SEQUEL

OF

THE HISTORY

OF

ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS

CONTINUED.

SECT. VII. CONTINUED.

THIS king being disappointed of the hopes he had entertained of bringing over Prusias to his interest, now meditated only how he might best oppose the passage of the Romans into Asia, and prevent its being made the seat of war. He imagined that the most effectual way to do this, would be to recover the empire of the seas, of which he had been almost dispossessed, by the loss of the two battles related above; that then he might employ his fleets against whom, and in what manner he pleased; and that it would be impossible for the enemy to transport an army into Asia, by the Hellespont, or by any other way, when his fleets should be wholly employed to prevent it. Antiochus therefore resolved to hazard a second battle, and for that purpose went to Ephesus, where his fleet lay. He there reviewed it put it, in the best condition he was able, furnished it abundantly with all things necessary to another engagement, and sent it once more under the command of Polyxenides, in quest of the enemy, with orders to fight them. What determined his resolution was, his having received advice that a great part of the Rhodian fleet continued near Patara; and that king Eumenes had sàiled with his whole fleet to the Chersonesus, to join the consul.

Polyxenides came up with Emilius and the Romans near Myonesus, a maritime city of Ionia, and attacked their fleet with as little success as before. Æmilius obtained a complete victory, and obliged him to retire to Ephesus, after having sunk or burnt twenty-nine of his ships, and taken thir

a

Antiochus was so struck with the news of this defeat, that he seemed entirely disconcerted; and, as if he had been on a sudden deprived of his senses, he took such measures as were evidently contrary to his interest. In his consternation, he sent orders for withdrawing his forces out of Lysimachia and the other cities of the Hellespont, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, who were marching towards those parts, with a design of crossing into Asia; whereas, the only means that remained to hinder this, would have been to leave those troops in the places where they were. For Lysimachia, being very strongly fortified, might * have held out a long siege, perhaps very far in the winter; which would have greatly incommoded the enemy, by the want of provisions and forage; and, during that interval, he *might have taken measures for an accommodation with the Romans.

He not only committed a great error in drawing his forces out of those places at a time when they were most necessary in them, but did it in so precipitate a manner, that his troops left all the ammunition and provisions (of both which he had laid up very considerable quantities) behind them in those cities. By this means, when the Romans entered them, they found ammunition and provisions in such great plenty, that they seemed to have been prepared expressly for the use of their army; and, at the same time, the passage of the Hellespont was so open, that they carried over their army without the least opposition, at that very part where the enemy might have disputed it with them to the greatest advantage.

We have here an evident instance of what is so often mentioned in the Scriptures, that when God is determined to punish and destroy a kingdom, he deprives either the king, his commanders, or ministers, of counsel, prudence, and courage. With this he makes the prophet Isaiah threaten his people. "For behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts doth take away "from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff, "the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. "The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the "prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient. The captain "of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and "the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator."-But a very remarkable circumstance is, that the pagan historian says here expressly, and repeats it twice, that God took away "the king's judgment, and overthrew his reason;" nishment, says he, "that always happens, when men are

a pu

a Liv 1. xxxvii. n. 31. Appian in Syr. p. 104 b Isuah, iii. 1, 2, 3. • Θες βλάπτοντος ἤδη της λογισμός: ὅπερ ἅπασι, προσιόντων ἀτυχημάτων ἐπ γίγνεται μὴν ἔτε τὸν διάπλον ἐφύλαξεν ὑπὸ θεοβλαβείας.

son.

upon the point of falling into some great calamity." The expression is very strong; "God overthrew the king's reaHe took from him, that is, he refused him sound sense, prudence, and judgment; he banished from his mind every salutary thought; he confused him, and made him even averse to all the good counsel that could be given him. This is what David besought God to do with regard to Ahitophel, Absalom's minister: "O Lord, I pray thee, turn "the counsel of Ahitophel into foolishness." The word in the Latin version is very strong, INFATUA: the import of which is, how prudent soever his councils may be, make them appear foolish and stupid to Absalom; and they accordingly did appear so. "And Absalom and all the men "of Israel said, the counsel of Hushni, the Archite, is better "than the counsel of Ahitophel; for the Lord had appointed "to defeat the good counsel of Ahitophel, to the intent that "the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom."

The Romans, being come into Ásia, halted some time at Troy, which they considered as the cradle of their origin, and as their primitive country from whence Æneas had set out to settle in Italy. The consul offered up sacrifices to Minerva, who presided over the citadel.. Both parties were overjoyed, much after the same manner as fathers and children, who meet after a long separation. The inhabitants of this city, seeing their posterity conquerors of the West and of Africa, and laying claim to Asia, as a kingdom that had been possessed by their ancestors, imagined they saw Troy rise out of its ashes in greater splendour than ever. On the other side, the Romans were infinitely delighted to see themselves in the ancient abode of their forefathers, who had given birth to Rome; and to contemplate the temples and statues of the deities, which they had in common with that city.

