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of an army in those provinces; and though he was but fourteen years of age*, yet, as he had all the ambition and malignity of mind that appear in men of an advanced age, he immediately accepted the offers made him, and advanced in quest of his brother, not with any intention to secure him the enjoyment of his dominions, but to seize them for himself. His avidity was so great, and he was always so ready to seize for himself whatever came in his way, without the least regard to justice, that he acquired the surname of Hierax, which signifies a bird that preys on all things he finds, and thinks every thing good upon which he lays his talons.

When Ptolemy received intelligence that Antio chus was preparing to act in concert with Seleucus against him, he reconciled himself with the latter, and concluded a truce with him for ten years, that he might not have both these princes for his enemies at the same time.

A. M.

3761.

Ant. J. C:

243.

242.

Antigonus Gonatas died much about this period, A. M. at the age of eighty, or eighty-three years; after he 3762. had reigned thirty-four years in Macedonia, and Ant. J. C. forty-four in Greece. He was succeeded by his son Demetrius, who reigned ten years, and made him self master of Cyrenaica and all Libya. Demetrius first married the sister of Antiochus Hierax: but Olympias, the daughter of Pyrrhus King of Epirus, engaged him, after the death of her husband Alexander, who was likewise her brother, to espouse her daughter Phthia. The first wife, being unable to support this injurious proceeding, retired to her brother Antiochus, and earnestly pressed him

2 Polyb. 1. ii. p. 131. Justin. 1. xxviii. c. 1.

Antiochus, cùm esset annos quatuordecim natus, supra ætatem regni avidus, occasionem non tam pio animo, quàm offerebatur, arripuit: sed, latronis more, totum fratri eripere cupiens, puer sceleratam virilemque sumit audaciam. Unde Hierax est cognominatus: quia, non hominis sed accipitris ritu, in alienis eripiendis vitam secta“ retur. JUSTIN,

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to declare war against her faithless husband: but his attention was then taken up with other views and employments.

This prince still continued his military prepara tions, as if he designed to assist his brother, in pursuance of the treaty between them*; but his real intention was to dethrone him, and he concealed the virulent disposition of an enemy under the name of a brother. Seleucus penetrated his scheme, and immediately passed mount Taurus, in order to check his progress. Antiochus founded his pretext on the promise which had been made him of the sove reignty of the provinces of Asia Minor, as a com pensation for assisting his brother against Ptolemy; but Seleucus, who then saw himself disengaged from that war without the aid of his brother, did not conceive himself obliged to perform that pro mise. Antiochus resolving to persist in his preten sions, and Seleucus refusing to allow them, it be came necessary to decide the difference by arms. A battle was accordingly fought near Ancyra, in Ga latia, wherein Seleucus was defeated, and escaped with the utmost difficulty from the enemy. Antiochus was also exposed to great dangers, notwithstanding his victory. The troops, on whose valour he chiefly relied, were a body of Gauls whom he had taken into his pay, and they were undoubtedly some of those who had settled in Galatia. These traitors, upon a confused report that Seleucus had been killed in the action, had formed a resolution to destroy Antiochus, persuading themselves that they should be absolute masters of Asia, after the death of those two princes. Antiochus, therefore, was obliged, for his own preservation, to distribute all the money of the army amongst them.

Eumenes, prince of Pergamus, being desirous of improving this conjuncture, advanced with all

Justin. 1. xxvii. c. 2. Justin. 1. xxvii. c. 3. *Ire auxilio bellum, pro fratre hostem, imploratus exhibuit.

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his forces against Antiochus and the Gauls, in full expectation to ruin them both, in consequence of their division. The imminent danger to which Antiochus was then reduced, obliged him to make a new treaty with the Gauls, wherein he stipulated to renounce the title of their master which he had be fore assumed, for that of their ally: and he also en tered into a league offensive and defensive with that people. This treaty, however, did not prevent Eumenes from attacking them; and as he came upon them in such a sudden and unexpected manner as did not allow them any time to recover after their fatigues, or to furnish themselves with new recruits, he obtained a victory over them, which cost him but little, and laid all Asia Minor open to him..

