es that his guest should not be able by any
possibility to escape. Demetrius, however, did not wait for the second
attempt, but ordered his servants to kill Alexander, and all who were
with him, while they were at _his_ table. One of Alexander's men, when
the attack was made upon them, said, as the soldiers of Demetrius were
stabbing him, "You are too quick for us by just one day."

The Macedonian troops, whom Alexander had brought with him to the
frontier, when they heard of the murder of their king, expected that
Demetrius would come upon them at once, with all his army, and cut
them to pieces. But, instead of this, Demetrius sent them word that he
did not intend them any harm, but wished, on the contrary, for an
opportunity to explain and justify to them what he had done. He
accordingly met them, and made a set harangue, in which he related the
circumstances which led him to take the life of Alexander, and
justified it as an act of self-defense. This discourse was received
with great applause, and the Macedonian soldiers immediately hailed
Demetrius king.

How far there was any truth in the charge which Demetrius brought
against Alexander of intending to kill him, it is, of course,
impossible to say. There was no evidence of the fact, nor could there
be any evidence but such as Demetrius might easily fabricate. It is
the universal justification that is offered in every age by the
perpetrators of political crimes, that they were compelled to perform
themselves the deeds of violence and cruelty for which they are
condemned, in order to anticipate and preclude the performance of
similar deeds on the part of their enemies.

Demetrius and Pyrrhus were now neighboring kings, and, from the
friendly relations which had subsisted between them for so many years,
it might, perhaps, be supposed that the two kingdoms which they
respectively ruled would enjoy, from this time, a permanent and
settled peace, and maintain the most amicable intercourse with each
other. But the reverse was the fact. Contentions and quarrels arose on
the frontiers. Each nation complained that the borderers of the other
made inroads over the frontier. Demetrius and Pyrrhus gradually got
drawn into these disputes. Unfortunately for the peace of the two
countries, Deidamia died, and the strong band of union which she had
formed between the two reigning families was sundered. In a word, it
was not long before Pyrrhus and Demetrius came to open war.

Th