Pyrrhus
by Jacob Abbott · English · Gutenberg #27240 · 370,964 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Pyrrhus
Author: Jacob Abbott
Release date: November 12, 2008 [eBook #27240]
Most recently updated: January 4, 2021
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27240
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PYRRHUS ***
Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
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 times
antecedent to the period when the regular records of authentic history
commence, no reliance can be placed upon the actual verity of the
accounts which have come down to us of their lives and actions. In
those ancient days there was, in fact, no line of demarkation between
romance and history, and the stories which were told of Cyrus, Darius,
Xerxes, Romulus, Pyrrhus, and other personages as ancient as they, are
all more or less fabulous and mythical. We learn this as well from the
internal evidence furnished by the narratives themselves as from the
researches of modern scholars, who have succeeded, in many cases, in
disentangling the web, and separating the false from the true. It is
none the less important, however, on this account, that these ancient
tales, as they were originally told, and as they have come down to us
through so many centuries, should be made known to readers of the
present age. They have been circulated among mankind in their
original form for twenty or thirty centuries, and they have mingled
themselves inextricably with the literature, the eloquence, and the
poetry of every civilized nation on the globe. Of course, to know what
the story is, whether true or false, which the ancient narrators
recorded, and which has been read and commented on by every succeeding
generation to the present day, is an essential attainment for every
well-informed man; a far more essential attainment, in fact, for the
general reader, than to discover now, at this late period, what the
actual facts were which gave origin to the fable.
In writing this series of histories, therefore, it has been the aim of
the author not to _correct_ the ancient story, but to repeat it as it
stands, cautioning the reader, however, whenever 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.--Their
political connections.--Olympias.--Her visits to
Epirus.--Philip.--Olympias as a wife.--She makes many
difficulties.--Alexander takes part with his mother in her
quarrel.--Olympias is suspected of having murdered her
husband.--Alexander's treatment of his mother.--His kind
and considerate behavior.--Antipater.--Character of
Antipater.--Alexander's opinion of him.--Olympias makes a great
deal of trouble.--Alexander sends Craterus home.--Alexander's wife
Roxana.--Her babe.--Aridaeus.--The two competing claimants to the
crown.--Some account of the Ptolemaic dynasty.--The distribution of
Alexander's empire.--Compromise between the rival claims.--Question of
marriage.--Cleopatra.--Nicaea.--Nicaea is sent to Babylon.--Antipater's
plan.--Another matrimonial question.--Cynane.--Excitement in the
army.--Ada's new name.--Various intrigues.--Schemes of Antipater
and Ptolemy.--Nicaea.--Perdiccas' plans.--A battle.--Craterus is
killed.--Discontent.--Unpopularity of Perdiccas.--Transit of the
Nile.--Extraordinary incident.--Great numbers swept into the river
and destroyed.--The kings are to be sent back to Babylon.--Antipater
returns to Macedon full of honors.
Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, entered at the very beginning of his life
upon the extraordinary series of romantic adventures which so
strikingly marked his career. He became an exile and a fugitive from
his father's house when he was only two years old, having been
suddenly borne away at that period by the attendants of the household,
to avoid a most imminent personal danger that threatened him. The
circumstances which gave occasion for this extraordinary ereption were
as follows:
The country of Epirus, as will be seen by the accompanying map, was
situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea,[A] and on the
southwestern confines of Macedonia. The kingdom of Epirus was thus
very near to, and in some respects dependent upon, the kingdom of
Macedon. In fact, the public affairs of the two countries, through the
personal relations and connections which subsisted from time to time
between the royal families that reigned over them respectively, were
often intimately intermingled, so that there could scarcely be any
important war, or even any great civil dissension in Macedon, which
did not sooner or later draw the king or the people of Epirus to take
part in the dispute, either on one side or on the other. And as it
sometimes happened that in these questions of Macedonian politics the
king and the people of Epirus took opposite sides, the affairs of the
great kingdom were often the means of bringing into the smaller one an
infinite degree of trouble and confusion.
[Footnote A: See the opposite map.]
The period of Pyrrhus's career was immediately subsequent to that of
Alexander the Great, the birth of Pyrrhus having taken place about
four years after the death of Alexander. At this time it happened that
the relations which subsisted between the royal families of the two
kingdoms were very intimate. This intimacy arose from an extremely
important intermarriage which had taken place between the two families
in the preceding generation--namely, the marriage of Philip of
Macedon with Olympias, the daughter of a king of Epirus. Philip and
Olympias were the father and mother of Alexander the Great. Of course,
during the whole period of the great conqueror's history, the people
of Epirus, as well as those of Macedon, felt a special interest in his
career. They considered him as a descendant of their own royal line,
as well as of that of Macedon, and so, very naturally, appropriated to
themselves some portion of the glory which he acquired. Olympias, too,
who sometimes, after her marriage with Philip, resided at Epirus, and
sometimes at Macedon, maintained an intimate and close connection,
both with her own and with Philip's family; and thus, through various
results of her agency, as well as through the fame of Alexander's
exploits, the governments of the two countries were continually
commingled.
It must not, however, by any means be supposed that the relations
which were established through the influence of Olympias, between the
courts of Epirus and of Macedon, were always of a friendly character.
They were, in fact, often the very reverse. Olympias was a woman of a
very passionate and ungovernable temper, and of a very determined
will; and as Philip was himself as impetuous and as resolute as she,
the domestic life of this distinguished pair was a constant succession
of storms. At the commencement of her married life, Olympias was, of
course, generally successful in accomplishing her purposes. Among
other measures, she induced Philip to establish her brother upon the
throne of Epirus, in the place of another prince who was more directly
in the line of succession. As, however, the true heir did not, on this
account, relinquish his claims, two parties were formed in the
country, adhering respectively to the two branches of the family that
claimed the throne, and a division ensued, which, in the end, involved
the kingdom of Epirus in protracted civil wars. While, therefore,
Olympias continued to hold an influence over her husband's mind, she
exercised it in such a way as to open sources of serious calamity and
trouble for her own native land.
After a time, however, she lost this influence entirely. Her disputes
with Philip ended at length in a bitter and implacable quarrel. Philip
married another woman, named Cleopatra, partly, indeed, as a measure
of political alliance, and partly as an act of hostility and hatred
against Olympias, whom he accused of the most disgraceful crimes.
Olympias went home to Epirus in a rage, and sought refuge in the court
of her brother.
Alexander, her son, was left behind at Macedon at this separation
between his father and mother. He was then about nineteen years of
age. He took part with his mother in the contest. It is true, he
remained for a time at the court of Philip after his mother's
departure, but his mind was in a very irritable and sullen mood; and
at length, on the occasion of a great public festival, an angry
conversation between Alexander and Philip occurred, growing out of
some allusions which were made to Olympias by some of the guests, in
the course of which Alexander openly denounced and defied the king,
and then abruptly left the court, and went off to Epirus to join his
mother. Of course the attention of the people of Epirus was strongly
attracted to this quarrel, and they took sides, some with Philip, and
some with Olympias and Alexander.
Not very long after this, Philip was assassinated in the most
mysterious and extraordinary manner.[B] Olympias was generally accused
of having been the instigator of this deed. There was no positive
evidence of her guilt; nor, on the other hand, had there ever been in
her character and conduct any such indications of the presence of even
the ordinary sentiments of justice and humanity in her heart as could
form a presumption of her innocence. In a word, she was such a woman
that it was more easy and natural, as it seemed, for mankind to
believe her guilty than innocent; and she has accordingly been very
generally condemned, though on very slender evidence, as accessory to
the crime.
[Footnote B: For a full account of this transaction, see "History of
Alexander the Great."]
Of course, the death of Philip, whether Olympias was the procurer of
it or not, was of the greatest conceivable advantage to her in respect
to its effect upon her position, and upon the promotion of her
ambitious schemes. The way was at once opened again for her return to
Macedon. Alexander, her son, succeeded immediately to the throne. He
was very young, and would submit, as she supposed, very readily to the
influence of his mother. This proved, in fact, in some sense to be
true. Alexander, whatever may have been his faults in other 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 in
any sense subject himself to her authority and influence in his
political career. He formed his own plans, and executed them in his
own way; and if there was ever at any time any dispute or disagreement
between him and Olympias in respect to his measures, she soon learned
that he was not to be controlled in these things, and gave up the
struggle. Nor was this a very extraordinary result; for we often see
that a refractory woman, who can not by any process be made to submit
to her husband, is easily and completely managed by a son.
Things went on thus tolerably smoothly while Alexander lived. It was
_only_ tolerably, however; for Olympias, though she always continued
on friendly terms with Alexander himself, quarreled incessantly with
the commanders and ministers of state whom he left with her at Macedon
while he was absent on his Asiatic campaigns. These contentions caused
no very serious difficulty so long as Alexander himself was alive to
interpose, when occasion required, and settle the difficulties and
disputes which originated in them before they became unmanageable.
Alexander was always adroit enough to do this in a manner that was
respectful and considerate toward his mother, and which yet preserved
the actual administrative power of the kingdom in the hands to which
he had intrusted it.
He thus amused his mother's mind, and soothed her irritable temper by
marks of consideration and regard, and sustained her in a very
dignified and lofty position in the royal household, while yet he
confided to her very little substantial power.
The officer whom Alexander had left in chief command at Macedon, while
absent on his Asiatic expedition, was Antipater. Antipater was a very
venerable man, then nearly seventy years of age. He had been the
principal minister of state in Macedonia for a long period of time,
having served Philip in that capacity with great fidelity and success
for many years before Alexander's accession. During the whole term of
his public office, he had maintained a most exalted reputation for
wisdom and virtue. Philip placed the most absolute and entire
confidence in him, and often committed the most momentous affairs to
his direction. And yet, notwithstanding the illustrious position which
Antipater thus occupied, and the great influence and control which he
exercised in the public affairs of Macedon, he was simple and
unpretending in his manners, and kind and considerate to all around
him, as if he were entirely devoid of all feelings of personal
ambition, and were actuated only by an honest and sincere devotedness
to the cause of those whom he served. Various anecdotes were related
of him in the Macedonian court, which showed the estimation in which
he was held. For example, Philip one day, at a time when placed in
circumstances which required special caution and vigilance on his
part, made his appearance at a late hour in the morning, and he
apologized for it by saying to the officers, "I have slept rather late
this morning, but then I knew that Antipater was awake." Alexander,
too, felt the highest respect and veneration for Antipater's
character. At one time some person expressed surprise that Antipater
did not clothe himself in a purple robe--the badge of nobility and
greatness--as the other great commanders and ministers of state were
accustomed to do. "Those men," said Alexander, "wear purple on the
outside, but Antipater is purple within."
The whole country, in a word, felt so much confidence in the wisdom,
the justice, and the moderation of Antipater, that they submitted
very 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 the
realm and to Alexander required, without yielding at all to the
demands or expectations of Olympias. She, consequently, finding that
he was unmanageable, did all in her power to embarrass him in his
plans, and to thwart and circumvent him. She wrote letters continually
to Alexander, complaining incessantly of his conduct, sometimes
misrepresenting occurrences which had actually taken place, and
sometimes making accusations wholly groundless and untrue. Antipater,
in the same manner, in his letters to Alexander, complained of the
interference of Olympias, and of the trouble and embarrassment which
her conduct occasioned him. Alexander succeeded for a season in
settling these difficulties more or less perfectly, from time to time,
as they arose; but at last he concluded to make a change in the
regency. Accordingly, on an occasion when a considerable body of new
recruits from Macedon was to be marched into Asia, Alexander ordered
Antipater to accompany them, and, at the same time, he sent home
another general named Craterus, in charge of a body of troops from
Asia, whose term of service had expired.[C] His plan was to retain
Antipater in his service in Asia, and to give to Craterus the
government of Macedon, thinking it possible, perhaps, that Craterus
might 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. This
event changed the whole aspect of affairs throughout the empire, and
led to a series of very important events, which followed each other in
rapid succession, and which were the means of affecting the condition
and the fortunes of Olympias in a very material manner. The state of
the case was substantially thus. The story forms quite a complicated
plot, which it will require close attention on the part of the reader
clearly to comprehend.
The question which rose first to the mind of every one, as soon as
Alexander's death became known, was that of the succession. There was,
as it happened, no member of Alexander's own family who could be
considered as clearly and unquestionably his heir. At the time of his
death he had no child. He had a wife, however, whose name was Roxana,
and a child was born to her a few months after Alexander's death.
Roxana was the daughter of an Asiatic prince. Alexander had taken her
prisoner, with some other ladies, at a fort on a rock, where her
father had placed her for safety. Roxana was extremely beautiful, and
Alexander, as soon as he saw her, determined to make her his wife.
Among the thousands of captives that he made in his Asiatic campaign,
Roxana, it was said, was the most lovely of all; and as it was only
about four years after her marriage that Alexander died, she was still
in the full bloom of youth and beauty when her son was born.
But besides this son, born thus a few months after Alexander's death,
there was a brother of Alexander, or, rather, a half-brother, whose
claims to the succession seemed to be more direct, for he was living
at the time that Alexander died. The name of his brother was Aridaeus.
He was imbecile in intellect, and wholly insignificant as a political
personage, except so far as he was by birth the next heir to Alexander
in the Macedonian line. He was not the son of Olympias, but of another
mother, and his imbecility was caused, it was said, by an attempt of
Olympias to poison him in his youth. She was prompted to do this by
her rage and jealousy against his mother, for whose sake Philip had
abandoned her. The poison had ruined the poor child's intellect,
though it had failed to destroy his life. Alexander, when he succeeded
to the throne, adopted measures to protect Aridaeus from any future
attempt which his mother might make to destroy him, and for this, as
well as perhaps for other reasons, took Aridaeus with him on his
Asiatic campaign. Aridaeus and Roxana were both at Babylon when
Alexander died.
Whatever might be thought of the comparative claims of Aridaeus and of
Roxana's babe in respect to the inheritance of the Macedonian crown,
it was plain that neither of them was capable of exercising any actual
power--Alexander's son being incapacitated by his youthfulness, and
his brother by his imbecility. The real power fell immediately into
the hands of Alexander's great generals and counselors of state. These
generals, on consultation with each other, determined not to decide
the question of succession in favor of either of the two heirs, but to
invest the sovereignty of the empire jointly in them both. So they
gave to Aridaeus the name of Philip, and to Roxana's babe that of
Alexander. They made these two princes jointly the nominal sovereigns,
and then proceeded, in their name, to divide all the actual power
among themselves.
In this division, Egypt, and the African countries adjoining it, were
assigned to a very distinguished general of the name of Ptolemy, who
became the founder of a long line of Egyptian sovereigns, known as the
Ptolemaic dynasty--the line from which, some centuries later, the
renowned Cleopatra sprang. Macedon and Greece, with the other European
provinces, were allotted to Antipater and Craterus--Craterus himself
being then on the way to Macedon with the invalid and disbanded troops
whom Alexander had sent home. Craterus was in feeble health at this
time, and was returning to Macedon partly on this account. In fact, he
was not fully able to take the active command of the detachment
committed to him, and Alexander had accordingly sent an officer with
him, named Polysperchon, who was to assist him in the performance of
his duties on the march. This Polysperchon, as will appear in the
sequel, took a very important part in the events which occurred in
Macedonia after he and Craterus had arrived there.
In addition to these great and important provinces--that of Egypt in
Africa, and Macedon and Greece in Europe--there were various other
smaller ones in Asia Minor and in Syria, which were assigned to
different generals and ministers of state who had been attached to the
service of Alexander, and who all now claimed their several portions
in the general distribution of power which took place after his death.
The distribution gave at first a tolerable degree of satisfaction. It
was made in the _name_ of Philip the king, though the personage who
really controlled the arrangement was Perdiccas, the general who was
nearest to the person of Alexander, and highest in rank at the time of
the great conqueror's decease. In fact, as soon as Alexander died,
Perdiccas assumed the command of the army, and the general direction
of affairs.[D] He intended, as was supposed, to make himself emperor
in the place of Alexander. At first he had strongly urged that
Roxana's child should be declared heir to the throne, to the exclusion
of Aridaeus. His secret motive in this was, that by governing as
regent during the long minority of the infant, he might prepare the
way for finally seizing the kingdom himself. The other generals of the
army, however, would not consent to this; they were inclined to insist
that Aridaeus should be king. The army was divided on this question for
some days, and the dispute ran very high. It seemed, in fact, for a
time, that there was no hope that it could be accommodated. There was
every indication that a civil war must ensue--to break out first under
the very walls of Babylon. At length, however, as has already been
stated, the question was compromised, and it was agreed that the crown
of Alexander should become the joint inheritance of Aridaeus and of the
infant child, and that Perdiccas should exercise at Babylon the
functions of regent. Of course, when the division of the empire was
made, it was made in the name of Philip; for the child of Roxana, at
the time of the division, was not yet born. But, though made in King
Philip's name, it was really the work of Perdiccas. His plan, it was
supposed, in the assignment of provinces to the various generals, was
to remove them from Babylon, and give them employment in distant
fields, where they would not interfere with him in the execution of
his plans for making himself master of the supreme power.
[Footnote D: The death of Alexander took place, and the distribution
here referred to was made at Babylon. For the situation of this city
in reference to Macedon and the intervening countries, see map.]
After these arrangements had been made, and the affairs of the empire
had been tolerably well settled for the time being by this
distribution of power, and Perdiccas began to consider what ulterior
measures he should adopt for the widening and extending of his power,
a question arose which for a season greatly perplexed him: it was the
question of his marriage. Two proposals were made to him--one by
Olympias, and one by Antipater. Each of these personages had a
daughter whom they were desirous that Perdiccas should make his wife.
The daughter of Olympias was named Cleopatra--that of Antipater was
Nicaea. Cleopatra was a young widow. She was residing at this time in
Syria. She had been married to a king of Epirus named Alexander, but
was now residing in Sardis, in Asia Minor. Some of the counselors of
Perdiccas represented to him very strongly that a marriage with her
would strengthen his position more than any other alliance that he
could form, as she was the sister of Alexander the Great, and by his
marriage with her he would secure to his side the influence of
Olympias and of all of Alexander's family. Perdiccas so far acceded
to these views that he sent a messenger to Sardis to visit Cleopatra
in his name, and to make her a present. Olympias and Cleopatra
accordingly considered the arrangement a settled affair.
In the mean time, however, Antipater, who seems to have been more in
earnest in his plans, sent off his daughter Nicaea herself to Babylon,
to be offered directly to Perdiccas there. She arrived at Babylon
after the messenger of Perdiccas had gone to visit Cleopatra. The
arrival of Nicaea brought up very distinctly to the mind of Perdiccas
the advantages of an alliance with Antipater. Olympias, it is true,
had a great name, but she possessed no real power. Antipater, on the
other hand, held sway over a widely-extended region, which comprised
some of the most wealthy and populous countries on the globe. He had a
large army under his command, too, consisting of the bravest and
best-disciplined troops in the world; and he himself, though advanced
in age, was a very able and effective commander. In a word, Perdiccas
was persuaded, by these and similar considerations, that the alliance
of Antipater would be more serviceable to him than that of Olympias,
and he accordingly married Nicaea. Olympias, who had always hated
Antipater before, was now, when she found herself thus supplanted by
him in her plans for allying herself with Perdiccas, aroused to the
highest pitch of indignation and rage.
