, with only slight lines showing the
divisions between the teeth. He was thought to be able to cure
diseases of the spleen by sacrificing a white cock, and then gently
pressing with his right foot in the region of the spleen of the
sufferer, who lay upon his back meanwhile. No man was so poor or
despised that Pyrrhus would not touch him for this disorder if
requested to do so. He also received, as a reward, the cock which was
sacrificed, and was much pleased with this present. It is said that
the great toe of that foot had some divine virtue, so that when the
rest of his body was burned after his death, it was found unhurt and
untouched by the fire. But of this hereafter.

IV. When he was about seventeen years of age, and appeared to be
firmly established upon his throne, he chanced to leave the country to
attend the wedding of one of the sons of Glaukias, with whom he had
been brought up. The Molossians now again rose in revolt, drove out
his friends, sacked the treasury, and made Neoptolemus their king.
Pyrrhus having thus lost his kingdom, and being entirely destitute,
fled for refuge to Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, who had married
his sister Deidameia. When a young girl Deidameia had been nominally
the wife of Alexander, the son of Roxana, but after the misfortunes of
that family Demetrius had married her when she came of age. In the
great battle of Ipsus, in which all the successors of Alexander the
Great took part, Pyrrhus, while yet a youth, served with the forces of
Demetrius, routed those who opposed him, and gained great distinction.
He did not desert Demetrius after his defeat, but was entrusted with
the care of those cities which Demetrius possessed in Greece, and kept
them faithful to his cause. When he made a treaty with Ptolemy,
Pyrrhus was sent to Egypt as a hostage, where he hunted and practised
gymnastics with Ptolemy, showing great bodily strength and endurance.
Observing that Berenike was the most powerful and intelligent of
Ptolemy's wives, he paid especial court to her, and, as he knew well
how to gain the favour of the powerful, though he was inclined to
domineer over his inferiors, and was temperate and well-behaved, he
was chosen out of many other noble youths to be the husband of
Antigone, one of the daughters of Berenike, whom she bore to Philip
before she married Ptolemy.

V. His influence was greatly increased by this match, and, as Antigone
proved a good wife to him and furthered his