EARLY LIFE OF PYRRHUS.
B.C. 332-295
The family of Epirus.--Their difficulties.--The two Alexanders.--Their
different destinies.--Adventures of Alexander of Macedon.--The Gulf of
Tarentum.--Oracle of Dodona.--The equivocal prediction.--Pandosia.--The
unexpected inundation.--Effects of it.--Bridge carried away.--The River
of Sorrow.--Alexander killed.--His body falls into the river.--A woman
rescues the remains.--Olympias.--AEacides marches to relieve Pydna.--The
flight of the family with Pyrrhus.--The party meet with a narrow
escape.--Ingenious mode of sending a letter.--The raft.--Pyrrhus is
carried to Illyria.--Little Pyrrhus at the court of Glaucias.--Pyrrhus
becomes a large boy.--Cassander's plans.--Glaucias establishes Pyrrhus
on his throne.--Rebellion.--Pyrrhus once more an exile.--Pyrrhus enters
into the service of Demetrius.--Pyrrhus acquires great renown.--He
becomes a hostage.--The situation of a hostage.--Pyrrhus in the court
of Ptolemy.
In the two preceding chapters we have related that portion of the
history of Macedonia which it is necessary to understand in order
rightly to appreciate the nature of the difficulties in which the
royal family of Epirus was involved at the time when Pyrrhus first
appeared upon the stage. The sources of these difficulties were two:
first, the uncertainty of the line of succession, there being two
branches of the royal family, each claiming the throne, which state of
things was produced, in a great measure, by the interposition of
Olympias in the affairs of Epirus some years before; and, secondly,
the act of Olympias in inducing AEacides to come to Macedonia, to
embark in her quarrel against Cassander there. Of course, since there
were two lines of princes, both claiming the throne, no sovereign of
either line could hold any thing more than a divided empire over the
hearts of his subjects; and consequently, when AEacides left the
kingdom to fight the battles of Olympias in Macedon, it was
comparatively easy for the party opposed to him to effect a revolution
and raise their own prince to the throne.
The prince whom Olympias had originally made king of Epirus, to the
exclusion of the claimant belonging to the other branch of the family,
was her own brother. His name was Alexander. He was the son of
Neoptolemus. The rival branch of the family were the children of
Arymbas, the brother of Neoptolemus. This Alexander flourished at the
same time as Alexander the Great, and in his character very much
resembled his distinguished namesake. He commenced a career of
conquest in Italy at the same time that his nephew embarked in his in
Asia, and commenced it, too, under very similar circumstances. One
went to the East, and another to the West, each determined to make
himself master of the world. The Alexander of Macedon succeeded. The
Alexander of Epirus failed. The one acquired, consequently, universal
and perpetual renown, while the memory of the other has been almost
entirely neglected and forgotten.
One reason, unquestionably, for the difference in these results was
the difference in the character of the enemies respectively against
whom the two adventurers had to contend. Alexander of Epirus went
westward into Italy, where he had to encounter the soldiery of the
Romans--a soldiery of the most rugged, determined, and indomitable
character. Alexander of Macedon, on the other hand, went to the East,
where he found only Asiatic races to contend with, whose troops,
though countless in numbers and magnificently appointed in respect to
all the purposes of parade and display, were yet enervated with
luxury, and wholly unable to stand against any energetic and
determined foe. In fact, Alexander of Epirus used to say that the
reason why his nephew, Alexander of Macedon, had succeeded, while he
himself had failed, was because he himself had invaded countries
peopled by _men_, while the Macedonian, in his Asiatic campaign, had
encountered only women.
However this may be, the campaign of Alexander of Epirus in Italy had
a very disastrous termination. The occasion of his going there was a
request which he had received from the inhabitants of Tarentum that he
would come over and assist them in a war in which they were engaged
with some neighboring tribes. Tarentum was a city situated toward the
western shore of Italy. It was at the head of the deep bay called the
Gulf of Tarentum, which bay occupies the hollow of the foot that the
form of Italy presents to the eye as seen upon a map.[H] Tarentum was,
accordingly, across the Adriatic Sea from Epirus. The distance was
about two hundred miles. By taking a southerly route, and going up the
Gulf of Tarentum, this distance might be traversed wholly by sea. A
little to the north the Adriatic is narrow, the passage there being
only about fifty miles across. To an expedition, however, taking this
course, there would remain, after arriving on the Italian shore, fifty
miles or more to be accomplished by land in order to reach Tarentum.
