seems, hadnot been consulted in these movements at all, was very much terrified. He supposed that an insurrection had taken place against hisauthority, and that his life was in danger. To save himself, he fledto one of the temples as to a sanctuary. Lycurgus sent to him, informing him that those engaged in the revolution which had takenplace intended no injury to him, either in respect to his person orhis royal prerogatives. By these assurances the fears of Charilauswere allayed, and thenceforth he co-operated with Lycurgus in carryinghis measures into effect. 

This is not the place for a full account of the plan of governmentwhich Lycurgus introduced, nor of the institutions which graduallygrew up under it. It is sufficient to say that the system which headopted was celebrated throughout the world during the period of itscontinuance, and has since been celebrated in every age, as being themost stern and rugged social system that was ever framed. Thecommonwealth of Sparta became, under the institutions of Lycurgus, one great camp. The nation was a nation of soldiers. Every possibledevice was resorted to to inure all classes of the population, theyoung and the old, the men and the women, the rich and the poor, toevery species of hardship and privation. The only qualities that wererespected or cultivated were such stern virtues as courage, fortitude, endurance, insensibility to pain and grief, and contempt for all thepleasures 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 inoperation, and then leave it to perpetuate itself, as a matter ofusage and precedent. Accordingly, after fully organizing thegovernment on the plan which he had arranged, and announcing the laws, and establishing the customs by which he intended that the ordinarycourse of social life should be regulated, he determined to withdrawfrom the field and await the result. He therefore informed the peoplethat he was going away again on another journey, and that he wouldleave the carrying forward of the government which he had framed forthem and initiated in their hands; and he required of them a solemnoath that they would make no change in the system until he returned. In doing this, his secret intention was _never_ to return. 

Such was the origin, and such the general character of the Spartangovernment. In the time of Pyrrhus, the system had been in operationfor about five hundred years. [O] During this period the state passedthrough many and various vicissitudes. It engaged in wars, offensiveand defensive; it passed through many calamitous and trying scenes, suffering, from time to time, under the usual ills which, in thosedays, so often disturbed the peace and welfare of nations. But duringall this time, the commonwealth retained in a very striking degree theextraordinary marks and characteristics which the institutions ofLycurgus had enstamped upon it. The Spartans still were terrible inthe estimation of all mankind, so stern and indomitable was the spiritwhich they manifested in all the enterprises in which they engaged. 

[Footnote O: The precise time at which the events connected with theearly history of Sparta really occurred is not satisfactorilydetermined, so that the dates placed at the heads of the pages canonly be regarded as approximations. ]

It was from Sparta that the message came to Pyrrhus asking hisassistance in a war that was then waging there. The war originated ina domestic quarrel which arose in the family of one of the lines ofkings. The name of the prince who made application to Pyrrhus wasCleonymus. He was a younger son of one of the Spartan kings. He hadhad an older brother named Acrotatus. The crown, of course, would havedevolved on this brother, if he had been living when the father died. But he was not. He died before his father, leaving a son, however, named Areus, as his heir. Areus, of course, claimed the throne whenhis grandfather died. He was not young himself at this time. He hadadvanced beyond the period of middle life, and had a son who had grownup to maturity. 

Cleonymus was very unwilling to acquiesce in the accession of Areus tothe throne. He was himself the son of the king who had died, whileAreus was only the grandson. He maintained, therefore, that he had thehighest claim to the succession. He was, however, overruled, and Areusassumed the crown. 

Soon after his accession, Areus left Sparta and went to Crete, intrusting the government of his kingdom, in the mean time, to hisson. The name of this son was Acrotatus. Cleonymus, of course, lookedwith a particularly evil eye upon this young man, and soon began toform designs against him. At length, after the lapse of a considerableperiod, during which various events occurred which can not be heredescribed, a circumstance took place which excited the hostility whichCleonymus felt for Acrotatus to the highest degree. The circumstanceswere these:

Cleonymus, though far advanced in life, married, about the time thatthe events occurred which we are here describing, a very young ladynamed Chelidonis. Chelidonis was a princess of the royal line, and wasa lady of great personal beauty. She, however, had very littleaffection for her husband, and at length Acrotatus, who was young andattractive in person, succeeded in winning her love, and enticing heraway from her husband. This affair excited the mind of Cleonymus to aperfect phrensy of jealousy and rage. He immediately left Sparta, and, knowing well the character and disposition of Pyrrhus, he proceedednorthward to Macedon, laid his case before Pyrrhus, and urged him tofit out an expedition and march to the Peloponnesus, with a view ofaiding him to put down the usurpers, as he called them, and toestablish him on the throne of Sparta instead. Pyrrhus immediately sawthat the conjuncture opened before him a prospect of a very brilliantcampaign, in a field entirely new, and he at once determined to embarkforthwith in the enterprise. He resolved, accordingly, to abandon hisinterests in Macedon and march into Greece. 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF PYRRHUS. 

