sage, and throughout all the remaining part of the chapter before us, confines himself to the kings of Egypt and Syria, because they were the only princes who engaged in wars against the people of GOD.

"a The king of the South shall be strong." This" king of the South, was Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, king of Egypt; and "the king of the North," was Seleucus Nicator, king of Syria. And, indeed, such was their exact situation with respect to Judea, which has Syria to the North, and Egypt to the South.

"According to Daniel, the king of Egypt, who first reigned in that country after the death of Alexander, was Ptolemy Soter, whom he calls "the king of the South," and declares, that he shall be strong." The exactness of this character is fully justified by what we have seen in his history: for he was master of Egypt, Libya, Cyrenaica, Arabia, Palestine, Cœlosyria, and most of the maritime provinces of Asia Minor; with the island of Cyprus; as also several isles in the Egean Sea, which is now called the Archipelago; and even some cities of Greece, as Sicyon and Corinth.

The prophet after this mentions another of the four successors to this empire, whom he calls Princes or Governors. This was Seleucus Nicator, "the king of the North;" of whom he declares," that he should be more powerful than the king of the South, and his dominion more extensive ;" For this is the import of the prophet's expression," he shall "be strong above him, and have dominion." It is easy to prove, that his territories were of greater extent than those of the king of Egypt; for he was master of all the East, from mount Taurus to the river Indus; and also of several provinces in Asia Minor, between mount Taurus and the Egean Sea; to which he added Thrace and Macedonia, a little before his death.

Daniel then informs us," of the coming of the daughter "of the king of the South, to the king of the North;" and mentions the treaty of peace, which was concluded on this occasion between the two kings. This evidently points out the marriage of Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy king of Egypt, with Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, and the peace concluded between them in consideration of this alliance; every circumstance of which exactly happened according to the prediction before us. The sequel of this history will show us the fatal event of this marriage, which was also foretold by the prophet.

In the remaining part of the chapter he relates the most remarkable events of future times, under these two races of Kings, to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, the great per

& Dan. xi. 5.

b. Ver. 6.

c Ibid.

secutor of the Jewish nation. I shall be careful, as these events occur in the series of this history, to apply the prophecy of Daniel to them, that the reader may observe the exact accomplishment of each prediction.

In the mean time, I cannot but acknowledge in this place, with admiration, the divine origin of the scriptures, which have related, in so particular a manner, a variety of singular and extraordinary facts, above three hundred years before they were transacted. What an immense chain of events extends from the prophecy to the time of its accomplishment! by the breaking of any single link, the whole would be disconcerted! With respect to the marriage alone, what hand, but that of the Almighty, could have conducted so many different views, intrigues, and passions, to the same point? What knowledge but this could, with so much certainty, have foreseen such a number of distinct circumstances, subject not only to the freedom of will, but even to the irregular impressions of caprice? And what man but must adore that sovereign power which God exercises, in a secret but certain manner, over kings and princes, whose very crimes he renders subservient to the execution of his sacred will, and the accomplishment of his eternal decrees; in which all events, both general and particular, have their appointed time and place fixed beyond the possibility of failing, even those which depend the most on the choice and liberty of mankind?

a As Ptolemy was curious to an uncommon degree, in the statues, designs, and pictures of excellent masters, as well as in books; he saw, during the time he continued in Syria, a statue of Diana in one of the temples, with which he was highly pleased. Antigonus made him a present of it at his request, and he carried it into Egypt. Some time after his return, Arsinoe was seized with an indisposition, and dreamed that Diana appeared to her, and acquainted her, that Ptolemy was the occasion of her illness, by his having taken her statue out of the temple where it was consecrated to her divinity. Upon this, the statue was sent back, as soon as possible, to Syria, in order to be replaced in the proper temple. It was also accompanied with rich presents to the goddess, and a variety of sacrifices were offered up to appease her displeasure; but they were not succeeded by any favour able effect. The queen's distemper was so far from abat ing, that she died in a short time, and left Ptolemy inconsolable at her loss; and more so, because he imputed her death to his own indiscretion, in having removed the statue of Diana out of the temple.

This taste for statues, pictures, and other excellent curia A. M. 3756. Ant. J. C. 248, Liban. Orat. xi.

osities of art, may be very commendable in a prince, and other great men, when indulged to a certain degree; but when a person abandons himself to it entirely, it degenerates into a dangerous temptation, and frequently prompts him to notorious injustice and violence. This is evident by what Cicero relates of Verres, who practised a kind of piracy in Sicily, where he was prætor, by stripping private houses and temples of all their finest and most valuable curiosities. But though a person should have no recourse to such heinous methods, it is still very shocking and offensive, says Cicero, to say to a person of distinction, worth, and fortune, "Sell me this picture, or that statue," a since it is, in effect, declaring, "you are unworthy to have such an admirable piece "in your possession, which suits only a person of my rank "and taste." I mention nothing of the enormous expenses into which a man is drawn by this passion; for these exquisite pieces have no price but what the desire of possessing them sets upon them, and that we know has no bounds".

Though Arsinoe was older than Ptolemy, and too infirm to have any children, when he espoused her; he however retained a constant and tender passion for her to the last, and rendered all imaginable honours to her memory, after her death. He gave her name to several cities, which he caused to be built, and performed a number of other remarkable things, to testify how well he loved her.

