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king of Epirus, of whom we have already taken some notice. It was generally thought impossible for the Romans to contend successfully with this great commander. had been formed, in the art of war, upon the maxims and examples of Alexander and Epaminondas; and notwithstanding the degeneracy of the Greeks and Asiatics, from whom the military spirit had long since departed, had been able to inspire the armies he commanded, with his own heroic virtues. He had found no equal in Egypt, or Asia. Happy would it have been for him, had he pursued more closely the footsteps of Alexander, and especially had he kept at a distance from Italy; though even that might not have saved him from a collision with the growing power of the Romans.

B. C.

Pyrrhus immediately prepared to comply with the 280. request of the Samnites. He embarked from Epirus, with an army of twenty thousand foot, three thousand horse, and twenty elephants; but, in crossing the Adriatic, his fleet was dispersed in a storm, and many of his vessels were lost. Although his armament was greatly diminished, he still thought the remnant more than a match for the rude and barbarous people of Italy. His judgment of the Romans was probably not dissimilar to that formed of the American people before the revolutionary war; at which time, some imagined, that a few thousand regular troops would strike an awe through the continent, and that the semi-barbarians of the colonies would never dare to face disciplined and veteran troops.

But Pyrrhus found the Romans not so rude and barbarous, as he expected. The first view he had of their military order and skill, struck him with surprise; and the first victory he gained, in all probability, utterly extinguished his hopes of subduing the Romans. It is worthy of remark, how differently the Romans received this invasion of Pyrrhus, from what the Persians did that of Alexander. Pyrrhus found the Romans ready to receive him; and when he offered to mediate between them and the Samnites, he was answered by Lævinus, the consul, that the Roman people (neither respected him as a mediator, nor feared him as an enemy.)

The first battle was fought on the banks of the river Lyris. Pyrrhus drew up his army with the utmost skill; nor was there a want of skill and discernment in the order and movements of the Romans. Here was first seen con

trasted the Grecian phalanx with the Roman legion; nor have the ablest tacticians been positive in determining which, on all accounts, was preferable. The loose array of the legion gave celerity to its evolutions, and certainly admitted of various conveniences; but the close and firm strength of the phalanx, by condensing the physical force, rendered its impression more certain, and its shock more dreadful.

The field, by both parties, was managed with great skill, and was fought with the most determined bravery. Motives of safety and of honor wrought powerfully with both generals, and both armies; and it is probable, that few battles have been more severe. But the Greeks, at length, prevailed; and Pyrrhus, by the aid of his elephants, which were sent among the Romans, gained a complete victory. The Romans were put to flight, leaving fifteen thousand men dead on the field of battle. But the loss of Pyrrhus was not much inferior; insomuch, that, while some were congratulating him on account of his victory, he is said pathetically to have exclaimed, that another such victory would ruin him.

[Fabricius.-The Romans, in a war with Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, sent an embassy to him concerning the ransom and exchange of prisoners. At the head of this venerable deputation, was (Fabricius, an ancient senator, who had long been a pattern to his countrymen of the most extreme poverty, joined with the most cheerful content.) This practical philosopher, who had been formerly consul, and was now the ambassador of Rome, had no other plate furniture in his house, except a small cup, the bottom even of which was of horn) When the Samnites had formerly offered him large presents, he refused them, saying, that he was already rich, as he had learned the art of lessening his wants by retrenching his appetites.) Pyrrhus received this celebrated old man with great kindness, and, willing to try how far fame had been just in his favor,(offered him rich presents, which, however, the Roman refused. The day after, he was desirous of examining the equality of his temper, and ordered one of his elephants to be placed behind the tapestry, which, upon a signal given, raised its trunk above the ambassador's head, at the same time, using other arts, to intimidate him. Fabricius, however, with a countenance no way changing, smiled upon the king, observing, that he looked with an equal eye on the terrors

of this day, as he had upon the allurements of the preceding.) Pyrrhus, pleased to find so much virtue in one he had considered as a barbarian, was willing to grant him the only favor, which he knew would make him happy, that of releasing the Roman prisoners.

Fabricius was again made consul, and marched against Pyrrhus. While the two armies were approaching, a letter was brought to Fabricius from the king's physician, importing that for a proper reward, he would take him off by poison. Instead of employing the physician to perpetrate the murder, he exposed the intended murderer to his master; intimating to Pyrrhus, at the same time, that he had been extremely unfortunate in the choice of his friends and of his enemies. Admirable Fabricius !" cried Pyrrhus, “it would be as easy to turn the sun from its course, as thee from the paths of honor."]