B. C. 272

Pyrrhus makes preparations for his campaign. --Pyrrhus'sdesigns. --Excitement in Greece. --Pyrrhus's army advances towardSparta. --Embassadors. --Pyrrhus arrives at Sparta. --He postponesthe attack. --Plans of the Spartans. --They propose to removethe women. --The women send a delegation into thesenate-chamber. --Preparations for receiving Cleonymus. --Hiswife. --The Spartans resolve to attack Pyrrhus in the morning. --Ditchdug. --Ramparts raised. --The labors of the women. --Digging thetrench. --Citizens at work all night. --The women assist. --Effect ofthe trench. --The wagons. --Ptolemy, the son of Pyrrhus, removes thewagons. --The triumph of Acrotatus. --Pyrrhus's dream. --The dreamproduces no effect. --Pyrrhus tries another plan. --The battle. --Workof the women. --Pyrrhus leads the troops forward. --Pyrrhus's horse iswounded. --Pyrrhus himself in great danger. --The army retires. --Areusand Acrotatus. --Areus comes to succor the city. --Pyrrhus receivesa new invitation. --Argos. --Pyrrhus leaves Sparta, and ispursued. --Death of Ptolemy. --Combat with Evalcus. --Pyrrhus'srevenge. --Pyrrhus before the walls of Argos. --A stratagem. --Attemptof the elephants to enter the city. --Consternation of theinhabitants of Argos. --Confusion of the soldiers. --Pyrrhus waitsfor morning. --The bronze statue. --Ancient prophecy. --Pyrrhus'salarm. --He resolves to retreat from the city. --Pyrrhus finds thestreets blocked up. --Dreadful confusion. --The fallen elephant in thegateway. --Pyrrhus is greatly alarmed. --He lays aside his plume. --Heis struck by a tile thrown down upon him. --His dreadful death. --Thehead borne away. --Summary of Pyrrhus's character. --Conclusion. 

Immediately on receiving the invitation of Cleonymus, Pyrrhuscommenced making preparations on a very extensive scale for theintended campaign. He gathered all the troops that he could command, both from Macedon and Epirus. He levied taxes and contributions, provided military stores of every kind, and entered into all the otherarrangements required for such an enterprise. These preliminaryoperations required a considerable time, so that he was not ready tocommence his march until the following year. When all was ready, hefound that his force consisted of twenty-five thousand foot, twothousand horse, and a troop of twenty-four elephants. He had two sons, neither of whom, it would seem, was old enough to be intrusted withthe command, either in Macedon or Epirus, during his absence, and heaccordingly determined to take them with him. Their names were Ptolemyand Helenus. Pyrrhus himself at this time was about forty-five yearsof age. 

Although in this expedition Cleonymus supposed that Pyrrhus was goinginto Greece only as his ally, and that the sole object of the war wasto depose Areus and place Cleonymus on the throne in his stead, Pyrrhus himself entertained far different designs. His intention was, while invading the country in Cleonymus's name, to overrun and conquerit all, with a view of adding it to his own dominions. Of course, hegave no intimation to Cleonymus that he entertained any such designs. 

The approach of Pyrrhus naturally produced great excitement andcommotion in Sparta. His fame as a military commander was knownthroughout the world; and the invasion of their country by such aconqueror, at the head of so large a force, was calculated to awakengreat alarm among the people. The Spartans, however, were not muchaccustomed to be alarmed. They immediately began to make preparationsto defend themselves. They sent forward an embassage to meet Pyrrhuson the way, and demand wherefore he was coming. Pyrrhus made evasiveand dishonest replies. He was not intending, he said, to commit anyhostilities against Sparta. His business was with certain othercities of the Peloponnesus, which had been for some time under aforeign yoke, and which he was now coming to free. The Spartans werenot deceived by these protestations, but time was gained, and this wasPyrrhus's design. 

His army continued to advance, and in its progress began to seize andplunder towns belonging to the Spartan territory. The Spartans sentembassadors again, demanding what these proceedings meant. Theembassadors charged it upon Pyrrhus, that, contrary to the laws andusages of nations, he was making war upon them without havingpreviously declared war. 

"And do you Spartans, " said Pyrrhus, in reply, "always tell the worldwhatever you are going to do before you do it?" Such a rejoinder wasvirtually acknowledging that the object of the expedition was anattack on Sparta itself. The embassadors so understood it, and bid theinvader defiance. 

"Let there be war, then, " said they, "if you will have it so. We donot fear you, whether you are a god or a man. If you are a god, youwill not be disposed to do us any injury, for we have never injuredyou. If you are a man, you can not harm us, for we can produce men inSparta able to meet any other man whatever. "

The embassadors then returned to Sparta, and the people immediatelypushed forward with all diligence their preparations for putting thecity in an attitude of defense. 

