PYRRHUS. 



PYRRHUS. 



1020 



arose. The king himself reached the Italian coast; but many of the 

 ships were wrecked, and others effected their landing with great i 

 difficulty. Only a few horsemen escaped, and 2000 foot and two ele- 

 phants were lost. With the remnant of his army Pyrrhus entered 

 Tarentum. He foon discovered that the objects of these frivolous 

 Greeks could not be attained, unless he assumed dictatorial power. 

 He therefore shut up all their places of amusement, compelled all the 

 men capable of bearing arms to serve as soldiers, and the younger to 

 submit to regular military training in the gymnasia. The effeminate 

 Greeks, who had not expected this, left their city in great numbers. 

 The troops which had been promised by their allies did not arrive; 

 the Lucanians and Samnites were prevented from joining Pyrrhus 

 by the Roman consuls. When the consul Lrevinus entered Lucania 

 with a numerous army, Pyrrhus provided for the security of Tarentum, 

 and went out to meet the enemy. As he however wished to defer a 

 decisive battle until the arrival of his Greek allies, he offered to act as 

 mediator between the Greeks and Romans ; but the haughty answer 

 of L;evinus put a stop to all negociation, and Pyrrlrus pitched his 

 camp on the north bank of the small river Siris, in the plain between 

 Pandosia and Heraclea. The Romans, who were encamped on the 

 south bank, were anxious to offer battle. The consul sent his horse 

 across the river to attack the enemy's rear ; but Pyrrhus discovered 

 the movement, and leading his own cavalry against them, the battle 

 commenced. The king displayed the greatest activity, and was 

 always in the midst of danger. His brilliant armour rendering him 

 too conspicuous, he exchanged it for that of his friend Megacles, who, 

 being taken for the king, was slain by a Roman. Hie armour was 

 carried to Lsevinus, who thought that the king himself had fallen. 

 The battle lasted the whole day, when the Romans who had advanced 

 and retreated seven times, were driven across the river in disorder. 

 The remnant of the Roman army escaped in the darkness of the night, 

 and the victors took possession of their camp. Pyrrhus, on the next 

 day, visited the field of battle, buried the bodies of the slain enemies, 

 amounting to 7000, as well as those of his own soldiers, and proposed 

 to the Roman captives to serve in hia army. They all refused ; and 

 Pyrrhus honoured their fidelity by sending 200 of them back to Rome. 

 Miebahr, ' Iti-t. of l!oii:i,' iii., p. :V".0; Justin., xviii. 1.) 



originally gilt, are each a little more than seven English inches in 

 length. On each of them is represented in very high relief a hero 

 fighting with an Amazon. They are now in the British Museum, and 

 may at first sight be recognised as fragments of a magnificent cuirass. 

 The character and the beautiful stylo of the work render it certain 

 that they belonged to the school, or at least to the period, of Lysippus. 

 They were in all probability brought over to the spot where they were 

 found, by some one in the army of Pyrrhus, and may perhaps have 

 formed part of the armour of the king himself or of one of his 

 generals, thouh there is no evidence to prove this supposition, 

 (Brondeted, ' The Bronzes of Siris,' an archaeological essay, London. 

 1836.) 



After the battle on the Siris, Pyrrhus advanced to within 300 stadia 

 of Rome, and was joined by the Lucaniaus and Samuites. The Romans, 

 undaunted by their defeat, and the desertion of many of their allies, 

 raised new troops and determined to try their strength again. It was 

 not the intention of Pyrrhua to conquer or destroy Rome, but to 

 conclude an honourable peace, and accordingly he sent his friend 

 Cineas to Rome to negociate while he assembled his Italian allies. 

 The conditions which he proposed were, according to the most probable 

 account of Appian (iii. 10, 1), that peace should be concluded with 

 himself and the Tarentines, that all Italian Greeks should bd free, 

 and that all conquests which the Romans had made in Lucania, 

 Samnium, Daunia, and Bruttium, should be given up. At the same 

 time he offered to deliver all the Roman captives without ransom. 

 The senate of Rome hesitated, until Appius Claudius, the blind, threw 

 all his influence into the scale, and persuaded his fellow-citizens to 

 send Cineas out of the city and to break off all negociations. Pyrrhus, 

 seeing that there was no hope of peace with the Romans, advanced 

 with bis army as far as Anagnia, and seems even to have taken posses- 

 sion of Pracmste. (Flor., i. 18, 24; Eutrop., ii. 7.) lie had ravaged 

 all the country through which he had passed, and his soldiers, laden 

 with booty, began to show great want of discipline. He determined 

 therefore as the season of the year was too advanced to begin a new 

 campaign, to lead his troops back to Campania, where he found 

 Laevinus with a numerous army. But neither of the two parties wa^ 

 anxious for battle, and Pyrrhus took up his winter-quarters at 



The Bronzes of Siris, drawn from the originals in the British Museum. 



The field of battle on the river Siris has latterly become a subject 

 of great interest. In the year 1820 two bronzes of the most exquisite 

 workmanship were found not far from the river, and near the site of 

 the old town of Gruraentum (now Saponara in th province of Basili- 

 cata), and within the enclosure of a ruin which baa perhaps been a 

 nnall temple. These bronze, called the Bronzes of Siris, which were 



EIOO. wv. vol. ir. 



Tarentum. During the winter the Romans sent an embassy headed 

 by C. Fabricius to negociate for an exchange of prisoners. Pyrrlma 

 refused the proposal, unless peace was concluded on the terms pro- 

 posed by Cineas ; but in order to show his esteem for tho enemy, he 

 allowed the prisoners to go to Rome for the purpose of celebrating the 

 Saturnalia, on condition that if their fellow-citizens should not bs 



3 u 