[Footnote H: See map.]
Before deciding to comply with the request of the Tarentines that he
would come to their aid, Alexander sent to a celebrated oracle in
Epirus, called the oracle of Dodona, to inquire whether it would be
safe for him to undertake the expedition. To his inquiries the oracle
gave him this for an answer:
"The waters of Acheron will be the cause of your death, and
Pandosia is the place where you will die."
Alexander was greatly rejoiced at receiving this answer. Acheron was a
stream of Epirus, and Pandosia was a town upon the banks of it. He
understood the response to mean that he was fated to die quietly in
his own country at some future period, probably a remote one, and that
there was no danger in his undertaking the expedition to which he had
been called. He accordingly set sail from Epirus, and landed in Italy;
and there, believing that he was fated to die in Epirus, and not in
Italy, he fought in every battle with the most desperate and reckless
bravery, and achieved prodigies of valor. The possibility that there
might be an Acheron and a Pandosia in Italy, as well as in Epirus, did
not occur to his mind.
For a time he was very successful in his career. He fought battles,
gained victories, conquered cities, and established his dominion over
quite an extended region. In order to hold what he had gained, he sent
over a great number of hostages to Epirus, to be kept there as
security for the continued submission of those whom he had subdued.
These hostages consisted chiefly, as was usual in such cases, of
children. At length, in the course of the war, an occasion arose in
which it was necessary, for the protection of his troops, to encamp
them on three hills which were situated very near to each other.
These hills were separated by low interval lands and a small stream;
but at the time when Alexander established his encampment, the stream
constituted no impediment to free intercommunication between the
different divisions of his army. There came on, however, a powerful
rain; the stream overflowed its banks; the intervals were inundated.
This enabled the enemy to attack two of Alexander's encampments, while
it was utterly impossible for Alexander himself to render them any
aid. The enemy made the attack, and were successful in it. The two
camps were broken up, and the troops stationed in them were put to
flight. Those that remained with Alexander, becoming discouraged by
the hopeless condition in which they found themselves placed,
mutinied, and sent to the camp of the enemy, offering to deliver up
Alexander to them, dead or alive, as they should choose, on condition
that they themselves might be allowed to return to their native land
in peace. This proposal was accepted; but, before it was put in
execution, Alexander, having discovered the plot, placed himself at
the head of a determined and desperate band of followers, broke
through the ranks of the enemies that surrounded him, and made his
escape to a neighboring wood. From this wood he took a route which
led him to a river, intending to pass the river by a bridge which he
expected to find there, and then to destroy the bridge as soon as he
had crossed it, so as to prevent his enemies from following him. By
this means he hoped to make his way to some place of safety. He found,
on arriving at the brink of the stream, that the bridge had been
carried away by the inundation. He, however, pressed forward into the
water on horseback, intending to ford the stream. The torrent was
wild, and the danger was imminent, but Alexander pressed on. At length
one of the attendants, seeing his master in imminent danger of being
drowned, exclaimed aloud, "This cursed river! well is it named
Acheron." The word Acheron, in the original language, signifies River
of Sorrow.
By this exclamation Alexander learned, for the first time, that the
river he was crossing bore the same name with the one in Epirus, which
he supposed had been referred to in the warning of the oracle. He was
at once overwhelmed with consternation. He did not know whether to go
forward or to return. The moment of indecision was suddenly ended by a
loud outcry from his attendants, giving the alarm that the traitors
were close upon him. Alexander then pushed forward across the water.
He succeeded in gaining the bank; but as soon as he did so, a dart
from one of his enemies reached him and killed him on the spot. His
lifeless body fell back into the river, and was floated down the
stream, until at length it reached the camp of the enemy, which
happened to be on the bank of the stream below. Here it was drawn out
of the water, and subjected to every possible indignity. The soldiers
cut the body in two, and, sending one part to one of the cities as a
trophy of their victory, they set up the other part in the camp as a
target for the soldiers to shoot at with darts and javelins.
At length a woman came into the camp, and, with earnest entreaties and
many tears, begged the soldiers to give the mutilated corpse to her.
Her object in wishing to obtain possession of it was, that she might
send it home to Epirus, to the family of Alexander, and buy with it
the liberty of her husband and her children, who were among the
hostages which had been sent there. The soldiers acceded to this
request, and the parts of the body having been brought together again,
were taken to Epirus, and delivered to Olympias, by whom the remains
were honorably interred. We must presume that the woman who sent them
obtained the expected reward, in the return of her husband and
children, though of this we are not expressly informed.
