In this crisis of their affairs, some of the allies of Antipater
conceived the design of circumventing their enemy by artifice, since
it appeared that he was so superior to them in force. They knew how
strong was his feeling of reverence and regard for Ptolemy, the King
of Egypt, his father-in-law, and they accordingly forged a letter to
him in Ptolemy's name, enjoining him to make peace with Antipater, and
withdraw from Macedon. Antipater, the letter said, was willing to pay
him three hundred talents of silver in consideration of his doing so,
and the letter strongly urged him to accede to this offer, and
evacuate the kingdom.
It was much less difficult to practice a successful deception of this
kind in ancient days than it is now, for then writing was usually
performed by scribes trained for the purpose, and there was therefore
seldom any thing in the handwriting of a communication to determine
the question of its authenticity. Pyrrhus, however, detected the
imposition which was attempted in this case the moment that he opened
the epistle. It began with the words, "King Ptolemy to King Pyrrhus,
greeting;" whereas the genuine letters of Ptolemy to his son-in-law
were always commenced thus: "The father to his son, greeting."
Pyrrhus upbraided the contrivers of this fraud in severe terms for
their attempt to deceive him. Still, he entertained the proposition
that they made, and some negotiations were entered into, with a view
to an amicable settlement of the dispute. In the end, however, the
negotiations failed, and the war was continued until Alexander was
established on his throne. Pyrrhus then returned to his own kingdom.
He received, in reward for his services in behalf of Alexander, a
grant of that part of the Macedonian territory which lies upon the
coast of the Adriatic Sea, north of Epirus; and thus peace was
restored, and all things seemed permanently settled.
It will be recollected, perhaps, by the reader, that at the time that
Alexander sent for Pyrrhus to assist him, he had also sent for
Demetrius, who had been in former years the ally and friend of
Pyrrhus. In fact, Deidamia, the sister of Pyrrhus, was Demetrius's
wife. Demetrius had been engaged with the affairs of his own
government at the time that he received this message, and was not then
ready to grant the desired aid. But after a time, when he had settled
his own affairs, he placed himself at the head of an army and went to
Macedon. It was now, however, too late, and Alexander was sorry to
learn that he was coming. He had already parted with a considerable
portion of his kingdom to repay Pyrrhus for his aid, and he feared
that Demetrius, if he were allowed to enter the kingdom, would not he
satisfied without a good part of the remainder.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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