ceive the elephants, they were forced to take off their towers; and having afterwards put them on again in the dark, it could not be done without noise and loss of time, by which means they were discovered. The Argives ran into the citadel called Aspis,* and other places of defence, and sent to call in Antigonus. But he only advanced towards the walls, to watch his opportunity for action, and contented himself with sending in some of his principal officers and his son with considerable

succours.

At the same time Areus arrived in the town with a thousand Cretans, and the most active of his Spartans. All these troops being joined, fell at once upon the Gauls, and put them in great disorder. Pyrrhus entered at a place called Cylarabis,† with great noise and loud shouts, which were echoed by the Gauls; but he thought their shouts were neither full nor bold, but rather expressive of terror and distress. He, therefore, advanced in great haste, pushing forward his cavalry, though they marched in danger by reason of the drains and sewers of which the city was full. Besides, in this nocturnal war, it was impossible either to see what was done, or to hear the orders that were given. The soldiers were scattered about, and lost their way among the narrow streets; nor could the officers rally them in that darkness, amidst such a variety of noises, and in such straight passages; so that both sides continued without doing any thing, and waited for day-light.

At the first dawn Pyrrhus was concerned to see the Aspis full of armed men; but his concern was changed into consternation, when among the many figures in the market-place he beheld a wolf and a bull in brass represented in the act to fight. For he recollected an old oracle which had foretold,"That it was his destiny to die when he should see a wolf encountering a bull." The Argives say, these figures were erected in memory of an accident which happened among them long before. They tell us, that when Danaus first entered their country, as he passed through the district of Thyreates, by the way of Pyramia which leads to Argos, he saw a wolf fighting with a bull. Danaüs imagined that the wolf represented him; for being a stranger, he came to attack the na

There was an annual feast at Argos, in honour of Juno, called Hg, Junonia, and also Hecatombia, from the hecatomb of oxen then offered. Among other games, this prize was proposed for the youth. In a place of considerable strength above the theatre, a brazen buckler was nailed to the wall, and they were to try their strength in plucking it off. The victor was crowned with a myrtle garland, and had the buckler [in Greek Aspis] for his pains. Hence the name of the fort. Not only the youth of Argos, but strangers, were admitted to the contest; as appears from Pindar, for, speaking of Diagoras of Rhodes, he says,-

"The Argive buckler knew him." Olymp. Ode 7. Cylarabis was a place of exercise near one of the gates of Argos.Pausan.

tives as the wolf did the bull. He, therefore, staid to see the issue of the fight, and the wolf proving victorious, he offered his devotions to Apollo Lyceus, and then assaulted and took the town; Gelanor, who was then king, being deposed by a faction. Such is the history of those figures.

Pyrrhus, quite dispirited at the sight, and perceiving, at the same time, that nothing succeeded according to his hopes, thought it best to retreat. Fearing that the gates were too narrow, he sent orders to his son Helenus, who was left with the main body without the town, to demolish part of the wall, and assist the retreat, if the enemy tried to obstruct it. But the person whom he sent, mistaking the order in the hurry and tumult, and delivering it quite in a contrary sense, the young prince entered the gates with the rest of the elephants, and the best of his troops, and marched to assist his father. Pyrrhus was now retiring; and while the market-place afforded room both to retreat and to fight, he often faced about and repulsed the assailants. But when from that broad place he came to crowd into the narrow street leading to the gate, he fell in with those who were advancing to his assistance. It was in vain to call out to them to fall back; there were but few that could hear him; and such as did hear, and were most disposed to obey his orders, were pushed back by those who came pouring in behind. Besides, the largest of the elephants was fallen in the gateway on his side, and lying there and braying in a horrible manner, he stopped those who would have got out. And among the elephants already in the town, one named Nicon, striving to take up his master who was fallen off wounded, rushed against the party that was retreating, and overturned both friends and enemies promiscuously, till he found the body; when he took it up with his trunk, and carrying it on his two teeth, returned in great fury, and trod down all before him. When they were thus pressed and crowded together, not a man could do any thing singly, but the whole multitude, like one close compacted body, rolled this way and that all together. They exchanged but few blows with the enemy either in front or rear, and the greatest harm they did was to themselves. For if any man drew his sword or levelled his pike, he could not recover the one or put up the other; the next person, therefore, whoever he happened to be, was necessarily wounded, and thus many of them fell by the hands of each other.

Pyrrhus seeing the tempest rolling about him, took off the plume with which his helmet was distinguished, and gave it to one of his friends. Then trusting to the goodness of his horse, he rode in amongst the enemy who were harassing his rear; and it happened that he was wounded through the breast-plate with a javelin. The wound was rather slight than dangerous,

but he turned against the man that gave it, who was an Argive of no note, the son of a poor old woman. This woman, among others, looking upon the fight from the roof of a house, beheld her son thus engaged. Seized with terror at the sight, she took up a large tile with both hands, and threw it at Pyrrhus. The tile fell upon his head, and, notwithstanding his helmet, crushed the lower vertebræ of his neck. Darkness in a moment covered his eyes, his hands let go the reins, and he fell from his horse by the tomb of Licymnius.* The crowd that was about him, did not know him; but one Zopyrus, who served under Antigonus, and two or three others coming up, knew him, and dragged him into a porch that was at hand, just as he was beginning to recover from the blow. Zopyrus had drawn his Illyrian blade to cut off his head, when Pyrrhus opened his eyes and gave him so fierce a look that he was