Of course, the disastrous result of this most unfortunate expedition
had the effect, in Epirus, of diminishing very much the popularity and
the strength of that branch of the royal family--namely, the line of
Neoptolemus--to which Alexander had belonged. Accordingly, instead of
being succeeded by one of his brothers, AEacides, the father of
Pyrrhus, who was the representative of the other line, was permitted
quietly to assume the crown. It might have been expected that Olympias
would have opposed his accession, as she was herself a princess of the
rival line. She did not, however, do so. On the contrary, she gave him
her support, and allied herself to him very closely; and he, on his
part, became in subsequent years one of her most devoted adherents and
friends.
When Olympias was shut up in Pydna by the army of Cassander, as was
related in the last chapter, and sent for AEacides to come to her aid,
he immediately raised an army and marched to the frontier. He found
the passes in the mountains which led from Epirus to Macedonia all
strongly guarded, but he still determined to force his way through. He
soon, however, began to observe marks of discontent and
dissatisfaction among the officers of his army. These indications
increased, until at length the disaffection broke out into open
mutiny, as stated in the last chapter. AEacides then called his forces
together, and gave orders that all who were unwilling to follow him
into Macedon should be allowed freely to return. He did not wish, he
said, that any should accompany him on such an expedition excepting
those who went of their own free will. A considerable part of the army
then returned, but, instead of repairing peaceably to their homes,
they raised a general insurrection in Epirus, and brought the family
of Neoptolemus again to the throne. A solemn decree of the state was
passed, declaring that AEacides, in withdrawing from the kingdom, had
forfeited his crown, and banishing him forever from the country. And
as this revolution was intended to operate, not merely against AEacides
personally, but against the branch of the royal family to which he
belonged, the new government deemed it necessary, in order to finish
their work and make it sure, that many of his relatives and friends,
and especially his infant son and heir, should die. Several of the
members of AEacides' family were accordingly killed, though the
attendants in charge succeeded in saving the life of the child by a
sudden flight.
The escape was effected by the instrumentality of two of the officers
of AEacides' household, named Androclides and Angelus. These men, as
soon as the alarm was given, hurried the babe away, with only such
nurses and other attendants as it was necessary to take with them. The
child was still unweaned; and though those in charge made the number
of attendants as small as possible, still the party were necessarily
of such a character as to forbid any great rapidity of flight. A troop
was sent in pursuit of them, and soon began to draw near. When
Androclides found that his party would be overtaken by the troop, he
committed the child to the care of three young men, bidding them to
ride on with him, at their utmost speed, to a certain town in Macedon,
called Megarae, where they thought he would be safe; and then he
himself, and the rest of his company, turned back to meet the
pursuers. They succeeded, partly by their representations and
entreaties, and partly by such resistance and obstruction as it was
in their power to make, in stopping the soldiers where they were. At
length, having, though with some difficulty, succeeded in getting away
from the soldiers, Androclides and Angelus rode on by secret ways till
they overtook the three young men. They now began to think that the
danger was over. At length, a little after sunset, they approached the
town of Megarae. There was a river just before the town, which looked
too rough and dreadful to be crossed. The party, however, advanced to
the brink, and attempted to ford the stream, but they found it
impossible. It was growing dark; the water of the river, having been
swelled by rains, was very high and boisterous, and they found that
they could not get over. At length they saw some of the people of the
town coming down to the bank on the opposite side. They were in hopes
that these people could render them some assistance in crossing the
stream, and they began to call out to them for this purpose; but the
stream ran so rapidly, and the roaring of the torrent was so great,
that they could not make themselves heard. The distance was very
inconsiderable, for the stream was not wide; but, though the party
with Pyrrhus called aloud and earnestly, and made signs, holding up
the child in their arms to let the people see him, they could not make
themselves understood.
At last, after spending some time in these fruitless efforts, one of
the party who were with Pyrrhus thought of the plan of writing what
they wished to say upon a piece of bark, and throwing it across the
stream to those on the other side. They accordingly pulled off some
bark from a young oak which was growing on a bank of the river, and
succeeded in making characters upon it by means of the tongue of a
buckle, sufficient to say that they had with them Pyrrhus, the young
prince of Epirus, and that they were flying with him to save his life,
and to implore the people on the other side to contrive some way to
get them over the river. This piece of bark they then managed to throw
across the stream. Some say that they rolled it around a javelin, and
then gave the javelin to the strongest of their party to throw; others
say that they attached it to a stone. In some way or other they
contrived to give it a sufficient momentum to carry it across the
water; and the people on the other side, when they obtained it, and
read what was written upon it, were greatly excited by the tidings,
and engaged at once with ardor and enthusiasm in efforts to save the
child.
