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killed four thousand men, and retired, after having filled his whole camp with confusion and dismay.

Though the king knew from thence the extraordinary valour of the Jews, he did not doubt that they would be overpowered at length by the number of his troops and elephants. He therefore resolved to come to a general battle with them. Judas, without being intimidated by the terrible preparations for it, advanced with his army and gave the king battle, in which the Jews killed a great number of the enemy. Eleazer, a Jew, seeing an elephant larger than the rest, covered with the king's arms, and believing the king was upon it, sacrificed himself to preserve the people, and to acquire immortal fame. He forced his way boldly to the elephant, through the line of battle, killing and overthrowing all that opposed him. Then placing himself under the belly of the beast, he pierced it in such a manner, that it fell and crushed him to death beneath it.

Judas, however, and his troops, fought with extraordinary resolution. But at length, exhausted by the fatigue, and no longer able to support the weight of the enemy, they chose to retire. The king followed them, and besieged the fortress of Bethsura. That place, after a long and vigorous defence was obliged, for want of provisions, to surrender by capitulation.

1

From thence Antiochus marched against Jerusalem, and besieged the temple. Those who defended it were reduced to the same extremities with the garrison of Bethsura, and would, like them, have been obliged to surrender, if Providence had not relieved them by an unforeseen accident. I have observed, that Philip had retired into Egypt, in hopes of finding assistance there against Lysias. But the divisions which arose between the two brothers, who reigned jointly, as has been said elsewhere, soon undeceived him. Finding that he had nothing to expect from that quarter, he returned into the east, assembled some troops of Medes and Persians, and taking advantage of the king's absence upon his expedition against Judea, he seized the capital of the empire. Upon that news, Lysias thought it necessary to make peace with the Jews, in order to turn his arms against his rival in Syria. The peace was accordingly concluded upon very advantageous and honourable conditions. Antiochus swore to observe it, and was admitted to enter the fortifications of the temple, with the sight of which he was so much terrified, that, contrary to his faith given, and the oath he had sworn in regard to the peace, he caused them to be demolished before he set out for Syria. The sudden return of Antiochus drove Philip out of Antioch, and put an end to his short regency, and soon after, to his life.

The troubles occasioned by the divisions between the two Ptolemies, which we have just now mentioned, rose so high, that the Roman senate gave orders to the ambassadors they had sent into Syria, to proceed to Alexandria, and to use all their endeavours to reconcile them. Before they arrived there, Physcon, the youngest, surnamed Evergetes, had already expelled his brother Philometer. The latter embarked for Italy, and landed at Brundusium. From thence he went the rest of the way to Rome on foot, very ill dressed, and with few followers, and demanded of the senate the necessary aid for replacing him on the throne.*

As soon as Demetrius, son of Seleucus Philopator, king of Syria, who was still a hostage at Rome, was apprized of the unhappy condition to which that fugitive prince was reduced, he caused royal robes and an equipage to be got ready for him, that he might appear in Rome as a king, and went to meet him with all he had ordered to be prepared for his use. He found him twenty-six miles, that is, at nine or ten leagues distance from Rome. Ptolemy expressed great gratitude to him for his goodness, and the honour he did him; but did not think proper to accept his present, nor permit him to attend him the rest of his

* A. M. 3842. Ant. J. C. 162. Porphyr. in Cr. Eus. Scalig. p. 60, et 68. Diod. in Excerpt. Vales. p. 322. Valer. Max. I. v. c. 1. Polyb. Legat. 113. Epit. Liv. 1. 46.

journey. He finished it on foot, and with the same attendants and habit he had worn till then. In that manner he entered Rome, and took up his lodging with a painter of Alexandria, who had but a very small house. His design by all these circumstances, was to express the misery he was reduced to, and the better to move the compassion of the Romans.

When the senate were informed of his arrival, they sent to desire he would come to them; and to excuse their not having prepared a house for his reception, and that he had not been paid the honours at his entry with which it was the custom to treat princes of his rank, they assured him, that it was neither for want of consideration for his person, nor out of neglect, but because his coming had surprised them, and had been kept so secret, that they were not apprized of it till after he had entered Rome. Afterwards, having desired him to relinquish the habit he wore, and to demand an audience of the senate, in order to explain the occasion of his voyage, he was conducted by some of the senators to a house suitable to his birth; and orders were given to the quæstors and treasurers, to see him served and supplied, at the expense of the public, with all things necessary during his residence at Rome.

