Justin also states (vii, 5) erroneously, that Alexander of
Macedon gave his brother Philip as a hostage, first to the
Illyrians, next to the Thebans.
[535] Demosthen. De Fals. Leg. c. 58, p. 402; Diodorus, xv, 71.
Diodorus makes the mistake of calling this Ptolemy son of Amyntas
and brother of Perdikkas; though he at the same time describes
him as Πτολεμαῖος Ἀλωρίτης, which description would hardly be
applied to one of the royal brothers. Moreover, the passage of
Æschines, Fals. Leg. c. 14, p. 250, shows that Ptolemy was not
son of Amyntas; and Dexippus (ap. Syncellum, p. 263) confirms the
fact.
See these points discussed in Mr. Fynes Clinton’s Fasti
Hellenici, Appendix, c. 4.
[536] Diodor. xvi, 2.
[537] Æschines, Fals. Legat. c. 13, 14, p. 249, 250; Justin, vii,
6.
Æschines mentions Ptolemy as regent, on behalf of Eurydikê and
her younger sons. Æschines also mentions Alexander as having
recently died, but says nothing about his assassination.
Nevertheless there is no reason to doubt that he was
assassinated, which we know both from Demosthenes and Diodorus;
and assassinated by Ptolemy, which we know from Plutarch (Pelop.
c. 27), Marsyas (ap. Athenæum, xiv. p. 629), and Diodorus.
Justin states that Eurydikê conspired both against her husband
Amyntas, and against her children, in concert with a paramour.
The statements of Æschines rather tend to disprove the charge of
her having been concerned in the death of Amyntas, but to support
that of her having been accomplice with Ptolemy in the murder of
Alexander.
Assassination was a fate which frequently befel the Macedonian
kings. When we come to the history of Olympias, mother of
Alexander the Great, it will be seen that Macedonian queens were
capable of greater crimes than those imputed to Eurydikê.
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