KING PYRRHUS

THE term “Pyrrhic victory” comes from a Greek Ruler, King Pyrrhus, who battled with the Romans. Despite being victorious in one epic encounter, his losses were so great he might have been better off defeated.

The same king, they say, told a friend he planned to invade Italy.

“What will you do after that?” the friend asked.

“Then I shall conquer France!” Pyrrhus responded.

“And what then?”

“Why, then it will be Germany. And after that I shall conquer Spain!”

“And when you have conquered the whole world,” the friend asked, “what shall you do then?”

“Then I shall see out my years at home in contented security.”

“It seems to me,” the friend said, “that you might do that anyway, without ever leaving your own land.”

Unless they are in defence of loved ones, so many of our battles and victories might count as “Pyrrhic”, and the world would be better for their absence.

– ‘Pyrrhic victory’ – noun: victory in which the victor’s losses are as great as those of the defeated.