ency, with the care of the king's person,
in whose name that ambitious general vainly hoped to govern the whole of
Alexander's conquests. But Ptolemy, more wisely measuring his strength
with the several tasks, chose the province of Egypt, the province which,
cut off as it was from the rest by sea and desert, was of all others
the easiest to be held as an independent kingdom against the power of
Perdiccas. When Egypt was given to Ptolemy by the council of generals,
Cleomenes was at the same time and by the same power made second in
command, and he governed Egypt for one year before Ptolemy's arrival,
that being in name the first year of the reign of Philip Arridaeus, or,
according to the chronologer's mode of dating, the first year after
Alexander's death.

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CHAPTER II--EGYPT UNDER PTOLEMY SOTER

_Ptolemy governs Egypt, overcomes Perdiccas, and founds a dynasty_.

Ptolemy Lagus was one of those who, at the death of Alexander, had
raised their voices against giving the whole of the conquered countries
to one king; he wished that they should have been shared equally among
the generals as independent kingdoms. In this he was overruled, and
he accepted his government as the lieutenant of the youthful Philip
Arridaeus, though no doubt with the fixed purpose of making Egypt an
independent kingdom. On reaching Memphis, the seat of his government,
his whole thoughts were turned towards strengthening himself against
Perdiccas, who hoped to be obeyed, in the name of his young and
weak-minded king, by all his fellow generals.

The Greek and foreign mercenaries of which the army of Alexander was
made up, and who were faithful to his memory and to his family, had
little to guide them in the choice of which leader they should follow
to his distant province, beside the thought of where they should be
best treated; and Ptolemy's high character for wisdom, generosity, and
warlike skill had gained many friends for him among the officers; they
saw that the wealth of Egypt would put it in his power to reward those
whose services were valuable to him; and hence crowds flocked to his
standard. On reaching their provinces, the Greek soldiers, whether
Spartans or Athenians, forgetting the glories of Thermopylae and
Marathon, and proud of their wider conquests under the late king, always
called themselves Macedonians. They pleased themselves with the thought
that the whole of the conquered countr