Preparation
Before he left Epirus, Pyrrhus formed an alliance and borrowed soldiers and money from the pretender to the Macedonian throne, Ptolemy Keraunos. His long-time friend and ally Ptolemy II Philadelphus, king of Ptolemaic Egypt, also promised to send 9,000 soldiers and 50 war elephants. He also recruited horsemen from Thessaly and archers from Rhodes — as their rulers wanted to avoid a war with Epirus. In the spring of 280 BC Pyrrhus landed without losses in Italy.
After hearing of Pyrrhus' arrival in Italy the Romans mobilized eight legions with auxiliares, totalling about 80,000 soldiers. They divided it into four armies:
- One army under the command of Barbula, with orders to distract the Samnites and Lucanians so they could not join Pyrrhus' army. They were placed in Venusia.
- A second army left behind to secure Rome.
- A third army under the command of consul Tiberius Coruncanius marched against Etruscans, to avoid an alliance between them and Pyrrhus.
- A fourth army under the command of Publius Valerius Laevinus marched to Tarentum. They also plundered Lucania.
Publius Laevinus moved towards Heraclea, a city founded by the Tarentines, with the intention of cutting Pyrrhus from the Greek colonies of Calabria, thus avoiding their uprising against Rome.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Heraclea
Famous quotes containing the word preparation:
“With memory set smarting like a reopened wound, a man’s past is not simply a dead history, an outworn preparation of the present: it is not a repented error shaken loose from the life: it is a still quivering part of himself, bringing shudders and bitter flavours and the tinglings of a merited shame.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—and much more constructive. If we can prepare ourselves so that we never have to think, “Oh, if I had only known, if I had only been ready,” our lives can really be the great adventure we so passionately want them to be.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“It’s sad but true that if you focus your attention on housework and meal preparation and diapers, raising children does start to look like drudgery pretty quickly. On the other hand, if you see yourself as nothing less than your child’s nurturer, role model, teacher, spiritual guide, and mentor, your days take on a very different cast.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)