Dividing The Spoils: Stamping Out The Spirit of Mutiny
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
-Niccolo Machiavelli
Phillip III Arrhidaeus
Perdiccas knew he could not let the mutiny among the royal army as the force at Babylon was called, go unpunished. If he were looking for any examples as for what to do, he must not look any further than Alexander himself. When drunk one night, Alexander and Cleitus The Black had a heated argument. Cleitus, who has saved Alexander at Issus by cutting off the arm of the Persian who was about to bring it crashing down on Alexander's skull, was stabbed through the chest with a sarrissa. Later on, Callisthenes, Aristotle's great nephew, was imprisoned and killed after speaking out against Alexander's adopting of Persian customs. Parmenion, probably the second best commander in the army and who had been Phillip's top general previously, was murdered by Alexander after his son was killed for being suspected in a plot to take Alexander's life. During one mutiny Alexander's soldiers staged against him, Alexander picked out the men who complained the loudest, and had theme executed, silencing the grumbling.
So indeed, Alexander provided Perdiccas with many ideas of what was to be done. Through Alexander's actions, it was clear to Perdiccas that the leaders of the mutiny must be taken out of the equation once and for all, and the soldiers dissuaded from any future mutinies. What he had in store was something far more spectacular and dramatic than anything Alexander had done previously. The army was assembled for a grand lustration, where cavalry and infantry often took part in a mock battle. During the lustration, Perdiccas sent Phillip out, where he read aloud that any of the leaders of the mutiny were to be turned over to Perdiccas for execution. The soldiers were caught completely by surprise, and 300 of the men were arrested. In the most dazzling execution of the time, Perdiccas brought up elephants, and had the 300 soldiers trampled to death. By stamping out the spirit of mutiny, Perdiccas had secured the loyalty of the troops for the time being, but they would always remember the trampling, and never fully trust Perdiccas again.