Pyrrhus

Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, born about 318 B.C., a Greek warrior, was the son of Æacides and a distant kinsman of Alexander the Great. After experiencing many vicissitudes of fortune in his youth, he became sole king of Epirus in 295 B.C., and in the following year increased his territories by the addition of the western parts of Macedonia. In 281 B.C. a glorious prospect opened up before the eyes of the restless warrior—the conquest of Rome and the western world, which would confer on him a renowned equal to that of his Macedonian kinsman. The Tarentines, a Greek colony in Lower Italy, then at war with the Romans, sent an embassy to Pyrrhus, in the name of all the Greek colonies in Italy, offering him the command of all their troops against their enemies. The king was overjoyed at the proposal, instantly accepted it, and in the beginning of 280 B.C. sailed for Tarentum with 20,000 foot, 3000 horse, 2000 archers, 500 slingers, and a number of elephants. The pleasure-loving Tarentines were far from pleased at the strict measures taken by Pyrrhus to inure them to the hardships of war. The first battle between Pyrrhus and the Romans, who were commanded by the consul, M. Valerius Lævinus, took place at the river Siris in Lucania. The contest was long, obstinate, and bloody; and Pyrrhus only succeeded by bringing forward his elephants, whose strange appearance and gigantic size excited a sudden panic among the Romans. It was a hard-bought victory for Pyrrhus, who said, as he looked upon the field, thick-strewn with his numerous dead, 'Another such victory, and I must return to Epirus alone.' Hence the phrase 'Pyrrhic victory.' Many of the Italian nations now joined Pyrrhus, and he proceeded on his march towards Central Italy. The Roman senate would have accepted the terms proposed by Cineas, the eloquent ambassador of Pyrrhus, but for the stirring speech of old Ap. Claudius Cæcus, which made them resolve to 'fight it out' with the foreigner. Pyrrhus, after penetrating to within 20 miles of Rome, found it impossible to proceed farther with safety, as one Roman army occupied the city and another hung upon his flanks and rear. He therefore withdrew to Campania, and thence to Tarentum, where he wintered. The campaign of 279 was carried on in Apulia, and the principal engagement took place near Asculum. The Romans were again defeated; but Pyrrhus himself lost so heavily that he felt it impossible to follow up his victory, and again withdrew to Tarentum. Here a truce was entered into between the belligerents, and Pyrrhus passed over into Sicily to assist the Sicilian Greeks against the Carthaginians, 278. His first exploits in that island were both brilliant and successful; but the repulse which he sustained in his attack on Lilybæum broke the spell which invested his name. Soon afterwards he became involved in misunderstandings with the Greeks, and in 276 he quitted the island in disgust to renew his war with Rome. While crossing over to the mainland the Carthaginians attacked him and destroyed seventy of his ships. In 274 he fought a great battle with the Romans, under the consul Curius Dentatus, near Beneventum, and was utterly defeated, escaping to Tarentum with only a few personal attendants. He now saw himself forced to abandon Italy and return to Epirus, where he almost immediately engaged in war with Antigonus Gonatas, son of Demetrius, and king of Macedonia. His success was complete, for the Macedonian troops deserted to him en masse, and he once more obtained possession of the country; but nothing could satisfy his love of fighting, and in less than a year he was induced to enter on a war with the Spartans. He marched a large force into the Peloponnesus and tried to take their city, but was repulsed in all his attempts. He then proceeded against Argos, where he met his death by means of a tile hurled at him by a woman from the roof of a house, 272 B.C.