after he had so long a time governed the Gauls, where he utterly forgat the art of obedience. A most cruel and ungrateful traitor Antipater was, if Curtius do not belie him; for though he feared some ill measure upon his remove, (the tragedies of Parmenio, Clytus, and Callisthenes having been so lately acted,) yet he knew nothing to the contrary, but that the king had resolved to have given him some other great government in Asia: the old soldiers, thence returned, having perchance desired to be governed by Craterus, whom they had followed in all the former war.

SECT. XXIII.

Of Alexander's person and qualities.

HOWSOEVER it were, Alexander's former cruelties cannot be excused, no more than his vanity to be esteemed the son of Jupiter, with his excessive delight in drink and drunkenness, which others make the cause of his fever and death. In that he lamented his want of enterprising, and grieved to consider what he should do when he had conquered the world, Augustus Cæsar found just cause to deride him, as if the well-governing of so many nations and kingdoms, as he had already conquered, could not have offered him matter more than abundant to busy his brains withal. That he was both learned and a lover of learning, it cannot be doubted: sir Francis Bacon, in his first book of the Advancement of Learning, hath proved it sufficiently. His liberality I know not how to praise, because it exceeded proportion. It is said, that when he gave a whole city to one of his servants, he, to whom it was given, did out of modesty refuse it, as disproportionable to his fortune: to whom Alexander replied, That he did not inquire what became him to accept, but the king to give: of which Seneca, a Animosa vox videtur et regia, cum sit stultissima. Nihil enim per se quemquam decet. Refert quid, cui, quando, quare, ubi, &c. sine quibus facti ratio non constabit; habeatur personarum et dignitatum proportio, et cum sit ubique virtutis modus, æque peccat quod excedit, quam quod

Lib. 2. de Ben. c. 1.

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deficit; "It seems a brave and royal speech, whereas in"deed it is very foolish. For nothing simply considered by itself beseems a man. We must regard what, to "whom, when, why, where, and the like; without which "considerations no act can be approved. Let honours be "proportioned unto the persons: for whereas virtue is ever "limited by measure, the excess is as faulty as the defect."

For his person, it is very apparent, that he was as valiant as any man, a disposition, taken by itself, not much to be admired; for I am resolved that he had ten thousand in his army as daring as himself. Surely, if adventurous natures were to be commended simply, we should confound that virtue with the hardiness of thieves, ruffians, and mastiff dogs. For certainly it is no way praiseworthy but in daring good things, and in the performance of those lawful enterprises, in which we are employed for the service of our kings and commonweals.

If we compare this great conqueror with other troublers of the world, who have bought their glory with so great destruction and effusion of blood, I think him far inferior to Cæsar, and many other that lived after him, seeing he never undertook any warlike nation, the naked Scythians excepted, nor was ever encountered with any army of which he had not a most mastering advantage, both of weapons and of commanders, every one of his father's old captains by far exceeding the best of his enemies. But it seemeth, fortune and destinies (if we may use those terms) had found out and prepared for him, without any care of his own, both heaps of men that willingly offered their necks to the yoke, and kingdoms that invited and called in their own conquerors. For conclusion, we will agree with Seneca, who speaking of Philip the father, and Alexander the son, gives this judgment of them: b Quod non minores fuere pestes mortalium quam inundatio, qua planum omne perfusum est, quam conflagratio qua magna pars animantium exaruit; "That they were no less plagues to mankind, than "an overflow of waters, drowning all the level; or some

b Natural. Quæst. 1. 3. q. 1.

burning drought, whereby a great part of living creatures "is scorched up."

CHAP. III.

The reign of Aridæus.

SECT I.

Of the question about succession to Alexander.

THE death of Alexander left his army (as Demades the Athenian then compared it) in such case, as was that monstrous giant Polyphemus, having lost his only eye. For that which is reported in fables of that great Cyclops might well be verified of the Macedonians: their force was into- lerable, but for want of good guidance uneffectual, and harmful chiefly to themselves. The causes whereof (under the divine ordinance) were partly the uncertainty of title to succession in the kingdom of Macedon; partly the stubborn pride of Alexander himself, who thinking none worthy to be his heir, did refuse to establish the right in any one, leaving every one to his own fortune; but especially the great ambition of his followers, who all had learned of their master to suffer no equals, a lesson soon taught unto spirits reflecting upon their own worth, when the reverence of a greater object faileth.

