"Among the other calamities that befell the city, it happened that some
Thracian soldiers having broken into the house of a matron of high
character and repute, named Timycha, their captain, after he had used
violence with her, to satisfy his avarice as well as lust, asked her if
she knew of any money concealed, to which she readily answered she did,
and bade him follow her into a garden, where she showed him a well, into
which, she told him, upon the taking of the city she had thrown what she
had of the most value. The greedy Thracian presently stooping down to
view the place where he thought the treasure lay, she came behind him
and pushed him into the well, and then flung great stones in upon him
till she had killed him. After which, when the soldiers led her away
bound to Alexander, her very mien and gait showed her to be a woman of
dignity and of a mind no less elevated. And when the king asked her who
she was, 'I am,' she said, the sister of Theagenes who fought the battle
of Chaeronea with your father Philip, and fell there in command for the
liberty of Greece.' Alexander was so surprised, both at what she had
done and what she said, that he could not choose but give her and her
children their liberty."
In the evil fortunes of the princesses of Macedon the Persian wives of
Alexander shared. Roxana, the daughter of a Bactrian satrap, whose
youthfulness and beauty charmed him at a drinking entertainment, was the
first of his wives. Later, in celebrating at Susa the union of Europe
and Asia by the marriage of his Greek officers to Persian maidens, he
himself wedded Statira, the daughter of Darius. "After Alexander's
death, Roxana," says Plutarch, "who was now with child, and upon that
account much honored by the Macedonians, being jealous of Statira, sent
for her by a counterfeit letter, as if Alexander had still been alive;
and when she had her in her power, killed her and her sister and threw
their babies into a well which they filled up with earth, not without
the assistance of Perdiccas, who in the time immediately following the
king's death, under cover of the name of Arrhidaeus, whom he carried
about with him as a sort of guard to his person, exercised the chief
authority." There is no more tragic story than that of the fate of the
young Alexander and his mother. Olympias, the grandmother, warmly
espoused the youth's cause, but his existence was a menace to the
ambitions of the rival generals. Cassander finally seized the power in
Macedon and obtained possession of Roxana and her son, whom he confined
in the fortress of Amphipolis and later caused to be secretly
assassinated by the governor of the fortress.
After the murder of Roxana and her son, a movement was made to raise to
the throne Heracles, son of Darius's daughter, Barsine, he being the
sole surviving offspring of Alexander, though a bastard; but Cassander,
perceiving the danger, conspired for the destruction of the young
prince, and the latter was poisoned or strangled by the treacherous
Polysperchon. His mother, who lived with him at Pergamum, was also
secretly put to death. So perished by violent death all the women of the
family of Philip and Alexander, except Thessalonica, who became the wife
of Cassander, the destroyer of her mother and her half-sisters.
* * * * *
On the death of Alexander, his generals began the task of establishing
independent dominions. They were surrounded by a group of princesses who
added to the interest and liveliness of the court society of the times.
These generals and their sons, in spite of their bitter rivalries and
constant wars, eagerly sought family alliances with each other, such as
would in any way increase their prestige. Hence, the princesses who
were thus in demand were expected to take a part in the game of politics
and diplomacy; and frequent marriages fell to the lot of many of them,
as husbands were ofttimes either slain or murdered, and divorces were
readily obtained for the slightest reasons of State. The marriage tie
seems to have been regarded with but little sanctity; and no bonds were
forbidden because of relationship or of family feuds, Cratesipolis, for
instance, was the wife of Alexander, son of the titular regent
Polysperchon; and at Alexander's death, the father married his son's
widow. She had a thrilling career, and was famous not only for her
warlike qualities, but also for her goodness of heart and kindness to
the poor. Her first husband was Tyrant of Sicyon, and at his death she
seized the reins of power. The citizens, despising her because she was a
woman, revolted; but she met them in battle, herself commanding her
troops, and defeated them and crucified the thirty ringleaders of the
revolt. Thus she established her power.
Of all the princesses of this stormy period, the one who ranks as the
noblest and most virtuous woman of her age was Phila, daughter of
Antipater and wife of Demetrius the Besieger, son of Antigonus--the
Alcibiades among the princes of the Succession. She shared with her
brilliant husband his various vicissitudes of fortune; and she bore
uncomplainingly his many infidelities, his disgraces, and his
misfortunes. When, after an erratic career of successes and failures, he
was made King of Macedon, she no doubt attained the height of her
desires. But his ambition soared higher, and he endeavored to organize a
movement to reconquer and embrace under his exclusive rule the whole
extent of the empire of Alexander. He was unsuccessful; and after seven
years of power as King of Macedon, he was expelled from his kingdom and
was compelled to flee for his life to the Peloponnesus.
