Seleucus; and
when the preparations were made by Seleucus for war with Lysimachus,
he probably regarded himself as in some sense the leader of the
expedition. He considered Seleucus as his ally, going with him to aid
him in the attempt to recover the kingdom of his ancestors.

Seleucus, however, had no such design. He by no means considered
himself as engaged in prosecuting an expedition for the benefit of
Ceraunus. _His_ plan was the enlargement of his own dominion; and as
for Ceraunus, he regarded him only as an adventurer following in his
train--a useful auxiliary, perhaps, but by no means entitled to be
considered as a principal in the momentous transactions which were
taking place. Ceraunus, when he found what the state of the case
really was, being wholly unscrupulous in respect to the means that he
employed for the attainment of his ends, determined to kill Seleucus
on the first opportunity.

Seleucus seems to have had no suspicion of this design, for he
advanced into Thrace, on his way to Macedon, without fear, and without
taking any precautions to guard himself from the danger of Ceraunus's
meditated treachery. At length he arrived at a certain town which they
told him was called Argos. He seemed alarmed on hearing this name,
and, when they inquired the reason, he said that he had been warned by
an oracle, at some former period of his life, to beware of Argos, as a
place that was destined to be for him the scene of some mysterious and
dreadful danger. He had supposed that another Argos was alluded to in
this warning, namely, an Argos in Greece. He had not known before of
the existence of any Argos in Thrace. If he had been aware of it, he
would have ordered his march so as to have avoided it altogether; and
now, in consequence of the anxious forebodings that were excited by
the name, he determined to withdraw from the place without delay. He
was, however, overtaken by his fate before he could effect his
resolution. Ptolemy Ceraunus, watching a favorable opportunity which
occurred while he was at Argos, came stealthily up behind the aged
king, and stabbed him in the back with a dagger. Seleucus immediately
fell down and died.

Ptolemy Ceraunus forthwith organized a body of adherents and proceeded
to Macedon, where he assumed the diadem, and caused himself to be
proclaimed king. He found the country distracted by dissensions, many
parties having been formed, from time to time, in the course of the
preceding r