ntum contrary to an
agreement between the two cities (perhaps that of 303). Enraged, the
Tarentines attacked the Roman fleet, sank some Roman triremes, and then
occupied Thurii. The ensuing Roman demands for reparation were rejected,
their ambassadors insulted, and war began (281).

*The war with Pyrrhus and Tarentum.* The Tarentines were able to unite
against Rome the Messapians, Lucanians, Samnites and Bruttians, but Roman
successes in the first campaign forced them to call in the aid of Pyrrhus,
king of Epirus. Pyrrhus was probably the most skilful Greek general of the
time, and he brought with him into Italy an army organized and equipped
according to the Macedonian system of Alexander the Great, which had
become the standard in the Greek world. His force comprised 20,000
heavy-armed infantry forming the phalanx, and 3,000 Thessalian cavalry.
Besides, he had a number of war elephants; animals which had figured on
Greek battlefields since Ipsus (301). The first engagement was fought near
Heraclea (280) and after a severe struggle the Romans were driven from the
field. The superior generalship of Pyrrhus, and the consternation caused
by his war elephants, won the day, but his losses were very heavy, and he
himself was wounded. As fighters the Romans had shown themselves the equal
of the foe, and their tactical organization, perfected in the Samnite
Wars, had proved its value in its first encounter with that developed by
the military experts of Greece. As a result of his victory at Heraclea,
Pyrrhus was able to advance as far north as Latium, but withdrew again
without accomplishing anything of importance. The next year, he won
another hard-fought battle near Ausculum in Apulia. Thereupon the Romans
began negotiations which Pyrrhus welcomed, sending the orator Cineas to
Rome to represent him. But, before an agreement was reached, the
Carthaginians, who feared the intervention of Pyrrhus in Sicily, offered
the Romans assistance. Their proffer was accepted; the negotiations with
Pyrrhus ended; and Rome and Carthage bound themselves not to make a
separate agreement with the common foe, while the Carthaginian fleet was
to cooeperate with the Romans.

*Pyrrhus in Sicily, 278-5 B. C.* Nevertheless, Pyrrhus determined to
answer an appeal from the Sicilian Greeks and to leave Italy for Sicily.
After the death of Agathocles, tyrant and king of Syracuse (317-289), who
had played the role of another Dionysius I, the Greeks in Sic