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A Pyrrhic Victory The ancient Greek King knew victory had cost his army more than it could afford to lose.
279 BC
Music: Edward German

© Marie-Lan Nguyen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-CA 2.5. Source

About this picture …

A bust of Pyrrhus, from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, now held at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The villa was possibly the home of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar’s father-in-law.

A Pyrrhic Victory
In 279 BC, forty-two years after his illustrious predecessor Alexander the Great died, Pyrrhus, King of Epirus and Macedonia, halted the advance of the Roman Republic at Asculum (Ascoli Satriano) in Apulia, southern Italy. The cost to his army was so great that he famously declared that another such victory would utterly ruin him - a ‘Pyrrhic victory’ indeed.
By Plutarch (AD 46-120) Translated from the Greek by John Dryden (1631-1700)

AFTER they had fought till sunset, both armies were unwillingly separated by the night, Pyrrhus being wounded by a javelin in the arm, and his baggage plundered by the Samnites; in all there died of Pyrrhus’s men and the Romans above fifteen thousand.

The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory, that one other such would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits, and he found the confederates in Italy backward.

On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the losses they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war.*

The Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC) was a struggle for control of southern Italy and Sicily, historically a Greek-culture region named Magna Graeca, which the Roman Republic sought to control. After Asculum, the Romans allied with Carthage; and Pyrrhus, suffering from chronic recruitment problems still, was defeated at the Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC.

Précis

During a battle against the Romans in 279 BC, Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, but knew his tmporary advantage had come at the cost of many officers and men whom he could not replace, whereas the Romans were already regrouping. Today, the term ‘a Pyrrhic Victory’ is used for a success which comes at a cost that will eventually mean defeat. (65 / 60 words)

Source

From ‘Life of Pyrrhus’ by Plutarch (AD 46-120), translated by John Dryden. The story is given by Plutarch on the authority of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (?60 BC – ?7 BC).

Suggested Music

Symphony No 2 (‘Norwich’)

2: Andante Con Moto

Edward German (1862-1936)

Played by the Ireland National Symphony Orchestra.

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