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order him out of Africa; "Go, tell the governor, thou hast seen the exiled Marius sitting upon the ruins of *Carthage," is too dignified for the guilty lips by which it was uttered. There is no single trait in Pyrrhus comparable to this; but there are several of inferior splendour, which are conjunctively much more brilliant. His admiration of Fabricius' sturdy virtue, his magnificent offers to that general, his moderation on finding them disdainfully rejected, his generosity on learning his physician's treachery-all these prove a liberal disposition and a lofty mind. His less creditable actions we must refer, not to his natural character, but to his intemperate thirst of glory. In him, however, this was a passion more easily to be accounted for, than in the low-born Marius. Ever forming vast projects, and cherishing extravagant expectations, he frequently abandoned what he possessed, to run after what he desired; occasionally, by a not unusual consequence, to the loss of both. His conversation with Cineas, prior to his Italian expedition, and his complaint with regard to the option of two great enterprises offered him by fortune, of which he chose the more hazardous as the more honourable, evince his boundless ambition. In Marius however the passion, as less naturally-excited by existing circumstances, appears to have been still more ungovernable. Relying solely on the energy of his character, from his very entrance upon his political career he solicited the successive offices of state with resistless importunity, and regarded each new function only as a step to higher appointments. Far from sinking under the unprecedented disgrace of being twice rejected in one day, he founded upon it an additional hauteur in urging his subsequent pretensions.

Pyrrhus, by his station, fortunately eluded the necessity of those humiliating condescensions which the Romans exacted from all their candidates; but he was not therefore the less indelicate in his public transactions. Regulating his conduct by his interest, he murthered Neoptolemus at a sacrificial supper, availed himself of Demetrius' indisposition to invade his territories, deceived the Spartans by a gross piece of perfidy, and entered Argos after having given its inhabitants a

solemn pledge to the contrary. Of falsehood and duplicity, however, Marius was equally guilty. Associated with Glaucias and Saturninus, the wicked instruments of his ambition, and an accomplice in all their crimes; courting the public derision by exposing his unwieldy carcass, at an advanced age, in the active exercise of the Roman youth; proscribed and a vagabond, indebted (it would seem) to little less than miracles for his escape on the first glimpse of hope he hastens back to Rome, takes possession, for the seventh time, of her consular chair, and deluges her streets with civil blood.

Both were superstitious; the dupes apparently of dreams, and omens, and old women. But in Marius, with whose uniform ferocity religious feeling, even in its worst perversion, is hardly compatible, we may reasonably suspect the language he held upon this subject. His presages are, in general, encouraging; his prophetess announces victories. Pyrrhus, on the other hand, trusts these deluders to his ruin. A dream led him to the siege of Sparta, which he was obliged to raise with disgrace: and at Argos the recollection of a disastrous oracle destroyed his presence of mind, urged him to a precipitate retreat, and eventually occasioned his death.

At the head of their respective armies, they both displayed the accomplishments of consummate generals. In Pyrrhus, with uncommon strength and indefatigable perseverance were united restless activity of mind, and a degree of courage which incessantly hurried him into the midst of dangers. There, however, he retained all the coolness of his character, and profited as fully by his power of observation, as if he had been consciously invulnerable. Marius, naturally not less robust than Pyrrhus, and equally inured to hardships, with a power of suffering which no hardship could overcome; brawny, alert, and intrepid; in his very first campaign drew from Scipio a prognostic of his future greatness, which he ultimately verified, even beyond that discerning judge's most sanguine anticipation. This was particularly exemplified in the Cimbric tempest, when the people unanimously called him to the helm: and

the two exterminating battles, which followed his judicious delay to engage, proved that it could not have been entrusted to an abler hand. But Pyrrhus' success in Italy must be admitted as an evidence of his superior generalship, when we consider that his antagonists were not like the Cimbri, an undisciplined rabble of barbarians; but, as well as those opposed to him in Macedon, at Sparta, and at Argos, the most experienced warriors of their day. It may be observed, however, in Marius' favour, that he never committed a single military fault: whereas Pyrrhus, by delaying to assault Sparta immediately upon his arrival, by continuing the siege after it had received strong reinforcements, and still more by his rash conduct at Argos, exposed himself to the imputation of having incurred several fatal errors.

If the victories of the Roman chieftain were less. gaudily splendid than those of the Epirot prince, they were more substantially useful. The continual wars of Pyrrhus were usually fruitless to himself, and destructive to his subjects. Marius, on the other hand, quelled Jugurtha (next to Annibal, one of the most formiable enemies of his country), and rolled back the deluge of northern savages, which was about to burst into her fertile plains. Is there, in fact, any denomination in Pyrrhus' whole catalogue of titles, comparable to that of Third Founder of Rome?' And yet how dreadfully tarnished is this pure glory by the events of his closing life! Pyrrhus, it must be confessed, shed much blood; but it was not that of his countrymen. His subjects he uniformly treated with kindness; and neither in the infliction of punishment, nor in the pursuits of vengeance, was he harsh or inflexible. Happy for Marius, had he died after his triumph over the Cimbri; leaving behind him a name dear to Rome, and glorious to posterity! The civil war was the tomb even of his military renown.

Pyrrhus at his death, which he had provoked by his temerity, preserves all his courage and his dignity. His very glance, like that of Marius at Minturnæ, appals the soldier whose arm is raised to destroy him. The death of the latter in his bed may, to the superficial observer, appear of a more tranquil character:

and yet if we view him, worn out with toils and haunted by remorse, expecting on the arrival of Sylla the retaliation of all his enormities; we can regard that bed in no other light than as a scaffold, upon which he is stretched for punishment. His crimes are his executioners; and he sinks under the agonies which they inflict, an object of detestation to the good, and of his own abhorrence.

THE

LIFE OF LYSANDER.

SUMMARY.

Lysander's statue in the temple of Delphi. His instruction, education, and character. He is appointed admiral of the Lacedæmonian fleet in the Peloponnesian war: obtains from Cyrus an increase of the seamens' pay: gains a naval victory over the Athenians. His behaviour to Callicratidas, who is sent to supersede him. Callicratidas can obtain nothing from Cyrus. His death. Laysander is re-appointed to the command of the fleet. His perfidy at Miletus: little regard for oaths: Cyrus supplies him with money. His different expeditions. The Athenian fleet nears that of the Spartans. Lysander's conduct. Alcibiades' advice rejected by the Athenian admirals. Lysander's stratagem. He gains the victory. Prodigies, by which it was preceded. The Athenian prisoners executed. Lysander's treatment of the Greek cities. He wishes to besiege Athens, but is baffled by the vigorous defence of its inhabitants. Surrender of thut city: demolition of its walls. Government of the Thirty Tyrants. Gylippus embezzles part of the money, which he is conveying to Lacedæmon. The Spartans deliberate, whether or not they shall receive it. Lysander's statue erected at Delphi: his honours, insolence, and cruelty. He is recalled: deceived by Pharnabazus; and applies for leave to visit the temple of Jupiter Ammon. Reestablishment of Athens. He assists Agesilaus to ascend the throne of Sparta; persuades him to make war upon

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