They brought axes and began to cut down trees to make a raft. In due
time the raft was completed; and, notwithstanding the darkness of the
night, and the force and swiftness of the current of the stream, the
party of fugitives succeeded in crossing upon it, and thus brought the
child and all the attendants accompanying him safely over.
The party with Pyrrhus did not intend to stop at Megarae. They did not
consider it safe, in fact, for them to remain in any part of Macedon,
not knowing what course the war between Polysperchon and Cassander
would take there, or how the parties engaged in the contest might
stand affected toward Pyrrhus. They determined, therefore, to press
forward in their flight till they had passed through Macedon, and
reached the country beyond.
The country north of Macedon, on the western coast, the one in which
they determined to seek refuge, was Illyria. The name of the King of
Illyria was Glaucias. They had reason to believe that Glaucias would
receive and protect the child, for he was connected by marriage with
the royal family of Epirus, his wife, Beroa, being a princess of the
line of AEacides. When the fugitives arrived at the court of Glaucias,
they went to the palace, where they found Glaucias and Beroa; and,
after telling the story of their danger and escape, they laid the
child down as a suppliant at the feet of the king.
Glaucias felt not a little embarrassed at the situation in which he
was placed, and did not know what to do. He remained for a long time
silent. At length, little Pyrrhus, who was all the while lying at his
feet, began to creep closer toward him; and, finally, taking hold of
the king's robe, he began to climb up by it, and attempted to get into
his lap, looking up into the king's face, at the same time, with a
countenance in which the expression of confidence and hope was mingled
with a certain instinctive infantile fear. The heart of the king was
so touched by this mute appeal, that he took the child up in his arms,
dismissed at once all prudential considerations from his mind, and, in
the end, delivered the boy to the queen, Beroa, directing her to bring
him up with her own children.
Cassander soon discovered the place of Pyrrhus's retreat, and he made
great efforts to induce Glaucias to give him up. He offered Glaucias
a very large sum of money if he would deliver Pyrrhus into his hands;
but Glaucias refused to do it. Cassander would, perhaps, have made war
upon Glaucias to compel him to comply with this requisition, but he
was then fully occupied with the enemies that threatened him in Greece
and Macedon. He did, subsequently, make an attempt to invade the
dominions of Glaucias, and to get possession of the person of Pyrrhus,
but the expedition failed, and after that the boy was allowed to
remain in Illyria without any further molestation.
Time passed on, until at length Pyrrhus was twelve years old. During
this interval great changes took place in the affairs of Cassander in
Macedon. At first he was very successful in his plans. He succeeded in
expelling Polysperchon from the country, and in establishing himself
as king. He caused Roxana and the young Alexander to be assassinated,
as was stated in the last chapter, so as to remove out of the way the
only persons who he supposed could ever advance any rival claims to
the throne. For a time every thing went well and prosperously with
him, but at length the tide of his affairs seemed to turn. A new enemy
appeared against him in Asia--a certain distinguished commander,
named Demetrius, who afterward became one of the most illustrious
personages of his age. Just at this time, too, the King of Epirus,
Alcetus, the prince of the family of Neoptolemus, who had reigned
during Pyrrhus's exile in Illyria, died. Glaucias deemed this a
favorable opportunity for restoring Pyrrhus to the throne. He
accordingly placed himself at the head of an army, and marched into
Epirus, taking the young prince with him. No effectual resistance was
made, and Pyrrhus was crowned king. He was, of course, too young
actually to reign, and a sort of regent was accordingly established in
power, with authority to govern the country in the young king's name
until he should come of age.
This state of things could not be very stable. It endured about five
years; and during this time Pyrrhus seemed to be very firmly
established in power. The strength of his position, however, was more
apparent than real; for the princes of the other branch of the family,
who had been displaced by Pyrrhus's return to power, were of course
discontented and restless all the time. They were continually forming
plots and conspiracies, and were only waiting for an opportunity to
effect another revolution. The opportunity at length came. One of the
sons of Glaucias was to be married. Pyrrhus had been the companion and
playmate of this prince during his residence in Illyria, and was, of
course, invited to the wedding. Supposing that all was safe in his
dominions, he accepted the invitation, and went to Illyria. While he
was there, amusing himself in the festivities and rejoicings connected
with the wedding, his rivals raised a rebellion, took possession of
the government, and of all of Pyrrhus's treasures, killed or put to
flight his partisans and friends, and raised a prince of the family of
Neoptolemus to the throne. Pyrrhus found himself once more an exile.
