was superior, excepting that the Grecians brought elephants with them.
The first battle was fought on the banks of the river Liris, and the
elephants gave victory to the invader, but the valor of the Romans was
such that Pyrrhus is said to have boasted that if he had such soldiers
he could conquer the world, and to have confessed that another such
victory would send him back to Epirus alone. It is not to be wondered
at, therefore, that he sent Cineas to Rome to plead for peace. The
Romans were on the point of entering into negotiations, when aged and
blind Appius Claudius, hearing of it, caused himself to be carried to
the forum, where he delivered an impassioned protest against the
proposed action. So effectual was he that the people became eager for
war, and sent word to Pyrrhus that they would only treat with him when
he should withdraw his forces from Italy. Pyrrhus then marched rapidly
towards Rome, but when he had almost reached the city, after
devastating the country through which he had passed, he learned that
the Romans had made peace with the Etruscans, with whom they had been
fighting, and that thus another army was free to act against him. He
therefore retreated to winter quarters at Tarentum. The next year the
two forces met on the edge of the plains of Apulia, at Asculum, but the
battle resulted in no gain to Pyrrhus, who was again obliged to retire
for the winter to Tarentum. (B.C. 279.)

In the last battle the brunt of the fighting had fallen to the share of
the Epirots, and Pyrrhus was not anxious to sacrifice his comparatively
few remaining troops for the benefit of the Tarentines. Therefore,
after arranging a truce with Rome, he accepted an invitation from the
Greeks of Sicily to go to their help against the Carthaginians. For two
years he fought, at first with success; but afterwards he met repulses,
so that being again asked to assist his former allies in Italy, he
returned, in 276, and for two years led the remnants of his troops and