, that, by the time the transportation had
been half accomplished, the water had become too deep to be forded.
Perdiccas was thus, as it were, caught in a trap--half his army being
on one side of the river, and himself, with the remainder, on the
other.

He was seriously alarmed at the dangerous situation in which he thus
found himself placed, and immediately resorted to a variety of
expedients to remedy the unexpected difficulty. All his efforts were,
however, vain. Finally, as it seemed imperiously necessary to effect a
junction between the two divisions of his army, he ordered those who
had gone over to make an attempt, at all hazards, to return. They did
so; but in the attempt, vast numbers of men got beyond their depth,
and were swept down by the current and drowned. Multitudes of the
bodies, both of the dead and of the dying, were seized and devoured by
the crocodiles which lined the shores of the river below. There were
about two thousand men thus lost in the attempt to recross the stream.

In all military operations, the criterion of merit, in the opinion of
an army, is success; and, of course, the discontent and disaffection
which prevailed in the camp of Perdiccas broke out anew in consequence
of these misfortunes. There was a general mutiny. The officers
themselves took the lead in it, and one hundred of them went over in a
body to Ptolemy's side, taking with them a considerable portion of the
army; while those that were left remained with Perdiccas, not to
defend, but to destroy him. A troop of horse gathered around his tent,
guarding it on all sides, to prevent the escape of their victim, and
then a certain number of the men rushed in and killed him in the midst
of his terror and despair.

Ptolemy now advanced to the camp of Perdiccas, and was received there
with acclamation. The whole army submitted themselves at once to his
command. An arrangement was made for the return of the army to
Babylon, with the kings and their train. Pithon, one of the generals
of Perdiccas, took the command of the army, and the charge of the
royal family, on the return. In the mean time, Antipater had passed
into Asia, victorious over the forces that Perdiccas had sent against
him. A new congress of generals was held, and a new distribution of
power was made. By the new arrangement, Antipater was to retain his
command in Macedon and Greece, and to have the custody of the kings.
Accordingly, when every thing had thus been sett