The Syrians, weary of the continual wars made in their country by the princes of the house of Seleucus for the sovereignty, and other calamities, in which they were perpetually exposed, resolved at last to exclude them all, and to submit to a foreign prince, who might deliver them from the many evils those divisions occasioned, and restore the tranquillity of their country. Some had thoughts of Mithridates king of Pontus; others of Ptolemy king of Egypt. But, the former was actually engaged in a war with the Romans, and the other had always been the enemy of Syria. They therefore determined upon electing Tigranes king of Armenia, and sent ambassadors to acquaint him with their resolution, and the choice they had made of him. He agreed to it, came to Syria, and took possession of the crown, which he wore eighteen years. He governed that kingdom fourteen years together by a viceroy named Megadates, whom he did not recall from that office, till he had occasion for him against the Romans.* Eusebes, being driven out of his dominions by his subjects and Tigranes, took refuge in Cilicia, where he passed the rest of his days in concealment and obscurity. As to Philp, it was not known what became of him. It is probable that he was killed in some action with Tigranes. Selena, the wife of Eusebes, retained Ptolemais, with part of Phoenicia and Cœlosyria, and reigned there many years after, which enabled her to give her two sons an education worthy of their birth. The eldest was called Antiochus Asiaticus, and the youngest Seleucus Cybiosactes. I shall have occasion to speak of them in the sequel. Some time after Ptolemy Lathyrus had been replaced upon the throne of Egypt, a considerable rebellion broke out in Upper Egypt. The rebels being overthrown and defeated in a great battle, shut themselves up in the city of Thebes, where they defended themselves with incredible obstinacy. It was at length taken, after a siege of three years. Lathyrus used it with so much rigour, that from being the greatest and richest city till then in Egypt, it was almost reduced to nothing. Lathyrus did not long survive the ruin of Thebes. To compute from the death of his father, he had reigned thirty-six years: eleven jointly with his mother in Egypt, eighteen in Cyprus, and seven alone in Egypt, after his mother's death. Cleopatra, his daughter, succeeded him, who was his only legitimate issue. Her proper name was Berenice: but by the established custom of that house, all the sons were called Ptolemy, and the daughters Cleopatra.§ Sylla, at that time perpetual dictator at Rome, sent Alexander to take possession of the crown of Egypt, after the death of his uncle Lathyrus, as the nearest male heir of the deceased. He was the son of that Alexander who had put his mother to death. But the people of Alexandria had already set Cleopatra upon the throne, and she had been six months in possession of it when Alexander arrived. To accommodate the difference, and not to draw Sylla, the master of Rome, and, in consequence, dispenser of law to the universe, upon their hands, it was agreed, that Cleopatra and he should marry, and reign jointly. But Alexander, who either did not approve of her for a wife, or would have no associate in the throne, caused her to be put to death nineteen days after their marriage, and reigned alone fifteen years. Murder and parricide were no longer reckoned as any thing in those times, and might be said to have grown into fashion among princes and princesses.] Some time after, Nicomedes king of Bithynia died, having first made the Roman people his heirs. His country by that means became a province of the Roman empire, as Cyrenaica did also the same year. The Romans, instead of appropriating the latter to themselves, had granted it liberty. Twenty * A. M. 3921. Ant. J. C. 83. Justin. 1. xl. c. 1. et 2. Appian. in Syr. p. 118. Joseph. Antiq. 1. xiii. c. 24 t Pausan. in Attic. P. 16 Porphyr. in Græc. Scal. p. years had since elapsed, during which time sedition and tyranny had occa sioned infinite calamities. It is said, that the Jews, who had been long settled there, and composed a great part of the nation, contributed very much to those disorders. The Romans, to put a stop to them, were obliged to accept Cyrenaica, which had been bequeathed to them by the last king's will, and to reduce it to a Roman province.* SECTION VII.