supposed had been referred to in the warning of the oracle. He was
at once overwhelmed with consternation. He did not know whether to go
forward or to return. The moment of indecision was suddenly ended by a
loud outcry from his attendants, giving the alarm that the traitors
were close upon him. Alexander then pushed forward across the water.
He succeeded in gaining the bank; but as soon as he did so, a dart
from one of his enemies reached him and killed him on the spot. His
lifeless body fell back into the river, and was floated down the
stream, until at length it reached the camp of the enemy, which
happened to be on the bank of the stream below. Here it was drawn out
of the water, and subjected to every possible indignity. The soldiers
cut the body in two, and, sending one part to one of the cities as a
trophy of their victory, they set up the other part in the camp as a
target for the soldiers to shoot at with darts and javelins.

At length a woman came into the camp, and, with earnest entreaties and
many tears, begged the soldiers to give the mutilated corpse to her.
Her object in wishing to obtain possession of it was, that she might
send it home to Epirus, to the family of Alexander, and buy with it
the liberty of her husband and her children, who were among the
hostages which had been sent there. The soldiers acceded to this
request, and the parts of the body having been brought together again,
were taken to Epirus, and delivered to Olympias, by whom the remains
were honorably interred. We must presume that the woman who sent them
obtained the expected reward, in the return of her husband and
children, though of this we are not expressly informed.

Of course, the disastrous result of this most unfortunate expedition
had the effect, in Epirus, of diminishing very much the popularity and
the strength of that branch of the royal family--namely, the line of
Neoptolemus--to which Alexander had belonged. Accordingly, instead of
being succeeded by one of his brothers, AEacides, the father of
Pyrrhus, who was the representative of the other line, was permitted
quietly to assume the crown. It might have been expected that Olympias
would have opposed his accession, as she was herself a princess of the
rival line. She did not, however, do so. On the contrary, she gave him
her support, and allied herself to him very closely; and he, on his
part, became in subsequent years one of her most devoted adherents and
friends.

W