Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/370

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

y38 HISTORY OF GREECE. iun ;irmy in Asia, to crush Eumenes and the other chief adhe- rents of Perdikkas ; most of whom had been condemned to death by a vote of the Macedonian army. After a certain interval, Antipater himself, accompanied by the kings, returned to Mace- donia, having eluded by artifice a renewed demand on the part of his soldiers for the promised presents. The Avar of Antigonus, first against Eumenes in Kappadokia, next against Alketas and the other partisans of Perdikkas in Pisidia, lasted for many months, but was at length successfully finished.* Eumenes, be- set by the constant treachery and insubordination of the Mace- donians, was defeated and driven out of the field. He took re- fuge with a handful of men in the impregnable and well-stored fortress of Noi-a in Kappadokia, where he held out a long block- ade, apparently more than a year, against Antigonus.- Before the prolonged blockade of Nora had been brought to a close, Antipater, being of very advanced age, fell into sickness, and presently died. One of his latest acts was, to put to death the Athenian orator Demades, who had been sent to Macedonia as envoy to solicit the removal of the Macedonian garrison at Munychia, Antipater had promised, or given hopes, that if the oligarchy which he had constituted at Athens maintained un shaken adherence to Macedonia, he would withdraw the garri- son. The Athenians endeavored to prevail on Phokion to go to Macedonia as sohcitor for the fulfilment of this promise ; but he steadily refused. Demades, who willingly undertook the mis- sion, reached Macedonia at a moment very untoward for himself. The papers of the deceased Perdikkas had come into possession of his opponents ; and among them had been found a letter writ- ten to him by Demades, inviting him to cross over and rescue Greece from her dependence " on an old and rotten warp " — meaning Antipater. This letter gave great offence to Antipater — the rather, as Demades is said to have been his habitual pen- sioner — and still greater offence to his son Kassander ; who caused Demades with his son to be seized — first killed the son ' Arrian, De Rebus post Alexandr. lib. ix. 10. ap. riiotium, Cod. 92; Diodor. xviii. 39, 40, 46 ; Plutarch, Eumenes, 3, 4.

  • Plutarch, Eumenes, 10, 11; Cornel. Nepos. Eumenes, c. 5; Diodor

xviii. 41.