turned all into tyranny and cruelty, conducting himself in all things that he did, by nothing else but by corrupt will and arbitrary pleasure. An. 185. Ptol. Epiphanes 20.]-The Egyptians,' not being able to bear the grievances which they suffered under this great maleadministration of their king, began to combine and make associations against him; and, being headed by many of the greatest power in the land, formed designs for the deposing of him from his throne, and had very nearly succeeded in it. An. 184. Ptol. Epiphanes 21.]—For the extricating himself out of these troubles, he made Polycrates his chief minister, who was a wise and valiant man, and long experienced in all the affairs both of war and peace; for he had been one of his father's generals in the battle of Raphia; and much of that victory which was there gained was owing unto him. After that he had been governor of Cyprus, and coming from thence to Alexandria, just upon the breaking out of the conspiracy of Scopas, he had a great hand in the suppressing of it. An. 183. Ptol. Epiphanes 22.]-By this means Ptolemy, having subdued the revolters, brought many of their leaders (who were of the chief nobility of his kingdom) upon terms of accommodation to submit to him; but, when he had gotten them into his power, he broke his faith with them: for, after having treated them with great cruelty, he caused them all to be put to death; which base action involved him in new difficulties, but the wisdom of Polycrates extricated him out of all. 3 5 Agisipolis, who, on the death of Cleomenes, had been in his infancy declared king of Lacedemon, being slain by pirates in a voyage which he was making to Rome, Archbishop Usher thinks that Areus, a noble Lacedemonian, much spoken of in those times, had the title of king of Lacedemon after him, and that from him was sent that letter to Onias the high-priest of the Jews, in which the Lacedemonians claimed kindred with the Jews, and desired friendship with them on this account. Josephus, indeed, saith, that this letter was written to Onias the son of Simon, who was the third of that name that was high-priest at Jerusalem; but it is hard in his time to find an Areus king of Lacedemon. For Archbishop Usher's conjecture will not do; that Areus, on whom he would fix the title of king of Lacedemon, for the fathering of this letter to Onias, is no where said to be so, neither is it any way likely that he ever had that title; for before his time both the royal families of the kings of Lacedemon had failed and become extinct; and the government there, which had for some time before been invaded by tyrants, was then turned into another form. And besides Jonathan in his letter to the Lacedemonians (1 Maccab. xii. 10,) wherein he makes mention of this letter of Areus, saith, that "there was a long time passed since it had been sent unto them," which could not have been said by Jonathan in respect of the time in which Onias the third was high-priest; since, from the death of that Onias, to the time that Jonathan was made prince of the Jews, there had passed no more than twelve years. It is most likely Josephus mistook the Onias to whom this letter was directed, and ascribed that to Onias the Third, which was done only in the time of Onias the First. For, while Onias, the first of that name, the son of Jaddua, was high-priest of the Jews, there was an Areus king of Lacedemon, and from him most likely it was that this letter was written. But the greatest difficulty as to this letter is to know on what foundation the Lacedemonians claimed kindred with the Jews. Areus saith in his letter, that "it was found in a certain writing, that the Lacedemonians and the Jews were brethren, and that they were both of the stock of Abraham." But what this writing was, or how this pedigree mentioned in it was to be made out, is not said. No doubt it was from some old fabulous story now lost; learned men have been offering several conjectures for the making out of this matter, but all so lame as not to be worth relating. в 1 Diodor. Sic. in Excerptis Valesii, p. 294. 3 Annales Veteris Testamenti, sub anno J. P. 4531. 5 Lib. 12. c. 4. 2 Polybius in Excerptis Valesii, p. 113. 4 1 Maccab. xii. Joseph. lib. 12. c. 5. 6 Vide Scaligeri Animadversiones in Eusebii Chronicon, p. 139. et Canonum Isagog. lib. 3. p. 340. An. 180. Ptol. Philometor 1.]-Ptolemy having suppressed his rebellious subjects at home, projected a war abroad against Seleucus king of Syria. But, as he was laying his designs for it,' one of his chief commanders asked him, Where he would have money to carry it on? To this he answered, That his friends were his money; from whence many of the chief men about him inferring, that he intended to take their money from them for carrying on of this war: for the preventing of it, procured poison to be given him, which did put an end to this project and his life together, after he had reigned twenty-four years, and lived twenty-nine. Ptolemy Philometor his son, an infant of six years old, succeeded him in the kingdom, under the guardianship of Cleopatra his mother. An. 177. Ptol. Philometor 4.]