Besides the marriage of Perdiccas, another matrimonial question arose
about this time, which led to a great deal of difficulty. There was a
lady of the royal family of Macedon named Cynane--a daughter of Philip
of Macedon, and half-sister of Alexander the Great--who had a daughter
named Ada. Cynane conceived the design of marrying her daughter to
King Philip, who was now, as well as Roxana and her babe, in the hands
of Perdiccas as their guardian. Cynane set out from Macedon with her
daughter, on the journey to Asia, in order to carry this arrangement
into effect. This was considered as a very bold undertaking on the
part of Cynane and her daughter; for Perdiccas would, of course, be
implacably hostile to any plan for the marriage of Philip, and
especially so to his marrying a princess of the royal family of
Macedon. In fact, as soon as Perdiccas heard of the movement which
Cynane was making, he was enraged at the audacity of it, and sent
messengers to intercept Cynane and murder her on the way. This
transaction, however, as soon as it was known, produced a great
excitement throughout the whole of the Macedonian army. The army, in
fact, felt so strong an attachment for every branch and every member
of the family of Alexander, that they would not tolerate any violence
or wrong against any one of them. Perdiccas was quite terrified at the
storm which he had raised. He immediately countermanded the orders
which he had given to the assassins; and, to atone for his error and
allay the excitement, he received Ada, when she arrived at Babylon,
with great apparent kindness, and finally consented to the plan of her
being married to Philip. She was accordingly married to him, and the
army was appeased. Ada received at this time the name of Eurydice, and
she 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 of
the different provinces in Europe and Asia, which, as the results of
them did not particularly affect the affairs of Epirus, we need not
here particularly describe. During all this period, however,
Perdiccas was extending and maturing his arrangements, and laying his
plans for securing the whole empire to himself; while Antipater and
Ptolemy, in Macedon and Egypt, were all the time holding secret
communications with each other, and endeavoring to devise means by
which they might thwart and circumvent him. The quarrel was an example
of what very often occurs in such political systems as the Macedonian
empire presented at this time--namely, a combining of the extremities
against the centre. For some time the efforts of the hostile parties
were confined to the maneuvers and counter-maneuvers which they
devised against each other. Antipater was, in fact, restrained from
open hostility against Perdiccas from a regard to his daughter Nicaea,
who, as has been already mentioned, was Perdiccas' wife. At length,
however, under the influence of the increasing hostility which
prevailed between the two families, Perdiccas determined to divorce
Nicaea, and marry Cleopatra after all. As soon as Antipater learned
this, he resolved at once upon open war. The campaign commenced with a
double operation. Perdiccas himself raised an army; and, taking Philip
and Eurydice, and also Roxana and her babe in his train, he marched
into Egypt to make war against Ptolemy. At the same time, Antipater
and Craterus, at the head of a large Macedonian force, passed across
the Hellespont into Asia Minor, on their way to attack Perdiccas in
Babylon. Perdiccas sent a large detachment of troops, under the
command of a distinguished general, to meet and encounter Antipater
and Craterus in Asia Minor, while he was himself engaged in the
Egyptian campaign.
The result of the contest was fatal to the cause of Perdiccas.
Antipater advanced triumphantly through Asia Minor, though in one of
the battles which took place there Craterus was slain. But while
Craterus himself fell, his troops were victorious. Thus the fortunes
of war in this quarter went against Perdiccas. The result of his own
operations in Egypt was still more disastrous to him. As he approached
the Egyptian frontier, he found his soldiers very averse to fighting
against Ptolemy, a general whom they had always regarded with extreme
respect and veneration, and who, as was well known, had governed his
province in Egypt with the greatest wisdom, justice, and moderation.
Perdiccas treated this disaffection in a very haughty and domineering
manner. He called his soldiers rebels, and threatened to punish them
as such. This aroused their indignation, and from secret murmurings
they proceeded to loud and angry complaints. Perdiccas was not their
king, they said, to lord it over them in that imperious manner. He was
nothing but the tutor of their kings, and they would not submit to any
insolence from him. Perdiccas was soon quite alarmed to observe the
degree of dissatisfaction which he had awakened, and the violence of
the form which it seemed to be assuming. He changed his tone, and
attempted to soothe and conciliate the minds of his men. He at length
succeeded so far as to restore some degree of order and discipline to
the army, and in that condition the expedition entered Egypt.[E]
[Footnote E: For the route taken by this expedition, see map.]
Perdiccas crossed one of the branches of the Nile, and then led his
army forward to attack Ptolemy in a strong fortress, where he had
intrenched himself with his troops. The forces of Perdiccas, though
much more numerous than those of Ptolemy, fought with very little
spirit; while those of Ptolemy exerted themselves to the utmost, under
the influence of the strong attachment which they felt for their
commander. Perdiccas was beaten in the engagement; and he was so much
weakened by the defeat, that he determined to retreat back across the
river. When the army arrived at the bank of the stream, the troops
began to pass over; but after about half the army had crossed, they
found, to their surprise, that the water, which had been growing
gradually deeper all the time, became impassable. The cause of this
deepening of the stream was at first a great mystery, since the
surface of the water, as was evident by marks along the shore,
remained all the time at the same level. It was at length ascertained
that the cause of this extraordinary phenomenon was, that the sands in
the bottom of the river were trampled up by the feet of the men and
horses in crossing, so that the current of the water could wash them
away; and such was the immense number of footsteps made by the
successive bodies of troops, that, by the time the transportation had
been half accomplished, the water had become too deep to be forded.
Perdiccas was thus, as it were, caught in a trap--half his army being
on one side of the river, and himself, with the remainder, on the
other.
He was seriously alarmed at the dangerous situation in which he thus
found himself placed, and immediately resorted to a variety of
expedients to remedy the unexpected difficulty. All his efforts were,
however, vain. Finally, as it seemed imperiously necessary to effect a
junction between the two divisions of his army, he ordered those who
had gone over to make an attempt, at all hazards, to return. They did
so; but in the attempt, vast numbers of men got beyond their depth,
and were swept down by the current and drowned. Multitudes of the
bodies, both of the dead and of the dying, were seized and devoured by
the crocodiles which lined the shores of the river below. There were
about two thousand men thus lost in the attempt to recross the stream.
In all military operations, the criterion of merit, in the opinion of
an army, is success; and, of course, the discontent and disaffection
which prevailed in the camp of Perdiccas broke out anew in consequence
of these misfortunes. There was a general mutiny. The officers
themselves took the lead in it, and one hundred of them went over in a
body to Ptolemy's side, taking with them a considerable portion of the
army; while those that were left remained with Perdiccas, not to
defend, but to destroy him. A troop of horse gathered around his tent,
guarding it on all sides, to prevent the escape of their victim, and
then a certain number of the men rushed in and killed him in the midst
of his terror and despair.
Ptolemy now advanced to the camp of Perdiccas, and was received there
with acclamation. The whole army submitted themselves at once to his
command. An arrangement was made for the return of the army to
Babylon, with the kings and their train. Pithon, one of the generals
of Perdiccas, took the command of the army, and the charge of the
royal family, on the return. In the mean time, Antipater had passed
into Asia, victorious over the forces that Perdiccas had sent against
him. A new congress of generals was held, and a new distribution of
power was made. By the new arrangement, Antipater was to retain his
command in Macedon and Greece, and to have the custody of the kings.
Accordingly, when every thing had thus been settled, Antipater set out
on his return to Macedon, with Philip and Eurydice, and also Roxana
and the infant Alexander, in his train. The venerable soldier--for he
was now about eighty years of age--was received in Macedon, on his
return, with universal honor and applause. There were several
considerations, in fact, which conspired to exalt Antipater in the
estimation of his countrymen on this occasion. He had performed a
great military exploit in conducting the expedition into Asia, from
which he was now triumphantly returning. He was bringing back to
Macedon, too, the royal family of Alexander, the representatives of
the ancient Macedonian line; and by being made the custodian of these
princes, and regent of the empire in their name, he had been raised to
the most exalted position which the whole world at that period could
afford. The Macedonians received him, accordingly, on his return, with
loud and universal acclamations.
CHAPTER II.
CASSANDER.
B.C. 320-316
Antipater's difficulties--Trouble with Olympias and Eurydice.--Character
of Eurydice.--Her dictatorial and overbearing demeanor.--The convention
of Triparadeisus.--Violence of Eurydice.--Antipater's life in
danger.--Eurydice forced to submit.--Antipater is dangerously sick.--The
arrangements made by him.--Antipater's arrangements for the
succession.--Polysperchon.--Polysperchon invites Olympias to return
to Macedon.--Cassander plans a rebellion.--His pretended hunting
party.--Cassander explains his designs to his friends.--They agree
to join him.--Olympias is afraid to return to Macedon.--War between
Cassander and Polysperchon.--Curious incident.--Polysperchon's
mine.--Success of it.--The conflict.--Consternation produced by the
elephants.--Plan of defense against them.--The iron spikes.--Olympias
finally concludes to go to Macedon.--Eurydice's troops desert
her.--Olympias in her chariot.--Eurydice is captured.--She is sent to
a dungeon.--Death of Philip.--Eurydice's despair.--he cell.--Eurydice's
dreadful end.--Cassander's movements.--Olympias acts in the most
energetic manner.--The siege of Pydna.--Movement of Cassander.--The
carrying away of Pyrrhus.--Olympias resorts to a stratagem.--Olympias
in prison.--Her end.
Although Antipater, on his return to Macedon, came back loaded with
honors, and in the full and triumphant possession of power, his
situation was still not without its difficulties. He had for enemies,
in Macedon, two of the most violent and unmanageable women that ever
lived--Olympias and Eurydice--who quarreled with him incessantly, and
who hated each other even more than they hated him.
Olympias was at this time in Epirus. She remained there, because she
did not choose to put herself under Antipater's power by residing in
Macedon. She succeeded, however, by her maneuvers and intrigues, in
giving Antipater a great deal of trouble. Her ancient animosity
against him had been very much increased and aggravated by the failure
of her plan for marrying her daughter Cleopatra to Perdiccas, through
the advances which Antipater made in behalf of his daughter Nicaea; and
though Nicaea and Perdiccas were now dead, yet the transaction was an
offense which such a woman as Olympias never could forgive.
Eurydice was a still greater source of annoyance and embarrassment to
Antipater than Olympias herself. She was a woman of very masculine
turn of mind, and she had been brought up by her mother, Cynane, to
martial exercises, such as those to which young men in those days were
customarily trained. She could shoot arrows, and throw the javelin,
and ride on horseback at the head of a troop of armed men. As soon as
she was married to Philip she began at once to assume an air of
authority, thinking, apparently, that she herself, being the wife of
the king, was entitled to a much greater share of the regal authority
than the generals, who, as she considered them, were merely his tutors
and guardians, or, at most, only military agents, appointed to execute
his will. During the memorable expedition into Egypt, Perdiccas had
found it very difficult to exercise any control over her; and after
the death of Perdiccas, she assumed a more lofty and imperious tone
than ever. She quarreled incessantly with Pithon, the commander of the
army, on the return from Egypt; and she made the most resolute and
determined opposition to the appointment of Antipater as the custodian
of the persons of the kings.
The place where the consultation was held, at which this appointment
was made, was Triparadeisus,[F] in Syria. This was the place where the
expedition of Antipater, coming from Asia Minor, met the army of Egypt
on its return. As soon as the junction of the two armies was effected,
and the grand council was convened, Eurydice made the most violent
opposition to the proceedings. Antipater reproved her for evincing
such turbulence and insubordination of spirit. This made her more
angry than ever; and when at length Antipater was appointed to the
regency, she went out and made a formal harangue to the army, in which
she denounced Antipater in the severest terms, and loaded him with
criminations and reproaches, and endeavored to incite the soldiers to
a revolt. Antipater endeavored to defend himself against these
accusations by a calm reply; but the influence which Eurydice's
tempestuous eloquence exerted on the minds of the soldiery was too
much for him. A very serious riot ensued, which threatened to lead to
the most disastrous results. For a time Antipater's life was in most
imminent danger, and he was saved only by the interposition of some of
the other generals, who hazarded their own lives to rescue him from
the enraged soldiery.
[Footnote F: See map.]
The excitement of this scene gradually subsided, and, as the generals
persisted in the arrangement which they had made, Eurydice found
herself forced to submit to it. She had, in fact, no real power in her
hands except that of making temporary mischief and disturbance; and,
as is usually the case with characters like hers, when she found that
those around her could not be driven from their ground by her
fractiousness and obstinacy, she submitted herself to the necessity of
the case, though in a moody and sullen manner. Such were the relations
which Antipater and Eurydice bore to each other on the return of
Antipater to Macedon.
The troubles, however, in his government, which Antipater might have
reasonably expected to arise from his connection with Olympias and
Eurydice, were destined to a very short continuance, so far as he
personally was concerned; for, not long after his return to Macedon,
he fell sick of a dangerous disease, under which it was soon evident
that the vital principle, at the advanced age to which he had
attained, must soon succumb. In fact, Antipater himself soon gave up
all hopes of recovery, and began at once to make arrangements for the
final surrender of his power.
It will be recollected that when Craterus came from Asia to Macedon,
about the time of Alexander's death, he brought with him a general
named Polysperchon, who, though nominally second in command, really
had charge of the army on the march, Craterus himself being at the
time an invalid. When, some time afterward, Antipater and Craterus set
out on their expedition to Asia, in the war against Perdiccas,
Polysperchon was left in charge of the kingdom of Macedon, to govern
it as regent until Antipater should return. Antipater had a son named
Cassander, who was a general in his army. Cassander naturally expected
that, during the absence of his father, the kingdom would be committed
to his charge. For some reason or other, however, Antipater had
preferred Polysperchon, and had intrusted the government to him.
Polysperchon had, of course, become acquainted with the duties of
government, and had acquired an extensive knowledge of Macedonian
affairs. He had governed well, too, and the people were accustomed to
his sway. Antipater concluded, therefore, that it would be better to
continue Polysperchon in power after his death, rather than to
displace Polysperchon for the sake of advancing his son Cassander. He
therefore made provision for giving to Cassander a very high command
in the army, but he gave Polysperchon the kingdom. This act, though
Cassander himself never forgave it, raised Antipater to a higher place
than ever in the estimation of mankind. They said that he did what no
monarch ever did before; in determining the great question of the
succession, he made the aggrandizement of his own family give place to
the welfare of the realm.
Antipater on his death-bed, among other councils which he gave to
Polysperchon, warned him very earnestly against the danger of yielding
to any woman whatever a share in the control of public affairs. Woman,
he said, was, from her very nature, the creature of impulse, and was
swayed in all her conduct by the emotions and passions of her heart.
She possessed none of the calm, considerate, and self-controlling
principles of wisdom and prudence, so essential for the proper
administration of the affairs of states and nations. These cautions,
as Antipater uttered them, were expressed in general terms, but they
were understood to refer to Olympias and Eurydice, whom it had always
been very difficult to control, and who, of course, when Antipater
should be removed from the scene, might be expected to come forward
with a spirit more obtrusive and unmanageable than ever.
These counsels, however, of the dying king seemed to have had very
little effect upon Polysperchon; for one of the first measures of his
government, after Antipater was dead, was to send to Epirus to invite
Olympias to return to Macedon. This measure was decided upon in a
grand council which Polysperchon convened to deliberate on the state
of public affairs as soon as the government came into his hands.
Polysperchon thought that he should greatly strengthen his
administration by enlisting Olympias on his side. She was held in
great veneration by all the people of Macedon; not on account of any
personal qualities which she possessed to entitle her to such regard,
but because she was the mother of Alexander. Polysperchon, therefore,
considered it very important to secure her influence, and the prestige
of her name in his favor. At the same time, while he thus sought to
propitiate Olympias, he neglected Cassander and all the other members
of Antipater's family. He considered them, doubtless, as rivals and
antagonists, whom he was to keep down by every means in his power.
Cassander, who was a man of a very bold, determined, and ambitious
spirit, remained quietly in Polysperchon's court for a little time,
watching attentively all that was done, and revolving silently in his
mind the question what course he himself should pursue. At length he
formed a small party of his friends to go away on a hunting excursion.
When he reached a safe distance from the court of Polysperchon, he
called his friends around him, and informed them that he had resolved
not to submit to the usurpation of Polysperchon, who, in assuming the
throne of Macedon, had seized what rightfully belonged, he said, to
him, Cassander, as his father's son and heir. He invited his friends
to join him in the enterprise of deposing Polysperchon, and assuming
the crown.
He urged this undertaking upon them with very specious arguments. It
was the only course of safety for them, as well as for him, since
they--that is, the friends to whom Cassander was making these
proposals--had all been friends of Antipater; and Olympias, whom
Polysperchon was about to take into his counsels, hated the very name
of Antipater, and would evince, undoubtedly, the most unrelenting
hostility to all whom she should consider as having been his friends.
He was confident, he said, that the Asiatic princes and generals would
espouse his cause. They had been warmly attached to Antipater, and
would not willingly see his son and rightful successor deprived of his
legitimate rights. Besides, Philip and Eurydice would join him. They
had every thing to fear from Olympias, and would, of course, oppose
the power of Polysperchon, now that he had determined to ally himself
to her.
The friends of Cassander very readily agreed to his proposal, and the
result proved the truth of his predictions. The Asiatic princes
furnished Cassander with very efficient aid in his attempt to depose
his rival. Olympias adhered to Polysperchon, while Eurydice favored
Cassander's cause. A terrible conflict ensued. It was waged for some
time in Greece, and in other countries more or less remote from
Macedon, the advantage in the combats being sometimes on one side and
sometimes on the other. It is not necessary to detail here the events
which occurred in the contest so long as the theatre of war was beyond
the frontiers of Macedon, for the parties with whom we are now
particularly dealing were not directly affected by the conflict until
it came nearer home.
It ought here to be stated that Olympias did not at first accept the
invitation to return to Macedon which Polysperchon sent to her. She
hesitated. She consulted with her friends, and they were not decided
in respect to the course which it would be best for her to pursue. She
had made a great many enemies in Macedon during her former residence
there, and she knew well that she would have a great deal to fear from
their hostility in case she should return, and thus put herself again,
as it were, into their power. Then, besides, it was quite uncertain
what course affairs in Macedon would finally take. Antipater had
bequeathed the kingdom to Polysperchon, it was true; but there might
be great doubt whether the people would 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, till
she could see how the case would finally turn. She accordingly
continued to reside in Epirus, keeping up, however, a continual
correspondence with Polysperchon in respect to the measures of his
government, and watching the progress of the war between him and
Cassander in Greece, when that war broke out, with the utmost
solicitude and anxiety.
Cassander proved to be too strong for Polysperchon in Greece. He had
obtained large bodies of troops from his Asiatic allies, and he
maneuvered and managed these forces with so much bravery and skill,
that Polysperchon could not dislodge him from the country. A somewhat
curious incident occurred on one occasion during the campaign, which
illustrates the modes of warfare practiced in those days. It seems
that one of the cities of Peloponnesus, named Megalopolis, was on the
side of Cassander, and when Polysperchon sent them a summons to
surrender to him and acknowledge his authority, they withdrew all
their property and the whole of their population within the walls, and
bid him defiance. Polysperchon then advanced and laid siege to the
city.
