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nto all parts of the world for that purpose. He allowed one Panaretus, who had been a disciple of Arcesilaus, and who vas a man of great learning, an annual pension of twelve alents, or 2,335%. sterling. This is a notable instance of the strange contrarieties that can exist in man, and of the insufficiency of literary taste to raise the human character.

Not lofty intellect the heart keeps clean
From moral taint, nor yet illumes the mind,
By nature dark: grace can alone achieve

This noble work, and make man meet for heaven.

A man may astonish the world by his talents, and yet at the same time grovel in the lowest depths of human degradation. A man may also produce by his talent works, bearing upon each page the stamp of morality, aye, and of Christianity likewise, and yet lead a life of shameless immorality.

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knowledge affects not the heart: grace alone can make and preserve that holy; and he who has it not, however refined his taste may be, is a sinner in the sight of God. He also must be washed in the blood of the Lamb, or he can have no part in the matter of salvation.

CLEOPATRA, PTOLEMY LATHYRUS, ALEXANDER I.

At his death, Physcon left three sons. The first, named Apion, was a natural son; the two others were legitimate, and the children of his niece, Cleopatra, whom he married after having repudiated her mother. The eldest of these was named Lathyrus and the other Alexander.

Physcon left the kingdom of Cyrenaica by will to Apion, and Egypt to his widow Cleopatra in conjunction with one of her sons, whom she should think proper to associate with her. The crown belonged, by right of inheritance, to Lathyrus, the eldest of his lawful children; but Cleopatra, looking upon Alexander as the most likely to bend to her will, resolved to choose him. The people of Alexandria, however, took up arms against her for this decision, and obliged her to send for Lathyrus from the island of Cyprus, whither she had caused him to be banished by his father, and to associate him with her on the throne. But before she would suffer him to be inaugurated, according to the custom of the country, at Memphis, she obliged him to repudiate his eldest sister, Cleopatra, whom he passionately loved, and to marry Selene, his youngest sister, for whom he had but little affection.

On his inauguration, Lathyrus took the name of Soter; but he is called by Strabo, Pliny, Josephus, and other ancient writers, Lathyrus; and by Athenæus and Pausanias, Philometer, "a lover of his mother," which was given him, as the latter author observes, by antiphrasis, no one having ever hated his mother more than he did. The generality of historians distinguish him by the name of Lathyrus, which, in the Greek tongue, signifies a kind of pea, from whence, it is supposed, that he had some mark of this description on his face. This is very probable; for the Greek word Lathyrus answers to the Latin Cicer, whence the family of the Ciceros lerived their name; one of their ancestors having an excresdence like a pea on his face.

Cleopatra, whom Lathyrus had been obliged to repudiate, disposed of herself in marriage to Antiochus Cyzicenus, carrying with her an army, which she raised in Cyprus, for ner marriage portion. By this army, Cyzicenus was enabled to make head against Antiochus Grypus, his half-brother and competitor. Cyzicenus, however, was defeated by Grypus, and his wife Cleopatra dragged from one of the temples of Antioch, where she had taken sanctuary, and put to death by the command of her sister Tryphena, the wife of Grypus. These latter events occurred from 117 to 113 B. C.

In the mean time, Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, the mother of these two unnatural sisters, did not seem to be affected either with the death of the one, or the crime of the other. Her mind was so influenced by ambition, that the voice of nature was stifled, and all its gentle workings in her breast disregarded her only aim was the support of her authority in Egypt, and to continue her reign without control during life. To strengthen herself the better, she gave the kingdom of Cyprus to Alexander, her younger son, that she might be assisted against Lathyrus, should he ever dispute her authority.

Lathyrus had not reigned long, before his mother, provoked at some measures adopted against her will, by base artifices gained over the people of Alexandria. The matter is thus related by Justin, Pausanias, Porphyry, and Josephus. While the two competitors for the crown of Syria were wasting their strength against each other, B. c. 110, John Hyrcanus, prince of the Jews, undertook the siege of Samaria. The Samaritans had recourse to Cyzicenus, who marched to their relief, but had the misfortune to be overthrown in battle by the two sons of Hyrcanus, who had besieged the place.

After this victory, B. c. 109, the two brothers returned to the siege, and pursued it with such vigour, that the besieged were obliged to implore aid once more of Cyzicenus, who, not having sufficient forces of his own for such an attempt, requested Lathyrus, king of Egypt, to send him a body of troops to be employed against the victorious Jews. Lathyrus complied, and ordered 6,000 men into Syria, contrary to the opinion and inclination of Cleopatra. She carried her resentment of this and some other encroachments so far, that she took his wife Selene from him, and obliged him, B. c. 107, to quit Egypt. As this could not be effected without the consent of the Alexandrians, the unnatural mother stirred up the populace against her son; she caused some of her favourite eunuchs, on whose fidelity she could depend, to be wounded, and then, bringing them covered with blood into the public assembly of the Alexandrians, pretended that they had been thus treated and abused by Lathyrus, for defending her person against his wicked attempts. By this base fiction, she inflamed the minds of the Alexandrians to such a degree, that they rose in a tumult against him, and would have killed him, had he not saved his life by retiring on board a ship, which immediately set sail and carried him out of danger.

