The Annals of the World
James Ussher 1658
Contents
Vol. I — The Annals of the Old Testament from the Beginning of the World
The Second Age of the World
The Third Age of the World
The Fourth Age of the World
The Fifth Age of the World
The Sixth Age of the World
Vol. II — The Latter Part of the Annals
The Seventh Age of the World
Bibliography
Appendix A: Roman Calendars
Appendix B: The Forgotten Archbishop
Appendix C: Ussher's Time-line for the Divided Kingdom
Appendix D: Evidentiallism — The Bible and Assyrian Chronology
Appendix E: Some Objections Considered
Appendix F: Maps
Appendix G: The Seder Olam Rabbah — Why Jewish Dating Is Different
Appendix H: Archaeology and the Bible
This is the first major English revision that has been done of Rev. Archbishop
Ussher's Annals of the World since it was published in 1658—two years after his
death. In January of 1997, Answers in Genesis obtained photocopies of the
1650–1654 Latin copy and the 1658 English copy for us to examine. Ussher is
ridiculed by sciolists. {OED—Sci' olist: superficial pretender to knowledge.
The first "i" is long.} and we suggested it might be good to republish this old
classic since very few people have actually seen what he wrote.
We set to work. My wife, Marion, typed in the whole English document—it was
impossible to scan—and I started to edit it. An early review prompted the
classic comment, I cannot understand this old English! The horrible thought
crossed my mind that the whole document would have to be extensively revised.
That was done. We updated the English and checked and updated over ten thousand
footnotes against the Loeb Classical Library. We carefully checked the text
against the most ancient sources and Ussher's Latin copy to verify the accuracy
of what was being said. My wife read it aloud three times while we both amended
the English. Over four years later, we finished the task and turned the work
over to the publisher for the final proof-reading.
The format used for the footnoting is explained in the bibliography at the end
of this work. In most history books, it is very difficult to tell where the
material came from. Separating the editorials from the facts would challenge
even Solomon. This is not true of Ussher's work. It contains more than twelve
thousand footnotes from secular sources and over two thousand quotes from the
Bible or the Apocrypha. There is very little editorialising and most editorial
comments come from the original writers themselves. We were able to verify
about 85 percent of the footnotes pertaining to secular history. The documents
for the remaining footnotes are so rare, we did not pursue them.
Julian dates are used throughout the document. Julian dates are not necessarily
the same as dates on the Gregorian calendar that we use today. The Julian
calendar does not drop three days every four hundred years, so the seasons
drift. This explains why Ussher has the autumnal equinox for 4004 BC on October
23, not September 21. Using the Julian calendar, October 23 was the correct
date. However, on the Gregorian calendar the date was September 21, as we would
normally expect. As we get closer to January 1, 45 BC when Julius Caesar
reformed the calendar, the Julian and Gregorian dates converge. Astronomers use
Julian dates today for dating astronomical events. They cite the actual number
of the day from the start of the Julian Period (JP) in 4713 BC. The start of the
millennium, January 1, 2001, would be day 2452142 or January 1, 6714 JP.
Historians date all pre-Christian events using the Julian scale extended
backward theoretically, as if it had been in use throughout.
We have added paragraph numbers to make it easier to cite references from this
work. The original index was done by year and we changed it to use paragraph
numbers instead. Some years, like 44 BC, are quite voluminous and we are sure
you would rather have the paragraph number.
We have included the page numbers from the original 1654 Latin document. The
start of page 34 in the Latin edition would be indicated as [L34]. Page numbers
for the second Latin volume are prefixed with a "K." Likewise, the start of page
29 in the original 1658 English edition would be indicated as [E29]. Many of
the older writers referred to the page numbers of Ussher's work and we thought
it best to include them. We placed these markers as discretely as possible at
the end of a sentence or a paragraph. They should be accurate to within one or
two sentences of the actual page break.
Some may question the importance of including what we might deem as fables today
in the early historical portions of the document. This is to document the
approximate dates for the original events that spawned the legends and that
these events are well within the biblical time frame. There is likely a kernel
of truth in them just as there are in the aborigines' dream-time stories.
Ussher dispassionately reports what others have written—usually without
editorial comment. This is a totally different approach to history than is
customary today.
The Greek and Hebrew fonts in the original documents were almost impossible to
read. We did the best we could but there are definitely some errors in the
Greek and Hebrew texts.
The following summarises the major changes made to the original work.
1) The language was updated to conform to modern usage.
2) Paragraph numbers were added to the main body of the document.
3) A bibliography of most of the authors Ussher referred to was
compiled. Where possible, references were made to the Loeb Classical
Library.
4) The Loeb Classical Library was used to update over ten thousand
footnotes. The text of the original was compared with the Loeb text for
accuracy. The modern critical text of the ancient writers was used to
amend the original document.
5) Occasionally, editorial notes are inserted in the document. These
usually denote textual problems between the current Loeb text and the
text Ussher used. Such notes are usually in round brackets and are
denoted "Editor." Wherever you find the pronouns I or we in the
document, it is Ussher's direct comments to the reader. He does this
over four hundred times in this book.
6) The index was totally reworked to use paragraph numbers and many new
entries were added to the index.
7) Any obvious errors in the 1658 English edition or the 1654 Latin
edition were corrected. These were mainly arithmetical errors.
8) Several articles on chronology were included as appendices. These
were things that we gleaned as we did the work.
9) Historical maps were added to the document.
10) The headings at the top of each page were added throughout.
A special thanks to my wife, Marion, who typed the original document and helped
proof-read and rewrite the document.
The works of the original historians contained many human interest stories and
even some humour to keep your interest. Enjoy reading ancient history as you
never have before. Let Ussher, known by his contemporaries as the Leviathan of
Learning, be your expert guide!
— Larry Pierce
Larry and Marion Pierce have lived in the village of Winterbourne in
Ontario, Canada, since 1975 when they were married. Larry did his
undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Waterloo, where he
received his degrees in mathematics. He retired in 1991 to devote more
time to his work with the Online Bible program, which he developed and
manages. Having a good helpmate plus his experience in Latin,
digitizing old biblical commentaries, and in computer programming helped
make this republication of Ussher's greatest work possible.
The Epistle to the Reader
"For who does not know history's first law to be that an author must not dare to
tell anything but the truth? And its second that he must be bold to tell the
whole truth? That there must be no suggestion of partiality anywhere in his
writings? Nor of malice?" {*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 2. c. 15. 3:243,254}
Censorinus dedicated the book, De Die Natali, to Quintus Caerellius on his
birthday in 238 AD. The first part dealt with human life and its origins and the
second part dealt with time and its divisions. In his preface he wrote:
"If the origin of the world had been known to man, I would have started there."
{Censorinus, De Die Natali, l. 1. c. 20.}
A little later, speaking of this time:
"Whether time had a beginning or whether it always was, the exact number of
years cannot be known." {Censorinus, De Die Natali, l. 1. c. 21.}
Therefore Ptolemy, from his book Astronomical Calculations, concerning the
creation and history of the world, stated that this is beyond the knowledge of
man:
"To find the details of the history of the whole world or such an immense period
of time, I think is beyond us who desire to learn and know the truth." {Ptolemy,
Great Syntaxis, l. 3.}
Julius Maternus Firmicus, in his discourse on birthdays, stated concerning the
creation of the world (as received from Aesculapius and Anubis):
"That was not the creation of the world. Nor, indeed, did the world have any
certain day for its beginning. Nor was there anything existing at the time when
the world was formed by the wisdom of the divine understanding and provident
deity. Nor could man in his human frailty so far extend himself, that he could
easily conceive or unfold the world's origin." {Julius Maternus Firmicus, l. 3.
c. 2.}
It is not strange that the heathen, who are totally ignorant of the Holy Bible,
should despair of ever attaining to the knowledge of the world's beginnings.
Even among Christians, that most renowned chronographer Dionysius Petavius, when
asked his opinion concerning the creation of the world and the number of years
from creation down to us, made this disclaimer:
"The number of years from the beginning of the world to our time cannot be
known, nor in any way found out, without divine revelation." {Petavius, De
Doctrina Temporum, l. 9. c. 2.}
Philastrius Brixiensis agreed with him and called it heresy:—
"To know the number of the years from the creation of the world is uncertain and
men do not know the time of it." {Philastrius, De Heres., c. 6. p. 63.}
Lactantius Firmianus made this bold assertion:
"We who are trained by the Holy Scriptures in the knowledge of truth, do know
both the beginning and the end of the world." {*Lactantius, Divine Institutions,
l. 7. c. 14. 7:211}
Bold, because whatever may have happened in the past {Ac 1:7 Mt 24:36}, we are
taught that the Father has reserved the knowledge of things future to himself.
Nor is there any mortal to whom the whole period of time is known. Even the son
of Sirach is thought to say:
"Who can number the sands of the sea, and the drops of rain and the days of
eternity?" {Apc Sir 1:2}
When Nicolaus Lyranus was thought to have been speaking of history (as others
interpret it here and in his book {Lyranus, Days of Eternity, c. 18. s.
11.}), he drew this erroneous conclusion: he thought that from the beginning of
the world, time was never determined certainly and precisely by any man.
The first Christian writer (that I have known of) who attempted to calculate the
age of the world from the Holy Bible was Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch.
Concerning this whole account, he stated:
"All times and years are made known to those who are willing to obey the truth."
{*Theophilus, Ad Autolycum, l. 3. c. 26. 2:119}
But concerning the exactness of this calculation he later stated:
"And haply we may not be able to give an exact account of every year, because in
the Holy Scriptures there is no mention of the precise number of months and
days."
The Scriptures normally note only entire years and not the days and months in
each instance. Hence, summing the years may give an inaccurate total because
the partial years were not included.
Grant this one thing (and this is a most reasonable assumption), that the holy
writers had this very purpose in mind when recording the years of the world in
their various places with such diligence. They sought to reveal to us the
history of the world that otherwise no one could know. This, I say, being
granted, we affirm that the Holy Spirit has anticipated this doubt. He has
started and ended each of the periods on which a chronological reckoning of time
depends, and added the very month and day. For example, the Israelites left
Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month. {Nu 33:3} In the 480th year
after their exodus, in the second month on the second day, Solomon began to
build the temple. {1Ki 6:1} The months and days given for the start and end of
the period show that eleven months and fourteen days are to be taken away. The
period is not 480 whole years, but only 479 years and 16 days. {2Ch 3:2}
David Paraeus stated:
"Those who promise to give us an exact astronomical table of time, from the
creation to Christ, seem to me more worthy of encouragement than praise, in that
they attempt a thing beyond human capacity."
He was among the most recent of our writers who calculated the number of the
years to Christ's time from the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, he abandoned
astronomical calculations and used the civil time of the Hebrews, Egyptians and
Persians as the only way to do this accurately.
But if I have any understanding in this matter, it does not matter what rule we
use to measure the passing of time, as long as it starts and ends with a certain
number of days. Anyone could, with David Paraeus, by some equal measure of
years, define the time between the foundation of the world and Christ's time.
Also it would be very easy without the help of any astronomical table, to set
down how many years happened during that interval. The passing of time in any
civil year from a season to the same season again is simply a natural
astronomical or tropical year.
Anyone can do this who is well versed in the knowledge of sacred and secular
history, of astronomical calculations and of the old Hebrew calendar. If he
should apply himself to these difficult studies, it is not impossible for him to
determine not only the number of years but even the days from the creation of
the world. Using backward calculations, Basil the Great told us we may
determine the first day of the world:
"You may indeed learn the very time when the foundation of the world was laid.
If you return from this present time to former ages, you may endeavour
studiously to determine the day of the world's origin. Hence you will find when
time began." {*Basil, Hexaemeron, Homily 1. c. 6. 8:55}
Historically, various countries have used different methods of calculating time
and years. It is necessary that some common and known standard be used to which
these may be reconciled. The Julian years and months are most suitable to the
common collation of times. These start on midnight, January 1, AD. Using three
cycles, every year is uniquely identified. These cycles are:
a) the Roman indiction1 of fifteen years,
b) the cycle of the moon,2 or golden number of nineteen years
c) the solar cycle3 (the index of Sunday or Pascal days) of twenty-eight years.
It is known that the year 1650 AD is identified with the numbers of three in the
Roman indiction, seventeen in the lunar cycle and seven in the solar cycle. (I
do not say that of the year of the birth of Christ, which is still disputed
among the learned.)
Since our Christian period comes long after the creation of the world, counting
years backwards is difficult and error prone. There is a better way. Modern
chronologers have extrapolated these three cycles backwards to the year when all
the cycles would start at one on the 1st of January. This creates an artificial
epoch 7980 years long based on the product of the three cycles multiplied
together. {The 19 year lunar cycle times 28 year solar cycle times 15 year
indiction cycle equals 7980 years}
I think this was first noted by Robert Lotharing, Bishop of Hereford, in
England. Five hundred years later Joseph Scaliger adapted this to chronological
use and called it by the name of the Julian Period (after his father), because
it extended the cycle of Julian years back in time and forward. The cycle
started at noon, January 1, 4713 BC, which is a leap year. Here the lunar cycle
is one, the solar cycle is one and the indiction cycle is also one. Hence 1 AD
is the year 4714 of the Julian period and is identified by the Roman indiction
of four, lunar cycle of two and the solar cycle of ten.
Moreover, we find that the years of our forefathers, the years of the ancient
Egyptians and Hebrews, were the same length as the Julian year. It consisted of
twelve months containing thirty days each. (It cannot be proven that the
Hebrews used lunar months before the Babylonian captivity.) Five days were added
after the twelfth month each year. Every four years, six days were added after
the twelfth month. {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 50. s. 2. 1:177} {*Strabo, l.
17. c. 1. s. 46. 8:125} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 29. 8:85}
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 4. 1:279} {Ge 7:11,24 8:3-5,13,14} I have noted the
continual passing of these years as recorded in the Bible. Hence the end of
Nebuchadnezzar's reign and the beginning of his son Evilmerodach's reign was in
the 3442nd year of the world. (3442 AM) By collation of Chaldean history and
the astronomical cannon it was in the 185th year of Nabonassar. This was 562 BC
or 4152 JP (Julian Period). From this I deduced that the creation of the world
happened in the beginning of the autumn of 710 JP or 4004 BC.4 Using
astronomical tables, I determined the first Sunday after the autumnal equinox
for the year 710 JP or 4004 BC was October 23 of that year. I ignored the
stopping of the sun in the days of Joshua and the going back of it in the days
of Hezekiah. {See note on 2553c AM. <<319>>} {See note on 3291c AM.
<<644>>}
From thence I concluded that the preceding evening of October 23 marks the first
day of creation and the start of time.
I ignored the difficulties raised by chronologers, who are occupied by the love
of contention, as Basil noted. Hence, I deduce that the time from the creation
until midnight, January 1, 1 AD was 4003 years, seventy days and six hours.
Also, based on the death of Herod the Great, I concluded that the birth of our
Saviour was four full years before January 1, 1 AD. According to our
calculations, the building of Solomon's temple was finished in the 3000th year
of the world. In the 4000th year of the world, Mary gave birth to Christ {Lu
2:6} (of whom the temple was a type). {Joh 2:21} Hence, Christ was born in the
fall of 5 BC not 1 AD.5
But these things (which I note at the present), God willing, shall be more fully
explained in our Sacred Chronology. This I intend to write with a Treatise of
the Primitive Years and the Calendar of the Ancient Hebrews. In the meantime I
thought it best to publish the Annals of the Old Testament. Based on this
foundation, I included a chronicle of all the foreign affairs that happened in
Asia and Egypt. These include events before the beginning of the Olympiads and
matters relating to Greece and Rome and other areas.
In doing the sacred history, I have followed the translation of Janius and
Tremellius, using their Hebraisms and the information from their work. In doing
the secular history, I have noted the writings of their ancient authors or the
best translation of their works from the Greek. In particular I used James
Dalechamp's translation of Athenaeus. Although in noting the chapters, I
followed the edition of Natalis Comitis. (The modern edition of Athenaeus has
deleted the chapters. Editor.) From these I have written this history, using
material from Codomanes, Capellus, Emmias, Pezelius, Eberus, Salianus or any
other chronologer which I had. However, I always referred to the original
authors and did most of my work directly from their writings and not from
second-hand sources. Since my purpose was to create an accurate chronology, I
may not have followed the exact wording of these writers in every case, but I
have preserved the intent of their writings.
Of the many historians who lived before Julius Caesar, the passing of time
leaves only four of note—Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon and Polybius. The last
one is poor and inaccurate in many places. These I esteemed the most authentic
for their antiquity. I used them to correct the frequent errors in the
chronology of Diodorus Siculus. However, in the matters that related to
Alexander the Great, they are silent. For this period, I also followed not only
Diodorus but Curtius and Arrian to try to determine the history of that period.
I used the following abbreviations:
AD - Years from the start of the Christian era.
AM - Years of the world from creation.
BC - Years before the Christian era.
JP - Julian Year starting at January 1, 4713 BC.
NK - Northern Kingdom of Israel.
SK - Southern Kingdom of Israel.
After the year denoted by AM, one of four letters may be affixed.
a - Autumn
b - Winter
c - Spring
d - Summer
Other things the prudent reader will figure out for himself. I wish you the
enjoyment of these endeavours and bid you farewell. London, the 13th of the
Calends of July (June 19), according to the Julian period, in the 1650th year of
the Christian era, from the true nativity of our Lord and Saviour, the 1654th
year.
Error in Translation
All translations of the classical Greek and Latin authors, including this work,
have errored in the translation of tiers of oars. We have left this work as it
was originally written and not corrected the error. Some ancient ships are said
to have as many as forty tiers of oars. Recent research has shown this to be
incorrect. Most of the ships of antiquity never had more than three tiers or
banks of oars. This seems to be the practical limit for tiering. What the
ancients meant when they said there was forty tiers was that there were forty
men to that rank of oars. That means for a ship with three banks of oars there
would be twenty men on each side distributed over three oars for that side. The
practical limit seems to be at most ten men per oar. The great advantage to
this scheme was that only the rower at the end of the oar had to be skilled; the
others just provided muscle. It seems that some of the largest ships were
catamarans close to the size of Noah's ark and had giant catapults with crew and
soldiers numbering in the thousands. We are planning to write an article on
this which should be posted on the Answers in Genesis website. To find it,
search for the text tiers of oars.
Explanatory Notes by the Editor
1) Dictionary Definition of the Roman Indiction.
In chronology, a cycle of fifteen years instituted by Constantine the Great;
originally, a period of taxation. Constantine, having reduced the time which
the Romans were obliged to serve in the army to fifteen years, imposed a tax or
tribute at the end of the term to pay the troops who were discharged. This
practice introduced the keeping of accounts by this period. However as it is
said, in honour of the great victory of Constantine over Mezentius, Sept. 24,
312 AD, by which Christianity was more firmly established, the council of Nice
ordained that accounts of years should no more be kept by Olympiads, but that
the indiction should be used as the point from which to reckon the date of the
years. This was begun January 1, 313 AD. Johnson Encyclopaedia
Taken from the definition of Indiction in Noah Webster's First Edition of an
American Dictionary of the English Language, Republished 1989, by the Foundation
for American Christian Education, California. (The dictionary was first
published in 1828.)
2) Lunar Cycle
The lunar cycle consists of nineteen years or 235 complete orbits of the moon
around the earth. This differs from nineteen years of 365.25 days each, by
approximately one and a half hours. On the first year of the next cycle of
nineteen years, the new moon would again be on the first of January.
3) Solar Cycle
The solar cycle consists of twenty-eight years. At the start of each new cycle
every day and month of the year would correspond exactly to the days and months
of the first year of the previous cycle.
4) Time of Creation
Since the Jews used to start their year in the autumn, this is not an
unreasonable assumption. Also the biblical pattern of evening and morning seems
to apply to years as well as days. First the dark months of autumn and winter
and then the bright months of spring and summer.
5) The Christian Era
The following is quoted from The Wonders of Bible Chronology.
The Christian Era should properly begin with the year Christ was born; and in
devising it, the intention was to have it begin with that year. By the
Christian Era is meant the system upon which calendars are constructed and by
which historical events are now dated in practically all the civilised world.
But the originator of the system made a miscalculation as to the year (in the
calendar then in use) in which Christ was born, as the result of which the year
1 AD was fixed four years too late. In other words, the Lord Jesus was four
years old in the year 1 AD.
The mistake came about in this way: The Christian Era (that is the scheme of
dates beginning 1 AD) was not devised until 532 AD. Its inventor, or contriver,
was a monk named Dionysius Exiguus. At that time the system of dates in common
use began from the era of the Emperor Diocletian, 284 AD. Exiguus was not
willing to connect his system of dates with the name of that infamous tyrant and
persecutor. Therefore, he conceived the idea of connecting his system with and
dating all its events from the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. His reason for
wishing to do this was, as he wrote to Bishop Petronius, to the end that the
commencement of our hope might be better known to us and that the cause of man's
restoration, namely, our Redeemer's passion, might appear with clearer evidence.
(Taken from: The Wonders of Bible Chronology, Page 84, 85, Philip Mauro, first
published 1922, Reprinted by Reiner Publications, Swengel, Pennsylvania.)
The rest of the explanation given in this book just cited is incorrect. Since
we do not have the data Dionysius used in his calculations, we do not know how
he made his mistake. Some have conjectured that Tiberius was made a partner in
the empire four years before Augustus died. However, from Ussher's description
of the year 12 AD we know Tiberius was a partner only two years (not four years)
before the death of Augustus. (See paragraph 6198 of this work.) We know for
certain that Jesus must have been born before the death of Herod. We can
calculate the year of the death of Herod in two ways: from the events that
occurred before he died and from the events that happened after he died. Using
the events that happened before Herod died is the most accurate way to do it and
is confirmed by the events that happened after his death.
According to paragraph 6082 in this work, Herod held the kingdom for thirty-four
years after having killed Antigonus and thirty-seven years from the time that he
was declared king by the Romans. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 8. s. 1.
(191) 8:459} He started to reign after the death of Antigonus in 37 BC because
31 BC was the seventh year of his reign in which the battle of Actium was
fought. {*Josephus, War, l. 1. c. 19. s. 2. (370) 2:173,175} Hence, 4 BC
would be the last year of his thirty-four year reign.
This is partially confirmed astronomically, since Josephus records that a total
eclipse of the moon happened before the Passover in the year that Herod died.
There was an eclipse on March 13, 4 BC. Interestingly, this is the only eclipse
recorded in all of Josephus' writings.
Philip Melanchthon: His Account Concerning Philip Prince Palatine, to Rhenus.
I have often heard Capino relate the following when Dalburgius, the Bishop of
the Vangions, Rudolphus Agricola and myself were with Philip Prince Palatine
Elector. Not only in ordinary conversation but also in serious discussions
about the affairs of the state, they would often bring notable examples from the
Persian or Greek or Roman history. The Prince was very zealous to know more of
history and he noted that the distinction of the times, nations and empires was
necessary for this. Therefore, he wished them to make a chronology of the
kingdoms of ancient history based on all available Hebrew, Greek and Latin
authors. At that time, in 1480 AD, there were no books about the ancient
empires in the German language. Nor had the Latins anything of that nature,
save Justin's confused Epitome, which also lacked a detailed chronology. Those
learned men were delighted to compile this work. Therefore, they compiled a
chronology from Hebrew, Greek and Latin works of the various monarchies. To
this they added all the most important events in the proper places and created a
chronology of the nations and times. The grateful prince read these works most
earnestly and delighted in them. Also, he was thankful that the times and the
memory of the most important events were preserved by Divine Providence, since
they showed him that the record of the history of the world was continuous, in
that Herodotus began his writings a little before the end of the prophetic
history. For even before the end of the Persian monarchy, of which we have a
very clear account from Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, some of the names of the
kings of Assyria and Egypt are the same in the prophets and Herodotus. Jeremiah
foretold their destruction to Apries, which Herodotus also described. After
Apries killed Jeremiah, Amasis strangled the proud king after he had captured
him. The Palatine prince said he saw the witness of the divine presence in the
ordering of empires. For these empires could neither be acquired nor retained
by mere human power. It follows, therefore, that they were created in order
that they might be the upholders of human society, unite many countries, restore
law, justice and peace and indeed, that they might teach men concerning God.
For this reason, he often repeated those words of Daniel, that God changes and
confirms empires. {Da 2:21} He said, likewise, that by the changes and
punishments of tyrants, the just judgment of the Almighty was most conspicuous.
By these illustrious examples, all mankind was admonished to acknowledge God and
was to understand that he wills and ordains justice, and is truly offended with
those who transgress his ordination. Such were the remarks of that prince,
concerning the rise and fall of empires.
Key to References
Volume I
The
Annals of the
World Deduced from
the Origin of Time and continued to the
beginning of the Emperor Vespasian's
Reign and the Total Destruction and
Abolition of the Temple and
Commonwealth of the Jews.
Containing the
History
of the Old and New
Testament
With that of the
Maccabees.
Also all the most Memorable Affairs
of Asia and Egypt, and the Rise of
the Empire of the Roman Caesars, under
Gaius Julius Caesar and Octavius Caesar
Collected
From all History, as well as Sacred,
as Profane and Methodically Organized;
By the most Reverend James Ussher,
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of
Ireland.
London,
Printed by E. Tyler, for J. Crook,
at the Sign of the Ship in St. Paul's
Churchyard and for G. Bedell, at the
Middle-Temple-Gate, in Fleet-Street,
MDCLVIII.
(From the original Title Page)
The Annals of the Old Testament from the Beginning of the World
"The world's history is a divine poem of which the history of every nation is a
canto and every man a word. Its strains have been pealing along down the
centuries, and though there have been mingled discords of warring cannon and
dying men, yet to the Christian philosopher and historian—the humble
listener—there has been a divine melody running through the song which speaks of
hope and halcyon days to come." {*James A. Garfield, Klopsch - Many Thoughts of
Many Minds, 1:131}
1a AM, 710 JP, 4004 BC
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. {Ge 1:1} The
beginning of time, according to our chronology, happened at the start of the
evening preceding the 23rd day of October (on the Julian calendar), 4004 BC or
710 JP. (This day was the first Sunday past the autumnal equinox for that year
and would have been September 21 on the Gregorian calendar. Historians
routinely use the Julian calendar for all BC dates. Editor.)
2. On the first day {Ge 1:1-5} of the world (Sunday, October 23), God created
the highest heaven and the angels. When he finished, as it were, the roof of
this building, he started with the foundation of this wonderful fabric of the
world. He fashioned this lower-most globe, consisting of the deep and of the
earth. Therefore, all the choir of angels sang together and magnified his name.
{Job 38:7} When the earth was without form and void and darkness covered the
face of the deep, God created light on the very middle of the first day. God
divided this from the darkness and called the one Day and the other Night.
3. On the second day {Ge 1:6-8} (Monday, October 24) after the firmament or
heaven was finished, the waters above were separated from the waters here below,
enclosing the earth.
4. On the third day {Ge 1:9-13} (Tuesday, October 25), when these waters below
ran together into one place, the dry land appeared. From this collection of the
waters God made a sea, sending out from here the rivers, which were to return
there again. {Ec 1:7} He caused the earth to bud and bring forth all kinds of
herbs and plants with seeds and fruits. Most importantly, he enriched the
Garden of Eden with plants, for among them grew the tree of life and the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. {Ge 2:8,9}
5. On the fourth day (Wednesday, October 26), the sun, the moon and the rest of
the stars were created. {Ge 1:14-19} (According to the astronomical
calculations, if the moon had existed on the first day of creation then it would
have been a new moon. Editor.)
6. On the fifth day (Thursday, October 27), fish and flying birds were created
and commanded to multiply and fill the sea and the earth. {Ge 1:20-23}
7. On the sixth day (Friday, October 28), the living creatures of the earth
were created as well as the creeping creatures. {Ge 1:24-27} Last of all, man
was created in the image of God, which consisted in the capacity of the mind to
have a knowledge of the divine, {Col 3:10} and in the natural and proper
sanctity of his will. {Eph 4:24} When, by divine power, all living creatures
were brought before him, Adam gave them their names. Among all of these, he
found no one to help him who was like himself. [L2] Lest he should be destitute
of a suitable companion, God took a rib out of his side while he slept and
fashioned it into a woman. (Men and women both have the same number of ribs.
Removal of a rib would not cause one's son to have one less rib any more than if
one lost a leg, he would expect his son to be born with only one leg. The rib
is the only bone in the human body that regenerates itself if it is removed.
Editor.) He gave her to him for a wife, establishing by it the law of marriage
between them. He blessed them and bade them to be fruitful and multiply. God
gave them dominion over all living creatures. God provided a large portion of
food and sustenance for them to live on. To conclude, because sin had not yet
entered into the world:
"God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the
evening and the morning were the sixth day." {Ge 1:31}
8. Now on the seventh day (Saturday, October 29), when God had finished his
work which he intended, he then rested from all labour. [E2] He blessed the
seventh day and ordained and consecrated the Sabbath {Ge 2:2,3} because he
rested on it {Ex 31:17} and refreshed himself. Nor as yet had sin entered into
the world for none is cited. Nor was there any punishment given by God, either
upon mankind, or upon angels. Hence it was that this day was set forth both for
our sanctification in this world {Ex 31:13}, as well as for a sign of that
eternal Sabbath to be enjoyed in the world to come. In it we expect a full
deliverance from sin and its dregs and all its punishments. {Heb 4:4,9,10}
9. After the first week of the world ended, it seems that God brought the newly
married couple into the Garden of Eden. He charged them not to eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil but left them free to eat of every other
plant.
10. The Devil envied God's honour and man's obedience. He tempted the woman to
sin by the serpent. By this, he obtained the name and title of the old serpent.
{Re 12:9 20:2} The woman was beguiled by the serpent into eating the fruit, but
the man deliberately ate the fruit. {1Ti 2:14} They broke the command of God
concerning the forbidden fruit. Accordingly, when they were sought for by God
and convicted of this crime, each had their punishments imposed on them. At
this point, the promise was also given that the seed of the woman should one day
bruise the serpent's head. Christ, in the fulness of time, should undo the
works of the Devil. {1Jo 3:8 Ro 16:20} Adam first called his wife Eve, because
she was then ordained to be the mother, not only of all that should live this
natural life, {Ge 3:20} but of those also who should live by faith in her seed.
This was the promised Messiah, as Sarah also later was called the mother of the
faithful. {1Pe 3:6 Ga 4:31}.
11. After this, our first parents were clothed by God with clothing of skins.
They were expelled from Eden and a fiery flaming sword was set to guard the way
leading to the tree of life, so that they could never eat of that fruit which
they had not yet touched. {Ge 3:21,22} It is very probable that Adam was turned
out of paradise the same day that he was brought into it. This seems to have
been on the tenth day of the world (November 1). On this day also, in
remembrance of so remarkable an event, the day of atonement was appointed {Le
23:27} and the yearly fast on that day, that was mentioned by Paul. {Ac 27:9}
On that day all strangers, as well as native Israelites, were commanded to
afflict their souls, so that:
"every soul which should not afflict itself on that day, should be cut off from
among his people." {Le 16:29 23:29}
12. After the fall of Adam, Cain was the first of all mortal men that was born
of a woman. {Ge 4:1}
130d AM, 840 JP, 3874 BC
13. When Cain, the firstborn of all mankind, murdered Abel, God gave Eve
another son called Seth. {Ge 4:25} [L3] Adam had now lived a hundred and thirty
years. {Ge 5:3} From which it may be gathered that, between the death of Abel
and the birth of Seth, there was no other son born to Eve. For then, he should
have been recorded to have been given her instead of Seth. (Since man had been
on the earth a hundred and twenty-eight years and Adam and Eve had other sons
and daughters, {Ge 5:4} the number of people on the earth at the time of this
murder could have been as many as several hundred thousand. Editor.) Cain might
justly fear, through the awareness of the guilt of his crime, that every man
that met him would also try to kill him. {Ge 4:14,15}
235d AM, 945 JP, 3769 BC
14. When Seth was a hundred and five years old, he had his son Enos. The fact
that the worship of God was even then wretchedly corrupted by the descendants of
Cain, indicates the lamentable condition of all mankind. Hence it came about
that even then the distinction was made, that those who continued in the true
worship of God were known by the name of the children of God, whereas those who
forsook him, were termed the children of men. {Ge 4:26 6:1,2}
325d AM, 1035 JP, 3679 BC
15. Cainan, the son of Enos, was born when his father was ninety years old.
{Ge 5:10}
395d AM, 1105 JP, 3609 BC
16. Mahalaleel was born when Cainan, his father, was seventy years old. {Ge
5:12}
460d AM, 1170 JP, 3544 BC
17. Jared was born when his father Mahalaleel was sixty-five years old. {Ge
5:15}
622d AM, 1332 JP, 3382 BC
18. Enoch was born when his father Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old.
{Ge 5:18}
687d AM, 1397 JP, 3317 BC
19. Methuselah was born when Enoch, his father, was sixty-five years old. {Ge
5:21}
874d AM, 1584 JP, 3130 BC
20. Lamech was born when his father Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven
years old. {Ge 5:25}
930d AM, 1640 JP, 3074 BC
21. Adam, the father of all mankind, died at the age of nine hundred and thirty
years. {Ge 5:5}
987d AM, 1697 JP, 3017 BC
22. Enoch, the seventh from Adam at the age of three hundred and sixty-five
years, was translated by God in an instant, while he was walking with him, that
he should not see death. {Ge 5:23,24 Heb 11:5} [E3]
1042d AM, 1752 JP, 2962 BC
23. Seth, the son of Adam, died when he was nine hundred and twelve years old.
{Ge 5:8}
1056d AM, 1766 JP, 2948 BC
24. Noah, the tenth from Adam, was born when his father Lamech was a hundred
and eighty-two years old. {Ge 5:29}
1140d AM, 1850 JP, 2864 BC
25. Enos, the third from Adam, died when he was nine hundred and five years
old. {Ge 5:11}
1235d AM, 1945 JP, 2769 BC
26. Cainan, the fourth from Adam, died when he was nine hundred and ten years
old. {Ge 5:14}
1290d AM, 2000 JP, 2714 BC
27. Mahalaleel, the fifth from Adam, died when he was eight hundred and
ninety-two years old. {Ge 5:17}
1422d AM, 2132 JP, 2582 BC
28. Jared, the sixth from Adam, died when he was nine hundred and sixty-two
years old. {Ge 5:20}
1536a AM, 2245 JP, 2469 BC
29. Before the deluge of waters over the whole wicked world, God sent Noah, a
preacher of righteousness, to them, giving them a hundred and twenty years to
repent from their evil ways. {1Pe 3:20 2Pe 2:5 Ge 6:3}
1556d AM, 2266 JP, 2448 BC
30. Noah was five hundred years old when his first son, Japheth, was born. {Ge
5:32 10:21} [L4]
1558d AM, 2268 JP, 2446 BC
31. Noah's second son, Shem, was born two years later because two years after
the flood, Shem was a hundred years old. {Ge 11:10}
1651d AM, 2361 JP, 2353 BC
32. Lamech, the ninth from Adam, died when he was seven hundred and
seventy-seven years old. {Ge 5:31}
1656a AM, 2365 JP, 2349 BC
33. Methuselah, the eighth from Adam, died when he was nine hundred and
sixty-nine years old. He was the oldest man that ever lived. (Riddle: Who
lived the longest of all men, yet died before his father? Editor.) {Ge 5:24,27}
34. On the tenth day of the second month of this year (Sunday, November 30),
God commanded Noah that in that week he should prepare to enter the ark.
Meanwhile the world, totally devoid of all fear, sat eating and drinking, and
marrying and giving in marriage. {Ge 7:1,4,10 Mt 24:38}
35. In the 600th year of the life of Noah, on the seventeenth day of the second
month (Sunday, December 7), he, together with his children and living creatures
of all kinds, had entered into the ark. God sent a rain on the earth for forty
days and forty nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty
days. {Ge 7:4,6,11-13,17,24}
36. The waters abated until the seventeenth day of the seventh month
(Wednesday, May 6), when the ark came to rest upon one of the mountains of
Ararat. {Ge 8:3,4}
37. The waters continued receding until, on the first day of the tenth month
(Sunday, July 19), the tops of the mountains were seen. {Ge 8:5}
38. After forty days, that is, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month
(Friday, August 28), Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven.
{Ge 8:6,7}
39. Seven days later, on the eighteenth day of the eleventh month (Friday,
September 4), as may be deduced from the other seven days mentioned {Ge 8:10},
Noah sent out a dove. She returned after seven days, on the twenty-fifth day of
the eleventh month (Friday, September 11). He sent her out again and towards
evening she returned, bringing the leaf of an olive tree in her beak. After
waiting seven more days, on the second day of the twelfth month (Friday,
September 18), he sent the same dove out again, but this time she never
returned. {Ge 8:8-12}
The Second Age of the World
1657a AM, 2366 JP, 2348 BC
40. When Noah was six hundred and one years old, on the first day of the first
month (Friday, October 23), and the first day of the new post-flood world, the
surface of the earth was now all dry. Noah removed the covering of the ark.
{Ge 8:13}
41. On the 27th day of the second month (Thursday, December 18), the earth was
entirely dry. By the command of God, Noah left the ark with all that were with
him in the ark. {Ge 8:14-19}
42. After he left the ark, Noah offered sacrifices to God for his blessed
preservation. God restored the nature of things destroyed by the flood. He now
permitted men to eat meat for their food, and he gave the rainbow for a sign of
the covenant which he made with man at this point. {Ge 8:15-9:17}
43. Man's lifespan was now half of what it had previously been.
1658d AM, 2368 JP, 2346 BC
44. Arphaxad was born to Shem when he was a hundred years old, two years after
the flood. {Ge 11:10}
(The Septuagint incorrectly inserted the name of Cainan in the genealogy. John
Gill [c. 1760 AD] wrote: {See Gill on "Lu 3:36"}
"Ver. 36. Which was the son of Cainan....] This Cainan is not mentioned by
Moses in Ge 11:12 nor has he ever appeared in any Hebrew copy of the Old
Testament, nor in the Samaritan version, nor in the Targum; nor is he mentioned
by Josephus, nor in 1Ch 1:24 where the genealogy is repeated; nor is it in
Beza's most ancient Greek copy of Luke: it indeed stands in the present copies
of the Septuagint, but was not originally there; and therefore could not be
taken by Luke from there, but seems to be owing to some early negligent
transcriber of Luke's Gospel, and since put into the Septuagint to give it
authority: I say early, because it is in many Greek copies, and in the Vulgate
Latin, and all the Oriental versions, even in the Syriac, the oldest of them;
but ought not to stand neither in the text, nor in any version: for certain it
is, there never was such a Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, for Salah was his son;
and with him the next words should be connected...."
Since this was written, the oldest manuscript we have of Luke, the P75, was
found. It dates to the late second century AD and does not include Cainan in
the genealogy. This verse in Luke should not be used to prove the genealogies
in Genesis have gaps because it has poor textual authority. Editor.)
1693d AM, 2403 JP, 2311 BC
45. Salah was born when his father Arphaxad was thirty-five years old. {Ge
11:12}
1723d AM, 2433 JP, 2281 BC
46. Eber was born when Salah, his father, was thirty years old. {Ge 11:14}
[L5]
1757d AM, 2467 JP, 2247 BC
47. When Eber was thirty-four years old, Peleg, his son, was born. {Ge 11:16}
He called him Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. {Ge 10:25 1Ch 1:19}
If this happened at the day of his birth, then it seems that when Peleg was
born, Noah, who formerly knew all the places which were now covered with bushes
and thorns, divided the land among his grandchildren. When this was done, they
then went from those eastern parts (where they first went from the mountains of
Ararat) into the valley of Shinar. {Ge 11:2} [E4] Here the people impiously
conspired, as we find in the Apocrypha, {Apc Wis 10:5} to hinder their
dispersion, which had been commanded by God and begun by Noah (this can be seen
by comparing the following verses: Ge 11:4, 6, 8, 9). They co-operated together
to build the city and tower of Babylon. God frustrated this project by the
confusion of languages he sent among them. (Hence it took the name of Babel.
{Ge 11:9}) The dispersion of nations followed. Many companies and colonies
settled down in various places according to their languages. The thirteen sons
of Joktan, the brother of Peleg, as recorded in Ge 10:26-30 were among the
captains and heads of the various companies. These brothers were not yet born
when Peleg was born. Eber was only thirty-four years old when Peleg was born to
him. Even if we suppose that Joktan was born when Eber was only twenty years of
age, and that Joktan's oldest son was born to him when he was likewise twenty
years old, yet still it appears that the oldest son of Joktan must be six years
younger than Peleg. So that at least the youngest of those thirteen sons of
Joktan, namely, Jobab and three other brothers of his who are mentioned before
him, must be younger still. The countries in which they settled, and which were
rich in gold: Sheba, {Ps 72:15} Ophir {1Ki 9:28} and Havilah, {Ge 2:11} were
named after these men. Because of their youth, these brothers could not have
been capable of such an expedition of leading colonies until some years after
Reu was born to Peleg.
48. Man's lifespan was now a quarter of the length it was before the flood.
1762d AM, 2472 JP, 2242 BC
49. The Tower of Babel happened five years after the birth of Peleg, according
to Georgius Syncellus' translation of the Book of Sothis. {*Manetho, Book of
Sothis, l. 1. 1:239}
1771a AM, 2480 JP, 2234 BC
50. Nineteen hundred and three years elapsed from this time to the capture of
Babylon by Alexander the Great. This calculation was made according to the
astronomical observations by Porphyry and the number of years is as we find
recorded in Simplicius. {Simplicius, De Caelo, l. 2} He affirmed that these
observations were taken to Greece from Babylon by Callisthenes at Aristotle's
request. From these writings it appeared that the Babylonians devoted
themselves to the study of astronomy, even from the very days of Nimrod, from
whom all that region took the name of the land of Nimrod. {Mic 5:6} Nimrod
built Babylon and was the instigator of the building of the Tower of Babel
according to Josephus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 1. c. 4. s. 3. (118) 4:57}
Moses affirmed that the royal seat of that kingdom was here. {Ge 10:10} Nimrod
made Babylon famous in those days. {Jer 5:15} {See note on 3674a AM.
<<1891>>}
1787d AM, 2497 JP, 2217 BC
51. Reu was born when Peleg, his father, was thirty years old. {Ge 11:18}
1816d AM, 2526 JP, 2188 BC
52. Constantinus Manasses stated that the Egyptian state lasted sixteen hundred
and sixty-three years. Counting backward from the time that Cambyses, king of
Persia, conquered Egypt, leads us to this date. About this time Mizraim, the
son of Ham, led his colony into Egypt. Hence, Egypt was sometimes called the
land of Mizraim, sometimes of Ham. {Ps 105:23,27 106:21,22} It was from this
that the Pharaohs later boasted that they were the sons of ancient kings. {Isa
19:11} {See note on 3479b AM. <<981>>}
1819d AM, 2529 JP, 2185 BC
53. Serug, or Saruch, was born when Reu was thirty-two years old. {Ge 11:20}
[L6]
1849d AM, 2559 JP, 2155 BC
54. Nahor was born when Serug, his father, was thirty years old. {Ge 11:22}
1878d AM, 2588 JP, 2126 BC
55. Terah was born when Nahor, his father, was twenty-nine years old. {Ge
11:24}
1915c AM, 2625 JP, 2089 BC
56. At this time Egialeus, king of the city of Sicyon west of Corinth in
Peloponnesus, began his reign thirteen hundred and thirteen years before the
first Olympiad. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:17}
1920c AM, 2630 JP, 2084 BC
57. A people from Arabia bordering upon Egypt, called by the Egyptians Hyksos,
meaning Shepherd Kings, invaded Egypt. They took Memphis and took over all of
lower Egypt bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. Salatis, their first king,
reigned nineteen years. {*Manetho, 1:81} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 14.
(77) 1:193}
1939c AM, 2649 JP, 2065 BC
58. Bnon, their second king, reigned for forty-four years. {*Manetho, 1:83}
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 14. (80) 1:195}
1948d AM, 2658 JP, 2056 BC
59. When Terah was seventy years old, Haran, the oldest of his three sons, was
born. {Ge 11:26} Abram was not born for another sixty years, as we shall see
later. Haran was later the father-in-law of the third brother Nahor. Haran
died before his father, Terah, left Ur of the Chaldeans. Haran had a daughter,
named Milcah, who was married to Abram's brother Nahor. {Ge 11:28,29}
1983c AM, 2693 JP, 2021 BC
60. At this time Apachnan reigned in Egypt for thirty-six years and seven
months. {*Manetho, 1:83} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 14. (80) 1:195} 1996d
AM, 2706 JP, 2008 BC
61. Peleg, the sixth from Noah, died two hundred and nine years after the birth
of Reu. {Ge 11:19}
1997d AM, 2707 JP, 2007 BC
62. Nahor, the ninth from Noah, died a hundred and nineteen years after the
birth of his son Terah. {Ge 11:25}
2006d AM, 2716 JP, 1998 BC
63. Noah died when he had lived nine hundred and fifty years, three hundred and
fifty years after the deluge. {Ge 9:28,29}
2008c AM, 2718 JP, 1996 BC
64. Abram was born. He was seventy-five years old when Terah his father died
at the age of two hundred and five years. {Ge 11:32 12:1,4 Ac 7:4}
2018c AM, 2728 JP, 1986 BC
65. Sarai, who is also called Iscah the daughter of Haran, {Ge 11:29,30}, was
born and was ten years younger than her husband Abraham. {Ge 17:17}
2020b AM, 2730 JP, 1984 BC
66. Apophis reigned in Egypt for sixty-one years. {*Manetho, 1:83} {*Josephus,
Apion, l. 1. c. 14. (80) 1:195}
2026d AM, 2736 JP, 1978 BC
67. Reu, the seventh from Noah, died two hundred and seven years after the
birth of Serug. {Ge 11:21} [E5]
2049d AM, 2759 JP, 1955 BC
68. Serug, the eighth from Noah, died two hundred years after the death of
Nahor. {Ge 11:23}
2079b AM, 2789 JP, 1925 BC
69. About this time, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, or Elimais, situated between
Persia and Babylon, conquered the kings of Pentapolis—Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah,
Zeboiim and Bela, or Zoar. These served him for twelve years. {Ge 14:1,2,4}
2081b AM, 2791 JP, 1923 BC
70. Jannas reigned in Egypt for fifty years and one month. {*Manetho, 1:83}
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 14. (80) 1:195}
2083a AM, 2792 JP, 1922 BC
71. God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go into the land that he
would show him. {Ge 15:7 Jos 24:2,3 Ne 9:7 Ac 7:2-4} [L7] Ur was located in
Mesopotamia according to Stephen, the first martyr. The historian Abarbenel
noted on the passage in Genesis {Ge 11:28-32} that Ur was the city of those
priests and mathematicians who, from their art, were called by the name of
Chaldeans. By this name, even in Chaldea itself, those Genethliaci, or
recorders of genealogies, were distinguished and singled out from the rest of
the magi or wise men of that country, as we find in Daniel. {Da 2:2,10 4:7
5:11} They taught Terah and his sons idolatry. {Jos 24:2} Terah therefore took
Abram his son, and Lot, Abram's nephew and the son of Haran, and Sarai, Terah's
daughter-in-law and Abram's wife, and started their journey together from Ur of
the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran, still in that
same country of Mesopotamia, where they remained because of the great infirmity
and sickness of Terah. Terah lived for two hundred and five years and died in
Haran. {Ge 11:31,32}
The Third Age of the World
2083c AM, 2793 JP, 1921 BC
72. After Abram's father Terah died, God again called Abram from his own
country, kindred and his father's house. A further promise and evangelical
covenant of blessing was given to him. That is, in his blessed seed, our Lord
Jesus Christ, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. {Ge 12:1,2 Ac 7:4}
From the time of the giving of this promise and Abram's immediate departure, we
mark the start of those four hundred and thirty years which Abram and his
posterity spent in foreign lands. {Ex 12:40,41 Ga 3:17} The first and last day
of this pilgrimage was on the 15th of the month of Abib, which in this year was
Thursday, May 5, according to the Julian Calendar by our calculations.
73. Therefore, on this day, Abram, when he was seventy-five years old, obeyed
the call of God. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, the son of Haran, with
all the substance he had acquired and the souls which God had given him in
Haran. He set out on his journey and at length came into the land of Canaan,
through which he passed until he came to a place called Sichem, to the oak of
Moreh, {Ge 12:4-6} which is mentioned later. {Ge 35:4 Jos 24:25,26 Jud 9:6}
Here God promised Abram that he would give this land to his seed, and Abram
built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him there. Departing from there,
he went toward the east into the hill country called Luz, later known by the
name of Bethel. {Ge 28:19} There he again built an altar and called on the name
of the Lord. From there he continued his journey and came into the south part
of that country, which borders Egypt. {Ge 12:7-9}
2084a AM, 2793 JP, 1921 BC
74. A famine caused Abram to leave there and go down into Egypt. To avoid
danger, Sarai his wife said she was his sister. She was taken into Pharaoh's
house, but was returned unharmed not long after that, with many gifts and
presents. They were given safe passage and allowed to depart from Egypt. {Ge
12:10-20} [L8]
2084c AM, 2794 JP, 1920 BC
75. Abram and Lot returned to Canaan. The country which they chose was not
able to feed both men's herds of cattle. Therefore they parted company, and Lot
went into the country of Sodom. After Lot's departure, the Lord renewed to
Abram the promise of the possession of the land of Canaan and of Abram's
numberless posterity. Abram left that place between Bethel and Hai, where he
had formerly built an altar, and lived in the plain of Mamre near Hebron. There
he built an altar to the Lord. {Ge 13}
2091 AM, 2801 JP, 1913 BC
76. Bera, king of Sodom, with the rest of the petty kings of Pentapolis,
rebelled and shook off the yoke of Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, in the thirteenth
year of their subjection to him. {Ge 14:4}
2092 AM, 2802 JP, 1912 BC
77. In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer, with other confederate princes,
Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar and Tidal, king of the nations, combined
their forces against those petty kings who had revolted against him. They first
destroyed the Rephaims, the Zuzims, the Emims and the Horites, who inhabited all
that region, which later was possessed by the Amalekites and the Ammonites.
After that, they routed the kings of Pentapolis in the valley of Siddim and
carried away Lot as prisoner with all the plunder of Sodom and Gomorrah. When
tidings came to Abram, he armed three hundred and eighteen of his own servants.
With his confederates, Aner, Eshcol and Mamre, they overtook Chedorlaomer and
his army at Dan with the prey they had taken. There they defeated and killed
many of them, pursuing the remainder to Hobah, to the west of Damascus. They
rescued Lot and the other prisoners from the enemies' hands, and brought them
back again with all that they had lost. When Abram returned from the slaughter
of Chedorlaomer and the other kings, Melchizedek the king of Salem met him and
blessed him. He was a priest of the Most High God. Abram, in return, offered
him the tithe of the spoil which he had taken. He kept nothing of the spoil for
himself but restored to every man his own possessions again. What was not owned
he left to his troops for their service. {Ge 14:1-24} [E6]
78. Abram was grieved because he had no heir. Hence, God promised him a
posterity equal to the stars of heaven in number. God said that after his
descendants had spent four hundred years of sojourning and affliction in a land
that was not theirs, he would bring them into the land promised to Abram, and
bound his word with a covenant to perform it. {Ge 15:1-21}
2093c AM, 2803 JP, 1911 BC
79. Sarai was longing for that blessed seed. After ten years had passed since
they came into the land of Canaan, she gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to
Abram for a wife. Hagar conceived a child by her master Abram. She was badly
treated by Sarai for her insolence. She fled from Sarai, but when she was
warned by God through his angel, she returned and submitted herself to Sarai.
{Ge 16:1,13,14}
2094b AM, 2804 JP, 1910 BC
80. When Abram was eighty-six years old, Hagar bore him Ishmael. {Ge 16:15,16
17:24,25}
2096d AM, 2806 JP, 1908 BC
81. Arphaxad, the third from Noah, died four hundred and three years after the
birth of Salem. {Ge 11:13}
2107c AM, 2817 JP, 1897 BC
82. God made a covenant with Abram when he was now ninety-nine years old,
concerning the seed of Isaac. He was to be born of Sarai about the same
time—twelve months later. God gave him the sign of circumcision (changing both
their names, Abram into Abraham and Sarai into Sarah) for a sure pledge and
testimony of his promise. He promised also to favour Ishmael, the firstborn,
for his father's sake. These promises Abraham received and embraced with a
genuine faith. Hence in true obedience, he circumcised himself when he was
ninety-nine years of age, along with his son Ishmael, who was then thirteen
years old, and all his household. He did this on the same day it had been
commanded. {Ge 17:21-26}
83. Abraham invited angels, who looked like travelling men, into his house, and
gave them a feast. [L9] These angels reiterated the promise of the birth of
Isaac for Sarah's sake. They foretold the judgment of utter destruction which
God intended to bring upon the five cities of the plain. Abraham, fearing what
would become of Lot and his family in Sodom, made intercession to God for the
sparing of that place. {Ge 18:23-33 19:29} Sodom, Gomorrah, Adamah and Zeboiim,
for their horrible sins, perished by fire and brimstone that rained down upon
them from heaven. {Ge 19:1-29} These cities were to be an example to all wicked
men in times to come, of the pains of that everlasting fire to be inflicted on
them in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death. {2Pe 2:6,7
Jude 1:7 Re 19:20 20:10 21:8} The monument of this remains to this day, even the
Dead Sea. The valley of Siddim, where these five cities stood in former times,
was full of brimstone and salt pits. This has since grown into a vast lake
which, because of the brimstone still floating in it, is called Laces
Asphaltitis or Lake of Brimstone and because of the salt, Mare Salsum or the
Salt Sea. {Ge 14:3,10 De 3:17 29:23 Zep 2:9} {Apc Wis 10:6,7} Concerning this,
Solinus wrote: {Alexander Polyhistor, Chronography, l. 1. c. 35.}
"A long way off from Jerusalem, there lies a woeful spectacle, of a country to
be seen, which was blasted from heaven and appeared by the blackness of the
earth falling all to cinders. There were in that place before this, two cities,
one called Sodom, the other Gomorrah, where if an apple grew, though it appeared
to be ripe, yet it was not at all edible. Its outer skin contained nothing
within it except a stinking smell, mingled with ashes and if ever so lightly
touched, sent forth a smoke and the rest fell into a light dust of powder."
84. Lot was hurried from Sodom by the angels and avoided its destruction by
fleeing to a little city called Bela, also called Zoar. His wife was turned
into a pillar of salt. Lot was afraid to continue at Zoar and left the plain
country. He went into the hills, as he had been commanded, taking his two
daughters with him. {Ge 19:30-38}
85. Abraham left the plain of Mamre and went toward the south to dwell in a
place which was later called Beersheba. He was entertained at Gerar by
Abimelech, king of the Philistines. Sarah once again was presented as Abraham's
sister and so was taken from him. After he was reproved and punished by God,
Abimelech the king restored her untouched to her husband and presented him with
generous gifts and presents. By Abraham's prayers, Abimelech and all his house
were healed of their infirmities. {Ge 20:1-18}
2108c AM, 2818 JP, 1896 BC
86. When Abraham was now one hundred years old and Sarah ninety years old,
their promised son Isaac was born to them. {Ge 17:17,21 21:1-7 Ro 4:19} Not
long after this, Moab and Benammi were born to Lot, who was both father and
grandfather to them. {Ge 19:36-38}
2113c AM, 2823 JP, 1891 BC
87. After Isaac was weaned, Abraham made a great feast. Sarah saw Ishmael, the
son of Hagar the Egyptian, jesting with her son or rather mocking (as that word
is translated in Genesis {Ge 39:14}) or even persecuting (as the apostle
expounds it {Ga 4:29}). Ishmael, who was the older, claimed the right of
inheritance to his father's estate. Sarah asked Abraham to cast out Ishmael,
for the son of this handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac. Though he
took this very grievously at first, yet he did it, for God had said to him, in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. {Ge 21:8-12 Ro 9:7,8 Heb 11:17,18} Hence, we
observe that Isaac is called his only begotten son. It was four hundred and
thirty years from the time Abraham left Haran {Ga 3:17 Ex 12:41} until the
exodus. Abraham was told his seed would be persecuted for four hundred years.
Based on these verses (Ga 4:29, Ge 15:13 Ac 7:6), we conclude that this
persecution started at this time when Isaac was five years old and Abraham made
this feast. This was thirty years after Abraham left Haran. When writing on
the traditions of the Jews on Genesis, Jerome stated:
"Among the Hebrews there is a difference of opinions. Some hold that this was
done in the fifth year after Isaac's weaning, others in the twelfth. [L10] We,
choosing a shorter time of age, reckon that Ishmael was cast out with his
mother, when he was eighteen years old."
88. This declaration of the elect seed and persecution (as the apostle terms
it) of Isaac by Hagar's son, is taken by many of the Jews referred to above as
the start of the four hundred year period during which the seed of Abraham was
to be a stranger and sojourner and afflicted in a foreign land, as God had
foretold him. {Ge 15:13 Ac 7:6} For those four hundred years were to be
completed at the same time as the departure of the children of Israel from
Egypt, as deduced from the following verses. {Ge 15:14 Ex 12:35,36,41} Although
the ordinary reading from Augustine referred this to the very birth of Isaac as
the start of the period. If this is so, then it would imply that scripture
called the number of four hundred and five by the round number of four hundred
years. [E7]
2126d AM, 2836 JP, 1878 BC
89. Salah, the fourth from Noah, died four hundred and three years after the
birth of Heber. {Ge 11:15}
2131b AM, 2841 JP, 1873 BC
90. Assis reigned in Egypt for forty-nine years and two months. {*Manetho,
1:83} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 14. (80) 1:195}
2133 AM, 2843 JP, 1871 BC
91. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up his son Isaac. He knew
that by his power God was able to raise him again from the dead, from where he
also received him back, in a manner of speaking. {Ge 22:1-19 Heb 11:17,19}
92. Josephus said that at this time Isaac was twenty-five years old.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 1. c. 13. s. 3. (227) 4:113} He was at that time in
the years of his prime. This may be deduced from the fact that he was able to
carry the large quantity of wood required for the burning and consuming of such
a burnt offering as Abraham intended to make. {Ge 22:6}
2145c AM, 2855 JP, 1859 BC
93. Sarah died in Hebron at the age of a hundred and twenty-seven. Abraham
bought the cave for her burial in the field of Machpelah from Ephron the
Hittite, for a sum of money. This was the first possession that he had in the
land of Canaan. {Ge 23:1,2,19,20} As Abraham is known to us as the father of
the faithful, {Ro 4:11,12} so is Sarah called the mother of the faithful. {1Pe
3:6} She is the only woman whose age at death is mentioned in the scripture.
2148b AM, 2858 JP, 1856 BC
94. Abraham was very careful about getting a wife for his son Isaac. He sent
his chief servant, Eliezer of Damascus {Ge 15:2} (after first taking an oath
from him), to find a wife for his son. Eliezer, under the guidance of God, went
into Mesopotamia and there obtained for him Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel,
sister to Laban, the Syrian. Isaac received her for his wife and brought her
into the tent of his mother Sarah. By the solace and contentment which he found
in her, he dispelled the sadness and grief which he had had since the death of
his mother, three years earlier. {Ge 24:1-67} He was forty years old when he
married Rebekah. {Ge 25:20}
95. About this time the reign of the Argives in Peloponnesus began, one
thousand and eighty years before the first Olympiad, according to Eusebius
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:31} as derived from Castor of Rhodes.
96. The first king that reigned there was Inachus, who reigned fifty years. It
was to him that Erasmus mentioned in the proverb Inacho Antiquior. Whom also I
refer to that most learned Varro {Varro, Human Antiquities, l. 17.} (cited by
Gellius {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 1. c. 16. s. 3,4. 1:81} and
Macrobius, {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1.}), who said that to the beginning of
Romulus are reckoned more than eleven hundred years. For from the beginning of
Inachus' reign, according to the calculations of Castor, there mentioned, to the
Palilia, or solemn festivals of Pales (the country goddess among the Romans)
mentioned by Varro, are reckoned eleven hundred and two years.
2158d AM, 2868 JP, 1846 BC
97. Shem, the son of Noah, died five hundred years after the birth of Arphaxad.
{Ge 11:11} [L11]
2167d AM, 2877 JP, 1837 BC
98. When Rebekah had been barren for nineteen years after her marriage, Isaac,
in great devotion, prayed to God on her behalf and she conceived twins. {Ge
25:21}
2168c AM, 2878 JP, 1836 BC
99. When the twins strove in the womb, Rebekah asked counsel of God. God said
that two differing and opposing nations should come from her in that birth, of
which the one should be stronger than the other, and that the older would serve
the younger. But at the time of her travail, the first that came forth was
ruddy and hairy all over and he was named Esau. Then the other came forth,
holding the former by the heel, as a result of which he was called Jacob.
Isaac, their father, at the time of their birth, was sixty years old. {Ge
25:22-26 Ho 12:3}
2179 AM, 2889 JP, 1825 BC
100. Manetho wrote {*Manetho, 1:101} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (94)
1:201} that Tethmosis, king of Thebes or upper Egypt, besieged the Hyksos or
Shepherd Kings, in a place called Auaris (containing ten thousand Egyptian
arourae of ground or about eight square miles) with an army of four hundred and
eighty thousand men. When he found no possibility of taking them, he agreed
with them that they should leave Egypt and go freely wherever they wished.
They, with all their substance and goods, and in number no fewer than two
hundred and twenty-four thousand entire households, passed through Egypt and
went by way of the wilderness into Syria. Because of the fear they had of the
Assyrians, who then controlled all Asia, they built themselves a city in what is
now called the land of Judah. This city was large enough to hold the entire
number of inhabitants, and was called Hierosolyma or Jerusalem. Manetho stated
this in Josephus. {*Manetho, 1:87} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 14. (85)
1:197} Apion called this king Amosis. {Apion, Egyptian Affairs, l. 4.} He
proved from the annals of Ptolemy of Mendes, an Egyptian priest, that he was
contemporary with Inachus, mentioned previously, king of the Argives. {*Tatian,
Address to the Greeks, l. 1. c. 39. 2:80} Justin Martyr, {*Justin Martyr,
Exhortation to the Greeks, l. 1. c. 9. 1:277} Clement of Alexandria
{*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:324} and others also stated this. All
followed Josephus' and Justus Tiberiensis' account and understood it to have
meant the Israelites, because they were primarily shepherds. {Ge 46:33,34 47:3}
These writers deduced this because this people went from Egypt into Canaan and
they imagined that Moses was contemporary with Inachus and was the man that
conducted them on that journey. However, those things seem rather to refer to
the Phoenicians, whom Herodotus {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 89. 3:395} reported as
having come from the Red Sea and settled in Palestine. The departure of the
Israelites from Egypt happened many years after Inachus, as the course of this
chronology undoubtedly shows. [E8]
2180c AM, 2890 JP, 1824 BC
101. When Tethmosis or Amosis drove out these shepherds, he reigned in lower
Egypt for twenty-five years and four months. {*Manetho, 1:101} {*Josephus,
Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (94) 1:201}
2183c AM, 2893 JP, 1821 BC
102. Abraham died when he was a hundred and seventy five years old and a
hundred years after entering Canaan. He was buried by his two sons, Isaac and
Ishmael, in his cave at Machpelah, with Sarah his wife. {Ge 25:7-10} He lived
fifteen years after the birth of Jacob, with whom he is said also to have lived
in tents. {Heb 11:9}
2187d AM, 2897 JP, 1817 BC
103. Heber, the fifth from Noah, died four hundred and thirty years after the
birth of his son Peleg. {Ge 11:17} This man lived the longest of any who were
born after the flood. He outlived Abraham and from him Abraham came first to be
surnamed the Hebrew. {Ge 14:13} In later times, all the posterity of his
grandchild Jacob were known by the same name. {Ge 40:15} Canaan was called the
land of the Hebrews while the Canaanites were still living there.
2200 AM, 2910 JP, 1804 BC
104. About this time, the promises previously made to Abraham, so it seemed,
were starting to be fulfilled in his son Isaac. To wit:
a) I will multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven. [L12]
b) To thy seed will I give this land.
c) In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. {Ge 26:4}
2205d AM, 2915 JP, 1799 BC
105. Chebron reigned in Egypt for thirteen years. {*Manetho, 1:101}
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (94) 1:201}
2208c AM, 2918 JP, 1796 BC
106. When Esau was forty years old, he took two wives from the land of the
Hittites. One was Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and the other was Bashemath,
the daughter of Elon. These two wives were very troublesome and a grief to
Rebekah. {Ge 26:34,35 27:46 28:8}
107. At this time the Ogygian Deluge occurred in the country of Attica one
thousand and twenty years before the first Olympiad. This was noted by
Hellanicus, Castor, Thallus, Diodorus Siculus, Alexander Polyhistor and by
Julius Africanus, as we find it recorded in Eusebius. {Alexander Polyhistor,
Chronography, l. 3.} {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 10. c. 10. (488d) 1:524}
{*Julius Africanus, l. 1. c. 13. s. 3. 6:133} Varro said this flood
happened three hundred years earlier.
2218d AM, 2928 JP, 1786 BC
108. Amenophis reigned in Egypt for twenty years and seven months. {*Manetho,
1:101} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (94) 1:201}
2231b AM, 2941 JP, 1773 BC
109. Abraham's son, Ishmael, died at the age of a hundred and thirty-seven
years. {Ge 25:17}
2239b AM, 2949 JP, 1765 BC
110. Amessis, the sister of Amenophis, reigned in Egypt for twenty-one years
and nine months. {*Manetho, 1:101} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (95)
1:201}
2242 AM, 2952 JP, 1762 BC
111. Euechous began to reign in Chaldea two hundred and twenty-four years
before the Arabians. {Julius Africanus, Chronographies} He seems to have been
the same as Belus of Babylon, or Jupiter Belus, who was worshipped later by the
Chaldeans as a god. {Isa 46:1 Jer 50:2 51:44}
2245a AM, 2954 JP, 1760 BC
112. Forty-four years before his death, Isaac had grown old and blind. He sent
his oldest son Esau to hunt some venison for him. Isaac planned to bless him
when he returned. However, Jacob his younger son, by the subtle advice of his
mother, came disguised in Esau's clothing, bringing Isaac's favourite meat.
Thus he stole away the blessing, unknown to his father. In time, the blessing
seemed to have been forgotten, but God confirmed it to Jacob for ever. By so
doing, Jacob incurred his brother's hatred. Jacob journeyed to Mesopotamia, to
his uncle Laban, both to avoid his brother's plan to kill him, {Ge 27:41} and to
find a wife from his own kindred. {Ge 28:1} Before he left, he asked for his
father's blessing on the trip.
2245c AM, 2955 JP, 1759 BC
113. On his journey he saw a vision of a ladder. In this vision God confirmed
to him all the blessings formerly given to his father. God assured him of his
grace and favour for the future. In remembrance of this experience, Jacob set
up a pillar. He changed the name of the place from Luz to Bethel and made a vow
to God there. When he came to Haran he stayed with Laban for a month. He fell
in love with Rachel, his daughter, and agreed to serve Laban seven years for
her. {Ge 27:1 29:20 Ho 12:12} Jacob was seventy-seven years old this year.
114. When Esau knew Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away into Mesopotamia
to find a wife there, and that Jacob did not like the daughters of Canaan, he
tried to pacify his father's mind. Isaac was offended with him for marrying his
first wife from Canaan. Therefore, he took a second wife, Mahalath, the
daughter of Ishmael, the son of Abraham. {Ge 28:6-9}
115. Esau had now been a married man for thirty-seven years and was
seventy-seven years old. Jacob, who was as old as he, had all this while lived
as a bachelor. Remembering his father's command, he asked Rachel to be given to
him for his wife because he had served the allotted time for her. {Ge 29:21}
[L13] He was now of an age suitable for marriage, as Tremellius explained it.
Tho. Lidyate understood this to have happened after the first month he was with
Laban. However, Laban intended from the beginning to make full use of Jacob's
industry and his managerial skills before he would give his daughter to Jacob.
This no doubt was mentioned when Jacob first arrived, since this was the main
purpose for his coming. {See note on 2259 AM. <<122>>}
116. However, by Laban's fraud, Leah, the older daughter, was put into Jacob's
bed on the marriage night instead of Rachel. Nevertheless, at the end of the
marriage week, {Jud 14:12,17} Rachel was also espoused to him, on the condition
that Jacob would serve seven more years for her. [E9] Laban gave his
maid-servant Zilpah to Leah for a handmaid, and to Rachel he gave Bilhah.
117. When Leah was not so favoured by Jacob as Rachel was, God made Rachel
barren and Leah was made a mother of four children in four successive years.
{Ge 29:21-30:24}
2246 AM, 2956 JP, 1758 BC
118. Leah bore Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. {Ge 29:32} Reuben later lost his
birthright for his incest committed with Bilhah, his father's concubine. {Ge
35:22 49:3,4 1Ch 5:1}
2247 AM, 2957 JP, 1757 BC
119. Simeon was born.
2248 AM, 2958 JP, 1756 BC
120. Levi was born. {Ge 29:34}
2249c AM, 2959 JP, 1755 BC
121. Judah was born, from whom the Jews took their name. {Ge 29:35}
2259c AM, 2969 JP, 1745 BC
122. God blessed Rachel and she bore Joseph to Jacob at the end of his fourteen
years of service. Jacob asked permission from Laban to return to his own
country. But he remained there six more years on another condition made between
him and his father-in-law Laban for a certain part of his flock. {Ge
30:22,25,31 31:41} Jacob was ninety-one years old when Joseph was born and
consequently, seventy-seven years old when he first began to serve Laban. This
may be deduced, for Jacob was a hundred and thirty years old when he first stood
before Pharaoh at the time when the seven years of plenty were past and two
years of the famine were over. {Ge 45:6 47:9} Joseph was then thirty-nine years
old. He was thirty years old when he first came before Pharaoh, just before the
seven years of plenty. {Ge 41:32,46}
2261a AM, 2970 JP, 1744 BC
123. Mephres reigned in Egypt for twelve years and nine months. {*Manetho,
1:101} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (95) 1:201}
2265c AM, 2975 JP, 1739 BC
124. As the jealousy and malice grew between Laban and his sons against Jacob,
God warned him to return to his own country. Jacob told his wives of this.
When Laban was shearing his sheep at the latter end of the spring, {see note on
2974c AM. <<438>>} Jacob secretly fled from Laban, after twenty years
of
service. He took all his goods, wives and family, and crossed over the
Euphrates River. {Ge 31:1,3,19,21,38,41} It is said that Jacob had twelve sons
born to him in Mesopotamia. {Ge 35:22-26} Benjamin is not to be counted among
them, because he was born later in the land of Canaan near Bethlehem. {Ge
35:18,19} In a similar manner, the twelve apostles are counted to make up that
number, even though Judas was dead. {Joh 20:24 1Co 15:1} Concerning this
matter, see Augustine in his 117th question on Genesis.
125. Three days later, Laban (for he was three days' journey from the place
where Jacob kept his sheep) heard that his son-in-law was gone, so he pursued
him with some of his friends and kindred. After travelling seven days, he
caught up with him at Mount Gilead, the mountain which was named from this
meeting. After many arguments, they were finally reconciled. As a testimony
and monument to their covenant and agreement, Jacob erected a pillar from a heap
of stones. [L14] Laban, the Syrian, called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob, the
Hebrew, called it Galeed, meaning the heap of a testimony, or witness between
the two. {Ge 31:22-48}
126. After Jacob left Laban in peace, he was frightened by the news of his
brother Esau's coming with a band of men. He divided his company into two
groups and called on God. He sent messengers ahead of him with presents for his
brother Esau. After wrestling with the angel, he was given the name of Israel
by God. Jacob matured spiritually by depending more on the help of God than on
man. {Ge 32:1-32 Ho 12:3,4}
127. Esau entertained his brother courteously. After much entreaty he accepted
Jacob's presents, and offered to escort him on his way. When Jacob refused,
Esau left. Then Jacob went on to Succoth. He called the place Succoth because
he built a house there, and folds for his sheep. After passing over the Jordan
River, he came into Canaan and pitched his tent in Shechem, a city of the
Shechemites. He bought a parcel of ground from the sons of Hamor the Shechemite
for a hundred pieces of silver. There he built an altar, which he called by the
name of El-Elohe-Israel or The mighty God, the God of Israel. {Ge 33:1-20} It
was in this same place that Abraham had built his first altar before {Ge 12:6,7}
and where Jacob's well was, near Mount Gerizim. When the woman of Samaria spoke
to our Saviour, she said that her fathers worshipped in this mountain. {Joh
4:5,6,12,20} This mountain was located in the country of the Shechemites. {Jud
9:7}
2273d AM, 2983 JP, 1731 BC
128. Mephramuthosis reigned in Egypt for twenty-five years and ten months.
{*Manetho, 1:101} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (95) 1:201}
2276c AM, 2986 JP, 1728 BC
129. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he told his father of his brothers'
wickedness and was told by God that he would one day be the head of all his
father's family. For this his brothers hated him so much that they plotted his
death. At length they agreed to sell him as a slave into a far country. When
they drew him from the pit that they had cast him into, they sold him for twenty
pieces of silver to the Ishmaelite and Midianite merchants. Both of these
peoples were descended from their grandfather, Abraham. [E10] Joseph was
carried away by them to Egypt. There they sold him to be a slave to Potiphar,
the captain of Pharaoh's guard. {Ge 37:2-36} Justin mentioned Joseph and said:
{Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 2.}
"His brothers envied the excellency of his wisdom. After getting him privately
into their hands, they sold him to foreign merchants who carried him into
Egypt."
2287c AM, 2997 JP, 1717 BC
130. When Joseph was thrown into prison, he interpreted the dreams of two
officers of Pharaoh's court. This was two years before he was brought before
Pharaoh. {Ge 40:1-41:1}
2288c AM, 2998 JP, 1716 BC
131. Isaac died at the age of a hundred and eighty years and was buried by his
two sons, Esau and Jacob. {Ge 35:28,29}
2289b AM, 2999 JP, 1715 BC
132. When Pharaoh could not have his dreams interpreted by his own wise men,
and after hearing of Joseph's skill in expounding dreams, he sent for Joseph,
who was thirty years old when he explained the king's dreams. The first dream
was that of the seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.
Moreover, he advised Pharaoh how to provide from the abundance of the first
seven years of plenty, for the famine of the next seven years of scarcity.
Thereupon Pharaoh, by the general agreement of all his nobles, made him governor
of the whole kingdom. He gave him a wife, Asenath, the daughter of
Potiphar, governor of On or Heliopolis in Egypt. {Ge 41:1-46} Justin stated
that he was very important to Pharaoh. For he said: {Justin, Trogus, l. 36.
c. 2.}
"Joseph was most skilled in explaining dreams or signs and was the first that
found out and taught the art of the interpretation of dreams. Neither was there
any part of divine or human intention, which seemed to be unknown to him in that
he foretold a famine many years before it happened. [L15] All Egypt would have
perished unless the king, by his advice, had ordered grain to be stored many
years before the famine came."
133. From the harvest of this year started the seven years of plenty. In these
years Joseph laid up an enormous supply of grain. Asenath, his wife, bore him
two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. {Ge 41:47-53}
2296c AM, 3006 JP, 1708 BC
134. The seven years of the famine began from the harvest of this year as
predicted. Joseph's wisdom in laying up supplies not only sustained Egypt, but
also helped relieve the famine in the neighbouring countries. {Ge 41:54-57}
2297d AM, 3007 JP, 1707 BC
135. Jacob sent ten of his sons into Egypt to buy grain. Joseph pretended not
to know them and took them for spies. They were held and not released until
Simeon, who was the instigator and the the oldest of those who consented to sell
Joseph, was cast into prison. He was held to ensure that the rest should bring
to Joseph Benjamin, their youngest brother, who was born of Rachel, Joseph's own
mother. When they were sent away, they carried their grain and the money they
had paid for it. This money was placed into each of their sacks by the secret
orders of Joseph. They told their father Jacob all that had happened to them.
They also told him it was necessary that their youngest brother Benjamin return
with them to Egypt. They were not able to convince Jacob to allow this to
happen. {Ge 42:1-38}
2298b AM, 3008 JP, 1706 BC
136. When Jacob was hard pressed by the famine, he sent his sons again and with
them Benjamin, their brother. He sent twice the amount of money needed to buy
grain, as well as other gifts for Joseph. When they arrived, they were
courteously entertained and feasted by Joseph. Simeon was released and returned
to them. {Ge 43:1-34}
137. When they were on their way home, Joseph arrested them for stealing his
cup. This he had secretly caused to be hidden in Benjamin's sack. When they
were confronted with their crime, they tried to show their honesty by the fact
that they returned the money they found in their sacks when they came into Egypt
the second time. They offered to die, or to be his slaves, if any such thing
could be proven against them. But in the end the cup was found with Benjamin.
They returned to Joseph and yielded themselves to him to be his slaves. When
Joseph refused and said he would have no one but him with whom the cup was
found, Judah then humbly offered himself to serve him in Benjamin's stead. {Ge
44:1-34}
138. When Joseph heard Judah make this offer, he revealed himself to his
brothers. The brothers were all terrified at the remembrance of the sin which
they had committed against Joseph. He comforted them by showing how that deed
of theirs was an act of God's providence. From the king's supplies, Joseph
ordered wagons and provisions for their journey. They were to go back and to
return with all speed, bringing their father and their families with them. When
they told their father, he did not believe them, until he saw the wagons and
other supplies necessary for them to move to Egypt. {Ge 45:1-28}
139. After Jacob offered sacrifices and was encouraged by God, he and all his
family went down into Egypt. This was in the beginning of the third year of the
famine when Jacob was a hundred and thirty years old. {Ge 45:6 46:1-27 47:9 De
26:5}
140. After Joseph had told Pharaoh of the arrival of his family in Egypt, he
brought his father and five of his brothers to Pharaoh. When Pharaoh had
communed with them, he assigned them a suitable place in the land of Goshen,
where Joseph took care of all their needs. {Ge 47:1-12} [E11]
2299d AM, 3009 JP, 1705 BC
141. Mephramuthosis died and Thmosis reigned in Egypt for nine years eight
months. {*Manetho, 1:101} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (96) 1:201}
2300 AM, 3010 JP, 1704 BC
142. Joseph received all the money in Egypt and Canaan in return for the grain
that he had sold to them. {Ge 47:14} [L16]
2301 AM, 3011 JP, 1703 BC
143. When all the money of both these countries had been used up, the Egyptians
sold all their flocks and herds of cattle to Joseph in exchange for food to live
on for that year. {Ge 47:15-17}
2302 AM, 3012 JP, 1702 BC
144. At the end of this year, when they had no money or cattle left, the
Egyptians sold both their lands and freedom to Joseph. In return he supplied
them with grain for food and seed for planting in this seventh and final year of
the famine. He was to be repaid in the following year, when the famine was
over. So that Pharaoh would have a clear title and full possession of the lands
he purchased, Joseph moved everyone from one side of the country to the other
away from their original habitations according to the Targums of Jonathan and
Jerusalem. {See Gill on "Ge 47:21"} He assigned land to every man to till and
work. A law was made giving Pharaoh a fifth part of the increase, or yield.
Only the lands of the chief governors and the priests were not bought up by
Pharaoh. These individuals lived on an allowance from the king and had no need
to sell their lands for food as did everyone else. {Ge 47:18-26}
2309b AM, 3019 JP, 1695 BC
145. Amenophis reigned in Egypt for thirty years and ten months. {*Manetho,
1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (96) 1:201}
2315c AM, 3025 JP, 1689 BC
146. When Jacob was about to die, he adopted Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of
Joseph. He blessed them by revelation from God and set the younger ahead of the
older. {Ge 48:1-22 Heb 11:21} Calling his sons together, he blessed them all
and foretold what should befall them in the future, including in his blessing
that memorable prophesy of the Messiah. Then he gave orders to them concerning
his burial. He died at a hundred and forty-seven years of age, the last
seventeen years of which were spent in the land of Egypt. {Ge 49:1-33 47:25}
2315d AM, 3025 JP, 1689 BC
147. Joseph had the body of Jacob embalmed, a process taking forty days, while
all the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. With Pharaoh's permission, the
body was conveyed into the land of Canaan by Joseph and his brothers,
accompanied by a large number of the principal men of Pharaoh's court. {Ge
50:1-13} Here, lamentation was again made over him for seven days, after which
he was buried with his kindred in the cave at Machpelah according to his wishes.
{Ge 50:15-21}
2340b AM, 3050 JP, 1664 BC
148. Orus reigned in Egypt for thirty-six years and five months. {*Manetho,
1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (96) 1:201}
2369c AM, 3079 JP, 1635 BC
149. By faith, Joseph on his death bed spoke of the departure of the children
of Israel from Egypt. He asked that his bones might be carried with them. He
was a hundred and ten years old when he died, having seen his children to the
third generation. {Ge 50:22-26 Heb 11:22} The sons of Ephriam were Shuthelah,
Becher and Tahan. The son of Shuthelah was Eran or Taran. {Nu 26:35,36} The
sons of Manasseh were Macher and Gilead. {Nu 26:29} From here it is that the
Greek expositors, speaking of the families of Jacob and Joseph, which were said
to consist of seventy souls, {Ge 46:27 De 10:22} added to the total these five
who were born to Joseph in Egypt {1Ch 7:20-29} to make up a number of
seventy-five persons in all. It appears that Joseph ruled and governed the
state of Egypt for eighty years under several Pharaohs. Eusebius correctly
noted and summarised it thus: {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:40}
"Joseph was made governor of Egypt when he was thirty years old and when his
father Jacob was a hundred and twenty-two years old. He headed the government
for eighty years. After he died, the Hebrews were held in bondage by the
Egyptians for a hundred and forty-four years. {Ge 15:13 Ex 12:40 Ac 7:7 Ga
3:17} [L17] Therefore, the whole time which the Hebrews spent in Egypt was two
hundred and fifteen years, starting from the time that Jacob and his sons went
down into Egypt."
150. On this supposed problem of the number of people in Jacob's family, {Ge
46:27 De 10:22 Ac 7:14} Gill stated: {See Gill on "Ac 7:14"}
"and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen
souls; which seems to disagree with the account of Moses, who says that "all the
souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten,"
{Ge 46:27} But there is no contradiction; Moses and Stephen are speaking of
different things; Moses speaks of the seed of Jacob, which came out of his
loins, who came into Egypt, and so excludes his sons' wives; Stephen speaks of
Jacob and all his kindred, among whom his sons' wives must be reckoned, whom
Joseph called to him: according to Moses' account, the persons that came with
Jacob into Egypt, who came out of his loins, and so exclusive of his sons'
wives, were sixty-six; to which if we add Jacob himself, and Joseph who was
before in Egypt, and who might be truly said to come into it, and his two sons
that were born there, who came from his loins, as others in the account may be
said to do, who were not yet born when Jacob went down, the total number is
seventy, {Ge 46:26,27} out of which take the six following persons, Jacob, who
was called by Joseph into Egypt, besides the seventy-five souls, and Joseph and
his two sons then in Egypt, who could not be said to be called by him, and
Hezron and Hamul, the sons of Pharez not yet born, and this will reduce Moses'
number to sixty-four; to which sixty-four, if you add the eleven wives of
Jacob's sons, who were certainly part of the kindred called and invited into
Egypt, {Ge 45:10,19 45:5} it will make up completely seventy-five persons: or
the persons called by Joseph may be reckoned thus: his eleven brethren and
sister Dinah, fifty-two brother's children, to which add his brethren's eleven
wives, and the amount is seventy-five: so that the Jew {R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna,
par. 2. c. 63. p. 450.} has no reason to charge Stephen with an error, as
he does; nor was there any need to alter and corrupt the Septuagint version of
Genesis {Ge 45:27} to make it agree with Stephen's account; or to add five names
in it, in Acts {Ac 7:20} as Machir, Galaad, Sutalaam, Taam, and Edom, to make up
the number seventy-five; and it may be observed, that the number is not altered
in the version of Deuteronomy {De 10:22} which agrees with the Hebrew for
seventy persons."
151. The book of Genesis ends with the death of Joseph and contains the history
of the first twenty-three hundred and sixty-nine years of the world. This book
was written by Moses. This is the opinion of the Talmudists and so it is
generally believed by all the Hebrews. {Talmudists, Baba-bathra, l. 1.} Job
likely lived toward the end of the period of history that was recorded in
Genesis. The following account of Job was given by Severus Sulpicius:
{*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 1. c. 13. 11:76}
"At this time lived Job, a man embracing the law of nature, and the knowledge of
the true God and very righteous and rich in goods. He was renowned for the fact
that neither the enjoyment of those riches corrupted him, nor the loss of them
depraved him in any way. When he was plundered of all his goods by Satan,
bereft of his children and at last tormented with grievous botches and sores in
his body, he did not sin. Having first been commended by God himself, he was
later restored to his former health and had double of what he possessed before."
2376c AM, 3086 JP, 1628 BC
152. Acencheres, the daughter of Orus, reigned in Egypt for twelve years and
one month. {*Manetho, 1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (96) 1:201}
2385 AM, 3095 JP, 1619 BC
153. Levi died in Egypt when he was a hundred and thirty-seven years old. {Ex
6:16} He was the grandfather on the mother's side to Moses and Aaron and great
grandfather on the father's side. Levi had begotten Kohath in Canaan, who died
at the age of a hundred and thirty-three years, and a daughter called Jochebed
in Egypt. Amram, the son of Kohath, married Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, his
own aunt. From that marriage (expressly forbidden later {Le 18:12 20:19}),
Moses, Aaron and their sister Miriam were born. Amram lived a hundred and
thirty-seven years, just as long as his grandfather and father-in-law, Levi.
[E12] He died shortly before the Israelites left Egypt. {Ex 2:1 6:18,20 Nu
26:59} {See Perer. in chapter 2 of Exodus disputations 1.}
2388d AM, 3098 JP, 1616 BC
154. Rathotis, the brother of Acencheres, reigned in Egypt for nine years.
{*Manetho, 1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (96) 1:201}
2389 AM, 3099 JP, 1615 BC
155. When the Ethiopians came from as far as the Indus River, they settled on
the borders of Egypt. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:53} This was that place
to which the Panegyrist referred, when he said: (This may be an allusion to the
work of Isocrates. Editor.)
"Let the victories of Egypt give place to this: under which the Ethiopian and
Indus both did tremble"
156. J. Potken, in his Ethiopian Psalter printed at Rome in 1513 AD, wrote that
Ethiopia, which is to the south of Egypt, was called the Greater India.
2397d AM, 3107 JP, 1607 BC
157. Acencheres I, the son of Rathotis, reigned in Egypt for twelve years and
five months. (Josephus does not say this was Acencheres II, although there was
a queen who reigned earlier with the same name. {See note on 2376c AM.
<<152>>}
Editor.) {*Manetho, 1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (97) 1:201}
2410a AM, 3119 JP, 1595 BC
158. Acencheres II reigned in Egypt for twelve years and three months.
{*Manetho, 1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (97) 1:201}
2422b AM, 3132 JP, 1582 BC
159. Harmais reigned in Egypt for four years and one month. {*Manetho, 1:103}
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (97) 1:201}
2426c AM, 3136 JP, 1578 BC
160. Ramesses reigned in Egypt for one year and four months. {*Manetho, 1:103}
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (97) 1:201}
2427d AM, 3137 JP, 1577 BC
161. Ramesses Miamun reigned in Egypt for sixty-six years and two months.
{*Manetho, 1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (94) 1:201} The latter
part of the surname seems to have been derived from the first part of the name
Amenophis. His son after him as well as several of his predecessors were called
by this name. The former part was from the word Mou which with the Egyptians
signifies water, [L18] as Josephus {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 32. (286)
1:279} and Clement {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 23. 2:335} and Suidas (in
Mwu) affirmed. The school of writers called mythologists, who relate everything
in the form of fables, gave him the name of Neptune, the feigned god of the
waters. {See note on 2533 AM. <<261>>} This is that new king, who did
not know
Joseph. He was born after Joseph's death and had no recollection of the great
benefits Egypt had received through him. By his policy the Egyptians,
frightened at the number and strength of the Israelites in the land, subjected
them to heavy and cruel bondage. In addition to tilling the ground, they forced
them to also build the king's citadels and storehouses and the treasure cities
of Pithom and Raamses or Ramesis. {Ex 1:8-14 Ac 7:18,19} The latter took its
name, as Mercator thinks, from Ramesses, the founder of it, and the other
perhaps from his queen.
2430b AM, 3140 JP, 1574 BC
162. Aaron was born three years before his brother Moses, eighty-three years
before the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. {Ex 7:7}
2431b AM, 3141 JP, 1573 BC
163. The ungodly king could not prevail with Shiphrah and Pua, the two
principal midwives of the Hebrew women, to force them to kill all the male
children of the Hebrews. Therefore he proclaimed a barbarous edict to destroy
them all by drowning them in the river. {Ex 1:15-22 Ac 7:19,20} This edict was
made sometime between the birth of Aaron and the birth of Moses.
2433 AM, 3143 JP, 1571 BC
164. Forty-eight years after the death of her father Levi, Jochebed bore Moses
to Amram, her nephew and husband. Moses was eighty years old when he first
spoke to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go. {Ex 7:7} Forty years later
Moses died in the twelfth month when he was one hundred and twenty years old.
{De 31:2 34:7}
165. Because Moses was an attractive child, as Justin mentioned him to have
been, his parents hid him three months in their house. {Justin, Trogus, l. 36.
c. 2.} They disregarded the king's edict. {Ex 2:2 Ac 7:20 Heb 11:23}
166. He was discovered through the diligent inquiry made by the king's
searchers and their bad neighbours, the Egyptians. The parents put him in a
basket of bulrushes, daubed over with slime and pitch, and placed this in the
reeds by the side of the river. His sister Miriam or Mary {Nu 26:59 1Ch 6:3}
stood nearby to see what would become of him. He was found there by Pharaoh's
daughter. (Josephus called herThermutis, as did Epiphanius, and others.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 2. c. 9. s. 5. (224) 4:261} {Epiphanius, Panarion})
She gave him to be nursed, as it happened, to his own mother Jochebed!
Afterward she adopted him as her son and had him brought up and instructed in
all the science and learning of the Egyptians. {Ex 2:5-10 Ac 7:21,22}
2448 AM, 3158 JP, 1556 BC
167. Cecrops, an Egyptian, transported a colony of the Sais into Attica {*Diod.
Sic., l. 1. c. 28. s. 4. 1:91} and there set up the kingdom of the
Athenians. This was seven hundred and eighty years before the first Olympiad,
according to Eusebius, {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:58} as derived from
Castor. The chronology of the Isle of Pharos, published by that most learned J.
Selden as part of his Marmora Arundelliana, deduced the history or antiquities
of Greece from the time of Cecrops. After the time of Cecrops and Moses, who
was his contemporary, many notable things happened in Greece. The accounts of
these items may have been exaggerated with time and became encrusted as myths.
Eusebius stated:
"Now the history of the events so celebrated among the Greeks is later than the
time of Cecrops. For after Cecrops comes the deluge in the time of Deucalion,
and the conflagration in the time of Phaeton, and the birth of Ericthonius, and
the rape of Proserpina, and the mysteries of Demeter, and the establishment of
the Eleusinian mysteries, the husbandry of Triptolemus, the abduction of Europa
by Zeus, the birth of Apollo, the arrival of Cadmus at Thebes, and still later
than these, Dionysus, Minos, Perseus, Asclepius, the Dioscuri, and Hercules."
{*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 10. c. 9. (484c) 1:518} [L19]
2465 AM, 3175 JP, 1539 BC
168. In the eighteenth year of Cecrops, the Chaldeans went to war against the
Phoenicians. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:61}
2466 AM, 3176 JP, 1538 BC
169. In this war the Chaldeans were defeated, and the Arabians reigned in the
country of Babylon for two hundred and sixteen years before Belus the Assyrian
came to reign there. The first king of the Arabians was Mardocentes, who
reigned there forty-five years, {Julius Africanus} and seems to have been the
man that is called Merodach. He was later reputed by the Babylonians to be a
god. {Jer 50:2} Succeeding kings copied their names from him as Merodoch,
Baladan and Evil-merodach.
2473b AM, 3183 JP, 1531 BC
170. When Moses was forty years old, he visited his brethren, the Israelites.
When he saw their sad plight and observed an Egyptian smiting a man of the
Hebrews, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. [E13] This became
known not only to his brethren but also to Pharaoh, who sought to kill him.
Moses fled from there into the land of Midian. He married Zipporah, the
daughter of Jethro, and stayed there forty years. {Ac 7:23-30 Ex 2:11-22 3:1
18:1,2 Nu 10:29 Jud 4:11}
2474 AM, 3184 JP, 1530 BC
171. Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, was born forty years before he was sent by
Moses to spy out the land of Canaan. {Jos 14:7,10}
2494a AM, 3203 JP, 1511 BC
172. Ramesses Miamun died in the sixty-seventh year of his reign about 1511 BC
or 3203 JP. The length of his tyrannical reign seems to be noted in these words:
"And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the
children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried...." {Ex
2:23}
173. This was the cruel bondage which, even after Ramesses was dead, they
endured for about a further nineteen years and six months under his son
Amenophis, who succeeded him. For Manetho in his writings assigns so long a
time and no longer to his reign. {*Manetho, 1:103} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1.
c. 15. (97) 1:201} Although Manetho is filled with a multitude of old wives'
tales, all of which were abundantly refuted by Josephus in his first book
Against Apion, yet there are two truths in Manetho's work:
a) Amenophis was the father of Sethosis or Ramesses who was the first king of
the following dynasty, or successive principality, which Manetho makes to be the
nineteenth dynasty. (This was not under the other Amenophis who was the third
king in the eighteenth dynasty as Josephus vainly surmised.) It was the time of
the second Amenophis in the eighteenth dynasty that the Israelites left Egypt,
under the conduct of Moses, according to Manetho's account. {*Diod. Sic., l.
1. c. 28. s. 2,3. 1:91}
b) The Egyptians called him Amenophis, the father of Sethosis and Harmais. The
Greeks called Amenophis by the name of Belus, the father of Egyptus and Danaus.
Thallus, the historian (as he was cited by Theophilus {*Theophilus, Ad
Autolycum, l. 3. c. 20. 2:117} and Lactantius), confirmed that the time of
Belus agreed with the time of this Amenophis. However, the fable writers
confounded this Belus of Egypt with Belus the Assyrian, the father of Ninus.
They stated that certain colonies were transported by this Belus (who was
drowned in the Red Sea) into the country of Babylon. {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c.
28. s. 1. 1:91}
2513b AM, 3223 JP, 1491 BC
174. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush that was not consumed by fire,
while he was keeping his father-in-law Jethro's sheep on the mountain of Horeb.
He called him to deliver His people Israel from their slavery and bondage in
Egypt. Moses sought with many excuses to avoid doing this. At length however,
he undertook the work, being persuaded partly by miracles and partly by
assurance given him of the help of God. His brother Aaron was to be his
assistant. {Ac 7:30-35 Ex 3:1-4:18}
175. Moses left Jether or Jethro, his father-in-law, and with his family
journeyed toward Egypt. [L20] Because he had neglected to circumcise his son
Eliezer, he was stopped by God along the way and not allowed to continue until
he had done this. He sent back his wife Zipporah and his two sons, Gershom and
Eliezer, to her father Jethro. Now freed from all encumbrance, he returned to
Mount Horeb and met his brother Aaron. He went on and performed his duty,
confirmed by miracles in the public sight of the children of Israel. {Ex
4:18-31 18:1-6}
176. Moses and Aaron declared God's message to Pharaoh, who charged them with
being leaders in a rebellion and angrily sent them away. He increased the
burden of the Israelites more than ever. Their overseers were beaten because
the people could not do all the work. In vain they complained to Pharaoh. They
complained to Moses and Aaron, and Moses complained to God. God graciously
heard him and told him to finish the work he had begun. {Ex 5:1-22}
177. Moses returned to the Israelites with renewed promises of deliverance from
God, but because of their oppression they did not heed him. Whereupon God
commanded him to go again to Pharaoh. {Ex 6:1-30}
178. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they were commanded
by God to return again to Pharaoh. When the magicians by their sorcery imitated
the miracles of Aaron's rod becoming a serpent, Pharaoh became more obstinate
than ever. {Ex 7:1-13} The leaders of these magicians who opposed Moses were
Jannes and Jambres, as named by the apostle Paul. {2Ti 3:8} These names are
noted not only by the Jews in their Talmudical treatise of twxnm (that is,
Oblations, c. 9.) where they are called by the names of ynxwy and armmw, that
is Jochanne and Mamre. They are mentioned also in the Chaldee Paraphrase, where
they are attributed to Jonathan, {Ex 1:15 7:11} as well as among some heathen
writers, for Numenius Apamea, a Pythagorean philosopher, in his third book psi t
agayou cited by Eusebius. He related this account: {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 9.
c. 8. (411d) 1:443}
"Jannes and Jambres, interpreters of the mysteries of Egypt, were in great
repute at the time when the Jews were sent out of Egypt. It was the opinion of
all men that these were inferior to none in the art of magic. For by the common
opinion of the Egyptians, these two were chosen to oppose Moses, the ring leader
of the Jews. Moses' prayers were most prevalent with God and they alone were
able to undo and end all those most grievous calamities that God brought upon
all the Egyptians."
179. Pliny in reference to this stated: {*Pliny, l. 30. c. 2. (11) 8:285}
"There is also another sect of magicians, derived from Moses, Jannes, Lotapes
and the Jews."
180. Pliny is, however, incorrect on two counts:
a) In reckoning Moses among the magicians.
b) In making Jannes and Lotapes to be Jews.
181. But when Pharaoh's magicians could do no more, God through Moses sent his
ten plagues upon the Egyptians. These are summarised in the Psalms. {Ps
78:1-72 105:1-45}. According to the Jews, these plagues lasted a year, but in
fact they were all sent within one month, in the following order. [E14]
182. About the eighteenth day of the sixth month of the year (which later
became the twelfth month {Ex 12:2}), God sent the first plague of the waters
turning into blood. {Ex 7:17-24} After seven days, {Ex 7:25} about the
twenty-fifth day, came the second plague of the frogs which were removed the
next day. {Ex 8:1-15} On about the twenty-seventh day, the third plague of lice
was brought upon them. {Ex 8:16-19}
183. About the twenty-eighth day, Moses threatened them with a fourth plague of
flies. These came on the twenty-ninth day and were all taken away on the
thirtieth day. {Ex 8:20-32} [L21]
2513c AM, 3223 JP, 1491 BC
184. About the first day of the seventh month (which shortly after was made the
first month of the year {Ex 12:2}), Moses warned them of a fifth plague, which
he brought upon them the following day. This was the plague of murrain in
cattle. {Ex 9:1-7} About the third day, the sixth plague of boils and botches
came upon man and beast. This plague came on the magicians as well. {Ex
9:8-11} Concerning this, Justin wrote: {Justin, Trogus, l. 36.}
"The Egyptians were afflicted with scabs and sores. When they were warned by an
oracle, all that were infected with that disease expelled Moses out of Egypt,
lest the plague should spread further among the people."
185. Note here also the sayings collected from Diodorus {*Diod. Sic., l. 40.
c. 3. s. 3. 12:281} as recorded by Photius. {Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 620}
186. About the fourth day, Moses warned them of a seventh plague which came
upon them on the fifth day of the same month. It was a plague of thunder and
rain and grievous hail, mixed with fire, which ruined their flax and barley,
because the barley was then in the ear and the flax bolled. But the wheat and
the rye were not harmed, because they were not yet out of the ground. {Ex
9:12-35} Hence Nicolaus Fullerus correctly noted that this plague happened in
the month of Abib. {Fullerus, Miscellany, l. 3. p. 389}
187. About the seventh day Moses threatened them with an eighth plague. The
next day the plague of locusts came and devoured all the green plants. He
removed the plague about the ninth day. {Ex 10:1-19}
188. The month of Abib, which was the seventh month, was from this time on made
the first month of the year. {Ex 12:2 13:4} This was for a memorial of their
departure from the land of Egypt. From the beginning of this month we deduce
the epochs of the Jewish calendar. {Nu 9:1,2 Ex 40:17}
189. On the tenth day of this month (which was Thursday, April 30 according to
the Julian Calendar), the feast of the Passover and Unleavened Bread was
instituted. The Pascal lamb was chosen and killed four days later. {Ex 13:3,6}
190. Meanwhile Moses brought upon them the ninth plague of three days of
darkness. It was so dark during that time, that none of the Egyptians left the
place where they were while the darkness lasted. The Israelites, however, had
light in their dwellings throughout that time. {Ex 10:22,23}
191. On the fourteenth day (Monday, May 4), Moses spoke with Pharaoh for the
last time. Moses told him of the tenth plague which was to come upon him. This
was the death of all the firstborn of Egypt, which came to pass on the following
night at midnight. In a rage, Pharaoh ordered Moses to get out of his sight and
never come back again. {Ex 10:24-29 11:1,4-8} That evening they celebrated the
Passover. {Ex 12:11,12}
The Fourth Age of the World
2513c AM, 3223 JP, 1491 BC
192. On the fifteenth day of the first month (Tuesday, May 5), at midnight, the
firstborn of all Egypt were killed. Pharaoh and his servants quickly sent away
the Israelites with all their goods and the plunder which they had received from
the Egyptians. {Ex 12:33,35,36} It was exactly four hundred and thirty years
from the first pilgrimage of Abraham's departure from Canaan to the day they
were set free from bondage. The day after the Passover they journeyed toward
Ramesses with about six hundred thousand men, besides women and children. {Ex
12:29-31,37,41,51 Nu 33:3} [L22] From there on, the camps are recorded by Moses.
{Nu 33} In writing to Fabiola, Jerome expounded symbolically the Hebrew meaning
of the words in his treatise of their forty-two camps. I assume the first camp
to be at Ramesses. Thus then:
1) At Ramesses, where the Israelites had been placed by Joseph, {Ge 47:11}, they
all met those who now either lived among the Egyptians {Ex 3:22} or who at that
time were scattered over all Egypt to gather stubble. {Ex 5:12}
2) At Succoth, Moses first declared to them the commandments of God for the
yearly keeping of the Passover and the sanctifying of the firstborn. {Ex
13:1-22}
3) At Etham, on the border of the wilderness, the Lord led them with a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. {Ex 13:20,21}
4) At Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baalzephon, Pharaoh
overtook them with his army. There Moses divided the waters with his rod and
they passed through the midst of the Trythraean or Red Sea, into the desert of
Etham. When Pharaoh and his army tried to follow, they were all drowned when
the waters came together again. [E15] At dawn, the Israelites were completely
freed from the bondage of the Egyptians, whose bodies they saw floating all over
the sea and washed up on the shore. {Ex 14:26-30} They sang a song of praise
and thanksgiving to God for their deliverance. {Ex 15:22} This song is called
the song of Moses and is the first song of deliverance sung by the Hebrews. {Re
15:3}
This happened on the twenty-first day of the first month on the last day of the
feast of Unleavened Bread, as appointed by God. This is the general opinion of
the Jews and is in accordance with known facts. {Ex 12:16}
From there they marched three whole days through the wilderness of Etham, from
Tuesday the 22nd to Thursday the 24th and they found no water anywhere along the
way. {Ex 15:22 Nu 33:8}
5) At Marah, named after its bitter waters, the people who had gone without
water three whole days began to murmur. Moses threw a piece of wood into the
water and made the waters drinkable. This taught the people over time to come
to put their trust in God. {Ex 15:23-26}
6) At Elim were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They camped
near those springs. {Ex 15:27 Nu 33:9}
7) This camp was by the Red Sea. {Nu 33:10}
193. Now we come to the second month.
8) On the fifteenth day (Thursday, June 4), the Israelites came to the place of
their eighth camp in the wilderness of Zin, between Elyma and Sinai. Because
they were hungry, they murmured against God and their leaders. Towards evening
God sent them quails and the next morning rained manna from heaven down on them.
They lived on manna for forty years until they entered the land of promise. {Ex
16:1-35}
9) They camped at Dophkah.
10) They camped at Alush.
11) At Rephidim the people murmured again because of thirst. [L23] (This place
was called Meribah and Massa.) Moses gave them water by striking the hard rock
with his rod. {Ex 17:1-7} This Rock followed them throughout the wilderness.
{Ps 78:16,20 105:41 1Co 10:4 De 8:15}
The Amalekites attacked the rear of the Israelites, who were all weary and tired
from their long journey in the wilderness. They killed some of the stragglers
and weakest among them. Moses sent out his servant Jehoshua or Joshua, the son
of Nun, to fight against them. {Ex 33:11} His proper name was Hosea, but Moses
changed it to Joshua, {Nu 13:16} or Jesus in the Greek. {Ne 8:17 Ac 7:45 Heb
4:8}
Joshua fought and defeated the Amalekites in Rephidim while Moses prayed on the
top of the hill. The people were commanded by God to utterly destroy and root
out that whole nation. As a memorial of this battle they built an altar there.
{De 25:17-19 Ex 17:8-16}
194. The third month.
12) In the desert of Sinai, the Israelites camped opposite Horeb and stayed
there almost a whole year. They left the wilderness of Sinai on the second day
of the second month, of the second year after coming out of the land of Egypt.
{Nu 10:11,12} They arrived there on the same day of the third month of the first
year, after coming out of Egypt. This was on the third day of the third month
(Monday, June 22), according to Fr. Ribera. {Ribera, De Temple, l. 5. c. 7.}
{Ex 19:1}
195. When Moses went up into the mount, God declared to him that he would renew
his covenant with the Israelites. He declared that he would bind them to
himself by a law and that he would favour and love all those who would observe
and keep that law. This they readily agreed to. God gave them two days to
prepare and sanctify themselves to receive that law. He forbade everyone except
Moses and Aaron to approach the mount. Afterward God came down to the mount in
great majesty as they all watched and trembled at the sight. {Ex 19:1-25}
196. With a terrifying voice, God proclaimed his law as contained in the ten
commandments. {Ex 20:1-26 De 5:1-33} This did not make void the promise of
grace made to Abraham four hundred and thirty years earlier. {Ga 3:17}
197. The people were terrified as God gave them many other laws. {Ex 20:21-23
De 4:13,14} These were written in the book of the covenant Moses gave to the
people. After this, Moses rose early in the morning and built an altar at the
foot of the mountain. He set up twelve pillars corresponding to the twelve
tribes of Israel. He sent twelve young men of the firstborn (as the Chaldee
paraphrase has it) whom the Lord had consecrated to himself {Ex 13.2 Nu 3:13
8:16,17} to be ministers of the holy things. {Ex 19:22} This was before the
Levitical priesthood was ordained. [E16] These men offered sacrifices, first
for sin and then as a thanksgiving to the Lord. Moses read to the people the
book of the covenant which contained the commandments found in Exodus. {Ex
20:1-23:33}. He then took the blood of the calves and goats that were offered,
and with water, scarlet wool and hyssop he sprinkled the book as well as the
twelve pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. This ratified that
solemn covenant between God and his people. {Ex 24:3-8 Heb 9:19,20}
198. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy men of the elders of Israel
went up into the mount and there beheld the glory of God. [L24] When the
remainder returned, Moses, with his servant Joshua, stayed there for a further
six days. On the seventh day God spoke to Moses and he continued there forty
days and forty nights. {Ex 24:9-18} This time includes those six days which he
spent waiting for the Lord. During this time, he ate no food nor drank water.
{De 9:9} He received God's commands concerning the construction of the
tabernacle, the priests' garments, their consecration, sacrifices and other
things as related in Exodus. {Ex 25:1-Ex 31:18}
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199. The fourth month.
200. When those forty days and forty nights were over, God gave Moses the two
tables of the law written in stone by God's own finger. {Ex 31:18 De 9:10,11}
God ordered him to go down quickly, for the people had already made a molten
calf to worship. Moses, in prayer, pleaded with God on their behalf, and having
prevailed, he went down from the mount. When he saw the people in the camp
keeping a festival in honour of their idol, he broke the tables of the law at
the foot of the mount. {Ex 32:1-19} Ever since this event, to this day the Jews
have kept a solemn fast on the fourteenth day of the fourth month. This has led
some men into the error that the forty days of Moses in the mount were to be
started from the day immediately following the giving of the ten commandments,
thus omitting altogether the intermediate time spent in writing and reading the
book of the covenant and sanctifying the covenant made between God and his
people with solemn rites and ceremonies. {Ex 24:1-18}
201. Moses burned and defaced the idol and the Levites killed three thousand of
the people. {Ex 32:20-29 De 9:21 33:9}
202. The next day Moses returned again to the mount and there again entreated
the Lord for the people. {Ex 32:30-32}
203. He commanded them to lay aside their gorgeous apparel and to set up the
tent of the congregation outside the camp. This tent was used until the
tabernacle was built by Bezaleel. The people, from a deep sense of God's wrath,
repented of their sins. Moses prayed that God himself should be their guide and
leader on their way, and not an angel as God had threatened. This prayer was
heard. {Ex 33:1-23}
204. God commanded Moses to get new tables of stone and to bring them with him
into the mount the next day. Moses brought them the next morning. When Moses
stood in the cleft of a rock, God passed by and showed him a glimpse of his
glory. {Ex 34:1-35}
205. Again Moses stayed another forty days and forty nights in the mount
without food or water and prayed for the people. {De 9:18 10:10} God was
appeased and renewed his covenant with the people, with certain conditions. He
gave his laws again and told Moses to write them down. God himself rewrote the
ten commandments on the tables which Moses brought to him. {Ex 34:10-28}
206. The sixth month.
207. After forty days, Moses returned from the mount with the tables in his
hand. Because his face shone, he covered it with a veil. He proclaimed the
laws of God to the people, ordering the observance of the Sabbath. He asked for
a free will offering to be made toward the building of the tabernacle. {Ex
34:1-35:35}
208. So that this offering could be done in an orderly manner, all males were
numbered from twenty years old and upward and there were found to be 603,550.
According to the law prescribed by God, {Ex 30:12,13} each contributed half a
shekel. The total sum amounted to a hundred talents of silver and seventeen
hundred and seventy-five shekels. {Ex 38:25,26} [L25] From this we gather that
among the Jews each talent amounted to three thousand shekels—every pound
containing sixty shekels. {Eze 45:12}. In addition to this poll tax from the
voluntary offering was the sum of twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and
thirty shekels of gold; and seventy talents and twenty-four hundred shekels of
brass. {Ex 38:24,29} As for other materials needed for the tabernacle, there
came in more than enough, and the people were commanded to stop giving! {Ex
36:5-7}
209. Bezaleel and Aholiab were appointed by God as the chief workmen of the
tabernacle. {Ex 31:2-6 35:30-35}
2514a AM, 3223 JP, 1491 BC
210. In the last six months of this year the tabernacle, the ark of the
covenant, the altar, the table of showbread, the priests' garments, the holy
ointments, the lampstands and other utensils and vessels belonging to the
sacrifices were finished in the desert at Mount Sinai and were brought to Moses.
{Ex 36:1-39:43} [E17]
2514b AM, 3224 JP, 1490 BC
211. God commanded Moses, that:
a) On the first day of the first month he should set up the tabernacle and
furnish it with all the items belonging to it. {Ex 40:2-8}
b) He should anoint them with holy oil and should consecrate Aaron and his sons
for the priesthood. {Ex 40:9-15}
212. He did this, but not both activities at the same time. {Ex 40:16} For on
the very day God appointed, he erected the tabernacle with everything belonging
to it. {Ex 40:17-33} The second command he performed later, at a time appointed
by God. {Le 8:1-13} It took seven days for the consecration of the priests and
altar. {Ex 29:35-37}
2514c AM, 3224 JP, 1490 BC
213. On the first day of the first month (Wednesday, April 21) of the second
year after they left Egypt, the tabernacle of the covenant was set up and was
filled with the glory of God. {Ex 40:2,17,34} From it God uttered his will and
commandments to Moses. These are recorded in Leviticus. {Le 1:1-7:38} In the
same year and this same first month, the Israelites, as commanded by God,
celebrated the passover on the evening of the fourteenth day (Tuesday, May 4).
On this day some of the people complained to Moses and Aaron that they could not
keep the passover with the rest of the congregation on the appointed day,
because they were unclean from touching a dead body. God made a law that all
such persons should keep their passover on the fourteenth day of the second
month if they could not keep it on the day first appointed. {Nu 9:1-14}
214. On the first day of the second month (Friday, May 21), God commanded Moses
to count the number of all the males of the children of Israel from twenty years
old to sixty by their tribes, except the Levites. He appointed the Levites to
the service of the tabernacle and assigned to them the various responsibilities
for setting it up, taking it down and moving and carrying it from place to
place. {Nu 1:1 26:64}
215. The census came to 603,550, {Nu 1:1,46} the same number as seven months
earlier, when they were taxed for a contribution toward the building of the
tabernacle. {Ex 38:26} [L26]
216. Moses, according to God's command, {Ex 29:1-37 30:22-30 40:9-15} anointed
the tabernacle and the altar and all the other things in it with the holy oil,
consecrating them to the Lord. He also consecrated Aaron and his four sons with
the same oil and with rites and ceremonies necessary for the execution of the
priestly office. He commanded them not to leave the tabernacle for seven days.
{Le 8:1-36} This was the time required for the consecration of themselves and
the altar. {Ex 29:35-37 Le 8:33}
217. Moses outlined the order and position of the tribes in their march and
encampments. {Nu 2:1-34}
218. The number of Levites from one month old and upward was found to be
twenty-two thousand and three hundred. {Nu 3:15-35} The twenty-two hundred
firstborn of the Levites managed the service of God in lieu of the firstborn of
Israel. {Nu 3:11-13} The number of the firstborn of the children of Israel
exceeded the entire number of the Levites (their firstborn deducted) by two
hundred and seventy-three. Therefore, these were taxed redemption money—five
shekels for every additional person. {Nu 3:39-50}
219. The Levites were set apart and consecrated to God for his service. Every
man was appointed a certain time when he was to perform his ministry. {Nu
8:5-26}
220. Eighty-five hundred and eighty Levites were between thirty and fifty years
old. Their offices and services were assigned among them according to their
families. {Nu 4:1-49}
221. All leprous and unclean persons were put out of the camp. The laws for
restoring of damages and of jealousy were ordained. {Nu 5:1-31}
222. The vow, the consecration and manner of the Nazarites was instituted. {Nu
6:1-27}
223. On the eighth day following the completion of the consecration, Aaron
offered sacrifices and oblations, first for himself and then for all the people.
All these offerings were consumed by fire that fell from heaven upon the altar.
This sign ensured that the people accepted that the priestly office among them
was ordained by God himself. {Le 9:1-24}
224. All the tabernacle was completely set up and anointed all over, together
with the utensils and things belonging to it. The altar which had been
consecrated for seven days was now dedicated by Aaron in making his first
oblation of sacrifices on it. The seven previous days had been ordained for
expiation and for the hallowing of the altar. {Ex 29:36,37}
225. The heads of the tribes brought six covered wagons and twelve oxen, and
jointly offered them before the tabernacle. All this was given to the Levites,
the sons of Gershon and Merari, for their duties. Every day leaders of the
tribes brought their various sacrifices and things required for the ministry of
the tabernacle and offered them toward its dedication. This took twelve days.
{Nu 7:1-11,84,88} [E18]
226. On this first day, Nahshon (from whom David descended and according to the
flesh, Jesus Christ himself) came and made his offering for the tribes of Judah.
Then the rest also made offerings, every one for his tribe, according to the
order in which they were ranked in their camps. {Nu 7:11-83}
227. Nadab and Abihu were Aaron's two oldest sons who had gone with their
father up into Mount Sinai and had seen the glory of God there. {Ex 24:1,9,10}
They went into the sanctuary with strange or common fire. This was not that
fire which fell from heaven, {Le 9:24} and which was perpetually to be kept
alive and continued for the burning of the sacrifices and incense in times to
come. {Le 6:12,13} They were struck dead on the spot by fire sent from heaven.
{Le 10:1,9 Nu 3:2-4 26:60,61} [L27] The priests were forbidden to make
lamentation for them. Moreover, because some priests' neglect of duty, all the
priests were ordered to abstain from wine and strong drink before they were to
go into the tabernacle. A law was also made that what was left of the
sacrifices should be eaten by the priests. Aaron's excuse for not doing this
was accepted by Moses. {Le 10:6-20}
228. Upon this occasion the law was made (about the tenth day of this month, as
it seems) that only the high priest should enter into the sanctuary and only
once in each year. This was to be on the day of atonement and the general fast,
which was to be kept on the tenth day of the seventh month. {Le 16:1-34}
229. On the fourteenth day of this month (Thursday, June 3), at evening, the
passover was to be celebrated by those who were unable to keep it a month
earlier because of their uncleanness. {Nu 9:1-23}
230. By God's command, the blasphemous son of an Israelite woman was carried
outside the camp and stoned to death. {Le 24:10-12,23}
231. All the laws contained in the last seventeen chapters of Leviticus seem to
have been made in this month.
232. God commanded two silver trumpets to be made to call the congregation
together for the times of their moving and marching and sacrificing. {Nu
10:1-18}
233. Jethro, who was also called Hobab, brought his daughter Zipporah, with her
two sons Gershom and Eliezer who were left with him, to Moses, his son-in-law.
He congratulated him and the people for their deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
He publicly declared, both by word and deed, his faith and devotion toward the
true God. In accordance with his advice, Moses delegated the government of the
people to various others and ordained magistrates for the deciding of lesser
issues. {Ex 18:1-27 De 1:9-18 Nu 10:29}
234. The nineteenth day of this month seems to have been the last day that the
twelve leaders of the tribes made their oblations for the dedication of the
altar. This day, Ahira made his offering for the tribe of Naphtali. {Nu
7:78,88}
235. On the twentieth day of the second month (Wednesday, June 9), God
commanded the Israelites to break camp and to start their journey to take
possession of the promised land. {Nu 10:11,12 De 1:6,7} Moses asked Jethro to
go along with him but he refused and returned home. {Nu 10:29,30 Ex 18:27}
236. The cloud rose from the tabernacle and they arranged themselves into four
squadrons, or battalions, and marched from Sinai. They had been there almost a
year. After three days' journey they came to the wilderness of Paran, {Nu
10:12,33} where they stayed and rested for twenty-three days.
13) At their thirteenth camp, at a place called Kibrothhattaavah, {Nu 33:16}
some who murmured were struck with fire from heaven. Hence that place was
called Tabor. They were saved by the intercession of Moses. However, they
again murmured and provoked God by their loathing of manna and desiring of flesh
to eat. {Nu 11:1-10 Ps 78:19-21}
237. Moses complained to God of the great burden of this government and desired
to be relieved from it. God chose seventy elders to help him. Two of these,
Eldad and Medad, prophesied in the camp. {Nu 11:10-17,24-30}
238. God gave the people quails for a whole month, not just for a day as he did
the year before. {Ex 16:12,13} He sent a most grievous plague among them. That
place was called Kibrothhattaavah, after the graves of those who lusted after
meat. {Nu 11:31-34 Ps 78:26-31 Ps 106:15}
14) The fourteenth camp was at Hazeroth. {Nu 11:35 33:17} Miriam and Aaron
spoke evil of Moses, their brother, because he had married a woman from
Ethiopia. [L28] Zipporah, his wife, was from Midian, which was a part of
Eastern Ethiopia, otherwise called Arabia. They made themselves equal in all
points with him. [E19] God honoured Moses over them and struck Miriam with
leprosy. She was sent outside the camp, but at the prayer of Moses she was
healed after seven days. {Nu 12:1-15 De 24:9}
2514d AM, 3224 JP, 1490 BC
239. Miriam was cleansed some time during the fourth month. Upon her return to
camp, the Israelites left that place.
15) They camped in Hazeroth, in the desert of Paran, {Nu 12:6 33:18} near
Kadeshbarnea. {Nu 13:26}
240. This was in the fifth month.
241. From the wilderness of Paran, {Nu 13:3} or Kadeshbarnea, {Nu 32:8 De
1:19,22 9:23 Jos 14:7} at the time of the ripe grapes, God commanded Moses to
send twelve spies, one from every tribe, {De 1:22,23} to thoroughly spy out the
land. Moses and the people were agreeable to this plan. {Nu 13:1,2,20} Among
these men were the forty-year-old Caleb, the son of Jephunneh (of the tribe of
Judah), {Jos 14:7} and Oshea the son of Nun, whom Moses called Joshua, from the
tribe of Ephraim. These men entered the land from the south by the desert of
Zin, passing through to Rehob in the very northern part. {Nu 13:2-22 De
1:23,24}
242. The sixth month.
243. The spies spent forty days in searching out the land before returning to
Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They brought back with them the branch of a
vine with a cluster of grapes on it gathered from the valley of Eshcol. This
valley was named for its pomegranates and figs. {Nu 13:23-27 De 1:24,25} It is
likely that this happened prior to the seventh month, before the feast of
tabernacles. This feast was kept on the fifteenth day of that month, when the
fruits of the barn and winepress were always harvested. {Ex 23:16 Le 23:39 De
16:13} Ten of the twelve men spoke ill of the country and its barrenness,
magnifying the cities' strength and the giants living in the land. This
discouraged the people from marching any further toward it. Caleb, however, did
all he could to persuade the people to go on. {Nu 13:28-33 32:9}
244. The people were terrified by the report given by the ten spies and
threatened to return to Egypt. They were ready to stone Caleb and Joshua for
their conflicting report. When God threatened the people with sudden
destruction, Moses again prayed and their lives were spared. However, God
declared that all those who were over twenty years old would die in the
wilderness and would never see the promised land, but wander in the wilderness
for forty years. {Nu 14:1-35 26:64,65 32:10-13 De 1:26-36 9:23} {Jos 5:6 Ps
95:8-11 106:24-26} Their children entered the promised land in the thirty-ninth
year. {Nu 32:13 De 2:14}
245. God destroyed the ten rebellious spies by a plague. {Nu 14:36,37} In
memory of this event, the Jews keep a fast on the seventh day of the sixth
month, called Elul.
246. God now commanded them to break camp and return back into the desert near
the Red Sea. [L29] Instead, they disobeyed him by going forward into the
mountain to begin taking the land by fighting the Amalekites and Canaanites who
dwelt there. They were defeated and pursued all the way to Hormah. Therefore,
they sat down and wept before the Lord, but he would not hear them. {Nu
14:40-45 De 1:40-45}
247. After this incident, as the Israelites continued to die in the wilderness,
Moses composed the Psalm {Ps 90} Lord thou hast been our refuge.... He also
showed that the normal age of men was reduced to seventy or eighty years.
Therefore,
248. The age of man was shortened by a third of what it was before.
2515a AM, 3224 JP, 1490 BC
249. The Israelites remained in Kadesh for many days. {De 1:46} Because
whether it was for a day, a month, or a year: as long as the cloud continued
over the tabernacle, the camp did not move. {Nu 9:22} In some places the camp
stayed for many years, since there were only seventeen camps mentioned in the
thirty-seven years. After leaving Kadesh, they returned into the wilderness
toward the Red Sea and camped around the hill country of Seir for many days.
