Antipatros’ attitude was dismissive. ‘If you’re talking about the unsubstantiated allegations he makes at the end then it’s a pack of lies made up to sensationalise the book to gain wider circulation.’
‘I was actually and, frankly, I would agree with you. Would have agreed with you, I should say, until this arrived.’ She handed him the scroll.
‘What is it?’
‘It’s a book called The Last Days and Testament of Alexander. It makes for some quite interesting reading as it puts names to all the faceless people who appeared in Onesecritus’ book. One of them is Antipatros and another is Kassandros and a third is Iollas. You can have that; I had it copied from my original.’
‘Where did you get this?’
‘Oh, it arrived a few days ago.’
‘Where from?’
‘The ship that brought it was one of Ptolemy’s fleet which he sent to occupy Cyprus as a part of your agreement. So I suppose the book originally came from Egypt.’
‘Ptolemy! The lying bastard!’
‘Is he though? Is he really, Antipatros, because it all fits? Kassandros always hated my brother and you always loved the power and independence you have as regent of Macedon. The motive is established and with Iollas acting as Alexander’s cup-bearer and Archias the Exile-Hunter always doing your dirty work, the method is also established. Interestingly it also mentions Peithon, Antigonos and Roxanna as being a part of the conspiracy as well as completely exonerating Ptolemy, Seleukos, Eumenes and, most interestingly, Perdikkas, Alketas and Attalus.’
‘It’s lies, all lies; propaganda to suit Ptolemy’s agenda.’
‘You might think so, Antipatros, but the people who will read it may well take another view. And if I choose to believe what I’ve read, I could make life very difficult for you. In fact, I might even do what Eumenes suggested I do and claim the regency for myself and have you and your pimply son executed for regicide.’
‘You wouldn’t dare!’
‘Of course I would; and there would be nothing that you could do to stop me. You’re a dead man if you kill the sister of Alexander; and you’d also be a dead man if I happened to meet with an unfortunate accident or succumbed to a strange disease as I’ve left letters accusing you of plotting my surreptitious death.’
‘You little bitch.’
‘Don’t you call me names, old man! You used to take orders from my father and brother so I’ll not have you lording it over me. Now you listen to me, Antipatros, I will make no pronouncement supporting the accusations in this book, but you can wager everything you own that my mother will jump on it. She will see this as another chance of ousting you; but my remaining silent will still keep an element of doubt in your favour.’
‘If you think that I am going to be grateful to you—’
‘Be quiet and listen to me. In return I want you to get out of Asia and take your army with you. Stop prosecuting this useless and vindictive war against a man who only has the best interests of my house in mind. It is in all our interests to get the army assembly to reverse its verdict.’
‘And what about Alketas and Attalus?’
‘Them too; although the murder of Atalante was a serious error and probably means that although Attalus has professed himself willing to forgo revenge, I doubt Alketas will surrender his arms, even if they are pardoned.’
‘I rather think that Ptolemy had just that in mind when he executed her.’
‘I’m sure you’re right but that doesn’t mean there is no reason to try and make peace with them both.’
Antipatros looked at the imperious woman, now standing on her dais and looking down with iron eyes at him. ‘Why are you doing this, Kleopatra?’
‘Why am I trying to establish a peace?’
‘No, why are you trying to humiliate me?’
‘Why did you marry your daughters to the men who could have been fit husbands for me?’
‘Ah!’
‘Yes, ah. You may have defeated me in that respect but I now hold your life in my hands; that book will get a wide circulation and with it I can protect myself against what I now see is your ultimate ambition: to force me to marry your pimply son and combine your family and mine in a new dynasty.’
‘This is Eumenes’ work, isn’t it?’
‘So you don’t deny it?’
‘Of course I deny it; I know the true nature of my son and I wouldn’t wish him on anyone and especially not you, Kleopatra. More than that, he would be intolerably cruel and vengeful if he came to the throne. Eumenes has misled you there to a certain extent, because although it is not my ambition I’m sure that within the dark recesses of his mind Kassandros has nurtured the idea and has set it as a goal.’
