carousals, for he knew that, although in time of peace Demetrius used to
indulge unrestrainedly in these pleasures, yet that in war he was as
sober as though it were natural to him to be so. It is said that, in
allusion to the empire which Lamia had now gained over Demetrius, once
when he affectionately embraced his father on his return from a journey,
Antigonus said, "My boy, you seem to think that you are caressing
Lamia." Another time, when Demetrius spent several days in drinking, and
excused himself by saying that he had been laid up with a severe cold,
Antigonus answered, "So I understood, but was the cold Chian or
Thasian?" Once Antigonus heard that Demetrius had a fever, and went to
see him. At the door he met one of his favourites coming out. He went
in, sat down by his bedside, and took him by the hand. When Demetrius
said that the fever had just left him, Antigonus answered, "Yes, I met
it just now at the door." So gently did he deal with the vices of
Demetrius, because of his many other good qualities. The Scythians have
a custom of twanging their bows while they are drinking and carousing,
as though to recall their courage while it is melting away in pleasure;
but Demetrius used to give up his whole thoughts at one time to
pleasure, and at another to serious work, concentrating his entire
attention upon the matter in hand, so that his amusements never
interfered with his preparations for war.
XX. He appears indeed to have been better able to make preparations for
war than to use them, for he always liked to be more than sufficiently
provided with stores of every kind, and always wished to construct
larger ships, and more powerful battering engines, in the working of
which he took an especial delight. He was intelligent and clever, and
did not waste his mechanical ingenuity in mere pastime, like other
princes, who have amused themselves by playing on the flute, painting,
or working in metal. Æropus, king of Macedonia, used to employ his
leisure time in making little tables and lamps; while Attalus, surnamed
Philometor, amused himself by cultivating poisonous herbs, not merely
hyoscyamus and hellebore, but even hemlock, aconite and dorycnium.[298]
These he used to plant and tend with his own hands in the royal gardens,
and made it his business to know their various juices and fruit, and to
gather it in due season. The kings of Parthia, too, used to pride
themselves upon sharpening the points of their own javelins. But the
mechanics of Demetrius were always upon a royal scale, and his engines
were of enormous size, showing by their admirable and ingenious
construction the grand ideas of their inventor; for they appeared worthy
not only of the genius and wealth, but of the hand of a king. Their size
astonished his friends, while their beauty charmed even his enemies, and
this praise is far from being as exaggerated as it sounds; for his
enemies actually stood in crowds along the sea-shore to admire his ships
of fifteen and sixteen banks of oars, while his "city-takers"[299] were
regarded as wonders even by the towns against which they were employed,
as we may see in a notable example. Lysimachus, who of all the kings of
his time was the bitterest enemy of Demetrius, when he was endeavouring
to force Demetrius to raise the siege of Soli in Cilicia, sent a message
to him asking to be allowed to see his siege engines and his ships of
war. Demetrius indulged his curiosity, and after viewing them he retired
home. The Rhodians also, after they had stood a long siege, when they
came to terms with Demetrius, begged for some of his machines, which
they wished to keep both as a memorial of his power and of their own
courage.
XXI. Demetrius went to war with the Rhodians because they were the
allies of Ptolemy, and brought up to their walls his largest
"city-taker," a machine with a square base, each side of which measured
eight-and-forty cubits at the bottom. It was sixty-six cubits in height,
and its upper part was much narrower than the base. Within, it was
divided into many separate storeys and chambers, with windows on each
storey opening towards the enemy, through which missiles of every kind
could be shot, as it was full of soldiers armed with every kind of
weapon. It never shook nor trembled, but rolled steadily onwards,
upright and firm, with a regular, equable motion, which filled all
spectators with terror and delight. Two steel corslets were brought from
Cyprus for Demetrius to use in this war, each of which weighed forty
minæ.[300] The maker, Zoilus, in order to show their strength and power
of resisting a blow, bade Demetrius shoot a dart out of a catapult at
one of them at a distance of twenty paces. Where it struck, the iron
remained unbroken, and only showed a trifling scratch, such as might be
made by a stilus, or iron pen for writing on wax. This corslet Demetrius
wore himself. He gave the other to Alkimus of Epirus, the bravest and
most warlike man in all his army, who wore a suit of armour weighing two
talents,[301] while that of all the rest weighed only one talent. This
man fell during the siege of Rhodes, in a battle near the theatre.