{De 2:1 Jud 11:16} The seventeen camps during this time in the wilderness of
Seir are mentioned in the thirty-third chapter of Numbers in this order:
16th at Rimmonparez
17th at Libnah
18th at Rissah
19th at Kehelathah
20th at Mount Shapher
21st at Haradah
22nd at Makheloth
23rd at Thahash
24th at Thara
25th at Mithcah
26th at Hashmonah
27th at Moseroth
28th at Benehaajan, or Beeroth Bene Jaakan, the well of the sons of Jaakan {De
10:6}
29th at Horhagidgad, or Gudgodah {De 10:7} [E20]
30th at Jotbathah, a place of many springs of water {De 10:7}
31st at Ebronah
32nd at Eziongeber, which is near Elath and by the shore of the Red Sea, in the
land of Edom {1Ki 9:26}
2515 AM, 3225 JP, 1489 BC
250. The only mention of these camps are the laws and historical events as
recorded in Numbers. {Nu 15:1-19:22}
a) {Nu 15:1-41} A man was stoned by God's command for gathering sticks on the
Sabbath. Although the sacrifices were omitted in the wilderness, the Sabbath
was kept.
b) {Nu 16:1-50} Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses and Aaron. They
were swallowed alive into the earth. Their two hundred and fifty associates who
offered incense were destroyed by God through fire. God commanded their censors
to be taken and used for a covering for the altar. This was to be as a sign to
the children of Israel. The people murmured against Moses and Aaron for this
calamity and God killed fourteen thousand and seven hundred of them.
c) {Nu 17:1-13} The twelve rods were brought by the twelve leaders of the tribes
and placed before the Lord in the sanctuary. Aaron's rod was the only one that
budded and brought forth almonds. It was set before the ark as a warning
against any future rebellions.
251. All these events are thought to have happened in the latter half of the
second year after they left the land of Egypt. Moses wrote only what happened
in the first two years and the last year of their travels in the wilderness.
For the intervening events of those thirty-seven years see Abulensis.
{Abulensis, Numbers, c. 1. q. 3.}
252. The scriptures also show that, after they moved from their thirty-second
camp, the Israelites spent half a year in travelling from Kadeshbarnea until
they passed the valley, or brook, of Zered. Another half year elapsed before
they crossed the Jordan River, so making up the full thirty-eight years. [L30]
During this time, all those who had rebelled against God perished. {De 2:14-16}
253. For the first nine years that the Israelites spent in the wilderness,
Harmais governed in Egypt and Sethosis invaded the east. These two were
brothers, and the sons of Amenophis who drowned in the Red Sea, as noted before.
{See note on 2494 AM. <<173>>} Manetho {*Manetho, 1:103} as quoted by
Josephus
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (98) 1:201ff.} stated:
"Sethosis was well equipped with cavalry and ships, and made his brother Harmais
ruler over all Egypt. He let Harmais use all power and authority there, except
he was not to wear the crown and he charged him not to dishonour his wife, the
queen and mother of his children. Harmais was also told to abstain from all
other concubines of the king. Sethosis himself, however, made war in Cyprus and
Phoenicia and against the Assyrians and the Medes. Some of these he subdued by
his powerful army and others he overcame merely by the terror of his reputation.
Puffed up with this great success near home, he went on with greater confidence
to ravage and spoil all the kingdoms and countries of the east. A few years
after he was gone, Harmais, whom he left in Egypt, recklessly did everything the
king commanded him not to do. First, he violated the queen and lay repeatedly
with the king's concubines. Later, he followed the advice of his friends and
wore the crown, plainly rebelling against his brother."
254. Manetho added: {*Manetho, 1:105} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 15. (102)
1:205}
"Harmais was called Danaus and Sethosis was also called Egyptus."
255. Egypt was named after him. Ramesses was named after his grandfather.
These similarities in names and events reveal that Tacitus called him Rhamses
and Herodotus in the following accounts. Sesostris. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c.
102. 1:389} Tacitus said: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 60. 3:491}
"A king called Rhamses conquered all Libya, Ethiopia, the Medes and Persians,
Bactria, Scythia and all the lands which the Syrians and Armenians and the
Cappadocians held, along with Bithynia and Lycia, by the Mediterranean Sea."
256. Tacitus also recorded him under the name of Sesosis. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 6. c. 28. 4:201} Regarding Sesostris, Herodotus wrote that their Egyptian
priests said: {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 102-107. 1:389-397}
"He was the first to bring all countries bordering the Red Sea under his
subjection, sailing by way of the Arabian Gulf. He came back the same way and
gathered a mighty army. Marching into the continent of Asia, he subdued all the
countries which stood in his way. Leaving Asia, he crossed into Europe and
conquered the Scythians and Thracians. It seemed he went no further, because
the marks and monuments of his name and victories are found in Syria Palestina.
Two monuments are in Ionia, one at Ephesus as you go into Phocaea, another one
is on the way leading from Sardis to Smyrna."
257. A similar report came from Diodorus Siculus about Sesostris, {*Diod.
Sic., l. 1. c. 53-58. 1:185ff.} but he made him far more ancient than this.
The time of his brother Danaus proves that he was a contemporary with Moses.
[E21] Manetho and Diodorus recorded the timing of these events almost
identically. They noted that when all foreigners were expelled from Egypt,
Danaus and Cadmus, with their companies, came into Greece, and Moses, with his
company, went into Judea. {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 28. s. 2,3. 1:91}
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 104. 1:393} This we find in the selections of Photius.
For the better understanding of this thirty-seven year period, we include events
from Eusebius as follows: {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:62-69} [L31]
2520 AM, 3230 JP, 1484 BC
258. Egypt (which was formerly called Aeria) was named after Egyptus or
Aegyptus who was there made king after the expulsion of his brother, Danaus.
Our account varies only two years from that of Eusebius. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:67}
2522 AM, 3232 JP, 1482 BC
259. Egyptus was also called Ramesses or Sesostris or Sethosis or Sesoosis.
After spending nine years on many voyages and foreign wars, he returned to
Pelusium. {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 55. s. 10. 1:195} During this time
Harmais, who was also called Danaus, ruled over Egypt. He first attempted to
kill his brother Egyptus, after a banquet held in the latter's honour, but
failed in the attempt, as stated by both Herodotus and Diodorus. {*Herodotus,
l. 2. c. 107. 1:395} {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 57. s. 8. 1:201}
Whereupon he fled for fear of his brother from the kingdom which he had ruled in
Egypt and sailed by ship to Greece. This is according to Georgius Syncellus,
based on Scaliger's account. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 26,27.}
{*Pliny, l. 7. c. 56. 2:645}
2530 AM, 3240 JP, 1474 BC
260. According to Eusebius, Diodorus and Herodotus, when Danaus came into
Greece, he made himself ruler of Argos and made it abound with waters. Danaus,
through his fifty daughters, sought to destroy the fifty sons of his brother
Egyptus, but one son, Lynceus, was spared, who reigned after him at Argos.
2533 AM, 3243 JP, 1471 BC
261. According to Eusebius, Diodorus and Herodotus, Busiris, the son of
Neptunus, and Libya, the daughter of Epaphus, were joint tyrants in the area
next to the Nile River. He barbarously murdered all strangers who passed that
way and fell into his hands. Ovid asked, who was more cruel than Busiris?
{*Ovid, Tristia, l. 3. c. 1. (60) 6:105} Virgil asked who had not heard of
Eurystheus' hard heart? {*Virgil, Georgics, l. 3. (5) 1:155} Gellius stated
the same thing. {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 2. c. 6. s. 3. 1:135}
The altars built by the unworthy Busiris were indeed unworthy to be defended.
He himself was even less worthy of being commended by any man, which, according
to Socrates the orator, in his Busiridis' Encomium, was yet to be his lot.
Socrates and Eusebius stated that Busiris was the son of Libya, the daughter of
Epaphus, and Neptunus. Note that this Ramesses, surnamed Miamun, {See note on
2427 AM. <<161>>} was surnamed Neptunus by the mythological writers,
and was the
man who commanded the newly born infants of the Hebrews to be drowned. He had
two sons, Busiris and Amenophis or Belus of Egypt, the father of Egyptus and
Danaus. Amenophis was that Pharaoh, the enemy of the Almighty God, who was
drowned in the Red Sea with his army. Neptunus' son, Busiris, succeeded him and
was infamous for butchering strangers—a fitting offspring for such a father.
Based on this, Gellius stated that the poets were inclined to call men who were
barbarous, cruel and devoid of humanity, the sons of Neptunus who was born of
that merciless element, the sea. {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c.
21. s. 1. 3:109}
2543 AM, 3253 JP, 1461 BC
262. In these times lived Tat, the son of Hermes Trismegistos. {Eusebius,
Chronicles} The Egyptians say that Sesostris learned his wisdom from this
Hermes. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 12. c. 4. 1:359}
2549 AM, 3259 JP, 1455 BC
263. Cadmus and Phoenix went from Thebes in Egypt into Syria and founded the
kingdoms of Tyre and Sidon. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:69} (Both Moses
and Joshua mention these places as existing in their time. {Ge 10:19 Jos 19:29}
Hence they must have been founded no later than the date given by Eusebius and
likely much earlier. Editor.)
2552b AM, 3262 JP, 1452 BC
264. After the Israelites had wandered around the hill country of Seir and Edom
for thirty-seven years, they went from Kadeshbarnea to Eziongeber in Edom. As
they were travelling south toward the shore of the Red Sea, God commanded them
to turn northward and march straight for the land of promise. When the land of
Edom lay directly in their way, he ordered them not to fight with the Edomites
because they were their brothers. God reminded them of how great his providence
and care toward them had been, in preserving them for forty years in the
wilderness. {De 2:1-8} He used the round number of forty for the actual time of
thirty-nine years. The exact time in the wilderness was just five days short of
a forty full years.
2552c AM, 3262 JP, 1452 BC
265. In the first month of the fortieth year after they had left Egypt, the
Israelites came into the wilderness of Zin and camped there.
33) They camped at Kadesh {Nu 20:1 33:36-38 Jud 11:17} [L32] on the edge of the
wilderness of Zin, near the border of Edom, {Nu 20:14,15} towards Eziongeber and
the Red Sea. {Nu 33:36 De 2:8} This was not at Kadeshbarnea, where they made
their fifteenth camp and which lay near the border of Canaan, toward the south.
{Nu 34:4 Jos 15:3}
266. Miriam died there four months before her brother Aaron and eleven months
before her brother Moses. {Nu 20:1} She was the oldest of the three and lived a
hundred and thirty years so that she was a rather mature maiden when Moses was
born. {Ex 2:4-7} {See note on 2433 AM. <<166>>} The Jews to this very
day keep
the memory of her death upon the tenth day of their first month.
267. Again the people complained to Moses and Aaron about the lack of water.
God commanded them to call water out of the hard rock simply by speaking to it.
[E22] Through impatience and diffidence in God's command, Moses said something
ill-advised and struck the rock twice with Aaron's rod. This was the rod that
budded and blossomed. Moses drew water from the rock, as he had done from
another rock thirty-seven years earlier. {Ex 17:7} Because of this incident the
place was called Meribah, or waters of strife. {Nu 20:2-13}. (For it is most
likely that the former water, which Tertullian called Aquam Comtiem, or the
water that followed them as mentioned in the eleventh encampment, was lost in
the Red Sea.) In this second instance of lack of water, the children complained
just like their fathers had done, many years before.
268. Moses and Aaron, because of their diffidence and unbelief in executing the
commandment of God, were not allowed to enter into the land of Canaan. {Nu
20:23,24 27:14 Ps 106:32,33}
2552d AM, 3262 JP, 1452 BC
269. The Israelites sent messengers to the Edomites and Moabites asking to pass
through their land. They refused to let them pass through their countries, {Nu
20:14-21 Jud 11:17} but allowed them to pass along their borders. {De 2:4,6,29}
On this occasion, they stayed a while at Kadesh, {Jud 11:17} then went forward
again.
34) The thirty-fourth camp was in mount Hor, on the borders of Edom, {Nu
20:22,23 33:37} or Mosera {De 10:6}. The Israelites are said to have come to
this place when they left Beeroth Bene Jaakan, or the wells of the sons of
Jaakan, their twenty-eighth camp. They camped in Gudgodah, or Horhagidgad,
Jotbathah and other places. For it is said {De 10:7} that from there they came
to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah. These words from there are not to
be understood of Mosera, but of Beeroth, as has been the view of many learned
men on this passage over a long time.
270. On the first day of the fifth month (Tuesday, August 18), Aaron died at
the age of one hundred and twenty-three years and was buried on the top of Mount
Horeb. His son Eleazar succeeded him as the high priest. {Nu 20:23-28 33:38,39
De 10:6} The Israelites mourned thirty days for Aaron. {Nu 20:29} This was for
the whole month in which he died.
271. In the sixth month, the king of Arad who lived on the southern part of
Canaan, after hearing of the Israelites' approach, went out and fought against
them, taking many of them prisoners. As a result the Israelites made a vow to
God, and upon defeating them, they destroyed both them and their cities. [L33]
For that reason, the place was called Hormah, that is: the place where the vow
was made of utterly destroying the Canaanites. {Nu 31:1-3 33:40}
272. They left mount Hor and avoiding the plain country that led from Elath,
and Eziongeber and the Red Sea, went straight to Edom. They went around Edom
and came to the east side of it {Nu 21:4 De 2:8} and there made another camp.
35) They camped at Zalmonah, {Nu 33:41} named for the brazen serpent set up
there. The people complained because of the fierce serpents sent among them by
God. (Not a little worm, breeding in their flesh, as Fortunius Licetus
imagined. {Licetus, de spontanco Viventium ortu, l. 3. c. 51}) These
poisoned them with their bite, and they could only be healed by looking up to
the image of a brazen serpent which God appointed to be set up on a pole. {Nu
21:5-9 Joh 3:14 1Co 10:9}
36) They camped at Punon. {Nu 33:42}
37) They camped at Oboth. {Nu 21:10 33:43}
38) They camped at Ijeabarim on the borders of Moab {Nu 33:44} in the desert
lying to its east {Nu 21:11} and which is called the desert of Moab. {De 2:8}
They had continued their march through that wilderness and so had come to the
east of Moab. {Jud 11:18}
273. When they left there to pass by the valley or brook of Zared, God forbade
them to make war on Moab. {Nu 21:12 De 2:8,13}
274. They passed over Zared, thirty-eight years after they sent their spies
from Kadeshbarnea.
275. All those over twenty years old who had rebelled against God there had now
died. {De 2:13-16}
39) They camped at Dibongad. {Nu 33:45}
40) They camped at Almondiblathaim, {Nu 33:46} also called Bethdiblathaim, in
the wilderness of Moab. {Jer 48:22 Eze 6:14}
2553a AM, 3262 JP, 1452 BC
276. When the Israelites were passing the borders of Moab at Ar, and
approaching the country of the Ammonites, God forbade them to make any war upon
the Ammonites. {De 2:18,19,37} He commanded them to pass over the Arnon River
which at that time was the boundary between Moab and Ammon. {De 2:24 Nu 21:13}
They camped at Arnon and never entered the territory of Moab. {De 2:24 Nu 21:13
Jud 11:18}
277. Next they arrived at Beer, where the well was dug by the princes, nobles
of the people and Moses with their staffs. They came to Matthan, Nahaliel,
Bamoth and the valley which is in the country of the Moabites near the approach
to the hill overlooking the wilderness {Nu 21:16-20} of Kedemoth. {De 2:26}
There they camped. [E23]
41) They camped at Abarim opposite Nebo. {Nu 33:47} As for Maanah and the other
places, these were not camps, as Tremellius observed in Numbers, {Nu 21:12} but
only places through which they passed on their march before Moses sent
messengers to the Amorites. The Chaldee paraphrase does not take them to be
proper place names, but merely titles. [L34] They interpret them as the waters
of that well (as the Rock {1Co 10:4}) which followed the Israelites to the
brooks and from the brooks to the mountains and from the mountains to the valley
of the Moabites.
278. From the wilderness of Kedemoth, Moses sent messengers to Sihon the
Amorite, king of Heshbon. He asked permission to pass peacefully through his
borders (as the Edomites and Moabites had done) because that was a short cut to
the fords of Jordan. When he denied them passage and made war upon them, the
Israelites killed Sihon and possessed all his cities and lived in them. {De
2:24-36 Nu 21:21-31 Jud 11:19-22}
279. Moses sent his spies to Jazer which they conquered with the towns
associated with it. {Nu 21:32} They expelled the Amorites from there, all the
land from the Arnon River, which is the boundary of Moab, {Nu 21:13 22:36} to
the brook of Jabbok which divided it from Ammon. {De 3:16 Jos 12:2 13:10} They
did not meddle with the country lying next to the Jabbok River, neither with any
of the lands belonging at that time to the children of Ammon or Moab, as God had
commanded them. {De 2:9,19,37} Therefore, two hundred and sixty-four years
later when the Ammonites complained that the Israelites had taken their land
from Jabbok to the Arnon River and even to the brooks of the Jordan River,
Jephthah correctly answered them that this was not true. They had not touched
the lands of either the Moabites or the Ammonites. When they had killed Sihon,
they had taken all the lands belonging to the Amorites from the Arnon River to
Jabbok and possessed it as their own inheritance. {Jud 11:13,15,22,23} It was
also true that Sihon, king of the Amorites, had formerly taken from Vaheb, king
of the Moabites, Heshbon and all that country of his to Arnon. {Nu 21:14,26,28}
He had also taken from the Ammonites half their country, as far as to the Arnon
River which lay opposite Rabbah. {De 3:11} All that land belonged formerly to
the Ammonites and was later taken from the Amorites and assigned to the tribe of
Gad to settle in. {Jos 13:25}
280. When the children of Israel marched on their way to Bashan, Og, king of
Bashan, one of the giants, met and fought with them at Edrei. He and all his
people were utterly destroyed. The Israelites possessed all his country which
included sixty cities and all the land as far as Argob. {De 3:1-11 Nu 21:33-35
Am 2:9}
281. Jair, the son of Manasseh, seized all the country of Argob, stretching to
the borders of the Geshurites and Maachathites and called them Havothjair, after
his own name. {Nu 32:41 De 3:14} This Manasseh was the son of Segub, of the
tribe of Judah. However, he was counted among the Manassites both in respect to
the inheritance he had among them and also in reference to his grandmother. She
was the daughter of Machir of the tribe of Manasseh. He was the father of
Gilead who bore Segub, the father of this Jair, to Hezron when he was sixty
years old. {1Ch 2:21,22} This passage stated that this Jair possessed
twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. He took Geshur and Aram (according
to the best expositors) with the villages of Jair and Kenath with its villages,
sixty cities in all. Nobah, who was under him, took Kenath with its villages
and called it Nobah after his own name. {Nu 32:42}
282. After these victories the Israelites left the mountains of Abarim. They
camped in the plain of Moab on this side of the ford of Jordan, which led to
Jericho from Beth Jeshimoth to Abelshittim. {Nu 22:1 33:48,49}
42) They camped at Shittim, {Nu 25:1} or Abelshittim. {Nu 33:49} Here they
stayed until Joshua led them to the bank of the Jordan River. {Jos 3:1}
283. Balak, the son of Zippor, was the king of Moab. When he saw what the
Israelites had done to the Amorites, he was afraid lest they would also take his
kingdom from him, under the pretence of passing through his country. Therefore,
after taking counsel with the princes of the Midianites who were his neighbours,
he sent for Balaam, the son of Beor. Balaam was a soothsayer from Mesopotamia.
Balak asked him to come and curse the Israelites and promised him a large reward
for his labour. Balak intended afterward to make war upon the Israelites. {Nu
22:1-6 De 33:4 Jos 24:9}
284. Balaam was warned by God and at first refused to come. When he was
summoned a second time, he pleaded with God to let him go and went with the
intention of cursing Israel. God was offended by his intentions and caused the
dumb ass on which he was riding to speak with a man's voice, to reprove his
folly. {Nu 22:7-35 2Pe 2:15,16}
285. Balaam twice offered sacrifices and attempted to curse Israel to gratify
Balak but forced by the Spirit of God, he instead ended up blessing them. He
foretold what good fortune was with them and what calamities would befall their
enemies. {Nu 23:1-24:25 De 23:5 Jos 24:10} [E24]
286. By Balaam's advice, the women of Moab and Midian were sent to turn the
Israelites away and to make them commit idolatry with them. {Nu 25:1-3 31:16 De
4:3 Ps 106:28 Re 2:14} Therefore, God commanded Moses first to hang all the
leaders of this rebellion and then to give orders to the judges to put to death
all who had joined themselves to Baalpeor. Finally, God sent a plague upon the
people, in which twenty-three thousand men died in one day. {1Co 10:8} This
number, plus those who were hung and killed with the sword, came to twenty-four
thousand. {Nu 25:4,5,9}
287. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, killed Zimri, the son of Salu, chief of his
father's family of the tribe of Simeon. He also killed Cozbi, the daughter of
Sur, a prince of the Midianites. This appeased the wrath of God and the plague
was ended. {Nu 25:1-18 Ps 106:30} Therefore, God assigned the high priesthood
to the house of Phinehas for ever. He then commanded the Israelites to make war
against the Midianites. {Nu 25:12,13,17,18}
288. God commanded Moses and Eleazar to count the people twenty years of age
and over. This was done in the plain of Moab, near the Jordan River, opposite
Jericho. The number of men was 601,730 in addition to the Levites.
Twenty-three thousand Levites were counted who were at least a month or more
old. Moses received God's command for the division of the land of promise among
the Israelites. {Nu 26:1-63}
289. The daughters of Zelophehad had their father's land divided among them
because there was no male heir. Because of this situation, the law of
inheritances was made. {Nu 27:1-11}
290. God told Moses that he was about to die and that Joshua was to be his
successor. Moses laid his hands upon Joshua and gave him instructions. {Nu
27:12-23 De 3:26-28} [L35] Various laws were then made. {De 28:29,30}
291. Twelve thousand of the Israelites, led by Phinehas, defeated the
Midianites and killed all their males including their five princes and Sur, the
father of Cozbi. All were under the subjection of Sihon the Amorite while he
lived. Balaam the soothsayer was killed because, when he should have returned
to his country of Mesopotamia, {Nu 24:25} he had stayed instead, and so he died
with the Midianites. {Nu 31:1-8 Jos 13:21,22} Of the females, only the virgins
were spared. {Nu 31:9-54}
2553b AM, 3263 JP, 1451 BC
292. Moses divided the lands, which belonged to Sihon and Og, among the tribes
of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. {Nu 32:1-42 De 3:12-20 29:8
Jos 13:8-12 22:4} This was from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon (which is also
called Shenir and Sirion, and Sion), and is bounded by Anti-Lebanon. [L36] {De
3:8,9 4:48 Jos 12:1 13:9,11}
293. When the Israelites were about to enter the land of Canaan, God commanded
them to drive out the Canaanites and destroy their idols. {Nu 33:50-56} They
were to divide the land west of Jordan among the nine remaining tribes and the
other half tribe of Manasseh. {Nu 34:1-29} Of the forty-eight cities of the
Levites and the six cities of refuge, {Nu 35:1-34}, three were assigned by Moses
on the east of Jordan. {De 4:41-43}
294. Moses addressed Israel in the plain of Moab on the fifth day of the
eleventh month (Saturday, February 20) in the fortieth year after their
departure from Egypt, as recorded in Deuteronomy. {De 1:1,3,6 4:1-27:26}.
295. Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people to set up large
stones after they had crossed the Jordan River. These were to be plastered and
the ten commandments written on them. They were to speak the blessings from
Mount Gerizim and the curses from Mount Ebal. {De 27:1-26} He exhorted them to
observe the law of God by setting before them the benefits of obedience and the
miseries that would happen to them for their disobedience. {De 28:1-68}
296. God commanded Moses to renew the covenant between God and them and their
children in Mount Horeb. Moses again attempted to persuade them to keep that
covenant which was hedged in by all the blessings and curses which would accrue
to the keepers or breakers of it. {De 29:1-29} He gave a promise of pardon and
deliverance if at any time, when they broke it, they should repent. He stated
that God had declared his will to them so that no one who broke the law could
plead ignorance of the law. {De 30:1-20}
297. When Moses had written this law, he gave it to the priests, the sons of
Levi and the elders of the people, to be observed. When he finished the book of
the law, he ordered it to be put in the ark. {De 31:1-30} The same day he wrote
his song and taught it to the children of Israel. {De 32:1-52} [E25]
298. Just before Moses died, he blessed every tribe with a prophecy, except the
tribe of Simeon. His last will and testament is contained in Deuteronomy. {De
32:1-52}
299. In the twelfth month of this year, Moses left the plain of Moab and
climbed up Mount Nebo which was a part of the country of Abarim. From the top
of it facing Jericho, he beheld all the land of promise and then died at the age
of a hundred and twenty years. {Nu 27:12,13 De 3:23-29 32:49,50 34:1-5
31:2-4,7} [L37] Of this time he spent forty years minus one month in governing
the people of Israel. This is confirmed by Josephus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
4. c. 5. s. 49. (327) 4:633} He stated that Moses died on the first day of
the last month of the year. The Macedonians called this month, Dystros, but the
Hebrews called it, Adar. This fits better with the account of historians who
wrote shortly thereafter, than with the tradition of the Jews of later times.
These historians say that he died upon the seventh of Adar, as in Seder Olam
Rabba in his hryjp of book of the death of Moses in chapter ten. In the preface
of Maimonides to the book called Misnaioth, this is also mentioned. It appears
as well in the calendars of the Jews of this time. They still celebrate the
memorial of his death by a solemn fast on this day.
300. God moved the body of Moses from the place where he died to a valley in
the land of Moab opposite Bethpeor and buried him there. To this day, no one
knows where the grave of Moses is. {De 34:6} This valley was in the land of
Sihon, king of the Amorites, which the Israelites took from him. {De 4:46}
Bethpeor was given to the Reubenites. {Jos 13:20} Therefore, Moses is said to
have been buried in the land of Moab. Likewise, the covenant is said to have
been renewed in the land of Moab. {De 29:1} It is to be understood that this
land did formerly belong to the Moabites, but it had recently been taken from
them by Sihon king of the Amorites, {Nu 21:26} and now the Israelites possessed
it.
301. The archangel Michael disputed with the Devil over the body of Moses.
{Jude 1:9} The Devil wanted to expose the body that it might become an object of
idolatry to the people of Israel. Chrysostom {Chrysostom, Commentary on
Matthew, Homily 1.} and Thodores {Thodores, Deuteronomy, Question. 43.} and
Procopius Gazan and others stated this, though there is no evidence that the
Jews ever gave themselves to the worshipping of relics. This dispute between
Michael and the Devil about the body of Moses is found in the apocryphal book
called The Assumption of Moses. We read this in Origen {Origen, psi arcwn, l.
3. c. 2.} and in Gelasius Cyzicenus, {Cyzicenus, Acts of the Council of Nice,
part. 2. c. 20.} and similar stories are found in twba by Rabbi Nathan.
302. The Israelites mourned for Moses in the land of Moab for thirty days, or
the entire twelfth month. {De 34:8}
303. Here ends the Pentateuch or the five books of Moses, containing the
history of twenty-five hundred and fifty-two and a half years from the beginning
of the world. The book of Joshua begins with the forty-first year after the
departure of the children of Israel from Egypt.
2553c AM, 3263 JP, 1451 BC
304. The first month.
305. God confirmed the leadership of Joshua. {Jos 1:1-9} The latter sent spies
from Shittim to the city of Jericho, and these were hidden by Rahab in an inn.
They were secretly sent away when a search was conducted for them. They hid
three days in the mountain and then returned to Joshua. {Jos 2:1-24}
306. Joshua commanded the people that, in addition to the manna which had not
yet ceased, they should take other provisions with them. In three days they
were to pass over the Jordan River. {Jos 1:10,11}
307. The next morning they left Shittim and came to the Jordan River, where
they camped that night. {Jos 3:1}
308. Three days later they were instructed to provide food for their journey.
[L38] The people were commanded to sanctify and prepare themselves to pass over
the Jordan River on the following day. {Jos 3:2-5}
309. On the tenth day of the first month (Friday, April 30), the same day that
the Pascal lamb was to be chosen from the flock, Joshua (a type of Christ) led
the Israelites through the Jordan River into the promised land of Canaan, which
was a type of that heavenly country. God divided the waters and they passed
through the river dryshod. Normally in that season, the waters would overflow
the banks. As a memorial of this miraculous passage, Joshua set up twelve
stones in the very channel of the Jordan River. They took another twelve stones
from out of the middle of the river and set them up at Gilgal where they next
camped. {Jos 3:1-4:24}
310. The next day in Gilgal, Joshua renewed the practice of circumcision, which
had been neglected for forty years. There the people rested and stayed until
they were well again. {Jos 5:2-9} [E26]
311. On the fourteenth day of the first month (Tuesday, May 4), in the evening,
the Israelites celebrated their first passover in the land of Canaan. {Jos
5:10}
312. The next day was the passover (Wednesday, May 5). They ate of the produce
of the land of Canaan—unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the
very day after they began to live on the produce of the land. Never again did
the children of Israel see manna. That year they lived on the fruits of the
land of Canaan. {Jos 5:11,12}
313. Our Lord Jesus, the captain of his Father's host, appeared to Joshua (the
type of Jesus) before Jericho, with a drawn sword in his hand. Jesus there
promised to defend his people. {Jos 5:13-15}
314. The ark of God was carried around Jericho for seven days. On the seventh
day, the walls of Jericho fell down flat when the priests blew their trumpets.
The city was taken and utterly destroyed. All were killed except for Rahab and
her family. {Jos 6:1-27} Later she married Salmon of the tribe of Judah and
they had a son called Boaz. {Mt 1:5}
315. For the sacrilege of Achan, God abandoned Israel and they were defeated at
Ai. Achan's sin was determined by the casting of lots and he was found guilty.
God was appeased when he and his family and cattle were stoned and burned with
fire. {Jos 7:1-26} Thereupon Ai was taken by an ambush and utterly destroyed.
Twelve thousand men of Ai were killed in the battle. {Jos 8:1-29}
316. In accordance with the law, an altar was erected for sacrifices on Mount
Ebal. The ten commandments were engraved on it. The blessings and cursings
were repeated on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The book of the law was read to
all the people. {Jos 8:30-35}
2553d AM, 3263 JP, 1451 BC
317. The kings of Canaan were stirred by this great success of the Israelites.
They all united against Israel except the Gibeonites. These craftily found a
way to save their own lives by making a pact with Israel. However, later they
were assigned to do the menial work associated with the house of God. {Jos
9:1-27}
318. When Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, with the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth,
Lachish and Debir heard that Gibeon allied themselves with Israel, they united
their forces and besieged Gibeon.
319. When Joshua raised the siege, he pursued those five kings and slaughtered
their troops as far as Azekah and Makkedah. At this time the sun stood still
over Gibeon and the moon over the valley of Ajalon for almost a whole day until
the Israelites were fully avenged of their enemies. {Jos 10:1-14} On this
account Laurentius Codomanus observed two things:
a) Since Ajalon was less than a mile west of Gibeon, it is very likely that the
moon was then past the full and very close to a new moon. [L39]
b) Since both those great lights stopped and started together, the astronomical
account of this is not invalidated by this event. Even as in music, the harmony
is not broken, nor do the voices clash if they all rest at the same time and
then begin again, each man playing his part until the end of the piece.
320. The five kings hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah, and Joshua commanded
the entrance to be blocked with stones and a guard set up until the enemies were
defeated. After the enemies fled into fortified cities, and when all the army
was safely returned to Joshua at Makkedah, the stones were removed. The five
kings were taken from the cave and each of the captains of the Israelite army
was bidden to put his foot upon their necks. The kings were hung on five trees
until evening and then their bodies were thrown into the same cave and the mouth
of the cave blocked with stones. {Jos 10:16-27}
321. Thus ended that very busy year, 2553 AM. In the first six months Moses
conquered all that land east of the Jordan. In the remainder of the year Joshua
conquered most of the land west of the Jordan. In the middle of the year the
manna ceased, and the people of Israel began to live off the food in the land of
Canaan.
2554a AM, 3263 JP, 1451 BC
322. From the autumn of this year, after the manna stopped, the Israelites
began to till the ground and sow it. This was to be reckoned the first year of
their tillage. The sabbatical years are reckoned from this year. {Ex 23:10,11
Le 25:2-7 De 15:1-9 31:10}
2554b AM, 3264 JP, 1450 BC
323. When the five kings were defeated, all the rest of the kings united and
fought against the Israelites. Joshua fought against them for six years. {Jos
11:1-18}
2559c AM, 3269 JP, 1445 BC
324. Joshua had now grown old. He was commanded by God to divide all the land
west of the Jordan River among the nine remaining tribes and the other half
tribe of Manasseh. {Jos 13:1-7} He first divided the land of Gilgal (where the
tabernacle of God and the army were stationed at the time) among the tribes of
Judah and Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh. {Jos 14:6 15:1-17:18} [E27]
2559d AM, 3269 JP, 1445 BC
325. At this time Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, forty-five years after the time
that he was sent by Moses to spy out the land, desired to have Hebron, together
with the mountain country of Judah. This was assigned to him for his part in
undertaking to expel the Anakims from there. {Jos 14:5,10,13} Tremellius
observed correctly that Joshua did not permit Caleb and his company to take
Hebron alone but he went with the army to take it. When Hebron was conquered,
Joshua gave Caleb the adjoining lands and villages. Joshua set apart the city
with its common lands for a city of refuge and for the priests. {Jos 21:11-13
1Ch 6:55-57} Neither Hebron nor Debir had yet been taken by the Israelites,
though both were within the inheritance assigned to Caleb. The Anakims were not
expelled from there. {Jos 14:1-15:63} Hence the passages in Joshua and Judges
seem to refer to this place, because the subject matter is the same. {Jos
10:28-11:23 Jud 1:9-15}
326. When the children of Judah and Joseph were settled in their possessions
according to their tribes, a large part of the land of Canaan still remained in
the hands of the Canaanites. Before dividing up more land, Joshua took the army
from Gilgal [L40] and attacked Makkedah and Libnah and utterly destroyed the
kings and people of both these cities. {Jos 10:28-30}
327. From there he marched with his army to Lachish and took it, after a two
day battle. All the inhabitants were killed. When Horam, king of Gezer, came
to help Lachish, Joshua defeated him and killed all his people. Joshua then
marched to Eglon and took it that same day, killing all its inhabitants. {Jos
10:31-35}
328. After this Joshua, with all of Israel, went up from Eglon to Hebron and
took it. He killed its new king, for the previous one had been hung six years
before. The inhabitants of Hebron with all its cities were killed. {Jos
10:36,37} Caleb also expelled the three giants, Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, the
sons of Anak. {Jos 15:14} These giants were among the reasons Israel had
refused to enter the land forty-five years earlier. {Nu 13:22,23 Jos 15:14}
329. Joshua, with the army, marched from the south of Canaan to Debir, {Jos
10:38} which was formerly called Kirjathsepher. There Caleb had proclaimed that
whoever took it should have his daughter for a wife. His first cousin, Othniel,
the son of Kenaz, took it and married Caleb's daughter Achsah. Her dowry was a
piece of land with its springs. {Jos 15:15-19 Jud 1:11-15} When Othniel took
the city, he killed the inhabitants and their new king. The previous king had
been hung with the rest, six years earlier. {Jos 10:39}
330. Joshua destroyed all the hill country, all the south parts, both plain and
valley and all their kings, from Kadeshbarnea to Gaza, as well as all the
country of Goshen (which was part of the land allotted to the tribe of Judah
{Jos 15:51}) as far as Gibeon. Joshua took all these kings and all their lands
(in one single operation), for God himself fought for Israel. When this had
been accomplished, he and the host of Israel returned to Gilgal. {Jos 10:40-43}
331. The rest of the kings united their forces and came to the waters of Merom
to fight against Israel. Joshua, in a surprise attack, defeated and killed
them. He took all their lands, {Jos 11:1-16} from Mount Halak which rises
toward Seir (which was the frontier of Edom), to Baalgad in the valley of
Lebanon beside Mount Hermon. {Jos 11:17 12:7}
332. Then Joshua expelled the giants, the Anakims, from their cities, from the
hill country of Hebron, Debir, and Anab and generally from the mountains of
Judah and all Israel. Hebron was taken by the tribe of Judah. {Jos 11:21,23
Jud 1:10}
333. When the whole land had been conquered, Joshua in the following year
divided it among the children of Israel according to their tribes. The land
rested from war. {Jos 11:23 14:15} [L41]
2560a AM, 3269 JP, 1445 BC
334. The first sabbatical year they observed was the seventh year from the
first year when they began tilling the ground in Canaan. Joshua, a type of
Jesus, had brought them into this place of rest, it being a type of that Sabbath
and rest which the true Jesus was to give to God's people. {Heb 4:9} From this
time are reckoned the years of Jubilee, which were every fiftieth year. {Le
25:8-13}
335. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Saturday, November 5),
according to the law, the Levites kept the feast of tabernacles in booths made
from boughs of trees. {Le 23:39,40} This was done more solemnly than in the
later times of the judges and kings {Ne 8:17}
336. God was now about to give the Israelites rest from all their enemies
around them so that they could live there securely. It was necessary that a
place should be chosen which God himself would select to place his name there.
{De 12:10,11} After the whole land was subdued, they came together at Shiloh and
set up the tabernacle of the congregation. {Jos 18:1} [E28] The tabernacle with
the ark of the covenant stayed there for three hundred and twenty-eight years.
The meaning of the name and the city called Shiloh seems to be the same place as
Salem, for, as Mlv signifies Peace or Rest {Ge 34:21 Na 1:12} so also does hlv.
{Da 4:1} Also the Messiah is thought to have been called Shiloh, {Ge 49:10}
because not only was he to be peaceable and quiet, but he was also the author of
our eternal rest and peace. As well, Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the king
of peace {Heb 7:2} lived there, according to Jerome in his 126th Epistle to
Enagrius. In Jerome's time, the city was near the place where John baptized.
{Joh 3:23 Ge 33:18} According to Jerome's account and the Septuagint
translation, Shiloh was called Sichem because it was located in the country of
Sichem. {Jos 24:25,26 18:1 Ge 35:4 Jud 9:6 21:8-19}
337. The remaining land was divided among the other seven tribes for their
inheritance and the boundaries were recorded in a book. {Jos 18:1-19:51} After
the seven nations of the Canaanites were destroyed, their lands were all
distributed among the Israelites.
338. (The four hundred and fifty years mentioned in the New Testament has long
puzzed scholars. {Ac 13:17,19,20} The best explanation I have heard recently
came from Dr. Floyd Jones. The length of the period for the time from the
judges until Samuel is merely the sum of the time periods for the judges and the
oppressions without regard for overlap. The thirteen periods under the judges
sum to three hundred and thirty-nine years. {Jud 3:11,30 5:31 8:28 9:22 10:2,3
12:7,9,11,14 16:31 1Sa 4:18} The six oppressions sum to one hundred and eleven
years. {Jud 3:8,14 4:3 6:1 10:8 13:1} These two sum to exactly four hundred and
fifty years and the number has no chronological significance. Each period of
oppression overlaps the time before Israel is delivered by a judge and the
judgeship of Samson and Eli overlap. This reduces this time period to three
hundred and nineteen years still leaving ten years unaccounted for according to
1Kings 6:2. This ten years is the time between the start of Gideon's judgeship
and Abimelech's which is not directly stated in the Bible. Editor.)
2560d AM, 3270 JP, 1444 BC
339. Forty-eight cities were selected out of the land from both sides of the
Jordan for the inheritance of the Levites. Six of these were made cities of
refuge. Sanctuaries were established there, where those who had not committed
wilful murder might flee for protection. {Jos 20:1-21:45} The Israelites now
possessed the land promised to their fathers. God gave them rest and peace on
every side according to all that he had sworn to their fathers. {Jos 21:43,44}
The companies of the Reubenites, Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, who
came over the Jordan to help their brethren conquer the land, returned to their
possessions on the other side of the Jordan. {Jos 22:4 1:12,15 Nu 32:21,22}
340. On their return journey they came to Gilead at the passage of the Jordan
River, in the borders of the land of Canaan. There they built a large altar.
The other tribes thought they intended to revolt, so they resolved to make war
against these two tribes. They sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the high
priest, with ten other princes of the people, to find out why the altar had been
built. When they understood that the altar had not been built to offer
sacrifices, but only as a memorial and as a token of the fellowship which they
had with the rest of the tribes of Israel, they changed their minds and did not
fight with them. {Jos 22:1-34}
2561 AM, 3271 JP, 1443 BC
341. Joshua built the city of Timnathserah in Mount Ephraim, where he lived for
many years after God had given rest to Israel. [L42] He was buried in
Timnathserah and like Joseph, he lived to the age of a hundred and ten years.
{Ge 50:26 Jos 23:1 24:29,30}
2591d AM, 3301 JP, 1413 BC
342. After the death of Joshua and the elders who had outlived him, the
disorders happened that are recorded in Judges. {Jud 17:1-21:25} These were the
idolatry of Micah and the children of Dan, and the war of the Benjamites and its
causes. This was a time of anarchy, every man doing what seemed right in his
own eyes. The elders who died were less than twenty years old when they came
out of Egypt. They were eye-witnesses to all that God had done. However, the
next generation forgot God and inter-married with the Canaanites, worshipping
their idols. God was angry and gave them into the hands of Cushan, king of
Mesopotamia. This was their first calamity, and it lasted eight years. {Jud
2:7,10 3:6-8}
2599d AM, 3309 JP, 1405 BC
343. Othniel, the son of Kenaz and son-in-law to Joshua, {Jos 15:17 Jud 1:31}
of the tribe of Judah, was raised up by God to judge and avenge his people. He
defeated Cushan and delivered the Israelites from their bondage. And the land
had rest—forty years after the first rest which Joshua procured for them. {Jud
3:9-11}
2609a AM, 3318 JP, 1396 BC
344. The first Jubilee was celebrated in the land of Canaan in the fiftieth
year.
(Note, a Jubilee year fell on the seventh sabbatical year and occurred every
forty-nine years. In Leviticus {Le 25:8-10} it states the Jubilee was in the
fiftieth year. Also a Jubilee and sabbatical year started in the autumn. {Le
25:9} If a Jubilee occurred every fifty years, the text would have to say in the
fifty-first year. If a child is one year old, he is in his second year.
Likewise if a man is forty-nine years old, he is in his fiftieth year. In the
Apocrypha it said that certain events happened in a sabbatical year. {Apc 1Ma
6:49} From the associated text we know that year was 163 BC. If the sabbatical
and Jubilee cycle was fifty years long, 163 BC would not be a sabbatical year.
Likewise Josephus stated that 37 BC was a sabbatical year when Herod captured
Jerusalem. This would not have been the case if the cycle was fifty years long
and not forty-nine. This confirms the accuracy of Ussher's work. {See note on
3841d AM. <<3474>>} {See note on 3967b AM. <<5473>>}
Editor.)
2658a AM, 3367 JP, 1347 BC
345. The second Jubilee.
2661d AM, 3371 JP, 1343 BC
346. After Othniel died, the Israelites again sinned against God and were
delivered into the hands of Eglon, king of Moab. [E29] He, along with the
Ammonites and Amalekites, defeated the Israelites and took Jericho. This was
their second oppression and it lasted for eighteen years. {Jud 3:12-14}
2679d AM, 3389 JP, 1325 BC
347. After the tribe of Benjamin was almost entirely wiped out, God raised up
Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, to avenge his people. While feigning a
message to Eglon from God, he stabbed him in the belly with his dagger and left
him dead in his own dining room. After he escaped he gathered all Israel
together in Mount Ephraim and killed ten thousand valiant men of Moab. And the
land had rest—eighty years after the former rest and deliverance by Othniel.
{Jud 3:15-30}
348. Later, Shamgar the son of Anath also avenged Israel by killing six hundred
Philistines with an ox goad. {Jud 3:31}
2682 AM, 3392 JP, 1322 BC
349. Belus the Assyrian reigned over the Assyrians in Babylon for fifty-five
years, according to Julius Africanus.
2699d AM, 3409 JP, 1305 BC
350. After the death of Ehud, the Israelites sinned again. God gave them up
into the hand of Jabin of Canaan who reigned in Hazor. Jabin had nine hundred
chariots of iron and oppressed Israel for twenty years. {Jud 4:1-3}
2707a AM, 3416 JP, 1298 BC
351. The third Jubilee.
2719d AM, 3429 JP, 1285 BC
352. Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, a prophetess, judged Israel at that time in
Mount Ephraim. Barak of the tribe of Naphtali, son of Abinoam, was made captain
of the host of Israel. In a battle at Megiddo, they defeated Sisera, who was
the captain of Jabin's army. Sisera was killed by Jael, the wife of Heber the
Kenite. She did this in her own tent by hammering a nail into the temples of
Sisera's head. Deborah wrote a song in memorial of that victory, and the land
rested—forty years after the former rest restored by Ehud. {Jud 4:1-5:31} [L43]
2737 AM, 3447 JP, 1267 BC
353. Ninus, the son of Belus, founded the Assyrian Empire. This empire
continued in Asia for five hundred and twenty years. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c.
95. 1:126} Appian of Alexandria, in the beginning of his work, followed the
same account. {*Appian, l. 1. c. 0. s. 9. 1:15} However, Dionysius
Halicarnassus, who is known for diligent research into such matters, said that
the Assyrians had a very small part of Asia under their command. {*Dionysius
Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l. 1. c. 2. s. 2. 1:7} Diodorus Siculus
stated that Ninus joined with Ariaeus, the king of Arabia, and occupied all Asia
and ruled India and Bactria for seventeen years. Finally, he subdued the
Bactrians with their king Zoroastres. {*Diod. Sic., l. 2. c. 1-7.
1:351-371} Justin wrote: {Justin, Trogus, l. 1.}
"When Ninus had conquered his adjacent neighbours, he added their forces to his
own. By this he became stronger still to conquer the next enemy. Every victory
was a step to another, and by this means he subdued all the people of the east.
His last war was with Zoroastres, the king of Bactria. This king is said to
have been the first to find out the art of magic, and to have most diligently
looked into the nature of the world and the motion of the stars. Ninus killed
him and died some time later."
354. Julius Africanus and Eusebius said that Ninus reigned fifty-two years.
{Eusebius, Chronicles}
2752d AM, 3462 JP, 1252 BC
355. The Israelites sinned again and were delivered into the hands of the
Midianites. This fourth oppression lasted seven years. {Jud 6:1}
2756a AM, 3465 JP, 1249 BC
356. The fourth Jubilee.
2759d AM, 3469 JP, 1245 BC
357. When the Israelites fell into this fourth bondage, they cried to God for
help and were reproved by a prophet. Then Gideon of Manasseh, son of Joash, the
Abiezrite, was chosen to deliver them by an angel sent from God. At God's
command, he overturned the altar of Baal and burned its grove. As a result of
the strife between him and the people, he was called Jerubbaal or Jerubbesheth.
{Jud 6:32 2Sa 11:21}. From thirty-two thousand volunteers he selected three
hundred men according to God's criteria. Gideon and these men, equipped with
their trumpets, pitchers and torches, so frightened the Midianites that they put
to flight all their host. The Ephraimites then pursued them and killed their
princes, Oreb and Zeeb. Gideon pacified the Ephraimites, who complained that
they were not called to the battle at first. Then he crossed the Jordan River
and defeated the remainder of the Midianite army. He also chastised the men of
Succoth and Penuel, who had refused him provisions for his journey. He killed
the two kings of the Moabites, Zebah and Zalmunna. After these great victories,
he refused the Israelites' offer to make him and his posterity king. Using the
enemies' golden earrings, a part of the plunder (which was taken as spoil in the
battle), he made an ephod. This later caused them to fall into idolatry. After
the Midianites were conquered, the land had rest—forty years; this was after the
former rest restored to them by Deborah and Barak {Jud 6:1-8:28}
2768d AM, 3478 JP, 1236 BC
358. As soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites fell into idolatry and
worshipped Baalberith as their god. {Jud 8:33} Abimelech, the son of Gideon
(born by his concubine from Sichem), planned to be king and killed seventy of
his brothers, all on the one stone. {Jud 9:1-5,18,24,56} [E30]
2769a AM, 3478 JP, 1236 BC
359. When Abimelech was made king with the Sichemites' help, Jotham the
youngest son of Gideon, having escaped Abimelech's clutches, challenged them
from the top of Mount Gerizim about the wrong they had done to his father's
house. [L44] Using a parable, he prophesied their ruin and then fled from there
and lived quietly in Beeroth. {Jud 9:1-57}
2771d AM, 3481 JP, 1233 BC
360. After Abimelech reigned over the Israelites three years, Gaal, a man of
Sichem, made a conspiracy against him. When Zebul discovered this, the city of
Sichem was utterly destroyed and sowed with salt. The inhabitants were all
killed and the temple of their god Beeroth was burned with fire. From there,
Abimelech went to besiege Thebes. There he was hit on the head with the upper
part of a millstone thrown by a woman and he was killed by his own armour
bearer. {Jud 9:22-54 2Sa 11:21}
2772a AM, 3481 JP, 1233 BC
361. After Abimelech's time, Israel was judged for twenty-three years by Tola,
the son of Puah, of the tribe of Issachar. {Jud 10:1,2}
2781 AM, 3491 JP, 1223 BC
362. After the Atyadans first reigned in Sardis, it was ruled by Argon, the son
of Ninus. His posterity held the kingdom of Lydia for five hundred and five
years, or twenty-two generations. Each son succeeded his father to the throne,
until the time of Candaules, the son of Myrsus. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 7.
1:11}
2789 AM, 3499 JP, 1215 BC
363. Semiramis, the daughter of Dercetidis, was the wife, first of Menon and
later, of Ninus. Diodorus Siculus stated that she reigned for forty-two years
over all Asia, with the exception of India, and lived sixty-two years. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 2. c. 20. s. 2. 1:417} Ctesias Cnidos described her noble acts at
length, especially those against Strabrobates king of India. We find this also
recorded in Strabo, quoting from Megasthenes, who wrote expressly of the Indian
affairs. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 5. 7:135} Arrian said that she died
before she ever came into India. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 5. s. 7.
2:319} Herodotus stated that she constructed very large works around Babylon,
whereas formerly the Euphrates River had overflowed all the lower parts of it.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 184. 1:229} Justin also mentioned Semiramis and stated
that: {Justin, Trogus, l. 1.}
"She built Babylon and walled it round with bricks, laying the stones with
brimstone, instead of sand. This brimstone erupted naturally from the earth
everywhere in that area. This queen did many other very memorable acts. Not
content to keep her husband's conquests, she added Ethiopia to her dominions and
she also made war on India. She was the first to enter India and Alexander the
Great was the next."
364. All other writers agree that Dionysus or Bacchus conquered all of India.
It was Diodorus and Trogus who falsely reported that this queen enclosed Babylon
with a wall of brick. {*Diod. Sic., l. 2. c. 7. s. 2. 1:371,373} Strabo
also {*Strabo, l. 2. c. 1. s. 26. 1:305} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 2.
7:195} is refuted by the sacred history of Genesis {Ge 11:1-32} and by
Eupolemus. It was Nebuchadnezzar and his daughter-in-law, Nectoris, who built
the wall of Babylon many years later. Eupolemus stated in his book, Concerning
the Jews of Assyria: {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 9. c. 17. (418c) 1:450}
"It was first built by those who escaped the deluge."
365. Erranius, mentioned by Stephanus Byzantinus in his book, de Urbibus, under
the word Babylon and Eustathius in Dionysius Periegetes, {Dionysius Periegetes,
Geography, p. 126.} noted that Babylon was built one thousand and two years
before Semiramis was born. If he had said one thousand and twenty-two years,
this date would very nearly agree with the Babylonian calendar sent from there
by Callisthenes, as reported by Porphyry. {See note on 1771 AM.
<<50>>}
Porphyry {Porphyry, Against Christians, l. 4.} was cited by Eusebius.
{*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 1. c. 9. (30ab) 1:35} {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 10. c.
9. (485bc) 1:519} Eusebius spoke about the beginning of the Phoenicians,
quoting Sanchuniathon of Berytus, a most ancient writer, who said he took his
argument from Hierombalus or Jerubbaal. {See note on 2759d AM.
<<357>>} [L45]
This Jerubbaal (Gideon) was a priest of Jevo, that is Jehovah, the God of the
Jews. Sanchuniathon dedicated his history to Abibalus, king of the Berytians.
Eusebius stated further that this Sanchuniathon lived in the days of Semiramis,
Queen of the Assyrians, who is said to have lived before the Trojan wars at that
time. This agreed with my account of having her live after the war of Troy by
eleven years after reigning for forty-two years.
2790d AM, 3500 JP, 1214 BC
366. Eli, the priest, was born, for he died at the age of ninety-eight years,
in 1116 BC or 3598 JP. {1Sa 4:15}
2795a AM, 3504 JP, 1210 BC
367. After Tola died, he was buried at Shamir, in mount Ephraim. He was
succeeded by Jair, a Gileadite from the tribe of Manasseh beyond the Jordan
River, who judged Israel for twenty-two years. {Jud 10:1-3} He was descended
from that Jair who took the cities of Argob and called them Bashan-Havothjair.
{Nu 32:41 De 3:14} Following his example, the thirty sons of this second Jair
(who, to distinguish him from the first Jair {1Sa 12:11 1Ch 7:17} and who seemed
to have been surnamed Bedan) called the thirty cities which they possessed by
the name of Havothjair. {Jud 10:4} [E31]
2799a AM, 3508 JP, 1206 BC
368. Because the Israelites forsook God and worshipped the gods of other
nations, God gave them up into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites.
This was their fifth oppression, lasting eighteen years. {Jud 10:8} The bondage
ended in the victory over the Ammonites when Jephthah began his rule over
Israel.
2805a AM, 3514 JP, 1200 BC
369. The fifth Jubilee.
2816d AM, 3526 JP, 1188 BC
370. During the nineteenth year of their slavery, the enemies defeated the
Israelites who lived beyond the Jordan River. The Ammonites crossed over the
river and attacked Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim, whom the Philistines had already
crushed. The Israelites called on God and were grievously rebuked by him.
However, they showed their repentance by abandoning their idols and obtained
mercy. {Jud 10:8}
2817a AM, 3526 JP, 1188 BC
371. Jair died and was buried at Camon. {Jud 10:5}
372. That same year the Ammonites camped in Gilead. The Israelites camped in
Mizpah, which is also in Gilead. {Jud 10:17 11:11} Jephthah the Gileadite was
called by the men of Gilead to be captain of the host of Israel. He made war
upon the Ammonites and subdued them. He vowed to God that if God would give him
the victory, he would offer as a burnt offering whatever came from his house to
meet him. His daughter was unaware of the vow and greeted him first. She was
offered as a burnt offering to God. Jephthah also killed forty-two thousand
Ephraimites, who behaved themselves insolently toward him. He judged Israel for
six years. {Jud 11:1-12:7}
2820c AM, 3530 JP, 1184 BC
373. Troy was destroyed by the Greeks four hundred and eight years before the
first Olympiad. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:148} (The Latin copy states
it was four hundred and five years. Editor.) Eratosthenes, Apollodorus and
Diodorus Siculus concur with this time. {See note on 3919b AM.
<<4002>>}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 4. s. 5. 1:21,32}
2823a AM, 3532 JP, 1182 BC
374. When Jephthah died, he was buried in Gilead, and Ibzan the Bethlehemite
judged Israel for seven years. {Jud 12:7-9}
2830a AM, 3539 JP, 1175 BC
375. Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem. Elon the Zebulunite succeeded him
and judged Israel for ten years. {Jud 12:10,11}
2831 AM, 3541 JP, 1173 BC
376. When Semiramis tried to commit incest with her son, he killed her. She
had ruled for forty-two years after her husband Ninus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 1.
c. 2.} [L46] Although it seems incredible that a woman of sixty-two years of
age would commit such an act of incest, Augustine seems to have believed it.
{*Augustine, City of God, l. 18. c. 2. 2:362} Diodorus stated more details
about Semiramis and her death. {*Diod. Sic., l. 2. c. 20. s. 2. 1:417}
Semiramis' son, Ninus or Ninyus, was content with the empire which his parents
had, and laid aside all cares of military affairs. Ninus was very effeminate in
that he seldom kept company with men. He spent most of his years in the company
of women and eunuchs. {Justin, Trogus, l. 1. c. 2.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 2.
c. 21. s. 2. 1:419} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (528f) 5:387} {Ctesias, History of
Persia, l. 3.}
2840a AM, 3549 JP, 1165 BC
377. Elon died and was buried at Ajalon in the tribe of Zebulun. Abdon the
Ephraimite, the son of Hillel the Pirathonite, succeeded him. He judged Israel
for eight years. {Jud 12:12-14}
2848a AM, 3557 JP, 1157 BC
378. When Abdon died, he was buried at Pirathon in mount Ephraim. {Jud 12:15}
After him came Eli, who judged Israel for forty years. {1Sa 4:18} He was also
the high priest. This high priesthood was transferred from the descendants of
Eleazar to Ithamar.
2848c AM, 3558 JP, 1156 BC
379. When Israel sinned again, God delivered them into the hands of the
Philistines for the next forty years. {Jud 13:1} This was the Israelites' sixth
oppression, which we think ended seven months after the death of Eli, when the
ark was brought back again. Hence, it was about the beginning of the third
month, called Sivan, when Eli began to judge Israel.
2848d AM, 3558 JP, 1156 BC
380. An angel appeared to the wife of Manoah of the tribe of Dan at Zorah. He
told her that she, though barren, would conceive and bear a son. This child
would be a Nazarite who would begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the
Philistines. {Jud 13:5}
2849b AM, 3559 JP, 1155 BC
381. As foretold by the angel, Samson the Nazarite was born at Zorah. {Jud
13:24,25} It seems he was conceived after the forty years of oppression by the
Philistines had begun. {Jud 13:1-5} He avenged the Israelites against the
Philistines for twenty years. {Jud 15:20} Obviously, Samson's birth could not
have happened later unless he was judging Israel before he was eighteen years
old, which seems unlikely.
2854a AM, 3563 JP, 1151 BC
382. The sixth Jubilee.
2867d AM, 3577 JP, 1137 BC
383. While Eli was executing the office of a judge in civil causes at the time
of the Philistines, Samson picked a quarrel against him because he was engaged
to marry a woman of Timnah. Samson had begun to judge the Israelites at the age
of eighteen. {Jud 14:4} On the day of his betrothal, he had killed a lion with
his bare hands. He made a bet at the wedding feast and propounded a riddle to
the guests. When he had lost, because his wife had told them the meaning of the
riddle, he went off in a rage and killed thirty men of Askelon. He gave these
wedding guests the suits of clothing which he had stripped off his victims'
bodies to fulfil the terms of the wager, and returned home to his father. [E32]
2868c AM, 3578 JP, 1136 BC
384. At harvest time, Samson went to present his wife with a kid at her
father's house, but found that she had been given away in marriage to another
man. He then sought revenge by catching three hundred foxes and tying fire
brands to their tails. He turned them all loose in the Philistines' grain
fields, vineyards and olive gardens, setting these all ablaze. The Philistines
were very angry, so they took Samson's wife and father-in-law and burned them to
death. In revenge, Samson killed a large number of them and sat down upon the
rock of Etam. [L47] From there, three thousand Jews arrested him and delivered
him to the Philistines. He then killed one thousand of these Philistine men
with the jawbone of an ass. When Samson prayed in that place called Lehi, God
opened a hole in the jawbone and from it came a fountain of water. This
fountain was called Enhakkore, meaning the fountain of him who called upon God.
He refreshed himself with the water from this fountain, because he was thirsty
and ready to faint. {Jud 15:1-20}
2887c AM, 3597 JP, 1117 BC
385. Delilah, Samson's concubine, betrayed him by having his hair cut, the
symbol of his Nazarite vow, and delivered him to the Philistines. They plucked
out his eyes and carried him away prisoner to Gaza. They put him in prison and
bound him with chains of brass.
2887d AM, 3597 JP, 1117 BC
385a. In prison, his hair grew again and his strength was renewed. He pulled
down the temple of Dagon while the princes of the Philistines and a large number
of the people were in it. More men were killed when the temple fell, including
Samson himself, than he had killed in all his lifetime. He was buried with his
father between Zorah and Eshtaol. He had judged Israel for twenty years. {Jud
16:30,31}
2888a AM, 3597 JP, 1117 BC
386. The Israelites took courage from this great loss of the Philistines, and
gathered together to a camp near Ebenezer (named by the prophet Samuel when,
twenty-one years later, the Philistines were overthrown by him in the very same
place). {1Sa 4:1 7:12} There the Israelites lost four thousand men. When they
sent for the ark of the covenant from Shiloh to be brought into the camp, the
Philistines saw all that was at stake. During that battle the Philistines
encouraged one another to be strong and fight lest, they said:
"we be forced hereafter to live in slavery under the Hebrews as they have been
under us."
387. In that second battle, thirty thousand Israelites were killed. The ark of
God was taken by the Philistines and Hophni and Phinehas, the two priests and
sons of Eli, were killed there. When Eli heard the news, he fell off his chair
backward and broke his neck for he was very fat. Furthermore, his
daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Phinehas, went into labour because she was
pregnant, and she delivered a son called Ichabod, and died. {1Sa 4:1-22} When
the Philistines took the ark of God, they carried it to Ashdod and placed it in
the temple of their god, Dagon.
388. Twice, Dagon was found lying prostrate and broken before the ark on the
ground. Some of the inhabitants of the place died of the plague, and some were
struck with filthy tumours in their private parts. {1Sa 5:9 Ps 78:66} They
moved the ark from there, first to the Gittites and later to the Ekronites.
However, the same plagues occurred wherever it went. After seven months, on the
advice of their priests, the Philistines sent the ark home again with gifts into
the land of the Israelites. Around the beginning of the third month, during
wheat harvest time, fifty thousand and seventy men of Bethshemesh were killed
for looking inside the ark. {1Sa 5:1-6:1,13-19} From there, the ark was moved
and carried to the house of Aminadab in Gibeah, on the hill of the city of
Kirjathjearim. {1Sa 7:1,2, 2Sa 6:3,4} This place was inhabited by the tribe of
Judah and was also called Baalah and Kirjathbaal. {1Ch 13:6 Jos 15:9,60}
However, all this time the tabernacle where God was worshipped remained at
Shiloh in the tribe of Ephraim. {Jud 18:31 1Sa 14:3}
2891c AM, 3601 JP, 1113 BC
389. Barzillai the Gileadite was born, for he was eighty years of age when
Absalom rebelled against David. {2Sa 19:35}
2903a AM, 3612 JP, 1102 BC
390. The seventh Jubilee.
2908c AM, 3618 JP, 1096 BC
391. For twenty years after the ark had come to Kirjathjearim, {1Sa 7:2} the
Israelites were grievously oppressed by the Philistines. [L48] Finally, having
been persuaded by Samuel, they returned to the Lord after abandoning all their
idols. They came together at Mizpah, where they were said to have drawn water,
that is, to have drawn tears from the bottom of their hearts and to have poured
them out before the Lord. {1Sa 7:6} This perhaps symbolised some external
effusion or pouring forth of water to signify their inward repentance and
mourning for their sins. {2Sa 14:14} Some would understand this as speaking of
the penitents themselves. {Ge 35:2 Ex 19:14} After their repentance, God
immediately delivered the people of the Israelites from the invasion of the
Philistines. {1Sa 7:10,12 Jos 10:10,11} God sent a terrible thunder that
terrified the Philistines. [E33] They abandoned all the cities of the
Israelites which they had formerly held. {1Sa 7:14} Several small garrisons
were left in only a few places. {1Sa 10:5} No more did they come to invade
their borders, because they saw that the hand of the Lord was against them all
the days of Samuel until Saul became king. {1Sa 7:12} However, after Saul
became king they returned again and oppressed Israel. When Samuel was old, he
appointed his two sons to be judges over Israel at Beersheba. They did not
serve the Lord like their father, but perverted judgment for rewards and bribes.
{1Sa 8:1-3} He did not retire completely, for from the passage {1Sa 7:15-17} it
appears that he continued judging the people by himself to his dying day.
2909c AM, 3619 JP, 1095 BC
392. Because Samuel's sons were taking bribes and perverting justice, the
Israelites began to make light of Samuel's leadership, which troubled him and
offended God. {1Sa 8:6-8} The Israelites were disgusted by the excessive
behaviour of Samuel's sons and requested that they should have a king, as other
countries had. {1Sa 8:4,5} In addition to this, the Philistines still had some
garrisons in their land. Furthermore, Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had
assembled men in preparation for war against them. This caused them great fear,
so that they resolved no longer to rely on Samuel's wisdom or on the power of
God, who had up to that time been their king and avenger. In spite of the fact
that they had expelled the Philistines out of their land, they still expressed
their desire to have a king. {1Sa 12:12,17,19} Though God was angered by their
request, he gave them a king {Ho 13:10,11} whose name was Saul, the son of Kish,
of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul reigned for forty years. {Ac 13:21} Saul's son
Ishbosheth was forty years old when he succeeded his father to the kingdom.
{2Sa 2:10} Ishbosheth is said to have been born when Saul was anointed king.
Saul was first anointed privately, and afterward publicly before all the people
at Mizpah, by Samuel. It was twenty-one years since the death of Eli {1Sa 7:2}
and since Samuel had begun to judge Israel. {1Sa 10:1,24,25} About one month
later {1Sa 12:12,16} (as the Septuagint and Josephus, {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 6.
c. 5. s. 1. (68) 5:201} stated), Jabeshgilead was besieged by Nahash king of
the Ammonites. This siege was lifted by Saul when he defeated the Ammonites.
The whole congregation of Israel came together at Gilgal and Saul was again
proclaimed king there. {1Sa 11:14,15} [L49] Samuel, however, questioned Saul's
sincerity in fulfilling his royal position and complained of the wrong that had
been done to him. Samuel called upon God to send thunder and rain, which
terrified the people. Then he comforted them with the promises of God's
mercies. {1Sa 12:17} This appears to have happened during their wheat harvest
season, around the time of the feast of Pentecost in the beginning of the third
month, twenty-one years after the ark arrived from the country of the
Philistines. {1Sam 6:13} It seems that a full twenty years passed between the
return of the ark and the subduing of the Philistines. {1Sa 7:2,13} One year
had passed between the expelling of the Philistines from Israel and Saul's
anointing as king, as is stated in the Hebrew: {1Sa 13:1}
"Saul was the son of one year when he reigned; and he reigned two years over
Israel."
393. Hence, Saul reigned for two years free from the subjection of the
Philistines.
2911c AM, 3621 JP, 1093 BC
394. The Philistines attacked Israel and took them captive, but Saul shook off
their yoke and recovered his kingdom again from their hands. {1Sa 14:47} War
with the Philistines continued for many years during Saul's reign. Since the
war began eight years before David was born, it was before it ended that Samuel
prophesied of David succeeding to the throne after Saul. The Lord hath sought
him a man according to his own heart, and God hath commanded him to be ruler
over his people. {1Sa 13:14} The Philistines took from them all their smiths so
they would have no weapons to fight with and no one to make any. Hence, when
the day of battle came, only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons. {1Sa
13:19,22} [E34]
2919c AM, 3629 JP, 1085 BC
395. David was born to Jesse the Ephrathite in his old age. {1Sa 17:12} This
was thirty years before David succeeded Saul to the kingdom. {2Sa 5:4 1Sa 16:1}
David was the youngest of eight sons born to Jesse and Bethlehem was later
called the city of David as was Jerusalem. {1Sa 20:6 Lu 2:4 2Sa 5:7,9}
2941c AM, 3651 JP, 1063 BC
396. God had rejected Saul and his family from the kingdom. After mourning a
long time about this, Samuel was sent by God to Bethlehem to anoint David as
king. This occurred forty years before the rebellion of Absalom. {1Sa 16:1 2Sa
15:7} David was a handsome-looking lad who was called away from shepherding his
father's sheep. {1Sa 16:11,12,18 2Sa 7:3 Ps 78:70,71} Because David was
preferred over his older brothers and was being anointed in their presence, {1Sa
16:13} they were envious of him. {1Sa 17:28} David's brothers were as envious
of him as Joseph's brothers were of him. David was also made king over Judah at
the same age that Joseph was made ruler over Egypt. {Ge 41:46 2Sa 5:4} From the
day of his anointing, the Spirit of God came upon him, giving him his courage
and wisdom. {1Sa 16:13,18 18:5,13,14,30 2Sa 5:2} As a result of this, while
Saul lived, he was made general over all Israel and became a great warrior to
fight the Lord's battles. {1Sa 25:28} He became known as a prophet and the
sweet Singer of Israel who, by his divine Psalms, would teach and instruct the
people of God. {Ac 2:30 2Sa 23:1,2} [L50]
2944 AM, 3654 JP, 1060 BC
397. Mephibosheth (or Meribbaal), {1Ch 8:34 9:40} the son of Jonathan, was born
five years before the death of his father. {2Sa 4:4}
2944c AM, 3654 JP, 1060 BC
398. David feared that he might at last fall into Saul's hands, so he fled to
King Achish in Gath, where he previously had fled {1Sa 21:10}, taking six
hundred men with him. Achish gave him the town of Ziklag to dwell in, and he
lived there for one year and four months in the land of the Philistines.
2948a AM, 3657 JP, 1057 BC
399. From there he attacked and killed all the Geshurites, Gezrites and the
Amalekites, leaving no one alive to carry news of the slaughter to King Achish.
{1Sa 27:1-12}
2948c AM, 3658 JP, 1056 BC
400. While David was at Ziklag, many who were relatives of Saul came to join
themselves with him. Also many valiant men of the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe
of Gad and various good soldiers came across the Jordan River to join him, in
the first month when it overflowed all its banks. They were accompanied by many
other captains and commanders of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. {1Ch
12:1,15,18}
2949c AM, 3659 JP, 1055 BC
401. King Achish planned to invade the Israelites with his Philistine army. He
took David along with him. {1Sa 28:1,2} While David was on the march with his
six hundred men, he gathered a number of others from the tribe of Manasseh who
joined him. {1Ch 12:19} The Philistines were then encamped at Shunem and the
Israelites were in Gilboa. {1Sa 28:4}
402. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he became afraid and sought
counsel from the Lord. Receiving no answer in a dream, or by Urim, or through
his prophets, he went to Endor by night to consult with a witch. When she
conjured up a vision of Samuel, Saul received the dreadful message:
"God shall deliver Israel, together with thyself, into the hands of the
Philistines; and tomorrow, thou and thy children shalt be with me." {1Sa
28:5,6,19 1Ch 10:13,14}
403. While David was away on his march, the Amalekites took Ziklag, plundered
it and burned it. They carried away David's two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and
Abigail, the widow of Nabal, along with all the wives and children of his men.
{1Sa 30:1-31}
404. When Saul returned that same night from the witch, the Israelites moved to
the fountain of Jezreel and the Philistines went to Aphek. The princes of the
Philistines became jealous of David, so he and his men left the Philistine army
early the next morning and returned to Ziklag. The Philistines in the interim
marched up to Jezreel to fight with the Israelites. {1Sa 28:25 29:1,3,10,11} It
seems that Saul and his sons were not killed on the day immediately following
his communication with the apparition of Samuel (since all that day David was
with the army of the Philistines), but Saul's death occurred some while after
David's departure from them.
405. When David was returning to Ziklag, seven captains of the Manassites came
to meet him. {1Ch 12:20,21} David arrived on the third day of his journey at
Ziklag and found the town plundered and consumed by fire. Two hundred of his
company were weary from marching and rested at the brook Besor, while David
followed after the Amalekites and overtook them with the remaining four hundred
men. The battle lasted from the twilight of the first day to the evening of the
next. They recovered all that was lost and returned home with joy. {1Sa
30:1-31} [L51]
406. The host of Israel were soundly trounced. The three sons of Saul,
Jonathan, Abinadab and Melchishua, were also killed. Saul and his armourbearer
fell on their own swords. The following day the Philistines took off the head
of Saul and hung up his armour in the temple of their idol Ashtaroth. His body
and the bodies of his three sons were also left to hang on the walls of
Bethshemesh. [E35] However, the men of Jabeshgilead remembered the deed of
valour which Saul had done for them at the beginning of his reign. They stole
away their bodies from there and burned them. They buried their bones under an
oak at Jabesh and fasted for them for seven days. {1Sa 31:1-13 1Ch 10:1-14}
407. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan, who was now dead. When his nurse
heard the news of his death she ran away with Mephibosheth. Because she was
very afraid and in a great haste, he fell out of her arms and became lame in his
feet for the rest of his life. {2Sa 4:4}
408. Three days after David's return from the slaughter of the Amalekites, he
heard of the defeat of the Israelite army. A boy of the Amalekites who had been
in the battle brought him the news, together with Saul's crown and bracelet,
which he had removed from Saul's body. {2Sa 1:1-16} From this news, though
quickly brought to David, it is inferred that the defeat in Gilboa happened a
number of days after David left the Philistine army. It was not unusual for the
battle to be so delayed. Much later, when the Syrians camped against the
Israelites at the same place at Aphek, Israel waited seven days before fighting
with them. {1Ki 20:26,29}
409. David executed the Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul. In a
funeral song he praised Saul, Jonathan and God's people. {2Sa 1:13-27} Daily,
more companies of the Israelites' army flocked to him. {1Ch 12:22} He asked
counsel of God before he went up to Hebron with his men and their families.
There he was anointed king by the men of his own tribe at the age of thirty. He
reigned over Judah for seven years and six months. {2Sa 2:1-4,11 5:4,5}
410. Abner, the former captain of Saul's army, took Ishbosheth, Saul's son, to
Mahanaim and there he made him king over the rest of Israel. Ishbosheth was
forty years old and reigned two years over Israel. {2Sa 2:8-10} He had two
years of peace with the house of David, just as his father's two years of reign
{1Sa 13:1} referred to two years of peace with the Philistines. {See note on
2909c AM. <<392>>}
411. David sent messengers to the men of Jabeshgilead and thanked them for the
kindness which they had shown to King Saul. He informed them that he was now
king over Judah. {2Sa 2:5-7} To strengthen his position, he made an alliance
with Talmai, king of Geshur and secured it by marrying his daughter, Maacah.
She bore him Absalom and Tamar. {2Sa 3:3 13:1}
2951c AM, 3661 JP, 1053 BC
412. After the two years of peace with Ishbosheth, there was a long war between
his people and the people of David. Joab, the son of Zeruiah, David's sister,
headed up David's side and Abner commanded the other side. Many battles and
skirmishes took place. David's side grew stronger and stronger, while
Ishbosheth's side became weaker. {2Sa 2:26-3:1}
2952a AM, 3661 JP, 1053 BC
413. The eighth Jubilee. [L52]
2956d AM, 3666 JP, 1048 BC
414. When Abner was disgracefully used by Ishbosheth, he defected to David. He
arranged with the chief men and heads of Israel to transfer the whole kingdom to
David. {2Sa 3:6-21}
415. When David had fled from Saul, {1Sa 19:12} his wife Michal had been given
by Saul in marriage to Phaltiel. David demanded that Ishbosheth send her back.
{1Sa 25:44 2Sa 3:14,15}
416. When Abner came with twenty men to David, he was well received and given a
feast. When he returned from David in peace, he was treacherously killed by
Joab. David made a great mourning and lamentation over Abner, and he was buried
at Hebron. {2Sa 3:17-39}
417. All Israel was troubled by the death of Abner. Baanah and Rechab, of the
tribe of Benjamin, murdered Ishbosheth when he was resting on his bed in the
heat of the day. They brought his head to David and he had them executed. {2Sa
4:1-12}
418. The captains and elders of all the tribes came to Hebron and anointed
David king over Israel for the third time. {1Ch 12:23-40 11:1-3 2Sa 5:1-3}
2957a AM, 3666 JP, 1048 BC
419. David, with all Israel, marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites. By
Joab's valiant actions they captured the citadel of Zion. Henceforth, it was
called the City of David, just as Bethlehem, his birthplace, was called. He
made Jerusalem the capital of the kingdom and reigned over all Israel for
thirty-three years. {2Sa 5:5-7,9 1Ch 11:4-7}
2957c AM, 3667 JP, 1047 BC
420. When the Philistines heard that David was made king over all Israel by
every tribe, they twice led their army against him at the valley of Rephaim, and
were defeated both times. {2Sa 5:22-25 1Ch 14:1-17} [E36] It was at this place
that David, in the time of harvest, desired a drink of water from the well at
Bethlehem. To please him, three of the most valiant captains broke through the
host of the enemy to get it. When they brought it to him, he would not drink
it. {2Sa 23:13 1Ch 11:15}
2958b AM, 3668 JP, 1046 BC
421. David built up the city of Zion and strengthened its fortifications. Joab
repaired the rest of the city. {2Sa 5:9 1Ch 11:8}
422. Hiram sent messengers to David. Hiram also sent cedar wood, and
carpenters and masons, to build David's house. {2Sa 5:11 1Ch 14:1}
2959 AM, 3669 JP, 1045 BC
423. The ark of the covenant, which in the first sabbatical year had been
brought from Gilgal to Shiloh, was now brought from Kirjathjearim in this
sabbatical year. It had been moved from Shiloh seventy years earlier, from the
house of Abinadab. Thirty thousand choice men from all Israel accompanied the
move of the ark by David. He composed the sixty-eighth psalm for the occasion,
as may be deduced from the psalm's title. {Ps 68:1} This verse appears to have
been taken from a prayer which was appointed by Moses to be used and sung every
time the ark was moved. {Nu 10:35} The ark was first carried to the house of
Obededom. After three months, it was moved into the city of David, or the
citadel of Zion. David himself rejoiced before it, and sang a psalm. {Ps
132:8} Solomon his son repeated this verse {2Ch 6:41} in the next Jubilee year,
when he brought the ark into the Holy of Holies in the temple.
"Arise oh Lord unto thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength"
424. See also this passage. {Ps 132:6,7} From the Hebrew:
"Behold we (that is the men of Bethlehem dwelling there) have heard of it at
Ephratah (our own country) and found it in the fields of Jair, or the wood;
(that is in the hill of Kirjathjearim, for that signifies a city, bordering upon
woods)"
425. From another psalm we have: [L53]
"The Lord hath chosen Zion, for a habitation for himself; saying, This is my
rest for ever here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein." {Ps 132:13,14}
426. The ark came to rest there at Zion {1Ch 6:31} and was moved into the new
tabernacle which David had prepared for it at Jerusalem. {2Sa 6:17 1Ch 16:1 2Ch
1:4}
427. The tabernacle of the congregation, built by Moses, together with the
brazen altar used for the daily sacrifices, remained at Gibeon, in the tribe of
Judah, until the temple of Solomon was built. It was no longer in Shiloh in the
tribe of Ephraim. {1Ch 6:32,48,49 16:39,40 21:29 2Ch 1:3,5,6 1Ki 3:2,4}
428. The ark was moved from the house of Joseph, of which the tribe of Ephraim
was a part, into the tribe of Judah. After this, Shiloh played no part in
Israel's worship. {Ps 78:67,68 Jer 7:12,14 26:6}
2960d AM, 3670 JP, 1044 BC
429. David now lived in the house of cedar which he had built, and enjoyed
peace on every side. He told Nathan, the prophet, that he planned to build a
house for God. God replied that this was a task that should be done by a man of
peace, not war, and that his son Solomon would build the house, not David. {2Sa
7:1,2,11,13 1Ch 17:1-27 22:8-10 28:3,6 2Ch 6:8,9 1Ki 8:18,19} From now until the
birth of Solomon, the time was spent in wars. David subdued the Philistines,
the Edomites, the Amalekites, the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Syrians. {2Sa
8:3 1Ch 18:1-17} The borders of Israel stretched not only from Shihor in Egypt
to Hamath, {1Ch 13:5} but even from there to the Euphrates River as far as the
borders of Syria Zobah. {2Sa 8:3} This was the extreme boundary of all that
land which had formerly been promised to the seed of Abraham. {Ge 15:18 De
11:24 Jos 1:3,4} It was never possessed by any of them, except by David and his
son Solomon. {1Ki 4:21,24 2Ch 9:28}
430. At this time Hadadezer, also called Hadarezer (the d and the r look very
similar in Hebrew), the son of Rehob, was king of Syria Zobah. He united his
forces from Damascus with the forces of Rezon, the son of Eliadah. They
prepared to fight against David not far from the Euphrates River. However,
after David routed Hadadezer's army, he killed twenty-two thousand of the
Syrians from Damascus and put garrisons in all that country. When Rezon saw
that David had prevailed, he rebelled against Hadadezer and made himself captain
over the forces he had recently raised. He marched with them to Damascus and
there set up a kingdom for himself and his posterity. He was a very bitter
enemy to Solomon, as was his kingdom to the rest of the kings of Israel. {2Sa
8:5,6 1Ch 17:5,6 1Ki 11:23-25} Concerning this battle fought by David near the
Euphrates River, Nicolaus Damascene, quoted in Josephus, {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
7. c. 5. s. 2. (101) 5:413} mentioned this battle of David's and called
this Rezon, Adad. He added that his name was passed on to his successors to the
tenth generation, as Ptolemy did to his in Egypt.
2967a AM, 3676 JP, 1038 BC
431. After Nahash, king of the Ammonites, died, his son Hanun reigned in his
place. He badly abused the messengers that David, out of kindness, had sent to
comfort him over the death of his father. {2Sa 10:1-5} [E37] [L54]
2967c AM, 3677 JP, 1037 BC
432. Therefore, David sent out Joab, who defeated a large army of the Ammonites
and Syrian mercenaries. David and Joab returned victorious to Jerusalem. {2Sa
10:1-19 1Ch 19:1-19}
2968b AM, 3678 JP, 1036 BC
433. David crossed the Jordan River with his army and slaughtered a vast number
of the Syrians who were led by Shophach, the general of the army of Hadadezer,
king of Syria Zobah. A time of peace followed between David and the petty kings
of Syria, so that they sent no more aid to the Ammonites, but served David.
{2Sa 10:1-19 1Ch 19:1-19}
2969b AM, 3679 JP, 1035 BC
434. At the end of the year, when kings went to battle, Joab, with his army,
fought against the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon. In
the meantime, David took his ease at Jerusalem. {2Sa 11:1 1Ch 20:1} There, he
defiled himself in an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah
the Hittite. Uriah was in the army at that time. Consequently, David arranged
to have Uriah killed at the hands of the Ammonites. {2Sa 11:1-27}
2970b AM, 3680 JP, 1034 BC
435. When David's child by adultery was born, David was convicted of his sin by
Nathan, the prophet, whereupon he repented. David composed the 51st psalm {Ps
51:1-19} as a sad memorial of his sin with Bathsheba, but the child died. {2Sa
12:1-31}
2971a AM, 3680 JP, 1034 BC
436. Bathsheba, who was now David's wife, bore David another son called
Solomon, whose name was given to him by God. This child proved to be a man of
peace. {1Ch 22:9} His name means one beloved of God, the name of Jedidiah.
{2Sa 12:25}
2972c AM, 3682 JP, 1032 BC
437. Amnon, David's oldest son, raped his sister Tamar. {2Sa 13:1-39}
2974c AM, 3684 JP, 1030 BC
438. Two years after he had raped his sister, Amnon was killed by his brother
Absalom at the time of sheep shearing, before grain harvest. {2Sa 13:23} This
occurred at the end of the spring, shortly after the middle of the first month
and during the second mowing of the grass. Codomanus noted this from these
passages. {Am 7:1 Jos 3:15 4:19 5:10-12}
439. After Absalom had killed Amnon, he fled to Geshur in Syria. He stayed
three years with king Talmai, his grandfather on his mother's side. {2Sa
13:37,38 15:8}
2977c AM, 3687 JP, 1027 BC
440. After three years of exile, Absalom returned to Jerusalem. His father was
pacified toward him by the speech of the woman of Tekoa, who was employed by
Joab. {2Sa 13:38 14:1,23}
2979b AM, 3689 JP, 1025 BC
441. Absalom set Joab's barley on fire just before harvest time that year (for
the following year was a sabbatical year, when there was no harvest in Judah).
By this means he was admitted to his father's presence, whom he had not seen in
the two years since his return from exile. {2Sa 14:28,30,33}
2980 AM, 3690 JP, 1024 BC
442. This sabbatical year came between the burning of Joab's grain field and
the rebellion of Absalom against his father. In his rebellion, Absalom obtained
chariots and horses and gathered a band of ruffians around him, while
insinuating himself into the favour of the people. He stole away their hearts
from his father David. {2Sa 15:1-6}
2981c AM, 3691 JP, 1023 BC
443. Forty years after the anointing of David by Samuel, Absalom followed the
advice of his chief counsellor Ahithophel and took possession of his father's
kingdom. {2Sa 15:7} This happened between the Passover and the Feast of
Pentecost. Codomanus assumed this to be the season, from what Barzillai
provided for David when he fled with new fruits and roasted grain. {2Sa 17:28}
444. David composed the third and fifty-fifth psalms against the practices of
Absalom and Ahithophel. {Ps 3:1-8 55:1-23} Shimei, of the tribe of Benjamin,
railed against David as he fled. {2Sa 16:5} [L55]
445. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been followed by Absalom, he
went and hanged himself. {2Sa 17:23}
446. In the battle with David, Absalom lost twenty thousand men and fled. A
bough of a thick oak caught hold of his long hair, so he hung there until Joab
came and thrust him through with darts, killing him. {2Sa 18:9-14}
447. After this victory, David was brought home again by the men of Judah and
one half of the people of Israel. The other Israelites rebelled because they
had not participated in that work. This rebellion was soon over when the head
of Sheba, the son of Gera, was thrown over the walls to Joab by the people of
Abel. {2Sa 19:1-20:22}
2983c AM, 3693 JP, 1021 BC
448. The harvest of this year failed and there was a famine which afflicted the
land for three years. This famine was sent because the innocent blood of the
Gibeonites had been shed by Saul and his family. {2Sa 21:1,2}
2986c AM, 3696 JP, 1018 BC
449. The famine still continued, so the Gibeonites hanged two of Saul's sons
and five of his grandchildren at the beginning of the barley harvest. Rizpah,
Saul's concubine, watched over their bodies and kept them from being devoured by
ravenous birds or beasts, until water dropped from heaven upon them. {2Sa
21:8-10}
450. David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son and moved them from
Jabeshgilead, along with the bones of the seven that had been hanged. They were
buried at Zelah in the sepulchre of Kish, the father of Saul. {2Sa 21:12-14}
451. Many battles were fought with the Philistines and their giants. In one
battle, David, who was now old, fainted in the battle and could have been killed
by the giant Ishbibenob, but he narrowly escaped. [E38] This was the last
battle that David took part in. {2Sa 21:16-22 1Ch 20:4-8}
2987d AM, 3697 JP, 1017 BC
452. Either Satan or David's pride motivated David to have a census taken,
thereby kindling God's wrath against the Israelites. {1Ch 21:6 27:24} For this
census, all the men over twenty years of age in every tribe (except the tribes
of Levi and Benjamin) were counted. {1Ch 27:23}. This census took nine months
and twenty days to complete. {2Sa 24:8} God sent the prophet Gad to David and
gave him the choice of one of three punishments. He was to choose famine, sword
or pestilence. {2Sa 24:11-14} This famine was to last three years, {1Ch 21:12}
but for seven years according to the passage in Samuel. {2Sa 24:13}. The
famine would have included the three years of the previous famine {2Sa 21:1}
together with this present sabbatical year, in which no sowing would take place
to compensate for the losses of the previous years, bringing a fourth year of
dearth. Three years of famine for the slaughter of the Gibeonites were already
past, and after this there would have been a poor harvest for lack of seed.
This harvest would not have been able to supply the needs of the next two years,
which the intervening sabbatical year would require. So the famine would still
have continued in the land, especially among the poor. Now in addition to these
past four years of famine, God proposed to David a choice of three more years of
famine. To reconcile these two different passages, {2Sa 24:13 1Ch 21:12} I
placed the account of David's numbering the people in this sabbatical year.
453. Now of the three choices, David chose the plague. In one day, seventy
thousand men died. When the angel was about to destroy Jerusalem, God in his
mercy bade him withhold his hand. He commanded David to offer whole burnt
offerings and peace offerings on the threshing floor of Araunah or Ornan, the
Jebusite. {2Sa 24:1-25 1Ch 21:1-30} [L56]
2988a AM, 3697 JP, 1017 BC
454. David foresaw that the house of God would be built on the threshing floor
of Araunah. {1Ch 22:1 2Ch 3:1} He began to prepare the materials necessary for
so great a work. He exhorted his son Solomon and all the heads of Israel to
carry the project through to a successful completion. {1Ch 22:1-19}
2988c AM, 3698 JP, 1016 BC
455. He took the number of the Levites, first from thirty, and then from twenty
years old and upwards. He divided them into many ranks and assigned to each one
his office. He established a set form both for ecclesiastical and civil
government in the fortieth year of his reign. {1Ch 23:1-27:34} This was the
beginning of the year, a year and a half before his death.
456. Rehoboam was born to Solomon by Naaman, an Ammonite woman. He was
forty-one years old when he began his reign, and hence was born to Solomon a
year before Solomon started to reign. {1Ki 14:21 1Ch 12:13} For although
Solomon called himself a little child when he began to reign, {1Ki 3:7} and
David his father said he was a child, young and tender, {1Ch 22:5 29:1} yet in
another place he called him a man of wisdom. {1Ki 2:9} This was even before God
granted him extraordinary knowledge and wisdom. These three things—tender
years, a son born and perfect wisdom—were not unique to Solomon at eighteen.
For the same things were attributed to king Josiah when he was only sixteen—{2Ch
34:1-3 2Ch 36:2,5} since Jehoiakim was born when Josiah was only fourteen years
old and Jehoahaz was born when Josiah was sixteen.
2989b AM, 3699 JP, 1015 BC
457. David was now seventy years old. Broken with continual cares and wars, he
was so weak and feeble that wearing extra clothes could hardly keep him warm.
So Abishag, a young Shunammite maiden, was sent for to keep him warm. {1Ki
1:1-4}
2989c AM, 3699 JP, 1015 BC
458. When Adonijah saw his father's decline, he took counsel and advice from
Joab and Abiathar, the high priest, and made himself king. When Bathsheba and
Nathan told David of this, he ordered his son Solomon to be anointed king in
Gihon by Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada.
As soon as Adonijah heard this, he fled to the sanctuary and took hold of the
horns of the altar. He was pardoned by the grace and favour of Solomon and set
at liberty. {1Ki 1:1-53}
459. David assembled all the governors, captains and commanders of Israel with
his sons and servants. He exhorted them all to the fear and worship of God,
especially Solomon his son. He ordered them to proceed with the building of the
temple. He gave them the plans for the temple and consigned into Solomon's
hands the gold and silver by weight for making every vessel and implement to be
used in the temple. {1Ch 28:1-21} After this, because of David's example and
exhortation, every man was moved to give gold, silver, brass, iron and stones,
all in great abundance, toward the building of God's house. They gave thanks to
God, and on the following day they offered a thousand young bullocks, a thousand
rams and a thousand lambs, with the meat offerings. Solomon was anointed as
king the second time, and Zadok was confirmed as the high priest. {1Ch 29:1-23}
[E39]
2990a AM, 3699 JP, 1015 BC
460. After David had given his instructions to his son Solomon, he died. {1Ki
2:1-10}. He had reigned in Hebron for seven years and six months, and
thirty-three years in Jerusalem over all of Israel. {2Sa 5:5} Concerning the
forty years which the scripture attributes to his reign, we must take the term
of his reign before he made Solomon king in his place, and consider that he
lived for six more months after that. [L57] So that the years of Solomon's
reign as mentioned in the scriptures are to be reckoned from the first month, a
full half year before David's death.
2990b AM, 3700 JP, 1014 BC
461. Adonijah used Bathsheba to ask Solomon to give him Abishag, the
Shunammite, as his wife. Therefore Solomon had him executed, as one still
aspiring to be king. Abiathar, of the family of Eli, was put out of the high
priesthood and Zadok, a descendent of Phinehas, replaced him. This had been
foretold earlier by God to Eli. {1Sa 2:33,35} So the high priesthood reverted
from the family of Ithamar to the family of Eleazar and continued there. Joab
fled to the tabernacle in fear and took hold of the horns of the altar. He was
executed by Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who was made captain of the host in
his place by the king. Shimei, who had before railed upon David, was merely
confined to his house, yet with this condition, that if at any time he passed
over the brook Kidron, he would be executed. {1Ki 2:1-46}
462. When Hadad, the Edomite, heard that Joab was dead, he returned from Egypt
to his own country. When Solomon later began to follow after vanities, God used
Hadad as an enemy against Solomon. {1Ki 11:14,21}
2991a AM, 3700 JP, 1014 BC
463. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon. He gave
her the city of Gezer located in the tribe of Ephraim. {Jos 21:21} Pharaoh had
taken it from the Canaanites and killed all its inhabitants. {1Ki 9:16} Solomon
brought her into Zion, the palace of David. {1Ki 3:1 2Ch 8:11}
2991c AM, 3701 JP, 1013 BC
464. Solomon offered a thousand whole burnt offerings at Gibeon where the
tabernacle was situated. God appeared to him in his sleep and asked him to
choose anything he wanted. Solomon chose wisdom to be given to him. Therefore,
God gave him wisdom from above, as well as all other blessings over and above
this. The first test of his wisdom was the deciding of the controversy between
the two women about one of their children. This gave him a reputation and the
respect of the people. {1Ki 3:1-28}
2992a AM, 3701 JP, 1013 BC
465. Solomon was visited by messengers sent from Hiram, king of Tyre, who
wanted to help him with timber for the building of the temple. When Solomon met
Hiram's terms, Hiram co-operated in the venture. Solomon supplied the workmen,
over whom he set pay masters and other officers to oversee the work. {1Ki
5:1-18}
The Fifth Age of the World
2992c AM, 3702 JP, 1012 BC
466. The foundation of the temple was laid in the four hundred and eightieth
year after Israel's exodus from Egypt. This was in King Solomon's fourth year
of reign, on the second day of the second month (called Zif, Monday May 21).
{1Ki 6:1,37 2Ch 3:2}
2993b AM, 3703 JP, 1011 BC
467. Three years after he was commanded not to cross the brook Kidron, Shimei
returned from Gath to bring back two runaway servants. Solomon had him
executed. {1Ki 2:39-46}
3000a AM, 3709 JP, 1005 BC
468. In the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, in the eighth month, called Bul,
the temple and its furnishings were completed. [L58] It had taken seven years
and six months to build. {1Ki 6:38} The dedication of the temple was postponed
until the autumn of the next year, because that was the beginning of the Jubilee
year.
3001a AM, 3710 JP, 1004 BC
469. This was the ninth Jubilee, which opened the fourth millennium of the
world. King Solomon celebrated the dedication of the temple with great pomp and
splendour. All Israel was assembled together in the seventh month, called
Ethanim. The ark was brought from Zion into the Holy of Holies. The tabernacle
and holy vessels from Gibeon went into the temple treasury. God gave a visible
and wonderful token of his presence. Solomon was standing on a scaffold made of
brass, and knelt down to pray to God. After this he blessed the people. He
then offered twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep.
They celebrated the feast of the dedication of the altar for seven days, and the
feast of tabernacles another seven days. On the fifteenth day, the celebrations
were completed and the people were dismissed to their homes. This was the
twenty-third day of the seventh month. {1Ki 8:1-66 2Ch 5:3-5 6:1-42 8:1-11}
[E40]
470. The eighth day of the seventh month (that is, Friday, October 30) was the
first of the seven days of the dedication. According to Levitical law, the
feast of atonement was held on the tenth day (Sunday, November 1). {Lev 25:9}
At the sound of the trumpet, the Jubilee was proclaimed.
471. The feast of tabernacles was held on the fifteenth day (Friday, November
6). The last day of this feast was always very solemnly kept. This occurred on
the twenty-second of the month (Friday, November 13). {2Ch 7:9 Le 23:36 Joh
7:37} The following day (Saturday, November 14), at the conclusion of the
Sabbath, the people went home.
3012c AM, 3722 JP, 992 BC
472. In the thirteenth year after the temple had been built, Solomon finished
building his own house. He spent twenty years on both of them: seven years and
six months on the temple, and thirteen years on his own house. {1Ki 7:1 9:10
2Ch 8:1}
473. As a reward for Hiram's good will in helping to construct these houses,
Solomon offered Hiram, king of Tyre, twenty cities of Galilee or Cabul, which
were located within the tribe of Asher. Solomon purchased these cities himself.
When Hiram refused to take them, Solomon reconstructed them all himself,
planting colonies of Israelites in them. {1Ki 9:10-13 2Ch 8:1,2}
474. When Solomon had finished both houses and the wall of Jerusalem, he moved
his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh, out of the city of David, into a house which
he had built for her. {1Ki 3:1 7:8 9:24 2Ch 8:11} He also rebuilt Gezer, which
Pharaoh, his father-in-law, had taken from the Canaanites and given to Solomon.
{1Ki 9:15-17} Gezer was located within the tribe of Ephraim.
3026c AM, 3736 JP, 978 BC
475. Shishak, also called Sefonchis (according to Egyptian Chronology), began
to reign in Egypt. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, fled to him and continued with
him until after Solomon died. {1Ki 11:40 12:2}
3029b AM, 3739 JP, 975 BC
476. Toward the end of his life, Solomon forsook the lusts and vanities to
which he was addicted in his latter years. He testified of his deep repentance
in his book called The Preacher (Ecclesiastes) and made his peace with God.
{2Ch 11:17} Solomon died when he had reigned forty years. {1Ki 11:42 2Ch 9:30}
[L59]
477. Rehoboam, Solomon's son, was made king by all Israel in Shechem. By his
harsh approach to his rule, he alienated the hearts of the ten tribes. (Solomon
died before the Jewish New Year otherwise he would have been said to have
reigned forty-one years. Rehoboam would have reigned for sixteen not seventeen
years unless he was anointed king on or before that Jewish New Year.) These
tribes sent to Egypt for Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, to be their king. Under
his leadership they rebelled against the house of David. They killed Adoram,
whom Rehoboam had sent to them, and abandoned the true worship of God. {1Ki
12:1-33} In memory of this sad disaster, the Jews kept a solemn yearly fast on
the twenty-third of the third month, called Sivan. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 4. s. 3. note (a) in Whiston's translation}
478. After this sad division of the kingdom, Rehoboam reigned over Judah and
Benjamin for seventeen years, {1Ki 14:21 2Ch 12:1,2} and Jeroboam over Israel,
that is, over the other ten tribes, for twenty-two years. {1Ki 14:20}
479. Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem and conscripted one hundred men and eighty
thousand to fight against the ten tribes. Through the prophet Shemaiah, he was
instructed by God to abandon this plan. {1Ki 12:1-33} There was continual wars
between the kings for the rest of their days. {1Ki 14:30}
480. In the beginning of his reign, Jeroboam fortified Shechem where he was
chosen king by the people. This place had been destroyed by King Abimelech, two
hundred and fifty-eight years earlier. {Jud 9:45} Jeroboam lived there until he
went over the Jordan and built Penuel. {1Ki 12:25} Finally, he built Tirzah and
made that city the capital of his kingdom. {1Ki 14:17} He feared that his new
subjects would revolt against him if they continued to worship at Jerusalem, so
he devised a new religion. He set up two golden calves for the people to
worship, the one at Bethel and the other at Dan. {1Ki 12:25-31}
3030a AM, 3739 JP, 975 BC, 1 SK, 1 NK
481. NK - On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (Monday, December 6),
Jeroboam held a feast of his own creation similar to the feast of tabernacles
among the Jews. On an idolatrous altar which he had built at Bethel, he offered
sacrifices to his calf. {1Ki 12:32,33} [E41] At that time, God sent an unnamed
prophet from Judah who foretold what judgment God, through Josiah, would execute
on this altar and the priests that served it. This prophecy was confirmed by
signs which appeared on the altar and on the very body of the king himself.
{1Ki 13:1-34 2Ki 23:15-20} From the beginning of this idolatrous worship and
public demonstration of God's judgment in that place, we are to reckon the three
hundred and ninety years of the iniquity of Israel, as spoken of by Ezekiel.
{Eze 4:5} {See note on 3420 AM. <<867>>} [L60]
482. This prophet was deceived by another prophet of Bethel, who lied about a
message from God. Contrary to the express commandment of God, the former ate
food at Bethel. Therefore, on his return home, he was intercepted and killed by
a lion. When news of this reached the prophet who had deceived him, he fetched
the body and gave it an honourable burial. He assured his sons that what had
been foretold by this other prophet would undoubtedly come to pass. {1Ki
13:1-34 2Ki 23:17,18}
3030b AM, 3740 JP, 974 BC, 1 SK, 1 NK
483. SK - The priests, Levites and other Israelites who feared God, did not
follow Jeroboam, but worshipped with Rehoboam in Jerusalem, which helped
maintain the kingdom of Judah for three years. This was the time they walked in
the ways of David and Solomon. {2Ch 11:17}
484. NK - Jeroboam continued in his revolt and excluded the priests, who were
of the lineage of Aaron, and the Levites, from his worship. He appointed
priests for the high places from among men of the common people. {1Ki 13:33,34
2Ch 11:14,15 13:9} Hence many of the priests and Levites abandoned their
possessions in those tribes and settled in Judah. They were followed there by
those of every tribe who wanted to worship the true God. They came to Jerusalem
to worship and sacrifice to the God of their forefathers. {2Ch 11:13,14,16}
3032d AM, 3742 JP, 972 BC, 3 SK, 3 NK
485. SK - Rehoboam was now settled in his kingdom and forsook the law of the
Lord, and all Israel and Judah with him. {2Ch 12:1} The Jews of Judah, who
should have stirred up their Israelite brothers to repentance, provoked the Lord
with their own sins. They behaved worse than their forefathers. They
established high places, images and groves for themselves on every high hill and
under every tree. [L61] They did all the wicked things the heathen did in their
barbarous worship, including those nations whom God had cast out before them.
{1Ki 14:22-24} [E42]
3033c AM, 3743 JP, 971 BC, 5 SK, 5 NK
486. SK - In Rehoboam's fifth year, Shishak, king of Egypt, invited perhaps by
Jeroboam (who had formerly lived with him {See note on 3026 AM.
<<475>>}), led
out an army of a hundred and twenty chariots, sixty thousand horses and
innumerable footmen from Egypt. The men were from the Lubims, Sukkiims and
Cushites who entered the land of Judah. They had already captured all its other
fortified cities when they finally came to Jerusalem. The king and his princes
were brought to repentance by the preaching of Shemaiah, the prophet. The king
received a gracious promise of their deliverance, but at a high cost. They were
to give to the Egyptians all the treasure of the temple and of the king's house.
Rehoboam replaced with brass all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
{1Ki 14:26,27 2Ch 12:2-12}
3046 AM, 3756 JP, 958 BC, 1 SK, 18 NK
487. SK - Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, succeeded his father, who died in the
beginning of the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's reign. He reigned three years.
{1Ki 15:1,2 2Ch 13:1,2} [L62]
3047c AM, 3757 JP, 957 BC, 2 SK, 19 NK
488. SK - Abijah and his army of four hundred thousand men fought with Jeroboam
and his army of eight hundred thousand men. Because Abijah trusted in God, he
was victorious against Jeroboam. He killed half a million of Jeroboam's
soldiers. This was the highest casualty rate of any battle recorded in the
Bible. Abijah captured the following cities: Bethel, where one of the calves
was set up, Jeshanah and Ephrain, along with their associated towns. {2Ch
13:1-22}
3049c AM, 3759 JP, 955 BC, 1 SK, 21 NK
489. SK - After Abijah's death, and at the very end of the twentieth year of
Jeroboam's reign in Israel, Asa succeeded his father Abijah and reigned
forty-one years. {1Ki 15:8-10}
3050a AM, 3759 JP, 955 BC, 2 SK, 22 NK
490. This was the tenth Jubilee.
3050d AM, 3760 JP, 954 BC, 2 SK, 1 NK
491. NK - Nadab, in the second year of Asa, succeeded his deceased father
Jeroboam to his kingdom, but reigned only two years. {1Ki 15:25} [E43]
3051d AM, 3761 JP, 953 BC, 3 SK, 1, 2 NK
492. NK - At the siege of Gibbethon of the Philistines, Nadab was killed by
Baasha, a man from the tribe of Issachar, in the third year of the reign of Asa.
In the same year that Baasha made himself king over Israel, he utterly destroyed
all the family of Jeroboam. He reigned for twenty-four years. {1Ki
15:27-29,33}
3053c AM, 3763 JP, 951 BC, 5 SK, 3 NK
493. SK - God now gave ten consecutive years of peace to the land, {2Ch 14:1,6}
even to the fifteenth year of King Asa's reign, or to the thirty-fifth year from
the rebellion of the northern kingdom. {2Ch 15:10,19} In that year, this godly
King Asa abolished all public idolatry, reformed his kingdom and fortified the
cities of Judah against the invasion of his enemies. {2Ch 14:6} [L63]
3055d AM, 3765 JP, 949 BC, 7 SK, 5 NK
494. Jehoshaphat was born to Asa and Azubah was his mother. Later, at the age
of thirty-five, he succeeded Asa to his kingdom. {1Ki 22:42 2Ch 20:31}
3063c AM, 3773 JP, 941 BC, 15 SK, 13 NK
495. In the beginning of Asa's reign, Zerah, the Ethiopian, mobilised an
innumerable army to invade the land of Judah. This force had a million foot
soldiers from the Cushites who, it seems, came from Arabia Petra and the desert
and the Lubims, as well as those who fought aloft from the chariots. Asa met
this army with three hundred thousand men from the tribe of Judah and two
hundred and eighty thousand from the tribe of Benjamin. He called on the name
of the Lord and routed and killed that vast army, taking much spoil from them.
Following this, he was encouraged by Azariah the prophet. He assembled all his
subjects together with a large number of the Israelites who were loyal to him.
They met at Jerusalem in the third month in which the feast of Pentecost fell.
From the spoil which they had taken, they sacrificed to God seven hundred oxen
and seven thousand cattle, solemnly renewing their covenant with God. [E44] Asa
continued reformation of his kingdom and removed Maachah, his grandmother, a
great patroness of idolatry, from the honour of queen mother. He brought into
the temple the things which he and his father had consecrated to God. {2Ch
14:8,9 15:1,10,11,13,16 16:8} [L64]
3064c AM, 3774 JP, 940 BC, 16 SK, 14 NK
496. NK - Baasha saw Asa actively restoring religion to Judah and observed that
many of his subjects were defecting to Asa, so that they might be partakers in
God's covenant blessings. {2Ch 15:9} For the rest of his life, he did not cease
from making war against Asa. {1Ki 15:16,32} In Asa's sixteenth year and the
thirty-sixth year since the division of the kingdom, Baasha began to fortify
Ramah, to prevent more of his subjects from defecting to Asa. {2Ch 16:1}
3064d AM, 3774 JP, 940 BC, 16 SK, 14 NK
497. SK - Asa hired Benhadad, king of Syria, to come and hinder the building up
of Ramah, which he did. Using the stones and timber from the city of Ramah, Asa
built Geba and Mizpah. When Hanan the prophet reproved him for getting help
from the king of Syria, he cast him into prison and at the same time Asa
oppressed some of the people. {2Ch 16:1-14}
498. NK - At the same time, Benhadad, king of Syria, marched against the cities
of Israel. He destroyed Ijon in the tribe of Asher and Dan in Dan,
Abelbethmaachah in the tribe of Manasseh and all the borders of Chinnereth, with
all the land of Naphtali. This forced Baasha to stop fortifying Ramah and
retire to Tirzah. {1Ki 15:20,21 2Ch 16:4,5 Isa 9:1} Benhadad was the son of
Tabrimon, who was himself the son of Hezion, {1Ki 15:18} or Rezon, the first
king of Damascus of Syria. It was from him that the name of Hadad was passed on
to his posterity in the kingdom. This is noted by Nicolaus Damascene, as
recorded by Josephus, {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 7. c. 5. s. 2. (103) 5:415}
where Nicolaus stated:
"The third king of that name, who sought to wipe away the blot of the defeat
that happened in his grandfather's days, marched into Judah and destroyed
Samaria."
499. Josephus understood this to be the invasion made upon Samaria by Benhadad,
in the time of Ahab. {See note on 2960 AM. <<430>>} {See note on
3103c AM.
<<513>>} [L65]
3074d AM, 3784 JP, 930 BC, 26 SK, 24 NK
500. NK - When Baasha died and was buried at Tirzah, his son Elah succeeded
him. {1Ki 16:8-10}
3075d AM, 3785 JP, 929 BC, 27 SK, 1 NK
501. NK - In the second year of Elah and the twenty-seventh of Asa, Zimri
killed Elah and his entire family. [E45] He then reigned in Tirzah for seven
days. But the soldiers at Gibbethon, a town of the Philistines, made Omri, the
general of the army, king. He came to besiege Tirzah, and Zimri set fire to the
king's palace, destroying both it and himself. {1Ki 16:15-18}
502. The people of Israel split into two factions, the one following Tibni, the
son of Ginath, while the other followed Omri. Omri's side prevailed, and Omri
became king. {1Ki 16:8,21,22}
3077d AM, 3787 JP, 927 BC, 29 SK, 3 NK
503. NK - Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab the son of Omri, was, so it seems,
born forty-two years before her son, Ahaziah, reigned over Judah. {2Ch 21:6
22:2} {See Gill on "2Ch 22:2"}
3079d AM, 3789 JP, 925 BC, 31 SK, 5 NK
504. NK - Omri began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah by himself, in the
thirty-first year of King Asa. {1Ki 16:23} [L66]
3080d AM, 3790 JP, 924 BC, 32 SK, 6 NK
505. SK - Jehoram was born to Jehoshaphat, thirty-two years before his father
appointed him as viceroy of his kingdom. {2Ki 8:17 2Ch 21:20}
506. NK - At this point Omri had reigned six years in Tirzah, but he now moved
the capital of his kingdom from Tirzah to Samaria. He established Samaria on
the hill of Samaria, a place which he had purchased from Shemer. {1Ki 16:23,24}
3086d AM, 3796 JP, 918 BC, 38 SK, 1 NK
507. Omri died and was buried at Samaria. He was a poor father, but Ahab, the
son who succeeded him, was much worse. Ahab reigned twenty-two years. {1Ki
16:28,29}
3087d AM, 3797 JP, 917 BC, 39 SK, 2 NK
508. SK - In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet.
He sought help from the physicians and not from God. {2Ch 16:12}
3090c AM, 3800 JP, 914 BC, 1 SK, 5 NK
509. SK - At the end of the forty-first year of his reign, Asa died and was
buried in a sepulchre which he had prepared in the city of David. The tomb was
filled with sweet odours and spices. {2Ch 16:13,14} He had been a good father,
and an even better son succeeded him, called Jehoshaphat. At the very latter
end of the fourth year of Ahab's reign, Jehoshaphat started to reign over Judah
and ruled for twenty-five years. {1Ki 22:41,42 2Ch 20:31}
3092c AM, 3802 JP, 912 BC, 3 SK, 7 NK
510. SK - When Jehoshaphat was established in his kingdom, he began removing
the high places and the groves. In the third year of his reign, he sent out the
Levites and other chief men into all the cities to instruct the people. [E46]
Jehoshaphat attacked some of his enemies to prevent them from invading him. God
gave him peace. {2Ch 17:7-10}
3097d AM, 3807 JP, 907 BC, 8 SK, 12 NK
511. SK - Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, king of Israel, married Jehoram, the
son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. This union resulted from the marriage
alliance Jehoshaphat made with Ahab. {2Ch 18:1} [L67] She had a son named
Ahaziah who at the age of twenty-two succeeded Jehoram to the kingdom. {2Ki
8:18,26,27 2Ch 21:6 22:2}
3099a AM, 3808 JP, 906 BC, 9 SK, 13 NK
512. The eleventh Jubilee.
3103c AM, 3813 JP, 901 BC, 14 SK, 18 NK
513. NK - Benhadad, king of Syria, assembled his army together and with the
assistance of thirty-two petty kings, besieged Samaria. He was defeated by Ahab
and fled. {1Ki 20:1-43}
3104d AM, 3814 JP, 900 BC, 15 SK, 19 NK
514. NK - About a year later, Benhadad came up a second time as far as Aphek to
fight against Israel. He was badly defeated and surrendered to Ahab. Ahab
received him with all courtesy and honour, and after a while let him go in
peace. Ahab made a pact of friendship with him, for which act God, through his
prophet, pronounced judgment upon Ahab. {1Ki 20:1-43} However, as a result of
this league, there were three years of peace between the two nations. {1Ki
22:1}
3105 AM, 3815 JP, 899 BC, 16 SK, 20 NK
515. NK - When Ahab could not persuade Naboth to sell him his vineyard, he was
depressed. His wife Jezebel engaged false witnesses and had Naboth condemned to
death and stoned. Thus Ahab got possession of the vineyard. The prophet Elijah
told him of the destruction which was to befall him, Jezebel and all his
posterity, on account of this wicked deed. Ahab trembled at this, and because
of his timely repentance, he obtained a respite from this judgment. {1Ki
21:1-29} [E47]
3106d AM, 3816 JP, 898 BC, 17 SK, 21 NK
516. SK - As Ahab had done, Jehoshaphat made his son, also called Jehoram,
viceroy of the kingdom. Jehoram, the other son of Ahab, later succeeded his
brother Ahaziah as king over the Israelites in the eighteenth year of
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. {2Ki 3:1} This Jehoram is said to have begun his
reign in the second year of his brother-in-law Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat.
{2Ki 1:17}
517. NK - Ahab, in the seventeenth year of the reign of Jehoshaphat, made his
son Ahaziah viceroy in the kingdom. {1Ki 22:51} [L68]
3107d AM, 3817 JP, 897 BC, 18 SK, 22,2 NK
518. SK - Jehoshaphat visited Ahab at the very end of the third year of the
peace which Ahab had made with the Syrians. He was invited by Ahab to go with
him to the siege of Ramothgilead. After being entreated, he agreed to join him,
and barely escaped from there with his life. {1Ki 22:1-53 2Ch 18:1-34} When he
returned home, the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, reproved him for helping
such a wicked king. {2Ch 19:1,2}
519. NK - After Ahab had convinced Jehoshaphat to go with him, he set out to
besiege Ramothgilead. Before he went, he asked four hundred false prophets, as
well as Micaiah, the true prophet of God, what the outcome of the war would be.
They all told him he would do well, except Micaiah, who foretold his defeat.
Ahab disguised himself, but was killed in the battle. He was buried in Samaria.
{1Ki 22:1-53 2Ch 18:1-34}
520. After his death, Moab revolted from the Israelites. {2Ki 1:1 3:5} They
had been in subjection to them ever since King David's days. {2Sa 8:2}
3108a AM, 3817 JP, 897 BC, 18 SK, 2 NK
521. SK - When Jehoshaphat had built a fleet, he sent it to Ophir for gold.
Ahaziah, the wicked son of Ahab, went into partnership with him in this venture.
At first Jehoshaphat refused the joint venture, but later agreed to it. {1Ki
22:49} For so doing, God destroyed the fleet and reproved him through his
prophet Eliezer, the son of Dodavah. {2Ch 20:35-37}
3108b AM, 3818 JP, 896 BC, 18 SK, 2 NK
522. NK - Ahaziah, king of Israel, was injured when he fell through a lattice
of his dining room in Samaria. He asked Baalzebub, the god of the Ekronites, if
he would recover. The prophet Elijah, with fire from heaven, destroyed two
captains and their companies of fifty who were sent to capture him and bring him
to the king. At last, he went voluntarily with the third captain who came for
him. He told the king plainly that he would die. {2Ki 1:1-18} The king did
die. He had reigned two years—partly with his father, partly by himself. {1Ki
22:51} [L69]
3108c AM, 3818 JP, 896 BC, 19 SK, 1 NK
523. NK - When Ahaziah was dead, his brother Jehoram, the other son of Ahab,
succeeded him in the latter end of the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, and
reigned twelve years. {2Ki 3:1}
524. Elijah was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot. {2Ki 2:1-25}
3109c AM, 3819 JP, 895 BC, 20 SK, 2 NK
525. When Edom was still under the control of Judah, the three kings of Israel,
Judah and Edom united to subdue the rebellious Moabites. [E48] In this war, the
prophet Elisha miraculously furnished the army with water and assured them of
the victory over their enemies. Mesha, king of the Moabites, was besieged in
Kirhareseth and tried unsuccessfully to break out with the small forces he had
left. He captured the firstborn son of the king of Edom, who was referred to as
king of the Edomites by the prophet Amos. {Am 2:1} He offered him as a whole
burnt offering on the wall of the city. {2Ki 3:1-27}
3112c AM, 3822 JP, 892 BC, 23,1 SK, 5 NK
526. SK - When Jehoshaphat was old, he desired to settle his estate. He gave
the rest of his sons many gifts, along with fortified cities in Judah. His
oldest son, Jehoram (whom he had formerly employed as his vice-regent), was made
viceroy with him in the kingdom. He reigned for eight years. This was in the
fifth year of Jehoram, king of Israel. {2Ch 21:2,3,5,20 2Ki 8:16,17} [L70]
3115c AM, 3825 JP, 889 BC, 4 SK, 8 NK
527. SK - Jehoshaphat died and was buried in the city of David. {1Ki 22:50 2Ch
21:1} This good king's wicked son Jehoram ruled alone for four years. When he
was established in his kingdom, he killed all his brothers and many of the other
princes in Judah. {2Ch 21:1-20} The Edomites revolted, having been under the
control of Judah since King David's time. {2Sa 8:14} They had been smitten by
Jehoram, but in accordance with the prophecy of Isaac, {Ge 27:40} they shook off
Judah's yoke for ever. Libnah, a city of the priests in the tribe of Judah,
{Jos 21:13} also revolted at this time. {2Ki 8:20-22 2Ch 21:8-10}
3116a AM, 3825 JP, 889 BC, 4 SK, 8 NK
528. SK - Jehoram followed the counsel of his wicked wife Athaliah and set up
the idolatrous worship of Baal in Judah and Jerusalem, just as Ahab, his
father-in-law, had done in Israel. He forced his subjects to worship Baal.
[E49] God reproved him in a letter written by the prophet Elijah, who foretold
what calamities and punishments would happen to him. {2Ch 21:11-15} These
events occurred as predicted. {2Ch 21:16-20}
3116c AM, 3826 JP, 888 BC, 5 SK, 9 NK
529. SK - First, God stirred up the Philistines and Arabians against him.
These attacked Judah and took away whatever they found in the king's house,
together with his sons and wives. [L71] Since all his other sons had been
killed, he had only Jehoahaz left. {2Ch 21:1-20} This Jehoahaz was also called
Ahaziah and Azariah, and he succeeded his father to the kingdom. {2Ch 22:1,6}
3117c AM, 3827 JP, 887 BC, 6 SK, 10 NK
530. SK - After this, God struck Jehoram with an incurable disease in the
bowels, which tormented him for two whole years. {2Ch 21:15,18,19}
3118d AM, 3828 JP, 886 BC, 7 SK, 11 NK
531. SK - When Jehoram was afflicted with this sickness, he made his son,
Ahaziah, his viceroy in the eleventh year of Joram (also called Jehoram), the
son of Ahab. {2Ki 9:29}
3119c AM, 3829 JP, 885 BC, 8,1 SK, 12 NK
532. When Jehoram's bowels fell out, he died a miserable death and was buried
in the city of David, but without any pomp and not among the kings. {2Ch
25:19,20} After this, in the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah,
Jehoram's son, succeeded him, reigning one year in Jerusalem. He followed in
the steps of his wicked mother Athaliah and the whole house of Ahab, by setting
up and maintaining the worship of Baal. {2Ki 8:25,27 2Ch 22:1-4}
533. Ahaziah had a son by Zibia of Beersheba, whose name was Joash or Jehoash.
He was proclaimed king at the age of seven. {2Ki 11:21 2Ch 24:1}
3120b AM, 3830 JP, 884 BC, 1 SK, 12 NK
534. NK - Jehoram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out
together with their armies to Ramothgilead against Hazael, who had recently
succeeded Benhadad to the kingdom of Syria, as Elisha the prophet had foretold
him. In that battle, Jehoram was grievously wounded by the Syrians and retired
to Jezreel to be healed of his wounds. {2Ki 8:1-29} Meanwhile, a certain son of
the prophets was sent by Elisha and came to Ramoth. He anointed Jehu, the son
of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, king over Israel. [L72] He told him the will
of God concerning the wiping out of the house of Ahab. As soon as Jehu had been
proclaimed king by the captains and officers of the army, he marched to Jezreel.
There he killed both Jehoram and Jezebel. {2Ki 9:1-37} Jehu sent letters to
Samaria which were responsible for the death of the seventy sons of Ahab, as
foretold by Elisha. He took Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, with him to Samaria.
There he destroyed all the family of Ahab with all the priests of Baal.
Although he destroyed Baal worship, he still maintained the worship of
Jeroboam's golden calves, and the associated idolatry by the Israelites, for the
duration of his twenty-eight year reign. {2Ki 10:28,29,36}
3120c AM, 3830 JP, 884 BC, 1 SK, 1 NK
535. SK - Ahaziah returned from the battle at Ramothgilead against Hazael.
Later he went to Jezreel to see Jehoram, the king of Israel, who was recovering
from his wounds. When Jehu found many of Ahab's family attending him there,
together with various princes of Judah, he killed them all. Then he searched
for Ahaziah himself, who had escaped and fled to Megiddo. [E50] When he caught
up with him on the way to Gur, which is in Ibleam, in the tribe of Manasseh, he
killed him in his chariot. Ahaziah was carried from there by his servants, and
was buried with his fathers in the city of David. {2Ki 9:1-37 2Ch 22:1-9} On
his way back to Samaria, Jehu met forty-two men of Ahaziah's relatives heading
to Jezreel with the intention of there greeting the king's children, but Jehu
had them all killed. {2Ki 10:13,14}
536. When Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, saw that her own son Ahaziah was
dead, she killed all the royal family of the house of Judah and took control of
the kingdom. Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram and wife to Jehoiada, the
high priest, took the infant Joash, who was the son of her brother Ahaziah.
Joash and his nurse were hidden for six years in the temple while Athaliah
ruled. Thus, his aunt spared him from the slaughter of the rest of the royal
family. {2Ki 11:1-3 2Ch 22:10-12} [L73]
3126c AM, 3836 JP, 878 BC, 1 SK, 7 NK
537. Jehoiada, the high priest, brought out Joash at the age of seven and
anointed him king. After he had Athaliah killed, Joash restored the worship of
the true God, destroyed the house of Baal and commanded Baal's high priest
Mattan to be killed before his altars. {2Ki 11:4-21 2Ch 23:1-21} Joash began
his reign in the seventh year of Jehu and reigned forty years in Jerusalem.
{2Ki 12:1 2Ch 24:1}
3140c AM, 3850 JP, 864 BC, 15 SK, 21 NK
538. Amaziah, the son of Joash and Jehoaddan, was born in Jerusalem. [E51] He
was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. {2Ki 14:2 2Ch 25:1}
3147d AM, 3857 JP, 857 BC, 22 SK, 28 NK
539. Joash commanded the priests to repair the temple of God, using the poll
tax that had been gathered for that purpose. {2Ki 12:4-16 2Ch 24:4-14}
3148a AM, 3857 JP, 857 BC
540. The twelfth Jubilee. [L74]
3148c AM, 3858 JP, 856 BC, 23 SK, 1 NK
541. SK - In the twenty-third year of his reign, Joash saw that the priests
were quite slow in repairing the temple. Therefore, he assigned the task to
Jehoiada, the chief priest, and others, to complete that work. {2Ki 12:6,7 2Ch
24:5,6}
542. NK - Jehoahaz succeeded his father Jehu as king over Israel in the
twenty-third year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah. He reigned seventeen years {2Ki
13:1} and during that entire time Hazael, the king of Syria, cruelly oppressed
the Israelites, {2Ki 13:3,7,22} as foretold by Elisha. {2Ki 8:12}
3163c AM, 3873 JP, 841 BC 38 SK, 16 NK
543. SK - Joash or Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, was made viceroy with his
father toward the end of the thirty-seventh year of Joash, king of Judah. He
reigned sixteen years. {2Ki 13:10}
3164c AM, 3874 JP, 840 BC, 39 SK, 17,2 NK
544. SK - After Jehoiada died, his son Zechariah, the priest, was stoned to
death for reproving Judah for backsliding into idolatry. This was done at the
king's command in the court of God's house. {2Ch 24:17-22}
3165c AM, 3875 JP, 839 BC, 40,1 SK, 3 NK
545. SK - The next year some small bands of men belonging to Hazael, king of
Syria, attacked Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the chiefs of the people.
