No More Learning

15] L Meanwhile, to gain the favour of the conqueror, Darius was confined in golden fetters and chains in a village of the Parthians named Thara; 2 the immortal gods, I suppose, ordaining that the empire of the Persians should have its termination in the country of those who were to succeed them in dominion. 3 Alexander, hastening his march, arrived there on the following day, when he found that Darius had been conveyed from the place in the night, in a covered vehicle. 4 Directing his army to follow him, he pursued the flying prince with six thousand cavalry. On his march he had several severe encounters, 5 and advanced many miles without finding any traces of Darius. But while he was allowing the horses time to rest, one of the soldiers, going to a neighbouring spring, found Darius in the vehicle, wounded in several places, but still alive. 6 One of the Persian captives being brought forward, the dying prince, knowing from his voice that he was his countryman, said that "he had at least this comfort in his present sufferings, that he should speak to one who could understand him, and that he should not utter his last words in vain. " 7 He then desired that the following message should be given to Alexander: that "he died without having done him any acts of kindness, but a debtor to him for the greatest, 8 since he had found his feelings towards his mother and children to be those of a prince, not of a foe; that he had been more happy in his enemy than in his relations, for by his enemy life had been granted to his mother and children, but taken from himself by his relatives, to whom he had given both life and kingdoms; 9 and that such a requital must therefore be made them as his conqueror should please. 10 For himself, that he made the only return to Alexander which he could at the point of death, by praying to the gods above and below, and the powers that protected kings, that the empire of the world might fall to his lot. 11 That he desired the favour of a decent rather than a magnificent funeral; 12 and, as to avenging his death, it was not his cause alone that was concerned, but precedent, and the common cause of all kings, which it would be both dishonourable and dangerous for him to neglect; since, in regard to vengeance, the interests of justice were affected, and, in regard to precedent, those of the general safety. 13 To this effect he gave him his right hand, as the only pledge of a king's faith to be conveyed to Alexander. " Then, stretching out his hand, he expired.

14 When this intelligence was communicated to Alexander, he went to see the body of the dead monarch, and contemplated with tears a death so unsuitable to his dignity. He also directed his corpse to he buried as that of a king, and his relics to be conveyed to the sepulchres of his ancestors.

BOOK 12

[12. 1] L Alexander interred the soldiers, whom he had lost in the pursuit of Darius, at great expense, and distributed thirteen thousand talents among the rest that attended him in that expedition. 2 Of the horses, the greater part were killed by the heat; and those that survived were rendered unfit for service. 3 All the treasure, amounting to a hundred and ninety thousand talents, was conveyed to Ecbatana, and Parmenion was entrusted with the charge of it. 4 In the midst of these proceedings, letters from Antipater in Macedonia were brought to Alexander, in which the war of Agis king of Sparta in Greece, that of Alexander king of Epirus in Italy, and that of Zopyrion his own lieutenant-general in Scythia, were communicated. 5 At this news he was affected with various emotions, but felt more joy at learning the deaths of two rival kings, than sorrow at the loss of Zopyrion and his army.

6 After the departure of Alexander from Macedonia, almost all Greece, as if to take advantage of the opportunity for recovering their liberty, had risen in arms, yielding, in that respect, to the influence of the Lacedaemonians, 7 who alone had rejected peace from Philippus and Alexander, and had scorned the terms on which it was offered. The leader in this insurrection was Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians, 8 but Antipater, assembling an army, suppressed the commotion in its infancy. 9 The slaughter, however, was great on both sides; 10 for king Agis, when he saw his men taking to flight, dismissed his guards, and, that he might seem inferior to Alexander in fortune only, not in valour, made such a havoc among the enemy, that he sometimes drove whole troops before him. 11 At last, overpowered by numbers, he fell superior to all in glory.

[12. 2] L Alexander, too, the king of Epirus, having been invited into Italy by the Tarentines, who desired his assistance against the Bruttians, had gone thither as eagerly as if, in a division of the world, the east had fallen by lot to Alexander, the son of his sister Olympias, and the west to himself, 2 and as if he was likely to have not less to do in Italy, Africa, and Sicily, than Alexander in Asia and Persia. 3 To this was added, that as the oracle at Delphi had forewarned Alexander the Great against treachery in Macedonia, so that of Jupiter at Dodona had admonished the other Alexander "to beware of the city Pandosia and the river Acheron;" and as both these were in Epirus, 4 and he was ignorant that they were also to be found in Italy, he had the more eagerly fixed on this foreign expedition, in hope of escaping the dangers signified in the warning. 5 On his arrival in Italy, his first contest was with the Apulians; 6 but when he learned the destiny appointed to their city, he soon concluded a peace and alliance with their king. 7 The chief city of the Apulians, at that time, was Brundisium, which a party of Aetolians that followed Diomedes, a leader rendered famous and honourable by his achievements at Troy, had founded; 8 but being expelled by the Apulians, and having recourse to some oracle, they received for answer that "they would possess forever the place which they had sought to recover. " 9 On this ground they demanded of the Apulians that their city should be restored, threatening them with war unless the demand should be complied with. 10 But the oracle becoming known to the Apulians, they put the ambassadors to death, and buried them in the city, that they might have a perpetual abode there; and, having thus given the oracle a fulfilment, they long kept possession of the city. 11 Alexander, hearing of this occurrence, and having great respect for the oracles of antiquity, made an end of hostilities with the Apulians.

12 He engaged also in war with the Bruttians and Lucanians, and captured several cities; and he formed treaties and alliances with the Metapontines, Poediculi, and Romans. 13 But the Bruttians and Lucanians, having collected reinforcements from their neighbours, renewed the war with fresh vigour; 14 when the king was slain near the city Pandosia and the river Acheron, not knowing the name of the fatal place before he fell in it, and understanding, as he was expiring, that the death, for fear of which he had fled from his country, had not been to be dreaded in his country. 15 The Thurians ransomed his body at the public expense, and buried it.

16 During these events in Italy, Zopyrion, who had been left governor of Pontus by Alexander the Great, thinking that, if he did not attempt something, he should be stigmatized as indolent, collected a force of thirty thousand men, and made war upon the Scythians. 17 But being cut off, with his whole army, he paid the penalty for a rash attack upon an innocent people.

[12. 3] L When these occurrences were reported to Alexander, who was then in Parthia, he assumed a show of grief on account of his relationship to Alexander, and caused the army to mourn for three days. 2 But while all his men were expecting, as if the war had been ended, to return to their country, and were embracing in imagination their wives and children, he called a general assembly of the troops; 3 in which he told them that "nothing had been done in so many glorious battles, if the barbarians more to the eastward should be left unmolested; that he had not sought the body, but the throne, of Darius; and that those who had revolted from his government must be punished. " 4 Having, by this speech, revived the spirits of his soldiers for new exertions, he subdued Hyrcania and the Mardians. 5 Here Thalestris, or Minithya, queen of the Amazons, came to meet him, having travelled for twenty-five days, with three hundred women in her train, and through extremely populous nations, in order to have issue by him. 6 Her appearance and arrival was a cause of astonishment to all, both from her dress, which was an unusual one for women, and from the object of her visit. 7 To gratify her, thirteen days' rest was allowed by the king; and when she thought herself pregnant, she took her leave.

8 Soon after, Alexander assumed the attire of the Persian monarchs, as well as the diadem, which was unknown to the kings of Macedonia, as if he gave himself up to the customs of those whom he had conquered. 9 And lest such innovations should be viewed with dislike, if adopted by himself alone, he desired his friends also to wear the long robe of gold and purple. 10 That he might imitate the luxury too, as well as the dress of the Persians, he spent his nights among troops of the king's concubines of eminent beauty and birth. 11 To these extravagances he added vast magnificence in feasting; and lest his entertainments should seem jejune and parsimonious, he accompanied his banquets, according to the ostentation of the eastern monarchs, with games; 12 being utterly unmindful that power is accustomed to be lost, not gained, by such practices.

