The royal trophies were placed on the point of a spear and carried along the lines of the Roman army, that all might see that the king was slain.
While the Romans shouted for joy, the Greeks looked on in dismay, thinking that their Eagle king was no longer alive.
The armour of Pyrrhus was richer and more beautiful than that of his soldiers.
But Pyrrhus soon learned what had happened, and dashing to the front, he rode bare-headed before his men, shouting to them to follow him.
The Consul now determined to bring forward the force he had kept in reserve, thinking that it would decide the day. But Pyrrhus too had a reserve force, and a more terrible one than his enemy. This was his twenty elephants, which, with towers on their backs filled with armed men, he now let loose upon the foe.
The huge beasts, trumpeting loudly, were more than the Roman horses could stand. Wild with fear at the sight of such strange monsters, they galloped madly away, either throwing their riders or carrying them off the battlefield.
Many of the fallen were trampled to death by the elephants, while the victorious Greeks hastened in pursuit of the flying legions.
The whole Roman army would have been destroyed save for an accident.
As he fled, one of the Roman soldiers flung his spear at an elephant and wounded it. The beast, wild with pain, turned back upon its own army, making the other elephants also restive.