The Project Gutenberg eBook of Plutarch's Lives, Translated from the Greek by Aubrey Stewart and George Long.

“Who was it caused the peplus to be rent?

Who was it caused the frost to blight our vines?

The wretch, who worships mortals like to gods,

His crimes destroy us, not my harmless rhymes?”

This Philippides was a friend of Lysimachus, who for his sake conferred many benefits on the Athenians. Lysimachus imagined that the sight of Philippides before any campaign or expedition was a certain omen of good luck; while Philippides was beloved by him on other grounds, because he gave no trouble and never veiled his thoughts in courtly periphrases. Once Lysimachus, meaning to be very civil to him said, “Philippides, which of my possessions shall I bestow upon you?” “Whichever you please,” answered he, “except your secrets.” I have mentioned these incidents in the life of Philippides, in order to mark the distinction between the comic poet and the mob-orator.

XIII. The most extraordinary of all the honours conferred upon Demetrius was the proposal made by Demokleides of Sphettus to go and ask for an oracular response from him about the consecration of the shields at Delphi. I will write down the exact words of the law as it was proposed. “In a happy hour the people decree that one man shall be chosen from the citizens of Athens, who shall go to our saviour, and after he has done sacrifice unto him, shall ask Demetrius, our saviour, in what manner the people may, with greatest holiness and without delay, make consecration of their offerings; and whatever oracle it shall please him to give them, the people shall perform it.” By this absurd flattery the intellect of Demetrius, at no time very powerful, was thrown completely off its balance.

XIV. While he was living at Athens he married Eurydike, a descendant of the ancient hero Miltiades, who was the widow of Opheltas, King of Cyrene, and had returned to Athens after her husband’s death. The Athenians were greatly delighted at this marriage, which they regarded as an honour to their city; though Demetrius made no sort of difficulty about marriage, and had many wives at the same time. The chief of his wives, and the one whom he most respected, was Phila, the daughter of Antipater, and the widow of Kraterus, who was the most popular with the Macedonians of all the successors of Alexander during his life, and the most lamented by them after his death. Demetrius when very young was forced by his father to marry this woman, who was too old to be a suitable match for him. It is said that when Demetrius expressed his unwillingness to marry her, his father whispered in his ear the line of Euripides:

“To gain a fortune, marriage must be dared.”

substituting the word “marriage” for “bondage,” which occurs in the original. However, the respect which Demetrius paid to her and to his other wives did not prevent his intriguing with various courtesans and mistresses, but he had a worse reputation in this respect than any other king of his age.

XV. His father now ordered him to proceed to Cyprus, and to attack Ptolemy, who was in possession of that island. He was forced to obey this summons, but as he was very unwilling to desist from the war in defence of the liberties of Greece, a much more noble and glorious struggle, he first endeavoured to bribe Ptolemy’s lieutenant in command of the garrison of Sikyon and Corinth to evacuate those cities and render them independent. As this attempt failed he quickly set sail, collected a large force, and proceeded to Cyprus. Here he fought a battle with Menelaus, Ptolemy’s brother, and at once defeated him. Shortly afterwards Ptolemy himself came to Cyprus with an immense fleet and army. The two commanders now interchanged messages of scornful defiance. Ptolemy bade Demetrius put to sea before his own host assembled and overwhelmed him, while Demetrius offered to permit Ptolemy to withdraw from Cyprus on condition that he would give up Corinth and Sikyon. The battle which ensued was one of the deepest interest, not merely to the combatants themselves, but to all the other princes, since its issue would determine not only the fate of Cyprus and Syria, but would at once render the victor the most powerful man in all the world.

XVI. Ptolemy advanced with a fleet of one hundred and fifty sail, and ordered Menelaus, when the battle was at its hottest, to sally out from Salamis with his sixty ships and throw the fleet of Demetrius into disorder by attacking it in the rear. Demetrius sent ten ships to oppose these sixty, for the mouth of the harbour (of Salamis) was so narrow that this number sufficed to close it. He himself now got his land force under arms, disposed it upon several neighbouring promontories, and put to sea with one hundred and eighty ships. He bore straight down upon the enemy’s fleet, and completely defeated it. Ptolemy himself, when all was lost, escaped with only eight ships, the sole survivors of his fleet. All the rest were sunk, except seventy which were captured with their crews on board. All his numerous train of servants, friends and wives, all his arms, money and military engines, which were stationed near the fleet in transports, were captured by Demetrius, who at once conveyed them to his own camp.

