which bears its name, was very rich, and abounded in fearless sailors.
But like most commercial cities, it intrusted its defense to
mercenaries. It viewed with alarm the growing power of Rome, and unable
to meet her face to face, called in the aid of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus,
the greatest general of the age, which was followed by a general rising
of the Italian states, to shake off the Roman yoke.

[Sidenote: Expedition of Pyrrhus into Italy.]

[Sidenote: He is defeated at the battle of Beneventum.]

Pyrrhus was a soldier of fortune, and practiced war as an art, and
delighted in it like Alexander or Charles XII. He readily responded to
the overture of the Tarentine Ambassador, and sent over a general with
three thousand men to secure a footing, and soon followed with twenty
thousand foot, five thousand horse, and a number of elephants. Among his
troops were five thousand Macedonian soldiers, a phalanx such as the
Romans had never encountered. The Macedonians fought in masses; the
Romans in lines. The first encounter was disastrous to the Romans, whose
cavalry was frightened by the elephants. But Pyrrhus, contented with
victory, did not pursue his advantages, and advanced with easy marches
towards Rome with seventy thousand men. The battle of Heraclea, however,
had greatly weakened his forces; his allies proved treacherous; and he
was glad to offer terms of peace, which were promptly rejected by the
Senate. After spending nearly three years in Italy he retired to
Syracuse, but again tried his fortune against the Romans, and was
signally routed at the battle of Beneventum by Curius Dentatus. He
hastily left Italy to her fate, and the fall of Tarentum speedily
followed, which made the Romans masters of the whole peninsula. The
Macedonian phalanx, which had conquered Asia, yielded to the Roman