not allowed by the audacious folly of their mob orators to make
peace, they proposed to make Pyrrhus their leader and to invite him to
be their ally in the war, because he was more at leisure than any of
the other kings, and also was the best general of them all. Of the
older and more sensible citizens some endeavoured to oppose this fatal
decision, but were overwhelmed by the clamour of the war party, while
the rest, observing this, ceased to attend the public assembly. There
was one citizen of good repute, named Meton, who, on the day when the
final decision was to be made, when the people were all assembled,
took a withered garland and a torch, like a drunkard, and reeled into
the assembly with a girl playing the flute before him. At this, as one
may expect in a disorderly popular meeting, some applauded, and some
laughed, but no one stopped him. They next bade the girl play, and
Meton come forward and dance to the music; and he made as though he
would do so. When he had obtained silence he said "Men of Tarentum,
you do well in encouraging those who wish to be merry and amuse
themselves while they may. If you are wise you will all enjoy your
freedom now, for when Pyrrhus is come to our city you will have very
different things to think of, and will live very differently." By
these words he made an impression on the mass of the Tarentine people,
and a murmur ran through the crowd that he had spoken well. But those
politicians who feared that if peace were made they should be
delivered up to the Romans, reproached the people for allowing any one
to insult them by such a disgraceful exhibition, and prevailed on them
to turn Meton out of the assembly. Thus the vote for war was passed,
and ambassadors were sent to Epirus, not from Tarentum alone, but from
the other Greek cities in Italy, carrying with them presents for
Pyrrhus, with instructions to tell him that they required a leader of
skill and renown, and that they possessed a force of Lucanians,
Messapians, Samnites and Tarentines, which amounted to twenty thousand
cavalry, and three hundred and fifty thousand infantry. This not only
excited Pyrrhus, but also made all the Epirotes eager to take part in
the campaign.

XIV. There was one Kineas, a Thessalian, who was thought to be a man
of good sense, and who, having heard Demosthenes the orator speak, was
better able than any of the speakers of his age to delight his hearers
with an imitation of the eloquence of that g