Page images
PDF
EPUB

tremely offended with the priests for their negligence: upon which Conon of Samos, who was then at Alexandria, being an artful courtier, took upon him to affirm that the locks of the queen's hair had been conveyed to heaven; and pointed out seven stars near the lion's tail, which till then had never formed part of any constellation; declaring, at the same time, that those were the hair of Berenice. Several other astronomers, either to make their court as well as Conon, or that they might not draw upon themselves the displeasure of Ptolemy, gave those stars the name of Berenice's hair, by which they are known to this day.

On his return from this expedition, Ptolemy passed through Jerusalem, where he offered a great number of sacrifices to the God of Israel, in order to render homage to him, for the victories he had obtained over the king of Syria; by which action he discovered his preference of the true God to all the idols of Egypt. Some have supposed that the prophecies of Daniel were shown to that prince, and that he might have concluded from thence, that his conquest and successes were owing to that God who had revealed them to his prophets. In the extremities to which Seleucus was reduced, he made application to his brother Antiochus, whom he promised to invest with the sovereignty of the provinces of Asia Minor, if he would act in concert with him against Ptolemy. This young prince was then at the head of an army in those provinces; and though he was but fourteen years of age, yet, according to Justin, he had all the ambition and malignity of mind that appear in maturer years. He immediately accepted the offers made to him, and advanced in quest of his brother; not with any intention to secure to him the enjoyment of his dominions, but to seize them for himself. The avidity of this young prince was, indeed, so great, that he acquired the surname of Hierax, which signifies "a kite," the peculiar characteristic of which bird is, that it is ready to seize upon every thing within the range of its flight.

This alliance occurred B. c. 244. The next year, Ptolemy receiving intelligence that Antiochus was preparing to act in concert with Seleucus against him, reconciled himself with the latter, and concluded a truce with him for ten years, that he might not be at war with both these princes at the same time.

From the time of his concluding the peace with Seleucus, he seems to have made it his principal care to extend his dominions to the south. Accordingly, before his death, he had

extended it the whole length of the Red Sea, as well along the Arabian, as the Ethiopian coast, and even to the Straits of Babelmandel, which form a communication with the southern

ocean.

Ptolemy devoted the time of peace to the cultivation of the sciences in his dominions, and the enlargement of his father's library at Alexandria; but as a proper collection of books could not be made without a librarian, Euergetes, upon the death of Zenodotus, who had held the office from the time of Ptolemy Soter, sent to Athens for Eratosthenes, the Cyrenian, who was then in great esteem for learning, and who had been educated by Callimachus. Eratosthenes was a man of universal learning; but none of his works have reached our days, except his catalogue of the kings of Thebes, with the years of their respective reigns, from Menes, or Misraim, who first peopled Egypt after the deluge, to the Trojan war. This catalogue contains a succession of thirtyeight kings, and is still to be seen in Syncellus.

In the year B. c. 233, the original manuscripts of Eschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, were lent to Ptolemy Euergetes on a pledge of fifteen talents.

The same year, Onias, the high priest of the Jews, having neglected to send to Egypt the usual tribute of twenty talents, which his predecessors had always paid to the kings of that country, Ptolemy sent Athenion, one of his courtiers, to Jerusalem, to demand the payment of the arrears, which then amounted to a large sum; and to threaten the Jews, in case of refusal, with a body of troops, who should be commissioned to expel them from their country, and divide it among themselves. This caused great alarm at Jerusalem, and it was deemed necessary to send a deputation to the king, in the person of Joseph, the nephew of Onias, who, though in the prime of his youth, was universally esteemed for his prudence, probity, and justice. Athenion, during his continuance at Jerusalem, had conceived a great regard for his character, and as he set out for Egypt before him, he promised to render him all the good offices in his power with the king. Joseph followed him soon after. On his way thither, he met with several of the most considerable persons of Colo-Syria and Palestine; who were also going to Egypt with an intention of offering terms for farming the great revenues of those provinces. As the equipage of Joseph was less magnificent than theirs, they treated him with disrespect, and considered him as a person of little note. Joseph con

cealed his dissatisfaction at their behaviour; but he drew from the conversation that passed between them all the information he could wish with relation to the affairs that took them to court.

When they arrived at Alexandria, they were informed that the king had gone to Memphis. Joseph immediately repaired thither, and he met him as he was returning from Memphis, with the queen and Athenion in his chariot. The king, who had been prepossessed in his favour by Athenion, was pleased to see him, and invited him into his chariot. Joseph, to excuse his uncle, represented the infirmities of his great age, and the natural tardiness of his disposition, in such an engaging manner, as satisfied Ptolemy, and created in him a high esteem for the able advocate of the high priest. He ordered Joseph an apartment in the royal palace of Alexandria, and allowed him a place at his table.

