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1

When Evaenetus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Furius and Gaius Manius.2 In this year Alexander, succeeding to the throne, first inflicted due punishment on his father's murderers,3and then devoted himself to the funeral of his father. He established his authority far more firmly than any did in fact suppose possible, [2] for he was quite young and for this reason not uniformly respected, but first he promptly won over the Macedonians to his support by tactful statements.4 He declared that the king was changed only in name and that the state would be run on principles no less effective than those of his father's administration. Then he addressed himself to the embassies which were present and in affable fashion bade the Greeks maintain towards him the loyalty which they had shown to his father. [3] He busied his soldiers with constant training in the use of their weapons and with tactical exercises, and established discipline in the army.

A possible rival for the throne remained in Attalus, who was the brother of Cleopatra, the last wife of Philip, and Alexander determined to kill him. As a matter of fact, Cleopatra had borne a child to Philip a few days before his death.5 [4] Attalus had been sent on ahead into Asia to share the command of the forces with Parmenion and had acquired great popularity in the army by his readiness to do favours and his easy bearing with the soldiers. Alexander had good reason to fear that he might challenge his rule, making common cause with those of the Greeks who opposed him, [5] and selected from among his friends a certain Hecataeus and sent him off to Asia with a number of soldiers, under orders to bring back Attalus alive if he could, but if not, to assassinate him as quickly as possible. [6] So he crossed over into Asia, joined Parmenion and Attalus and awaited an opportunity to carry out his mission.

1 335/4 B.C.

2 Evaenetus was archon from July 335 to June 334 B.C. Broughton (1.138) gives the consuls of 338 B.C. as L. Furius Camillus and C. Maenius.

3 Diodorus has not previously suggested that any others knew of the plans of Pausanias, who was killed immediately and so could not reveal any accomplices (Book 16.94.4). Alexander himself was the principal beneficiary of the murder, and he has been suspected of complicity, especially because, as only half of Macedonian blood, he was not universally popular. At all events, the known victims of this purge were Alexander's own rivals: his older cousin Amyntas, son of King Perdiccas III; the family of Alexander of Lyncestis, although he himself was spared; and Philip's wife Cleopatra and her infant daughter, killed by Olympias. These murders were not forgotten (Plut. Alexander 10.4; Plut. On the Fortune of Alexander 1.3.327c; Curtius 6.9.17, 10.24; Justin 11.2.1-3, 12.6.14). These events are ignored by Arrian, and Curtius's preserved narrative begins only when Alexander was in Phrygia.

4 Justin 11.1.8.

5 In Book 16.93.9, Attalus was called Cleopatra's nephew, but he was apparently her uncle and guardian (Berve, Alexanderreich, 2.94). He may well have been disaffected because of the murder of Cleopatra and her daughter, but he had no known claim upon the throne of Macedonia. He was, at all events, loyal to Philip and hostile to Philip's assassin (Book 16.93.5-9).

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    • Plutarch, Alexander, 10.4
    • Plutarch, De Alexandri magni fortuna aut virtute, 1
    • Curtius, Historiarum Alexandri Magni, 6.9.17
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