and here the Mamertines, more than ten thousand of whom had crossed in advance of him, though they were afraid to match forces with him, yet threw his whole army into confusion by setting upon him and assailing him in difficult regions. Two of his elephants fell, and great numbers of his rearguard were slain.
Edition :
Plutarch Lives IX: Demetrius and Antony, Pyrrhus and Caius Marius, Ed. Jeffrey Henderson, trans. Bernadotte Perrin (The Loeb Classical Library 101), Harvard University Press: Cambridge/MA - London 1968 (first ed. 1920).
Remark :
perpetrator: Mamertini is only the self-assigned name these mercenaries of "former Oscan" origin gave themselves, see: https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/mamertini-e719960?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.brill-s-new-pauly&s.q=mamertini thirdperson: Pyrrhus' help is mentioned in 24.2. His army is listed twice because one part was attacked while the other part came to their help. date: The date is taken from the New Pauly. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/pyrrhus-e1015710
