§ 1.0  PREFACE: AFTER many Romans, men even of consular dignity, had committed the acts of their countrymen to writing in Greek, a foreign language, Pompeius Trogus, a man of eloquence equal to that of the ancients, whether prompted by a desire to emulate their glory, or charmed by the variety and novelty of the undertaking, composed the history of Greece, and of the whole world, in the Latin tongue, in order that, as our actions might be read in Greek, so those of the Greeks might be read in our language; attempting a work that demanded extraordinary resolution and labour. For when, to most authors who write the history only of particular princes or nations, their task appears an affair of arduous effort, must not Pompeius Trogus, in attempting the whole world, seem to have acted with a boldness like that of Hercules, since in his books are contained the actions of all ages, monarchs, nations, and people? All that the historians of Greece had undertaken separately, according to what was suitable to each, Pompeius Trogus, omitting only what was useless, has put together in one narration, everything being assigned to its proper period, and arranged in the regular order of events. From these forty-four volumes therefore (for such was the number that he published), I have extracted, during the leisure that I enjoyed in the city, whatever was most worthy of being known; and, rejecting such parts as were neither attractive for the pleasure of reading, nor necessary by way of example, have formed, as it were, a small collection of flowers, that those who are acquainted with the history of Greece might have something to refresh their memories, and those who are strangers to it something for their instruction. This work I have sent to you, not so much that it may add to your knowledge, as that it may receive your correction; and that, at the same time, the account of my leisure, of which Cato thinks that an account must be given, may stand fair with you. For your approbation is sufficient for me for the present, with the expectation of receiving from posterity, when the malice of detraction has died away, an ample testimony to my diligence.

§ 1.1  ORIGINALLY, the government of nations and tribes was in the hands of kings; whom it was not their flattery of the people, but their discretion, as commended by the prudent, that elevated to the height of this dignity. The people were not then bound by any laws; the wills of their princes were instead of laws. It was their custom to defend, rather than advance, the boundaries of their empire. The dominions of each were confined within his own country.
The first of all princes, who, from an extravagant desire of ruling, changed this old and, as it were, hereditary custom, was Ninus, king of the Assyrians. It was he who first made war upon his neighbours, and subdued the nations, as yet too barbarous to resist him, as far as the frontiers of Libya Sesostris, king of Egypt, and Tanaus, king of Scythia, were indeed prior to him in time; the one of whom advanced into Pontus, and the other as far as Egypt; but these princes engaged in distant wars, not in struggles with their neighbours; they did not seek dominion for themselves, but glory for their people, and, content with victory, declined to govern those whom they subdued. But Ninus established the greatness of his acquired dominion by immediately possessing himself of the conquered countries. Overcoming, accordingly, the nearest people, and advancing, fortified with an accession of strength, against others, while each successive victory became the instrument of one to follow, he subjugated the nations of the whole east. His last war was with Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians, who is said to have been the first that invented magic arts, and to have investigated, with great attention, the origin of the world and the motions of the stars. After killing Zoroaster, Ninus himself died, leaving a son called Ninyas, still a minor, and a wife, whose name was Semiramis.

§ 1.2  Semiramis, not daring to entrust the government to a youth, or openly to take it upon herself (as so many great, nations would scarcely submit to one man, much less to a woman), pretended that she was the son of Ninus instead of his wife, a male instead of a female. The stature of both mother and son was low, their voice alike weak, and the cast of their features similar. She accordingly clad her arms and legs in long garments, and decked her head with a turban; and, that she might not appear to conceal any thing by this new dress, she ordered her subjects also to wear the same apparel; a fashion which the whole nation has since retained. Having thus dissembled her sex at the commencement of her reign, she was believed to be a male. She afterwards performed many noble actions; and when she thought envy was overcome by the greatness of them, she acknowledged who she was, and whom she had personated. Nor did this confession detract from her authority as a sovereign, but increased the admiration of her, since she, being a woman, surpassed, not only women, but men, in heroism.
It was she that built Babylon, and constructed round the city a wall of burnt brick; bitumen, a substance which everywhere oozes from the ground in those parts, being spread between the bricks instead of mortar. Many other famous acts, too, were performed by this queen; for, not content with preserving the territories acquired by her husband, she added Ethiopia also to her empire; and she even made war upon India, into which no prince, except her and Alexander the Great, ever penetrated. At last, conceiving a criminal passion for her son, she was killed by him, after holding the kingdom two and forty years from the death of Ninus.
Her son Ninyas, content with the empire acquired by his parents, laid aside the pursuits of war, and, as if he had changed sexes with his mother, was seldom seen by men, but grew old in the company of his women. His successors too, following his example, gave answers to their people through their ministers. The Assyrians, who were afterwards called Syrians, held their empire thirteen hundred years.

§ 1.3  The last king that reigned over them was Sardanapalus, a man more effeminate than a woman. One of his satraps, named Arbaces, governor of the Medes, having, with great difficulty and after much solicitation, obtained admission to visit him, found him, among crowds of concubines, and in the dress, of a woman, spinning purple wool with a distaff, and distributing tasks to girls, but surpassing all the women in the effeminacy of his person and the wantonness of his looks. At that sight, feeling indignant that so many men should be subject to one so much of a woman, and that those who bore swords and arms should obey one that handled wool, he proceeded to his companions, and told them what he had seen, protesting that he could not submit to a prince who had rather be a woman than a man. A conspiracy was consequently formed, and war raised against Sardanapalus; who, hearing of what had occurred, and acting, not like a man that would defend his kingdom, but as women are wont to do under fear of death, first looked about for a hiding-place, but afterwards marched into the field with a few ill-disciplined troops. Being conquered in battle, he withdrew into his palace, and, having raised and set fire to a pile of combustibles, threw himself and his riches into the flames, in this respect only acting like a man. After him Arbaces, who was the occasion of his death, and who had been governor of the Medes, was made king, and transferred the empire from the Assyrians to the Medes.

§ 1.4  After several kings, the crown, by order of succession, descended to Astyages. This prince, in a dream, saw a vine spring from the womb of his only daughter, with the branches of which all Asia was overshadowed. The soothsayers being consulted concerning the vision, replied, that he would have a grandson by that daughter, whose greatness was foreshown, and the loss of Astyages's kingdom portended. Alarmed at this answer, he gave his daughter in marriage, not to an eminent man, nor to one of his own subjects (lest nobility on the father or mother's side should rouse the spirit of his grandson), but to Cambyses, a man of mean fortune, and of the race of the Persians, which was at that time obscure. But not having, even thus, got rid of his fear of the dream, he sent for his daughter, while she was pregnant, that her child might be put to death under the very eye of his grandfather. The infant, as soon as it was born, was given to Harpagus, a friend of the king's and in his secrets, to be killed. Harpagus, fearing that if the crown, on the death of the king (as Astyages had no male issue), should devolve upon his daughter, she might exact from the agent, for the murder of her child, that revenge which she could not inflict on her father, gave the infant to the herdsman of the king's cattle to be exposed. The herdsman, by chance, had a son born at the same time; and his wife, hearing of the exposure of the royal infant, entreated, with the utmost earnestness, that the child might be brought and shown to her. The herdsman, overcome by her solicitations, went back into the wood, and found a dog by the infant, giving it her teats, and protecting it from the beasts and birds of prey. Being moved with pity, with which he saw even a dog moved, he carried the child to the cattle-folds, the dog vigilantly following him. When the woman took the babe into her hands, it smiled upon her as if it knew her; and there appeared so much vivacity in it, with a certain sweetness in its smile as it clung to her, that the wife at once entreated the herdsman to expose her own child instead of the other, and to allow her to bring up the royal infant, whether to his own fortune or to her hopes. Thus the lot of the children being changed, the one was brought up as the shepherd's son, and the other exposed as the king's grandson. The nurse had afterwards the name of Spaco; for so the Persians call a dog.

§ 1.5  The boy after a time, while he was among the shepherds, received the name of Cyrus. Subsequently, being chosen by lot king among his play-fellows, and having boldly scourged such of them as were disobedient to him, a complaint was made to the king by the parents of the boys, who were angry that free-born youths should be lashed with servile stripes by the king's slave. Astyages having sent for the boy and questioned him, and the boy replying, without any change of countenance, that 'he had acted as a king,' was struck with his high spirit, and reminded of his dream and its interpretation. In consequence, as both the resemblance of his features, the time of his exposure, and the confession of the herdsman, concurred exactly, he acknowledged him as his grandson. And since he seemed to have had his dream accomplished, by the boy's exercise of rule among the shepherds, he subdued his feelings of animosity; but with regard to him only; for, being incensed with his friend Harpagus, he, in revenge for the preservation of his grandson, killed his son, and gave him to his father to eat. Harpagus, dissembling his resentment for the present, deferred showing his malice towards the king, until a proper time for vengeance should occur.
Some time having elapsed, and Cyrus being grown up, Harpagus, prompted by his resentment for the loss of his child, wrote him an account how he had been banished to the Persians by his grandfather; how his grandfather had ordered him to be killed when he was an infant; how he had been saved by his kindness; how he himself had incurred the king's displeasure, and how he had lost his son. He exhorted him to raise an army, and march directly to seize the throne, promising that the Medes should join him. This letter, because it could not be conveyed openly, as the king's guards occupied all the roads, was enclosed in the body of a hare, of which the bowels had been taken out; and the hare was committed to a trusty slave, to be carried into Persia to Cyrus. Nets were also given him, that the plot might be concealed under the appearance of a hunting expedition.

§ 1.6  Cyrus, after reading the letter, was exhorted in a dream to make the same attempt; but was also admonished to take the first man that he should meet on the following day, as a companion in his enterprize. Commencing his journey from the country, accordingly, before it was light, he met a slave named Soebaris, coming from the slave-house of a certain Mede. Having questioned him as to his birth-place, and hearing that he was born in Persia, he knocked off his fetters, took him with him as his companion, and returned to Persepolis. Here, having called the people together, he ordered them all to attend him with axes, and to cut down a wood that skirted each side of the road. When they had thoroughly accomplished this, he invited them on the following day to a feast prepared for them. Then, as soon as he saw them exhilarated with the banquet, he asked them, 'if an offer were made them, which sort of life they would choose, a life of labour like that of yesterday, or of feasting like the present?' As they all exclaimed, 'A life of feasting like the present,' he told them that, 'as long as they obeyed the Medes, they must lead a life like the drudgery of yesterday; but, if they would follow him, a life like the present entertainment.' All expressing their joy, he made war upon the Medes.
Astyages, forgetting his treatment of Harpagus, entrusted him with the management of the war. Harpagus immediately delivered up the forces, which he had received from Astyages, to Cyrus, and took revenge for the king's cruelty by a treacherous desertion of him. Astyages, hearing of this occurrence, and collecting troops from all quarters, marched against the Persians in person. Having vigorously renewed the contest, he posted part of his army, while his men were fighting, in their rear, and ordered that those who turned back should be driven on the enemy with the point of the sword; telling them that, 'unless they conquered, they would find men in their rear not less stout than those in their front; and they were therefore to consider whether they would penetrate the one body by fleeing, or the other body by fighting.' In consequence of this obligation to fight, great spirit and vigour was infused into his army. As the Persian troops, therefore, were driven back, and were gradually retiring, their mothers and wives ran to meet them, and besought them to return to the field. While they hesitated, they took up their garments, and showed them the secret parts of their persons, asking them, 'if they would shrink back into the wombs of their mothers or their wives.' Checked with this reproach, they returned to the battle, and, making a vigorous assault, compelled those from whom they had fled to flee in their turn. In this battle Astyages was taken prisoner; from whom Cyrus took nothing but his kingdom, and, acting towards him the part rather of a grandson than of a conqueror, made him ruler of the powerful nation of the Hyrcanians; for to the Medes he was unwilling to return. Such was the termination of the empire of the Medes, who had ruled three hundred and fifty years.

§ 1.7  In the beginning of his reign, Cyrus appointed Soebaris (his companion in his undertakings, whom, in conformity with his dream, he had released from the slave-house, and made a sharer in all his enterprises), governor of Persia, and gave him his sister in marriage. But several cities, which had been tributary to the Medes, thinking that their condition was changed by this change in the government, revolted from Cyrus; a revolt which was the occasion and source of many wars against him. When he had at length, however, reduced most of them to submission, and was carrying on war against the Babylonians, Croesus, king of Lydia, whose power and riches were at that time extraordinary, came to the aid of that people, but, being soon defeated and abandoned, fled back to his kingdom. Cyrus, after his victory, as soon as he had settled affairs in Babylonia, transferred the war into Lydia, where he easily routed the army of Craesus, already dispirited by the event of the former battle. Croesus himself was taken prisoner. But in proportion to the smallness of the danger in the battle, was the greatness of the clemency shown by Cyrus on his victory. To Croesus was granted his life, part of his hereditary possessions, and the city Barene, in. which he lived, though not the life of a king, yet one scarcely inferior to royal dignity. This lenity was of no less advantage to the conqueror than to the conquered; for when it was known that war was made upon Craesus, auxiliaries flocked to him from the whole of Greece, as if to extinguish a conflagration that threatened them all; so popular was Croesus in all the Greek cities; and Cyrus would have incurred a heavy war with Greece, if he had resolved on any severe treatment of Croesus.
Some time after, when Cyrus was engaged in other wars, the Lydians rebelled, and, being a second time conquered, their arms and horses were taken from them, and they were compelled to keep taverns, to turn their thoughts to amusements, and open houses of pleasure. Thus a nation, formerly powerful through its industry, and brave in the field, was rendered effeminate by ease and luxury, and lost its ancient spirit; and those whom their wars had proved invincible till the time of Cyrus, idleness and sloth overpowered when they had fallen into dissoluteness of manners.
The Lydians had many kings before Craesus, remarkable for various turns of fate; but none to be compared, in singularity of fortune, to Candaules. This prince used to speak of his wife, on whom he doated for her extreme beauty, to every body, for he was not content with the quiet consciousness of his happiness, unless he also published the secrets of his married life; just as if silence concerning her beauty had been a detraction from it. At last, to gain credit to his representations, he showed her undressed to his confidant, Gyges; an act by which he both rendered his friend, who was thus tempted to corrupt his wife, his enemy, and alienated his wife from him, by transferring, as it were, her love to another; for, soon after, the murder of Candaules was stipulated as the condition of her marriage with Gyges, and the wife, making her husband's blood her dowry, bestowed at once his kingdom and herself on her paramour.

§ 1.8  Cyrus, after subduing Asia, and reducing the whole of the east under his power, made war upon the Scythians. At that time, the Scythians were ruled by a queen named Tomyris, who, not alarmed like a woman at the approach of an enemy, suffered them to pass the river Araxes, though she might have hindered them from passing it; thinking that it would be easier for her to fight within the limits of her kingdom, and that escape would be harder for the enemy from the obstruction of the river. Cyrus accordingly, having carried his troops across, and advanced some distance into Scythia, pitched his camp. On the day following, having quitted his camp in pretended alarm, and as if in full flight, he left behind him abundance of wine, and such things as were proper for a feast. The news of this event being brought to the queen, she despatched her son, a very young man, with a third part of her army, in pursuit of him. When they reached the camp of Cyrus, the youth, inexperienced in military matters, seeming to think he was come to feast and not to fight, paid no attention
to the enemy, but allowed his barbarians, who were unused to wine, to overload themselves with it; so that the Scythians were overcome with wine before they were subdued by the enemy; for Cyrus, learning what had happened, and returning in the night, fell upon them unawares, and killed all the Scythians together with the queen's son.
But Tomyris, after losing so great an army, and, what she still more lamented, her only son, did not pour forth her sorrow for her loss in tears, but turned her thoughts to the solace of revenge, and entrapped her enemies, exulting in their recent victory, by a deception and stratagem similar to their own. For, counterfeiting timidity on account of the damage which she had received, and taking to flight, she allured Cyrus into a narrow defile, where, placing an ambush on the hills, she slew two hundred thousand of the Persians with their king himself; a triumph in which this also was remarkable, that not a man to tell of such a massacre survived. The queen ordered the head of Cyrus to be cut off and thrown into a vessel full of human blood, adding this exclamation against his cruelty, 'Satiate thyself with blood for which thou hast thirsted, and of which thou hast always been insatiable.' Cyrus reigned thirty years, and was a man wonderfully distinguished, not only in the beginning of his reign, but during the whole course of his life.

§ 1.9  He was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who added Egypt to his father's dominions, but, disgusted at the superstitions of the Egyptians, ordered the temples of Apis and the other gods to be demolished. He also sent an army to destroy the celebrated temple of Ammon; which army was overwhelmed with tempests and heaps of sand, and utterly annihilated. Afterwards he learned in a dream that his brother Smerdis was to be king. Alarmed at this vision, he did not scruple to add fratricide to sacrilege; nor was it to be expected, indeed, that he, who, in contempt of religion, had braved the gods themselves, would spare his own relations. To execute this cruel service, he selected from his confidants a man named Prexaspes, one of the Magi. But in the mean time, he himself, being severely hurt in the thigh by his sword, which had started out of its sheath, died of the wound, and paid the penalty whether of the fratricide which he had intended, or of the sacrilege which he had perpetrated. The Magus, receiving intelligence of this event, despatched his commission before the report of the king's death was spread abroad, and, having killed Smerdis, to whom the kingdom belonged, set up in his room his own brother Orospastes, who closely resembled him in features and person, and, no one suspecting any imposture in the case, Orospastes was declared king instead of Smerdis. This transaction was the more easily kept secret, as, among the Persians, the person of. the king is concealed from public view, under pretext of keeping his majesty inviolate. The Magi, to gain the favour of the people, granted a remission of the taxes, and an immunity from military service, for three years, that they might secure by indulgence and bounties the kingdom which they had gained by fraud. The imposition was first suspected by Otanes, a man of noble birth, and extremely happy in forming conjectures. He accordingly, by the aid of certain agents, inquired of his daughter, who was one of the royal concubines, whether the son of king Cyrus was now king. She replied that 'she neither knew, nor could learn from any other woman, as all the females were shut up in separate apartments.' He then desired her to feel his head while he was asleep; as Cambyses had cut off both the Magus's ears. Being then assured by his daughter that 'the king was without ears,' he disclosed the affair to some of the Persian noblemen, and, having persuaded them to murder the pretended king, bound them to the commission of the deed by a solemn oath. To this conspiracy seven only were privy, who at once (lest if time were allowed for change of mind, the affair should be made public by any one) proceeded to the palace with swords hidden under their garments. Here, having killed all that they met, they made their way to the Magi, who indeed did not want courage to defend themselves, for they drew their swords and killed two of the conspirators. They were overpowered, however, by numbers. Gobryas, having seized one of them by the waist, and his companions hesitating to use their swords, lest, as the affair was transacted in the dark, they should stab him instead of the Magus, desired them to thrust the weapon into the Magus even through his body; but, as good fortune directed, the Magus was slain, and Gobryas escaped unhurt.

§ 1.10  The Magi being slain, the glory of the noblemen, in having recovered the kingdom, was indeed great, but proved far greater in this, that when they came to debate about the disposal of it, they were able to act in concert. They were so equal in merit and nobility of birth, that their very equality would have rendered it hard for the people to make a selection from them. They themselves, therefore, contrived a method by which they might refer the judgment respecting them to religion and fortune, and agreed that, on an appointed day, they should all bring their horses early in the morning before the palace, and that he whose horse should neigh first, on the rising of the sun, should be king. For the Persians believe the sun to be the only god, and regard horses as sacred to the god. Among the conspirators was Darius the son of Hystaspes, to whom, when he felt anxious about his chance of the kingdom, his groom said that, 'if that matter was the only obstacle to his success, there would not be the least difficulty about it.' The groom then took the horse, in the night before the appointed day, to the place agreed upon, and there let him cover a mare, thinking that from the pleasure of the leap would result what actually came to pass. On the next day, accordingly, when they were all met at the appointed hour, the horse of Darius, recognizing the place, set up a neigh from desire for the mare, and, while the other horses were silent, was the first to give a fortunate signal for his master. Such was the moderation of the other nobles, that when they heard the omen, they immediately leaped from their horses, and saluted Darius as king. The whole people too, following the judgment of their chiefs, acknowledged him as their ruler. Thus the kingdom of the Persians, recovered by the valour of seven of its noblest men, was by so easy a mode of decision conferred upon one of them. It is incredible that they should have resigned, with so much patience, their pretensions to a kingdom, for which, in order to recover it from the Magi, they had not hesitated to expose their lives. However, besides possessing gracefulness of person, and merit deserving of such an empire, Darius was related to the preceding kings; and, in the beginning of his reign, he took to wife the daughter of Cyrus, in order to strengthen his kingdom by a royal marriage, so that it might not so much, seem transferred to a stranger, as to be restored to Cyrus's family.
Some time after, when the Assyrians had revolted and seized upon Babylon, and the capture of the city proved difficult, so that the king was in great anxiety about it, Zopyrus, one of the assassins of the Magi, caused himself to be mangled with stripes, in his own house, over his whole body, and his nose, ears, and lips to be cut off, and in this condition presented himself unexpectedly before the king; when he privately informed Darius, who was astonished, and inquired the cause and author of so dire an outrage, with what object he had done it, and, having settled his plan of action for the future, set out for Babylon in the character of a deserter. There he showed the people his lacerated body; complained of the barbarity of the king, by whom, in the competition for the throne, he had been defeated, not by merit but by fortune, not by the judgment of men but by the neighing of a horse; and bade them form an opinion, from his treatment of his friends, what was to be apprehended by his enemies; exhorting them not to trust to their walls more than to their arms, and to allow him, whose resentment was fresher, to carry on the war in common with them. The nobleness and bravery of the man was known to them all; nor did they doubt of his sincerity, of which they had the wounds on his person, and the marks of his ill-usage, as proofs. He was therefore chosen general by the suffrages of all; and, having received a small body of men, and the Persians, once or twice, purposely retreating from the field, he fought some successful battles. At last he betrayed the whole army, with which he had been entrusted, to Darius, and brought the city under his power. Some time after, Darius made war upon the Scythians, as shall be related in the following book.

§ 2.1  IN narrating the acts of the Scythians, which were very great and glorious, we must commence from their origin; for they had a rise not less illustrious than their empire; nor were they more famous for the government of their men than for the brave actions of their women. As the men were founders of the Parthians and Bactrians, the women settled the kingdom of the Amazons; so that to those who compare the deeds of their males and females, it is difficult to decide which of the sexes was more distinguished.
The nation of the Scythians was always regarded as very ancient; though there was long a dispute between them and the Egyptians concerning the antiquity of their respective races; the Egyptians alleging that, 'In the beginning of things, when some countries were parched with the excessive heat of the sun, and others frozen with extremity of cold, so that, in their early condition, they were not only unable to produce human beings, but were incapable even of receiving and supporting such as came from other parts (before coverings for the body were found out against heat and cold, or the inconveniences of countries corrected by artificial remedies), Egypt was always so temperate, that neither the cold in winter nor the sun's heat in summer, incommoded its inhabitants; and its soil so fertile, that no land was ever more productive of food for the use of man; and that, consequently, men must reasonably be considered to have been first produced in that country, where they could most easily be nourished.'
The Scythians, on the other hand, thought that the temperateness of the air was no argument of antiquity; 'because Nature, when she first distributed to different countries degrees of heat and cold, immediately produced in them animals fitted to endure the several climates, and generated also numerous sorts of trees and herbs, happily varied according to the condition of the places in which they grew; and that, as the Scythians have a sharper air than the Egyptians, so are their bodies and constitutions in proportion more hardy. But that if the world, which is now distinguished into parts of a different nature, was once uniform throughout; whether a deluge of waters originally kept the earth buried under it; or whether fire, which also produced the world, had possession of all the parts of it, the Scythians, under either supposition as to the primordial state of things, had the advantage as to origin. For if fire was at first predominant over all things, and, being gradually extinguished, gave place to the earth, no part of it would be sooner separated from the fire, by the severity of winter cold, than the northern, since even now no part is more frozen with cold; but Egypt and all the east must have been the latest to cool, as being now burnt up with the parching heat of the sun. But if originally all the earth were sunk under water, assuredly the highest parts would be first uncovered when the waters decreased, and the water must have remained longest in the lowest grounds; while the sooner any portion of the earth was dry, the sooner it must have begun to produce animals; but Scythia was so much higher than all other countries, that all the rivers which rise in it run down into the Maeotis, and then into the Pontic and Egyptian seas; whereas Egypt, (which, though it had been fenced by the care and expense of so many princes and generations, and furnished with such strong mounds against the violence of the encroaching waters, and though it had been intersected also by so many canals, the waters being kept out by the one, and retained by the other, was yet uninhabitable, unless the Nile were excluded,) could not be thought to have been the most anciently peopled; being a land, which, whether from the accessions of soil collected by its kings, or those from the Nile, bringing mud with it, must appear to have been the most recently formed of all lands.' The Egyptians being confounded with these arguments, the Scythians were always accounted the more ancient.

§ 2.2  Scythia, which stretches towards the east, is bounded on one side by the Pontus Euxinus; on the other, by the Rhipaean Mountains; at the back, by Asia and the river Phasis. It extends to a vast distance, both in length and breadth. The people have no landmarks, for they neither cultivate the soil, nor have they any house, dwelling, or settled place of abode, but are always engaged in feeding herds and flocks, and wandering through uncultivated deserts. They carry their wives and children with them in waggons, which, as they are covered with hides against the rain and cold, they use instead of houses. Justice is observed among them, more from the temper of the people, than from the influence of laws. No crime in their opinion is more heinous than theft; for, among people that keep their flocks and herds without fence or shelter in the woods, what would be safe, if stealing were permitted? Gold and silver they despise, as much as other men covet them. They live on milk and honey. The use of wool and clothes is unknown among them, although they are pinched by perpetual cold; they wear, however, the skins of wild animals, great and small. Such abstemiousness has caused justice to be observed among them, as they covet nothing belonging to their neighbours; for it is only where riches are of use, that the desire of them prevails. And would that other men had like temperance, and like freedom from desire for the goods of others! There would then assuredly be fewer wars in all ages and countries, and the sword would not destroy more than the natural course of destiny. And it appears extremely wonderful, that nature should grant that to them which the Greeks cannot attain by long instruction from their wise men and the precepts of their philosophers; and that cultivated morals should have the disadvantage in a comparison with those of unpolished barbarians. So much better effect has the ignorance of vice in the one people than the knowledge of virtue in the other.

§ 2.3  They thrice aspired to the supreme command in Asia; while they themselves remained always either unmolested or unconquered by any foreign power. Darius, king of the Persians, they forced to quit Scythia in disgraceful flight. They slew Cyrus with his whole army. They cut off in like manner Zopyrion, a general of Alexander the Great, with all his forces. Of the arms of the Romans they have heard, but never felt them. They founded the Parthian and Bactrian powers. They are a nation hardy in toils and warfare; their strength of body is extraordinary; they take possession of nothing which they fear to lose, and covet, when they are conquerors, nothing but glory.
The first that proclaimed war against the Scythians was Sesostris, king of Egypt, previously sending messengers to announce conditions on which they might become his subjects. But the Scythians, who were already apprized by their neighbours of the king's approach, made answer to the deputies, that the prince of so rich a people had been foolish in commencing a war with a poor one (for war was more to be dreaded by himself at home), as the result of the contest was uncertain, prizes of victory there were none, and the ill consequences of defeat were apparent; and that the Scythians, therefore, would not wait till he came to them, since there was so much more to be desired in the hands of the enemy, but would proceed of their own accord to seek the spoil.' Nor were their deeds slower than their words; and the king, hearing that they were advancing with such speed, took to flight, and leaving behind him his army and all his military stores, returned in consternation to his own kingdom. The morasses prevented the Scythians from invading Egypt; in their retreat from which they subdued Asia, and made it tributary, imposing, however, only a moderate tribute, rather as a token of their power over it, than as a recompense for their victory. After spending fifteen years in the reduction of Asia, they were called home by the importunity of their wives, who sent them word that 'unless their husbands returned, they would seek issue from their neighbours, and not suffer the race of the Scythians to fail of posterity through the fault of their women.' Asia was tributary to them for fifteen hundred years; and it was Ninus, king of Assyria, that put a stop to the payment of the tribute.

§ 2.4  Among the Scythians, in the meantime, two youths of royal extraction, Plinos and Scolopitus, being driven from their country by a faction of the nobility, took with them a numerous band of young men, and found a settlement on the coast of Cappadocia, near the river Thermodon, occupying the Themiscyrian plains that border on it. Here, making it their practice for several years to rob their neighbours, they were at last, by a combination of the surrounding people, cut to pieces in an ambuscade. Their wives, when they found that to exile was added the loss of their husbands, took arms themselves, and maintained their position, repelling the attacks of their enemies at first, and afterwards assailing them in return. They relinquished all thoughts of marrying with their neighbours, saying that it would be slavery, not matrimony. Venturing to set an example unimitated through all generations, they established their government without the aid of men, and soon maintained their power in defiance of them. And that none of their females might seem more fortunate than others, they put to death all the men who had remained at home. They also took revenge for their husbands that were killed in war, by a great slaughter of their neighbours.
Having thus secured peace by means of their arms, they proceeded, in order that their race might not fail, to form connexions with the men of the adjacent nations. If any male children were born, they put them to death. The girls they bred up to the same mode of life with themselves, not consigning them to idleness, or working in wool, but training them to arms, the management of horses, and hunting; burning their right breasts in infancy, that their use of the bow might not be obstructed by them; and hence they were called Amazons. They had two queens, Marpesia and Lampedo, who, dividing their forces into two bodies (after they were grown famous for their power), conducted their wars, and defended their borders separately and by turns. And that a reason for their success might not be wanting, they spread a report that they were the daughters of Mars.
After subduing the greater part of Europe, they possessed themselves also of some cities in Asia. Having then founded Ephesus and several other towns there, they sent a detachment of their army home, laden with a vast quantity of spoil. The rest, who remained to secure their power in Asia, were cut to pieces, together with their queen Marpesia, by a combination of the barbarous tribes. Orithya, the daughter oi Marpesia, succeeded to the government in her room, and has attracted extraordinary admiration, not only for her eminent skill in war, but for having preserved her virginity to the end of her life. So much was added by her valour and conduct to the fame and glory of the Amazons, that the king, for whom Hercules was bound to perform twelve labours, ordered him, as if it were a thing impossible, to bring him the arms of the queen of the Amazons. Hercules, accordingly, having proceeded thither with nine ships of war, the principal young men of Greece accompanying him, attacked the Amazons unawares. Two sisters at this time held the government, Antiope and Orithya; but Orithya was engaged in a war abroad. When Hercules, therefore, landed on the coast of the Amazons, there was but a small number of them there with their queen Antiope, free from all apprehension of hostilities. Hence it happened that a few only, roused by the sudden alarm, took up arms, and these afforded an easy conquest to the enemy. Many were slain, and many taken prisoners; among the latter were two sisters of Antiope, Menalippe being taken by Hercules, and Hippolyte by Theseus. Theseus, having received his prisoner as his share of the spoil, took her to wife, and had by her his son Hippolytus. Hercules, after his victory, restored his captive Menalippe to her sister, receiving the arms of the queen as a recompense; and having thus executed what was imposed on him, he returned to the king.
But Orithya, when she found that war had been made upon her sister, and that the assailant was a chief of the Athenians, exhorted her followers to revenge the affront, saying that the 'coast of the Pontus, and Asia, had been conquered in vain, if they were still exposed, not merely to the wars, but to the marauding invasions, of the Greeks.' She then solicited aid from Sagillus, king of Scythia; representing to him 'their Scythian descent, the loss of their husbands, their obligation to take arms, and their reasons for making war;' adding, 'that they had proved by their valour, that the Scythians must be thought to have women not less spirited than their men.' Sagillus, alive to the glory of his nation, sent his son Panasagoras, with a numerous body of cavalry, to their aid. But some disagreement having occurred before the battle, they were deserted by their auxiliaries, and worsted in the conflict by the Athenians. They had, however, the camp of their allies as a place of refuge, under whose protection, they returned to their kingdom unmolested by other nations.
After Orithya, Penthesilea occupied the throne, of whose valour there were seen great proofs among the bravest heroes in the Trojan War, when she led an auxiliary force thither against the Greeks. But Penthesilea being at last killed, and her army destroyed, a few only of the Amazons, who had remained at home in their own country, established a power that continued (defending itself with difficulty against its neighbours), to the time of Alexander the Great. Their queen Minithya, or Thalestris, after obtaining from Alexander the enjoyment of his society for thirteen days, in order to have issue by him, returned into her kingdom, and soon after died, together with the whole name of the Amazons.

§ 2.5  The Scythians, in their Asiatic expedition, having been absent from their wives and children eight years, were met on their return home by a war raised by their slaves. For their wives, weary of waiting so long for their husbands, and thinking that they were not detained by war, but had perished in the field, married their slaves that had been left at home to take care of the cattle; who, taking up arms, repelled their masters, returning with victory, from the borders of their country, as if they had been strangers. Success against them being uncertain, the Scythians were advised to change their method of attack, remembering that they were not to fight with soldiers, but with slaves, who were to be conquered, not by means of arms, but of magisterial authority; that whips, not weapons, were to be used in the field; and that, swords being laid aside, rods and scourges, and other instruments of terror to slaves, were to be provided. This suggestion being approved, and all being equipped as was prescribed, the Scythians, as soon as they drew near the enemy, held out scourges towards them unexpectedly, and struck them such terror, that they conquered with the dread of stripes those whom they could not conquer with the sword, and who took to flight, not as defeated enemies, but as fugitive slaves. As many as could be taken, paid the penalty for their rebellion on the cross. The women too, conscious of their ill conduct, put an end to their lives partly by the sword and partly by hanging.
After this occurrence, there was peace among the Scythians till the time of king Jancyrus, on whom Darius, king of Persia, as was said above, made war, because he could not obtain his daughter in marriage. Darius, having entered Scythia with seven hundred thousand armed men, and the enemy allowing him no opportunity of fighting, dreading lest, if the bridge over the Ister were broken down, his retreat should be cut off, hurried back in alarm, with the loss of eighty thousand men; which loss, however, out of so vast a, number, was scarcely accounted a disaster. Darius afterwards subdued Asia and Macedonia, and defeated the Ionians in a fight at sea. Then, learning that the Athenians had given aid to the Ionians against him, he turned all his warlike fury upon them.

§ 2.6  Since we have now come to the wars of the Athenians, which were carried on, not only beyond expectation as to what could be done, but even beyond belief as to what was done, the efforts of that people having been successful beyond their hopes, the origin of their city must be briefly set forth; for they did not, like other nations, rise to eminence from a mean commencement, but are the only people that can boast, not only of their rise, but also of their birth. It was not a concourse of foreigners, or a rabble of people collected from different parts, that raised their city, but men who were born on the same ground which they inhabit; and the country which is their place of abode, was also their birthplace. It was they who first taught the art of working in wool, and the use of oil and wine. They also showed men, who had previously fed on acorns, how to plough and sow. Literature and eloquence, it is certain, and the state of civil discipline which we enjoy, had Athens as their temple. Before Deucalion's time, they had a king named Cecrops, whom, as all antiquity is full of fables, they represented to have been of both sexes, because he was the first to join male and female in marriage. To him succeeded Cranaus, whose daughter Atthis gave name to the country. After him reigned Amphictyon, who first consecrated the city to Minerva, and gave it the name of Athens. In his days, a deluge swept away the greater part of the inhabitants of Greece. Those only escaped, whom a refuge on the mountains protected, or who went off in ships to Deucalion, king of Thessaly, by whom, from this circumstance, the human race is said to have been restored. The crown then descended, in the course of succession, to Erechtheus, in whose reign the sowing of corn was commenced by Triptolemus at Eleusis; in commemoration of which benefit the nights sacred to the mysteries of Ceres were appointed. Aegeus also, the father of Theseus, was king of Athens, from whom Medea divorcing herself, on account of the adult age of her step-son, returned to Colchis with her son Medus, whom she had had by Aegeus. After Aegeus reigned Theseus, and after Theseus his son Demophoon, who afforded aid to the Greeks against the Trojans. Between the Athenians and Dorians there had been animosities of long standing, which the Dorians, intending to revenge in war, consulted the oracle about the event of the contest. The answer was, that the 'Dorians would have the advantage, if they did not kill the king of the Athenians.' When they came into the field, the Doric soldiers were charged above all things to take care not to attack the king. At that time the king of the Athenians was Codrus, who, learning the answer of the god and the directions of the enemy,-laid aside his royal dress, and entered the camp of the enemy in rags, with a bundle of sticks on his back. Here, among a crowd of people that stood in his way, he was killed by a soldier whom he had purposely wounded with a pruning knife. His body being recognized as that of the king, the Dorians went off without coming to battle; and thus the Athenians, through the bravery of a prince who submitted to death for the safety of his country, were relieved from war.

§ 2.7  After Codrus there was no king at Athens; a circumstance which is attributed to the respect paid to his memory. The government of the state was placed in the hands of magistrates elected annually. At this period the people had no laws, for the wills of their princes had always been received instead of laws. Solon, a man of eminent integrity, was in consequence chosen to found the state, as it were afresh, by the establishment of laws. This man acted with such judicious moderation between the commons and the senate (though whatever he proposed in favour of one class, seemed likely to displease the other), that he received equal thanks from both parties. Among many illustrious acts of Solon, the following is eminently worthy of record. A war had been carried on between the Athenians and Megarians, concerning their respective claims to the island of Salamis, almost to the utter destruction of both. After many defeats, it was made a capital offence at Athens to propose a law for the recovery of the island. Solon, anxious lest he should injure his country by keeping silence, or himself by expressing his opinion, pretended to be suddenly seized with madness, under cover of which he might not only say, but do, what was prohibited. In a strange garb, like an insane person, he rushed forth into the public streets, where, having collected a crowd about him, he began, that he might the better conceal his design, to urge the people in verse (which he was unaccustomed to make), to do what was forbidden, and produced such an effect on the minds of all, that war was instantly decreed against the Megarians; and the enemy being defeated, the island became subject to the Athenians.

§ 2.8  After a time, the Megarians, cherishing the remembrance of the war made upon them by the Athenians, and fearing that they might be said to have taken up arms to no purpose, went on board a fleet with a design to seize the Athenian matrons as they were celebrating the Eleusinian mysteries during the night. Their intention becoming known, Pisistratus, the Athenian general, placed a body of young men in ambush to receive them, directing the matrons, at the same time, to continue the celebration of the sacred rites with their usual cries and noise, even while the enemy were approaching, in order that they might not know that their coming was expected; and thus attacking the Megarians unawares, just as they were leaving their ships, he put them all to the sword. Immediately after, having taken some women with his men on board the fleet which he had seized, to appear like captured matrons of the Athenians, he set sail for Megara. The Megarians, seeing ships of their own build approaching, apparently with the desired prey on board, went out to the harbour to meet them. Pisistratus cut them to pieces, and almost succeeded in taking their city. Thus the Megarians, having their own stratagem turned against them, afforded their enemies a triumph.
But Pisistratus, as if he had conquered for himself and not for his country, possessed himself of the sovereign authority by a subtle contrivance. Having undergone a voluntary scourging in his own house, he ran out, with his body lacerated, into the open street, and, having summoned an assembly of the people, showed them his wounds, complaining of the cruelty of the great men of the city, from whom he pretended to have received this treatment. Tears were joined to his words, and the credulous mob was easily inflamed be a calumnious speech, in which he affirmed that he had incurred the hatred of the senate by showing his love for the common people. He thus obtained a guard for the protection of his person, by the aid of which he got the sovereign power into his hands, and reigned thirty-three years.

§ 2.9  After his death Diocles, one of his sons, having offered violence to a maiden, was slain by her brother. His other son, whose name was Hippias, taking upon him the authority of his father, ordered the murderer of his brother to be apprehended; who, being forced by torture to name those that were privy to the murder, named all the intimate friends of the tyrant. These being put to death, and Hippias asking him 'whether any of the guilty still survived,' he replied, that 'there was no one surviving whom he should more rejoice to see die than the tyrant himself.' By which answer he proved himself superior to the tyrant, after having avenged, too, the violated honour of his sister.
The city being animated, through his spirited conduct, with a desire for liberty, Hippias was at last deprived of his power, and driven into exile. Setting out for Persia, he offered himself as a leader to Darius against his own country; Darius being then, as has been said before, ready to make war on the Athenians. The Athenians, hearing of Darius's approach, requested assistance from the Lacedaemonians, who were then in alliance with them. But finding that they delayed at home four days, in consequence of some religious scruple, they did not wait for their help, but, having mustered ten thousand of their own citizens, and a thousand auxiliaries from Plataeae, went out to battle in the plain of Marathon, against six hundred thousand of the enemy. Miltiades was both their general in the field, and the person who advised them not to wait for assistance, being possessed with such confidence of success, that he thought there was more trust to be placed in expedition than in their allies. Great, therefore, was their spirit as they proceeded to battle; so that, though there were a thousand paces between the two armies, they came full speed upon the enemy before their arrows were discharged. Nor did the result fall short of their daring; for such was the courage with which they fought, that you might have supposed there were men on one side and a herd of cattle on the other. The Persians, utterly defeated, fled to their ships, of which many were sunk and many taken. In this battle, the bravery of every individual was such, that it was difficult to determine to whom the highest praise was due. Amongst others, however, the heroism of Themistocles, then a young man, was greatly distinguished; in whom, even then, appeared a genius indicative of his future eminence as a general. The merit of Cynaegirus, too, an Athenian soldier, has met with great commendation from historians; for, after having slain a great number in the battle, and having chased the fleeing enemy to their ships, he seized a crowded vessel with his right hand, and would not let it go till he had lost his hand; and even then, when his right hand was cut off, he took hold of the ship with his left, and having lost this hand also, he at last seized the ship with his teeth. So undaunted was his spirit, that neither being weary with killing so many, nor disheartened with the loss of his hands, he fought to the last maimed as he was, with his teeth, like a wild beast. The Persians lost two thousand men in the battle or by shipwreck. Hippias also, the Athenian tyrant, who was the promoter and encourager of the war, was killed on the occasion; the gods, the avengers of his country, inflicting on him the penalty of his perfidy.

§ 2.10  Some time after, Darius, when he was going to renew the war, died in the midst of his preparations for it, leaving behind him several sons, some born before his accession to the crown, and others after it. Artemenes, the eldest of them, claimed the kingdom by the law of primogeniture, a law which he said that both order of birth and nature herself had prescribed to all nations. Xerxes, however, alleged, that the dispute was not so much about the order as the good fortune of their birth; for that 'Artemenes was born first indeed to Darius, but while he was in a private station; that he himself was born to him first after he was king; and that, consequently, such of his brothers as were born before him might claim, the private estate which Darius then possessed, but could have no claim to the kingdom; he himself being the first-born whom his father, when king, had bred up to succeed him on the throne. In addition to this,' he said, 'Artemenes was sprung, not only from a father but from a mother in a private condition, and from a maternal grandfather of similar station; but he himself was both sprung from a mother who was a queen, and had never known his father except as a king; he had also for his maternal grandfather king Cyrus, not the heir, but the founder of so great an empire; and even if their father had left both brothers with equal claims, yet he himself ought to have the advantage in right of his mother and grandfather.' The settlement of the controversy they left, with mutual consent, to their uncle Artaphernes, as the fittest judge of their family differences; who, having heard their pleas in his own house, decided in favour of Xerxes. But the contest was conducted in so brotherly a way, that neither did he who gained the cause show any unseemly triumph, nor did he who lost it express dissatisfaction; and, during the very time of the contention, they sent presents to one another, and gave such entertainments, as showed not only mutual confidence, but pleasure in each other's society. The judgment, too, was pronounced without witnesses, and heard without a murmur. So much more contentedly did brothers then share the greatest kingdoms, than they now divide the smallest estates!
Xerxes then proceeded, during five years, with his preparations for the war against Greece, which his father had commenced. As soon as Demaratus, king of the Lacedaemonians, who was then an exile at the court of Xerxes, understood his intentions, he, feeling more regard for his country, notwithstanding his banishment, than for the king in return for his favours, sent full intelligence of the matter to the magistrates of the Lacedaemonians, that they might not be surprised by an unexpected attack; writing the account on wooden tablets, and hiding the writing with wax spread over it; taking care, however, not merely that writing without a cover might not give proof against him, but that too fresh wax might not betray the contrivance. These tablets he committed to a trusty slave, who was ordered to deliver them into the hands of the authorities at Sparta. When they were received, the object of them was long a matter of inquiry, because the magistrates could see nothing written on them, and yet could not imagine that they were sent to no purpose; and they thought the matter must be momentous in proportion to its mysteriousness. While the men were still engaged in conjecture, the sister of king Leonidas surmised the writer's intention. The wax being accordingly scraped off. the account of the warlike preparations appeared. Xerxes had already armed seven hundred thousand men of his own kingdom, and three hundred thousand of his auxiliaries; so that there was some ground for the assertion that rivers were drunk up by his army, and that all Greece could scarcely contain it. He is also said to have had a fleet of twelve hundred ships. But for this vast army a general was wanting; for if you contemplate its king, you could not commend his capacity as a leader, however you might extol his wealth, of which there was such abundance in his realm, that, while rivers were drained by his forces, his treasury was still unexhausted. He was always seen foremost in flight, and hindmost in battle; he was a coward in danger, and when danger was away, a boaster; and, in fine, before he made trial of war, elated with confidence in his strength (as if he had been lord of nature itself), he levelled mountains, filled up valleys, covered some seas with bridges, and contracted others, for the convenience of navigation, into shorter channels.

§ 2.11  In proportion to the terror of his entrance into Greece, was the shame and dishonour of his retreat from it. Leonidas, king of the Spartans, having occupied the straits of Thermopylae with four thousand men, Xerxes, in contempt of so small a number, ordered such of the Persians as had lost relatives in the battle of Marathon, to commence an attack upon them; who, while they endeavoured to avenge their friends, were the first to be slaughtered, and a useless multitude taking their place, the havoc became still greater. For three days was the struggle maintained, to the grief and indignation of the Persians. On the fourth, it being told Leonidas that the summit of the mountain was occupied by twenty thousand of the enemy, he exhorted the allies 'to retire, and reserve themselves to their country for better times;' saying, that 'he himself would try his fortune with the Spartans; that he ought to care more for his country than for his life, and that others should be preserved for the defence of Greece.' On hearing the king's resolution, the rest retired, the Lacedaemonians alone remaining.
At the beginning of the war, when the Spartans consulted the oracle at Delphi, they had received the answer, that 'either the king or their city must fall.' King Leonidas, accordingly, when he proceeded to battle, had so fixed the resolution of his men, that they felt they must go to the field with minds prepared for death. He had posted himself in a narrow pass, too, that he might either conquer more gloriously with a few, or fall with less damage to his country. The allies being therefore sent away, he exhorted his Spartans 'to remember that, however they struggled, they must expect to perish; to take care not to show more resolution to stay than to fight;' adding that, 'they must not wait till they were surrounded by the enemy, but when night afforded them opportunity, must surprise them in security and at their ease; as conquerors could die nowhere more honourably than in the camp of the foe.' There was no difficulty in stimulating men determined to die. They immediately seized their arms, and six hundred men rushed into the camp of five hundred thousand, making directly for the king's tent, and resolving either to die with him, or, if they should be overpowered, at least in his quarters. An alarm spread through the whole Persian army. The Spartans being unable to find the king, marched uncontrolled through the whole camp, killing and overthrowing all that stood in their way, like men who knew that they fought, not with the hope of victory, but to avenge their own deaths. The contest was protracted from the beginning of the night through the greater part of the following day. At last, not conquered, but exhausted with conquering, they fell amidst vast heaps of slaughtered enemies. Xerxes, having thus met with two defeats by land, resolved next to try his fortune by sea.

§ 2.12  Themistocles, the general of the Athenians, having discovered that the Ionians, on whose account they had undertaken this war with the Persians, were come to the assistance of the king with a fleet, resolved to draw them over to his own side. Being unable to find any opportunity of speaking with them, he caused placards to be fixed, and inscriptions to be written, on the rocks where they were to land, to the following effect; 'What madness possesses you, O Ionians? What evil are you going to do? Do you intend to make war on those who were formerly your founders, and lately your avengers? Did we build your cities that a people might arise from them to destroy ours? Was it not Darius's reason for attacking us before, and is it not now that of Xerxes, that we did not desert you when you rebelled against them? But pass over from your place of confinement to our camp; or, if this course is unsafe, withdraw when the battle begins; keep back your vessels with your oars, and retire from the engagement.' Before this encounter at sea, Xerxes had sent four thousand armed men to plunder the temple of Apollo, as if he had been at war, not with the Greeks only, but with the immortal gods; but the whole of this detachment was destroyed by a storm of rain and thunder, that he might be convinced how feeble human strength is against the powers of heaven. Afterwards he burnt Thespiae, Plataeae, and Athens, all abandoned by their inhabitants; venting his rage on the buildings by fire, since he could not destroy the people by the sword. For the Athenians, after the battle of Marathon, because Themistocles forewarned them that their victory would not be the termination of the war, but the cause of a greater one, had built two hundred ships; and when, at the approach of Xerxes, he consulted the oracle at Delphi, they were answered, that 'they must provide for their safety with wooden walls.' Themistocles, thinking that defence with shipping was meant, persuaded them all, that 'the citizens, not the walls, constituted their country; that a city consisted, not of its buildings, but of its inhabitants; that it would be better for them, therefore, to trust their safety to their ships than to their city; and that the god was the adviser of this course.' The counsel being approved, they committed their wives and children, with their most valuable property, to certain islands out of the way; while the men went in arms on board the ships. Other cities also followed the example of the Athenians. But when the whole fleet of the allies was assembled, ready for an engagement, and had posted itself in the narrow strait of Salamis, that it might not be overwhelmed by superior numbers, a dissension arose among the leading men of the different cities, who were disposed to relinquish the plan of a general war, and go off each to defend his own country. Themistocles, fearing that, the strength of his countrymen would be too much weakened by such desertion of their allies, sent intimation to Xerxes by a trusty slave, that 'he might now easily make himself master of all Greece, when it was collected in one place; but that if the several states which were inclined to go away should once be dispersed, he would have to pursue each of them singly with far greater trouble.' By this stratagem he induced the king to give the signal for battle. The Greeks, at the same time, taken by surprise by the enemy's attack, proceeded to oppose them with their united force. The king, meantime, remained on shore as a spectator of the combat, with part of the ships near him; while Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, who had come to the assistance of Xerxes, was fighting with the greatest gallantry among the foremost leaders; so that you might have seen womanish fear in a man, and manly boldness in a woman. While the result of the battle was still doubtful, the Ionians, according to the admonition of Themistocles, began gradually to withdraw from the contest; and their desertion broke the courage of the rest. The Persians, as they were considering in which direction they might flee, suffered a repulse, and were soon after utterly defeated, and put to flight. In the confusion, many ships were taken, and many sunk; but the greater number, fearing the king's cruelty not less than the enemy, went off to their respective homes.

§ 2.13  While Xerxes was confounded at his disaster, and doubtful what course to pursue, Mardonius addressed him, advising him 'to return home to his kingdom, lest fame, carrying the news of his defeat, and exaggerating every thing according to her custom, should occasion any sedition in his absence; and to leave with him three hundred thousand men-at-arms, chosen from the whole army, with which force he would either subdue Greece to the king's glory, or, if the result should prove unfavourable, would retire before the enemy without dishonour to him.' Mardonius's suggestion being approved, the force which he requested was given him, and the king prepared to return home with the rest of the army. The Greeks, hearing of his flight, formed a design to break down the bridge, which, as conqueror of the sea, he had made at Abydos; so that, his retreat being cut off, he might either be destroyed with his army, or might be forced, by the desperate state of his affairs, to sue for peace. But Themistocles, fearing that the enemy, if they were stopped, might take courage from despair, and open by their swords a passage not to he opened by other means, and observing that 'there were enemies enough left in Greece, and that the number ought not to be increased by preventing their escape,' but finding that he was unable to move his countrymen by his admonitions, despatched the same slave as before to Xerxes, acquainting him of the intention of the Greeks to break down the bridge, and urging him to secure a passage by a speedy flight. Xerxes, alarmed at the message, left his army to be conducted by his generals, and hurried away himself, with a few attendants, to Abydos; where, having found the bridge broken down by the winter storms, he crossed in the utmost trepidation in a fishing-boat. It was a sight worth contemplation for judging of the condition of man, so wonderful for its vicissitudes, to see him shrinking down in a little boat, whom shortly before the whole ocean could scarcely contain; to behold him wanting servants to attend him, whose armies had burdened the earth with their numbers! Nor had the land-forces, which he had committed to his generals, a more fortunate retreat; for to their daily fatigue (and there is no rest to men in fear) was added the want of provisions. A famine of several days produced also a pestilential distemper; and so dire was the mortality, that the roads were filled with dead bodies; and birds and beasts of prey, allured by the attraction of food, followed close upon the army.

§ 2.14  In Greece, in the meantime, Mardonius took Olynthus by storm. He also invited the Athenians to listen to offers of peace, and of the king's friendship; promising to rebuild their city, which had been burnt, in greater splendour than before. But when he saw that they would not sell their liberty at any rate, he set fire to what they had begun to rebuild, and led off his army into Boeotia. Thither the army of the Greeks, which consisted of a hundred thousand men, followed him, and there a battle was fought. But the fortune of the king was not changed with the general; for Mardonius, being defeated, escaped, as it were from a shipwreck, with but a small number of followers. His camp, which was filled with the king's treasures, was taken; and hence it was, on the division of the Persian gold among them, that the charms of wealth first attracted the Greeks. By chance, on the same day on which the army of Mardonius was defeated, an engagement was fought by sea near the mountain Mycale, on the coast of Asia. Before the encounter began, and whilst the fleets stood opposite one another, a rumour spread through both parties, chat the Greeks had gained a victory, and that the army of Mardonius was utterly destroyed. It is said that so great was the speed of this report, that when the battle was fought in Boeotia in the morning, the news of the victory arrived in Asia by noon, passing over so much sea, and so large a space of ground, in so very short a time. When the war was over, and they proceeded to consider the respective merits of the cities that had been engaged in it, the bravery of the Athenians was praised above that of any other people. Among the leaders too, Themistocles, being pronounced the most meritorious by the judgment of the several states, added greatly to the glory of his country.