Nothing could be more extraordinary than the design he formed of erecting a temple to her, at Alexandria, with a dome rising above it, the concave part of which was to be lined with adamant, in order to keep an iron statue of that queen suspended in the air. This design was the invention of Dinocrates, a famous architect in those times; and the moment he proposed it to Ptolemy, that Prince gave orders for beginning the work without delay. The experiment, however, remained imperfect, for want of sufficient time; for Ptolemy and the architect dying within a very short time after this resolution, the project was entirely discontinued. It has long been said, and even believed, that the body of Mahomet was suspended in this manner, in an iron coffin, by a loadstone fixed in the vaulted roof of the chamber where his corpse was deposited after his death; but this is a mere vulgar error, without the least foundation.

Ptolemy Philadelphus survived his beloved Arsinoe but

a Superbum est et non ferendum, dicere prætorem in provincia homni honesto Locupleti, splendido? vende mihi vasa cælata. Hoc est enim dicere; non es dig. nus tu, qui habeas quæ tam bene facta sunt. Meæ dignitatis ista sunt. Cic. orat. de signis. n. 45

b Et enim, qui modus est cupiditatis, idem est æstimationis Difficile est enim finem facere pretio, nisi libidini eceris. Id n. 14. c Plin. l. xxxiv. c. 14.

d A. M. 3727. Ant, J. C. 247. Athen 1. xii. p. 549.

a short time. He was naturally of a tender constitution, and the luxurious manner of life he led, contributed to the decay of his health. The infirmities of old age, and his affliction for the loss of a consort whom he loved to adoration, brought upon him a languishing disorder, which ended his days, in the sixty-third year of his age, and the thirty-eighth of his reign 4. He left two sons and a daughter, whom he had by his first wife Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysimachus, a different person from the last-mentioned queen of that name. His eldest son, Ptolemy Evergetes, succeeded him in the throne; the second bore the name of Lysimachus his grandfather by the mother's side, and was put to death by his brother for engaging in a rebellion against him. The name of the daugh ter was Berenice, whose marriage with Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, has already been related.

SECT. IX.

Character and qualities of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Ptolemy Philadelphus had certainly great and excellent qualities; and yet we cannot propose him as a perfect model of a good king, because those qualities were counterpoised by defects altogether as considerable. He dishonoured the early part of his reign, by his resentment against a man of uncommon merit, I mean Demetrius Phalereus, because he had given some advice to his father, contrary to the interest of Philadelphus, but entirely conformable to equity and natural right. His immense riches soon drew after them a train of luxury and effeminate pleasures, the usual concomitants of such high fortunes, which contributed not a little to emasculate his mind. He was not very industrious in Cultivating the military virtues; but we must acknowledge, at the same time, that a remissness of this nature is not always a misfortune to a people.

He, however, made an ample compensation for this neglect, by his love of the arts and sciences, and his generosity to learned men. The fame of his liberalities invited several illustrious poets to his court, particularly Callimachus, Lycophron, and Theocritus; the last of whom gives him a very high character in some of his Idyllia. We have already seen his extraordinary taste for books; and it is certain, that he spared no expense in the augmentation and embellishment of the library founded by his father, and from whence both those princes have derived as much glory, as could have redounded to them from the greatest conquests. As Philadelphus had abundance of wit, and his happy natural disposition had been carefully cultivated by able masters, he always

a Canon, Ptolem. Astron.

retained a peculiar taste for the sciences, but in such a manner, as suited the dignity of a prince; since he never suffered them to engross his whole attention, but regulated his propensity to those grateful amusements, by prudence and moderation. In order to perpetuate this taste in his dominions, he erected public schools and academies at Alexandria, where they long flourished in great reputation. He loved to converse with men of learning; and as the greatest masters in every kind of science were emulous to obtain his favour, he extracted from each of them, if I may use that expression, the flower and quintescence of the sciences in which they excelled. This is the inestimable advantage which princes and great men possess; and happy are they when they know how to use the opportunity of acquiring, in agreeable conversations, a thousand things, not only curious, but useful and important, with respect to government.

This intercourse of Philadelphus with learned men, and his care to give due honour to the arts, may be considered as the source of those measures he pursued, through the course of his long reign, to make commerce flourish in his dominions; in which attempt no prince ever succeeded more effectually than himself. The greatest expenses, in this particular, could never discourage him from persisting in what he proposed to accomplish. We have already observed, that he built whole cities, in order to protect and facilitate his intended traffic; that he opened a very long canal through desarts destitute of water; and maintained a very numerous and complete navy in each of the two seas, merely for the defence of his merchants. His principal point in view was to secure to strangers all imaginable safety and freedom in his ports, without fettering trade in any degree, or endeavouring to turn it from its proper channel, in order to make it subservient to his own particular interest; as he was persuaded, that commerce was like some springs, that soon cease to flow, when diverted from their natural course.

These were views worthy of a great prince, and a consummate politician, and their lasting effects were infinitely beneficial to his kingdom. They have even continued to our days, strengthened by the principles of their first establishment, after a duration of above two thousand years; opening a perpetual flow of new riches, and new commodities of every kind, into all nations; drawing continually from them a return of voluntary contributions; uniting the East and West by the mutual supply of their respective wants; and establishing on this basis a commerce that has constantly supported itself from age to age without interruption. Those great conquerors and celebrated heroes, whose merit has been so highly extolled, not to mention the ravages and de