The blow was too
severe for his noble-hearted wife, and Phila poisoned herself when she
thought his ruin inevitable. She left two children by Demetrius who
became prominent in the politics of the times--Antigonus Gonatas, who
stood nobly by his father in his misfortunes, and who finally became
King of Macedon and was the first of that famous line of kings which
became extinct only at the hands of the Romans; and Stratonice, who at
the tender age of seventeen was married to the aged Seleucus, King of
Syria.
Plutarch tells an interesting story of this princess.
Antiochus, son of
Seleucus, fell violently ill, and it was difficult for the royal
physicians to discover the nature of the malady.
Finally, the cleverest
of them observed that when Stratonice, the prince's young stepmother,
was present, he exhibited all the symptoms mentioned by Sappho in her
famous ode,--"his ears rang, sweat poured down his forehead, a trembling
seized his body, he became paler than grass." The physician at once
perceived that Antiochus was sick for love of the queen.
The wily
physician, however, in explaining to Seleucus the nature of the malady,
pretended at first that it was his own wife with whom the prince was in
love; but, so soon as he fully ascertained the king's mind, he told him
that his son was dying for love of his stepmother, the beautiful
Stratonice. Without a moment's hesitation, the old king resigned his
wife to his son and gave them an independent kingdom as a wedding
present.
It is rather a remarkable society of queens and princesses to which the
court of Macedon admits us,--the licentious and cruel Eurydice the
Elder, mother of Philip; the gloomy and violent Olympias; the brilliant
and versatile Cleopatra; the valiant and eloquent Cynane and her
warlike and ambitious daughter Eurydice; the rather colorless and
ill-fated wives of Alexander the Great; the kind-hearted Cratesipolis;
the unselfish and noble Phila; and her beautiful daughter Stratonice.
The court life of which they formed a part had its brilliant side, with
its veneering of Greek culture and much of the etiquette and ceremony of
an Oriental monarchy, and they were the objects of all the respect with
which high station endows royal women at the hands of courtiers and
gallant soldiers. But one is apt to think rather of the storm and
turmoil through which they passed, of their jealousies and intrigues, of
their marriages and alliances, and of the violent deaths which they all,
with one or two exceptions, found at last. Yet, the most wicked of them
had redeeming qualities; even Olympias, who sent numberless men to
death, was devoted to her own children, and fought to the bitter end for
the rights of her son's heirs; and Eurydice the Younger, who carried on
the losing battle with the aged queen, was ever the zealous wife of her
weak husband, Arrhidaeus. Phila stands out, however, amid this remarkable
group, as the one against whom nothing can be said and whose virtues
were preeminent--the ever-faithful and devoted wife of the most
brilliant and most licentious man of his time.
A history of Greek womanhood would not be complete, did it not somewhere
in the volume consider the story of two Greek queens noted for their
beauty, their wisdom in counsels, and their valor in war, and withal for
their devoted love,--the two Artemisias, Queens of Caria. The first
flourished during the Persian Wars, in which she took a prominent part;
the second, a century later, and her name is closely identified with the
names of many members of the Hellenistic royal families and with the
later history of Greek art. Hence we feel justified in appending the
account to this chapter discussing the careers of Hellenistic
princesses.
Herodotus delights to praise the first Artemisia's queenliness and
wisdom, and the only fault he has to find with her is that she fought on
the Persian side. He dwells on her story whenever the occasion offers,
and we shall be pardoned for permitting the great story teller to sketch
the account of her career:
"Of the rest of the officers [of the Persian fleet] I make no mention,
but only of Artemisia, at whom I marvel most that she joined the
expedition against Hellas, being a woman, for after her husband died,
she, holding the power herself, although she had a son who was a young
man, went on the expedition, impelled by high spirit and manly courage,
no necessity being laid upon her; and she was the daughter of Lygdamus,
and by descent she was of Halicarnassus, on the side of her father, but
of Crete by her mother. She was ruler of the men of Halicarnassus, Cos,
Nisyrus, and Calynda, furnishing five ships, and she furnished ships
which were of all the fleet reputed the best after those of the
Sidonians; and of all his allies she set forth the best counsels to the
king. Of the States of which I said she was the leader, I declare the
people to be all of Dorian race."