When they gave him audience, and he had represented his condition to the Romans, they immediately resolved to re-establish him; and deputed two of the senators, with the character of ambassadors, to go with him to Alexandria, and cause their decree to be put in execution. They reconducted him accordingly, and succeeded in negotiating an accommodation between the two brothers. Libya, and the province of Cyrene, were given to Physcon; Philometer had Egypt and the isle of Cyprus, and each of them was declared independent of the other in the dominions assigned to them. The treaty and agreement were confirmed with the customary oaths and sacrifices.

But oaths and sacrifices had long been, with the generality of princes, no more than simple ceremonies and mere forms, by which they did not think themselves bound in the least. And this way of thinking is but too common. Soon after, the youngest of the two kings, dissatisfied with the partition which had been made, went in person to complain of it to the senate. He demanded, that the treaty of partition should be annulled, and that he should be restored to the possession of the isle of Cyprus. He alleged, that he had been forced, by the necessity of the times, to comply with the former proposals, and that, though Cyprus should be granted him, his part would still be far from equal to his brother's. Menethyllus, whom the elder had deputed to Rome, made it appear that Physcon held not only Libya and Cyrenaica, but his life also, from the goodness of his brother; that he had made himself so much the abhorrence of the people, by his violent proceedings, that they would have left him neither life nor government, had not his brother snatched him from their resentment, by making himself mediator. That at the time he was preserved from this danger, he thought himself too happy in reigning over the region allotted to him; and that both sides had ratified the treaty before the altar of the gods, and sworn to observe their agreement with each other. Quintius and Canuleius, who had negotiated the accommodation between the brothers, confirmed the truth of all that Menethyllus advanced.

The senate, seeing that the partition was not actually equal, artfully took advantage of the quarrel between the two brothers, to diminish the strength of the kingdom of Egypt by dividing it, and granted the younger what he demanded: for such was then the policy of the Romans. Polybius makes this reflection. They made the quarrels and differences of princes the means of extending and strengthening their own power, and behaved in regard to them with so much address, that while they acted solely from their own interest, the contending parties were still obliged to them. As the great power of Egypt gave them reason to apprehend it would become too formidable if it fell into the hands of one sovereign, who knew how to use it, they adjudged the isle of Cyprus to Physcon. Demetrius, who did not lose sight of the throne of Syria, and whose

interest in that view it was, that so powerful a prince as the king of Egypt should not continue in possession of the island of Cyprus, supported the demand of Physcon with all his power. The Romans sent T. Torquatus and Cn. Merula with the latter, to put him in possession of it.

During that prince's stay at Rome, he had often the opportunity of seeing Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, and caused proposals of marriage to be made to her. But being the daughter of Scipio Africanus, and the widow of Tiberius Gracchus, who had been twice consul and censor, she rejected his offers, and thought it more honourable to be one of the first ladies of Rome, than queen of Libya, with Physcon.*

Physcon set out from Rome with the two Roman ambassadors. Their plan was to concert an interview between the two brothers upon the frontier, and to bring them to an accommodation by means of a treaty, according to the senate's instructions. Philometer did not explain himself openly at first. He protracted the affair as long as possible, upon different pretexts, with a design of making use of the time in taking secret measures against his brother. At length he declared plainly, that he was resolved to stand to the first treaty, and that he would make no other.

The Cyrenæans, in the mean time, informed of the ill conduct of Physcon, during his being possessed of the government at Alexandria, conceived so strong an aversion for him, that they resolved to keep him out of their country by force of arms. It was not doubted, that Philometer had taken pains secretly to excite those troubles. Physcon, who had been overthrown by the rebels in a battle, having almost lost all hope, sent two deputies with the Roman ambassadors back to Rome, with orders to lay his complaints against his brother before the senate, and to solicit their protection. The senate, offended at Philometer's refusal to evacuate the island of Cyprus, according to their decree, declared the amity and alliance between him and the Romans void, and ordered his ambassadors to quit Rome in five days.t

