Show d THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ALBERT PAYSON N TERHUNE 0 d Q by dodd mead company 11 pyrrhus YR 1 MUS ruler of the greek greck ring king P do loin n of spirus lilt hit on it a plan more daring than original dom born in B C only live ivo years after the death of his cousin alexander the great areat anil and while the lat letters tamo fame was fresh la in the memory of living men pyrrhus resolved to follow alexanders example and conquer the world unluckily for ills his su success 1 he I decided to work westward instead of 0 enst east now from earliest days power and progress have always rolled westward and it tins has gone well with tho the easterner who has tried to check them pyrrhus did not realize title this but was destined to learn it greece lind and for centuries been tho the foremost harrier barrier of civilization ag against barbarism of democracy against despotism hut but of late into a newer power had sprung up in III the thol western world tills this power was first the city and after wards tho the state of rome rome home originally was it small town covering but one or two of the seven hills over which it afterwards spread it was at first ruled by kings who were elected by the people then when cheso kings waxed tyrannical the people deposed d them and formed to nned a republic pu alic that endured for years the little city grow grew conquering nil all its neighbors and becoming tit nt last the virtual mistress of italy in after years it was to rulo rule the whole world already brute strength subtlety w and mental superiority were making its name famous greece on the other hand had passed the acme of her golden ago end thanks to luxury and civic dissensions wits was on the wane it was in B 0 that these two mighty powers of the civilized world first clashed d and that clash did much to mold the future trend of tile earths desti destier nr for pyrrhus began ills his real attempt at universal conquest by crossing the adriatic and dec declaring larink war on rome home ile iio did this on the pretense of helping tile the greek cities in sou southern thorn italy that resented roman rule with men and a herd of trained war elephants pyrrhus began his march against rome the sight eight of an elephant was unknown in III italy find and the groat great beasts presence struck mortal terror everywhere the people were paralyzed with fear home summoned nil all her soldiery and vassals and met pyrrhus at Ilera clea near tit the gulf of Taren tun it was wa 3 a furious battle and tile the italians foti ought glit gallantly in defense of their land hut but the elephants unnerved them and stampeded their horses their closest ranks could not withstand the irresistible charges of tile the maddened asiatic brutes romes arny army I 1 was ut tit length forced to retreat ilk hut pyrrhus forces were so eo shattered and crippled by tile the battle that they could not pursue their advant advantage they had won a victory that was costlier than a defeat the term a pyrrhic victory used in designating some borne worse than barren triumph had its rise from this incident the following year pyrrhus again met and defeated the itoman legions at AB As culum but was once more so weakened bened by the conflict that ho he derived no gala gain from it ile ho fell back bach on sicily a greek province and there so BO offended by ills his ideas of despotism the alie peoples love for liberty that he lost all chance of aid from them in B 0 lie ho again invaded italy but by this time rome home was wai prepared against ills his coming at a battle near he was utterly routed and retreated to spirus ite he never again attempted to conquer rome home ills dream of world empire had been a fizzle simply because it was civilization and not barbarism that he had attacked A beaten barbarian Is a stricken creature ready to fawn and grovel before his conqueror an educated civilized nation Is never wholly beaten alexander by tho the very fame of ahli deeds struck terror to tho the hearts of the Iler sinns the tame fame and armies of pyrrhus ir backed by the war elephants creatures cren tures as terrible and unusual of to the italians of old as the dinosaur would be to modern men could only temporarily bufflo the ronlan roman republic where there la Is a true republic there must be thought whore where thero there Is thought there can be no real or permanent defeat pyrrhus a year or so after his retreat ire was killed in a sit street fight in argo a woman dropping a roof tile on ills his head from a window ft aslie as he was slaying lier her son to ile at tile the hand bof of a woman was in those days the direst possible disgrace for a so for centuries thereafter tho the tale faa of pyrrhus was pointed out as a a warning to would be world conquerors alexander livin lilar at on an earlier day and alli having till all conditions in his favor had for the time made himself muster master of the known world hut but ho he had bad not attacked a too foe more civilized than himself ho had momentarily bound the destiny of the earth to his whim hut at ills his death the bonds had flown asunder from time to time in history some one man has risen above his fellows dominated them and bent them to his will but only momentarily thero there can bo be no one man iran or one notion nation rule tho thal only permanent ruler as all history shows chows in c countless oun t instances Is the free will of the people |