diff options
Diffstat (limited to '17330-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 17330-8.txt | 8458 |
1 files changed, 8458 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/17330-8.txt b/17330-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21f313b --- /dev/null +++ b/17330-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8458 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The +Present Time, Volume 10 (of 12), by S. Rappoport + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The Present Time, Volume 10 (of 12) + +Author: S. Rappoport + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17330] +Last Updated: September 8, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM 330 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +HISTORY OF EGYPT + +From 330 B.C. to the Present Time + + +By S. RAPPOPORT, Doctor of Philosophy, Basel; Member of the Ecole +Langues Orientales, Paris; Russian, German, French Orientalist and +Philologist + +VOL. X. + +Containing over Twelve Hundred Colored Plates and Illustrations + +THE GROLIER SOCIETY + +PUBLISHERS, LONDON + + +[Illustration: Spines] + +[Illustration: Cover] + +[Illustration: Frontispiece] + +OSIRIS AND ISIS AND THE FOUR CHILDREN OF HORUS WITHIN A SHRINE. + +[Illustration: Titlepage] + + + + + +PREFACE + +Professor Maspero closes his History of Egypt with the conquest of +Alexander the Great. There is a sense of dramatic fitness in this +selection, for, with the coming of the Macedonians, the sceptre of +authority passed for ever out of the hand of the Egyptian. For several +centuries the power of the race had been declining, and foreign nations +had contended for the vast treasure-house of Egypt. Alexander found the +Persians virtually rulers of the land. The ancient people whose fame +has come down to us through centuries untarnished had been forced to +bow beneath the yoke of foreign masters, and nations of alien blood were +henceforth to dominate its history. + +The first Ptolemy founded a Macedonian or Greek dynasty that maintained +supremacy in Egypt until the year 30 B.C. His successors were his lineal +descendants, and to the very last they prided themselves on their +Greek origin; but the government which they established was essentially +Oriental in character. The names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra convey an +Egyptian rather than a Greek significance; and the later rulers of +the dynasty were true Egyptians, since their ancestors had lived in +Alexandria for three full centuries. + +In the year 30 B.C. Augustus Cæsar conquered the last of the Ptolemies, +the famous Cleopatra. Augustus made Egypt virtually his private +province, and drew from it resources that were among the chief elements +of his power. After Augustus, the Romans continued in control until +the coming of the Saracens under Amr, in the seventh century. Various +dynasties of Mohammedans, covering a period of several centuries, +maintained control until the Mamluks, in 1250, overthrew the legitimate +rulers, to be themselves overthrown three centuries later by the Turks +under Selim I. Turkish rule was maintained until near the close of the +eighteenth century, when the French, under Napoleon Bonaparte, invaded +Egypt. In 1806, after the expulsion of the French by the English, the +famous Mehemet Ali destroyed the last vestiges of Mamluk power, and set +up a quasi-independent sovereignty which was not disturbed until toward +the close of the nineteenth century. The events of the last twenty-five +years, comprising a short period of joint control of Egypt by the French +and English, followed by the British occupation, are fresh in the mind +of the reader. + +What may be termed the modern history of Egypt covers a period of more +than twenty-two centuries. During this time the native Egyptian can +scarcely be said to have a national history, but the land of Egypt, and +the races who have become acclimated there, have passed through many +interesting phases. Professor Maspero completes the history of antiquity +in that dramatic scene in which the ancient Egyptian makes his last +futile struggle for independence. But the Nile Valley has remained the +scene of the most important events where the strongest nations of the +earth contended for supremacy. It is most interesting to note that +the invaders of Egypt, while impressing their military stamp upon the +natives, have been mastered in a very real sense by the spell of +Egypt’s greatness; but the language, the key to ancient learning and +civilisation, still remained a well-guarded secret. Here and there one +of the Ptolemies or Greeks thought it worth his while to master the +hieroglyphic writing. Occasionally a Roman of the later period may have +done the same, but such an accomplishment was no doubt very unusual from +the first. The subordinated Egyptians therefore had no resource but to +learn the language of their conquerors, and presently it came to pass +that not even the native Egyptian remembered the elusive secrets of +his own written language. Egyptian, as a spoken tongue, remained, in +a modified form, as Koptic, but at about the beginning of our era the +classical Egyptian had become a dead language. No one any longer wrote +in the hieroglyphic, hieratic, or demotic scripts; in a word, the +hieroglyphic writing was forgotten. The reader of Professor Maspero’s +pages has had opportunity to learn how this secret was discovered in the +nineteenth century. This information is further amplified in the present +volumes, and we see how in our own time the native Egyptian has regained +something of his former grandeur through the careful and scientific +study of monuments, inscriptions, and works of art. Thus it will appear +in the curious rounding out of the enigmatic story that the most ancient +history of civilisation becomes also the newest and most modern human +history. + + + + +PUBLISHER’S NOTE + +It should be explained that Doctor Rappoport, in preparing these +volumes, has drawn very largely upon the authorities who have previously +laboured in the same field, and in particular upon the works of Creasy, +Duruy, Ebers, Lavisse, Marcel, Michaud, Neibuhr, Paton, Ram-baud, Sharp, +and Weil. The results of investigations by Professor W. M. Flinders +Petrie and other prominent Egyptologists have been fully set forth and +profusely illustrated. + +[Illustration: 001.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + +[Illustration: 002.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + + +_EGYPT UNDER THE PTOLEMIES_ + +_ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT--THE REIGNS OP THE +PTOLEMIES--GRADUAL GROWTH OF ROMAN INFLUENCE--INTRIGUES OF CLEOPATRA +WITH POMPEY, CAESAR, AND ANTONY_ + +_Alexander the Great in Egypt--Alexandria founded--The Greeks favour +the Jews--Ptolemy Soter establishes himself in Egypt and overcomes +Perdiccas--Struggles for Syria--Beginning of Egyptian coinage--Art and +Scholarship--Ptolemy resigns in favour of his son Philadelphus +--First treaty with Rome--Building of the Pharos--Growth of +Commerce--Encouragement of Learning--The library of Alexandria--Euclid +the geometer--Poets, astronomers, historians, and critics--The +Septuagint--Marriage of Philadelphus to his sister Arsinoë--Ptolemy +Euergetes plunders Asia--Egyptian temples enlarged--Religious +tolerance--Annual tribute of the Jews--Eratosthenes the +astronomer--Philosophy and Science--Culmination of Ptolemaic rule--The +dynasty declines under Philopator--Syrians invade Egypt; Philopator +retaliates; visits Jerusalem--The Jews persecuted--The king’s +follies--Riots at Alexandria--Inglorious end of Philopator--The +young Ptolemy Epiphanes protected by Rome--Military revolt +suppressed--Coronation of Epiphanes--The Rosetta Stone--Marriage of +Epiphanes and Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus the Cheat--A second +rebellion repressed--Accession of Ptolemy Philometer under +the guardianship of Cleopatra--Antiochus Epiphanes defeats +Philometer--Euergetes seizes the throne and appeals to Rome--Antiochus +supports Philometor against his brother Euergetes--The brothers combine +against Antiochus--Fraternal rivalry--Philometer appeals to the Romans +who adjust the quarrel--Philometer arbitrates in a dispute between +the Jews and the Samaritans--New temples built--Egyptian +asceticism--Philometer’s death; Euergetes reigns alone, and divorces +his queen Cleopatra--Popular tumult in Alexandria--Euergetes +flees--Cleopatra in power--Euergetes regains the throne; conquers +Syria and makes peace with Cleopatra--The reign of Cleopatra Cocce with +Lathyrus (Ptolemy Soter II.)--Cleopatra in the ascendent--She helps +the Jews, while Lathyrus helps the Samaritans--Lathyrus flees to +Cyprus--Ptolemy Alexander I rules with Cleopatra--Death of Alexander +and restoration of Lathyrus--Accession of Cleopatra Berenicê--Ptolemy +Alexander II. bequeaths Egypt to Rome, murders Berenicê, and is slain +by his guards--Auletes succeeds--The Romans claim Egypt--Pompey assists +Auletes who is expelled by the Egyptians--Cleopatra Tryphama and +Berenicê placed on the throne--Grabinius and Mark Antony march +into Egypt and restore Auletes--The reign of Cleopatra--Pompey made +governor--The Egyptian fleet aids Pompey--Pompey is slain--Cæsar +besieged by the Alexandrians--He overcomes opposition, is captivated +by Cleopatra and establishes her authority--The Queen’s +extravagance--Defeat of Antony--Death of Cleopatra--Octavianus annexes +Egypt._ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY ESSAY + + +HELLENISM AND HEBRÆISM IN EGYPT UNDER THE PTOLEMIES + + +I. + +When Alexander the Great bridged the gulf dividing Occident and Orient, +the Greeks had attained to a state of maturity in the development of +their national art and literature. Greek culture and civilisation, +passing beyond the boundaries of their national domain, crossed this +bridge and spread over the Asiatic world. To perpetuate his name, the +great Macedonian king founded a city, and selected for this purpose, +with extraordinary prescience, a spot on the banks of the Nile, which, +on account of its geographical position, was destined to become a +centre, not only of international commerce and an entrepôt between Asia +and Europe, but also a centre of intellectual culture. The policy of +Alexander to remove the barriers between the Greeks and the Asiatics, +and to pave the way for the union of the races of his vast empire, was +continued by the Lagidæ dynasty in Egypt. With her independence and +native dynasties, Egypt had also lost her political strength and unity; +she retained, however, her ancient institutions, her customs, and +religious system. The sway of Persian dominion had passed over her +without overthrowing this huge rock of sacerdotal power which, deeply +rooted with many ramifications, seemed to mock the wave of time. Out +of the ruins of political independence still towered the monuments +of civilisation of a mighty past which gave to this country moral +independence, and prevented the obliteration of nationality. It would +have mattered very little in the vast empire of Alexander if one +province had a special physiognomy. It was different, however, with the +Lagidæ: their power was concentrated in Egypt, and they were therefore +compelled to obliterate the separation existing between the conquering +and the conquered races, and fuse them, if possible, into one. A +great obstacle which confronted the Macedonian rulers in Egypt was +the religion of the country. The interest and the policy of the Lagidæ +demanded the removal of this obstacle, not by force but by diplomacy. +Greek gods were therefore identified with Egyptian; Phtah became +Hephæstos; Thot, Hermes; Ra, Helios; Amon, Zeus; and, in consequence of +a dream which commanded him to offer adoration to a foreign god, Ptolemy +Soter created a new Greek god who was of Egyptian origin. Osiris at that +period was the great god of Egypt; Memphis was the religious centre of +the cult of Apis, the representative of Osiris, and who, when living, +was called Apis-Osiris, and when dead Osiris-Apis. Cambyses had killed +the god or his representative: it was a bad move. Alexander made +sacrifices to him: Ptolemy Soter did more. He endeavoured to persuade +the Egyptians that Osirapi or Osiris-Apis was also sacred to the Greeks, +and to identify him with some Greek divinity. There was a Greek deity +known as Serapis, identified with Pluton, the god of Hades. Serapis, +by a clever manouvre, a _coup de religion_, was identified with +Osiris-Apis. The lingual similarity and the fact that Osirapi was the +god of the Egyptian Hades made the identification acceptable. + +Like true Greek princes, the Ptolemies had broad views and were very +tolerant. Keeping the Greek religion themselves, they were favourably +disposed towards the creeds of other nationalities under their +dominion. Thanks to this broad-mindedness and tolerance which had +become traditional in the Lagidas family, and which has only rarely been +imitated--to the detriment of civilisation--in the history of European +dynasties, Oriental and Hellenic culture could flourish side by side. +This benign government attracted many scholars, scientists, poets, +and philosophers. Alexandria became the intellectual metropolis of the +world; and it might truly be said to have been the Paris of antiquity. +At the courts of the Ptolemies, the Medicis of Egypt, the greatest +men of the age lived and taught. Demetrius Phalerius, one of the most +learned and cultured men of an age of learning and knowledge, when +driven from his luxurious palace at Athens, found hospitality at the +court of Ptolemy Soter. The foundation of the famous Museion and +library of Alexandria was most probably due to his influence. He +advised the first Ptolemy to found a building where poets, scholars, and +philosophers would have facilities for study, research, and speculation. +The Museion was similar in some respects to the Academy of Plato. It +was an edifice where scholars lived and worked together. Mental +qualification was the only requirement for admission. Nationality and +creed were no obstacles to those whose learning rendered them worthy of +becoming members of this ideal academy and of being received among the +immortals of antiquity. The Museion was in no sense a university, but an +academy for the cultivation of the higher branches of learning. It might +be compared in some respects to the College de France, or regarded as +a development of the system under which scholars had already lived and +worked together in the Ramesseum under Ramses II. The generosity of the +Lagidas provided amply for this new centre of learning and study. Free +from worldly cares, the scholars could leisurely gather information and +hand down to posterity the fruits of their researches. From all parts +of the world men flocked to this centre of fashionable learning, the +birthplace of modern science. All that was brilliant and cultured, +all the coryphées in the domain of intellect, were attracted by that +splendid court. + +In the shade of the Museion a brilliant assembly--Ptolemy, Euclid, +Hipparchus, Apollonius, and Eratosthenes--made great discoveries and +added materially to the sum of human knowledge. Here Euclid wrote +his immortal “Elements;” and Herophilos, the father of surgery, added +valuable information to the knowledge of anatomy. The art and process +of embalming, in such vogue among the Egyptians, naturally fostered the +advance of this science. Whilst Alexandria in abstract speculation could +not rival Greece, yet it became the home of the pioneers of positive +science, who left a great and priceless legacy to modern civilisation. +The importance of this event (the foundation of the Museion), says +Draper, in his _Intellectual Development of Europe_, though hitherto +little understood, admits of no exaggeration so far as the intellectual +progress of Europe is concerned. The Museum made an impression upon the +intellectual career of Europe so powerful and enduring that we still +enjoy its results. If the purely literary productions of that age have +sometimes been looked upon with contempt, European intellectual +culture is still greatly indebted to Alexandria, and especially for the +patronage she accorded to the works of Aristotle. Whilst the speculative +mind was in later centuries allured by the supernatural, and the +discussion of the criterion of truth and the principles of morality +ended in the mystic doctrines of Neo-Platonism, the practical +tendencies of the great Alexandrine scholars were instrumental in laying +the foundations of science. To the Museion were attached the libraries: +one in the Museion itself, and another in the quarter Rhacotis in the +temple of Serapis, which contained about 700,000 volumes. New books were +continually acquired. The librarians had orders to pay any sum for the +original of the works of great masters. The Ptolemies were not only +patrons of learning but were themselves highly educated. Ptolemy Soter +was an historian of no mean talent, and his son Philadelphus, as a pupil +of the poet Philetas and the philosopher Strabo, was a man of great +learning. Ptolemy III. was a mathematician, and Ptolemy Philopator, +who had erected and dedicated a temple to Homer, was the writer of a +tragedy. The efforts of the Ptolemies to bring the two nationalities, +Hellenic and Egyptian, nearer to each other, to mould and weld them +into one if possible, to mix and mingle the two civilisations and thus +strengthen their own power, was greatly aided by the national character +of the Greeks and the political position of the Egyptians. + +The Greeks found in Egypt a national culture and especially a religious +system. The pliant Hellenic genius could not remain insensible to that +ancient and marvellous civilisation with its sphinxes and hieroglyphics, +its pyramids and temples, its learning and thought, so strangely +perplexing and interesting to the Greek mind. Not only the magnificence +of Egyptian art, the majesty of her temples and palaces, but the wisdom +of her social and political institutions impressed the conquerors. They +made themselves acquainted with the institutions of the country; they +studied its history and took an interest in its religion and mythology. +Similarly, the conquered Egyptians, who had preferred the Macedonian +ruler to their Persian oppressors, exhibited a natural desire to learn +the languages and habits of their rulers, to make themselves acquainted +with their knowledge and phases of thought, and art and science. The +interest of the Greeks was strengthened by this, and the Egyptians were +made to see their history in its proper light. To this endeavour we owe +the history of Manetho. But, in spite of the policy of the Ptolemies, +the impressionable nature of the Hellenic character and the interest of +the Egyptians,--in spite of all that tended to a fusion of Hellenism and +Orientalism, it never came to a proper amalgamation. The contradiction +between the free-thought philosophy of Greece, which was fast outgrowing +its polytheism and Olympian worship, and the deeply rooted sacerdotal +system of the Pharaonian institutions, was too great and too flagrant. +Thus there never was an Egypto-Hellenic phase of thought. But there was +another civilisation of great antiquity, possessing peculiar features, +not less interesting for the Greek mind than that of Egypt itself, with +which Hellenism found itself face to face in the ancient land of the +Pharaohs. It was the civilisation of Judæa, between which and Greek +thought a greater fusion was effected. + + +II. + +From time immemorial the Hebrew race, with all its conservative +tendencies in religious matters, has been amenable to the influence +of foreign culture and civilian. Egypt and Phoenicia, Babylonia and +Assyria, Hellas and Rome have exercised an immense influence over it. +It still is and always has been endeavouring to bring into harmony +the exclusiveness of its national religion, with a desire to adopt the +habits culture, language, and manners of its neighbours; an attempt in +which it may be apparently successful, for a certain period at least, +but which must always have a tragic end. It is impossible to be +conservative and progressive at the same time, to be both national and +cosmopolitan. The attempts to reconcile religious formalism and free +reasoning have never succeeded in the history of human thought. It soon +led to the conviction that one factor must be sacrificed, and, as soon +as this was perceived, the party of zealots was quickly at hand to +preach reaction. In the times of the successors of Alexander, the +Diadochæ and Epigones, the Seleucidæ and the Lagidæ, who had divided the +vast dominion among them, Greek influence had spread all over Palestine. +Greek towns were founded, theatres and gymnasia established; Greek +art was admired and her philosophy studied. The Hellenic movement was +paramount, and the aristocratic families did their best to further it. +Even the high priests, like Jason and Menelaos, who were supposed to be +the guardians of the national exclusive movement, favoured Greek culture +and institutions. + +In the mother country, however, the germ of reaction was always very +strong. A constant opposition was directed against the influx of +foreign modes of life and thought, which effaced and obliterated the +intellectual movement. It was different, however, in the other countries +of Macedonian dominion, and especially in Egypt. Alexander the Great, +who seems to have been favourably inclined towards the Jews, settled a +number of them in Alexandria. His policy was kept up by the descendants +of Lagos, that great general of Alexander, who made himself king of the +province which was entrusted to the care of his administration. Egypt +became the resort of many refugees from Judæa, who gradually came under +the influence of the dazzling Greek thought and culture, so new and +therefore so attractive to the Semitic mind. Hellenism and Hebraism had +known each other for some time, for Phoenician merchants and seafarers +had carried the seed of Oriental wisdom to the distant west. The +acquaintance, however, was a slight one. At the court of the Ptolemies, +on the threshold of Europe and Asia, they met at last. On the shores +of the Mediterranean, on the soil where lay the traces of the ancient +Egyptian civilisation, in the silent avenues of mysterious sphinxes, +amongst hieroglyphic-covered obelisks, Greek and Hebrew thought stood +face to face. The two civilisations embodied the principles of the +Beautiful and the Sublime, of Morality and Æstheticism, of religious +and philosophic speculation. The result of this meeting marks a glorious +page in the annals of human thought. Among the monuments of a great +historic past, the speculative spirit of the East made love to the +plastic beauty of the West, until, at last, they were united in happy +union. Hellenic taste and sense of beauty and Semitic speculation not +only evolved side by side in Egypt but mixed and commingled; their +thoughts were intertwined and interwoven, giving rise to a new +intellectual movement, a new philosophy of thought: the Judæo-Hellenic. +Alexandrian culture, during the reign of the Ptolemies, is the offspring +of a mixed marriage between two parents belonging to two widely +different races, and, as a cross breed, is endowed with many qualities. +It had the seriousness of the one parent and the delicacy of the other. + +The Ptolemies encouraged the movement towards fusion. The result was +that the Jews in Egypt, not being hampered by reactionary endeavours +from the side of conservative parties, and with an adaptability peculiar +to their race, soon acquired the language of the people in whose midst +they dwelt. They conversed and wrote in Greek; they moulded and shaped +their own thoughts into Greek form; they clothed the Semitic mode of +thinking in Hellenic garb. The immediate result was the translation of +the Pentateuch into Greek. Vanity, of which no individual or race is +free, had embellished this literary production, which has acquired a +high degree of importance alike among Jews and Christians, with many +legends. This translation, known as the Septuaginta (LXX), was followed +by independent histories relating to Biblical events. One of the best +known authors is the chronographer Demetrius, who lived in the second +half of the third century, and whose work Flavius Josephus is supposed +to have utilised. Not to speak of the Greek authors in Judæa and Syria, +we may mention Artapanos, who, following the fashion of the day, wrote +history in the form of a romance, and showed traces of an apologetic +character. He endeavoured to attribute all that was great in Egyptian +civilisation to Moses. This was due to the fact that Manetho, the +Egyptian historian, and others following his example, had spread fables +and venomous tales about the ancient sojourn and exodus of the Hebrews +and their leader. To counterbalance these accusations, fables had to +be interwoven into history, and history became romance. Moses was +thus identified with Hermes, and made out to be the father of Egyptian +wisdom. But, if the close acquaintanceship of Hebraism and Hellenism +began with a mere flirtation, encouraged by the rulers of the land and +kept up by the Jews, who wished to gain the favour of the conquering +race and to show themselves and their history in as favourable a light +as possible, it soon ended in a serious attachment. The Hebrews made +themselves acquainted with Hellenic life and thought. They studied Homer +and Hesiod, Empedocles and Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle, and they +were startled by the discovery that in Greek thought there were many +elements, moral and religious, familiar to them: this enhanced the +attraction. The narrowness and exclusiveness to which strict nationality +always gives rise, engendering contempt and hatred for everything +foreign--which made even the Greeks, with all their intellectual +culture, draw a line of demarcation between Greek and barbarian--gave +way to a spirit of cosmopolitan breadth of view which has only very +rarely been equalled in history. Hellenic and Hebrew forms of +thought were brought into friendly union, and gave birth to ideas +and aspirations of which humanity may always be proud. Greek æsthetic +judgment and Semitic mysticism, different phases of thought in +themselves, were welded into one. The religious conceptions of Moses +and the Prophets were expressed in the language of the philosophical +schools; an attempt was made to bring into harmony the dogmas of +supernatural revelation and the fruits of human speculative thought. +Such an attempt is a great undertaking, for, if sincerely and +relentlessly pursued, it must end in breaking down the barriers of +separation, in the establishment of a common truth, and in the sacrifice +of cherished ideals and convictions which prove to be wrong. If carried +to its logical conclusion, such a cosmopolitan broad-mindedness, such +a cross-fertilisation of intellectual products, must give rise to the +ennobling idea that there is only one truth, and that the external forms +are only fleeting waves upon the vast ocean of human ideals. The +attempt was made in Alexandria by the Judæo-Hellenic philosophers. +Unfortunately, however, the Hebrews, with all their adaptability, have +not yet carried this attempt to its logical conclusion. The spirit +of reaction has ever and anon been ready to crush in its infancy the +endeavour of truth and sincerity, of broad-mindedness and tolerance. +When placed before the question to be or not to be, to be logical or +illogical, it has chosen the latter, and striven after the impossible: +the reconciliation of what cannot be reconciled without alterations, +rejections, and selections. The happy marriage of Hellenism and Hebraism +in Egypt had a tragic end. The union was dissolved, not, however, +without having produced its issue: the Alexandrian culture, which was +carried to Rome by Philo Judæus, and thus influenced later European +thought and humanity at large. + +[Illustration: 015.jpg PAGE IMAGE--Alexandria] + + + + +CHAPTER I--EGYPT CONQUERED BY THE GREEKS + + +_Alexander the Great.--Cleomenes.--B.C. 332-323_ + + +The way for the Grecian conquest of Egypt had been preparing for many +years. Ever since the memorable march of Xenophon, who led, in the face +of unknown difficulties, ten thousand Greeks across Asia Minor, the +Greek statesman had suspected that the Hellenic soldier was capable of +undreamed possibilities. + +When the young Alexander, succeeding his father Philip on the throne +of Macedonia, got himself appointed general by the chief of the Greek +states, and marched against Darius Codomanus, King of Persia, at the +head of the allied armies, it was not difficult to foresee the result. +The Greeks had learned the weakness of the Persians by having been so +often hired to fight for them. For a century past, every Persian army +had had a body of ten or twenty thousand Greeks in the van, and +without this guard the Persians were like a flock of sheep without the +shepherd’s dog. Those countries which had trusted to Greek mercenaries +to defend them could hardly help falling when the Greek states united +for their conquest. + +Alexander defeated the Persians under Darius in a great and memorable +battle near the town of Issus at the foot of the Taurus, at the pass +which divides Syria from Asia Minor, and then, instead of marching upon +Persia, he turned aside to the easier conquest of Egypt. On his way +there he spent seven months in the siege of the wealthy city of Tyre, +and he there punished with death every man capable of carrying arms, and +made slaves of the rest. He was then stopped for some time before the +little town of Gaza, where Batis, the brave governor, had the courage to +close the gates against the Greek army. His angry fretfulness at being +checked by so small a force was only equalled by his cruelty when he had +overcome it; he tied Batis by the heels to his chariot, and dragged him +round the walls of the city, as Achilles had dragged the body of Hector. + +On the seventh day after leaving Gaza he reached Pelusium, the most +easterly town in Egypt, after a march of one hundred and seventy miles +along the coast of the Mediterranean, through a parched, glaring desert +which forms the natural boundary of the country; while the fleet kept +close to the shore to carry the stores for the army, as no fresh water +is to be met with on the line of march. The Egyptians did not even try +to hide their joy at his approach; they were bending very unwillingly +under the heavy and hated yoke of Persia. The Persians had long been +looked upon as their natural enemies, and in the pride of their success +had added insults to the other evils of being governed by the satrap of +a conqueror. They had not even gained the respect of the conquered by +their warlike courage, for Egypt had in a great part been conquered and +held by Greek mercenaries. + +The Persian forces had been mostly withdrawn from the country by +Sabaces, the satrap of Egypt, to be led against Alexander in Asia Minor, +and had formed part of the army of Darius when he was beaten near the +town of Issus on the coast of Cilicia. The garrisons were not strong +enough to guard the towns left in their charge; the Greek fleet easily +overpowered the Egyptian fleet in the harbour of Pelusium, and the town +opened its gates to Alexander. Here he left a garrison, and, ordering +his fleet to meet him at Memphis, he marched along the river’s bank to +Heliopolis. All the towns, on his approach, opened their gates to him. +Mazakes, who had been left without an army, as satrap of Egypt, when +Sabaces led the troops into Asia Minor, and who had heard of the death +of Sabaces, and that Alexander was master of Phoenicia, Syria, and the +north of Arabia, had no choice but to yield. The Macedonian army crossed +the Nile near Heliopolis, and then entered Memphis. + +[Illustration: 019.jpg TRANSPORTING GRAIN ON THE NILE] + +Memphis had long been the chief city of all Egypt, even when not the +seat of government. In earlier ages, when the warlike virtues of the +Thebans had made Egypt the greatest kingdom in the world, Memphis and +the lowland corn-fields of the Delta paid tribute to Thebes; but, +with the improvements in navigation, the cities on the coast rose in +importance; the navigation of the Red Sea, though always dangerous, +became less dreaded, and Thebes lost the toll on the carrying trade of +the Nile. Wealth alone, however, would not have given the sovereignty +to Lower Egypt, had not the Greek mercenaries been at hand to fight for +those who would pay them. The kings of Saïs had guarded their thrones +with Greek shields; and it was on the rash but praiseworthy attempt +of Amasis to lessen the power of these mercenaries that they joined +Cambyses, and Egypt became a Persian province. In the struggles of the +Egyptians to throw off the Persian yoke, we see little more than the +Athenians and Spartans carrying on their old quarrels on the coasts +and plains of the Delta; and the Athenians, who counted their losses +by ships, not by men, said that in their victories and defeats together +Egypt had cost them two hundred triremes. Hence, when Alexander, by +his successes in Greece, had put a stop to the feuds at home, the +mercenaries of both parties flocked to his conquering standard, and +he found himself on the throne of Upper and Lower Egypt without any +struggle being made against him by the Egyptians. The Greek part of +the population, who had been living in Egypt as foreigners, now found +themselves masters. Egypt became at once a Greek kingdom, as though +the blood and language of the people were changed at the conqueror’s +bidding. + +Alexander’s character as a triumphant general gains little from this +easy conquest of an unwarlike country, and the overthrow of a crumbling +monarchy. But as the founder of a new Macedonian state, and for +reuniting the scattered elements of society in Lower Egypt after the +Persian conquest, in the only form in which a government could be +made to stand, he deserves to be placed among the least mischievous of +conquerors. We trace his march, not by the ruin, misery, and anarchy +which usually follow in the rear of an army, but by the building of +new cities, the more certain administration of justice, the revival of +trade, and the growth of learning. On reaching Memphis, his first care +was to prove to the Egyptians that he was come to re-establish their +ancient monarchy. He went in state to the temple of Apis, and sacrificed +to the sacred bull, as the native kings had done at their coronations; +and gamed the good-will of the crowd by games and music, Performed by +skilful Greeks for their amusement. + +[Illustration: 021.jpg PHTAH the god of Memphis] + +But though the temple of Phtah at Memphis, in which the state ceremonies +were performed, had risen in beauty and importance by the repeated +additions of the later kings, who had fixed the seat of government in +Lower Egypt, yet the Sun, or Amon-Ra, or Kneph-Ra, the god of Thebes, or +Jupiter-Amnion, as he was called by the Greeks, was the god under whose +spreading wings Egypt had seen its proudest days. Every Egyptian king +had called himself “the son of the Sun;” those who had reigned at Thebes +had boasted that they were “beloved by Amon-Ra;” and when Alexander +ordered the ancient titles to be used towards himself, he wished to lay +his offerings in the temple of this god, and to be acknowledged by the +priests as his son. As a reader of Homer, and the pupil of Aristotle, +he must have wished to see the wonders of “Egyptian Thebes,” the proper +place for this ceremony; and it could only have been because, as a +general, he had not time for a march of five hundred miles, that he +chose the nearer and less known temple of Kneph-Ra, in the oasis of +Ammon, one hundred and eighty miles from the coast. + +Accordingly, he floated down the river from Memphis to the sea, +taking with him the light-armed troops and the royal band of +knights-companions. When he reached Canopus, he sailed westward along +the coast, and landed at Rhacotis, a small village on the spot where +Alexandria now stands. Here he made no stay; but, as he passed through +it, he must have seen at a glance, for he was never there a second time, +that the place was formed by nature to be a great harbour, and that with +a little help from art it would be the port of all Egypt. The mouths of +the Nile were too shallow for the ever increasing size of the merchant +vessels which were then being built; and the engineers found the deeper +water which was wanted, between the village of Rhacotis and the little +island of pharos. It was all that he had seen and admired at Tyre, but +it was on a larger scale and with deeper water. It was the very spot +that he was in search of; in every way suitable for the Greek colony +which he proposed to found as the best means of keeping Egypt in +obedience. Even before the time of Homer, the island of Pharos had +given shelter to the Greek traders on that coast. He gave his orders +to Hinocrates the architect to improve the harbour, and to lay down +the plan of his new city; and the success of the undertaking proved +the wisdom both of the statesman and of the builder, for the city of +Alexandria subsequently became the most famous of all the commercial and +intellectual centres of antiquity. From Rhacotis Alexander marched along +the coast to Parastonium, a distance of about two hundred miles +through the desert; and there, or on his way there, he was met by the +ambassadors from Cyrene, who were sent with gifts to beg for peace, +and to ask him to honour their city with a visit. Alexander graciously +received the gifts of the Cyrenæans, and promised them his friendship, +but could not spare time to visit their city; and, without stopping, he +turned southward to the oasis. + +At Memphis Alexander received the ambassadors that came from Greece to +wish him joy of his success; he reviewed his troops, and gave out his +plans for the government of the kingdom. He threw bridges of boats over +the Nile at the ford below Memphis, and also over the several branches +of the river. He divided the country into two nomarchies or judgeships, +and to fill these two offices of nomarchs or chief judges, the highest +civil offices in the kingdom, he chose Doloaspis and Petisis, two +Egyptians. Their duty was to watch over the due administration of +justice, one in Upper and the other in Lower Egypt, and perhaps to hear +appeals from the lower judges. + +He left the garrisons in the command of his own Greek generals; +Pantaleon commanded the counts, or knights-companions, who garrisoned +Memphis, and Pole-mon was governor of Pelusium. These were the chief +fortresses in the kingdom: Memphis overlooked the Delta, the navigation +of the river, and the pass to Upper Egypt; Pelusium was the harbour for +the ships of war, and the frontier town on the only side on which Egypt +could be attacked. The other cities were given to other governors; +Licidas commanded the mercenaries, Peucestes and Balacrus the other +troops, Eugnostus was secretary, while Æschylus and Ephippus were left +as overlookers, or perhaps, in the language of modern governments, as +civil commissioners. Apollonius was made prefect of Libya, of which +district Parætonium was the capital, and Cleomenes prefect of Arabia at +Heroopolis, in guard of that frontier. Orders were given to all these +generals that justice was to be administered by the Egyptian nomarchs +according to the common law or ancient customs of the land. Petisis, +however, either never entered upon his office or soon quitted it, and +Doloaspis was left nomarch of all Egypt. + +Alexander sent into the Thebaid a body of seven thousand Samaritans, +whose quarrels with the Jews made them wish to leave their own country. +He gave them lands to cultivate on the banks of the Nile which had +gone out of cultivation with the gradual decline of Upper Egypt; and he +employed them to guard the province against invasion or rebellion. He +did not stay in Egypt longer than was necessary to give these orders, +but hastened towards the Euphrates to meet Darius. In his absence Egypt +remained quiet and happy. Peucestes soon followed him to Babylon with +some of the troops that had been left in Egypt; and Cleomenes, the +governor of Heroopolis, was then made collector of the taxes and prefect +of Egypt. Cleomenes was a bad man; he disobeyed the orders sent from +Alexander on the Indus, and he seems to have forgotten the mild feelings +which guided his master; yet, upon the whole, after the galling yoke of +the Persians, the Egyptians must have felt grateful for the blessings of +justice and good government. + +At one time, when passing through the Thebaid in his barge on the Nile, +Cleomenes was wrecked, and one of his children bitten by a crocodile. On +this plea, he called together the priests, probably of Crocodilopolis, +where this animal was held sacred, and told them that he intended +to revenge himself upon the crocodiles by having them all caught +and killed; and he was only bought off from carrying his threat into +execution by the priests giving him all the treasure that they could +get together. Alexander had left orders that the great market should be +moved from Canopus to his new city of Alexandria, as soon as it should +be ready to receive it. As the building went forward, the priests and +rich traders of Canopus, in alarm at losing the advantages of their +port, gave Cleomenes a large sum of money for leave to keep their +market open. This sum he took, and, when the building at Alexandria was +finished, he again came to Canopus, and because the traders would not or +could not raise a second and larger sum, he carried Alexander’s orders +into execution, and closed the market of their city. + +But instances such as these, of a public officer making use of dishonest +means to increase the amount of the revenue which it was his duty to +collect, might unfortunately be found even in countries which were for +the most part enjoying the blessings of wise laws and good government; +and it is not probable that, while Alexander was with the army in +Persia, the acts of fraud and wrong should have been fewer in his own +kingdom of Macedonia. The dishonesty of Cleomenes was indeed equally +shown toward the Macedonians, by his wish to cheat the troops out of +part of their pay. The pay of the soldiers was due on the first day of +each month, but on that day he took care to be out of the way, and +the soldiers were paid a few days later; and by doing the same on each +following month, he at length changed the pay-day to the last day of the +month, and cheated the army out of a whole month’s pay. + +Another act for which Cleomenes was blamed was not so certainly wrong. +One summer, when the harvest had been less plentiful than usual, he +forbade the export of grain, which was a large part of the trade of +Egypt, thereby lowering the price to the poor so far as they could +afford to purchase such costly food, but injuring the landowners. On +this, the heads of the provinces sent to him in alarm, to say that they +should not be able to get in the usual amount of tribute; he therefore +allowed the export as usual, but raised the duty; and he was reproached +for receiving a larger revenue while the landowners were suffering from +a smaller crop. + +[Illustration: 027.jpg LIGHTHOUSE AT ALEXANDRIA] + +At Ecbatana, the capital of Media, Alexander lost his friend Hephæstion, +and in grief for his death he sent to Egypt to enquire of the oracle at +the temple of Kneph in the oasis of Ammon, what honours he might pay +to the deceased. The messengers brought him an answer, that he might +declare Hephæstion a demigod, and order that he should be worshipped. +Accordingly, Alexander then sent an express command to Cleomenes that +he should build a temple to his lost favourite in his new city of +Alexandria, and that the lighthouse which was to be built on the island +of Pharos should be named after him; and as modern insurances against +risks by sea usually begin with the words “In the name of God; Amen;” + so all contracts between merchants in the port of Alexandria were to +be written solemnly “In the name of Hephæstion.” Feeling diffident +of enforcing obedience at the mouth of the Nile, while he was himself +writing from the sources of the Indus, he added that if, when he came to +Egypt he found his wish carried into effect, he would pardon Cleomenes +for those acts of misgovernment of which he had been accused, and for +any others which might then come to his ears. + +A somatophylax in the Macedonian army was no doubt at first, as the +word means, one of the officers who had to answer for the king’s safety; +perhaps in modern language a colonel in the body-guards or household +troops; but as, in unmixed monarchies, the faithful officer who was +nearest the king’s person, to whose watchfulness he trusted in the hour +of danger, often found himself the adviser in matters of state, so, +in the time of Alexander, the title of somatophylax was given to those +generals on whose wisdom the king chiefly leaned, and by whose advice +he was usually guided. Among these, and foremost in Alexander’s love and +esteem, was Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. Philip, the father of Alexander, +had given Arsinoë, one of his relations, in marriage to Lagus; and her +eldest son Ptolemy, born soon after the marriage, was always thought to +be the king’s son, though never so acknowledged. As he grew up, he was +put into the highest offices by Philip, without raising in the young +Alexander’s mind the distrust which might have been felt if Ptolemy +could have boasted that he was the elder brother. He earned the good +opinion of Alexander by his military successes in Asia, and gained his +gratitude by saving his life when he was in danger among the Oxydracæ, +near the river Indus; and moreover, Alexander looked up to him as the +historian whose literary powers and knowledge of military tactics were +to hand down to the wonder of future ages those conquests which he +witnessed. + +Alexander’s victories over Darius, and march to the river Indus, are no +part of this history: it is enough to say that he died at Babylon eight +years after he had entered Egypt; and his half-brother Philip Arridæus, +a weak-minded, unambitious young man, was declared by the generals +assembled at Babylon to be his successor. His royal blood united more +voices in the army in his favour than the warlike and statesmanlike +character of any one of the rival generals. They were forced to be +content with sharing the provinces between them as his lieutenants; +some hoping to govern by their power over the weak mind of Arridæus, and +others secretly meaning to make themselves independent. + +In this weighty matter, Ptolemy showed the wisdom and judgment which +had already gained him his high character. Though his military rank and +skill were equal to those of any one of Alexander’s generals, and his +claim by birth perhaps equal to that of Arridæous, he was not one of +those who aimed at the throne; nor did he even aim at the second place, +but left to Perdiccas the regency, with the care of the king’s person, +in whose name that ambitious general vainly hoped to govern the whole of +Alexander’s conquests. But Ptolemy, more wisely measuring his strength +with the several tasks, chose the province of Egypt, the province which, +cut off as it was from the rest by sea and desert, was of all others +the easiest to be held as an independent kingdom against the power of +Perdiccas. When Egypt was given to Ptolemy by the council of generals, +Cleomenes was at the same time and by the same power made second in +command, and he governed Egypt for one year before Ptolemy’s arrival, +that being in name the first year of the reign of Philip Arridæus, or, +according to the chronologer’s mode of dating, the first year after +Alexander’s death. + +[Illustration: 031.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER II--EGYPT UNDER PTOLEMY SOTER + + +_Ptolemy governs Egypt, overcomes Perdiccas, and founds a dynasty_. + + +Ptolemy Lagus was one of those who, at the death of Alexander, had +raised their voices against giving the whole of the conquered countries +to one king; he wished that they should have been shared equally among +the generals as independent kingdoms. In this he was overruled, and +he accepted his government as the lieutenant of the youthful Philip +Arridæus, though no doubt with the fixed purpose of making Egypt an +independent kingdom. On reaching Memphis, the seat of his government, +his whole thoughts were turned towards strengthening himself against +Perdiccas, who hoped to be obeyed, in the name of his young and +weak-minded king, by all his fellow generals. + +The Greek and foreign mercenaries of which the army of Alexander was +made up, and who were faithful to his memory and to his family, had +little to guide them in the choice of which leader they should follow +to his distant province, beside the thought of where they should be +best treated; and Ptolemy’s high character for wisdom, generosity, and +warlike skill had gained many friends for him among the officers; they +saw that the wealth of Egypt would put it in his power to reward those +whose services were valuable to him; and hence crowds flocked to his +standard. On reaching their provinces, the Greek soldiers, whether +Spartans or Athenians, forgetting the glories of Thermopylæ and +Marathon, and proud of their wider conquests under the late king, always +called themselves Macedonians. They pleased themselves with the thought +that the whole of the conquered countries were still governed by +the brother of Alexander; and no one of his generals, in his wildest +thoughts of ambition, whether aiming, like Ptolemy, at founding a +kingdom, or, like Perdiccas, at the government of the world, was unwise +enough to throw off the title of lieutenant to Philip Arridæus, and to +forfeit the love of the Macedonian soldiers and his surest hold on their +loyalty. + +The first act of Ptolemy was to put to death Cleomenes, who had been +made sub-governor of Egypt by the same council of generals which +had made Ptolemy governor. This act may have been called for by the +dishonesty and crooked dealing which Cleomenes had been guilty of in +collecting taxes; but, though the whole tenor of Ptolemy’s life would +seem to disprove the charge, we cannot but fear that he was in part +led to this deed because he looked upon Cleomenes as the friend of +Perdiccas, or because he could not trust him in his plans for making +himself king of Egypt. + +From the very commencement of his government, Ptolemy prepared for the +war which he knew must follow a declaration of his designs. Perhaps +better than any other general of Alexander, he knew how to win the +favour of the people under his rule. The condition of the country +quickly improved under his mild administration. The growing seaport of +Alexandria was a good market for a country rich in natural produce, and, +above all, Egypt’s marvellously good geographical position stood her +in good stead in time of war. Surrounded nearly on all sides by desert +land, the few inhabitants, roving Bedouins, offered no danger. The land +of the Nile was accessible to an enemy in one direction only, along the +coast of Syria. This even teemed with difficulties. Transports there +could only be managed with the greatest ingenuity, and, in case of +defeat, retreat was almost impossible. On the other hand, the Egyptian +army, helped by all the advantages of a land irrigated on the canal +system, and which could be flooded at will, had only to act on the +defensive to be certain of victory. The country is perhaps more open to +an attack from the sea, but, by a moderately well-conducted defensive +movement, the enemy could be kept to the coast. Even the landing there +is scarcely possible, on account of the natural difficulties at the +mouth of the Nile. The one easy spot--Alexandria--was so well fortified +that an invader had but little chance of success. + +About the time of Alexander’s death (and to some extent brought about by +this event), civil war broke out in Cyrenaica, in consequence of which +the followers of one party were forced out of the town of Cyrene. These +joined themselves with the exiles of the town of Barca, and together +sought help of foreigners. They placed themselves under the leadership +of the Spartan Thibron, formerly Alexander’s chancellor of the +exchequer. Begged by the exiled Cyrenians to help them, he now directed +his forces against Libya, fought a fierce battle, and took possession +of the harbour of Apollonia, two miles distant from the town. He then +besieged the town of Cyrene, and forced the Cyrenians at last to sue for +peace. They were obliged to make a payment of five hundred talents and +to take back the exiles. Messengers were sent by Thibron to incite +the other towns in Cyrenaica to join him and to help him conquer their +neighbour, Libya. Thibron’s followers were allowed to plunder, and this +led to quarrels, desertions, treacherous acts, and the recruiting of his +army from the Peloponnesus. After varying fortunes of war, in the +spring of 322 B. C., some of the Cyrenians fled to Egypt, and related to +Ptolemy what had occurred in Cyrenaica, begging him to help them back +to their homes. The suggestion was welcome to him, for victory would be +easy over these struggling factions. He sent a strong military and naval +force, under Ophelas, the Macedonian, to Cyrenaica in the summer. When +these were seen approaching, those exiles who had found refuge with +Thibron decided to join them. Their plan, however, was discovered, and +they were put to death. The leader of the rabble in Cyrene (fearful +for his own safety, now that the exiles who had fled to Egypt were +returning) made overtures of peace to Thibron, and joined with him to +repulse Ophelas. The latter worked with the utmost caution, sent an army +under Epicides of Olynth against Tancheira, whilst he himself marched +against Cyrene. + +[Illustration: 036.jpg THE DÔM PALM.] + +He met Thibron in a fierce fight. The latter was completely defeated and +fled towards Tancheira, where he hoped to find help, but instead fell +into Epicides’ hands. Thibron was given over to the people of Tancheira +for punishment. He was cruelly scourged, and then dragged to Apollonia, +where he was crucified. Ophelas, however, was not able to conquer the +Cyrenians until Ptolemy himself arrived with fresh troops, overpowered +the town and joined the province to his own satrapy. + +The conquest of this Greek province was a gain equally for himself and +for the Greeks. He put an end to the horrible anarchy that prevailed +there, and proved himself their saviour as well as their conqueror. His +name was now an honoured one among all the Greeks. When it was rumoured +that war was likely to break out between Ptolemy and the royal party, +the Macedonians flocked to Alexandria, “every man ready to give all and +to sacrifice himself in order to help his friend.” A popular belief of +the day was that, although Ptolemy was known as the son of Lagos, he was +in reality the son of Philip, and indeed much in his manner resembled +the great founder of the Macedonian power. Amongst the successors of +Alexander, not one understood as well as he how to retain and increase +the power which he had won. He recognised, also, from the first, the +tendency of the age: the tendency to split up the kingdom into different +states; and he had made this the basis of his policy. It was under him +that the first state (in the new sense of the word) was founded. He was +the leader of the new movement that soon generated disunity, and to +this end he made a secret contract with Antipatros against the regent +Perdiccas. About this time also misunderstandings between the regent and +the rulers in the West began to take a serious aspect. + +At a great meeting in Babylon in the summer of the year 323, it was +decided that the body of Alexander was to be taken with great solemnity +to the Temple of Amon, and that the equipping and guidance of the +funeral procession should be entrusted to Arridæus. At the end of the +year 323, the necessary preparations were finished. The gigantic +funeral car that was to carry the kingly bier had been decorated with +unparalleled magnificence. Without waiting for orders from the regent, +Arridæus started with the funeral procession from Babylon. Crowds from +far and near filled the streets, some curious to see the magnificent +sight, others eager to show this last token of respect to the dead king. +It was firmly believed amongst the Macedonians that the country in +which Alexander’s body had its last resting-place would become happy and +powerful above all countries. This prophecy was uttered by the old seer +Telmissus soon after the king’s death. Did Ptolemy have this belief, or +did he wish to make use of it? There were probably other reasons which +had caused him to enter into an understanding with Arridæus, and to +arrange with him that he was to start without orders from the regent. +He was afraid that Perdiccas, in order to add to the solemnity of the +procession, would himself accompany the body with the imperial army to +Egypt. Ptolemy felt that his position in the lands entrusted to his +care would be greatly weakened if a higher authority than himself could +appear there with a military force. Arridæus led the funeral train to +Damascus, as had been arranged before with Ptolemy. It was in vain that +Pole-mon (one of Perdiccas’ generals), who was in the neighbourhood, +went to meet him. He was able to obtain no aspect for the express order +of the regent. The funeral procession passed Damascus on its way to +Egypt. Ptolemy accompanied the body with his army as far as Syria. It +was then taken on to Memphis to rest there until it could be sheltered +by that beautiful sepulchre of the kings at Alexandria. + +Arridæus’ action, in starting without permission, and the defiance of +Polemon’s order, were acts of open revolt against the higher authority +of the kingdom. Perdiccas called all loyal followers to the council +of war. Ptolemy, he said, had defied the order of the kings in his +behaviour concerning the funeral procession; and he had also given +shelter to the exiled satraps of Phrygia. He was prepared for war, which +he hoped to bring about. It was for them (the loyal ones) to uphold +the dignity of the kingdom. They must try to take him unawares, and to +overcome them individually. The question was, if the Egyptians or the +Macedonians ought to be first attacked. In the end, plans were carefully +concerted for an attack on Egypt and the protection of Europe. In the +early spring of B.C. 321, Perdiccas and his colleagues set out for +Egypt with the imperial army, ordering the fleet to follow, and leaving +Eumenes with skilled officers and troops in general command of Asia +Minor for the purpose of guarding the Hellespont. + +At the Egyptian frontier, Perdiccas summoned the army together, that the +men themselves should give judgment in the case of the satrap of Egypt, +in the same way as in the preceding autumn they had given judgment in +the case of Antigones. He expected a decision which would enable him +to finish what he had already begun. The accusations were that he had +refused obedience to the kings, that he had fought against and overcome +the Greeks of Cyrenaica (who had received freedom from Alexander), +and that he had taken possession of the king’s body, and carried it to +Memphis. + +According to the single account, which tells us of these proceedings, +Ptolemy himself appeared to conduct his own defence before the assembled +warriors. He had good reason for reckoning on the impression his +confidence in them would make upon them, and on the love that he knew +the Macedonians bore towards him. He knew, too, of the increasing +dislike of the imperial regent. His defence was heard with growing +approval, and the army’s judgment was “freedom.” + +In spite of this the regent kept to the war. The decision of the troops +alienated him still more from them. The war with Egypt was contrary to +their wishes, and they murmured openly. Perdiccas sought to put down the +refractory spirit with a stern military hand, but the remonstrances +of his officers were in vain. He treated the first in the land in an +inconsiderate and despotic manner, removed the most deserving from their +command, and trusted himself alone. This same man, who had climbed the +path to greatness with so much foresight, self-command, energy, and +statesmanship, seemed now, the nearer he grew to the summit of his +ambition, to lose all clearness of sight and moderation, which traits +alone could help him to take this last and dangerous step. He had the +advantage of tried troops, the elephants of Alexander, and the fleet +under the command of his brother-in-law was near the mouth of the Nile; +but he had overstepped the mark. + +Just at this time, the news reached him from Asia Minor that Eumenes had +conquered Neoptolemas, the governor of Armenia, who had taken the side +of Ptolemy. + +With all the more hope, Perdiccas went to meet the enemy. He reached +Pelusium undisturbed. It was highly necessary that the army should +cross to the Pelusaic side of the Nile, for there were several secure +places there, which, if allowed to remain in the hands of the enemy, +would endanger the forward movement. + +[Illustration: 040.jpg A SILHOUETTE ON THE NILE] + +There were also plentiful supplies of provisions within the Delta, +whilst the way through the so-called Arabia was sparsely inhabited. + +If he did not find the Egyptians there, Perdiccas would install himself +within one of the fortresses on that side, and thence conduct operations +against them, and, at the same time, remain in connection with his +fleet, on which he could fall back in case of need. To enable the +crossing to be accomplished as easily as possible, Perdiccas ordered the +cleaning out of an old and filled-in canal, that led up from the Nile. +The work was evidently begun without much thought, for the fact had not +been considered that, at the rising of the Nile, the canal would want +a much deeper bed than the present stream required. The canal had +only just been opened up, when the water rose with unusual force and +rapidity; the dam was completely destroyed, and many workers lost their +lives. During the disturbance, many officers and men left the camp and +hurried to Ptolemy. This was the beginning of the Egyptian war. The +desertion of so many important men made Perdiccas think seriously. +He summoned the officers of the army, spoke to them with much +condescension, gave presents to some, honoured others with promotion, +and begged them, for the sake of their honour and for the cause of their +kings, to fight their hardest against this rebel, and with the order to +hold their men in-readiness, he left them. The army was only told in the +evening, at the signal for starting, where they were to march. Perdiccas +feared, on account of the desertion that was taking place in his army, +that his march might be discovered by the enemy. They marched with great +speed through the night, and camped at last on the side of the river. +At daybreak, after the troops had rested, Perdiccas gave the order +to cross. First came the elephants, then the light infantry, next the +storming party with ladders, and lastly, the pick of the cavalry, who, +if the enemy should burst out during the storming, could easily drive +them back. Perdiccas hoped, if he could only get a firm footing on +that side of the river, to annihilate the Egyptian army easily with his +superior force. He was right in feeling that his Macedonian troops, when +face to face with the enemy, would forget their antipathy to him, +and think only of their military honour. When about half the army had +crossed, and just as the elephants were moving towards the fortress, the +enemy were seen hurrying thither with great speed; their trumpet-calls +and war-cries even were heard. They reached the fort before the +Macedonians, and withdrew into the shelter of its walls. Not discouraged +by this, the infantry stormed the fort. Ladders were placed against +the walls, the elephants driven forward, and palisades taken from their +backs to attack the ramparts. + +Ptolemy, in the dress of a Macedonian soldier, stood on the wall +surrounded by a few selected men. He was first in the fight. From where +he stood he pierced with his lance the eyes of the leading elephant, and +stabbed the Indian on its back, and he wounded many and killed numbers +of the storming party. His officers and men fought with the greatest +spirit; the driver of the second elephant was killed and the infantry +were driven back. + +Perdiccas led new troops to the attack, wishing to take the fortress at +all costs. By word and deed, Ptolemy urged on his men, who fought with +marvellous endurance. The dreadful battle waged the whole day; many were +killed and wounded; evening came on and nothing was decided. Perdiccas +ordered a retreat and returned to his camp. + +In the middle of the night he again started with his army, hoping that +Ptolemy would stay in the fort with his troops, and that, after a trying +march of some miles up-stream, he (Perdiccas) would be able to cross the +river more easily. At daybreak he found himself opposite one of the many +islands of the Nile; it was large enough for the camp of a great army. +In spite of the difficulties of crossing, he decided to encamp his army +there. The water reached up to the soldiers’ knees, and it was with the +greatest difficulty that they kept their footing against the force +of the current. In order to break this current, Perdiccas ordered the +elephants into the river to stand up-stream to the left of the fording +party; he ordered the horsemen to stand at the other end to help those +across that were driven down by the current. Some had, with great +difficulty, managed to get across; others were still in the stream when +it was noticed that the water was becoming deeper; the heavily armed men +sank, and the elephants and horses stood deeper and deeper in the water. +A fearful panic seized the army. They called out that the enemy had +closed in the canals up-stream, and that the gods had destined bad +weather in the upper provinces, on account of which the river was +swollen. Those who understood saw that the bed of the river had become +deepened by the crossing of so great a cavalcade. It was impossible for +the remainder to cross or for those on the island to return. They were +completely cut off and were at the mercy of the enemy, who were already +seen approaching. There was nothing left but to order them to get back +as well as they could; lucky indeed were those who could swim, and had +sufficient strength to bring them across the broad expanse of water. + +[Illustration: 044.jpg CROCODILES BASKING IN THE SUN] + +Many saved themselves in this way. They came without weapons, worn out +and desperate, to the shore; others were drowned or eaten by crocodiles. +Some were carried down-stream, and reached the shore where the enemy +stood. Two thousand men were missing, many officers among them. The camp +of the Egyptians was situated on the other side, and they could be seen +helping the men in the water and burning logs of wood to show honour +to the dead. On this side of the river there was sad silence; each man +sought his comrade, or officer, and sought in vain. Food was scarce, and +there was no means of overcoming this dreadful state of affairs; night +came on, and curses and complaints were heard on all sides. The lives of +so many brave men had been sacrificed for nothing; it was bad enough to +lose the “honour of their arms,” but now, through the stupidity of their +leader, their lives had been lost, and to be swallowed by crocodiles was +now the distinguished death of Macedonian warriors. Many of the officers +went to the tent of the regent, and told him openly that he was the +cause of this calamity. Outside the tent the Macedonians yelled, beside +themselves with rage. About a hundred of the officers, headed by the +satrap Python, refused to share further responsibility, resigned their +commissions, and left the tent. The excitement grew intense. The troops, +in ungovernable rage, entered the regent’s tent and threw themselves +upon him. Antigonus struck the first blow, others followed, and, after +a desperate but short struggle, Perdiccas fell to the ground covered +with wounds. + +Thus died Perdiccas, in the third year of his regency. His great idea, +the unity of the kingdom entrusted to his care, should have made him +worthy of more success had he given himself up to this idea with more +conscientiousness. Unfortunately, with growing power, he became +despotic and unjust. He was not great enough to become the successor of +Alexander, to be another “ruler of the world.” This last step, the one +which was to lead him to his long-coveted goal, led him instead to his +death. + +Ptolemy soon heard the news, and the next morning he crossed the river +and came to the camp. He asked to be taken to the kings, presented them +and some of the nobles with gifts; was kind and considerate to all, and +was greeted with great joy. Then he called the troops together and spoke +to them. He told the Macedonians that it was only stern necessity that +caused him to take up arms against his old comrades. No man regretted +more than he the untimely death of so many heroes. Perdiccas was the +cause of this calamity; he had but received his just punishment. Now all +enmity was to be ended. He had saved as many as he could from death in +the water, and the corpses which the river had brought to the shore he +had buried with all honour; and finally he told them that he had given +orders for the immediate alleviation of the want which he knew was being +felt in the camp. His speech was received with loud cheers. He stood +there unhurt and admired before the Macedonians, who but a few hours +earlier had been his bitterest foes. Now they looked upon him as their +saviour; they all acknowledged him as the conqueror, and for the moment +he stood in unequivocal possession of that power for which Perdiccas +had worked so hard, and which he had so much abused. Who was now to +be Perdiccas’ successor, and to manage the kingdom in the name of the +kings? With one voice the people begged Ptolemy to undertake this task. +The foresight and presence of mind of the son of Lagus were not clouded +by the allurement of such an offer gained by his sudden change of +fortune. At this supreme moment he acted with consummate sagacity. He +divined that a refusal of the proffered honour would make him in reality +more powerful, although, at the moment, he would seem to be acting in an +unselfish manner. He recommended to the army, as a favour which he had +to bestow, those he thought worthy of his thanks; they were Python, +the Median strategist, who had taken the first decisive step against +Perdiccas; and Arridæus, who, in spite of Perdiccas’ orders, had taken +the body of the king to Egypt. These two were nominated regents with +loud cheers. + +The Macedonian army, accordingly, chose Python and Arridæus as +guardians, and as rulers with unlimited power over the whole of +Alexander’s conquests; but, though none of the Greek generals who now +held Asia Minor, Syria, Babylonia, Thrace, or Egypt dared to acknowledge +it to the soldiers, yet in reality the power of the guardians was +limited to the little kingdom of Macedonia. With the death of Perdiccas, +and the withdrawal of his army, Phoenicia and Coele-Syria were left +unguarded, and almost without a master. In order that Egypt might take +an important part in the universal policy, Ptolemy felt he must possess +Syria, which would open up the way for him to the countries along the +Euphrates and the Tigris, and also the island of Cyprus, where he would +be near the coast of Asia Minor. He could not yet think of conquering +Cyprus, which had an important fleet. He felt that, if he annexed Syria, +either by diplomacy or by force, the organisation of the kingdom and the +territorial division of power would be changed in a tangible manner. +The Egyptian satraps already possessed some measure of authority, and he +could also depend upon the satrap of Syria joining him. + +Perdiccas had bestowed this satrapy upon Laomedon, the Amphysolite, +who had taken no part in the great fight between Perdiccas and Ptolemy. +Ptolemy now informed him that he wished to possess his satrapy, but was +ready to compensate him with a sum of money. Laomedon refused this offer +with scorn. Thereupon, an army under Nicanor, one of the “friends” of +Ptolemy, marched into Palestine. Jerusalem was the only place that +held out against the Egyptian army; but Nicanor, says the historian +Agathareides, seeing that on every seventh day the garrison withdrew +from the walls, chose that day for the assault, and thus gained the +city. Without further opposition the Egyptians marched onwards. At +last he met Laomedon, took him prisoner, and brought him back to Egypt. +Egyptian sentries now guarded the strongholds of the country; Egyptian +ships took the towns along the coast. A great number of the Jews were +transported to Alexandria; they received the rights of citizenship +there. + +[Illustration: 049.jpg A THEBAN BELLE] + +Without altering local conditions, Syria gradually came under the sway +of the Egyptian satraps. Laomedon found means of escaping from Egypt; +he fled to Alcetas in Caria, who had just withdrawn himself to the +mountainous regions of Pisida, thence to begin the decisive war against +Antigonus. + +[Illustration: 049b.jpg Prayer to Isis] + + Painted by Alexander Cabanel + +In the earlier times of Egyptian history, when navigation was less easy, +and when seas separated kingdoms instead of joining them, the Thebaid +enjoyed, under the Koptic kings, the trading wealth which followed the +stream of its great river, the longest piece of inland navigation +then known; but, with the improvement in navigation and ship-building, +countries began to feel their strength in the timber of their forests +and the number of their harbours; and, as timber and sea-coast were +equally unknown in the Thebaid, that country fell as Lower Egypt rose; +the wealth which before centred in Thebes was then found in the ports +of the Delta, where the barges of the Nile met the ships of the +Mediterranean. What used to be Egypt was an inland kingdom, surrounded by +the desert; but Egypt under Ptolemy was country on the sea-coast; and, +on the conquest of Phoenicia and Coele-Syria, he was master of the +forests of Lebanon and Antilibanus, and stretched his coast from Cyrene +to Antioch, a distance of twelve hundred miles. The wise and mild plans +which were laid down by Alexander for the government of Egypt when a +province were easily followed by Ptolemy when it became his own kingdom. +The Greek soldiers lived in their garrisons or in Alexandria under the +Macedonian laws, while the Egyptian laws were administered by their own +priests, who were upheld in all the rights of their order and in their +freedom from land-tax. The temples of Phtah, of Amon-Ra, and the other +gods of the country were not only kept open, but were repaired and even +built at the cost of the king; the religion of the people, and not that +of their rulers, was made the established religion of the state. On +the death of the god Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, the chief of the +animals which were kept and fed at the cost of the several cities, and +who had died of old age soon after Ptolemy came to Egypt, he spent the +sum of fifty talents, or $42,500, on its funeral; and the priests, who +had not forgotten that Cambyses, their former conqueror, had wounded the +Apis of his day with his own sword, must have been highly pleased with +this mark of his care for them. The burial-place for the bulls is an +arched gallery tunnelled into the hill behind Memphis for more than two +thousand feet, with a row of cells on each side of it. In every cell is +a huge granite sarcophagus, within which were placed the remains of a +bull that had once been the Apis of its day, which, after having for +perhaps twenty years received the honours of a god, was there buried +with more than kingly state. The cell was then walled up, and ornamented +on the outside with various tablets in honour of the deceased +animal, which were placed in these dark passages by the piety of his +worshippers. The priests of Thebes were now at liberty to cut out from +their monuments the names of usurping gods, and to restore those that +had been before cut out. They also rebuilt the inner room, or the holy +of holies, in the great temple of Karnak. + +It had been overthrown by the Persians in wantonness, or in hatred +of the Egyptian religion; and the priests now put upon it the name of +Philip Arridæus, for whom Ptolemy was nominally governing Egypt. + +[Illustration: 052.jpg TOMBS OF THE SACRED BULLS] + +The Egyptians, who during the last two centuries had sometimes seen +their temples plundered and their trade crushed by the grasping tyranny +of the Persian satraps, and had at other times been almost as much hurt +by their own vain struggles for freedom, now found themselves in the +quiet enjoyment of good laws, with a prosperity which promised soon to +equal that of the reigns of Necho or Amasis. It is true that they had +not regained their independence and political liberty; that, as compared +with the Greeks, they felt themselves an inferior race, and that they +only enjoyed their civil rights during the pleasure of a Greek autocrat; +but then it is to be remembered that the native rulers with whom Ptolemy +was compared were the kings of Lower Egypt, who, like himself, were +surrounded by Greek mercenaries, and who never rested their power on the +broad base of national pride and love of country; and that nobody +could have hoped to see a Theban king arise to bring back the days +of Thûtmosis and Ramses. Thebes was every day sinking in wealth and +strength; and its race of hereditary soldiers, proud in the recollection +of former glory, who had, after centuries of struggles, been forced +to receive laws from Memphis, perhaps yielded obedience to a Greek +conqueror with less pain than they did formerly to their own vassals of +Lower Egypt. + +Ptolemy’s government was in form nearly the same in Alexandria as in the +rest of Egypt, but in reality it was wholly different. His sway over the +Egyptians was supported by Greek force, but over the Greeks it rested +on the broad base of public opinion. Every Greek had the privilege of +bearing arms, and of meeting in the gymnasium in public assembly, to +explain a grievance, and petition for its redress. The citizens and +the soldiers were the same body of men; they at the same time held the +force, and had the spirit to use it. But they had no senate, no body +of nobles, no political constitution which might save their freedom in +after generations from the ambitious grasp of the sovereign, or from +their own degeneracy. While claiming to be equal among themselves they +were making themselves slaves; and though at present the government so +entirely bore the stamp of their own will that they might fancy they +enjoyed a democracy, yet history teaches us that the simple paternal +form of government never fails to become sooner or later a cruel +tyranny. The building of Alexandria must be held the master-stroke of +policy by which Egypt was kept in obedience. Here, and afterwards in +a few other cities, such as Ptolemais in the Thebaid and Parembole in +Nubia, the Greeks lived without insulting or troubling the Egyptians, +and by their numbers held the country like so many troops in garrison. +It was a wise policy to make no greater change than necessary in +the kingdom, and to leave the Egyptians under their own laws and +magistrates, and in the enjoyment of their own religion; and yet it was +necessary to have the country garrisoned with Greeks, whose presence in +the old cities could not but be extremely galling to the Egyptians. This +was done by means of these new Greek cities, where the power by which +Egypt was governed was stronger by being united, and less hateful by +being out of sight. Seldom or never was so great a monarchy founded with +so little force and so little crime. + +Ptolemy, however, did not attempt the difficult task of uniting the two +races, and of treating the conquered and the conquerors as entitled to +the same privileges. From the time of Necho and Psammetichus, many of +the Greeks who settled in Egypt intermarried with the natives, and very +much laid aside their own habits; and sometimes their offspring, after +a generation or two, became wholly Egyptian. By the Greek laws the +children of these mixed marriages were declared to be barbarians; not +Greeks but Egyptians, and were brought up accordingly. They left the +worship of Jupiter and Juno for that of Isis and Osiris, and perhaps the +more readily for the greater earnestness with which the Egyptian gods +were worshipped. We now trace their descendants by the form of their +skulls, even into the priestly families; and of one hundred mummies +covered with hieroglyphics, taken up from the catacombs near Thebes, +about twenty show a European origin, while of those from the tombs +near Memphis, seventy out of every hundred have lost their Koptic +peculiarities. It is easy to foresee that an important change would +have been wrought in the character of the people and in their political +institutions, if the Greek laws had been humane and wise enough to grant +to the children of mixed marriages the privileges, the education, and +thereby the moral feelings of the more favoured parent; and it is not +too much to suppose, if the Greek law of marriage had been altered by +Ptolemy, that within three centuries above half the nation would have +spoken the Greek language, and boasted of its Greek origin. + +[Illustration: 055.jpg THE GOD SERAPIS] + +The stimulus given by Ptolemy Soter to the culture of the age has been +already mentioned. The founding of the famous museum and library +of Alexandria may be, perhaps, regarded as the rounding-off of his +political plans for the consolidation of his kingdom. Alexandria became, +in fact, not only a centre of commerce and government, but also the +intellectual capital of the Greeks. But for this supreme importance of +the city, it is doubtful whether the descendants of Ptolemy Lagus could +have continued to rule the Valley of the Nile. + +In return for the literature which Greece then gave to Egypt, she gained +the knowledge of papyrus, a tall rush which grows wild near the sources +of the Nile, and was then cultivated in the Egyptian marshes. Before +that time books had been written on linen, wax, bark, or the leaves of +trees; and public records on stone, brass, or lead: but the knowledge of +papyrus was felt by all men of letters like the invention of printing +in modern Europe. Books were then known by many for the first time, +and very little else was afterwards used in Greece or Rome; for, when +parchment was made about two centuries later, it was too costly to be +used as long as papyrus was within reach. Copies were multiplied on +frail strips of this plant, and it was found that mere thoughts, when +worth preserving, were less liable to be destroyed by time than temples +and palaces of the hardest stone. + +[Illustration: 056.jpb MANUSCRIPT ON PAPYRUS; HIEROGLYPHICS, THEBES] + +While Egypt, under Ptolemy, was thus enjoying the advantages of its +insulated position, and cultivating the arts of peace, the other +provinces were being harassed by the unceasing wars of Alexander’s +generals, who were aiming, like Ptolemy, at raising their own power. +Many changes had taken place among them in the short space of eight +years which had passed since the death of Alexander. Philip Arridæus, +in whose name the provinces had been governed, had been put to death; +Antigonus was master of Asia Minor, with a kingdom more powerful though +not so easily guarded as Egypt; Cassander held Macedonia, and had the +care of the young Alexander Ægus, who was then called the heir to the +whole of his father’s wide conquests, and whose life, like that of +Arridæus, was soon to end with his minority; Lysimachus was trying +to form a kingdom in Thrace; and Seleucus had for a brief period held +Babylonia. + +Ptolemy bore no part in the wars which brought about these changes, +beyond being once or twice called upon to send troops to guard his +province of Cole-Syria. + +[Illustration: 057.jpg Alexander adoring Horus] + +But Antigonus, in his ambitious efforts to stretch his power over all +the provinces, had by force or by treachery driven Seleucus out of +Babylon, and forced him to seek Egypt for safety, where Ptolemy received +him with the kindness and good policy which had before gained so many +friends. No arguments of Seleucus were wanting to persuade Ptolemy that +Antigonus was dreaming of universal conquest, and that his next attack +would be upon Egypt. He therefore sent ambassadors to make treaties of +alliance with Cassander and Lysimachus, who readily joined him against +the common enemy. + +The large fleet and army which Antigonus got together for the invasion +of Egypt proved his opinion of the strength and skill of Ptolemy. All +Syria, except one or two cities, laid down its arms before him on his +approach. But he found that the whole of the fleet had been already +removed to the ports of Egypt, and he ordered Phoenicia to furnish him +with eight thousand shipbuilders and carpenters, to build galleys from +the forests of Lebanon and Antilibanus, and ordered Syria to send four +hundred and fifty thousand medimni, or nearly three millions of bushels +of wheat, for the use of his army within the year. By these means he +raised his fleet to two hundred and forty-three long galleys or ships of +war. + +Ptolemy was for a short time called off from the war in Syria by a +rising in Cyrene. The Cyrenians, who clung to their Doric love of +freedom, and were latterly smarting at its loss, had taken arms and were +besieging the Egyptian, or, as they would have called themselves, the +Macedonian garrison, who had shut themselves up in the citadel. He at +first sent messengers to order the Cyrenians to return to their duty; +but his orders were not listened to; the rebels no doubt thought +themselves safe, as his armies seemed more wanted on the eastern +frontier; his messengers were put to death, and the siege of the citadel +pushed forward with all possible speed. On this he sent a large land +force, followed by a fleet, in order to crush the revolt at a single +blow; and the ringleaders were brought to Alexandria in chains. Magas, a +son of Queen Berenicê and stepson of Ptolemy, was then made governor of +Cyrene. + +When this trouble at home was put an end to, Ptolemy crossed over to +Cyprus to punish the kings of the little states on that island for +having joined Antigonus. For now that the fate of empires was to be +settled by naval battles the friendship of Cyprus became very important +to the neighbouring states. The large and safe harbours gave to this +island a great value in the naval warfare between Egypt, Phoenicia, and +Asia Minor. Alexander had given it as his opinion that the command +of the sea went with the island of Cyprus. When he held Asia Minor he +called Cyprus the key to Egypt; and with still greater reason might +Ptolemy, looking from Egypt, think that island the key to Phoenicia. +Accordingly he landed there with so large a force that he met with no +resistance. He added Cyprus to the rest of his dominions: he banished +the kings, and made Nicocreon governor of the whole island. + +From Cyprus, Ptolemy landed with his army in Upper Syria, as the +northern part of that country was called, while the part nearer to +Palestine was called Coele-Syria. Here he took the towns of Posideion +and Potami-Caron, and then marching hastily into Asia Minor he took +Malms, a city of Cilicia. Having rewarded his soldiers with the booty +there seized, he again embarked and returned to Alexandria. This inroad +seems to have been meant to draw off the enemy from Coele-Syria; and it +had the wished-for effect, for Demetrius, who commanded the forces of +his father Antigonus in that quarter, marched northward to the relief +of Cilicia, but he did not arrive there till Ptolemy’s fleet was already +under sail for its return journey to Egypt. + +Ptolemy, on reaching Alexandria, set his army in motion towards +Pelusium, on its way to Palestine. His forces were eighteen thousand +foot and four thousand horse, part Macedonians, as the Greeks living in +Egypt were always called, and part mercenaries, followed by a crowd of +Egyptians, of whom some were armed for battle, and some were to take +care of the baggage. He had twenty-two thousand Greeks, and was met at +Gaza by the young Demetrius with an army of eleven thousand foot and +twenty-three hundred horse, followed by forty-three elephants and a +body of light-armed barbarians, who, like the Egyptians in the army of +Ptolemy, were not counted. But the youthful courage of Demetrius was no +match for the cool skill and larger army of Ptolemy; the elephants were +easily stopped by iron hurdles, and the Egyptian army, after gaining a +complete victory, entered Gaza, while Demetrius fled to Azotus. Ptolemy, +in his victory, showed a generosity unknown in modern warfare; he not +only gave leave to the conquered army to bury their dead, but sent back +the whole of the royal baggage which had fallen into his hands, and also +those personal friends of Demetrius who were found among the prisoners; +that is to say, all those who wished to depart, as the larger part of +these Greek armies were equally ready to fight on either side. + +By this victory the whole of Phoenicia was again joined to Egypt, and +Seleucus regained Babylonia. There, by following the example of Ptolemy +in his good treatment of the people, and in leaving them their own laws +and religion, he founded a monarchy, and gave his name to a race of +kings which rivalled even the Lagidæ. He raised up again for a short +time the throne of Nebuchadnezzar. But it was only for a short time. The +Chal-dees and Assyrians now yielded the first rank to the Greeks who +had settled among them; and the Greeks were more numerous in the Syrian +portion of his empire. Accordingly Seleucus built a new capital on +the river Orontes, and named it Antioch after his father. Babylon then +yielded the same obedience to this new Greek city that Memphis paid +to Alexandria. Assyria and Babylonia became subject provinces; and +the successors of Seleucus, who came to be known as Selucids, styled +themselves not kings of Babylon but of Syria. + +When Antigonus, who was in Phrygia on the other side of his kingdom, +heard that his son Demetrius had been beaten at Gaza, he marched with +all his forces to give battle to Ptolemy. He soon crossed Mount Taurus, +the lofty range which divides Asia Minor from Syria and Mesopotamia, and +joined his camp to that of his son in Upper Syria. But Ptolemy had gone +through life without ever making a hazardous move; not indeed without +ever suffering a loss, but without ever fighting a battle when its loss +would have ruined him, and he did not choose to risk his kingdom against +the far larger forces of Antigonus. Therefore, with the advice of his +council of generals, he levelled the fortifications of Acre, Joppa, +Samaria, and Gaza, and withdrew his forces and treasure into Egypt, +leaving the desert between himself and the army of Antigonus. + +Antigonus could not safely attempt to march through the desert in the +face of Ptolemy’s army. He had, therefore, first, either to conquer or +gain the friendship of the Nabatæans, a warlike race of Arabs, who held +the north of Arabia; and then he might march by Petra, Mount Sinai, and +the coast of the Red Sea, without being in want of water for his army. +The Nabatæans were the tribe at an earlier time called Edomites. But +they lost that name when they carried it to the southern portion of +Judæa, then called Idumæa; for when the Jews regained Idumæa, they +called these Edomites of the desert Nebaoth or Nabatæans. The Nabatæns +professed neutrality between Antigonus and Ptolemy, the two contending +powers; but the mild temper of Ptolemy had so far gained their +friendship that the haughty Antigonus, though he did not refuse their +pledges of peace, secretly made up his mind to conquer them. Petra, the +city of the Nabatæans, is in a narrow valley between steep overhanging +rocks, so difficult of approach that a handful of men could guard it +against the largest army. Not more than two horsemen can ride abreast +through the chasm in the rock by which it is entered from the east, +while the other entrance from the west is down a hillside too steep for +a loaded camel. + +[Illustration: 062.jpg ON THE COAST OF THE RED SEA] + +The Eastern proverb reminds us that “Water is the chief thing;” and +a large stream within the valley, in addition to the strength of the +fortress, made it a favourite resting-place for caravans, which, whether +they were coming from Tyre or Jerusalem, were forced to pass by this +city in their way to the Incense Country of Arabia Felix, or to the +Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, and for other caravans from Egypt to Dedam +on the Persian Gulf. These warlike Arabs seem to have received a toll +from the caravans, and they held their rocky fastness unconquered by +the great nations which surrounded them. Their temples and tombs were +cut out of the live rock, and hence the city was by the Jews named +Selah, (the rock), and by the Greeks named Petra, from which last the +country was sometimes called Arabia Petræa. + +Antigonus heard that the Nabatæans had left Petra less guarded than +usual, and had gone to a neighbouring fair, probably to meet a caravan +from the south, and to receive spices in exchange for the woollen goods +from Tyre. He therefore sent forward four thousand light-armed foot and +six hundred horse, who overpowered the guard and seized the city. The +Arabs, when they heard of what had happened, returned in the night, +surrounded the place, came upon the Greeks from above, by paths known +only to themselves, and overcame them with such slaughter that, out of +the four thousand six hundred men, only fifty returned to Antigonus to +tell the tale. + +The Nabatæans then sent to Antigonus to complain of this crafty attack +being made upon Petra after they had received from him a promise of +friendship. He endeavoured to put them off their guard by disowning the +acts of his general; he sent them home with promises of peace, but at +the same time sent forward his son Demetrius, with four thousand horse +and four thousand foot, to take revenge upon them, and again seize their +city. But the Arabs were this time upon their guard; the nature of +the place was as unfavourable to the Greek arms and warfare as it was +favourable to the Arabs; and these eight thousand men, the flower of the +army, under brave Demetrius, were unable to force their way through the +narrow pass into this remarkable city. + +Had Antigonus been master of the sea, he might perhaps have marched +through the desert along the coast of the Mediterranean to Pelusium, +with his fleet to wait upon his army, as Perdiccas had done. But +without this, the only way that he could enter Egypt was through the +neighbourhood of Petra, and then along the same path which the Jews are +supposed to have followed; and the stop thus put upon the invasion of +Egypt by this little city shows us the strength of Ptolemy’s eastern +frontier. Antigonus then led his army northward, leaving the kingdom of +Egypt unattacked. + +This retreat was followed by a treaty of peace between these generals, +by which it was agreed that each should keep the country that he then +held; that Cassan-der should govern Macedonia until Alexander Ægus, the +son of Alexander the Great, should be of age; that Lysimachus should +keep Thrace, Ptolemy Egypt, and Antigonus Asia Minor and Palestine; and +each wishing to be looked upon as the friend of the soldiers by whom +his power was upheld, and the whole of these wide conquests kept in awe, +added the very unnecessary article, that the Greeks living in each of +these countries should be governed according to their own laws. + +All the provinces held by these generals became more or less Greek +kingdoms, yet in no one did so many Greeks settle as in Lower Egypt. +Though the rest of Egypt was governed by Egyptian laws and judges, the +city of Alexandria was under Macedonian law. It did not form part of the +nome of Hermopolites in which it was built. It scarcely formed a part of +Egypt, but was a Greek state in its neighbourhood, holding the Egyptians +in a state of slavery. In that city no Egyptian could live without +feeling himself of a conquered race. He was not admitted to the +privileges of Macedonian citizenship, while they were at once granted to +every Greek, and soon to every Jew, who would settle there. + +By the treaty just spoken of, Ptolemy, in the thirteenth year after the +death of Alexander, was left undisputed master of Egypt. During these +years he had not only gained the love of the Egyptians and Alexandrians +by his wise and just government, but had won their respect as a general +by the skill with which he had kept the war at a distance. He had lost +and won battles in Syria, in Asia Minor, in the island of Cyprus, and at +sea; but since Perdiccas marched against him, before he had a force to +defend himself with, no foreign army had drunk the sacred waters of the +Nile. + +It was under the government of Ptolemy that the wonders of Upper Egypt +were first seen by any Greeks who had leisure, a love of knowledge, and +enough of literature, to examine carefully and to describe what they +saw. Loose and highly coloured accounts of the wealth of Thebes +had reached Greece even before the time of Homer, and again through +Herodotus and other travellers in the Delta; but nothing was certainly +known of it till it was visited by Hecatæus of Abdera, who, among other +works, wrote a history of the Hyperborean or northern nations, and also +a history, or rather a description of Egypt, part of which we now read +in the pages of Dio-dorus Siculus. When he travelled in Upper Egypt, +Thebes, though still a populous city, was more thought of by the +antiquary than by the statesman. Its wealth, however, was still great; +and when, under the just government of Ptolemy, it was no longer +necessary for the priests to hide their treasures, it was found that the +temples still held the very large sum of three hundred talents of gold, +and two thousand three hundred talents of silver, or above five million +dollars, which had escaped the plundering hands of the Persian satraps. +Many of the Theban tombs, which are sets of rooms tunnelled into the +hills on the Libyan side of the Nile, had even then been opened to +gratify the curiosity of the learned or the greediness of the conqueror. +Forty-seven royal tombs were mentioned in the records of the priests, +of which the entrances had been covered up with earth, and hidden in +the sloping sides of the hills, in the hope that they might remain +undisturbed and unplundered, and might keep safe the embalmed bodies +of the kings till they should rise again at the end of the world; and +seventeen of these had already been found out and broken open. Hecatæus +was told that the other tombs had been before destroyed; and we owe it, +perhaps, to this mistake that they remained unopened for more than two +thousand years longer, to reward the searches of modern travellers, and +to unfold to us the history of their builders. + +The Memnonium, the great palace of Ramses II., was then standing; and +though it had been plundered by the Persians, the building itself was +unhurt. Its massive walls had scarcely felt the wear of the centuries +which had rolled over them. Hecataaus measured its rooms, its +courtyards, and its avenue of sphinxes; and by his measurements we can +now distinguish its ruins from those of the other palaces of Thebes. One +of its rooms, perhaps after the days of its builder, had been fitted up +as a library, and held the histories and records of the priests; but the +golden zodiac, or circle, on which were engraved the days of the year, +with the celestial bodies seen to rise at sunrise and set at sunset, +by which each day was known, had been taken away by Cambyses. Hecataaus +also saw the three other palace-temples of Thebes, which we now call +by the names of the villages in which they stand, namely, of Luxor, of +Karnak, and of Medinet-Habu. But the Greeks, in their accounts of +Egypt, have sadly puzzled us by their careless alteration of names from +similarity of sound. To Miamun Ramses, they gave the common Greek name +Memnon; and the city of Hahiroth they called Heroopolis, as if it meant +the _city of heroes_. The capital of Upper Egypt, which was called The +City, as a capital is often called, or in Koptic, _Tape or Thabou_, they +named Thebes, and in their mythology they confounded it with Thebes in +Bootia. The city of the god Kneph they called Canopus, and said it +was so named after the pilot of Menelaus. The hill of Toorah opposite +Memphis they called the Trojan mountain. One of the oldest cities in +Egypt, This, or with the prefix for city, Abouthis, they called Abydos, +and then said that it was colonised by Milesians from Abydos in Asia. +In the same careless way have the Greeks given us an account of the +Egyptian gods. They thought them the same as their own, though with new +faces; and, instead of describing their qualities, they have in the main +contented themselves with translating their names. + +If Ptolemy did not make his government as much feared by the half-armed +Ethiopians as it was by the well-disciplined Europeans, it must have +been because the Thebans wished to guard their own frontier rather than +because his troops were always wanted against a more powerful enemy; but +the inroads of the Ethiopians were so far from being checked that the +country to the south of Thebes was unsafe for travellers, and no Greek +was able to reach Syênê and the lower cataracts during his reign. The +trade through Ethiopia was wholly stopped, and the caravans went from +Thebes to Cosseir to meet the ships which brought the goods of Arabia +and India from the opposite coast of the Red Sea. + +In the wars between Egypt and Asia Minor, in which Palestine had the +misfortune to be the prize struggled for and the debatable land on which +the battles were fought, the Jews were often made to smart under +the stern pride of Antigonus, and to rejoice at the milder temper +of Ptolemy. The Egyptians of the Delta and the Jews had always been +friends; and hence, when Ptolemy promised to treat the Jews with the +same kindness as the Greeks, and more than the Egyptians, and held out +all the rights of Macedonian citizenship to those who would settle in +his rising city of Alexandria, he was followed by crowds of industrious +traders, manufacturers, and men of letters. They chose to live in Egypt +in peace and wealth, rather than to stay in Palestine in the daily fear +of having their houses sacked and burnt at every fresh quarrel between +Ptolemy and Antigonus. In Alexandria, a suburb by the sea, on the east +side of the city, was allotted for their use, which was afterwards +included within the fortifications, and thus made a fifth ward of the +Lagid metropolis. + +No sooner was the peace agreed upon between the four generals, who were +the most powerful kings in the known world, than Cassander, who held +Macedonia, put to death both the Queen Roxana and her son, the young +Alexander Ægus, then thirteen years old, in whose name these generals +had each governed his kingdom with unlimited sway, and who was then of +an age that the soldiers, the givers of all power, were already +planning to make him the real King of Macedonia and of his father’s wide +conquests. + +The Macedonian phalanx, which formed the pride and sinews of every +army, were equally held by their deep-rooted loyalty to the memory of +Alexander, whether they were fighting for Ptolemy or for Antigonus, and +equally thought that they were guarding a province for his heir; and it +was through fear of loosening their hold upon the faithfulness of these +their best troops that Ptolemy and his rivals alike chose to govern +their kingdoms under the unpretending title of lieutenants of the King +of Macedonia. Hence, upon the death of Alexander Ægus, there was a +throne, or at least a state prison, left empty for a new claimant. +Polysperchon, an old general of Alexander’s army, then thought that he +saw a way to turn Cassander out of Macedonia, by the help of Hercules, +the natural son of Alexander by Barce; and, having proclaimed him king, +he led him with a strong army against Cassander. But Polysperchon wanted +either courage or means for what he had undertaken, and he soon yielded +to the bribes of Cassander and put Hercules to death. + +The cities on the southern coast of Asia Minor yielded to Antigonus +obedience as slight as the ties which held them to one another. The +cities of Pamphylia and Cilicia, in their habits as in their situation, +were nearer the Syrians, and famous for their shipping. They all enjoyed +a full share of the trade and piracy of those seas, and were a tempting +prize to Ptolemy. The treaty of peace between the generals never +lessened their jealousy nor wholly stopped the warfare, and the +next year Ptolemy, finding that his troops could hardly keep their +possessions in Cilicia, carried over an army in person to attack the +forces of Antigonus in Lycia. He landed at Phaselis, the frontier town +of Pamphylia, and, having carried that by storm, he moved westward along +the coast of Lycia. He made himself master of Xanthus, the capital, +which was garrisoned by the troops of Antigonus; and then of Caunus, a +strong place on the coast of Caria, with two citadels, one of which he +gained by force and the other by surrender. He then sailed to the island +of Cos, which he gained by the treachery of Ptolemy, the nephew of +Antigonus, who held it for his uncle, but who went over to the Egyptian +king with all his forces. By this success he gained the whole southern +coast of Asia Minor. + +The brother and two children of Alexander having been in their turns, +as we have seen, murdered by their guardians, Cleopatra, his sister, and +Thessalonica, his niece, were alone left alive of the royal family +of Macedonia. Almost every one of the generals had already courted a +marriage with Cleopatra, which had either been refused by herself or +hindered by his rivals; and lastly Ptolemy, now that by the death of her +nephews she brought kingdoms, or the love of the Macedonian mercenaries, +which was worth more than kingdoms, as her dower, sent to ask her hand +in marriage. This offer was accepted by Cleopatra; but, on her journey +from Sardis, the capital of Lydia, to Egypt, on her way to join her +future husband, she was put to death by Antigonus. The niece was put +to death a few years later. Thus every one who was of the family of +Alexander paid the forfeit of life for that honour, and these two deaths +ended the Macedonian dynasty with a double tragedy. + +While Ptolemy was busy in helping the Greek cities of Asia to gain their +liberty, Menelaus, his brother and admiral, was almost driven out of +Cyprus by Demetrius. On this Ptolemy got together his fleet, to the +number of one hundred and forty long galleys and two hundred transports, +manned with not less than ten thousand men, and sailed with them to the +help of his brother. This fleet, under the command of Menelaus, was met +by Demetrius with the fleet of Antigonus, consisting of one hundred and +twelve long galleys and a number of transports; and the Egyptian fleet, +which had hitherto been master of the sea, was beaten near the city +of Salamis in Cyprus by the smaller fleet of Demetrius. This was the +heaviest loss that had ever befallen Ptolemy. Eighty long galleys were +sunk, and forty long galleys, with one hundred transports and eight +thousand men, were taken prisoners. He could no longer hope to keep +Cyprus, and he sailed hastily back to Egypt, leaving to Demetrius the +garrisons of the island as his prisoners, all of whom were enrolled in +the army of Antigonus, to the number of sixteen thousand foot and six +hundred horse. + +This naval victory gave Demetrius the means of unburdening his proud +mind of a debt of gratitude to his enemy; and accordingly, remembering +what Ptolemy had done after the battle of Gaza, he sent back to Egypt, +unasked for and unransomed, those prisoners who were of high rank, that +is to say, all those who had any choice about which side they fought +for; and among them were Leontiscus, the son, and Menelaus, the brother, +of Ptolemy. + +Antigonus was overjoyed with the news of his son’s victory. By lessening +the power of Ptolemy, it had done much to smooth his own path to the +sovereignty of Alexander’s empire, which was then left without an heir; +and he immediately took the title of king, and gave the same title to +his son Demetrius. In this he was followed by Ptolemy and the other +generals, but with this difference, that while Antigonus called himself +king of all the provinces, Ptolemy called himself King of Egypt; and +while Antigonus gained Syria and Cyprus, Ptolemy gained the friendship +of every other kingdom and of every free city in Greece; they all looked +upon him as their best ally against Antigonus, the common enemy. + +The next year Antigonus mustered his forces in Coele-Syria, and got +ready for a second attack upon Egypt. He had more than eighty thousand +foot, accompanied with what was then the usual proportion of cavalry, +namely, eight thousand horse and eighty-three elephants. Demetrius +brought with him from Cyprus the fleet of one hundred and fifty long +galleys, and one hundred transports laden with stores and engines of +war. With this fleet, to which Ptolemy, after his late loss, had no +ships that he could oppose, Antigonus had no need to ask leave of the +Arabs of the little city of Petra to march through their passes; but he +led his army straight through the desert to Pelusium, while the ships of +burden kept close to the shore with the stores. The pride of Antigonus +would not let him follow the advice of the sailors, and wait eight days +till the north winds of the spring equinox had passed; and by this haste +many of his ships were wrecked on the coast, while others were driven +into the Nile and fell into the hands of Ptolemy. Antigonus himself, +marching with the land forces, found all the strong places well guarded +by the Egyptian army; and, being driven back at every point, discouraged +by the loss of his ships and by seeing whole bodies of his troops go +over to Ptolemy, he at last took the advice of his officers and led back +his army to Syria, while Ptolemy returned to Alexandria, to employ those +powers of mind in the works of peace which he had so successfully used +in his various wars. + +Antigonus then turned the weight of his mighty kingdom against the +little island of Rhodes, which, though in sight of the coast of Asia +Minor, held itself independent of him, and in close friendship with +Ptolemy. The Dorian island of Rhodes had from the earliest dawn of +history held a high place among the states of Greece; and in all the +arts of civilised life, in painting, sculpture, letters, and commerce, +it had been lately rising in rank while the other free states had been +falling. Its maritime laws were so highly thought of that they were +copied by most other states, and, being afterwards adopted into the +Pandects of Justinian, they have in part become the law of modern +Europe. It was the only state in which Greek liberty then kept its +ground against the great empires of Alexander’s successors. + +Against this little state Demetrius led two hundred long galleys and one +hundred and seventy transports, with more than forty thousand men. The +Greek world looked on with deep interest while the veterans of Antigonus +were again and again driven back from the walls of the blockaded city +by its brave and virtuous citizens; who, while their houses were burning +and their walls crumbling under the battering-ram, left the statues of +Antigonus and Demetrius standing unhurt in the market-place, saved by +their love of art and the remembrance of former kindness, which, with +a true greatness of mind, they would not let the cruelties of the siege +outweigh. The galleys of Ptolemy, though unable to keep at sea against +the larger fleet of Demetrius, often forced their way into the harbour +with the welcome supplies of grain. Month after month every stratagem +and machine which the ingenuity of Demetrius could invent were tried and +failed; and, after the siege had lasted more than a year, he was glad to +find an excuse for withdrawing his troops; and the Rhodians in their joy +hailed Ptolemy with the title of Soter or _saviour_. This name he ever +afterwards kept, though by the Greek writers he is more often called +Ptolemy the son of Lagus. If we search the history of the world for a +second instance of so small a state daring to withstand the armies of so +mighty an empire, we shall perhaps not find any one more remarkable than +that of the same island, when, seventeen hundred years afterwards, it +again drew upon itself the eyes of the world, while it beat off the +forces of the Ottoman empire under Mahomet II.; and, standing like a +rock in front of Christendom, it rolled back for years the tide of war, +till its walls were at last crumbled to a heap of ruins by Suleiman the +Great, after a siege of many months. + +The next of Ptolemy’s conquests was Coele-Syria; and soon after this +the wars between these successors of Alexander were put an end to by +the death of Antigonus, whose overtowering ambition was among the +chief causes of quarrel. This happened at the great battle of Ipsus in +Phrygia, where they all met, with more than eighty thousand men in +each army. Antigonus, King of Asia Minor, was accompanied by his son +Demetrius, and by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus; and he was defeated by +Ptolemy, King of Egypt, Seleucus, King of Babylon, Lysimachus, King of +Thrace, and Cassander, King of Macedonia; and the old man lost his life +fighting bravely. After the battle Demetrius fled to Cyprus, and yielded +to the terms of peace which were imposed on him by the four allied +sovereigns. He sent his friend Pyrrhus as a hostage to Alexandria; and +there this young King of Epirus soon gained the friendship of Ptolemy +and afterwards his stepdaughter in marriage. Ptolemy was thus left +master of the whole of the southern coast of Asia Minor and Syria, +indeed of the whole coast of the eastern end of the Mediterranean, from +the island of Cos on the north to Cyrene on the south. + +During these formidable wars with Antigonus, Ptolemy had never been +troubled with any serious rising of the conquered Egyptians; and perhaps +the wars may not have been without their use in strengthening his +throne. The first danger to a successful conqueror is from the avarice +and disappointment of his followers, who usually claim the kingdom as +their booty, and who think themselves wronged and their past services +forgotten if any limit is placed to their tyranny over the conquered. +But these foreign wars may have taught the Alexandrians that Ptolemy was +not strong enough to ill-treat the Egyptians, and may thus have saved +him from the indiscretion of his friends and from their reproaches for +ingratitude. + +In the late war, the little Dorian island of Cos on the coast of Asia +Minor fell, as we have seen, under the power of Ptolemy. This island was +remarkable as being the first spot in Europe into which the manufacture +of silk was introduced, which it probably gained when under the power +of Persia before the overthrow of Darius. The luxury of the Egyptian +ladies, who affected to be overheated by any clothing that could conceal +their limbs, had long ago introduced a tight, thin dress which neither +our climate nor notions of modesty would allow, and for this dress, +silk, when it could be obtained, was much valued; and Pamphila of Cos +had the glory of having woven webs so transparent that the Egyptian +women were enabled to display their fair forms yet more openly by means +of this clothing. + +[Illustration: 081.jpg ALEXANDRIAN LADY, ATTIRED IN BOMBYX SILK] + +Cos continued always in the power of the Ptolemies, who used it as a +royal fortress, occasionally sending their treasures and their children +there as to a place of safety from Alexandrian rebellion; and there the +silk manufacture flourished in secret for two or three centuries. +When it ceased is unknown, as it was part of the merchants’ craft to +endeavour to keep each branch of trade to themselves, by concealing the +channel through which they obtained their supply of goods, and many of +the dresses which were sold in Rome under the emperors by the name of +Coan robes may have been brought from the East through Alexandria. + +One of the most valuable gifts which Egypt owed to Ptolemy was its +coinage. Even Thebes, “where treasures were largest in the houses” never +was able to pass gold and silver from hand to hand without the trouble +of weighing, and the doubt as to the fineness of the metal. The Greek +merchants who crowded the markets of Canopus and Alexandria must have +filled Lower Egypt with the coins of the cities from whence they came, +all unlike one another in stamp and weight; but, while every little city +or even colony of Greece had its own coinage, Egypt had as yet very few +coins of its own. We are even doubtful whether we know by sight those +coined by the Persians In the early years of Ptolemy’s government +Ptolemy had issued a very few coins bearing the names of the young kings +in whose name he held the country, but he seems not to have coined any +quantity of money till after he had himself taken the title of king. His +coins are of gold, silver, and bronze, and are in a fine style of Greek +workmanship. Those of gold and silver bear on one side the portrait of +the king, without a beard, having the head bound with the royal diadem, +which, unlike the high priestly crown of the native Egyptian kings, or +the modern crown of gold and precious stones, is a plain riband tied in +a bow behind. On the other side they have the name of Ptolemy Soter, or +King Ptolemy, with an eagle standing upon a thunderbolt, which was only +another way of drawing the eagle and sun, the hieroglyphical characters +for the title Pharaoh. + +[Illustration: 082.jpg EGYPTIAN COINAGE] + +The gold coins of Egypt were probably made in Alexandria. The coins +are not of the same weight as those of Greece; but Ptolemy followed the +Egyptian standard of weight, which was that to which the Jewish shekel +was adjusted, and which was in use in the wealthy cities of Tyre and +Sidon and Beryttus. The drachma weighs fifty-five grains, making the +talent of silver worth about seven hundred and fifty dollars. Ptolemy’s +bronze coins have the head of Serapis or Jupiter in the place of that of +the king, as is also the case with those of his successors; but few of +these bronze pieces bear any marks from which we can learn the reign +in which they were coined. They are of better metal than those of other +countries, as the bronze is free from lead and has more tin in it. The +historian, in his very agreeable labours, should never lose sight of the +coins. They teach us by their workmanship the state of the arts, and by +their weight, number, and purity of metal, the wealth of the country. +They also teach dates, titles, and the places where they were struck; +and even in those cases where they seem to add little to what we learn +from other sources, they are still the living witnesses to which we +appeal, to prove the truth of the authors who have told us more. + +[Illustration: 083.jpg COIN OF SOTER, WITH JUPITER] + +The art of engraving coins did not flourish alone in Alexandria; +painters and sculptors flocked to Egypt to enjoy the favours of Ptolemy. +Apelles, indeed, whose paintings were thought by those who had seen +them to surpass any that had been before painted, or were likely to be +painted, had quarrelled with Ptolemy, who had known him well when he +was the friend and painter of Alexander. Once when he was at Alexandria, +somebody wickedly told him that he was invited to dine at the royal +table, and when Ptolemy asked who it was that had sent his unwelcome +guest, Apelles drew the face of the mischief-maker on the wall, and he +was known to all the court by the likeness. It was, perhaps, at one +of these dinners, at which Ptolemy enjoyed the society of the men of +letters, or perhaps when visiting the philosophers in their schools, +that he asked Euclid if he could not show him a shorter and easier way +to the higher truths of mathematics than that by which he led the pupils +in the Museum; and Euclid, as if to remind him of the royal roads of +Persia, which ran by the side of the highroads, but were kept clear and +free for the king’s own use, made him the well-known answer, that there +was no royal road to geometry. + +Ptolemy lived in easy familiarity with the learned men of Alexandria; +and at another of these literary dinners, when Diodorus, the +rhetorician, who was thought to have been the inventor of the Dilemma, +was puzzled by a question put to him by Stilpo, the king in joke said +that his name should be Cronus, a god who had been laughed at in the +comedies. Indeed, he was so teased by Ptolemy for not being able to +answer it, that he got up and left the room. He afterwards wrote a book +upon the subject; but the ridicule was said to have embittered the rest +of his life. This was the person against whom Callimachus, some years +later, wrote a bitter epigram, beginning “Cronus is a wise man.” + Diodorus was of the sceptical school of philosophy, which, though not +far removed from the Cyrenaic school, was never popular in Alexandria. +Among other paradoxes he used to deny the existence of motion. He argued +that the motion was not in the place where the body moved from, nor in +the place that the body moved to, and that accordingly it did not exist +at all. Once he met with a violent fall which put his shoulder out of +joint, and he applied to Herophilus, the surgeon, to set it. Herophilus +began by asking him where the fall took place, whether in the place +where the shoulder was, or in the place where it fell to; but the +smarting philosopher begged him to begin by setting his limb, and they +would talk about the existence of motion after the operation. + +Stilpo was at this time only on a visit to Ptolemy, for he had refused +his offer of money and a professorship in the Museum, and had chosen +to remain at Megara where he was the ornament of his birthplace. He +had been banished from Athens for speaking against their gods, and for +saying that the colossal Minerva was not the daughter of Jupiter, but of +Phidias, the sculptor. His name as a philosopher stood so high that when +Demetrius, in his late wars with Ptolemy, took the city of Megara by +storm, the conqueror bid spare the house of Stilpo, when temple and +tower went to the ground; and when Demetrius gave orders that Stilpo +should be repaid for what he had lost in the siege, the philosopher +proudly answered that he had lost nothing, and that he had no wealth but +his learning. + +The historian Theopompus of Chios then came to Alexandria, and wrote an +account of the wars between the Egyptians and the Persians. It is now +lost, but it contained at least the events from the successful invasion +by Artaxerxes Longimanus till the unsuccessful invasion by Artaxerxes +Mnemon. + +No men of learning in Alexandria were more famous than the physicians. +Erasistratus of Cos had the credit of having once cured Antiochus, +afterwards King of Syria. He was the grandson of Aristotle, and may +be called the father of the science of anatomy: his writings are often +quoted by Dioscorides. Antiochus in his youth had fallen deeply in love +with his young stepmother, and was pining away in silence and despair. +Erasistratus found out the cause of his illness, which was straightway +cured by Seleucus giving up his wife to his own son. This act strongly +points out the changed opinions of the world as to the matrimonial +relation; for it was then thought the father’s best title to the name +of Nicator; he had before conquered his enemies, but he then conquered +himself. + +Erasistratus was the first who thought that a knowledge of anatomy +should be made a part of the healing art. Before his time surgery and +medicine had been deemed one and the same; they had both been studied by +the slow and uncertain steps of experience, unguided by theory. Many a +man who had been ill, whether through disease or wound, and had regained +his health, thought it his duty to Esculapius and to his neighbours to +write up in the temple of the god the nature of his ailings, and the +simples to which he fancied that he owed his cure. By copying these +loose but well-meant inscriptions of medical cases, Hippocrates had, +a century earlier, laid the foundations of the science; but nothing +further was added to it till Erasistratus, setting at nought the +prejudices in which he was born, began dissecting the human body in the +schools of Alexandria. There the mixing together of Greeks and Egyptians +had weakened those religious feelings of respect for the dead which are +usually shocked