-POMPEY DISPOSSESSES ANTIOCHUS ASIATICUS OF THE KINGDOM OF SYRIA. TROUBLES IN JUDEA AND EGYPT. SOME troubles which happened in Egypt, occasioned by the disgust taken against Alexander, made Selena, the sister of Lathyrus, conceive thoughts of pretending to the crown. She sent her two sons, Antiochus Asiaticus and Seleucus, whom she had by Antiochus Eusebes, to Rome, to solicit the senate in her behalf. The important affairs which employed Rome, at that time engaged in a war with Mithridates, and perhaps the motives of policy, from which she had always opposed the kings who were for joining the forces of Egypt with those of Syria, prevented the princes from obtaining what they demanded. After a residence of two years at Rome, and ineffectual solicitations, they set out upon their return into their own kingdom.t The eldest, called Antiochus, resolved to pass by the way of Sicily. He experienced an insult there, which is hardly credible, and shows how much Rome was corrupted in the times we speak of; to what excess the avarice of the magistrates sent into the provinces rose; and what horrid rapine they committed with impunity, and in the sight, and with the knowledge of the whole world. Verres was at that time prætor in Sicily. As soon as he heard that Antiochus had arrived at Syracuse, as he had reason to believe, and had been told, that that prince had very many rare and precious things with him, he judged his arrival a kind of rich inheritance fallen to him. He began by sending Antiochus some considerable presents, consisting of provisions of wine, oil, and corn. He then invited him to supper. The hall was magnificently adorned; the tables set off with all his vessels of the most excellent workmanship, of which he had a great number. The feast was sumptuous and delicate, for he had taken care that nothing should be wanting to make it so. In a word, the king withdrew, well convinced of the prætor's magnificence, and still better satisfied with the honourable reception he had given him.§ He invited Verres to supper in his turn; exposed all his riches, multitudes of silver vessels, and many cups of gold set with jewels, after the custom of kings, and especially those of Syria. There was among the rest a very large vessel for wine, made of one precious stone. Verres took each of these vessels into his hand one after the other, praised and admired them; the king rejoiced that the prætor of the Roman people was so well pleased with this entertainment.|| A. M. 3928. Ant. J. C. 76. Appian. in Mithridat. p. 218. De Bell. Civil. I. i. p. 420. Liv. Epist. 1. lxx. et xciii. Plut. in Lucul. p. 492. † Reges Syriæ, reges Antiochi filios pueros, scitis Romæ nuper fuisse, qui venerant non propter Syria regnum, nam id sine controversia obtinebant, ut a patre et a majoribus acceperant; sed regnum Ægypti ad se et Selenam matrem suam pertinere arbitrabantur. Hi, postquam temporibus populi Romani exclusi, per senatum agere quæ voluerant non potuerunt, in Syriam in regnum patrium profecti sunt. A. M. 3931. Ant. J. C. 73. Cic. Orat. vi. in Ver. n. 61-67. Eorum alter, qui Antiochus vocatur, iter per Siciliam facere voluit. Itaque isto (Verre) prætore venit Syracusas. Hic Verres hæreditatem sibi venisse arbitratus est, quod in ejus regnum ac manus venerat is, quem iste et audierat multa secum preclara habere, et suspicabatur. Mittit homini munera satis larga; hæc ad usum domesticum, vine, olei, quod visum erat, etiam tritici quod satis esset. Deinde ipsum regem ad cœnam invitat. Exornat ample magnificeque triclinium. Exponit ea, quibus abundabat, plurima ac pulcherrima vasa argentea.-Omnibus curat rebus instructum et paratum ut sit convivium. Quid multa? Rex ita discessit, ut et istum copiose ornatum, et se honorifice acceptum arbitraretur. Vocat ad cœnam deinde ipse prætorem. Exponit suas copias omnes; multum argentum, non pauca etiam pocula ex auro, quæ, ut mos est regius, et maxime in Syria, gemmis erant distincta clarissimis. Erat etiam vas vinarium ex una gemma pergrandi.-Iste unumquodque vos in manus sumere, laudare, mirari. Rex gandere prætori populi Romani satis jucundum et gratum illud esse convivium. 264 From thenceforth the latter had no other thoughts than of plundering Antiochus, and sending him away robbed of all his rich effects. He sent to desire that he would let him have the finest of the vessels he had seen at his house, under pretence of showing them to his workmen. The prince, who did not know Verres, complied without difficulty or suspicion. The prætor sent again, to desire that he would lend him the vessel made of a single precious stone, that he might consider it more exactly, as he said. The king sent him that also.