Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/501

Rh BERENICE. Mnc:ns died, however, before the treaty was exe- cuted, and his wife Arsinoe" (Just. xxvi. 3), to prevent the marriage of Berenice with Ptolemy, olTered her, together with the kingdom, to De- metrius, brother of Antigonus Gonatas. On his arrival, however, at Cyrene, Arsinoe fell in love with him herself, and Berenice accordingly, whom he had slighted, caused him to be murdered in the very arms of her mother ; she then went to Egypt, and became the wife of Ptolemy. When her son, Ptolemy IV. (Philopator), came to the throne, B.c. 2*21, he put her and his brother Magas to death, at the instigation of his prime minister Sosibius, and against the remonstrances of Cleomenes III. of Spartiu The famous hair of Berenice, which she dedicated for her husband's safe return from his Syrian expedition [see No. 2] in the temple of Arsinoe at Zephyrium (*A</)po5iT7j Zfcpvplris), and which was said by the courtly Conon of Samos to have become a constellation, was celebrated by Callimachus in a poem, which, with the exception of a few lines, is lost. There is, however, a trans- lation of it by Catullus, which has been re-trans- lated into indifferent Greek verse by Salvini the Florentine. (Polyb. v. 36, xv. 25 ; Just. xxvi. 3, XXX. 1 ; Plut. Demelr. ad fin., Cleom. 33 ; Catull. Ixvii.; Muret. ad loe.; Hygin. Poct, Astron. ii. 24 ; Thrige, Res Ciiren. §§ 59 — 61.) Hyginus (/. c.) speaks of Berenice as the daughter of Ptolemy II. and Arsinoe [No. 2, p. 366, b.] ; but the ac- count above given rests on far better authority. And though Catullus, translating Callimachus, calls her the sister of her husband Euergetes, yet this may merely mean that she was his coxvdn, or may also be explained from the custom of tlie queens of the Ptolemies being called their sisters as a title of honour ; and thus in either way may we reconcile Callimachus with Polybius and Justin. (See Thrige, Res Cijren. §61; Droysen, Gesch. der Nachfolyer Alexaiulers, Tabb. xiv. xv.) 4. Otherwise called Cleopatra, daughter of Ptolemy IX. (Lathyrus), succeeded her father on the throne, b. c. 81, and married her first cousin, Alexander II., son of Alexander I., and grandson of Ptolemy VIII. (Physcon), whom SuUa, then dictator, had sent to Egypt to take possession of the kingdom. Nineteen days after her marriage she was murdered by her husband, and Appian tells us, that he was himself put to death by his subjects about the same time ; but this is doubtful. (Paus. i. 9 ; Appian, Dell. Civ. i. p. 414; but see Cic. de Leg. Ayr. ii. 16 ; Appian, iMithr. p. 251.) 5. Daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, and eldest sister of the famous Cleopatra (Stnib. xii. p. 558), was placed on the throne by the Alexandrines when they drove out her father, B. c. 58. (Dion Cass, xxxix. 12, &c. ; Liv. Epit. 104; Plut. Cut. Min. 35 ; Strab. xvii. p. 796.) ,She married first Seleucus Cybiosactes, brother of Antiochus XIII. (Asiaticus) of Syria, who had some claim to the throne of Egypt through his mother Selene, the sister of Lathyrus. Berenice, however, was soon disgusted with the sordid character of Seleucus, and caused him to be put to death. (Strab. /. c. ; Dion Cass, xxxix. 57 ; comp. Sueton. Vespas. 19.) She next married Archelaus, whom Porapey had Pausanias (i. 7) mentions Apama as the name of the wife of Magas ; but she may have had both names, or Arsinoe may have been his second wife. See p. 367, a.; and Thrige, Res Ctfrenemium^ § 60. BERENICE. 483 made priest and king of Coiuana in Poiituf, or, according to another account, in Cappadotia ; but, six months after this, Auletes was restored to his kingdom by the Romans under Gabinius, and Archelaus and Berenice were slain, B. c. oo. (Liv. Epit. 105 ; Dion Cass, xxxix, 55 — 58 ; Strab. xvii. p. 796, xii. p. 558 ; Ilirt, de Dell. Alex, (id ; Plut. Ant. d', comp. Cic. ad Fam. i. 1 — 7, ad Q. Fr. ii. 2.) II. Jeu'ish Derenices. 1. Daughter of Costobarus and Salome, sister of Herod the Great, was married to Aristobulus, lier first cousin. [Aristobulus, No. 4.] This prince, proud of his descent through Mariamne from thu blood of the Maccabees, is said by Joseph as to have taunted Berenice with her inferiority of birth; and her consequent complaints to Salome served to increase that hostility of the latter to Aiistobulus which mainly caused his death, (Joseph, A7ii. xviii, 5, 94, xvi. 1. § 2, 4. § 1, 7. § 3 ; Dell. Jud, i. 23. § 1, 24. § 3.) After his execution, b. c. 6, Bere- nice became the wife of Theudion, maternal uncle to Antipater the eldest son of Herod the Great, — Antipater having brought about the marriage with the view of conciliating Salome and disarming her suspicions of himself. (Joseph. A7it. xvii. 1. § 1 ; Dell. Jud. i. 28, § 1.) Josephus does not mention the death of Theudion, but it is probable that he suffered for his share in Antipater's plot against the life of Herod. [See p. 203, a.] (Joseph. Ant. xvii. 4. § 2 ; Dell. Jud. i. 30. § 5.) Berenice certainly appears to have been again a widow when she accompanied her mother to Home with Archelaus, who went thither at the com- mencement of his reign to obtain from Augustus the ratification of his father's will. (Joseph. Ant. xvii. 9. § 3 ; Dell. Jud. ii. 2. § 1.) At Rome she seems to have continued for the rest of her life, enjoying the favour of Augustus and the friendship of Antonia, wife of the elder Drusus, [Antonia, No. 6.] Antonia's affection, indeed, for Berenice exhibited itself even after the death of the latter, and during the reign of Tiberius, in offices of sul>- stantial kindness to her son Agrippa I., whom she furnished with the means of discharging his debt to the treasury of the emperor. (Strab. xvi. p. 765 ; Joseph. Ant. xviii. 6. §§ 1 — 6.) 2. The eldest daughter of Agrippa I,, by his wife Cypres, was espoused at a very early age to Marcus, son of Alexander the Alabarch ; but he died before the consmnmation of the marriage, and she then became the wife of her uncle, Herod, king of Chalcis, by whom she had two sons. (Joseph. Ant. xviii. 5. § 4, xix. 5. § 1, 9. § 1, xx. 5. § 2, 7. § 3 ; Dell. Jud. ii. 2. § 6.) After the death of Herod, a. d. 48, Berenice, then 20 years old, lived for a considerable time with her brother, and not without suspicion of an incestuous com- merce with him, to avoid the scandal of which she induced Polemon, king of CilicLa, to marry her ; but she soon deserted him and returned to Agrippii, with whom she was living in A. d. 62, when St. Paul defended himself before him at Caesareia. (Joseph. A?it. XX. 7. § 3 ; Juv. vi. 156 ; Ads, XXV. xxvi.) About a. d. 65, we hear of her being at Jerasalem (whither she had gone for the performance of a vow), and interceding for the Jews with Gessius Floras, at the risk of her life, daring his cruel massacre of them. (Joseph. Dili. Jud. ii. 15. § 1.) Together with her brother, she endeavoured to divert her countrymen from tUeir 2i'i