§ 2.15  The Athenians, then, being enriched by the spoils of war, as well as in glory, applied themselves to rebuild their city. Having enlarged the compass of their walls, they became an object of suspicion to the Lacedaemonians, naturally reflecting how great power a city, when fortified, might secure to a people for whom it had done so much when in a state of ruin. They therefore sent ambassadors to admonish them that 'they should not build what might prove a stronghold for the enemy, and a place of shelter for them in a future war.' Themistocles seeing that envy was entertained towards the rising hopes of his city, but not thinking it prudent to deal abruptly with the Spartans, made answer to the ambassadors, that 'deputies should be sent to Lacedaemon to confer with them about the matter.' After thus dismissing the messengers, he exhorted his countrymen 'to expedite the work.' Allowing some time to elapse, he set out, with some others, as an embassy to Sparta; but sometimes pretending ill health on the road, sometimes complaining of the tardiness of his colleagues, without whom nothing could be properly done, and thus putting off from day to day, he endeavoured to gain time for his countrymen to finish the erection of their walls. In the meanwhile, word was brought to the Spartans that the work was advancing at Athens with great speed; and they accordingly sent ambassadors a second time to ascertain the truth. Themistocles then sent a letter by the hand of a slave, to the magistrates of the Athenians, desiring them 'to take the ambassadors into custody, and keep them as hostages, lest any violent measures should be adopted against himself at Sparta.' He then went to the public assembly of the Lacedaemonians, and told them that 'Athens was now well fortified, and could sustain a war, if any should be made upon it, not only with arms, but with walls; and that their ambassadors were detained by way of hostages at Athens, in case they should on that account resolve on anything injurious towards himself.' He then upbraided them severely 'for seeking to increase their power, not by their own valour, but by weakening their allies.' Being then permitted to depart, he was received by his countrymen as if he had triumphed over Sparta.
After this occurrence, the Spartans, that they might not impair their strength in idleness, and that they might take vengeance for the war which had been twice made upon Greece by the Persians, proceeded to lay waste the Persian territories. They chose Pausanias to be general of their army, and that of their allies, who, coveting, instead of the mere office of general, the entire sovereignty of Greece, treated with Xerxes for a marriage with his daughter, as a reward for betraying his country, restoring him, at the same time, his prisoners, that the good feeling of the king might be secured by such an obligation. He wrote also to Xerxes, 'to put to death whatever messengers he sent to him, lest the negotiation should be betrayed by their babbling.' But Aristides, the general of the Athenians, and his associate in the command, by traversing the attempts of his colleague, and taking prudent precautions on the occasion, defeated his treasonable designs. Not long after, Pausanias was brought to trial and condemned. Xerxes, when he found that this perfidious scheme was discovered, made fresh preparations for war. The Greeks nominated as their general Cimon the Athenian, the son of Miltiades, under whose command the battle of Marathon was fought; a young man whose future greatness his manifestations of affection towards his father foretold. For he redeemed the body of his father (who had been thrown into prison on a charge of embezzling the public money, and had died there), taking his fetters on himself, that it might receive the rites of sepulture. Nor did he, in his conduct of the war, disappoint the opinion of those who chose him; for, not falling in merit below his father, he forced Xerxes, defeated both by land and sea, to retreat in trepidation to his own dominions.

§ 3.1  XERXES, king of Persia, once the terror of the nations around him, became, after his unsuccessful conduct of the war against Greece, an object of contempt even to his own subjects. Artabanus, his chief officer, conceiving hopes of usurping the throne, as the king's authority was every day declining, entered one evening into the palace (which from his intimacy with Xerxes was always open to him), accompanied by his seven stout sons, and, having put the king to death, proceeded to remove by stratagem such of the king's sons as opposed his wishes. Entertaining little apprehension from Artaxerxes, who was but a boy, he pretended that the king had been slain by Darius, who was of full age, that he might have possession of the throne the sooner, and instigated Artaxerxes to revenge parricide by fratricide. When they came to Darius's house, he was found asleep, and killed as if he merely counterfeited sleep. But seeing that one of the king's sons was still uninjured by his villany, and fearing a struggle for the throne on the part of the nobles, he took into his councils a certain Bacabasus, who, content that the government should remain in the present family, disclosed the whole matter to Artaxerxes, acquainting him 'by what means his father had been killed, and how his brother had been murdered on a false suspicion of parricide; and, finally, how a plot was laid for himself.' On this information, Artaxerxes, fearing the number of Artabanus's sons, gave orders for the troops to be ready under arms on the following day, as if he meant to ascertain their strength, and their respective efficiency for the field. Artabanus, accordingly, presenting himself under arms among the rest, the king, pretending that his corslet was too short for him, desired Artabanus to make an exchange with him, and, while he was disarming himself, and defenceless, ran him through with his sword, ordering his sons, at the same time, to be apprehended. Thus this excellent youth at once took revenge for his father's murder, and saved himself from the machinations of Artabanus.

§ 3.2  During these transactions in Persia, all Greece, under the leadership of the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, was split into two parties, and turned their arms from foreign wars as it were against their own bowels. Of one people were formed two distinct bodies; and they who had so recently served in the same camp, were divided into two hostile armies. On the one side, the Lacedaemonians drew over to their faction the cities that had before been common auxiliaries to both. On the other side, the Athenians, renowned alike for their antiquity and their exploits, relied on their own strength. Thus the two most powerful people of Greece, made equal by the institutions of Solon and the laws of Lycurgus, rushed into war through envy of each other's power.
When Lycurgus had succeeded Polydectes his brother, king of the Lacedaemonians, and might have secured the kingdom for himself, he restored it, with the noblest integrity, to Charilaus, the posthumous son of Polydectes, as soon as he became of age; that all might see how much more the laws of integrity prevail with good men than all the charms of power. In the meantime, while the child was growing up, and he had the guardianship of him, he composed laws for the Spartans, who previously had had none. Nor was he more celebrated for the making of these laws, than for his exemplary conformity to them; for he imposed nothing by law upon others, of the observation of which he did not first give an example in his own conduct. He trained the people to be obedient to those in authority, and those in authority to be just in the exercise of their government. He enjoined frugality on all, thinking that the toils of war would be made more endurable by a constant observance of it. He ordered all purchases to be made, not with money, but by exchange of commodities. The use of gold and silver he prohibited, as being the origin of all evils.

§ 3.3  He divided the administration of the government among the several orders; to the kings he gave the power of making war, to the magistrates the seats of justice in yearly succession; to the senate, the guardianship of the laws; to the people, the power of choosing the senate, or of creating what magistrates they pleased. The lands of the whole state he divided equally among all, that equality of possession might leave no one more powerful than another. He ordered all to take their meals in public, that no man might secretly indulge in splendour of luxury. He would not allow the young people to wear more than one dress in a year, nor any one to walk abroad in finer garments than another, or to fare more sumptuously, lest imitation of such practices should lead to general luxury. He ordered boys to be carried, not into the forum, but into the field, that they might spend their early years, not in effeminate employments, but in hard labour and exertion; not suffering them to put any thing under them to sleep upon, or to live on high seasoned food, and forbidding them to return into the city till they arrived at manhood. He caused virgins to be married without portions, that wives, not money, might be sought; and that husbands might govern their wives more strictly, being influenced by no regard to dowry. He ordained that the highest respect should be paid, not to the rich and powerful, but to the old, according to that degrees of seniority; nor had old age, indeed, a more honourable habitation anywhere than at Sparta.
But seeing that such laws would at first be thought severe, as the state of manners had previously been relaxed, he represented that Apollo of Delphi was the author of them, and that he had brought them from thence at the command of the deity, in order that reverence for religion might overbalance the irksomeness of compliance with them. And to secure perpetuity to his laws, he bound the city by an oath 'to make no change in them till he should return,' pretending that he was going to ask the oracle at Delphi whether any thing seemed necessary to be added to his institutions, or changed in them But he went in reality to Crete, and continued there in voluntary exile; and, when he was dying, ordered his bones to be thrown into the sea, lest, if they were taken back to Lacedaemon, the Spartans might think themselves absolved from their oath respecting alteration in his laws.

§ 3.4  Under such a state of manners, the city acquired, in a short time, such a degree of strength, that, on going to war with the Messenians for offering violence to some of their maidens at a solemn sacrifice of that people, they bound themselves under a severe oath not to return till they had taken Messene, promising themselves so much either from their strength or good fortune. This occurrence was the commencement of dissension in Greece, and the origin and cause of a civil war. But being detained in the siege of this city, contrary to their expectation, for ten years, and called on to return by the complaints of their wives after so long a widowhood, and being afraid that by persevering in the war they might hurt themselves more than the Messenians (for, in Messene, whatever men were lost in the war, were replaced by the fruitfulness of their women, while they themselves suffered constant losses in battle, and could have no offspring from their wives in the absence of their husbands), they in consequence selected, out of the soldiers that had come, after the military oath was first taken, as recruits to the army, a number of young men; whom they sent back to Sparta with permission to form promiscuous connexions with all the women of the city, thinking that conception would be more speedy if each of the females made the experiment with several men. Those who sprung from these unions were called Partheniae, as a reflection on their mothers' violated chastity; and, when they came to thirty years of age, being alarmed with the fear of want (for not one of them had a father to whose estate he could hope to succeed,) they chose a captain named Phalantus, the son of Aratus, by whose advice the Spartans had sent home the young men to propagate, that, as they had formerly had the father for the author of their birth, they might now have the son as the establisher of their hopes and fortunes. Without taking leave of their mothers, therefore, from whose adultery they thought that they derived dishonour, they set out to seek a place of settlement, and being tossed about a long time, and with various mischances, they at last arrived on the coast of Italy, where, after seizing the citadel of the Tarentines, and expelling the old inhabitants, they fixed their abode. But several years after, their leader Phalantus, being driven into exile by a popular tumult, went to Brundusium, whither the former inhabitants of Tarentum had retreated after they were expelled from their city. When he was at the point of death, he urged the exiles 'to have his bones, and last relics, bruised to dust, and privately sprinkled in the forum of Tarentum; for that Apollo at Delphi had signified that by this means they might recover their city.' They, thinking that he had revealed the destiny of his countrymen to avenge himself, complied with his directions; but the intention of the oracle was exactly the reverse; for it promised the Spartans, upon the performance of what he had said, not the loss, but the perpetual possession of the city. Thus by the subtlety of their exiled captain, and the agency, of their enemies, the possession of Tarentum was secured to the Partheniae for ever.

§ 3.5  Meantime the Messenians, who could not be conquered by valour, were reduced by stratagem. For eighty years they bore the severe afflictions of slaves, as frequent stripes, and chains, and other evils of subjugation; and then, after so long an endurance of suffering, they proceeded to resume hostilities, The Lacedaemonians, at the same time, ran to arms with the greater ardour and unanimity, because they seemed to be called upon to fight against their own slaves. While ill-treatment, therefore, on the one side, and indignation on the other, exasperated their feelings, the Lacedaemonians consulted the oracle at Delphi concerning the event of the war, and were directed to ask the Athenians for a leader to conduct it. The Athenians, learning the answer of the oracle, sent, to express their contempt of the Spartans a lame poet, named Tyrtaeus; who, being routed in three battles, reduced the Lacedaemonians to so desperate a condition, that, to recruit their army, they liberated a portion of their slaves, promising that they should marry the widows of those who were slain, and thus fill up, not merely the number of the lost citizens, but their offices. The kings of Sparta, however, lest, by contending against fortune, they should bring greater losses on their city, would have drawn off their army, had not Tyrtaeus interposed, and recited to the soldiers, in a public assembly, some verses of his own composition, in which he had comprised exhortations to courage, consolations for their losses, and counsels concerning the war. By this means he inspired the soldiers with such resolution, that, being no longer concerned for their lives, but merely for the rites of sepulture, they tied on their right arms tickets, inscribed with their names and those of their fathers, that if an unsuccessful battle should cut them off, and their features after a time become indistinct, they might be consigned to burial according to the indication of the inscriptions. When the kings saw the army thus animated, they took care that the state of it should be made known to the enemy; the report, however, raised in the Messenians no alarm, but a correspondent ardour. Both sides accordingly encountered with such fury, that there scarcely ever was a more bloody battle. But at last victory fell to the Lacedaemonians.

§ 3.6  Some time after, the Messenians renewed the war a third time, when the Lacedaemonians, among their other allies, called also upon the Athenians for assistance; but afterwards, conceiving some mistrust of them, they prevented them from joining in the war, pretending that they had no need for their services. The Athenians, not liking this proceeding, removed the money, which had been contributed by the whole of Greece to defray the expense of the Persian war, from Del os to Athens, that, if the Lacedaemonians broke their faith as allies, it might not be an object of plunder to them. The Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, did not rest, for though they were engaged in the war with the Messenians, they set the people of the Peloponnesus to make war on the Athenians. The forces of the Athenians at home were at that time inconsiderable, as their fleet had been despatched into Egypt, so that, engaging in battle by sea, they were quickly worsted. Soon after, on the return of their fleet, being strengthened both by sea and land, they renewed the war; when the Lacedaemonians, leaving the Messenians at rest, turned their full force against the Athenians. Victory was long doubtful, and at last both parties gave over with equal loss. The Lacedaemonians being then recalled to the war with the Messenians, but not wishing to leave the Athenians in the meantime unmolested, bargained with the Thebans to restore them the supremacy of Boeotia, which they had lost in the time of the Persian war, if they would but take up arms against the Athenians. Such was the fury of the Spartans, that, though they were involved in two wars, they did not hesitate to occasion a third, if they might but raise up enemies against their enemies. The Athenians, therefore, to meet this storm of war, made choice of two eminent leaders, Pericles, a man of tried courage, and Sophocles, the writer of tragedies; who, dividing their forces, laid waste the lands of the Spartans, and brought many cities of Achaia under the power of the Athenians.

§ 3.7  The Lacedaemonians, being humbled by these losses, agreed upon a peace for thirty years. But their hostile feelings did not allow of so long a period of repose. Hence, having broken the treaty before the fifteenth year was ended, they laid waste the territories of Attica in violation of their obligations towards the gods and towards men. And lest they should seem to have desired to plunder rather than to fight, they challenged the enemy to the field. But the Athenians, by the advice of their leader Pericles, deferred revenge for the spoliation of their lands to a fitter time of exacting it, thinking it needless to hazard a battle, when they could avenge themselves on the enemy without risk. Some days afterwards, accordingly, they embarked in their fleet, and, while the Lacedaemonians expected nothing of the kind, laid waste all Sparta, carrying off much more than they had lost; so that, in a comparison of their respective sufferings, the retaliation was much greater than the injury at first received. This expedition of Pericles was considered as greatly to his honour; but his disregard of his private property was far more honourable. The enemy, while they wasted the lands of others, had left his uninjured; hoping, by this means, either to bring danger on him by rendering him unpopular, or dishonour by making him suspected of treachery. But Pericles, foreseeing what would happen, had both foretold it to the people, and, to escape the effects of popular odium, had made over his lands to the state as a gift; and thus obtained the greatest honour from that by which his ruin had been intended. Some days afterwards, an engagement took place by sea; and the Lacedaemonians, being worsted, fled. Nevertheless they did not cease from fierce attacks on one another, by sea or land, with various success. At last, exhausted with disasters on both sides, they made peace for fifty years, which however they maintained only for six; for they broke the treaty which they had concluded on their own account, under pretence of assisting their allies; as if they were less guilty of perjury by aiding their dependants, than by engaging in open hostilities themselves.
The war was in consequence transferred into Sicily; but before I relate its progress, it is proper to give some account of the situation of that island.

§ 4.1  IT is said that Sicily was formerly joined to Italy by a narrow pass, and was torn off, as it were, from the larger body, by the violence of the upper sea, which impels itself in that direction with the whole force of its waters. The soil itself, too, is light and frangible, and so perforated with caverns and passages, that it is almost everywhere open to blasts of wind; and the very matter of it is naturally adapted for generating and nourishing fire, as it is said to be impregnated with sulphur and bitumen, a circumstance which is the cause that when air contends with fire in the subterraneous parts, the earth frequently, and in several places, sends forth flame, or vapour, or smoke. Hence it is that the fire of Mount Aetna has lasted through so many ages. And when a strong wind passes in through the openings of the cavities, heaps of sand are cast up.
The promontory of Italy on the side nearest to Sicily, is called Rhegium, because things broken off are designated by that term in Greek. Nor is it strange that antiquity should have been full of fables concerning these parts, in which so many extraordinary things are found together. The sea, in the first place, is nowhere so impetuous, pouring on with a current not only rapid but furious, not only frightful to those who feel its effects, but to those who view it from a distance. So fierce is the conflict of the waves as they meet, that you may see some of them, put to flight as it were, sink down into the depths, and others, as if victorious, rising up to the skies. Sometimes, in one part, you may hear the roaring of the sea as it boils up; and again, in another part, the groaning of it as it sinks into a whirlpool. Next are to be observed the adjacent and everlasting fires of Mount Aetna and the Aeolian islands, which burn as if their heat were nourished by the sea itself; nor indeed could such a quantity of fire have endured in such narrow bounds for so many ages unless it were supported by nourishment from the water. Hence fables produced Scylla and Charybdis; hence barkings were thought to have been heard; hence the appearances of monsters gained credit, as the sailors, frightened at the vast whirlpools of the subsiding waters, imagined that the waves, which the vortex of the absorbent gulf clashes together, actually barked. The same cause makes the fires of Mount Aetna perpetual; for the shock of the waters forces into the depths a portion of air hurried along with it, and then keeps it confined till, being diffused through the pores of the earth, it kindles the matter which nourishes the fire.
In addition, the proximity of Italy and Sicily is to be noticed, with the heights of their respective promontories, which are so similar, that, whatever wonder they raise in us in the present day, they excited proportionate terror in the ancients, who believed that whole ships were intercepted and destroyed by the promontories closing together and opening. Nor was this invented by the ancients to gratify the hearer with a fabulous wonder, but occasioned by the terror and consternation of those who passed by those parts; for such is the appearance of the coasts to any one beholding them from a distance, that you would take the passage between them for a bay in the sea, and not a strait; and, as you draw nearer, you would think that the promontories, which were before united, part asunder and separate.

§ 4.2  At first Sicily had the name of Trinacria; afterwards it was called Sicania. It was originally the abode of the Cyclops; when they became extinct, Cocalus made himself ruler of the island. After his time the cities fell severally under the dominion of tyrants, of whom no country was more productive. One of them, Anaxilaus, strove to be as just as the others were cruel, and reaped no small advantage from his equity; for having left, at his death, some sons very young, and having committed the guardianship of them to Micythus, a slave of tried fidelity, so great was the respect paid to his memory among all his subjects, that they chose rather to submit to a slave than to abandon the king's children; and the noblemen of the state, forgetful of their dignity, suffered the authority of government to be exercised by a bondman. The Carthaginians, too, attempted to gain the sovereignty of Sicily, and fought against the tyrants for a long time with various success; but at length, after losing their general Hamilcar and his army, they remained quiet for some time in consequence of that defeat.

§ 4.3  In the meantime, the people of Rhegium being troubled with dissension, and the city being divided by disputes into two factions, a body of veteran soldiers from Himera, who were invited by one of the parties to their assistance, having first expelled from the city those against whom they had been called, and then put to the sword those whom they had come to aid, took the government into their own hands, and made prisoners of the wives and children of their allies; venturing upon an atrocity to which that of no tyrant can be compared; so that it would have been better for the Rhegians to have been conquered than to conquer; for whether they had become slaves to their conquerors by the laws of war, or, withdrawing from their country, had been necessitated to live in exile, yet they would not have been butchered amidst their altars and household gods, and have left their country, with their wives and children, a prey to the most cruel of tyrants.
The people of Catana, also, finding themselves oppressed by the Syracusans, and distrusting their own power to withstand them, requested assistance from the Athenians, who, whether from desire of enlarging their dominions, so that they might master all Greece and Asia, or from apprehension of a fleet lately built by the Syracusans, and to prevent such a force from joining the Lacedaemonians, sent Lamponius, as general, with a naval armament into Sicily, that under pretence of assisting the people of Catana, they might endeavour to secure the sovereignty of the whole island. Having succeeded in their first attempts, and made havoc among the enemy on several occasions, they despatched another expedition to Sicily, with a greater fleet and more numerous army, under the command of Laches and Chariades. But the people of Catana, whether from fear of the Athenians, or from being weary of the war, made peace with the Syracusans, and sent back the Athenian force that had come to assist them.

§ 4.4  After a lapse of some time, however, as the articles of the peace were not observed by the Syracusans, they sent ambassadors a second time to Athens, who, arriving in a mean dress, with long hair and beards, and every sign of distress adapted to move pity, presented themselves in that wretched plight before the public assembly. To their entreaties were added tears; and the suppliants so moved the people to compassion, that the commanders who had withdrawn the auxiliary force from them received a sentence of condemnation. A powerful fleet was then appointed to aid them; Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus were made captains; and Sicily was revisited with such a force as was a terror even to those to whose aid it was sent. In a short time, Alcibiades being recalled to answer certain charges made against him, Nicias and Lamachus fought two successful battles by land, and, drawing lines of circumvallation around Syracuse, cut off all supplies from the enemy by sea, keeping them closely blocked up in the city. The Syracusans, being greatly reduced by these measures, sought assistance from the Lacedaemonians, by whom Gylippus alone was sent; but he was a man equal to whole troops of auxiliaries. He, having heard on his way of the declining state ot the war, and having collected some support partly from Greece and partly from Sicily, took possession of some posts suitable for carrying on the war. He was then conquered in two battles, but engaging in a third, he killed Lamachus, put the enemy to flight, and rescued his allies from the siege. But as the Athenians transferred their warlike efforts from the land to the sea, Gylippus sent for a fleet and army from Lacedaemon; upon intelligence of which the Athenians themselves, too, sent out Demosthenes and Eurymedon, in the room of their late leader, with a reinforcement to their troops. The Peloponnesians again, by a general resolution of their cities, sent powerful assistance to the Syracusans, and, as it the Greek war had been transported into Sicily, the contest was pursued on both sides with the utmost vigour.

§ 4.5  In the first encounter at sea, the Athenians were worsted, and lost their camp, with all their money, both what was public and what belonged to private individuals. When, in addition to these disasters, they were also beaten in a battle on land, Demosthenes began to advise that 'they should quit Sicily, while their condition, though bad, was not yet desperate; and that they should not persist in a war so inauspiciously commenced, as there were more considerable, and perhaps more unhappy wars, to be dreaded at home, for which it was expedient that they should reserve the present force of their city.' But Nicias, whether from shame at his ill success, from fear of the resentment of his countrymen for the disappointment of their hopes, or from the impulse of destiny, contended for staying. The war by sea was therefore renewed, and their thoughts turned from reflections on their previous ill-fortune to the hopes of a successful struggle, but, through the unskilfulness of their leaders, who attacked the Syracusans when advantageously posted in a strait, they were easily overcome. Their general, Eurymedon, was the first to fall, fighting bravely in the front of the battle; and thirty ships which he commanded were burnt. Demosthenes and Nicias being also defeated, set their forces on shore, thinking that retreat would be safer by land. Gylippus seized a hundred and thirty ships which they had left, and then, pursuing them as they fled, took some of them prisoners, and put others to death. Demosthenes, after the loss of his troops saved himself from captivity by voluntarily falling on his sword. But Nicias, not induced, even by the example of Demosthenes, to put himself out of the power of fortune, added to the loss of his army the disgrace of being made prisoner.

§ 5.1  WHILST the Athenians, during two years, were carrying on the war in Sicily, with more eagerness than success, Alcibiades, the promoter and leader of it, was accused at Athens in his absence of having divulged the mysteries of Ceres, which were rendered sacred by nothing more than by their secrecy. Being recalled from the war to take his trial, and being unwilling, either from the consciousness of guilt or from the affront put upon him, to obey, he retired, without offering to defend himself, to Elis. From thence, having learned that he was not only condemned, but devoted to destruction with execrations in the religious ceremonies of all the priests, he betook himself to Lacedaemon, where he urged the king of the Lacedaemonians to make war on the Athenians in the midst of their distress at the unfortunate result of the struggle in Sicily. This being done, all the powers of Greece conspired against the Athenians, as if to extinguish a common conflagration; such hatred had they brought upon themselves by their desire of too great power. Darius also, the king of Persia, not forgetting his father's and grandfather's hostility to that city, concluded an alliance with the Lacedaemonians through Tissaphernes, satrap of Lydia, and promised to defray all the expense of the war. Such at least was his pretext for meddling in the affairs of Greece, but in reality he was afraid that the Lacedaemonians, if they conquered the Athenians, should turn their arms against himself. Who then can wonder that the flourishing state of Athens went to ruin, when the whole strength of the east conspired to overwhelm one city? Yet they did not fall with merely a faint struggle, or without bloodshed, but fighting to the last, and sometimes victorious, being rather worn out by changes of fortune than overcome by force of arms. At the commencement of the war, too, all their allies deserted them, according to common practice; for whatever way fortune leans, in the same direction does the favour of mankind turn.

§ 5.2  Alcibiades also supported the war raised against his country, not with the services of a common soldier, but with the abilities of a general. Having received a squadron of five ships, he sailed directly to Asia, and, by the authority of his name, prevailed on the cities tributary to the Athenians to revolt from them. They knew his eminence at home; nor did they think his influence weakened by his banishment, but looked on him rather as a leader taken from the Athenians, than added to the Lacedaemonians, and balanced the command which he had gained against that which he had lost. But among the Lacedaemonians the abilities of Alcibiades had gained him more envy than favour; and the chief men having formed a plot to kill him, as their rival in glory, Alcibiades, receiving intelligence of their design from the wife of Agis, with whom he had an intrigue, fled to Tissaphernes, the satrap of king Darius, with whom he quickly ingratiated himself by his affability and obligingness of manners. He was then in the flower of youth, and distinguished for personal Graces, and not less for oratory, even among the Athenians. But he was better fitted to gain the affections of friends than to keep them; because the vices in his character were thrown into the shade by the splendour of his eloquence. He succeeded in persuading Tissaphernes not to furnish such supplies of money for the Lacedaemonian fleet; 'for the Ionians,' he said, 'should be called upon to pay their share, since it was for their deliverance, when they were paying tribute to the Lacedaemonians, that the war was undertaken. Neither, however,' he added, 'should the Lacedaemonians be too greatly assisted; for he should remember that he was preparing a way for the supremacy of others, not for his own; and that the war was only so far to be supported, that it might not be broken off for want of supplies, as the king of Persia, while the Greeks were distracted by dissensions, would be the arbiter of peace and war, and would vanquish with their own arms those whom he could not overcome with his own; but that, if the war were brought to a conclusion, he would immediately have to fight with the conquerors. That Greece, therefore, ought to be reduced by civil wars, so that it might have no opportunity to engage in foreign ones; that the strength of its two parties should be kept equal, the weaker being constantly supported; since the Spartans, who professed themselves the defenders of the liberty of Greece, would not remain quiet after their present elevation.' Such arguments were very agreeable to Tissaphernes; and he accordingly furnished supplies to the Spartans but sparingly, and did not send the whole of the king's fleet to assist them, lest he should gain them a complete victory, or bring the other party under the necessity of abandoning the war.

§ 5.3  Meanwhile Alcibiades boasted of this service to his countrymen; and when deputies from the Athenians came to him, he promised to secure them the king's friendship, if the government should be transferred from the hands of the people to those of the senate; in hopes, either that, if the citizens could agree, he should be chosen general unanimously, or that, if dissension arose between the two orders, he should be invited by one of the parties to their assistance. The Athenians, as a dangerous war hung over them, were more solicitous about their safety than their dignity. The government, accordingly, was transferred, with the consent of the people, to the senate. But as the nobility, with the pride natural to their order, treated the common people cruelly, and each arrogated to himself the exorbitant power of tyranny, the banished Alcibiades was recalled by the army, and appointed to the command of the fleet. Upon this, he at once sent notice to Athens that, 'he would instantly march to the city with his army, and recover the rights of the people from the four hundred, unless they restored them of themselves.' The aristocracy, alarmed at this denunciation, at first attempted to betray the city to the Lacedaemonians, but being unable to succeed, went into exile. Alcibiades, having delivered his country from this intestine evil, fitted out his fleet with the utmost care, and proceeded to carry forward the war with the Lacedaemonians.

§ 5.4  Mindarus and Pharnabazus, the leaders of the Lacedaemonians, were already waiting at Sestos with their fleet drawn up. A battle being fought, the victory fell to the Athenians. In this engagement, the greater part of the army and almost all the enemy's officers, were killed, and eighty ships taken. Some days after, the Lacedaemonians, transferring the war from the sea to the land, were defeated a second time. Weakened by these disasters, they sued for peace, but were prevented from obtaining it by the efforts of those to whom the war brought private advantage. In the meantime, too, a war made upon Sicily by the Carthaginians called home the aid sent by the Syracusans, and the Lacedaemonians, in consequence, being wholly unsupported, Alcibiades ravaged the coast of Asia with his victorious fleet, fought several battles, and being every where victorious, recovered the cities which had revolted, took some others, and added them to the dominion of the Athenians. Having thus reestablished their ancient glory by sea, and united to it reputation in war by land, he returned to Athens to gratify the longing of his countrymen to behold him. In all these battles two hundred ships of the enemy, and a vast quantity of spoils, were taken.
Upon this triumphant return of the army, the whole multitude from Athens poured forth to meet them, and gazed with admiration on all the soldiers, but especially on Alcibiades; on him the whole city turned their eyes with looks of wonder; they regarded him as sent down from heaven, and as victory in person; they extolled what he had done for his country, nor did they less admire what he had done against it in his exile, excusing his conduct as the result of anger and provocation. Such power indeed, strange to say, was there in that one man, that he was the cause of a great state being subverted and again re-established; victory removed herself to the side on which he stood; and a wonderful change of fortune always attended him. They therefore heaped upon him not only all human, but divine honours; they made it an object of contention, whether the contumely with which they banished him, or the honour with which they recalled him, should be the greater. They, by whose execrations he had been devoted, carried their gods to meet and congratulate him; and him to whom they had lately refused all human aid, they now desired, if they could, to exalt to heaven; they made amends for indignities with praises, for confiscations with gifts, for imprecations with prayers. The unfortunate battle on the coast of Sicily was no longer in their mouths, but their success in Greece; the fleets which he had lost were no more mentioned, but those which he had taken; they did not speak of Syracuse, but of Ionia and the Hellespont. Thus Alcibiades was never received with moderate feelings on the part of his countrymen, either when they were offended, or when they were pleased with him.

§ 5.5  During these occurrences at Athens, Lysander was appointed by the Lacedaemonians to the command of their fleet and army; and Darius, king of Persia, made, in the room of Tissaphernes, his son Cyrus governor of Ionia and Lydia; who, by his assistance and support, inspired the Lacedemonians with hopes of recovering their former position. Their strength being therefore recruited, the Spartans, when their approach was wholly unexpected, surprised Alcibiades, who had gone with a hundred vessels to Asia, while he was laying waste the country, which was in excellent condition from a long continuance of peace, and while, unapprehensive of any attack, he had allowed his soldiers to disperse themselves under the attractions of plunder; and such was the havoc among the scattered troops, that the Athenians received more injury from that single onslaught, than they had caused the enemy in their previous battles with them. Such, too, was the desperation of the Athenians on the occasion, that they immediately deposed Alcibiades to make room for Conon, thinking that they had been defeated, not by the fortune of war, but by the treachery of their general, on whom their former injuries had had more influence than their recent favours, and that he had conquered in the former part of the war, only to show the enemy what a leader they had despised, and to make his countrymen pay so much the dearer for their previous victory; for his vigour of mind and laxity of morals made everything that was said of Alcibiades credible. Fearing therefore the rage of the people, he went again into voluntary exile.

§ 5.6  Conon, being put in the place of Alcibiades, and seeing to what sort of commander he had succeeded, fitted out his fleet with the utmost exertion; but troops were wanting to man the vessels, as the stoutest men had been cut off in the plundering of Asia. Old men, however, and boys under age, were furnished with arms, and the number of an army was completed, but without the strength. But soldiers of an age so unfit for war could not long protract the contest; they were everywhere cut to pieces, or taken prisoners as they fled; and so great was the loss in slain and captured, that not merely the power of the Athenians, but even their very name, seemed to be extinct. Their affairs being ruined and rendered desperate in the contest, they were reduced to such want of men, all of military age being lost, that they gave the freedom of the city to foreigners, liberty to slaves, and pardon to condemned malefactors. With an army raised from such a mixture of human beings, they who had lately been lords of Greece could scarcely preserve their liberty. Yet they resolved once more to try their fortune at sea; and such was their spirit, that though they had recently despaired of safety, they now did not despair even of victory. But it was not such a soldiery that could support the Athenian name; it was not such troops with which they had been used to conquer; nor were there the requisite military accomplishments in those whom prisons, not camps, had confined. All were in consequence either taken prisoners or slain; and the general Conon alone surviving the battle, and dreading the resentment of his countrymen, went off with eight ships to Evagoras, king of Cyprus.

§ 5.7  The general of the Lacedaemonians, after managing his affairs so successfully, grew insolent towards his enemies in their evil fortune. He sent the ships which he had taken, laden with spoil, and decorated as in triumph, to Lacedaemon. He received at the same time voluntary tenders of submission. from cities which dread of the doubtful fortune of war had kept in allegiance to the Athenians. Nor did he leave anything in possession of the Athenians but their city itself.
When all this was understood at Athens, the inhabitants, leaving their houses, ran up and down the streets in a frantic manner, asking questions of one another, and inquiring for the author of the news. Neither did incapacity keep the children at home, nor infirmity the old men, nor the weakness of their sex the women: so deeply had the feeling of such calamity affected every age. They met together in the forum, where, through the whole night, they bewailed the public distress. Some wept for their lost brothers, or sons, or parents; somo for other relatives; others for friends dearer than relatives; all mingling their lamentations for their country with plaints for their private sufferings; sometimes regarding themselves, sometimes their city, as on the brink of ruin; and deeming the fate of those who survived more unhappy than that of the slain. Each represented to himself a siege, a famine, and an enemy overbearing and flushed with victory; sometimes contemplating in imagination the desolation and burning of the city, and sometimes the captivity and wretched slavery of all its inhabitants; and thinking the former destruction of Athens, which was attended only with the ruin of their houses, while their children and parents were safe, much less calamitous than what was now to befall them; since there remained no fleet in which, as before, they might find a refuge, and no army by whose valour they might be saved to erect a finer city.

§ 5.8  While the city was thus wept over and almost brought to nothing, the enemy came upon it, pressed the inhabitants with a siege, and distressed them with famine. They knew that little remained of the provisions which they had laid up, and had taken care that no new ones should be imported. The Athenians, exhausted by their sufferings, from long endurance of famine, and daily losses of men, sued for peace; but it was long disputed between the Spartans and their allies whether it should be granted or not. Many gave their opinion that the very name of the Athenians should be blotted out, and the city destroyed by fire; but the Spartans refused 'to pluck out one of the two eyes of Greece,' and promised the Athenians peace, on condition that they should demolish the walls extending down to the Piraeus, and deliver up the ships which they had left; and that the state should receive from them thirty governors of their own citizens.' The city being surrendered on these terms, the Lacedaemonians committed it to Lysander to model the government of it. This year was rendered remarkable, not only for the reduction of Athens, but for the death of Darius, king of Persia, and the banishment of Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily.
When the form of government at Athens was changed, the condition of the citizens was likewise altered. Thirty governors of the state were appointed, who became absolute tyrants; for, at the very first, they organized for themselves a guard of three thousand men, though, after so much slaughter, scarcely as many citizens survived; and as if this force was too small to overawe the city, they received also seven hundred men from the victorious army. They then began to put to death the citizens, intending to commence with Alcibiades, lest he should again seize the government under pretence of delivering the city; and hearing that he was gone to Artaxerxes king of Persia, they despatched men in haste to stop him on his way. By these deputies he was beset, and, as he could not be killed openly, was burnt alive in the apartment in which he slept.

§ 5.9  The tyrants, thus freed from the dread of an avenger, wasted the miserable remains of the city with the sword and spoliation; and finding that their proceedings displeased Theramenes, one of their own body, they put him also to death to strike terror into the rest. In consequence a general dispersion of the citizens took place in all directions, and Greece was filled with Athenian fugitives. But the privilege of flight being also taken from them (for the cities were forbidden, by an edict of the Lacedaemonians, to receive the exiles), they all betook themselves to Argos and Thebes, where they had not only safe places of refuge, but also conceived hopes of repossessing themselves of their country. There was among the refugees a man named Thrasybulus, a person of great bravery and of noble extraction, who, thinking that something should be attempted, even at the utmost hazard, for their country and the common interest, called together the exiles, and took post at Phyle, a fort on the borders of Attica. Some of the cities, pitying the severity of their misfortunes, afforded them countenance; Ismenias, a leading man among the Thebans, though he could not assist them publicly, yet supported them with his private means; and Lycias, the Syracusan orator, at that time an exile, sent five hundred soldiers, equipped at his own charge, to the aid of the common country of eloquence. A desperate battle ensued; but as those on the one side fought with their utmost efforts to regain their country, and those on the other, with less eagerness, in support of the power of others, the tyrants were overcome. After their defeat they fled back into the city, which, already exhausted by their slaughters, they despoiled also of its arms. Suspecting all the Athenians, too, of disaffection towards them, they ordered them to remove out of the city, and to take up their abode among the ruins of the walls which had been demolished; supporting their own authority with foreign soldiers. Next they endeavoured to corrupt Thrasybulus, by promising him a share in the government; but, not succeeding, they sought assistance from Lacedaemon, on the arrival of which they took the field again. In this encounter Critias and Hippolochus, the two most cruel of the tyrants, were killed.

§ 5.10  The others being defeated, and their army, of which the greater part consisted of Athenians, running away, Thrasybulus called out to them with a loud voice, asking, 'Why they should flee from him in the midst of victory, rather than join him as the assertor of their common liberty?' adding, that 'they should reflect that his army was composed of their countrymen, not of enemies; that he had not armed himself to take any thing away from the conquered, but to restore them what they had lost; and that he was making war, not on the city, but on the thirty tyrants.' He then reminded them of their ties of relationship, their laws, their common religion, and their long service as fellow soldiers in so many wars. He conjured them, that, 'if they themselves could submit patiently to the yoke, they should yet take pity on their exiled countrymen;' he urged them 'to restore him to his country, and to accept liberty for themselves.' By these exhortations such an effect was produced, that when the army came back into the city, they ordered the thirty tyrants to retire to Eleusis, appointing ten commissioners to govern in their room; who, however, not at all deterred by the fate of the former tyrants, entered on a similar career, of cruelty. During the course of these proceedings, news arrived at Lacedaemon that war had broken out at Athens, and king Pausanias was sent to suppress it, who, touched with compassion for the exiled people, restored the unhappy citizens to their country, and ordered the ten tyrants to leave the city, and go to the rest at Eleusis. Peace was restored by these means; but, after an interval of some days, the tyrants, enraged at the recall of the exiles not less than at their own expulsion (as if liberty to others was slavery to themselves), suddenly resumed hostilities against Athens. As they were proceeding however to a conference, apparently with the expectation of recovering their power, they were seized by an ambuscade, and offered as sacrifices to peace. The people, whom they had obliged to leave the city, were recalled; and the state, which had been divided into several members, was at length re-united into one body. And that no dissension might arise in consequence of anything that had gone before, the citizens were all bound by an oath that former discords should be forgotten.
Meanwhile the Thebans and Corinthians sent ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians, to demand a share of the spoil acquired by their common exertions in war, and at their common risk. Their demand being refused, they did not indeed openly resolve on war with the Lacedaemonians, but tacitly conceived such resentment towards them, that it might be seen that war was likely to arise.

§ 5.11  About the same time died Darius, king of Persia, leaving two sons, Artaxerxes and Cyrus. He bequeathed the kingdom to Artaxerxes, and to Cyrus the cities over which he had been satrap. But Cyrus thought the will of his father an injustice, and secretly made preparations for war with his brother. News of his intentions being brought to Artaxerxes, he sent for him, and, when he pretended innocence, and denied all thoughts of war, he bound him with golden fetters, and would have put him to death, had not his mother interposed. Cyrus, in consequence of her intercession, being allowed to depart, began to prepare for war, no longer secretly, but publicly, not with dissimulation, but with an open avowal of it, and assembled auxiliary troops from all quarters. The Lacedemonians, remembering that they had been vigorously aided by him in the war with Athens, and as if in ignorance against whom hostilities were intended, resolved that 'assistance should be sent to Cyrus whenever his necessities should require;' hoping thus to secure favour with Cyrus, and a plea for pardon with Artaxerxes if he should have the advantage, because they had decreed nothing openly against him. But when they came to an encounter, fortune throwing the brothers together in the field, Artaxerxes was first wounded by Cyrus, but being rescued from danger by the speed of his horse, Cyrus was overpowered by the king's battalion, and slain. Thus Artaxerxes being victorious, got possession both of the spoil from the war with his brother, and of his brother's army. In this battle there were ten thousand Greeks on the side of Cyrus, who had the superiority in the wing on which they had been posted, and, after the death of Cyrus, could neither be reduced forcibly by the vast army of their adversaries, nor captured by stratagem, but, returning through so many wild and barbarous nations, and over such vast tracts of land, defended themselves by their valour till they gained the borders of their country.

§ 6.1  THE more the Lacedaemonians got, the more, according to the nature of mankind, they coveted, and, not satisfied at their strength being doubled by the accession of the Athenian power, they began to aspire to the dominion of all Asia. But the greater part of it was under the government of the Persians; and Dercyllidas, being chosen general to conduct the war against them, and seeing that he would be opposed to two satraps of Artaxerxes, Phamabazus and Tissaphernes, supported by the strength of powerful nations, resolved to make peace with one of them. As Tissaphernes seemed the fitter of the two for his purpose, being more attentive to business, and better furnished with troops (having with him those of the late prince Cyrus), he was invited to a conference, and induced to lay down his arms on certain conditions. This transaction Pharnabazus made matter of accusation to their common sovereign, acquainting him that 'Tissaphernes had not taken arms to repel the Lacedaemonians on their invasion of Asia, but had maintained them at the king's charge, and bargained with them as to what they should put off doing in the war, and what they should carry into execution, as if every loss did not affect the interest of the one empire in general,' adding that 'it was disgraceful that war should not he decided by the sword, but bought off, and that the enemy should be induced to retire, not by arms, but by money.' When by such charges he had irritated the king against Tissaphernes, he advised him to appoint in his place, as commander by sea, Conon the Athenian, who, having left his country on account of his ill success, was living in exile in Cyprus; 'for though the power of the Athenians,' he said, 'was reduced, their experience at sea was still left them, and that, were a choice to be made from them all, no one could be preferred to Conon.' Pharnabazus was accordingly furnished with five hundred talents and directed to set Conon over the fleet.

§ 6.2  When this arrangement was publicly known, the Lacedaemonians, through their ambassadors, requested aid for their efforts by sea from Hercynio, king of Egypt, by whom a hundred triremes, and six hundred thousand modii of corn, were despatched to them, while from their other allies a great number of forces were also assembled. But for such an army, and against such a leader, an efficient commander was wanting; and when the auxiliaries desired Agesilaus, then king of the Lacedaemonians, for their general, the Lacedaemonians, in consequence of an answer from the oracle at Delphi, were long in doubt whether they should appoint him to the chief command, as it was signified to them that 'there would be an end of their power when the kingly authority should be lame;' and Agesilaus was lame of one foot. At last they decided that 'it was better for the king to halt in his gait than for the kingdom to halt in its power;' and when they afterwards sent Agesilaus, with a large army into Asia, I cannot easily tell what other two generals were ever so well matched; for the age, valour, conduct, and wisdom of both were nearly equal, as was also the fame of their achievements; and fortune, who had given them equal qualifications, had kept the one from being conquered by the other. Great preparations for war, therefore, were made by both, and great deeds were performed. But a mutiny among his soldiers arose to trouble Conon, in consequence of the king's officers making it a practice to defraud them of their pay; and they demanded their arrears the more obstinately, as they anticipated that service under so great a general would be very severe. Conon, having long importuned the king by letters to no purpose, went at last to him in person, but was debarred from any interview or conference with him, because he would not do him homage after the manner of the Persians. He, however, treated with him through his ministers, and complained that 'the wars of the richest king in the world ended in nothing through want of pay; and that he who had an army equal to that of the enemy, was defeated by means of money in which he was their superior, and found inferior to them in that article of power in which he had far the advantage of them.' He also desired that one paymaster might be appointed for his troops, as it was evidently detrimental to commit that office to several. Money for his soldiers was then given him, and he returned to the fleet. Nor did he delay to enter on action; he executed many undertakings with resolution, many with success; he laid waste the enemy's country, stormed their towns, and bore down everything before him like a hurricane. The Lacedaemonians were so alarmed at his progress, that they resolved on recalling Agesilaus from Asia to the support of his country.

§ 6.3  In the meantime Pisander, who had been left governor of his country by Agesilaus at his departure, fitted out a powerful fleet with the utmost exertion, determining to try the fortune of war. Conon, too, on the other hand, being then to encounter the enemy's army for the first time, put his troops in order with the greatest care. The emulation between the generals in the contest was not greater than that between the soldiers. Conon himself, in his character of leader, did not so much regard the interest of the Persians as the honour of his own country; and as, when the strength of the Athenians was reduced, he had occasioned the utter loss of their power, so he had a desire to be accounted its restorer, as well as to reinstate himself in his country by a victory from which he had been exiled through being defeated; and this the more remarkably as he was not to fight with the aid of the Athenians themselves, but with that of a foreign state; he was going to contend at the risk of the king, but to conquer to the advantage of his country, acquiring glory by means dissimilar from those by which the former generals of Athens had obtained it, for they had defended their country by defeating the Persians, but he would re-establish his country by making the Persians victorious. Pisander too, from his relationship to Agesilaus, was also an emulator of his virtues, and endeavoured not to fall short of his exploits and the brilliancy of his renown, and not to overthrow, by the misconduct of a moment, a power which had been gained by so many wars through so many ages. The anxiety of all the soldiers and sailors was similar, being not so much concerned that they might not lose the power which they had got, as that the Athenians might not recover their former eminence. But the more spirited was the struggle, the more honourable was the victory of Conon. The Lacedaemonians were routed and put to flight; the garrison of the enemy was withdrawn from Athens; the people were restored to their rights, and their bondage was at an end; and several cities were reduced to their former state of obedience.

§ 6.4  To the Athenians this event was the beginning of their restoration to power; to the Lacedemonians it was the termination of their authority; for, as if they had lost their spirit with their pre-eminence, they began to be regarded with contempt by their neighbours. The first people that made war upon them, with the aid of the Athenians, were the Thebans; ft state which, by the abilities of its general, Epaminondas, was raised from the most humble condition to the hope of governing Greece. A battle was fought between the two powers by land, with the same fortune on the part of the Lacedaemonians as they had experienced against Conon by sea. In this encounter Lysander, under whose conduct the Athenians had been defeated by the Lacedaemonians, was killed. Pausanias also, the other general of the Lacedaemonians, went into exile in consequence of being accused of treachery.
The Thebans, on gaining the victory, led their whole force against Lacedaemon, expecting that it would be easy to reduce the city, as the Spartans were deserted by all their allies. The Lacedaemonians, dreading the event, sent for their king Agesilaus out of Asia, where he was performing great exploits, to defend his country; for since Lysander was slain, they had no confidence in any other general; but, as he was tardy in coming, they raised an army, and proceeded to meet the enemy. Having been once conquered, however, they had neither spirit nor strength to meet those who had recently vanquished them. They were accordingly routed in the very first onset. But Agesilaus came up just when the forces of his countrymen were overthrown; and, having renewed the contest, he, with his fresh troops, invigorated by long service, snatched the victory from the enemy without difficulty, but was himself severely wounded.

§ 6.5  The Athenians, receiving intelligence of this event, and fearing that if the Lacedaemonians obtained another victory, they should be reduced to their former state of bondage, assembled an army, and ordered that it should be conducted to the aid of the Boeotians by Iphicrates, a young man only twenty years of age, but of great abilities. The conduct of this youth was above his years, and greatly to be admired; nor had the Athenians ever before him, among so many and so great leaders, a captain of greater promise, or of talents that sooner came to maturity; and he had not only the qualifications of a general, but also those of an orator.
Conon, having heard of the return of Agesilaus, came also himself from Asia to ravage the country of the Lacedaemonians; who, while the terrors of war raged around them, were shut up within their walls, and reduced to the depths of despair. After wasting the enemy's territories, Conon proceeded to Athens, where he was received with great joy on the part of his countrymen; but he felt more sorrow at the state of his native city, which had been burnt and laid in ruins by the Lacedaemonians, than joy at his return to it after so long an absence. He accordingly repaired what had been burnt, and rebuilt what had been demolished, from the price of the spoil which he had taken, and with the help of the Persian troops. Such was the fate of Athens, that having been first burnt by the Persians, it was restored by their labour; and having been afterwards wasted by the Lacedaemonians, it was re-adorned from their spoils; and, the state of things being reversed, it had now for allies those whom it then had for enemies, and those for enemies with whom it had been joined in the closest bonds of alliance.

§ 6.6  During the course of these proceedings, Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, sent deputies into Greece, with injunctions, 'that they should all lay down their arms,' and assurances 'that he would treat as enemies those who should act otherwise.' He restored to the cities their liberty and all that belonged to them; a course which he did not adopt from concern for the troubles of the Greeks, and for their incessant and deadly enmities displayed in the field, but from unwillingness that, while he was engaged in a war with Egypt (which he had undertaken because the Egyptians had sent aid to the Spartans against his satraps), his troops should be obliged to stay in Greece. The Greeks, exhausted with so much fighting, eagerly obeyed his mandate.
This year was not only remarkable for a peace being suddenly made throughout Greece, but for the taking of the city of Rome at the same time by the Gauls.
But the Lacedaemonians, watching an opportunity of surprising the unguarded, and observing that the Arcadians were absent from their country, stormed one of their fortresses, and, having taken possession of it, placed a garrison in it. The Arcadians in consequence, arming and equipping a body of troops, and calling the Thebans to their assistance, demanded in open war the restitution of what they had lost. In the battle which followed, Archidamus, general of the Lacedaemonians, was wounded, and, seeing his men cut down and apparently defeated, sent a herald to ask the bodies of the slain for burial; this being a sign among the Greeks that the victory is yielded. The Thebans, satisfied with this acknowledgment, made the signal for giving quarter.

§ 6.7  After the lapse of a few days, while neither side was offering any hostility, and while, as the Lacedemonians were engaged in other contentions with their neighbours, a truce was observed as it were by tacit consent, the Thebans, under the leadership of Epaminondas, conceived hopes of seizing the city of Sparta. They accordingly proceeded thither secretly, in the early part of the night, but failed to take the inhabitants by surprise; for the old men, and others of an age unfit for war, observing the approach of the enemy, met them in arms at the very entrance of the gates; and not more than a hundred men, enfeebled with years, offered battle to fifteen thousand. So much spirit and vigour does the sight of our country and homes inspire; and so much more confidence is afforded by the presence, than by the remembrance of them; for when they considered where and for what they took their stand, they resolved either to conquer or die. A few old men, in consequence, held out against an army, which, shortly before, the flower of their troops were unable to withstand. In this battle two generals of the enemy were killed, when, on intelligence being received that Agesilaus was approaching, the Thebans retreated. But there was no long cessation of hostilities; for the Spartan youth, incited by the heroism and glorious deeds of the old men, could not be prevented from promptly engaging in the field. Just as victory inclined to the Thebans, Epaminondas, while he was discharging the duty, not only of a general, but of a gallant soldier, was severely wounded. When this was known, fear fell upon one side from, deep concern, and amaze on the other from excess of joy; and both parties, as if by mutual agreement, retired from the field.

§ 6.8  A few days after, Epaminondas died, and with him fell the spirit of the Theban state. For as, when you break off the point of a dart, you take from the rest of the steel the power of wounding, so when that general of the Thebans (who was, as it were, the point of their weapon) was taken off, the strength of their government was so debilitated, that they seemed not so much to have lost him as to have all died with him. They neither carried on any memorable war before he became their leader, nor were they afterwards remarkable for their successes, but for their defeats; so that it is certain that with him the glory of his country both rose and fell. Whether he was more estimable as a man or a general is undecided; for he never sought power for himself, but for his country, and was so far from coveting money, that he did not leave sufficient to pay for his funeral. Nor was he more desirous of distinction than of wealth; for all the appointments that he held were conferred on him against his will, and he filled his posts in such a manner that he seemed to add lustre to his honours rather than to receive it from them. His application to learning, and his knowledge of philosophy, were such, that it seemed wonderful how a man bred up in literature could have so excellent a knowledge of war. The manner of his death, too, was not at variance with his course of life; for when he was carried back half dead into the camp, and had recovered his breath and voice, he asked only this question of those that stood about him, 'whether the enemy had taken his shield from him when he fell?' Hearing that it was saved, he kissed it, when it was brought to him, as the sharer of his toils and glory. He afterwards inquired which side had gained the victory, and hearing that the Thebans had got it, observed, 'It is well,' and so, as it were congratulating his country, expired.

§ 6.9  With his death the spirit of the Athenians also declined. For after he whom they were wont to emulate was gone, they sank into sloth and effeminacy, and spent the public income, not, as formerly, upon fleets and armies, but upon festivals, and the celebration of games; frequenting the theatres for the sake of eminent actors and poets, visiting the stage oftener than the camp, and praising men rather for being good versifiers than good generals. It was then that the public revenues, from which soldiers and sailors used to be maintained, were distributed among the people of the city. By which means it came to pass, that during the absence of exertion on the part of the Greeks, the name of the Macedonians, previously mean and obscure, rose into notice; and Philip, who had been kept three years as a hostage at Thebes, and had been imbued with the virtues of Epaminondas and Pelopidas, imposed the power of Macedonia, like a yoke of bondage, upon the necks of Greece and Asia.

