This is the best illustration I could find of a “Pyrrhic Victory”: and if you are familiar with this phrase, you will understand why.
The first-century historian Plutarch tells of battles the Greeks waged against the Romans over three hundred years before his lifetime. At Heraclea (280 BCE) and Asculum (279 BCE), the armies of the Greek leader King Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated the Romans. However, the Greeks spent so many resources on these campaigns that their casualty rates were extraordinarily high. The Romans, whose numbers were much greater than the Greeks, were less burdened by their armies’ losses, whereas the Greeks were running out of resources.
To quote Plutarch, upon realizing the disastrous situation he was facing, King Pyrrhus remarked “one other such victory would utterly undo him.”
Still today, a Pyrrhic Victory is one where the short-term “wins” imperil the long -term goals. Like this poor pup featured here, who might get both dinner and a plunging catastrophic fall.
Sources: ThoughtCo.com, “What’s the origin of the term Pyrrhic Victory?” N.S. Gill, Nov 16, 2019
