The return of Pyrrhus from his Sicilian adventure found Rome in bad straits. It was war-weary (constant warfare can do that to you) and suffering from a plague. In spite of that, Rome was still Rome. In 275 B.C., it sent two consular armies southward. Pyrrhus marched to meet them. He faced the consul Manius Curius Dentatus with his main force and sent part of his army to occupy the other consul. The part that he kept was about 40,000. But he had been forced to replace his lost phalangites with Italian troops, so the quality was lower than in his first two battles. The Romans also had around 40.000 soldiers. His plan called for a surprise attack on the rear of Dentatus’ camp at dawn. Before marching, Pyrrhus had a dream in which all his teeth fell out leaving him with a bloody mouth. This was certainly a bad auspice, but his officers convinced him that it was too late to change the plan. That night, he moved an elite force with elephants through a forest to get the jump on the Romans. The unit followed what was essentially a goat path. Things were going according to plan until the torches went out because the distance they had to cover had been underestimated. Without torchlight the forest was pitch black and the army stumbled around in disorder. The dawn found his elite force exhausted, confused, and unprepared. His men looked like a college fraternity that had crammed for finals by drinking a lot of beer. And the Romans saw them before they could form up. Consul Dentatus launched an attack before Pyrrhus could form up and Pyrrhus’ force was routed and chased back into the forest. Pyrrhus escaped and joined the main part of his army that had formed on the plain facing the Roman camp. According to Dionysius’ account, many of the legionaries were armed with sarissas to counter the enemy phalangites and elephants. The fighting was even until Pyrrhus organized a force of elephants and infantry to break part of the Roman line. This force rushed the Roman camp, but Dentatus had left a strong reserve (probably his triarii) to defend the castra. The elephants were met by a shower of pila. Some of the defenders used torches to scare the beasts. (Centuries later, the Roman author Aelian in his book “On the Nature of Animals” claimed that pigs were used to frighten the elephants. Supposedly, the elephants did not like the squealing. Some have gone as far as suggesting the pigs had pitch coated on them and it was set afire.) The elephants panicked “turning back upon their own men, caused great disorder and confusion…” [Plutarch]. Historians Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Cassius Dio both wrote about a wounded elephant calf that ran around searching for its mother. This caused the mother to become distraught and the vibe spread to the other elephants. They followed the calf as it ran into the phalanx. This broke the formation and allowed the Romans to come to close quarters with the phalangites. The counterattack was decisive.
The battle took place near the city of Maleventum (which was renamed Beneventum when the Romans took possession of it). The Battle of Beneventum was the climactic battle of the Pyrrhic War. The Romans attributed their victory partly to the intervention of the goddess Persephone (Rome’s Proserpina). Pyrrhus had stolen treasure from a temple of the goddess. She took her revenge at Maleventum. Dentatus was given a well-deserved triumph which featured the captured elephants. It was like the circus had come to town. “These huge beasts with turrets on their backs, which they had feared so much, now followed the horses which had conquered them, and with heads bowed were not wholly unconscious that they were prisoner.” [Florus] In 272 B.C., Rome captured Tarentum (with the help of a Carthaginian fleet). Its walls were torn down. By 265, Rome controlled all of Italy up to the Po River in the north. If you think that was going to be good enough for them, you have not been paying attention.
What about Pyrrhus? With a certifiable defeat, not a pyrrhic victory, Pyrrhus’ adventures in Italy were at an end. He suddenly discovered he was needed back home in Epirus. He went to war with Macedonia and took most of that kingdom. He then turned his attention to Greece. He was fighting in the streets of Argos when he was confronted by a Greek soldier. Pyrrhus was on horseback, so he had the advantage. However, the Greek’s mother was watching from a rooftop. She threw a roof tile that hit Pyrrhus in the head and unhorsed him. The son then finished him off by beheading him. Pyrrhus thus entered the Embarrassing Death Hall of Fame.
- from The Scipios in Spain
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