1.   INGENIOUS men have long observed a resemblance between the arts and the bodily senses.

 

And they were first led to do so, I think, by noticing the way in which,

both in the arts and with our senses,

we examine opposites.

 

Judgment once obtained, the use to which we put it differs in the two cases.

 

Our senses are not meant to pick out black rather than white, to prefer sweet to bitter, or soft and yielding to hard and resisting objects;

all they have to do is to receive impressions as they occur, and report to the understanding the impressions as received.

 

The arts, on the other hand,

which reason institutes expressly to choose and obtain some suitable,

and to refuse and get rid of some unsuitable object,

have their proper concern in the consideration of the former;

 

though, in a casual and contingent way,

they must also, for the very rejection of them,

pay attention to the latter.

 

Medicine, to produce health,

has to examine disease,

and music, to create harmony,

must investigate discord;

and the supreme arts,

of temperance,

of justice,

and of wisdom,

as they are acts of judgment and selection, exercised not on good and just and expedient only,

but also on wicked, unjust, and inexpedient objects,

do not give their commendations to the mere innocence whose boast is its inexperience of evil,

and whose truer name is, by their award,

simpleness and ignorance of what all men who live aright should know.

 

The ancient Spartans, at their festivals,

used to force their Helots to swallow large quantities of raw wine,

and then expose them at the public tables,

to let the young men see what it is to be drunk.

 

And, though I do not think it consistent with humanity or with civil justice to correct one man's morals by corrupting those of another,

yet we may, I think, avail ourselves of the cases of those who have fallen into indiscretions,

and have, in high stations, made themselves conspicuous for misconduct;

 

and I shall not do ill to introduce a pair or two of such examples among these biographies,

not, assuredly, to amuse and divert my readers,

or give variety to my theme,

but as Ismenias, the Theban, used to show his scholars good and bad performers on the flute,

and to tell them,

 

"You should play like this man,"

and, "You should not play like that,"

 

and as Antigenidas used to say,

Young people would take greater pleasure in hearing good playing,

if first they were set to hear bad, so, in the same manner,

it seems to me likely enough

that we shall be all the more zealous and more emulous to read,

observe,

and imitate the better lives,

if we are not left in ignorance of the blameworthy

and the bad.

 

 

 

4. Let us here record an example in the early life of Demetrius, showing his natural humane and kindly disposition.

 

It was an adventure which passed betwixt him and Mithridates, the son of Ariobarzanes,

who was about the same age with Demetrius,

and lived with him, in attendance on Antigonus;

and although nothing was said or could be said to his reproach,

he fell under suspicion,

in consequence of a dream which Antigonus had.

 

Antigonus thought himself in a fair and spacious field, where he sowed golden seed, and saw presently a golden crop come up;

of which, however, looking presently again,

he saw nothing remain but the stubble, without the ears.

 

And as he stood by in anger and vexation,

he heard some voices saying Mithridates had cut the golden harvest and carried it off into Pontus.

 

Antigonus, much discomposed with his dream,

first bound his son, by an oath not to speak,

and then related it to him, adding that he had resolved,

in consequence, to lose no time in ridding himself of Mithridates,

and making away with him.

Demetrius was extremely distressed;

and when the young man came, as usual, to pass his time with him,

to keep his oath he forbore from saying a word,

but, drawing him aside little by little from the company,

as soon as they were by themselves,

without opening his lips,

with the point of his javelin he traced before him the words

 

"Fly, Mithridates."

 

Mithridates took the hint, and fled by night into Cappadocia,

where Antigonus's dream about him was quickly brought to its due fulfillment;

for he got possession of a large and fertile territory;

and from him descended the line of the kings of Pontus,

which, in the eighth generation, was reduced by the Romans.

 

This may serve for a specimen of the early goodness and love of justice that was part of Demetrius's natural character.

 

9. . ....While he was occupied in this, he remembered that Stilpo, the philosopher,

famous for his choice of a life of tranquillity,

was residing here.

 

He, therefore, sent for him, and begged to know whether anything belonging to him had been taken.

 

"No," replied Stilpo, "I have not met with any one to take away knowledge."

 

Pretty nearly all the slaves in the city had been stolen away;

and so, when Demetrius, renewing his courtesies to Stilpo, on taking leave of him, said,

 

"I leave your city, Stilpo, a city of freemen."

 

"Certainly," replied Stilpo, "there is not one slave left among us all."

 

10.           Returning from Megara, he sat down before the citadel of Munychia,

which in a few days he took by assault,

and caused the fortifications to be demolished;

and thus having accomplished his design,

upon the request and invitation of the Athenians he made his entrance into the upper city,

where, causing the people to be summoned,

he publicly announced to them that their ancient constitution was restored,

and that they should receive from his father, Antigonus, a present of one hundred and fifty thousand measures of wheat,

and such a supply of timber as would enable them to build a hundred galleys.

