Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/111

DEMETRIUS. 103 take, hurried down, and all was alarm and confusion, and attempts to push foi-ward preparations to opjjose the landinsc of this hostile force. For Demetrius, havincr found the entrances of the port undefended, stood in directly, and was by this time safely inside, before the eyes of everybody, and made signals from his ship, re- questing a peaceable hearing. And on leave being given, he caused a herald with a loud voice to make procla- mation that he was come thither by the command of his father, with no other design than what he prayed the gods to prosper with success, to give the Athenians their liberty, to expel the garrison, and to restore the ancient laws and constitution of the country. The people, hearing this, at once threw down their shields, and, clapping their hands, with loud acclamations entreated Demetrius to land, calling him then- deliverer and benefactor. And the Phalerian and his party, who saw that there was nothing for it but to receive the con- queror, whether- he should perform his promises or not, sent, however, messengers to beg for his protection ; to whom Demetrius gave a kind reception, and sent back with them Aristodemus of Mdetus, one of his father's friends. The Phalerian, under the change of govern- ment, was more afraid of his fellow-citizens than of the en- emy ; but Demetrius took precautions for him, and, out of respect for his reputation and character, sent him with a safe conduct to Thebes, whither he desired to go. For himself, he declared he would not, in spite of all his curi- osity, put his foot in the city, till he had completed its deliverance by driving out the garrison. So, blockading Munychia with a palisade and trench, he sailed off to at> tack Megara, where also there was one of Cassander's garrisons. But, hearing that Cratesipolis, the wife of Alexander son of Polysperchon, who was fiimous for her beauty, was well disposed to see him, he left his troops