[1] The battle having been decided in this manner, the victorious kings carved up the entire domain which had been subject to Antigonus and Demetrius, as if it had been a great carcass, and took each his portion, adding thus to the provinces which the victors already had, those of the vanquished kings. But Demetrius, with five thousand foot and four thousand horse, came in unbroken flight to Ephesus. Here everybody thought that his lack of resources would lead him to lay hands upon the temple
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[2] but he, fearing lest his soldiers might do this, departed speedily, and sailed for Greece, putting his chief remaining hopes in Athens. For he had left ships there, and moneys, and his wife Deïdameia, and he thought that in his evil plight no refuge could be more secure than the goodwill of Athens.
[3] Therefore when, as he drew near the Cyclades islands, an embassy from Athens met him with a request to keep away from the city, on the ground that the people had passed a vote to admit none of the kings, and informing him that Deïdameia had been sent to Megara with fitting escort and honour, his wrath drove him beyond all proper bounds, although he had borne his other misfortunes very easily, and in so great a reversal of his situation had shown himself neither mean-spirited nor ignoble.
[4] But that the Athenians should disappoint his hopes and play him false, and that their apparent goodwill should prove on trial to be false and empty, was painful to him.
And verily the least cogent proof, as it would seem, of a people’s goodwill towards a king or potentate is an extravagant bestowal of honours; for the beauty of such honours lies in the purpose of those who bestow them, and fear robs them of their worth (for the same decrees may be passed out of fear and out of affection).
And verily the least cogent proof, as it would seem, of a people’s goodwill towards a king or potentate is an extravagant bestowal of honours; for the beauty of such honours lies in the purpose of those who bestow them, and fear robs them of their worth (for the same decrees may be passed out of fear and out of affection).
[5] Therefore men of sense look first of all at their own acts and achievements, and then estimate the value of the statues, paintings, or deifications offered to them, putting faith in these as genuine honours, or refusing to do so on the ground that they are compulsory; since it is certainly true that a people will often, in the very act of conferring its honours, have most hatred for those who accept such honours immoderately, ostentatiously, and from unwilling givers.
Demetrius. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1920.
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