* But to crown all, the kings of Syria, of whom we speak, had carried a branch sconce with them to Rome, of singular beauty, as well from the precious stones with which it was adorned, as its exquisite workmanship. With this they intended to adorn the Capitol, which had been burned during the wars between Marius and Sylla, and was then rebuilding. But that edifice not being finished, they would not leave it behind them, nor suffer any one to have a sight of it; in order that when it should appear at a proper time in the temple of Jupiter, the surprise might add to the admiration of it, and the charm of novelty give new splendour to the present. They therefore chose to carry it back into Syria, resolving to send ambassadors to offer this rare and magnificent gift, among many others, to the god, when they should know that his statue was set up in the temple.t Verres was informed of all this by some secret means; for the prince had taken care to have the sconce concealed; not that he feared or suspected any thing, but that few people might see it before it should be exposed to the public view of the Romans. The prætor demanded it of the king, and earnestly begged him to send it to him, expressing a great desire to examine it, and promising to let no one else see it. The young prince, with the candour and simplicity of whose youth the noble sentiments of his mind were united, was far from suspecting any bad design. He ordered his officers to carry the sconce secretly to Verres, well covered from sight, which was done accordingly. As soon as the wrappers were taken off, and the prætor beheld it, he cried out, "this is a present worthy of a prince, worthy of a king of Syria, worthy of the Capitol." For it was amazingly splendid, from the quantity of fine jewels with which it was adorned, and the variety of the workmanship, in which art seemed to vie with the materials; and at the same time of so large a size, that it was easy to distinguish that it was not intended to be used in the palaces of men, but to adorn a vast and superb temple. The officers of Antiochus having given the prætor full time to consider it, prepared to carry it back, but were told by him, that he would examine it more at his leisure, and that his curiosity was not yet sufficiently gratified. He then bade them go home, and leave the sconce with him. They accordingly returned without it.‡ Postea quam inde discessum est, cogitare est nihil aliud, quod ipsa res declaravit, nisi quemadmodum regem ex provincia spoliatum expellatumque dimitteret. Mittit rogatum vasa ea, quæ pulcherrima apud illum viderat: ait se suis cælatoribus velle ostendere. Rex, qui istum non nosset, sine ulla suspicione, libertissime dedit. Mittit etiam trullam gemmeam rogatum; velle se eam diligentius considerare. Ea quoque mittitur. Nunc, reliquum, judices, attendite.-Candelabrum e gemmis clarissimis opere mirabili perfectum, reges hi, quos dico, Romam cum attulissent ut in Capitolio ponerent: quod nondum etiam perfectum templum offenderant, neque ponere, neque vulgo ostendere ac proferre voluerunt; ut, et magnificentius videretur, cum suo tempore in sella Jovis Opt. Max. poneretur, et clarius, cum pulchritudo ejus recens ad oculos hominum atque integra perveniret. Statuerunt id secum in Syriam reportare, ut, cum audissent simulacrum Jovis Opt. Max. dedicatum, legatos mitterent, qui cum cæteris rebus illud quoque eximium atque pulcherrimum donum in Capitolium afferrent. Pervenit res ad istius aures nescio quomodo. Nam rex id celatum voluerat; non quo quidquam metueret aut suspicaretur, sed ut ne multi illud ante perciperent oculis, quam populus Romanus. Iste petit a rege, et cum plurimis verbis rogat, uti ad se mittat: cupere se dicit inspicere, neque se aliis videndi potertatem esse facturum. Antiochus, qui animo et puerili esset et regio, nihil de istius improbitate suspicatus est. Imperat suis, ut id in prætorium involutum quam occultissime deferrent. Quo posteaquam attulerunt, involucrisque rejectis constituerant, iste clamare cœpit, dignam rem esse regno Syriæ, dignam regio mu nere, dignam capitolio Etenim erat eo splendore, qui ex clarissimis et plurimis gemmis, esse debebat; ea varietate operum, ut ars certare videretur cum copia; ea magnitudine, ut intelligi posset, non ad hominum apparatum, sed ad amplissimi templi ornamentum, esse factum. Quod cum satis jam perspexisse videretur, tollere incipiunt ut referrent. Iste ait se velle illud etiam atque etiam considerare; nequaquam se esse satiatum. Jubet illos discedere, et candelabrum relinquere. Sic