DEMETRIUS, a son of Antigonus and Stratonice, surnamed Poliorcetes, or the Taker of Cities. At the age of twenty-two he was sent by his father against Ptolemy, who had invaded Syria, and he was defeated near Gaza; but he soon repaired his loss by a victory which he obtained, over one of the generals of the enemy. He afterwards sailed with a fleet of two hundred and fifty ships to Athens, and restored the Athenians to liberty, by freeing them from the power of Cassander and Ptolemy, and expelling the garrison which had been stationed there under Demetrius Phalereus. After this successful expedition he besieged and took Munychia, and defeated Cassander at Thermopylae. His reception at Athens, after these victories, was attended with the greatest servility, and the Athenians were not ashamed to raise altars to him as a god, and to consult his oracles. This uncommon success roused the jealousy of the successors of Alexander; and Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus, united to destroy Antigonus and his son. The hostile armies met at Ipsus, 299 years before the Augustan age: Antigonus was killed in the battle; and Demetrius, after sustaining a severe loss, retired to Ephesus. This reverse of fortune raised him many enemies; and the Athenians, who had lately adored him as a god, refused even to admit him into their city. But he soon afterwards ravaged the territory of Lysimachus, and reconciled himself to Seleucus, to whom he gave his daughter Stratonice in marriage. Athens now laboured under tyranny, but Demetrius relieved it, and pardoned the inhabitants their former misconduct. The loss of his possessions in Asia recalled him from Greece, and he established himself on the throne of Macedonia by the murder of Alexander the son of Cassander. But here he was continually at war with the neighbouring states; and the superior power of his adversaries obliged him to leave Macedonia, after he had sat on the throne for seven years. He passed into Asia, and attacked, with various success, some of the provinces of Lysimachus; but famine and pestilence destroyed the greater part of his army, and he retired to the court of Śeleucus to seek support and assistance. Here he met with a kind reception; but, nevertheless, hostilities soon broke out; and after he had gained some advantages over his son-in-law, Demetrius was totally forsaken by his troops in the field of battle, and became an easy prey to the enemy. But although he was kept in confinement by his son-in-law, yet he maintained himself like a prince, [7:7:708] and passed his time in hunting, and in every laborious exercise. Ηis son Antigonus offered Seleucus all his possessions, and even his person, in order to procure his father’s liberty; but all proved unavailing, and Demetrius died in the fifty-fourth year of his age, after a confinement of three years, about 286 years before Christ. His remains were given to Antigonus, honoured with a splendid funeral at Corinth, and thence conveyed to Demetrias. His posterity remained in possession of the Macedonian throne till the time of Perseus, who was conquered by the Romans. Demetrius rendered himself famous by his fondness for dissipation when amongst the dissolute, and by his love of virtue and military glory in the field of battle. He has been commended as a great warrior; and his ingenious inventions, his warlike engines, and stupendous machines in the war with the Rhodians, justify his claims to that character. He has, however, been blamed for his voluptuous indulgences; and his biographer observes that no Grecian prince had more wives and concubines than Poliorcetes. His obedience and reverence to his father have been justly admired; and it has been observed, that Antigonus ordered the ambassadors of a foreign prince particularly to remark the cordiality and friendship which subsisted between the parent and his child.

Demetrius Phalereus, an orator and Peripatetic philosopher, was the scholar of Theophrastus. He acquired so much authority at Athens, that he governed the city for ten years, and ruled with so much wisdom and virtue that they set up thirty-six statues in honour of him. By the slanders of some malicious persons in his absence, he was, however, condemned to death, and his images were pulled down; but when Demetrius heard it, he remarked, they could not pull down that virtue in honour of which those images had been set up. He escaped into Egypt, and was protected by Ptolemy Lagus. This king, it is said, asked his advice concerning the succession of his children to the throne, whether he ought to prefer those whom he had had by Eurydice, to Ptolemy Philadelphus, whom he had had by Berenice; and Demetrius advised him to leave his crown to the former. This displeased Philadelphus so much, that when his father died, he banished Demetrius; and the unfortunate exile was afterwards killed by the bite of an asp. Demetrius composed more works in prose and in verse than any other peripatetic of his time; and his writings consisted of poetry, history, politics, rhetoric, harangues, and accounts of embassies. But none of them are extant except his rhetoric, which is usually printed among the Rhetores Selectì. Demetrius, a Cynic philosopher, and disciple of Apollonius Tyanaeus, who lived in the age of Caligula. The emperor wished to gain the philosopher to his interest by a large present; but Demetrius refused it with indignation, and said, “If Caligula wishes to bribe me, let him send me his crown.” Vespasian was displeased with his insolence, and banished him to an island. The Cynic derided the punishment, and bitterly inveighed against the emperor. He died in a great old age; and Seneca observes, that nature had brought him forth to show mankind that an exalted genius can live securely, without being corrupted by the vices of the world.