sh or hasty measures in the emergency, for
he knew very well that if Gelon were to be then charged with the
crime which he had proposed to commit, he would deny having ever
proposed it, and that then there would be only the word of Myrtilus
against that of Gelon, and that impartial men would have no positive
means of deciding between them. He thought, therefore, very wisely,
that, before taking any decided steps, it would be necessary to obtain
additional proof that Gelon had really made the proposal. He
accordingly directed Myrtilus to continue to pretend that he favored
the plan, and to propose to Gelon to invite another cup-bearer, named
Alexicrates, to join the plot. Alexicrates was to be secretly
instructed to appear ready to enter into the conspiracy when he should
be called upon, and thus, as Pyrrhus expected, the testimony of two
witnesses would be obtained to Gelon's guilt.

It happened, however, that the necessary evidence against Gelon was
furnished without a resort to this measure; for when Gelon reported to
Neoptolemus that Myrtilus had acceded to his proposal to join him in a
plan for removing Pyrrhus out of the way, Neoptolemus was so much
overjoyed at the prospect of recovering the throne to his own family
again, that he could not refrain from revealing the plan to certain
members of the family, and, among others, to his sister Cadmia. At the
time when he thus discovered the design to Cadmia, he supposed that
nobody was within hearing. The conversation took place in an apartment
where he had been supping with Cadmia, and it happened that there was
a servant-woman lying upon a couch in the corner of the room at the
time, with her face to the wall, apparently asleep. She was, in
reality, not asleep, and she overheard all the conversation. She lay
still, however, and did not speak a word; but the next day she went to
Antigone, the wife of Pyrrhus, and communicated to her all that she
had heard. Pyrrhus now considered the evidence that Neoptolemus was
plotting his destruction as complete, and he determined to take
decisive measures to prevent it. He accordingly invited Neoptolemus to
a banquet. Neoptolemus, suspecting nothing, came, and Pyrrhus slew him
at the table. Henceforward Pyrrhus reigned in Epirus alone.

Pyrrhus was now about twenty-three years of age, and inasmuch as, with
all his moderation in respect to the pursuit of youthful pleasures, he
was of a very ambitious and aspiring disposition, he be