force, he found the fortifications of Piræus too strong for him. Leaving, therefore, his son to blockade the city, Polysperchon advanced with the greater part of his army into the Peloponnesus. Here he laid siege to Megalopolis; but that town was defended with such extraordinary efforts that Polysperchon was compelled to withdraw. His ill success, as well as the destruction of his fleet by the fleet of Cassander, produced an unfavourable turn in the disposition of the Greek states towards Polysperchon, and Athens in particular abandoned his alliance for that of Cassander, who established an oligarchical government in the city under the presidency of Demetrius of Phalerus.

At the same time Eurydicé, the active and intriguing wife of Philip Arrhidæus, conceived the project of throwing off the yoke of the regent, and concluded an alliance with Cassander, while she herself assembled an army with which she obtained for a time the complete possession of Macedonia. But in the spring of 317 Polysperchon, having united his forces with those of Eacides, king of Epirus, invaded Macedonia, accompanied by Olympias. Eurydicé met them with equal daring; but when the mother of Alexander appeared on the field, surrounded by a train in bacchanalian style, the Macedonians at once declared in her favour, and Eurydicé, abandoned by her own troops, fled to Amphipolis, where she soon fell into the hands of Olympias, who put both her and her husband to death, with circumstances of the greatest cruelty. She next wreaked her vengeance on the family of Antipater, and on the adherents of Cassander. These events determined Cassander to proceed with all haste into Macedonia. At his approach Olympias threw herself into Pydna, together with Roxana and her son. Cassander forthwith laid siege to this place; and after a blockade of some months it surrendered in the spring of 316. Olympias had stipulated that her life should be spared, but Cassander soon afterwards caused her to be murdered. After the fall of Pydna all Macedonia submitted to Cassander; who, after shutting up Roxana and her son in the citadel of Amphipolis, married Thessalonica, a halfsister of Alexander the Great, with the view of strengthening his pretensions to the throne.

Shortly afterwards Cassander marched into Greece, and began the restoration of Thebes (B.C. 315), in the twentieth year after its destruction by Alexander, a measure highly popular with the Greeks.

§ 10. A new war now broke out in the East. Antigonus had become the most powerful of Alexander's successors. He had conquered Eumenes, who had long defied his arms, and he now

began to dispose of the provinces as he thought fit. His increasing power and ambitious projects led to a general coalition against him, consisting of Ptolemy, Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus, the governor of Thrace. The war began in the year 315, and was carried on with great vehemence and alternate success in Syria, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, and Greece. After four years all parties became exhausted with the struggle, and peace was accordingly concluded in 311, on condition that the Greek cities should be free, that Cassander should retain his authority in Europe till Alexander came of age, that Ptolemy and Lysimachus should keep possession of Thrace and Egypt respectively, and that Antigonus should have the government of all Asia. The name of Seleucus does not occur in the treaty.

This hollow peace, which had been merely patched up for the convenience of the parties concerned, was not of long duration. It seems to have been the immediate cause of another of those crimes which disgrace the history of Alexander's successors. Alexander, who had now attained the age of sixteen, was still shut up with his mother Roxana in Amphipolis; and his partisans, with injudicious zeal, loudly expressed their wish that he should be released and placed upon the throne. In order to avert this event Cassander contrived the secret murder both of the mother and the son.

§ 11. This abominable act, however, does not appear to have caused a breach of the peace. Ptolemy was the first to break it (B.C. 310), under the pretext that Antigonus, by keeping his garrisons in the Greek cities of Asia and the islands, had not respected that article of the treaty which guaranteed Grecian freedom. After the war had lasted three years, Antigonus resolved to make a vigorous effort to wrest Greece from the hands of Cassander and Ptolemy, who held all the principal towns in it. Accordingly, in the summer of 307 B.C. he despatched his son Demetrius from Ephesus to Athens, with a fleet of 250 sail, and 5000 talents in money. Demetrius, who afterwards obtained the surname of "Poliorcētes," or "Besieger of Cities," was a young man of ardent temperament and great abilities. Upon arriving at the Piræus, he immediately proclaimed the object of his expedition to be the liberation of Athens and the expulsion of the Macedonian garrison. Supported by the Macedonians, Demetrius the Phalerean had now ruled Athens for a period of more than ten years. Of mean birth, Demetrius the Phalerean owed his elevation entirely to his talents and perseverance. His skill as an orator raised him to distinction among his countrymen; and his politics, which led him to embrace the party of Phocion, recommended him

to Cassander and the Macedonians. He cultivated many branches of literature, and was at once an historian, a philosopher, and a poet; but none of his works have come down to us. During the first period of his administration he appears to have governed wisely and equitably, to have improved the Athenian laws, and to have adorned the city with useful buildings.* But in spite of his pretensions to philosophy, the possession of uncontrolled power soon altered his character for the worse, and he became remarkable for luxury, ostentation, and sensuality. Hence he gradually lost the popularity which he had once enjoyed, and which had prompted the Athenians to raise to him no fewer than 360 bronze statues, most of them equestrian. The Athenians heard with pleasure the proclamations of the son of Antigonus; his namesake, the Phalerean, was obliged to surrender the city to him, and to close his political career by retiring to Thebes. The Macedonian garrison in Munychia offered a slight resistance, which was soon overcome. Demetrius Poliorcētes then formally announced to the Athenian assembly the restoration of their ancient constitution, and promised them a large donative of corn and ship-timber. This munificence was repaid by the Athenians with the basest and most abject flattery. Both Demetrius and his father were deified, and two new tribes, those of Antigonias and Demetrias, were added to the existing ten which derived their names from the ancient heroes of Attica.

