In the mean time, Olympias had determined to come to Macedon, and aid
Polysperchon in his contest with Cassander. She accordingly left
Epirus, and with a small body of troops, with which her brother
Alexander, who was then King of Epirus, furnished her, went on and
joined Polysperchon on his return. Eurydice was alarmed at this; for,
since she considered Olympias as her great political rival and enemy,
she knew very well that there could be no safety for her or her
husband if Olympias should obtain the ascendency in the court of
Polysperchon. She accordingly began to call upon those around her, in
the city where she was then residing, to arm themselves for her
defense. They did so, and a considerable force was thus collected.
Eurydice placed herself at the head of it. She sent messengers off to
Cassander, urging him to come immediately and join her. She also sent
an embassage to Polysperchon, commanding him, in the name of Philip
the king, to deliver up his army to Cassander. Of course this was only
a form, as she could not have expected that such a command would have
been obeyed; and, accordingly, after having sent off these orders, she
placed herself at the head of the troops that she had raised, and
marched out to meet Polysperchon on his return, intending, if he would
not submit, to give him battle.
Her designs, however, were all frustrated in the end in a very
unexpected manner. For when the two armies approached each other, the
soldiers who were on Eurydice's side, instead of fighting in her cause
as she expected, failed her entirely at the time of trial. For when
they saw Olympias, whom they had long been accustomed almost to adore
as the wife of old King Philip, and the mother of Alexander, and who
was now advancing to meet them on her return to Macedon, splendidly
attended, and riding in her chariot, at the head of Polysperchon's
army, with the air and majesty of a queen, they were so overpowered
with the excitement of the spectacle, that they abandoned Eurydice in
a body, and went over, by common consent, to Polysperchon's side.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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