his march against Egypt, at the head of a
formidable army, and accompanied by Philip Arrhidaeus, and Roxana and
her infant son. He advanced without opposition as far as Pelusium, but
he found the banks of the Nile strongly fortified and guarded by
Ptolemy, and was repulsed in repeated attempts to force the passage of
the river; in the last of which, near Memphis, he lost great numbers of
men by the depth and rapidity of the current. Perdiccas had never been
popular with the soldiery, and these disasters completely alienated
their affections. A conspiracy was formed against him, and some of his
chief officers murdered him in his tent.

The death of Perdiccas was followed by a fresh distribution of the
provinces of the empire. At a meeting of the generals held at
Triparadisus in Syria, towards the end of the year 321 B.C., Antipater
was declared regent, retaining the government of Macedonia and Greece;
Ptolemy was continued in the government of Egypt; Seleucus received the
satrapy of Babylon; whilst Antigonus not only retained his old
province, but was rewarded with that of Susiana.

Antipater did not long survive these events. He died in the year 318,
at the advanced age of 80, leaving Polysperchon, one of Alexander's
oldest generals, regent; much to the surprise and mortification of his
son Cassander, who received only the secondary dignity of Chiliarch, or
commander of the cavalry. Cassander was now bent on obtaining the
regency; but seeing no hope of success in Macedonia, he went over to
Asia to solicit the assistance of Antigonus.

Polysperchon, on his side, sought to conciliate the friendship of the
Grecian states, by proclaiming them all free and independent, and by
abolishing the oligarchies which had been set up by Antipater. In
order to enforce these measures, Polysperchon prepared to march into
Greece, whilst his son Alexander was despatched beforehand with an army
towards Athens to compel the Macedonian garrison under the command of
Nicanor to evacuate Munychia. Nicanor, however, refused to move
without orders from Cassander, whose general he declared himself to be.
Phocion was suspected of intriguing in favour of Nicanor, and being
accused of treason, fled to Alexander, now encamped before the walls of
Athens. Alexander sent Phocion to his father, who sent him back to
Athens in chains, to be tried by the Athenian people. The theatre,
where his trial was to take place, was soon full to overflowing.