Among the spoil was the celebrated Lamia, who had at first been brought into notice by her musical skill, for she was an admirable flute-player, and who had afterwards become notorious by her amours. Her beauty was at this time somewhat faded, yet, although Demetrius was much younger than herself, she so fascinated and enslaved him by her charms, that, though many other women wished for his love, he cared only for her.

After the sea-fight, Menelaus held out no longer, but surrendered Salamis to Demetrius, with all his ships, and a land army of twelve hundred cavalry and twelve thousand heavy-armed infantry.

XVII. Demetrius added to the glory of this brilliant victory by his generous and humane conduct in burying the enemy’s dead with great honour, and in setting free all his prisoners. He sent a present to the Athenians of twelve hundred complete suits of armour from the spoils which he had taken. He also sent Aristodemus of Miletus to bear the news of the victory to his father. Of all his courtiers, this man was the boldest flatterer, and on this occasion he surpassed himself. After his passage from Cyprus, he would not allow his ship to approach the land, but cast anchor, bade all the crew remain on board, and himself rowed ashore in a small boat. He now walked up to the palace of Antigonus, who was in a state of great excitement and impatience to learn the issue of the battle, as may easily be imagined, considering the importance of the stake. When he heard that Aristodemus was come, his anxiety reached its highest pitch. He could scarcely keep himself indoors, and sent messenger after messenger, both servants and his own friends, to learn from Aristodemus what had taken place. Aristodemus returned no answer to any of them, but walked leisurely on with immovable countenance. Antigonus could bear the suspense no longer, but came to the door of his palace to meet Aristodemus, who was now accompanied by a large crowd. When he came near, he stretched forth his right hand, and in a loud voice exclaimed, “Hail, King Antigonus. We have defeated Ptolemy in a sea-fight. We are masters of Cyprus, and have taken sixteen thousand eight hundred prisoners.” To this Antigonus answered, “Hail to you, also; but you shall pay the penalty of having tortured us so long: you shall wait long before you receive the reward for your good news.”

XVIII. After this success, the people for the first time saluted Antigonus and Demetrius with the title of kings. The friends of Antigonus at once placed a diadem upon his head, and he sent one to Demetrius, with a letter in which he addressed him as king. The Egyptians, when they heard of this, also proclaimed Ptolemy king, that they might not appear to be dispirited by their defeat. Their example was soon followed by the other successors of Alexander, out of rivalry, for Lysimachus and Seleukus now began to wear the diadem in the presence of Greeks, though Seleukus had long before adopted the royal style in his dealings with Asiatics. Kassander, however, although every one both in interviews and letters addressed him as king, never used the title in his own letters, but signed them simply with his own name as he had been wont to do.

The assumption of this title produced more important results than a mere empty change of name and style. It caused its bearers to be more exalted in their ideas, more extensive in their ambition, and more pompous and stately in their demeanour, just as actors when they put on royal robes adopt also the lofty port and the haughty voice and carriage of a king. They also became more severe in their administration of justice, because they now laid aside that dissimulation by which they had hitherto concealed their power, and which had rendered them so much more lenient and gentle in their treatment of their subjects. So great was the power of the voice of one flatterer, and such great changes did it effect in the entire world.

XIX. Antigonus, elated by the successes of Demetrius at Cyprus, at once marched to attack Ptolemy. He himself led the land force, while Demetrius accompanied him along the coast with an enormous fleet. But Medius, a friend of Antigonus, was warned in a dream of what was destined to be the issue of the campaign. He dreamed that Antigonus with all his army was running a race in the circus. At first he appeared to be running strongly and fast, but soon his strength seemed to be ebbing away, and at last when he turned round the extreme point of the course and began to return, he was so weak and out of breath that he could hardly recover himself.

Indeed Antigonus by land met with many disasters, while Demetrius at sea met with a terrible storm, and narrowly escaped being driven ashore upon an iron-bound coast. He lost many ships, and returned without having accomplished anything. Antigonus was now very near eighty years of age, and was incapacitated for active service by his size and unwieldiness rather than by his age. He consequently entrusted the management of the war to Demetrius, who had already by his good fortune and skill conducted several most important campaigns with success.

