Kitap 1
12.1
So Pyrrhus was the first to cross the Ionian Sea from Greece to attack the Romans.280 B.C. And even he crossed on the invitation of the Tarentines. For they were already involved in a war with the Romans, but were no match for them unaided. Pyrrhus was already in their debt, because they had sent a fleet to help him in his war with Corcyra, but the most cogent arguments of the Tarentine envoys were their accounts of Italy, how its prosperity was equal to that of the whole of Greece, and their plea that it was wicked to dismiss them when they had come as friends and suppliants in their hour of need. When the envoys urged these considerations, Pyrrhus remembered the capture of Troy, which he took to be an omen of his success in the war, as he was a descendant of Achilles making war upon a colony of Trojans.
12.2
Pleased with this proposal, and being a man who never lost time when once he had made up his mind, he immediately proceeded to man war ships and to prepare transports to carry horses and men-at-arms. There are books written by men of no renown as historians, entitled “Memoirs.” When I read these I marvelled greatly both at the personal bravery of Pyrrhus in battle, and also at the forethought he displayed whenever a contest was imminent. So on this occasion also when crossing to Italy with a fleet he eluded the observation of the Romans, and for some time after his arrival they were unaware of his presence; it was only when the Romans made an attack upon the Tarentines that he appeared on the scene with his army, and his unexpected assault naturally threw his enemies into confusion.
