At last, after spending some time in these fruitless efforts, one of
the party who were with Pyrrhus thought of the plan of writing what
they wished to say upon a piece of bark, and throwing it across the
stream to those on the other side. They accordingly pulled off some
bark from a young oak which was growing on a bank of the river, and
succeeded in making characters upon it by means of the tongue of a
buckle, sufficient to say that they had with them Pyrrhus, the young
prince of Epirus, and that they were flying with him to save his life,
and to implore the people on the other side to contrive some way to
get them over the river. This piece of bark they then managed to throw
across the stream. Some say that they rolled it around a javelin, and
then gave the javelin to the strongest of their party to throw; others
say that they attached it to a stone. In some way or other they
contrived to give it a sufficient momentum to carry it across the
water; and the people on the other side, when they obtained it, and
read what was written upon it, were greatly excited by the tidings,
and engaged at once with ardor and enthusiasm in efforts to save the
child.
They brought axes and began to cut down trees to make a raft. In due
time the raft was completed; and, notwithstanding the darkness of the
night, and the force and swiftness of the current of the stream, the
party of fugitives succeeded in crossing upon it, and thus brought the
child and all the attendants accompanying him safely over.
The party with Pyrrhus did not intend to stop at Megaræ. They did not
consider it safe, in fact, for them to remain in any part of Macedon,
not knowing what course the war between Polysperchon and Cassander
would take there, or how the parties engaged in the contest might
stand affected toward Pyrrhus. They determined, therefore, to press
forward in their flight till they had passed through Macedon, and
reached the country beyond.
The country north of Macedon, on the western coast, the one in which
they determined to seek refuge, was Illyria. The name of the King of
Illyria was Glaucias. They had reason to believe that Glaucias would
receive and protect the child, for he was connected by marriage with
the royal family of Epirus, his wife, Beroa, being a princess of the
line of Æacides. When the fugitives arrived at the court of Glaucias,
they went to the palace, where they found Glaucias and Beroa; and,
after telling the story of their danger and escape, they laid the
child down as a suppliant at the feet of the king.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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