He commenced
his military career during the lifetime of Alexander the Great, having
been one of the great conqueror's most distinguished generals. Many
stories were told, in his early life, of his personal strength and
valor. On one occasion, as was said, when hunting in Syria, he
encountered a lion of immense size single-handed, and, after a very
desperate and obstinate conflict, he succeeded in killing him, though
not without receiving severe wounds himself in the contest. Another
story was, that at one time, having displeased Alexander, he was
condemned to suffer death, and that, too, in a very cruel and horrible
manner. He was to be thrown into a lion's den. This was a mode of
execution not uncommon in ancient times. It answered a double purpose;
it not only served for a terrible punishment in respect to the man,
but it also effected a useful end in respect to the animal. By giving
him a living man to seize and devour, the savage ferocity of the beast
was stimulated and increased, and thus he was rendered more valuable
for the purposes and uses for which he was retained. In the case of
Lysimachus, however, both these objects failed. As soon as he was put
into the dungeon where the lion was awaiting him, he attacked the
beast, and, though unarmed, he succeeded in destroying him. Alexander
admired so much the desperate strength and courage evinced by this
exploit, that he pardoned the criminal and restored him to favor.

Lysimachus continued in the service of Alexander as long as that
monarch lived; and when, at the death of Alexander, the empire was
divided among the leading generals, the kingdom of Thrace, which
adjoins Macedon on the east,[M] was assigned to him as his portion. He
is commonly designated, therefore, in history, as the King of Thrace;
though in the subsequent part of his life he obtained possession also,
by conquest, of the kingdom of Macedon. He married, in succession,
several wives, and experienced through them a great variety of
domestic troubles. His second wife was a Sicilian princess named
Amastris. She was a widow at the time of her marriage with Lysimachus,
and had two sons. After being married to her for some time, Lysimachus
repudiated and abandoned her, and she returned to Sicily with her two
sons, and lived in a certain city which belonged to them there. The
young men were not of age, and Amastris accordingly assumed the
government of the city in their name. They, however, quarreled with