Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/593

Rh PTOLEMAEUS. PTOLEMAEUS (nToXefm^os), king of Cyprus. was the younger brother of Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt, being like him an illegitimate son of Ptolemy Lathyrus. Notwithstanding this defect of birth he appears to have been acknowledged as king of Cyprus at the same lime that his brother Auletes obtained possession of the throne of Egypt, B. c. 80. But he unfortunately neglected the pre- caution of making interest at Rome to obtain the confirmation of his sovereignty, and had the farther imprudence to give personal offence to P. Clodius, by neglecting to ransom him when he had fallen into the hands of the Cilician pirates (Strab. xiv. p. 684 ; Appian, B. C. ii. 23). He paid dearly for his niggardliness on this occasion, for when Clodius became tribune (b. c. 58), he brought forward a law to deprive Ptolemy of his kingdom, and reduce Cyprus to a Roman province. Cato, who was en- trusted with the charge of carrying into execution this nefarious decree, sent to Ptolemy, advising him to submit, and offering him his personal safety, with the office of high-priest at Paphos, and a liberal maintenance. But the unhappy king, though he was wholly unprepared for resistance to the Roman power, had tiie spirit to refuse these offers, and put an end to his own life, B. c. 57. (Strab. /. c. ; Dion Cass, xxxviii. 80, xxxix. 22 ; Liv. Epit. civ. ; Plut. Cat. Mln. 34 — 3G ; Appian, B. C. ii. 23 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 45 ; Cic. pro 8esct. 26—28 ; Val. Max. ix. 4, ext. § 1.) We are told that Ptolemy had disgraced himself by every species of vice (Veil. Pat. /. c), but it ap- pears certain that it was the vast treasures that he possessed, which, by attracting the cupidity of the Romans, became the cause of his destruction, of which his vices were afterwards made the pre- text. [E. H.B.] PTOLEMAEUS, king of Gyrene. [Ptole- MAEUS ApION.] PTOLEMAEUS I. {liToXcfiMOSi), king of Egypt, surnamed Soter (the Preserver), but perhaps more commonly known as the son of Lagiis. His father was a Macedonian of ignoble birth [Lagus], but his mother Arsinoe had been a concubine of Philip of Macedon, on which ac- count it seems to have been generally believed that Ptolemy was in reality the offspring of that mo- narch (Curt. ix. 8. § 22 ; Paus. i. 6. § 2.) This could, indeed, hardly have been the case if Lu- cian's statement be correct i^Macrob. 12), that Ptolemy was eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, as in that case he must have been born in B. c. 367, when Philip was not sixteen years old. But the authority of Lucian on this point can hardly outweigh the distinct assertions of other authors as to the existence of such a belief, and we must therefore probably assign his birth to a later period. Whatever truth there may have been in this report, it is certain that Ptolemy early enjoyed a distinction at the Macedonian court to which his father's obscurity would scarcely have entitled him, and we rind him mentioned be- fore the death of Philip among the friends and confidential advisers of the young Alexander. The part which he took in promoting the intrigue for the marriage of the prince with the daughter of Pixodarus, king of Caria, gave great offence to Philip, and Ptolemy was banished, together with all the other persons concerned, {VXni. Alex. 10; Arrian, Anab. iii. 6.) On the accession of Alex- ander, however, b. c. 33S, he was immediately PTOLEMAEUS. 581 recalled from exile, and treated with the utmost distinction. It is remarkable that we do not find him holding any special command, or acting any important part during the first few years of the expedition to Asia, though it is clear that he ac- companied the king throughout this period. In- deed, his name is only twice mentioned previous to the year b, c. 330, when he obtained the ho- nourable post of Somatophylax in the place of De- metrius, who had been implicated in the conspiracy of Philotas. (Arr. ib. ii. 11, iii. 18, 27.) But from this period we find him continually employed on the most important occasions, and rendering the most valuable services. In the following campaign (329), after the army had crossed the Oxus, Ptolemy was sent forward with a strong detachment, to apprehend the traitor Bessus, whom he seized and brought before Alex- ander. Again, in the reduction of the revolted province of Sogdiana, and in the attack on the rock-fortress of Chorienes, he is mentioned as taking a conspicuous part, and commanding one of the chief divisions of the army. (Arr. Anub. iii. 2.9, 30, iv. 16, 21.) But it was especially during the campaigns in India that the services of Ptolemy shone the most conspicuous ; and we find him dis- playing on numerous occasions all the qualities of an able and judicious general, in command of separate detachments, or of one of the divisions of the main army. In the conquest of the Aspasians and Assacenians, in the reduction of the fortress of Aornos, at the passage of the Hydaspes and the siege of Sangala, as well as in many minor opera- tions, the name of Ptolemy is still among the most prominent. Nor was his personal valour less remarkable than his abilities as a general ; and we find him on one occasion slaying with his t)wn hand the chief of one of the Indian tribes in single combat. Some writers also ascribed to him a share in the glory of saving the life of Alexander among the Malli [Leonnatus], but it appears from his own testimony, as reported by Arrian and Curtius, that he was absent at the time on a separate com- mand. (Arr. Amib. iv. 24, 25, 29, v. 13. 23, 24, vi. 5, 11; Curt. viii. 10. §2], 13. § 18—27, 14. § 15, ix. 5. § 21.) Numerous evidences occur during the same pe- riod of the high favour and personal consideration with which he was regarded by Alexander : we find him constantly in close attendance upon the king's person ; and on occasion of the conspiracy of the pages it was he who, by discovering and re- vealing their treasonable designs, probably became the means of saving the life of his sovereign (Arr. iv. 8, 13 ; Curt. viii. 1. §§ 45, 48, 6. § 22, ix. 6. § 15 ; Chares ap. Athen. iv. p. 171, c). According to a marvellous tale related by several writers Alexander was soon after able to return the obli- gation and save the life of his friend and follower when wounded by a poisoned arrow, by applying a remedy suiigested to him in a dream. (Curt. ix. 8. §22—27; Diod. xvii. 103; Strab. xv. p. 723; Justin, xii. 1 ; Cic. de Divin. ii. 66.) During the toilsome march through Gedrosia, Ptolemy once more commanded one of the three principal divi- sions of the army ; and in the festivities at Susa was honoured with a crown of gold, while he ol)- tained in marriage Artacama, a sister of Barsine. (Curt. ix. 10. §6; Diod. xvii. 104; Arr. ^«aA. vii. 4 ; Plut. Eum. 1.) He is again mentioned aa accompanying Alexander ou his last military p p a