-Perseus, having succeeded his father Philip in the kingdom of Macedon, married Laodice the daughter of Seleucus king of Syria; and the Rhodians, with their whole fleet, conducted her from Syria into Macedon. In their way thither they stopped at Delus, an island in the Ægean Sea sacred to Apollo, where he had a temple erected to him, which, next that at Delphos, was reckoned to be of the greatest note in all Greece. While the fleet lay there, Laodice having made many offerings to the temple, and given many gifts to the people of the place, they, in acknowledgement hereof, there erected a statue to her, on the pedestal whereof was engraven this inscription, Ο Δήμος ο Δηλίων Βασίλισσαν Λαοδίκην Βασιλέως Σέλευκου, γυναίκα δε Βασιλέως Περσέως, άρετης ονικού και ευσε βειας της περί το ιερόν και εύνοιας προς του Δήμου των Δηλίων: 1. e. "The people of Delus erected this for Queen Laodice, the daughter of King Seleucus, and the wife of King Perseus, because of her virtue, and of her piety to the temple, and her beneficence to the people of Delus." The marble whereon this inscription was engraven is still extant among the Arundel marbles at Oxford, from whence it was published by me among the Marmora Oxoniensia, No. 142, p. 276. An. 176. Ptol. Philometor 5.-Simon, a Benjamite, being made governor or protector of the temple at Jerusalem3 (which office he seems to have had from the death of Joseph, and was most probably one of his sons,) differences arose between him and Onias the high-priest; and when he found that he could not prevail against Onias, he, with the rest of the sons of Tobias, fled from Jerusalem, and went to Apollonius, who was governor of Cole-Syria and Palestine for Seleucus king of Syria, and told him of great treasures which, he said, were laid up in the temple at Jerusalem; whereon Apollonius informing the king, Heliodorus his treasurer was sent to make seizure of it, and bring it to Antioch. How the hand of God appeared in a very miraculous manner against Heliodorus in this sacrilegious attempt, is at large related in the third chapter of the second book of Maccabees. However, Simon" still carrying on his malice against Onias, and murders having been thereon committed by those of his faction, and Apollonius encouraging him herein, Onias went to Antioch to make complaint to the king of these violences; but he had not been there long ere the king died. 6 It hath been above related, that when Antiochus the Great, the father of Seleucus, made peace with the Romans after the battle of Mount Sipylus, among other hostages which were then given for the observance of that peace, one was Antiochus the king's son, and younger brother to Seleucus. He having been now thirteen years at Rome, Seleucus had a desire to have him home; and therefore, for the redeeming of him, he sent Demetrius, his only son, then about twelve years old, to be there in his stead by way of exchange for him. Whether he did this, as some moderns think," that his son might have the benefit of a Roman education, or that he might make use of Antiochus for the executing of some designs he might then have upon Egypt, during the minority of Philometor, as is conjectured by others, or for some other reason different from 1 Hieronymus in cap. xi. Danielis. 2 Polyb. Legat. 60. p. 882. Livius, lib. 42. 3 2 Maccab. iii. 4. 4 Vide Grotium in Annotationibus ad tertium, cap. 2. Libri Maccab. ver. 4. 6 Appian. in Syriacis, 7 Salianus sub Anno Mundi 3878. 5 2 Maccab. iv. 8 Vaillant in Hist. Regum Syria. both, is not said in any authentic history of those times. While both the next heirs of the crown were thus absent (Demetrius being gone for Rome, and Antiochus not yet returned from thence,) Heliodorus the king's treasurer, the same that had been sent to rob the temple at Jerusalem, thinking this a fit opportunity for him to usurp the crown, were Seleucus out of the way,' caused poison to be treacherously given him, of which he died. It appears from the third and fourth chapters of the second book of Maccabees, and also from Josephus, that Seleucus had been in possession of ColeSyria, Phoenicia, and Judea, some time before his death. For Apollonius was governor of those provinces for him, and Heliodorus was sent to Jerusalem by his commission, when he would have there seized the treasure of the temple for his use; and Onias, when oppressed by Simon the Benjamite and his faction, applied himself to Seleucus king of Syria, and not to Ptolemy king of Egypt, for redress of his grievances: all which plainly proves, that Seleucus was then in possession of the sovereignty of those provinces; but how he came by it is no where said in history. After the battle of Paneas it is certain Antiochus the Great made himself master of all Cole-Syria and Palestine, and utterly excluded Ptolemy from the sovereignty, which till then the Egyptian kings had in those provinces. But, when the same Antiochus married his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy Epiphanes, he agreed to restore them to him by way of dower with her, reserving to himself one-half of the revenues of those provinces, And, if they were then restored to Ptolemy, the question ariseth herefrom, How then came Seleucus to be possessed of them? By what we find in Polybius, it may be inferred, that this agreement was never faithfully executed either by Antiochus or by Seleucus his son: but that both of them held these provinces, notwithstanding