BOOK IV.

HISTORY OF THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE AND THE KINGDOMS FORMED FROM IT, UNTIL THEIR CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS.

FIRST PERIOD. _From the Rise of the Monarchy to the Death of Alexander the Great, about B. C. 700-323._

=1.= The Kingdom of Macedon, lying north of Thessaly and east of Illyr´icum, was of little importance before the reign of Philip II., whose aggressions ended the independent history of Greece. (See Book III, §§ 248-254.) In 507 B. C., Amyntas I. submitted to Darius Hystaspes; and fifteen years later, in the first expedition of Mardonius, the country became a mere province of the Persian empire, the native kings governing as tributaries. After Xerxes’ retreat, B. C. 480, Macedonia became free again, and began to push eastward along the northern coast of the Ægean. Here it met two rivals: the new Thracian kingdom of Sitalces upon its eastern frontier, and the Athenian power in the Greek cities of the Chalcidian peninsulas.

=2.= When Athens was prostrated by her Sicilian disasters, the short but brilliant reign of Ar´chela´us I. (B. C. 413-399) laid the foundation of Macedonian greatness. He improved his country by roads, strengthened it by forts, and introduced a better discipline into the army. His death was followed by forty years of great tumult, a continued scene of plots and assassinations, to recount which would only confuse without profiting the student. When Perdiccas III. died in battle, he left an infant son, Amyntas, under the regency of his brother Philip. At least five other princes claimed the crown; the victorious Illyrians occupied the western provinces, and Thrace and Pæo´nia were ready to absorb the eastern.

=3.= Philip overcame all these perils with admirable spirit and ability. He made himself king instead of his nephew, defeated the Illyrians, and took advantage of the Social War to seize Amphipolis, Pydna, and Potidæa. He pushed the Macedonian boundary eastward as far as the Nestus, and built the town of Philip´pi for the protection of the gold mines. These had fallen into neglect during the wars of Athens, but under his improved management they soon yielded a yearly revenue of a thousand talents ($1,250,000).

=4.= Philip, in his youth, had spent three years in Thebes, where he had studied the tactics of Epaminondas, as well as the language, character, and politics of the Greeks. On coming to power, he devoted unwearied attention to the drilling of his army, until it far surpassed that of any Hellenic state. No less skilled in diplomacy than in military science, he knew how to take advantage of the rivalries in Greece, and the corruptibility of all parties, to play off one against the other, and so render himself supreme. His rapid movements made him seem to be in many places at the same moment, and no circumstance which either threatened or favored his interests escaped his eye.

=5.= The Olynthian War ended with the capture of thirty-two cities in Chalcidice; the Sacred War made Philip master of Phocis and head of the Amphictyonic League. In eastern Thrace, the Athenians found aid in the Persians, who were already alarmed by the rapid rise of the Macedonian power, and Perin´thus and Byzantium were thus saved for a time. Philip was victorious (B. C. 339) against a Scythian prince of what is now Bulga´ria; and though he was defeated and wounded on his return, in a battle with the Triballi, his plots went on with uninterrupted success. The Second Sacred War gave him supremacy in central Greece, and the victory at Chæronea prostrated all remaining opposition. The Congress at Corinth (B. C. 337) acknowledged his headship, and appointed him to lead the Greek forces against Persia. The advanced guard of the Macedonian army was already in Asia, when Philip was assassinated, during the festivities attending the marriage of his daughter, B. C. 336.

=6.= In the midst of Philip’s early victories, he had heard of the birth of his son Alexander at Pella. He wrote immediately to his friend Ar´istot´le,[58] expressing his joy that the young prince was born during the life of the philosopher to whom he could most gladly commit his education. On the same day that Alexander was born, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus was burnt to the ground. The priests and soothsayers, regarding the fire as an evil omen, ran about the city beating their breasts and crying aloud, “This day has brought forth the scourge and destroyer of Asia.” B. C. 356.

=7.= At the age of sixteen, Alexander was left regent of the kingdom during his father’s campaign against Byzantium. At Chæroaea, two years later, he led a corps of Macedonian youth against the Sacred Band of Thebes, and the victory was mainly due to his courage and impetuosity. Upon the death of his father, Alexander, at twenty years of age, ascended a throne beset with many dangers. He expelled or killed his nearest rivals, marched into Greece and convened at Corinth a new congress, which conferred upon him the same dignities and powers previously granted to his father; then instantly returning to Macedon, he signally defeated his enemies on the west and north, some of whom he pursued even beyond the Danube. During these campaigns a false report of his death reached Greece, and Thebes seized the occasion to revolt. But Alexander appeared suddenly before her gates, stormed and took the city, which, by way of warning to others, he completely destroyed—saving only the house of Pindar, the poet—and either enslaved or massacred the inhabitants.

=8.= Greece was now awed into submission, and Alexander prepared to execute his father’s and his own schemes of Asiatic conquest. In the spring of 334 B. C., he crossed the Hellespont with 35,000 men. The Persians awaiting him at the Granicus were defeated, and Alexander, with his usual celerity, overran Asia Minor, which submitted with little opposition. Memnon, a Rhodian Greek in the service of Darius, and his greatest general, desired to carry the war into Macedonia, by means of the overwhelming fleet of the Persians. His movements detained Alexander some months near the Ægean coast; but his death, in the spring of 333 B. C., left the invader free to march toward the heart of the empire. Darius led a vast army to the plain of the Orontes, where he might have had the advantage over his assailant; but Alexander lingered in the Cilician mountain passes, until the Persian king was impatient and came to meet him. The battle of Issus (B. C. 333, Nov.) resulted in the defeat of the Persians with great slaughter.

=9.= Instead of following Darius, Alexander proceeded to conquer the sea-coast of the Mediterranean as far as Egypt, thus providing for the security of Macedon and Greece. Most of the Phœnician cities submitted as he approached, but Tyre withstood him seven months. When it was taken (B. C. 332, July), 8,000 of its people were massacred and 30,000 sold into slavery. Ga´za was captured after a siege of two months. According to Josephus, the conqueror then marched upon Jerusalem. The high priest, Jad´dua, came forth to meet him, wearing the breastplate of precious stones and the miter inscribed with the Holy Name. Alexander prostrated himself with profound reverence before the priest, and explained to his followers that in a vision, before leaving Europe, he had seen such a figure, which had invited him to the conquest of Asia. The high priest pointed out to him the prophecies of Daniel concerning his career; and Alexander, in adding the Jews to his empire, exempted them from tribute every seventh year, when, according to their law, they could neither sow nor reap.

=10.= In Egypt the Macedonian king was gladly welcomed, for the people hated the Persians for having insulted their gods and profaned their temples. At the western mouth of the Nile he founded a new capital, which he designed as the commercial exchange of the eastern and western worlds. Alexandria, with its great advantages of position, soon became a rich and magnificent city. A less judicious proceeding of the conqueror was a toilsome march across the desert to the temple of Amun. He was rewarded, however, in being saluted by the priests as the son of the god, a distinction which Alexander greatly valued.

=11.= Turning to the north and east, Alexander now sought the grand contest which was to transfer to him the dominions of Cyrus. He had purposely given Darius time to collect the entire force of his empire, so that one battle might decide its fate. The battle of Arbela (B. C. 331, Oct.) has been described in Book II. As its result the three capitals, Susa, Persep´olis, and Babylon, surrendered almost without resistance; and Alexander might, without further effort, have assumed the pomp and ease of an Oriental monarch. But his restless spirit carried him on to the conquest of the eastern provinces and India. He first marched into Media, where Darius had rallied the remnants of his forces to oppose him, but on his approach the dethroned king fled through the Caspian Gates to Bactria. Before Alexander could overtake him, he was murdered by his rebellious satrap, Bessus, who assumed the title of king of Persia.

=12.= The Greek mercenaries of Darius, who had formed his most effective force, were now added to the army of the conqueror. From province to province Alexander marched, receiving submission and organizing governments. Bessus fled into Sogdiana, but was taken, and suffered a cruel death for his treason and usurpation. A new city of Alexandria was founded on the Jaxartes; and having chastised the Scythians to the northward, the conqueror returned to Bactria, where he spent the winter of 329 B. C.

=13.= The genius of Alexander began to be disgraced by the pride and unscrupulous cruelty of an Eastern king. He adopted the Persian dress and ceremonial, and required his courtiers to prostrate themselves before him, as to a divinity rather than a mortal. He had already put to death his friend Philo´tas, on an unproved charge of plotting against his life; and the aged Parme´nio, father of Philotas, was subjected without trial to a similar fate. At Bactra, in a drunken revel, Alexander murdered his friend Clitus with his own hand.

=14.= During his two years’ war against Sogdiana, Alexander captured a mountain fortress, where Oxyar´tes, a Bactrian prince, had deposited his family. Roxa´na, one of the princesses, became the wife of the conqueror. In the spring of 327 B. C., the Macedonian army crossed the Indus and invaded the Punjab. No resistance was encountered until it reached the Hydas´pes, where Porus, an Indian king, was drawn up with his elephants and a formidable body of men. An obstinate battle resulted in the defeat and capture of Porus; but his brave spirit so commanded the respect of his conqueror, that he was permitted to retain his kingdom.

Alexander founded two cities near the Hydaspes, one named Buceph´ala, in honor of his favorite horse, which died there, and the other, Nicæ´a, in commemoration of his victories. He gave orders for the building of a fleet from the Indian forests, while he advanced with his army still farther to the eastward. All the tribes as far as the Hypha´sis (Sutlej) were conquered, one by one. On arriving at that river, the Macedonians refused to go farther. They declared that they had more than fulfilled the terms of their enlistment, and that they were worn out by the hardships of eight unprecedented campaigns.

=15.= Alexander was compelled to turn back. His fleet was now ready, and he descended the Hydaspes to the Indus, in the autumn and winter of 327 B. C. His army marched in two columns along the banks, the entire valley submitting with little resistance. Two more cities were founded, and left with Greek garrisons and governors. Arriving at the Indian Ocean, Near´chus was sent with the fleet to the Persian Gulf, while Alexander returned by land. His march through Gedro´sia was the most severe of all his operations, the army suffering for the want of food and water. At Pura he obtained supplies, and proceeded through Kerman to Pasargadæ, and thence to Persepolis. Arriving at Susa in the spring of 325 B. C., he allowed his army some months of needed rest, while he began to organize the vast empire which he had so rapidly built up.

=16.= Desiring to unite his eastern and western dominions by every bond of sympathy and common interest, he assigned to eighty of his officers Asiatic wives with rich dowries. He had himself set the example by taking for his second wife Barsi´ne, daughter of Darius III.; and when ten thousand of the soldiery married Asiatic women, he gave presents to them all. Twenty thousand Persians were received into the army, and drilled in Macedonian tactics; while Persian satraps were placed over several provinces, and the court was equally composed of Asiatics and Europeans. Some of Alexander’s veterans, seeing the conquered nations placed on a level with themselves, broke into open mutiny. He silenced their complaints with great address, and then sent 10,000 of them home.

=17.= Unlike most conquerors, Alexander improved the countries which he had won by arms. Rivers were cleared from obstructions, commerce revived, and western enterprise took the place of Asiatic indolence and poverty. The Greek language and literature were planted every-where: every new exploration added to the treasures of science and the enlightenment of the human race. On his march from Ecbatana to Babylon, Alexander was met by embassadors from almost every part of the known world, who came to offer either submission or friendship.