by anatomy; and this study flourished from the low +tone of the morality as much as from the encouragement which good sense +should grant to every search for knowledge. + +Herophilus lived about the same time with Erasistratus, and was, like +him, famous for his knowledge of the anatomy of man. But so hateful was +this study in the eyes of many, that these anatomists were charged by +writers who ought to have known better, with the cruelty of cutting +men open when alive. They had few followers in the hated use of the +dissecting-knife. It was from their writings that Galen borrowed the +anatomical parts of his work; and thus it was to the dissections of +these two great men, helped indeed by opening the bodies of animals, +that the world owed almost the whole of its knowledge of the anatomy of +man, till the fifteenth century, when surgeons were again bold enough to +face the outcry of the mob, and to study the human body with the knife. + +Hegesias of Cyrene was an early lecturer on philosophy at Alexandria. +His short and broken sentences are laughed at by Cicero, yet he was so +much listened to, when lecturing against the fear of death, and showing +that in quitting life we leave behind us more pains than pleasures, that +he was stopped by Ptolemy Soter through fear of his causing self-murder +among his hearers. He then wrote a book upon the same subject, for +though the state watched over the public teaching, it took no notice +of books; writing had not yet become the mightiest power on earth. The +miseries, however, of this world, which he so eloquently and feelingly +described in his lectures and writings, did not drive him to put an end +to his own life. + +Philostephanus of Cyrene, the friend of Callimachus, was a naturalist +who wrote upon fishes, and is the first investigator that we hear of who +thought it desirable to limit his studies to one branch of the science +of natural history. + +But Cyrene did not send all its great men to Alexandria. Plato had +studied mathematics there under Theodorus, and it had a school of its +own which gave its name to the Cyrenaic sect. The founder of this sect +was Aristippus, the pupil of Socrates who had missed the high honour of +being present at his death. He was the first philosopher who took money +from his pupils, and used to say that they valued their lessons more +for having to pay for them; but he was blamed by his brethren for +thus lowering the dignity of the teacher. He died several years before +Ptolemy Soter came into Egypt. The Cyrenaic sect thought happiness, +not goodness, was the end to be aimed at through life, and selfishness, +rather than kindness to others, the right spring of men’s actions. It +would hardly be fair to take their opinions from the mouths of their +enemies; and the dialogues of Socrates, with their founder, as told to +us by Xeno-phon, would prove a lower tone of morality than he is likely +to have held. The wish for happiness and the philosophical love of self, +which should lead to goodness, though a far worse rule of life than the +love of goodness for its own sake, which is the groundwork of religion, +was certainly far better than unguided passion and the love of to-day’s +pleasure. But often as this unsafe rule has been set up for our +guidance, there have always been found many to make use of it in a way +not meant by the teacher. The Cyrenaic sect soon fell into the disrepute +to which these principles were likely to lead it, and wholly ceased when +Epicurus taught the same opinions more philosophically, Anniceris of +Cyrene, though a follower of Aristippus, somewhat improved upon the +low-toned philosophy of his master. He granted that there were many +things worth our aim, which could not be brought within the narrow +bounds of what is useful. He did not overlook friendship, kindness, +honouring our parents, and serving our country; and he thought that a +wise man would undertake many labours which would bring him no return in +the things which were alone thought happiness. + +The chair of philosophy at Cyrene was afterwards filled by Arete, the +daughter of Aristippus; for such were the hindrances in the way of +gaining knowledge, that few could be so well qualified to teach as the +philosopher’s daughter. Books were costly, and reading by no means +a cheap amusement. She was followed, after her death, by her son +Aristippus, who, having been brought up in his mother’s lecture-room, +was called, in order to distinguish him from his grandfather of the same +name, Metrodidactus, or _mother-taught_. History has not told us whether +he took the name himself in gratitude for the debt which he owed to this +learned lady, or whether it was given him by his pupils; but in either +case it was a sure way of giving to the mother the fame which was due to +her for the education of her son; for no one could fail to ask who was +the mother of Metrodidactus. + +Theodorus, one of the pupils of Metrodidactus, though at one time +banished from Cyrene, rose to honour under Soter, and was sent by him as +ambassador to Lysimachus, He was called the Atheist by his enemies, and +the Divine by his friends, but we cannot now determine which title he +best deserved. It was then usual to call those atheists who questioned +the existence of the pagan gods; and we must not suppose that all who +suffered under that reproach denied that the world was governed by a +ruling providence. The disbeliever in the false religion of the many is +often the only real believer in a God. Theodorus was of the cold school +of philosophy, which was chiefly followed in Alexandria. It was earthly, +lifeless, and unpoetical, arising from the successful cultivation of +the physical sciences, not enough counteracted by the more ennobling +pursuits of poetry and the fine arts. Hence, while commerce and the arts +of production were carried to higher perfection than at any former +time, and science was made greatly to assist in the supply of our bodily +wants, the arts of civilisation, though by no means neglected, were +cultivated without any lofty aim, or any true knowledge of their +dignity. + +[Illustration: 092.jpg THE CHARIOT OF ANTIPHILUS] + +Antiphilus, who was born in Egypt and had studied painting under +Ctesidemus, rose to high rank as a painter in Alexandria. Among his +best-known pictures were the bearded Bacchus, the young Alexander, and +Hip-polytus, or rather his chariot-horses, frightened by the bull. His +boy, blowing up a fire with his mouth, was much praised for the mouth +of the boy, and for the light and shade of the room. His Ptolemy +hunting was also highly thought of. Antiphilus showed a mean jealousy +of Apelles, and accused him of joining in a plot against the king, for +which the painter narrowly escaped punishment; but Ptolemy, finding that +the charge was not true, sent Apelles a gift of one hundred talents to +make amends. The angry feelings of Apelles were by no means cooled by +this gift, but they boiled over in his great picture of Calumny. On the +right of the picture sat Ptolemy, holding out his hand to Calumny, who +was coming up to him. On each side of the king stood a woman who seemed +meant for Ignorance and Suspicion. Calumny was a beautiful maiden, but +with angry and deep-rooted malice in her face: in her left hand was a +lighted torch, and with her right she was dragging along by the hair +a young man, who was stretching forth his hands to heaven, and calling +upon the gods to bear witness that he was guiltless. Before her walked +Envy, a pale, hollow-eyed, diseased man, perhaps a portrait of +the accuser; and behind were two women, Craft and Deceit, who were +encouraging and supporting her. At a distance stood Repentance, in the +ragged, black garb of mourning, who was turning away her face for shame +as Truth came up to her. + +Ptolemy Soter was plain in his manners, and scarcely surpassed his own +generals in the costliness of his way of life. He often dined and slept +at the houses of his friends; and his own house had so little of the +palace, that he borrowed dishes and tables of his friends when he asked +any number of them to dine with him in return, saying that it was the +part of a king to enrich others rather than to be rich himself. Before +he took the title of king, he styled himself, and was styled by friendly +states, by the simple name of Ptolemy the Macedonian; and during the +whole of his reign he was as far from being overbearing in his behaviour +as from being kinglike in his dress and household. Once when he wished +to laugh at a boasting antiquary, he asked him, what he knew could not +be answered, who was the father of Peleus; and the other let his wit so +far get the better of his prudence as in return to ask the king, who had +perhaps never heard the name of his own grandfather, if he knew who was +the father of Lagus. But Ptolemy took no further notice of this than to +remark that if a king cannot bear rude answers he ought not to ask rude +questions. + +An answer which Ptolemy once made to a soothsayer might almost be taken +as the proverb which had guided him through life. When his soldiers met +with an anchor in one of their marches, and were disheartened on being +told by the soothsayer that it was a proof that they ought to stop where +they then were, the king restored their courage by remarking, that an +anchor was an omen of safety, not of delay. + +Ptolemy’s first children were by Thais, the noted courtesan, but they +were not thought legitimate. Leontiscus, the eldest, we afterwards hear +of fighting bravely against Demetrius; of the second, named Lagus after +his grandfather, we hear nothing. + +He then married Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater, by whom he had +several children. The eldest son, Ptolemy, was named Ceraunus, _the +Thunderer_, and was banished by his father from Alexandria. In his +distress he fled to Seleucus, by whom he was kindly received; but after +the death of Ptolemy Soter he basely plotted against Seleucus and +put him to death. He then defeated in battle Antigonus, the son of +Demetrius, and got possession of Macedonia for a short time. He married +his half-sister Arsinoë, and put her children to death; and was soon +afterwards put to death himself by the Gauls, who were either fighting +against him or were mercenaries in his own army. Another son of Ptolemy +and Eurydice was put to death by Ptolemy Philadelphus, for plotting +against his throne, to which, as the elder brother, he might have +thought himself the best entitled. Their daughter Lysander married +Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus; but when Agathocles was put to death +by his father, she fled to Egypt with her children, and put herself +under Ptolemy’s care. + +Ptolemy then, as we have seen, asked in marriage the hand of Cleopatra, +the sister of Alexander; but on her death he married Berenicê, a lady +who had come into Egypt with Eurydice, and had formed part of her +household. She was the widow of a man named Philip; and she had by her +first husband a son named Magas, whom Ptolemy made governor of Cyrene, +and a daughter, Antigone, whom Ptolemy gave in marriage to Pyrrhus when +that young king was living in Alexandria as hostage for Demetrius. + +Berenicê’s mildness and goodness of heart were useful in softening her +husband’s severity. Once, when Ptolemy was unbending his mind at a game +of dice with her, one of his officers came up to his side, and began to +read over to him a list of criminals who had been condemned to death, +with their crimes, and to ask his pleasure on each. + +[Illustration: 095.jpg BERENICE SOTER] + +Ptolemy continued playing, and gave very little attention to the unhappy +tale; but Berenice’s feelings overcame the softness of her character, +and she took the paper out of the officer’s hand, and would not let him +finish reading it; saying it was very unbecoming in the king to treat +the matter so lightly, as if he thought no more of the loss of a life +than the loss of a throw. + +With Berenicê Ptolemy spent the rest of his years without anything to +trouble the happiness of his family. He saw their elder son, Ptolemy, +whom we must call by the name which he took late in life, Philadelphus, +grow up everything that he could wish him to be; and, moved alike by his +love for the mother and by the good qualities of the son, he chose +him as his successor on the throne, instead of his eldest son, Ptolemy +Ceraunus, who had shown, by every act in his life, his unfitness for the +royal position. + +His daughter Arsinoë married Lysimachus in his old age, and urged +him against his son, Agathocles, the husband of her own sister. She +afterwards married her half-brother, Ptolemy Ceraunus; and lastly became +the wife of her brother Philadelphus. Argzeus, the youngest son of +Ptolemy, was put to death by Philadelphus on a charge of treason. Of +his youngest daughter Philotera we know nothing, except that her brother +Philadelphus afterwards named a city on the coast of the Red Sea after +her. + +After the last battle with Demetrius, Ptolemy had regained the island of +Cyprus and Cole-Syria, including Judæa; and his throne became stronger +as his life drew to an end. With a wisdom rare in kings and conquerors, +he had never let his ambition pass his means; he never aimed at +universal power; and he was led, both by his kind feelings and +wise policy, to befriend all those states which, like his own, were +threatened by that mad ambition in others. + +His history of Alexander’s wars is lost, and we therefore cannot judge +of his merits as an author; but we may still point out with pleasure how +much his people gained from his love of letters; though indeed we do not +need the example of Ptolemy to show that learning and philosophy are as +much in place, and find as wide a field of usefulness, in governing +a kingdom as in the employments of the teacher, the lawyer, or the +physician, who so often claim them as their own. + +His last public act, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, was ordered +by the same forbearance which had governed every part of his life. +Feeling the weight of years press heavily upon him, that he was less +able than formerly to bear the duties of his office, and wishing to see +his son firmly seated on the throne, he laid aside his diadem and +his title, and, without consulting either the army or the capital, +proclaimed Ptolemy, his son by Berenicê, king, and contented himself +with the modest rank of somatophylax, or satrap, to his successor. He +had used his power so justly that he was not afraid to lay it down; +and he has taught us how little of true greatness there is in rank by +showing how much more there is in resigning it. This is perhaps the most +successful instance known of a king, who had been used to be obeyed by +armies and by nations, willingly giving up his power when he found his +bodily strength no longer equal to it. Ptolemy Soter had the happiness +of having a son willing to follow in the track which he had laid down +for him, and of living to see the wisdom of his own laws proved by the +well-being of the kingdom under his son and successor. + +But while we are watching the success of Ptolemy’s plans, and the rise +of this Greek monarchy at Alexandria, we cannot help being pained with +the thought that the Kopts of Upper Egypt are forgotten, and asking +whether it would not have been still better to have raised Thebes to +the place which it once held, and to have recalled the days of Ramses, +instead of trying what might seem the hopeless task of planting Greek +arts in Africa. But a review of this history will show that, as far as +human forethought can judge, this could not have been done. A people +whose religious opinions were fixed against all change, like the pillars +upon which they were carved, and whose philosophy had not noticed that +men’s minds were made to move forward, had no choice but to be left +behind and trampled on, as their more active neighbours marched onwards +in the path of improvement. If Thebes had fallen only on the conquest by +Cambyses, if the rebellions against the Persians had been those of Kopts +throwing off their chains and struggling for freedom, we might have +hoped to have seen Egypt, on the fall of Darius, again rise under kings +of the blood and language of the people; and we should have thought the +gilded and half-hid chains of the Ptolemies were little better than the +heavy yoke of the Persians. This, however, is very far from having been +the case. We first see the kings of Lower Egypt guarding their thrones +at Saïs by Greek soldiers; and then, that every struggle of Inarus, of +Nectanebo, and of Tachos, against the Persians, was only made by the +courage and arms of Greeks hired in the Delta by Egyptian gold. During +the three hundred years before Alexander was hailed by Egypt as its +deliverer, scarcely once had the Kopts, trusting to their own courage, +stood up in arms against either Persians or Greeks; and the country was +only then con-quered without a battle because the power and arms were +already in the hands of the Greeks; because in the mixed races of +the Delta the Greeks were so far the strongest, though not the most +numerous, that a Greek kingdom rose there with the same ease, and for +the same reasons, that an Arab kingdom rose in the same place nine +centuries later. + +[Illustration: 098.jpg NIT, GODDESS OF SAIS.] + +[Illustration: 099.jpg A CAT MUMMY] + +Moral worth, national pride, love of country, and the better feelings of +clanship are the chief grounds upon which a great people can be raised. +These feelings are closely allied to self-denial, or a willingness on +the part of each man to give up much for the good of the whole. By this, +chiefly, public monuments are built, and citizens stand by one another +in battle; and these feelings were certainly strong in Upper Egypt +in the days of its greatness. But, when the throne was moved to Lower +Egypt, when the kingdom was governed by the kings of Saïs, and even +afterwards, when it was struggling against the Persians, these virtues +were wanting, and they trusted to foreign hirelings in their struggle +for freedom. The Delta was peopled by three races of men, Kopts, Greeks, +and Phoenicians, or Arabs; and even before the sceptre was given to the +Greeks by Alexander’s conquests, we have seen that the Kopts had lost +the virtues needed to hold it. + +[Illustration: 100.jpg TAILPIECE] + + + + +CHAPTER III.--PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS. B.C. 284-246 + + +We know of few princes who ever mounted a throne with such fair +prospects before them as the second Ptolemy. He was born in Cos, an +island on the coast of Caria, which the Ptolemies kept as a family +fortress, safe from Egyptian rebellion and Alexandrian rudeness, and, +while their fleets were masters of the sea, safe from foreign armies. He +had been brought up with great care, and, being a younger son, was not +spoilt by that flattery which in all courts is so freely offered to the +heir. He first studied letters and philosophy under Philetas of Cos, +an author of some elegies and epigrams now lost; and as he grew up, he +found himself surrounded by all the philosophers and writers with whom +his father mixed on the easiest terms of friendship. During the +long reign of Ptolemy Soter the people had been made happy by wise +regulations and good laws, trade had been flourishing, the cities had +greatly prospered, and the fortresses had been everywhere strengthened. + +[Illustration: 102.jpg PHAROS IN OLD ALEXANDRIA] + +The Grecian troops were well trained, their loyalty undoubted, and the +Egyptians were enrolled in a phalanx, armed and disciplined like +the Macedonians. The population of the country was counted at seven +millions. Alexandria, the capital of the kingdom, was not only the +largest trading city in the world, but was one of the most favoured +seats of learning. It surely must have been easy to foresee that the +prince, then mounting the throne, even if but slightly gifted with +virtues, would give his name to a reign which could not be otherwise +than remarkable in the history of Egypt. But Philadelphus, though like +his father he was not free from the vices of his times and of his rank, +had more of wisdom than is usually the lot of kings; and, though we +cannot but see that he was only watering the plants and gathering +the fruit where his father had planted, yet we must at the same time +acknowledge that Philadelphus was a successor worthy of Ptolemy Soter. +He may have been in the twenty-third year of his age when his father +gave up to him the cares and honours of royalty. + +The first act of his reign, or rather the last of his father’s reign, +was the proclamation, or the ceremony, of showing the new king to +the troops and people. All that was dazzling, all that was costly or +curious, all that the wealth of Egypt could buy or the gratitude of the +provinces could give, was brought forth to grace this religious show, +which, as we learn from the sculptures in the old tombs, was copied +rather from the triumphs of Ramses and Thûtmosis than from anything that +had been seen in Greece. + +The procession began with the pomp of Osiris, at the head of which were +the Sileni in scarlet and purple cloaks, who opened the way through the +crowd. Twenty satyrs followed on each side of the road, bearing torches; +and then Victories with golden wings, clothed in skins, each with +a golden staff six cubits long, twined round with ivy. An altar was +carried next, covered with golden ivy-leaves, with a garland of golden +vine-leaves tied with white ribands; and this was followed by a hundred +and twenty boys in scarlet frocks, carrying bowls of crocus, myrrh, +and frankincense, which made the air fragrant with the scent. Then came +forty dancing satyrs crowned with golden ivy-leaves, with their naked +bodies stained with gay colours, each carrying a crown of vine leaves +and gold; then two Sileni in scarlet cloaks and white boots, one having +the hat and wand of Mercury and the other a trumpet; and between them +walked a man, six feet high, in tragic dress and mask, meant for the +Year, carrying a golden cornucopia. He was followed by a tall and +beautiful woman, meant for the Lustrum of five years, carrying in one +hand a crown and in the other a palm-branch. Then came an altar, and a +troop of satyrs in gold and scarlet, carrying golden drinking-cups. + +Then came Philiscus the poet, the priest of Osiris, with all the +servants of the god; then the Delphic tripods, the prizes which were +to be given in the wrestling matches; that for the boys was nine cubits +high, and that for the men twelve cubits high. Next came a four-wheeled +car, fourteen cubits long and eight wide, drawn along by one hundred +and eighty men, on which was the statue of Osiris, fifteen feet high, +pouring wine out of a golden vase, and having a scarlet frock down to +his feet, with a yellow transparent robe over it, and over all a scarlet +cloak. Before the statue was a large golden bowl, and a tripod with +bowls of incense on it. Over the whole was an awning of ivy and vine +leaves; and in the same chariot were the priests and priestesses of the +god. + +This was followed by a smaller chariot drawn by sixty men, in which was +the statue of Isis in a robe of yellow and gold. Then came a chariot +full of grapes, and another with a large cask of wine, which was poured +out on the road, as the procession moved on, and at which the eager +crowd filled their jugs and drinking-cups. Then came another band of +satyrs and Sileni, and more chariots of wine; then eighty Delphic vases +of silver, and Panathenaic and other vases; and sixteen hundred dancing +boys in white frocks and golden crowns: then a number of beautiful +pictures; and a chariot carrying a grove of trees, out of which flew +pigeons and doves, so tied that they might be easily caught by the +crowd. + +On another chariot, drawn by an elephant, came Osiris, as he returned +from his Indian conquests. He was followed by twenty-four chariots drawn +by elephants, sixty drawn by goats, twelve by some kind of stags, +seven by gazelles, four by wild asses, fifteen by buffaloes, eight by +ostriches, and seven by stags of some other kind. Then came chariots +loaded with the tributes of the conquered nations; men of Ethiopia +carrying six hundred elephants’ teeth; sixty huntsmen leading two +thousand four hundred dogs; and one hundred and fifty men carrying +trees, in the branches of which were tied parrots and other beautiful +birds. Next walked the foreign animals, Ethiopian and Arabian sheep, +Brahmin bulls, a white bear, leopards, panthers, bears, a camelopard, +and a rhinoceros; proving to the wondering crowd the variety and +strangeness of the countries that owned their monarch’s sway. + +In another chariot was seen Bacchus running away from Juno, and flying +to the altar of Rhea. After that came the statues of Alexander and +Ptolemy Soter crowned with gold and ivy: by the side of Ptolemy stood +the statues of Virtue, of the god Chem, and of the city of Corinth; +and he was followed by female statues of the conquered cities of Ionia, +Greece, Asia Minor, and Persia; and the statues of other gods. Then came +crowds of singers and cymbal-players, and two thousand bulls with gilt +horns, crowns, and breast-plates. Then came Amon-Ra and other gods; +and the statue of Alexander between Victory and the goddess Neith, in a +chariot drawn by elephants: then a number of thrones of ivory and gold; +on one was a golden crown, on another a golden cornucopia, and on the +throne of Ptolemy Soter was a crown worth ten thousand _aurei_, or +nearly thirty thousand dollars; then three thousand two hundred golden +crowns, twenty golden shields, sixty-four suits of golden armour; and +the whole was closed with forty waggons of silver vessels, twenty +of golden vessels, eighty of costly Eastern scents, and fifty-seven +thousand six hundred foot soldiers, and twenty-three thousand two +hundred horse. The procession began moving by torchlight before day +broke in the morning, and the sun set in the evening before it had all +passed on its way. + +[Illustration: 106.jpg BRONZE COSMETIC HOLDER] + +It went through the streets of Alexandria to the royal tents on the +outside of the city, where, as in the procession, everything that was +costly in art, or scarce in nature, was brought together in honour of +the day. At the public games, as a kind of tax or coronation money, +twenty golden crowns were given to Ptolemy Soter, twenty-three to +Berenice, and twenty to their son, the new king, beside other costly +gifts; and two thousand two hundred and thirty-nine talents, or one +million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, were spent on the +amusements of the day. For the account of this curious procession we are +indebted to Callixenes of Rhodes, who was then travelling in Egypt, and +who wrote a history of Alexandria. + +Ptolemy Soter lived two years after he had withdrawn himself from the +cares of government; and the weight of his name was not without its +use in adding steadiness to the throne of his successor. Instead of +parcelling out his wide provinces among his sons as so many kingdoms, he +had given them all to one son, and that not the eldest; and on his death +the jealousy of those who had been disinherited and disappointed broke +out in rebellion. + +It is with peculiar interest that we hear in this reign for the +first time that the bravery and rising power of the Romans had forced +themselves into the notice of Philadelphus. Pyrrhus, the King of Epirus, +had been beaten by the Romans, and driven out of Italy; and the King of +Egypt thought it not beneath him to send an ambassador to the senate, to +wish them joy of their success, and to make a treaty of peace with the +republic. The embassy, as we might suppose, was received in Rome with +great joy; and three ambassadors, two of the proud name of Fabius, with +Quintus Ogulnius, were sent back to seal the treaty. Philadelphus gave +them some costly gifts, probably those usually given to ambassadors; +but Rome was then young, her citizens had not yet made gold the end for +which they lived, and the ambassadors returned the gifts, for they could +receive nothing beyond the thanks of the senate for having done their +duty. This treaty was never broken; and in the war which broke out in +the middle of this reign between Rome and Carthage, usually called the +first Punic war, when the Carthaginians sent to Alexandria to beg for +a loan of two thousand talents, Philadelphus refused it, saying that he +would help them against his enemies, but not against his friends. + +From that time forward we find Egypt in alliance with Rome. But we also +find that they were day by day changing place with one another: Egypt +soon began to sink, while Rome was rising in power; Egypt soon received +help from her stronger ally, and at last became a province of the Roman +empire. + +At the time of this embassy, when Greek arts were nearly unknown to the +Romans, the ambassadors must have seen much that was new to them, and +much that was worth copying; and three years afterwards, when one of +them, Quintus Ogulnius, together with Caius Fabius Pictor, were chosen +consuls, they coined silver for the first time in Rome. With them begins +the series of consular denarii, which throws such light on Roman life +and history. + +About the middle of this reign, Berenicê, the mother of the king, died, +and it was most likely then that Philadelphus began to date from the +beginning of his own reign: he had before gone on like his father, +dating from the beginning of his father’s reign. In the year after her +death, the great feast of Osiris, in the month of Mesore, was celebrated +at Alexandria with more than usual pomp by the Queen Arsinoë. Venus, or +Isis, had just raised Berenice to heaven; and Arsinoë, in return, showed +her gratitude by the sums of money spent on the feast of Osiris, or +Adonis as he was sometimes called by the Greeks. Theocritus, who was +there, wrote a poem on the day, and tells us of the crowds in the +streets, of the queen’s gifts to the temple, and of the beautiful +tapestries, on which were woven the figures of the god and goddess +breathing as if alive; and he has given a free translation of the +Maneros, the national poem in which the priests each year consoled the +goddess Isis for the death of Osiris, which was sung through the streets +of Alexandria by a Greek girl in the procession. One of the chief +troubles in the reign of Philadelphus was the revolt of Cyrene. The +government of that part of Africa had been entrusted to Magas, the +half-brother of the king, a son of Berenice by her former husband. +Berenice, who had been successful in setting aside Ceraunus to make room +for her son Philadelphus on the throne of Egypt, has even been said to +have favoured the rebellious and ungrateful efforts of her elder son +Magas to make himself King of Cyrene. Magas, without waiting till the +large armies of Egypt were drawn together to crush his little state, +marched hastily towards Alexandria, in the hopes of being joined by +some of the restless thousands of that crowded city. But he was quickly +recalled to Cyrene by the news of the rising of the Marmaridas, the race +of Libyan herdsmen that had been driven back from the coast by the Greek +settlers who founded Cyrene. Philadelphus then led his army along the +coast against the rebels; but he was, in the same way, stopped by the +fear of treachery among his own Gallic mercenaries. With a measured +cruelty which the use of foreign mercenaries could alone have taught +him, he led back his army to the marshes of the Delta, and, entrapping +the four thousand distrusted Gauls* on one of the small islands, he +hemmed them in between the water and the spears of the phalanx, and they +all died miserably, by famine, by drowning, or by the sword. + + * It is not known for certain from what part of the world + these Gauls were recruited. The race known as Gallic was at + one time spread over a wide district from Gallicia in the + East to Gallia in the West. + +Magas had married Apime, the daughter of Antiochus Soter, King of Syria; +and he sent to his father-in-law to beg him to march upon Coele-Syria +and Palestine, to call off the army of Philadelphus from Cyrene. But +Philadelphus did not wait for this attack: his armies moved before +Antiochus was ready, and, by a successful inroad upon Syria, he +prevented any relief being sent to Magas. + +After the war between the brothers had lasted some years, Magas made +an offer of peace, which was to be sealed by betrothing his only +child, Berenicê, to the son of Philadelphus. To this offer Philadelphus +yielded; as by the death of Magas, who was already worn out by luxury +and disease, Cyrene would then fall to his own son. Magas, indeed, died +before the marriage took place; but, notwithstanding the efforts made +by his widow to break the agreement, the treaty was kept, and on this +marriage Cyrene again formed part of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt. + +The black spot upon the character of Philadelphus, which all the blaze +of science and letters by which he was surrounded can not make us +overlook, is the death of two of his brothers: a son of Eurydice, who +might, perhaps, have thought that he was robbed of the throne of Egypt +by his younger brother, and who was unsuccessful in raising the island +of Cyprus in rebellion; and a younger brother, Argasus, who was also +charged with joining in a plot; both lost their lives by his orders. + +It was only in the beginning of this reign, after Egypt had been for +more than fifty years under the rule of the Macedonians, that the evils +which often follow conquest were brought to an end. Before this reign +no Greek was ever known to have reached Elephantine and Syênê or Aswan +since Herodotus made his hasty tour in the Thebaid; and during much of +the last reign no part of Upper Egypt was safe for a Greek traveller, +if he were alone, or if he quitted the highroad. The peasants, whose +feelings of hatred we can hardly wonder at, waylaid the stragglers, and +Egyptian-like as the Greeks said, or slave-like as it would be wiser to +say, often put them to death in cold blood. But a long course of good +government had at last quieted the whole country, and left room for +further improvements by Philadelphus. + +Among other buildings, Philadelphus raised a temple in Alexandria to the +honour of his father and mother, and placed in it their statues, made of +ivory and gold, and ordered that they should be worshipped like the +gods and other kings of the country. He also built a temple to Ceres and +Proserpine, and then the Eleusinian mysteries were taught in Alexandria +to the few who were willing and worthy to be admitted. The southeast +quarter of the city in which this temple stood was called the Eleusinis; +and here the troop of maidens were to be seen carrying the sacred basket +through the streets, and singing hymns in honour of the goddess; while +they charged all profane persons, who met the procession, to keep +their eyes upon the ground, lest they should see the basket and the +priestesses, who were too pure for them to look upon. + +In this reign was finished the lighthouse on the island of Pharos, as +a guide to ships when entering the harbour of Alexandria by night. The +navigation of the waters of the Red Sea, along which the wind blows hard +from the north for nine months in the year, was found so dangerous by +the little vessels from the south of Arabia, that they always chose the +most southerly port in which they could meet the Egyptian buyers. The +merchants with their bales of goods found a journey on camels through +the desert, where the path is marked only by the skeletons of the +animals that have died upon the route, less costly than a coasting +voyage. Hence, when Philadelphus had made the whole of Upper Egypt to +the cataracts at Aswan (Syênê) as quiet and safe as the Delta, he made a +new port on the rocky coast of the Red Sea, nearly two hundred miles to +the south of Cosseir, and named it Berenicê after his mother. He also +built four public inns, or watering-houses, where the caravans might +find water for the camels, and shelter from the noonday sun, on their +twelve days’ journey through the desert from Koptos on the Nile to this +new port. He rebuilt, and at the same time renamed, the old port of +Cosseir, or Ænnum as it was before called, and named it Philotera after +his younger sister. The trade which thus passed down the Nile from +Syênê, from Berenicê, and from Philotera, paid a toll or duty at the +custom-house station of Phylake a little below Lycopolis on the west +bank of the river, where a guard of soldiers was encamped; and this +station gradually grew into a town. + +[Illustration: 112.jpg ROSETTA BRANCH OF THE NILE] + +Philadelphus also built a city on the sands at the head of the Red Sea, +near where Suez now stands, and named it Arsinoë, after his sister; and +he again opened the canal which Necho II. and Darius had begun, by which +ships were to pass from the Nile to this city on the Red Sea. This canal +began in the Pelusiac branch of the river, a little above Bubastis, +and was carried to the Lower Bitter Lakes in the reign of Darius. From +thence Philadelphus wished to carry it forward to the Red Sea, near +the town of Arsinoë, and moreover cleared it from the sands which +soon overwhelmed it and choked it up whenever it was neglected by the +government. But his undertaking was stopped by the engineers finding the +waters of the canal several feet lower than the level of the Red Sea; +and that, if finished, it would become a salt-water canal, which could +neither water the fields nor give drink to the cities in the valley. He +also built a second city of the name of Berenicê, called the Berenicê +Epidires, at the very mouth of the Red Sea on a point of land where +Abyssinia is hardly more than fifteen miles from the opposite coast of +Arabia. This naming of cities after his mother and sisters was no idle +compliment; they probably received the crown revenues of those cities +for their personal maintenance. + +With a view further to increase the trade with the East, Philadelphus +sent Dionysius on an expedition overland to India, to gain a knowledge +of the country and of its means and wants. He went by the way of the +Caspian Sea through Bactria, in the line of Alexander’s march. He +dwelt there, at the court of the sovereign, soon after the time that +Megasthenes was there; and he wrote a report of what he saw and learned. +But it is sad to find, in our search for what is valuable in the history +of past times, that the information gained on this interesting journey +of discovery is wholly lost. + +In the number of ports which were then growing into the rank of cities, +we see full proof of the great trade of Egypt at that time; and we may +form some opinion of the profit which was gained from the trade of the +Red Sea from the report of Clitarchus to Alexander, that the people of +one of the islands would give a talent of gold for a horse, so plentiful +with them was gold, and so scarce the useful animals of Europe; and one +of the three towns named after the late queen, on that coast, was known +by the name of the Nubian or Golden Berenicê, from the large supply of +gold which was dug from the mines in the neighbourhood. In latitude 17°, +separated from the Golden Berenicê by one of the forests of Ethiopia, +was the new city of Ptolemais, which, however, was little more than a +post from which the hunting parties went out to catch elephants for +the armies of Egypt. Philadelphus tried to command, to persuade, and to +bribe the neighbouring tribes not to kill these elephants for food, but +they refused all treaty with him; these zealous huntsmen answered that, +if he offered them the kingdom of Egypt with all its wealth, they would +not give up the pleasure of catching and eating elephants. The Ethiopian +forests, however, were able to supply the Egyptian armies with about one +elephant for every thousand men, which was the number then thought best +in the Greek military tactics. Asia had been the only country from which +the armies had been supplied with elephants before Philadelphus brought +them from Ethiopia. + +The temple of Isis among the palm groves in Philæ, a rocky island in the +Nile near the cataracts of Syênê, was begun in this reign, though not +finished till some reigns later. It is still the wonder of travellers, +and by its size and style proves the wealth and good taste of the +priests. But its ornaments are not so simple as those of the older +temples; and the capitals of its columns are varied by the full-blown +papyrus flower of several sizes, its half-opened buds, its closed buds, +and its leaves, and by palm-branches. It seems to have been built on the +site of an older temple which may have ‘been overthrown by the Persians. +This island of Philo is the most beautiful spot in Egypt; where the bend +of the river just above the cataracts forms a quiet lake surrounded on +all sides by fantastic cliffs of red granite. Its name is a corruption +from Abu-lakh, the city of the frontier. This temple was one of the +places in which Osiris was said to be buried. None but priests ever set +foot on this sacred island, and no oath was so binding as that sworn in +the name of Him that lies buried in Philæ. The statues of the goddess +in the temple were all meant for portraits of the queen Arsinoë. The +priests who dwelt in the cells within the courtyards of the temples of +which we see the remains in this temple at Philæ, were there confined +for life to the service of the altar by the double force of religion and +the stone walls. They showed their zeal for their gods by the amount of +want which they were able to endure, and they thought that sitting upon +the ground in idleness, with the knees up to the chin, was one of the +first of religious duties. + +[Illustration: 116.jpg TEMPLE OF PHILAE] + +The Museum of Alexandria held at this time the highest rank among the +Greek schools, whether for poetry, mathematics, astronomy, or medicine, +the four branches into which it was divided. Its library soon held two +hundred thousand rolls of papyrus; which, however, could hardly have +been equal to ten thousand printed volumes. Many of these were bought by +Philadelphus in Athens and Rhodes; and his copy of Aristotle’s works was +bought of the philosopher Nileus, who had been a hearer of that great +man, and afterwards inherited his books through Theophrastus, to whom +they had been left by Aristotle. The books in the museum were of course +all Greek; the Greeks did not study foreign languages, and thought the +Egyptian writings barbarous. + +At the head of this library had been Demetrius Phalereus, who, after +ruling Athens with great praise, was banished from his country, and fled +to Ptolemy Soter, under whom he consoled himself for the loss of power +in the enjoyment of literary leisure. He was at the same time the most +learned and the most polished of orators. He brought learning from the +closet into the forum; and, by the soft turn which he gave to public +speaking, made that sweet and lovely which had before been grave and +severe. Cicero thought him the great master in the art of speaking, and +seems to have taken him as the model upon which he wished to form his +own style. He wrote upon philosophy, history, government, and poetry; +but the only one of his works which has reached our time is his treatise +on elocution; and the careful thought which he there gives to the +choice of words and to the form of a sentence, and even the parts of a +sentence, shows the value then set upon style. Indeed he seems rather +to have charmed his hearers by the softness of his words than to have +roused them to noble deeds by the strength of his thoughts. He not only +advised Ptolemy Soter what books he should buy, but which he should +read, and he chiefly recommended those on government and policy; and +it is alike to the credit of the king and of the librarian, that he +put before him books which, from their praise of freedom and hatred of +tyrants, few persons would even speak of in the presence of a king. +But Demetrius had also been consulted by Soter about the choice of a +successor, and had given his opinion that the crown ought to be left +to his eldest son, and that wars would arise between his children if +it were not so left; hence we can hardly wonder that, on the death of +Soter, Demetrius should have lost his place at the head of the museum, +and been ordered to leave Alexandria. He died, as courtiers say, in +disgrace; and he was buried near Diospolis in the Busirite nome of the +Delta. According to one account he was put to death by the bite of +an asp, in obedience to the new king’s orders, but this story is not +generally credited; although this was not an uncommon way of inflicting +death. + +[Illustration: 118.jpg ANUBIS, GOD OF THE LOWER WORLD] + +Soon after this we find Zenodotus of Ephesus filling the office of +librarian to the museum. He was a poet, who, with others, had been +employed by Soter in the education of his children. He is also known as +the first of those Alexandrian critics who turned their thoughts towards +mending the text of Homer, and to whom we are indebted for the tolerably +correct state of the great poet’s works, which had become faulty through +the carelessness of the copiers. Zenodotus was soon followed by other +critics in this task of editing Homer. But their labours were not +approved of by all; and when Aratus asked Timon which he thought the +best edition of the poet, the philosopher shrewdly answered, “That which +has been least corrected.” + +At the head of the mathematical school was Euclid; who is, however, +less known to us by what his pupils have said of him than by his own +invaluable work on geometry. This is one of the few of the scientific +writings of the ancients that are still in use. The discoveries of the +man of science are made use of by his successor, and the discoverer +perhaps loses part of his reward when his writings are passed by, after +they have served us as a stepping-stone to mount by. If he wishes his +works to live with those of the poet and orator, he must, like them, +cultivate those beauties of style which are fitted to his matter. Euclid +did so; and his Elements have been for more than two thousand years the +model for all writers on geometry. He begins at the beginning, and +leads the learner, step by step, from the simplest propositions, called +axioms, which rest upon metaphysical rather than mathematical proof, to +high geometrical truths. The mind is indeed sometimes wearied by being +made to stop at every single step in the path, and wishes, with Ptolemy +Soter, for a shorter road; but, upon the whole, Euclid’s clearness has +never been equalled. + +Ctesibus wrote on the theory of hydrostatics, and was the inventor of +several water-engines; an application of mathematics which was much +called for by the artificial irrigation of Egypt. He also invented that +useful instrument, the water-clock, to tell the time after sunset. + +[Illustration: 120.jpg AT THE HEAD OF THE RED SEA] + +Among the best known of the men of letters who came to Alexandria to +enjoy the patronage of Philadelphus was Theocritus. Many of his poems +are lost; but his pastoral poems, though too rough for the polished +taste of Quintilian, and perhaps more like nature than we wish any works +of imitative art to be, have always been looked upon as the model of +that kind of poetry. If his shepherds do not speak the language of +courtiers, they have at least a rustic propriety which makes us admire +the manners and thoughts of the peasant. He repaid the bounty of the +king in the way most agreeable to him; he speaks of him as one + + to freemen kind, + Wise, fond of books and love, of generous mind; + Knows well his friend, but better knows his foe; + Scatters his wealth; when asked he ne’er says No, + But gives as kings should give. + Idyll, xiv. 60. + +Theocritus boasted that he would in an undying poem place him in the +rank of the demigods; and, writing with the pyramids and the Memnonium +before his eyes, assured him that generosity towards the poets would +do more to make his name live for ever than any building that he could +raise. + +In a back street of Alexandria, in the part of the city named Eleusinis, +near the temple of Ceres and Proserpine, lived the poet Callimachus, +earning his livelihood by teaching. But the writer of the Hymns could +not long dwell so near the court of Philadelphus unknown and unhonoured. +He was made professor of poetry in the museum, and even now repays +the king and patron for what he then received. He was a man of great +industry, and wrote in prose and in all kinds of verse; but of these +only a few hymns and epigrams have come down to our time. Egypt seems to +have been the birthplace of the mournful elegy, and Callimachus was the +chief of the elegiac poets. He was born at Cyrene; and though, from the +language in which he wrote, his thoughts are mostly Greek, yet he did +not forget the place of his birth. He calls upon Apollo by the name of +Carneus, because, after Sparta and Thera, Cyrene was his chosen seat. +He paints Latona, weary and in pain in the island of Delos, as leaning +against a palm-tree, by the side of the river Inopus, which, sinking +into the ground, was to rise again in Egypt, near the cataracts of +Syênê; and, prettily pointing to Philadelphus, he makes Apollo, yet +unborn, ask his mother not to give birth to him in the island of Cos, +because that island was already chosen as the birthplace of another god, +the child of the gods Soteres, who would be the copy of his father, +and under whose diadem both Egypt and the islands would be proud to be +governed by a Macedonian. + +[Illustration: 123.jpg THE CARARACT ON THE ASWAN] + +The poet Philastas, who had been the first tutor of Philadelphus, was +in elegy second only to Callimachus; but Quintilian (while advising us +about books, to read much but not many) does not rank him among the +few first-rate poets by whom the student should form his taste; and his +works are now lost. He was small and thin in person, and it was jokingly +said of him that he wore leaden soles to his shoes lest he should be +blown away by the wind. But in losing his poetry, we have perhaps lost +the point of the joke. While these three, Theocritus, Callimachus, and +Philastas, were writing in Alexandria, the museum was certainly the +chief seat of the muses. Athens itself could boast of no such poet +but Menander, with whom Attic literature ended; and him Philadelphus +earnestly invited to his court. He sent a ship to Greece on purpose to +fetch him; but neither this honour nor the promised salary could make +him quit his mother country and the schools of Athens; and, in the time +of Pausanias, his tomb was still visited by the scholar on the road to +the Pmeus, and his statue was still seen in the theatre. + +Strato, the pupil of Theophrastus, though chiefly known for his writings +on physics, was also a writer on many branches of knowledge. He was +one of the men of learning who had taken part in the education of +Phil-adelphus; and the king showed his gratitude to his teacher by +making him a present of eighty talents, or sixty thousand dollars. He +was for eighteen years at the head of one of the Alexandrian schools. + +Timocharis, the astronomer, made some of his observations at Alexandria +in the last reign, and continued them through half of this reign. He +began a catalogue of the fixed stars, with their latitudes and their +longitudes measured from the equinoctial point; by the help of which +Hipparchus, one hundred and fifty years afterwards, made the great +discovery that the equinoctial point had moved. He has left an +observation of the place of Venus, on the seventeenth day of the month +of Mesore, in the thirteenth year of this reign, which by the modern +tables of the planets is known to have been on the eighth day +of October, B.C. 272; from which we learn that the first year of +Philadelphus ended in October, B.C. 284, and the first year of Ptolemy +Soter ended in October, B.C. 322; thus fixing the chronology of +these reigns with a certainty which leaves nothing to be wished for. +Aris-tillus also made some observations of the same kind at Alexandria. +Few of them have been handed down to us, but they were made use of by +Hipparchus. + +Aristarchus, the astronomer of Samos, most likely came to Alexandria +in the last reign, as some of his observations were made in the very +beginning of the reign of Philadelphus. He is the first astronomer who +is known to have taken the true view of the solar system. He said that +the sun was the centre round which the earth moved in a circle; and, as +if he had foreseen that even in after ages we should hardly be able to +measure the distance of the fixed stars, he said that the earth’s yearly +path bore no greater proportion to the hollow globe of the heavens in +which the stars were set, than the point without size in the centre of a +circle does to its circumference. But the work in which he proved these +great truths, or perhaps threw out these happy guesses, is lost; and the +astronomers who followed him clung to the old belief that the earth was +the centre round which the sun moved. The only writings of Aristarchus +which now remain are his short work on the distances and magnitude of +the sun and moon, in which the error in his results arises from the want +of good observations, rather than from any mistake in his mathematical +principles. + +Aratus, who was born in Cilicia, is sometimes counted among the +pléiades, or seven stars of Alexandria. His _Phenomena_ is a short +astronomical poem, without life or feeling, which scarcely aims at +any of the grace or flow of poetry. It describes the planets and the +constellations one by one, and tells us what stars are seen in the head, +feet, and other parts of each figure; and then the seasons, and the +stars seen at night at each time of the year. When maps were little +known, it must have been of great use, to learners; and its being in +verse made it the more easy to remember. The value which the +ancients set upon this poem is curiously shown by the number of Latin +translations which were made from it. Cicero in his early youth, before +he was known as an orator or philosopher, perhaps before he himself knew +in which path of letters he was soon to take the lead, translated this +poem. The next translation is by Germanicus Cæsar, whose early death +and many good qualities have thrown such a bright light upon his name. +He shone as a general, as an orator, and as an author; but his Greek +comedies, his Latin orations, and his poem on Augustus are lost, while +his translation of Aratus is all that is left to prove that this high +name in literature was not given to him for his political virtues alone. +Lastly Avienus, a writer in the reign of Diocletian, or perhaps +of Theodosius, has left a rugged, unpolished translation of this +much-valued poem. Aratus, the poet of the heavens, will be read, said +Ovid, as long as the sun and moon shall shine. + +Sosibius was one of the rhetoricians of the museum who lived upon the +bounty of Philadelphus. The king, wishing to laugh at his habit of +verbal criticism, once told his treasurer to refuse his salary, and say +that it had been already paid. Sosibius complained to the king, and the +book of receipts was sent for, in which Philadelphus found the names of +Soter, Sosigines, Bion, and Apollonius, and showing to the critic one +syllable of his name in each of those words, said that putting them +together, they must be taken as the receipt for his salary. Other +authors wrote on lighter matters. Apollodorus Gelous, the physician, +addressed to Philadelphus a volume of advice as to which Greek wines +were best fitted for his royal palate. The Italian and Sicilian were +then unknown in Egypt, and those of the Thebaid were wholly beneath +his notice, while the vine had as yet hardly been planted in the +neighbourhood of Alexandria. He particularly praised the Naspercenite +wine from the southern banks of the Black Sea, the Oretic from the +island of Euboea; the OEneatic from Locris; the Leuca-dian from the +island of Leucas; and the Ambraciote from the kingdom of Epirus. + +[Illustration: 128.jpg AN ATHLETE DISPORTING ON A CROCODILE] + +But above all these he placed the Peparethian wine from the island of +Peparethus, a wine which of course did not please the many, as this +experienced taster acknowledges that nobody is likely to have a true +relish for it till after six years’ acquaintance. Such were the Greek +authors who basked in the sunshine of royal favour at Alexandria; who +could have told us, if they had thought it worth their while, all that +we now wish to know of the trade, religion, language, and early history +of Egypt. But they thought that the barbarians were not worth the +notice of men who called themselves Macedonians. Philadelphus, however, +thought otherwise; and by his command Manetho, an Egyptian, wrote in +Greek a history of Egypt, copied from the hieroglyphical writing on +the temples, and he dedicated it to the king. We know it only in the +quotations of Josephus and Julius Africanus, and what we have is little +more than a list of kings’ names. He was a priest of Heliopolis, the +great seat of Egyptian learning. The general correctness of Manetho’s +history, which runs back for nearly two thousand years, is shown by our +finding the kings’ names agree with many Egyptian inscriptions. Manetho +owes his reputation to the merit of being the first who distinguished +himself as a writer and critic upon religion and philosophy, as well +as chronology and history, using the Greek language, but drawing his +materials from native sources, especially the Sacred Books. That he was +“skilled in Greek letters”: we learn from Josephus, who also declares +that he contradicted many of Herodotus’ erroneous statements. Manetho +was better suited for the task of writing a history of Egypt than any of +his contemporaries. + +As an Egyptian he could search out and make use of all the native +Egyptian sources, and, thanks to his knowledge of Greek, he could +present them in a form intelligible to the Hellenes. It must be +confessed that he has occasionally fallen into the error of allowing +Greek thoughts and traditions to slip into his work. The great worth +in Manetho’s work lies in the fact that he relates the history of Egypt +based on monumental sources and charters preserved in the temples. +Moreover, he treats quite impartially the times of the foreign rulers, +which the form of the Egyptian history employed by Diodorus does not +mention; but above all, Manetho gives us a list of Egyptian rulers +arranged according to a regular system. But however important in +this respect Manetho’s work may be, it must not be forgotten what +difficulties he had to contend with in the writing of it, and what +unreliable sources lay in these difficulties. He could not use the +sources in the form in which he found them. He was obliged to re-write +them, and he added to them synchronisms and relations to other peoples +which necessarily exposed him to the dangers of colouring his report +correspondingly. + +But a much greater difficulty consisted in the fact that the +chronological reports of the earlier history were all arranged according +to the reigning years of the rulers, so that Manetho was obliged to +construct an era for his work. Boeckh was the first to discover +with certainty the existence and form of this era. According to his +researches, the whole work of Manetho is based upon Sothicycles of 1460 +Julianic years. The Egyptian year was movable, and did not need the +extra day every few years, but the consequence was that every year +remained a quarter of a day behind the real year. + +[Illustration: 131.jpg MODERN SPHINX-LIKE FACE] + +When 1460-1 years had elapsed this chronological error had mounted to +a whole year, and so the movable year and the fixed year fell together +again. It is this Sothic period which Manetho has employed in his +account of Egyptian history. Besides his history, Manetho has left us a +work on astrology, called _Apotelesmatica_, or Events, a work of which +there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness. + +It is a poem in hexameter verse, in good Greek, addressed to King +Ptolemy, in which he calls, not only upon Apollo and the Muse, but, like +a true Egyptian, upon Hermes, from whose darkly worded writings he had +gained his knowledge. He says that the king’s greatness might have been +foretold from the places of Mars and the Sun at the time of his birth, +and that his marriage with his sister Arsinoë arose from the places of +Venus and Saturn at the same time. But while we smile at this being said +as the result of astronomical calculations, we must remember that for +centuries afterwards, almost in our own time, the science of judicial +astrology was made a branch of astronomy, and that the fault lay rather +in the age than in the man; and we have the pain of thinking that, +while many of the valuable writings by Manetho are lost, the copiers and +readers of manuscripts have carefully saved for us this nearly worthless +poem on astrology. + +Petosiris was another writer on astrology and astronomy who was highly +praised by his friend Manetho; and his calculations on the distances +of the sun and planets are quoted by Pliny. His works are lost; but his +name calls for our notice, as he must have been a native Egyptian, and +a priest. Like Manetho, he also wrote on the calculation of nativities; +and the later Greek astrologers, when what they had foretold did not +come to pass, were wont to lay the blame on Petosiris. The priests were +believed to possess these and other supernatural powers; and to help +their claims to be believed many of them practised ventriloquism. + +Timosthenes, the admiral under Philadelphus, must not be forgotten in +this list of authors; for though his verses to Apollo were little worth +notice, his voyages of discovery, and his work in ten books on harbours, +placed him in the first rank among geographers. Colotes, a pupil and +follower of Epicurus, dedicated to Philadelphus a work of which the very +title proves the nature of his philosophy, and how soon the rules of his +master had fitted themselves to the habits of the sensualist. Its +title was “That it is impossible even to support life according to the +philosophical rules of any but the Epicureans.” It was a good deal read +and talked about; and three hundred years afterwards Plutarch thought it +not a waste of time to write against it at some length. + +At a time when books were few, and far too dear to be within reach of +the many, and indeed when the number of those who could read must have +been small, other means were of course