illi tum inanes ad Antiochum revertuntur. The king was not alarmed at first, and had no suspicion: but several days elapsed, and the sconce was not brought home. The prince therefore sent to demand it of the prætor, who put it off till the next day; but it was not returned. At length he applied in person to him, and requested him to restore it. Who would believe it? That very sconce, which Verres knew from the prince himself was to be set up in the Capitol, and designed for the great Jupiter, and the Roman people, he earnestly entreated the prince to give him. Antiochus excusing himself, both from the vow he had made to consecrate it to Jupiter, and the judgment which the several nations that had been concerned in the workmanship of it, and knew for whom it was designed, would pass upon such an action; the prætor began to threaten him in the sharpest terms: but when he saw that his menaces had no more effect than his entreaties, he ordered the prince to quit his province before night; and alleged for his reason, that he had received advice from good authority, that pirates of Syria were about to land in Sicily.* The king upon that withdrew to the public place, and, with tears in his eyes, declared with a loud voice, in a numerous assembly of the Syracusans, calling the gods and men to witness, that Verres had taken from him a sconce of gold, enriched with precious stones, which was to have been placed in the Capitol, to be a monument in that august temple, of his alliance and amity with the Roman people: that he was not concerned, and did not complain, for the other vessels of gold and jewels which Verres had got from him; but to see that sconce taken from him by violence, was a misfortune and an affront that made him inconsolable. That though by his own and the intention of his brother, that sconce was already consecrated to Jupiter, however, he offered, presented, dedicated, and consecrated it again to that god, in the presence of the Roman citizens who heard him, and called Jupiter to witness the sentiments of his heart, and the piety of his intentions. Antiochus Asiaticus, having returned into Asia, soon after ascended the throne; he reigned over part of the country for the space of four years. Pompey deprived him of his kingdom during the war against Mithridates, and reduced Syria into a province of the Roman empire.‡ What thoughts could foreign nations conceive, and how odious should the Roman name be to them, when they heard, that in a Roman province, a king had been so grossly injured by the prætor himself, a guest plundered, an ally and friend of the Roman people driven away with the highest indignity and violence! And what Cicero reproaches Verres with in this place, was not peculiar to him; it was the crime of almost all the magistrates sent by Rome into provinces; a crime which the senate and people seemed to approve, and of which they made themselves equally guilty, by their weak and abject connivance. "We have seen for several years," says the same Cicero, in another of his orations against Verres," and have suffered in silence, the wealth of all nations to be transferred into the hands of a few private persons. Athens, Pergamus, Cyzicum, Miletus, Chio, Samos, in fine, all Asia, Achaia, Greece, * Rex primo nihil metuere, nihil suspicari. Dies unus, alter, plures; non referri. Tum mittit rex ad istem, si sibi videatur, ut reddat. Jubet iste posterius ad se reverti. Mirum illi videri. Mittit iterum: non redditur. Ipse hominem appellat: rogat ut reddat. Os hominis insignemque impudentiam cognoscite. Quod sciret, quodque ex ipso rege audisset, in Capitolio esse ponendum; quod Jovi Opt. Max. quod populo Rom. servari videret, id sibi ut donaret, rogare et vehementer petere cœpit. Cum ille se religione Jovis Capitolini et hominum existimatione impediri diceret, quod multæ nationes testes essent illius operis ac muneris iste homini minari acerrime cœpit. Ubi videt eum nihilo magis minis quam præcibus permoveri, repente hominem de provincia jubet ante noctem discedere. Ait se comperisse, ex ejus regno piratas in Siciiam esse venturos. † Rex maximo conventu Syracusis, in foro, flens, deos hominesque contestans, clamare cœpit, candelabrum factum e gemmis, quod in Capitolium missurus esset, quod in templo clarissimo, populo Rom. monumentum suæ societatis amicitiæque esse voluisset, id sibi C. Verrem abstulisse. De cæteris operibus ex aure et gemmis, quæ sua penes illum essent, se non laborare: hoc sibi eripi miserum esse et indignum. Id etsi antea jam, mente et cogitatione suæ fratrisque sui, consecratum esset: tamen tum se in illo conventu civium Romanorum dare, donare, dicare, consecrare, Jovi Opt. Max. testemque ipsum Jovem suæ voluntatis religionis adhibere. t A. M. 3939. Ant. J. C. 65. 