XXII. The Rhodians defended themselves with great spirit, and Demetrius
was unable to accomplish anything against them; but he still continued
the siege out of anger, because they had captured a ship in which his
wife Phila had sent him letters, clothes and bedding, and had sent it at
once to Ptolemy, just as it was. In this they were far from imitating
the courtesy of the Athenians, who, when Philip was at war with them,
captured a messenger and read all the letters which he carried except
one written by Olympias, which they did not open, but sent it on to him
with the seal unbroken. However, although Demetrius was much nettled by
the conduct of the Rhodians, he did not stoop to retaliation upon them,
although he soon had an opportunity of doing so. Protogenes of Kaunus
happened at that time to be painting a picture of Ialysus[302] for the
Rhodians, and Demetrius found the picture very nearly completed in one
of the suburbs of the city. The Rhodians sent a herald and begged him
to spare the work, and not destroy it, to which he answered, that he
would rather burn his father's statues than such a precious work of art.
Apelles tells us that when he saw this picture, the sight at first took
away his breath; and that at last he said, "Indeed this is a wonderful
piece of work, and must have cost great labour." Yet it has not that
grace which gives so divine a charm to the works of Apelles himself.
This picture shared the common lot of all Greek works of art, being
taken to Rome, where it was destroyed by fire. As the Rhodians gallantly
held their own in the war, Demetrius became weary of the siege, and
gladly accepted the offer of the Athenians to act as mediators. They
made peace between them on condition that the Rhodians should act as the
allies of Antigonus and Demetrius, except against Ptolemy.
XXIII. The Athenians now invited Demetrius to come to their aid, as
Kassander was besieging Athens. Demetrius arrived with three hundred and
thirty ships, and a large land force. He not only drove Kassander out of
Attica, but pursued him as far as Thermopylæ, where he defeated him in a
battle, and gained possession of the city of Heraklea, which voluntarily
surrendered to him. A body of six thousand Macedonians also deserted
from Kassander and joined him. On his return he freed the Greeks south
of Thermopylæ from Macedonian domination, formed an alliance with the
Boeotians and took Kenchreæ. He destroyed the forts at Phyle and
Panaktum in Attica, which had been garrisoned by Kassander's troops, and
restored them to the Athenians. They, although they appeared to have
exhausted every possible form of adulation during his former visit, yet
contrived to flatter him by the invention of fresh honours. They
assigned the interior of the Parthenon to him for his lodging; and there
he dwelt with the title of "the guest of Athena," though he was a very
ill-behaved guest to be quartered in the house of a virgin goddess. Yet
once, when his father heard that his brother Philip was staying in a
house where there were three young women, he said nothing to Philip, but
in his presence sent for the quartermaster and said to him, "Will you
be so good as to find some less crowded quarters for my son."
XXIV. Demetrius, however, without paying the least respect to Athena,
although he was wont to call her his elder sister, filled the Acropolis
with such a series of outrages on well-born youths and women of the
upper classes that the place became comparatively decent when he
contented himself with holding an orgie in the society of the celebrated
courtesans, Chrysis, Lamia, Demo and Antikyra. For the sake of the city
I will say no more about his other debaucheries, but I cannot refrain
from mentioning the virtue and chastity shown by Demokles. He was very
young, and his beauty did not escape the notice of Demetrius; indeed his
nickname betrayed him, for he was always spoken of as Demokles the
Handsome. He turned a deaf ear to all advances, presents, or threats,
and at last ceased to frequent the gymnasium and the palæstra, and used
only a private bath. Demetrius watched his opportunity, and surprised
him there alone. The boy, when he saw that he was caught where no one
could help him, rather than suffer violence, took off the lid of the
copper, leaped into the boiling water, and destroyed himself. He
deserved a better fate, but the spirit which prompted the act was worthy
of his country and of his beauty, and was very different to that of
Kleaenetus the son of Kleomedon, who, when his father was condemned to
pay a fine of fifty talents, obtained a remission of it from Demetrius,
and showed a letter from Demetrius to the Athenian people signifying his
pleasure in the matter; by which conduct Kleaenetus not only disgraced
himself, but threw the whole city into a ferment. Kleomedon's fine was
remitted, but the people decreed that no citizen should ever again bring
them a letter from Demetrius. However, as Demetrius was greatly incensed
at this, and did not conceal his displeasure, the Athenians in terror
not only reversed the decree, but put to death some of those who had
advocated it, and banished others. Moreover, they actually decreed that
"the entire people of Athens should regard anything which King Demetrius
might be pleased to command as both righteous in respect of the gods,
and legal as regards men." When one of the better class of citizens
observed that Stratokles must be mad to propose such a decree,
Demochares[303] of Leukonoe answered "He would be mad not to be
mad,"[304] for Stratokles made a great fortune by his flattery of
Demetrius. This speech was reported to Stratokles, and Demochares was
forced to go into exile. Such was the conduct of the Athenians when they
were relieved of their Macedonian garrison and were thought to have
become a free people.
