ns up out of the earth. All that they thus
extricated they drew off out of the way, and threw them into the
river.

Seeing this, young Acrotatus, the prince whom Areus his father, now
absent, as the reader will recollect, in Crete, had left in command in
Sparta when he went away, hastened to interpose. He placed himself at
the head of a small band of two or three hundred men, and, crossing
the city on the other side, he went unobserved, and then, making a
circuit, came round and attacked the Gauls, who were at work on the
wagons in the rear. As the Gauls had already a foe in front nearly
strong enough to cope with them, this sudden assault from behind
entirely turned the scale. They were driven away in great confusion.
This feat being accomplished, Acrotatus came back at the head of his
detachment into the city, panting and exhausted with the exertions he
had made, and covered with blood. He was received there with the
loudest applause and acclamations. The women gathered around him, and
overwhelmed him with thanks and congratulations. "Go to Chelidonis,"
said they, "and rest. She ought to be yours. You have deserved her.
How we envy her such a lover!"

The contest continued all the day, and when night came on Pyrrhus
found that he had made no sensible progress in the work of gaining
entrance into the city. He was, however, now forced to postpone all
further efforts till the following day. At the proper time he retired
to rest, but he awoke very early in the morning in a state of great
excitement; and, calling up some of the officers around him, he
related to them a remarkable dream which he had had during the night,
and which, he thought, presaged success to the efforts which they were
to make on the following day. He had seen, he said, in his dream, a
flash of lightning dart from the sky upon Sparta, and set the whole
city on fire. This, he argued, was a divine omen which promised them
certain success; and he called upon the generals to marshal the
troops and prepare for the onset, saying, "We are sure of victory
now."

Whether Pyrrhus really had had such a dream, or whether he fabricated
the story for the purpose of inspiring anew the courage and confidence
of his men, which, as would naturally be supposed, might have been
somewhat weakened by the ill success of the preceding day, can not be
absolutely ascertained. Whichever it was, it failed wholly of its
intended effect. Pyrrhus's generals said, in reply, that