[Linenotes: 1-4. +Repulsus ab Spartanis ... occiditur.+ At the invitation of Cleonymus, who had been excluded from the throne of Sparta, Pyrrhus undertook and failed in a desperate attack on the city. He then turned against Argos, to wrest it from Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia, and was hit _by a tile thrown from a roof by a woman_.[27] As he lay helpless on the ground he was recognised and murdered. 8. +Satis constans fama+ = _a tolerably unanimous opinion_. 12. +iustitiae probatioris+ = _of more eminent_ (lit. _tested_) _justice_. 14. +Lysimachum+, one of Alexander’s generals. About 286 B.C. King of Macedonia and Asia Minor. +Demetrium+, surnamed _Poliorcetes_ (_stormer of cities_), son of Antigonus, King of Asia (one of Alexander’s generals). 16-17. +Siculorum bellis.+ During the years 280-276 B.C. Pyrrhus made himself master of all Sicily with the exception of the Carthaginian stronghold of Lilybaeum.] [Footnote 27: Cf. the death of Abimelech before Thebez, Judges ix. 53.] +Character of Pyrrhus.+ ‘He was not only one of the ablest generals and princes, but amiable also as a man, and worthy of our sympathy and respect.’ --Ihne. +Why he failed.+ ‘From lack of accurate information he wholly underestimated the power of Rome. Here was the great error in his calculation, an error for which he can hardly be held responsible.’ --Ihne. +Reference.+ Plutarch, _Pyrrhus_. D46 THE WAR WITH THE TARENTINES AND PYRRHUS. (6) _Manius Curius Dentatus, an old-time Roman._ A. Possum persequi permulta oblectamenta rerum rusticarum, sed ea ipsa quae dixi sentio fuisse longiora. Ignoscetis autem, nam et studio rerum rusticarum provectus sum, et senectus est natura loquacior, ne ab omnibus eam vitiis videar vindicare. {5} Ergo in hac vita M’. Curius, cum de Samnitibus, de Sabinis, de Pyrrho triumphavisset, consumpsit extremum tempus aetatis; cuius quidem ego villam contemplans, abest enim non longe a me, admirari satis non possum vel hominis ipsius continentiam {10} vel temporum disciplinam. Curio ad focum sedenti magnum auri pondus Samnites cum attulissent, repudiati sunt: non enim aurum habere praeclarum sibi videri dixit, sed eis qui haberent aurum imperare. CICERO, _De Senectute_, §§ 55-56. +Context.+ The speaker is Cato the Censor, 184 B.C., the founder of Latin Prose, whose manual of Agriculture, +de Re Rustica+, is still extant. [Linenotes: 1. +Possum persequi+ = _I might follow out_. +oblectamenta+ = _amusements_ (cf. _de-lecto_, _delight_). 4. +provectus sum+ = _I have been carried away_. --J. S. Reid. 8. +extremum tempus aetatis+ = _the closing season of his life_. 9. +a me+ (= +a mea villa+) = _from my country-house_. 11. +disciplinam+ = _morals_ (lit. _teaching_). 11-13. After the close of the war Curius had become +patronus+ of the Samnites, and they were bringing the customary offering of +clientes+.--J. S. R.] B.