CHAPTER XII.

 Ten Thousand Macedonians Sent Home with Craterus.—Disputes between Antipater and Olympias.

Then those of the Macedonians who were unfit for service on account of age or any other misfortune, went back of their own accord, to the number of about 10,000. To these Alexander gave the pay not only for the time which had already elapsed, but also for that which they would spend in returning home. He also gave to each man a talent in addition to his pay.881 If any of them had children by Asiatic wives, he ordered them to leave them behind with him, lest they should introduce into Macedonia a cause of discord¹, taking with them children by foreign women who were of a different race from the children whom they had left behind at home born of Macedonian mothers. He promised to take care that they should be brought up as Macedonians, educating them not only in general matters but also in the art of war. He also undertook to lead them into Macedonia when they arrived at manhood, and hand them over to their fathers. These uncertain and obscure promises were made to them as they were departing; and he thought he was giving a most indubitable proof of the friendship and 391affection he had for them by sending with them, as their guardian² and the leader of the expedition, Craterus, the man most faithful to him, and whom he valued equally with himself.882 Then, having saluted³ them all, he with tears dismissed them likewise weeping from his presence. He ordered Craterus883 to lead these men back, and when he had done so, to take upon himself the government of Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly, and to preside over the freedom of the Greeks. He also ordered Antipater to bring to him the Macedonians of manly⁴ age as successors to those who were being sent back. He despatched Polysperchon also with Craterus, as his second in command, so that if any mishap⁵ befell Craterus on the march (for he was sending him back on account of the weakness of his health), those who were going might not be in need of a general.884 A secret report was also going about that Alexander was now overcome by his mother’s accusations⁶ of Antipater, and that he wished to remove him from Macedonia.885 This report was current among those who thought that royal actions are more worthy⁷ of honour in proportion to their secrecy⁸, and who were inclined to impute⁹ what is worthy of belief to a bad motive¹⁰ rather 392than to attribute it to the real one; a course to which they were led by appearances and their own depravity. But probably this sending for Antipater was not designed for his dishonour¹¹, but rather to prevent any unpleasant consequences to Antipater and Olympias from their quarrel which he might not himself be able to rectify¹². For they were incessantly¹³ writing to Alexander, the former saying that the arrogance¹⁴, acerbity¹⁵, and meddlesomeness¹⁶ of Olympias was exceedingly unbecoming to the king’s mother; insomuch that Alexander was related to have used the following remark in reference to the reports which he received about his mother:—that she was exacting¹⁷ from him a heavy house-rent for the ten months.886 The queen wrote that Antipater was overweeningly insolent¹⁸ in his pretensions¹⁹ and in the service of his court, no longer remembering the one who had appointed him, but claiming to win and hold the first rank887 among the Macedonians and Greeks. These slanderous²⁰ reports about Antipater appeared to have more weight with Alexander, since they were more formidable in regard to the regal dignity. However no overt²¹ act or word of the king was reported, from which any one could infer that Antipater was in any way less in favour with him than before.

1 discord   

n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐

参考例句：

• These two answers are in discord.这两个答案不一样。
• The discord of his music was hard on the ear.他演奏的不和谐音很刺耳。

2 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

3 saluted   

v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• The sergeant stood to attention and saluted. 中士立正敬礼。
• He saluted his friends with a wave of the hand. 他挥手向他的朋友致意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 manly   

adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地

参考例句：

• The boy walked with a confident manly stride.这男孩以自信的男人步伐行走。
• He set himself manly tasks and expected others to follow his example.他给自己定下了男子汉的任务，并希望别人效之。

5 mishap   

n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸

参考例句：

• I'm afraid your son had a slight mishap in the playground.不好了，你儿子在操场上出了点小意外。
• We reached home without mishap.我们平安地回到了家。

6 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

7 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

8 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

9 impute   

v.归咎于

参考例句：

• I impute his failure to laziness.我把他的失败归咎于他的懒惰。
• It is grossly unfair to impute blame to the United Nations.把责任归咎于联合国极其不公。

10 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

11 dishonour   

n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩

参考例句：

• There's no dishonour in losing.失败并不是耻辱。
• He would rather die than live in dishonour.他宁死不愿忍辱偷生。

12 rectify   

v.订正，矫正，改正

参考例句：

• The matter will rectify itself in a few days.那件事过几天就会变好。
• You can rectify this fault if you insert a slash.插人一条斜线便可以纠正此错误。

13 incessantly   

ad.不停地

参考例句：

• The machines roar incessantly during the hours of daylight. 机器在白天隆隆地响个不停。
• It rained incessantly for the whole two weeks. 雨不间断地下了整整两个星期。

14 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

15 acerbity   

n.涩，酸，刻薄

参考例句：

• His acerbity to his daughter came home to roost.他对女儿的刻薄得到了恶报。
• The biggest to amino acerbity demand still is animal feed additive.对氨基酸需求量最大的仍是动物饲料添加剂。

16 meddlesomeness   

参考例句：

17 exacting   

adj.苛求的，要求严格的

参考例句：

• He must remember the letters and symbols with exacting precision.他必须以严格的精度记住每个字母和符号。
• The public has been more exacting in its demands as time has passed.随着时间的推移，公众的要求更趋严格。

18 insolent   

adj.傲慢的，无理的

参考例句：

• His insolent manner really got my blood up.他那傲慢的态度把我的肺都气炸了。
• It was insolent of them to demand special treatment.他们要求给予特殊待遇，脸皮真厚。

19 pretensions   

自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力

参考例句：

• The play mocks the pretensions of the new middle class. 这出戏讽刺了新中产阶级的装模作样。
• The city has unrealistic pretensions to world-class status. 这个城市不切实际地标榜自己为国际都市。

20 slanderous   

adj.诽谤的，中伤的

参考例句：

• A man of moral integrity does not fear any slanderous attack.人正不怕影子斜。
• No one believes your slanderous talk anyway!不管你怎么说，也没有人听信你这谗言！

21 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。