The kingdom, after his death, was successively go verned by Alexander II. Ptolemy, Pyrrhus III. and Deidamia. But though this princess succeeded her fa ther, a female hand was too weak to keep her fierce and turbulent subjects in subjection ; a conspiracy was form ed against her, and in the temple of Diana, to which she had fled for refuge, she was barbarously murdered.
The Epirotes then formed themselves into a republic ; but instead of vindicating, by their future valour, that liberty which they had shamefully purchased, they gra dually sunk from the proud station which they formerly occupied, and became subject to the king of Macedon. But when the Macedonians under Philip yielded to the superior destiny of the Romans, the Epirotes received their liberty from the generosity of the conquerors. To free themselves from the debt of gratitude, they enter ed into an alliance with Perseus, the son of Phi lip, against their benefactors, and endeavoured to prop the power which had long oppressed them. The mag nitude of their ingratitude, however, was equalled by its punishment. After sharing in all the adverse fortunes of Perseus, the authors of the war beheld Paulus Emi lius, with an exasperated army, enter their territories ; divide among his daring veterans the wealth which had been amassed for ages ; level in the dust the cities which their fathers had decorated; condemn to slavery a hun dred and fifty thousand of the wretched inhabitants; and transport the chief men of the country to Rome, and to perpetual imprisonment. The glory of Epirus was
now for ever extinguished. When the Consul Mum mies had reduced Corinth to ashes, and dissolved the Achaian league, Epirus became a Roman province. In this state of degradation it remained till the division of the Roman world, when it shared the fortunes of the eastern empire. But when the French and Venetians, under the Marquis of Montserrat, had stormed Constan tinople, and divided the Greek provinces, Michael, a bastard of the house of Angeli, fled from the camp of the Latins, and, seizing upon Epirus, Aetolia, and Thes saly, laid the foundation of a powerful dynasty, and claimed the honours of an independent throne. Theo dore Angelus succeeded to the power and ambition of his brother; took prisoner Courtenay, who had been elected emperor of Constantinople, and had invaded Epirus, expelled Demetrius from his kingdom of Thes salonica, and assumed the lofty appellation of Emperor. This dawn of glory was soon overcast. Amurath II. having driven his descendants from Epirus, bestowed the dependant sovereignty upon the family of the Cas triots, who governed it with varied success. George Cas triot, known by the name of Seanderbeg, was the last of that race who held the sceptre. From him the territory passed to the Venetians, but the Turks soon wrested it from their hands, who still hold it in inglorious subjec tion. It is now known by the name of Albania. (N)