‘Then this book is as much my protection against him as it is against you.’
‘Do you think so?’ Antipatros gave a rueful smile and shook his head. ‘I care how I am seen in this world; Kassandros does not.’ He got to his feet a wearier man than when he had sat down. ‘But maybe you’re right; perhaps it is me who is dragging out this war against Eumenes, but he has to be defeated as he is fighting against this.’ He held up the Great Ring of Macedon. ‘So I’ll only do part of what you say, Kleopatra: I’ll not try to have the convictions overturned in the assembly because I know the men won’t do it, they loved Krateros too much, and I’ll just end up looking weak. However, I will go back to Europe and leave Antigonos to prosecute the war.’
‘Why? Ultimately, Eumenes is fighting for the same thing: my house.’
‘No, he’s fighting for Eumenes; but I’m tired of it. I can see that nothing will stop the war entirely, not even Eumenes’ death; nothing, until there is only one man left standing. Surely you know your people well enough by now? It is inevitable.’
But if Antigonos can defeat the little Greek there may be peace for the short span I have to go, Antipatros reflected as he rode back to his camp, the same field that Eumenes had vacated just two days earlier. It was a pleasing thought and he smiled to himself as he trotted along the wagon-rutted track enjoying a breeze sweeping down from the rugged hills to the north, hills he would soon be traversing as he left Asia for the last time.
He nodded to the sentries at the camp gate and greeted the officer of the watch by name, dismounted and gave his horse to a waiting groom to be taken to the horse-lines. With his mind completely settled on his course of action, he walked to his tent at the centre of the camp.
‘Father,’ Iollas said, getting up from the camp chair in which he had been waiting, as Antipatros came in.
‘What is it, my boy?’ Antipatros slapped his son on the shoulder, feeling his benevolent mood increase at the sight of him.
Iollas looked at his feet and then met his father’s eyes. ‘We’ve just had a message from down south.’
Antipatros’ good humour expired outright. ‘Ptolemy?’
‘Yes, Father. I’m afraid so.’
‘What’s he done now?’
Iollas paused. ‘He’s invaded Palestine.’
‘But the deal was that he got Cyprus and then kept to his borders.’
‘With forty thousand men.’
‘Forty thousand? But that’s a massive force. What does he intend to do with it?’
‘He’s taken the city of Hierosolyma without a siege.’
‘Without a siege? Did the city just open its gates to him?’
‘No, Father, it seems that the population are a strange race of monotheists that call themselves Jews; no one has ever really taken any notice of them before. They have the rather odd habit of taking every seventh day off in praise of their god. During this day they are not allowed to do any work which also includes fighting. Ptolemy got wind of this so managed to capture the city by the simple expediency of entering it on what they call their Sabbath. No one lifted a finger to defend themselves and it fell without loss of blood.’
The crafty bastard; I can almost admire him for that.
‘He then defeated a Jewish army sent against him on a
day that they did allow themselves to fight and defeated it totally; sending thousands of prisoners back to Egypt to help in the construction of Alexandria.’
‘He’s done all this so quickly without us knowing? How?’
‘He cut all the roads heading north so that no word could come through. And, of course—’
‘And, of course, he now has Cyprus and so, therefore, control of the sea between it and the mainland seeing as Tyros is still in Attalus’ hands.’ Antipatros slammed a fist into his palm. ‘What a fool I’ve been! He always planned to do this whether I gave him Cyprus or not; he played me so easily and saved himself a protracted blockade of the island. The bastard waited until Antigonos and I were too far away chasing Eumenes to be able to do anything about it. Where is he now?’
‘He’s coming up the Jordan river; we believe he’s heading for Damascus.’
Antipatros slumped into a chair and put his head in his hands. ‘What an idiot I was not to give Seleukos some men; he could have at least done a delaying action giving us some time to get there and stop the bastard in his tracks and then kick him all the way back to Egypt.’
‘Are we sure he’s heading for Damascus?’
‘Yes, Father. It seems that he’s meeting someone there.’
