Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/249

 DEMETRIUS AND ANTOXY. 241 ness. Aiitigonus considered Antipater's daughter Pliila, in spite of the disparity of her years, an advantageous match for Demetrius. Antony was thought disgraced by his marriage with Cleopatra, a queen superior in power and glory to all, except Arsaces, who were kings in her time. Antony was so great as to be thought by others worthy of higher things than his own desires. As regards the right and justice of their aims at em- pire, Demetrius need not be blamed for seeking to rule a people that had always had a king to rule them. An- tony, who enslaved the Roman people, just Hberated from the rule of Caesar, followed a cruel and tyrannical object. His greatest and most illustrious work, his suc- cessful war with Brutus and Cassius, was done to crush the liberties of his country and of his fellow-citizens. Demetrius, till he was driven to extremity, went on, with- out intermission, maintaining Hberty in Greece, and expelling the foreign garrisons from the cities ; not like Antony, whose boast was to have slain in Macedonia those who had set up Hberty in Rome. As for the pro- fusion and magnificence of his gifts, one point for which Antony is lauded, Demetrius so far outdid them, that what he gave to his enemies was far more than Antony ever gave to his friends. Antony was renowned for giv- ing Brutus honorable burial ; Demetrius did so to all the enemy's dead, and sent the prisoners back to Ptolemy with, money and presents. Both were msolent in prosperity, and abandoned them- selves to luxiu-ies and enjoyments. Yet it cannot be said that Demetrius, in his revellings and dissipations, ever let slip the time for action; pleasures with him attended only the superabundance of his ease, and his Lamia, like that of the fable, belonged only to his playful, half- waking, half-sleeping hours. When war demanded his VOL. V. 16