Pyrrhus continued his march, and at length, toward evening, approachedthe walls of the city. Cleonymus, who knew well what sort of enemiesthey had to deal with, urgently recommended that an assault should bemade that night, supposing that the Spartans would succeed in makingadditional defenses if the attack were postponed until the morning. Pyrrhus, however, was disposed not to make the attack until thefollowing day. He felt perfectly sure of his prize, and was, accordingly, in no haste to seize it. He thought, it was said, that ifthe attack were made in the night, the soldiers would plunder thecity, and thus he should lose a considerable part of the booty whichhe hoped otherwise to secure for himself. He could control them betterin the daytime. He accordingly determined to remain in his camp, without the city, during the night, and to advance to the assault inthe morning. So he ordered the tents to be pitched on the plain, andsat quietly down. 

In the mean time, great activity prevailed within the walls. Thesenate was convened, and was engaged in debating and deciding thevarious questions that necessarily arise in such an emergency. A planwas proposed for removing the women from the city, in order to savethem from the terrible fate which would inevitably await them, shouldthe army of Pyrrhus be successful on the following day. It was thoughtthat they might go out secretly on the side opposite to that on whichPyrrhus was encamped, and thence be conducted to the sea-shore, wherethey might be conveyed in ships and galleys to the island of Crete, which, as will appear from the map, was situated at no great distancefrom the Spartan coast. By this means the mothers and daughters, itwas thought, would be saved, whatever might be the fate of thehusbands and brothers. The news that the senate were discussing such aplan as this was soon spread abroad among the people. The women werearoused to the most strenuous opposition against this plan. Theydeclared that they never would seek safety for themselves by goingaway, and leaving their fathers, husbands, and brothers in suchdanger. They commissioned one of their number, a princess namedArchidamia, to make known to the senate the views which theyentertained of this proposal. Archidamia went boldly into thesenate-chamber, with a drawn sword in her hand, and there arrested thediscussion in which the senators were engaged by demanding how theycould entertain such an opinion of the women of Sparta as to supposethat they could survive the destruction of the city and the death ofall whom they loved. They did not wish to be saved, she said, unlessall could be saved together; and she implored the senate to abandon atonce all ideas of sending them away, and allow them, instead, to taketheir share in the necessary labors required for the defense of thecity. The senate yielded to this appeal, and, abandoning the designwhich they had entertained of sending the women away, turned theirattention immediately to plans of defense. 

While these earnest consultations and discussions were going on in thesenate, and in the streets and dwellings of the city, there was oneplace which presented a scene of excitement of a very differentkind--namely, the palace of Cleonymus. There all were in a state ofeager anticipation, expecting the speedy arrival of their master. Thedomestics believed confidently that an attack would be made upon thecity that night by the combined army of Cleonymus and Pyrrhus; andpresuming that it would be successful, they supposed that theirmaster, as soon as the troops should obtain possession of the city, would come home at once to his own house, bringing his distinguishedally with him. They busied themselves, therefore, in adorning andpreparing the apartments of the house, and in making ready a splendidentertainment, in order that they might give to Cleonymus and hisfriend a suitable reception when they should arrive. 

Chelidonis, however, the young and beautiful, but faithless wife ofCleonymus, was not there. She had long since left her husband'sdwelling, and now she was full of suspense and anxiety in respect tohis threatened return. If the city should be taken, she knew very wellthat she must necessarily fall again into her husband's power, and shedetermined that she never would fall into his power again alive. Soshe retired to her apartment, and there putting a rope around herneck, and making all other necessary preparations, she awaited theissue of the battle, resolved to destroy herself the moment she shouldhear tidings that Pyrrhus had gained the victory. 

In the mean time, the military leaders of the Spartans were engaged instrengthening the defenses, and in making all the necessarypreparations for the ensuing conflict. They did not, however, intendto remain within the city, and await the attack of the assailantsthere. With the characteristic fearlessness of the Spartan character, they determined, when they found that Pyrrhus was not intending toattack the city that night, that they would themselves go out to meethim in the morning. 

One reason, however, for this determination doubtless was, that thecity was not shut in with substantial walls and defenses, like most ofthe other cities of Greece, as it was a matter of pride with theSpartans to rely on their own personal strength and courage forprotection, rather than on artificial bulwarks and towers. Still, suchartificial aids were not wholly despised, and they now determined todo what was in their power in this respect, by throwing up a rampartof earth, under cover of the darkness of the night, along the lineover which the enemy must march in attacking the city. This work wasaccordingly begun. They would not, however, employ the soldiers in thework, or any strong and able-bodied men capable of bearing arms. Theywished to reserve the strength of all these for the more urgent anddreadful work of the following day. The ditch was accordingly dug, andthe ramparts raised by the boys, the old men, and especially by thewomen. The women of all ranks in the city went out and toiled allnight at this labor, having laid aside half their clothes, that theirrobes might not hinder them in the digging. The reader, however, mustnot, in his imagination, invest these fair laborers with the delicateforms, and gentle manners, and timid hearts which are generally deemedcharacteristic of women, for the Spartan females were trainedexpressly, from their earliest life, to the most rough and boldexposures and toils. They were inured from infancy to hardihood, bybeing taught to contend in public wrestlings and games, to endureevery species of fatigue and exposure, and to despise every thing likegentleness and delicacy. In a word, they were little less masculine inappearance and manners than the men; and accordingly, when Archidamiawent into the senate-chamber with a drawn sword in her hand, andthere, boldly facing the whole assembly, declared that the women wouldon no account consent to leave the city, she acted in a manner not atall inconsistent with what at Sparta was considered the properposition and character of her sex. In a word, the Spartan women wereas bold and stern, and almost as formidable, as the men. 