Antigonus was not alarmed at his amours, his extravagancies, or his carousals, for he knew that, although in time of peace Demetrius used to indulge unrestrainedly in these pleasures, yet that in war he was as sober as though it were natural to him to be so. It is said that, in allusion to the empire which Lamia had now gained over Demetrius, once when he affectionately embraced his father on his return from a journey, Antigonus said, “My boy, you seem to think that you are caressing Lamia.” Another time, when Demetrius spent several days in drinking, and excused himself by saying that he had been laid up with a severe cold, Antigonus answered, “So I understood, but was the cold Chian or Thasian?” Once Antigonus heard that Demetrius had a fever, and went to see him. At the door he met one of his favourites coming out. He went in, sat down by his bedside, and took him by the hand. When Demetrius said that the fever had just left him, Antigonus answered, “Yes, I met it just now at the door.” So gently did he deal with the vices of Demetrius, because of his many other good qualities. The Scythians have a custom of twanging their bows while they are drinking and carousing, as though to recall their courage while it is melting away in pleasure; but Demetrius used to give up his whole thoughts at one time to pleasure, and at another to serious work, concentrating his entire attention upon the matter in hand, so that his amusements never interfered with his preparations for war.

XX. He appears indeed to have been better able to make preparations for war than to use them, for he always liked to be more than sufficiently provided with stores of every kind, and always wished to construct larger ships, and more powerful battering engines, in the working of which he took an especial delight. He was intelligent and clever, and did not waste his mechanical ingenuity in mere pastime, like other princes, who have amused themselves by playing on the flute, painting, or working in metal. Æropus, king of Macedonia, used to employ his leisure time in making little tables and lamps; while Attalus, surnamed Philometor, amused himself by cultivating poisonous herbs, not merely hyoscyamus and hellebore, but even hemlock, aconite and dorycnium.298 These he used to plant and tend with his own hands in the royal gardens, and made it his business to know their various juices and fruit, and to gather it in due season. The kings of Parthia, too, used to pride themselves upon sharpening the points of their own javelins. But the mechanics of Demetrius were always upon a royal scale, and his engines were of enormous size, showing by their admirable and ingenious construction the grand ideas of their inventor; for they appeared worthy not only of the genius and wealth, but of the hand of a king. Their size astonished his friends, while their beauty charmed even his enemies, and this praise is far from being as exaggerated as it sounds; for his enemies actually stood in crowds along the sea-shore to admire his ships of fifteen and sixteen banks of oars, while his “city-takers”299 were regarded as wonders even by the towns against which they were employed, as we may see in a notable example. Lysimachus, who of all the kings of his time was the bitterest enemy of Demetrius, when he was endeavouring to force Demetrius to raise the siege of Soli in Cilicia, sent a message to him asking to be allowed to see his siege engines and his ships of war. Demetrius indulged his curiosity, and after viewing them he retired home. The Rhodians also, after they had stood a long siege, when they came to terms with Demetrius, begged for some of his machines, which they wished to keep both as a memorial of his power and of their own courage.

XXI. Demetrius went to war with the Rhodians because they were the allies of Ptolemy, and brought up to their walls his largest “city-taker,” a machine with a square base, each side of which measured eight-and-forty cubits at the bottom. It was sixty-six cubits in height, and its upper part was much narrower than the base. Within, it was divided into many separate storeys and chambers, with windows on each storey opening towards the enemy, through which missiles of every kind could be shot, as it was full of soldiers armed with every kind of weapon. It never shook nor trembled, but rolled steadily onwards, upright and firm, with a regular, equable motion, which filled all spectators with terror and delight. Two steel corslets were brought from Cyprus for Demetrius to use in this war, each of which weighed forty minæ.300 The maker, Zoilus, in order to show their strength and power of resisting a blow, bade Demetrius shoot a dart out of a catapult at one of them at a distance of twenty paces. Where it struck, the iron remained unbroken, and only showed a trifling scratch, such as might be made by a stilus, or iron pen for writing on wax. This corslet Demetrius wore himself. He gave the other to Alkimus of Epirus, the bravest and most warlike man in all his army, who wore a suit of armour weighing two talents,301 while that of all the rest weighed only one talent. This man fell during the siege of Rhodes, in a battle near the theatre.

