by former favours granted by him to their brethren who were settled in Babylonia and Mesopotamia, had declared himself a friend to their nation, in such a manner as had made them much more desirous of having him for their sovereign, than the Egyptian king, who had used them ill; and therefore, they gladly laid hold of this opportunity to revolt from him. For Antiochus, in his eastern expeditions, having found the Jews of Babylonia and Mesopotamia very serviceable to him, and very steady to his interest, entertained a great opinion of their fidelity to him; and therefore,' on some commotions that happened in Phrygia and Lydia, by a decree directed to Zeuxis, an old commander of his, and then his lieutenant in those provinces, he ordered two thousand families of the Jews of Babylonia and Mesopotamia to be sent thither for the suppressing of those seditions, and the keeping of those parts in quiet, commanding that they and all that they had should be transported thither at the king's charges; and that, on their arrival thither, they should be placed in the strongest fortresses for guards of the country, and have lands and possessions there divided out unto them for a plentiful subsistence; and that till they should receive the fruits of those lands, they should be maintained out of the king's stores. All which was a great argument of the opinion he had of their fidelity, and of the confidence which, on the account hereof, he placed in them. And from those Jews who were on this occasion transplanted from Babylonia into those parts, were descended most of the Jews whom we find afterward scattered in great numbers all over the Lesser Asia, especially in the times of the first preaching of the gospel .. Antiochus having thus brought all Cale-Syria and Palestine in subjection to him, projected the doing of the same in Lesser Asia, his grand aim being to restore the Syrian empire to the full extent in which it had been held by any of his ancestors, especially by Seleucus Nicator the founder of it. But, to quiet the Egyptians, that they might not renew the war in Palestine and Cœle-Syria in his absence, he sent Eucles of Rhodes to Alexandria, with proposals of a marriage between Cleopatra his daughter and King Ptolemy, to be consummated as soon as they should be of an age fit for it, promising the restoration of those provinces, on the day of the nuptials, by way of dower with the young princess; which offer being accepted of, and the contract fully agreed to on these terms, the Egyptians acquiesced in Antiochus's engagements for the performance of them, and no more renewed the war upon him, but left him wholly free to pursue his other designs. This, Jerome tells us,' was done in the seventh year of the reign of Epiphanes. An. 197. Ptol. Epiphanes 8.]-Antiochus, therefore, having thus secured all in peace behind him, early the next spring did set forward with a great fleet for the carrying on of his designs upon Lesser Asia; and at the same time sent thither Ardyes and Mithridates, two of his sons, with a great army by land, ordering them to march to Sardis, and there tarry his coming to them. At this time, T. Quintius Flaminius, the Roman general, was in Greece, with a great army, making war with Philip king of Macedon. Attalus, king of Pergamus, and the Rhodians, were confederates with the Romans in this war; and Antiochus having been in league with King Philip ever since the death of Ptolemy Philopator, was well understood to have come into those parts to give him all the assistance he was able. Thus stood the state of affairs in those parts when Antiochus first set out on this expedition; but he had not proceeded far in it, before they received a considepable change in two particulars, that is, in the death of Attalus king of Pergamus, and the overthrow of Philip, king of Macedon, by the Romans. For Attalus, having at Thebes made an oration to the Baotians, to persuade them to join with the Romans against Philip, spoke it with that vehemence, that his soul in a manner expiring with his voice, he swooned away, and fell 1 Joseph. Antiq. lib. 12. c. 3. 2 Hieronymus in cap. xi. Dan. Plutarch. in T. Quintio Flaminio. 3 Livius, lib. 33 down as dead in the middle of it: after this, having lain sick awhile at Thebes, he was carried to Pergamus, and there died, after having lived seventy-two years,' and reigned forty-four. He having left behind him four sons, Eumenes, Attalus, Philetarus, and Athenæus, Eumenes, the eldest of them, succeeded him in his throne, and was the founder of the famous library that was at Pergamus. His three brothers carried it with that fidelity to him, and he with that affection to them, that they seemed all of them to have one and the same interest; and continuing in this concord and unanimity all their life after,3 they became a rare example of brotherly love to each other. As to Philip king of Macedon, he having come to a battle with the Romans at a place called Cynocephalus in Thessaly, was there overthrown with the loss of eight thousand men slain, and five thousand taken prisoners; whereon, being brought to distress, he sued for peace, which was granted him barely on this consideration, that the Romans understanding that Antiochus was coming into those parts with great forces, both by sea and land, they might not