All night long the work of excavation went on. Those who were tooyoung or too feeble to work were employed in going to and fro, carrying tools where they were required, or bringing food and drink tothose who were digging in the trench, while the soldiers remainedquietly at rest within the city, awaiting the duties which were todevolve upon them in the morning. The trench was made wide and deepenough to impede the passage of the elephants and of the cavalry, andit was guarded at the ends by wagons, the wheels of which were halfburied in the ground at the places chosen for them, in order to renderthem immovable. All this work was performed in such silence andsecrecy that it met with no interruption from Pyrrhus's camp, and thewhole was completed before the morning 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 soldiersassumed their arms and formed in array. The women gathered aroundthem while they were making these preparations, assisting them tobuckle on their armor, and animating them with words of sympathy andencouragement. "How glorious it will be for you, " said they, "to gaina victory here in the precincts of the city, where we can all witnessand enjoy your triumph; and even if you fall in the contest, yourmothers and your wives are close at hand to receive you to their arms, and to soothe and sustain you in your dying struggles!"

When all was ready, the men marched forth to meet the advancingcolumns of Pyrrhus's army, and the battle soon began. Pyrrhus soonfound that the trench which the Spartans had dug in the night wasdestined greatly to obstruct his intended operations. The horse andthe elephants could not cross it at all; and even the men, if theysucceeded in getting over the ditch, were driven back when attemptingto ascend the rampart of earth which had been formed along the side ofit, by the earth thrown up in making the excavation, for this earthwas loose and steep, and afforded them no footing. Various attemptswere made to dislodge the wagons that had been fixed into the groundat the ends of the trench, but for a time all these efforts werefruitless. At last, however, Ptolemy, the son of Pyrrhus, came verynear succeeding. He had the command of a force of about two thousandGauls, and with this body he made a circuit, so as to come upon theline of wagons in such a manner as to give him a great advantage inattacking them. The Spartans fought very resolutely in defense ofthem; but the Gauls gradually prevailed, and at length succeeded indragging several of the wagons up out of the earth. All that they thusextricated they drew off out of the way, and threw them into theriver. 

Seeing this, young Acrotatus, the prince whom Areus his father, nowabsent, as the reader will recollect, in Crete, had left in command inSparta when he went away, hastened to interpose. He placed himself atthe head of a small band of two or three hundred men, and, crossingthe city on the other side, he went unobserved, and then, making acircuit, came round and attacked the Gauls, who were at work on thewagons in the rear. As the Gauls had already a foe in front nearlystrong enough to cope with them, this sudden assault from behindentirely turned the scale. They were driven away in great confusion. This feat being accomplished, Acrotatus came back at the head of hisdetachment into the city, panting and exhausted with the exertions hehad made, and covered with blood. He was received there with theloudest applause and acclamations. The women gathered around him, andoverwhelmed him with thanks and congratulations. "Go to Chelidonis, "said they, "and rest. She ought to be yours. You have deserved her. How we envy her such a lover!"

The contest continued all the day, and when night came on Pyrrhusfound that he had made no sensible progress in the work of gainingentrance into the city. He was, however, now forced to postpone allfurther efforts till the following day. At the proper time he retiredto rest, but he awoke very early in the morning in a state of greatexcitement; and, calling up some of the officers around him, herelated to them a remarkable dream which he had had during the night, and which, he thought, presaged success to the efforts which they wereto make on the following day. He had seen, he said, in his dream, aflash of lightning dart from the sky upon Sparta, and set the wholecity on fire. This, he argued, was a divine omen which promised themcertain success; and he called upon the generals to marshal thetroops and prepare for the onset, saying, "We are sure of victorynow. "