=18.= He designed to conquer first Arabia, then Italy, Carthage, and the West, extending his empire from the Indus to the Pillars of Hercules. Babylon was to be his capital; and Alexander descended the river, to inspect in person the improvement of the canals which distributed water over the plain. But his magnificent schemes were cut short from their accomplishment by his early death. On his return from visiting the canals, he found the Arabian expedition nearly ready to sail, and he celebrated the occasion by a banquet to Nearchus and the chief officers. In the midst of the subsequent preparations, the king was attacked by a fever, occasioned by his exertions among the marshes, and aggravated, perhaps, by the wine he had taken at the festival. After an illness of eleven days he died, at the age of thirty-two, having reigned twelve years and eight months.

RECAPITULATION.

Macedonia rose to greatness under Archelaus (B. C. 418-399); was greatly increased by Philip II. (B. C. 350-336), who became master of Greece. Alexander, trained in his youth to war and diplomacy, began his reign at twenty; led a Greek army into Asia; defeated the Persians at the Granicus and at Issus; conquered Phœnicia, Syria, and Egypt; founded Alexandria on the Nile; gained a decisive victory over Darius at Arbela, B. C. 331; subdued the eastern and northern provinces of the empire; founded cities in western India; explored its rivers and coasts in the interest of science; planned the amalgamation of Europe and Asia, and the extension of his empire westward to the Atlantic; died B. C. 323.

SECOND PERIOD. _From the Death of Alexander to the Battle of Ipsus_, B. C. 323-301.

=19.= Alexander named no successor, but shortly before his death he gave his ring to Perdiccas. This general, as prime minister, kept the empire united for two years in the royal family. An infant prince, Alexander IV., born after his father’s death, was associated on the throne with Philip Arrhidæ´us, half-brother of the great Alexander. Four regents or guardians of the empire were appointed—two in Europe and two in Asia. One of these was murdered by Perdiccas, who thus acquired for himself the sole administration of Asia, Antipater and Crat´erus ruling west of the Bosphorus.

The provinces not already bestowed by the conqueror were divided among ten of his generals, who were expected to govern in the name and for the benefit of the two kings. Finding it impossible, however, either by management or force, to keep these lieutenants in subjection to the mere name of royalty, Perdiccas formed a plan to seize the sovereignty for himself. Eu´menes was on his side, while his colleagues in the regency, and the two great provincial governors, Ptol´emy and Antig´onus, were his most powerful opponents. In a campaign against Ptolemy, in Egypt, Perdiccas was slain by his own mutinous soldiers. Craterus fell in a battle with Eumenes, in Cappadocia, and the sole regency devolved upon Antip´ater. This general defeated the schemes of Euryd´ice—niece of Alexander the Great, and wife of the imbecile king, Philip Arrhidæus—who even harangued the army at Tripar´adi´sus, in Syria, demanding to be admitted to a share in the government. A fresh division and assignment of the provinces was now made. Antigonus was charged with the prosecution of the war against Eumenes, in which he made himself master of the greater part of Asia Minor.

=20.= Antipater died in Macedon, B. C. 319, leaving the regency, not to his son Cassan´der, but to his friend Polysper´chon. Cassander, in disgust, fled to Antigonus; and in the war which followed, these two, with Ptolemy, sought the disruption of the empire, while Eumenes and Polysperchon fought for its unity. Eumenes collected a force in Cilicia, with which he meant to conquer Syria and Phœnicia, and thus gain command of the sea. Antigonus first defeated a royal fleet near Byzantium, and then marched across the country to the borders of Syria, and pursued Eumenes inland beyond the Tigris. A number of the eastern satraps here joined Eumenes, but after two indecisive battles he was seized by his own troops and given up to Antigonus, who put him to death, B. C. 316.

=21.= In Macedonia, the mock king, Philip Arrhidæus, and his wife were executed, by order of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. But this imperious princess was captured, in her turn, at Pydna; and, in violation of the terms of her surrender, was murdered by her enemies. Cassander became master of Macedonia and Greece. He married Thes´saloni´ca, half-sister of the Conqueror, and founded in her honor the city which bears her name, B. C. 316.

=22.= The ambition of Antigonus now began to alarm his colleagues, for he was evidently not to be satisfied with less than the entire dominion of Alexander. He gave away the eastern satrapies according to his pleasure. From Babylonia he drove Seleu´cus, who took refuge with Ptolemy in Egypt, and formed a league with Cassander, Lysim´achus, and Asander. A war of four years followed (B. C. 315-311), which resulted in the re-establishment of Seleucus in Babylon and the East, while Antigonus gained power in Greece, Syria, and Asia Minor. The peace of B. C. 311 provided for the independence of the Greek cities, but allowed each general to keep what he had gained, and left Cassander regent of Macedonia until Alexander IV. should be of age. It was probably understood between the contracting parties that this last event was never to occur. The young king and his mother were murdered, by order of Cassander.

=23.= At the end of a year, Ptolemy broke the peace, on the pretense that Antigonus had not liberated the Greek cities of Asia Minor. He was opposed in Cilicia by Deme´trius, son of Antigonus, who gained in this war the title of _Po´liorce´tes_, the Besieger. Ptolemy, entering Greece, seized Sicyon and Corinth, and aimed to marry Cleopatra, the last survivor of the royal house of Macedon; but the princess was assassinated, by order of Cassander, B. C. 308. Demetrius now arriving with a fleet to the relief of Athens, Ptolemy withdrew to Cyprus, and gained possession of the island. A great battle followed off Salamis, one of the most severe in the world’s history. Ptolemy was defeated, with the loss of all but eight of his ships, leaving 17,000 prisoners in the hands of the enemy.

=24.= The five principal generals now assumed the kingly title. Demetrius spent a year in the siege of Rhodes, which, by its brave and memorable defense, secured the privileges of a neutral in the remaining years of the war. Returning to Greece, he assembled a congress at Corinth, which conferred upon him the titles formerly bestowed on Philip and Alexander, and then marched northward against the regent, or, rather, king of Macedon. Alarmed at his endangered position, Cassander stirred up his allies to invade Asia Minor.

=25.= The decisive battle took place, B. C. 301, at Ipsus, in Phrygia. Demetrius had arrived from Europe to the assistance of his father; but Seleucus, with the forces of the East, including 480 Indian elephants, increased the army of Lysimachus. Antigonus, in his eighty-first year, was slain; Demetrius, completely defeated, took refuge in Greece, but was not permitted to enter Athens. The two conquerors, Seleucus and Lysimachus, divided the dominions of Alexander, with due regard to their own interests. Seleucus received the Euphrates Valley, Upper Syria, Cappadocia, and part of Phrygia. Lysimachus added the rest of Asia Minor to his Thracian dominion, which extended along the western shores of the Euxine as far as the mouths of the Danube; Ptolemy retained Egypt, and Cassander continued to reign in Macedonia until his death.

=26.= The results of the twenty years’ war were disastrous to Greece and Macedonia, not only by the exhausting expenditure of blood and treasure, but by the introduction of Oriental habits of luxury and unmanly servility, in place of the free and simple manners of former times. Though the minds of the Greeks were enlarged by a knowledge of the history and philosophy of the Eastern nations, and by observation of the natural world and its productions in new climates and circumstances, yet most of the influences which had kept alive the free spirit of the people had ceased to work. Patriotism was dead; learning took the place of genius; and imitation, the place of art.

=27.= At the same time, Asia had gained many splendid cities, her commerce had vastly increased, and the Greek military discipline and forms of civil government gave new strength to her armies and states. From the Indus to the Adriatic, and from the Crimea to the southern bounds of Egypt, the Greek language prevailed, at least among the educated and ruling classes. In Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, the influence of Hellenic thought continued a thousand years in full force, until Mahomet and his successors set up their new Semitic empire. The wide diffusion of the Greek language in western Asia was among the most important preparations for the spread of Christianity. If Alexander had lived to complete his great scheme of interfusing the eastern and western races, Asia would have gained and Europe lost in still greater measure.

RECAPITULATION.

Perdiccas became vizier, Philip Arrhidæus and Alexander IV being nominally kings. Wars of the generals for the division of the empire, B. C. 321-316; 315-311; 310-301. Murder of the two kings, 316, 311. Battle of Salamis in Cyprus, 306. The decisive combat at Ipsus gave Syria and the East to Seleucus; Egypt, to Ptolemy; Thrace, to Lysimachus; Macedonia, to Cassander.

THIRD PERIOD. _History of the Several Kingdoms into which Alexander’s Empire was divided._

I. THE SYRIAN KINGDOM OF THE SELEU´CIDÆ. B. C. 312-65.

=28.= After the restoration of Seleucus to the government of Babylonia (see § 22), he extended his power over all the provinces between the Euphrates and the Indus. He even made war against an Indian kingdom upon the western headwaters of the Ganges, gaining thereby a great extension of commerce, and the addition of five hundred elephants to his army. The battle of Ipsus added to his dominions the country as far west as the Mediterranean and the center of Phrygia, making his kingdom by far the greatest that had been formed from the fragments of Alexander’s empire.

This vast dominion was organized by Seleucus with great skill and energy. In each of the seventy-two provinces new cities sprang up, as monuments of his power and centers of Greek civilization. Sixteen of these were named Antioch, in honor of his father; five Laodice´a, for his mother, Laod´ice; seven for himself, Sel´euci´a; and several for his two wives, Apame´a and Stratoni´ce. To watch more effectually the movements of his rivals, Ptolemy and Lysimachus, he removed the seat of government from the Euphrates to his new capital, Antioch, on the Orontes, which continued nearly a thousand years to be one of the richest and most populous cities in the world.

=29.= In 293 B. C., Seleucus divided his empire with his son Anti´ochus, giving the younger prince all the provinces east of the Euphrates. Demetrius Poliorcetes, after gaining and then losing Macedonia, sought to make for himself a new kingdom in Asia, out of the possessions of Lysimachus and Seleucus. He was defeated by the latter, and remained a prisoner the rest of his life.

=30.= Lysimachus, king of Thrace, under the influence of his Egyptian wife and her brother, Ptolemy Cerau´nus, had alienated the hearts of his subjects by the murder of his son. The widow of the murdered prince fled for protection to the court of Seleucus, who undertook her cause and invaded the territories of Lysimachus. The two aged kings were now the only survivors of the companions and generals of Alexander. In the battle of Corupe´dion, B. C. 281, Lysimachus was slain, and all his Asiatic dominions were transferred to Seleucus. The empire of Alexander seemed about to be united in the hands of one man. Before crossing the Hellespont to seize the European provinces, the Syrian king committed the government of his present dominion to his son, Antiochus. Then passing the strait, he advanced to Lys´imachi´a, the capital of his late enemy; but here he was killed by the hand of Ptolemy Ceraunus, B. C. 280. Thrace and Macedonia became the prize of the murderer.

=31.= Antiochus I. (Soter) inherited the Asiatic dominions of his father, and made war in Asia Minor against the native kings of Bithynia. One of these, Nicomedes, called to his assistance the Gauls, who were ravaging eastern Europe, and rewarded their services with a large territory in northern Phrygia, which was thence called Gala´tia. North-western Lydia was also wrested from Antiochus, and formed the kingdom of Per´gamus. From his only important victory over the Gauls, B. C. 275, the Syrian king derived his title _Soter_ (the Deliverer); but his operations were usually unsuccessful, and his kingdom was much reduced both in wealth and power during his reign. He was defeated and slain near Ephesus, in a battle with the Gauls, B. C. 261.

=32.= Antiochus II. bore the blasphemous title of _Theos_ (the God), but he showed himself less than a man by the weakness and licentiousness of his reign. He abandoned all affairs to worthless favorites, who were neither feared nor respected in the distant provinces, and two independent kingdoms sprang up unchecked in Parthia and Bactria, B. C. 255. The influence of his wife, Laodice, involved him in a war with Egypt. It was ended by the divorce of Laodice, and the marriage of Antiochus with Ber´eni´ce, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus (B. C. 260-252). On the death of Philadelphus, Antiochus sent away Berenice and took back Laodice; but she, doubting his constancy, murdered him to secure the kingdom for her son, Seleucus. Berenice and her infant son were also put to death.

