false news to be brought to him that his estate had been ravaged by the enemy, and as his countenance fell, "Do you see," said he, "that wealth is not a matter of indifference?" Persaeus subsequently became an important figure at the Macedonian court. After Antigonus captured Corinth around 244 BC, he put Persaeus in control of the city as Archon. Persaeus died in 243 BC defending the city against the attack led by Aratus of Sicyon. After Zeno's death, Antigonus reputedly exclaimed "What an audience I have lost!". Antigonus subsequently made a gift of three thousand drachmas to Cleanthes, Zeno's successor as head of the Stoa, whose lectures he also attended. The poet Aratus, who had also studied Stoicism under Zeno, lived at the court of Antigonus. Relations with India Antigonus is mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka's Buddhist proselytism. Death and appraisal In 239 BC, Antigonus died at the age of 80 and left his kingdom to his son Demetrius II, who was to reign for the next 10 years. Except for a short period when he defeated the Gauls, Antigonus was not a heroic or successful military leader. His skills were mainly political. He preferred to rely on cunning, patience, and persistence to achieve his goals. While more brilliant leaders, like his father Demetrius and his neighbour Pyrrhus, aimed higher and fell lower, Antigonus achieved a measure of security. It is also said of him that he gained the affection of his subjects by his honesty and his cultivation of the arts, which he accomplished by gathering round him distinguished literary men, in particular philosophers, poets, and historians. A tomb in Vergina is suggested to be his own. Reception The life of Antigonus is the basis of the story line of the libretto Antigono by Pietro Metastasio, first set to music by Johann Adolph Hasse in 1744. As with most of Metastasio's librettos, Antigono was set by a number of other 18th-century composers, among them the Bohemians Christoph Willibald Gluck in 1756 and Josef Mysliveček in 1780. References Bibliography Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Demetrius", "Pyrrhus", "Aratus" Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, 24.1, xxv. 1–3, 26.2 Polybius, Histories, 2.43–45, 9.29, 34 Gabbert, Janice; Antigonus II Gonatas: A Political Biography (1997) Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Antigonus Gonatas", Boston, (1867) F. W. Walbank, "Antigonus