§ 7.1  MACEDONIA, was formerly called Emathia, from the name of king Emathion, of whose prowess the earliest proofs are extant in those parts. As the origin of this kingdom was but humble, so its limits were at first extremely narrow. The inhabitants were called Pelasgi, the country Paeonia. But in process of time, when, through the ability of their princes and the exertions of their subjects, they had conquered, first of all, the neighbouring tribes, and afterwards other nations and peoples, their dominions extended to the utmost boundaries of the east, In the region of Paeonia, which is now a portion of Macedonia, is said to have reigned Pelegonus, the father of Asteropaaus, whose name we find, in the Trojan War, among the most distinguished defenders of the city. On the other side a king named Europus held the sovereignty in a district called Europa.
But Caranus, accompanied by a great multitude of Greeks, having been directed by an oracle to seek a settlement in Macedonia, and having come into Emathia, and followed a flock of goats that were fleeing from a tempest, possessed himself of the city of Edessa, before the inhabitants, on account of the thickness of the rain and mist, were aware of his approach; and being reminded of the oracle, by which he had been ordered 'to seek a kingdom with goats for his guides,' he made this city the seat of his government, and afterwards religiously took care, whithersoever he led his troops, to keep the same goats before his standards, that he might have those animals as leaders in his enterprises which he had had as guides to the site of his kingdom. He changed the name of the city, in commemoration of his good fortune, from Edessa to Aegeae, and called the inhabitants Aegeatae. Having subsequently expelled Midas (for he also occupied a part of Macedonia), and driven other kings from their territories, he established himself, as sole monarch, in the place of them all, and was the first that, by uniting tribes of different people, formed Macedonia as it were into one body, and laid a solid foundation for the extension of his growing kingdom.

§ 7.2  After him reigned Perdiccas, whose life was distinguished, and the circumstances of whose death, as if ordered by an oracle, were worthy of record; for when he was old and at the point of death, he made known to his son Argaeus a place in which he wished to be buried, and directed that not only his own bones, but those of the kings that should succeed him, should be deposited in the same spot; signifying that, 'as long as the relics of his posterity should be buried there, the crown would remain in his family;' and the people believe, in consequence of this superstitious notion, that the line came to be extinct in Alexander, because he changed the place of sepulture. Argaeus, having governed the kingdom with moderation, and gained the love of his subjects, left his son Philip his successor, who, being carried off by an untimely death, made Aeropus, then quite a boy, his heir.
The Macedonians had perpetual contests with the Thracians and Illyrians, and, being hardened by their arms, as it were by daily exercise, they struck terror into their neighbours by the splendour of their reputation for war. The Illyrians, however, despising the boyhood of a king under age, attacked the Macedonians, who, being worsted in the field, brought out their king with them in his cradle, and, placing him behind the front lines, renewed the fight with greater vigour, as if they had been defeated before, because the fortune of their prince was not with them in the battle, and would now certainly conquer, because, from this superstitious fancy, they had con ceived a confidence of victory; while compassion for the infant, also, moved them, as, if they were overcome, they seemed likely to transform him from a king into a captive. Engaging in battle, therefore, they routed the Illyrians with great slaughter, and showed their enemies, that, in the former encounter, it was a king, and not valour, that was wanting to the Macedonians. To Aeropus succeeded Amyntas, a prince eminently distinguished, both for his own personal valour, and for the excellent abilities of his son Alexander, who had from nature such remarkable talents of every kind, that he contended for the prize in various species of exercises at the Olympic games.

§ 7.3  About this time Darius king of Persia, having been forced to quit Scythia in dishonourable flight, but not wishing to be thought every where contemptible from losses in war, despatched Megabazus, with a portion of his army, to subdue Thrace, and other kingdoms in those parts; to which Macedonia, he thought, would fall as an unimportant addition, Megabazus, speedily executing the king's orders, and sending deputies to Amyntas king of Macedonia, demanded that hostages should be given him. as a pledge of future peace. The deputies, being liberally entertained, asked Amyntas, as their intoxication increased in the progress of a banquet, 'to add to the magnificence of his board the privileges of friendship, by sending for his and his sons' wives to the feast; a practice which is deemed, among the Persians, a pledge and bond of hospitality.' The women having entered, and the Persians laying hands upon them too freely, Alexander, the son of Amyntas, begged his father, from regard to his age and dignity, to leave the banqueting-room, engaging that he himself would moderate the frolicsome spirit of their guests. Amyntas having withdrawn, Alexander called the women from the apartment for a while, under pretext of having them dressed in better style, and bringing them back with greater attractions. But in their place he put young men, clad in the habit of matrons, and ordered them to chastise the insolence of the deputies with swords which they were to carry under their garments. All of them being thus put to death, Megabazus, not knowing what had happened, but finding that the deputies did not return, sent Bubares to Macedonia with a detachment of his forces, as to an easy and trifling contest; disdaining to go himself, that he might not be disgraced by an encounter with so despicable a people. But Bubares, before he came to an engagement, fell in love with the daughter of Amyntas, when, breaking off hostilities, he celebrated a marriage, and, all thoughts of war being abandoned, entered into bonds of affinity with the king

§ 7.4  Soon after the departure of Bubares from Macedonia, king Amyntas died; but his relationship with Bubares not only secured to his son and successor, Alexander, peace during the reign of Darius, but also such favour with Xerxes, that, when that monarch overspread Greece like a tempest, he conferred upon him the sovereignty of all the country between the mountains of Olympus and Haemus. But Alexander enlarged his dominions not less by his own valour than through the munificence of the Persians. The throne afterwards descended, by the order of succession, to Amyntas, the son of his brother Menelaus. This prince was remarkable for his application to business, and was endowed with all the accomplishments of a great general. By his wife Eurydice he had three sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, and Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, and one daughter, named Eurynoe; he had also by Gygaea Archelaus, Aridaeus, and Menelaus. Subsequently he had formidable contests with the Illyrians and Olynthians. He would have been cut off by a plot of his wife Eurydice, who, having engaged to marry her son-in-law, had undertaken to kill her husband, and to put the government into the hands of her paramour, had not her daughter betrayed the intrigue and atrocious intentions of her mother. Having escaped so many dangers, he died at an advanced age, leaving the throne to Alexander, the eldest of his sons.

§ 7.5  Alexander, at the very beginning of his reign, purchased peace from the Illyrians with a sum of money, giving his brother Philip to them as a hostage. Some time after, too, he made peace with the Thebans by giving the same hostage; a circumstance which afforded Philip fine opportunities of improving his extraordinary abilities; for, being kept as a hostage at Thebes three years, he received the first rudiments of education in a city distinguished for strictness of discipline, and in the house of Epaminondas, an eminent philosopher, as well as commander. Not long afterwards Alexander fell by a plot of his mother Eurydice, whom Amyntas, when she was convicted of a conspiracy against him, had spared for the sake of their children, little imagining that she would one day be the destroyer of them. Perdiccas, also, the brother of Alexander, was taken off by similar treachery. Horrible, indeed, was it, that children should have been deprived of life by a mother, to gratify her lust, whom a regard for those very children had saved from the punishment of her crimes. The murder of Perdiccas seemed the more atrocious from the circumstance that not even the prayers of his little son could procure him pity from his mother. Philip, for a long time, acted, not as king, but as guardian to this infant; but, when dangerous wars threatened, and it was too long to wait for the co-operation of a prince who was yet a child, he was forced by the people to take the government upon himself.

§ 7.6  When he took possession of the throne, great hopes were formed of him by all, both on account of his abilities, which promised that he would prove a great man, and on account of certain old oracles respecting Macedonia, which had foretold that 'when one of the sons of Amyntas should be king, the state of the country would be extremely flourishing:' to fulfil which expectations the wickedness of his mother had left only him. At the commencement of his reign, when, on the one hand, the murder of his brother, so atrociously put to death, and the dread of treachery; on the other, a multitude of enemies, and the poverty of his kingdom, exhausted by a series of wars, bore hard upon the young king's immature age, thinking it proper to make distinct arrangements as to the wars, which, as if by a common conspiracy to crush Macedonia, rose around him from different nations and several quarters at the same time, to all of which he could not at once make resistance, he put an end to some by offers of peace, and bought off others, but attacked such of his enemies as seemed easiest to be subdued, that, by a victory over them, he might confirm the wavering minds of his soldiers, and alter any feelings of contempt with which his adversaries might regard him. His first conflict was with the Athenians, whom he surprised by a stratagem, but, though he might have put them all to the sword, he yet, from dread of a more formidable war, allowed them to depart uninjured and without ransom. Afterwards, leading his army against the Illyrians, he killed several thousand of his enemies, and took the famous city of Larissa. He then fell suddenly on Thessaly (when it apprehended anything rather than war), not from desire of spoil, but because he wished to add the strength of the Thessalian cavalry to his own troops; and he thus incorporated a force of horse and foot in one invincible army. His undertakings having been thus far successful, he married Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus, afterwards king of the Molossians, her cousin-german Arrybas, then king of that nation, who had brought up the young princess, and had married her sister Troas, promoting the union; a proceeding which proved the cause of his ruin, and the beginning of all the evils that afterwards befell him; for while he hoped to strengthen his kingdom by this affinity with Philip, he was by that monarch deprived of his crown, and spent his old age in exile.
After these proceedings, Philip, no longer satisfied with acting on the defensive, boldly attacked even those who gave him no molestation. While he was besieging Methone, an arrow, shot from the walls at him as he was passing by, struck out his right eye; but by this wound he was neither rendered less active in the siege, nor more resentful towards the enemy; so that, some days after, he granted them peace on their application for it, and was not only not severe, but even merciful, to the conquered.

§ 8.1  THE states of Greece, while each sought to gain the sovereignty of the country for itself, lost it as a body. Striving intemperately to ruin one another, they did not perceive, till they were oppressed by another power, that what each lost was a common loss to all; for Philip, king of Macedonia, looking, as from a watch-tower, for an opportunity to attack their liberties, and fomenting their contentions by assisting the weaker, obliged victors and vanquished alike to submit to his royal yoke. The Thebans were the cause and origin of this calamity, who, obtaining power, and having no steadiness of mind to bear prosperity, insolently accused the Lacedaemonians and Phocians, when they had conquered them in the field, before the common council of Greece, as if they had not been sufficiently punished by the slaughters and depredations that they had suffered. It was laid to the charge of the Lacedaemonians, that they had seized the citadel of Thebes during a time of truce, and to that of the Phocians, that they had laid waste Boeotia, as if the Thebans themselves, after their conduct in the field, had left themselves any ground for resorting to law. But as the cause was conducted according to the will of the more powerful, the Phocians were sentenced to pay such a fine as it was impossible for them to raise, and in consequence, despoiled of their lands, children. and wives, and reduced to desperation, they seized, under the leadership of one Philomelus, on the temple of Apollo at Delphi, as if they were enraged at the god. Being hence enriched with gold and treasure, and hiring mercenary troops, they made war upon the Thebans. This proceeding of the Phocians, though all expressed detestation at the sacrilege, brought more odium upon the Thebans, by whom they had been reduced to such necessity, than on the Phocians themselves; and aid was in consequence despatched to them both by the Athenians and Lacedaemonians. In the first engagement, Philomelus drove the Thebans from their camp; but in the next he was killed, fighting in front among the thickest of the enemy, and paid the penalty of his sacrilege by the effusion of his impious blood. Onomarchus was made general in his stead.

§ 8.2  To oppose Onomarchus, the Thebans and Thessalians chose as general, not one of their own people, lest they should not be able to endure his rule if he should conquer, but Philip, king of Macedonia, voluntarily submitting to that power from a foreigner which they dreaded in the hands of their own countrymen. Philip, as if he were the avenger of the sacrilege, not the defender of the Thebans, ordered all his soldiers to assume crowns of laurel, and proceeded to battle as if under the leadership of the god. The Phocians, seeing these ensigns of the deity, and frighted with the consciousness of guilt, threw down their arms and fled, receiving punishment for their violation of religion by the bloodshed and slaughter that they suffered. This affair brought incredibly great glory to Philip in the opinion of all people, who called him 'the avenger of the god, and the defender of religion,' and said that 'he alone had arisen to require satisfaction for what ought to have been punished by the combined force of the world, and was consequently worthy to be ranked next to the gods, as by him the majesty of the gods had been vindicated.'
The Athenians, hearing the result of the conflict, and fearing that Philip would march into Greece, took possession of the straits of Thermopylae, as they had done on the invasion of the Persians, but by no means with like spirit, or in a similar cause; for then they fought in behalf of the liberty of Greece, now, in behalf of public sacrilege; then to defend the temples of the gods from the ravages of an enemy, now, to defend the plunderers of temples against the avengers of their guilt, acting as advocates of a crime of which it was dishonourable to them that others should have been the punishers, and utterly unmindful that, in their dangers, they had often had recourse to this deity as a counsellor; that, under his guidance, they had entered on so many wars with success, had founded bo many cities auspiciously, and had acquired so extensive a dominion by sea and land: and that they had never done any thing, either of a public or private nature, without the sanction of his authority. Strange that a people of such ability, improved by every kind of learning, and formed by the most excellent laws and institutions, should have brought such guilt upon themselves as to leave nothing with which they could afterwards justly upbraid barbarians.

§ 8.3  Nor did Philip distinguish himself by more honourable conduct towards his allies; for, as if he was afraid of being surpassed by his opponents in the guilt of sacrilege, he seized and plundered, like an enemy, cities of which he had just before been captain, which had fought under his auspices, and which had congratulated him and themselves on their victories; he sold the wives and children of the inhabitants for slaves; he spared neither the temples of the gods, nor other sacred structures, nor the tutelar gods, public or private, before whom he had recently presented himself as a guest; so that he seemed not so much to avenge sacrilege as to seek a license for committing it.
In the next place, as if he had done every thing well, he crossed over into Chalcidice, where, conducting his wars with equal perfidy, and treacherously capturing or killing the neighbouring princes, he united the whole of the province to the kingdom of Macedonia. Afterwards, to throw a veil over his character for dishonesty, for which he was now deemed remarkable above other men, he sent persons through the kingdoms and the richest of the cities, to spread a report that king Philip was ready to contract, at a vast sum, for the re-building of the walls, temples, and sacred edifices, in the several towns, and to invite contractors by public criers; but when those who were willing to undertake these works went to Macedonia, they found themselves put off with various excuses, and, from dread of the king's power, returned quietly to their homes. Soon after he fell upon the Olynthians, because, after the death of one of his brothers, they had, from pity, afforded a refuge to two others, whom, being the sons of his step-mother, Philip would gladly have cut off, as pretenders to a share in the throne. For this reason he destroyed an ancient and noble city, consigning his brothers to the death long before destined for them, and delighting himself at the same time with a vast quantity of booty, and the gratification of his fratricidal inclinations. Next, as if every thing that he meditated was lawful for him to do, he seized upon the gold mines in Thessaly, and the silver ones in Thrace, and, to leave no law or right unviolated, proceeded to engage in piracy. While such was his conduct, it happened that two brothers, princes of Thrace, chose him as arbitrator in their disputes, not, indeed, from respect for his justice, but because each dreaded that he would unite his strength to that of the other. Philip, in accordance with his practice and disposition, came unexpectedly upon the brothers with an army in full array, not apparently to try a cause, but to fight a battle, and spoiled them both of their dominions, not like a judge, but with the perfidy and baseness of a robber.

§ 8.4  During the course of these transactions, ambassadors came to him from the Athenians to ask for peace. Having listened to their request, he despatched ambassadors to Athens with terms, and a peace was concluded there to the advantage of both parties. Embassies came to him also from other states of Greece, not from inclination for peace, but for fear of war; for the Thessalians and Boeotians, with reviving wrath, entreated that he would prove himself the leader of Greece, as he had professed to be, against the Phocians; such being the hatred with which they were inflamed towards that people, that they chose rather to perish themselves, than not to destroy them, and to submit to the known cruelty of Philip, rather than spare their enemies. On the other hand, ambassadors from the Phocians (the Lacedaemonians and Athenians joining with them) endeavoured to avert the war, forbearance from which they had thrice before purchased from Philip. It was a shameful and miserable sight, to behold Greece, even then the most distinguished country in the world for power and dignity, a country that had constantly been the conqueror of kings and nations, and was still mistress of many cities, waiting at a foreign court to ask or deprecate war; that the champions of the world should place all their hopes on assistance from another, and should be reduced, by their discords and civil feuds, to such a condition as to flatter a power which had lately been a humble portion of their dependencies; and that the Thebans and Lacedaemonians should especially do this, who were formerly rivals for sovereignty, but now for the favour of a sovereign. Philip, to show his importance, assumed an air of disdain for these great cities, and deliberated to which of the two he should vouchsafe his favour. Having heard both embassies privately, he promised to the one security from war, binding them by an oath to reveal his. answer to nobody; to the other he engaged himself to come and bring them assistance. He charged them both neither to prepare for war, nor to fear it. Different replies being thus given to each, he seized, while they were all free from apprehension, on the pass of Thermopylae.

§ 8.5  The Phocians in consequence, finding themselves overreached by the cunning of Philip, were the first, in great trepidation, to take arms. But there was no time to make due preparation for war, or to collect auxiliaries, and Philip, unless a surrender should be made, threatened their destruction. Overcome, accordingly, by necessity, they submitted, stipulating only for their lives. But this stipulation was just as faithfully observed by Philip as his promises had been respecting the war which they had deprecated. They were every where put to the sword, or made prisoners; children were not left to their parents, nor wives to their husbands, nor the statues of the gods in the temples. The sole comfort of the wretched people was, that as Philip had defrauded his allies of their share of the spoil, they saw none of their property in the hands of their enemies.
On his return to his kingdom, as shepherds drive their flocks sometimes into winter, sometimes into summer pastures, so he transplanted people and cities hither and thither, according to his caprice, as places appeared to him proper to be peopled or left desolate. The aspect of things was every where wretched, like that of a country ravaged by an enemy. There was not, indeed, that terror of a foe, or hurrying of troops through the cities, or seizure of property and prisoners, which are seen during a hostile invasion; but there prevailed a sorrow and sadness not expressed in words, the people fearing that even their very tears would he thought signs of discontent Their grief was augmented by the very concealment of it, sinking the deeper the less they were permitted to utter it. At one time they contemplated the sepulchres of their ancestors, at another their old household gods, at another the homes in which they had been born, and in which they had had families; lamenting sometimes their own fate, that they had lived to that day, and sometimes that of their children, that they were not born after it.

§ 8.6  Some people he planted upon the frontiers of his kingdom to oppose his enemies; others he settled at the extremities of it. Some, whom he had taken prisoners in war, he distributed among certain cities to fill up the number of inhabitants; and thus, out of various tribes and nations, he formed one kingdom and people. When he had settled and put in order the affairs of Macedonia, he reduced the Dardanians and others of his neighbours, who were overreached by his treacherous dealings. Nor did he keep his hands even from his own relations; for he resolved on expelling Arrybas, king of Epirus, who was nearly related to his wife Olympias, out of his kingdom; and he invited Alexander, a step-son of Arrybas, and brother of his wife Olympias (a youth of remarkable beauty), into Macedonia, in. his sister's name, and engaged him, after earnestly tempting him with hopes of his father's throne, and pretending violent love for him, in a criminal intercourse, thinking to find greater submission from him, whether through shame on account of his guilt, or through obligation for a kingdom conferred upon him. When he was twenty years of age, accordingly, he took the kingdom from Arrybas, and gave it to the youth, acting a base part towards both, for he disregarded the claims of consanguinity in him from whom he took the kingdom, and corrupted him to whom he gave it before he made him a king.

§ 9.1  WHEN Philip had once come into Greece, allured by the plunder of a few cities, and had formed an opinion, from the spoil of such towns as were of less note, how great must be the riches of all its cities put together, he resolved to make war upon the whole of Greece. Thinking that it would greatly conduce to the promotion of his design, if he could get possession of Byzantium, a noble city and seaport, which would be a station for his forces by land and sea, he proceeded, as it shut its gates against him, to lay close siege to it. This city had been founded by Pausanias, king of Sparta, and held by him for seven years, but afterwards, as the fortune of war varied, it was regarded as at one time belonging to the Athenians, and at another to the Lacedaemonians; and this uncertainty of possession was the cause that, while neither party supported it as its own, it maintained its liberty with the greater determination. Philip, exhausted by the length of the siege, had recourse to piracy for a supply of money, and having captured a hundred and seventy ships, and sold off the cargoes, he was enabled for a while to relieve his craving wants. But that so great an army might not be wasted in the siege of a single city, he marched away with his best troops, and stormed some towns of the Chersonese. He also sent for his son Alexander, who was then eighteen years of age, to join him, and learn the rudiments of war in the camp of his father. He made an expedition, too, into Scythia, to get plunder, that, after the practice of traders, he might make up for the expenses of one war by the profits of another.

§ 9.2  The king of the Scythians at that time was Atheas, who, being distressed by a war with the Istrians, sought aid from Philip through the people of Apollonia, on the under standing that he would adopt him for his successor on the throne of Scythia. But in the mean time, the king of the Istrians died, and relieved the Scythians both from the fear of war and the want of assistance. Atheas, therefore, sending away the Macedonians, ordered a message to be sent to Philip, that 'he had neither sought his aid, nor proposed his adoption; for the Scythians needed no protection from the Macedonians, to whom they were superior in the field, nor did he himself want an heir, as he had a son living.' When Philip heard this, he sent ambassadors to Atheas to ask him to defray at least a portion of the expense of the siege, that he might not be forced to raise it for want of money; 'a request,' he said, 'with which he ought the more readily to comply, as, when he sent soldiers to his assistance, he had not even paid their expenses on the march, to say nothing of remuneration for their service.' Atheas, alluding to the rigour of their climate and the barrenness of their soil, which, far from enriching the Scythians with wealth, scarcely afforded them sustenance, replied, that 'he had no treasury to satisfy so great a king, and that he thought it less honourable to do little than to refuse altogether; but that the Scythians were to be estimated by their valour and hardiness of body, not by their possessions.' Philip, mocked by this message, broke up the siege of Byzantium, and entered upon a war with the Scythians, first sending ambassadors to lull them into security, by telling Atheas that 'while he was besieging Byzantium, he had vowed a statue to Hercules, which he was going to erect at the mouth of the Ister, requesting an unobstructed passage to pay his vow to the god, since he was coming as a friend to the Scythians.' Atheas desired him, 'if his object was merely to fulfil his vow, to let the statue be sent to him,' promising that 'it should not only be erected, but should remain uninjured,' but refusing 'to allow an army to enter his territories,' and adding that, 'if he should set up the statue in spite of the Scythians, he would take it down when he was gone, and turn the brass of it into heads for arrows.' With feelings thus irritated on both sides, a battle was fought. Though the Scythians were superior in courage and numbers, they were defeated by the subtlety of Philip. Twenty thousand young men and women were taken, and a vast number of cattle, but no gold or silver. This was the first proof which they had of the poverty of Scythia. Twenty thousand fine mares were sent into Macedonia to raise a breed.

§ 9.3  But as Philip was returning from Scythia, the Triballi met him, and refused to allow him a passage, unless they received a share of the spoil. Hence arose a dispute, and afterwards a battle, in which Philip received so severe a wound through the thigh, that his horse was killed by it; and while it was generally supposed that he was dead, the booty was lost. Thus the Scythian spoil, as if attended with a curse, had almost proved fatal to the Macedonians.
But as soon as he recovered from his wound, he made war upon the Athenians, of which he had long dissembled his intention. The Thebans espoused their cause, fearing that if the Athenians were conquered, the war, like a fire in the neighbourhood, would spread to them. An alliance being accordingly made between the two cities, which were just before at violent enmity with each other, they wearied Greece with embassies, stating that 'they thought the common enemy should be repelled by their common strength, for that Philip would not rest, if his first attempts succeeded, until he had subjugated all Greece.' Some of the cities were moved by these arguments, and joined themselves to the Athenians; but the dread of a war induced some to go over to Philip. A battle being brought on, though the Athenians were far superior in number of soldiers, they were conquered by the valour of the Macedonians, which was invigorated by constant service in the field. They were not, however, in defeat, unmindful of their ancient valour; for, falling with wounds in front, they all covered the places which they had been charged by their leaders to defend, with their dead bodies. This day put an end to the glorious sovereignty and ancient liberty of all Greece.

§ 9.4  Philip's joy for this victory was artfully concealed. He abstained from offering the usual sacrifices on that day; he did not smile at table, or mingle any diversions with the entertainment; he had no chaplets or perfumes; and, as far as was in his power, he so managed his conquest that none might think of him as a conqueror. He desired that he should not be called king, but general of Greece; and conducted himself with such prudence, between his own secret joy on the one hand and the grief of the enemy on the other, that he neither appeared to his own subjects to rejoice, nor to the vanquished to insult them. To the Athenians, whom he had found to be his bitterest enemies, he both sent back their prisoners without ransom, and gave up the bodies of the slain for burial; exhorting them to convey the relics of their dead to the sepulchres of their ancestors. He also sent Alexander his son with his friend Antipater to Athens, to establish peace and friendship with them. The Thebans, however, he compelled to purchase their prisoners, as well as the liberty of burying their dead. Some of the chief men of their city, too, he put to death; others he banished, seizing upon the property of them all. Afterwards, he reinstated in their country those that had been unjustly banished, of whom he made three hundred judges and governors of the city, before whom when the most eminent citizens were arraigned on this very charge, that of having banished them unjustly, they had such spirit that they all acknowledged their participation in the fact, and affirmed that it was better with the state when they were condemned than when they were restored. A wonderful instance of courage! They passed sentence, as far as they could, on those who had the disposal of them for life or death, and set. at nought the pardon which their enemies could give them; and, as they could not avenge themselves by deeds, they manifested their boldness of spirit by words.

§ 9.5  War being at an end in Greece, Philip directed deputies from all the states to be summoned to Corinth, to settle the condition of affairs. Here he fixed terms of peace for the whole of Greece, according to the merits of each city; and chose from them all a council, to form a senate as it were for the country. But the Lacedaemonians, standing alone, showed contempt alike for the terms and the king; regarding the state of things, which had not been agreed upon by the cities themselves, but forced upon them by a conqueror, as a state, not of peace, but of slavery. The number of troops to be furnished by each state was then determined, whether the king, in case of being attacked, was to be supported by their united force, or whether war was to be made on any other power under him as their general. In all these preparations for war it was not to be doubted that the kingdom of Persia was the object in view. The sum of the force was two hundred thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry. Exclusive of this number there was also the army of Macedonia, and the adjacent barbarians of the conquered nations.
In the beginning of the next spring, he sent forward three of his generals into that part of Asia which was under the power of the Persians, Parmenio, Amyntas, and Attalus, whose sister he had recently married, having divorced Olympias, the mother of Alexander, on suspicion of adultery.

§ 9.6  In the meantime, while the troops were assembling from Greece, he celebrated the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra with Alexander, whom he had made king of Epirus. The day was remarkable for the pomp displayed on it, suitable to the magnificence of the two princes, him that gave his daughter in marriage, and him that married her. Magnificent games were also celebrated, and as Philip was going to view them, unattended by his guards, walking between the two Alexanders, his son and son-in-law, Pausanias, a noble Macedonian youth, without being suspected by any one, posting himself in a narrow passage, killed him as he was going through it, and caused a day appointed for joy to be overclouded with mourning for a death. Pausanias, in the early part of his youth, had suffered gross violence at the hands of Attalus, to the indignity of which was added this further affront, that Attalus had exposed him, after bringing him to a banquet and making him drunk, not only to insults from himself, but also to those of the company, as if he had been a common object for ill-treatment, and rendered him the laughing-stock of those of his own age. Being impatient under this ignominy, Pausanias had often made complaints to Philip, but being put off with various excuses, not unattended with ridicule, and seeing his adversary also honoured with a general's commission, he turned his rage against Philip himself, and inflicted on him, as an unjust judge, that revenge which he could not inflict on him as an adversary.

§ 9.7  It is even believed that he was instigated to the act by Olympias, Alexander's mother, and that Alexander himself was not ignorant that his father was to be killed; as Olympias had felt no less resentment at her divorce, and the preferment of Cleopatra to herself, than Pausanias had felt at the insults which he had received. As for Alexander, it is said that he feared his brother by his step-mother as a rival for the throne; and hence it happened that he had previously quarrelled at a, banquet, first with Attalus, and afterwards with his father himself, insomuch that Philip pursued him even with his drawn sword, and was hardly prevented from killing him by the entreaties of his friends. Alexander had in consequence retired with his mother into Epirus, to take refuge with his uncle, and from thence to the king of the Illyrians, and was with difficulty reconciled to his father when he recalled him, and not easily induced by the prayers of his relations to return. Olympias, too, was instigating her brother, the king of Epirus, to go to war with Philip, and would have prevailed upon him to do so, had not Philip, by giving him his daughter in marriage, disarmed him as a son-in-law. With these provocations to resentment, both of them are thought to have encouraged Pausanias, when complaining of his insults being left unpunished, to so atrocious a deed. Olympias, it is certain, had horses prepared for the escape of the assassin; and, when she heard that the king was dead, hastening to the funeral under the appearance of respect, she put a crown of gold, the same night that she arrived, on the head of Pausanias, as he was hanging on a cross; an act which no one but she would have dared to do, as long as the son of Philip was alive. A few days after, she burnt the body of the assassin, when it had been taken down, upon the remains of her husband, and made him a tomb in the same place; she also provided that yearly sacrifices should beper-formed to his manes, possessing the people with a superstitious notion for the purpose. Next she forced Cleopatra, for whose sake she had been divorced from Philip, to hang herself, having first killed her daughter in her lap, and enjoyed the sight of her suffering this vengeance, to which she had hastened by procuring the death of her husband. Last of all she consecrated the sword, with which the king had been killed, to Apollo, under the name of Myrtale, which was Olympias's own name when a child. And all these things were done so publicly, that she seems to have been afraid lest it should not be evident enough that the deed was promoted by her.

§ 9.8  Philip died at the age of forty-seven, after having reigned twenty-five years. He had, by a dancing girl of Larissa, a son named Aridaeus, who reigned after Alexander. He had also many others by several wives, as is not unusual with princes, some of whom died a natural death, and others by the sword. As a king, he was more inclined to display in war, than in entertainments; and his greatest riches were means for military operations. He was better at getting wealth than keeping it, and, in consequence, was always poor amidst his daily spoliations. Clemency and perfidy were equally valued by him; and no road to victory was, in his opinion, dishonourable. He was equally pleasing and treacherous in his address, promising more than he could perform, He was well qualified either for serious conversation or for jesting. He maintained friendships more with a view to interest than good faith. It was a common practice with him to pretend kindness where he hated, and to counterfeit dislike where he loved; to sow dissension among friends, and try to gain favour from both sides. With such a disposition, his eloquence was very great, his language full of point and studied effect; so that neither did his facility fall short of his art, nor his invention of his facility, nor his art of his invention.
To Philip succeeded his son Alexander, a prince greater than his father, both in his virtues and his vices. Each of the two had a different mode of conquering; the one prosecuted his wars with open force, the other with subtlety; the one delighted in deceiving his enemies, the other in boldly repulsing them. The one was more prudent in council, the other more noble in feeling. The father would dissemble his resentment and often:subdue it; when the son was provoked, there was neither delay nor bounds to his vengeance. They were both too fond of wine, but the ill effects of their intoxication were totally different; the father would rush from a banquet to face the enemy, cope with him, and rashly expose himself to dangers; the son vented his rage, not upon his enemies, but his friends. A battle often sent away Philip wounded; Alexander often left a banquet stained with the blood of his companions. The one wished to reign with his friends, the other to reign over them. The one preferred to be loved, the other to be feared. To literature both gave equal attention. The father had more cunning, the son more honour. Philip was more staid in his words, Alexander in his actions. The son felt readier and nobler impulses to spare the conquered; the father showed no mercy even to his allies. The father was more inclined to frugality, the son to luxury. By the same course by which the father laid the foundations of the empire of the world, the son consummated the glory of conquering the whole world.

§ 10.1  ARTAXERXES, king of Persia, had a hundred and fifteen sons by his concubines, but only three begotten in lawful wedlock, Darius, Ariarathes, and Ochus. Of these the father, from paternal fondness, made Darius king during his own lifetime, contrary to the usage of the Persians, among whom the king is changed only by death; for he thought nothing taken from himself that he conferred upon his son, and expected greater enjoyment from having progeny, if he saw the insignia of royalty adorning his son while he lived. But Darius, after such an extraordinary proof of his father's affection, conceived the design of killing him. He would have been bad enough, if he had meditated the parricide alone, but he became so much the worse, by enticing fifty of his brothers to a participation in his crime, and making them parricides in intention as well as himself. It was certainly a kind of prodigy, that, among so great a number, the assassination should not only have been plotted, but concealed, and that of fifty children there should not have been found one, whom either respect for their father's dignity, or reverence for an old man, or gratitude for paternal kindness, could deter from so horrible a purpose. Was the name of father so contemptible among so many sons, that he who should have been secured even against enemies by their protection, should be beset by their treason, and find it easier to defend himself against his foes than his children?

§ 10.2  The cause of the intended parricide was even more atrocious than the crime itself; for after Cyrus was killed in the war against his brother, of which mention has been previously made, Artaxerxes had married Aspasia, the concubine of Cyrus; and Darius had required that his father should resign her to him as he had resigned the kingdom. Artaxerxes, from fondness from his children, said at first that he would do so, but afterwards, from a change of mind, and in order plausibly to refuse what he had inconsiderately promised, made her a priestess of the sun, an office which obliged her to perpetual chastity. The young Darius, being incensed at this proceeding, broke out at first into reproaches against his father, and subsequently entered into this conspiracy with his brothers. But while he was meditating destruction for his father, he was discovered and apprehended with his associates, and paid the penalty of his guilt to the gods who avenge paternal authority. The wives of them all, too, together with their children, were put to death, that no memorial of such execrable wickedness might be left. Soon after Artaxerxes died of a disease contracted by grief, having been happier as a king than as a father.

§ 10.3  Possession of the throne was given to Ochus, who, dreading a similar conspiracy, filled the palace with the blood and dead bodies of his kinsmen and the nobility, being touched with compassion neither for consanguinity, nor sex, nor age, lest, apparently, he should be thought less wicked than his brothers that had meditated parricide.
Having thus, as it were, purified his kingdom, he made war upon the Cardusii; in the course of which one Codomannus, followed by applause from all the Persians, engaged with one of the enemy that offered himself for single combat, and, having killed his antagonist, regained the victory for his fellow soldiers, as well as the glory which they had almost lost. For this honourable service Codomannus was made governor of Armenia. Some time after, on the death of Ochus, he was chosen king by the people from regard to his former merits, and, that nothing might be wanting to his royal dignity, honoured with the name of Darius. He maintained a long war, with various success, but with great efforts, against Alexander the Great. But being at last overcome by Alexander, and slain by his relations, he terminated his life and the kingdom of the Persians together.

§ 11.1  IN the army of Philip there were various nations, and after his death different feelings prevailed among them. Some, oppressed with an unjust yoke, were excited with hopes of recovering their liberty; others, from dislike of going to war in a distant country, rejoiced that the expedition was broken off; others grieved that the torch, kindled at the daughter's nuptials, should have been applied to the funeral pile of the father. It was no small fear, too, that possessed his friends on so sudden a change, contemplating at one time Asia that had been provoked, at another Europe that was not yet pacified, at another the Illyrians, Thracians, Dardanians, and other barbarous nations, who were of wavering faith and perfidious dispositions, and whom, if they should all rebel at once, it would be utterly impossible to resist.
To all these apprehensions the succession of Alexander was a relief, who, in a public assembly, so effectually soothed and encouraged the people, as to remove all uneasiness from those that were afraid, and to fill every one with favourable expectations. He was now twenty years old; at which age he gave great promise of what he would be, but with such modesty, that it was evident he reserved the further proofs of his ability for the time of action. He granted the Macedonians relief from all burdens, except that of service in war; by which conduct he gained such popularity with his subjects, that they said they had changed only the person, not the virtues, of their king.

§ 11.2  His first care was about his father's funeral, when he caused all who had been privy to his murder to be put to death at his burial-place. The only one that he spared was Alexander Lyncestes his brother, preserving in him the man who had first acknowledged his royal authority, for he had been the first to salute him king. His brother Caranus, a rival for the throne, as being the son of his step-mother, he ordered to be slain.
In the beginning of his reign he put down many tribes that were revolting, and quelled some seditions in their birth. Encouraged by his success, he marched with haste into Greece, where, after his father's example, having summoned the states to meet at Corinth, he was appointed general in his room. He then turned his attention to the war with Persia, of which a commencement had been made by Philip; but, as he was engaged in preparations for it, he received intelligence that 'the Thebans and Athenians had gone over from his side to that of the Persians, and that the author of the defection was the orator Demosthenes, who had been bribed by the Persians with a large sum of money, and who had asserted that the whole army of the Macedonians, with their king, had been cut off by the Triballi, producing the author of the information before an assembly of the people, a man who said that he had been wounded in the battle in which the king had fallen. In consequence of which statement,' it was added, 'the feelings of almost all the cities were changed, and the garrisons of the Macedonians besieged.' To repress these commotions, he marched upon Greece with an army in full array, and with such expedition, that they could scarcely believe they saw him of whose approach they were so little aware.

§ 11.3  In the course of his march he had exhorted the Thessalians to peace, reminding them of the kindnesses shown them by his father Philip, and of his mother's connexion with them by the family of the Aeacidae. The Thessalians gladly listening to such an address, he was chosen, like his father, captain-general of the whole nation, and they resigned into his hand all their customs and public revenues. The Athenians, as they had been the first to rebel, were also the first to repent of their rebellion, turning their contempt for their enemy into admiration of him, and extolling the youth of Alexander, which they had previously despised, above the merits of old generals. Sending ambassadors, therefore, they deprecated war; and Alexander, listening to their entreaties, and severely reproving them for their conduct, laid aside hostilities against them. He then directed his march towards Thebes, intending to show similar indulgence, if he found similar penitence. But the Thebans had recourse, not to prayers or in treaties, but to arms, and, being conquered, suffered the severest hardships of the most wretched state of subjugation. It being debated in a council of war whether the city should be destroyed, the Phocians, Plataeans, Thespians, and Orchomenians, who were the allies of Alexander and sharers in his victory, dwelt upon the destruction of their own cities and the cruelty of the Thebans, urging against them not only their present, but former, defection to the Persians, to the prejudice of the common liberty of Greece; 'on which account,' they said, 'they were an object of general hatred, as was manifest from the fact that all the Greeks' had bound themselves by an oath to demolish Thebes as soon as they had conquered the Persians.' They brought forward also the fabulous accounts of their old crimes, with which they had filled every theatre, to make them odious not only for their recent perfidy, but for their ancient infamy.

§ 11.4  Cicadas, one of those who had been taken prisoners, being permitted to speak in their behalf, said, that 'they had not revolted from the king, whom they understood to be killed, but from the king's heirs; that what had been done in the matter was the fault, not of treachery, but of credulity; for which, however, they had already suffered severely by the loss of the flower of their soldiery; that there was left them only a multitude of old men and women, equally weak and harmless, but who had been so harassed by contumelies and insults, that they had never endured anything more grievous; and that he did not now intercede for his countrymen, of whom so few survived, but for their unoffending natal soil, and for a city which had given birth, not only to men, but to gods.' He endeavoured to work upon the king, too, from his superstitious regard for Hercules, who had been born at Thebes, and from whom the family of the Aeacidae was descended, and from the reflection that the youth of his father Philip had; been spent at Thebes; and he conjured him 'to spare a city which adored some of his ancestors, who had been born in it, as gods, and saw others who had been brought up in it, princes of the highest dignity.' But resentment was more powerful than entreaty. The city was in consequence demolished, the lands divided among the conquerors, and the prisoners publicly sold, their price being settled not for the profit of those who bought them, but according to the hatred of their enemies. Their fate seemed to the Athenians deserving of pity; and they therefore, though contrary to the king's prohibition, opened their gates for the reception of the exiles. At this proceeding Alexander was so displeased, that when they deprecated war by a second embassy, he forbore from hostilities only on condition that their orators and leaders, through confidence in whom they had so often rebelled, should be delivered up to him. The Athenians preparing to comply, lest they should be compelled to abide a war, the matter ended in this arrangement, that the orators should be retained and the generals banished; when the latter immediately went over to Darius, and formed no inconsiderable addition to the strength of the Persians.

§ 11.5  When he set out to the Persian war, he put to death all his step-mother's relations whom Philip had advanced to any high dignity, or appointed to any command. Nor did he spare such of his own kinsmen as seemed qualified to fill the throne, lest any occasion for rebellion should be left in Macedonia during his absence; and of the tributary princes he took such as were distinguished for ability to the war with him, leaving the less able at home for the defence of his dominions. Having then assembled his troops, he put them on shipboard, where, excited with incredible animation at the sight of Asia, he erected altars to the twelve gods to offer prayers for success in the war. He divided all his private property, which he had in Macedonia and the rest of Europe, among his friends, saying, 'that for himself Asia was sufficient.' Before any ship left the shore, he offered sacrifices, praying for 'victory in that war, in which he had been chosen the avenger of Greece so often assailed by the Persians, to whom,' he said, 'a reign sufficiently long had been granted, a reign that had now reached maturity, and it was time that others, who would conduct themselves better, should take their place.' Nor were the anticipations of the army different from those of the priace; for all the soldiers, unmindful of their wives and children, and of the length of the expedition from home, contemplated the Persian gold, and the wealth of the whole east, as already their own prey, thinking neither of the war nor its perils, but of riches only. When they arrived at the continent of Asia, Alexander first of all threw a dart into the enemy's country, and leaped on the shore in full armour, like one dancing the tripudium. He then proceeded to offer sacrifices, praying that 'those countries might not unwillingly receive him as their king.' He also sacrificed at Troy, at the tombs of the heroes who had fallen in the Trojan War.

§ 11.6  Marching forward in quest of the enemy, he kept the soldiers from ravaging Asia, telling them that 'they ought to spare their own property, and not destroy what they came to possess.' His army consisted of thirty-two thousand infantry, and four thousand five hundred cavalry, with a hundred and eighty-two ships. Whether, with this small force, it is more wonderful that he conquered the world, or that he dared to attempt its conquest, is difficult to determine. When he selected his troops for so hazardous a warfare, he did not choose robust young men, or men in the flower of their age, but veterans, most of whom had even passed their term of service, and who had fought under his father and his uncles; so that he might be thought to have chosen, not soldiers, but masters in war. No one was made an officer who was not sixty years of age; so that he who saw the captains assembled at head-quarters, would have declared that he saw the senate of some ancient republic. None, on the field of battle, thought of flight, but every one of victory; none trusted in his feet, but every one in his arms.
King Darius, on the other hand, from confidence in his strength, abstained from all artifice in his operations; observing that 'clandestine measures were fit only for a stolen victory;' he did not attempt to repel the enemy from his frontiers, but admitted them into the heart of his kingdom, thinking it more honourable to drive war out of his kingdom than not to give it entrance. The first engagement, in consequence, was fought on the plains of Adrastia. The Persian army consisted of six hundred thousand men, who were conquered not less by the valour of the Macedonians than by the conduct of Alexander, and took to flight. The slaughter among the Persians was great. Of the army of Alexander there fell only nine foot-soldiers, and a hundred and twenty horse, whom the king buried sumptuously as an encouragement to the rest, honouring them also with equestrian statues, and granting privileges to their relatives. After this victory the greater part of Asia came over to his side. He had also several encounters with Darius's lieutenants, whom he conquered, not so much by his arms, as by the terror of his name.

§ 11.7  During the course of these proceedings, he was acquainted, on the information of a certain prisoner, that a conspiracy was forming against him by Alexander Lyncestes the son-in-law of Antipater, who had been made governor of Macedonia. Fearing, therefore, that, if he were put to death, some disturbance might arise in Macedonia, he only kept him in prison.
He soon after marched to a city called Gordium, which is situated between the Greater and Lesser Phrygia, and which he earnestly desired to take, not so much for the sake of plunder, as because he had heard that in that city, in the temple of Jupiter, was deposited the yoke of Gordius's car; the knot of which, if any one should loose, the oracles of old had predicted that he should rule all Asia. The cause and origin of the matter was as follows. When Gordius was ploughing in these parts, with oxen that he had hired, birds of every kind began to fly about him. Going to consult the augurs of the next town on the occurrence, he met at the gate a virgin of remarkable beauty, and asked her 'which of the augurs he had best consult.' When she, having heard his reason for consulting them, and knowing something of the art from the instruction of her parents, replied, that 'a kingdom was portended to him,' and offered to become his wife and the sharer of his expectations. So fair a match seemed the chief felicity of a throne. After his marriage a civil war arose among the Phrygians; and when they consulted the oracles how their discord, might be terminated, the oracles replied that 'a king was required to settle their disputes.' Inquiring a second time as to the person of the king, they were directed to regard him as their king whom they should first observe, on their return, going to the temple of Jupiter on a car. The person who presented himself to them was Gordius, and they at once saluted him king. He dedicated the car, in which he was riding when the throne was offered him, 'to kingly majesty,' and it was placed in the temple of Jupiter. After him reigned his son Midas, who, having been instructed by Orpheus in sacred rites, filled all Phrygia with ceremonies of religion, by which he was better protected, during his whole life, than by arms. Alexander, having taken the city, and gone to the temple of Jupiter, requested to see the yoke of Gordius's car, and, when it was shown him, not being able to find the ends of the cords, which were hidden within the knots, he put a forced interpretation on the oracle, and cut the cords with his sword; and thus, when the involutions were opened out, discovered the ends concealed in them.

§ 11.8  While he was thus engaged, intelligence was brought him that Darius was approaching with a vast army. Fearing the defiles, he crossed Mount Taurus with the utmost expedition, advancing, in one of his forced marches, five hundred stadia. Arriving at Tarsus, and being charmed with the pleasantness of the river Cydnus, which flows through the midst of the city, he threw off his armour, and, covered as he was with dust and sweat, plunged himself into the water, which was then excessively cold; when, on a sudden, such a numbness seized his nerves, that his voice was lost, and not only was there no hope of saving his life, but not even a means of delaying death could be found. One of his physicians, named Philippus, was the only person that promised a cure; but a letter from Parmenio, which arrived the day before from Cappadocia, rendered him an object of suspicion; for Parmenio, knowing nothing of Alexander's illness, had written to caution him against trusting Philippus, as he had been bribed by Darius with a large sum of money. Alexander, however, thought it better to trust the doubtful faith of the physician, than to perish of certain disease. Taking the cup from Philippus, therefore, he gave him Parmenio's letter to read, and, as he drank, fixed his eyes upon the physician's countenance while he was reading. Seeing him unmoved, he became more cheerful, and recovered his health on the fourth day after.

§ 11.9  Meantime Darius advanced to battle with four hundred thousand foot and a hundred thousand horse. So vast a multitude of enemies caused some distrust in Alexander, when he contemplated the smallness of his own army; but he called to mind, at the same time, how much he had already done, and how powerful people he had overthrown, with that very moderate force. His hopes, therefore, prevailing over his apprehensions, and thinking it more hazardous to defer the contest, lest dismay should fall upon his men, he rode round among his troops, and addressed those of each nation in an appropriate speech. He excited the Illyrians and Thracians by describing the enemy's wealth and treasures, and the Greeks by putting them in mind of their wars of old, and their deadly hatred towards the Persians. He reminded the Macedonians at one time of their conquests in Europe, and at another of their desire to subdue Asia, boasting that no troops in the world had been found a match for them, and assuring them that this battle would put an end to their labours and crown their glory. In the course of these proceedings he caused the army occasionally to halt, that they might, by such stoppages, accustom themselves to endure the sight of so great a multitude. Nor was Darius less active in drawing up his forces. Rejecting the services of his officers, he rode himself through the whole army, encouraged the several divisions, and put them in mind of the ancient glory of the Persians, and the perpetual possession of empire vouchsafed them by the immortal gods. Soon after a battle was fought with great spirit. Both kings were wounded in it. The result remained doubtful until Darius fled, when there ensued a great slaughter of the Persians, of whom there fell sixty-one thousand infantry and ten thousand horse, and forty thousand were taken prisoners. On the side of the Macedonians were killed a hundred and thirty foot and a hundred and fifty horse. In the camp of the Persians was found abundance of gold and other treasures; and among the captives taken in it were the mother and wife, who was also the sister, of Darius, and two of his daughters. When Alexander came to see and console them, they threw themselves, at the sight of his armed attendants, into one another's arms, and uttered mournful cries, as if expecting to die immediately. Afterwards, falling at the feet of Alexander, they begged, not that they might live, but that their death might be delayed till they should bury the body of Darius. Alexander, touched with the respectful concern of the princesses for Darius, assured them that the king was still alive, and removed their apprehensions of death; directing, at the same time, that they should be treated as royal personages, and giving the daughters hopes of husbands suitable to the dignity of their father.

§ 11.10  As he afterwards contemplated the wealth and display of Darius, he was seized with admiration of such magnificence. Hence it was that he first began to indulge in luxurious and splendid banquets, and fell in love with his captive Barsine for her beauty, by whom he had afterwards a son that he called Hercules. Not forgetting, however, that Darius was still alive, he despatched Parmenio to seize the Persian fleet, and commissioned some others of his friends to secure the cities of Asia, which, on hearing the report of the victory, had immediately submitted to the conqueror, the satraps of Darius surrendering themselves with a vast quantity of treasure. He next marched into Syria, where he was met by several princes of the east with fillets on their heads. Of these, according to their respective deserts, he received some into alliance; others he deprived of their thrones, and put new kings in their places. Above the rest Abdolonymus, appointed by Alexander king of Sidon, stood pre-eminent; a man whom, when he was living a life of poverty, being accustomed to draw water, and water gardens for hire, Alexander made a king, setting aside the nobles, lest they should regard his favour as shown to their birth, and not as proceeding from the kindness of the giver.
The city of Tyre sending Alexander, by the hands of a deputation, a golden crown of great value, as a token of congratulation, he received their present kindly, and told them that 'he intended to visit Tyre to pay his vows to Hercules.' The deputies replying that 'he would do that better at Old Tyre, and in the more ancient temple;' he was so provoked with them, because they evidently deprecated his visit, that he threatened their city with destruction. Bringing up his army, soon after, to the island, he was met with a hostile resistance, the Tyrians, from reliance on Carthage, being not less determined than himself. The example of Dido had stimulated the Tyrians; for that queen, after founding Carthage, had secured the empire over the third part of the world; and they thought it would be dishonourable if their women should show more courage in acquiring dominion than they in defending their liberty. They removed to Carthage, therefore, such as were unfit for war, and sent at once for assistance, but were, not long afterwards, reduced by treachery.

§ 11.11  Alexander next got possession of Rhodes and Cilicia without an effort. He then went to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, to consult the oracle about the event of his future proceedings, and his own parentage. For his mother Olympias had confessed to her husband Philip, that 'she had conceived Alexander, not by him, but by a serpent of extraordinary size.' Philip, too, towards the end of his life, had publicly declared that 'Alexander was not his son;' and he accordingly divorced Olympias, as having been guilty of adultery. Alexander, therefore, anxious to obtain the honour of divine paternity, and to clear his mother from infamy, instructed the priests, by messengers whom he sent before him, what answers he wished to receive. The priests, as soon as he entered the temple, saluted him as the son of Ammon. Alexander, pleased with the god's adoption of him, directed that he should be regarded as his son. He then inquired 'whether he had taken vengeance on all that had been concerned in the assassination of his father.' He was answered that 'his father could neither be assassinated, nor could die; but that vengeance for Philip's death had been fully exacted.' On putting a third question, he was told that 'success in all his wars, and dominion over the world, was granted him.' A response was also given by the oracle to his attendants, that 'they should reverence Alexander as a god, and not as a king.' Hence it was that his haughtiness was so much increased, and a strange arrogance arose in his mind, the agreeableness of demeanour, which he had contracted from the philosophy of the Greeks and the habits of the Macedonians, being entirely laid aside. On his return from the temple of Ammon he founded Alexandria, and desired that that colony of the Macedonians might be considered the metropolis of Egypt.

§ 11.12  Darius, having fled to Babylon, entreated Alexander, in a letter, 'to give him permission to redeem his prisoners,' offering a large sum for their ransom. But Alexander demanded his whole kingdom, and not a sum of money, as the price of their release. Some time after, another letter from Darius was brought to Alexander, in which one of his daughters was offered him in marriage, and a portion of his kingdom. Alexander replied that 'what was offered was his own,' and desired him to come to him as a suppliant, and to leave the disposal of his kingdom to his conqueror.' All hopes of peace being thus lost, Darius resumed hostilities, and proceeded to meet Alexander with four hundred thousand infantry and a hundred thousand cavalry. On his march he was informed that 'his wife had died of a miscarriage, and that Alexander had mourned for her death, and attended her funeral; acting, in that respect, not from love, but merely from kindness of feeling; as Darius's wife had been visited by him but once, though he had often gone to console his mother and her little daughters.'
Darius now considered himself indeed overcome, since, after losing so many battles, he was surpassed by his enemy even in kindnesses, and declared that it vas a consolation to him since he could not conquer, to be conquered by such an enemy. He therefore wrote a third letter to Alexander, thanking him for not having acted as an enemy towards his family, and offering him a larger portion of his kingdom, even as far as the river Euphrates, another of his daughters in marriage, and thirty thousand talents for the other prisoners. To this Alexander replied, that 'thanks were needless from an enemy; that nothing had been done by him to flatter Darius, or to gain the means of mollifying him, with a view either to the doubtful results of war, or to conditions of peace; but that he had acted from a certain greatness of mind, by which he had learned to fight against the forces of his enemies, not to take advantage of their misfortunes;' and he promised at the same time, that 'he would comply with the wishes of Darius, if he would be content to be second to him, and not his equal; but that the universe could not be governed by two suns, nor could the earth with safety have two sovereigns; and that he must consequently either prepare to surrender on that day, or to fight on the next, and must promise himself no better success than he had already experienced.'