 

In this manner did the Athenians recover their popular institutions,

 after the space of fifteen years from the time of the war of Lamia and the battle before Cranon,

during which interval of time the government had been administered nominally as an oligarchy,

but really by a single man,

Demetrius the Phalerian being so powerful.

 

But the excessive honours which the Athenians bestowed,

for these noble and generous acts,

upon Demetrius, created offence and disgust.

 

The Athenians were the first who gave Antigonus and Demetrius the title of kings,

which hitherto they had made it a point of piety to decline,

as the one remaining royal honour still reserved for the lineal descendants of Philip and Alexander,

in which none but they could venture to participate.

 

Another name which they received from no people but the Athenians was that of euergetes and soter (benefactor and saviour.)

 

And to enhance this flattery,

by a common vote it was decreed to change the style of the city,

and not to have the years named any longer from the annual archon;

a priest of the two euergeteis, who was to be yearly chosen,

was to have this honour,

and all public acts and instruments were to bear their date by his name.

 

They decreed, also, that the figures of Antigonus and Demetrius should be woven,

with those of the gods,

into the pattern of the great robe.

 

They consecrated the spot where Demetrius first alighted from his chariot,

and built an altar there,

with the name of the Altar of the Descent of Demetrius.

 

They created two new tribes, calling them after the names of these princes,

the Antigonid and the Demetriad;

and to the Council, which consisted of five hundred persons, fifty being chosen out of every tribe,

they added one hundred more to represent these new tribes.

 

11. But the wildest proposal was one made by Stratocles,

the great inventor of all these ingenious and exquisite compliments,

enacting that the members of any deputation that the city should send to Demetrius or Antigonus should have the same title as those sent to Delphi or Olympia for the performance of the national sacrifices in behalf of the state at the great Greek festivals.

 

This Stratocles was, in all respects, an audacious and abandoned character,

and seemed to have made it his object to copy,

by his buffoonery and impertinence,

Cleon's old familiarity with the people.

 

His mistress, Phylacion, one day bringing him a dish of brains and neckbones for his dinner,

 

"Oh," said he, "I am to dine upon the things which we statesmen play at ball with."

 

At another time, when the Athenians received their naval defeat near Amorgos,

he hastened home before the news could reach the city,

and having a chaplet on his head,

came riding through the Ceramicus,

announcing that they had won a victory,

and moved a vote for thanksgivings to the gods,

and a distribution of meat among the people in their tribes.

 

Presently after came those who brought home the wrecks from the battle;

and when the people exclaimed at what he had done,

he came boldly to face the outcry,

and asked what harm there had been in giving them two days' pleasure.

 
 

28.     And now the story passes from the comic to the tragic stage in pursuit of the acts and fortunes of its subjects. A general league of the kings, who were now gathering and combining their forces to attack Antigonus, recalled Demetrius from Greece. He was encouraged by finding his father full of a spirit and resolution for the combat that belied his years. Yet it would seem to be true, that if Antigonus could only have borne to make some trifling concessions, and if he had shown any moderation in his passion for empire, he might have maintained for himself till his death and left to his son behind him the first place among the kings. But he was of a violent and haughty spirit; and the insulting words as well as actions in which he allowed himself could not be borne by young and powerful princes, and provoked them into combining against him. Though now when he was told of the confederacy, he could not forbear from saying that this flock of birds would soon be scattered by one stone and a single shout. He took the field at the head of more than seventy thousand foot, and of ten thousand horse, and seventy-five elephants. His enemies had sixty-four thousand foot, five hundred more horse than he, elephants to the number of four hundred, and a hundred and twenty chariots. On their near approach to each other, an alteration began to be observable, not in the purposes, but in the presentiments of Antigonus. For whereas in all former campaigns he had ever shown himself lofty and confident, loud in voice and scornful in speech, often by some joke or mockery on the eve of battle expressing his contempt and displaying his composure, he was now remarked to be thoughtful, silent, and retired. He presented Demetrius to the army and declared him his successor; and what every one thought stranger than all was that he now conferred alone in his tent with Demetrius; whereas in former time he had never entered into any secret consultations even with him; but had always followed his own advice, made his resolutions, and then given out his commands. Once when Demetrius was a boy and asked him how soon the army would move, he is said to have answered him sharply, "Are you afraid lest you, of all the army, should not hear the trumpet?"

