Demetrius

Plutarch

Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. IX. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1920.

and when his son was disinclined to the match, it is said that Antigonus whispered in his ear the verse of Euripides:

  1. Where there is gain, ’gainst nature’s dictates must
  2. one wed,
substituting off-hand must one wed for the similar inflection must one serve. However, so slight was the respect which Demetrius paid to Phila and to the rest of his wives, that he consorted freely with many courtesans, as well as with many women of free birth, and as regards this indulgence he had the worst reputation of all the kings of his time.

And now his father summoned him to wage war against Ptolemy for the possession of Cyprus. He must needs obey the summons, but was loth to abandon the war for the liberation of Greece, which was a nobler and more glorious war, and therefore sent to Cleonides, the general of Ptolemy who was occupying Sicyon and Corinth with a garrison, and offered him money to set the cities free.