§ 11.13  On the next day they drew up their armies; when, on a sudden, before they came to battle, a deep sleep fell on Alexander, who was wearied with making arrangements. Nothing but the presence of the king being wanting, in order to commence the engagement, he was awakened, though with difficulty, by Parmenio, and as those about him asked the reason of his sleeping in the midst of danger, when he was sparing of sleep even in time of security, he answered that 'he had been relieved from great concern, and that his repose was occasioned by sudden freedom from apprehension, since he should now engage with the forces of Darius in a body; whereas he had dreaded, if the Persians should divide their army, that the war would be greatly protracted.' Before the battle commenced, each army was an object of admiration to its antagonists. The Macedonians admired the host of men opposed to them, their stature, and the beauty of their armour. The Persians were amazed that so many thousands of their countrymen had been defeated by so small a force. Nor did the kings forbear to ride round among their troops. Darius told his men, that 'if a division of the enemy were made, scarcely one man would fall to ten of his own armed followers.' Alexander exhorted the Macedonians 'not to be alarmed at the numbers of the enemy, their stature, or the strangeness of their complexion.' He bade them remember only that 'they were now fighting for the third time with the same adversaries; and not to imagine that they had been rendered braver by defeat, as they would bring into the field with them the sad recollection of former disasters, and of the blood shed in the two previous engagements;' adding, that 'Darius had the greater number of human beings, but he himself the greater number of men.' He admonished them 'to despise an army glittering with gold and silver, in which they would find more spoil than danger, since victory was to be gained, not by splendour of arms, but by the power of the sword.'

§ 11.14  Soon after, the battle was begun. The Macedonians rushed upon the swords presented to them, with contempt for an enemy whom they had so often defeated. The Persians, on the other hand, were desirous to die rather than be conquered. Seldom has there been so much blood shed in a battle. Darius, when he saw his army repulsed, wished himself to die, but was compelled by his officers to flee. Some advising that the bridge over the Cydnus should be broken down, in order to stop the advance of the enemy, he said that 'he would not provide for his safety in such a way as to expose so many thousands of his followers to the foe; and that the road which was open to himself, ought also to be open to others.' Alexander, meanwhile, made the most hazardous efforts; where he saw the enemy thickest, and fighting most desperately, there he always threw himself, desiring that the peril should be his, and not his soldiers'. By this battle he gained the dominion over Asia, in the fifth year after his accession to the throne. His victory was so decisive, that after it none ventured to rebel against him; and the Persians, after a supremacy of so many years, patiently submitted to the yoke of servitude. After rewarding his soldiers, and allowing them to recruit their strength for thirty-four days, he took account of the spoil. He afterwards found forty thousand talents in the city of Susa. Next he took Persepolis, the metropolis of the kingdom of Persia, a city which had been eminent for many years, and which was filled with the spoils of the world, as was now first seen at its destruction. In the course of these proceedings, about eight hundred Greeks met Alexander, men who had been punished in captivity by mutilation of their bodies, and who entreated that, 'as he had delivered Greece, he would also release them from the cruelty of their enemies.' Permission was given to them to go home, but they preferred receiving portions of land in Persia, lest, instead of causing joy to their parents by their return, they should merely shock them by the horrid spectacle which they presented.

§ 11.15  Meanwhile, to gain the favour of the conqueror, Darius was confined in golden fetters and chains in a village of the Parthians named Thara; 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. 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. Directing his army to follow him, he pursued the flying prince with six thousand cavalry. On his march he had several severe encounters, 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. 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.' 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, 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; and that such a requital must therefore be made them as his conqueror should please. 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. That he desired the favour of a decent rather than a magnificent funeral; 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. 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.
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.

§ 12.1  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. Of the horses, the greater part were killed by the heat; and those that survived were rendered unfit for service. All the treasure, amounting to a hundred and ninety thousand talents, was conveyed to Ecbatana, and Parmenio was entrusted with the charge of it. 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. 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.
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, who alone had rejected peace from Philip and Alexander, and had scorned the terms on which it was offered. The leader in this insurrection was Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians, but Antipater, assembling an army, suppressed the commotion in its infancy. The slaughter, however, was great on both sides; 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. At last, overpowered by numbers, he fell superior to all in glory.

§ 12.2  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, and as if he was likely to have not less to do in Italy, Africa, and Sicily, than Alexander in Asia and Persia. 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, 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. On his arrival in Italy, his first contest was with the Apulians; but when he learned the destiny appointed to their city, he soon concluded a peace and alliance with their king. The chief city of the Apulians, at that time, was Brundusium, which a party of Aetolians that followed Diomede, a leader rendered famous and honourable by his achievements at Troy, had founded; but being expelled by the Apulians, and having recourse to some oracle, they received for answer that 'they would possess for ever the place which they had sought to recover,' 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. 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. Alexander, hearing of this occurrence, and having great respect for the oracles of antiquity, made an end of hostilities with the Apulians.
He engaged also in war with the Bruttians and Lucanians, and captured several cities; and he formed treaties and alliances with the Metapontines, Pediculans, and Romans. But the Bruttians and Lucanians, having collected reinforcements from their neighbours, renewed the war with fresh vigour; 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. The Thurians ransomed his body at the public expense, and buried it.
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. But being cut off, with his whole army, he paid the penalty for a rash attack upon an innocent people.

§ 12.3  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. 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; 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.' Having, by this speech, revived the spirits of his soldiers for new exertions, he subdued Hyrcania and the Mardians. 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. 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. To gratify her, thirteen days' rest was allowed by the king; and when she thought herself pregnant, she took her leave.
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. 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. 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. 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; being utterly unmindful that power is accustomed to be lost, not gained, by such practices.

§ 12.4  During the course of these proceedings, there arose throughout the camp a general indignation that he had so degenerated from his father Philip 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. 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 connexion with any of the female captives, to marry them; 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, and that the fatigues of war would be relieved by the agreeable society of their wives. 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, 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. This custom was also continued under Alexander's successors. 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. 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. Inured from their earliest years to toils and clangers, they formed an invincible army; they looked upon their camp as their countiy, and upon a battle as a prelude to victory.

§ 12.5  Alexander, meanwhile, began to show a passionate temper towards those about him, not with a princely severity, but with the vindictiveness of an enemy. 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 Philip and of his country. For this offence, Parmenio, 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. 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.' 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 be was going to send home some of his friends to give an account of his successes. 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. The packets of letters, as they were given in, he commanded to be privately brought to him, and having learned from them what every one 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.
He then subdued the Drancae, the Evergetae, the Parymae, the Parapammeni, the Adaspii, and other nations that dwelt at the foot of Mount Caucasus.
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, 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.
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. 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  After these proceedings, he invited his friends on some particular day, to a banquet, where mention being made, when they were intoxicated, of the great things achieved by Philip, 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; and when Clitus, 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 Philip, 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. Exulting at the murder, too, he scoffed at the dead man for his defence of Philip, and his commendation of his mode of warfare. 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; 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. Driven, therefore, to repentance, with the same vehemence with which he had before been impelled to resentment, he determined to die. 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. His resolution to die continued even for several days after; for to his other causes of sorrow was added the remembrance of his nurse, the sister of Clitus, on whose account, though she was far away, he was greatly ashamed of his conduct, 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. 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; 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. Parmenio 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. 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, 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.' 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.

§ 12.7  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. 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. The custom of saluting their king was however retained by the Macedonians, adoration being set aside.
He then marched into India, that he might have his empire bounded by the ocean, and the extreme parts of the east. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. A son whom she had by him, she named Alexander; and he afterwards sat upon the throne of the Indians. Queen Cleophis, for allowing her chastity to be violated, was thenceforward called by the Indians the royal harlot.
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. 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  There was one of the kings of India, named Porus, equally distinguished for strength of body and vigour of mind, who, hearing of the fame of Alexander, had been for some time before preparing for war against his arrival. 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. 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. Porus, covered with a number of wounds, was made prisoner, 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. Alexander, from respect to his valour, sent him back in safety to his kingdom. Here he founded two cities, one called Nicaea, and the other, from the name of his horse, Bucephale.
He then overthrew the Adrestae, the Gesteani, the Presidae, and the Gangaridae, with great slaughter among their troops. When he had reached the Cuphites, 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, 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.' 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, saying 'that they were the only men who had endured unintermitted service under two kings, Philip and Alexander;' 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; 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.' 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. 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  From hence Alexander proceeded to the river Acesines, and sailed down it into the ocean. In his way he received the submission of the Hiacensanae and the Silei, whom Hercules settled; next he sailed to the Ambri and Sigambri, who met him with eighty thousand foot and sixty thousand horse. Gaining the victory in a battle, he led his army against their city; 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. 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. Alexander withstood them with equal spirit, fighting alone against thousands. 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. 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, 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, and the battle continued doubtful, till the whole army, making a breach in the wall, came to his aid. 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. The curing of the wound caused him more suffering than the wound itself.

§ 12.10  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. 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. 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. 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; 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. 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. 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. 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.
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  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. 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. Twenty thousand talents were expended in this largess. Discharging some of the veterans, he recruited the army with younger soldiers. 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.' 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.' Alexander, on the other hand, sometimes upbraided his men, and sometimes charged them in gentle terms, 'not to tarnish their glorious services by mutiny.' 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. 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  He then addressed himself, in a public speech, to the auxiliary troops of the Persians apart from the Macedonians. 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 connexions. And now,' he added, 'he would entrust the guardianship of his person, not to the Macedonians only, but also to them.' 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. At this proceeding the Macedonians were much dissatisfied, exclaiming that 'their enemies were put into their places by their king;' 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.' By this modest forbearance they produced such an effect upon him, that he released eleven thousand veterans more. Of his own friends, too, were sent away the old men, Polysperchon, Clitus, Gorgias, Polydamas, Amadas, and Antigenes. Of those that were sent home Craterus was appointed leader, and commissioned to take the government of Macedonia in the room of Antipater, whom he sent for, with a body of recruits, to supply the place of Craterus. Pay was allowed to those that went home, as if they had been still in the service. 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. 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  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. 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. 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.' 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. 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.' 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, 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. Taking up a cup, he suddenly uttered a groan while he was drinking, as if he had been stabbed with a dagger, 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. 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  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, and that he himself, after his important services in Greece, was not so much liked by the king as envied by him, and was also persecuted with various charges by his mother Olympias; reflecting, too, on the severe penalties inflicted, a few days before, on the governors of the conquered nations, and hence imagining that he was sent for from Macedonia, not to share in the war, but to suffer punishment, 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. 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. 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. 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  On the fourth day, Alexander, finding that death was inevitable, observed that 'he perceived the approach of the fate of his family, for the roost of the Aeacidae had died under thirty years of age.' 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. 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; and his soul was as undaunted at meeting death, as it had formerly been at meeting an enemy. When the soldiers were gone, he asked his friends that stood about him, 'whether they thought they should find a king like him?' All continuing silent, he said that, 'although he did not know that, he knew, and could foretel, 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.' At last he ordered his body to be buried in the temple of Jupiter Ammon. When his friends saw him dying, they asked him 'whom he would appoint as the successor to his throne?' He replied, 'The most worthy.' 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; 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. 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. 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; for though Perdiccas was not expressly named his successor, he seemed intended to be so in Alexander's judgment.

§ 12.16  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. 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 drearn; for she certainly bore in her womb a conception superior to mortality; 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. Some omens of his future greatness appeared at his birth. 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. 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. As a boy, he was ably instructed in elementary learning; and, when his boyhood was past, he improved himself, for five years, under his famous instructor Aristotle. On taking possession of the throne, he gave orders that he should be styled 'King of all the earth and of the world; ' 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. 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. 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.

§ 13.1  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. 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, 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. 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. 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; 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. 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. 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; for there were in the treasury fifty thousand talents, while the annual tribute produced thirty thousand. 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. 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. Never before, indeed, did Macedonia, or any other country, abound with such a multitude of distinguished men; whom Philip 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. 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? — — 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  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; nor did they fear one another more than the soldiery, whose licence was less controllable, and whose favour was more uncertain. Their very equality inflamed their discord, no one being so far superior to the rest, that any other would submit to him. They therefore met in the palace under arms to settle the present state of affairs. 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.' 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; for if they wished for a boy, there was at Pergamus a son of Alexander by Barsine, named Hercules; or, if they would rather have a man, there was then in the camp Aridaeus, 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 Philip. 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; a choice to which Alexander himself would not have consented, who, indeed, when he was dying, made no mention of Roxane's issue.' Ptolemy objected to Aridaeus as king, 'not only on account of the meanness of his mother (he being the son of a courtezan 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;' 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.' The opinion of Perdiccas was adopted with the consent of all; 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, his guardians, to whom they at once took an oath of obedience.

§ 13.3  When the cavalry had also taken the oath, the infantry, indignant that no share in the deliberation had been granted to them, proclaimed Aridaeus, the brother of Alexander, king, chose him guards from their own body, and appointed that he should be called Philip, after the name of his father. 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 part with the soldiers. The insurrection soon gathered strength, when it once began to have a head and regular management. The infantry rushed in a body, under arms, to the palace, with a resolution to cut the cavalry to pieces; 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. Nor did the animosity of the chiefs, meanwhile, abate. Attalus despatched some of his men to assassinate Perdiccas, the leader of the opposite party, but, as he was armed, the assassins durst not 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; 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; 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  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. The cavalry, soon after, being reconciled with the infantry, agreed to have Aridaeus for their king. A portion of the empire was reserved for Alexander's son, if a son should be born. These proceedings they conducted with the body of Alexander placed in the midst of them, that his majesty might be witness to their resolutions; 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; and king Aridaeus was commissioned to convey the body of Alexander to the temple of Jupiter Ammon. 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. 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. 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 a prefectship appear a favour from himself. 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: and Cleomenes, who had built Alexandria, was directed to put the province into his hands. Laomedon of Mitylene was allotted Syria, which bordered on Ptolemy's province; Philotas, Cilicia; and Philo, Illyria. Atropatus was set over the Greater Media; the father-in-law of Perdiccas over the Less. Susiana was assigned to Scynus, and the Greater Phrygia to Antigonus, the son of Philip. Nearchus received Lycia and Pamphylia; Cassander, Caria; and Menander, Lydia. The Lesser Phrygia fell to Leonatus; Thrace, and the coasts of the Pontic sea, to Lysimachus; Cappadocia and Paphlagonia were given to Eumenes. The chief command of the camp fell to Seleucus the son of Antiochus. Cassander, the son of Antipater, was made commander of the king's guards and attendants. In Ulterior Bactriana, and the countries of India, the present governors were allowed to retain their office. The region between the rivers Hydaspes and Indus, Taxiles received. To the colonies settled in India, Python, the son of Agenor, was sent. Of Paropamisia, and the borders of mount Caucasus, Extarches had the command. The Arachosians and Gedrosians were assigned to Sibyrtius; the Drancae and Arci to Stasanor. Amyntas was allotted the Bactrians, Scythaeus the Sogdians, Nicanor the Parthians, Philippus the Hyrcanians, Phrataphemes the Armenians, Tleptolemus the Persians, Peucestes the Babylonians, Archon the Pelasgians, Arcesilaus, Mesopotamia. 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; for not long after, as if they had divided kingdoms, not governments, among themselves, they became princes instead of prefects, and not only secured great power to themselves, but bequeathed it to their descendants.

§ 13.5  While these transactions were passing in the east, the Athenians and Aetolians proceeded with all their might to prosecute the war which they had begun in the life of Alexander. 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. These letters, being read before all Greece, assembled at the Olympic games, had excited a great commotion; 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. Many states therefore at once expressed open discontent, and said that their liberty must be secured by force of arms. The leaders among them, all, however, were the Athenians and Aetolians.
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. 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 Heraclea, they besieged him there; 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, and learning that Hyperides 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. For this service a ship was sent for him by the Athenians, and he was recalled from banishment. Meanwhile Leosthenes, the general of the Athenians, was killed, while he was besieging Antipater, by a dart hurled at him from the wall as he was passing by. This occurrence gave so much encouragement to Antipater, that he ventured to break down the Athenian rampart. 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. 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. 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. The forces of the Greeks, too, having driven the enemy from the territory of Greece, went off to their several cities.

§ 13.6  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; 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; 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. 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. But he wished first to outwit Antipater, by pretending a desire for an alliance with him, and therefore made a feint of asking his daughter in marriage, the more easily to procure from him young recruits from Macedonia. Antipater, however, seeing through, his deceit, he courted two wives at once, but obtained neither.
Afterwards a war arose between Antigonus and Perdiccas; Craterus and Antipater (who, having made peace with the Athenians, had appointed Polysperchon to govern Greece and Macedonia) lent their aid to Antigonus. Perdiccas, as the aspect of affairs was unfavourable, called Aridaeus, 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. Some were of opinion that it should be transferred to Macedonia, to the very head and metropolis of the kingdom, 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 Philip; but it seemed more to the purpose to begin with Egypt, lest, while they were gone into Macedonia, Asia should be seized by Ptolemy. Paphlagonia, Caria, Lycia, and Phrygia were assigned to Eumenes, in addition to the provinces which he had already received; and he was directed to wait in those parts for Craterus and Antipater, Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas, and Neoptolemus being appointed to support him with their forces. The command of the fleet was given to Clitus. Cilicia, being taken from Philotas, was given to Philoxenus. Perdiccas himself set out for Egypt with a large army. 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 her own hands and limbs. But Ptolemy, by his wise exertions in Egypt, was acquiring great power; he had secured the favour of the Egyptians by his extraordinary prudence; he had attached the neighbouring princes by acts of kindness and courtesy; 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  Cyrene was founded by Aristaeus, who, from being tongue-tied, was also called Battus. 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.' 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. 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. Arriving in Africa, they dislodged the inhabitants from a hill named Cyras, and took possession of it for themselves, on account both of the pleasantness of the situation and the abundance of springs in it. 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. 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 on which they had seized a hill, where, becoming pregnant by the god, she brought forth four sons, Nomius, Aristaeus, Authocus, and Argaeus; and that a party being sent by her father Hypsaeus, king of Thessaly, to seek for the damsel, were so attracted by the charms of the place, that they settled there with her. Of her four sons, it was said that three, when they grew up, returned to Thessaly, and inherited their grandfather's kingdom; 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 solstitial risings of Sirius. On hearing this account, Battus built the city in obedience to the oracle, calling it Cyrene, from the name of the maiden.

§ 13.8  Ptolemy, having increased his strength from the forces of this city, made preparations for war against the coming of Perdiccas. 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 overbearingness, went over in troops to Antipater. Neoptolemus, too, who had been left to support Eumenes, intended not only to desert himself, but also to betray the force of his party; when Eumenes, understanding his design, thought it a matter of necessity to engage the traitor in the field. 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. 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. In this battle, Polysperchon was killed. 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. Eumenes, therefore, being victorious in two successive battles, supported in some degree the spirits of his party, which had been cast down by the desertion of their allies. At last, however, Perdiccas being killed, Eumenes was declared an enemy by the army together with Pitho, Illyrius, and Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas; and the conduct of the war against them was committed to Antigonus.

§ 14.1  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, 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; 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. He boldly gave notice, however, that 'if any one of them felt dismayed at the news, he had full liberty to depart.' 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.' Having then led his army into Aetolia, he exacted contributions from the different cities, and plundered, like an enemy, such as refused to pay. 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. Such veneration was there for the greatness of Alexander, that the influence of hig sacred name was sought even by means of women.
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. 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.' He then craftily added that these letters had been forged by himself to sound their feelings; 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.' 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. All of them in consequence zealously offered him their services for the guard of his person.

§ 14.2  In the meantime Antigonus came up with his army, and having pitched his camp, offered battle on the following day. Nor did Eumenes delay to engage with him; but, being defeated, he fled to a fortress, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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;' 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; that by them Alexander had become great, by them had attained divine honours and immortal glory;' 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.' 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 judgment.

§ 14.3  At length, when it was announced that Antigonus was approaching with his army, he obliged them to march into the field; where, slighting the orders of their general, they were defeated by the bravery of the enemy. 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. But Eumenes, who was the cause of their disaster, and had no other hope of safety remaining, encouraged them after their repulse, 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;' 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.' 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,' 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, when they were recalled, as it were, from their own hearths, and from the very threshold of their country, with vain promises; 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.' 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.' 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  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, 'Soldiers, ye behold the dress and equipments of your general, which it is not any one of the enemy that has put upon me; for that would be even a consolation to me; 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; but on that point I shall say nothing, for reproaches do not become the unfortunate. 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; for to him it signifies nothing how or where I fall, and I shall be delivered from an ignominious end. If I obtain this request, I release you from the oath by which you have so often devoted yourselves to me. 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.' Not being able, however, to obtain his request, he changed his tone of entreaty to that of anger, and exclaimed, 'May the gods, then, the avengers of perjury, look down in judgment upon you, ye accursed wretches, and bring upon you such deaths as you have brought upon your leaders. 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. 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. I, the last victim of your perfidy, now pronounce on you these curses and imprecations: 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.' Then, full of indignation, he began to walk before his guards towards the camp of Antigonus. 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, all their honour gained under king Alexander, and the palms and laurels of so long a warfare; and, that nothing might be wanting to the procession, the elephants and auxiliaries of the east brought up the rear. 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. These conquerors of the world, then, Antigonus distributed among his army, restoring to them what he had taken in the victory; 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  In the meantime Eurydice, the wife of king Aridaeus, when she learned that Polysperchon was returning from Greece into Macedonia, and that Olympias was sent for by him, being prompted by a womanish emulation, and taking advantage of her husband's weakness, whose duties she took upon herself, 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. Cassander, attached to her by such a favour, managed everything according to the will of that ambitious woman. Marching into Greece, he made war upon several cities; 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. 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. But during the course of these proceedings, the disturbed state of Macedonia obliged Cassander to return home from Greece; 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 Aridaeus, 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  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. Hearing, therefore, of the approach of Cassander, and distrusting the Macedonians, she retired, with her daughter-in-law Roxane, and her grandson Hercules, to the city of Pydna. Deidamia, the daughter of king Aeacides, and Thessalonice, her step-daughter, rendered illustrious by the name of Philip, who was her father, and many others, wives of the leading men, a retinue showy rather than serviceable, attended her on her journey. 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. Olympias, distressed with famine and the sword, and the wearisomeness of a long siege, surrendered herself to the conqueror, stipulating only for life. 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; when the Macedonians, exasperated by their statements, decreed, without regard to her former majesty, that she should be put to death; 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. 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. 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 connexion with her, stood still, 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. 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. After these events, Cassander married Thessalonice, the daughter of king Aridaeus, and sent the son of Alexander, with his mother to the citadel of Amphipolis, to be kept under guard.

§ 15.1  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; 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.' 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.' On hearing this news, Ptolemy and Cassander, forming an alliance with Lysimachus and Seleucus, made vigorous preparations for war by land and sea. Ptolemy had possession of Egypt, with the greater part of Africa, Cyprus, and Phoenicia. Macedonia and Greece were subject to Cassander. 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. In this action, the renown gained by Ptolemy for his moderation was greater than that which he obtained from the victory itself; 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, 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  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. 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. Afterwards, lest Hercules, the son of Alexander, who had nearly completed his fourteenth year, should be called to the throne on 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. 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, 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.
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, 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; 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. So much more honourably were wars then conducted than private friendships are now maintained!
Antigonus, being elated with this victory, gave orders that he himself, as well as his son Demetrius, should be styled king by the people. Ptolemy also, that he might not appear of less authority among his subjects, was called king by his army. Cassander and Lysimachus, too, when they heard of these proceedings, assumed regal dignity themselves. They all abstained, however, from taking the insignia of royalty, as long as any sons of their king survived. 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. 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, appointed, after encouraging each other by letters, a time and place for an interview, and prepared for the contest with united strength. 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  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, 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. 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, and, by cruelly mangling all his limbs, and cutting off his ears, nose, and lips, had rendered him a shocking and miserable spectacle, and had had him carried about, also, shut up in a cage with a dog, for a terror to others, 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. At this act Alexander was so displeased, that he ordered Lysimachus to be exposed to a fierce lion; 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. 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. Lysimachus, likewise, endured the ill-treatment of the king with magnanimity, as that of a parent. 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. His brother Philip, having previously attempted to do him the same service, had expired in the king's arms. 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; an act which was the first omen of royal dignity to Lysimachus. 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; so far, by general consent, had he the pre-eminence over the rest in military merit.

§ 15.4  Before the war with Antigonus was commenced by Ptolemy and his allies, Seleucus, on a sudden, leaving the Greater Asia, came forward as a fresh enemy to Antigonus. The merit of Seleucus was well known, and his birth had been attended with extraordinary circumstances. His mother Laodice, being married to Antiochus, a man of eminence among Philip's generals, seemed to herself, in a dream, to have conceived from a union with Apollo, and, after becoming pregnant, to have received from him, as a reward for her compliance, a ring, on the stone of which was engraved an anchor, and which she was desired to give to the child that she should bring forth. A ring similarly engraved, which was found the next day in the bed, and the figure of an anchor, which was visible on the thigh of Seleucus when he was born, made this dream extremely remarkable. This ring Laodice gave to Seleucus, when he was going with Alexander to the Persian war, informing him, at the same time, of his paternity. After the death of Alexander, having secured dominion in the east, he built a city, where be established a memorial of his twofold origin; for he called the city Antioch from the name of his father Antiochus, and consecrated the plains near the city to Apollo. This mark of his paternity continued also among his descendants; for his sons and grandsons had an anchor on their thigh, as a natural proof of their extraction.; After the division of the Macedonian empire among the followers of Alexander, he carried on several wars in the east. He first took Babylon, and then, his strength being increased by this success, subdued the Bactrians. He next made an expedition into India, which, after the death of Alexander, had shaken, as it were, the yoke of servitude from its neck, and put his governors to death. The author of this liberation was Sandrocottus, who afterwards, however, turned their semblance of liberty into slavery; for, making himself king, he oppressed the people whom he had delivered from a foreign power, with a cruel tyranny. This man was of mean origin, but was stimulated to aspire to regal power by supernatural encouragement; for, having offended Alexander by his boldness of speech, and orders being given to kill him, he saved himself by swiftness of foot; and while he was lying asleep, after his fatigue, a lion of great size having come up to him, licked off with his tongue the sweat that was running from him, and after gently waking him, left him. Being first prompted by this prodigy to conceive hopes of royal dignity, he drew together a band of robbers, and solicited the Indians to support his new sovereignty. Some time after, as he was going to war with the generals of Alexander, a wild elephant of great bulk presented itself before him of its own accord, and, as if tamed down to gentleness, took him on its back, and became his guide in the war, and conspicuous in fields of battle. Sandrocottus, having thus acquired a throne, was in possession of India, when Seleucus was laying the foundations of his future greatness; who, after making a league with him, and settling his affairs in the east, proceeded to join in the war against Antigonus. As soon as the forces, therefore, of all the confederates were united, a battle was fought, in which Antigonus was slain, and his son Demetrius put to flight.
But the allied generals, after thus terminating the war with the enemy, turned their arms again upon each other, and, as they could not agree about the spoil, were divided into two parties. Seleucus joined Demetrius, and Ptolemy Lysimachus. Cassander dying, Philip, his son, succeeded him. Thus new wars arose, as it were, from a fresh source, for Macedonia.

§ 16.1  AFTER the deaths, in rapid succession, of Cassander and Philip, queen Thessalonice, the wife of Cassander, was soon killed by her son Antipater, though she conjured him by the bosom of a mother to spare her life. The cause of this matricide was that, in the division of the kingdom between the brothers, she seemed to have favoured Alexander. This deed appeared the more atrocious to every one, as there was no proof of injustice on the part of the mother; although, indeed, in a case of matricide, no reason can be alleged sufficient to justify the crime. Alexander, in consequence, resolving to go to war with his brother, to avenge his mother's death, solicited aid from Demetrius; and Demetrius, in hopes of seizing the throne of Macedonia, made no delay in complying with his request. Lysimachus, alarmed at his approach, persuaded Antipater, his son-in-law, rather to be reconciled to his brother than to allow his father's enemy to enter Macedonia. Demetrius, therefore, finding that a reconciliation was commenced between the brothers, removed Alexander by treachery, and, having seized on the throne of Macedonia, called an assembly of the army, to defend himself before them for the murder. He alleged that 'his life had been first attempted by Alexander, and that he had not contrived treachery, but prevented it; and that he himself was the more rightful king of Macedonia, both from experience attendant on greater age, and from other con siderations; for that his father had been a follower of king Philip, and of Alexander the Great, in the whole of their wars, and afterwards an attendant on the children of Alexander, and a leader in the punishment of the revolters. That Antipater, on the other hand, the grandfather of these young men, had always been more cruel as the governor of the kingdom than the kings themselves; and that Cassander, their father, had been the extirpator of the king's family, sparing neither women nor children, and not resting till he had cut off the whole of the royal house. That vengeance for these crimes, as he could not exact it from Cassander himself, had been inflicted on his children; and that accordingly Philip and Alexander, if the dead have any knowledge of human affairs, would not wish the murderers of them and their issue, but their avengers, to fill the throne of Macedonia.' The people being pacified by these arguments, he was saluted king of Macedonia. Lysimachus, too, being pressed with a war with Doricetes, king of Thrace, and not wishing to have to fight with Demetrius at the same time, made peace with him, resigning into his hands the other half of Macedonia, which had fallen to the share of his son-in-law Antipater.

§ 16.2  When Demetrius, therefore, supported by the whole strength of Macedonia, was preparing to invade Asia, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus, having experienced in the former contest how great the power of unanimity was, formed an alliance a second time, and having joined their forces, carried the war against Demetrius, into Europe. With these leaders Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, united himself, as a friend and sharer in the war, hoping that Demetrius might lose Macedonia not less easily than he had obtained it. Nor were his expectations vain; for he himself, having corrupted Demetrius's army, and put him to flight, seized on the throne of Macedonia.
During the course of these transactions, Lysimachus put to death his son-in-law Antipater, who complained that he had been deprived of the throne of Macedonia by the treachery of his father-in-law, and put his daughter Eurydice, who had joined with him in his complaints, into prison; and thus the whole house of Cassander made atonement to Alexander the Great, whether for killing himself or destroying his offspring, partly by violent deaths, partly by other sufferings, and partly by shedding the blood of one another.
Demetrius, surrounded by so many armies, preferred, when he might have fallen honourably, to make an ignominious surrender to Seleucus. At the termination of the war died Ptolemy, after having attained great glory by his military exploits. Contrary to the custom among nations, he had resigned his kingdom, before his illness, to the youngest of his sons, and had stated his reasons for that proceeding to the people, who showed themselves no less indulgent in accepting the son for their king than the father had proved himself in delivering the kingdom to him. Among other instances of mutual affection between the father and the son, the following had procured the young man favour from the people, that the father, having publicly resigned the throne to him, had done duty as a private soldier among his guards, thinking it more honour to be the father of a king than to possess any kingdom whatsoever.

§ 16.3  But the evil of discord, constantly arising among equals, had produced a war between Lysimachus and King Pyrrhus, who had just before been allies against Demetrius. Lysimachus, gaining the advantage, had expelled Pyrrhus, and made himself master of Macedonia. He then made war on Thrace, and afterwards on Heraclea, a city of which the origin and the subsequent fortunes were objects of wonder: for when the Boeotians were suffering from a pestilence, the oracle at Delphi had told them, that 'they must plant a colony in the country of Pontus, dedicated to Hercules. But as, through dread of a long and dangerous voyage, and all the people preferring death in their own country, the matter was neglected, the Phocians made war upon them; and after suffering from unsuccessful struggles with that people, they had recourse to the oracle a second time. The answer which they received was, that 'what was a remedy for the pestilence would also be a remedy for the war.' Raising therefore a body of colonists, and sailing to Pontus, they built the city Heraclea; and as they had been led to that settlement by the guidance of fate, they soon acquired great power. In process of time the city had many wars with its neighbours, and many dissensions among its own people. Among other noble acts that they performed, the following is one of the most remarkable. When the Athenians were at the height of power, and, after the overthrow of the Persians, had imposed a tax on Greece and Asia for the support of a fleet, and when all were promptly contributing to the maintenance of their safety, the Heracleans alone, from friendship for the kings of Persia, refused to pay. Lamachus was accordingly despatched by the Athenians with an army to exact from them what was withheld; but leaving his ships on the coast, and going to ravage the lands of the Heracleans, he lost his fleet, with the greater part of his army, by shipwreck, in a tempest that came on suddenly. As he was not able, therefore, to return by sea, from having lost his ships, and did not dare, with so small a body of men, to return by land through so many warlike nations, the Heracleans, thinking this a more honourable opportunity for kindness than for revenge, sent the invaders away with a supply of provisions and troops to protect them; deeming the devastation of their lands no loss, if they could but make those their friends who had formerly been their enemies.

§ 16.4  Among many other evils they endured also that of tyranny; for when, on the populace violently clamouring for an abolition of debts, and a division of the lands of the rich, the subject was long discussed in the senate, and no settlement of it was devised, they at last sought assistance against the commons, who were grown riotous by too long idleness, from Timotheus general of the Athenians, and afterwards from Epaminondas general of the Thebans. As, both, however, refused their request, they had recourse to Clearchus, whom they themselves had exiled; such being the urgency of their distresses, that they recalled to the guardian ship of his country him whom they had forbidden to enter his country. But Clearchus, being rendered more desperate by his banishment, and regarding the dissension among the people as a means of securing to himself the government, first sought a secret interview with Mithridates, the enemy of his countrymen, and made a league with him on the understanding that when he was re-established in his country, he should, on betraying the city into his hands, be made lieutenant-governor of it. But the treachery which he had conceived against his countrymen, he afterwards turned against Mithridates himself; for on returning from banishment, to be as it were the arbiter of the disputes in the city, he, at the time appointed for delivering the town to Mithridates, made Mithridates himself prisoner, with a party of his friends, and released him from captivity only on the receipt of a large sum of money. And as, in this case, he suddenly changed himself from a friend into an enemy, so, in regard to his countrymen, he soon, from a supporter of the senate's cause, became a patron of the common people, and not only inflamed the populace against those who had conferred his power upon him, and by whom he had been recalled into his country and established in the citadel, but even exercised upon his benefactors the most atrocious inflictions of tyrannic cruelty. Summoning the people to an assembly, he declared that 'he would no longer support the senate in their proceedings against the populace, but would even interpose his authority, if they persisted in their former severities; and that, if the people thought themselves able to check the tyranny of the senate, he would retire with his soldiers, and take no further part in their dissensions; but that, if they distrusted their ability to make resistance, he would not be wanting to aid them in taking revenge. They might therefore,' he added, 'determine among themselves; they might bid him withdraw, if they pleased, or might request him to stay as a sharer in the popular cause.' The people, induced by these fair speeches, conferred on him the supreme authority, and, while they were incensed at the power of the senate, surrendered themselves, with their wives and children, as slaves to the power of a single tyrant. Clearchus then apprehended sixty senators (the rest had taken flight), and threw them into prison. The people rejoiced that the senate was overthrown, and especially that it had fallen by means of a leader among the senators, and that, by a reverse of fortune, their support was turned to their destruction. Clearchus, by threatening all his prisoners with death, made the price offered for their ransom the higher; and, after receiving from them large sums of money, as if he would secretly withdraw them from the violence threatened by the people, despoiled those of their lives whom he had previously despoiled of their fortunes.

§ 16.5  Learning, soon after, that war was prepared against him by those who had made their escape (several cities being moved by pity to espouse their cause), he gave freedom to their slaves; and that no affliction might be wanting to distress the most honourable families, he obliged their wives and daughters to marry their slaves, threatening death to such as refused, that he might thus render the slaves more attached to himself, and less reconcileable to their masters. But such marriages were more intolerable to the women than immediate death; and many, in consequence, killed themselves before the nuptial rites were celebrated, and many in the midst of them, first killing their new husbands, and delivering themselves from dishonourable sufferings by a spirit of noble virtue. A battle was then fought, in which the tyrant, being victorious, dragged such of the senators as he took prisoners before the faces of their countrymen in triumph. Returning into the city, he threw some into prison, stretched others on the rack, and put others to death; and not a place in the city was unvisited by the tyrant's cruelty. Arrogance was added to severity, insolence to inhumanity. From a course of continued good fortune, he sometimes forgot that he was a man, sometimes called himself the son of Jupiter. When he appeared in public, a golden eagle, as a token of his parentage, was carried before him; he wore a purple robe, buskins like kings in tragedies, and a crown of gold. His son he named Ceraunos, to mock the gods, not only with false statements, but with impious names. Two noble youths, Chion and Leonides, incensed that he should dare to commit such outrages, and desiring to deliver their country, formed a conspiracy to put him to death. They were disciples of Plato the philosopher, and being desirous to exhibit to their country the virtue in which they were daily instructed by the precepts of their master, placed fifty of their relations, as if they were their attendants, in ambush; while they themselves, in the character of men who had a dispute to be settled, went into the citadel to the tyrant. Gaining admission, as being well known, the tyrant, while he was listening attentively to the one that spoke first, was killed by the other. But as their accomplices were too late in coming to their support, they were overpowered by the guards; and hence it happened that though the tyrant was killed, their country was not liberated. Satyrus, the brother of Clearchus, made himself tyrant in a similar way; and for many years, with various successive changes, the Heracleans continued under the yoke of tyrants.

§ 17.1  ABOUT the same time there was an earthquake in the regions round the Hellespont and the Chersonese; but the chief effect of it was, that the city of Lysimachia, founded two and twenty years before by king Lysimachus, was sunk in ruins; a prodigy which portended disasters to Lysimachus and his family, destruction to his kingdom, and calamity to the disturbed provinces. Nor was fulfilment wanting to these omens; for, in a short time after, conceiving towards his son Agathocles (whom he had appointed to succeed him on the throne, and through whose exertions he had managed several wars with success), a hatred unnatural in him not only as a father but as a man, he took him off by poison, using as his agent in the affair his step-mother Arsinoe. This was the first commencement of his calamities, the prelude to approaching rain; for executions of several great men were added to the murder of his son, who were put to death for expressing concern at the young prince's fate; and, in consequence, both those about the court who escaped this cruelty, and those who were in command of the troops, began at once to desert to Seleucus, and incite him to make war upon Lysimachus; an enterprise to which he was already inclined from a desire to emulate his glory. This was the last contest between the fellow soldiers of Alexander; and the two combatants were reserved, as it were, for an example of the influence of fortune. Lysimachus was seventy-four years old; Seleucus seventy-seven. But at this age they both had the fire of youth, and an insatiable desire of power; for though they alone possessed the whole world, they yet thought themselves confined within narrow limits, and measured their course of life, not by their length of years, but by the extent to which they carried their dominion.

§ 17.2  In this war, Lysimachus (who had previously lost, by various chances of fortune, fifteen children) died, with no small bravery, and crowned the ruin of his family. Seleucus, overjoyed at such a triumph, and what he thought greater than the triumph, that he alone survived of all Alexander's staff, the conqueror of conquerors, boasted that 'this was not the work of man, but a favour from the gods,' little thinking that he himself was shortly after to be an instance of human instability; for in the course of about seven months, he was treacherously surprised by Ptolemy, whose sister Lysimachus had married, and put to death, losing the kingdom of Macedonia, which he had taken from Lysimachus together with his life.
Ptolemy, being ambitious to please his subjects, both for the honour of the memory of the great Ptolemy his father, and for the sake of palliating the revenge which he had taken on behalf of Lysimachus, resolved, in the first place, to conciliate the sons of Lysimachus, and sought a marriage with their mother Arsinoe, his sister, promising to adopt the young men, so that, when he should succeed to the throne of their father, they might not venture, through respect for their mother, or the influence of the name of father, to attempt anything against him. He solicited, too, by letter, the friendship of his brother the king of Egypt, professing that 'he laid aside all feelings of resentment at being deprived of his father's kingdom, and that he would no longer ask that from a brother which he had more honourably obtained from his father's enemy.' He also in every way flattered Nicomedes, that as he was about to have a war with Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, and Antiochus the son of Seleucus, he might not come upon him as a third enemy. Nor was Pyrrhus of Epirus, neglected by him, a king who would be of great assistance to whichsoever side he attached himself, and who, while he desired to spoil them one by one, sought the favour of all. On going to assist the Tarentines, therefore, against the Romans, he desired of Antigonus the loan of vessels to transport his army into Italy; of Antiochus, who was better provided with wealth than with men, a sum of money; and of Ptolemy, some troops of Macedonian soldiers. Ptolemy, who had no excuse for holding back for want of forces, supplied him with five thousand infantry, four thousand cavalry, and fifty elephants, but for not more than two years' service. In return for this favour, Pyrrhus, after marrying the daughter of Ptolemy, appointed him guardian of his kingdom in his absence; lest, on carrying the flower of his army into Italy, he should leave his dominions a prey to his enemies.

§ 17.3  But since I have come to speak of Epirus, a few particulars should be premised concerning the rise of that kingdom. The first regal power in this country was that of the Molossi. Afterwards Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, having been deprived of his father's dominions during his absence in the Trojan War, settled in these parts; the inhabitants of which were first called Pyrrhidae, and afterwards Epirots. This Pyrrhus, going to the temple of Jupiter at Dodona to consult the oracle, seized there by force Lanassa, the granddaughter of Hercules, and by a marriage with her had eight children. Of his daughters he gave some in marriage to the neighbouring princes, and by means of these alliances acquired great power. He gave to Helenus, the son of King Priam, for his eminent services, the kingdom of the Chaonians, and Andromache the widow of Hector in marriage, after she had been his own wife, he having received her at the division of the Trojan spoil. Shortly after he was slain at Delphi, at the very altar of Apollo, by the treachery of Orestes the son of Agamemnon. His successor was his son Pielus. The throne afterwards passed in regular descent to Arrybas, over whom, as he was an orphan, and the only survivor of a noble family, guardians were publicly appointed, the concern of all being so much the greater to preserve and educate him. He was also sent to Athens for the sake of instruction; and, as he was more learned than his predecessors, so he became more popular with his subjects. He was the first, accordingly, that established laws, a senate, annual magistrates, and a regular form of government; and as a settlement was found for the people by Pyrrhus, so a more civilized way of life was introduced by Arrybas. A son of this king was Neoptolemus, the father of Olympias (mother of Alexander the great), and of Alexander, who occupied the throne of Epirus after him, and died in Italy in a war with the Bruttii. On the death of Alexander his brother Aeacides became king, who, by wearying his people with constant wars against the Macedonians, incurred their dislike, and was in consequence driven into exile, leaving his little son Pyrrhus, about two years old, in the kingdom. The child, too, being sought for by the populace to be put to death, through their hatred to the father, was concealed and carried off into Illyricum, and delivered to Beroe, who was the wife of king Glaucias, and of the family of the Aeacidae, to be brought up. This king, moved either by pity for the boy's misfortunes, or by his infantine caresses, protected him for a long time against Cassander, king of Macedonia, (who demanded him with menaces of war,) having the kindness also to adopt him for his better security. The Epirots, being moved by these acts, and turning their hatred into pity brought him back, when he was eleven years old, into the kingdom, appointing him guardians to keep the throne for him till he became of age. When he grew up he engaged in many wars, and, by a train of success, attained such eminence as a leader, that he was the only man who was thought capable of defending the Tarentines against the Romans.

§ 18.1  PYRRHUS, king of Epirus, therefore, being solicited by a second embassy from the Tarentines, to which were added the entreaties of the Samnites and Lucanians, who likewise needed assistance against the Romans, was induced to comply, not so much by the prayers of the suitors, as by the hope of making himself master of Italy, and promised to come to them with an army. When his thoughts, indeed, were once directed to that enterprise, the examples of his predecessors began to impel him violently towards it, in order that he might not appear inferior to his uncle Alexander, whom the Tarentines had had for a defender against the Bruttii, or to have less spirit than Alexander the Great, who had subdued the east in so distant an expedition from his native country. Having left his son Ptolemy, therefore, who was but fifteen years old, as guardian of his kingdom, he landed his army in the harbour of Tarentum, taking with him his two younger sons, Alexander and Helenus, as a comfort to him in so long a voyage. The Roman consul, Valerius Laevinus, hearing of his arrival, and hastening to come to battle with him before the forces of his allies were assembled, led forth his army into the field. Nor did the king, although he was inferior in number of forces, hesitate to engage. But as the Romans were getting the advantage, the appearance of the elephants, previously unknown to them, made them at first stand amazed, and afterwards quit the field; and the strange monsters of the Macedonians at once conquered the conquerors. The triumph of the enemy, however, was not bloodless; for Pyrrhus himself was severely wounded, and a great number of his soldiers killed; and he had more glory from his victory than pleasure. Many cities of Italy, moved by the result of this battle, surrendered to Pyrrhus; among others also Locri, betraying the Roman garrison, revolted to him. Of the prisoners, Pyrrhus sent back two hundred to Rome without ransom, that the Romans, after experiencing his valour, might experience also his generosity. Some days after, when the forces of his allies had come up, he fought a second battle with the Romans, of which the event was similar to that of the former.

§ 18.2  In the meantime, Mago, general of the Carthaginians, being sent to the aid of the Romans with a hundred and twenty ships, went to the senate, saying that 'the Carthaginians were much concerned that they should be distressed by war in Italy from a foreign prince; and that for this reason he had been despatched to assist them; that, as they were attacked by a foreign enemy, they might be supported by foreign aid.' The thanks of the senate were given to the Carthaginians, and the succours sent back. But Mago, with the cunning of a Carthaginian, went privately, a few days after, to Pyrrhus, as if to be a peace-maker from the people of Carthage, but in reality to discover the king's views with regard to Sicily, to which island it was reported that he was sent for; since the Carthaginians had the same reason for sending assistance to the Romans, namely that Pyrrhus might be detained by a war with that people in Italy, and prevented from crossing over into Sicily. During the course of these transactions, Fabricius Luscinus, being commissioned by the senate of Rome, had made peace with Pyrrhus. To ratify the treaty, Cineas was sent to Rome by Pyrrhus with valuable presents, but found nobody's house open for their reception. To this instance of Roman incorruptibility, another, very similar, happened about the same time. Certain ambassadors, who were sent by the senate into Egypt, having refused some costly presents offered them by Ptolemy, and being invited to supper some days after, golden crowns were sent to them, which, from respect to the king, they accepted, but placed them the next day on the king's statues. Cineas, bringing word that 'the treaty with the Romans was broken off by Appius Claudius,' and being asked by Pyrrhus 'what sort of city Rome was,' replied that 'it appeared to him a city of kings.' Soon after, ambassadors from the Sicilians arrived, to offer Pyrrhus the dominion of the whole island, which was harassed by constant wars with the Carthaginians. Leaving his son Alexander, therefore, at Locri, and securing the cities of his allies with strong garrisons, Pyrrhus transported his army into Sicily.

§ 18.3  Since I come to speak of the Carthaginians, a short account shall be given of their origin, tracing back, to some extent, the history of the Tyrians, whose misfortunes were much to be pitied. The nation of the Tyrians was founded by the Phoenicians, who, suffering from an earthquake, and abandoning their country, settled at first near the Syrian lake, and afterwards on the coast near the sea, where they built a city, which, from the abundance of fish, they named Sidon, for so the Phoenicians call a fish in their language. Many years after, their city being stormed by the king of the Ascalonians, sailing away to the place where Tyre stands, they built that city the year before the fall of Troy. Here, harassed for a long time, and in various ways, by attacks from the Persians, they resisted, indeed, successfully, but, as their strength was exhausted, they suffered the most cruel treatment from their slaves, who were then extraordinarily numerous. These traitors, having entered into a conspiracy, killed their masters and all the free people of the city, and thus, becoming masters of the place, took possession of the houses of their owners, assumed the government, appropriated wives to themselves, and begot, what they themselves were not, freemen. Out of so many thousands of slaves, there was one who was moved to compassion by the mild disposition of his aged master and the hard fortune of his little son, and looked upon them, not with savage fierceness, but with humanity, affection, and pity. He put them out of the way, therefore, as if they had been killed; and when the slaves came to deliberate about the condition of their government, and had resolved that a king should be elected from their own body, and that he should be preferred, as most acceptable to the gods, who should first see the rising sun, he mentioned the matter to Strato (for that was the name of his master), who was then in concealment. Being instructed by him, and proceeding with the rest, about the middle of the night, to a certain plain, he alone, when they were all looking towards the east, kept his eye directed towards the west. This at first seemed madness to the others, to look in the west for the rising sun; but when day began to advance, and the rising luminary to shine on the highest eminences of the city, he, while all the rest were watching to see the sun itself, was the first to point out to them the sunshine on the loftiest pinnacle of the town. This thought seemed above the wit of a slave; and when they asked him who had put it into his head, he confessed that it was his master. It was then seen how far the abilities of freemen surpass those of slaves, who, though they may be first in viciousness, are not first in wisdom. The old man and his son were therefore spared; and the slaves, thinking that they had been preserved by the interposition of some deity, made Strato king. After his death, the throne descended to his son, and subsequently to his grandsons. This atrocity of these slaves was much noticed, and was a terrible example to the whole world. Alexander the Great, when he was prosecuting his wars, some time after, in the east, having taking the city, crucified, as an avenger of the general safety, and in memory, of the former massacre, all those who survived the siege; preserving from injury only the family of Strato, and restoring the throne to his descendants; and sending to the island, at the same time, inhabitants that were free-born and guiltless, that, as the race of slaves was extirpated, an entirely new generation might be established in the city.

§ 18.4  The Tyrians, being thus settled under the auspices of Alexander, quickly grew powerful by frugality and industry.
Before the massacre of the masters by the slaves, when they abounded in wealth and population, they sent a portion of their youth into Africa, and founded Utica. Meanwhile their king died at Tyre, appointing his son Pygmalion and his daughter Elissa, a maiden of extraordinary beauty, his heirs. But the people gave the throne to Pygmalion, who was quite a boy. Elissa married Acerbas, her uncle, who was priest of Hercules, a dignity next to that of the king. Acerbas had great but concealed riches, having laid up his gold, for fear of the king, not in his house, but in the earth; a fact of which, though people had no certain knowledge of it, report was not silent. Pygmalion, excited by the account, and forgetful of the laws of humanity, murdered his uncle, who was also his brother-in-law, without the least regard to natural affection. Elissa long entertained a hatred to her brother for his crime, but at last, dissembling her detestation, and assuming mild looks for the time, she secretly contrived a mode of flight, admitting into her confidence some of the leading men of the city, in whom she saw that there was a similar hatred of the king, and an equal desire to escape. She then addressed her brother in such a way as to deceive him; pretending that 'she had a desire to remove to his house, in order that the home of her husband might no longer revive in her, when she was desirous to forget him, the oppressive recollection of her sorrows, and that the sad remembrances of him might no more present themselves to her eyes.' To these words of his sister, Pygmalion was no unwilling listener, thinking that with her the gold of Acerbas would come to him. But Elissa put the attendants, who were sent by the king to assist in her removal, on board some vessels in the early part of the evening, and sailing out into the deep, made them throw some loads of sand, put up in sacks, as if it was money, into the sea. Then, with tears and mournful ejaculations, she invoked Acerbas, entreating that 'he would favourably receive his wealth which he had left behind him, and accept that as an offering to his shade, which he had found to be the cause of his death.' Next she addressed the attendants, and said that 'death had long been desired by her, but as for them, cruel torments and a direful end awaited them, for having disappointed the tyrant's avarice of those treasures, in the hopes of obtaining which he had committed fratricide.' Having thus struck terror into them all, she took them with her as companions of her flight. Some bodies of senators, too, who were ready against that night, came to join her, and having offered a sacrifice to Hercules, whose priest Acerbas had been, proceeded to seek a settlement in exile.

§ 18.5  Their first landing place was the isle of Cyprus, where the priest of Jupiter, with his wife and children, offered himself to Elissa, at the instigation of the gods, as her companion and the sharer of her fortunes, stipulating for the perpetual honour of the priesthood for himself and his descendants. The stipulation was received as a manifest omen of good fortune. It was a custom among the Cyprians to send their daughters, on stated days before their marriage, to the sea-shore, to prostitute themselves, and thus procure money for their marriage portions, and to pay, at the same time, offerings to Venus for the preservation of their chastity in time to come. Of these Elissa ordered about eighty to be seized and taken on board, that her men might have wives, and her city a population. During the course of these transactions, Pygmalion, having heard of his sister's flight, and preparing to pursue her with unfeeling hostility, was scarcely induced by the prayers of his mother and the menaces of the gods to remain quiet; the inspired augurs warning him that 'he would not escape with impunity, if he interrupted the founding of a city that was to become the most prosperous in the world.' By this means some respite was given to the fugitives; and Elissa, arriving in a gulf of Africa, attached the inhabitants of the coast, who rejoiced at the arrival of foreigners, and the opportunity of bartering commodities with them, to her interest. Having then bargained for a piece of ground, as much as could be covered with an ox-hide, where she might refresh her companions, wearied with their long voyage, until she could conveniently resume her progress, she directed the hide to be cut into the thinnest possible strips, and thus acquired a greater portion of ground than she had apparently demanded; whence the place had afterwards the name of Byrsa. The people of the neighbourhood subsequently gathering about her, bringing, in hopes of gain, many articles to the strangers for sale, and gradually fixing their abodes there, some resemblance of a city arose from the concourse. Ambassadors from the people of Utica, too, brought them presents as relatives, and exhorted them 'to build a city where they had chanced to obtain a settlement.' An inclination to detain the strangers was felt also by the Africans; and, accordingly, with the consent of all, Carthage was founded, an annual tribute being fixed for the ground which it was to occupy. At the commencement of digging the foundations an ox's head was found, which was an omen that the city would be wealthy, indeed, but laborious and always enslaved. It was therefore removed to another place, where the head of a horse was found, which, indicating that the people would be warlike and powerful, portended an auspicious site. In a short time, as the surrounding people came together at the report, the inhabitants became numerous, and the city itself extensive.

