Although Seleucus waged many grievous wars with this Androcottus, at last, having settled the terms of the kingdom and concluded peace, he departed.
46 cum hoc ergo Androcotto Seleucus quamuis multa et grauia bella gessisset, nouissime firmatis regni condicionibus et pacta pace discessit.
So, when the forces of Ptolemy and his allies had been united, battle was joined: and the more powerful its equipment, the heavier its ruin; for in it the strength of almost the whole Macedonian kingdom then fell.
47 Adunatis itaque copiis Ptolemaei sociorumque eius, pugna committitur: cuius quanto potentior apparatus tanto ruina grauior fuit, nam in ea tunc totius paene Macedonici regni uires conciderunt.
In this very war Antigonus was killed; but the end of this war was the beginning of another: for since the victors could not agree about the plunder, they were again divided into two factions: Seleucus joined Demetrius, Ptolemy joined Lysimachus;
48 in ipso bello Antigonus occisus est; sed finis belli huius initium alterius fuit: nam cum uictoribus de praeda non conueniret, iterum in duas factiones diducuntur: Seleucus Demetrio, Ptolemaeus Lysimacho iungitur;
on Cassander’s death his son Philip succeeded him. Thus new wars of Macedonia arose as if afresh.
49 Cassandro defuncto filius Philippus succedit. sic quasi ex integro noua Macedoniae bella nascuntur.
Antipater with his own hand ran through his mother Thessalonice, Cassander’s wife, though she pitifully begged for her life.
50 Antipater Thessalonicen matrem suam, Cassandri uxorem, quamuis miserabiliter pro uita precantem, manu sua transuerberauit.
His brother Alexander, while preparing war against his brother to avenge their mother, was entrapped and killed by Demetrius, whose help he had sought.
51 Alexander frater eius dum bellum aduersus fratrem ob ultionem matris instruit, a Demetrio, cuius auxilium petierat, circumuentus occiditur.
Lysimachus, being hard pressed by a most hostile war with Dorus, king of the Thracians, could not fight against Demetrius.1
52 Lysimachus cum Dori regis Thracum infestissimo bello urgueretur, aduersus Demetrium pugnare non potuit.
1Dorus is evidently a corruption of Dromichaetes, king of the Getae, who defeated and captured Lysimachus about 292 BC.
Demetrius, elated by the addition of Greece and all Macedonia, planned to cross into Asia.
53 Demetrius augmento Graeciae et totius Macedoniae elatus, in Asiam transire disponit.
But Ptolemy, Seleucus and Lysimachus, having learned in the earlier conflict how great is the strength of concord, again made an alliance, united their armies, and carried the war into Europe against Demetrius.
54 Ptolemaeus autem et Seleucus et Lysimachus experti priore certamine, quantae uires essent concordiae, iterum societate pacta adunatisque exercitibus, bellum in Europam transferunt aduersus Demetrium.
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, joined them as companion and ally in the war, hoping that Demetrius could be driven out of Macedonia. Nor was the hope in vain: for when Demetrius’s army had been corrupted and he himself put to flight, Pyrrhus seized the kingdom of Macedonia.
55 his se comitem et belli socium Pyrrhus rex Epiri iungit, sperans Demetrium Macedonia posse depelli. nec spes frustra fuit: quippe exercitu eius corrupto ipsoque in fugam acto, regnum Macedoniae Pyrrhus inuasit.
Then Lysimachus killed his son-in-law Antipater, who was plotting against him, and, hating his own son Agathocles beyond all human measure, killed him too.
56 deinde Lysimachus generum suum Antipatrum insidiantem sibi interfecit filiumque suum Agathoclem ultra humanum morem perosus occidit.
In these very days the city of Lysimachia was overthrown by a most fearful earthquake and, crushing its people, became their cruel tomb.
57 Quibus quidem diebus Lysimachia ciuitas formidolosissimo terrae motu euersa, oppressoque populo suo crudele sepulchrum fuit.
But all his allies deserted Lysimachus as he stained himself with continual parricides, and, going over to Seleucus, urged him — a king already inclined to it by rivalry for the kingdom — to make war on Lysimachus.