XXII. The Rhodians defended themselves with great spirit, and Demetrius was unable to accomplish anything against them; but he still continued the siege out of anger, because they had captured a ship in which his wife Phila had sent him letters, clothes and bedding, and had sent it at once to Ptolemy, just as it was. In this they were far from imitating the courtesy of the Athenians, who, when Philip was at war with them, captured a messenger and read all the letters which he carried except one written by Olympias, which they did not open, but sent it on to him with the seal unbroken. However, although Demetrius was much nettled by the conduct of the Rhodians, he did not stoop to retaliation upon them, although he soon had an opportunity of doing so. Protogenes of Kaunus happened at that time to be painting a picture of Ialysus302 for the Rhodians, and Demetrius found the picture very nearly completed in one of the suburbs of the city. The Rhodians sent a herald and begged him to spare the work, and not destroy it, to which he answered, that he would rather burn his father’s statues than such a precious work of art. Apelles tells us that when he saw this picture, the sight at first took Òaway his breath; and that at last he said, “Indeed this is a wonderful piece of work, and must have cost great labour.” Yet it has not that grace which gives so divine a charm to the works of Apelles himself. This picture shared the common lot of all Greek works of art, being taken to Rome, where it was destroyed by fire. As the Rhodians gallantly held their own in the war, Demetrius became weary of the siege, and gladly accepted the offer of the Athenians to act as mediators. They made peace between them on condition that the Rhodians should act as the allies of Antigonus and Demetrius, except against Ptolemy.

XXIII. The Athenians now invited Demetrius to come to their aid, as Kassander was besieging Athens. Demetrius arrived with three hundred and thirty ships, and a large land force. He not only drove Kassander out of Attica, but pursued him as far as Thermopylæ, where he defeated him in a battle, and gained possession of the city of Heraklea, which voluntarily surrendered to him. A body of six thousand Macedonians also deserted from Kassander and joined him. On his return he freed the Greeks south of Thermopylæ from Macedonian domination, formed an alliance with the Boeotians and took Kenchreæ. He destroyed the forts at Phyle and Panaktum in Attica, which had been garrisoned by Kassander’s troops, and restored them to the Athenians. They, although they appeared to have exhausted every possible form of adulation during his former visit, yet contrived to flatter him by the invention of fresh honours. They assigned the interior of the Parthenon to him for his lodging; and there he dwelt with the title of “the guest of Athena,” though he was a very ill-behaved guest to be quartered in the house of a virgin goddess. Yet once, when his father heard that his brother Philip was staying in a house where there were three young women, he said nothing to Philip, but in his presence sent for the quartermaster and said to him, “Will you be so good as to find some less crowded quarters for my son.”

XXIV. Demetrius, however, without paying the least respect to Athena, although he was wont to call her his elder sister, filled the Acropolis with such a series of outrages on well-born youths and women of the upper classes that the place became comparatively decent when he contented himself with holding an orgie in the society of the celebrated courtesans, Chrysis, Lamia, Demo and Antikyra. For the sake of the city I will say no more about his other debaucheries, but I cannot refrain from mentioning the virtue and chastity shown by Demokles. He was very young, and his beauty did not escape the notice of Demetrius; indeed his nickname betrayed him, for he was always spoken of as Demokles the Handsome. He turned a deaf ear to all advances, presents, or threats, and at last ceased to frequent the gymnasium and the palæstra, and used only a private bath. Demetrius watched his opportunity, and surprised him there alone. The boy, when he saw that he was caught where no one could help him, rather than suffer violence, took off the lid of the copper, leaped into the boiling water, and destroyed himself. He deserved a better fate, but the spirit which prompted the act was worthy of his country and of his beauty, and was very different to that of Kleaenetus the son of Kleomedon, who, when his father was condemned to pay a fine of fifty talents, obtained a remission of it from Demetrius, and showed a letter from Demetrius to the Athenian people signifying his pleasure in the matter; by which conduct Kleaenetus not only disgraced himself, but threw the whole city into a ferment. Kleomedon’s fine was remitted, but the people decreed that no citizen should ever again bring them a letter from Demetrius. However, as Demetrius was greatly incensed at this, and did not conceal his displeasure, the Athenians in terror not only reversed the decree, but put to death some of those who had advocated it, and banished others. Moreover, they actually decreed that “the entire people of Athens should regard anything which King Demetrius might be pleased to command as both righteous in respect of the gods, and legal as regards men.” When one of the better class of citizens observed that Stratokles must be mad to propose such a decree, Demochares303 of Leukonoe answered “He would be mad not to be mad,”304 for Stratokles made a great fortune by his flattery of Demetrius. This speech was reported to Stratokles, and Demochares was forced to go into exile. Such was the conduct of the Athenians when they were relieved of their Macedonian garrison and were thought to have become a free people.

