The world's leading conquerors : $b Alexander the Great, Cæsar, Charles the Great, the Ottoman sultans, the Spanish conquistadors, NapoleonBevan, Wilson Lloyd
History
The world's leading conquerors : $b Alexander the Great, Cæsar, Charles the Great, the Ottoman sultans, the Spanish conquistadors, Napoleon
Bevan, Wilson Lloyd
History; Kings and rulers
The Hellenic league, which included all the Greek states south of
Thermopylæ and all the islands which had once owned the supremacy
of Athens, met again at Corinth and renewed with Alexander the same
agreement that had previously been made with his father, a treaty of
offensive and defensive alliance, and the chief command by land and
sea was assigned to the new king, as his father’s successor. After
this triumphal and peaceful progress, Alexander returned home, where
his barbarian neighbors were giving trouble by revolts against his
authority.
In order to bring himself in contact with the Greek opposition to
Alexander, Attalus, one of the two commanders of the Macedonian army in
Asia, had entered into relations with Demosthenes, only a short time
after Alexander’s succession. As Cleopatra’s uncle he took a leading
part in engineering a conspiracy intended to supplant Alexander by
Amyntas, the young son of Perdikkas, the elder brother of Philip, who
by the traditional usage of the Macedonian monarchy was entitled to
succeed Philip. The success of Alexander in Greece convinced Attalus of
the futility of his schemes, and he therefore tried to make advances
to the young ruler. But Alexander was not to be placated, and, as a
deviser of conspiracies in his own interest, he showed that he had
nothing to learn from the practised hands of the Macedonian nobles.
It would have been extremely unwise for Alexander to have shown himself
openly an enemy of Attalus, who enjoyed much popularity in the army.
Accordingly he made a show of friendship by graciously accepting the
advances of Attalus, and at the same time he despatched an associate,
Hekatæus, on whom he could rely, with directions to assassinate
him. The treacherous deed was made the easier, because Parmenio,
joint-commander with Attalus in Asia Minor, facilitated the plans of
the assassination, despite the fact that Attalus was married to his
daughter. The tribal interests of a half-barbarous people had full sway
among the Macedonians, so Parmenio, who had throughout his life been
conscientiously loyal to the Macedonian monarchy, did not scruple to
sacrifice his daughter’s husband, when it appeared that his son-in-law
was plotting to supplant the regularly accepted monarch of his people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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