They took all their spoil back to their king. When they were gone, Joash was
left very sick. [E52] [L75] In revenge for Jehoiada's son Zechariah's death,
his servants conspired against him and killed him in his bed at the beginning of
the fortieth year of his reign. {2Ch 24:1,23-27 2Ki 12:1,17-21} His successor,
Amaziah, began his reign of twenty-nine years toward the end of the second year
of Joash, king of Israel. {2Ki 14:1,2} When he was established in his kingdom,
he killed the servants who had murdered his father. He spared their children,
however, according to the law of God as delivered by Moses. {2Ki 14:5,6 2Ch
25:3,4}
546. NK - When Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, had reigned seventeen years, he died
and was buried in Samaria. {2Ki 13:1,9} Shortly after his father's funeral,
Joash visited Elisha, the prophet, who was lying on his death bed. Tearfully,
he asked counsel of him concerning the state of the kingdom. Elisha foretold
that he would have three victories over the Syrians. {2Ki 13:14-20}
3168c AM, 3878 JP, 836 BC, 4 SK, 6 NK
547. NK - Jeroboam II seems to have been made viceroy of the kingdom by his
father Joash. He went to war and in each of three battles overthrew Benhadad,
who had succeeded his father Hazael in the kingdom of Syria. From Benhadad he
recovered those cities which Jehoahaz his father had lost. {2Ki 13:25} Hence,
we may gather that Azariah, king of Judah, began his reign in the twenty-seventh
year of Jeroboam II. {2Ki 15:1} [L76]
3178 AM, 3888 JP, 826 BC 14 SK, 16 NK
548. SK - Uzziah was born to Amaziah by Jecholiah of Jerusalem. He was also
called Azariah, and was sixteen years old when he succeeded his father to the
kingdom. {2Ki 15:2 2Ch 26:2}
549. Amaziah became proud of his recent victory over the Edomites. In the
fourteenth year of his reign, Josephus stated that he provoked Joash, king of
the Israelites, to battle. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 9. c. 9. s. 3. (199)
6:105} In the battle at Bethshemesh, he was defeated and taken prisoner. He was
released on payment of a large ransom, including hostages. {2Ki 14:8-14 2Ch
25:17-24}
550. NK - Joash defeated Amaziah, king of Judah, and took him prisoner. He
broke down six hundred feet of the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to
the corner gate. When he had taken all the treasure from both the temple and
the king's house, he returned to Samaria. {2Ki 14:13,14 2Ch 25:23,24}
3179c AM, 3889 JP, 825 BC, 15 SK, 1 NK
551. Joash died fifteen years before the death of Amaziah. Jeroboam II, his
son, succeeded him and reigned in Samaria for forty-one years. {2Ki 14:23}
552. God used Jeroboam II to deliver Israel. He recaptured Damascus and
Hamath, which rightly belonged to the tribe of Judah. {2Sa 8:6 2Ch 8:3} [E53]
He restored the former borders {Nu 13:21} from the entrance into Hamath to the
sea of the plain. This fulfilled the prophecy of the Lord spoken by Jonah, the
prophet, the son of Amittai. {2Ki 14:25,27,28} [L77]
3194c AM, 3904 JP, 810 BC, 29 SK, 15 NK
553. SK - When Amaziah discovered a conspiracy against him at Jerusalem, he
fled to Lachish, where he was murdered. From there he was carried to the city
of David and buried. {2Ki 14:19,20 2Ch 25:27,28} Uzziah, or Azariah, succeeded
him in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam II, king of Israel, as reckoned from
the time that he began to reign as co-regent with his father. {See note on 3168
AM. <<547>>} He reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem {2Ki 15:1,2} and
under him
the kingdom of Judah prospered as much as Israel did under Jeroboam II. While he
followed the advice of the prophet Zechariah, he applied his heart to religious
matters. God prospered him and he subdued the Philistines and his neighbouring
enemies. He became mighty in his kingdom. {2Ch 26:2-16}
3197a AM, 3906 JP, 808 BC, 4 SK, 19 NK
554. SK - This was the thirteenth Jubilee and it was held under two most
prosperous kings, under whom there also lived several great prophets in both
kingdoms. In Judah lived that evangelical prophet, Isaiah, the son of Amoz,
{Isa 1:1} as well as Joel, the son of Pethuel. Joel prophesied prior to Amos,
as Codomanus observed, because in the book of Joel he predicted a coming
drought, which Amos in the book of Amos said had happened. {Joe 1:20 Am 4:1-13}
[E54] [L78] Amos, who lived in Judah among the herdsmen of Tekoa, was called to
be a prophet to the kingdom of Israel two years prior to the earthquake that
occurred in the days of these two kings, Uzziah and Jeroboam II. {Am 1:1 Zec
11:5}
555. NK - During this same time, Jonah the son of Amittai and Hosea the son of
Beeri prophesied in Israel.
556. Jonah was from Gathhepher, {2Ki 14:25} a town of the tribe of Zebulun,
{Jos 21:13} in Galilee of the Gentiles. {Isa 9:1} This is referred to by the
Pharisees when speaking with Nicodemus: Search and know that out of Galilee
never arose any prophet. {Joh 7:52} It seems that at the time, the Syrians were
oppressing Israel, and all were vulnerable to their invasions. They took great
spoil and no one was able to oppose them. He foretold that Joash's son,
Jeroboam II, would deliver Israel out of their hands and avenge them of the
wrong they had endured. {2Ki 14:25,26} Jonah was later sent to Nineveh, the
capital city of Assyria, where both the king and the people were brought to
repentance through his preaching. {Jon 3:1-10 Mt 12:41}
557. When Jeroboam II was successfully ruling Israel, Hosea foretold its ruin
and desolation. He also lived to see its ruin, since he continued as a prophet
to the time of Hezekiah. {Ho 1:1} In the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign,
Assyria conquered Israel. {2Ki 18:10}
558. Amos, while keeping his flocks, became the third prophet to be taken from
Judah. He was sent to prophesy to the people of Israel. {Am 1:1 7:14,15} He
was accused by Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, before Jeroboam II, who commanded
him to return to Judah. Amos pronounced judgment against Amaziah, saying:
"Thy wife shall play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters
shall fall by the sword. Thy land shall be divided by line, and thou shalt die
in a polluted land (that is, in Assyria)."
559. This happened when Israel was carried away from her own land into
captivity. {Am 7:10,12,13,17} [L79]
3207 AM, 3917 JP, 797 BC, 14 SK, 29 NK
560. In Lydia, Ardysus, of the clan of the Heraclidae, reigned thirty-six
years. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:147}
3210 AM, 3920 JP, 794 BC, 17 SK, 32 NK
561. The kingdom of Macedonia was set up by Caranus, a man of the clan of the
Heraclidae. He ruled for twenty-eight years. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:143} [E55]
3213 AM, 3923 JP, 791 BC, 20 SK, 35 NK
562. SK - There was an eclipse of the sun of about ten digits that year on the
24th day of June, on the Feast of Pentecost. (Twelve digits indicated a total
eclipse, eleven digits would mean that eleven twelfths of the sun's disk was
covered. Editor.) Another eclipse occurred of almost twelve digits, twenty
years later, on November 8, 771 BC, during the Feast of Tabernacles. A third
eclipse of over eleven digits happened the next year on May 5, 770 BC during the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was to these events that the following prophecy
of Amos referred, as he stated: {Am 8:8-10}
"The sun shall set at noonday and I will bring darkness upon the earth in a
clear day. I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your solemn songs
into lamentations."
563. The early church fathers took this prophecy to refer to that darkness
which came during the Feast of the Passover at the passion of our Saviour.
[L80] It is thought that this prophecy was literally fulfilled by the three
almost total eclipses which occurred during these three feasts, at a time when
all the males were to be in Jerusalem before the Lord. Among the Greeks,
Thales, by his knowledge of astronomy, was the first to predict solar eclipses.
{See note on 3403 AM. <<788>>} So too among the Hebrews, Amos, by
divine
revelation and inspiration, was the first that ever foretold solar eclipses.
(June 24, 791 BC, JD=1432685.1171, middle of the eclipse in Jerusalem - 18.89
hours UCT (for Babylon - 19.13), maximum - 0.92 Babylon - 0.63. Data taken from
Solar and Lunar Eclipses of the Ancient Near East from 3000 BC to 0 with Maps by
Manfred Kudlek and Erich Mickler, published in Neukirchen in 1971. Editor.)
3220 AM, 3930 JP, 784 BC, 26 SK, 41 NK
564. NK - When Jeroboam II died, the kingdom seriously declined. Tumults arose
which headed the Israelites toward their ultimate destruction, beginning first
with Jeroboam's own family and then affecting the whole kingdom. This was
foretold by Amos. {Am 7:1-8:14} All was reduced to anarchy among the Israelites
for eleven and a half years, and there was no king during this time. [E56] This
can be deduced by comparing the times of these two kingdoms. We understand that
in Israel the six-month-long reign of Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam II,
occurred in the last six months of the thirty-eighth year of Uzziah. The one
month that Shallum reigned was the first month of the thirty-ninth year of
Uzziah. {2Ki 15:8,13} [L81]
3221c AM, 3931 JP, 783 BC, 42 SK, 1 NK
565. SK - Uzziah, king of Judah, and his wife Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok,
had a son named Jotham. When Uzziah was quarantined because of his leprosy,
Jotham ruled in the king's house and judged the people, but it was only when
Uzziah died that Jotham succeeded him as king, at the age of twenty-five. {2Ki
15:5,33 2Ch 26:21 27:1,8} From this event we can deduce that, a short time after
this when Menahem took over the kingdom of Israel, Uzziah was an old man. It
was at this time, when he aspired to take the office of a priest, that he was
stricken with leprosy. This is contrary to what the Jews and Procopius Gaseus
affirm from their understanding of Isaiah {Isa 7:1-25}, namely that this
overtook him in about the twenty-fifth year of his reign. The earthquake
occurred in the days of Uzziah and Jeroboam II. {Am 1:1 Zec 11:5} It is clear
that when Jeroboam II died, Jotham had not yet been born.
3228c AM, 3938 JP, 776 BC, 35 SK, 9 NK
566. In the summer of the year 776 BC or 3938 JP, the first Olympiad took place
(according to Greek chronologers). Choroebus of Elis won the race according to
the Iphitean account number 28. This was quoted by Julius Africanus from the
writings of Aristodemus Aelius, and by Polybius in Eusebius. {*Julius
Africanus, l. 1. c. 15. 6:134} {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
37,216.} [L82] Here ended the period in history which the learned Varro termed
mythological, because many mythological things are said to have happened. It is
at this point that true Greek history begins. {Censorinus, De Die Natali} [E57]
3232a AM, 3941 JP, 773 BC, 38 SK, 1 NK
567. NK - Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam II, began his reign in the
thirty-eighth year of Uzziah, king of Judah. He was the fourth and last of the
family of Jehu, as was foretold by God. He reigned for six months. {2Ki
15:8,12 10:30}
568. At the end of those six months, he was murdered by Shallum the son of
Jabesh, before all the people. {2Ki 15:10} It was at this time that the
calamities foretold by Amos the prophet took place: {Am 7:9}
"The high places of Isaac shall be desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel made a
wilderness, when I shall arise with a sword against the house of Jeroboam."
569. Shallum, the son of Jabesh, reigned one month in the thirty-ninth year of
Uzziah, king of Judah. {2Ki 15:13}
570. When Menahem, the son of Gad, was going from Tirzah to Samaria, he killed
Shallum and destroyed Tiphsah with its borders. He also violently slaughtered
all the pregnant women. {2Ki 15:14,16}
571. Sulpicius called Menahem by the name of Mane. {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred
History, l. 1. c. 49. 11:94} This is the same name as referred to Manichaus,
who lived later and was a heretic. The name means comforter.
3233c AM, 3943 JP, 771 BC, 39 SK, 1 NK
572. Boccaris Saites reigned in Egypt for forty years. {Julius Africanus}
573. NK - While Menahem spent eleven months fighting to take over the kingdom,
God stirred up Pul, king of Assyria, to invade the land of Israel. {1Ch 5:26
2Ki 15:19} [L83]
574. Pul seems to have been the father of Sardanapalus. Sardanapalus was named
after his father and called Sardan-Pul just as Merodach, king of Babylon, was
called Merodach Baladan from Baladan his father. {Isa 39:1} The following
chronologers agreed that he was the same person, but called him by different
names: Julius Africanus called him Acracarnes, Eusebius called him Ocrazapes,
Stephanus Byzantinus called him Cindaraxes, and Strabo, Arrian and Suidas called
him Anacyndaraxes or Anakyndaraxes. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 9. 6:341}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 5. s. 2. 1:137} By others again he was called
Anabaxares. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (528f) 5:387} Furthermore, I considered the
number of years assigned by Africanus and Eusebius to the reigns of Pul and his
son. I then counted the years backward from the beginning of Nabonassar to the
end of Sardanapalus' reign. I believe both lived at the same time. [E58] This
man named Pul seems to have been the same man who was converted and brought to
repentance by the preaching of the prophet Jonah. This means that the men of
Nineveh may have risen in judgment against this nation. God here raised up a
repentant, heathen man to take vengeance on unrepentant Israel.
575. Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver to help settle and confirm
him in his kingdom. {2Ki 15:19,20} Some see the following passage in Hosea as
referring to this event: {Ho 5:13}
"When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to the
Assyrian and sent to King Jareb, who should defend or uphold him." [L84]
576. When Menahem was thus confirmed in the kingdom, he was established as king
toward the end of the thirty-ninth year of the reign of Uzziah. He held the
kingdom for ten years. {2Ki 15:17}
3234a AM, 3943 JP, 771 BC, 39 SK, 1 NK
577. SK - There was an almost total eclipse of the sun at Jerusalem, on the
third day of the Feast of Tabernacles on November 8. {See note on 3213 AM.
<<562>>}
3234c AM, 3944 JP, 770 BC, 40 SK, 2 NK
578. SK - There was an almost total eclipse of the sun at Jerusalem, on the
first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread on May 5. {See note on 3213 AM.
<<562>>}
3237 AM, 3947 JP, 767 BC, 44 SK, 5 NK
579. Sardanapalus held the kingdom of the Assyrians for twenty years according
to Julius Africanus and Eusebius. In his epitaph (which is contained in
Athenaeus from Clirarchus {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (529e) 5:391} and in Strabo,
{*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 9. 6:341} and in Arrian {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
2. c. 5. s. 4. 1:137}), he is said to have built the cities of Anchialus
and Tarsus in Cilicia within one day.
3242 AM, 3952 JP, 762 BC, 49 SK, 10 NK
580. SK - Ahaz, the son of Jotham, was born in this year. He was twenty years
old when he began to reign {2Ki 16:2 2Ch 28:1} and he reigned for sixteen years.
His son Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign after Ahaz's
death. {2Ki 18:2} Therefore, Ahaz would only be eleven years old when his son
Hezekiah was born. Hence, Tremellius thought that Ahaz was twenty years old not
when he himself reigned, but when his father Jotham began his reign.
3243c AM, 3953 JP, 761 BC, 50 SK, 1 NK
581. NK - Pekahiah succeeded his father Menahem, who died in the fiftieth year
of Uzziah, king of Judah, and he reigned for two years. {2Ki 15:23}
3245c AM, 3955 JP, 759 BC, 51 SK, 2 NK
582. Alyattes, the elder, reigned in Lydia for fourteen years. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:155} [L85]
583. NK - Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed Pekahiah in his own palace in
Samaria. He then reigned in Pekahiah's place for twenty years reckoned from the
fifty-second year of Uzziah king of Judah. {2Ki 15:25,27} [E59]
3246a AM, 3955 JP, 759 BC, 51 SK, 2 NK
584. SK - The fourteenth Jubilee occurred. It was during this year that Isaiah
saw the glory of the Lord sitting on his throne: God was surrounded with a guard
of angels singing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. The Jewish people
grew more and more obstinate and blind every day, lest they should understand
the words of the prophets who were being sent to them, and be converted and
healed. {Isa 6:1-13 Joh 12:40,41}
585. Isaiah's vision came in the last year of king Uzziah. {Isa 6:1} He was
buried in the city of David in the burying place of the kings, but separate from
the rest because of his leprosy. Jotham, his son, succeeded him in the second
year of Pekah, king of Israel. He reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. {2Ki
15:7,32,33 2Ch 26:23 27:1,8}
586. Jotham fought a battle against the Ammonites and overthrew them. They
became his tributaries for three years. {2Ch 27:5} Micah the Morasthite, Isaiah
and Hosea executed the prophetic office in the reign of Jotham and his next two
successors. {Mic 1:1} Josephus affirmed that Nahum, the prophet, foretold the
defeat of the Assyrians and of Nineveh in his time. This came to pass a hundred
and fifteen years later. By that reckoning, Josephus understood Nahum to have
prophesied in the time of Ahaz, the son of Jotham. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 9.
c. 11. s. 3. (239-242) 6:127} [L86]
3252c AM, 3962 JP, 752 BC, 7 SK, 7 NK
587. In this year, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, was born to his mother, Abijah,
the daughter of Zachariah. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign.
{2Ki 18:2 2Ch 29:1}
3254c AM, 3964 JP, 750 BC, 9 SK, 10 NK
588. Two towns were built in this year, Ardus being one of them. It was
constructed on a very small island, as Pomponius Mela noted. {Pomponius Mela,
De Chorographia} The whole circumference of this island was taken up with this
one town. Cyzicum, the second town, was located in Propontis. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:151,153.}
589. Arbaces, the governor of Media, scorned the effeminate ways of
Sardanapalus. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (528f) 5:387} He conspired with Belesis,
the governor of Babylon, to send an army of four hundred thousand men, made up
of Medes, Persians, Babylonians and Arabians, against Sardanapalus. [E60] He
was overthrown in three battles, but in the fourth the Bactrian soldiers
defected over to him. He surprised his enemies, attacking them by night and
driving them from their camp. When Sardanapalus put the command of the entire
army into the hands of Salaemenus, his wife's brother, he too was defeated twice
by the conspirators. As a result he was almost killed and lost most of his
army. When Nineveh was besieged, Sardanapalus sent three of his sons and two
daughters into Paphlagonia with a great treasure. They gave it to Cotta,
governor of that province. With this treasure Cotta dispatched messengers and
commissioners throughout the land to conscript soldiers and provide all the
necessities needed to endure a siege. {*Diod. Sic., l. 2. c. 24-26.
1:431-439} [L87]
3256c AM, 3966 JP, 748 BC, 11 SK, 12 NK
590. SK - Rome was founded by Romulus according to the reckoning of Fabius
Pictor, the most ancient of all Roman writers. This date is confirmed by the
account of the secular games held most religiously by the ancient Romans. This
happened shortly before the beginning of the 8th Olympiad, on the feast of their
goddess, Pales, on the 10th day of April. However, according to Varro's
account, the feast of Pales was a full five years earlier than it was according
to Fabius. The poet Ovid said of this day: {*Ovid, Fasti, l. 4. c. 11.
(855) 5:253}
Urbs oritur (quis tunc hoc ulli credere posset?) Victorem terris impositura
pedem.
591. That is:
A city is born (which who then would have thought?) That since, the world has in
subjection brought.
3257 AM, 3967 JP, 747 BC, 12 SK, 13 NK
592. In the third year of the siege of Nineveh the river overflowed with
continual rains. It flooded a part of the city and undermined two and one half
miles of the wall. When Sardanapalus realised this, he made a large pile of
wood in his palace court and set it on fire, burning himself, his concubines,
his eunuchs and all his riches. The palace itself was also burned to ashes.
593. The conspirators entered by the breach in the wall made by the river and
took the city. They proclaimed Arbaces as their king. {*Diod. Sic., l. 2.
c. 27. s. 1-3. 1:441} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (529bc) 5:389} In this way, the
kingdom of the Assyrians was destroyed. From the beginning of the reign of
Ninus, the Assyrians had held all of upper Asia for five hundred and twenty
years. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 95. 1:127}
594. After the kingdom fell, it was divided. Arbaces freed his countrymen the
Medes from the Assyrian yoke and allowed them to live according to their own
laws. Strabo called him Orbacus and Velleius Paterculus called him Pharnaces.
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 2. 7:195} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 1. c. 6.
s. 2. 1:15} (Loeb copy does not have either of these spelling variations.
Editor.) {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 95. 1:127} [E61] [L88] Belesis was called
Baladan in the scriptures, {Isa 39:1 2Ki 20:12} whereas Agathias {Agathias,
Histories, l. 2.} and Alexander Polyhistor called him Belessas or Beleussus.
Nicolaus Damascene, in his eclogues as recorded by Henry Valesius, called him
Naminybrus. By Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and Censorinus, he is called Nabonassarus.
He held the kingdom of Babylon for fourteen years.
595. From twelve o'clock on the first day of the Egyptian month of Thoth, that
is, from the evening of Wednesday, February 26, in the year 747 BC, all
astronomers unanimously start the calendar of Nabonassar.
596. Meles in Lydia reigned twelve years, {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:157} and more may be read about him in Herodotus. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c.
84. 1:107}
597. Ninus, the younger, now held the kingdom of the Assyrians reduced now to
its old boundaries. The empire had quite diminished in Sardanapalus' nineteen
years. Eusebius reported this in his chronology based on the more extensive
work of Castor, the Rhodian, who corrected many errors in the historical
records. This Ninus seems to have assumed, for good luck, the name of the first
founder of the Assyrian kingdom. His own original name was Thilgamus.
{*Aelian, History of Animals, l. 12. c. 21. 3:39} (Loeb edition has
different names. Editor.) In the scriptures he is known as Tilgathpilneser {1Ch
5:6,26 2Ch 28:20} or Tiglathpileser. {2Ki 15:29 16:7,10}
3262c AM, 3972 JP, 742 BC, 17 SK, 18 NK
598. Ahaz succeeded his father Jotham at the very end of the seventeenth year
of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. {2Ki
16:1,2 2Ch 28:1} [L89]
599. Toward the end of the reign of Jotham, God began to stir up Rezin, the
king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, against Judah. {2Ki 15:37} Judah
was terrified at the approach of these enemies and expected a quick defeat at
their hands. God sent a gracious message to Ahaz by Isaiah the prophet,
promising deliverance for him and the destruction of his enemies. [E62] For a
sign of his deliverance (when the incredulous king was asked what sign he
wanted, he said none), God made him a promise that a virgin would bear Immanuel.
He would be both God and man, or God with us, or dwelling in a human body. With
regard to his office, he is the only Mediator between God and man. {1Ti 2:5} He
would bring to pass that God would be with us, {Isa 8:10} both gracious and
propitious to us and a very present help in trouble. {Ps 46:1,2,7 Ro 8:31,32}
This message was most befitting the present situation in that all promises of
God in Christ are Yea and Amen, {2Co 1:20} to be fulfilled generally in him and
by him. Besides this, the land of Judah was to be privileged to be Immanuel's
land. {Isa 8:8} Pertaining to his human lineage, he was to be born not merely
of the Jews {Ro 9:5} but of the very house of David. According to the prophecy
of Jacob, {Ge 49:10} [L90] this would happen before the sceptre would depart
from Judah, that is, before Judah would cease to be a nation ruled by kings.
Therefore, at that time Judah did not need to fear the destruction of the house
of David or of the country of the Jews, the Southern Kingdom. However,
sixty-five years later this happened to the Northern Kingdom, as predicted by
Isaiah. {Isa 7:8}
600. For a sign of the destruction of those kings who came against Ahaz, the
prophet was commanded to bring out his son Shearjashub to Ahaz. He told Ahaz
that the child would eat butter and honey until he was old enough to know right
from wrong. [L91] Before this happened, both these kings would be dead. {Isa
7:3,15,16} At that time too, Isaiah's wife, a prophetess, bore him another son.
God named him Mahershalalhashbaz signifying that the Assyrians would hurry and
take away the spoil. [E63] They would plunder both Syrians and Israelites
before the child would be able clearly to say: My father, or My mother. So the
sons of the prophets were used by God to serve as signs from him to the
Israelites. {Isa 8:3,4,18} After these prophecies, Rezin and Pekah together
came up to besiege Jerusalem where Ahaz was. They could not take it, as had
been predicted by Isaiah. {Isa 7:1,7 2Ki 16:5} But this wicked Ahaz had no
sooner been delivered from the imminent danger than he forsook God his deliverer
and walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He set up the idolatrous worship
of Baal and offered incense in the valley of Benhanan. He caused his own son to
pass through the fire, and offered sacrifices in the high places, upon the hills
and under every green tree. {2Ch 28:2-4 2Ki 16,3,4}
3263c AM, 3973 JP, 741 BC, 2 SK, 19 NK
601. SK - When Ahaz forsook God, God also forsook him. When Rezin and Pekah
divided their forces, they overcame him. This they had not been able to do when
their forces were united. God delivered him into the hands of the Syrians, who
defeated him and carried away a large number of his people to Damascus as
captives. As well as this, the king of Israel defeated him and slaughtered a
large number of his people. {2Ch 28:5}
602. At this same time, Rezin conquered Elath, which Uzziah had recovered for
Judah. Rezin rebuilt it and repopulated it with Syrians. {2Ki 14:22 2Ch 26:2
2Ki 16:2}
603. NK - Pekah killed a hundred and twenty thousand valiant men of Judah in
one day. Zichri, a mighty man of the tribe of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the
king's son, as well as Azrikam, the steward of the king's house, and Elkanah,
who was next to the king in authority. The Israelites also carried away captive
from Judah and Jerusalem two hundred thousand women, boys and maids. They
plundered their goods and carried everything away to Samaria. When warned by
Hadlai, a prophet of God, they released all of the prisoners and restored their
goods to them in the presence of their princes and the whole congregation of
Samaria. They treated them kindly and escorted them safely to Jericho. {2Ch
28:6-15}
3264c AM, 3974 JP, 740 BC, 3 SK, 20 NK
604. SK - The Edomites invaded Judah and carried away many captives. The
Philistines, whom King Uzziah had conquered, {2Ch 26:6,7} [L92] now attacked the
cities of Judah in the low countries and southern parts and settled there. God
gave Judah over to their enemies because of Ahaz's sin and because he had led
Judah into sin. {2Ch 28:17-19}
605. Ahaz took all the gold and silver that was found in the Lord's house and
in the treasury of the king's house. He sent it as a gift to Tiglathpileser,
king of Assyria, desiring him to come and deliver him from the kings of Syria
and Israel. [E64] He came and took Damascus, carrying away all its inhabitants
to Kir and killing Rezin the king of Syria. {2Ki 16:7-9} This fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, {Isa 7:16 8:4 9:11} as well as that of Amos, who long before
had foretold the ruin of the king of Damascus in these words:
"I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael which shall consume the palaces of
Benhadad, and I will break in pieces the bars of Damascus and root out the
inhabitants of the valley of Aven, and him that beareth the sceptre out of the
house of Eden and the people of Syria shall be carried away into Assyria, saith
the Lord." {Am 1:4,5}
606. So the flourishing kingdom of Damascus of Hamath came to an end. {Am 6:2
Jer 49:23 Isa 10:9 36:19 37:12,13} This kingdom began with a man called Rezon
{1Ki 11:23,24} and ended with one of the same name. It lasted for ten
generations according to Nicolaus Damascene, as cited by Josephus. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 7. c. 5. s. 2. (102) 5:413} {See note on 2960 AM.
<<430>>}
[L93]
607. When Ahaz went to meet Tiglathpileser at Damascus, he congratulated him on
his great victory. There he saw an altar, the pattern of which he sent to Uriah
the priest, so that he might make one like it in Jerusalem. When he returned,
he and the people offered their sacrifices on it. He moved the brazen altar far
away from the front of the temple so that it would not stand between his altar
and the house of the Lord. {2Ki 16:1-20}
608. NK - When Ahaz implored the aid of the kings of Assyria (as it says in
Chronicles {2Ch 28:16} kings in the plural, by a usual analogy as in these
verses: {Ps 105:30 Jer 19:3 25:22} {Apc 1Es 1:52}) against Pekah, Tiglathpileser
came. He led away the people of Gilead or Peraea, that is, the Reubenites and
the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, to Habor and Hara and the Gozan
River. When he then crossed over the Jordan River, he occupied Galilee and
carried away into Assyria all the inhabitants of Naphtali whom Benhadad had
left, together with the men of Galilee. {1Ch 5:26 2Ki 15:29 1Ki 15:20 Isa 9:1}
3265c AM, 3975 JP, 739 BC, 4 SK, 1 NK
609. SK - Ahaz, having now made himself a servant to the king of Assyria, {2Ki
16:7 18:7} found out that he had received more harm than help from him. {2Ch
28:20,21} Isaiah had previously intimated this to him using the allegory:
"The Lord shall shave off the hair of thy head and feet with a hired razor, from
beyond the river, even the king of Assyria, and it shall also consume the
beard." {Isa 7:20}
610. Therefore, Ahaz built a secret passage from the king's house to the house
of the Lord, because he feared the king of Assyria. {2Ki 16:18} Tremellius
understood this to mean that he did this out of fear that the king of Assyria
would assault him from the direction of the temple and break into his palace.
[E65] In the midst of all of his afflictions, he sinned still more and more
against the Lord. {2Ch 28:22}
611. NK - When Hoshea, the son of Elah, murdered Pekah, the son of Remaliah, he
took over the kingdom twenty years after Jotham started to reign over Judah,
{2Ki 15:30} or in the fourth year of the reign of Ahaz. {See Gill on "2Ki
15:30"} However, the kingdom was in civil disorder and anarchy for nine years.
[L94]
3269 AM, 3979 JP, 735 BC, 8 SK, 5 NK
612. Candaules, whom the Greek authors, according to Herodotus, call Myrsylus,
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 7. 1:11} the son of Myrsus, was the last of the family
of the Heraclidae. He reigned in Lydia for seventeen years. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:157}
3271 AM, 3981 JP, 733 BC, 10 SK, 7 NK
613. Nadius or Nabius reigned over the Babylonians for two years. {Ptolemy,
Canon of Kings}
3273c AM, 3983 JP, 731 BC, 12 SK, 9 NK
614. Chinziros and Poros reigned over the Babylonians for five years.
{Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
3274c AM, 3984 JP, 730 BC, 13 SK, 1 NK
615. NK - When Hoshea had restored order in Israel, he began a peaceful reign
toward the end of the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah. {2Ki 17:1}
3276b AM, 3986 JP, 728 BC, 14 SK, 2 NK
616. NK - Tiglathpileser, or Ninus the younger, reigned for nineteen years,
according to Castor, and died. After him came Shalmaneser, also called
Enemessar, as in the Greek copy of Tobias. {Apc Tob 1:2} This man seems to be
that Shalman who, in the prophesy of Hosea, is said to have laid waste to
Betharbel. {Ho 10:14} The place was famous later for the defeat of Darius the
Persian. This is the country of Arbela, in the land of Assyria, south of Arpad.
Shalmaneser came up in battle against Hoshea, king of Israel, who was forced to
serve him and pay him tribute. {2Ki 17:3}
3277c AM, 3987 JP, 727 BC, 1,16 SK, 4 NK
617. After Sabacon, an Ethiopian, had taken Boccaris king of Egypt alive, he
burned him to death and reigned in his stead for eight years. {Julius
Africanus}
618. SK - In the last year of his reign, Ahaz made his son Hezekiah viceroy
with him in the kingdom. This was toward the end of the third year of Hoshea,
king of Israel. Hezekiah reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. {2Ki
18:1,2} [L95]
3278a AM, 3987 JP, 727 BC, 1, 16 SK, 4 NK
619. Jugaeus or Julaeus or Iloulaios reigned over the Babylonians for five
years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
3278b AM, 3988 JP, 726 BC, 1, 16 SK, 4 NK
620. SK - Ahaz died in this year. The prophet Isaiah foretold the destruction
of the Philistines (who at that time, unjustly held a part of Judah). {See note
on 3264c AM. <<604>>} {Isa 14:28-32} [E66] Likewise, he predicted that
a great
disaster was to befall the Moabites within three years. {Isa 15:1-16:14} The
fulfilments of these prophecies are recorded later. {See note on 3280b AM.
<<632>>} {See note on 3283 AM. <<634>>}
3278c AM, 3988 JP, 726 BC, 1 SK, 6 NK
621. SK - After Ahaz died, Hezekiah, toward the end of the first year of his
reign, in the first month called Abib, opened the doors of the Lord's house
which his father had shut up. {2Ch 28:24} He commanded the priests and Levites
to sanctify themselves and then to clean up the temple. {2Ch 29:3,4}
622. They were encouraged by Hezekiah and on the first day of the first month
(Sunday, April 21), they sanctified themselves according to the king's command
and came to cleanse the house of the Lord. On the eighth day of the same month
(Sunday, April 28), they entered into the porch of the temple and sanctified the
house of the Lord for a further eight days. On the sixteenth day of the first
month (Sunday, May 6), they completed that task. {2Ch 29:15,17} [L96]
623. Early the next morning (Monday, May 6), King Hezekiah called together all
the rulers of the city. Together with the people, he went up into the house of
the Lord. Through the ministry of the priests and Levites, he offered many
sacrifices on the altar of the Lord with great joy and gladness. {2Ch 29:20-36}
624. In accordance with the law in Numbers, {Nu 9:10,11} the Passover was
delayed until the second month for the following reasons: The Passover could not
be kept at the same time as the meeting and the cleansing of the temple was
being done; the number of sanctified priests was not enough; all the people were
not gathered together in Jerusalem from all over the country. Notices were sent
to all the people from Beersheba as far as to Dan. Not only the Jews, but also
some from among the tribes of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun, came together in
Jerusalem. The rest of the tribes laughed at the notice. {2Ch 30:1-12} [E67]
First, the altars of incense and those pertaining to idols were destroyed, and
then thrown into the brook Kidron. They killed the Pascal lambs on the
fourteenth day of the second month (Sunday, June 3). They kept the feast of
Unleavened Bread for seven days, offering their sacrifices of thanksgiving and
singing praises to the God of their fathers. {2Ch 30:13-22} As further
testimony of their thankfulness to God, they continued for another seven days.
This time was kept and celebrated with great glee and joy of heart. {2Ch 30:23}
[L97]
625. About the end of the second month, when they had finished these
activities, all the Israelites who had come together there, went out into all
the cities of Judah. They broke down the images, cut down the groves and
destroyed the high places and altars throughout Ephraim and Manasseh until they
had completed the task. When this was done, the Israelites returned home. {2Ch
31:1}
626. Hezekiah went even further. He smashed to pieces that very same brazen
serpent that Moses had set up in the wilderness, because now the Israelites were
burning incense to it. {Nu 21:9} With contempt, he called it by a diminutive
term, Nehushtan, a little piece of brass. {2Ki 18:4} He appointed the priests
and Levites to their duties. He provided food and maintenance for them by again
establishing the law of firstfruits and tithes. {2Ch 31:1-21}
627. In the third month, every man brought in their firstfruits and tithes and
gave them to the priests. {2Ch 31:5-7}
3279a AM, 3988 JP, 726 BC, 3 SK, 6 NK
628. SK - In the seventh month, after the harvest of the whole year's produce
had been gathered, {Ex 29:16} the collection of the firstfruits and tithes was
completed, {2Ch 31:7} and Hezekiah appointed officers for their proper
distribution. {2Ch 31:1-21} [E68]
3279b AM, 3989 JP, 725 BC, 3 SK, 6 NK
629. NK - Hoshea, the king of Israel, consulted beforehand with So, king of
Egypt, and refused to continue paying tribute to Shalmaneser. {2Ki 17:4} [L98]
630. This So, or Sua, as Jerome called him, seems to be none other than
Sabacon, the Ethiopian. Manetho lists him as the first king in the twenty-fifth
Egyptian dynasty. {*Manetho, 1:167}
631. Chrysostom, in his 30th Homily on John, said that this Hoshea made an
alliance with the Ethiopians. Sulpicius Severus stated: {*Sulpicius Severus,
Sacred History, l. 1. c. 49. 11:94}
"that he allied with the kings of the Ethiopians, who at that time held the
kingdom of Egypt."
3280b AM, 3990 JP, 724 BC, 4 SK, 7 NK
632. NK - When Shalmaneser found out that Hoshea had allied himself with the
king of Egypt, he first secured all the land of the Moabites. So that he might
have no enemy at his rear to annoy his army, he razed to the ground their two
chief cities, Arnon and Kirhareseth. This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah
foretold three years earlier. {Isa 16:7-11} {Tremellius} Then he went through
and wasted all the land of Israel, marching toward Samaria in the fourth year of
Hezekiah. In the seventh year of Hoshea, he besieged Samaria for three years.
{2Ki 17:4,5 18:9}
3283b AM, 3993 JP, 721 BC, 6 SK, 9 NK
633. In the twenty-seventh year of the epoch of Nabonassar, Mardokempados
reigned in Babylon for twelve years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} The prophet
Isaiah named Merodach Baladan as the son of Baladan, {Isa 39:1} who was Belesis,
or the son or, in accordance with a most customary Hebrewism, nephew of
Nabonassar. In Mardokempados' first year, the moon was eclipsed over Babylon.
{Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4. c. 6.} {See note on 3257 AM.
<<594>>} [L99]
This was in the twenty-seventh year of Nabonassar, the twenty-ninth of the month
Thoth, as the Egyptians call it (that is toward the midnight of our March 19),
two and a half hours before midnight.
634. NK - Toward the end of the third year of the siege of Samaria, in the
sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah and the ninth of Hoshea, Shalmaneser took
Samaria. He carried away the Israelites into his own country and settled them
in Halah, Habor and the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes.
Tiglathpileser had formerly transported the inhabitants of Peraea, or the two
and a half tribes living on the other side of the Jordan River, to this place.
{1Ch 5:26 2Ki 17:6 8:10,11} There was anarchy in the kingdom of Media before
Media was taken by Dejoces. This gave occasion to the Assyrians to invade and
take over that whole country. It was to Media that Tobit or Tobias stated that
he, together with his wife, Anna, and his countrymen, the Nepthalites, was
carried away at this time into the land of the Assyrians. Later, they provided
grain and other food for Shalmaneser's household. He was also carried into
Media and there placed in a principal city of Media called Rages. [E69] At that
place he deposited ten talents of silver into the hand and safekeeping of
Gabael, his near kinsman and one who had been carried away captive with him to
the same place. {Apc Tob 1:10,14} This was the end of the kingdom of Israel,
two hundred and fifty-four years after it had revolted from the kingdom of
Judah.
3284b AM, 3994 JP, 720 BC
635. In the second year of Merodach's reign, there was another eclipse of the
moon in Babylon. This happened in the twenty-eighth year of the epoch of
Nabonassar, on the eighteenth day of the month of Thoth, at midnight. The
Julian calendar dates it on Saturday, March 9. Exactly a hundred and
seventy-six days and twenty and a half hours later, a third eclipse of the moon
took place. This occurred on the fifteenth day of the month of Phamenoth,
Sunday, September 1, three and a half hours before midnight. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 4. c. 6,7.}
3285 AM, 3995 JP, 719 BC
636. Seuechus the Ethiopian, Sabacon's son, reigned in Egypt for fourteen
years. {Julius Africanus} He seems also to have been called Sethos, priest to
Vulcan, who was mentioned by Herodotus. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 141. 1:447}
3286 AM, 3996 JP, 718 BC
637. When Candaules indecently exposed his wife to his courtier named Gyges,
the son of Dascylus, his wife ordered Gyges to murder him. As a result he
married the wife of the murdered king and took over the kingdom of Lydia. This
is mentioned in a poem by Archilocus from the Isle of Pharos, who lived at the
same time. So the kingdom of Lydia went from the clan of the Heraclidae to the
clan of the Mermnadae. This clan ruled Lydia for a hundred and seventy years.
Gyges himself reigned thirty-eight years. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 8-15.
1:11-19} Gyges was only a freed slave, as seems indicated by that saying of
Croesus, his grandchild, as mentioned by Xenophon: {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l.
7. c. 2. s. 24. 6:241}
"I understand that the first of my ancestors that here reigned, was made a king
and a freedman both at the same time."
638. Plato stated that he was master of the king's cattle and his name was
Gyges. {Plato, Republic, l. 2.} In the eastern dialect this seems to have been
Gug, or Gog.
3287 AM, 3997 JP, 717 BC
639. When Gyges took over the kingdom, he sent various large offerings to
Delphi. He made war upon Miletus and captured Smyrna, which was a colony sent
out from Colophon. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 15. 1:19}
640. When the Gitteans revolted, Eluleus, king of Tyre, sailed there and
subjected them again. Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, marched with his army
and invaded all Phoenicia, also coming against Tyre. Shortly after, he made
peace with them and returned home again. Not long after, Sidon and Acco or Ake
(later called Ptolemais) and Poletyre or Old Tyre, with various other cities,
defected from the Tyrians to the Assyrians. [L100] When only the Tyrians now
stood against him, Shalmaneser returned a second time. In this action the
Phoenicians furnished him with sixty ships and eight hundred sailors. The
Tyrians attacked this fleet with only twelve ships, routed all the navy and took
five hundred prisoners. By this action, the Tyrians obtained a good reputation
as a naval force. Shalmaneser returned to besiege Tyre. Setting guards by both
the river and the conduits which served the city, he cut them off, thus
hindering them from getting water. They held out for five years and at last
were forced to dig wells within their city walls to get water. This account
comes from the chronicles of Menander of Ephesus, translated into Greek from the
Tyrian Annals, as cited by Josephus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 9. c. 14. s.
2. (283-287) 6:151} Eluleus was called Ayluleus by Rufinus, an ancient Latin
historian. Hence Scaliger called him Eliseus. I disagree with him on the point
where he maintains that Menander called the Cypriots Kitteans. However, he
certainly understood the name of the Gitteans to denote the inhabitants of
Gitta, or Gath, well known by that name in the Bible. {2Sa 15:18 21:19 1Sa
17:4} These were also added to Judah by Hezekiah at the very time of this
Eluleus or Eliseus, as may be gathered from Josephus, who said that Hezekiah
made war on the Philistines and defeated them, adding all their cities (except
one), together with the country from Gath to Gaza, to the kingdom of Judah.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 9. c. 13. s. 3. (275) 6:145} Hezekiah smote the
Philistines as far as Gaza and its territories. {2Ki 18:8} Isaiah prophesied
against the Tyrians, who at this time had grown proud and insolent on account of
their wealth and success in wars. {Isa 23:1}
641. When Shalmaneser died, his son Sennacherib reigned in his stead. {Apc Tob
1:18} Herodotus called him the king of both Assyria and Arabia. {*Herodotus, l.
2. c. 17. 1:295} [E70] It could be that at that time the Assyrians ruled over
Peraea (or the land of Gilead), and Hamath (or Iturea), and also held a part of
Arabia—either Petra or the desert. This is because that land known as Ivah, or
Ava, about which Sennacherib boasted much, seems to have been conquered either
by him or his ancestors. {2Ki 18:34 19:13 Isa 37:13} This was a country lying
in the desert of Arabia. Franc. Junius affirmed this based on the passage in
Kings. {2Ki 17:24} The prophet Isaiah foretold the calamity which was to befall
the Moabites at the hands of Shalmaneser. {See note on 3278b AM.
<<620>>} {See
note on 3280b AM. <<632>>} This is taken from Bersus' History of the
Chaldeans
as cited by Josephus. He said that Sennacherib reigned in Assyria and also that
he waged a fierce war on all Asia and Egypt. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 10. c.
1. s. 1. (4) 6:157}
3291c AM, 4001 JP, 713 BC
642. This war of his on Egypt lasted three whole years, and Syria Palestina
also joined with him in the war. This is deduced from Isaiah. {Isa 20:1-6}
Isaiah was told to take off his coat of hairy cloth (belonging to his prophetic
function, as in Zechariah {Zec 13:4}) as well as his shoes. He was commanded to
walk up and down naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign to the Egyptians
and Ethiopians. This intimated that when that time expired, they likewise would
be stripped of their clothes by the king of Assyria and go barefoot into
captivity and bondage. The prophet is said to have received this command in the
year when Tartan was sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, besieging Ashdod and
taking it. {Isa 20:1} Sargon is also called Sennacherib, and Tartan was one of
his commanders. {2Ki 18:17} [L101] That famous city Azotus, a city of the
Philistines near Ashdod, was conquered by King Hezekiah according to Josephus.
{See note on 3287 AM. <<640>>} {2Ki 18:8}
643. Hezekiah had shaken off the king of Assyria's yoke (which his father Ahaz
had taken) and would no longer serve him. {2Ki 17:7} Toward the end of the
fourteenth year of his reign, Sennacherib came to make war against the kingdom
of Judah. He besieged their fortified cities and took many of them. {Isa 36:1
2Ki 18:13 2Ch 32:1} When Hezekiah perceived that he intended to attack Jerusalem
also, he consulted with his princes. He plugged up all the fountains that were
around the city and diverted the brook Kidron which ran through the region.
Then he built up all that part of the wall which Joash, the king of Israel, had
demolished in the time of Amaziah. He fortified Millo in the city of David and
provided arrows and shields in great abundance, setting captains and colonels
over the people. He called them together and made a very short speech to them,
persuading them to be of good courage and not to have any fear of the king of
Assyria or of his army. {2Ch 32:2-8,30}
644. In those days when Hezekiah was very sick, he was told by Isaiah that he
would die. He poured out his tears and prayers to God and was healed, another
fifteen years being added to his life. {Isa 38:1-5,21 2Ki 20:1-7 2Ch 32:24} He
composed a song. First he showed the seriousness of his illness and the anxiety
he had had. He told of his prayer to God and then acknowledged the great
benefit of his recovery received from God. Lastly he testified of his faith in
God, and promised to be everlastingly thankful to him. {Isa 38:9-20}
645. It is true that in the scripture this is recorded after the story of the
slaughter of Sennacherib and his army. However, the time was not precisely
given but only with a general annotation: In those days. For that this
slaughter happened after his sickness, is plainly shown by these scriptures:
"I will add unto thy days fifteen years and will deliver thee and this city out
of the hand of the king of Assyria and I will defend this city." {Isa 38:5,6 2Ki
20:6}
646. Now if we subtract these fifteen years from the twenty-nine years which
Hezekiah reigned, we shall find that the slaughter of Sennacherib and his army
happened toward the end of the fourteenth year of his reign.
647. The sign confirming the promise of Hezekiah's recovery, which God at his
request gave to him, was that miraculous going back of the shadow of the sun on
the sundial of Ahaz, as recorded in the book of Isaiah:
"Behold I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the
sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward, so the sun returned ten degrees, by which
degrees it was gone down." {Isa 38:8}
648. For Jerome renders the word twlem (which Jonathan, in the Chaldee
Paraphrase, translated awev-Nba the stone of the hours) as the hours of the
clock. Yet in his commentary on this passage, Jerome observed that the Hebrew
word signifies degrees. Also Isaiah stated:
"wilt thou that the shadow ascend ten degrees, or that it return back ten
degrees?" {2Ki 20:9}
649. Nor may we ignore the Greek LXX interpretation of this passage, since it
is more ancient than any of these writings. It stated that by the words used
here, nothing other is meant in this history than the degrees of those scales or
stairs which were made by Ahaz. It cannot be shown that until after their
return from the captivity of Babylon there was any observation or use of hours
whatsoever among the Jews. Others also attribute the invention of the sundial
among the Greeks to men of a later date such as Anaximander or Anaximener. {See
note on 3457 AM. <<924>>} [L102] [E71] However, it seems that they
received it
originally from the Babylonians as noted by Herodotus, when he said:
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 109. 1:399}
"The sun-clock and the sundial and the dividing of the day into twelve hours,
all these the Greeks learned from the Babylonians."
650. Concerning the retrograde motion of the sun mentioned in these passages
{Isa 38:8 Apc Sir 48:23}, when the sun stood still at the prayer of Joshua, the
moon also stood still at the same time. {Jos 10:12,13} It is apparent that the
moon also, and all the frame of heaven, went backward with the sun, and that
there was as much subtracted from the night as there was added to the day.
There was a miraculous alteration in the parts of the normal day. By divine
providence things were so ordered that no harm or disturbance happened to the
predictable motion and harmony of the heavenly bodies. This is evidenced by
those three solar eclipses of which I spoke earlier, from Ptolemy. Concerning
the timing of these events, if calculated backward from our time, the
calculations yield the same results in the times as was previously observed by
the Chaldeans, and in the same manner as if no such retrogradation or going back
of the sun had ever happened!
651. In the beginning of the fifteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, Merodach, or
Berodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent messengers with
presents to him. They wanted to know the reason for the miraculous
retrogradation of the sun which happened in the world. Hezekiah, out of pride
and vain ostentation, showed them all his treasures and the extent of his
wealth. As a result, God immediately foretold the captivity of Babylon which
was to happen:
"Behold the days come, that all that is in thine house and that which thy
fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried away into
Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord." {Isa 39:6}
652. He added further that his sons who were not yet born should also be
carried into captivity:
"Thy sons also, that shall issue from thee and which thou shalt beget, shall
they take away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
{Isa 39:1-8 2Ki 20:12-19}
653. Nevertheless, when Hezekiah, with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, had turned
in humility from his former pride, the fierce wrath of the Lord did not fall on
them in Hezekiah's lifetime. {2Ch 32:25,26,31}
654. Micah the Morasthite also prophesied to the people in Hezekiah's days:
"That Zion should be plowed and Jerusalem laid in heaps and the mountain itself
of the house of the Lord, as the high places in a forest." {Mic 3:12 Jer
26:18,19}
(The important thing to note is that the earlier eclipse data was not disturbed
by the events in Hezekiah's day. Whatever happened affected at the very least
the sun, earth and moon system. God caused time to go backward, he did not
simply have the earth rotate backward. Otherwise the eclipse data would have
been inaccurate for those eclipses that had occurred before Hezekiah's event
happened. An apparently insignificant detail in the scriptures verifies their
authority. Of all the people in the world, it is recorded that only the
Chaldeans visited Hezekiah. They were very careful in noting astronomical
events and even as far away as in Babylon they had noticed something strange.
They had no doubt heard that Hezekiah had something to do with it and hence came
to him to learn more of this event. Editor.)
3292 AM, 4002 JP, 712 BC
655. Memnon wrote that Astacus in Bithynia was built by the Megarians, at the
beginning of the 17th Olympiad. {Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 374.}
656. Herodotus stated that Sennacherib invaded Egypt with a vast army and made
war upon Sethon, the priest of Vulcan. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 141. 1:447}
This man was a weak king and famous for nothing except for being devoutly, or
rather superstitiously, addicted to the worship of his petty god, Vulcan.
Herodotus also added that even in his time, there still existed a stone image of
Sethon holding a mouse in his hand. The following words were engraved on the
statue:
Let every man that looks on me,
Learn godly and devout to be.
657. For the sake of his honour, as well as that of their country and their
priesthood, the priests of that area offer the following explanation: Sethon,
who was both king and priest, had, by virtue of his piety and prayers to his god
Vulcan, prevailed with the god. [L103] Because when Pelusium, which stands at
the very entrance to Egypt, was besieged by the enemy, their horse bridles and
the buckles of their bucklers were so gnawn to pieces by mice that the next day
they fled with the loss of many of their men. However, whatever the story was
at Pelusium, the undoubted word of the prophet assures us that the Assyrians
marched far into the very heart of Egypt and led away a large number of
captives.
658. It is likely that Nahum's prophecy against the city of No was fulfilled by
this expedition of Sennacherib's. No was a large and strong city in Egypt. The
prophecy was:
"yet was she carried away; she went into captivity, her young children also were
dashed in pieces in the top of every street, and they cast lots for their
honourable men and all her great men were bound in chains." {Na 3:10}
3294c AM, 4004 JP, 710 BC
659. The prophecy made by Isaiah three years earlier concerning the rest of
Egypt was fulfilled at this time.
"The king of Assyria shall carry away a large number of the Egyptians captive;
and of the Ethiopians young and old prisoners, naked and barefoot." {Isa 20:4}
660. I do not see why the next two verses should not refer to the Jews:
"And they shall be ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and of Egypt their
glory: and the inhabitants of this country shall say in that day: Behold such is
our expectation, where can we flee for help to be delivered from the king of
Assyria and how shall we escape?" {Isa 20:5,6} [E72]
661. The Assyrian messenger had a good reason for reminding them of Egypt when
he said:
"Now behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed Egypt, on which if a
man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it; for even so is Pharaoh, to all
such as trust upon him." {2Ki 18:27}
662. For in Ezekiel and Isaiah we find the same simile used by God with
reference to the Egyptians and Israelites. {Eze 29:6,7 Isa 30:1-31:9} Here many
things were spoken against the vain hope which the Jews had of getting help from
Egypt.
"Therefore, saith he, shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and your
trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion, for the Egyptians shall help in
vain and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, "Their strength
is to stay at home." {Isa 30:3,7}
663. When Sennacherib returned from Egypt into Palestine, he besieged Lachish
with all his forces. {2Ch 32:9} Hezekiah sent to him at Lachish to buy his
peace and made a pact with him for peace at a certain price. Therefore he
drained all his own treasure, of which he had formerly been so proud, as well as
the treasury of the temple. He paid him three hundred talents of silver and
thirty talents of gold. When he had taken the money, Sennacherib broke his
agreement and sent Tartan, who had now taken Azotus, and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh
with a large army from Lachish to Jerusalem. {2Ki 18:14-17}
664. When these all arrived at Jerusalem, they stood at the conduit of the
upper pool by the highway of the fuller's field. When they called out demanding
to speak with the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, the recorder,
went out to meet with them. Because they refused to surrender the city,
Rabshakeh cried out that Hezekiah vainly relied on God for help and that he
himself had been sent by God. After he had reviled the God of Israel and his
servant Hezekiah with many reproachful sayings, he tried to make the people
rebel and defect to the king of Assyria. [L104] The Assyrians spoke loudly in
the Hebrew language, so that the people who stood on the wall might hear and
understand what they said. This they did to frighten them and cause anxiety, so
that in the resulting tumult they might easily assault and take the city. {Isa
36:1-22 2Ki 18:17-37 2Ch 32:9-18}
665. When Hezekiah heard of this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and
went into the house of the Lord. He sent Eliakim, Shebna and the elders of the
priests, all likewise dressed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet. They asked
him to seek counsel from God about this sad situation and to pray to God for
help. The prophet encouraged them, saying that the king of Assyria would hear a
rumour, whereupon he would lift his siege and return to his country, where he
would be murdered. This all came to pass. {Isa 37:1-7 2Ki 19:1-7}
666. When Rabshakeh could not take Jerusalem, he returned to Sennacherib. He
left Lachish and besieged Libnah. {Isa 37:8 2Ki 19:8}
667. Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, did not invade Egypt and Syria, as Scaliger
groundlessly asserted in his notes on Eusebius (page 72) and in his Isagogical
Canons (page 311). Rather, he sent forces to assist and help the Egyptians and
Jews. For the Bible is clear that he came to fight against Sennacherib. {Isa
37:9 2Ki 19:9} Strabo referred to this Tirhakah as Tearco, or Tearko, the
Ethiopian, and he also noted from Megasthenes, a writer of the history of India,
that he passed over into Europe and went as far as the Pillars of Hercules.
{*Strabo, l. 1. c. 3. s. 21. 1:227} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 6.
7:7,9}
668. When Sennacherib at Libnah heard a report that Tirhakah was coming, he
sent his commander to Hezekiah with railing letters. He spoke of the God of
Israel as if he were like one of the gods of the nations, mere works of men's
hands. Hezekiah took it before the Lord in his temple and with many tears
sought help and deliverance from God against the Assyrians. God answered him
through Isaiah the prophet, who said that God would defend the city and that the
king of Assyria would not even come by that way, but would return by the same
way he had come. {Isa 37:9-35 2Ki 19:9-34 2Ch 32:17,19,20}
669. The very same night after these things had happened at Jerusalem, and a
few days after his victory over the Ethiopians, which happened about this time
as some gathered from Isaiah, God sent his angel to their camp. {Isa 18:1-7
20:1-6} He destroyed every man of valour, every commander and leader in the
Assyrian army. The next morning a hundred and eighty-five thousand dead men
were discovered. After this, Sennacherib broke camp in shame and returned to
his own land to rest at Nineveh. It came to pass that as he was worshipping
before his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword.
They fled at once into the land of Ararat or Armenia, and Esarhaddon his son
reigned in his stead. {Isa 37:36-38 2Ki 19:35-37 2Ch 32:21} All this had been
foretold by the prophet. {Isa 37:1-38 31:8,9} [E73]
670. The first chapter of the book of Tobit contains the following incidents
which belong to this story. When Sennacherib fled from Judah, he killed many of
the Jews because of the hatred he had toward the Israelites. Tobit, or Tobias
the elder, stole away the dead bodies and gave them a proper burial. When he
was accused of this before the king of Nineveh, he fled into hiding for a time.
[L105] They plundered and spoiled all his goods, leaving him only Anne, his
wife, and Tobias, his son. After forty-five days or, as the Greek copy has it,
before fifty-five days, Sennacherib was murdered by his sons. When these fled
into the mountains of Ararat, Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead. Some
copies incorrectly call him Achirdon or Sarchedon. The new king set Achiacarus,
the son of Hananeel, Tobit's brother, over all his father's and his own affairs.
He was his steward and keeper of his accounts, as well as the cupbearer having
the privy seal, and so his position was that of second man to the king. {Apc
Tob 1:17-22}
671. Hezekiah had his son Manasseh, by Hephzibah, three years after his life
was lengthened and twelve years before his death. {2Ki 21:1 2Ch 33:1}
672. The Medes had up until now lived without a king. After Dejoces refused to
judge their causes and controversies any longer, civil disorder ensued. The
Assyrians used this occasion to take possession of many cities and places in
Media. {See note on 3283 AM. <<634>>} The people did not like the
resulting
anarchy and submitted unanimously to Dejoces. This was a hundred and fifty
years before Cyrus began his reign, according to Ctesias as cited by Herodotus.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 96-98. 1:127,129} Both Dionysius {*Dionysius
Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l. 1. c. 2. s. 2. 1:7} and Appian, in
the beginning of his Roman Histories, agree. {*Appian, l. 1. c. 0. s. 9.
1:15} Although Diodorus Siculus, whether through faulty memory or poor copying,
wrote Cyaxares for Dejoces. He is said to have been elected king over the Medes
in about the second year of the 17th Olympiad, according to Herodotus, {*Diod.
Sic., l. 2. c. 32. s. 2-3. 1:457,459} and for this reason: subtracting a
hundred and fifty years from the beginning of the reign of Cyrus, which he
supposed happened in the beginning of the 55th Olympiad, brings you to the
middle of the year 560 BC or 4154 JP. It follows that the first year of Dejoces
the first king of the Medes must be in the third year of the 17th Olympiad, in
the middle of the year 710 BC or 4004 JP. This allowed the end period of the
second year of the same Olympiad to have been spent in the transaction of this
business and election of the new king. This marks the beginning or the first
epoch of this new kingdom of the Medes. Herodotus correctly determined and
recorded this fact. The precise times of every king's reign can be determined
in relation to the eclipse of the sun which happened in the reign of Cyaxares,
as described later. {See note on 3403 AM. <<788>>}
3295a AM, 4004 JP, 710 BC
673. The fifteenth Jubilee, which was the half-way point of all the Jubilees
observed, was the most joyful, apart from the one at Solomon's dedication of the
temple. The fresh memory of so great a deliverance and of the prosperity that
followed made this one of the best Jubilees ever. Many brought offerings and
gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem and rich presents for the king. He was magnified
later among all the nations and prospered in whatever he undertook. {2Ch
32:23,27,30}
674. After this great deliverance, God prospered Judah greatly. {2Ch 32:22 Isa
37:31,32} To realise that this was a Jubilee, it is necessary to understand the
sign of God's mercy given the previous year to Hezekiah:
"You shall eat, saith God, this year, that which groweth of itself; the second
year, that which springeth of the same; and in the third year, sow ye and reap
ye and plant vineyards and eat of the fruit thereof." {Isa 37:30 2Ki 19:29}
[L106]
675. The previous year's harvest had either been gathered by the enemy as they
roved all over the country (as God had declared in judgment {Le 26:16 De 28:33
Jer 5:17}) or been spoiled and trodden underfoot by them. It would be necessary
that year for the people to live on whatever grew by itself, since it was not
lawful either to sow or reap, because this year was a Jubilee. Otherwise, if no
Sabbatical year had intervened, they would have been free to do this. Since the
Assyrian army had been destroyed by the angel, there was nothing to hinder them
from planting a crop. But the following year, when there was neither enemy to
frighten them nor Sabbatical year to prevent them, they could lawfully resume
farming as at other times.
3295b AM, 4005 JP, 709 BC
676. After Mardokempados, or Merodach Baladan, had reigned twelve years in
Babylon, he was succeeded by Arkeanos in the thirty-ninth year of Nabonassar,
and reigned five years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
677. According to Eusebius, Parium, on the coast of the Hellespont near
Lampsacus, was built or rather re-established by the Milesians and Erythreans,
who sent a colony there at this time. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:159}
3296 AM, 4006 JP, 708 BC
678. Dejoces, king of the Medes, built Ecbatana this year in the first year of
the 18th Olympiad according to Eusebius. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:158}
[E74] This city is called Achmetha in the book of Ezra, {Ezr 6:2} but Ctesias
{Ctesias, History of Persia} like Stephanus Byzantinus, called it Agbatam. A
fuller description of the construction of it is in Judith, {Apc Jud 1:1-16}
where it is said that it was built by Arphaxad, the king of the Medes.
Herodotus and other writers attributed it to Dejoces. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c.
98. 1:129} It appears that the same man was called by both names. More will be
said of this later. {See note on 3448 AM. <<908>>}
3299 AM, 4009 JP, 705 BC
679. Taracas or Tirhakah, the Ethiopian, reigned in Egypt for eighteen years.
{See note on 3294 AM. <<667>>} {Julius Africanus}
3300 AM, 4010 JP, 704 BC
680. After Arkeanos, there was no king in Babylon for two years. {Ptolemy,
Canon of Kings}
3302 AM, 4012 JP, 702 BC
681. Belibos, or Belithus or Belelus, held the kingdom of Babylon for three
years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
3305 AM, 4015 JP, 699 BC
682. Apranadius reigned in Babylon for six years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
3306c AM, 4016 JP, 698 BC
683. Hezekiah was buried in the upper part of the sepulchres of the family of
David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him every honour
possible. {2Ch 32:33} After Hezekiah, Manasseh his son reigned for fifty-five
years. {2Ki 21:1 2Ch 33:1} He again set up the high places which his father
Hezekiah had pulled down. He built altars to all the host of heaven in the two
courts of the house of the Lord. He made his son pass through the fire in the
valley of the son of Hinnom. He used divinations, sorceries and soothsayings,
and set up a molten image in the house of the Lord. He caused Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to sin and do worse than all the nations whom God had
driven out before the Israelites. {2Ki 21:2-11 2Ch 33:2-9} He also shed much
innocent blood, to the extent that he filled Jerusalem with it. In addition to
his own sin, he made Judah sin and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
{2Ki 21:16 24:4} Manasseh is thought to have sawn the prophet Isaiah in half
with a wooden saw. The Babylonian Talmud in their treatise, Justin Martyr
{Justin Martyr, Tryphon} and Jerome, speaking of the passage in Isaiah, {Isa
20:1-6 57:1-21} and others of our men, explain the phrase were sawn in pieces as
referring to the passage in Hebrews and relate it to Manasseh and Isaiah. {Heb
11:37} [L107]
684. They considered the following words to refer to Isaiah's prophecies for
God threatened that:
"And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the
house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and
turning it upside down." {2Ki 21:13}
3311 AM, 4021 JP, 693 BC
685. Regebelos reigned over the Babylonians for one year. {Ptolemy, Canon of
Kings}
3312 AM, 4022 JP, 692 BC
686. Mesisimordakos reigned over the Babylonians for four years. {Ptolemy,
Canon of Kings}
3316 AM, 4026 JP, 688 BC
687. There was no king in Babylon for eight years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
688. According to Herodotus, Dejoces extended the kingdom of the Medes as far
as the Halys River a hundred and twenty-eight years before the end of the reign
of Astyages. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 130. 1:169}
689. In the 23rd Olympiad, Herostratus of Naucratis, a merchant of Egypt, went
to Paphos on the island of Cyprus. There he bought a little image of Venus
about nine inches high and of very ancient workmanship. By its power, he was
miraculously delivered from a storm at sea. He consecrated the image at
Naucratis in the temple of Venus with great solemnity. This was according to
Athenaeus who was born in the same place. However, according to Strabo there
was no such town as Naucratis in Egypt at that time or for a time after, as it
was only later built by the Milesians. This was in the time of Cyaxares, king
of the Medes, and of Psammetichus, king of Egypt, who both lived at the same
time. {*Athenaeus, l. 15. (676a) 7:119} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 18.
8:67}
3317 AM, 4027 JP, 687 BC
690. Civil disorder increased in Egypt, because there was no king for two
years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 66. 1:227}
3319 AM, 4029 JP, 685 BC
691. After this, Egypt was ruled by an aristocracy of twelve men who governed
the kingdom by a common council. This government lasted fifteen years.
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 147. 1:455} {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 66. 1:227}
Tremellius thought that the burden of Egypt, spoken of by the prophet Isaiah,
referred to the drying up of the Nile River as foretold in Isaiah:
"They shall want of their waters, to run into the sea, so that their river shall
be dried up and turning away their waters, they shall empty and dry up their
channels fenced with banks." {Isa 19:5,6}
692. Tremellius stated, based on Herodotus: {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 147-149.
1:455-459}
"The twelve petty kings using the labour of this poor people, shall strive to
overrule the very works of nature and shall turn away the waters of the Nile
River. Even to make its channels dry. They did this so that they might finish
their pyramids and labyrinth beyond the Lake of Moeris solely for their lust and
pleasure's sake."
693. However, Scaliger understood this to mean that so great a drought was to
occur, that in summer the Nile River would not rise, nor flow, nor water Egypt,
as it normally did. He connected this prophesy to the earlier times of Soij or
Sabacon. {Scaliger, Isagogical Canons, p. 311.} [L108] [E75]
3324 AM, 4034 JP, 680 BC
694. When the family of the Babylonian kings died out, there were eight years
of no kings before Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, conquered Babylon and held
that kingdom for twelve years. {*Bone, Chronology of the Hebrew Divided
Kingdom, l. 1. 1:28,29.} {Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles}
Asaridinos appears to have been the same person as Esarhaddon. This is from the
similarity in the names and the word of the Holy Scripture, which intimates that
he was king both of Assyria and Babylon at the same time. {2Ki 17:24 19:37}
{See note on 3327 AM. <<697>>} (Ptolemy stated Esarhaddon reigned for
thirteen,
not twelve years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} This would make all the dates for
the Babylonian kings one year later and create a contradiction between the
secular dates for Nebuchadnezzar and the dates derived from the Bible. If you
followed Ptolemy's Canon, the fall of Jerusalem would be later than 588 BC.
Ussher was aware of the problem and assumed the interregnum was not a full eight
years, but only seven years and a few months. He placed the starting date for
Esarhaddon's reign at one year earlier in 3323c AM, which is 681 BC or 4033 JP.
Editor.)
695. Ardys, the son of Gyges, reigned in Lydia for forty-nine years. He
captured Priene and invaded Miletus. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 15,16. 1:19}
3327 AM, 4037 JP, 677 BC
696. Two brothers, Antiphemus and Lacius, built the city of Gela in Sicily and
Phaselis in Pamphylia. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:163} They consulted
the oracle at Delphi concerning a place to live. It answered that the one
brother should sail westward and the other eastward, as Stephanus Byzantinus on
the word Gela stated from Aristenetus in his first commentary of Phaselis.
Heropythus, in his book the Borders of the Colophonians, spoke about the
building of Phaselis, and said that Lacius, who was transporting a colony to
that place, there met Cylabra, a shepherd with his flock. He paid for the
ground on which he built his city by giving the shepherd the equivalent of the
price in salted meat. Philostephanus gave a more detailed account about Lacius
who was a man from Argos. {Philostephanus, Cities of Asia} One of them went
with Mopsus (the founder of the city of Colophos), whom some call Lindius,
brother to Antiphemus, the builder of Gela. (Lindius is said by Herodotus to
have been from Rhodes. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 153. 3:463} {*Thucydides, l.
6. c. 4. s. 3. 3:189}) Lacius and other men were commissioned by Mopsus,
the oracle and Mantus who was Mopsus' mother. Because the decks of Lacius'
ships were wrecked in a storm around the Chelidonian Isles, he could not arrive
till late at night. There he bought the plot of ground on which he built his
city, as Mantus had foretold. In exchange for this land he gave certain salted
meats to Cylabra, its owner, since this was what he desired most when given his
choice from all their ship's provisions. {*Athenaeus, l. 7. (314f) 3:413}
697. In this year the prophecy was fulfilled that was spoken by Isaiah. {Isa
7:8} Within sixty-five years from the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, Ephraim
would be conquered and never be a country again. For although most of them were
carried away by Shalmaneser forty-four years earlier and the kingdom was utterly
destroyed, yet among those who were left there was some form of government. But
they now ceased to be a distinct people because of the many foreigners who came
to live there. Compared to the total population, the small number of the
Ephraimites was insignificant. A few remained in their country, as appears from
the story of Josiah. {2Ch 34:6,7,33 35:18 2Ki 23:19,20} Every now and then
there were new colonies of people sent from Babel, Cush, Halvah and Sepharvaim,
to live in Samaria and its cities. {2Ki 17:24} This was done by Esarhaddon,
king of Assyria (who was also called Asnappar the Great and Magnificent). This
is evident from the confession of the Cushites in Ezra. {Ezr 4:2,10}
698. At the same time as Israel was conquered, Judah was attacked by the same
Assyrian army. They captured Manasseh, the king, as he was hiding in a thicket.
They bound him with chains of brass and carried him captive into Babylon. {2Ch
33:11} Some think this calamity was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, when he
said:
"within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be so broken in pieces, that it shall be
no more a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria
is the son of Remaliah: And if you will not believe, you shall not be
established." {Isa 7:8,9}
699. Jacobus Capellus noted in his history that they (the Jews) themselves
would be broken in pieces as well. Furthermore, he added that the Jews in Seder
Olam's Rabba, and the Talmudists cited by Rabbi Kimchi in his comment on
Ezekiel, also stated this. {Eze 4:1-17}
700. In the twenty-second year of Manasseh's reign he was carried away captive
into Babylon. [L109] After he repented of his sin, God restored him again to
his kingdom, thirty-three years before his death. {2Ch 33:12,13} It is likely
that his captivity did not last very long, since no mention is made of it in
Kings. {2Ki 21:1-18} It is recorded that he reigned fifty-five years in
Jerusalem. {2Ki 21:1 2Ch 33:1}
701. When the new inhabitants of Samaria did not serve the God of Israel, some
were killed by lions. When the king of Assyria was told this, he ordered that
one of the priests, who had been brought from there in the captivity, be sent
back. When the priest returned, he made his residence at Bethel. There he
taught them how to worship God, but according to Jeroboam's religion. They
worshipped the calf at Bethel as well as their old idols. They are said to have
feared God and not to have feared him. There is little difference between
worshipping many gods and no God at all. {2Ki 17:25,33,41} [E76] This was the
beginning of the animosity which grew later between the Samaritans and the Jews.
{Ezr 4:1 Ne 4:2 Joh 4:9}
3329 AM, 4039 JP, 675 BC
702. According to Eusebius, {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:163} Chalcedon,
or Calcedon (as it is found on some old coins), was built by the Megarians, at
the mouth of the Black Sea, among the Thracians who had possession of Bithynia
in Asia. {*Thucydides, l. 4. c. 75. 2:341} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 4. s.
1. 5:455} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 2. 5:375}
3334 AM, 4044 JP, 670 BC
703. Psammetichus Sais succeeded his father Pharaohnecho who was murdered by
Sabacos, the Ethiopian, who was one of those twelve tyrants of Egypt.
Psammetichus took over the kingdom and reigned there fifty-four years.
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 152-157. 1:463-471} Isaiah seems to allude to this
when he says:
"And the Egyptians will I give up into the hands of lords, which shall lord it
cruelly over them, till a fierce king shall come to rule them." {Isa 19:4}
704. Psammetichus was driven out of his kingdom and confined to the low country
near the sea. He hired soldiers from Arabia and a number of pirates from Ionia
and Caria, who roved about that shore. He assembled together all the Egyptians
who sided with him. In the main battle fought near Memphis, he overthrew the
rest of those domineering lords. For their good service, the Ionians and
Carians had land assigned to them to live in. This land was around the cities
of Bubastus and Pelusium, which stood on the mouth of the Nile River. From that
time on, the Greeks and other foreigners were always welcome in Egypt. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 1. c. 67. s. 7-12. 1:231} {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 152. 1:463}
Herodotus also reported that after a twenty-nine year siege, this same
Psammetichus took by force a large city in Syria called Azotus. {*Herodotus, l.
2. c. 157. 1:469} That is the city of Ashdod. {See note on 3291c AM.
<<642>>} In that note we showed that it was taken by Tartan, the
commander of
the king of Assyria, and his army, in one year. It was so destroyed by
Psammetichus, that the prophet Jeremiah could say there was merely a remnant of
its people left in his day. {Jer 25:20}
3336 AM, 4046 JP, 668 BC
705. After Asaridinos or Esarhaddon, Saosduchinos ruled both the empires of
Assyria and Babylon for twenty years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} In the book of
Judith that was written in the Chaldee language by a Jew living in Babylon, he
is called Nabuchodonosor, a name common to all kings of Babylon. However, he
was called the king of Assyria and is said to have reigned in the great city of
Nineveh. {Apc Jud 1:1} The learned Franc. Junius thought that Saosduchinos is
the same person as Merodach Baladan of the Bible, the grandfather of that
Nebucadnetzar and great-grandfather of Nebuchadnezzar. [L110] Hence, he thinks
it was Merodach Baladan who took King Manasseh prisoner to Babylon and released
him later. For he stated:
"this man was the first king of Babylon and was later made king of Assyria,
succeeding in that kingdom after Esarhaddon the Great. When his brothers were
found guilty of murdering their father, they were deemed unworthy of the
kingdom. After this, all Asia was in a tumult from a war which lasted a long
time after."
706. The succession of Asar-Adon, Merodach, Ben-Merodach and Nebuchadnezzar,
first and second, is only based on Anianus who was that false Metasthenus. For
indeed, Merodach was not the grandfather of Nabopolassar who was the father of
Nebuchadnezzar the Great. Junius noted that Merodach was not at first merely a
trustee of the king of Assyria only later becoming the king of both Assyria and
Babylon. {2Ki 20:12} Merodach never succeeded Esarhaddon the Great in any
kingdom of his since this Mardokempados or Merodach died eleven years before
Manasseh became king. Also forty-two years after Merodach's death,
Aassaradinus, or Esarchaddon, left Saosduchinos to succeed him in both the
Assyrian and the Babylonian kingdoms, as we noted from Ptolemy. {Ptolemy, Canon
of Kings} If Junius, a man of no less modesty than learning, had seen this, no
doubt he would have altered his opinion on this point. Therefore, I thought it
good here to have the reader note that he should not seek, from an event that
never happened, to interpret the prophecy of Ezekiel according to the manner in
which Junius interprets the periods of these kings in Ezekiel. {Eze 31:11,18}
Junius wrote of these two kings:
"Esarhaddon the Assyrian was put down, or thrust out of his kingdom, by Merodach
Baladan. Therefore, all defected from him and many of them fled to the king of
Babylon."
707. He interprets this as a fulfilment of this verse:
"So that now the land of Assyria was most shamefully trodden under foot and
brought into contempt of all men." {Isa 7:20}
3339c AM, 4049 JP, 665 BC
708. Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, bore a son Amon to
Manasseh. He was twenty-two years old when he began to reign. {2Ki 21:19}
3344a AM, 4053 JP, 661 BC
709. This was the sixteenth Jubilee.
3347c AM, 4057 JP, 657 BC
710. Nabuchodonosor, king of Assyria, in the twelfth year of his reign,
overcame Arphaxad, the king of the Medes, the founder of the city of Ecbatana.
{Apc Jdt 1:1-16} This battle was in the great plain of Ragau, near the Euphrates
and Tigris Rivers, and Jadason in the plain of the country of Erioch, king of
the Elicians. {Apc Jdt 1:1,5,6} (We read this in the first chapter of the book
of Judith which Jerome, at the request of Paula and Eustochiam, translated into
Latin.) However, whoever first published that book in Greek with many
alterations and additions of his own, told us that Nabuchodonosor in the twelfth
year of his reign fought a battle with King Arphaxad. This battle was in a
large plain near Ragau. [E77] Arphaxad was aided in the battle by all the
peoples who inhabited the hill countries, all who bordered on the Euphrates,
Tigris and Hydaspes Rivers and who lived in the plain of Arioch, king of the
Elymeans. {Apc Jdt 1:5-6}. After reviewing the battles mentioned before, the
writer stated that Nabuchodonosor fought this battle against Arphaxad in the
seventeenth year. He conquered all of Ecbatana and in the hill country of
Ragan, thrust Arphaxad through with his own spear. When he had accomplished his
aim in the war, he returned to Nineveh to feast and celebrate with his army for
a hundred and twenty days. According to Herodotus, Dejoces' death occurred in
the twelfth year of Saosduchinos' reign. [L111] One would argue that
Saosduchinos and Dejoces are named Nabuchodonosor and Arphaxad in the book of
Judith. In trying to determine an accurate succession of kings in Media using
the inaccurate accounts of Ctesias, Franc. Junius would need to divide the
Median empire into two parts. However, Herodotus, known as the father of
histories, saw no division of the kingdoms at all. Franc. Junius gives one of
the kingdoms to Dejoces (also called Arioch). {Jer 49:34} {Apc Jud 1:6} The
other part of Media he assigned to Artecarmins (whom Ctesias called Articam, and
who is here called Arphaxad). This King Arphaxad established his kingdom at
Ecbatana for this reason. He thought this to be a strong place in which he
could best withstand the assault of Dejoces and all other enemies. Since no
division of Media ever occurred, both the name of Arphaxad and the Ecbatana
kingdom should have been ascribed to Dejoces and not to Arioch or Atticarmes.
The book of Judith stated that Arphaxad was the founder of Ecbatana. Herodotus
and others affirmed that Dejoces (also called Arphaxad) was indeed the founder.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 98. 1:129} No one ever wrote that Arioch or Atticarmes
built it.
711. After Dejoces died, Phraortes, his son, succeeded him and reigned for
twenty-two years. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 102. 1:133}
3348c AM, 4058 JP, 656 BC
712. According to the Chaldee copy of Judith, Arphaxad (or Dejoces) is said to
have been the thirteenth king of Ecbatana, but in the Greek copy, the
eighteenth. {Apc Jdt 2:1} One year after Dejoces was overthrown, on the
twenty-second day of the first month, Nabuchodonosor made plans to subdue
nations and add countries to his dominion. He made Holophernes general of all
his armies. Holophernes besieged Bethhoglah, also called Bethulia, a city of
Judah. During this siege, he was beheaded by Judith, a woman of the tribe of
Simeon. After the death of her husband Manasseh, who died at the time of the
barley harvest, she spent three years of widowhood in that city. The Greek copy
said she was a widow for four years. {Apc Jdt 2:1-28 8:1-36 13:1-20}
3349 AM, 4059 JP, 655 BC
713. In this year, the cities of Isthemus and Borysthenes were built in the
country of Pontus. Lampsacus in the Hellespont, and Abdera in Thrace, were also
built then, according to Eusebius. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:167} In
fact, Borysthenes was built by the Milesians of Ionia, Lampsacus by the
Phocaeans and Abdera by the citizens of Clazomene. Solinus explained that the
sister of Diomedes first built Abdera. {Solinus, c. 10} After it fell into
ruin it was rebuilt and enlarged by the Clazomenians. This took place in the
31st Olympiad, which ended a year prior to this date. The leader of the
Clazomenian colony was Timesius, a citizen of Clazomene. {*Herodotus, l. 1.
c. 168. 1:211} Herodotus also added that Timesius was not able to complete the
work because he was attacked by the Thracians.
3355c AM, 4065 JP, 649 BC
714. Amon and Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah, had a son in Boscath, called
Josiah who was eight years old when he began to reign. {2Ki 22:1}
3356c AM, 4066 JP, 648 BC
715. Kineladanos succeeded Saosduchinos to both the Assyrian and Babylonian
kingdoms. He reigned for twenty-two years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} Alexander
Polyhistor called him Saracus or Saracen, which means robber or spoiler.
716. The oracle of Delphi ordered Grinnus, the son of Aesanius, king of the
island of Thera, to go rebuild a city in Libya. This city had been in ruins
because at that time no one knew where Libya was. It is said that there was no
rain on that island for seven years, and that all the trees except one died in
that drought. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 150,151. 2:351-355}
3361c AM, 4071 JP, 643 BC
717. In this year king Manasseh died who had previously returned from his
captivity. He had partly restored the true worship of God, which he had
formerly discredited. When he died he was buried in the garden of his own
house. {2Ch 33:1-16 2Ki 21:18} [L112] According to his last will or testament,
as if repenting for his former evil doings, he deemed himself unworthy to lie
among his own royal ancestors. {Tremellius}
3363c AM, 4073 JP, 641 BC
718. After Manasseh died, his son Amon reigned for two years. Amon forsook the
Lord God and offered sacrifices to all the graven images which his father had
set up, and worshipped them. He never repented of this, as his father had done,
but sinned more than his father ever had. {2Ki 21:19-21 2Ch 33:21-23}
719. This wicked Amon was murdered in his house by his own servants. He was
buried with Manasseh, his father, in the garden of Uzzah. The people killed all
who had conspired against him. {2Ki 21:23,24,26 2Ch 33:24,25} [E78]
720. Josiah, his son, succeeded him when he was eight years old and reigned
thirty-one years. {2Ki 22:1 2Ch 34:1}
3364 AM, 4074 JP, 640 BC
721. The inhabitants of the isle of Thera, wearied by their seven years of
drought, hired Corobius, a merchant in purple, from the city of Itanus on the
isle of Crete; because he had at one time been driven by a storm into a place
called Plataea, an isle of Libya, they sent him with some of their own
countrymen to find that isle a second time. When they found it, they left
Corobius there with provisions for some months. They returned home quickly to
let their countrymen know what they had found. When they did not return to
Plataea at the appointed time, it happened that a ship of Samos, whose captain
was Colaeus, sailed from Egypt. It put in there and left Corobius and his men
with provisions for another year. When it put out to sea again, it was caught
by a strong wind and driven beyond the Pillars of Hercules into the main ocean,
and finally came to Tartessus in Spain. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 151,152.
2:353}
722. The Thereans chose people by lot from their seven regions to establish a
new colony. They sent them away to Plataea in two ships under the command of
Battus, otherwise called Aristoteles, or Aristeus. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c.
153. 2:355} {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 156. 2:359,361}
723. Thales, the son of Examius, was born in this year at Miletus in Ionia.
This was the first year of the 35th Olympiad. {*Diogenes Laertius, Thales, l.
1. c. 1. (38) 1:39}
724. After the Cimmerians were driven from their dwellings by the Scythian
Shepherds (called Nomads), they left Europe and went into Asia. Following the
coast to Sardis, they captured the entire city, with the exception of the
citadel. This was the time when Ardys, the son of Gyges, reigned there.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 15. 1:19} {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 130. 1:169}
{*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 1. 2:199} {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 12. 2:213}
3366 AM, 4076 JP, 638 BC
725. When the Thereans had lived in Plataea for two years, they left one of
their company behind and all sailed to Delphi. There they enquired of the
oracle why things were no better since they came into Libya. The oracle
answered that they had not yet come to the city in Libya where they were told to
go, so they returned to Plataea. They took with them the one they had left
there, and established a colony in a spot in the land of Libya, opposite the
isle of Plataea, called Aziris. This place was surrounded with most scenic
hills and a river running around it on either side. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c.
157. 2:361}
726. In that place near the gardens of the Hesperides and the greater Syrtes or
quicksand, the earth was covered with a shower which rained down pitch, or
sulphur. Presently there grew up a herb called silphium, or laserwort, and its
juice was called laser, that is, Benjamin, as the Cyrenians said. This occurred
seven years before the building of their city. {Theophrastus, Plants, l. 6.}
{*Pliny, l. 19. c. 15. (38) 5:445}
3369 AM, 4079 JP, 635 BC
727. Phraortes, king of the Medes, perished in the siege of Nineveh with a
large number of his army. His son Cyaxares reigned for forty years after him.
In the beginning of his reign, he wished to avenge his father's death. [L113]
He compelled all Asia as far as the Halys River to join with him in his war
against the Assyrians. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 103. 1:133}
3370a AM, 4079 JP, 635 BC
728. When Josiah was sixteen years old, he had a son called Jehoiakim by
Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah, of Rumah. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old
when he started his reign. {2Ki 23:36}
3370c AM, 4080 JP, 634 BC
729. The same year his son was born, he began to seek the God of his father
David. {2Ch 34:3}
730. Cyaxares defeated the Assyrians in battle, but as he went to besiege
Nineveh, a vast army of the Scythians attacked him. These were those Scythians
who drove the Cimmerians from Europe. Pressing their advantage, they departed
from Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov) and left the Caucasus Mountains on their left
hand. They entered Media under the command of their king, Madyes, the son of
Protothyes. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 104. 1:135} {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 1.
2:199} {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 20. 3:335} {*Strabo, l. 1. c. 3. s. 21.
1:227} Madyes was also called Idanthyrsus, the Scythian, who, storming out of
Scythia, crossed all of Asia until he came into Egypt. Arrian cited Megasthenes
when he stated that Madyes was called Idanthyrsus. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c.
5. s. 6. 2:319} Madyes was the same man as Idanthyrsus, against whom Darius,
the son of Hystaspes, later undertook such an unlucky expedition. {*Herodotus,
l. 4. c. 76. 2:275} {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 125-127. 2:325-329} When the
Medes were defeated by the Scythians, they lost control of Asia. The Scythians
then held Asia for the next twenty-eight years. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 104.
1:135} {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 1. 2:199} Tremellius and Junius connect this
with the following prophecy:
"He (that is, Cyaxares, besieging Nineveh) shall reckon up his great men; but
they shall fall in their journey (that is, in the journey of the Scythians)."
{Na 2:5}
731. Their coming to Asia at this time is better called a journey through Asia,
rather than an established government or kingdom in Asia. In twenty-eight years
they overran, possessed and lost Media, Assyria and all Asia.
"They shall hasten to his wall, as if they would be his protector (that is, they
shall come hastily to Nineveh, as if they had delivered it out of the hand of
Cyaxares and would deliver it)." {Na 2:5}
3371c AM, 4081 JP, 633 BC
732. In this year, Josiah had a son called Shallum or Jehoahaz by Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He was made king after his father at the age of
twenty-three years. The people chose him as king, passing over his older
brothers. {2Ki 23:30,31} [E79] It seems the name of Shallum was changed to
Jehoahaz for good luck, as the other Shallum, the son of Jabesh, only ruled one
month before he was murdered by Menahem. {2Ki 15:13,14} Of the four sons that
Josiah had who are mentioned in Chronicles, {1Ch 3:15} this Shallum was named
last, not Johanan the firstborn, as some have thought. {Jer 22:11,12 2Ki
23:33,34 2Ch 36:3,4} It is easily deduced that Jehoahaz was not the firstborn,
since it is said that he was anointed by the people. {2Ki 23:30} However, the
firstborn of kings were not normally so anointed, because the kingdom was theirs
by common right. Also, Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he was anointed
king. However, three months earlier his brother, Eliakim, was made king at the
age of twenty-five. Hence he was older by two years than Jehoahaz. This is
confirmed by Josephus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 10. c. 6. s. 3. (98) 6:211}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 10. c. 7. s. 2. (102) 6:213}
3373 AM, 4083 JP, 631 BC
733. Sadyattes, the son of Ardys, reigned in Lydia for twelve years.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 16. 1:19} [L114]
734. When the Scythians had subjected all of upper Asia, they went straight
into Egypt. When they came as far as Syria Palestina, Psammetichus, the king of
Egypt, met them in person. He persuaded them by gifts and presents not to go
any farther. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 105. 1:137}
735. On their return they came to Askelon, which is in Syria. The greater part
of the army passed through the area without doing any damage. However, some
stragglers at the rear robbed the temple of Venus Urania. For this, all their
posterity were smitten with female sickness or loss of virility. {*Herodotus,
l. 1. c. 105. 1:137} In this year, which was the second of the 37th
Olympiad, the Scythians invaded Syria Palestina. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:169} Also in this year, Sinope was built by the Milesians. It was the chief
city in all the kingdom of Pontus. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 11. 5:387}
Phlegon (cited by Stephanus de Tribibus,) said that Sinope was built by
Macritius, of the isle of Cos. It is certain that when the Cimmerians came to
Asia after having fled from the Scythians, they built in the Chersonesus, in the
same place where Sinope, a city of the Greeks, now stands. {*Herodotus, l. 4.
c. 12. 2:213} After having settled in Aziris for seven years, the people of
Thera were persuaded by the Libyans to leave. They moved to a place called
Irasa and settled there, near a fountain named after Apollo. {*Herodotus, l.
4. c. 1. s. 58. 2:363}
736. There Battus built the city of Cyrene, in the second year of the 37th
Olympiad. He reigned for forty years, and after him his son Arcesilaus for
sixteen years, but only over those of the first colony. Later in the reign of
Arcesilaus, his son Battus went to live in that city with a large number of
other Greeks who were inspired by the oracle of Delphi. The city of Cyrene was
built during the time when Apries reigned over the Egyptians. This is a better
account of events than others have given. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 159. 2:363}
3374c AM, 4084 JP, 630 BC
737. In the twelfth year of Josiah's reign, he began to cleanse Judah and
Jerusalem from idolatry. He destroyed the high places, groves, and altars of
Baal with their images. He burned the bones of their priests upon their own
altars. He even went as far afield as the cities in Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon
and Naphtali, destroying all the altars, groves and carved images he found.
{2Ch 34:3-7}
3375c AM, 4085 JP, 629 BC
738. In the thirteenth year of king Josiah, Jeremiah was called by God to be a
prophet, but he refused. God called him again and encouraged him with promises
and signs belonging to the office and function of a prophet. He was bidden to
prophesy to the Jews of the calamity which was to befall Jerusalem at the hands
of the king of Babylon. {Jer 1:2-17 25:3} At the same time, Zephaniah and
others warned the rebellious people to repent, but they did not. {Zep 1:1 Jer
25:3-5}
739. Prusias or Prusa was built in Bithynia. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:171}
3378 AM, 4088 JP, 626 BC
740. Nabopolassar of Babylon (who was made general of the army by Saraco, who
was also called Kineladanos, king of Assyria and Chaldea) and Astyages (who was
made governor of Media by his father Cyaxares) made an alliance together.
Astyages gave his daughter Amyitis in marriage to Nebuchadnezzar, the son of
Nabopolassar. The two men joined their forces and took the city of Nineveh with
its king Saraco. (We gather this from a fragment of the writings of Alexander
Polyhistor that was misunderstood by Georgius Syncellus, whom Scaliger cited.
[L115] {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 38,39.}) We find in the end of
the book of the Greek copy of Tobit that Nabuchodonosor is called Nabopolassar,
and Assuerus is Astyages and is also called Ahasuerus. {Da 9:1} Nineveh was
taken while Tobit, the younger, was still living. When Shalmaneser took
Samaria, he took Tobit and his father captive to Assyria. Tobit is said to have
lived a hundred and twenty-seven years. Since only ninety-five years passed
from the captivity of Israel to this time, Tobit must still have been alive.
When Josiah was reigning (as Jerome in his commentaries on the prophet Jonah
affirms), Nineveh was destroyed. Thus the prophecies of both Nahum and Isaiah
concerning the destruction of Nineveh were fulfilled. This is also described in
Ezekiel. {Eze 31:1-18} [E80]
741. When Saraco was killed, Nabopolassar ruled the kingdom of Chaldea for
twenty-one years, according to Polyhistor. {Berosus, Chaldean History, l. 3}
{Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
3379 AM, 4089 JP, 625 BC
742. Sadyattes, king of Lydia, invaded the territory of the Milesians and
started a war that lasted for six years. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 18. 1:21}
3380c AM, 4090 JP, 624 BC
743. In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, he charged Hilkiah, the high
priest, to use the money which had been collected to repair the house of the
Lord. While doing this, he found the original book of the law which had at
first been stored in the side of the ark of the covenant. {De 31:26} This book
seems to have disappeared at the beginning of Manasseh's reign. When he found
it, he sent it to the king by Shaphan, the scribe. After Josiah had heard the
entire book read to him, he asked counsel of Huldah, the prophetess. She
prophesied to him that his kingdom should certainly be destroyed, but not in his
lifetime. {2Ki 22:3-20 2Ch 34:8-28} The king called together the elders of
Judah and Jerusalem, with the priests and prophets. He had the book of the law
read to all the people and renewed the covenant between God and the people.
Again, he cleansed the city from idolatry, and thoroughly restored the worship
of God. {2Ki 23:1-14 2Ch 34:29,33} He demolished the altar and high place which
Jeroboam the son of Nebat had set up. He burned the bones of the dead upon the
altar as had been foretold three hundred and fifty years earlier. {2Ki 13:2}
When he had destroyed the altars which the kings of Israel had built in the
cities of Samaria, killed all their priests and burned dead men's bones upon
them, he then returned to Jerusalem. {2Ki 23:15-20} Even with this renewing of
the covenant and general reformation of religion, the inevitable decree of
desolation to follow because of the people's sins still stood. This time of
renewing begins both the thirty years spoken of in the first chapter of the
prophecy of Ezekiel, and also the forty years of the iniquity of Judah. {Eze
4:6} {See note on 3416d AM <<867>>}
744. Josiah kept the Passover in the same eighteenth year of his reign (toward
the beginning of it), on the fourteenth day of the first month (Monday, May 4),
in the presence of all Judah and Israel and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He
kept this with more solemnity than had ever been done by any of the kings of
Israel or Judah in former times. {2Ki 23:21-23 2Ch 35:1-19} He abolished all
witches and soothsayers, all images and gods, and all the abominations which
were found in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He obeyed everything written
in the book of the law which had been found by Hilkiah. {2Ki 23:24 De 18:9-11}
[L116] (Ussher assigned this paragraph to the next year, 623 BC. We see no
reason for that and included these events in that year. No chronological entry
by Ussher is invalidated by so doing. Editor.)
3383c AM, 4093 JP, 621 BC
745. Toward the end of the fifth year of Nabopolassar (which is the 127th year
from the epoch of Nabonassar), on the 27th day of the Egyptian month of Athyr,
toward the 28th of the month, the moon was eclipsed at Babylon, beginning five
measured hours after midnight. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, p. 125. Greek
edition} This was on Saturday, April 22, or the 27th of the month Athyr, as the
day drew to a close. This was what Ptolemy meant when he said that it was from
the 27th to the 28th, lasting in all six measured hours starting after midnight
of the 27th day to the sunrising when the 28th day was to begin.
3384d AM, 4094 JP, 620 BC
746. Hamutal bore another son, Mattaniah, to Josiah, after Shallum, or
Jehoahaz. He was later called Zedekiah and was twenty-one years old when he
began to reign. {Jer 51:1 2Ki 24:17,18}
747. Xenophanes of Colophon, founder of the sect of the Eleatic discipline in
philosophy, was born in the 40th Olympiad. {Elius Empiricus, Contra
Mathematicos, l. 1. c. 12.} (More correctly reported by Apollodorus, as cited
by Clement of Alexandria. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 14. 2:314})
3385 AM, 4095 JP, 619 BC
748. The son of Sadyattes, called Alyattes the younger, reigned in Lydia for
fifty-seven years. He spent the first five years fighting the war against
Miletus that his father had started. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 18,25. 1:21,25}
3387c AM, 4097 JP, 617 BC
749. Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, had a son by Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan
of Jerusalem, called Jehoiakim or Jeconiah. He was eighteen years old when he
began to reign. {2Ki 24:8}
3388 AM, 4098 JP, 616 BC
750. Necho, the son of Psammetichus, reigned in Egypt for sixteen years.
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 159. 1:473} The Bible called him Necho or
Pharaohnecho. {2Ch 35:20 2Ki 23:29 Jer 46:2} This man began a channel from the
Nile to the Gulf of Arabia, a work which cost the lives of a hundred and twenty
thousand Egyptians. He abandoned the work when it was half done. He sent
certain Phoenicians to sail around Africa. They set sail from the Gulf of
Arabia, or the Red Sea, entering the southern sea and sailing around the coast.
They finally came to the Pillars of Hercules and returned to Egypt, three years
after they had started out. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 158. 1:471} {*Herodotus,
l. 4. c. 42. 2:239}
3390 AM, 4100 JP, 614 BC
751. In the twelfth year of the war between the Lydians and the Milesians, the
Lydian army burned the harvest of the Milesians, as they normally did each year.
It so happened that the wind caught the flames and set the temple of Athena in
Assesos on fire, burning it to the ground. After the army returned to Sardis,
Alyattes became sick for a long time. [E81] Finally, he sent to consult the
oracle at Delphi. The prophetess refused to entertain his request until the
temple which his men had destroyed was rebuilt. Periander, the son of Cyphelus,
ruler of Corinth, found out the reply of the oracle and passed it on to his good
friend Thrasybulus, king of the Milesians. He cleverly ordered that when
Alyattes and his envoys came to see about rebuilding the temple, the Milesians
should be feasting and revelling, using all the remaining grain and supplies in
the city. Alyattes expected to find that the Milesians would be starving from
the long war. However, when he saw that they appeared to have plenty to eat, he
made peace and a league of friendship with the Milesians. Alyattes built two
temples of Athena at Assesos to replace the one he had destroyed. When he got
well, he sent costly presents and offerings to Delphi. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c.
19-25. 1:22-29} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 6.}
3393a AM, 4102 JP, 612 BC
752. The seventeenth Jubilee.
3393c AM, 4103 JP, 611 BC
753. Anaximander of Miletus, the son of Praxidemus, was born in Ionia. {See
note on 3457 AM. <<954>>} [L117]
3394c AM, 4104 JP, 610 BC
754. By God's command, Pharaohnecho, king of Egypt, set out to go into battle
against the king of Assyria, who was at war with him at the time, and was
planning to besiege Carchemish on the Euphrates River. {2Ki 23:29 2Ch 35:20-22}
Josephus stated that he went to fight against the Medes and Babylonians, who had
overthrown the empire of the Assyrians. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 10. c. 6. s.
1. (84) 6:205} Carchemish, at the time of Sennacherib, belonged to and was
occupied by the Assyrians. {Isa 10:9} However, when that kingdom was destroyed,
it returned into the hands of the Babylonians. Just as at the time when the
king of Persia defeated Babylon and Assyria, {Ezr 6:22} he was called king of
the Assyrians, so when the king of Babylon defeated Assyria, he was called king
of Assyria. In addition, the secular authors also stated that Babylon was
formerly part of Assyria, while the Holy Scriptures state that the kingdom of
Chaldea was founded by the king of Assyria. {Isa 23:13 Nu 24:22 Isa 52:4 Ne
9:32}
755. When Josiah unadvisedly entered into this war, he was killed. {2Ki
23:29,30 2Ch 32:22,23} This took place in the valley of Megiddo which belonged
to the tribe of Manasseh. {Jos 17:11 Jud 1:17} Herodotus, in referring to this
story, said that Necho attacked the Syrians with an army and overthrew them in
Magdolus. After the battle he took a large city of Syria named Cadytis.
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 159. 1:473} Scaliger noted that this Cadytis was
actually Kadesh which is mentioned in Numbers. {Nu 20:16} Scaliger also
believed that Magdolus and Megiddo were located near each other. {Jer 46:14}
Because Magdolus was the more noted place of the two, the battle was said to
have taken place there. In the same way it is commonly understood that the
battle between Alexander and Darius at Gaugamela is said to have been fought at
Arbela, since Gaugamela was an obscure place. It may be that Magdolus and
Megiddo were the same place, since that is the place from which the other Mary
obtained her surname of Magdalene. In Matthew we see the name given as Magdala.
{Mt 15:39} The Syrian renders it Mageda and the old Latin translates it Magedan,
which appears to be similar to Megiddo. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 159. 1:473}
756. Since the good king was killed in this way and his being alive had
postponed the Babylonian captivity from being visited on the nation, {2Ki 22:20}
the previous year's Jubilee was turned into a year of lamentation. It almost
became a common proverb, The lamentation of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of
Megiddo. {Zec 12:11} Not only did all the people of that time bewail the death
of Josiah, but even later, a public mourning for him was voluntarily kept. The
prophet Jeremiah also wrote a song of remembrance called the Song of Threnes or
Lamentations. {2Ch 35:24,25} In this song he bewailed the calamities which were
shortly to befall his people. Jeremiah wrote:
"The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, is taken in their pits:
of whom we said, under the shadow of his wings we shall live among the heathen."
{La 4:20}
757. Hence, we may very justly question the first verse, or poem of that book
which we find in the Greek and common Latin translations of Jeremiah, which
disagreed with Jerome's translation from the Hebrew. This verse is prefixed
before the Threnes or Lamentations of Jeremiah: [L118]
"And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made
desolate, Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over
Jerusalem and said:"
758. Whoever added this should have noted the verse:
"Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."
{Pr 30:6}
759. There was also a second Song of Lamentations for the miserable condition
of the kingdom of the Jews after the death of Josiah. It was composed by the
prophet Ezekiel and was intended to be sung. {Eze 19:1-14}
760. After the death of Josiah, the people feared that the king of Egypt would
invade them in the absence of a king in the land, so they anointed his youngest
son Shallum, or Jehoahaz, as king. He soon did all that was evil in the sight
of the Lord, just as his forefathers had done. {2Ki 23:30-32 2Ch 36:1} {See
note on 3371c AM. <<732>>} [E82]
3394d AM, 4104 JP, 610 BC
761. When Necho returned from Assyria, he deposed Shallum from the throne after
he had only reigned three months. He made Eliakim, his older brother, king in
the place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. {2Ki 23:29-35
2Ch 36:2-4} This was a public witness that Jeremiah attributed the victory Necho
had over the Assyrians to the Lord God only. Jeremiah had previously prophesied
that it was God who sent him against the Assyrians. {2Ch 35:21,22} He imposed a
tribute of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold on the land of
Judah. He put Shallum or Jehoahaz in fetters at Riblah and carried him away
prisoner into Egypt, where he eventually died. {2Ki 23:33-35 2Ch 36:3,4 Eze
19:3,4}
762. At God's behest, the prophet Jeremiah called on the new king Shallum in
his palace. He earnestly entreated the king, his courtiers and all the people
with promises and threats from Almighty God. He foretold that Shallum or
Jehoahaz would be carried away captive into Egypt.
"Weep not for him that is departed (meaning Josiah) nor make lamentation for
him; but weep for him that is to depart (that is, Shallum): because he shall
return no more to see his native soil." {Jer 22:1,2,10-12}
3395a AM, 4104 JP, 610 BC
763. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah was commanded by God
to stand in the court of the temple. He exhorted the people who were assembled
from all the cities of Judah to humble themselves before the Lord. It was the
feast of tabernacles, when all the males from the cities were required to appear
at Jerusalem. {De 15:16} He told them to repent and when they would not, he
pronounced the judgment of God against them, saying that the house would become
as Shiloh: and that city should be accursed among all the nations of the earth.
{Jer 26:6}
764. This resulted in his arrest by the priests and prophets and all the people
who were in the court at the time. They accused him of being a man worthy of
death, but he was acquitted and set at liberty by the public judgment of the
princes and elders. {Jer 26:1-19}
3395b AM, 4105 JP, 609 BC
765. Like Jeremiah, Uriah, who was the son of Shemariah from Kirjathjearim,
also prophesied against Jerusalem and the land of Judah. When Jehoiakim, the
king, sought to put him to death, he fled into Egypt. The king sent Elnathan,
the son of Achor, and others, after him. They overtook him and brought him back
to the king, who had him killed and threw his carcass among the vilest
sepulchres of the common people. However, Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, who had
formerly been a man of great authority with king Josiah, was a friend of
Jeremiah. {2Ki 22:12 2Ch 34:20} Ahikam prevented Jeremiah from being turned
over to the people to be killed. {Jer 26:20-24} [L119]
766. To these I might add the prophet Habakkuk. When he complained of the
stubbornness of the Jews, God replied that he would shortly send the Chaldeans
into Judah. {Hab 1:6}
767. God further declared his purpose concerning the judgment of Judah with the
words:
"I will do a work in your days, which you will not believe when it shall be told
unto you: For behold I will stir up the Chaldeans, a fierce nation and a swift:
which shall walk through the breadth of the land, to possess a land which is
none of theirs as their own inheritance." {Hab 1:5,6}
768. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah foretold that
Zedekiah would be king of Judah, and that Nebuchadnezzar would be king of
Babylon and would conquer his neighbouring countries. {Jer 27:1-11}
3397b AM, 4107 JP, 607 BC
769. The governor of Coelosyria and Phoenicia revolted against Nabopolassar
king of Babylon. After Carchemish was taken, Nabopolassar sent a large army
against the governor under the command of his son Nebuchadnezzar (whom he first
made viceroy in the kingdom). This took place toward the end of the third and
the beginning of the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. {Da 1:1 Jer
25:1}.
770. When Nebuchadnezzar was made viceroy in the kingdom, God revealed several
things to Jeremiah. Firstly, the Egyptians would be defeated at the Euphrates
River, then later in their own country, and then Nebuchadnezzar would make
himself master of Egypt. {Jer 46:1-28} The first came to pass almost
immediately. Pharaohnecho's forces at Carchemish were cut off by
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. {Jer 46:2}
The second happened after the taking of Tyre in the twenty-seventh year of the
captivity of Jeconiah. {Eze 29:17-19}
771. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the first of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah reproved the Jews for not obeying the word
of the Lord. He had proclaimed this word from the thirteenth year of king
Josiah right up to that present fourth year of Jehoiakim, that is for
twenty-three years in all. Throughout that time they had remained stubborn and
disobedient, both to his admonitions and to those of all the other prophets whom
the Lord had sent. [E83] Again he told them of the coming of Nebuchadnezzar
against them and of their forthcoming captivity in Babylon, which was to last
seventy years. He stated that Judah and the other nations would have to serve
the king of Babylon.
3397c AM, 4107 JP, 607 BC
772. Lastly, the kingdom of Babylon itself would be destroyed and the land of
Chaldea would be desolate. {Jer 25:1,3,11,12} Many years earlier, this seventy
years had been mentioned by Isaiah in more obscure terms, when he spoke of the
destruction of Tyre. {Isa 23:15,17}
3398a AM, 4107 JP, 607 BC
773. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Baruch, the son of Neriah, recorded on a
scroll all that Jeremiah dictated. It contained all the words of the Lord
concerning Israel and Judah, from the time of Josiah until Jeremiah's day. He
read them in the house of the Lord, in the hearing of the men of Jerusalem and
of all the Jews who were assembled there from all their cities on the day of the
fast, {Jer 36:1-8} that solemn fast which was kept yearly on the tenth day of
the seventh month, {Le 16:29 23:27 Nu 29:7} five days before the Feast of
Tabernacles. All the males from all the cities of Judah were to appear at
Jerusalem. {See note on 3395a AM. <<763>>} [L120] Baruch was
extremely amazed
and afflicted in his soul at the horror of these dreadful judgments which he had
recorded. Jeremiah comforted him with the word of the Lord, assuring him of his
own life in the midst of all these troubles which God was revealing concerning
the calamity which would be brought upon all the land by the Babylonians. {Jer
45:1-5} The other passage in Jeremiah may allude to this as well as to the
promises made concerning the restoration of the church. {Jer 30:1-31:40}
774. When Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Judah, the Rechabites, or
the descendants of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, {2Ki 10:15} left their tents and
came into Jerusalem, for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and Syrians. They
had lived in tents in accordance with the ruling of their forefather Jonadab.
{Jer 35:8-11} Since material in this chapter of Jeremiah is written in the
present tense, we gather that the time of the Rechabites refusing to drink wine
occurred when the city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. {Da 1:1}
775. God gave Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, with part of the furnishings of the house of the Lord. {Da
1:2} This was in the ninth month called Chisleu, as may be gathered from the
anniversary of the fast which was kept as a tradition of the Jews in remembrance
of this calamity. {Zec 7:3,5 8:19} It was kept in this month. {Jer 36:9}
776. Nebuchadnezzar chained Jehoiakim to carry him away to Babylon. {2Ch 36:6}
Later, upon his submission and promises of subjection, he let him stay in his
own house, where he lived as his servant for three years. {2Ki 24:1} It was
from the time of this event, when the king and people of the Jews were carried
off into bondage by Nebuchadnezzar, that the seventy years of the captivity of
Babylon which was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah began. {Jer 25:11 29:10}
777. Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz, the overseer of the eunuchs, to carry off
the best of the children of Israel, both from those of royal blood and from
among the princes. {Da 1:3} This had been predicted to Hezekiah by Isaiah, the
prophet. {Isa 39:7} They would be under Ashpenaz's care and were to be educated
for three years in the language and sciences of the Chaldeans. The best of them
were to be selected to stand before the king and serve in his palace. Among
those taken from the tribe of Judah were Daniel, who was Belshazzar, Hananiah,
who was Shadrach, Mishael, who was Meshach and Azariah, who was Abednego. Each
had his name changed at the discretion of the prince of the eunuchs. {Da 1:3-7}
778. After those Scythians (mentioned earlier {See note on 3370c AM.
<<730>>})
had done as they pleased in Asia for twenty-eight years, Cyaxares and the Medes
gave them a large feast. When they were all drunk on one particular day, he had
most of their throats cut. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 106. 1:137} As well as
what happened to these Scythians, certain other Scythians of the nomads or
shepherds were expelled from their own country by an opposing faction. They had
been entertained by Cyaxares and employed by him, partly in hunting, partly in
the education of children. But after this massacre, in which the other group of
Scythians had been so poorly treated by him, they killed one of the boys whom
they had taken to educate. They dressed his flesh like venison and set it
before Cyaxares and his guests to eat. After this they quickly fled away to
Alyattes, the king at Sardis, for protection. When Cyaxares demanded Alyattes
surrender them to him, Alyattes refused, which started a five year war between
the Medes and Lydians. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 73,74. 1:89,91} As far as the
Cimmerians are concerned, Alyattes drove them from all Asia. {*Herodotus, l.
1. c. 16. 1:19} {See note on 3370c AM. <<730>>} [L121] [E84]
3399a AM, 4108 JP, 606 BC
779. In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, a solemn fast was
proclaimed before the Lord to all the people at Jerusalem. This was in
remembrance, it seems, of the taking of the city by the Chaldeans in the same
month of the previous year. Baruch stood at the gate of the house of the Lord
and read all the words of the Lord. These words were dictated to him by
Jeremiah and recorded in a scroll. All the people who were assembled at
Jerusalem from all the cities of Judah heard Baruch read the scroll. When the
princes were told of this by Micah the son of Gemariah, they called Baruch to
them. They heard him read the same scroll and fearing the king, advised him and
Jeremiah to hide. When the king heard part of the scroll read, he first cut the
scroll through with a pen-knife and then hurled it into the fire that was in the
hearth and burned it. {Jer 36:9-25} In memory of this detestable act of the
king, the Jews to this day keep a fast on the seventh day of the ninth month
called Chisleu.
3399b AM, 4109 JP, 605 BC
780. When Jehoiakim had burned the scroll, he ordered Jerahmeel, the son of
Hammelech, Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdiel, to
apprehend Baruch the writer and Jeremiah the prophet. God hid them and
pronounced this sentence against that impious king and his kingdom:
"...Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying,
The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land and shall cause
to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore, thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim
king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead
body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost.
And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I
will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of
Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them...." {Jer 36:29-32}
781. Later, at God's command, Baruch again recorded the same words of Jeremiah
which he had recorded before, as well as much additional material. {Jer
36:26-32}
782. Nebuchadnezzar capitalised on his victory over Necho and took all the
lands which the Egyptians had possessed between Egypt and the Euphrates River.
From that time on, Necho did not venture out of Egypt. {2Ki 24:7} Meanwhile
Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar's father, died in the land of Babylon, after having
reigned twenty-one years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
783. When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, he ordered the deportation to Babylon of
the captives of the Jews, Syrians, Phoenicians and Egyptians. His army and
equipment were sent there also. He posted a small company at the nearest route
through the desert and returned to Babylon ahead of his troops. He was made
king over all his father's large dominions. When the captives were brought to
Babylon, he distributed them into various colonies as he saw fit. {Berosus,
Chaldean History, l. 3.} The vessels and other furnishings of the temple, which
Nebuchadnezzar had taken with him to Babylon, were put in the temple of his god
Belus. {Da 1:2 2Ch 36:7} His son was named after this god. According to
Abydenus, in his Assyrian History, and Berosus, he greatly enriched and adorned
that temple with the spoil which he had taken in that war. [L122]
784. The rest of the Scythians, who had escaped the slaughter of the Medes,
returned home and were met by a large army of lusty young men. These had been
born to their own wives, having been fathered by their slaves during the long
absence of the Scythians. With these they fought many a sharp battle, but at
length they laid aside their swords. Each man took a whip in his hand, as is
more fitting for the correction of slaves, and thereby caused them all to flee.
{*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 3,4. 2:201,203}
3401a AM, 4110 JP, 604 BC
785. When Jehoiakim had lived in subjection to the king of Babylon for three
years, he rebelled against him. {2Ki 24:1}
786. Daniel and his three followers refused the diet provided for them from the
king's allowance. They dined only on vegetables and water. However, they were
found to look better and to be of fairer complexion than the rest, who ate of
the king's food. After three years, they were brought into court to attend the
king. They greatly excelled in all matters of knowledge, wisdom and science,
which the king chose to ask them. Their knowledge surpassed that of all the
Magi and astronomers who were in his kingdom. {Da 1:5-20}
787. In the second year of his kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of the great
image made of various metals. When he forgot his dream, he asked his Magi and
astronomers what his dream had been and what it meant. Because they could not
satisfy him in so unreasonable a demand, he commanded them all to be put to
death. When Daniel saw the execution being prepared and understood the reason
for it, he asked the king to delay for a while. Daniel and his companions
prayed to God, and God revealed both the dream and its interpretation to Daniel.
He declared to the king what his dream had been, and also the four monarchies
which were to come, because this was the meaning of the image which he had seen
in his dream. [E85] As a result, the king enriched him with great gifts and
made him governor of all the province of Babylon, and chief over all its wise
men. Moreover, at Daniel's request, he made his three companions, Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego, principal officers in all that province. {Da 2:1-49}
3403d AM, 4113 JP, 601 BC
788. In the beginning of the sixth year of the war between the Medes and the
Lydians, the war was stalemated. Thales, the philosopher of Miletus, had
predicted to the Ionians that an eclipse of the sun would happen. When both the
armies saw the day grow as dark as the night, they stopped fighting. Later they
made peace with each other through the mediation of Syennesis of Cilicia and
Labynetus, the Babylonian (who was Nebu-chadnezzar). Alyattes gave his daughter
Aryenis to Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, in marriage. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c.
74. 1:91,93} This eclipse, as predicted by Thales, happened exactly when
Cyaxares, the father of Astyages and king of the Medes, and Alyattes, Croesus'
father and king of the Lydians, were fighting together. This is confirmed by
Endemus in his Astronomical History. Pliny also spoke of it and noted the
following: {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 9. (53) 1:203}
"Among the Greeks, the first one that found out how to predict the eclipses was
Thales, the Milesian. He foretold the eclipse of the sun, in the fourth year of
the 48th Olympiad, which was in the reign of Alyattes."
789. (For this is how the old copy reads, not in the reign of Astyages, as the
common edition had it.) Pliny stated this happened in the one hundred and
seventieth year after the building of Rome. Clement of Alexandria {*Clement,
Stromateis, l. 1. c. 14. 2:315} placed this battle of Cyaxares and the
eclipse of the sun at about the 50th Olympiad. He differed greatly from the
opinion of Endemus, whom he cited for it. For the time assigned by both Endemus
and Pliny does not agree with the time of Cyaxares, but with the reign of
Astyages. It also appears clear from Ptolemy's tables, {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis} which agree with those of Hipparchus, that the sun was eclipsed in the
fourth year of the 44th Olympiad. [L123] That is in the 147th year of
Nabonassar, on the fourth day of the Egyptian month of Pachon (or Sunday,
September 20, according to the Julian Calendar), three hours twenty-five minutes
before noon. This eclipse was of nine digits (twelve digits is a total eclipse)
and lasted almost two hours.
3404c AM, 4114 JP, 600 BC
790. Psammis, the son of Necho, reigned in Egypt for six years. {*Herodotus,
l. 2. c. 161. 1:475}
791. The people from Phocaea set sail from Ionia and built Massilia, or
Marseilles as it is known today, on the coast of Liguria in Italy a hundred and
twenty years before the naval battle at Salamis. (This is according to
Marcianus in his Periegesis, as reported from Timaeus.) This was in the first
year of the 45th Olympiad, according to both Eusebius and Solinus in Polyhistor.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:175} However, Solinus confounded this first
colony of the Phocaeans established in the days of Tarquinius Priscus with their
later one under Servius Tullius. {See note on 3461 AM. <<931>>} The
story of
the wedding, which was the occasion for the building of this city, is described
in detail by Athenaeus, based on Aristotle's account. {*Athenaeus, l. 13.
(576) 6:109,111} He spoke of the commonwealth of the Marseillians. Justin had a
similar account and related the same thing, though differing in the names of the
persons concerned. {Justin, Trogus, l. 43.}
792. Nebuchadnezzar's army of Syrians, Chaldeans, Moabites and Ammonites
attacked Jehoiakim and destroyed all of Judah. {2Ki 24:2} They took three
thousand and twenty-three prisoners from there in the seventh year of
Nebuchadnezzar. {Jer 52:28}
793. Astyages or Ahasuerus, {Da 9:1} who had married Aryenis the year before,
had a son called Cyaxares or Darius, the Mede. He was sixty-two years old when
he succeeded Belshazzar, who was killed in the kingdom of the Chaldeans. {Da
5:30,31} Astyages, in the lifetime of his father, gave in marriage his daughter
Mandane, who was born by his former wife, to Cambyses, son of Achemenes, king of
Persia. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 2. s. 1. 5:9} Cambyses derived
his family pedigree from Perseus. From this union, Cyrus was born the next
year. Hence, we do not believe Ctesias who, contrary to Herodotus and Xenophon
and others, stated that Astyages was not related to Cyrus in any way.
3405c AM, 4115 JP, 599 BC
794. After Jehoiakim was taken prisoner by the Chaldeans, he was killed and his
body was thrown out without a proper burial. He was given the burial of an ass,
in that his body was dragged out of the gate of Jerusalem, as had been foretold
by the prophet. {Jer 22:18,19 36:30} Though in a different sense from the
usual, he also may be said to have slept with his fathers. {2Ki 24:6}
795. After him, his son Jehoiachin, who was also called Coniah and Jeconiah,
reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord, as his father Jehoiakim had done before him. {2Ki 24:8,9 2Ch
36:8,9} God pronounced this most dreadful decree against him:
"Write this man childless, a man which shall not prosper in his days; for none
of his seed shall prosper to sit in the throne of David, nor reign any more in
Judah" {Jer 22:30}
796. Concerning this matter, refer to Christophorus Helvicus' book of the
Genealogy of Christ. At this time, the prophecy contained in the next chapter
of Jeremiah seems to have been uttered. {Jer 23:1-40} [L124] [E86]
3405d AM, 4115 JP, 599 BC
797. In the same year in which the earlier army had been sent, the servants of
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to besiege Jerusalem. When
Nebu-chadnezzar himself came to the city while his servants besieged it,
Jehoiachin the king, together with his mother Nehushta, a woman of Jerusalem,
his servants and officers, and with all his courtiers, came out to meet the king
of Babylon. This happened in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign over
Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar took all the treasure, both of the temple and of the
king's house, away with him. He broke in pieces all the golden vessels and
furnishings which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord
had foretold. {Isa 39:6} He carried away king Jehoiachin to Babylon, together
with his mother, his wives and his courtiers. From among all the citizens of
Jerusalem, he took ten thousand men: the magistrates, every man of strength, all
the carpenters and skilled craftsmen. He left behind in Jerusalem only the
poorer and weaker of the people. From the remainder of the land, he carried
away seven thousand able-bodied men and a thousand of the smiths and carpenters.
These were all strong men and fit for war, who were carried off as prisoners
into Babylon. {2Ki 24:8-16 2Ch 36:10 Jer 24:1 29:1,2 Eze 17:12} Among the
captives was Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin, the son of Jair, {Es 2:5,6} and
Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi. This is why, in his prophecy, Ezekiel
started the captivity from this point, {Eze 1:2,3} which he also called his own
banishment. {Eze 40:1} A letter, said to be Jeremiah's, was sent to those who
were appointed to be carried away to Babylon. It warned them to beware of the
idolatry which they would see practised in Babylon. {Apc Bar 6:1-73}
798. While the king of Babylon ravaged in Judah, God prepared a worm which in
due time would eat out this spreading tree, {Da 4:19-27} for the cry of these
suffering people reached the Lord:
"Oh daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery, happy shall he be that shall reward
thee, as thou hast served us, who shall take thy children and dash them against
the stones." {Ps 137:8}
799. For in this very year, Cyrus, the Media-Persian, was born, whose father
was a Persian and his mother a Mede, as I have shown before. Nebuchadnezzar
himself, at the hour of his death, as Abydenus had it, uttered this prophecy:
"There shall come a Persian Mule, who shall make use of your devils, as his
fellow-soldiers, to bring you into bondage."
800. This was also foretold by that oracle given to Croesus:
"When a mule king shall be born to the Medes...."
801. The Pythian Priests interpreted this to refer to Cyrus, who was to be born
of a father and a mother of two different nations, a Persian and a Mede.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 55,91. 1:63,119} However, Isaiah foretold, most
plainly and truly, {Isa 13:1,2} that the Babylonians also should have a time in
which they were to endure their own hell of slavery. Their children would one
day be dashed against the stones before their eyes, {Isa 13:16} while these
miserable, captive Jews would one day be restored to their liberty. Many years
before the time of these events, Isaiah called their deliverer by his proper
name of Cyrus. {Isa 44:28 45:1} God gave him the reason for this unusual
revelation:
"For my servant Jacob and for Israel my chosen's sake, have I called thee by thy
name and given thee a surname, though thou hast not known me." {Isa 45:4}
802. As for the age of this Cyrus, Cicero cited it from Dionysius, a Persian
writer, as follows: {*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 1. c. 23. 20:275} [L125]
"The sun appeared to Cyrus in his sleep, standing at his feet. When Cyrus
endeavoured to take the sun in his hands three times, the sun turned aside and
went away. The Magi, who are counted as wise and learned men among the
Persians, said that his three attempts to take hold of the sun meant that he
should reign thirty years. This came to pass accordingly, for he started to
reign at the age of forty and lived to the age of seventy."
803. From which dream perhaps, expounded in this way by the magicians, Cyrus
took his name, for, as Ctesias correctly said:
"Cyrus, in the Persian language, means the sun."
