τὰ μὲν οὖν Λυσιμάχου τοιαῦτα ἐγένετο· Ἀθηναίοις δὲ εἰκών ἐστι καὶ Πύρρου. οὗτος ὁ Πύρρος Ἀλεξάνδρῳ προσῆκεν οὐδέν, εἰ μὴ ὅσα κατὰ γένος· Αἰακίδου γὰρ τοῦ Ἀρύββου Πύρρος ἦν, Ὀλυμπιάδος δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τῆς Νεοπτολέμου, Νεοπτολέμῳ δὲ καὶ Ἀρύββᾳ πατὴρ ἦν Ἀλκέτας ὁ Θαρύπου. ἀπὸ δὲ Θαρύπου ἐς Πύρρον τὸν Ἀχιλλέως πέντε ἀνδρῶν καὶ δέκα εἰσὶ γενεαί· πρῶτος γὰρ δὴ οὗτος ἁλούσης Ἰλίου τὴν μὲν ἐς Θεσσαλίαν ὑπερεῖδεν ἀναχώρησιν, ἐς δὲ τὴν Ἤπειρον κατάρας ἐνταῦθα ἐκ τῶν Ἑλένου χρησμῶν ᾤκησε. καί οἱ παῖς ἐκ μὲν Ἑρμιόνης ἐγένετο οὐδείς, ἐξ Ἀνδρομάχης δὲ Μολοσσὸς καὶ Πίελος καὶ νεώτατος ὁ Πέργαμος. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ Ἑλένῳ Κεστρῖνος· τούτῳ γὰρ Ἀνδρομάχη συνῴκησεν ἀποθανόντος ἐν Δελφοῖς Πύρρου.
Ἑλένου δὲ ὡς ἐτελεύτα Μολοσσῷ τῷ Πύρρου παραδόντος τὴν ἀρχὴν Κεστρῖνος μὲν σὺν τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν Ἠπειρωτῶν τὴν ὑπὲρ Θύαμιν ποταμὸν χώραν ἔσχε, Πέργαμος δὲ διαβὰς ἐς τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἄρειον δυναστεύοντα ἐν τῇ Τευθρανίᾳ κτείνει μονομαχήσαντά οἱ περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα ἔδωκε τὸ νῦν ἀφʼ αὑτοῦ· καὶ Ἀνδρομάχης—ἠκολούθει γάρ οἱ—καὶ νῦν ἐστιν ἡρῷον ἐν τῇ πόλει. Πίελος δὲ αὐτοῦ κατέμεινεν ἐν Ἠπείρῳ, καὶ ἐς πρόγονον τοῦτον ἀνέβαινε Πύρρος τε ὁ Αἰακίδου καὶ οἱ πατέρες, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐς Μολοσσόν.
ἦν δὲ ἄχρι μὲν Ἀλκέτου τοῦ Θαρύπου ἐφʼ ἑνὶ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὰ Ἠπειρωτῶν· οἱ δὲ Ἀλκέτου παῖδες, ὥς σφισι στασιάσασι μετέδοξεν ἐπʼ ἴσης ἄρχειν, αὐτοί τε πιστῶς ἔχοντες διέμειναν ἐς ἀλλήλους καὶ ὕστερον Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου τελευτήσαντος ἐν Λευκανοῖς, Ὀλυμπιάδος δὲ διὰ τὸν Ἀντιπάτρου φόβον ἐπανελθούσης ἐς Ἤπειρον, Αἰακίδης ὁ Ἀρύββου τά τε ἄλλα διετέλει κατήκοος ὢν Ὀλυμπιάδι καὶ συνεστράτευσε πολεμήσων Ἀριδαίῳ καὶ Μακεδόσιν, οὐκ ἐθελόντων ἕπεσθαι τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν.
