[1] And now Demetrius proceeded into Peloponnesus,
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where not one of his enemies opposed him, but all abandoned their cities and fled. He received into allegiance Acte, as it is called, and Arcadia (except Mantineia), and freed Argos, Sicyon, and Corinth by paying their garrisons a hundred talents.
[2] At Argos, then, where there was a celebration of the festival of Hera, he presided at the games and attended the solemn assemblies with the Greeks, and married Deïdameia,
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the daughter of Aeacides king of the Molossians, and the sister of Pyrrhus. As for the Sicyonians, he told them their city was in the wrong place, and persuaded them to change its site to that which it now has; moreover, with the site he also changed the name of the city, calling it Demetrias instead of Sicyon.
[3] And at the Isthmus of Corinth, where a general assembly was held and throngs of people came together, he was proclaimed Commander-in-chief of the Greeks, as Philip and Alexander had been proclaimed before him; and to these he considered himself in no slight measure superior, lifted up as he was by the good fortune and power which he then enjoyed. And certainly King Alexander never refused to bestow the royal title upon other kings, nor did he proclaim himself King of Kings, although many kings received their position and title from him;
[4] whereas Demetrius used to rail and mock at those who gave the title of King to any one except his father and himself, and was well pleased to hear revellers pledge Demetrius as King, but Seleucus as Master of the Elephants, Ptolemy as Admiral, Lysimachus as Treasurer, and Agathocles of Sicily as Lord of the Isles.
[5] When this was reported to these kings, they all laughed at Demetrius, except Lysimachus; he was incensed that Demetrius considered him a eunuch (it was the general practice to have eunuchs for treasurers).
[6] And of all the kings Lysimachus had most hatred for Demetrius. He was once reviling the man’s passion for Lamia, and said that this was the first time he had ever seen a harlot coming forward to play a great tragic part; Demetrius, however, declared that his own harlot was more chaste than the Penelope of Lysimachus.
Demetrius. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1920.
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