Dio's Rome, Volume 6: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English FormCassius Dio Cocceianus
History
Dio's Rome, Volume 6: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form
Cassius Dio Cocceianus
Rome -- History
19. ¶Pyrrhus dreaded being cut off on all sides by the Romans, while he
was in unfamiliar regions. When his allies showed displeasure at this he
told them that he could see clearly from the country itself what a
difference existed between them and the Romans. The subject territory
of the latter had all kinds of trees, vineyards and farms, and expensive
agricultural machinery; whereas the property of his own friends had been
so pillaged, that it was impossible to tell even whether it had ever
been settled. (Mai, p.173. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
20. ¶The same man, when as he was retreating it occurred to him to
wonder [Footnote: Gap supplied by van Herwerden.] how he beheld the army
of Lævinus much larger than it was before, declared that the Roman
troops when cut to pieces grew whole again, hydra-fashion. This did not,
however, cause him to lose courage: he made preparations in his turn,
but did not come to the issue of battle. (Mai, p.173. Zonaras, 8,4.)
21. ¶Pyrrhus, who learned that Fabricius and other envoys were
approaching, to treat in behalf of the captives, sent a guard to them as
far as the border, to the end that they should suffer no violence at the
hands of the Tarentini, met them in due time, escorted them to the city,
entertained them brilliantly and honored them in other ways, expecting
that they would ask for a truce and make such terms as was proper for a
defeated party. (Ursinus, p.376. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
22. ¶When Fabricius made this statement merely: "The Romans sent us to
bring back the men captured in battle, and to pay ransoms of such size
for them as shall be agreed upon by both of us," he was quite
dumbfounded because the man did not say that he was commissioned to
treat about peace; and after removing them he took counsel with the
friends who were usually his advisers partly, to be sure, about the
return of the captives, but chiefly about the war and its management,
whether with vehemence or in some other way it [lacuna] (Four pages are
lacking.) (Mai, p.173. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
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