Whether Pyrrhus really had had such a dream, or whether he fabricatedthe story for the purpose of inspiring anew the courage and confidenceof his men, which, as would naturally be supposed, might have beensomewhat weakened by the ill success of the preceding day, can not beabsolutely ascertained. Whichever it was, it failed wholly of itsintended effect. Pyrrhus's generals said, in reply, that the omen wasadverse, and not propitious, for it was one of the fundamentalprinciples of haruspicial science that lightning made sacred whateverit touched. It was forbidden even to step upon the ground where athunder-bolt had fallen; and they ought to consider, therefore, thatthe descent of the lightning upon Sparta, as figured to Pyrrhus in thedream, was intended to mark the city as under the special protectionof heaven, and to warn the invaders not to molest it. Finding thusthat the story of his vision produced a different effect from the onehe had intended, Pyrrhus changed his ground, and told his generalsthat no importance whatever was to be attached to visions and dreams. They might serve, he argued, very well to amuse the ignorant andsuperstitious, but wise men should be entirely above being influencedby them in any way. "You have something better than these things totrust in, " said he. "You have arms in your hands, and you have Pyrrhusfor your leader. This is proof enough for you that you are destined toconquer. "

How far these assurances were found effectual in animating the courageof the generals we do not know; but the result did not at all confirmPyrrhus's vain-glorious predictions. During the first part of the day, indeed, he made great progress, and for a time it appeared probablethat the city was about to fall into his hands. The plan of hisoperations was first to fill up the ditch which the Spartans had made;the soldiers throwing into it for this purpose great quantities ofmaterials of every kind, such as earth, stones, fagots, trunks oftrees, and whatever came most readily to hand. They used in this workimmense quantities of dead bodies, which they found scattered over theplain, the results of the conflict of the preceding day. By means ofthe horrid bridging thus made, the troops attempted to make their wayacross the ditch, while the Spartans, formed on the top of therampart of earth on the inner side of it, fought desperately to repelthem. All this time the women were passing back and forth between themand the city, bringing out water and refreshments to sustain thefainting strength of the men, and carrying home the wounded and dying, and the bodies of the dead. 

[Illustration: THE CHARGE. ]

At last a considerable body of troops, consisting of a division thatwas under the personal charge of Pyrrhus himself, succeeded inbreaking through the Spartan lines, at a point near one end of therampart which had been thrown up. When the men found that they hadforced their way through, they raised loud shouts of exultation andtriumph, and immediately rushed forward toward the city. For a momentit seemed that for the Spartans all was lost; but the tide of victorywas soon suddenly turned by a very unexpected incident. An arrowpierced the breast of the horse on which Pyrrhus was riding, and gavethe animal a fatal wound. The horse plunged and reared in his agonyand terror, and then fell, throwing Pyrrhus to the ground. Thisoccurrence, of course, arrested the whole troop in their progress. Thehorsemen wheeled suddenly about, and gathered around Pyrrhus to rescuehim from his danger. This gave the Spartans time to rally, and tobring up their forces in such numbers that the Macedonian soldierswere glad to be able to make their way back again, bearing Pyrrhuswith them beyond the lines. After recovering a little from theagitation produced by this adventure, Pyrrhus found that his troops, discouraged, apparently, by the fruitlessness of their efforts, andespecially by this last misfortune, were beginning to lose theirspirit and ardor, and were fighting feebly and falteringly all alongthe line. He concluded, therefore, that there was no longer anyprospect of accomplishing his object that day, and that it would bebetter to save the remaining strength of his troops by withdrawingthem from the field, rather than to discourage and enfeeble them stillmore by continuing what was now very clearly a useless struggle. Heaccordingly put a stop to the action, and the army retired to theirencampment. 

Before he had opportunity to make a third attempt, events occurredwhich entirely changed the whole aspect of the controversy. The readerwill recollect that Areus, the king of Sparta, was absent in Crete atthe time of Pyrrhus's arrival, and that the command of the armydevolved, during his absence, on Acrotatus, his son; for the kings ofthe other line, for some reason or other, took a very small part inthe public affairs of the city at this time, and are seldom mentionedin history. Areus, as soon as he heard of the Macedonian invasion, immediately collected a large force and set out on his return toSparta, and he entered into the city at the head of two thousand menjust after the second repulse which Acrotatus had given to theirenemies. At the same time, too, another body of re-enforcements camein from Corinth, consisting of allies of the Spartans, gathered fromthe northern part of the Peloponnesus. The arrival of these troops inthe city filled the Spartans with joy, and entirely dispelled theirfears. They considered themselves as now entirely safe. The old menand the women, considering that their places were now abundantlysupplied, thenceforth withdrew from all active participation in thecontest, and retired to their respective homes, to rest and refreshthemselves after their toils. 

Notwithstanding this, however, Pyrrhus was not yet prepared to give upthe contest. The immediate effect, in fact, of the arrival of there-enforcements was to arouse his spirit anew, and to stimulate him toa fresh determination that he would not be defeated in his purpose, but that he would conquer the city at all hazards. He accordingly madeseveral more desperate attempts, but they were wholly unsuccessful;and at length, after a series of losses and defeats, he was obliged togive up the contest and withdraw. He retired, accordingly, to somelittle distance from Sparta, where he established a permanent camp, subsisting his soldiers by plundering the surrounding country. He wasvexed and irritated by the mortifications and disappointments which hehad endured, and waited impatiently for an opportunity to seekrevenge. 