804. Plutarch said the same thing. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 1.
(1012) 11:129} Likewise, Chur and Churshid, in the Persian poets, agreed. When
the work of Cicero is compared with Daniel, it appears that Darius, the Mede, or
Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, who was Cyrus' uncle, was born before Cyrus.
Therefore, Xenophon mentioned Darius saying: {Da 5:31} {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia,
l. 6. c. 1. s. 6. 6:123}
"seeing I am here present and am older than Cyrus, it is fitting that I speak
first."
805. The same author stated that when Cyrus wrote to Cyaxares he used the
following words: {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 4. c. 5. s. 27. 5:377}
"I advise you, though I be the younger of the two."
806. Nebuchadnezzar made Mattaniah, the son of Josiah, king in place of his
nephew Jeconiah and changed his name to Zedekiah, meaning the justice of the
Lord. {Jer 37:1 2Ki 24:17} Nebuchadnezzar had made a covenant with Zedekiah,
requiring an oath of allegiance from him, and Zedekiah had sworn an oath by God
to comply. {2Ch 36:13 Eze 17:13,14,18} By giving him this new name, he intended
to remind Zedekiah of the just judgment of God, if Zedekiah would break the
oath.
807. Zedekiah reigned a full eleven years in Jerusalem and did evil in the
sight of the Lord his God. [E87] He did not humble himself before Jeremiah, the
prophet, who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, but stiffened his neck and
hardened his heart, so that he would not return to the Lord God of Israel. {Jer
1:3 32:1,2 2Ki 24:18,19 2Ch 36:11-13} Indeed, all the leaders of the priests,
and the people of the whole land, transgressed the law and polluted the house of
the Lord which God had sanctified in Jerusalem. Nor would they listen to the
word of the Lord, which came to them by the mouth of his prophet Jeremiah and
other prophets. Instead, they despised them and mocked the messengers which God
sent to them, until the fire of God's fury burst upon his people. {Jer 37:2 2Ch
36:14-16}.
808. After Jeconiah was carried away, God, in a vision of two baskets of figs,
revealed to Jeremiah the captivity of the new king Zedekiah and the remainder of
the people. {Jer 24:1,2,8,9,}
809. In the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, Jeremiah prophesied the captivity
and restoration of the Elamites. {Jer 49:34,39} For Nebuchadnezzar had taken
from Astyages the whole province of Elam, including the city of Susa on the Ulai
River, and annexed it to his kingdom. {Jer 25:25 Da 8:1,2} Later, these
Elamites combined with the Medes against the Babylonians. {Isa 21:2} When
Belshazzar was overthrown, they recovered their state again under Cyrus, who
appointed their chief city of Susa to be the capital of the Persian kingdom.
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 2. 7:157} [L126]
810. When the envoys from the various kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and
Sidon came to Jerusalem to visit the new king Zedekiah, God told Jeremiah to
give each of them chains and whips, to be presented to their masters. He
commanded them all to submit to Nebuchadnezzar and stop listening to their
soothsayers and stargazers, who advised them not to submit. He advised Zedekiah
to remain loyal to the king of Babylon and to beware of the false prophets. By
threats and promises he persuaded many of the people to submit to and obey the
king of Babylon. {Jer 39:1-18}
811. When Jeconiah was carried away with the other captives, Zedekiah sent
Elasah, the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, to Nebuchadnezzar in
Babylon. Jeremiah sent with them a letter which he had written to the elders,
the priests and prophets, and the rest of the people who had been carried from
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. In the letter, the prophet
instructed them how to behave themselves in captivity, and comforted them with a
gracious promise of deliverance at the end of the seventy years. He predicted
the great calamities which were to befall those whom they had left behind in
Jerusalem. He foretold the miserable end which would come to the two false
prophets, Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah. {Jer
29:1-23}
3406 AM, 4116 JP, 598 BC
812. Seraiah sent letters back with Zedekiah's messengers, when they returned
from Babylon. They delivered these to Zephaniah (who was the second chief
priest) and to the rest of the priests at Jerusalem. {2Ki 25:18} Seraiah
denounced what the prophet Jeremiah had written to them. When this was read to
Jeremiah, he pronounced a heavy judgment from God upon him. {Jer 29:24-32} It
seems that it was at this time, also, that he made those notable prophecies
concerning the kingdom of Christ and restoration of the church in Jeremiah.
{See note on 3395b AM. <<766>>} {Jer 30:1-31:40}
3407 AM, 4117 JP, 597 BC
813. Croesus was born. He was the son of Alyattes, king of Lydia, and his
mother was a woman of Caria. He was thirty-five years of age when he began to
reign. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 26,92. 1:29,121}
3408d AM, 4118 JP, 596 BC
814. In the fifth month of the fourth year of Zedekiah, Hananiah, a false
prophet, made a false prophesy. He said that at the end of two years all the
vessels and furnishings of the house of the Lord, together with Jeconiah and all
the people who had been carried away to Babylon, would return and be brought
home again. When Jeremiah mocked him, he took a wooden yoke from about
Jeremiah's neck and broke it. He said that the Lord would break the yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar, within two years precisely, from off the neck of all the
nations.
815. Jeremiah replied that God, instead of that wooden yoke, would lay an iron
one upon the neck of all these nations, under which they should bow, and serve
the king of Babylon. {Jer 28:1-14}
3409a AM, 4118 JP, 596 BC
816. Hananiah, the false prophet, died in the seventh month of this year, in
accordance with the word of Jeremiah. {Jer 28:16,17} Astyages, after the death
of his father Cyaxares, reigned over the Medes for thirty-five years.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 130. 1:169} He is also called Ahasuerus, {Da 9:1} or
Assuerus. {Apc Tob 14:15}
3409c AM, 4119 JP, 595 BC
817. God, through his prophet Jeremiah, foretold that Babylon and the land of
Chaldea would be overrun and laid waste by the Medes and Persians. At the same
time he comforted his people with the sweet promises of their deliverance. {Jer
50:1-51:64} [E88]
818. Zedekiah, in the fourth year of his reign, sent Seraiah, the son of
Neriah, who was the son of Maaseiah, to Babylon. It was to him that Jeremiah
had delivered the prophecies of the destruction of Babylon, which were written
in a scroll. [L127] He read the scroll to the people and threw it into the
Euphrates River. {Jer 51:59-64} His brother Baruch, also the son of Neriah, the
son of Maaseiah, {Jer 32:12 51:59} {Apc Bar 1:1} and who was Jeremiah's scribe,
is thought to have gone to Babylon with Seraiah.
3409d AM, 4119 JP, 595 BC
819. Baruch is said to have read all the words of his own scroll to Jeconiah,
the son of Jehoiakim, and to all the captives that were dwelling with him at
that time in Babylon. This was in the fifth year (that is after Jeconiah was
carried away to Babylon) in the seventh month, at the time when the Chaldeans
took Jerusalem and set it on fire. {Apc Bar 1:2-4} Some think that this was the
same month in which Jeconiah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, and
Jerusalem was taken and perhaps partially set on fire by the Chaldeans. I
cannot agree with Sulpicius Severus, who, perhaps taking it from that text in
the Apocrypha, stated that at this very time: {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred
History, l. 1. c. 53. 11:96}
"Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem with his army and laid both city and walls,
temple and all, level with the ground."
820. Yet the guess of Franc. Junius concerning the quenching of the fire, and
the taking of the city, was somewhat more plausible than that of our seminary
priests of Downay, when they said that the whole time of the taking of Jerusalem
lasted eleven years before it was wholly burned.
821. This refers to the time from when it was taken under Jeconiah until the
time it was taken under Zedekiah. This scroll was written in the fifth year of
that interval of time. Hugo Grotius thought that the original author meant here
that the fifth year was after the deportation of Jeconiah. The phrase the rest
of the burning of Jerusalem, was added later by someone else who was of the
opinion that Baruch never went to Babylon until after the burning of Jerusalem,
which happened in the reign of Zedekiah.
822. Ezekiel had his first vision from God in the beginning of the thirtieth
year from the restoration of the worship of God in the eighteenth year of
Josiah's reign, or the fifth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, on
the fifth day of the fourth month (on Saturday, July 24). He was among the rest
of the company that were carried away to Babylon on the Chebar or Chaborra
River, according to Strabo and Ptolemy. {Eze 1:1-28} From here he was sent to
be a prophet among the Jews of the captivity. When he came to those who lived
at Telabib near the Chebar River, he sat down in a state of distress for seven
days. After this, God reminded him of his call, with promises if he obeyed and
with threats if he refused. He confirmed him with a new sign and gave him
courage and boldness through his word. {Eze 2:1-3:27}
823. The prophet was commanded to make a drawing of the siege of Jerusalem, and
to lie on his side for a very long time, for three hundred and ninety days.
This was to symbolise how many days the siege of the city of Jerusalem would
last and the number of years of the iniquity of the house of Israel from the
time of Jeroboam. {Eze 4:1-17} {See note on 3030a AM. <<481>>}
3410b AM, 4120 JP, 594 BC
824. Shortly after Psammis, king of Egypt, returned from a journey he had made
into Ethiopia, he died. His son Apries succeeded him, and reigned for
twenty-five years. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 161. 1:475} The Bible calls him
Pharaohhophra. {Jer 44:30} With a well-equipped army he made an incursion into
the isle of Cyprus and upon Phoenicia. He took Sidon by force, and the rest of
that country by the very dread and terror which his name evoked. After a major
victory at sea over both the Cypriots and Phoenicians, he returned to Egypt with
much spoil taken from them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 68. s. 1. 1:237}
[L128] It is reported of him that he said that no god was able to put him out of
his kingdom, because he believed he had made his kingdom very secure.
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 169. 1:483} In Ezekiel (as Tremellius has noted), it
is most elegantly expressed in that allegorical personification:
"The river is mine own, for I have made it for myself." {Eze 29:3}
3410c AM, 4120 JP, 594 BC
825. When Ezekiel had lain on his left side for the three hundred and fifty
days, he turned onto his right side and lay there for a further forty days.
(Eze 4:9 seems to imply that the period of forty days overlapped the three
hundred and ninety days so Ezekiel lay on his side for a total of three hundred
and ninety days not four hundred and thirty days. However, Eze 4:5,6 seems to
imply two separate periods are in view. Editor.) The former symbolised the
three hundred and ninety years of Israel's iniquity and the latter the forty of
years of Judah's iniquity, each day representing one year. {Eze 4:5,6} See also
{Eze 5:1-7:27}
3410d AM, 4120 JP, 594 BC
826. On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of Jeremiah's
captivity (which was Wednesday, September 22), God carried Ezekiel away by the
Spirit to Jerusalem. There, in a vision, he showed him the infinite idolatry
that was being practised there, and the plagues which were to befall the city
for this, as well as a vision of the Spirit leaving the city. {Eze 8:1
9:1-11:25}
827. According to Ezekiel's prediction, Pelatia, the son of Benaiah, died. God
comforted the godly during their captivity in Babylon by the sanctification of
his presence, and with his evangelical promises for the time to come. When the
vision was over, the prophet was brought back by the Spirit to his people in
Chaldea and there declared to them all that God had shown him. {Eze 11:13-25}
[E89]
3411a AM, 4120 JP, 594 BC
828. God, by signs and verbally, predicted Zedekiah's flight by night, the
putting out of his eyes, his going into captivity and his dying in Babylon. He
also foretold the captivity of the Jews and the calamities which they were to
endure before this captivity. {Eze 12:1-28} In this same year, the next seven
chapters of Ezekiel were written. From his writings we understand that Daniel's
name was at that time very famous for his continual prayers on behalf of the
people of the captivity. {Eze 14:14,20} Zedekiah had no regard for the covenant
he had made and the oath which he had sworn, and rebelled against
Nebuchadnezzar. {Eze 17:15,17}
3411d AM, 4121 JP, 593 BC
829. In the seventh year of Jeconiah's captivity, on the tenth day of the fifth
month (Sunday, August 27), Ezekiel reproved the elders for their gross hypocrisy
in coming to ask counsel of God. He prophesied regarding the calamity that was
to befall all the nations. He pronounced God's judgment on the idolaters and
his comfort to the godly. {Eze 20:1-23:49}
3413 AM, 4123 JP, 591 BC
830. After Battus had founded the kingdom of Cyrene, he was succeeded by his
son Arcesilaus, who reigned for sixteen years. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 159.
2:363}
3414a AM, 4123 JP, 591 BC
831. This was a sabbatical year, in which the men of Jerusalem set their
servants at liberty, according to the law. {Ex 21:2 De 15:1,2,12 Jer 34:8-10}
The men of Jerusalem also heard that Nebuchadnezzar was approaching with his
army. Nebuchadnezzar marched against Zedekiah and ravaged all the country. He
took their strongholds and came right up to the walls of Jerusalem. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 10. c. 7. s. 3. (109) 6:217} With his entire forces he had
already successfully besieged and taken all the cities of Judah except for
Lachish, Azekah and Jerusalem. {Jer 34:1,7}
3414b AM, 4124 JP, 590 BC
832. The siege of Jerusalem did not begin until the middle of winter. In the
ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, on the tenth day (Thursday, January 30),
Nebuchad-nezzar came up to Jerusalem with all his army, and built citadels all
around the city. {2Ki 25:1 Jer 39:1 52:4} In memory of this event, a yearly
fast is kept among the Jews which began at the time of the captivity, and
continues to this day. {Zec 8:19} [L129]
833. On the very day of the siege of Jerusalem, God revealed its complete
destruction to Ezekiel, who was in Chaldea. This was represented to him in
symbolic form by a seething pot. His wife died that day in the evening, but he
was told not to mourn her death. In this way he was to signify the grievous
calamity that would befall the Jews, which would surpass all expressions of
grief by mourning. {Eze 24:1-27}
3414d AM, 4124 JP, 590 BC
834. God told the prophet Jeremiah to tell Zedekiah of the complete destruction
and burning of Jerusalem at the hands of the king of Babylon. Zedekiah himself
was to be carried away prisoner to Babylon, but he would die in peace and have
an honourable burial. {Jer 34:1-7}
835. For this prophecy, Zedekiah imprisoned Jeremiah in the king's prison
house. This happened in the tenth year of Zedekiah and the beginning of the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah recovered the land of Hanameel by
right of redemption. {Jer 32:1-16} Then everything came to pass which Jeremiah
had foretold and which is contained in his book. {Jer 32:1-33:26}
836. Pharaohhophra, also called Vaphris, came with his army from Egypt to help
Zedekiah. The Chaldeans then raised the siege of Jerusalem. Jeremiah had been
allowed to go free during the siege and was not thrown into the dungeon until
later. Zedekiah sent messengers to Jeremiah to ask him to make intercession to
God for the deliverance of the people. Jeremiah told him that the Egyptians
would return to their own land, and the Chaldeans would come back to Jerusalem
and destroy the city by fire. {Jer 37:3-10}
837. When the siege was raised, the people took back the Hebrew servants whom
they had previously set free, because they no longer feared the enemy. They
forced them back into their service, which was contrary to the law and covenant.
Jeremiah reproved them for this barbarous act, telling them that if they
released their servants, they would escape the sword, famine and pestilence of
the returning Chaldeans. He told them the Chaldeans would be returning to make
war again, and would take their city and burn it to the ground. {Jer 34:11-22}
838. While the Chaldeans withdrew to fight the Egyptian army, Jeremiah planned
to escape, but was stopped at the gate by the princes. He was taken and
scourged, and cast into the dungeon in the house of Jonathan the scribe, where
he was left for a long time. {Jer 37:11-16} At this time, when Nebuchadnezzar
was pursuing the Egyptians, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he took eight
hundred and thirty-two prisoners from Jerusalem and sent them all back to
Babylon as a safeguard. {Jer 52:29}
839. Pittacus of Mitylene was one of the Seven Wise Men of ancient Greece. He
was sent with a navy against Phrynon, who was surnamed the Pancratiast, which
means a man excellent in all feats of chivalry. Phrynon was an Olympian, who
won the bell in the games at Olympus. At that time, Phrynon was serving as the
general of the Athenian army, and he had taken two towns, Sigeum and Achillium,
from the Lesbians. In the ensuing battle with Pittacus, the Athenians were
victorious. They took the shield of Alcaeus, since the poet of Mitylene had
thrown it away in his efforts to escape. [E90] They hung it up in the temple of
Athena in Sigeum. After this, Phrynon challenged any man that dared, to
encounter him in single combat. Pittacus accepted the challenge and with a
little net which he hid under the hollow of his shield, he caught him by the
head and killed him with his three-forked spear. The Mitylenians offered him a
large portion of land for killing Phrynon. He only accepted as much land as he
could throw his spear across. On this land he built a temple and called it
Pittacium. [L130] This story seems to be garbled and is less than correct in
Herodotus. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 95. 3:117} However, the defects in his
account are compensated for by taking the account of Plutarch together with
Strabo. {*Plutarch, Malice of Herodotus, l. 1. c. 15. 11:29} {*Strabo, l.
13. c. 1. s. 38. 6:77} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 1.} Festus stated that
the word Retiarius meant a fighter with a net. Diogenes Laertius stated that
the Mitylenians twenty years before his death, voluntarily made him their
sovereign in return for that service. {*Diogenes Laertius, Pittacus, l. 1. c.
4. (75) 1:81} He said that this took place in the third year of the 52nd
Olympiad. {*Diogenes Laertius, Pittacus, l. 1. c. 4. (79) 1:81} In
carefully calculating it, I chose to place it in the third year of the
forty-seventh, though Eusebius placed it in the second year of the 43rd
Olympiad. This seemed to agree more closely, because in the Catalogue of the
Victorious Runners who won prizes, Phrynon is said to have won the bell in the
36th Olympiad. The war did not end with this duel, but their quarrel was
referred by both parties to Periander of Corinth, who was considered to be
another of the Seven Wise Men of the world. As an impartial arbitrator, he
ordered that each party should hold on to what they had in their possession.
The Mitylenians were to keep the town of Achillium and the Athenians, Sigeum.
{*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 94,95. 3:115,117} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 38.
6:77} Sosicates' account states that Periander died six years after this and
just before the 49th Olympiad. {*Diogenes Laertius, Periander, l. 1. c. 1.
(95) 1:99} This reveals Herodotus' error in his chronology, in which he claimed
this peace between the Athenians and Mitylenians to have been made toward the
latter end of the life of Peisistratus or his successors in the Athenian
government.
3415b AM, 4125 JP, 589 BC
840. In the tenth year of the captivity of Jeconiah and on the twelfth day of
the tenth month (on Sunday, February 1), Ezekiel prophesied against Pharaoh and
all Egypt. Ezekiel foretold that Pharaoh would prove to be only a staff or reed
to the house of Israel. Pharaoh's attempts to relieve Israel would all be in
vain. He predicted that Pharaoh himself would be defeated in the desert of
Libya by the Cyrenians. {See note on 3430c AM. <<875>>} Egypt was to
be
miserably wasted by the Babylonians, and the Egyptian desolation would last for
forty years. {Eze 29:1-16}
3415c AM, 4125 JP, 589 BC
841. When Nebuchadnezzar had routed the Egyptian army, he promptly returned to
the siege of Jerusalem about the fifteenth day of the third month, three hundred
and ninety days before he took Jerusalem. This is a similitude to the total
length in years of the kingdom of Judah. {Eze 4:5,8} Jeremiah told Zedekiah
that he would be given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah then
commanded him to be transferred from the dungeon of the prison in Jonathan's
house to the court of the prison. He was to be given a roll of bread each day
as long as there was any bread left in the city. {Jer 37:17-21}
3415d AM, 4125 JP, 589 BC
842. As the siege continued, Zedekiah again inquired of Jeremiah, but he still
sent him the same answer: both the king and people must fall into
Nebuchadnezzar's hands. He said if any stayed in the city they would perish by
the sword, or from famine or pestilence. However, any who would go out and
submit to the king of Babylon would have their lives spared. {Jer 21:1-14}
843. The princes cast Jeremiah into Malchiah's dungeon, which was in the court
of the prison, for answering the king in this way. He was delivered with the
help of Ebedmelech, one of the king's eunuchs, and was again consulted by the
king. When he still persisted in pronouncing judgment against the land of
Judah, he was kept in the court of the prison until the city was taken. {Jer
38:1-28} He assured Ebedmelech, in the name of the Lord, that he would be kept
free from all harm and danger during that calamity. {Jer 39:15-18}
3416c AM, 4126 JP, 588 BC
844. Tyre rejoiced to see the wretched treatment Jerusalem experienced at
Nebuchadnezzar's hand. However, in the eleventh year of Jeconiah's captivity,
on the first day of the first month, Ezekiel prophesied that Tyre would also
perish in like manner at the same hand, and that all who had known of her former
wealth and bravery would be amazed. [L131] Tremellius and Pradus placed this
prophecy in the fifth month. This would put it in the twelfth year of
Jeconiah's captivity in Babylon. Ezekiel also foretold the same misery for the
Sidonians, Tyre's neighbours. {Eze 26:1-28:26} At that time the fame of
Daniel's wisdom was so great, even in foreign nations, that they spoke
proverbially of people being as wise as Daniel. God upbraided Ithobolus, king
of Tyre, for his pride and arrogance in his mind: [E91]
"behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; no secret can be hid from thee." {Eze 28:3}
845. In the same year, on the seventh day of the first month (Tuesday, April
26), God revealed to Ezekiel his intention of sending Nebuchadnezzar and his
army against Pharaoh, to the ruin of Egypt. {Eze 30:20-26}
846. In the same year, on the first day of the third month (Sunday, June 19),
God declared that the Egyptians could no more avoid this judicial sentence than
the Assyrians could. {Eze 31:1-18}
3416d AM, 4126 JP, 588 BC
847. Near the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, {Jer 1:3} on the ninth day
of the fourth month (Wednesday, July 27), the famine became quite severe in
Jerusalem. The city wall was broken through and the Chaldeans entered. {2Ki
25:2-4 Jer 39:2,3 52:5-7}
848. When the city was taken, Zedekiah and all the men of war fled by night.
849. The Chaldeans pursued them and took Zedekiah, bringing him as a prisoner
to Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar was. He saw his children slaughtered, and then
he had his eyes put out. He was chained with bronze shackles and taken away
from there to Babylon. {2Ki 25:4-7 Jer 39:4-7 52:7-11} The prophecies were
fulfilled which said that he would see the king of Babylon, {Jer 32:4 34:3} but
he would not see Babylon, although he would die there. {Eze 12:13}
850. On the seventh day of the fifth month (Wednesday, August 24), Nebuzaradan,
captain of the guard, was ordered by Nebuchadnezzar to enter the city. {2Ki
25:8} He spent two days preparing provisions. On the tenth day of that month
(Saturday, August 27), he carried out his orders. He set fire to the temple and
to the king's palace. He also burned all the noblemen's houses to the ground,
with all the rest of the houses in Jerusalem. {Jer 52:13 39:8} Our countryman
Tho. Lydiate thought that the fire was started on the seventh day but not fully
burned down until the tenth. In remembrance of this calamity, the fast of the
fifth month was ordained to be kept. {Zec 7:3,5 8:19} This fast is observed by
the Jews to this day. However, it is kept by them on the ninth day, and not the
tenth, of the month of Ab. The temple was destroyed toward the end of the
nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. {Jer 52:12 2Ki 25:9} This was in the
beginning of the first year of the 48th Olympiad, in the one hundred and
sixtieth year of Nabonassar's account and four hundred and twenty-four years,
three months and eight days from the time that Solomon laid the first stone for
the temple.
851. In the same fifth month, {Jer 1:3} all the walls of Jerusalem were
levelled to the ground. Nebuchadnezzar carried back to Babylon all the
remaining people in the city, all those who had formerly defected to him, all
the common people of the city, all the treasure of the king and of his nobles,
and the furnishings of the temple. {Jer 39:8,9 52:14-23 2Ki 25:10-17 2Ch
36:18-20} [L132] Hence, the people of Judah were carried away out of their own
land, four hundred and sixty-eight years after David began to reign over it.
{Jer 52:27 2Ki 25:21} These events have been recorded as happening three hundred
and eighty-eight years after the separation of the ten tribes from the tribe of
Judah, and one hundred and thirty-four years after the destruction of the
kingdom of Israel.
The Sixth Age of the World
The Babylonian Empire
3416d AM, 4126 JP, 588 BC
852. Nebuzaradan left the simplest of the people in the land of Judah to dress
the vineyards and to till the ground. The king appointed Gedaliah, the son of
Ahikam, a man of the same country, as governor, but without any kingly title.
{Jer 39:10 40:5,7 42:16 2Ki 25:11,22,23} The reason for this is, as Sulpicius
Severus noted: {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 1. c. 53. 11:96}
"To have some preeminence over a few miserable persons was not reckoned to be
any dignity at all."
853. Nebuchadnezzar was at Riblah when Nebuzaradan brought him Seraiah, the
chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, as well as the three keepers of
the gate of the temple and other principal men. There they were put to death.
{Jer 52:24-27 2Ki 25:18-21} Jehozadak, the son of Seraiah and his successor as
high priest, was carried away captive to Babylon. {1Ch 6:15}
854. Jeremiah was bound with chains and was carried off with the rest as far as
Ramah on the way to Babylon. There his irons were removed and he was set free.
He was given his choice of either going to Babylon and being honourably treated
there, or staying in the country with the miserable wretches who had been left
behind. He decided to stay, and was sent back with money in his purse to
Gedaliah, the governor, at Mizpah in the tribe of Benjamin. {Jer 39:11-14
40:1-6} [E92]
855. The captains and companies who had fled by night when the city was first
taken, were scattered all over the country. {2Ki 25:4 Jer 52:7} After a while,
they and all the Jews who had fled to the Moabites and Ammonites and other
nearby nations, returned to live under Gedalia in their own country. They were
given a good provision of wine and oil and other summer fruits to live on. {Jer
40:7-12 2Ki 25:23,24}
856. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, of the family of the kings of Judah, was
bribed by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, to kill Gedaliah. He came to him at
Mizpah with ten resolute fellows. They were graciously entertained by Gedaliah,
who gave no credence to those who told him of Ishmael's treachery, and who died
as a result. {Jer 40:13-16}
3417a AM, 4126 JP, 588 BC
857. In the seventh month, Ishmael, with his ten companions, murdered Gedaliah
as well as any Jews, Chaldeans and soldiers they found in Mizpah. {Jer 41:1-3
2Ki 25:25} In remembrance of this, the Jews keep a fast to this day, on the
third day of this month of Tishri. A day or two later, this same Ishmael killed
some more men who were clad in mourning apparel, bringing offerings and
frankincense from Sichem, Shiloh and Samaria to the house of the Lord that now
lay in ruins. These had been tricked by him into going to Mizpah, where they
were murdered in the open streets. Their bodies were cast into the pit made by
King Asa. {Jer 41:4-9}
858. Ishmael returned to the king of Ammon, having taken the king of Judah's
daughters and the rest of the people who were left at Mizpah as his prisoners.
[L133] Johanan, the son of Kareah, met him with army officers and took away all
his prisoners, setting them free. Ishmael, with only eight men in his company,
fled to the Ammonites. {Jer 41:10-15}
859. Johanan and all his captains, with the rest of the people they had freed,
remained near Bethlehem. For fear of the Chaldeans, they intended to flee into
Egypt. {Jer 41:16-18} Many of them went to Jeremiah and asked him for an answer
from God about this plan. After ten days, he told them God's message. He
exhorted them not to leave their country. He assured them that if they stayed,
God would protect them there and no harm would come to them from the
Babylonians. If, however, they went into Egypt, every one of them would perish
by sword, by famine or by other kinds of death. The majority went into Egypt
according to their old custom of never obeying good counsel, or God's commands.
They took Jeremiah and Baruch, the son of Neriah, with them to Tahpanhes.
There, Jeremiah declared to them by means of symbolism, the destruction of Egypt
by Nebuchadnezzar. {Jer 42:1-43:13} {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2.
c. 4. 11:98}
3417b AM, 4127 JP, 587 BC
860. In the twelfth year of Jeconiah's captivity, on the fifth day of the tenth
month (Wednesday, January 25), when news of the taking of Jerusalem reached
Ezekiel, the prophet foretold of the utter destruction of the remaining
Israelites. This was after the others had fled to Egypt. {Eze 33:21-29}
861. In the same twelfth year, in the first day of the twelfth month
(Wednesday, March 22). Ezekiel prophesied of the grievous plague and affliction
which Nebuchadnezzar would bring on the land of Egypt. {Eze 32:1-16}
862. On the fifteenth day, the same prophet predicted of Pharaoh and all the
people of Egypt that they would be brought down to destruction, along with the
rest of the uncircumcised nations. {Eze 32:17-32}
863. Jeremiah prophesied of the destruction which would follow the Israelites
at Migdol not far from the Red Sea, {Ex 14:2} at Tahpanhes (or Daphne-Pelusium),
at Noph, at Memphis and in Pathros, a country in Egypt. As a certain sign of
their own impending misery, he gave them the sign of Pharaoh, or Apries, king of
Egypt, whom they would see brought low before their eyes. {Jer 44:1-30}
864. Obadiah the prophet uttered a prophecy against Edom, which shamefully
gloated over the calamity of the Jews when Jerusalem was destroyed. Jeremiah
and the authors of the Psalms, who wrote about the same time, also made a
similar prophecy. {Jer 49:7 Eze 25:12 Ps 79:1-13 137:1-9}
3418 AM, 4128 JP, 586 BC
865. When Cyrus had lived twelve years or more with his father in Persia, his
grandfather Astyages sent for him. He and his mother Mandane went to him in
Media. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 3. s. 1. 5:27}
3419 AM, 4129 JP, 585 BC
866. When Ithobal was reigning in Tyre, it was besieged for thirteen years by
Nebuchadnezzar. Josephus reported this from Philostratus and others who
recorded the affairs of Phoenicia. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 10. c. 11. s. 1.
(228) 6:285} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 21. (156) 1:225} It seems that
during these thirteen years the neighbouring countries of the Moabites, the
Ammonites and Edomites were also subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, in accordance with
the predictions of the prophets. {Jer 27:1-22 48:1-49:39 Eze 25:1-17} [E93]
3420 AM, 4130 JP, 584 BC
867. In the twenty-third year of his reign, while Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre,
which borders the land of Israel, {Jos 19:29} [L134] Nebuzaradan, captain of his
guard, took away together seven hundred and forty-five remaining Jews and
Israelites into Babylon. {Jer 52:30} This extreme depopulation was foretold by
Ezekiel when he referred to the iniquity of Israel lasting three hundred and
ninety years, which was distinct from Judah's iniquity, lasting forty years
until its end. {Eze 4:5,6} {See note on 3380d AM. <<743>>}
3421 AM, 4131 JP, 583 BC
868. Cyrus was now almost sixteen years of age. Evilmerodach, the king of
Assyria's son, was about to marry a wife called Nitocris. He went with a large
army of cavalry and foot soldiers to the borders of Media. There he did as he
pleased while hunting in the country. Astyages, with his grandson Cyrus and
with Cyaxares, marched out and engaged him in a battle with the cavalry. Cyrus
was just old enough to bear arms. They defeated the Assyrians and drove them
from their borders of Media. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 4. s. 18-23.
5:61-69}
869. After this, Cyrus was called home by his father Cambyses. He had one year
left of schooling. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 4. s. 25. 5:69}
{*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 5. s. 1. 5:75} It is also mentioned in
Athenaeus, based on Dinon's account, that Cyrus, who served Astyages as the
holder of his battle-axe and later as one of his armour bearers, returned into
Persia. It was at this time, while Astyages feasted his friends, that Angares,
who was a musician, sang a song in which he said: {*Athenaeus, l. 14. (633e)
6:419}
"A fierce wild beast, more fierce than any boar, was let go, and sent into a
sunny country and he should reign over all these provinces and should, with a
handful of men, maintain war against large armies...."
870. Astyages tried to call Cyrus back again, but could not get him.
3422 AM, 4132 JP, 582 BC
871. Cyrus spent seventeen years among boys, and then he spent ten more years
among the youths. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 5. s. 4. 5:79}
3424 AM, 4134 JP, 580 BC
872. In the 50th Olympiad, Epitelides, the Lacedemonian, won the race in
running. Certain men from Cnidos and Rhodes hoped to avoid the hostility of the
kings of Asia by agreeing to make a colony elsewhere. They chose Pentathlus as
their leader. He was a Cnidian, who was of the family of Hippotas, the son of
Hercules. They sailed to Sicily when Egesta and Selinus were at war with each
other. Pentathlus was killed while fighting for the side of Selinus. The rest
planned to return home and made Gorgus, Thestor and Epethersides their captains.
These men were all relatives of Pentathlus. They set sail from there and were
persuaded to settle in the isle of Lipara. {*Diod. Sic., l. 5. c. 9.
3:121}
3429 AM, 4139 JP, 575 BC
873. Arcesilaus reigned sixteen years in Cyrene and was succeeded by his son
Battus who was surnamed The Fortunate. A large number of Greeks were advised by
the oracle at Delphi to go to Battus in Cyrene. They ravaged the lands of the
bordering Libyans and divided it among themselves. Before this, the colony in
Cyrene had for fifty-six years consisted only of those who had come from the
isle of Thera, whose founder had also been called Battus. {*Herodotus, l. 4.
c. 159. 2:363}
3429c AM, 4139 JP, 575 BC
874. On the tenth day of the first month (as Jonathan stated in the Chaldee
Paraphrase) of the twenty-fifth year of the captivity of Jeconiah (Monday, April
30), and in the fourteenth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel had
a vision. In this vision the temple, the city and the kingdom of the Israelites
were restored. This also foreshadowed the restoration of the church by Christ
with its greatness, honour and excellence. {Eze 40:1-48:35} (Ussher incorrectly
listed this in the following year, as one can tell from the year of the
captivity of Jeconiah. {See note on 3431c AM. <<877>>} Editor.)
3430c AM, 4140 JP, 574 BC
875. The Libyans, who were driven out from their lands and country by the
inhabitants of Cyrene, put themselves under the protection of Apries, king of
Egypt. He gathered a large army together and sent it against the Cyrenians, who
were camped at a place called Irasa near the fountain called Thestes. These
routed the army of the Egyptians so that only a few of them were left to return
into Egypt. [L135] The Egyptians grew angry with Apries and revolted from him.
They thought that he had deliberately sent them on a suicide mission to be rid
of them. They reasoned that he did this so that he might more easily dominate
the rest who were left. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 159. 2:365} {*Herodotus, l.
2. c. 161. 1:475} {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 68. s. 2. 1:237}
3431b AM, 4141 JP, 573 BC
876. Amasis, also called Sais (who was frequently spoken of by Plato {Plato,
Timaeus}), was sent by his father to stop this rebellion of the people.
However, they made him king instead of his father. Apries sent Paterbames, a
person of nobility, to call Amasis back. When Paterbames returned, they cut off
his nose and ears because he did not bring Amasis back with him. After this
unworthy act took place, all the people defected from him to Amasis.
{*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 162. 1:477}
3431c AM, 4141 JP, 573 BC
877. On the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of the
captivity of Jeconiah (Tuesday, April 21,) God promised to give all Egypt to
Nebuchadnezzar as spoil, to reward his long labour in defeating Tyre. {Eze
29:17-20} (Ussher incorrectly placed this item in the following year, as one can
determine from the day, Tuesday, on the date of April 21. If it were the
following year, the day would be Wednesday. Also, the year given for the
captivity of Jeconiah indicates this year, not the next one. Editor.)
3432b AM, 4142 JP, 572 BC
878. Finally, Tyre surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. It was now taken by force
and was ransacked by the soldiers. {Eze 29:18,19} Nebuchadnezzar replaced King
Ithobal with Baal, a man of the same country, to be a petty king there, who
governed them for ten years, as Josephus affirmed from the annals of the
Phoenicians. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 21. (157) 1:225} [E94]
3432c AM, 4142 JP, 572 BC
879. When Cyrus was twenty-seven years old, he was taken from the rank of
striplings and was numbered among the men, according to the discipline and
custom of the Persians. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 5. s. 4. 5:79}
880. Taking advantage of the rebellion in Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt
with his army after he was solicited by Amasis to help him against his father
Apries.
3433 AM, 4143 JP, 571 BC
881. After Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt from Syene to the very ends of the
land, he made havock of the Egyptians and of the Jews who lived there. Some he
killed and the rest he led away into captivity, in accordance with Jeremiah's
prophecies. {Jer 43:1-44:30 46:1-28 Eze 29:1-31:18} Pharaohhophra, or Apries,
was forced to retreat into the country of Thebes. It seems that Nebuchadnezzar
made Amasis his viceroy over all Egypt. Though Herodotus did not know of this,
Scaliger observed in his notes, Ad Fragmenta:
"The priests of Egypt told Herodotus of such things as he desired to know. They
spoke only of things that glorified their country, but concealed the rest. This
showed their cowardice and slavery, by concealing the payment of tribute they
made to the Chaldeans."
3434 AM, 4144 JP, 570 BC
882. When Nebuchadnezzar finished his conquests, he returned to Babylon. While
at ease in his own palace, he had that remarkable dream of the large tree whose
destiny it was to be cut down. This tree represented him. The meaning of the
dream was explained by Daniel, when he could not learn it from any of his wise
men of Chaldea. {Da 4:1-37}
883. Nebuchadnezzar now built up Babylon in wonderful magnificence and beauty.
He built a whole new city outside the old one, and enclosed all of it with a
triple wall made of brick. As a favour to his Median wife called Amyitis, King
Astyages' daughter, {See note on 3378 AM. <<740>>} he made that famous
and so
much renowned garden borne on pillars, of which Berosus wrote:
"He built that garden, called the Hanging Gardens, because his wife desired the
pleasure of the hills, since she was brought up in Media."
884. Curtius said: {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 35. 1:339}
"It is said that a king of Syria, reigning in Babylon, built this great work at
the importunity of his wife, whom he dearly loved. [L136] She desired to enjoy
the pleasure of hills and woods in that low country of Babylon, and set her
husband to the task of imitating the genius or spirit of nature itself, by the
amenity and pleasantness of this work."
885. Those who want to know more of the infinite magnificence and sumptuousness
of this work should read the fragments which are left from Berosus and Abydenus.
The former blamed the Greek writers who attributed this work to Semiramis where
indeed this and those other vast and magnificent structures were the works of
this Nebuchadnezzar. So stated Josephus. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 20.
(142) 1:219} Josephus said plainly that those vast walls with their brazen gates
were reckoned among the wonders of the world and remained to the times of
Alexander the Great. Eusebius also attributed this work to Nebuchadnezzar.
{*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 9. c. 41. (457c) 1:485} Cleitarchus and others, who
accompanied Alexander on that journey, stated that the circumference of that
wall was three hundred and sixty-five stadia (about forty-six miles), according
to the number of the days of the year. {*Diod. Sic., l. 2. c. 7. s. 3.
1:373} They also stated that every stadia's length (about 200 yards) of it was
built and completed in one day. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 26. 1:335}
886. Twelve whole months had no sooner elapsed, than Nebuchadnezzar grew proud
and boastful of the magnificence of his buildings, lost his mind and was put out
of his palace. He spent seven years in the woods and fields among the beasts.
{Da 4:32,33}
887. Apries gathered an army of thirty thousand mercenaries from Ionia and
Caria to help him fight against his son Amasis at Memphis, but the army was
routed and he was taken prisoner. He was kept for a while in the city of Sais.
Not long after this he was strangled, as had been prophesied by Jeremiah. {Jer
44:30} {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 163,169. 1:479,483} {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c.
68. 1:235,237}
888. After his death, Amasis reigned for forty-four years, paying tribute all
that time to the king of Babylon. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 10. 2:13} The
priests did not make that known to Herodotus.
3442a AM, 4151 JP, 563 BC
889. The Eighteenth Jubilee.
890. At the end of seven years, Nebuchadnezzar humbly acknowledged the power of
God. He was restored both to his right mind and his kingdom. He publicly
proclaimed God's great grace and mercy shown toward him, and God's power over
all nations. {Da 4:34-37}
3442b AM, 4152 JP, 562 BC
891. Nebuchadnezzar died after he had foretold that Cyrus would capture
Babylon. So stated Abydenus (cited by Eusebius {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 9. c.
39. (457a) 1:485}), based on the account from the Chaldeans. [E95] He died
after he had reigned about twenty months as viceroy in the kingdom with his
father, and forty-three years by himself.
892. After Nebuchadnezzar, his son Evilmerodach, or Illaoroudamos, reigned. In
the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, about the
twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month (Tuesday, April 15), Evilmerodach ordered
Jeconiah to be promoted. {Jer 52:31} Two days later he took him from prison,
changed his prison clothes and seated him ahead of all the princes in his court.
He counted him among the king's friends and for the rest of his life, Jeconiah
ate at the king's table. {2Ki 25:27-29}
893. In Lydia, after the death of Alyattes, his son Croesus reigned for
fourteen years. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 86. 1:109}
894. After King Baal, the king of Babylon used judges to govern Tyre. The
first one was Ecnibal, the son of Baslac, whom Scaliger called xlem Nb leb-ynke.
He ruled three months. Next came Chelbes, the son of Abdeus, whom Scaliger also
called ydba Nb vblx. He ruled there for ten months, according to Josephus, who
obtained this from the Phoenician Annals. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 21.
(156) 1:225} [L137]
3443 AM, 4153 JP, 561 BC
895. Abhar, the high priest, judged Tyre for three months. After him, Mitgonus
and Gerastratus governed Tyre for six years. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 21.
(157) 1:225}
896. When Croesus was living at Sardis, all the wise and learned men of Greece
came to him, including Solon, the law maker. Solon had that famous discussion
with Croesus about the uncertainty of man's life and of all human happiness in
it. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 28-33.1:33-41} According to Laertius, there exists
a short letter of Solon's, written to Croesus when Solon was near the end of his
life. In it he said that he visited Croesus at the time when Peisistratus
governed Athens. {*Diogenes Laertius, Solon, l. 1. c. 2. (67) 1:69} At the
same time Aesop, a Phrygian who composed those famous fables, was sent for by
Croesus to come to him at Sardis. Croesus held Aesop in great esteem. Croesus
was upset with Solon and dismissed Solon in an uncivil manner, because Solon
spoke quite candidly to him. He sent Solon a letter, stating that kings must
have either very few or very pleasing words spoken to them. Solon wrote back
that kings must have either very few or very honest things spoken to them.
{*Plutarch, Solon, l. 1. c. 28. 1:483,485}
897. Aesop went from Sardis to Delphi and was most unjustly sentenced to die
for no valid reason. He was thrown off the rock called Phoedrias, near Delphi,
in about the 54th Olympiad, according to Suidas. That is near the end of the
fourth year of that Olympiad, if the times were correctly calculated. The
revenge for this murder was often threatened by the oracle there. It was later
executed by Jadmon, grandson to that Jadmon of the isle of Samos. Aesop had
been his slave for some time along with Rhodopis of Thrace, that famous
strumpet. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 134. 1:437}
898. After Solon left Croesus, he went into Cilicia and there built a city
called Solos, named after himself. He settled a number of Athenians there. In
the course of time, they corrupted the native language and were said to commit
solecisms in their speech. {*Diogenes Laertius, Solon, l. 1. c. 2. (51)
1:53} This place, and what is said of it, is more properly connected with the
Solians in Cyprus than with the Solenses in Cilicia. This was shown by Solon,
in his eulogies written to King Philocyprus, as recorded by Plutarch. Here,
Plutarch also stated that this petty king of Cyprus employed Solon's wit and
counsel in some of his own affairs. He moved a little town, formerly called
Aipeia, to lower ground which was more fit and useful for habitation, and called
it Solos, in honour of Solon. {*Plutarch, Solon, l. 1. c. 26. s. 4.
1:479}
899. After Solon departed, Croesus, who deemed himself the happiest man alive,
found out through sad experience that everything Solon had told him about the
uncertainty of man's life and his happiness in it, was true, for shortly
thereafter he had a dream in which he saw his son Atys thrust through with a
spear. This was a portent of the violent death which was soon to happen to him.
Croesus sought diligently to prevent this, and was prepared to marry him off.
Adrastus of Phrygia, a member of the king's family there, had accidently killed
his own brother. He was banished against his will by his father Midas, the son
of Gordias (not that old Midas, the son of Gordias king of Phrygia, whose
epitaph was written by Homer and set upon his tomb, as Herodotus recounted in
his account of the life of Homer). He came to Sardis, and Croesus pardoned him
for this accidental death. When Croesus had done this, he committed to him the
care and safe-keeping of his son Atys. At that time, the Mysians requested that
Adrastus come and help kill a large boar which was destroying the grain and
other crops growing around Mount Olympus. It had over time also killed many of
the farmers. When Adrastus aimed at the boar with the point of his spear, he
accidently gored Atys and killed him. After Croesus had pardoned him for this,
Adrastus killed himself on the tomb of Atys. When Croesus lost his son, he
spent two whole years mourning for him. [L138] He broke off his mourning for
fear of Cyrus' growing power, by whom he was also later conquered. {*Herodotus,
l. 1. c. 34-46.'1:41-51} {*Diod. Sic., l. 9. c. 29. s. 1,2. 4:39}
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 1. c. 7. ext. 4. 1:93,95} [E96]
3444c AM, 4154 JP, 560 BC
900. Evilmerodach, the king of Babylon, was a wicked man. He had many attempts
made on his life and was eventually murdered by Neriglissoros, his sister's
husband, when he had reigned little more than two years. {Berosus, Chaldean
History, l. 3.} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 20. (147) 1:223} Because we
read that Jeconiah, king of Judah, had a daily food allowance given to him until
he died, {Jer 52:34 2Ki 25:30} it is therefore most probable that Jeconiah
himself died about the same time that Evilmerodach died.
3444d AM, 4154 JP, 560 BC
901. After Neriglassaros murdered Evilmerodach, he reigned for four years.
{Berosus, Chaldean History, l. 3.} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 20. (147)
1:223}
902. In the kingdom of Media, when Astyages or Assuerus died, {Apc Tob 14:15}
he was succeeded by his son Cyaxares, Cyrus' mother's brother. {*Xenophon,
Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 5. s. 2. 5:77} This was in the beginning of the first
year of the 55th Olympiad, thirty-one years before the death of Cyrus. Daniel
called Cyaxares Darius the Mede, the son of Assuerus.
3445 AM, 4155 JP, 559 BC
903. The king of Babylon conscripted troops from his own subjects and sought
the help of Croesus, the king of Lydia, together with the kings of Cappadocia,
Phrygia, Caria, Paphlagonia and Cilicia, to the west. On the east he approached
the Indians also, to join with him in battle against the Medes and Persians. He
told them that they were two great nations who were now allied together. If
they were not checked, they would eventually overrun and bring into subjection
all countries near and far. Cyrus was made general of the Persian army by his
father Cambyses and all the council of the kingdom. He was sent to Media with
thirty thousand soldiers and a thousand commanders all of equal authority under
his command. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 5. s. 2. 5:77} When he
came, he was made general of the Median forces by his uncle Cyaxares, who had
sent for him, and was placed solely in charge of the war against the
Babylonians.
3445c AM, 4155 JP, 559 BC
904. The thirty years of Cyrus' reign started from this time, from the end of
the first year of the 55th Olympiad. {Julius Africanus, l. 3.} {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 9. c. 21. 4:31} Thallus, Castor, Polybius, Phlegon, and other
chronologers also count this as the beginning of the reign of Cyrus, as cited by
Eusebius. {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 10. c. 10. (488c) 1:523} In the spring of
that year, at the close of the same year of the same Olympiad, Solon left
Philocyprus, the king, and the Solians. He was thought to have returned to
Athens, as we find in his eulogies, mentioned before from Plutarch. However, he
suddenly became sick and died in Cyprus at the age of eighty years. This
happened in the year when Hegestratus was the archon of Athens, in the second
year of Peisistratus ruling there, according to Phanias, the Ephesian, as cited
by Plutarch. {*Diogenes Laertius, Solon, l. 1. c. 2. (62) 1:63} {*Plutarch,
Solon, l. 1. c. 32. s. 3. 1:497}
3446b AM, 4156 JP, 558 BC
905. In the thirtieth year after the desolation of Jerusalem, the unknown
author of second Esdras claimed to have had a conference with the angel Uriel.
This is recorded in the Apocrypha at the time Salathiel was captain of the
people, because Jeconiah was dead. {Apc 2Es 3:1 4:1 5:16}
906. When Croesus was preparing to fight against Cyrus, he sent generous
presents to Delphi and consulted the oracle there on the matter of this war.
The oracle told him that if he attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great
empire. He did destroy a great empire, but it was his own empire, not Cyrus'
empire! This was three years before Sardis was taken. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c.
53-55. 1:59-63} {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 91. 1:117,119} {*Diod. Sic., l. 9.
c. 31. 4:41} [L139] Cicero mentioned the oracle as saying: {*Cicero, De
Divinatione, l. 2. c. 56. 20:501}
When Croesus o'er the river Halys goes
He will a mighty kingdom overthrow.
3447 AM, 4157 JP, 557 BC
907. When the king of Armenia saw that the Babylonians were making preparations
against Cyaxares, he would neither send him aid nor pay him tribute any longer,
in spite of the agreement he had made when Astyages, or Cyaxares, had overcome
and subjected him. Therefore Cyaxares, under the pretence of a hunting trip,
attacked Armenia and defeated both the king and his son, Tigranes, in a battle,
putting them under his control again. He also conquered the mountains which lie
between Armenia and Chaldea, and there built a strong citadel. He made peace on
certain agreed conditions between the two nations. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l.
2. c. 4. s. 16. - l. 3. c. 2. s. 11. 1:203-255}
3448c AM, 4158 JP, 556 BC
908. Cyaxares and Cyrus marched against the Babylonian king, Croesus and the
rest of the confederates, and gained a major victory over them. The king of
Babylon fell in the battle and Croesus, with those who were left, broke his camp
by night and fled. Cyrus, who had made a league with the Hyrcanians who had
defected to him from the Babylonians, used their help and guidance along the
route to pursue the fleeing enemy. He overtook them and defeated them after
another battle. After Croesus sent away his women by night because the days
were so hot, he left his camp with all his horses. The Hyrcanians attacked the
companies of the Cappadocians and Arabians, killing both their kings. Cyrus
spared the lives of those who were taken by force or had yielded to mercy. He
divided the spoil of the battle among his soldiers. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l.
3. c. 2. s. 1. - l. 4. c. 2. s. 33. 5:249-339} [E97]
909. Laborosoarchodus, who was the son of Nerigaso-lassaros and a mere boy, was
much more wicked than his father. He reigned after his father for nine months
in Babylon according to Berosus. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 20. (148)
1:223}
910. Balatorus reigned in Tyre for one year according to the Phoenician
records. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 21. (157) 1:225}
911. Gobryas had an only son who was killed by this new king of Babylon in a
hunting match. He and his friends defected to Cyrus. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia,
l. 4. c. 6. s. 1-10. 5:391-397}
912. Cyrus came to invade the country of Babylon. He stood outside the walls
of the city and challenged the new king to a duel. Gadatas was a noble man of
whom this new king was jealous, because the king's wife admired him, so he
defected to Cyrus. The Babylonians sought revenge for this and spoiled Gadatas'
lands. Cyrus pursued them and routed their forces. Unknown to Cyrus, the
Cadusians, whom he had appointed as the rear guards of his army, had laid siege
to a section of the countryside near the city. They were cut off by the king of
Babylon and many were killed or wounded. When Cyrus first avenged the death of
these men, he came to an agreement with the king to allow only the soldiers to
fight, permitting the peasants on both sides to hold a truce. He passed beyond
the city and captured three of their citadels, before returning to the confines
of Assyria and Media, from where he had set out. He invited his uncle Cyaxares
to come to him, and when he arrived there, Cyrus honourably received and
entertained him in the pavilion of Neriglissoros, the king of Assyria. Since
winter was approaching, they consulted together about the things necessary to
maintain the siege of Babylon should it last that long. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia,
l. 5,6. 6:3-199}
3449b AM, 4159 JP, 555 BC
913. After Laborosoarchodus, who was Nebuchad-nezzar's grandson by his
daughter, was disposed of by his subjects for his acts of villainy,
Nebuchadnezzar's grandson by Evilmerodach succeeded Laboroso-archodus. Berosus
called him Nabonidus, but Herodotus called him Labynetus, while Abydenus
referred to him as Nabannidochus and Daniel as Belshazzar or Baltazar. (Some
historians think Belshazzar was the son of Evilmerodach based on Daniel {Da
5:7}, where Belshazzar stated he would make anyone who interpreted the
handwriting on the wall the third ruler in the kingdom. This implied that he
was only the second ruler under his father. However, since this king had so
many names, we will never know for sure. He reigned seventeen years, according
to the third book of the Chaldean History by Berosus. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1.
c. 20. (150) 1:223} {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} [L140]
914. In the first year of this king's reign, Daniel had a vision of four
beasts, which signified the four empires of the world. He also saw God
overcoming all earthly powers, and the sovereignty of the Son of Man in all
things. {Da 7:1-28}
915. When Balatorus, the petty king of Tyre, died, Merbalus was sent from
Babylon to replace him and reigned for four years, according to the Phoenician
records. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 21. (157) 1:225}
3451 AM, 4161 JP, 553 BC
916. In the third year of Belshazzar, Daniel had a vision of a ram and a
he-goat, which foreshadowed the destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander
the Great and the great misery which Antiochus would bring upon the people of
God. Daniel was living at Susa in the province of Elam, on the bank of the Ulai
River. {Da 8:1,2} This river surrounded the citadel of Susa and separated the
provinces of Susa from Elimais, that is, the Susachaeans from the Elamites, as
the inhabitants of those two provinces are identified by Ezra and according to
Pliny. {Ezr 4:9} {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 31. (135) 2:441} From this we know that
the province of Susa was not in the hands of the Medes or Persians at this time.
It was controlled by the Babylonians, under whom Daniel then lived. {See note
on 3405c AM. <<809>>}
917. Berosus stated ({Berosus, Chaldean History, l. 3.} as cited by Josephus,
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 20. (149) 1:223}) that those walls about the
river of the city of Babylon (which had been started by Nebuchadnezzar) were
fully lined with baked brick and bitumen. This was because Belshazzar's wife
Nitocris, an astute woman, saw the gathering storm about to break upon Babylon.
She had turned the Euphrates River, which normally ran swiftly in a straight
course. After drawing it through many winding channels, which she had cut for
that purpose, she caused it to run more slowly than it did before. Then she
raised a large dam on each side of the river. Upstream from the city, she
constructed a large lake into which she diverted the river. In this way she
left the channel of the river dry. She then lined the banks of the river inside
the city with brick walls. She installed watergates in the walls around the
city. She also built a stone bridge in the middle of the city. When this was
done, she diverted the river from the lake back to its original channel.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 185,186,188. 1:229-235} The magnificence of this stone
bridge, which connected the king's houses that stood on each side of the river,
was described by Philostratus. {*Philostratus, Apollonius, l. 1. c. 25.
1:75} He said that it was built by a queen that came out of Media. Hence we
gather that as Nebuchadnezzar married Amyitis, likewise his son Evilmerodach
married this Nitocris from Media.
3453 AM, 4163 JP, 551 BC
918. When Merbalus died, the king of Babylon sent Hirom, his brother, in his
place. He reigned in Tyre for twenty years, according to the Phoenician
records. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 21. (158) 1:225,227}
3455 AM, 4165 JP, 549 BC
919. Darius, the son of Hystaspes, was born. He was almost twenty years old
shortly before Cyrus died. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 209. 1:263} [E98]
3456c AM, 4166 JP, 548 BC
920. When Croesus was made general of the army of the Babylonians and others,
he crossed over the Halys River which divided the lands of Media and Lydia.
Using the skill of Thales, the philosopher of Miletus, he crossed the river
without a bridge and came into Cappadocia. There he took the city of Pteria
(near Sinope) and all the surrounding cities. He utterly destroyed the Syrians,
who had done him no wrong. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 75,76. 1:93,95} Herodotus
stated that the Cappadocians were called Syrians by the Greeks. {*Herodotus, l.
1. c. 72. 1:87}
3456d AM, 4166 JP, 548 BC
921. After Cyrus had sent to the Ionians to see if they would join him or
remain loyal to Croesus, he fought an indecisive battle with Croesus. The next
day, Croesus returned to Sardis because Cyrus did not attack him again. [L141]
He intended not to fight that winter, but to wait for the next spring to march
against the Persians. In the meantime, he sent all his auxiliaries to their
homes and sent envoys to those who were loyal to him, as were the Lacedemonians.
He ordered them all to come together at Sardis in five months. When Croesus had
disbanded his army, Cyrus attacked him with all his forces. When this surprise
attack was made, Croesus, though greatly troubled, still went out to fight with
him with as many of his Lydians as he had left. He trusted mainly in his
cavalry. Cyrus thwarted his design by placing his camels in front of his
troops, knowing that horses cannot tolerate the smell of camels. Therefore, all
the horses of Croesus turned tail and carried their riders away with them.
However, the Lydians left their horses and set themselves in battle array. But
at last, after many had been killed on each side, they fled. The Persians
followed up on this victory and attacked Sardis, which they took in fourteen
days. Croesus was condemned to be burned. When he came to the place of
execution, he cried out Oh Solon, Solon, whose wise counsel concerning the
instability of human affairs he had formerly so much despised. On hearing this,
Cyrus not only spared his life but also took him into his privy council. Cyrus
arranged the funeral of Abradatas, the king of Susa (who had defected to him
from the king of Babylon and had been killed in the battle). He also arranged
the funeral of Panthea, Abradatas' queen, who killed herself after seeing her
dead husband. He made a large and magnificent monument for them. {*Herodotus,
l. 1. c. 75-90.'1:93-115} {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 1-3.
6:203-251} {*Diod. Sic., l. 9. c. 31-34. 4:41-46} {*Plutarch, Solon, l. 1.
c. 28. 1:483} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7. Cyrus and Croesus} {Alexander
Polyhistor, Chronography (Ad Solinus), l. 1.} Eusebius stated that Cyrus
attacked Sardis in the first year of the 58th Olympiad. {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:183}
922. Croesus sent his shackles to Delphi as a present, complaining in vain that
he had been misled by the oracle. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 90,91. 1:115-119}
When the men of Ionia and Aeolia wanted to submit to Cyrus under the same
conditions that they had formerly lived by under Croesus, Cyrus declined. He
granted those terms only to the Milesians, who had feared what might happen to
them and so had previously made peace with him. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c.
141,143,169. 1:181,183,211} The rest of the Greek city states were fortified.
They sent Pythermos of Phocaea with other envoys to the Lacedemonians to seek
help from them, which they refused to give. However, the Lacedemonians sent
their envoy Lacrines to Cyrus to warn him not to touch any of the Greeks in
Asia. He sent back word to them that he would shortly make them stop caring for
the Ionians and the rest of the Greeks in Asia, and attend to their own affairs
at home. Thales, the Milesian, advised them to hold a council at Teos, a city
in the centre of Ionia. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 170. 1:213} {*Herodotus, l.
1. c. 141,152,153. 1:181,193}
3457 AM, 4167 JP, 547 BC
923. Cyrus remained at Sardis and built battering rams and other equipment with
the intention of razing the walls of all that stood against him. The Carians
sent and asked for his help to settle their civil war. He sent Adusius, a
Persian, with an army. The Cilicians and Cypriots willingly joined this force.
Adusius put an end to their differences, but not without leaving sufficient
garrisons of his own in the cities of either party. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l.
7. c. 4. 6:251-261}
924. At the end of the first year of the 58th Olympiad, Thales, the Milesian
philosopher, died. {*Diogenes Laertius, Thales, l. 1. c. 1. (38) 1:39}
Anaximander, his countryman was the first to observe the obliquity of the stars
in the zodiac, according to Pliny. {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 6. (31) 1:189}
However, Plutarch more correctly stated that this point of astronomy was known
to Thales, the Milesian, Anaximander's teacher. {Plutarch, De Placitis
Philosophorum, l. 2. c. 12} [L142] Anaximander died at the age of sixty-four
in the second year of this Olympiad. {*Diogenes Laertius, Anaximander, l. 2.
c. 1. (2) 1:131,133} We learn more from Phavorinus, who, in his Varia
Historia, listed Anaximander's scientific inventions. He was the first to
invent the sundial, which he installed in Sparta. He also invented the
horoscopes for finding out the equinoxes and solstices for the dial, to
determine the hour of the day. The horoscope or instrument is used to observe
the equinoxes and the tropics, or the summer and winter solstice. [E99] Pliny
attributed the invention of the sundial and clock to Anaximander's student and
fellow citizen, Anaximenes. {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 79. (187) 1:319} {See note on
3291 AM. <<649>>}
"This theory of shadows and the science called gnomonics, or dial work, was
first discovered by Anaximenes of Miletus, Anaximander's student. He was the
first that set up a Hunt-the-Shadow, which is a sundial to show what is the time
in Sparta."
925. Anaximenes, the son of Eurystratus, succeeded Anaximander in his school at
Miletus. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 14. 2:314} Following the advice of
Thales, Pythagoras went into Egypt when both his teachers Anaximander and
Anaximenes were dead. Polycrates of Samos sent him to Amasis, king of Egypt,
with a letter of commendation. {*Diogenes Laertius, Pythagoras, l. 8. c. 1.
(3) 1:323} It seems Amasis was surnamed Psemetnepserphreus by the Egyptians.
Pliny stated that Pythagoras came into Egypt during his reign. {*Pliny, l. 36.
c. 14. 10:57} (Loeb footnote on Pliny thought the name should be Sesothis.
Editor.) Pythagoras stayed there for twenty-two years and conversed with the
priests. From them he learned his knowledge of astronomy and geometry. He was
initiated into all their rites and ceremonies, according to Jamblichus,
{Jamblichus, Pythagoras, c. 3, 4.} therefore also being circumcised by them.
He was admitted into the secrets of their religion so that he might more freely
partake of the mystical philosophy of the Egyptians. For attaining this, he was
mainly indebted to Sonches, the chief prophet among them. {*Clement,
Stromateis, l. 1. c. 15. 2:315} I think this Sonchis was from Sais. He
talked much with Solon, according to Plutarch. {*Plutarch, Solon, l. 1. c.
26. 1:477} They taught Pythagoras about Metempsuchosis or transmigration of
souls from one body into another. {*Diod. Sic., l. 10. c. 5. s. 6. 4:61}
He was quite familiar with their books and writings about history. {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 8. c. 7. ext. 2. 2:229}
3458 AM, 4168 JP, 546 BC
926. Hystaspes and Adusius united forces and conquered all Phrygia bordering on
the Hellespont. They captured the Phrygian king and brought him as a prisoner
to Cyrus. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 4. s. 8-12. 6:255,257}
927. Cyrus committed Sardis to the keeping of Tabulus, a Persian. He committed
the treasure of Croesus and the rest of the Lydians to Pactyes of Lydia. He
made his way back to Ecbatana and took Croesus along with him. He paid little
attention to the affairs of Ionia. No sooner had Cyrus left Sardis, than
Pactyes immediately persuaded the Lydians to revolt from Cyrus and his governor
Tabulus. Using the king's treasure to hire soldiers from other parts, he drove
Tabulus into the citadel and besieged him there. When Cyrus was told about this
on his way, he took the advice of Croesus. He sent back Mazares, a Median, with
a part of his army. He defeated the Lydians and forced them to submit to the
rule of Cyrus. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 153-157. 1:193-199} [L143] So the
Lydians, a people who were famous for hard work, power and chivalry, grew soft
from luxury and lost their courage and virtue. {Justin, Trogus, l. 1. c. 7.}
3459 AM, 4169 JP, 545 BC
928. Mazares demanded that Pactyes be returned by the Cymeans, with whom he had
sought refuge. The Cymeans consulted the oracle at Branchidae who said that
they should deliver him up. Aristodicus, the son of Heraclides, persuaded them
not to give him up to be killed by the Persians. Since they did not want him to
stay lest Cyrus come and destroy their city, they sent him away safely to
Mitylene. When the Mitylenians were ready to surrender him, the Cymeans sent a
ship to Lesbos and from there took him to Chios, but the men of Chios dragged
him by force from the temple of Athena and delivered him to Mazares. Lesbos was
rewarded by being given Atarneus, a place in Mysia opposite Lesbos.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 157-160. 1:197-201} Plutarch sought to justify both
the Mitylenians and the men of Chios in this matter using the more ancient
historian, Caron of Lampsacus. {*Plutarch, Malice of Herodotus, l. 1. c. 20.
11:37} He stated the matter in this way:
"When Pactyes heard of the approach of the Persian's army, he fled first to
Mitylene and then to Chios and there Cyrus took him."
929. When Mazares had captured Pactyes, he marched against those who with
Pactyes had attacked Tabulus. He conquered the inhabitants of Priene and partly
ravaged the country lying on the Meander River. He gave both it and the city of
Magnesia to his soldiers as a reward. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 161. 1:203}
3461 AM, 4171 JP, 543 BC
930. Harpagus, who was a chief general under Cyrus, marched with his army
against Ionia. He fought with them, as Eusebius noted, in the second year of
the 59th Olympiad, for Mazares was dying of a disease. {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:183} Harpagus (whom some erroneously call Harpalus) was made general
in the place of Mazares. When Harpagus came into Ionia, he immediately besieged
whatever city he came to. He took Phocaea, the capital city of all Ionia.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 162,163. 1:203,205}
931. The Phocaeans abandoned the city when they saw that they could not hold
it. With their wives and children they escaped by ship to Chios. [E100]
Seeking revenge for the loss of Phocaea, they returned and killed the garrison
which Harpagus had left behind to hold Phocaea. From there, they sailed to the
isles of Oenussae and then to the isle of Cyrnus or Corsica where, twenty years
earlier, they had established a colony and built a city called Alalia. When
they had been there five years and wearied all the neighbouring countries by
their robbing and plundering, the Italians and Carthaginians sent a navy of
sixty ships against them. After several naval battles, the Phocaeans won, but
at the cost of many lives and the loss of forty ships. They then moved to
Rhegium in Italy and there built the city of Hyele, later called Velia or Elea,
in the territory of Oenotria. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 164-167. 1:207}
Thucydides also confirms that the Phocaeans, who built Marseilles, defeated the
Carthaginians at sea. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 13. s. 6. 1:27} One group
built Velia and another Marseilles in the time of Servius Tullius, the sixth
king of the Romans. This was more than six hundred years after the coming of
Aeneas into Italy, as was testified by Hyginus, who is quoted by Gellius.
{*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 10. c. 16. s. 9,10. 2:257} This colony
of Marseilles is mentioned by Isocrates. {*Isocrates, Archidamus, l. 1. (87)
1:397} {See note on 3404c AM. <<791>>}
932. When Harpagus besieged the city of the Teians, they abandoned their city
and sailed into Thrace. There they built a city called Abdera. This city was
begun earlier and unsuccessfully by Timesius, a man of the Clazomenians. {See
note on 3349 AM. <<713>>} [L144] Except for the Milesians, who had
previously
made a league with Cyrus, the rest of the Ionian territories were conquered one
by one by Harpagus. He allowed them to stay in their own country, and they paid
what was imposed upon them. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 168,169. 1:211} When they
were afflicted in this way, they assembled in their old common council of Ionia,
called Panionium. Bias of Priene, chief of all the wise men of Greece,
counselled that they should build a common navy and sail to Sardinia, there to
build a common city for all Ionians to live in happily and be free from this
slavery. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 170. 1:211}
3464c AM, 4174 JP, 540 BC
933. As soon as Cyrus had subdued Asia Minor, he at once made war on the
Assyrians. He marched with his army against Labynetus or Nabonidus their king.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 178,188. 1:221,233} The news of this reached Babylon
two full years before the city was besieged {Jer 51:46} because Cyrus, while
marching toward Babylon, was delayed at the Gyndes River, which flowed into the
Tigris River. He was unable to cross over because he had no boats. While he
was staying there, one of the white horses, which were consecrated to the sun,
went into the river and drowned in its swift current. Cyrus was furious about
this event and halted his march to Babylon. That summer he had the river
divided into three hundred and sixty channels, with the intention of making it
so shallow that a woman could pass through it and not get her knees wet.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 189,190,202. 1:237,255} {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 52.
3:59}
3465b AM, 4175 JP, 539 BC
934. The next year Cyrus marched to Babylon. Here Cyrus defeated Belshazzar,
or Nabonidus. The Chaldeans retreated into the city and resolved to endure the
siege, which they took lightly for two reasons. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 190.
1:237} {Jer 51:27,28,30} First, they had more than twenty years of provisions in
Babylon. Secondly, they thought there were many in Cyrus' army who favoured the
Chaldeans more than the Persians. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 190. 1:237}
{*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 5. s. 13,14. 6:267}
935. Cyrus made a vast trench around the wall of the city. He cast up the
earth toward his own army and made bulwarks along the walls. He placed guards
on these and divided his whole army into twelve parts. He ordered that each
part should in turn stand watch for a month. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c.
5. s. 10-13. 6:267}
3466b AM, 4176 JP, 538 BC
936. When Cyrus had spent much time in this work with little to show for it, he
finally made a ditch from the river to that vast lake, about forty to fifty
miles wide, which Belshazzar's mother, Nitocris, had ordered to be dug. Then he
opened the mouths of this and another of various ditches which he had recently
built about the city, and let the river flow into them. In this way he made the
channel, which was not more than four hundred yards wide, passable for his men
to enter into the city. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 190,191. 1:237,239}
{*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 5. s. 15-17. 6:267,269} {Jer 50:38
51:32,36}
937. Cyrus, with his army, went through the water gates in the wall and got
into the city on a festival day, while all the men were banqueting.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 190,191. 1:237239} {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c.
5. s. 26. 6:271} {Jer 51:39,57} So vast was that city that, as the
inhabitants reported, when the people on its outskirts were surprised and taken
by the enemy, those who lived in the heart of the city never heard of it.
{*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 191. 1:239} [L145] Jeremiah alluded to this when he
said:
"post upon post and messenger upon messenger shall run to tell the king of
Babylon that all the outskirts of the city were possessed by the enemies." {Jer
51:31} [E101]
938. When Belshazzar and all his nobles were feasting, he ordered his servants
to bring all the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar his
father, or grandfather (for he was his son's son or his son. We do not know
which. {Jer 27:7}) had brought away from Jerusalem. When they glorified the
king's idols and reproached the true God, God sent a hand to write on the wall
of the room where Belshazzar sat drinking. It wrote the number of years which
the Babylonian empire was to last and that it had now been weighed in the
balance and was found wanting, for which reason it was to be transferred to the
Medes. This hand of God also declared what was to happen to Belshazzar. When
his wise men of Chaldea could not read the writing, his queen advised him to
send for Daniel, who came and read the writing and interpreted it for him. For
his efforts, he was publicly proclaimed the third ruler in the kingdom. {Da
5:1-31} Since the king's wives are said to have been present at the banquet, {Da
5:2,3} and the queen to have come in afterward, {Da 5:10} this must be
understood to be speaking of the queen mother, Nitocris. She was the mother of
this last king of Babylon, as we have already shown from Herodotus.
939. In the very same night of this banquet, Belshazzar, the king of the
Chaldeans, was killed by the soldiers of Gobryas and Gadneas, {Da 5:30}
{*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 5. s. 30. 6:273} and so the Babylonian
kingdom came to an end, just as it had been predicted, {Isa 13:1-14:32 21:1-17
43:1-28 46:1-13 Hab 2:1-20 Jer 25:1-38 50:1-51:64} and the empire was
transferred to the Medes and Persians. {Da 5:21 6:8,12,15}
The Persian Empire
940. Darius the Mede, son of Ahasuerus (or the son of Cyaxares and the grandson
of Astyages), took over the kingdom which Cyrus had conquered and given to him.
{Da 5:31 9:1} Cyrus had set apart for himself the king's house and all his
palaces in Babylon, so that if he should come to Babylon, he would have a palace
of his own to stay in. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 5. s. 17. 6:403}
In this first year of Darius' reign, the angel Michael was said to have
confirmed and strengthened him in his kingdom. {Da 10:21,11:1} After this he is
said to have reigned for two more years.
941. When Cyrus had set everything in order at Babylon, he returned through
Media into Persia to his father Cambyses, and Mandane, his mother, who were
still living. From there, he returned into Media and married the only daughter
and heir of Cyaxares. As a dowry, he was given the whole kingdom of Media.
After the marriage, he left for Babylon, taking his new wife with him. From
Babylon, he sent governors into all his dominions: Megabyzus went into Arabia,
Artabatas to Cappadocia, Artacamas into Greater Phrygia, Chrysantas into Lydia
and Ionia, Adusius went into Caria, while Pharnuchus went into Aeolia and
Phrygia on the Hellespont. He sent no Persian governors to Cilicia, Cyprus and
Paphlagonia, because they had submitted to him and had voluntarily helped him
against the king of Babylon. They were, however, required to pay tribute.
{*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 5. s. 28. 6:409} {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia,
l. 8. c. 6. s. 7. 6:413}
942. All the countries which Cyrus subdued in his role of general of the forces
of Media, he added to the dominions of Cyaxares. {?Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l.
5.} [L146] Therefore it is most likely that, at a previous meeting in council,
he made that distribution of the governments at the advice of Cyaxares.
Xenophon {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 6. s. 1. 6:409} stated about
Cyrus:
"It seemed good unto him, to set governors over all the countries which he had
subdued."
943. Daniel, at this time, it seems, went with Cyrus from Babylon to Media.
Cyrus had given control of the kingdom to Cyaxares who then appointed governors
to manage the new kingdom. Daniel said of this Cyaxares:
"It seemed good to Darius, to set over the kingdoms, one hundred and twenty
governors, that they should be over all the kingdoms." {Da 6:1}
944. Over all these governors he set three overseers, the principal one being
Daniel. As a result, the rest were envious of him and had the king make a
decree that:
"for thirty days, no petition should be made to any god or man, but to himself
only." {Da 6:7}
945. Daniel, having broken this decree by praying to God, was cast into the
lion's den, from which he was eventually delivered unharmed. Then Darius cast
those who had plotted against Daniel into the same lion's den, publishing
through all his dominions that famous decree, that every man should reverence
and fear Daniel's God. {Da 6:1-28}
3467a AM, 4176 JP, 538 BC
946. From the year of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, which began when
Jehoiakim was defeated in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, until the end of the
first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, was almost seventy years. According
to Jeremiah the captivity was almost over:
"Thus saith the Lord, when the seventy years shall begin to be finished with
Babylon, then will I visit you and perform my good word unto you and will bring
you again to this place ... and when you shall call upon me to depart from
thence and when you shall pray unto me, then will I hear you." {Jer 29:10,12}
947. Knowing the time of the captivity was almost up, Daniel prayed fervently
for the remission of his own sins as well as those of his people, and for their
release from captivity. The angel Gabriel brought him an answer which applied
not only to this immediate matter, but also intimated the spiritual deliverance
of the church, to be finally effected by the death of the Messiah. [E102] As a
part of this, he gave that famous prophecy of the seventy weeks. {Da 9:12-27}
948. When Cyrus had spent one whole year with his wife in Babylon, he assembled
his entire army. It was said to be made up of a hundred and twenty thousand
cavalry, two thousand scythe-bearing chariots and six hundred thousand foot
soldiers. When he had outfitted his troops, he undertook that campaign in which
he was said to have subdued all the countries from Syria to the Red Sea.
{*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 6. s. 19. 6:419,421}
3468a AM, 4177 JP, 537 BC
949. After Cyrus' father Cambyses died in Persia, Cyaxares in Media held all
the empire of the east. It was from this year that Xenophon {*Xenophon,
Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 7. s. 1. 6:423} reckoned the beginning of the seven
years of Cyrus' reign. Based on the records of the Medes and Persians, the
Bible reckoned this as the first year, and stated that it was in this year that
Cyrus, king of Persia, made that famous edict of his:
"Into my hand hath God given all the kingdoms of the earth...." {Ezr 1:2}
950. This was the year which marked the end of the seventy years of the
Babylonian captivity, just as had been foretold by Jeremiah and in line with the
prophecy of Isaiah, who had mentioned Cyrus by name. {Isa 44:28 45:13} He gave
permission for all the Jews living anywhere in his empire to return to their own
country. He ordered those who returned to rebuild the temple of God, leaving
them free to build it as large as they wished. {Hag 2:3} They could use the
resources from the king's treasury, and Cyrus restored all the vessels of the
house of God which Nebuchadnezzar had removed from there. {2Ch 36:22,23 Ezr
1:1,2,7 5:13,14 6:2-5} [L147]
951. Cyrus made Sheshbazzar captain of the Jews who were returning to
Jerusalem. In line with Cyrus' orders, Mithredath, the treasurer, gave to
Sheshbazzar all the vessels belonging to the temple, for the purpose of
returning them to Jerusalem. {Ezr 1:7-11 5:14,15} Sheshbazzar was his Chaldean
name, but his Hebrew name was Zerubbabel. {Ezr 3:8,10 5:16}
3468c AM, 4178 JP, 536 BC
952. The Jews were preparing to return to their country, and the poor were
given an allowance to help with the costs. {Ezr 1:5,6} There were 42,360 of the
children of the province, or poor people of the Hebrews born in Chaldea, who
returned. Their captain was Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, or Salathiel, and
their high priest, Jehu, or Jeshua, the son of Jozadak. In addition there were
7337 proselytes, and manservants and maidservants, who also returned. {Ezr
2:1-70 Ne 7:6-67 12:1-9} However, the total sum given in Ezra is only 29,818.
In Nehemiah, the sum is 31,031. Neither of these add up to 42,360 but at the
end of each list the total of 42,360 was given as the number of the whole
congregation. {Ezr 2:64 Ne 7:66} To tally to 42,360, the Hebrews (in their
great Chronicle, chapter 29) stated that we must include in this number those of
the other tribes of Israel who came back from the captivity with the Jews. For
even at the time of the end of the Jewish state there still existed a remnant of
the other ten tribes, {Ac 26:7} made up not only of some from the dispersion,
{Jas 1:1} and some still at Jerusalem {2Ch 9:3 Lu 2:36} and in other cities of
Judah, {2Ch 11:16 31:6} but also of those who still lived on their lands, for
Shalmaneser had not taken away everyone belonging to the tribes. {See note on
3327 AM <<697>>} He had left a remnant of them in their own country
who,
together with the Jews and Benjamites and Levites, were later carried away to
Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. They were now being given their liberty and sent
back again by Cyrus. After this first year of Cyrus, all the Israelites are
said to have lived in their own cities. {Ezr 2:70} In the sixth year of Darius,
they are said to have been present at the dedication of the temple, and there to
have offered twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel. {Ezr 6:16,17} When
Christ preached the gospel in Galilee, {Mt 14:14} he fulfilled the prophecy of
Isaiah, that the people of Zebulun and Naphtali would see a bright light. {Isa
9:1,2} The chief men of their fathers' families came to Jerusalem and brought
offerings, according to their ability, toward the rebuilding of the temple, a
total of sixty-one thousand drachmas of gold, five thousand pounds of silver and
a hundred priests' robes. The priests, the Levites and the rest of the people
all settled again in their own cities. {Ezr 2:68-70}
3469a AM, 4178 JP, 536 BC
953. On the first day of the seventh month, during the Feast of Trumpets, the
Israelites all came from their cities to Jerusalem and there built the altar.
Every morning and every evening they offered the required daily sacrifice to
God, and on the fifteenth day of the same month they kept the Feast of
Tabernacles. They also provided materials and workmen for the building of the
temple, for which Cyrus had given them permission. {Ezr 3:1-7} [E103]
3469c AM, 4179 JP, 535 BC
954. In the second year after their return from Babylon, in the second month,
called Jair, they appointed Levites to oversee the work of the house of God.
When they laid the foundation of the temple, the old men, who had seen the
former temple as it had stood fifty-three years earlier, wept, while the young
men greatly rejoiced to see the new temple going up. {Ezr 3:8-13} [L148]
955. The men of Cuth, old enemies of the Jews, who had previously been settled
in Samaria by Esarhaddon, cunningly offered to join them in building the temple.
When the Jews refused their help, they hindered the Jews in their work as much
as they could and discouraged the people from completing the task. {Ezr 4:1-4}
3470a AM, 4179 JP, 535 BC
956. This was the first sabbatical year kept by the Jews, after their return
from the captivity of Babylon.
3470c AM, 4180 JP, 534 BC
957. The Samaritans, by bribing certain courtiers of Cyrus, disrupted the Jews
in their work of building the temple. {Ezr 4:5} This was the reason for the
three weeks of mourning by the prophet Daniel. He continued his fast, which he
had begun about the third day of the first month in the third year of Cyrus,
throughout the whole time of the Feast of the Passover. {Da 10:1-4} After this,
on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while he stood on the bank of
Hiddekel or the Tigris River, he had the vision of the kings of Persia, of
Alexander the Great and his successors and their kingdoms. This is recorded in
Daniel and was the last vision that he had, shortly before his death. {Da
10:1-12:13}
3473 AM, 4183 JP, 531 BC
958. Amasis, it seems, defected from Cyrus. The people of Egypt, who had
previously been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, were now being sent back again
by Cyrus into their own country, after forty years in exile. They returned to
their old kingdom toward the end of the life of Amasis. Egypt was once again a
kingdom, very old and ancient, it is true, but the least significant of all of
them and no longer of much use to any other country. {Eze 29:11-16 Jer 46:26}
{*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 8. s. 1. 6:439} Xenophon, in the prologue
to his whole work, stated that Cyrus had Egypt in his possession, {*Xenophon,
Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 1. s. 4. 5:7} while all authors agree that it was
later subdued by his son Cambyses. Hence, we conclude that in the intervening
time they enjoyed their freedom.
959. It is possible that when Amasis revolted from Cyrus, Hirom was overthrown.
He had been king of Tyre for a full twenty years and he was the last king
mentioned by Josephus in his catalogue of the kings of Tyre. In his place, they
had governors set over them by other countries, instead of being governed by men
of their own country. The very Punic names of those kings and governors show
that they were all native to the country of Tyre. This situation was similar to
that of the Egyptians who had been ruled by Amasis who was an Egyptian.
3475b AM, 4185 JP, 529 BC
960. Cyrus died at the age of seventy years. He had first been made general of
the Median and Persian armies a full thirty years earlier. He took Babylon nine
years before his death and reigned for seven years, plus a month or so.
961. Authors differ as to how he died. Some say that he was killed in a battle
against the Massagetae or Scythians. Others say he was decapitated by Tomyris,
the queen of the Scythians, and she threw his dead body into a tub full of
blood. She told him to satiate himself with blood, since he had so thirsted
after it in his lifetime. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 214. 1:269} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 1. c. 8.} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 10. ext. 1. 2:357}
However, Diodorus stated that when she had taken him prisoner, she crucified
him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 2. c. 44. s. 2. 2:31} Ctesias related that, having
been wounded in the thigh by a certain Indian in a battle against the Derbicans,
the country bordering on Hyrcania, he killed Amorraeus, their king, and his two
sons, whereupon he himself died, three days later. {Ctesias, l. 11.} Johannes
Malela of Antioch, quoting a forged book attributed to Pythagoras of Samos,
stated that he was killed in a naval battle against the Samians. Xenophon
reported that he died a natural death in his own country of Persia. {*Xenophon,
Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 7. s. 25-28. 6:437-439} He ordered his sons to wrap
his body neither in gold nor silver but in plain cloth and bury him in an
out-of-the-way place. [L149] They were to call together all his friends,
Persians and others, to his grave, and dismiss them after having there presented
them with whatever was fit to be given them at the funeral of a fortunate man.
His tomb was made at Pasargada. This is stated by those who recorded the noble
acts of Alexander the Great, such as Curtius, Plutarch and Arrian. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 69. 7:417} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1. s. 30-35.
2:477} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 29. s. 4-11. 2:193-197} According to
Strabo, Aristobulus was sent by Alexander to see the tomb. He also recounted
this inscription found on his tomb: {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 7.
7:167,169}
"Oh man, I am Cyrus, who founded the Persian monarchy and was king of Asia; and
therefore envy me not that I have a monument."
962. Strabo, quoting from Onesicritus, cited a Greek epitaph written for Cyrus
(if such a thing can be believed) in Persian letters. It was:
Here Cyrus I do lie,
Who king of kings was high.
963. It is of the same dubious nature as that one cited by Lucian, with the
same Onesicritus as its source, namely that Cyrus, who missed his friends whom
his son Cambyses had killed, died of grief at the age of one hundred. {*Lucian,
Octogenarians, l. 1. (13) 1:233} [E104]
964. Cyrus left his kingdom to his eldest son Cambyses and to his younger son,
Tanaoxares or Tanyoxarcas, whom Herodotus called Smerdis. {*Herodotus, l. 3.
c. 30. 2:39} Justin called him Mergis. {Justin, Trogus} Ctesias claimed that
Cyrus left Tanaoxares the governments of Bactria, Choromnea, Parthia and
Carmania. Xenophon, however, stated that he received the governments of the
Medes, the Armenians and Cadusians. {*Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 7. s.
11-13. 6:429}
965. In the beginning of the kingdom of Ahasuerus (for it is by that name that
Cambyses is known in the Scriptures) the Samaritans, who before had secretly
fought to undermine the Israelites, now openly sent a letter to the king against
the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. {Ezr 4:6} They knew very well what
difference there was between the natures and dispositions of the father and the
son. Cyrus was naturally kind and loving to those who were under him, while his
son was uncontrollable by nature and impulsive in his resolutions. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 10. c. 12. s. 14. 4:75} {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 89. 2:117}
3477a AM, 4186 JP, 528 BC
966. This was the second Sabbatical year held by the Jews after their return
from Babylon.
3478 AM, 4188 JP, 526 BC
967. Just as Cambapheus, a eunuch, controlled the king of Egypt, so also did
his first cousin, Isabat, a eunuch, control Cambyses, king of Persia.
Cambapheus betrayed the bridges, passages and other things important to Egypt to
the Persians, when they promised him the government of Egypt for his trouble.
{Ctesias, History of Persia, l. 3.}
968. Following up on this information, Cambyses gathered both an army and a
navy. His army consisted of men from various other countries in his empire and
of Greeks from Ionia and Aeolia in Asia. His naval forces came mainly from the
Sidonians and Cypriots. Polycrates, the king or tyrant of Samos, furnished him
with forty warships, using as sailors all he suspected as enemies at home. He
hoped they would die in Cambyses' service and never return home to bother him
again. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 1,19,44. 2:3,27,59}
969. Phanes of Halicarnassus was a chief man in the Egyptian army and well
versed in their affairs. He hated Amasis and when he saw that Cambyses was
preparing to fight against Egypt, he defected to him. He told Cambyses many
secrets of the land of Egypt. When Cambyses was greatly perplexed as to how to
cross the desert without proper water supplies, he advised him to send to the
king of Arabia to obtain permission to pass through his country, because without
his consent no one could get into Egypt. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 4,7. 2:7,9}
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 88. 2:115} [L150]
3479b AM, 4189 JP, 525 BC
970. The king of Arabia made a league with Cambyses through the messengers that
were sent to him. He sent all his camels laden with leather bags full of water
to the places where Cambyses and his army were to pass. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c.
9. 2:11}
971. When Cambyses and his army arrived in Egypt, they found Amasis had
recently died, after having reigned for forty-four years. {*Herodotus, l. 3.
c. 9,10. 2:11,13} Diodorus stated that he died when Cambyses began his war in
Egypt, toward the end of the third year of the 63rd Olympiad. {*Diod. Sic., l.
1. c. 68. s. 6. 1:237} His son, Psammenitus (whom Ctesias called
Amyrtaeus), reigned six months. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 14. 2:17} During this
time, it rained at Thebes in upper Egypt, which was considered a sign of good
luck. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 10. 2:13}
972. When the Persians had crossed the dry sandy deserts of Arabia, they came
to the edge of Egypt. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 11. 2:13}
973. When Cambyses came to besiege Pelusium, he placed ahead of his army cats,
dogs, sheep, birds known as ibis, and all kinds of living creatures which were
being worshipped as gods by the Egyptians. Hence the Egyptians did not shoot at
the enemy, lest they hurt their own gods, and so Cambyses took Pelusium and got
a toe-hold in Egypt. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.}
974. The Greek and Carian mercenaries who came to help the Egyptians hated
Phanes, who had been instrumental in bringing this foreign army to Egypt. They
killed his sons before his eyes and after drinking their blood, started fighting
with him. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 11. 2:15}
975. After a sharp encounter, many were killed on both sides and the Egyptians
were routed. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 11. 2:15}
976. Cambyses sent a Persian herald up the river in a ship of Mitylene to
Memphis, where the Egyptians had fled in great disorder and confusion.
977. The herald exhorted them to surrender, but the men of the city sallied out
against the ship, captured it and destroyed it, tearing everyone on board limb
from limb. They retired into the city and later endured the siege by Cambyses
for a short time. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 13. 2:17}
978. Arcesilaus, son of Battus the lame, and of Pheretime his wife, surrendered
Cyrene to Cambyses and agreed to pay him tribute. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 165.
2:371} The inhabitants of Cyrene, the men of Barce and the Libyans, all of whom
bordered on Egypt, were terrified by Cambyses' success against their Egyptian
neighbours. [E105] They submitted to him and sent him their presents. Cambyses
graciously accepted what came from the Libyans. Because the Cyrenians' gift was
so small, since they sent him only five hundred minas of silver, he took it and
threw it among the soldiers. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 13,91. 2:17,119}
979. Ten days after Cambyses had taken Memphis, he tried to humiliate
Psammenitus, whom he had imprisoned with other Egyptians in the suburbs of the
city. To show his contempt for Psammenitus, he sent his daughter with other
maidens of the Egyptian nobility to fetch him water from the river in pitchers.
He sent the young son of Psammenitus, with two thousand more of the same age and
all the principal noblemen's sons, with ropes about their necks and bridles in
their mouths, to be shamefully put to death. He did this to revenge himself
upon those men of Memphis who had destroyed the ship and murdered the
Mitylenians he had sent to them. He ordered that for every Mitylenian who had
been killed, ten of the leaders of the Egyptians should be put to death. The
first to die was the son of Psammenitus. Cambyses intended to spare him, but he
acted too late to do so. [L151] However, Psammenitus later lived at peace with
Cambyses. Finally, when Psammenitus was convicted of stirring up the people to
a new rebellion, he killed himself by drinking bull's blood. {*Herodotus, l.
3. c. 14,15. 2:17-23} Ctesias, however, stated that he was sent away as a
prisoner to live in Susa.
980. Cambyses marched from Memphis and came with his army to the city of Sais.
When he came to the palace of Amasis, against whom he had actually undertaken
this war, he had his body hauled from its vault and brought before him. He had
the corpse whipped with scourges and all kinds of reproach and contumely
directed at it. Then he had it burned. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 16. 2:23}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 10. c. 14. s. 2. 4:75,77}
981. Cambyses conquered Egypt in the fifth year of his reign. He ruled there
for three years. {Julius Africanus} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:185} He
killed fifty thousand Egyptians in battle and sent away seven thousand as
prisoners to Susa. {Ctesias}
982. Jamblichus reported that Pythagoras was among those taken to Babylon,
where he conversed with their wise men. {Jamblichus, Pythagoras} Another writer
of his life, namely Malchus, or Paphyrius (may be Malalus, Editor.) said that at
Babylon he not only conversed with the wise men among the Chaldeans, but also
spent time with Zabratus, a Jew, who purified and cleansed him from the sins of
his former life. This Zabratus was thought by some to have been that Nazaratus
of Assyria of whom Alexander (Polyhistor I think), in his book of Pythagorical
Opinions, inferred that he was Pythagoras' teacher. Others mistakenly thought
him to have been the prophet Ezekiel. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 15.
2:316} All this merely showed that he did also converse with the wise men among
the Jews in Babylon. He later made use of many of their opinions in the writing
of his philosophy. These writers are of that opinion: Hermippus, in his first
book of Pythagoras, {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 22. (164) 1:229} and in his
first book of Law Makers, cited by Origen, {Origen, Against Celsus, l. 1.} and
Aristobulus the Jew, a Peripatetic philosopher, in his first book to Philometor.
Others, who were mistaken, assumed he was the prophet Ezekiel. {*Clement,
Stromateis, l. 1. c. 15. 2:316} Eusebius believed that the books of Moses
were translated into Greek before the Persian empire began. {*Eusebius, Gospel,
l. 13. c. 12. (664a) 1:718} However, it is far more likely that he got that
part of his learning by talking with the Jews in Babylon. Pythagoras was
familiar with Jewish writings, according to Porphyry who drew his information
from Diogenes' work, Of the incredible relation made of Thule. {Porphyry,
Pythagoras} {*Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, l. 8. (3)
2:323}
3480 AM, 4190 JP, 524 BC
983. Cambyses wanted to prepare a navy to go against the Carthaginians, but
gave it up when the Sidonians, upon whom he relied for naval service, refused to
go against their own colony and kindred. Meanwhile, he sent for some of the
Fish Eaters from the city of Elephantine, who were well versed in the Ethiopian
language. He sent them as spies to the Ethiopians, who were known as the Long
Lived. These are a generally very long-lived people who dwell in the parts of
Africa south of Egypt, bordering on the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. The spies
went under the pretence of bearing gifts for their king, and wanting to see what
truth there was in the story of a Table of the Sun in that country. In their
presence, the king of Ethiopia took his bow and bent it, and then straightened
it again. He handed it to them to carry to Cambyses, and asked them to tell him
that when his Persians were able to bend such bows as these with ease, then and
not before, would he be able to gather a large army and fight against the
long-lived Ethiopians. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 17-25. 2:25-35}
984. Cambyses' full brother, Smerdis or Tanyoxarces, tried to bend this bow and
came within two fingers' breadth of the notch, but none of the other Persians
came that close. Out of envy, Cambyses dismissed him and sent him to Persia.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 30. 2:39} [L152] [E106]
985. In a rage, Cambyses ordered an expedition against Ethiopia, without making
any provisions for grain or food. Like a mad man, as soon as he had heard what
his Fish Eaters had said, he immediately marched off with all his own foot
soldiers, ordering the Greeks to stay behind. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 25.
2:33}
986. When he came as far as Thebes in Egypt, he selected about fifty thousand
of his army and sent them to rob the land first, and then to burn the temple of
Jupiter Ammon, making slaves of all the inhabitants of the place as they did so.
Then he marched on toward Ethiopia. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 25. 2:33} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 10. c. 14. s. 3. 4:77}
987. On that journey, Cambyses subdued those Ethiopians who bordered on the
lower parts of Egypt, and who lived in the city of Nysa and kept the holy days
to Dionysus. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 97. 2:125} Cambyses renamed Saba, the
capital of the Ethiopians, and the island on which it stood, Meroes in honour of
Meroe, who was his wife and his sister. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 5.
(790) 8:19} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 2. c. 10. s. 2. (249) 4:273} She had
accompanied him into Egypt and later died there. No other king of Persia before
him had married his sister. Shortly after this, he married his older sister
Atossa. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 31. 2:41} After his death, she married Magus,
and after him she married Darius Hystasphes. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 68,88.
2:89,115}
988. The army, which set out from Thebes against the Ammonians, travelled seven
days across the sands before coming to the city of Oasis. (This city was
inhabited by those Samians who were of the Aeschrionian tribe.) From there they
came to a country called The Isle of the Blest.
989. As they marched from there across the sandy plains and were midway between
Oasis and Ammonia, it is said that while they were eating, a very strong wind
arose out of the south. It brought those shifting sands upon them and
overwhelmed them all. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 26. 2:35,37} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 1. c. 9.} Fifty thousand men died in that sand storm. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 26. s. 6. 7:303}
990. The army which was going with him against the Ethiopians ran out of
provisions after five days. When they had lost hope of any food, they cast lots
and started to eat one another. When Cambyses saw this, he returned to Thebes,
having lost most of his army. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 25. 2:35} {*Seneca,
Natural Questions, l. 2. c. 30. s. 2. 7:147,149} Lucan stated: {*Lucan, l.
10. (280) 1:611}
And mad Cambyses, marching toward the east,
Came to the long-lived Ethiopians:
And wanting food, his own men up did eat;
And yet the head of the Nile never found.
991. When Cambyses returned to Memphis, he discharged his Greeks and shipped
them home. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 25. 2:35} He saw the Egyptians keeping a
holy day because their god Apis had appeared to them. Apis was a sacred bull
worshipped in the temple of Ptah in Memphis. {*OCD, Apis, 1:121} Cambyses
thought they had celebrated for joy at his disastrous journey. He sent for Apis
and killed the animal with his sword. He commanded all his priests to be
scourged with whips, and the rest of the Egyptians who were found keeping the
holy day were to be killed by his soldiers. [L153] Apis was wounded by him and
died in the temple. The priests took the body of the beast and secretly buried
it. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 27-29. 2:37,39}
992. The Egyptians said that Cambyses, who was mentally unstable, now went
stark raving mad. This first manifested itself when he killed his own brother.
After he had sent him to Persia (as was said before), Cambyses dreamed that a
messenger arrived from there to tell him that Smerdis, his brother, was sitting
on the regal throne and touching the heavens with his head. He was astonished
by this dream and immediately sent Prexaspes, his most trusted friend, to kill
his brother Smerdis. When he came to Susa, he had him murdered. Some say he
took him on a hunting trip, others report that he lured him along as far as the
Persian Gulf and drowned him in it. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 30. 2:39}
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 65. 2:83-87} Justin stated that this charge was
committed to Cometes, one of the Magi, and that he did not murder Smerdis or
Merges until after Cambyses was dead. {Justin, Trogus, l. 1. c. 9.} Ctesias
disagreed with Herodotus. He said that Spendahates, one of the Magi, was
scourged by Tanyaxares, who was a commander of Smerdis. Spendahates therefore
accused him to Cambyses of seeking to make himself king. [E107] On the advice
of Spendahates, Smerdis was ordered to come from from Bactria to Egypt. He was
forced to kill himself by drinking bull's blood. Spendahates was sent back into
Bactria, and because he looked like Tanyoxarces or Smerdis, he ruled there in
his place.
3481 AM, 4191 JP, 523 BC
993. Cyrus had previously appointed Oroetes, a Persian, to replace Harpagus as
governor of Sardis and of all the provinces of Lydia, Ionia and Phrygia. He is
said to have sent a messenger to Polycrates of Samos to consult him on a certain
matter. When the messenger arrived, Polycrates was lying on his bed in his
chamber, with Anacreon of Teos sitting by him. He was that excellent lyrical
poet of Ionia who, according to Clement of Alexandria, was the first inventor of
love songs. Polycrates totally ignored the messenger. Oroetes resolved to
avenge this insult. He sent Myrtus, a Lydian, the son of Gyges, with another
message to Polycrates, saying that for fear of Cambyses he would defect to him
with all his treasure. Polycrates heeded the message and quickly went to
Oroetes in person, accompanied by Democedes, a noted physician of Croton in
Italy. When he came as far as Magnesia, Oroetes captured and crucified him. He
let the Samians who came with him go free. The rest of them, including
Democedes, were made his slaves. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 120-127. 2:149-155}
Valerius stated that Polycrates was crucified by Oroetes (which is what both he,
and Cicero, called him, {*Cicero, De Finibus, l. 5. c. 30. 17:497}), who was
governor under king Darius on the highest peak of Mount Mycale, {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 6. c. 9. ext. 5. 2:97} that is, in that foreland of Ionia
which looked toward Samos. At that time, Darius was one of the bodyguards to
Cambyses and held no high office in the Persian empire. Herodotus stated that
during Cambyses' expedition into Egypt, Syloson, the brother of Polycrates,
presented Cambyses with a most luxuriant robe publicly at Memphis. Hence the
saying: Syloson's robe. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 139,140. 2:173} He also said
that Polycrates came to a foul end and that this happened while Cambyses was in
Egypt. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 120. 2:149} [L154] Pliny confirmed this in
saying that it happened in the 230th year after the building of Rome, which,
according to Varro, was in the 64th Olympiad. {*Pliny, l. 33. c. 6. (28)
9:25}
994. When Cambyses saw his wife Meroe grieving for her brother Smerdis, he
killed her too. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 31,32. 2:41,43}
995. In the seventh year of Cambyses, the 225th year of Nabonassar's epoch, on
the seventeenth day of the Egyptian month of Phamenoth (July 16), one hour
before midnight, the moon was eclipsed at Babylon. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l.
5. c. 14.}
996. Cambyses killed Prexaspes' son, who was his cup bearer, with an arrow.
The next day he had twelve principal men of the Persians buried alive with their
heads downward, though they had done him no harm. He ordered that Croesus, who
had for some time been king of Lydia, be executed because he had admonished him,
in a fair and friendly manner, not to do such things. He changed his mind
before the execution, but killed those whom he had appointed to kill Croesus.
He played many similar mad pranks on the Persians and on his friends while he
stayed at Memphis. He opened many of their sepulchres to see the bodies of
those who lay buried there. He went into the temple of Vulcan, where he laughed
exceedingly and mocked his image. Another time he went into the temple of the
Cabeiri, where only the priests were to go. After jeering their images, he had
them all burned. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 34-38. 2:45-51} He either burned
down, pulled down, defaced or destroyed the remainder of their temples and did
the same to their obelisks. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 25. 8:79}
3482 AM, 4192 JP, 522 BC
997. Patizithes, one of the Magi whom Cambyses had left to oversee his private
estate at home, found out about the death of Smerdis. This was a closely
guarded secret known only to a few Persians. He placed on the throne his own
brother, who was also called Smerdis, and who had very similar features to the
dead man. He immediately sent messengers to all parts of the empire and to the
rest of the army in Egypt, that from now on they should obey only Smerdis, the
son of Cyrus, and not Cambyses. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 61. 2:79} Justin
stated that Cometes, one of the Magi, who killed Merges or Smerdis (to whom the
kingdom rightfully belonged after Cambyses), set up his own brother Oropastes,
who also closely resembled Smerdis. {Justin, Trogus, l. 1. c. 9.} However,
Ctesias wrote that Bagabates, the eunuch, and Artasyras, a Hyrcanian, who were
with Cambyses in Egypt and of great authority under him, took counsel while
Cambyses was still living. They planned to set up as king Spendahates, one of
the Magi who also looked very much like Smerdis, when Cambyses died.
998. Cambyses sent to the oracle of Butis. When it answered that he would die
at Ecbatana, Cambyses assumed this to be the Ecbatana in Media, where all his
treasure was. [E108]
999. While he was staying at Ecbatana in Syria, a messenger brought him word of
what Patizithes had commanded. When he heard of the conspiracy against him, he
leaped on his horse, intending to march quickly with his army to Susa against
the conspirators. As he was leaping, his sword fell out of its scabbard and ran
into his thigh. On the twentieth day after the accident, he sent for the nobles
of Persia to come to him. He told them of the death of his brother and the
treason of the Magi against himself. He charged them that they were by no means
to allow the kingdom to return to the Medes, for Magus, the brother of
Patizithes, was a Median. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 73. 2:97} {*Herodotus, l.
3. c. 126. 2:155} Soon after this, his wound festered and he died after
having reigned only seven years and five months. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c.
62-66. 2:79-87} [L155] Josephus stated that on his return from Egypt, he died
at Damascus, {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 2. s. 2. (30) 6:329} thus
writing Damascus for Ecbatana in Syria, as Herodotus had. Ctesias stated that
he came as far as Babylon and that it was there that he was wounded and died.
He wrote of his death and the signs leading up to it: {Ctesias}
"When Cambyses was offering sacrifices, the beasts' throats were cut and no
blood came out. He was much amazed. Roxane bore him a boy without a head and
that amazed him more. The Magi told him that this portended that he should
leave no successor of his own. His mother also appeared to him in a dream and
seemed to threaten him with destruction, for his brother's death. This troubled
him yet more than all the other signs. When he came to Babylon, he sat there
whittling a little stick with a knife to pass the time. By chance he hurt a
muscle in his thigh and died eleven days later."
When he left Egypt, he left Aryander to govern it in his place. {*Herodotus, l.
4. c. 166. 2:371}
1000. After Cambyses died, the Persians did not know that they had Magus for
their king. They thought Cambyses' brother had indeed succeeded him in the
kingdom. Prexaspes vouched for this and denied that he had killed him, nor was
it in truth now safe for him to confess that he had killed a son of Cyrus.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 66. 2:87} The ruse was easy to conceal, for among the
Persians it was proper that the king be rarely seen in public. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 1. c. 9.} So it came to pass that this Magus or Smerdis, who impersonated
Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, peacefully held the kingdom for seven whole months,
thus making up the eighth year of Cambyses' reign. During that time he spared
no cost to show all kinds of bounty and goodwill toward the subjects in all the
empire. As soon as he took the title of king, he sent couriers throughout the
empire and proclaimed three years of freedom from paying taxes and military
service. After he died, Asia and all the other countries except the Persians,
mourned for him. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 67. 2:87} He also took Atossa, the
daughter of Cyrus, and all the rest of the wives of Cambyses. {*Herodotus, l.
3. c. 68,88. 2:89,115}
1001. Ammianus Marcellinus, citing ancient books, reported that after Cambyses'
death seven Magi took over the management of the kingdom of Persia. {*Ammianus
Marcellinus, l. 23. c. 6. s. 36. 2:369} Valerius Maximus agreed with this
also. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 2. ext. 6. 2:317} Of the seven men,
two were chiefs, named by Herodotus: Patizithes, whom Trogus called Cometes, and
his brother, who was king in name only by impersonating the son of Cyrus. He
was called Smerdis by Herodotus, Mardus by Eschylus, Spendahates by Ctesias, and
Oropastes by Trogus, while the scriptures identify him as Artaxerxes.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 61. 2:79} {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 78. 2:101,102}
1002. The Samaritans sent letters to this Artaxerxes asking him to forbid the
further building of Jerusalem. They claimed it was a rebellious and wicked
place which, if it were rebuilt, would never pay tribute to the kings of Persia.
{Ezr 4:7-16}
3483a AM, 4192 JP, 522 BC
1003. Artaxerxes sent a letter forbidding the rebuilding of Jerusalem until he
should so order. The Samaritans, encouraged by this reply, came swiftly to
Jerusalem and forced the Jews to stop building both the city and the temple,
although Cyrus had expressly ordered them to finish the temple. [L156] They
stopped all work until the second year of the reign of Darius. {Ezr 4:17-24}
1004. During the time that Artaxerxes held the kingdom, Oroetes the Persian
ruled at Sardis. He was reproached by Mitrobates, governor of Dascylium in Asia
Minor, for not having taken and annexed to his government the isle of Samos. In
the lifetime of Polycrates, Oroetes took and killed Mitrobates and Mitrobates'
son, Cranaspes, both men of good esteem among the Persians. He committed other
outrages also, such as murdering a messenger sent from Darius because he told
him something displeasing. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 126. 2:155}
3483b AM, 4193 JP, 521 BC
1005. Ctesias stated that Isabates, the eunuch, who had been charged to carry
the body of Cambyses into Persia, disclosed the plot of the Magi to the army.
When he was pursued by them, he fled for safety into a temple, where they
decapitated him. Herodotus, however, said that the matter was first brought to
light eight months after Cambyses' death, by the cunning of Otanes, the son of
Pharnaspes, and was later more fully explained by Prexaspes. [E109] When
Prexaspes was in a certain tower, he called the people to him and from there
declared to them that Cambyses ordered him to murder his brother Smerdis, the
son of Cyrus, and that they were being ruled by the Magi. When he had said
this, he threw himself down headlong among them. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c.
68,75. 2:89,99} Justin, from Herodotus and Trogus Pompeius, recorded Otanes'
disclosure and the destruction of the Magi as follows: {Justin, Trogus, l. 1.
c. 9.}
"Ostanes (who is that Otanes) sent a messenger to his daughter, who was one of
the concubines of the king, and inquired whether it was a son of Cyrus who was
king. She replied that she did not know, nor could she ask the other
concubines, because they were kept in seclusion from each other. Then he
advised her that when her turn came to lie with him, she was to feel his head as
he lay asleep. For Cambyses, or (as Herodotus has it) Cyrus, had Magus' ears
cut off. Later she assured him that the king had no ears. He told the princes
of Persia, swearing an oath with them, and together they conspired against the
impostor king. There were seven of them involved in this. Lest the matter be
discovered, they hid a dagger in their coats and immediately went to the place
where the king was, killing those who stood in their way. At last they came to
where the Magi were assembled. The Magi killed two of the conspirators.
Herodotus, however, maintained they stated they were only wounded. They were
all apprehended by the Magi, who outnumbered them. Gobryas held one of them
about the middle. When his companions could not get close enough to Magus to
kill him, for fear of hurting Gobryas, he bade them kill Magus through his body.
Fortunately, they killed Magus, and did not harm Gobryas."
1006. According to Ctesias, the names of these seven Persians (whom Jerome,
writing on Daniel, {Da 11:2} called the Magi) were as follows: Onophas, Iderues,
Naradobates, Mardonius, Barises, Artaphernes and Darius, the son of Hystaspes.
Herodotus called them Otanes, Hydarves, Megabyzus, Gobryas, Aspathines,
Intaphernes and Darius. Darius had recently arrived there from Susa, where his
father Hystaspes was governor. Ctesias and Herodotus stated that the Persians
always kept a yearly festival upon the day when the Magi were overthrown.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 70,79. 2:91,105}
1007. Six days after the Magi were overthrown, those seven Persians met to
decide what form of government suited Persia best. [L157] Otanes advised an
aristocracy, Megabyzus an oligarchy, but Darius persuaded them to adopt a
monarchy. Darius' opinion prevailed and was carried by majority vote. Otanes
resigned all his rights to the other six on the condition that neither he
himself, nor any of his descendants, should ever be subject to any of them or
their posterity. Of all the Persians, only his family were left free and not
subject to the king's command, provided that they broke no law of the Persians.
Since he had been the first to act and organize the conspiracy, they thought it
fit to heap all kinds of magnificence and honour upon him and his posterity.
Each year he was presented with a Median Robe. For the election of a new king,
they agreed on the following method. Each of them should get on horseback a
little before sunrise and the rider of whichever horse happened to neigh first
after the sun was up would become king in Cambyses' place. The horse of Darius,
the son of Hystaspes, by the craft and cunning of his groom Oebares, neighed
first. All the rest leaped off their horses and adored Darius, crying, God save
the king. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 80-88. 2:105-117}
1008. Each of the seven had the following privileges: First, they could come to
court whenever they pleased and have free access to the king (unless he was in
bed with the queen) without any notice. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 84,118.
2:113,145} Secondly, they had the right to wear their turbans differently from
all other men. Only the king and his heir wore their turbans upright.
{*Seneca, On Benefits, l. 6. c. 31. s. 12. 3:431} {*Plutarch,
Themistocles, l. 1. c. 29. s. 5. 2:81} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c.
26. s. 2. 11:191} The rest of the nobility wore them hanging backward; but it
was granted to these men and their posterity that they should wear them pointing
forward, because when they had gone to kill the Magi, they had used this as a
sign among themselves. {*Plutarch, Precepts of Statecraft, l. 1. c. 27.
10:273} Darius had given this as a sign for each to know one another by in the
dark. They were to turn around the buckle that fastened their turbans at the
back, and wear it on the front. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.}
1009. The greatest privilege granted to them was that, although the king had a
perpetual dictatorship over them, each man in turn would have a tribunal power
with him. [E110] I deduce this from the following: First, these conspirators
foresaw that they would prove burdensome (and, I ask, how more so than in this
way?) to Darius, so they bound him with an oath, which was most religiously
observed among the Persians. Darius swore that he would never put any of them
to death, either by poison, or sword, or by any violent way, or by starving
them. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 2. ext. 6. 2:317,319} Secondly,
because Eschylus (who was in the battle against the Persians at Marathon) named
two kings successively between the slaughter of the Magi and the reign of
Darius, namely Maraphis and Artaphernes. The first seems to be the one whom
Ctesias called Mardonius and the other Artaphernes. Lastly, in Ezra, in the
edict of Darius, we find Artaxerxes, also referred to as the King of Persia,
{Ezr 6:14} to have given his consent for the rebuilding of the temple in the
second year of his reign. It is hard to understand this to mean any other than
Artaphernes.
1010. In the beginning of his reign, Darius took Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus,
who had formerly been married to her own brother, Cambyses, and afterward to
Magus, who had married her. [L158] He planned to establish his kingdom more
firmly by marrying into royalty, so that the kingdom might not appear to have
moved to another family, but rather to have remained in the family of Cyrus.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 88. 2:115} {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 2. 3:303}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 1. c. 10.} He was first called Ochus, {*Valerius Maximus,
l. 9. c. 2. ext. 6. 2:317} yet later, when he took over the kingdom of
Cambyses, he took his surname also. So I conceive that he was Achash-veroth or
Ahasuerus, who in the story of Esther is said to have reigned from India to
Ethiopia, over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces. His chief wife Atossa
was none other than Vashti, as mentioned in the book of Esther.
1011. Oroetes still continued as governor at Sardis and kept a thousand
Persians about him as his personal guards. Darius sent his royal letters by
Bagaeus, the son of Artontes, to the soldiers there. When the soldiers read the
letters, they killed Oroetes. His goods were confiscated and brought to Susa.
Democedes, a physician of Croton, whom he had made his slave, was also taken to
Susa. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 127-129. 2:157,159}
1012. It happened later that Darius fell from his horse while hunting and
wrenched his foot badly. The Egyptian surgeons sought to straighten it, but
their methods were so violent that he could not sleep for seven days. On the
eighth day, Democedes was brought to him in shackles, in a poor and ragged
condition. With gentleness he applied the Greek remedies, so that the king
quickly went to sleep again and in a short time recovered. He was rewarded with
rich gifts by the king and his wives. He lived in a good house in Susa and sat
at the table with the king. He had everything that his heart could wish for,
except that he was forbidden to go to Greece again. When Darius would have hung
his Egyptian physicians because a Greek could do more to cure him than they all
could, Democedes obtained their pardon from the king. There was a certain
fortune teller of Elean, who had travelled in his company, having followed
Polycrates to Magnesia and been brought to Susa with the rest of Oroetes'
slaves. Democedes also obtained his freedom. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c.
129,130,132. 2:159-163}
1013. It happened later that Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus and wife of Darius,
had an ulcer in her breast. After it was lanced, it spread further and further.
When Democedes had cured her of that sore, he prevailed upon her to have the
king make war on Greece. Darius at once called fifteen choice men, all
Persians. He commanded them to follow Democedes and at his directions to spy
out all the maritime places of Greece, and on their return to bring Democedes
back again to him. They went into Phoenicia and from there to Sidon, where they
outfitted themselves with ships and other provisions and sailed to Greece. They
viewed all the sea coasts of Greece and drew maps. They were the first Persian
spies that ever came to Greece. When they had viewed the most famous cities and
places in the heart of Greece, they moved on from there to Tarentum in Italy.
From there, Democedes stole away to Croton, where his own home was, and there
married the daughter of that famous wrestler, Milon of Croton. He never
returned to Darius. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 133-138. 2:163-173} {*Athenaeus,
l. 12. (522bc) 5:358} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 8. c. 17. 1:277}
3484a AM, 4193 JP, 521 BC
1014. This was the third sabbatical year held by the Jews, after their return
from Babylon.
3484c AM, 4194 JP, 520 BC
1015. Mordecai, the Jew, in the Greek edition of Esther {Apc Est 11:1-12}, is
said to have had a dream on the first day of the month of Nisan, in the second
year of the reign of Artaxerxes the Great (or Ahasuerus or Darius, the son of
Hystaspes), concerning a river signifying Esther and two dragons portending
himself and Haman. {Apc Est 10:4-13} [L159] [E111]
3484d AM, 4194 JP, 520 BC
1016. In the second year of king Darius, which was in the 65th Olympiad, Haggai
the prophet reproved the Jews for their idleness in not rebuilding the temple.
Their neglect in this matter was the cause of crop failures and other plagues
that continually happened to them between the first and third Sabbatical years.
He earnestly persuaded them to change their ways. Then Zerubbabel, the governor
of the Jews and Joshua, the high priest, and all the people earnestly began to
rebuild the temple on the twenty-fourth day of the same month. {Hag 1:1-15}
3485a AM, 4194 JP, 520 BC
1017. On the twenty-first day of the seventh month in the same year, Haggai
encouraged the Jews to persevere in the work with a promise of God's presence
and blessing on them. The beginnings of this present structure did not compare
with the glory of the former temple of sixty-nine years earlier. However, he
told them that the Messiah, who was born five hundred and sixteen years later,
as it turned out, would be first shown in this temple, and that on account of
this, peace would flow to all nations. If they considered that fact, then they
would have to acknowledge that the glory of this temple would excel the beauty
of the former. {Hag 2:1-9}
1018. In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the people were
exhorted to repentance by Zechariah, the son of Berachiah. {Zec 1:1-6}
1019. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of this same second year,
about halfway between seedtime (which immediately followed the end of the
sabbatical year) and the harvest, the temple began to be built on its old
foundations by Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, with the assistance of
the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. {Ezr 5:1,2 Hag 2:10,18,19}
1020. On the same twenty-fourth day, the two last prophecies of Haggai were
revealed to him. One vision concerned the end of the plagues which they were
experiencing. The other was about the overthrow of various kingdoms and the
exaltation of Zerubbabel. {Hag 2:10-23}
3485b AM, 4195 JP, 519 BC
1021. Tatnai, governor of the countries on the west side of the Euphrates
River, together with Shetharboznai and the Apharsachites, their associates, came
to Jerusalem to hinder the work on the temple. They asked the elders of the
Jews by whose command they were doing it. The elders replied that they were
doing it by the authority of the edict of Cyrus, and continued with their work.
{Ezr 5:3-5,13,16} The laws of the Medes and Persians were perpetual and
unalterable. {Da 6:8,12 Es 1:19 8:8} Therefore, it was lawful for the Jews to
proceed in the work without expecting any new order about it.
1022. Their enemies sent a letter to Darius containing the Jews' answer and
desiring that a search might be made of the records at Babylon. They wanted to
see whether or not any such grant had been made by Cyrus, and desired to know
the king's further pleasure concerning this. {Ezr 5:5-17}
1023. The work was thus interrupted, and the famine continued in Judah because
the grain was not yet ripe. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of
Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the prophet Zechariah had a vision of
horsemen galloping up and down over the face of the whole earth, which was at
rest and quiet. [L160] When in the vision the prophet asked what this meant,
God graciously answered with many comforting words to the angel who was
entreating God to cease his anger and fury against the Jews, Jerusalem and the
cities of Judah. These seventy years mentioned in the vision are to be reckoned
from the coming of the Babylonians and their last siege laid to Jerusalem. {See
note on 3415c AM. <<841>>} {Jer 34:1 Eze 5:12,13 Zec 1:7-13} This
exhortation,
which is recorded in Zechariah, {Zec 2:6,7} was sent to the Jews still remaining
in Babylon. They were told to get out as fast as possible, to avoid that
calamity which Darius brought upon Babylon a while later, when he took it.
1024. The edict of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the temple was found at Achmetha
or Ecbatana, in the province of the Medes. Darius sent this and a second
command in favour of the Jews to Tatnai and his companions. They were ordered
not to hinder the work of the Lord's house but help it along. The costs of the
project were to be taken from the king's tribute. Tatnai and his companions
were to pay the costs for the daily sacrifices that were to be offered by the
priests at Jerusalem. With this new command, and the encouragement of Haggai
and Zechariah, they enthusiastically completed the work. {Ezr 6:1-14}
1025. I think that at this time Artaxerxes, who signed with Darius in this
edict {Ezr 6:14} and shared power with him in ruling the kingdom, was one of the
seven princes of Persia who killed Magus. This is the one whom Eschylus (in
Persis) called Artaphernes Hellanicus, or (as his scholiast termed him),
Daphernes. According to Ctesias, he was Artaphernes, and Herodotus called him
Intaphernes. [E112] Therefore, as one of these seven princes, according to the
privilege granted by Darius of having access to him without notice, he was
detained by the doorkeepers of the bedchamber. They told him that the king was
asleep with the queen. He thought they lied to him, so he drew his scimitar and
cut off both their ears and noses, tied the reigns of a horse about both their
necks and sent them running. When they came to the king they showed him what
they had suffered and why. The king sent for the rest of the seven princes
individually, fearing that this might have been done by their common consent.
When he found this not to be the case, he executed Intaphernes and all his sons
except the eldest, whom he spared at his mother's petition. Herodotus related
this matter as having occurred shortly after the execution of the Magi.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 118,119. 2:145-149} Valerius, however, who followed
other authors, stated that Darius found himself checked by these princes and put
them all to death by a newly devised type of punishment. {*Valerius Maximus, l.
9. c. 2. ext. 6. 2:319} He said that Darius made a lower room which he
filled with cinders, and supported the room over it with only one post. When he
had feasted and filled them with food and drink, he put them all into that upper
room. When they were all fast asleep, he had the post that supported the room
removed and they all fell into the cinders in the lower room and died.
1026. Now, although it is not very likely that they perished in this manner, it
is nonetheless very credible that he put them out of the government of the
kingdom, and hence eased himself of their heavy yoke.
3485c AM, 4195 JP, 519 BC
1027. From that time on, Darius, who was called Ahasuerus in the Scriptures,
was an absolute monarch. Therefore, Ahasuerus made a feast in the third year,
reckoned from the beginning of his reign in his palace at Susa. He wanted to
show the glory of his kingdom and magnificence of his state. He invited all the
governors and great men of his dominions to the feast, which lasted a hundred
and eighty days. {Es 1:2-4} [L161] Pliny stated that Susa was built by this
Darius. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 31. (133) 2:439} Aelian stated rather that Susa
was embellished with magnificent palaces by Darius, while Herodotus stated that
he made this his home, and kept all his treasure there. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c.
49. 3:53}
3486 AM, 4196 JP, 518 BC
1028. After this half-year long banquet was over, there followed another one
lasting seven days. Everyone in Susa was invited. The men were sitting with
the king in the court of the garden of the king's house, and the women were
within the palace itself with Vashti, the queen, who was Atossa, the daughter of
Cyrus. {Es 1:5-9}
1029. On the last day of this feast, the king, being somewhat drunk, wanted to
show off the beauty of his queen to the men, and sent for her to come to him.
She refused, and Darius divorced her on the advice of Memucan, one of the seven
wise men of the Medes and Persians, who knew the laws and statutes of those
countries. For these were the king's judges, who judged in all matters arising
among the Persians and revealed all cases in point of law. {*Herodotus, l. 3.
c. 14. 2:17-21} {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 31. 2:41} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l.
1. c. 29. s. 4. 11:199} After this, they made a law that every man should
be master in his own house. {Es 1:10-22}
1030. Consequently, a search was made for all the fair damsels that were to be
found in the empire, to find a new queen for the king, to replace Vashti. Among
the ones selected was Hadassah, a damsel of the Jews, who was also called
Esther, a woman of Benjamin. {Es 2:1-8}
3487a AM, 4196 JP, 518 BC
1031. In the fourth year of Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month,
called Chisleu, the Jews, through Sharezer and Regemmelech, consulted with the
priests and prophets concerning the appointed fast to be held to commemorate the
day of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple. God replied
that those fasts of the fifth and seventh months, which they had observed for
seventy years, displeased him, and reminded him of their obstinacy and sins,
which had caused that terrible desolation in the first place. {Zec 7:1-14} From
the time of this destruction, and the death of Gedaliah two months later (which
was the reason for the fast in the seventh month), to the very time of this
prophecy, we, in our chronology, count seventy years.
1032. In the book of Zechariah, God told them that he would restore Jerusalem
and put an end to all their former miseries, and that he would change their
fasts into mirth and gladness. {Zec 8:1-23} These fasts were:
a) Fourth month, ninth day when the city was taken
b) Fifth month, tenth day when the temple was burned
c) Seventh month, when Gedaliah was murdered and they were scattered among the
nations
d) Tenth month, tenth day when Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city under Zedekiah.
