Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/36

 4 HISTORY CF GREECE. is said that once, when quite a youth, he received i^omc Peraiar. envoys during the absence of his father ; and that he surprised them by the maturity of his demeanor, as well as by the political bearing and pertinence of his questions.^ Though only sixteen years of age, in 340 b. c, he was left at home as regent while Philip was engaged in the sieges of Byzantium and Perinthus. He put down a revolt of the neighboring Thracian tribe called Maedi, took one of their towns, and founded it anew under the title of Alexandria ; the earliest town which bore that name, afterwards applied to so many other towns planted by him. Jn the march of Philip into Greece (338 B. c.,) Alexander tooh part, commanded one of the wings at the battle of Choeroneia, anc is said to have first gained the advantage on his side over th( Theban sacred band.'^ Yet notwithstanding such marks of confidence and coopera- tion, other incidents occurred producing bitter animosity between the father and the son. By his wife Olympias, Philip had a3 offspring Alexander and Kleopatra : by a Tliessalian mistress named Philinna, he had a son named Arida?us (afterwards called Philip Aridjeus :) he had also daughters named Kynna (or Kynane) and Thessalonike. Olympias, a woman of sanguinarj and implacable disposition, had rendered herself so odious to him, that he repudiated her, and married a new Avife named Kleopatra. I have recounted in the preceding volume^ the in- dignation felt by Alexander at this proceeding, and the violent altercation which occurred during the conviviality of the marriage banquet ; where Philip actually snatched his sword, threatened his son's life, and was only prevented from executing the threat by falling down through intoxication. After this quarrel, Alex- ander retired from Macedonia, conducting his mother to hei brother Alexander king of Epirus. A son was boi*n to Philip by Kleopatra. Her brother or uncle Attains acquii-ed high favor. Her kinsmen and partisans generally were also pro- ' Plutardi, Alex. .'3. " P'.Rjarch, Alex. 9. Justin says that Alexander was the compauion o' ills father during part of the war in Thrace (ix. 1). ^ Vol. XI. Ch. XI p. 513.