After fully investing the city and commencing operations on various
sides, to occupy the attention of the garrison, he employed a corps of
sappers and miners in secretly undermining a portion of the wall. The
mode of procedure, in operations like this, was to dig a subterranean
passage leading to the foundations of the wall, and then, as fast as
these foundations were removed, to substitute props to support the
superincumbent mass until all was ready for the springing of the mine.
When the excavations were completed, the props were suddenly pulled
away, and the wall would cave in, to the great astonishment of the
besieged, who, if the operation had been skillfully performed, knew
nothing of the danger until the final consummation of it opened
suddenly before their eyes a great breach in their defenses.
Polysperchon's mine was so successful, that three towers fell into it,
with all the wall connecting them. These towers came down with a
terrific crash, the 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 the
spot, to prevent the ingress of the enemy; while, on the other hand, a
strong detachment of troops rushed forward from the camp of
Polysperchon to force their way through the breach into the city. A
very desperate conflict ensued, and while the men of the city were
thus engaged in keeping back the invaders, the women and children were
employed in throwing up a line of intrenchments further within, to
cover the opening which had been made in the wall. The people of the
city gained the victory in the combat. The storming party were driven
back, and the besieged were beginning to congratulate themselves on
their escape from the danger which had threatened them, when they were
suddenly terrified beyond measure by the tidings that the besiegers
were 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 a
number of them in the train of his army, and the soldiers of
Megalopolis were overwhelmed with consternation at the prospect of
being trampled under foot by these huge beasts, wholly ignorant as
they were of the means of contending against them.
It happened, however, that there was in the city of Megalopolis at
this time a soldier named Damides, who had served in former years
under Alexander the Great, in Asia. He went to the officers who had
command within the city and offered his aid. "Fear nothing," said he,
"but go on with your preparations of defense, and leave the elephants
to me. I will answer for them, if you will do as I say." The officers
agreed to follow his instructions. He immediately caused a great
number of sharp iron spikes to be made. These spikes he set firmly in
the ends of short stakes of wood, and then planted the stakes in the
ground all about the intrenchments and in the breach, in such a manner
that the spikes themselves, points upward, protruded from the ground.
The spikes were then concealed from view by covering the ground with
straw and other similar rubbish.
The consequence of this arrangement was, that when the elephants
advanced to enter the breach, they trod upon these spikes, and the
whole column of them was soon disabled and thrown into confusion. Some
of the elephants were wounded so severely that they fell where they
stood, and were unable to rise. Others, maddened with the pain which
they endured, turned back and trampled their own keepers under foot in
their attempts to escape from the scene. The breach, in short, soon
became so choked up with the bodies of beasts and men, that the
assailants were compelled to give up the contest and withdraw. A
short time afterward, Polysperchon raised the siege and abandoned the
city 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 aid
Polysperchon in his contest with Cassander. She accordingly left
Epirus, and with a small body of troops, with which her brother
Alexander, who was then King of Epirus, furnished her, went on and
joined Polysperchon on his return. 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 her
husband if Olympias should obtain the ascendency in the court of
Polysperchon. She accordingly began to call upon those around her, in
the city where she was then residing, to arm themselves for her
defense. They did so, and a considerable force was thus collected.
Eurydice placed herself at the head of it. She sent messengers off to
Cassander, urging him to come immediately and join her. She also sent
an embassage to Polysperchon, commanding him, in the name of Philip
the king, to deliver up his army to Cassander. Of course this was only
a form, as she could not have expected that such a command would have
been obeyed; and, accordingly, after having sent off these orders, she
placed herself at the head of the troops that she had raised, and
marched out to meet Polysperchon on his return, intending, if he would
not submit, to give him battle.
Her designs, however, were all frustrated in the end in a very
unexpected manner. For when the two armies approached each other, the
soldiers who were on Eurydice's side, instead of fighting in her cause
as she expected, failed her entirely at the time of trial. For when
they saw Olympias, whom they had long been accustomed almost to adore
as the wife of old King Philip, and the mother of Alexander, and who
was now advancing to meet them on her return to Macedon, splendidly
attended, and riding in her chariot, at the head of Polysperchon's
army, with the air and majesty of a queen, they were so overpowered
with the excitement of the spectacle, that they abandoned Eurydice in
a body, and went over, by common consent, to Polysperchon's side.
Of course Eurydice herself and her husband Philip, who was with her
at this time, fell into Polysperchon's hands as prisoners. Olympias
was almost beside herself with exultation and joy at having her hated
rival thus put into her power. She imprisoned Eurydice and her husband
in a dungeon, so small that there was scarcely room for them to turn
themselves in it; and while they were thus confined, the only
attention which the wretched prisoners received was to be fed, from
time to time, with coarse provisions, thrust in to them through a hole
in the wall. Having thus made Eurydice secure, Olympias proceeded to
wreak her vengeance on all the members of the family of Antipater whom
she could get within her power. Cassander, it is true, was beyond her
reach for the present; he was gradually advancing through Thessaly
into Macedonia, at the head of a powerful and victorious army. There
was another son of Antipater, however, named Nicanor, who was then in
Macedon. Him she seized and put to death, together with about a
hundred of his relatives and friends. In fact, so violent and insane
was her rage against the house of Antipater, that she opened a tomb
where the body of another of his sons had been interred, and caused
the remains to be brought out and thrown into the street. The people
around her began to remonstrate against such atrocities; but these
remonstrances, instead of moderating her rage, only excited it still
more. She sent to the dungeon where her prisoners, Philip and
Eurydice, were confined, and caused Philip to be stabbed to death with
daggers; and then, when this horrid scene was scarcely over, an
executioner came in to Eurydice with a dagger, a rope, and a cup of
poison, saying that Olympias sent them to her, that she might choose
herself by what she would die. Eurydice, on receiving this message,
replied, saying, "I pray Heaven that Olympias herself may one day have
the like alternative presented to her." She then proceeded to tear the
linen dress which she wore into bandages, and to bind up with these
bandages the wounds in the dead body of her husband. This dreadful
though useless duty being performed, she then, rejecting all three of
the means of self-destruction which Olympias had offered her,
strangled herself by tying tight about her neck a band which she
obtained from her own attire.
[Illustration: EURYDICE IN PRISON.]
Of course, the tidings of these proceedings were not long in reaching
Cassander. He was at this time in Greece, advancing, however, slowly
to the northward, toward Macedon. In coming from Greece into Thessaly,
his route lay through the celebrated Pass of Thermopylae. He found this
pass guarded by a large body of troops, which had been posted there to
oppose his passage. He immediately got together all the ships, boats,
galleys, and vessels of every kind which he could procure, and,
embarking his army on board of them, he sailed past the defile, and
landed in Thessaly. Thence he marched into Macedon.
While Cassander had thus been slowly approaching, Polysperchon and
Olympias had been very vigorously employed in making preparations to
receive him. Olympias, with Roxana and the young Alexander, who was
now about five years old, in her train, traveled to and fro among the
cities of Macedonia, summoning the people to arms, enlisting all who
would enter her service, and collecting money and military stores. She
also sent to Epirus, to AEacides 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 to
strengthen himself against his coming enemy. Things were in this state
when Cassander entered Macedon.
Cassander immediately divided his troops into two distinct bodies, and
sending one, under the command of an able general, to attack
Polysperchon, he himself went in pursuit of Olympias. Olympias
retreated before him, until at length she reached the city of Pydna, a
city situated in the southeastern part of Macedon, on the shore of the
AEgean Sea.[G] She knew that the force under her command was not
sufficient to enable her to offer her enemy battle, and she
accordingly went into the city, and fortified herself there.
Cassander advanced immediately to the place, and, finding the city
too strongly fortified to be carried by assault, he surrounded it with
his 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 very
soon began to suffer for want of provisions. Olympias, however, urged
them to hold out, representing to them that she had sent to Epirus for
assistance, and that AEacides, the king, was already on his way, with a
large force, to succor her. This was very true; but, unfortunately for
Olympias, Cassander was aware of this fact as well as she, and,
instead of waiting for the troops of AEacides to come and attack him,
he had sent a large armed force to the confines between Epirus and
Macedon, to intercept these expected allies in the passes of the
mountains. This movement was successful. The army of AEacides found,
when they reached the frontier, that the passages leading into
Macedonia were all blocked up by the troops of the enemy. They made
some ineffectual attempts to break through; and then the leading
officers of the army, who had never been really willing to embark in
the war, revolted against AEacides, and returned home. And as, in the
case of deeds of violence and revolution, it is always safest to go
through and finish the work when it is once begun, they deposed
AEacides entirely, and raised the other branch of the royal family to
the throne in his stead. It was on this occasion that the infant
Pyrrhus was seized and carried away by his friends, to save his life,
as mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this history. The
particulars of this revolution, and of the flight of Pyrrhus, will be
given more fully in the next chapter. It is sufficient here to say,
that the attempt of AEacides to come to the rescue of Olympias in her
peril wholly failed, and there was nothing now left but the wall of
the city to defend her from her terrible foe.
In the mean time, the distress in the city for want of food had become
horrible. Olympias herself, with Roxana and the boy, and the other
ladies of the court, lived on the flesh of horses. The soldiers
devoured the bodies of their comrades as they were slain upon the
wall. They fed the elephants, it was said, on saw-dust. The soldiers
and the people of the city, who found this state of things
intolerable, deserted continually to Cassander, letting themselves
down by stealth in the night from the wall. Still Olympias would not
surrender; there was one more hope remaining for her. She contrived
to dispatch a messenger to Polysperchon with a letter, asking him to
send a galley round into the harbor at a certain time in the night, in
order that she might get on board of it, and thus escape. Cassander
intercepted this messenger. After reading the letter, he returned it
to the messenger again, and directed him to go on and deliver it. The
messenger did so, and Polysperchon sent the galley. Cassander, of
course, watched for it, and seized it himself when it came. The last
hope of the unhappy Olympias was thus extinguished, and she opened the
gates and gave herself up to Cassander. The whole country immediately
afterward fell into Cassander's hands.
The friends of the family of Antipater were now clamorous in their
demands that Olympias should be brought to punishment for having so
atrociously murdered the sons and relatives of Antipater while she was
in power. Olympias professed herself willing to be tried, and appealed
to the Macedonian senate to be her judges. She relied on the
ascendency which she had so long exercised over the minds of the
Macedonians, and did not believe that they would condemn her.
Cassander himself feared that they would not; and although he was
unwilling to murder her while she was a defenseless prisoner in his
hands, he determined that she should die. He recommended to her
secretly not to take the hazard of a trial, but to make her escape and
go to Athens, and offered to give her an opportunity to do so. He
intended, it was said, if she made the attempt, to intercept and slay
her on the way as a fugitive from justice. She refused to accede to
this proposal, suspecting, perhaps, Cassander's treachery in making
it. Cassander then sent a band of two hundred soldiers to put her to
death.
These soldiers, when they came into the prison, were so impressed by
the presence of the queen, to whom, in former years, they had been
accustomed to look up with so much awe, that they shrank back from
their duty, and for a time it seemed that no one would strike the
blow. At length, however, some among the number, who were relatives of
those that Olympias had murdered, succeeding in nerving their arms
with the resolution of revenge, fell upon her and killed her with
their swords.
As for Roxana and the boy, Cassander kept them close prisoners for
many years; and finally, feeling more and more that his possession of
the throne of Alexander was constantly endangered by the existence of
a 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.--Their
different destinies.--Adventures of Alexander of Macedon.--The Gulf of
Tarentum.--Oracle of Dodona.--The equivocal prediction.--Pandosia.--The
unexpected inundation.--Effects of it.--Bridge carried away.--The River
of Sorrow.--Alexander killed.--His body falls into the river.--A woman
rescues the remains.--Olympias.--AEacides marches to relieve Pydna.--The
flight of the family with Pyrrhus.--The party meet with a narrow
escape.--Ingenious mode of sending a letter.--The raft.--Pyrrhus is
carried to Illyria.--Little Pyrrhus at the court of Glaucias.--Pyrrhus
becomes a large boy.--Cassander's plans.--Glaucias establishes Pyrrhus
on his throne.--Rebellion.--Pyrrhus once more an exile.--Pyrrhus enters
into the service of Demetrius.--Pyrrhus acquires great renown.--He
becomes a hostage.--The situation of a hostage.--Pyrrhus in the court
of Ptolemy.
In the two preceding chapters we have related that portion of the
history of Macedonia which it is necessary to understand in order
rightly to appreciate the nature of the difficulties in which the
royal family of Epirus was involved at the time when Pyrrhus first
appeared upon the stage. The sources of these difficulties were two:
first, the uncertainty of the line of succession, there being two
branches of the royal family, each claiming the throne, which state of
things was produced, in a great measure, by the interposition of
Olympias in the affairs of Epirus some years before; and, secondly,
the act of Olympias in inducing AEacides to come to Macedonia, to
embark in her quarrel against Cassander there. Of course, since there
were two lines of princes, both claiming the throne, no sovereign of
either line could hold any thing more than a divided empire over the
hearts of his subjects; and consequently, when AEacides left the
kingdom to fight the battles of Olympias in Macedon, it was
comparatively easy for the party opposed to him to effect a revolution
and raise their own prince to the throne.
The prince whom Olympias had originally made king of Epirus, to the
exclusion of the claimant belonging to the other branch of the family,
was her own brother. His name was Alexander. He was the son of
Neoptolemus. The rival branch of the family were the children of
Arymbas, the brother of Neoptolemus. This Alexander flourished at the
same time as Alexander the Great, and in his character very much
resembled his distinguished namesake. He commenced a career of
conquest in Italy at the same time that his nephew embarked in his in
Asia, and commenced it, too, under very similar circumstances. One
went to the East, and another to the West, each determined to make
himself master of the world. The Alexander of Macedon succeeded. The
Alexander of Epirus failed. The one acquired, consequently, universal
and perpetual renown, while the memory of the other has been almost
entirely neglected and forgotten.
One reason, unquestionably, for the difference in these results was
the difference in the character of the enemies respectively against
whom the two adventurers had to contend. Alexander of Epirus went
westward into Italy, where he had to encounter the soldiery of the
Romans--a soldiery of the most rugged, determined, and indomitable
character. 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 to
all the purposes of parade and display, were yet enervated with
luxury, and wholly unable to stand against any energetic and
determined foe. In fact, Alexander of Epirus used to say that the
reason why his nephew, Alexander of Macedon, had succeeded, while he
himself had failed, was because he himself had invaded countries
peopled by _men_, while the Macedonian, in his Asiatic campaign, had
encountered only women.
However this may be, the campaign of Alexander of Epirus in Italy had
a very disastrous termination. The occasion of his going there was a
request which he had received from the inhabitants of Tarentum that he
would come over and assist them in a war in which they were engaged
with some neighboring tribes. Tarentum was a city situated toward the
western shore of Italy. It was at the head of the deep bay called the
Gulf of Tarentum, which bay occupies the hollow of the foot that the
form of Italy presents to the eye as seen upon a map.[H] Tarentum was,
accordingly, across the Adriatic Sea from Epirus. The distance was
about two hundred miles. By taking a southerly route, and going up the
Gulf of Tarentum, this distance might be traversed wholly by sea. A
little to the north the Adriatic is narrow, the passage there being
only about fifty miles across. To an expedition, however, taking this
course, there would remain, after arriving on the Italian shore, fifty
miles 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 he
would come to their aid, Alexander sent to a celebrated oracle in
Epirus, called the oracle of Dodona, to inquire whether it would be
safe for him to undertake the expedition. To his inquiries the oracle
gave him this for an answer:
"The waters of Acheron will be the cause of your death, and
Pandosia is the place where you will die."
Alexander was greatly rejoiced at receiving this answer. Acheron was a
stream of Epirus, and Pandosia was a town upon the banks of it. He
understood the response to mean that he was fated to die quietly in
his own country at some future period, probably a remote one, and that
there was no danger in his undertaking the expedition to which he had
been called. He accordingly set sail from Epirus, and landed in Italy;
and there, believing that he was fated to die in Epirus, and not in
Italy, he fought in every battle with the most desperate and reckless
bravery, and achieved prodigies of valor. The possibility that there
might be an Acheron and a Pandosia in Italy, as well as in Epirus, did
not occur to his mind.
For a time he was very successful in his career. He fought battles,
gained victories, conquered cities, and established his dominion over
quite an extended region. In order to hold what he had gained, he sent
over a great number of hostages to Epirus, to be kept there as
security for the continued submission of those whom he had subdued.
These hostages consisted chiefly, as was usual in such cases, of
children. At length, in the course of the war, an occasion arose in
which it was necessary, for the protection of his troops, to encamp
them on three hills which were situated very near to each other.
These hills were separated by low interval lands and a small stream;
but at the time when Alexander established his encampment, the stream
constituted no impediment to free intercommunication between the
different divisions of his army. There came on, however, a powerful
rain; the stream overflowed its banks; the intervals were inundated.
This enabled the enemy to attack two of Alexander's encampments, while
it was utterly impossible for Alexander himself to render them any
aid. The enemy made the attack, and were successful in it. The two
camps were broken up, and the troops stationed in them were put to
flight. Those that remained with Alexander, becoming discouraged by
the hopeless condition in which they found themselves placed,
mutinied, and sent to the camp of the enemy, offering to deliver up
Alexander to them, dead or alive, as they should choose, on condition
that they themselves might be allowed to return to their native land
in peace. This proposal was accepted; but, before it was put in
execution, Alexander, having discovered the plot, placed himself at
the head of a determined and desperate band of followers, broke
through the ranks of the enemies that surrounded him, and made his
escape to a neighboring wood. From this wood he took a route which
led him to a river, intending to pass the river by a bridge which he
expected to find there, and then to destroy the bridge as soon as he
had crossed it, so as to prevent his enemies from following him. By
this means he hoped to make his way to some place of safety. He found,
on arriving at the brink of the stream, that the bridge had been
carried away by the inundation. He, however, pressed forward into the
water on horseback, intending to ford the stream. The torrent was
wild, and the danger was imminent, but Alexander pressed on. At length
one of the attendants, seeing his master in imminent danger of being
drowned, exclaimed aloud, "This cursed river! well is it named
Acheron." The word Acheron, in the original language, signifies River
of Sorrow.
By this exclamation Alexander learned, for the first time, that the
river he was crossing bore the same name with the one in Epirus, which
he supposed had been referred to in the warning of the oracle. He was
at once overwhelmed with consternation. He did not know whether to go
forward or to return. The moment of indecision was suddenly ended by a
loud outcry from his attendants, giving the alarm that the traitors
were close upon him. Alexander then pushed forward across the water.
He succeeded in gaining the bank; but as soon as he did so, a dart
from one of his enemies reached him and killed him on the spot. His
lifeless body fell back into the river, and was floated down the
stream, until at length it reached the camp of the enemy, which
happened to be on the bank of the stream below. Here it was drawn out
of the water, and subjected to every possible indignity. The soldiers
cut the body in two, and, sending one part to one of the cities as a
trophy of their victory, they set up the other part in the camp as a
target for the soldiers to shoot at with darts and javelins.
At length a woman came into the camp, and, with earnest entreaties and
many tears, begged the soldiers to give the mutilated corpse to her.