Upon the flight of Lathyrus, Cleopatra sent for her younger son, Alexander, on whom she had bestowed the kingdom of Cyprus; and having declared him king of Egypt, in the room of Lathyrus, obliged the latter to be content with Cyprus. This event occurred, according to Porphyry, in the eighth year of Alexander's reign in Cyprus, and eleventh of Cleopatra's in Egypt. It is dated B. c. 107.

Two years after this revolution, Alexander Jannæus, king of the Jews, having settled affairs at home, marched against the inhabitants of Ptolemais, and having vanquished them in battle, obliged them to retire into their city, where he besieged them. In this extremity, they despatched messengers to Cyprus, imploring the aid of Lathyrus, and requesting him to come personally to their relief. The messengers, however, were scarcely gone, when they began to repent of what they had done. They apprehended that Cleopatra, upon their entering into an alliance with Lathyrus, would march against them with all the forces of Egypt, so that they would suffer as much from Lathyrus, as a friend, as from Alexander, as an enemy. Upon this consideration, they resolved to defend themselves, and they despatched other messengers to Lathyrus, to acquaint him with their resolution.

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In the mean time, Lathyrus had increased his army to the number of 30,000 men, and prepared vessels to transport them thither; and, notwithstanding their remonstrances, he landed his forces in Phenicia, and marched towards Ptolemais, encamping at a small distance from the city. But the inhabitants refusing to admit his ambassadors into the town, or to enter into any treaty with him, he was for some time greatly perplexed to know what course to pursue.

He was relieved from this perplexity by messengers arriving at his camp from Zoilus, prince of Dora, and from the people of Gaza, who desired his assistance against the Jews; for Alexander, having divided his army, besieged Ptolemais with one part of his forces, and had sent the other to lay waste the territories of Zoilus and Gaza. Lathyrus embraced this opportunity of employing his troops, and marched to their assistance. This obliged Alexander to raise the siege of Ptolemais, and lead back his army to watch the motions of Lathyrus. As he was not able to cope with so powerful an enemy, he pretended to court his friendship, and entering into a treaty with him, he engaged to pay him 400 talents of silver, on condition that he would deliver Zoilus into his hands, with the places in his possession. Lathyrus closed with this proposal, and accordingly seized on Zoilus, and all his territories, in order to deliver them up to Alexander.

In the mean time, he was informed that Alexander was negociating with Cleopatra, in order to bring her against him with all her forces, and drive him out of Palestine, on which Lathyrus became his declared enemy, and resolved to do him all the injury in his power. Accordingly, the next year, B. C. 104, having divided his army into two bodies, he detached one of them to form the siege of Ptolemais, for not having admitted his ambassadors, while he marched in person with the other against Alexander. He took Asochis, a city of Galilee, on a sabbath day, and carried away from thence much treasures and a great number of captives. From thence he advanced to Sepphoris, another city of the same country, which he likewise invested. He was soon, however, obliged to raise the siege of this city; for intelligence arrived inform ing him that Alexander was advancing to give him battle, at the head of a numerous army.

The two armies met at Asophos, not far from the Jordan, and they engaged with the utmost fury. Victory was for a long time doubtful; eight thousand of Alexander's soldiers, who carried brazen bucklers, having fought with great intre

pidity and resolution. But at length the Jews were routed, after having lost a great number slain, and many prisoners. The success of Lathyrus was chiefly owing to one Philostephanus, who, observing that his soldiers were ready to fly, being warmly charged with the Jewish targeteers, flanked the enemy with fresh troops, put them in confusion, and obliged them to give ground, and save themselves by a precipitate flight.

A most barbarous action is related to have been committed by Lathyrus on this occasion. Having taken up his quarters, in the evening after this victory, in the neighbouring villages, and finding them crowded with women and children, he caused them all. to be put to the sword, and their mangled limbs to be put into boiling cauldrons, as though he intended to make a repast with them for his army. His design was to make the Jews believe that his troops fed upon human flesh, and thereby strike a greater dread of his army into the neighbouring country. This circumstance is related by Josephus, on the authority of Strabo and Nicolaus Damascenus. For the honour of humanity, we would fain disbelieve this story; but it is certain that Lathyrus, after the death of Alexander, ravaged and desolated the whole country, the Jews being utterly unable to oppose his progress.

This victory, and the results that followed, alarmed Cleopatra. She apprehended that if Lathyrus should make himself master of Judea and Phenicia, he would be enabled to invade Egypt, and recover that kingdom. She, therefore, resolved to put a stop to his further progress. She commanded an army to be raised with all possible expedition, under the command of Chalcias and Ananias, two Jews, in whom she placed great confidence. At the same time, she equipped a powerful fleet, with a great number of transports, and, putting her troops on board, she embarked with them, and set sail for Phenicia. She carried with her a great sum of money, and her richest jewels, which she deposited in the isle of Cos, in case of untoward events. She landed in Phenicia B. C. 103.

The arrival of Cleopatra made Lathyrus immediately raise the siege of Ptolemais, and he retired in great haste to CœloSyria. Cleopatra despatched Chalcias, with one division of her army, after him, and marched with the other to Ptolemais, expecting the citizens would open the gates to her. But in this she was disappointed; they refused all alliance

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