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 partof the Peloponnesus, asking him to come and take part in a contestwhich had been opened there. It seems that a civil war had broken outin that city, and one of the leaders, knowing the character ofPyrrhus, and his readiness to engage in any quarrel which was offeredto him, had concluded to apply for his aid. Pyrrhus was, as usual, very ready to yield to this request. It afforded him, as similarproposals had so often done before, a plausible excuse for abandoningan enterprise in which he began to despair of being able to succeed. He immediately commenced his march to the northward. The Spartans, however, were by no means disposed to allow him to go off unmolested. They advanced with all the force they could command, and, though theywere not powerful enough to engage him in a general battle, theyharassed him and embarrassed his march in a very vexatious manner. They laid ambushes in the narrow defiles through which he had to pass;they cut off his detachments, and plundered and destroyed hisbaggage. Pyrrhus at length sent back a body of his guards underPtolemy, his son, to drive them away. Ptolemy attacked the Spartansand fought them with great bravery, until at length, in the heat ofthe contest, a celebrated Cretan, of remarkable strength and activity, riding furiously up to Ptolemy, felled him to the ground, and killedhim at a single blow. On seeing him fall, his detachment were struckwith dismay, and, turning their backs on the Spartans, fled to Pyrrhuswith the tidings. 

Pyrrhus was, of course, excited to the highest pitch of phrensy athearing what had occurred. He immediately placed himself at the headof a troop of horse, and galloped back to attack the Spartans andavenge the death of his son. He assaulted his enemies, when he reachedthe ground where they were posted, in the most furious manner, andkilled great numbers of them in the conflict that ensued. At one time, he was for a short period in the most imminent danger. A Spartan, named Evalcus, who came up and engaged him hand to hand, aimed a blowat his head, which, although it failed of its intended effect, camedown close in front of his body, as he sat upon his horse, and cutoff the reins of the bridle. The instant after, Pyrrhus transfixedEvalcus with his spear. Of course, Pyrrhus had now no longer thecontrol of his horse, and he accordingly leaped from him to the groundand fought on foot, while the Spartans gathered around, endeavoring torescue and protect the body of Evalcus. A furious and most terriblecontest ensued, in which many on both sides were slain. At lengthPyrrhus made good his retreat from the scene, and the Spartansthemselves finally withdrew. Pyrrhus having thus, by way of comfortfor his grief, taken the satisfaction of revenge, resumed his marchand went to Argos. 

Arrived before the city, he found that there was an army opposed tohim there, under the command of a general named Antigonus. His armywas encamped upon a hill near the city, awaiting his arrival. The mindof Pyrrhus had become so chafed and irritated by the opposition whichhe had encountered, and the defeats, disappointments, andmortifications which he had endured, that he was full of rage andfury, and seemed to manifest the temper of a wild beast rather thanthat of a man. He sent a herald to the camp of Antigonus, angrilydefying him, and challenging him to come down from his encampment andmeet him in single combat on the plain. Antigonus very coolly repliedthat _time_ was a weapon which he employed in his contests as well asthe sword, and that he was not yet ready for a battle; adding, that ifPyrrhus was weary of his life, and very impatient to end it, therewere plenty of modes by which he could accomplish his desire. 

Pyrrhus remained for some days before the walls of Argos, during whichtime various negotiations took place between the people of the cityand the several parties involved in the quarrel, with a view to anamicable adjustment of the dispute, in order to save the city from theterrors attendant upon a contest for the possession of it between suchmighty armies. At length some sort of settlement was made, and botharmies agreed to retire. Pyrrhus, however, had no intention of keepinghis agreement. Having thrown the people of the city somewhat off theirguard by his promise, he took occasion to advance stealthily to one ofthe gates at dead of night, and there, the gate being opened to him bya confederate within the city, he began to march his soldiers in. Thetroops were ordered to keep silence, and to step noiselessly, and thusa large body of Gauls gained admission, and posted themselves in themarket-place without alarming or awakening the inhabitants. To renderthis story credible, we must suppose that the sentinels and guards hadbeen previously gained over to Pyrrhus's side. 

The foot-soldiers having thus made their entrance into the city, Pyrrhus undertook next to pass some of his elephants in. It was found, however, when they approached the gate, that they could not enterwithout having the towers first removed from their backs, as the gateswere only high enough to admit the animals alone. The soldiersaccordingly proceeded to take off the towers, and then the elephantswere led in. The towers were then to be replaced. The work of takingdown the towers, and then of putting them on again, which all had tobe done in the dark, was attended with great difficulty and delay, andso much noise was unavoidably made in the operation, that at lengththe people in the surrounding houses took the alarm, and in a veryshort period the whole city was aroused. Eager gatherings wereimmediately held in all quarters. Pyrrhus pressed forward with allhaste into the market-place, and posted himself there, arranging hiselephants, his horse, and his foot in the manner best adapted toprotect them from any attack that might be made. The people of Argoscrowded into the citadel, and sent out immediately to Antigonus tocome in to their aid. He at once put his camp in motion, and, advancing toward the walls with the main body, he sent in somepowerful detachments of troops to co-operate with the inhabitants ofthe city. All these scenes occurring in the midst of the darkness ofthe night, the people having been awakened from their sleep by asudden alarm, were attended, of course, by a dreadful panic andconfusion; and, to complete the complication of horrors, Areus, withthe Spartan army under his command, who had followed Pyrrhus in hisapproach to the city, and had been closely watching his movements eversince he had arrived, now burst in through the gates, and attacked thetroops of his hated enemy in the streets, in the market-place, andwherever he could find them, with shouts, outcries, and imprecations, that made the whole city one widespread scene of unutterable confusionand terror. 