§ 18.6  When the power of the Carthaginians, from success in their proceedings, had risen to some height, Hiarbas, king of the Maxitani, desiring an interview with ten of the chief men of Carthage, demanded Elissa in marriage, denouncing war in case of a refusal. The deputies, fearing to report this message to the queen, acted towards her with Carthaginian artifice, saying that 'the king asked for some person to teach him and his Africans a more civilized way of life, but who could be found that would leave his relations and go to barbarians, and people that were living like wild beasts?' Being then reproached by the queen, 'in case they refused a hard life for the benefit of their country, to which, should circumstances require, their life itself was due,' they disclosed the king's message, saying that 'she herself, if she wished her city to be secure, must do what she required of others.' Being caught by this subtlety, she at last said (after calling for a long time with many tears and mournful lamentations on the name of her husband Acerbas), that 'she would go whither the fate of her city called her.' Taking three months for the accomplishment of her resolution, and having raised a funeral pile at the extremity of the city, she sacrificed many victims, as if she would appease the shade of her husband, and make her offerings to him before her marriage; and then, taking a sword, she ascended the pile, and, looking towards the people, said, that 'she would go to her husband as they had desired her,' and put an end to her life with the sword. As long as Carthage remained unconquered, she was worshipped as a goddess. This city was founded seventy-two years before Rome; but while the bravery of its inhabitants made it famous in war, it was internally disturbed with various troubles, arising from civil differences. Being afflicted, among other calamities, with a pestilence, they adopted a cruel religious ceremony, an execrable abomination, as a remedy for it; for they immolated human beings as victims, and brought children (whose age excites pity even in enemies) to the altars, entreating favour of the gods by shedding the blood of those for whose life the gods are generally wont to be entreated.

§ 18.7  In consequence of the gods, therefore, being rendered adverse by such atrocities, after they had long fought unsuccessfully in Sicily, and had transferred the war into Sardinia, they were defeated in a great battle with the loss of the greater part of their army; a disaster for which they sentenced their general Malchus, under whose conduct they had both conquered a part of Sicily and achieved great exploits against the Africans, to remain in exile with the portion of his army that survived. The soldiers, indignant at this sentence, sent deputies to Carthage, to beg, in the first place, permission for them to return, and pardon for their ill success in the field; and, in the second place, to announce that 'what they could not obtain by entreaty, they would obtain by force of arms.' The prayers and threats of the deputies being alike slighted, the troops, after some days, went on board ship, and came under arms to the city, when they called gods and men to witness that 'they were not come to overthrow, but to recover their country; and that they would show their countrymen that it was not valour, but fortune, that had failed them in the preceding war.' By stopping the supplies, and besieging the city, they reduced the Carthaginians to the greatest despair. At this time Cartalo, the son of Malchus the exiled general, returning by his father's camp from Tyre (whither he had been sent by the Carthaginians, to carry the tenth of the plunder of Sicily, which his father had taken, to Hercules), and being desired by his father to wait on him, replied that 'he would discharge his religious duties to the public, before those of merely private obligation.' His father, though he was indignant at his conduct, was nevertheless afraid to obstruct him in the performance of his religious offices. Some days after, Cartalo, having obtained leave of absence from the people, and returning to his father, presented himself before all the people, dressed in the purple and fillets of his sacerdotal dignity, when his father took him aside, and said, 'Hast thou dared, most unnatural wretch, to appear before so many of thy miserable countrymen, thus arrayed in purple and gold, and to enter, with all the marks of peaceful prosperity about thee, and exulting as it were in triumph, into this sad and mournful camp? Couldst thou display thyself nowhere else to thy fellow creatures? Was no place fitter for it than where the misery of thy father, and the distress of his unhappy banishment, were to be seen? I have to add, too, that when thou wast summoned a short time ago, thou proudly despisedst, I do not say thy father, but certainly the general of thy countrymen. And what else dost thou exhibit in that purple and those crowns, but the titles of my victories? Since thou, therefore, acknowledgest nothing in thy father but the name of an exile, I also will assume the character, not of a father, but of a general, and will make such an example of thee, that no one may hereafter dare to sport with the miseries and sorrows of a parent.' He accordingly ordered him to be nailed, in all his finery, on a high cross within view of the city. A few days after he took Carthage, and assembling the people, complained of the injustice of his banishment, pleaded necessity as his excuse for making war upon them, and added that 'being content with his victory, and the punishment of the authors of their country's misery, he granted a free pardon for his unjust banishment to all the rest.' Having accordingly put ten senators to death, he left the city to the government of its laws. But being accused himself, shortly after, of aspiring to be king, he paid the penalty of his twofold cruelty to his son and his country. He was succeeded, as commander-in-chief, by Mago, by whose exertions the power of Carthage, the extent of its territories, and its military glory, was much increased.

§ 19.1  MAGO, the general of the Carthaginians, after having been the first, by regulating their military discipline, to lay the foundations of the Punic power, and after establishing the strength of the state, not less by his skill in the art of war than by his personal prowess, died, leaving behind him two sons, Hasdrubal and Hamilcar, who, pursuing the honourable course of their father, were heirs to his greatness as well as to his name. Under their generalship war was made upon Sardinia; and a contest was also maintained against the Africans, who demanded tribute for many years for the ground on which the city stood. But as the cause of the Africans was the more just, their fortune was likewise superior, and the struggle with them was ended — — not by exertions in the field — — by the payment of a sum of money. In Sardinia Hasdrubal was severely wounded, and died there, leaving the command to his brother Hamilcar; and not only the mourning throughout his country, but the fact that he had held eleven dictatorships and enjoyed four triumphs, rendered his death an object of general notice. The courage of the enemy, too, was raised by it, as if the power of the Carthaginians had expired with their general. The people of Sicily, therefore, applying, in consequence of the perpetual depredations of the Carthaginians, to Leonidas, the brother of the king of Sparta, for aid, a grievous war broke out, which continued, with various success, for a long period.
During the course of these transactions, ambassadors came to Carthage from Darius king of Persia, bringing an edict, by which the Carthaginians were forbidden to offer human sacrifices, and to eat dog's flesh, and were commanded to burn the bodies of the dead rather than bury them in the earth; and requesting, at the same time, assistance against Greece, on which Darius was about to make war. The Carthaginians declined giving him aid, on account of their continual wars with their neighbours, but, that they might not appear uncompliant in every thing, willingly submitted to the decree.

§ 19.2  Hamilcar, meanwhile, was killed in battle in Sicily, leaving three sons, Himilco, Hanno, and Gisco. Hasdrubal also had the same number of sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Sappho. By these the affairs of the Carthaginians were managed at this period. War was made upon the Moors, a contest was maintained with the Numidians, and the Africans were compelled to remit the tribute paid for the building of the city. At length, however, as so numerous a family of commanders was dangerous to the liberty of the state, since they themselves managed and decided every thing, a hundred judges were chosen out of the senate, who were to demand of the generals, when they returned from war, an account of their proceedings, in order that, under this control, they might exercise their command in war with a regard to the judicature and laws at home.
In Sicily, Himilco succeeded as general in the room of Hamilcar, but, after fighting several successful battles, both by land and sea, and taking many towns, he suddenly lost his army by the influence of a pestilential constellation. When the news of this arrived at Carthage, the country was overwhelmed with grief, and all places rung with lamentations, as if the city had been taken by an enemy; private houses were closed, the temples of the gods were shut, all religious ceremonies were intermitted, and all private business suspended. They all then crowded to the harbour, and inquired of the few that came out of their ships, survivors of the calamity, respecting their relatives. But when, after wavering hope, dread attended with suspense, and uncertain apprehensions of bereavement, the loss of their relatives became known to the unhappy inquirers, the groans of mourners, and the cries and sorrowful lamentations of unhappy mothers, were heard along the whole shore.

§ 19.3  In this state of things, the bereaved general came out of his ship, ungirt, and in a mean dress like that of a slave, at eight of whom the troops of mourners gathered into one body. He, lifting up his hands to heaven, sometimes bewailed his own lot, sometimes the misfortune of the state, and sometimes complained of 'the gods, who had deprived him of such honours obtained in the field, and the glory of so many victories, who, after he had taken so many cities, and had defeated the enemy by land and sea, had destroyed his victorious army, not by war, but by a pestilence. Yet he brought,' he said, 'this important consolation to his countrymen, that though the enemy might rejoice at their ill-success, they could assume no glory from it, as they could neither say that those who had died were slain by them, nor that those who had returned had been put to flight. That the plunder which they had taken in their deserted camp was not what they could exhibit as the spoils of a conquered enemy, but what they had seized, as falling to them for want of owners, through the accidental deaths of its possessors. That, as far as the enemy was concerned, they had come off conquerors; as to the pestilence, they were certainly conquered; but that, for himself, he took nothing more to heart than that he could not die among the brave, and was reserved, not to enjoy life, but to be the sport of calamity. However, as he had brought the wretched remains of his army to Carthage, he would follow his fellow soldiers, and prove to his country that he had not prolonged his life to that day because he was desirous to live, but that he might not desert by his death, and abandon to the army of the enemy, those whom the horrible disease had spared.' When he had walked, with such lamentations, through the city, and had arrived at the entrance to his own house, he dismissed the crowd that followed him, as if it were the last time that he should speak to them, and then, locking his door and admitting no one, not even his sons, to his presence, he put an end to his life.

§ 20.1  DIONYSIUS, after expelling the Carthaginians from Sicily, and making himself master of the whole island, thinking that peace might be dangerous to his power, and idleness in so great an army fatal to it, transported his forces into Italy; with a wish, at the same time, that the strength of his soldiers might be invigorated by constant employment, and his dominions enlarged. His first contest was with the Greeks, who occupied the nearest parts of the coast on the Italian sea; and, having conquered them, he attacked their neighbours, looking upon all of Grecian origin who were inhabitants of Italy, as his enemies; and these settlers had then spread, not merely through a part of Italy, but through almost the whole of it. Many Italian cities, indeed, after so long a lapse of time, still exhibit some traces of Greek manners; for the Etrurians, who occupy the shore of the Tuscan sea, came from Lydia; and Troy, after it was taken and overthrown, sent thither the Veneti (whom we see on the coast of the Adriatic), under the leadership of Antenor. Adria, too, which is near the Illyrian sea, and which gave name also to the Adriatic, is a Greek city; and Diomede, being driven by shipwreck, after the destruction of Troy, into those parts, built Arpi. Pisae, likewise, in Liguria, had Grecian founders; and Tarquinii, in Etruria, as well as Spina in Umbria, has its origin from the Thessalians; Perusia was founded by the Achaeans. Need I mention Caere? Or the people of Latium, who were settled by Aeneas? Are not the Falisci, are not Nola and Abella, colonies of the Chalcidians? What is all the country of Campania? What are the Bruttii and Sabines? What are the Samnites? What are the Tarentines, whom we understand to have come from Lacedaemon, and to have been called Spurii? The city of Thurii they say that Philoctetes built; and his monument is seen there to this day, as well as the arrows of Hercules, on which the fate of Troy depended, laid up in the temple of Apollo.

§ 20.2  The people of Metapontum, too, show in their temple of Minerva, the iron tools with which Epeus, by whom their city was founded, built the Trojan Horse. Hence all that part of Italy was called Greater Greece. But soon after they were settled, the Metapontines, joining with the Sybarites and Crotonians, formed a design to drive the rest of the Greeks from Italy. Capturing, in the first place, the city Siris, they slew, as they were storming it, fifty young men that were embracing the statue of Minerva, and the priest of the goddess dressed in his robes, between the very altars, suffering, on this account, from pestilence and civil discord, the Crotonians, first of all, consulted the oracle at Delphi, and answer was made to them, that 'there would be an end of their troubles, if they appeased the offended deity of Minerva, and the manes of the slain.' After they had begun, accordingly, to make statues of proper size for the young men, and especially for Minerva, the Metapontines, learning what the oracle was, and thinking it expedient to anticipate them in pacifying the manes of the goddess, erected to the young men smaller images of stone, and propitiated the goddess with offerings of bread. The plague was thus ended in both places, one people showing their zeal by their magnificence, and the other by their expedition. After they had recovered their health, the Crotonians were not long disposed to be quiet; and being indignant that, at the siege of Siris, assistance had been sent against them by the Locrians, they made war on that people. The Locrians, seized with alarm, had recourse to the Spartans, begging their assistance with humble entreaties. But the Spartans, disliking so distant an expedition, told them 'to ask assistance from Castor and Pollux.' This answer, from a city in alliance with them, the deputies did not despise, but going into the nearest temple, and offering sacrifice, they implored aid from those gods. The signs from the victims appearing favourable, and their request, as they supposed, being granted, they were no less rejoiced than if they were to carry the gods with them; and, spreading couches for them in the vessel, and setting out with happy omens, they brought their countrymen comfort though not assistance.

§ 20.3  This affair becoming known, the Crotonians themselves also sent deputies to the oracle at Delphi, asking the way to victory and a prosperous termination of the war. The answer given was, that 'the enemies must be conquered by vows, before they could be conquered by arms.' They accordingly vowed the tenth of the spoil to Apollo, but the Locrians, getting information of this vow, and the god's answer, vowed a ninth part, keeping the matter however secret, that they might not be outdone in vows. When they came into the field, therefore, and a hundred and twenty thousand Crotonians stood in arms against them, the Locrians, contemplating the smallness of their own force (for they had only fifteen thousand men), and abandoning all hope of victory, devoted themselves to certain death; and such courage, arising out of despair, was felt by each, that they thought they would be as conquerors, if they did not fall without avenging themselves. But while they sought only to die with honour, they had the good fortune to gain the victory; nor was there any other cause of their success but their desperation. While the Locrians were fighting, an eagle constantly attended on their army, and continued flying about them till they were conquerors. On the wings, also, were seen two young men fighting in armour different from that of the rest, of an extraordinary stature, on white horses and in scarlet cloaks; nor were they visible longer than the battle lasted. The incredible swiftness of the report of the battle made this wonderful appearance more remarkable; for on the same day on which it was fought in Italy, the victory was published at Corinth, Athens, and Lacedaemon.

§ 20.4  After this event the Crotonians ceased to exercise their valour, or to care for distinction in the field. They hated the arms which they had unsuccessfully taken up, and would have abandoned their former way of life for one of luxury, had not Pythagoras arisen among them. This philosopher was born at Samos, the son of Demaratus, a rich merchant, and after being greatly advanced in wisdom, went first to Egypt, and afterwards to Babylon, to learn the motions of the stars and study the origin of the universe, and acquired very great knowledge. Returning from thence, he went to Crete and Lacedaemon, to instruct himself in the laws of Minos and Lycurgus, which at that time were in high repute. Furnished with all these attainments, he came to Crotona, and, by his influence, recalled the people, when they were giving themselves up to luxury, to the observance of frugality. He used daily to recommend virtue, and to enumerate the ill effects of luxury, and the misfortunes of states that had been ruined by its pestilential influence; and he thus produced in the people such a love of temperance, that it was at length thought incredible that any of them should be extravagant. He frequently gave instruction to the women apart from the men, and to the children apart from their parents. He impressed on the female sex the observance of chastity, and submission to their husbands; on the rising generation, modesty and devotion to learning. Through his whole course of instruction he exhorted all to love temperance, as the mother of every virtue; and he produced such an effect upon them by the constancy of his lectures, that the women laid aside their vestments embroidered with gold, and other ornaments and distinctions, as instruments of luxury, and, bringing them into the temple of Juno, consecrated them to the goddess, declaring that modesty, and not fine apparel, was the true adornment of their sex. How much he gained upon the yoking men, his victory over the stubborn minds of the women may serve to indicate. Three hundred of the young men, however, being united by an oath of fraternity, and living apart from the other citizens, drew the attention of the city upon them, as if they met for some secret conspiracy; and the people, when they were all collected in one building, proceeded to burn them in it. In the tumult about sixty lost their lives; the rest went into exile.
Pythagoras, after living twenty years at Crotona, removed to Metapontum, where he died; and such was the admiration of the people for his character, that they made a temple of his house, and worshipped him as a god.

§ 20.5  Dionysius the tyrant, who, we have said, had transported an army from Sicily into Italy, and made war upon the Greeks there, proceeded, after taking Locri by storm, to attack the Crotonians, who, in consequence of their losses in the former war, were scarcely recovering their strength in a long peace. With their small force, however, they resisted the great army of Dionysius more valiantly than they had before, with so many thousands, resisted the smaller number of the Locrians. So much spirit has weakness in withstanding insolent power; and so much more sure, at times, is an unexpected than an expected victory. But as Dionysius was prosecuting the war, ambassadors from the Gauls, who had burned Rome some months before, came to him to desire an alliance and friendship with him; observing that 'their country lay in the midst of his enemies, and could be of great service to him, either by supporting him in the field, or by annoying his enemies in the rear when they were engaged with him.' The embassy was well received by Dionysius, who, having made an alliance with them, and being reinforced with assistance from Gaul, renewed the war as it were afresh.
The causes of the Gauls' coming into Italy, in quest of new settlements, were civil discords and perpetual contentions at home; and when, from impatience of those feuds, they had sought refuge in Italy, they expelled the Tuscans from their country, and founded Milan, Como, Brixia, Verona, Bergomum, Tridentum, and Vicetia. The Tuscans, too, when they were driven from their old settlements, betook themselves, under a captain named Rhaetus, towards the Alps, where they founded the nation of Rhaetia, so named from their leader.
An invasion of Sicily by the Carthaginians obliged Dionysius to return thither; for that people, having recruited their army, had resumed the war, which they had broken off in consequence of the plague, with increased spirit. The leader in the expedition was Hanno the Carthaginian, whose enemy Juniatus, the most powerful of the Carthaginians at that time, having, from hatred to him, given friendly notice to Dionysius, in a letter written in Greek, of the approach of the army and the inactivity of its leader, was found, through the letter being intercepted, guilty of treason; and a decree of the senate was made, 'that no Carthaginian should thenceforward study the Greek literature or language, so that no one might be able to speak with the enemy, or write to him, without an interpreter.' Not long after, Dionysius, whom a little before neither Sicily nor Italy could hold, being reduced and weakened by continual wars, was at last killed by a conspiracy among his own subjects.

§ 21.1  WHEN Dionysius the tyrant was cut off in Sicily, the army elected in his room Dionysius the eldest of his sons, both in accordance with the law of nature, and because they thought the power would be more secure, if it continued in the hands of one son, than if it were divided among several. Dionysius, at the commencement of his reign, was eager to remove the uncles of his brothers, as being his rivals in the government, and as having encouraged the young men to ask for a division of power. But concealing his inclinations for a while, he applied himself first to gain the favour of his subjects, as being likely to cause the atrocity, which he had resolved on committing, to be regarded with more indulgence, if he previously made himself popular. He therefore released three thousand prisoners from the gaols, remitted the people the taxes for three years, and sought the affection of all by whatever blandishments he could use. Then, proceeding to execute his determination, he put to death, not only the relatives of his brothers, but his brothers themselves; so that he left to those, to whom he owed a share of power, not even a share of life, and commenced cruelty upon his kindred before he exercised it upon strangers.

§ 21.2  When his rivals were removed, he fell into indolence, and contracted, from excessive indulgence at table, great corpulence of body, and a disease in his eyes, so that he could not bear the sunshine, or dust, or even the brightness of ordinary daylight. Suspecting that, for these weaknesses, he was despised by his subjects, he proceeded to inflict cruelties upon them; not filling the gaols, like his father, with prisoners, but the whole city with dead bodies. Hence he became not more, contemptible than hateful to every one. The Syracusans, in consequence, resolving to rebel against him, he long hesitated whether he should lay down the government or oppose them in arms; but he was compelled by the soldiery, who hoped for plunder from sacking the city, to march into the field. Being defeated, and trying his fortune again with no better success, he sent deputies to the people of Syracuse, with promises that 'he would resign the government, if they would send persons to him with whom he might settle terms of peace.' Some of the principal citizens being accordingly sent for that purpose, he put them in close confinement, and then, when all were off their guard, having no fear of hostilities, he despatched his army to devastate the city. A contest, in consequence, which was long doubtful, took place in the town itself, but the townsmen overpowering the soldiery by their numbers, Dionysius was obliged to retire, and fearing that he should be besieged in the citadel, fled away secretly, with all his king-like paraphernalia, to Italy. Being received, in his exile, by his allies the Locrians, he took possession of the citadel as if he were their rightful sovereign, and exercised his usual outrages upon them. He ordered the wives of the principal men to be seized and violated; he took away maidens on the point of marriage, polluted them, and then restored them to their betrothed husbands; and as for the wealthiest men, he either banished them or put them to death, and confiscated their property.

§ 21.3  In process of time, when a pretext for plunder was wanting, he over-reached the whole city by an artful stratagem. The Locrians, being harassed in war by Leophron the tyrant of Rhegium, had vowed, if they were victorious, to prostitute their maidens on the festal day of Venus; and as, on neglecting to perform the vow, they were unsuccessful in another war with the Lucanians, Dionysius called them to an assembly, and advised them 'to send their wives and daughters, as richly dressed as possible, to the temple of Venus; out of whom a hundred, chosen by lot, should fulfil the public vow, and, for religion's sake, offer themselves for prostitution during the space of a month, the men previously taking an oath not to touch any one of them; and, in order that this should be no detriment to the women who released the state from its vow, they should make a decree, that no other maiden should be married till these were provided with husbands.' This proposal, by which regard was shown both to their superstitious observances and to the honour of their virgins, being received with approbation, the whole of the women, in most expensive dresses, assembled in the temple of Venus, when Dionysius, sending in his soldiers, took off their finery, and made the ornaments of the matrons a spoil for himself. The husbands of some of them too, who were of the richer class, he put to death; others he tortured to make them discover their husbands' wealth. After reigning in this manner for six years, he was driven from Locri by a conspiracy of the people, and returned to Sicily; where, while all, after so long an interval of peace, were free from apprehension, he possessed himself of Syracuse by surprise.

§ 21.4  While this affair occurred in Sicily, Hanno, a leading man among the Carthaginians, in Africa, employed his power, which surpassed that of the government, to secure the sovereignty for himself, and endeavoured to establish himself as king by killing the senate. For the execution of this atrocity he fixed on the day of his daughter's marriage, in order that his nefarious plot might be the better concealed in the pomp of religious ceremonies. He accordingly prepared a banquet-for the common people in the public porticoes, and another for the senate in his own house, so that, by poisoning the cups, he might take off the senate privately and without witnesses, and then more easily seize the government, when none were left to prevent him. The plot being disclosed to the magistrates by his agents, his destructive intentions were frustrated, but not punished, lest the matter, if publicly known, should occasion more trouble, in the case of so powerful a man, than the mere design of it had caused. Satisfied, therefore, with putting a stop to it, they merely set bounds by a decree to the expenses of marriage entertainments, and ordered the decree to be obeyed, not by him alone, but universally, that nothing personal to him, but the general correction of an abuse, might seem to be intended. Prevented by this measure, he, for a second attempt, raised the slaves, and appointing another day for the massacre of the senate, but finding himself again betrayed, he threw himself, for fear of being brought to trial, into a strong fortress with a body of twenty thousand armed slaves. Here, while he was soliciting the Africans, and the king of the Moors, to join him, he was captured, and after being scourged, having his eyes put out, and his arms and legs broken, as if atonement was to be exacted from every limb, he was put to death in the sight of the people, and his body, mangled with stripes, was nailed to a cross. All his children and relations, too, though guiltless, were delivered to the executioner, that no member of so nefarious a family might survive either to imitate his villainy, or to revenge his death.

§ 21.5  Dionysius, in the meantime, being re-established in Syracuse, and becoming every day more oppressive and cruel to the people, was assailed by a new band of conspirators Laying down the government, therefore, he delivered up the city and army to the Syracusans, and, being allowed to take his private property with him, went to live in exile at Corinth; where, looking on the lowest station as the safest, he humbled himself to the very meanest condition of life. He was not content with strolling about the streets, but would even stand drinking in them; he was not satisfied with being seen in taverns and impure houses, but would sit in them for whole days. He would dispute with the most abandoned fellows about the merest trifles, walk about in rags and dirt, and afford laughter to others more readily than he would laugh at them. He would stand in the shambles, devouring with his eyes what he was not able to purchase; he would wrangle with the dealers before the aediles, and do everything in such a manner as to appear an object of contempt rather than of fear. At last he assumed the profession of a schoolmaster, and taught children in the open streets, either that he might continually be seen in public by those who feared him, or might be more readily despised by those who did not fear him; for though he had still plenty of the vices peculiar to tyrants, yet his present conduct was an affectation of vices, and not the effect of nature, and he adopted it rather from cunning than from having lost the self-respect becoming a sovereign, having experienced how odious the names of tyrants are, even when they are deprived of power. He strove, therefore, to diminish the odium incurred from his past by the contemptibleness of his present life, not looking to honourable but to safe practices. Yet amidst all these arts of dissimulation, he was accused of aspiring to the sovereignty, and was left at liberty only because he was despised.

§ 21.6  During these proceedings, the Carthaginians, alarmed at the rapid successes of Alexander the Great, and fearing that he might resolve to annex Africa to his Persian empire, sent Hamilcar, surnamed Rhodanus, a man remarkable for wit and eloquence beyond others, to sound his intentions; for, indeed, the capture of Tyre, their own parent city, and the founding of Alexandria, as a rival to Carthage, on the confines of Africa and Egypt, as well as the good fortune of the king, whose ambition and success seemed to know no limit, raised their apprehensions to an extreme height. Hamilcar, obtaining access to the king through the favour of Parmenio, represented himself to Alexander as having been banished from his country, and as having fled to him for refuge, offering, at the same time, to serve as a soldier in the expedition against Carthage. Having thus ascertained his views, he sent a full account of them to his countrymen, inscribed on wooden tablets, with blank wax spread over the writing. The Carthaginians, however, when he returned home after the death of Alexander, put him to death, not only ungratefully but cruelly, on pretence that he had offered to sell their city to the king.

§ 22.1  AGATHOCLES, tyrant of Sicily, who attained greatness equal to that of the elder Dionysius, rose to royal dignity from the lowest and meanest origin. He was born in Sicily, his father being a potter, and spent a youth not more honourable than his birth; for, being remarkable for beauty and gracefulness of person, he supported himself a considerable time by submitting to the infamous lust of others. When he had passed the years of puberty, ho transferred his services from men to women. Having thus become infamous with both sexes, he next changed his way of life for that of a robber. Some time after, having gone to Syracuse and been received as a citizen among the other inhabitants, he was long without credit, appearing to have as little of property to lose as he had of character to blacken. At last, enlisting in the army as a common soldier, he showed himself ready for every kind of audacity, his life being then not less distinguished by restlessness than it had previously been by infamy. He was noted for activity in the field, and for eloquence in making harangues. In a short time, accordingly, he became a centurion, and soon after a tribune. In his first campaign against the people of Aetna, he gave the Syracusans great proofs of what he could do; in the next, against the Campanians, he excited such hopes of himself throughout the army, that he was chosen to fill the place of the deceased general, Damascon, whose wife, after the death of her husband, he married, having previously had a criminal connection with her. And, not content that from being poor he was suddenly made rich, he engaged in piracy against his own country. He was saved from death by his companions, who, when apprehended and put to the torture, denied his guilt. Twice he attempted to make himself sovereign of Syracuse, and twice he was driven into exile.

§ 22.2  By the Murgantines, with whom he took refuge in his banishment, he was first, from hatred to the Syracusans, made praetor, and afterwards general-in-chief. In the war which he conducted for them, he both took the city of the Leontines, and proceeded to besiege his native city, Syracuse; when Hamilcar, general of the Carthaginians, being entreated to aid it, laid aside his hatred as an enemy, and sent a body of troops thither. Thus, at one and the same time, Syracuse was both defended by an enemy with the love of a citizen, and attacked by a citizen with the hatred of an enemy. But Agathocles, seeing that the city was defended with more vigour than it was assailed, entreated Hamilcar, through his deputies, to undertake the settlement of a peace between him and the Syracusans, promising him particular services in return for the favour. Hamilcar, induced by such hopes, and by dread of his power, made an alliance with him, on condition that whatever assistance he furnished Agathocles against the Syracusans, he himself should receive as much for the augmentation of his power at home. Not only peace, in consequence, was procured for Agathocles, but he was also appointed praetor at Syracuse; and he then swore to Hamilcar that he would be faithful to the Carthaginians, the [sacred] fires, at the same time, being set forth, and touched by him. Some time after, having received from Hamilcar five thousand African troops, he put to death the most powerful of the leading citizens; and then, as if intending to re-model the constitution, he ordered the people to be summoned to an assembly in the theatre, convoking the senate, in the meantime, in the Gymnasium, as though he designed to make some previous arrangements with them. His measures being thus taken, he sent his troops to surround the people, and caused the senate to be massacred, and, when he had finished the slaughter of them, cut off the richest and boldest of the commoners.

§ 22.3  These things being done, he made choice of troops, and embodied a regular army; with which he suddenly attacked several of the neighbouring cities when they were under no apprehension of hostilities. He also disgracefully harassed, with the connivance of Hamilcar, certain allies of the Carthaginians, who, in consequence, sent complaints to Carthage, not so much against Agathocles as against Hamilcar, accusing 'the former, indeed, as an oppressor and tyrant, but the latter as a traitor, by whom the possessions of their allies, under a settled compact, were betrayed to the bitterest of enemies; for as, at first, Syracuse (a city always hostile to the Carthaginians, and a competitor with Carthage for the dominion of Sicily) was delivered to Agathocles as a bond of union with Hamilcar, so, at the present time, the cities of the allies of Carthage were given up to the same tyrant under pretence of making peace. They warned them, therefore, that these proceedings would shortly come home to themselves, and that they would feel what mischief they had brought, not more upon Sicily than upon Africa itself.' At these complaints the senate was incensed against Hamilcar, but as he was in command of the army, they gave their votes concerning him secretly, and caused their several opinions, before they were openly read, to be put in an urn, and sealed up, until the other Hamilcar, the son of Gisco, should return from Sicily. But the death of Hamilcar prevented all effects from these subtle contrivances and suppressed judgments, and he, whom his fellow citizens had unjustly condemned unheard, was freed from danger of punishment by the kindness of destiny. The proceeding furnished Agathocles with a pretext for making war on the Carthaginians. His first engagement was with Hamilcar, the son of Gisco, by whom he was defeated, and retired to Syracuse to prepare himself for war with fresh vigour. But the result of his second encounter was the same as that of the first.

§ 22.4  The victorious Carthaginians, in consequence, having invested Syracuse with a close siege, Agathocles, perceiving that he was neither a match for them in the field, nor provided for enduring a blockade, and being deserted, moreover, by his allies, who were disgusted at his cruelties, resolved to transfer the war into Africa; a resolution formed with wonderful audacity, that he should make war on the city of a people for whom he was not a match in his own city; that he who could not defend his own country should invade that of others; and that one who had been conquered should brave his conquerors. Nor was the secrecy of his plan less striking than the contrivance of it. Stating merely to the people, that 'he had found out a way to victory, and that they had only to prepare their minds to endure a short siege, or that, if any of them were dissatisfied with their present circumstances, he gave them full liberty to depart,' he proceeded, after one thousand six hundred had left him, to furnish the rest with provisions and money for the necessities of a blockade, taking away with him only fifty talents for present use, and intending to get further supplies rather from his enemies than his friends. He then obliged all the slaves that were of age for war, after receiving their freedom, to take the military oath, and put them and the greater part of the soldiers, on ship-board, supposing that, as the condition of both was made equal, there would be a mutual emulation in bravery between them.

§ 22.5  In the seventh year of his reign, therefore, accompanied by his two grown-up sons, Archagathus and Heraclides, he directed his course towards Africa, not one of his men knowing whither he was sailing; but while they all supposed that they were going to Italy or Sardinia for plunder, he landed his army on the coast of Africa, and then for the first time made known his intentions to them all. He reminded them in what condition Syracuse was, 'for which there was no other remedy but that they should inflict on the enemy the distresses that they themselves were suffering. Wars,' he said, 'were conducted in one way at home and in another abroad; at home, a people's only support was what the resources of their country supplied; but abroad, the enemy might be beaten by their own strength, while their allies fell off, and from hatred of their long tyranny, looked about for foreign aid. To this was added, that the cities and fortresses of Africa were not secured with walls, or situate on eminences, but lay in level plains without any fortifications, and might all be induced, by the fear of destruction, to join in the war against Carthage. A greater war, in consequence, would blaze forth against the Carthaginians from Africa itself than from Sicily, as the forces of the whole region would combine against a city greater in name than in power, and he himself would thus gain from the country the strength which he had not brought into it. Nor would victory be only in a small degree promoted by the sudden terror of the Carthaginians, who, astonished at such daring on the part of their enemies, would be in utter consternation. Besides, there would be the burning of country houses, the plundering of fortresses and towns that offered resistance, and siege laid to Carthage itself; from all which disasters they would learn that wars were practicable not only for them against others, but for others against them. By these means the Carthaginians might not only be conquered, but Sicily might be delivered from them; for they would not continue to besiege Syracuse, when they were suffering from a siege of their own city. Nowhere else, therefore, could war be found more easy, or plunder more abundant, for, if Carthage were taken, all Africa and Sicily would be the prize of the victors. The glory, too, of so honourable an enterprise, would be so celebrated through all ages, that it could never be buried in oblivion; for it would be said that they were the only men in the world who had carried abroad against their enemies a war which they could not withstand at home; who, when defeated, had pursued their conquerors, and besieged the besiegers of their own city. They ought all accordingly, to prosecute, with equal courage and cheerfulness, an enterprise, than which none could offer them a more noble reward if they were victorious, or greater honour to their memory if they were conquered.'

§ 22.6  By these exhortations the courage of the soldiers was excited; but the superstitious influence of an omen had spread some dismay among them; for the sun had been eclipsed during their voyage. But with regard to this phenomenon Agathocles was at no less pains to satisfy them than he had been with regard to the war; alleging that, 'if it had happened before they set out, he should have thought it a portent unfavourable to their departure, but since it had occurred after they had set sail, its signification was directed against those to whom they were going. Besides,' he said, 'the eclipses of the heavenly bodies always presaged a change in the present state of things, and it was therefore certain that an alteration was foretold in the flourishing condition of the Carthaginians and in their own adverse circumstances.' Having thus pacified his soldiers, he ordered all the ships, with the consent of the army, to be set on fire, in order that, the means of flight being taken away, they might understand that they must either conquer or die.
While they were devastating the country wherever they went, and laying farm-houses and fortresses in ashes, Hanno advanced to meet them with thirty thousand Carthaginians. When they came to a battle, two thousand of the Sicilians, and three thousand of the Carthaginians, with their general himself, were left on the field. By this victory the spirits of the Sicilians were elated, and those of the Carthaginians depressed. Agathocles, taking advantage of his success, stormed several towns and forts, took a vast quantity of plunder, and killed many thousands of the enemy. He then pitched his camp at the distance of five miles from Carthage, that they might view from the walls of the city the destruction of their most valuable possessions, the devastation of their lands, and the burning of their houses. At the same time a great rumour of the destruction of the Carthaginian army, and of the capture of their cities, was spread through all Africa, and astonishment fell upon every one, wondering how so sudden a war could have surprised so great an empire, especially from an enemy already conquered. This wonder was gradually changed into a contempt for the Carthaginians; and not long after, not only the populace of Africa, but the most eminent cities, out of fondness for change, revolted to Agathocles, and furnished the victorious army with corn and money.

§ 22.7  To these disasters of the Carthaginians, and as if to crown their evil fortune, was added the destruction of their army and its general in Sicily. For after the departure of Agathocles from the island, the Carthaginians, prosecuting the siege of Syracuse with less vigour, were reported to have been utterly cut off by Antander, the brother of Agathocles. The fortune of the Carthaginians, therefore, being similar at home and abroad, not only their tributary towns, but even princes that were in alliance with them, began to fall off, estimating the obligations of confederacy not by the standard of honour but by that of fortune. Among these was Opheltas, king of Cyrene, who, grasping, with extravagant hopes, at the dominion of all Africa, made an alliance with Agathocles through ambassadors, arranging that, when the Carthaginians were subdued, the government of Sicily should fall to Agathocles, and that of Africa to himself. But when he came, accordingly, with a numerous army, to take a share in the war, Agathocles, after throwing him off his guard by the affability of his address and the abjectness of his flattery, and after they had supped together several times, and he had been adopted by Opheltas as a son, put him to death, and taking the command of his forces, defeated the Carthaginians, who were renewing the war with all their might, in a second great battle, but with much loss to both armies. At this result of the contest, such despair was felt by the Carthaginians, that, had not a mutiny occurred among the troops of Agathocles, Bomilcar, the Carthaginian general, would have gone over to him with his army. For this treachery he was nailed to a cross by the Carthaginians in the middle of the forum, that the place which had formerly been the distinguished scene of his honours might also bear testimony to his punishment. Bomilcar, however, bore the cruelty of his countrymen with such fortitude, that from his cross, as if he had been on a judgment-seat, he inveighed against the injustice of the Carthaginians, upbraiding them sometimes with 'having cut off Hanno, on a false charge of aspiring to sovereignty;' sometimes with 'having banished the innocent Gisco;' and. sometimes with 'having secretly condemned his uncle Hamilcar, merely because he wished to make Agathocles their ally rather than their enemy.' After uttering these charges with a loud voice, in a numerous assembly of the people, he expired.

§ 22.8  Agathocles, meanwhile, having overcome all opposition in Africa, left the command of his army to his son Archagathus, and went back to Sicily, thinking that all he had done in Africa was as nothing, if Syracuse was still to be besieged; for after the death of Hamilcar, the son of Gisco, a fresh army had been sent thither by the Carthaginians. Immediately on his arrival, all the cities of Sicily, having previously heard of his achievements in Africa, unanimously submitted to him; and being thus enabled to drive the Carthaginians from Sicily, he made himself master of the whole island. Returning afterwards to Africa, he was received by his army in a state of mutiny; for the discharge of their arrears of pay had been deferred by the son till the arrival of his father. Summoning them, therefore, to a general assembly, he proceeded to pacify them with soothing words, saying that 'pay was not to be asked of him, but to be taken from the enemy; that they must gain a common victory, and common spoil; and that they must continue to support him for a short time, till what remained of the war was finished, as they were certain that the capture of Carthage would satisfy all their desires.' The mutiny being thus allayed, he led the army, after an interval of some days, against the camp of the enemy, but commencing an engagement too rashly, lost the greater part of his force. Retreating to his camp, therefore, and finding the odium of his rash engagement affecting his character, and dreading, at the same time, a revival of the former murmurs at his failure in paying the arrears, he fled from his camp at midnight, attended only by his son Archagathus. When the soldiers heard of his departure, they were in no less consternation than if they had been captured by the enemy, exclaiming that 'they had been twice deserted by their leader in the midst of the enemy's country, and that the care of their lives had been abandoned by him by whom not even their burial should have been neglected.' As they were going to pursue Agathocles, they were met by some Numidians, and returned to the camp, but not without having seized and brought back Archagathus, who, through mistaking his way in the night, had been separated from his father. Agathocles, with the ships in which he had returned from Sicily, and the men that he had left to guard them, arrived safe at Syracuse; affording a signal instance of dishonourable conduct, a prince deserting his army, and a father abandoning his children.
In Africa, meanwhile, after the flight of Agathocles, his soldiers, making a capitulation with the enemy, and putting to death the sons of Agathocles, surrendered themselves to the Carthaginians. Archagathus, when he was going to be killed by Arcesilaus, a former friend of his father, asked him 'what he thought Agathocles would do to the children of him by whom he was rendered childless?' Arcesilaus replied, that 'he felt no concern, since he knew that his children would certainly survive those of Agathocles.' Some time after, the Carthaginians sent new commanders into Sicily, to terminate what remained of the war there, and Agathocles made peace with them on equal terms.

§ 23.1  AGATHOCLES, sovereign of Sicily, having concluded a peace with the Carthaginians, reduced, by force of arms, a part of the cities which, presuming upon their strength, had thrown off their allegiance to him. Then, as if he were confined within too narrow limits in an island (a part of the dominion of which, even when he first began to rise, he could scarcely have hoped to obtain), he proceeded, after the example of Dionysius, who had subdued many cities of Italy, to cross, over into that country. His first enemies there were the Bruttii, who, at that period, seem to have been the bravest and most powerful people of the country, and to have been extremely ready to attack their neighbours; for they had driven the inhabitants of many of the Greek cities from Italy, and had conquered in war the Lucanians their founders, and made peace with them on equal terms; such being the fierceness of their nature, that they had no respect even for those to whom they owed their origin.
The Lucanians were accustomed to breed up their children with the same kind of education as the Spartans; for, from their earliest boyhood, they were kept in the wilds among the shepherds, without any slaves to attend them, and even without clothes to wear or to sleep upon, that, from their first years, they might be accustomed to hardiness and spare diet, having no intercourse with the city. Their food was what they took in hunting, and their drink milk or water. Thus were they prepared for the toils of war.
Fifty of these people, who, at first, used to plunder the lands of their neighbours, but who, as numbers flocked to join them, increased in strength, and were tempted by hopes of greater booty, disturbed the whole of the neighbouring country; and Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, being wearied with complaints from his allies, had sent six hundred Africans to put a stop to their ravages. But the marauders, having seized a fort which the Africans had built, and which was betrayed into their hands by a woman named Bruttia, proceeded to build a city there for the shepherds, who, at the report of a new settlement, came in numbers to join them; and, from the name of the woman, they called themselves Bruttii.
Their first war was with the Lucanians, from whom they sprung. Encouraged by a victory over them, and making peace on equal terms, they subdued the rest of their neighbours by force of arms, and acquired, in a short time, such extraordinary strength, that they were thought formidable even by princes. After some time, Alexander, king of Epirus, coming into Italy with a great army to the aid of the Greek cities, was cut off by them with all his force; and their natural fierceness, increased by this success, was for a long time terrible to all around them. At last Agathocles, being importuned to come over, set sail, with the hope of enlarging his dominions, from Sicily to Italy.

§ 23.2  At the first news of his arrival, the Bruttii, alarmed at his name, sent ambassadors to solicit alliance and friendship with him. Agathocles, inviting them to an entertainment, that they might not see his army shipped over, and appointing the next day for giving them audience, went off immediately after the banquet in a vessel, and left them in the lurch. But what followed this deceit was unhappy for him; for the violence of a disease which he contracted obliged him a few days after to return to Sicily. Being affected by the distemper through his whole body, and a pestilential humour spreading through all his nerves and joints, he was tormented, as it were, by an intestine war among all his members. As his life was despaired of, a contention arose between his son and grandson, each claiming the right of succession to his power as if he were already dead; and the grandson, after killing the son, got possession of the supreme dignity. Agathocles, therefore, when the pain of his disease and his anxiety of mind were grown intolerable, the one being increased by the severity of the other, resolved on embarking his wife Texena, and two infant sons that he had by her, with all his treasure, and servants, and regal furniture (in which no king at that time was richer), and sending her back to Egypt, from whence he had received her, fearing that they would find the usurper of his power their enemy. His wife, however, long entreated that she might not be separated from her sick husband, that the affliction of her departure might not be added to the atrocities of his grandson, and that she might not be made to appear as cruel in forsaking her husband as he in attacking his grandfather; saying that, 'by marrying him, she not only engaged to share his good fortune, but all his fortune; nor would she unwillingly purchase, with the hazard of her own life, the privilege of receiving her husband's last breath, and of performing, with all the care of conjugal duty and affection, the last offices at his funeral, which, when she was gone, no one would take upon himself to discharge.' The little children, at parting, embraced and clung to their father with doleful lamentations; while the wife, who was to see her husband no more, could not desist from kissing him. Nor were the tears of the old man less moving; the children wept for their dying father, the father for his banished children. They bewailed the forlorn condition of their parent, a sick old man; he lamented that his offspring, born to the prospect, of a throne, should be left in want. At the same time the whole palace resounded with the cries of those who were witnesses to so cruel a separation. The necessity for departure, however, at length put a stop to their weeping, and the death of the prince followed the leave-taking of his children.
During these occurrences, the Carthaginians, learning the state of affairs in Sicily, and thinking that an opportunity was afforded them of securing the whole island, crossed over to it with a great force, and reduced several cities.

§ 23.3  At this time, too, Pyrrhus was engaged in a war with the Romans, and, being entreated by the Sicilians, as has been said, to come to their assistance, and crossing, in consequence, over to Syracuse, and taking several cities, received the title of king of Sicily as well as of Epirus. Elated by this success, he destined for his son Helenus the kingdom of Sicily, as an inheritance from his grandfather (for he was the son of Agathocles's daughter), and to Alexander that of Italy. He then fought many successful battles with the Carthaginians; but, after a time, ambassadors came to him from his Italian allies, announcing that 'they could no longer withstand the Romans, and that, unless he gave them assistance, they must submit.' Alarmed at this danger from another quarter, and uncertain what to do, or whither first to direct his efforts, he took time, while he was in suspense between the two, for consideration. As the Carthaginians threatened him on one side, and the Romans on the other, it seemed hazardous not to transport a force into Italy, and more hazardous to withdraw troops from Sicily, lest the one should be lost by not receiving assistance, or the other by being deserted. In this conflict of perils, the safer determination seemed to be, to bring the struggle to an end, by exerting his utmost strength in Sicily, and then, after having subdued the Carthaginians, to carry his victorious army into Italy. He therefore fought a battle; but, though he had the advantage, yet, as he quitted Sicily, he seemed to flee as one defeated; and his allies, in consequence, revolted from him, and he lost his dominion in Sicily as speedily and easily as he had obtained it.
Experiencing no better success in Italy, he returned to Epirus. His fortune, indeed, good and bad, was wonderful for the examples which it gave of both. For as, at first, his good fortune, when his attempts succeeded even beyond his wishes, had procured him empire in Italy and Sicily, and so many victories over the Romans; so now his adverse fortune, overthrowing all that he had raised, as if to afford an illustration of human instability, added to his failure in Sicily the destruction of his fleet at sea, loss of honour in a battle with the Romans, and an ignominious retreat out of Italy.

§ 23.4  When Pyrrhus had withdrawn from Sicily, Hiero was made governor of it; and such was the prudence he displayed in his office, that, by the unanimous consent of all the cities, he was first made general against the Carthaginians, and soon after king. The fortune of Hiero, in his infancy, had been as it were a presage of his future dignity. He was the son of Hierocles, a man of high rank, whose descent was traced from Gelo an ancient prince of Sicily. His extraction on the mother's side, however, was so mean as to be even dishonourable; for he was the child of a female slave, and was in consequence exposed by his father as a disgrace to his family. But, when he was thus left destitute of human aid, bees for several days fed him with honey, which was heaped round him as he lay. Hence his father, admonished by a communication from the soothsayers, who signified that sovereign power was foreboded to the infant, took him home again, and brought him up most carefully with the hope that he would attain the promised honour. As he was learning his lesson at school, too, among his equals in age, a wolf, that suddenly appeared in the midst of the boys, snatched from him his book. And when he was grown up, and commencing his first campaign, an eagle settled on his shield, and an owl upon his spear; a prodigy which indicated that he would be prudent in counsel, active in the field, and a king. He fought frequently, moreover, with persons that challenged him, and always gained the victory; and he was presented by king Pyrrhus with many military gifts. The handsomeness of his person was remarkable, and his bodily strength wonderful. He was affable in his address, just in his dealings, moderate in command; so that nothing kingly seemed wanting to him but a kingdom.

§ 24.1  DURING the course of these proceedings in Sicily, the kings, Ptolemy Ceraunus and Antigonus, quarrelling and going to war with one another in Greece, almost all the cities of that country, under the Spartans as leaders, encouraged as it were by the opportunity thus offered to entertain hopes of recovering their liberty, and sending to each other ambassadors by whom leagues might be formed to unite them, broke out into hostilities; and, that they might not seem to commence war with Antigonus, under whose dominion they were, they attacked his allies the Aetolians, making it a pretext for war with them, that they had taken possession of the Cirrhaean plain, which by the unanimous consent of Greece had been dedicated to Apollo. For their general in this war they selected Areus, who, drawing together an army, laid waste the towns and corn-fields lying in the plain, and burnt whatever he was unable to carry off. When the shepherds of the Aetolians beheld this destruction from their mountains, about five hundred of them assembling together, attacked the enemy as they were dispersed, and knew not what was the number of their assailants (for the sudden alarm, and the smoke of the fires, prevented them from ascertaining), and having killed about nine thousand of the depredators, put the rest to flight. And when the Spartans afterwards renewed the war, many of the states refused them their support, thinking that they sought dominion for themselves, and not liberty for Greece.
In the meantime the war between the princes that contended for the throne of Macedonia was concluded, for Ptolemy, having routed Antigonus and made himself master of the whole country, arranged a peace with Antiochus, and contracted an affinity with Pyrrhus by giving him his daughter in marriage.

§ 24.2  Having thus freed himself from the fear of foreign enemies, he turned his impious and unprincipled mind to the perpetration of wickedness at home, and contrived a plot against his sister Arsinoe, to deprive her sons of life, and herself of the possession of the city of Cassandrea. His first stratagem was to pretend love to his sister, and to seek her hand in marriage, for he was unable to come at his sister's sons, whose throne he had usurped, otherwise than by counterfeiting affection for their mother. But the criminal intentions of Ptolemy were understood by his sister. As she expressed distrust of him, therefore, he assured her that 'he wished to share the kingdom with her children, against whom he had not taken arms because he wished to wrest the kingdom from them, but that he might have it in his power to present them with a por.tion of it. She might therefore send a person to receive an oath from him, in whose presence he would bind himself, before the gods of their country, by whatever execrations she pleased.' Arsinoe, not knowing what to do, was afraid that if she sent any one, she would be deceived by a false oath, and that, if she did not send, she would provoke her brother's fury and cruelty. Fearing, therefore, less for herself than her children, whom she thought she might protect by the marriage, she sent Dion, one of her friends, to him. Ptolemy, after conducting him into the most sacred temple of Jupiter, held in high veneration from of old among the Macedonians, took hold of the altar, and, touching the images and couches of the gods, vowed, with unheard-of and most solemn imprecations, that 'he sought a marriage with his sister in true sincerity, and that he would give her the title of Queen, nor would, to her dishonour, have any other wife, or any other children than her sons.' Arsinoe, being thus filled with hope, and relieved from apprehensions, held a conference with her brother in person, and as his looks and flattering glances promised no less sincerity than his oath, she agreed to marry him, though her son Lysimachus exclaimed that 'there was treachery at the bottom.'

§ 24.3  The nuptials were celebrated with great magnificence and general rejoicings. Ptolemy, before the assembled army, placed a diadem on his sister's head, and saluted her with the title of Queen. Arsinoe, overjoyed at the name, as having regained what she had lost by the death of Lysimachus her former husband, invited Ptolemy to her city Cassandrea; to get possession of which city the plot was laid. Going thither before her husband, she appointed a festival in the city against his arrival, ordering the houses, temples, and all other places, to be magnificently decorated, altars and victims to be everywhere kept in readiness, and her sons, Lysimachus who was sixteen years old, and Philip three years younger, both remarkable for their comeliness, to go to meet him with crowns on their heads. Ptolemy, to conceal his treachery, caressing them with eagerness, and beyond the warmth of real affection, persisted for a long time in kissing them. But as soon as he arrived at the gate, he ordered the citadel to be seized, and the boys to be slain. They, fleeing to their mother, were slain upon her lap, as she was embracing them; while Arsinoe exclaimed, 'What monstrous crime had she committed, either in marrying or since her marriage?' She several times offered herself to the assassins in the room of her children, and, embracing them, covered their bodies with her own, endeavouring to receive the wounds intended for them. At last, deprived even of the dead bodies of her sons, she was dragged out of the city, with her garments torn and her hair dishevelled, and with only two attendants, and went to live in exile in Samothracia; sorrowing the more, that she was not allowed to die with her children. But the crimes of Ptolemy were not unpunished; for soon after (the immortal gods inflicting vengeance on him for so many perjuries, and such cruel murders), he was driven from his throne and taken prisoner by the Gauls, and lost his life, as he had merited, by the sword.

§ 24.4  The Gauls, when the land that had produced them was unable, from their excessive increase of population, to contain them, sent out three hundred thousand men, as a sacred spring, to seek new settlements. Of these adventurers part settled in Italy, and took and burnt the city of Rome; and part penetrated into the remotest parts of Illyricum under the direction of a flight of birds (for the Gauls are skilled in augury beyond other nations), making their way amidst great slaughter of the barbarous tribes, and fixed their abode in Pannonia. They were a savage, bold, and warlike nation, and were the first after Hercules (to whom that undertaking procured great admiration for his valour, and a belief in his immortality), to pass the unconquered heights of the Alps, and places uninhabitable from excess of cold. After having subdued the Pannonians, they carried on various wars with their neighbours for many years. Success encouraging them, they betook themselves, in separate bands, some to Greece, and some to Macedonia, laying waste all before them with the sword. Such indeed was the terror of the Gallic name, that even kings, before they were attacked, purchased peace from them with large sums of money. Ptolemy alone, the king of Macedonia, heard of the approach of the Gauls without alarm, and, hurried on by the madness that distracted him for his unnatural crimes, went out to meet them with a few undisciplined troops, as if wars could be despatched with as little difficulty as murders. An embassy from the Dardanians, offering him twenty thousand armed men for his assistance, he spurned, adding insulting language, and saying that 'the Macedonians were in a sad condition, if, after having subdued the whole east without assistance, they now required aid from the Dardanians to defend their country; and that he had for soldiers the sons of those who had served under Alexander the Great, and had been victorious throughout the world.' This answer being repeated to the Dardanian prince, he observed that 'the famous kingdom of Macedonia would soon fall a sacrifice to the rashness of a raw youth.'

§ 24.5  The Gauls, under the command of Belgius, sent deputies to Ptolemy to sound the disposition of the Macedonians, offering him peace if he liked to purchase it; but Ptolemy boasted to his courtiers that the Gauls sued for peace from fear of war. Nor was his manner less vaunting before the ambassadors than before his own adherents, saying that 'he would grant peace only on condition that they would give their chiefs as hostages, and deliver up their arms; for he would put no trust in them until they were disarmed.' The deputies bringing back this answer, the Gauls laughed, and exclaimed throughout their camp, that 'he would soon see whether they had offered peace from regard for themselves or for him.' Some days after a battle was fought, and the Macedonians were defeated and cut to pieces. Ptolemy, after receiving several wounds, was taken, and his head, cut off and stuck on a lance, was carried round the whole army to strike terror into the enemy. Flight saved a few of the Macedonians; the rest were either taken or slain.
When the news of this event was spread through all Macedonia, the gates of the city were shut, and all places filled with mourning. Sometimes they lamented their bereavement, from the loss of their children; sometimes they were seized with dread, lest their cities should be destroyed; and at other times they called on the names of their kings, Alexander and Philip, as deities, to protect them; saying that 'under them they were not only secure, but conquerors of the world;' and begging that they would guard their country, whose fame they had raised to heaven by the glory of their exploits, and give assistance to the afflicted, whom the insanity and rashness of Ptolemy had ruined.' While all were thus in despair, Sosthenes, one of the Macedonian chiefs, thinking that nothing would be effected by prayers, assembled such as were of age for war, repulsed the Gauls in the midst of their exultation at their victory, and saved Macedonia from devastation. For these great services, he, though of humble extraction, was chosen before many nobles that aspired to the throne of Macedonia. But though he was saluted as king by the army, he made the soldiers take an oath to him, not as king, but as general.

§ 24.6  In the meantime Brennus, under whose command a part of the Gauls had made an irruption into Greece, having heard of the success of their countrymen, who, under the leadership of Belgius, had defeated the Macedonians, and being indignant that so rich a booty, consisting of the spoils of the east, had been so lightly abandoned, assembled an army of a hundred and fifty thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse, and suddenly invaded Macedonia. As he was laying waste the fields and villages, Sosthenes met him with his army of Macedonians in full array, but being few in number, and in some consternation, they were easily overcome by the more numerous and powerful Gauls; and the defeated Macedonians retiring within the walls of their cities, the victorius Brennus, meeting with no opposition, ravaged the lands throughout the whole of Macedonia. Soon after, as if the spoils of mortals were too mean for him, he turned his thoughts to the temples of the immortal gods, saying, with a profane jest, that 'the gods, being rich, ought to be liberal to men.' He suddenly, therefore, directed his march towards Delphi, regarding plunder more than religion, and caring for gold more than for the wrath of the deities, 'who,' he said, 'stood in no need of riches, as being accustomed rather to bestow them on mortals.'
The temple of Apollo at Delphi is situate on Mount Parnassus, on a rock steep on all sides. A concourse of people, who, collecting from the parts around, through veneration for the majesty of the god, settled on the rock, formed a city there. Thus, not walls, but precipices, not defences formed by the hand, but by nature, protect the temple and the city; so that it is utterly uncertain whether the strength of the place, or the influence of the deity residing in it, attracts more admiration. The central part of the rock falls back in the shape of an amphitheatre; and, in consequence, if ever shouts are raised, or if the noise of trumpets is mingled with them, the sound, from the rocks echoing and re-echoing to one another, is heard many times repeated, and louder than it was made at first. This effect, on those who are ignorant of its cause, and are struck with wonder at it, produces a greater awe of the power of the god. In the winding of the rock, about half way up the hill; there is a small plain, and in it a deep fissure in the ground, which is open for giving oracles; for a cold exhalation, driven upwards by some force, as it were by a wind, produces in the minds of the priestesses a certain madness, and compels them, filled with the influence of the god, to give answers to such as consult them. Hence many rich presents of kings and nations are to be seen there, which, by their magnificence, testify the grateful feelings of those that have paid their vows, and their belief in the oracles given by the deity.

§ 24.7  Brennus, when he came within sight of the temple, deliberated for some time, whether he should at once make an attempt upon it, or should allow his soldiers, wearied with their march, a night to refresh themselves. Two of the captains, Emanus and Thessalorus, who had joined him for a share in the booty, advised that 'no delay should be made,' while the enemy were unprovided for defence, and the alarm at their coming still fresh; that in the interval of a night, the courage of the enemy would perhaps revive, and assistance come to them; and that the approaches, which were now open, might be blocked up.' But the common soldiers, when, after a long endurance of scarcity, they found a country abounding with wine and other provisions, had dispersed themselves over the fields, rejoicing as much at the plenty as if they had gained a victory, and leaving their standards deserted, wandered about to seize on everything like conquerors. This conduct gave some respite to the Delphians. At the first report that the Gauls were approaching, the country people are said to have been prohibited by the oracle from carrying away their corn and wine from their houses. The salutariness of this prohibition was not understood, until, through this abundance of wine and other provisions being thrown in the way of the Gauls, as a stop to their progress, reinforcements from their neighbours had time to collect. The Delphians, accordingly, supported by the strength of their allies, secured their city before the Gauls, who clung to the wine-skins, on which they had seized, could be recalled to their standards. Brennus had sixty-five thousand infantry, selected from his whole army; of the Delphians there were not more than four thousand; in utter contempt of whom, Brennus, to rouse the courage of his men, pointed to the vast quantity of spoil before them, declaring that the statues, and four-horse chariots, of which a great number were visible at a distance, were made of solid gold, and would prove greater prizes when they came to be weighed than they were in appearance.

§ 24.8  The Gauls, animated by these assertions, and disordered, at the same time, with the wine which they had drunk the day before, rushed to battle without any fear of danger. The Delphians, on the other hand, placing more confidence in the god than in their own strength, resisted the enemy with contempt, and, from the top of the hill, repelled the Gauls as they climbed up, partly with pieces of rock, and partly with their weapons. Amidst this contest between the two, the priests of all the temples, as well as the priestesses themselves, with their hair loose, and with their decorations and fillets, rushed, trembling and frantic, into the front ranks of the combatants, exclaiming that 'the god was come; that they had seen him leap down into his temple through the opening roof; that, while they were all humbly imploring aid of the deity, a youth of extraordinary beauty, far above that of mortals, and two armed virgins, coming from the neighbouring temples of Diana and Minerva, met them; that they had not only perceived them with their eyes, but had heard also the sound of a bow and the rattling of arms;' and they therefore conjured them with the strongest entreaties, 'not to delay, when the gods were leading them on, to spread slaughter among the enemy, and to share the victory with the powers of heaven.' Incited by these exhortations, they all rushed eagerly to the field of battle, where they themselves also soon perceived the presence of the divinity; for a part of the mountain, broken off by an earthquake, overwhelmed a host of the Gauls, and some of the densest bodies of the enemy were scattered abroad, not without wounds, and fell to the earth. A tempest then followed, which destroyed, with hail and cold, those that were suffering from bodily injuries. The general Brennus himself, unable to endure the pain of his wounds, ended his life with his dagger. The other general, after punishing the advisers of the war, made off from Greece with all expedition, accompanied with ten thousand wounded men. But neither was fortune more favourable to those who fled; for in their terror, they passed no night under shelter, and no day without hardship and danger; and continual rains, snow congealed by the frost, famine, fatigue, and, what was the greatest evil, the constant want of sleep, consumed the wretched remains of the unfortunate army. The nations and people too, through whom they marched, pursued their stragglers, as if to spoil them. Hence it happened that, of so great an army, which a little before, presuming on its strength, contended even against the gods, not a man was left to be a memorial of its destruction.

§ 25.1  AFTER peace was made between the two kings, Antigonus and Antiochus, a new enemy suddenly started up against Antigonus as he was returning to Macedonia. The Gauls, who had been left behind by their general Brennus, when he marched into Greece, to defend the borders of their country, armed fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse (that they alone might not seem idle), and having routed the forces of the Getae and Triballi, and preparing to invade Macedonia, sent ambassadors to Antigonus to offer him peace if he would pay for it, and to play the part of spies, at the same time, in his camp. Antigonus, with royal munificence, invited them to a banquet, and entertained them with a sumptuous display of luxuries. But the Gauls were so struck with the vast quantity of gold and silver set before them, and so tempted with the richness of such a spoil, that they returned more inclined to war than they had come. The king had also ordered his elephants to be shown them, as monsters unknown to those barbarians, and his ships laden with stores to be displayed; little thinking that he was thus exciting the cupidity of those to seize his treasures, whom he sought to strike with terror by the ostentation of his strength. The ambassadors, returning to their countrymen, and exaggerating every thing excessively, set forth at once the wealth and unsuspiciousness of the king; saying that 'his camp was filled with gold and silver, but secured neither by rampart nor trench, and that the Macedonians, as if they had sufficient protection in their wealth, neglected all military duties, apparently thinking that, as they had plenty of gold, they had no use for steel.'

§ 25.2  By this statement, the desires of a covetous people were sufficiently stimulated to take possession of such spoil. The example of Belgius, too, had its influence with them, who, a little before, had cut to pieces the army of the Macedonians and their king. Being all of one mind, therefore, they attacked the king's camp by night; but he, foreseeing the storm that threatened him, had given notice to his soldiers to remove all their baggage, and to conceal themselves noiselessly in a neighbouring wood; and the camp was only saved because it was deserted. The Gauls, when they found it destitute not only of defenders, but of sentinels, suspecting that there was not a flight, but some stratagem on the part of the enemy, were for some time afraid to enter the gates. At last, leaving the defences entire and untouched, and more like men come to explore than to plunder, they took possession of the camp; and then, carrying off what they found, they directed their course towards the coast. Here, as they were incautiously plundering the vessels, and fearing no attack, they were cut down by the sailors, and a part of the army that had fled thither with their wives and children; and such was the slaughter among them that the report of this victory procured Antigonus peace, not only from the Gauls, but from his other barbarous neighbours.
The nation of the Gauls, however, was at that time so prolific, that they filled all Asia as with one swarm. The kings of the east then carried on no wars without a mercenary army of Gauls; nor, if they were driven from their thrones, did they seek protection with any other people than the Gauls. Such indeed was the terror of the Gallic name, and the unvaried good fortune of their arms, that princes thought they could neither maintain their power in security, nor recover it if lost, without the assistance of Gallic valour. Hence, being called by the king of Bithynia to his aid, and having gained him the victory over his enemies, they shared his kingdom with him, and called their part of it Gallograecia.

§ 25.3  During these transactions in Asia, Pyrrhus, having been defeated by the Carthaginians in a sea-fight on the coast of Sicily, sent ambassadors to Antigonus king of Macedonia, to ask for a supply of troops, saying that, 'unless he sent him some, he should be obliged to return to his kingdom, and to seek that enlargement of his dominions from him, which he had wished to gain from the Romans.' The ambassadors bringing word that his request was refused, he pretended to be suddenly obliged to depart, but concealed his reasons for doing so. Meanwhile he directed his allies to prepare for war, and committed the citadel of Tarentum to the guardianship of his son Helenus and his friend Milo. Returning to Epirus, he immediately invaded Macedonia; Antigonus met him with an army, but was defeated in battle, and put to flight. Pyrrhus then allowed the Macedonians to surrender on terms; and as if, by the acquisition of Macedonia, he had made up for his loss of Sicily and Italy, he sent for his son and his friend, whom he had left at Tarentum. Antigonus, divesting himself at once of all the marks of royalty, repaired with a few horsemen, that attended him in his flight, to Thessalonica, there to watch what would follow on the loss of his throne, and to renew the war with a hired army of Gauls. But being utterly defeated, a second time, by Ptolemy the son of Pyrrhus, he fled with only seven followers, and no longer indulged hopes of recovering his kingdom, but sought only hiding places for safety and solitary ways for flight.

§ 25.4  Pyrrhus, being raised to such a height of royal power, and not content with what had once been the object of his wishes, began to contemplate the subjugation of Greece and Asia. He had no greater delight in ruling than in warfare; nor was any power able to withstand him, wheresoever he directed his attack. But irresistible as he was deemed in conquering kingdoms, he also easily lost those which he subdued and acquired, so much better did he manage to gain dominion than to keep it.
Having led his army into the Peloponnesus, he was met by embassies from the Athenians, Achaeans, and Messenians; and all Greece, indeed, struck with admiration at his name, and at the glory of his achievements against the Romans and Carthaginians, was eagerly looking for his arrival. His first contest was with the Spartans, in which, being resisted with greater spirit by the women than by the men, he lost his son Ptolemy and the flower of his army; for, when he proceeded to attack the city, such a number of women assembled to defend their birth-place, that he retreated, overcome not more by bravery on their part than by shame on his own.
As for his son Ptolemy, he is said to have been so brave and enterprising that he took the city of Corcyra with only sixty men. In a naval engagement, too, he is reported to have leaped from a boat, with seven men, into a fifty-oared galley, and to have taken and kept possession of it. At the attack on Sparta he rode into the very middle of the city, and was there slain in a crowd that gathered around him. When his body was carried to his father, he exclaimed, it is said, 'that he had not been killed so soon as he had feared, or his own rashness deserved.'

§ 25.5  Pyrrhus, on being repulsed by the Spartans, marched to Argos, where, while he was endeavouring to capture Antigonus, who was shut up in the city, and was fighting furiously among the thickest of the assailants, he was struck with a stone from the walls, and killed. His head was carried to Antigonus, who, using his victory with moderation, sent back his son Helenus, who surrendered to him with several Epirots, into his own country, and gave him the bones of his father, not having yet received the rites of burial, to carry home with him.
It is pretty generally stated by authors, that no king, either of that or the former age, was to be compared to Pyrrhus; and that there has seldom been seen, either among princes, or other illustrious men, a man of more upright life or of stricter justice; and that he had such knowledge of the military art, that though he fought against such great princes as Lysimachus, Demetrius, and Antigonus, he was never conquered. In his wars too with the Illyrians, Sicilians, Romans, and Carthaginians, he never came off inferior, but generally victorious; and he rendered his country, which was before but mean and obscure, renowned throughout the world by the fame of his exploits and the glory of his name.

§ 26.1  AFTER the death of Pyrrhus, there were great warlike commotions, not only in Macedonia, but in Asia and Greece; for the Peloponnesians were betrayed into the power of Antigonus; and while partly concern, partly exultation, prevailed variously among the inhabitants, as any city had either expected aid from Pyrrhus or conceived apprehensions of him, they either entered into alliance with Antigonus, or, impelled by mutual animosity, plunged into hostilities with one another Amidst these tumults in the disturbed provinces, the sovereignty over the city of the Epeans was usurped by an eminent man named Aristotimus; and when many of the leading persons had been slain by him, and more driven into banishment, and the Aetolians sent ambassadors to ask him 'to give up the wives and children of the exiles,' he at first refused, but afterwards, as if relenting, he gave all the married women leave to go to their husbands, and fixed a day for their departure. They, as being about to spend their lives in banishment with their husbands, were going to carry all their most valuable property with them; but, when they assembled at one of the gates of the city, intending to go forth in a body, they were despoiled of all that they had, and confined in the public prison, the infants having been first killed in the arms of their mothers, and the young women carried off for violation. The people being all amazed at such cruel tyranny, Hellanicus, the chief of them, an old man and without children, and consequently having no fear either for life or offspring, assembled the most faithful of his friends in his house, and encouraged them to attempt the delivery of their country. But as they hesitated to remove a public evil at their own private risk, and demanded time for deliberation, Hellanicus, calling for his attendants, ordered the doors to be locked, and a message to be carried to the tyrant, requesting him 'to send officers to seize a band of conspirators in Hellanicus's house;' and he told all of them, with reproaches, that 'since he could not be the deliverer of his country, he would at least take revenge for the abandonment of its cause.' Being thus placed between two perils, they chose the more honourable course, and conspired to kill the tyrant; and thus Aristotimus was cut off in the fifth month after he had usurped the government.

§ 26.2  In the meantime Antigonus, being harassed with wars, of varied aspect, from the Spartans and King Ptolemy, and perceiving that a new enemy, an army from Gallograecia, was coming upon him, left a few troops as a semblance of a camp, to amuse his other assailants, and proceeded with all the rest of his force against the Gauls; who, becoming aware of his approach, as they were preparing for battle, sacrificed victims to take presages for the event; and as, from the entrails, great slaughter and destruction of them all was portended, they were moved, not to fear, but to fury, and thinking that the anger of the gods might be appeased by the slaughter of their kindred, butchered their wives and children, commencing hostilities with the murder of their own people; for such rage had possessed their savage breasts, that they did not spare even that tender age which an enemy would have spared, but made deadly war on their own children and their children's mothers, in defence of whom wars are wont to be undertaken. As if, therefore, they had purchased life and victory by their barbarity, they rushed, stained as they were with the fresh blood of their relatives, into the field of battle, but with success no better than their auspices: for, as they were fighting, the furies, the avengers of murder, overwhelmed them sooner than the enemy, and the ghosts of the slain rising up before their eyes, they were all cut off with utter destruction. Such was the havoc among them, that the gods seemed to have conspired with men to annihilate an army of murderers.
In consequence of the result of this battle, Ptolemy and the Spartans, avoiding the victorious army of the enemy, retreated to safer ground; and Antigonus, when he heard of their departure, turned his arms against the Athenians, while the ardour of his men was yet fresh from their recent victory. But during the time that he was thus engaged, Alexander, king of Epirus, longing to avenge the death of his father Pyrrhus, laid waste the frontiers of Macedonia. Antigonus returned from Greece to give him battle, but being deserted by his men, who went over to the enemy, he lost both the throne of Macedonia and his army. His son Demetrius, however, though but a boy, collecting an army in the absence of his father, not only recovered Macedonia, which had been lost, but drove Alexander from the throne of Epirus, Such was the fickleness of the soldiers, or the mutability of fortune, that kings were seen one day in the character of sovereigns, and the next in that of exiles.

§ 26.3  Alexander, after fleeing, on his expulsion, to the Acarnanians, was restored to his throne, with not less eagerness on the part of the Epirots than exertion on the part of his allies. About the same time died Magas, king of Cyrene, who, before he fell sick, had betrothed his only daughter Berenice to his brother Ptolemy's son, in order to end all disputes with him. But after the death of the king, Arsinoe, the mother of the girl, resolving to break off a marriage which had been contracted against her will, sent for Demetrius, the brother of King Antigonus, from Macedonia, to marry the damsel, and occupy the throne of Cyrene. Nor did Demetrius delay to comply with her wishes. But having speedily arrived, by the aid of a favourable wind, at Cyrene, he began, from the very first, through presuming on his handsome person (with which he had already made too much impression on his mother-in-law), to conduct himself haughtily and overbearingly both to the royal family and the army. He also transferred his desire to please from the daughter to the mother; a fact which was first suspected by the damsel, and at last drew odium upon him from the people and the army. The affections of all, therefore, being set on the son of Ptolemy, a conspiracy was formed against Demetrius, and assassins were sent to kill him, when he was gone to bed with his mother-in-law. Arsinoe, hearing the voice of her daughter, standing at the door, and desiring them 'to spare her mother,' covered her paramour a while with her own person. He was however slain, and Berenice, by his death, both took revenge for the licentiousness of her mother, without violation of her duty to her, and, in choosing a husband, followed the judgment of her father.

§ 27.1  ON the death of Antiochus, king of Syria, his son Seleucus, succeeding in his stead, commenced his reign with murder in his own family, his mother Laodice, who ought to have restrained him, encouraging him to it. He put to death his step-mother Berenice, the sister of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, together with his little brother, her son. By perpetrating this cruelty, he both incurred the stain of infamy, and involved himself in a war with Ptolemy. As for Berenice, when she heard that assassins were sent to despatch her, she shut herself up in Daphne; and it being reported throughout the cities of Asia, that she and her little son were besieged there, they all, commiserating her undeserved misfortunes from their recollection of the high character of her father and her ancestors, sent her assistance. Her brother Ptolemy, too, alarmed at the danger of his sister, left his kingdom, and hastened to her support with all his forces. But Berenice, before succour could arrive, was surprised by treachery, as she could not be taken by force, and killed. The deed was regarded by every one as an atrocity; and all the cities, in consequence, which had revolted (after having equipped a vast fleet), being suddenly alarmed at this instance of cruelty, and wishing to take revenge for her whom they had meant to defend, gave themselves up to Ptolemy, who, if he had not been recalled to Egypt by disturbances at home, would have made himself master of all Seleucus's dominions. Such hatred did an unnatural crime bring upon Seleucus; or so much good feeling did the death of a sister, dishonourably killed, excite in behalf of Ptolemy!

§ 27.2  After the departure of Ptolemy, Seleucus, having prepared a great fleet against the cities that had revolted, lost it in a storm that suddenly arose, as if the gods themselves had taken vengeance on him for his murder; nor did fortune leave him anything, of all his mighty armament, except his body and life, and a few companions amid the wreck. It was indeed a lamentable occurrence, and yet such as Seleucus might have desired; for the cities, which from hatred to him had gone over to Ptolemy, being moved, by a sudden change in their feelings, to compassionate his loss at sea (as if, in the judgment of the gods, satisfaction had been made them), put themselves again under his government. Rejoiced at his misfortune, therefore, and enriched by his loss, he made war upon Ptolemy, as being now a match for him in strength; but as though he had been born only for a sport to fortune, and had received the power of a king only to lose it, he was. defeated in a battle, and fled in trepidation to Antioch, not much better attended than after his shipwreck. From this place he despatched a letter to his brother Antiochus, in which he implored his aid, and offered him that part of Asia within Mount Taurus, as a recompense for his services. But Antiochus, though he was but fourteen years old, yet, being greedy of dominion beyond his years, caught at the opportunity, not with the kindly feeling with which it was offered, but, like a robber, desiring to take the whole kingdom from his brother, assumed, boy as he was, a manly and unprincipled audacity. Hence he was called Hierax, because, in taking away the possessions of others, he conducted himself, not like a man, but like a bird of prey.
Ptolemy Euergetes, in the meantime, learning that Antiochus was coming to the aid of Seleucus, and not wishing to have to contend with two enemies at once, made peace with Seleucus for ten years. But the peace that was granted Seleucus by his enemy, was broken by his own brother, who, having hired an army of Gauls, brought hostilities instead of succour, and showed himself, though he had been implored for aid, an enemy instead of a brother. In the battle that followed Antiochus was victor, indeed, through the prowess of the Gauls; but they, thinking that Seleucus had fallen on the field, began to turn their arms against Antiochus himself, in the: hope of ravaging Asia with greater freedom, if they destroyed the whole royal family. Antiochus, seeing their design, purchased peace from them, as from robbers, with a sum of money, and formed an alliance with his own mercenaries.

§ 27.3  Meanwhile Eumenes, king of Bithynia, when the brothers were divided and exhausted by civil war, attacked both the victorious Antiochus and the Gauls, as if he intended to take possession of Asia while it was left without a master. Nor did he find any difficulty in overthrowing them, as they were weakened by their previous conflicts, and he himself was fresh and vigorous. At that period, indeed, every war was intended for the reduction of Asia; whoever was stronger than his neighbours was ready to seize on Asia for his prey. The brothers, Seleucus and Antiochus, went to war for the sovereignty of Asia; Ptolemy, king of Egypt, under pretext of avenging his sister, was eager to secure Asia. On the one side Eumenes of Bithynia, on the other the Gauls (an army of mercenaries always ready to support the weaker), laid waste Asia, while no one, among so many robbers, was found to be its protector.
When Antiochus was overthrown, and Eumenes had possessed himself of the greater part of the country, the two brothers, though the prize for which they had fought was lost, could not even then come to an agreement, but, leaving their foreign enemies unmolested, continued the war for the destruction of each other. Antiochus, being again defeated, and exhausted with a flight of many days' continuance, arrived at last at the palace of Artamenes, his father-in-law, king of Cappadocia. Being kindly received by him at first, but learning, after some days, that treacherous designs were forming against him, he sought safety by again taking to flight. When he was thus a fugitive, and found nowhere a place of security, he betook himself to his enemy Ptolemy, whose faith he thought more to be trusted than that of his brother, whether he reflected on what he would have done to his brother, or what he had deserved from him. But Ptolemy, not more friendly to him when he came to surrender, than when he had been an open foe, ordered that he should be kept in the closest confinement. From hence however he escaped, eluding his keepers by the aid of a courtesan, with whom he had been familiar, and was slain in his flight by some robbers. Seleucus too, about the same time, lost his kingdom, and was killed by a fall from his horse. Thus these two brothers, as if brothers also in fate, both became exiles; and both, after losing their dominions, died a death merited by their crimes.

§ 28.1  WHEN Olympias, daughter of Pyrrhus king of Epirus, had lost her husband Alexander, who was also her brother, she took upon herself the guardianship of her sons Pyrrhus and Ptolemy, whom she had by him, and the administration of the kingdom; and finding that the Aetolians wanted to take from her a part of Acarnania, which the father of the boys had received as a recompense for assisting them in war, she addressed herself to Demetrius king of Macedonia, and gave him her daughter Pthia in marriage (though he was already united to a sister of Antiochus king of Syria), that she might secure by right of relationship the assistance which she could not obtain from his compassion. A marriage was accordingly solemnized, by which Demetrius gained the love of a new wife, and the hatred of his former one; who, as if divorced, went off to her brother Antiochus, and excited him to make war upon her husband.
The Acarnanians also, fearing to trust for support to the Epirots, requested of the Romans assistance against the Italians, and prevailed on the senate to send ambassadors to order the Aetolians 'to withdraw their garrisons from the cities of Acarnania, and allow those to be free, who alone, of all the people of Greece, had not contributed aid to the Greeks against the Trojans, the authors of the Roman race.'

§ 28.2  But the Aetolians listened to the embassy of the Romans with haughtiness, upbraiding them with their fortune against the Carthaginians and Gauls, by whom they had been fearfully slaughtered in so many wars, and saying that 'their gates, which the terror of the Punic war had closed, should be opened to meet the Carthaginians, before their arms were brought into Greece.' They then desired them to remember 'who they were that threatened, and whom they threatened. That the Romans had not been able to defend their city against the Gauls; and, when it was taken, had recovered it, not by the sword, but with gold; but that when that people entered Greece, in considerably greater numbers, they themselves had utterly destroyed them, not only without the assistance of any foreign power, but without even calling into action the whole of their own force, and had made that a place for their graves which they had intended for the seat of their cities and empire; while Italy, on the other hand, when the Romans were still trembling at the recent burning of their city, was almost entirely occupied by the Gauls. That they should therefore have expelled the Gauls from Italy before they threatened the Aetolians, and have defended their own possessions before they sought those of others. And what sort of men were the Romans? mere shepherds, who occupied a territory wrested from its lawful owners by robbery; who, when they were unable to procure wives, from the baseness of their origin, seized them by open force; who, moreover, had founded their very city in fratricide, and sprinkled the foundation of their walls with the blood of their king's brother, But that the Aetolians had always been the chief people of Greece, and, as they surpassed others in dignity, excelled them also in bravery; that they were the only nation who had always despised the Macedonians, even when flourishing in possession of the empire of the world; who had felt no dread of king Philip, and who had spurned the edicts of Alexander the Great, after he had conquered the Persians and Indians, and when all trembled at his name. That they therefore advised the Romans to be content with their present fortune) and not provoke the arms by which they knew that the Gauls had been cut to pieces, and the Macedonians set at nought.' They thus dismissed the Roman embassy, and, that they might not seem to speak more boldly than they acted, laid waste the borders of Epirus and Acarnania.

§ 28.3  Olympias had now given up her dominions to her sons, and Ptolemy had succeeded in the room of his deceased brother Pyrrhus. Ptolemy, as he was marching to meet the enemy with his army in array, was seized with a fit of sickness, and died on his route. Olympias too, afflicted with her double bereavement in the death of her sons, and dragging on a suffering existence, did not long survive her offspring. The young princess Nereis, and her sister Laodamia, being then the only survivors of the royal family, Nereis married Gelo, the son of the king of Sicily; and Laodamia, fleeing for refuge to the altar of Diana, was killed in a tumult of the populace; a crime which the immortal gods punished by a series of disasters, and almost the total destruction of the people; for after suffering from barrenness and famine, and being harassed by civil discord, they were at length nearly cut off by foreign wars; and Milo, the assassin of Laodamia, becoming mad, and lacerating his flesh, sometimes with the sword, sometimes with stones, and at last with his teeth, died the twelfth day afterwards.
While these things were occurring in Epirus, king Demetrius in Macedonia died, leaving a son named Philip, quite a child; and Antigonus, being appointed his guardian, and marrying his mother, did his utmost to get himself made king. But some time after, being besieged in the palace by an alarming insurrection of the Macedonians, he walked forth publicly unattended by his guards, and throwing his diadem and purple robe among the mob, bade them 'give those to somebody else, who either knew not how to rule them, or whom they knew how to obey; for that he had found regal authority enviable, not for its pleasures, but for its toils and dangers.' He then mentioned his own services; 'how he had punished the defection of their allies; how he had put down the Dardanians and Thessalians, when they were in exultation at the death of king Demetrius; how he had not only maintained the honour of the Macedonians, but added to it. Yet, if they were displeased at such services, he was ready to resign the government, and to return what they had conferred upon him; and they themselves might look out for a prince whom they could govern.' The people, overcome with shame, bade him resume the regal authority; but he refused to do so till the leaders of the insurrection were delivered up to punishment.

§ 28.4  After this occurrence he made war upon the Spartans, who were the only people that, during the wars of Philip and Alexander, had set at nought the power of the Macedonians, and those arms which were dreaded by every other nation. Between these two most remarkable peoples war was prosecuted with the greatest vigour on both sides, the one fighting to support the old glory of the Macedonians, and the other, not only to secure their hitherto unviolated liberty, but even their lives. The Lacedaemonians being worsted, not only the men, but their wives and children, endured their adverse fortune with magnanimity. As no man had shrunk from exposing his life in the field, so no woman wept for her lost husband; the old men extolled the honourable deaths of their sons, and the sons rejoiced over their fathers that were slain in battle; and all who survived lamented their lot, in not having died for the liberty of their country. All received the wounded with open doors, dressed their wounds, and recruited them in their exhaustion. In this condition of affairs, there was no noise or hurry in the city, and every one lamented the public suffering more than his own private troubles. In the course of these proceedings, king Cleomenes returned, with his whole body wet, after the great slaughter that he had made among the enemy, with his own blood and that of his adversaries, and, entering the city, did not rest himself on the ground, or call for meat or drink, or even relieve himself from the weight of his armour, but leaning against a wall, and finding that only four thousand men survived the battle, exhorted them 'to reserve themselves for the better times that would come to their country.' He then set out with his wife and children to Egypt to Ptolemy, by whom he was honourably received, and lived a long time in the highest esteem with that monarch. After the decease of Ptolemy, he was put to death, with all his family, by Ptolemy's son.
Antigonus, when the Spartans were thus reduced, pitying the distress of so famous a city, prohibited his soldiers from plundering it, and granted pardon to all who survived, observing that 'he had engaged in war, not with the Spartans, but with Cleomenes, with whose flight all his resentment was terminated; nor would it be less glory to him, if Sparta should be recorded to have been saved by him by whom alone it had been taken; and that he accordingly spared the ground and buildings of the city, scarcely any inhabitants being left for him to spare.' Not long afterwards Antigonus died, and left the throne to his ward Philip, who was then fourteen years old.

§ 29.1  ABOUT this time almost all the kingdoms of the world underwent alterations, in consequence of a succession of new princes. In Macedonia, Philip, on the death of Antigonus his guardian, who was also his father-in-law, assumed the government at the age of fourteen. In Asia, after Seleucus was killed, Antiochus, though still in his minority, was made king. In Cappadocia, the father of Ariarathes, yet a boy, had resigned the sovereignty to him. Of Egypt Ptolemy had made himself master, after putting to death his father and mother; from which crime he had afterwards the surname of Philopator. As for the Spartans, they had elected Lycurgus in the room of Cleomenes. And that no changes might be wanting at that period, Hannibal, at a very early age, was appointed general of the Carthaginians, not for want of older men, but because of his hatred to the Romans, with which they knew that he had been imbued from his boyhood; the mischief that he did, however, was not so pernicious to the Romans as to Africa itself. In these youthful rulers, although they had no directors of maturer years, yet, as each was anxious to tread in the steps of his predecessors, great talent and ability appeared. Ptolemy was the only exception, who reckless as he had been in the attainment of power, was equally remiss in the administration of it. As to Philip, the Dardanians, and all the neighbouring people, who cherished. as it were, an immortal hatred to the kings of the Macedonians, were perpetually molesting him in contempt of his youth. He, on the other hand, after repulsing his enemies, was not content with having defended his own dominions, but manifested the greatest eagerness to make war upon the Aetolians.

§ 29.2  While he was meditating this enterprise, Demetrius king of the Illyrians, who had lately been conquered by Aemilius Paulus, the Roman consul, applied to him with earnest entreaties for aid, and complaints of the injustice of the Romans, 'who,' he said, 'not content within the limits of Italy, but grasping, with presumptuous hopes, at the empire of the whole world, made war upon all kings. Thus, aspiring to the dominion of Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, and finally to that of all Africa, they had engaged in a war with the Carthaginians and Hannibal; and that hostilities had been directed against himself too, for no other reason than that he appeared to lie near Italy, as if it were unlawful for any king to be on the borders of their empire. And that Philip also himself must take warning by his case, since the nearer and more valuable his kingdom, the more determined enemies would he find the Romans to be.' In addition, he said, that 'he would give up his kingdom, which the Romans had seized, to Philip himself as he should be better pleased to see his ally, rather than his enemies, in possession of his dominions.' With such representations as these, he prevailed upon Philip to lay aside his designs on the Aetolians, and to make war upon the Romans; Philip supposing that there would be the less difficulty in the undertaking, as he had heard that they had already been beaten by Hannibal at the lake Trasimenus. Not to be distracted, therefore, with more than one war at the same time, he concluded a peace with the Aetolians, not as if intending to carry war elsewhere, but as if he wished to promote the tranquillity of Greece, 'which,' he asserted, 'had never been in greater danger, as the new empires of the Carthaginians and Romans were rising in the west, who forbore from attacking Greece and Asia only till they should decide their dispute for the sovereignty by the sword, when the superior power of the two would immediately invade the east.

§ 29.3  'He contemplated therefore,' he said, 'that cloud of cruel and sanguinary war which was rising in Italy; he contemplated the storm roaring and thundering from the west, which, to whatever parts of the world the tempest of victory might carry it, would pollute everything with a vast shower of blood. That Greece had frequently felt great disturbances at one time from the wars of the Persians, at another from those of the Gauls, at another from those of the Macedonians, but that they would think all those to have been but trifling, if the force, which was now collecting in Italy, should once pour itself forth from that country. He saw what cruel and bloody conflicts those two powers were maintaining with each other, with all the strength of their forces, and all the abilities of their generals; and that such fury could not end with the destruction of one party only, without ruin to the neighbouring people. That the cruel resolutions of the conquerors, it was true, were less to be dreaded by Macedonia than by Greece; for Macedonia was both more remote, and better able to defend itself; but he knew that those who contended with such spirit would not be content with Greece as a limit to their conquests, and that he himself should have to fear a conflict with the party that should get the advantage.' Concluding, on this pretext, the war with the Aetolians, and thinking of nothing else but the contest of the Carthaginians and Romans, he carefully weighed the strength of each. But neither did the Romans, with the Carthaginians and Hannibal on their necks, appear free from apprehension of Macedonia; indeed, both the ancient valour of the Macedonians, their glory in having conquered the east, and the character of Philip, who was fired with the ambition of rivalling Alexander, and whom they knew to be active and eager for the field, gave them sufficient cause for alarm.

§ 29.4  Philip, as soon as he heard that the Romans had been defeated by the Carthaginians in a second battle, openly declared himself their enemy, and began to build ships for transporting an army into Italy. He then sent a deputy to Hannibal with a letter, with the view of forming an alliance with him. This deputy was taken prisoner, and brought before the senate, but released unharmed; not from respect to the king, but that one who appeared still undetermined might not be rendered a decided enemy. But afterwards, when news was brought to the Romans that Philip was preparing to transport troops into Italy, they despatched the praetor Laevinus, with a well appointed fleet, to hinder him from crossing.
Laevinus, sailing over to Greece, prevailed on the Aetolians, by making them numerous promises, to take up arms against Philip, who, on his side, solicited the Achaeans to go to war with the Romans. Meanwhile the Dardanians began to ravage the country of Macedonia, and, carrying off twenty thousand prisoners, recalled Philip from his war with the Romans to defend his own territories. At the same time the praetor Laevinus, having made an alliance with king Attalus, proceeded to lay waste Greece; of which the several states, dismayed at such calamities, importuned Philip with embassies for succour; while the princes of the Illyrians, sticking close to his side, demanded, with constant solicitations, the performance of his promises to them. In addition, the plundered Macedonians called on him for vengeance. Beset by such and so many difficulties, he was in doubt to what he should first turn his attention; but he promised them all to send them assistance shortly; not that he was able to do what he promised, but in order to keep them, by feeding them with hopes, in the bond of alliance with him. His first expedition, however, was against the Dardanians, who, watching for his absence, were ready to fall on Macedonia with a still heavier force. He made peace, too, with the Romans, who were well content to put off war with Macedonia for a time. He laid a plot, moreover, for the life of Philopoemen, strategus of the Achaeans, who, he understood, was soliciting some of his allies to join the Romans; but Philopoemen, having discovered and escaped the plot, induced the Achaeans, by the influence which he had with them, to abandon Philip's cause.

§ 30.1  WHILE Philip was intent on great exploits in Macedonia, the conduct of Ptolemy in Egypt was of an opposite character; for having got the throne by parricide, and added the murder of his brother to that of both his parents, he resigned himself, as if all had gone happily with him, to the attractions of luxury; and the whole court had followed the manners of their king. Not only his personal friends, and chief officers, but the whole of the army had laid aside military exercises, and grown corrupt and enervated in idleness.
Antiochus, king of Syria, when he heard of this state of things, and while the old animosity between the two kingdoms incited him, captured many cities belonging to Ptolemy by a sudden attack, and carried his arms into Egypt itself. Ptolemy was accordingly in consternation, and endeavoured to retard Antiochus, by sending embassies, until he could get troops in readiness. Having then hired a large army in Greece, he fought a battle with good success, and would have driven Antiochus from his throne, if he had supported his fortune with suitable spirit. But, content with recovering the cities that he had lost, and making peace, he eagerly seized the opportunity of sinking again into sloth, and, returning to his former licentious habits, he put to death his wife Eurydice, who was also his sister, and gave himself up to the caresses of a mistress named Agathoclia; and thus, forgetful of all the greatness of his name and dignity, he passed his nights in wantonness, and his days in the pleasures of the table. As ministrations to his luxury, timbrels and tabors were introduced; and the king, no longer a mere spectator, but a leader of the revels, produced music from stringed instruments himself. Such were at first the secret and latent pests of a tottering court.

§ 30.2  Licentiousness subsequently increasing, the audacity of his mistress could no longer be confined within the walls of the palace; for the daily debaucheries of the king, which he shared with her brother Agathocles, a corrupt youth of captivating beauty, rendered her still more shameless. To all, this was added, too, the influence of their mother Oenanthe, who, by the charms of her two children, kept the monarch quite enthralled. Not content with enslaving the king, they made themselves rulers of the kingdom; they showed themselves in public places, received salutations, and were followed by a train of attendants. Agathocles, attaching himself closely to the king's side, assumed the administration of the state; women disposed of offices, governments, and commissions; nor had any one less power in the kingdom than the king himself. In the midst of this state of things the king died, leaving a son, five years old, by his sister Eurydice; but his death, while the women were seizing on the royal treasures, and endeavouring, by forming a confederacy with some desperate characters, to get the government into their own hands, was for a long time kept, secret. But the truth becoming known, Agathocles was killed by a rising of the people, and the women nailed on crosses to avenge the death of Eurydice.
After the king's decease, and when the infamy of the kingdom was expiated, as it were, by the punishment of the courtezans, the people of Alexandria sent ambassadors to the Romans, requesting them 'to take on themselves the guardianship of the orphan, and to defend the kingdom of Egypt, which, they said, Philip and Antiochus had already portioned out between them by a treaty made for the purpose.'

§ 30.3  This embassy was acceptable to the Romans, who were seeking a pretence for making war upon Philip, for having formed designs against them in the time of the Punic war. To this feeling was added the circumstance, that, since the Carthaginians and Hannibal were conquered, there was no one of whose arms they had a greater dread, considering what a commotion Pyrrhus, with but a small force, had excited in Italy, and what exploits the Macedonians had achieved in the east. Ambassadors were accordingly despatched to warn Philip and Antiochus 'to make no attempt upon Egypt.' Marcus Lepidus was also sent into Egypt, to govern the orphan's kingdom in the character of guardian. During the course of these proceedings, embassies from king Attalus, and from the Rhodians, arrived at Rome, to complain of injuries that they had suffered from Philip. These representations removed from the minds of the senate all hesitation about going to war with Macedonia; and forthwith, under pretence of taking the part of their allies, war was declared against Philip, and some legions, with one of the consuls, were sent off to Macedonia. Not long after, too, the whole of Greece, stimulated by confidence in the Romans, and the hope of recovering their ancient liberty, to rise against Philip, made war upon him; and thus, being assailed on every side, he was compelled to beg for peace. But when the terms of it were set forth by the Romans, both Attalus and the Rhodians, as well as the Achaeans and Aetolians, began to demand that the places belonging to them should be restored. Philip, on the other hand, allowed that 'he might be induced to submit to the Romans, but that it was intolerable that the Greeks, who had been subdued by his ancestors Philip and Alexander, and brought under the yoke of the Macedonian empire, should dictate articles of peace to him, as if they were conquerors; and that they ought to give an account of their conduct in their state of slavery, before they sought to recover their liberty.' At last, on his request, a truce was allowed for two months, that the peace, on which they could not come to terms in Macedonia, might be obtained from the senate at Rome.

§ 30.4  In the same year a concussion of the earth happened between the islands Thera and Therasia, in the midst of the sea at an equal distance from either shore, where, to the astonishment of those that were sailing past, an island rose suddenly from the deep, the water being at the same time hot. In Asia too, on the same day, the same earthquake shattered Rhodes, and many other cities, with a terrible ruin; some it swallowed up entire. As all men were alarmed at this prodigy, the soothsayers predicted that 'the rising power of the Romans would swallow up the ancient empire of the Greeks and Macedonians.'
In the meantime, Philip, as his terms of peace were rejected by the senate, prevailed on the tyrant Nabis to join him in prosecuting the war. Having then led out his army into the field, he began to encourage his men, while the enemy stood in array on the opposite side, by saying that 'the Persians, Bactrians, and Indians, and all Asia to the utmost boundaries of the east, had been subdued by the Macedonians; and that this war was more bravely to be maintained than those which had preceded it, in proportion as liberty was more precious than empire.' Flamininus, too, the Roman consul, animated his men to battle by representing what had lately been achieved by the Romans, observing that 'Carthage and Sicily on one side, and Italy and Spain on the other, had been thoroughly reduced by Roman valour; and that Hannibal, by whose expulsion from Italy they had become masters of Africa, a third part of the world, was not to be thought inferior to Alexander the Great. Nor were the Macedonians to be estimated by their ancient reputation, but by their present power; for that the Romans were not waging war with Alexander the Great, whom they had heard called invincible, or with his army, which had conquered all the east, but with Philip, a youth of immature years, who could scarcely defend the frontiers of his dominions against his neighbours, and with those Macedonians who were not long ago a prey to the Dardanians. That they might recount the achievements of their forefathers, but that he could relate those of his own soldiers; since Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and almost all the west, had not been conquered by any other army, but by those very troops which he had with him in the field.' The soldiers on both sides, roused by these exhortations, rushed to the encounter, the one army exulting in their conquest of the east, the other in that of the west; the one carrying to the battle the ancient and fading glory of their ancestors, the other the flower of valour fresh from recent exertions. But the fortune of Rome was superior to that of the Macedonians; and Philip, exhausted by his efforts in war, and suing for peace from Flamininus, the consul, was allowed to retain indeed the name of king; but, being deprived of all the cities of Greece, as being parts of his dominion beyond the bounds of its ancient territory, he preserved only Macedonia. The Aetolians, however, were displeased, because Macedonia was not taken from the king at their suggestion, and given to themselves as a reward for their service in the war, and sent ambassadors to Antiochus, to induce him, by flattering his greatness, to engage in a war with the Romans, in the hope of securing the alliance of all Greece.

§ 31.1  PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR, king of Egypt, being dead, and the youthful age of his son (who, left with the prospect of wielding the sceptre, was a prey even to his own domestics), being held in contempt, Antiochus, king of Syria, resolved to get possession of Egypt. As he attacked Phoenice, accordingly, and several cities, which, though situate in Syria, belonged of right to Egypt, the senate despatched ambassadors to him, to warn him 'not to molest the dominions of an orphan, who had been recommended to their protection by the last prayers of his dying father.' This embassy being disregarded, another arrived some time after, which, saying nothing on behalf of the orphan, ordered that 'the cities, which had fallen to the Roman people by the right of war, should be restored to their former condition.' On his refusal to comply with this mandate, war was declared against him, which he, after lightly undertaking it, prosecuted with ill success.
At the same time, the tyrant Nabis had taken possession of several cities of Greece. The senate, in consequence, that the Roman forces might not be distracted by two wars at once, sent orders to Flamininus, that 'he should, if he thought it expedient, deliver Greece from Nabis, as he had delivered Macedonia from Philip.' To this end, his term of command was prolonged. The name of Hannibal, indeed, rendered a war with Antiochus an object of dread; for Hannibal's enemies, by secret communications to the Romans, accused hint of having entered into a league with Antiochus, saying that 'he, who was accustomed to command, and to extravagant military licentiousness, was unable to live patiently under the control of laws; and that, from disgust at the quiet of the city, he was always looking about for occasions for war.' These charges, though false, passed for true with such as were timid.

§ 31.2  At length the senate, struck with alarm, sent Cnaeus Servilius, in the character of ambassador, into Africa, to watch, the proceedings of Hannibal, giving him secret instructions 'to compass his death, if he could, by the agency of his enemies, and deliver the Roman people from the terror of his hated name.' But this circumstance did not long escape the knowledge of Hannibal, a man sagacious in foreseeing and guarding against dangers, and not less thoughtful of adversity, in prosperity than of prosperity in adversity. Having shown himself in public, therefore, during the whole day in the forum of Carthage, before the face of the chief personages and the Roman ambassador, he mounted his horse, on the approach of evening, and galloped off to a farm which he had in the suburbs, near the sea-coast, his attendants, who knew nothing of his intentions, being directed to wait for his return at the gate of the city. He had vessels, with rowers, concealed in an unfrequented inlet on the coast; and he had also a large sum of ready money at his farm, so that, when occasion should require, neither difficulty nor want of resources might retard his escape. Selecting the most vigorous of his slaves, therefore, the number of whom a body of Italian prisoners augmented, he went on board a ship, and directed his course towards the dominions of Antiochus. The next day the city looked for their chief, who was then consul, in the forum; and when intelligence was brought that he was, gone, they were all in as much trepidation as if the city had been taken, and foreboded that his flight would prove fatal to them; while the Roman ambassador, as if war was already commenced on Italy by Hannibal, returned privately to Rome, carrying the alarming news with him.

§ 31.3  In Greece, meanwhile, Flamininus, having formed an alliance with several cities, defeated Nabis the tyrant in two successive battles, and left him sadly humbled, with his resources apparently exhausted, in his own dominions. But after liberty was restored to Greece, the garrisons withdrawn from the cities, and the Romans returned to Italy, Nabis, as if tempted afresh by the deserted state of the country, possessed himself of several cities by sudden attacks; when the Achaeans, alarmed at his proceedings, and fearing that the evils in their neighbourhood might reach themselves, determined upon war against him, and appointed to the command in it their strategus Philopoemen, a man of extraordinary energy, and whose merit was so eminent in the contest, that he was thought equal, in public opinion, to the Roman general Flamininus.
Hannibal, arriving about the same time at the court of Antiochus, was received by him as a gift from the gods; and such ardour, in consequence of his coming, was added to the courage of the king, that he thought less of the mode of conducting the war, than of the prizes of victory. But Hannibal, to whom the spirit of Rome was well known, said that the Romans could not be subdued any where but in Italy. To accomplish their overthrow, he asked for himself a hundred ships, ten thousand foot, and a thousand cavalry, promising that 'with this force he would revive in Italy no less a war than he had formerly carried on there, and would secure to the king, remaining quiet in Asia, either a triumph over the Romans, or equitable conditions of peace. To the Spaniards,' he added, 'who were burning with ardour for war, nothing was wanting but a leader; that Italy was better known to him now than in past times; and that Carthage would not rest in peace, but join him as an ally without delay.'

§ 31.4  As this counsel pleased the king, one of the attendants of Hannibal was despatched to Carthage, to encourage the Carthaginians, already forward enough of themselves, to take up arms, acquainting them that 'Hannibal would support them with an army,' and saying that 'nothing was wanting, on the side of the Carthaginians, but resolution, as Asia would supply both troops and money for the enterprise.' When this announcement arrived at Carthage, the messenger was seized by Hannibal's enemies, and being asked, when he was brought before the senate, 'to whom he was sent,' he replied, with Punic subtlety, that 'he was sent to the whole senate, as this was not the concern of a few individuals only, but of the entire people.' As they spent several days in deliberating, whether they should send him to Rome to clear them from guilt as a nation, he, in the meanwhile, went secretly on board his vessel, and returned to Hannibal. As soon as this was discovered, the Carthaginians sent intelligence of the matter to Rome by an ambassador. The Romans also sent ambassadors to Antiochus, who, under colour of delivering a message, were to watch the preparations of the king, and either to soften Hannibal's feelings towards the Romans, or, by frequent association with him, to render him suspected and unpopular with Antiochus. The ambassadors, accordingly, meeting with Antiochus at Ephesus, made their communication from the senate, and, while they waited for an answer, were every day constantly visiting Hannibal, and observing that, 'he had withdrawn from his country under needless apprehension, as the Romans would with the greatest honour observe a peace which was made not so much with his government as with himself; and that they knew he had made war upon the Romans, less from hatred to them, than from love to his country (to which every honourable man owed life itself), since the reasons for going to war were public ones between the nations, and not private ones between the generals.' They then extolled his exploits; and he, pleased with their conversation, talked frequently and readily with them, not being aware that by his familiarity with the Romans, he was incurring the dislike of the king; for Antiochus, supposing that by such frequent intercourse a good understanding had been effected between him and the Romans, communicated nothing to him as he had been used to do, and began to detest him, when he had excluded him from his councils, as an enemy and a traitor to him. This distrust ruined the mighty preparations for war, the skill of a leader being wanting to conduct it. The communication from the senate was, that . 'Antiochus should confine himself within the limits of Asia, lest he should lay on them the necessity of invading that country.' Slighting this message, he resolved not to wait for war, but to commence it.

§ 31.5  It is said, that after the king had frequently held councils concerning the war, from which Hannibal was excluded, he at length desired that he should be called in, not that he might act in any respect according to his advice, but that he might not appear entirely to disregard him; and that, when all the rest had been asked their opinions, he in conclusion inquired his. Hannibal, understanding what Antiochus's feelings were, observed that 'he was aware he was asked to attend, not because the king wished for his advice, but to make up the full number of votes; yet, from his hatred towards the Romans, and regard for the king, with whom alone a secure retreat was left him in his exile, he would explain the method in which the war should be conducted.' Then, requesting indulgence for the freedom with which he was going to speak, he said, that 'he approved none of the present suggestions or proceedings; nor did he like Greece as a seat of the war, when Italy was a far more advantageous field for it; for the Romans could not be conquered but by their own arms, nor Italy subdued but by the resources of Italy; since that people differed from others, and their mode of warfare from that of other nations. In other wars, it was of the greatest importance to have been the first to take advantage of any ground or opportunity, to have ravaged the lands, or to have captured towns, but that, with the Romans, whether you took their cities, or defeated them, you would still have to struggle with the enemy even when vanquished and fallen. If any one should attack them in Italy, therefore, he might conquer them with their own strength, their own resources, their own arms, as he himself had done; but if any one left Italy to them, which was the fountain-head, as it were, of their power, he would act just as absurdly, as a man who should attempt, not to exhaust rivers at their sources, but to alter their channels or dry them up when great floods of water had collected in them. He had entertained this,' he said, 'as his private opinion, and had readily offered his advice to that effect; and that he repeated it now, in the presence of his friends, that they might all understand the way to go to war with the Romans, who, though invincible abroad, might be reduced at home; for they might be deprived of their city sooner than of their empire, and of Italy sooner than of their provinces; since they had lost their city to the Gauls, and been almost crushed by him; nor was he ever defeated till he had quitted their country, but that, when he returned to Carthage, the fortune of the war was immediately changed with the seat of it.'

§ 31.6  The king's courtiers were all opposed to this advice, not regarding the advantages of the plan, but fearing that Hannibal, if his counsel were approved, would gain the first place in the king's favour. As for Antiochus, he did not so much dislike the scheme as the proposer of it, in the apprehension that whatever glory resulted from its success would be given to Hannibal, and not to himself. All proceedings were therefore rendered ineffectual by the various flatteries of those who sought to please the king; nothing was conducted with judgment or reason. Antiochus himself, resigning himself to luxury during the winter, was every day engaged in celebrating some new marriage. Acilius the Roman consul, on the other hand, who had been appointed to command in this war, provided forces, arms, and every thing necessary for the contest, with the utmost activity: he animated the confederate cities, and drew to his interest such as were undecided. Nor was the result of the conflict at variance with the preparations of each party for it; for, in the first engagement, when the king saw his men giving ground, he did not support those who were in distress, but put himself at the head of those that fled, and left his rich camp a prey to the conquerors. But having reached Asia in his flight, while the Romans were busied about the spoil, he began to repent of having neglected Hannibal's counsel, and, taking that general again into his friendship, conducted every thing according to his directions. In the mean time intelligence was brought that Aemilius, the Roman general, was approaching with eighty ships of war, having been despatched by the senate to carry on the war by sea. This news gave him hopes of retrieving his fortune; and accordingly he resolved to fight a battle by sea before any of the cities in alliance with him could revolt to the enemy, hoping that the defeat which he had suffered in Greece might be compensated by a new victory. The fleet was therefore entrusted to Hannibal, and a battle was fought; but neither were the Asiatic soldiers a match for the Romans, nor their vessels equal to the beaked ships of the enemy. The loss, however, was rendered less than if would otherwise have been, by the able management of the general. The report of the victory had not yet reached Rome, and therefore the city was in suspense about the consuls to be chosen.

