was also engaged in a long war
with the Romans. This kingdom supported itself many years, between the
Roman and Parthian empires, sometimes depending on the one, and sometimes
on the other, till at last the Romans became its masters.

Kings of Epirus.

Epirus is a province of Greece, separated from Thessaly and Macedonia by
mount Pindus. The most powerful people of this country were the
Molossians.

The kings of Epirus pretended to derive their descent from Pyrrhus the son
of Achilles, who established himself in that country, and called
themselves AEacides, from AEacus the grandfather of Achilles.

The genealogy of the latter kings, who were the only sovereigns of this
country of whom any accounts remain, is variously related by authors, and
consequently must be doubtful and obscure.(248)

Arymbas ascended the throne, after a long succession of kings; and as he
was then very young, the states of Epirus, who were sensible that the
welfare of the people depends on the proper education of their princes,
sent him to Athens, which was the residence and centre of all the arts and
sciences, in order to cultivate, in that excellent school, such knowledge
as was necessary to form the mind of a king. He there learned the art of
reigning, and as he surpassed all his ancestors in ability and knowledge,
he was in consequence infinitely more esteemed and beloved by his people
than they had been.(249) When he returned from Athens, he made laws,
established a senate and magistracy, and regulated the form of the
government.

Neoptolemus, whose daughter Olympias had espoused Philip king of Macedon,
attained an equal share in the regal government with Arymbas his elder
brother, by the influence of his son-in-law. After the death of Arymbas,
AEacides his son ought to have been his successor; but Philip had still
sufficient influence to procure his expulsion from the kingdom by the
Molossians, who established Alexander the son of Neoptolemus sole monarch
of Epirus.

Alexander espoused Cleopatra the daughter of Philip, and marched with an
army into Italy, where he lost his life in the country of the Brutians.

AEacides then ascended the throne, and reigned without any associate in
Epirus. He espoused Phthia, the daughter of Menon the Thessalian, by whom
he had two daughters, Deidamia and Troias, and one son, the celebrated
Pyrrhus.

As he was marching to the assistance of Olympias, his troops mutinied
against him, condemned