August 19, 2025 • 21 mins
Dive into the fascinating history of Pyrrhus, the formidable king of Epirus from 336 to 321 BC. Renowned as a brilliant soldier and conqueror, he left his mark on both Macedon and Italy, giving rise to the term Pyrrhic victory that echoes through history. Join Deon Gines as he unravels the legacy of this extraordinary leader.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter ten of Paris by Jacob Abbott. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain recording by Dion Jine's celt
Lake City, Utah. The Reconquest of Macedon b. C. Two
seventy three two two seventy two. It was the great
(00:21):
misfortune of Peis's life, a misfortune resulting apparently from an
inherent and radical defect in his character, that he had
no settled plans or purposes, but embarked in one project
after another as accident or caprice might incline him, apparently
(00:43):
without any forethought, consideration, or design. He seemed to form
no plan to live for, no object, to contemplate, no end,
but was governed by a sort of blind and instinctive impulse,
which led him to love danger and to take a
(01:03):
wild and savage delight in the performance of military exploits
on their own account, and without regard to any ultimate
end or aim to be accomplished by them. Thus, although
he evinced great power, he produced no permanent effects. There
(01:24):
was no steadiness or perseverance in his action, and there
could be none, for in his whole course of policy
there were no ulterior ends in view by which perseverance
could be sustained. He was consequently always ready to abandon
any enterprise in which he might be engaged as soon
(01:47):
as it began, to be involved in difficulties requiring the
exercise of patience, endurance, and self denial, and to embark
in any new undertaking, provided that it promised to bring
him speedily upon a field of battle. He was, in
(02:07):
a word, the type and exemplar of that large class
of able men who waste their lives in a succession
of efforts, which, though they evince great talent in those
who perform them, being still without plan or aim, and
without producing any result. Such men, often, like Pearis, attained
(02:32):
to a certain species of greatness. They are famed among
men for what they seem to have the power to do,
and not for anything that they have actually done. In
accordance with this view of Pearis's character, we see him
changing continually the sphere of his action from one country
(02:56):
to another, gaining great victories everywhere, and evincing in all
his operations, in the organizing and assembling of his armies,
in his marches, in his encampments, and in the disposition
of his troops on the field of battle. And especially
in his conduct during the period of actual conflict, the
(03:20):
most indomitable energy and the most consummate military skill. But
when the battle was fought and the victory gained, and
an occasion supervened, requiring a cool and calculating deliberation in
the forming of future plans and a steady adherence to
(03:41):
them when formed, the character and resources of Pearis's mind
were found woefully wanting. The first summons from any other
quarter inviting him to a field of more immediate excitement
and action was always sufficient to call him a way.
Thus he changed his field of action successively from Macedon
(04:05):
to Italy, from Italy to Sicily, from Sicily back to Italy,
and from Italy to Macedon again, perpetually making new beginnings,
but nowhere attaining any ends. His determination to invade Macedon
once more on his return to Epirus from Italy, was prompted,
(04:28):
apparently by the mere accident that the government was unsettled
and that Antigonus was insecure in his possession of the throne.
