[20,12] Ἐν τῇ νυκτί, ἐν ᾗ τὴν στρατιὰν ἀπάξειν ὁ Πύρρος ἔμελλεν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τῷ Ῥωμαίων ἐπιθησόμενος χάρακι λάθρα, ἔδοξε κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ἐκπεσεῖν αὐτοῦ τοὺς πλείους ὀδόντας καὶ πλῆθος αἵματος ἐκ τοῦ στόματος φέρεσθαι. ταραχθεὶς δὲ διὰ τὴν ὄψιν καὶ μεγάλην ἔσεσθαι συμφορὰν μαντευόμενος —ἤδη γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ πρότερον τοιαύτην ὄψιν ἐνυπνίου θεασαμένῳ δεινή τις συνέβη δυσποτμία—ἐβούλετο μὲν ἐπισχεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, οὐκ ἴσχυσε δὲ νικῆσαι τὴν πεπρωμένην ἐναντιουμένων τῶν φίλων πρὸς τὴν ἀναβολὴν καὶ μὴ μεθεῖναι τὸν καιρὸν ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ἀξιούντων. Ἀναβάντων δὲ τῶν σὺν τῷ Πύρρῳ μετὰ τῶν ἐλεφάντων αἴσθησιν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι λαβόντες σκυμνίον ἐλέφαντος τιτρώσκουσιν, ὃ πολλὴν ἀκοσμίαν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐνεποίησε καὶ φυγήν· οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι δύο μὲν ἐλεφάντας ἀποκτείνουσιν, ὀκτὼ δὲ κατακλείσαντες εἰς χωρίον ἀνέξοδον παραδόντων τῶν ἐπ´ αὐτοῖς Ἰνδῶν ζῶντας παραλαμβάνουσι, τῶν δὲ στρατιωτῶν πολὺν φόνον ἐργάζονται.

[20,12] (19.13) During the night in which Pyrrhus was intending to lead his army against the hill to attack the Roman camp secretly it seemed to him in his dreams that most of his teeth fell out and a quantity of blood poured from his mouth. 2 Disturbed by this vision and divining that some great misfortune would ensue, since he had already on an earlier occasion beheld a similar vision in a dream and some dire disaster had followed, he wished to hold back (p423) that day, but was not strong enough to defeat fate; for his friends opposed the delay and demanded that he should not let the favourable opportunity slip from his grasp. 3 (14) When Pyrrhus and those with him had ascended along with the elephants, and the Romans became aware of it, they wounded an elephant cub, which caused great confusion and flight among the Greeks. the Romans killed two elephants, and hemming eight others in a place that had no outlet, took them alive when the Indian mahouts surrendered them; and they wrought great slaughter among the soldiers.