The general confusion and terror, however, produced by the assaults ofthe Spartans were the only results that immediately followed them, forthe troops soon found that no real progress could be made, and noadvantage gained by this nocturnal warfare. The soldiers could notdistinguish friends from foes. They could not see or hear theircommander, or act with any concert or in any order. They werescattered about, and lost their way in narrow streets, or fell intodrains or sewers, and all attempts on the part of the officers torally them, or to control them in any way, were unavailing. At length, by common consent, all parties desisted from fighting, andawaited--all in an awful condition of uncertainty and suspense--thecoming of the dawn. 

Pyrrhus, as the objects that were around him were brought graduallyinto view by the gray light of the morning, was alarmed at seeing thatthe walls of the citadel were covered with armed men, and at observingvarious other indications, by which he was warned that there was avery powerful force opposed to him within the city. As the lightincreased, and brought the boundaries of the market-place where heposted himself into view, and revealed the various images and figureswhich had been placed there to adorn it, he was struck withconsternation at the sight of one of the groups, as the outlines of itslowly made themselves visible. It was a piece of statuary, inbronze, representing a combat between a wolf and a bull. It seems thatin former times some oracle or diviner had forewarned him that when heshould see a wolf encountering a bull, he might know that the hour ofhis 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 onlybe expected to appear in some secluded forest, or in some wide andunfrequented spot among the mountains. Perhaps, indeed, he had paidvery little attention to the prophecy, and never expected that itwould be literally realized. When, however, this group in bronze cameout to view, it reminded him of the oracle, and the dreadfulforeboding which its appearance awakened, connected with the anxietyand alarm naturally inspired by the situation in which he was placed, filled him with consternation. He feared that his hour was come, andhis only solicitude now was to make good his retreat as soon aspossible from the fatal dangers by which he seemed to be surrounded. 

But how to escape was the difficulty. The gate was narrow, the body oftroops with him was large, and he knew that in attempting to retirehe would be attacked from all the streets in the vicinity, and fromthe tops of the houses and walls, and that his column would inevitablybe thrown into disorder, and would choke up the gateway and render itwholly impassable, through their eagerness to escape and the confusionthat would ensue. He accordingly sent out a messenger to his sonHelenus, who remained all the time in command of the main body of thearmy, without the walls, directing him to come forward with all hisforce, and break down a portion of the wall adjoining the gateway, soas to open a free egress for his troops in their retreat from thecity. He remained himself at his position in the market-place untiltime had elapsed sufficient, as he judged, for Helenus to havereceived his orders, and to have reached the gate in the execution ofthem; and then, being by this time hard pressed by his enemies, whobegan early in the morning to attack him on all quarters, he put histroops in motion, and in the midst of a scene of shouts, uproar, terror, and confusion indescribable, the whole body moved on towardthe gate, expecting that, by the time they arrived there, Helenuswould have accomplished his work, and that they should find a broadopening made, which would allow of an easy egress. Instead of this, however, they found, before they reached the gate, that the streetsbefore them were entirely blocked up with an immense concourse ofsoldiers that were pouring tumultuously into the city. It seems thatHelenus had, in some way or other, misunderstood the orders, andsupposed that he was directed to enter the city himself, to re-enforcehis father within the walls. The shock of the encounter produced bythese opposing currents redoubled the confusion. Pyrrhus, and theofficers with him, shouted out orders to the advancing soldiers ofHelenus to fall back; but in the midst of the indescribable din andconfusion that prevailed, no vociferation, however loud, could beheard. Nor, if the orders had been heard, could they have been obeyed, for the van of the coming column was urged forward irresistibly by thepressure of those behind, and the panic which by this time prevailedamong the troops of Pyrrhus's command made them frantic and furious intheir efforts to force their way onward and get out of the city. Anawful scene of confusion and destruction ensued. Men pressed andtrampled each other to death, and the air was filled with shrieks andcries of pain and terror. The destruction of life was very great, butit was produced almost entirely by the pressure and theconfusion--men, horses, and elephants being mingled inextricablytogether in one vast living mass, which seemed, to those who lookeddown upon it from above, to be writhing and struggling in the mosthorrible contortions. There was no fighting, for there was no room forany 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 aroundhim, and he found himself utterly helpless. The injury, therefore, that was done, was the result almost altogether of the pressure andthe struggles, and of the trampling of the elephants and the horsesupon the men, and of the men upon each other. 