He had no intention when he first embarked on this
scheme of attempting the conquest of Macedon, but only designed
to make a predatory incursion into the country for the
(04:52):
purpose of plunder its defenseless condition, of affording him, as
he thought, a favorable opportunity of doing this. The plea
on which he justified this invasion was that Antigonus was
his enemy. Ptolemy Serranus had made a treaty of alliance
with him, and had furnished him with troops for recruiting
(05:16):
and reinforcing his armies in Italy, as has already been stated,
but Antigonus, when called upon, had refused to do this. This,
of course, gave Paris ample justification, as he imagined, for
his intended incursion into the Macedonian realms. Besides this, however,
(05:38):
there was another justification, namely that of necessity. Although Paris
had been compelled to withdraw from Italy, he had not
returned by any means alone, but had brought quite a
large army with him, consisting of many thousands of men,
all of whom must now be fed and paid. All
(06:01):
the resources of his own kingdom had been well nigh
exhausted by the drafts which he had made upon them
to sustain himself in Italy, and it was now necessary,
he thought, to embark in some war as a means
of finding employment and subsistence for these troops. He determined, therefore,
(06:25):
on every account, to make a foray into Macedon Before
setting off on his expedition, he contrived to obtain a
considerable force from among the Gauls as auxiliaries. Antigonus also
had galls in his service, for they themselves were divided,
(06:46):
as it would seem, in respect both to their policy
and their leaders, as well as the Macedonians, and Antigonus,
taking advantage of their dissensions, had contrived to enlist some
portion of them in his cause, while the rest were
the more easily on that very account, induced to join
(07:09):
the expedition of Paris, things being in this state Paris,
after completing his preparations, commenced his march and soon crossed
the Macedonian front tier. As was usually the case with
the enterprises which he engaged in, he was in the
outset very successful. He conquered several cities and towns as
(07:34):
he advanced, and soon began to entertain higher views in
respect to the object of his expedition than he had
at first formed. Instead of merely plundering the front tier
as he had at first intended. He began to think
that it would be possible for him to subdue Antigonus
(07:56):
entirely and re annex the whole of Maaaan to his dominions.
He was well known in Macedon, his former campaigns in
that country having brought him very extensively before the people
and the army there. He had been a general favorite
too among them at the time when he had been
(08:18):
their ruler. The people admired his personal qualities as a soldier,
and had been accustomed to compare him with Alexander, whom,
in his appearance and manners, and in a certain air
of military frankness and generosity which characterized him, he was
(08:39):
said strongly to resemble. Pearis now found, as he advanced
into the country of Macedonia that the people were disposed
to regard him with the same sentiments of favor which
they had formerly entertained for him. Several of the garrisons
of the cities joined his dederd, and the detachments of
(09:02):
troops which Antigonus sent forward to the frontier to check
his progress, instead of giving him battle, went over to
him in a body and espoused his cause in a word.
Pirus found that unexpectedly to himself. His expedition, instead of
being merely an incursion across the front tiers on a
(09:27):
plundering foray, was assuming the character of a regular invasion.
In short, the progress that he made was such that
it soon became manifest that to meet Antigonus in one
pitched battle and to gain one victory was all that
was required to complete the conquest of the country. He
(09:50):
accordingly concentrated his forces more and more, strengthened himself by
every means in his power, and advanced further and further
into the interior of the country. Antigonus began to retire,
desirous perhaps of reaching some ground where he could post
(10:10):
himself advantageously. Paris, acting with his customary energy, soon overtook
the enemy. He came up with the rear of Antigonus's
army in a narrow defile among the mountains. At least
the place is designated as a narrow defile by the
(10:30):
ancient historian who narrates these events. Though from the number
of men that were engaged in the action which ensued,
as well as from the nature of the action itself,
as a historian describes it, it would seem that there
must have been a considerable breadth of level ground in
(10:52):
the bottom of the gorge. The main body of Antigonus's
troops was the phalanx. The Macedonian fec valunx is considered
one of the most extraordinary military contrivances of ancient times.
The invention of it was ascribed to Philip, the father
of Alexander the Great, though it was probable that it
(11:15):
was only improved and perfected and brought into general use,
but not really originated by him. The single phalanx was
formed of a body of about four thousand men. These
men were arranged in a compact form, the whole body
consisting of sixteen ranks, and each rank of two hundred
(11:39):
and fifty six men. These men wore each a short
sword to be used in cases of emergency, and were
defended by large shields. The main peculiarity, however, of their armor,
and the one on which the principal power of the
phalanx depended as a military body, was in the immensely
(12:02):
long spears which they carried. These spears were generally twenty
one and sometimes twenty four feet long, The handles were slender,
though strong, and the points were tipped with steel. The
spears were not intended to be thrown, but to be
held firmly in the hands and pointed toward the enemy.