=33.= Seleucus II. (Callini´cus) was first engaged in war with the king of Egypt, Ptolemy Euer´getes, who came to avenge the deaths of his sister and nephew. With the exception of part of Lydia and Phrygia, all Asia west of the Tigris, and even Susiana, Media, and Persia, submitted to the invader; but the severity of his exactions excited discontent, and a revolt in Egypt called him home, whereupon Callinicus regained his territories. Antiochus Hi´erax (the Hawk), a younger brother of the king, revolted at fourteen years of age, with the assistance of his uncle and a troop of Gauls. At the same time, Arsa´ces II., the Parthian king, gained great advantages in Upper Asia, and signally defeated Callinicus (B. C. 237), who led an expedition in person against him. The war between the brothers ended, B. C. 229, in the defeat of the rebellious prince. Seleucus died by a fall from his horse, B. C. 226.

Seleucus III. (Ceraunus) reigned only three years. In the midst of an expedition against Attalus, king of Pergamus, he was killed in a mutiny by some of his own officers.

=34.= Antiochus III., the Great, had an eventful reign of thirty-six years. Molo, his general, first revolted, and made himself master, one by one, of the countries east of the Euphrates, destroying all the armies sent against him. Antiochus at length defeated him, B. C. 220, and then made war upon Egypt for the recovery of Syria and Palestine, which had hitherto been held by Ptolemy. He was successful at first, but his defeat at Raph´ia robbed him of all his conquests, except Seleucia in Syria. Achæ´us, his cousin, and hitherto a faithful servant of Antiochus and his father, had meanwhile been driven into revolt by the false accusations of Hermi´as, the prime minister. He subjected to his control all the countries west of the Taurus. As soon as peace had been made with Egypt, the king of Syria marched against him, deprived him of all his possessions in one campaign, besieged him two years in Sardis, and finally captured and put him to death.

=35.= The Parthian king, Arsaces III., had taken up arms against Media. Antiochus led an army across the desert to Hecatom´pylos, the Parthian capital, which he captured; but the battle which followed was indecisive, and Arsaces remained independent, with the possession of Parthia and Hyrcania. The war against the Bactrian monarch had a similar result, Euthyde´mus retaining Bactria and Sogdiana. Antiochus penetrated India, and renewed the old alliance of Seleucus Nicator with the king of the upper Ganges. Wintering in Kerma´nia, the Syrian king made a naval expedition, the next year, against the piratical Arabs of the western shores of the Persian Gulf. On his return from his seven years’ absence in the East, Antiochus received the title of “Great,” by which he is known in history.

=36.= The same year, B. C. 205, Ptolemy Epiph´anes, a child of five years, succeeded his father in Egypt. Tempted by the unprotected state of the kingdom, Antiochus made a treaty with Philip of Macedon to divide the dominions of Ptolemy between them. Philip’s designs were interrupted by a war with Rome, the now powerful republic of the West. Antiochus carried on the contest with great energy, but with varying success, in Cœle-Syria and Palestine. By the decisive battle of Pa´neas, B. C. 198, he gained complete possession of those provinces; but desiring to prosecute his wars in another direction, he married his daughter Cleopatra to the young king of Egypt, and promised the conquered country as her dower.

=37.= He then overran Asia Minor, and crossing the Hellespont, seized the Thracian Chersonesus. The Romans, who had conquered Philip and were guardians of Ptolemy, now sent an embassy to Antiochus, requiring him to surrender all his conquests of territory belonging to either prince, B. C. 196. Antiochus indignantly rejected their interference, and prepared for war, with the aid of their great enemy, Hannibal, who had taken refuge at his court. In 192 B. C., he crossed into Greece and captured Chalcis; but he was signally defeated soon after by the Romans, at Thermopylæ, and compelled to withdraw from Europe. They followed him across the sea, and by two naval victories gained the western coast of Asia Minor. The two Scip´ios crossed the Hellespont and defeated Antiochus a fourth time, near Magnesia, in Lydia. He obtained peace only by surrendering all Asia Minor except Cilicia, with his navy and all his elephants, and by paying an enormous war indemnity. Twenty hostages were given for the payment, among whom was Antiochus Epiphanes, the king’s son. The king of Pergamus received the ceded provinces, and became a most formidable rival to Syria. To meet his engagements with the Romans, Antiochus plundered the temples of Asia, and in a commotion excited by this means in Elyma´is, he lost his life.

=38.= Seleucus IV. (Philop´ator) had a reign of eleven years, unmarked by important events. The kingdom was exhausted, and the Romans were ready to seize any exposed province at the least hostile movement of the Syrians. Heliodo´rus, the treasurer, at length murdered his master and assumed the crown; but his usurpation was cut short by the arrival of Antiochus Epiphanes, brother of the late king, who with the aid of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, established himself upon the throne.

=39.= Antiochus IV. had been thirteen years a hostage at Rome, and surprised his people by the Roman customs which he introduced. He made a four years’ war against Egypt, and had nearly conquered the country when the Romans interfered, and commanded him to give up all his conquests. He was forced to obey, but he vented his rage upon the Jews, whose temple he plundered and desecrated. They sprang to arms, under the leadership of Mat´tathi´as, the priest, and his brave son, Judas Maccabæ´us, and defeated the army sent to subdue them. Antiochus, who was now in the East, set forth in person to avenge this insult to his authority. On his way, he attempted to plunder the temple at Elymais, and was seized with a furious insanity, in which he died. Both Jews and Greeks believed his madness to be a judgment for his sacrilege.

=40.= Antiochus V. (Eu´pator), a boy of twelve years, came to the throne under the control of Lys´ias, the regent. But his father, when dying, had appointed him another guardian in the person of Philip, who returned to Antioch bearing the royal signet, while the young king and his minister were absent in Judæa. Lysias, on hearing this, hastened to make peace with Judas Maccabæus, and turned back to fight with Philip, whom he defeated and put to death. The Parthians, meanwhile, were overrunning the kingdom on the east; and the Romans, on the west, were harshly enforcing the terms of the treaty made by Antiochus the Great. Demetrius, the son of Seleucus Philopator, now escaped from Rome, and gained possession of the kingdom, after ordering the execution of both Eupator and his guardian.

=41.= Demetrius I. spent some years in vain attempts to put down the Jewish rebellion. His armies were defeated by Judas Maccabæus, and the Romans entered into alliance with Judæa, which they now declared an independent kingdom. The Syrian king was no more successful in Cappadocia; and in Babylon, the satrap whom he had deposed set up an impostor, Alexander Balas, who claimed to be a son of Antiochus Epiphanes. Aided by the forces of Rome, Pergamus, Cappadocia, Egypt, and Judæa, this man conquered Demetrius and kept the kingdom five years.

=42.= Alexander Balas proved unworthy of a crown, by leaving public affairs in the weak and incompetent hands of his favorite, Ammo´nius, while he abandoned himself to indolence and luxury. Demetrius Nica´tor, eldest son of the former king, encouraged by the contempt of the Syrians for the licentiousness of Alexander, landed in Cilicia and made war for the recovery of his kingdom. Ptolemy of Egypt, who had entered Syria with an army for the aid of his son-in-law, Alexander, became disgusted by his ingratitude and came over to the side of Demetrius. A battle near Antioch was decided in favor of the allies. Alexander fled into Arabia, where he was assassinated by some of his own officers.

=43.= Demetrius II. (Nicator) ruled with such wanton cruelty as to alienate his subjects. One of them, Diod´otus Tryphon, set up a rival king in the person of Antiochus VI., a child two years of age, the son of Alexander Balas. After three or four years he removed this infant monarch and made himself king, with the aid of Judas Maccabæus. Demetrius, after fighting ineffectually seven years against his rivals in the west, left the regency of Syria to his wife, Cleopatra, while he turned against the Parthians, who had nearly conquered his eastern provinces. He was defeated and made prisoner by Arsaces VI., and remained ten years a captive, though he was treated with all the honors of royalty, and received a Parthian princess for his second wife.

=44.= Cleopatra, unable to wage war alone against Tryphon, called in Antiochus Side´tes, her husband’s brother, who conquered the usurper and seated himself on the vacant throne. He made war against the Jews, and captured Jerusalem by a siege of nearly a year. He afterward turned against the Parthians and gained some advantages, but he was finally defeated and lost his life after a reign of nine years. Demetrius Nicator had been released by the Parthian king, and now re-established himself in Syria. But Ptolemy Phys´con, of Egypt, raised up a new pretender, Zabi´nas, who defeated Demetrius at Damascus. Attempting to enter Tyre, the Syrian king was captured and put to death.

=45.= Seleucus V., his eldest son, assumed the crown without the permission of his mother, who thereupon caused him to be executed, and associated with herself her second son, Antiochus VIII. (Grypus). Zabinas, the pretender, reigned at the same time in part of Syria, until he was defeated by Antiochus, and put to death by poison, B. C. 122. The same year Cleopatra was detected in a plot against the life of her son, and was herself executed.

=46.= Exhausted by long wars, and greatly reduced both in power and extent, Syria now enjoyed eight years of peace. Judæa and the provinces east of the Euphrates were wholly independent. The few Syrians who possessed wealth were enfeebled by luxury, while the mass of the people were crushed by want. In 114 B. C., Antiochus Cyzice´nus, a half-brother of the king, revolted against him, and involved the country in another bloody war of three years. The territory was then divided between them; but war broke out afresh in 105 B. C., and continued nine years, resulting in no gain to either party, but great loss and misery to the nation. Tyre, Sidon, Seleucia, and the whole province of Cilicia became independent. The Arabs on one side, and the Egyptians on the other, ravaged the country at pleasure. At length the reign of Antiochus VIII. was ended with his life, by Hera´cleon, an officer of his court, B. C. 96.

=47.= The murderer did not receive the reward of his crime, for Seleucus VI. (Epiphanes), the eldest son of Grypus, gained possession of the kingdom. In two years he conquered Cyzicenus, who committed suicide to avoid capture; but the claims of the rival house were still maintained by Antiochus X. (Eu´sebes), his eldest son. Seleucus was now driven into Cilicia. Here he came to a miserable end, for he was burnt alive by the people of a town from which he had demanded a subsidy. Philip, the brother of Seleucus, and second son of Antiochus Grypus, became king, and with the aid of his younger brothers continued the war against Eusebes. This prince was defeated and driven to take refuge in Parthia. But no peace came to the country, for Philip and his brothers, Antiochus XI., Demetrius, and Antiochus XII., made war with each other, until the unhappy Syrians called upon Tigra´nes, king of Armenia, to end their miseries.

=48.= Tigranes governed, wisely and well, fourteen years (B. C. 83-69); but having at length incurred the vengeance of the Romans, by rendering aid to his father-in-law, Mithridates of Pontus, he was forced to give up all except his hereditary kingdom. Four years longer (B. C. 69-65), Syria continued its separate existence, under Antiochus XIII. (Asiaticus), the son of Eusebes. At the end of that time the kingdom was subdued by Pompey the Great, and became a Roman province.

RECAPITULATION.

