This angered Pyrrhus, and wheeling round in spite of his guards, he pushed his way through them-full of wrath, smeared with blood, and with a countenance terrible to look upon, and before the Barbarian could strike dealt him such a blow on the head with his sword that, what with the might of his arm and the excellent temper of his steel, it cleaved its way down through, so that at one instant the parts of the sundered body fell to either side.
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 :
thirdperson: The enemies' reaction is described in 24.4. victim: 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 date: The date is taken from the New Pauly. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/pyrrhus-e1015710 motive: Since he cannot risk discouraging his soldiers by refusing the single combat, Pyrrhus acted for tactical reasons as well as the ambition to prove himself in combat.
