ANTIOCHUS AND PTOLEMY PHILOPATER.

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his adversary at Raphia, not distant from Gaza. The forces of Antiochus were still more numerous; but the multitude was given into the hand of the king of the south. Antiochus at first overthrew the Egyptians whom he encountered; but, while rashly urging on his success, the great body of his army was broken, four thousand were taken prisoners, ten thousand slain, and the whole multitude eventually routed and dispersed; and Palestine again was in the possession of a Ptolemy. And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened. Ver. 12. Elated with his success, he received the submission of the cities of Syria, entered Jerusalem, and, in defiance of the resistance, and in despite of the wailings of the people, he could scarcely be restrained from forcing his way into the holy of holies. Returning to Egypt, he exercised great cruelties against the Jews, and, as variously stated, either forty or sixty thousand of them were slain. Instead of prosecuting the war which he had so successfully begun, he sunk into his wonted sensuality; his own subjects revolted against him, and he was not strengthened, even though a multitude was given into his hand.

Ver. 13-15. For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years, with a great army and with much riches. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south; also the robbers (or revolters) of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. So the king of the north shall come and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. Antiochus the Great, after the defeat

of his army, entered into a treaty of peace with Ptolemy Philopater, desisted for a time from again encountering the Egyptians, and by reducing Media and Babylonia, and other countries, to entire submission, "he gathered together an incredible army," to which were attached one hundred and fifty elephants. He had to wipe out the disgrace of his former defeat, and to reconquer part of his hereditary kingdom. For the attainment of such objects, the breach of a treaty, and preying on the innocent and helpless, stood not in the way of the revenge and ambition of the king. Ptolemy Philopater, his former victor, had fallen an early victim to intemperance, and had left his kingdom to his son, while yet but five years old. Seizing so tempting a time to destroy or dethrone the son of his rival, he drew together his forces from the farthest corners of his empire, and set forth a multitude greater than the former, and came after certain (or fourteen) years, with a great army and much riches. In those times many stood up against the king of the south. By the promise of half the kingdom of Egypt for a prey, Antiochus gained over the king of Macedon to his alliance and aid in the intended conquest. of the tributary provinces of Egypt revolted; insurrections arose in that country itself: and the Jews, who during two reigns had been subject to the Ptolemies, revolted, and thus exalted themselves to establish the vision, or contributed to its fulfilment, together with the Gentiles around them. But they fell. In the absence of Antiochus, who after having subjected Syria without a struggle, had withdrawn his army to Asia Minor, Palestine was open to the incursion of the Egyptians, and along with the neighbouring regions of Syria, became the chief theatre of the war. The Jews fell; but Antiochus soon returned. He defeated, with a great slaughter, the Egyptian army under Scopas, near to

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the sources of the Jordan, and besieged the remnant of their forces in the fortified city of Sidon. Repeated and desperate efforts were made to raise the siege; for that purpose "three of the best generals at the head of the choicest troops" were sent from Alexandria. But all their attempts were ineffectual: the armies of the Egyptians were subdued; Sidon was taken; and the whole of Syria was again in the possession of the descendant and successor of Seleucus. He did according to his will; and none stood before him; he stood in the glorious land, in Judea, which by his hand was perfected, or did prosper under him.

Ver. 17-19. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him, or (as rendered in the Septuagint and Vulgate,) he shall make all things right, or make an agreement with him; and thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her : but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. -Urged on by Hannibal, who had fled to him for protection from the Romans, and provoked at the aid they had given to the young king of Egypt, which had frustrated his great scheme of dismembering that kingdom, Antigonus had resolved on a war with Rome; and, as if unmindful of the disastrous consequences of the former connubial alliance between his family and that of the king of Egypt, he gave his daughter Cleopatra in marriage to Ptolemy Epiphanes. By her, a woman of exquisite beauty, and hence called the daughter of women, he thought to maintain his influence over the young Egyptian king; and his policy being changed, and his hopes of higher conquests having been excited by Hannibal, after he had set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom into Egypt, he turned his arms against the allies of the Romans. Vain was his trust in the affections of his daughter, for it soon became

manifest how she greatly preferred the interests of her husband to those of her father; she did not stand on his side, for, together with her husband, she unnaturally congratulated the Roman senate on his defeat by the armies of Rome.

After this he shall turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many, ver. 18. With a fleet of three hundred vessels, enough, as he boasted, to fill the largest harbour in Greece, and a vast army, commanded by his sons, which formed the whole strength of his kingdom, he coasted westward to the isles of Europe, traversed Asia Minor, passed the Hellespont; and, he who before had triumphed on the borders of India, and threatened Egypt with destruction, and after that turned his face unto the isles, ceased not in his progress, till hearing of the advance of the Romans, he seized the straits of Thermopyla. The lesser isles of the Egean had no defence against so formidable an enemy; and the whole of the large and important island of Eubæa, now called Negropont, after a brief resistance, yielded, together with all its cities, to the arms of Antiochus.

Such at that period was the majesty of the Roman name, that it was held as a reproach that any king, however great, should set a hostile foot within the dominion of their allies. Yet, in open assembly, and in presence of the ambassadors of Rome, Antiochus had passionately and indignantly challenged their title, and disowned their right, to control his will, or intermeddle with the affairs of Asia. And the Romans could not but be jealous, if not fearful, of the rapid advance within the bounds of Greece, of so mighty an armament by sea and land, which they believed to be directed by the counsel of Hannibal, after that conqueror of Italy had become a refugee from Carthage, and was seeking again to wreak his vengeance upon Rome. To vindicate their honour,

and perhaps, to avert war from their shores, the Roman Senate, in answer to the petitions of republics and kings, declared war against Antiochus. Processions for the space of two days, invoked the aid of the gods on the arms of the Romans, and the forces of the commonwealth embarked at Brundusium to avenge the wrongs of Greece and the insults against Rome. At the straits of Thermopyla, Cato having gained the mountain-pass, put to rout the troops of Antiochus. Twice was his fleet defeated by the Romans. And Greece was again rid of the invader. But the vengeance of the Romans was not satiated. Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the consul, passed from Europe to Asia, utterly discomfited the combined army of Antiochus, of whom fifty thousand were slain in a single but decisive battle; compelled the great king to submit to the most humiliating conditions of peace, to evacuate all Asia, westward of Mount Taurus, to defray the whole expenses of the war, which he had provoked, to surrender twenty hostages, one of his sons* among the number, and even still more ignominiously, (but happily frustrated by his timely flight) to deliver up Hannibal into the hands of the Romans. Scipio, before conquering Antiochus, disdained to listen to any terms of peace, which were insufficient to vindicate the honour of Rome, even on the promise of the ransom of his son, a prisoner in the hands of his enemy. And, not less nobly, he dictated to the vanquished monarch the same terms of peace, without adding to their severity, after victory, as he had demanded before encountering a host twice as numerous as his own. Thus, under their consul, was the Roman power introduced into Asia; and thus were the words of the prophecy fulfilled.

* Who afterwards reigned under the name of Antiochus Epi. phanes.