III. Nevertheless Titus both as a general and an ambassador always met with complete success, while Philopœmen acted as vigorously and successfully on behalf of the Achæans when in a private station as when he was their general. It was as a private citizen that he drove Nabis out of Messene and liberated the Messenians, and as a private citizen he shut the gates of Sparta against Diophanes the Achæan general and Titus himself when they were on their march against it, and so saved the Lacedæmonians from destruction. Thus, having the true spirit of a commander, he knew when to obey and when to override the laws, acting according to them when it was fitting to do so, but holding him to be the true general who upheld the spirit of the laws without being fettered by them. The kindly treatment of the Greeks by Titus was honourable to him, but the sturdy spirit of independence which Philopœmen showed towards the Romans was still more honourable, because it is much easier to grant a request to suppliants, than to irritate those who are more powerful by opposing them. Since, then, it is difficult to distinguish their respective merits by comparison, let us see whether we shall not decide best between them by assigning the palm for military and soldier-like qualities to Greek, and to the Roman that for justice and goodness of heart. LIFE OF PYRRHUS. I. Historians tell us that after the flood the first king of the Thesprotians and Molossians was Phæthon, who was one of those who came into Epirus under Pelasgus; while some say that Deukalion and Pyrrha after founding the temple at Dodona lived there in the country of the Molossians. In later times Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, brought an army thither, obtained possession of the country, and founded a dynasty of kings, who were named after him the sons of Pyrrhus: for Pyrrhus was his own nickname as a child, and he also gave the name of Pyrrhus to one of his children by his wife Lanassa, the daughter of Kleodæus, who was the son of Hyllus. From this period Achilles has been honoured like a god in Epirus and is called Aspetus in the dialect of the country. After the earliest kings, the dynasty sunk into barbarism, and ceased to attract attention from its weakness and obscurity. Of those of later days, Tharrhypas was the first of those who made himself famous. He adopted the customs and letters of Greece, and gave just laws to his country. Tharrhypas was the father of Alketas, who was the father of Arybas, who married Troas and by her became the father of Æakides. This man married Phthia the daughter of Menon of Thessaly, who had gained great distinction in the Lamian war, and who yielded in reputation to no one except to Leosthenes himself. By Phthia Æakides had two daughters, Deidameia and Troas, and one son, Pyrrhus.