Physcon found means to re-establish himself in Cyrenaica, but made himself so generally hated by his subjects, through his ill conduct, that some of them fell upon him, and wounded him in several places, and left him for dead upon the spot. He ascribed this to his brother Philometer; and when he recovered from his wounds, again undertook a voyage to Rome. He there made his complaints against him to the senate, showing the scars of his wounds, and accused him of having employed the assassins from whom he received them. Though Philometer was the most humane of all princes, and could not be the least suspected of so black and barbarous an action, the senate, who were angry at his refusal to submit to the regulation they had made in regard to the isle of Cyprus, gave ear to this false accusation with too much facility. They carried their prejudice so high against him, that they would not so much as hear what his ambassadors had to say in his defence. Orders were sent them to quit Rome immediately. Besides which, the senate appointed five commissioners, to conduct Physcon into Cyprus, and to put him in possession of that island, and wrote to all their allies near it, to aid him for that purpose with all their troops.

Physcon by this means, with an army which seemed to him sufficient for the execution of his design, landed in the island. Philometer, who had gone thither in person, beat him, and obliged him to shut himself up in Lapitho, where he was soon invested, besieged, and at length taken, and put into the hands of a brother he had so cruelly injured. Philometer's exceeding goodness appeared on this occasion. After all that Physcon had done against him, it was expected that, having him in his power, he would make him sensible of his indignation and revenge. He pardoned him every thing; and, not contented

Plut. in Vib. Grac. p. 824.

†A. M. 3843. Ant. J. C. 161. Polyb. Legat. cxxxii. Id. in Excerpt. Vales. p. 197. Diod. in Excerpt. Vales. p. 334.

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with forgiving him his faults, he even restored him Libya and Cyrenaica, and also added some amends in lieu of the isle of Cyprus. That act of generosity put an end to the war between the two brothers. It was not renewed, and the Romans were ashamed of opposing any longer a prince of such extraordinary clemency.* * There is no reader, who does not secretly pay homage of esteem and admiration to so generous an action. Such inward sentiments, which rise from nature and prevent reflections, imply how great and noble it is to forget and pardon injuries, and what a meanness of soul there is in the resentment of the revengeful.

SECTION III.-OCTAVIUS, THE ROMAN AMBASSADOR IN SYRIA, IS KILLED. DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS.

We have seen, that the principal objects of the commission of the three Roman ambassadors, Cn. Octavius, Sp. Lucretius and L. Aurelius, who went first into Egypt, was to go into Syria, to regulate the affairs of that nation. When they arrived there, they found that the king had more ships and elephants than had been stipulated by the treaty made with Antiochus the Great after the battle of Sypilis. They caused the ships to be burned, and the elephants to be killed, which exceeded the number stated in that treaty, and disposed all things else in such a manner as they thought most to the advantage of the Romans. This treatment seemed insupportable, and exasperated the people against them. A person named Leptinus was so incensed at it, that, in his rage, he fell upon Octavius while he was bathing, and killed him. It was suspected that Lysias, the regent of the kingdom had secretly a hand in this assassination. Ambassadors were immediately sent to Rome to justify the king, and to protest that he had no share in the action. The senate sent them back, without giving them any answer, to signify, by that silence, the indignation for the murder committed upon the person of Octavius, the examination and punishment of which they reserved to themselves. In the mean time, to do honour to his memory, they erected a statue to him among those of the great men who had lost their lives in defence of their country.‡

Demetrius believed, that the disgust of the Romans against Eupator was a favourable conjuncture, of which it was proper for him to take advantage, and addressed himself a second time to the senate, to obtain their permission to return into Syria. He took this step contrary to the opinion of the great number of his friends, who advised him to make his escape without saying any thing. The event soon showed him how much they were in the right. As the senate had always the same motives of interest for keeping him at Rome as at first, he received the same answer, and had the mortification of a second denial. He then had recourse to the first advice of his friends; and Polybius, the historian, who was at Rome, was one of those who pressed him with the utmost warmth to put it in immediate execution with secrecy. He took his advice. After concerting all his measures, he left Rome under pretence of a hunting party, went to Ostia, and embarked, with a small train, in a Carthaginian vessel bound for Tyre. It was three days before it was known at Rome that he had escaped. All that the senate could do, was to send Tib. Gracchus, L. Lentulus, and Servilius Glaucia, some days after, into Syria, to observe what effect the return of Demetrius would produce there.