Eumenes, upon this fortunate event, abandoned himself to intemperance and excess at his table, and died after a reign of twenty years. As he left no children, he was succeeded by Attalus, his cousingerman, who was the son of Attalus, his father's younger brother. This prince was wise and valiant, and perfectly qualified to preserve the conquests that he inherited. He entirely reduced the Gauls, and then established himself so effectually in his dominions, that he took upon himself the title of king; for though his predecessors had enjoyed all the power, they had never ventured to assume the stile of sovereigns. Attalus, therefore, was the first of his house who took it upon him, and transmitted it, with his dominions, to his posterity, who enjoyed it to the third generation.

Whilst Eumenes, and, after him, Attalus were seizing the provinces of the Syrian empire in the West, Theodotus and Arsaces were proceeding by their example in the East. The latter hearing that Seleucus had been slain in the battle of Ancyra, turned his arms against Hyrcania, and annexed it

• Athen. 1. x. p. 445. Strab. 1. xiii. p. 624. Valer. excerpt. ex Polyb. Justin. 1. xli. c. 4.

147

A. M.

3763.

Ant. J. C.

241.

to Parthia, which he had dismembered from the em
pire. He then erected these two provinces into a
kingdom, which, in process of time, became very
formidable to the empire of the Romans. Theodo-
tus dying soon after, Arsaces made a league offen-
sive and defensive with his son, who bore the same
name, and succeeded his father in Bactria; and they
mutually supported themselves in their dominions
by this union. The two brothers notwithstanding
these transactions, continued the war against each
other, with the most implacable warmth, not con-
sidering, that while they contended with each other
for the empire their father had left them, the whole
would be gradually wrested from them by their com-

mon enemies.

The treasure and forces of Antiochus being exhausted by the several overthrows and losses he had sustained, he was obliged to wander from one retreat to another, with the shattered remains of his party, till he was at last entirely driven out of MeA. M. sopotamia. Finding, therefore, that there was no 3774. place in all the empire of Syria, where he could posAnt. J.C. sibly continue in safety, he retired for refuge to 230. Ariarathes, King of Cappadocia, whose daughter

he had espoused. Ariarathes, notwithstanding this alliance, was soon weary of entertaining a son-in-law who became a burthen to him; for which reason he determined to destroy him. Antiochus, being informed of his design, avoided the danger by a speedy retreat into Egypt; where he rather chose to deliver himself up to the power of Ptolemy, the professed enemy of his house, than to trust a brother whom he had so highly offended. He, however, had reason to repent of this proceeding, for immediately after his arrival in Egypt, Ptolemy caused him to be seized and imprisoned; he also placed a strong 3778. guard over him, and detained him several years in Ant. J. C. that confinement, till at last he found means to 226. escape by the assistance of a courtesan; but as he

A. M.

1

was quitting that kingdom, he had the misfortune to be assassinated by a band of robbers.

e

A. M.

3765.

Ant. J. C.

Ptolemy, in the mean time, devoted the sweets of peace to the cultivation of the sciences in his dominions, and the enlargement of his father's library 239 at Alexandria with all sorts of books: but as a proper collection could not well be made without an able librarian, to whose care it would be likewise necessary to consign them, Evergetes, upon the death of Zenodotus, who had exercised that function from the time of Ptolemy Soter, the grandfather of that prince, sent to Athens for Eratosthenes, the Cyrenian, who was then in great reputation, and had been educated by Callimachus, a native of the same country. 'He was a man of universal learning, but none of his works have been transmitted to us, except his catalogue of the kings of Thebes in Egypt, with the years of their respective reigns, from Menes or Misraim, who first peopled Egypt after the deluge, to the Trojan war. This catalogue contains a succession of thirty-eight kings, and is still to be seen in Syncellus.

A. M.

3768.

236.

When Seleucus saw himself extricated from the troubles his brother had occasioned, his first cares were employed in the re-establishment of order and Ant. J. C. tranquillity in the dominions he possessed; and when he had accomplished this, he turned his thoughts to the reduction of the oriental provinces which had revolted from him. This last attempt, however, was not attended wish success; for Arsaces had been allowed too much time to strengthen himself in his usurpation. Seleucus, therefore, after many ineffectual endeavours to recover those territories, was obliged to discontinue his enterprise in a dishonourable manner. He, perhaps, might have succeeded better in time, if new commotions, which had been excited in his dominions during his absence, had not compelled him to make a speedy return, in order to

• Suid. in voc. Ζινδοτος, Ibid. in νος. Απολλωνίας & Ερατοσθένης,

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