[E113]
3489b AM, 4199 JP, 515 BC
1033. Toward the end of the sixth year of Darius on the third day of the
twelfth month, called Adar, the temple was completed. At its dedication, the
Israelites who had returned from the captivity celebrated with great joy and
many sacrifices, and the priests and Levites once again performed their offices
and duties in the temple. {Ezr 6:15-18}
1034. On the fourteenth day of the first month, they joyfully celebrated the
first Passover in the second temple, and kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for
seven days, for God had favourably inclined the heart of Darius, king of
Assyria, toward them. {Ezr 6:19,22} After a twenty-month siege, he took Babylon
with the help of Zopyrus. [L162] He could now rightly be called king of the
Assyrians as well as of the Persians. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 153. 2:187}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 1. fin.}
3490a AM, 4199 JP, 515 BC
1035. When Esther's turn came to be brought before king Ahasuerus, she was
brought from the house of the women to the king's chamber by Hegai, the eunuch.
{Es 2:12,15} {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 69. 2:91}
"The women in Persia come round in their turns, to their husbands' beds."
1036. In the seventh year of Ahasuerus' reign, in the tenth month called
Tebeth, when Esther came to the king, she found grace and won his favour and
approval more than all the other maidens. He put the crown of the kingdom upon
her head and made her queen in Vashti's stead. {Es 2:16,17} From this I gather
that as Vashti was Atossa, so Esther was the one Herodotus called the virgin,
Artystone. He said that Darius loved her more than all his wives, and made a
solid gold statue of her. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 88. 2:117} {*Herodotus, l.
7. c. 69. 3:383} Hadassah was another name given to Esther and sounds much
like Atossa. Herodotus makes Artystone to have been Cyrus' daughter and
Atossa's sister. We do not know whether Herodotus was not so well skilled in
the Persian genealogies, or whether the Persians themselves, out of sheer envy,
concealed the name of Esther.
3490b AM, 4200 JP, 514 BC
1037. In honour of his new marriage, Ahasuerus made a most sumptuous feast for
all his princes and servants and called it Esther's feast. He relieved the
provinces of many taxes and distributed gifts commensurate with the wealth of so
great a king. {Es 2:18}
3491a AM, 4200 JP, 514 BC
1038. The Nineteenth Jubilee.
3491b AM, 4201 JP, 513 BC
1038a. Hippias, in the fourth year before his banishment from Athens, gave his
daughter Archedice in marriage to Aeantides, the son of Hippocles, the tyrant of
Lampsacus, because he saw that that family had great influence with King Darius.
He foresaw that some misfortune might befall him and began to look for support
abroad. {*Thucydides, l. 6. c. 59. 3:287}
3494b AM, 4204 JP, 510 BC
1039. Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, of the tribe of the Amalekites,
hated the Jew Mordecai because he would not fall down and adore him as others
did. He resolved on his account to take revenge on all the Jewish nation (which
had always been at odds with his country {De 25:19}) and to destroy it. To
establish a good time to do this, he cast pur that is, lots, before him on the
first month called Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus. The lot fell
on the twelfth month of Adar. {Es 3:1-7}
1040. For vacuous reasons, he offered Ahasuerus ten thousand talents of silver
(which the king would not accept), and obtained a grant from him to destroy the
Jews. {Es 3:7-11}
1041. On the thirteenth day of the first month, the king's edict was proclaimed
in Susa, and copies of it were dispatched by couriers into all the provinces of
the empire. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar, all Jews
without regard to sex or age were to be killed. {Es 3:12-15} When it was
announced, Mordecai, Esther and all the Jews humbled themselves before the Lord
in fasting and prayer. {Es 4:1-17} To this day, their posterity, in memory of
this, observe a solemn fast on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, which
they call Esther's fast.
1042. Esther went to the king in gorgeous apparel and was graciously received
by him. She invited the king to a banquet. Meanwhile, Haman was busy having a
gallows made for Mordecai. {Es 5:1-14}
1043. One night, when Ahasuerus could not sleep, he had the records read to
him. It was found that two of his servants, Bigthan and Teresh his doorkeepers,
had plotted his death and that Mordecai had revealed this conspiracy to him.
Thereupon, he ordered that Mordecai should be highly honoured publicly by none
other than Haman himself. {Es 6:1-14} [E114]
1044. Shortly after this, Haman was hung on the gallows he had made for
Mordecai. {Es 7:1-10} Haman's house was given to the queen. Mordecai, her
uncle, who had raised her, had great honours bestowed upon him. {Es
8:1,2,15-17}
1045. On the twenty-third day of the month of Sivan there was an edict
proclaimed at Susa, and copies of it were sent away speedily by couriers into
the hundred and twenty-seven provinces. It stated that the Jews, on the
thirteenth day of the month of Adar, which was the day appointed for their
massacre, could defend themselves and could kill any who had wanted to kill
them. They could keep the spoil of any man killed. In Susa and in all the
provinces there was great rejoicing among the Jews, and people in various
countries became Jews. {Es 8:9-17}
3494d AM, 4204 JP, 510 BC
1046. In the fourth year of his rule, Hippias was expelled from Athens by the
Lacedemonians and the faction of the Alcmaeonidae. He left the Athenians and
went first to Sigeum, from where he sailed to Lampsacus to his son-in-law
Aeantides, and from there he went to Darius. Twenty years later, as a very old
man, he went with the Persians on the expedition to Marathon. {*Thucydides, l.
6. c. 59. 3:287} Peisistratus, Hippias' father, had committed Sigeum in Troas
to Hegesistratus' son. This was a place to which Hippias, and later others of
the family of Peisistratus, could escape when in trouble. {*Herodotus, l. 5.
c. 65,91,94. 3:71,101,103,115}
3495b AM, 4205 JP, 509 BC
1047. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar, the Jews killed all
those who intended to kill them according to Haman's decree. In Susa and the
palace, they killed five hundred men together with Haman's ten sons. In the
rest of the provinces, they killed seventy-five thousand men, but did not touch
one penny of their goods. {Es 9:1-16} [L163]
1048. On the fourteenth day of the same month, the Jews in the provinces
stopped killing their enemies and had a feast, but at Susa the Jews were granted
one more day of vengeance by the king. They killed a further three hundred of
their enemies and hung the bodies of Haman's ten sons on the gallows. {Es
9:13-19}
1049. On the fifteenth day, the Jews who lived in Susa made merry and feasted.
{Es 9:18}
1050. Mordecai began the custom of keeping a holiday in remembrance of Purim on
the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar. This was established by
Esther, {Es 9:23-30} and is now the Jewish Shrovetide, when they read the
history of Esther. As often as the name of Haman is read, they rap and make a
noise with their hands or mallets on the desks in their synagogues.
3500 AM, 4210 JP, 504 BC
1051. On the isle of Naxos, some of the rich were expelled by the poor and
sought refuge with Aristagoras, son of Molpagoras and son-in-law and first
cousin on the mother's side, to Histiaeus, the tyrant of Miletus. Histiaeus had
left Aristagoras governor there on Naxos in his place, when Darius had honoured
him by taking him to Susa. Aristagoras related the matter to Artaphernes, who
was the son of Hystaspes and brother to Darius, governor of Ionia, who lived at
Sardis. [L164] He persuaded him to annex for the king, the islands of Naxos,
Paros and Andros and the rest of the Cyclades, all dependencies of Naxos.
Darius at Susa liked the idea, and in the following spring he furnished two
hundred ships for that war. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 30-31. 3:31-33}
3501c AM, 4211 JP, 503 BC
1052. Artaphernes made Megabates, a Persian and a close cousin to himself and
Darius, commander-in-chief of the Persian army. He ordered him to go to Miletus
with his fleet of two hundred ships, where he was to join forces with
Aristagoras and the Ionian army, which he did. They sailed from there to Chios,
but when they had spent four months in the siege of Naxos, a disagreement
occurred between Aristagoras and Artaphernes and nothing came of the siege, each
returning home again having accomplished nothing. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c.
32-34. 3:33-37}
3502b AM, 4212 JP, 502 BC
1053. Seventy years had elapsed from the taking of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar.
This was the number of years of the bondage of that city. {Isa 23:15,17} After
this time, it seems they lived in freedom from any foreign subjection, until the
time it was again taken by Alexander the Great.
1054. Aristagoras feared what might happen to him because he had not been able
to take Naxos. Because he had no money to pay his army, he began to think of
revolting from the Persians. It so happened that at exactly that time a
messenger came from Histiaeus in Babylon. His message was written in letters
made with hot irons upon the flesh of his head and now overgrown with hair. He
advised Aristagoras to defect from Darius and cause all Ionia to revolt, if he
could. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 35. 3:37,39} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 1.}
1055. Aristagoras told his friends of this, and persuaded them to side with
him. Hecataeus, the historian, tried in vain to prevent them from rebelling
against the king of Persia. The conspirators sent Iatrogoras to the army at
Miletus. [E115] On their return from Naxos, they remained at Miletus and by a
stratagem won over all the principal commanders of their fleet.
1056. Aristagoras now publicly revolted from Darius. He made a fair show of
giving liberty to the Milesians, by taking away the rulers that were in some
cities of Ionia. He then went to the Lacedemonians to ask for their help, but
they flatly refused. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 36-38. 3:39-43} {*Herodotus, l.
5. c. 49-51. 3:51-57}
3503a AM, 4212 JP, 502 BC
1057. In the twentieth year of the reign of Darius, the 245th year of
Nabonassar's era, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of Epeiph, according to
the Egyptian calendar (November 19), there was an eclipse of the moon at
Babylon, ending about midnight. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4. c. 9.}
3503b AM, 4213 JP, 501 BC
1058. The Lacedemonians sent to Sigeum for Hippias, the son of Peisistratus.
He went to Athens in the hope, which they had given him, that he might be
restored to power, but this was all in vain and he returned to Asia. He accused
the Athenians of many things to Artaphernes, hoping to bring Athens under the
subjection of Darius. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 91,96. 3:101,102,117}
1059. When the Athenians understood that Hippias had defamed them to
Artaphernes, they sent their messengers to Sardis to persuade the Persians not
to give credence to those banished from among the Athenians. However,
Artaphernes advised them that if they loved themselves and their own safety,
they should call Hippias back home and welcome him again. They refused any such
conditions. It happened that Aristagoras, the Milesian, returned empty-handed
from Sparta. He came to Athens and there obtained twenty ships to aid the
Ionians in their war against the Persians. They made Melanthius, an eminent man
in Athens, commander of this fleet, which, as Herodotus has well noted, was the
beginning of all the trouble between the Greeks and Persians. This was the
beginning of all the wars which occurred between the Greeks and the Persians and
which ended in the ruin of the Persian Empire. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 96,97.
3:117-121} [L165]
1060. When Aristagoras returned to Miletus, he persuaded the Paeonians to
return to their own country. Megabazus, the governor of Thrace, had carried
them away into Phrygia from their own country on the banks of the Strymon River
and on the authority of Darius, had settled them there. They now took with them
their wives and children and travelled to the sea coast. Some settled there for
fear of going any farther. The rest went to Chios, and from there sailed to
Lesbos and to Doriscus, from where they went overland into their own country.
{*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 98. 3:119,121}
3504 AM, 4214 JP, 500 BC
1061. The Athenian fleet arrived at Miletus. Five triremes of the Eretrians
came with them to help the Athenians. Aristagoras remained there, sending his
own brother Charopinus, commander over the Milesians, together with
Helmophantus, who commanded the rest of the Ionians, to fight against Sardis.
The Ionians, with the Athenians and Eretrians, sailed to Ephesus. They left
their ships at Coresus, a port of the Ephesians, and marched to Sardis. They
took and burned it all, except for the citadel, which Artaphernes kept for
himself. They even destroyed the temple of Cybele. When the Lydians and
Persians united forces, they defended and held the market place, through which
the Pactolus River ran. The fearful Ionians retired to the hill Tmolus next to
the market and fled to their ships by night. The Persians who lived on that
side of the Halys River gathered their forces and pursued them. They overtook
them near Ephesus, where they fought and routed them. Many were killed,
including Evalcides, captain of the Eretrians. He had won many garlands in many
of their games and was highly commended in the poetry of Simonides. Those who
escaped from the battle scattered into their various cities. The Athenians
abandoned the Ionian cause from that time on, although they were earnestly
entreated by Aristagoras to help the Ionians. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 99-103.
3:121-125}
1062. Onesilus deposed his older brother Gorgus, king of the Salaminians, and
forced him to flee over to the Medes for help. Onesilus caused the whole island
of Cyprus to defect from Darius, with the exception of the people of Amathus.
When he was besieging that city, Darius received news of the burning of Sardis
by the Athenians. He was very angry with the Athenians and ordered one of his
attendants to remind him of it three times, whenever he sat eating, by saying,
Master, remember the Athenians. He unwisely sent away Histiaeus, the brother of
Aristagoras, from Susa to Miletus and Histiaeus later became the ringleader of
the Ionian rebellion against him. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 104-106. 3:125-129}
1063. The Ionians sailed into the Hellespont and took Byzantium, along with
other cities in those parts. Sailing from there, they caused many of the cities
of Caria to join with them in this war against the Persians. When the city of
Caunus heard of the burning of Sardis, they decided to join them, even though
before this they had refused to do so. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 103. 3:125}
1064. At Clazomene, which was originally an island but later artificially
joined to the continent of Ionia by a neck of land, {*Strabo, l. 1. c. 3. s.
17. 1:217} [E116] Anaxagoras the philosopher, the son of Hegesibulus, was born
in the 70th Olympiad, according to Apollodorus. {*Diogenes Laertius, Anaxgoras,
l. 2. c. 3. (7) 1:137}
1065. While Onesilus and his army were besieging Amathus, he received news that
Artybius, a captain of the Persians, was heading to Cyprus with a very large
army. Onesilus sent to the Ionians for help and they immediately sailed to
Cyprus with a large fleet. The Persians left Cilicia and landed in Cyprus.
They marched to the city of Salamis and sent the Phoenicians with their ships to
take the point of a promontory in the island called the Keys of Cyprus. A naval
and land battle ensued. [L166] At sea that day, the Ionians, especially the
Samians, behaved valiantly and defeated the Phoenicians. On land, while the
rest were busy fighting, first Stesenor, tyrant of Curium, betrayed his
companions, and then presently the men of Salamis, who fought in chariots, did
the same. The whole army of the Cypriots was routed and many were killed.
Among the dead was Onesilus, the author of this war, and Aristocyprus, son of
Philocyprus and king of the Solians, whom Solon, while he was at Cyprus, had
greatly extolled in his poetry, more than all the other tyrants. When the
Ionians heard that Onesilus was dead, that the rest of the cities of Cyprus were
besieged, and that Salamis had welcomed back Gorgus their old king, they quickly
returned to Ionia. Of all the cities of Cyprus, Soli held out the longest, but
after four months, the Persians undermined the wall around the city and took it.
Hence, the Cypriots paid dearly for their one year of liberty and were again
reduced to slavery. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 108-116. 3:131-139}
3505 AM, 4215 JP, 499 BC
1066. The Persian leaders, Daurises, Hymaees and Otanes at Sardis, who had
married the daughters of Darius, pursued the Ionians who had helped in the
attack against Sardis. After they had routed them near Ephesus and driven them
aboard their ships, they divided the rest of the cities among themselves, so
they could conquer them. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 116. 3:139} Daurises subdued
the lands adjoining the Hellespont and in five days took the five cities,
Dardanus, Abydus, Percote, Lampsacus and Paesus. He was on his way from there
to the city of Parium when he received news that all Caria had revolted from the
king and joined with the Ionians. He abandoned his plan to take Parium and
marched with all his army to Caria. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 117. 3:139}
Hymaees subdued the lands about Propontis and took the city of Cius in Mysia.
When he heard that Daurises was marching from the Hellespont to Caria, he left
Propontis and marched into the Hellespont. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 122.
3:143} Artaphernes, the governor of Sardis, and Otanes, the third commander,
attacked Ionia and part of Aeolia. In Ionia, they took the city of Clazomene
and in Aeolia, the city of Cyme. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 123. 3:143} After
this, Anaxagoras met together with his men, to decide on a place to flee to. In
this meeting, Hecataeus, the historian, advised them to move to the isle of
Leros and fortify it, and to stay there until it was safe to return to Miletus.
Aristagoras advised them to sail to a place called Myrcinus, a city of Edonia.
These people lived on the bank of the Strymon River which his own brother
Histiaeus had formerly built. Aristagoras committed the government of Miletus
to Pythagoras and with a group of volunteers he sailed from there into Thrace
and took control of the area he had planned to take over. {*Herodotus, l. 5.
c. 124-126. 3:143-146}
1067. When Histiaeus, the tyrant of Miletus, was sent away from Susa by Darius,
he went to Sardis, where Artaphernes charged him with being the author of all
the unrest and rebellion in Ionia. He escaped by night to the coast and sailed
over to Chios. The people thought that he had been sent there by Darius to
enlist their support against the Greeks, and so they put him in irons. When
they understood that he had come to help the Greeks, they quickly set him free.
He immediately sent a message to Sardis, through Hermippus of Atarneus, to
persuade certain of the Persians to revolt. Artaphernes got wind of this when
he captured the messenger, and killed the Persians involved. When this plot
failed, Histiaeus had the men of Chios escort him back to Miletus. [L167] The
Milesians were glad to be rid of Aristagoras and did not want another tyrant in
his place, so when Histiaeus tried to get into the city secretly by night, the
men of Miletus wounded him in the thigh. Because he was expelled from there, he
returned again to Chios. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 1-5. 3:149-151}
3506 AM, 4216 JP, 498 BC
1068. Daurises, the Persian, led his army against the Carians. They met at a
place called the White Pillars near the Marsyas River. Pixodarus, the son of
Mausolus, a man of Cindya, who had married the daughter of Sienoses, the king of
Cilicia, advised the Carians to cross the Meander River, where they would have
the river behind them and await the enemy there and fight from this good
position. [E117] However, the opposite opinion prevailed, that the Persians
should fight the Carians with the river at their backs. This would cut off all
retreat and force the Persians to fight harder. When the Carians and Persians
fought near the Marsyas River, the battle was fierce and long. The Persians
lost two thousand men and the Carians ten thousand. The Carians fled to
Labraunda to the temple of Zeus and there decided what to do. Should they
submit to the Persians or abandon Asia? At this point, the Milesians with their
allies came to help them. Thus encouraged, they fought again with the Persians
who had invaded them. After a longer battle than the previous one, they fled
again. They and the Milesians lost very many men. After these great losses,
the Carians received more help, and fought with the Persians a third time. When
they heard that the Persians were sacking their cities, they lay in ambush for
them as they were marching to Mylasa. This was planned by Heraclides of Mylasa,
the son of Ibanollis. They attacked the Persians at night and slaughtered them.
The Persian commanders Daurises, Amorges, Sismaces and Myrsus, the son of Gyges,
were killed. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 118-121. 3:139-143}
1069. Hymaees, the Persian, who led his army into the country of the
Hellespont, defeated all the Aeolians who lived in the region of old Troy. He
also subdued the Gergithes, the rest of the ancient Teucrians. After this he
became sick and died at Troas. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 122. 3:143}
1070. When Histiaeus, the Milesian, could not get ships from Chios, he went to
Mitylene. Here the Lesbians let him have eight triremes and sailed with him to
Byzantium, where they intercepted certain ships of the Ionians who had come from
Pontus. These submitted to the leadership of Histiaeus. {*Herodotus, l. 6.
c. 5,26. 3:151,153,173}
1071. Aristagoras, Histiaeus' brother, was with his army at the siege of
Myrcinus, a city of Edonia. He and his men were killed by the Thracians, who
lied to him about granting him safe passage from the place. {*Herodotus, l. 5.
c. 126. 1:145} Thucydides reckoned that it was sixty-one years from this time
to the starting of a colony of the Athenians by Agnon, the son of Nicias, at
Amphipolis. {*Thucydides, l. 4. c. 102. s. 2. 2:387} Diodorus stated that
this took place in the 85th Olympiad. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 68. 5:71,73}
We followed Diodordus and ended the six year rebellion of the Ionians against
the Persians in the following year.
3507 AM, 4217 JP, 497 BC
1072. All the Persian commanders united in one large naval and land force to
take the city of Miletus. In the navy, the Phoenicians were the best sailors.
They were helped by the Cypriots (who had recently been subdued by the
Persians), the Cilicians and the Egyptians. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 6. 3:153}
This threat seems to be mentioned by Diogenes Laertius in letters which were
attributed to Anaximenes, the Milesian, written to Pythagoras, who was living at
Croton. {*Diogenes Laertius, Anaximenes, l. 2. c. 2. (5) 1:135} [L168]
Pythagoras lived there for twenty years and then went to Metapontus, where he
lived out the rest of his days. {Justin, Trogus, l. 20. c. 4.} This was the
fourth year of the 70th Olympiad, which took up part of this year and part of
the next year. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:189}
1073. The Ionian fleet had three hundred and fifty-three ships and the Persians
had six hundred. Aeaces, the son of Syloson, the tyrant of Samos, was now in
the Persian army, together with other tyrants of Ionia, who had been expelled by
Aristagoras. They tried to draw as many of their countrymen as they could from
the Ionian to the Persian side. The naval battle between the Phoenicians and
the Ionians happened at Lade, a little island lying opposite Miletus. Of the
sixty ships that came from the isle of Samos, fifty ships fled home from the
battle in a cowardly manner. Likewise, seventy more of the Lesbian ships and
others of the Ionians fled. There were a hundred ships of the isle of Chios
which fought valiantly, until at length, having taken many of the enemy's ships
and lost many of their own, they returned home with what they had left. Some
were closely pursued by the enemy and were run aground at the promontory of
Mycale. They escaped to shore and after travelling all night on foot, came
safely to Ephesus. Here, the women were celebrating their feast and sacrifices,
called Thesmophoria, in honour of their goddess, Ceres. The men of the city
thought that the Chians were thieves who had come to plunder them at that time.
They attacked them suddenly and killed them. Dionysius, captain of three ships
of the Phocaeans, captured three ships of the enemies. He did not sail to
Phocaea, which he knew was about to fall to the enemy with the rest of the
Ionian territories, but sailed directly to Phoenicia. Here he sank a number of
cargo ships and robbed them of their valuable cargo. He then set sail for
Sicily. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 7-17. 3:153-165} [E118]
1074. When the Persians had defeated the Ionians at sea, they attacked the
beleaguered city of Miletus, both by sea and land. They undermined its walls
with all types of engines of war and utterly overthrew and razed it to the
ground in the sixth year after Aristagoras began his rebellion against the king
of Persia. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 18. 3:165} Some of the Milesians, who
escaped with certain of the Samians, started a colony in Sicily. {*Herodotus,
l. 6. c. 22. 3:169} The rest were carried away to Susa. Darius inflicted no
further punishment on them and settled them in the city of Ampa on the Persian
Gulf, near the mouth of the Tigris River. The Persians took the plain and low
grounds lying near the city of Miletus and gave the mountainous parts to the
Carians from Pedasa. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 20. 3:167}
1075. After the taking of Miletus, the Carians were all quickly captured. Some
surrendered willingly and others by compulsion. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 25.
3:171} When Histiaeus, the Milesian, heard what had happened to his city of
Miletus, he sailed to Chios with the Lesbians who were with him. He easily
subdued the people of Chios because they were greatly weakened by their heavy
losses at Lade. He went from there with a strong party of Ionians and Aeolians
to Thasos. While he was besieging Thasos, he heard that the Persians were
attacking the rest of Ionia. He lifted his siege from Thasos and immediately
sailed to Lesbos with all his forces. When he saw that his men were short of
food, he sailed to the province of Atarneus with the intention of foraging for
food both there and in the countryside around the Caicus River in the province
of Mysia. Harpagus, the Persian, was in those parts with a very large army. He
attacked Histiaeus as he came from his ships at a place called Malene and took
him alive, but killed most of his men. After Histiaeus was brought to Sardis as
a prisoner, Artaphernes crucified him and sent his head to Darius at Susa.
[L169] Darius criticised them for not bringing him alive to him, and ordered
that his head should be interred, as a man respected by him and the Persian
nation. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 27-29. 3:173-177}
3508 AM, 4218 JP, 496 BC
1076. The Persian navy wintered near Miletus. They captured the islands
bordering on the continent and in less than two years had captured Chios,
Lesbos, Tenedos and the rest. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 31. 3:177}
1077. The islands having been taken, the Persian captains went on to capture
the cities of Ionia. When these were subdued, they selected the most beautiful
boys and girls from among them and sent them to Darius. They burned the cities
and their temples. Hence, the Ionians were brought into bondage three times,
once by the Lydians and now twice by the Persians. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c.
31,32. 3:177,179}
1078. Before the Phoenician fleet came, the inhabitants of Byzantium and of
Chalcedon, which lay opposite it, abandoned their cities and fled to the
remotest parts of the Black Sea. Here they built a city called Mesembria.
{*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 33. 3:179}
3509 AM, 4219 JP, 495 BC
1079. The Phoenician fleet sailed from Ionia and subdued all that lay on their
left hand as you go into the Hellespont. What lay on the right hand in Asia had
already been subdued by the Persians. The fleet took the Chersonesus and its
cities, except the city of Cardia where Miltiades, the son of Cimon, had until
then been tyrant. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 33,34. 3:179} When Miltiades sailed
from Cardia with five triremes for Athens, the Phoenicians pursued him and took
one of his ships containing his son Metiochus. He was sent prisoner to Darius,
by whom he was honourably received and given both house and lands and a Persian
woman for a wife. She bore him many children. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 41.
3:187}
1080. When Artaphernes, the governor of Sardis, found the Ionians fighting
among themselves, he sent for some from each side to come to him. He made peace
with them on certain conditions. He caused them to settle their differences by
arbitration rather than by killing each other and ruining their country.
{*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 42. 3:187,189}
1081. When Artaphernes made peace, he surveyed their country in parasangs (a
Persian measure of length containing thirty furlongs or almost four miles) and
formed divisions. On each division he imposed a tribute which was paid yearly
to the king. The rate remained constant until at least the time of Herodotus.
{*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 42. 3:189} That rate was first levied when Darius
became king and he imposed it on all his empire. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c.
89,90. 2:117,119} This was before Darius was master of the islands.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 96. 2:123} According to Herodotus, we note that, to
facilitate taxing, Darius now reduced the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces
mentioned in Esther down to twenty, yet the bounds of that empire were still the
same, stretching from India to Ethiopia. One side had been conquered by
Cambyses and the other by Darius. Concerning the revenue from India, Herodotus
stated: {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 94. 2:123}
"Since the Indians were the most populous nation, more than all other men living
that we know, they paid far more tribute than any other nation did, that is
three hundred and sixty talents of gold dust and this was the twentieth
province." [E119]
1082. Since we find that when Darius was made king he did not control India, as
is evident even from Herodotus himself {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 44. 2:245}, it
is therefore likely that when the tax rate was set by Artaphernes in Ionia, a
similar tax was imposed all over the kingdom by the governors of each of the
provinces. [L170]
1083. It should therefore be considered whether this refers to the time which
was spoken of in Esther: {Es 10:1-3}
"After this, the king Ahasuerus imposed a tribute upon the land and isles of the
sea."
1084. That is, this refers to the very time when King Ahasuerus made all the
earth and all the islands of the sea pay tribute. For, as Thucydides stated
(and Plato confirmed this {Plato, Menexenus}), Darius subdued all the islands
lying in the Aegean Sea by means of his Phoenician fleet. {*Thucydides, l. 1.
c. 16. 1:31} Diodorus Siculus stated that they were all lost again by his son
Xerxes immediately after his defeat in Greece. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c.
36,37. 4:221,223} {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 1. 4:375} It was after the
twelfth year of his reign that the scriptures stated that Ahasuerus imposed this
tribute upon the isles. {Es 3:7 10:1} For in the war of Xerxes against Greece,
all the islands which lay between the Cyanean Isles and the two forelands of
Triopium in Cnidos and of Sumium in Attica sent him ships. Diodorus Siculus
stated that his successors held none of these isles at all except for Cyprus and
Clazomene, which was at that time a small and poor island. {*Diod. Sic., l.
12. c. 3,4. 4:379-383} {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 14. 4:213} {*Thucydides, l.
8. c. 31. 4:243} {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 13. s. 4. 2:445} {*Livy,
l. 33. c. 20. 9:331} This is demonstrated by the tenor of Antalcidas' peace,
as recorded by Xenophon. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 31. 2:21}
This seems to me to be a good argument for believing that the Ahasuerus
mentioned in Esther is none other than Darius. For this and other similar
impositions laid upon the people, the Persians used to call him a crafty
merchant or huckster, as Herodotus noted of him. Under Cyrus and Cambyses, his
two predecessors, there was no mention of any tribute charged upon the subjects
but that they only brought the king presents. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 89.
2:117} Strabo stated: {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 21. 7:185}
"The first that ever brought up paying of tribute was Darius the Long-armed."
1085. Strabo mistook the surname of Artaxerxes, the grandchild, and gave it to
the grandfather. He also said:
"for before him, men paid their kings from what every country yielded, as grain,
horses...."
1086. Polyaenus stated: {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.}
"Darius was the first that ever imposed a tribute upon the people.
Nevertheless, to make it more palatable to them, he had his officers set the
rate first. When they imposed a very heavy tax, he took off one half of it
which they willingly paid and took it for a great favour, too, from the king's
hand."
1087. This story is also mentioned by Plutarch. {*Plutarch, Sayings of Kings
and Commanders (172f) 3:13}
3510 AM, 4220 JP, 494 BC
1088. In the beginning of this spring, the king relieved all the commanders and
sent away the young gentleman Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, who had recently
married the king's daughter Arotozostra. Mardonius came to the coast of Cilicia
with a vast, well equipped army and navy. He sent his army overland to the
Hellespont while he took the navy to parts of Ionia. He deposed the tyrants in
each of the cities and restored their elected governments. Shortly after this,
he subdued the men of Thasos with his fleet and the Macedonians with his army.
His navy sailed from Thasos to Acanthus. While they tried to round the cape of
Mount Athos, a violent storm destroyed three hundred of his ships and over
twenty thousand men. While Mardonius stayed in Macedonia with his army, the
Thracians, known as the Brygi, attacked his camp at night. They killed many of
his men and wounded Mardonius. When he had subdued Macedonia, he left and
returned into Asia. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 43-45. 3:47,49}
3511 AM, 4221 JP, 493 BC
1089. The next year, Darius ordered the inhabitants of Thasos, who had been
accused of intending to rebel against him, to demolish the walls of their city
and to send away all their shipping to Abdera. He then determined to see
whether the Greeks would fight, or submit to him. He sent envoys into Greece
with the order to demand a gift of earth and water from them. [L171] (This gift
would signify their submission to the Persian king.) He ordered his towns on the
sea coast to send fighting ships and other towns to send horses to him.
Therefore, many in Greece and in the adjacent isles gave him earth and water.
The Aeginetans were the first to do this. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 46,48,49.
3:193,195}
3512 AM, 4222 JP, 492 BC
1090. The Aeginetans, who were traitors to Greece, were now attacked by
Cleomenes, king of the Spartans. Demaratus, the other Spartan king, was
expelled from Sparta when a disagreement arose between him and Cleomenes. He
fled into Asia to Darius, who entertained him magnificently and gave him cities
and lands to rule. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 49,50,61,67,70. 3:195,207,215,219}
3513 AM, 4223 JP, 491 BC
1091. There was an eclipse of the moon at Babylon in the thirty-first year of
Darius, the 257th year of Nabonassar's epoch, on the third day of the month of
Tybi (April 25), half an hour before midnight. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4.
c. 9.} Darius removed Mardonius from his command because of his poor handling
of the navy and sent others to take charge of the war against Eretria and
Athens. [E120] These were Datis, a Median, and Artaphernes (whom the Scholiast
of Aristophanes called Artabaxus), commander of the cavalry, the son of Darius'
brother, Artaphernes. While they were camped in a plain of Cilicia near the
sea, they repaired all the naval forces and prepared their ships for
transporting the horses which the tributary cities had provided. With the army
and horses on board, they sailed for Ionia with a fleet of six hundred ships.
{*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 94,95. 3:245,247} However, Plato {Plato, Menexenus}
stated they had only three hundred ships and half a million soldiers. Lysias
also confirmed this number. {Lysias, Corinthian Auxiliaries} But Emilius Probus
stated the fleet had five hundred ships, two hundred thousand soldiers and ten
thousand horses. {Emilius Probus, Miltiades}
3514c AM, 4224 JP, 490 BC
1092. The Persians sailed from Samos to Naxos and burned all its houses and
temples. They spared Delos and went to the other islands. From there they took
men captive to serve them, as well as taking their children as hostages. When
the men of Casrystos refused to co-operate, they were besieged until at last
they too were forced to surrender their city and themselves to the enemy.
{*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 95,96,99. 3:247-251}
3514d AM, 4224 JP, 490 BC
1093. The Persians took Eretria after a seven day long siege. After spending a
few days in settling things there, they sailed to the land of Attica and
destroyed a great part of it. At last, with the guidance of Hippias, the son of
Peisistratus, they came to the plain of Marathon. There they were defeated by
the men of Athens and of Plataea, under the command of Miltiades. He had the
government of the Chersonesus in Thrace. The Greeks lost a hundred and
ninety-two men, while the Persians lost sixty-four hundred. {*Herodotus, l. 6.
c. 101,102,112,117. 3:253,255,267,271}
1094. The Persians fled to their ships, many of which were were subsequently
sunk or captured. In these two battles the Persians lost two hundred thousand
men. Hippias, the author of this war and a former tyrant of Athens, died there.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c. 9.} The entire army of the Persians in this battle
consisted of three hundred thousand men. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 5. c. 3.
ext. 3c. 1:489} Plutarch thought the number was at least this large.
{*Plutarch, Parallel Stories, l. 1. c. 1. 4:257} Justin and Orosius followed
his account and said there were six hundred thousand men in all. Emilius Probus
stated that there were a hundred thousand soldiers and twenty thousand cavalry.
{Emilius Probus, Miltiades} On the Athenian side there were ten thousand men, as
well as a thousand of their auxiliaries from Plataea, according to Justin and
Orosius. Probus stated that the Athenians, together with the men of Plataea,
totalled only ten thousand. This significant victory happened on the sixth day
of the month of Boedromion, the third month in the Attic calendar after the
summer solstice, {*Plutarch, Camillus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 3. 2:139} when
Phanippus was in charge of Athens. [L172] Plutarch stated that this happened in
the third year of the 72nd Olympiad, four years before the death of Darius.
{*Plutarch, Aristides, l. 1. c. 5. s. 7. 2:227?} Sulpicius, likewise, said
the same thing. {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 9. 11:101}
This was in the tenth year before Xerxes entered into Greece, {*Thucydides, l.
1. c. 18. s. 1,2. 1:33} {Lysias, Corinthian Auxiliaries} and ten full years
before the naval battle at Salamis, in the same month of Boedromion. {Plato, De
Legibus, l. 3.}
1095. Datis and Artaphernes returned into Asia, taking with them to Susa their
captives from Eretria. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 119. 3:273} But according to
Ctesias, Datis was killed in the battle at Marathon and the Athenians refused to
give the Persians his body.
3515 AM, 4225 JP, 489 BC
1096. When the Eretrian captives were brought to Darius, he had them settled in
a part of the Cissian country called Ardericca, about twenty-six miles from
Susa. {*Herodotus, l. 6. c. 119. 3:273} This is described in more detail by
Philostratus. {*Philostratus, Apollonius, l. 1. c. 24. 1:69}
3517d AM, 4227 JP, 487 BC
1097. After Darius had spent three years in making greater preparations against
Greece than before, the Egyptians revolted in the fourth year. {*Herodotus, l.
7. c. 1. 3:301}
3519 AM, 4229 JP, 485 BC
1098. When Darius was now ready to begin his war against the Egyptians and
Athenians, he was required by the laws of the Persians to name his successor in
the kingdom.
1099. Artobazanes, whom others call Artemenes, or Ariamenes, was his son by
Gobryas' daughter. He was born to him before he came to be king, and claimed
the succession by right of the firstborn. Xerxes was born after Darius became
king. Xerxes' mother was Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, who had founded the
Persian Empire. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 2,3. 3:301,303} There was friendly
rivalry between the two brothers. For more on this, see Justin and Plutarch.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c. 10.} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 2.
11:131} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Kings and Commanders (173c) 3:15} {*Plutarch, On
Brotherly Love, l. 1. c. 18. 6:303-307}
3519c AM, 4229 JP, 485 BC
1100. When Darius had declared Xerxes to be the next king, he was now ready to
take his journey. According to Diodorus {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 2. s. 2.
4:123} he was on his way into Greece in the year following the revolt of the
Egyptians. Toward the latter half of that year he died, having reigned for a
full thirty-six years. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 4. 3:305} [E121]
1101. After him came Xerxes, the fourth king of Persia after Cyrus. He trusted
in his riches (which were indeed exceedingly great) and stirred up his own
subjects, together with all his allies and friends, to make war on the Greeks,
as had been prophesied by Daniel. {Da 11:2} This was not originally his
intention but he was put up to it by Mardonius, his first cousin, and by the
Aleuadae who were the princes of Thessaly, as well as by the family of
Peisistratus and by Onomacritus, a sorcerer of Athens. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c.
5,6. 3:305,307}
3520 AM, 4230 JP, 484 BC
1102. At the beginning of the second year of his reign after the death of
Darius, Xerxes undertook an expedition against the rebellious Egyptians. After
he had subdued them, he brought them into a harder state of bondage than they
had ever experienced under his predecessors. He made his brother Achemenes, the
son of Darius, ruler over them. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 7. 3:309}
1103. In this year, Herodotus, the historian, the son of Lyxus and Eryone, was
born at Halicarnassus in the province of Caria. He was fifty-three years old
when the Peloponnesian War began. {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c.
23. s. 1,2. 3:113} At that time Artemisia, the daughter of Lygdamis of
Halicarnassus, following the death of her husband, obtained the government he
had held. This occurred during the schooling of her young son, whose name was
Psindelis, as may be gathered from Suidas in Herodotus. [L173] She ruled over
Halicarnassus, Cos, Nisyros and Calydnos. Some time later she came into Greece
with five good fighting ships to help Xerxes in his war. {*Herodotus, l. 7.
c. 99. 3:401}
3523 AM, 4233 JP, 481 BC
1104. Xerxes gathered together from all of his empire of Egypt, Phoenicia,
Cyprus, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycia, Caria, Mysia, Troas, the Hellespont,
Bithynia and Pontus, twelve hundred ships to meet him at Cyme and Phocaea in
Ionia. He set out from Susa with all the troops and cavalry he could muster in
the beginning of the fourth year of the 74th Olympiad. However, Diodorus merged
the events of these two years into one by stating this took place in the first
year of the same Olympiad. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 1-2. 4:121-125}
Herodotus said that the above preparation took place three whole years before
this year, but with a note on the previous chapter which cannot be consistent
with the chronological record. He said: {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 20. 3:335}
"From the subduing of Egypt, he took four years in gathering an army and in
making his preparations. In the beginning of the fifth year, he began to march
with a large army."
1105. He left Susa in the beginning of his fifth year, not from the subduing of
Egypt but from his becoming king. Hence, both Justin and Orosius follow
Herodotus and incorrectly assign five years to this period. {Justin, Trogus, l.
2. c. 10.} {Orsius, l. 2. c. 9.} Julian, in his first oration of the
praises of Constantius, incorrectly said that Xerxes spent ten years preparing.
More ingenuous than all of these (though his account was not very carefully
researched) was Labianus, who claimed that between Darius and Xerxes ten years
were spent in the preparation against Greece. We say this because we have
previously shown from Plato that only ten years elapsed from the battle at
Marathon to the battle at Salamis, which was fought in the first year of the
75th Olympiad (almost a full year after Xerxes left Susa).
1106. All Xerxes' forces came together at Critalla in Cappadocia. From there
he passed over the Halys River and came to Celaenae, a city in Phrygia. Here
Pythius, a Lydian (Pliny stated that he was from Bithynia {*Pliny, l. 33. c.
47. (137) 9:103}), the son of Atys, entertained him and his whole army in a
most magnificent and sumptuous manner. From here they passed by Anaua, a city
of Phrygia, and Lough, where salt was made, and came to Colosse in Phrygia. It
was here that the Lycus River disappeared underground. Moving on from there he
came to a town called Cyndrara in Phrygia, then on to Lydia, after which he
passed by the Meander River. He passed the city called Callatebus and finally
arrived at Sardis. From here he dispatched his messengers into Greece to demand
earth and water from them, in other words, he required them to surrender to him.
{*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 26-32. 3:341-347}
1107. In the meantime, the navy was at Elaeus in the Chersonesus. From here,
part of the army dug through the neck of Mount Athos for about one and a half
miles. They and the Bastinadoes were forced to do this work, and the
neighbouring inhabitants were compelled to help. Bubares, the son of Megabyzus,
and Artachaees, the son of Artaeus, who were both Persians, were appointed to
oversee the work. When that neck of land was cut through and the sea let in,
the channel was wide enough for two large ships, with their oars extended, to
pass each other without touching. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 22-24. 3:337,339}
[L174] Another part of the army built a bridge of ships over the Hellespont,
where the sea from Abydus to the shore on the other side is a little less than a
mile wide. When the bridge was completed, a fierce storm arose and destroyed
it. In a rage, Xerxes caused three hundred stripes to be given to the
Hellespont, and a pair of shackles to be thrown into the sea to bind and fetter
it with. [E122] He decapitated those who had made the bridge and then employed
others to work at making the bridge stronger. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 33-36.
3:347,351}
3524b AM, 4234 JP, 480 BC
1108. At the beginning of the spring, Xerxes and his whole army left Sardis,
where they had spent the winter, and marched toward Abydus. As he was starting
his journey, the sun stopped shining. There were no clouds and the air was
clear, but the day was turned into night. At this incredible sign, Pythius, the
Lydian, was terrified (for it was no natural eclipse, as the astronomical tables
easily show), and besought the king that of his five sons who were in his army
he would leave his oldest out to be a comfort to him in his old age. In a rage,
Xerxes had his oldest son cut in two, and the whole army marched between the
halves of his dead body. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 37-39. 3:351-355}
1109. Hermotimus of Halicarnassus was the most influential of all the eunuchs
with Xerxes. When he came into the country of Atarneus, in the province of
Mysia, he sent for Panionius and his family from the isle of Chios. Panionius,
who was a slave trader, came with his wife and children. Hermotimus made the
father castrate his sons and then had them do the same to their father. In this
way, Hermotimus was avenged of the wrong done to him by Panionius, who had
castrated him and sold him into slavery as a eunuch to the Persians.
{*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 105,106. 3:105,107}
1110. Xerxes and his army went from Lydia to the Caicus River and the country
of Mysia. From there they came into the country where old Troy or Illium had
stood. That night, as he slept at the foot of the hill Ida, a very violent
thunderstorm arose which killed many in his army. After this, they came to the
Scamander River, which they drained dry, in their quest to satisfy the men and
animals with water. When Xerxes arrived there, he went up to see the old
citadel of King Priam. There he sacrificed a thousand oxen to Athena of Troy.
The Magi that attended him offered cakes to the nobles. At night, a panic fell
on his army and he left there in the morning as soon as it was light, and came
to Abydus. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 42,43. 3:357,359}
1111. Here Xerxes took a fancy to survey all his army at once. So he had a
luxurious hall built of fair white stone, and he sat in the hall, from where he
could see his navy at sea and all his army. He also wanted to see a naval
battle. At the conclusion of that battle, the Phoenicians won the prize. The
king took great pleasure in the battle and in the number of his men. He looked
across all the sea of the Hellespont covered with his ships, and all the shores
and plains about Abydus that were covered with his soldiers. When he considered
the brevity of man's life, and that none of all these men would be alive after a
hundred years, he wept. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 44,46. 3:359,361} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 9. c. 13. ext. 1. 2:383}
1112. Xerxes sent his uncle Arcabanus to be viceroy at Susa, and there to take
care of his house and the kingdom, while he prepared to enter Europe. As soon
as the sun was up, he held a golden vial in his hand over the sea. He prayed to
the sun that nothing might hinder him in the conquest of Europe, till he had
reached its utmost bounds. Having said this, he flung the vial, as well as a
golden goblet and a Persian scimitar, into the Hellespont. [L175] When this was
done, he sent his cavalry and foot soldiers to pass over the bridge on the right
hand side, which was on the side of the Pontus. He ordered all the bags and
baggage, servants and carriages to pass over on the left hand side, which was on
the side of the Aegean Sea. It took them a whole week to cross over. When all
this was done, the navy sailed west from the Hellespont to a place called
Sarpedon's Cape. His army passed through the Chersonesus to Agora and turned
aside to a place called the Black Bay, at the mouth of the Black River. This
river was not able to supply enough water for all his army to drink. When they
had passed this river, the army marched west to Doriscus, which is the name of a
sea coast and of a spacious field in the country of Thrace through which the
large Hebrus River flows. Here they camped. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 52-59.
3:367-375}
3524c AM, 4234 JP, 480 BC
1113. When the navy came to this place, they were ordered ashore, as Xerxes
wanted to count all his navy and army. According to Herodotus, his foot
soldiers numbered one million and seven hundred thousand men. {*Herodotus, l.
7. c. 60. 3:375} His horses, besides camels and chariots, numbered eighty
thousand horses. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 87. 3:393} Among the commanders of
his army, Herodotus mentioned two of Darius' sons born by his queen Artystone.
(I think she was Esther, because Herodotus stated Darius loved her more than all
his wives.) The son he called Arsames was commander of the Ethiopians from the
south of Egypt. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 69. 3:383} The other, whom he called
Gobryas, was leader of the Ligyes, Matieni, Mariandyni and the Syrians.
{*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 72. 3:383,385} Diodorus Siculus tallied his foot
soldiers at eight hundred thousand men, less than half of what Herodotus
maintained. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 3. s. 7. 4:129} [E123] Yet the
number which Diodorus attributed to the foot soldiers, was assigned by Ctesias
to the army as a whole, eight hundred thousand besides the chariots. Isocrates
stated that there were seven hundred thousand men in his armies of foot
soldiers. {*Isocrates, Panathenaicus, l. 1. (49) 2:408} Aelian assigned the
number of seven hundred thousand to the whole army. {*Aelian, Historical
Miscellany, l. 13. c. 3. 1:421} Pliny numbered the army at seven hundred and
eighty-eight thousand men and called Xerxes, Darius. {*Pliny, l. 33. c. 47.
(127) 9:103} Justin and Orosius stated that Xerxes had seven hundred thousand
men of his own subjects, and three hundred thousand auxiliaries from his allies.
{Justin, Trogus} {Orosius, l. 1. c. 10.} Emilius Probus stated that his foot
soldiers were seven hundred thousand men and his cavalry four hundred thousand.
{Emilius Probus, Themistocles}
1114. His naval force consisted of twelve hundred and seven ships, of which the
Phoenicians had supplied him with three hundred, including the ones sent by the
Syrians in Palestine. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 89. 3:395} By Palestine
Herodotus meant all the sea coast of Syria as far as Egypt. In another place he
said that it had formerly been called Syria Palestina, and that its inhabitants
were all circumcised. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 91. 2:2:119} {*Herodotus, l.
2. c. 104. 1:393} The Jews were also part of the Persian Empire. Josephus
stated that some of his countrymen were in this army against the Greeks. To
prove this, he cited those verses of the poet Choeilus: {*Josephus, Apion, l.
1. c. 22. (173) 1:233}
His camp a nation strange to see, did follow,
Who spoke the language of Phoenicia;
And did the Solymian hills inhabit,
Near to a broad lake which on them doth border:
Whose heads were rounded and on their bald crowns,
Of a horse head the dried skin did wear.
1115. [L176] The learned Salmasius thought that the Jews were meant by this,
{Salmasius, Linguae Hellenistacae Ossilegio} although Scaliger, Cunaeus and that
most learned Bochartus took it to be speaking of the Soylmi in Pisidia.
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius (Ad Fragmenta)} {Cunaeus, De Republic
Hebra., l. 2. c. 18.} {Bochartus, Sacred Geography, Part 2. l. 1. c. 6.}
1116. Besides these warships, Herodotus stated that Xerxes had cargo ships,
some of thirty oars, others of fifty oars apiece, besides smaller vessels and
ships to carry horses, adding up to a total of three thousand. {*Herodotus, l.
7. c. 97. 3:401} Diodorus stated there were eight hundred and fifty ships for
carrying horses and three thousand cargo ships of thirty oars apiece. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 3. s. 8. 4:131} The poet Eschyius in Persia in the writing
his poem introduced a messenger to report the number of the ships in this way:
I know that Xerxes' ships a thousand were;
But full two hundred and seven ships he had,
Exceeding swift ones. So the fame doth go.
1117. He could have meant that the total sum of them was a thousand, and so the
two hundred and seven swift ships were part of the total, or both sums added
together to give twelve hundred and seven. If so, this latter number agreed
best with the particular catalogue of the ships which every country contributed
to this expedition, as mentioned by Herodotus. It is not clear from the poetry
what the exact total should be. Ctesias seemed to favour the former opinion and
so did Cicero. {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 1. c. 18. 7:173} Isocrates
agreed with the latter. {*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (93) 1:177}
{*Isocrates, Panathenaicus (49) 2:403} Lysias, in his epitaph, said there were
about twelve hundred war ships, plus three thousand cargo ships. Justin must
have been wrong when he said there were a million ships. Herodotus determined
that about two hundred and forty-one thousand troops were in the twelve hundred
and seven ships which came from Asia as follows. He had two hundred men in
every hold, plus troops from the Persians, the Medes and the Sacae, for a total
of 36,210 passengers. In the three thousand cargo ships he placed two hundred
and forty thousand men, an average of about eighty per ship. So the whole navy
consisted of 517,610 men. The number of the army was one million seven hundred
thousand foot soldiers and eighty thousand cavalry. The Arabians who had charge
of the camels, and the Libyans who tended the wagons, totalled about twenty
thousand. The total number in Xerxes' forces would have been 2,317,610 plus
horses, boys and other servants, and not including those who supplied the camp
with food. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 184. 3:501}
1118. Xerxes marched from Doriscus into Greece. As he came to any country, he
conscripted all who were fit for fighting. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 108.
3:413} He added a hundred and twenty ships to his navy and added two hundred
more troops per ship, so increasing the naval forces by a total of twenty-four
thousand men in all. Herodotus thought that his army increased by three hundred
thousand. Diodorus thought the increase was less than two hundred thousand.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 4. s. 5. 4:135} [E124] So the total of Xerxes'
army in European and Asiatic soldiers amounted to 2,641,610 men. [L177]
Diodorus believed that the number of boys keeping the horses, the servants and
sailors in the cargo ships and others, was larger than the number of soldiers.
This means that even if that former sum were only doubled, the number of those
which Xerxes carried by sea to Sepias and by land to Thermopylae would come to
5,283,220 men. This did not include the women cooks and the eunuchs, for no man
can tell the exact number of them. Neither could he give the exact number of
the horses and other beasts of burden, and the Indian dogs with their keepers,
that followed the nobles in the camp for their pleasure. Hence, it was no
wonder that so many rivers were exhausted from the thirst of so many people.
{*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 185-187. 3:501-505} Juvenal stated: {Juvenal, Satire,
10.}
We now believe that many rivers deep,
Did fail the Persian army, at a dinner.
1119. Therefore, it was less of a wonder that both Isocrates and Plutarch
claimed that Xerxes took over five million men into Greece. {*Isocrates,
Panathenaicus, l. 1. (49) 2:403} {*Plutarch, Parallel Stories, l. 1. c. 2.
4:259}
1120. Yet in this large host, there was not a man as handsome as Xerxes or one
that might seem more worthy of that great empire than he. {*Herodotus, l. 7.
c. 187. 3:505} Like Saul among the children of Israel, so Xerxes might well
seem to have been worthy of a crown. {1Sa 10:23,24} Yet, stated Justin, when
you spoke of this king, you would find cause to commend his wealth, mentioned
before in Daniel, {Da 11:2} rather than his character, of which he said:
{Justin, Trogus}
"There was such infinite abundance in his kingdom, that when whole rivers failed
the multitude of his army, yet his wealth could never be exhausted. As for
himself, he was always seen last in the fight and first in the flight. He was
fearful when any danger was, but puffed up with pride when there was none."
1121. Leonidas, king of Sparta, with an army of four thousand Greeks,
interposed himself against him and his whole army of three hundred thousand
troops at the pass of Thermopylae in Thessaly. It was called this after the hot
springs which were there. In this epitaph by Herodotus, we read: {*Herodotus,
l. 7. c. 228. 3:545}
Here against three hundred thousand Persians,
Four thousand Spartans fought it out and died.
1122. Thirty myriads is three hundred thousand, which was the total given by
Theodoret as the size of the whole army. {Theodoret, l. 10.} Diodorus in the
Greek and Latin edition of his work when commenting on this epitaph in
Herodotus, wrote twenty myriads, which was two hundred thousand, instead of
thirty myriads. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 4. s. 5. 4:135} Yet in another
place he said that the whole army consisted of a little less than a hundred
myriads, or a million troops. In referring to this battle at Thermopylae, he
said that five hundred men held off a hundred myriads, or a million troops.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 11. s. 2. 4:151} Justin related the same story,
and stated that six hundred men broke into the camp of half a million or, as in
Orosius, six hundred thousand men. {Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c. 11.} Isocrates
said that a thousand of them went against seven hundred thousand Persians.
{*Isocrates, Archidamus, l. 1. (99,100) 1:405,407} Instead of the thousand
mentioned by Isocrates, Justin and Orosius said it was six hundred, while
Diodorus said five hundred. These were those men who were left when the rest of
the Greeks were sent away. [L178] They held out against the Persians to the
last man, including their Spartan king, Leonidas. Of this number, three hundred
were Spartans, the rest were Thespians and Thebans. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c.
222,224. 3:539,541} They killed twenty thousand of the enemy. {*Herodotus, l.
8. c. 24. 4:25}
1123. While these things were happening at Thermopylae, various naval battles
occurred about Artemisium, a cape of Euboea. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 15.
4:17} Eurybiades, a Lacedemonian, was admiral of the Greek fleet of two hundred
and seventy-one ships, besides nine others of fifty oars a piece. One hundred
and twenty-seven were sent by the Athenians and Plataeans. {*Herodotus, l. 8.
c. 1. 4:3} However, Isocrates stated that the Athenians supplied only sixty
ships. {*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (90) 1:175} Emilius Probus stated that
the whole Greek fleet had three hundred ships and that two hundred were from the
Athenians. Themistocles, Herodotus, Diodorus and Probus all say this battle was
a draw, with neither side winning. Isocrates and Aelian stated that the
Persians were decisively defeated. {*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (92)
1:175} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 2. c. 25. 1:97} The day this
battle was fought was said by Aelian to have been the sixth of the month of
Thargelion, which was the second month of spring by the Athenian reckoning.
[E125] This does not agree with Herodotus, who said that this took place in
midsummer, after the end of the spring, when the Olympic games were held in
spite of all the trouble in Greece. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 12. 4:13}
{*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 26. 4:27} This was in the 75th Olympiad, according to
Dionysius Halicarnassus when Xerxes made war upon the Greeks. {*Dionysius
Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l. 9. c. 1. 5:287}
3524d AM, 4234 JP, 480 BC
1124. Four months after crossing the Hellespont with his army, Xerxes came to
Athens and found it abandoned by all its inhabitants. Callias was the ruler of
Athens at this time. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 51. 4:47} In this year,
Anaxagoras of Clazomene, a scholar of Anaximenes the Milesian, was made public
reader of philosophy in Athens at the age of twenty, according to Laertius, as
from Demetrius of Phalerum in his catalogue of the fifty archons of Athens.
{*Diogenes Laertius, Anaxagoras, l. 2. c. 3. (7) 1:137} This was the time
that philosophy was first brought from Ionia and established in Athens,
according to Clement, who stated: {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 14. 2:314}
{*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 7. c. 17. s. 1,2. 2:139}
"When Xerxes had taken Athens, he also took a multitude of books, which
Peisistratus and the Athenians had stored there. He sent them to Persia. The
rest of the city, except the Acropolis, he burned, according to Aulus Gellius."
1125. I do not agree with him, for Herodotus stated plainly that all the
Acropolis was burned. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 53. 4:51} Ctesias also stated
likewise. Diodorus further affirmed that the temple of Athena, which was
undoubtedly in the Acropolis, was destroyed. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 14.
s. 5. 4:163}
1126. The farther Xerxes marched into Greece, the more countries joined him.
The Melians, Dorians, Locrians, Boeotians, Carystians, Andrians, Tenians and
various others sent troops. Hence his army and navy were fewer in number at
Salamis and Athens than when he first landed at Sepias and came to Thermopylae.
{*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 66. 4:63} The verses of Eschylus mentioned earlier
also seemed to imply this, where he told us that there were a thousand or twelve
hundred and seven of Xerxes' ships at the battle at Salamis. Ctesias stated
that the Persians had a thousand ships in that battle. Plutarch stated that the
victory of Themistocles at Salamis destroyed a thousand enemy ships.
{*Plutarch, Glory of the Athenians, l. 1. c. 7. 4:517} At the naval battle
before Salamis, the Greek fleet was far larger than when they fought at
Artemisium. They had three hundred and eighty warships, of which Sparta had
sent sixteen. [L179] The Athenians had sent their one hundred and eighty ships.
{*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 42-44,48,82. 4:41,45,81} Plutarch agreed with
Herodotus about the number of the Athenian ships. {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l.
1. c. 14. s. 2. 2:41} However, Herodotus, in another place, as well as
Diodorus, said of the Athenians that they had two hundred ships in their navy.
{*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 61. 4:57} {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 92. s. 3.
7:211} Aeschylus said that the total number of Greek ships in the battle before
Salamis was only three hundred, not including ten others of an extraordinary
size. Ctesias, however, wrote that there were seven hundred in the Greek fleet,
and that they lost forty ships while the Persians lost two hundred apart from
those which were taken together with their men. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 19.
s. 3. 4:173} Ctesias reported that the Persians lost five hundred ships during
that battle. Artemisia, the queen of Halicarnassus, who came to aid Xerxes, was
praised by him for her heroic courage. {Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c. 12.} Xerxes
on this occasion was heard to say: {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 88. 4:87}
"That his men had behaved like women and the women like the men in that battle."
1127. Under the leadership of Eurybiades the Lacedemonian, and by the wise and
prudent counsel and great prowess of Themistocles the Athenian, the Greeks won
as great a victory at Salamis as they had done at Marathon. Plutarch
contradicted himself as to the time when the battle at Salamis was fought. He
stated it was the sixteenth day of the month of Mounychion, which is the first
of the months of spring with the Athenians. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c.
15. 4:273} However, in another place he stated it was on the twentieth day of
the month of Boedromion, which was their third month in summer. {*Plutarch,
Camillus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 4. 2:139} It is true that in the Bay of Saron,
also called the Bay of Salamis {*Strabo, l. 8. c. 6. s. 16. (375) 4:179}
between the two islands of Salamis and Aegina, there was a night naval battle
between ten Lacedemonian ships commanded by Gorgopas and thirteen Athenian ships
commanded by Eunomus. This was near Zoster, a cape of the isthmus of Attica.
In the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Xenophon mentioned: {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 9. 2:7}
"In a naval battle fought by moonlight, Gorgopas took four warships and drew
them after him, carrying them away to Aegina. The rest of the Athenian fleet
fled home to their port of Piraeus."
1128. It was the sixteenth day of that lunar month in Athenian reckoning when
Gorgopas attacked that small fleet of the Athenians. It happened to be a full
moon, which helped the Athenian fleet sail to safety with the loss of only four
ships. Therefore, the Athenians consecrated that day to Diana and kept it as a
holy day in her honour. This is the reason why Plutarch confounded this later
naval battle fought at Salamis with that other battle fought in the same place
against Xerxes. {*Plutarch, Glory of the Athenians, l. 1. c. 7. 4:519}
[E126] He was mistaken when he wrote of it in this manner:
"They consecrated the sixteenth day of the month of Mounychion to Diana, because
upon that day after the victory won by the Greeks, the goddess appeared full
that night."
1129. The victory of the Greeks against Xerxes happened about the twentieth day
of the month of Boedromion, as Plutarch observed. {*Plutarch, Camillus, l. 1.
c. 19. s. 3. 2:139} It plainly appeared in Herodotus that the main day of
that holy solemnity was the twentieth of the month of Boedromion. {*Herodotus,
l. 8. c. 65. 4:61} [L180] On this day, accordingly, the mysterious Pomp of
Iacchus was publicly shown to the people. {*Plutarch, Camillus, l. 1. c. 19.
s. 6,7. 2:141} Themistocles prevented his countrymen from pursuing the enemies
after their defeat at Salamis, which had put them to flight. He said this:
{*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 109. 4:111}
"Now, let us stay in Greece and take care of ourselves and our families and look
to the tillage and sowing of our land, since the enemy is expelled from it.
When the spring comes, then will we take time to sail into the Hellespont and
Ionia."
1130. Hence concludes the argument that the Persians were vanquished at
Salamis, not in the beginning of the spring, but near the end of summer.
1131. After the naval battle, Xerxes executed certain Phoenicians who had been
the first to flee, and threatened the rest with punishments corresponding to to
their conduct. Out of fear, the Phoenicians returned that very day to Africa.
The following night, they sailed to Asia in the first year of the 75th Olympiad.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 19. s. 4. 4:173} Many other ships, fearing the
rage of the king more than the fury of the enemy, slunk away to their homes.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c. 12.} Xerxes was terrified by this disaster at sea
and committed his sons to Artemisia, the queen. She transported them to Ephesus
to be with Hermotimus, their guardian. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 103,107.
4:103,105}
1132. Cleombrotus of Sparta, the brother of Leonidas who died at Thermopylae,
built a wall across the neck of land which is called the Isthmus of Corinth.
This was to stop Xerxes from coming by land into Peloponnesus. {*Herodotus, l.
8. c. 71. 4:69} While he was offering a sacrifice against the Persians, the
sun was eclipsed. When this happened, he withdrew his army which was building
this fortification, and shortly after this he died. He was succeeded by his son
Pausanias, who was first cousin and guardian of Pleistarchus, who was the young
son of the dead Leonidas. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 10. 4:169} The Prutenian
account stated there was an eclipse of the sun of eight digits (2/3 of total) at
1:39 p.m. on the second day of October, which lasted thirty-two minutes.
1133. To speed Xerxes on his way out of Greece, Themistocles sent a phoney
message to him from Salamis, saying that the Greeks planned to send a fleet of
ships to the Hellespont to destroy his bridge. When he heard this, he hastened
to get out of Europe into Asia. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 110. 4:113} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 19. s. 5. 4:173} {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l. 1. c. 16.
s. 4. 2:47}
1134. Xerxes resolved to leave. He sent his fleet from Phalerum to the
Hellespont to guard the bridge. Together with Mardonius and his army, he
marched speedily toward Thessaly. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 107,113,115.
4:107,115,119}
1135. When Mardonius came with Xerxes into Thessaly, he chose three hundred
thousand men from all of his army. These he kept with him to continue the
conquest of Greece. Because the year was well advanced, he wintered in
Thessaly. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 113,114. 4:115-117} {Justin, Trogus, l. 2.
c. 13.} {*Plutarch, Aristides, l. 1. c. 10. s. 1. 2:241} However,
Diodorus stated that at least four hundred thousand troops remained with him.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 19. s. 6. 4:175}
1136. In the meantime the Lacedemonians, at the command of the oracle at
Delphi, sent a herald to Xerxes to require reparation from him for the death of
their king, Leonidas. He answered that Mardonius should pay them their due.
Then, leaving Mardonius in Thessaly, he hurried to the Hellespont. [L181] He
took a large number of troops for his guard, leaving the rest to be brought
after him by Hydarnes. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 114,115,118. 4:117-123}
1137. The army which he left behind with Mardonius was first hit by famine,
then a pestilence. So many died that the highways lay strewn with their dead
bodies. Both birds and beasts of prey followed the army by the smell wherever
they went. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 115. 4:119} {Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c.
13.}
1138. In Asia, the Archaeanactidae had held the kingdom of the Cimmerian
Bosphorus for forty-two years to the third year of the 85th Olympiad. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 12. c. 31. s. 1. 4:439} These had their beginning from Archaeanax
of Mitylene, who was said to have built Sigeum with the stones dug from the
ruins of Troy. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 38. 6:75}
3525a AM, 4234 JP, 480 BC
1139. After forty-five days, Xerxes came to the Hellespont. {*Herodotus, l.
8. c. 115. 4:119} Emilius Probus said it took less time than that: {Emilius
Probus, Themistocles} [E127]
"that on the same route which had taken him six months to travel into Europe, he
now took less than thirty days to make the return trip back to Asia."
1140. When Xerxes found his bridge had been smashed by the winter storms,
driven by fear, he crossed in a small fishing boat. {Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c.
13.}
"And truly it was a sight to behold and a rare example of human frailty and the
fickleness of human fortunes to see him lie sulking. A short while earlier the
whole sea had seemed too small to contain him. He, under the burden of whose
army the very earth itself seemed to groan, was now destitute of a page to wait
on him."
1141. When the army which followed him under the command of Hydarnes found the
bridge smashed, they crossed over to Abydus in boats. On the other side they
found much more food than they had had along the way. They gorged themselves
with food and the change in the water killed them by the score. The remainder
accompanied Xerxes to Sardis. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 117. 4:121}
1142. While Xerxes was on the way to Sardis, he sent Megabyzus to destroy the
temple of Delphi. When the latter desired to be excused, Mattacus, a eunuch,
did the task and returned to Xerxes. {Ctesias}
1143. When the news that Xerxes had taken Athens came to Susa by the couriers
who were sent, the Persians were so happy that they strewed myrtle boughs in all
the streets and burned frankincense in them. They gave themselves totally to
sacrificing and feasting. But when the news of his defeat at Salamis came,
their attitude changed, so that every man rent his garments and all places
everywhere were filled with their howlings and lamentations. {*Herodotus, l.
8. c. 99. 4:97} {Aeschylus, Life in Persia}
1144. When the remaining fleet and sailors had ferried the army from the
Chersonesus to Abydus, they wintered at Cyme in Aeolia. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c.
130. 4:133}
1145. Artabazus, the son of Pharnabazus, accompanied Xerxes with sixty thousand
soldiers to the Hellespont. When Artabazus saw that Xerxes had arrived safely
in Asia, he returned and stayed near the city of Pallene, after seeing that
Mardonius had wintered in Macedonia and Thessaly and had not looked after the
rest of the army. While Artabazus was staying there, he found that the city of
Potidaea together with Pallene had revolted from Persia, and the city of
Olynthus was planning to do likewise. He besieged Potidaea and Olynthus.
[L182] Having captured Olynthus and killed all its Potidaean inhabitants, he put
Critobulus of Torone, a Chalcedonian, in charge of the place. {*Herodotus, l.
8. c. 126,127. 4:129}
3525b AM, 4235 JP, 479 BC
1146. As the Persians besieged Potidaea for three months, a large tide broke in
over them in their trenches, forcing them to lift the siege. Many perished in
that flood, while the Potidaeans went about in boats and knocked others on the
head as they fought to swim to safety. Artabazus took those troops who escaped
with him into Thessaly, to Mardonius. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 129. 4:131}
1147. At the beginning of spring, the rest of the Persian fleet, which had
wintered at Cyme, sailed to the isle of Samos, where others of their navy, the
largest part of which were Persian and Median sailors, had wintered. They were
joined shortly after by certain commanders: Mardontes, the son of Bargaeus, and
Artayntes, the son of Artachaees. They stayed there with three hundred ships to
keep all of Ionia from revolting. This number included those Ionians who were
with them under their command. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 130. 4:133} However,
Diodorus said that there were no less than four hundred ships at Samos which
awaited any Ionian revolt in this year of the 75th Olympiad. {*Diod. Sic., l.
11. c. 27. s. 1. 4:197}
1148. The Greek fleet consisted of a hundred and ten ships under two
commanders: Leotychides, king of the Spartans, and Xanthippus, an Athenian.
They sailed to Aegina, where messengers came to them from Ionia, begging them to
come at once and relieve them in Ionia. After a while they sailed as far as to
Delos. {*Herodotus, l. 8. c. 131,132. 4:135,137} However, Diodorus stated
that after they stayed some days at Aegina, they sailed to Delos with two
hundred and fifty ships. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 34. s. 2. 4:213}
3525c AM, 4235 JP, 479 BC
1149. Xerxes was said to have built both a palace and a citadel at Celaenae in
Phrygia. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 2. s. 9. 3:59}
1150. Mardonius came with his army to Athens, which was not yet reinhabited ten
months after it had first been taken by Xerxes. Whatever Xerxes had left
standing, he destroyed and burned down. From there he marched into the country
of Megara, which was as far west as the Persians went in Greece. {*Herodotus,
l. 9. c. 3,13,14. 4:171,172}
3525d AM, 4235 JP, 479 BC
1151. While the Greek fleet was stationed at Delos, messengers came to them
from Samos asking their help for themselves and all the other Greeks who lived
in Asia, against the Persians. At a council of war, Leotychides, the king of
Sparta, resolved to liberate all the Greek cities from the Persians. They
entered into a league with the Samians, who came with their whole fleet to Samos
and stayed near the temple of Juno. [E128] They prepared for a naval battle
against the Persians. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 89,91,95. 4:263-271} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 35. s. 2-4. 4:215-271}
1152. When the commanders of the Persian navy stayed at Samos, they heard that
the Greeks were coming against them. Knowing they were no match for them in a
naval battle, they allowed the Phoenician ships to sail off, while the rest
sailed to Mycale, which was a cape in Ionia where the army was camped. It had
been left there by Xerxes to keep Ionia under submission. Sixty thousand men
were under the command of Tigranes, who was the tallest and most handsome man of
all the Persians. Near the temple of Ceres of Eleusis they drew up their ships
and enclosed them with a rampart, which they fortified with stones and stakes
and anything else they could find there. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 96-97.
4:271,273} They sent to Sardis and the other neighbouring places for more
soldiers. With these reinforcements they had a hundred thousand troops, and
prepared themselves for a battle. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 30. 4:205}
[L183]
1153. In an engagement of cavalry between the Greeks and Persians near Erythrae
in Boeotia, the Persian commander Masistius was killed by the Greeks. The
Greeks called him Macistias. Great lamentations were made by the Persians when
he died. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 20,22,24. 4:181-185} {*Plutarch, Aristides,
l. 1. c. 14. s. 5. 2:255}
1154. At Plataea, according to Ctesias, the Greeks, under the command of
Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, routed the Persian army which was comprised
of one hundred and twenty thousand men. Emilius Probus stated there were two
hundred thousand soldiers and twenty thousand cavalry. {Emilius Probus,
Pausanias} Plutarch affirmed that there were no fewer than three hundred
thousand men. {*Plutarch, Aristides, l. 1. c. 10. s. 1. 2:241} To this
number Herodotus also added about fifty thousand Greek mercenaries hired by
Mardonius. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 32. 4:199} Diodorus stated that besides
the troops left by Xerxes, Mardonius also had over two hundred thousand soldiers
from Thrace and Macedonia and other allies. In total, he had over five hundred
thousand in his army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 30. s. 2. 4:205} Herodotus
and Plutarch affirmed that the Athenians had at least eight thousand men.
{*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 28. 4:195} {*Plutarch, Aristides, l. 1. c. 11. s.
1. 2:245} The entire Greek army numbered a hundred thousand men, according to
Diodorus Siculus, Trogus Pompeius and Orosius, or a hundred and ten thousand,
according to Herodotus. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 29. 4:195} {*Diod. Sic., l.
11. c. 30. s. 2. 4:205} Plutarch stated the Greeks lost thirteen hundred
and sixty men in the battle. {*Plutarch, Aristides, l. 1. c. 19. s. 4.
2:273} Diodorus stated they lost ten thousand men. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c.
33. 4:211}
1155. The Persian general of the entire army, Mardonius, the son-in-law (not of
Xerxes, as Emilius Probus claimed, {Emilius Probus, Pausanias}) of Darius, who
was father to Xerxes, was killed in this battle. {See note on 3510 AM.
<<1088>>} He was hit by a stone flung at him by Arimnestus, a man of
Sparta.
{*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 63. 4:235} {*Plutarch, Aristides, l. 1. c. 19.
2:271} {Emilius Probus, Pausanias, l. 1.} Ctesias was incorrect when he said
that he was only hurt and so escaped for a time. Later he was killed in a hail
storm when he was destroying the temple of Apollo. However, Justin, and
Orosius, who cited Justin, stated that Mardonius was accompanied by a very small
group who escaped from there as from a shipwreck. {Justin, Trogus}
1156. When the Persian army lost their general, they fled to a fortress of
theirs made of wood. The Greeks overcame it and killed over a hundred thousand
of them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 32. s. 5. 4:211} Of the three hundred
thousand, not three thousand men were left, in addition to the forty thousand
who fled with Artabazus. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 66-71. 4:237-243}
1157. Leotychides, who commanded the Greek navy, came to Mycale to liberate the
Ionians from the Persians. With his own army and the help of the Ionians, he
gained a most memorable victory there. He killed over forty thousand Persians
as well as Mardontes, the Persian naval commander, and Tigranes, the general of
the army. The two other commanders of their fleet, Artayntes and Ithramitres,
fled. The rest that escaped fled to the heights of Mycale. {*Herodotus, l. 9.
c. 97-104. 4:273-281} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 34-46. 4:215-247}
1158. Both these battles happened near the two temples of Ceres of Eleusis on
the same day of the same month. The one battle was at Plataea in Europe, early
in the morning, and the other at Mycale in Asia, later in the afternoon. The
news spread swiftly far and wide, so that, within a few hours, the news of the
victory at Plataea came to Mycale, before the battle on that same day.
{*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 100,101. 4:277} {Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c. 14.}
[L184] However, Diodorus thought (which is more probable) that Leotychides heard
nothing at all of what had occurred at Plataea, but cunningly spread such a
rumour among his soldiers to encourage them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 35.
s. 2. 4:217,219} [E129] Aelian stated that the day of these two battles was
the sixth of the month of Thargelion, the second month in the spring with the
Athenians. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 2. c. 25. 1:97} Plutarch
more wisely said it was in the month of Boedromion, which was the third month in
summer. It was either on the sixth day of that month, {*Plutarch, Glory of the
Athenians, l. 1. c. 7. 4:519} {*Plutarch, Camillus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 4.
2:139} or on the fourth. {*Plutarch, Aristides, l. 1. c. 19. s. 7. 2:275}
This battle at Mycale happened in the second year after Xerxes first entered
into Greece. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 80. 3:389}
1159. At this time all Ionia revolted from the Persians. {*Herodotus, l. 9.
c. 104. 4:281} The Aeolians and their bordering islands also revolted.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 36. s. 5. 4:221}
1160. The Greeks completely burned the Persian ships and camps. They returned
to the isle of Samos and consulted together on how to move the Ionian nation
from Asia. Diodorus said they planned to move the Aeolians to Greece too, since
they were exposed to the danger of the Persian cruelty. Because the Athenians
feared that the Ionians, who were now an independent colony, would intermix with
the rest of Greece, they opposed this plan. They argued that since the Ionians
were also Greeks, they could count on Greece for help against the Persians, but
they desired that the Ionians remain in Asia. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 106.
4:283} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 37. s. 2. 4:223}
1161. The inhabitants of Greece entered into a league with those of Samos,
Chios, Lesbos and the other islands who had joined in this war against the
Persians. They confirmed this with a solemn oath to last forever. They sailed
in a group toward the Hellespont and on their way first anchored at a cape
called Lectum. When an opposing wind changed to a favourable one, they moved on
to Abydus. When they found there that the bridges, which they had intended to
destroy, were already broken down, Leotychides and his men of Peloponnesus
returned home. The Athenians under Xanthippus, together with (as Thucydides
stated) their allies from Ionia and the Hellespont who had revolted against the
Persians, journeyed from Abydus to the Chersonesus and there besieged Sestus.
Artayctes, a Persian, was a wicked man whom Xerxes had made governor of that
province. The town was surrounded by a wall stronger than that of any other
towns in the area. Ocebazus, a Persian, who had stored the cables used in the
construction of the bridges at Cardia, left that place and also came to Sestus.
{*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 106,114-115. 4:283,293,295}
1162. Artabazus, the son of Pharnaces, with forty thousand men who had fled
from the battle at Plataea, travelled quickly to Thrace through the countries of
Phocis, Thessaly, and Macedonia. They took the shortest overland route to
Byzantium. Many men were left behind in his march. Some were killed by the
Thracians, some died from hunger and some from the journey. When he arrived at
Byzantium, he crossed over to Asia by ship. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c.
65,69,76,88. 4:237,239,249}
1163. Those who had saved themselves on the heights of Mycale retreated to
Sardis, where Xerxes still was. On that journey Masistes, one of the sons of
Darius Hystaspes, had charged Artayntes, one of the chief commanders of the
fleet at Mycale, with cowardice. When Artayntes attacked him with his sword,
Xenagoras of Halicarnassus stepped in and stopped the fight and saved Masistes
from that attack. [L185] For so saving Xerxes' brother's life, he was made
governor of Cilicia. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 107. 4:285}
1164. While Xerxes spent his time at Sardis, he there fell in love with his
brother Masistes' wife. When he could not seduce her, he married her daughter,
Artaynta, to his own son, Darius, hoping to get his way with her more readily by
this act. When the wedding was over, he returned to Susa and left part of his
army at Sardis to continue the war against the Greeks. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c.
108. 4:287} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 36. s. 7. 4:221}
3526a AM, 4235 JP, 479 BC
1165. In his flight, Xerxes burned down the oracle of Apollo Didymeon in
Branchidae, as he had done to all the other temples in Asia except at Ephesus.
After the people of the Branchidae handed over the treasury of their god, they
all went along with Xerxes, fearing that if they stayed behind, they would be
punished for sacrilege and treason. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 5. 6:205}
{Solinus, c. 40.} Herodotus stated that Xerxes left Sardis and went to Susa,
but Diodorus said that he went to Ecbatana. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 108.
4:287} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 36. s. 7. 4:221} Ctesias wrote that he
went from Babylon to Persia. {Ctesias} Arrian affirmed that after he came to
Babylon, he demolished the temple of Belus and all other consecrated places,
including the sepulchre of Belus. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16. s. 3.
1:275} [E130] Strabo stated that he destroyed the tomb of Belus. {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 1. s. 5. 7:199} Herodotus said that he took away the statue of Belus
made of solid gold, eighteen feet high. When the priests opposed it and would
not allow it to be removed, he killed them. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 183.
1:229}
1166. While the Athenians were besieging Sestus, autumn was approaching and
they had still not taken it, so they planned to abandon the siege. However, the
people within were so driven with famine that they were boiling the thongs of
their beds for food. Artayctes and Oeobazus together with all of the Persians
climbed over the walls by night and fled. When the inhabitants discovered this
early the next morning, they surrendered to the Athenians. {*Herodotus, l. 9.
c. 117,118. 4:297}
1167. A large number of prisoners were taken at Sestus and Byzantium by the
Athenians and their confederates in the army. The confederates of their own
accord offered to entrust the division of the spoils to Cimon, a young Athenian
gentleman. He placed all the people on the one side and all the clothes and
ornaments which they wore on the other. Giving the confederates first choice,
he said the Athenians would take what was left. Herophytus of Samos persuaded
them to take the clothes and ornaments instead of the people. Later, the
friends and relatives of the prisoners came from Phrygia and Lydia and redeemed
those prisoners at a high price. With the money, Cimon maintained the fleet for
four whole months and brought much silver and gold into the treasury at Athens.
This act gave him a reputation of wisdom with the Athenians. They received so
much money from the bargain, that they laughed at their fellows who had formerly
laughed at them. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1-4. 2:431}
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 1.}
1168. When Oeobazus had escaped into Thrace, the Thracians, called Apsinthians,
captured him and sacrificed him to their god Plistorus. His companions were
killed in various ways. Artayntes and his followers were captured near the
Goat's River and taken as prisoners to Sestus. By the seaside where Xerxes had
built his bridge, or, as others say, on a hill near the city of Madytus, they
set up gibbets and crucified them there after they had stoned Artayntes' own son
to death before his eyes. [L186] Having done this, the Athenians returned to
Greece. In addition to the money, they took the cables and ornaments of the
bridges which had been built over the Hellespont, planning to hang them as
trophies in their temples. {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 119-121. 4:297-299}
Xanthippus left a garrison in Sestus, dismissing all the strangers, while he
returned to Athens with his own companies. So the war of the Medes, as they
call it, came to an end after having lasted a full two years. {*Diod. Sic., l.
11. c. 37. s. 6. 4:223}
3526b AM, 4236 JP, 478 BC
1169. Bagapates, the eunuch, died, after he had sat by the tomb of Darius for
seven years. {Ctesias}
1170. Megabyzus accused his wife, Amytis, Xerxes' daughter, of adultery. She
very sharply blamed his daughter for it. {Ctesias} All the while Xerxes
committed both adultery and incest. He turned his lewd affection from his
brother Masistes' wife, to their daughter, Artaynta, whom he had now made his
own daughter-in-law. He lay with her continually at Susa. {*Herodotus, l. 9.
c. 108,109. 4:287}
3527 AM, 4237 JP, 477 BC
1171. Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, was sent as general of the Greeks from
Lacedemon to free the Greek cities that were still held by the Persians. He had
twenty ships from Peloponnesus and thirty more from Athens (Diodorus said fifty
ships), commanded by Aristides. They sailed to Cyprus and liberated many cities
held by the Persians. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 94. s. 1. 1:161} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 44. s. 1. 4:239}
1172. When Xerxes was celebrating his coronation day, he gave his queen
Amestris any wish she wanted. She asked for the wife of Masistes, Xerxes'
brother. She had her breasts, nose, ears, lips and tongue cut off and so sent
her home again. Masistes conspired with his own children to steal away to the
province of Bactria. He wanted to make himself governor and incite Bactria and
the Sacae to rebel against the king. He was intercepted on the way by Xerxes'
soldiers and he, his children and all that were in his company were killed.
{*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 109-113. 4:287-293} After the death of Masistes, the
government of Bactria was given to Hystaspes, the son of Xerxes. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 11. c. 69. s. 2. 4:305}
3528 AM, 4238 JP, 476 BC
1173. When Pausanias returned from Cyprus, he captured Byzantium. He took it
upon himself to send the Persians whom he had captured (some were close friends
and relatives of Xerxes) home safely to Xerxes. He maintained that they had
escaped. All these matters were negotiated by Gongylus, an Eretrian, whom
Pausanias also used to carry letters to Xerxes expressing his desire to marry
Xerxes' daughter. [E131] In return, he promised to bring Sparta and all of
Greece under his subjection. Xerxes was glad of this news, and sending his
reply by Artabazus, the son of Pharnaces, he said it would be easier to
communicate his counsels with Pausanias when they were closer. So he gave him
the government of the province of Dascylitides and recalled Megabates, who had
been governor there until that time. With these hopes, Pausanias grew more
insolent than before and beginning to live like a Persian, he behaved
imperiously toward those who were in league with that state. Most of them,
especially the Ionians and others who had recently been liberated from their
slavery under the Persians, defected to the Athenians and desired to serve under
them. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 95. s. 1-7. 1:161,162} {*Diod. Sic., l.
11. c. 44. s. 3-5. 4:241}
3529 AM, 4239 JP, 475 BC
1174. When Pausanias was accused by the Spartans, he was recalled from
Byzantium. He was found guilty, and was condemned for some small misdemeanours
but acquitted of treason against the state. [L187] Nevertheless, he was removed
from the government of the Hellespont. On his own initiative, without asking
permission, he hired a ship under the pretence of aiding in the war effort on
behalf of the Greeks in those parts, when in fact he wanted to advance his own
interests with Xerxes. When the Athenians would not allow him to stay in
Byzantium, he did not return to Sparta but stayed at Colonae in Troas. For a
second time he was accused at Sparta of having consorted with the Persians and
of having been up to no good while he was in those parts, and so he was once
again sent for by the ephors. When he arrived there, they threw him into
prison, but after a hearing, he was acquitted yet again. {*Thucydides, l. 1.
c. 95. s. 3-7. 1:161,163}
3530 AM, 4240 JP, 474 BC
1175. In Greece, because of their hatred of Pausanias and their common dislike
of the Lacedemonians, the city states favoured the Athenians. Under a pretence
of avenging the wrong done to the various countries by the common enemy, the
Athenians set a tax of money and ships that each city should contribute against
the Persians. The cities in Greece and the Greek cities in Asia readily agreed
to this for the common safety of all. The first tax amounted to four hundred
and sixty (not, as Diodorus has it, five hundred and sixty) talents. It was
stored on the isle of Delos, which was the common treasury of all Greece.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 96. s. 1,2. 1:163,165} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c.
46,47. 4:247,248} {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 3.} {*Plutarch, Aristides, l.
1. c. 24. s. 3. 2:287} {Emilius Probus, Aristides}
1176. When Pausanias was exposed by Argilius, his homosexual lover, to whom he
had committed his last letters to be sent to Artabazus, the ephors starved
Pausanias to death. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 95. s. 2-7. 1:161,163} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 45. s. 1-7. 1:243,245} {Emilius Probus, Pausanias}
3531a AM, 4240 JP, 474 BC
1177. Artaxerxes was made viceroy with his father Xerxes in the twelfth year of
Xerxes' reign. This time marks the first year of Artaxerxes reign. Ptolemy's
Canon does not record viceroy relationships hence starts Artaxerxes reign nine
years later when his father died. (Since the time when Ussher wrote his
document, this new information has come to light from archaeology. We are
thankful for Dr. Floyd Jones for finding the exact source of this information.
Editor.) Savile wrote the following: {B. W. Savile, "Revelation and Science",
Journal of Sacred Literature & Biblical Record, Series 4 (London: Williams and
Norgate Pub. April 1863), p. 156.}
"It is satisfactory to know that the idea entertained by Archbishop Ussher of
dating the commencement of Artaxerxes' reign nine years earlier than the canon
of Ptolemy allows, grounded upon what Thucydides says of Themistocles' flight to
Persia, has been confirmed by hieroglyphic inscriptions in Egypt, showing that
Artaxerxes was associated with his father in the twelfth year of Xerxes reign,
so that there ought to be no longer any doubt respecting that famous prophecy of
Daniel, so far as at least regards the crucifixion."
1178. Artabanus, a Hyrcanian, was captain of the guard and was in the position
of enjoying more of Xerxes' trust and having more authority with him than his
father Artasyras had. He conspired with Mithridates, a eunuch who was a
chamberlain to the king (Ctesias called him Spamitres or Aspamitres), and who
was his close friend and relative. He was let into the bedchamber with his
seven young, robust sons at night, and they killed Xerxes as he lay in his bed.
In the middle of the night they hastened to Artaxerxes and told him that Darius
(who was the oldest of the three sons of Xerxes) had killed his father so that
he would be king sooner. Aelian related this as if it were indeed the truth.
{*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 13. c. 3. 1:421} By this lie, he
persuaded Artaxerxes to have the king's guard kill his brother Darius.
{Ctesias} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 69. 4:305} {Justin, Trogus, l. 3. c.
1.}
1179. By Artabanus' plot, Artaxerxes became the next king. {Ctesias} He was a
man of mild disposition and full of magnanimity to all. He was surnamed
Longimanus, because his right hand was longer than his left. {*Plutarch,
Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 1. 11:129} The first seven months of his reign are
attributed to Artabanus. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:192} It seems that
he ruled everything in Artaxerxes' name for that period of time. Diodorus
intimated that Artabanus was immediately executed for his murder of Xerxes and
Darius, {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 69. s. 6. 4:307} but some time elapsed
before this happened, as appears from the more complete accounts of this by
Ctesias and Justin.
3531b AM, 4241 JP, 473 BC
1180. Themistocles of Athens was suspected of the conspiracy with Pausanias for
the betraying of Greece into the hands of the Persians. They searched for him
and had they found him, they would have killed him. Therefore he fled from
Greece and came to Pydna, a town beside the Thermaic Bay of Macedonia. There he
found and boarded a merchant ship going into Ionia. A storm carried the ship
into the middle of the Athenian forces which were besieging Naxos. The captain
of the ship, who was being well paid by Themistocles, lay at anchor beyond the
Athenian fleet for a whole night and a day. When the storm was over, he came
safely to Ephesus. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 135-137. 1:229-233} {Emilius
Probus, Themistocles} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 1.} [L188] Plutarch stated
that he came to Cyme and found many sea captains wanting to capture him,
especially Ergoteles and Pythodorus. Xerxes had promised two hundred talents to
anyone who would bring him his head. [E132] Therefore, he quietly left the area
and came to a little town called Aetae in Aeolia. He hid for a few days in the
house of Nicogenes, a very wealthy man in those parts who was very familiar with
several of the king's most trusted attendants. {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l. 1.
c. 25-26. 2:69,71} Diodorus called him Lysitheides and said further that he
was a man of such great wealth that when Xerxes passed that way, he feasted both
him and all his army in a very magnificent manner. By this good host's
assistance, he was put into a covered wagon, such as the kings' and other great
men's concubines used among the Persians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 56.
4:269,273} He came safely into Persia, according to both Plutarch and
Thucydides. However, Thucydides only said that he travelled the route from the
coast into Persia in the company of a certain Persian. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c.
137. s. 3. 1:233} {*Plutach, Themistocles, l. 1. c. 27. 2:73,74}
Herodotus stated that from Ephesus to Sardis is a journey of three days, and
from there to Susa, three months. {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 50,53,54.
3:55,59,61}
1181. Artabanus planned to kill Artaxerxes, just as he had killed his father
and brother. He told his plan to Megabyzus, whom he knew to be unhappy out of
jealousy over his wife's supposed unfaithfulness. She was Amytis, the sister to
Artaxerxes. They swore secrecy to each other, but Megabyzus at once went and
disclosed the matter to the king, who put Artabanus to death. Then it also
became known about his hand in the death of Xerxes and his son Darius.
Aspamitres, or Spamitres, the eunuch, who had been involved with him in this,
was cruelly executed with certain racks and other engines in a boat. {Ctesias}
(This form of torture was described by Plutarch. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1.
c. 16. 11:163-165}) Justin wrote Becabasus for Megabyzus, as consort with
Artabanus in this plot, and described the manner of Artabanus' death in this
way:
"Artaxerxes, fearing the number of Artabanus' children, commanded all the army
to be ready in the field the next day. He planned to review his troops, the
number of them and also how every man could stand to his arms. When Artabanus
was there present in his armour, Artaxerxes said that his own armour was a
little short for him and that he would change with Artabanus. When Artabanus,
at the command of the king, had taken off his armour, Artaxerxes ran his naked
body through with his sword."
1182. From the size of his armour, we may deduce that Artaxerxes was not at
this time a child, as Justin claimed, but that he was a man and old enough to
be, in the seventh year of his kingdom, the father of several sons, as the
scripture tells us. {Ezr 7:23}
1183. After Artabanus' death, a battle was fought between his friends and the
other Persians, in which three of his sons were killed. Megabyzus, on the
Persian side, was seriously wounded. This grieved Artaxerxes and his sisters,
Amytis, who was the wife of Megabyzus, and Rhodogyne, as well as his mother
Amestris. Megabyzus recovered, due to the great skill of Apollonius, a doctor
from the isle of Cos. After this, Bactria revolted from Artaxerxes and a
different Artabanus was made governor there. Between Artabanus and the Persians
a battle was fought where they parted on even terms. {Ctesias} However, those
words in the Greek are ambiguous, for it may mean what I have here expressed,
according to how it was interpreted by Henry Stephanus, who said that either
another Artabanus was made governor of Bactria instead of the former, or that at
this time there was another Artabanus who was governor of that province, but who
was not the same person whom the king killed. [L189] If we take the latter
sense, then this revolt of the Bactrians must refer to an earlier time, but if
the first, then to the present time. For at this time Hystaspes, Xerxes' son,
was governor of Bactria, according to Diodorus. He was the middle brother
between Darius and Artaxerxes, according to Ctesias. It seems reasonable to
assume that when Hystaspes saw his younger brother Artaxerxes preferred before
him in the kingdom, he would incite not only the Bactrians, whom he governed,
but also all his other friends to help him recover his right to the kingdom.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 69. s. 2. 4:305}
1184. Eusebius noted that in the fourth year of this 76th Olympiad (which we
are now documenting), Themistocles fled to the Persians. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:191} This agreed with the account of Thucydides, who
placed the coming of Themistocles to Artaxerxes between the siege of Naxos
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 137. s. 2. 1:233} and that famous victory over the
Persians at the mouth of the Eurymedon River by Cimon, the Athenian.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 98-100. 1:165,167} He took the beginning of the reign
of Artaxerxes to have happened at the same time, because he said that
Themistocles sent letters to Artaxerxes when he had recently been crowned king,
desiring his favour and offering him his service against the Greeks.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 137. s. 4. 1:233} From this we may fully discern
that the true beginning of Artaxerxes' reign was almost a full nine years
earlier than it is commonly said to have been. (For a more exhaustive treatment
of this chronological detail refer to the readily available commentary of Albert
Barnes on Daniel chapter nine verse twenty-four. Barnes drew most of his
material from Henstenberg's work entitled Christology of the Old Testament.
Editor.)
1185. Plutarch, deriving his information from Phanias, reported that
Themistocles was introduced into Artaxerxes' favour by Artabanus, a chiliarch.
According to Eratosthenes, he obtained this favour from the chiliarch by means
of his concubine, who was from Eretria. {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l. 1. c.
27,28. 2:75} [E133] He did not explain which Artabanus this was, whether he was
the one killed by Artaxerxes or that Artabanus to whom Xerxes had entrusted the
government of his kingdom, seven years earlier when he went to Greece. For if
he meant the first, then Themistocles must have come to Artaxerxes within the
first seven months of his being crowned king, according to Eusebius. If someone
else, then the time he came to the king might have happened in any other month
of that year. This would agree well with Thucydides, where he said:
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 137. s. 4. 1:233}
"he was brought to Artaxerxes, when he was newly come to the throne."
1186. It was the right of the office of the chiliarch, as the second officer in
the kingdom, to introduce those who were to be admitted into the presence of the
king. {Emilius Probus, Conon} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 1. c. 21.
1:43}
1187. When Themistocles was thus graciously received by the king, a new danger
presented itself. Mandane, a daughter of Darius Hystaspes, had lost all her
children in the naval battle at Salamis. She sought revenge upon Themistocles
for this, and when she could not prevail with the king or her friends and the
great men in the court, she stirred up the common people. When these all rushed
into the court, Artaxerxes told them fairly that he would refer the whole matter
to the judgment of his lords. So, by appointing a time for a hearing, he saved
Themistocles from the people's hands. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 57. 4:273}
3532 AM, 4242 JP, 472 BC
1188. In the second battle, a strong wind in their favour helped the Persians
defeat the Bactrians and again subject them to Artaxerxes. {Ctesias}
1189. Themistocles spent a whole year learning the Persian language, and the
laws and customs of the country. When he came to trial, he cleared himself of
all the charges and endeared himself to the king as no other Greek had done
before him. [L190] Artaxerxes took him on hunting trips and had him attend his
private delights and recreations at home. He was admitted to the presence of
Amestris, the king's mother, and conversed familiarly with her. The king also
bestowed on him a Persian wife of noble parentage, excellent in beauty and
goodness of disposition. He had servants to wait on him and cupboards of dishes
of all sorts and along with everything else he could wish for. These were for
his needs and entertainment. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 138. 1:235} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 57. 4:275} {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l. 1. c. 29. s.
3,4. 2:79}
1190. Demaratus, the Lacedemonian, who returned from Greece with Xerxes,
displeased the king greatly when he asked if he might ride into Sardis in his
chariot, wearing his turban upright on his head in a way reserved only for
kings. Themistocles interceded for him and Artaxerxes' wrath was pacified, so
they became friends again. {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l. 1. c. 29. s. 5.
2:81} {*Seneca, On Benefits, l. 6. c. 31. s. 11,12. 3:431}
1191. When Themistocles was made governor of the province of Magnesia, he
returned into Asia. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 138. s. 5. 1:237} On his
return, he escaped an ambush planned by Epyxies, the Persian governor of Upper
Phrygia, and the Pisidians. He was warned of it in a dream by Dindymene, the
mother of the gods, while he was resting at noon. As a memorial, he built her a
temple at Magnesia and caused his own daughter Muesiptolema to become a
consecrated priestess to her, {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l. 1. c. 30. s. 3.
2:83} though some say it was his wife. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 40.
6:251}
1192. So that Themistocles might be seen to have greater honour in Asia, the
king gave him, besides the government of the province of Magnesia, the very city
of Magnesia on the Meander River. This city paid the king fifty talents yearly,
which paid for the food for Themistocles' table. Lampsacus in the Hellespont
supplied him with wine for his meal and Myus, at the mouth of the Meander River,
paid for his meat. Neanthes, Cyzicenus, Phanias and Athenaeus listed two
further cities in the country of Troas, namely Percote and Palaescepsis, which
supplied him with his bedding and clothing. {*Athenaeus, l. 1. (29f) 1:131}
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 139. 1:237} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 57. s. 7.
4:275} {*Plutarch, Themistocles, l. 1. c. 29. s. 6,7. 2:81} {Emilius
Probus, Themistocles.}
3533 AM, 4243 JP, 471 BC
1193. Cimon, the son of Miltiades, who was general in the battle at Marathon,
was now made general by the Athenians against the Persians. He set out from
Pyreum at Athens with two hundred warships bound for Caria. Ships from Ionia
and other parts joined him to increase the size of the fleet to three hundred
ships. The coastal towns, which were founded by the Greeks, revolted from the
Persians to him. The rest, which were inhabited by the natives of the country
and held by the Persian garrisons, he attacked and conquered. Having finished
his work in Caria, he sailed into Lycia and did the same there. [E134] When
they submitted to the Athenian government, he demanded ships of them and greatly
increased his navy. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 60. s. 2-5. 4:281}
1194. The Persians conscripted into the army what men they could from the
king's other dominions. For naval forces they sent to the Phoenicians, Cypriots
and Cilicians. The chief commander of the entire Persian fleet was Tithraustes,
a son of Xerxes by a concubine. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 60. s. 6. 4:281}
Ephorus said that he was admiral of the fleet, while Pherendates was the
commander on land. Callisthenes said that Ariomandes, the son of Gobryas,
commanded the army. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 12. s. 4. 2:441}
3534 AM, 4244 JP, 470 BC
1195. After the Athenians had subdued Naxos, {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 98. s.
4. 1:167} they and their confederates, under the conduct of their general
Cimon, in only one day defeated the Persians in both a naval battle, not far
from the isle of Cyprus, as well as a battle on land, at the mouth of the
Eurymedon River in Pamphylia. This was in the third year of the 77th Olympiad.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 60-61. 4:281,283} [L191] Diodorus was of the
opinion (and so was Justin {Justin, Trogus, l. 2. c. fin.}) that Xerxes was
still alive, contrary to what Thucydides stated, who of all these writers lived
closest to that time. Therefore, Eusebius was right when he said this great
victory was in the fourth year of Artaxerxes. He also noted: {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:193}
"Cimon obtained this victory by sea and land against the Persians near the
Eurymedon River, and so the war with the Medes ended."
1196. From the beginning of Artaxerxes' reign (as we have noted from
Thucydides' account), his fourth year was the same as the third year of the 77th
Olympiad mentioned here by Diodorus. Eusebius believed the first year of his
reign to coincide with the first year of the 79th Olympiad. Hence he must of
necessity have placed his fourth year with the fourth year of the same Olympiad.
The best way to relate this story is to record this whole matter in the same
order as we find it in Diodorus and Plutarch, thus:
1197. When Cimon heard that the king's captains had taken up their position
with a large army on land and a fleet at sea on the coast of Pamphylia, he
stayed out at sea, so that they might not come near to the Chelidonian Islands.
With two hundred ships he went from Cnidos and Triopium to the Greek city of
Phaselis. When they would not allow his navy into their port and refused to
defect from the Persians, he burned their country and assaulted their city.
Nevertheless, at the intercession of the natives of Chios who were in the fleet,
peace was made, on the condition that they should pay ten talents and follow
Cimon in the war against the Persians. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 12. s.
1-4. 2:439-441}
1198. When Cimon learned that the Persian fleet was sailing around the coast of
Cyprus, he immediately set sail toward them with two hundred and fifty ships
against three hundred and forty of theirs. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 62.
4:287} Ephorus said that the Persians had three hundred and fifty ships and
Phanodemus stated they had six hundred. The Persians did nothing worthy of so
large a navy. Those that were closest to land abandoned their ships and fled
ashore to the army that was arranged in battle array there. The rest were
attacked by Cimon, taken and killed. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 12. s.
5,6. 2:443} Thucydides said that they took all two hundred of the Phoenician
ships and sank them. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 100. s. 1,2. 1:169} Emilius
Probus said that he overwhelmed and captured all the fleet of the Cypriots and
Phoenicians to a total of two hundred ships. {Emilius Probus, Cimon} Diodorus
stated that the Athenians sank many of their ships, as well as taking a hundred
ships, with their crews, as prisoners. Those ships that had been abandoned by
the soldiers who had fled into Cyprus were taken without any prisoners. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 60. s. 6. 4:283} The following verses recall this victory
which the Athenians had won and offered to their god. They are found both in
Diodorus and also in Plato's second oration on Aristides. {*Diod. Sic., l.
11. c. 62. s. 3. 4:287}
For these when soldiers all were killed at land,
A hundred ships of the Phoenicians took,
All full of men.
1199. Plutarch stated that Cimon brought about a hundred Phoenician ships of
war from Eurymedon. {*Plutarch, Glory of the Athenians, l. 1. c. 7. 4:517}
Diodorus affirmed that he took not merely a hundred but three hundred and forty
ships, that is, the whole Persian navy as well as twenty thousand men. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 62. s. 2. 4:287} [L192]
1200. Cimon was not satisfied with this victory at sea, but attacked the land
army of the Persians in Asia which he saw lined up on the shore near the mouth
of the Eurymedon River. The better to achieve victory, he dressed all his
soldiers in the Persian clothes which he had taken, so that the Persians would
think these were their navy and welcome them. In this manner Cimon escaped
detection and landed his men as soon as it was night (and it was a very dark,
moonless night). They attacked the enemy's camp and killed all they met.
Pherendates, one of the two chief commanders, and the king's brother's son, was
killed as he lay in his pavilion. The enemy was soon put to flight. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 61. 4:283,285} [E135] Commenting on this stratagem,
Polyaenus mistakenly maintained that Cimon landed his men in Cyprus and not in
Pamphylia. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 1.} Julius Frontinus documented a
similar ruse used by the Athenians. {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 4. c. 7. s.
23. 1:317}
1201. Near the Hydrus River, Cimon captured eighty Phoenician ships which were
not part of the battle, and before they had even heard about it. {*Plutarch,
Cimon, l. 1. c. 13. s. 3. 2:445}
3535 AM, 4245 JP, 469 BC
1202. Cimon sailed from Athens with four ships and captured thirteen Persian
ships in the Chersonesus of Thrace. He expelled the Persians and Thracians and
took possession of the place for the Athenians. The Persian army was driven out
of all of Asia, from Ionia to Pamphylia. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 14. s.
1. 2:447} Pericles assumed the leadership of Athens. He himself set out with
fifty ships, and Ephialtes with thirty more. They sailed beyond the Chelidonian
Islands in the sea of Pamphylia and saw not one Persian ship on the entire
journey, according to Plutarch, who quoted Callisthenes. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l.
1. c. 13. s. 5. 2:445} Isocrates said that no Persian war ship came closer
to Greece than the port of Phaselis, nor did any company of Persians cross over
the Halys River by land. {*Isocrates, Panathenaicus, l. 1. (59) 2:409}
Diodorus, however, wrote that when the Persians saw the increase of the Athenian
power, they started building ships faster than ever. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c.
62. s. 2. 4:287}
3537b AM, 4247 JP, 467 BC
1203. Ezra the priest, a scribe or lawyer skilled in the law of Moses, obtained
permission from King Artaxerxes and his seven counsellors to resettle the Jewish
state and to reform the religion at Jerusalem. This grant once again made it
lawful for all the willing Jews to return to Jerusalem. They could send or
carry with them any gold or silver that either the king and his nobles or the
Jews wanted to offer to their God. They were also given all kinds of
furnishings for the Lord's house. The treasurers beyond the river were ordered
to supply them from the king's treasury with everything else they would need.
All who worked in the temple would be free from having to pay tribute. All the
people were allowed to live according to the laws of their God. {Ezr 7:11-26}
3537c AM, 4247 JP, 467 BC
1204. In the seventh year of Artaxerxes, on the first day of the first month,
Ezra left Babylon for Israel with a large number of Jews. {Ezr 7:6,7,9
8:1-14,30} Ezra gathered together at the Ahava River all those who were
returning. When he found no Levites in the company, he sent and asked for some
to be appointed to make this journey back to Jerusalem with them. They held a
fast there for three days to seek God's protection for the journey. Ezra
selected twelve of the chief priests with ten of their brethren to tabulate all
the items they were taking back to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. {Ezr
8:15-30} [L193]
3537d AM, 4247 JP, 467 BC
1205. On the twelfth day of the first month they set out from the Ahava River,
and on the first day of the fifth month, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes'
reign, they arrived at Jerusalem. They rested there for three days. {Ezr 7:8,9
8:30,32}
1206. On the fourth day of the fifth month, the gold and silver which they had
brought was weighed and put into the house of the Lord along with the other
furnishings. Those who had returned offered their sacrifices to God. When this
was done, the king's edicts were given to the governors and rulers beyond the
river, who showed much favour to the people and to the house of the Lord. {Ezr
8:33-36}
3538a AM, 4247 JP, 467 BC
1207. When Ezra discovered that the Israelites had intermarried with the
heathen, he mourned and fasted, and publicly made intercession to God, to avert
his wrath on them. {Ezr 9:1-15} When many of the people sorrowed over this,
Shecaniah advised Ezra to direct the people to vow to God that they would put
away their heathen wives and the children whom they had fathered. This was
done. {Ezr 10:1-17}
1208. Those who had returned from captivity were ordered to appear at Jerusalem
within three days, and any who did not would be punished. So all the men of
Judah and Benjamin gathered in the court of the temple on the twentieth day of
the ninth month. They were greatly distressed over the seriousness of the
matter, and because of the inclement weather. Ezra commanded every male to
separate himself from his heathen wife. This they agreed to do, and asked that
judges be appointed to see that the orders were followed. Two priests and two
Levites were appointed to help carry this out. {Ezr 10:7-15}
3538b AM, 4248 JP, 466 BC
1209. This examination was held from the first day of the tenth month to the
first day of the first month. In three months the matter of the heathen wives
was settled. {Ezr 10:16,17}
3538d AM, 4248 JP, 466 BC
1210. Themistocles died a natural death at Magnesia. Others say he poisoned
himself voluntarily, when he saw that he could not subdue Greece, as he had
promised the king. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 138. s. 5. 1:237} Cicero said,
in his work on Laelius, that he killed himself twenty years after the death of
Gaius Marcius Coriolanus. {*Cicero, De Amicita, l. 1. c. 12. 20:155}
According to Dionysius Halicarnassus, that would be in the third year of the
73rd Olympiad, which would place Themistocles' death in this year which is the
third year of the 78th Olympiad. {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities,
l. 8. c. 1. s. 1. 5:3} {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l.
8. c. 62. 5:181,183} [E136] Eusebius noted this under the current year,
saying that Themistocles died from drinking bull's blood. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 2:192} Valerius Maximus gave us more details when he said:
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 5. c. 6. ext. 3. 1:523}
"Themistocles, whose own worth had made him the conqueror, had been made the
general of the Persians by his own country's wrong. However, so that he might
keep himself from attacking his own country, he appointed a sacrifice at which
he drank a bowl full of bull's blood. Hence, he fell dead before the altar, as
a noble sacrifice of piety. So memorable was his departure from this life that
it effectively meant that Greece would never need another Themistocles again."
1211. Cicero had Pomponius Atticus tell of his death in this way: {*Cicero,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 11. 5:47}
"For just as you now tell us a tale of Coriolanus, so Clitarchus and Stratocles
do the same of Themistocles. Thucydides, who was an Athenian of noble rank and
an excellent man, lived not long after him. He said only that he died and that
he was buried privately in some place in Attica, and that there was some
suspicion that he poisoned himself. These men wrote of him that when he had
sacrificed a bull, he drank its blood from a basin and died in that place."
1212. However, the Athenians themselves had heard it from Aristophanes, in his
Equitibus, even before the writing of this history by Thucydides. [L194]
Aristophanes wrote this in Athens during the seventh year of the Peloponnesian
War, when Stratocles was ruler of Athens. He stated that Themistocles died from
drinking bull's blood.
3540a AM, 4249 JP, 465 BC
1213. The 20th Jubilee.
3544 AM, 4254 JP, 460 BC
1214. Inaros, the son of King Psammetichus of Libya (not a Lydian as Ctesias
has it), journeyed from Mareia, a city bordering on Pharos, and caused much of
Egypt to defect from Artaxerxes. He was proclaimed king by those who defected,
and he sent for the Athenians at Cyprus. The Athenians were engaged in a war
with two hundred ships, some of their own and the rest were from their allies.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 104. 1:175}
1215. When Artaxerxes heard of the Egyptian revolt, he gathered an army and a
navy from all his dominions. He spared no pains nor cost in doing this.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 71. s. 6. 4:311} This was two years earlier than
the more precise account given by Thucydides.
1216. Artaxerxes planned to lead this army into Egypt, but his friends
persuaded him otherwise, so he sent his brother Achemenes to head that
expedition, with four hundred thousand soldiers and eighty ships. {Ctesias}
Diodorus agreed with Ctesias that he sent Achemenes as general in this Egyptian
war, but said that he was the son of Darius and that Artaxerxes was his uncle,
and that he had only three hundred thousand troops. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c.
74. s. 1,2. 4:315,317} By this he meant to say that it was that Achemenes,
son of Darius Hystaspes and Atossa, to whom Xerxes had given the government of
Egypt after Xerxes had conquered it. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 7,97. 3:309,404}
3545 AM, 4255 JP, 459 BC
1217. When Achemenes (also called Achemenides) came into Egypt, he refreshed
his army at the Nile River after the long march, and then prepared for battle.
Those on the other side gathered what forces they could from Egypt and Libya and
waited for the Athenians to arrive. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 74. s. 2.
4:317}
1218. The Athenians came by sea and entered the mouth of the Nile. They
quickly made themselves masters of the river. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 104.
1:175} Inaros, together with Charamitimides, who was admiral of a fleet of forty
Athenian ships, defeated the Persians. Of the fifty Persian ships, they took
twenty with all their men, and sank the other thirty. {Ctesias} Diodorus
Siculus stated that the entire Athenian fleet of two hundred ships at Cyprus
came to Egypt, not forty ships only, as Ctesias said. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11.
c. 74. s. 3. 4:317}
1219. Inaros, with his own Egyptian troops and Athenian reinforcements, fought
a battle with the Persians on land, who were winning by their sheer numbers.
When the Athenians came and forced the one wing of the Persian troops to retire,
many Persians were killed. The rest of the Persian army fled and many were
slaughtered. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 74. s. 3. 4:317} Of the four
hundred thousand men whom Achemenes brought into the battle, he and one hundred
thousand of his troops were killed. He died of a wound which he received from
Inaros' own hand, and his body was sent to Artaxerxes. {Ctesias} Herodotus
mentioned that Achemenes, a son of Darius, and other Persians, were killed by
Inaros the Libyan, son of Psammetichus, at Papremes. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c.
12. 2:17} {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 7. 3:309}
1220. The Athenians routed the Persians and took two thirds of Memphis. They
attacked the third part, called the White Wall, to which the Persians and Medes
had fled. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 74. s. 4. 4:317} {*Thucydides, l. 1.
c. 104. 1:175} [L195]
3546 AM, 4256 JP, 458 BC
1221. When Artaxerxes heard of this great defeat, he sent Megabyzus, a Persian,
to Sparta with money to pay the Peloponnesians to attack the Athenians, thinking
that this would draw the Athenians away from Egypt. [E137] The Lacedemonians
would not take his money nor agree to any of his plans. When the king realised
this, he called Megabyzus home again with the money that was left. He commanded
Megabyzus, the son of Zopyrus, to make provisions to go to Egypt. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 74. s. 5-7. 4:317,319} {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 109. s.
2,3. 1:183} Megabyzus had previously been a general in Xerxes' army.
{*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 82. 3:390} He married Xerxes' daughter, Amytis.
{Ctesias} He was the son of Zopyrus, who recovered Babylon for Darius, the son
of Hystaspes. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 160. 2:195}
3547 AM, 4257 JP, 457 BC
1222. Artabazus and Megabyzus were made commanders for the war in Egypt. They
had an army of three hundred thousand troops. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 75.
s. 1. 4:319} Ctesias said they only had two hundred thousand.
1223. When they came into Cilicia and Phoenicia, the commanders stayed for a
time to allow the army a rest after so long a march. Meanwhile, they ordered
the Cilicians, Cypriots and Phoenicians to provide the navy. The people of
Thrace provided three hundred ships, fully manned and equipped for war. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 11. c. 74. s. 2. 4:317} Oriscus was the admiral of the fleet.
{Ctesias}
1224. They spent almost a whole year in training the troops for war. The
Athenians continued to besiege the citadel of the White Wall in Memphis. The
Persians manfully defended it and the Athenians saw no possibility of taking it
by a direct attack. However, they besieged it for the whole of that year.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 75. s. 2-4. 4:319}
3548 AM, 4258 JP, 456 BC
1225. When the Persian commanders in Asia had trained their troops, they
marched from there through Syria and Phoenicia. Their navy of three hundred
ships sailed along the coast as they went. When they came to Memphis, their
army of two hundred thousand was joined by the three hundred thousand troops
left by Achemenes in Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 77. 4:323} They fought
a fierce battle with the Egyptians, with many dying on each side. More
Egyptians were killed than Persians. Megabyzus wounded Inaros in the thigh.
Inaros fled into the stronghold called Byblus, on the isle of Prosopitis in the
Nile River. He was joined by the surviving Greeks, but the Greek general
Charamites was killed in this battle. All Egypt, with the exception of that
citadel of Byblus, defected to Megabyzus. {Ctesias}
1226. When Megabyzus had driven both Egyptians and Greeks from the field of
battle and out of Memphis, he besieged them in the little isle of Prosopitis for
eighteen months. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 109. 1:183}
3550a AM, 4259 JP, 455 BC
1227. In the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, in the ninth month
called Chisleu, Nehemiah was at Susa, the winter quarters of the Persian kings.
{*Athenaeus, l. 12. (514f) 5:311} When he received news of how the wall of
Jerusalem was still broken down and the gates burned with fire, he mourned,
fasted and prayed to God. He asked that God would forgive the people's sins and
give him grace in the eyes of the king. {Ne 1:1-11}
3550c AM, 4260 JP, 454 BC
1228. In the same twentieth year of the king, in the month of Nisan, Nehemiah's
turn came to serve as cupbearer to the king. [L196] Both the king and queen
(whom I suppose to be she whom Ctesias called Damaspia) noticed his sorrowful
appearance. He presented his request to them and obtained permission from the
king to be the governor of Judah and to rebuild Jerusalem. {Ne 2:1-6} This
event marks the start of Daniel's seventy weeks. {Da 9:24,25} (For the starting
date of Artaxerxes' reign, {See note on 3531b AM. <<1184>>} Editor.)
1229. Nehemiah, with a commission and supplies from the king, came to Jerusalem
in spite of the opposition from two governors, Sanballat, the Horonite of Moab,
and Tobiah, the Ammonite. He began the work and replied wisely to those who
laughed at him for undertaking such foolish work. {Ne 2:7-20}
1230. The Persian commanders in Egypt drained the river dry which flowed around
the isle of Prosopitis by diverting the water into another course. This left
the Athenian ships aground and joined the isle of Prosopitis to the mainland.
As soon as the Egyptians saw the Athenian ships aground, they surrendered and
made peace with the Persians. When the Athenians were thus deserted by the
Egyptians, they burned their ships to prevent them from falling into the hands
of the enemy. [E138] The Persians crossed the dry channel and took the island,
but seeing the valour of the Athenians and remembering the losses they had
received at their hand previously, they allowed all six thousand of them to
return home with their possessions. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 109,110.
1:183,185} {*Diod. Sic., l. 11. c. 77. s. 2-5. 4:323,325} {Ctesias}
1231. The fortunes of the Athenians in Egypt, where they had spent six years in
war, came to naught. Egypt returned to the control of Artaxerxes, except for
Amyrtaeus, who was king of those living in the low countries of Egypt. They
were unable to take him because of the vastness of the low country, and because
its inhabitants were most warlike. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 110. 1:183,185}
3550d AM, 4260 JP, 454 BC
1232. Eliashib, the son of Joiakim, the son of Jehu (or Jehoshua) the high
priest, together with the rest of the Jews, started to build the wall of
Jerusalem {Ne 3:1-32} on the fourth day of the fifth month, called Ab. {Ne 6:15}
1233. Sanballat and Tobiah, with the Samaritans and other enemies of the Jews,
first laughed at this new work. When they saw the wall half up, they stopped
mocking and consulted how to destroy the builders. When Nehemiah found out
about this, he first prayed to God and then ordered his men to make ready for a
battle, thus thwarting the plans of their enemies. {Ne 4:1-23}
1234. When Nehemiah heard the outcries of the people, he ordered them to be
freed: the slaves from their bondage and the debtors from their debts. Those
who had mortgaged their lands or goods were to be freed from their debt. He set
a good example by releasing his debts and all engagements of lands or goods made
to him, and freed the poor from public taxes. He gave liberally to those in
need. {Ne 5:1-19}
1235. Nehemiah was not only in danger from Sanballat and other enemies abroad,
but also from false prophets and false brethren at home. They tried to hinder
the work as much as the others did. In spite of these difficulties, the wall
was finished in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month,
called Elul. {Ne 6:1-19}
1236. The dedication of the wall was performed with much celebration and great
joy. {Ne 12:27-43}
1237. Nehemiah took care of the various offices belonging to the house of the
Lord. [L197] He appointed governors over the city and controlled its guards.
He called the congregation together and numbered those who had returned from
captivity. He selected a number of people to live in the city alongside its few
remaining inhabitants, to rebuild it with the rest of its inhabitants.
Everyone, according to his ability, made their various offerings to God. {Ne
7:1-73}
1238. When fifty Greek warships were sent to Egypt to relieve those who had
been there so long, they knew nothing of what had happened to their countrymen.
They anchored at the Mendesian mouth of the Nile River, where they were attacked
by the Persians from the land and the Phoenicians by sea. Most of them were
killed, but a few escaped to carry news to Greece. Of that large army which
existed before, only a few returned to Greece again. Most were lost as they
passed through the deserts of Libya to get to Cyrene. This was the sad end to
which that large expedition of the Athenians came to in Egypt. {*Thucydides, l.
1. c. 110. s. 3-5. 1:185}
3551a AM, 4260 JP, 454 BC
1239. For the Feast of Trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month, all the
Jews came together at Jerusalem. The law of God was read by Ezra and expounded
to them. When they heard it, they were all deeply grieved, and wept. They were
encouraged by Nehemiah, Ezra and the Levites to keep that feast with joy. {Ne
8:1-12}
1240. On the second day of the same month, the elders of the families, the
priests, and the Levites consulted with Ezra concerning questions arising from
the reading of the law. They were encouraged to keep the Feast of Tabernacles
outside in the fields in booths made of boughs, as stated in the law. {Ne
8:13-15 Le 23:40}
1241. From the fifteenth to the twenty-first day, the Feast of Tabernacles was
celebrated with great care and devotion. For seven days altogether the law of
God was read, and the eighth day was also kept very solemnly, according to the
law. {Le 23:36}
"Neither was there the like Feast of Tabernacles kept from the days of Joshua,
the son of Nun, to that time, and there was great joy made." {Ne 8:17,18} [E139]
1242. The Jews wrote about this in their Greater Chronicle, in chapter thirty:
"It may be said that Ezra compared the return of the children of Israel into the
land with the days of Joshua. For as in the days of Joshua they were bound to
tithes, to the year of Shemite, or Remission, and to Jubilees, and to the
hallowing of their walled towns, so now, in their return in the time of Ezra,
they were in like manner obliged to keep the law of tithes, of the years of
Shemite, or releasings, or Jubilees, and the hallowing of their walled cities.
They rejoiced greatly before the Lord."
1243. On the twenty-fourth of this month the Israelites who had returned
separated themselves from all strangers, and made public profession of their
repentance. {Ne 9:1-38} They renewed their covenant with God and bound
themselves to observe the law of God, his worship, {Ne 10:1-39} and the law {Le
25:4 De 15:1,2} of the Sabbath, and the sabbatical year. {Ne 10:31}
1244. The chief heads of the people feasted at Jerusalem. The rest cast lots
according to which every tenth man who was selected was to live in Jerusalem.
{Ne 11:1-36 1Ch 9:1-44}
3551c AM, 4261 JP, 453 BC
1245. Megabyzus appointed Sartama as governor of Egypt and returned to
Artaxerxes with Inaros and some other Greeks, giving them his word that they
would not be harmed. Artaxerxes carefully observed this, though he was incensed
against Inaros for having killed his brother Achemenes. [L198] When his mother,
Amestris (called Amytis by Ctesias), desired vengeance on Inaros, the other
Greeks and Megabyzus, the king refused her request. {Ctesias}
3554 AM, 4264 JP, 450 BC
1246. The Athenians sent Cimon, their general, with a fleet of two hundred
ships, their own and their confederates, to Cyprus. Sixty went to Egypt to
Amyrtaeus, who was still in Egypt. The rest besieged Citium, a city in Cyprus.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 112. 1:187} At this time, Artabazus and Megabyzus
commanded the Persian forces. Artabazus had his fleet of three hundred ships
around Cyprus. Megabyzus, with an army of three hundred thousand troops, stayed
in Cilicia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 3. s. 1. 4:379}
1247. Cimon sent messengers to the oracle at the temple of Ammon to ask about
some secret matter. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 18. s. 6. 2:463}
3555 AM, 4265 JP, 449 BC
1248. In the siege of Citium in Cyprus, {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 112. s. 4.
1:187} Cimon died, either of a natural disease (as Emilius Probus stated) or, as
others said, of a wound which he received in battle. When he was about to die,
he advised those that were about him to conceal his death and to return home as
fast as they could. It happened that this secret was well kept and all the
Greek army returned home safely under the conduct (as Phanodemus said) of Cimon,
who had been dead an entire month. Those who were sent to consult the oracle,
received the answer that Cimon was already with the gods. When they returned to
Egypt, they understood that Cimon had died at the very time when the oracle had
answered them. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 18. s. 6,7. 2:463,465}
{*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 19. s. 1. 2:465}
1249. When the Greek army returned from Egypt, those who were besieging Citium
in Cyprus were short of supplies. They lifted their siege and sailed to Salamis
on the same island. There, they fought with the Phoenicians, Cypriots and
Cilicians, by sea and by land. In the naval battle, they sank many enemy ships,
and captured a hundred others with all the soldiers and sailors still in them.