(12:25):
And they were so long, and the ranks of the
men were so close together, that the spears of the
fifth rank projected several feet before the men who stood
in the front rank. Thus each man in the front
rank had five steel pointed spears projecting to different distances
(12:46):
before him, while the men who stood in ranks further
behind rested their spears upon the shoulders of those who
were before them, so as to elevate the points into
the air. The men were protected by large shields, which,
when the phalanx was formed in close array, just touched
(13:08):
each other and formed an impregnable defense. In a word,
the phalanx, as it moved slowly over the plane, presented
the appearance of a vast monster covered with scales and
bristling with points of steel, a sort of military porcupine
which nothing could approach or in any way injure. Missiles
(13:33):
thrown toward it were intercepted by the shields and fell
harmless to the ground. Darts, arows, javelins, and every other
weapon which could be projected from a distance or equally ineffectual,
and no one could come near enough to men thus
protected to strike at them with the sword. Even cavalry
(13:56):
were utterly powerless in attacking such shows Vaux de fries
as the phalanx presented no charge, however, furious could break
its serrated ranks. An onset upon it could only end
in impaling the men and the horses that made it
together on the points of the innumerable spears. To form
(14:20):
a phalanx and to maneuver it successfully required a special training,
both on the part of the officers and men, and
in the Macedonian armies. The system was carried to very
high perfection. When foreign auxiliaries, however, served under Macedonian generals,
(14:40):
they were not generally formed in this way, but were
allowed to fight under their own leaders and in the
accustomed manner of their respective nations. The army of Antigonus,
accordingly as he was retiring before Pirus, consisted of two portions.
The phalanx was in advance and large bodies of Gauls
(15:04):
armed and arrayed in their usual manner, or in the rear,
of course, Pearis as he came up with this force
in the ravine or valley encountered the Gauls first. Their lines,
it would seem, filled up the whole valley at the
place where Pearis overtook them, so that at the outset
(15:25):
of the contest Pearis had them only to engage. There
was not space sufficient for the phalanx to come to
their aid. Besides the phalanx and the bodies of Gauls,
there was a troop of elephants in Antigonus's army. Their position,
as it would seem, was between the phalanx and the Gauls,
(15:47):
this being the state of things and peeras coming up
to the attack in the rear would of course encounter
first the gulls, then the elephants, and lastly, the most
format of all, the phalanx itself. Pearis advanced to the
attack of the gulls with the utmost fury, and though
(16:09):
they made a very determined resistance, they were soon overpowered
and almost all cut to pieces. The troop of elephants
came next. The army of Peuris, flushed with their victory
over the Gauls, pressed eagerly on and soon so surrounded
the elephants and hemmed them in that the keepers of
(16:31):
them perceived that all hope of resistance was vain. They
surrendered without an effort to defend themselves. The phalanx now remained.
It had hastily changed its front, and it stood on
the defensive. Pearis advanced toward it with his forces, bringing
his men up in array in front of the long
(16:54):
lines of spears, and paused. The bristling monster remained immovable,
seeing no disposition to advance against its enemy, but awaiting
apparently an attack. Pearis rode out in front of his
lines and surveyed the body of Macedonians before him. He
(17:15):
found that he knew the officers personally, having served with
them before in the wars in which he had been
engaged in Macedon in former years. He saluted them, calling
them by name. They were pleased with being thus remembered
and recognized by a personage so renowned. Pearis urged them
(17:37):
to abandon Antigonus, who had, as he maintained, no just
title to the crown, and whose usurped power he was
about to overthrow, and invited them to enter into his
service as the ancient and rightful sovereign of their country.
The officers seemed much disposed to listen and to these
(18:00):
overtures in fine, they soon decided to accede to them.
