with Pyrrhus, and is beaten, his soldiers being terrified at the
unusual appearance of elephants. After the battle, Pyrrhus, viewing
the bodies of the Romans who were slain, remarks, that they all of
them lay with their faces turned towards their enemy. He proceeds
towards Rome, ravaging the country as he goes along. C. Fabricius is
sent by the senate to treat for the redemption of the prisoners: the
king, in vain, attempts to bribe him to desert his country. The
prisoners restored without ransom. Cineas, ambassador from Pyrrhus to
the senate, demands, as a condition of peace, that the king be
admitted into the city of Rome: the consideration of which being
deferred to a fuller meeting, Appius Claudius, who, on account of a
disorder in his eyes, had not, for a long time, attended in the
senate, comes there; moves, and carries his motion, that the demand of
the king be refused. Cneius Domitius, the first plebeian censor, holds
a lustrum; the number of the citizens found to be two hundred and
seventy-eight thousand two hundred and twenty-two. A second, but
undecided battle with Pyrrhus. [Y.R. 473. B.C. 279.] The treaty with
the Carthaginians renewed a fourth time. An offer made to Fabricius,
the consul, by a traitor, to poison Pyrrhus; [Y. R. 474. B. C. 278.]
he sends him to the king, and discovers to him the treasonable offer.
Successful operations against the Etruscans, Lucanians, Bruttians, and
Samnites.