Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son ... - Historia Antigua

HIERONYMUS OF CARDIA 141
Demetrius took advantage of the favorable atmosphere. Instead we get
a disappointing general statement about his emboldening the troops
and promising them the usual rewards of gifts and booty.
Perhaps Diodorus epitomized a longer speech by Demetrius in the
original. 13 But it is no less likely that he was loyal to his source, for
there is an inescapable irony in the entire episode. Demetrius did not
have a single quality that justifi ed his rank and command in a decisive
battle, except for his being Antigonus’ son. Yet he owed the soldiers’
eunoia (“good will”) to their hope that Antigonus would die
and that Demetrius would be different from him. The rest of his popular
appeal consisted of his good looks, his striking a royal fi gure, and
the troops’ wish to protect such a vulnerable young man. These were
not credentials that could justify Demetrius’ self-confi dence prior to
the battle or the soldiers’ trust in him. In reality, many troops must
have felt relieved to know that the experienced general Pithon, son of
Agenor, was Demetrius’ co-commander and that there were other veteran
commanders in the camp. 14 Yet this factor is not mentioned
among the considerations that moved the soldiers to follow Demetrius
into battle. Instead, we are shown troops who centered their
false hopes on an unqualifi ed commander, and who, in spite of their
good feelings toward him, would desert him in droves following his
defeat in battle. One wonders how many soldiers were still longing
for a change in command and a milder leader than Antigonus after
Demetrius’ defeat in Gaza. Neither the general nor the troops acquit
themselves well here, but when one reads how at the end of the battle
Demetrius was left standing with only few cavalrymen, and that he
unsuccessfully begged his soldiers not to fl ee (Diod. 19.84.5), sympathy
goes to him rather than to the troops.
A different kind of emotional relationship between troops and
their general is presented in the episode of Eumenes’ illness and its
effect on the troops during their march through Iran in 317. Both
Diodorus (19.24.5–6) and Plutarch ( Eum. 14.5–14.3) report on this
incident, and although it is no surprise that Plutarch is the better storyteller,
Diodorus’ account appears more sober. Once again, their
most likely source is Hieronymus, who was an eyewitness to the
events. 15
Eumenes and his opponent Antigonus were marching with their
armies not far distant from each other, and were looking for a suitable
battlefi eld. Eumenes became seriously ill following a drinking bout
(so Diodorus) or some illness (Plutarch). According to Diodorus, the
march halted for some days and the army lost its spirit because their
most competent general was incapacitated (cf. Plut. Eum. 14.3). When
Eumenes was somewhat recovered, he was carried in a litter at the