taken to meet the thirst after +knowledge; and the chief of these were the public readings in the +theatre. This was not overlooked by Phila-delphus, who employed +Hegesias to read Herodotus, and Hermophantus to read Homer, the earliest +historian and the earliest poet, the two authors who had taken deepest +root in the minds of the Greeks. These public readings, which were +common throughout Greece and its colonies, had not a little effect on +the authors. They then wrote for the ear rather than the eye, to be +listened to rather than to be read, which was one among the causes of +Greek elegance and simplicity of style. + +Among others who were brought to Alexandria by the fame of Philadelphus’ +bounty was Zoilus, the grammarian, whose ill-natured criticism on +Homer’s poems had earned for him the name of Homeromastix, or the +scourge of Homer. He read his criticisms to Philadelphus, who was so +much displeased with his carping and unfair manner of finding fault, +that he even refused to relieve him when in distress. The king told him, +that while hundreds had earned a livelihood by pointing out the beauties +of the Iliad and Odyssey in their public readings, surely one person who +was so much wiser might be able to live by pointing out the faults. + +Timon, a tragic poet, was also one of the visitors to this court; but, +as he was more fond of eating and drinking than of philosophy, we need +not wonder at our knowing nothing of his tragedies, or at his not +being made a professor by Philadelphus. But he took his revenge on the +better-fed philosophers of the court, in a poem in which he calls them +literary fighting-cocks, who were being fattened by the king, and were +always quarrelling in the coops of the museum. + +The Alexandrian men of science and letters maintained themselves, some +few by fees received from their pupils, others as professors holding +salaries in the museum, and others by civil employments under the +government. There was little to encourage in them the feelings of noble +pride or independence. The first rank in Alexandria was held by the +civil and military servants of the crown, who enjoyed the lucrative +employments of receiving the taxes, hearing the lawsuits by appeal, and +repressing rebellions. With these men the philosophers mixed, not as +equals, but partaking of their wealth and luxuries, and paying their +score with wit and conversation. There were no landholders in the city, +as the soil of the country was owned by Egyptians; and the wealthy +trading classes, of all nations and languages, could bestow little +patronage on Greek learning, and therefore little independence on its +professors. + +Philadelphus was not less fond of paintings and statues than of books; +and he seems to have joined the Achaian league as much for the sake of +the pictures which Aratus, its general, was in the habit of sending +to him, as for political reasons. Aratus, the chief of Sicyon, was an +acknowledged judge of paintings, and Sicyon was then the first school +of Greece. The pieces which he sent to Philadelphus were mostly those of +Pamphilus, the master, and of Melanthius, the fellow-pupil, of Apelles. +Pamphilus was famed for his perspective; and he is said to have received +from every pupil the large sum of ten talents, or seven thousand five +hundred dollars, a year. His best known pieces were, Ulysses in his +ship, and the victory of the Athenians near the town of Phlius. It was +through Pamphilus that, at first in Sicyon, and afterwards throughout +all Greece, drawing was taught to boys as part of a liberal education. +Neacles also painted for Aratus; and we might almost suppose that it was +as a gift to the King of Egypt that he painted his Sea-fight between the +Egyptians and the Persians, in which the painter shows us that it was +fought within the mouth of the Nile by making a crocodile bite at an ass +drinking on the shore. + +Helena, the daughter of Timon, was a painter of some note at this time, +at Alexandria; but the only piece of hers known to us by name is the +Battle of Issus, which three hundred years afterwards was hung up by +Vespasian in the Temple of Peace at Rome. We must wonder at a woman +choosing to paint the horrors and pains of a battle-piece; but, as we +are not told what point of time was chosen, we may hope that it was +after the battle, when Alexander, in his tent, raised up from their +knees the wife and lovely daughter of Darius, who had been found among +the prisoners. As for the Egyptians, they showed no taste in painting. + +[Illustration: 137.jpg METHOD OF EGYPTIAN DRAFTSMANSHIP] + +Their method of drawing the human figure mathematically by means of +squares, which was not unsuitable in working a statue sixty feet high, +checked all flights of genius; and it afterwards destroyed Greek art, +when the Greek painters were idle enough to use it. We hear but little +of the statues and sculptures made for Philadelphus; but we cannot help +remarking that, while the public places of Athens were filled with +the statues of the great and good men who had deserved well of their +country, the statues which were most common in Alexandria were those of +Cline, a favourite damsel, who filled the office of cup-bearer to the +king of Egypt. + +The favour shown to the Jews by Ptolemy Soter was not withdrawn by his +son. He even bought from his own soldiers and freed from slavery one +hundred and twenty thousand men of that nation, who were scattered over +Egypt. He paid for each, out of the royal treasury, one hundred and +twenty drachmas, or about fifteen dollars, to those of his subjects who +held them either by right of war or by purchase. In fixing the amount +of the ransom, the king would seem to have been guided by his Jewish +advisers, as this is exactly equal to thirty shekels, the sum fixed +by the Jewish law as the price of a slave. The Jews who lived in Lower +Egypt, in the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, looked upon that +country as their home. They had already a Greek translation of either +the whole or some part of their sacred writings, which had been made for +those whose families had been for so many generations in Egypt that they +could not read the language of their forefathers. But they now hoped, +by means of the king’s friendship and the weight which his wishes must +carry with them, to have a Greek translation of the Bible which should +bear the stamp of official authority. + +Accordingly, to please them, Philadelphus sent Aris-taaus, a man whose +wisdom had gained his friendship, and Andrseus, a captain of the guard, +both of them Greek Jews, with costly gifts to Eleazer, the high priest +of Jerusalem; and asked him to employ learned and fit men to make a +Greek translation of the Bible for the library at Alexandria. Eleazer, +so runs the tradition, named seventy elders to undertake the task, who +held their first sitting on the business at the king’s dinner-table; +when Menedemus, the Socratic philosopher, the pupil of Plato, was also +present, who had been sent to Philadelphus as ambassador from Eubcea. +The translators then divided the work among themselves; and when each +had finished his task it wras laid before a meeting of the seventy, and +then published by authority. Thus was said to have been made the +Greek translation of the Old Testament, which, from the number of the +translators, we now call the Septuagint; but a doubt is thrown upon +the whole story by the fables which have been mingled with it to give +authority to the translation. By this translation the Bible became known +for the first time to the Greek philosophers. We do not indeed hear that +they immediately read it or noticed it, we do not find it quoted till +after the spread of Christianity; but it had a silent effect on +their opinions, which we trace in the new school of Platonists soon +afterwards rising in Alexandria. + +When Aratus of Sicyon first laid a plot to free his country from its +tyrant, who reigned by the help of the King of Macedonia, he sent to +Philadelphus to beg for money. He naturally looked to the King of Egypt +for help when entering upon a struggle against their common rival; but +the king seems to have thought the plans of this young man too wild to +be countenanced. Aratus, however, soon raised Sicyon to a level with the +first states of Greece, and made himself leader of the Achaian league, +under which band and name the Greeks were then struggling for freedom +against Macedonia; and when, by his courage and success, he had shown +himself worthy of the proud name which was afterwards given him, of the +“Last of the Greeks,” Philadelphus, like other patrons, gave him +the help which he less needed. Aratus, as we have seen, bought his +friendship with pictures, the gifts of all others the most welcome; +and, when he went to Egypt, Philadelphus gave him one hundred and fifty +talents, or forty-five thousand dollars, and joined the Achaian league, +on the agreement that in carrying on the war by sea and land they should +obey the orders from Alexandria. + +The friendship of Philadelphus, indeed, was courted by all the +neighbouring states; the little island of Delos set up its statue to +him; and the cities of Greece vied with one another in doing him honour. +The Athenians named one of the tribes of their city and also one +of their public lecture-rooms by his name; and two hundred years +afterwards, when Cicero and his friend Atticus were learning wisdom and +eloquence from the lips of Antiochus in Athens, it was in the gymnasium +of Ptolemy. + +Philadelphus, when young, had married Arsinoë, the daughter of +Lysimachus of Thrace, by whom he had three children, Ptolemy, who +succeeded him, Lysimachus, and Berenicê; but, having found that his +wife was intriguing with Amyntas, and with his physician Chrysippus +of Rhodes, he put these two to death and banished the Queen Arsinoë to +Koptos in the Thebaid. + +He then took Arsinoë, his own sister, as the partner of his throne. She +had married first the old Lysimachus, King of Thrace, and then Ceraunus, +her half-brother, when he was King of Macedonia. As they were not +children of the same mother, this second marriage was neither illegal +nor improper in Macedonia; but her third marriage with Philadelphus +could only be justified by the laws of Egypt, their adopted country. +They were both past the middle age, and whether Philadelphus looked +upon her as his wife or not, at any rate they had no children. Her +own children by Lysimachus had been put to death by Ceraunus, and she +readily adopted those of her brother with all the kindness of a mother. +She was a woman of an enlarged mind; her husband and her stepchildren +alike valued her; and Eratosthenes showed his opinion of her learning +and strong sense by giving the name of Arsinoë to one of his works, +which perhaps a modern writer would have named Table-talk. + +[Illustration: 141.jpg Coin with the heads of Soter and Philadelphus and +Arsinoë] + +This seeming marriage, however, between brother and sister did not +escape blame with the Greeks of Alexandria. The poet Sotades, whose +verses were as licentious as his life, wrote some coarse lines against +the queen, for which he was forced to fly from Egypt, and, being +overtaken at sea, he was wrapped up in lead and thrown overboard. + +In the Egyptian inscriptions Ptolemy and Arsinoë are always called the +brother-gods; on the coins they are called Adelphi, the brothers; and +afterwards the king took the name of Philadelphus, or sister-loving, +by which he is now usually known. In the first half of his reign +Philadelphus dated his coins from the year that his father came to the +throne; and it was not till the nineteenth year of his reign, soon after +the death of his mother, that he made an era of his own, and dated his +coins by the year of his own reign. The wealth of the country is well +shown by the great size of those most in use, which were, in gold the +tetra-stater or piece of eight drachms, and in silver the tetra-drachma, +or piece of four drachms, while Greece had hardly seen a piece of gold +larger than the single stater. In Alexandrian accounts also the unit +of money was the silver didrachm, and thus double that in use among the +merchants of Greece. + +[Illustration: 142.jpg COIN WITH THE HEADS OF SOTER, PHILADELPHUS AND +BERENICE] + +Among the coins is one with the heads of Soter and Philadelphus on the +one side, and the head of Berenicê, the wife of the one and mother of +the other, on the other side. This we may suppose to have been struck +during the first two years of his reign, in the lifetime of his father. +Another bears on one side the heads of Ptolemy Soter and Berenicê, with +the title of “the gods,” and on the other side the heads of Philadelphus +and his wife Arsinoë, with the title of “the brothers.” This was struck +after the death of his parents. A third was struck by the king in honour +of his queen and sister. On the one side is the head of the queen, and +on the other is the name of “Arsinoë, the brother-loving,” with the +cornucopia, or horn of Amalthea, an emblem borrowed by the queens of +Egypt from the goddess Amalthea, the wife of the Libyan Anion. This was +struck after his second marriage. + +On the death of Arsinoë, Philadelphus built a tomb for her in +Alexandria, called the Arsinoëum, and set up in it an obelisk eighty +cubits high, which had been made by King Nectanebo, but had been left +plain, without carving. + +[Illustration: 143.jpg COIN OF ARSINOË, SISTER OF PTOLEMY II.] + +Satyrus, the architect, had the charge of moving it. He dug a canal to +it as it lay upon the ground, and moved two heavily laden barges under +it. The burdens were then taken out of the barges, and as they floated +higher they raised the obelisk off the ground. He then found it a task +as great or greater to set it up in its place; and this Greek engineer +must surely have looked back with wonder on the labour and knowledge of +mechanics which must have been used in setting up the obelisks, colossal +statues, and pyramids, which he saw scattered over the country. This +obelisk now ornaments the cathedral of the Popes on the Vatican hill at +Rome. Satyrus wrote a treatise on precious stones, and he also carved +on them with great skill; but his works are known only in the following +lines, which were written by Diodorus on his portrait of Arsinoë cut in +crystal: + + E’en Zeuxis had been proud to trace + The lines within this pebble seen; + Satyrus here hath carved the face + Of fair Arsinoë, Egypt’s queen; + But such her beauty, sweetness, grace, + The copy falls far short, I ween. + +Two beautiful cameos cut on sardonyx are extant, one with the heads of +Philadelphus and his first wife, Arsinoe, and the other with the heads +of the same king and his second wife, Arsinoë. It is not impossible that +one or both of them may be the work of Satyrus. + +Philadelphus is also said to have listened to the whimsical proposal +of Dinochares, the architect, to build a room of loadstone in Arsinoë’s +tomb, so that an iron statue of the queen should hang in the air between +the floor and the roof. But the death of the king and of the architect +took place before this was tried. He set up there, however, her statue +six feet high, carved out of a most remarkable block of topaz, which had +been presented to his mother by Philemon, the prefect of the Troglodytic +coast in the last reign. + +Philadelphus lived in peace with Ergamenes, King of Meroë or Upper +Ethiopia, who, while seeking for a knowledge of philosophy and the arts +of life from his Greek neighbours, seems also to have gained a love +of despotism, and a dislike of that control with which the priests of +Ethiopia and Egypt had always limited the power of their kings. The King +of Meroë had hitherto reigned like Amenôthes or Thutmosis of old, as +the head of the priesthood, supported and controlled by the priestly +aristocracy by which he was surrounded. But he longed for the absolute +power of Philadelphus. Accordingly he surrounded the golden temple with +a chosen body of troops, and put the whole of the priests to death; and +from that time he governed Ethiopia as an autocrat. But, with the loss +of their liberties, the Ethiopians lost the wish to guard the throne; by +grasping at more power, their sovereign lost what he already possessed; +and in the next reign their country was conquered by Egypt. + +The wars between Philadelphus and his great neighbour, Antiochus Theos, +seem not to have been carried on very actively, though they did not +wholly cease till Philadelphus offered as a bribe his daughter Berenicê, +with a large sum of money under the name of a dower. Antiochus was +already married to Laodice, whom he loved dearly, and by whom he had two +children, Seleucus and Antiochus; but political ambition had deadened +the feelings of his heart, and he agreed to declare this first marriage +void and his two sons illegitimate, and that his children, if any should +be born to him by Berenicê, should inherit the throne of Babylon and the +East. Philadelphus, with an equal want of feeling, and disregarding the +consequences of such a marriage, led his daughter to Pelusium on her +journey to her betrothed husband, and sent with her so large a sum of +gold and silver that he was nicknamed the “dower-giver.” + +The peace between the two countries lasted as long as Philadelphus +lived, and was strengthened by kindnesses which each did to the other. +Ptolemy, when in Syria, was much struck by the beauty of a statue of +Diana, and begged it of Antiochus as an ornament for Alexandria. But as +soon as the statue reached Egypt, Arsinoë fell dangerously ill, and she +dreamed that the goddess came by night, and told her that the illness +was sent to her for the wrong done to the statue by her husband; and +accordingly it was sent back with many gifts to the temple from which it +had been brought. + +While Berenicê and her husband lived at Antioch, Philadelphus kindly +sent there from time to time water from the sacred Nile for her use, as +the Egyptians believed that none other was so wholesome. Antiochus, +when ill, sent to Alexandria for a physician; and Cleombrotus of Cos +accordingly went, by command of Ptolemy, to Syria. He was successful +in curing the king, and on his return he received from Philadelphus a +present of one hundred talents, or seventy-five thousand dollars, as a +fee for his journey. + +Philadelphus was a weak frame of body, and had delicate health; and, +though a lover of learning beyond other kings of his time, he also +surpassed them in his unmeasured luxury and love of pleasure. He had +many mistresses, Egyptian as well as Greek, and the names of some of +them have been handed down to us. He often boasted that he had found out +the way to live for ever; but, like other free-livers, he was sometimes, +by the gout in his feet, made to acknowledge that he was only a man, and +indeed to wish that he could change places with the beggar whom he saw +from his palace windows, eating the garbage on the banks of the Nile +with an appetite which he had long wanted. It was during illness that +he found most time for reading, and his mind most open to the truths of +philosophy; and he chiefly wooed the Muses when ill health left him at +leisure from his other courtships. He had a fleet of eight hundred state +barges with gilt prows and poops and scarlet awnings upon the decks, +which were used in the royal processions and religious shows, and which +usually lay in dock at Schedia, on the Canopic River, five and twenty +miles from Alexandria. He was no doubt in part withheld from war by this +luxurious love of ease; but his reign taught the world the new lesson, +that an ambitious monarch may gratify his wish for praise and gain the +admiration of surrounding nations, as much by cultivating the blessed +arts of peace as by plunging his people into the miseries of war. + +He reigned over Egypt, with the neighbouring parts of Arabia; also over +Libya, Phoenicia, Cole-Syria, part of Ethiopia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, +Lycia, Caria, Cyprus, and the isles of the Cyclades. The island of +Rhodes and many of the cities of Greece were bound to him by the closest +ties of friendship, for past help and for the hope of future. The +wealthy cities of Tyre and Sidon did homage to him, as before to his +father, by putting his crowned head upon their coins. The forces of +Egypt reached the very large number of two hundred thousand foot and +twenty thousand horse, two thousand chariots, four hundred Ethiopian +elephants, fifteen hundred ships of war and one thousand transports. Of +this large force, it is not likely that even one-fourth should have been +Greeks; the rest must have been Egyptians and Syrians, with some Gauls. +The body of chariots, though still forming part of the force furnished +for military service by the Theban tenants of the crown, was of no +use against modern science; and the other Egyptian troops, though now +chiefly armed and disciplined like Greeks, were very much below the +Macedonian phalanx in real strength. The galleys also, though no doubt +under the guidance and skill of Greeks and Phoenicians, were in part +manned by Egyptians, whose inland habits wholly unfitted them for the +sea, and whose religious prejudices made them feel the conscription for +the navy as a heavy grievance. + +These large forces were maintained by a yearly income equally large, of +fourteen thousand eight hundred talents, or twelve million two hundred +and fifty thousand dollars, beside the tax on grain, which was taken +in kind, of a million and a half of artabas, or about five millions of +bushels. To this we may add a mass of gold, silver, and other valuable +stores in the treasury, which were boastfully reckoned at the unheard-of +sum of seven hundred and forty thousand talents, or above five hundred +million dollars. + +[Illustration: 149.jpg A TYPICAL NILE PILOT] + +The trade down the Nile was larger than it had ever been before; the +coasting trade on the Mediterranean was new; the people were rich and +happy; justice was administered to the Egyptians according to their own +laws, and to the Greeks of Alexandria according to the Macedonian laws: +the navy commanded the whole of the eastern half of the Mediterranean; +the schools and library had risen to a great height upon the wise plans +of Ptolemy Soter; in every point of view Alexandria was the chief city +in the world. Athens had no poets or other writers during this century +equal in merit to those who ennobled the museum. Philadelphus, by +joining to the greatness and good government of his father the costly +splendour and pomp of an eastern monarch, so drew the eyes of after ages +upon his reign that his name passed into a proverb: if any work of +art was remarkable for its good taste or costliness, it was called +Philadelphian; even history and chronology were set at nought, and we +sometimes find poets of a century later counted among the Pleiades of +Alexandria in the reign of Philadelphus. It is true that many of these +advantages were forced in the hotbed of royal patronage; that the navy +was built in the harbours of Phoenicia and Asia Minor; and that the men +of letters who then drew upon themselves the eyes of the world were +only Greek settlers, whose writings could have done little to raise +the character of the native Kopts. But the Ptolemies, in raising this +building of their own, were not at the same time crushing another. Their +splendid monarchy had not been built on the ruins of freedom; and even +if the Greek settlers in the Delta had formed themselves into a free +state, we can hardly believe that the Egyptians would have been so well +treated as they were by this military despotism. From the temples +which were built or enlarged in Upper Egypt, and from the beauty of the +hieroglyphical inscriptions, we find that even the native arts were +more flourishing than they had ever been since the fall of the kings of +Thebes; and we may almost look upon the Greek conquest as a blessing to +Upper Egypt. + +Philadelphus, though weak in body, was well suited by his +keen-sightedness and intelligence for the tasks which the state of +affairs at that time demanded from an Egyptian king. He was a diplomat +rather than a warrior, and that was exactly what Egypt needed. + +A curious anecdote about Ptolemy Philadelphus is related by Niebuhr. He +had reached the zenith of his glory, when suddenly he was attacked by +a species of insanity, consisting of an indescribable fear of death. +Chemical artifices were practised in Egypt from the earliest times; and +hence Ptolemy took every imaginable pains to find the elixir of life; +but it was all in vain, for his strength was rapidly decreasing. Once, +like Louis XI., he was looking from a window of his palace upon the +seacoast, and seriously meditated upon the subject of his longing; it +must have been in winter-time, when the sand, exposed to the rays of the +sun, becomes very warm. He saw some poor boys burying themselves in the +warm sand and screaming with delight, and the aged king began bitterly +to cry, seeing the ragged urchins enjoying their life without any +apprehension of losing it; for he felt that with all his riches he could +not purchase that happiness, and that his end was very near at hand. He +died in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, and perhaps the sixty-first +of his age. He left the kingdom as powerful and more wealthy than when +it came to him from his father; and he had the happiness of having a son +who would carry on, even for the third generation, the wise plans of the +first Ptolemy. + +[Illustration: 153.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER IV--PTOLEMY EUERGETES, PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR, AND PTOLEMY +EPIPHANES. + + +_The struggle for Syria--Decline of the dynasty--Advent of Roman +control._ + + +Ptolemy, the eldest son of Philadelphus, succeeded his father on +the throne of Egypt, and after a short time was accorded the name of +Euergetes. The new reign was clouded by dark occurrences, which again +involved Egypt and Syria in war. It has been already related that when +peace was concluded between Antiochus and Philadelphus, the latter gave +to the former his daughter Berenicê in marriage, stipulating that the +offspring of that union should succeed to the Syrian throne, though +Antiochus had, by his wife Laodice, a son, already arrived at the age of +manhood. The repudiated queen murdered her husband, and placed Seleucus +on the vacant throne; who, in order to remove all competition on the +part of Berenicê and her child, made no scruple to deprive them both +of life. Euergetes could not behold such proceedings unmoved. Advancing +into Syria at the head of a powerful army, he took possession of the +greater part of the country, which seems not to have been defended, +the majority of the cities opening their gates at his approach. The +important town of Seleucia Pieria, the seaport of the capital, fell into +his hands, in the neighbourhood of which he was still further gratified +with the apprehension of the cruel Laodice, at whose instigation his +sister and nephew lost their lives. The punishment of this unprincipled +woman seems, however, to have completely satiated his resentment; for, +instead of securing his conquests in Syria, and achieving the entire +humiliation of Seleucus, he led his army on a plundering expedition into +the remote provinces of Asia, whence, on the news of domestic troubles, +he returned to the shores of Africa in triumph, laden with an immense +booty, comprising among other objects all the statues of the Egyptian +deities which had been carried off by Cambyses to Persia or Babylon. +These he restored to their respective temples, an act by which he earned +the greatest popularity among his native Egyptian subjects, who bestowed +upon him, in consequence, the title of Euergetes (Benefactor), by which +he is generally known. He brought back also from this expedition a vast +number of other works of art, for the museums were a passion with the +Ptolemies. The Asiatics might, indeed, have got over these things, but +he levied, in addition, immense contributions from the Asiatics, and is +said to have raised over forty thousand talents. On his march homeward, +he laid his gifts upon the altar in the Temple of Jerusalem, and there +returned thanks to Heaven for his victories. He had been taught to bow +the knee to the crowds of Greek and Egyptian gods; and, as Palestine was +part of his kingdom, it seemed quite natural to add the God of the Jews +to the list. + +Of the insurrection in Egypt, which obliged him to return, we know no +particulars, but Euergetes seems to have become convinced that Egypt was +too small a basis for such an empire. “If he had wished to retain all +his conquests” relates the chronicler, “he would have been obliged to +make Antioch his residence, and this would weaken the ground of his +strength. He, moreover, appears to have been well aware that the +conquests had been made too quickly.” He accordingly divided them, +retaining for himself Syria as far as Euphrates, and the coast districts +of Asia Minor and Thrace, so that he had a complete maritime empire. The +remaining territories he divided into two states: the country beyond the +Euphrates was given, according to St. Jerome, to one Xantippus, who +is otherwise unknown, and Western Asia was left to Antiochus Hierax. It +would seem that after this he never visited those countries again. + +One of the notable incidents of the war against Syria was an offer +of help to Egypt from the Romans. From the middle of the reign of +Philadelphus till the fifth year of this reign, for twenty-two years, +the Romans had been struggling with the Carthaginians for their very +being, in the first Punic war, which they had just brought to a close, +and on hearing of Ptolemy’s war in Syria, they sent to Egypt with +friendly offers of help. But their ambassadors did not reach Alexandria +before peace was made, and they were sent home with many thanks. The +event serves to show the trend of the aspirations of this now important +nation, which was afterwards destined to engulf the kingdoms of Egypt +and Syria alike. + +After Euergetes had, as he thought, established his authority in Asia, +a party hostile to him came forward to oppose him. The Rhodians, with +their wise policy, who had hitherto given no decided support to either +empire, now stepped forward, setting to other maritime cities the +example of joining that hostile party. The confederates formed a fleet, +with the assistance of which, and supported by a general insurrection of +the Asiatics, who were exasperated against the Egyptians on account of +their rapacity, Seleucus Callinicus rallied again. + +[Illustration: 157.jpg AN ABYSSINIAN SLAVE] + +He recovered the whole of upper Asia, and for a time he was united with +his brother, Antiochus Hierax. The insurrection in Egypt must have +been of a very serious nature, and Ptolemy, being pressed on all +sides, concluded a truce of ten years with Seleucus on basis of _uti +possidetis_. Both parties seem to have retained the places which they +possessed at the time, so that all the disadvantage was on the side of +the Seleucidæ, for the fortified town of Seleucia, for example, remained +in the hands of the Egyptians, whereby the capital was placed in a +dangerous position. A part of Cilicia, the whole of Caria, the Ionian +cities, the Thracian Chersonesus, and several Macedonian towns likewise +continued to belong to Egypt. Soon after his re-appearance in Egypt, +Euergetes was solicited by Cleomenes, the King of Sparta, to grant the +assistance of his arms in the struggle which that republic was then +supporting with Antigonus, the ruler of Macedon, and with the members +of the Achaian league. But the battle of Sellasia proved that the aid +offered was inadequate. Cleomenes fled to the banks of the Nile, where +he found his august ally reposing under the successful banners of a +numerous army, which he had just led home from the savage mountains of +Ethiopia, whither his love of romantic conquest had conducted them. He +appears to have penetrated into the interior provinces of Abyssinia, +and to have subdued the rude tribes which dwelt on the shores of the +Red Sea, levying on the unfortunate natives the most oppressive +contributions in cattle, gold, perfumes, and other articles belonging +to that valuable merchandise which the Ethiopians and Arabs had long +carried on with their Egyptian neighbours. At Adule, the principal +seaport of Abyssinia, he collected his victorious troops, and made them +a speech on the wonderful exploits which they had achieved under his +auspices, and on the numerous benefits which they had thereby secured +to their native country. The throne on which he sat, composed of white +marble and supported by a slab of porphyry, was consecrated to the god +of war, whom he chose to claim for his father and patron, and that the +descendants of the vanquished Ethiopians might not be ignorant of their +obligations to Ptolemy Euergetes, King of Egypt, he gave orders that his +name and principal triumphs should be inscribed on the votive chair. But +not content with his real conquests, which reached from the Hellespont +to the Euphrates, he added, like Ramsesr that he had conquered +Thrace, Persia, Media, and Bactria. He thus teaches us that monumental +inscriptions, though read with difficulty, do not always tell the truth. +This was the most southerly spot to which the kings of Egypt ever sent +an army. But they kept no hold on the country. Distance had placed it +not only beyond their power, but almost beyond their knowledge; and +two hundred years afterwards, when the geographer Strabo was making +inquiries about that part of Arabia, as it was called, he was told of +this monument as set up by the hero Sesostris, to whom it was usual to +give the credit of so many wonderful works. These inscriptions, it +is worthy of remark, are still preserved, and constitute the only +historical account that has reached these times of the Ethiopian warfare +of this Egyptian monarch. About seven hundred years after the reign +of Euergetes, they were first published in the _Topography_ of Cosmas +Indicopleustes, a Grecian monk, by whom they were copied on the spot. +The traveller Bruce, moreover, informs us that the stone containing the +name of Ptolemy Euergetes serves as a footstool to the throne on which +the kings of Abyssinia are crowned to this day. + +[Illustration: 160b.jpg SIGNS, ARMS AND INSTRUMENTS FROM THE FIFTH TOMB] + +Amid the ruins of Ascum, also, the ancient capital of that country, +various fragments of marble have been found bearing the name and title +of the same Egyptian sovereign. This empty fame, however, is the only +return that ever recompensed the toils of Euergetes among the fierce +barbarians of the south. + +Euergetes, as part of his general policy of conciliating the Egyptians, +enlarged the great temple at Thebes, which is now called the temple +of Karnak, on the walls of which we see him handing an offering to +his father and mother, the brother-gods. In one place he is in a Greek +dress, which is not common on the Ptolemaic buildings, as most of the +Greek kings are carved upon the walls in the dress of the country. The +early kings had often shown their piety to a temple by enlarging the +sacred area and adding a new wall and gateway in front of the former; +and this custom Euergetes followed at Karnak. As these grand stone +sculptured gateways belonged to a wall of unbaked bricks which has long +since crumbled to pieces, they now stand apart like so many triumphal +arches. He also added to the temple at Hibe in the Great Oasis, and +began a small temple at Esne, or Latopolis, where he is drawn upon the +walls in the act of striking down the chiefs of the conquered nations, +and is followed by a tame lion. + +[Illustration: 161.jpg GATE AT KARNAK] + +He built a temple to Osiris at Canopus, on the mouth of the Nile; for, +notwithstanding the large number of Greeks and strangers who had settled +there, the ancient religion was not yet driven out of the Delta; and he +dedicated it to the god in a Greek inscription on a plate of gold, in +the names of himself and Berenicê, whom he called his wife and sister. +She is also called the king’s sister in many of the hieroglyphical +inscriptions, as are many of the other queens of the Ptolemies who were +not so related to their husbands. This custom, though it took its rise +in the Egyptian mythology, must have been strengthened by the marriages +of Philadelphus and some of his successors with their sisters. In the +hieroglyphical inscriptions he is usually called “beloved by Phtah,” + the god of Memphis, an addition to his name which was used by most of +his successors. + +During this century the Greek artists in Egypt, as indeed elsewhere, +adopted in their style an affectation of antiquity, which, unless seen +through, would make us think their statues older than they really are. +They sometimes set a stiff beard upon a face without expression, or +arranged the hair of the head in an old-fashioned manner, and, while +making the drapery fly out in a direction opposed to that of the figure, +gave to it formal zigzag lines, which could only be proper if it were +hanging down in quiet. At other times, while they gave to the human +figure all the truth to which their art had then reached, they yet gave +to the drapery these stiff zigzag forms. + +[Illustration: 163.jpg RUINS OF SAIS] + +No habit of mind would have been more improving to the Alexandrian +character than a respect for antiquity; but this respect ought to be +shown in a noble rivalry, in trying to surpass those who have gone +before them, and not as in this manner by copying their faults. +Hieroglyphics seem to have flourished in their more ancient style and +forms under the generous patronage of the Ptolemies. In the time of the +Egyptian kings of Lower Egypt, we find new grammatical endings to the +nouns, and more letters used to spell each word than under the kings of +Thebes; but, on comparing the hieroglyphics of the Ptolemies with the +others, we find that in these and some other points they are more like +the older writings, under the kings of Thebes, than the newer, under the +kings of Saïs. + +But, while the Egyptians were flattered, and no doubt raised in moral +worth, by their monarch’s taking up the religious feelings of the +country, and throwing aside some of the Greek habits of his father and +grandfather, Euergetes was sowing the seeds of a greater change than he +could himself have been aware of. It was by Greek arms and arts of war +that Egypt then held its place among nations, and we shall see in +the coming reigns that, while the court became more Asiatic and +less European, the army and government did not retain their former +characteristics. + +Since Coele-Syria and Judæa were by the first Ptolemy made a province of +Egypt, the Jews had lived in unbroken tranquillity, and with very +little loss of freedom. The kings of Egypt had allowed them to govern +themselves, to live under their own laws, and choose their own high +priest; but they required of them the payment to Alexandria of a yearly +tribute. Part of this was the sacred poll-tax of half a shekel, or +about sixteen cents for every male above the age of twenty, which by the +Mosaic law they had previously paid for the service of the Temple. +This is called in the Gospels the Didrachms; though the Alexandrian +translators of the Bible, altering the sum, either through mistake or on +purpose, have made it in the Greek Pentateuch only half a didrachm, or +about eight cents. This yearly tribute from the Temple the high priest +of Jerusalem had been usually allowed to collect and farm; but in the +latter end of this reign, the high priest Onias, a weak and covetous +old man, refused to send to Alexandria the twenty talents, or fifteen +thousand dollars, at which it was then valued. When Euergetes sent +Athenion as ambassador to claim it, and even threatened to send a body +of troops to fetch it, still the tribute was not paid; notwithstanding +the fright of the Jews, the priest would not part with his money. On +this, Joseph, the nephew of Onias, set out for Egypt, to try and turn +away the king’s anger. He went to Memphis, and met Euergetes riding in +his chariot with the queen and Athenion, the ambassador. The king, when +he knew him, begged him to get into the chariot and sit with him; and +Joseph made himself so agreeable that he was lodged in the palace +at Memphis, and dined every day at the royal table. While he was at +Memphis, the revenues of the provinces for the coming year were put up +to auction; and the farmers bid eight thousand talents, or six million +dollars, for the taxes of Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Samaria. Joseph +then bid double that sum, and, when he was asked what security he could +give, he playfully said that he was sure that Euergetes and the queen +would willingly become bound for his honesty; and the king was so much +pleased with him that the office was at once given to him, and he held +it for twenty-two years. + +Among the men of letters who at this time taught in the Alexandrian +schools was Aristophanes, the grammarian, who afterwards held the office +of head of the museum. At one of the public sittings at which the king +was to hear the poems and other writings of the pupils read, and, by +the help of seven men of letters who sat with him as judges, was to +give away honours and rewards to the best authors, one of the chairs was +empty, one of the judges happened not to be there. The king asked who +should be called up to fill his place; and, after thinking over the +matter, the six judges fixed upon Aristophanes, who had made himself +known to them by being seen daily studying in the public library. When +the reading was over, the king, the public, and the six other judges +were agreed upon which was the best piece of writing; but Aristophanes +was bold enough to think otherwise, and he was able, by means of his +great reading, to find the book in the library from which the pupil had +copied the greater part of his work. The king was much struck with +this proof of his learning, and soon afterwards made him keeper of +the library which he had already so well used. Aristophanes followed +Zenodotus in his critical efforts to mend the text of Homer’s poems. He +also invented the several marks by which grammarians now distinguish the +length and tone of a syllable and the breathing of a vowel, that is, the +marks for long and short, and the accents and aspirate. The last two, +after his time, were always placed over Greek words, and are still used +in printed books. + +Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the inventor of astronomical geography, was at +this time the head of the mathematical school. He has the credit for +being the first to calculate the circumference of the earth by means +of his Theory of Shadows. As a poet he wrote a description of the +constellations. He also wrote a history of Egypt, to correct the errors +of Manetho. What most strikes us with wonder and regret is, that of +these two writers, Manetho, an Egyptian priest who wrote in Greek, +Eratosthenes, a Greek who understood something of Egyptian, neither of +them took the trouble to lay open to their readers the peculiarities of +the hieroglyphics. Through all these reigns, the titles and praises of +the Ptolemies were carved upon the temples in the sacred characters. +These two histories were translated from the same inscriptions. We even +now read the names of the kings which they mention carved on the statues +and temples; and yet the language of the hieroglyphics still remained +unknown beyond the class of priests; such was the want of curiosity on +the part of the Greek grammarians of Alexandria. Such, we may add, was +their want of respect for the philosophy of the Egyptians; and we +need no stronger proof that the philosophers of the museum had hitherto +borrowed none of the doctrines of the priests. + +[Illustration: 169.jpg GATEWAY OF PTOLEMY EUERGETES AT KARNAK] + +Lycon of Troas was another settler in Alexandria. He followed Strato at +the head of one of the schools in the museum. He was very successful in +bringing up the young men, who needed, he used to say, modesty and the +love of praise, as a horse needs bridle and spur. His eloquence was so +pleasing that he was wittily called Glycon, or the sweet. Carneades of +Cyrene at the same time held a high place among philosophers; but as +he had removed to Athens, where he was at the head of a school, and was +even sent to Rome as the ambassador of the Athenians, we must not claim +the whole honour of him for the Ptolemies under whom he was born. It is +therefore enough to say of him that, though a follower of Plato, he made +such changes in the opinions of the Academy, by not wholly throwing off +the evidence of the senses, that his school was called the New Academy. + +Apollonius, who was born at Alexandria, but is commonly called +Apollonius Rhodius because he passed many years of his life at Rhodes, +had been, like Eratosthenes, a hearer of Callimachus. His only work +which we now know is his _Argonautics_, a poem on the voyage of Jason +to Colchis in search of the golden fleece. It is a regular epic poem, +in imitation of Homer; and, like other imitations, it wants the interest +which hangs upon reality of manners and story in the Iliad. + +Callimachus showed his dislike of his young rival by hurling against him +a reproachful poem, in which he speaks of him under the name of an Ibis. +This is now lost, but it was copied by Ovid in his poem of the same +name; and from the Roman we can gather something of the dark and learned +style in which Callimachus threw out his biting reproaches. We do not +know from what this quarrel arose, but it seems to have been the cause +of Apollonius leaving Alexandria. He removed to Rhodes, where he taught +in the schools during all the reign of Philopator, till he was recalled +by Epiphanes, and made librarian of the museum in his old age, on the +death of Eratosthenes. + +Lycophron, the tragic writer, lived about this time at Alexandria, and +was one of the seven men of letters sometimes called the Alexandrian +Pleiades, though writers are not agreed upon the names which fill up the +list. His tragedies are all lost, and the only work of his which we now +have is the dark and muddy poem of Alcandra, or Cassandra, of which the +lines most striking to the historian are those in which the prophetess +foretells the coming greatness of Rome; that the children of Æneas will +raise the crown upon their spears, and seize the sceptres of sea and +land. Lycophron was the friend of Menedemus and Aratus; and it is not +easy to believe that these lines were written before the overthrow of +Hannibal in Italy, and of the Greek phalanx at Cynocéphale, or that +one who was a man in the reign of Philadelphus should have foreseen the +triumph of the Roman arms. These words must have been a later addition +to the poem, to improve the prophecy. + +Conon, one of the greatest of the Alexandrian astronomers, has left no +writings for us to judge of his merits, though they were thought highly +of, and made great use of, by his successors. He worked both as an +observer and an inquirer, mapping out the heavens by his observations, +and collecting the accounts of the eclipses which had been before +observed in Egypt. He was the friend of Archimedes of Syracuse, to +whom he sent his problems, and from whom he received that great +geometrician’s writings in return. + +Apollonius of Perga came to Alexandria in this reign, to study +mathematics under the pupils of Euclid. He is well known for his work +on conic sections, and he may be called the founder of this study. +The Greek mathematicians sought after knowledge for its own sake, and +followed up those branches of their studies which led to no end that +could in the narrow sense be called useful, with the same zeal that they +did other branches out of which sprung the great practical truths of +mechanics, astronomy, and geography. They found reward enough in the +enlargement of their minds and in the beauty of the truth learnt. +Alexandrian science gained in loftiness of tone what its poetry and +philosophy wanted. Thus the properties of the ellipse, the hyperbola, +and the parabola, continued to be studied by after mathematicians; but +no use was made of this knowledge till nearly two thousand years later, +when Kepler crowned the labours of Apollonius with the great discovery +that the paths of the planets round the sun were conic sections. +The Egyptians, however, made great use of mathematical knowledge, +particularly in the irrigation of their fields; and Archimedes of +Syracuse, who came to Alexandria about this time to study under Conon, +did the country a real service by his invention of the cochlea, or +screw-pump. The more distant fields of the valley of the Nile, rising +above the level of the inundation, have to be watered artificially by +pumping out of the canals into ditches at a higher level. For this work +Archimedes proposed a spiral tube, twisting round an axis, which was to +be put in motion either by the hand or by the force of the stream out +of which it was to pump; and this was found so convenient that it soon +became the machine most in use throughout Egypt for irrigation. + +But while we are dazzled by the brilliancy of these clusters of men of +letters and science who graced the court of Alexandria, we must not shut +our eyes to those faults which are always found in works called forth +rather by the fostering warmth of royal pensions than by a love of +knowledge in the people. The well-fed and well-paid philosophers of the +museum were not likely to overtake the mighty men of Athens in its +best days, who had studied and taught without any pension from the +government, without taking any fee from their pupils; who were urged +forward towards excellence by the love of knowledge and of honour; who +had no other aim than that of being useful to their hearers, and looked +for no reward beyond their love and esteem. + +In oratory Alexandria made no attempts whatever; it is a branch of +literature not likely to flourish under a despotic monarchy. In Athens +it fell with the loss of liberty, and Demetrius Phalereus was the +last of the real Athenian orators. After his time the orations were +declamations written carefully in the study, and coldly spoken in the +school for the instruction of the pupils, and wholly wanting in fire and +genius; and the Alexandrian men of letters forbore to copy Greece in +its lifeless harangues. For the same reasons the Alexandrians were not +successful in history. A species of writing, which a despot requires +to be false and flattering, is little likely to flourish; and hence +the only historians of the museum were chronologists, antiquaries, and +writers of travels. The coins of Euergetes bear the name of “Ptolemy the +king,” round the head on the one side, with no title by which they can +be known from the other kings of the same name. + +[Illustration: 175.jpg COIN OF PTOLEMY III.] + +But his portrait is known from his Phoenician coins. In the same way the +coins of his queen have only the name of “Berenicê the queen,” but +they are known from those of the later queens by the beauty of the +workmanship, which soon fell far below that of the first Ptolemies. + +Euergetes had married his cousin Berenicê, who like the other queens of +Egypt is sometimes called Cleopatra; by her he left two sons, Ptolemy +and Magas, to the eldest of whom he left his kingdom, after a reign of +twenty-five years of unclouded prosperity. Egypt was during this reign +at the very height of its power and wealth. It had seen three kings, +who, though not equally great men, not equally fit to found a monarchy +or to raise the literature of a people, were equally successful in the +parts which they had undertaken. Euergetes left to his son a kingdom +perhaps as large as the world had ever seen under one sceptre; and +though many of his boasted victories were like letters written in +the sand, of which the traces were soon lost, yet he was by far the +greatest, and possibly the wisest, monarch of his day. + +We may be sure that in these prosperous reigns life and property were +safe, and justice was administered fairly by judges who were independent +of the crown; as even centuries afterwards we find that it was part of +a judge’s oath on taking office, that, if he were ordered by the king to +do what was wrong, he would not obey him. But here the bright pages in +the history of the Ptolemies end. + +[Illustration: 176.jpg COIN OF BERENICE, WIFE OF PTOLEMY III.] + +Though trade and agriculture still enriched the country, though arts and +letters did not quit Alexandria, we have from this time forward to mark +the growth only of vice and luxury, and to measure the wisdom of Ptolemy +Soter by the length of time that his laws and institutions were able to +bear up against the misrule and folly of his descendants. + +Ptolemy, the eldest son of Euergetes, inherited the crown of his +forefathers, but none of the great qualities by which they had won and +guarded it. He was then about thirty-four years old. His first act was +to call together his council, and to ask their advice about putting to +death his mother Berenicê and his brother Magas. Their crime was the +being too much liked by the army; and the council was called upon to say +whether it would be safe to have them killed. Cleomenes, the banished +King of Sparta, who was one of the council, alone raised his voice +against their murder, and wisely said that the throne would be still +safer if there were more brothers to stand between the king and the +daring hopes of a traitor. The minister Sosibius, on the other hand, +said that the mercenaries could not be trusted while Magas was alive; +but Cleomenes remarked to him, that more than three thousand of them +were Peloponnesians, and that they would follow him sooner than they +would follow Magas. + +Berenicê and Magas were, however, put to death, but the speech of +Cleomenes was not forgotten. If his popularity with the mercenaries +could secure their allegiance, he could, when he chose, make them rebel; +from that time he was treated rather as a prisoner than as a friend, +and by his well-meaning but incautious observation he lost all chance +of being helped to regain his kingdom. Nothing is known of the death of +Euergetes, the late king, and there is no proof that it was by unfair +means. But when his son began a cruel and wicked reign by putting to +death his mother and brother, and by taking the name of Philopator, or +father-loving, the world seems to have thought that he was the murderer +of his father, and had taken this name to throw a cloak over the deed. +By this murder of his brother, and by the minority both of Antiochus, +King of Syria, and of Philip, King of Macedonia, Philopator found +himself safe from enemies either at home or abroad, and he gave himself +up to a life of thoughtlessness and pleasure. The army and fleet were +left to go to ruin, and the foreign provinces, which had hitherto been +looked upon as the bulwarks of Egypt, were only half-guarded; but the +throne rested on the virtues of his forefathers, and it was not till his +death that it was found to have been undermined by his own follies and +vice. + +Egypt had been governed by kings of more than usual wisdom for above one +hundred years, and was at the very height of its power when Philopator +came to the throne. He found himself master of Ethiopia, Cy-rene, +Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, part of Upper Syria, Cyprus, Rhodes, the cities +along the coast of Asia Minor from Pamphilia to Lysimachia, and the +cities of Ænos and Maronea in Thrace. The unwilling obedience of +distant provinces usually costs more than it is worth; but many of these +possessions across the Mediterranean had put themselves willingly into +the power of his predecessors for the sake of their protection, and +they cost little more than a message to warn off invaders. Egypt was the +greatest naval power in the world, having the command of the sea and the +whole of the coast at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. + +On the death of Euergetes, the happiness of the people came to an end. +The first trouble arose from the loose and vicious habits of the new +king, and was an attempt made upon his life by Cleomenes, who found the +palace in Alexandria had now become a prison. The Spartan took advantage +of the king’s being at Canopus to escape from his guards, and to raise +a riot in Alexandria; but not being able to gain the citadel, and seeing +that disgrace and death must follow upon his failure, he stabbed himself +with his own dagger. + +The kingdom of Syria, after being humbled by Ptolemy Euergetes, +had risen lately under the able rule of Antiochus, son of Seleucus +Callinicus. He was a man possessed of abilities of a high order. His +energy and courage soon recovered from Egypt the provinces that Syria +had before lost, and afterwards gained for him the name of Antiochus the +Great. He made himself master of the city of Damascus by a stratagem. +Soon after this, Seleucia, the capital, which had been taken by +Euergetes, was retaken by Antiochus, or rather given up to him by +treachery. Theodotus also, the Alexandrian governor of Coele-Syria, +delivered up to him that province; and Antiochus marched southward, and +had taken Tyre and Ptolemaïs before the Egyptian army could be brought +into the field. There he gained forty ships of war, of which twenty were +decked vessels with four banks of oars, and the others smaller. He +then marched towards Egypt, and on his way learned that Ptolemy was at +Memphis. On his arrival at Pelusium he found that the place was strongly +guarded, and that the garrison had opened the flood-gates from the +neighbouring lake, and thereby spoiled the fresh water of all the +neighbourhood; he therefore did not lay siege to that city, but seized +many of the open towns on the east side of the Nile. + +On this, Philopator roused himself from his idleness, and got together +his forces against the coming danger. His troops consisted of Greeks, +Egyptians, and mercenaries to the total of seventy-three thousand men +and seventy-three elephants, or one elephant to every thousand men, +which was the number usually allowed to the armies about this time. But +before this army reached Pelusium, Antiochus had led back his forces +to winter in Seleucia. The next spring Antiochus again marched towards +Egypt with an army of seventy-two thousand foot, six thousand horse, and +one hundred and two elephants. Philopator led his whole forces to the +frontier to oppose his march, and met the Syrian army near the village +of Raphia, the border town between Egypt and Palestine. Arsinoë, his +queen and sister, rode with him on horseback through the ranks, and +called upon the soldiers to fight for their wives and children. At first +the Egyptians seemed in danger of being beaten. As the armies approached +one another, the Ethiopian elephants trembled at the very smell of the +Indian elephants, and shrunk from engaging with beasts so much larger +than themselves. On the charge, the left wing of each army was routed, +as was often the case among the Greeks, when, from too great a trust in +the shield, every soldier kept moving to the right, and thus left the +left wing uncovered. But before the end of the day the invading army was +defeated; and, though some of the Egyptian officers treacherously left +their posts, and carried their troops over to Antiochus, yet the Syrian +army was wholly routed, and Arsinoë enjoyed the knowledge and the praise +of having been the chief cause of her husband’s success. The king in +gratitude sacrificed to the gods the unusual offering of four elephants. + +By this victory Philopator regained Coele-Syria, and there he spent +three months; he then made a hasty, and, if we judge his reasons +rightly, we must add, a disgraceful treaty with the enemy, that he might +the sooner get back to his life of ease. Before going home he passed +through Jerusalem, where he gave thanks and sacrificed to the Hebrew +god in the temple of the Jews; and, being struck with the beauty of the +building, asked to be shown into the inner room, in which were kept +the ark of the covenant, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the golden pot of +manna, with the tables of the covenant. The priests told him of their +law, by which every stranger, every Jew, and every priest but the high +priest, was forbidden to pass beyond the second veil; but Philopator +roughly answered that he was not bound by the Jewish laws, and ordered +them to lead him into the holy of holies. + +The city was thrown into alarm by this unheard-of wickedness; the +streets were filled with men and women in despair; the air was rent +with shrieks and cries, and the priests prayed to Javeh to guard his own +temple from the stain. The king’s mind, however, was not to be changed; +the refusal of the priests only strengthened his wish, and all struggle +was useless while the court of the temple was filled with Greek +soldiers. But, says the Jewish historian, the prayer of the priests was +heard; the king fell to the ground in a fit, like a reed broken by the +wind, and was carried out speechless by his friends and generals. + +On his return to Egypt, he showed his hatred of the nation by his +treatment of the Jews in Alexandria. He made a law that they should lose +the rank of Macedonians, and be enrolled among the class of Egyptians. +He ordered them to have their bodies marked with pricks, in the form of +an ivy leaf, in honour of Bacchus; and those who refused to have this +done were outlawed, or forbidden to enter the courts of justice. The +king himself had an ivy leaf marked with pricks upon his forehead, from +which he received the nickname of Gallus. This custom of marking the +body had been forbidden in the Levitical law: it was not known among the +Kopts, but must always have been in use among the Lower Egyptians. It +was used by the Arab prisoners of Ramses, and is still practiced among +the Egyptian Arabs of the present day. + +He also ordered the Jews to sacrifice on the pagan altars, and many of +them were sent up to Alexandria to be punished for rebelling against +his decree. Their resolution, however, or, as their historian asserts, +a miracle from heaven changed the king’s mind. They expected to be +trampled to death in the hippodrome by furious elephants; but after some +delay they were released unhurt. The history of their escape, however, +is more melancholy than the history of their danger. No sooner did the +persecution cease than they turned with Pharisaical cruelty against +their weaker brethren who had yielded to the storm; and