‘Who?’
‘Seleukos.’
SELEUKOS.
THE BULL-ELEPHANT.
THE GREAT SHADOW trailing back across the land had been coming steadily closer for the past three hours; now flashes of sun reflecting off polished metal could be discerned, and the types of troops in the van of the army were recognisable. But Seleukos, surveying the scene from the topmost tower of Damascus’ citadel, held no fear of that army for he knew that soon a part of it would be under his command; Ptolemy had brought forty thousand men with him, far too many for his current purposes, but enough to lend him ten thousand which would be sufficient for his plan to take Babylon. He turned to the commander of the city’s Macedonian garrison. ‘Are your lads all settled, Dreros?’
Dreros, an old veteran, running to fat, having been eight years in this cushy billet, scratched at his grey-flecked beard. ‘The few that weren’t have been locked up; the rest of the boys are overjoyed at the prospect of being in Ptolemy’s pay as it’s rumoured that there’s a lot of it.’
‘There is indeed, my friend. Ptolemy likes to make sure that his men have all that they need to have a good time – when they’re not fighting for him, that is. And, unlike some people, he does actually pay it.’
‘Which is more than we’ve had for the past couple of years; we hardly ever see a pay-chest anymore. The whores now have more money than our lads which makes them very fussy about who they do business with; I’ve never known a place where prostitutes have all the airs and graces of an eastern queen.’
‘Well, Dreros, go and open the city’s gates to him and Ptolemy will put an end to your whore issues for all time; in a few days they’ll be feeling mighty stupid that they weren’t more generous with their favours when the lads were suffering from a paucity of coinage.’
Dreros saluted, grinned and then clattered down the stone steps towards his men, awaiting him in the courtyard below.
Seleukos rolled his shoulders, glanced once again at the approaching army and then followed Dreros down. Ten thousand men; in twelve days we’ll meet the transport fleet on the Euphrates and then south to Babylon. Now comes my time.
It had not been difficult negotiating with Ptolemy for the troops, indeed, Ptolemy’s gratitude for Seleukos’ persuasion in the matter of Cyprus had rendered him so amenable to Seleukos’ requests that he regretted considerably not asking for more.
‘But ten thousand will be ample,’ Ptolemy said as they relaxed later on a high, shaded terrace overlooking the bazaar that was now packed with soldiers spending freely and bringing a welcome boost to the local economy. ‘If you felt as though you would need more then you should have asked before I set out; I need the balance to besiege Tyros.’
‘You plan to lay siege to Tyros?’
‘Of course; if I kick Attalus out then Antipatros can have nothing to say to me about my invasion of southern Syria as I can legitimately claim that it wasn’t an invasion at all, I just happened to pass through it on the way to Tyros. I was forced to leave garrisons in all the major cities to protect my supply lines.’ Ptolemy made a good effort at making a contrite face. ‘I’m sooo sorry I didn’t ask you, Antipatros, but as you were busy dealing with little Eumenes, I thought it best just to get on with ridding ourselves of the dreadful Attalus. And, no, I won’t remove my garrison from Tyros and, no, Kleitos may not sail his fleet into the harbour and, yes, from now on all of the city’s taxes will be collected by Egyptian officials and sent back to Memphis.’
Seleukos almost choked on his wine, a dribble of which oozed out of his nose. ‘He’ll hate you for that.’
‘He already hates me, my friend, for being here in the first place so a little more won’t do any harm. I have to say that Eurydike is taking my defiance of her father in very good heart, she’s only reprimanded me once and that was none too seriously. I think her being pregnant takes her mind off my misdemeanours.’
‘Congratulations,’ Seleukos said, with a degree of warmth that genuinely surprised him.
‘Thank you. A legitimate heir will make me feel far more secure; what’s more, the little brute will be Antipatros’ grandson and, therefore, would have a claim to the regency of Macedon if the old man decides to make it a hereditary office and that little shit, Kassandros, becomes regent. Not that I’m thinking of invading the homeland, but if I did I would have a very good pretext and I don’t think in those circumstances that anyone would lift a finger to help the pockmarked little coward. The shit hasn’t even killed his boar yet and thinks nothing of sitting up to eat.’