Seleucus I. (B. C. 312-281) extended his empire beyond the Indus, built many cities, gained all Asia Minor by the defeat of Lysimachus. Antiochus I. (B. C. 280-261) lost the territories of Pergamus and Galatia; Antiochus II. (261-246), those of Parthia and Bactria. Under Seleucus II. (246-226), the greater part of the empire was conquered by Ptolemy, but soon recovered. Seleucus III. reigned three years (B. C. 226-223). Antiochus III. (B C. 223-187) quelled the revolts of Molo and Achæus; had wars with the kings of Parthia and Bactria; penetrated India as far as the Ganges; punished the pirates of the Persian Gulf; wrested from Egypt the provinces of Syria and Palestine; overran Asia Minor, and invaded Greece. He was defeated by the Romans, twice by sea and twice by land. Seleucus IV. (B. C. 187-176) was murdered by his treasurer, Heliodorus. Antiochus IV. (B. C. 176-164) was prevented by the Romans from conquering Egypt; excited by his persecutions a revolt in Judæa, which became independent under the Maccabees. The short reign of Antiochus V. (B. C. 164-162) was filled with wars of the regents. His uncle, Demetrius I. (B. C. 162-151), had unsuccessful wars with the Jews and Cappadocians; was conquered by Alexander Balas, who reigned B. C. 151-146. Demetrius II. had a disputed reign (B. C. 146-140); a ten years’ imprisonment in Parthia (B. C. 140-130), while his wife and his brother, Antiochus VII., ruled Syria; and a second contest with a pretender, B. C. 129-126. Antiochus VIII. (B. C. 126-96) reigned five years jointly with his mother, seven years alone, and eighteen years side by side with his brother, Antiochus IX. (Cyzicenus), who ruled Cœle-Syria and Phœnicia, B. C. 111-96. Seleucus V. (B. C. 96, 95) conquered Cyzicenus, but carried on the same war with his son, Eusebes, until his own violent death. His younger brothers fought first Eusebes, and then each other, until Tigranes, king of Armenia, conquered the country and ruled it fourteen years (B. C. 83-69). Antiochus XIII. the last of the Seleucidæ, reigned B. C. 69-65.

II. EGYPT UNDER THE PTOLEMIES. B. C. 323-30.

=49.= The Macedonian Kingdom in Egypt presented a marked and brilliant contrast to the native empires and the Persian satrapy. By removing the capital to Alexandria, the conqueror had provided for free intercourse with foreign countries, and the old exclusiveness of the Egyptians was forever broken down. While Palestine was attached to this kingdom, especial favor was shown to the Jews; and in the Greek conquerors, the native Egyptians, and the Jewish merchants, the three families of Shem, Ham, and Japhet were reunited as they had never been since the dispersion at Babel. The Egyptians, who had abhorred the Persian dominion, hailed the Macedonians as deliverers; the common people engaged with zeal in the new industries that promised wealth as the reward of enterprise, and the learned class found their delight in the intellectual society, as well as the rare treasures of literature and art, that filled the court of the Ptolemies.

=50.= Ptolemy I. (Soter[59]) received the Egyptian province immediately upon the death of Alexander, and proceeded to organize it with great energy and wisdom. Desiring to make Egypt a maritime power, he sought at once to conquer Palestine, Phœnicia, and Cyprus, whose forests were as needful to him for ship-building as their sea-faring people for sailors. The two countries on the mainland were occupied by Ptolemy in 320 B. C., and remained six years in his possession. They were lost in the war with Antigonus, and only fully regained after the battle of Ipsus, B. C. 301. Cyprus was the scene of many conflicts, of which the great naval battle off Salamis, B. C. 306, was the most severe and decisive. It was then lost to Egypt, but in B. C. 294 or 293 it was regained, and continued her most valuable foreign possession as long as the kingdom existed. Cyrene and all the Libyan tribes between it and Egypt were also annexed by Ptolemy.

=51.= Few changes were made in the internal government of Egypt. The country, as before, was divided into nomes, each having its own ruler, who was usually a native Egyptian. The old laws and worship prevailed. The Ptolemies rebuilt the temples, paid especial honors to the Apis, and made the most of all points of resemblance between the Greek and Egyptian religions. A magnificent temple to Sera´pis was erected at Alexandria. The priests retained their privileges and honors, being exempt from all taxation. The army was chiefly, and its officers wholly, Greek or Macedonian, and all civil dignities of any importance were also filled by the conquering people. The Greek inhabitants of the cities alone possessed entire freedom in the management of their affairs.

=52.= Ptolemy followed the liberal policy of Alexander toward men of genius and learning. He collected a vast and precious library, which he placed in a building connected with the palace; and he founded the “Museum,” which drew students and professors from all parts of the world. No spot ever witnessed more literary and intellectual activity than Alexandria, the University of the East. There Euclid first unfolded the “Elements of Geometry”; Eratos´thenes discoursed of Geography; Hipparchus, of Astronomy; Aristoph´anes and Aristar´chus, of Criticism; Man´etho, of History; while Apel´les and Antiph´ilus added their paintings, and Phile´tas, Callim´achus, and Apollonius their poems, for the delight of a court whose monarch was himself an author, and in which talent constituted rank. Alexandria during this reign was adorned with many costly and magnificent works. The royal palace; the Museum; the great light-house on the island of Pharos, which has given its name to many similar constructions in modern times; the mole or causeway which connected this island with the mainland; the Hip´podrome, and the Mausole´um, containing the tomb of Alexander, were among the chief. Ptolemy Soter was distinguished by his truth and magnanimity from most of the princes and generals of his age. His unlimited power never led him to cruelty or self-indulgence. He died at the age of eighty-four, B. C. 283.

=53.= Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus), through the influence of his mother, had been raised to the throne two years before his father’s death, instead of his elder brother, Ceraunus. He had been carefully educated by several of the learned men whom the patronage of his father had drawn to the court; and he continued, on a still more liberal scale, that encouragement of science and literature which had already made Alexandria a successful rival of Athens. He so greatly increased the Alexandrian Library that he is often mentioned as its founder. Agents were appointed to search Europe and Asia for every literary work of value, and to secure it at any cost. An embassy was sent to the high priest at Jerusalem to bring a copy of the Holy Scriptures, together with a company of learned men who could translate them into Greek. The translators were entertained by the king with the greatest honor. The first five books were completed in the reign of Philadelphus, the rest were translated by order of the later Ptolemies; and the entire version—still an invaluable treasure to Biblical scholars—is known as the Sep´tuagint, either from the seventy translators, or because it was authorized by the San´hedrim of Alexandria, which consisted of the same number.

=54.= Ptolemy II. was engaged in various wars; first for the furtherance of the Achæan League, and the protection of the Greeks against Macedonian aggressions; afterward against his half-brother, Magas, king of Cyrene, and the kings of Syria, with whom Magas was allied. He gained possession of the whole coast of Asia Minor, with many of the Cyclades. By the wisdom of his internal policy, Egypt was meanwhile raised to her highest pitch of wealth and prosperity. He re-opened the canal made by Rameses the Great (see Book I, §§ 153, 154), and built the port of Arsinoë, on the site of the modern Suez. To avoid the dangers of Red Sea navigation, he founded two cities, named Berenice, farther to the southward, and connected one of them by a highway with Coptos on the Nile. Egypt thus reaped the full commercial advantage of her position midway between the East and the West. For centuries the rich productions of India, Arabia, and Ethiopia were conveyed along these various highways to Alexandria, whence they were distributed to Syria, Greece, and Rome. The revenues of Egypt were equal to those which Darius had derived from the vast empire of Persia.

=55.= The personal character of Philadelphus was less admirable than that of his father. He killed two of his brothers, banished a most faithful counselor, and by marrying his own sister, Arsinoë, introduced a custom which caused untold misery and mischief in the kingdom. He died B. C. 247, having reigned thirty-eight years, or thirty-six from the death of his father.

=56.= Ptolemy III. (Euergetes) was the most enterprising monarch of his race, and pushed the boundaries of his kingdom to their greatest extent. He gained the Cyr´ena´ica by marriage with the daughter of Magas, and annexed portions of Ethiopia and Arabia. In his war against Syria to avenge his sister Berenice (see §§ 32, 33), he even passed the Euphrates and conquered all the country to the borders of Bactria; but he lost all this by his sudden recall to Egypt. His conquests on the sea-board, which could be defended by his fleet, remained permanently in his possession. All the shores of the Mediterranean, from Cyrene to the Hellespont, with many important islands, and even a portion of Europe, including Lysimachia in Thrace, belonged to his dominion.

He continued the patronage of art and letters, and enriched the Alexandrian libraries with many rare manuscripts. The Egyptians were still more gratified by the recovery of some ancient images of their gods, which had been carried away to Assyria by Sargon or Esarhaddon, and were brought back by Ptolemy from his eastern campaign. Euergetes died B. C. 222, after a prosperous reign of twenty-five years; and with him ended the glory of the Macedonian monarchy in Egypt. “Historians reckon nine Ptolemies after Euergetes. Except Philome´tor, who was mild and humane; Lath´yrus, who was amiable but weak; and Ptolemy XII., who was merely young and incompetent, they were all, almost equally, detestable.”

=57.= Ptolemy IV. was suspected of having murdered his father, and therefore took the surname Philopator to allay suspicion. He began his reign, however, by murdering his mother, his brother, and his uncle, and marrying his sister Arsinoë. A few years later she, too, was put to death, at the instigation of a worthless favorite of the king. The control of affairs was left to Sosib´ius, a minister who was equally wicked and incompetent. Through his neglect, the army became weakened by lack of discipline, and the Syrians seized the opportunity to recover their lost possessions. They were defeated, however, at Raph´ia, and gained only their port of Seleucia. A revolt of the native Egyptians occupied many years of this reign.

=58.= Ptolemy V. (Epiphanes) was only five years old at his father’s death. The kings of Syria and Macedon plotted to divide his dominions between them, and the only resource of the incompetent ministers was to call the Romans to their aid. All the foreign dependencies, except Cyprus and the Cyrenaica, were lost; but by the good management of M. Lep´idus, Egypt was saved to the little Ptolemy. Aristom´enes, an Acarnanian, succeeded Lepidus as regent, and his energy and justice restored for a time the prosperity of the kingdom. At the age of fourteen, Epiphanes was declared of age, and the government was thenceforth in his name. Few events of his reign are known. He married Cleopatra of Syria, and soon after poisoned his late guardian, Aristomenes. His plans for a war with Syria were prevented by his own assassination, B. C. 181.

=59.= Ptolemy VI. (Philometor) became king at the age of seven, under the vigorous regency of his mother, Cleopatra. She died B. C. 173, and the power passed into the hands of two weak and corrupt ministers, who involved the kingdom in war, and almost in ruin, by their rash invasion of Syria. Antiochus IV. defeated them at Pelusium, and advancing to Memphis, gained possession of the young king, whom he used as a tool for the reduction of the whole country. The Alexandrians crowned Ptolemy Physcon, a younger brother of the king, and successfully withstood the besieging army of Antiochus. The Romans now interposing, he was obliged to retreat.

The two brothers agreed to reign together, and prepared for war with Antiochus. He captured Cyprus, invaded Egypt a second time, and would doubtless have added the entire dominion of the Ptolemies to his own, if the Romans, who claimed the protectorate of Egypt, had not again interfered and commanded him to withdraw. The Syrian king reluctantly obeyed, and the brothers reigned four years in peace. They then quarreled, and Philometor went to plead his cause before the Roman Senate. The Romans re-instated him in the possession of Egypt, giving to his brother Physcon Libya and the Cyrenaica. Dissatisfied with his portion, Physcon went to Rome and obtained a further grant of Cyprus; but Philometor refused to give it up, and the brothers were preparing for war, when a revolt in Cyrene engaged the attention of its king. After nine years he renewed his claim, and obtained from Rome a small squadron to aid in the capture of the island. He was defeated and made prisoner by his brother; but his life was spared, and he was restored to his kingdom of Cyrene. Philometor fell, B. C. 146, in a battle near Antioch, with Alexander Balas, whom he had himself encouraged to assume the crown of Syria. (See § 42.)