XXV. Demetrius now proceeded to Peloponnesus, where he met with no resistance, as the enemy fled before him, and surrendered their cities to him. He made himself master of the district known as Akte, and of the whole of Arcadia, except Mantinea, while he set free Argos, Sikyon and Corinth, by bribing their garrisons to evacuate them with a hundred talents. At Argos he acted as president of the games at the festival of Hera, which took place whilst he was there. On this occasion he held a solemn assembly of all the Greeks, and publicly married Deidameia, a daughter of Æakides, king of the Molossi, and sister of Pyrrhus. He remarked to the people of Sikyon that they lived out of their proper city, and prevailed upon them to remove to the spot which they now inhabit. He changed the name as well as the situation of the city, and instead of Sikyon named it Demetrias.

At a largely attended meeting held at the Isthmus, Demetrius was proclaimed chief of Greece, as Philip and Alexander had been in former days; though Demetrius considered himself to be not a little superior to either of them, being elated by his good fortune and the immense force at his disposal. Alexander never deprived a king of his title, nor did he ever call himself king of kings, though he raised many to the dignity and style of kings; but Demetrius scoffed at those who called any one king, except himself and his father, and was much pleased at his carousals to hear toasts drunk to the health of Demetrius the King, Seleukus the Commander of the Elephants,

Ptolemy the Admiral, Lysimachus the Treasurer, and Agathokles of Sicily the Lord of the Isles. The other princes laughed at these sallies of Demetrius, and only Lysimachus was angry that Demetrius should think him a eunuch; for it was a pretty general custom to appoint eunuchs to the post of treasurer. Indeed Lysimachus hated him more bitterly than all of the rest, and, sneering at his passion for Lamia, used to declare that he had never before seen a whore act in a tragedy: to which Demetrius retorted that his whore was a more respectable woman than Lysimachus’s Penelope.

XXVI. Demetrius now set out for Athens, and sent a letter to the Athenians informing them that he desired to be initiated, and that he wished to go through the whole course, including both the lesser and the greater mysteries. This is not lawful, and never took place before, as the minor initiation used to take place in the month Anthesterion, and the greater in Bœdromion. When the letter was read, no one ventured to offer any opposition except Pythodorus the torchbearer,305 and he effected nothing; for, at the instance of Stratokles, the Athenians decreed that the month Munychion should be called Anthesterion, and in it celebrated the mysteries of Demeter which are held at Agræ.306 After this the name of the month Munychion was changed again from Anthesterion to Bœdromion, and Demetrius was admitted to the second degree, and allowed the privileges of an “epoptes.” In allusion to this Philippides rails at Stratokles in his verses as the man

“Who crowds into one month the entire year.”

And, in allusion to the lodging of Demetrius in the Parthenon, he wrote

“Who treats Acropolis as t’were an inn

And makes the Virgin’s shrine a house of sin.”

XXVII. But of all the outrages and illegal acts of which Demetrius was guilty at this period, nothing seems to have enraged the Athenians so much as his ordering them speedily to levy a sum of two hundred and fifty talents, which, when it had been raised by a most harsh and pitiless series of exactions, was publicly presented by Demetrius to Lamia and her sisterhood to furnish their toilet-tables. It was the disgrace of the whole business and the scorn which it brought upon them, which stung them to the quick, more than the loss of the money. Some writers say that it was the people of Thessaly, not the Athenians, whom he treated in this manner. However, besides this, Lamia extorted money from many citizens on pretence of providing a supper for the king. This supper was so famous on account of the enormous sum which it cost, that a history of it was written by Lynkeus of Samos. For this reason one of the comic poets very cleverly called Lamia a “city-taker.” Demochares of Soli called Demetrius himself “Mythus,” or “Fable,” because he too had his Lamia.307

Indeed the passion of Demetrius for Lamia caused not only his wives but his friends to dislike her and be jealous of her. Some of them went on an embassy to Lysimachus, and he when at leisure showed them on his thighs and arms the scars of deep wounds caused by a lion’s claws, telling them of how King Alexander had fastened him in the same cage with the beast, and the battle he had fought with it. On hearing this they laughingly said that their master also frequently showed upon his neck the marks of a savage beast called Lamia, which he kept. The wonder was that Demetrius, who had objected to Phila as being past her first youth, should yet be so captivated by Lamia, who was now far advanced in years. Once when Lamia was playing on the flute at a banquet, Demetrius asked the courtesan Demo, who was surnamed Mania, what she thought of her. “I think her an old woman, my king,” replied she. Again when the sweetmeats were placed on the table, Demetrius said to Demo, “Do you see what fine things Lamia sends me?” “My mother,” answered Demo, “will send you many more if only you will sleep with her.” A saying of Lamia’s about the well-known judgment of Bocchoris has been recorded.

