Expert: Maria - 9/20/2007

Question
Hello Maria,

Who said something like this "One more such victory and the cause is lost”?.
Hope you can help me.
Best,
Nancy


Answer
Hi,

As we read in Plutarch’s ‘Life of Pyrrhus’, it was Pyrrhus, king of Epirus (today Albania), who pronounced such a sentence in 279 BC after the battle of Asculum (Apulia, in southern Italy), where he defeated the Roman army, but suffered great losses.
Hence the expression "Pyrrhic victory" meaning a  victory or success that comes at the expense of great losses or costs.
Actually the phrase was pronounced in ancient Greek where it reads as follows “Án eti mían máchen nikésomen, ápolólamen” whose spelling in ancient Greek letters would be “Ἂν ἔτι μίαν μάχην νικήσωμεν, ἀπολώλαμεν" ( hoping you can read it) meaning literally:

“If we won one more battle, we are utterly ruined “

Later in fact in 275 BC Pyrrhus was defeated by the Roman legions in the battle of Maleventum(meaning literally ‘bad event’), whose name the Romans  changed to Beneventum (good event) as they had been victorious.

Best,
Maria