Greece -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
At a largely attended meeting held at the Isthmus, Demetrius was
proclaimed chief of Greece, as Philip and Alexander had been in former
days; though Demetrius considered himself to be not a little superior to
either of them, being elated by his good fortune and the immense force
at his disposal. Alexander never deprived a king of his title, nor did
he ever call himself king of kings, though he raised many to the dignity
and style of kings; but Demetrius scoffed at those who called any one
king, except himself and his father, and was much pleased at his
carousals to hear toasts drunk to the health of Demetrius the King,
Seleukus the Commander of the Elephants, Ptolemy the Admiral,
Lysimachus the Treasurer, and Agathokles of Sicily the Lord of the
Isles. The other princes laughed at these sallies of Demetrius, and only
Lysimachus was angry that Demetrius should think him a eunuch; for it
was a pretty general custom to appoint eunuchs to the post of treasurer.
Indeed Lysimachus hated him more bitterly than all of the rest, and,
sneering at his passion for Lamia, used to declare that he had never
before seen a whore act in a tragedy: to which Demetrius retorted that
his whore was a more respectable woman than Lysimachus's Penelope.
XXVI. Demetrius now set out for Athens, and sent a letter to the
Athenians informing them that he desired to be initiated, and that he
wished to go through the whole course, including both the lesser and the
greater mysteries. This is not lawful, and never took place before, as
the minor initiation used to take place in the month Anthesterion, and
the greater in Boedromion. When the letter was read, no one ventured to
offer any opposition except Pythodorus the torchbearer,[305] and he
effected nothing; for, at the instance of Stratokles, the Athenians
decreed that the month Munychion should be called Anthesterion, and in
it celebrated the mysteries of Demeter which are held at Agræ.[306]
After this the name of the month Munychion was changed again from
Anthesterion to Boedromion, and Demetrius was admitted to the second
degree, and allowed the privileges of an "epoptes." In allusion to this
Philippides rails at Stratokles in his verses as the man
"Who crowds into one month the entire year."
And, in allusion to the lodging of Demetrius in the Parthenon, he wrote
"Who treats Acropolis as t'were an inn
And makes the Virgin's shrine a house of sin."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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