A certain Egyptian became enamoured of the courtesan Thonis, but she set too high a price upon her favours for him. Afterwards he dreamed that he had enjoyed her, and his passion for her cooled. Upon this Thonis sued him in court for the money, and Bocchoris, having heard the case argued, ordered the man to place the exact sum which she demanded in a glass vessel, and to wave it backwards and forwards while she clutched at the shadow, because the young man’s dream had been a shadow of the reality.308 Lamia said that she did not think this decision a just one, because the woman’s desire for the gold was not satisfied by the shadow, as the young man’s passion had been by his dream.

XXVIII. But now the fortunes and deeds of the subject of our narrative force us to pass from a comic to a tragic scene, for all the other kings conspired against Antigonus, and united their forces together. Demetrius hereupon sailed away from Greece and joined his father, who was making wonderful exertions for a man of his age, and who was greatly encouraged by his son’s arrival. Yet it appears as though Antigonus, if only he would have made some small concessions and restrained his excessive love of power, might have enjoyed his supreme dignity to the end of his life, and might have bequeathed to his son his position of chief of all the successors of Alexander. Being, however, by nature haughty and disdainful, and even harsher in word than in deed, he alienated from himself and exasperated many young and powerful men; and even now he boasted that he would scatter the confederacy by which he was menaced as easily as a man scares a flock of birds away from a field. He took the field with more than seventy thousand infantry, ten thousand cavalry, and seventy-five elephants, while his enemies’ army numbered sixty-four thousand infantry, five hundred more cavalry than his own, four hundred elephants, and one hundred and twenty war-chariots. When they drew near he became less hopeful rather than less determined. He was always wont to show a lofty and boastful spirit in the hour of danger, speaking in a loud tone, using confident language, and after making some jest when in the presence of the enemy, to show his own assurance of success and contempt for his opponents. Now, however, he was thoughtful and silent, and presented his son to the army as his successor. But what astonished every one most of all was that he held council with Demetrius alone in the tent, although he never before had shared his secret thoughts even with his son, but had always privately formed his own plans, and publicly carried them out on his own responsibility. It is said that Demetrius, when still very young, once asked him at what hour he proposed to march, to which Antigonus angrily answered, “Do you fear, that you alone will not hear the sound of the trumpet?”

XXIX. On this occasion it appears that they were also disheartened by sinister omens. Demetrius dreamed that Alexander appeared before him in shining armour, and inquired what would be their watchword for the battle. When Demetrius answered “Zeus and victory,” Alexander replied, “I will go away now, and tell this to the enemy; for I am going over to them.” Antigonus, too, as he stepped out of his tent to see his line formed stumbled and fell heavily upon his face. When he rose, he lifted his hands to heaven and prayed to the gods that they would either grant him victory or a painless death before his army was routed.

When the battle began, Demetrius with the flower of the cavalry charged Antiochus the son of Seleukus, and brilliantly routed the enemy, but he lost the day by his headstrong eagerness to pursue too far. He was unable to rejoin the infantry, for the enemy’s elephants interposed between him and the phalanx, which was thus left without any cavalry to cover its flanks. Seeing this, Seleukus kept the rest of his cavalry ever threatening to charge, but never actually doing so, hovering near the phalanx and both terrifying it and giving the men an opportunity of changing sides, which indeed took place; for a great mass of Antigonus’s infantry came over to Seleukus, and the rest fled. Many enemies now beset Antigonus, and one of his attendants said to him, “My king, it is you whom they are making for.” “Why,” replied he, “what other mark could they have but me? But Demetrius will soon be here to the rescue.” While he looked round hoping in vain to see his son, a shower of darts fell, and laid him low. All his friends and attendants now fled, except one named Thorax, a native of Larissa, who remained by the corpse.