After the disaster to the Persian fleet at Artemisium, King Xerxes was
in doubt as to his future policy. He knew that the Greeks had gathered a
great fleet at Salamis, and, after sacking Athens, his own naval
strength was being collected in the Saronic Gulf. The problem was
whether to make a naval engagement, and accordingly
"Xerxes sent
Mardonius and inquired, making trial of each one, whether he should
fight a battle by sea. So when Mardonius went round asking them, the
others gave their opinions, all to the same effect, advising him to
fight a battle by sea, but Artemisia spoke these words:
'Tell the king
that I, who have proved myself to be not the worst in the sea fights
which have been fought near Euboea, and have displayed deeds not
inferior to those of others, speak to him thus: "Master, it is right
that I set forth the opinion that I really have and say that which I
happen to think best for thy cause; and this I say--
spare thy ships and
do not make a sea fight; for their men are as much stronger than thy men
by sea, as men are stronger than women. And why must thou needs run the
risk of sea battles? If, however, thou hasten to fight forthwith, I fear
that damage done to the fleet may ruin the land army also. Moreover, O
king, consider also this, that the servants of good men are apt to grow
bad, and thou, who art of all men the best, hast bad servants, namely
those who are reckoned as allies, Egyptians, Cyprians, and Cilicians, in
whom there is no profit."' When she thus spoke, those who were friendly
to Artemisia were grieved at her words, supposing that she would suffer
some evil from the king; while those who had envy and jealousy of her,
because she had been honored above all the allies, were rejoiced at the
opposition, supposing that she would now be ruined.
When, however, the
opinions were reported to Xerxes, he was greatly pleased with the
opinion of Artemisia; and whereas even before this he thought her
excellent, he commended her now yet more."
Xerxes, however, did not follow the counsel of Artemisia, but was
persuaded to attack the fleet of the Greeks. Artemisia entered most
valiantly into the sea fight, which very soon began to be disastrous to
the Persians.
"When the affairs of the king had come to great confusion, at this
crisis the ship of Artemisia was being pursued by an Athenian ship; and
as she was not able to escape, for in front of her were other ships of
her own side, while her ship was further advanced toward the enemy, she
resolved what she would do. She charged in full career against a ship of
her own side manned by Calyndians and in which the King of the
Calyndians was embarked. Now though even it be true that she had had
some strife with him before while they were still about the Hellespont,
yet I am not able to say whether she did this by intuition or whether
the Calyndian ship happened by chance to fall in her way. Having charged
against it and sunk it, she enjoyed good fortune and got for herself
good in two ways; for first the captain of the Athenian ship, when he
saw her charge against a ship manned by barbarians, turned away and went
after others, supposing that the ship of Artemisia was either a Hellenic
ship or was deserting from the barbarians and fighting for the Hellenes.
Secondly, she gained great reputation by this thing with Xerxes, for
besides other things which happened fortunately for her, there was this
also, that not one of the crew of the Calyndian ship survived to become
her accuser. Xerxes is reported to have said: 'My men have become women
and my women men.'
"Now if the Athenian captain had known that Artemisia was sailing in
this ship, he would not have ceased until either he had taken her or had
been taken himself; for orders had been given to the Athenian captains
and a prize was offered of ten thousand drachmas for the man who could
take her alive; since they thought it intolerable that a woman should
make an expedition against Athens."
After the calamitous issue of the battle of Salamis, Xerxes, having
learned by hard experience that the insight of such a woman as Artemisia
was more to be depended upon than the wisdom of his male advisers, once
more sends for Artemisia and takes counsel with her.
"When Xerxes was
taking counsel with those of the Persians who were called to be his
advisers, it seemed good to him to send for Artemisia also to give him
counsel, because at the former time she alone had showed herself to have
perception of that which ought to be done. So when Artemisia had come,
Xerxes removed from him all the rest and spoke to her thus: 'Mardonius
bids me stay here and make an attempt on the Peloponnesus, saying that
the Persians and the land army are not guilty of any share in my
calamity and that they would gladly give me proof of this. He bids me,
therefore, either do this, or, if not, he desires himself to choose
thirty myriads from the army and to deliver over to me Hellas reduced to
subjection; and he bids me withdraw with the rest of the army to my own
abode. So now advise me which of these things I shall do.' She spoke
these words: 'O king! it seems good to me that thou shouldst retire back
and leave Mardonius here, if he desires it, and undertakes to do this.
If Mardonius suffer any disaster, no account will be made; and if the
Hellenes conquer, they gain a victory which is no victory, having
destroyed one who is but thy slave. Thou, however, wilt retire, having
done that for which thou didst make thy march--that is to say, having
delivered Athens to the fire,' With this advice Xerxes was greatly
pleased, since she succeeded in saying that very thing which he himself
was meaning to do. He commended Artemisia, therefore, and sent her away
to conduct his sons to Ephesus, for there were certain sons of his who
accompanied him."
This time Xerxes took the advice of Artemisia, and left Mardonius with
three hundred thousand men to carry on the campaign, while he himself,
with the greater part of his forces which had survived, retired to
Persia. Artemisia, having won great glory by her valor and wisdom
returned to her own dominions, and we know nothing authentic as to her
later life. So queenly a woman, however, could not escape the Greek
fondness for manufacturing marvellous stories concerning the great; and
Ptolemy Hephaestion, a writer who mingles little fact with much fancy in
his works, preserves a tradition that Artemisia came to her end in a
most romantic manner. During her later years, she conceived a violent
attachment for Dardanus, a beautiful youth of Abydos. As her passion was
not returned, she avenged herself by putting out his eyes while he
slept. This excited the anger of the gods, and in obedience to an oracle
she, like the traditional Sappho, threw herself down from the Lover's
Leap of Leucate.