The phalanx went over to Paris's side in a body,
and Antigonus, being thus deprived of his last remaining support,
left the field in company with a few personal followers,
and fled for his life. Of course, Paris found himself
(18:24):
at once in complete possession of the Macedonian kingdom. Antigonus
did not, indeed entirely give up the contest. He retreated
toward the coast, where he contrived to hold possession for
a time of a few maritime towns, but his power
as king of Macedon was gone. Some few of the
(18:47):
interior cities attempted for a time to resist Peis's rule,
but he soon overpowered them. Some of the cities that
he thus conquered he garrisoned with gulls. Of course, after
such a revolution as this, a great deal was required
to be done to settle the affairs of the government
(19:09):
on their new footing, and to make the kingdom secure
in the hands of the conqueror. But no one in
the least degree acquainted with the character and tendencies of
Paris's mind could expect that he would be at all
disposed to attend to these duties. He had neither the
(19:29):
sagacity to plan, nor the steadiness of purpose to execute
such measures. He could conquer, but that was all to
secure the results of his conquests was utterly beyond his power.
In fact, far from making such a use of his
power as to strengthen his position and establish a permanent
(19:52):
and settled government, he so administered the affairs of state,
or rather he so neglected them, that very soon an
extended discontent and dissatisfaction began to prevail. The gulls, whom
he had left as garrisons in the conquered cities, governed
them in so arbitrary a manner, and plundered them so
(20:16):
recklessly as to produce extreme irritation among the people. They
complained earnestly to Paris. Pearis paid little attention to their representations.
To fight a battle with an open enemy on the
field was always a pleasure to him. But to meet
and grapple with difficulties of this kind, to hear complaints
(20:39):
and listen to evidence, and discuss and consider remedies was
all weariness and toil to him. What he would have done,
and what would have been the end of his administration
in Macedon, had he been left to himself, cannot now
be known. For very fortunate as he deemed it, he
(21:02):
was suddenly relieved of all the embarrassment in which he
was gradually getting involved, as he had often been relieved
in similar circumstances before, by an invitation which came to
him just at this time, to embark in a new
military enterprise which would draw him away from the country altogether.
(21:25):
It is scarcely necessary to say that peeris accepted the
invitation with the most eager alacrity. The circumstances of the
case will be explained in the next chapter. End of
Chapter ten
Chapter ten of Paris by Jacob Abbott. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain recording by Dion Jine's celt
Lake City, Utah. The Reconquest of Macedon b. C. Two
seventy three two two seventy two. It was the great
(00:21):
misfortune of Peis's life, a misfortune resulting apparently from an
inherent and radical defect in his character, that he had
no settled plans or purposes, but embarked in one project
after another as accident or caprice might incline him, apparently
(00:43):
without any forethought, consideration, or design. He seemed to form
no plan to live for, no object, to contemplate, no end,
but was governed by a sort of blind and instinctive impulse,
which led him to love danger and to take a
(01:03):
wild and savage delight in the performance of military exploits
on their own account, and without regard to any ultimate
end or aim to be accomplished by them. Thus, although
he evinced great power, he produced no permanent effects. There
(01:24):
was no steadiness or perseverance in his action, and there
could be none, for in his whole course of policy
there were no ulterior ends in view by which perseverance
could be sustained. He was consequently always ready to abandon
any enterprise in which he might be engaged as soon
(01:47):
as it began, to be involved in difficulties requiring the
exercise of patience, endurance, and self denial, and to embark
in any new undertaking, provided that it promised to bring
him speedily upon a field of battle. He was, in
(02:07):
a word, the type and exemplar of that large class
of able men who waste their lives in a succession
of efforts, which, though they evince great talent in those
who perform them, being still without plan or aim, and
without producing any result. Such men, often, like Pearis, attained
(02:32):
to a certain species of greatness. They are famed among
men for what they seem to have the power to do,
and not for anything that they have actually done. In
accordance with this view of Pearis's character, we see him
changing continually the sphere of his action from one country
(02:56):
to another, gaining great victories everywhere, and evincing in all
his operations, in the organizing and assembling of his armies,
in his marches, in his encampments, and in the disposition
of his troops on the field of battle. And especially
in his conduct during the period of actual conflict, the
(03:20):
most indomitable energy and the most consummate military skill. But
when the battle was fought and the victory gained, and
an occasion supervened, requiring a cool and calculating deliberation in
the forming of future plans and a steady adherence to
(03:41):
them when formed, the character and resources of Pearis's mind
were found woefully wanting. The first summons from any other
quarter inviting him to a field of more immediate excitement
and action was always sufficient to call him a way.