have to do with two of such potent and warlike princes at the same time. In the interim, Antiochus, having with his fleet sailed along the coasts of Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, and Caria, took in a great many of the maritime cities of those provinces and the islands adjoining; and at length coming round to Ephesus, seized that city, and there set up for his winter-quarters; spending the remainder of the year in projecting and concerting those measures which might be most proper for the accomplishing of the designs that brought him into those parts. But Smyrna,' Lampsacus, and other Greek cities in Asia which then enjoyed their liberties, finding his scheme was to reduce them all to be in the same subjection to him as they had formerly been to his ancestors, resolved to stand out against him, and sent to the Romans for their protection; which they readily undertook in their behalf. For, they being resolved to put a stop to Antiochus's farther progress westward, as fearing to what the power of so great a king might grow, should he establish himself in those parts of Asia, according to his designs, gladly laid hold of this opportunity to oppose themselves against him; and therefore, forthwith sent ambassadors to him, to require of him that he should restore to King Ptolemy all the cities of Lesser Asia that he had taken from him; that he should quit those that had been King Philip's; and, that he should permit all the Grecian cities in those parts to enjoy their liberties, and not pass into Europe; and to declare, that, in case they had not satisfaction in all these particulars, they would make war against him. 8 An. 196. Ptol. Epiphanes 9.]-But, before these ambassadors came to him, he had caused one part of his forces to lay siege to Smyrna, and another to Lampsacus, and with the rest he passed over the Hellespont, and seized all the Thracian Chersonesus; where, finding the city Lysimachia (which lay in the neck of the isthmus leading into that Chersonesus or Peninsula) lying in its ruins (it having a few years before been reduced to this condition by the Thracians,) he set himself to rebuild it, designing there to lay the foundation of a kingdom for Seleucus his second son, and subject the neighbouring country to him, and make this the prime seat for his residence. While he was busying himself in these projects, the ambassadors sent to him from Rome, came into Thrace,' and finding him at Selymbria, a city of that country, they there had audience of him, and communicated their commission to him. On their debating with him the particulars of it, which are above mentioned, the Romans argued, how unreasonable a thing it was, that, when they had vanquished King Philip, Antiochus should reap the fruits of their victory by seizing his cities in Asia; that, they having undertaken the guardianship of King Ptolemy during his minority, 1 Polybius in Excerptis Valesii, p. 102. Livius, lib. 33. Suidas in voce 'Aтт¤ños. 2 Plinius, lib. 13. c. 11. 3 Plutarch. p. Excerpta Valesii ex Polybio, p. 168. Suidas in voce 'ATTλ05. 4 Plutarch. in T. Quintio Flaminio. Livius, lib. 33. 6 Livins, lib. 33. Hieronymus in cap. xi. Danielis. 8 Livius et Appianus, lib. 33. 5 Polyb. Legat. 6. p. 792. 7 Livius, ibid. Appianus in Syriacis. 9 Polybius, lib. 17. p. 769. et Legat. 10. p. 800. Livius et Appianus, ibid. VOL. II.-12 it was incumbent on them to demand restitution of all those cities that were taken from him; and that, they having decreed the restoration of all the Greek cities to their liberties, it became them to see that what they had decreed should be made good; that they required his not passing into Europe, because they could not see with what other intent he should make that passage, and now build Lysimachia on that side, as they found him then doing, than to be as a step to a farther war which must light upon them. To this Antiochus answered, That, as to Ptolemy, full satisfaction would be given him, on that king marrying his daughter, which was then agreed on; that, as to the Greek cities, he intended them their freedom, but that they should owe it to him, and not to the Romans; that, as to Lysimachia, he built it to be a residence for his son Seleucus; that Thrace, and the Chersonesus, as a part of it, belonged all to him, as having been conquered by Seleucus Nicator his ancestor, on his vanquishing of Lysimachus, and therefore he passed over into it as his just inheritance. As to Asia, and the cities in it, he told them, that they had no more to do there than he had in Italy; and that, since he meddled not with any of the affairs of the latter, he wondered that they concerned themselves with what was done in the former. Hereon the Romans having desired, that the ambassadors from Smyrna and Lampsacus might be called in, and they, on their being admitted, having spoken very freely as to their cause, Antiochus could not bear it, but fell into a passion, and cried out, That the Romans were not to be his judges in these matters; whereon the assembly broke up in confusion, and no satisfaction was given on either side, but all things tended toward a breach between them. While these matters were thus treating of, there came a rumour that Ptolemy Epiphanes was dead in Egypt,' whereon Antiochus, reckoning Egypt to be his own, made