XXX. After this battle the victorious kings proceeded to divide the empire of Antigonus and Demetrius amongst them, each annexing the portion which lay nearest to his own dominions, as though they were cutting slices out of some huge slaughtered beast. Demetrius fled with five thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, and directed his march with the utmost speed towards Ephesus. All imagined that in his distress for money he would not spare the rich temple there, and he himself, fearing lest his soldiers should do so, set sail as quickly as possible for Greece, as his chief hopes now lay in Athens. Indeed he had left there a part of his fleet, some treasure and his wife Deidameia, and imagined that he could find no surer refuge in his adversity than Athens, where he felt assured of the loyalty of the people. But while he was passing the Cyclades he met an embassy from Athens begging him not to approach that city, since the people had decreed that none of the kings should be admitted within its walls. The ambassadors added that his wife Deidameia had been escorted with due honour and respect to Megara. On hearing this, Demetrius, who had borne the rest of his misfortunes with the utmost serenity, and had never hitherto allowed an unworthy expression to escape him, became transported with anger. He was, in truth, bitterly grieved at being thus unexpectedly betrayed by the Athenians, and at finding that their apparent enthusiasm in his cause had all the while been unreal and fictitious. Apparently the bestowal of excessive honours upon kings and potentates by the people is but a poor test of their real loyalty, for the essence of these honours lies in their being freely offered, and they are worthless if prompted by fear; and men fawn upon those they fear just as they do upon those whom they really love. For this reason sensible men know how to value the erection of their statues, flattering decrees, and other public honours, by reflecting upon what they themselves have done for their admirers; for by this means they can discern whether these are really genuine expressions of respect, or are extorted by terror; for peoples frequently confer these very distinctions upon men whom they hate and abhor, but whom they are forced to honour against their will.

XXXI. Demetrius, although he considered that he had been very badly treated by the Athenians, was powerless to resent their conduct. He sent an embassy to Athens, gently complaining of their conduct, and requesting that they would restore his ships, one of which was a vessel of thirteen banks of oars. Having received them he coasted along as far as the Isthmus, where he found that all his garrisons had been driven out of the cities, and that the whole country had gone over to his enemies. He now left Pyrrhus to act as his lieutenant in Greece, and himself sailed to the Chersonese.309 Here he enriched his troops at the expense of Lysimachus by plundering the country, and soon found means again to collect a very considerable army. The other kings paid no regard to Lysimachus, thinking that he was no better a man than Demetrius, and more to be feared because he was more powerful.

Not long after this Seleukus sent an embassy to Demetrius to make proposals for the hand of Stratonike, the daughter of Demetrius by his wife Phila. Seleukus already had one son named Antiochus by his wife Apama, a Persian lady, but he thought that his empire would suffice for more than one heir, and he desired to form an alliance with Demetrius, because Lysimachus had recently married one of Ptolemy’s daughters himself, and taken the other for his son Agathokles. To Demetrius this offer of marriage from Seleukus was a most unexpected piece of good fortune. He placed his daughter on board ship, and sailed with his entire fleet to Syria. On his way he was forced to land several times to obtain supplies, especially on the coast of Cilicia, which province, after the battle in which Antigonus fell, had been bestowed upon Pleistarchus, the brother of Kassander. Pleistarchus took umbrage at the intrusion of Demetrius into his territory, and retired to Macedonia to complain to his brother that Seleukus was betraying the other kings by making terms with the common enemy of them all.

XXXII. Demetrius, when he discovered the intentions of Pleistarchus, proceeded at once to Quinda, where he found the sum of twelve hundred talents still remaining. Having made himself master of this, he quickly reembarked and put to sea. He was now joined by his wife Phila, and met Seleukus at Rhossas. Here the two princes conversed together in a truly royal style, without the least suspicion or fear of treachery. First Seleukus feasted Demetrius in his tent in the midst of his camp, and afterwards Demetrius entertained him at a banquet on board his great thirteen-banked ship. They also talked freely together for a long time, spending several days in friendly intercourse without any body-guard or arms, till at length Seleukus took Stratonike, and escorted her with great pomp to Antiocheia.310 Demetrius now made himself master of Cilicia, and sent his wife Phila to her brother, Kassander, to answer the accusations brought against him by Pleistarchus. During this time Deidameia sailed from Greece and joined Demetrius, but not long after her arrival she sickened and died. By the good offices of Seleukus, Demetrius was now reconciled with Ptolemy, and arranged to take Ptolemäis, Ptolemy’s daughter, for his wife. So far Seleukus behaved very well; but he could not prevail upon Demetrius to give up Cilicia to him for a sum of money, and when he angrily demanded the surrender of Tyre and Sidon, his conduct appears very overbearing and ungenerous, as though he, who had made himself master of all the country between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, were so poor and needy as to be obliged to squabble with his father-in-law about two cities, at a time, too, when the latter was suffering from a great reverse of fortune. How strongly does this bear out the truth of Plato’s maxim, that he who wishes to be really rich ought to lessen his desires rather than increase his property, because if a man places no bounds to his covetousness, he never will be free from want and misery.

