196 THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS.

[BK. XVII. of our Lord) Moawyas,* the sixth caliph or emperor of the Saracens, made himself master of Rhodes, and sold this statue to a Jewish merchant, who loaded nine hundred camels with the metal; which, computed by eight quintals for each load, after a deduction of the diminution which the statue had sustained by rust, and very probably by theft, amounted to more than eight hundred and six thousand pounds, or seven thousand two hundred quintals.

*Zonar. sub regno Constantis Imperat. and Cedrenus.

197

BOOK THE EIGHTEENTH.

THE HISTORY

OF

ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS.

SECT. I.

A. M. 3778. Ant. J. C. 226.

PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR REIGNS IN EGYPT. THE SHORT REIGN OF SELEUCUS CERAUNUS. HE IS SUCCEEDED BY HIS BROTHER ANTIOCHUS, SURNAMED THE GREAT. ACHEUS'S FIDELITY TO HIM. HERMIAS, HIS CHIEF MINISTER, FIRST REMOVES EPIGENES, THE ABLEST OF ALL His Generals, and AFTERWARDS PUTS HIM TO DEATH. ANTIOCHUS SUBDUES THE REBELS IN THE EAST. HE RIDS HIMSELF OF HERMIAS. HE ATTEMPTS TO RECOVER COLE-SYRIA FROM PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR, AND POSSESSES HIMSELF OF THE STRONGEST CITIES IN IT. AFTER A SHORT TRUCE, A WAR BREAKS OUT AGAIN IN SYRIA. BATTLE OF RAPHIA, IN WHICH ANTIOCHUS IS ENTIRELY DEFEATED. THE ANGER AND REVENGE OF PHILOPATOR AGAINST THE JEWS, for REFUSING TO LET HIM ENTER THE SANCTUARY. ANTIOCHUS CONCLUDES A PEACE WITH PTOLEMY. HE TURNS HIS ARMS AGAINST ACHEUS, WHO HAD REBELLED. HE AT LAST SEIZES

HIM TREACHEROUSLY, AND PUTS HIM TO DEATH.-a I observed in the preceding book, that Ptolemy Philopator had succeeded Ptolemy Euergetes, his father, in Egypt. On the other side, Seleucus Callinicus was dead in Parthia. He had left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus; and the first, who was the

* Polyb. l. iv. p. 315; 1. v. p. 386. Hieron. in Daniel. Appian. in Syriac. p. 131 Justin, I. xxix, c. 1.

elder, succeeded to his father's throne, and assumed the surname of Ceraunus, or the Thunder, a title very little suited to his character; for he was a very weak prince both in body and mind, and never did any actions that corresponded with the idea suggested by that name. His reign was short, and his authority but ill established, either in the army or the provinces. What prevented his losing it entirely was, that Achæus, his cousin, son to Andromachus, his mother's brother, a man of courage and abilities, assumed the management of his affairs, which his father's ill conduct had reduced to a very low ebb. As for Andromachus, he was taken by Ptolemy, in a war with Callinicus, and kept prisoner in Alexandria, during all his reign, and part of the following.

A. M.

3780.

Attalus king of Pergamus having seized upon all Asia Minor, from mount Taurus as far as the Hellespont, Seleucus Ant. J. C. marched against him, and left Hermias the Carian regent of Syria. Achæus accompanied him in that expedition, and did him all the good services which the low state of his affairs would admit.

294.

A. M.

3781.

223.

As there was no money to pay the forces, and the king was despised by the soldiers for his weakness, Nicanor Ant. J. c. and Apaturius, two of the chief officers, formed a conspiracy against him during his absence in Phrygia, and poisoned him. However, Achæus revenged that horrid action, by putting to death the two ringleaders, and all who had engaged in their plot. He acted afterwards with so much. prudence and resolution with regard to the army, that he kept the soldiers in their obedience; and prevented Attalus from taking advantage of this accident, which, but for his excellent conduct, would have lost the Syrian empire all it still possessed on that side.