XXV. Demetrius now proceeded to Peloponnesus, where he met with no
resistance, as the enemy fled before him, and surrendered their cities
to him. He made himself master of the district known as Akte, and of the
whole of Arcadia, except Mantinea, while he set free Argos, Sikyon and
Corinth, by bribing their garrisons to evacuate them with a hundred
talents. At Argos he acted as president of the games at the festival of
Hera, which took place whilst he was there. On this occasion he held a
solemn assembly of all the Greeks, and publicly married Deidameia, a
daughter of Æakides, king of the Molossi, and sister of Pyrrhus. He
remarked to the people of Sikyon that they lived out of their proper
city, and prevailed upon them to remove to the spot which they now
inhabit. He changed the name as well as the situation of the city, and
instead of Sikyon named it Demetrias.
At a largely attended meeting held at the Isthmus, Demetrius was
proclaimed chief of Greece, as Philip and Alexander had been in former
days; though Demetrius considered himself to be not a little superior to
either of them, being elated by his good fortune and the immense force
at his disposal. Alexander never deprived a king of his title, nor did
he ever call himself king of kings, though he raised many to the dignity
and style of kings; but Demetrius scoffed at those who called any one
king, except himself and his father, and was much pleased at his
carousals to hear toasts drunk to the health of Demetrius the King,
Seleukus the Commander of the Elephants, Ptolemy the Admiral,
Lysimachus the Treasurer, and Agathokles of Sicily the Lord of the
Isles. The other princes laughed at these sallies of Demetrius, and only
Lysimachus was angry that Demetrius should think him a eunuch; for it
was a pretty general custom to appoint eunuchs to the post of treasurer.
Indeed Lysimachus hated him more bitterly than all of the rest, and,
sneering at his passion for Lamia, used to declare that he had never
before seen a whore act in a tragedy: to which Demetrius retorted that
his whore was a more respectable woman than Lysimachus's Penelope.
XXVI. Demetrius now set out for Athens, and sent a letter to the
Athenians informing them that he desired to be initiated, and that he
wished to go through the whole course, including both the lesser and the
greater mysteries. This is not lawful, and never took place before, as
the minor initiation used to take place in the month Anthesterion, and
the greater in Boedromion. When the letter was read, no one ventured to
offer any opposition except Pythodorus the torchbearer,[305] and he
effected nothing; for, at the instance of Stratokles, the Athenians
decreed that the month Munychion should be called Anthesterion, and in
it celebrated the mysteries of Demeter which are held at Agræ.[306]
After this the name of the month Munychion was changed again from
Anthesterion to Boedromion, and Demetrius was admitted to the second
degree, and allowed the privileges of an "epoptes." In allusion to this
Philippides rails at Stratokles in his verses as the man
"Who crowds into one month the entire year."
And, in allusion to the lodging of Demetrius in the Parthenon, he wrote
"Who treats Acropolis as t'were an inn
And makes the Virgin's shrine a house of sin."