Demetrius having landed at Tripoli in Syria, a report spread, that the senate had sent him to take possession of his dominions, and had resolved to support

* A. M. 3847. Ant. J. C. 157.

This Octavius had been consul some years before, and was the first of his family who had attained that honour.-Cic. Philip. ix. c. 4. Octavius, who became emperor, so well known under the name of Augus tus, was of the same family with this Octavius, but of another branch, into which the consular dignity had

Dever entered.

A. M. 3842. Ant. J. C. 162. Appian. in Syr. p. 117. Polyb. Legat. cxiv. et cxxii. Cicer. Philip xi. n. 4,5. Justin. 1. xxxiv. c. 3.

That ship carried to Tyre, according to custom, the first fruits of the lands and revenues of Carthage.

him in them. Eupator was immediately looked upon as a lost man, and all the world abandoned him to join Demetrius. Eupator and Lysias, seized by their own troops, were delivered up to Demetrius, who ordered them to be put to death, and saw himself established by these means on the throne without opposition, and with astonishing facility.*

One of the first actions of his reign was to deliver the Babylonians from the tyranny of Timarchus and Heraclides, who had been the two great favourites of Antiochus Epiphanes. He had made the first governor, and the second treasurer, of that province. Timarchus having added rebellion to his other crimes, Demetrius caused him to be put to death. He contented himself with banishing the other. The Babylonians were so much rejoiced to see themselves freed from the oppression of those two brothers, that from thenceforth they gave their deliverer the title of Soter, or Saviour, which he bore ever afterwards.

Alchimus, whom Antiochus Eupator had made high-priest of the Jews after the death of Menelaus, not being qualified to be admitted by them in that capacity, because he had profaned the sanctity of the priesthood, by following the impious customs of the Greeks, under Antiochus Epiphanes, gathered together all the apostate Jews, who had taken refuge at Antioch, after having been expelled Judea, and putting himself at their head, came to petition the new king to defend them from the oppressions of Judas and his brothers, advancing a thousand calumnies against them. He accused them of having killed all persons that fell into their hands of the party of Demetrius, and of having forced him, with all those in his company, to abandon their country, and seek security elsewhere. Demetrius immediately ordered Bacchis, governor of Mesopotamia, to march into Judea at the head of an army; and confirming Alcimus in his office, he joined him in commission with Bacchis, and charged them both with the care of the war. Judas rendered all the efforts of this first army ineffectual, as he did of a second, commanded by Nicanor. The latter, enraged at the last defeat of the troops of Syria, and that a handful of men should withstand such numerous and warlike armies, and knowing that they placed their whole confidence with regard to victory in the protection of the God of Israel, and in the promises made in the temple where he was honoured, had uttered a thousand blasphemies against the Almighty, and against his temple. He was soon punished for them. Judas gave him a bloody battle; and of his army of thirty-five thousand men, not one escaped to carry the news of the defeat to Antioch. The body of Nicanor was found among the dead. His head and right hand, which he had lifted up against the temple when he threatened to destroy it, were cut off, and placed upon one of the towers of Jerusalem.

Judas, after this complete victory, having some relaxation, sent an embassy to Rome. He saw himself continually attacked by the whole force of Syria, without being able reasonably to rely upon any treaty of peace. He had no aid to expect from the neighbouring people, who, far from interesting themselves for the preservation of the Jewish nation, entertained no thoughts but of extirpating them in concert with the Syrians. He had been informed that the Romans, equally esteemed for their justice and valour, were always ready to support weak nations against the oppression of kings, whose power gave them umbrage. Accordingly he thought it necessary to make an alliance with that people, in order to support himself by their protection against the unjust enterprises of the Syrians. Those ambassadors were very well received by the senate, who passed a decree, by which the Jews were declared the friends and allies of the Romans, and a defensive league was made with them. They even obtained a letter from the senate to Demetrius, by which he was enjoined

* 1 Maccab. vii. viii. ix. et 2 Maccab. xiv. Joseph. Antiq. I. xii. xiii. Appian. in Syr. p. 117. Justin. 1.zzziv. c. 3.