[12. 4] L During the course of these proceedings, there arose throughout the camp a general indignation that he had so degenerated from his father Philippus as to abjure the very name of his country, and to adopt the manners of the Persians, whom, from the effect of such manners, he had overcome. 2 But that he might not appear to be the only person who yielded to the vices of those whom he had conquered in the field, he permitted his soldiers also, if they had formed a connection with any of the female captives, to marry them; 3 thinking that they would feel less desire to return to their country, when they had some appearance of a house and home in the camp, 4 and that the fatigues of war would be relieved by the agreeable society of their wives. 5 He saw, too, that Macedonia would be less drained to supply the army, if the sons, as recruits, should succeed their veteran fathers, and serve within the ramparts within which they were born, 6 and would be likely to show more courage, if they passed, not only their earliest days of service, but also their infancy, in the camp. 7 This custom was also continued under Alexander's successors. 8 Maintenance was provided for the boys, and arms and horses were given them when they grew up; and rewards were assigned to the fathers in proportion to the number of their children. 9 If the fathers of any of them were killed, the orphans notwithstanding received their father's pay; and their childhood was a sort of military service in various expeditions. 10 Inured from their earliest years to toils and dangers, they formed an invincible army; they looked upon their camp as their country, and upon a battle as a prelude to victory. 11 These children bore the title Epigoni {"The Descendants"}. 12 Alexander then conquered the Parthians, and a Persian nobleman, Andragoras, was appointed to be their governor; it was from him that the Parthian kings of later times were descended.

[12. 5] L Alexander, meanwhile, began to show a passionate temper towards those about him, not with a princely severity, but with the vindictiveness of an enemy. 2 What most incensed him was, that reflections were cast upon him in the common talk of the soldiers, for having cast off the customs of his father Philippus and of his country. 3 For this offence, Parmenion, an old man, next to the king in rank, and his son Philotas, were put to death; an examination by torture having been previously held on both of them. 4 At this instance of cruelty, all the soldiers, throughout the camp, began to express their displeasure, being concerned for the fate of the innocent old general and his son, and saying, at times, that "they must expect nothing better for themselves. " 5 These murmurs coming to the knowledge of Alexander, he, fearing that such reports would be carried to Macedonia, and that the glory of his victories would be sullied by the stain of cruelty, pretended that he was going to send home some of his friends to give an account of his successes. 6 He exhorted his soldiers to write to their relatives, as they would now have fewer opportunities on account of the scene of warfare being further from home. 7 The packets of letters, as they were given in, he commanded to be privately brought to him, 8 and having learned from them what everyone thought of him, he put all those, who had given unfavourable opinions of his conduct, into one regiment, with an intention either to destroy them, or to distribute them in colonies in the most distant parts of the earth.

9 He then subdued the Drancae, the Euergetae, the Parymae, the Parapammeni, the (? ) Arimaspi, and other nations that dwelt at the foot of Mount Caucasus.

10 In the meantime Bessus, one of the former friends of Darius, who had not only betrayed his sovereign, but put him to death, was brought to Alexander in chains, 11 who, that he might be punished for his treachery, delivered him to the brother of Darius to be tortured, considering not so much that Darius had been his enemy, as that he had been the friend of the man by whom he had been lulled.

12 That he might leave his name to these parts, he founded the city of Alexandria on the river Tanais, completing a wall six miles in circuit in seventeen days, and transplanting into it the inhabitants of three cities that had been built by Cyrus. 13 He also built twelve cities in the territories of the Bactrians and Sogdians, and distributed among them such of the soldiers as he had found mutinous.

[12. 6] L After these proceedings, he invited his friends on some particular day, to a banquet, 2 where mention being made, when they were intoxicated, of the great things achieved by Philippus, he began to prefer himself to his father, and to extol the vastness of his own exploits to the skies, the greater part of the company agreeing with him; 3 and when Cleitus, one of the older guests, trusting to his hold on the king's friendship, in which he held the principal place, defended the memory of Philippus, and praised his acts, he so provoked Alexander, that he snatched a weapon from one of the guards, and slew him with it in the midst of the guests. 4 Exulting at the murder, too, he scoffed at the dead man for his defence of Philippus, and his commendation of his mode of warfare. 5 But when his mind, satiated with the bloodshed, grew calm, and reflection took the place of passion, he began, as he contemplated at one time the character of the dead, and at another the occasion of his death, to feel the deepest sorrow for the deed; 6 grieving that he had listened to his father's praises with more anger than he ought to have listened to insults on his memory, and that an old and blameless friend had been slain by him at a feast and carousal. 7 Driven, therefore, to repentance, with the same vehemence with which he had before been impelled to resentment, he determined to die. 8 Bursting into tears, he embraced the dead man, laid his hand on his wounds, and confessed his madness to him as if he could hear; then, snatching up a weapon, he pointed it against his breast, and would have committed suicide, had not his friends interposed. 9 His resolution to die continued even for several days after; 10 for to his other causes of sorrow was added the remembrance of his nurse, the sister of Cleitus, on whose account, though she was far away, he was greatly ashamed of his conduct, 11 lamenting that so base a return should be made her for rearing him; and that, in the maturity of life and conquest, he should have requited her, in whose arms he had spent his infancy, with bloodshed instead of kindness. 12 He reflected, too, what remarks and odium he must have occasioned, as well in his own army as among the conquered nations; what fear and dislike of himself among his other friends; 13 and how dismal and sad he had rendered his entertainment, appearing not less to be dreaded at a feast than when armed in the field of battle. 14 Parmenion and Philotas, his cousin Amyntas, his murdered stepmother and brothers, with Attalus, Eurylochus, Pausanias, and other slaughtered nobles of Macedonia, presented themselves to his imagination. 15 He in consequence persisted in abstaining from food for four days, until he was drawn from his purpose by the prayers of the whole army, who conjured him "not to lament the death of one, 16 so far as to ruin them all; since, after bringing them into the remotest part of the barbarians' country, he would leave them amidst hostile nations exasperated by war. " 17 The entreaties of Callisthenes the philosopher had great effect upon him, a man who was intimate with him from having been his fellow-student under Aristotle, and who had been subsequently sent for, by the king himself, to record his acts for the perusal of posterity. 18 So he turned his attention back to the campaign, and accepted the surrender of the Chorasmi and the Dahae.

[12. 7] L Soon after, he gave orders that he should not be approached with mere salutation, but with adoration; a point of Persian pride to which he had hesitated to advance at first, lest the assumption of everything at once should excite too strong a feeling against him. 2 Among those who refused to obey, the most resolute was Callisthenes; but his opposition proved fatal, both to himself and to several other eminent Macedonians, who were all put to death on the pretence that they were engaged in a conspiracy. 3 The custom of saluting their king was however retained by the Macedonians, adoration being set aside.

4 He then marched into India, that he might have his empire bounded by the ocean, and the extreme parts of the east. 5 That the equipments of his army might be suitable to the glory of the expedition, he mounted the trappings of the horses, and the arms of the soldiers, with silver, and called a body of his men, from having silver shields, Argyraspides. 6 On arriving at the city Nysa, he ordered the inhabitants, who, from their confidence in being protected by their worship of Bacchus, the founder of their city, made no resistance, to be spared; rejoicing that he had not only followed the god's military achievements, but also his footsteps. 7 He then led his army to view the sacred mountain, which was clad with the adornments of nature, the vine and ivy, as beautifully as if it had been tilled by art, and decked by the labour of the cultivator. 8 But the troops, as they approached the hill, were impelled, by a sudden commotion in their minds, to utter devout cries to the god, and ran frantically up and down, to the amazement of the king, but without suffering any harm; whence he might understand that, by sparing the town, he had not so much secured its safety, as that of his own army.

9 He next proceeded to the Daedalian mountains, and the dominions of Queen Cleophis; who, after surrendering to Alexander, recovered her throne from him by admitting him to her bed; saving by her charms what she had been unable to secure by her valour. 10 A son whom she had by him, she named Alexander; and he afterwards sat upon the throne of the Indians. 11 Queen Cleophis, for allowing her chastity to be violated, was thenceforward called by the Indians the royal harlot.

12 Having arrived, in his course through India, at a rock of extraordinary ruggedness and altitude, to which many people had fled for refuge, he learned that Hercules had been hindered from taking it by an earthquake. 13 Seized with a desire, in consequence, to go beyond the exploits of Hercules, he made himself master of the rock with the utmost exertion and peril, and received submission from all the tribes of that part of the country.

[12. 8] L There was one of the kings of India, named Porus, equally distinguished for strength of body and vigour of mind, 2 who, hearing of the fame of Alexander, had been for some time before preparing for war against his arrival. 3 Coming to battle with him, accordingly, he directed his soldiers to attack the rest of the Macedonians, but desired that their king should be reserved as an antagonist for himself. 4 Nor did Alexander decline the contest; but his horse being wounded in the first shock, he fell headlong to the ground, and was saved by his guards gathering round him. 5 Porus, covered with a number of wounds, was made prisoner, 6 and was so grieved at being defeated, that when his life was granted him by the enemy, he would neither take food nor suffer his wounds to be dressed, and was scarcely at last prevailed upon to consent to live. 7 Alexander, from respect to his valour, sent him back in safety to his kingdom. 8 Here he founded two cities, one called Nicaea, and the other, from the name of his horse, Bucephale.

9 He then overthrew the Adrestae, the Gesteani, the Praesidae, and the Gangaridae, with great slaughter among their troops. 10 When he had reached the (? ) kingdom of Sophites, where the enemy awaited him with two thousand cavalry, the whole army, wearied not less with the number of their victories than with their toils in the field, besought him with tears that "he would at length make an end of war, 11 and think on his country and his return; considering the years of his soldiers, whose remainder of life would scarcely suffice for their journey home. " 12 One pointed to his hoary hairs, another to his wounds, another to his body worn out with an age, another to his person disfigured with scars, 13 saying "that they were the only men who had endured continuous service under two kings, Philippus and Alexander;" 14 and conjuring him in conclusion that "he should restore their remains at least to the sepulchres of their fathers, since they failed not in zeal but in age;15 and that, if he would not spare his soldiers, he should yet spare himself, and not wear out his good fortune by pressing it too far. " 16 Moved with these reasonable supplications, he ordered a camp to be formed, as if to mark the termination of his conquests, of greater size than usual, by the works of which the enemy might be astonished, and an admiration of himself be left to posterity. 17 No task did the soldiers execute with more alacrity. After great slaughter of the enemy, they returned to this camp with mutual congratulations.

[12. 9] L From hence Alexander proceeded to the river Acesines, and sailed down it into the ocean. 2 In his way he received the submission of the (? ) Agensonae and the Sibi, whom Hercules settled; 3 next he sailed to the Mandri and Sigambri, who met him with eighty thousand foot and sixty thousand horse. 4 Gaining the victory in a battle, he led his army against their city; 5 and supposing, as he looked from the wall, which he had been the first to mount, that the place was destitute of defenders, he leaped down into the area of the city without a single attendant. 6 The enemy, seeing him alone, gathered round upon him with a shout, to try if by taking one life they could put an end to war in the world, and exact vengeance for the defeats of so many nations. 7 Alexander withstood them with equal spirit, fighting alone against thousands. 8 It is, indeed, incredible, that neither the multitude of enemies, nor the thick showers of javelins, nor the loud outcries of his assailants, could in the least alarm him; and that he alone should have spread havoc and terror among so many thousands. 9 But seeing that he was likely to be overpowered by numbers, he fixed himself against the trunk of a tree that stood by the wall, 10 by the help of which he long resisted a host, when, his danger being known, his friends leaped down to him, many of whom were slain, 11 and the battle continued doubtful, till the whole army, making a breach in the wall, came to his aid. 12 Being wounded in the struggle by an arrow, and likely to faint through loss of blood, he placed his knee on the ground, and fought till he had killed the man by whom he had been wounded. 13 The curing of the wound caused him more suffering than the wound itself.

[12. 10] L Being at length restored to health, after there had been great despair of it, he sent Polysperchon with the army to Babylon, while he himself, with a select band of followers, went on board the fleet, and sailed along the shore of the ocean. 2 When he came to the city of king Ambiger, the inhabitants, hearing that he was invincible to the sword, tipped their arrows with poison; and thus repulsing the enemy from their walls with wounds doubly fatal, they killed a great number of them. 3 Ptolemy, with many others, being wounded, and seeming to be at the point of death, a herb was shown to the king in a, dream as a cure for poison; this being taken in a drink, he was freed from danger, and the greater part of the army were saved by the same remedy. 4 Taking the city afterwards by storm, and returning to the fleet, he made oblations to the ocean, praying for a prosperous return to his country; 5 and having thus, as it were, driven his chariot round the goal, and fixed the boundaries of his empire, as far as either the deserts would suffer him to proceed by land, or the sea was navigable, he sailed up the mouth of the river Indus with the tide. 6 There he built the city Barce, in memory of the exploits achieved by him, and erected altars, leaving one of his friends as governor of the Indians on the coast. 7 As he intended to march from thence by land, and as the parts in the middle of his route were said to be dry, he ordered wells to be made in suitable places, from which he got abundance of fresh water, and so returned to Babylon. 8 Hither many of the conquered people sent deputations to accuse their governors, whom Alexander, without any regard to his former friendship for them, commanded to be put to death in the sight of the deputies.

9 Soon after he married Statira, the daughter of king Darius; but, at the same time, he gave the noblest virgins, chosen from all the conquered natives, as wives to the chiefs of the Macedonians; in order that the impropriety of the king's conduct might be rendered less glaring by the practice becoming general.

[12. 11] L He next assembled the army, and promised that "he would pay all their debts at his own expense," so that they might carry home their spoil and prizes undiminished. 2 This munificence was highly prized, not only for the sum given, but for the character of the gift, and was received not more thankfully by the debtors than by the creditors, exaction being as troublesome to the one as payment to the other. 3 Twenty thousand talents were expended in this largess. 4 Discharging some of the veterans, he replenished the army with younger soldiers. 5 But those that were retained, murmuring at the discharge of the older men, demanded that they themselves should be released likewise; desiring that "their years, not of life, but of service, should be counted," and thinking it reasonable that "those who had been enlisted in the service together, should together be set free from the service. " 6 Nor did they address the king only with entreaties, but also with reproaches, bidding him "carry on his wars alone, with the aid of his father Ammon, since he looked with disdain on his soldiers. " 7 Alexander, on the other hand, sometimes upbraided his men, and sometimes charged them in gentle terms, "not to tarnish their glorious services by mutiny. " 8 At last, when he could produce no effect by words, he leaped unarmed from his tribunal among the armed multitude, to lay hands on the authors of the mutiny; and not a man daring to oppose him, he led thirteen of them, whom he had seized with his own hand, to punishment. 9 Such submission to death did the fear of their king produce in the men; or such courage in inflicting punishment had his knowledge of military discipline given the king.

[12. 12] L He then addressed himself, in a public speech, to the auxiliary troops of the Persians apart from the Macedonians. 2 He extolled their constant fidelity, as well as to himself as to their former kings; he mentioned the kindnesses which he had shown them, saying that "he had never treated them as a conquered people, but always as sharers in his successes; that he had gone over to the usages of their nation, not they to those of his; and that he had mingled the conquerors with the conquered by matrimonial connections. 3 And now," he added, "he would entrust the guardianship of his person, not to the Macedonians only, but also to them. " 4 Accordingly, he enrolled a thousand of their young men among his bodyguard; and at the same time incorporated into his army a portion of the auxiliaries, trained after the discipline of the Macedonians. 5 At this proceeding the Macedonians were much dissatisfied, exclaiming that "their enemies were put into their places by their king;" 6 and at length they all went to Alexander in a body, beseeching him with tears "to content himself rather with punishing than ill-treating them. " 7 By this modest forbearance they produced such an effect upon him, that he released eleven thousand veterans more. 8 Of his own friends, too, were sent away the old men, Polysperchon, Cleitus, Gorgias, Polydamas, Amadas, and Antigenes. 9 Of those that were sent home Craterus was appointed leader, and commissioned to take the government of Macedonia instead of Antipater, whom he summoned, with a body of recruits, to take the place of Craterus. 10 Pay was allowed to those that went home, as if they had been still in the service. 11 In the course of those proceedings, Hephaestion, one of his friends, died; a man who was a great favourite with Alexander, at first on account of his personal qualities in youth, and afterwards from his servility. 12 Alexander mourned for him longer than became his dignity as a king, built a monument for him that cost twelve thousand talents, and gave orders that he should be worshipped as a god.

[12. 13] L As he was returning to Babylon, from the distant shores of the ocean, he was acquainted that embassies from the Carthaginians, and other states of Africa, as well as from the Spains, Sicily, Gaul, and Sardinia, and some also from Italy, were waiting his arrival at that city. 2 So powerfully had the terror of his name diffused itself through the world, that all nations were ready to bow to him as their destined monarch. 3 When he was hastening to Babylon, therefore, to hold an assembly, as it were, of the states of the world, one of the Magi warned him "not to enter the city," for that the "place would be fatal to him. " 4 He accordingly avoided Babylon, and turned aside to Borsippa, a city on the other side of the Euphrates, that had been for some time uninhabited. 5 Here again be was persuaded by Anaxarchus the philosopher, to slight the predictions of the Magi as fallacious and uncertain; observing that, "if things were fixed by fate, they were unknown to mortals, and, if they were dependent on the course of nature, were unchangeable. " 6 Returning, therefore, to Babylon, and allowing himself several days for rest, he renewed, in his usual manner, the entertainments which had been for some time discontinued, 7 resigning himself wholly to mirth, and joining in his cups the night to the day. As he was returning, on one occasion, from a banquet, Medius, a Thessalian, proposing to renew their revelling, invited him and his attendants to his house. 8 Taking up a cup, he suddenly uttered a groan while he was drinking, as if he had been stabbed with a dagger, 9 and being carried half dead from the table, he was excruciated with such torture that he called for a sword to put an end to it, and felt pain at the touch of his attendants as if he were all over wounds. 10 His friends reported that the cause of his disease was excess in drinking, but in reality it was a conspiracy, the infamy of which the power of his successors threw into the shade.

[12. 14] L The author of this conspiracy was Antipater, who, seeing that his dearest friends were put to death, that Alexander Lyncestes, his son-in-law, was cut off, 2 and that he himself, after his important services in Greece, was not so much liked by the king as envied by him, 3 and was also persecuted with various charges by his mother Olympias; 4 reflecting, too, on the severe penalties inflicted, a few days before, on the governors of the conquered nations, 5 and hence imagining that he was sent for from Macedonia, not to share in the war, but to suffer punishment, 6 secretly, in order to be beforehand with Alexander, furnished his son Cassander with poison, who, with his brothers Philippus and Iollas, was accustomed to attend on the king at table. 7 The strength of this poison was so great, that it could be contained neither in brass, nor iron, nor shell, nor could be conveyed in any other way than in the hoof of a horse. 8 Cassander had been warned to trust nobody but the Thessalian and his brothers; and hence it was that the banquet was prepared and renewed in the house of the Thessalian. 9 Philippus and Iollas, who used to taste and mix the king's drink, had the poison ready in cold water, which they put into the drink after it had been tasted.

[12. 15] L On the fourth day, Alexander, finding that death was inevitable, observed that "he perceived the approach of the fate of his family, for most of the Aeacidae had died under thirty years of age. " 2 He then pacified the soldiers, who were making a tumult, from suspecting that the king was the victim of a conspiracy, and, after being carried to the highest part of the city, admitted them to his presence, and gave them his right hand to kiss. 3 While they all wept, he not only did not shed a tear, but showed not the least token of sorrow; so that he even comforted some who grieved immoderately, and gave others messages to their parents; 4 and his soul was as undaunted at meeting death, as it had formerly been at meeting an enemy. 5 When the soldiers were gone, he asked his friends that stood about him, "whether they thought they should find a king like him? " 6 All continuing silent, he said that, "although he did not know that, he knew, and could foretell, and almost saw with his eyes, how much blood Macedonia would shed in the disputes that would follow his death, and with what slaughters, and what quantities of gore, she would perform his obsequies. " 7 At last he ordered his body to be buried in the temple of Jupiter Ammon. 8 When his friends saw him dying, they asked him "whom he would appoint as the successor to his throne? " He replied, "The most worthy. " 9 Such was his nobleness of spirit, that though he left a son named Hercules, a brother called Aridaeus, and his wife Roxane with child, yet, forgetting his relations, he named only "the most worthy" as his successor; 10 as though it were unlawful for any but a brave man to succeed a brave man, or for the power of so great an empire to be left to any but approved governors. 11 But as if, by this reply, he had sounded the signal for battle among his friends, or had thrown the apple of discord amongst them, they all rose in emulation against each other, and tried to gain the favour of the army by secretly paying court to the common soldiers. 12 On the sixth day from the commencement of his illness, being unable to speak, he took his ring from his finger, and gave it to Perdiccas; an act which tranquillized the growing dissension among his friends; 13 for though Perdiccas was not expressly named his successor, he seemed intended to be so in Alexander's judgment.

[12. 16] L Alexander, when he died, was thirty-three years and one month old. He was a man endowed with powers of mind far beyond ordinary human capacity. 2 His mother Olympias, the night in which she conceived him, dreamed that she was entwined with a huge serpent; nor was she deceived by her dream; for she certainly bore in her womb a conception superior to mortality; 3 and though her descent from the Aeacidae, a family of the remotest antiquity, and the royal dignity of her father, brother, husband, and indeed of all her ancestors, conferred sufficient splendour upon her, yet by no one's influence was she rendered more illustrious than that of her son. 4 Some omens of his future greatness appeared at his birth. 5 Two eagles sat the whole of the day on which he was born on the top of his father's palace, giving indication of his double empire over Europe and Asia. 6 The very same day, too, his father received the news of two victories, one in the war with the Illyrians, the other in the Olympic games, to which he had sent some four-horse chariots; an omen which portended to the child the conquest of the world. 7 As a boy, he was ably instructed in elementary learning; 8 and, when his boyhood was past, he improved himself, for five years, under his famous instructor Aristotle. 9 On taking possession of the throne, he gave orders that he should be styled "King of all the earth and of the world;" 10 and he inspired his soldiers with such confidence in him, that, when he was present, they feared the arms of no enemy, though they themselves were unarmed. 11 He, in consequence, never engaged with any enemy whom he did not conquer, besieged no city that he did not take, and invaded no nation that he did not subjugate. 12 He was overcome at last, not by the prowess of any enemy, but by a conspiracy of those whom he trusted, and the treachery of his own subjects.

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Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories
- books 13 to 15
Translated by Rev. J. S. Watson (1853). See key to translations for an explanation of the format.


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BOOK 13

[13. 1] L When Alexander was thus cut off in the flower of his age, and at the height of his successes, a mournful silence prevailed among all people throughout Babylon.
2 But the conquered nations could not give credit to the report of his death, because, as they had believed him to be invincible, they had also conceived that he was immortal, 3 reflecting how frequently he had been snatched from imminent destruction, and how often, when he was given up for lost, he had suddenly presented himself to his soldiers, not only safe, but victorious. 4 As soon, however, as the report of his death was confirmed, all the barbarous nations, whom he had shortly before subdued, lamented for him, not as an enemy, but as a father. 5 The mother, too, of King Darius, who, though she had been reduced, after the death of her son, from the summit of royal dignity to the state of a captive, had, till that day, through the kindness of the conqueror, never felt weary of life, committed suicide when she heard of the death of Alexander; 6 not that she felt more for an enemy than she had felt for her son, but because she had experienced the attention of a son from him whom she had feared as an enemy. 7 The Macedonians, on the other hand, did not mourn for him as a countryman, and a prince of such eminence, but rejoiced at his death as at that of an enemy, execrating his excessive severity and the perpetual hardships of war to which he exposed them. 8 The chiefs, moreover, were looking to sovereignty and offices of command; the common soldiers to the treasury and heaps of gold, as a prize unexpectedly presented to their grasp; the one meditating on the possibility of seizing the throne, the other on the means of securing wealth and plenty; 9 for there were in the treasury fifty thousand talents, while the annual tribute produced thirty thousand. 10 Nor did the friends of Alexander look to the throne without reason; for they were men of such ability and authority, that each of them might have been taken for a king. 11 Such was the personal gracefulness, the commanding stature, and the eminent powers of body and mind, apparent in all of them, that whoever did not know them, would have thought that they had been selected, not from one nation, but from the whole earth. 12 Never before, indeed, did Macedonia, or any other country, abound with such a multitude of distinguished men; 13 whom Philippus first, and afterwards Alexander, had selected with such skill, that they seemed to have been chosen, not so much to attend them to war, as to succeed them on the throne. 14 Who then can wonder, that the world was conquered by such officers, when the army of the Macedonians appeared to be commanded, not by generals, but by princes? - 15 men who would never have found antagonists to cope with them, if they had not quarrelled with one another; while Macedonia would have had many Alexanders instead of one, had not Fortune inspired them with mutual emulation for their mutual destruction.

[13. 2] L But, when Alexander was taken off, their feelings of security were not in proportion to their exultation; for they were all competitors for the same dignity; 2 nor did they fear one another more than the soldiery, whose licence was less controllable, and whose favour was more uncertain. 3 Their very equality inflamed their discord, no one being so far superior to the rest, that any other would submit to him. 4 They therefore met in the palace under arms to settle the present state of affairs. 5 Perdiccas gave his opinion that they ought to wait till Roxane was delivered, who was now eight months gone with child by Alexander; and that, if she brought forth a boy, he should be appointed his father's successor. 6 Meleager argued that their proceedings should not be suspended for the result of an uncertain birth; nor ought they to wait till kings were born, when they might choose from such as were already born; 7 for if they wished for a boy, there was at Pergamum a son of Alexander by Barsine, named Heracles; 8 or, if they would rather have a man, there was then in the camp Arrhidaeus, a brother of Alexander, a person of courteous manners, and acceptable to every body, not only on his own account, but on that of his father Philippus. 9 But that Roxane was of Persian origin, and that it was unlawful that kings should be chosen for the Macedonians from the blood of those whose kingdoms they had overthrown; 10 a choice to which Alexander himself would not have consented, who, indeed, when he was dying, made no mention of Roxane's issue. 11 Ptolemy objected to Arrhidaeus as king, not only on account of the meanness of his mother (he being the son of a courtesan of Larissa), but because of the extraordinary weakness with which he was affected, lest, while he had the name of king, another should exercise the authority; 12 and said that it would be better for them to choose from those who were next in merit to the king, and who could govern the provinces and be entrusted with the conduct of wars, than to be subjected to the tyranny of unworthy men under the authority of a king. 13 The opinion of Perdiccas was adopted with the consent of all; 14 and it was resolved to wait for the delivery of Roxane; and, if a boy should be born, they appointed Leonatus, Perdiccas, Craterus, and Antipater, as his guardians, to whom they at once took an oath of obedience.

[13. 3] L When the cavalry had also taken the oath, the infantry, indignant that no share in the deliberation had been granted to them, proclaimed Arrhidaeus, the brother of Alexander, king, chose him guards from their own body, and appointed that he should be called Philippus, after the name of his father. 2 These proceedings being reported to the cavalry, they despatched two of their officers, Attalus and Meleager, to quell the excitement; but they, hoping for power for themselves by flattering the multitude, neglected their commission and took the side of the soldiers. 3 The insurrection soon gathered strength, when it once began to have a head and regular management. 4 The infantry rushed in a body, under arms, to the palace, with a resolution to cut the cavalry to pieces; 5 but the cavalry, hearing of their approach, retreated in haste from the city, and after pitching their camp, began to threaten the infantry in return. 6 Nor did the animosity of the chiefs, meanwhile, abate. 7 Attalus despatched some of his men to assassinate Perdiccas, the leader of the opposite party, 8 but, as he was armed, the assassins did not dare go near him, though he freely invited them to approach; and such was the resolution of Perdiccas, that he went of his own accord to the infantry, and, summoning them to an assembly, represented to them the atrocity of their conduct; 9 admonishing them to consider against whom they had taken arms; that they were not Persians, but Macedonians; not enemies, but their own countrymen; most of them their kinsmen, but certainly all of them their fellow soldiers, sharers of the same camp and of the same dangers; 10 that they would present a striking spectacle to their enemies, who would rejoice at the mutual slaughter of those by whose arms they grieved at having been conquered; and that they would atone with their own blood to the manes of their slaughtered adversaries.

[13. 4] L Perdiccas having enforced these arguments with eloquence peculiar to himself, produced such an effect upon the infantry, that his admonitions were obeyed, and he was unanimously chosen general. 2 The cavalry, soon after, being reconciled with the infantry, agreed to have Arrhidaeus for their king. 3 A portion of the empire was reserved for Alexander's son, if a son should be born. 4 These proceedings they conducted with the body of Alexander placed in the midst of them, that his majesty might be witness to their resolutions. 5 Such an arrangement being made, Antipater was appointed governor of Macedonia and Greece; the charge of the royal treasure was given to Craterus; the management of the camp, the army, and the war, to Meleager and Perdiccas; 6 and king Arrhidaeus was commissioned to convey the body of Alexander to the temple of Zeus Ammon. 7 Perdiccas, who was still enraged at the authors of the late disturbance, suddenly gave notice, without the knowledge of his colleague, that there would be a lustration of the camp on the following day on account of the king's death. 8 Having drawn up the troops under arms in the field, he, with the general consent, gave orders, as he passed along, that the offenders, selected from each company, should be secretly given up to punishment. 9 On his return, he divided the provinces among the chief men, in order both to remove his rivals out of the way, and to make the gift of power appear a favour from himself. 10 In the first place Egypt, with part of Africa and Arabia, fell by lot to Ptolemy, whom Alexander, for his merit, had raised from the condition of a common soldier; 11 and Cleomenes, who had built Alexandria, was directed to put the province into his hands. 12 Laomedon of Mytilene was allotted Syria, which bordered on Ptolemy's province; and Philotas was allotted Cilicia. 13 Philon of Illyria was set over the Greater Media; and Atropatos, the father-in-law of Perdiccas, over the Lesser. 14 Susiana was assigned to Coenus, and the Greater Phrygia to Antigonus, the son of Philippus. 15 Nearchus received Lycia and Pamphylia; Cassander, Caria; and Menander, Lydia. 16 The Lesser Phrygia fell to Leonatus; Thrace, and the coasts of the Pontic sea, to Lysimachus; Cappadocia and Paphlagonia were given to Eumenes. 17 The chief command of the camp fell to Seleucus the son of Antiochus. 18 Cassander, the son of Antipater, was made commander of the king's guards and attendants. 19 In Further Bactria, and the countries of India, the present governors were allowed to retain their office. 20 The region between the rivers Hydaspes and Indus, Taxiles received. 21 To the colonies settled in India, Pithon, the son of Agenor, was sent. Of the Parapameni, on the borders of mount Caucasus, Oxyartes had the command. 22 The Arachosians and Gedrosians were assigned to Sibyrtius; the Drancae and Arei to Stasanor. 23 Amyntas was allotted the Bactrians, (? ) Staganor the Sogdians, Philippus the Parthians, Phrataphernes the Hyrcanians, Tleptolemus the Carmanians, Peucestes the Persians, Archon of Pella the Babylonians, and Arcesilaus Mesopotamia.

24 When this allotment, like a gift from the fates, was made to each, it was to many of them a great occasion for improving their fortunes; 25 for not long after, as if they had divided kingdoms, not governments, among themselves, they became princes instead of governors, and not only secured great power to themselves, but bequeathed it to their descendants.

[13. 5] L While these things were happening in the east, the Athenians and Aetolians proceeded with all their might to prosecute the war which they had begun during the life of Alexander. 2 The cause of the war was, that Alexander, on his return from India, had written certain letters to Greece, according to which the exiles from all the states, except such as had been convicted of murder, were to be recalled. 3 These letters, being read before all Greece, assembled at the Olympic games, had excited a great commotion; 4 because many had been banished, not by legal authority, but by a faction of the leading men, who were afraid that, if they were recalled, they would become more powerful in their states than themselves. 5 Many states therefore at once expressed open discontent, and said that their liberty must be secured by force of arms. 6 The leaders among them all, however, were the Athenians and Aetolians.

7 This being reported to Alexander, he gave orders that a thousand ships of war should be raised among his allies, with which he might carry on war in the west; and he intended to make an expedition, with a powerful force, to level Athens with the ground. 8 The Athenians, in consequence, collecting an army of thirty thousand men and two hundred ships, went to war with Antipater, to whom the government of Greece had been assigned; and when he declined to come to battle, and sheltered himself within the walls of Heracleia, they besieged him there. 9 At that time Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, who had been banished from his country on the charge of taking gold from Harpalus (a man who had fled from Alexander's severity), bribing him to prevail on the city to go to war with Alexander, happened then to be living in exile at Megara, 10 and learning that Hypereides was sent as an ambassador by the Athenians to persuade the Peloponnesians to join in the war, followed him, and, by his eloquence, brought over Sicyon, Argos, Corinth, and other states, to the Athenian interest. 11 In return for this service a ship was sent for Demosthenes by the Athenians, and he was recalled from banishment. 12 Meanwhile Leosthenes, the general of the Athenians, was killed, while he was besieging Antipater, by a missile hurled at him from the wall as he was passing by. 13 This occurrence gave so much encouragement to Antipater, that he ventured to break down the Athenian rampart. 14 He then sought assistance from Leonatus, who was soon reported to be approaching with his army; but the Athenians met him in battle array, and he was severely wounded in an action of the cavalry, and died. 15 Antipater, though he saw his auxiliaries defeated, was yet rejoiced at the death of Leonatus, congratulating himself that his rival was taken off, and his force added to his own. 16 Taking Leonatus's army under his command, therefore, and thinking himself a match for the enemy, even in a regular battle, he immediately released himself from the siege, and marched away to Macedonia. 17 The forces of the Greeks, too, having driven the enemy from the territory of Greece, went off to their several cities.

[13. 6] L Perdiccas, in the meantime, making war upon Ariarathes, king of the Cappadocians, defeated him in a pitched battle, but got no other reward for his efforts but wounds and perils; 2 for the enemy, retreating from the field into the city, killed each his own wife and children, and set fire to his house and all that he possessed; 3 throwing their slaves too into the flames, and afterwards themselves, that the victorious enemy might enjoy nothing belonging to them but the sight of the conflagration that they had kindled. 4 Soon after, that he might secure royal support to his present power, he turned his thoughts to a marriage with Cleopatra, sister of Alexander the Great, and formerly wife of the other Alexander, her mother Olympias showing no dislike to the match. 5 But he wished first to outwit Antipater, by pretending a desire for an alliance with him, 6 and therefore made a feint of asking his daughter in marriage, the more easily to procure from him young recruits from Macedonia. 7 Since Antipater, however, saw through his deceit, he courted two wives at once, but obtained neither.

8 Afterwards a war arose between Antigonus and Perdiccas; 9 Craterus and Antipater (who, having made peace with the Athenians, had appointed Polysperchon to govern Greece and Macedonia) lent their aid to Antigonus. 10 Perdiccas, as the aspect of affairs was unfavourable, called Arrhidaeus, and Alexander the Great's son, then in Cappadocia (the charge of both of whom had been committed to him), to a consultation concerning the management of the war. 11 Some were of opinion that it should be transferred to Macedonia, to the very head and metropolis of the kingdom, 12 where Olympias, the mother of Alexander, was, who would be no small support to their party, while the good will of their countrymen would be with them, from respect to the names of Alexander and Philippus; 13 but it seemed more to the purpose to begin with Egypt, lest, while they were gone into Macedonia, Asia should be seized by Ptolemy. 14 Paphlagonia, Caria, Lycia, and Phrygia were assigned to Eumenes, in addition to the provinces which he had already received; 15 and he was directed to wait in those parts for Craterus and Antipater. Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas, and Neoptolemus were appointed to support him with their forces. 16 The command of the fleet was given to Cleitus. Cilicia, being taken from Philotas, was given to Philoxenus. Perdiccas himself set out for Egypt with a large army. 17 Thus Macedonia, while its commanders separated into two parties, was armed against its own vitals, and turned the sword from warring against the enemy to the effusion of civil blood, being ready, like people in a fit of madness, to hack its own hands and limbs. 18 But Ptolemy, by his wise exertions in Egypt, was acquiring great power; 19 he had secured the favour of the Egyptians by his extraordinary prudence; he had attached the neighbouring princes by acts of kindness and courtesy; 20 he had extended the boundaries of his kingdom by getting possession of the city Cyrene, and was grown so great that he did not fear his enemies so much as he was feared by them.

[13. 7] L Cyrene was founded by Aristaeus, who, from being tongue-tied, was also called Battus. 2 His father Grinus, king of the isle of Thera, having gone to the oracle at Delphi, to implore the god to remove the ignominy of his son, who was grown up but could not speak, received an answer by which his son Battus was directed to go to Africa, and found the city of Cyrene, where he would gain the use of his tongue. 3 This response appearing but a jest, by reason of the paucity of inhabitants in the island of Thera, from which a colony was desired to go to build a city in a country of such vast extent as Africa, the matter was neglected. 4 Some time after, the Therans, as being guilty of disobedience, were forced by a pestilence to comply with the god's directions. But the number of the colonists was so extremely small that they scarcely filled one ship. 5 Arriving in Africa, they dislodged the inhabitants from a hill named Cyra, and took possession of it for themselves, on account both of the pleasantness of the situation and the abundance of springs in it. 6 Here Battus, their leader, the strings of his tongue being loosed, began to speak; which circumstance, as one part of the god's promises was fulfilled, gave them encouragement to entertain the further hope of building a city. 7 Pitching their camp, accordingly, they received information of an old tradition, that Cyrene, a maiden of extraordinary beauty, was carried off by Apollo from Pelion, a mountain in Thessaly, and brought to that very mountain range on which they had seized a hill, where, becoming pregnant by the god, she brought forth four sons, Nomius, Aristaeus, Autuchus, and Agraeus; 8 and that a party being sent by her father Hypsaeus, king of Thessaly, to seek for the girl, were so attracted by the charms of the place, that they settled there with her. 9 Of her four sons, it was said that three, when they grew up, returned to Thessaly, and inherited their grandfather's kingdom; 10 and that the fourth, Aristaeus, reigned over a great part of Arcadia, and taught mankind the management of bees and honey, and the art of making cheese, and was the first that observed the rising of Sirius at the solstice. 11 On hearing this account, Battus built the city in obedience to the oracle, calling it Cyrene, from the name of the maiden.

[13. 8] L Ptolemy, having increased his strength from the forces of this city, made preparations for war against the coming of Perdiccas. 2 But the hatred which Perdiccas had incurred by his arrogance did him more injury than the power of the enemy; for his allies, detesting his haughtiness, went over in large numbers to Antipater. 3 Neoptolemus, too, who had been left to support Eumenes, intended not only to desert himself, but also to betray the force of his party. 4 Eumenes, understanding his design, thought it a matter of necessity to engage the traitor in the field. 5 Neoptolemus, being worsted, fled to Antipater and Polysperchon, and persuaded them to surprise Eumenes, by marching without intermission, while he was full of joy for his victory, and freed from apprehension by his own flight. 6 But this project did not escape Eumenes; the plot was in consequence turned upon the contrivers of it; and they who expected to attack him unguarded, were attacked themselves when they were on their march, and wearied with watching through the previous night. 7 In this battle, Polysperchon was killed. 8 Neoptolemus, too, engaging hand to hand with Eumenes, and maintaining a long struggle with him, in which both were wounded more than once, was at last overpowered and fell. 9 Eumenes, therefore, being victorious in two successive battles, revived in some degree the spirits of his party, which had been cast down by the desertion of their allies. 10 At last, however, when Perdiccas was killed, Eumenes was declared an enemy by the army, together with Pithon of Illyria, and Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas; and the conduct of the war against them was committed to Antigonus.

BOOK 14

[14. 1] L When Eumenes found that Perdiccas was slain, that he himself was declared an enemy by the Macedonians, and that the conduct of the war against him was committed to Antigonus, 2 he at once made known the state of affairs to his troops, lest report should either exaggerate matters, or alarm the minds of the men with the unexpected nature of the events; 3 designing at the same time to learn how they were affected towards him, and to take his measures according to the feeling expressed by them as a body. 4 He boldly gave notice, however, that " if anyone of them felt dismayed at the news, he had full liberty to depart. " 5 By this declaration he so strongly attached them to his side, that they all immediately exhorted him to prosecute the war, and protested that " they would annul the decrees of the Macedonians with their swords. " 6 Having then led his army into [? ] Aeolis, he exacted contributions from the different cities. and plundered, like an enemy, such as refused to pay. 7 Next he went to Sardis, to Cleopatra, the sister of Alexander the Great, that with her influence he might encourage his captains and chief officers, who would think that the royal authority was on that side on which the sister of Alexander stood. 8 Such veneration was there for the greatness of Alexander, that the influence of his sacred name was sought even by means of women.

9 When he returned to his camp, letters were found scattered through it, in which great rewards were offered to any that should bring the head of Eumenes to Antigonus. 10 This coming to his knowledge, Eumenes, assembling his men, first offered them his congratulations that " none had been found among them who preferred the expectation of a reward stained with blood to the obligation of his military oath. " 11 He then craftily added that these letters had been forged by himself to sound their feelings; 12 but that his life was in the hands of them all; and that neither Antigonus nor any other general would be willing to conquer by such means as would afford the worst of examples against himself. " 13 By acting thus, he both preserved for the present the attachment of such as were wavering, and made it likely that if anything similar should happen in future, the soldiers would think that they were not tampered with by the enemy, but sounded by their own general. 14 All of them in consequence zealously offered him their services for the guard of his person.

[14. 2] L In the meantime Antigonus came up with his army, and having pitched his camp, offered battle on the following day. 2 Nor did Eumenes delay to engage with him; but, being defeated, he fled to a fortress, 3 where, when he saw that he must submit to the hazard of a siege, he dismissed the greater part of his army, lest he should either be delivered to the enemy by consent of the multitude, or the sufferings of the siege should be aggravated by too great a number. 4 He then sent a deputation to Antipater, who was the only general that seemed a match for the power of Antigonus, to entreat his aid; and Antigonus, hearing that succour was despatched by him to Eumenes, gave up the siege. 5 Eumenes was thus for a time, indeed, relieved from fear of death; but, as so great a portion of his army was sent away, he had no great hope of ultimate safety. 6 After taking everything into consideration, therefore, he thought it best to apply to the Argyraspides of Alexander the Great, a body of men that had never yet been conquered, and, radiant with the glory of so many victories. 7 But the Argyraspides disdained all leaders in comparison with Alexander, and thought service under other generals dishonourable to the memory of so great a monarch. 8 Eumenes had, therefore, to address them with flattery; he spoke to each of them in the language of a suppliant, calling them his "fellow-soldiers," his "patrons," or his "companions in the dangers and exploits of the east; " sometimes styling them "his refuge for protection, and his only security; " 9 saying that "they were the only troops by whose valour the east had been subdued; the only troops that had gone beyond the achievements of Bacchus and the monuments of Hercules; 10 that by them Alexander had become great, by them had attained divine honours and immortal glory; " 11 and he begged them "to receive him, not so much in the character of a general, as in that of a fellow-soldier, and to allow him to be one of their body. " 12 Being received on these terms, he gradually succeeded, first by giving them hints individually, and afterwards by gently correcting whatever was done amiss, in gaining the sole command. Nothing could be done in the camp without him; nothing managed without the aid of his judgement.

[14. 3] L At length, when it was announced that Antigonus was approaching with his army, he obliged them to march into the field; 2 where, slighting the orders of their general, they were defeated by the bravery of the enemy. 3 In this battle they lost, with their wives and children, not only their glory from so many wars, but also the booty obtained in their long service. 4 But Eumenes, who was the cause of their disaster, and had no other hope of safety remaining, encouraged them after their repulse, 5 assuring them that "they had the superiority in courage, as five thousand of the enemy had been slain by them; and that if they persevered in the war, their enemies would gladly sue for peace; " 6 adding, that "the losses, by which they estimated their defeat, were two thousand women, and a few children and slaves, which they might better recover by conquering, than by yielding the victory . " 7 The Argyraspides, on the other hand, declared that "they would neither attempt a retreat, after the loss of their property and wives, nor would they war against their own children," 8 and pursued him with reproaches "for having involved them, when they were returning home after so many years of completed service, and with the fruits of so many enterprises, and when on the point of being disbanded, in fresh efforts and vast struggles in the field; for having deluded them, 9 when they were recalled, as it were, from their own hearths, and from the very threshold of their country, with vain promises; 10 and for not allowing them, after having lost all the gains of their fortunate service, to support quietly under their defeat the burden of a poor and unhappy old age. " 11 Immediately after, without the knowledge of their leaders, they sent deputies to Antigonus, requesting that " he would order what was theirs to be restored to them. " Antigonus promised that " he would restore what they asked, if they would deliver up Eumenes to him. " 12 Hearing of this reply, Eumenes, with a few others, attempted to flee, but being brought back, and finding his condition desperate, he requested, as a great crowd gathered around him, to be allowed to address the army for the last time.

[14. 4] L Being desired by them all to speak, and silence being made, and his chains loosed, he held out his hand, fettered as he was, and said, 2 "Soldiers, ye behold the dress and equipments of your general, which it is not anyone of the enemy that has put upon me; for that would be even a consolation to me; 3 but it is you that have made me of a conqueror conquered, and of a general a prisoner. Four times within the present year have you bound yourselves by oath to obey me; 4 but on that point I shall say nothing, for reproaches do not become the unfortunate. 5 One favour only I entreat, that, if the performance of Antigonus's promises depends on my life, you would allow me to die among yourselves; 6 for to him it signifies nothing how or where I fall, and I shall be delivered from an ignominious end. 7 If I obtain this request, I release you from the oath by which you have so often devoted yourselves to me. 8 Or if you are ashamed to offer violence to me at my entreaty, give me a sword, and permit your general to do for you, without the obligation of an oath, that which you have taken an oath to do for your general". 9 Not being able, however, to obtain his request, he changed his tone of entreaty to that of anger, and exclaimed, 10 "May the gods, then, the avengers of perjury, look down in judgement upon you, ye accursed wretches, and bring upon you such deaths as you have brought upon your leaders. 11 It was you, the same who now stand before me, that were lately sprinkled with the blood of Perdiccas, and that planned a similar end for Antipater. 12 You would even have killed Alexander himself, if it had been possible for him to fall by a mortal hand: what was next to it, you harassed him with your mutinies. 13 I, the last victim of your perfidy, now pronounce on you these curses and imprecations: 14 may you live your whole lives in poverty, far from your country, in this camp where you are exiled; and may your own arms, by which you have killed more generals of your own than of your enemies, sink you in utter destruction. " 15 Then, full of indignation, he began to walk before his guards towards the camp of Antigonus. 16 The army followed, surrendering their general, and being themselves made prisoners ; and, leading up a triumph over themselves to the camp of their conqueror, resigned to him, together with their own persons, 17 all their honour gained under king Alexander, and the palms and laurels of so long a warfare; 18 and, that nothing might be wanting to the procession, the elephants and auxiliaries of the east brought up the rear. 19 This single victory was so far more glorious to Antigonus than so many other victories had been to Alexander, that whereas Alexander subdued the east, Antigonus defeated those by whom the east had been subdued. 20 These conquerors of the world then, Antigonus distributed among his army, restoring to them what he had taken in the victory ; 21 and directed that Eumenes, whom, from regard to their former friendship, he did not allow to come into his presence, should be committed to the care of a guard.

[14. 5] L In the meantime Eurydice, the wife of king Arrhidaeus, when she learned that Polysperchon was returning from Greece into Macedonia, and that Olympias was sent for by him, 2 being prompted by a womanish emulation, and taking advantage of her husband's weakness, whose duties she took upon herself, 3 wrote in the king's name to Polysperchon, desiring him " to deliver up the army to Cassander, on whom the king had conferred the government of the kingdom," She made a similar communication to Antigonus, in a letter which she wrote to him in Asia. 4 Cassander, attached to her by such a favour, managed everything according to the will of that ambitious woman. 5 Marching into Greece, he made war upon several cities; 6 by the calamities of which, as by a fire in the neighbourhood, the Spartans were alarmed, and, distrusting their power in arms, enclosed their city (which they had always defended, not with walls, but with their swords) with works of defence, in disregard both of the predictions of the oracles, and of the ancient glory of their forefathers. 7 Strange, that they should have so far degenerated from their ancestors, that, when the valour of the citizens had been for many ages a wall to the city, the citizens could not now think themselves secure unless they had walls to shelter them. 8 But during the course of these proceedings, the disturbed state of Macedonia obliged Cassander to return home from Greece; 9 for Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, coming from Epirus to Macedonia, with Aeacides, king of the Molossians, attending her, and being forbidden to enter the country by Eurydice and king Arrhidaeus, 10 the Macedonians being moved, either by respect for the memory of her husband, or the greatness of her son, or by the indignity with which she was treated, went over to Olympias, by whose order both Eurydice and the king were put to death, he having held the kingdom six years since the decease of Alexander.

[14. 6] L But neither did Olympias reign long; for having committed great slaughter among the nobility throughout the country, like a furious woman rather than a queen, she turned the favour with which she was regarded into hatred. 2 Hearing, therefore, of the approach of Cassander, and distrusting the Macedonians, she retired, with her daughter-in-law Roxane, and her grandson Heracles, to the city of Pydna. 3 Deidameia, the daughter of king Aeacides, and Thessalonice, her step-daughter, rendered illustrious by the name of Philippus, who was her father, and many others, wives of the leading men, a retinue showy rather than serviceable, attended her on her journey. 4 When the news of her retreat was brought to Cassander, he marched immediately, with the utmost expedition, to Pydna, and laid siege to the city. 5 Olympias, distressed with famine and the sword, and the wearisomeness of a long siege, surrendered herself to the conqueror, stipulating only for life. 6 But Cassander, on summoning the people to an assembly, to inquire "what they would wish to be done with Olympias," induced the parents of those whom she had killed to put on mourning apparel, and expose her cruelties; 7 when the Macedonians, exasperated by their statements, decreed, without regard to her former majesty, that she should be put to death ; 8 utterly unmindful that, by the labours of her son and her husband, they had not only lived in security among their neighbours, but had attained to vast power, and even to the conquest of the world. 9 Olympias, seeing armed men advancing towards her, bent upon her destruction, went voluntarily to meet them, dressed in her regal apparel, and leaning on two of her maids. 10 The executioners, on beholding her, struck with the recollection of her former royal dignity, and with the names of so many of their kings, that occurred to their memory in connection with her, stood still, 11 until others were sent by Cassander to despatch her; she, at the same time, not shrinking from the sword or the blow, or crying out like a woman, but submitting to death like the bravest of men, and suitably to the glory of her ancient race, so that you might have perceived the soul of Alexander in his dying mother. 12 As she was expiring, too, she is said to have settled her hair, and to have covered her feet with her robe, that nothing unseemly might appear about her.

13 After these events, Cassander married Thessalonice, the daughter of king Arrhidaeus, and sent the son of Alexander, with his mother, to the citadel of Amphipolis, to be kept under guard.

BOOK 15

[15. 1] L Perdiccas and his brother, with Eumenes and Polysperchon, and other leaders of the opposite party; being killed, the contention among the successors of Alexander seemed to be at an end; when, on a sudden, a dispute arose among the conquerors themselves; 2 for Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus, demanding that " the money taken amongst the spoil, and the provinces, should be divided," Antigonus said that " he would admit no partners in the advantages of a war of which he alone had undergone the perils. " 3 And that he might seem to engage in an honourable contest with his confederates, he gave out that " his object was to avenge the death of Olympias, who had been murdered by Cassander, and to release the son of Alexander, his king, with his mother, from their confinement at Amphipolis. " 4 On hearing this news, Ptolemy and Cassander, forming an alliance with Lysimachus and Seleucus, made vigorous preparations for war by land and sea. 5 Ptolemy had possession of Egypt, with the greater part of Africa, Cyprus, and Phoenicia. Macedonia and Greece were subject to Cassander. 6 Antigonus had taken possession of Asia and the eastern countries. Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, was defeated in the first engagement by Ptolemy, at [? ] Gamala. 7 In this action, the renown gained by Ptolemy for his moderation was greater than that which he obtained from the victory itself; 8 for he let the friends of Demetrius depart, not only with their baggage, but with presents in addition; and he restored Demetrius himself all his private property, together with his family, making, at the same time, this honourable declaration, 9 that " he had not engaged in the war for plunder, but for the maintenance of his own character, being indignant that when the leaders of the opposite faction were conquered, Antigonus claimed the fruits of their common victory for himself. "

[15. 2] L During these transactions, Cassander, returning from Apollonia, fell in with the Antariatae, who, having abandoned their country on account of the vast number of frogs and mice that infested it, were seeking a settlement. 2 Fearing that they might possess themselves of Macedonia, he made a compact with them, received them as allies, and assigned them lands at the extremity of the country. 3 Afterwards, lest Heracles, the son of Alexander, who had nearly completed his fourteenth year, should be called to the throne of Macedonia through the influence of his father's name, he sent secret orders that he should be put to death, together with his mother Barsine, and that their bodies should be privately buried in the earth lest the murder should be betrayed by a regular funeral. 4 As if, too, he had previously incurred but small guilt, first in the case of the king himself, and afterwards in that of his mother Olympias and her son, 5 he cut off his other son, and his mother Roxane, with similar treachery; as though he could not obtain the throne of Macedonia, to which he aspired, otherwise than by crime.

6 Ptolemy meanwhile engaged a second time with Demetrius at sea; and, having lost his fleet, and left the victory to the enemy, fled back to Egypt, 7 whither Demetrius sent Leontiscus, the son of Ptolemy, his brother Menelaus, and his friends, with all their baggage, being induced to this act by like kindness previously shown to himself; 8 and that it might appear that they were stimulated, not by hatred, but by desire of glory and honour, they vied with one another, even amidst war itself, in kindnesses and services. 9 So much more honourably were wars then conducted than private friendships are now maintained!

10 Antigonus, being elated with this victory, gave orders that he himself, as well as his son Demetrius, should be styled king by the people. 11 Ptolemy also, that he might not appear of less authority among his subjects, was called king by his army. 12 Cassander and Lysimachus, too, when they heard of these proceedings, assumed regal dignity themselves. 13 They all abstained, however, from taking the insignia of royalty, as long as any sons of their king survived. 14 Such forbearance was there in them, that, though they had the power, they yet contentedly remained without the distinction of kings, while Alexander had a proper heir. 15 But Ptolemy and Cassander, and the other leaders of the opposite faction, perceiving that they were individually weakened by Antigonus, while each regarded the war, not as the common concern of all, but as merely affecting himself, and all were unwilling to give assistance to one another, as if victory would be only for one, and not for all of them, 16 appointed, after encouraging each other by letters, a time and place for an interview, and prepared for the contest with united strength. 17 Cassander, being unable to join in it, because of a war near home, despatched Lysimachus to the support of his allies with a large force.

[15. 3] L Lysimachus was of a noble family in Macedonia, but was exalted far above any nobility of birth by the proofs which he had given of personal merit, 2 which was so great, that he excelled all those by whom the east was conquered, in greatness of mind, in philosophy, and in reputation for prowess. 3 For when Alexander the Great, in his anger, had pretended that Callisthenes the philosopher, for his opposition to the Persian mode of doing obeisance, was concerned in a plot that had been formed against him, 4 and, by cruelly mangling all his limbs, and cutting off his ears, nose, and lips, had rendered him a shocking and miserable spectacle, 5 and had had him carried about, also, shut up in a cage with a dog, for a terror to others, 6 Lysimachus, who was accustomed to listen to Callisthenes, and to receive precepts of virtue from him, took pity on so great a man, undergoing punishment, not for any crime, but for freedom of speech, and furnished him with poison to relieve him from his misery. 7 At this act A1exander was so displeased, that he ordered Lysimachus to be exposed to a fierce lion; 8 but when the beast, furious at the sight of him, had made a spring towards him, Lysimachus plunged his hand, wrapped in his cloak, into the lion's mouth, and, seizing fast hold of his tongue, killed him. 9 This exploit being related to the king, his wonder at it ended in pleasure, and he regarded Lysimachus with more affection than before, on account of his extraordinary bravery. 10 Lysimachus, likewise, endured the ill treatment of the king with magnanimity, as that of a parent. 11 At last, when all recollection of this affair was effaced from the king's mind, Lysimachus was his only attendant in an excursion through vast heaps of sand, when he was in pursuit of some flying enemies, and had left his guards behind him in consequence of the swiftness of his horse. 12 His brother Philippus, having previously attempted to do him the same service, had expired in the king's arms. 13 Alexander, however, as he alighted from his horse, happened to wound Lysimachus in the forehead with the point of his spear, so severely that the blood could not by any means be stopped, till the king, taking off his diadem, placed it on his head by way of closing the wound; 14 an act which was the first omen of royal dignity to Lysimachus. 15 And after the death of Alexander, when the provinces were divided among his successors, the most warlike nations were assigned to Lysimachus as the bravest of them all; 16 so far, by general consent, had he the pre-eminence over the rest in military merit.