Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/198

Rh 186 PERDICCAS. one of the most distinguished of tlie generals of Alexander the Great. We are told that he was descended from a royal house (Curt. x. 7. § <3) probably that of the independent princes of Orestis , and it .appears that in consequence of his noble birth he early held a distinguished place at the court of Philip of Macedon. We find him men- tioned as one of the select officers wlio, under the title of (TWyuaTo^yAa/ces, were immediately about the king's person at the time of his death ; and he was one of the first to avenge that crime upon the assassin Pausanias. (Diod. xvi. 94.) It is pro- bable that he continued to hold the same honour- able post under the youthful Alexander, though he is not distinctly mentioned as doing so until a later period (see Arr. Anah. iv. 21. § 7, v. 13. § 1, vi. 11. § 3,28. § 6 ) ; but besides this he had the separate command of one of the divisions of the phalanx, at the head of which we find him accompanying the young king in the campaign against the Illyrians, and again at the siege of Thebes. On this last occasion he greatly distin- guished himself, but was severely wounded, and narrowly escaped with his life. (Arr. ib. i. 6, 8 ; Diod. xvii. 12.) During the earlier campaigns in Asia we likewise find him commanding one of the divisions of the phalanx, which was composed of his own countrymen the Orestians, together with the neighbouring tribe of the Lyncestians. This post he held in all the three great battles of the Granicus, Issus, and Arbela ; in the last of which he was again severely wounded : and his name is also mentioned with distinction at the sieges of Halicarnassus and of Tvre. (Arr. Anah. i. 14, 20, 21, ii. 8, iii. 11 ; Curt. iii. 9. § 7, iv. 3. § 1, 16. § 32; biod. xvii. 57, 61.) In the ■ subsequent operations in Persia, Sogdiana, and India, his name occurs still more frequently ; and he appears to have borne a continually increasing share in the confidence and favour of Alexander. At this time he was transferred from the infantry to the cavalry, where he connnanded one of the hipparchies, or divisions of the horseguards {halpoi) ; but in ad- dition to this we find him repeatedly charged with separate commands of importance, sometimes in conjunction with Ptolemy, Craterus, or Hephaestion, sometimes as sole general. He appears to have especially distinguished himself in the battle against Porus. and shortly after we find him commanding the whole left wing of the army in the action with the Cathaeans. Again, in the attack of the chief city of the Malli it was Perdiccas who was ap- pointed to conduct the assault on one side of the fortress, while Alexander himself led that on the other. (Arr. Ancd). iii. 18,iv. 16, 21, 22, 28, 30, V. 12, 13, 22, vi. 6, 9, 15, Ind. 18 ; Curt. vii. 6. § 19, viii. 10. § 2, 14. §§ 5, 15, ix. 1. § 19.) Nor was he forgotten in the distribution of honours at Susa, where he received a crown of gold for his services in common with the other Somatophylaces, and the daughter of Atropates, the satrap of Media, in marriage. (Arr. vii. 4. § 7, 5. § 9.) In virtue of his office as Somatophylax, he was one of those in constant attendance upon the king's person when not emploved on other military services (see Curt. vi. 8. § 17', viii. 1. §§ 45, 48), and thus was naturally one of the officers who were gathered around the bed of the dying Alexander, who is said in his last moments to have taken the royal signet ring from his finger and given it to Perdic- cas. (Died. xvii. 1 1 7, xviii. 2 ; Curt. x. 5. § 4 ; PERDICCAS. Justin, xii. 15 ; it is remarkable that Arrian doeg not even allude to this circumstance.) In the deliberations which followed the death of the king (b. c. 323), Perdiccas assumed a leading part. In the general council of the officers he was the first to propose that the crown should be re- served for the child of which Roxana was then pregnant, supposing it to prove a male : and it was immediately suggested by Aristonous that the re- gency in the mean time should be confined to Per- diccas. This proposal — with the modification put forward by Pithon, that Leonnatus should be asso- ciated with him in the supreme authority, — obtained the concurrence of almost all the chief officers, sup- ported by the whole body of the Macedonian ca- valry. But the infantry, at the head of whom Meleagerhad placed himself [Meleager], refused to acquiesce in this decision, and clamorously de- manded that Arrhidaeus, the bastard brother of Alexander, should be at once proclaimed king. Matters soon came to an open rupture between the two parties, and the cavalry, with most of the leading men in the army, withdrew from Babylon, and encamped without the city. Perdiccas at first remained behind, but an attempt made upon his life by his rival, which was frustrated only by his own intrepidity, soon compelled him to follow the example of the seceders. The cavalry now threat- ened to cut off the supplies, and reduce Babylon to a state of famine ; but after repeated embassies a compromise was at length eft'ected, by which it was agreed that Arrhidaeus should be declared king, reserving however to the son of Roxana a sfiare of the sovereignty, as soon as he should be born, while Perdiccas, under the honorary title of chiliarch of the haipoi^ should hold the chief com- mand under the new monarch, Meleager taking rank immediately under him. (Curt. x. 6 — 8 ; Justin, xiii. 2 — 4 ; Arrian. ap. Phot. p. Qd^ a ; Dexipp. ibid. p. 64, b.; Diod. xviii. 2.) But this arrangement, though sanctioned b}' a solemn treaty, was not destined to be of long dura- tion. Perdiccas took advantage of his new position to establish his influence over the feeble mind of the nominal king Arrhidaeus, while he lulled his rival Meleager into security by the prcifoundest dissimulation, until his schemes were ripe for exe- cution, and he was able to crush at one blow Meleager himself with all his leading partisans. [Meleager]. By this decisive stroke he freed himself from one of his most formidable adversaries, but at the same time he necessarily aroused the fears of all others who felt themselves to be either his rivals or his enemies. For a time, however, he thought himself secure in the possession of the supreme power ; the king was a mere puppet in his hands, and the birth of Alexander, the ex- pected son of Roxana, appeared greatly to strengthen his authority, while the partition of the several satrapies or governments of Asia and Europe among the generals of Alexander, removed to a distance and separated from one another all his more for- midable competitors. An alarming revolt of the Greek soldiers who had been settled in the pro- vinces of Upper Asia, was successfully put down through the agency of Pithon, and the whole of those who had submitted were barbarously mas- sacred by the express orders of the regent. (Diod. xviii. 7.) Perdiccas now deemed himself at leisure (b.c. 322) to undertake the reduction of Cappadocia, which