The elephants added greatly to the confusion of the scene. One of thelargest in the troop fell in the gateway, and lay there for some timeon his side, unable to rise, and braying in a terrific manner. Anotherwas excited to a phrensy by the loss of his master, who had fallen offfrom his head, wounded by a dart or a spear. The faithful animalturned around to save him. With his trunk he threw the men who were inthe way off to the right hand and the left, and then, taking up thebody of his master with his trunk, he placed it carefully upon histusks, and then attempted to force a passage through the crowd, trampling down all who came in his way. History has awarded to thiselephant a distinction which he well deserved, by recording his name. It was Nicon. 

[Illustration: DEATH OF PYRRHUS. ]

All this time Pyrrhus was near the rear of his troops, and thus wasin some degree removed from the greatest severity of the pressure. He turned and fought, from time to time, with those who werepressing upon his line from behind. As the danger became moreimminent, he took out from his helmet the plume by which he wasdistinguished from the other generals, and gave it to a friend whowas near him, in order that he might be a less conspicuous mark forthe shafts of his enemies. The combats, however, between his partyand those who were harassing them in the rear were still continued;and at length, in one of them, a man of Argos wounded him, bythrowing a javelin with so much force that the point of it passedthrough his breast-plate and entered his side. The wound was notdangerous, but it had the effect of maddening Pyrrhus against theman who had inflicted it, and he turned upon him with great fury, as if he were intending to annihilate him at a blow. He would veryprobably have killed the Greek, had it not been that just at thatmoment the mother of the man, by a very singular coincidence, wassurveying the scene from a house-top which overlooked the streetwhere these events were occurring. She immediately seized a heavytile from the roof, and with all her strength hurled it into thestreet upon Pyrrhus just as he was striking the blow. The tile camedown upon his head, and, striking the helmet heavily, it carriedboth helmet and head down together, and crushed the lower vertebrĉof the neck at their junction with the spine. 

Pyrrhus dropped the reins from his hands, and fell over from his horseheavily to the ground. It happened that no one knew him who saw himfall, for so great had been the crowd and confusion, that Pyrrhus hadgot separated 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 ofhis party, looked upon the wounded man and recognized him as Pyrrhus. They lifted him up, and dragged him out of the street to a porticothat was near. Zopyrus drew his sword, and raised it to cut off hisprisoner's head. At this instant Pyrrhus opened his eyes, and rolledthem up with such a horrid expression as to strike Zopyrus withterror. His arm consequently faltered in dealing the blow, so that hemissed his aim, and instead of striking the neck, only wounded andmutilated the mouth and chin. He was obliged to repeat the strokeagain and again before the neck was sundered. At length, however, thedreadful deed was done, and the head was severed from the body. 

Very soon after this, Halcyoncus, the son of Antigonus, rode up to thespot, and after learning what had occurred, he asked the soldiers tolift up the head to him, that he might look at it a moment. As soon asit was within his reach, he seized it and rode away, in order to carryit to his father. He found his father sitting with his friends, andthrew down the head at his feet, as a trophy which he supposed hisfather would rejoice to see. Antigonus was, however, in fact, extremely shocked at the spectacle. He reproved his son in theseverest terms for his brutality, and then, sending for the mutilatedtrunk, he gave to the whole body an honorable burial. 

That Pyrrhus was a man of great native power of mind, and ofextraordinary capacity as a military leader, no one can deny. Hiscapacity and genius were in fact so great, as to make him, perhaps, the most conspicuous example that the world has produced of the mannerin which the highest power and the noblest opportunities may be wastedand thrown away. He accomplished nothing. He had no plan, no aim, noobject, but obeyed every momentary impulse, and entered, withoutthought and without calculation, into any scheme that chance, or theambitious designs of others, might lay before him. He succeeded increating a vast deal of turmoil and war, in killing an immense numberof men, and in conquering, though temporarily and to no purpose, agreat many kingdoms. It was mischief, and only mischief, that he did;and though the scale on which he perpetrated mischief was great, hisfickleness and vacillation deprived it altogether of the dignity ofgreatness. His crimes against the peace and welfare of mankind did notarise from any peculiar depravity; he was, on the contrary, naturallyof a noble and generous spirit, though in process of time, throughthe reaction of his conduct upon his heart, these good qualitiesalmost entirely disappeared. Still, he seems never really to havewished mankind ill. He perpetrated his crimes against themthoughtlessly, merely for the purpose of showing what great things hecould do. 

 THE END. 

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors, and toensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the original book. 

2. The chapter summaries in this text were originally published asbanners in the page headers, and have been moved to beginning of thechapter for the reader's convenience.