the master-piece of a great commander. The reputation of Craterus was very great, and the generality of the Macedonians were desirous of him for their leader after the death of Alexander, remembering that his affection for them and his desire to support their interest had caused him to incur the displeasure of that prince. Neoptolemus had flattered him, that, as soon as he should appear in the field, all the Macedonians of the opposite party would list themselves under his banners; and Eumenes himself was very apprehensive of that event. But, in order to avoid this misfortune, which would have occasioned his inevitable ruin, he caused the avenues and narrow passes to be so carefully guarded, that his army were entirely ignorant of the enemy against whom he was leading them, as he had caused a report to be spread, that it was only Neoptolemus, who was preparing to attack him a second time. In the dispositions he made for the battle, he was careful not to oppose any Macedonian against Craterus; and issued an order, with very severe penalties, that no herald from the enemy should be received on any account whatever. The first charge was very rude; the lances were soon shivered on both sides, and the two armies attacked sword in hand. Craterus did not behave unworthy of his master Alexander on this last day of his life, for he killed several of the enemy with his own hand, and frequently bore down all who opposed him; till, at last, a Thracian wounded him in the side, when he fell from his horse. All the enemy's cavalry rode over him without knowing who he was, and did not discover him till he was breathing his last. As to the other wing, Neoptolemus and Eumenes, who personally hated each other, having met in the battle, and their horses charging with a violent shock, they seized each other; and, their horses springing from under them, they both fell on the earth, where they struggled like two implacable wrestlers, and fought for a considerable time with the utmost fury and rage, till at last Neoptolemus received a mortal wound, and immediately expired. Eumenes then remounted his horse, and pushed on to his left wing, where he believed the enemy's troops still continued unbroken. There, when he was informed that Craterus was killed, he spurred his horse to the place where he lay, and found him expiring. When he beheld this melancholy spectacle, he could not refuse his tears to the death of an ancient friend whom he had always esteemed; and he caused the last honours to be paid him with all possible magnificence. He likewise ordered his bones to be conveyed to Macedonia, in order to be given to his wife and children. Eumenes gained this second victory ten days after the first. a In the mean time Perdiccas had advanced into Egypt, and began the war with Ptolemy, though with very different. success. Ptolemy, from the time he was constituted governor of that country, had conducted himself with so much justice and humanity, that he had entirely gained the hearts of all the Egyptians. An infinite number of people, charmed with the lenity of so wise an administration, came thither from Greece and other parts to enter into his service. This additional advantage rendered him extremely powerful; and even the army of Perdiccas had so much esteem for Ptolemy, that they marched with reluctance against him, and great numbers of them deserted daily to his troops. All these circumstances were fatal to the views of Perdiccas, and he lost his own life in that country, having unfortunately taken a resolution to make his army pass an arm of the Nile, which formed an island near Memphis: in passing he lost 2,000 men, half of whom were drowned, and the remainder devoured by crocodiles. The Macedonians were exasperat to such a degree of fury, when they saw themselves exposed to such unnecessary dangers, that they mutinied against him; in consequence of which he was abandoned by 100 of his principal officers, of whom Pithon was the most considerable, and was assassinated in his tent, with most of his intimate friends. Two days after this event the army received intelligence of the victory obtained by Eumenes; and, had this account come two days sooner, it would certainly have prevented the mutiny, and consequently the revolution that soon succeeded it, which proved so favourable to Ptolemy and. Antipater, and all their adherents. SECT. IV. Regency transferred to Antipater. Polysperchon succeeds. him. The latter recalls Olympias. Ptolemy passed the Nile the day after the death of Per diccas, and entered the Macedonian camp; where he justified his own conduct so effectually, that all the troops declared in his favour. When the death of Craterus was known, he made such an artful improvement of their affliction and resentment, that he induced them to pass a decree, whereby Eumenes, and fifty other persons of the same party, were declared enemies to the Macedonian state; and this decree authorised Antipater and Antigonus to carry on a war against them. Although this prince perceived the troops had a general inclination to offer him the regency of the twe a Diod. I. xviii. p. 613-616.-Plat. in Eamen. p. 587. Cor. Nep. c. v. Dind. 1. xviii. p. 616-619. kings, which became vacant by the death of Perdiccas, he had the precaution to decline that office, because he was very sensible that the royal pupils had a title without a reality; that they would never be capable of sustaining the weight of that vast empire, nor be in a condition to re-unite, under their authority, so many governments accustomed to independency; that there was an inevitable tendency to dismember the whole, as well from the inclinations and interests of the officers as the situation of affairs; that all his acquisitions in the interim would redound to the advantage of his pupils; that, while he appeared to possess the first rank, he should in reality enjoy nothing fixed and solid, or that could any way be considered as his own property; that, upon the expiration of the regency, he should be left without any government or real establishment, and that he should neither be master of an army to support him nor of any retreat for his preservation: whereas, all his colleagues would enjoy the richest provinces in perfect tranquillity, and he be the only one who had not derived any advantages from the common conquests. These considerations induced him to prefer the post he already enjoyed to the new title that was offered him, as the former was less hazardous, and rendered him less obnoxious to envy: he therefore caused the choice to fall on Pithon and Aridæus. The first of these