haste on board his fleet to sail thither to take possession of it, and, having left Seleucus his son with his army at Lysimachia, to finish what was there intended, he first called in at Ephesus, and, having joined to his fleet such other ships as he had in that port, from thence made all the sail he could for Egypt: but, on his arrival at Pateræ in Lycia, finding the report of Ptolemy's death to be there, upon good evidence, contradicted, instead of steering for Egypt, he shaped his course directly for Cyprus, purposing to sieze that island; but, in his way thither, meeting with a violent storm, in which he lost a great many of his ships and men, he was glad, after having gathered up the remainders of this ruinous wreck, to put in at Seleucia to repair his shattered ships, and then wintered at Antioch, without doing any thing more this year. That which occasioned the rumour of Ptolemy's death was a treasonable plot then laid against his life: which, being first supposed, was afterwards reported to have taken effect. Scopas the Etolian was the author of this conspiracy, who being general of the mercenaries, most of which were Etolians, and, by virtue of that command, having under him a numerous and strong band of veteran soldiers, thought he had hereby an advantage now in the infancy of the king to make himself master of Egypt, and usurp the sovereignty over it. And accordingly he had formed his scheme for the attempt, and no doubt he would have succeeded in it, had he executed his treason with the same boldness and resolution as he first contrived it. But, although he was a very valiant man, yet, when it came to the point of execution, his heart failing him, instead of immediately falling on, as such a desperate case required, he sat at home consulting and debating with his friends and partisans how best to manage the matter; and, while he was thus doubting and delaying, the opportunity was lost. For Aristomenes, the chief minister, having in the interim gotten information of the whole matter, took such care to prevent it, that Scopas was seized, and, being brought before the council, was there convicted of the treason, and thereon he and all his accomplices were put to death for it: and, as to the rest of his Ætolians, they having, on this occasion, forfeited the confidence which the government had before in them, were most of them hereon cashiered out 1 Appianus in Syriacis. Livius, lib. 33. 2 Polybius, lib. 17. p. 771, 772. Valesii Excerpta, p. 61. of the king's service, and sent home into their own country. Thus ended the treason of Scopas: and he is not the only villain that, having with great resolution entered on wicked designs, hath failed of courage at the time of execution, and defeated his own treason for want of it; for few men are so entirely wicked, as to be thorough proof against that horror and confusion of mind which very wicked actions usually create whenever they come to be executed. At his death, he was found to be possessed of vast riches, which he had gotten in the king's service by plundering those countries where he commanded as general; and he having, while he was victorious in Palestine, recovered Judea and Jerusalem to the king of Egypt, no doubt a great part of his plunder was gotten from thence. One of the chiefest of his accomplices in this treason was Dicerchus,' who had formerly been admiral under Philip, king of Macedon; and, being sent by him to make war upon the Cyclades, on a very unjust and wicked account, to show how little he regarded either piety or justice, before he sailed out of the port on that expedition, he erected two altars, one to iniquity, and the other to impiety, and sacrificed on them both. And do not all else do the same, who engage in such horrid designs of assassination and treason as that was in which this man perished? He having so signally distinguished himself by his wickedness, Aristomenes very justly distinguished him from all the rest of the conspirators in his punishment; for all the others he poisoned, but him he tormented to death. When this conspiracy was fully mastered, the king, being now fourteen years old, was according to the usage of that country, declared to be out of his minority, and his enthronization (which the Alexandrians called his anaclateria) was celebrated with great pomp and solemnity; and hereby the government was put into his hands, and he actually admitted to the administration of it. And as long as he managed it by Aristomenes, his former minister, all things went well; but when he grew weary of that able and faithful servant, and put him to death to get rid of him, the remainder of his reign was all turned into disorder and confusion, and his kingdom suffered the same, or rather more by it than in the worst times of his father. An. 195. Ptol. Epiphanes 10.]