they put to +death three hundred of their countrymen, who in the hour of danger had +yielded to the threats of punishment, and complied with the ceremonies +required of them. + +The Egyptians, who, when the Persians were conquered by Alexander, could +neither help nor hinder the Greek army, and who, when they formed part +of the troops under the first Ptolemy, were uncounted and unvalued, had +by this time been armed and disciplined like Greeks; and in the battle +of Raphia the Egyptian phalanx had shown itself not an unworthy rival +of the Macedonians. By this success in war, and by their hatred of +their vicious and cruel king, the Egyptians were now for the first +time encouraged to take arms against the Greek government. The Egyptian +phalanx murmured against their Greek officers, and claimed their right +to be under an Egyptian general. But history has told us nothing more +of the rebellion than that it was successfully put down. The Greeks +were still the better soldiers. The ships built by Philopator were +more remarkable for their unwieldy size, their luxurious and costly +furniture, than for their fitness for war. One was four hundred and +twenty feet long and fifty-seven feet wide, with forty banks of oars. +The longest oars were fifty-seven feet long, and weighted with lead at +the handles that they might be the more easily moved. This huge ship +was to be rowed by four thousand rowers, its sails were to be shifted by +four hundred sailors, and three thousand soldiers were to stand in ranks +upon deck. There were seven beaks in front, by which it was to strike +and sink the ships of the enemy. The royal barge, in which the king and +court moved on the quiet waters of the Nile, was nearly as large as this +ship of war. It was three hundred and thirty feet long, and forty-five +feet wide; it was fitted up with staterooms and private rooms, and was +nearly sixty feet high to the top of the royal awning. A third ship, +which even surpassed these in its fittings and ornaments, was given to +Philopator by Hiero, King of Syracuse. It was built under the care +of Archimedes, and its timbers would have made sixty triremes. Beside +baths, and rooms for pleasures of all kinds, it had a library, and +astronomical instruments, not only for navigation, as in modern ships, +but for study, as in an observatory. It was a ship of war, and had eight +towers, from each of which stone’s were to be thrown at the enemy by +six men. Its machines, like modern cannons, could throw stones of three +hundred pounds weight, and arrows of eighteen feet in length. It had +four anchors of wood, and eight of iron. It was called the ship of +Syracuse, but after it had been given to Philopator it was known by the +name of the ship of Alexandria. + +In the second year of Philopator’s reign the Romans began that long +and doubtful war with Hannibal, called the second Punic war, and in the +twelfth year of this reign they sent ambassadors to renew their treaty +of peace with Egypt. They sent as their gifts robes of purple for +Philopator and Arsinoë, and for Philopator a chair of ivory and +gold, which was the usual gift of the republic to friendly kings. +The Alexandrians kept upon good terms both with the Romans and the +Carthaginians during the whole of the Punic wars. + +When the city of Rhodes, which had long been joined in close friendship +with Egypt, was shaken by an earthquake, that threw down the colossal +statue of Apollo, together with a large part of the city walls and +docks, Philopator was not behind the other friendly kings and states in +his gifts and help. He sent to his brave allies a large sum of money, +with grain, timber, and hemp. + +On the birth of his son and heir, in B.C. 209, ambassadors crowded to +Alexandria with gifts and messages of joy. But they were all thrown into +the shade by Hyrcanus, the son of Joseph, who was sent from Jerusalem by +his father, and who brought to the king one hundred boys and one hundred +girls, each carrying a talent of silver. + +Philopator, soon after the birth of this his only child, employed +Philammon, at the bidding of his mistress, to put to death his queen and +sister Arsinoë, or Eurydice, as she is sometimes called. He had already +forgotten his rank, and his name ennobled by the virtues of three +generations, and had given up his days and nights to vice and riot. +He kept in his pay several fools, or laughing-stocks as they were then +called, who were the chosen companions of his meals; and he was the +first who brought eunuchs into the court of Alexandria. His mistress +Agathoclea, her brother Agathocles, and their mother OEnanthe, held him +bound by those chains which clever, worthless, and selfish favourites +throw around the mind of a weak and debauched king. Agathocles, who +never left his side, was his adviser in matters of business or pleasure, +and governed alike the army, the courts of justice, and the women. Thus +was spent a reign of seventeen years, during which the king had never +but once, when he met Antiochus in battle, roused himself from his life +of sloth. + +The misconduct and vices of Agathocles raised such an outcry against +him, that Philopator, without giving up the pleasure of his favourite’s +company, was forced to take away from him the charge of receiving the +taxes. That high post was then given to Tlepolemus, a young man, whose +strength of body and warlike courage had made him the darling of the +soldiers. Another charge given to Tlepolemus was that of watching over +the supply and price of corn in Alexandria. The wisest statesmen of old +thought it part of a king’s duty to take care that the people were fed, +and seem never to have found out that it would be better done if the +people were left to take care of themselves. They thought it moreover a +piece of wise policy, or at any rate of clever kingcraft, to keep down +the price of food in the capital at the cost of the rest of the kingdom, +and even sometimes to give a monthly fixed measure of corn to each +citizen. By such means as these the crowd of poor and restless citizens, +who swell the mob of every capital, was larger in Alexandria than it +otherwise would have been; and the danger of riot, which it was meant to +lessen, was every year increased. + +Sosibius had made himself more hated than Agathocles; he had been the +king’s ready tool in all his murders. He had been stained, or at least +reproached, with the murder of Lysimachus, the son of Philadelphus; then +of Magas, the son of Euergetes, and Berenicê, the widow of Euergetes; of +Cleomenes, the Spartan; and lastly, of Arsinoë, the wife of Philopator. +For these crimes Sosibius was forced by the soldiers to give up to +Tlepolemus the king’s ring, or what in modern language would be called +the great seal of the kingdom, the badge of office by which Egypt was +governed; but the world soon saw that a body of luxurious mercenaries +were as little able to choose a wise statesman as the king had been. + +[Illustration: 187.jpg TEMPLE OF HATHOR.] + +With all his vices, Philopator had yet inherited the love of letters +which has thrown so bright a light around the whole of the family; and +to his other luxuries he sometimes added that of the society of the +learned men of the museum. When one of the professorships was empty he +wrote to Athens, and invited to Alexandria, Sphærus, who had been the +pupil of Zeno. One day when Sphærus was dining with the king, he +said that a wise man should never guess, but only say what he knows. +Philopator, wishing to tease him, ordered some waxen pomegranates to be +handed to him, and when Sphærus bit one of them he laughed at him for +guessing that it was real fruit. But the stoic answered that there are +many cases in which our actions must be guided by what seems probable. +None of the works of Sphærus have come down to us. Eratosthenes, of +whom we have before spoken, was librarian of the museum during this +reign; and Ptolemy, the son of Agesarchus, then wrote his history of +Alexandria, a work now lost. + +[Illustration: 188jpg COIN OF PTOLEMY PHILOPATER] + +The want of moral feeling in Alexandria was poorly supplied by the +respect for talent. Philopator built there a shrine or temple to Homer, +in which he placed a sitting figure of the poet, and round it seven +worshippers, meant for the seven cities which claimed the honour of +giving him birth. Had Homer himself worshipped in such temples, and had +his thoughts been raised by no more lofty views, he would not have left +us an Iliad or an Odyssey. In Upper Egypt there was no such want of +religious earnestness; there the priests placed the name of Philopator +upon a small temple near Medinet-Habu, dedicated to Amon-Ra and the +goddess Hâthor; his name is also seen upon the temple at Karnak, and +on the additions to the sculptures on the temple of Thot at Pselcis in +Ethiopia. + +Some of this king’s coins bear the name of “Ptolemy Philopator,” while +those of the queen have her name, “Arsinoë Philopator,” around the head. +They are of a good style of art. He was also sometimes named Eupator; +and it was under that name that the people of Paphos set up a monument +to him in the temple of Venus. + +The first three Ptolemies had been loved by their subjects and feared by +their enemies; but Philopator, though his power was still acknowledged +abroad, had by his vices and cruelty made himself hated at home, and had +undermined the foundations of the government. He began his reign like an +Eastern despot; instead of looking to his brother as a friend for help +and strength, he distrusted him as a rival, and had him put to death. He +employed the ministers of his vicious pleasures in the high offices of +government; and instead of philosophers and men of learning, he brought +eunuchs into the palace as the companions of his son. In B.C. 204 he +died, worn out with disease, in the seventeenth year of his reign and +about the fifty-first of his age; and very few lamented his decease. + +On the death of Philopator his son was only five years old. The minister +Agathocles, who had ruled over the country with unbounded power, +endeavoured, by the help of his sister Agathoclea and the other +mistresses of the late king, to keep his death secret; so that while the +women seized the money and jewels of the palace, he might have time to +take such steps as would secure his own power over the kingdom. + +[Illustration: 189.jpg COIN OF ARSINOE PHILOPATE] + +But the secret could not be long kept, and Agathocles called together +the citizens of Alexandria to tell them of the death of Philopator, and +to show them their young king. + +He went to the meeting, followed by his sister Agathoclea and the young +Ptolemy, afterwards called Epiphanes. He began his speech, “Ye men of +Macedonia,” as this mixed body of Greeks and Jews was always called. He +wiped his eyes in well-feigned grief, and showed them the new king, +who had been trusted, he said, by his father, to the motherly care of +Agathoclea and to their loyalty. He then accused Tlepolemus of aiming at +the throne, and brought forward a creature of his own to prove the truth +of the charge. But his voice was soon drowned in the loud murmurs of the +citizens; they had smarted too long under his tyranny, and were too well +acquainted with his falsehoods, to listen to anything that he could +say against his rival. Besides, Tlepolemus had the charge of supplying +Alexandria with corn, a duty which was more likely to gain friends than +the pandering to the vices of their hated tyrant. Agathocles soon saw +that his life was in danger, and he left the meeting and returned to the +palace, in doubt whether he should seek for safety in flight, or boldly +seize the power which he was craftily aiming at, and rid himself of his +enemies by their murder. + +While he was wasting these precious minutes in doubt, the streets were +filled with groups of men, and of boys, who always formed a part of the +mobs of Alexandria. They sullenly but loudly gave vent to their hatred +of the minister; and if they had but found a leader they would have been +in rebellion. In a little while the crowd moved off to the tents of +the Macedonians, to learn their feelings on the matter, and then to the +quarters of the mercenaries, both of which were close to the palace, and +the mixed mob of armed and unarmed men soon told the fatal news, that +the soldiers were as angry as the citizens. But they were still without +a leader; they sent messengers to Tlepolemus, who was not in Alexandria, +and he promised that he would soon be there; but perhaps he no more knew +what to do than his guilty rival. + +Agathocles, in his doubt, did nothing; he sat down to supper with +his friends, perhaps hoping that the storm might blow over of itself, +perhaps trusting to chance and to the strong walls of the palace. His +mother, OEnanthe, ran to the temple of Ceres and Proserpine, and sat +down before the altar in tears, believing that the sanctuary of the +temple would be her best safeguard; as if the laws of heaven, which had +never bound her, would bind her enemies. It was a festal day, and the +women in the temple, who knew nothing of the storm which had risen in +the forum within these few hours, came forward to comfort her; but she +answered them with curses; she knew that she was hated and would soon be +despised, and she added the savage prayer, that they might have to eat +their own children. The riot did not lessen at sunset. Men, women, and +boys were moving through the streets all night with torches. The crowds +were greatest in the stadium and in the theatre of Bacchus, but most +noisy in front of the palace. Agathocles was awakened by the noise, and +in his fright ran to the bedroom of the young Ptolemy; and, distrusting +the palace walls, hid himself, with his own family, the king, and two +or three guards, in the underground passage which led from the palace to +the theatre. + +The night, however, passed off without any violence; but at daybreak the +murmurs became louder, and the thousands in the palace yard called for +the young king. By that time the Greek soldiers joined the mob, and then +the guards within were no longer to be feared. The gates were soon burst +open, and the palace searched. The mob rushed through the halls +and lobbies, and, learning where the king had fled, hastened to the +underground passage. It was guarded by three doors of iron grating; but, +when the first was beaten in, Aristomenes was sent out to offer terms of +surrender. Agathocles was willing to give up the young king, his misused +power, his ill-gotten wealth and estates; he asked only for his life. +But this was sternly refused, and a shout was raised to kill the +messenger; and Aristomenes, the best of the ministers, whose only fault +was the being a friend of Agathocles, and the having named his little +daughter Agathoclea, would certainly have been killed upon the spot if +somebody had not reminded them that they wanted to send back an answer. + +Agathocles, seeing that he could hold out no longer, then gave up the +little king, who was set upon a horse, and led away to the stadium amid +the shouts of the crowd. There they seated him on the throne, and, +while he was crying at being surrounded by strange faces, the mob loudly +called for revenge on the guilty ministers. Sosibius, the somatophylax, +the son of the former general of that name, seeing no other way of +stopping the fury of the mob and the child’s sobs, asked him if the +enemies of his mother and of his throne should be given up to the +people. The child of course answered “yes,” without understanding what +was meant; and on that they let Sosibius take him to his own house to be +out of the uproar. Agathocles was soon led out bound, and was stabbed by +those who two days before would have felt honoured by a look from him. +Agathoclea and her sister were then brought out, and lastly OEnanthe, +their mother was dragged away from the altar of Ceres and Proserpine. +Some bit them, some struck them with sticks, some tore their eyes out; +her body was torn to pieces, and her limbs scattered among the crowd; +to such lengths of madness and angry cruelty was the Alexandrian mob +sometimes driven. + +In the meanwhile some of the women called to mind that Philammon, who +had been employed in the murder of Arsinoë, had within those three days +come to Alexandria, and they made a rush at his house. The doors quickly +gave way before their blows, and he was killed upon the spot by clubs +and stones; his little son was strangled by these raging mothers, and +his wife dragged naked into the street, and there torn to pieces. Thus +died Agathocles and all his family; and the care of the young king then +fell to Sosibius, and to Aristomenes, who had already gained a high +character for wisdom and firmness. + +While Egypt was thus without a government, Philip of Macedonia and +Antiochus of Syria agreed to divide the foreign provinces between them; +and Antiochus marched against Coele-Syria and Phoenicia. The guardians +of the young Ptolemy sent against him an army under Scopas, the Ætolian, +who was at first successful, but was afterwards beaten by Antiochus at +Paneas in the valley of the Jordan, three and twenty miles above the +Lake of Tiberias, and driven back into Egypt. In these battles the Jews, +who had not forgotten the ill treatment that they had received from +Philopator, joined Antiochus, after having been under the government of +Egypt for exactly one hundred years; and in return Antiochus released +Jerusalem from all taxes for three years, and afterwards from one-third +of the taxes. He also sent a large sum of money for the service of the +temple, and released the elders, priests, scribes, and singing men from +all taxes for the future. + +The Alexandrian statesmen had latterly shown themselves in their foreign +policy very unworthy pupils of Ptolemy Soter and Philadelphus, who had +both ably trimmed the balance of power between the several successors of +Alexander. But even had they been wiser, they could hardly, before the +end of the second Punic war, have foreseen that the Romans would soon be +their most dangerous enemies. The overthrow of Hannibal, however, might +perhaps have opened their eyes; but it was then too late; Egypt was too +weak to form an alliance with Macedonia or Syria against the Romans. +About this time, also, the Romans sent to Alexandria, to inform the +king that they had conquered Hannibal, and brought to a close the second +Punic war, and to thank him for the friendship of the Egyptians during +that long and doubtful struggle of eighteen years, when so many of their +nearer neighbours had joined the enemy. They begged that if the senate +felt called upon to undertake a war against Philip, who, though no +friend to the Egyptians, had not yet taken arms against them, it might +cause no breach in the friendship between the King of Egypt and the +Romans. In answer to this embassy, the Alexandrians, rushing to their +own destruction, sent to Rome a message, which was meant to place +the kingdom wholly in the hands of the senate. It was to beg them to +undertake the guardianship of the young Ptolemy, and the defence of the +kingdom against Philip and Antiochus during his childhood. + +The Romans, in return, gave the wished-for answer; they sent ambassadors +to Antiochus and Philip, to order them to make no attack upon Egypt, +on pain of falling under the displeasure of the senate; and they sent +Marcus Lepidus to Alexandria, to accept the offered prize, and to govern +the foreign affairs of the kingdom, under the modest name of tutor to +the young king. This high honour was afterwards mentioned by Lepidus, +with pride, upon the coins struck when he was consul, in the eighteenth +year of this reign. They have the city of Alexandria on the one side, +and on the other the title of “Tutor to the king,” with the figure +of the Roman in his toga, putting the diadem on the head of the young +Ptolemy. + +The haughty orders of the senate at first had very little weight with +the two kings. Antiochus conquered Phoenicia and Coele-Syria; and he was +then met by a second message from the senate, who no longer spoke in the +name of their ward, the young King of Egypt, but ordered him to give up +to the Roman people the states which he had seized, and which belonged, +they said, to the Romans by the right of war. + +[Illustration: 196.jpg ROMAN COIN, ISSUED UNDER PTOLEMY V.] + +On this, Antiochus made peace with Egypt by a treaty, in which he +betrothed his daughter Cleopatra to the young Ptolemy, and added the +disputed provinces of Phoenicia and Ccele-Syria as a dower, which were +to be given up to Egypt when the king was old enough to be married. + +Philip marched against Athens and the other states of Greece which had +heretofore held themselves independent and in alliance with Egypt; and, +when the Athenian embassy came to Alexandria to beg for the usual help, +Ptolemy’s ministers felt themselves so much in the power of the senate +that they sent to Rome to ask whether they should help their old +friends, the Athenians, against Philip, the common enemy, or whether +they should leave it to the Romans to help them. And these haughty +republicans, who wished all their allies to forget the use of arms, who +valued their friends not for their strength but for their obedience, +sent them word that the senate did not wish them to help the Athenians, +and that the Roman people would take care of their own allies. The +Alexandrians looked upon the proud but unlettered Romans only as +friends, as allies, who asked for no pay, who took no reward, who fought +only for ambition and for the glory of their country. + +Soon after this, the battle of Cynocephake in Thessaly was fought +between Philip and the Romans, in which the Romans lost only seven +hundred men, while as many as eight thousand Macedonians were left dead +upon the field. This battle, though only between Rome and Macedonia, +must not be passed unnoticed in the history of Egypt, where the troops +were armed and disciplined like Macedonians; as it was the first time +that the world had seen the Macedonian phalanx routed and in flight +before any troops not so armed. + +The phalanx was a body of spearsmen, in such close array that each man +filled a space of only one square yard. The spear was seven yards long, +and, when held in both hands, its point was five yards in front of the +soldier’s breast. There were sixteen ranks of these men, and, when the +first five ranks lowered their spears, the point of the fifth spear was +one yard in front of the foremost rank. The Romans, on the other hand, +fought in open ranks, with one yard between each, or each man filled +a space of four square yards, and in a charge would have to meet ten +Macedonian spears. But then the Roman soldiers went into battle with +much higher feelings than those of the Greeks. In Rome, arms were +trusted only to the citizens, to those who had a country to love, a +home to guard, and who had some share in making the laws which they were +called upon to obey. But the Greek armies of Macedonia, Egypt, and Syria +were made up either of natives who bowed their necks in slavery, or of +mercenaries who made war their trade and rioted in its lawlessness; both +of whom felt that they had little to gain from victory, and nothing to +lose by a change of masters. Moreover, the warlike skill of the Romans +was far greater than any that had yet been brought against the Greeks. +It had lately been improved in their wars with Hannibal, the great +master of that science. They saw that the phalanx could use its whole +strength only on a plain; that a wood, a bog, a hill, or a river were +difficulties which this close body of men could not always overcome. A +charge or a retreat equally lessened its force; the phalanx was meant to +stand the charge of others. The Romans, therefore, chose their own time +and their own ground; they loosened their ranks and widened their front, +avoided the charge, and attacked the Greeks at the side and in the rear; +and the fatal discovery was at last made that the Macedonian phalanx +was not unconquerable, and that closed ranks were only strong against +barbarians. This news must have been heard by every statesman of Egypt +and the East with alarm; the ‘Romans were now their equals, and were +soon to be their masters. + +But to return to Egypt. It was, as we have seen, a country governed by +men of a foreign race. Neither the poor who tilled the land, nor the +rich who owned the estates, had any share in the government. They had no +public duty except to pay taxes to their Greek masters, who walked among +them as superior beings, marked out for fitness to rule by greater skill +in the arts both of war and peace. The Greeks by their arms, or rather +by their military discipline, had enforced obedience for one hundred and +fifty years; and as they had at the same time checked lawless violence, +made life and property safe, and left industry to enjoy a large share of +its own earnings, this obedience had been for the most part granted to +them willingly. They had even trusted the Egyptians with arms. But none +are able to command unless they are at the same time able to obey. The +Alexandrians were now almost in rebellion against their young king +and his ministers; and the Greek government no longer gave the usual +advantages in return for the obedience which it tyrannically enforced. +Confusion increased each year during the childhood of the fifth Ptolemy, +to whom Alexandrian flattery gave the title of Epiphanes, or The +Illustrious. The Egyptian phalanx had in the last reign shown signs +of disobedience, and at length it broke out in open rebellion. The +discontented party strengthened themselves in the Busirite nome, in the +middle of the Delta, and fortified the city of Lycopolis against the +government; and a large supply of arms and warlike stores which +they there got together proved the length of time that they had been +preparing for resistance. The royal troops laid siege to the city in due +form; they surrounded it with mounds and ditches; they dammed up the +bed of the river on each side of it, and, being helped by a rise in the +Nile, which was that year greater than usual, they forced the rebels to +surrender, on the king’s promise that they should be spared. But Ptolemy +was not bound by promises; he was as false and cruel as he was weak; the +rebels were punished; and many of the troubles in his reign arose from +his discontented subjects not being able to rely upon his word. + +The rich island of Cyprus also, which had been left by Philopator under +the command of Polyerates, showed some signs of wishing to throw off +the Egyptian yoke. But Polyerates was true to his trust; and, though +the king’s ministers were almost too weak either to help the faithful or +punish the treacherous, he not only saved the island for the minor, but, +when he gave up his government to Ptolemy of Megalopolis, he brought to +the royal treasury at Alexandria a large sum from the revenues of +his province. By this faithful conduct he gained great weight in the +Alexandrian councils, till, corrupted by the poisonous habits of the +place, he gave way to luxury and vice. + +About the same time Scopas, who had lately led back to Alexandria his +Ætolian mercenaries, so far showed signs of discontent and disobedience +that the minister, Aristomenes, began to suspect him of planning +resistance to the government. Scopas was greedy of money; nothing would +satisfy his avarice. + +[Illustration: 201.jpg THE ROSETTA STONE (BRITISH MUSEUM)] + +The other Greek generals of his rank received while in the Egyptian +service a mina, or ten dollars a day, under the name of mess-money, +beyond the usual military pay; and Scopas claimed and received for his +services the large sum of ten minas, or one hundred and twenty-five +dollars, a day for mess-money. But even this did not content him. +Aristomenes observed that he was collecting his friends for some secret +purpose, and in frequent consultation with them. He therefore summoned +him to the king’s presence, and, being prepared for his refusal, he sent +a large force to fetch him. Fearing that the mercenaries might support +their general, Aristomenes had even ordered out the elephants and +prepared for battle. But, as the blow came upon Scopas unexpectedly, +no resistance was made, and he was brought prisoner to the palace. +Aristomenes, however, did not immediately venture to punish him, +but wisely summoned the Ætolian ambassadors and the chiefs of the +mercenaries to his trial, and, as they made no objection, he then had +him poisoned in prison. + +No sooner was this rebellion crushed than the council took into +consideration the propriety of declaring the king’s minority at an +end, as the best means of re-establishing the royal authority; and they +thereupon determined shortly to celebrate his Anacleteria, or the grand +ceremony of exhibiting him to the people as their monarch, though he +wanted some years of the legal age; and accordingly, in the ninth year +of his reign, the young king was crowned with great pomp at Memphis, the +ancient capital of the kingdom. + +On this occasion he came to Memphis by barge, in grand state, where +he was met by the priests of Upper and Lower Egypt, and crowned in the +temple of Phtah with the double crown, called Pschent, the crown of the +two provinces. After the ceremony, the priests made the Decree in honour +of the king, which is carved on the stone known by the name of the +Rosetta Stone, in the British Museum. Ptolemy is there styled King of +Upper and Lower Egypt, son of the gods Philopatores, approved by Phtah, +to whom Ra has given victory, a living image of Amon, son of Ra, Ptolemy +immortal, beloved by Phtah, god Epiphanes most gracious. In the date +of the decree we are told the names of the priests of Alexander, of the +gods Soteres, of the gods Adelphi, of the gods Euergetae, of the gods +Philopatores, of the god Epiphanes himself, of Berenicê Euergetis, of +Arsinoë Philadelphus, and of Arsinoë Philopator. The preamble mentions +with gratitude the services of the king, or rather of his wise minister, +Aristomenes; and the enactment orders that the statue of the king +shall be worshipped in every temple of Egypt, and be carried out in the +processions with those of the gods of the country; and lastly, that +the decree is to be carved at the foot of every statue of the king, in +sacred, in common, and in Greek writing. It is to this stone, with its +three kinds of letters, and to the skill and industry of Dr. Thomas +Young, and of the French scholar, Champollion, that we now owe our +knowledge of hieroglyphics. The Greeks of Alexandria, and after them the +Romans, who might have learned how to read this kind of writing if they +had wished, seem never to have taken the trouble: it fell into disuse on +the rise of Christianity in Egypt; and it was left for an Englishman +to unravel the hidden meaning after it had been forgotten for nearly +thirteen centuries. + +The preamble of this decree tells us also that during the minority of +the king the taxes were lessened; the crown debtors were forgiven; those +who were found in prison charged with crimes against the state were +released; the allowance from government for upholding the splendour of +the temples was continued, as was the rent from land belonging to the +priests; the first-fruits, or rather the coronation money, a tax paid by +the priests to the king on the year of his coming to the throne, which +was by custom allowed to be less than what the law ordered, was not +increased; the priests were relieved from the heavy burden of making a +yearly voyage to do homage at Alexandria; there was a stop put to the +impressing men for the navy, which had been felt as a great cruelty by +an inland people, whose habits and religion alike made them hate the +sea, and this was a boon which was the more easily granted, as the +navy of Alexandria, which was built in foreign dockyards and steered by +foreign pilots, had very much fallen off in the reign of Philopator. The +duties on linen cloth, which was the chief manufacture of the kingdom, +and, after grain, the chief article exported, were lessened; the +priests, who manufactured linen for the king’s own use, probably for the +clothing of the army, and the sails for the navy, were not called upon +for so large a part of what they made as before; and the royalties on +the other linen manufactories and the duties on the samples or patterns, +both of which seem to have been unpaid for the whole of the eight years +of the minority, were wisely forgiven. All the temples of Egypt, and +that of Apis at Memphis in particular, were enriched by his gifts; in +which pious actions, in grateful remembrance of their former benefactor, +and with a marked slight to Philopator, they said that he was following +the wishes of his grandfather, the god Euergetes. From this decree we +gain some little insight into the means by which the taxes were raised +under the Ptolemies; and we also learn that they were so new and foreign +that they had no Egyptian word by which they could speak of them, and +therefore borrowed the Greek word _syntaxes_. + +History gives us many examples of kings who, like Epiphanes, gained +great praise for the mildness and weakness of the government during +their minorities. Aristomenes, the minister, who had governed Egypt for +Epiphanes, fully deserved that trust. While the young king looked up to +him as a father, the country was well governed, and his orders obeyed; +but, as he grew older, his good feelings were weakened by the pleasures +which usually beset youth and royalty. The companions of his vices +gained that power over his mind which Aristomenes lost, and it was not +long before this wise tutor and counsellor was got rid of. The king, +weary perhaps with last night’s debauchery, had one day fallen +asleep when he should have been listening to the speech of a foreign +ambassador. Aristomenes gently shook him and awoke him. His flatterers, +when alone with him, urged him to take this as an affront. If, said +they, it was right to blame the king for falling asleep when worn +out with business and the cares of state, it should have been done in +private, and not in the face of the whole court. So Aristomenes was put +to death by being ordered to drink poison. Epiphanes then lost that love +of his people which the wisdom of the minister had gained for him; and +he governed the kingdom with the cruelty of a tyrant, rather than with +the legal power of a king. + +[Illustration: 207.jpg OUTSIDE ROSETTA] + +Even Aristonicus, his favourite eunuch, who was of the same age as +himself, and had been brought up as his playfellow, passed him in the +manly virtues of his age, and earned the praise of the country for +setting him a good example, and checking him in his career of vice. + +In the thirteenth year of his reign (B.C. 192), when the young king +reached the age of eighteen, Antiochus the Great sent his daughter +Cleopatra into Egypt, and the marriage, which had been agreed upon +six years before, was then carried into effect; and the provinces of +Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Judæa, which had been promised as a dower, +were, in form at least, handed over to the generals of Epiphanes. +Cleopatra was a woman of strong mind and enlarged understanding; and +Antiochus hoped that, by means of the power which she would have over +the weaker mind of Epiphanes, he should gain more than he lost by giving +up Coele-Syria and Phoenicia. But she acted the part of a wife and +a queen, and, instead of betraying her husband into the hands of her +father, she was throughout the reign his wisest and best counsellor. + +Antiochus seems never to have given up his hold upon the provinces which +had been promised as the dower; and the peace between the two countries, +which had been kept during the six years after Cleopatra had been +betrothed, was broken as soon as she was married. The war was still +going on between Antiochus and the Romans; and Epiphanes soon sent to +Rome a thousand pounds weight of gold and twenty thousand pounds of +silver, to help the republic against their common enemy. But the Romans +neither hired mercenaries nor fought as such, the thirst for gold had +not yet become the strongest feeling in the senate, and they sent back +the money to Alexandria with many thanks. + +In the twentieth year of his reign Epiphanes was troubled by a second +serious rebellion of the Egyptians. Polycrates marched against them at +the head of the Greek troops; and, as he brought with him a superior +force, and the king’s promise of a free pardon to all who should return +to their obedience, the rebels yielded to necessity and laid down their +arms. The leaders of the rebellion, Athinis, Pausiras, Chesuphus, and +Irobashtus, whose Koptic names prove that this was a struggle on the +part of the Egyptians to throw off the Greek yoke, were brought before +the king at Saïs. Epiphanes, in whose youthful heart were joined the +cruelty and cowardice of a tyrant, who had not even shown himself to the +army during the danger, was now eager to act the conqueror; and in spite +of the promises of safety on which these brave Kopts had laid down their +arms, he had them tied to his chariot wheels, and copying the vices +of men whose virtues he could not even understand, like Achilles and +Alexander, he dragged them living round the city walls, and then ordered +them to be put to death. He then led the army to Naucratis, which was +the port of Saïs, and there he embarked on the Nile for Alexandria, and +taking with him a further body of mercenaries, which Aristonicus had +just brought from Greece, he entered the city in triumph. + +Ptolemy of Megalopolis, the new governor of Cyprus, copied his +predecessor, Polycrates, in his wise and careful management. His chief +aim was to keep the province quiet, and his next to collect the taxes. +He was at first distrusted by the Alexandrian council for the large sum +of money which he had got together and kept within his own power; +but when he sent it all home to the empty treasury, they were as much +pleased as they were surprised. + +Apollonius, whom we have spoken of in the reign of Euergetes, and who +had been teaching at Rhodes during the reign of Philopator, was recalled +to Alexandria in the beginning of this reign, and made librarian of +the museum on the death of Eratosthenes. But he did not long enjoy that +honour. He was already old, and shortly afterwards died at the age of +ninety. + +[Illustration: 210.jpg A DESERT ROAD BETWEEN EGYPT AND SYRIA.] + +The coins of this king are known by the glory or rays of sun which +surround his head, and which agrees with his name, Epiphanes, +illustrious, or as it is written in the hieroglyphics, “light bearing.” + On the other side is the cornucopia between two stars, with the name of +“King Ptolemy.” No temples, and few additions to temples, seem to have +been built in Upper Egypt during this reign, which began and ended in +rebellion. We find, however, a Greek inscription at Philas, of “King +Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra, gods Epiphanes, and Ptolemy their son, to +Asclepius,” a god whom the Egyptians called Imothph the son of Pthah. + +Cyprus and Cyrene were nearly all that were left to Egypt of its +foreign provinces. The cities of Greece, which had of their own wish +put themselves under Egypt for help against their nearer neighbours, now +looked to Rome for that help; part of Asia Minor was under Seleu-cus, +the son of Antiochus the Great; Cole-Syria and Phoenicia, which had been +given up to Epiphanes, had been again soon lost; and the Jews, who in +all former wars had sided with the Kings of Egypt, as being not only the +stronger but the milder rulers, now joined Seleucus. The ease with which +the wide-spreading provinces of this once mighty empire fell off from +their allegiance, showed how the whole had been upheld by the warlike +skill of its kings, rather than by a deep-rooted hold in the habits +of the people. Instead of wondering that the handful of Greeks in +Alexandria, on whom the power rested, lost those wide provinces, we +should rather wonder that they were ever able to hold them. + +After the death of Antiochus the Great, Ptolemy again proposed to +enforce his rights over Ccele-Syria, which he had given up only in the +weakness of his minority; and he is said to have been asked by one of +his generals, how he should be able to pay for the large forces which +he’ was getting together for that purpose; and he playfully answered, +that his treasure was in the number of his friends. But his joke was +taken in earnest; they were afraid of new taxes and fresh levies on +their estates; and means were easily taken to poison him. He died in +the twenty-ninth year of his age, after a reign of twenty-four years; +leaving the navy unmanned, the army in disobedience, the treasury empty, +and the whole framework of government out of order. + +Just before his death he had sent to the Achaians to offer to send ten +galleys to join their fleet; and Polybius, the historian, to whom we +owe so much of our knowledge of these reigns, although he had not yet +reached the age called for by the Greek law, was sent by the Achaians +as one of the ambassadors, with his father, to return thanks; but before +they had quitted their own country they were stopped by the news of the +death of Epiphanes. + +Those who took away the life of the king seem to have had no thoughts of +mending the form of government, nor any plan by which they might lessen +the power of his successor. It was only one of those outbreaks of +private vengeance which have often happened in unmixed monarchies, where +men are taught that the only way to check the king’s tyranny is by his +murder; and the little notice that was taken of it by the people proves +their want of public virtue as well as of political wisdom. + +[Illustration: 212.jpg TAILPIECE] + + + + +CHAPTER V--PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR AND PTOLEMY EUERGETES II. + + +_The Syrian Invasion: The Jews and the Bible: Relations with Rome: +Literature of the Age._ + + +At the beginning of the last reign the Alexandrians had sadly felt the +want of a natural guardian to the young king, and they were now glad to +copy the customs of the conquered Egyptians. Epiphanes had left behind +him two sons, each named Ptolemy, and a daughter named Cleopatra; and +the elder son, though still a child, mounted the throne under the able +guardianship of his mother, Cleopatra, and took the very suitable name +of Philometor, or _mother-loving_. The mother governed the kingdom for +seven years as regent during the minority of her son. “When Philometor +reached his fourteenth year, the age at which his minority ceased, his +coronation was celebrated with great pomp. Ambassadors from several +foreign states were sent to Egypt to wish the king joy, to do honour to +the day, and to renew the treaties of peace with him: Caius Valerius and +four others were sent from Rome; Apollonius, the son of Mnestheus, was +sent from Judæa; and we may regret with Polybius that he himself was not +able to form part of the embassy then sent from the Achaians, that he +might have seen the costly and curious ceremony, and given us an account +of it. + +While Cleopatra lived, she had been able to keep her son at peace with +her brother, Antiochus Epiphanes, but upon her death, Leneus and the +eunuch Eulaius, who then had the care of the young king, sought to +reconquer Coele-Syria; and they embroiled the country in a war, at a +time when weakness and decay might have been seen in every part of +the army and navy, and when there was the greatest need of peace. +Coele-Syria and Phoenicia had been given to Ptolemy Epiphanes as his +wife’s dower; but, when Philometor seemed too weak to grasp them, +Antiochus denied that his father had ever made such a treaty, and got +ready to march against Egypt, as the easiest way to guard Coele-Syria. + +By this time the statesmen of Egypt ought to have learned the mistake +in their foreign policy. By widening their frontier they always weakened +it. They should have fortified the passes between the Red Sea and the +Mediterranean, not cities in Asia. When Antiochus entered Egypt he was +met at Pelusium by the army of Philometor, which he at once routed in +a pitched battle. The whole of Egypt was then in his power; he marched +upon Memphis with a small force, and seized it without having to strike +a blow, helped perhaps by the plea that he was acting on behalf of his +nephew, Ptolemy Philometor, who then fell into his hands. + +On this, the younger Ptolemy, the brother of Philometor, who was with +his sister Cleopatra in Alexandria, and was about fifteen years old, +declared himself king, and sent ambassadors to Rome to ask for help +against Antiochus; and taking the name of the most popular of his +forefathers, he called himself Euergetes. He is, however, better known +in history as Ptolemy Physcon, or _bloated_, a nickname which was +afterwards given to him when he had grown fat and unwieldy from the +diseases of luxury. + +Comanus and Cineas were the chief advisers of the young Euergetes; and +in their alarm they proposed to send the foreign ambassadors to meet the +invader on his march from Memphis, and to plead for peace. This task +the ambassadors kindly undertook. There were then in Alexandria two +embassies from the Achaians, one to renew the treaty of peace, and one +to settle the terms of the coming wrestling match. There were there +three embassies from Athens, one with gifts from the city, one about the +Panathenaic games, and one about the celebration of the mysteries. There +was also an embassy from Miletus, and one from Clazomenæ. On the day of +their arrival at Memphis, Antiochus feasted these numerous ambassadors +in grand state, and on the next day gave them an audience. But their +arguments for peace carried no weight with him; and he denied that his +father, Antiochus the Great, had ever given Coele-Syria as a dower +with his daughter Cleopatra to Epiphanes. To gain time he promised +the ambassadors that he would give them an answer as soon as his own +ambassadors returned from Alexandria; and in the meanwhile he carried +his army down the Nile to Naucratis, and thence marched to the capital +to begin the siege. + +Antiochus, however, was defeated in his first assault upon Alexandria, +and finding that he should not soon be able to bring the siege to an +end, he sent off an embassy to Rome with a hundred and fifty talents of +gold, fifty as a present to the senate, and the rest to be divided among +the states of Greece, whose help he might need. At the same time, also, +an embassy from the Rhodians arrived in the port of Alexandria, to +attempt to restore peace to the country of their old allies. Antiochus +received the Rhodian ambassadors in his tent, but would not listen to +the long speech with which they threatened him, and shortly told them +that he came as the friend of his elder nephew, the young Philometor, +and if the Alexandrians wished for peace they should open the gates +to their rightful king. Antiochus was, however, defeated in all his +assaults on the city, and he at last withdrew his army and returned +to Syria. He left Euergetes, King of the Greeks, at Alexandria, and +Philometor at Memphis, King of the rest of Egypt. But he kept Pelusium, +where he placed a strong garrison that he might be able easily to +re-enter Egypt whenever he chose. + +Ptolemy Macron, the Alexandrian governor of Cyprus, added to the +troubles of the country by giving up his island to Antiochus. But he +met with the usual fate of traitors, he was badly rewarded; and when he +complained of his treatment, he was called a traitor by the very men who +had gained by his treachery, and he poisoned himself in the bitterness +of his grief. Antiochus, like most invaders, carried off whatever +treasure fell into his hands. Egypt was a sponge which had not lately +been squeezed, and his court and even his own dinner-table then shone +with a blaze of silver and gold unknown in Syria before this inroad into +Egypt. + +By these acts, and by the garrison left in Pelusium, the eyes of +Philometor were opened, and he saw that his uncle had not entered Egypt +for his sake, but to make it a province of Syria, after it had been +weakened by civil war. He therefore wisely forgave his rebellious +brother and sister in Alexandria, and sent offers of peace to them; and +it was agreed that the two Ptolemies should reign together, and turn +their forces against the common enemy. It was most likely at this +time, and as a part of this treaty, that Philometor married his sister +Cleopatra. It was mainly by her advice and persuasion that the quarrel +between the two brothers was for the time healed. On this treaty between +the brothers the year was called the twelfth of Ptolemy Philometor and +the first of Ptolemy Euergetes, and the public deeds of the kingdom were +so dated. + +The next year Antiochus Epiphanes again entered Egypt, claiming the +island of Cyprus and the country round Pelusium as the price of his +forbearance; and, on his marching forward, Memphis a second time opened +its gates to him without a battle. He came down by slow marches towards +Alexandria, and crossed the canal at Leucine, four miles from the city. +There he was met by the Roman ambassadors, who ordered him to quit the +country. On his hesitating, Popilius, who was one of them, drew a circle +round him on the sand with his stick, and told him that, if he crossed +that line without promising to leave Egypt at once, it should be taken +as a declaration of war against Rome. On this threat Antiochus again +quitted Egypt, and the brothers sent ambassadors to Rome to thank the +senate for their help, and to acknowledge that they owed more to the +Roman people than they did to the gods or to their forefathers. + +The treaty made on this occasion between Philometor and Antiochus +was written by Heraclides Lembus, the son of Serapion, a native of +Oxyrynchus, who wrote on the succession of the philosophers in the +several Greek schools, and other works on philosophy, but whose chief +work was a history named the Lembeutic History. + +Four years afterwards, in B. c. 164, Antiochus Epiphanes died; and the +Jews of Judæa, who had been for some time struggling for liberty, then +gained a short rest for their unhappy country. Judas Maccabæus had +raised his countrymen in rebellion against the foreigners; he had +defeated the Syrian forces in several battles; and was at last able +to purify the temple and re-establish the service there as of old. He +therefore sent to the Jews of Egypt to ask them to join their Hebrew +brethren in celebrating the feast of tabernacles on that great occasion. + +[Illustration: 219.jpg TEMPLE OF HERMONTHIS.] + +The unhappy quarrels between the Egyptian kings soon broke out again; +and, as the party of Euergetes was the stronger, Philometor was driven +from his kingdom, and he fled to Rome for safety and for help. He +entered the city privately, and took up his lodgings in the house of +one of his own subjects, a painter of Alexandria. His pride led him +to refuse the offers of better entertainment which were made to him by +Demetrius, the nephew of Antiochus, who, like himself, was hoping to +regain his kingdom by the help of the Romans. The Kings of Egypt and +Syria, the two greatest kingdoms in the world, were at the same time +asking to be heard at the bar of the Roman senate, and were claiming the +thrones of their fathers at the hands of men who could make and unmake +kings at their pleasure. + +As soon as the senate heard that Philometor was in Rome, they lodged him +at the cost of the state in a manner becoming his high rank, and soon +sent him back to Egypt, with orders that Euergetes should reign in +Cyrene, and that the rest of the kingdom should belong to Philometor. +This happened in the seventeenth year of Philometor and the sixth of +Euergetes, which was the last year that was named after the two kings. +Cassius Longinus, who was next year consul at Rome, was most likely +among the ambassadors who replaced Philometor on the throne; for he put +the Ptolemaic eagle and thunderbolt on his coins, as though to claim the +sovereignty of Egypt for the senate. + +To these orders Euergetes was forced to yield; but the next year he +went himself to Rome to complain to the senate that they had made a +very unfair division of the kingdom, and to beg that they would add +the island of Cyprus to his share. After hearing the ambassadors from +Philometor, who were sent to plead on the other side, the senate granted +the prayer of Euergetes, and sent ambassadors to Cyprus, with orders to +hand that island over to Euergetes, and to make use of the fleets and +armies of the republic if these orders were disobeyed. + +Euergetes, during his stay in Rome, if we may believe Plutarch, made an +offer of marriage to Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi; but this offer +of a throne could not make the high-minded matron quit her children and +her country. He left Italy with the Roman ambassadors, and, in passing +through Greece, he raised a large body of mercenaries to help him to +wrest Cyprus from his brother, as it would seem that the governor, +faithful to his charge, would not listen to the commands of Rome. But +the ambassadors had been told to conquer Cyprus, if necessary, with the +arms of the republic only, and they therefore made Euergetes disband +his levies. They sailed for Alexandria to enforce their orders upon +Philometor, and sent Euergetes home to Cyrene. Philometor received the +Roman ambassadors with all due honours; he sometimes gave them fair +promises, and sometimes put them off till another day; and tried to spin +out the time without saying either yes or no to the message from the +senate. Euergetes sent to Alexandria to ask if they had gained their +point; but though they threatened to return to Rome if they were not at +once obeyed, Philometor, by his kind treatment and still kinder words, +kept them more than forty days longer at Alexandria. + +At last the Roman ambassadors left Egypt, and on their way home they +went to Cyrene, to let Euergetes know that his brother had disobeyed the +orders of the senate, and would not give up Cyprus; and Euergetes then +sent two ambassadors to Rome to beg them to revenge their affronted +dignity and to enforce their orders by arms. The senate of course +declared the peace with Egypt at an end, and ordered the ambassadors +from Philometor to quit Rome within five days, and sent their own +ambassadors to Cyrene to tell Euergetes of their decree. + +But while this was going on, the state of Cyrene had risen in arms +against Euergetes; his vices and cruelty had made him hated, they had +gained for him the nicknames of Kakergetes, or _mischief-maker_, and +Physcon, or _bloated_; and while wishing to gain Cyprus he was in danger +of losing his own kingdom. When he marched against the rebels, he was +beaten and wounded, either in the battle or by an attack upon his life +afterwards, and his success was for some time doubtful. When he had at +last put down this rising, he sailed for Rome, to urge his complaints +against Philometor, upon whom he laid the blame of the late rebellion, +and to ask for help. The senate, after hearing both sides, sent a small +fleet with Euergetes, not large enough to put him on the throne of +Cyprus, but gave him, what they had before refused, leave to levy +an army of his own, and to enlist their allies in Greece and Asia as +mercenaries under his standard. + +The Roman troops seem not to have helped Euergetes; but he landed in +Cyprus with his own mercenaries, and was there met by Philometor, who +had brought over the Egyptian army in person. Euergetes, however, was +beaten in several battles, he was soon forced to shut himself up in +the city of Lapitho, and at last to lay down his arms before his elder +brother. + +If Philometor had upon this put his brother to death, the deed would +have seemed almost blameless after the family murders already related +in this history. But, with a goodness of heart, he a second time forgave +his brother all that had passed, replaced him on the throne of Cyrene, +and promised to give him his daughter in marriage. + +[Illustration: 223.jpg GARDEN NEAR HELIOPOLIS] + +We are not told whether the firmness and forgiving mildness of +Philometor had turned the Roman senate in his favour, but their troops +seemed wanted in other quarters; at any rate they left off trying to +enforce their decree; Philometor kept Cyprus, and sent Euergetes a +yearly gift of grain from Alexandria. + +During the wars in Syria between Philometor and Antiochus Epiphanes, at +the beginning of this reign, the Jews were divided into two parties, one +favouring the Egyptians and one the Syrians. At last the Syrian party +drove their enemies out of Jerusalem; and Onias, the high priest, with +a large body of Jews, fled to Egypt. There they were well received +by Philometor, who allowed them to dwell in the neighbourhood of +Heliopolis; and he gave them leave to build a temple and ordain priests +for themselves. Onias built his temple at On or Onion, a city about +twenty-three miles from Memphis, once the capital of the district of +Heliopolis. It was on the site of an old Egyptian temple of the goddess +Pasht, which had fallen into disuse and decay, and was built after the +model of the temple of Jerusalem. Though by the Jewish law there was to +be no second temple, yet Onias defended himself by quoting, as if meant +for his own times, the words of Isaiah, who says that in that day there +shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt. The +building of this temple, and the celebrating the Jewish feasts there, +as in rivalry to the temple of Jerusalem, were a never-failing cause +of quarrel between the Hebrew and the Greek Jews. They each altered the +words of the Bible to make it speak their own opinions. The Hebrew Bible +now says that the new temple was in the City of Destruction, and the +Greek Bible says that it was in the City of Righteousness; whereas, from +the Arabic version and some early commentaries, it seems that Isaiah was +speaking of the city of Heliopolis, where there had been of old an altar +to the Lord. The leaders of the Greek party wished the Jews to throw +aside the character of strangers and foreign traders; to be at home and +to become owners of the soil. “Hate not laborious work,” says the son of +Sirach; “neither husbandry, which the Most High hath ordained.” + +About the same time the Jews brought before Ptolemy, as a judge, their +quarrel with the Samaritans, as to whether, according to the law of +Moses, the temple ought to have been built at Jerusalem, or on the green +and fertile Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans built their temple, or +on the barren white crags of Mount Ebal, where the Hebrew Bible says +that it should be built; and as to which nation had altered their copies +of the Bible in the twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy and eighth +chapter of Joshua. This dispute had lately been the cause of riots and +rebellion. Ptolemy seems to have decided the question for political +reasons, and to please his own subjects, the Alexandrian Jews; and +without listening to the arguments as to what the law ordered, he was +content with the proof that the temple had stood at Jerusalem for about +eight hundred years, and he put to death the two Samaritan pleaders, who +had probably been guilty of some outrage against the Jews in zeal for +Mount Gerizim, and for which they might then have been on their trial. + +Onias, the high priest, was much esteemed by Philometor, and bore high +offices in the government; as also did Dositheus, another Jew, who had +been very useful in helping the king to crush a rebellion. Dositheus +called himself a priest and a Levite, though his title to that honour +seems to have been doubted by his countrymen. He had brought with him +into Egypt the book of Esther, written in Greek, which he said had been +translated out of the Hebrew in Jerusalem by Lysimachus. It contained +some additions for which the Hebrew has never been brought forward, and +which are now placed among the uncanonical books in the Apocrypha. + +Since the Ptolemies had found themselves too weak to hold Ethiopia, they +had placed a body of soldiers on the border of the two countries, to +guard Egypt from the inroads of the enemy. This station, twelve miles +to the south of Syênê, had by degrees grown into a city, and was called +Parembole, or _The Camp_; and, as most of the soldiers were Greek +mercenaries, it was natural that the temple which Philometor built there +should be dedicated in the Greek language. Of the temples hitherto built +by the Ptolemies, in the Egyptian cities, every one seems to have had +the king’s name and titles, and its dedication to the gods, carved on +its massive portico in hieroglyphics; but this was in a Greek city, and +it was dedicated to Isis and Serapis, on behalf of Philometor and his +queen, in a Greek inscription. + +[Illustration: 227.jpg TEMPLE OF APOLLONOPOLIS] + +Philometor also built a temple at Antseopolis to Antaeus, a god of whom +we know little, but that he gave his name to the city; and another to +Aroëris at Ombos; and in the same way he carved the dedications on the +porticoes in the Greek language. This custom became common after that +time, and proves both the lessened weight which the native Egyptians +bore in the state, and that the kings had forgotten the wise rules of +Ptolemy Soter, in regard to the religious feelings of the people. They +must have been greatly shocked by this use of foreign writing in the +place of the old characters of the country, which, from having been used +in the temples, even for ages beyond the reach of history, had at last +been called sacred. In the temple at Antoopolis we note a marked change +in the style of building. The screen in front of the great portico is +almost removed by having a doorway made in it between every pair of +columns. + +It is to this reign, also, that we seem to owe the great temple at +Apollinopolis Magna, although it was not finished till one or two +reigns later. It is one of the largest and least ruined of the Egyptian +temples. Its front is formed of two huge square towers, with sloping +sides, between which is the narrow doorway, the only opening in its +massive walls. Through this the worshipper entered a spacious courtyard +or cloister, where he found shade from the sun under a covered walk on +either side. In front is the lofty portico with six large columns, the +entrance to the body of the building. This last is flat-roofed, and far +lower than the grand portico which hid it from the eyes of the crowd in +the courtyard. The staircases in the towers are narrow. The sacred rooms +within were small and dark, with only a glimmering flame here and there +before an altar, except when lighted up with a blaze of lamps on a +feast-day. As a castle it must have had great strength; from the top +and loopholes of the two towers, stones and darts might be hurled at the +enemy; and as it was in the hands of the Egyptians, it is the strongest +proof that they were either not distrusted or not feared by their Greek +rulers. The city of Apollinopolis stands on a grand and lofty situation, +overlooking the river and the valley; and this proud temple, rising +over all, can only have been planned by military skill as a fortress to +command the whole. + +At this time the Greeks in Egypt were beginning to follow the custom of +their Egyptian brethren, to take upon themselves monastic vows, and +to shut themselves up in the temples in religious idleness. But these +foreigners were looked upon with jealousy by the Egyptian monks as +intruders on their endowments, and we meet with a petition addressed +to Philometor by Ptolemy, the son of Glaucias, a monk in the temple of +Serapis at Memphis, who styles himself a Macedonian, complaining that +his cell had been violently entered and himself ill-treated because +he was a Greek; and reminding the king that last year, when the king +visited the Serapium, he had addressed the same petition to him through +the bars of his window. The priests in temples of Egypt were maintained, +partly by their own estates, and partly by the offerings of the pious; +and we still possess a deed of sale made in this reign by the Theban +priests, of one-half of a third of their collections for the dead who +had been buried in Thynabunum, the Libyan suburb of Thebes. This sixth +share of the collections consisted of seven or eight families of slaves; +the price of it was four hundred pieces of brass; the bargain was made +in the presence of sixteen witnesses, whose names are given; and the +deed was registered and signed by a public notary in the city of Thebes. +The custom of giving offerings to the priests for the good of the dead +would seem to have been a cause of some wealth to the temples. It was +one among the many Egyptian customs forbidden by the law of Moses. + +From this deed of sale we also gain some knowledge of the state of +slavery in Egypt. The names of the slaves and of their fathers are +Koptic, and in some cases borrowed from the names of the gods; hence +the slaves were probably of the same religion, and spoke nearly the same +language as their masters. They sunk into that low state rather by their +own want of mind than by their masters’ power. In each case the slave +was joined in the same lot with his children; and the low price of four +hundred pieces of brass, perhaps about thirty-eight dollars for eight +families, or even if it be meant for the half of eight families, proves +that they were of the nature of serfs, and that the master, either by +law or custom, could have had no power of cruelly overworking them. On +the other hand, in the reign of Philadelphus, the prisoners taken in +battle, who might be treated with greater severity, were ransomed at +fifteen dollars each. We see by the monuments that there were also a +few negroes in the same unhappy state of slavery. They were probably not +treated much worse than the lowest class of those born on the soil, +but they were much more valuable. Other slaves of the Berber race were +brought in coasting vessels from Opone on the incense coast, near to the +island of Dioscorides. + +Aristarchus, who had been the tutor of Euergetes II., and of a son of +Philometor, was one of the ornaments of this reign. He had been a pupil +of Aristophanes, the grammarian, and had then studied under Crates at +Pergamus, the rival school to Alexandria. He died at Cyprus, whither he +probably withdrew on the death of Philometor. He was chiefly known for +his critical writings, in which his opinions of poetry were thought +so just that few dared to disagree with them; and his name soon became +proverbial for a critic. Aristarchus had also the good fortune to be +listened to in his lecture-room by one whose name is far more known than +those of his two royal pupils. Moschus of Syracuse, the pastoral poet, +was one of his hearers; but his fame must not be claimed for Alexandria; +he can hardly have learned from the critic that just taste by which he +joined softness and sweetness to the rude plainness of the Doric muse. +Indeed in this he only followed his young friend Bion, whose death he +so beautifully bewails, and from whose poems he generously owns that he +learned so much. It may be as well to add that the lines in which he +says that Theocritus, who had been dead above one hundred years, joined +with him in his sorrow for the death of Bion are later additions not +found in the early manuscripts of his poems. + +From our slight acquaintance with Bion’s life, we are left in doubt +whether he accompanied his friend Moschus to the court of Alexandria; +but it is probable that he did. In his beautiful lamentation for the +death of Adonis, we have an imitation of the melancholy chant of the +Egyptians, named _maneros_, which they sang through the streets in the +procession on the feast of Isis, when the crowd joined in the chorus, +“Ah, hapless Isis, Osiris is no more.” The tale has been a good deal +changed by the Sicilian muse of Bion, but in the boar which killed +Adonis, we have the wicked Typhon as carved on the monuments; we have +also the wound in the thigh, and the consolations of the priests, +who every year ended their mournful song with advising the goddess to +reserve her sorrow for another year, when on the return of the festival +the same lament would be again celebrated. The whole poem has a depth +and earnestness of feeling which is truly Egyptian, but which was very +little known in Alexandria. + +To the Alexandrian grammarians, and more particularly to Aristophanes, +Aristarchus, and their pupil, Ammonius, we are indebted for our +present copies of Homer. These critics acted like modern editors, each +publishing an edition, or rather writing out a copy, which was then +re-copied in the museum as often as called for by the demands of the +purchasers of books. Aristophanes left perhaps only one such copy or +edition, while Aristarchus, in his efforts to correct the text of the +great epic poet, made several such copies. These were in the hands of +the later scholiasts, who appealed to them as their authority, and +ventured to make no further alterations; we therefore now read the Iliad +and Odyssey nearly as left by these Alexandrian critics. They no doubt +took some liberties in altering the spelling and smoothing the lines; +and, though we should value most highly a copy in the rougher form in +which it came into their hands, yet, on the whole, we must be great +gainers by their labours. They divided the Iliad and Odyssey into +twenty-four books each, and corrected the faulty metres; but one of +their chief tasks was to set aside, or put a mark against, those more +modern lines which had crept into the ancient poems. It had been +usual to call every old verse Homer’s or Homeric, and these it was the +business of the critic to mark as not genuine. Aristarchus was jocosely +said to have called every line spurious which he did not like; but +everything that we can learn of him leads us to believe that he executed +his task with judgment. From these men sprang the school of Alexandrian +grammarians, who for several centuries continued their minute and often +unprofitable studies in verbal criticism. + +[Illustration: 234.jpg THE APOTHEOSIS OF HOMER] + +These were the palmy days of criticism. Never before or since have +critics held so high a place in literature. The world was called upon to +worship and do honour to the poet, but chiefly that it might admire the +skill of the critic who could name the several sources of his beauties. +The critic now ranked higher than a priest at the foot of Mount +Parnassus. Homer was lifted to the skies that the critic might stand on +a raised pedestal among the Muses. Such seems to be the meaning of +the figures on the upper part of the well-known sculpture called the +Apotheosis of Homer. It was made in this reign; and at the foot Ptolemy +and his mother, in the characters of Time and the World, are crowning +the statue of the poet, in the presence of ten worshippers who represent +the literary excellences which shine forth in his poems. The figures +of the Iliad and Odyssey kneel beside his seat, and the Frogs and Mice +creep under his footstool, showing that the latter mock-heroic poem was +already written and called the work of Homer. + +Other celebrities who flourished under the fifth Ptolemy were +Pamphilius, an Alexandrian physician who wrote on medical plants; +Meander, a poet and physician who studied poisons, and the great +Hipparchus, the founder of mathematical astronomy. Hero, also, in this +reign, invented a kind of primitive steam-engine. + +[Illustration: 235.jpg HERO’S ROTATING STEAM ENGINE] + +These men and their contemporaries were in the habit of writing their +scientific observations in the form of poetry, but it was verse without +earnestness and feeling, and such of it as survives is valued not for +its literary qualities or charms of diction, but for the side-lights it +throws upon the manners and education of the age. + +The portrait of the king is known from those coins which bear the name +of “_King Ptolemy the mother-loving god_.” The eagle on the other side +of the coins has a phoenix or palm-branch on its wing or by its side, +which may be supposed to mean that they were struck in Phoenicia. +We have not before met with the title of “god,” on the coins of +the Ptolemies; but, as every one of them had been so named in the +hieroglyphical inscriptions, it can scarcely be called new. + +When Philometor quitted the island of Cyprus after beating his brother +in battle, he left Archias as governor, who entered into a plot to give +it up to Demetrius, King of Syria, for the sum of five hundred talents. +But the plot was found out, and the traitor then put an end to his own +life, to escape from punishment and self-reproach. By this treachery of +Demetrius, Philometor was made his enemy, and he joined Attalus, King +of Pergamus, and Ariarathes, King of Cappadocia, in setting up Alexander +Balas as a pretender to the throne of Syria, who beat Demetrius in +battle, and put him to death. Philometor two years afterwards gave his +elder daughter, Cleopatra, in marriage to Alexander, and led her himself +to Ptolemaïs, or Acre, where the marriage was celebrated with great +pomp. + +But even in Ptolemaïs, the city in which Alexander had been so covered +with favours, Philometor was near falling under the treachery of his new +son-in-law. He learned that a plot had been formed against his life by +Ammonius, and he wrote to Alexander to beg that the traitor might be +given up to justice. But Alexander acknowledged the plot as his own, +and refused to give up his servant. On this, Philometor recalled his +daughter, and turned against Alexander the forces which he had led into +Syria to uphold him. He then sent to the young Demetrius, afterwards +called Nicator, the son of his late enemy, to offer him the throne and +wife which he had lately given to Alexander Balas. Demetrius was equally +pleased with the two offers. Philometor then entered Antioch at the head +of his army, and there he was proclaimed by the citizens King of Asia +and Egypt; but with a forbearance then very uncommon, he called together +the council of the people, and refused the crown, and persuaded them to +receive Demetrius as their king. + +[Illustration: 237.jpg COIN OF PTOLEMY V.] + +It is interesting to note that Alexander Balas and Demetrius Nicator +each in his turn acknowledged his debt to the King of Egypt by putting +the Ptolemaic eagle on his coins, and adjusting them to the Egyptian +standard of weight: and in this they were afterwards followed by +Antiochus, the son of Demetrius. The Romans, on the other hand, +sometimes used the same eagle in boast of their power over Egypt; but we +cannot be mistaken in what was meant by these Syrian kings, who none of +them, when their coins were struck, were seated safely on the throne. +With them, as with some of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the use of +the Egyptian eagle on the coins was an act of homage. + +Philometor and Demetrius, as soon as the latter was acknowledged king at +Antioch, then marched against Alexander, routed his army, and drove him +into Arabia. But in this battle Philometor’s horse was frightened by the +braying of an elephant, and threw the king into the ranks of the enemy, +and he was taken up covered with wounds. He lay speechless for five +days, and the surgeons then endeavoured to cut out a piece of the broken +bone from his skull. He died under the operation: but not before the +head of Alexander had been brought to him as the proof of his victory. + +Thus fell Ptolemy Philometor in the forty-second year of his age. His +reign began in trouble; before he reached the years of manhood the +country had been overrun by foreigners, and torn to pieces by civil war; +but he left the kingdom stronger than he found it, a praise which he +alone can share with Ptolemy Soter. He was alike brave and mild; he +was the only one of the race who fell in battle, and the only one whose +hands were unstained with civil blood. At an age and in a country when +poison and the dagger were too often the means by which the king’s +authority was upheld, when goodness was little valued, and when +conquests were thought the only measure of greatness, he spared the life +of a brother taken in battle, he refused the crown of Syria when offered +to him; and not only no one of his friends or kinsmen, but no citizen +of Alexandria, was put to death during the whole of his reign. We find +grateful inscriptions to his honour at the city of Citium in Cyprus, in +the island of Therse, and at Methone in Argolis. + +Philometor had reigned thirty-five years in all; eleven years alone, +partly while under age, then six years jointly with his brother, +Euergetes II., and eighteen more alone while his brother reigned in +Cyrene. He married his sister Cleopatra, and left her a widow, with two +daughters, each named Cleopatra. The elder daughter we have seen offered +to Euergetes, then married to Alexander Balas, and lastly to Demetrius. +The younger daughter, afterwards known by the name of Cleopatra Cocce, +was still in the care of her mother. He had most likely had three sons. +One perhaps had been the pupil of Aristarchus, and died before his +father; as the little elegy by Antipator of Sidon, which is addressed to +the dead child, on the grief of his father and mother, would seem to be +meant for a son of Philometor. A second son was murdered, and a third +lived in Syria. + +On the death of Philometor, his widow, Cleopatra, and some of the chief +men of Alexandria proclaimed his young son king, most likely under the +name of Ptolemy Eupator; but Euergetes, whose claim was favoured by +the mob, marched from Cyrene to Alexandria to seize the crown of Egypt. +Onias the Jew defended the city for Cleopatra; but a peace was soon made +by the help of Thermus, the Roman ambassador, and on this the gates of +Alexandria were opened. It was agreed that Euergetes should be king, and +marry Cleopatra, his sister and his brother’s widow. We may take it for +granted that one article of the treaty was that her son should reign on +the death of his uncle; but Euergetes, forgetting that he owed his own +life to Philometor, and also disregarding the Romans who were a party to +the treaty, had the boy put to death on the day of the marriage. + +The Alexandrians, after the vices and murders of former kings, could not +have been much struck by the behaviour of Euergetes towards his family; +but he was not less cruel towards his people. Alexandria, which he +had entered peaceably, was handed over to the unbridled cruelty of the +mercenaries, and blood flowed in every street. The anger of Euergetes +fell more particularly on the Jews for the help which they had given to +Cleopatra, and he threatened them with utter destruction. The threat +was not carried into execution; but such was the Jews’ alarm, that they +celebrated a yearly festival in Alexandria for several hundred years, in +thankfulness for their escape from it. The population of the city, who +looked upon it less as a home than as a place of trade in which they +could follow their callings with the greatest gain, seemed to quit +Alexandria as easily as they had come there under Ptolemy Soter; and +Euergetes, who was afraid that he should soon be left to reign over a +wilderness, made new laws in favour of trade and of strangers who would +settle there. + +In the lifetime of Philometor he had never laid aside his claim to the +throne of Egypt, but had only yielded to the commands of Rome and to his +brother’s forces, and he now numbered the years of his reign from his +former seizing of Alexandria. He had reigned six years with his brother, +and then eighteen years in Cyrene, and he therefore called the first +year of his real reign the twenty-fifth. + +In the next year he went to Memphis to be crowned; and, while the pomps +and rites were there being performed, his queen and sister bore him a +son, whom, from the place and to please the people, he named Memphites. +But his queen was already in disgrace; and some of those very friends +who on his brother’s death had marched with him against Alexandria were +publicly put to death for speaking ill of his mistress Irene. He soon +afterwards put away his wife and married her younger daughter, his +niece, Cleopatra Cocce. The divorced Cleopatra was allowed to keep her +title; and, as she was the widow of the late king, she held a rank in +the state before the wife of the reigning king. Thus, the small temple +of Hâthor in the island of Philæ was dedicated to the goddess in the +name of King Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra his sister, and Queen Cleopatra +his wife, designated as the gods Euergetæ. + +[Illustration: 241.jpg TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT PHILAE] + +The Roman senate, however, felt its authority slighted by this murder +of the young Eupator, and divorce of Cleopatra, both of whom were living +under its protection. The late ambassador, Thermus, by whose treachery +or folly Euergetes had been enabled to crush his rivals and gain the +sovereign power, was on his return to Rome called to account for his +conduct. Cato the Censor, in one of his great speeches, accused him of +having been seduced from his duty by the love of Egyptian gold, and of +having betrayed the queen to the bribes of Euergetes. In the meanwhile +Scipio Africanus the younger and two other Roman ambassadors were +sent by the senate to see that the kingdom of their ally was peaceably +settled. Euergetes went to meet him with great pomp, and received him +with all the honours due to his rank; and the whole city followed him in +crowds through the streets, eager to catch a sight of the conqueror of +Carthage, of the greatest man who had been seen in Alexandria, of one +who by his virtues and his triumphs had added a new glory even to the +name of Scipio. He brought with him, as his friend and companion (in +the case of a modern ambassador we should say, as his chaplain), the +philosopher, Pansetius, the chief of the Stoics, who had gained a great +name for his three books on the “Duty of Man,” which were afterwards +copied by Cicero. + +[Illustration: 242b.jpg] + +Euergetes showed them over the palace and the treasury; but, though the +Romans had already begun to run the down-hill race of luxury, in which +the Egyptians were so far ahead of them, yet Scipio, who held to the old +fashions and plain manners of the republic, was not dazzled by mere gold +and purple. But the trade of Alexandria, the natural harbour, the forest +of masts, and the lighthouse, the only one in the world, surpassed +anything that his well-stored mind had looked for. He went by boat to +Memphis, and saw the rich crops on either bank, and the easy navigation +of the Nile, in which the boats were sailing up the river by the force +of the wind and floating down by the force of the stream. The villages +on the river side were large and thickly set, each in the bosom of its +own grove of palm-trees; and the crowded population was well fed and +well clothed. The Roman statesman saw that nothing was wanting but a +good government to make Egypt what it used to be, the greatest kingdom +in the world. + +Scipio went no higher than Memphis; the buildings of Upper Egypt, the +oldest and the largest in the world, could not draw him to Thebes, a +city whose trade had fallen off, where the deposits of bullion in the +temples had lessened, and whose linen manufacture had moved towards the +Delta. Had this great statesman been a Greek he would perhaps have gone +on to this city, famous alike in history and in poetry; but, as it was, +Scipio and his friends then sailed for Cyprus, Syria, and the other +provinces or kingdoms under the power of Rome, to finish this tour of +inspection. + +For some time past, the Jews, taking advantage of the weakness of Egypt +and Syria, had been struggling to make themselves free; and, at the +beginning of this reign Simon Maccabæus, the high priest, sent an +embassy to Rome, with a shield of gold weighing one thousand _minae_, as +a present, to get their independence acknowledged by the Romans. On this +the senate made a treaty of alliance with the family of the Maccabees, +and, using the high tone of command to which they had for some time past +been accustomed, they wrote to Euergetes and the King of Syria, ordering +them not to make war upon their friends, the Jews. But in an after +decree the Romans recognise the close friendship and the trading +intercourse between Egypt and Judæa; and when they declared that they +would protect the Jews in their right to levy custom-house duties, they +made an exception in favour of the Egyptian trade. The people of Judæa +in these struggles were glad to forget the jealousy which had separated +them from their brethren in Egypt, and the old quarrel between the +Hebrews and the Hellenists; the Sanhedrim of Jerusalem wrote to the +Sanhedrim of Alexandria, telling them that they were going to keep the +Feast of the Tabernacles in solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty for +their deliverance, and begging for the benefit of their prayers. + +The Jews, however, of Judæa, on their gaining their former place as a +nation, did not, as before, carry forward the chain of history in their +sacred books. While they had been under the yoke of the Babylonians, the +Persians, and the Syrians, their language had undergone some changes; +and when the Hebrew of the Old Testament was no longer the spoken +language, they perhaps thought it unworthy of them to write in any +other. At any rate, it is to their Greek brethren in Egypt that we +are indebted for the history of the bravery of the Maccabees. Jason +of Cyrene wrote the history of the Maccabees, and of the Jewish wars +against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son, Antiochus Eupator. This work, +which was in five books, is lost, and we now read only the short history +which was drawn from it by some unknown Greek writer, which, with the +letter from the Jews of Judaaa to their brethren of Egypt, forms the +second book of Maccabees. + +In the list of Alexandrian authors, we must not forget to mention Jesus, +the son of Sirach, who came into Egypt in this reign, and translated +into Greek the Hebrew work of his grandfather Jesus, which is named the +Book of Wisdom, or Ecclesiasticus. It is written in imitation of the +Proverbs of Solomon; and though its pithy sayings fall far short of the +deep wisdom and lofty thoughts which crowd every line of that wonderful +work, yet it will always be read with profit and pleasure. In this +book we see the earliest example that we now possess of a Jewish writer +borrowing from the Greek philosophers; though how far the Greek thoughts +were part of the original Hebrew may be doubted, because the work +was left unfinished by Jesus the grandfather, and completed by the +Alexandrian translator, his grandson. Hereafter we shall see the +Alexandrian Jews engrafting on the Jewish theology more and more of the +Platonic philosophy, which very well suited the serious earnestness of +their character, and which had a most remarkable effect in making their +writings and opinions more fitted to spread into the ancient schools. + +This and other writings of the Alexandrian Jews were by them added to +the list of sacred books which together made their Greek Bible; but they +were never acknowledged at Jerusalem. The Hebrew books of the law and +the prophets were first gathered together by Nehemiah after the return +of the Hebrews from Babylon; but his library had been broken up during +the Syrian wars. These Hebrew books, with some few which had since been +written, were again got together by Judas Maccabaeus; and after his time +nothing more seems to have been added to them, though the Alexandrian +Jews continued to add new books to their Greek Bible, while cultivating +the Platonic philosophy with a success which made a change in their +religious opinions. It was in Alexandria, and very much by the help +of the Jews, that Eastern and Western opinions now met. Each made some +change in the other, and, on the union of the two, Alexandria gave to +the world a new form of philosophy. The vices and cruelty of Euergetes +called for more than usual skill in the minister to keep down the angry +feelings of the people. This skill was found in the general Hierax, +who was one of those men whose popular manners, habits of business, +and knowledge of war, make them rise over every difficulty in times +of trouble. On him rested the whole weight of the government; his wise +measures in part made up for the vices of his master; and, when the +treasure of the state had been turned to the king’s pleasures, and the +soldiers were murmuring for want of pay, Hierax brought forward his own +money to quiet the rebellion. But at last the people could bear their +grievances no longer; the soldiers without pay, instead of guarding the +throne, were its greatest enemies, and the mob rose in Alexandria, +set fire to the palace, and Euergetes was forced to leave the city and +withdraw to Cyprus. + +The Alexandrians, when free from their tyrant, sent for Cleopatra, +his sister and divorced queen, and set her upon the throne. Her son by +Philometor, in whose name she had before claimed the throne, had been +put to death by Euergetes; Memphites, one of her sons by Euergetes, was +with his father in the island of Cyprus; and Euergetes, fearing that his +first wife Cleopatra and her advisers might make use of his son’s +name to strengthen her throne, had the child at once put to death. +The birthday of Cleopatra was at hand, and it was to be celebrated in +Alexandria with the usual pomp; and Euergetes, putting the head, hands, +and feet of his son Memphites into a box, sent it to Alexandria by a +messenger, who had orders to deliver it to Cleopatra in the midst of +the feast, when the nobles and ambassadors were making their accustomed +gifts. The grief of Cleopatra was only equalled by the anger of the +Alexandrians, who the more readily armed themselves under Marsyas to +defend the queen against the invasion for which Euergetes was then +making preparations. + +The queen’s forces shortly marched against the army of Euergetes that +was entering Egypt under the command of Hegelochus; but the Egyptian +army was beaten on the Syrian frontier. Marsyas was sent prisoner to +Euergetes; and the king then showed the only act of mercy which can +be mentioned to his praise, and spared the life of a prisoner whom +he thought he could make use of. Cleopatra then sent to Syria, to +her son-in-law Demetrius, to ask for help, which was at first readily +granted, but Demetrius was soon called home again by a rising in +Antioch. But great indeed must be the cruelty which a people will not +bear from their own king rather than call in a foreign master to relieve +them. + +[Illustration: 249.jpg OBELISK AT HELIOPOLIS] + +The return of the hated and revengeful Euergetes was not dreaded so much +by the Alexandrians as the being made a province of Syria. Cleopatra +received no help from Demetrius, but she lost the love of her people by +asking for it, and she was soon forced to fly from Alexandria. She +put her treasures on board a ship, and joined her son Ptolemy and her +son-in-law Demetrius in Syria, while Euergetes regained his throne. +As soon as Euergetes was again master of Egypt, it was his turn to +be revenged upon Demetrius; and he brought forward Zabbineus, a young +Egyptian, the son of Protarchus, a merchant, and sent him into Syria +with an army to claim the throne under the name of Alexander, the +adopted son of Antiochus. Alexander easily conquered and then put to +death Demetrius, but, when he found that he really was King of Syria, he +would no longer receive orders from Egypt; and Euergetes found that the +same plots and forces were then wanted to put down this puppet, which he +had before used to set him up. He began by making peace with his sister +Cleopatra, who was again allowed to return to Egypt; and we find her +name joined with those of Euergetes and his second queen in one of +the public acts of the priests. He then sent an army and his daughter +Tryphaena in marriage to Antiochus Grypus, one of the sons of Demetrius, +who gladly received his help, and conquered Alexander and gained the +throne of his father. + +We possess a curious inscription upon an obelisk that once stood in the +island of Philæ, recording, as one of the grievances that the villagers +smarted under, the necessity of finding supplies for the troops on their +marches, and also for all the government messengers and public servants, +or those who claimed to travel as such. The cost of this grievance was +probably greater at Philæ than in other places, because the traveller +was there stopped in his voyage by the cataracts on the Nile, and he had +to be supplied with labourers to carry his luggage where the navigation +was interrupted. Accordingly the priests at Philæ petitioned the king +that their temple might be relieved from this heavy and vexatious +charge, which they said lessened their power of rightly performing their +appointed sacrifices; and they further begged to be allowed to set up a +monument to record the grant which they hoped for. Euergetes granted the +priests’ prayer, and accordingly they set up a small obelisk; and the +petition and the king’s answer were carved on the base of this monument. + +The gold mines near the Nubian or Golden Berenicê, though not so rich +as they used to be, were worked with full activity by the unhappy +prisoners, criminals, and slaves, who were there condemned to labour in +gangs under the lash of their taskmasters. Men and women alike, even old +men and children, each at such work as his overstretched strength was +equal to, were imprisoned in these caverns tunnelled under the sea or +into the side of the mountain; and there by torchlight they suffered +the cruel tortures of their overseers without having power to make their +groans heard above ground. No lot upon earth could be more wretched than +that of these unhappy men; to all of them death would have been thought +a boon. + +The survey of the coast of the Red Sea, which was undertaken in this or +the last reign, did not reach beyond the northern half of that sea. It +was made by Agatharcides, who, when the philosopher Heracleides Lembus +filled the office of secretary to the government under Philometor, had +been his scribe and reader. Agatharcides gives a curious account of the +half-savage people on these coasts, and of the more remarkable animals +and products of the country. He was a most judicious historian, and gave +a better guess than many at the true cause of why there was most water +in the Nile in the dry est season of the year; which was a subject of +never-ceasing inquiry with the travellers and writers on physics. Thaïes +said that its waters were held back at its mouths by the Etesian winds, +which blow from the north during the summer months; and Democritus of +Abdera said that these winds carried heavy rain-clouds to Ethiopia; +whereas the north winds do not begin to blow till the Nile has risen, +and the river has returned to its usual size before the winds cease. +Anaxagoras, who was followed by Euripides, the poet, thought that the +large supply of water came from the melting of snow in Ethiopia. Ephorus +thought that there were deep springs in the river’s bed, which gushed +forth with greater force in summer than in winter. Herodotus and +OEnopides both thought that the river was in its natural state when +the country was overflowed; and the former said that its waters were +lessened in winter by the attraction of the sun, then over Southern +Ethiopia; and the latter said that, as the earth grew cool, the waters +were sucked into its pores. The sources of the Nile were hidden by the +barbarism of the tribes on its banks; but by this time travellers had +reached the region of tropical rains; and Agatharcides said that the +overflow in Egypt arose from the rains in Upper Ethiopia. But the +Abyssinian rains begin to fall at midsummer, too late to cause the +inundation in Egypt; and therefore the truth seemed after all to lie +with the priests of Memphis, who said the Nile rises on the other side +of the equator, and the rain falling in what was winter on that side of +the globe made the Nile overflow in the Egyptian summer. + +From the very earliest times, says Ebers, the Pharaohs had understood +the necessity of measuring exactly the amount or deficiency of the +inundations of the Nile, and Nilometers are preserved which were erected +high up the river in Nubia by kings of the Old Empire, by princes, that +is to say, who reigned before the invasion of the Hyksos. Herodotus +tells us that the river must rise sixteen ells for the inundation to be +considered a favourable one. If it remained below this mark, the higher +fields failed in obtaining a due supply of water, and a dearth was the +result. If it greatly exceeded it, it broke down the dykes, damaged the +villages, and had not retired into its bed by the time for sowing the +seed. Thus the peasant, who could expect no rain, and was threatened +neither by frosts nor storms, could have his prospects of a good or bad +harvest read off by the priests with perfect certainty by the scale of +the Nilometer, and not by the servants of the divinities only, but by +the officers of the realm, who calculated the amount of taxes to be paid +to them in proportion to the rising of the river. + +[Illustration: 254.jpg NILOMETER AT RHODHA] + +The standard was protected by the magic power of unapproachable +sanctity, and the husbandman has been strictly interdicted from the +earliest time to this very day from casting a glance at it during the +time when the river is rising; for what sovereign could bear to disclose +without reserve the decrees of Providence as to the most important of +his rights, that of estimating the amount of taxes to be imposed? In the +time of the Pharaohs it was the priesthood that declared to the king and +to the people their estimate of the inundations, and at the present day, +the sheik, who is sworn to secrecy, is under the control of the police +of Cairo, and has his own Nilometer, the zero point of which is said +to be somewhat below that of the ancient standard. The engineers of +the French expedition first detected the fraud, by means of which the +government endeavoured every year to secure the full amount of taxes. + +When the Nile has reached a height of a little over fifteen old Arabic +ells, it exceeds its lowest level by more than eight ells, and has +reached the height requisite to enable it to irrigate the highest +fields. This happy event is announced to the people, who await it with +breathless anxiety, and the opening of the dykes may be proceeded with. +A festival to celebrate this occasion has been held from the remotest +times. At the present time customs prevail which can, it is alleged, be +traced by direct descent to the times of the Pharaohs, and yet during +the dominion of Christianity in Egypt, and later again under sovereigns +governing a nation wholly converted to Islam, the old worship of the +Nile, with all its splendour, its display, and its strange ceremonies, +was extirpated with the utmost rigour. But some portion of every +discarded religion becomes merged in the new one that has supplanted it +as a fresh form of superstition, and thus we discover from a Christian +document dating from the sixth century, that the rising of the Nile “in +its time” was no longer attributed to Osiris, but to a certain Saint +Orion, and, as the priest of antiquity taught that a tear of Isis led to +the overflowing of the Nile, so we hear the Egyptians of the present +day say that “a divine tear” has fallen into the stream and caused the +flood. + +The trade of the Egyptians had given them very little knowledge of +geography. Indeed the whole trade of the ancients was carried on by +buying goods from their nearest neighbours on one side, and selling +them to those on the other side of them. Long voyages were unknown; and, +though the trading wealth of Egypt had mainly arisen from carrying the +merchandise of India and Arabia Felix from the ports on the Red Sea to +the ports on the Mediterranean, the Egyptians seem to have gained no +knowledge of the countries from which these goods came. + +[Illustration: 256b.jpg SUK EL SALEH, CAIRO] + +They bought them of the Arab traders, who came to Cosseir and the +Troglodytic Berenicê from the opposite coast; the Arabs had probably +bought them from the caravans that had carried them across the desert +from the Persian Gulf; and that these land journeys across the desert +were both easier and cheaper than a coasting voyage, we have before +learned, from Phila-delphus thinking it worth while to build watering +and resting-houses in the desert between Koptos and Berenicê, to save +the voyage between Berenicê and Cosseir. India seems to have been only +known to the Greeks as a country that by sea was to be reached by the +way of the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf; and though Scylax had, by +the orders of Darius, dropped down the river Indus, coasted Arabia, +and thence reached the Red Sea, this voyage was either forgotten or +disbelieved, and in the time of the Ptolemies it seems probable that +nobody thought that India could be reached by sea from Egypt. Arrian +indeed thought that the difficulty of carrying water in their small +ships, with large crews of rowers, was alone great enough to stop a +voyage of such a length along a desert coast that could not supply them +with fresh water. + +The long voyages of Solomon and Necho had been limited to coasting +Africa; the voyage of Alexander the Great had been from the Indus to the +Persian Gulf; hence it was that the court of Euergetes was startled by +the strange news that the Arabian guards on the coast of the Red Sea had +found a man in a boat by himself, who could not speak Koptic, but who +they afterwards found was an Indian, who had sailed straight from India, +and had lost his shipmates. He was willing to show any one the route +by which he had sailed; and Eudoxus of Cyzicus in Asia Minor came to +Alexandria to persuade Euergetes to give him the command of a vessel for +this voyage of discovery. A vessel was given him; and, though he was but +badly fitted out, he reached a country, which he called India, by sea, +and brought back a cargo of spices and precious stones. He wrote an +account of the coasts which he visited, and it was made use of by Pliny. +But it is more than probable the unknown country called India, which +Eudoxus visited, was on the west coast of Africa. Abyssinia was often +called India by the ancients. + +In these attempts at maritime discovery, and efforts after a cheaper +means of obtaining the Indian products, the Greek sailors of Euergetes +made a settlement in the island of Dioscorides, now called Socotara, +in the Indian Ocean, forty leagues eastward of the coast of Africa; and +there they met the trading vessels from India and Ceylon. This little +island continued a Greek colony for upwards of seven centuries, and +Greek was the only language spoken there till it fell under the Arabs +in the twilight of history, when all the European possessions in Africa +were overthrown. But the art of navigation was so far unknown that but +little use was made of this voyage; the goods of India, which were all +costly and of small weight, were still for the most part carried across +the desert on camels’ backs, and we may remark that at a later period +hardly more than twenty small vessels ever went to India in one year +during the reigns of the Ptolemies, and that it was not till Egypt was a +province of Rome that the trade-winds across the Arabian Sea were found +out by Hippalus, a pilot in the Indian trade. The voyage was little +known in the time of Pliny; even the learned Propertius seems to have +thought that silk was a product of Arabia; and Palmyra and Petra, the +two chief cities in the desert, whose whole wealth rested and whose very +being hung upon their being watering-places for these caravans, were +still wealthy cities in the second century of our era, when the voyage +by the Arabian Sea became for the first time easier and cheaper than the +journeys across the desert. + +Euergetes had been a pupil of Aristobolus, a learned Jew, a writer of +the peripatetic sect of philosophers, one who had made his learning +respected by the pagans from his success in cultivating their +philosophy; and also of Aristarchus, the grammarian, the editor +of Homer; and, though the king had given himself up to the lowest +pleasures, yet he held with his crown that love of letters and of +learning which had ennobled his forefathers. He was himself an author, +and wrote, like Ptolemy Soter, his Memorabilia, or an account of what +he had seen most remarkable in his lifetime. We may suppose that his +writings were not of a very high order; they were quoted by Athengeus, +who wrote in the reign of Marcus Aurelius; but we learn little else from +them than the names of the mistresses of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and that +a flock of pheasants was kept in the palace of Alexandria. He also +wrote a commentary on Homer, of which we know nothing. When busy +upon literature, he would allow his companions to argue with him till +midnight on a point of history or a verse of poetry; but not one of them +ever uttered a word against his tyranny, or argued in favour of a less +cruel treatment of his enemies. + +In this reign the schools of Alexandria, though not holding the rank +which they had gained under Philadelphus, were still highly thought of. +The king still gave public salaries to the professors; and Panaretus, +who had been a pupil of the philosopher Arcesilaus, received the very +large sum of twelve talents, or ten thousand dollars a year. Sositheus +and his rival, the younger Homer, the tragic poets of this reign, have +even been called two of the Pleiades of Alexandria; but that was a +title given to many authors of very different times, and to some of +very little merit. Such indeed was the want of merit among the poets of +Alexandria that many of their names would have been unknown to posterity +had they not been saved in the pages of the critics and grammarians, and +pieced together by the skill of nineteenth century investigators. + +[Illustration: 260.jpg TEMPLE OF KOM OMBO.] + +But, unfortunately, the larger number of the men of letters had in the +late wars taken part with Philome-tor against the cruel and luxurious +Euergetes. Hence, when the streets of Alexandria were flowing with the +blood of those whom he called his enemies, crowds of learned men left +Egypt, and were driven to earn a livelihood by teaching in the cities +to which they then fled. They were all Greeks, and few of them had been +born in Alexandria. They had been brought there by the wealth of the +country and the favour of the sovereign; and they now withdrew when +these advantages were taken away from them. The isles and coasts of the +Mediterranean were so filled with grammarians, philosophers, geometers, +musicians, schoolmasters, painters, and physicians from Alexandria that +the cruelty of Euergetes II., like the taking of Constantinople by the +Turks, may be said to have spread learning by the ill-treatment of its +professors. + +The city which was then rising highest in arts and letters was Pergamus +in Asia Minor, which, under Eumenes and Attalus, was almost taking the +place which Alexandria had before held. Its library already held +two hundred thousand volumes, and raised a jealousy in the mind of +Euergetes. Not content with buying books and adding to the size of +his own library, he wished to lessen the libraries of his rivals; and, +nettled at the number of volumes which Eumenes had got together at +Pergamus, he made a law, forbidding the export of the Egyptian papyrus +on which they were written. On this the copiers employed by Eumenes +wrote their books upon sheepskins, which were called _charta pergamena_, +or parchment, from the name of the city in which they were written. Thus +our own two words, parchment from _Pergamus_, and paper from _papyrus_, +remain as monuments of the rivalry in book-collecting between the two +kings. + +Euergetes was so bloated with disease that his body was nearly six feet +round, and he was made weak and slothful by this weight of flesh. +He walked with a crutch, and wore a loose robe like a woman’s, which +reached to his feet and hands. He gave himself up very much to eating +and drinking, and on the year that he was chosen priest of Apollo by +the Cyrenians, he showed his pleasure at the honour by a memorable feast +which he gave in a costly manner to all those who had before filled that +office. He had reigned six years with his brother, then eighteen years +in Cyrene, and lastly twenty-nine years after the death of his brother, +and he died in the fifty-fourth year of his reign, and perhaps the +sixty-ninth of his age. He left a widow, Cleopatra Cocce; two sons, +Ptolemy and Ptolemy Alexander; and three daughters, Cleopatra, married +to her elder brother; Tryphsena, married to Antiochus Grypus; and Selene +unmarried; and also a natural son, Ptolemy Apion, to whom by will he +left the kingdom of Cyrene; while he left the kingdom of Egypt to his +widow and one of his sons, giving her the power of choosing which should +be her colleague. The first Euergetes earned and deserved the name, +which was sadly disgraced by the second; but such was the fame of +Egypt’s greatness that the titles of its kings were copied in nearly +every Greek kingdom. We meet with the flattering names of Soter, +Philadelphus, Euergetes, and the rest, on the coins of Syria, Parthia, +Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Pon-tus, Bactria, and Bithynia; while that +of Euergetes, _the benefactor_, was at last used as another name for a +tyrant. + + + + +CHAPTER VI--THE GROWTH OF ROMAN INFLUENCE IN EGYPT + + +_The weakness of the Ptolemies: Egypt bequeathed to Rome: Pompey, Cæsar, +and Antony befriend Egypt._ + + +On the death of Ptolemy Euergetes II., his widow, Cleopatra Cocce, would +have chosen her younger son, Ptolemy Alexander, then a child, for her +partner on the throne, most likely because it would have been longer in +the course of years before he would have claimed his share of power; but +she was forced, by a threatened rising of the Alexandrians, to make her +elder son king. Before, however, she would do this she made a treaty +with him, which would strongly prove, if anything were still wanting, +the vice and meanness of the Egyptian court. It was, that, although +married to his sister Cleopatra, of whom he was very fond, he should put +her away, and marry his younger sister Selene; because the mother hoped +that Selene would be false to her husband’s cause, and weaken his party +in the state by her treachery. + +Ptolemy took the name of Soter II., though he is more often called +Lathyrus, from a stain upon his face in the form of an ivy-leaf, pricked +into his skin in honour of Osiris. He was also called Philometor; and we +learn from an inscription on a temple at Apollinopolis Parva, that both +these names formed part of the style in which the public acts ran in +this reign; it is dedicated by “the Queen Cleopatra and King Ptolemy, +gods Philometores, Soteres, and his children,” without mentioning his +wife. Here, as in Persia and Judaaa, the king’s mother often held rank +above his wife. The name of Philometor was given to him by his mother, +because, though he had reached the years of manhood, she wished to +act as his guardian; but her unkindness to him was so remarkable that +historians have thought that it was a nickname. The mother and the son +were jointly styled sovereigns of Egypt; but they lived apart, and in +distrust of one another, each surrounded by personal friends; while +Cleopatra’s stronger mind and greater skill in kingcraft gained for her +the larger share of power, and the effective control of Egypt. + +Cleopatra, the daughter, put away by her husband at the command of her +mother, soon made a treaty of marriage with Antiochus Cyzicenus, the +friend of her late husband, who was struggling for the throne of Syria +with his brother, Antiochus Grypus, the husband of her sister Tryphaana; +and on her way to Syria she stopped at Cyprus, where she raised a large +army and took it with her as her dower, to help her new husband against +his brother and her sister. + +With this addition to his army Cyzicenus thought his forces equal to +those of his brother; he marched against him and gave him battle. But +he was beaten, and he fled with his wife Cleopatra; and they shut +themselves up in the city of Antioch. Grypus and Tryphaana then laid +siege to the city, and the astute Tryphaana soon took her revenge on +her sister for coming into Syria to marry the brother and rival of her +husband. The city was taken; and Tryphaana ordered her sister to be torn +from the temple into which she had fled, and to be put to death. In vain +Grypus urged that he did not wish his victory to be stained by the death +of a sister; that Cleopatra was by marriage his sister as well as hers; +that she was the aunt of their children; and that the gods would punish +them if they dragged her from the altar. But Tryphaana was merciless +and unmoved; she gave her own orders to the soldiers, and Cleopatra was +killed as she clung with her arms to the statue of the goddess. This +cruelty, however, was soon overtaken by punishment: in the next battle +Cyzicenus was the conqueror, and he put Tryphaana to death, to quiet, as +was said, the ghost of her murdered sister. + +In the third year of her reign Cleopatra Cocce gave the island of Cyprus +to her younger son, Alexander, as an independent kingdom, thinking that +he would be of more use to her there, in upholding her power against his +brother Lathyrus, than he could be at Alexandria. + +In the last reign Eudoxus had been entrusted by Euergetes with a vessel +and a cargo for a trading voyage of discovery towards India; and in this +reign he was again sent by Cleopatra down the Red Sea to trade with the +unknown countries in the east. How far he went may be doubted, but +he brought back with him from the coast of Africa the prow of a ship +ornamented with a horse’s head, the usual figurehead of the Carthaginian +ships. This he showed to the Alexandrian pilots, who knew it as +belonging to one of the Phoenician ships of Cadiz or Gibraltar. Eudoxus +justly argued that this prow proved that it was possible to sail round +Africa and to reach India by sea from Alexandria. The government, +however, would not fit him out for a third voyage; but his reasons were +strong enough to lead many to join him, and others to help him with +money, and he thereby fitted out three vessels on this attempt to sail +round Africa by the westward voyage. He passed the Pillars of Hercules, +or Straits of Gibraltar, and then turned southward. He even reached that +part of Africa where the coast turns eastward. Here he was stopped by +his ships wanting repair. The only knowledge that he brought back for us +is, that the natives of that western coast were of nearly the same race +as the Ethiopians on the eastern coast. He was able to sail only part +of the way back, and he reached Mauritania with difficulty by land. He +thence returned home, where he met with the fate not unusual to early +travellers. His whole story was doubted; and the geographers at home did +not believe that he had ever visited the countries that he attempted to +describe. + +The people of Lower Egypt were, as we have seen, of several races; and, +as each of the surrounding nations was in its turn powerful, that race +of men was uppermost in Lower Egypt. Before the fall of Thebes the Kopts +ruled in the Delta; when the free states of Greece held the first rank +in the world, even before the time of Alexander’s conquests, the Greeks +of Lower Egypt were masters of their fellow-countrymen; and now that +Judæa, under the bravery of the Maccabees, had gained among nations a +rank far higher than what its size entitled it to, the Egyptian Jews +found that they had in the same way gained weight in Alexandria. +Cleopatra had given the command of her army to two Jews, Chelcias and +Ananias, the sons of Onias, the priest of Heliopolis; and hence, when +the civil war broke out between the Jews and Samaritans, Cleopatra +helped the Jews, and perhaps for that reason Lathyrus helped the +Samaritans. He sent six thousand men to his friend, Antiochus Cyzicenus, +to be led against the Jews, but this force was beaten by the two sons of +Hyrcanus, the high priest. + +By this act Lathyrus must have lost the good-will of the Jews of Lower +Egypt, and hence Cleopatra again ventured to choose her own partner on +the throne. She raised a riot in Alexandria against him, in the tenth +year of their reign, on his putting to death some of her friends, or +more likely, as Pausanias says, by showing to the people some of her +eunuchs covered with blood, who she said were wounded by him; and she +forced him to fly from Egypt. She took from him his wife, Selene, whom +she had before thrust upon him, and who had borne him two children; and +she allowed him to withdraw to the kingdom of Cyprus, from which place +she recalled her favourite son, Alexander, to reign with her in Egypt. + +[Illustration: 268.jpg TEMPLE PORTICO AT CONTRA-LATOPOLI] + +During these years the building was going forward of the beautiful +temple at the city, afterwards named by the Romans Contra-Latopolis, on +the other side of the Nile from Latopolis or Esne. Little now remains +of it but its massive portico, upheld by two rows of four columns each, +having the globe with outstretched wings carved on the overhanging +eaves. The earliest names found among the hieroglyphics with which its +walls are covered are those of Cleopatra Cocce and her son, Ptolemy +Soter, while the latest name is that of the Emperor Commodus. Even under +Cleopatra Cocce, who was nearly the worst of the family, the building of +these great temples did not cease. + +The two sons were so far puppets in the hands of their clever mother, +that on the recall of Alexander no change was seen in the government +beyond that of the names which were placed at the head of the public +acts. The former year was called the tenth of Cleopatra and Ptolemy +Soter, and this year was called the eleventh of Cleopatra and eighth of +Ptolemy Alexander; as Alexander counted his years from the time when he +was sent with the title of king to Cyprus. As he was, like his brother, +under the guidance of his mother, he was like him in the hieroglyphical +inscriptions called _mother-loving_. + +While the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria were alike weakened by civil wars +and by the vices of their kings, Judæa, as we have seen, had risen +under the wise government of the Maccabees to the rank of an independent +state; and latterly Aristobulus, the eldest son of Hyr-canus, and +afterwards Alexander Jannseus, his second son, had made themselves +kings. But Gaza, Ptolemaïs, and some other cities, bravely refused to +part with their liberty, and sent to Lathyrus, then King of Cyprus, for +help. This was not, however, done without many misgivings; for some were +wise enough to see that, if Lathyrus helped them, Cleopatra would, on +the other hand, help their king, Jannasus; and when Lathyrus landed at +Sicaminos with thirty thousand men, the citizens of Ptolemaïs refused +even to listen to a message from him. + +The city of Gaza then eagerly sent for the help which the city of +Ptolemaïs refused. Lathyrus drove back Jannasus, and marched upon +Asochis, a city of Galilee, where he scaled the walls on the Sabbath +Day, and took ten thousand prisoners and a large booty. He then sat down +before the city of Saphoris, but left it on hearing that Jannasus was +marching against him on the other side of the Jordan, at the head of a +force larger than his own. He crossed the river in face of the Jewish +army, and routed it with great slaughter. The Jewish historian adds, +that between thirty and fifty thousand men were slain upon the field +of battle, and that the women and children of the neighbouring villages +were cruelly put to death. + +Cleopatra now began to fear that her son Lathyrus would soon make +himself too powerful, if not checked in his career of success, and that +he might be able to march upon Egypt. She therefore mustered her forces, +and put them under the command of Chelcias and Ananias, her Jewish +generals. She sent her treasure, her will, and the children of +Alexander, to the island of Cos, as a place of safety, and then marched +with the army into Palestine, having sent forward her son Alexander with +the fleet. By this movement Lathyrus was unable to keep his ground in +Coele-Syria, and he took the bold step of marching towards Egypt. But +he was quickly followed by Chelcias, and his army was routed, though +Chelcias lost his life in the battle. Cleopatra, after taking Ptolemaïs, +sent part of her army to help that which had been led by Chelcias; and +Lathyrus was forced to shut himself up in Gaza. Soon after this the +campaign ended, by Lathyrus returning to Cyprus, and Cleopatra to Egypt. + +On this success, Cleopatra was advised to seize upon the throne of +Jannseus, and again to add to Egypt the provinces of Palestine +and Coele-Syria, which had so long made part of the kingdom of her +forefathers. She yielded, however, to the reasons of her general +Ananias, for the Jews of Lower Egypt were too strong to be treated with +slight. It was by the help of the Jews that Cleopatra had driven her son +Lathyrus out of Egypt; they formed a large part of the Egyptian armies, +which were no longer even commanded by Greeks; and it must have been by +these clear and unanswerable reasons that Ananias was able to turn +the queen from the thoughts of this conquest, and to renew the league +between Egypt and Judæa. + +Cleopatra, however, was still afraid that Lathyrus would be helped by +his friend Antiochus Cyzicenus to conquer Egypt, and she therefore kept +up the quarrel between the brothers by again sending troops to help +Antiochus Grypus; and lastly, she gave him in marriage her daughter +Selene, whom she had before forced upon Lathyrus. She then sent an +army against Cyprus; and Lathyrus was beaten and forced to fly from the +island. + +In the middle of this reign died Ptolemy Apion, King of Cyrene. He was +the half-brother of Lathyrus and Alexander, and, having been made King +of Cyrene by his father Euergetes II., he had there reigned quietly for +twenty years. Being between Egypt and Carthage, then called the Roman +province of Africa, and having no army which he could lead against the +Roman legions, he had placed himself under the guardianship of Rome; he +had bought a truce during his lifetime, by making the Roman people his +heirs in his will, so that on his death they were to have his kingdom. +Cyrene had been part of Egypt for above two hundred years, and was +usually governed by a younger son or brother of the king. But on the +death of Ptolemy Apion, the Roman senate, who had latterly been +grasping at everything within their reach, claimed his kingdom as their +inheritance, and in the flattering language of their decree by which the +country was enslaved, they declared Cyrene free. From that time forward +it was practically a province of Rome. + +Ptolemy Alexander, who had been a mere tool in the hands of his mother, +was at last tired of his gilded chains; but he saw no means of throwing +them off, or of gaining that power in the state which his birth and +title, and the age which he had then reached, ought to have given him. +The army was in favour of his mother, and an unsuccessful effort would +certainly have been punished with death; so he took perhaps the only +path open to him: he left Egypt by stealth, and chose rather to quit his +throne and palace than to live surrounded by the creatures of his mother +and in daily fear for his life. Cleopatra might well doubt whether she +could keep her throne against both her sons, and she therefore sent +messengers with fair promises to Alexander, to ask him to return to +Egypt. But he knew his mother too well ever again to trust himself in +her hands; and while she was taking steps to have him put to death on +his return, he formed a plot against her life by letters. In this double +game Alexander had the advantage of his mother; her character was so +well known that he needed not to be told of what was going on; while she +perhaps thought that the son whom she had so long ruled as a child would +not dare to act as a man. Alexander’s plot was of the two the best laid, +and on his reaching Egypt his mother was put to death. + +But Alexander did not long enjoy the fruits of his murder. The next year +the Alexandrians rose against him in a fury. He was hated not so much +perhaps for the murder of his mother as for the cruelties which he had +been guilty of, or at least had to bear the blame of, while he reigned +with her. His own soldiers turned against him, and he was forced to seek +his safety by flying on board a vessel in the harbour, and he left Egypt +with his wife and daughter. He was followed by a fleet under the command +of Tyrrhus, but he reached Myrse, a city of Lycia, in safety; and +afterwards, in crossing over to Cyprus, he was met by an Egyptian fleet +under Chaereas, and killed in battle. + +Though others may have been guilty of more crimes, Alexander