Her object in wishing to obtain possession of it was, that she might
send it home to Epirus, to the family of Alexander, and buy with it
the liberty of her husband and her children, who were among the
hostages which had been sent there. The soldiers acceded to this
request, and the parts of the body having been brought together again,
were taken to Epirus, and delivered to Olympias, by whom the remains
were honorably interred. We must presume that the woman who sent them
obtained the expected reward, in the return of her husband and
children, though of this we are not expressly informed.
Of course, the disastrous result of this most unfortunate expedition
had the effect, in Epirus, of diminishing very much the popularity and
the strength of that branch of the royal family--namely, the line of
Neoptolemus--to which Alexander had belonged. Accordingly, instead of
being succeeded by one of his brothers, AEacides, the father of
Pyrrhus, who was the representative of the other line, was permitted
quietly to assume the crown. It might have been expected that Olympias
would have opposed his accession, as she was herself a princess of the
rival line. She did not, however, do so. On the contrary, she gave him
her support, and allied herself to him very closely; and he, on his
part, became in subsequent years one of her most devoted adherents and
friends.
When Olympias was shut up in Pydna by the army of Cassander, as was
related in the last chapter, and sent for AEacides to come to her aid,
he immediately raised an army and marched to the frontier. He found
the passes in the mountains which led from Epirus to Macedonia all
strongly guarded, but he still determined to force his way through. He
soon, however, began to observe marks of discontent and
dissatisfaction among the officers of his army. These indications
increased, until at length the disaffection broke out into open
mutiny, as stated in the last chapter. AEacides then called his forces
together, and gave orders that all who were unwilling to follow him
into Macedon should be allowed freely to return. He did not wish, he
said, that any should accompany him on such an expedition excepting
those who went of their own free will. A considerable part of the army
then returned, but, instead of repairing peaceably to their homes,
they raised a general insurrection in Epirus, and brought the family
of Neoptolemus again to the throne. A solemn decree of the state was
passed, declaring that AEacides, in withdrawing from the kingdom, had
forfeited his crown, and banishing him forever from the country. And
as this revolution was intended to operate, not merely against AEacides
personally, but against the branch of the royal family to which he
belonged, the new government deemed it necessary, in order to finish
their work and make it sure, that many of his relatives and friends,
and especially his infant son and heir, should die. Several of the
members of AEacides' family were accordingly killed, though the
attendants in charge succeeded in saving the life of the child by a
sudden flight.
The escape was effected by the instrumentality of two of the officers
of AEacides' household, named Androclides and Angelus. These men, as
soon as the alarm was given, hurried the babe away, with only such
nurses and other attendants as it was necessary to take with them. The
child was still unweaned; and though those in charge made the number
of attendants as small as possible, still the party were necessarily
of such a character as to forbid any great rapidity of flight. A troop
was sent in pursuit of them, and soon began to draw near. When
Androclides found that his party would be overtaken by the troop, he
committed the child to the care of three young men, bidding them to
ride on with him, at their utmost speed, to a certain town in Macedon,
called Megarae, where they thought he would be safe; and then he
himself, and the rest of his company, turned back to meet the
pursuers. They succeeded, partly by their representations and
entreaties, and partly by such resistance and obstruction as it was
in their power to make, in stopping the soldiers where they were. At
length, having, though with some difficulty, succeeded in getting away
from the soldiers, Androclides and Angelus rode on by secret ways till
they overtook the three young men. They now began to think that the
danger was over. At length, a little after sunset, they approached the
town of Megarae. There was a river just before the town, which looked
too rough and dreadful to be crossed. The party, however, advanced to
the brink, and attempted to ford the stream, but they found it
impossible. It was growing dark; the water of the river, having been
swelled by rains, was very high and boisterous, and they found that
they could not get over. At length they saw some of the people of the
town coming down to the bank on the opposite side. They were in hopes
that these people could render them some assistance in crossing the
stream, and they began to call out to them for this purpose; but the
stream ran so rapidly, and the roaring of the torrent was so great,
that they could not make themselves heard. The distance was very
inconsiderable, for the stream was not wide; but, though the party
with Pyrrhus called aloud and earnestly, and made signs, holding up
the child in their arms to let the people see him, they could not make
themselves understood.
At last, after spending some time in these fruitless efforts, one of
the party who were with Pyrrhus thought of the plan of writing what
they wished to say upon a piece of bark, and throwing it across the
stream to those on the other side. They accordingly pulled off some
bark from a young oak which was growing on a bank of the river, and
succeeded in making characters upon it by means of the tongue of a
buckle, sufficient to say that they had with them Pyrrhus, the young
prince of Epirus, and that they were flying with him to save his life,
and to implore the people on the other side to contrive some way to
get them over the river. This piece of bark they then managed to throw
across the stream. Some say that they rolled it around a javelin, and
then gave the javelin to the strongest of their party to throw; others
say that they attached it to a stone. In some way or other they
contrived to give it a sufficient momentum to carry it across the
water; and the people on the other side, when they obtained it, and
read what was written upon it, were greatly excited by the tidings,
and engaged at once with ardor and enthusiasm in efforts to save the
child.
They brought axes and began to cut down trees to make a raft. In due
time the raft was completed; and, notwithstanding the darkness of the
night, and the force and swiftness of the current of the stream, the
party of fugitives succeeded in crossing upon it, and thus brought the
child and all the attendants accompanying him safely over.
The party with Pyrrhus did not intend to stop at Megarae. They did not
consider it safe, in fact, for them to remain in any part of Macedon,
not knowing what course the war between Polysperchon and Cassander
would take there, or how the parties engaged in the contest might
stand affected toward Pyrrhus. They determined, therefore, to press
forward in their flight till they had passed through Macedon, and
reached the country beyond.
The country north of Macedon, on the western coast, the one in which
they determined to seek refuge, was Illyria. The name of the King of
Illyria was Glaucias. They had reason to believe that Glaucias would
receive and protect the child, for he was connected by marriage with
the royal family of Epirus, his wife, Beroa, being a princess of the
line of AEacides. 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 the
child down as a suppliant at the feet of the king.
Glaucias felt not a little embarrassed at the situation in which he
was placed, and did not know what to do. He remained for a long time
silent. At length, little Pyrrhus, who was all the while lying at his
feet, began to creep closer toward him; and, finally, taking hold of
the king's robe, he began to climb up by it, and attempted to get into
his lap, looking up into the king's face, at the same time, with a
countenance in which the expression of confidence and hope was mingled
with a certain instinctive infantile fear. The heart of the king was
so touched by this mute appeal, that he took the child up in his arms,
dismissed at once all prudential considerations from his mind, and, in
the end, delivered the boy to the queen, Beroa, directing her to bring
him up with her own children.
Cassander soon discovered the place of Pyrrhus's retreat, and he made
great efforts to induce Glaucias to give him up. He offered Glaucias
a very large sum of money if he would deliver Pyrrhus into his hands;
but Glaucias refused to do it. Cassander would, perhaps, have made war
upon Glaucias to compel him to comply with this requisition, but he
was then fully occupied with the enemies that threatened him in Greece
and Macedon. He did, subsequently, make an attempt to invade the
dominions of Glaucias, and to get possession of the person of Pyrrhus,
but the expedition failed, and after that the boy was allowed to
remain in Illyria without any further molestation.
Time passed on, until at length Pyrrhus was twelve years old. During
this interval great changes took place in the affairs of Cassander in
Macedon. At first he was very successful in his plans. He succeeded in
expelling Polysperchon from the country, and in establishing himself
as king. He caused Roxana and the young Alexander to be assassinated,
as was stated in the last chapter, so as to remove out of the way the
only persons who he supposed could ever advance any rival claims to
the throne. For a time every thing went well and prosperously with
him, but at length the tide of his affairs seemed to turn. A new enemy
appeared against him in Asia--a certain distinguished commander,
named Demetrius, who afterward became one of the most illustrious
personages of his age. Just at this time, too, the King of Epirus,
Alcetus, the prince of the family of Neoptolemus, who had reigned
during Pyrrhus's exile in Illyria, died. Glaucias deemed this a
favorable opportunity for restoring Pyrrhus to the throne. He
accordingly placed himself at the head of an army, and marched into
Epirus, taking the young prince with him. No effectual resistance was
made, and Pyrrhus was crowned king. He was, of course, too young
actually to reign, and a sort of regent was accordingly established in
power, with authority to govern the country in the young king's name
until he should come of age.
This state of things could not be very stable. It endured about five
years; and during this time Pyrrhus seemed to be very firmly
established in power. The strength of his position, however, was more
apparent than real; for the princes of the other branch of the family,
who had been displaced by Pyrrhus's return to power, were of course
discontented and restless all the time. They were continually forming
plots and conspiracies, and were only waiting for an opportunity to
effect another revolution. The opportunity at length came. One of the
sons of Glaucias was to be married. Pyrrhus had been the companion and
playmate of this prince during his residence in Illyria, and was, of
course, invited to the wedding. Supposing that all was safe in his
dominions, he accepted the invitation, and went to Illyria. While he
was there, amusing himself in the festivities and rejoicings connected
with the wedding, his rivals raised a rebellion, took possession of
the government, and of all of Pyrrhus's treasures, killed or put to
flight his partisans and friends, and raised a prince of the family of
Neoptolemus to the throne. Pyrrhus found himself once more an exile.
The revolution in Epirus was so complete, that, after careful
consideration and inquiry, Pyrrhus could see, with the resources he
had at his command, no hope of recovering his throne. But, being of an
ambitious and restless spirit, he determined not to remain idle; and
he concluded, therefore, to enter into the service of Demetrius in his
war against Cassander. There were two considerations which led him to
do this. In the first place, Cassander was his most formidable enemy,
and the prospect of his being ultimately restored again to his throne
would depend almost entirely, he well knew, upon the possibility of
destroying, or at least curtailing, Cassander's power. Then, besides,
Demetrius was especially his friend. The wife of Demetrius was
Deidamia, the sister of Pyrrhus, so that Pyrrhus looked upon Demetrius
as his natural ally. He accordingly offered to enter the service of
Demetrius, and was readily received. In fact, notwithstanding his
youth--for he was now only seventeen or eighteen years of
age--Demetrius gave him a very important command in his army, and took
great pains to instruct him in the art of war. It was not long before
an opportunity was afforded to make trial of Pyrrhus's capacity as a
soldier. A great battle was fought at Ipsus, in Asia Minor, between
Demetrius on one side and Cassander on the other. Besides these two
commanders, there were many princes and generals of the highest rank
who took part in the contest as allies of the principal combatants,
which had the effect of making the battle a very celebrated one, and
of causing it to attract very strongly the attention of all mankind at
the time when it occurred. The result of the contest was, on the
whole, unfavorable to the cause of Demetrius. His troops, generally,
were compelled to give way, though the division which Pyrrhus
commanded retained their ground. Pyrrhus, in fact, acquired great
renown by his courage and energy, and perhaps still more by his
success on this occasion. Young as he was, Demetrius immediately gave
him a new and very responsible command, and intrusted to him the
charge of several very important expeditions and campaigns, in all of
which the young soldier evinced such a degree of energy and courage,
combined, too, with so much forethought, prudence, and military skill,
as presaged very clearly his subsequent renown.
At length an alliance was formed between Demetrius and Ptolemy, king
of Egypt, and as security for the due execution of the obligations
assumed by Demetrius in the treaty which they made, Ptolemy demanded a
hostage. Pyrrhus offered to go himself to Egypt in this capacity.
Ptolemy accepted him, and Pyrrhus was accordingly taken in one of
Ptolemy's ships across the Mediterranean to Alexandria.
In Egypt the young prince was, of course, an object of universal
attention and regard. He was tall and handsome in person, agreeable in
manners, and amiable and gentle in disposition. His royal rank, the
fame of the exploits which he had performed, the misfortunes of his
early years, and the strange and romantic adventures through which he
had passed, all conspired to awaken a deep interest in his favor at
the court of Ptolemy. The situation of a hostage, too, is always one
which strongly attracts the sympathy and kind feelings of those who
hold him in custody. A captive is regarded in some sense as an enemy;
and though his hard lot may awaken a certain degree of pity and
commiseration, still the kind feeling is always modified by the fact
that the object of it, after all, though disarmed and helpless, is
still a foe. A hostage, however, is a friend. He comes as security for
the faithfulness of a friend and an ally, so that the sympathy and
interest which are felt for him as an exile from his native land, are
heightened by the circumstance that his position makes him naturally
an object of friendly regard.
The attachment which soon began to be felt for Pyrrhus in the court of
Ptolemy was increased by the excellent conduct and demeanor which he
exhibited while he was there. He was very temperate and moderate in
his pleasures, and upright and honorable in all his doings. In a
word, he made himself a general favorite; and after a year or two he
married Antigone, a princess of the royal family. From being a hostage
he now became a guest, and shortly afterward Ptolemy fitted out an
expedition to proceed to Epirus and restore him to his throne. On
arriving in Epirus, Pyrrhus found every thing favorable to the success
of his plans. The people of the country had become discontented with
the government of the reigning king, and were very willing to receive
Pyrrhus in his place. The revolution was easily effected, and Pyrrhus
was thus once more restored to his throne.
CHAPTER IV.
WARS IN MACEDON.
B.C. 295-288
Pyrrhus is restored to his throne.--A
celebration.--Festivities.--Gelon's gift.--Gelon and Myrtilus form
a plot.--The cup-bearer pretends to join the plot.--Conversation
overheard in a very singular manner.--Quarrel between Cassander's
heirs.--Pyrrhus takes his first independent command.--Anecdotes of
Pyrrhus.--His popularity.--Pyrrhus detects a forgery.--Plan of the
forgers.--The war is ended.--Pyrrhus returns home.--Interview with
Demetrius on the frontier.--Plots and counterplots.--Demetrius
triumphs.--Relations between Demetrius and Pyrrhus.--War breaks out
between them.--Thebes.--Recklessness and cruelty of Demetrius.--War
between Pyrrhus and Demetrius.--Pantauchus.--The single
combat.--Pyrrhus wounded.--Pantauchus narrowly escapes
death.--Demetrius is hated by his subjects.--His famous garment.--It
is left unfinished.--Pyrrhus's wives.--His motive for marrying
Lanassa.--Lanassa is discontented, and deserts Pyrrhus.--War
protracted for many years.
The prince whom Pyrrhus displaced from the throne of Epirus on his
return from Egypt, as narrated in the last chapter, was, of course, of
the family of Neoptolemus. His own name was Neoptolemus, and he was
the second son of the Neoptolemus who gave his name to the line.
Pyrrhus exercised an uncommon degree of moderation in his victory over
his rival; for, instead of taking his life, or even banishing him from
the kingdom, he treated him with respectful consideration, and
offered, very generously, as it would seem, to admit him to a share of
the regal power. Neoptolemus accepted this proposal, and the two kings
reigned conjointly for a considerable time. A difficulty, however,
before long occurred, which led to an open quarrel, the result of
which was that Neoptolemus was slain. The circumstances, as related by
the historians of the time, were as follows:
It seems that it was the custom of the people of Epirus to celebrate
an annual festival at a certain city in the kingdom, for the purpose
chiefly of renewing the oaths of allegiance on the one part, and of
fealty on the other, between the people and the king. Of course, there
were a great many games and spectacles, as well as various religious
rites and ceremonies, connected with this celebration; and among other
usages which prevailed, it was the custom for the people to bring
presents to the king on the occasion. When the period for this
celebration recurred, after Pyrrhus's restoration to the throne, both
Pyrrhus and Neoptolemus, each attended by his own particular followers
and friends, repaired to the city where the celebration was to be
held, and commenced the festivities.
Among other donations which were made to Pyrrhus at this festival, he
received 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 the
custom for the kings to dispose of many of the presents which they
received on these occasions from the people of the country, by giving
them to their attendants and the officers of their households; and a
certain cup-bearer, named Myrtilus, begged Pyrrhus to give these oxen
to him. Pyrrhus declined this request, but afterward gave the oxen to
another man. Myrtilus was offended at this, and uttered privately many
murmurings and complaints. Gelon, perceiving this, invited Myrtilus to
sup with him. In the course of the supper, he attempted to excite
still more the ill-will which Myrtilus felt toward Pyrrhus; and
finding that he appeared to succeed in doing this, he finally proposed
to Myrtilus to espouse the cause of Neoptolemus, and join in a plot
for poisoning Pyrrhus. 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 of
Neoptolemus, that he might rely on the most ample and abundant
rewards. Myrtilus appeared to receive these proposals with great
favor; he readily promised to embark in the plot, and promised to
fulfill the part assigned him in the execution of it. When the proper
time arrived, after the conclusion of the supper, Myrtilus took leave
of Gelon, and, proceeding directly to Pyrrhus, he related to him all
that had occurred.
Pyrrhus did not take any rash or hasty measures in the emergency, for
he knew very well that if Gelon were to be then charged with the
crime which he had proposed to commit, he would deny having ever
proposed it, and that then there would be only the word of Myrtilus
against that of Gelon, and that impartial men would have no positive
means of deciding between them. He thought, therefore, very wisely,
that, before taking any decided steps, it would be necessary to obtain
additional proof that Gelon had really made the proposal. He
accordingly directed Myrtilus to continue to pretend that he favored
the plan, and to propose to Gelon to invite another cup-bearer, named
Alexicrates, to join the plot. Alexicrates was to be secretly
instructed to appear ready to enter into the conspiracy when he should
be called upon, and thus, as Pyrrhus expected, the testimony of two
witnesses would be obtained to Gelon's guilt.
It happened, however, that the necessary evidence against Gelon was
furnished without a resort to this measure; for when Gelon reported to
Neoptolemus that Myrtilus had acceded to his proposal to join him in a
plan for removing Pyrrhus out of the way, Neoptolemus was so much
overjoyed at the prospect of recovering the throne to his own family
again, that he could not refrain from revealing the plan to certain
members of the family, and, among others, to his sister Cadmia. At the
time when he thus discovered the design to Cadmia, he supposed that
nobody was within hearing. The conversation took place in an apartment
where he had been supping with Cadmia, and it happened that there was
a servant-woman lying upon a couch in the corner of the room at the
time, with her face to the wall, apparently asleep. She was, in
reality, not asleep, and she overheard all the conversation. She lay
still, however, and did not speak a word; but the next day she went to
Antigone, the wife of Pyrrhus, and communicated to her all that she
had heard. Pyrrhus now considered the evidence that Neoptolemus was
plotting his destruction as complete, and he determined to take
decisive measures to prevent it. He accordingly invited Neoptolemus to
a banquet. Neoptolemus, suspecting nothing, came, and Pyrrhus slew him
at the table. Henceforward Pyrrhus reigned in Epirus alone.
Pyrrhus was now about twenty-three years of age, and inasmuch as, with
all his moderation in respect to the pursuit of youthful pleasures, he
was of a very ambitious and aspiring disposition, he began to form
schemes and plans for the enlargement of his power. An opportunity
was soon afforded him to enter upon a military career. Cassander, who
had made himself King of Macedon in the manner already described, died
about the time that Pyrrhus established himself on his throne in
Epirus. He left two sons, Alexander and Antipater. These brothers
immediately quarreled, each claiming the inheritance of their father's
crown. Antipater proved to be the strongest in the struggle; and
Alexander, finding that he could not stand his ground against his
brother without aid, sent messengers at the same time to Pyrrhus, and
also to Demetrius, in Thessaly, calling upon both to come to his
assistance. They both determined to do so. Demetrius, however, was
engaged in some enterprises which detained him for a time, but Pyrrhus
immediately put himself at the head of his army, and prepared to cross
the frontier.
