19 gravi mole = with her unwieldy bulk.
The Battle of Beneventum. Pyrrhus, in his attempt to storm the entrenched camp of Curius Dentatus, was obliged to fight on unfavourable ground. The result was a total defeat, and no choice was left him but to give up the unequal contest.
THE WAR WITH THE TARENTINES AND PYRRHUS. (5)
Death of Pyrrhus, 272 B.C.
In praise of a great General.
Repulsus ab Spartanis Pyrrhus Argos petit: ibi, dum Antigonum in urbe clausum expugnare conatur, inter confertissimos violentissime dimicans, saxo de muris ictus occiditur. Caput eius Antigono refertur, qui victoria mitius usus filium eius Helenum 5 cum Epirotis sibi deditum in regnum remisit, eique insepulti patris ossa in patriam referenda tradidit.
Satis constans inter omnes auctores fama est, nullum nec eius nec superioris aetatis regem comparandum Pyrrho fuisse, raroque non inter reges 10 tantum, verum etiam inter illustres viros, aut vitae sanctioris aut iustitiae probatioris visum fuisse: scientiam certe rei militaris in illo viro tantam fuisse, ut cum adversus Lysimachum, Demetrium, Antigonum, tantos reges, bella gesserit, invictus 15 semper fuerit: Illyriorum quoque, Siculorum Romanorumque et Carthaginiensium bellis numquam inferior, plerumque etiam victor exstiterit; qui patriam certe suam angustam ignobilemque fama rerum gestarum et claritate nominis sui toto orbe 20 illustrem reddiderit.
Justinus, xxv. 5.
1-4 Repulsus ab Spartanis . . . occiditur. At the invitation of Cleonymus, who had been excluded from the throne of Sparta, Pyrrhus undertook and failed in a desperate attack on the city. He then turned against Argos, to wrest it from Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia, and was hit by a tile thrown from a roof by a woman.* As he lay helpless on the ground he was recognised and murdered.