There is something strikingly contemptible in the fate of this ferocious warrior. What reflections may it not afford to those scourges of mankind, who, to extend their power, and gratify their pride, tear out the vitals of human society! How unfortunate that they do not recollect their own personal insignificance, and consider, while they are disturbing the peace of the earth, that they are beings whom an old woman may kill with a stone! it is impossible here to forget the obscure fate of Charles the Twelfth, or the following verses that describe it:

On what foundation stands the warrior's pride,
How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide;
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,

No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquered lord of pleasure, and of pain;
No joys to him pacific sceptres yield.

War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field.
Behold surrounding kings their power combine,

And one capitulate and one resign;

Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain :

"Think nothing gain'd," he cried, "till nought remain,
On Moscow's walls, till Gothic standards fly,

And all be mine beneath the polar sky."
The march begins in military state,
And nations on his eye suspended wait;
Stern famine guards the solitary coast,
And winter barricades the realm of frost:
He comes-not want and cold his course delay--
Hide, blushing glory, hide Pultowa's day!
The vanquished hero leaves his broken bands,
And shows his miseries in distant lands.
Condemn'd a needy suppliant to wait,
While ladies interpose and slaves debate.
But did not chance at length her error mend?
Did no subverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destin'd to a barren strand,
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand.

He left the name at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale!

Johnson.

struck with terror. His hands trembled, and between his desire to give the stroke, and the confusion he was in, he missed his neck, but wounded him in the mouth and chin, so that it was a long time before he could separate the head from the body.

By this time the thing was generally known, and Alcyoneus the son of Antigonus, came hastily up, and asked for the head, as if he wanted only to look upon it. But as soon as he had got it, he rode off with it to his father, and cast it at his feet as he was sitting with his friends. Antigonus looking upon the head, and knowing it, thrust his son from him, and struck him with his staff, calling him an impious and barbarous wretch. Then putting his robe before his eyes, he wept, in remembrance of the fate of his grandfather Antigonus, and that of his father Demetrius, two instances in his own house of the mutability of fortune. As for the head and body of Pyrrhus, he ordered them to be laid in magnificent attire on the funeral pile, and burnt. After this, Alcyoneus having met with Helenus in great distress, and a mean garb, addressed him in a courteous manner, and conducted him to his father, who thus expressed himself on the occasion,-" In this, my son, you have acted much better than before; but still you are deficient; for you should have taken off that mean habit, which is a greater disgrace to us who are victorious, than it is to the vanquished."

Then he paid his respects to Helenus in a very obliging manner, and sent him to Epirus with a proper equipage. He gave also the same kind reception to the friends of Pyrrhus, after he had made himself master of his whole camp and

army.

Antigonus the First was killed at the battle of Ipsus, and Demetrius the First long kept a prisoner by his son-in-law Seleucus.

THE

LIFE OF CAIUS MARIUS.

We know no third name of Caius Marius, any more than we do of Quinctus Sertorius, who held Spain so long, or of Lucius Mummius, who took Corinth; for the surname of Achaïcus, Mummius gained by his conquest, as Scipio did that of Africanus, and Metellus that of Macedonicus. Posidonius avails himself chiefly of this argument to confute those who hold the third to be the Roman proper name, Camillus, for instance, Marcellus, Cato; for, in that case, those who had only two names, would have had no proper name at all. But he did not consider, that, by this reasoning, he robbed the women of their names; for no woman bears the first, which Posidonius supposed the proper name among the Romans. Of the other names, one was common to the whole family, as the Pompeii, Manlii, Cornelii, in the same manner as with us, the Heraclidæ and Pelopida; and the other was a surname given them from something remarkable in their dispositions, their actions, or the form of their bodies, as Macrinus, Torquatus, Sylla, which are like Mnemon, Grypus, and Callinicus, among the Greeks. But the diversity of customs, in this respect, leaves much room for farther inquiry.*

The Romans had usually three names, the Prænomen, the Nomen and the Cognomen.

The Prænomen, as Aulus, Caius, Decimus, was the proper or distinguishing name between brothers, during the time of the republic.

The Nomen was the family name, answering to the Grecian patronymics; for as, among the Greeks, the posterity of Eacus were called Eacide, so the Julian family had that name from Iülus, or Ascanius. But there were several other things which gave rise to the Nomen, as animals, places, and accidents; for instance, Porcius, Ovilius, &c.

The Cognomen was originally intended to distinguish the several branches of a family. It was assumed from no certain cause, but generally from some particular occurrence. It became, however, hereditary, except it happened to be changed for a more honourable appellation, as Macedonicus, Africanus. But it should be well remarked, that under the emperors the Cognomen was often used as a proper name, and brothers were distinguished by it, as Titus Flavius Vespasianus, and Titus Flavius Sabinus.

As to women, they had, anciently, their Prænomen as well as the men, such as Caia, Lucia, &c.; but afterwards they seldom used any other besides the family name, as Julia, Tullia, and the like. Where there were two sisters in a