CHAPTER XVI.
And before the portico are brazen statues of Solon, the Athenian legislator, and a little further Seleucus, to whom came beforehand clear indications of his future prosperity. For when he started from Macedonia with Alexander, as he was sacrificing to Zeus at Pella, the wood laid on the altar moved to the statue of the god of its own accord, and burst into a blaze without fire. And on the death of Alexander Seleucus, fearing the arrival of Antigonus at Babylon, fled to Ptolemy the son of Lagus, but returned some time after to Babylon, and on his return defeated the army of Antigonus and slew Antigonus himself, and afterwards captured Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, who came against him with an army. And as all these things succeeded with him, and not long after the power of Lysimachus collapsed, he handed over all his power in Asia Minor to his son Antiochus, and himself hurried into Macedonia, and took with him an army of Greeks and barbarians. But Ptolemy the brother of Lysandra, who had fled to Seleucus from Lysimachus, and who was generally speaking a very bold and daring fellow and on that account called Lightning, when the army of Seleucus reached Lysimachia privately slew Seleucus, and, allowing the other kings to take Seleucus’ money, became king of Macedonia, until venturing first of all the kings we know to fight against the Galati, he was killed by the barbarians, and Antigonus the son of Demetrius recovered the kingdom. And Seleucus, I am persuaded, was an especially upright king, pious and religious. I infer this partly because he restored to the Milesians at Branchidæ the brazen Apollo, that had been carried away to Ecbatana in Persia by Xerxes; and partly because, when he built Seleucia on the river Tigris and introduced Babylonians to dwell there, he destroyed neither the wall of Babylon nor the temple of Bel, but allowed the Chaldæans to dwell in its vicinity.