had perhaps +the fewest good qualities of any of the family of the Lagidaa. During +his idle reign of twenty years, in which the crimes ought in fairness to +be laid chiefly to his mother, he was wholly given up to the lowest and +worst of pleasures, by which his mind and body were alike ruined. He was +so bloated with vice and disease that he seldom walked without crutches; +but at his feasts he could leap from his raised couch and dance with +naked feet upon the floor with the companions of his vices. He was +blinded by flattery, ruined by debauchery, and hated by the people. + +His coins are not easily known from those of the other kings, which also +bore the name of “Ptolemy the king” round the eagle. Some of the coins +of his mother have the same words round the eagle on the one side, +while on the other is her head, with a helmet formed like the head of an +elephant, or her head with the name of “Queen Cleopatra” There are other +coins with the usual head of Jupiter, and with two eagles to point out +the joint sovereignty of herself and son. + +Few buildings or parts of buildings mark the reign of Ptolemy Alexander; +but his name is not wholly unknown among the sculptures of Upper Egypt. +On the walls of the temple of Apollinopolis Magna he is represented +as making an offering to the god Horus. There the Egyptian artist has +carved a portrait of this Greek king, whom he perhaps had never seen, +clothed in a dress which he never wore, and worshipping a god whom he +may have hardly known by name. + +History has not told us who was the first wife of Alexander, but he left +a son by her named after himself Ptolemy Alexander, whom we have seen +sent by his grandmother for safety to the island of Cos, the fortress +of the family, and a daughter whom he carried with him in his flight +to Lycia. His second wife was Cleopatra Berenicê, the daughter of his +brother Lathyrus, by whom he had no children, and who is called in the +hieroglyphics his queen and sister. + +[Illustration: 274.jpg COIN OF CLEOPATRA AND ALEXANDER] + +On the flight of Alexander, the Alexandrians sent an embassy to Cyprus +to bring back Soter II., or Lathyrus, as he is called; and he entered +Egypt without any opposition. He had reigned ten years with his mother, +and then eighteen years by himself in Cyprus; and during those years of +banishment had shown a wisdom and good behaviour which must have won +the esteem of the Alexandrians, when compared with his younger brother +Alexander. He had held his ground against the fleets and armies of his +mother, but either through weakness or good feeling had never invaded +Egypt. + +His reign is remarkable for the rebellion and ruin of the once powerful +city of Thebes. It had long been falling in trade and in wealth, and had +lost its superiority in arms; but its temples, like so many citadels, +its obelisks, its colossal statues, and the tombs of its great kings +still remained, and with them the memory of its glory then gone by. + +[Illustration: 275.jpg COIN OF CLEOPATRA AND ALEXANDER, WITH EAGLES] + +The hieroglyphics on the walls still recounted to its fallen priests +and nobles the provinces in Europe, Asia, and Africa which they once +governed, and the weight of gold, silver, and corn which these provinces +sent as a yearly tribute. The paintings and sculptures showed the men of +all nations and of all colours, from the Tatar of the north to the Negro +of the south, who had graced the triumphs of their kings: and with these +proud trophies before their eyes they had been bending under the yoke +of Euergetes II. and Cleopatra Cocce for about fifty years. So small a +measure of justice has usually been given to a conquered people by their +rulers, that their highest hopes have risen to nothing more than +an escape from excess of tyranny. If life, property, female honour, +national and religious feelings have not been constantly and wantonly +outraged, lesser evils have been patiently endured. + +[Illustration: 276.jpg THE MEMNONIUM AT THEBES] + +Political servitude, heavy taxes, daily ill-treatment, and occasional +cruelty the Thebans had borne for two centuries and a half under their +Greek masters, as no less the lot of humanity than poverty, disease, and +death. But under the government of Cleopatra Cocce the measure of +their injuries overflowed, and taking advantage of the revolutions in +Alexandria, a large part of Upper Egypt rose in rebellion. + +We can therefore hardly wonder that when Lathyrus landed in Egypt, and +tried to recall the troubled cities to quiet government and good order, +Thebes should have refused to obey. The spirit of the warriors who +followed Ramses to the shores of the Black Sea was not quite dead. For +three years the brave Kopts, entrenched within their temples, every one +of which was a castle, withstood his armies; but the bows, the hatchets, +and the chariots could do little against Greek arms; while the overthrow +of the massive temple walls, and the utter ruin of the city, prove +how slowly they yielded to greater skill and numbers, and mark the +conqueror’s distrust lest the temples should be again so made use of. +Perhaps the only time before when Thebes had been stormed after a long +siege was when it first fell under the Persians; and the ruin which +marked the footsteps of Cambyses had never been wholly repaired. But the +wanton cruelty of the foreigners did little mischief, when compared with +the unpitying and unforgiving distrust of the native conquerors. The +temples of Tentyra, Apollinopolis, Latopolis, and Philæ show that the +massive Egyptian buildings, when let alone, can withstand the wear +of time for thousands of years; but the harder hand of man works much +faster, and the wide acres of Theban ruins prove alike the greatness +of the city and the force with which it was overthrown; and this is the +last time that Egyptian Thebes is met with in the pages of history. + +The traveller, whose means and leisure have allowed him to reach the +spot, now counts the Arab villages which have been built within the +city’s bounds, and perhaps pitches his tent in the open space in the +middle of them. But the ruined temples still stand to call forth his +wonder. They have seen the whole portion of time of which history keeps +the reckoning roll before them; they have seen kingdoms and nations rise +and fall: Babylonians, Assyrians, Hebrews, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. +They have seen the childhood of all that we call ancient; and they still +seem likely to stand, to tell their tale to those who will hereafter +call us ancients. After this rebellion, Lathyrus reigned in quiet, and +was even able to be of use to his Greek allies; and the Athenians, in +gratitude, set up statues of bronze to him and Berenicê, his daughter. + +During this reign, the Romans were carrying on a war with Mithridates, +King of Pontus, in Asia Minor; and Sulla, who was then at the head +of the republic, sent Lucullus, the soldier, the scholar, and the +philosopher, as ambassador to Alexandria, to ask for help against the +enemy. The Egyptian fleet moved out of harbour to meet him, a pomp +which the kings of Egypt had before kept for themselves alone. Lathyrus +received him on shore with the greatest respect, lodged him in the +palace, and invited him to his own table, an honour which no foreigner +had enjoyed since the kings of Egypt had thrown aside the plain manners +of the first Ptolemies. Lucullus had brought with him the philosopher +Antiochus of Athens, who had been the pupil of Philo, and they found +time to enjoy the society of Dion, the academic philosopher, who was +then teaching at Alexandria; and there they might have been seen with +Heraclitus of Tyre, talking together about the changes which were +creeping into the Platonic philosophy, and about the two newest works of +Philo, which had just come to Alexandria. Antiochus could not read them +without showing his anger: such sceptical opinions had never before been +heard of in the Academy; but they knew the handwriting of Philo, they +were certainly his. Selius and Tetrilius, who were there, had heard him +teach the same opinions at Rome, whither he had fled, and where he was +then teaching Cicero. The next day, the matter was again talked over +with Lucullus, Heraclitus, Aristus of Athens, Ariston, and Dion; and it +ended in Antiochus writing a book, which he named Sosus, against those +new opinions of his old master, against the new Academy, and in behalf +of the old Academy. + +Lathyrus understood the principles of the balance of power and his own +interest too well to help the Romans to crush Mithridates, and he wisely +wished not to quarrel with either. He therefore at once made up his mind +not to grant the fleet which Lucullus had been sent to ask for. It +had been usual for the kings of Egypt to pay the expenses of the Roman +ambassadors while living in Alexandria; and Lathyrus offered four +times the usual allowance to Lucullus, beside eighty talents of silver. +Lucullus, however, would take nothing beyond his expenses, and returned +the gifts, which were meant as a civil refusal of the fleet; and, having +failed in his embassy, he sailed hastily for Cyprus, leaving the wonders +of Egypt unvisited. Lathyrus sent a fleet of honour to accompany him on +his voyage, and gave him his portrait cut in an emerald. Mithridates +was soon afterwards conquered by the Romans; and it was only by skilful +embassies and well-timed bribes that Lathyrus was able to keep off +the punishment which seemed to await him for having thus disobeyed the +orders of Sulla. Egypt was then the only kingdom, to the west of Persia, +that had not yet bowed its neck under the Roman yoke. + +The coins of Lathyrus are not easily or certainly known from those of +the other Ptolemies; but those of his second wife bear her head on the +one side, with the name of “Queen Selene,” and on the other side the +eagle, with the name of “King Ptolemy.” + +[Illustration: 280.jpg COIN OF Ptolemy Lathyrus AND SELENE.] + +He had before reigned ten years with his mother, and after his brother’s +death he reigned six years and a half more, but, as he counted the years +that he had reigned in Cyprus, he died in the thirty-seventh year of +his reign. He left a daughter named Berenicê, and two natural sons, each +named Ptolemy, one of whom reigned in Cyprus, and the other, nicknamed +Auletes, _the piper_, afterwards gained the throne of Egypt. + +On the death of Lathyrus, or Ptolemy Soter II., his daughter Cleopatra +Berenicê, the widow of Ptolemy Alexander, mounted the throne of Egypt +in B.C. 80; but it was also claimed by her stepson, the young Alexander, +who was then living in Rome. Alexander had been sent to the island of +Cos, as a place of safety, when his grandmother Cleopatra Cocce followed +her army into Coele-Syria. But, as the Egyptians had lost the command of +the sea, the royal treasure in Cos was no longer out of danger, and the +island was soon afterwards taken by Mithridates, King of Pontus, who +had conquered Asia Minor. Among the treasures in that island the +Alexandrians lost one of the sacred relics of the kingdom, the chlamys +or war-cloak which had belonged to Alexander the Great, and which they +had kept with religious care as the safeguard of the empire. It then +fell into the hands of Mithridates, and on his overthrow it became +the prize of Pompey, who wore it in his triumph at the end of the +Mithridatic war. With this chlamys, as had always been foretold by the +believers in wonders, Egypt lost its rank among nations, and the command +of the world passed to the Romans, who now possessed this time-worn +symbol of sovereignty. + +Alexander also at that time fell into the hands of Mithridates; but he +afterwards escaped, and reached the army of Sulla, under whose care he +lived for some time in Rome. The Alexandrian prince hoped to gain the +throne of his father by means of the friendship of one who could make +and unmake kings at his pleasure; and Sulla might have thought that the +wealth of Egypt would be at his command by means of his young friend. To +these reasons Alexander added the bribe which was then becoming common +with the princes who held their thrones by the help of Rome, he made a +will, in which he named the Roman people as his heirs; and the senate +then took care that the kingdom of Egypt should be a part of the wealth +which was afterwards to be theirs by inheritance. After Berenicê, +his stepmother, had been queen about six months, they sent him to +Alexandria, with orders that he should be received as king; and, to +soften the harshness of this command, he was told to marry Berenicê, and +reign jointly with her. + +The orders of Sulla, the Roman dictator, were of course obeyed; and the +young Alexander landed at Alexandria, as King of Egypt and the friend of +Rome. He married Berenicê; and on the nineteenth day of his reign, with +a cruelty unfortunately too common in this history, he put her to death. +The marriage had been forced upon him by the Romans, who ordered all the +political affairs of the kingdom; but, as they took no part in the civil +or criminal affairs, he seems to have been at liberty to murder his +wife. But Alexander was hated by the people as a king thrust upon them +by foreign arms; and Berenicê, whatever they might have before thought +of her, was regretted as the queen of their choice. Hence his crime met +with its reward. His own guards immediately rose upon him; they dragged +him from the palace to the gymnasium, and there put him to death. + +Though the Romans had already seized the smaller kingdom of Cyrene under +the will of Ptolemy Apion, they could not agree among themselves upon +the wholesale robbery of taking Egypt under the will which Alexander had +made in their favour. They seized, however, a paltry sum of money which +he had left at Tyre as a place of safety; and it was a matter of debate +for many years afterwards in Rome, whether they should not claim the +kingdom of Egypt. But the nobles of Rome, who sold their patronage to +kings for sums equal to the revenues of provinces, would have lost much +by handing the kingdom over to the senate. Hence the Egyptian monarchy +was left standing for two reigns longer. + +On the death of Ptolemy Alexander, the Alexandrians might easily have +changed their weak and wicked rulers, and formed a government for +themselves, if they had known how. The legitimate male line of the +Ptolemies came to an end on the death of the young Alexander II. The +two natural sons of Soter II. were then the next in succession; and, as +there was no other claimant, the crown fell to the elder. He was young, +perhaps even a minor under the age of fourteen. His claims had been +wholly overlooked at the death of his father; for though by the Egyptian +law every son was held to be equally legitimate, it was not so by the +Macedonian law. He took the name of Neus Dionysus, or the young Osiris, +as we find it written in the hieroglyphics, though he is usually called +Auletes, _the piper_; a name afterwards given him because he was more +proud of his skill in playing on the flute than of his very slender +knowledge of the art of governing. + +It was in this reign that the historian Diodorus Siculus travelled in +Egypt, and wrote his account of the manners and religion of the people. +What he tells us of the early Egyptian history is of little value when +compared with the history by Manetho, who was a native of the country +and could read the hieroglyphic records, or even with that by Herodotus; +but nevertheless he deserves great praise, and our warmest thanks, for +being nearly the first Greek writer when Egyptian learning could no +longer be thought valuable; when the religion, though looked down upon, +might at any rate be studied with ease--for being nearly the first +writer who thought the manners of this ancient people, after they +had almost passed off the page of history, worth the notice of a +philosopher. + +Diodorus never quotes Manetho, but follows Herodotus in making one +great hero for the chief actions of antiquity, whom he calls Sesoosis or +Sesonchosis. To him he assigns every great work of which the author was +unknown, the canals in the Delta, the statue of Amenhôthes III., the +obelisks of Ramses II., the distant navigation under Necho, the mounds +and trenches dug against Assyrian and Persian invasion, and even the +great ship of Ptolemy Philopator; and not knowing that Southern Arabia +and even Ethiopia had by the Alexandrians been sometimes called India, +he says that this hero conquered even India beyond the Ganges. On the +other hand, the fabulous conquest of the great serpent, the enemy of the +human race, which we see sculptured on the sarcophagus of Oimenepthah, +he describes as an historic fact of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. +He tells us how this huge beast, forty-five feet long, was beaten down +by troops of archers, slingers, and cavalry, and brought alive in a +net to Alexandria, where Eve’s old enemy was shown in a cage for the +amusement of the curious citizens. + +Memphis was then a great city; in its crowded streets, its palaces and +temples, it was second only to Alexandria. A little to the west stood +the pyramids, which were thought one of the seven wonders of the world. +Their broad bases, sloping sides, and solid masonry had withstood the +weather for ages; and their huge unwieldy stones were a less easy quarry +for after builders than the live rock when nearer to the river’s side. +The priests of Memphis knew the names of the kings who, one after the +other, had built a new portico to their great temple of Phtah; but as to +when or by whom the pyramids were built, they had perhaps less knowledge +than the present day historian. The modern Egyptologist, with his +patient investigation, assigns the largest of these three pyramids to +Khûfûi or Kheops, a famous ruler of the fourth dynasty, and the others +were erected by his immediate successors. The temple of Phtah, and every +other building of Memphis, is now gone, and near the spot stands the +great city of Cairo, whose mosques and minarets have been quarried of +its ruins, but the pyramids still stand, after fifty-six centuries of +broken and changing history, unbroken and unchanged. They have outlived +any portion of time that their builders could have dreamed of, but their +worn surface no longer declares to us their builders’ names and history. +Their sloping sides, formed to withstand attacks, have not saved the +inscriptions which they once held; and the builders, in thus overlooking +the reed which was growing in their marshes, the papyrus, to which the +great minds of Greece afterwards trusted their undying names, have only +taught us how much safer it would have been, in their wish to be +thought of and talked of in after ages, to have leaned upon the poet and +historian. + +The beautiful temples of Dendera and Latopolis, which were raised by the +untiring industry of ages and finished, under the Roman emperors, were +begun about this reign. Though some of the temples of Lower Egypt had +fallen into decay; and though the throne was then tottering to its fall, +the priests in Upper Egypt were still building for immortality. The +religion of the Kopts was still flourishing. + +The Egyptian’s opinion of the creation was the growth of his own river’s +bank. The thoughtful man, who saw the Nile every year lay a body of +solid manure upon his field, was able to measure against the walls of +the old temples that the ground was slowly but certainly rising. An +increase of the earth was being brought about by the river. Hence he +readily believed that the world itself had of old been formed out of +water, and by means of water. The philosophers were nearly of the same +opinion. They held that matter was itself eternal, like the other gods, +and that our world, in the beginning, before it took any shape upon +itself, was like thin mud, or a mass of water containing all things that +were afterwards to be brought forth out of it. When the water had by its +divine will separated itself from the earth, then the great Ra, the sun, +sent down his quickening heat, and plants and animals came forth out of +the wet-land, as the insects are spawned out of the fields, before +the eyes of the husbandman, every autumn after the Nile’s overflow +has retreated. The crafty priests of the Nile declared that they had +themselves visited and dwelt in the caverns beneath the river, where +these treasures, while yet unshaped, were kept in store and waiting to +come into being. + +[Illustration: 287.jpg HORUS ON THE CROCODILES. BULAK MUSEUM.] + +And on the days sacred to the Nile, boys, the children of priestly +families, were every year dedicated to the blue river-god that they +might spend their youth in monastic retirement, and as it was said in +these caverns beneath his waves. These early Egyptian myths seem to have +influenced the compilers of the Hebrew Scriptures. The author of the +book of Genesis tells us that the Hebrew God formed the earth and its +inhabitants by dividing the land from the water, and then commanding +them both to bring forth living creatures; and again one of the +Psalmists says that his substance, while yet imperfect, was by the +Creator curiously wrought in the lowest depths of the earth. The Hebrew +writer, however, never thinks that any part of the creation was its own +creator. But in the Egyptian philosophy sunshine and the river Nile are +themselves the divine agents; and hence fire and water received divine +honours, as the two purest of the elements; and every day when the +temple of Serapis in Alexandria was opened, the singer standing on the +steps of the portico sprinkled water over the marble floor while he held +forth the fire to the people; and though he and most of his hearers were +Greeks, he called upon the god in the Egyptian language. + +The inner walls of the temples glittered with gold and silver and amber, +and sparkled with gems from Ethiopia and India; and the recesses were +veiled with rich curtains. The costliness was often in striking contrast +with the chief inmate, much to the surprise of the Greek traveller, +who, having leave to examine a temple, had entered the sacred rooms, and +asked to be shown the image of the god for whose sake it was built. One +of the priests in waiting then approached with a solemn look, chanting +a hymn, and pulling aside the veil allowed him to peep in at a snake, +a crocodile, or a cat, or some other beast, fitter to inhabit a bog or +cavern than to lie on a purple cushion in a stately palace. The funerals +of the sacred animals were celebrated with great pomp, particularly that +of the bull Apis; and at a cost, in one case, of one hundred talents, +or eighty-five thousand dollars, which was double what Ptolemy Soter, +in his wish to please his new subjects, spent upon the Apis of his day. +After the funeral the priests looked for a calf with the right spots, +and when they had found one they fattened it for forty days, and brought +it to Memphis in a boat under a golden awning, and lodged it safely in +the temple. + +[Illustration: 289.jpg RELIGIOUS PROCESSION ON THE NILE] + +The religious feelings of the Egyptians were much warmer and stronger +than those of the Greeks or Romans; they have often been accused of +eating one another, but never of eating a sacred animal. Once a year the +people of Memphis celebrated the birthday of Apis with great pomp +and expense, and one of the chief ceremonies on the occasion was +the throwing a golden dish into the Nile. During the week that these +rejoicings lasted, while the sacred river was appeased by gifts, the +crocodile was thought to lose its fierceness, its teeth were harmless, +and it never attempted to bite; and it was not till six o’clock on the +eighth day that this animal again became an object of fear to those +whose occupations brought them to the banks of the Nile. Once a year +also the statues of the gods were removed from their pedestals and +placed in barges, and thus carried in solemn procession along the Nile, +and only brought back to the temples after some days. It was supposed +that the gods were passing these days on a visit to the righteous +Ethiopians. + +The cat was at all times one of the animals held most sacred by the +Egyptians. In the earliest and latest times we find the statues of their +goddesses with cats’ heads. The cats of Alexandria were looked upon as +so many images of Neith or the Minerva of Saïs, a goddess worshipped +both by Greeks and Egyptians; and it passed into a proverb with the +Greeks, when they spoke of any two things being unlike, to say that +they were as much like one another as a cat was to Minerva. It is to +Alexandria also that we trace the story of a cat turned into a lady to +please a prince who had fallen in love with it. The lady, however, when +dressed in her bridal robes, could not help scampering about the room +after a mouse seen upon the floor; and when Plutarch was in Egypt it had +already become a proverb, that any one in too much finery was as awkward +as a cat in a crocus-coloured robe. + +So deeply rooted in the minds of the Egyptians was the worship of these +animals that, when a Roman soldier had killed a cat unawares, though +the Romans were masters of the country, the people rose against him in a +fury. In vain the king sent a message to quiet the mob, to let them know +that the cat was killed by accident; and, though the fear of Rome would +most likely have saved a Roman soldier unharmed whatever other crime he +might have been guilty of, in this case nothing would quiet the people +but his death, and he was killed before the eyes of Diodorus, the +historian. One nation rises above another not so much from its greater +strength or skill in arms as from its higher aim and stronger wish for +power. The Egyptians, we see, had not lost their courage, and when the +occasion called them out they showed a fearlessness not unworthy of +their Theban forefathers; on seeing a dead cat in the streets they rose +against the king’s orders and the power of Rome; had they thought their +own freedom or their country’s greatness as much worth fighting for, +they could perhaps have gained them. + +[Illustration: 291.jpg EGYPTIAN FUNERAL CEREMONIES] + +But the Egyptians had no civil laws or rights that they cared about; +they had nothing left that they valued but their religion, and this the +Romans took good care not to meddle with. Had the Romans made war upon +the priests and temples, as the Persians had done, they would perhaps in +the same way have been driven out of Egypt: but they never shocked the +religious feelings of the people, and even after Egypt had become a +Roman province, when the beautiful temples of Esne, Dendera, and other +cities, were dedicated in the names of the Roman emperors, they seldom +copied the example of Philometor, and put Greek, much less Roman, +writing on the portico, but continued to let the walls be covered with +hieroglyphical inscriptions. + +The Egyptians, when rich enough to pay for it, still had the bodies of +their friends embalmed at their death, and made into mummies; though +the priests, to save part of the cost, often put the mummy of a man just +dead into a mummy-case which had been made and used in the reign of a +Thûtmosis or an Amenhôthes. They thought that every man at his death +took upon himself the character of Osiris, that the nurses who laid out +the dead body represented the goddesses Isis and Nepthys, while the man +who made the mummy was supposed to be the god Anubis. When the embalming +was finished, it was part of the funeral to bring the dead man to trial +for what he had done when living, and thus to determine whether he was +entitled to an honourable burial. The mummy was ferried across the lake +belonging to the temple, and taken before the judge Osiris. A pair of +scales was brought forth by the dog-headed Anubis and the hawk-headed +Horus; and with this they weighed the past life of the deceased. The +judge, with the advice of a jury of forty-two, then pronounced the +solemn verdict, which was written down by the ibis-headed Thot. But +human nature is the same in all ages and in all countries, and, whatever +might have been the past life of the dead, the judge, not to hurt the +feelings of the friends, always declared that he was “a righteous and +a good man:” and, notwithstanding the show of truth in the trial, it +passed into a proverb to say of a wicked man, that he was too bad to be +praised even at his funeral. This custom of embalming was thought right +by all; but from examining the mummies that have come down to us, it +would seem to have been very much confined to the priestly families, and +seldom used in the case of children. The mummies, however, were highly +valued by the survivors of the family, and when from poverty any man was +driven to borrow money, the mummies were thought good security by the +lender, and taken as such for the loan. + +[Illustration: 293.jpg MUMMY, MUMMY-CASES, AND CASKET] + +The mummy-cases indeed could be sold for a large sum, as when made of +wood they were covered with painting, and sometimes in part gilt, and +often three in number, one enclosing the other. The stone mummy-cases +were yet more valuable, as they were either of white alabaster or +hard black basalt, beautifully polished, in either case carved with +hieroglyphics, and modelled to the shape of the body like the inner +wooden cases. + +It is interesting to note here that the pigment known to modern art +by the name of mummy is, in many cases, actually prepared from the +bituminous substances preserved within the wrappings of the ancient +mummies. The grinding up of mummies imported from Thebes or Memphis +for the purpose of enabling the twentieth century painter to paint the +golden tresses of contemporary belles is of course not very extensively +carried on, for one mummy will make several thousand tubes of paint, +but the practice exists, and of late has been protested against both in +England and France. + +Though the old laws of Egypt must very much have fallen into disuse +during the reigns of the latter Ptolemies, they had at least been left +unchanged; and they teach us that the shadow of freedom may be seen, as +in Rome under the Cæsars, and in Florence under the Medici, long after +the substance has been lost. In quarrels between man and man, the thirty +judges, from the cities of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis, were still +guided by the eight books of the law. The king, the priests, and the +soldiers were the only landholders in the country, while the herdsmen, +husbandmen, and handicraftsmen were thought of lower caste. Though the +armies of Egypt were for the most part filled with Greek mercenaries, +and the landholders of the order of soldiers could then have had as +little to do with arms as knights and esquires have in our days, yet +they still boasted of the wisdom of their laws, by which arms were only +to be trusted to men who had a stake in the country worth fighting for. +The old manners had long since passed away. The priests alone obeyed the +old marriage law, that a man should have only one wife. Other men, when +rich enough, married several. All children were held equally legitimate, +whatever woman was the mother. + +[Illustration: 295.jpg DEVELOPMENT OF EGYPTIAN CARICATURE] + +It is to these latter reigns of the Ptolemies, when high feeling was +sadly wanting in all classes of society, when literature and art were +alike in a very low state, that we may place the rise of caricature in +Egypt. We find drawings made on papyrus to scoff at what the nation used +to hold sacred. The sculptures on the walls of the temples are copied in +little; and cats, dogs, and monkeys are there placed in the attitudes of +the gods and kings of old. In one picture we have the mice attacking a +castle defended by the cats, copied from a battle-scene of Ramses II. +fighting against the Ethiopians. In another the king on his throne as +a dog, with a second dog behind him as a fan-bearer, is receiving the +sacred offerings from a cat. In a third the king and queen are seen +playing at chess or checkers in the form of a lion playing with a +unicorn or horned ass. + +We may form some opinion of the wealth of Egypt in its more prosperous +times when we learn from Cicero that in this reign, when the Romans had +good means of knowing, the revenues of the country amounted to twelve +thousand five hundred talents, or ten million dollars; just one-half of +which wras paid by the port of Alexandria. This was at a time when the +foreign trade had, through the faults of the government, sunk down to +its lowest ebb; when not more than twenty ships sailed each year from +the Red Sea to India; when the free population of the kingdom had so far +fallen off that it was not more than three millions, which was only half +of what it had been in the reign of Ptolemy Soter, though Alexandria +alone still held three hundred thousand persons. + +But, though much of the trade of the country was lost, though many of +the royal works had ceased, though the manufacture of the finer linen +had left the country, the digging in the gold mines, the favourite +source of wealth to a despot, never ceased. Night and day in the mines +near the Golden Berenicê did slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war +work without pause, chained together in gangs, and guarded by soldiers, +who were carefully chosen for their not being able to speak the language +of these unhappy workmen. + +[Illustration: 297.jpg THE MINES OF MAGHARA] + +The rock which held the gold was broken up into small pieces; when hard +it was first made brittle in the fire; the broken stone was then washed +to separate the waste from the heavier grains which held the gold; and, +lastly, the valuable parts when separated were kept heated in a furnace +for five days, at the end of which time the pure gold was found melted +into a button at the bottom. But the mines were nearly worn out; and +the value of the gold was a very small part of the thirty-five million +dollars which they are said to have yielded every year in the reign of +Ramses II. + +As Auletes felt himself hardly safe upon the throne, his first wish was +to get himself acknowledged as king by the Roman senate. For this end he +sent to Rome a large sum of money to buy the votes of the senators, +and he borrowed a further sum of Rabirius Posthumus, one of the richest +farmers of the Roman taxes, which he spent on the same object. But +though the Romans never tried to turn him out of his kingdom, he did not +get the wished-for decree before he went to Rome in the twenty-fourth +year of his reign. But we know nothing of the first years of his reign. +A nation must be in a very demoralised state when its history disproves +the saying, that the people are happy while their annals are short. +There was more virtue and happiness, and perhaps even less bloodshed, +with the stir of mind while Ptolemy Soter was at war with Antigonus than +during this dull, un-warlike, and vicious time. The king gave himself up +to his natural bent for pleasure and debauchery. At times when virtue is +uncopied and unrewarded it is usually praised and let alone; but in this +reign sobriety was a crime in the eyes of the king, a quiet behaviour +was thought a reproach against his irregularities. The Platonic +philosopher Demetrius was in danger of being put to death because it +was told to the king that he never drank wine, and had been seen at the +feast of Bacchus in his usual dress, while every other man was in the +dress of a woman. But the philosopher was allowed to disprove the charge +of sobriety, or at least to make amends for his fault; and, on the king +sending for him the next day, he made himself drunk publicly in the +sight of all the court, and danced with cymbals in a loose dress of +Tarentine gauze. But so few are the deeds worth mentioning in the +falling state that we are pleased even to be told that, in the one +hundred and seventy-eighth Olympiad, Strato of Alexandria conquered in +the Olympic games and was crowned in the same day for wrestling, and +for _pancratium_, or wrestling and boxing joined, these sports being +considered among the most honourable in which athletes could contend. + +In the thirteenth year of this reign (B.C. 68), when the war against the +pirates called for the whole naval force of Rome, Pompey sent a fleet +under Lentulus Marcellinus to clear the coast and creeks of Egypt from +these robbers. The Egyptian government was too weak to guard its own +trade; and Lentulus in his consulship put the Ptolemaic eagle and +thunderbolt on his coins, to show that he had exercised an act of +sovereignty. Three years later, we again meet with the eagle and +thunderbolt on the consular coins of Aurelius Cotta; and we learn from +Cicero that in that year it was found necessary to send a fleet to +Alexandria to enforce the orders of the senate. + +We next find the Roman senate debating whether they should not seize the +kingdom as their inheritance under the wall of Ptolemy Alexander II., +but, moved by the bribes of Auletes, and perhaps by other reasons which +we are not told, they forbore to grasp the prize. In this difficulty +Auletes was helped by the great Pompey, to whom he had sent an embassy +with a golden crown wrorth four thousand pieces of gold, which met him +at Damascus on his Syrian campaign. He then formed a secret treaty with +Mithridates, King of Pontus, who was engaged in warfare with the Romans, +their common enemy. Auletes was now a widower with six young children, +and Mithridates had two daughters; and accordingly it was agreed that +one daughter should be married to Auletes, and the other to his brother, +the King of Cyprus. But the ruin and death of Mithridates broke off the +marriages; and Auletes was able to conceal from the Romans that he had +ever formed an alliance with their enemy. + +In the year which was made famous by the consulship of Cicero, Jerusalem +was taken by the Roman army under Pompey; and Judæa, which had enjoyed +a shortlived freedom of less than one hundred years under the Maccabees, +was then put under a Roman governor. The fortifications of the temple +were destroyed. This was felt by the Jews of Lower Egypt as a heavy +blow, and from this time their sufferings in that country began. While +their brethren had been lords of Judæa, they had held up their heads +with the Greeks in Alexandria, but upon the fall of Jerusalem they sunk +down to the rank of the Egyptians. They thought worse of themselves, +and they were thought worse of by others. The Egyptian Jews were very +closely allied to the people of the Delta. Though they had been again +and again warned by their prophets not to mix with the Egyptians, they +seem not to have listened to the warning. They were in many religious +points less strict than their brethren in Judæa. The living in Egypt, +the building a second temple, and the using a Greek Bible, were all +breaches, if not of the law, at least of the tradition. They surrounded +their synagogues with sacred groves, which were clearly forbidden by +Moses. Though they were not guilty of worshipping images, yet they did +not think it wrong to have portraits and statues of themselves. In their +dislike of pork, in their washings, and in other Eastern customs, they +were like the Egyptians; and hence the Greeks, who thought them both +barbarians, very grudgingly yielded to them the privileges of choosing +their own magistrates, of having their own courts of justice, and +the other rights of citizenship which the policy of the Ptolemies +had granted. The Jews, on the other hand, in whose eyes religion was +everything, saw the Greeks and Egyptians worshipping the same gods and +the same sacred animals, and felt themselves as far above the Greeks in +those branches of philosophy which arise out of religion as they were +below them in that rank which is gained by success in war. Hence it was +with many heartburnings, and not without struggles which shed blood +in the streets of Alexandria, that they found themselves, in the years +which ushered in the Christian era, sinking down to the level of the +Egyptians, and losing one by one the rights of Macedonian citizenship. + +During these years Auletes had been losing his friends and weakening +his government, and, at last, when he refused to quarrel with the senate +about the island of Cyprus, the Egyptians rose against him in arms, and +he was forced to fly from Alexandria. He took ship for Rome, and in his +way there he met Cato, who was at Rhodes on his voyage to Cyprus. He +sent to Cato to let him know that he was in the city, and that he wished +to see him. But the Roman sent word back that he was unwell, and that +if the king wanted to speak to him he must come himself. This was not +a time for Auletes to quarrel with a senator, when he was on his way +to Rome to beg for help against his subjects; so he was forced to go +to Cato’s lodgings, who did not even rise from his seat when the king +entered the room. But this treatment was not quite new to Auletes; in +his flight from Alexandria, in disguise and without a servant, he had +had to eat brown bread in the cottage of a peasant; and he now learned +how much more irksome it was to wait upon the pleasure of a Roman +senator. Cato gave him the best advice; that, instead of going to Rome, +where he would find that all the wealth of Egypt would be thought +a bribe too small for the greediness of the senators whose votes he +wanted, he would do better to return to Alexandria, and make peace with +his rebellious subjects. Auletes, however, went on to Italy, and he +arrived at Rome in the twenty-fourth year of his reign; and in the +three years that he spent there in courting and bribing the senators, he +learned the truth of Cato’s statements, and the value of his advice. + +His brother Ptolemy, who was reigning in Cyprus, was not even so well +treated. The Romans passed a law making that wealthy island a Roman +province, no doubt upon the plea of the will of Alexander II. and the +king’s illegitimacy; and they sent Cato, rather against his will, to +turn Ptolemy out of his kingdom. Ptolemy gave up the island without Cato +being called upon to use force, and in return the Romans made him high +priest in the temple of the Paphian Venus; but he soon put himself to +death by poison. Canidius Crassus, who had been employed by Cato in +this affair, may have had some fighting at sea with the Egyptians, as +on one of his coins we see on one side a crocodile, and on the other the +prow of a ship, as if he had beaten the Egyptian fleet in the mouth of +the Nile. + +On the flight of their king, the rebellious Alexandrians set on +the throne the two eldest of his daughters, Cleopatra Tryphaena and +Berenicê, and sent an embassy, at the head of which was Dion, the +academic philosopher, to plead their cause at Rome against the king. But +the gold of Auletes had already gained the senate; and Cicero spoke, on +his behalf, one of his great speeches, now unfortunately lost, in which +he rebutted the charge that Auletes was at all to be blamed for the +death of Alexander, whom he thought justly killed by his guards for the +murder of his queen and kinswoman. Cæsar, whose year of consulship was +then drawing to an end, took his part warmly; and Auletes became in debt +to him in the sum of seventeen million drachmas, or nearly two and a +half million dollars, either for money lent to bribe the senators, or +for bonds then given to Cæsar instead of money. By these means Auletes +got his title acknowledged; the door of the senate was shut against +the Alexandrian ambassadors; and the philosopher Dion, the head of the +embassy, was poisoned in Rome by the slaves of his friend Lucceius, in +whose house he was dwelling. But nevertheless, Auletes was not able to +get an army sent to help him against his rebellious subjects and his +daughters; nor was Cæsar able to get from the senate, for the employment +of his proconsular year, the task of replacing Auletes on the throne. + +This high employment was then sought for both by Lentulus and by Pompey. +The senate at first leaned in favour of the former; and he would perhaps +have gained it if the Roman creditors of Auletes, who were already +trembling for their money, had not bribed openly in favour of Pompey, +as the more powerful of the two. On Pompey, therefore, the choice of +the senate at last fell. Pompey then took Auletes into his house, as his +friend and guest, and would have got orders to lead him back into his +kingdom at the head of a Roman army had not the tribunes of the people, +fearing any addition to Pompey’s great power, had recourse to their +usual state-engine, the Sibylline books; and the pontifex, at their +bidding, publicly declared that it was written in those sacred pages +that the King of Egypt should have the friendship of Rome, but should +not be helped with an army. + +But though Lentulus and Pompey were each strong enough to stop the other +from having this high command, Auletes was not without hopes that some +Roman general would be led, by the promise of money, and by the honour, +to undertake his cause, though it would be against the laws of Rome to +do so without orders from the senate. Cicero then took him under his +protection, and carried him in a litter of state to his villa at Baiæ, +and wrote to Lentulus, the proconsul of Cilicia and Cyprus, strongly +urging him to snatch the glory of replacing Auletes on the throne, and +of being the patron of the King of Egypt. But Lentulus seems not to have +chosen to run the risk of so far breaking the laws of his country. + +Auletes then went, with pressing letters from Pompey, to Gabinius, the +proconsul of Syria, and offered him the large bribe of ten thousand +talents, or seven and a half million dollars, if he would lead the Roman +army into Egypt, and replace him on the throne. Most of the officers +were against this undertaking; but the letters of Pompey, the advice of +Mark Antony, the master of the horse, and perhaps the greatness of the +bribe, outweighed those cautious opinions. + +While Auletes had been thus pleading his cause at Rome and with the +army, Cleopatra Tryphæna, the elder of the two queens, had died; and, as +no one of the other children of Auletes was old enough to be joined with +Berenicê on the throne, the Alexandrians sent to Syria for Seleucus, the +son of Antiochus Grypus and of Selene, the sister of Lathyrus, to come +to Egypt and marry Berenicê. He was low-minded in all his pleasures and +tastes, and got the nickname of _Cybiosactes_, the scullion. He was +even said to have stolen the golden sarcophagus in which the body of +Alexander was buried; and was so much disliked by his young wife that +she had him strangled on the fifth day after their marriage. Berenicê +then married Archelaus, a son of Mithridates Eupator, King of Pontus; +and she had reigned one year with her sister and two years with her +husbands when the Roman army brought back her father, Ptolemy Auletes, +into Egypt. + +Gabinius, on marching, gave out as an excuse for quitting the province +entrusted to him by the senate, that it was in self-defence; and that +Syria was in danger from the Egyptian fleet commanded by Archelaus. He +was accompanied by a Jewish army under the command of Antipator, sent by +Hyrcanus, whom the Romans had just made governor of Judæa. Mark Antony +was sent forward with the horse, and routed the Egyptian army near +Pelusium, and then entered the city with Auletes. The king, in the +cruelty of his revenge, wished to put the citizens to the sword, and was +only stopped by Antony’s forbidding it. The Egyptian army was at this +time in the lowest state of discipline; it was the only place where the +sovereign was not despotic. The soldiers, who prized the lawlessness of +their trade even more than its pay, were a cause of fear only to their +fellow-citizens. When Archelaus led them out against the Romans, and +ordered them to throw up a trench around their camp, they refused to +obey; they said that ditch-making was not work for soldiers, but that +it ought to be done at the cost of the state. Hence, when on this first +success Gabinius followed with the body of the army, he easily conquered +the rest of the country and put to death Berenicê and Archelaus. He then +led back the army into his province of Syria, but left behind him a body +of troops under Lucius Septimius to guard the throne of Auletes and to +check the risings of the Alexandrians. + +Gabinius had refused to undertake this affair, which was the more +dangerous because against the laws of Rome, unless the large bribe were +first paid down in money. He would take no promises; and Auletes, who in +his banishment had no money at his command, had to borrow it of some one +who would listen to his large promises of after payment. He found this +person in Rabirius Posthumus, who had before lent him money, and who saw +that it would be all lost unless Auletes regained the throne. Rabirius +therefore lent him all he was worth, and borrowed the rest from his +friends; and as soon as Auletes was on the throne, he went to Alexandria +to claim his money and his reward. + +[Illustration: 309.jpg VOCAL STATUE OF MEMNON] + +While Auletes still stood in need of Roman help, and saw the advantage +of keeping faith with his foreign creditors, Rabirius was allowed to +hold the office of royal _dioecetes_, or paymaster-general, which was +one of great state and profit, and one by which he could in time have +repaid himself his loan. He wore a royal robe; the taxes of Alexandria +went through his hands; he was indeed master of the city. But when the +king felt safe on his throne, he sent away his troublesome creditor, +who returned to Rome with the loss of his money, to stand his trial as +a state criminal for having lent it. Rabirius had been for a time +mortgagee in possession of the revenues of Egypt; and Auletes had felt +more indebted for his crown to a Roman citizen than to the senate. But +in the dealings of Rome with foreign kings, these evils had often before +arisen, and at last been made criminal; and while Gabinius was tried +for treason, _de majestate_, for leading his army out of his province, +Rabirius was tried, under the _Lex Julia de pecuniis repetundis_, for +lending money and taking office under Auletes. + +One of the last acts of Gabinius in Syria was to change the form of +the Jewish government into an aristocracy, leaving Hyrcanus as the high +priest. The Jews thereon began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, that +had been thrown down by Pompey. Among the prisoners sent to Rome by +Gabinius was Timagenes, the son of the king’s banker, who probably lost +his liberty as a hostage on Ptolemy’s failure to repay the loan. But he +was afterwards ransomed from slavery by a son of Sulla, and he remained +at Rome teaching Greek eloquence in the schools, and writing his +numerous works. + +The climate of Egypt is hardly suited to Europeans, and perhaps at no +time did the births in the Greek families equal the deaths. That part +of the population was kept up by newcomers; and latterly the Romans had +been coming over to share in the plunder that was there scattered among +the ruling class. For some time past Alexandria had been a favourite +place of settlement for such Romans as either through their fault or +their misfortune were forced to leave their homes. + +[Illustration: 312.jpg THE SPHINX] + +All who were banished for their crimes or who went away to escape from +trial, all runaway slaves, all ruined debtors, found a place of safety +in Alexandria; and by enrolling themselves in the Egyptian army they +joined in bonds of fellowship with thousands like themselves, who made +it a point of honour to screen one another from being overtaken by +justice or reclaimed by their masters. With such men as these, together +with some bands of robbers from Syria and Cilicia, had the ranks of the +Egyptian army latterly been recruited. These were now joined by a +number of soldiers and officers from the army of Gabinius, who liked the +Egyptian high pay and lawlessness better than the strict discipline of +the Romans. As, in this mixed body of men, the more regular courage +and greater skill in war was found among the Romans, they were chiefly +chosen as officers, and the whole had something of the form of a Roman +army. These soldiers in Alexandria were above all law and discipline. + +The laws were everywhere badly enforced, crimes passed unpunished, and +property became unsafe. Robberies were carried on openly, and the only +hope of recovering what was stolen was by buying it back from the thief. +In many cases, whole villages lived upon plunder, and for that purpose +formed themselves into a society, and put themselves under the orders of +a chief; and, when any merchant or husbandman was robbed, he applied to +this chief, who usually restored to him the stolen property on payment +of one-fourth of its value. + +As the country fell off in wealth, power, and population, the schools +of Alexandria fell off in learning, and we meet with few authors whose +names can brighten the pages of this reign. Apollonius of Citium, +indeed, who had studied surgery and anatomy at Alexandria under Zopyrus, +when he returned to Cyprus, wrote a treatise on the joints of the body, +and dedicated his work to Ptolemy, king of that island. The work is +still remaining in manuscript. + +[Illustration: 314.jpg] + +[Illustration: 314b.jpg BEARERS OF EVIL TIDINGS] + +Beside his name of Neus Dionysus, the king is in the hieroglyphics +sometimes called Philopator and Philadelphus; and in a Greek inscription +on a statue at Philae he is called by the three names, Neus Dionysus, +Philopator, Philadelphus. The coins which are usually thought to be his +are in a worse style of art than those of the kings before him. He +died in B.C. 51, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, leaving four +children, namely, Cleopatra, Arsinoë, and two Ptolemies. + +[Illustration: 315.