Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/543

 ALEXANDER DECLARED KING. 517 lent him aid, we are not permitted to know. It is possiole that they may have posted themselves artfully so as to obstruct pur- suit, and favor his chance of escape ; which would appear ex- tremely small, after a deed of such unmeasured audacity. Three only of the reputed accomplices are known to us by name three brothers from the Lynkestian district of Upper Macedonia Alexander, Heromenes, and Arrhibaeus, sons of ^Eropus; 1 but it seems that there were others besides. The Lynkestian Alexan- der whose father-in-law Antipater was one of the most conspicu- ous and confidential officers in the service of Philip belonged to a good family in Macedonia, perhaps even descendants from the ancient family of the princes of Lynkestis. 2 It was he, who, immediately after Pausanias had assassinated Philip, hastened to salute the prince Alexander as king, helped him to put on his ar- mor, and marched as one of his guards to take possession of the regal palace. 3 This " prima vox" 4 was not simply an omen or presage to Al- axander of empire to come, but essentially serviceable to him as a real determining cause or condition. The succession to the Macedonian throne was often disturbed by feud or bloodshed among the members of the regal family ; and under the latter circumstances of Philip's reign, such disturbance was peculiarly probable. He had been on bad terms with Alexander, and on Btill worse terms with Olympias. While banishing persons at- tached to Alexander, he had lent his ear to Attalus with the par- tisans of the new queen Kleopatra. Had these latter got the fast start after the assassination, they would have organized an opposition to Alexander in favor of the infant prince; which Arrian, Exp. Alex. i. 25, 1. 3 Arrian, i. 25, 2 ; Justin, xi. 2. " Soli Alexandra Lyncistarum fratri pepercit, servans in eo auspicium dignitatis suae; nam regem eum primus alutaverat." 4 Tacitus, Hist ii. 80. " Dum quseritur tempns locusque, quodque in re tali difficillimum est, prima vox ; dum animo spes, timor, ratio, casus ob- enrantur ; egressum cubiculo Vespasianum, pauci milites solito adsisten tes ordine, Imperatorem salutavere. Turn caeteri accun-ere, Ccesarem, et A gustum, et omnia principatus vocabula cumulare: nuns a metu ad fortu TOL. XT 44
 * Justin, xii. 14; Quintus Curtius, vii. 1, 5, with the note of Miitzel.
 * am transierat.''