146 DEMETRIUS. carry out his project, and was so fortunate in the begin- ning, that many cities revolted to him ; others, as particu- larly Sardis, he took by force ; and some generals of Lysi- machus, also, came over to him with troops and money. But when Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus, arrived with an army, he retreated into Phrygia, with an inten- tion to pass into Armenia, believing that, if he could once plant his foot in Armenia, he might set Media in revolt, and gain a position in Upper Asia, where a fugi- tive commander might find a hundred ways of evasion and escape. Agathocles pressed hard upon him, and many skirmishes and conflicts occurred, in which Deme- trius had still the advantage ; but Agathocles straitened him much in his forage, and his men showed a great dis- like to his purpose, which they suspected, of carrying them far away into Armenia and Media. Famine also pressed upon them, and some mistake occurred in their passage of the river Lycus, in consequence of which a large number were swept away and drowned. Still, however, they could pass their jests, and one of them fixed upon Demetrius's tent-door a jjaper with the first verse, slightly altered, of the ffidipus ; — Child of the bhnd old man, Antigonus, Into what country are you bringing us ? • But at last, pestilence, as is usual, when armies are driven to such necessities as to subsist upon any food they can get, began to assail them as well as famine. So that, having lost eight thousand of his men, with the rest he retreated and came to Tarsus, and because that city was within the dominions of Seleucus, he was anxious to prevent any plundering, and wished to give
- The two first line? of the Q^dipiis Coloneus.
Child of the blind old man, Antigone, Into what country are you bringing me?
