Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/982

Rh 964 DEMETRIUS. been lately reinst.ited in his kingdom of Epeirus. Pyrrhus was the nearest at hand, and had already defeated Antipater and established Alexander on the throne of Macedonia, when Demetrius, un- willing to lose such an opportunity of aggrandize- ment, arrived with his army. He was received with apparent friendliness, but mutual jealousies quickly arose. Demetrius was informed that the young king had formed designs against his life, which he anticipated by causing him to be assassi- nated at a banquet. He was immediately after- wards acknowledged as king by the Macedonian array, and proceeded at their head to take posses- sion of his new sovereignty, B. c. 294. (Plut. Demetr. 35 — 37, Pyrrh. 6, 7 ; Jiistin. xvi. 1 ; Paus. i. 10. § 1, ix. 7. §3 ; Euseb. Arm. p. IS.").) While Demetrius had by this singular revolution become possessed of a kingdom in Europe, he had lost all his former possessions in Asia : Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy having taken advantage of his absence in Greece to reduce Cilicia, Cyprus, and the cities which he had held on the coasts of Phoenicia and Asia Minor. He, however, con- cluded a peace with Lysimachus, by which the latter yielded to him the remaining portion of Macedonia, and turned his whole attention to the affairs of Greece. Here the Boeotians had taken up arms, supported by the Spartans under Cleo- nymus, but were soon defeated, and Thebes taken after a short siege, but treated with mildness by Demetrius. After his return to Macedonia he took advantage of the absence of Lysimachus and his captivity among the Getae to invade Thrace ; but though he met with little opposition there, he was recalled by the news of a fresh insurrection in Boeotia. To this he speedily put an end, repulsed Pyrrhus, who had attempted by invading Thessaly to effect a diversion in favour of the Boeotians, and again took Thebes after a siege protracted for nearly a year. (b. c. 290.) He had again the humanity to spare the city, and put to death only thirteen (others say only ten) of the leaders of the revolt. (Plut. Demetr. 39, 40 ; Diod. xxi. Exc. 10, Exc Vales, p. 560.) Pyrrhus was now one of the most formidable enemies of Demetrius, and it was against that prince and his allies the Aetolians that he next directed his arms. But while he himself invaded and ravaged Epeirus almost with- out opposition, Pyrrhus gained a great victory over his lieutenant Pantauchus in Aetolia ; and the next year, Demetrius being confined by a severe illness at Pella, Pyrrhus took advantage of the op- portunity to overran a great part of Macedonia, which he, however, lost again as quickly, the mo- ment Demetrius was recovered. (Plut. Demetr. 41, 43, Pyrrh. 7, 10.) It was about this time that Demetrius concluded an alliance with Agathocles, king of Syracuse, whose daughter Lanassa, the wife of Pyrrhus, had previously surrendered to him the important island of Corcyra. (Plut. Pyrrh. 1 1 ; Diod. xxi. Exc. 11.) But it was towards the East that the views of Demetrius were mainly directed : he aimed at nothing less than recovering the whole of his father's dominions in Asia, and now hastened to conclude a peace with Pyrrhus, that he might con- tinue his preparations uninterrupted. These were on a most gigantic scale : if we may believe Plu- tarch, he had assembled not less than 98,000 foot and near 12,000 horse, as well as a fleet of 500 ships, among which were some of 15 and 16 DEMETRIUS, banks of oars. (Plut. Demetr. 43.) But before he was readj' to take the field, his adversaries, alarmed at his preparations, determined to forestall him. In the spring of b. c. 287, Ptolemy sent a powerful fleet against Greece, while Pyrrhus (not- withstanding his recent treaty) on the one side and Lysimachus on the other simultaneously in- vaded Macedonia. But Demetrius's greatest danger was from the disaffection of his own subjects, whom he had completely alienated by his proud and haughty beai'ing, and his lavish expenditure on his own luxuries. He first marched against Lysimachus, but alarmed at the growing discontent among his troops, he suddenly returned to face Pyrrhus, who had advanced as far as Beraea. This was a most unfortunate step : Pyrrhus was at this time the hero of the Macedonians, who no sooner met him than they all declared in his favour, and Demetrius was obliged to fly from his camp in disguise, and with difficulty made his escape to Cassandreia. (Plut. Denietr. 44, Pyrrh. 11 ; Jus- tin, xvi. 2.) His affairs now appeared to be hope- less, and even his wife Phila, who had frequently supported and assisted him in his adversities, now poisoned herself in despair. But Demetrius him- self was far from desponding ; he was still master of Thessaly and some other parts of Greece, though Athens had again shaken off" his yoke : he was able to raise a small fleet and army, with which, leaving his son Antigonus to command in Greece, he crossed over to Miletus. Here he was received by Eurj'dice, wife of Ptolemy, whose daughter Ptolemai's had been promised him in marriage as early as b. c. 301, and their long de- layed nuptials were now solemnized. Demetrius at first obtained many successes ; but the advance of Agathocles with a powerful army compelled him to retire. He now threw himself boldly into the interior of Asia, having conceived the daring pro- ject of establishing himself in the eastern provinces of Seleucus. But his troops refused to follow him. He then passed over into Cilicia, and after various negotiations with Seleucus, and having suffered the greatest losses and privations from famine and disease, he found himself abandoned by his troops and even by his most faithful friends, and had no choice but to surrender himself a prisoner to Seleucus. (b. c. 286.) That king appears to have been at first disposed to treat him with honour, but took alarm at his popularity with the array, and sent him as a prisoner to the Syrian Cherso- nesus. Here he was confined at one of the royal residences, where he had the liberty of hunting in the adjoining park, and does not seera to have been harshly treated. Seleucus even professed an intention of restoring him to liberty, and indig- nantly rejected the proposal of Lysimachus to put him to death ; but the restless spirit of Demetrius could ill brook confinement, and he gave himself up without restraint to the pleasures of the table, which brought on an illness that proved fatal. His death took place in the third year of his imprison- ment and the fifty-fifth of his age, B.c, 283. (Plut. Demetr. 45 — 52 ; Polyaen. iv. 9 ; Diod. xxi. Exc. Vales, p. 562.) His remains were sent by Seleucus with all due honours to his son Antigonus, Avho interred them at Demetrias in Thessaly, a city which he had himself founded. (Plut. Demetr. 53.) There can be no doubt that Demetrius was one of the most remarkable characters of his age : in restless activity of mind, fertility of resource, and