Thus he changed his field of action successively from Macedon
(04:05):
to Italy, from Italy to Sicily, from Sicily back to Italy,
and from Italy to Macedon again, perpetually making new beginnings,
but nowhere attaining any ends. His determination to invade Macedon
once more on his return to Epirus from Italy, was prompted,
(04:28):
apparently by the mere accident that the government was unsettled
and that Antigonus was insecure in his possession of the throne.
He had no intention when he first embarked on this
scheme of attempting the conquest of Macedon, but only designed
to make a predatory incursion into the country for the
(04:52):
purpose of plunder its defenseless condition, of affording him, as
he thought, a favorable opportunity of doing this. The plea
on which he justified this invasion was that Antigonus was
his enemy. Ptolemy Serranus had made a treaty of alliance
with him, and had furnished him with troops for recruiting
(05:16):
and reinforcing his armies in Italy, as has already been stated,
but Antigonus, when called upon, had refused to do this. This,
of course, gave Paris ample justification, as he imagined, for
his intended incursion into the Macedonian realms. Besides this, however,
(05:38):
there was another justification, namely that of necessity. Although Paris
had been compelled to withdraw from Italy, he had not
returned by any means alone, but had brought quite a
large army with him, consisting of many thousands of men,
all of whom must now be fed and paid. All
(06:01):
the resources of his own kingdom had been well nigh
exhausted by the drafts which he had made upon them
to sustain himself in Italy, and it was now necessary,
he thought, to embark in some war as a means
of finding employment and subsistence for these troops. He determined, therefore,
(06:25):
on every account, to make a foray into Macedon Before
setting off on his expedition, he contrived to obtain a
considerable force from among the Gauls as auxiliaries. Antigonus also
had galls in his service, for they themselves were divided,
(06:46):
as it would seem, in respect both to their policy
and their leaders, as well as the Macedonians, and Antigonus,
taking advantage of their dissensions, had contrived to enlist some
portion of them in his cause, while the rest were
the more easily on that very account, induced to join
(07:09):
the expedition of Paris, things being in this state Paris,
after completing his preparations, commenced his march and soon crossed
the Macedonian front tier. As was usually the case with
the enterprises which he engaged in, he was in the
outset very successful. He conquered several cities and towns as
(07:34):
he advanced, and soon began to entertain higher views in
respect to the object of his expedition than he had
at first formed. Instead of merely plundering the front tier
as he had at first intended. He began to think
that it would be possible for him to subdue Antigonus
(07:56):
entirely and re annex the whole of Maaaan to his dominions.
He was well known in Macedon, his former campaigns in
that country having brought him very extensively before the people
and the army there. He had been a general favorite
too among them at the time when he had been
(08:18):
their ruler. The people admired his personal qualities as a soldier,
and had been accustomed to compare him with Alexander, whom,
in his appearance and manners, and in a certain air
of military frankness and generosity which characterized him, he was
(08:39):
said strongly to resemble. Pearis now found, as he advanced
into the country of Macedonia that the people were disposed
to regard him with the same sentiments of favor which
they had formerly entertained for him. Several of the garrisons
of the cities joined his dederd, and the detachments of
(09:02):
troops which Antigonus sent forward to the frontier to check
his progress, instead of giving him battle, went over to
him in a body and espoused his cause in a word.
Pirus found that unexpectedly to himself. His expedition, instead of
being merely an incursion across the front tiers on a
(09:27):
plundering foray, was assuming the character of a regular invasion.
