bricius, urging him to use his influence to induce the
Romans to make peace, and then to go with him to Epirus, and enter
into his service there.

"If you will do so," said Pyrrhus, "I will make you the chief of my
generals, and my own most intimate friend and companion, and you shall
enjoy abundant honors and rewards."

"No," replied Fabricius, "I can not accept those offers, nor is it for
your interest that I should accept them; for, were I to go with you to
Epirus, your people, as soon as they came to know me well, would lose
all their respect for you, and would wish to have me, instead of you,
for their king."

We are, perhaps, to understand this rejoinder, as well as the one
which Fabricius made to Pyrrhus in respect to the elephant, as
intended in a somewhat jocose and playful sense; since, if we suppose
them to have been gravely and seriously uttered, they would indicate a
spirit of vanity and of empty boasting which would seem to be wholly
inconsistent with what we know of Fabricius's character. However this
may be, Pyrrhus was pleased with both; and the more that he saw and
learned of the Romans, the more desirous he became of terminating the
war and forming an alliance with them. But the Romans firmly persisted
in refusing to treat with him, except on the condition of his
withdrawing first entirely from Italy, and this was a condition with
which he deemed it impossible to comply. It would be equivalent, in
fact, to an acknowledgment that he had been entirely defeated.
Accordingly, both sides began again to prepare vigorously for war.

The Romans marched southward from the city with a large army, under
the command of their two consuls. The names of the consuls at this
time were Sulpicius Saverrio and Decius Mus. These generals advanced
into Apulia, a country on the western coast of Italy, north of
Tarentum. Here they encamped on a plain at the foot of the Apennines,
near a place called Asculum. There was a stream in front of their
camp, and the mountains were behind it. The stream was large and deep,
and of course it greatly protected their position. On hearing of the
approach of the Romans, Pyrrhus himself took the field at the head of
all his forces, and advanced to meet them. He came to the plain on
which the Roman army was encamped, and posted himself on the opposite
bank of the stream. The armies were thus placed in close vicinity to
each other, being separated only by the stream. The question was,
wh