The commencement of this march marks an important era in the life of
Pyrrhus, for it was now for the first time that he had an army wholly
under his command. In all the former military operations in which he
had been engaged, he had been only a general, acting under the orders
of his superiors. Now he was an independent sovereign, leading forth
his own troops to battle, and responsible to no one for the manner in
which he exercised his power. The character which he displayed in this
new capacity was such as very soon to awaken the admiration of all his
troops, and to win their affection in a very strong degree. His fine
personal appearance, his great strength and dexterity in all martial
exercises, his kind consideration for his soldiers, the systematic and
skillful manner in which all his arrangements were made, and a certain
nobleness and generosity of character which he displayed on many
occasions, all combined to make him an object of universal favor and
regard.
Various anecdotes were related of him in camp, which evinced the
superiority of his mind, and that peculiar sense of confidence and
strength which so often accompanies greatness. At one time a person
was accused of being disaffected toward him, and of being in the habit
of speaking evil of him on all occasions; and some of his counselors
proposed that the offender should be banished. "No," said Pyrrhus;
"let him stay here, and speak evil of me only to a few, instead of
being sent away to ramble about and give me a bad character to all the
world." At another time, some persons, when half intoxicated, at a
convivial entertainment, had talked very freely in censure of
something which Pyrrhus had done. They were called to account for it;
and when asked by Pyrrhus whether it was true that they had really
said such things, they replied that it was true. "And there is no
doubt," they added, "that we should have said things a great deal
worse if we had more wine." Pyrrhus laughed at this reply, and
dismissed the culprits without any punishment. These, and other
similar indications of the magnanimity which marked the general's
character, made a great and very favorable impression upon the minds
of all under his command.
Possessing thus, in a very high degree, the confidence and affection
of his troops, Pyrrhus was able to inspire them with his own ardor and
impetuosity when they came to engage in battle, and his troops were
victorious in almost every conflict. Wherever he went, he reduced the
country into subjection to Alexander, and drove Antipater before him.
He left garrisons of his own in the towns which he captured, so as to
make his conquests secure, and in a short time the prospect seemed
certain that Antipater would be expelled from the country, and
Alexander placed upon the throne.
In this crisis of their affairs, some of the allies of Antipater
conceived the design of circumventing their enemy by artifice, since
it appeared that he was so superior to them in force. They knew how
strong was his feeling of reverence and regard for Ptolemy, the King
of Egypt, his father-in-law, and they accordingly forged a letter to
him in Ptolemy's name, enjoining him to make peace with Antipater, and
withdraw from Macedon. Antipater, the letter said, was willing to pay
him three hundred talents of silver in consideration of his doing so,
and the letter strongly urged him to accede to this offer, and
evacuate the kingdom.
It was much less difficult to practice a successful deception of this
kind in ancient days than it is now, for then writing was usually
performed by scribes trained for the purpose, and there was therefore
seldom any thing in the handwriting of a communication to determine
the question of its authenticity. Pyrrhus, however, detected the
imposition which was attempted in this case the moment that he opened
the epistle. It began with the words, "King Ptolemy to King Pyrrhus,
greeting;" whereas the genuine letters of Ptolemy to his son-in-law
were always commenced thus: "The father to his son, greeting."
Pyrrhus upbraided the contrivers of this fraud in severe terms for
their attempt to deceive him. Still, he entertained the proposition
that they made, and some negotiations were entered into, with a view
to an amicable settlement of the dispute. In the end, however, the
negotiations failed, and the war was continued until Alexander was
established on his throne. Pyrrhus then returned to his own kingdom.
He received, in reward for his services in behalf of Alexander, a
grant of that part of the Macedonian territory which lies upon the
coast of the Adriatic Sea, north of Epirus; and thus peace was
restored, and all things seemed permanently settled.
It will be recollected, perhaps, by the reader, that at the time that
Alexander sent for Pyrrhus to assist him, he had also sent for
Demetrius, who had been in former years the ally and friend of
Pyrrhus. In fact, Deidamia, the sister of Pyrrhus, was Demetrius's
wife. Demetrius had been engaged with the affairs of his own
government at the time that he received this message, and was not then
ready to grant the desired aid. But after a time, when he had settled
his own affairs, he placed himself at the head of an army and went to
Macedon. It was now, however, too late, and Alexander was sorry to
learn that he was coming. He had already parted with a considerable
portion of his kingdom to repay Pyrrhus for his aid, and he feared
that Demetrius, if he were allowed to enter the kingdom, would not he
satisfied without a good part of the remainder.
He accordingly advanced to meet Demetrius at the frontier. Here, at an
interview which he held with him, he thanked him for his kindness in
coming to his aid, but said that his assistance would now not be
required. Demetrius said that it was very well, and so prepared to
return. Alexander, however, as Demetrius afterward alleged, did not
intend to allow him to withdraw, but formed a plan to murder him at a
supper to which he designed to invite him. Demetrius avoided the fate
which was intended for him by going away unexpectedly from the supper
before Alexander had time to execute his plan. Afterward, Demetrius
invited Alexander to a supper. Alexander came unarmed and unprotected,
in order to set his guest an example of unconcern, in hopes that
Demetrius would come equally defenseless to a second entertainment
which he had prepared for him the next day, and at which he intended
to adopt such measures that his guest should not be able by any
possibility to escape. Demetrius, however, did not wait for the second
attempt, but ordered his servants to kill Alexander, and all who were
with him, while they were at _his_ table. One of Alexander's men, when
the attack was made upon them, said, as the soldiers of Demetrius were
stabbing him, "You are too quick for us by just one day."
The Macedonian troops, whom Alexander had brought with him to the
frontier, when they heard of the murder of their king, expected that
Demetrius would come upon them at once, with all his army, and cut
them to pieces. But, instead of this, Demetrius sent them word that he
did not intend them any harm, but wished, on the contrary, for an
opportunity to explain and justify to them what he had done. He
accordingly met them, and made a set harangue, in which he related the
circumstances which led him to take the life of Alexander, and
justified it as an act of self-defense. This discourse was received
with great applause, and the Macedonian soldiers immediately hailed
Demetrius king.
How far there was any truth in the charge which Demetrius brought
against Alexander of intending to kill him, it is, of course,
impossible to say. There was no evidence of the fact, nor could there
be any evidence but such as Demetrius might easily fabricate. It is
the universal justification that is offered in every age by the
perpetrators of political crimes, that they were compelled to perform
themselves the deeds of violence and cruelty for which they are
condemned, in order to anticipate and preclude the performance of
similar deeds on the part of their enemies.
Demetrius and Pyrrhus were now neighboring kings, and, from the
friendly relations which had subsisted between them for so many years,
it might, perhaps, be supposed that the two kingdoms which they
respectively ruled would enjoy, from this time, a permanent and
settled peace, and maintain the most amicable intercourse with each
other. But the reverse was the fact. Contentions and quarrels arose on
the frontiers. Each nation complained that the borderers of the other
made inroads over the frontier. Demetrius and Pyrrhus gradually got
drawn into these disputes. Unfortunately for the peace of the two
countries, Deidamia died, and the strong band of union which she had
formed between the two reigning families was sundered. In a word, it
was not long before Pyrrhus and Demetrius came to open war.
The war, however, which thus broke out between Demetrius and Pyrrhus
did not arise wholly from accidental collisions occurring on the
frontiers. Demetrius was a man of the most violent and insatiable
ambition, and wholly unscrupulous in respect to the means of
gratifying the passion. Before his difficulties with Pyrrhus began, he
had made expeditions southwardly into Greece, and had finally
succeeded in reducing a large portion of that country to his sway. He,
however, at one time, in the course of his campaigns in Greece,
narrowly escaped a very sudden termination of his career. He was
besieging Thebes, one of the principal cities of Greece, and one which
was obstinately determined not to submit to him. In fact, the
inhabitants of the city had given him some special cause of offense,
so that he was excessively angry with them, and though for a long time
he made very little progress in prosecuting the siege, he was
determined not to give up the attempt. At one period, he was himself
called away from the place for a time, to engage in some military
duty demanding his attention in Thessaly, and during his absence he
left his son to conduct the siege. On his return to Thebes, he found
that, through the energetic and obstinate resistance which was made by
the people of Thebes, great numbers of his men were continually
falling--so much so, that his son began to remonstrate with him
against allowing so great and so useless a slaughter to go on.
"Consider," said he, "why you should expose so many of your valiant
soldiers to such sure destruction, when--"
Here Demetrius, in a passion, interrupted him, saying, "Give yourself
no concern about how many of the soldiers are killed. The more there
are killed, the fewer you will have to provide subsistence for!"
The brutal recklessness, however, which Demetrius thus evinced in
respect to the slaughter of his troops was not attended, as such a
feeling often is, with any cowardly unwillingness to expose himself to
danger. He mingled personally in the contests that took place about
the walls of the city, and hazarded his own life as freely as he
required his soldiers to hazard theirs. At length, on one occasion, a
javelin thrown from the wall struck him in the neck, and, passing
directly through, felled him to the ground. He was taken up for dead,
and borne to his tent. It was there found, on examination, that no
great artery or other vital part had been wounded, and yet in a very
short time a burning fever supervened, and for some time the life of
Demetrius was in imminent danger. He still, however, refused to
abandon the siege. At length, he recovered from the effects of his
wound, and, in the end, the city surrendered.
It was on the return of Demetrius to Macedon, after the close of his
successful campaign in Greece, that the war between him and Pyrrhus
broke out. As soon as it appeared that actual hostilities were
inevitable, both parties collected an army and prepared for the
conflict.
They marched to meet each other, Pyrrhus from Epirus, and Demetrius
from Macedon. It happened, however, that they took different routes,
and thus passed each other on the frontier. Demetrius entered Epirus,
and found the whole country open and defenseless before him, for the
military force of the country was all with Pyrrhus, and had passed
into Macedon by another way. Demetrius advanced accordingly, as far as
he chose, into Pyrrhus's territories, capturing and plundering every
thing that came in his way.
Pyrrhus himself, on the other hand, met with quite a different
reception. Demetrius had not taken all his army with him, but had left
a large detachment under the command of a general named Pantauchus, to
defend the country during his absence. Pyrrhus encountered Pantauchus
as he entered Macedon, and gave him battle. A very hard-fought and
obstinate conflict ensued. In the course of it, Pantauchus challenged
Pyrrhus to single combat. He was one of the most distinguished of
Demetrius's generals, being celebrated above all the officers of the
army for his dexterity, strength, and courage; and, as he was a man of
very high and ambitious spirit, he was greatly pleased with the
opportunity of distinguishing himself that was now before him. He
conceived that a personal encounter with so great a commander as
Pyrrhus would add very much to his renown.
Pyrrhus accepted the challenge. The preliminary arrangements were
made. The combatants came out into the field, and, as they advanced to
the encounter, they hurled their javelins at each other before they
met, and then rushed forward to a close and mortal combat with swords.
The fight continued for a long time. Pyrrhus himself received a wound;
but, notwithstanding this, he succeeded in bringing his antagonist to
the ground, and would have killed him, had not the friends of
Pantauchus rushed on and rescued him from the danger. A general battle
between the two armies ensued, in which Pyrrhus was victorious. The
army of Pantauchus was totally routed, and five thousand men were
taken prisoners.
The Macedonian troops whom Pyrrhus thus defeated, instead of being
maddened with resentment and anger against their conqueror, as it
might have been expected they would be, were struck with a sentiment
of admiration for him. They applauded his noble appearance and bearing
on the field, and the feats of courage and strength which he
performed. There was a certain stern and lofty simplicity in his air
and demeanor which reminded them, as they said, of Alexander the
Great, whom many of the old soldiers remembered. They compared Pyrrhus
in these respects with Demetrius, their own sovereign, greatly to the
disadvantage of the latter; and so strong was the feeling which was
thus excited in Pyrrhus's favor, that it was thought at the time that,
if Pyrrhus had advanced toward the capital with a view to the conquest
of the country, the whole army would have gone over at once to his
side, and that he might have made himself king of Macedon without any
further difficulty or trouble. He did not do this, however, but
withdrew again to Epirus when Demetrius came back into Macedonia. The
Macedonians were by no means pleased to see Demetrius return.
In fact, Demetrius was beginning to be generally hated by all his
subjects, being regarded by them all as a conceited and cruel tyrant.
He was not only unscrupulously ambitious in respect to the dominions
of his neighbors, but he was unjust and overbearing in his treatment
of his own friends. Pyrrhus, on the other hand, was kind and courteous
to his army, both to the officers and soldiers. He lived in habits of
great simplicity, and shared the hardships as well as the toils of
those who were under his command. He gave them, too, their share of
the glory which he acquired, by attributing his success to their
courage and fidelity. At one time, after some brilliant campaign in
Macedon, some persons in his army compared his progress to the flight
of an eagle. "If I am an eagle," said he in reply, "I owe it to you,
for you are the wings by means of which I have risen so high."
Demetrius, on the other hand, treated the officers and men under his
command with a species of haughtiness and disdain. He seemed to regard
them as very far beneath him, and to take pleasure in making them feel
his vast superiority. He was vain and foppish in his dress, expended
great sums in the adornment of his person, decorating his robes and
vestments, and even his shoes, with gold and precious stones. In fact,
he caused the manufacture of a garment to be commenced which he
intended should outvie in magnificence and in costly adornments all
that had ever before been fabricated. This garment was left unfinished
at the time of his death, and his successors did not attempt to
complete it. They preserved it, however, for a very long time as a
curiosity, and as a memorial of vanity and folly.
Demetrius, too, was addicted to many vices, being accustomed to the
unrestrained indulgence of his appetites and propensities in every
form. It was in part owing to these excesses that he became so hateful
in manners and character, the habitual indulgence of his animal
appetites and propensities having had the effect of making him morose
and capricious in mind.
The hostility between Pyrrhus and Demetrius was very much increased
and aggravated at one time by a difficulty in which a lady was
concerned. Antigone, the first wife of Pyrrhus, died, and after her
death Pyrrhus married two or three other wives, according to the
custom which prevailed in those days among the Asiatic kings. Among
these wives was Lanassa, the daughter of Agathocles, the king of
Syracuse. The marriage of Pyrrhus with Antigone was apparently
prompted by affection; but his subsequent alliances seem to have been
simple measures of governmental policy, designed only to aid him in
extending his dominions or strengthening his power. His inducement for
marrying Lanassa was to obtain the island of Corcyra, which the King
of Syracuse, who held that island at that time under his dominion, was
willing to give to his daughter as her dowry. Now the island of
Corcyra, as will be seen from the map, was off the coast of Epirus,
and very near, so that the possession of it would add very
considerably to the value of Pyrrhus's dominion.
Lanassa was not happy as Pyrrhus's bride. In fact, to have been
married for the sake of an island brought as dowry, and to be only one
of several wives after all, would not seem to be circumstances
particularly encouraging in respect to the promise of conjugal bliss.
Lanassa complained that she was neglected; that the other wives
received attentions which were not accorded to her. At last, when she
found that she could endure the vexations and trials of her condition
no longer, she left her husband and went back to Corcyra, and then
sent an invitation to Demetrius to come and take possession of the
island, and marry her. In a word, she divorced herself and resumed
possession of her dowry, and considered herself at liberty to dispose
of both her person and her property anew.
Demetrius accepted the offer which was made him. He went to Corcyra,
married Lanassa, and then, leaving a garrison to protect the island
from any attempt which Pyrrhus might make to recover it, he went back
to Macedon. Of course, after this transaction, Pyrrhus was more
incensed against Demetrius than ever.
Very soon after this Pyrrhus had an opportunity to revenge himself for
the injury which Demetrius had done him. Demetrius was sick; he had
brought on a fever by excessive drinking. Pyrrhus determined to take
advantage of the occasion to make a new invasion of Macedonia. He
accordingly crossed the frontier at the head of a numerous army.
Demetrius, sick as he was, mounted on horseback, and put himself at
the head of his forces to go out to meet his enemy. Nothing important
resulted from this campaign; but, after some ineffectual attempts at
conquest, Pyrrhus returned to his own country.
In this way the war between Pyrrhus and Demetrius was protracted for
many years, with varying success, one party being sometimes
triumphant, and sometimes the other. At last, at a time when the tide
of fortune seemed inclined to turn against Pyrrhus, some circumstances
occurred which were the means of attracting his attention strongly in
another direction, and ended in introducing him to a new and very
brilliant career in an altogether different region. These
circumstances, and the train of events to which they led, will form
the 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.--The
Tarentines.--Various parties formed at Tarentum.--Boisterous
meetings.--Meton's artifice.--Meton succeeds in accomplishing his
aim.--Pyrrhus is invited to come to Tarentum.--Great numbers of
volunteers.--Cineas.--Cineas propounds questions to Pyrrhus.--Pyrrhus
explains his designs and plans.--The opinion of Cineas on the
subject.--Pyrrhus sets sail.--His fleet and army.--Pyrrhus narrowly
escapes death by shipwreck.--He establishes himself at Tarentum.--His
energy.--Pyrrhus adopts very decisive measures.--The Tarentines were
Greeks in origin.--Troops come in slowly.--Laevinus.--Pyrrhus sees a
Roman encampment.--The Romans attack Pyrrhus by crossing the
river.--Extraordinary spectacle.--Pyrrhus conspicuous.--Conversation
between Pyrrhus and Leonatus.--Pyrrhus in dreadful danger.--The
elephants.--Trophies borne through the field.--Pyrrhus shows
himself.--The Romans defeated.
The grand undertaking in which Pyrrhus now engaged, as indicated in
the last chapter, the one in which he acquired such great renown, was
an expedition into Italy against the Romans. The immediate occasion of
his embarking in this enterprise was an invitation which he received
from the inhabitants of Tarentum to come to their aid.[I] His
predecessor, Alexander, had been drawn into Italy precisely in the
same way; and we might have supposed that Pyrrhus would have been
warned by the terrible fate which Alexander met with not to follow in
his steps. But military men are never deterred from dangerous
undertakings by the disasters which others have encountered in
attempting them before. In fact, perhaps Pyrrhus was the more eager to
try his fortune in this field on account of the calamitous result of
his uncle's campaign. He was unwilling that his kingdom of Epirus
should rest under the discredit of a defeat, and he was fired with a
special ambition to show that he could overcome and triumph where
others had been overborne and destroyed.
[Footnote I: See map.]
The dominion of the Romans had extended itself before this time over a
considerable portion of Italy, though Tarentum, and the region of
country dependent upon it, had not yet been subdued. The Romans were,
however, now gradually making their way toward the eastern and
southern part of Italy, and they had at length advanced to the
frontiers of the Tarentine territory; and having been met and resisted
there by the Tarentine troops, a collision ensued, which was followed
by an open and general war. In the struggle, the Tarentines found that
they could not maintain their ground against the Roman soldiery. They
were gradually driven back; and now the city itself was in very
imminent danger.
