A Revolt Decided Upon By the Army
The passions of the Macedonians were roused by these
words, and they finally agreed to do as Moeragenes advised.
They at once went round to the tents, first those of their own
corps, and then those of the other soldiers; which were all
close together, facing the same quarter of the city. The wish
was one which had for a long time been formed in the minds
of the soldiery, wanting nothing but some one to call it forth,
and with courage to begin. No sooner, therefore, had a commencement been made than it blazed out like a fire: and
before four hours had elapsed every class, whether military or
civil, had agreed to make the attempt.
At this crisis, too, chance contributed a great deal to the
final catastrophe. For a letter addressed by
Tlepolemus to the army as well as some of
his spies, had fallen into the hands of
Agathocles. The letter announced that he would be at
Alexandria shortly, and the spies informed Agathocles that
he was already there. This news so distracted Agathocles
that he gave up taking any measures at all or even thinking
about the dangers which surrounded him, but departed at his
usual hour to his wine, and kept up the carouse to the end
in his usual licentious fashion.
Oenanthe in the temple of Demeter. |
But his
mother Oenanthe went in great distress to the
temple of Demeter and Persephone, which was
open on account of a certain annual sacrifice; and there first
of all she besought the aid of those goddesses with bendings of the knee and strange incantations, and then sat down
close to the altar and remained motionless. Most of
the women present, delighted to witness her dejection and
distress, kept silence: but the ladies of the family of Polycrates, and certain others of the nobility, being as yet unaware
of what was going on around them, approached Oenanthe and
tried to comfort her. But she cried out in a loud voice:
"Do not come near me, you monsters! I know you well!
Your hearts are always against us; and you pray the goddess
for all imaginable evil upon us. Still I trust and believe that,
God willing, you shall one day taste the flesh of your own
children." With these words she ordered her female
attendants to drive them away, and strike them with their
staves if they refused to go. The ladies availed themselves of
this excuse for quitting the temple in a body, raising their
hands and praying that she might herself have experience of
those very miseries with which she had threatened her
neighbours.
