because of the darkness. They decided that they never could convey the
child and his nurses across by their own exertions, but observing
several of the inhabitants standing upon the further bank they
besought them to assist their passage, and they showed Pyrrhus to
them, crying aloud and holding out their hands to entreat for help.
The men could not hear what they said because of the roaring of the
water, and much time was wasted in vain clamouring until one of the
fugitives, perceiving this, wrote with the tongue of a brooch upon a
piece of oak bark a few words explaining who the child was, and in
what danger, wrapped the piece of bark round a stone to steady its
flight, and threw it across. Some say that they fastened the bark to a
javelin and so hurled it across. When the men on the further bank read
the letter, and perceived in what imminent peril the fugitives were,
they cut down some trees, formed a raft, and so crossed over. It
chanced that the first man who crossed and received Pyrrhus into his
arms was named Achilles: the rest of the fugitives were ferried over
by his companions.

III. Having thus escaped from their pursuers they proceeded to
Glaukias, the king of the Illyrians. They found him sitting at home
with his wife, and they laid the child on the ground between them. The
king was full of thought, for he feared Kassander, the mortal enemy of
AEakides, and he remained silent for a long time. Meanwhile Pyrrhus of
his own accord crawled up to Glaukias, took hold of his cloak and then
stood up at his knees, causing the king first to smile and then to
feel pity for him, as he stood like a suppliant holding his knees and
weeping. Some say that he did not embrace Glaukias, but that he laid
hold of an altar and stood, putting his hands round it, so that
Glaukias thought that he must be acting under some divine impulse. In
consequence of this he at once gave Pyrrhus in charge to his wife,
bidding her bring him up with her own children. Shortly after, when
his enemies demanded that he should be given up, and Kassander even
offered two hundred talents, Glaukias refused to betray him, and when
he was twelve years of age he marched into Epirus with an army and
restored him to the throne.

The appearance of Pyrrhus was more calculated to strike terror into
the beholder than to impress him with an idea of the dignity which
becomes a king. He had not a number of separate teeth, but one
continuous bone in his upper jaw