PLUTARCH's LIVE S. PYRRH US. SOME hiftorians write, that Phaeton was the first king after the deluge who reigned over the Thefprotians and Moloffians, and that he was one of thofe who came with Pelafgus into Epirus. Others fay, that Deucalion and Pyrrha, after they had built the temple of Dodona, fettled among the Moloffians. In after times, + Neoptolemus, the fon of Achilles, taking his people with him, poffeffed himself of the country, and left a fucceffion of kings after him. called Pyrrhide; for in his infancy he was called Pyrrhus; and he gave that name to one of his legitimate fons whom he had by Lanaffa the daughter of Cleodes fon of Hyllus. From that time Achilles had divine honours in Epirus, being ftyled there Afpetos (i. e. the inimitable). After thefe first kings thofe that followed became entirely barbarous, and both their power and their actions funk into the utmoft obfcurity. Tharrytas is the first whom hiftory mentions as remarkable for polishing and improving his cities with Grecian cuftoms, with letters and good laws. Alcetas was the fon of Tharrytas, Arybas of Alcetas; and of Arybas and Troias his queen was born acides. He married Phthia, the daughter of Menon the Theffalian, who acquired great reputation in the Lamian VOL. III. B * Probably it was only a druidical kind of temple. war, Between Deucalion's flood and the times of Neoptolemus, there was a fpace of about three hundred and forty years. Juftin does not afcribe the civilizing of the Moloffians to Tharrytas, but to Arybas the fon of Alcetas I. who had himself been poliked and humanized by his education at Athens. war, and, next to Leofthenes, was the most confiderable of the confederates. By Phthia, acides had two daughters, named Deidamia and Troias, and a fon named Pyrrhus. But the Moloflians, rifing against acides, depofed him, and brought in the fons of * Neoptolemus. On this occafion the friends of acides were taken and flain only Androclides and Angelus efcaped with his infant fon, though he was much fought after by his enemies; and carried him off with his nurfes and a few neceffary attendants. This train rendered their flight difficult and flow, so that they were foon overtaken. In this extremity they put the child in the hands of Androcleon, Hippias, and Neander, three active young men whom they could depend upon, and ordered them to make the best of their way to Megaræ, a town in Macedonia, while they themselves, partly by entreaty, and partly by force, flopped the course of the purfuers till evening; when, having with much difficulty got clear of them, they haftened to join those who carried the young prince. At fun-fet they thought themselves near the fummit of their hopes, but they met with a fudden disappointment. When they came to the river that runs by the town, it looked rough and dreadful; and upon trial they found it abfolutely unfordable. For the current, being fwelled with the late rains, was very high and boisterous, and darkness added to the horror. They now defpaired of getting the child and his nurfes over, without fome other affiftance; when, perceiving fome of the inhabitants of the place on the other fide, they begged of them to affift their paffage, and held up Pyrrhus towards them. But though they called out loud, and entreated earnestly, the stream ran fo rapid, and made fuch a roaring, that they could not be heard. Some time was spent, while they were crying out on one fide, and liftening to no purpose on the other. At last one of Pyrrhus's company thought of peeling off a piece of oak bark, and expreffing upon it, with the tongue of a buckle, the neceffities and fortunes of the child. Accordingly he put this in execution; and having rolled the piece of bark about a stone, which was made ufe of to give force to the motion, he threw it to the other fide. Some fay, he bound it fait to a javelin, and darted it over. When the people on the other fide had read it, and * This Neoptolemus was the brother of Arybas. faw faw there was not a moment to lofe, they cut down trees, and made a raft of them, and croffed the river upon it. It happened that the first man who reached the bank was named Achilles. He took Pyrrhus in his arms, and conveyed him over, while his companions performed the fame fervice for his followers. Pyrrhus and his train, having thus got fafe over, and escaped the purfuers, continued their route, till they arrived at the court of Glaucias king of Illyria. They found the king fitting in his palace with the queen his confort, and laid the child at his feet in the pofture of a fuppliant. The king, who stood in fear of Caffander, the enemy of Eacides, remained a long time filent, confidering what part he should act. While Pyrrhus, of his own accord, creeping clofer to him, took hold of his robe, and raifing himfelf up to his knees, by this action first excited a smile, and afterwards compaffion; for he thought he faw a petitioner before him begging his protection with tears. Some fay, it was not Glaucias, but the altar of the domeftic gods which he approached, and that he raised himself by embracing it; from which it appeared to Glaucias that heaven interested itself in the infant's favour. For this reafon he put him immediately in the hands of the queen, and ordered her to bring him up with his own children. His enemies demanding him foon after, and Caffander offering two hundred talents to have him delivered up, Glaucias refused to do it; and when he came to be twelve years old, conducted him into Epirus at the head of an army, and placed him upon the throne. Pyrrhus had an air of majesty rather terrible than auguft. Instead of teeth, in his upper jaw he had one continued bone, marked with fmall lines, refembling the divifions of a row of teeth. It was believed, that he cured the fwelling of the spleen, by facrificing a white cock, and with his right foot gently preffing the part affected, the patients lying upon their backs for that purpose. There was no perfon, however poor or mean, refused this relief, if requested. He received no reward, except the cock for facrifice, and this prefent was very agreeable to him. It B 2 is * Justin calls this princefs Beroa, and fays fhe was of the family of the acide; which must have been the reason of their seeking refuge for Pyrrhus in that court. is also faid, that the great toe of that foot had a divine virtue in it; for, after his death, when the reft of his body was confumed, that toe was found entire and untouched by the flames. But this account belongs not to the period we are upon. When he was about seventeen years of age, and feemed to be quite eftablithed in his kingdom, he happened to be called out of his own territories, to attend the nuptials of one of Glaucia's fons, with whom he had been educated. On this occafion, the Moloffians revolting again, drove out his friends, pillaged his treasures, and put themselves once more under Neoptolemus. Pyrrhus having thus lost the crown, and being in want of every thing, applied himfelf to Demetrius, the fon of Antigonus, who had married his fifter Deidamia. That princefs, when very young, had been promised to Alexander the fon of Roxana [by Alexander the Great]; but that family being unfortunately cut off, fhe was given, when the came to be marriageable, to Demetrius. In the great, battle of Ipfus, where * all the kings of the earth were engaged, Pyrrhus accompanied Demetrius; and, though but young, bore down all before him, and highly diftinguished himself among the combatants. Nor did he forfake Demetrius, when unsuccessful, but kept for him thofe cities of Greece with which he was entrusted; and when the treaty was concluded with Ptolemy, he went to Egypt as an hoftage. There, both in hunting and other exercifes, he gave Ptolemy proofs of his strength and indefatigable abilities. Obferving that, among Ptolemy's wives, Berenice was the who had the greatest power, and was most eminent for virtue and underftanding, he attached himself moft to her; for he had a particular art of making his court to the great, while he overlooked thofe that were below him. And as in his whole conduct he paid great attention to decency, temperance, and prudence, Antigone, who was daughter to Berenice by her first husband Philip, was given him, in preference to many other young princes. On this account he was held in greater honour than ever: and Antigone proving an excellent wife, procured him men and He fays, all the kings of the earth were engaged, because Lyfimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemy, Caffander, Antigonus, and Demetrius, were there in perfon. This battle was fought about 300 years before Christ. |