Demetrius

But Seleucus was suspicious of all this, and told Demetrius that he might, if he wished, spend two months in winter quarters in Cataonia, provided he gave the chief among his friends as hostages; and at the same time he fortified the passes into Syria against him. Then Demetrius, like a wild beast, hemmed in and attacked on all sides, was driven to defend himself; he overran the country, and when Seleucus attacked him, engaged with him and always had the advantage.

Once in particular, when the scythe-bearing chariots were dashing down upon him, he avoided the charge, routed his assailants, drove away those who were fortifying the passes into Syria, and made himself master of them. And now he was completely lifted up in spirit, and seeing that his soldiers had recovered their courage, he made ready to fight to the finish with Seleucus for the supreme prizes. Seleucus himself was already in perplexity.

For he had refused the assistance offered by Lysimachus, whom he distrusted and feared; and by himself he hesitated to join battle with Demetrius, fearing the man’s desperation and the perpetual change which brought him from the extremest destitution to the greatest affluence. However, a grievous sickness seized Demetrius at this juncture; it wrought terrible harm to his body, and utterly ruined his cause. For some of his soldiers went over to the enemy, and others dispersed.

But at last, after forty days, he recovered strength, and taking the soldiers that remained, set out, so far as his enemies could see or conjecture, for Cilicia; then, in the night and without signal by trumpet, he set out in the opposite direction, crossed the range of Amanus, and plundered the lower country as far as Cyrrhestica.