=60.= Ptolemy VII. (Eupator) had reigned but a few days when he was murdered by his uncle, Ptolemy Physcon, who, aided by the Romans, united in himself the two kingdoms, Egypt and Cyrene. This monster created such terror by his inhuman cruelties, and such disgust by his excesses, that his capital became half depopulated, and the citizens who remained were almost constantly in revolt. At last he was forced to take refuge in Cyprus, the crown remaining to his sister, Cleopatra. To wound the queen most deeply, he murdered her son, and sent her the head and hands of the victim. The Alexandrians were so enraged by this atrocity, that they fought bravely for Cleopatra; but when she applied for aid to the king of Syria, they became alarmed and recalled Physcon, after an exile of three years. Warned by his punishment, Physcon now desisted from his cruelties, and devoted himself to literary pursuits, even gaining some reputation as an author.

=61.= Ptolemy VIII. (Lath´yrus) succeeded his father in Egypt, while his brother Alexander reigned in Cyprus, and A´pion, another son of Physcon, received the Cyrenaica. Cleopatra, the queen mother, had the real power. After ten years, Lathyrus offended his mother by pursuing a policy of his own, and was compelled to change places with Alexander, who reigned eighteen years in Egypt, with the title of Ptolemy IX. Cleopatra was then put to death, Alexander expelled, and Ptolemy Lathyrus recalled. He reigned eight years as sole monarch, defeated Alexander, who attempted to regain Cyprus, and punished a revolt in Thebes by a siege of three years, ending with the destruction of the city, B. C. 89-86.

=62.= Berenice, the only legitimate child of Lathyrus, reigned six months alone, and was then married and associated upon the throne with her cousin, Ptolemy X., a son of Alexander, whose claims were supported by the Romans. Within three weeks he put his wife to death, and the Alexandrians, revolting, slew him in the gymnasium, B. C. 80. Fifteen years of great confusion followed, during which the succession was disputed by at least five claimants, and Cyprus became a separate kingdom.

=63.= Ptolemy XI. (Aule´tes, or the Flute-Player) then obtained the crown, and dated his reign from the death of his half-sister, Berenice. In 59 B. C., he was acknowledged by the Romans; but by that time his oppressive and profligate government had so disgusted the people, that they drove him from the kingdom. He took refuge four years in Rome, while his two daughters nominally governed Egypt, first jointly, and then the younger alone, after her sister’s death. In 55 B. C. Auletes returned, supported by a Roman army, put to death his daughter, who had opposed his restoration, and reigned under Roman protection three and a half years. He died, B. C. 51, leaving four children: the famous Cleopatra, aged seventeen; Ptolemy XII.; another Ptolemy, and a daughter Arsinoë, still younger.

=64.= The princess Cleopatra received the crown under Roman patronage, in conjunction with the elder Ptolemy. The brother and sister quarreled, and Cleopatra was driven into Syria. Here she met Julius Cæsar, and by her talents and accomplishments gained great ascendency over his mind. By his aid Ptolemy was conquered and slain, and Cleopatra established in the kingdom. She removed her younger brother by poison, and had thenceforth no rival. With consummate ability, mixed with the unscrupulous cruelty of her race, she reigned seventeen years in great prosperity. Cæsar was her protector while he lived, and Antony then became her slave, sacrificing all his interests, and his honor as a Roman and a general, to her slightest caprices. In the civil wars of Rome, Antony was at length defeated at Actium; Cleopatra committed suicide, and her kingdom became a Roman province, B. C. 30.

=65.= The kingdom of the Ptolemies had continued 293 years, from the death of Alexander to that of Cleopatra. During 101 years, under the first three kings, it was the most flourishing, well organized, and prosperous of the Macedonian monarchies; the nearly two centuries which remained were among the most degraded periods in the history of the human race.

RECAPITULATION.

Prosperity of Egypt under the Ptolemies. Concourse of races at Alexandria. Ptolemy I. (B. C. 323-283) conquered Palestine, Phœnicia, Cyprus, and the African coast as far as Cyrene. Old laws and worship retained. Alexandrian Library and Museum, professors and public works. Ptolemy Philadelphus (B. C. 283-247) ordered a Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures; constructed cities, roads, and canals for purposes of commerce. Acquisitions of Ptolemy III. (B. C. 247-222). Rapid conquests in Asia, speedily lost. Collection of manuscripts and recovery of images. Decline of the Ptolemaic kingdom. Crimes of Ptolemy IV. (B. C. 222-205). Victory at Raphia, B. C. 217. Roman interference during the minority of Ptolemy V. (B. C. 205-181). Ptolemy VI. (B. C. 181-146) taken by Antiochus IV., of Syria. His brother Physcon crowned. Rome protected Egyptian dependencies against Syria, and divided them between the brothers. Ptolemy VII. was murdered by his uncle, Ptolemy Physcon, who reigned B. C. 146-117. He was exiled for his crimes, but recalled in three years. Ptolemy VIII. and his brother Alexander reigned alternately in Egypt and Cyprus while their mother lived (B. C. 117-89). After her death, the former was sole monarch until B. C. 81. Berenice reigned six months (B. C. 81, 80), and was then murdered by her husband, Ptolemy X. He was slain by the Alexandrians. Ptolemy XI. (B. C. 80-51) made good his claim after fifteen years’ anarchy; was acknowledged by the Romans, but expelled (B. C. 59-55) by his subjects; returned to reign under Roman protection. Cleopatra poisoned her two brothers, and by favor of Cæsar and Antony kept her kingdom twenty-one years, B. C. 51-30.

III. MACEDONIA AND GREECE.

=66.= Upon the death of Alexander, the greater part of Greece revolted against Macedon, Athens, as of old, being the leader. Antipater, the Macedonian regent, was defeated near Thermopylæ, and besieged in Lamia, in Thessaly. The confederates were afterward worsted at Cranon, and the good management of Antipater dissolved the league by treating with its members separately, and offering the most lenient terms to all except the leaders. Athens suffered the punishment she had often inflicted. Twelve thousand of her citizens were forcibly removed to Thrace, Illyria, Italy, and Africa, only nine thousand of the wealthier sort being left, who willingly submitted to the Macedonian supremacy. Demosthenes, with the principal members of his party, were executed, and the last remains of Athenian independence destroyed.

=67.= The wars of the generals and the intrigues of the Macedonian princesses belong to Period II. (See §§ 19-25.) Three years after the battle of Ipsus, Cassander died, B. C. 298, leaving the crown to his son, Philip IV. The young king reigned less than a year, and his mother, Thessalonica, then divided Macedonia between her two remaining sons, Antipater and Alexander. The former, being dissatisfied with his portion, murdered his mother and called in his father-in-law, Lysimachus, to aid him in gaining the whole. His brother, at the same time, asked aid of Demetrius, who reigned in Greece, and of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. With their help he drove Antipater out of Macedonia; but he gained nothing by the victory, for Demetrius had undertaken the war solely with the view of placing himself upon the throne, which he accomplished by the murder of Alexander. Antipater II. was put to death the same year by Lysimachus, B. C. 294.

=68.= The kingdom now included Thessaly, Attica, and the greater part of the Peloponnesus, Pyrrhus having received several countries on the western coast of Greece. Demetrius, however, sacrificed all his dominions to his unbounded ambition and conceit. He failed in an attack on Pyrrhus, and being invaded both from the east and west, was compelled to abandon Macedonia, B. C. 287. In a later expedition into Asia, he became the prisoner of Seleucus, and died in the third year of his captivity. (See § 29.)

=69.= Pyrrhus remained king of the greater part of Macedonia nearly a year, but was then driven back to his hereditary kingdom by Lysimachus, who thus extended his own dominions from the Halys to Mount Pindus, B. C. 286. The capital of this consolidated kingdom was Lysimachia, in the Chersonese, and Macedonia for five years was merely a province. The nobles, becoming discontented, called in Seleucus, who defeated and killed Lysimachus, B. C. 281.

=70.= For a few weeks the aged Seleucus governed nearly all the dominions of Alexander, except Egypt. He was then assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus,[60] who became king in his stead. The Egyptian prince was soon overwhelmed by a new peril in the invasion of the Gauls. This restless people had been pouring for nearly a century into northern Italy, where they had driven out the Etruscans from the plain of the Po, and given their own name to Gallia Cisalpina. Now turning eastward, they occupied the plain of the Danube, and pressed southward as far as Illyricum, whence they proceeded in three divisions, one falling upon the Thracians, another upon the Pæonians, and a third upon the Macedonians. The last army encountered Ptolemy Ceraunus, who was defeated and slain in battle. For two years they ravaged Macedonia, while Melea´ger, a brother of Ceraunus, and Antipater, a nephew of Cassander, successively occupied the throne, B. C. 279-277.

=71.= Brennus, a Gallic leader, with more than 200,000 men, marched through Thessaly, laying all waste with fire and sword. A furious battle took place at Thermopylæ, and the Gauls, at last, only gained the rear of the Greek army by the same mountain path which had admitted the troops of Xerxes two hundred years before. Brennus pushed on to plunder Delphi, but an army of 4,000, well posted upon the heights of Parnassus, withstood him with success; and a violent wintry storm, which confused and benumbed the assailants, convinced devout Greeks that Apollo was once more defending his sanctuary. The Gallic leader was severely wounded, and unwilling to survive his disgrace, put an end to his own life. His army broke up into a multitude of marauding bands, without order or discipline, and the greater part perished from cold, hunger, or battle. Their countrymen, however, established a kingdom in Thrace; and another band, invited into Asia Minor by Nicomedes, became possessed of a large tract of country, which received their name as Gala´tia.

=72.= During the disorders in Macedonia, Sosthenes, an officer of noble birth, had been placed at the head of affairs, instead of Antipater, who was deposed for his incapacity. After the Gauls had retired, Antipater regained the throne. But Antigonus Gonatas, who had maintained himself as an independent prince in central and southern Greece, ever since the captivity of his father, Demetrius, now appeared with an army composed mainly of Gallic mercenaries, defeated Antipater, and gained possession of Macedonia. Antiochus Soter made war against him, but was opposed with so much energy that he acknowledged Antigonus as king, and gave him his sister Phila in marriage. But Antigonus was never acceptable to either Greeks or Macedonians, and when Pyrrhus, the most popular prince of his age, returned from Italy, the whole Macedonian army was ready to desert to his side. Antigonus was defeated, and for a year or more was a fugitive, B. C. 273-271.

=73.= Pyrrhus was the greatest warrior and one of the best princes of his time—a time from which truth and fidelity seemed almost to have disappeared. He might have become the most powerful monarch in the world, if his perseverance had been equal to his talents and ambition. But instead of organizing the territory he possessed, he was ever thirsting for new conquests. In a war upon southern Greece he was repulsed from Sparta, and in attempting to seize Argos by night, he was killed by a tile thrown by a woman from a house-top.

=74.= Antigonus Gonatas now returned and reigned thirty-two years. He extended his power over most of the Peloponnesus, and waged war five years against the Athenians, who were aided by Sparta and Egypt. In the meantime, Antigonus was recalled by the incursion of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus, who was carrying all before him, and had been acknowledged king of Macedon. Demetrius, son of Antigonus, chased him out of Macedonia, and even out of Epirus; and though he was soon restored to his paternal dominion, he remained thenceforth at peace with his neighbors. Athens fell in 263 B. C. Nineteen years later, Antigonus gained possession of Corinth; but this was the last of his successes.