 

29.     There were now, however, inauspicious signs, which affected his spirits. Demetrius, in a dream, had seen Alexander, completely armed, appear and demand of him what word they intended to give in the time of the battle; and Demetrius answering that he intended the word should he "Zeus and Victory," "Then," said Alexander, "I will go to your adversaries and find my welcome with them." And on the morning of the combat, as the armies were drawing up, Antigonus, going out of the door of his tent, by some accident or other stumbled and fell flat upon the ground, hurting himself a good deal. And on recovering his feet, lifting up his hands to heaven, he prayed the gods to grant him, "either victory, or death without knowledge of defeat." When the armies engaged, Demetrius, who commanded the greatest and best part of the cavalry, made a charge on Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, and gloriously routing the enemy, followed the pursuit, in the pride and exultation of success, so eagerly, and so unwisely far, that it fatally lost him the day; for when, perceiving his error, he would have come in to the assistance of his own infantry, he was not able, the enemy with their elephants having cut off his retreat. And on the other hand, Seleucus, observing the main battle of Antigonus left naked of their horse, did not charge, but made a show of charging; and keeping them in alarm and wheeling about and still threatening an attack, he gave opportunity for those who wished it to separate and come over to him; which a large body of them did, the rest taking to flight. But the old King Antigonus still kept his post, and when a strong body of the enemies drew up to charge him, and one of those about him cried out to him, "Sir, they are coming upon you," he only replied, "What else should they do? but Demetrius will come to my rescue." And in this hope he persisted to the last, looking out on every side for his son's approach, until he was borne down by a whole multitude of darts, and fell. His other followers and friends fled, and Thorax of Larissa remained alone by the body.

 

 

38.     To add to this unexpected good fortune, news arrived that Ptolemy had dismissed his mother and children, bestowing upon them presents and honours; and also that his daughter Stratonice, whom he had married to Seleucus, was remarried to Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, and proclaimed Queen of Upper Asia.

 

For Antiochus, it appears, had fallen passionately in love with Stratonice, the young queen, who had already made Seleucus the father of a son. He struggled very hard with the beginning of this passion, and at last, resolving with himself that his desires were wholly unlawful, his malady past all cure, and his powers of reason too feeble to act, he determined on death, and thought to bring his life slowly to extinction by neglecting his person and refusing nourishment, under the pretence of being ill. Erasistratus, the physician who attended him, quickly perceived that love was his distemper, but the difficulty was to discover the object. He therefore waited continually in his chamber, and when any of the beauties of the court made their visit to the sick prince, he observed the emotions and alterations in the countenance of Antiochus, and watched for the changes which he knew to be indicative of the inward passions and inclinations of the soul. He took notice that the presence of other women produced no effect upon him; but when Stratonice came, as she often did, alone, or in company with Seleucus, to see him, he observed in him all Sappho's famous symptoms,-

 

his voice faltered, his face flushed up,

his eyes glanced stealthily,

a sudden sweat broke out on his skin,

the beatings of his heart were irregular and violent,

and, unable to support the excess of his passion,

he would sink into a state of faintness,

prostration, and pallor.

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Catullus 51

 

ILLE mi par esse deo uidetur,
ille, si fas est, superare diuos,
qui sedens aduersus identidem te
spectat et audit
dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis
eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,
Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi
* * * * * * * *
lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus
flamma demanat, sonitu suopte
tintinant aures gemina, teguntur
lumina nocte.
otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est:
otio exsultas nimiumque gestis:
otium et reges prius et beatas
perdidit urbes.

...............................................................................

 

Erasistratus, reasoning upon these symptoms, and, upon the probabilities of things, considering that the king's son would hardly, if the object of his passion had been any other, have persisted to death rather than reveal it, felt, however, the difficulty of making a discovery of this nature to Seleucus. But, trusting to the tenderness of Seleucus for the young man, he put on all the assurances he could, and at last, on some opportunity, spoke out and told him the malady was love, a love impossible to gratify or relieve. The king was extremely surprised, and asked, "Why impossible to relieve?" "The fact is," replied Erasistratus, "he is in love with my wife." "How!" said Seleusus, "and will our friend Erasistratus refuse to bestow his wife upon my son and only successor, when there is no other way to save his life?" "You," replied Erasistratus, "who are his father, would not do so, if he were in love with Stratonice." "Ah, my friend," answered Seleucus, "would to heaven any means, human or divine, could but convert his present passion to that; it would be well for me to part not only with Stratonice, but with my empire, to save Antiochus." This he said with the greatest passion, shedding tears as he spoke; upon which Erasistratus, taking him by the hand, replied, "In that case, you have no need of Erasistratus; for you, who are the husband, the father, and the king, are the proper physician for your own family." Seleucus, accordingly, summoning a general assembly of his people, declared to them, that he had resolved to make Antiochus king, and Stratonice queen, of all the provinces of Upper Asia, uniting them in marriage; telling them, that he thought he had sufficient power over the prince's will that he should find in him no repugnance to obey his commands; and for Stratonice, he hoped all his friends would endeavour to make her sensible, if she should manifest any reluctance to such a marriage, that she ought to esteem those things just and honourable which had been determined upon by the king as necessary to the general good. In this manner, we are told, was brought about the marriage of Antiochus and Stratonice.