Ὀλυμπιάδος δὲ ὡς ἐπεκράτησεν ἀνόσια μὲν ἐργασαμένης καὶ ἐς τὸν Ἀριδαίου θάνατον, πολλῷ δὲ ἔτι ἀνοσιώτερα ἐς ἄνδρας Μακεδόνας, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα οὐκ ἀνάξια ὕστερον ὑπὸ Κασσάνδρου παθεῖν νομισθείσης, Αἰακίδην κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν οὐδʼ αὐτοὶ διὰ τὸ Ὀλυμπιάδος ἔχθος ἐδέχοντο Ἠπειρῶται, εὑρομένου δὲ ἀνὰ χρόνον παρὰ τούτων συγγνώμην δεύτερα ἠναντιοῦτο Κάσσανδρος μὴ κατελθεῖν ἐς Ἤπειρον. γενομένης δὲ Φιλίππου τε ἀδελφοῦ Κασσάνδρου καὶ Αἰακίδου μάχης πρὸς Οἰνιάδαις, Αἰακίδην μὲν τρωθέντα κατέλαβε μετʼ οὐ πολὺ τὸ χρεών·
Ἠπειρῶται δὲ Ἀλκέταν ἐπὶ βασιλείᾳ κατεδέξαντο, Ἀρύββου μὲν παῖδα καὶ ἀδελφὸν Αἰακίδου πρεσβύτερον, ἀκρατῆ δὲ ἄλλως θυμοῦ καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ ἐξελασθέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός. καὶ τότε ἥκων ἐξεμαίνετο εὐθὺς ἐς τοὺς Ἠπειρώτας, ἐς ὃ νύκτωρ αὐτόν τε καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἐπαναστάντες ἔκτειναν. ἀποκτείναντες δὲ τοῦτον Πύρρον τὸν Αἰακίδου κατάγουσιν· ἥκοντι δὲ εὐθὺς ἐπεστράτευε Κάσσανδρος, νέῳ τε ἡλικίᾳ ὄντι καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐ κατεσκευασμένῳ βεβαίως. Πύρρος δὲ ἐπιόντων Μακεδόνων ἐς Αἴγυπτον παρὰ Πτολεμαῖον ἀναβαίνει τὸν Λάγου· καί οἱ Πτολεμαῖος γυναῖκά τʼ ἔδωκεν ἀδελφὴν ὁμομητρίαν τῶν αὑτοῦ παίδων καὶ στόλῳ κατήγαγεν Αἰγυπτίων.
Πύρρος δὲ βασιλεύσας πρώτοις ἐπέθετο Ἑλλήνων Κορκυραίοις, κειμένην τε ὁρῶν τὴν νῆσον πρὸ τῆς αὑτοῦ χώρας καὶ ἄλλοις ὁρμητήριον ἐφʼ αὑτὸν οὐκ ἐθέλων εἶναι. μετὰ δὲ ἁλοῦσαν Κόρκυραν ὅσα μὲν Λυσιμάχῳ πολεμήσας ἔπαθε καὶ ὡς Δημήτριον ἐκβαλὼν Μακεδονίας ἦρξεν ἐς ὃ αὖθις ἐξέπεσεν ὑπὸ Λυσιμάχου, τάδε μὲν τοῦ Πύρρου μέγιστα ἐς ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν δεδήλωκεν ἤδη μοι τὰ ἐς Λυσίμαχον ἔχοντα·
Ῥωμαίοις δὲ οὐδένα Πύρρου πρότερον πολεμήσαντα ἴσμεν Ἕλληνα. Διομήδει μὲν γὰρ καὶ Ἀργείων τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ οὐδεμίαν ἔτι γενέσθαι πρὸς Αἰνείαν λέγεται μάχην· Ἀθηναίοις δὲ ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ἐλπίσασι καὶ Ἰταλίαν πᾶσαν καταστρέψασθαι τὸ ἐν Συρακούσαις πταῖσμα ἐμποδὼν ἐγένετο μὴ καὶ Ῥωμαίων λαβεῖν πεῖραν· Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁ Νεοπτολέμου, γένους τε ὢν Πύρρῳ τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ πρεσβύτερος, ἀποθανὼν ἐν Λευκανοῖς ἔφθη πρὶν ἐς χεῖρας ἐλθεῖν Ῥωμαίοις.