§ 12. Demetrius Poliorcētes did not, however, remain long at Athens. Early in 306 B.C. he was recalled by his father, and, sailing to Cyprus, undertook the siege of Salamis. Ptolemy hastened to its relief with 140 vessels and 10,000 troops. The battle that ensued was one of the most memorable in the annals of ancient naval warfare, more particularly on account of the vast size of the vessels engaged. Ptolemy was completely defeated ; and so important was the victory deemed by Antigonus, that on the strength of it he assumed the title of king, which he also conferred upon his son. This example was followed by Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus.

Encouraged by their success at Cyprus, Antigonus and Demetrius made an attempt upon Egypt, which, however, proved a disastrous failure. By way of revenge, Demetrius undertook an expedition against Rhodes, which had refused its aid in the attack upon Ptolemy. It was from the memorable siege of Rhodes that Demetrius obtained his name of "Poliorcētes."

A census which Demetrius took of the population of Attica, probably in 309 B.C., the year of his archonship, gave 21,000 freemen, 10,000 metics, or resident aliens, and the amazing number of 400,000 slaves. The wives and families of the free population must of course be added.

After in vain attempting to take the town from the sea-side, by means of floating batteries, from which stones of enormous weight were hurled from engines with incredible force against the walls, he determined to alter his plan and invest it on the land-side. With the assistance of Epimachus, an Athenian engineer, he constructed a machine which, in anticipation of its effect, was called Helepõlis, or "the city-taker." This was a square wooden tower, 150 feet high, and divided into nine stories, filled with armed men, who discharged missiles through apertures in the sides. When armed and prepared for attack, it required the strength of 2300 men to set this enormous machine in motion. But though this formidable engine was assisted by the operation of two battering-rams, each 150 feet long and propelled by the labour of 1000 men, the Rhodians were so active in repairing the breaches made in their walls, that after a year spent in the vain attempt to take the town, Demetrius was forced to retire and grant the Rhodians peace.

§ 13. Whilst Demetrius was thus employed, Cassander had made great progress in reducing Greece. He had taken Corinth, and was besieging Athens, when Demetrius entered the Euripus. Cassander immediately raised the siege, and was subsequently defeated in an action near Thermopyla. When Demetrius entered Athens, he was received as before with the most extravagant flatteries. He remained two or three years in Greece, during which his superiority over Cassander was decided, though no great battle was fought.

In the spring of 301 B.C. he was recalled by his father Antigonus, who stood in need of his assistance against Lysimachus and Seleucus. In the course of the same year the struggle between Antigonus and his rivals was brought to a close by the battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which Antigonus was killed, and his army completely defeated. Antigonus had attained the age of 81 at the time of his death. Demetrius retreated with the remnant of the army to Ephesus, whence he sailed to Cyprus, and afterwards proposed to go to Athens; but the Athenians, alienated by his ill-fortune at Ipsus, refused to receive him. Seleucus and Lysimachus shared between them the possessions of Antigonus. Lysimachus seems to have had the greater part of Asia Minor, whilst the whole country from the coast of Syria to the Euphrates, as well as a part of Phrygia and Cappadocia, fell to the share of Seleucus. The latter founded on the Orontes a new capital of his empire, which he named after his father Antioch. The fall of Antigonus secured Cassander in the possession of Greece, though it does not appear that any formal treaty was entered into for that purpose.

THE ROMANS.

§ 1. Proceedings of Demetrius Poliorcetes. He captures Athens. § 2. Obtains the Macedonian crown. His flight and death. § 3. Lysimachus reigns over Macedonia. He is defeated and slain by Seleucus. § 4. Seleucus assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus. Invasion of the Celts, and death of Ptolemy Ceraunus. § 5. Antigonus Gonatas ascends the Macedonian throne. Death of Pyrrhus of Epirus. Chremonidean war. § 6. The Achæan League. § 7. State of Sparta. Reforms of Agis and Cleomenes. The Cleomenic war. § 8. The Etolian League. § 9. The Social War. § 10. War between Philip and the Romans. § 11. Philopomen. § 12. Second war between Philip and the Romans. Battle of Cynoscephalæ. § 13. Defeat of Antiochus, and subjugation of the Etolians by the Romans. § 14. Extension of the Achæan League. Conquest of Sparta. Death of Philopomen. § 15. War between Perseus and the Romans. Conquest of Macedonia. § 16. Proceedings of the Romans in Greece. § 17. Athens and Oropus. War between the Achæans and Spartans. § 18. The Spartans appeal to the Romans, who reduce Greece into a Roman province.

§ 1. AFTER his repulse from Athens, Demetrius proceeded towards Peloponnesus, but found that his allies in that quarter had also abandoned him and embraced the cause of Cassander.