The Greek cities had always hated the yoke of Macedon, and hoped that Alexander would be lost in the East.  They had been restless all this time, and had only been kept down by the threats and the bribes of Antipater, the governor of Macedon.  When the news of Alexander’s death first came to Athens, the people were ready to make a great outbreak, but the more cautious would not believe it, and Phocion advised them to wait, “for,” he said, “if he is dead to-day, he will still be dead to-morrow and the next day, so that we may take council at our leisure.”