‘That’s assuming that Antipatros does leave it to him instead of, perhaps, to Nicanor.’
‘I doubt it, Kassandros would murder his brother and Antipatros knows that; but he could, of course, nominate one of us.’
‘Or leave it to Polyperchon who’s filling in as his deputy whilst he’s over here in Asia.’
Ptolemy shook his head. ‘No, he’s too much of a pedantic nonentity; he wouldn’t be able to command enough respect and Olympias would tear him apart. Anyway, we shouldn’t have long to wait to see; when he gets the news that I’ve lent you ten thousand men it could well be the thing that finishes him off, finally. And, even if that doesn’t, you taking Babylon most certainly will; he was quite happy with the present arrangement. Docimus posed absolutely no threat to him seeing as the army of Babylon has now been dispersed between his army of Macedon and Antigonos’ army of Asia. No, a new power to the south will not please him at all, which, of course, is why he didn’t give you the troops himself. I’ll bet he’s regretting that stupid error greatly; one should never force a talented man such as yourself into the hands of someone as unscrupulous as me; such a foolish mistake.’
‘But one I think we are both very grateful that he made; an alliance between Babylon and Egypt is a thing of great strength.’
‘And beauty, my friend; strength and beauty.’ Ptolemy raised his cup to the toast and downed the contents. ‘Standing together, we will both be able to assert our independence from Macedon and begin new dynasties.’
Seleukos studied his ally for a few moments before deciding that the time was right for what he had to say. ‘You do realise, Ptolemy, that should I be successful, and I don’t doubt that I will be, and Babylonia falls into my hands then there is one other thing that I must have?’
‘Access to the sea?’
Seleukos tried but failed to conceal his surprise. ‘Yes. How did you know?’
‘Well, it stands to reason, doesn’t it? To be secure you will have to control both the Tigris and the Euphrates as far north as Armenia so therefore you annex Assyria. That is a huge area and the trade that you would oversee will be worth fortunes, but it would be worth even more if you also had access to ou
r sea and could therefore levy a customs duty on all goods embarked or disembarked.’
‘That’s the way I see it too.’
‘And if that’s what you want then just make sure that you don’t do anything to upset me. We will split Syria between us; Tyros is mine, Damascus is mine, Berytus is mine, so that confines you to the northern coast of Syria, up by where we defeated Darius at Issos.’
‘But there is no big port up there, only Rhosus, and that isn’t large enough for my purposes; nor is there a city of any reasonable size.’
‘Oh, Seleukos, how are you ever going to make a tolerable ruler if you worry about things which aren’t? If something’s not there then build it. There’s a navigable river up there, the Orontes, build your port at the mouth of that and build your city next to it. I am.’
‘That will bring me into conflict with Antigonos.’
‘We’re always going to be in conflict with Antigonos: me because he’ll want to take Cyprus off me and you because he’ll always want to push south out of Anatolia and into your piece of Syria and Assyria. But together we will be able to beat him.’
Seleukos pondered this as he sipped his wine. I can now understand why Ptolemy is being so helpful: all the favours he’s doing me now will have to be repaid in the form of alliance with him against Antigonos and whoever takes the regency from Antipatros. He’s making a north–south divide and completely doing away with the idea of a united empire once and for all. Our two realms in the south will balance Macedon and whatever is carved out in Anatolia. Once we have some sort of stability I will be able to look to the east. And then we shall see. He raised his cup. ‘To our friendship, Ptolemy. Long may it last.’
Ptolemy smiled and raised his wine. ‘Let’s not go too far, Seleukos. To our mutual assistance and may it be passed down at least one generation.’
They drank to that.
As Ptolemy placed his cup down, he looked thoughtfully at Seleukos. ‘Although I think it’s inevitable that somewhere along the line our descendants may not be as amenable to one another as we are.’
The Three Paradises Page 13