=75.= The Achæan League, which had been suppressed by the immediate successors of Alexander, had soon revived, and extended itself beyond the limits of Achaia, receiving cities from all the Peloponnesus. In 243 B. C., Ara´tus, its head, by a sudden and well-concerted movement captured Corinth, which immediately joined the League. Several important cities followed the example; and Antigonus, who had grown old and cautious, was unable to oppose them, except by stirring up Ætolia to attack the Achæans. He died B. C. 239, having lived eighty and reigned thirty-seven years.

=76.= Demetrius II. allied himself with Epirus, and broke friendship with the Ætolians, who were enemies of that kingdom. The consequence was, that the Ætolians made a junction with the Achæan League to oppose him. He was able to defeat them in Thessaly and Bœotia, but south of the isthmus the ascendency of Macedon was at an end. The Romans now for the first time interfered in Grecian affairs, by requiring the Ætolian confederacy to abstain from aggressions upon Acarnania. Corcyra, Apollonia, and Epidamnus fell into their hands, B. C. 228, a year after the death of Demetrius II.

=77.= Philip V. was but eight years old when he inherited his father’s dominions, under the guardianship of his kinsman, Antigonus Doson. During this regency great changes took place in Sparta, which led to a brief return of her old energy. The laws of Lycurgus had continued in force more than five centuries, but the time of their fitness and usefulness had passed away. The rigid separation which they made between the different classes, now limited the number of true Spartans to 700, while the property tests were so severe, that only 100 enjoyed the full rights of citizens. The wealth of the community was concentrated in the hands of a few, who violated the old law by living in great luxury. In this condition, Sparta was unable even to defend herself against Illyrian pirates or Ætolian marauders, still less to exert any influence, as of old, in the general affairs of Greece.

The reforms proposed B. C. 230, by Agis IV., and carried, four years later, by Cleomenes, added 3,800 _periœ´ci_ to the number of citizens, and re-divided the lands of the state between these and 15,000 selected Laconians. Debts were abolished, and the old simple and frugal customs of Lycurgus restored. Sparta was now able to defeat the forces of the Achæan League, and to draw from it, into her own alliance, most of the Peloponnesian towns out of Achaia. But Aratus, the head of the League, violated all its principles by calling in Antigonus, the Macedonian regent, and putting him in possession of Acro-Corinthus. In the battle of Sella´sia, B. C. 221, Cleomenes was defeated, and forced to take refuge at the court of Ptolemy Philopator. The League which had been created to defend the liberties of Greece, had betrayed them; and there was no longer any hope either of restoring the glories of Sparta, or of checking the overwhelming power of Macedon and Rome.

=78.= Antigonus died B. C. 220, and Philip, now seventeen years of age, assumed the government. The great advantages gained during the regency were soon lost by his rashness. He hastily allied himself with Hannibal against Rome, and then with Antiochus of Syria against Egypt. (See §§ 37, 59.) His first war, however, was against Ætolia, which had sprung to arms immediately upon his accession, hoping at once to overbalance its rival, Achaia, and to increase its own territories at the expense of Macedon. As early as the time of Alexander the Great, the Ætolian tribes had formed themselves into a federal republic, which occupied a similar position in central Greece to that of the Achæan League in the Peloponnesus. By the subjection or annexation of several states, it was now extended from the Ionian to the Ægean Sea. Philip overran Ætolia with great energy, captured its seat of government, and by his brilliant successes showed a military talent worthy of the early days of Macedonian conquest. But the news of a great victory gained by Hannibal at Lake Thrasyme´ne, recalled his attention to the object of his chief ambition, a war with Rome.

=79.= The first movement in the new war was the siege of Apollonia, a Roman colony in Illyricum. Philip hoped to drive the Romans from the western coast of Greece, and thus prepare the way for an invasion of Italy. His camp was surprised at night by Vale´rius, and he was forced to burn his ships and retreat in all haste. The Ætolians and all their allies—Sparta, Elis, and the kings of Illyricum and Pergamus—took sides with Rome, and carried the war into Macedonia, forcing Philip to ask the aid of Carthage. The Romans captured Zacynthus, Ne´sos and Œniadæ, Antic´yra in Locris, and the island of Ægina, and presented all to the Ætolians.

At this crisis, Philopœ´men, the greatest Greek of his time, became commander of the Achæan cavalry, and, two years later, the head of the League. He improved the drill and tactics of the army, and infused new spirit into the whole nation. His invasion of Elis, in concert with Philip, was unsuccessful, and the king was defeated by Sulpic´ius Galba; but, in 207 B. C., the great victory of Mantinea placed the Macedonians and Achæans on a more equal footing with the Romans. Peace was made on terms honorable to all parties.

=80.= Philip, spoiled by ambition, had become unscrupulous and reckless. Instead of securing what he already possessed, he continually grasped after new conquests; and disregarding the storm that was sure to burst upon him sooner or later from the west, he now turned to the east and south. He made a treaty with Antiochus the Great for a partition of the Egyptian dependencies, by which he was to receive Thrace and the western part of Asia Minor. This led at once to war with At´talus of Pergamus, an ally of Rome, as well as with Rhodes, which took the part of Egypt. His fleet was signally defeated off Chios, B. C. 201; and though he afterward gained a victory at Lade, his losses were not retrieved. He captured, however, the important islands of Samos, Thasos, and Chios, with the province of Caria, and several places in Ionia.

=81.= The great disaster of the war was the rupture of the treaty with Rome. That power interfered in behalf of her allies, Egypt, Rhodes, and Pergamus; and when Philip rejected all reasonable demands, she declared the peace at an end. In the second war with Rome, Greece was at first divided into three parties, some states remaining neutral, some siding with Rome, and some with Macedon. But when the consul, Fla´mini´nus, proclaimed liberty to all the Greeks, and declared himself their champion against the long detested power of Macedon, nearly every state went over to the Roman side. On the land, Macedonia was attacked by Sulpicius Galba, aided by the Illyrians and Dardanians; while by sea, a Roman fleet, increased by Rhodian and Pergamene vessels, threatened the coast. Several important towns in Eubœa were taken, but the great decisive battle was fought (B. C. 197) at Cynocephalæ, where Philip was defeated and his power utterly prostrated. He was compelled to abandon all the Greek cities which he held, either in Europe or Asia, to surrender his entire navy, and to pay a war indemnity of one thousand talents ($1,250,000).

=82.= In settling the affairs of Greece, the Romans subdivided the states into still smaller sections than of old, and guaranteed perfect independence to each. The two leagues of Achaia and Ætolia were, however, left to balance each other. The states were generally satisfied with the arrangement, but the Ætolians stirred up a new war in the very year of Flamininus’s departure, and called in Antiochus from Asia to their aid. He was defeated at Thermopylæ by the Romans, B. C. 191, and the great battle of Magnesia, in the following year, ended all hope of resistance to the power of Rome. The Achæan League, sustained by the wise and able management of Philopœmen, gained in power by the weakening of its rival, and now included the whole Peloponnesus, with Megaris and some other territories beyond the peninsula.

=83.= Philip had aided the Romans in the recent war, and had been permitted to extend his dominions over part of Thrace, and southward into Thessaly. But when peace was secured, he was required to give up all except his hereditary kingdom. Demetrius, the second son of Philip, had long been a hostage at Rome, and acted now as his father’s ambassador. The Roman Senate conceded many points, for the sake of the warm friendship which it professed for this young prince; but its favor only aroused the suspicions of his father and the jealousy of his elder brother, Per´seus. The latter forged letters to convince his father of the treason of Demetrius, and the innocent youth was put to death by order of the king. But the grief and remorse of Philip exceeded all bounds, when he learned the deception that had been practiced. He believed that he was haunted by the spirit of Demetrius, and it was agony of mind, rather than bodily illness, that soon occasioned his death.

An ancient historian remarked that there were few monarchs of whom more good or more evil could justly be said, than of Philip V. If the promise of his youth had been fulfilled, and the opportunities of his reign improved, he would have done great things for Macedonia and Greece. But his talents became obscured by drunkenness and profligacy, his natural generosity was spoiled by the habit of supreme command, and he became in later years a gloomy, unscrupulous, and suspicious tyrant.

=84.= Philip had designed to punish the crime of Perseus by leaving the throne to a distant relative, Antigonus; but the sudden death of the father, while Antigonus was absent from court, enabled the son to make himself king without opposition. He pursued with much diligence the policy of Philip, in preparing Macedonia for a second struggle with Rome. The revenues were increased by a careful working of the mines; the population, wasted by so many wars, was recruited by colonies of Thracians and others; and close alliances were made with the kings of Asia, and with the hardy barbarians of the north, Gauls, Illyrians, and Germans, whose aid might be invaluable when the decisive moment should arrive. But Perseus failed to unite the states of Greece, in which a large party already preferred his supremacy to that of Rome; and instead of using his treasures to satisfy and confirm his allies, he hoarded them penuriously, only to enrich his enemies at the end of the war.

=85.= In the spring of 171 B. C., the Romans landed in Epirus, and spent some months in winning the Greek states to their side by money and influence. In the autumn they met Perseus in Thessaly, with nearly equal forces, and were defeated. The Macedonian made no use, however, of his victory, and nothing of importance was done for two years. In 168 B. C., L. Æmil´ius Paulus assumed the command, and forced Perseus to a battle near Pydna. Here the fate of Macedon was finally decided. Perseus was defeated and fled to Samothrace, where he was soon captured with all his treasures. He was taken to Rome, and compelled to walk in chains in the splendid triumph of Æmilius. After several years, the last of the Macedonian kings died in imprisonment at Alba.

Macedonia was not immediately made a Roman province, but was divided into four distinct states, which were forbidden all intercourse with each other. The people were consoled by a great reduction in the taxes, the Romans demanding only half the amount which they had been accustomed to pay their native kings.

=86.= In Greece, all confederacies, except the Achæan League, were dissolved. Achaia had been the constant friend of Rome during the war; but to insure its submission, one thousand of the principal citizens were accused of having secretly aided Perseus, and were carried to Italy for trial. They were imprisoned seventeen years without a hearing; and then, when all but three hundred had died, these were sent back, in the certainty that their resentment against Rome would lead them to some rash act of hostility.

All happened as the Romans had foreseen. The three of the exiles who were most embittered by this unprovoked outrage came into power, and their enmity gave to their foes what they most desired, a pretext for an armed invasion of the territories of the League. In 146 B. C., war was declared. One of the Achæan leaders was disastrously defeated and slain near Thermopylæ; another, with the remnant of the army, made a last stand at Corinth, but he was defeated and the city was taken, plundered, and destroyed. Within a few years Greece was placed under proconsular government, like other provinces of Rome. It remained nearly sixteen centuries a part of that great empire, which, though driven from Italy, maintained its existence in the East, until it was overthrown by the Turks, A. D. 1453.

RECAPITULATION.

