weight and crushing charge of the elephants.  The Romans could not find any opportunity in this sort of battle for the display of their courage, but thought it their duty to stand aside and save themselves from a useless death, just as they would have done in the case of a wave of the sea or an earthquake coming upon them.  In the flight to their camp, which was not far off, Hieronymus says that six thousand Romans perished, and that in Pyrrhus’s commentaries his loss is stated at three thousand five hundred and five.  Dionysius, on the other hand, does not admit that there were two battles at Asculum, or that the Romans suffered a defeat, but tells us that they fought the whole of one day until sunset, and then separated, Pyrrhus being wounded in the arm by a javelin, and the Samnites having plundered his baggage.  He also states the total loss on both sides to be above fifteen thousand.[44]

The armies separated after the battle, and it is said that Pyrrhus, when congratulated on his victory by his friends, said in reply:  “If we win one more such victory over the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”  For a large part of the force which he had brought with him had perished, and very nearly all his friends and officers, and there were no more to send for at home.  He saw, too, that his allies were becoming lukewarm, while the Romans, on the other hand, filled up the gaps with a never-ceasing stream of fresh recruits, and did not lose confidence by their defeats, but seemed to gather fresh strength and determination to go on with the war.

XXII.  While in these difficulties he conceived fresh hopes of success, and engaged in an enterprise in another quarter, which was likely to interfere with the prosecution of his original design.  An embassy arrived from Sicily, offering to place the cities of Agrigentum, Syracuse, and Leontini in his hands, and begging him to aid them in driving out the Carthaginians from the island, and freeing it from despots, while at the same time messengers came from Greece with the news that Ptolemy, surnamed Keraunus, or “the thunderbolt,” had perished, with all his army, in an engagement with the Gauls, and that now was his opportunity to offer himself to the Macedonians, who were in great need of a king.  Pyrrhus upbraided Fortune for placing so many opportunities within his reach at the same time, and, reflecting that he could only manage one with success, for some time remained plunged in thought.  At last, thinking that the Sicilian offer was likely to lead to greater things, as Africa was close to that island, he decided to accept it, and at once sent Kineas to prepare the cities for his arrival, as was his wont in such cases.  He himself, meanwhile, placed a strong garrison in the city of Tarentum, much to the disgust of its citizens, who asked him either to perform what he had come thither to do, namely, to assist them in fighting against the Romans, or else to evacuate their territory, and