c When advice was brought to Antiochus that the Romans had passed the Hellespont, he began to think himself undone. He now would have been very glad to deliver himself from a war in which he had engaged rashly, and without examining seriously all its consequences. This made him resolve to send an ambassador to the Romans, to propose conditions of peace. A religious ceremony had retarded the march of their army, it having halted for several days that were festivals at Rome, in which the sacred shields, called Ancilia, were carried in solemn procession with great

a Infatua, quæso, Domine consilium Ahitophel.-Domini autem nutu dissipatum est consilium Ahitophel utile, ut induceret Dominus super Absalom maJum. 2 Reg. xv. 31, et xvii. 14. O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahito phel into oolishness. 2 Sam. xiv. 31. For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahitophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalon. Chap xvii ver. 14. b Justiu. 1. xxxi. c. 8.

e Liv. l. xxvii. n 3-45. Polyb. in Excerpt. Legat. c. xxiii. Justin. l. xxxi. C 7, 8. Appian in Syr. p. 105-110.

pomp. Scipio Africanus, who was one of the Salii, or priests of Mars, whose office was to keep these shields, had not crossed the sea yet; for being one of the Salii, he could not leave the place where the festival was solemnising, so that the army was obliged to wait for him. What a pity it was that persons of so much religion were no better illuminated, and did not direct their worship to more proper objects! This delay gave the king some hopes; for he imagined that the Romans, immediately upon their arrival in Asia, would have attacked him on a sudden. Besides, the noble character he had heard of Scipio Africanus, of his greatness of soul, his generosity and clemency to those he had conquered both in Spain and Africa, gave him hopes that this great man, now satiated with glory, would not be averse to an accommodation; especially as he had a present to make him, which could not but be infinitely agreeable. This was his own son, a child, who had been taken at sea, as he was going in a boat from Chalcis to Oreum, according to Livy.

Heraclides, of Byzantium, who was the spokesman in this embassy, opened his speech with saying, that the very circumstance which had frustrated all the rest of the negotiations for peace between his master and the Romans, now made him hope for success in the present; because all the difficulties which had hitherto prevented their taking effect, were entirely removed; that the king, to put a stop to the complaints of his still keeping possession of any city in Europe, had abandoned Lysimachia; that as to Smyrna, Lampsacus, and Alexandria of Troas, he was ready to give them up to the Romans, and any other city belonging to their allies which they should demand of him; that he would consent to refund the Romans half the expenses of this war ; he concluded with exhorting them to call to mind the uncertainty and vicissitude of human affairs, and not lay too great a stress on their present prosperity; that they ought to rest satisfied with making Europe, whose extent was so immense the boundaries of their empire; that if they were ambitious of joining some part of Asia to it, the king would acquiesce with their desire, provided that the limits of it were clearly settled.

The ambassador imagined that these proposals, which seemed so advantageous, could not be rejected; but the Romans judged differently. With regard to the expenses of the war, as the king had very unjustly been the occasion of it, they were of opinion that he ought to defray the whole; they were not satisfied with his withdrawing the garrisons he had in Ionia and Æolia; but pretended to restore liberty to all Asia, in the same manner as they had done to Greece, which could not be effected, unless the king abandoned all Asia on this side Mount Taurus.

66

Heraclides, not being able to obtain any thing in the public audience, endeavoured, pursuant to his private instructions, particularly to conciliate Scipio Africanus. He began by assuring him, that the king would send him his son without ransom. Afterwards, being very little acquainted with Scipio's greatness of soul, and the character of the Romans, he promised him a large sum of money; and assured him that he might entirely dispose of all things in the king's power if he could mediate a peace for him. To these overtures Scipio made the following answer: "I am not surpris"ed to find you unacquainted both with me and the Romans, as you do not even know the condition of the prince who "sent you hither. If (as you assert) the uncertainty of the "fate of arms should prompt us to grant you peace upon "easier terms, your sovereign ought to have kept posses"sion of Lysimachia, in order to have shut us out of the "Chersonesus; or else he ought to have met us in the Hel"lespont to have disputed our passage into Asia. But by "abandoning them to us, he put the yoke on his own neck; "so that all he now has to do, is, to submit to whatever con"ditions we shall think fit to prescribe. Among the several "offers he makes me, I cannot but be strongly affected with "that which relates to the giving me back my son: I hope "the rest will never have the power to tempt me. As "a private man I can promise to preserve eternally the "deepest sense of gratitude, for so precious a gift as he of"fers me in my son; but as a public one, he must expect "nothing from me. Go, therefore, and tell him, in my name, "that the best counsel I can give him, is to lay down his arms, and not reject any articles of peace which may be 46 proposed to him. This is the best advice I can give him as a good and faithful friend."

66

46

Antiochus thought that the Romans could not have prescribed harder conditions had they conquered him, and such a peace appeared to him as fatal as the most unfortunate war. He therefore prepared for a battle, as the Romans did also on their side.

The king was encamped at Thyatira, where hearing that Scipio lay ill at Elea, he sent his son to him. This was a remedy that operated both on the body and mind, and restored both joy and health to a sick and afflicted father. After embracing him a long time in his arms, Go (says he to the envoys), and thank the king from me, and tell him, that "at present, the only testimony I can give him of my gra❝titude, is to advise him not to fight, till he hears of my being arrived in the camp." Perhaps Scipio thought, that a delay of some days would give the king an opportunity of