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER VII--CLEOPATRA AND HER BROTHERS + + +_Pompey, Cæsar, and Antony in Egypt--Cleopatra’s extravagance and +intrigues--Octavianus annexes Egypt--Retrospect._ + + +Ptolemy Neus Dionysus had by his will left his kingdom to Cleopatra and +Ptolemy, his elder daughter and elder son, who, agreeably to the custom +of the country, were to marry one another and reign with equal power. +He had sent one copy of his will to Rome, to be lodged in the public +treasury, and in it he called upon the Roman people, by all the gods and +by the treaties by which they were bound, to see that it was obeyed. +He had also begged them to undertake the guardianship of his son. The +senate voted Pompey tutor to the young king, or governor of Egypt; and +the Alexandrians in the third year of his reign sent sixty ships of war +to help the great Pompey in his struggle against Julius Cæsar for the +chief power in Rome. But Pompey’s power was by that time drawing to an +end, and the votes of the senate could give no strength to the weak: +hence the eunuch Pothinus, who had the care of the elder Ptolemy, was +governor of Egypt, and his first act was to declare his young pupil +king, and to set at nought the will of Auletes, by which Cleopatra was +joined with him on the throne. + +Cleopatra fled into Syria, and, with a manly spirit which showed what +she was afterwards to be, raised an army and marched back to the borders +of Egypt, to claim her rights by force of arms. It was in the fourth +year of her reign, when the Egyptian troops were moved to Pelusium to +meet her, and the two armies were within a few leagues of one another, +that Pompey, who had been the friend of Auletes when the king wanted a +friend, landed on the shores of Egypt in distress, and almost alone. His +army had just been beaten at Pharsalia, and he was flying from Cæsar, +and he hoped to receive from the son the kindness which he had shown +to the father. But gratitude is a virtue little known in palaces, and +Ptolemy had been cradled in princely selfishness. In this civil war +between Pompey and Cæsar, the Alexandrians would have been glad to be +the friends of both, but that was now out of the question; Pompey’s +coming made it necessary for them to choose which they should join, and +Ptolemy’s council, like cowards, only wished to side with the strong. + +[Illustration: 317.jpg PILLAR OF POMPEY AT ALEXANDRIA] + +Pothinus the eunuch, Achilles the general, who was a native Egyptian, +and Theodotus of Chios, who was the prince’s tutor in rhetoric, were the +men by whom the fate of this great Roman was decided. “By putting him to +death,” said Theodotus, “you will oblige Cæsar, and have nothing to +fear from Pompey;” and he added with a smile, “Dead men do not bite.” + So Achilles and Lucius Septimius, the head of the Roman troops in the +Egyptian army, were sent down to the seaside to welcome him, to receive +him as a friend, and to murder him. They handed him out of his galley +into their boat, and put him to death on his landing. They then cut off +from his lifeless trunk the head which had been three times crowned with +laurels in the capitol; and in that disfigured state the young Ptolemy +saw for the first time, and without regret, the face of his father’s +best friend. + +When Cæsar, following the track of Pompey, arrived in the roadstead of +Alexandria, all was already over. With deep agitation he turned away +when the murderer brought to his ship the head of the man who had been +his son-in-law and for long years his colleague in rule, and to get +whom alive into his power he had come to Egypt. The dagger of the rash +assassin precluded an answer to the question, how Cæsar would have dealt +with the captive Pompey; but, while the human sympathy which still found +a place in the great soul of Cæsar, side by side with ambition, enjoined +that he should spare his former friend, his interest also required that +he should annihilate Pompey otherwise than by the executioner. Pompey +had been for twenty years the acknowledged ruler of Rome; a dominion so +deeply rooted does not end with the ruler’s death. The death of Pompey +did not break up the Pompeians, but gave to them instead of an aged, +incapable, and worn-out chief, in his sons Gnacus and Sextus, two +leaders, both of whom were young and active, and the second of them of +decided capacity. To the newly founded hereditary monarchy, hereditary +pretendership attached itself at once like a parasite, and it was very +doubtful whether by this change of persons Cæsar did not lose more than +he gained. + +Meanwhile in Egypt Cæsar had now nothing further to do, and the Romans +and Egyptians expected that he would immediately set sail and +apply himself to the subjugation of Africa, and to the huge task of +organisation which awaited him after the victory. But Cæsar, faithful +to his custom--wherever he found himself in the wide Empire--of finally +regulating matters at once and in person, and firmly convinced that no +resistance was to be expected either from the Roman garrison or from +the court; being, moreover, in urgent pecuniary embarrassment, landed +in Alexandria with the two amalgamated legions accompanying him to the +number of thirty-two hundred men and eight hundred Celtic and German +cavalry, took up his quarters in the royal palace, and proceeded +to collect the necessary sums of money and to regulate the Egyptian +succession, without allowing himself to be disturbed by the saucy remark +of Pothinus that Cæsar should not for such petty matters neglect his own +so important affairs. In his dealings with the Egyptians he was just +and even indulgent. Although the aid which they had given to Pompey +justified the imposing of a war contribution, the exhausted land was +spared from this; and, while the arrears of the sums stipulated for in +B.C. 59, and since then only about half paid, were remitted, there was +required merely a final payment of ten million denarii (two million +dollars). The belligerent brother and sister were enjoined immediately +to suspend hostilities, and were invited to have their dispute +investigated and decided before the arbiter. They submitted; the royal +boy was already in the palace and Cleopatra also presented herself +there. Cæsar adjudged the kingdom of Egypt, agreeably to the testament +of Auletes, to the intermarried brother and sister Cleopatra and +Ptolomoreus Dionysus, and further gave unasked the kingdom of +Cyprus--cancelling the earlier act of annexation--as the appanage of +the second-born of Egypt to the younger children of Auletes, Arsinoë and +Ptolemy the younger. But a storm was secretly preparing. Alexandria +was a cosmopolitan city as well as Rome, hardly inferior to the Italian +capital in the number of its inhabitants, far superior to it in stirring +commercial spirit, in skill of handicraft, in taste for science and +art: in the citizens there was a lively sense of their own national +importance, and, if there was no political sentiment, there was at any +rate a turbulent spirit, which induced them to indulge in their street +riots regularly and heartily. We may conceive their feeling when they +saw the Roman general ruling in the palace of the Lagids, and their +kings accepting the award of his tribunal. Pothinus and the boy-king, +both, as may be conceived, very dissatisfied at once with the peremptory +requisition of all debts and with the intervention in the throne-dispute +which could only issue, as it did, in the favour of Cleopatra, sent--in +order to pacify the Roman demands--the treasures of the temple and the +gold plate of the king with intentional ostentation to be melted at the +mint; with increasing indignation the Egyptians--who were pious even +to superstition, and who rejoiced in the world-renowned magnificence +of their court as if it were a possession of their own--beheld the bare +walls of their temples and the wooden cups on the table of their +king. The Roman army of occupation also, which had been essentially +denationalised by its long abode in Egypt and the many intermarriages +between the soldiers and Egyptian women, and which moreover numbered a +multitude of the old soldiers of Pompey and runaway Italian criminals +and slaves in its ranks, was indignant at Cæsar, by whose orders it had +been obliged to suspend its action on the Syrian frontier, and at his +handful of haughty legionaries. The tumult even at the landing, when +the multitude saw the Roman axes carried into the old palace, and the +numerous instances in which his soldiers were assassinated in the city, +had taught Cæsar the immense danger in which he was placed with his +small force in presence of the exasperated multitude. But it was +difficult to return on account of the northwest winds prevailing at this +season of#the year, and the attempt of embarkation might easily become +a signal for the outbreak of the insurrection; besides, it was not the +nature of Cæsar to take his departure without having accomplished his +work. He accordingly ordered up at once reinforcements from Asia, +and meanwhile, till these arrived, made a show of the utmost +self-possession. Never was there greater gaiety in his camp than during +this rest at Alexandria, and while the beautiful and clever Cleopatra +was not sparing of her charms in general and least of all towards her +judge, Cæsar also appeared among all his victories to value most those +won over beautiful women. It was a merry prelude to graver scenes. Under +the leadership of Achilles and, as was afterwards proved, by the secret +orders of the king and his guardian, the Roman army of occupation +stationed in Egypt appeared unexpectedly in Alexandria, and, as soon +as the citizens saw that it had come to attack Cæsar, they made common +cause with the soldiers. + +With a presence of mind, which in some measure justifies his +foolhardiness, Cæsar hastily collected his scattered men; seized the +persons of the king and his ministers; entrenched himself in the royal +residence and adjoining theatre; and gave orders, as there was no time +to place in safety the war-fleet stationed in the principal harbour +immediately in front of the theatre, that it should be set on fire and +that Pharos, the island with the light-tower commanding the harbour, +should be occupied by means of boats. Thus at least a restricted +position for defence was secured, and the way was kept open to procure +supplies and reinforcements. At the same time orders were issued to the +commandant of Asia Minor as well as to the nearest subject countries, +the Syrians and the Nabatæans, the Cretans and the Rhodians, to send +men and ships in all haste to Egypt. The insurrection, at the head of +which the Princess Arsinoë and her confidant, the eunuch Ganymedes, had +placed themselves, meanwhile had free course in all Egypt and in the +greater part of the capital. In the streets of the latter there was +daily fighting, but without success either on the part of Cæsar in +gaining freer scope and breaking through to the fresh water lake of +Mariut which lay behind the town, where he could have provided himself +with water and forage; or on the part of the Alexandrians in acquiring +superiority in besieging and depriving them of all drinking water; for, +when the Nile canals in Cæsar’s part of the town had been spoiled by the +introduction of salt water, drinkable water was unexpectedly found in +wells dug on the beach. + +As Cæsar was not to be overcome from the landward side, the exertions +of the besiegers were directed to destroy his fleet and cut him off from +the sea, by which supplies reached him. The island with the lighthouse +and the mole by which this was connected with the mainland divided the +harbour into a western and an eastern half, which were in communication +with each other through two arch-openings in the mole. Cæsar commanded +the island and the east harbour, while the mole and the west harbour +were in possession of the citizens; and, as the Alexandrian fleet +was burnt, his vessels sailed in and out without hindrance. The +Alexandrians, after having vainly attempted to introduce fire-ships from +the western into the eastern harbour, equipped with the remnant of their +arsenal a small squadron, and with this blocked up the way of Cæsar’s +vessels, when these were towing in a fleet of transports with a legion +that had arrived from Asia Minor; but the excellent Rhodian mariners +of Cæsar mastered the enemy. Not long afterwards, however, the citizens +captured the lighthouse-island, and from that point totally closed the +narrow and rocky mouth of the east harbour for larger ships; so that +Cæsar’s fleet was compelled to take its station in the open roads before +the east harbour, and his communication with the sea hung only on a +weak thread. Cæsar’s fleet, attacked in that roadstead repeatedly by +the superior naval force of the enemy, could neither shun the unequal +strife, since the loss of the lighthouse-island closed the inner harbour +against it, nor yet withdraw, for the loss of the roadstead would +have debarred Cæsar wholly from the sea. Though the brave legionaries, +supported by the dexterity of the Rhodian sailors, had always hitherto +decided these conflicts in favour of the Romans, the Alexandrians +renewed and augmented their naval armaments with unwearied perseverance; +the besieged had to fight as often as it pleased the besiegers, and, +if the former should be on a signal occasion vanquished, Cæsar would be +totally hemmed in and probably lost. + +It was absolutely necessary to make an attempt to recover the +lighthouse-island. The double attack, which was made by boats from the +side of the harbour and by the war-vessels from the seaboard, in reality +brought not only the island but also the lower part of the mole into +his power; it was only at the second arch-opening of the mole that +Cæsar ordered the attack to be stopped, and the mole to be there closed +towards the city by a transverse wall. But while a violent conflict +arose here round the entrenchers, the Roman troops left the lower +part of the mole adjoining the island bare of defenders; a division +of Egyptians landed there unexpectedly, attacked in the rear the Roman +soldiers and sailors crowded together on the mole of the transverse +wall, and drove the whole mass in wild confusion into the sea. A part +were taken on board by the Roman ships; but more were drowned. Some +four hundred soldiers and a still greater number of men belonging to the +fleet were sacrificed on this day; the general himself, who had shared +the fate of his men, had been obliged to seek refuge in his ship, and, +when this sank from having been overloaded with men, he had to save +himself by swimming to another. But, severe as was the loss suffered, +it was amply compensated by the recovery of the lighthouse-island, which +along with the mole as far as the first arch-opening remained in the +hands of Cæsar. + +At length the longed-for relief arrived, Mithridates of Pergamus, an +able warrior of the school of Mithridates Eupator, whose natural son +he claimed to be, brought up by land from Syria a motley army,--the +Ituræans of the prince of the Libanus, the Bedouins of Jamblichus, +son of Sampsiceramus, the Jews under the minister Antipater, and the +contingents generally of the petty chiefs and communities of Cilicia and +Syria. From Pelusium, which Mithridates had the fortune to occupy on +the day of his arrival, he took the great road towards Memphis, with the +view of avoiding the intersected ground of the Delta and crossing the +Nile before its division; during which movement his troops received +manifold support from the Jewish peasants who were settled in this part +of Egypt. The Egyptians, with the young king Ptolemy now at their head, +whom Cæsar had released to his people in the vain hope of allaying the +insurrection by his means, despatched an army to the Nile, to detain +Mithridates on its farther bank. The army fell in with the enemy +even beyond Memphis at the so-called Jews’ camp, between Onion and +Heliopolis; nevertheless Mithridates, trained in the Roman fashion +of manoeuvring and encamping, amidst successful conflicts gained the +opposite bank at Memphis. Cæsar, on the other hand, as soon as he +obtained news of the arrival of the relieving army, conveyed a part +of his troops in ships to the end of the lake of Morea to the west +of Alexandria, and marched round this lake and down the Nile to meet +Mithridates advancing up the river. + +The junction took place without the enemy attempting to hinder it. Cæsar +then marched into the Delta, whither the king had retreated, overthrew, +notwithstanding the deeply cut canal in their front, the Egyptian +vanguard at the first onset, and immediately stormed the Egyptian camp +itself. It lay at the foot of a rising ground between the Nile--from +which only a narrow path separated it--and marshes difficult of access. +Cæsar caused the camp to be assailed simultaneously from the front +and from the flank on the path along the Nile; and during this assault +ordered a third detachment to ascend unseen the heights of the camp. The +victory was complete; the camp was taken, and those of the Egyptians who +did not fall beneath the sword of the enemy were drowned in the attempt +to escape to the fleet on the Nile. With one of the boats, which sank +overladen with men, the young king also disappeared in the waters of his +native stream. Immediately after the battle Cæsar advanced at the head +of his cavalry from the land side straight into the portion of the +capital occupied by the Egyptians. In mourning attire, with the images +of their gods in their hands, the enemy received him and sued for +peace; and his troops, when they saw him return as victor from the side +opposite to that by which he had set forth, welcomed him with boundless +joy. The fate of the town, which had ventured to thwart the plans of +the master of the world and had brought him within a hair’s-breadth of +destruction, lay in Cæsar’s hands; but he was too much of a ruler to +be sensitive, and dealt with the Alexandrians as with the Massiliots. +Cæsar--pointing to their city severely devastated and deprived of its +granaries, of its world-renowned library, and of other important public +buildings on the occasion of the burning of the fleet--exhorted the +inhabitants in future earnestly to cultivate the arts of peace alone, +and to heal the wounds inflicted on themselves; for the rest, he +contented himself with granting to the Jews settled in Alexandria the +same rights which the Greek population of the city enjoyed, and +with placing in Alexandria instead of the previous Roman army of +occupation--which nominally at least obeyed the kings of Egypt, a +Roman garrison--two of the legions besieged there, and a third which +afterwards arrived from Syria--under a commander nominated by himself. +For this position of trust a man was purposely selected whose birth made +it impossible for him to abuse it--Rufio, an able soldier, but the son +of a freed man. Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy obtained the +sovereignty of Egypt under the supremacy of Rome; the Princess Arsinoë +was carried off to Italy, that she might not serve once more as a +pretext for insurrections to the Egyptians, who were after the Oriental +fashion quite as much devoted to their dynasty as they were indifferent +towards the individual dynasts; and Cyprus became again a part of the +Roman province of Cilicia. Cæsar’s love for Cleopatra, who had just +borne him a son named Cæsarion, was not so strong as his ambition; +and after having been above a year in Egypt he left her to govern the +kingdom in her own name, but on his behalf; and sailed for Italy, taking +with him the sixth legion. While engaged in this warfare in Alexandria, +Cæsar had been appointed dictator in Rome, where his power was exercised +by Mark Antony, his master of the horse; and for above six months he +had not written one letter home, as though ashamed to write about the +foolish difficulty he had entangled himself in, until he had got out of +it. + +On reaching Rome Cæsar amused the people and himself with a grand +triumphal show, in which, among the other prisoners of war, the Princess +Arsinoë followed his car in chains; and, among the works of art +and nature which were got together to prove to the gazing crowd the +greatness of his conquests, was that remarkable African animal the +camelopard, then for the first time seen in Rome. In one chariot was a +statue of the Nile god; and in another the Pharos lighthouse on fire, +with painted flames. Nor was this the last of Cæsar’s triumphs, for soon +afterwards Cleopatra, and her brother Ptolemy, then twelve years old, +who was called her husband, came to Rome as his guests, and dwelt for +some time with him in his house. + +The history of Egypt, at this time, is almost lost in that of Rome. +Within five years of Cæsar’s landing in Alexandria, and finding that by +the death of Pompey he was master of the world, he paid his own life as +the forfeit for crushing his country’s liberty. The Queen of Egypt, with +her infant son Cæsarion about four years old, was then in Rome, living +with Cæsar in his villa on the farther side of the Tiber. On Cæsar’s +death her first wish was to get the child acknowledged by the Roman +senate as her colleague on the throne of Egypt, and as a friend of the +Roman people. With this view she applied to Cicero for help, making +him an offer of some books or works of art; but he was offended at +her haughtiness and refused her gifts. Besides, she was more likely +to thwart than to help the cause for which he was struggling. He was +alarmed at hearing that she was soon to give birth to another child. He +did not want any more Cæsars. He hoped she would miscarry, as he wished +she had before miscarried. So he bluntly refused to undertake her cause. +On this she thought herself unsafe in Rome, she fled privately, and +reached Egypt in safety with Cæsarion; but we hear of no second child +by Julius. The Romans were now the masters of Egypt, and Cleopatra could +hardly hope to reign but by the help of one of the great generals who +were struggling for the sovereignty of the republic. Among these was the +young Sextus Pompeius, whose large fleet made him for a time master +of Sicily and of the sea; and he was said to have been admitted by the +Queen of Egypt as a lover. But he was able to be of but little use +to her in return for her favours, as his fleet was soon defeated by +Octavianus. + +Cæsar had left behind him, in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, a large +body of Roman troops, in the pay and nominally under the orders of +Cleopatra, but in reality to keep Egypt in obedience. There they lived +as if above all Egyptian law or Roman discipline, indulging in the vices +of that luxurious capital. When some of them in a riot, in the year 45 +B.C., killed two sons of Bibulus the consul, Cleopatra was either afraid +or unable to punish the murderers; the most she could do was to get +them sent in chains into Syria to the grieving father, who with true +greatness of mind sent them back to the Egyptian legions, saying that it +was for the senate to punish them, not for him. + +While Ptolemy her second husband was a boy and could claim no share +of the government, he was allowed to live with all the outward show of +royalty, but as soon as he reached the age of fifteen, in B.C. 44, at +which he might call himself her equal and would soon be her master, +Cleopatra had him put to death. She had then reigned four years with +her elder brother and four years with her younger brother, and from that +time forward she reigned alone, calling her child by Cæsar her colleague +on the throne. + +At a time when vice and luxury claimed the thoughts of all who were not +busy in the civil wars, we cannot hope to find the fruits of genius in +Alexandria; but the mathematics are plants of a hardy growth, and are +not choked so easily as poetry and history. Sosigenes was then the +first astronomer in Egypt, and Julius Cæsar was guided by his advice +in setting right the Roman Calendar. He was a careful and painstaking +mathematician, and, after fixing the length of the year at three hundred +and sixty-five days and a quarter, he three times changed the beginning +of the year, in his doubts as to the day on which the equinox fell; for +the astronomer could then only make two observations in a year with a +view to learn the time of the equinox, by seeing when the sun shone +in the plane of the equator. Photinus the mathematician wrote both +on arithmetic and geometry, and was usually thought the author of a +mathematical work published in the name of the queen, called the Canon +of Cleopatra. + +Didymus was another of the writers that we hear of at that time. He was +a man of great industry, both in reading and writing; but when we are +told that he wrote three thousand five hundred volumes, or rolls, it +rather teaches us that a great many rolls of papyrus would be wanted to +make a modern book, than what number of books he wrote. These writings +were mostly on verbal criticism, and all have long since perished except +some notes or scholia on the Hiad and Odyssey which bear his name, and +are still printed in some editions of Homer. + +Dioscorides, the physician of Cleopatra, has left a work on herbs and +minerals, and on their uses in medicine; also on poisons and poisonous +bites. To these he has added a list of prescriptions. His works +have been much read in all ages, and have only been set aside by the +discoveries of the last few centuries. Serapion, another physician, was +perhaps of this reign. + +[Illustration: 333.jpg RUINS OF HERMONTHIS] + +He followed medicine rather than surgery; and, while trusting chiefly to +his experience gained in clinical or bedside practice, was laughed at by +the surgeons as an empiric. + +The small temple at Hermonthis, near Thebes, seems to have been built +in this reign, and it is dedicated to Mandoo, or the sun, in the name +of Cleopatra and Cassation. It is unlike the older Egyptian temples in +being much less of a fortress; for what in them is a strongly walled +courtyard, with towers to guard the narrow doorway, is here a small +space between two double rows of columns, wholly open, without walls, +while the roofed building is the same as in the older temples. Near it +is a small pool, seventy feet square, with stone sides, which was used +in the funerals and other religious rites. + +The murder of Cæsar did not raise the character of the Romans, or make +them more fit for self-government. It was followed by the well-known +civil war; and when, by the battle of Philippi and the death of Brutus +and Cassius, his party was again uppermost, the Romans willingly bowed +their necks to his adopted son Octavianus, and his friend Mark Antony. + +It is not easy to determine which side Cleopatra meant to take in +the war between Antony and the murderers of Cæsar; she did not openly +declare herself, and she probably waited to join that which fortune +favoured. Allienus had been sent to her by Dolobella to ask for such +troops as she could spare to help Antony, and he led a little army of +four Roman legions out of Egypt into Syria; but when there he added +them to the force which Cassius had assembled against Antony. Whether he +acted through treachery to the queen or by her orders is doubtful, for +Cassius felt more gratitude to Allienus than to Cleopatra. Serapion +also, the Egyptian governor of Cyprus, joined what was then the stronger +side, and sent all the ships that he had in his ports to the assistance +of Cassius. Cleopatra herself was getting ready another large fleet, but +since the war was over, and Brutus and Cassius dead before it sailed, +she said it was meant to help Octavianus and Antony. Thus, by the acts +of her generals and her own hesitation, Cleopatra fairly laid herself +open to the reproach of ingratitude to her late friend Cæsar, or at +least of thinking that the interests of his son Cæsarion were opposed to +those of his nephew Octavianus; and accordingly, as Antony was passing +through Cilicia with his army, he sent orders to her to come from Egypt +and meet him at Tarsus, to answer the charge of having helped Brutus and +Cassius in the late military campaign. + +Dellius, the bearer of the message, showed that he understood the +meaning of it, by beginning himself to pay court to her as his queen. He +advised her to go, like Juno in the Iliad, “tricked in her best attire,” + and told her that she had nothing to fear from the kind and gallant +Antony. On this she sailed for Cilicia laden with money and treasures +for presents, full of trust in her beauty and power of pleasing. She had +won the heart of Cæsar when, though younger, she was less skilled in +the arts of love, and she was still only twenty-five years old; and, +carrying with her such gifts and treasures as became her rank, she +entered the river Cydnus with the Egyptian fleet in a magnificent +galley. The stern was covered with gold; the sails were of scarlet +cloth: and the silver oars beat time to the music of flutes and harps. +The queen, dressed like Venus, lay under an awning embroidered with +gold, while pretty dimpled boys, like Cupids, stood on each side of +the sofa fanning her. Her maidens, dressed like sea-nymphs and graces, +handled the silken tackle and steered the vessel. As she approached +the town of Tarsus the winds wafted the perfumes and the scent of the +burning incense to the shores, which were lined with crowds who had come +out to see her land; and Antony, who was seated on the tribunal waiting +to receive her, found himself left alone. + +Tarsus on the river Cydnus was situated at the foot of the wooded slopes +of Mount Taurus, and it guarded the great pass in that range between the +Phrygian tribes and the Phoenician tribes. It was a city half-Greek +and half-Asiatic, and had from the earliest days been famed for +ship-building and commerce. Mount Taurus supplied it with timber, and +around the mouth of its river, as it widens into a quiet lake, were the +ancient dockyards which had made the ships of Tarshish proverbial with +the Hebrew writers. Its merchants, enriched by industry and enlightened +by foreign trade, had ornamented their city with public buildings, and +established a school of Greek learning. Its philosophers, however, were +more known as travelling teachers than as scholars. No learned men came +to Tarsus; but it sent forth its rhetoricians in its own ships, who +spread themselves as teachers over the neighbouring coasts. In Rome +there were more professors of rhetoric, oratory, and poetry from Tarsus +than from Alexandria or Athens. Athenodorus Cordylion, the stoic, taught +Cato; Athenodorus, the son of Sandon, taught Cæsar; Nestor a little +later taught the young Marcellus; while Demetrius was one of the first +men of learning who sailed to the distant island of Britain. This +school, in the next generation, sent forth the apostle Paul, who taught +Christianity throughout the same coasts. + +Tarsus was now to be amused by the costly follies and extravagances of +Cleopatra. As an initial display, soon after landing, she invited Antony +and his generals to a dinner, at which the whole of the dishes placed +before them were of gold, set with precious stones, and the room and the +twelve couches were ornamented with purple and gold. On his praising the +splendour of the sight, as passing anything he had before seen, she said +it was a trifle, and begged that he would take the whole of it as a gift +from her. The next day he again dined with her, and brought a larger +number of his friends and generals, and was of course startled to see a +costliness which made that of the day before seem nothing; and she again +gave him the whole of the gold upon the table, and gave to each of his +friends the couch upon which he sat. + +These costly and delicate dinners were continued every day; and one +evening, when Antony playfully blamed her wastefulness, and said that it +was not possible to fare in a more costly manner, she told him that the +dinner of the next day should cost ten thousand ses-tertia, or three +hundred thousand dollars. This he would not believe, and laid her a +wager that she would fail in her promise. When the day came the dinner +was as grand and dainty as those of the former days; but when Antony +called upon her to count up the cost of the meats and wines, she said +that she did not reckon them, but that she should herself soon eat and +drink the ten thousand sestertia. She wore in her ears two pearls, the +largest known in the world, which, like the diamonds of European kings, +had come to her with her crown and kingdom, and were together valued at +that large sum. + +[Illustration: 338.jpg EGYPTIAN PICTURE OF CLEOPATRA] + +On the servants removing the meats, they set before her a glass of +vinegar, and she took one of these earrings from her ear and dropped +it into the glass, and when dissolved drank it off. Plancus, one of the +guests, who had been made judge of the wager, snatched the other from +the queen’s ear, and saved it from being drunk up like the first, and +then declared that Antony had lost his bet. The pearl which was saved +was afterwards cut in two and made into a pair of earrings for the +statue of Venus in the Pantheon at Rome; and the fame of the wager may +be said to have made the two half pearls at least as valuable as the two +whole ones. + +The beauty, sweetness, and gaiety of this young queen, joined to her +great powers of mind, which were all turned to the art of pleasing, had +quite overcome Antony; he had sent for her as her master, but he was +now her slave. Her playful wit was delightful; her voice was as an +instrument of many strings; she spoke readily to every ambassador in his +own language; and was said to be the only sovereign of Egypt who could +understand the languages of all her subjects: Greek, Egyptian, Ethiopie, +Troglodytic, Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac. With these charms, at the age +of five-and-twenty, the luxurious Antony could deny her nothing. The +first favour which she asked of her lover equals any cruelty that we +have met with in this history: it was, that he would have her sister +Arsinoë put to death. Cæsar had spared her life, after his triumph, +through love of Cleopatra; but he was mistaken in the heart of his +mistress; she would have been then better pleased at Arsinoe’s death; +and Antony, at her bidding, had her murdered in the temple of Diana, at +Ephesus. + +Though Fulvia, the faithful wife of Antony, could scarcely keep together +his party at Rome against the power of Octavianus, his colleague in the +triumvirate, and though Labienus, with the Parthian legions, was ready +to march into Syria against him, yet he was so entangled in the artful +nets of Cleopatra, that she led him captive to Alexandria; and there the +old warrior fell into every idle amusement, and offered up at the shrine +of pleasure one of the greatest of sacrifices, the sacrifice of his +time. The lovers visited each other every day, and the waste of their +entertainments passed belief. Philotas, a physician who was following +his studies at Alexandria, told Plutarch’s grandfather that he was once +invited to see Antony’s dinner cooked, and among other meats were eight +wild boars roasting whole; and the cook explained to him that, though +there were only twelve guests, yet as each dish had to be roasted to a +single turn of the spit, and Antony did not know at what hour he should +dine, it was necessary to cook at least eight dinners. But the most +costly of the luxuries then used in Egypt were the scents and the +ointments. Gold, silver, and jewels, as Pliny remarks, will pass to a +man’s heirs, even clothes will last a few months or weeks, but scents +fly off and are lost at the first moment that they are admired; and +yet ointments, like the attar of roses, which melted and gave out their +scent, and passed into air when placed upon the back of the hand, as the +coolest part of the body, were sold for four hundred denarii the pound. +But the ointment was not meant to be used quite so wastefully. It was +usually sealed up in small alabaster jars, which were made in the town +of Alabastron, on the east of the Nile, and thence received their name. +These were long in shape, without a foot, and had a narrow mouth. They +were meant never to be opened, but to let the scent escape slowly and +sparingly through the porous stone. In these Egyptian jars scented +ointment was carried by trade to the banks of the Tigris and to the +shores of the Mediterranean. + +The tenth and eleventh years of the queen’s reign were marked by +a famine through the land, caused by the Nile’s not rising to the +wished-for height and by the want of the usual overflow; and an +inscription which was written both in the Greek and Egyptian languages +declares the gratitude of the Theban priests and elders and citizens to +Callimachus, the prefect of the Theban taxes, who did what he could to +lessen the sufferings in that city. The citizens of Alexandria on those +years received from the government a smaller gift of corn than usual, +and the Jews then felt their altered rank in the state. They were +told that they were not citizens, and accordingly received no portion +whatever out of the public granaries, but were left like the Egyptians +to take care of themselves. From this time forward there was an +unceasing quarrel between Greeks and Jews in the city of Alexandria. + +Cleopatra, who held her power at the pleasure of the Roman legions, +spared no pains to please Antony. She had borne him first a son named +Ptolemy, and then a son and daughter, twins, Alexander Helius and +Cleopatra Selene, or _Sun_ and _Moon_. She gamed, she drank, she hunted, +she reviewed the troops with him, and, to humour his coarser tastes, she +followed him, in his midnight rambles through the city, in the dress of +a servant; and nothing that youth, beauty, wealth, and elegance could do +to throw a cloak over the grossness of vice and crime was forgotten by +her. The biographer thought it waste of time to mention all Cleopatra’s +arts and Antony’s follies, but the story of his fishing was not to be +forgotten. One day, when sitting in the boat with her, he caught but +little, and was vexed at her seeing his want of success. So he ordered +one of his men to dive into the water and put upon his hook a fish which +had been before taken. Cleopatra, however, saw what was being done, and +quietly took the hint for a joke of her own. The next day she brought a +larger number of friends to see the fishing, and, when Antony let down +his line, she ordered one of her divers to put on the hook a salted +fish. The line was then drawn up and the fish landed amid no little +mirth of their friends; and Cleopatra playfully consoled him, saying: +“Well, general, you may leave fishing to us petty princes of Pharos and +Canopus; your game is cities, provinces, and kingdoms.” + +Antony’s eldest son by Fulvia came to Alexandria at this time, and lived +in the same princely style with his father. Philotas the physician lived +in his service, and one day at supper when Philotas silenced a tiresome +talker with a foolish sophism the young Antony gave him as a reward the +whole sideboard of plate. But in the middle of this gaiety and feasting +Antony was recalled to Europe by letters which told him that his wife +and brother had been driven out of Rome by Octavianus. Before, however, +he reached Rome his wife Fulvia was dead; and, wishing to strengthen his +party, he at once married Octavia, the sister of Octavianus and widow of +Marcellus. + +In that year Herod passed through Egypt on his way to Rome to claim +Judæa as his kingdom. He came through Arabia to Pelusium, and thence +he sailed to Alexandria. Cleopatra, who wanted his services, gave him +honourable entertainment in her capital, and made him great offers in +order to persuade him to take the command of her army. But the Jewish +prince saw that a kingdom was to be gained by offering his services +to Antony and Octavianus; and he went on to Rome. There through the +friendship of Antony he was declared King of Judæa by the senate. He +then returned to Syria to collect an army and to win the kingdom which +had been granted to him; and by the help of Sosius, Antony’s lieutenant, +he had conquered Jerusalem when the war broke out between Antony and +Octavianus. + +In the next year (B.C. 38) Antony was himself in Syria, carrying on the +war which ended with the battle of Actium; and he sent to Alexandria to +beg Cleopatra to join him there. On her coming, he made her perhaps the +largest gift which lover ever gave to his mistress: he gave her the wide +provinces of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, part of Cilicia, part of +Judæa, and part of Arabia Nabataea. These large gifts only made her ask +for more, and she begged him to put to death Herod, King of Judæa, and +Malichus, King of Arabia Nabataea, the former of whom had advised Antony +to break through the disgraceful ties which bound him to Cleopatra, as +the only means of saving himself from being crushed by the rising power +of Octavianus. She asked to have the whole of Arabia and Judæa given to +her. But Antony had not so far forgotten himself as to yield to these +commands; and he only gave her the balsam country around Jericho, and +a rent-charge of two hundred talents, or one hundred and fifty thousand +dollars, a year, on the revenues of Judæa. On receiving this large +addition to her kingdom, and perhaps in honour of Antony, who had then +lost all power in Italy but was the real king of Egypt and its Greek +provinces, Cleopatra began to count the years of her reign afresh: what +was really the sixteenth of her reign, and had been called the sixteenth +of Ptolemy, her elder brother, she called the first of her own reign, +and she reckoned them in the same way till her death. Cleopatra had +accompanied Antony on his expedition against Armenia, as far as the +river Euphrates, and returned through Damascus to Judæa. There she was +politely received by her enemy Herod, who was too much in fear of Antony +to take his revenge on her. She farmed out to him the revenues of her +parts of Arabia and Judæa, and was accompanied by him on her way towards +Egypt. But after wondering at the wasteful feasts and gifts, in which +pearls and provinces were alike trifled with, we are reminded that even +Cleopatra was of the family of the Lagido, and that she was well aware +how much the library of the museum had added to the glory of Alexandria. +It had been burnt by the Roman troops under Cæsar, and, to make amends +for this, Antony gave her the large library of the city of Pergamus, by +which Eumenes and Attalus had hoped to raise a school that should equal +the museum of Alexandria. Cleopatra placed these two hundred thousand +volumes in the temple of Serapis; and Alexandria again held the largest +library in the world; while Pergamus ceased to be a place of learning. +By the help of this new library, the city still kept its trade in books +and its high rank as a school of letters; and, when the once proud +kingdom of Egypt was a province of Rome, and when almost every trace of +the monarchy was lost, and half a century afterwards Philo, the Jewish +philosopher of Alexandria, asked, “Where are now the Ptolemies?” the +historian could have found an answer by pointing to the mathematical +schools and the library of the Serapeum. + +But to return to our history. When Antony left Cleopatra, he marched +against the Parthians, and on his return he again entered Alexandria in +triumph, leading Artavasdes, King of Armenia, chained behind his chariot +as he rode in procession through the city. He soon afterwards made +known his plans for the government of Egypt and the provinces. He called +together the Alexandrians in the Gymnasium, and, seating himself and +Cleopatra on two golden thrones, he declared her son Cæsarion her +colleague, and that they should hold Egypt, Cyprus, Africa, and +Coele-Syria. To her sons by himself he gave the title of kings the +children of kings; and to Alexander, though still a child, he gave +Armenia and Media, with Parthia when it should be conquered; and to +Ptolemy he gave Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Cleopatra wore the +sacred robe of Isis, and took the title of the New Isis, while the young +Alexander wore a Median dress with turban and tiara, and the little +Ptolemy a long cloak and slippers, with a bonnet encircled by a diadem, +like the successors of Alexander. Antony himself wore an Eastern +scimetar by his side, and a royal diadem round Ins head, as being not +less a sovereign than Cleopatra. To Cleopatra he then gave the whole of +his Parthian booty, and his prisoner Tigranes. + +[Illustration: 346.jpg COIN OF CLEOPATRA AND ANTHONY] + +But notwithstanding Antony’s love for Cleopatra, her falsehood and +cruelty were such that when his power in Rome fell he could no longer +trust her. He even feared that she might have him poisoned, and would +not eat or drink in her palace without having the food first tasted +herself. But she had no such thoughts, and only laughed at him for his +distrust. One day to prove her power, and at the same time her good +faith, she had the flowers with which he was to be crowned, as he +reclined at her dinner-table, dipped in deadly poison. Antony dined with +these round his head, while she wore a crown of fresh flowers. During +the dinner Cleopatra playfully took off her garland and dipped it in +her cup to flavour the wine, and Antony did the same with his poisoned +flowers, steeping them in his own cup of wine. He even raised it to his +lips to drink, when she hastily caught hold of his hand. “Now,” said +she, “I am the enemy against whom you have latterly been so careful. If +I could have endured to live without you, that draught would have given +me the opportunity.” She then ordered the wine to be taken to one of +the condemned criminals, and sent Antony out to see that the man died on +drinking it. + +On the early coins of Cleopatra we see her head on the one side and +the eagle or the cornucopia on the other side, with the name of “_Queen +Cleopatra_.” After she had borne Antony children, we find the words +round their heads, “_Of Antony, on the conquest of Armenia;” “Of +Cleopatra the queen, and of the kings the children of kings_.” On the +later coins we find the head of Antony joined with hers, as king and +queen, and he is styled “_the emperor_” and she “_the young goddess_.” + Cleopatra was perhaps the last Greek sovereign that bore the title of +god. Nor did it seem unsuitable to her, so common had the Greeks of Asia +and Egypt made that epithet, by giving it to their kings, and even to +their kings’ families and favourites. But the use of the word made no +change in their religious opinions; they never for a moment supposed +that the persons whom they so styled had any share in the creation and +government of the world. + +[Illustration: 347.jpg LATER COIN OF CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY.] + +The death of Julius Cæsar and afterwards of Brutus and Cassius had left +Antony with the chief sway in the Roman world; but his life of pleasure +in Egypt had done much to forfeit it; and Octavianus, afterwards called +Augustus, had been for some time rising in power against him. His party, +however, was still strong enough in Rome to choose for consul his friend +Soslus, who put the head of Antony on one side of his coins, and the +Egyptian eagle and thunderbolt on the other. Soon afterwards Antony was +himself chosen as consul elect for the coming year, and he then struck +his last coins in Egypt. The rude copper coins have on one side the name +of “_The queen, the young goddess_,” and on the other side of “_Antony, +Consul a third time_.” But he never was consul for the third time; +before the day of entering on the office he was made an enemy of Rome by +the senate. Octavianus, however, would not declare war against him, but +declared war against Cleopatra, or rather, as he said, against Mardion +her slave, Iris her waiting-woman, and Charmion, another favourite +woman; for these had the chief management of Antony’s affairs. + +At the beginning of the year B.C. 31, which was to end with the battle +of Actium, Octavianus held Italy, Gaul, Spain, and Carthage, with an +army of eighty thousand foot, twelve thousand horse, and a fleet of two +hundred and fifty ships: Antony held Egypt, Ethiopia, and Cyrene, with +one hundred thousand foot, twelve thousand horse, and five hundred +ships; he was followed by the kings of Africa, Upper Cilicia, +Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Commagene, and Thrace; and he received help +from the kings of Pontus, Arabia, Judæa, Lycaonia, Galatia, and Media. +Thus Octavianus held Rome, with its western provinces and hardy legions, +while Antony held the Greek kingdom of Ptolemy Phila-delphus. Cleopatra +was confident of success and as boastful as she was confident. Her most +solemn manner of promising was: “As surely as I shall issue my decrees +from the Roman Capitol.” But the mind of Antony was ruined by his life +of pleasure. He carried her with him into battle, at once his strength +and his weakness, and he was beaten at sea by Octavianus, on the coast +of Epirus, near Actium. This battle, which sealed the fate of Antony, of +Egypt, and of Rome, would never have been spoken of in history if he had +then had the courage to join his land forces; but he sailed away in a +fright with Cleopatra, leaving an army larger than that of Octavianus, +which would not believe that he was gone. They landed at Parastonium in +Libya, where he remained in the desert with Aristocrates the rhetorician +and one or two other friends, and sent Cleopatra forward to Alexandria. +There she talked of carrying her ships across the isthmus to the head +of the Red Sea, along the canal from Bubastis to the Bitter Lakes, and +thence flying to some unknown land from the power of the conqueror. +Antony soon however followed her, but not to join in society. He +locked himself up in his despair in a small fortress by the side of +the harbour, which he named his Timonium, after Timon, the Athenian +philosopher who forsook the society of men. When the news, however, +arrived that his land forces had joined Octavianus, and his allies had +deserted him, he came out of his Timonium and joined the queen. + +In Alexandria, Antony and Cleopatra only so far regained their courage +as to forget their losses, and to plunge into the same round of costly +feasts and shows that they had amused themselves with before their fall; +but, while they were wasting these few weeks in pleasure, Octavianus was +moving his fleet and army upon Egypt. + +When he landed on the coast, Egypt held three millions of people; he +might have been met by three hundred thousand men able to bear arms. +As for money, which has sometimes been called the sinews of war, though +there might have been none in the treasury, yet it could not have been +wanting in Alexandria. But the Egyptians, like the ass in the fable, had +nothing to fear from a change of masters; they could hardly be kicked +and cuffed worse than they had been; and, though they themselves +were the prize struggled for, they looked on with the idle stare of a +bystander. Some few of the garrisons made a show of holding out; but, as +Antony had left the whole of his army in Greece when he fled away after +the battle of Actium, he had lost all chance of safety. + +When Pelusium was taken, it was said by some that Seleucus the commander +had given it up by Cleopatra’s orders; but the queen, to justify +herself, put the wife and children of Seleucus into the hands of Antony +to be punished if he thought fit. When Octavianus arrived in front of +Alexandria he encamped not far from the hippodrome, a few miles from the +Canopic or eastern gate. On this Antony made a brisk sally, and, routing +the Roman cavalry, returned to the city in triumph. On his way to +the palace he met Cleopatra, whom he kissed, armed as he was, and +recommended to her favour a brave soldier who had done good service in +the battle. She gave the man a cuirass and helmet of gold; but he +saw that Antony’s cause was ruined; his new-gotten treasure made him +selfish, and he went over to the enemy’s camp that very night. The next +morning Antony ordered out his forces, both on land and sea, to engage +with those of Octavianus; but he was betrayed by his generals: his fleet +and cavalry deserted him without a blow being struck; and his infantry, +easily routed, retreated into the city. + +[Illustration: 351.jpg GREEK PICTURE OF CLEOPATRA] + +Cleopatra had never acted justly towards her Jewish subjects; and, +during a late famine, had denied to them their share of the wheat +distributed out of the public granaries to the citizens of Alexandria. +The Jews in return showed no loyalty to Cleopatra, nor regret at her +enemy’s success; and on this defeat of her troops her rage fell upon +them. She made a boast of her cruelty towards them, and thought if she +could have killed all the Jews with her own hand she should have been +repaid for the loss of the city. On the other hand, Antony thought that +he had been betrayed by Cleopatra, as she had received many messengers +from Octavianus. To avoid his anger, therefore, she fled to a monument +which she had built near the temple of Isis, and in which she had before +placed her treasure, her gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, ivory, +and cinnamon, together with a large quantity of flax and a number of +torches, as though to burn herself and her wealth in one flame. Here she +retired with two of her women, and secured herself with bars and bolts, +and sent word to Antony that she was dead. Antony, when he heard it, +believing that she had killed herself, and wishing not to be outdone in +courage by a woman, plunged his sword into his breast. But the wound was +not fatal, and when Cleopatra heard of it she sent to beg that he would +come to her. Accordingly his servants carried him to the door of her +monument. But the queen, in fear of treachery, would not suffer the door +to be opened; but she let a cord down from the window, and she with her +two women drew him up. Nothing could be more affecting than the sight to +all who were near; Antony covered with blood, in the agonies of death, +stretching out his hands to Cleopatra, and she straining every nerve and +every feature of her face with the effort she was making. He was at last +lifted in at the window, but died soon afterwards. By this time the city +was in the power of Octavianus; he had not found it necessary to storm +the walls, for Antony’s troops had all joined him, and he sent in Gallus +to endeavour to take Cleopatra alive. This he succeeded in doing by +drawing her into conversation at the door of her monument, while three +men scaled the window and snatched out of her hand the dagger with which +she would have stabbed herself. + +Octavianus, henceforth called Augustus, began by promising his soldiers +two hundred and fifty drachmas each as prize money, for not being +allowed to plunder Alexandria. He soon afterwards entered the city, not +on horseback armed at the head of his victorious legions, but on foot, +leaning on the arm of the philosopher Arius; and, as he wished to be +thought as great a lover of learning as of mercy, he gave out that he +spared the place to the prayers of his Alexandrian friend. He called the +Greek citizens together in the gymnasium, and, mounting the tribunal, +promised that they should not be hurt. Cleopatra’s three children by +Antony, who had not the misfortune to be of the same blood with the +conqueror, were kindly treated and taken care of; while Cæsarion, her +son by Julius Cæsar, who was betrayed by his tutor Rhodon while flying +towards Ethiopia, was put to death as a rival. The flatterers of the +conqueror would of course say that Cæsarion was not the son of +Julius, but of Ptolemy, the elder of the two boys who had been called +Cleopatra’s husbands. The feelings of humanity might have answered +that, if he was not the only son of the uncle to whom Octavianus owed +everything, he was at least helpless and friendless, and that he never +could trouble the undisputed master of the world; but Augustus, with +the heartless cruelty which murdered Cicero, and the cold caution which +marked his character through life, listening to the remark of Arius, +that there ought not to be two Cæsars, had him at once put to death. + +Augustus gave orders that Cleopatra should be carefully guarded lest she +should put an end to her own life; he wished to carry her with him to +Rome as the ornament of his triumph. He paid her a visit of condolence +and consolation. He promised her she should receive honourable +treatment. He allowed her to bury Antony. He threatened that her +children should be punished if she hurt herself; but she deceived her +guards and put herself to death, either by poison, or, as was more +commonly thought, by the bite of an asp brought to her in a basket +of fruit. She was thirty-nine years of age, having reigned twenty-two +years, of which the last seven were in conjunction with Antony; and she +was buried in his tomb with all regal splendour. + +The death of Cleopatra was hailed at Rome as a relief from a sad +disgrace by others besides the flatterers of the conqueror. When +governed by Julius Cæsar, and afterwards by Antony, the Romans sometimes +fancied they were receiving orders from the barbarian queen to +whom their master was a slave. When Antony was in arms against his +countrymen, they were not without alarm at Cleopatra’s boast that she +would yet make her power felt in the Capitol; and many feared that even +when Antony was overthrown the conqueror might himself be willing to +wear her chains. But the prudent Augustus was in no danger of being +dazzled by beauty. He saw clearly all that was within his reach; he did +not want her help to the sovereignty of Egypt; and from the day that he +entered the empty palace in Alexandria, his reign began as sole master +of Rome and its dependent provinces. + +While we have in this history been looking at the Romans from afar, and +only seen their dealings with foreign kings, we have been able to note +some of the changes in their manners nearly as well as if we had stood +in the Forum. When Epiphanes, Philometor, and Euergetes II. owed their +crowns to Roman help, Rome gained nothing but thanks, and that weight in +their councils which is fairly due to usefulness: the senate asked for +no tribute, and the citizens took no bribes. But with the growth +of power came the love of conquest and of its spoils. Macedonia +was conquered in what might be called self-defence; in the reign of +Cleopatra Cocce, Cyrene was won by fraud, and Cyprus was then seized +without a plea. The senators were even more eager for bribes than the +senate for provinces. The nobles who governed these wide provinces +grew too powerful for the senate, and found that they could heap up +ill-gotten wealth faster by patronising kings than by conquering them; +and the Egyptian monarchy was left to stand in the reigns of Auletes +and Cleopatra, because the Romans were still more greedy than when they +seized Cyrene and Cyprus. And, lastly, when the Romans were worn out by +quarrels and the want of a steady government, and were ready to obey +any master who could put a stop to civil bloodshed, they made Octavianus +autocrat of Rome; he then gained for himself whatever he seized in +the name of the republic, and he at once put an end to the Egyptian +monarchy. + +Thus fell the family of the Ptolemies, a family that had perhaps done +more for arts and letters than any that can be pointed out in history. +Like other kings who have bought the praises of poets, orators, and +historians, they may have misled the talents which they wished to +guide, and have smothered the fire which they seemed to foster; but, +in rewarding the industry of the mathematicians and anatomists, of the +critics, commentators, and compilers, they seem to have been highly +successful. It is true that Alexandria never sent forth works with the +high tone of philosophy, the lofty moral aim and the pure taste which +mark the writings of Greece in its best ages, and which ennoble the mind +and mend the heart; but it was the school to which the world long looked +for knowledge in all those sciences which help the body and improve the +arts of life, and which are sometimes called useful knowledge. Though +great and good actions may not have been unknown in Alexandria, so few +valued them that none took the trouble to record them. The well-paid +writers never wrote the lives of the Ptolemies. The muse of history +had no seat in the museum, but it was almost the birthplace of anatomy, +geometry, conic sections, geography, astronomy, and hydrostatics. + +[Illustration: 357.jpg GRAND COLUMN AT KARNAK] + +If we retrace the steps by which this Græco-Egyptian monarchy rose and +fell, we shall see that virtue and vice, wisdom and folly, care and +thoughtlessness, were for the most part followed by the rewards which to +us seem natural. The Egyptian gold which first tempted the Greeks into +the country, and then helped their energies to raise the monarchy, +afterwards undermined those same energies, and became one of the +principal causes of its final overthrow. + +In Ptolemy Soter we see plain manners, careful plans, untiring activity, +and a wise choice of friends. By him talents were highly paid wherever +they were found; no service left unrewarded; the people trusted and +taught the use of arms; their love gained by wise laws and even-handed +justice; docks, harbours, and fortresses built, schools opened; and +by these means a great monarchy founded. Ptolemy was eager to fill +the ranks of his armies with soldiers, and his new city with traders. +Instead of trying to govern against the will of the people, to thwart +or overlook their wishes and feelings, his utmost aim was to guide them, +and to make Alexandria a more agreeable place of settlement than the +cities of Asia Minor and Syria, for the thousands who were then +pouring out of Greece on the check given to its trading industry by the +overthrow of its freedom. Though every thinking man might have seen +that the new government, when it gained shape and strength, would be a +military despotism; yet his Greek subjects must have felt, while it was +weak and resting on their good-will rather than on their habits, that +they were enjoying many of the blessings of freedom. Had they then +claimed a share in the government, they would most likely have gained +it, and thereby they would have handed down those blessings to their +children. + +Before the death of Ptolemy Soter, the habits of the people had so +closely entwined themselves round the throne, that Philadelphus was able +to take the kingdom and the whole of its wide provinces at the hands of +his father as a family estate. He did nothing to mar his father’s wise +plans, which then ripened into fruit-bearing. Trade crowded the harbours +and markets, learning filled the schools, conquests rewarded the +discipline of the fleets and armies; power, wealth, and splendour +followed in due order. The blaze thus cast around the throne would by +many kings have been made to stand in the place of justice and mildness, +but under Philadelphus it only threw a light upon his good government. +He was acknowledged both at home and abroad to be the first king of +his age; Greece and its philosophers looked up to him as a friend and +patron; and though as a man he must take rank far below his father, by +whose wisdom the eminence on which he stood was raised, yet in all the +gold and glitter of a king Philadelphus was the greatest of his family. + +The Egyptians had been treated with kindness by both of these Greek +kings. As far as they had been able or willing to copy the arts of +Greece they had been raised to a level with the Macedonians. The +Egyptian worship and temples had been upheld, as if in obedience to +the oft-repeated answer of the Delphic oracle, that the gods should +everywhere be worshipped according to the laws of the country. But +Euergetes was much more of an Egyptian, and while he was bringing back +the ancient splendour to the temples, the priests must have regained +something of their former rank. But they had no hold on the minds of the +soldiers. Had the mercenaries, upon whom the power of the king rested, +been worshippers in the Egyptian temples, the priests might, as in the +earlier times, like a body of nobles, have checked his power when too +great, and at other times upheld it. But it was not so; and upon the +whole, little seems to have been gained by the court becoming more +Egyptian, while the army must have lost something of its Greek +discipline and plainness of manners. + +But in the next reign the fruits of this change were seen to be most +unfortunate. Philopator was an Eastern despot, surrounded by eunuchs, +and drowned in pleasures. The country was governed by his women and +vicious favourites. The army, which at the beginning of his reign +amounted to seventy-three thousand men, beside the garrisons, was at +first weakened by rebellion, and before the end of his reign it fell to +pieces. Nothing, however, happened to prove his weakness to surrounding +nations; Egypt was still the greatest of kingdoms, though Rome on the +conquest of Carthage, and Syria under Antiochus the Great, were fast +gaining ground upon it; but he left to his infant son a throne shaken to +the very foundations. + +The ministers of Epiphanes, the infant autocrat, found the government +without a head and without an army, the treasury without money, and the +people without virtue or courage; and they placed the kingdom under the +hands of the Romans to save it from being shared between the kings of +Syria and Macedonia. Thus passed the first five reigns, the first one +hundred and fifty years, the first half of the three centuries that the +kingdom of the Ptolemies lasted. It was then rotten at the core with +vice and luxury. Its population was lessening, its trade falling off, +its treasury empty, its revenue too small for the wasteful expenses of +the government; but, nevertheless, in the eyes of surrounding nations, +its trade and wealth seemed boundless. + +[Illustration: 362.jpg Cleopatra’s needle.] + +Taste, genius, and poetry had passed away; but mathematics, surgery, and +grammar still graced the museum. The decline of art is shown upon the +coins, and even in the shape of the letters upon the coins. On those +of Cleopatra the engraver followed the fashion of the penman; the S is +written like our C, the E has a round back, and the long O is formed +like an M reversed. + +During the reigns of the later Ptolemies the kingdom was under the +shield, but also under the sceptre of Rome. Its kings sent to Rome +for help, sometimes against their enemies, and sometimes against their +subjects; sometimes they humbly asked the senate for advice, and at +other times were able respectfully to disobey the Roman orders. One +by one the senate seized the provinces; Coele-Syria, the coast of +Asia Minor, Cyrene, and the island of Cyprus; and lastly, though the +Ptolemies still reigned, they were counted among the clients of the +Roman patrician, to whom they looked up for patronage. From this low +state Egypt could scarcely be said to fall when it became a part of the +great empire of Augustus. + +During the reigns of the Ptolemies, the sculpture, the style of +building, the religion, the writing, and the language of the Kopts in +the Thebaid were nearly the same as when their own kings were reigning +in Thebes, with even fewer changes than usually creep in through time. +They had all become less simple; and though it would be difficult, and +would want a volume by itself to trace these changes, and to show when +they came into use, yet a few of them may be pointed out. The change of +fashion must needs be slower in buildings which are only raised by the +untiring labour of years, and which when built stand for ages; but in +the later temples we find less strength as fortresses, few obelisks or +sphinxes, and no colossal statues; we no longer meet with vast caves +or pyramids. The columns in a temple have several new patterns. The +capitals which used to be copied from the papyrus plant are now formed +of lotus flowers, or palm branches. In some cases, with a sad want of +taste, the weight of the roof rests on the weak head of a woman. +The buildings, however, of the Ptolemies are such that, before the +hieroglyphics on them had been read by Doctor Young, nobody had ever +guessed that they were later than the time of Cambyses, while three or +four pillars at Alexandria were almost the only proof that the country +had ever been held by Greeks. + +In the religion we find many new gods or old gods in new dresses. +Hapimou, the Nile, now pours water out of a jar like a Greek river god. +The moon, which before ornamented the heads of gods, is now a goddess +under the name of Ioh. The favourite Isis had appeared in so many +characters that she is called the goddess with ten thousand names. + +[Illustration: 364.jpg GRAECO-EGYPTIAN COLUMN] + +The gods had also changed their rank; Phtah and Serapis now held the +chief place. Strange change had also taken place in the names of men +and cities. In the place of Petisis, Petamun, Psammo, and Serapion, +we find men named Eudoxus, Hermophantus, and Poly crates; while of the +cities, Oshmoonayn is called Hermopolis; Esne, Latopolis; Chemmis, +Panopolis; and Thebes, Diospolis; and Ptolemais, Phylace, Parembole, +and others had sprung into being. Many new characters crept into the +hieroglyphics, as the camelopard, the mummy lying on a couch, the ships +with sails, and the chariot with horses; there were more words spelled +with letters, the groups were more crowded, and the titles of the kings +within the ovals became much longer. + +With the papyrus, which was becoming common about the time of the +Persian invasion, we find the running hand, the enchorial or common +writing, as it was called, coming into use, in which there were few +symbols, and most of the words were spelt with letters. Each letter was +of the easy sloping form, which came from its being made with a reed or +pen, instead of the stiff form of the hieroglyphics, which were mostly +cut in stone. But there is a want of neatness, which has thrown a +difficulty over them, and has made these writings less easy to read than +the hieroglyphics. + +When the country fell into the hands of Augustus, the Kopts were in +a much lower state than when conquered by Alexander. Of the old moral +worth and purity of manners very little remained. All respect for women +was lost; and, when men degrade those who should be their helps towards +excellence, they degrade themselves also. Not a small part of the +nation was sunk in vice. They had been slaves for three hundred years, +sometimes trusted and well-treated, but more often trampled on and +ground down with taxes and cruelty. They had never held up their heads +as freemen, or felt themselves lords of their own soil; they had fallen +off in numbers, in wealth, and in knowledge; nothing was left to them +but their religion, their temples, their hieroglyphics, and the painful +remembrance of their faded glories. + +END OF VOL. X. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The +Present Time, Volume 10 (of 12), by S. Rappoport + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM 330 *** + +***** This file should be named 17330-8.txt or 17330-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/3/17330/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. + +The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |