Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/41

 PERSONS KILLED BY ALEXANDER. S orders of Alexander, by Hekataeus and Philotas.* Anothei Amyntas, son of Antiochus (there seems to have been several Macedonians named Amyntas) fled for safety into Asia •? proba- bly others, who felt themselves to be objects of suspicion, did the like — since by the Macedonian custom, not merely a person convicted of high treason, but all his kindred along with him, were put to death.* By unequivocal manifestations of energy and addi-ess, and by despatching rivals or dangerous malcontents, Alexander thus speedily fortified his position on the tlirone at home. But from the foreign dependents of Macedonia — Greeks, Thracians, and Illyrians — the like acknowledgment was not so easily obtained. Most of them were disposed to throw off the yoke ; yet none dared to take the initiative of moving, and the suddenness of Philip's death found them altogether unprepared for combination. By that event the Greeks were discharged from all engagement, since the vote of the confederacy had elected him personally as Imperator. They were now at liberty, in so far as there was any liberty at all in the proceeding, to elect any one eLe, or to abstain from reelecting at all, and even to let the confederacy expire. Now it Avas only under constraint and intimidation, as was well known both in Greece and Macedonia, that they had conferred this dignity even on Philip — who had earned it by splendid exploits, and had proved himself the ablest captain and politician of the age. They were by no means inclined to trans-, fer it to a youth like Alexander, until he had shown himself capable of bringing the like coercion to bear, and extorting the same submission. The wish to break loose from Macedonia, widely spread throughout the Grecian cities, found open expres- sion from Demosthenes and others in the assembly at Athens. That orator (if we are to believe his rival -3^schines), having received private intelligence of the assassination of Philip, ' See my last preceding volume, Chap. xc. p. 518 ; Diod. xvii. 2 ; Curtius, vii. 1,6; Justin, ix. 7 xi. 2. xii. 6 ; Plutarch, Alcxand. 10; Pausanias, viji. 7, 5. - Anian, i. 17, 10 ; Plutarch, Alex. 20 ; Curtius, iii. 2S, 18. •' Curtius, vi. 42, 20. Compare with this custora, a passafjc in the I'&x of Sophokles, v. 725.