three thousand men; next he
collected from Tarentum many horse-transports, decked vessels, and boats
of all sorts, and embarked upon them twenty elephants, twenty-three
thousand cavalry, twenty-two thousand infantry, and five hundred
slingers. When all was ready he put to sea; and when half way across a
storm burst upon him from the north, which was unusual at that season of
the year. He himself, though his ship was carried away by the tempest,
yet, by the great pains and skill of the sailors and pilots, resisted it
and reached the land, with great toil to the rowers, and beyond
everyone's expectation; for the rest of the fleet was overpowered by the
gale and scattered. Some ships were driven off the Italian coast
altogether, and forced into the Libyan and Sicilian seas, and some which
could not weather the Iapygian Cape were overtaken by night, and being
dashed by a violent and boisterous sea against that harborless coast
were utterly lost, except only the King's ship. She was so large and
strongly built as to resist the waves as long as they broke upon her
from the seaward; but when the wind changed and blew directly off the
shore, the ship, which now met the waves directly with her head, was in
great danger of going to pieces, while to let her drive out to sea again
now that it was so rough, and the wind changed so frequently, seemed
more terrible than to remain where they were.

Pyrrhus rose and leaped into the water, and at once was eagerly followed
by his friends and his bodyguard. The darkness of night and the violent
recoil of the roaring waves made it hard for them to help him, and it
was not until daybreak, when the wind abated, that he reached the land,
faint and helpless in body, but with his spirit invincible in
misfortune. The Messapians, upon whose coast he had been thrown, now
assembled from the neighboring villages and offered their help, while
some of the ships which had outlived the storm appeared, bringing a few
horsemen, about two thousand foot, and two elephants.

With these Pyrrhus marched to Tarentum; Cineas, as soon as he heard of
his arrival, bringing out the Tarentine army to meet him. When he
reached the city he did nothing to displease the Tarentines until his
fleet returned to the coast and he had assembled the greater part of his
army. But then, as he saw that the populace, unless ruled by a strong
hand, could neither help him nor help themselves, but intended to stay
idling about their