The Athenians have a statue of Pyrrhus also. This Pyrrhus was related to Alexander only by ancestry. For Pyrrhus was a son of Aeacides, the son of Arybbas, and Alexander was a son of Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus; and Neoptolemus and Arybbas were sons of Alcetas the son of Tharypas. From Tharypas to Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, there are fifteen generations. After the taking of Ilium, Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, was the first who, disdaining to return to Thessaly, landed in Epirus, and there took up his abode in compliance with the oracles of Helenus. He had no child by Hermione, but by Andromache he had Molossus and Pielus and Pergamus, his youngest son. After Pyrrhus’ death at Delphi, Andromache married Helenus, and bore him a son, Cestrinus.
When Helenus died and bequeathed the kingdom to Molossus, son of Pyrrhus, Cestrinus with a band of Epirot volunteers took possession of the land beyond the river Thyamis. And Pergamus crossed over to Asia and engaged in a single combat for the sovereignty with Arius, lord of Teuthrania, and slew him, and gave to the city his own name, which it still bears. Andromache accompanied him, and she has a shrine in the city to this day. But Pielus abode in Epirus, and it was to him, and not to Molossus, that Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides, and his fathers traced their ancestry.
Down to the time of Alcetas, son of Tharypas, Epirus was under one king; but the sons of Alcetas quarrelled and resolved to share the government equally. They remained loyal to each other ; and afterwards, when Alexander, son of Neoptolemus, died in Lucania, and Olympias had returned to Epirus from fear of Antipater, Aeacides, son of Arybbas, remained obedient to her, and marched with her against Aridaeus and the Macedonians, though the Epirots were not willing to follow him.
But Olympias, on being victorious, behaved infamously in regard to the death of Aridaeus, and far more infamously towards certain Macedonians ; for which reason she was thought to have afterwards received no more than she deserved at the hands of Cassander. Even the Epirots hated her so much that at first they would not receive Aeacides. When in course of time he had obtained their forgiveness his return to Epirus was next opposed by Cassander. A battle was fought at Oeniadae between Aeacides and Cassander’s brother Philip, in which Aeacides was wounded and died not long afterwards. 5. The Epirots now recalled Alcetas and raised him to the throne. He was a son of Arybbas and elder brother of Aeacides, but a man of such unbridled passions that his father had expelled him the kingdom. On his return he at once began to vent his fury on the Epirots, till they rose up against him by night and put him and his children to death. Having slain him they recalled Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides. Scarcely was he come when Cassander, taking advantage of his youth and of his being not yet firmly established on the throne, marched against him. But at the approach of the Macedonians Pyrrhus betook himself to Egypt, to the court of Ptolemy, son of Lagus; and Ptolemy gave him to wife the uterine sister of his own children, and restored him at the head of an Egyptian armament.
On coming to the throne, the first of the Greeks whom Pyrrhus attacked were the Corcyraeans, because he saw that their island lay off his own coast, and he did not wish that others should use it as a base of operations against himself. After the capture of Corcyra, what he suffered in the war with Lysimachus, and how he expelled Demetrius, and reigned over Macedonia till he was in turn expelled by Lysimachus, these events, the most important in Pyrrhus’ career up to that time, have been already told by me in my account of Lysimachus.
We know of no Greek before Pyrrhus who warred with the Romans; for it is said that Diomede and his Argives fought no more battles with Aeneas. The conquest of all Italy was one of the many dreams of Athenian ambition, but the Syracusan disaster prevented Athens from measuring her strength with Rome. Alexander, son of Neoptolemus, a kinsman of Pyrrhus, but older, fell in Lucania before he crossed swords with the Romans.
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