XXVII. But of all the outrages and illegal acts of which Demetrius was
guilty at this period, nothing seems to have enraged the Athenians so
much as his ordering them speedily to levy a sum of two hundred and
fifty talents, which, when it had been raised by a most harsh and
pitiless series of exactions, was publicly presented by Demetrius to
Lamia and her sisterhood to furnish their toilet-tables. It was the
disgrace of the whole business and the scorn which it brought upon them,
which stung them to the quick, more than the loss of the money. Some
writers say that it was the people of Thessaly, not the Athenians, whom
he treated in this manner. However, besides this, Lamia extorted money
from many citizens on pretence of providing a supper for the king. This
supper was so famous on account of the enormous sum which it cost, that
a history of it was written by Lynkeus of Samos. For this reason one of
the comic poets very cleverly called Lamia a "city-taker." Demochares of
Soli called Demetrius himself "Mythus," or "Fable," because he too had
his Lamia.[307]
Indeed the passion of Demetrius for Lamia caused not only his wives but
his friends to dislike her and be jealous of her. Some of them went on
an embassy to Lysimachus, and he when at leisure showed them on his
thighs and arms the scars of deep wounds caused by a lion's claws,
telling them of how King Alexander had fastened him in the same cage
with the beast, and the battle he had fought with it. On hearing this
they laughingly said that their master also frequently showed upon his
neck the marks of a savage beast called Lamia, which he kept. The wonder
was that Demetrius, who had objected to Phila as being past her first
youth, should yet be so captivated by Lamia, who was now far advanced in
years. Once when Lamia was playing on the flute at a banquet, Demetrius
asked the courtesan Demo, who was surnamed Mania, what she thought of
her. "I think her an old woman, my king," replied she. Again when the
sweetmeats were placed on the table, Demetrius said to Demo, "Do you see
what fine things Lamia sends me?" "My mother," answered Demo, "will send
you many more if only you will sleep with her." A saying of Lamia's
about the well-known judgment of Bocchoris has been recorded. A certain
Egyptian became enamoured of the courtesan Thonis, but she set too high
a price upon her favours for him. Afterwards he dreamed that he had
enjoyed her, and his passion for her cooled. Upon this Thonis sued him
in court for the money, and Bocchoris, having heard the case argued,
ordered the man to place the exact sum which she demanded in a glass
vessel, and to wave it backwards and forwards while she clutched at the
shadow, because the young man's dream had been a shadow of the
reality.[308] Lamia said that she did not think this decision a just
one, because the woman's desire for the gold was not satisfied by the
shadow, as the young man's passion had been by his dream.
XXVIII. But now the fortunes and deeds of the subject of our narrative
force us to pass from a comic to a tragic scene, for all the other kings
conspired against Antigonus, and united their forces together. Demetrius
hereupon sailed away from Greece and joined his father, who was making
wonderful exertions for a man of his age, and who was greatly encouraged
by his son's arrival. Yet it appears as though Antigonus, if only he
would have made some small concessions and restrained his excessive love
of power, might have enjoyed his supreme dignity to the end of his life,
and might have bequeathed to his son his position of chief of all the
successors of Alexander. Being, however, by nature haughty and
disdainful, and even harsher in word than in deed, he alienated from
himself and exasperated many young and powerful men; and even now he
boasted that he would scatter the confederacy by which he was menaced as
easily as a man scares a flock of birds away from a field. He took the
field with more than seventy thousand infantry, ten thousand cavalry,
and seventy-five elephants, while his enemies' army numbered sixty-four
thousand infantry, five hundred more cavalry than his own, four hundred
elephants, and one hundred and twenty war-chariots. When they drew near
he became less hopeful rather than less determined. He was always wont
to show a lofty and boastful spirit in the hour of danger, speaking in a
loud tone, using confident language, and after making some jest when in
the presence of the enemy, to show his own assurance of success and
contempt for his opponents. Now, however, he was thoughtful and silent,
and presented his son to the army as his successor. But what astonished
every one most of all was that he held council with Demetrius alone in
the tent, although he never before had shared his secret thoughts even
with his son, but had always privately formed his own plans, and
publicly carried them out on his own responsibility. It is said that
Demetrius, when still very young, once asked him at what hour he
proposed to march, to which Antigonus angrily answered, "Do you fear,
that you alone will not hear the sound of the trumpet?"
XXIX. On this occasion it appears that they were also disheartened by
sinister omens. Demetrius dreamed that Alexander appeared before him in
shining armour, and inquired what would be their watchword for the
battle. When Demetrius answered "Zeus and victory," Alexander replied,
"I will go away now, and tell this to the enemy; for I am going over to
them." Antigonus, too, as he stepped out of his tent to see his line
formed stumbled and fell heavily upon his face. When he rose, he lifted
his hands to heaven and prayed to the gods that they would either grant
him victory or a painless death before his army was routed.
