ch no mortal eye was permitted
to gaze. Pyrrhus took bad advice and plundered the temple of the sacred
treasure, placing it on board his ships. A storm arose and wrecked the
ships, and the stolen treasure was cast back on the Locrian coast.
Pyrrhus now ordered it to be restored, and offered sacrifices to appease
the offended goddess. She gave no signs of accepting them. He then put
to death the three men who had advised the sacrilege, but his mind
continued haunted with dread of divine vengeance. Proserpine, who was
seemingly deeply offended, might bring upon him ruin and defeat, and the
hearts of his soldiers were weakened by dread of impending evils.

Once more Pyrrhus met the Romans in the field, but no longer with
success. One of his elephants was wounded, and ran wildly into his
ranks, throwing them into disorder. Eight of these animals were driven
into ground from which there was no escape. They were captured by the
Romans. As the battle continued one wing of the Roman army was repulsed;
but they assailed the elephants with such a shower of light weapons that
these huge brutes turned and fled through the ranks of the phalanx,
throwing it into disorder. On their heels came the Romans. The Greek
line once broken, the swords of the Romans gave them a great advantage
over the long spears of the enemy. Cut down in numbers, the Greeks were
thrown into confusion, and were soon flying in panic, hotly pursued by
their foes. How many were slain is not known, but the defeat was
decisive. Retreating to Tarentum, Pyrrhus resolved to leave Italy,
disgusted with his failure and with the supineness of his allies, and
disappointed in his ambitious hopes. He reached Epirus again with little
more than eight thousand troops, and without money enough to maintain
even these. Thus ended the first meeting of Greeks and Romans in war.

The remainder of the story of Pyrrhus may be soon told. He had counted
on living in ease after his wars, but ease was not for him. His
remaining life was spent in war. He invaded and conquered Macedonia. He
engaged in war against the Spartans, and was repulsed from their capital
city. At last, in his attack on Argos, while forcing his way through its
streets, he fell by a woman's hand. A tile was cast from a house on his
head, which hurled him stunned from his horse, and he was killed in the
street. Thus ignobly perished the greatest general of his age.

_PHILOPOEMEN AND THE FALL OF SPARTA._

The