[1] On learning of this, Demetrius set out from the sea-coast for the city of Quinda; and finding twelve hundred talents of its treasure still left, he packed them up, got them safely on board ship, and put to sea with all speed. His wife Phila was already with him, and at Rhosus he was met by Seleucus.
[2] Their intercourse was at once put on a royal footing, and knew neither guile nor suspicion. First, Seleucus entertained Demetrius at his tent in the camp, then Demetrius in his turn received Seleucus on board the ship with thirteen banks of oars. There were also amusements, long conferences with one another and whole days spent together, all without guards or arms; until at length Seleucus took Stratonicé and went up in great state to Antioch.
[3] But Demetrius took possession of Cilicia, and sent Phila his wife to Cassander, who was her brother, that she might bring to naught the denunciations of Pleistarchus. In the meantime, Deïdameia came by sea from Greece to join Demetrius, and after being with him a short time, succumbed to some disease. Then, by the intervention of Seleucus, friendship was made between Demetrius and Ptolemy, and it was agreed that Demetrius should take to wife Ptolemaïs the daughter of Ptolemy.
[4]
So far all was courtesy on the part of Seleucus. But presently he asked Demetrius to cede Cilicia to him for a sum of money, and when Demetrius would not consent, angrily demanded Tyre and Sidon from him. It seemed a violent and outrageous proceeding that one who had possessed himself of the whole domain from India to the Syrian sea should be so needy still and so beggarly in spirit as for the sake of two cities to harass a man who was his relative by marriage and had suffered a reverse of fortune.
So far all was courtesy on the part of Seleucus. But presently he asked Demetrius to cede Cilicia to him for a sum of money, and when Demetrius would not consent, angrily demanded Tyre and Sidon from him. It seemed a violent and outrageous proceeding that one who had possessed himself of the whole domain from India to the Syrian sea should be so needy still and so beggarly in spirit as for the sake of two cities to harass a man who was his relative by marriage and had suffered a reverse of fortune.
[5] Moreover, he bore splendid testimony to the wisdom of Plato
1
in urging the man who would be truly rich, not to make his possessions greater, but his inordinate desires fewer; since he who puts no end to his greed, this man is never rid of poverty and want.
Demetrius. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1920.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Tufts University.