Pyrrhus once more tried the virtue of negotiation. He sent Cineas, a man of great eloquence, who had been the scholar of Demosthenes, ambassador to Rome. But this attempt, like the former, was without success. The Romans were deaf to all proposals of accommodation, short of Pyrrhus's retiring out of Italy. Neither eloquence, nor bribery; neither threats, nor persuasions, could produce any effect on that haughty, determined people. The war was, therefore, renewed with great vigor on both sides; and various battles were fought, with more success to the Romans; till, at length, Pyrrhus was totally defeated, and his army cut in pieces. Giving up all hopes, therefore, of effecting any thing against so brave and powerful an enemy, he was forced to embark in haste, and leave his allies to the inevitable fate of subjugation by the victorious Romans. Pyrrhus, however, left a garrison in the city of Tarentum, and advised the Tarentines to support their cause with what vigor they could, till he could have time to levy more forces in Greece, and return. But he probably had little expectation of ever returning to those shores, where he had experienced so severe a reverse of fortune. It is certain, he never did return; nor did he ever seem to recover the current of his former good fortune.

The Tarentines, who had been the principal leaders in the war of the Samnites, were now left to struggle with the Romans; nor would the struggle have been long, had they not made application for aid to another foreign power. While the garrison left by Pyrrhus tyrannised in the city,

and the Romans were masters of the country round them, they applied to the Carthaginians for succor, as their last and only resort.

We have already made mention of the Carthaginians. As early as the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, they were powerful both by sea and land; and furnished, according to some writers, an army of 300,000 men, who operated in conjunction with the Persians. They were willing, it appears, to interfere with the Romans, of whose growing power they had long been jealous. (They soon drew a powerful fleet into the harbor of Tarentum, with a view to check the progress of the Roman arms. It had not, however, the desired effect. The Romans found means to corrupt and bring over the garrison to their interest; in consequence of which, the city was taken, its walls and fortifications demolished, and the inhabitants were granted their liberty and protection from the Romans.

The military spirit, as we have seen in the former part of this Compend, passed from the Assyrians to the Persians, from them to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to the Carthaginians. Though the origins of Rome and Carthage, according to many writers, were not very far distant, in point of time, yet the latter rose first to consequence; and while Rome was only a single city, and the Romans an obscure horde, the Carthaginians, by their fleets, kept the shores of the Mediterranean in awe, possessed the islands of that sea; had, in fact, passed the strait of Gibraltar; coasted down the African peninsula, and up the shores of Europe, through the British channel; and, it is thought, had reached the coasts of Norway, if not even the shores of the Baltic sea. They form one of the numerous proofs, and one not the least splendid, of the power and consequence, which commerce will give a nation.

We shall here digress a moment, by giving a brief sketch of the rise and greatness of Carthage; a power, which held a long and doubtful contest with Rome for empire; nor would she have failed in that contest, if, while her fleets and armies were victorious abroad, she had not been weakened by disunion, and rent by factions at home.

Carthage was founded by a colony from ancient Phoenicia? a country lying at the east end of the Mediterranean, whose chief cities were Tyre and Sidon. If we might rely on Virgil's authority, this famous city was founded by Dido, the sister-in-law of Pygmalion, king of Tyre, about the

time of the destruction of Troy. According to the story of the Latin poet, Æneas, the Trojan prince, who had escaped the ruins of his country, was driven by a storm on the coast of Africa, and there had an interview with Dido, the founder and queen of Carthage.

That virtuous and lovely queen, whose constancy to the memory of her husband, Sichæus, even surpassed the fame of Penelope, received the fugitive Trojans, rescued them from the utmost distress, and protected them from the barbarous customs of the hostile people, on whose shores they were cast. To reward her for this, a plot was laid in heaven, among the principal deities, for her destruction. Cupid, the god of love, was sent down to assume the form of Ascanius, the son of Æneas, to inflame the passions of Dido, while Venus lent all her aid to the hero himself. As soon as the powers of heaven, combined, had enabled him to triumph in the most complete seduction of his benefactress, Mercury comes flying down in all haste to apprize him, that it is now time to be gone. And, like all other villains, whose triumph over innocence is followed with indifference and disgust, he hastens away. The queen, unable to bear his enormous ingratitude and peerless atrocity, kills herself in despair.

Did it accord with the temper and genius of Virgil to make his favorite hero the instrument of such distress and distraction to innocence and virtue? Did he think it would do honor to the gods of his country to father upon them as dark a plot as ever was fabricated in hell? Did he think it would be an additional gem in the diadem of Æneas, to make him trample on the virtue of the Tyrian queen? Or, in a word, did he imagine, that, by the introduction of his wonted machinery, a veil of sanctity would be thrown over the whole, and cover all its deformities?

But, though it would seem extraordinary, that Virgil should, through ignorance or choice, fall into such a glaring anachronism, yet it is certain, that the best authorities place the founding of Carthage at a great distance from the destruction of Troy. According to the opinion of the learned Bochart, the city of Carthage was built about the time of Joshua's conquest of Canaan. The territories of Tyre and Sidon were allotted to the tribe of Asher; and many of the Phoenicians, at that time, to avoid a war of extermination, went on board their vessels, and sought for new establishments. A company of them landed, and made