hen Olympias was shut up in Pydna by the army of Cassander, as was
related in the last chapter, and sent for AEacides to come to her aid,
he immediately raised an army and marched to the frontier. He found
the passes in the mountains which led from Epirus to Macedonia all
strongly guarded, but he still determined to force his way through. He
soon, however, began to observe marks of discontent and
dissatisfaction among the officers of his army. These indications
increased, until at length the disaffection broke out into open
mutiny, as stated in the last chapter. AEacides then called his forces
together, and gave orders that all who were unwilling to follow him
into Macedon should be allowed freely to return. He did not wish, he
said, that any should accompany him on such an expedition excepting
those who went of their own free will. A considerable part of the army
then returned, but, instead of repairing peaceably to their homes,
they raised a general insurrection in Epirus, and brought the family
of Neoptolemus again to the throne. A solemn decree of the state was
passed, declaring that AEacides, in withdrawing from the kingdom, had
forfeited his crown, and banishing him forever from the country. And
as this revolution was intended to operate, not merely against AEacides
personally, but against the branch of the royal family to which he
belonged, the new government deemed it necessary, in order to finish
their work and make it sure, that many of his relatives and friends,
and especially his infant son and heir, should die. Several of the
members of AEacides' family were accordingly killed, though the
attendants in charge succeeded in saving the life of the child by a
sudden flight.

The escape was effected by the instrumentality of two of the officers
of AEacides' household, named Androclides and Angelus. These men, as
soon as the alarm was given, hurried the babe away, with only such
nurses and other attendants as it was necessary to take with them. The
child was still unweaned; and though those in charge made the number
of attendants as small as possible, still the party were necessarily
of such a character as to forbid any great rapidity of flight. A troop
was sent in pursuit of them, and soon began to draw near. When
Androclides found that his party would be overtaken by the troop, he
committed the child to the care of three young men, bidding them to
ride on with him, at their utmost speed, to a certain town in Ma