58 Lysimachum autem adsiduis se parricidiis cruentantem omnes socii deseruerunt et ad Seleucum deficientes, pronum iam regem aemulatione regni, ut bellum Lysimacho inferret, hortati sunt.
It was a most shameful spectacle: two kings, of whom Lysimachus was seventy-four years old and Seleucus seventy-seven, clashing to snatch each other’s kingdoms, standing in the battle line, bearing arms.
59 res foedissimi spectaculi erat, duo reges, quorum Lysimachus annos natus LXXIIII, Seleucus autem LXXVII, de eripiendis alterutrum regnis concurrere, in acie stare, arma gerere.
This was indeed the last war of Alexander’s fellow soldiers, but one that seems to have been reserved as an example of human misery:
60 ultimum hoc quidem bellum Alexandri commilitonum fuit, sed quod ad exemplum humanae miseriae fuerit reseruatum:
for when, thirty-four of Alexander’s generals being now dead, they alone possessed the world, they did not regard the very narrow limits of their old age and of their life, but thought the limits of the whole world too narrow for their empire.
61 quippe cum orbem terrarum exstinctis iam XXXIIII Alexandri ducibus soli possiderent et angustissimos senectutis ac uitae suae terminos non aspicientes, angustos esse imperio suo totius mundi terminos arbitrabantur.
In that war Lysimachus, having lost or killed fifteen children before this battle, was himself killed last of all. Thus Lysimachus was the closing of the Macedonian struggle.
62 in eo bello Lysimachus, uel amissis uel interfectis prius ante hanc pugnam quindecim liberis, postremus occisus est. sic Lysimachus solutio pugnae Macedonicae fuit.
But not even Seleucus rejoiced in so great a victory with impunity: for neither did he, after seventy-seven years, find the rest of a natural death, but ended a life wretchedly wrested from him by what was, as it were, an untimely death:
63 sed ne Seleucus quidem tanta uictoria inpune laetatus est: nam neque ipse post LXXVII annos quietem naturalis mortis inuenit, sed extortam sibi infeliciter uitam uelut immatura morte finiuit:
for he was trapped by a plot and killed at the instigation of Ptolemy, whose sister Lysimachus had had as his wife.2
64 quippe insistente Ptolemaeo, cuius sororem Lysimachus in matrimonio habuerat, insidiis circumuentus occisus est.
2Ptolemy Ceraunus, eldest son of Ptolemy I, not the Ptolemy of the preceding chapters; his half-sister Arsinoe had been Lysimachus’s wife.
Such are the dealings of kinship and alliance among parents, children, brothers and allies. So much was religion, divine and human, valued among them.
65 Haec sunt inter parentes filios fratres ac socios consanguinitatis societatisque commercia. tanti apud illos diuina atque humana religio pendebatur.
Let those indeed blush at the remembrance of the past who now know that, through the intervention of the Christian faith alone and with only the sacred bond of an oath between them, they live with their enemies and do not suffer hostility;
66 erubescant sane de recordatione praeteritorum, qui nunc interuentu solius fidei Christianae ac medio tantum iurationis sacramento uiuere se cum hostibus nec pati hostilia sciunt;
for by this it is proved to them beyond all doubt that it is not because, as those men did before, “they joined their treaties over a slaughtered sow”, but because now, between barbarians and Romans who call their Creator and Lord to witness, the Gospels brought in for the oath keep such faith as nature could not then keep even between parents and children.3
67 quibus indubitatissime probatur, quia non, sicut illi antea, caesa iungebant foedera porca, sed quia nunc inter barbaros ac Romanos creatorem et dominum suum contestantes tantam fidem adhibita in sacramentum seruant euangelia, quantam tunc nec inter parentes ac filios potuit seruare natura.
3Virgil, Aeneid 8.641.
But now let the end of the Macedonian war be the end of the book as well, especially since from here the wars of Pyrrhus begin, and the Punic wars soon follow.
68 Nunc autem finis Macedonici belli finis etiam libri fiat, praesertim cum iam abhinc Pyrrhi bella incipiant et mox Punica consequantur.