The revolution in Epirus was so complete, that, after careful
consideration and inquiry, Pyrrhus could see, with the resources he
had at his command, no hope of recovering his throne. But, being of an
ambitious and restless spirit, he determined not to remain idle; and
he concluded, therefore, to enter into the service of Demetrius in his
war against Cassander. There were two considerations which led him to
do this. In the first place, Cassander was his most formidable enemy,
and the prospect of his being ultimately restored again to his throne
would depend almost entirely, he well knew, upon the possibility of
destroying, or at least curtailing, Cassander's power. Then, besides,
Demetrius was especially his friend. The wife of Demetrius was
Deidamia, the sister of Pyrrhus, so that Pyrrhus looked upon Demetrius
as his natural ally. He accordingly offered to enter the service of
Demetrius, and was readily received. In fact, notwithstanding his
youth--for he was now only seventeen or eighteen years of
age--Demetrius gave him a very important command in his army, and took
great pains to instruct him in the art of war. It was not long before
an opportunity was afforded to make trial of Pyrrhus's capacity as a
soldier. A great battle was fought at Ipsus, in Asia Minor, between
Demetrius on one side and Cassander on the other. Besides these two
commanders, there were many princes and generals of the highest rank
who took part in the contest as allies of the principal combatants,
which had the effect of making the battle a very celebrated one, and
of causing it to attract very strongly the attention of all mankind at
the time when it occurred. The result of the contest was, on the
whole, unfavorable to the cause of Demetrius. His troops, generally,
were compelled to give way, though the division which Pyrrhus
commanded retained their ground. Pyrrhus, in fact, acquired great
renown by his courage and energy, and perhaps still more by his
success on this occasion. Young as he was, Demetrius immediately gave
him a new and very responsible command, and intrusted to him the
charge of several very important expeditions and campaigns, in all of
which the young soldier evinced such a degree of energy and courage,
combined, too, with so much forethought, prudence, and military skill,
as presaged very clearly his subsequent renown.
At length an alliance was formed between Demetrius and Ptolemy, king
of Egypt, and as security for the due execution of the obligations
assumed by Demetrius in the treaty which they made, Ptolemy demanded a
hostage. Pyrrhus offered to go himself to Egypt in this capacity.
Ptolemy accepted him, and Pyrrhus was accordingly taken in one of
Ptolemy's ships across the Mediterranean to Alexandria.
In Egypt the young prince was, of course, an object of universal
attention and regard. He was tall and handsome in person, agreeable in
manners, and amiable and gentle in disposition. His royal rank, the
fame of the exploits which he had performed, the misfortunes of his
early years, and the strange and romantic adventures through which he
had passed, all conspired to awaken a deep interest in his favor at
the court of Ptolemy. The situation of a hostage, too, is always one
which strongly attracts the sympathy and kind feelings of those who
hold him in custody. A captive is regarded in some sense as an enemy;
and though his hard lot may awaken a certain degree of pity and
commiseration, still the kind feeling is always modified by the fact
that the object of it, after all, though disarmed and helpless, is
still a foe. A hostage, however, is a friend. He comes as security for
the faithfulness of a friend and an ally, so that the sympathy and
interest which are felt for him as an exile from his native land, are
heightened by the circumstance that his position makes him naturally
an object of friendly regard.
The attachment which soon began to be felt for Pyrrhus in the court of
Ptolemy was increased by the excellent conduct and demeanor which he
exhibited while he was there. He was very temperate and moderate in
his pleasures, and upright and honorable in all his doings. In a
word, he made himself a general favorite; and after a year or two he
married Antigone, a princess of the royal family. From being a hostage
he now became a guest, and shortly afterward Ptolemy fitted out an
expedition to proceed to Epirus and restore him to his throne. On
arriving in Epirus, Pyrrhus found every thing favorable to the success
of his plans. The people of the country had become discontented with
the government of the reigning king, and were very willing to receive
Pyrrhus in his place. The revolution was easily effected, and Pyrrhus
was thus once more restored to his throne.