They pursued the rest as far as Phoenicia. The Persians, with the remaining
ships, fled into Cilicia, where Megabyzus was with his army. The Athenians
sailed there as fast as possible, landed their men on the open shore and then
attacked the enemy. In this battle, Anaxicrates, who commanded the fleet,
behaved himself most courageously and died a most noble and heroic death. They
defeated the Persians and killed many of the enemy. They returned to their
ships and sailed home with those returning from Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12.
c. 4. 4:381} This was in the third and fourth year of the 82nd Olympiad as
Diodorus stood corrected from the records of Thucydides. Aelian wrote that the
Athenians lost two hundred ships in Egypt and one hundred and fifty in Cyprus,
with all their equipment. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 5. c. 10.
1:221}
1250. When Artaxerxes heard of the loss of his men in Cyprus, he sought advice
from his council concerning this war. It was resolved that for the good of the
kingdom peace should be made with the Greeks. So the king wrote letters to the
captains and commanders in Cyprus, telling them to make peace with the Greeks on
any terms, whereupon Artabazus and Megabyzus sent messengers to Athens to seek
peace. [E140] When the Athenians had consented to their conditions, they sent
commissioners with full power and authority to represent them. The leader of
the group was Callias, the son of Hipponicus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 4.
s. 4-6. 4:383} At this time, the men of the Argives sent their messengers to
Susa to ascertain if Artaxerxes would honour the league they had made with his
father Xerxes, or if he considered them enemies. [L199] Artaxerxes answered
that the league would continue and that he considered no city more friendly to
him than that of the Argives. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 152. 3:463}
1251. The peace between the Athenians and their confederates on the one side
and the Persians on the other was concluded with these conditions:
"No Persian governor would at any time come within three days' journey of the
sea and no Persian warship would sail inside of Phaselis or the Cyanean Rocks,
which was the entrance to the Black Sea at Byzantium."
1252. Plutarch expressed it thus: {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c. 13. s. 4.
2:445}
"That the king would not have any warships in all the sea between the Cyanean
and the Cheledonian Islands."
1253. When the king and his council of war had subscribed to these articles,
the Athenians took an oath that they would not invade any of the king's
provinces. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 4. s. 6. 4:383}
1254. The Athenians built an altar in memory of this peace and gave many
honours to Callias, who had been its architect. {*Plutarch, Cimon, l. 1. c.
19. s. 4. 2:467}
3556 AM, 4266 JP, 448 BC
1255. Artaxerxes was wearied for five years with his mother's nagging and
finally gave Inaros, the Egyptian king, and the Greeks that came with him, into
her hand. The queen had the body of Inaros racked and stretched out and
wrenched several ways. He hung on three different crosses at one time. She had
the fifty Greeks (for she could catch no more) decapitated. {Ctesias}
Thucydides stated that Inaros, king of Libya, was taken by treachery and
crucified. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 110. s. 3. 1:185} Herodotus stated that
his son, Thannyras, at the discretion of the Persians, held the government of
Egypt which his father had held before him. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 15. 2:21}
1256. Megabyzus was exceedingly grieved by the death of Inaros and the Greeks
with him. He asked permission to go to his own government in Syria, where he
had secretly sent the rest of the Greeks. He followed them there, and as soon
as he came to Syria, he revolted from the king and gathered an army of a hundred
and fifty thousand men. {Ctesias}
3557 AM, 4267 JP, 447 BC
1257. Osiris was sent against Megabyzus with an army of two hundred thousand
men. In the battle, Osiris wounded Megabyzus with an arrow in the thigh, two
inches deep. Megabyzus, in turn, wounded Osiris, first with an arrow in the
thigh and then one in the shoulder. As Osiris fell from his horse, Megabyzus
caught him about his middle and saved him. Many of the Persians fell, and the
two sons of Megabyzus, Zopyrus and Artipsyus, fought valiantly that day.
Megabyzus won and carefully returned Osiris to Artaxerxes, who demanded his
return. {Ctesias}
3558 AM, 4268 JP, 446 BC
1258. Another army was sent against Megabyzus. The general was Menostanes, or
Menostates, son to Artarius, governor of Babylon and brother to King Artaxerxes.
In the battle, Megabyzus wounded Menostanes in the shoulder and in the head.
Neither of those wounds were mortal, but when it happened, he and all his army
fled and Megabyzus had a most glorious victory. {Ctesias}
1259. Artarius, Artoxares the eunuch, a Paphlagonian, and Amestris, the queen
mother, persuaded Megabyzus to come to terms with the king. After much effort,
Artarius, his wife Amytis, and Artoxares, who was now twenty years of age and
Petisas, the son of Osiris, prevailed with him to come to the king. When he
came, the king sent him word that he freely pardoned him of all his past
offences. A little later, while the king was hunting, a lion attacked him.
When Megabyzus saw the lion raised on his hind feet, he killed him with his
spear. The king was angry with him, because he had done it before the king
could. He commanded that Megabyzus be decapitated. [L200] The intercession of
Amestris, Amytis and others spared his life, and he was sent away and confined
to the isle of Cirta in the Persian Gulf. Because Artoxares, the eunuch, spoke
too freely with the king on Megabyzus' behalf, he was banished into Armenia.
{Ctesias}
3559 AM, 4269 JP, 445 BC
1260. When Herodotus read his books at Athens before the council there, he was
greatly honoured for his works. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:195} Scaliger
noted that Herodotus wrote his books before his going into Great Greece
(Southern Italy), not in Great Greece itself, as some thought who followed Pliny
on this. We shall see more in the next year. [E141] But I have observed that
frequent mention was made of the Peloponnesian War in these books. {*Herodotus,
l. 7. c. 137. 3:439} {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 72,73. 4:245} In the former
reference, something is related that took place in the second year of that war.
In the latter, something that happened in its nineteenth year, at Decelea. This
was twenty-two years after the time assigned by Eusebius to the reading of his
book at Athens. Herodotus made notes on the years 3596 AM and 3597 AM. {See
note on 3596d AM. <<1368>>} {See note on 3597b AM.
<<1377>>}
3560 AM, 4270 JP, 444 BC
1261. In the first year of the 84th Olympiad, when Praxiteles was the governor
of Athens, and twelve years before the Peloponnesian War began, the Athenians
sent a colony into Great Greece (Southern Italy) to rebuild the decayed city of
Thurii. Lysias, a youth of fifteen years, was one of the men in this group,
{*Plutarch, Lysias, l. 1. (835d) 10:363} {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Roman
Antiquities, l. 1. c. 51. s. 2. 1:167} along with Herodotus, who was
forty-one years old. Although Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus in Caria, he
obtained the surname of Thurius after this, because of his part in
re-establishing Thurii. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 16. 6:283} The 84th
Olympiad coincided with the 310th year from the founding of Rome, according to
Varro's account. Pliny said that it was in this year that Herodotus compiled
his history, in Thurii in Italy, as mentioned under the previous year, {*Pliny,
l. 12. c. 8. 4:15} but Diodorus thought Thurii was founded two years
earlier. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 9. s. 1. 4:389}
3562 AM, 4272 JP, 442 BC
1262. In this year, all wars ceased throughout Asia, Greece, Sicily, Italy,
Gaul, Spain and almost the entire world. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 26. s.
4. 4:427}
1263. After Nehemiah had governed Judah for twelve years, that is from the
twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes to the thirty-second of the same, he
returned to the king. {Ne 5:14 13:6}
1264. In Nehemiah's absence, Eliashib, the priest, who was in charge of the
chamber of the house of God and had made an alliance with Tobiah, prepared a
room for him in the court of the temple, in the place where the gifts and tithes
had formerly been kept. The son of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest
(who was a different man from the Eliashib whom I just mentioned), became
son-in-law to Sanballat, the Horonite, after he married his daughter. When
Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem with a new commission, he quickly redressed and
severely punished these and other wrongdoings. {Ne 13:1-31}
3563 AM, 4273 JP, 441 BC
1265. After Megabyzus had lived in exile for five years, he fled from the isle
where he was confined and feigning himself to be a pisagas (that means leper in
the Persian language, and one whom no man might approach), he came home to his
wife, Amytis. Through her and Amestris, the king's mother, he was at last
reconciled to the king. He sat at the king's table as before and died at the
age of seventy-six. The king grieved very much for him. {Ctesias}
3564 AM, 4274 JP, 440 BC
1266. In this year, the Samians and Milesians went to war over the ownership of
the city of Priene. This was the beginning of the sixth year of the thirty
years of peace, and the league between the Athenians and the Lacedemonians.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 115. s. 2. 1:191} [L201] It was in the middle of
the fourth year of the 84th Olympiad, according to Diodorus. {*Diod. Sic., l.
12. c. 27. 4:427} Priene was a city in Caria, which both the Samians and the
Milesians claimed. The Milesians were too weak to defeat the Samians. They
drew to their side some Samians who were unhappy with things in their country.
They went to Athens and complained of the behaviour of the citizens of Samos.
The Athenians sent orders for them to lay down their arms and negotiate the
matter at Athens. When the Samians refused to do this, Pericles prevailed to
have war declared against them. He did this as a favour to his prostitute,
Aspasia, that famous courtesan whom he doted on, not so much for her beauty as
for her wit, and who was the daughter of Axiochus, a Milesian. The Athenians
sent a fleet of forty ships under the command of Pericles and easily took the
city of Samos. He changed the government from an aristocracy to a democratic
government. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 115. s. 2,3. 1:191} {*Diod. Sic., l.
12. c. 27. s. 1,2. 4:429}
1267. After Pericles returned from Samos, a terrible sedition arose there.
Some wanted a democratic government and others wanted the old aristocracy.
Those who disliked the democratic form conspired with the chief men of the city
and sent to Asia for Pissuthnes, the son of Hystaspes, the governor of Sardis.
When they had made a league with him, he gave them a band of seven hundred
soldiers. They returned in the dead of night to Samos and joined by others of
like mind, they surprised and captured the town. Declaring themselves enemies
of the Athenians, they took their whole garrison with the captain and officers
and sent them to Pissuthnes as a gift. They immediately marched against
Miletus. The inhabitants of Byzantium were also allies with them against the
Athenians. [E142]
1268. When the Athenians heard of the revolt of Samos, they sent sixty ships.
Sixteen sailed toward Caria to attack the Phoenician fleet in those parts, and
into Chios and Lesbos to take on allies from there. The other forty-four
vessels continued under Pericles, as the admiral, and his nine colleagues. The
Samians recalled their twenty ships, which they had sent full of soldiers to
assault Miletus, and these were joined by a further fifty ships. They fought
with the forty-four ships of the Athenians near an island called Tragia and the
Athenians were victorious. From there, the Athenians, with forty more ships
from home and twenty-five more from Chios and Lesbos, went and landed with their
forces on the isle of Samos. They captured the isle and made a triple ditch
about the city by land, and then besieged the city with their ships.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 116. s. 1,2. 1:193}
1269. A few days later, Pericles learned through letters from Caunus in Caria
that the Phoenician fleet was coming toward him to relieve Samos. He left part
of his army to maintain the siege and taking sixty ships from the navy, he went
as fast as he could to meet the Phoenician navy. Stesagoras accompanied him
with five ships from Samos. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 116. s. 3. 1:193}
1270. The Samians took advantage of the absence of Pericles. Under the command
of Melislus, the son of Ithagenes, an outstanding philosopher, they attacked the
Athenian camp, which was neither fenced nor manned as it ought to have been.
After they sank the ships which kept the island, and defeated and routed the
army, they freely traded and brought in supplies for fourteen days.
{*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 117. s. 1. 1:193}
1271. When Pericles heard what had happened to his men at Samos, he hurried
back as fast as he could with a larger fleet. [L202] Thucydides, Agnon and
Phormio joined him with forty ships. Tlepolemus and Anticles brought twenty
more ships from Athens. Chios and Mitylene sent him thirty ships. With these
large forces, he attacked and defeated Melislus. He besieged the town by land
and sea as before, and harassed them with frequent assaults on every side. Some
say that those engines of battery, known as Rams and Tortoises were first
invented there by Artemon of Clazomene. Ephorus, the historian, confused him
with Artemon Periphresus, of whom Anacreon, the poet, made mention in his
poetry. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (533ef) 5:411} {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 117. s.
1. 1:193} {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 28. s. 3. 4:431} {*Plutarch, Pericles,
l. 1. c. 24-28. 3:69-83}
3565 AM, 4275 JP, 439 BC
1272. After a nine month siege, the Samians surrendered. The town was
immediately destroyed and they gave hostages to ensure their ongoing fidelity.
They gave up all their ships and paid for the expense of the war by making
instalment payments. The people of Byzantium submitted to the Athenian
government as previously. {*Thucydides, l. 1. c. 117. s. 3. 1:195}
3566 AM, 4276 JP, 438 BC
1273. Spartacus succeeded the Archaeanactidae in the kingdom of Cimmerian
Bosphorus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 31. s. 1. 4:439}
3571 AM, 4281 JP, 433 BC
1274. Spartacus died in the fourth year of the 86th Olympiad, after reigning
seventeen years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 36. s. 1. 4:447} In the third
year of the 85th Olympiad, Diodorus stated that Spartacus reigned seventeen
years. The interval between these two Olympiad years assigned by Diodorus, the
one interval to the beginning, the other to the end of his reign, only make up
five, or at most, both intervals being included, only six years of his reign.
After him came Seleucus. (Current Loeb editions of the Greek text state he
reigned seven years. It appears the Greek text has been amended in the last 350
years. Editor.)
3572 AM, 4282 JP, 432 BC
1275. At Athens, in the year when Apseudes presided over the government, and
toward the very end of the last year of the 86th Olympiad, Meton observed the
summer solstice to be on the 21st day of the Egyptian month, Phamenoth (or the
27th day of June, according to the Julian calendar), in the morning. {Ptolemy,
Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.} From this, he formulated the Cyclus Lunaris, or
the cycle of the moon which we call the Golden Number of nineteen years.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 36. s. 2,3. 4:447,449} He deduced the beginning
of this cycle from the next new moon following that solstice, on the fifteenth
day of July, according to the Julian calendar. (This confirmed Diodorus'
statement that the ancients knew the length of a year to be three hundred and
sixty-five and a quarter days. Otherwise, Meton would not have known how long
the cycle should have been. {*Diod. Sic., l. 1. c. 50. s. 2. 1:177}
Editor.)
3573 AM, 4283 JP, 431 BC
1276. Arcesilaus was killed by his subjects, the Cyrenians. He was the eighth
king in that state and the man who, in the third year of the 73rd Olympiad, won
the thirty-first Pythian race with his chariot, for which he was made famous by
Pindar, in his fourth and fifth odes. When his son should have succeeded him,
he was disallowed by the Cyrenians. Thereupon, he sailed into the Hesperides,
or western islands, where he died. So that kingdom of Cyrene, which had stood
for two hundred years, came to an end. It had had four kings going by the name
of Battus and four with the name of Arcesilaus. These interchangeably succeeded
each other in the kingdom, according to the oracle at Delphi, as reported by
Herodotus. {*Herodotus, l. 4. c. 163. 2:369} {Scholiast. Pindar, Ode 4.
Pythion} [E143]
1277. Toward the end of the first year of the 87th Olympiad, when there were
only two months remaining in the rule of Pythodorus of Athens, and at the
beginning of spring, the Peloponnesian War started between the Lacedemonians and
the Athenians. The countries living along the coast of Asia sided with the
Athenians. All the Carians, the Dorians, the Ionians, those of the Hellespont,
and all the adjoining islanders supported Athens, except for the two islands of
Melos and Thera. Both sides sent their embassies to Artaxerxes, asking for
help. {*Thucydides, l. 2. c. 2,9. 1:259,275}
1278. At the beginning of this war there lived three famous historians,
Hellanicus, aged sixty-five, Herodotus, who was fifty-three, and Thucydides who
was forty. {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c. 23. s. 1,2. 3:113}
Thucydides wrote the entire history of this war to its twenty-first year.
[L203] He carefully wrote what happened by the winters and summers. He began
every summer from the first day of spring and every winter from the first day of
autumn.
1279. In the first summer of this war, there was a total eclipse of the sun
which was so dark that the stars appeared in the sky. {*Thucydides, l. 2. c.
28. 1:309} This caused great fear among all men, and was seen as a sad and
great omen in the world. When Pericles saw that the captain of the ship he was
on was troubled by the eclipse, he put his cloak over his eyes. He asked him
whether he was afraid at that, or whether or not he thought it portended any
great event. When he said no, Pericles asked him what the difference was
between this covering of the sun, and the covering of his eyes by the cloak,
except that the eclipsed area was much larger than his cloak? {*Plutarch,
Pericles, l. 1. c. 35. 3:101,103} He discussed with him the causes of the
eclipses of the sun and moon, and the motions by which they moved, according to
what he had learned from his teacher Anaxagoras. He persuaded his fellow
citizens not to be troubled by a vain and needless fear. {*Valerius Maximus, l.
8. c. 11. ext. 1. 2:255,257} This eclipse happened at about five o'clock in
the afternoon on August 3 at Athens. About eighty per cent (or ten digits) of
the sun was covered.
3574 AM, 4284 JP, 430 BC
1280. A dreadful plague started first in Ethiopia and spread from there into
Libya and Egypt, and especially into the regions of the Persian dominion. It
raged unchecked in the city of Athens in the second year of this war.
{*Thucydides, l. 2. c. 58. 1:343} Hippocrates documents the nature of this
plague from a historical perspective. He was sick with it, and often in company
with those who were sick. Hippocrates was a physician who lived in Athens and
who was successful in the curing of various persons afflicted with the plague.
He described the plague from a medical point of view. {Hippocrates, Epidemics,
l. 3. c. 3.} Lucretius, who lived many years later, described this in his
poetry.
1281. A sedition happened in a town of the Colophonians, called Notium. When
Itamenes and his Persian soldiers were called in by one of the factions, they
came and took possession of the strongest part of the town (the upper part).
{*Thucydides, l. 3. c. 34. s. 1,2. 2:53}
1282. Toward the end of this summer, Aristeus, the son of Adimantus, a
Corinthian, and three envoys of the Lacedemonians, Aneristus, Nicolaus and
Pratodamus, along with Timagoras of Tegea and Pollis of Argos, journeyed into
Asia to Artaxerxes to ask for men and money for the war. They went by Thrace
and came to its king, Sitalces, the son of Tereus. They planned to pass over
the Hellespont and to go to Pharnaces, the son of Pharnabazus, hoping to have
him convoy them safely to Artaxerxes, but they were betrayed by Sitalces and
Nymphodorus of Abdera, the son of Pytheas. They were all taken to Athens where,
without any formal hearing, the Athenians killed them the same day they arrived
and threw their bodies into a pit. {*Thucydides, l. 2. c. 67. 1:379,381}
{*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 137. 3:439,441}
3575a AM, 4284 JP, 430 BC
1283. The following winter, the Athenians sent six ships to Caria and Lycia
under the command of Melesander. They intended to gather money from those parts
and to rid the seas of pirates. These were from Peloponnesus and preyed on poor
merchant ships that traded along the coast of Phaselis, Phoenicia and other
ports of the continent. Melesander, with his Athenians and other confederates,
did not stay at sea, but went ashore in Lycia and was defeated by the enemy. He
and most of his army were killed. {*Thucydides, l. 2. c. 69. 1:385,387}
1284. Seleucus, the king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, died after ruling for seven
years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 36. 4:447} After him, Spartacus the second
reigned for twenty-two years. (The Loeb edition of the text has obviously been
amended to correct the defects that Ussher pointed out. It reads forty years
instead of twenty-two years. However, the correction is incorrect! Editor.)
3576 AM, 4286 JP, 428 BC
1285. Pericles died in the fourth year of the 87th Olympiad, {*Diod. Sic., l.
12. c. 46. s. 1. 5:17} thirty months after the beginning of the
Peloponnesian War, of which he was the main cause. {*Thucydides, l. 2. c.
65. s. 6. 1:375} He was the senior statesman and had continued as a prince of
the Athenian state for forty years. {*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 3. c. 16. (59)
4:47} {*Plutarch, Pericles, l. 1. c. 39. 3:113,115} [E144] [L204]
1286. In this year, Anaxagoras of Clazomene died. He was Pericles' teacher,
and was born in the 70th Olympiad and died in the first year of the 88th
Olympiad, according to Laertius. {*Diogenes Laertius, Apollodorus, l. 2. c.
3. (7) 1:137} However, it was incorrectly given there as the 78th Olympiad.
(Loeb edition does not have this variant reading. Editor.) He added that the
men of Lampsacus bestowed on him an honourable burial with this epitaph on his
tomb, as recorded also by Aelian: {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 8. c.
19. 1:279}
Great Anaxagoras lies here in mould,
Who did all secrets of the heavens unfold.
3577a AM, 4286 JP, 428 BC
1287. In the winter season of the fourth year of the Peloponnesian War the
Athenians sent twelve ships, commanded by Lysicles, with four commissioners, to
collect their tribute from their confederate cities. Lysicles went from place
to place to gather money. When he was leaving Myus through Caria, the Carians
and Anaeitans ambushed and killed him and most of his army. {*Thucydides, l.
3. c. 19. 2:31}
3577 AM, 4287 JP, 427 BC
1288. When Alcides, the commander of the Lacedemonian fleet, came to the cape
of Myonnesus in the country of the Teians, he killed most of the Greeks whom he
had taken prisoner from Asia. When he came to Ephesus, some messengers from the
Samians, who were of the Anaeitans, rebuked him. They said he was wrong to
deliver the Greeks from servitude if he planned to destroy people who had never
borne arms against him nor were his enemies. Their only crime was being forced
to pay tribute to the Athenians. He then spared the rest and let them go.
{*Thucydides, l. 3. c. 32. 2:49,51}
1289. A new broil arose between the original citizens of Notium, who lived in
the lower town, and those who had recently fled there. These saw the power of
the Arcadian and other barbarian mercenaries who had been sent from Pissuthnes,
the governor of Lydia. They made a wall around the upper town for a
fortification against the lower town. The Colophonians from the upper town, who
were in sympathy with the Persians, joined them there and were admitted into
citizenship. The other side sent for Paches, a captain of the Athenians, to
come and help them. When he came, he defeated Hippias, the captain of the
Arcadians in the citadel, and he was asked to leave the citadel for a talk.
They promised him that if they could not agree, he could return safely to the
citadel again. When he came, Paches took him and committed him to safe custody
without manacles or fetters, while he attacked and captured the citadel.
Everyone inside was killed, both Arcadians and Persians. Lastly, to keep his
word with Hippias, he let him return safely to the citadel, but as soon as he
had reached it, they laid hold on him again and shot him to death with arrows.
So Paches restored Notium to the Colophonians, except for those who had sided
with the Medes. Afterward, the Athenians established a colony there and
governed the place according to their own laws. They gathered as many of the
Colophonians from all parts as they could find, to live there. {*Thucydides, l.
3. c. 34. 2:53} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 3.}
3579c AM, 4289 JP, 425 BC
1290. Artaxerxes sent Artaphernes, a Persian envoy, with a letter written in
the Assyrian language, to Lacedemon. Among other things, he said that he did
not know what they wanted from him, for they had sent so many envoys to him.
None of them agreed with one another. Therefore, if they would have him
understand what they wanted, they should send some men of their own to him.
{*Thucydides, l. 4. c. 50. 2:297} [L205]
3579d AM, 4289 JP, 425 BC
1291. In the interim, Artaxerxes died and his son Xerxes succeeded him for only
one year. {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 64. 5:61,62} Xerxes' mother Damaspia
died on the same day that her husband Artaxerxes did. Bagorazus, the eunuch,
carried the bodies of both Xerxes' father, and mother into Persia. {Ctesias}
3580a AM, 4289 JP, 425 BC
1292. In the winter of the seventh year of the Peloponnesian War, Aristides,
the son of Archippus, one of the captains who were sent from Athens to gather
the tribute of their confederates, captured Artaphernes, the Persian envoy, as
he was going to Lacedemon. This was at a place called Eion on the Strymon
River. He brought him as a prisoner to Athens. The Athenians at once sent
Aristides back to Ephesus accompanied by an envoy. When they arrived and heard
that Artaxerxes had recently died, they returned home again. {*Thucydides, l.
4. c. 50. 2:297,299}
3580b AM, 4290 JP, 424 BC
1293. At the beginning of the next summer (the beginning of spring), Thucydides
said there was a partial eclipse of the sun, beginning on the first day of
spring in the morning (on the 21st day of March according to the Julian
Calendar). This was toward the end of the fourth year of the 88th Olympiad.
{*Thucydides, l. 4. c. 52. s. 1. 2:299} [E145] The sun was more than half
eclipsed, according to the account of Prutenicus.
1294. The exiles from Mitylene, after their city was taken by the Athenians,
joined with the exiles from Lesbos. They hired some mercenaries from
Peloponnesus and went and took Rhoetium. Having received money from them, they
spared the city. From there, they went to Antandros, which was betrayed into
their hands. Their initial purpose was to liberate Mitylenian cities (known as
the Actean cities) now controlled by Athens, and in particular, Antandros, which
they fortified. They planned to build ships with timber from the hill Ida,
hoping to take over the city of Lesbos and other cities in Aeolia.
{*Thucydides, l. 4. c. 52. 2:299,301}
3580c AM, 4290 JP, 424 BC
1295. At the same time, Aristides and Demodocus (also called Symmachus,),
captains of the Athenian navy, were in the Hellespont gathering tribute from the
people there. Lamachus, a third captain, had gone with ten ships into Pontus.
When they heard that the Mitylenians were planning to fortify Antandros, they
gathered an army of their confederates and set sail for Mitylene. The enemy
sallied out against the Athenians, but they defeated them in battle and captured
the town. When Lamachus, who had gone into Pontus, came to the mouth of the
Cales River (Diodorus called it Cachtes) in the region of Heraclea, he left his
ships at anchor and plundered all the country around Heraclea. These cities
favoured Persia, and had refused to pay tribute to Athens. After a heavy rain,
the swollen river current drove their ships onto the rocky shore. He lost his
whole fleet as well as a large part of his army. He could not return home by
sea, and dared not return by land with so small a company through so many fierce
and warlike countries. The Heracleans used this occasion to befriend these
enemies rather than seek revenge on them. The Heracleans used the Athenian
tribute to win their friendship and buy provisions for their return trip home.
Lamachus, with his remaining company, went overland through the country of the
Thracians, who lived on the Asian side, and came safely to Chalcedon.
{*Thucydides, l. 4. c. 75. 2:341} {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 72. 5:81}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 3.} [L206]
3580d AM, 4290 JP, 424 BC
1296. When Xerxes was roaring drunk on a festival day, he was killed in his
chamber while sleeping. His brother Secundianus, born of Aloguna, a Babylonian
woman, murdered him, aided by Pharnacyas, a eunuch. {Ctesias}
1297. Secundianus had for a long time borne a grudge against the eunuch
Bagoras. He picked a quarrel with him for burying his father's body without his
advice and ordered that he be stoned to death. His army took offence at this
wicked deed, even though he gave them much money. From that time on, the army
hated him for murdering his brother Xerxes. {Ctesias}
3581a AM, 4290 JP, 424 BC
1298. Secundianus sent for his brother Ochus, whom his father Artaxerxes had
made governor of Hyrcania, but he refused to come. He sent word that he would
come, but did not. This he did repeatedly. Finally he gathered a mighty army,
with the intention of taking over the kingdom. Arbarius, who was general of the
cavalry for Secundianus, defected to Ochus. Arxanes, the governor of Egypt,
also defected. Artoxares came in person from Armenia and asked if he planned to
make himself king. {Ctesias}
3581b AM, 4291 JP, 423 BC
1299. Ochus was made king, and subsequently after that called himself Darius.
On the advice of both his wife Parysatis and his sister, he first tried to win
over his brother Secundianus. Menostanes, whom he esteemed more highly than any
other of the eunuchs about him, urged Secundianus not to believe his words nor
have any treaty with faithless men. However, Secundianus came to make a treaty
and was captured there. He died when thrown into a heap of ashes. {Ctesias}
For more details on this punishment, see the following footnotes. {See note on
3485b AM. <<1025>>} {Apc 2Ma 13:5,6}
1300. When Secundianus, or Sogdianus, was dead, Ochus reigned alone and was
known by the name of Darius Ochus. This happened toward the end of the first
year of the 89th Olympiad. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 5. s. 4. 4:199} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 12. c. 71. 5:79}
3582 AM, 4292 JP, 422 BC
1301. When the men of Delos were driven out of their country by the Athenians,
Pharnaces gave them Adramyttium in Asia to live in. {*Thucydides, l. 5. c.
1. 3:3} {*Diod. Sic., l. 12. c. 73. s. 1. 5:85}
3583 AM, 4293 JP, 421 BC
1302. The Athenians, at the command of the oracle at Delphi, restored the
people of Delos to their island again. {*Thucydides, l. 5. c. 32. 3:61}
3588 AM, 4298 JP, 416 BC
1303. The men of Byzantium and Chalcedon were joined by the Thracians, and
crossed with a large army into Bithynia. [E146] When they had wasted the
country and forced many of the smaller towns into submission, they were
immeasurably cruel toward them. They gathered together a large multitude of
men, women and children, and butchered every one of them. {*Diod. Sic., l.
12. c. 82. s. 2. 5:109}
3589a AM, 4298 JP, 416 BC
1304. The twenty-first Jubilee was the last one seen by the prophets of the Old
Testament. The passage in Nehemiah is not to be understood of Darius the last,
but of this Darius Nothus. {Ne 12:22} It was in his time that Johananes, also
called both Johannes and Jonathan, succeeded to the high priesthood after his
father Joiada (whom Josephus called Judas). {Ne 12:22,23} Jaddua's son, who
succeeded his father in the priesthood, was also born then. [L207] These things
Nehemiah mentioned only in passing. His book ended with the time of Artaxerxes
Longimanus, the father of this Darius, whom Josephus mentions in connection with
the prophetic writings: {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 8. (40) 1:179}
"From the death of Moses to Artaxerxes, King of Persia, who succeeded Xerxes,
the prophets wrote thirteen books. From Artaxerxes to our time, all things
indeed have been likewise committed to writing, but not held in the same esteem
as the former, because the succession of the prophets one after another has been
uncertain."
1305. Eusebius made the following observation concerning the 32nd year of
Artaxerxes, with whom the continued history of Nehemiah ended: {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:196}
"Hitherto, the divine scriptures of the Hebrews contain the annals of the times.
Those things which were done among them after this time, we must derive from the
books of the Maccabees and from the writings of Josephus and Africanus. He
wrote a general history of things done among them down to the Roman times."
1306. Malachi, the last of the prophets, was a contemporary of Nehemiah. This
we gather from the fact that he nowhere exhorted the people to build the temple,
as Haggai and Zechariah did. Since the temple was now built, he reproved those
same disorders among the Jews which Nehemiah also reproved at his second return
with a new commission. These are: the marriages with foreign women, {Ne
13:23-29 Mal 2:11} withholding of tithes, {Ne 13:10-14 Mal 3:8} and abuses in
the worship of God. {Ne 13:15-22 Mal 1:13 2:8} They were no longer to expect a
continual succession of prophets, as before. Therefore Malachi, in the last
words of his prophecy, exhorted them to hold fast to the law of Moses until
Christ, that great prophet of the church, should appear with his forerunner,
John the Baptist:
"In the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children and the rebels to the wisdom of the just." {Mal 4:5 Lu 1:17 Mt 11:14
17:12}
1307. Jerome also stated that after Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, he saw no
other prophet till John the Baptist. {Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah chapter 49.}
See also the Apocrypha. {Apc 1Ma 4:46 9:27} {*Augustine, City of God, l. 17.
c. 24. 2:360} In the book of Pirke Abbeth we read that the men of the Great
Synagogue succeeded the prophets. However, in later years the Jews count even
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi among their number, and make Ezra the head of this
Great Synagogue.
3590 AM, 4300 JP, 414 BC
1308. Pissuthnes, the governor of Lydia, revolted from Darius, so Tissaphernes,
Spithridates and Pharmises were sent against him. Pissuthnes went out to meet
them. With him he had Lycon, an Athenian, with the Greeks under his command.
The king's commanders bribed Lycon and his Greeks to abandon Pissuthnes. Then
they drew in Pissuthnes with the promise of safety and the assurance that they
would bring him to the king, which they did. The king ordered Away with him to
the ash heap, and gave his government to Tissaphernes. Lycon had cities and
countries given to him as a reward for his treachery. {Ctesias}
1309. Eusebius noted that Egypt rebelled from the Persians, and that Amyrtaeus
Saites reigned there for six years. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:198} This
seems to be the same Amyrtaeus whom Herodotus mentioned, when he wrote that he
did the Persians much damage. {*Herodotus, l. 2. c. 140. 1:445}
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 15. 2:21}
3591 AM, 4301 JP, 413 BC
1310. In the nineteenth summer of the Peloponnesian War, when Nicias had wanted
to withdraw his army at night from before the walls of Syracuse in Sicily, an
eclipse of the moon occurred about ten o'clock at night in the month of
Metageition. [L208] This was on the 27th of August, according to the Julian
calendar. He was so terrified at the sight of it, that he did not withdraw at
that time, but because of that delay, he and his whole army perished.
{*Thucydides, l. 7. c. 50. s. 4. 4:101} {*Polybius, l. 9. c. 19. s.
1-4. 4:45} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 12. s. 6. 5:159} {*Pliny, l. 2. c.
9. (54) 1:203} {*Plutarch, Nicias, l. 1. c. 23. 3:289} {Plutarch,
Superstition}
1311. The next winter, Tissaphernes of Lydia and Pharnabazus of the Hellespont,
two governors of Darius whose countries bordered the sea coast in lesser Asia,
sought to recover the arrears of tribute from the Greek cities lying within
their control, because the Athenians had recently forbidden them to pay tribute
to the king. [E147] They made a deal with them underhandedly, to make them
defect from the Athenians. They solicited the Peloponnesians in general to make
a new war on Athens, and had the Lacedemonians (in particular) become allies of
the Persian king. When the Athenian power, on which Pissuthnes had founded all
his hopes, was thus weakened in Asia, Tissaphernes sought by all means to
capture Amorges, a bastard son of Pissuthnes, who had taken up arms in Caria.
He was commanded to send him, dead or alive, to the king. When he found that
the citizens of Chios and Erythrae were ready to revolt from the Athenians, he
sent his messenger together with theirs to Lacedemon, to negotiate the matter by
common agreement. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 5. s. 4,5. 4:199}
1312. At the same time, Calligeitus of Megara and Timagoras of Cyzicum, who
were both banished from their country, came to Lacedemon. They were sent by
Pharnabazus, who had entertained them during the time of their exile. They went
in the name of the inhabitants of Cyzicum, to get ships to carry them to the
Hellespont. When the messengers of Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes each made their
request separately, the Lacedemonians were divided as to what to do. Some
advised that Ionia and Chios should be helped first, others, the Hellespont.
Alcibiades helped decide the matter. He was a condemned man from Athens who
lived in Sparta, in a house with Endius, one of the ephors who was a friend of
his father. At his suggestion, they made an agreement with the Chians and
Erythreans and ordered forty ships to be sent to help them. Calligeitus and
Timagoras, who were there on behalf of Pharnabazus and the men of Cyzicum,
contributed nothing toward this fleet for Chios. They withheld the twenty-five
talents which they had brought with them to hire ships for themselves, because
they planned to prepare a fleet of their own. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 6,8.
4:201-205}
3592b AM, 4302 JP, 412 BC
1313. In the twentieth summer of the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades, an
Athenian, and Chalcideus, a Lacedemonian, were sent by Endius and the other
ephors into Ionia with five ships. Their plan was to try to make the Greek
cities defect from the Athenian side. The Clazomenians went to the mainland and
built a strong citadel there, so they would have a safe place to go if their
island was attacked. Similarly, the other islands which revolted from the
Athenians did likewise, building citadels and preparing for war. {*Thucydides,
l. 8. c. 12,14. 4:211,213}
1314. Strombichides, the commander of the Athenians, came to Samos with eight
ships. [L209] Another ship joined him there and they sailed to Teos. They
persuaded the people there not to defect from the Athenians. Chalcideus also
came there with twenty-three ships and some foot soldiers from the Clazomenians
and Erythreans. The men of Teos at first refused to receive the soldiers, but
when they saw that the Athenians had fled, they took them in. These soldiers
waited for Chalcideus to return from pursuing the Athenians, but when they did
not return, they with the help of those who were under the command of Stages and
Tissaphernes, pulled down the wall which the Athenians had built on the land
side. When Chalcideus and Alcibiades had pursued Strombichides as far as Samos,
they were joined by more ships from Chios and together they sailed to Miletus.
With the help of Alcibiades, who had an important acquaintance with the noble
men there, they persuaded the men of Miletus to defect from the Athenians as
well. When the Athenians followed them there, they were kept out by the
Milesians, and so they retreated to an island called Lade opposite Miletus.
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 16,17. 4:217,219}
1315. Therefore, the Chians sailed with ten ships to the city of Anaea in Caria
to learn the status of Miletus and to induce other cities to defect from the
Athenians. They were called back by Chalcideus because Amorges, the son of
Pissuthnes, was approaching with his army. They came to the small town of
Dioshieron in Ionia. When they saw a fleet of sixteen Athenian ships that had
been sent from there under the command of Diomedon to join with Thrasycles, they
dispersed. One ship went to Ephesus, the rest to Teos. Four were captured by
the Athenians, but all the men on them had escaped to shore. The rest of the
ships safely reached Teos. [E148] After this, when the Athenians had gone to
Samos, the Chians pursued their purpose with the remainder of their fleet and
forces, and drew the cities of Lebedos and Haerae in Ionia over to their side.
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 19. 4:221}
1316. After the foot soldiers of the Chians departed from Teos, Tissaphernes
came there with his army. He pulled down what was left of the walls of Teos and
went away. No sooner had he left, than Diomedon came there with ten Athenian
ships, and was also received by the Teians. He went to Haerae, but when he was
unable to capture it, he went on his way. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 20. s. 2.
4:223}
1317. When the Athenians had taken the citadel which the Clazomenians had built
on the mainland, they forced them to return to their island. The leaders of the
revolt escaped to Daphnus and the Clazomenians again submitted to the Athenians.
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 23. s. 6. 4:227}
3592c AM, 4302 JP, 412 BC
1318. That same summer, the Athenians sailed with twenty ships from Lade, which
was opposite Miletus, and landed at Panormus in the Milesian territory. They
attacked Chalcideus, the Lacedemonian, and killed him and everyone with him.
Two days later they returned to Panormus and erected a monument in memory of
what they had done. The Milesians tore it down on the grounds that the
Athenians did not have control of the the country when they set it up.
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 24. s. 1. 4:229}
1319. At the end of the summer the Athenians, with fifteen hundred heavily
armed Argive soldiers and a thousand men from Athens and many of their other
confederates, sailed to Samos with forty-eight ships commanded by Phrynichus,
Onomacles and Scironides. [L210] From there they sailed for Miletus and
positioned their army before the city. Eight hundred heavily armed Milesian
soldiers attacked them, along with Alcibiades and those whom Chalcideus had
brought from Peloponnesus, and certain other soldiers who came from a foreign
country and were commanded by Tissaphernes. The Argives, who led the van in
their particular wing of the army, trusted too much in their valour and were
routed by the Milesians, whom they held in contempt as being Ionians, and so
they lost three hundred men. But eventually the Athenians won the battle and
after setting up a monument in the field, they besieged the city on that
peninsula. When news came that a fleet from Sicily and Peloponnesus was heading
that way, they followed the advice of Phrynichus and withdrew to Samos.
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 25. 4:231,233}
1320. When the fleet came with the ships of Chios which had formerly been
beaten by Chalcideus, they were asked by Tissaphernes to attack Iasus. Amorges,
the bastard son of Pissuthnes, lived there and had revolted from the king.
Under the command of Astyochus, the admiral to whom Theramenes, a Lacedemonian,
had brought that fleet, the Peloponnesians and the Syracusians (who were very
courageous under their general, Hermocrates) suddenly attacked the Iasians and
took the city. The Iasians incorrectly thought that these took them to be
friends. The Peloponnesians took Amorges alive and handed him over to
Tissaphernes to be sent to Darius, if he so desired. They sacked the city of
Iasus, which was quite prosperous after a long peace, and took much spoil. The
mercenaries hired by Amorges were spared because most of them were
Peloponnesians. They enlisted them for their own service. The town with all
its people was handed over to Tissaphernes. Everyone was redeemed by paying a
Daric stater which was worth about twenty Attic drachmas. They returned to
Miletus, and were accompanied overland by Pedaritus, who was being sent by the
Lacedemonians as the governor for Chios, and by the mercenaries of Amorges.
They went as far as Erythrae and left Philippus behind as the governor of
Miletus. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 28. 4:237}
3592d AM, 4302 JP, 412 BC
1321. The next winter, after Tissaphernes had put a garrison in Iasus, he came
to Miletus and there, according to a promise made at Lacedemon, paid them and
their mercenaries their wages. The wage was an Athenian drachma for each man.
He bargained with them for the same wages for future service. {*Thucydides, l.
8. c. 29,30. 4:239,241}
1322. Astyochus, the admiral of the Lacedemonian fleet, with ten ships of
Lacedemon and as many of Chios, sailed to Clazomene after the failed attack on
the city of Pteleum. There he ordered all who favoured the Athenians to leave
and live at Daphnus. Tamos, the governor of Ionia, gave similar orders. When
they refused, he attacked the unwalled town, but was unsuccessful and left,
encountering a violent storm at sea. He came safely to Phocaea and Cyme, but
the rest of his ships harboured in the isles lying opposite Clazomene,
Marathussa, Pele and Drymussa. They stayed there for eight days because of the
storm. They plundered the goods which the Clazomenians had secretly stored
there for fear of the war. The rest of the goods they put on board their ships
and carried them to Astyochus at Phocaea and Cyme. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c.
31. 4:241,243}
1323. That same winter, Hippocrates of Lacedemon set sail for Cnidos from
Peloponnesus, with ten Thurian ships under the command of Dorieus and two others
commissioned with him, one a Laconian and another from Syracuse. [L211] Cnidos
had revolted from Tissaphernes. [E149] When the Milesians heard this, they sent
to Hippocrates and asked him to leave half of his ships to guard Cnidos and to
go with the rest and raid ships laden with cargo from Egypt. These ships lay at
Triopium, which was a cape of Cnidos. When the Athenians heard of this, they
went from Samos and surprised the six ships which lay at Triopium to guard those
places. However, the sailors escaped and the Athenians found only empty ships.
They came to Cnidos and almost took it by surprise when they attacked it. It
was an unwalled town, and they decided to wait and attack again the next day.
The Cnidians cast up some earth works about the town that night. Also, they
were joined by the crews who were forced ashore at Triopium. When the Athenians
saw it would be harder than ever to take the town, they plundered the country
and returned to Samos. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 35. 4:247}
3593a AM, 4302 JP, 412 BC
1324. When the Spartans evaluated the league between Chalcideus and
Tissaphernes, they considered it somewhat unfair to them. They drew up another
one between the Lacedemonians and their confederates on the one side and Darius,
his sons, and Tissaphernes on the other. This was in clearer terms than the
previous one and was subscribed in the presence of Theramenes of Lacedemon.
After Theramenes gave the command of the navy to Astyochus, Theramenes boarded a
little boat and left, and was never seen again. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c.
36-38. 4:249,251}
1325. Pharnabazus, the governor for the king in the Hellespont, had previously
sent Calligeitus of Megara and Timagoras of Cyzicum to Sparta, asking for ships.
This request was granted, and twenty-seven ships were sent under the command of
Antisthenes, a Lacedemonian, in the middle of winter, from Peloponnesus into
Ionia. The Lacedemonians also sent eleven commissioners of theirs (one was
Lichas, the son of Arcesilaus) to advise Astyochus in the management of this
war. After they came to Miletus, they were ordered to send some or all of these
twenty-seven ships to Pharnabazus in the Hellespont. Clearchus was to be made
commander of this fleet. If they saw cause, they could put Antisthenes in
charge of the navy instead of Astyochus because Astyochus was under suspicion by
Pedaritus, who had letters against him. These commissioners sailed from Malea,
a port in Peloponnesus, toward the island of Melos. They gave Melos a wide
birth to avoid the enemy, and landed at Caunus in Asia. {*Thucydides, l. 8.
c. 39. 4:255}
3593b AM, 4303 JP, 411 BC
1326. When Astyochus came to Cnidos, he quickly left there again to join this
fleet of twenty-seven ships. On his way, he was intercepted by the Athenian
fleet which had been waiting for the Peloponnesian ships coming from Caunus.
The Athenians won the first battle there, but when they lost the second one,
they retired and came to Halicarnassus. The victorious Peloponnesians returned
to Cnidos. After this, the Athenians sailed to an island called Cyme, where
they were soundly defeated. They dared not attack the Lacedemonian navy, which
lay at Cnidos, but took only some tackle and baggage from Cyme. After landing
at Lorymae on the mainland, they returned to Samos. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c.
42,43. 4:259,261}
1327. When all the Peloponnesian navy of ninety-four ships met at Cnidos, the
eleven commissioners discussed with Tissaphernes matters already transacted.
They were looking for any weakness in the agreement and planning how the future
war might be carried on for the best advantage to both sides. Lichas said that,
in view of what had happened, neither of the two leagues which had been made
with Theramenes were as they should be. [L212] They could not tolerate that the
king should hold onto all those countries which he or his ancestors had held
previously. He said that for this reason all the islands, all Thessaly, Locri
and all Boeotia must not come under the king's authority again. The
Lacedemonians, instead of freeing the Greek cities, would further enslave them
to the might of the Persians. Therefore, they should form a new league between
them, or abandon this one, and never ask nor receive any further stipend from
the king of Persia as under the previous leagues. Tissaphernes grew angry and
went his way in a rage. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 43. 4:261,263}
1328. Letters came from the Peloponnesians to Astyochus, stating that he should
execute Alcibiades, because he was under suspicion and was a professed enemy of
Agis, the king of Lacedemon. When Alcibiades heard about this, he fled secretly
to Tissaphernes. Alcibiades persuaded him not to pay so much for the
Peloponnesian navy, but rather hold matters in balance. This way, neither the
Athenians nor the Lacedemonians would win the war. When each side had been
exhausted by warfare, they would more easily be brought under the king's
control. [E150] Pisander, with ten envoys from Athens, entreated Tissaphernes
and Alcibiades for terms that would benefit both the Athenians and the Persians.
However, when Alcibiades, in the name of Tissaphernes, made such intolerable
demands, they thought to abandon all discussion and do nothing, even though they
yielded to many of the demands. Alcibiades demanded that they should surrender
all Ionia and its adjacent islands into the king's hands. When they agreed, he
then demanded that the king could make as many ships as he pleased and sail them
where he pleased whenever he pleased. When the Athenians discovered how
intolerable these demands were, and how they were being abused by Alcibiades,
they broke off the talks in a rage and returned to Samos. {*Thucydides, l. 8.
c. 45,54,56. 4:265,285-289}
1329. Toward the end of this winter, Tissaphernes went to Caunus and planned to
recall the Lacedemonian commissioners back to Miletus and pay them, lest the
Lacedemonians become his enemies, too. When they came, he paid them all their
arrears and made a third league with them. It stated:
"In the thirteenth year of the reign of Darius, when Alexipidas was ephor, the
agreements were made in the field of Meander between the Lacedemonians and their
confederates on the one side, and Tissaphernes and Hieramenes and the sons of
Pharnaces on the other, concerning the affairs of the king and of the
Lacedemonians and their confederates. These, stated that the king be permitted
to retain whatever countries in Asia were his, and that he be permitted to deal
with his own countries as he wished...."
1330. Concerning the payment of their yearly stipend, they agreed upon the
following: {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 58. 4:291,293}
"Tissaphernes should pay the existing fleet until the king's ships came. Once
they arrived, the Lacede-monians and their confederates should maintain their
navy if they wished. If they would rather have a stipend for it, then
Tissaphernes should furnish the same, but on the condition that at the end of
the war they should refund all the money which they had received."
1331. From this we may ascertain the full details behind what Justin stated
more concisely: {Justin, Trogus, l. 5. c. 1.}
"Darius, the king of the Persians, made a league with the Lacedemonians through
Tissaphernes, his governor of Lydia, and promised to bear all the cost of the
war."
1332. At the very beginning of the next summer, which began the twenty-first
year of the Peloponnesian War, Dercylidas, a Lacedemonian, was sent overland
with a small company from Miletus into the Hellespont. He was to incite the
city of Abydus, which was a colony of the Milesians, to revolt from the
Athenians. First this city, then, two days later, Lampsacus, defected from
Athens to Dercylidas and Pharnabazus. [L213]
1333. When Strombichides heard this news, he sailed from Chios to Lesbos with
twenty-four Athenian ships. When the men of Lampsacus attacked him, he routed
them and took their unwalled town on the first assault. Having settled matters
there, he went to Abydus. When they repulsed his attack, he sailed to Sestus
and placed a strong garrison there to defend all of the Hellespont.
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 61,62. 4:295,297}
1334. The whole navy of the Athenians came together at Samos. They entered
into a covenant with the Samians to unite in restoring the democratic state in
Athens and in abolishing the newly appointed junta of four hundred. They bound
themselves with a solemn oath to do this, and appointed Thrasybulus and
Thrasyllus as leaders for this purpose. They consulted about calling home
Alcibiades, hoping with his help to make Tissaphernes stop supporting the
Lacedemonian party and to gain the king's favour for their side. {*Thucydides,
l. 8. c. 63-77. 4:297-327}
1335. Among the seamen of the Peloponnesians who were at Miletus there was a
general dislike for Tissaphernes and Astyochus. When the Lacedemonians were a
strong naval force and the Athenians weak, Astyochus would never fight with the
Athenians. Although he knew of the divisions among the Athenians, he would not
assemble the Lacedemonian navy to attack. Tissaphernes was disliked because he
did not send for the navy of the Phoenicians, as he had promised. Nor did he
pay them their wages, except when he pleased, and then only a portion and not
the full amount. Therefore they wanted the matter decided in battle. Astyochus
and his confederates commanded the Milesians to march overland to the cape of
Mycale, while they went by sea to the same place with the whole fleet of one
hundred and twelve ships. When the Athenians, whose eighty-two ships were
anchored at Glauce near Mycale, saw the fleet coming, they weighed anchor and
sailed as fast as they could to Samos. On hearing of this, Strombichides
hastened to come with his fleet from the Hellespont to help the Athenians. The
Peloponnesians withdrew and returned to Miletus. The Athenians now had one
hundred and eight ships, all strong and well-equipped. They followed the
Peloponnesians home to Miletus, landed and arranged their army in the open
field. When the Peloponnesians would not come to fight, they sailed back to
Samos without attacking anything. [E151] After this, the Peloponnesians saw
they were no match for the Athenian navy. Neither could they pay so many
seamen, especially when Tissaphernes was so churlish in sending in their payment
according to the agreement. They sent Clearchus away with forty of their ships
into the Hellespont to Pharnabazus, who earnestly desired their coming and
promised to pay them very liberally. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 78-80.
4:327-331}
3593c AM, 4303 JP, 411 BC
1336. When Thrasybulus left Tissaphernes, he brought Alcibiades back with him
to Samos. The army made him one of their chief commanders and committed
everything to his direction. Having now been made commander of the Athenian
army, he sailed back to Tissaphernes in order to tell him everything. So
cunningly did he handle matters to his own advantage, that he could make the
Athenians afraid of Tissaphernes, and Tissaphernes of them, at his pleasure.
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 81,82. 4:333-335}
1337. This had a disastrous effect on the morale of the Peloponnesians, who
were anchored at Miletus. They hated Tissaphernes more than ever, so that they
began once again to mutiny against him and Astyochus, whom they now charged with
collusion with Tissaphernes, for his own personal advantage. The sailors from
Syracuse and Thurii demanded, in a very rude and mutinous manner, that Astyochus
pay them. [L214] When he replied roughly and threatened to imprison Doriecus,
the commander of the Thurian squadron, for supporting his sailors, they rioted
and rushed him. (The Greek commentators of Thucydides understood that
Hermocrates, commander of the Syracuse squadron, was meant, not Doriecus.)
Astyochus would have been killed, had he not fled to a nearby altar. The
Milesians made a surprise attack and captured the citadel which Tissaphernes had
built, driving out the garrison of soldiers and taking over the citadel. This
action was well received by all the rest except for Lichas, the Lacedemonian.
He said that the Milesians and everyone else under the king's authority ought to
obey Tissaphernes, while he governed as moderately as he did and until the war
was won. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 83,84. 4:335,339}
1338. While they were busy in this altercation, Mindarus arrived, having been
sent from Lacedemon to succeed Astyochus in the command of the navy. After he
had handed over his command, Astyochus sailed home to Lacedemon. Tissaphernes
sent his messenger Gaulites along with him. This man spoke both the Greek and
Persian languages, although he was born in Caria. He was to charge the
Milesians for the surprise attack on his citadel, and to clear Tissaphernes of
the false accusations which the Milesians and Hermocrates of Syracuse had made.
Tissaphernes knew that the Milesians would accuse him because he had conspired
with Alcibiades against the Lacedemonians. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 84,85.
4:337,339}
1339. Tissaphernes saw that the Peloponnesians were against him. Among other
things, they did not like the fact that he had allowed Alcibiades to return to
his own people again, since he now openly favoured the Athenians. Tissaphernes
went to Aspendus, where the Phoenician fleet of one hundred and forty-seven
ships had come. To clear himself, he took Lichas, the Lacedemonian, along with
him, leaving his agent Tamos with them, to ensure that the wages were paid to
the Peloponnesian navy. Moreover, at the request of Tissaphernes, the
Peloponnesians sent Philippus, a Lacedemonian, with two ships to Aspendus to see
the Phoenician fleet. When Alcibiades learned that Tissaphernes was at
Aspendus, he came with thirteen ships to Caunus and then to Phaselis.
Everywhere, he promised his friends many supplies and much help. When he
returned to Samos, he informed them that he had so arranged matters that the
Phoenician fleet would not assist the Peloponnesians, and Tissaphernes had now
become more friendly to the Athenians than ever. It was true that Tissaphernes
met with the Phoenicians at Aspendus, but he would not let any ship go to the
Peloponnesians. He put them off with the weak excuse that not as many ships had
come to him as the king had commanded. However, his purpose was to hold both
parties of the Greeks in suspense. By siding with neither, he hoped to make
them destroy each other. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 87-89. 4:345-353}
1340. The junta of four hundred at Athens was dissolved and replaced by five
thousand. The new government ratified the recalling of Alcibiades back to his
home country. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 90-93. 4:353-365} That same order
included Thrasybulus and Theramenes in his commission, although they were absent
at the time. Hence, the valour and virtue of the new government in a short time
greatly reformed the Athenian state, and brought it into a better form than ever
before. {Emilius Probus, Alcibiades} [E152]
1341. While the Peloponnesians waited at Miletus, none of those whom
Tissaphernes had left behind when he had left for Aspendus took care to pay the
navy. Neither did Tissaphernes himself pay them, nor did the fleet come, which
he had promised. [L215] Both Philippus, who had been sent with Tissaphernes to
Aspendus, and Hippocrates, who was at Phaselis, wrote to Mindarus, who had the
charge of the navy, saying that he should not expect any ships or anything else
of value from Tissaphernes. On the contrary, Pharnabazus, who served the king
in those parts of the Hellespont, showed them all the favour and friendship that
they could imagine. For he solicited their coming and of his own accord,
incited all the Greek cities within his province to defect from the Athenians
(which Tissaphernes was to have done), hoping thereby to increase his own power.
Mindarus was bothered by this news and instantly made ready seventy-three ships.
He gave the word that they should leave quickly, so that the Athenians at Samos
would not find out. He left Miletus and sailed straight to the Hellespont.
When Thrasyllus heard of this, he sailed from Samos with fifty-five ships and
pursued him. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 99,100. 4:375,377}
1342. Mindarus and the Syracuse squadron had a fierce naval battle with
Thrasyllus and Thrasybulus at the cape of Cynossema, a place also known for old
Hecube's monument. The Athenians won, losing only five ships, but capturing
eighteen of the enemies' ships. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 38-40. 5:223-231}
{*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 104-106. 4:383-389}
1343. The Athenians repaired their fleet as best they could. On the fourth day
after this battle they sailed from Sestus to Cyzicum, which had revolted from
them. When they saw eight ships from Byzantium at Harpagium and Priapus, they
attacked them. They conquered those who defended the ships from the shore, and
captured the ships for their own use. After this they sailed to the unwalled
town of Cyzicum and captured it, extorting a large sum of money from its
inhabitants. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 107. 4:389}
3593d AM, 4303 JP, 411 BC
1344. Alcibiades sailed from Samos with twenty-one ships and exacted large sums
of money from those of Halicarnassus. He sacked the island of Cos and fortified
the town of Cos with a wall. Since winter was now approaching, he returned to
Samos with much spoil. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 108. s. 1,2. 4:391} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 13. c. 42. 5:235}
1345. Arsaces, a Persian and a lieutenant to Tissaphernes, harboured a secret,
deadly hatred against the men of Delos, who had left their old habitation and
now lived at Adramyttium. When he came that way, he sent for all the chief men
among them to come and serve the king in his wars, as friends and confederates.
At the time when they were all assembled together eating dinner, he surrounded
them with his soldiers and had them all killed with arrows. {*Thucydides, l.
8. c. 108. s. 3,4. 4:391}
1346. The people of Antandros in Aeolia feared that Arsaces might do the same
to them, and they also disliked the heavy taxes which he imposed on them, so
they sent for some Peloponnesian soldiers from Abydus. They secretly brought
them over Mount Ida into their city and expelled the garrison of Arsaces from
the citadel. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c. 108. s. 5. 4:393}
1347. Tissaphernes returned from Aspendus into Ionia and was greatly disturbed,
both by this last action of Antandros, and by those of Miletus and Cnidos, where
the inhabitants had also expelled his garrisons. He considered himself wronged
by the Peloponnesians and fearing worse things from them, he was troubled that
Pharnabazus, in a shorter time and with far less cost, might appear to have done
more against the Athenians than he had done. Therefore he planned to go in
person to the Peloponnesians in the Hellespont, to reason with them concerning
their expelling of his garrison from Antandros and to clear himself from the
charges against him concerning the Phoenician fleet and other matters. As soon
as he arrived at Ephesus, he sacrificed to Diana. {*Thucydides, l. 8. c.
109. 4:393} [L216] Here ended the history of Thucydides, which Theopompus
continued for another seventeen years and Xenophon for forty-eight years after
that. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 42. s. 5. 5:237} The writings of
Theopompus are lost, but we do have those of Xenophon partially preserved for
us. As well as the poem of his history, we lack its first two years, that is,
from the end of the summer of the twenty-first year of the Peloponnesian War,
where Thucydides left off, to the end of the twenty-third summer of the same
war.
3594 AM, 4304 JP, 410 BC
1348. Concerning the three hundred ships sent back to Phoenicia, Tissaphernes
cleared himself with the Lacedemonians by saying that he had received news that
the coast of Phoenicia was in danger of attack from the Arabians and Amyrtaeus,
the king of Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 46. s. 6. 5:249} However,
Thucydides stated that only a hundred and forty ships came to Aspendus from
Phoenicia, and that they were all sent back again by Tissaphernes, contrary to
his promise.
3595c AM, 4305 JP, 409 BC
1349. There was another naval battle between the Lacedemonians and Athenians at
Cynossema. This was described by Theopompus, as a certain nameless Greek writer
stated in the life of Thucydides. [E153]
3595d AM, 4305 JP, 409 BC
1350. Thymochares came to Athens with a small fleet of ships. The
Lacedemonians and Athenians had another naval battle, which the Lacedemonians
won under the command of Agesandridas. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1.
s. 1. 1:3}
1351. Not long after this, at the beginning of winter, Dorieus, the admiral of
the Thurian fleet from Italy, sailed with fourteen ships from Rhodes to the
Hellespont to meet Mindarus, who was at Abydus. He was at Abydus for a meeting
of all the friends and confederates of the Peloponnesians. Dorieus had sailed
as far as Sigeum, a port in Troas, when the Athenian navy at Sestus found out
about his trip and destination, and sailed toward him with twenty ships.
Hearing of their coming, Dorieus fled from there and beached his ships on the
shores of Rhoetium. He landed his men and with the help of the men of Dardania,
warded off an Athenian attack. When the Athenians saw that they could not
prevail, they sailed back to Madytus to join the rest of their army. Mindarus,
who at that time happened to be at old Troy sacrificing to Athena, saw this
battle. He raced with eighty-four ships to the cape of Dardania to meet Dorieus
and to save his ships. He also found the army of Pharnabazus ready to help the
Lacedemonian navy against their enemies. The Athenian fleet of seventy-four
ships came close to the shore of Abydus and there started a naval battle.
Mindarus commanded ninety-seven ships, besides those of Dorieus. He placed the
Syracusians in the left wing and he himself took the right wing. On the other
side, Thrasybulus had the right wing and Thrasyllus the left. The battle lasted
from morning to evening, neither side winning. Suddenly Alcibiades came sailing
in with eighteen fresh ships from Samos, headed toward the Hellespont. When the
Lacedemonians saw this, they fled toward Abydus. The Athenians chased them and
captured ten of their ships, but a violent storm arose which prevented the
Athenians from finishing off their enemies. The Peloponnesians all escaped
safely to shore and fled to the army of Pharnabazus that was there. During the
battle, Pharnabazus rode his horse into the sea up to its saddle-skirts in order
to fight, commanding his army to do likewise. The Peloponnesians locked their
ships close together into one mass and fought against their enemies from the
decks nearest the shore. [L217] As the night was drawing on, the Athenians
returned to Samos with thirty empty ships which they had captured and their own
fleet, including their damaged ships. The next morning as soon as it was light,
they gathered what spoils they could from the wrecked ships of their enemies.
They erected a monument to the event and then left forty ships to guard the
Hellespont. The rest of the fleet was assigned to various destinations, some
gathering their tribute money. One of their chief captains, Thrasyllus, sailed
back to Athens to let them know what a victory they had had. He wanted a supply
of men and shipping for the carrying on of the war in those parts. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 2-8. 1:3,5} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 45-47.
5:243-249} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 27. s. 2-4. 4:79,81}
1352. About the first watch of the night, Mindarus went back to the seaside and
gave orders for repairing his ships which had been damaged in the battle. He
urgently sent by land and sea to Lacedemon for fresh supplies. While this was
happening, he made plans to join his army with Pharnabazus to capture the
tributary cities of the Athenians which were in Asia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13.
c. 47. 5:249}
3596a AM, 4305 JP, 409 BC
1353. In the meantime, Tissaphernes came into the Hellespont. Alcibiades
planned to magnify himself after so glorious a victory over the Lacedemonians.
He came to Tissaphernes with rich presents and a princely train, but
Tissaphernes was in ill repute with the Lacedemonians and so was fearful that
some accusation might be made against him to Darius. He arrested Alcibiades and
put him in irons at Sardis, pretending that this was the king's command and
wanting to show that he counted the Athenians as enemies. Within a month,
Alcibiades escaped with Mantitheus, a fellow prisoner who had been captured in
Caria. He got horses and they escaped by night to Clazomene, claiming that it
was with the consent of Tissaphernes. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s.
9. 1:5} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 27,28. 4:79,81}
3596b AM, 4306 JP, 408 BC
1354. Toward the end of winter, Mindarus went to Cyzicum with sixty ships and
together with the army of Pharnabazus, they captured Cyzicum by force.
Eighty-six ships under the command of Alcibiades, Thrasybulus and Theramenes
attacked Mindarus. He was first routed at sea and then in a second battle on
land, in which Mindarus fought bravely and was killed. When the troops from
Syracuse saw no means of escape, they set their own ships on fire. The rest of
the ships in the fleet were captured by the Athenians, who sailed them all to
Proconnesus. This battle is more fully described by these authors: {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 11-18. 1:5-9} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 49-52.
5:257-267} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 28. 4:81-85} {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 1.}
1355. The next day the Athenians sailed from Proconnesus to Cyzicum, and were
received into the city which had been abandoned by Pharnabazus and the
Peloponnesians. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 19. 1:9} [E154]
There they erected two monuments, the one for their victory at sea at the isle
of Polydorus, and the other for that victory on land in which they had first put
the enemies to flight. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 51. s. 7. 5:265}
1356. Alcibiades stayed at Cyzicum for twenty days. When he had extracted a
vast sum of money from them, he departed without doing them any harm and
returned to Proconnesus. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 19,20.
1:9}
1357. The commanders of the Athenians who remained behind at Cyzicum came at
length to Chalcedon. There they walled Chrysopolis and made it a place to
gather tolls from every ship that passed by from Pontus. {*Xenophon, Hellenica,
l. 1. c. 1. s. 20. 1:9} {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 44. s. 3. 2:409}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 64. s. 2. 5:301} They left a garrison and a fleet
of thirty ships there under the command of Theramenes and Eumachus. This was
for the purpose of keeping the town, of watching what ships came in and out at
the mouth of Pontus, and of doing what mischief they could to the enemy.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 21-22. 1:9,10}
1358. The Athenians intercepted concisely written letters from Hippocrates, the
lieutenant of Mindarus, to the ephors at Lacedemon, concerning the loss they had
sustained at Cyzicum. [L218] They said: {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1.
s. 23. 1:10} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 28. s. 6. 4:85}
"All is lost. Mindarus is dead. Our men starve. We know not what to do."
1359. The Lacedemonians sued for peace, a plea which was opposed by those who
made a living from the war. {Justin, Trogus, l. 5. c. 4.} For although the
moderates among the Athenians were inclined to peace, those who made their
living by it chose to continue the war. Cleophon, who was one of the principal
leaders of this latter group, had spoken many rash things. This is how Diodorus
elegantly expressed it: {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 53. s. 2. 5:271}
"He made the people proud by recounting to them the greatness of their good
successes, as if fortune did not bestow her favours in the war by turns."
1360. With his fiery speeches Cleophon stirred up the people to carry on the
war, though this later turned out to be to his own shame. He made lyres, and it
was common knowledge that he had been a slave and been kept in irons. Later, by
various devices, he had come to live in Athens. At this time, he won the people
over to him by his munificence, and grew so bold as to profess openly:
"With his own hand he would cut off the head of any man, whoever he might be,
who wanted to speak any further of making peace."
1361. This is according to Eschines, in his speech De False Legation (that is,
concerning a False Delegation).
1362. The Peloponnesians and their confederates from Syracuse, and as many as
had escaped alive from the battle, went to Pharnabazus, who courteously
entertained and comforted them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 51. s. 8. 5:265}
He said they should not be discouraged by the loss of a few wooden ships, since
the king had more than enough wood in his kingdom to build more ships. The main
thing was that the men were safe. He gave every man a new suit of clothes and
two months' pay in advance. He armed the sailors and placed garrisons all along
the sea coast which was under his jurisdiction as governor. He assembled all
the commanders of cities and captains of every ship, and ordered them to build
as many new ships at Antandros as they had lost. He paid for this and allowed
them to use timber from Mount Ida. When this had been done, he sent them a
fleet to relieve Chalcedon. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 24-26.
1:11}
3596c AM, 4306 JP, 408 BC
1363. While this navy was being built, the men of Syracuse joined with the
inhabitants of Antandros and built a wall around the town, greatly fortifying
the place. In return, the Antandrians gave the Syracusians the privileges of
benefactors and citizens. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 26. 1:11}
1364. The captains of these troops from Syracuse were exiled by their
countrymen at home. Their general, Hermocrates, accused Tissaphernes at
Lacedemon, and they believed him, also accepting the testimony of Astyochus.
Hermocrates returned to Pharnabazus and without even asking, received from him a
large sum of money. When he had procured men and ships, he returned to his own
country. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 27-31. 1:11-15} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 13. c. 63. 5:297}
1365. Pasippidas was condemned to be banished from Sparta because it was
thought that, by his plotting with Tissaphernes, he had caused all who favoured
the Lacedemonian party to be driven out. He was expelled in a riot at the isle
of Thasos. Cratesippidas was sent to replace him and to take charge of the navy
at Chios. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 32. 1:15} [L219]
1366. With twenty-five ships, Cratesippidas wasted his time about the coast of
Ionia and for a long time did nothing worth speaking of. Later, he was paid by
the exiles from Chios to bring them home again. [E155] He routed out the six
hundred of the opposing faction who lived at Atarneus, the most fortified place
on the continent, which was opposite Chios and from where they were making daily
attacks on Chios. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 65. s. 3,4. 5:305}
3596d AM, 4306 JP, 408 BC
1367. In the 93rd Olympiad, Eubotas, the Cyrenian, won the prize in running.
Euarchippus was the ephor at Lacedemon and Euctemon was the archon at Athens. A
new game was introduced in the Olympics, namely a a two-horse race called a
Xunwriv or Sunwriv. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 2. s. 1. 1:19}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 68. s. 1. 5:311} {*Pausanias, Elis II, l. 6. c.
8. s. 3. 3:51} {Julius Africanus, Catalogue Stadionicarum} Africanus added
that in the same Olympiad Pulydamas, the Seotussian, won the prize for
wrestling. He was the same man whom Darius Nothus sent for by messengers with
large gifts, requiring him to come to him at Susa. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 83.
3:391} He challenged three of the king's Immortal Guard to fight with him, three
against one, and he killed all three of them. {*Herodotus, l. 7. c. 83.
3:391} {*Pausanias, Elis II, l. 6. c. 5. s. 7. 3:33} In the same book
Pausanias mentioned Eubotas, surnamed Stadionicus, who, when the Oracle of Ammon
had foretold that he would win the prize in running, had his own statue made
beforehand. When he then won the prize, he dedicated his statue in witness of
this, all in the same day. {*Pausanias, Elis II, l. 6. c. 8. s. 3. 3:51}
1368. In this year, the Medes, who had defected from King Darius of the
Persians, submitted to him again. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 2. s.
19. 1:25} Herodotus stated that the Medes revolted from Darius, {*Herodotus, l.
1. c. 128. 1:167} but were defeated and brought under his control again. He
made mention of the war at Decelea, {*Herodotus, l. 9. c. 73. 3:245,247}
which was waged five years earlier, and of Amyrtaeus' son reigning after him.
{*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 15. 2:21} From this I gather that he either wrote, or
at least revised, his history at the very latter end of the Peloponnesian War.
1369. In the beginning of the summer, at Athens, Thrasyllus took command of the
ships committed to his charge with five thousand sailors. These were all
equipped as targeteers and he was to join with certain other targeteers at
Samos. When he had stayed there three days, he sailed to the coast of Pygela in
Ionia. First he wasted the country in that area, before finally coming up to
the wall of Pygela with his army. Some reinforcements arrived from Miletus and
attacked the lightly armed Athenians, who were busy gathering the spoil from the
country. The rest of the Athenians came to relieve their troops and killed most
of the Milesians. From the bodies of the dead they gathered two hundred of
their bucklers and used them to erect a monument. The next day they sailed to
Notium and there took on supplies. They sailed on to Colophon which yielded to
them at once. The next night they entered into Lydia at the time when their
grain was almost ripe, and set many villages on fire. They were scattered here
and there and were concerned with nothing but their plundering. Stages, a
Persian (this seems to be the same Stages mentioned previously {See note on 3592
AM. <<1314>>}), attacked them with his cavalry, taking one prisoner
and killing
seven of them. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 2. s. 2-5. 1:19}
1370. When Tissaphernes understood that Thrasyllus was ready to set sail for
for a surprise attack on Ephesus, he gathered all the troops he could find. He
sent messengers into all parts, ordering men to come in and defend Diana of the
Ephesians. When Thrasyllus had spent seventeen days in Lydia, he set sail for
Ephesus. He landed his heavily armed foot soldiers at Mount Coressus, but the
cavalry, targeteers and all the other soldiers he put ashore near a bog on the
other side of the town. [L220] As soon as it was light, they approached the
town in two companies. The troops in the town, with the reinforcements
Tissaphernes had sent them, first attacked the foot soldiers who were at
Coressus. They routed them and pursued them to the seaside, killing a hundred
men. After this they returned quickly and attacked those who were located near
the bog. When they had routed the Athenians and killed three hundred of them,
they erected one monument there and another at Coressus. They highly rewarded
the companies of reinforcements from Syracuse and Selinuntia because they
behaved most valiantly. They promised freedom from taxes forever to those who
were expelled from their home city. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 2. s.
6-10. 1:21} Plutarch mentioned a brass monument set up to disgrace the
Athenians. {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 29. s. 1. 4:85}
1371. After a truce was made, the Athenians received the bodies of their dead
and buried them at Notium. They sailed away to Lesbos and the Hellespont. When
they anchored at Methymna, a city of Lesbos, they spied twenty-five ships of the
Syracusians with whom they had fought at Ephesus. Attacking them, they took
four ships with all the men in them and routed the rest, pursuing them as far as
Ephesus. Thrasyllus sent home to Athens all the prisoners which he had taken,
except Alcibiades. This Alcibiades was an Athenian and the cousin and fellow
exile of Alcibiades and Thrasyllus caused him be stoned to death. [E156] They
sailed for Sestus, where the army was, and from there the whole army went to
Lampsacus for the winter, which they reckon from the beginning of autumn. When
Alcibiades wanted to create one large army at Lampsacus, his soldiers refused to
be mixed with those who had served under Thrasyllus. They said: {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 1. c. 2. s. 11-15. 1:23}
"We, who have always been conquerors, refuse to be counted with those that were
beaten and routed out the other day."
3597a AM, 4306 JP, 408 BC
1372. While Alcibiades' and Thrasyllus' troops had wintered together at
Lampsacus (Diodorus wrote, Labdacus, {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 66. s. 1.
1:304 (footnote 4.)}) they had fortified the area. When they went to besiege
Abydus, Pharnabazus came with a very large army to relieve it. He fought with
the Athenians and was routed. Alcibiades chased Pharnabazus with his cavalry,
and one hundred and twenty heavily armed foot soldiers followed him. He did not
stop the chase until late in the night. After this victory, the whole army
became friends and mixed with each other. They returned triumphantly to their
camp from where they had set out. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 2. s.
16-18. 1:23,25} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 29. s. 2. 4:85}
1373. The next day Alcibiades set up a monument and set about wasting
Pharnabazus' province with fire and sword, without any opposition. He allowed
all the priests whom he captured to go free without a ransom. {*Plutarch,
Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 29. s. 3. 4:85}
1374. When the Lacedemonians were upset with Tissaphernes, they sent Boeotius
together with other envoys to Darius. Boeotius easily obtained from Darius all
that they had wanted. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 4. s. 2. 1:33}
1375. In the same winter Alcibiades' and Thrasyllus' armies attacked various
countries that belonged to Darius on the continent and wreaked havock there.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 4. s. 9. 1:35}
3597b AM, 4307 JP, 407 BC
1376. Darius put his sixteen year old son, Cyrus the younger, in charge of all
the sea coast. He was born after his father became king. {Ctesias} {*Plutarch,
Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 1. 11:129} He had the title of governor of all those
countries, and headed the army that was in the plain of Castolus in Lydia. He
was ordered to join with the Lacedemonians in fighting the Athenians.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 4. s. 3,4. 1:33,35} {*Xenophon, Anabasis,
l. 1. c. 1. s. 1. 3:47} Justin stated: {Justin, Trogus, l. 5. c. 5.}
[L221]
"Darius, king of Persia, made his younger son Cyrus governor of all Ionia and
Lydia. It was he who restored the Lacedemonians to former strength."
1377. Diodorus expressly stated that Darius sent his son Cyrus for this very
purpose that, in pursuing the war against the Athenians, he should relieve and
help the Lacedemonians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 70. s. 3. 5:317} He also
correctly stated that Cyrus was made commander of all the governors along the
sea coast, and that he was made commander-in-chief over all the provinces lying
on that sea coast. It is obvious that although Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus
were governors of their provinces, they were both under his command. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 14. c. 12. s. 8. 6:43}
1378. We read in Eusebius that Nepherites, the king of a new dynasty, succeeded
Amyrtaeus of Sais in the kingdom of Egypt. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:198} This was the twenty-ninth dynasty. {*Manetho, 1:179} However, in
Diodorus we find that, before Nephereus or Nepherites, Psammetichus next reigned
in Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 35. s. 4. 6:113} He was descended from
the family of that former Psammetichus whom Manetho placed in the twenty-sixth
dynasty, and who was also of Sais. {*Manetho, 1:169} So one may well doubt
whether this was not Pausiris, the son of Amyrtaeus, who, with the help of the
Persians, recovered his father's kingdom. {*Herodotus, l. 3. c. 15. 2:21}
We have already discussed the number of this, and other, Egyptian kings' reigns
in our Egyptian Chronology. {Ussher, Egyptian Chronology}
3597c AM, 4307 JP, 407 BC
1379. In the beginning of the spring when Pantacles was ephor in Sparta, and
Antigenes the archon in Athens had held office for a year, the Athenians sailed
into Proconnesus with all the forces they could gather. They left there and
camped before Chalcedon. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 3. s. 1. 1:25}
Diodorus said that they went to Theramenes, who at that time besieged Chalcedon
with seventy ships and five thousand men. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 66. s.
1. 5:307}
1380. When the inhabitants of Chalcedon heard of the approach of the Athenian
army, they sent away all their goods to the Thracians of Bithynia, who were
their neighbours. Alcibiades heard of this and went with all his cavalry and
some of his foot soldiers and demanded all those goods from them. He threatened
force if they refused to deliver them. When he received the goods, he made
peace with the Bithynians and returned to his camp before Chalcedon. He built a
wooden wall before the city, across the neck of land from sea to sea. When
Hippocrates the Lacedemonian commander saw this, he gathered all his forces and
fought with Thrasyllus. [E157] The battle was undecided for a long while, until
Alcibiades came in with his forces of cavalry and heavily armed foot soldiers.
Hippocrates was killed and his men fled back into the city. While the battle
continued, Pharnabazus and all his army came from another direction outside the
wooden stockade. He fought unsuccessfully to break through to rescue
Hippocrates. He retired to Heraclium, or the Temple of Hercules, which was in
the territory of Chalcedon where his own camp was well entrenched. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 1. c. 3. s. 2-7. 1:27} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c.
29,30. 4:85,87}
3597d AM, 4307 JP, 407 BC
1381. After this, Alcibiades went into the Chersonesus and the Hellespont to
gather tribute. The rest of the commanders (though Diodorus mentioned only
Theramenes {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 64. 5:301}) came to an agreement with
Pharnabazus concerning Chalcedon. [L222] He would give them twenty talents and
would convoy the Athenian envoys safely to the king. By a solemn oath, they
covenanted with each other that the men of Chalcedon would pay the Athenians the
same tribute as before, with all the arrears. In the meantime, the Athenians
would not bother Chalcedon until the return of their envoys from the king and
the return of Alcibiades. They sent two commissioners from Chalcedon, and
Pharnabazus sent two more from Chysopolis. They swore to keep this covenant and
pledged their support to each other. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 3. s.
8-13. 1:29}
1382. When these things had been done, Pharnabazus returned and wanted the
envoys, who were to go to the king, to meet him at Cyzicum. The names of the
envoys were Dorotheus, Philocydes, Theogenes, Euryptolemus, Mantitheus and both
Cleostratus and Pyrolochus, who were Argives. Pasippidas and other envoys from
the Lacedemonians also went. These all journeyed to the king. Hermocrates, who
was banished from Syracuse, and his brother Proxenus went with the group.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 3. s. 13. 1:29,31}
1383. While Pharnabazus was escorting the envoys to the king, Clearchus, a
Lacedemonian commander, came to him from across the sea. He wanted money to pay
their army and to assemble into a fleet the ships that were now scattered, some
at Antandros, some in the Hellespont and some in other places. He hoped to
cause trouble for the confederate states of the Athenians and so draw off their
forces from Byzantium. But in his absence Byzantium was betrayed and
surrendered to the Athenians. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 3. s. 14-22.
1:31,33}
1384. As these Athenian envoys were on their way to the king, they met Boeotius
and the rest of the Lacedemonian envoys returning from the king. Cyrus was with
them on his way to become governor of all the sea coasts of those parts. When
they saw him, they asked if they might safely continue their journey to the king
and if not, that they be allowed to return home safely. However, Cyrus ordered
Pharnabazus either to turn over the envoys to him or to send them home again.
Since Pharnabazus did not want the Athenians to know what was planned against
them, he stalled for time. Sometimes he told them that he would take them to
the king and sometimes that he would send them home again. So he delayed for
three years (or rather, indeed for three months since the text is likely
corrupted here), and in the end, by Cyrus' consent, he sent them home.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 4. s. 1-7. 1:33,35}
1385. Alcibiades took twenty ships from Samos and sailed into the Gulf of
Ceramus in Caria. He gathered a hundred talents and pillaged no less than two
hundred ships, which he either had searched or caused to be sunk. He returned
to Athens, where he was declared general of all their armies, with full and
absolute power of command, and received two hundred talents from the treasury of
the city (according to Lysias, as in his speech against his son Alcibiades
shows). He raised an army of fifteen hundred heavily armed foot soldiers and a
hundred and fifty cavalry, with a hundred ships. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1.
c. 4. s. 8-21. 1:35-41} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 68,69. 5:313-315}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 5. c. 4,5.} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 32-34.
4:93-101} {Emilius Probus, Alcibiades}
1386. Satyrus, the son of Spartacus, ruled the kingdom of Cimmerian Bosphorus
for fourteen years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 93. s. 1. 6:259} (Loeb
edition has forty years, not fourteen. This number cannot be correct for it
creates contradictions later in the chronology of this kingdom. Editor.)
1387. When his term expired, the Lacedemonians replaced Cratesippidas, their
admiral, with Lysander, who came to Rhodes. He gathered the fleet there and
sailed to the isles of Cos and Miletus. From there he went to Ephesus with
seventy ships and stayed there until Cyrus came to Sardis. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 1. c. 5. s. 1. 1:43} [L223] Ephesus welcomed him and the
Lacedemonians, for they were grieved by the loss of trade caused by the
Persians, because the Persian governors stayed most often at Miletus and
attracted all the trade away from Ephesus to that city. [E158] Therefore,
Lysander made Ephesus his residence and ordered all merchant ships to unload
there. He made docks, and had all the ships for the navy built there. In a
short time, he filled their port with ships and their city with commerce and
wealth. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 3. s. 2,3. 4:239}
1388. When Lysander knew that Cyrus had come to Sardis, he and the rest of the
commissioners from Sparta went to him there. Lysander made grievous charges
against Tissaphernes. When the king had ordered Tissaphernes to support the
Lacedemonians to rid the sea of the Athenians, he on the contrary, under
Alcibiades' influence, had grown remiss. He had kept back their pay from the
mariners and utterly destroyed the Lacedemonian navy. Cyrus was more than
willing to receive any information against Tissaphernes, who was not a good
governor. Lysander befriended Cyrus. The more Lysander pressed Cyrus to do
things, the bolder Cyrus was to promise that all would be done. Cyrus added
that it was his father's command that it should be so, and assured him that
there would be no want either of effort or money on his part. To that end, he
raised the pay of the mariners and sea soldiers from three oboli per day to four
oboli. {six oboli equals a drachma} He paid the whole army everything that was
in arrears and advanced a whole month's pay, giving Lysander ten thousand darics
for that purpose. In this way, he more than ever put heart and courage into his
seamen, and left the Athenian fleet almost without sailors for the majority of
their ships. Out of greed for better pay, they left the Athenians and went to
Lysander. Those who stayed grew idle and careless in the service, and mutinous
and troublesome to their commanders on a daily basis. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l.
1. c. 5. s. 2-9. 1:43,45} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 70. s. 3,4.
5:317,319} {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 4. 4:241,243}
1389. When the Athenians heard this they were discouraged, and sent envoys to
Cyrus through Tissaphernes. Cyrus refused to see them, even though Tissaphernes
himself spoke for them. He told Cyrus that what he had done on the advice of
Alcibiades, whose counsel had been to hold the Greeks in balance and let neither
side win, allowing them to continue the war and so to consume one another to
nothing. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 5. s. 9. 1:45} Although the
Peloponnesians were supported by the Persian purse, nevertheless the Athenians
held out against them for three whole years. {*Thucydides, l. 2. c. 65. s.
12. 1:379} Who can wonder that the Athenian state was defeated and came to
nought, since the power of all the east helped in their destruction. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 5. c. 1.}
1390. Lysander returned to Ephesus and rested for a while. In that time,
ninety of his damaged ships were refurbished. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c.
5. s. 10. 1:45} He sent for the leaders from every nearby city and made an
alliance with them, assuring them that if everything in this war went as he
hoped, he would make every one of them a prince, with his own city. They were
so enthused, that every man was ready to do more than Lysander could reasonably
require of them. He had more provisions for the war effort than he could have
imagined. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 70. s. 4. 5:319}
1391. When Alcibiades heard that Thrasybulus had left the Hellespont to fortify
Phocaea, he sailed to him. In the meantime, he left the fleet under the charge
of Antiochus, with a strict command that he should in no way stir or fight with
Lysander in his absence. [L224] However, Antiochus planned to sail to Ephesus
with his own vessel and one other from Notium, as Xenophon and Plutarch stated.
(Diodorus said that he selected ten of his best ships.) He skirted along under
the very noses of Lysander's ships. First, Lysander set out with a small
company of ships and pursued him. When more and more ships came to help
Antiochus, Lysander drew out his whole fleet and the Athenians did the same from
Notium and other places. They arrived there in a disorderly manner and quickly
lost fifteen ships, while the rest fled to safety. Antiochus was killed in the
battle. Lysander erected a monument at Notium and returned to Ephesus with the
ships which he had taken. The remaining ships of the Athenians went to Samos.
When Alcibiades heard what had happened, he went with his whole fleet before the
port of Ephesus and there ranged it in battle array. Lysander did not stir, for
he had far fewer ships than the Athenians. Alcibiades returned to Samos again.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 5. s. 10-15. 1:45,47} {*Diod. Sic., l.
13. c. 72. 5:319,321} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 35. s. 5,6.
4:105} {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 5. s. 1,2. 4:243}
1392. Alcibiades sailed from Samos to Cyme. He made many false charges against
them, after he had taken many of them captive. As he took them to his ships,
the Cymeans rallied and attacked their enemies. Alcibiades was able to hold
them off, until the rest of those in that area came to their aid. [E159]
Alcibiades abandoned the prisoners and was forced to flee to his ships for
safety. This distressed him so much that he sent to Mitylene for more troops.
He drew his men forth in a battle array before the walls of Cyme and dared the
people to come out to battle. When no man stirred, he led his men back to
Mitylene, after first ravaging the surrounding country.
1393. The Cymeans sent to Athens and made their case against Alcibiades for
plundering a confederate city and the surrounding area which had not offended
the Athenians. When this case was made, others also complained about his
conduct and misdeeds. A garrison in Samos, which did not like him, stole over
to Athens and informed against him. They publicly charged him before the whole
assembly of the people of being dishonest and having secret communications with
the Lacedemonians. They said he had private correspondence with Pharnabazus,
who had assured him that if the Lacedemonians won, he would be made ruler of
Athens. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 73. s. 3-6. 5:327}
3598a AM, 4307 JP, 407 BC
1394. The Cymeans on the one side, and Thrasybulus on behalf of the armies on
the other, accused Alcibiades of many wrong-doings in his administration.
Conon, with nine assistant commissioners, was sent to replace Alcibiades as
general of the army. When Alcibiades heard of this, he sailed secretly to his
own lands and citadels in the Chersonesus of Thrace. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c.
74. 5:327,329} {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 5. s. 16-20. 1:47,48}
{*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 36,37. 4:105-111} {*Plutarch, Lysander, l.
1. c. 5. s. 2. 4:243}
3598b AM, 4308 JP, 406 BC
1395. Lysander sent for men with leadership qualities from the nearby cities
and asked them to make as many friends as they could in order to help him. He
assured them, as before, that as soon as the Athenians were defeated, he would
replace the democratic governments in all those cities and make each one of them
a ruler in his own city. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 5. s. 3. 4:243}
3598c AM, 4308 JP, 406 BC
1396. The moon was eclipsed three hours after sunset {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l.
1. c. 6. s. 1. 1:49} on the 15th of April, according to the Julian
Calendar. This is verified by the astronomical calculations.
1397. When Pityas was ephor at Sparta and Callias was the archon at Athens,
Lysander's year of command expired. Callicratidas was sent to be admiral of the
navy. Although Lysander hated him, he surrendered the command of the ships, but
at Sardis he gave back to Cyrus the money he had received from Cyrus for the
navy. [L225] He told Callicratidas to go and ask Cyrus if he could have it and
see how he could get money to pay the navy. This forced Callicratidas to go to
Lydia to Cyrus and get money for the navy. Because he was not well known, he
was kept waiting, day after day, in his efforts to see Cyrus, and quickly grew
impatient, saying the Greeks had come to a low estate if they must now stand
begging for pay from a company of barbarians. He delivered his request and
left. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 1-11. 1:49-55} {*Plutarch,
Lysander, l. 1. c. 5,6. 4:245-249}
1398. Callicratidas sailed to Miletus and got the money from them for the navy.
He sailed to Chios and took the citadel of Delphinium, which was held by five
hundred Athenians, and destroyed it. After he got more money there for the
sailors, he went to Teos, slipped into the town by night and sacked it. He came
to Lesbos, where he took Methymna, the chief city of the island. Conon, the
Athenian, hurried to their rescue but arrived too late. When he came and found
the situation hopeless, he began to sail away. Callicratidas chased him with
his fleet of one hundred and seventy ships, then attacked and defeated him.
Conon lost thirty ships and fled to Mitylene with the forty that were left.
Callicratidas followed him there and blockaded him by sea and land. While he
was besieging Mitylene, Cyrus sent him the money he had asked for. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 12-18. 1:55,57} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c.
76-79. 5:335-343}
1399. The Athenian navy of a hundred and fifty ships sailed to Mitylene to
break the blockade. Callicratidas left Eteonicus with fifty ships to continue
the siege, while he sailed with a hundred and twenty ships to the Arginusa
Islands which were between Malea, the bay of Lesbos, and Cape Canis in Asia.
There he attacked the Athenians and was killed. The Athenians won the battle,
but lost twenty-five ships and most of their crews. [E160] A few were saved by
swimming to shore. The Peloponnesians lost seventy-seven ships and fled to
Chios. Most of the remaining fleet retired into the countries of Curna and
Phocaea. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 24-35. 1:61-65} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 13. c. 97-100. 5:397-407} This battle at the Arginusa Islands
happened when Callias was archon at Athens, in the third year of the 93rd
Olympiad. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (218b) 2:487} {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 1. c.
6. s. 1. 1:49} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 80. s. 1. 5:347}
3599 AM, 4309 JP, 405 BC
1400. Cyrus killed his two first cousins, Autoboesaces and Mitraeus, the sons
of his father Darius' sister. When they had met him, they had not pulled their
hands up into their sleeves, an honour which was reserved for the king alone.
Hieramenes and his wife, the parents, it seems, of those who were killed, heard
about this. They told Darius that it was a shame for him to ignore so foul a
deed by his son. Therefore, Darius sent for his son to come to him, pretending
that he was sick. Darius was in his camp at Thamneria in the country of the
Medes, where he had gone with his army against the Cadusians, a bordering
country which had recently revolted from him. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 2. c.
1. s. 8-13. 1:91,93}
1401. The Lacedemonians who were scattered in the countries of Aeolia and Ionia
met together at Ephesus. They sent messengers to Lacedemon to let them know how
things had gone with them in Asia, and to request that they might again have
Lysander for their general, since he had proved his worth in the previous year.
Cyrus also joined with them in this request. Their law stated that the same man
could not be admiral of their fleet a second time. Therefore, they gave the
title of admiral to Aracus, but committed the whole management of the war to
Lysander as a lieutenant to Aracus. Lysander came to Ephesus and sent to
Eteonicus to come to him from Chios with his ships. [L226] He was to gather all
the ships that he could from Peloponnesus and other lands. Lysander repaired
those which he had, and built new ones in the port at Antandros. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 2. c. 1. s. 6,7,10-12. 1:91,93} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c.
101. s. 8. 5:409} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 104. s. 3. 5:417}
{*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 7. 4:249}
1402. Lysander journeyed to Cyrus and as before, desired money from him, which
he got after much difficulty. Cyrus made it appear to him that because he had
been so generous to him in the past, he was now short of funds. Lysander
immediately appointed sea captains over every ship and paid every ship and
sailor his due. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 2. c. 1. s. 11,12. 1:93}
1403. When the Carthaginians captured Gela in Sicily, they took the large brass
statue of Apollo, which was in his temple on the outskirts of the city, back to
Tyre. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 107. s. 3,4. 5:429}
1404. When Cyrus received his father's message, he sent for Lysander to come to
him at Sardis. He did not want him to fight the Athenians at sea until he had a
far larger fleet than he had at that time. He promised that when he returned he
would bring with him a very large navy from Phoenicia, Cilicia and other
surrounding areas. He committed the care of all the cities of his government to
Lysander. All tributes that belonged to him, he assigned to Lysander, saying
that Lysander could keep for himself what was left over. {*Xenophon, Hellenica,
l. 2. c. 1. s. 13,14. 1:93,95} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 104. s. 3,4.
5:417,419} {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1,2. 4:253}
1405. Cyrus journeyed to his father and took Tissaphernes along with him as a
friend, as well as three hundred heavily armed Greek foot soldiers under the
command of Xenias of Parrhasia. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 2.
3:47}
1406. When Cyrus was gone, Lysander paid his army and went with his fleet to
Ceramium, a bay in Caria. He attacked the town Cedreiae, which was a
confederate of the Athenians, and captured it the following day. He sacked it
and enslaved its inhabitants, who were a mixture of Greek and barbarian blood.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 2. c. 1. s. 15,16. 1:95} However, Diodorus said
that: {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 104. s. 7. 5:419}
"Lysander attacked Thasus, a city of Caria and a confederate of the Athenians,
with a large number of ships. He took it by force and killed the eight hundred
men of military age there. He sold the women and children as slaves and
levelled the city to the ground."
1407. He wrote Thasians instead of Cedrenians. These were the inhabitants of
the isle of Thasos (Loeb text shows this as a textual variation. Editor.) who
lived a long way away from from there. After the defeat of the Athenians at
Egos Potamos and the final ruin of Athens, the Thasians were not taken by force
by Lysander, but were surprised by a ruse of his. This we may easily learn from
a fragmented passage of Emilius Probus {Emilius Probus, Lysander} and the
complete account of the matter by Polyaenus. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 1.}
[E161]
3599d AM, 4309 JP, 405 BC
1408. With the help of Lysander, certain men overthrew the democratic
government at Miletus. On the feast of Bacchus they cut the throats of forty of
those who opposed them, in their own homes. Afterward, in a crowded market,
they seized a further three hundred of the richest people and cut off their
heads. About a thousand of the important people, who feared for their lives,
fled to Pharnabazus, the Persian governor in those parts. He entertained them
very kindly and gave every one of them a gold stater (possibly a Persian daric).
He gave them a citadel in Claudia, called Clauda, to live in. (I think this may
be the island of Clauda mentioned in Acts, {Ac 27:16} but I am not certain.)
{*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 104. s. 5,6. 5:419} [L227] (The Loeb edition
stated it was Blaudia, which was a citadel in Lydia. Editor.)
1409. The Athenians set sail from Samos and came to Chios and Ephesus, where
they laid waste to the king's countries in these areas and then prepared for a
naval battle. Meanwhile, Lysander sailed with his fleet from Rhodes and leaving
Ionia on the right hand, went to the Hellespont, where he planned to blockade
that strait and destroy all the cities in those parts that had revolted from
him. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 2. c. 1. s. 16,17. 1:95}
1410. Lysander sailed with his fleet from Abydus to Lampsacus, a confederate
city of the Athenians. He was met by the men from Abydus coming by land with
others under the command of Thorax, a Lacedemonian captain. Together they
attacked the city, captured and sacked it. It was rich, full of grain, wine and
other provisions. He sent away the Athenian garrison. As he had promised, he
allowed all freemen there to retain their liberty. When he had given its spoil
to his soldiers, he left the place to its inhabitants. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l.
1. c. 9. s. 4. 4:255} {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 2. c. 1. s. 18-20.
1:95,97} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 104. s. 8. 5:419,421}
1411. The Athenian navy of a hundred and eighty ships was totally surprised and
taken by Lysander at Egos Potamos, in the strait of the Hellespont, along with
three thousand soldiers and their commanders. Barely ten ships escaped.
{*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 10-11. 4:255-261}
1412. Conon, their admiral, saw that the Athenian cause was now hopeless.
Because he did not want to return to Athens for fear of the cruelty of his
countrymen, he escaped with only nine ships to Cape Abarinders in Lampsacus.
From there he took some main masts of Lysander's ships and sailed away to his
good acquaintance, Evagoras, king of Cyprus, meanwhile sending a small ship to
Athens to tell them what had happened to him at Egos Potamos. {*Plutarch,
Lysander, l. 1. c. 11. s. 5. 4:261} {*Isocrates, Areopagiticus, l. 1.
(64) 2:145} {Aristotle, Rhetoric, l. 2.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 5. c. 6.}
{Aristides, Rhodiaca}
1413. Lysander had rifled the camp of the Athenians and carried away the ships,
prisoners, spoils and everything else. He sailed back to Lampsacus to the sound
of triumphant songs for the pipe and flute. That same day he sent Theopompus,
who had been a Milesian pirate, to Lacedemon with the news of this victory. He
went in the best ship, with pennants and streamers flying and every other form
of magnificent attire imaginable, and in three days he reached Lacedemon.
Philocles, the admiral, and three thousand Athenian prisoners all had their
throats cut, except for Adimantus. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 2. c. 1. s.
30-32. 1:101,103} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 106. s. 7,8. 5:425}
{*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 11. s. 6,7. 4:261}
1414. When Lysander had set all things in order at Lampsacus, he sailed to
Byzantium and Chalcedon. Both cities opened their gates to him and sent away
the Athenian garrisons from both places, and Lysander gave his word for their
safe conduct. When those who had formerly betrayed Byzantium to Alcibiades got
away, they first went into Pontus and from there to Athens, where they were all
made free citizens. Lysander appointed Sthenelaus, a Lacedemonian, as governor
of both Byzantium and Chalcedon, while he himself returned to Lampsacus to
repair his navy. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 2. c. 2. s. 1-2. 1:103}
1415. Lysander expelled from every city anyone who favoured the Athenians, and
destroyed their democracies and every other form of government he came across.
He left them only one harmost, as they were called in Lacedemon, or moderator,
to govern them. Each city was divided into ten wards, and he appointed ten men
to rule the city, choosing only those who were formally loyal to him or would
swear allegiance to him. Thus he created a Decemvirate, or a government of ten
men, in every city, composed entirely of men who were loyal to him and did his
bidding. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 13. s. 2-5. 4:267} {Emilius
Probus, Lysander} [L228]
1416. After Lysander had spent a little time in this, he sent word to Sparta
that he was ready to sail with two hundred ships. Together with Agis and
Pausanias, the Spartan kings, he immediately came to besiege Athens, hoping to
take it in a short time. When they defended themselves beyond his expectation,
he returned into Asia. There he abolished all democracies and everywhere
established his Decemviri, or government by ten men. He killed many and forced
the rest to flee for their lives. At Miletus he helped his friends, who had
joined an opposing party, to destroy the democracy there. [E162] He managed the
matter most cunningly, so that he delivered no less than eight hundred of the
democratic party to be murdered by those who stood for an aristocracy in that
city. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 14. s. 1. 4:269} {*Plutarch,
Lysander, l. 1. c. 19. s. 2. 4:283}
3600c AM, 4310 JP, 404 BC
1417. The Athenians were besieged by the Lacedemonians on sea and land. They
surrendered under certain conditions. However, Plutarch stated that they were
told on the 16th day of Mounychion, the Attic month (the 24th of April,
according to the Julian Calendar), that they had broken the articles, because
they had not demolished their walls within the ten-day time limit. Hence, it is
gathered that the peace treaty was made on the 6th of their month of Mounychion,
that is, on April 14. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 15. s. 1-3. 4:273}
So the Peloponnesian War ended, after twenty-seven years of fighting.
{*Thucydides, l. 5. c. 26. s. 1. 3:49} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 107.
s. 5. 5:429}
1418. Shortly after this peace, Darius, the king of all Asia, died after he had
reigned for nineteen years. His oldest son, Artaxerxes, reigned for forty-three
years after him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 108. s. 1. 5:429} However,
Ctesias, who was the physician to Artaxerxes, said that Darius Ochus died at
Babylon. He was succeeded by Arsicas or Arsaces who was born to him by
Parysatis before he became king. When he became king, he changed his name to
Artaxerxes. Out of respect for the greatness of that King Artaxerxes, he was
surnamed Mnemon. Which, as I understand, referred to that account in Athenaeus
where he said that when Ochus was dying, he was asked by his oldest son, by what
wisdom and policy he had guided the state for so many years. {*Athenaeus, l.
12. (548e) 5:489} He wanted to learn from the king the correct way to rule the
kingdom. The old king replied that he had done it by always doing right to both
the gods and man. Darius Ochus was often urged by his wife Parysatis, who loved
her younger son Cyrus more than the older, to follow the example of Darius
Hystaspes. He left the kingdom to the first son that was born after he became
king, not to the first son who was born before he became king. However, he
would not listen to her. By his last will, he gave the kingdom to his oldest
son Artaxerxes, and to his younger son Cyrus he gave all those cities and
territories in Asia which were under his government at that time. {*Plutarch,
Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 2. 11:129,131} {Justin, Trogus, l. 5. c. 11.}
1419. As soon as Artaxerxes came to the throne, his wife Statira persuaded him
to seize Vadiastes, who had murdered her brother Terituchmes and who was the
husband of Amestris, Artaxerxes' sister. He had his tongue pulled out of his
mouth and cut off, and then he was killed. He made Mitredates' or Mithridates'
son (who had preserved the city Zaris for the son of Terituchmes) the governor
in his place. {Ctesias}
1420. Artaxerxes went to Pasargada, where, according to the custom, he was to
take off his robe and to put on the robe which old Cyrus had worn before he
became king. He was inaugurated by the priests of Persia according to the
ancient regal ceremonies. Tissaphernes brought him the priest who had
instructed his brother Cyrus in his childhood, according to the custom of his
country, and who had taught him the principles of the art of magic. The priest
was trusted by Artaxerxes when he accused Cyrus of plotting against the king
claiming that Cyrus planned to attack Artaxerxes as he was taking off his own
robes, to murder him in the very temple itself. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1.
c. 3. 11:131,133} [L229]
1421. Artaxerxes had his brother held captive, because he planned to have him
executed. He put him in gold chains out of respect for his royal blood. When
he was to be killed, his mother caught him about the middle and then threw her
hair around his neck and tied him with her hair. After many tears and
lamentations she secured his pardon and position back. He was sent back to his
command in Lydia and the other coastal towns in Asia. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes,
l. 1. c. 3. s. 5. 11:133} {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 3.
3:47} {Justin, Trogus, l. 4. c. fin.} {Ctesias}
1422. Alcibiades feared the power of the Lacedemonians who commanded all the
sea and land. He left that part of Bithynia which belonged to the Thracians and
took away with him a large quantity of silver and gold, but left much more
behind in the citadel where he had been. As soon as the Thracians knew about
his wealth, they planned to catch him and take his money. They missed him,
however, because he stole away secretly to Pharnabazus in Phrygia, who was so
taken and enamoured with Alcibiades' gentle behaviour, that no one was as close
to him as Alcibiades was. Hence he gave him the citadel of Grynium in Phrygia,
from which place he made fifty talents a year in tribute. {*Plutarch,
Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 37. s. 3,4. 4:109,111} {Emilius Probus, Alcibiades}
1423. The Lysandrian feast and games were instituted in honour of Lysander.
When Antimachus and Niceratus competed in the poetry contest, Lysander gave the
garland to Niceratus. Antimachus was so disappointed that he burned his own
poem. A young Plato encouraged him, telling him that only the ignorant suffer
from their ignorance, as the blind do from their blindness. During this period,
as Apollodorus the Athenian stated, the poet Antimachus flourished. {*Plutarch,
Lysander, l. 1. c. 18. s. 3-5. 4:281,283} {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 108.
s. 1. 5:429} [E163]
3600d AM, 4310 JP, 404 BC
1424. In the Olympiad following the capture of Athens by Lysander, which was
the 94th Olympiad, the prize in running was won by Crocinas, a Thessalian.
Xenophon stated that there was an eclipse of the sun, which the astronomical
calculations show happened on the morning of September 3. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 2. c. 3. s. 1-4. 1:113,115}
3601a AM, 4310 JP, 404 BC
1425. Cyrus, having returned safely into Lydia and remembering how his brother
had shackled him, set about planning how he might avoid future problems with his
brother and how he might make himself king. So he gathered as many Greek
soldiers as possible and made various excuses for gathering a large army from
many countries, all the while planning a surprise attack on his brother.
{*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 4. 3:49} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l.
1. c. 3. s. 5. 11:133} He sent Lysander a gift of a ship a yard high, made
entirely of gold and ivory. With this gift he congratulated him for the great
sea victory that he had had. Lysander put the present in the treasury of the
Brasidas and Acanthians at Delphi. {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 18. s.
1. 4:281} Lysander came to him at Sardis to deliver a present from all the
confederate cities, and it is possible that jewel or necklace, which Aelian said
was sent to Cyrus by Scopas the Younger from Thessaly, was among those things he
brought for a present. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 12. c. 1. 1:351}
Cyrus welcomed him and showed him his orchard, which he had laid out and planted
himself. He entertained Lysander with a discourse on husbandry, as recorded by
Xenophon who used the name of Socrates instead of Cyrus in the dialogue.
{*Xenophon, Oeconomicus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 20-25. 1:399,401}
1426. Among the Persians, Satibarzanes accused Orontes of keeping company with
Parysatis, the king's mother, otherwise Orontes always had a good reputation for
chastity. Therefore Orontes was executed. [L230] Parysatis grew unhappy with
her son and had Mithridates, the son of Terituchmes' son, poisoned. {Ctesias}
1427. When Alcibiades learned that Cyrus intended to make war against his
brother with the support of the Lacedemonians, he planned to hurry to
Artaxerxes. He wanted to be the first to expose this treason, and hoped to get
some reward for himself, as Themistocles had done before him. He also wanted
the king's help to free his city of Athens from their bondage to the
Lacedemonians. Meanwhile Critias, one of the thirty tyrants whom Lysander had
set over the Athenians to rule them, told Lysander either to have Alcibiades
killed or all that he had done at Athens would be undone. Lysander did nothing
until a scytale or an encrypted letter was brought to him from Lacedemon,
ordering him to kill Alcibiades. (Scytale: A method of secret writing practised
by the Spartans, in which the message was written on a strip of parchment wound
spirally round a cylindrical or tapering staff, so that it became illegible when
the parchment was unrolled, and could be read only by the use of a staff of
precisely the right form and size. Hence, a secret dispatch conveyed by this
method. OED.) Lysander sent to Pharnabazus to inform him that unless he
immediately gave him Alcibiades, either dead or alive, the league between the
king and the Lacedemonians would be broken, and war would break out again.
Pharnabazus sent Magaeus, his brother, and Susamithres, his uncle (Emilius
Probus called Magaeus by the name of Bagoas), to murder Alcibiades while he was
in a certain place near the Deer Mountain, which is at Arginusa in Phrygia,
where he was preparing for his journey to the king.
1428. The people of that country whom they had hired to kill him did not dare
attempt it directly. In the dead of the night they surrounded the house where
he was sleeping with a large pile of wood and set it on fire. When Alcibiades
escaped, they shot at him with arrows and killed him, and carried his head to
Pharnabazus. His sweetheart and prostitute, Timandra, wrapped the rest of his
body in her own gown. (A little earlier he had dreamed that he was wrapped in
it.) She cremated the body in the same fire with which the house was burned and
gave him as honourable a funeral as she could afford, at the village of Melissa
in Phrygia. {Ephorus, l. 17} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 11. 6:37,39}
{*Aristotle, History of Animals, l. 6. c. 29. s. 25. 2:337} {*Athenaeus,
l. 13. (574ef) 6:105} {*Plutarch, Alcibiades, l. 1. c. 38,39. 4:113,115}
{*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 2. c. 69. 20:531} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 1.
c. 7. ext. 9. 1:99} {Justin, Trogus, l. 5. c. 8.} {Emilius Probus,
Alcibiades}
3601b AM, 4311 JP, 403 BC
1429. Clearchus, a Lacedemonian, was a tyrant of Byzantium. He was overthrown
by his own people under the leadership of Panthoedas and stole away by night,
coming into Ionia. Learning that Cyrus planned to attack his brother, he
befriended him and was made general of all his forces. Cyrus found that he was
a proud, courageous and daring man. He gave him ten thousand darics, with which
he raised forces and marched from the Chersonesus, attacking the Thracians that
bordered on the Hellespont toward the north. Since it seemed to be to the
advantage of the Greeks, the cities of the Hellespont contributed willingly to
the support of the army and so these forces were maintained secretly for the
service of Cyrus. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 9. 3:51} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 14. c. 12. 6:39-43} [E164]
3601c AM, 4311 JP, 403 BC
1430. Lysander brutally wasted the province of Phrygia and other places under
the government of Pharnabazus, who complained about this at Lacedemon, where he
himself was held in great esteem and was much loved, because he had great wealth
and always supported their state against its enemies. Therefore the ephors were
greatly displeased with Lysander, and killed Thorax, his good friend, because
they found that he had a store of money in his house. They sent their scytale
or encrypted letter to Lysander and recalled him from Asia, whereupon Lysander
entreated Pharnabazus to write letters to justify him, which he publicly did.
[L231] This was so well done, that Lysander could not have wished for better.
But he also wrote one which looked similar, but which condemned Lysander's
actions, and when they were sealed, he substituted this letter for the first one
without Lysander's knowledge. He sent them with Lysander to Lacedemon to the
ephors. In this way, Lysander was turned into his own accuser. {*Plutarch,
Lysander, l. 1. c. 19,20. 4:285-291} {Emilius Probus, Lysander} {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 7.}
1431. Not long after this, the ephors permitted him to travel to visit the
temple of Jupiter Ammon. He pretended that it was to pay the vows which he had
made prior to entering into certain battles he had fought in their service.
However, the real purpose was to bribe the priests there for his own ends. He
carried with him a large sum of money for this purpose. He had an old friend of
his father there, King Libys. To mark that friendship, his father had given his
younger brother the name Libys. The chief priest of that oracle could not be
bribed and informed against him at Sparta, so that when he returned to Sparta,
he was questioned about it, but was acquitted by the court. {*Diod. Sic., l.
14. c. 13. s. 5-7. 6:45,47} {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 19. s. 4-6.
4:289} {Emilius Probus, Lysander}
3602 AM, 4312 JP, 402 BC
1432. At this time all the cities of Ionia, with the exception of Miletus,
which was under the government of Tissaphernes, defected to Cyrus. While
Tissaphernes was residing at Miletus, he learned that the Milesians were also
inclined toward Cyrus. He thwarted their intentions by killing some of them and
expelling others, who, when they came to Cyrus, were graciously received by him.
He immediately gathered an army by land and sea to restore their city to them.
{*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 6,7. 3:49} Among his army was
Socrates of Achaia, with five hundred heavily armed foot soldiers, and Pasion of
Megara, with almost seven hundred more. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 2.
s. 3. 3:55} Cyrus' admiral, Tamos, an Egyptian, blockaded Miletus with
twenty-five ships. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 4. s. 2. 3:81}
1433. Cyrus sent to Artaxerxes, requesting that he entrust those cities to him
rather than to Tissaphernes. His mother supported him in this. When the king
learned that there was no treason behind this action, but that Cyrus had only
kept an army to oppose Tissaphernes, he was content for them to forget past
differences, for Cyrus duly sent to Artaxerxes the tribute from those cities
which Tissaphernes had formerly held. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s.
8. 3:51}
1434. This Cyrus was never king of either Persia or Babylon. He was not the
man whom George Harvartus assumed to be that king who, after the end of the
Babylonian captivity, allowed the Jews to return home with their governor
Zerubbabel and with Joshua, or Jeshua, the son of Jozadak the high priest.
However, it was Artaxerxes Mnemon who was then king of Persia, and while
Johannes, who in Nehemiah {Ne 12:11,22,23} is called Johanan and Jonathan, was
the high priest of the Jews. The governor of the Jewish country was a certain
Persian governor who, Josephus said, was called Bagoses, a captain of another
Artaxerxes, as Rufinus translated it. That is, another descendant of Artaxerxes
Longimanus, of whom Josephus had mentioned. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 7.
s. 1. (300) 6:459} [L232] But the connection which he made between these men
was as follows:
1435. Jesus was brother to Johannes or John, the high priest, and Jesus was a
close friend of Bagoses. Bagoses promised to bestow the next high priesthood on
him, so Jesus became very bold, confident of Bagoses' support. First, he had an
argument with John, and then a public brawl with his brother in the very temple
itself. He provoked John so much, that his brother killed him right there.
When this happened, Bagoses came and profaned the temple by entering it. He
said that the high priest had already polluted it with his own brother's blood.
For the next seven years he harassed the Jews for that murder and placed a heavy
fine on them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 7. s. 1. (300,301) 6:459}
Before they offered their daily sacrifice, they were to pay fifty drachmas for
every lamb (not for every year, as the common translations of Josephus, and from
them Salianus, had it). This punishment continued only as long as Johannes was
the high priest. [E165] We ascertain that this happened in the reign of
Artaxerxes Mnemon, not Artaxerxes Ochus. We therefore reckon this from the
beginning of Artaxerxes Mnemon's reign, because we find Johannes or Johanan
mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah (though not as high priest at the time). {Ezr
10:6 Ne 12:23} For between the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, to which
that history of Ezra referred, and the end of the seventh year of Artaxerxes
Mnemon's reign (before which we suppose and take for granted that this Johannes
did not die), there was at least a period of seventy years, according to our
account. So he died after living over ninety years, and his son Jaddua
succeeded him in the priesthood and held it till the reign of Alexander the
Great. Jaddua died at about the age of eighty-three, if we suppose that he was
born at the end of Darius Ochus' reign. This is an aside. We now return to the
history of Cyrus the younger, who died before he was twenty-two years old.
3603a AM, 4312 JP, 402 BC
1436. Cyrus sent messengers to Lacedemon, asking them now to send him men, just
as he from time to time had supported them with men and money against the
Athenians. He bragged that if they sent him footmen, he would give them horses,
if horsemen, chariots, if they had lands, he would give them towns, if towns,
cities for their reward. For their wages, they would get them paid to them not
by number but by weight. As a consequence, the Lacedemonians decided that what
he asked for was right, and that this war would be to their advantage. They
planned to send him aid, hoping to ingratiate themselves with Cyrus, and
ignoring the fact that this war was against Artaxerxes. If things did not go as
planned, they had a good excuse to give Artaxerxes, namely that they had decreed
nothing against him in person. The ephors sent letters to their admiral,
Samius, to do whatever Cyrus required. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1.
s. 1. 1:175} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 19. s. 1-5. 6:63} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 5. c. fin.} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 6. s. 2,3. 11:139}
1437. Therefore, the Lacedemonian admiral sailed to Ephesus with his ships to
meet with Tamos, the Egyptian who was the admiral for Cyrus, and offered Tamos
his services to the best of his ability. Joining his fleet with Tamos' fleet,
they sailed around the coast of Ionia to Caria, so that Syennesis, the governor
of those lands, would not move to hinder Cyrus in his march overland against his
brother. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 1,2. 1:175} {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 14. c. 19. s. 5. 6:63} {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 4. s. 2.
3:81} Diodorus said that Samius, the Lacedemonian admiral, had twenty-five ships
and Tamos had fifty. Based on Xenophon's Anabasis, Tamos had only twenty-five
ships and Pythagoras, the Lacedemonian, thirty-five (for he thought Pythagoras
was the other admiral, and not Samius). [L233]
1438. Cyrus, with his army of foot soldiers, resolved to march into upper Asia
under the pretence of marching against the Pisidians, who often attacked areas
under his control. In consequence, he at once sent for Clearchus, the
Lacedemonian, Aristippus of Thessaly, Xenias of Arcadia, the banished men of
Miletus, and the army which had besieged Miletus. He sent Proxenus, a Boeotian,
to go just as fast as he could to the Greeks and others, asking them to come at
once to Sardis. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 11. 3:53}
{*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 2. s. 1. 3:53}
3603b AM, 4313 JP, 401 BC
1439. When Tissaphernes determined that a much larger force was being assembled
than an attack on the Pisidians would require, he hurried away with five hundred
cavalry as fast as he could to Artaxerxes, who, now aware of what was happening,
prepared for war. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 2. s. 4. 3:55}
1440. Cyrus left some of his trusted Persian friends to manage affairs at
Lydia. He trusted his good friend Tamos, the Egyptian admiral, to take care of
the cities of Ionia and Aeolia in his absence, while he marched with his army
toward Cilicia and Pisidia under the pretence that certain persons in those
parts were unruly. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 19. s. 6. 6:63}
"But Themistogenes of Syracuse has recorded how Cyrus gathered his army, marched
against his brother, how the battle was fought and how Cyrus perished in it, and
how those Greeks who went with him came back safely to the sea again, that is,
into Asia Minor."
1441. This is what Xenophon wrote in the beginning of the third book of his
Greek History. If we compare this part of the history with Plutarch's book,
{*Plutarch, Glory of the Athenians, l. 1. c. 1. 4:495}, we find the
following:
"Xenophon wrote a history about himself, recording how he was a captain and what
exploits he did. Then he said that Themistogenes of Syracuse had written it, so
relinquishing the glory of having written it himself to another man, in order
that the things written about himself might receive greater credibility in the
world."
1442. In another place in Suidas, we find: [E166]
"The expedition of Cyrus, which commonly went with Xenophon's history of the
Greeks and some other pieces concerning his own country, were all of Xenophon's
own writings."
1443. Certainly, these books about the expedition of Cyrus belonged with the
rest of his Greek histories. At the end, he plainly said that its author was
present at all those events. Therefore the work itself, which throughout was
full of Xenophon's noble acts, was attributed to him not only by Plutarch but
long before him, by Cicero, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Hermogenes, Laertius,
Athenaeus and by Arianus of Nicomedia (not to speak of our divines, Eusebius and
Jerome). Themistogenes also had the nickname of New Xenophon, as we read in
Photius and Suidas, because he compiled the discourses of his teacher Epictetus
into four books, as Xenophon had done for those of his teacher Socrates. Also,
just as Xenophon had recorded that the above expedition of Cyrus in seven books,
so Themistogenes had recorded the expedition of Alexander in seven books.
[L234] Although Xenophon, in his expedition of Cyrus, as Laertius noted, has a
brief preface to every book, but not to the set in general. Whereas in every
book except the sixth, Themistogenes made a preface using a summary of the
previous books, which Xenophon did not do in his books. Themistogenes has
details in those books which do not flatter Xenophon. Therefore, I am rather
inclined to think that those books were written by Themistogenes and not by
Xenophon. However, I followed the authority of those ancient writers. I have
all along cited him by the name of Xenophon, as they have done before me. Of
those five points mentioned by Xenophon {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1.
s. 1,2. 1:175} and said to have been written by Themistogenes, the first four
are entirely in the first book of this expedition of Cyrus:
a) The gathering of his army.
b) Their marching into upper Asia and coming to the place where they fought.
c) The details of the battle.
d) The fall of Cyrus in that battle.
1444. Cyrus left Sardis, where Xenophon had met him after being summoned from
Athens by Proxenus, the Boeotian. There Xenophon had volunteered for the
action, as we find in the third book, and come to Celaenae in Phrygia, where he
stayed for thirty days. During that time, Clearchus and other Greek commanders
came to him from various parts and together they assembled a force of eleven
thousand heavily armed foot soldiers and about two thousand targeteers.
{*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 2. s. 9. 3:59}
3603c AM, 4313 JP, 401 BC
1445. From Celaenae, Cyrus came with his army to the bank of the Cayster River.
He received money from Epyaxa, the wife of Syennesis, the king of Cilicia.
(Cyrus was formerly thought to have had intimate relations with her.) He paid
his army the three months' back wages he owed them, plus the next month in
advance. Epyaxa arrived at Tartius in Cilicia five days before Cyrus. She also
persuaded her husband Syennesis to come there, and to give Cyrus a vast sum of
money toward the support of his army. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 2. s.
11,12. 3:61} Both Ctesias and Diodorus added that Syennesis, like a wise man,
supplied both Cyrus and Artaxerxes with necessities for the war. Since he had
two sons, he sent one of them to Cyrus with a competent number of men for his
service. However, he had earlier secretly sent away the other to Artaxerxes, to
let him know that with such an army as Cyrus had, he dared not oppose Cyrus, but
publicly joined with him. Nevertheless, he declared himself loyal to Artaxerxes
and would defect to him as soon as he could find an opportunity. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 14. c. 20. s. 3. 6:67} {Ctesias} Cyrus stayed twenty days at Tarsus,
where the Greek companies told him plainly that they would march no farther.
Clearchus, using his tact, changed their minds, and so they marched to Issus.
This was the remotest city of Cilicia, where Cyrus' fleet met him, bringing him
seven hundred heavily armed foot soldiers, but Diodorus said eight hundred. The
Lacedemonians had sent these men to Cyrus under the command of Chirosophus.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 21. 6:69} Another four hundred heavily armed foot
soldiers, who had formerly served Artaxerxes under their captain Abrocomus, also
came into his camp. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 4. s. 3. 3:81}
However, Abrocomus left Phoenicia with three hundred thousand men and marched to
Artaxerxes, arriving five days before the battle. Setting out from where he
was, Cyrus crossed the passes of Syria and without halting, came to the place of
the pending battle. He had travelled from Ephesus to there in ninety-three days
and marched five hundred and thirty-five parasangs, or about two thousand miles,
or over twenty-one miles a day. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 4. s. 5.
3:83}
1446. According to Plutarch, the battle was fought at Cynaxa, which is about
sixty-three miles from Babylon. [L235] According to the second book of the
expedition of Cyrus, the battle was about three hundred and eighty-three miles
from Babylon. Jacobus Capellus thought it should read, from Susa. In the army
of Cyrus there were about thirteen thousand Greek soldiers, although Justin said
there were no more than ten thousand. Of these, there were ten thousand and
four hundred heavily armed foot soldiers and twenty-five hundred targeteers.
From the other nations, there were a hundred thousand men and about twenty
scythe-bearing chariots. Artaxerxes had nine hundred thousand men and fifteen
hundred scythe-bearing chariots. [E167] However, Ctesias of Cnidos, who was in
the battle, was quoted by Plutarch; and Ephorus, who is cited by Diodorus,
stated there were only four hundred thousand men. In the battle, fifteen
thousand soldiers of Artaxerxes died, according to Diodorus, and three thousand
on the side of Cyrus. However, Ctesias in Plutarch stated that Artaxerxes lost
no more than nine thousand soldiers, and no more than twenty thousand died that
day. This battle was fought in the fourth year of the 94th Olympiad, when
Xenaenetus was archon in Athens, and one year before Socrates was put to death
there. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 8. 11:143} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes,
l. 1. c. 13. 11:155} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 24. s. 5,6. 6:79}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 1. c. fin.} {*Diogenes Laertius, Socrates, l. 2. c. 5.
