y called barbarians. The people of Tarentum,
therefore, in sending for Pyrrhus to come to their aid against the
Romans, did not consider him as a foreigner brought in to help them in
a civil war against their own countrymen, but rather as a
fellow-countryman coming to aid them in a war against foreigners. They
regarded him as belonging to the same race and lineage with
themselves, while the enemies who were coming from beyond the
Apennines to assail them they looked upon as a foreign and barbarous
horde, against whom it was for the common interest of all nations of
Greek descent to combine. It was this identity of interest between
Pyrrhus and the people whom he came to aid, in respect both to their
national origin and the cause in which they were engaged, which made
it possible for him to assume so supreme an authority over all their
affairs when he arrived at Tarentum.

The people of the neighboring cities were slow in sending in to
Pyrrhus the quotas of troops which the Tarentines had promised him;
and before his force was collected, the tidings arrived that the
Romans were coming on at the head of a great army, under the command
of the consul Laevinus. Pyrrhus immediately prepared to go forth to
meet them. He marshaled the troops that were already assembled, and
leaving the city, he advanced to meet the consul. After proceeding
some way, he sent forward an embassador to the camp of Laevinus to
propose to that general that, before coming to extremities, an effort
should be made to settle the dispute between the Romans and Tarentines
in some amicable manner, and offering his services as an umpire and
mediator for this purpose. To this embassage Laevinus coolly replied
"that he did not choose to accept Pyrrhus as a mediator, and that he
did not fear him as an enemy." Of course, after receiving such a
message as this, there was nothing left to Pyrrhus but to prepare for
war.

He advanced, accordingly, at the head of his troops, until, at
length, he reached a plain, where he encamped with all his forces.
There was a river before him, a small stream called the River
Siris.[J] The Romans came up and encamped on the opposite side of the
bank of this stream. Pyrrhus mounted his horse and rode to an eminence
near the river to take a view of them.

[Footnote J: See map.]

He was much surprised at what he saw. The order of the troops, the
systematic and regular arrangement of guards and sentinels, and the
regularity of the