-Early the next spring, Antiochus set out from Antioch to return to Ephesus. He was no sooner gone, but Hannibal came thither to put himself under his protection. He had lived six years quietly at Carthage since the late peace with the Romans; but being now under a suspicion of holding secret correspondence with Antiochus, and plotting with him. for the bringing of a new war upon Italy, and some that maligned him at home having sent to Rome clandestine information to this effect, the Romans sent ambassadors to Carthage to make inquiry into the matter; and to demand Hannibal to be delivered to them, if they found reason for it. Hannibal, hearing of their arrival, suspected their business; and therefore, before they had time to deliver their message, got privately away to the sea-shore, and putting himself on board a ship which he had there ready provided, escaped to Tyre, and from thence went to Antioch, hoping to find Antiochus there; but he being gone for Ephesus before his arrival, he made thither after him. Antiochus was there at that time in debate with himself on the point of making war with the Romans, being very doubtful and fluctuating in his mind whether he should enter on it or no. But Hannibal's coming to him soon determined his resolutions for the war, he being hereon excited to it, not only by the arguments which this great adversary of the Romans pressed upon him for it, but especially because of the opinion he had of the man. For he having often vanquished the Romans, and thereby justly acquired the reputation of having exceeded all other generals in military skill, this created in Antiochus a confidence of being able to do all things with him on this side. And, therefore, thinking of nothing thenceforth but of victories and of conquests, he became fixed for the war; and 1 Polybius, lib. 17. p. 772. 2 Ibid. p. 773. 3 Corn. Nepos in Hannibale. Livius, lib. 33. Appianus in Syriacis. Justin. lib. 31. c. 2, 3. all this year and next were spent in making preparations for it. In the mean time, however, ambassadors were sent from both sides, on pretence of accommodating matters, but, in reality, only to spy out and discover what each other was doing. This year Simon the high-priest of the Jews being dead,' his eldest son Onias, the third of that name, succeeded in his stead, and held that office, reckoning it to the time of his death, twenty-four years. He had the character of a very worthy good man, but falling into ill times, he perished in them, in the manner as will be hereafter related. 3 An. 194. Ptol. Epiphanes 11.]-About this time died Eratosthenes,' the second library-keeper at Alexandria, being eighty-two years old at the time of his death, and was succeeded in his office by Apollonius Rhodius, the author of the Argonautics. This Apollonius had been a scholar of Callimachus; but having afterward very much offended him,' Callimachus wrote a very bitter invective against him, which he called Ibis, from the name of a bird in Egypt, which used to foul his bill by cleansing his breech, intimating thereby, as if the of fence given him by his scholar was by foul words against him, and that he therefore gave him this name, to express thereby that he was a foul-mouthed person. Hence Ovid, writing an invective against one that had in a like manner offended him, calls him, in imitation of Callimachus, by the same name of Ibis. Although this Apollonius was called Rhodius, it was only for that he had long lived at Rhodes, not that he was born there: for he was a native of Alexandria, and there at length he ended his days, being called thither from Rhodes to take upon him this office in the king's library. 5 An. 193. Ptol. Epiphanes 12.]-Antiochus being eagerly set in his mind. for a war with the Romans, after having made the preparations I have mentioned, he endeavoured farther to strengthen himself, by making alliances with the neighbouring princes. To this intent he went to Raphia," the place on the confines of Palestine and Egypt which hath been above mentioned, and there married his daughter Cleopatra to King Ptolemy Epiphanes, agreeing to give with her, by way of dower, the provinces of Cole-Syria and Palestine,' upon the terms of sharing the revenues equally between them, according as he had been before promised. And, on his return from thence to Antioch, he married Antiochis, another of his daughters, to Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia; and would have given a third to Eumenes, king of Pergamus. But that king refused his alliance, contrary to the opinion of his three brothers: for they thought it would be a great strengthening of his interest to be son-in-law to so great a king, and therefore advised him to it. But Eumenes soon convinced them, by the reasons which he gave for the refusal, that he had much better considered the matter: for he told them, that if he married Antiochus's daughter, he should be obliged thereby to engage with him in his war against the Romans, which he saw he was at that time entering on; and then, if the Romans were conquerors, as he had reason to think they would, he must partake of the misfortunes of the conquered, and be undone by it: and, on the other hand, if Antiochus should have the better, he should have no other advantage by it, but, under the notion of being his son-in-law, the easier to become his slave; for, whenever he should gain the upper hand in the war, all Asia must truckle to him, and every prince therein become his homager: that much better terms were to be expected from the Romans, and that therefore he would stick to them: and the event sufficiently proved the wisdom of his choice. An. 192. Ptol. Epiphanes 13.]-After these marriages were over, Antiochus hastened again into Lesser Asia, and came to Ephesus in the depth of the winter.1o |