(44) 1:175}
1447. In this battle the two brothers met, and Artaxerxes was first wounded
through his coat of armour. Ctesias helped him recover from this wound. Cyrus
carried on with good success against his brother, fearing no danger, and was
killed by an unknown hand in the battle. Artaxerxes spent his rage upon the
dead body of his brother. He severed his head from his body and cut off the
hand from the arm that had wounded him, carrying it about in a triumphant
manner. When his sorrowful mother came to Babylon, she tearfully gathered up
his remains and buried them there. The battle between the two brothers is more
fully described by Plutarch, citing Ctesias and Dinon. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes,
l. 1. c. 8-13. 11:143-157}
1448. When the king came to rifle his camp, he found and took the concubine of
Cyrus. She was a woman much renowned for her wit and beauty. {*Xenophon,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 10. s. 3. 3:137} She was a Phocaean who was born in
Ionia, the daughter of Hermotimus. Her name had been changed by Cyrus from
Milto to Aspasia, because she seemed the equal of Aspasia the Miletian, who was
the mistress of Pericles. {See note on 3564 AM. <<1266>>} Artaxerxes
was
anxious to acquire her. When she was brought to him all tied up, he was
extremely angry with those who had brought her and had them put in irons. She
was the most highly esteemed of all the three hundred and sixty concubines he
had, and he doted on her the most. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 26. s.
5. 11:191} {*Plutarch, Pericles, l. 1. c. 24. s. 7. 3:73} {*Aelian,
Historical Miscellany, l. 12. c. 1. 1:353,355} {Justin, Trogus, l. 10. c.
2.}
1449. The Greeks on the opposing side did not know that Cyrus was dead, so they
kept on fighting. In their quarter, they drove back Tissaphernes and all his
forces with a squadron of about six thousand Greeks, according to Isocrates. He
added: {*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (146) 1:213}
"They were not the best of the Greeks but their mere refuse, and such as could
no longer live in their own homes. These were now in a strange country, and
were forsaken by their companions, betrayed by their companies and bereft of
their captain whom they had followed to this war."
1450. The king came with most of his army to rescue Tissaphernes. He entered
their camp and rifled it. However, when the Greeks returned from pursuing
Tissaphernes, they recovered their camp and drove the king away. They spent the
night there with no food and also went hungry on the next day. This is the end
of Xenophon's first book of Cyrus' Anabasis.
1451. The second book described how these Greeks planned to return home again
under the command of Clearchus. [L236] Tissaphernes promised to escort them
back with his own forces and to guide them, but broke this promise, rounding up
Clearchus with Proxenus, Agias and Socrates, together with twenty more captains
and two hundred soldiers, to be murdered. Ctesias, in his Persian History
(which the author of this book of the Anabasis of Cyrus had undoubtedly read),
had also previously told us how cunningly Tissaphernes worked. Using Menon, a
Thessalian, and his own promises, he captured Clearchus and the others mentioned
in the group. They were put in irons and sent to the king at Babylon. Ctesias
told how he was the physician to Parysatis, the king's mother. Through her, he
was able to help Clearchus while he was in prison. As a result of her request
to the king, the king had promised that Clearchus would not be harmed, but at
the instigation of Statira, his queen, he had Clearchus and all the rest of the
commanders except Menon butchered. All the bodies were thrown out and devoured
by wild beasts and birds. Only the body of Clearchus was covered and preserved
by a large sand hill caused by a strong wind. {Ctesias, Excerpts of Photius}
{*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 18. 11:167-171}
3603d AM, 4313 JP, 401 BC
1452. In his third and fourth book, Xenophon described the journey back to
Greece of the remainder of the Greeks whom Tissaphernes had not captured.
Xenophon had the soldiers choose new captains to replace the ones they lost, and
he himself was chosen to replace Proxenus. He described their journey through
many enemy countries and how they endured the very cold winter and many
hardships and dangers, finally returning home safely. [E168] This account is
found in Diodorus Siculus and in Isocrates. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 27-31.
6:87-103} {*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (146-149) 1:213}
1453. For his good service in this war, Artaxerxes gave Tissaphernes all the
governments which his brother Cyrus had held, in addition to what Tissaphernes
had held before. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 3. 1:175} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 14. c. 25. s. 4. 6:85} He lavished many other expensive gifts and
favours on him, lastly giving him his own daughter for a wife. Tissaphernes was
his most confident friend and servant. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 25. s. 4.
6:85}
1454. For ten days, Parysatis, the king's mother, tortured the Carian who had
mortally wounded Cyrus in the thigh. She had his eyes pulled out and boiling
lead poured into his ear holes until he died. Mithridates, who first wounded
Cyrus and bragged that he had killed him, was put between two boats. He lay
there for seventeen days until he was eaten out with worms. Parysatis won
Bagabaeus, the king's eunuch, from the king at a dice game. It was he who had
ordered Cyrus' head and right hand to be cut off. She had him skinned alive,
and then his body was laid across three crosses and his flayed skin hung near
it. After this, at the humble request of the king, Parysatis stopped mourning
for her son Cyrus. {Ctesias} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 14-17.
11:157-167}
1455. Parysatis had the queen Statira, her daughter-in-law, poisoned. Statira
had a trusted maid servant called Gingis or Gigis. Dinon said she willingly
helped in the death of Statira. Ctesias said she did it against her will. The
one who gave the poison was called Belitaras by Ctesias and Melantas by Dinon.
There is a little bird in Persia called Rhyntaces or Rhyndaces which has no
excrements at all but all its innards are full of fat. Parysatis cut one of
these birds in two with a knife and gave the poisoned half to Statira as they
sat at dinner. This is what Ctesias thought happened. [L237] However, Dinon
said that it was Melantas, not Parysatis, who served her the poisoned bird.
When the queen subsequently died in extreme torment, the king suspected his
mother for it. She was well known for her cruelty and implacable disposition of
nature. He had the servants and chefs questioned and used the rack on them.
Parysatis kept Gingis in her own chamber for a long time, and though the king
demanded her, Parysatis would not give her up to justice. At last Gingis wanted
to steal secretly to her own home by night. Artaxerxes captured her and
punished her as being the poisoner. He did not harm his mother, but when she
asked permission to go to Babylon, he gave it to her, telling her, however, that
while she lived, he would not come there. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c.
19. 11:171,173}
1456. Ariston, with some others, surprised the city of Cyrene. In the battle
they killed five hundred of the principal men of the inhabitants, while the rest
escaped and joined with three thousand of the Missenians, whom the Lacedemonians
at this time had expelled from their country. They fought in an open field
against those who had taken their city. In the battle, many of the Cyrenians on
both sides, and almost all the Missenians, were killed. When the battle was
over, the Cyrenians agreed with an oath to forget the past and live together
peacefully. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 34. 6:109,111}
3604a AM, 4313 JP, 401 BC
1457. Tissaphernes (Diodorus incorrectly wrote Pharnabazus) was sent by
Artaxerxes to take charge of all the governments in Asia Minor. Tissaphernes
also wanted all the cities of Ionia. (Loeb edition lists Pharnabazus as an
alternate reading. Editor.) {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 3.
1:175} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 35. s. 2. 6:111}
1458. When Tissaphernes came, all the governors and cities who had followed
Cyrus were afraid, and sued for peace. Tamos, the Egyptian, who was the most
important of these, was governor of Ionia. {See note on 3593 AM.
<<1339>>} {See
note on 3603b AM. <<1440>>} He loaded his fleet with all his treasure
and his
sons, except Glos (who later became the king's general), and sailed to Egypt.
He visited Psammetichus, the king, and was confident of good treatment because
of how he had treated Psammetichus in the past. Psammetichus, however,
disregarded the past favours done to him and butchered him and his children, to
get the ships and treasure which he had brought. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c.
35. s. 2-5. 6:111,113} [E169]
1459. The Greeks (of whom I spoke before) left Trapezus, which was the first
Greek city they had come to. It was situated on the coast of the Black Sea in
the country of Colchis. After a three day march, they came to another Greek
city, in the same country of Colchis, which like Trapezus, was also a coastal
town, and was called Cerasus. They stayed there ten days and counted their men.
Only eighty-six hundred remained of the ten thousand they had started with, the
rest were lost. Either they had been killed by the enemy in the battle, or they
had died in the snow, or of other sicknesses on their return journey. From
there, they went through the countries of the Mossynoeci, the Chalybes and
Tibareni and came to a Greek town called Cotyora, a colony of the Sinopians.
[L238] This was eight months from when they started out and five months after
the battle in the country of Babylon, from where they journeyed to this place in
one hundred and twenty-two days, marching six hundred and twenty parasangs, or
2325 miles (about nineteen miles per day). They stayed there forty-five days.
{*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 3-5. 3:387-425}
3604b AM, 4314 JP, 400 BC
1460. During their stay there, they got their provisions partly from the market
of Cotyora and partly by plundering the countries around Paphlagonia. By the
same token, if the Paphlagonians found any of them straggling from the camp,
they attacked them. Finally Corylas, who was the governor of the Paphlagonians,
made peace between them. Later, these Greeks received transport by ship from
the men of Heraclea and Sinope. They came to Harmene, a port of Sinope, where
they stayed five days. From there they went to Heraclea, in the country of the
Mariandyni, which was a colony of the city of Megara. They came to a peninsula
called Acherusia and divided themselves into three companies.
1461. The forty-five hundred or so heavily armed foot soldiers of the Arcadians
and Achaeans were transported by ship by the Heracleans. They hurried aboard,
hoping to take the Thracians who inhabited Bithynia by surprise, so they might
get all the more spoil. They landed by night at Calpe, near the centre of their
sea coast. They went to the nearby towns and villages, about six miles up the
country. The Thracians, whom they attacked there, fought back and killed many
of the Greeks. One of their Greek regiments, along with their captain Smicres,
was entirely cut off. In another company, only eight soldiers and their
captain, Hegesander, escaped. The rest fled to a hill for safety and were
besieged by the Thracians.
1462. Chirosophus, with fourteen hundred heavily armed foot soldiers and seven
hundred targeteers (who were Thracians and had followed Clearchus on that
journey), went from Heraclea over the entire length of the country on foot. He
finally came into Bithynia and although he was not feeling well, sailed to Calpe
with his men.
1463. Xenophon, with his brigade of seventeen hundred heavily armed foot
soldiers, three hundred targeteers and about forty cavalry, came by sea to a
country which separated the Thracians of Bithynia from the country of the
Heracleans. He marched through the centre of the country and arrived to rescue
those who were besieged on the hill by the Thracians, so that they finally
assembled again as one body at the port of Calpe. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 6.
c. 2. s. 16. 3:467} {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 4. s. 1. 3:467}
1464. Chirosophus died there, and was replaced by Neon of Asine, who, when he
saw his troops hungry and short of supplies, gathered two thousand men and went
foraging all over the country of Bithynia. Pharnabazus sent his cavalry to help
the Bithynians, because he hoped to keep these Greeks out of his lands. On the
first attack, the cavalry killed at least five hundred Greeks and the rest fled
to a hill for safety. Xenophon rescued them from the enemy and they all
returned safely to the camp before sunset. When Spithridates and Rhathines came
with more troops to help the Bithynians, the Greeks won a notable victory, in
memory of which they erected a monument there. They returned the seven or eight
miles to their camp by the sea. After this victory, their enemies provided for
their own safety by carrying off their families and goods and driving their
cattle to more remote parts, so that when the Greeks passed through Bithynia,
they found nothing of use to them. They returned back into Bithynia again, a
day and a night's journey. They found and brought with them some prisoners,
sheep and other provisions for their own needs. [L239] After six days they came
to Chrysopolis, a city of the Chalcedonians, and stayed there seven days,
selling their plunder there. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 6. 3:467-537}
1465. Pharnabazus feared that these Greeks would make war on his country. He
arranged with Anaxibius, the Lacedemonian admiral, to ship them all out of Asia
to Byzantium. When Anaxibius returned with Xenophon from Byzantium into Asia,
he received news at Cyzicum from Aristarchus, the new governor of Byzantium.
Polus had been appointed admiral in Anaxibius' place and was to sail as far as
the Hellespont. [E170] Therefore, Anaxibius sailed from there to Patros. He
sent to Pharnabazus, requesting the money which he had promised him for shipping
the Greeks from Asia. When he did not get it, he planned with Xenophon to carry
the Greeks back again into Asia at once. Pharnabazus prevailed upon
Aristarchus, the governor of Byzantium, so that he thwarted that plan. This
forced Xenophon to hire himself out to Senthes, the king of Thrace. The winter
was not over and the cold was so extreme, that many Greeks lost their noses and
ears from frostbite. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 7. 3:539-651} Diodorus stated
that some Greeks returned into their own country, but almost five thousand
followed Xenophon into Thrace. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 37. s. 1. 6:115}
Hence, it appears that the number he gave was incorrect, when he said that only
eighty-three hundred men came to Chrysopolis. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 31.
s. 4. 6:101}
3604c AM, 4314 JP, 400 BC
1466. The Ionian and other Greek cities throughout Asia did not accept
Tissaphernes' government. They wanted their freedom and feared Tissaphernes,
because they had always given Cyrus preference over him. They sent messengers
to the Lacedemonians, asking them for help. Since they were the protectors of
all Greece, they wanted them to take over, so that their country could be free
from war and they could have their liberty, like other Greeks. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 3. 1:177} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 35. s.
6. 6:113}
1467. This petition was very welcome to the Lacedemonians. Like most men, the
more they had, the more they wanted. They were not content to have doubled
their empire by taking over Athens. Now they wanted to control all of Asia,
too! {Justin, Trogus, l. 6. c. 1.}
1468. Therefore, the Lacedemonians promised them aid in the first message they
sent back. They immediately sent to Tissaphernes, to ask him not to make war on
the Asian Greek cities. Out of contempt for them, he wasted all the region
around the city of Cyme and took many prisoners. Then he came with his army and
besieged the city, but because the winter was coming, he could not take it at
that time. So he set a large ransom on the prisoners and abandoned his siege.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 35. s. 7. 6:113}
1469. After this, Thibron went into Asia with an army of a thousand new
citizens of the Lacedemonians, four thousand of the Peloponnesians and three
hundred Athenian cavalry. The cavalry had formerly served the thirty tyrants of
Athens. The city desired that this group should be spent in foreign services
rather than be kept at home to do greater mischief. When Thibron came into
Asia, he increased his army with troops from the confederate cities there.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 4,5. 1:177} At Ephesus, he added two
thousand more troops from these cities, to make a total army of about seven
thousand men. He marched about fifteen miles into the country and on his first
assault took Magnesia, a city under Tissaphernes' government. [L240] From there
he went to Tralles, a city of Ionia, and began to besiege it, but as its
location was very strongly fortified, he left it and went back to the unwalled
town of Magnesia. Because he feared that, as soon as he was gone, Tissaphernes
would take it again, he moved it to a hill nearby, called Thorax, which was a
more easily defended position. He plundered the enemy's country and greatly
enriched his army. When he heard that Tissaphernes was coming down upon him
with an army of cavalry, he retired to Ephesus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 36.
6:113,115} He was no match for the cavalry and did not dare stay in the plain,
but thought it enough if he were able to keep the countries where he was from
being plundered by the enemy.
1470. When the Greeks under Xenophon had served Senthes three months in Thrace,
Charminus and Polynicus were sent by Thibron to tell them that he needed their
help in Asia against Tissaphernes. He offered to pay each soldier a daric a
month, while each captain of a company would be paid two darics, and every
colonel four. Xenophon told them that he personally planned to return home.
Most of the army came to him and earnestly asked him not to leave them until he
had led them to Thibron. Therefore, he boarded a ship with them and sailed to
Lampsacus. There he met and conferred with Euclides, the Phliasian poet. After
they had passed through the territory of Troas, they came to Pergamum, where
Xenophon was entertained by Hellas, the wife of Gongylus of Eretria, and her two
sons, Gorgion and Gongylus. At her counsel, he went to capture Asidates the
Persian. This he failed to do, while exposing himself and his men to great
danger. Finally, by chance, his soldiers captured Asidates with his wife and
children and cavalry and all that they owned, and they were very rich. Thibron
came and received the army from Xenophon, adding these troops to the rest of the
Greeks in his army and leading them against Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus.
{*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 7. 3:539-651} [E171]
1471. This point marks the end of the seven books of the Anabasis of Xenophon.
Their author, whoever he was, was present for all these events. He concluded
his book with this epilogue: {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 8. s. 24.
3:651}
"The governors of the king's territories that we traversed were as follows:
Artimas of Lydia, Articamas of Phrygia, Mithridates of Lycaonia and Cappadocia,
Syennesis of Cilicia, Dernes of Phoenicia and Arabia, Belesys of Syria and
Assyria, Rhoparas of Babylon, Arbacas of Media, Tiribazus of the Phasians and
Hesperites; then the Carduchians, Chalybians, Chaldeans, Macronians, Colchians,
Mosynoecians, Coetians, and Tibarenians, who were independent; and then Corylas
governor of Paphlagonia, Pharnabazus of the Bithynians, and Seuthes of the
Thracians in Europe."
"The length of the entire journey, going and coming, was two hundred and fifteen
stages. The whole expedition lasted fifteen months."
1472. A stage was about five parasangs, or about fifteen miles, apart and
represented a days' march or journey. They travelled 1150 parasangs or 4282
miles (4313 miles, allowing 3.75 miles per parasang).
3604d AM, 4314 JP, 400 BC
1473. When Thibron was strengthened with these new troops, he dared to pitch
his camp in the fields under Tissaphernes' nose. Pergamum voluntarily
surrendered to him. Likewise also Teuthrania and Halisarnia, which at that time
were commanded by Eurysthenes and Procles, the descendants of Demaratus of
Lacedemon. [L241] Gorgion and Gongylus, the two brothers mentioned previously,
had already joined him; one held Gambrium and Palegambrium, the other Myrina and
Grynium. Thibron captured the remaining weaker places by force. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 5,6. 1:177,179}
3605 AM, 4315 JP, 399 BC
1474. Thibron besieged Larisa, a town in Asia called Egyptian Larisa, when it
would not surrender to him. While he was besieging it with little effect, the
ephors at Sparta sent him letters stating that he should leave Larisa and march
to Caria and on to Ephesus. Dercylidas, who was very resourceful and was
surnamed Sisyphus for his wit, was on his way to take command of the army. When
Thibron returned to Sparta, he was there accused by various confederate cities
for having allowed his army to plunder them. For this reason, he was banished
from the city. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 7,8. 1:179,181}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 1-3. 6:119}
1475. Mania was a woman of Dardanus of manly courage. After the death of her
husband Zenis, she had managed the government of Aeolia very well under
Pharnabazus, and had taken over various coastal towns, like Larisa, Hamaxitus
and Colonae. She was very treacherously murdered by her son-in-law Meidias when
she was about forty years old. Her seventeen-year-old son was murdered with
her. Meidias seized the two strong towns, Scepsis and Gergis, where she had
stored most of her treasure. The garrisons in the rest of the towns remained
loyal to Pharnabazus. Meidias sent messengers to Pharnabazus with great
presents, hoping to manage all the government of those parts on the same terms
that Mania had done, but this was futile. Pharnabazus answered that he would
never be able to rest, if he did not avenge the murder of Mania. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 10-15. 1:181-185} (Polyaenus calls her Tania, or
Phania which is a misprint for Mania. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 8.})
1476. Dercylidas saw that he had to deal with both Pharnabazus and
Tissaphernes, two great commanders each supported by a large army. When he saw
that they were at odds with one another, he made peace with Tissaphernes.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 1. s. 8. 1:181} (Justin called him
Hercylidas, instead of Dercylidas. {Justin, Trogus, l. 6. c. 1.})
1477. After Dercylidas had first conferred with Tissaphernes, he marched to
Aeolia without plundering the country. Aeolia was under Pharnabazus'
government. He had an old grudge against Pharnabazus, for an insult he had
received from him while he had been a commander at Abydus under Lysander.
Larisa, Hamaxitus and Colonae surrendered to him without a fight. (Note that
Diodorus wrote Arisba instead of Larisa. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 38. s.
3. 6:119}) Neandria and Illium also surrendered to him. Cocylium did not fight
with him. Cebren, a very strong and fortified city, did not wish to be
assaulted and also surrendered. Leaving a large garrison there, he immediately
marched to Scepsis and Gergis with the rest of his army. Meidias feared both
Pharnabazus and the inhabitants of that place itself. He went out with hostages
to parley, seeking to join forces against a common enemy. Dercylidas laid hold
of him and told him plainly that there was no hope of any friendship between
them, unless he would set free all the citizens of those places which he held,
to live according to their own laws. He marched into Scepsis with him and there
offered a sacrifice to Athena. {Polyaenus, Stratagmata, l. 2.} He expelled
Meidias' soldiers and persuaded the inhabitants to defend their newly acquired
liberty. [E172] [L242] He next went to Gergis with his army. When Meidias
requested that he at least leave him that city, he ignored his request. Meidias
ordered the gates to be opened and Dercylidas entered the city. He found the
money that Mania had kept there, which was sufficient to maintain an army of
eight thousand men for almost a whole year. Dercylidas took the money and sent
Meidias back to live as a private citizen at Scepsis. Xenophon stated that he
took nine cities in eight days. Diodorus wrote that he used both tricks and
force to take over all the cities and country of Troas. {*Xenophon, Hellenica,
l. 3. c. 1. s. 9-28. 1:181-193} {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s.
1. 1:193} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 38. s. 3. 6:119}
1478. There was a quarrel between Artaxerxes and Evagoras, the king of Salamis
on the isle of Cyprus, who had expelled from there Abdemon Thyrsus, the governor
of the place and a good friend of Artaxerxes. Theopompus called him Abdymon
Cityces. {Theopompus, Excerpts of Photius, n. 176.} This quarrel was settled
through the mediation of Conon, the Athenian, who had lived with Evagoras, and
Ctesias, the Cnidian, who had lived for a long time at the court in Persia. The
condition was, that Evagoras would pay a certain tribute to Artaxerxes, and that
a gift would also be sent to Satibarzanes. Ctesias also sent letters to
Evagoras to make amends with Anaxagoras, a king of the Cypriots. Other similar
letters were written by Evagoras and Conon. {Ctesias, History of Persia}
1479. When Dercylidas had gone so far into these parts, he sent to Pharnabazus
enquiring whether he wanted war or peace. Pharnabazus was afraid of what might
happen to Phrygia, where he lived, since Phrygia bordered Aeolia, which was now
controlled by Dercylidas. Therefore Pharnabazus wanted a truce. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 1. 1:195}
3606a AM, 4315 JP, 399 BC
1480. When this truce was concluded, Dercylidas marched into that part of
Bithynia which the Thracians held, and there spent the winter. Pharnabazus
liked this, because the Thracians of that country often made inroads on Phrygia,
and Dercylidas now plundered that part of Bithynia at will, so that he had
plenty of provisions for the winter. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s.
2-5. 1:195,197}
3606b AM, 4316 JP, 398 BC
1481. About two hundred Odrysian cavalry and three hundred targeteers were sent
from Senthes, the king of Thrace, to help Dercylidas. When they first arrived,
they foraged Bithynia and were almost cut off there. After this, they stayed
close to the Lacedemonian army and heavily plundered the territories of the
Bithynians. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 2-5. 1:195-197}
1482. When spring arrived, Dercylidas moved from Bithynia and came to
Lampsacus. Three envoys from Sparta told him that his command had been extended
for another year. The ephors of Sparta told the army there that previously the
soldiers had been extremely injurious to their confederates, but now they were
commended for their good behaviour. Dercylidas replied that it was the same
soldiers who had followed Cyrus in his wars, but that they were now under new
commanders and that this was the reason for the change in behaviour. At the
conclusion of this incident, Dercylidas sent the envoys from Ephesus to travel
through the Greek cities and countries in those parts, telling them how glad he
was that they would find them all in so peaceable and prosperous a state.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 6-9. 1:197,199}
3606c AM, 4316 JP, 398 BC
1483. When the envoys left, Dercylidas sent to Pharnabazus again, wanting to
know whether he would extend the truce from the previous winter, or if he wanted
war. Pharnabazus wanted to continue the truce. Therefore, Dercylidas crossed
over the Hellespont with his army and came into the Chersonesus of Thrace, which
contained eleven or twelve towns. The isthmus, which he spanned with a strong
wall, was about eight and a half miles wide. This work started in the spring
and was finished before the beginning of autumn. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3.
c. 2. s. 10. 1:201} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 38. s. 7. 6:121} Contrary
to his custom, Diodorus combined the events of two years in one passage. [L243]
1484. Conon, the Athenian, wrote letters to Artaxerxes from Cyprus, concerning
his own affairs. He desired these to be presented to the king either by Zeno of
Crete, a dancer, or by Polycritus the Mendean, a physician, or, in their
absence, by Ctesias, who was likewise a physician. It is said that when this
letter came into Ctesias' hands, he added a letter of his own. Conon was asking
the king to send Ctesias to him, as a man important to the king's service in
those parts, especially in matters pertaining to the sea. Ctesias himself
recorded that the king had sent and employed him in that service of his own
accord. Plutarch wrote about the letters of Conon to the king and to himself,
and about the speech which he had made to the king to clarify the matter. He
had inserted these into his own history. He also related that at that same
time, when the Lacedemonians had sent envoys to the king, the king committed
them to custody and kept them there. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 21.
s. 2,3. 11:177} [E173]
1485. After Pharnabazus had made a truce with Dercylidas, he journeyed to the
king and accused Tissaphernes before him. He said that Tissaphernes had not
opposed the Lacedemonian army when it came into Asia, instead he supported them
there at the king's expense. He told the king that it was a shame that the
king's war was not being pursued to a conclusion. He argued that his enemies
should not be bribed with money, but rather driven out with armies. He
persuaded the king to supply a fleet and make Conon, the Athenian, the admiral.
Also employing the advice of Evagoras, the king of Cyprus, Pharnabazus persuaded
the king to give him five hundred talents for this purpose. The king commanded
him to commit the charge of the Phoenician fleet to Conon, making him
commander-in-chief over all his naval matters. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 39.
s. 1. 6:121} {*Isocrates, Evagoras, l. 1. (55-57) 3:35} {*Isocrates, Philip,
l. 1. (53,64) 1:285} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 29. s. 15. 1:163}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 6. c. 1.}
1486. When Pharnabazus returned from the court, he made Conon admiral of the
seas, making many generous promises on the king's behalf. Before Conon had been
fully furnished with a fleet, he took the forty ships he had ready and sailed
into Cilicia, where he prepared for war. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 39. s.
1-4. 6:121,123}
3606d AM, 4316 JP, 398 BC
1487. Ctesias was sent to the coast by Artaxerxes. He first went into Cnidos,
his own country, and from there to Sparta. He stated this toward the end of his
history, which, as Diodorus said, ended with the third year of this 95th
Olympiad. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 46. s. 6. 6:143}
1488. Dercylidas returned from the Chersonesus into Asia. As he reviewed the
cities, he found that the exiles from Chios had taken over Atarneus. They were
using this as a base to make inroads on Ionia, and were living on the spoil they
found. Although Atarneus was well fortified and contained much food, he
besieged it for eight months. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 11.
1:201,203}
3607 AM, 4317 JP, 397 BC
1489. When Atarneus surrendered, he put Dracon of Pellene in charge of it. He
supplied the city with ample provisions, so that he could use it for a good
supply base when he was travelling. He then left for Ephesus. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 11. 1:201,203}
1490. When the envoys from Ionia came to Sparta, they expressed their belief
that if Caria, where Tissaphernes resided, were invaded, Tissaphernes would
quickly grant them permission to live according to their own laws. The ephors
wrote to Dercylidas that he should march to Caria with his army. Pharax, their
admiral, was to sail the fleet into those parts, as well. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 12. 1:203}
1491. At this time, because Tissaphernes was the chief general, Pharnabazus
went to him to let him know that he was ready to join with him in making war on
the Greeks. [L244] They therefore went to Caria together, to settle matters
there. When they had put garrisons there, they returned to Ionia. Dercylidas
heard that they had crossed the Meander River. He conferred with Pharax and
convinced him of his suspicion that Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus might both
attack Ionia, which now had no garrisons. Then Dercylidas also crossed over the
Meander River. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 13,14. 1:203,205}
1492. In the Persian army there were twenty thousand foot soldiers and ten
thousand cavalry. Dercylidas' army had about seven thousand men. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 14. c. 39. s. 4-6. 6:123} The soldiers from the Peloponnesus were
prepared to fight, whereas the ones from Priene and Achillium, the isles and the
other towns of Ionia were cowards. They abandoned their weapons in the grain
which grew abundantly in the fields lying around the Meander River, and fled.
However, Tissaphernes remembered how well the Greeks who had been in Cyrus' army
had fought against himself, and considered that not all Greeks would be cowards.
Therefore, he did not attack them, as Pharnabazus wanted to do. He sent to
Dercylidas and asked to meet with him to talk. After an exchange of hostages,
they met to discuss a peace treaty. Dercylidas demanded that the king should
allow all the Greek cities their freedom. Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus demanded
that the Lacedemonian forces should withdraw from the countries of the king's
dominions, and their commanders from the cities. A truce was to continue, until
Dercylidas could receive an answer from Sparta. Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus
were likewise waiting for an answer from the king. So both armies withdrew, the
Persians returned to Tralles in Caria, and Dercylidas to Leucophrys.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 2. s. 15-19. 1:207} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14.
c. 39. s. 5-6. 6:123}
3608 AM, 4318 JP, 396 BC
1493. A certain man called Herodas, of Syracuse in Sicily, was at that time
living with a ship captain in Phoenicia. He noticed that war ships were
arriving daily, while others were being outfitted and still others were being
constructed. [E174] A navy of three hundred ships was being prepared. Herodas
boarded the first ship bound for Greece and went to Sparta. He told them that a
large fleet was being made ready at Phoenicia, and that he did not know the
purpose and destination of this fleet. The Lacedemonians were very troubled by
this news. Agesilaus, one of their two kings, was asked by Lysander to go with
an army into Asia against the Persians. He was to take with him thirty men of
Sparta whom they would choose to manage that war. The first man they picked was
Lysander, who hoped to use this occasion to restore throughout all the cities in
Asia the Decemviri which he had set up before. The ephors had later abolished
these, and ordered every city to live according to their own laws. So Agesilaus
took two thousand of the new citizens of Sparta and six thousand from their
confederate cities, with provisions for six months. They sailed from Gerastus,
a port in Euboea, with all the forces that he could gather, and came to Ephesus.
He did this so quickly, that he landed there before Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus
heard that he had even set out. Thereby, so it happened that he found them all
unprepared for his arrival. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4. s. 1-4.
1:225,227} {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 1. s. 7,8. 7:63,65} {*Plutarch,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 6-9. 5:13-21} {Emilius Probus, Agesilaus} {*Pausanias,
Laconia, l. 3. c. 9. s. 1-5. 2:51,53} Pausanias stated that he first
landed at Sardis. {*Pausanias, Laconia, l. 3. c. 9. s. 5. 2:53} [L245]
1494. Agesilaus raised a further four thousand soldiers at Ephesus, giving him
an army of ten thousand foot soldiers and four hundred, or (as the Latin
translation has it) four thousand, cavalry. Along with this, there was a rabble
of other men, as numerous as the army, who followed the camp for pillage.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 79. s. 1-3. 6:225}
1495. Tissaphernes sent to him to find out why he had come into Asia. He
replied that he had come to restore freedom to the Greek cities. Tissaphernes
asked him to wait for three months, so that he might send a message to the king,
at the same time assuring him of a favourable reply from the king. Agesilaus
sent Herippidas, Dercylidas and Megillus to him to secure an oath from him, in
which he would swear that he meant no guile, but would do what he possibly could
to procure the peace which he had promised. On behalf of Agesilaus, they in
turn were to swear to Tissaphernes that they would keep the truce if
Tissaphernes would keep his part of the bargain. Tissaphernes disregarded his
oath and sent a request to the king to increase his army. Although Agesilaus
knew full well what he intended to do, he nonetheless kept the truce himself.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4. s. 5-7. 1:229} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus,
l. 1. c. 9. s. 1,2. 5:21,23} {Emilius Probus, Agesilaus}
1496. While Agesilaus was staying at Ephesus, civil disorder broke out in the
cities. Neither the democratic government which the Athenians had set up, nor
the Decemvirate which Lysander had set up, was being obeyed. They all made
representation to Lysander, who was well known among them, asking that he would
obtain for them from Agesilaus what they desired. It was from then on that
Lysander always had a large court of attendants and suitors about him, so that
it now seemed that Lysander was king, and Agesilaus merely a private citizen.
This was a thorn in Agesilaus' side, so he began to take the administration of
matters out of Lysander's hands and to reduce his authority. Then he sent him
on an errand into the Hellespont. When Lysander found that Spithridates, a
Persian (Plutarch called him Mithridates), was under Pharnabazus, he desired to
speak with him. After a conference, Lysander persuaded him to defect from
Pharnabazus, with his children and such wealth as he had, and two hundred
cavalry. Spithridates left everything he had safely at Cyzicum, and came with
his son to Lysander. He escorted them to Agesilaus, who was glad to see him.
Spithridates told Agesilaus exactly how things were with Pharnabazus.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4. s. 7-10. 1:229-233} {*Plutarch,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 11. s. 2. 5:29} {*Plutarch, Lysander, l. 1. c. 24.
s. 1. 4:301}
1497. When Tissaphernes received more troops from the king, he became insolent
and proclaimed war against Agesilaus, unless he would leave Asia. Agesilaus was
pleased about this and ordered his men to prepare for war. He sent to the
Ionians, Aeolians and those of the Hellespont to send to him at Ephesus all the
troops they could spare. Tissaphernes thought that he would march into Caria,
but Agesilaus took his army into Phrygia. In a surprise attack on the cities
there, he obtained a vast sum of money and other provisions from them and so
came, safely and without stopping, near to Dascylium. His cavalry scoured the
country ahead of the army and when they met with the cavalry of Pharnabazus,
they were routed. In that encounter they lost twelve men and two horses. When
Agesilaus came to their rescue with his foot soldiers, the Persians on the other
side retired, having only lost one man. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4.
s. 11-15. 1:233-237} {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 1. s. 11-16.
7:63-67} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 1-3. 5:25} {Emilius
Probus, Agesilaus} [L246]
1498. Agesilaus spent most of that summer plundering Phrygia and the nearby
countries, and enriching his army with plunder. Toward the autumn, he returned
to Ephesus and spent the winter there. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 79. s. 3.
6:225,227} {Emilius Probus, Agesilaus} [E175]
3609 AM, 4319 JP, 395 BC
1499. Nephereus, or Nepherites, reigned in Egypt for six years. {*Manetho,
1:179}
1500. The Lacedemonians sent to Nephereus, requesting that he join with them
against the Persians. Instead, he sent them a gift of tackle, one hundred war
ships and five hundred thousand bushels of grain. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c.
79. s. 4. 6:227} Justin called him Hercinion, as did Orosius, who related the
matter in this manner: {Justin, Trogus, l. 6. c. 2.} {Orosius, l. 3. c.
1.}
"The Lacedemonian envoys asked for naval help from Hercinion. They received a
hundred war ships and six hundred thousand bushels of grain."
1501. Pharax, the admiral of the Lacedemonian fleet, set sail from Rhodes with
a hundred and twenty ships and came to Sasanda, a citadel in Caria about
nineteen miles from Caunus. Sailing on from there, he attacked both the town of
Caunus and Conon, the Athenian, who had forty ships there. When Artaphernes and
Pharnabazus came with a large army to relieve Caunus, Pharax lifted his siege
and returned to Rhodes with all his fleet, while Conon assembled eighty ships
and sailed toward the Chersonesus. The Rhodians, however, kept out the
Peloponnesian fleet and revolted from the Lacedemonian state, instead receiving
Conon with all his fleet into their port and city. It so happened that the
Egyptian fleet, knowing nothing of this change of affairs, boldly anchored off
the island with all their cargo of grain, which was being sent to the
Lacedemonians. Conon, with the help of the Rhodians, attacked them and brought
all their men and cargo into the port, storing the grain there. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 14. c. 79. s. 5-8. 6:227} The soldiers rebelled against Conon because
the king's officers defrauded them of their pay. They demanded their pay all
the more boldly because they had been used in so great a service, and had served
under so great a commander as Conon. {Justin, Trogus, l. 6. c. 2.}
1502. Agesilaus knew that he was no match for the enemy in the plains without
sufficient cavalry. He raised more troops, ordering throughout all the
confederate cities that any of them who were rich and did not want to fight
themselves, should each send him a horse and rider to take their place. When
the spring was coming, he commanded all his army to assemble at Ephesus. He
carefully trained both the cavalry and foot soldiers for war. During this
preparation, he gave the city of Ephesus greater importance than it had had
before, by making it the centre of the war effort. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l.
3. c. 4. s. 15-19. 1:237,239} {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 1. s.
23,24. 7:71} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 9. s. 3-5. 5:25} {Emilius
Probus, Agesilaus}
1503. A whole year had elapsed since Agesilaus had come from Sparta. The
thirty commissioners assigned to him returned to Sparta and Lysander, the head
of the commissioners, returned with them. Thirty others were sent to replace
them, of whom Herippidas was the leader. From these, Agesilaus chose Xenocles
and one other to lead the cavalry. He chose Scythes to command the heavily
armed foot soldiers made up of the new citizens of Sparta. Herippidas was to
lead those who had served under Cyrus. Mygdon was put in charge of those who
had been sent by the cities of Asia. [L247] Agesilaus let it be known that he
would march into the strongest part of the enemy country, so that his own army
would be mentally prepared for a fierce battle. Tissaphernes thought that
Agesilaus had done this to amuse Tissaphernes a second time and to keep him at
home. Tissaphernes marched directly into Caria, commanding his cavalry to stay
behind and hold the plain of Meander. However, Agesilaus did indeed do exactly
what he had said, and his whole army attacked the country of Sardis. When he
had marched for three days without seeing any sign of the enemy, he gathered
from that area a large supply of all types of provisions for his army. On the
fourth day they spotted the enemy cavalry. They found the Greeks scattered
about and busy plundering the country. They attacked and killed most of them.
When Agesilaus came to their rescue, he saw that the enemies' foot soldiers had
not arrived. Since he was fully prepared, he attacked the enemy near the
Pactolus River and won a great victory over the Persians. He captured their
camp, finding riches amounting to more than seventy talents of money, and
transported all their camels into Greece. At this time, Tissaphernes stayed at
Sardis, which is the reason why he was accused by the Persians of being a
deserter. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4. s. 20-25. 1:239-243}
1504. That was what Xenophon wrote. However, Diodorus stated that Tissaphernes
was present in the battle with ten thousand cavalry and fifty thousand foot
soldiers. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 80. s. 1-5. 6:229,231} Agesilaus came
down from the hill country of Sipylus and overran all the plain around Sardis.
He pillaged the land and destroyed a garden of Tissaphernes, which was enclosed
and planted with all sorts of trees and other things for pleasure, infinitely
sumptuous and of most exquisite workmanship and beauty. [E176] Agesilaus turned
away from there and sent Xenocles with fourteen hundred men to lie in ambush,
midway between Sardis and Thybarnae, to intercept some Persians who were to pass
that way. In this second battle with the Persians, he defeated them and killed
over six thousand men. He took a large number of prisoners and captured their
camp, which was full of wealth. After all this, Tissaphernes fled to Sardis and
Agesilaus returned to the coast with his army. Pausanias wrote that Agesilaus
fought with Tissaphernes in the plain country of Hermus and there defeated the
cavalry and foot soldiers of the Persians. {*Pausanias, Laconia, l. 3. c. 9.
s. 6. 2:55} This was the largest Persian army since the time when Xerxes had
gone into Greece or when Darius had gone into Scythia. It is best to trust
Xenophon's account, who was not only an instructor to Agesilaus (as Cicero
affirmed {*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 3. c. 34. (139) 4:111}), but was very
intimate and familiar with him. {Emilius Probus, Agesilaus} {*Diogenes
Laertius, Xenophon, l. 2. c. 6. (51) 1:181} Moreover, he was with him
throughout all this war in Asia and returned with him to Greece the following
year.
1505. Conon, the admiral of the Persian fleet, had repeatedly sent letters to
the king asking for pay for the navy. When this failed, he went to the king in
person. Pharnabazus also encouraged him to accuse Tissaphernes of treason to
the king. Therefore, Conon committed the charge of the navy in his absence to
Hieronymus and Nicodemus (both Athenians). He sailed into Cilicia and from
there went to Thapsacus in Syria, where he travelled on a barge down the
Euphrates River to Babylon. There he talked with Tithraustes, the chiliarch,
which was the highest office next to the king. Conon showed him who he was, and
that he desired to speak with the king, but he could not be admitted into the
presence of the king or speak with him without adoration, that is, without
prostrating himself before the king.
[L248] Therefore he did his business with him by letters and messengers, and was
successful in his quest. The king declared Tissaphernes to be a traitor, and
ordered Conon to take charge of the war against the Lacedemonians and to pay the
navy, using whomever he was pleased to choose for that office. He was highly
rewarded for his service and was sent to sea with authority to order whatever
shipping he needed from the Cypriots and Phoenicians. These ships would guard
the sea before the next summer, and Pharnabazus was assigned to him as an
assistant, as Conon had requested. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 80,81.
6:231,233} {Justin, Trogus, l. 6. c. 2.} {Emilius Probus, Conon}
1506. Concerning the Cypriots, it is to be noted that at the very time while
courtesies and presents passed between Artaxerxes and them, the king intended to
make war against them. It lasted ten years before it ended, eight of which he
spent in making preparations for it. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 9. s. 2.
6:349} Diodorus gave this deception as the reason of that war and it seems that
only six years were spent in preparation. At this point, Isocrates mentioned
the many vain attempts made upon Evagoras by Artaxerxes. He stated:
{*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (141) 1:205,207}
"He made war on Evagoras, who was governor of one poor city in Cyprus, and one
who had formerly served him and had become his vassal and lived on an island.
He suffered a great loss at sea and had no more than three thousand targeteers
to defend his state with. Yet, weak as he was, the king had not been able to to
get him to submit to him, though he had now spent six whole years in a war
against him."
1507. Parysatis, the queen mother, urged the king on against Tissaphernes. She
hated him because of what he had done to her son Cyrus. The king committed the
war to Tithraustes and gave him letters for the cities and commanders in those
parts, ordering them all to do whatever Tithraustes required of them. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 14. c. 80. s. 6-8. 6:231}
1508. When Tithraustes left, the king gave him two letters. In the one for
Tissaphernes, he requested him to continue the war against the Lacedemonians.
In the other, which he sent to Ariaeus, the commander of Larisa, he requested
that he help Tithraustes in the murder of Tissaphernes. Tithraustes delivered
the letters to Ariaeus immediately on his arrival at Colosse in Phrygia. When
Ariaeus had read them, he sent for Tissaphernes, asking him to come to Colosse,
stating that he wanted to consult with him about the king's matters, especially
concerning the war against the Greeks. Whereupon Tissaphernes, suspecting
nothing, left his army at Sardis and came quickly to Colosse with a troop of
three hundred Arcadians and Milesians and stayed at the house of Ariaeus. When
he went to take a bath, he laid aside his sword. Ariaeus and his servants
seized him and putting him into a closed coach, sent him away as a prisoner to
Tithraustes, who took him as far as Celaenae and there cut off his head to send
to Artaxerxes. [E177] Artaxerxes ordered it to be carried to his mother, who
was overjoyed to see it, as were all the Greek women whose husbands had followed
Cyrus in his war, only to be killed afterward by Tissaphernes' treachery.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 80. s. 7,8. 6:231} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l.
7.} {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4. s. 25. 1:243} {*Xenophon,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 1. s. 35. 7:77} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c.
23. s. 1. 11:181} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 4. 5:27}
1509. Tithraustes sent messengers to Agesilaus to let him know that
Tissaphernes, who had started this war, had been punished for it. [L249] He
stated that now the king had a good reason to withdraw his army from Asia and to
leave the cities there to use their own laws and pay the king their former
tribute. Agesilaus told Tithraustes that he could not do this without the
consent of his country. Finally, they came to this agreement, that he would
withdraw with his army into Pharnabazus' country and would receive thirty
talents to support them there until he received instructions from Sparta.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4. s. 25,26. 1:243} However, Diodorus
wrote that Tithraustes and Agesilaus, following a parley, made a truce for six
months. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 80. s. 8. 6:231} {*Xenophon, Agesilaus,
l. 1. c. 1. s. 35. 7:77} Plutarch added that when Tithraustes offered him
a large sum of money if he would withdraw out of the king's territories,
Agesilaus replied: {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 4,5. 5:27}
{*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 6. 7:105}
"Tithraustes, it is more honourable with us that a general enrich his army,
rather than himself, and take spoils from his enemies, rather than rewards."
1510. While Agesilaus marched toward Phrygia, which was under Pharnabazus'
command, he received a scytale or encrypted letter from the ephors of Sparta.
They said that he should take charge of the navy as well as of the army,
appointing as admiral of the navy whomever he saw fit. Whereupon, in a short
time, he raised a navy of a hundred and twenty ships from the public
contributions of the cities and the generosity of private citizens who desired
to reward him personally. As admiral he appointed Pisander, his wife's brother,
who was certainly a man of honour and courage and desirous of praise, but
unskilled in naval matters. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 3. c. 4. s. 27-29.
1:245} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 5,6. 5:27} {*Pausanias,
Laconia, l. 3. c. 9. s. 7. 2:55}
1511. Pisander went off to the navy and Agesilaus continued on his way into
Phrygia. Tithraustes knew that Agesilaus had no intention of leaving Asia, but
that he rather hoped to vanquish the king's forces right there. He sent
Timocrates of Rhodes (as Plutarch also called him in his life of Artaxerxes,
however, even though the name of Hermocrates has crept into his Laconical
Apophthegmes) into Greece with gold to the value of fifty talents of silver,
with which he bribed the chief cities to conspire together against the
Lacedemonian party, in a common war on behalf of the Athenians. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 3. c. 5. s. 1. 1:245,247} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c.
20. s. 3,4. 11:175} {*Pausanias, Laconia, l. 3. c. 9. s. 8. 2:55}
{*Pausanias, Messenia, l. 3. c. 17. s. 5. 2:265}
3610a AM, 4319 JP, 395 BC
1512. About the beginning of autumn, Agesilaus entered into Phrygia, which was
under Pharnabazus' government. He pillaged all that country and took over all
its cities, either by force or voluntary surrender. He was persuaded by
Spithridates to march into Paphlagonia and to cause them to revolt from the
Persians. Cotys, its king, had previously been sent for by Artaxerxes, but had
refused to go, and now he joined with Agesilaus. Spithridates persuaded Cotys
to give a thousand cavalry and two thousand foot soldiers to assist him.
Agesilaus rewarded Spithridates for this, by procuring Cotys' daughter for his
wife. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 1. s. 1-4. 1:265} {*Xenophon,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 1. s. 36. 7:79} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 11.
s. 1-4. 5:29}
1513. Agesilaus was always very willing to help his friends, as it appears from
this quotation attributed to him: {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 13. s. 4.
5:37} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans (209ef) 3:251,253}
"If Nicias is not guilty, let him go; but if he is guilty, let him go for my
sake; but let him go anyway."
1514. He marched from Paphlagonia to Dascylium where Pharnabazus' palace was.
There were many towns full of provisions around there. [L250] Here he spent the
winter and maintained his army. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 1. s. 15.
1:269}
3610b AM, 4320 JP, 394 BC
1515. When his soldiers were foraging, they were not as wary as they should
have been of their enemy, because up until now they had never been bothered by
them. As it happened, Pharnabazus attacked them with two scythe-bearing
chariots and four hundred cavalry as they were pillaging the area. The Greeks
saw him and rallied into a troop of seven hundred men. Pharnabazus put his two
chariots at the front, followed them with his cavalry and ordered them to drive
into the midst of them. When the chariots had broken in and disordered them,
his cavalry attacked and killed a hundred of them. The rest fled back to
Agesilaus, who was not far away with his foot soldiers. {*Xenophon, Hellenica,
l. 4. c. 1. s. 16-19. 1:271} [E178]
1516. Three or four days later, Spithridates found that Pharnabazus was with
his army in a spacious, unwalled town called Caue, about twenty miles from
there. He told Herippidas, chief of the council of war, about this.
Spithridates asked Agesilaus to give him two thousand heavily armed foot
soldiers, two thousand targeteers and as many of the cavalry as would
voluntarily go with him. Less than half of each of the three groups of soldiers
went with him. However, he set out with those he had as soon as it grew dark.
He came upon Pharnabazus at the first dawning of the day and killed the Mysians
who happened to be on guard at the time. The whole army was terrified and fled.
Spithridates entered their camp and took much booty, including Pharnabazus'
pavilion with all his luxurious furniture and wealth. Pharnabazus feared the
Greeks and like the Scythian nomads, moved his camp here and there, never
staying long in any one place. His main concern was that the enemy would not
know where to find him. Herippidas intercepted Spithridates, stripping him and
his Paphlagonians of all their plunder. After this, they spent the whole of the
following night packing and went to Ariaeus at Sardis. He had formerly revolted
from the king and fought against him in battle. In this Asian expedition,
Agesilaus was most troubled by this loss of Spithridates with his Paphlagonian
troops and the loss of Spithridates' son, Megabates, than by anything else since
Agesilaus was on fire with love for the boy, Megabates. {*Xenophon, Hellenica,
l. 4. c. 1. s. 20-28. 1:273-275} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 11.
s. 3-7. 5:29}
1517. After this, Agesilaus and Pharnabazus came to a parley through the
mediation of Apollophanes from Cyzicum, who was a friend to both of them. They
tried to come to an agreement. Pharnabazus (as Xenophon had it in his oration
concerning Agesilaus) openly stated that, unless the king would make him
absolute and sole commander of the army, he would revolt from him. If he could
command all the forces, then he would fight the war against Agesilaus as long as
he could. Agesilaus told him that he would promptly leave his territory and not
trouble him, as long as he could find business elsewhere. As soon as
Pharnabazus left, his son by his wife Parapita came running to Agesilaus and
entered into a league of friendship with him. They gave each other gifts as
tokens of their friendship. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 1. s. 29-41.
1:275-281} {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 2-5. 7:101} {*Plutarch,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 12,13. 5:33-37}
1518. When spring came, Agesilaus came into the plains of Thebes and set up
camp near the temple of Diana of Astyra. There he gathered an exceedingly large
store of wealth. He outfitted his troops to march into the upper countries.
[L251] He had no doubt that the countries which he left behind him would defect
from the Persians. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 1. s. 41. 1:281} His
fame was very great in Persia after spending two years in that war. {*Plutarch,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 14. s. 1. 5:37}
3610c AM, 4320 JP, 394 BC
1519. The Lacedemonians learned that the Persians were bribing the principal
cities in Greece to unite and revolt against them. They sent Epicidas to
Agesilaus, to recall him to defend his own country. Although Agesilaus was
bothered by being taken from this great war, he wrote that he would obey their
command. {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 15. s. 4. 5:41} He sent to the
ephors the following letter, which Plutarch inserted among his writings:
{*Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans (211c) 3:261,263}
"Agesilaus to the ephors, greetings: we have subdued a great part of Asia,
routed the barbarians and provided a great store of arms in Ionia. However,
because you have set a certain day to return by, I will obey your command and
peradventure be back before that day. For I am king not for myself, but for you
and our confederates. For a king is truly a king when he is commanded by the
laws, the ephors and the other magistrates of the city."
1520. It is also said that he told his friends in jest that the king had driven
him from Asia with thirty thousand archers, by which he meant that Timocrates'
agent had distributed thirty thousand golden coins, stamped with archers, among
the leaders of every city, to incite a common war against the Lacedemonians.
{*Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans (211b) 3:261} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c.
20. s. 4. 11:175} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 15. s. 6. 5:43}
1521. When Agesilaus returned, he left Euxenus behind as commander-in-chief,
with four thousand soldiers, to assist the Ionians if needed. In order to
return with a good army, he promised large rewards and honours to those cities
and commanders who would send him the best cavalry and foot soldiers. Hence he
caused them all to vie with one another, to see who could supply the best troops
for him. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 2. s. 5-8. 1:283,285} [E179]
1522. When Xenophon was about to return with Agesilaus into Boeotia to fight
against the Thebans, he deposited half the gold which he had obtained on his
expedition with Cyrus at Ephesus with Megabyzus, the treasurer of the temple of
Diana. He knew that he might be killed by going with Agesilaus into battle.
Therefore, Xenophon ordered the treasurer that if he survived the battle he
wanted the gold back, otherwise all of it was to be consecrated to the goddess
Diana. The rest of his gold he sent as offerings to Apollo at Delphi. As it
happened, Xenophon was killed later at Coronaea. {*Xenophon, Anabasis, l. 5.
c. 3. s. 4. 3:401} {*Diogenes Laertius, Xenophon, l. 2. c. 6. (51)
1:181} Agesilaus consecrated a tenth of all that he had obtained in his two
years of war in Asia to Apollo at Delphi. This amounted to about a hundred
talents. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 3. s. 21. 1:305} {*Plutarch,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 3. 5:51}
1523. When Agesilaus had crossed the sea at the Hellespont, he received news of
the Lacedemonian victory near Corinth. Thereupon, he sent back Dercylidas into
Asia to inform the Ionians. [L252] This was to encourage them and strengthen
their loyalty to the Lacedemonian party. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 3.
s. 1-3. 1:295} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 16. s. 1. 5:43}
3610d AM, 4320 JP, 394 BC
1524. About this time the famous naval battle happened at Cnidos, near Mount
Dorium. {*Pausanias, Elis II, l. 6. c. 3. s. 16. 3:23} Eubulus, or
Eubulidus, was governor at Athens. He took office at the very beginning of the
third year of the 96th Olympiad, according to Lysias, a very good author in his
work concerning the acts of Aristophanes. {Lysias, Aristophanes}
1525. The commanders of the Persian fleet lay near to Loryma, in the
Chersonesus, with more than ninety ships. Pharnabazus commanded the
Phoenicians, while Conon, the Athenian, commanded the Greek squadron. Pisander
(for whom Diodorus incorrectly wrote Periarchus), the Lacedemonian admiral,
sailed from Cnidos with eighty ships and came to a place called Physcus, in the
Chersonesus. After he left there, he came upon a part of the king's fleet and
won the first battle with them. When the rest of the king's fleet came to their
rescue, the friends of the Lacedemonians fled ashore in a cowardly manner.
Pisander with his ship attacked the thickest part of the enemy and killed many
of them, but died heroically in the battle. Conon and his men fiercely pursued
the Lacedemonians to land, taking no fewer than fifty of their ships. The rest
fled and returned safely to Cnidos. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 3. s.
10-12. 1:297,299} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 83. s. 4-7. 6:241} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 6. c. 3.} {Emilius Probus, Conon}
1526. When Agesilaus was now ready to invade Boeotia, he received news of the
defeat of the Lacedemonian fleet and of the death of Pisander, his wife's
brother. At that very instant, the sun was eclipsed and looked like a half
moon. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 3. s. 10. 1:297} {*Plutarch,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 2. 5:47} This happened on August 14, 394 BC or
4320 JP, as from the astronomical accounts.
1527. After this great victory at Cnidos, Pharnabazus and Conon expelled all
the Lacedemonian governors and garrisons from all the islands and coastal towns.
These were told that no citadels would be put in their towns and that from now
on they were to live according to their own laws. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4.
c. 8. s. 1-2. 1:353} First the people of Cos, then Nisyros, then those of
Teos and subsequently Chios defected from the Lacedemonians, after which the
people of Mitylene, those of Ephesus and the Erythreans also defected. Almost
immediately, all the rest of the cities defected from the Lacede-monians. Some
expelled the Lacedemonian garrisons and set up and maintained their own
government, while others put themselves into Conon's hands. From that time on,
the Lacedemonians lost the sovereignty of the seas. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c.
84. s. 3-4. 14:243}
1528. Dercylidas, an old enemy of Pharnabazus, was at Abydus at this time. He
did not yield to Pharnabazus' commands as the others did, but made a grave and
pithy speech to the inhabitants, urging them to remain loyal to the
Lacedemonians. When other commanders were expelled from their cities, they came
to Dercylidas and were warmly received. Those that did not come of their own
accord, were invited to come. When a multitude of them arrived, Dercylidas went
over to Sestus on the other side of the Hellespont and there wooed all who had
been expelled from their commands on the European side. He encouraged them, as
he had done to the others on the Asian side. He told them that in Asia itself,
which had from the beginning belonged to the king, various places, such as the
small town of Temnus, Aegae in Aeolia and other places, were remaining loyal to
the Lacedemonians and had not yielded to the king. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l.
4. c. 8. s. 3-5. 1:353-357} [L253]
3611a AM, 4320 JP, 394 BC
1529. Pharnabazus planned to attack Ephesus and turned over forty ships to
Conon, ordering him to meet him at Sestus. He himself sent threatening letters
to both places, telling them that unless they expelled the Lacedemonians he
would count them as his enemies. [E180] When they refused, he commanded Conon
to blockade them by sea. Pharnabazus went and wasted all the country around
Abydus. When they still refused to yield to him, he left and went home. He
ordered Conon to deal with the cities bordering on the Hellespont. By next
spring, he was to assemble the largest fleet that they could possibly make, so
the winter was spent making this fleet. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8.
s. 6. 1:357}
3611b AM, 4321 JP, 393 BC
1530. At the beginning of spring, Pharnabazus assembled a mighty fleet and
hired any ship he could. Pharnabazus took Conon with him and went through the
middle of the islands of the Aegean Sea and came to Melos. From there he could
easily land in Lacedemon, the country of the Spartans.
3611c AM, 4321 JP, 393 BC
1531. After he had wasted the country, Pharnabazus planned to return into Asia.
Before he went, Conon prevailed on him to leave the navy with him. He intended
to take it to Athens, to repair the long walls and fortify the port of Piraeus,
saying that this would greatly trouble the Lacedemonians. Pharnabazus approved
of this plan and gave him money to do that work. Conon came to Athens with
eighty ships and started to repair the walls of both the city and the port. He
gave fifty talents, which he had received from Pharnabazus, to his fellow
citizens. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s. 6-10. 1:357-361} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 14. c. 84,85. 6:243,245} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 23. s.
1. 5:63} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans (213b) 3:273} {Justin, Trogus, l. 6.
c. 5.} {Emilius Probus, Conon}
3611d AM, 4321 JP, 393 BC
1532. When the Lacedemonians heard that the Athenians were rebuilding their
walls, they sent Antalcidas to Tiribazus, another chief commander of the king,
who lived at Sardis. He was to try and make Tiribazus their friend and to
mediate a peace between him and them. The Athenians also sent Conon and various
others to him, as did the Boeotians, the Corinthians and those of Argos. When
they all came before Tiribazus, Antalcidas told him that he had come to sue for
a peace between the king and his countrymen, as the king desired. To that end,
the Lacedemonians would not fight with him for the Greek cities in Asia, but
would be content if all the islands and other countries outside Asia could be
free and live according to their own laws. When all the other messengers
disavowed that motion, the meeting broke up and every man returned home again.
Although Tiribazus saw that it was not safe for him to make a league with the
Lacedemonians without the king's consent, he nevertheless secretly furnished
Antalcidas with money to build up their navy again. He did this, so that the
Athenians and their confederates might be the more agreeable to a peace with the
king. He imprisoned Conon at Sardis, charging him guilty of everything the
Lacedemonians accused him of. They said Conon had only used the king's soldiers
and money to get towns and cities for the Athenians, and to restore Ionia and
Aeolia to them. After that, Tiribazus made a journey to the king to inform him
of the treaty proposed by the Lacedemonians, and to tell the king what he had
done to Conon, and why he had done it. He then wanted direction from the king
as to what to do. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s. 12-16. 1:361-365}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 85. s. 4. 6:247} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1.
c. 23. 5:63-66} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans (213b) 3:273} {Emilius Probus,
Conon}
1533. After Sarytus, the king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, died, his son Leucon
reigned for forty years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 93. s. 1. 6:259} [L254]
1534. Parysatis, the king's mother, had got her trusted servant to hide
cuttings of palm trees in the heap of sand and dust that had buried the body of
Clearchus. {See note on 3603c AM. <<1451>>} Now, after eight years, a
beautiful
grove of date-palm trees grew there, which shaded the entire place, as Ctesias
reported in his Persian History. He added that when the king heard about this,
he deeply regretted killing Clearchus, a man whom the gods themselves respected.
{Ctesias, Excerpts of Photius} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 18. s. 5.
11:171}
1535. Some wrote that Conon was carried away prisoner to the king and executed.
{*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (154) 1:217,219} However, Dinon, a historian,
and a man of great authority in Persian matters, said that he escaped from
prison. Dinon did not know if this happened with or without Tiribazus'
knowledge and consent. {Emilius Probus, Conon}
3612a AM, 4321 JP, 393 BC
1536. While Tiribazus was with the king, the king sent Struthas into lower Asia
to take charge of naval affairs. The Lacedemonians knew that Struthas hated
them, because of the many injuries which Alcibiades had inflicted on the
Persians in those parts, and that Struthas favoured the Athenian party and their
confederates. Therefore, they sent Thibron to attack him, so Thibron sailed to
Ephesus. From there, and from other places on the Meander River, from Priene,
Leucophrys and Achillium, he plundered the king's neighbouring countries.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s. 17. 1:365,365} He took over Ioada
and also Coressus, a mountain five miles from Ephesus. [E181] He had eight
thousand men whom he had brought with him, in addition to those whom he raised
in Asia. From there, he often made incursions into and wasted all the provinces
and nearby places that were under the king's control. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14.
c. 99. s. 1. 6:273}
3612b AM, 4322 JP, 392 BC
1537. After a while, Struthas, with a large company of cavalry, five thousand
foot soldiers and almost twelve thousand targeteers, camped near the
Lacedemonian army. When Struthas discovered that Thibron did not keep military
order in sending his men out for service, he sent some cavalry into the plain
country, intending that they would attack whomever they came across. When he
saw Thibron sending out forces in small numbers, and not in military order, to
relieve those that were being attacked, Struthas attacked them with the main
body of his cavalry, all in good battle array. Thibron and his dear friend
Thersander were killed in the first attack. Thersander was an excellent
minstrel and a very good soldier. As a result, the rest of the Greeks fled,
with the Persians chasing them. Some were killed, others were captured and only
a few Greeks escaped to Cnidos and other Greek cities. {*Xenophon, Hellenica,
l. 4. c. 8. s. 18,19. 1:367} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 99. s. 2,3.
6:273}
3613 AM, 4323 JP, 391 BC
1538. Ecdicus was sent by the Lacedemonians with eight ships to help the exiles
from Rhodes. He came to Cnidos and found that the Rhodians were very strong on
land and sea, and had a fleet twice the size of his. He therefore stayed at
Cnidos without attacking them. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s.
20,23. 1:369} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 97. s. 3,4. 6:267,269}
1539. In the same fleet, the Lacedemonians sent Diphridas with orders to land
in Asia and to man all those cities which had given allegiance to Thibron. He
was to assemble the troops remaining from Thibron's defeat, and any other
soldiers he could get. He started the war anew against Struthas. It was his
good fortune to capture Struthas' son-in-law, Tigranes, and Tigranes' wife, as
they were going to Sardis. After extracting a large sum of money from him,
which he used to pay his army, he let them go. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4.
c. 8. s. 21-22. 1:369} [L255]
1540. Evagoras, the king of Salamis in Cyprus, ruled almost the entire island
through the exploits of his son, Pnytagoras. {*Isocrates, Evagoras, l. 1.
(62) 3:39} He took over the rest of the island, partly by force and partly by
persuasive words. The inhabitants of Amathus, Solos and Citium sent to ask for
help from Artaxerxes. They charged Evagoras with the killing of Agyris, who,
during his lifetime, had been a confederate of the Persians, and had undertaken
to help the king get the whole island under his control. Artaxerxes wanted to
check Evagoras, and wanted to control Cyprus for the purpose of using it as a
base to defend Asia. He ordered an attack against Evagoras and sent away the
envoys. He ordered all his coastal towns in Asia to start building and
outfitting all the ships they could. Artaxerxes went through the cities of
upper Asia and raised a large army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 98. 6:269,271}
He made Antophradates, the governor of Lydia, general of the army and
Hercatomnus, the governor of Caria, admiral of the naval forces. {Theopompus,
Excerpts of Photius, n. 176} Instead of making war against Evagoras,
Hercatomnus secretly gave him money to hire mercenaries. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15.
c. 2. 6:331}
3614c AM, 4324 JP, 390 BC
1541. When the Lacedemonians saw that Ecdicus did not have enough forces to
help their friends, they recalled Telentias from the bay of Corinth and sent him
with twelve ships to replace Ecdicus. Telentias was to support, as best he
could, the Rhodians who favoured the Lacedemonian party, and to repress their
enemies. When Telentias came to Samos, he added more ships to his fleet. From
there he sailed to Cnidos and left Ecdicus. He set sail for Rhodes with a fleet
of twenty-seven well-furnished ships. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s.
23. 1:369,371} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 97. s. 4. 6:267,269}
1542. As he was on his way to Rhodes, he came upon Philocrates, who was sailing
from Athens to Cyprus with ten ships, to help king Evagoras. Telentias took
these and carried their spoil to Cnidos, where he sold it. So it happened that
those who were themselves enemies of the king of Persia, plundered those who
were going to make war against that king. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8.
s. 24. 1:371}
3614d AM, 4324 JP, 390 BC
1543. The Athenians saw that the Lacedemonians were recovering their naval
power. They sent Thrasybulus with a fleet of forty ships against them. First
he sailed into Ionia and gathered money from the Athenian confederates. He
found that all the cities in Asia welcomed him, because of that arrangement
which was between the king and them. Therefore, he set sail for Byzantium and
farmed out to tax collectors the collection of the ten percent duty on all ships
that passed through that strait. Having made a league of friendship with the
Chalcedonians, he returned from the Hellespont. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4.
c. 8. s. 25-27. 1:371,373} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 94. s. 2. 6:261}
1544. After this, he returned into Asia with his fleet and sent for the
required tribute from the people of Aspendus, which they duly paid. He anchored
his fleet at the mouth of the Eurymedon River. [E182] However, when some of his
company went up into the country and plundered their goods, the men of Aspendus
were furious and waited for a chance to strike back. When it came, they
attacked and killed many of them, including Thrasybulus, while he was sleeping
in his tent. This act terrified the Athenian captains, and they quickly boarded
their ships and sailed to Rhodes. [L256] The Athenians at once sent Argyrius to
replace Thrasybulus. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s. 30,31.
1:375,377} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 99. s. 3,4. 6:273}
3615 AM, 4325 JP, 389 BC
1544a. Acoris reigned in Egypt for thirteen years. Evagoras made a league with
the people of Barce. {*Manetho, 1:179} This was the beginning of the
hostilities between Evagoras and the Persians. {Theopompus, Excerpts of
Photius} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 98. s. 1-4. 6:269,271}
1545. Although the Lacedemonians had little reason to find fault with
Dercylidas' actions, they nevertheless sent Anaxibius to replace him in the
government of Abydus. Anaxibius was in favour with the ephors and promised to
do wonders if he were to be furnished with men and money. They therefore gave
him three ships and money to hire a thousand mercenaries. When he came to
Abydus, he raised the land forces with the money which he had brought. He
caused various cities of Aeolia to defect from Pharnabazus, and wasted the
enemies' country. When he had acquired another three ships, he troubled the
Athenians who sailed along that coast. If he happened to find any of their
ships straggling away from the rest, he captured them and brought them to
Abydus. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s. 32,33. 1:377}
1546. When the Athenians heard of this, they sent Iphicrates, who had recently
returned from Corinth, with eight ships and twelve hundred targeteers, to
maintain what Thrasybulus had acquired. He sailed into those parts against
Anaxibius. When he came into the Chersonesus, both he and Anaxibius established
a company of pirates and land robbers, to carry on the war for them.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s. 34,35. 1:377,379}
3616 AM, 4326 JP, 388 BC
1547. Anaxibius went to Antandros with his mercenaries, his own countrymen and
two hundred heavily armed foot soldiers from Abydus. There he was very kindly
welcomed and entertained. Meanwhile, Iphicrates placed ambushes for him in the
mountain passages, before Anaxibius could return from there to Abydus. The
vessels which had carried Iphicrates over at night, were now ordered by
Iphicrates to row up the Hellespont, so that the men might think that he was on
board and that he was going, as his custom was, to collect money. The men of
Abydus, who were leading the troops, came into the plain which lay near a place
called Cremastes (where there were gold mines), and the rest were coming down
the steep hill, with Anaxibius and his Laconian troops following them, when
Iphicrates, with all his men, rose from their ambush and attacked them.
Anaxibius, thus entrapped, fought courageously but died, along with twelve other
Lacedemonian governors of various cities. The rest fled, and Iphicrates pursued
them to the very gates of Abydus. Of these, two hundred died, in addition to
fifty heavily armed foot soldiers from Abydus. Iphicrates returned into the
Chersonesus. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 4. c. 8. s. 35-39. 1:379,381}
1548. The Lacedemonians sent Hierax to replace Teleutias as admiral of the
fleet, while Teleutias, who was dearly loved and admired by his troops, returned
home. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 3,4. 2:3,5}
3617 AM, 4327 JP, 387 BC
1549. Shortly after this, the Lacedemonians sent Antalcidas to replace Hierax,
hoping to please Tiribazus. When Antalcidas came to Ephesus, he left Nicolochus
there as vice-admiral. Antalcidas and Tiribazus went together to the king to
finalise the peace which was then at that time being disturbed. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 6. 2:5} {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 110. s.
2,3. 6:297}
1550. Nicolochus sailed from Ephesus to assist Abydus, and on the way he landed
at Tenedos. He wasted their country and extracted a sum of money from them,
before going on with his journey to Abydus. [L257] Meanwhile the Athenian
generals who were at Samothracia, Thasos and other places nearby, hurried to
come to the relief of Tenedos. When they found that Nicolochus had safely
arrived at Abydus with twenty-five ships, they left the Chersonesus with
thirty-two ships and besieged him as he was staying at Abydus. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 7. 2:5}
1551. Chabrias, with eight hundred targeteers and ten ships, was publicly sent
by the Athenians to help Evagoras. He did not leave Cyprus until he had subdued
the whole island for him. On account of this, the Athenians became famous in
the world. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 10-13. 2:9,11} {Emilius
Probus, Chabrias} Lysias mentioned the mission sent from the Cypriots to the
Athenians, asking for aid. {Lysias, Aristophanes}
1552. Artaxerxes detested the Lacedemonians, and always said (as Dinon stated)
that they were the most impudent of any men alive. However, when he saw
Antalcidas had danced away among the Persians the fair fame of Leonidas and
Callicratidas, he fell hopelessly in love with him. When Artaxerxes sent to
Antalcidas, proposing a guest-friendship, he declined, saying a public
friendship was enough and that there was no need for a private one.
1553. When Antalcidas was eating supper, Artaxerxes sent him a garland, made of
roses and saffron, from off his own head. It was dipped in a most costly
ointment, and he was to wear it for the king's sake. Antalcidas replied:
{*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 22. s. 1,2. 11:179} {*Plutarch,
Pelopidas, l. 1. c. 30. s. 4. 5:417} {Plutarch, Symposium, l. 7. c. 8.}
{*Athenaeus, l. 2. (48e) 1:213} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 14. c.
39. 1:481} [E183]
"Sir, I take and thank you for this noble gift and favour, but the perfume of
its ointment mars the natural scent and fragrance of the roses."
1554. Tiribazus, together with Antalcidas, returned from the king after having
made a firm league and alliance, in case the Athenians and their confederates
would not take part in that peace which he had negotiated. Pharnabazus, who was
in upper Asia, went to the king and married the king's daughter. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 25,30. 2:17,19}
1555. When Antalcidas returned, he heard that Iphicrates and Diotimus had
besieged Nicolochus in Abydus with all their fleet. Antalcidas went there by
land and set sail at night. He made out that he had been summoned to Chalcedon,
but instead besieged the port of Percote. When four captains on the Athenian
side heard that Antalcidas had sailed for Chalcedon, they planned to follow him
on the trade route to Proconnesus. As soon as they had sailed by, Antalcidas
sailed back to Abydus. By this stratagem, he placed twelve swift ships in an
ambush and intercepted the eight ships which Thrasybulus, the Athenian, brought
from Thrace to join the main Attic fleet. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1.
s. 25-27. 2:17,19} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 2. in Antalcidas}
1556. Antalcidas received twenty ships from Syracuse and other parts of Italy
which were brought to him by Polyxenus and others, while Pharnabazus sent ships
from Ionia. He also received ships from Ariobarzanes, an old friend of his.
With his fleet of eighty ships he was absolute master of the sea. In this way,
he could force those ships which came from the Pontus and were bound for Athens
to discharge their cargo in a port friendly to the Lacedemonian party.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 26,28,29. 2:17,19}
1557. When Tiribazus had summoned all who would subscribe to the peace treaty
of Artaxerxes to come, all the Greek cities sent their envoys. He showed them
the document with the king's seals attached, and had it read to them: [L258]
"The King Artaxerxes thinks it reasonable that the cities which are in Asia, as
also the islands of Clazomene and Cyprus, should be under his government. All
other Greek cities, regardless of size, should be free and live according to
their own laws. This excludes Lemnos, Imbros and Sciros, which are under the
control of the Athenians. Against those who shall not receive this peace, I
will wage war by land and by sea, with ships and with money, together with all
those who agree to this peace."
1558. The envoys returned to their respective cities with the terms of the
peace. Although they were grieved to see the Greek cities in Asia under
subjection, they accepted the peace. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s.
31,32. 2:21,23} {*Isocrates, Panegyricus, l. 1. (135-137) 1:205} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 14. c. 110. s. 2,4. 6:299} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 23.
s. 2. 5:63} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 21. s. 5. 11:177}
{*Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans (213d) 3:275,277} {Aristides, Leuctia, l. 1,4.}
This peace was proclaimed nineteen years after the sea battle at Egos Potamos
and sixteen years before the battle at Leuctra in Boeotia. {*Polybius, l. 1.
c. 6. s. 1. 1:15}
1559. When this peace was made, Agesilaus (according to Xenophon {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 32. 2:23}) was very earnest to see that the
terms were observed. The Lacedemonians appointed themselves defenders of the
peace in Greece. Artaxerxes wrote a letter to Alcibiades, which he sent by a
Persian together with Callias, a Lacedemonian. He offered Alcibiades both
hospitality and friendship, which offer Alcibiades declined, telling the king's
messenger to tell his master that: {*Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans (213d)
3:275,277}
"He need not trouble himself to write letters to him. For if he continued a
good friend to the Lacedemonians, they would be good friends. But if he did any
ill to them, he should not think that any of his letters should win him his
friendship."
1560. In those articles dealing with Antalcidas' peace, previously related from
the account of Xenophon, who could not have been unaware of its terms, we find
that not all the islands bordering on Asia, but only two, were given to the
king. However, Plutarch thought otherwise. These islands were Clazomene
(which, as I showed before, was then an island {See note on 3504 AM.
<<1064>>}
{See note on 3509 AM. <<1084>>}) and Cyprus. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes,
l. 1. c.
21. s. 5. 11:177} {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 5. c. 1. s. 31. 2:21} The
nature of this peace now drew Chabrias away from Cyprus, even though he had
already subdued it for Evagoras. Evagoras armed almost every man on the island
and mustered a large army against Artaxerxes. When Artaxerxes had made peace
with the Greeks, he ordered all his forces to prepare for the conquest of
Cyprus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 14. c. 110. s. 5. 6:299}
3618 AM, 4328 JP, 386 BC
1561. Artaxerxes mustered three hundred thousand foot soldiers and prepared
three hundred ships to attack Evagoras, the king of Cyprus. Orontes, the
brother-in-law of the king, was the general of the army. The admiral of his
fleet was Tiribazus. These two assumed their positions at Phocaea and Cyme.
[E184] They first sailed to Cilicia and from there landed in Cyprus, where they
waged a fierce war against Evagoras, who procured supplies from the Egyptians,
Tyrians, Arabians and others who were enemies of the Persians. He had a fleet
of ninety ships, of which twenty were from Tyre and the rest were his. He had
six thousand foot soldiers and a large number of auxiliaries from other parts.
Since he had plenty of money, his army grew exceedingly large. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 15. c. 2. s. 1-4. 6:331}
1562. Evagoras encouraged a number of pirates he had at his command to attack
the enemy cargo ships. Some they captured, others they sank, and the rest did
not dare sail for fear of them. When the food ran out for the Persian army,
some of the mercenaries killed their commanders and the whole army was in
rebellion. [L259] Hence, the officers of the army and Gaus, the chief officer
at sea, were barely able to settle them down. As a consequence, the whole navy
sailed for Cilicia and brought food from there for the camp. Acoris, the king
of Egypt, supplied Evagoras with all the grain, money and other provisions that
he could wish for. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 3. s. 1-3. 6:333}
1563. Evagoras knew that his fleet was far too weak for the enemies.
Therefore, he furnished sixty more of his own ships and had fifty more sent to
him from King Acoris. His fleet now totalled two hundred ships. He defeated
the Persians in the first encounter on land, and routed them again at sea, where
he suddenly attacked their fleet as they were sailing to Citium, sinking some of
them and capturing others which had become separated from the main body of the
navy. When the admiral of the Persian navy and the rest of the commanders had
had time to recover, they counter-attacked and the battle was fierce. At first
Evagoras had the upper hand, but when Gaus attacked with all his forces and
personally fought very courageously, Evagoras' men fled, with the loss of many
of his ships. After the Persians had won, they assembled their land and naval
forces at Citium. When they had been outfitted, they went to besiege Salamis,
the chief city, by land and sea. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 3. s. 4-6.
6:333,335}
1564. Immediately after the battle, Tiribazus went into Cilicia to carry the
news of the victory to Artaxerxes. Evagoras left Salamis to be defended by his
son Pnytagoras (Protagoras perhaps, of whom I formerly made mention from
Isocrates {See note on 3613 AM. <<1540>>}), to whom he committed the
charge of
the whole island. Evagoras escaped by night with only ten ships and sailed to
Egypt. As powerfully as he could, he persuaded Acoris to make war on the
Persians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 4. 6:335,337}
3619 AM, 4329 JP, 385 BC
1565. Evagoras returned to Cyprus, but with far less money than he had
expected. When he found Salamis strongly besieged and himself abandoned by his
confederates, he sent to Tiribazus to ask for peace. Tiribazus, who was
commander-in-chief, replied that he would grant peace provided that he would
surrender all of Cyprus, except Salamis, into the king's hand and pay the king's
tribute. He would be required to submit to the authority of the king. As hard
as these conditions were, Evagoras agreed to them, but stipulated that he should
be subject to the king only as one king to another, not as a slave to his
master, a proposition rejected by Tiribazus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 8. s.
1-3. 6:345,347}
1566. Orontes, the other commander-in-chief, who envied the position of
Tiribazus, secretly sent letters to his father-in-law, the king. Among other
matters, he accused Tiribazus of planning a rebellion. He also claimed that
Tiribazus had secretly made an alliance with the Lacedemonians and had used
every means to win all the main captains and commanders of the army over to
himself. The king believed these lies and ordered Orontes to seize Tiribazus
and have him sent to him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 8. s. 4,5. 6:347}
1567. Orontes feared Tiribazus but devised the following plan. There was a
house which had a large vault in it. Over this vault he placed a bed and
removed its bottom. He covered it over with tapestry and many costly covers.
[L260] Then he asked Tiribazus to come to him, pretending that he wanted a
conference about some urgent matters. When Tiribazus came in, he sat down on
the bed and fell through into the vault. He was caught and sent bound in chains
to the king. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.}
1568. Orontes now commanded all the forces in Cyprus. He noted that Evagoras
had taken fresh courage and was enduring the siege more stoutly than before.
His own soldiers were discontented by Tiribazus' misfortune, so that when
Orontes received no commands, he abandoned the siege. He granted Evagoras a
peace on the terms which Evagoras had proposed to Tiribazus. These were, that
he would pay a yearly tribute to the king, he would continue to be king of
Salamis, and as a king he would be obedient in all things to the king of Persia.
Hence this war in Cyprus ended, which had lasted ten years, of which eight years
were spent in preparations and only two years in the war. The king had spent
fifty thousand talents on it. [E185] When all was said and done, Evagoras was
in the same state in which he had been when the war had begun. {*Isocrates,
Evagoras, l. 1. (64) 3:39} {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 9. s. 1,2.
6:347,349}
1569. Gaus, vice-admiral of the navy and son-in-law to Tiribazus, was fearful
of meeting the same fate as Tiribazus if he were considered to be aware of
Tiribazus' plans, so he thought of defecting from the king. With wealth and
soldiers enough, and having the loyalty of the chief captains of the navy, he
confederated with Acoris, king of Egypt, and the Lacedemonians, to make war on
Artaxerxes. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 9. s. 3-5. 6:349,351}
1570. Artaxerxes followed the example of Cambyses, {*Herodotus, l. 5. c. 25.
3:27} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 6. c. 3. ext. 3. 2:43} and had certain of his
judges skinned alive and their skins hung over the judgment seats. He did this
so that those who judged would know what covered their judgment seats, and might
be the more careful to do justice to his people. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c.
10. 6:351}
3620 AM, 4330 JP, 384 BC
1571. Artaxerxes led an army of three hundred thousand men and ten thousand
cavalry against the Cadusians, a people lying between the Black and the Caspian
Sea. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 10. s. 1. 6:351} {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l.
1. c. 24. 11:185} In this war, many important men died on each side. On the
king's side, one of these was Camislates, a Carian who was a brave and valiant
man. The king had made him governor of that part of Cilicia which lay next to
Cappadocia and was inhabited by the Leucosytians. In his honour, the king made
his son Datames governor in his place, and Datames also did great exploits for
the king in this war. {Emilius Probus, Datames}
1572. In this war, Artaxerxes' army was very short of supplies. So much so,
that a man could hardly buy the head of an ass for sixty drachmas. Tiribazus,
who was at that time living the life of a poor, neglected and contemptible
soldier in the army, helped them out in the following manner. There were two
kings of the Cadusians at the time, who kept their camps separated, so Tiribazus
told Artaxerxes his plan. He went to one of the kings and secretly sent his son
to the other. Each deceived the king and persuaded him that the other king had
secretly sent to Artaxerxes to make a peace with him for himself and to leave
the other out. Thereupon, each king sent envoys, the one with Tiribazus, the
other with his son, to the king, and he made peace with them both. So the war
was ended. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 24. s. 2-4. 11:185,187}
[L261]
1573. After this, the king referred the case of Tiribazus to three honourable
persons. He so clearly demonstrated his innocence, and showed that his services
to the king had been so great, that they declared him innocent. After this, the
king held him in very high esteem and heaped great honours on him. Orontes was
condemned as a false accuser and thrust from the king's favour. He was
considered an ignominious person after that. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 11.
6:353,355}
1574. While Gaus was in Cyprus, the Greeks who served under him there wrote
letters against him and sent them to Ionia. To find out who they were, and what
they had written, he did the following. He prepared a ship with sailors and had
the captain say that he was sailing for Ionia. The ship stayed for a while, to
get as many letters on board as possible, and at last set out, but soon turned
back into a creek not far from the place from where it had set out. Orontes
went there on foot, and all the letters aboard were given to him. After Gaus
had read them and found out who had sent them, he had all the men responsible
executed by torture. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.} (Alos or Glos was
incorrectly written for Gaus.)
3621 AM, 4331 JP, 383 BC
1575. After Gaus had provoked the Egyptians and Lacedemonians to war against
the Persians, he was killed, but I do not know how, nor by whom. His plans came
to naught. After his death, Tachos got an army together and built the town of
Leuce, on a high hill that overlooked the sea. He also built a temple for
Apollo, shortly after which he died. The Clazomenians and the men of Cyme
disagreed over who owned this town, but the Clazomenians were quicker and took
control of it, so all rebellions in Asia ceased. After the death of Gaus and
Tachos, the Lacedemonians abandoned Asia and had nothing more to do with it.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 18,19. 6:369,371}
3622a AM, 4331 JP, 383 BC
1576. When Pharnostratus was governor of Athens, in the month of Posideion in
the 366th year of Nabonassar's account, on the 26th day of the Egyptian month
Thoth, at 5:30 a.m. on December 23, 383 BC, there was a small eclipse of the
moon observed at Babylon. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4. c. fin. from
Hipparchus} [E186]
3622c AM, 4332 JP, 382 BC
1577. In the same man's time, in the month of Skirophorion and in the same year
of Nabonassar, on the 24th day of the month of Phamenoth, at 6:30 p.m. on June
18, 382 BC, another lunar eclipse was observed at Babylon. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 4. c. fin., from Hipparchus}
3623a AM, 4332 JP, 382 BC
1578. When Evander was governor of Athens, in the month of Posideion, in the
367th year of Nabonassar's account, on the 16th day of the month of Thoth, at
9:30 pm on December 12, 382 BC, there was a third lunar eclipse observed at
Babylon. This was a total eclipse. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4. c. fin.,
from Hipparchus}
3627 AM, 4337 JP, 377 BC
1579. Acoris, king of Egypt, bore an old grudge against the king of Persia. He
gathered a large army of foreigners, especially from Greece, and made Chabrias,
the Athenian, general of the army. Chabrias assumed this charge in Egypt
without any orders or consent from Athens, and made all the preparations he
could for this war against the Persians. Artaxerxes made Pharnabazus general of
his army for this war. [L262] When he had made many preparations for it, he
sent messengers to Athens, there to accuse Chabrias for offering his service to
the Egyptians, thereby causing the Athenians to lose Artaxerxes' favour. He
wanted them to send Iphicrates, their general, to him. The Athenians, who were
largely desirous of endearing the king to themselves, and Pharnabazus as their
good friend, recalled Chabrias from Egypt and gave Iphicrates orders to go and
help Pharnabazus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 29. s. 1-4. 7:23,25}
1580. Iphicrates had the charge of twenty thousand mercenaries committed to him
by Artaxerxes. By continual training and exercise, he made them expert in the
art of military affairs. Later, among the Romans, a skilful soldier was
commonly called a Fabian soldier, after Fabius, and just so, in Greece, a good
soldier was called an Iphicratian soldier, after Iphicrates. {Emilius Probus,
Iphicrates} Pharnabazus spent many years in preparing for this war. One time
when Iphicrates observed Pharnabazus to be a man so voluble in his speech and
yet so slow in his actions, he asked him the reason why. Pharnabazus replied
that it was because he was master of his words, but the king was master of his
actions. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 41. s. 1,2. 7:61}
1581. Hecatonus Mausolus was made a governor of Caria and ruled as such for
twenty-four years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 36. s. 2. 7:337} He married
Artemisia, the older of his two sisters. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 17.
6:286}
3628 AM, 4338 JP, 376 BC
1582. After Acoris died, Psammuthis reigned for one year in Egypt. {*Manetho,
1:179}
3629 AM, 4339 JP, 375 BC
1583. After him came Nepherites, the last of the dynasty of the Mendesians, and
he reigned for four months. Then arose the first of the dynasty of Sebennytus,
called Nectanabis, who reigned twelve years. {*Manetho, 1:179}
1584. Artaxerxes was now ready to make war on Egypt. To get more aid from
Greece, he sent his envoys there to encourage them to make a general peace among
themselves. The terms were, that every city should from that time on live
according to their own laws, and that they should have no garrisons within them.
All the cities of Greece accepted this, with the exception of the Thebans.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 38. s. 1,2. 7:53}
3630 AM, 4340 JP, 374 BC
1585. When Artaxerxes' army was assembled at Acre in Syria, he had two hundred
thousand troops under Pharnabazus and twenty thousand Greeks under Iphicrates.
In the navy, excluding cargo ships, he had three hundred ships with three tiers
of oars and two hundred ships of thirty oars apiece. The first type were called
trireiv in Greek, the other teiacitioui. At the beginning of the summer, that
is, at the onset of the spring, the Persian navy sailed for Egypt and came to
the frontier town near Syria called Pelusium. They found it exceedingly well
fortified by Nectanabis, so they put out to sea again and when they were out of
sight, they steered for Mendesium, a city on one of the mouths of the Nile
River. There the shore runs a long way out from the land. They landed three
thousand men, and Pharnabazus and Iphicrates set out to surprise a citadel that
stood on the very mouth of the river. When they arrived there, three thousand
Egyptian cavalry and foot soldiers came to defend the place. There was a fierce
skirmish between them, but finally the Egyptians were overwhelmed by the number
of Persians that came thronging from the ships to help their troops. They were
totally surrounded and were slaughtered. Many of them were taken captive, while
the rest fled to a little town nearby. Iphicrates' men pursued them and
together with them entered the gate pell-mell and captured the town. [L263]
They razed it to the ground and carried away its inhabitants as prisoners.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 42. s. 3-5. 7:63-67}
1586. Iphicrates advised them to go at once by sea to assault Memphis, the main
city of all Egypt. It had no garrison, and he thought they should attack it
before the Egyptian forces came in to defend it. Pharnabazus did not agree. He
would stay until his army arrived, so they could attack them with less danger.
[E187] This delay gave the Egyptians enough time to get supplies into Memphis,
from where they made various attacks on the small town which the Persians had
seized, as mentioned previously. They skirmished frequently with them and
slaughtered many of them. When that time of the year came, the Nile flooded all
the country round about and helped fortify Memphis. Therefore, considering it
foolish to fight against nature, the Persian commanders withdrew from there for
the present, and so all those extensive preparations came to naught. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 15. c. 43. s. 1-4. 7:67,69}
1587. As soon as they returned to Asia, Iphicrates lost favour with
Pharnabazus. Iphicrates, fearing that he might be thrown into prison, as had
happened to Conon, sailed secretly to Athens by night. Pharnabazus sent for
him, and charged that he was the reason why Egypt had not been conquered. The
Athenians replied that they would punish him, if they saw fit. Shortly after
this, the Athenians made him admiral of all their fleet. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15.
c. 43. s. 5,6. 7:69}
1588. Nicocles, a eunuch in Cyprus, murdered Evagoras and made himself king of
Salamis, according to Diodorus in this year's account. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15.
c. 47. s. 8. 7:81} Evagoras was murdered by a eunuch, but Aristotle stated
that his name was Thrasydaeus. {Aristotle, Politics, l. 5. c. 10.} We
learned from Theopompus that Evagoras, with this eunuch's help, got to lie with
the daughter of Nicocles. {Theopompus, Excerpts of Photius, n. 176.} (Nicocles
was that tyrant of Cyprus who invited Isocrates to supper, and that was the
cause of Evagoras' death, according to Plutarch.) Nicocles was Evagoras' own
son, according to Isocrates who received twenty talents from Nicocles for the
written oration which he sent to him. {*Plutarch, Isocrates, l. 1. (838a)
10:379} We still have his oration, addressed to Nicocles, concerning the
functions of a king. Another oration, entitled Nicocles, concerned Nicocles'
duties as a prince. A third oration, called Evagoras, was a funeral oration
made for him. Nicocles in this very year solemnified his father's funeral in a
costly and magnificently pompous manner. He held all types of games of music,
dancing, wrestling, ship and cavalry battles for the funeral. Therefore,
Isocrates wrote this work for him, in praise and commendation of his father. He
hoped that this would serve both Nicocles and his sons, and their children after
them, as an example of and exhortation to well-doing. {*Isocrates, Evagoras, l.
1. (77) 3:47}
"Supposing, that this will serve both you and your children, and the other
descendants of Evagoras, for utmost encouragement to your well-doing."
1589. Hence we may correct that error in Diodorus and say assuredly that
Evagoras was murdered by Thrasydaeus, a eunuch, and that Evagoras' own son
Nicocles succeeded him as king in the kingdom of Salamis. [L264]
3633 AM, 4343 JP, 371 BC
1590. When Alcisthenes was governor at Athens, the Greek cities resumed their
infighting. Artaxerxes sent envoys who urged them to obey the peace treaty and
live peacefully with each other. All the Greek cities except Thebes swore an
oath to keep the peace. When this peace had been made and agreed to by the
Athenians, the Lacedemonians and Artaxerxes, then Iphicrates was recalled with
his fleet. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 50. s. 4. 7:91} {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 6. c. 3. s. 18. 2:161} {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Lysias, l.
1. (12) 1:43}
1591. Plutarch stated that this peace was concluded and made among the Greeks
at Lacedemon on the 14th day of the month of Skirophorion by Athenian reckoning,
and in the last month of Alcisthenes' governorship at Athens, on Thursday, July
16, 371 BC, or 4343 JP. {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 28. s. 5. 5:79}
3634 AM, 4344 JP, 370 BC
1592. The Lacedemonians were badly defeated at Leuctra by Epaminondas of
Thebes. They immediately sent Agesilaus to Egypt, and Antalcidas to Artaxerxes,
to get money. Artaxerxes rejected Antalcidas' request with much scorn and
indignation. When he returned, he starved himself to death because he had been
so spitefully used by Artaxerxes, and he feared what the ephors would do to him.
{*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 22. s. 3,4. 11:179}
3635 AM, 4345 JP, 369 BC
1593. Ariobarzanes, one of Artaxerxes' governors, sent Philiscus of Abydus to
Greece to resolve matters between Thebes and their confederates and the
Lacedemonians. Philiscus summoned them all to Delphi. Thebes was insistent
that Messenia should not be under Lacedemonian jurisdiction. Philiscus was so
offended by this, that he left two thousand of his best mercenaries to assist
the Lacedemonians against Thebes, and himself returned to Asia. {*Xenophon,
Hellenica, l. 7. c. 1. s. 27. 2:247} {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 70. s.
2. 7:147}
3636 AM, 4346 JP, 368 BC
1594. When Thebes controlled Greece, they thought it good to send their envoys
to the king of Persia. They called their confederates together for this
purpose, on the pretext that Euthycles of Lacedemon was already with the king.
[E188] They sent Pelopidas from Thebes to the king, along with Antiochus the
athlete from Arcadia, Archidamus of Eleus, a town in Thrace, and another man
from Argos. When the Athenians heard this, they sent their envoys, Timagoras
and Leon, to the king. Among them all Pelopidas was esteemed as the most
gracious in the king's eyes, followed closely by Timagoras. The others were all
most honourably treated by the king. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 7. c. 1. s.
33,34. 2:251,253}
1595. Ismenias from Thebes was joint commissioner with Pelopidas in this
mission. When he was brought into the presence of the king by Tithraustes, the
chiliarch, he was asked to prostrate himself before the king. He dropped his
ring before him and at once fell to the ground to recover his ring. The king
thought he had done this to honour him, and gave him whatever he asked.
{*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 22. s. 4. 11:179,181} {*Aelian,
Historical Miscellany, l. 1. c. 21. 1:43,45}
1596. At the same time, Timagoras the Athenian sent a confidential letter at
the hand of Beburis, the secretary to the king. The king was so pleased with
Timagoras, that he received ten thousand darics, and had a rich supper sent to
him at his lodging. Whereupon, the king's brother Ostanes said to him:
"Remember, Timagoras, this supper, for it is not sent to you for any lowly
purpose."
1597. This sounded as though he was upbraiding Timagoras for some treasonous
intent, rather than congratulating him for the gift sent to him. {*Plutarch,
Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 22. s. 5,6.11:181} It is also said that the king gave
Timagoras eight cows because he was so sickly, and the cattle would give him
milk on his journey home. The king also gave him a costly bed and furniture,
along with some servants to make it, because the Greeks were not skilled in such
matters. [L265] Moreover, the king had him carried all the way to the seaside
in a litter, because of his weakness. The king gave those who carried him four
talents for their work. {*Plutarch, Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 22. s. 5,6.
11:181} {*Plutarch, Pelopidas, l. 1. c. 30. s. 5,6. 5:417,419} Athenaeus
stated that, after his prostration before the king, Timagoras was treated with
great honour by the king. He added only: {*Athenaeus, l. 2. (48e) 1:211,213}
"that the king sent him some food from his own table."
1598. As for the costly bed and furniture, and the servants to make it (as if
the Greeks did not know how to make a bed) that had been sent by Artaxerxes,
Athenaeus said it was sent to Timagoras of Crete, or, as Phaenias the
Peripatetic called him, Entimus from Gortyn in Crete.
1599. By his gracious behaviour toward the king, Pelopidas got letters from him
stating that the king ordered that Messenia should be exempt from the
Lacedemonian jurisdiction and that the Athenians were required to withdraw their
ships. If they did not obey, the king would proclaim open war against both of
them. Then, if any city refused to follow him in this war, that city would be
the first among the cities to be made an example of. When Leon spoke publicly
that it was time for the Athenians to look for new friends instead of the king,
Artaxerxes asked that if the Athenians did not like it, they should come and
state the reasons why not. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 7. c. 1. s. 36,37.
2:255}
1600. When the envoys came home, the Athenians took Timagoras and decapitated
him for his prostration before the king. They were insulted that the grovelling
flattery of one of their citizens should subject the whole honour of the
Athenian state to the domineering power of the Persians. {*Valerius Maximus, l.
6. c. 3. ext. 2. 2:43} (In the text, Darius was written by mistake for
Artaxerxes.) Others say that it was because of his dishonourable acceptance of
the king's gifts. Plutarch gave more details in his writings. {*Plutarch,
Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 22. s. 6. 11:181} {*Plutarch, Pelopidas, l. 1. c.
30. s. 6. 5:419} Xenophon said that he was accused by his companion Leon of
not lodging with him and Leon related all his communications with Pelopidas.
This no doubt was the main cause for his execution. {*Xenophon, Hellenica, l.
7. c. 1. s. 38. 2:255}
1601. Thebes summoned all the cities of Greece to hear the king's letters read.
They were publicly read by the Persian who had brought them, after he had first
shown them the king's seal on the letters. The letters stated that all who
would be friends to the king and to Thebes were required to take an oath to
observe the contents of those letters. The envoys, and later their cities,
refused to take that oath. Hence that mission to Artaxerxes and the sovereignty
of Greece which had been negotiated by Pelopidas and Thebes, came to naught.
{*Xenophon, Hellenica, l. 7. c. 1. s. 39,41. 2:257}
3638a AM, 4347 JP, 367 BC
1602. The twenty-second Jubilee.
3638d AM, 4348 JP, 366 BC
1603. Artaxerxes sent other envoys into Greece, requiring them to stop these
wars and to make a peace among themselves. In the end, he prevailed with them.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 76. s. 3. 7:163}
1604. Eudoxus, the Cnidian, surnamed Endoxos, that is the famous, was in his
prime at this time. He went to Egypt with Chrysippus, a physician, carrying
with him letters of commendation from Agesilaus to Nectanabis, who commended him
to the priests there. After Eudoxus had spent time with Iconuphi of Heliopolis
(whom Clement of Alexandria called Konuphis {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c.
15. 2:315}), Apis the bull came to lick his cloak. Whereupon the priests said
that he would become very famous, but that it would not be long-lived.
{Phavorinus} [L266] When Eudoxus had stayed in Egypt for sixteen months, he
shaved himself all over to his very eye brows and wrote the Octocris, as some
say. {Ussher, Macedonian and Asiatic Year, l. 1. c. fin.} [E189] From there
he is said to have travelled to Cyzicum and Propontis, and to have spread his
philosophy in those parts, finally coming to Mausolus. {*Diogenes Laertius,
Eudoxus, l. 8. c. 8. (87) 2:401,403} Others say that Eudoxus went with Plato
to Egypt and that they both studied for thirteen years with the priests there.
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 46. 8:123,125}
3639 AM, 4349 JP, 365 BC
1605. At Heraclea in Pontus, the common people wanted all debts to be cancelled
and all lands shared equally among them. The nobility sent to Timothy, prince
of Athens, and also to Epaminondas of Thebes, for help against them. When these
refused, they recalled Clearchus home, whom they had formerly exiled, and begged
his help in repressing the common people. (This is not the same Clearchus who
died about thirty years earlier.) {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 4.}
3640 AM, 4350 JP, 364 BC
1606. Clearchus used the dissension among the people as an occasion to become
ruler of the city. He dealt secretly with Mithridates, king of Pontus, who was
an enemy in Greece. Clearchus agreed with Mithridates that when he was called
to Heraclea, he would betray the city into Mithridates' hands and control it
after this as governor under Mithridates. When Clearchus had set a time to
deliver the city into Mithridates' hand, Clearchus captured Mithridates and
those who accompanied him as they came to take over the city. Clearchus threw
them into prison and let them go only after having extorted a large sum of money
from them. So instead of maintaining the rich men's cause against the people,
he made himself a patron of the common people against them. He stirred up the
common people against them and behaved cruelly toward the nobility. When the
people had made him ruler, Clearchus cast sixty of the chief nobility (for the
rest had fled) into prison. After first taking away their goods, he had them
executed. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 4.} He followed the example of
Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, and he ruled the city for twelve years.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 81. s. 5. 7:179} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from
Memnon the Historian of Heraclea, n. 224.}
3641 AM, 4351 JP, 363 BC
1607. Tachos, whom Polyaenus called Thamos, {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.}
Aristotle called Taos {Aristotle, Oeconomics, l. 2.} and Julius Africanus,
Teos, reigned in Egypt for two years. {*Manetho, 1:183}
1608. With this year, Xenophon concluded the seven books of his Greek history.
Anaximenes of Lampsacus concluded the first part of his history. He started
from the birth of the gods and creation of mankind and ended with the battle of
Manthinea, in which Epaminondas was killed. The history was in twelve volumes,
and recorded almost everything that happened among both the Greeks and the
barbarians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 89. 7:201} In the second part, he
recorded all the deeds of Philip of Macedonia and his son, Alexander the Great.
{*Pausanias, Elis II, l. 6. c. 18. s. 2. 3:107}
1609. After Mithridates, the king of Pontus, died, Ariobarzanes, the governor
of Phrygia under Artaxerxes, seized the kingdom of Pontus and ruled it for
twenty-six years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 90. s. 3. 7:203} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 16. c. 90. s. 2. 8:87}
1610. When Clearchus, the tyrant of Heraclea, found that the chief men of
Heraclea, who had fled from there, were stirring up all the neighbouring cities
and states against him, he freed all their slaves. He gave them their masters'
wives and daughters in marriage, and threatened death to those that would not
comply. By this he made those slaves more loyal to him and more hostile to
their masters. [L267] Many women reckoned these forced marriages to be worse
than death itself, so that many, before their wedding, murdered their future
husbands and then killed themselves. Finally, the nobles had a battle with
Clearchus. He won and took the nobles as prisoners, leading them in triumph
through the city in the sight of all the people. Then he put some of them in
irons, others on the rack, and still others he put to death. He spared no part
of the city from seeing and experiencing his cruelty. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16.
c. 5.}
3642 AM, 4352 JP, 362 BC
1611. The Lacedemonians became the enemies of Artaxerxes when, claiming to be
their friend, he nonetheless ordered them to withdraw from Messenia and to make
it a distinct member in the league of Greece. {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c.
2. s. 29. 7:97} {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 90. s. 2. 7:203} Ariobarzanes,
the governor of Phrygia, joined with the Lacedemonians. He had taken over the
kingdom of Pontus after the death of Mithridates. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c.
90. s. 3. 7:203}
1612. Autophradates, the governor of Lydia, besieged Ariobarzanes in Assos, a
city of Troas. However, he lifted his siege and fled in fear when Agesilaus,
who was now an old man, came into Asia only to raise money for his country.
Cotys, who was besieging Sestus and was under Ariobarzanes' command, lifted his
siege also. [E190] Mausolus, who was besieging Assos and Sestus with a hundred
ships, was persuaded to withdraw, and returned home with his fleet.
Ariobarzanes, an ally of the Lacedemonians, furnished Agesilaus with money for
his country and sent him on his away. {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 2. s.
26,27. 7:97} Polyaenus mentioned the siege of Ariobarzanes by Autophradates in
Adramyttium. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.}
1613. Mausolus called his friends together and told them that unless Artaxerxes
was given an excessively large sum of money, he would take away from him the
country which he held by inheritance from his father. In an instant, his
friends brought to him a vast sum of money. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.}
{Aristotle, Oeconomics, l. 2.} When he had the money, he decided that he was
not going to give it to Artaxerxes, but allied himself with those governors and
captains who were rebelling against Artaxerxes. At this time all of Ionia,
Lycia, Pisidia, Pamphylia and Cilicia were in rebellion against him. In
addition, the Syrians, Phoenicians and almost everyone bordering on the Asiatic
sea rebelled. Also, Tachos, king of Egypt, proclaimed open war against
Artaxerxes and was busy everywhere building ships and raising forces for the
war. Many of these came from all over Greece, and Tachos formed an alliance
with the Lacedemonians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 90. s. 3,4. 7:203,205}
1614. When all these rebellions happened at once against Artaxerxes, he lost
half of his revenues. The remainder was not enough for the war, considering
that he had to support a war against the king of Egypt, all the Greek cities,
and the countries in Asia. Also, he had to war against the Lacedemonians and
their confederates, namely the governors who held the coastal towns and regions
in all Asia under their command. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 90. s. 4.
7:205}
1615. The king of Egypt sent for Agesilaus, promising to make him general of
his army. {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 28. 7:97} He was sent
there by his country, and used the money from Tachos to hire mercenaries. He
loaded his ships with a thousand heavily armed foot soldiers and took with him
thirty Spartan commissioners for his war council. {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1.
c. 36. s. 1-3. 5:101,103} {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 92. s. 2. 7:211}
When the news of his landing came to the courtiers in Egypt, they vied with each
other to be the first to send him presents, but when they came to him, they
scorned him. [L268] They saw no attendants about him, and only a decrepit and
wearisome old man, lying alone on the beach, slovenly and of small stature.
They loathed his sordid and insolent behaviour all the more, when they saw that
he selected only some grain and veal from all the rich foods they had sent him
and gave away the dainties, sweet-meats and precious perfumes to his soldiers.
{*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 36. s. 4-6. 5:103} {Emilius Probus,
Agesilaus} The king of Egypt did not keep his promise and did not make him
general of his army, {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 30. 7:97} but
derided him for the smallness of his stature and said that whoever spoke the old
proverb was correct:
"The mountain was in travail-pains and Zeus was affrighted; but it brought
forth—a mouse."
1616. When Agesilaus heard this, he said in a rage: {*Athenaeus, l. 14.
(616d) 6:321} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 36. s. 6. 5:103}
"I shall one day look to you like a lion."
1617. Chabrias, the Athenian, was not sent by public authority as Alcibiades
was. Tachos persuaded Chabrias to serve him as a private citizen, as admiral of
the fleet. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 92. s. 2,3. 7:211} {*Plutarch,
Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 37. s. 1. 5:105} When Chabrias saw the king was short
of money, he advised him to take what money he could from the rich and promise
them that they would be paid from his yearly taxes. By this means, Tachos
gathered an enormous sum of money without injuring anyone. {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 3.} Aristotle thought this was only one of many schemes he had
for raising money at this time. {Aristotle, Oeconomics, l. 2.}
1618. Those who rebelled in Asia made Orontes, the governor of Mysia, their
commander-in-chief. When he had received enough money to pay for twenty
thousand mercenaries for one year, he captured those who had contributed the
money and sent them as prisoners to Artaxerxes. He then betrayed various other
cities, citadels and mercenaries to the king's officers, whom the king had sent
into those parts. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 91. s. 1. 7:205} Polyaenus
mentioned this war by Orontes and Autophradates and other officers of the kings.
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.} Diodorus stated that in the last year of
Artaxerxes Mnemon both Autophradates and Orontes and other commanders defected
from Artaxerxes. Therefore, we must conclude that Autophradates stood for his
son Artaxerxes Ochus, and that it was Orontes who made the war against
Autophradates.
1619. Artabazus, who commanded Artaxerxes Mnemon's army, attacked Cappadocia.
Datames, the governor of that province, attacked Artabazus with a strong body of
cavalry and twenty thousand mercenaries on foot. [E191] Then Mithrobarzanes,
his father-in-law and general of his cavalry, stole away from him at night with
all his cavalry and fled to Artabazus. Mithrobarzanes and his troops were well
paid for this treachery, for it happened that they were attacked and hewn in
pieces by the armies of both sides. Diodorus added that when Artaxerxes was
told that Datames had brought him this news, Artaxerxes, envying his success,
quickly tried to rid his hands of him. Shortly after this, Artaxerxes secretly
had him killed. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 91. s. 2-7. 7:207} However, it
appeared from Emilius Probus that Datames lived long after this. He
acknowledged that Datames' affairs were carried out in an obscure way, which is
the reason why he said that he was most careful in determining what happened.
This he did in such a way that he could easily discern that everything Datames
did took place in the reign of Artaxerxes Ochus. {Polyaenus, Stratagmata, l.
7.}
1620. Rheomithras was sent to Egypt by the alliance of Persian governors. He
received five hundred talents and fifty ships, and returned with them to Leucae
in Asia. When he sent for many of the governors and leaders to come to him
there, he seized them and sent them all away as prisoners to Artaxerxes. [L269]
By this act, he re-ingratiated himself with the king who was previously
displeased with him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 92. s. 1. 7:209,211}
3643a AM, 4352 JP, 362 BC
1621. When Tachos was fully prepared for war, he put Agesilaus in command of
the ten thousand Greek mercenaries. His fleet of two hundred ships was under
Chabrias, who was very skilful in naval affairs. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l.
7.} His eighty thousand Egyptian foot soldiers were under Nectanabis, his
brother's or sister's son. (The Greek word is ambiguous.) Tachos was commander
over all these forces. Although Agesilaus tried to persuade him to stay in
Egypt himself and to carry on the war through his officers, he refused. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 15. c. 92. s. 2,3. 7:211} But even so, against his better
judgment, Agesilaus went with him by sea to Phoenicia. {*Plutarch, Agesilaus,
l. 1. c. 37. 5:105}
1622. While the Egyptian fleet lay off Phoenicia, Nectanabis was sent to
capture some principal cities of Syria. Nectanabis had made an agreement with
the man whom Tachos had left as governor of Egypt, and now Nectanabis proclaimed
himself king of Egypt. He bribed the army commanders with expensive gifts and
promised the soldiers many things, so they would side with him against his
father. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 92. s. 3-5. 7:213}
1623. Tachos was now utterly deserted by his own subjects and also by
Agesilaus, whom he had formerly offended with that mean jest he had made about
him. Fearing the worst, Tachos fled from there to Sidon in Phoenicia, and from
there to the king of Persia. {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 30.
7:99} {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 38. s. 1. 5:107} Theopompus, and
Lyceas of Naucratis, in his affairs of Egypt, were both cited by Athenaeus.
{*Athenaeus, l. 14. (616d) 6:321} Diodorus and Aelian stated further that he
was very graciously entertained by Artaxerxes. I cannot believe Diodorus, when
he says that Artaxerxes presently made him general of all the forces which he
had at that time raised to make war on Egypt. Nor do I think that he returned
with them to Egypt, and that he was there reinstated as king by Agesilaus.
Neither can we believe Aelian, when he states that Tachos had formerly lived
frugally at home, and now he died by gorging himself with food, as was the
Persian custom. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 5. c. 1. 1:215}
Lynceus, or Lyceas, whom I mentioned before, stated that his Egyptian diet was
far more sumptuous than that of the Persians. {*Athenaeus, l. 4. (150b)
2:185}
1624. After this, another man made himself king in Mendes, with an army of a
hundred thousand men, {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 38. 5:107} and so
there were now two kings in Egypt. Agesilaus followed Nectanabis, who, he
thought, most favoured the Lacedemonians. {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 2.
s. 31. 7:99} He was with him in a citadel during a long siege, when Nectanabis
grew impatient at being confined and wanted to risk a battle. Agesilaus let him
go and remained in the citadel, until the whole citadel was almost surrounded
with siege works and the enemy was all around them, except for a little place
where there was still a passage through. Then Agesilaus sallied out into that
narrow passage and made his way through with a great slaughter of the enemy. He
had their siege works at his back, so that they could not surround him.
{*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 38,39. 5:107-111} {Polyaenus, Strategmata,
l. 2.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 92,93. 7:211-215} Diodorus wrote Tachos,
instead of the king of Mendes.
3643b AM, 4353 JP, 361 BC
1625. Agesilaus defeated the other king, who hated the Greeks, and took him
prisoner. He restored Nectanabis to his kingdom and made him a loyal friend of
the Lacedemonians. {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 31. 7:99} [L270]
However, Emilius Probus attributed this restitution of the king to Chabrias.
The reason for this was because it was done jointly by the Lacedemonians and
Athenians. It was twelve years from this time until Nectanabis was expelled
from the kingdom, according to Diodorus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 51. s.
1. 7:381} Hence the length of his reign was twelve years, not eighteen, as
Africanus and Eusebius claim. [E192]
1626. Nectanabis entreated Agesilaus very earnestly to spend that winter with
him. However, he hastened home, since Sparta was engaged in a war and he knew
they needed money and were maintaining a foreign army. Therefore, Nectanabis
dismissed Agesilaus very honourably, giving him, besides all the other gifts,
two hundred and thirty thousand, or, as Emilius Probus has it, two hundred and
twenty thousand, talents. {*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 50. 5:111,113}
{Emilius Probus, Agesilaus}
1627. When Agesilaus got this money, he hurried home in the dead of winter. He
feared that the Lacedemonians might spend the next summer idle and do nothing
against their enemies. {*Xenophon, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 31. 7:99} A
storm cast him onto a deserted shore called Menelai Portus, that is, Port of
Menelaus, lying between Cyrene and Egypt. There he fell sick and died. Lacking
wax, his friends preserved him with honey and carried him to Sparta.
{*Plutarch, Agesilaus, l. 1. c. 51. 5:113} {Emilius Probus, Agesilaus}
Diodorus said that his body was buried there in a most royal manner. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 15. c. 93. s. 6. 7:217}
3643c AM, 4353 JP, 361 BC
1628. Ochus, the lawful son of Artaxerxes, had his brother Arsames, who had
been born to a concubine and was dearly loved by his father, murdered by
Arpates, the son of Titibazus. When Artaxerxes heard what had happened to his
much-beloved son, he took it to heart and died of grief. {*Plutarch,
Artaxerxes, l. 1. c. 30. 11:201,203}
1629. Ochus knew that his father was highly respected by his people while he
was alive. If the news of his death were to get out, Ochus would not be
respected at all. Therefore, he had all the princes and nobles, and others that
were around him, keep the death of his father secret for ten months. In the
meantime, he sent letters into all the provinces in the king's name and with his
seal on them, requiring that every man accept Ochus for their king. {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 7.}
1630. Heraclea, the wife of Clearchus, the tyrant of Pontus, bore him a son
whom he called Dionysus. This son lived fifty-five years. {*Athenaeus, l. 12.
(538f) 5:435} {Memnon, Excerpts of Photius, c. 5.}
3644 AM, 4354 JP, 360 BC
1631. When everyone had acknowledged Ochus as king, he announced the death of
his father and commanded a public mourning to be made for him, according to the
Persian custom. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 7.} He assumed the name of his
father, Artaxerxes. {*Diod. Sic., l. 15. c. 93. s. 1. 7:213} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 9. c. 2. ext. 7. 2:318} Then he filled his court with the
blood of his kindred and nobles, without regard for kin, sex or age. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 10. c. 3.} He caused his own sister, whose daughter he had
married, to be buried alive with her heels upward. An uncle of his, with more
than a hundred children and grandchildren, was brought into a court and there
shot to death with arrows. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 2. ext. 7. 2:318}
It seems this uncle was the father of Sisigambis, who was the mother of Darius,
the last king of the Persians. She was the queen of whom Curtius said that she
had her father and eighty brothers executed by Ochus in one day. {*Curtius, l.
10. c. 5. s. 21-23. 2:521} [L271]
3646 AM, 4356 JP, 358 BC
1632. The states of Chios, Rhodes, Byzantium and Cos revolted from Athens at
the same time. This was called the Social War, and lasted for three years. The
Athenians, in besieging Chios, received help both from their own confederates
and from Mausolus, the petty king of Caria. {Demosthenes, Peace, Liberty of
Rhodes} {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 7. s. 3. 7:257}
3648 AM, 4358 JP, 356 BC
1633. In the first year of the 106th Olympiad (as it is rightly read in
Eusebius' Chronicles from Fuxius' copy, corrected by Arnaldus Pontacus),
Alexander was born to King Philip at Pella in Macedonia. Alexander was called
the Great because he conquered all of Asia. He lived thirty-two years and eight
months, according to Arian's report from Aristobulus. He died at the end of the
first year of the 114th Olympiad, in the month before the month of Thargelion,
according to the Attic calendar, as we shall see when we come to that year. It
followed that he must have been born in this year, and that in the third month,
called Boedromion on the Attic calendar. Hence those who, like Aelian, have
said that he was born and died on the sixth day of the month of Thargelion are
incorrect. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 2. c. 25. 1:97} Plutarch
said that he was born on the sixth day of the month of Hekatombaion, called Loos
by the Macedonians. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 3. s. 3. 7:229} There
was a good reason why those who lived at that time recorded that he was born on
the sixth day of the month of Loos. With the Macedonians at that time, the
month of Loos was the same month as Meton's Boedromion. This appeared in King
Philip's epistle to the Peloponnesians, as we have already shown in our work on
the Macedonian and Asiatic years. The historians and other writers of later
times did not note this, and found the Syro-Macedonian month of Loos in Calippus
to coincide with the month of Boedromion among the Athenians. Hence, they
thought that Alexander had been born on the sixth day of the month of
Boedromion. {Ussher, Macedonian and Asiatic Year, l. 1. c. 1.}
1634. This was the source of Plutarch's error, which he corrected later, but in
so doing, he ended up making a more grievous mistake. He said: {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 3. s. 4,5. 7:231} [E193]
"The same day that Philip took Potidaea, there he received three reports: one
from Parmenion, that he had defeated the Illyrians, the second, that he had won
the race with his horses at Olympus, and the third, that his son Alexander had
been born."
1635. For we learn from Demosthenes and Diodorus, in their reports on the third
year of the 105th Olympiad, that Potidaea was not taken in that year, but two
years earlier. {Demosthenes, Against Leptines} {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 8.
s. 5. 7:261} If it had been true that Alexander had been born in the 105th
Olympiad and on the sixth day of the month of Hekatombaion, it is incredible
that Philip should not have heard of the birth of his son a great deal sooner
than he could possibly have known of winning the race of Olympus. For that race
was to be run on the day of the full moon, and the decision on the race made on
the sixteenth day of the same month, according to Pindar. {Scholiast. Pindar,
Ode 5. Hymn of the Olympics} Justin, from Trogus, stated more clearly: {Justin,
Trogus, l. 12. c. 16.}
"The same day on which Alexander was born, news came to Philip of two victories
he had, the one about the battle in Illyria and the other in a race at Olympus,
where he sent his chariot with four horses to run."
1636. These reports appear to agree with each other. Although I grant that it
may be possible that Alexander's birth was in the summer season of that year in
which the Olympic games were held at Olympus in Elis. However, the testimony of
Aristobulus, to whom Alexander was personally so well known, is a very strong
and convincing argument to me concerning the day on which he was born. So I
have no doubt that Philip, his father, was informed of the race he had won at
Olympus before his son was born. [L272]
1637. On the same day that Alexander was born, the temple of Diana at Ephesus
burned down. Hence the jocular remark, either from Timaeus, as Cicero has it,
or from Hegesias, the Magnesian, according to Plutarch, which said that:
{*Cicero, De Natura Deorum, l. 2. c. 27. (69) 19:191} {*Cicero, De
Divinatione, l. 1. c. 23. 20:277} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 3. s.
3,4. 7:231}
"The temple of Diana burned down because Diana was away from home that night,
bringing Alexander into the world, and could not save her own temple."
1638. When the one who had started the fire was put on the rack, he confessed
that he had done it on purpose, because he wanted to be world-famous for
destroying so famous and excellent a work. Hence, by the common council of all
Asia, it was decreed that for ever after, no man should make mention of him.
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 8. c. 14. ext. 5. 2:277,279} {*Aulus Gellius, Attic
Nights, l. 2. c. 6. s. 18. 1:141} However, Theopompus mentioned him in his
history, and so we know that the man responsible was either Erostratus, as we
read Strabo and Solinus, {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 22. 6:225} {Solinus, c.
40.} or Lygdamis, as Hesychius wrote on the word Lygdam. {Hesychius, Lexicon}
1639. The priests in Ephesus at that time believed that the burning of this
temple was merely the harbinger of some greater evil to follow. They ran up and
down as though they were mad, cutting their faces and saying that some great
calamity had that day been born against all Asia. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1.
c. 3. s. 4. 7:231}
3648 AM, 4358 JP, 355 BC
1640. Artabazus rebelled against Ochus. He joined his forces with those of
Chares, the Athenian, and defeated an army of seventy thousand Persians. Chares
gathered enough spoil to pay for all his army. The king took up this matter
with the Athenians. When they heard a rumour that the king was about to send
three hundred ships to help their enemies, against whom Chares was fighting at
the time, they quickly agreed to a peace with their enemies, so that the war
between them and their confederates, called the Social War, came to an end.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 22. s. 1,2. 7:299} {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 7.
s. 3. 7:257}
3650 AM, 4360 JP, 354 BC
1641. Leucon, the king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, died after reigning for forty
years. He was succeeded by his son Spartacus, who reigned for five years.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 31. s. 6. 7:325}
3651 AM, 4361 JP, 353 BC
1642. When Artabazus was abandoned by Chares and the Athenians, he resorted to
the Thebans for help. They sent him five thousand men under Pammenes, who took
this army over into Asia and joined with Artabazus' forces. Together, they
overthrew the king's army in two great battles. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 34.
s. 1,2. 7:331}
1643. In the twelfth year of his reign, while he was celebrating the feast of
their god Bacchus, Clearchus, the tyrant of Heraclea in Pontus, was murdered.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 36. s. 3,4. 7:337} The man behind the murder was
Chion of Heraclea, the son of Matris and a scholar of Plato's, a cousin of
Clearchus. Also in on the plot were Leonides and Antitheus, both scholars in
philosophy, as was Euxenon. Also involved were some fifty others of Clearchus'
allies and relatives. They waited for the time when the tyrant was busy and
attentive to the sacrifice with the rest of the people. Then Chion ran him
through with his sword. He fell, grievously tormented with pains and haunted
with the apparitions and ghosts of those whom he had most barbarously murdered,
and died the next day. Most of the conspirators, if not all, were shortly
thereafter cut in pieces by his guards, while nevertheless stoutly defending
themselves. Those that escaped were captured soon after, and died after
horrible torture, which they endured with incredible constancy and patience.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 2.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. fin.} {Suidas,
Clearchus} See also the letters attributed to this Chion, as written by him to
his mother Matris. [E194] [L273]
1644. Satyrus, brother to Clearchus, succeeded him in that government and
reigned seven years. Not content with the death of the conspirators, he
executed all their children as well, although they were innocent of their
fathers' deeds. He was left as guardian and protector of Timothy and Dionysius,
his dead brother's children and he showed them every respect. Although he had a
wife whom he loved very dearly, he would nevertheless have no children by her,
lest they might in time prove dangerous to his dead brother's children.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 3.}
1645. In the fourth year of the 106th Olympiad (not in the second year of the
107th Olympiad, as incorrectly reported by Pliny {*Pliny, l. 36. c. 4. (30)
10:23}), Mausolus, the petty king of Caria, died. Artemisia, his sister and
wife, succeeded him and reigned for two years, since her husband had no
children. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 36. s. 2. 7:337} {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
2. s. 16. 6:283} Because of the fervent love she had for his memory, she took
his bones after they were burned and beat them to a powder. This was mingled
with a most precious perfume and put into her drinking water, as she was zealous
to be the living and breathing tomb of her deceased husband. {*Aulus Gellius,
Attic Nights, l. 10. c. 18. s. 3,4. 2:263} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c.
