42.3
This was a great vexation to the Macedonians, who thought themselves insulted, not ruled, and they called to mind, or listened to those who called to mind, how reasonable Philip used to be in such matters, and how accessible. An old woman once assailed Demetrius as he was passing by, and demanded many times that he give her a hearing. I have no time, said Demetrius. Then don’t be king, screamed the old woman.
42.4
Demetrius was stung to the quick, and after thinking upon the matter, went back to his house, and postponing every thing else, for several days devoted himself entirely to those who wished audience of him, beginning with the old woman who had rebuked him.
42.5
And surely nothing so befits a king as the work of justice. For Ares is tyrant, in the words of Timotheus,Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graeci, iii.4 p. 622. Cf. the Agesilaüs, xiv. 2. but Law is king of all things, according to Pindar;Bergk, op. cit. i.4 p. 439. and Homer speaks of kings as receiving from Zeus for protection and safe-keeping, not city-takers nor bronze-beaked ships, but ordinances of justice; Iliad, i. 238 f. and he calls a disciple and confidant of Zeus, not the most warlike or unjust or murderous of kings, but the most just.Minos, Odyssey, xix. 179.
42.6
Demetrius, on the contrary, was delighted to receive a surname most unlike those given to the king of the gods; for Zeus is surnamed City-guardian, or City-protector; but Demetrius, City-besieger. Thus a power devoid of wisdom advances evil to the place of good, and makes injustice co-dweller with fame.
43.1
But while Demetrius lay most dangerously sick at Pella, he almost lost Macedonia; for Pyrrhus swiftly overran it and advanced as far as Edessa. As soon, however, as Demetrius had somewhat recovered his strength he easily drove Pyrrhus out of the country, and then came to a kind of agreement with him, being unwilling that continual collisions and local conflicts with this opponent should defeat his set purpose.