When the day arrived for purchasing, by a sort of auction, the privilege of farming the revenues of the provinces, the companions of Joseph, in his journey to Egypt, offered 8,000 talents only for the provinces of Colo-Syria, Phenicia, Judea and Samaria. Joseph, who had discovered in the conversation that passed between them in his presence, that this purchase was worth double the sum they offered, reproached them for depreciating the king's revenues, and offered 16,000 talents. Ptolemy was well pleased to hear of his revenues being so much increased, but being apprehensive that the person who proffered so large a sum would not be able to pay it, he asked Joseph what security he would give him for the performance of the agreement. Joseph calmly replied, that he had such persons to offer for his security on that occasion as he was certain his majesty could have no objection to. Upon being ordered to mention them, he named the king and queen themselves, adding, that they would be his securities to each other. The king could not avoid smiling at this pleasantry, and he allowed him to farm the revenues without any other security than his verbal promise for payment. Nor was his confidence abused. Joseph acted in that station for the space of ten years, to the mutual satisfaction of the court and provinces.

In the year B. C. 222, Ptolemy entertained Cleomenes the Spartan, who had been driven from his throne by Antigonus. He gave that prince repeated assurances, indeed, that he would send him into Greece with a fleet and a supply of money, and would re-establish him on his throne. The next

year, however, before his designs could be carried into execution, Euergetes died, and Cleomenes found by experience how vain it was to trust in man. Truly wise is the advice of the psalmist, wherein he says: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish," Psa. cxlvi. 3, 4.

Ptolemy Euergetes had reigned twenty-five years. He was the last of the race of the Ptolemies, says Strabo, in whom any true virtue and moderation shone forth; the generality of his successors being monsters of debauchery and wickedness. He was succeeded on the throne of Egypt by his son,

PTOLEMY PHILOPATER.

This prince plunged himself in the most abominable excesses during the whole of his reign. The very commencement of it was marked by outrage and bloodshed. By some historians he is said to have poisoned his father, whence he received the surname of Philopater, by antiphrasis, that word signifying, "a lover of his father." He received the name of Tryphon from his extravagance and debauchery; and that of Gallus, because he appeared in the streets of Alexandria like one of the bacchanals, and with all the wild gestures of the priests of Cybele.*

In the early part of his reign, B. c. 220, Ptolemy committed a gross act of injustice and cruelty upon the person of Cleomenes. That prince still continued in Egypt; but as Ptolemy regarded nothing but pleasures and excesses of every kind, he led a very solitary life. At first, however, Ptolemy made use of Cleomenes. As he was afraid of his brother Magas, who on his mother's account had great authority and power over the soldiery, he admitted Cleomenes into his most secret councils, in which means for getting rid of his brother were devised. Cleomenes was the only person who had moral rectitude enough to oppose the unnatural scheme; declaring, that a king cannot have any ministers more zealous for his service, or more able to aid him in sus

* In the celebration of the festivals of Cybele, her priests imitated the manners of madmen, and filled the air with dreadful shrieks and howlings, mixed with the confused noise of drums, tabrets, bucklers, and spears. This was in commemoration of the sorrows of Cybele for the loss of her favourite Atys.

taining the burden of government, than his brothers. This wise counsel prevailed for a moment; but Ptolemy's suspicions soon returned, and he imagined there would be no other way to disperse them than by taking away the life of him that occasioned them. Accordingly, he publicly caused Berenice his mother, and Magas, his brother, to be put to death. After this, says Plutarch, he thought himself secure, fondly concluding that he had no enemies to fear either at home or abroad; because Antigonus and Seleucus at their death left no other successors but Philip and Antiochus, both of whom he despised on account of their tender age. In this security, he devoted himself to all kinds of pleasures, never interrupting them by cares or business. His very courtiers, and those who had employments in the state, dared not approach him, and he would scarcely deign to bestow the least attention on what occurred in the neighbouring kingdoms.

With such dispositions, it can readily be imagined that he had no great esteem for Cleomenes. This was manifested by his conduct. The instant the latter heard of the death of Antigonus, that the Achæans were engaged in a war with the Etolians, that the Lacedemonians were united with the latter against the Achæans and Macedonians, and that all things conspired to recall him to his native country, he solicited leave to depart from Alexandria. At first he implored the king to favour him with troops and warlike stores sufficient for his return, and when he found that he could not obtain this request, he desired that he at least might be suffered to depart with his family, and be allowed to embrace the favourable opportunity of repossessing himself of his kingdom. But Ptolemy was too much engaged by his pleasures to lend an ear to the entreaties of Cleomenes.

Sosibius, who at this time had great authority in the kingdom, and who ministered to the king's brutal pleasures, assembled his friends; and in this council a resolution was formed not to furnish Cleomenes either with a fleet or provisions. They supposed such an expense would be useless; for, from the death of Antigonus, all foreign affairs had seemed to them of small importance. This council were apprehensive, moreover, that as Antigonus was dead, and as there was none to oppose Cleomenes, that that prince, after having made a conquest of Greece, would become a formidable enemy to Egypt. And what increased their fears was, his having thoroughly studied the state of the kingdom, his

« PreviousContinue »