Demetrius

But there was one honour proposed for Demetrius which was more strange and monstrous than any other. Dromocleides the Sphettian moved, when the dedication of certain shields at Delphi was in question, that the Athenians should get an oracle from Demetrius. And I will transcribe his very words from the decree; they run thus:

May it be for the best.[*](A pious formula prefixed to important documents.) Decreed by the people that the people elect one man from the Athenians, who shall go to the Saviour-god, and, after a sacrifice with good omens, shall enquire of the Saviour-god in what most speedy, decorous, and reverent manner the people may accomplish the restoration to their places of the dedicatory offerings; and that whatever answer he shall give, the people shall act according thereunto. With such mockery of adulation they finally perverted the man’s mind, which even before was not wholly sound.

Furthermore, while he lingered in Athens at this time, Demetrius took to wife Eurydicé, a widow. She was a descendant of the ancient Miltiades, had married Ophelas the ruler of Cyrené, and after his death had come back to Athens.

The Athenians, accordingly, took this marriage as a graceful compliment to their city; but in general Demetrius made a rather light matter of marriages, and had many wives at the same time, of whom Phila enjoyed the greatest esteem and honour, both because of her father, Antipater, and because she had been the wife of Craterus, the one of all the successors of Alexander who left behind him the most goodwill among the Macedonians. This woman, as it would appear, his father had persuaded Demetrius to marry when he was quite young, although she was not of his age, but older;

and when his son was disinclined to the match, it is said that Antigonus whispered in his ear the verse of Euripides:

1. Where there is gain, ’gainst nature’s dictates must
2. one wed,