In short, the progress that he made was such that
it soon became manifest that to meet Antigonus in one
pitched battle and to gain one victory was all that
was required to complete the conquest of the country. He
(09:50):
accordingly concentrated his forces more and more, strengthened himself by
every means in his power, and advanced further and further
into the interior of the country. Antigonus began to retire,
desirous perhaps of reaching some ground where he could post
(10:10):
himself advantageously. Paris, acting with his customary energy, soon overtook
the enemy. He came up with the rear of Antigonus's
army in a narrow defile among the mountains. At least
the place is designated as a narrow defile by the
(10:30):
ancient historian who narrates these events. Though from the number
of men that were engaged in the action which ensued,
as well as from the nature of the action itself,
as a historian describes it, it would seem that there
must have been a considerable breadth of level ground in
(10:52):
the bottom of the gorge. The main body of Antigonus's
troops was the phalanx. The Macedonian fec valunx is considered
one of the most extraordinary military contrivances of ancient times.
The invention of it was ascribed to Philip, the father
of Alexander the Great, though it was probable that it
(11:15):
was only improved and perfected and brought into general use,
but not really originated by him. The single phalanx was
formed of a body of about four thousand men. These
men were arranged in a compact form, the whole body
consisting of sixteen ranks, and each rank of two hundred
(11:39):
and fifty six men. These men wore each a short
sword to be used in cases of emergency, and were
defended by large shields. The main peculiarity, however, of their armor,
and the one on which the principal power of the
phalanx depended as a military body, was in the immensely
(12:02):
long spears which they carried. These spears were generally twenty
one and sometimes twenty four feet long, The handles were slender,
though strong, and the points were tipped with steel. The
spears were not intended to be thrown, but to be
held firmly in the hands and pointed toward the enemy.
(12:25):
And they were so long, and the ranks of the
men were so close together, that the spears of the
fifth rank projected several feet before the men who stood
in the front rank. Thus each man in the front
rank had five steel pointed spears projecting to different distances
(12:46):
before him, while the men who stood in ranks further
behind rested their spears upon the shoulders of those who
were before them, so as to elevate the points into
the air. The men were protected by large shields, which,
when the phalanx was formed in close array, just touched
(13:08):
each other and formed an impregnable defense. In a word,
the phalanx, as it moved slowly over the plane, presented
the appearance of a vast monster covered with scales and
bristling with points of steel, a sort of military porcupine
which nothing could approach or in any way injure. Missiles
(13:33):
thrown toward it were intercepted by the shields and fell
harmless to the ground. Darts, arows, javelins, and every other
weapon which could be projected from a distance or equally ineffectual,
and no one could come near enough to men thus
protected to strike at them with the sword. Even cavalry
(13:56):
were utterly powerless in attacking such shows Vaux de fries
as the phalanx presented no charge, however, furious could break
its serrated ranks. An onset upon it could only end
in impaling the men and the horses that made it
together on the points of the innumerable spears. To form
(14:20):
a phalanx and to maneuver it successfully required a special training,
both on the part of the officers and men, and
in the Macedonian armies. The system was carried to very
high perfection. When foreign auxiliaries, however, served under Macedonian generals,
(14:40):
they were not generally formed in this way, but were
allowed to fight under their own leaders and in the
accustomed manner of their respective nations. The army of Antigonus,
accordingly as he was retiring before Pirus, consisted of two portions.