It hath formerly been shewed, that Philip (the father of Alexander) governing in Macedon as protector, assumed unto himself the kingdom, not rendering it unto Amyntas, (the son of his elder brother Perdiccas,) when he grew to man's estate; but only bestowing upon him in marriage a daughter of his own; by which bond, and much more by his proper strength, he assured the crown unto himself: Amyntas never attempting ought against Philip, though (with price of his life) he did against Alexander in the beginning of his reign. Wherefore Eurydice, the sole issue of his marriage, ought in reason to have been acknowledged queen after Alexander, as having better title thereto than

either he or Philip had when they lived, unless (peradventure) some law of that nation forbade the reign of women. But the excellent virtue of those two princes had utterly defaced the right of all pretenders, not claiming from their own bodies; and so great were their conquests, that Macedon itself was (in regard of them) a very small appendix, and no way deserving to be laid in balance against the demand of their posterity, had they left any able to make challenge of the royal seat.

Alexander, having taken many wives, had issue by none of the principal of them. Barsine, the daughter of Artabazus, a Persian, had borne unto him a young son; and Roxana, the daughter of Oxyartes, (whom he had more solemnly married,) was left by him great with child. But the baseness of the mothers, and contempt of the conquered nations, was generally alleged in bar of the plea made for them, by some that would (perhaps) have wrought out their own ends, under the name of Alexander's children.

Cleopatra, the sister of Alexander, widow to the king of Epirus, and Aridæus his base brother, (son to Philip by a concubine of no account,) who had married the lady Eurydice beforementioned, were next in course. Of Cleopatra there was no speech which may give suspicion that either law or custom had made that sex uncapable of the sovereignty; Aridæus (besides his bastardy) was neither for person nor quality fit to rule as king; yet upon him the election fell, but slowly, and (as happeneth often) for lack of a better; when the counsellors, having over-laboured their disagreeing wits in devising what was best, were content for very weariness to take what came next to hand.

Ptolomy (soon after king of Egypt) concurring with them who rejected all mention of the half Persian brood, king Alexander's children, was of opinion, that the rule of all should be given to the captains, that going for law which by the greater part of them should be decreed; so far was he from acknowledging any one as true heir to the crown.

This Ptolomy was called the son of Lagus, but reputed of Philip; who having used the company of Arsinoë, Pto

lomy's mother, delivered her in marriage to Lagus, being great with child. Therefore, whether it were so, that he hoped well to work his own fortune out of those dissensions which are incident unto the consultations of many ambitious men, equal in place, forcing them at length to redeem their quiet with subjection to one, deserving regard by his blood, and trust for his even carriage; or whether he desired only to get a share to himself, which could not have come to pass had all been given to one; plain enough it is, that he thought not on preferring Aridæus before himself; and therefore gave such counsel as fitted his own and other men's purposes. Yea, this device of his took place in deed, though not in form as he had propounded it; for it was in effect all one to have assembled at Alexander's empty chair, as Ptolomy had conceived the form of their consultations, or to set in the chair such a king as Aridæus, no wiser than the chair itself. Also the controversies arising were determined by the greater part of the captains; by the greater part, if not in number, yet in puissance.

But as these counterfeit shows of dissembling aspirers do often take check by the plain-dealing of them who dare to go more directly to work; so was it like to have fared with Ptolomy and the rest, when Aristonus, another of the captains, interpreted the words of Alexander, saying, that he left his kingdom to the worthiest, as designing Perdiccas, to whom (lying at the point of death) he delivered his ring. It seemed good in reason that Alexander should be disposer of his own purchases; and those tokens of Alexander's purpose appeared plain enough, so long as no man would interpose another construction; every one being uncertain how the secret affections of the rest might be inclined. Many therefore, either out of their love, or because they would not be of the latest, urged Perdiccas to take upon him the estate royal. He was no stranger to the royal blood; yet his birth gave him not such reputation as the great favour of his dead king, with whom he had been very inward, and that especially since the death of Hephaestion, (a powerful minion,) into whose place he was chosen. For his