The difficulties in which the Tarentines were placed were greatly
increased by the fact that there was no well-organized and stable
government ruling in the city. The government was a sort of democracy
in its form, and in its action it seems to have been a democracy of a
very turbulent character--the questions of public policy being
debated and decided in assemblies of the people, where it would seem
that there was very little of parliamentary law to regulate the
proceedings; and now the dangers which threatened them on the approach
of the Romans distracted their councils more than ever, and produced,
in fact, universal disorder and confusion throughout the city.
Various parties were formed, each of which had its own set of measures
to urge and insist upon. Some were for submitting to the Romans, and
thus 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 the
counselors that the reason why they had not been able to maintain
their ground against their enemies was, that they had no commander of
sufficient predominance in rank and authority to concentrate their
forces, and employ them in an efficient and advantageous manner; and
they proposed that, in order to supply this very essential deficiency,
Pyrrhus should be invited to come and take the command of their
forces. This plan was strongly opposed by the more considerate and
far-sighted of the people; for they well knew that when a foreign
power was called in, in such a manner, as a temporary friend and ally,
it almost always became, in the end, a permanent master. The mass of
the people of the city, however, were so excited by the imminence of
the immediate peril, that it was impossible to impress them with any
concern for so remote and uncertain a danger, and it was determined
that Pyrrhus should be called.
It was said that the meetings which were held by the Tarentines while
these proceedings were in progress, were so boisterous and disorderly
that, as often happens in democratic assemblies, the voices of those
who were in the minority could not be heard; and that at last one of
the public men, who was opposed to the plan of sending the invitation
to Pyrrhus, resorted to a singular device in order to express his
opinion. The name of this personage was Meton. The artifice which he
adopted was this: he disguised himself as a strolling mountebank and
musician, and then, pretending to be half intoxicated, he came into
the assembly with a garland upon his head, a torch in his hand, and
with a woman playing on a sort of flute to accompany him. On seeing
him enter the assembly, the people all turned their attention toward
him. Some laughed, some clapped their hands, and others called out to
him to give them a song. Meton prepared to do so; and when, after much
difficulty, silence was at length obtained, Meton came forward into
the space that had been made for him, and, throwing off his disguise,
he called out aloud,
"Men of Tarentum! You do well in calling for a song, and in enjoying
the pleasures of mirth and merriment while you may; for I warn you
that you will see very little like mirth or merriment in Tarentum
after Pyrrhus comes."
The astonishment which this sudden turn in the affair occasioned, was
succeeded for a moment by a murmur of assent, which seemed to pass
through the assembly; the good sense of many of the spectators being
surprised, as it were, into an admission that the sentiment which
Meton had so surreptitiously found means to express to them was true.
This pause was, however, but momentary. A scene of violent excitement
and confusion ensued, and Meton and the woman were expelled from the
meeting without any ceremony.
The resolution of sending for Pyrrhus was confirmed, and embassadors
were soon afterward dispatched to Epirus. The message which they
communicated to Pyrrhus on their arrival was, that the Tarentines,
being engaged in a war with the Romans, invited Pyrrhus to come and
take command of their armies. They had _troops_ enough, they said, and
all necessary provisions and munitions of war. All that they now
required was an able and efficient general; and if Pyrrhus would come
over to them and assume the command, they would at once put him at the
head of an army of twenty thousand horse and three hundred and fifty
thousand foot soldiers.
It seems incredible that a state should have attained to such a degree
of prosperity and power as to be able to bring such a force as this
into the field, while under the government of men who, when convened
for the consideration of questions of public policy in a most
momentous crisis, were capable of having their attention drawn off
entirely from the business before them by the coming in of a party of
strolling mountebanks and players. Yet such is the account recorded by
one of the greatest historians of ancient times.
Pyrrhus was, of course, very much elated at receiving this
communication. The tidings, too, produced great excitement among all
the people of Epirus. Great numbers immediately began to offer
themselves as volunteers to accompany the expedition. Pyrrhus
determined at once to embark in the enterprise, and he commenced
making preparations for it on a very magnificent scale; for,
notwithstanding the assurance which the Tarentines had given him that
they had a very large body of men already assembled, Pyrrhus seems to
have thought it best to take with him a force of his own.
As soon as a part of his army was ready, he sent them forward under
the command of a distinguished general and minister of state, named
Cineas. Cineas occupied a very high position in Pyrrhus's court. He
was a Thessalian by birth. He had been educated in Greece, under
Demosthenes, and he was a very accomplished scholar and orator as well
as statesman. Pyrrhus had employed him in embassies and negotiations
of various kinds from time to time, and Cineas had always discharged
these trusts in a very able and satisfactory manner. In fact, Pyrrhus,
with his customary courtesy in acknowledging his obligations to those
whom he employed, used to say that Cineas had gained him more cities
by his address than he had ever conquered for himself by his arms.
Cineas, it was said, was, in the outset, not much in favor of this
expedition into Italy. The point of view in which he regarded such an
enterprise was shown in a remarkable conversation which he held with
Pyrrhus while the preparations were going on. He took occasion to
introduce the subject one day, when Pyrrhus was for a short period at
leisure in the midst of his work, by saying,
"The Romans are famed as excellent soldiers, and they have many
warlike nations in alliance with them. But suppose we succeed in our
enterprise and conquer them, what use shall we make of our victory?"
"Your question answers itself," replied the king. "The Romans are the
predominant power in Italy. If they are once subdued, there will be
nothing in Italy that can withstand us; we can go on immediately and
make ourselves masters of the whole country."
After a short pause, during which he seemed to be reflecting on the
career of victory which Pyrrhus was thus opening to view, Cineas
added,
"And after we have conquered Italy, what shall we do next?"
"Why, there is Sicily very near," replied Pyrrhus, "a very fruitful
and populous island, and one which we shall then very easily be able
to subdue. It is now in a very unsettled state, and could do nothing
effectual to resist us."
"I think that is very true," said Cineas; "and after we make ourselves
masters of Sicily, what shall we do then?"
"Then," replied Pyrrhus, "we can cross the Mediterranean to Lybia and
Carthage. The distance is not very great, and we shall be able to land
on the African coast at the head of such a force that we shall easily
make ourselves masters of the whole country. We shall then have so
extended and established our power, that no enemy can be found in any
quarter who will think of opposing us."
"That is very true," said Cineas; "and so you will then be able to put
down effectually all your old enemies in Thessaly, Macedon, and
Greece, and make yourself master of all those countries. And when all
this is accomplished, what shall we do then?"
"Why, then," said Pyrrhus, "we can sit down and take our ease, and
eat, drink, and be merry."
"And why," rejoined Cineas, "can not we sit down and take our ease,
and enjoy ourselves now, instead of taking all this trouble
beforehand? You have already at your command every possible means of
enjoyment; why not make yourself happy with them now, instead of
entering on a course which will lead to such dreadful toils and
dangers, such innumerable calamities, and through such seas of blood,
and yet bring you after all, at the end, nothing more than you have at
the beginning?"
It may, perhaps, be a matter of doubt whether Cineas intended this as
a serious remonstrance against the execution of Pyrrhus's designs, or
only as an ingenious and good-humored satire on the folly of ambition,
to amuse the mind of his sovereign in some momentary interval of
leisure that came in the midst of his cares. However it may have been
intended, it made no serious impression on the mind of Pyrrhus, and
produced no change in his plans. The work of preparation went
vigorously on; and as soon as a portion of the troops were ready to
embark, Cineas was put in command of them, and they crossed the
Adriatic Sea. After this, Pyrrhus completed the organization of the
remaining force. It consisted of twenty elephants, three thousand
horse, and twenty thousand foot, with two thousand archers, and
twenty thousand slingers. When all was ready, Pyrrhus put these troops
on board a large fleet of galleys, transports, and flat-bottomed
boats, which had been sent over to him from Tarentum by Cineas for the
purpose, and at length set sail. He left Ptolemy, his eldest son, then
about fifteen years old, regent of the kingdom, and took two younger
sons, Alexander and Helenus, with him. The expedition was destined, it
seems, to begin in disaster; for no sooner had Pyrrhus set sail than a
terrible storm arose, which, for a time, threatened the total
destruction of the fleet, and of all who were on board of it. The ship
which conveyed Pyrrhus himself was, of course, larger and better
manned than the others, and it succeeded at length, a little after
midnight, in reaching the Italian shore, while the rest of the fleet
were driven at the mercy of the winds, and dispersed in every
direction over the sea, far and wide. But, though Pyrrhus's ship
approached the shore, the violence of the winds and waves was so
great, that for a long time it was impossible for those on board to
land. At length the wind suddenly changed its direction, and began to
blow very violently off the shore, so that there seemed to be great
probability that the ship would be driven to sea again. In fact, so
imminent was the danger, that Pyrrhus determined to throw himself into
the sea and attempt to swim to the shore. He accordingly did so, and
was immediately followed by his attendants and guards, who leaped into
the water after him, and did every thing in their power to assist him
in gaining the land. The danger, however, was extreme; for the
darkness of the night, the roaring of the winds and waves, and the
violence with which the surf regurgitated from the shore, rendered the
scene terrific beyond description. At last, however, about daybreak,
the shipwrecked company succeeded in gaining the land.
Pyrrhus was almost completely exhausted in body by the fatigues and
exposures which he had endured, but he appeared to be by no means
depressed in mind. The people of the country flocked down to the coast
to render aid. Several other vessels afterward succeeded in reaching
the shore; and as the wind now rapidly subsided, the men on board of
them found comparatively little difficulty in effecting a landing.
Pyrrhus collected the remnant thus saved, and marshaled them on the
shore. He found that he had about two thousand foot, a small body of
horse, and two elephants. With this force he immediately set out on
his march to Tarentum. As he approached the city, Cineas came out to
meet him at the head of the forces which had been placed at his
command, and which had made the passage in safety.
As soon as Pyrrhus found himself established in Tarentum, he
immediately assumed the command of every thing there, as if he were
already the acknowledged sovereign of the city. In fact, he found the
city in so disorganized and defenseless a condition, that this
assumption of power on his part seemed to be justified by the
necessity of the case. The inhabitants, as is often the fact with men
when their affairs are in an extreme and desperate condition, had
become reckless. Every where throughout the city disorder and idleness
reigned supreme. The men spent their time in strolling about from
place to place, or sitting idly at home, or gathering in crowds at
places of public diversion. They had abandoned all care or concern
about public affairs, trusting to Pyrrhus to save them from the
impending danger. Pyrrhus perceived, accordingly, that an entire
revolution in the internal condition of the city was indispensably
required, and he immediately took most efficient measures for
effecting it. He shut up all the places of public amusement, and even
the public walks and promenades, and put an end to all feastings,
revels, and entertainments. Every man capable of bearing arms was
enrolled in the army, and the troops thus formed were brought out
daily for severe and long-protracted drillings and reviews. The people
complained loudly of these exactions; but Pyrrhus had the power in his
hands, and they were compelled to submit. Many of the inhabitants,
however, were so dissatisfied with these proceedings, that they went
away and left the city altogether. Of course it was those who were the
most hopelessly idle, dissolute, and reckless that thus withdrew,
while the more hardy and resolute remained. While these changes were
going on, Pyrrhus set up and repaired the defenses of the city. He
secured the walls, and strengthened the gates, and organized a
complete system of guards and sentries. In a word, the condition of
Tarentum was soon entirely changed. From being an exposed and
defenseless town, filled with devotees of idleness and pleasure, it
became a fortress, well secured at all points with material defenses,
and occupied by a well-disciplined and resolute garrison.
The inhabitants of the southeastern part of Italy, where Tarentum was
situated, were of Greek origin, the country having been settled, as it
would seem, by emigrants from the opposite shores of the Adriatic Sea.
Their language, therefore, as well as their customs and usages of
life, were different from those of the Roman communities that occupied
the western parts of the peninsula. Now the Greeks at this period
regarded themselves as the only truly civilized people in the world;
all other nations they called barbarians. The people of Tarentum,
therefore, in sending for Pyrrhus to come to their aid against the
Romans, did not consider him as a foreigner brought in to help them in
a civil war against their own countrymen, but rather as a
fellow-countryman coming to aid them in a war against foreigners. They
regarded him as belonging to the same race and lineage with
themselves, while the enemies who were coming from beyond the
Apennines to assail them they looked upon as a foreign and barbarous
horde, against whom it was for the common interest of all nations of
Greek descent to combine. It was this identity of interest between
Pyrrhus and the people whom he came to aid, in respect both to their
national origin and the cause in which they were engaged, which made
it possible for him to assume so supreme an authority over all their
affairs when he arrived at Tarentum.
The people of the neighboring cities were slow in sending in to
Pyrrhus the quotas of troops which the Tarentines had promised him;
and before his force was collected, the tidings arrived that the
Romans were coming on at the head of a great army, under the command
of the consul Laevinus. Pyrrhus immediately prepared to go forth to
meet them. He marshaled the troops that were already assembled, and
leaving the city, he advanced to meet the consul. After proceeding
some way, he sent forward an embassador to the camp of Laevinus to
propose to that general that, before coming to extremities, an effort
should be made to settle the dispute between the Romans and Tarentines
in some amicable manner, and offering his services as an umpire and
mediator for this purpose. To this embassage Laevinus coolly replied
"that he did not choose to accept Pyrrhus as a mediator, and that he
did not fear him as an enemy." Of course, after receiving such a
message as this, there was nothing left to Pyrrhus but to prepare for
war.
He advanced, accordingly, at the head of his troops, until, at
length, he reached a plain, where he encamped with all his forces.
There was a river before him, a small stream called the River
Siris.[J] The Romans came up and encamped on the opposite side of the
bank of this stream. Pyrrhus mounted his horse and rode to an eminence
near 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, the
systematic and regular arrangement of guards and sentinels, and the
regularity of the whole encampment, excited his admiration.[K]
[Footnote K: See Frontispiece.]
"Barbarians!" said he. "There is certainly nothing of the barbarian in
their manner of arranging their encampment, and we shall soon see how
it is with them in other respects."
So saying, he turned away, and rode to his own camp. He, however, now
began to be very seriously concerned in respect to the result of the
approaching contest. The enemy with whom he was about to engage was
obviously a far more formidable one than he had anticipated. He
resolved to remain where he was until the allies whom he was expecting
from the other Grecian cities should arrive. He accordingly took
measures for fortifying himself as strongly as possible in his
position, and he sent down a strong detachment from his main body to
the river, to guard the bank and prevent the Romans from crossing to
attack him. Laevinus, on the other hand, knowing that Pyrrhus was
expecting strong re-enforcements, determined not to wait till they
should come, but resolved to cross the river at once, notwithstanding
the guard which Pyrrhus had placed on the bank to dispute the passage.
The Romans did not attempt to cross the stream in one body. The troops
were divided, and the several columns advanced to the river and
entered the water at different points up and down the stream, the
foot-soldiers at the fords, where the water was most shallow, and the
horsemen at other places--the most favorable that they could find. In
this manner the whole river was soon filled with soldiers. The guard
which Pyrrhus had posted on the bank found that they were wholly
unable to withstand such multitudes; in fact, they began to fear that
they might be surrounded. They accordingly abandoned the bank of the
river, and retreated to the main body of the army.
Pyrrhus was greatly concerned at this event, and began to consider
himself in imminent danger. He drew up his foot-soldiers in battle
array, and ordered them to stand by their arms, while he himself
advanced, at the head of the horsemen, toward the river. As soon as he
came to the bank, an extraordinary spectacle 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 of
the horsemen and footmen who were coming over. As fast as the Romans
landed, they formed an array on the shore, and Pyrrhus, advancing to
them, gave them battle.
The contest was maintained, with the utmost determination and fury on
both sides, for a long time. Pyrrhus himself was very conspicuous in
the fight, for he wore a very costly and magnificent armor, and so
resplendent in lustre withal as to be an object of universal
attention. Notwithstanding this, he exposed himself in the hottest
parts of the engagement, charging upon the enemy with the most
dauntless intrepidity whenever there was occasion, and moving up and
down the lines, wherever his aid or the encouragement of his presence
was most required. At length one of his generals, named Leonatus, rode
up to him and said,
"Do you see, sire, that barbarian trooper, on the black horse with
the white feet? I counsel you to beware of him. He seems to be
meditating some deep design against you; he singles you out, and keeps
his eye constantly upon you, and follows you wherever you go. He is
watching an opportunity to execute some terrible design, and you will
do well to be on your guard against him."
"Leonatus," said Pyrrhus, in reply, "we can not contend against our
destiny, I know very well; but it is my opinion that neither that man,
nor any other man in the Roman army that seeks an encounter with me,
will have any reason to congratulate himself on the result of it."
He had scarcely spoken these words when he saw the horseman whom
Leonatus had pointed out coming down upon him at full speed, with his
spear grasped firmly in his hands, and the iron point of it aimed
directly at Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus sprang immediately to meet his
antagonist, bringing his own spear into aim at the same time. The
horses met, and were both thrown down by the shock of the encounter.
The friends of Pyrrhus rushed to the spot. They found both horses had
been thrust through by the spears, and they both lay now upon the
ground, dying. Some of the men drew Pyrrhus out from under his horse
and bore him off the field, while others stabbed and killed the Roman
where he lay.
Pyrrhus, having escaped this terrible danger, determined now to be
more upon his guard. He supposed, in fact, that the Roman officers
would be made furious by the death of their comrade, and would make
the most desperate efforts to avenge him. He accordingly contrived to
find an opportunity, in the midst of the confusion of the battle, to
put off the armor which made him so conspicuous, by exchanging with
one of his officers, named Megacles. Having thus disguised himself, he
returned to the battle. He brought up the foot-soldiers and the
elephants; and, instead of employing himself, as heretofore, in
performing single feats of personal valor, he devoted all his powers
to directing the arrangements of the battle, encouraging the men, and
rallying them when they were for a time driven away from their ground.
By the exchange of armor which Pyrrhus thus made he probably saved his
life; for Megacles, wherever he appeared after he had assumed the
dress of Pyrrhus, found himself always surrounded by enemies, who
pressed upon him incessantly and every where in great numbers, and he
was finally killed. When he fell, the men who slew him seized the
glittering helmet and the resplendent cloak that he wore, and bore
them off in triumph into the Roman lines, as proof that Pyrrhus was
slain. The tidings, as it passed along from rank to rank of the army,
awakened a long and loud shout of acclamation and triumph, which
greatly excited and animated the Romans, while it awakened in the army
of Pyrrhus a correspondent emotion of discouragement and fear. In
fact, for a short time it was universally believed in both armies that
Pyrrhus was dead. In order to correct this false impression among his
own troops, which threatened for a season to produce the most fatal
effects, Pyrrhus rode along the ranks with his head uncovered, showing
himself to his men, and shouting to them that he was yet alive.
[Illustration: THE TROPHIES.]
At length, after a long and very obstinate conflict, the Greeks gained
the victory. This result was due in the end, in a great measure, to
the elephants which Pyrrhus brought into the battle. The Roman horses,
being wholly unused to the sight of such huge beasts, were terrified
beyond measure at the spectacle, and fled in dismay whenever they saw
the monsters coming. In fact, in some cases, the riders lost all
command of their horses, and the troop turned and fled, bearing down
and overwhelming the ranks of their friends behind them. In the end
the Romans were wholly driven from the field. They did not even return
to their camp, but, after recrossing the river in confusion, they fled
in all directions, abandoning the whole country to their conqueror.
Pyrrhus then advanced across the river and took possession of the
Roman camp.