that article of the marriage, whereby it was agreed to surrender them to the Egyptian king. For that author tells us,' That, from the time of the battle of Paneas, where Antiochus vanquished Scopas and the Egyptian army, all parts of the above mentioned provinces were subject to the king of Syria. And he also tells us, That Antiochus Epiphanes (who succeeded Seleucus,) in an answer which he gave to the ambassadors that came to him from Greece to compose the differences that were between him and King Ptolemy Philometor, denied that Antiochus his father ever agreed to surrender Cole-Syria to Ptolemy Epiphanes on his marrying of his daughter to him: which may seem to infer, that Cole-Syria and Palestine, notwithstanding the said agreement, were still retained in the possession of the Syrian kings. But what Josephus saith of Hyrcanus's journey, to congratulate King Ptolemy Epiphanes, and Cleopatra his queen, on the birth of Philometor their son, and the flocking of the nobles of Cœle-Syria thither on the same account, is a clear proof of the contrary; that is, that Cole-Syria and Palestine were then in the possession of the Egyptian king, by what means soever it afterward became that he was put out of it. It is most likely, that Seleucus, having just cause of war given him by the preparations that Ptolemy Epiphanes was making against him at the time of his death, took the advantage of the minority of Philometor his son, to prosecute this war against him which his father had begun, and therein seized these provinces; for it is certain, both from the Maccabees and from Josephus, that Seleucus was in possession of them at the time of his death. The whole of this king's reign is expressed in Daniel xi. 20. For in that text it is foretold, that after Antiochus the Great, who is spoken of in the foregoing verses, "there should stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes." And Seleucus was no more than such all his time, for the whole business of his reign was to raise the thousand talents every year; which, by the treaty of peace that his father made with the Romans, he was obliged, for twelve years together, annually to pay that people; and the last of those years was the last of his life. For, as the text saith, That "within a few years after he should be 1 Appian. in Syriacis. 5 Antiq. lib. 12. c. 4. VOL. II.-14 2 In Libro de Maccab. c. 4. 3 Legat. 72. p. 893. 4 Polyb. Legat. 82. p. 908. 6 He was but six years old at the time of his father's death." destroyed,' and that neither in anger, nor in battle;" so accordingly it happened. For he reigned only eleven years, and his death was neither in battle nor in anger; that is, neither in war abroad, nor in sedition or rebellion at home, but by the secret treachery of one of his own friends. His successor was Antiochus Epiphanes his brother, of whom we shall treat in the next book. BOOK III. An. 175. Ptol. Philometor 6.]—ON the death of Seleucus Philopator, Heliodorus, who had been the treacherous author of his death, endeavoured to seize the crown of Syria. Antiochus, the brother of Seleucus, was then on his return from Rome. While at Athens in his journey,' he there heard of the death of his brother, and the attempt of Heliodorus to usurp the throne; and finding that the usurper had a great party with him to support him in his pretensions, and that there was another party also forming for Ptolemy, (who made some claim to the succession in right of his mother, she being sister to the deceased king,) and that both of them were agreed "not to give unto him (though the next heir in the absence of Demetrius) the honour of the kingdom," as the holy prophet Daniel foretold," he applied himself to Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and Attalus his brother, and "by flattering speeches,"" and great promises of friendship, prevailed with them to help him against Heliodorus. And by their means that usurper being suppressed, he was quietly placed on the throne, and all submitted to him, and permitted him, without any further opposition, peaceably to obtain the kingdom, as had been predicted of him in the same prophecy. Eumenes and Attalus, at this time having some suspicions of the Romans, were desirous of having the king of Syria on their side, in case a war should break out between them, and Antiochus's promises to stick by them, whenever such a war should happen, were the inducements that prevailed with them to do him this kindness. "10 On his being thus settled on the throne, he took the name of Epiphanes," that is, The Illustrious; but nothing could be more alien to his true character than this title. The prophet Daniel foretold of him that he should be "a vile person," so our English version hath it; but the word nibzeh in the original rather signifieth despicable than vile. He was truly both in all that both these words can express, which will fully appear from the character given of him by Polybius," Philarchus," Livy," and Diodorus Siculus," who were all heathen writers, and the two first of them his contemporaries. For they tell us, that he would get often out of the palace and ramble about the streets of Antioch, with two or three servants only accompanying him; that he would be often conversing with those that graved in silver, and cast