Seleucus dying without children, the army offered the crown to Achæus, and several of the provinces did the same. However, he had the generosity to refuse it at that time, though he afterwards thought himself obliged to act in a different manner. In the present conjuncture, he not only refused the crown, but preserved it carefully for the lawful heir, Antiochus, brother of the deceased king, who was but in his fifteenth year. Seleucus, at his setting out for Asia Minor, had sent him into Baby

lonia,* to be educated, where he was when his brother died. He was now brought from thence to Antioch, where he ascended the throne, and enjoyed it thirty-six years. For his illustrious actions he has been surnamed the Great. Achæus, to secure

A. M. 3782.

Ant. J. C.

222.

the succession in his favour, sent a detachment of the army to him in Syria, with Epigenes, one of the late king's most experienced generals. The rest of the forces he kept for the service of the state, in that part of the country where he himself was. b As soon as Antiochus was possessed of the crown, he sent Molo and Alexander, two brothers, into the East, the former as governor of Media, and the latter of Persia. Achæus was appointed to preside over the provinces of Asia Minor. Epigenes had the command of the troops which were kept about the king's person; and Hermias the Carian was declared his prime minister, as he had been under his brother. Achæus soon recovered all the territories which Attalus had taken from the empire of Syria, and forced him to confine himself within his kingdom of Pergamus. Alexander and Molo despising the king's youth, were no sooner fixed in their governments, than they refused to acknowledge him; and each declared himself sovereign in the province over which he had been appointed lieutenant. Hermias, by his ill treatment of them, had very much contributed to their revolt.

This minister was of a cruel disposition. The most inconsiderable faults were by him considered as crimes, and punished with the utmost rigour. He was a man of very little genius, but haughty, full of himself, tenacious of his own opinion, and would have thought it a dishonour to have either asked or followed another man's advice. He could not bear that any person should share with him in credit and authority. Merit of every kind was suspected by, or rather was odious to him. But the chief object of his hatred was Epigenes, who had the reputation of being one of the ablest generals of his time, and in whom the troops reposed an entire confidence. It was this reputation which gave the prime minister umbrage; and it was not in his power to conceal the ill-will he bore him.

Polyb. I. v. p. 386.

* To Seleucia, which was in that province, and the capital of the East, instead of Babylon, which was no longer in being, or at least was uninhabited.

A. M.

3783.

News being brought of Molo's revolt, Antiochus assembled his council, in order to consider what was to be done Ant. J. C. in the present posture of affairs; and whether it 221. would be advisable for him to march in person against that rebel, or turn towards Cole-Syria, to check the enterprises of Ptolemy. Epigenes was the first who spoke, and declared, that they had no time to lose: that it was absolutely necessary the king should go in person into the East, in order to take advantage of the most favourable conjunctures and opportunities for acting against the rebels: that when he should be on the spot, either Molo would not dare to attempt any thing in the sight of his prince, and of an army; or, in case he should persist in his design, the people, struck with the presence of their sovereign, in the return of their zeal and affection for him, would not fail to deliver him up; but that the most important point of all was, not to give him time to fortify himself. Hermias could not forbear interrupting him; and cried, in an angry and self-sufficient tone of voice, that to advise the king to march in person against Molo, with so inconsiderable a body of forces, would be to deliver him up to the rebels. The real motive of his speaking in this manner was, his being afraid of sharing in the dangers of that expedition. Ptolemy was to him a much less formidable enemy. There was little to be feared from invading a prince entirely devoted to trivial pleasures. The advice of Hermias prevailed; the command of part of the troops was given to Xenon and Theodotus, with orders to carry on the war against Molo; and the king himself marched with the rest of the army towards Cole-Syria.

Being come to Seleucia near Zeugma, he there found Laodice, daughter of Mithridates, king of Pontus, who was brought thither to espouse him. He made some stay there to solemnize his nuptials, the joy of which was soon interrupted by the news brought from the East, viz. that his generals, unable to make head against Molo and Alexander, who had united their forces, had been forced to retire, and leave them masters of the field of battle. Antiochus then saw the error he had committed, in not following Epigenes's advice; and thereupon was for laying aside the enterprise against Cole-Syria, in order to Polyb. 1. v p. 386-395.

C