Lamian War ended in the subjection of Greece to Macedonia. Cassander reigned B. C. 316-297. Death of all his sons within three years, left the crown to Demetrius, son of Antigonus, (B. C. 294-287,) who lost it by rash enterprises, and died a prisoner in Asia. Pyrrhus, the Epirote, reigned a year. Macedonia was then annexed to Thrace (B. C. 286-281). On the death of Lysimachus, it fell to Seleucus, who was murdered in turn by Ptolemy Ceraunus. In the reign of Ptolemy (B. C. 281-279), Meleager, Antipater II., and Sosthenes (B. C. 279-277), the Gauls ravaged Macedonia and Greece, gained Thermopylæ, but were defeated at Delphi. Antigonus, son of Demetrius (B. C. 277-273), was expelled by Pyrrhus, whose second reign lasted B. C. 273-271, but who was killed at Argos, and Antigonus restored (B. C. 271-239). He captured Athens and Corinth; the latter was retaken by the Achæan League. Demetrius II. (B. C. 239-229) allied himself with Epirus against the Achæan and Ætolian Leagues. First interference of Rome in Grecian affairs, B. C. 238. Regency of Antigonus Doson, B. C. 229-220. Reform and renewed energy in Sparta. Macedonians, in alliance with the Achæan League, defeated the Spartans at Sellasia, B. C. 221. Independent reign of Philip V., B. C. 220-179. His wars against Ætolia, Rome, Egypt. Romans, in a second war, proclaimed liberty to the Greeks; overthrew Philip at Cynocephalæ, B. C. 197; subdivided and reorganized the Grecian states. The Ætolians provoked another war, their ally, Antiochus, was defeated at Thermopylæ and Magnesia. Death of Prince Demetrius and his father. Efforts of Perseus, the last king of Macedon (B. C. 179-168). His war with Rome; defeat at Pydna; capture and death. Division of Macedonia. Reduction of tribute. Treachery of the Romans toward the Achæan League. Last war with Rome. Battle of Leucopetra, near Corinth, B. C. 146.

IV. THRACE.

=87.= The Thracian kingdom of Lysimachus has no history that need detain us. Unlike Egypt or Syria under Macedonian rule, it contributed nothing to literature, science, or general civilization. The several tribes were powerful by reason of their numbers, their hardy contempt of danger and exposure, and their untamable love of freedom; but their strength was too often wasted in fighting against each other, and thus they were reduced either to subjects or humble allies of the more civilized nations to the southward. At the same time, their position on the Danube rendered them the most exposed of all the ancient kingdoms, to the incursions of the northern barbarians; and the history of Thrace under the Romans is only a record of wars and devastations.

V. KINGDOM OF PERGAMUS.

=88.= Beside the four great monarchies already described, a number of smaller kingdoms arose from the ruins of Alexander’s empire. A few of these will be briefly mentioned. Pergamus, on the Ca´icus in Mysia, possessed a strong fortress, which was used by Lysimachus as a place of safe keeping for his treasures, under the charge of Philetæ´rus, of Tium, an officer in whom he reposed the greatest confidence. This person, provoked by ill-treatment from the Thracian queen, made himself independent, and by means of the ample treasures of Lysimachus, maintained his principality undisturbed for twenty years, B. C. 283-263. (See §§ 30, 31.)

His nephew, Eumenes, who succeeded him, increased his territories by a victory over Antiochus I., near Sardis. After reigning twenty-two years (B. C., 263-241), he was succeeded by his cousin, Attalus I., who gained a great victory over the Gauls, and, first of his family, took the title of king. Ten years later, he defeated Antiochus Hierax (see § 33), and included in his own dominions all the countries west of the Halys and north of the Taurus. In wars with the kings of Syria, he lost these conquests, and was limited for seven years to his own principality of Pergamus; but by the aid of Gallic mercenaries and his own good management, he won back most of the territories. He earned the favor of Rome by joining that Republic against Philip V. of Macedon. The country was ravaged by Philip in the interval of his Roman wars (see § 80); but the great victory off Chios compensated Attalus for his losses, and the treasures he amassed made his name proverbial for wealth. His exertions in behalf of his allies, during the second war of Rome and Macedon, ended his life at an advanced age, B. C. 197.

=89.= Eumenes II., his eldest son and successor, aided the Roman operations against the kings of Syria and Macedonia, with so much energy and talent, that he was rewarded with an increase of territory on both sides of the Hellespont, and his kingdom was for a time one of the greatest in Asia. He continued his father’s liberal policy in the encouragement of art and literature, founded the great Library of Pergamus, which was second only to that of Alexandria, and beautified his capital with many magnificent buildings. At his death his crown was assumed by his brother, Attalus II. (Philadelphus), as the son of Eumenes was still a child. More than half the twenty-one years of Philadelphus’s reign were occupied by wars, especially against Pru´sias II., king of Bithynia. By aiding the revolt of Nicomedes, who gained that kingdom instead of his father, Attalus secured some years of peace, which he employed in building cities and increasing his library. Chief of the cities were Eumeni´a, in Phrygia; Philadelphia, in Lydia; and Attali´a, in Pamphylia.

=90.= Philadelphus died B. C. 138, leaving the kingdom to his nephew, Attalus III. (Philometor), the son of Eumenes II. This king crowded into the short period of five years more crimes and atrocities than can be found in all the other reigns of his dynasty put together. He murdered all the old friends of his father and uncle, with their families; all who still held any office of trust in the kingdom; and, finally, his own nearest relatives, including his mother, for whom he had professed the warmest affection by the surname he adopted. At last he retired from this atrocious career of misgovernment, to the more innocent pursuits of painting, sculpture, and gardening. He died of a fever, leaving his kingdom a legacy to the Roman people. Aristoni´cus, a half-brother of Attalus III., successfully resisted the Roman claims for three years, even defeating and capturing Licin´ius Crassus, who was sent to take possession; but he was in turn made prisoner, and Pergamus was added to the territories of Rome, B. C. 130.

VI. BITHYNIA.

=91.= This tributary province of Persia regained its independence upon the overthrow of that empire, and resisted all the efforts of Alexander’s generals to reduce it. Among its kings were Nicomedes I., who founded Nicomedia on the Propontis; Zeilas, who gained his crown by the aid of the Gauls; and Prusias, his son, who extended his kingdom by constant wars, and would have raised it to great importance but for the offense he gave the Romans, by making war against Pergamus and by sheltering Hannibal. He was forced to surrender to Eumenes some important territories.

Prusias II. suffered still greater disasters, owing to his own contemptible wickedness. He sent his son Nicomedes to Rome, with secret orders for his assassination. But the plot failed; and Nicomedes II., whose popularity had excited his father’s jealousy, now returned with the support of the Romans and the Pergamene king, and gained possession of the throne. He reigned fifty-eight years with the title Epiphanes (Illustrious). His son, Nicomedes III., in alliance with the Romans, made war seven years with Mithridates, king of Pontus, their most able and resolute opponent. He was twice expelled from his dominions; but after the close of the first Mithridatic War, he reigned peacefully ten years, and, having no children, left his kingdom to the Romans, B. C. 74.

VII. PONTUS.

=92.= Cappadocia under the Persians had been a satrapy, governed by the descendants of that Ota´nes who conspired with Darius I. against the false Smerdis. (See Book II.) In 363 B. C., a son of the satrap Mithridates revolted, and made himself king of that portion of Cappadocia which lay next the sea, and was thence called Pontus by the Greeks. This kingdom was for a short time subject to the Macedonian power; but Mithridates I., in 318 B. C., became again independent. The annals of the next two reigns are of no great importance. Mithridates III. (B. C. 245-190) enlarged and strengthened his dominion by alliances with the Asiatic monarchs, as well as by wars. His son Phar´naces conquered Sinope from the Greeks, and made it his capital. The next king, Mithridates IV. (B. C. 160-120), aided Rome against Carthage and Pergamus, and was rewarded by the addition of the Greater Phrygia to his dominions.

=93.= Mithridates V., the Great, came to the throne at the age of eleven years, his father having been murdered by some officers of the court. The young prince, distrusting his guardians, began in his earliest years to accustom himself to antidotes against poison, and to spend much of his time in hunting, which enabled him to take refuge in the most rough and inaccessible portions of his kingdom. He had, however, received a Greek education at Sinope; and when, at the age of twenty, he assumed the government, he possessed not only a soul and body inured to every sort of peril and hardship, but a mind furnished with all the knowledge needful to a king. He spoke twenty-five languages, and could transact business with every tribe of his dominions, in its own peculiar dialect.

The Romans had already seized his province of Phrygia, and he clearly saw the conflict which must soon take place with the all-absorbing Republic. He determined, therefore, to extend his kingdom to the eastward and northward, thus increasing its power and wealth, so as to make it more nearly a match for its great western antagonist. In seven years he added to his dominions half the shores of the Black Sea, including the Cimme´rian peninsula—now the Crimea—and extending westward to the Dniester. He made alliances with the wild and powerful tribes upon the Danube, and with the kings of Armenia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia. From the last two countries he afterward drove out their hereditary kings, placing his own son on the throne of Cappadocia, and Socrates, a younger brother of Nicomedes III., on that of Bithynia.

=94.= The Roman Senate now interfered, and with their favor Nicomedes invaded Pontus. Mithridates marched into Cappadocia and drove out its newly reinstated king; then into Bithynia, where he routed the army of Nicomedes and defeated the Romans. He speedily made himself master of all Asia Minor, except a few towns in the extreme south and west; and from his headquarters at Pergamus, gave orders for a general massacre of all Romans and Italians in Asia. Eighty thousand persons fell in consequence of this atrocious act, but from that moment the tide turned against Mithridates. Two large armies which he sent into Greece, were defeated by Sulla at Chæronea. A great battle in Bithynia was lost by the Pontic generals. Pontus itself was invaded, and its king became a fugitive.

Peace was at length made, on terms most humiliating to Mithridates. He surrendered all his conquests, and a fleet of seventy vessels; agreed to pay 2,000 talents; and recognized the kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia, whom he had formerly expelled. The reverses of Mithridates naturally led the subject nations on the Euxine to throw off his yoke. He was preparing to march against them, when a second Roman war was kindled by a sudden and unprovoked aggression of Murena, the general of the Republic in the East. The Romans were defeated on the Halys, and peace was restored, B. C. 82.

=95.= In the seven years’ breathing-space which followed, Mithridates subdued all his revolted subjects, and recruited his forces with the utmost energy. His army, drawn largely from the barbarous nations on the Danube and Euxine, was drilled and equipped according to the Roman system, and his navy was increased to four hundred vessels. Both the Pontic king and the Romans would willingly have remained some years longer at peace, but, in 74 B. C., the legacy of Bithynia to the latter power, by Nicomedes III., brought them into unavoidable collision. Mithridates first seized the country, and gained a double victory over Cotta, by sea and land. But he failed in the sieges of Chalcedon and Cyzicus, and in the second year he was repeatedly worsted by Lucul´lus. His fleet was first defeated off Tenedos, and then wrecked by a storm. In the third year Mithridates was driven out of his own dominions, and those of his son-in-law, Tigranes. For three years the war was carried on in Armenia, where the two kings were twice defeated by Lucullus.

In 68 B. C., Mithridates returned to his kingdom, and defeated the Romans twice within a few months. But in 66 B. C., Pompey assumed the command, and Mithridates, after the loss of nearly his whole army, abandoned Pontus, and retired into the barbarous regions north of the Euxine, where the Romans did not care to pursue him. With a spirit untamed either by years or misfortunes, he plotted the bold design of gathering to his standard the wild tribes along the Danube, and marching upon Italy from the north. But his officers did not share his enthusiasm. A conspiracy against him was headed by his own son; and the old king, deserted by all whom he would have trusted, attempted to end his life by poison. His constitution had been for many years so guarded by antidotes, that the drugs had no effect, and he was finally dispatched by one of his Gallic soldiers. Pontus became a Roman province, only a small portion of its territory continuing, a century or more, under princes of the ancient dynasty.

VIII. CAPPADOCIA.

=96.= The southern part of Cappadocia remained loyal to the Persian kings until their downfall at Arbela. It was conquered by Perdiccas after the death of Alexander, but within six years became independent, and continued under native kings until it was absorbed into the Roman dominions, A. D. 17. The history of these monarchs is of little importance, except so far as it is included in that of the neighboring nations. The fifth king, Ariara´thes IV., made, in his later years, a close and friendly alliance with the Romans, which continued unbroken under his successors.