The second Artemisia is immortalized by her attachment to her husband
Mausolus, King of Caria, in memory of whom she built the celebrated and
stately tomb, considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient
world. This imposing structure, four hundred and forty feet in circuit,
and one hundred and forty feet high, built by the most renowned
architects of the time, embellished with sculptures from the hands of
Scopas and his associates, and rendered gorgeous by the use of the most
varied colors, gave the name of _mausoleum_ to all succeeding sepulchres
built on a colossal scale. No expense was spared by the devoted queen to
make it expressive of her love for her husband and brother; for this
species of marriage, so common later in Egypt, was sanctioned by the
customs of the country.
She furthermore invited the most noted writers of the day to attend a
literary contest, and offered the richest prizes to the one who should
excel in composing a panegyric to her husband's virtue.
Notwithstanding
the interest she took in these memorials to her departed lord, she
continued to be a prey to the deepest affliction. The story is told
that she visited the place where her husband's ashes were deposited,
and, mixing them with water, drank them off, for the purpose of
becoming, as she said, the living tomb of her husband.
In spite of her
poignant grief, she did not neglect the duties of her elevated position,
but conquered the island of Rhodes, whose inhabitants she treated with
great severity. Her love of art was shown in the two statues she had set
up in the city, one representing the city of Rhodes, habited like a
slave, the other of herself branding the city with a hot iron. Though
interested in making Halicarnassus a centre of art and culture, and
extending and strengthening her dominions, she could not overcome her
desolation of heart, and is said to have died of grief two years after
the loss of her husband.
XV
THE ALEXANDRIAN WOMAN
The Forty-five Years' War came to a close in B.C. 277.
It had been
entered into by those generals of Alexander the Great who succeeded to
his dominions, and its close witnessed three dynasties firmly
established and a number of minor principalities governed by various
petty rulers. The main divisions of the Hellenistic world at this time
were the kingdoms of Macedonia, under the successors of Antigonus
Gonatas; of Syria, under the Seleucidae; and of Egypt, under the
Ptolemies; while the chief second-rate powers were Pergamum and Rhodes.
These States continued to be the great centres of Hellenism until they
were one by one overthrown by the mightier power of Rome, which in its
turn continued and perpetuated the Greek spirit, so that it has become
an element in the culture and civilization of modern times.
The most striking feature of social life in the Hellenistic Age was its
cosmopolitan character, reminding one of the European culture of to-day.
We know almost nothing of the life of the peoples of the different
nationalities, but the history of the times deals largely with the
courts of the rulers, and with the wars and commercial rivalries of
contending powers. As we have frequently noticed in previous chapters,
the status of woman under the old monarchical governments was an
elevated and influential one. Kings must have their courts, and court
life always presupposes a queen, with her attendant ladies; and in the
story of the Hellenistic periods of the world's history, one of the most
striking features is the number of royal women who enter upon the stage
of action and play a prominent part for the weal or woe of mankind.
We have already considered the character of the Macedonian woman--bold,
fearless, ambitious, ready to resort to cruelty and to intrigue in the
carrying-out of her ends. Macedonian character partook of the rugged,
hardy nature of the land, and the women of the country cared more for
outdoor sports and scenes of war than for the enervating luxuries of the
East and the letters of Egypt.
The kingdom of Syria, with its luxurious capital at Antioch, under the
dynasty of the Seleucidae, was perhaps, as a whole, more Hellenistic in
culture than either Egypt or Macedon, and united more generally the
refinement of Greece with the luxury and splendor of the Orient.
Unfortunately, we know but little of this important kingdom, except as
to its wars and politics. Though Antiochus, the real founder of the
dynasty, was a patron of letters and maintained learned men at his
court, no literature of importance arose to tell us of its patrons; and,
excepting the story already told of his romantic marriage with
Stratonice, we know nothing of Antiochus's private life and but few
incidents in the lives of his successors. We know that the population of
Syria was manifold in nationality, in politics, and in manners, and that
the Greek cities, which were so profusely established, developed a high
degree of culture and created a general diffusion of knowledge. Juvenal,
in describing the Greek influence on Rome, speaks of the Syrian river
Orontes as flowing into the Tiber, and, doubtless, the Greek of the
Orient was the type most largely represented in the mixed population of
Rome. Antioch became a formidable rival of Alexandria as a social and
commercial centre, and extended Greek influence over a far wider area
than did the Egyptian city. But when we seek to know something of the
social life of this important branch of Hellenism, of the details of
private life and of the condition of women, we have absolutely no source
of information. Outside of t