II. CHAP. II. Distractions in the outlying Provinces.-Events in Egypt and in Thrace. - Massacre of Greek Mercenaries.— History of the two Cappadocias.—Wild Projects of Leonnatus. Rebellion of the Pisidians-Perdiccas's lofty Designs.-Confederacy against him.-Victories of Eumenes.-Perdiccas's Expedition against Egypt. -His Murder. CHAP. THE Convulsions which, upon the death of Alexander, agitated the palace of Babylon, speedily reached both extremities of the em Ditractions in the outly- pire. ing provinces. Olymp. cxiv. 2. B. C. 323. The new governors were not established without tumult, in their respective provinces. Amidst the pretensions of Perdiccas, who affected the great king, and the opposition of other generals who disdained to be his satraps, some nations, imperfectly subdued, rejected the Macedonian yoke; others, trusting to local advantages, hoped to shake it from their necks. In the provinces most remote from Babylon and the great controuling army, the spirit of revolt appeared even among those formerly sent thither to restrain it. Many of the Greek mercenaries, who guarded the northern and eastern frontiers, had never relished their establishments in those remote regions; and, longing with increased desire as years rolled on, for the climate and manners of Greece, had scarcely been detained in what II. they regarded as a state of melancholy exile, by CHAP the authority of a prince who had inspired them with a pride in obedience. On the first intelligence of his death, the inhabitants of distant settlements communicated their views to each other, assembled in different bodies, of which the most considerable amounted to twenty-three thousand' men in arms, and under the conduct of Philon, a leader of their own choice, began their toilsome march towards the Grecian sea. of the About the same time the Rhodians, apprised Rebellion of the dissensions in Babylon, flew to arms, ex- Rhodians. pelled a Macedonian garrison, and resumed an independence, seasonably acquired, manfully maintained, and most honourably as well as usefully employed. The Greeks on the continent availed them- of the Athenians selves with equal eagerness, but unequal success, and Etoof the expected discord among Alexander's lians. successors. The standard of rebellion was raised by the Athenians, ever hostile to Macedon, and by the intractable and turbulent Etolians, declared enemies to peace either at home or abroad. In other provinces new commotions arose, and new forms of danger appeared, announcing an obstinate and bloody issue. The Thracians, deemed the most warlike of men, until Alexander taught them to tremble3, prepared to defy Lysimachus, who had 1 Diodorus, l. xviii. s. 7. This was the most considerable body of emigrants, but not the only one. Vid. Pausan. Attic. c. 25. 3 Conf. Herodotus, l. v. c.3. & Arrian, 1. i. c. 5. II. CHAP. been named to govern them. The Cappadocians, through whose territory the resistless conqueror had pursued his triumphant march1 in the way to Cilicia, were collecting a great army to oppose Eumenes, appointed, as we have seen, to be their satrap. The Bactrians and The central provinces of remained why. Indians fearless of remote danger, the Paphlagonians trusting to their numerous cavalry, the Pisidians confident in the strength of their mountains, all these nations recovered from the panic with which the name of Alexander had filled them, and prepared once more to resume arms and independence." Yet, in the midst of this threatening scene, the central provinces of the empire preserved the empire unalterable tranquillity. While, with the exquiet, and ception of the Greeks alone, remote or obscure nations raised the standard of rebellion, the flourishing commercial provinces in the Asiatic peninsula, the fertile valleys of Syria, the rich plains of Babylon, together with the various satrapies from the Tigris to the Indus, patiently endured the yoke, and tamely obeyed every master whom fortune set over them. In some of these countries the will to revolt might be restrained through the experienced lenity of Alexander's administration, and in more of them the power was destroyed through the preceding despotism of the Persians. The blood of their ancient kings had become extinct; many hereditary priesthoods and satrapies had been abo + Arrian, 1. ii. c. 4. 5 Diodorus, 1. xviii. s. 8. & s. 16, et seq. II. lished; there was scarcely any intermediate rank CHAP. between the sovereign and the slave; and no individual in those parts who enjoyed, I say, not the means to effect a revolution, but the courage to attempt innovation. In this manner, while the extremities recovered life and action, the great body of the empire remained inert and passive, complying with every movement impressed by the Macedonian captains. quent re Olymp. cxix. 4. B. C. 323 —301. The exertions of these captains, in maintain- Summary ing or enlarging their respective provinces at of subse the expence of foreign enemies, were incon- volutions. siderable when compared with the obstinate cxiv. 2. struggle of twenty-two years among themselves. During the first three years of this period, Perdiccas contended for dominion; his opponents fought for equality, at least independence. After the destruction of Perdiccas, Antigonus succeeded to his ambition and danger; and, for the following nineteen years, it was uncertain whether that general would seat himself on his master's throne, or his opponents prevail in their great purpose of dividing the monarchy. Ptolemy takes pos ession of Olymp. Of the five persons of conspicuous rank to whom the principal provinces had been assigned, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Leonnatus proceeded Egypt. about the same time to take possession of their exiv. 2. governments. The arrival of Ptolemy in Egypt was soon followed by the destruction of Cleomenes, the financial administrator of that country, with whose character my readers are acquainted. Cleomenes might have been suspected of falling a victim to his own vices, if Ptolemy had on II. CHAP. future occasions kept himself unstained from the guilt of blood. But this popular prince, under the mild semblance of indulgent humanity, concealed unrelenting sternness, and a mind not to be deterred by any conscientious scruples in promoting the views of his ambition. By the same authority which conferred the first place in Egypt on himself, the second had been reserved for Cleomenes. Ptolemy rid himself by murder of a man sufficiently capable of thwarting his projects of independence; seized the treasury in Alexandria, which contained eight thousand talents'; augmented the number of his provincial troops; courted the affection of his subjects; and fortified himself so firmly by fleets, armies, and garrisons, that his country alone remained thenceforward exempt from the storms that generally shook the empire. Murders Cleomenes. Circum stances at tending the occupation of Thrace by Lysimachus. Lysimachus, in accepting for his share the rugged and barbarous kingdom of Thrace, reckoned on the valour of that country for acquiring richer possessions in Asia. But he found it no easy matter to fashion the destined instruments of his future victories. In many laborious campaigns, he exerted himself to extend his dominion to the Danube, the boundary of Alexander's conquests. The great valley of the river Hebrus, and the plain country along the sea-coast of the Euxine, were reduced by his arms; but the mountaineers, under a chieftain of the hereditary name of Seuthes, kept possession of the inter Pausanias, Attic. c. vi. Conf. Arrian apud Photium. 7 Id. ibid. |