Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/770

746 746 EGYPT HISTORY. in larger proportions, extending from the Thracian coast to Ethiopia, from Gyrene to the border of India. The eastern provinces speedily returned to the Syrian rule, and Ptolemy was content with a moderate accession of territory on that side. He, however, retained his Greek conquests and pushed far south in Abyssinia. Euergetes was not merely a warlike king. He cared for literature, and more than his predecessors laboured to please the Egyptians. He is the first Ptolemy whose Egyptian structures are worthy of the wealth of the country. Art had lost its ancient delicacy, yet the sumptuous architecture of this age merits admira tion as showing a new though somewhat false develop ment of the ancient style. His reform of the native calendar, as recorded in the Decree of Canopus, is another mark of his wise interest in Egypt. He was fortunate in his marriage with Berenice II., who as queen of Cyrene is the first Egyptian queen who has the same regal style as her husband. Having reigned twenty-five years he left his kingdom to his son. Ptolemy Philopator, who began to reign B.C. 222, immediately on his accession put his mother Berenice and others of his nearest kindred to death, and, leaving the management of the state to Sosibius, abandoned himself to luxury. Antiochus III., king of Syria, seized the oppor tunity to wrest from Egypt all the eastern provinces. Ptolemy at length took the field himself in defence of Egypt, and defeated Antiochus at Raphia, where his success was greatly due to the courage of Arsinoe III., his sister and wife (B.C. 217). By this victory Coele-Syria and Phoenicia were recovered. Ptolemy returned to his former life, and Arsinoe was put to death. He left his kingdom, greatly weakened by bad administration and growing dis affection, to a child, Ptolemy Epiphanes. The other two Macedonian kings, Philip V. and Antiochus III., now allied themselves to despoil Egypt of the provinces. Every thing but Cyprus and Cyrene was taken, and the Egyptian ministers only saved the country by having called in the fiid of Rome. The Republic had long been friendly to the Ptolemies, and nothing suited her policy better than a pro tectorate of Egypt. Accordingly M. ^Emilius Lepidus was sont as regent to Alexandria, and Antiochus was commanded to restore what he had conquered. It was finally settled that Ptolemy should marry Cleopatra, daughter of the Syrian king, and that she should take back Ccele-Syria and Phoenicia. From this time Rome ruled Egypt with reference to her own eastern policy. The kingdom of the Ptolemies was not allowed to fall, but it was kept within the most moderate limits. Consequently the weak kings were supported and the strong kings thwarted in every way. Egypt could not rid herself of a bad ruler or enjoy the full advantage of a good one. The rest of the minority of Ptolemy was marked by a serious revolt in Lower Egypt, put down with great difficulty. In B.C. 196, when but thirteen or fourteen years old, the young king was crowned at Memphis, when the decree of the Rosetta Stone was issued. The place of coronation and the terms of the decree show a policy of conciliation towards the Egyptians which the revolt probably rendered especially necessary. The marriage of Ptolemy and Cleopatra I. took place B.C. 193-2, but the dowry was not handed over. Ptolemy con tinued true to the Romans in their war with Antiochus, but was not allowed to act as their ally, and gained nothing in the subsequent treaty. Another revolt broke out in Lower Egypt, and was cruelly suppressed, B.C. 185. Ptolemy perished by poison in B.C. 181, leaving two sons surnamed Philometor and Euergetes, who ruled Egypt in succession. Epiphanes inherited the weakness and cruelty of his father, and with him Egypt lost for a time her influ ence in the affairs of the world. Cleopatra I., who like Berenice II. was queen as heiress, now became regent for Ptolemy Philometor, and ruled well until her death, about B.C. 174. The ministers then made war on Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes) for the disputed provinces. The Egyptian forces were defeated, Egypt invaded, and Ptolemy seized (B.C. 170). His younger brother, Euergetes II., with an audacious courage that marks his whole career, declared himself king at Alexandria, where Antiochus be sieged him in vain, and Roman ambassadors interfered for his protection. Antiochus retired, leaving Philometor as king at Memphis. The two brothers now made terms, agreeing to a joint rule. Antiochus again invaded Egypt, and marched to Alexandria, but was forced to retire by the resolution of a Roman ambassador, M. Popillius Lsenas (B.C. 168). From this time Egypt was more than ever in the hands of the Romans, and in consequence of the manner in which Philometor had yielded to Antiochus while Euergetes had resisted his pretensions and depended on their support, we find them constantly aiding Energetes, whose abili ties, if equal to those of Philometor, were weighted by a perfidious and cruel disposition. It was not long before Euergetes succeeded in driving Philometor from Alexandria. The fugitive went to Rome B.C. 164, and the senate agreed to reinstate him. Euergetes was spared by his brother, and the Roman deputies obtained for him the kingdom of Cyrene, where he occupied himself in ceaseless plots to ob tain Cyprus, assisted by the active support of Demetrius I. of Syria and the unjust diplomatic aid of the Roman senate. Philometor had the courage to oppose his brother, who in vaded Cyprus with Roman ambassadors ordered to settle him in the government of the island. Philometor defeated and took him prisoner, but again spared his life, and left him the kingdom of Cyrene (B.C. 154). The Romans did not interfere with this settlement. The part Demetrius I. had played in the war in Cyprus led Philometor to take the side of the usurper Alexander I. (Balas), to whom he gave his daughter Cleopatra to wife (B.C. 150). When Demetrius II. endeavoured to recover his father s kingdom Ptolemy advanced to the support of Alexander, but thinking him treacherous, he turned his arms to the aid of the legitimate king. Rapidly subduing the country, Ptolemy entered Antioch and was hailed king of Syria, to the crown of which he had a claim as descended maternally from the Seleucid line ; but he admitted the higher right of Demetrius, whom he aided in resisting an invasion by Alexander. In a decisive victory Ptolemy was thrown by his horse and mortally injured (B.C. 146). It was in the reign of Philometor that Onias founded the temple at Onion in Egypt, which tended to increase the importance of the Jewish colonies and to separate the Alexandrian from the Palestinian school. With this king the power of Egypt finally fell. He was the last Ptolemy who had the capacity to rule amidst the growing difficulties of the time. In his wars he showed courage and generalship, in his dealings with Rome caution and decision, in his rejection of the Seleucid diadem moderation and justice, in his treatment of his brother and his subjects an extraordinary clemency and humanity. Cleopatra II., the sister and widow of Philometor, put their son on the throne. 1 Euergetes at once marched from Cyrene to Alexandria. The Romans as usual took his part, and stopped the war on the condition that Euergetes should marry his brother s widow. The young king was instantly put to death. Ptolemy reigned as he had begun: Alexandria was depopulated by his cruelties, though the rest of Egypt seems to have fared better in consequence of his want of ambition. He divorced Cleopatra II. to 1 There is difficulty as to his name. In Egyptian documents Eu- pator precedes or follows Philometor (Lepsins, Berl. Akad. 1852, 464, seqq. ); but in a Greek inscription in Cyprus the later p^iee is stated (Hogg, J., &quot; Inscrs. from Cyprus,&quot; R. S. Lit., 2 ser., vii. 38&quot;, seqq.).