vessels of gold, and be frequently found with them in their shops, talking and nicely arguing with them about the mysteries of their trades; that he would very commonly debase himself to the meanest company, and on his going abroad would join in with such as he happened to find them met together, although of the lowest of the people, and enter into discourse with any one of them whom he should first light on; that he would, in his rambles, frequently drink with strangers and foreigners, and even with the meanest and vilest of them; that, when he heard of any young company met together to feast, drink, or any otherwise to make merry together, he would, without giving any notice of his own coming, intrude himself among 1 The Hebrew word yamim, which in the English Bible is rendered days, signifieth also years, and is put them, and revel away the time with them in their cups and songs, and other frolics, without any regard had to common decency, or his own royal character, so that several, being surprised with the strangeness of the thing, would, on his coming, get up and run away out of the company. And he would sometimes, as the freak took him, lay aside his royal habit, and putting on a Roman gown, go round the city, as he had seen done in the election of magistrates at Rome, and ask the votes of the citizens, in the same manner as used to be there practised, now taking one man by the hand, and then embracing another, and would thus set himself up, sometimes for the office of ædile, and sometimes for that of tribune; and, having been thus voted into the office he sued for, he would take the curule chair, and sitting down in it, hear petty causes of contracts, bargains, and sales, made in the market, and give judgment in them with that serious attention and earnestness, as if they had been matters of the highest concern and importance. It is said also of him, that he was much given to drunkenness;' and that he spent a great part of his revenues in revelling and drunken carousals; and would often go out into the streets while in these frolics, and there scatter his money by handfuls among the rabble, crying out, Let him take to whom fortune gives it. Sometimes he would go abroad with a crown of roses upon his head, and wearing a Roman gown, would walk the streets alone, and carrying stones under his arms, would throw them at those who followed after him. And he would often wash himself in the public baths among the common people, and there expose himself by many absurd and ridiculous actions. Which odd and extravagant sort of conduct made many doubt how the matter stood with him; some thinking him a fool, and some a madman;' the latter of these, most thought to be his truest character; and therefore, instead of Epiphanes, or the Illustrious, they called him Epimanes,' that is, the Madman. Jerome' tells us also of him. that he was exceedingly given to lasciviousness, and often by the vilest acts of it debased the honour of his royal dignity; that he was frequently found in the company of mimics, pathics, and common prostitutes, and that with the latter he would commit acts of lasciviousness, and gratify his lust on them publicly in the sight of the people. And it is further related of him, that having for his catamites two vile persons, called Timarchus and Heraclides, who were brothers, he made the first of them governor of Babylonia, and the other his treasurer in that province, and gave himself up to be governed and conducted by them in most that he did. And having, on a very whimsical occasion," exhibited games and shows at Daphne, near Antioch, with vast expense, and called thither a great multitude of people from foreign parts, as well as from his own dominions, to be present at the solemnity; he there behaved himself to that degree of folly and absurdity, as to become the ridicule and scorn of all that were present: which actions of his are sufficiently abundant to demonstrate him both despicable and vile, though he had not added to them that most unreasonable and wicked persecution of God's people in Judea and Jerusalem; which will be hereafter related. As soon as Antiochus was settled in the kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, being ambitious of the high-priesthood, by underhand means applied to him for it; and, by an offer of three hundred and sixty talents, besides eighty more which he promised on another account, obtained of him, that Onias was displaced from the office, and he advanced to it in his stead. And at the same time procured, that Onias was called to Antioch, and confined to dwell there. For Onias, by reason of his signal piety and righteousness, being of great esteem among the people throughout all Judea and Jerusalem, the intruder justly feared, that he should have but little authority in his newly-acquired office, as long as 1 Athenæus, lib. 10. p. 438. 3 Athenæus, lib. 5. p. 193. 2 Diodor. Sic. in Excerptis Valesii, p. 306. Athenæus, lib. 5. p. 193. 4 In Comment. ad Dan. xi. 37. 5 They are taken to be the same, who, in Athenæus, p. 438, are called Aristus and Themison; though that author there seems to speak of Antiochus Magnus, and not of Antiochus Epiphanes. 6 Polyb. apud Athenæum, lib. 5. p. 194. et lib. 10. p. 439. Diod. Siculus in Excerptis Valesii, p. 320. |