208 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ptolemy Alorites in Macedonia, we do not know ; we might e> r er suspect that he would return back to Thebes as a safer residence But when his brother Perdikkas, having slain Ptolemy Alorites, became king, Philip resided in Macedonia, and even obtained from Perdikkas (as already stated), through the persuasion of Plato, a separate district to govern as subordinate. Here he remained un- til the death of Perdikkas in 360-359 B. c. ; organizing a sepa- rate military force of his own (like Derdas in 382 B. c., when the Lacedaemonians made war upon Olynthus ;') and probably serving at its head in the wars carried on by his brother. The time passed by Philip at Thebes, however, from fifteen to eighteen years of age, was an event of much importance in de- termining his future character. 2 Though detained at Thebes, Philip was treated with courtesy and respect. He resided with Pammenes, one of the principal citizens ; he probably enjoyed good literary and rhetorical teaching, since as a speaker, in after life, he possessed considerable talent ; 3 and he may also have received some instruction in philosophy, though he never subsequently manifested any taste for it, and though the assertion of his having been taught by Pythagoreans merits little credence. But the les son, most indelible of all, which he imbibed at Thebes, was de- rived from the society and from the living example of men like Epaminondas and Pelopidas. These were leading citizens, man- ifesting those qualities which insured for them the steady admira- tion of a free community and of a Theban community, more given to action than to speech ; moreover they were both of them distinguished military leaders one of them the ablest organizer 1 Athenaeus, xi. p. 506. diarptyuv <$' evravda 6i>i>ct[tiv (Philippus), etc. About Derdas, see Xenoph. Hellen. v. 2, 38.
- It was in after times a frequent practice with the Roman Senate, when
imposing terms of peace on kings half-conquered, to require hostages fof fidelity, with a young prince of the royal blood among the number ; and it commonly happened that the latter, after a few years' residence at Rome, returned home an altered man on many points. See the case of Demetrius, younger son of the last Philip of Mace ion, and younger brother of Perseus (Livy, xxxiii. 13 ; xxxix. 53 ; xl. 5), cf the young Parthian princes, Vonones (Tacitas, Annal. ii. 1, 2), Phraates (Tacit Annal. vi. 32), Meherdates (Tacit. Ann. xii. 10, 11). 3 Even in the opinion of very compe, cut judges: see ^Eschines, FaU Leg. c. 18. p. 253.