persons had commanded with distinction in all the wars of Alexander, and had embraced the party of Perdiccas, till he was a witness of his imprudent conduct in passing the Nile, which induced him to quit his service, and go over to Ptolemy. With respect to Aridaus, history has taken no notice of him before the death of Alexander, when the funeral solemnities of that prince were committed to his care; and we have already seen in what manner he acquitted himself of that melancholy but honourable commission, after he had employed two years in the preparations for it. The honour of this guardianship did not long continue with them. Eurydice, the consort of king Aridæus, whom we shall distinguish for the future by the name of Philip, being fond of interfering in all affairs, and being supported in her pretensions by the Macedonians, the two regents were so dissatisfied with their employment, that they voluntarily resigned it, after they had sent the army back to Triparadis, in Syria, and it was then conferred upon Antipater. As soon as he was invested with his authority, he made a new partition of the provinces of the empire, in which he excluded all those who had espoused' the interest of Perdiccas and Eumenes, and re-established every person of the other party, who had been dispossessed. In this new divi sion of the empire, Seleucus, who had great authority from the command of the cavalry, as we have already intimated, had the government of Babylon, and became afterwards the most powerful of all the successors of Alexander. Pithon had the government of Media; but Atropates, who at that time enjoyed the government of that province, supported himself in one part of the country, and assumed the regal dignity, without acknowledging the authority of the Macedonians; and this tract of Media was afterwards called Media Atropatena. Antipater, after this regulation of affairs, sent Antigonus against Eumenes, and then returned into Macedonia; but left his son Cassander behind him, in quality of general of the cavalry, with orders to be near the person of Antigonus, that he might the better be informed of his designs. a Jaddus, the high-priest of the Jews, died this year, and was succeeded by his son Onias, whose pontificate continued for the space of twenty-one years. I make this remark because the history of the Jews will, in the sequel of this work, be very much intermixed with that of Alexander's succes sors. Antigonus appeared early in the field against Eumenes; and a battle was fought at Orcynium in Cappadocia, wherein Eumenes was defeated, and lost 8,000 men by the treachery of Apollonides, one of the principal officers of his cavalry; who was corrupted by Antigonus, and marched over to the enery in the midst of the battle. The traitor was soon punished for his perfidy, for Eumenes took him, and caused him to be hanged upon the spot. d A conjuncture which happened soon after this defeat would have enabled Eumenes to seize the baggage of Antigonus and all his riches, with a great number of prisoners; and his little troop already cast an eager eye on so considerable a booty. But, whether his apprehensions that so rich a prey would enervate the hearts of his soldiers, who were then constrained to wander from place to place, or whether his regard for Antigonus, with whom he had formerly contracted a particular friendship, prevented him from improving this opportunity, it is certain that he sent privately a letter to that commander to inform him of the danger that threatened him; and, when he afterwards made a feint to attack the baggage, it was all removed to a place of better security. Eumenes, after his overthrow, was obliged, for his preservation, to employ most of his time in changing the place of his retreat; and he was highly admired for the tranquil a A. M. 3683. Ant. J. C. 321. Joseph. Antiq. I. xi. c. 8. Ee d Cor. Nep. in Eum. c. v. lity and steadiness of mind he discovered in the wandering life to which he was reduced: for, as Plutarch observes, adversity alone can place greatness of soul in its full point of light, and render the real merit of mankind conspicuous; whereas, prosperity frequently casts a veil of false grandeur over real meanness and imperfections. Eumenes, having at last disbanded most of his remaining troops, shut himself up, with 500 men who were determined to share his fate, in the castle of Nora, a place of extraordinary strength on the frontiers of Cappadocia and Lycaonia, where he sustained a siege of twelve months. He was soon sensible that nothing incommoded his garrison so much as the small space they possessed, being shut up in little close houses, and on a tract of ground whose whole circuit did not exceed 200 fathoms, where they could neither walk nor perform the least exercise, and where their horses having scarcely any room for motion, became sluggish and incapable of service. To remedy this inconvenience, he had recourse to the following expedient. He converted the largest house in the place, the extent of which did no exceed 21 feet, into a kind of hall for exercise. This he consigned to the men, and ordered them to walk in it very gently at first; they were afterwards to double their pace by degrees, and at last were to exert the most vigorous motions. He then took the following method for the horses. He suspended them, one after another, in strong slings, which were disposed under their breasts, and from thence inserted into rings fastened to the roofs of the stable; after which he caused them to be raised into the air by the aid of pullies, and in such a manner, that only their hinder feet rested on the ground, while the extreme part of the hoofs of their forefeet could hardly touch it. In this condition the grooms lashed them severely with their whips, which tormented the horses to such a degree, and forced them to such violent agitations, that their bodies were all covered with sweat and foam. After this exercise, which was finely calculated to strengthen and keep them in wind, and likewise to render their limbs supple and pliant, their barley was given to them very clean, and winnowed from all the chaff, that they might eat it the sooner, and with less difficulty. The abilities of a good general extend to every thing about him, and are seen in the minutest particulars. The siege, or more properly the blockade, of Nora did not prevent Antigonus from undertaking a new expedition into Pisidia, against Alcetas and Attalus; the last of whom was taken prisoner in a battle, and the other slain by treachery in the place to which he had retired. a A. M. 3585. Ant. J. C. 319. |