Ariarathes V. (B. C. 131-96) presents the sole example of a “blameless prince” in the three centuries following Alexander. No act of deceit or cruelty is recorded against him. Cappadocia, under his reign, became a celebrated abode of philosophy, under the patronage and example of the king. With Ariarathes VIII., the royal Persian line became extinct, and the Cappadocians chose a new sovereign in Ariobarza´nes I. (B. C. 93-64). This king was three times driven out of his dominions by the sovereigns of Armenia and Pontus, and three times reinstated by the Romans. The last king, Archelaus (B. C. 36-A. D. 17), was summoned by Tibe´rius to Rome, where he died, and his kingdom became a Roman province.

IX. ARMENIA.

=97.= Armenia was included in the kingdom of the Seleucidæ, from the battle of Ipsus to that of Magnesia, B. C. 190. Two generals of Antiochus III. then revolted against him, and set up the kingdoms of Armenia Major on the east, and Armenia Minor on the west of the Euphrates. The greatest king of Armenia Major was Tigranes I. (B. C. 96-55), who not only gained important victories from the Parthian monarch, but conquered all Syria, and held it fourteen years. He incurred the vengeance of Rome in various ways, but chiefly by sustaining his father-in-law, Mithridates, in his wars against the Republic. He suffered several calamitous defeats, with the loss of his capital, Tigran´ocer´ta.

In 67 B. C., the disaffection of the Roman troops gave the two kings the opportunity to recover much of what they had lost. The appearance of the great Pompey upon the scene again turned the tide. The young Tigranes rebelled against his father, with the aid of Parthia and Rome. The king surrendered all his conquests, retaining only his hereditary kingdom of the Greater Armenia. His son, Artavas´des I. (B. C. 55-34), aided the expedition of Crassus against the Parthians; but having afterward offended Antony, he was taken prisoner and put to death by order of Cleopatra. Artaxias, his son, ordered a massacre of all the Romans in Armenia. In 19 B. C., he was himself murdered by his own relations. The remaining kings were sovereigns only in name, being set up or displaced alternately by the Romans and Parthians, until Armenia was absorbed by the former, A. D. 114. Armenia Minor was usually a dependency of some neighboring kingdom, from the time of Mithridates to that of Vespa´sian (A. D. 69-79), when it, too, became a Roman province.

X. BACTRIA.

=98.= Bactria was a part of the Syrian empire from 305 to 255 B. C. Diodotus, the satrap, then made himself independent, and established a new Greek kingdom, the most easterly of all the scattered fragments of Alexander’s conquests. Euthydemus, the third king, was a native of Magnesia, and a usurper (B. C. 222-200). His son Demetrius made many victorious campaigns, extending over Afghanistan and into India (B. C. 200-180). He lost a part of his native dominions to a rebel, Eucrat´ides, who reigned north of the Pa´ropam´isus range during the life of Demetrius, and after his death, over the whole country. He, too, carried on Indian wars with great energy and success. Under his son, Heli´ocles (B. C. 160-150), the Bactrian kingdom rapidly declined, being invaded by the Parthian kings on the west, and the Tartar tribes from the north.

XI. PARTHIAN EMPIRE OF THE ARSACIDÆ.

=99.= The Parthians established their independence about B. C. 250, under the lead of the Scythian Arsaces. The people were of the same race with the modern Turks—treacherous in war, indolent and unaspiring in peace, rude in arts and barbarous in manners. Their warlike hardihood, however, gave the Romans a more troublesome resistance than they encountered in any other portion of Alexander’s former empire; and the dominion of the Arsacidæ lasted nearly 500 years, until it was overthrown by the new Persian kingdom, A. D. 226. The greatness of the Parthian empire dates from Mithridates, who is also called Arsaces VI., B. C. 174-136. The neighboring kingdom of Bactria, with its Greek monarchs and its higher civilization, had hitherto maintained the ascendency; but while these kings were absorbed in their Indian conquests, Mithridates seized upon several of their provinces, and eventually absorbed their whole dominion.

The Parthian empire, at its greatest extent, comprised all the countries between the Euphrates and the Indus; from the Araxes and the Caspian on the north, to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean on the south. Its numerous parts were not consolidated into one government, as were the satrapies of Persia or the provinces of Rome; but each nation, with its own laws and usages, retained its native king, who was tributary to the lord-paramount in the Arsacid family. Hence the Parthian coins, like the Assyrian monuments, commonly bear the title “King of Kings.” The wars of Mithridates made the Euphrates the boundary-line between the Parthian and Roman empires. The wealth and power of the Oriental monarchy provoked at once the avarice and the jealousy of the western Republic, and a collision could not long be delayed. The details of the Parthian wars of Rome will be found in Book V.

RECAPITULATION.

Bravery and barbarism of the Thracians. Rise of Pergamus, B. C. 283. Reigns of Philotærus, Eumenes, Attalus I. Success and enlightened policy of Eumenes II. Wars of Attalus Philadelphus. His new cities. Crimes of Attalus III. Bequest of his kingdom to Rome. Short reign of Aristonicus. Bithynia ruled by Nicomedes I., Zeilas, Prusias I. and II., Nicomedes II. and III., B. C. 278-74. Rise of the kingdom of Pontus, B. C. 363. Independent of Macedon, B. C. 318; enlarged by Mithridates III. and Pharnaces, B. C. 245-160. Education of Mithridates V., his conquests and alliances; first collision with the Romans, B. C. 88; massacre of 80,000 Italians; disasters and humiliating peace. Second Roman War, B. C. 83, 82. Seven years’ drill of Pontic forces in Roman tactics. Third Roman War, B. C. 74-65; Mithridates driven into Armenia, B. C. 71; recovered his kingdom, B. C. 68; defeated by Pompey, B. C. 66; took refuge in the northern wilds, and ended his life by violence, B. C. 63. Pontus became a Roman province. Cappadocia in alliance with Rome, B. C. 188. Just and peaceful reign of Ariarathes V. End of the dynasty in Ariarathes VIII. Exiles and returns of Ariobarzanes I. The country absorbed into the Roman dominion, A. D. 17. Armenia a part of the Syrian empire, B. C. 301-190. “Greater” and “Lesser” kingdoms then formed on the east and west of the Euphrates. Conquest of Syria by Tigranes I., B. C. 83. His wars with Rome, B. C. 69-66. Losses. Fate of Artavasdes. Massacre of the Romans by Artaxias. Alternate dependence upon Rome and Parthia, B. C. 19-A. D. 114. Bactria dependent upon Syria, B. C. 305-255. Diodotus reigned, B. C. 255-237. The third king a Lydian, B. C. 222-200. Indian campaigns of Demetrius and Eucratidas, B. C. 200-160. Decline and fall of the kingdom under attacks of surrounding barbarians, B. C. 160-80. Parthian empire powerful, but uncivilized. Absorption of Bactrian provinces, B. C. 174-136. A group of kingdoms, rather than a nation, side by side with Rome.

XII. JUDÆA.

=100.= Judæa, with the rest of Syria, had been assigned to Laom´edon upon the partition of Alexander’s conquests; but it was soon annexed by Ptolemy Soter, and continued 117 years a part of the Egyptian empire. Its history in this Book will be considered in three periods:

I. From the Fall of the Persian Empire to the Rise of an Independent Jewish Kingdom, B. C. 323-168.

II. The Time of the Maccabees, B. C. 168-37.

III. The Time of the Herods, B. C. 37-A. D. 44.

FIRST PERIOD. Under the first three Ptolemies, the Jews were peaceful and prosperous. The high priest was at the head of the state, and in local matters ruled with little interference from Egypt. Ptolemy Philopator, however, a wicked and foolish prince, attempted to profane the temple, and the Jews, in alarm, sought protection from Antiochus the Great. That monarch, with their aid, gained possession of all the coast between Upper Syria and the Desert of Sinai; and though often disputed, and once recovered by the Egyptians, this district remained a part of the Syrian kingdom.

=101.= For thirty years the privileges of the Jews were respected by their new sovereigns; but toward the close of his reign, Seleucus IV. resolved to appropriate the sacred treasures of the temple to his own pressing needs, and sent Heliodorus, his treasurer, for this purpose to Jerusalem. According to the Jewish tradition,[61] three angels appeared for the defense of the holy place. One of them was seated on a terrible horse, which trampled Heliodorus under its feet, while the others scourged him until he fell lifeless to the ground. He was only restored by the prayers of the high priest, and the treasury remained unmolested.

Antiochus Epiphanes, the brother and successor of Seleucus, was guilty of still more impious outrages. He put up the high priesthood at auction, and twice awarded it to the highest bidder, on condition of his introducing Greek rites and customs into Jerusalem. One of these mercenary pontiffs stole the sacred vessels of the temple and sold them at Tyre. An insurrection arose at Jerusalem, but it was punished by Antiochus in person, who seized the city, set up an altar to Zeus Olympius, with daily sacrifices of swine’s flesh in the sacred inclosure of the temple, and put to death a great number of the people. Two years later, B. C. 168, he ordered a general massacre of the Jews, and by a frightful persecution sought to exterminate the last remnant of the ancient religion. The Asmonæ´an family now arose, and by their brave fidelity made themselves at last sovereigns of Judæa.

=102.= SECOND PERIOD. Mattathias, a priest, living between Jerusalem and Joppa, killed with his own hand the king’s officer who was sent to enforce the heathen sacrifices, together with the first renegade Jew who consented to offer. He then took refuge in the mountains with his five sons, and was reinforced daily by fugitives from various parts of Judæa. As their numbers increased, this band issued frequently from their fastnesses, cut off detachments of the Syrian army, destroyed heathen altars, and in many places restored the Jewish worship in the synagogues. The aged Mattathias died in the first year of the war, and was succeeded in command of the forces by his third son, Judas, who obtained the name of _Maccabæus_ from his many victories.

During the disputes for the Syrian regency, which followed the death of Antiochus Epiphanes (see §§ 40, 41), Judas Maccabæus gained possession of all Jerusalem, except the citadel on Mount Zion, and held it three years. He purified the temple, restored the incense, lights, and sacrifices, and drove out Syrians and Hellenizing Jews from every part of Judæa. The Syrian general, Nicanor, was twice defeated with great loss. In the second battle, near Beth-horon, Nicanor fell, and his whole army was cut to pieces. The Romans made alliance with the Maccabees; but before their aid could arrive, Judas had fallen in battle, B. C. 160. Jerusalem was lost, and for fourteen years Jonathan Maccabæus could only carry on a guerrilla warfare from his fastness in the Desert of Teko´ah. The disputes for the Syrian throne, between Demetrius and Alexander Balas, which were continued under their sons (see §§ 42-46), gave a respite to the Jews, and even made their alliance an object of desire to both parties. Jonathan was thenceforth recognized as prince and high priest, with full possession of the Holy City.

=103.= His brother Simon succeeded him in both dignities, and under his prosperous administration Judæa recovered, in great measure, from the long-continued ravages of war. The life of Simon was ended by treachery. His son-in-law, Ptolemy, the governor of Jericho, desiring to seize the government for himself, murdered the high priest and two of his sons at a banquet. But the other son, John Hyrcanus, escaped and succeeded his father. At the beginning of his reign, Jerusalem endured a long and painful siege by Antiochus Sidetes, B. C. 135-133. Its walls, which had been restored, were leveled with the ground; and a tribute was again demanded, which lasted, however, no longer than the life of Sidetes. Hyrcanus captured Samaria, and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim (see