Demetrius

Perseus Greek · Perseus Greek · 240 sections

44.6.1
and at last some of the soldiers ventured to go to Demetrius, bidding him to go away and save himself; for the Macedonians, they said, were tired of waging war in support of his luxurious way of living. Demetrius thought this very moderate language compared with the harshness of the rest; so he went to his tent, and, as if he had been an actor and not a real king, put on a dark cloak in place of his stage-robes of royalty, and stole away unnoticed.
44.7.1
Most of the soldiers at once fell to pillaging and tearing down his tent, and fought with one another for the spoils; but Pyrrhus came up, mastered the camp without a blow, and took possession of it. And all Macedonia was divided between Pyrrhus and Lysimachus, after Demetrius had reigned over it securely for seven years.
45.1.1
When Demetrius thus lost his power and fled for refuge to Cassandreia, his wife Phila was full of grief and could not endure to see her husband, that most afflicted of kings, once more in private station and in exile; she gave up all hope, and in hatred of his fortune, which was more secure in adversity than in prosperity, she drank poison and died. But Demetrius, determined to cling still to what was left of his wrecked fortunes, went off to Greece, and tried to assemble his friends and generals who were there.
45.2.1
The Menelaüs of Sophocles applies this simile to his own fortunes:— But my fate on the swiftly turning wheel of God Goes whirling round forever and ever changes shape, Just as the moon’s appearance for two kindly nights Could never be identical and show no change, But out of darkness first she comes forth young and new, With face that ever grows more beautiful and full, And when she reaches largest and most generous phase, Again she vanisheth away and comes to naught.
45.3.1
This simile might be better used of the fortunes of Demetrius, now waxing and now waning, now full-orbed and now diminished, since even at this time, when his power seemed to fail altogether and suffer extinction, it shot forth new rays of light, and sundry accessions of strength little by little filled out the measure of his hopes. At first he went about visiting the cities in the garb of a private man and without the insignia of a king, and one who saw him thus at Thebes applied to him, not inaptly, the verses of Euripides:— Exchanging now the form of god for that of man, He visits Dirce’s rivulets and Ismenus’ flood.
46.1.1
But as soon as he had entered upon the path of hope, as upon a royal highway, and had gathered about himself a body and form of sovereignty, he restored to the Thebans their ancient form of government; the Athenians, however, revolted from him. They voted to elect archons, as had been their custom of old, and took away from Diphilus, who had been appointed priest of the Saviour-gods, the privilege of giving his name to the current year; and when they saw that Demetrius had more strength than they expected, they summoned Pyrrhus to their aid from Macedonia. Demetrius came up against them in a rage, and began a strenuous siege of the city.
46.2.1
But the people sent to him Crates the philosopher, a man of great repute and influence, and Demetrius, partly because he was induced to grant the ambassador’s appeals in behalf of the Athenians, and partly because he was convinced when the philosopher showed him what would be an advantageous course, raised the siege, and after assembling all the ships he had, and putting on board eleven thousand soldiers, together with his cavalry, he sailed for Asia, to wrest Caria and Lydia from Lysimachus.
46.3.1
He was met at Miletus by Eurydicé, a sister of Phila, who brought with her one of her daughters by Ptolemy, Ptolemaïs, who had been betrothed to Demetrius before this through the agency of Seleucus. Demetrius married her now, and Eurydicé gave the bride away. After the marriage Demetrius at once turned his arms against the cities, many of which attached themselves to him of their own accord, and many also he forced into submission.
46.4.1
He took Sardis also; and some of the generals of Lysimachus came over to him bringing money and troops. But when Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus, came against him with an army, Demetrius retired into Phrygia; he had determined, if once he could reach Armenia, to bring Media to revolt and attempt the upper provinces, which afforded an ejected commander many refuges and retreats.
46.5.1
Agathocles followed him, and though Demetrius had the advantage in their engagements, he was shut off from getting provisions and forage, and was in great straits; besides, his soldiers were suspicious that he was trying to make his way towards Armenia and Media. And not only did famine press them harder, but also some mistake was made in crossing the river Lycus, and a large number of men were carried away by the current and lost. But nevertheless they would have their pleasantries; and one of them wrote up in front of the tent of Demetrius the opening words of the Oedipus, slightly changed:— O child of blind and aged Antigonus, what are These regions whither we are come?
47.1.1
But at last sickness assailed them as well as famine, which is wont to happen when men have recourse to foods which they must eat to save their lives, and after losing no less than eight thousand men in all, Demetrius retraced his steps with the rest and came down to Tarsus. Here he would gladly have spared the country, which was then under Seleucus, and so have given its ruler no ground of complaint;
47.2.1
but this was impossible, for his soldiers were suffering extreme privations, and Agathocles had fortified the passes of the Taurus against him. He therefore wrote a very long letter to Seleucus, bewailing his own misfortunes, and then begging and beseeching him to take pity on a man who was allied to him by marriage, and had suffered enough to win sympathy even from his enemies. Seleucus was somewhat softened by this appeal, and wrote to his generals in that province that they should furnish Demetrius himself with royal maintenance, and his troops with abundant supplies.
47.3.1
But Patrocles, a man in repute for wisdom, and a trusted friend of Seleucus, came to him and told him that the expense of maintaining the soldiers of Demetrius was a very small matter, but that it was unwise for him to allow Demetrius to remain in the country, since he had always been the most violent of the kings, and the most given to grand designs, and was now in a state of fortune where even naturally moderate men are led to commit deeds of daring and injustice.
47.4.1
Incited by this advice, Seleucus marched into Cilicia with a large force. Then Demetrius, filled with amazement and alarm at the sudden change of attitude in Seleucus, withdrew to the strongest fastnesses of the Taurus, and sending messengers to Seleucus, asked that above all things he might be permitted to acquire a petty empire among the independent Barbarians, in which he might end his days without further wanderings and flights; but if this might not be, he begged him to give his troops food for the winter there, and not to drive him forth, stripped and destitute of all things, and cast him into the hands of his enemies.
48.1.1
But Seleucus was suspicious of all this, and told Demetrius that he might, if he wished, spend two months in winter quarters in Cataonia, provided he gave the chief among his friends as hostages; and at the same time he fortified the passes into Syria against him. Then Demetrius, like a wild beast, hemmed in and attacked on all sides, was driven to defend himself; he overran the country, and when Seleucus attacked him, engaged with him and always had the advantage.
48.2.1
Once in particular, when the scythe-bearing chariots were dashing down upon him, he avoided the charge, routed his assailants, drove away those who were fortifying the passes into Syria, and made himself master of them. And now he was completely lifted up in spirit, and seeing that his soldiers had recovered their courage, he made ready to fight to the finish with Seleucus for the supreme prizes. Seleucus himself was already in perplexity.
48.3.1
For he had refused the assistance offered by Lysimachus, whom he distrusted and feared; and by himself he hesitated to join battle with Demetrius, fearing the man’s desperation and the perpetual change which brought him from the extremest destitution to the greatest affluence. However, a grievous sickness seized Demetrius at this juncture; it wrought terrible harm to his body, and utterly ruined his cause. For some of his soldiers went over to the enemy, and others dispersed.
48.4.1
But at last, after forty days, he recovered strength, and taking the soldiers that remained, set out, so far as his enemies could see or conjecture, for Cilicia; then, in the night and without signal by trumpet, he set out in the opposite direction, crossed the range of Amanus, and plundered the lower country as far as Cyrrhestica.
49.1.1
When Seleucus made his appearance there and encamped near by, Demetrius set his army in motion by night and advanced against him. Seleucus was ignorant of his approach for a long time, and lay sleeping. But when some deserters came and told him of his peril, he was astounded, and leaping up ordered the trumpets to be sounded, at the same time pulling on his boots and shouting to his companions that a terrible wild beast was upon them. But Demetrius, perceiving from the noise which his enemies made that they had been informed of his approach, drew off his troops with all speed.
49.2.1
When day came, however, Seleucus was pressing him hard, so he sent one of his officers to the other wing, and partially routed the enemy. But at this point Seleucus himself, quitting his horse, doffing his helmet, and taking a light shield, went to meet the mercenaries of Demetrius, showing them who he was, and exhorting them to come over to him, since they must for some time have been aware that his long forbearance had them in view, and not Demetrius.
49.3.1
Consequently they all welcomed him, hailed him as king, and went over to him. Then Demetrius, perceiving that the last of many reversals of fortune was now come upon him, left the field and fled to the passes of Amanus, where he plunged into a dense forest along with sundry friends and followers, few all told, and waited for the night. He wished, if possible, to take the road to Caunus and make his way through to the sea, where he expected to find his fleet.
49.4.1
But when he learned that the party had not provisions enough even for the coming day, he tried to think of other plans. At this point, however, Sosigenes came up, a companion of his, with four hundred pieces of gold in his belt; so hoping that with this money they could make their way through to the sea, the party set out towards the passes, in the darkness of night. In the passes, however, the enemy were burning fires, so the fugitives despaired of this road and once more returned to their place in the forest-not all of them, for some had run away; nor was the remnant as willing as before.
49.5.1
And when one of them ventured to speak out boldly and say that Demetrius ought to surrender himself to Seleucus, Demetrius drew his sword and would have killed himself; but his friends encompassed him, and with encouraging words persuaded him to do as the man had said. So he sent to Seleucus and put himself at his disposal.
50.1.1
When Seleucus heard of it, he declared that it was not the good fortune of Demetrius that brought him safety, but his own, which, in addition to her other blessings, gave him an opportunity to show generosity and kindness. Then he called his overseers and bade them pitch a royal tent, and to make all other arrangements and preparations for a magnificent reception and entertainment.
50.2.1
There was also with Seleucus a certain Apollonides, who had been an intimate friend of Demetrius; this man was at once sent to him by Seleucus, to give him cheerfulness and confidence by reminders that he was coming into the presence of a man who was a friend and relative. When this purpose of Seleucus became evident, first a few of his friends, then the greater part of them, went off hot foot to Demetrius, vying with one another in their efforts to reach him first; for it was expected that he would at once be a very great personage at the court of Seleucus.
50.3.1
But this behaviour of his friends turned the king’s pity into jealousy, and gave malicious and mischievous persons an opportunity to thwart and put an end to his generosity. They frightened him by their insinuations that without any delay, but at the first sight of Demetrius, there would be a great revolution in the camp.
50.4.1
And so it came to pass that at the very time when Apollonides had come to Demetrius with a joyful countenance, and while the other courtiers were coming up and telling him wonderful tales about Seleucus and his generosity, and when Demetrius, after all his disasters and misfortunes, even if he had once thought his surrender a disgraceful act, had now changed his mind as a result of his courage and hopefulness, up came Pausanias at the head of a thousand soldiers, foot and horse together.
50.5.1
With these he surrounded Demetrius on a sudden, and after sending off everybody else, conducted him, not into the presence of Seleucus, but away to the Syrian Chersonese. Here, for the rest of his life, a strong guard was set over him, a sufficient number of attendants came to him from Seleucus, while money and maintenance was provided for him day by day which was not to be despised, nay, royal courses for riding and walking, and parks with wild game in them, were set apart for his use;
50.6.1
any friend also who shared his exile and wished to visit him could do so, and notwithstanding his captivity sundry people kept coming to him from Seleucus bringing kindly messages and exhorting him to be of good cheer, since as soon as Antiochus came with Stratonicé, he was to be set at liberty.
51.1.1
Demetrius, however, finding himself in this plight, sent word to his son and the friends and commanders who were at Athens and Corinth, bidding them put no trust in letters or seal purporting to be his, but to treat him as dead, and to preserve for Antigonus his cities and the rest of his power.
51.2.1
When Antigonus learned of his father’s capture, he was deeply distressed, put on mourning apparel, and wrote to the other kings and especially to Seleucus himself, supplicating him, and offering to surrender to him whatever was left of his own and his father’s possessions, and above everything else volunteering to be a hostage himself for his father. Many cities also and many rulers joined in these supplications.
51.3.1
But Lysimachus did not; he sent to Seleucus the promise of a large sum of money if he killed Demetrius. But Seleucus, who had always had a feeling of aversion for Lysimachus, all the more for this proposal thought him abominable and barbarous, and continued to keep Demetrius under watch and ward for Antiochus his son and Stratonicé, that the favour of his release might come from them.
52.1.1
But Demetrius, who in the beginning bore up under the misfortune that had come upon him, and presently grew accustomed to it and endured his situation with a better grace, at first, in one way or another, exercised his body, resorting to hunting, so far as he could, or riding; then, little by little, he came to have the greatest indifference and aversion to these sports, took eagerly to drinking and dice, and spent most of his time at these.
52.2.1
This was either because he sought escape from the thoughts on his present condition which tormented him when he was sober, and tried to smother his reflections in drunkenness; or because he had convinced himself that this was the real life, which he had long desired and striven to attain, but had foolishly missed it through folly and empty ambition, thereby bringing many troubles upon himself, and many upon others; he had sought in arms and fleets and armies to find the highest good, but now, to his surprise, had discovered it in idleness and leisure and repose.
52.3.1
For what other end than this can worthless kings seek to attain by their wars and perils? Wicked and foolish indeed are they, not only because they seek after luxury and pleasure instead of virtue and honour, but also because they do not even know how to enjoy real pleasure or true luxury. So, then, Demetrius, after an imprisonment of three years in the Syrian Chersonese, through inactivity and surfeit of food and wine, fell sick and died, in the fifty-fifth year of his life.
52.4.1
Seleucus was in ill repute for this, and repented him bitterly for having cherished such suspicions against Demetrius, and for allowing himself to be outdone even by Dromichaetes, a barbarous Thracian, who had given Lysimachus, his captive, a treatment so humane and royal.
53.1.1
Moreover, there was something dramatic and theatrical even in the funeral ceremonies of Demetrius. For his son Antigonus, when he learned that his remains had been sent home, put to sea with his entire fleet and met them off the islands. They were given to him in a golden urn, and he placed them in the largest of his admiral’s ships.
53.2.1
Of the cities where the fleet touched in its passage, some brought garlands to adorn the urn, others sent men in funeral attire to assist in escorting it home and burying it. When the fleet put in at Corinth, the cinerary vase was conspicuous on the vessel’s poop, adorned with royal purple and a king’s diadem, and young men stood about it in arms as a bodyguard. Moreover, the most celebrated flute-player then living, Xenophantus, sat near, and with the most solemn melody upon his flute accompanied the rowers;
53.3.1
to this melody the oars kept perfect time, and their splashing, like funereal beatings of the breast, answered to the cadences of the flute-tones. But the most pity and lamentation among those who had come in throngs to the sea-shore was awakened by the sight of Antigonus himself, who was bowed down and in tears. After garlands and other honours had been bestowed upon the remains at Corinth, they were brought by Antigonus to Demetrias for burial, a city named after his father, who had settled it from the small villages about Iolcus.
53.4.1
The children left by Demetrius were these: Antigonus and Stratonicé, by Phila; two named Demetrius, one who was surnamed the Thin, by a woman of Illyria, and one who ruled Cyrené, by Ptolemaïs; and, by Deïdameia, Alexander, who lived and died in Egypt. It is said also that he had a son named Corrhagus, by Eurydicé. His line came down in a succession of kings to Perseus, the last, in whose reign the Romans subdued Macedonia. And now that the Macedonian play has been performed, let us introduce the Roman.

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