CHAPTER VI.
NEGOTIATIONS.
B.C. 280-279
Effects of the victory.--Public opinion at Rome.--Expectations of
Pyrrhus.--His mistake.--Cineas sent an embassador to Rome.--Cineas's
plans for bribing the Roman senators.--Speech of Cineas in the Roman
senate.--Debate in the senate.--An incident of the discussion.--Appius
Claudius is brought on a bed to the senate.--Speech of Appius
Claudius.--Effect of his speech on the senate.--Cineas makes report of
his mission.--Fabricius sent to Pyrrhus.--His reception.--The elephant
concealed in the tent.--Pyrrhus makes great offers to Fabricius.--The
Roman armies advance.--The two generals.--The armies encamp in sight
of each other.--His military honors.--Story of Decius Mus.--The
vision.--Extraordinary alternative proposed.--The two consuls draw
lots.--Decius sacrifices himself.--Superstitious fears of the
soldiers.--Decius Mus.--Reply of Decius Mus to Pyrrhus.--The Romans
afraid of the elephants.--The battle.--The elephants.--War
chariots.--Doubtful victory.--Winter-quarters.--Nicias.--Pyrrhus's
physician.--His treachery.--A generous exchange of prisoners.--No
peace.
The result of the battle on the banks of the Siris, decisive and
complete as the victory was on the part of the Greeks, produced, of
course, a very profound sensation at Rome. Instead, however, of
discouraging and disheartening the Roman senate and people, it only
aroused them to fresh energy and determination. The victory was
considered as wholly due to the extraordinary military energy and
skill of Pyrrhus, and not to any superiority of the Greek troops over
those of the Romans in courage, in discipline, or in efficiency in the
field. In fact, it was a saying at Rome at the time, that it was
Laevinus that had been conquered by Pyrrhus in the battle, and not the
Romans by the Greeks. The Roman government, accordingly, began
immediately to enlist new recruits, and to make preparations for a new
campaign, more ample and complete, and on a far greater scale than
before.
Pyrrhus was much surprised when he heard these things. He had
supposed that the Romans would have been disheartened by the defeat
which they had sustained, and would now think only of proposals and
negotiations for peace. He seems to have been but very imperfectly
informed in respect to the condition of the Roman commonwealth at this
period, and to the degree of power to which it had attained. He
supposed that, after suffering so signal and decisive a defeat, the
Romans would regard themselves as conquered, and that nothing remained
to them now but to consider how they could make the best terms with
their conqueror. The Roman troops had, indeed, withdrawn from the
neighborhood of the place where the battle had been fought, and had
left Pyrrhus to take possession of the ground without molestation.
Pyrrhus was even allowed to advance some considerable distance toward
Rome; but he soon learned that, notwithstanding their temporary
reverses, his enemies had not the most remote intention of submitting
to him, but were making preparations to take the field again with a
greater force than ever.
Under these circumstances, Pyrrhus was for a time somewhat at a loss
what to do. Should he follow up his victory, and advance boldly
toward the capital, with a view of overcoming the Roman power
entirely, or should he be satisfied with the advantage which he had
already gained, and be content, for the present, with being master of
Western Italy? After much hesitation, he concluded on the latter
course. He accordingly suspended his hostile operations, and prepared
to 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 of
attendants suitable to his rank as a royal embassador, and he took
with him a great number of costly presents to be offered to the
leading men in Rome, by way, as it would seem, of facilitating his
negotiations. The nature of the means which he thus appears to have
relied upon in his embassy to Rome may, perhaps, indicate the secret
of his success in the diplomatic duties which he had performed in
Greece and in Asia, where he had acquired so much distinction for his
dexterity in negotiating treaties favorable to the interests of his
master. However this may be, Cineas found that the policy which he
contemplated would not answer in Rome. Soon after his arrival in the
city, and in an early stage of the negotiations, he began to offer
his presents to the public men with whom he had to deal; but they
refused to accept them. The Roman senators to whom the gifts were
offered returned them all, saying that, in case a treaty should be
concluded, and peace made between the two nations, they should then
have no objections to an interchange of such civilities; but, while
the negotiations were pending, they conceived it improper for them to
receive any such offerings. It may, perhaps, be taken as an additional
proof of the nature of the influences which Cineas was accustomed to
rely upon in his diplomatic undertakings, that he offered many of his
gifts on this occasion to the ladies of the Roman senators as well as
to the senators themselves; but the wives were found as incorruptible
as the husbands. The gifts were all alike returned.
Not discouraged by the failure of this attempt, Cineas obtained
permission of the Roman senate to appear before them, and to address
them on the subject of the views which Pyrrhus entertained in respect
to the basis of the peace which he proposed. On the appointed day
Cineas went to the senate-chamber, and there made a long and very able
and eloquent address, in the presence of the senate and of the
principal inhabitants of the city. He was very much impressed on this
occasion with the spectacle which the august assembly presented to his
view. He said afterward, in fact, that the Roman senate seemed to him
like a congress of kings, so dignified and imposing was the appearance
of the body, and so impressive was the air of calmness and gravity
which reigned in their deliberations. Cineas made a very able and
effective speech. He explained the views and proposals of Pyrrhus,
presenting them in a light as favorable and attractive as possible.
Pyrrhus was willing, he said, to make peace on equal terms. He
proposed that he should give up all his prisoners without ransom, and
that the Romans should give up theirs. He would then form an alliance
with the Romans, and aid them in the future conquests that they
meditated. All he asked was that he might have the sanction of the
Roman government to his retaining Tarentum and the countries connected
with and dependent upon it; and that, in maintaining his dominion over
these lands, he might look upon the Roman people as his allies and
friends.
After Cineas had concluded his speech and had withdrawn from the
senate-chamber, a debate arose among the senators on the propositions
which he had made to them. There was a difference of opinion; some
were for rejecting the proposals at once; others thought that they
ought to be accepted. Those who were inclined to peace urged the
wisdom of acceding to Pyrrhus's proposals by representing the great
danger of continuing the war. "We have already," said they, "lost one
great and decisive battle; and, in case of the renewal of the
struggle, we must expect to find our enemy still more formidable than
he was before; for many of the Italian nations of the eastern coast
have joined his standard since hearing of the victory which he has
obtained, and more are coming in. His strength, in fact, is growing
greater and greater every day; and it is better for us to make peace
with him now, on the honorable terms which he proposes to us, rather
than to risk another battle, which may lead to the most disastrous
consequences."
In the midst of this discussion, an aged senator, who had been for a
long time incapacitated by his years and infirmities from appearing in
his seat, was seen coming to the assembly, supported and led by his
sons and sons-in-law, who were making way for him in the passages and
conducting him in. His name was Appius Claudius. He was blind and
almost helpless through age and infirmity. He had heard in his chamber
of the irresolution of the senate in respect to the further
prosecution of the war with Pyrrhus, and had caused himself to be
taken from his bed and borne through the streets by servants on a
chair to the senate-house, that he might there once more raise his
voice to save, if possible, the honor and dignity of his country. As
he entered the chamber, he became at once the object of universal
attention. As soon as he reached his seat, a respectful silence began
to prevail throughout the assembly, all listening to hear what he had
to say. He expressed himself as follows:
"Senators of Rome,--I am blind, and I have been accustomed to consider
my blindness as a calamity; but now I could wish that I had been deaf
as well as blind, and then I might never have heard of the disgrace
which seems to impend over my country. Where are now the boastings
that we made when Alexander the Great commenced his career, that if he
had turned his arms toward Italy and Rome, instead of Persia and the
East, we would never have submitted to him; that he never would have
gained the renown of being invincible if he had only attacked _us_,
but would, on the other hand, if he invaded our dominions, only have
contributed to the glory of the Roman name by his flight or his fall?
These boasts we made so loudly that the echo of them spread throughout
the world. And yet now, here is an obscure adventurer who has landed
on our shores as an enemy and an invader, and because he has met with
a partial and temporary success, you are debating whether you shall
not make an ignominious peace with him, and allow him to remain. How
vain and foolish does all our boastful defiance of Alexander appear
when we now tremble at the name of Pyrrhus--a man who has been all his
life a follower and dependent of one of Alexander's inferior
generals--a man who has scarcely been able to maintain himself in his
own dominions--who could not retain even a small and insignificant
part of Macedon which he had conquered, but was driven ignominiously
from it; and who comes into Italy now rather as a refugee than a
conqueror--an adventurer who seeks power here because he can not
sustain himself at home! I warn you not to expect that you can gain
any thing by making such a peace with him as he proposes. Such a
peace makes no atonement for the past, and it offers no security for
the future. On the contrary, it will open the door to other invaders,
who will come, encouraged by Pyrrhus's success, and emboldened by the
contempt which they will feel for you in allowing yourselves to be
thus braved and insulted with impunity."
The effect of this speech on the senate was to produce a unanimous
determination to carry on the war. Cineas was accordingly dismissed
with this answer: that the Romans would listen to no propositions for
peace while Pyrrhus remained in Italy. If he would withdraw from the
country altogether, and retire to his own proper dominions, they would
then listen to any proposals that he might make for a treaty of
alliance and amity. So long, however, as he remained on Italian
ground, they would make no terms with him whatever, though he should
gain a thousand victories, but would wage war upon him to the last
extremity.
Cineas returned to the camp of Pyrrhus, bearing this reply. He
communicated also to Pyrrhus a great deal of information in respect to
the government and the people of Rome, the extent of the population,
and the wealth and resources of the city; for while he had been
engaged in conducting his negotiations, he had made every exertion to
obtain intelligence on all these points, and he had been a very
attentive and sagacious observer of all that he had seen. The account
which he gave was very little calculated to encourage Pyrrhus in his
future hopes and expectations. The people of Rome, Cineas said, were
far more numerous than he had before supposed. They had now already on
foot an army twice as large as the one which Pyrrhus had defeated, and
multitudes besides were still left in the city, of a suitable age for
enlisting, sufficient to form even larger armies still. The prospect,
in a word, was very far from such as to promise Pyrrhus an easy
victory.
Of course, both parties began now to prepare vigorously for war.
Before hostilities were resumed, however, the Romans sent a messenger
to the camp of Pyrrhus to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. The name
of this embassador was Fabricius. Fabricius, as Pyrrhus was informed
by Cineas, was very highly esteemed at Rome for his integrity and for
his military abilities, but he was without property, being dependent
wholly on his pay as an officer of the army. Pyrrhus received
Fabricius in the most respectful manner, and treated him with every
mark of consideration and honor. He, moreover, offered him privately a
large sum of money in gold. He told Fabricius that, in asking his
acceptance of such a gift, he did not do it for any base purpose, but
intended it only as a token of friendship and hospitality. Fabricius,
however, refused to accept the present, and Pyrrhus pressed him no
further.
The next day Pyrrhus formed a plan for giving his guest a little
surprise. He supposed that he had never seen an elephant, and he
accordingly directed that one of the largest of these animals should
be placed secretly behind a curtain, in an apartment where Fabricius
was to be received. The elephant was covered with his armor, and
splendidly caparisoned. After Fabricius had come in, and while he was
sitting in the apartment wholly unconscious of what was before him,
all at once the curtain was raised, and the elephant was suddenly
brought to view; and, at the same instant, the huge animal, raising
his trunk, flourished it in a threatening manner over Fabricius's
head, making at the same time a frightful cry, such as he had been
trained to utter for the purpose of striking terror into the enemy, in
charging upon them on the field of battle. Fabricius, instead of
appearing terrified, or even astonished at the spectacle, sat quietly
in his seat, to all appearance entirely unmoved, and, turning to
Pyrrhus with an air of the utmost composure, said coolly, "You see
that you make no impression upon me, either by your gold yesterday or
by your beast to-day."
[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT CONCEALED.]
Pyrrhus was not at all displeased with this answer, blunt as it may
seem. On the contrary, he seems to have been very deeply impressed
with a sense of the stern and incorruptible virtue of Fabricius's
character, and he felt a strong desire to obtain the services of such
an officer in his own court and army. He accordingly made new
proposals to Fabricius, urging him to use his influence to induce the
Romans to make peace, and then to go with him to Epirus, and enter
into his service there.
"If you will do so," said Pyrrhus, "I will make you the chief of my
generals, and my own most intimate friend and companion, and you shall
enjoy abundant honors and rewards."
"No," replied Fabricius, "I can not accept those offers, nor is it for
your interest that I should accept them; for, were I to go with you to
Epirus, your people, as soon as they came to know me well, would lose
all their respect for you, and would wish to have me, instead of you,
for their king."
We are, perhaps, to understand this rejoinder, as well as the one
which Fabricius made to Pyrrhus in respect to the elephant, as
intended in a somewhat jocose and playful sense; since, if we suppose
them to have been gravely and seriously uttered, they would indicate a
spirit of vanity and of empty boasting which would seem to be wholly
inconsistent with what we know of Fabricius's character. However this
may be, Pyrrhus was pleased with both; and the more that he saw and
learned of the Romans, the more desirous he became of terminating the
war and forming an alliance with them. But the Romans firmly persisted
in refusing to treat with him, except on the condition of his
withdrawing first entirely from Italy, and this was a condition with
which he deemed it impossible to comply. It would be equivalent, in
fact, 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, under
the command of their two consuls. The names of the consuls at this
time were Sulpicius Saverrio and Decius Mus. These generals advanced
into Apulia, a country on the western coast of Italy, north of
Tarentum. Here they encamped on a plain at the foot of the Apennines,
near a place called Asculum. There was a stream in front of their
camp, and the mountains were behind it. The stream was large and deep,
and of course it greatly protected their position. On hearing of the
approach of the Romans, Pyrrhus himself took the field at the head of
all his forces, and advanced to meet them. He came to the plain on
which the Roman army was encamped, and posted himself on the opposite
bank of the stream. The armies were thus placed in close vicinity to
each other, being separated only by the stream. The question was,
which should attempt to cross the stream and make the attack upon the
other. They remained in this position for a considerable time, neither
party venturing to attempt the passage.
While things were in this condition--the troops on each side waiting
for an opportunity of attacking their enemies, and probably without
any fear whatever of the physical dangers which they were to encounter
in the conflict--the feeling of composure and confidence among the men
in Pyrrhus's army was greatly disturbed by a singular superstition. It
was rumored in the army that Decius Mus, the Roman commander, was
endowed with a species of magical and supernatural power, which would,
under certain circumstances, be fatal to all who opposed him. And
though the Greeks seem to have had no fear of the material steel of
the Roman legions, this mysterious and divine virtue, which they
imagined to reside in the commander, struck them with an invincible
terror.
The story was, that the supernatural power in question originated in
one 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 he
was a subordinate officer, he was the means of saving the whole army
from most imminent danger, by taking possession of an eminence among
the mountains, with the companies that were under his command, and
holding it against the enemy until the Roman troops could be drawn out
of a dangerous defile where they would otherwise have been overwhelmed
and destroyed. He was greatly honored for this exploit. The consul who
commanded on the occasion rewarded him with a golden crown, a hundred
oxen, and a magnificent white bull, with gilded horns. The common
soldiers, too, held a grand festival and celebration in honor of him,
in which they crowned him with a wreath made of dried grasses on the
field, according to an ancient custom which prevailed among the Romans
of rewarding in this way any man who should be the means of saving an
army. Of course, such an event as saving an army was of very rare
occurrence; and, accordingly, the crowning of a soldier by his
comrades on the field was a very distinguished honor, although the
decoration itself was made of materials so insignificant and
worthless.
Decius rose rapidly after this time from rank to rank, until at length
he was chosen consul. In the course of his consulship, he took the
field with one of his colleagues, whose name was Torquatus, at the
head of a large army, in the prosecution of a very important war in
the interior of the country. The time arrived at length for a decisive
battle to be fought. Both armies were drawn up on the field, the
preparations were all made, and the battle was to be fought on the
following day. In the night, however, a vision appeared to each
consul, informing him that it had been decreed by fate that a
_general_ on one side and the _army_ on the other were to be destroyed
on the following day; and that, consequently, either of the consuls,
by sacrificing himself, might secure the destruction of the enemy. On
the other hand, if they were to take measures to save themselves, the
general on the other side would 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 the
question at once arose, what method they should adopt to determine
which of them should be the sacrifice. At last it was agreed that they
would go into battle as usual, each in command of his own wing of the
army, and that the one whose wing should first begin to give way
should offer himself as the victim. The arrangements were made
accordingly, and the result proved that Decius was the one on whom the
dire duty of self-immolation was to devolve. The wing under his
command began to give way. He immediately resolved to fulfill his vow.
He summoned the high priest. He clothed himself in the garb of a
victim about to be offered in sacrifice. Then, with his military cloak
wrapped about his head, and standing upon a spear that had been
previously laid down upon the ground, he repeated in the proper form
words by which he devoted himself and the army of the enemy to the God
of Death, and then finally mounted upon his horse and drove furiously
in among the thickest of the enemy. Of course he was at once thrust
through with a hundred spears and javelins; and immediately afterward
the army of the enemy gave way on all hands, and the Romans swept the
field, completely victorious.
The power which was in this instance supernaturally granted to Decius
to secure the victory to the Roman arms, by sacrificing his own life
on the field of battle, afterward descended, it was supposed, as an
inheritance, from father to son. Decius Mus, the commander opposed to
Pyrrhus, was the grandson of his namesake referred to above; and now
it was rumored among the Greeks that he intended, as soon as the
armies came into action, to make the destruction of his enemies sure
by sacrificing himself, as his grandfather had done. The soldiers of
Pyrrhus were willing to meet any of the ordinary and natural chances
and hazards of war; but, where the awful and irresistible decrees of
the spiritual world were to be against them, it is not strange that
they dreaded the encounter.
Under these circumstances, Pyrrhus sent a party of messengers to the
Roman camp to say to Decius, that if in the approaching battle he
attempted to resort to any such arts of necromancy to secure the
victory to the Roman side, he would find himself wholly unsuccessful
in the attempt; for the Greek soldiers had all been instructed not to
kill him if he should throw himself among them, but to take him alive
and bring him a prisoner to Pyrrhus's camp; and that then, after the
battle was over, he should be subjected, they declared, to the most
cruel and ignominious punishments, as a magician and an impostor.
Decius sent back word, in reply, that Pyrrhus had no occasion to give
himself any uneasiness in respect to the course which the Roman
general would pursue in the approaching battle. The measure that he
had referred to was one to which the Romans were not accustomed to
resort except in emergencies of the most extreme and dangerous
character, and Pyrrhus ought not to flatter himself with the idea that
the Romans regarded his invasion as of sufficient consequence to
require them to have recourse to any unusual means of defense. They
were fully convinced of their ability to meet and conquer him by
ordinary modes of warfare. To prove that they were honest in this
opinion, they offered to waive the advantage which the river afforded
them as a means of defense, and allow Pyrrhus to cross it without
molestation, with a view to fighting the battle afterward upon the
open field; or they would themselves cross the river, and fight the
battle on Pyrrhus's side of it--whichever Pyrrhus himself preferred.
They asked for no advantage, but were willing to meet their
adversaries on equal terms, and abide by the result.
Pyrrhus could not with honor decline to accept this challenge. He
decided to remain where he was, and allow the Romans to cross the
stream. This they accordingly did; and when all the troops had
effected the passage, they were drawn up in battle array on the plain.