The phalanx was in advance and large bodies of Gauls
(15:04):
armed and arrayed in their usual manner, or in the rear,
of course, Pearis as he came up with this force
in the ravine or valley encountered the Gauls first. Their lines,
it would seem, filled up the whole valley at the
place where Pearis overtook them, so that at the outset
(15:25):
of the contest Pearis had them only to engage. There
was not space sufficient for the phalanx to come to
their aid. Besides the phalanx and the bodies of Gauls,
there was a troop of elephants in Antigonus's army. Their position,
as it would seem, was between the phalanx and the Gauls,
(15:47):
this being the state of things and peeras coming up
to the attack in the rear would of course encounter
first the gulls, then the elephants, and lastly, the most
format of all, the phalanx itself. Pearis advanced to the
attack of the gulls with the utmost fury, and though
(16:09):
they made a very determined resistance, they were soon overpowered
and almost all cut to pieces. The troop of elephants
came next. The army of Peuris, flushed with their victory
over the Gauls, pressed eagerly on and soon so surrounded
the elephants and hemmed them in that the keepers of
(16:31):
them perceived that all hope of resistance was vain. They
surrendered without an effort to defend themselves. The phalanx now remained.
It had hastily changed its front, and it stood on
the defensive. Pearis advanced toward it with his forces, bringing
his men up in array in front of the long
(16:54):
lines of spears, and paused. The bristling monster remained immovable,
seeing no disposition to advance against its enemy, but awaiting
apparently an attack. Pearis rode out in front of his
lines and surveyed the body of Macedonians before him. He
(17:15):
found that he knew the officers personally, having served with
them before in the wars in which he had been
engaged in Macedon in former years. He saluted them, calling
them by name. They were pleased with being thus remembered
and recognized by a personage so renowned. Pearis urged them
(17:37):
to abandon Antigonus, who had, as he maintained, no just
title to the crown, and whose usurped power he was
about to overthrow, and invited them to enter into his
service as the ancient and rightful sovereign of their country.
The officers seemed much disposed to listen and to these
(18:00):
overtures in fine, they soon decided to accede to them.
The phalanx went over to Paris's side in a body,
and Antigonus, being thus deprived of his last remaining support,
left the field in company with a few personal followers,
and fled for his life. Of course, Paris found himself
(18:24):
at once in complete possession of the Macedonian kingdom. Antigonus
did not, indeed entirely give up the contest. He retreated
toward the coast, where he contrived to hold possession for
a time of a few maritime towns, but his power
as king of Macedon was gone. Some few of the
(18:47):
interior cities attempted for a time to resist Peis's rule,
but he soon overpowered them. Some of the cities that
he thus conquered he garrisoned with gulls. Of course, after
such a revolution as this, a great deal was required
to be done to settle the affairs of the government
(19:09):
on their new footing, and to make the kingdom secure
in the hands of the conqueror. But no one in
the least degree acquainted with the character and tendencies of
Paris's mind could expect that he would be at all
disposed to attend to these duties. He had neither the
(19:29):
sagacity to plan, nor the steadiness of purpose to execute
such measures. He could conquer, but that was all to
secure the results of his conquests was utterly beyond his power.
In fact, far from making such a use of his
power as to strengthen his position and establish a permanent
(19:52):
and settled government, he so administered the affairs of state,
or rather he so neglected them, that very soon an
extended discontent and dissatisfaction began to prevail. The gulls, whom
he had left as garrisons in the conquered cities, governed
them in so arbitrary a manner, and plundered them so
(20:16):
recklessly as to produce extreme irritation among the people. They
complained earnestly to Paris. Pearis paid little attention to their representations.
To fight a battle with an open enemy on the
field was always a pleasure to him. But to meet
and grapple with difficulties of this kind, to hear complaints
(20:39):
and listen to evidence, and discuss and consider remedies was
all weariness and toil to him. What he would have done,
and what would have been the end of his administration
in Macedon, had he been left to himself, cannot now
be known. For very fortunate as he deemed it, he
(21:02):
was suddenly relieved of all the embarrassment in which he
was gradually getting involved, as he had often been relieved
in similar circumstances before, by an invitation which came to
him just at this time, to embark in a new
military enterprise which would draw him away from the country altogether.
(21:25):
It is scarcely necessary to say that peeris accepted the
invitation with the most eager alacrity. The circumstances of the
case will be explained in the next chapter. End of
Chapter ten
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