XXXIII. Demetrius on this occasion showed no want of spirit. He declared that not if he had lost ten thousand fields like Ipsus would he consent to buy Seleukus for his son-in-law. He strengthened the garrisons of the cities,311 and hearing that Lachares, taking advantage of the factions into which the Athenians were divided, had made himself despot of that city, he thought that if he only were to show himself before Athens he might easily obtain possession of it. He crossed the sea in safety with a large fleet, but when off the coast of Attica he encountered a violent storm, in which he lost most of his ships and a great number of his men. He himself escaped unhurt, and at once began to make war against the Athenians. As, however, he could not effect anything, he sent his lieutenants to collect another fleet, and meanwhile proceeded to Peloponnesus. Here he laid siege to Messene, and during an assault nearly lost his life, for he was struck full in the face by a dart from a catapult, which pierced through his jaw into his mouth. He recovered from his wound, received the submission of several insurgent cities, and returned to Attica, where he made himself master of Eleusis and Rhamnus, and ravaged the country. He captured a ship loaded with wheat bound for Athens, and hanged the captain and pilot, which measure terrified the other merchants so much that they avoided Athens, and a terrible famine took place there, and the want of food brought about a scarcity of everything else. A medimnus312 of salt was sold for forty drachmas, and a modius313 of corn sold for three hundred drachmas.

The Athenians gained a short respite from their sufferings by the appearance near Ægina of a fleet of a hundred and fifty sail, which was sent by Ptolemy to aid them. Soon, however, Demetrius collected from Peloponnesus and Cyprus a fleet of three hundred ships, before which those of Ptolemy were forced to retire. Upon this the despot Lachares made his escape and abandoned the city to its fate.

XXXIV. The Athenians, although they had decreed that anyone who proposed to make peace and come to terms with Demetrius should be put to death, now at once opened their nearest gates and sent an embassy to him; not that they expected to be well treated by him, but acting under the pressure of starvation. It was said that, among other painful incidents, it happened that a father and a son were sitting in the same room, without any hopes of surviving, when a dead mouse fell from the roof, upon which they both started up and began to fight for it. We are told that during this time the philosopher Epikurus kept his disciples alive by counting out to them a fixed allowance of beans every day. This was the condition of the city when Demetrius made his entry into it. He ordered all the Athenians to assemble in the theatre, occupied the stage with armed men, placing his own body-guard round the part usually reserved for the actors, and made his appearance, like a tragic actor, through the entrance at the back.314 The Athenians were greatly terrified at these proceedings, but the first words of his address put an end to their fears. He spoke in a mild and conciliatory tone, briefly and gently, complained of their conduct towards him, and announced his forgiveness of them. He distributed among them one hundred thousand medimni of wheat, and appointed the most popular men in the city to the vacant magistracies. Dromokleides the orator, seeing that the people could scarcely find enough means to express their delight, and that they were eager to outdo the panegyrics which were being lavished upon Demetrius from the bema, proposed that the ports of Peiræus and Munychia should be handed over to King Demetrius. When this was agreed to, Demetrius himself placed a garrison in the Museum, by which he intended to curb the people in case they should grow restive and take off his attention from his other enterprises.

XXXV. Being now master of Athens, Demetrius at once began to attack Lacedæmon. He met the King of Sparta, Archidamus, near Mantinea, defeated him, and invaded Laconia, driving the beaten army before him. He fought a second battle before the walls of Sparta itself, in which he killed two hundred Spartans, and took five hundred prisoners; and he very nearly took the city itself, which up to that time had never been taken. Fortune, however, seems to have introduced greater and more sudden vicissitudes into the life of Demetrius than into that of any other prince, for he was constantly rising from the most abject poverty to the highest pinnacles of wealth and power, and then being as suddenly cast down again. He himself is said, when his fortunes were at their lowest, to have quoted the verse of Æschylus,