Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/230

 ! J04 HISTORY OF GREECE. and in the fulness of power, Against oppressed subjects or neigh- bors he could take security by means of mercenary guards ; but he was slain by the contrivance of his wife Thebe and the act of her brothers : a memorable illustration of the general position laid down by Xenophon, that the Grecian despot could calculate neither on security nor on affection anywhere, and that his most dangerous enemies were to be found among his own household or kindred. 1 The brutal life of Alexander, and the cruelty of his proceedings, had inspired his wife with mingled hatred and fear. Moreover she had learnt from words dropped in a fit of intoxica- tion, that he was intending to put to death her brothers Tisipho- nus, Pytholaus, and Lykophron and along with them herself; partly because she was childless, and he had formed the design of re-marrying with the widow of the late despot Jason, who resided at Thebes. Accordingly Thebe, apprising her brothers of their peril, concerted with them the means of assassinating Alexander. The bed-chamber which she shared with him was in an uppei story, accessible only by a removable staircase or ladder; at the foot of which there lay every night a fierce mastiff in chains, and a Thracian soldier tattooed after the fashion of his country. The whole house moreover was regularly occupied by a company of guards ; and it is even said that the wardrobe and closets of Thebe were searched every evening for concealed weapons These numerous precautions of mistrust, however, were baffled by her artifice. She concealed her brothers during all the day in a safe adjacent hiding-place. At night Alexander, coming to bed intoxicated, soon fell fast asleep ; upon which Thebe stole out of the room directed the dog to be removed from the foot of the stairs, under pretence that the despot wished to enjoy undisturbed repose and then called her armed brothers. After spreading wool upon the stairs, in order that their tread might be noiseless, l>ov. He states that the assassination of Alexander occurred " a littia while " after the period when the Thebans, avenging the death of Pelopi- das, reduced that despot to submission. Now this reduction cannot 1)6 placed later than 363 B. c. That interval therefore which Plutarch calls "a little while," will be three years, if we place the assassination in 359 B. c., tix years, if we place it in 357-356 B. c. Three years is a more suitable interpretation of the words than six years. 1 Xenoph. Hiero, i. 38; ii. 10; iii. 8.