ropriate dances, and the music of flutes. For centuries these
dramatic representations continued at Athens, and formed the basis of
those which proved so attractive to Roman audiences, and which in turn
became the foundation-stones of the modern drama.

_PYRRHUS AND THE ROMANS._

Seven years after the death of Alexander, the Macedonian conqueror,
there was born in Epirus, a country of Greece, a warrior who might have
rivalled Alexander's fortune and fame had he, like him, fought against
Persians. But he had the misfortune to fight against Romans, and his
story became different. He was the greatest general of his time.
Hannibal has said that he was the greatest of any age. But Rome was not
Persia, and a Roman army was not to be dealt with like a Persian horde.
Had Alexander marched west instead of east, he would probably not have
won the title of "Great."

Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, claimed descent from Pyrrhus, son of Achilles.
While still an infant a rebellion broke out in Epirus. His father was
absent, and the rebel chiefs sought to kill him, but he was hurried away
in his nurse's arms, and his life saved. When he was ten years old,
Glaucius, king of Illyria, who had brought him up among his own
children, conquered Epirus and placed him on the throne. Seven years
afterwards rebellion broke out again, and Pyrrhus had once more to fly
for his life. He now fought in some great battles, married the daughter
of the king of Egypt, returned with an army, and again became king of
Epirus. He afterwards conquered all Macedonia, and, like Alexander the
Great, whose fame he envied, looked about him for other worlds to
conquer.

During the years over which our tales have passed a series of foreign
powers had threatened Greece. First, in the days of legend, it had found
a foreign enemy in Troy. Next came the great empire of Persia, with
which it had for centuries to deal. Then rose Macedonia, the first
conqueror of Greece. Meanwhile, in the west, a new enemy had been slowly
growing in power and thirst for conquest, that of Rome, before whose
mighty arm Greece was destined to fall and vanish from view as one of
the powers of the earth. And the first of the Greeks to come in warlike
contact with the Romans was Pyrrhus. How this came about, and what arose
from it, we have now to tell.

Step by step the ambitious Romans had been extending their power over
Italy. They were now at war with Tarentum, a city of Greek origin on t