§ 31.7  But to oppose Hannibal, what fitter leader could be appointed than the brother of Africanus, since it was the business of the Scipios to conquer the Carthaginians? Lucius Scipio was therefore made consul, and his brother Africanus appointed to be his lieutenant-general, to let Antiochus see that he had not more confidence in the conquered Hannibal than the Romans in the victorious Scipio. As the Scipios were transporting their army into Asia, news reached them that the war, both by land and sea, was almost at an end; as Antiochus had been defeated in a battle by land, and Hannibal in a battle by sea. As soon as they arrived, Antiochus sent ambassadors to them, desiring peace, and having with them, as an offering to Africanus individually, the son of that general, whom the king had captured as he was crossing in a small boat. But Africanus replied, 'that private favours were distinct from public concerns; that the obligations of a father, and the claims of one's country, were things entirely different; claims which were to be preferred not only to children, but even to life itself. That he, however, thankfully accepted the kindness, and would make a return to the king's generosity at his own individual expense; but as to what related to war and peace, nothing could be allowed to private favour, or cut off from the interests of his country.' He had never, indeed, either treated about the ransom of his son, or allowed the senate to treat about it, but, as became his dignity, said that 'he would recover his son by force of arms.' The terms of peace were then specified to the ambassadors: 'that the king should give up Asia to the Romans; that he should confine himself to his kingdom of Syria; that he should give up all his ships, with the prisoners and deserters, and repay the Romans all the expenses of the war.' These terms being repeated to Antiochus, he said that 'he was not yet so utterly reduced, as that he should suffer himself to be despoiled of his dominions; and that such proposals were provocations to war, not invitations to peace.'

§ 31.8  Preparations for a contest were in consequence made on both sides; and when the Romans, having entered Asia, had reached Troy, mutual gratulations took place between the Trojans and the Romans; the Trojans observing that 'Aeneas, and the other leaders that accompanied him, had gone forth from them;' the Romans telling them that 'they were their children;' and such joy was among them all as is wont to be between parents and children met after a long separation. The Trojans were delighted that their descendants, after having conquered the west and Africa, were now laying claim to Asia as their hereditary domain, remarking that 'the ruin of Troy had been an event to be desired, since it was so happily to revive again.' On the other hand, an insatiable longing to gaze on their ancient home, the birth-place of their ancestors, and the temples and images of the gods, had taken possession of the Romans.
As the Romans were coming from Troy, king Eumenes met them with some auxiliary troops; and soon after a battle was fought with Antiochus; in which one of the Roman legions, on the right wing, being beaten back, and fleeing to their camp with more disgrace than danger, Marcus Aemilius, a military tribune, who had been left to defend the camp, ordered his men to arm themselves, and advance without the rampart, and to threaten the fugitives with their swords drawn, saying that 'they should be put to death unless they returned to the field, and should find their own camp more hostile to them than that of the enemy.' The legion, alarmed at such peril on both sides, returned to the battle, their fellow soldiers, who had stopped their flight, accompanying them, and, making great havoc among the enemy, were the first cause of the victory. Fifty thousand of the enemy were slain, and eleven thousand taken prisoners. Antiochus suing for peace, nothing was added to the former articles, Africanus observing that 'the spirit of the Romans was never broken if they were defeated, and, if they were victorious, they were not rendered tyrannical by success.' The cities that were taken they divided among their allies, deeming that glory was more desirable for the Romans than dominions merely for pleasure; and that the honour of victory was worthy of being attached to the Roman name, but that the luxuries of wealth might be left to their adherents.

§ 32.1  THE Aetolians, who had persuaded Antiochus to make war on the Romans, were left, after he was defeated, to oppose them by themselves, unequal in force, and unsupported by assistance. Being soon after, in consequence, subdued, they lost that liberty which they alone, among so many states of Greece, had preserved inviolate against the power of the Athenians and Spartans. This state of things was the more grievous to them, as it was later in befalling them; for they reflected on those times in which they had withstood the mighty power of the Persians by their own strength, and had humbled, in the Delphic war, the violent spirit of the Gauls that was dreaded by Asia and Italy; and these glorious recollections increased their grief at the loss of their liberty.
During the course of these occurrences, a dispute at first, and afterwards a war, arose between the Messenians and Achaeans, to determine which of the two should rule the other. In this struggle Philopoemen, the famous general of the Achaeans, was taken prisoner, not from having been fearful of exposing his life in the field, but from having fallen from his horse in leaping a ditch, as he was rallying his men for the contest, and being overpowered by a host of enemies. The Messenians, whether from fear of his valour, or respect for his dignity, did not venture to kill him as he lay on the ground; but, as if they had ended the war by capturing him, they led him prisoner through their whole city as in triumph, while the people poured forth to meet him, as if it were their own general, and not that of the enemy, that was coming; nor would the Achaeans have more eagerly beheld him victorious than the enemy saw him under defeat. They ordered him accordingly to be led into the theatre, that every one might see him whose capture seemed incredible to every one. Being then conducted to prison, they gave him, from respect for his high character, poison to drink, which he received with pleasure, just as if he had been conqueror, first asking 'whether Lycortas,' a general of the Achaeans, whom he knew to be next to himself in the art of war, 'had got off safe?' Hearing that he had escaped, he observed that 'things were not utterly desperate with the Achaeans,' and expired. The war being renewed shortly after, the Messenians were conquered, and made some atonement for putting Philopoemen to death.

§ 32.2  In Syria, meanwhile, king Antiochus, being burdened, after he was conquered by the Romans, with a heavy tribute under his articles of peace, and being impelled by want of money or stimulated by avarice, brought up his army one night, and made an assault upon the temple of Jupiter in Elymais, hoping that he might more excusably commit sacrilege under plea of wanting money to pay his tribute. But the affair becoming known, he was killed by a rising of the people who dwelt about the temple.
At Rome, as many cities of Greece had sent thither, to complain of injuries received from Philip king of Macedonia, and as a dispute arose in the senate-house between Demetrius, Philip's son, whom his father had sent to justify him to the senate, and the deputies of the cities, the young prince, confounded at the number of accusations brought forward, suddenly became speechless; when the senate, moved at his modesty, which had been admired by every one when he was a hostage at Rome, suffered the controversy to terminate in his favour. Thus Demetrius, by his modesty, obtained pardon for his father, which was granted, not to the justice of his defence, but from respect for his bashfulness; and this was particularly signified in the decree of the senate, that it might be known that it was not so much the king that was acquitted, as the father that was excused for the sake of the son. The circumstance, however, procured Demetrius no thanks for his embassy at home, but rather odium and detraction; for envy drew upon him hatred from his brother Perseus, and with his father, the cause of the indulgence shown him, as soon as he knew it, become a source of dislike towards him, as he was indignant that the character of his son should have had more weight with the senate than his own authority as a father or his dignity as a king. Perseus, in consequence, observing his father's chagrin, laid before him, day after day, accusations against Demetrius in his absence, and rendered him first an object of hatred, and afterwards of suspicion, charging him at one time with friendship for the Romans, and at another with treachery to his father. At last he pretended that a plot was laid for his own life by Demetrius, and, to prove the charge, brought forward informers, suborned witnesses, and committed the very crime of which he accused his brother. Impelling his father, by these artifices, to put his son to death, he filled the whole palace with mourning.

§ 32.3  After Demetrius was killed, and his rival removed. Perseus grew not only more careless in his behaviour towards his father, but even more insolent, conducting himself, not as heir to the crown, but as king. Philip, offended at his manner, became every day more concerned for the death of Demetrius, and began at length to suspect that he had been deceived by treachery, and put to the torture all the witnesses and informers. Having, by this means, come to the knowledge of the deception, he was not less afflicted at the dishonesty of Perseus than at the execution of the innocent Demetrius, whom he would have avenged, had he not been prevented by death; for shortly after he died of a disease contracted by mental anxiety, leaving great preparations for a war with the Romans, of which Perseus afterwards made use. He had induced the Scordiscan Gauls to join him, and would have had a desperate struggle with the Romans, had not death carried him off.
The Gauls, after their disastrous attack upon Delphi, in which they had felt the power of the divinity more than that of the enemy, and had lost their leader Brennus, had fled, like exiles, partly into Asia, and partly into Thrace, and then returned, by the same way by which they had come, into their own country. Of these, a certain number settled at the conflux of the Danube and Save, and took the name of Scordisci. The Tectosagi, on returning to their old settlements about Tolosa, were seized with a pestilential distemper, and did not recover from it, until, being warned by the admonitions of their soothsayers, they threw the gold and silver, which they had got in war and sacrilege, into the lake of Tolosa; all which treasure, a hundred and ten thousand pounds of silver, and fifteen hundred thousand pounds of gold, Caepio, the Roman consul, a long time after, carried away with him. But this sacrilegious act subsequently proved a cause of rain to Caepio and his army. The rising of the Cimbrian war, too, seemed to pursue the Romans as if to avenge the removal of that devoted treasure. Of these Tectosagi, no small number, attracted by the charms of plunder, repaired to Illyricum, and, after spoiling the Istrians, settled in Pannonia.
The Istrians, it is reported, derive their origin from those Colchians who were sent by king Aeetes in pursuit of the Argonauts, that had carried off his daughter, who, after they had sailed from the Pontus Euxinus into the Ister, and had proceeded far up the channel of the river Save, pursuing the track of the Argonauts, conveyed their vessels upon their shoulders over the tops of the mountains, as far as the shores of the Adriatic sea, knowing that the Argonauts must have done the same before them, because of the size of their ship. These Colchians, not overtaking the Argonauts, who had sailed off, remained, whether from fear of their king or from weariness of so long a voyage, near Aquileia, and were called Istrians from the name of the river up which they sailed out of the sea.
The Dacians are descendants of the Getae. This people having fought unsuccessfully, under their king Oroles, against the Bastarnae, were compelled by his order, as a punishment for their cowardice, to put their heads, when they were going to sleep, in the place of their feet, and to perform those offices for their wives which used previously to be done for themselves. Nor were these regulations altered, until they had effaced, by new exertions in the field, the disgrace which they had incurred in the previous war.

§ 32.4  Perseus, having succeeded to the throne of his father Philip, applied to all these nations to join him in a war against the Romans. In the meanwhile a war broke out between king Prusias, to whom Hannibal had fled when peace was granted Antiochus by the Romans, and Eumenes; a war which Prusias was the first to begin, having broken his treaty with Eumenes through confidence in Hannibal.
Hannibal, when the Romans, among other articles of peace, demanded from Antiochus that he should be surrendered to them, received notice of this demand from the king, and, taking to flight, went off to Crete. Here, when he had long led a quiet life, but found himself envied for his great wealth, he deposited some urns, filled with lead, in the temple of Diana, as if thus to secure his treasure. The city, in consequence, being no longer concerned about him, as they supposed that they had his wealth in pledge, he betook himself to Prusias, putting his gold into some statues which he carried with him, lest his riches, if seen, should endanger his life. Prusias being subsequently defeated in a battle by land, and transferring the war to the sea, Hannibal, by a new stratagem, was the cause of procuring him a victory; for he ordered serpents of every kind to be enclosed in earthen pots, and to be thrown, in the hottest of the engagement, into the enemy's ships. This seemed at first ridiculous to the Pontic soldiers, that the enemy should fight with earthen pots, as if they could not fight with the sword. But when the ships began to be filled with serpents, and they were thus involved in double peril, they yielded the victory to the enemy.
When the news of these transactions was brought to Rome, ambassadors were despatched by the senate to require the two kings to make peace, and demand the surrender of Hannibal. But Hannibal, learning their object, took poison, and frustrated their embassy by his death.
This year was rendered remarkable by the deaths of the three greatest generals then in the world, Hannibal, Philopoemen, and Scipio Africanus. Of these three it is certain that Hannibal, even at the time when Italy trembled at him, thundering in the war with Rome, and when, after his return to Carthage, he held the chief command there, never reclined at his meals, or indulged himself with more than one pint of wine at a time; and that he preserved such continence among so many female captives, that one would be disposed to deny that he was born in Africa. Such, too, was his prudence in command, that though he had to rule armies of different nations, he was never annoyed by any conspiracy among his troops, or betrayed by their want of faith, though his enemies had often attempted to expose him to both.

§ 33.1  THE Romans carried on the Macedonian war with less disturbance to their country than the Punic war, but with more renown, as the Macedonians surpassed the Carthaginians in honour, and were animated, moreover, by their glory in having conquered the east, and supported also by the auxiliary forces of all the neighbouring princes. The Romans, accordingly, both raised a greater number of legions, and called for assistance from Masinissa, king of Numidia, and all the rest of their allies; while notice was also given to Eumenes, king of Bithynia, to aid them in the war with his whole force. Perseus, besides his Macedonian army, which had had the reputation of being invincible, had supplies for a ten years' war. collected by his father, in his treasures and magazines. Elevated by these resources, and forgetful of his father's fortune, he bade his soldiers think of the past glory of Alexander.
The first engagement was one of cavalry only; and Perseus, being victorious in it, attracted the favourable regard of all who had previously been in suspense. Yet he sent ambassadors to the consul to ask for peace, which the Romans had granted to his father even when conquered, offering to defray the expenses of the war, as if he had been defeated. But the consul Sulpicius offered him terms not less harsh than he would have offered to a vanquished enemy. In the meantime, the Romans, under the dread of so formidable a war, created Aemilius Paulus consul, and conferred upon him, out of due course, the command in the Macedonian war.
Aemilius, when he had reached the camp, lost no time in coming to a battle. The night before it was fought, the moon was eclipsed; a phenomenon which all interpreted unfavourably for Perseus, and presaged that the downfall of the Macedonian empire was portended.

§ 33.2  In this engagement, Marcus Cato, the son of Cato the orator, while he was fighting, with extraordinary bravery, among the thickest of the enemy, fell from his horse, and continued his efforts on foot. A number of the enemy gathered about him when he fell, with loud shouts, as if they would kill him as he lay on the ground, but he, recovering himself sooner than they expected, made great slaughter among them. The enemy flocking round him, however, to overpower him with their numbers, his sword, as he was aiming at a tall fellow among them, fell from his hand among a troop of his opponents; when he, to recover it, plunged in among the points of the enemy's weapons, protecting himself with his shield, while both armies were looking on, and, having regained his sword, though not without receiving many wounds, he got back safe to his friends, amidst a loud shout from the enemy. The rest of the Romans, imitating his boldness, secured the victory. King Perseus fled, and arrived, with ten thousand talents, at Samothrace; and Cnaeus Octavius, being sent by the consul in pursuit of him, took him prisoner, with his two sons Alexander and Philip, and brought him to the consul.
Macedonia, from the time of Caranus, who was the first that reigned in it, to Perseus, had thirty kings; under whose government it continued for nine hundred and twenty-three years, but possessed supreme power for only a hundred and ninety-two. When it fell under the power of the Romans, it was left free, magistrates being appointed in every city; and it received laws from Paulus Aemilius, which it still uses.
As to the Aetolians, the senators of every city in the country, whose fidelity had been suspected, were sent, together with their wives and children, to Rome; where, to prevent them from raising any disturbance in their country, they were long detained; and it was not without difficulty, and after the senate had been wearied with embassies from the cities for their release, that they were allowed to return to their own country.

§ 34.1  THE Carthaginians and Macedonians being subdued, and the power of the Aetolians weakened by the captivity of their leading men, the Achaeans were the only people of all Greece who seemed to the Romans, at that time, to be too powerful; not, indeed, from any extraordinary strength existing in any individual city, but because of a confederacy maintained among all the cities. For the Achaeans, though distributed through several towns, like so many different members, yet formed but one body and had but one government, and warded off danger from any single city by the united strength of all. To the Romans, therefore, as they were seeking a pretext for war, fortune opportunely presented the complaints of the Spartans, whose lands the Achaeans, in consequence of hatred subsisting between the two people, had laid waste. Answer was accordingly made by the senate to the Spartans, that 'they would send commissioners into Greece, to examine into the affairs of their allies, and to prevent further injury;' but secret directions were at the same time given the commissioners, that 'they should dissolve the confederacy among the Achaeans, and make each city independent of the rest, that they might thus the more easily be reduced to obedience, while, if any cities were obstinate, they might be humbled by force.' The commissioners, in consequence, having summoned the chief men of the cities to meet them at Corinth, read to them the decree of the senate, and signified what their intentions were; declaring it 'expedient for all, that each city should have its own independent laws and government.' When this communication was known throughout the city, the people being thrown as it were into a fury, massacred all the foreigners that were there, and would have laid violent hands on the Roman commissioners themselves, had they not fled away in haste as soon as they found a disturbance rising.

§ 34.2  When the news of these occurrences reached Rome, the senate at once decreed war against the Achaeans, giving the conduct of it to the consul Mummius, who, conveying over his army with the utmost expedition, and actively providing himself with all necessaries, proceeded to offer the enemy battle. As for the Achaeans, as if they had undertaken a matter of no difficulty in going to war with the Romans, every thing was neglected and out of order amongst them. Thinking of plunder, too, and not of fighting, they brought vehicles to carry away the spoils of the enemy, and stationed their wives and children on the hills to view the engagement. But when the battle commenced, they were cut to pieces before the eyes of their kindred, and afforded them only a dismal spectacle and sad remembrances of grief. Their wives and children, also, were changed from spectators into prisoners, and became the prey of the enemy. The city of Corinth itself was razed to the ground, and the inhabitants sold for slaves, that, by such an example, a dread of insurrection might be thrown on other cities.
During these transactions, Antiochus, king of Syria, made war upon Ptolemy king of Egypt, his elder sister's son, a prince naturally inactive, and so weakened by daily luxurious indulgence, that he not only neglected the duties of his royal station, but even, through excessive gluttony, had lost all human feeling. Being expelled from his throne, he fled to Alexandria to his younger brother Ptolemy, and, having shared the kingdom with him, they jointly sent ambassadors to the Roman senate, imploring assistance, and the protection of their alliance; and their solicitations prevailed with the senate.

§ 34.3  Accordingly Popilius was despatched, in the character of ambassador, to Antiochus, to desire him 'to refrain from invading Egypt, or, if he had already entered it, to quit it without delay.' Having found him in Egypt, and the king having offered to kiss him (for Antiochus, when he was a hostage at Rome, had been friendly with Popilius among others), Popilius said that 'private friendship must be set aside, when the commands of his country stood in the way,' and having produced and delivered to him the decree of the senate, but observing that he hesitated, and referred the consideration of it to his friends, he drew a circle round him with a staff which he carried in his hand, so large that it also enclosed his friends, and desired him 'to decide on the spot, and not to go out of that ring, till he had given an answer to the senate whether he would have peace or war with Rome.' This firmness so daunted the king's spirit, that he replied that 'he would obey the senate.'
Antiochus, on returning to his kingdom, died, leaving a son quite a boy. Guardians being assigned him by the people, his uncle Demetrius, who was a hostage at Rome, and who had heard of the death of his brother, went to the senate, and said that 'he had come to Rome as a hostage while his brother was alive, but that now he was dead, he did not know for whom he was a hostage. It was therefore reasonable,' he added, 'that he should be released to claim the throne, which, as he had conceded it to his elder brother by the law of nations, now of right belonged to himself, as he was superior to the orphan in age.' But finding that he was not released by the senate (their private opinion being that the throne would be better in the hands of the young prince than in his), he left the city on pretence of going to hunt, and secretly took ship at Ostia, with such as attended him in his flight. On arriving in Syria, he was favourably received by the whole people, and the orphan being put to death, the throne was resigned to him by the guardians.

§ 34.4  About the same time, Prusias, king of Bithynia, conceived a resolution to kill his son Nicomedes, with a desire to benefit his younger children by a second marriage, whom he had sent to Rome. But the design was betrayed to the young prince by those who had undertaken the execution of it, and who exhorted him, since he had become an object of his father's cruelty, 'to anticipate his schemes, and turn the villainy on the head of its contriver.' Nor was it difficult to prevail upon him; and when, being sent for, he had come into his father's dominions, he was immediately selected as king. Prusias, deprived of his throne by his son, and reduced to a private station, was forsaken even by his slaves. While he lived in retirement, he was killed by his son, with no less guilt than that with which he himself had ordered his son to be put to death.

§ 35.1  DEMETRIUS, having possessed himself of the throne of Syria, and thinking that peace might be dangerous in the unsettled state of his affairs, resolved to enlarge the borders of his kingdom, and increase his power, by making war upon his neighbours. Accordingly, being incensed with Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, for having disdained to marry his sister, he kindly received his brother Orophernes, who had been unjustly deprived of the throne, and who came to him as a suppliant; and, rejoicing that a plausible pretext for war was afforded him, determined to reinstate him in his dominions. But Orophernes, with extreme ingratitude, having entered into a compact with the people of Antioch, at that time enraged against Antiochus, formed a plot to expel him from his throne by whom he was to have been restored to his own. The conspiracy being discovered, Demetrius spared indeed the life of Orophernes, that Ariarathes might not be freed from the dread of war on the part of his brother, but caused him to be apprehended, and kept a close prisoner at Seleucia. Nor were the people of Antioch so alarmed at this discovery as to desist from their rebellion. Being in consequence attacked by Demetrius, but receiving aid from Ptolemy king of Egypt, Attalus king of Asia, and Ariarathes of Cappadocia, they suborned one Bala, a young man of mean condition, to claim the throne of Syria, on pretence that it had been his father's, by force of arms; and that nothing might be wanting to render him insolent, the name of Alexander was given him, and he was reported to be the son of King Antiochus. And such was the detestation of Demetrius among all classes, that not only royal power, but also nobility of birth, was unanimously attributed to his rival. Alexander, in consequence, amidst this wonderful change of fortune, forgetful of his original meanness, and supported by the strength of almost all the east, made war upon Demetrius, and, having defeated him, deprived him at once of his throne and his life. Demetrius, however, did not want courage to resist him in the field; for he both routed the enemy in the first encounter, and, when the kings renewed the contest, he killed several thousands in the struggle. But at last he fell, with his spirit still unsubdued, and fighting most valiantly, among the thickest of the enemy.

§ 35.2  At the commencement of the war, Demetrius had entrusted two of his sons to a friend of his at Cnidus, with a large quantity of treasure, that they might be removed from the perils of the war, and might be preserved, if fortune should so order it, to avenge their father's death. The elder of the two, Demetrius, who had passed the age of boyhood, hearing of the luxurious life of Alexander (whom his unexpected grandeur, and the fascination of enjoyments to which he was a stranger, held captive as it were in his palace, idling away his days among troops of concubines), fell upon him, with the assistance of some Cretans, when he was quite at his ease, and free from all apprehension of danger. The people of Antioch, too, to atone for their injuries to the father by new services, devoted themselves to him; and his father's soldiers, fired with love for the young prince, and preferring the obligation of their former oath to the haughty rule of the new king, ranged themselves on the side of Demetrius; and thus Alexander, cast down with no less violent a freak of fortune than that with which he had been raised, was defeated and killed in the first battle, paying the penalty of his conduct both to Demetrius whom he had slain, and to Antiochus, from whom he had pretended to derive his birth.

§ 36.1  DEMETRIUS, having gained possession of his father's throne, and being spoiled by his good fortune, fell, from the effects of the vices of youth, into habits of indolence, and incurred as much contempt for his slothfulness, as his father had incurred hatred for his pride. As the cities, in consequence, began every where to revolt from his government, he resolved. in order to wipe off the stain of effeminacy from his character, to make war upon the Parthians. The people of the east beheld his approach with pleasure, both on account of the cruelty of Arsacides, king of the Parthians, and because having been accustomed to the old government of the Macedonians, they viewed the pride of the new race with indignation. Being assisted, accordingly, by auxiliary troops from the Persians, Elymaeans, and Bactrians, he routed the Persians in several pitched battles. At length, however, being deceived by a pretended offer of peace, he was made prisoner, and being led from city to city, was shown as a spectacle to the people that had revolted, in mockery of the favour that they had shown him. Being afterwards sent into Hyrcania, he was treated kindly, and suitably to the dignity of his former condition.
During the course of these proceedings, Trypho, in Syria, who had exerted his efforts to be made by the people guardian to Antiochus, the step-son of Demetrius, killed his ward, and seized upon the Syrian throne. When he had enjoyed it for some time, and the liking of the people for his new government began at length to wear off, he was defeated in a battle by Antiochus, the brother of Demetrius, who was then quite a boy, and who had been educated in Asia; and the throne of Syria again returned to the family of Demetrius.
Antiochus, remembering that his father had been hated for his pride, and his brother despised for his indolence, was anxious not to fall into the same vices, and having married Cleopatra, his brother's wife, proceeded to make war, with the utmost vigour, on the provinces that had revolted through the badness of his brother's government, and, after subduing them, re-united them to his dominions. He also reduced the Jews, who, during the Macedonian rule under his father Demetrius, had recovered their liberty by force of arms; and whose strength was such, that they would submit to no Macedonian king after him, but, electing rulers from their own people, harassed Syria with fierce wars.

§ 36.2  The origin of the Jews was from Damascus, a most famous city of Syria, whence also the Assyrian kings and queen Semiramis sprung. The name of the city was given it from King Damascus, in honour of whom the Syrians consecrated the sepulchre of his wife Arathis as a temple, and regard her as a goddess worthy of the most sacred worship After Damascus, Azelus, and then Adores, Abraham, and Israhel were their kings. But a prosperous family of ten sons made Israhel more famous than any of his ancestors. Having divided, his kingdom, in consequence, into ten governments, he committed them to his sons, and called the whole people Jews from Judas, who died soon after the division, and ordered his memory to be held in veneration by them all, as his portion was shared among them. The youngest of the brothers was Joseph, whom the others, fearing his extraordinary abilities, secretly made prisoner, and sold to some foreign merchants. Being carried by them into Egypt, and having there, by his great powers of mind, made himself master of the arts of magic, he found in a short time great favour with the king; for he was eminently skilled in prodigies, and was the first to establish the science of interpreting dreams; and nothing, indeed, of divine or human law seems to have been unknown to him; so that he foretold a dearth in the land some years before it happened, and all Egypt would have perished by famine, had not the king, by his advice, ordered the corn to be laid up for several years; such being the proofs of his knowledge, that his admonitions seemed to proceed, not from a mortal, but a god. His son was Moses, whom, besides the inheritance of his father's knowledge, the comeliness of his person also recommended. But the Egyptians, being troubled with scabies and leprosy, and moved by some oracular prediction, expelled him, with those who had the disease, out of Egypt, that the distemper might not spread among a greater number. Becoming leader, accordingly, of the exiles, he carried off by stealth the sacred utensils of the Egyptians, who, endeavouring to recover them by force of arms, were obliged by tempests to return home; and Moses, having reached Damascus, the birth-place of his forefathers, took possession of mount Sinai, on his arrival at which, after having suffered, together with his followers, from a seven days' fast in the deserts of Arabia, he consecrated every seventh day (according to the present custom of the nation) for a fast-day, and to be perpetually called a sabbath, because that day had ended at once their hunger and their wanderings. And as they remembered that they had been driven from Egypt for fear of spreading infection, they took care, in order that they might not become odious, from the same cause, to the inhabitants of the country, to have no communication with strangers; a rule which, from having been adopted on that particular occasion, gradually became a custom and part of their religion. After the death of Moses, his son Aruas was made priest for celebrating the rites which they brought from Egypt, and soon after created king; and ever afterwards it was a custom among the Jews to have the same chiefs both for kings and priests; and, by uniting religion with the administration of justice, it is almost incredible how powerful they became.

§ 36.3  The wealth of the nation was augmented by the duties on balm, which is produced only in that country; for there is a valley, encircled with an unbroken ridge of hills, as it were a wall, in the form of a camp, the space enclosed being about two hundred acres, and called by the name of Hierichus; in which valley there is a wood, remarkable both for its fertility and pleasantness, and chequered with groves of palm and balm-trees. The balm-trees resemble pitch-trees in shape, except that they are not so tall, and are dressed after the manner of vines; and at a certain season of the year they exude the balm. But the place is not less admired for the gentle warmth of the sun in it, than for its fertility; for though the sun in that climate is the hottest in the world, there is constantly in this valley a certain natural subdued tepidity in the air.
In this country also is the lake Asphaltites, which, from its magnitude and the stillness of its waters is called the Dead Sea; for it is neither agitated by the winds, because the bituminous matter, with which all its water is clogged, resists even hurricanes; nor does it admit of navigation, for all inanimate substances sink to the bottom; and it will support no wood, except such as is smeared with alum. The first that conquered the Jews was Xerxes, king of Persia. Subsequently they fell, with the Persians themselves, under the power of Alexander the Great; and they were then long subject to the kings of Syria, under its Macedonian dynasty. On revolting from Demetrius, and soliciting the favour of the Romans, they were the first of all the eastern people that regained their liberty, the Romans readily affecting to bestow what it was not in their power to give.

§ 36.4  During the same period, in which the government of Syria was passing from hand to hand among its new sovereigns, King Attalus in Asia polluted a most flourishing kingdom, which he inherited from his uncle Eumenes, by murders of his friends and executions of his relatives, pretending sometimes that his old mother, and sometimes his wife Berenice, had been destroyed by their wicked contrivances. After this atrocious outburst of rage, he assumed a mean dress, let his beard and hair grow like those of persons under legal prosecution, never went abroad or showed himself to the people, held no feasts in his palace, and behaved in no respect, indeed, like a man in his senses; so that he seemed to be paying penalty for his crimes to the manes of those whom he had murdered. Abandoning the government of his kingdom, too, he employed himself in digging and sowing in his garden, mixing noxious herbs with harmless ones, and sending them all indiscriminately, moistened with poisonous juices, as special presents to his friends. From this employment he turned to that of working in brass, and amused himself with modelling in wax, and casting and hammering out brazen figures. He then proceeded to make a monument for his mother, but while he was busy about the work, he contracted a disorder from the heat of the sun, and died on the seventh day afterwards. By his will the Roman people was appointed his heir.
There was however a son of Eumenes, named Aristonicus, not born in wedlock, but of an Ephesian mistress, the daughter of a player on the harp; and this young man, after the death of Attalus, laid claim to the throne of Asia as having been his father's. When he had fought several successful battles against the provinces, which, from fear of the Romans, refused to submit to him, and seemed to be established as king. Asia was assigned by the senate to the command of Licinius Crassus, who, being more eager to plunder the treasures of Attalus than to distinguish himself in the field, and fighting a battle, at the end of the year, with his army in disorder, was defeated, and paid the penalty for his blind avarice by the loss of his life. The consul Perperna being sent in his place, reduced Aristonicus, who was defeated in the first engagement, under his power, and carried off the treasures of Attalus, bequeathed to the Roman people, on ship-board to Rome. Marcus Aquilius, Perperna's successor, envying his good fortune, hastened, with the utmost expedition, to snatch Aristonicus from Perperna's hands, as if he ought rather to grace his own triumph. But the death of Perperna put an end to the rivalry between the consuls. Asia, thus becoming a province of the Romans, brought to Rome its vices together with its wealth.

§ 37.1  AFTER Aristonicus was taken prisoner, the people of Marseilles sent ambassadors to Rome to intercede for the Phocaeans their friends, whose city and even name the senate had ordered to be destroyed, because, both at that time, and previously in the war against Antiochus, they had taken up arms against the Roman people. The embassy obtained from the senate a pardon for them. Rewards were then bestowed on the princes who had given aid against Aristonicus; to Mithridates of Pontus was allotted Greater Phrygia; to the sons of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, who had fallen in that war, were assigned Lycaonia and Cilicia; and the Roman people were more faithful to the sons of their ally, than their mother was to her children, since by the one the kingdom of the young princes was increased, by the other they were deprived of life. For Laodice, out of six children, all boys, whom she had by king Ariarathes (fearing that, when some of them were grown up, she would not long enjoy the administration of the kingdom), killed five by poison; but the care of their relatives, rescued from the barbarous hands of their mother one infant, who, after the death of Laodice (for the people killed her for her cruelty), became sole king.
Mithridates also, being cut off by sudden death, left a son, who was likewise named Mithridates, and whose greatness was afterwards such that he surpassed all kings, not only of his own but of preceding ages, in glory, and carried on war against the Romans, with various success, for forty-six years, during which, though the most eminent generals, Sulla, Lucullus, and others, and at last, Cnaeus Pompey, overcame him, yet it was only so that he rose greater and more glorious to renew the contest, and was rendered even more formidable by his defeats And he died at last, not from being overpowered by his enemies, but by a voluntary death, full of years and on the throne of his ancestors, and leaving his son his heir.

§ 37.2  The future greatness of this prince even signs from heaven had foretold; for in the year in which he was born, as well as in that in which he began to reign, a comet blazed forth with such splendour, for seventy successive days on each occasion, that the whole sky seemed to be on fire. It covered a fourth part of the firmament with its train, and obscured the light of the sun with its effulgence; and in rising and setting it took up the space of four hours. During his boyhood his life was attempted by plots on the part of his guardians, who, mounting him on a restive horse, forced him to ride and hurl the javelin; but when these attempts failed, as his management of the horse was superior to his years, they tried to cut him off by poison. He, however, being on his guard against such treachery, frequently took antidotes, and so fortified himself, by exquisite preventives, against their malice, that when he was an old man, and wished to die by poison, he was unable. But dreading lest his enemies should effect that by the sword which they could not accomplish by drugs, he pretended a fancy for hunting, in the indulgence of which he never went under a roof, for seven years, either in the city or the country, but rambled through the forests, and passed his nights in various places among the mountains, none knowing where he was. He accustomed himself to escape from the wild beasts, or pursue them, by speed of foot, and by this means, while he avoided the plots laid for him, he inured himself to endure all manner of bodily exertion.

§ 37.3  When he assumed the government of the kingdom, he turned his thoughts, not so much to the regulation of his dominions, as to the enlargement of them. He in consequence subdued, with extraordinary success, the Scythians, who had previously been invincible, who had cut off Zopyrion, the general of Alexander the Great, with an army of thirty thousand men, who had massacred Cyrus, king of the Persians, with two hundred thousand, and who had routed Philip, king of Macedonia. Having thus increased his forces, he made himself master of Pontus, and afterwards of Cappadocia. Fixing his thoughts on the conquest of Asia, he went privately, with some of his friends, out of his kingdom, and travelled through the whole of it without the knowledge of any one, making himself acquainted with the situations of the towns and the nature of the country. He next went into Bithynia, and, as if he were already master of Asia, took note of whatever might aid him in attempting the conquest of it. He then returned into his country, when they had begun to suppose that he was dead, and found an infant son born to him, of whom his wife Laodice, who was also his sister, had been delivered in his absence. But amidst the congratulations that he received on his arrival, and on the birth of his, son, he was in danger of being poisoned; for his sister and wife Laodice, believing him dead, had yielded herself to the embraces of his friends, and, as if she could conceal the crime, of which she had been guilty, by a greater, prepared poison for him on his return. Mithridates, however, having notice of her intention from a female servant, avenged the plot upon the heads of its contrivers.

§ 37.4  When winter came on, he did not spend his time in feasts, but in the field, not in idleness, but in exercise, not among companions in licentiousness, but contending among his equals in age, either in riding, running, or trials of strength. He inured his army also, by daily exercise, to endure fatigue equally with himself; and thus, while he was himself unconquerable, he rendered his army unconquerable likewise. Entering then into an alliance with Nicomedes, he invaded Paphlagonia, and divided it, after it was conquered, among his allies. But when information reached the senate that it was in possession of the two kings, they sent ambassadors to both, desiring that 'the country should be restored to its former condition.' Mithridates, thinking himself now a match for the power of the Romans, haughtily replied, that 'the kingdom had belonged to his father by inheritance, and that he wondered that a dispute, which had never been raised against his father, should be raised against himself;' and, not at all alarmed by threats, he seized also on Galatia. As for Nicomedes, he replied that 'as he could not maintain that he had any right to the country, he would restore it to its legitimate sovereign;' and, altering his son's name to Pylaemenes, the common name of the Paphlagonian kings, he assigned it to him; and thus, as if he had restored the throne to the royal line, he continued to occupy the country on this frivolous pretext. The ambassadors, when they found themselves thus set at nought, returned to Rome.

§ 38.1  MITHRIDATES having commenced his cruelties by killing his wife, resolved also on removing the sons of his other sister Laodice, (whose husband Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, he had treacherously cut off by the agency of a certain Gordius,) thinking that nothing was gained by the death of the father, if the young princes should possess themselves of his throne, with a desire of which he himself was strongly inflamed. As he was meditating on this scheme, Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, proceeded to occupy Cappadocia, while it. was left defenceless by the death of its sovereign; and Mithridates, on receiving intelligence of his movements, sent assistance to his sister, on pretence of affection for her, to enable her to drive Nicomedes out of Cappadocia. But Laodice had already made a compact to marry Nicomedes; and Mithridates, being indignant at this arrangement, expelled the garrisons of Nicomedes from Cappadocia, and restored the throne to his sister's son; an act of the highest merit, had no treachery followed it. But some months after, he pretended that he wished to restore Gordius, whom he had used as his agent in the assassination of Ariarathes, to his country; hoping that, if the young man opposed his recal, he should have a pretext for war, or, that if he consented to it, the son might be taken off by the same instrument by which he had procured the death of the father. When the young Ariarthes understood his intention, he expressed great indignation that the murderer of his father should be recalled from banishment, especially by his uncle, and assembled a great army. Mithridates, after bringing into the field eighty thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and six hundred chariots armed with scythes, (while Ariarathes, by the aid of the neighbouring princes, had no less a force), fearing the uncertain event of a battle, turned his thoughts to treachery, and, inviting the young prince to a conference, and having, at the same time, a weapon concealed in his lower garments, he said to the searcher, who was sent by Ariarathes, after the manner of princes on such occasions, to examine his person, and who was feeling very carefully about his groin, that 'he had better take care, lest he should find another sort of weapon than he was seeking.' Having thus covered his treachery with a joke, he killed his nephew, (after drawing him aside from his friends as if to confer with him secretly), in the sight of both armies, and bestowed the kingdom of Cappadocia on his own son, a child eight years old, giving him the name of Ariarathes, and appointing Gordius his guardian.

§ 38.2  The Cappadocians, however, being harassed by the cruelty and licentiousness of their rulers, revolted from Mithridates, and sent for the brother of their king, who was also called Ariarathes, from Asia where he was being educated. Upon this prince Mithridates again made war, defeated him, and drove him from Cappadocia; and not long after the young man died of a disease brought on by anxiety. After his death, Nicomedes, fearing lest Mithridates, from having added Cappadocia to his dominions, should also seize upon Bithynia which was near it, instructed a youth, of extraordinary beauty, to apply for the throne of Bithynia from the senate, as having been his father's, pretending that Ariarathes had not had two sons only, but a third. He sent his wife Laodice, also, to Rome, to testify that her husband had three children born to him. Mithridates, when he heard of this contrivance, despatched Gordius, with equal effrontery, to Rome, to assure the senate that 'the young prince, to whom he had assigned the throne of Cappadocia, was the son of that Ariarathes who had fallen in the war against Aristonicus when giving assistance to the Romans.' But the senate, perceiving the ambitious designs of the two kings, who were seizing the dominions of others on false pretences, took away Cappadocia from Mithridates, and, to console him, Paphlagonia from Nicomedes; and that it might not prove an offence to the kings, that any thing should be taken from them and given to others, both people were offered their liberty. But the Cappadocians declined the favour, saying that 'their nation could not subsist without a king.' Ariobarzanes was in consequence appointed their king by the senate.

§ 38.3  The king of Armenia, at this time, was Tigranes, who had long before been committed as a hostage to the Parthians, but had subsequently been sent back to take possession of his father's throne. This prince Mithridates was extremely desirous to engage as an ally in the war, which he had long meditated, against the Romans. By the agency of Gordius, accordingly, he prevailed upon him to make war, having not the least thought of offending the Romans by the act, on Ariobarzanes, a prince of inactive disposition; and, that no deceit might seem to be intended, gave him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. On the first approach of Tigranes, Ariobarzanes packed up his baggage and went off to Rome. Thus, through the instrumentality of Tigranes, Cappadocia was destined to fall again under the power of Mithridates. Nicomedes, too, dying at the same time, his son, who was also named Nicomedes, was driven from his dominions by Mithridates, and, having gone as a suppliant to Rome, it was decreed by the senate that 'both the kings should be restored to their thrones;' and Aquilius and Manlius Maltinus were commissioned to see the decree executed. On being informed of this proceeding, Mithridates formed an alliance with Tigranes, with a resolution at once to go to war with the Romans; and they agreed that the cities and territory that should be taken from the enemy should be the share of Mithridates, and that the prisoners, and all booty that could be carried off, should belong to Tigranes. In the next place, well understanding what a war he was provoking, he sent ambassadors to the Cimbri, the Gallograecians, the Sarmatians, and the Bastarnians, to request aid; for all the time that he had been meditating war with the Romans, he had been gaining over all these nations by acts of kindness and liberality. He sent also for an army from Scythia, and armed the whole eastern world against the Romans. Accordingly, without much difficulty, he defeated Aquilius and Maltinus, who had an army wholly composed of Asiatic troops, and having put them to flight, as well as Nicomedes, he was received with great joy by the various cities, in which he found a great quantity of gold and silver, and vast warlike stores, laid up by the care of former princes. Taking possession of these, he remitted the cities all sorts of debts, public and private, and granted them an immunity from tribute for five years.
He then assembled his troops, and animated them, by various exhortations, to pursue the war with the Romans, or in Asia. His speech, on this occasion, I have thought of such importance that I insert a copy of it in this brief work. Pompeius Trogus has given it in the oblique form, as he finds fault with Livy and Sallust for having exceeded the proper limits of history, by inserting direct speeches in their works only to display their own eloquence.

§ 38.4  'It were to be wished,' he said, 'that it were still in his power to deliberate whether he should choose peace or war with the Romans; but that resistance should be offered against aggressors, not even those doubted who were without hope of victory; for all men draw the sword against robbers, if not to save their lives, at least to take revenge. But since it was not now a question, when they had come to hostilities (not merely in intention but in the field of battle), they must consider in what manner, and with what hopes, they could continue the contest which they had commenced. That he felt certain of victory, if they had but courage; and that the Romans might be conquered, was known, not more to himself than to his soldiers, who had routed both Aquilius in Bithynia and Maltinus in Cappadocia. And if examples from other nations would weigh more with them than their own experience, he had heard that the Romans had been overthrown in three battles by Pyrrhus, when he had with him not more than five thousand Macedonians; he had heard that Hannibal continued victorious in Italy for sixteen years, and that it was not the strength of the Romans, but the violence of his own countrymen's envy and jealousy, that prevented him from taking the city of Rome itself; he had heard that the people of Transalpine Gaul had invaded Italy, and founded many great cities in it, and that the same Gauls had possessed themselves of a larger territory there than in Asia, though Asia was considered by no means a warlike country; he had been informed that Rome was not only taken but conquered by the Gauls, the top of one hill only being left in possession of the inhabitants, and that the enemy was not made to retire by the sword, but by gold. But that the power of the Gauls, which had always so much alarmed the Romans, he himself numbered among his own forces; for that these Gauls, who inhabited Asia, differed only in situation from the Gauls who had settled themselves in Italy; that they had the same extraction, courage, and mode of fighting; and that, as to sagacity, the Asiatic Gauls must have more than the others, inasmuch as they had pursued a longer and more difficult march through Illyricum and Thrace, having traversed those territories with almost more labour than it had cost them to acquire those in which they settled. That he had heard that Italy itself, since the time that Rome was built, had never been fairly brought under subjection to her, but that constantly, year after year, some of its people persisted in contending for liberty, and others for a share in the government; and that, by many states of Italy, armies of the Romans had been out off by the sword, and by others, with a new species of insult, sent under the yoke? But that, not to dwell on past instances, all Italy, at the present time, was in arms in the Marsian war, demanding, not liberty, but a participation in the government and the rights of citizenship. Nor was the city more grievously harassed by war from its neighbours in Italy, than by intestine broils among its leading men; and that a civil war, indeed, was much more dangerous to it than an Italian one. At the same time, too, the Cimbri from Germany, many thousands of wild and savage people, had rushed upon Italy like a tempest; and that in wars with such enemies, though the Romans might be able to resist them singly, yet by them all they must be overpowered; so that he thought they would even be too much occupied to make head against his attack.

§ 38.5  'That they ought therefore to take advantage of the present circumstances, and seize the opportunity of increasing their power, lest, if they remained inactive while the Romans were occupied, they should hereafter find greater difficulty in contending with them, when they were quiet and unmolested. For it was not a question whether they should take up arms or not, but whether they should do so at a time favourable to themselves or to their enemies. That war, indeed, had been commenced against him by the Romans, when they took from him, in his minority, the Greater Phrygia, a country which they had granted to his father as a recompense for the succours which he had afforded them in the war against Aristonicus, and which Seleucus Callinicus had given to his great-grandfather Mithridates, as a dowry with his daughter. When they required him to quit Paphlagonia, too, was not that a renewal of hostility, a possession which had fallen to his father, not by conquest or force of arms, but by adoption in a will, and as an inheritance on the death of its own sovereigns? That, under the severity of such decrees, he had not been able to soften them by compliance, or to prevent them from assuming harsher measures towards him every day. For in what particular had he not submitted to their requisition? Had not Phrygia and Paphlagonia been given up? Had not his son been removed from Cappadocia, which he had gained, as a conqueror, by the common law of nations? Yet his conquest had been forced from him by those who had nothing themselves but what they had got in war. Was not Christos, king of Bithynia, on whom the senate had decreed that war should be made, killed by him for their gratification? Yet that whatever Gordius or Tigranes did, was imputed to him; that liberty was readily granted by the senate to Cappadocia (liberty of which they deprived other nations), on purpose to affront him; and that when the people of Cappadocia, instead of the liberty offered them, begged to have Gordius for their king, they did not obtain their request merely because Gordius was his friend. That Nicomedes had made war upon him by their direction; that when he was going to avenge himself, he was obstructed by them; and that their pretence for making war on him at present would be, that he had not given, up his dominions to Nicomedes, the son of a public dancer, to be ravaged with impunity.

§ 38.6  'That it was not the offences of kings, but their power and majesty, for which they attacked them; and that they had not acted thus against himself alone, but against all other princes at all times. That they had treated his grandfather Pharnaces in the same manner, who, by the arbitration of his relatives, was made successor to Eumenes king of Pergamus; that Eumenes himself, again, in whose fleet they had for the first time been transported into Asia, and by whose army, rather than their own, they had subdued both Antiochus the Great and the Gauls in Asia, and soon after king Perses in Macedonia, had been treated by them as an enemy, and had been forbidden to come into Italy, though they made war, which they thought it would be disgraceful to make upon himself, upon his son Aristonicus. No king's services were thought more important by them than those of Masinissa, king of Numidia; to him it was ascribed that Hannibal was conquered; to him, that Syphax was made prisoner; to him. that Carthage was destroyed; he was ranked with the two Africani, as a third saviour of the city; yet a war had lately been carried on with his grandson in Africa, so implacably, that they would not save the vanquished prince, for the sake of his grandfather's memory, from being cast into gaol, and led in triumph as a public spectacle. That they had made it a law to themselves to hate all kings, because they themselves had had such kings at whose names they might well blush, being either shepherds of the Aborigines, or soothsayers of the Sabines, or exiles from the Corinthians, or servants and slaves of the Tuscans, or, what was the most honourable name amongst them, the proud; and as their founders, according to their report, were suckled by the teats of a wolf, so the whole race had the disposition of wolves, being insatiable of blood and tyranny, and eager and hungry after riches.

§ 38.7  'But as for himself, if he were compared with them as to respectability of descent, he was of more honourable origin than that mixed mass of settlers, counting his ancestors, on his father's side, from Cyrus and Darius, the founders of the Persian empire, and those on his mother's side from Alexander the Great and Seleucus Nicator, who established the Macedonian empire; or, if their people were compared with his own, he was at the head of nations, which were not merely a match for the power of Rome, but had withstood even that of Macedonia. That none of the people under his command had ever endured a foreign yoke, or obeyed any rulers but their own native princes; for whether they looked on Cappadocia or Paphlagonia, Pontus or Bithynia, or the Greater and Lesser Armenia, they would find that neither Alexander, who subdued all Asia, nor any of his successors or posterity, had meddled with any one of those nations. That as to Scythia, only two kings before him, Darius and Philip, had ventured, not indeed to reduce it, but merely to enter it, and had with difficulty secured a retreat from it; yet that from that country he had procured a great part of his force to oppose the Romans. That he had entered on the Pontic wars with much more timidity and diffidence, as he was then young and inexperienced. That the Scythians, in addition to their arms and courage, were defended by deserts and cold, by which was shown the great labour and danger of making war there, while, amidst such hardships, there was not even hope of spoil from a wandering enemy, destitute, not only of money, but of settled habitations. But that he was now entering upon a different sort of war; for there was no climate more temperate than that of Asia, nor any country more fertile or more attractive from the number of its cities; and that they would spend a great part of their time, not as in military service, but as at a festival, in a war of which it was hard to say whether it would be more easy or more gainful, as they themselves might feel assured, if they had but heard of the late riches of the kingdom of Attalus, or the ancient opulence of Lydia and Ionia, which they were not going to acquire by conquest, but to take possession of; while Asia so eagerly expected him, that it even invited him in words, so much had the rapacity, of the proconsuls, the sales of the tax-gatherers, and the disgraceful mode of conducting law-suits, possessed the people with a hatred of the Romans. That they had only to follow him bravely, and learn what so great an army might do under his conduct, whom they had seen seizing Cappadocia, after killing its king, not with the aid of any troops, but by his own personal effort, and who alone, of all mankind, had subdued all Pontus and Scythia, which no one before him could safely penetrate or approach. As to his justice and generosity, he was willing to take the soldiers themselves, who had experienced them, as witnesses to what they were; and he had those proofs to bring of the latter, that he alone, of all kings, possessed not only his father's dominions, but foreign kingdoms, acquired by inheritance through his liberality, namely, Colchis, Paphlagonia, and the Bosporus.'

§ 38.8  Having thus encouraged his troops, he entered upon the war with the Romans, twenty-three years after his accession to the throne.
In Egypt, meanwhile, on the death of Ptolemy, the throne, with the queen Cleopatra his sister in marriage, was offered by an embassy to the Ptolemy who was reigning at Cyrene. Ptolemy, rejoiced at having recovered his brother's throne without a struggle (for which he knew that his brother's son was intended, both by his mother Cleopatra and the inclination of the nobles), but being incensed at all that had opposed his interests, ordered, as soon as he entered Alexandria, the partisans of the young prince to be put to death. He also killed the youth himself on the day of his nuptials (when he took his mother to wife), amidst the splendour of feasts, the ceremonies of religion, and in the very embraces of his parent, and thus went to the couch of his sister stained with the blood of her child. Nor was he afterwards more merciful to those of his subjects who had invited him to the throne, for license to use the sword being given to the foreign soldiers, all places daily ran with blood. He divorced his sister, too, offering violence to her daughter, a young maiden, and then taking her in marriage. The people, terrified at these proceedings, fled to other countries, and became exiles from their native soil through fear of death. Ptolemy, in consequence, being left alone with his soldiers in so large a city, and finding himself a king, not of men, but of empty houses, invited, by a proclamation, foreigners to become residents in it. While people were flocking thither, he went out to meet some Roman commissioners, Scipio Africanus, Spurius Mummius, and Lucius Metellus, who had come to inspect the dominions of their allies. But he appeared as ridiculous to the Romans as he was cruel to his own subjects; for he was disagreeable in countenance, short in stature, and, from his obesity, more like a beast than a man. This deformity the extraordinary thinness of his apparel, which was even transparent, made more remarkable, just as if that was affectedly obtruded on the sight which by a modest man would have been most carefully concealed. After the departure of the commissioners, (of whom Africanus, as he surveyed the city, was an object of interest to the Alexandrians), finding that he had become hateful even to the foreigners whom he had invited, he withdrew secretly, for fear of plots against his life, into voluntary exile, accompanied by a son that he had by his sister, and by his wife, her mother's rival, and, having collected an army of mercenaries, made war at once upon his sister and his country. He next sent for his eldest son from Cyrene, and put him to death, when the people began to pull down his statues and images, and he, imagining that this was done to please his sister, killed the son that he had by her, and contrived to have the body, divided into portions and arranged in a chest, presented to the mother at a feast on his birth-day. This deed occasioned grief and sorrow, not only to the queen, but also to the whole city, and threw such a gloom over a banquet intended to be most joyous, that the whole palace was suddenly filled with mourning. The attention of the nobility, in consequence, being turned from feasting to a funeral, they exhibited the mangled limbs to the people, and let them see, by the murder of his son, what they were to expect from their king.