Pyrrhus marshaled his forces also, and both parties prepared for the
contest.
The Romans stood most in awe of the elephants, and they resorted to
some peculiar and extraordinary means of resisting them. They prepared
a great number of chariots, each of which was armed with a long
pointed spear, projecting forward in such a manner that when the
chariots should be driven on toward the elephants, these spears or
beaks should pierce the bodies of the beasts and destroy them. The
chariots, too, were filled with men, who were all provided with
fire-brands, which they were to throw at the elephants, and frighten
them, as they came on. These chariots were all carefully posted in
front of that part of Pyrrhus's army where the elephants were
stationed, and the charioteers were strictly ordered not to move until
they should see the elephants advancing.
The battle, as might have been expected from the circumstances which
preceded it, and from the character of the combatants, was fought with
the most furious and persevering desperation. It continued through the
whole day; and in the various parts of the field, and during the
different hours of the day, the advantage was sometimes strongly on
one side, and sometimes on the other, so that it was wholly uncertain,
for a long time, what the ultimate result would be. The elephants
succeeded in getting round the chariots which had been posted to
intercept them, and effected a great destruction of the Roman troops.
On the other hand, a detachment of the Roman army made their way to
the camp of Pyrrhus, and attacked it desperately. Pyrrhus withdrew a
part of his forces to protect his camp, and that turned the tide
against him on the field. By means of the most Herculean exertions,
Pyrrhus rallied his men, and restored their confidence; and then, for
a time, the fortune of war seemed to incline in his favor. In the
course of the day Decius was killed, and the whole command of the
Roman army then devolved upon Sulpicius, his colleague. Pyrrhus
himself was seriously wounded. When, at last, the sun went down, and
the approaching darkness of the night prevented a continuance of the
combat, both parties drew off such as remained alive of their
respective armies, leaving the field covered with the dead and dying.
One of Pyrrhus's generals congratulated him on his victory. "Yes,"
said Pyrrhus; "another such victory, and I shall be undone."
In fact, after trying their strength against each other in this
battle, neither party seemed to be in haste to bring on another
contest. They both drew away to places of security, and began to
send for re-enforcements, and to take measures to strengthen
themselves for future operations. They remained in this state of
inaction until at length the season passed away, and they then went
into winter-quarters, each watching the other, but postponing, by
common consent, all active hostilities until spring. In the spring
they took the field again, and the two armies approached each other
once more. The Roman army had now two new commanders, one of whom
was the celebrated Fabricius, whom Pyrrhus had negotiated with on
former occasions. The two commanders were thus well acquainted with
each other; and though, as public men, they were enemies, in private
and personally they were very good friends.
Pyrrhus had a physician in his service named Nicias. This man
conceived the design of offering to the Romans to poison his master
on condition of receiving a suitable reward. He accordingly wrote a
letter to Fabricius making the proposal. Fabricius immediately
communicated the letter to his colleague, and they both concurred in
the decision to inform Pyrrhus himself of the offer which had been
made them, and put him on his guard against the domestic traitor. They
accordingly sent him the letter which they had received, accompanied
by one from themselves, of the following tenor:
"Caius Fabricius and Quintus AEmilius 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 extraordinary
generosity of his enemies. He immediately collected together all the
prisoners that he had taken from the Romans, and sent them home to the
Roman camp, as a token of acknowledgment and gratitude on his part for
the high and honorable course of action which his adversaries had
adopted. They, however, Roman-like, would not accept such a token
without making a corresponding return, and they accordingly sent home
to Pyrrhus a body of Greek prisoners equal in number and rank to those
whom Pyrrhus had set free.
All these things tended to increase the disinclination of Pyrrhus to
press the further prosecution of the war. He became more and more
desirous every day to make peace with the Romans, preferring very much
that such a people should be his allies rather than his enemies. They,
however, firmly and pertinaciously refused to treat with him on any
terms, unless, as a preliminary step, he would go back to his own
dominions. This he thought he could not do with honor. He was
accordingly much perplexed, and began earnestly to wish that something
would occur to furnish him with a plausible pretext for retiring from
Italy.
CHAPTER VII.
THE SICILIAN CAMPAIGN.
B.C. 291-276
Lanassa.--The tyrant her father.--His adventures.--Agathocles's flight
from Africa.--Terrible consequences.--The sea dyed with blood.--Shocking
story.--Texina and her children.--Extraordinary story.--Maenon's
contrivance for administering poison.--Dangers of usurpation.--Maenon's
career.--Pyrrhus receives two tempting invitations.--Pyrrhus's
perplexity.--He decides to go to Sicily.--He makes great preparations
at Tarentum.--The Tarentines remonstrate.--Their arguments.--Pyrrhus
sends Cineas in advance to Sicily.--Form of Sicily.--Situation of
Messana.--Conduct of the Mamertines in Sicily.--The Mamertines take
complete possession of Messana.--Three objects to be accomplished in
Sicily.--The grand expedition sails to Sicily.--He determines to take
Eryx by storm.--Pyrrhus at the head of the column.--Combat on the
walls.--Pyrrhus victorious.--Grand celebration.--Result of the
battle.--He attacks the Mamertines.--Is victorious.--Pyrrhus forms
new schemes.--Want of seamen.--The Sicilians are opposed to his
plans.--General rebellion in Sicily.--Pyrrhus's character.--He
possesses no perseverance.--New plan.--Disastrous attempt to get back
to Italy.--Terrible conflict.--Pyrrhus is wounded in the head.--Shocking
spectacle.--The Mamertine champion.--Pyrrhus succeeds in reaching
Tarentum.
The fact has already been mentioned that one of the wives whom Pyrrhus
had married after the death of Antigone, the Egyptian princess, was
Lanassa, the daughter of Agathocles, the King of Sicily. Agathocles
was a tyrannical monster of the worst description. His army was little
better than an organized band of robbers, at the head of which he went
forth on marauding and plundering expeditions among all the nations
that were within his reach. He made these predatory excursions
sometimes into Italy, sometimes into the Carthaginian territories on
the African coast, and sometimes among the islands of the
Mediterranean Sea. In these campaigns he met with a great variety of
adventures, and experienced every possible fate that the fortune of
war could bring. Sometimes he was triumphant over all who opposed him,
and became intoxicated with prosperity and success. At other times,
through his insane and reckless folly, he would involve himself in
the most desperate difficulties, and was frequently compelled to give
up every thing, and to fly alone in absolute destitution from the
field of his attempted exploits to save his life.
On one such occasion, he abandoned an army in Africa, which he had
taken there on one of his predatory enterprises, and, flying secretly
from the camp, he made his escape with a small number of attendants,
leaving the army to its fate. His flight was so sudden on this
occasion that he left his two sons behind him in the hands and at the
mercy of the soldiers. The soldiers, as soon as they found that
Agathocles had gone and left them, were so enraged against him that
they put his sons to death on the spot, and then surrendered in a body
to the enemy. Agathocles, when the tidings of this transaction came to
him in Sicily, was enraged against the soldiers in his turn, and, in
order to revenge himself upon them, he immediately sought out from
among the population of the country their wives and children, their
brothers and sisters, and all who were in any way related to them.
These innocent representatives of the absent offenders he ordered to
be seized and slain, and their bodies to be cast into the sea toward
Africa as an expression of revengeful triumph and defiance. So great
was the slaughter on this occasion, that the waters of the sea were
dyed with blood to a great distance from the shore.
Of course, such cruelty as this could not be practiced without
awakening, on the part of those who suffered from it, a spirit of
hatred and revenge. Plots and conspiracies without number were formed
against the tyrant's life, and in his later years he lived in
continual apprehension and distress. His fate, however, was still more
striking as an illustration of the manner in which the old age of
ambitious and unprincipled men is often embittered by the ingratitude
and wickedness of their children. Agathocles had a grandson named
Archagathus, who, if all the accounts are true, brought the old king's
gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. The story is too shocking to be
fully believed, but it is said that this grandson first murdered
Agathocles's son and heir, his own uncle, in order that he might
himself succeed to the throne--his own father, who would have been the
next heir, being dead. Then, not being willing to wait until the old
king himself should die, he began to form plots against his life, and
against the lives of the remaining members of the family. Although
several of Agathocles's sons were dead, having been destroyed by
violence, or having fallen in war, he had a wife, named Texina, and
two children still remaining alive. The king was so anxious in respect
to these children, on account of Archagathus, that he determined to
send them with their mother to Egypt, in order to place them beyond
the reach of their merciless nephew. Texina was very unwilling to
consent to such a measure. For herself and her sons the proposed
retiring into Egypt was little better than going into exile, and she
was, moreover, extremely reluctant to leave her husband alone in
Syracuse, exposed to the machinations and plots which his unnatural
grandson might form against him. She, however, finally submitted to
the hard necessity and went away, bidding her husband farewell with
many tears. Very soon after her departure her husband died.
The story that is told of the manner of his death is this: There was
in his court a man named Maenon, whom Agathocles had taken captive when
a youth, and ever since retained in his court. Though originally a
captive, taken in war, Maenon had been made a favorite with Agathocles,
and had been raised to a high position in his service. The indulgence
however, and the favoritism with which he had been regarded, were not
such as to awaken any sentiments of gratitude in Maenon's mind, or to
establish any true and faithful friendship between him and his master;
and Archagathus, the grandson, found means of inducing him to
undertake to poison the king. As all the ordinary modes of
administering poison were precluded by the vigilance and strictness
with which the usual avenues of approach to the king were guarded,
Maenon contrived to accomplish his end by poisoning a quill which the
king was subsequently to use as a tooth-pick. The poison was
insinuated thus into the teeth and gums of the victim, where it soon
took effect, producing dreadful ulceration and intolerable pain. The
infection of the venom after a short time pervaded the whole system of
the sufferer, and brought him to the brink of the grave; and at last,
finding that he was speechless, and apparently insensible, his
ruthless murderers, fearing, perhaps, that he might revive again,
hurried him to the funeral pile before life was extinct, and the fire
finished the work that the poison had begun.
The declaration of Scripture, "They that take the sword shall perish
by the sword," is illustrated and confirmed by the history of almost
every ancient tyrant. We find that they almost all come at last to
some terrible end. The man who usurps a throne by violence seems, in
all ages and among all nations, very sure to be expelled from it by
greater violence, after a brief period of power; and he who poisons or
assassinates a precedent rival whom he wishes to supplant, is almost
invariably cut off by the poison or the dagger of a following one, who
wishes to supplant him.
The death of Agathocles took place about nine years before the
campaign of Pyrrhus in Italy, as described in the last chapter, and
during that period the kingdom of Sicily had been in a very distracted
state. Maenon, immediately after the poisoning of the king, fled to the
camp of Archagathus, who was at that time in command of an army at a
distance from the city. Here, in a short time, he contrived to
assassinate Archagathus, and to seize the supreme power. It was not
long, however, before new claimants and competitors for possession of
the throne appeared, and new wars broke out, in the course of which
Maenon was deposed. At length, in the midst of the contests and
commotions that prevailed, two of the leading generals of the
Sicilian army conceived the idea of bringing forward Pyrrhus's son by
Lanassa as the heir to the crown. This prince was, of course, the
grandson of the old King Agathocles, and, as there was no other
descendant of the royal line at hand who could be made the
representative of the ancient monarchy, it was thought, by the
generals above referred to, that the only measure which afforded any
hope of restoring peace to the country was to send an embassy to
Pyrrhus, and invite him to come and place his young son upon the
throne. The name of Lanassa's son was Alexander. He was a boy, perhaps
at this time about twelve years old.
At the same time that Pyrrhus received the invitation to go to Sicily,
a message came to him from certain parties in Greece, informing him
that, on account of some revolutions which had taken place there, a
very favorable opportunity was afforded him to secure for himself the
throne of that country, and urging him to come and make the attempt.
Pyrrhus was for some time quite undecided which of these two proposals
to accept. The prize offered him in Greece was more tempting, but the
expedition into Sicily seemed to promise more certain success. While
revolving the question in his mind which conquest he should first
undertake, he complained of the tantalizing cruelty of fortune, in
offering him two such tempting prizes at the same time, so as to
compel him to forego either the one or the other. At length he decided
to go first to Sicily.
It was said that one reason which influenced his mind very strongly in
making this decision was the fact that Sicily was so near the coast of
Africa; and the Sicilians being involved in wars with the
Carthaginians, he thought that, if successful in his operations in
Sicily, the way would be open for him to make an expedition into
Africa, in which case he did not doubt but that he should be able soon
to overturn the Carthaginian power, and add all the northern coasts of
Africa to his dominions. His empire would thus embrace Epirus, the
whole southern part of Italy, Sicily, and the coasts of Africa. He
could afterward, he thought, easily add Greece, and then his dominions
would include all the wealthy and populous countries surrounding the
most important part of the Mediterranean Sea. His government would
thus become a naval power of the first class, and any further
extension of his sway which he might subsequently desire could easily
be accomplished.
In a word, Pyrrhus decided first to proceed to Sicily, and to postpone
for a brief period his designs on Greece.
He accordingly proceeded to withdraw his troops from the interior of
the country in Italy, and concentrate them in and around Tarentum. He
began to make naval preparations, too, on a very extensive scale. The
port of Tarentum soon presented a very busy scene. The work of
building and repairing ships--of fabricating sails and rigging--of
constructing and arming galleys--of disciplining and training
crews--of laying in stores of food and of implements of war, went on
with great activity, and engaged universal attention. The Tarentines
themselves stood by, while all these preparations were going on,
rather as spectators of the scene than as active participants. Pyrrhus
had taken the absolute command of their city and government, and was
exercising supreme power, as if he were the acknowledged sovereign of
the country. He had been invited to come over from his own kingdom to
_help_ the Tarentines, not to _govern_ them; but he had seized the
sovereign power, justifying the seizure, as is usual with military men
under similar circumstances, by the necessity of the case. "There must
be order and submission to authority in the city," he said, "or we
can make no progress in subduing our enemies." The Tarentines had thus
been induced to submit to his assumption of power, convinced, perhaps,
partly by his reasoning, and, at all events, silenced by the display
of force by which it was accompanied; and they had consoled themselves
under a condition of things which they could not prevent, by
considering that it was better to yield to a temporary foreign
domination, than to be wholly overwhelmed, as there was every
probability, before Pyrrhus came to them, that they would be, by their
domestic foes.
When, however, they found that Pyrrhus was intending to withdraw from
them, and to go to Sicily, without having really effected their
deliverance from the danger which threatened them, they at first
remonstrated against the design. They wished him to remain and finish
the work which he had begun. The Romans had been checked, but they had
not been subdued. Pyrrhus ought not, they said, to go away and leave
them until their independence and freedom had been fully established.
They remonstrated with him against his design, but their remonstrances
proved wholly unavailing.
When at length the Tarentines found that Pyrrhus was determined to go
to Sicily, they then desired that he should withdraw his troops from
their country altogether, and leave them to themselves. This, however,
Pyrrhus refused to do. He had no intention of relinquishing the power
which he had acquired in Italy, and he accordingly began to make
preparations for leaving a strong garrison in Tarentum to maintain his
government there. He organized a sort of regency in the city, and set
apart a sufficient force from his army to maintain it in power during
his absence. When this was done, he began to make preparations for
transporting the rest of his force to Sicily by sea.
He determined to send Cineas forward first, according to his usual
custom, to make the preliminary arrangements in Sicily. Cineas
consequently left Tarentum with a small squadron of ships and galleys,
and, after a short voyage, arrived safely at Syracuse. He found the
leading powers in that city ready to welcome Pyrrhus as soon as he
should arrive, and make the young Alexander king. Cineas completed and
closed the arrangements for this purpose, and then sent messengers to
various other cities on the northern side of the island, making known
to them the design which had been formed of raising an heir of King
Agathocles to the throne, and asking their co-operation in it. He
managed these negotiations with so much prudence and skill, that
nearly all that part of the island which was in the hands of the
Sicilians readily acceded to the plan, and the people were every where
prepared to welcome Pyrrhus and the young prince as soon as they
should arrive.
Sicily, as will be seen by referring to the map, is of a triangular
form. It was only the southern portion which was at this time in the
hands of the Sicilians. There were two foreign and hostile powers in
possession, respectively, of the northeastern and northwestern
portions. In the northeastern corner of the island was the city of
Messana--the Messina of modern days. In the time of Pyrrhus's
expedition, Messana was the seat and stronghold of a warlike nation,
called the Mamertines, who had come over from Italy across the Straits
of Messana some years before, and, having made themselves masters of
that portion of the island, had since held their ground there,
notwithstanding all the efforts of the Sicilians to expel them. The
Mamertines had originally come into Sicily, it was said, as Pyrrhus
had gone into Italy--by invitation. Agathocles sent for them to come
and aid him in some of his wars. After the object for which they had
been sent for had been accomplished, Agathocles dismissed his
auxiliaries, and they set out on their return. They proceeded through
the northeastern part of the island to Messana, where they were to
embark for Italy. Though they had rendered Agathocles very efficient
aid in his campaigns, they had also occasioned him an infinite deal of
trouble by their turbulent and ungovernable spirit; and now, as they
were withdrawing from the island, the inhabitants of the country
through which they passed on the way regarded them every where with
terror and dread. The people of Messana, anxious to avoid a quarrel
with them, and disposed to facilitate their peaceable departure from
the land by every means in their power, received them into the city,
and hospitably entertained them there. Instead, however, of quietly
withdrawing from the city in proper time, as the Messanians had
expected them to do, they rose suddenly and unexpectedly upon the
people, at a concerted signal, took possession of the city, massacred
without mercy all the men, seized the women and children, and then,
each one establishing himself in the household that choice or chance
assigned him, married the wife and adopted the children whose husband
and father he had murdered. The result was the most complete and
extraordinary overturning that the history of the world can afford. It
was a political, a social, and a domestic revolution all in one.
This event took place many years before the time of Pyrrhus's
expedition; and though during the interval the Sicilians had made many
efforts to dispossess the intruders and to recover possession of
Messana, they had not been able to accomplish the work. The Mamertines
maintained their ground in Messana, and from that city, as their
fortress and stronghold, they extended their power over a considerable
portion of the surrounding country.
This territory of the Mamertines was in the northeastern part of the
island. In the northwestern part, on the other hand, there was a large
province in the hands of the Carthaginians. Their chief city was Eryx;
though there was another important city and port, called Lilybaeum,
which was situated to the southward of Eryx, on the sea-shore. Here
the Carthaginians were accustomed to land their re-enforcements and
stores; and by means of the ready and direct communication which they
could thus keep up with Carthage itself, they were enabled to resist
all the efforts which the Sicilians had made to dispossess them.
There were thus three objects to be accomplished by Pyrrhus in Sicily
before his dominion over the island could be complete--namely, the
Sicilians themselves, in the southern and central parts of the island,
were to be conciliated and combined, and induced to give up their
intestine quarrels, and to acknowledge the young Alexander as the king
of the island; and then the Mamertines on the northeast part, and the
Carthaginians in the northwest, were to be conquered and expelled.
The work was done, so far as related to the Sicilians themselves,
mainly by Cineas. His dexterous negotiations healed, in a great
measure, the quarrels which prevailed among the people, and prepared
the way for welcoming Pyrrhus and the young prince, as soon as they
should appear. In respect to the Carthaginians and t
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