266 Sicily, are now enclosed in some of the country-houses of those rich and unjust men of rapine, while a general want of money is experienced in all other places. And we have just reason to condemn ourselves, for conniving in all these crying and terrible disorders, as those who commit, take no manner of pains to conceal them, nor to hide their thefts and depredations from the eyes and knowledge of the public."* Such was Rome at the time we now speak of, which soon occasioned its ruin, and the loss of its liberty. And, in my opinion, to consider in this manner the failings and vices that prevail in a state, to examine their causes and effects, to enter thus into men's most secret retirements, to use that expression, to study closely the characters and dispositions of those who govern, is a much more important part of history, than that which only treats of sieges, battles, and conquests; to which, however, we must return. The reign of Alexander Jannæus in Judea, had always been involved in troubles and seditions, occasioned by the powerful faction of the Pharisees, continually opposed to him, because he was not of a disposition to suffer himself to be governed by them. His death did not put an end to those disorders. Alexandra. his wife, was appointed supreme administratrix of the nation, according to the king's last will. She caused her eldest son Hyrcanus to be acknow. ledged high-priest. The Pharisees continually persisted in persecuting those who had been their enemies in the late reign. That princess, at her death, appointed Hyrcanus her sole heir, but Aristobulus, his younger brother, had the strongest party, and took his place.† 66 Nothing but troubles and violent agitations were to be seen on all sides. In Egypt, the Alexandrians, weary of their king Alexander, took up arms and expelled him, and called in Ptolemy Auletes. He was a bastard of Lathy rus, who never had a legitimate son. He was surnamed Auletes, that is to say, the player upon the flute," because he valued himself so much upon playing well on that instrument, that he disputed the prize of it in the public games. Alexander, being driven out in this manner, went to Pompey, who was then in the neighbourhood, to demand aid of him. Pompey would not interfere in his affairs, because they were foreign to his commission. That prince retired to Tyre, to wait there a more favourable conjuncture :‡ but none offered, and he died there some time after. Before his death he made a will, by which he declared the Roman people his heirs. The succession was important, and included all the dominions which Alexander had possessed, and to which he had retained a lawful right, of which the violence he had sustained could not deprive him. The affair was taken into consideration by the senate. Some were of opinion, that it was necessary to take possession of Egypt, and the island of Cyprus, of which the testator had been sovereign, and which he had bequeathed to the Roman people. The majority of the senators did not approve this advice. They had very lately taken possession of Bithynia, which had been left them by the will of Nicomedes, and of Cyrenaica and Libya, which had been also given them by that of Apion; and they had reduced all those countries into Roman provinces. They were afraid, that if they also accepted Egypt and the isle of Cyprus, in virtue of a like donation, that their facility in accumulating provinces might give too great umbrage, and express too clearly a design formed to engross in the same manner all other states. They believed besides, that * Patimur multos jam annos et silemus, cum videamus ad paucos homines omnes omnium nationum pecanias pervenisse. Quod eo magis ferre æquo animo atque concedere videmur, quia nemo istorum dissimelat, nemo laborat, ut obscura sua cupiditas esse videatur.-Ubi pecunias exterarum nationum esse arbitramini, quibus nunc omnes egent, cum Athenas, Pergamum, Cyzicum, Miletum, Chium, Samam totam, denique Asiam, Achaiam, Greciam, Siciliam, jam in paucis villis, inclusas esse videatis.-Cic. in ver. ult. de suppl. n. 125, 126. A. M. 3925. Ant. J. C. 79. et A. M. 3934. Ant. J. C. 70. Judaic. 1. 4. A. M. 3939. Ant. J. C. 65. Sueton. in Jul. Cæs. c. xi. dat. p. 251. Joseph. Antiq. xiii. c. 23, 24. et de Bell. Trogus in Prol. xxxix. Appian. in Mithri |