§ 38.9  Cleopatra, when the mourning for the loss of her son was over, finding herself pressed by war on the part of her brother, sent ambassadors to request aid from Demetrius king of Syria, a prince whose changes of fortune had been numerous and remarkable. After making war, as has been said above, upon the Parthians, and gaining the victory in several battles, he was suddenly surprised by an ambuscade, and, having lost his army, was taken prisoner. Arsacides, king of the Parthians, having sent him into Hyrcania, not only paid him, with royal magnanimity, the respect due to a prince, but gave him his daughter also in marriage, and promised to recover for him the throne of Syria, which Trypho had usurped in his absence. After the death of this king, Demetrius, despairing of being allowed to return, being unable to endure captivity, and weary of a private, though splendid, life, secretly planned a mode of escaping to his own country. His counsellor and companion in the scheme was his friend Callimander, who, after Demetrius was taken prisoner, had come in a Parthian dress from Syria, with some guides that he had hired, through the deserts of Arabia to Babylon. But Phraates, who had succeeded Arsacides, brought him back, for he was overtaken in his flight by the speed of a party of horse sent after him by a shorter road. When he was brought to the king, not only pardon, but a testimony of esteem for his fidelity, was given to Callimander, but as for Demetrius, he sent him back, after having severely reproached him, into Hyrcania to his wife, and directed that he should be kept in stricter confinement than before. Some time after, when children that were born to him had caused him to be more trusted, he again attempted flight, with the same friend as his attendant, but was overtaken, with equal ill-fortune, near the borders of his dominions, and being again brought to the king, was ordered out of his sight, as a person whom he could not endure to see. But being then also spared, for the sake of his wife and children, he was remanded into Hyrcania, the country of his punishment, and presented with golden dice, as a reproach for his childish levity. But it was not compassion, or respect for ties of blood, that was the cause of this extraordinary clemency of the Parthians toward Demetrius; the reason was, that they had some designs on the kingdom of Syria, and intended to make use of Demetrius against his brother Antiochus, as circumstances, the course of time, or the fortune of war, might require.

§ 38.10  Antiochus, having heard of their designs, and thinking it proper to be first in the field, led forth an army, which he had inured to service by many wars with his neighbours, against the Parthians. But his preparations for luxury were not less than those for war, for three hundred thousand camp followers, of whom the greater number were cooks, bakers, and stage-players, attended on eighty thousand armed men. Of silver and gold, it is certain, there was such an abundance that the common soldiers fastened their buskins with gold, and trod upon the metal for the love of which nations contend with the sword. Their cooking instruments, too, were ot silver, as if they were going to a banquet, not to a field of battle. Many kings of the east met Antiochus on his march, offering him themselves and their kingdoms, and expressing the greatest detestation of Parthian pride. Nor was there any delay in coming to an engagement. Antiochus, being victorious in three battles, and having got possession of Babylon, began to be thought a great man. All the neighbouring people, in consequence, joining him, nothing was left to the Parthians but their own country. It was then that Phraates sent Demetrius into Syria, with a body of Parthians, to seize the throne, so that Antiochus might be recalled from Parthia to secure his own dominions. In the meantime, since he could not overthrow Antiochus by open force, he made attempts upon him everywhere by stratagem. On account of the number of his forces, Antiochus had distributed his army, in winter quarters, through several cities; and this dispersion was the cause of his ruin; for the cities, finding themselves harassed by having to furnish supplies, and by the depredations of the soldiers, revolted to the Parthians, and, on an appointed day, conspired to fall upon the army divided among them, so that the several divisions might not be able to assist each other. News of the attack being brought to Antiochus, he hastened with that body of troops which he had in winter-quarters with him, to succour the others that lay nearest. On his way he was met by the king of the Parthians, with whom he himself fought more bravely than his troops; but at last, as the enemy had the superiority in valour, he was deserted, through fear on the part of his men, and killed. Phraates had funeral rites performed for him as a king, and married the daughter of Demetrius, whom Antiochus had brought with him, and of whom he had become enamoured. He then began to regret having sent away Demetrius, and hastily despatched some troops of horse to fetch him back; but they found that prince, who had been in fear of pursuit, already seated on his throne, and, after doing all they could to no purpose, returned to their king.

§ 39.1  AFTER Antiochus and his army were cut off in Persia, his brother Demetrius, being delivered from confinement among the Parthians, and restored to his throne, resolved, while all Syria was mourning for the loss of the army, to make war upon Egypt, (just as if his and his brother's wars with the Parthians, in which one was taken prisoner and the other killed, had had a fortunate termination), Cleopatra his mother-in-law promising him the kingdom of Egypt, as a recompense for the assistance that he should afford her against her brother. But, as is often the case, while he was grasping at what belonged to others, he lost his own by a rebellion in Syria; for the people of Antioch, in the first place, under the leadership of Trypho, and from detestation of the pride of their king (which, from his intercourse with the unfeeling Parthians, had become intolerable), and afterwards the Apamenians and other people, following their example, revolted from Demetrius in his absence Ptolemy, king of Egypt, too, who was threatened with a war by him, having learned that his sister Cleopatra had put much of the wealth of Egypt on ship-board, and fled into Syria to her daughter and son-in-law Demetrius, sent an Egyptian youth, the son of a merchant named Protarchus, to claim the throne of Syria by force of arms, having forged a story, that he had been admitted into the family of King Antiochus by adoption, and the Syrians, at the same time, refusing no man for their king, if they might but be freed from the insolence of Demetrius. The name of Alexander was given to the youth, and great succours were sent him from Egypt. Meanwhile the body of Antiochus, who had been killed by the king of the Parthians, arrived in Syria, being sent back in a silver coffin for burial, and was received with great respect by the different cities, as well as by the new king, Alexander, in order to secure credit to the fiction. This show of affection procured him extraordinary regard from the people, every one supposing his tears not counterfeit but real. Demetrius, being defeated by Alexander, and overwhelmed by misfortunes surrounding him on every side, was at last forsaken even by his wife and children. Being left, accordingly, with only a few slaves, and setting sail for Tyre, to shelter himself in the sanctuary of a temple there, he was killed, as he was leaving the ship, by order of the governor of the city. One of his sons, Seleucus, for having assumed the diadem without his mother's consent, was put to death by her; the other, who, from the size of his nose was named Grypus, was made king by his mother, so far at least that the regal name should belong to him, while all the power of sovereignty was to remain with herself.

§ 39.2  But Alexander, having secured the throne of Syria, and being puffed up with success, began, with insolent haughtiness, to show disrespect even to Ptolemy himself, by whom he had been artfully advanced to royal dignity. Ptolemy, in consequence, effecting a reconciliation with his sister, prepared, with his utmost efforts, to overthrow that power, which, from hatred to Demetrius, he had procured for Alexander by supplying him with troops. He therefore sent a large force to the aid of Grypus, and his daughter Tryphaena to marry him, that he might induce the people to support his nephew, not only by sharing in the war with him, but by contracting with him this affinity. Nor were his endeavours without effect; for when the people saw Grypus upheld by the strength of Egypt, they began by degrees to fall away from Alexander. A battle then took place between the kings, in which Alexander was defeated, and fled to Antioch. Here, being without money, and pay being wanted for his soldiers, he ordered a statue of Victory of solid gold, which was in the temple of Jupiter, to be removed, palliating the sacrilege with jests, and saying that 'Victory was lent him by Jupiter.' Some days after, having ordered a golden statue of Jupiter himself, of great weight, to be taken away secretly, and being caught in the sacrilegious act, he was forced to flee by a rising of the people, and being overtaken by a violent storm, and deserted by his men, he fell into the hands of robbers, and being brought before Grypus, was put to death.
Grypus, having thus recovered his father's throne, and being freed from foreign perils, found his life endangered by a plot of his own mother; who, after betraying, from desire of power, her husband Demetrius, and putting to death her other son, was discontented at her dignity being eclipsed by the victory of Grypus, and presented him with a cup of poison as he was returning home from taking exercise. But Grypus, having received notice of her treacherous intention, desired her (as if to show as much respect for his mother as she showed for him) to drink herself first, and, when she refused, pressed her earnestly, and at last, producing his informant, charged her with the fact, telling her, 'that the only way left to clear herself from guilt, was, that she should drink what she had offered to her son.' The queen, being thus disconcerted, and her wickedness turned upon herself, was killed with the poison which she had prepared for another. Grypus, accordingly, having securely established his throne, had peace himself, and secured it for his people, for eight years. At the end of that time a rival for the throne arose, named Cyzicenus, a brother of his own by the same mother, and son of his uncle Antiochus. Grypus having tried to take him off by poison, provoked him the sooner to contend for the throne with him by force of arms.

§ 39.3  During these unnatural contentions in the kingdom of Syria, Ptolemy, king of Egypt, died, leaving the kingdom of Egypt to his wife, and one of her two sons, whichsoever she herself should choose; as if the condition of Egypt would be more quiet than that of Syria had been, when the mother, by electing one of her sons, would make the other her enemy. Though she was more inclined to fix on the younger of her sons, the people obliged her to nominate the elder, from whom, however, before she gave him the throne, she took away his wife, compelling him to divorce his sister Cleopatra, whom he very much loved, and requiring him to marry his younger sister Selene; a determination as to her daughters not at all becoming a mother, as she took a husband from one, and gave him to the other. But Cleopatra being not so much divorced by her husband, as torn from her husband by her mother, married Cyzicenus in Syria, and that she might not bring him the mere name of a wife, carried over to him, as a dowry, the army of Grypus, which she had induced to desert. Cyzicenus, thinking himself thus a match for the power of his brother, gave him battle, but was defeated and put to flight, and sought refuge in Antioch. Grypus then proceeded to besiege Antioch, in which Cleopatra, the wife of Cyzicenus, was; and, when he had taken it, Tryphaena, the wife of Grypus, desired that nothing should be searched for before his sister Cleopatra, not that she might relieve her in her captivity, but that she might not escape the sufferings of captivity; since she had invaded the kingdom chiefly from envy towards her, and by marrying the enemy of her sister had made herself her enemy. She also charged her with bringing a foreign army to decide the disputes between the brothers, and with having married out of Egypt, when she was divorced from her brother, contrary to the will of her mother. Grypus, on the other hand, besought her, that 'he might not be driven to commit so heinous a crime;' saying, that 'by none of his forefathers, in the course of so many civil and foreign wars, had cruelties after victory been inflicted upon women, whom their sex itself protected from the perils of war and from ill-treatment on the part of the conquerors; and that in her Case, besides the common practice of people at war, there was added the closest tie of blood, for she was the full sister of her who would treat her so cruelly, his own cousin, and aunt to their children.' In addition to these obligations of relationship, he mentioned also the superstitious regard paid to the temple in which she had taken refuge, observing that 'the gods were so much the more religiously to be revered by him, as he had been the better enabled to conquer by their favour and protection; and that neither by killing her would he diminish the strength of Cyzicenus, nor increase it by restoring her to him.' But the more Grypus held back, the more was Tryphaena excited with a womanish pertinacity, fancying that her husband's observations proceeded not from pity but from love. Summoning some soldiers herself, therefore, she despatched a party to kill her sister. They, going into the temple, and not being able to drag her away, cut off her hands while she was embracing the statue of the goddess. Soon after Cleopatra expired, uttering imprecations on her unnatural murderers, and commending the avenging of her fate to the outraged deities. And not long after, another battle being fought, Cyzicenus, being victorious, took Tryphaena, the wife of Grypus, who had just before killed her sister, prisoner, and by putting her to death made atonement to the manes of his wife.

§ 39.4  In Egypt, Cleopatra, being dissatisfied at having her son Ptolemy to share her throne, excited the people against him, and taking from him his wife Selene (the more ignominiously, as he had now two children by her), obliged him to go into exile, sending, at the same time, for her younger son Alexander, and making him king in his brother's room. Nor was she content with driving her son from the throne, but pursued him with her arms while he was living in exile in Cyprus. After forcing him from thence, she put to death the general of her troops, because he had let him escape from his hands alive; though Ptolemy, indeed, had left the island from being ashamed to maintain a war against his mother, and not as being inferior to her in forces.
Alexander, alarmed at such cruelty on the part of his mother, deserted her also himself, preferring a life of quiet and security to royal dignity surrounded with danger: while Cleopatra, fearing lest her elder son Ptolemy should be assisted by Cyzicenus to re-establish himself in Egypt, sent powerful succours to Grypus, and with them Selene, Ptolemy's wife, to marry the enemy of her former husband. To her son Alexander she sent messengers to recall him to his country; but while, by secret treachery, she was plotting his destruction, she was anticipated by him and put to death, perishing, not by the course of nature, but by the hand of her son, and having, indeed, well deserved so infamous an end, since she had driven her mother from the bed of her father, had made her two daughters widows by alternate marriages with their brothers, had made war upon one of her sons after sending him into exile, and plotted against the life of the other after depriving him of his throne.

§ 39.5  Neither did so unnatural a murder, on the part of Alexander, go unpunished; for as soon as it was known that the mother had been killed by the wickedness of her son, he was driven, by an insurrection of the people, into banishment, and the crown was restored to Ptolemy, who was recalled, because he had refused to make war against his mother, and to take from his brother by force of arms what he himself had previously possessed. During the course of these proceedings, his natural brother, to whom his father had left the kingdom of Cyrene by will, died, appointing the Roman people his heir; for the fortune of Rome, not content with the limits of Italy, had now begun to extend itself to the kingdoms of the east. Thus that part of Africa became a province of the Roman empire; and soon afterwards Crete and Cilicia, being subdued in the war against the pirates, were likewise made provinces. In consequence, the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, which had been accustomed to aggrandize themselves by wars with their neighbours, being now confined by the vicinity of the Romans, and deprived of all opportunity of extending their frontiers, employed their strength to the injury of one another, so that, being exhausted by continual battles, they fell into contempt with their neighbours, and became a prey to the people of Arabia, a nation previously regarded as unwarlike. Their king Erotimus, relying on his seven hundred sons, whom he had had by his concubines, and dividing his forces, infested at one time Egypt, and another Syria, and procured a great name for the Arabians, by exhausting the strength of their neighbours.

§ 40.1  AFTER the kings and kingdom of Syria had been exhausted by unintermitting wars, occasioned by the mutual animosities of brothers, and by sons succeeding to the quarrels of their fathers, the people began to look for relief from foreign parts, and to think of choosing a king from among the sovereigns of other nations. Some therefore advised that they should take Mithridates of Pontus, others Ptolemy of Egypt, but it being considered that Mithridates was engaged in war with the Romans, and that Ptolemy had always been an enemy to Syria, the thoughts of all were directed to Tigranes king of Armenia, who, in addition to the strength of his own kingdom, was supported by an alliance with Parthia, and by a matrimonial connection with Mithridates. Tigranes, accordingly, being invited to the throne of Syria, enjoyed a most tranquil reign over it for eighteen years, without having occasion to go to war either to attack others or to defend himself.

§ 40.2  But Syria, though unmolested by enemies, was laid waste by an earthquake, in which a hundred and seventy thousand people, and several cities, were destroyed; a portent which the soothsayers declared 'to presage a change in things.'
After Tigranes was conquered by Lucullus, Antiochus, the son of Cyzicenus, was made king of Syria by his authority. But what Lucullus gave, Pompey soon after took away; telling him, when he made application for the crown, that 'he would not give Syria, even if willing to accept him, and much less if unwilling, a king, who for eighteen years, during which Tigranes had governed Syria, had lain hid in a corner of Cilicia, and now, when Tigranes was conquered by the Romans, asked for the reward of other men's labours. Accordingly, as he had not taken the throne from Tigranes while he held it, so he would not give Antiochus what he himself had yielded to Tigranes, and what he would not know how to defend, lest he should again expose Syria to the depredations of the Jews and Arabians.' He in consequence reduced Syria to the condition of a province, and the whole east, through the dissensions of kings of the same blood, fell by degrees under the power of the Romans.

§ 41.1  THE Parthians, in whose hands the empire of the east now is, having divided the world, as it were, with the Romans, were originally exiles from Scythia. This is apparent from their very name; for in the Scythian language exiles are called Parthi. During the time of the Assyrians and Medes, they were the most obscure of all the people of the east. Subsequently, too, when the empire of the east was transferred from the Medes to the Persians, they were but as a herd without a name, and fell under the power of the stronger. At last they became subject to the Macedonians, when they conquered the east; so that it must seem wonderful to every one, that they should have reached such a height of good fortune as to rule over those nations under whose sway they had been merely slaves. Being assailed by the Romans, also, in three wars, under the conduct of the greatest generals, and at the most flourishing period of the republic, they alone, of all nations, were not only a match for them, but came off victorious; though it may have been a greater glory to them, indeed, to have been able to rise amidst the Assyrian, Median, and Persian empires, so celebrated of old, and the most powerful dominion of Bactria, peopled with a thousand cities, than to have been victorious in war against a people that came from a distance; especially when they were continually harassed by severe wars with the Scythians and other neighbouring nations, and pressed with various other formidable contests.
The Parthians, being forced to quit Scythia by discord at home, gradually settled in the deserts betwixt Hyrcania, the Dahae, the Arei, the Sparni and Marsiani. They then advanced their borders, though their neighbours, who at first made no opposition, at length endeavoured to prevent them, to such an extent, that they not only got possession of the vast level plains, but also of steep hills, and heights of the mountains; and hence it is that an excess of heat or cold prevails in most parts of the Parthian territories; since the snow is troublesome on the higher grounds, and the heat in the plains.

§ 41.2  The government of the nation, after their revolt from the Macedonian power, was in the hands of kings. Next to the royal authority is the order of the people, from which they take generals in war and magistrates in peace. Their language is something between those of the Scythians and Medes, being a compound of both. Their dress was formerly of a fashion peculiar to themselves; afterwards, when their power had increased, it was like that of the Medes, light and full flowing. The fashion of their arms is that of their own country and of Scythia. They have an army, not like other nations, of free men, but chiefly consisting of slaves, the numbers of whom daily increase, the power of manumission being allowed to none, and all their offspring, in consequence, being born slaves. These bondmen they bring up as carefully as their own children, and teach them, with great pains, the arts of riding and shooting with the bow. As any one is eminent in wealth, so he furnishes the king with a proportionate number of horsemen for war. Indeed when fifty thousand cavalry encountered Antony, as he was making war upon Parthia, only four hundred of them were free men.
Of engaging with the enemy in close fight, and of taking cities by siege, they know nothing. They fight on horseback, either galloping forward or turning their backs. Often, too, they counterfeit flight, that they may throw their pursuers off their guard against being wounded by their arrows. The signal for battle among them is given, not by trumpet, but by drum. Nor are they able to fight long: but they would be irresistible, if their vigour and perseverance were equal to the fury of their onset. In general they retire before the enemy in the very heat of the engagement, and, soon after their retreat, return to the battle afresh; so that, when you feel most certain that you have conquered them, you have still to meet the greatest danger from them. Their armour, and that of their horses, is formed of plates, lapping over one another like the feathers of a bird, and covers both man and horse entirely. Of gold and silver, except for adorning their arms, they make no use.

§ 41.3  Each man has several wives, for the sake of gratifying desire with different objects. They punish no crime more severely than adultery, and accordingly they not only exclude their women from entertainments, but forbid them the very sight of men. They eat no flesh but that which they take in hunting. They ride on horseback on all occasions; on horses they go to war, and to feasts; on horses they discharge public and private duties; on horses they go abroad, meet together, traffic, and converse. Indeed the difference between slaves and freemen is, that slaves go on foot, but freemen only on horseback. Their general mode of sepulture is dilaniation by birds or dogs; the bare bones they at last bury in the ground. In their superstitions and worship of the gods, the principal veneration is paid to rivers. The disposition of the people is proud, quarrelsome, faithless, and insolent; for a certain roughness of behaviour they think becoming to men, and gentleness only to women. They are always restless, and ready for any commotion, at home or abroad; taciturn by nature; more ready to act than speak, and consequently shrouding both their successes and miscarriages in silence. They obey their princes, not from humility, but from fear. They are libidinous, but frugal in diet. To their word or promise they have no regard, except as far as suits their interest.

§ 41.4  After the death of Alexander the Great, when the kingdoms of the east were divided among his successors, the government of Parthia was committed to Stasanor, a foreign ally, because none of the Macedonians would deign to accept it. Subsequently, when the Macedonians were divided into parties by civil discord, the Parthians, with the other people of Upper Asia, followed Eumenes, and, when he was defeated, went over to Antigonus. After his death they were under the rule of Seleucus Nicator, and then under Antiochus and his successors, from whose great-grandson Seleucus they first revolted, in the first Punic war, when Lucius Manlius Vulso and Marcus Attilius Regulus were consuls. For their revolt, the dispute between the two brothers, Seleucus and Antiochus, procured them impunity; for while they sought to wrest the throne from one another, they neglected to pursue the revolters.
At the same period, also, Theodotus, governor of the thousand cities of Bactria, revolted, and assumed the title of king; and all the other people of the east, influenced by his example, fell away from the Macedonians. One Arsaces, a man of uncertain origin, but of undisputed bravery, happened to arise at this time; and he, who was accustomed to live by plunder and depredations, hearing a report that Seleucus was overcome by the Gauls in Asia, and being consequently freed from dread of that prince, invaded Parthia with a band of marauders, overthrew Andragoras his lieutenant, and, after putting him to death, took upon himself the government of the country. Not long after, too, he made himself master of Hyrcania, and thus, invested with authority over two nations, raised a large army, through fear of Seleucus and Theodotus, king of the Bactrians. But being soon relieved of his fears by the death of Theodotus, he made peace and an alliance with his son, who was also named Theodotus; and not long after, engaging with king Seleucus, who came to take vengeance on the revolters, he obtained a victory; and the Parthians observe the day on which it was gained with great solemnity, as the date of the commencement of their liberty.

§ 41.5  Seleucus being then recalled into Asia by new disturbances, and respite being thus given to Arsaces, he settled the Parthian government, levied soldiers, built fortresses, and strengthened his towns. He founded a city also, called Dara, in Mount Zapaortenon, of which the situation is such, that no place can be more secure or more pleasant; for it is so encircled with steep rocks, that the strength of its position needs no defenders; and such is the fertility of the adjacent soil, that it is stored with its own produce. Such too is the plenty of springs and wood, that it is amply supplied with streams of water, and abounds with all the pleasures of the chase. Thus Arsaces, having at once acquired and established a kingdom, and having become no less memorable among the Parthians than Cyrus among the Persians, Alexander among the Macedonians, or Romulus among the Romans, died at a mature old age; and the Parthians paid this honour to his memory, that they called all their kings thenceforward by the name of Arsaces. His son and successor on the throne, whose name was also Arsaces, fought with the greatest bravery against Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, who was at the head of a hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse, and was at last taken into alliance with him. The third king of the Parthians was Priapatius; but he was also called Arsaces, for, as has just been observed, they distinguished all their kings by that name, as the Romans use the titles of Caesar and Augustus. He, after reigning fifteen years, died, leaving two sons, Mithridates and Phraates, of whom the elder, Phraates, being, according to the custom of the nation, heir to the crown, subdued the Mardi, a strong people, by force of arms, and died not long after, leaving several sons, whom he set aside, and left the throne, in preference, to his brother Mithridates, a man of extraordinary ability, thinking that more was due to the name of king than to that of father, and that he ought to consult the interests of his country rather than those of his children.

§ 41.6  Almost at the same time that Mithridates ascended the throne among the Parthians, Eucratides began to reign among the Bactrians; both of them being great men. But the fortune of the Parthians, being the more successful, raised them, under this prince, to the highest degree of power; while the Bactrians, harassed with various wars, lost not only their dominions, but their liberty; for having suffered from contentions with the Sogdians, the Drangians, and the Indians, they were at last overcome, as if exhausted, by the weaker Parthians. Eucratides, however, carried on several wars with great spirit, and though much reduced by his losses in them, yet, when he was besieged by Demetrius king of the Indians, with a garrison of only three hundred soldiers, he repulsed, by continual sallies, a force of sixty thousand enemies. Having accordingly escaped, after a five months' siege, he reduced India under his power. But as he was returning from the country, he was killed on his march by his son, with whom he had shared his throne, and who was so far from concealing the murder, that, as if he had killed an enemy, and not his father, he drove his chariot through his blood, and ordered his body to be cast out unburied.
During the course of these proceedings among the Bactrians, a war arose between the Parthians and Medes, and after fortune on each side had been some time fluctuating, victory at length fell to the Parthians; when Mithridates, enforced with this addition to his power, appointed Bacasis over Media, while he himself marched into Hyrcania. On his return from thence, he went to war with the king of the Elymaeans, and having conquered him, added this nation also to his dominions, and extended the Parthian empire, by reducing many other tribes under his yoke, from Mount Caucasus to the river Euphrates. Being then taken ill, he died in an honourable old age, and not inferior in merit to his great-grandfather Arsaces.

§ 42.1  AFTER the death of Mithridates, king of the Parthians, Phraates his son was made king, who, having proceeded to make war upon Syria, in revenge for the attempts of Antiochus on the Parthian dominions, was recalled, by hostilities on the part of the Scythians, to defend his own country. For the Scythians, having been induced, by the offer of pay, to assist the Parthians against, Antiochus king of Syria, and not having arrived till the war was ended, were disappointed of the expected remuneration, and reproached with having brought their aid too late; and when, in discontent at having made so long a march in vain, they demanded that 'either some recompense for their trouble, or another enemy to attack, should be assigned them,' being offended at the haughty reply which they received, they began to ravage the country of the Parthians. Phraates, in consequence, marching against them, left a certain Himerus, who had gained his favours in the bloom of youth, to take care of his kingdom. But Himerus, unmindful both of his past life, and of the duty with which he was entrusted, miserably harassed the people of Babylon, and many other cities, with tyrannical cruelties. Phraates himself, meanwhile, took with him to the war a body of Greeks, who had been made prisoners in the war against Antiochus, and whom he had treated with great pride and severity, not reflecting that captivity had not lessened their hostile feelings, and that the indignity of the outrages which they had suffered must have exasperated them. As soon therefore as they saw the Persians giving ground, they went over to the enemy, and executed that revenge for their captivity, which they had long desired, by a sanguinary destruction of the Parthian army and of king Phraates himself.

§ 42.2  In his stead Artabanus, his uncle, was made king. The Scythians, content with their victory, and with having laid waste Parthia, returned home. Artabanus, making war upon the Thogarii, received a wound in the arm, of which he immediately died. He was succeeded by his son Mithridates, to whom his achievements procured the surname of Great; for, being fired with a desire to emulate the merit of his ancestors, he was enabled by the vast powers of his mind to surpass their renown. He carried on many wars, with great bravery, against his neighbours, and added many provinces to the Parthian kingdom. He fought successfully, too, several times, against the Scythians, and avenged the injuries received from them by his forefathers. At last he turned his arms against Ortoadistes, king of Armenia.
But since we here make a transition to Armenia, we must look a little farther back into its origin; for it is not right that so great a kingdom should be passed in silence, since its territory, next to that of Parthia, is of greater extent than any other kingdom. Armenia, from Cappadocia to the Caspian Sea, stretches over a space of eleven hundred miles, and is seven hundred miles in breadth. It was founded by Armenius, the companion of Jason of Thessaly, whom King Pelias, wishing to procure his death from dread of his extraordinary ability, which was dangerous to his throne, despatched on a prescribed expedition to Colchis, to bring home the fleece of the ram so celebrated throughout the world; hoping that the man would lose his life, either in the perils of so long a voyage, or in war with barbarians so remote. But Jason, having spread abroad the report of so glorious an enterprise, at which the chief of the youth from almost all the world came flocking to him, collected a band of heroes, who were called Argonauts. Having brought his troop back safe, and being again driven from Thessaly by the sons of Pelias, he set out on a second voyage for Colchis, accompanied by a numerous train of followers (who, at the fame of his valour, came daily from all parts to join him), by his wife Medea, whom, having previously divorced her, he had now received again from compassion for her exile, and by his step-son Medus, whom she had by Aegeus king of the Athenians; and he re-established his father-in-law Aeetes who had been driven from his throne.

§ 42.3  He then carried on great wars with the neighbouring nations; and of the cities which he took, he added part to the kingdom of his father-in-law, to make amends for the injury that he had done him in his former expedition, in which he had carried off his daughter Medea and put to death his son Aegialeus, and part he assigned to the people that he had brought with him; and he is said to have been the first of mankind, after Hercules and Bacchus (whom tradition declares to have been kings of the east), that subdued that quarter of the world. Over some of these nations he appointed Recas and Amphistratus, the charioteers of Castor and Pollux, to be their rulers. With the Albanians he formed an alliance, a people who are said to have followed Hercules out of Italy, from the Alban mount, when, after having killed Geryon, he was driving his herds through Italy, and who, remembering their Italian descent, saluted the soldiers of Pompey in the Mithridatic war as their brothers. Hence almost the whole east appointed divine honours, and erected temples, to Jason, as their founder; temples which Parmenio, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, caused many years after to be pulled down, that no name might be more venerated in the east than that of Alexander After the death of Jason, Medus, emulous of his virtues, built a city named Medea in honour of his mother, and established the kingdom of the Medes after his own name, under whose dominion the empire of the east afterwards fell. On the Albanians border the Amazons, whose queen Thalestris, as many authors relate, sought the couch of Alexander. Armenius, too, who was himself a Thessalian, and one of the captains of Jason, having re-assembled a body of men, who, after the death of Jason were wandering about, founded Armenia, from the mountains of which the river Tigris issues, at first with a very small stream, out after running some distance, is lost in the earth, and then, flowing five and twenty miles underground, rises up a great river in the province of Sophene; and thus it is received into the marshes of the Euphrates.

§ 42.4  Mithridates king of the Parthians, after his war with Armenia, was banished from his kingdom for his cruelty by the Parthian seriate. His brother Orodes, who took possession of the vacant throne, besieged Babylon, whither Mithridates had fled, for some time, and reduced the people, under the influence of famine, to surrender. Mithridates, from confidence in his relationship to Orodes, voluntarily put himself into his hands; but Orodes, contemplating him rather as an enemy than a brother, ordered him to be put to death before his face. After this, he carried on a war with the Romans, and overthrew their general Crassus, together with his son and all the Roman army. His son Pacorus, who was sent to pursue what remained of the Roman forces, after achieving great actions in Syria, incurred some jealousy on the part of his father, and was recalled into Parthia; and during his absence the Parthian army left in Syria was cut off, with all its commanders, by Cassius the quaestor of Crassus. Not long after these occurrences the civil war among the Romans, between Caesar and Pompey, broke out, in which the Parthians took the side of Pompey, both from the friendship that they had formed with him in the Mithridatic war, and because of the death of Crassus, whose son they understood to be of Caesar's party, and supposed that, if Caesar were victorious, he would avenge his father's fate. When Pompey's party was worsted, they sent assistance to Cassius and Brutus against Augustus and Antony; and, after the war was ended, they made an alliance with Labienus, and, under the leadership of Pacorus, again laid waste Syria and Asia, and assailed, with a vast force, the camp of Ventidius, who, like Cassius before him, had routed the Parthian army in the absence of Pacorus. Ventidius, pretending to be afraid, kept himself a long time in his camp, and suffered the Parthians to insult him. At last, however, when they were full of security and exultation, he sent out part of his legions upon them, and the Parthians, put to flight by their onset, went off in several directions; when Pacorus, supposing that his fugitive troops had drawn off all the Roman forces in pursuit of them, attacked Ventidius's camp, as if it had been left without defenders. Upon this, Ventidius, pouring forth the rest of his troops, put the whole force of the Parthians, with their king Pacorus, to the sword; nor did the Parthians, in any war, ever suffer a greater slaughter.
When the news of this discomfiture reached Parthia, Orodes, the father of Pacorus, who had just before heard that Syria had been ravaged, and Asia occupied by his Parthians, and was boasting of his son Pacorus as the conqueror of the Romans, was affected, on hearing of the death of his son and the destruction of his army, at first with grief, and afterwards with disorder of the intellect. For several days he neither spoke to any one, nor took food, nor uttered a sound, so that he seemed to have become dumb. Some time after, when his sorrow found vent in words, he did nothing but call upon Pacorus; Pacorus seemed to be seen and heard by him; Pacorus appeared to talk with him, and stand by him; though at other times he mourned and wept for him as lost. After long indulgence in grief, another cause of concern troubled the unhappy old man, as he had to determine which of his thirty sons he should choose for his successor in the room of Pacorus. His numerous concubines, from whom so large a progeny had sprung, were perpetually working on the old man's feelings, each anxious for her own offspring, But the fate of Parthia, in which it is now, as it were, customary that the princes should be assassins of their kindred; ordained that the most cruel of them all, Phraates by name should be fixed upon for their king.

§ 42.5  Phraates immediately proceeded to kill his father, as if he would not die, and put to death, also, all his thirty brothers. But his murders did not end with his father's sons; for finding that the nobility began to detest him for his constant barbarities, he caused his own son, who was grown up, to be killed, that there might be no one to be nominated king. On this prince Antony made war, with sixteen effective legions, for having sent troops against him and Caesar; but being severely harassed in several engagements, he was forced to retreat from Parthia. Phraates, upon this success, becoming still more insolent, and being guilty of many fresh acts of cruelty, was driven into exile by his subjects. Having then, for a long time, wearied the neighbouring people, and at last the Scythians, with entreaties for aid, he was at last restored to his throne by a powerful Scythian force. During his absence, the Parthians had made one Tiridates king, who, when he heard of the approach of the Scythians, fled with a great body of his partisans to Caesar, who was then carrying on war in Spain, taking with him, as a hostage for Caesar, the youngest son of Phraates, whom, being but negligently guarded, he had secretly carried off. Phraates, on hearing of his flight, immediately sent ambassadors to Caesar, requesting that 'his slave Tiridates, and his son, should be restored to him.' Caesar, after listening to the embassy of Phraates, and deliberating on the application of Tiridates (for he also had asked to be restored to his throne, saying that 'Parthia would be wholly in the power of the Romans, if he should hold the kingdom as a gift from them'), replied, that 'he would neither give up Tiridates to the Parthians, nor give assistance to Tiridates against the Parthians.' That it might not appear, however, that nothing had been obtained from Caesar by all their applications, he sent back to Phraates his son without ransom, and ordered a handsome maintenance to be furnished to Tiridates, as long as he chose to continue among the Romans. Some time after, when Caesar had finished the Spanish war, and had proceeded to Syria to settle the affairs of the east, he caused some alarm to Phraates, who was afraid that he might contemplate an invasion of Parthia. Whatever prisoners, accordingly, remained of the army of Crassus or Antony throughout, Parthia, were collected together, and sent, with the military standards that had been taken, to Augustus. In addition to this, the sons and grandsons of Phraates were delivered to Augustus as hostages; and thus Caesar effected more by the power of his name, than any other general could have done by his arms.

§ 43.1  HAVING narrated the history of the Parthians and other eastern nations, and of almost the whole world, Trogus returns home, as if after a long journey in foreign parts, to relate the rise of the city of Rome, thinking it would be the mark of an ungrateful citizen, if, after he had set forth the acts of other nations, he should be silent concerning his native country alone. He therefore briefly touches on the origin of the Roman empire, so as neither to exceed the bounds of the work that he had proposed, nor to pass unnoticed the origin of a city which is now the mistress of the world.
The first inhabitants of Italy were the Aborigines, whose king, Saturn, is said to have been a man of such extraordinary justice, that no one was a slave in his reign, or had any private property, but all things were common to all, and undivided, as one estate for the use of every one; in memory of which way of life, it has been ordered that at the Saturnalia slaves should everywhere sit down with their masters at the entertainments, the rank of all being made equal. Italy was accordingly called, from the name of that king, Saturnia; and the hill on which he dwelt Saturnius, on which now stands the Capitol, as if Saturn had been dislodged from his seat by Jupiter. After him, third in descent, they say that Faunus was king, in whose time Evander came into Italy from Pallanteum, a city of Arcadia, accompanied with a small band of his countrymen, to whom Faunus kindly gave land, and the mountain which he afterwards called Palatium. At the foot of this mountain he built a temple to the Lycaean god, whom the Greeks call Pan, and the Romans Lupercus, the naked statue of the deity being covered with a goat-skin, in which dress the priests now run up and down during the Lupercalia at Rome. This Faunus had a wife named Fatua, who, being constantly filled with a spirit of divination, gave notice, in fits of frenzy as it were, of things to come; and hence, to this day, those who are accustomed to be thus inspired, are said fatuari. Of an illicit connection between a daughter of Faunus and Hercules, (who, having killed Geryon about that time, was driving his herds, the prize of his victory, through Italy), was born Latinus, in whose reign Aeneas came from Ilium into Italy, after the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, and being immediately received with hostile demonstrations, led out his troops into the field, but being first invited to a conference, raised such admiration of himself in Latinus, that he was both admitted to a share of his throne, and became his son-in-law by a marriage with his daughter Lavinia. After this event, they had to carry on war in concert against Turnus, king of the Rutulians, because he had been disappointed of marrying Lavinia; and in the war both Turnus and Latinus were killed, Aeneas, in consequence, becoming by right of victory master of both nations, built a city which he called Lavinium, from the name of his wife. Some time afterwards, he went to war with Mezentius, king of the Etrurians, and being killed in it, Ascanius his son succeeded him, who, removing from Lavinium, built Alba Longa, which for three hundred years was the metropolis of his kingdom.

§ 43.2  At length, after many kings had reigned in this city, Numitor and Amulius became joint sovereigns. But Amulius, having deprived Numitor, who was the elder, of his share of the throne, condemned his daughter Rhea to perpetual virginity, that no male offspring of Numitor's family might arise to claim the crown, palliating the injury by an appearance of honour, so that she might not seem to have been compelled, but to have been chosen one of the vestal virgins. Being shut up, accordingly, in a grove sacred to Mars, she gave birth to two boys, whether the offspring of an illicit connexion with a mortal, or of the god Mars, is uncertain. This affair becoming known, Amulius, whose fears were increased by the birth of twins, ordered the children to be exposed, and threw his niece into prison, of which ill-treatment she died. Fortune, however, having a care for the raising of Rome, threw the children in the way of a she-wolf to be suckled, which, having lost her cubs, and longing to empty her overcharged teats, offered herself as a nurse to the infants. As she made frequent returns to the children, as if they had been her own offspring, Faustulus, a shepherd, observed her proceedings, and, withdrawing them from the beast, brought them up in a rude way of life among his cattle. That they were the sons of Mars, was believed, as on plain proof, either because they were born in the grove of Mars, or because they were nursed by a wolf, which is under the protection of Mars. The names of the boys were Remus and Romulus. As they grew up among the shepherds, daily contests in strength increased their vigour and agility. While they were frequently engaged, with great activity, in preventing robbers from seizing the cattle, it happened that Remus, having been taken by the robbers, was brought before the king, as if he had himself been guilty of that which he was endeavouring to prevent in others, and had been accustomed to make depredations on Numitor's flocks. He was consequently given up to Numitor for punishment. But Numitor, who was touched with compassion for the stripling's youth, was led to suspect that he might be one of his exposed grandchildren, and while the resemblance of his features to those of his daughter, and his age corresponding with the time of the exposure, kept him in suspense, Faustulus unexpectedly came in with Romulus, and the origin of the youths being ascertained from him, a conspiracy was formed, the young men taking up arms to revenge the death of their mother, and Numitor to recover the throne of which he had been deprived.

§ 43.3  Amulius being killed, the throne was restored to Numitor, and the city of Rome was founded by the two young men. A senate was next appointed, consisting of a hundred old men who were called Fathers. Soon after, as the neighbouring people disdained to intermarry with shepherds, the Sabine virgins were seized by force; and the surrounding tribes being brought under their sway, the sovereignty of Italy, and afterwards that of the world, was acquired. In those times kings, instead of diadems, had spears, which the Greeks called sceptres; for the ancients, from the earliest period, worshipped spears as gods, and in memory of this superstition spears are still given to the statues of the gods.
In the time of King Tarquin, a company of Phocaeans from Asia, sailing up the Tiber, formed an alliance with the Romans, and proceeding from thence to the inmost part of the gulf of Gaul, built the city of Marseilles amidst the Ligurians and the savage Gallic tribes, and performed great exploits there, both in defending themselves against the fierce Gauls, and in attacking, of themselves, those by whom they had previously been molested.
The Phocaeans, compelled by the smallness and infertility of their territory, had applied themselves more to the sea than to the culture of the ground, supporting themselves by fishing, merchandise, and above all by piracy, which in those days was thought an honourable occupation. Venturing accordingly to visit the remotest shores of the ocean, they came into the gulf of Gaul and to the mouth of the river Rhone; and, charmed with the pleasantness of the country, and relating, on their return home, what they had seen, they tempted others to go to the same parts. Of the fleet Simos and Protis were the captains, who applied to the king of the Segobrigii, named Nannus, in whose territory they were anxious to build a city, desiring his friendship. On that day, as it happened, the king was engaged in preparing for the nuptials of his daughter Gyptis, whom, after the custom of that people, he intended to give in marriage to a son-in-law to be chosen at the feast. The suitors having been all invited to the wedding, the Grecian strangers were also requested to join the festival. The maiden was then introduced, and being desired by her father to give water to him whom she chose for her husband, she overlooked all the rest, and turning to the Greeks, held out water to Protis, who, from the king's guest becoming his son-in-law, was presented by his father-in-law with the ground for building a city. Marseilles was accordingly built near the mouth of the river Rhone, in a retired bay, and as it were in a corner of the sea. The Ligurians, jealous of the growing greatness of the city, harassed the Greeks with continual war; but they, repelling their attacks, rose to such a degree of strength, that they conquered their enemies and planted several colonies in the lands which they captured.

§ 43.4  From the people of Marseilles, therefore, the Gauls learned a more civilized way of life, their former barbarity being laid aside or softened; and by them they were taught to cultivate their lands and to enclose their towns with walls. Then too, they grew accustomed to live according to laws, and not by violence; then they learned to prune the vine and plant the olive; and such a radiance was shed over both men and things, that it was not Greece which seemed to have immigrated into Gaul, but Gaul that seemed to have been transplanted into Greece.
After Nannus, king of the Segobrigii, from whom the ground for building the city had been received, was dead, and his son Comanus had succeeded to the throne, a certain Ligurian told him that 'Marseilles would one day be the ruin of the neighbouring people, and that he ought to suppress it in its rise, lest, when it grew stronger, it should overpower him.' To this prediction he added the following fable: 'A bitch once asked a shepherd, when she was big with young, for a place to bring forth her puppies; having obtained it, she requested again that she might be allowed to bring them up in the same place; and at last, when her young were grown up, and she could depend upon their support, she claimed possession of the place as her own. In like manner,' he continued, 'the people of Marseilles, who are now regarded as your tenants, will one day become masters of your territory.' Moved by these persuasions, the king formed a plan to overthrow Marseilles; in pursuance of which, on the day appointed for the feast of Flora, he sent into the city several stout and able men. who were admitted as friends; an additional number he ordered to be conveyed concealed in wagons, covered over with baskets and boughs of trees; while he himself lay hid among the neighbouring hills, that after the gates had been opened in the night by the men before mentioned, he might come up in time to execute the plot, and might fall upon the city overcome with sleep and the fumes of wine. But a certain woman, a relative of the king, who had an intrigue with a Greek youth, revealed the plot to him, through compassion for his youth and beauty, during their intercourse, and bade him escape from the danger. He however reported the matter to the magistrates, and the treachery being thus made public, all the Ligurians were seized, those concealed being dragged from among their baskets; and when they were all put to death, a plot was formed to surprise the plotter, and seven thousand of the enemy, with the king himself, were slain. Since that time the Massilians, on festal days, have been accustomed to shut their gates, to keep watch, to place sentinels on the walls, to examine strangers, to take all kinds of precaution, and to guard the city as carefully in time of peace as if they were at war. Thus what was wisely instituted, is still observed, not from the necessity of circumstances, but from the habit of acting prudently.

§ 43.5  Subsequently they had great wars with the Ligurians and Gauls, which increased the fame of their city, and rendered the valour of the Greeks, by their manifold victories, renowned among their neighbours. The forces of the Carthaginians, too, in a war which rose between them about the capture of some fishing boats, they often routed, and granted them peace under defeat; with the Spaniards they made an alliance; with the Romans they faithfully observed the league concluded almost at the foundation of the city, and effectively supported their allies, in all their wars, with auxiliary troops. Such conduct both increased their confidence in their own strength, and secured them peace from their enemies. But after a time, when Marseilles was at the height of distinction, as well for the fame of its exploits as for the abundance of its wealth and its reputation for strength, the neighbouring people, on a sudden, conspired to destroy the very name of Marseilles, as they would have united to put out a fire that threatened them all. Catumandus, one of their petty princes, was unanimously chosen general, who, when he was besieging the enemy's city with a vast army of select troops, was frightened in his sleep by the vision of a stern-looking woman, who told him that she was a goddess, and of his own accord made peace with the Massilians. Having then asked permission to enter their city and pay adoration to their gods, and having gone into the temple of Minerva, and observed in the portico the statue of the goddess whom he had seen in his sleep, he suddenly exclaimed 'that it was she who had frightened him in the night; that it was she who had ordered him to raise the siege;' then, congratulating the Massilians that they were under the care, as he perceived, of the immortal gods, and offering a neck-lace of gold to the goddess, he made a league with them for ever.
After peace was thus obtained, and security established, some deputies from Marseilles, as they were returning from Delphi, whither they had been sent to carry presents to Apollo, heard that the city of Rome had been taken and burned by the Gauls. This calamity, when the news of it was brought home to them, the Massilians lamented with a public mourning, and contributed gold and silver, both public and private, to make up the sum to be given to the Gauls, from whom they knew that peace was bought. For this service an exemption from taxes was decreed them, a place in the theatre assigned them among the senators, and a league made with them upon equal terms.
At the end of this book Trogus relates that his ancestors had their origin from the Vocontii; that his grandfather, Pompeius Trogus, received the right of citizenship from Cnaeus Pompey in the Sertorian war; that his uncle led a troop of cavalry under the same Pompey in the war with Mithridates; and that his father served under Caius Caesar, and had the charge of his correspondence, of receiving embassies and of his ring.

§ 44.1  SPAIN, as it forms the boundary of Europe, will also form the conclusion of the present work. This country the ancients first called Iberia, from the river Iberus, and afterwards Hispania, from some person named Hispanus. It lies between Africa and Gaul, and is bounded by the Ocean Strait and the Pyrenees. It is less than either of these countries, but more fruitful than either; for it is neither scorched, like Africa, by a burning sun, nor disturbed, like Gaul, by incessant winds, but, being situate betwixt both, it is rendered, by moderate heat on the one hand, and genial and seasonable showers on the other, fertile in all kinds of fruits of the earth, so that it supplies abundance of everything, not only for its own inhabitants, but for Italy and the city of Rome. From hence, indeed, comes not only great plenty of corn, but of wine, honey, and oil. Its iron is excellent, and its breed of horses swift. Not only is the produce of the surface to be admired, but the abundant riches of the metals hidden beneath it. There is great plenty, too, of flax and hemp, and certainly no country is more productive of vermilion. The courses of the rivers are not violent and rapid, so as to be hurtful, but gentle, watering the vineyards and the plains; they are also well stocked with fish from the estuaries of the sea, and most of them are rich in gold, which they carry down with their waters. It is joined to Gaul by one unbroken ridge of the Pyrenees; on every other side it is surrounded by sea. The shape of the country is almost square, except that it grows narrower towards the Pyrenees, the shores contracting in that quarter. The length of the Pyrenees is six hundred miles. The salubrity of the air is the same through the whole of Spain, for its atmosphere is infected with no unwholesome mists from fens. Besides, there are constant breezes from the sea on every side, by which, as they penetrate the whole country, the exhalations from the earth are dispersed, and the greatest health is secured to the inhabitants.

§ 44.2  The bodies of the inhabitants are well adapted to endure privation and fatigue; their minds are inured to contempt of death. A strict and parsimonious abstinence prevails among them all. They prefer war to peace; and, if no foreign enemy offers himself, they seek one at home. Many have died under torture, to conceal what has been entrusted to them; so much stronger is their love of honour than of life. The patience of a slave, too, is greatly praised, who, having avenged his master in the war with the Carthaginians, exulted with smiles in the midst of tortures, and defied, with serenity and cheerfulness, the utmost cruelty of his tormentors. The activity of the people is extraordinary; their minds restless. To many, their war-horses and arms are dearer than their blood. There is no sumptuous preparation among them for festival days; nor was it till after the second Punic war that they learned from the Romans to use warm baths.
During so long a course of years they have had no great general besides Viriatus, who maintained a struggle against the Romans for ten years with various success; so much more similar are their dispositions to those of wild beasts than of men; and this very leader they followed, not as having been chosen by the judgment of the people, but as being well qualified to take precautions against the enemy, and artful in avoiding danger. His temperance and moderation were such, that though he often defeated armies commanded by consuls, yet, after such achievements, he made no change in the fashion of his dress or arms, or in his diet, but adhered to the same way of life with which he commenced his military career; so that any one of the common soldiers seemed better off than the general himself.

§ 44.3  In Lusitania, near the river Tagus, many authors have said that the mares conceive from the effect of the wind; but such stories have had their origin in the fecundity of the mares, and the vast number of herds of horses, which are so numerous, and of such swiftness, in Gallaecia and Lusitania, that they may be thought, not without reason, to have been the offspring of the wind. As for the Gallaecians, they claim for themselves a Greek origin; for they say that Teucer, after the end of the Trojan War, having incurred the hatred of his father on account of the death of his brother Ajax, and not being admitted into his kingdom, retired to Cyprus, where he built a city called Salamis, from the name of his native land; that, some time after, on hearing a report of his father's death, he returned again to his country, but, being hindered from landing by Eurysaces the son of Ajax, he sailed to the coast of Spain, and took possession of those parts where New Carthage now stands, and, passing from thence to Gallaecia, and fixing his abode there, gave name to the nation. A part of the Gallaecians are called Amphilochi. The country produces abundance of brass and lead, as well as of vermilion, which has given name to a river near the part in which it is found. It is also very rich in gold, so that they sometimes turn up clods of gold with the plough. In the territory of this people there is a sacred mountain, which it is thought impious to open with any tool of iron, but whenever the earth is rent with lightning, an occurrence common in these parts, it is allowable to pick up the gold that may be laid open, as a gift from the deity of the place. The women manage household affairs, and the culture of the ground; the men attend only to arms, and the pursuit of spoil. Their iron is of an extraordinary quality, but their water is more powerful than the iron itself; for the iron, by being tempered in it, becomes keener; nor is any weapon held in esteem among them which has not been dipped either in the Bilbilis or the Chalybs. From the latter river those who dwell on its banks are called Chalybes, and are said to surpass the rest of the people in the manufacture of steel.

§ 44.4  The forests of the Tartesians, in which it is said that the Titans waged war against the gods, the Cunetes inhabited, whose most ancient king Gargoris, was the first to collect honey. This prince, having a grandson born to him, the offspring of an intrigue on the part of his daughter, tried various means, through shame for her unchastity, to have the child put to death; but he, being preserved by some good fortune, through all calamities, came at last to the throne, from a compassionate feeling for the many perils that he had undergone. First of all he ordered him to be exposed, that he might be starved, and, when he sent some days after to look for his body, he was found nursed by the milk of various wild beasts. When he was brought home, he caused him to be thrown down in a narrow road, along which herds of cattle used to pass; being so cruel that he would rather have his grandchild trampled to pieces, than despatched by an easy death. As he was unhurt also in this case, and required no food, he threw him to hungry dogs, that had been exasperated by want of food for several days, and afterwards to swine, but as he was not only uninjured, but even fed with the teats of some of the swine, he ordered him at last to be cast into the sea. On this occasion, as if, by the manifest interposition of some deity, he had been carried, amidst the raging tide, and flux and reflux of the waters, not on the billows but in a vessel, he was put on shore by the subsiding ocean; and, not long after, a hind came up, and offered the child her teats. By constantly following this nurse, the boy acquired extraordinary swiftness of foot, and long ranged the mountains and woods among herds of deer, with fleetness not inferior to theirs. At last, being caught in a snare, he was presented to the king; and then, from the similitude of his features, and certain marks which had been burnt on his body in his infancy, he was recognized as his grandson. Afterwards, from admiration at his escapes from so many mischances and perils, he was appointed by his grandfather to succeed him on the throne. The name given him was Habis; and, as soon as he became king, he gave such proofs of greatness, that he seemed not to have been delivered in vain, through the power of the gods, from so many exposures to death. He united the barbarous people by laws; he was the first that taught them to break oxen for the plough, and to raise corn from tillage; and he obliged them, instead of food procured from the wilds, to adopt a better diet, perhaps through dislike of what he had eaten in his childhood. The adventures of this prince might seem fabulous, were not the founders of Rome said to have been suckled by a wolf, and Cyrus, king of the Persians, to have been brought up by a dog. By him the people were interdicted from servile duties, and the commonalty were divided among seven cities. After Habis was dead, the sovereignty was retained for many generations by his successors.
In another part of Spain, which consists of islands, the supreme power was in the hands of Geryon. Here there is such abundance of food for cattle, that unless the feeding of the animals were occasionally interrupted, they would burst. Hence the herds of Geryon, which in those days were accounted the only species of wealth, were so renowned, that they tempted Hercules out of Asia by the greatness of such a prize. Geryon himself, too, they say, was not a man with three bodies, as is told in fables, but that there were three brothers living in such unanimity, that they seemed all actuated by one soul; and that they did not attack Hercules of their own accord, but, seeing their herds driven off, endeavoured to recover what they had lost by force of arms.

§ 44.5  After the rule of kings was at an end, the Carthaginians were the first that made themselves masters of the country; for when the Gaditani, according to directions which they received in a dream, had removed the sacred things of Hercules from Tyre, whence also the Carthaginians had their origin, into Spain, and had built a city there, the neighbouring people of the country, being jealous of the rise of this new city, and in consequence attacking the Gaditani in war, the Carthaginians sent them succour as being their kindred. The expedition being successful, they both secured the Gaditani from injury, and added the greatest part of the province to their own dominions. Subsequently, too, the success of their first attempt encouraging them, they sent their general Hamilcar, with a large army, to take possession of the whole country, who, having performed great exploits, but pursuing his fortune too rashly, was drawn into an ambush and killed. In his stead was sent his son-in-law Hasdrubal, who was also killed by the slave of a certain Spaniard, to avenge the unjust death of his master. Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, succeeded him, a greater general than either of them; for, surpassing the achievements of both, he subdued the whole of Spain, and then, making war upon the Romans, he harassed Italy for sixteen years with various calamities, during which the Romans, sending the Scipios into Spain, first drove the Carthaginians out of the province, and afterwards carried on terrible wars with the Spaniards themselves. Nor would the Spaniards submit to the yoke, even after their country was over-run, until Caesar Augustus, having subdued the rest of the world, turned his victorious arms against them, and reduced this barbarous and savage people, brought by the influence of laws to a more civilized way of life, into the form of a province.