When the battle began, Demetrius with the flower of the cavalry charged
Antiochus the son of Seleukus, and brilliantly routed the enemy, but he
lost the day by his headstrong eagerness to pursue too far. He was
unable to rejoin the infantry, for the enemy's elephants interposed
between him and the phalanx, which was thus left without any cavalry to
cover its flanks. Seeing this, Seleukus kept the rest of his cavalry
ever threatening to charge, but never actually doing so, hovering near
the phalanx and both terrifying it and giving the men an opportunity of
changing sides, which indeed took place; for a great mass of Antigonus's
infantry came over to Seleukus, and the rest fled. Many enemies now
beset Antigonus, and one of his attendants said to him, "My king, it is
you whom they are making for." "Why," replied he, "what other mark
could they have but me? But Demetrius will soon be here to the rescue."
While he looked round hoping in vain to see his son, a shower of darts
fell, and laid him low. All his friends and attendants now fled, except
one named Thorax, a native of Larissa, who remained by the corpse.
XXX. After this battle the victorious kings proceeded to divide the
empire of Antigonus and Demetrius amongst them, each annexing the
portion which lay nearest to his own dominions, as though they were
cutting slices out of some huge slaughtered beast. Demetrius fled with
five thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, and directed his march
with the utmost speed towards Ephesus. All imagined that in his distress
for money he would not spare the rich temple there, and he himself,
fearing lest his soldiers should do so, set sail as quickly as possible
for Greece, as his chief hopes now lay in Athens. Indeed he had left
there a part of his fleet, some treasure and his wife Deidameia, and
imagined that he could find no surer refuge in his adversity than
Athens, where he felt assured of the loyalty of the people. But while he
was passing the Cyclades he met an embassy from Athens begging him not
to approach that city, since the people had decreed that none of the
kings should be admitted within its walls. The ambassadors added that
his wife Deidameia had been escorted with due honour and respect to
Megara. On hearing this, Demetrius, who had borne the rest of his
misfortunes with the utmost serenity, and had never hitherto allowed an
unworthy expression to escape him, became transported with anger. He
was, in truth, bitterly grieved at being thus unexpectedly betrayed by
the Athenians, and at finding that their apparent enthusiasm in his
cause had all the while been unreal and fictitious. Apparently the
bestowal of excessive honours upon kings and potentates by the people is
but a poor test of their real loyalty, for the essence of these honours
lies in their being freely offered, and they are worthless if prompted
by fear; and men fawn upon those they fear just as they do upon those
whom they really love. For this reason sensible men know how to value
the erection of their statues, flattering decrees, and other public
honours, by reflecting upon what they themselves have done for their
admirers; for by this means they can discern whether these are really
genuine expressions of respect, or are extorted by terror; for peoples
frequently confer these very distinctions upon men whom they hate and
abhor, but whom they are forced to honour against their will.
XXXI. Demetrius, although he considered that he had been very badly
treated by the Athenians, was powerless to resent their conduct. He sent
an embassy to Athens, gently complaining of their conduct, and
requesting that they would restore his ships, one of which was a vessel
of thirteen banks of oars. Having received them he coasted along as far
as the Isthmus, where he found that all his garrisons had been driven
out of the cities, and that the whole country had gone over to his
enemies. He now left Pyrrhus to act as his lieutenant in Greece, and
himself sailed to the Chersonese.[309] Here he enriched his troops at
the expense of Lysimachus by plundering the country, and soon found
means again to collect a very considerable army. The other kings paid no
regard to Lysimachus, thinking that he was no better a man than
Demetrius, and more to be feared because he was more powerful.
Not long after this Seleukus sent an embassy to Demetrius to make
proposals for the hand of Stratonike, the daughter of Demetrius by his
wife Phila. Seleukus already had one son named Antiochus by his wife
Apama, a Persian lady, but he thought that his empire would suffice for
more than one heir, and he desired to form an alliance with Demetrius,
because Lysimachus had recently married one of Ptolemy's daughters
himself, and taken the other for his son Agathokles. To Demetrius this
offer of marriage from Seleukus was a most unexpected piece of good
fortune. He placed his daughter on board ship, and sailed with his
entire fleet to Syria. On his way he was forced to land several times to
obtain supplies, especially on the coast of Cilicia, which province,
after the battle in which Antigonus fell, had been bestowed upon
Pleistarchus, the brother of Kassander. Pleistarchus took umbrage at the
intrusion of Demetrius into his territory, and retired to Macedonia to
complain to his brother that Seleukus was betraying the other kings by
making terms with the common enemy of them all.