6. ext. 1. 1:407,409}
3652 AM, 4362 JP, 352 BC
1646. In the 107th Olympiad (not in the 103rd, as in Suidas {Suidas,
Theodectes}) Artemisia proclaimed a contest to which all could come and show
their wit and art, in praise and honour of her dead husband. Various
illustrious men came to this contest: Theopompus from Chios, the best man of all
the scholars of Isocrates, {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Pompey, l. 1. (1) 2:355}
Theodectes, a poet of tragedies from the city of Phaselis in Lycia and also a
scholar of Isocrates, and Naucrates Erythraeus from Naucratis in Cyrene. These
were all mentioned by Photius. {Photius, Bibliotheca, c. 176,260.} Plutarch
and other writers said that Isocrates entered the contest too. {*Plutarch,
Isocrates, l. 1. (838b) 10:379} However, this was not the Isocrates from
Athens, but another by the same name. He was his scholar and successor in his
office, according to Suidas, citing Callisthenes, the orator. In that contest
of wits, some say Theopompus won the prize, while others say it was won by
Theodectes, the tragedian, who left a tragedy entitled Mausolus. {*Aulus
Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 10. c. 18. s. 6. 2:263} {Suidas, Theodectes}
{Suidas, Isocrates} Although it seems that everything did not turn out as
Theopompus may have wished, because later, when he was writing a history, he
stated in it that:
"Mausolus never refrained from using any villainy if he might get money by it."
1647. In all likelihood, he would never have written this, if things there had
happened according to his expectation. {Suidas, Mausolus}
1648. About Theopompus (of whom I have spoken before), who was a historian, and
Theodectes, a tragedian, I must mention what is reported by Demetrius of
Phalerum with Aristeas (and who was then quoted by Josephus and Eusebius).
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 14. (112-113) 7:55,57} {*Eusebius,
Gospel, l. 8. c. 5. (354d) 1:384} {Aristeas, Septuagint Interpreters}
Theopompus wanted to insert some things from the books of Moses into his
history, but lost his mind for thirty days. During this time, before his sanity
returned, he earnestly sought God to reveal to him the reason why this great
judgment was upon him. He was told, in a dream, that it was because he was
about to mix those divine oracles with his human studies, and publish them to
the world. When he abandoned that idea, he was restored to his right mind
again. [L274] When Theodectes planned to use some things from the Holy Writ in
the tragedy he was writing, he suddenly lost his sight. When he realised the
reason for this, he asked God's mercy, and was restored to his perfect sight
again. (Those who publish Reference Bibles and intermingle their own ideas with
that of the Bible, should take note. Editor.)
3653 AM, 4363 JP, 351 BC
1649. Artemisia wanted to perpetuate the memory of her husband, Mausolus, and
had a stupendous tomb, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the
world, built for him at Halicarnassus. However, she pined away and finally died
of grief before it was completed. {*Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, l. 3. c.
31. 18:315} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 16. 6:283} {*Aulus Gellius, Attic
Nights, l. 10. c. 18. s. 4,5. 2:263} To make this tomb as grand as
possible, she had the most famous and skilful workmen in the world do the
construction: Scopas from the east, Bryaxis from the north, Timothy from the
south and Leochares from the west. Even though she died before the work was
finished, they did not stop until the work was completed, knowing that by so
doing they would also immortalise their own names and glory. {*Pliny, l. 36.
c. 4. (30,32) 10:23,25} {*Vitruvius, l. 7. c. 0. s. 12. 2:73} Therefore,
for ever after, even in Rome, every sumptuous and magnificent tomb was called a
Mausolea. {*Pausanias, Arcadia, l. 8. c. 16. s. 4. 3:427}
1650. After her death, her brother Idrieus, or Hidrieus, headed the government
of Caria for seven years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 45. s. 7. 7:365} He
was the second son of Hecatomnus and married Hecatomnus' younger daughter Ada,
his own sister, according to the law of Caria. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s.
17. 6:285} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 23. s. 7. 1:97}
1651. When Thebes was running out of money to carry on their war against the
Phocaeans, they sent envoys to Ochus and received three hundred talents from
him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 40. s. 1,2. 7:347,349}
1652. The Phoenicians, and especially the inhabitants of Sidon, had been badly
mistreated by Ochus and revolted from him. [E195] They sent to Nectanabis, king
of Egypt, and formed an alliance with him in a war against the Persians. They
prepared a large fleet of ships and had many foot soldiers. They cut down the
king's royal park, burned the fodder that had been provided for the king's
stable, and killed those Persians who had wronged them. Therefore, the
governors of Syria and Cilicia made war on them. Tennes, the king of Sidon,
received four thousand Greek soldiers under the command of Mentor of Rhodes from
the king of Egypt. These, combined with his own forces, routed the Persians and
drove them right out of Phoenicia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 41,42.
7:351,353}
1653. The petty kings of the nine cities of Cyprus, who were subject to the
king of Persia, followed the example of the Phoenicians and agreed with each
other to defect from the king. Each of these kings prepared for war and made
himself absolute sovereign in his own city. Artaxerxes Ochus ordered these
kings to be subdued by Idrieus. He had recently become king of Caria and by the
long tradition of his ancestors, was loyal to the kings of Persia and helped
them in their wars. He sent forty ships to Cyprus, carrying eight thousand
mercenaries under the command of Phocion, the Athenian, and of Evagoras, who had
formerly been the king there. These began by attacking the strongest city
first, and so besieged Salamis. Many joined the battle from Syria and Cilicia,
which lay opposite Cyprus, hoping to get much spoil from the battle. So the
army of Phocion and Evagoras doubled in size. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 42.
s. 3-9. 7:353,355}
1654. Artaxerxes Ochus mustered an army of three hundred thousand foot soldiers
and thirty thousand cavalry, with three hundred ships and five hundred cargo
ships to carry provisions. [L275] He left Babylon and went toward Phoenicia and
the coast. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 40. s. 6. 7:351} Tennes, the king of
Sidon, was frightened at his coming. He sent a man called Thettalion to
Artaxerxes, offering to betray all the Sidonians into his hands first, and then
to help him conquer Egypt. When Thettalion had delivered his message and
received the king's promise, he kissed his hand to seal the agreement. He
returned to Mentor and told him of the king's promise, but the Sidonians knew
nothing of this. (Loeb Greek text has Mentor but the English translation uses
Tennes. Ussher followed the Greek text. Otherwise the opening sentence in
section 1656 makes no sense. Editor.) {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 43.
7:357,359}
1655. Meanwhile, Ochus sent his envoys into Greece to request their help
against the Egyptians. The Athenians and Lacedemonians replied that they would
keep the peace made with him, but were unable to help him at this time. Thebes,
however, sent him a thousand heavily armed foot soldiers under the command of
Lacrates. Argos also sent him three thousand men, with no Greek appointed over
them, because the king wanted to have Nicostratus command them. He was a
high-spirited man who imitated Hercules by fighting while wearing a lion's skin
and carrying a club in his hand. The Greeks who lived along the sea coast of
Asia sent him six thousand men. The total Greek forces were ten thousand men.
Before they arrived, the king had advanced past Syria to Phoenicia and had
pitched his camp not far from Sidon. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 44. s. 1-4.
7:359}
1656. Tennes, the king of Sidon, joined with Mentor in his treason and assigned
him to the guard of a certain quarter in the town, leaving him to manage the
betrayal on that side. Tennes, with five hundred men, went out of the city and
pretended that he would go to the common meeting of Phoenicia. In his company
he had a hundred of the principal councillors of the city. He betrayed them to
Artaxerxes, who had them all killed, because they were the authors of that
revolt from him. Shortly after, a further five hundred of the leading Sidonians
came to Artaxerxes with olive branches in their hands, to beg for mercy.
Artaxerxes had them all shot with arrows, as he had done to the previous group.
He had been led by Tennes, the king, to understand that the city would be
unconditionally surrendered to him. The Greeks, whom Tennes had bribed, opened
the gates to let the king into the city and so betrayed the city to Artaxerxes,
who, once he was in, saw that Tennes was of no further service to him and had
his throat cut. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 45. s. 1-3. 7:361,363}
1657. The Sidonians had burned all their ships before King Artaxerxes came, so
that no one could escape by ship. When the city was taken, each man shut
himself up in his own house, with his wife and children, and then set his house
on fire. Over forty thousand perished in the fire. Mixed with the cinders of
the place was molten silver and gold, which the king sold for many talents. The
rest of the cities in the area were terrified and surrendered to the king.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 45. s. 4-6. 7:363}
1658. From there, the king went and captured Jericho. {Solinus, c. 35.}
[E196] He took many from Judah along with him, to serve him in his war against
Egypt. This we gather from Aristeas, {Aristeas, Septuagint Interpreters} and
also from the letter of Ptolemy Philadelphus to Eleasarus. It said:
"that many of the Jews were carried away into Egypt by the Persians, while they
held sway there." [L276]
1659. This saying of his was to be connected to this time of Artaxerxes Ochus.
The same thing was also stated by Justin in a certain place, if there was any
truth in either statement: {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 3.}
"that Xerxes was the first of the Persians that subdued the Jews"
3654 AM, 4364 JP, 350 BC
1660. While Salamis was being besieged by Phocion and Evagoras, all the rest of
the cities submitted to the Persians. Only Pnytagoras, the king of Salamis,
held out against them. Evagoras wanted to be restored to his father's kingdom
in Salamis. Some men treated him poorly and made accusations against him to the
king. Evagoras saw that the king favoured Pnytagoras over him and gave up his
request to be restored to the kingdom. He went and cleared himself of all
charges before the king. He did this so well that the king gave him a far
better dynasty in Asia. At last Pnytagoras voluntarily submitted to the king,
after which he retained the kingdom of Salamis in peace. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16.
c. 46. s. 1-3. 7:365,367} Evagoras, of whom we now speak, seems to have been
the grandchild, by his son Nicocles, of another Evagoras, who had died
twenty-four years earlier. We maintain this because that Evagoras the elder had
a son Nicocles, who succeeded him in the kingdom of Salamis. Another, called
Pnytagoras, appeared in Isocrates. This younger Evagoras, who succeeded
Nicocles, seems to have been ousted from his kingdom by Pnytagoras, who was his
uncle. He received a better territory than Salamis from Ochus. But because of
his misdeeds there, he was forced to flee again into Cyprus, where he was
captured and executed as a malefactor. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 46. s. 3.
7:367}
1661. Eusebius showed that in this third year of the 107th Olympiad, Ochus
forced Nectanabis to flee into Ethiopia, and took over all Egypt, putting an end
to the kingdom of Egypt. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:203} This period was
the period in Manetho's commentaries covering the history of Egypt, and how
Egypt was captured by Ochus. Diodorus in his record of this year gives a long
account of this. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 46-51. 7:367-381}
1662. After Ochus had destroyed Sidon, the auxiliary forces came to him from
the Argives, Thebes and the Greek cities in Asia. Uniting all his forces, he
marched to the lake of Serbonis, but most of his army perished in the bogs of
Barathra, because they had no guides. From there he marched to Pelusium, at the
first mouth of the Nile River. It was held by a garrison of five thousand men
under Philophron. There, the Greeks camped close to the city and the Persians
camped about five miles off. Ochus divided the Greeks into three brigades, each
of which was to have two commanders, one a Persian and the other a Greek. The
first brigade, the Boeotians, were commanded by Lacrates of Thebes and Rhosaces,
a Persian, the governor of Ionia and Lydia. The second one, the Argives, were
commanded by Nicostratus, a Greek, and Aristazanes, a Persian. The third
brigade was under Mentor, who had betrayed Sidon, and Bagoas, a eunuch of
Persia. To each of these Greek brigades were added various companies and
troops, and sea captains with their squadrons of ships. On the opposing side,
Nectanabis had twenty thousand auxiliary Greeks in his army and the same number
to help him from Libya, besides the sixty thousand from his own country of Egypt
who were called Warriors. He had an exceedingly large number of river boats,
outfitted to fight in the Nile River if required. When he had supplied every
place with reasonably adequate garrisons, he, with thirty thousand Egyptians,
five thousand Greeks and one half of his Libyans, defended the routes which were
most exposed and vulnerable to invasion. [L277]
1663. When things had thus been arranged on both sides, Nicostratus, who
commanded the Argives, obtained some Egyptian guides, whose wives and children
were kept as hostages by the Persians. With his portion of the ships, he
crossed over one of the channels of the Nile River that would be least visible
to the Egyptians. When the closest garrisons of the Egyptians became aware of
this, they sent over seven thousand men under Clinius, who was from the isle of
Cos, to cut them off. In that encounter, the Greeks on the Persian side killed
almost five thousand men on the other side, along with their commander Clinius.
When Nectanabis heard of this slaughter, he retired to Memphis with his army, to
secure that place. Meanwhile Lacrates, who commanded the first brigade of the
Greeks, hurried to attack Pelusium. He drained the water that ran around
Pelusium by having a ditch dug. He raised a mound on the very channel of the
original river and there planted his batteries. The Greeks within courageously
defended the place, but when they heard that Nectanabis had left the field and
retired to Memphis, they sued for peace. [E197] Binding it with an oath,
Lacrates assured them that when the town was surrendered, they, with their
belongings, would all be sent to Greece. When they heard this, they surrendered
the town.
1664. Mentor, who commanded the third brigade, saw that all the cities were
manned with two nationalities, the Greeks and Egyptians. He spread a rumour
that Artaxerxes planned to deal most graciously with those who willingly
submitted to him. The rest would be treated like those in Sidon. Everywhere,
the Greeks and Egyptians strove to be the first to surrender their cities to the
Persians. Bubastus was the first city to surrender to the Persians, followed by
all the rest of the cities. They settled for the best terms they could get.
1665. Meanwhile, when Nectanabis was at Memphis, he heard how all the cities
had defected to the Persians. Despondent, he gathered all the treasure he could
and fled to Ethiopia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 51. s. 1. 7:381} Others
report that he shaved his head and disguised his appearance, and so went to
Pelusium, from where he sailed to Philip, king of Macedonia at Pella. (See the
Excerpta, Barbaro-Latina, published by Scaliger, p. 58; the Chronicle of
Alexandria, or Fasti Siculi, published by Raderus, p. 393; Cedrenus in the
Basil's Edition, p. 124; and Glycas, p. 195 from Pseudo-Callisthenes' fabulous
history of the Deeds of Alexander.)
1666. When Artaxerxes Ochus had taken possession of all of Egypt, he dismantled
all the fortifications of the main cities and destroyed their temples. He got
an immense amount of treasure. Moreover, he took away all their records from
their most ancient temples. The priests bought these back again by paying a
large sum of money to Bagoas, the eunuch. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 51.
7:381,383} Ochus is also said to have derided their ceremonies and their god
Apis. {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 14. 11:104} The
Egyptians called Ochus an ass for his poor behaviour and spirit. Therefore, he
violently took their god Apis, the bull, and sacrificed him to an ass.
{*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 4. c. 8. 1:191} Then he ordered his
cooks to prepare the bull for dinner. {Suidas, Ochus}
1667. After this, Ochus rewarded his Greeks, who had helped him win this
victory, with wealth and honour, each man according to his deeds. He sent them
all away to their own country, and left Pherendates as his viceroy in Egypt.
After so great a conquest, he was covered with glory and loaded with spoils. He
returned to Babylon with his army, {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 51. s. 3.
7:383} where he also took many Jews as prisoners. He settled most of them in
Hyrcania, which bordered on the Caspian Sea. [L278] Georgius Syncellus, from
Julius Africanus, stated:
"Ochus, the son of Artaxerxes, made a journey into Egypt. He led away some Jews
as captives. He settled some of them in Hyrcania, near the Caspian Sea, and the
rest in Babylon. There they continue to this day, as many Greek writers
stated."
1668. Hecataeus of Abdera also, in his first book De Judais, cited by Josephus,
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 22. (194) 1:241} mentioned many tens of
thousands of Jews who were carried to Babylon. Later they were settled in
Hyrcania. Paulus Orosius also wrote: {Orosius, l. 31. c. 7.}
"Ochus, who is also called Artaxerxes, after his great and long war in Egypt was
ended, carried away many of the Jews. He commanded them to settle in Hyrcania
near the Caspian Sea. There, they continue to this day and prosper and increase
in population. It is thought that they will one day break out from there into
some other quarter of the world."
1669. This opinion seems to have no basis except for the passage in the
Apocrypha {Apc 2Es 13:40-46} concerning the ten tribes who were carried away by
Shalmaneser of the Jews, which speaks of certain confined Hebrews (where, I do
not know) and of a river called Sabbation. Petrus Treccensis, in his scholastic
history, {Petrus Treccensis, 1 Esth. c. 5.} and deriving his material from
Vincentius Bellovacensis, {Bellovacensis, Specul. History, l. 30. c. 89.}
mentioned those ten tribes. They were later closely confined in the Caspian
Mountains. But these things do not agree with Josephus, whom he claims as his
source. Rather, they agree with the writings of that false Gorion and
Methodius, and even with those fictitious accounts from the Mohammedan Koran
concerning Alexander.
3655 AM, 4365 JP, 349 BC
1670. Ochus rewarded Mentor of Rhodes with a hundred talents in money and very
rich furnishings for his house. He made Mentor the governor over all the
Asiatic shores, with full and absolute power to suppress any rebellions which
happened in those parts. This great grace and favour he used well. Previously
Artabazus and Memnon had made war against Ochus and been driven from Asia. {See
note on 3648 AM. <<1640>>} {See note on 3651 AM. <<1642>>}
They had fled to
Philip, king of Macedonia, and lived with him. Mentor secured pardons for
Artabazus and Memnon from the king, who sent for them both to come to him, with
all their families. [E198] Artabazus had by the sister of Mentor and Memnon,
eleven sons and ten daughters. Mentor was exceedingly delighted with so
numerous a progeny, and as each of the sons grew up, Mentor gave them
distinguished commands in the army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 52. s. 1-4.
7:383,385}
1671. Hermias, the archon of Atarneus, had revolted from Ochus and had many
strong cities and citadels under him. Mentor invited him to a peace conference
and promised him that he would get him a pardon from the king. When Hermias
came, Mentor captured him and took his signet ring. He sent letters in the name
of Hermias that ordered the captains and garrisons everywhere in his dominion to
surrender to the bearers of these letters. This they did immediately. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 16. c. 52. s. 5-8. 7:385} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 6.} He
dealt in like manner with all the other rebels of the king, taking some by force
and others by tricks, but bringing them all under the king's subjection again.
He periodically sent the king Greek mercenaries. He managed the government with
great wisdom, valour and loyalty for the king. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 52.
s. 8. 7:385} {Demosthenes, Against Aristocrates}
1672. When Spartacus, the king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, was dead, his brother
Paerisades succeeded him to the kingdom and held it for thirty-eight years.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 52. s. 10. 7:387} [L279]
3656 AM, 4366 JP, 348 BC
1673. Hermippus stated that Plato, who was the philosopher and founder of the
old academy, died in the first year of the 108th Olympiad, when Theophilus was
archon in Athens. {*Diogenes Laertius, Plato, l. 3. c. 1. (2) 1:279}
{*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Ammaeus, l. 1. (5) 2:317} {*Athenaeus, l. 5.
(192a) 2:369} The saying of Numenius, the Pythagorean, as reported by Hesychius,
the Milesian, was: {Hesychius, Numenius}
"Whatever Plato said concerning God and the world, he stole it all from the
books of Moses."
1674. Hence was the origin of that famous saying of his which was recorded by
Hesychius and his follower Suidas. Even before them, Clement of Alexandria had
said of him: {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 22. 2:334}
"For what is Plato, but Moses speaking in Attic Greek?"
1675. Clement said that Plato translated many things from the books of Moses
and put them into his own writings. Aristobulus, the Jew, said the same, so
that I shall not try to defend the authority of Justin Martyr, Clement of
Alexandria, Ambrose, Theodoret, Johannes Philoponus, writing on the Hexaemeron,
and other Christians. {See note on 3479b AM. <<982>>}
1676. After Plato died, Aristotle, who had founded the sect of the Peripatetic
philosophers, travelled to Hermias, the eunuch and ruler of Atarneus, of whom I
spoke in the previous year. He lived with him for three years. {*Diogenes
Laertius, Aristotle, l. 5. c. 1. (9) 1:453} {*Dionysius Halicarnassus,
Ammaeus, l. 1. (5) 2:317} Strabo stated that he lived at Assos, which was
under the dominion of Hermias, and Assos is mentioned in Acts. {Ac 20:13}
{*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 57. 6:115,117} Aristotle was closely related to
Hermias, because he married Pythiades, the adopted daughter of Hermias. She was
the natural daughter of either Hermias' sister, or brother. I do not know if
Aristotle, the Peripatetic (as we find in Eusebius {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 15.
c. 2. (792d) 1:853}), because of the affection he had for Hermias, married her
after the death of Hermias. While he was staying in Asia, he met a Jew who was
a man of great learning and temperance. He came from upper Asia to the coast,
where he spoke in Greek with Aristotle and any others who wanted to hear him.
(Clearchus of Solos, a principal scholar of Aristotle, as cited both by Josephus
and in Clearchus' first book de Somno or of sleep. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1.
c. 22. (177-181) 1:235,237}) So perhaps it is to this Jew that the Peripatetic
sect of philosophers owe so many of their good sayings. They closely followed
the words of Moses and the prophets, as our Clement of Alexandria affirmed from
Aristobulus. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 22. 2:334} {*Clement,
Stromateis, l. 5. c. 14. 2:467}
3658 AM, 4368 JP, 346 BC
1677. Satyrus, the ruler of Heraclea in Pontus, turned over the government to
Timothy, the oldest son of his brother Clearchus. Shortly after this, Satyrus
was stricken with a most grievous and incurable disease. A cancer grew in his
groin which never stopped growing inward, until he died at the age of sixty-five
years. He had ruled Heraclea for seven years. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 3.}
Timothy took his younger brother Dionysius into the government and appointed him
to be his successor, in case he should die. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 4.}
3659 AM, 4369 JP, 345 BC
1678. Memnon of Rhodes, a Persian commander mentioned earlier, sent for
Hermias, the eunuch, and ruler of Atarneus. He came, suspecting nothing, for he
was invited as a friend. Memnon seized him and sent him as a prisoner to the
king, who hanged him. [L280] The philosophers, Aristotle and Xenocrates, a
Chalcedonian who was born in Bithynia, were with Hermias. They got away, and
fled from the Persian territories. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 57. 6:117}
When Aristotle had lived with Hermias for three years, he went to Mitylene at
the time when Eubulus was archon at Athens, in the fourth year of the 108th
Olympiad. {*Diogenes Laertius, Aristotle, l. 5. c. 1. (10) 1:458} [E199]
{*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Ammaeus, l. 1. (5) 2:317} Extant in Laertius there
is also an epigram of Aristotle, which was on a statue of Hermias at Delphi:
{*Diogenes Laertius, Aristotle, l. 5. c. 1. (6) 1:449}
Him did the king of Persia slay
Contrary to Jove's law or reason,
Not by force or bloody fray,
But by a friend's detested treason.
1679. Therefore, I thought it fit to insert this here, so that no man should
think that Aristotle was in any way party to his death. This they might
incorrectly think, based on those words of Tertullian, when he said:
{Tertullian, l. 1. c. 46.}
"Aristotle made his friend Hermias to leave his place in shame."
3660 AM, 4370 JP, 344 BC
1680. Idrieus, the prince of Caria, died. His enormous wealth is noted by
Isocrates. {*Isocrates, Philip, l. 1. (103) 1:307} His wife, Ada, who was
also his sister, succeeded him and ruled for four years. {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
2. s. 17. 6:285} {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 69. s. 2. 8:33} It was common
in Asia, after the time of Semiramis, for wives to succeed their husbands in
their kingdoms. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 23. s. 7. 1:97}
3664 AM, 4374 JP, 340 BC
1681. Pixodarus, the youngest son of Hecaromnus, expelled his sister Ada and
ruled for five years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 74. s. 2. 8:45} He only
left her the revenues from the town of Alinda to live on. {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
2. s. 17. 6:285}
1682. Pixodarus sent for Orontobates, a Persian lord, to make him his consort
in the government of Caria. He gave him his sister Ada in marriage. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 23. s. 8. 1:99} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 17.
6:285}
1683. Philip, the king of Macedonia, and his army of thirty thousand men
besieged Perinthus, a town in Thrace that was on the Propontis. They were well
equipped with battering rams and other devices, and constantly tried to destroy
the walls, so that the inhabitants had no time for rest or respite. The king of
Persia was becoming alarmed by Philip's success, so he ordered his commanders
and governors in Asia to send help to relieve Perinthus. They were to send all
the help they could, which they did. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 74,75.
8:43-49} This was the main reason Alexander gave, in a letter to Darius, for
invading Asia. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 14. s. 1-3. 1:173,175}
3666c AM, 4376 JP, 338 BC
1684. When Artaxerxes Ochus had reigned for twenty-three years, he became sick.
Bagoas was the eunuch and chief man under him as chiliarch of the kingdom, and
he gave him poison to kill him, helped by Artaxerxes' physician. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 15. c. 93. s. 1. 7:213}. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 5. s. 3,4.
8:131} {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 16. 11:105} Bagoas was
an Egyptian and thus hated Ochus for killing their god Apis, so he avenged this
sacrilege (as Sulpicius termed it) done to his country by killing the king. He
cut his flesh into pieces and threw it to the cats to eat. [L281] We do not
know what he put into the coffin in place of his flesh. From his thigh bones he
made handles for swords, thereby depicting Bagoas' propensity for blood and
slaughter. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 6. c. 8. 1:235} When
Artaxerxes was dead, Bagoas was the most powerful man in the kingdom. He made
Artaxerxes' youngest son, Arses, king and executed all his brothers. The young
king would have no one left to help him, and would thus be forced all the more
to depend on Bagoas. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 50. s. 8. 7:381} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 5. s. 3,4. 8:131}
1685. Timothy, the tyrant of Heraclea in Pontus, died fifteen years after his
father Clearchus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 88. s. 5. 8:85} For his great
kindness, he was no longer called a tyrant, but a gracious lord and saviour.
His body was honourably interred by his brother and successor, Dionysius. All
sorts of athletic games and sports were held. Some were performed then, as time
permitted, and some later, which were held with greater pomp and magnificence
than the earlier ones. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 4.}
3667 AM, 4377 JP, 337 BC
1686. At the general assembly of all Greece at Corinth, Philip, king of
Macedonia, was made general of all the Greek forces. He had absolute power over
them to make war against the king of Persia. He at once started to make many
preparations for the war, assessing the number of soldiers to be levied from
every city, and then he returned into Macedonia. Ariobarzanes, who reigned in
Pontus for twenty-six years, died the same day. He was succeeded by
Mithridates, who reigned thirty-five years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 8.
8:85,87} {Justin, Trogus, l. 9. c. 5.}
3668c AM, 4378 JP, 336 BC
1687. The next spring, Philip sent three of his captains into Asia, Parmenion,
Amyntas and Attalus, with part of his army. They were to plunder the king's
countries and to liberate the Greek cities. {Justin, Trogus, l. 9. c. 5.}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 91. s. 2. 8:89}
1688. When Bagoas, the eunuch, knew that Arses was plotting revenge against
him, he killed Arses and all his children, in the third year of his reign. When
the king's family had been utterly destroyed, he set up Darius, his friend and
the son of Arsames, who was a brother to Artaxerxes. Darius claimed the crown
as next of kin. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 5. s. 4-6. 8:131,133} [E200]
However, Justin spoke of him in this manner: {Justin, Trogus, l. 10. c. 3.}
"Codomannus, in regard for his outstanding virtue, was made king by the people
and the name of Darius was given him for majesty's sake."
1689. Alexander the Great, is quoted in Curtius as having said the following:
{*Curtius, l. 6. c. 4. s. 9,11. 2:33,35}
"For Darius did not come to the crown by succession, but by the mere procurement
and favour of Bagoas, the eunuch."
1690. Again, in a letter Alexander sent to Darius, he charged him: {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 2. c. 14. s. 5. 1:175,177}
"As a murderer, Bagoas had Darius made king. Darius obtained that kingdom
wrongfully and not according to the laws of the Persians, but by great
injustice."
1691. Strabo said: {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 24. 7:189}
"When Bagoas had murdered Arses, he set up Darius, who was not of the king's
blood, in his place."
1692. Lastly, Plutarch introduced him as speaking in this manner: {Plutarch,
Fortune of Alexander, l. 1. c. 1. 4:383,385}
"Darius, who was a slave and a courier of the kings, you (Bagoas) made king of
the Persians."
1693. Also, Hesychius stated in his Lexicon: Astandes means carrier {Hesychius,
Astandes}, while Suidas stated:
"Astandae and Angati, in the Persian language, are those who carry letters from
post-house to post-house until they come to the place of their destination."
1694. So Darius was one of those who in Esther {Es 8:14} are called couriers.
In Aelian he is called a slave. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 12. c.
43. 1:387} [L282]
1695. Bagoas planned to poison Darius also, but the plot was discovered and
Darius sent for him. When he came, he was ordered to drink some of it. When he
refused, Darius had it poured down his throat. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 5.
s. 6. 8:133} He then told the people that he had killed him in self-defence.
{*Curtius, l. 6. c. 4. s. 10,11. 1:35}
3668d AM, 4378 JP, 336 BC
1696. When Philip was still alive, Darius planned to attack him in Macedonia.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 7. s. 1. 8:135}
1697. Sanballat, a Cuthean, from whom the Samaritans had their beginning, was
made governor of Samaria by Darius. He gave his daughter in marriage to
Nicasus, the son of Manasses, brother to Jaddua, the high priest at Jerusalem.
He hoped by this marriage to be held in better esteem by the Jews. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 11. c. 7. s. 2. (302,303) 6:461}
1698. Philip, king of Macedonia, was celebrating the marriage of his daughter
Cleopatra with Alexander, the king of Epirus, at Aegae. Philip was murdered by
Pausanias, the son of Cerastes, of Orestis, a place in Macedonia. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 91-94. 8:89-101} {Justin, Trogus, l. 9. c. 6.}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 1. (304) 6:461} Alexander, in his
letter to Darius, stated that his father was murdered by assassins whom Darius
had hired and paid with a large sum of money. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s.
12. 1:163,165} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 14. s. 5. 1:175}
1699. A little before Philip was killed, Neoptolemus, a tragedian, was reported
to have sung an ominous song before him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 92. s.
3. 8:93} This very song was later sung before Caligula, the emperor, on the
very day when he was murdered, according to Suetonius. {*Suetonius, Caligula,
l. 4. c. 57. s. 4. 1:503} Ovid stated: {*Ovid, Metamorphoses, l. 10.
(298-500) 4:85-101}
"Mnester, the actor sang and acted that very song which previously Neoptolemus
the actor had done in a play when Philip, the king of Macedonia, was killed."
1700. Josephus did not understand this part of the Roman history very well.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 1. s. 13. (94) 9:259} Later, he had spoken
of Mnester and the song which he sang, which Rufinus translated in Latin and I
render it in English as:
"The actor danced the fable of Cinyras, in which both Cinyras and his daughter,
Myrrha, were killed."
1701. Josephus deduced from this that they were both killed on the same day:
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 1. s. 13. (95) 9:261}
"It is known that the murder of Caligula happened on the same day that Philip,
the son of Amyntas, king of Macedonia, was killed by one of his friends called
Pausanias, as he was going into the theatre."
1702. So some men place both these murders on January 24. However, the time of
Philip's death is best known by the time when Alexander succeeded him in his
kingdom. [L283]
1703. After the death of Philip, Pythodemus, as Arrian called him, or
Pythodorus, as he was called by Diodorus, was archon in Athens, {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 1. 1:5} {*Diod. Sic., l. 16. c. 91. s. 1.
8:89} when Alexander succeeded his father at the age of twenty. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 11. s. 1. 7:251} {Justin, Trogus} Arrian, in the
beginning of his History of Alexander, said that he was about twenty years old
when he journeyed into Peloponnesus, after his father's death. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 1. 1:5} This may lend some doubt to his being
twenty years old at the time of his father's death. Nothing is said of how long
the interval was between his father's death and his journey there. [E201] The
exact age is determined from the time of his own death, as mentioned at the end
of the same history. It is said that he lived thirty-two years and eight
months. Of that time, he reigned twelve years and eight months. Subtracting
twelve years and eight months from the total age gives a result of exactly
twenty years to the month. It appears that Philip died at the end of the
Macedonian month of Daisios. I therefore gather that Alexander began his reign
about the eighth month before the first of the month of Dios. Hence, Philip was
murdered about the 24th of September, in which month of ours the month of Dios
begins. This I have documented in my discourse on the solar year of the
Macedonians and Asiatics. {Ussher, Macedonian and Asiatic Year} It was not the
24th of January.
3669a AM, 4378 JP, 336 BC
1704. Alexander came to Peloponnesus and following his father's example,
summoned all the cities of Greece to Corinth. By the general vote of all the
Greeks represented there, except the Lacedemonians, he was made general in his
father's place to go to war against the Persians. {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c.
2.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 4. s. 9. 8:129} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1.
c. 1. s. 2,3. 1:5}
3669c AM, 4379 JP, 335 BC
1705. He returned from there into Macedonia at the very beginning of the
following spring. He went through Thrace and attacked the Illyrians and the
Triballi. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 1. s. 4. 1:5} In a battle on the
bank of the Danube River, he defeated Syrmus, the king of the Triballi.
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 11. s. 3. 7:253} Meanwhile, he received
news that the Athenians, Lacedemonians and Thebans were defecting to the king of
Persia. The instigator of this was Demosthenes, the orator, who had been bribed
by the Persians with a vast sum of money. He made a speech assuring them that
Alexander with all his forces had been defeated by the king of the Triballi.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 2.} {Eschines, Against Ctesiphontem} Furthermore,
the Athenians sent Demosthenes' letter, by way of certain of their officials, to
the Athenian captains in Alexander's army. They asked Attalus, one of the three
captains sent into Asia by Philip, to revolt from Alexander. Like the other
Greeks, they revoked the decision to make Alexander the general of the Greek
forces. {Demosthenes, For Ctesiphontem} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 4. s. 5.
8:129}
3669d AM, 4379 JP, 335 BC
1706. Memnon, the commander from Rhodes, was sent into Phrygia with five
thousand soldiers. After passing by Mount Ida, he suddenly attacked the city of
Cyzicum. He was unable to defeat it, but wasted their territories and returned
from there, loaded with a vast amount of spoil. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 7.
s. 2,8. 8:135,137}
1707. When Pixodarus had died, his son-in-law Orontobates succeeded him in the
kingdom of Caria with the authority of the Persian king. {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
2. s. 17. 6:285} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 23. s. 8. 1:99}
1708. When Alexander had conquered the barbarous people to the north, he
returned to Greece, where the country was all in a turmoil. On his way, he
befriended the Thessalians and journeyed through the pass of Thermopylae. He
won the Ambraciots over to him by his kindness. He and his army went into
Boeotia and camped before Cadmia, which was being held by a garrison of
Macedonians. [L284] The Athenians sent their officials to ask his pardon, which
he gave them. However, Thebes refused his pardon when he offered it, so he
besieged the city. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 4. s. 1-6. 8:125,127}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 11. s. 3,4. 7:253}
1709. He sent Hecataeus into Asia with an army to capture Attalus. Attalus
sent the letter that he had received from Demosthenes to Alexander, with a very
detailed excuse and justification for his actions. Nevertheless, Hecataeus
followed his commission and captured and killed him. So the Asian Macedonian
army had peace, and the rebellions ceased. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 4. s.
5. 8:129,131}
1710. Parmenion, who was always loyal to Alexander, took Grynium by force and
sold all its townsmen for slaves. From there he went and besieged Pitane. When
Memnon approached, he so frightened the Macedonians that they lifted their
siege. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 7. s. 9,10. 8:137}
1711. Callas, with a Macedonian army and other mercenaries, fought with the
Persians in the country of Troas. His small forces defeated the Persians and
forced them to retire to Rhoetium. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 7. s. 10.
8:137,139}
3670a AM, 4379 JP, 335 BC
1712. Thebes in Boeotia was levelled to the ground by Alexander in October,
which was the time when the Mysteries were usually observed in Athens, {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 14. s. 1. 1:157} but that year they did not observe that
holy solemnity, because of what happened. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c.
13. s. 1. 7:257} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 10. s. 2. 1:45} Six
thousand men in Thebes were killed and thirty thousand were sold as slaves. All
was destroyed, with the only exceptions being the houses of the priests, of his
father Philip's friends and of Pindar, the poet. {*Aelian, Historical
Miscellany, l. 13. c. 7. 1:423} [E202]
1713. At a common council of Greece, Alexander was chosen general for the
second time, to go against the Persians. Alexander went to visit Diogenes, the
philosopher. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 14. s. 1-3. 7:259}
3670b AM, 4380 JP, 334 BC
1714. When he returned to Dios, a town in Macedonia, all his thoughts were on
the conquest of Asia. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 11. s. 1. 1:47} The
likeness of the high priest of Jerusalem appeared to him in his sleep, bidding
him to be courageous and bold, and telling him that he was to enter Asia quickly
with his army and that he would lead his armies in the conquest of the Persian
Empire. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 5. (334-336) 6:477}
3670c AM, 4380 JP, 334 BC
1715. Therefore, at the very beginning of the spring, Alexander left his own
home and after a twenty-day march, came to Sestus, from where his army crossed
over into Asia. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 11. s. 3-5. 1:47,49}
Euaenetus was then the archon at Athens. This was eleven years before Alexander
died, according to Clement of Alexandria, as he noted from the most ancient
chronologies. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:332} That is, this was
the third month before Ctesicles was the archon in Athens. In the time while
Ctesicles was archon, Diodorus placed his trip into Asia in the third year of
his reign. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 1. s. 1. 8:163} Zosimus followed
Diodorus, without noting his error. {Zosimus, History, l. 1.} This entry into
Asia occurred in the second year of his reign, the second year of the 111th
Olympiad.
1716. He left Antipater behind in Europe with twelve thousand foot soldiers and
fifteen hundred cavalry, to tend to matters there. Alexander sailed to Troas
with sixty ships, {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 1. s. 5. 8:165,167} but ordered
Parmenion to transport most of his foot soldiers and cavalry from Sestus to
Abidus. This he did with the help of one hundred and sixty ships, and a number
of cargo ships. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 11. s. 6. 1:49}
1717. Even those who were present do not agree on how many men Alexander took
into Asia. [L285] In Polybius, Callisthenes said he had forty-five hundred
cavalry and thirty thousand foot soldiers. {*Polybius, l. 12. c. 18. s.
1,2. 4:353} Plutarch stated that Aristobulus was alleged to have said that he
had thirty thousand foot soldiers and four thousand cavalry. Ptolemy, the son
of Lagus and later king of Egypt, said there were thirty thousand foot soldiers
and five thousand cavalry. Anaximenes of Lampsacus said there were forty
thousand foot soldiers and fifty-five hundred cavalry. {*Plutarch, Fortune of
Alexander, l. 1. c. 3. 4:389} Livy agreed with Aristobulus and said there
were four thousand cavalry. {*Livy, l. 9. c. 19. s. 5. 4:237} Diodorus,
Justin and Orosius, agreed with Callisthenes that there were forty-five hundred
cavalry. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 17. s. 4,5. 8:165} {Justin, Trogus, l.
11. c. 6.} {Orosius, l. 3. c. 16.} Arrian said he had more than five
thousand cavalry. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 11. s. 3. 1:47,49}
Diodorus has a total of fifty-one hundred when you add up his numbers. As to
the number of foot soldiers, he said there were thirty thousand, agreeing with
Callisthenes, Aristobulus and Ptolemy. Livy said there were more than thirty
thousand foot soldiers. Arrian said that there were not many more than thirty
thousand soldiers. Justin and Oronus made it thirty-two thousand. The number
of forty thousand foot soldiers, which Callisthenes and Anaximenes mention, is
taken by Julius Frontinus to refer to his entire army, in this way: {*Frontinus,
Stratagems, l. 4. c. 2. s. 4. 1:287}
"Alexander of Macedonia, with forty thousand men, all veteran soldiers trained
under his father Philip, attacked the whole world and killed an infinite number
of his enemies."
1718. Aristobulus said Alexander took only seventy talents of money to pay his
army. Duris said he had provisions for only thirty days. Osecritus added that
he went into debt to the sum of two hundred talents to pay for his army.
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 15. s. 1. 7:261} {*Plutarch, Fortune of
Alexander, l. 1. c. 3. 4:389}
1719. As soon as he landed on the continent, Alexander was the first among all
of them to throw a spear onto the shore. This signified his taking possession
of all Asia. He leaped ashore and danced about in his armour, offering
sacrifices and beseeching the gods:
"that those lands might willingly receive him as their king."
1720. Then he went and sacrificed to the ghost of Achilles, from whom he was
descended on his mother's side, and to Ajax and other Greek heroes, who had died
in the war of Troy. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 17. s. 1,2. 8:163} {Justin,
Trogus} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 11. s. 5. 1:49} He commended the very
good fortune of Achilles in two points: first, he had about him at his side a
friend as true as Patrocles, and secondly, he had a man like Homer to sing his
praises. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 15. s. 4. 7:263} {*Cicero, Pro
Archia Poeta, l. 1. c. 10. (24) 11:33} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 5. c. 12.
s. 8. 25:375} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 11. s. 1. 1:47}
1721. When he came into Illium, he sacrificed to Pallas of Troy. He hung up
his own arms in her temple and in their place took some other arms from the
chancel, which had been there from the time of the Trojan war. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 17. c. 17. s. 6,7. 8:167} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 11. s. 7,8.
1:51} Among the other relics, they displayed the lute of Paris. Alexander said
he would have thanked them if they could have shown him the lute of Achilles,
with which he had sung the praises of famous men. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1.
c. 15. s. 5. 7:263} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 9. c. 38. 1:309}
1722. From Illium he went to Arisba to join the rest of his army, which had
crossed over by sea. The next day he passed by Percote and Lampsacus, and
camped at the Practius River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 12. s. 6.
1:53} [E203] He intended to utterly destroy Lampsacus and its inhabitants,
because he thought they had defected, or were planning to defect to the
Persians. He saw Anaximenes, the historian, a man very well known to him and to
his father, coming to meet him. Guessing his errand, he swore first, vowing
that:
"whatever he desired of him, that he would not do."
1723. Then Anaximenes replied:
"Sir, I beseech you to destroy Lampsacus." [L286]
1724. Alexander was caught in his own net by the wit of the man. Though much
against his will, he went on his way and spared the place. {*Valerius Maximus,
l. 7. c. 3. ext. 4. 2:141} {*Pausanias, Elis II, l. 6. c. 18. s. 2-4.
3:107} {Suidas, Anaximenes}
1725. After much difficulty and danger, Alexander crossed the Granicus River in
Phrygia and planned a battle with the Persians in the plain of Adrastia. Justin
and Orosius said that the Persians had six hundred thousand foot soldiers and
twenty thousand cavalry. Arrian, somewhat improbably, added that besides the
mercenaries there were less than twenty thousand foot soldiers. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 14. s. 4. 1:61} Diodorus was more cautious and said
that the Persian cavalry was more than ten thousand and the army was under a
hundred thousand men. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 19. s. 4. 8:171} Twenty
thousand Persian foot soldiers and twenty-five hundred cavalry died in the
battle, according to Plutarch. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 16. s. 2.
7:269} Diodorus reported that they lost ten thousand foot soldiers and no less
than two thousand cavalry, and had more than twenty thousand taken prisoner.
Arrian's account stated that the Persian cavalry lost a thousand men, and their
foreign mercenaries were almost all killed. Two thousand were taken prisoner.
Orosius' account is quite fantastic, when he said there were four hundred
thousand killed. {Orosius, l. 4. c. 1.}
1726. In this battle, Alexander, who was wearing the armour which he had taken
from the temple of Pallas at Illium, had his head-piece cut in pieces, to his
very hair. Plutarch, from Aristobulus, stated that he lost twenty-five cavalry
and nine foot soldiers. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 16. 7:269} However,
Justin and Orosius said that a hundred and twenty cavalry and nine foot soldiers
died. According to Arrian, Alexander lost about twenty-five men in total, who
were all Macedonians. Lysippus made brass statues of them. Others said that he
lost sixty cavalry and thirty foot soldiers. The next day, Alexander had these
men buried with all funeral rites. This great and memorable victory opened the
way to the empire of all Asia. It happened in the month of Daisios with the
Macedonians, and on the sixth of Thargehon with the Athenians, or Sunday May 20,
334 BC, or 4380 JP in the second year of the 111th Olympiad. This we have
discussed in detail in our discourse on the Macedonian and Asiatic Solar year.
{Ussher, Macedonian and Asiatic Year, c. 1. p. 4,5,11.}
1727. When Alexander had rested his army, he marched forward through Lydia and
came to Sardis. This city, with all its provisions and treasures, was
voluntarily surrendered to him by Mithrines or Mithrenes, its governor. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 21. s. 7. 8:179} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 17. s.
3. 1:71}
3670d AM, 4380 JP, 334 BC
1728. He went to Ephesus and replaced the oligarchy with a democratic
government, assigning all the tributes which had formerly been paid to Darius,
to the goddess Diana. The Ephesians cried out for justice against those who had
robbed the temple of Diana, and who had demolished the statue of Philip which
was set up there. They took Syrphax, his son Pelagon, and the sons of the
brothers of Syrphax, and stoned them to death. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c.
17. s. 10. 1:73} Moreover, they enlarged and beautified the temple itself,
which had been burned down by Erostratus on the night when Alexander was born.
They appointed Deinocrates, the architect, to oversee the work. Alexander later
used him to build Alexandria in Egypt. {Solinus, c. 40.} Artemidorus mentioned
that Alexander promised to pay for the construction of the temple if the
Ephesians would allow Alexander to take the credit as the builder of the work,
but they refused. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 22. 6:225,227}
1729. While Alexander was staying at Ephesus, envoys came to him from Magnesia
and Tralles and surrendered their cities to him. [L287] He sent Parmenion to
meet them, with twenty-five hundred foreign foot solders and twenty-five hundred
of his Macedonian troops, as well as two hundred cavalry from his auxiliaries.
He also sent Alcimachus, the son of Agathocles, to the cities of Aeolia and
Ionia, which had previously been held by the Persians, with about the same
number of troops as he had sent with Parmenion. Everywhere, he abolished the
oligarchies in their cities and set up democratic governments. He gave them
permission to live according to their own laws and abolished the tribute they
paid to the Persians. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1,2. 1:75}
1730. He stayed at Ephesus and sacrificed to Diana. With his whole army in
battle array, he marched in a procession to her. The next day he went to
Miletus with the rest of his foot soldiers, archers, Agrians, his own troops,
the cavalry from Thrace and auxiliaries of his confederates. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 18. s. 3. 1:75} The Persians who had escaped from the
battle at the Granicus River had fled there with their general, Memnon. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 22. s. 1. 8:179,181} [E204] Three days before they
arrived, Alexander had sent Nicanor, with a hundred and sixty ships, to capture
the isle of Lade opposite Miletus. He held it with the Thracians and four
thousand foreign mercenaries, so that when the Persian fleet of four hundred
ships arrived there, they could not get to the Mount Mycale. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 18. s. 3-5. 1:75,77}
1731. Alexander besieged Miletus by land and sea and battered their walls.
They finally surrendered to him, and the three hundred Greek mercenaries fled
from there to a small island nearby. Alexander took and enlisted them among his
own troops. He gave the Milesians their freedom, but all the non-Greeks there
he either killed, or sold as slaves. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 22. 8:181}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 18,19. 1:77-81}
3671a AM, 4380 JP, 334 BC
1732. Alexander dismissed his fleet of a hundred and sixty ships. (It was a
hundred and eight-two ships, according to Justin. {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c.
6.}) He retained twenty Athenian ships with which to carry his battering rams.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 6.}
1733. Memnon of Rhodes sent his wife and children to Darius as a pledge of his
loyalty, and was made general of all his army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 23.
s. 5. 8:183}
1734. Alexander marched into Caria with his army. Everywhere he went, he
proclaimed liberty to all the Greek cities. He said they could live according
to their own laws and be free from Persian tribute. He made it clear that this
war was to liberate the Greeks from the Persian rule. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 24. s. 1. 8:183,185}
1735. While he was on his way, Ada met him. She had been expelled by her
brother Pixodarus from the kingdom of Caria. She surrendered her city Alinda,
which was the strongest place in all Caria. She desired to be restored to her
grandfather's kingdom and also promised to help him take the rest of the
citadels and cities of that country. These, she said, were in the power of her
close friends. She adopted Alexander for her son, and in return, he gave her
the town of Alinda and proclaimed her queen of Caria. He bade her claim Caria
and did not refuse to be called her son, whereupon all the cities of Caria sent
their officials to him. They gave him crowns of gold and offered him their
service in whatever he would ask them to do. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 24.
s. 2,3. 8:185} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 17. 6:285} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 1. c. 23. s. 8. 1:99} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 22. s. 4.
7:287}
1736. Orontobates, a Persian, had held Halicarnassus, a city of Caria, ever
since the days of his father-in-law Pixodarus. Memnon of Rhodes, the Persian
general, had joined him with all his forces. [L288] Alexander encamped before
its walls and began to assault and batter it very intensely. Ephialtes, an
Athenian, behaved valiantly in the defence of the city. When he and others were
killed at the breaches in the wall, Memnon and the Persian princes and captains
placed a strong garrison of their best soldiers in the citadel. Then, they
sailed with the rest of the people and all their belongings to the isle of Cos,
near Rhodes. When they had gone, Alexander cast a trench around the citadel and
built a strong wall on it. He razed the city to the ground. He left garrisons
both there and in other parts of Caria, placing Ptolemy over three thousand
foreign soldiers and two hundred cavalry. He left the government of that whole
country of Caria to his adopted mother, Ada. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 24-27.
8:183-195} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 20-23. 1:85-99}
1737. Alexander gave his Macedonians, who had married wives shortly before they
started on this journey, leave to go home and spend the winter months with them.
They could leave Caria to rejoin their wives. He appointed Ptolemy, the son of
Seleucus, who was one of his captains, to be their commander. With him he sent
Coenus, the son of Polemocrates, and Meleager, the son of Neoptolemus, who had
recently married. He ordered them that, when they returned, they should bring
all the newly married troops to him. They were to get as many cavalry and foot
soldiers as possible from the country where they wintered. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 1. c. 24. s. 1,2. 1:99} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 1. s. 1. 1:65}
1738. Alexander sent Parmenion to Sardis and made him commander over all the
cavalry of his confederates. He ordered him to take all the Thessalian cavalry
and auxiliaries with him, and all the wagons that he could make. They were to
go ahead of him as far as Sardis, while he went to Lycia and Pamphylia. He took
all the coastal towns, so that the enemy would not be able to make use of their
navy. Along the way, he captured a very strong town called Hyparna on his first
attack. He allowed the mercenary soldiers there to depart in safety. From
there, he marched into Lycia, where the city of Telmessus conditionally
surrendered to him. When he crossed the Xanthus River, the cities of Pinara,
Xanthus, and Patara, and thirty smaller towns, surrendered to him. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 24. s. 3,4. 1:101} [E205]
3671b AM, 4381 JP, 333 BC
1739. In the middle of winter, Alexander went to the Milyan territory in
Greater Phrygia and made a league with the envoy who came to him from Phaselis
and Lower Lycia. They surrendered all their cities into his hands. A short
time later, Alexander went to Phaselis and razed a strong citadel, which the
Pisidians had built to harass the inhabitants of Phaselis. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 1. c. 24. s. 5,6. 1:101}
1740. While Alexander was near Phaselis, he received a rumour that Alexander
Aeropus, whom he had made commander of the Thessalian cavalry, intended to kill
him. He was the brother of Heromenes and Arrobaeus who had taken part in the
murder of Alexander's father, Philip. Darius had received letters from
Alexander Aeropus through Amyntas, who defected to him. Darius sent Sisines, a
Persian, to the sea coast under the pretence of having a message for Atizyes,
the governor of Phrygia. The real purpose was to assure Alexander Aeropus that
if he killed Alexander, the kingdom of Macedonia would be his and Darius would
give him a thousand talents of money besides. However, Sisines was intercepted
by Parmenion and put to the rack. He confessed all, and was sent away heavily
guarded to Alexander. Alexander looked carefully into the matter and sent
Amphoterus to Parmenion with secret instructions to seize Aeropus and put him in
prison. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1-10. 1:103-107} [L289] It
was about this matter that Alexander wrote in his letter to Darius, where,
according to Curtius, he said: {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s. 12. 1:165}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 7.}
"When you have forces of your own, you nevertheless set out to sell your
enemies' heads, since you, who were recently the king of so large an army, would
hire a man to take away my life with a thousand talents."
1741. Alexander left Phaselis with his army and travelled along the coast to
Perga. From there he came to Aspendus and besieged it. Although the city was
situated on a high and rugged mountain, it surrendered to him. Next, he went
into Pindia and tried unsuccessfully to take the city of Telmessus. Instead, he
made a league with the Selgians who were enemies of the Telmessians. He took
Salagassa by force and killed about five hundred Pisidians. He lost his captain
Cleander with about twenty of his own men. From there he went to capture the
other cities of Pisidia. Some of their stronger places he took by force, and
others surrendered conditionally. After this, he came into Phrygia past the
salt Lake Ascania. After his fifth camp, he arrived at Celaenae. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 1. c. 26-29. 1:107-115}
1742. The citadel of Celaenae was held by the Persian commander with a garrison
of a thousand Carians and a hundred Greek mercenaries. After a sixty days'
truce (in which time the commander expected relief from Darius), he surrendered
to Alexander. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 29. s. 1,2. 1:117,119}
{*Curtius, l. 3. c. 1. s. 1-8. 1:65,67}
1743. Alexander left a garrison of fifteen hundred in Celaenae. After he had
stayed there ten days, he made Antigonus, the son of Philip, governor of
Phrygia. He made Balacrus, the son of Amyntas, the commander of the auxiliaries
in his place. Alexander marched to Gordium, having sent a letter to Parmenion,
that he should sail to meet him at Gordium. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 29.
s. 3. 1:117}
1744. Parmenion, with his army and the Macedonians who had leave to be with
their new wives, came to Gordium. The army he had recently raised was under the
command of Ptolemy, Coenus and Meleager. That army consisted of three thousand
Macedonian foot soldiers and three hundred cavalry. Two hundred Thessalian
cavalry and a hundred and fifty cavalry from Elis were led by Alcias, who was
from the same country. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 29. s. 3. 1:117}
1745. Darius made Memnon the admiral of his fleet and chief commander of all
the sea coast. Memnon planned to carry the war from Asia into Macedonia and
Greece. He outfitted a navy of three hundred ships and captured the isle of
Chios and all the other cities and places on Lesbos except Mitylene. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 29. 8:199} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 1. s. 1.
1:123}
1746. The elders of Jerusalem were offended that Manasseh, the brother of
Jaddua, the high priest, had married a foreign wife contrary to the law. They
demanded that he either divorce her or give up his priestly office. Thereupon,
Jaddua was forced to forbid him to serve at the altar. Manasseh went to tell
Sanaballetes, his father-in-law, that he loved his daughter very much, but did
not want to lose his priesthood for her sake. This was an honour belonging to
him by his birthright, and it was very highly esteemed by the Jews.
Sanaballetes replied that if Manasseh would choose not to divorce his wife, he
would help him stay in the priesthood, make him a high priest and prince of all
his own province, and build him a temple on the hill overlooking Samaria. This
temple would be at least as good as the one in Jerusalem. Sanaballetes would do
all this under the authority of Darius, the king. Manasseh was encouraged by
these promises, and stayed with his father-in-law. He hoped to get the
priesthood as a gift, and by the authority of Darius. [L290] As a result, all
the priests and other Israelites who had married foreign wives, resorted to him,
and Sanaballetes furnished them with money and lands to farm. He promoted the
ambition of his son-in-law as much as possible. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c.
8. s. 2. (306-312) 6:463,465} [E206]
1747. Alexander undid the Gordian knot. He either pulled out the peg, or pin,
in the beam, according to Arrian, or he cut it in pieces with his sword, as
others stated. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1,2. 7:273}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 3. s. 1-8. 1:129,131} {*Curtius, l. 3. c.
1. s. 11-13. 1:67,69} {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 7.}
1748. Alexander departed from Gordium in Phrygia and went to Ancyra, a city in
Galatia. Envoys from Paphlagonia came to him and made a league with him,
surrendering their country to him. He appointed Calas, a prince of Phrygia, to
be their new governor. When he had received the new troops from Macedonia, he
marched into Cappadocia, where he subdued all the country on this side of the
Halys River and a portion on the other side. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 4.
s. 1,2. 1:133} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 1. s. 22-24. 1:71}
1749. Memnon died at the siege of Mitylene. Before he died, he appointed
Autophradates and Pharnabazus, the son of Artabazus, to take over the forces
until Darius would direct otherwise. They took command, subject to certain
conditions. Autophradates took over the main body of the ships, while
Pharnabazus sailed into Lycia with several ships, taking some mercenaries with
him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 1,2. 1:121,123}
1750. After the death of Memnon, Darius conscripted soldiers from all countries
and ordered them to come to him at Babylon. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 31. s.
1. 8:203} When he had set up his standard there, he pitched camp and mustered
his army. He put a large circular enclosure around the camp that was capable of
containing ten thousand armed men. This allowed him to number the host in
increments of ten thousand. Like Xerxes had done with his troops, he went and
counted all his forces. The sum came to a hundred thousand Persians, of which
thirty thousand were cavalry. The Medians sent ten thousand cavalry and fifty
thousand foot soldiers. From the Barcani (who were a people bordering upon
Hyrcania, according to Stephanus), there were two thousand cavalry and ten
thousand foot soldiers. From Armenia came forty thousand foot soldiers and
seven thousand cavalry. Hyrcania sent six thousand cavalry and a thousand
Tapurian cavalry. The Derbices sent him forty thousand foot soldiers and two
thousand cavalry. From the Caspian Sea came eight thousand foot soldiers and
two hundred cavalry. Those who were from smaller countries amounted to two
thousand foot soldiers and four thousand cavalry. He also had thirty thousand
Greek mercenaries. This totalled 311,200 men. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 2. s.
1-10. 1:73,75} However, Diodorus said that there were four hundred thousand
foot soldiers and at least a hundred thousand cavalry. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 31. s. 2. 8:205} This number is in the newer editions of Justin, as
amended from the manuscripts. Although the older editions, together with
Orosius, who followed him in every point, had only three hundred thousand foot
soldiers and a hundred thousand cavalry. Both historians, Arrian and Plutarch,
said that the total number of men was six hundred thousand. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 2. c. 8. s. 8. 1:151} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 18. s. 4.
7:275}
1751. Charidemus from Athens was a man well skilled in military matters. After
Alexander had expelled him from Athens, he defected to Darius. He advised
Darius not to manage the army personally, but to leave it to some general who
had proven himself in previous battles. He further stated that an army of a
hundred thousand men, of which one-third would be Greeks, would be enough for
this battle. [L291] By his sage and good counsel, he so incensed the princes
with envy and angered the king, that he was executed for it. {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 30. s. 2-7. 8:201,203} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 2. s. 11-19.
1:75-79}
1752. Darius sent an energetic young man, Thymondas, the son of Mentor who was
Memnon's deceased brother, to Pharnabazus, to get from him all the mercenaries
whom Memnon had under his command. He was to bring them to Darius, while
Pharnabazus was to replace the deceased Memnon as the head of the forces there.
{*Curtius, l. 3. c. 3. s. 1. 1:79} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 2. s.
1,2. 1:125}
3671d AM, 4381 JP, 333 BC
1753. Alexander committed the charge of Cappadocia to Abistenes (according to
Curtius), or to Sabictas (according to Arrian), while he marched with his whole
army toward the passes in Cilicia and came to a place called Cyrus' Camp. (It
was either named after the older Cyrus, as Curtius stated, or after the younger
Cyrus, as Arrian thought.) About seven miles from there, he found that those
passes were controlled by a strong garrison of the enemy. He left Parmenion
there, with troops to hold the enemies in check. In the first watch of the
night, Alexander, with his company of targeteers and archers, and his band of
Agrians, secretly went to attack that garrison. When the garrison heard a
rumour of his coming, they threw away their weapons and fled. Arsames, the
governor of Cilicia, had wasted all the country with fire and sword to prevent
Alexander from getting provisions from the place. Then he left Tarsus and went
to Darius. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 4. 1:89-93} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c.
4. s. 1-6. 1:133}
1754. Alexander had journeyed very quickly to Tarsus. Since he was so hot from
the journey, he took off his armour and leaped into the cold water of the Cydnus
River, which ran through the city. [E207] This so shocked his system, that he
lost his voice and despairing of recovery, he waited to die, according to
Justin. Curtius added that this was in the summer season, and that the heat of
the day was increased by the intensity of the sun in the climate of Cilicia.
Arrian reported from Aristobulus that he fell sick by over-exerting himself.
Philip, a physician, gave him a potion, which he took and which cured him
immediately. Parmenion had warned him that Philip had been sent to poison him.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 4. s. 7-11. 1:135,137} {*Curtius, l. 3. c.
5,6. 1:93-105} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 19. 7:275,279} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 11. c. 8.} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 3. c. 8. ext. 6. 1:335}
1755. Orontobates, the Persian, held out in the citadel at Halicarnassus, with
the cities of Myndus, Caunus, Thera and Callipolis all opposing Alexander. They
were defeated in a battle by Ptolemy and Asander. The enemy lost about seven
hundred foot soldiers and fifty cavalry, and had at least a thousand men taken
prisoner. After this, the Myndians, Caunians and most of the places in that
region surrendered to Alexander. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 7. s. 4. 1:105}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 5. s. 7. 1:139}
1756. Darius had a pontoon bridge built over the Euphrates and crossed over
with his army in five days. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 7. s. 1. 1:105}
1757. Alexander sent Parmenion to take the pass which divided Cilicia from
Assyria or Syria. This pass was much like the pass in Cilicia mentioned
previously. Alexander followed him from Tarsus and came to Anchialus on the
first day. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 5. s. 1-4. 1:137} From there he
marched to Soli and placed his own garrison in the citadel there. He levied two
hundred talents of silver from the inhabitants, since they seemed to favour
Darius more than him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 5. s. 5,6. 1:139}
{*Curtius, l. 3. c. 7. s. 2. 1:105} With three battalions of the
Macedonians, and all his archers and Agrians, he went from there into the hill
country of Cilicia. Within seven days, he won these people over to him by
diplomacy and returned to Soli. He had sacrificed to Asclepius, who was the god
of healing, and had his whole army march in procession. [L292] They had a torch
relay race, and athletic and musical competitions. He allowed the city to
become a democracy. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 5. s. 6,7. 1:139}
1758. The Greek soldiers, whom Thymondas received by the arrangement with
Pharnabazus, were almost Darius' only hope of victory. When they came to him,
they very earnestly besought him to retire and stay in the plain country of
Mesopotamia. Failing that, he should break this vast army of his into parts and
not hazard everything on the chance of one battle. Darius did not like their
advice, for he wanted to finish things quickly. The winter (beginning with
autumn) was now drawing on, and he sent away all his money, jewels and precious
belongings with a suitable guard to Damascus in Syria. The guard was under the
command of Cophen, the son of Artabazus. Darius marched on with the rest of his
army to Cilicia, with his wife and mother, daughter and little son, following
after the camp, according to the custom of Persia. His baggage, and such people
as were unfit for the war, he left at Damascus. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 8. s.
1-12. 1:109,111} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 11. s. 10. 1:165} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 2. c. 15. s. 1. 1:177} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 32. s.
3. 1:207}
1759. When Sanaballetes heard that Darius was coming into those parts, he told
Manasseh that he would soon do what he had promised him concerning the high
priesthood, saying he would do it when Darius returned victorious over his
enemies. He said this, because all those inhabitants of Asia were absolutely
certain Darius would win. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 3.
(313-317) 6:467}
3672a AM, 4381 JP, 333 BC
1760. Alexander wanted Philotas to bring the cavalry across the Aleian plains
in Lycia to the Pyramus River. Philotas came to Magarsus with the foot soldiers
and Alexander's troops. Alexander sacrificed to Athena at a place called Athena
Magarsus. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 5. s. 8,9. 1:139}
1761. After building a bridge over the Pyramus River, he came to the city of
Mallos in Cilicia. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 7. s. 5,6. 1:105} He made
offerings to the ghost of Amphilochus, the founder of that place, as to a
demigod. When he found the inhabitants in turmoil and unrest, he befriended
them, and freed them from paying tribute to Darius. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2.
c. 5. s. 9. 1:139,141}
1762. While he was staying at Mallos, he received news that Darius and all his
army were encamped at a place called Sochi, which was a two day journey from
those passes which I mentioned earlier, that divided Cilicia from Assyria or
Syria. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 6. s. 1. 1:141}
1763. From Mallos, Alexander came to Castabala, which was another town in
Cilicia, where Parmenion met him. Alexander had sent him to find the way
through a forest which he had to pass through in order to come to the town of
Issus. Parmenion had seized the route in that forest and left a small company
to hold it. He went forward and took the town of Issus also, which had been
abandoned by the inhabitants when they heard he was coming. He went further and
cleared out all those who had been set to guard the inner parts of the mountains
thereabouts, and put his own garrisons everywhere in those places. When he had
cleared the enemy from all that area, he returned to Alexander and told him what
he had done. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 5-7. 1:105,107} [E208]
1764. Alexander came to Issus with his army. He held a council of war to
determine whether he should march on, or stay there and expect the supplies
which he knew were coming to him from Macedonia. Parmenion advised that he
could not find a better place to fight than where he was. Neither side could
outnumber the other while fighting because of the narrowness of the pass.
{*Curtius, l. 3. c. 7. s. 8-10. 1:107} Callisthenes, as noted from
Polybius, stated that when Alexander first came into Cilicia, he received five
thousand foot soldiers and eight hundred cavalry from Macedonia. {*Polybius, l.
12. c. 19. s. 2. 4:355}
1765. When Darius had gone through the pass of the Amanus Mountains, he marched
toward Issus. He did not know that he had left Alexander behind him. When
Darius had taken the town, he cruelly tortured and put to death a poor company
of Macedonians whom Alexander had left there. They had not been able, because
of sickness or other infirmities, to follow the camp. [L293] The next day,
Darius marched to the Pinarus River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 7. s. 1.
1:143}
1766. When Darius heard that Alexander was approaching in battle array, he
immediately crossed over the Pinarus River with thirty thousand cavalry and some
twenty thousand lightly armed foot soldiers, so that he might have more time to
organize his army for the battle. First, he arranged those thirty thousand
heavily armed Greek mercenaries. Opposite the Macedonian squadron, on both
sides, he placed the sixty thousand Cardaces, who were also heavily armed foot
soldiers. He could not possibly arrange them into one squadron and do battle,
because the place was too narrow. As for the rest of the troops, whether
heavily armed foot soldiers or those from other countries, he put them together
in no particular order behind the main battle line of the Greeks and Cardaces.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 8. s. 5-8. 1:151} However, Curtius stated:
{*Curtius, l. 3. c. 9. s. 1-6. 1:119,121}
"Nabarzanes, who was general of Darius' army, was on the right wing with the
cavalry. Next to him were almost twenty thousand slingers and archers.
Thymondas was also in the same wing, commanding some thirty thousand Greek
mercenaries. This was, no doubt, the very cream of the whole army and they were
a match for the Macedonian phalanx. On the left wing was Aristomedes, a
Thessalian, with twenty thousand foot soldiers from various countries. In the
rear, he placed his reserves from the most warlike countries that he had in all
his army. In that wing, the king was protected by a guard of three thousand
elite cavalry and forty thousand foot soldiers. The Hyrcanian and Median
cavalry followed them. Next to them were arranged the cavalry and foot soldiers
of the other countries. Some were on the right hand and some on the left.
Before this battalion, six thousand slingers and javelin throwers were arranged.
All the ground that there was in that pass was filled up entirely with men. The
wings reached from one mountain to the other, and even down to the sea. The
queen and the king's mother and the rest of the women were placed in the midst
of the army."
1767. Callisthenes, who was himself in this battle, said that on Alexander's
side there were thirty thousand cavalry, and as many auxiliaries, all set to
encounter the Macedonian phalanx. {*Polybius, l. 12. c. 18. s. 1,2.
4:353} However, Polybius said that Alexander's army consisted in total of
forty-two thousand foot soldiers and five thousand cavalry. He drew attention
to the many inaccuracies of Callisthenes, pointing out that, for reasons of
inexperience in the marshalling of an army, Callisthenes had written many things
which were not pertinent and accurate in the description of this battle.
{*Polybius, l. 12. c. 19. s. 4. 4:357}
1768. In the morning, when Hephaestion came to Alexander to encourage him to
start the battle, he forgot himself and greeted him with:
"God help you sir,"
1769. instead of:
"God save you sir."
1770. All the troops who were present were disturbed by what this meant. They
thought he had meant that Alexander had not been well in his wits. Hephaestion
himself was amazed by his own mistake. When Alexander realised this, he took it
up and said that he thanked him for his good omen. For this tells me, that we
shall all, by God's help, come safely out of this battle today. This is related
by Eumenes of Cardia in his letter to Antipater. He was present when the words
were spoken, and himself stumbled into a similar error, as it was recorded in
Lucian. {*Lucian, Slip of the Tongue in Greeting (6) 6:181,183}
1771. Arrian said that this battle was fought when Nicostratus (or, as Diodorus
Siculus wrote, when Nicocrates) was archon of Athens, in the fourth year of the
111th Olympiad. (Loeb series for Arrian does not show this name variation.
Editor.) This was in the month of Maimakterion, which started on the new moon
which happened on Wednesday, October 28. In this battle the Persians lost ten
thousand cavalry and ninety thousand foot soldiers. A number of other writers
agree with him concerning the losses of the cavalry. Concerning the foot
soldiers, they all vary extremely, not only from him, but from each other.
Justin said that there were sixty thousand, Orosius, eighty, Curtius, a hundred,
and Diodorus, a hundred and twenty thousand. Plutarch said that they lost a
hundred and ten thousand men in all. Justin and Orosius added that there were
forty thousand captured. [E209] [L294] On Alexander's side, there were
forty-five hundred wounded men. They lost three hundred and two foot soldiers
and a hundred and fifty cavalry, according to Curtius. Concerning the number
given for the cavalry lost, Plutarch, Justin and Orosius agreed with Curtius
Diodorus said that he lost three hundred foot soldiers, while the other writers
said that he lost a hundred and thirty. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 11. s.
8. 1:163} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 27. 1:137} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 36. s. 6. 1:221} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 20. s. 6. 7:281}
1772. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus and a captain in Alexander's army, said that in
the pursuit of Darius the squadron marched over the slaughtered bodies of the
enemy. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 11. s. 8. 1:163} Although less than a
thousand cavalry followed Alexander in this pursuit, they nonetheless killed a
large number of the enemy. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 16,17. 1:133} When
Darius was thrown from his chariot, he climbed onto a mare. She remembered her
foal at home and ran so fast, that Alexander could not catch up to him.
{*Aelian, History of Animals, l. 6. c. 48. 2:67,69}
1773. Alexander grew weary of the pursuit of Darius and since the night was
drawing on, he gave up all hope of catching him. When he had travelled
twenty-five miles, he returned to Darius' camp about midnight. His men had
captured it shortly before this. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 37. s. 1,2.
8:221} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 16,17. 1:133} They found Darius' mother,
whom Diodorus called Sisygnambis, but Curtius called Sisigambis. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 17. c. 37. s. 3. 8:223} His wife was there also, who Justin said was
his sister as well. Darius' son Ochus, who was almost six years old, and
Darius' two daughters of marriageable age were also found, as well as a few
other noblemen's daughters, although most of them had sent their wives and
daughters to Damascus with their baggage. Even Darius had sent most of his
treasure there, as we said before. They found whatever luxurious items which
were the king's custom to take with him to war. In Darius' camp, Alexander
found about three thousand talents of silver. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c.
11. s. 9,10. 1:163,165} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 21-26. 1:135,137}
1774. Early the next morning, Alexander took Hephaestion with him and went to
see the two queens. When Sisigambis mistakenly fell down at Hephaestion's feet,
she asked Alexander's pardon for it. He smilingly replied: {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 37. s. 4,5. 8:223,235} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 12. s. 14-17.
1:141,143} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 12. s. 6-8. 1:169}
"No harm, for he too is Alexander."
1775. In so few words, he gave half of himself away to his friend. {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 4. c. 7. ext. 2a. 1:425,427} As for the two queens and the
women with them, Alexander gave them back all their wardrobe, cosmetics and
ornaments, adding much more from his own belongings to this as well. He did not
permit any man to mistreat the women in any way. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c.
12. s. 3-5. 1:167} {*Plutarch, Fortune of Alexander, l. 2. c. 6. 4:451}
1776. In his flight, Darius came to a place called Sochi, about two days'
journey from the passes of Amanus, as we noted before. Arrian stated that he
collected together any Persians and others who had survived the battle, taking
four thousand of them with him to Thapsacus, so that he might have the great
Euphrates River between him and Alexander. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s. 1-3.
1:161} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 13. s. 1. 1:169}
1777. Amyntas, the son of Antiochus, Thymondas, the son of Mentor, Aristomedes
of Pherae and Bianor of Acarnania had previously defected to the Persians from
the Greeks. They fled with eight thousand men in their company to Tripolis in
Phoenicia, where they found ships which had just arrived from Lesbos. These
they captured, and sailed to Cyprus and from there to Egypt. They burned the
ships they did not need, so they could not be followed. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
2. c. 13. s. 1,2. 1:169,171} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 47. s. 2,3.
8:255} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s. 27. 1:171} [L295]
1778. Alexander had made Balacrus, the son of Nicanor and one of the leaders of
his bodyguard, governor of Cilicia. Now Alexander replaced Balacrus by Menes,
the son of Dionysius. He put Polyperchon, the son of Simmias, in charge of the
brigade to replace Ptolemy, the son of Seleucus, who had been killed in the
recent battle. He remitted the fifty talents to the men of Soli in Cilicia and
returned the hostages that he had taken from them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2.
c. 12. s. 2. 1:165,167} He built three altars on the banks of the Pinarus
River, one to Zeus, another to Hercules and a third to Athena. Then he marched
into Syria and sent Parmenion ahead of him to Damascus with the Thessalian
cavalry. This was the place where Darius had all his treasure, and if they
captured the city, they would be rich from the spoil, which was fitting, since
the cavalry had behaved very courageously in the recent battle. {*Curtius, l.
3. c. 12. s. 27. 1:145} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 24. s. 1.
7:291}
1779. As Parmenion was on his way to Damascus, he intercepted a message sent to
Alexander from the governor of Damascus, offering to betray the city to
Alexander. On the fourth day he came to Damascus. The governor pretended that
he could not hold the city. The next morning before sunrise, he took all the
king's treasure (which the Persians call his Gaza) and pretended that he would
flee away and save it for Darius, but he gave it to Parmenion instead. As soon
as he had done that, there was a heavy snow storm and the ground was frozen
solid.
1780. Among the women who fled from there but were captured, there were three
virgins, daughters of Ochus, the previous king before Darius. [E210] Also in
the group were Ochus' queen, the daughter of Oxatris—he was the brother of
Darius—and the wife of Artabanus, a chief of the courtiers, and his son;
Hystanes was his name. The wife of Pharnabazus, whom Darius had made commander
of all the towns and cities on the coast, was also taken, as well as three
daughters of Mentor, and the wife and son of that most noble Memnon. There was
hardly a family of any nobleman of the court of Persia who did not share in this
calamity. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 13. s. 12-13. 1:151} Parmenion's report to
Alexander indicated that among all those he had taken were three hundred and
twenty-nine of the king's women who were skilful in music, forty-six weavers or
knitters of crowns, two hundred and seventy-seven cooks and twenty-nine cooks'
maids, thirteen pudding-makers, seventeen bartenders, seventy wine-clarifiers,
fourteen apothecaries and confectioners. {*Athenaeus, l. 13. (608a) 6:277}
1781. Also taken were twenty-six hundred talents in coins, five hundredweight
of silver bars, thirty thousand men, and seven thousand pack animals which were
used as beasts of burden. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 13. 1:145-153}
1782. The one who betrayed the city who, it seems, was Cophen, with whom Darius
had sent his treasure to Damascus, had his head cut off by one of his
countrymen, who then carried it to Darius. {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 13. s. 17.
1:153}
1783. Alexander made Parmenion (according to Curtius) or Memnon, the son of
Cerdimmas (according to Arrian) the governor of Coelosyria, giving him his
auxiliary cavalry to defend the province. Because the Syrians had not been
totally subdued, they did not submit to this new governor. They were, however,
quickly suppressed, whereupon they submitted to every command. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 2. c. 13. s. 7. 1:173} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s. 4,5.
1:161}
1784. Alexander sent Parmenion to seize the Persian fleet, while he sent others
of his men who were with him to hold the cities of Asia which had surrendered to
him. After the battle of Issus, Darius' own commanders, with all their gold and
treasure, surrendered to Alexander. He marched into Syria and many kings of the
east came and submitted to him. These he treated as each one merited. [L296]
With some he made a league, while others he replaced with new kings. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 11. c. 10.}
1785. At that time, Gerostratus was king of the isle of Aradus with the
adjoining sea coast of the mainland, and also of some places lying farther
inland. He and the kings of Cyprus and Phoenicia had consolidated their fleets
under Darius' Persian commander, Autophradates. Gerostratus' son, Straton, who
was viceroy of Aradus in his father's absence, met Alexander as he was on his
way into Phoenicia. He placed a crown of gold on Alexander's head and
surrendered the isle of Aradus, together with Marathus, a large and rich town on
the mainland opposite Aradus, the city Mariamme, and whatever else belonged to
his father. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 13. s. 7,8. 1:173} {*Curtius, l.
4. c. 1. s. 6,7. 1:161,163}
1786. After having graciously received Straton, Alexander marched to the city
of Marathus. While there, he received letters from Darius, who wanted to ransom
his female captives. Alexander wrote a letter in reply which he sent Thersippus
to deliver. {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 12.} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s.
8-14. 1:163,165} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 14. s. 1-9. 1:173-177}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 39. s. 1,2. 8:227,229} He wanted to have the
Greek envoys, who had been sent to Darius before the battle at Issus, returned
to him. Alexander understood that they had been taken captive at Damascus.
When Darius sent them, Alexander dismissed the two envoys of the Thebans,
Thessalicus and Dionysodorus, but he kept Iphicrates of Athens, who was the son
of that famous Iphicrates, in attendance, paying him special honour. Euthycles,
the Lacedemonian, was first committed to custody, but later released from irons.
Subsequently, when everything went well for Alexander, he was sent away too.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 15. s. 2-5. 1:179}
1787. Alexander left Marathus and captured the city of Byblus, which
conditionally surrendered to him. The Sidonians, who not long before had been
so terribly abused by Ochus, sent to Alexander and desired to submit to him, as
they hated the Persians and King Darius. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 15.
s. 6. 1:181} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s. 15. 1:165} At that time Straton
was the ruler there. Because this surrender came more from the people than from
Straton, Alexander replaced Straton by Abdalonymus, who lived by tending a poor
garden there. Alexander gave him not only the rich furniture of Straton's
house, but added various other rich gifts from what he had taken from the
Persians. This new king controlled all the adjoining territories of Sidon.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s. 16-26. 1:165-169} {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c.
10.} Plutarch called this man Abdalonymus, the king of Paphon, while Diodorus
called him Ballonymus, and said that Alexander made him king of Tyre.
{*Plutarch, Fortune of Alexander, l. 2. c. 8. 4:461,463} {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 46. s. 6. 8:253}
1788. All of Syria and Phoenicia, with the exception of Tyre, were under
Alexander's control. Alexander and his camp were on the mainland, and between
him and Tyre there was a narrow strait. The Tyrians had sent a massive crown of
gold to him for a present, congratulating him on his great success. They sent
him many provisions from their city, and he received their presents as he would
those from good friends. He was very gracious and friendly towards them,
expressing his great desire to see their city and to sacrifice to Hercules.
[E211] They told him that there was an altar in Palaetyros, or Old Tyre, on the
continent nearby, and that it would be better to offer a sacrifice to Hercules
on it, since it was the older of the two altars. When he heard this, he was so
enraged that he vowed to destroy their city. It so happened that at that very
time, certain select men from Carthage came to perform a yearly sacrifice to
Hercules. The Tyrians were the founders of Carthage, and the Carthaginians had
honoured them as the fathers of their city. These men exhorted them to hold out
and to endure the siege like men. [L297] They assured them of speedy supplies
and aid from Carthage, since the Carthaginians at that time were a very strong
naval power. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 2. s. 2-12. 1:175-181} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 11. c. 10.}
1789. Thus, Tyre was resolved for a war and endured a seven month siege.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 46. s. 5. 8:251} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c.
8. s. 4. (325) 6:471} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 4. s. 19. 1:205} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 2. 1:297} Their king Azelmious was absent at sea. He
had left Autophradates, his son, behind him in the city. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
2. c. 15. s. 7. 1:181} Alexander levelled Palaetyrus, or old Tyre, to the
ground. He sent for all the men in the surrounding country to come and help his
men throw the stones and rubbish of the entire city into the channel that ran
between the two cities. He built a causeway of half a mile long from the old
city across to Tyre, according to Diodorus. Curtius agreed with him, while
Pliny said it was seven hundred paces long. {*Pliny, l. 5. c. 17. (76)
2:279} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 40. s. 4,5. 8:233} {*Curtius, l. 4. c.
2. s. 16-21. 8:181,183}
1790. Amyntas, the son of Antiochus, had with him four thousand Greeks who had
fled from the battle of Issus (as I mentioned previously). He had defected from
Alexander to Darius before the battle. Sabaces, a Persian governor of Egypt,
had been killed in the battle of Issus. They set sail from Cyprus to Pelusium
and seized the city. Amyntas pretended that he had come to take charge of it at
the order of Darius, to replace Sabaces and so deceived the garrison at
Pelusium. From there, he went with his army to Memphis. At the news of his
coming, the Egyptians came from the towns and the country to help him against
the Persians. With their help, he routed the Persians when they attacked him
and forced them into the city again. Soon after this, the Persians, followed
the advice of Mazaces, their captain when he saw the Greeks scattered about and
busy plundering the countryside. The Persians under Mazaces sallied forth again
and in a surprise attack, they cut Amyntas and all his troops to pieces.
{*Curtius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 18,19. 1:133} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s.
27-33. 1:169-173}
1791. Some of Darius' captains and their troops, who had escaped from the
battle at Issus, along with some Cappadocians and Paphlagonians, went to retake
Lydia. Antigonus, who was Alexander's commander, routed them in three battles.
At the same time, the Macedonian fleet came from Greece and attacked
Aristomenes, who had been sent by Darius to retake the Hellespont. They sank or
captured all the Persian fleet. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 1. s. 34-36. 1:173}
1792. While Alexander was besieging Tyre, he sent to Jaddua, the high priest at
Jerusalem, and demanded supplies and other provisions from him, plus the tribute
they had formerly paid to Darius. Jaddua replied that he was bound by a
previous oath of allegiance to Darius, and that he could not be freed from that
oath while Darius was alive. Alexander was very angry and swore that as soon as
he had taken Tyre, he would march against Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
11. c. 8. s. 3. (317-319) 6:469}
1793. At the start of the siege of Tyre, Sanaballetes, the Cushite, defected
from Darius and came with eight thousand men. (Some editions of Josephus say
seven thousand men. Editor.) Alexander graciously received him. Sanaballetes
sought permission to build a temple on his own land and to make his son-in-law,
Manasseh, who was the brother of Jaddua the high priest at Jerusalem, its high
priest. When he obtained permission, and because he was now growing old, he
quickly began the work. He built a temple and made Manasseh its high priest,
thinking that by this he would bestow great honour on the posterity of his
daughter. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 4. (321-325) 6:469,471}
[L298]
1794. Alexander planned to make a broader causeway from the continent for an
easier approach to Tyre. After he had built new engines of war, he marched with
his targeteers and a squadron of Agrians to Sidon, where he gathered as many
ships as he possibly could, for he knew it would be impossible to take Tyre as
long as Tyre was the master of the sea. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 19. s.
6. 1:191,193}
1795. Meanwhile, when Gerostratus, the king of Aradus, and Enylus, the king of
Byblus, found that all their cities had already been taken by Alexander, they
abandoned Autophradates and his fleet and came with their fleets to Alexander.
Some ships of the Sidonians also came with them. Alexander now had a navy of
eighty ships. At the same time Rhodes sent a fleet of ten ships to Alexander,
one of which was called Periplus. An additional three came from Soli and
Mallus. [E212] Ten came from Lycia. Macedonia sent a ship of fifty oars under
Captain Proteas, the son of Andronicus. A little later, certain kings of Cyprus
sent a hundred and twenty ships to the port of Sidon. They had heard of his
victory at Issus and the news that all Phoenicia had yielded to him. Alexander
forgave them the previous wrongs they had done him, for they had previously
sided with Darius of necessity, not of their own free choice. Azelmious, the
king of Tyre, left Autophradates and returned to his own city of Tyre while it
was thus besieged. He was within the city when it was later taken, according to
Arrian. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 20. s. 1-3. 1:193} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 2. c. 24. s. 4. 1:209}
1796. Alexander was cutting timber for his ships on Mount Lebanon when the wild
Arabians suddenly attacked the Macedonians while they were busy at their work.
They killed thirty of them and carried away almost as many prisoners. Alexander
left Perdiccas and Craterus, or, as Polyaenus said, Parmenion, to continue the
siege of Tyre, while he went with a lightly armed band into Arabia. {*Curtius,
l. 4. c. 2. s. 24. 1:185} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 3. s. 1. 1:185}
Polyaenus confirmed that he made an excursion into Arabia. {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 4.} Arrian gave more details. He said that Alexander, with
certain cavalry troops, lightly armed targeteers and his squadron of Agrians,
went into Arabia as far as Anti-Lebanon. Plutarch stated that he marched
against the Arabians who lived opposite Anti-Lebanon. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
2. c. 20. s. 4,5. 1:193,195} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 24. s. 6.
7:293}
1797. When he came to the mountainous country of those parts, he planned to
leave his cavalry and march on foot, as others did. The body of his army had
gone a good distance ahead of him, the night was approaching and the enemy was
close. Lysimachus, his childhood instructor, was exhausted from the journey and
Alexander did not want to leave him in that condition. Alexander encouraged him
and helped him along. Before he knew it, he and his group were separated from
the rest of his company. He would have to pass that night in the dark, in a
bitterly cold frost, and in a place devoid of all relief. Not far off, however,
he saw many fires made by the enemies. Since he had a nimble and fit body, he
ran to the nearest fire and killed the enemies that sat by it. He brought a
firebrand back with him and kindled a fire for himself and the small group of
Macedonians that were with him. This fire became so large, that the enemies
were terrified and did not move against him. So he and his company lay safely
all that night. This story was told about him by Plutarch, citing Chares, a
Mitylenean who was one of the chroniclers of the deeds of Alexander.
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 24. s. 6-8. 7:295}
1798. When he had taken all that country, partly on amicable terms and partly
by force, he returned to Sidon only eleven days after he had left it. He
discovered that Alexander, the son of Polemocrates, had recently arrived with
four thousand Greek mercenaries. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 20. s. 5.
1:195}
1799. His navy was now outfitted and totalled a hundred and ninety ships,
according to Curtius, or two hundred, according to Diodorus. Alexander sailed
from Sidon for Tyre, in a very good formation. [L299] He was in the right wing,
in a ship of five tiers of oars. The kings of Cyprus and the rest of the
Phoenicians were also in that squadron, except for Pnytagoras, who, together
with Craterus, commanded the left wing. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 20. s.
6. 1:195} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 3. s. 11. 1:189,191}
3672c AM, 4382 JP, 332 BC
1800. Thirty commissioners arrived from Carthage and brought Tyre word that the
Carthaginians were so embroiled with war at home that they could not possibly
send help to them at this time. This did not discourage the men of Tyre, but
they sent away their wives and children to Carthage, considering it a safer
place for them, irrespective of what might happen at Tyre. {*Curtius, l. 4.
c. 3. s. 19,20. 1:193,195} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 41. s. 1.2. 8:233}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 10.}
1801. After Apollo had appeared to various men in dreams, signifying that he
would leave the city, the superstitious men of Tyre took strong golden chains
and bound his image tightly to the foot of his shrine. This image had been sent
there from Syracuse, according to Curtius, or from Gela in Sicily by the
Carthaginians, as we have noted from Diodorus. {See note on 3599 AM.
<<1403>>}
They fastened the chain to the altar of Hercules, the tutelar god of that city,
as if, by his strength, he were able to keep Apollo from leaving. {*Curtius, l.
4. c. 3. s. 21,22. 1:195} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 41. s. 7,8. 8:235}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 24. s. 3,4. 7:293}
1802. While Alexander was besieging Tyre, envoys came to him from Darius,
offering him ten thousand talents (not, as Valerius Maximus wrote, a million) to
ransom his mother, wife and children and all the territory lying between the
Hellespont and the Halys River. Darius would give his daughter in marriage to
Alexander. This offer was discussed in a council of his friends. It is
reported that Parmenion said that if he were Alexander, he would not refuse
those conditions, whereupon Alexander replied that neither would he, if he were
Parmenion. [E213] Alexander wrote back to Darius that he was offering him
nothing except what was already his. Therefore, he wished him to come in person
to ask for his wife back, and to accept such conditions as Alexander would give
him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 25. s. 1-3. 1:211,213} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 11. c. 12.} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 5. s. 1-8. 1:205-209} {*Plutarch,
Sayings of Kings and Commanders (180b) 3:59} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c.
29. s. 4. 7:311} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 6. c. 4. ext. 3. 2:51}
1803. Tyre was taken when Anicetes (or Nicetus, according to Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, in Dinarchus) was archon in Athens, in the month of Hekatombaion.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 24. s. 6. 1:211} This was in the middle of
that month, at the very end of the 112th Olympiad. In Plutarch we find that it
was on the 30th day of the month of Loos, according to the Macedonian calendar,
and the 5th of the month of Hekatombaion, on the Athenian calendar. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1,2. 7:295,297} This was July 24, as I have
shown in my discourse on the solar years of the Macedonians and Asians.
{Ussher, Macedonian and Asiatic Year, c. 5. fin.}
1804. Justin said that Tyre was taken by treason, {Justin, Trogus, l. 1. c.
10.} Polyaenus said it was by a stratagem, {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 1.} and
Diodorus, Arrian and Curtius said it was by pure force. When the enemies had
broken into the city, the townsmen still kept up the fight until seven thousand
of their number had been cut to pieces. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 46. s. 3.
8:251}
1805. Arrian stated that eight thousand of the inhabitants were killed.
Curtius said that after the battle a further two thousand were hung up all along
the shore. Diodorus stated that Alexander hanged two thousand young men, all in
their prime. Justin said that, mindful of the former slaughter by the
inhabitants, Alexander crucified all that were captured. He put them to a death
befitting a slave, because the Tyrian slaves had made a conspiracy against their
own masters and had murdered both them and all the freemen of that city. [L300]
The slaves had set up their own government and killed everyone except Straton,
and an old man with his son. The slaves established the kingdom on Straton and
his posterity. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 24. s. 4. 1:209} {*Curtius,
l. 4. c. 4. s. 17. 1:205} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 46. s. 3,4.
8:251}
1806. Concerning Alexander, Justin further added:
"He spared all the descendants of Straton and restored the kingdom to him and
his posterity."
1807. (This possibly refers to Ballonymus, whom Diodorus confused with
Abdalonymus, the man Alexander had made king of the Sidonians a short time
earlier.)
"Alexander left the city to be repopulated by its innocent and harmless
inhabitants. When he had abolished that wicked generation of slaves, he hoped
to be considered the founder of a new and better people there."
1808. It was because of this that Justin saw Alexander as the restorer and
rebuilder of Tyre. {Justin, Trogus, l. 18. c. 3,4.} All the other writers
saw him not as its founder but as its destroyer. The prophecy of Isaiah
concurred with this. {Isa 23:1} {Apc 1Ma 1:1} For if we believe Curtius,
Alexander spared those who fled to the temples and killed everyone else, setting
fire to their houses. According to Diodorus, he made slaves of anyone unable to
bear arms, as well as the women and girls. This came to over thirteen thousand,
even though most had been sent away to Carthage. However, according to Arrian,
Alexander spared King Azemilcus (Diodorus called him Straton) and the
commissioners who had come from Carthage to sacrifice to Hercules. All the
rest, which came to thirty thousand, he sold as slaves. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 46. s. 4. 8:251} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 24. s. 5,6. 1:209}
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 4. s. 13,14. 1:203}
1809. Curtius said that the Sidonians, who joined up with the rest of
Alexander's soldiers, did not forget their blood ties with the Tyrians. For
they believed that they had all been brought there by Agenor, who was the
founder of both cities. The Sidonians managed to get fifteen thousand Tyrians
into their ships and saved them. Curtius stated: {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 4. s.
15,16. 1:203}
"Tyre quickly recovered and later grew to be a city again."
1810. Strabo stated: {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 23. 7:269}
"After this enormous calamity brought on them by Alexander, they quickly
overcame their misfortunes by their navigational skills and with their purple
dye industry."
1811. Justin stated: {Justin, Trogus, l. 18. c. 4.}
"By their parsimony and industry, they quickly recovered their strength again."
1812. This happened so quickly that in the eighteenth year from then, they
endured another siege from Antigonus, who was then lord of all Asia. This siege
lasted not seven months, as in the case of Alexander, but a full fifteen months.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 61. s. 5. 9:399,401} They were no longer content
with their little city which was joined to the continent by Alexander's
causeways and other works. They so enlarged their boundaries, that in Pliny's
time the wall of their city enclosed almost three miles. If one included
Palaetyrus or Old Tyre, the whole enclosure came to no less than nineteen miles,
and the actual town covered almost three miles. {*Pliny, l. 5. c. 17. (76)
2:279}
1813. Admetus, who first got onto the wall with twenty targeteers, was killed,
along with his targeteers, at the very first encounter with the enemy. During
the entire time of the siege, no more than four hundred Macedonians were lost.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 24. s. 4. 1:209} [E214]
1814. Alexander offered sacrifices to Hercules, marching to his temple in
procession, with his entire forces in full armour. He also put on a show with
his ships, and staged wrestling matches, a relay torch race and other games.
There was a certain Tyrian ship, consecrated to his honour, which he had
captured, and this he rededicated to himself. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c.
24. s. 6. 1:211} He took the golden chain from off the image of Apollo, and
also the robes it was attired in, and gave the image a new name, Alexander's
friend. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 46. s. 5,6. 8:251} Timaeus stated that
Alexander captured Tyre on the very same day that the Carthaginians had taken
the image of Apollo from Gela in Sicily. [L301] The Greeks offered a
magnificent and solemn sacrifice to Apollo, as though it had been by his power
and favour that they had captured Tyre. {*Diod. Sic., l. 13. c. 108. s.
4,5. 5:429,431}
1815. As soon as Alexander had taken Tyre, he marched into Judah, {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:205} {*Pliny, l. 12. c. 54. (117,118) 4:83} and
subdued all that part of Syria called Syria Palestina. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
2. c. 25. s. 4. 1:213} He personally went to fight against those places
which would not willingly submit to him. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 5. s. 13.
1:211} When he was on his march to Jerusalem, Jaddua, the high priest, who had
been terrified by his former threats and now feared his rage, resorted to God by
prayers and sacrifices on behalf of the safety of everyone. God warned him in a
dream that he should call a holy day in the city and open the city gates wide.
He and the rest of the priests would go out in their priestly garments and all
the rest of the people would be dressed entirely in white and accompany him to
meet Alexander. When Alexander saw this company coming to him from a distance,
he went unaccompanied to the high priest. After he had prostrated himself
before that God whose name he saw engraved on the golden plate of the high
priest's mitre, he greeted him. When Parmenion asked the reason for his
behaviour, he replied that while he was still in Macedonia planning the conquest
of Asia, there appeared to him a man clothed like this high priest, who invited
him into Asia and assured him of every success in its conquest. The priests
went before him as he entered into Jerusalem. He went up to the temple and
sacrificed to God in the manner which the priests showed him. They showed him
the book of the prophet Daniel, in which it was written that a Greek should come
and destroy the Persians. {Da 8:7,20,21 11:13} He did not doubt but that he was
the one in the prophecy. After this he dismissed the company. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 5. (327-337) 6:473-477}
1816. The next day, he assembled the people and asked them what they wanted
from him. They replied they wanted nothing but that they might live according
to the laws of their own country, and that every seventh year (in the sabbatical
year when there was no harvest) they might be exempt from paying any tribute.
He granted all they asked. When they asked further that he would allow the Jews
who lived in the countries of Babylon and Media to live according to their own
rites and laws, he answered that he would grant that request as soon as he had
taken those countries, too. When he told them that if any of them would follow
him in his wars they could use their own rites wherever they went, many enlisted
to serve him. When he had settled everything in Jerusalem, he left and went to
all the other cities of that country and was joyfully received everywhere.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 6. (338,339) 6:479}
1817. One of Alexander's captains, Calas, went and recaptured Paphlagonia,
which had defected from Alexander after the battle at Issus. After they had
defeated Darius' captain Hydarnes, Alexander's captain, Antigonus, took Lycaonia
and his other captain, Balacrus, captured the city of Miletus. {*Curtius, l.
4. c. 5. s. 13. 1:211}
1818. Alexander had given the government of Cilicia to Socrates and ordered
Philotas, the son of Parmenion, to govern the country around Tyre. [L302]
Coelosyria was committed to Andromachus by Parmenion, who wanted to follow
Alexander in the war. Alexander commanded Hephaestion to sail along the coast
of Phoenicia with the fleet, while he himself went with his whole army to Gaza
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 5. s. 9,10. 1:209} and besieged the garrison of the
Persians for two months. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 48. s. 7,8. 8:257}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 6. (340) 6:479}
1819. According to Josephus, the name of the captain of the garrison at Gaza
was Babemesis, or, according to Curtius and Arrian, Batis, a eunuch. He was
very loyal to his king. He hired some Arabian mercenaries and made a good
provision of food and other things. He defended the walls, which were very
strong, with a small company of men. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s.
3. (320) 6:469} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 25. s. 4. 1:213} {*Curtius,
l. 4. c. 6. s. 7. 1:217}
1820. Alexander received two wounds at this siege. When Batis was taken alive,
Alexander had cords or thongs drawn through his ankles and tied him to a
chariot. He was dragged around the city. Ten thousand Persians and Arabians
died in that siege. The Macedonians also lost some men. {*Curtius, l. 4. c.
6. s. 7-31. 1:217-225} Alexander sold all the women and children there as
slaves. He repopulated the place with inhabitants from the neighbouring parts
and made it the location of his garrison. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 2. c. 27.
s. 7. 1:219} [E215] The following words of Strabo are hard to understand,
unless they refer to an earlier time of that city. He stated: {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 2. s. 30. 7:277}
"Gaza, which was formerly a glorious city, was destroyed by Alexander and
remained desolate."
1821. We will say that this referred to a later Gaza, built in another place,
which Jerome affirmed in this way: {Jerome, De Locis Hebraicis}
"The question is, how in one of the prophets it is said, And Gaza shall be
turned into an everlasting heap and it is answered as follows. There are
scarcely any signs of the old city left to be seen. The present city of Gaza
was built in another place, instead of in the location of the one which was
destroyed."
1822. When Alexander had done what he wanted to do to Gaza, he sent Amyntas,
the son of Andremon, to Macedonia with three ships, to bring him the best of the
youth for his army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 49. s. 1. 8:259} {*Curtius,
l. 4. c. 6. s. 30. 1:225}
3673a AM, 4382 JP, 332 BC
1823. From Gaza, Alexander marched into Egypt, as he had previously planned to
do. Seven days after he left Gaza, he came to a place which he named
Alexander's Camp. From there he came to the city of Pelusium. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 1. s. 1. 1:223} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 7. s. 1-3.
1:225,227} He did not go back again from Gaza to Jerusalem, as Josephus
incorrectly stated. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 4. (325) 6:471}
1824. A large number of the Egyptians, who were expecting Alexander's arrival,
assembled at Pelusium. They had been offended by the Persians' pride, avarice,
and sacrilege, and eagerly welcomed the arrival of the Macedonians. {*Curtius,
l. 4. c. 7. s. 1. 1:225} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 49. s. 1. 8:259}
1825. Alexander left a garrison in Pelusium and ordered his ships to go up the
river to Memphis. He marched by land to Heliopolis, having the Nile River on
his right all the way. Wherever he went, all the cities opened their gates to
him. He passed the desert of Egypt and came at last to Heliopolis. After
crossing the river, he marched toward Memphis. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
1. s. 1-3. 1:223} The Persians there did not hinder his coming when they saw
the general defection of the Egyptians from them. When he was not far from
Memphis, he was met by Astraces, who commanded the garrison for Darius. He gave
Alexander eight hundred talents and all his master's wardrobe. {*Curtius, l.
4. c. 7. s. 4,5. 1:227} However, Curtius wrote the name Astraces instead of
Mazaces, as he had written in chapter four of the same book. {*Curtius, l. 4.
c. 7. s. 4. 1:226 (variant reading)} [L303] Likewise Arrian, in the
beginning of his third book, stated that Mazaces, a Persian whom Darius had made
governor of Egypt, received Alexander into that province and its cities in a
very friendly way. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 1. s. 1,2. 1:223}
1826. Alexander offered his sacrifices at Memphis and there held athletic and
musical games. The most expert and skilful men of all Greece entered these
games to try to win the prizes. He came down the river to the sea, where he put
his targeteers, archers, Agrians and the cavalry aboard the ships of his
confederates and sailed with them to Canopus. There he picked a choice site for
the city of Alexandria, between the Egyptian Sea and the Lake of Mareotis, or
Maria. He named the future city after himself. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
1. s. 4,5. 1:223,225} In that section of the town beside the sea and the
shipping docks, there was a quarter called Rhacotes where stood a temple that
had previously been the location of an ancient shrine dedicated to Serapis and
Isis. Rhacotes was the previous name of the location of Alexandria. {*Strabo,
l. 17. c. 1. s. 6-11. 8:23-47} {*Pausanias, Elis I, l. 5. c. 21. s.
12. 2:509} {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 4. c. 84. 3:167} {*Pliny, l. 5. c.
11. (62) 2:267}
1827. Alexandria was not built in the seventh year, as Eusebius {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:205} and from him, Cyril of Alexandria {Cyril, Against
Julian, l. 1.} and Cedrenus stated, but in the fifth year of Alexander's reign,
and in the very first year of the 112th Olympiad, according to Solinus.
{Solinus, c. 32.} Diodorus incorrectly stated in the second year and Eusebius
wrongly stated in the third year. For we can determine precisely the exact time
when Alexandria was built, from the interval of time between the taking of Tyre
and that great battle at Gaugamela, and his deeds in that interim. From this,
and from the fifth year of Darius and the month of Thoth in the 417th year of
Nabonassar's account, which was the 14th day of September, according to our
Julian calendar, or the first year of the 112th Olympiad, Ptolemy of Alexandria
deduced the years of Alexander, whom he, in the Preface of his Pstoceirwn
Kymonwn (whereof this is one), after the fashion of all Alexandrians, called his
founder.
1828. Deinocrates was the man who designed and laid out the streets of this
city. (Plutarch called him Stasicrates, and other writers called him
Deinocrates, or Cheirocrates. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 72.
7:425,427} {*Plutarch, Fortune of Alexander, l. 2. c. 2. 4:433}) Deinocrates
was that famous architect whose skill and industry the Ephesians used in the
rebuilding of their temple of Diana. For the excellency of his workmanship
shown in the temple, he deserved a place of honour in the annals of the world
second only to the original builders of the temple. Strabo called the architect
Cheirocrates. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 23. 6:227} {*Valerius Maximus, l.
1. c. 4. ext. 1. 1:55} {*Vitruvius, l. 2. c. 0. s. 1. 1:73} {*Pliny,
l. 5. c. 11. (62) 2:267} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 37. (126) 2:591} {Solinus, c.
32,40.} {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 22. c. 16. s. 7. 2:299}
3673b AM, 4383 JP, 331 BC
1829. Alexander got them started and wanted them to work quickly. [E216] He
journeyed to the temple of Zeus Ammon, having an ambition to go there because he
had been told that Perseus and Hercules had been there. {*Plutarch, Alexander,
l. 1. c. 26. s. 6. 7:301} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 3. s. 1.
1:229} This was affirmed by Callisthenes in the history of Alexander which he
wrote, and he was cited by Strabo. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 43.
8:115,117}
1830. Therefore, he followed the coastline as far as Paraetonium, finding some
fresh water along the way, two hundred miles from Alexandria, according to
Aristobulus. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 3. s. 3. 1:229}
1831. He was met about halfway by envoys from the Cyrenians. They presented
him with a crown and other costly gifts, among which were three hundred horses
trained for war and five chariots, each drawn by four horses. These were the
best horses that could be found. He accepted these gifts and made a league of
friendship with the Cyrenians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 49. s. 3. 8:259}
1832. He passed through the dry country from Paraetonium to Mesogabas, where
the temple of Ammon was. He wandered over the plains while the hot wind blew
from the south. Callisthenes claimed that he was saved from death partly by a
shower of rain, which settled the sand, and partly by a flock of ravens, which
led him on the way. [L304] He further added this fable to the story, that
often, when the men wandered out of the way in the dark, the ravens would call
them back into the right way again with their cawing. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1.
s. 43. 8:115,117} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 27. 7:303}
1833. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, stated that there were two serpents which went
before the company, making a noise, and which led them to and from the temple
again. However, Aristobulus, with whom most writers agree, stated that there
were two ravens which persisted in flying before the army, and that these were
Alexander's guides on the way there. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 3. s.
5,6. 1:231}
1834. Having come to Bitter Lake, he went on about twelve miles farther and
passed by the Cities of Ammon. After a day's journey from there, they came to
Zeus Ammon's grove and the temple. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 49. s. 6.
8:261}
1835. There the priests of the temple had been secretly bribed beforehand and
instructed what to say. As soon as Alexander approached to enter through the
temple doors, they all came and greeted him by the name of Ammon's son.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 11.} So we learn from this event that the god,
although deaf and dumb, had the power, through the priests, to lie as they
wished. Anyone who came to consult the oracle could be told exactly what he
wanted to hear. {Orosius, l. 3. c. 16.}
1836. Callisthenes stated that the priests permitted no one but Alexander to
come into the temple in his ordinary attire. All the rest were required to
change their clothes and to hear the oracle from the outside. The oracle told
Alexander various things by signs and vague language, telling him plainly,
however, that he was Zeus' son. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 43. 8:115} Yet
Alexander, in a letter to his mother Olympias, said that he had received many
secret oracles there, which he would tell her alone on his return. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 27. s. 5. 7:305}
1837. In the same letter, or in some other letter to his mother (which I am
sure was what Tertullian meant {*Tertullian, De Pallio, l. 1. c. 3. 4:8}),
Alexander said that he had been told by Leon, a principal priest among the
Egyptians, that those who were now gods, had formerly been men. In worshipping
them, the countries preserved the memory of their kings and ancestors.
{*Augustine, City of God, l. 8. c. 5. 2:147,148} {*Augustine, City of God,
l. 8. c. 27. 2:167} {De Consens. Evangelist, l. 1. c. 23.} {Minucius
Felix, Octavius} {Cyprian, De Idolor. Vanitate.} At the beginning of the letter
in which he had written this to his mother, he opened with:
"Alexander the king, the son of Zeus Ammon, sends greetings to his mother
Olympias."
1838. She, in her answer, very wittily replied (from Marcus Varro, in a book of
his entitled Orestes, or On Madness {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 13. c.
4. s. 1,2. 2:423}):
"Now, my good son, I pray thee, be content and do not accuse me, nor lay
anything to my charge before Hera. For she will do me some shrewd turn, if you
in your letters make me a step-queen to her."
1839. Alexander was well pleased at having received such an answer, as he
admitted by his own confession. He returned from there to Egypt by the same way
he had come, according to Aristobulus. Ptolemy said he took a shorter way to
Memphis. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 4. s. 5. 1:233}
1840. When he arrived at Memphis, he found that Antipater had sent four hundred
Greek mercenaries under the command of Menoetas, the son of Hegesander and about
five hundred cavalry from Thrace led by Asclepiodorus. At Memphis, Alexander
sacrificed to Zeus and made oblations to him with his entire army, who were all
in their complete armour. They held athletic and musical games. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 5. s. 1,2. 1:233}
1841. Ordering the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and cities to leave
their dwellings, he moved them into Alexandria and populated that place with a
large number of inhabitants. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 8. s. 5. 1:239} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 11. c. 11.} [E217] He also moved a colony of the Jews there, whose
virtue and good behaviour he greatly approved of, deeming them worthy of special
trust. [L305] As a reward for their service in the war, he made them free
citizens and gave them equal honours and privileges with the Greeks. The group
that was there went by the name of Alexandrians as well as by the name of
Macedonians. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 18. s. 7. (487) 2:513}
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 4. (42) 1:309}
1842. He also gave lands to Sanaballetes' soldiers, whom he ordered to follow
him inland into the country of Egypt as far as Thebes, entrusting them with the
keeping of that territory in his absence. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11. c. 8.
s. 6. (345) 6:481}
1843. Alexander had a burning desire to go and visit the inner and more remote
parts of Egypt and Ethiopia, but his present war with Darius forced him to delay
such expeditions. He made Aeschylus and Peucestes, the Macedonian, governors of
Egypt, with an army of four thousand men, and ordered Polemon to defend the
mouths of the Nile River with thirty ships. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 8. s. 3,4.
1:237} Arrian stated that he made Peucestes, the son of Macatetus, and Balacrus,
the son of Amyntas, commanders of the foot soldiers whom he left there. He made
Polemon, the son of Theramenes, admiral of the fleet to defend the mouths of the
Nile River and all the sea lying adjacent to Egypt. The civil government of the
whole country he committed to Doloaspis, a native of Egypt, according to Arrian.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 5. s. 2-7. 1:233-237}
1844. Curtius further stated that he left Apollonius to govern Africa, which
bordered on Egypt, and Cleomenes to gather the tribute from both Africa and
Egypt. To much the same end, Arrian stated that he left Apollonius, the son of
Charinus, to govern Libya, which bordered on Egypt to the west. He appointed
Cleomenes to take care of Arabia on the east from the city called Heroonpolis,
which bordered on Arabia Petra. He was ordered to receive all tribute. The
judicial administration he committed to the governors and justices of the
country, as had been the practice before. Aristotle stated that Cleomenes of
Alexandria was the governor of Egypt. {Aristotle, Oeconomics, l. 2.} He is the
same person of whom Arrian said he was Cleomenes from Naucratis. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 5. s. 4. 1:235} Freinshemius, who was very good at
finding errors, said that in the one instance it should be of the Nauacritians,
or Naucratites, and in the other, commander of Alexandria in Egypt. The result
of this is that Cleomenes, governor of Alexandria, was a native of Naucratis,
which was an ancient colony established in Egypt by the Milesians. He was in
charge of the administration and of populating this city. We may in part gather
this from Aristotle, who said that Alexander ordered him to populate a city near
Pharos. (Alexandria is only a mile by sea from there.) He was to redirect all
the trade from Canopus to Alexandria. Justin stated that Alexander committed
the building of Alexandria to Cleomenes. {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 4.} It
may be added that Alexander wrote to him eight years later, ordering him to
build two temples to the deceased Hephaestion, one in Alexandria and the other
in Pharos. Also, all bills of lading and other contracts of merchants were to
have the name of Hephaestion inscribed on them, according to Arrian, who added
further that this Cleomenes was an extremely wicked man and one who did the
Egyptians a thousand injustices. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 23. s. 6,7.
2:285}
1845. When Alexander had gone down the Nile, Hector, a son of Parmenion, who
was in the flower of his youth and a great favourite of Alexander, desired to
catch up to him. He jumped into a little boat and others jumped in also, with
the result that the overloaded boat sank and Hector drowned. [L306] Alexander
was very grieved by the loss and when the body was recovered, he gave it a
splendid funeral. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 8. s. 7-9. 1:239}
1846. Shortly after this, Alexander received news that Andromachus had been
burned alive by the inhabitants of Samaria. He immediately marched off, as
quickly as he could, to exact vengeance on them. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 8. s.
9. 1:239}
3673c AM, 4383 JP, 331 BC
1847. At the beginning of spring, Alexander made bridges over the Nile River
and its channels around Memphis. From there, he went toward Phoenicia.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 6. s. 1. 1:237} Along the way, the men who
had murdered Andromachus were delivered into his hands and executed, while
Memnon was sent to replace Andromachus. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 8. s. 11.
1:241} When Alexander had captured the city of Samaria, he gave it to his
Macedonians, to be inhabited by them. (Eusebius {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:205} and Cedrenus derived it from him.) However, the territory belonging to it
he gave to the Jews, for their loyalty to him. They did not pay him any tribute
for it, according to Josephus, who based this on Hecataeus of Abdera.
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 4. (43) 1:309} The temple at Mount Gerizim was
spared. [E218] If any at Jerusalem were in trouble for eating forbidden meats,
breaching the Sabbath or crimes of a similar nature, they immediately defected
to the Shechemites and said that they had been falsely accused. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 11. c. 8. s. 2. (312) 6:465} Similar quarrels between the Jews
and Samaritans happened not only there, but at Alexandria in Egypt as well,
because of the different customs and rites used in the two temples. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 11. c. 2. s. 1. (19) 6:323} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 3.
s. 4. (74-76) 7:263}
1848. When Alexander reached Tyre, he met up with his fleet, which he had sent
there ahead of him. He sacrificed to Hercules a second time, and held athletic
and musical games, {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 6. s. 2. 1:237} for which
the kings of Cyprus had the duty of providing suitable actors. Nicocreon, king
of Salamis, sent Thessalus, a man very highly regarded by Alexander.
Pasicrates, king of Soli, sent Athenodorus, who took the prize over all by a
majority decision. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 29. s. 1,3. 7:309}
These kings of Cyprus had long before defected from Darius to Alexander and had
sent him ships when he besieged Tyre. From that time on, he always treated them
with the honour they deserved. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 8. s. 14. 1:241}
Concerning Nicocreon, it was also said that Anaxarchus of Abdera, the
philosopher, said to Alexander while sitting at supper, that there was a certain
Persian governor's head which had previously been served there. For having said
this, Nicocreon later had him put to a most miserable death, after Alexander had
died. {*Diogenes Laertius, Anaxarchus, l. 9. c. 10. (58,59) 2:471,473}
1849. Alexander made Coeranus, a Beroean, treasurer of Phoenicia, to gather his
tribute there. In Asia, he had Philoxenus do the same in the regions of Asia on
this east side of the Taurus Mountains. He put Harpalus into the position of
being in charge of the money in his own treasury, and sent Menander, one of his
Companion Cavalry, into Lydia to be the governor there, putting Clearchus into
Menander's former job of overseeing the mercenaries. He replaced Arimmass with
Asclepiodorus, the son of Eunicus, as governor of Syria. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
3. c. 6. s. 4-8. 1:239,241}
1850. When these tasks had been completed, Alexander made an offering at
Hercules' shrine of a large vessel of gold, containing thirty dishes. Being now
anxious to get after Darius, he marched on toward the Euphrates River.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 8. s. 16. 1:243}
1851. When news reached Darius that Alexander would follow him wherever he
went, he ordered all countries, no matter how far away they were, to come to him
at Babylon. [L307] His army was now again grown to about half the size it had
been at Issus in Cilicia, with many lacking weapons, which were normally
provided for them. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 9. s. 3. 1:243} He was said to
have forty-five thousand cavalry and two hundred thousand foot soldiers.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 12. s. 13. 1:275} At Issus, his forces in both these
categories had far exceeded these in number. It is certain that the number
found in Justin and in Orosius is short of what it really was, four hundred or
four hundred and four thousand foot soldiers and a hundred thousand cavalry.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 12.} {Orosius, l. 3. c. 17.} Plutarch said
there were ten million men, {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 31. s. 1.
7:315} and in another work he said a hundred million. {*Plutarch, Sayings of
Kings and Commanders (180c) 3:59} (These errors in the numbers of the men do not
exist in the current editions of Plutarch by Loeb. Editor.) It should be a
million men. Diodorus was in general agreement with this. He said there were
eight hundred thousand foot soldiers and two hundred thousand cavalry. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 53. s. 3. 8:271} Arrian attributed to the foot soldiers
the same number as Plutarch did to the sum of both cavalry and foot soldiers.
Arrian's figure was a million men, to which he added forty thousand cavalry.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 8. s. 6. 1:249} Though some, instead of forty
thousand, wrote four hundred thousand cavalry, so that the number of cavalry
might be somewhat more proportional to the number of the foot soldiers, and
also, so that the number of cavalry here might not seem so very much smaller
than it had been at Issus. Curtius, however, said it was far in excess of it.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 9. s. 3. 1:243} In addition, Darius had two hundred
scythe-bearing chariots and fifteen elephants which the Indians had brought him.
On the other side, Alexander's army did not have more than seven thousand
cavalry and forty thousand foot soldiers in it. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
8. s. 6. 1:249} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 12. s. 5. 1:263}
1852. With this vast army, Darius moved from Babylon to Nineveh. He had the
Tigris River on his left hand and the Euphrates on his right, while his army
filled all that large plain of Mesopotamia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 53. s.
3,4. 8:271,273} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 9. s. 11-15. 1:247,249} When they had
crossed the Tigris River, he heard that the enemy was not far away. He sent
Satropates, leader of the Persian cavalry, with a thousand cavalry to hinder the
approach of the enemy. He had ordered Mazaeus to lay waste and burn all the
lands through which Alexander was to pass. Darius thought that lack of supplies
might defeat Alexander, since he had nothing else but the spoil of the country
for supplies. Darius marched to Arabela and leaving his baggage there, marched
forward as far as the Lycus River, where he made a bridge. When he and his army
had crossed over it in five days, they marched ten miles to the Bumolus River.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 9. s. 6-10. 1:245,247} Arrian said that he pitched his
camp at Gaugamela by the Bumolus River, since he called the place, Bumodus.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 11. s. 6. 2:133} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3.
c. 8. s. 7. 1:249} It was a level field, because Darius ordered any hilly or
uneven ground there to be made level, to allow his cavalry a freer range to
attack, while the whole area would also be more open to his view. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 8. s. 7. 1:249} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 9. s. 10.
1:247} [E219]
3673d AM, 4383 JP, 331 BC
1853. Alexander advanced to Thapsacus, a large city in Syria, in the month of
Hekatombaion, when Aristophanes was archon at Athens. That was in the second
year of the 112th Olympiad, at the very beginning of that year. Here the
Euphrates River had a ford where Alexander found two bridges already
constructed. They were not completely finished, nor did they quite reach to the
other bank. Mazaeus had been sent by Darius to secure that crossing, but as
soon as Mazaeus heard that Alexander was coming, he fled with all his army.
[L308] When he was gone, Alexander quickly completed the bridges to the other
side of the river and his army crossed over and then marched toward Babylon,
leaving the Euphrates River and the mountains of Armenia on their left hand.
They did not take the shortest route there, as the longer route was more
suitable for provisions for his army and was cooler and more comfortable for the
march. On the way, he intercepted some scouts from Darius, who informed him
that Darius, with all his army, was on the bank of the Tigris River to prevent
him from crossing. His forces were now far more numerous than when he had
fought with Alexander in Cilicia. When Alexander reached the river, he did not
find Darius or anyone else. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 7. s. 1-5.
1:241-245}
1854. Alexander crossed the Tigris River. Although there was no one there to
hinder him, it was difficult and dangerous to cross, because the river ran quite
swiftly there. He crossed safely, however, and lost nothing except a small
quantity of his baggage. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 7. s. 5. 1:243,254}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 55. s. 3-6. 8:277,279} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 9.
s. 14-16. 1:249} Eratosthenes calculated it to be about three hundred miles
from Thapsacus, where they had crossed the Euphrates, to the place where he
crossed the Tigris. {*Strabo, l. 2. c. 1. s. 24. 1:301} {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 1. s. 22. 7:231}
1855. Alexander broke camp at the bank of the Tigris River and led his army
through the country of Assyria. On his left hand were the mountains of Sogdiana
and on the right, the Tigris River. On the fourth day after Alexander had
crossed the Tigris River, Mazaeus attacked him with a thousand cavalry.
Alexander sent Aristo, who commanded the cavalry of Paeonia, to check the
attack. Aristo singled out Satropates, the commander of the attacking troops,
and ran a spear through his throat. Although wounded, he fled away and Aristo
chased him through the middle of the enemies' troops. Knocking him off his
horse, Aristo decapitated him and then brought his head and threw it down at
Alexander's feet. He said:
"Sir, in our country, such a present used to be rewarded with a cup of gold."
1856. Alexander smiled and replied: {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 39. s.
1. 7:339} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 7. s. 1,2. 1:241,243} {*Curtius,
l. 4. c. 9. s. 23,25. 1:251}
"Yes, with an empty one, but I will give you one full of wine."
1857. Alexander camped there for two days, then ordered the troops to move on
the following day. That night there was an eclipse of the moon in the first
watch of the night. At first the moon was dimmed, then soon after, its entire
face turned a blood-like colour. The army, in considering the upcoming battle,
were first troubled and later terrified at this sight. {*Curtius, l. 4. c.
10. s. 1,2. 1:253} Pliny correctly noted that: {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 72.
(180) 1:313}
"The moon was eclipsed at Arbela, in the second hour of the night, and was then
seen rising in Sicily."
1858. Ptolemy was incorrect when he stated that: {Ptolemy, Geography, l. 1.
c. 4.}
"The moon was eclipsed in the fifth hour of the night and was seen at Carthage
at the second hour of the night."
1859. Plutarch correctly stated that the eclipse happened in the month of
Boedromion, about the beginning of the Great Mysteries at Athens. That was at
the full moon in the very middle of that month, which was the time of the month
when the Great Mysteries were set to begin and then they continued to be
celebrated for a few days thereafter. The astronomical account showed that the
eclipse happened on the 20th day of our September. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 31. s. 3,4. 7:317}
1860. To encourage his soldiers, who were distressed at this sight, Alexander
consulted the Egyptian soothsayers he had with him. Their answer was that the
sun represented Greece, and the moon, Persia. Therefore, as often as the moon
was eclipsed, it portended the ruin of those countries which it represented.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 10. s. 3-7. 1:255} Alexander at once offered
sacrifices to the sun, the moon and the earth, because all three must be in
correct position for an eclipse of the moon. [L309] Aristander, who was
Alexander's soothsayer, declared publicly that the eclipse portended nothing but
good and joyous success to Alexander and the Macedonians. He said that the
battle should therefore be fought in that very month, and that the sacrifices
which had been offered predicted a victory for Alexander. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 3. c. 7. s. 6. 1:245}
1861. When Alexander knew the soldiers were now very confident of victory, he
ordered them to march on the second watch of the next night. They had the
Tigris River on the right hand and the Gordian Mountains on the left. The next
morning, Alexander, with a small troop, attacked a thousand Persian scouts.
[E220] Some they killed and the rest he took prisoner. He then sent some of his
own company on to discover what was ahead. He also wanted them to put out the
fires in the towns and villages which the inhabitants had set. As they had fled
from the enemy, they had set fire to the barns and stacks of grain, but although
the tops were burned, the fire had not consumed the piles. Hence the
Macedonians saved a large quantity of food for themselves. Mazaeus, who had
previously burned what he pleased, now fled before the rapidly approaching
enemies, leaving much untouched. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 10. s. 8-14.
1:255,257}
1862. Alexander knew that Darius was not more than twenty miles away. Since he
had plenty of provisions for his troops, he stayed there another four days.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 10. s. 14,15. 1:257}
3674a AM, 4383 JP, 331 BC
1863. During this time, Alexander intercepted certain letters sent from Darius,
trying to incite the Greeks to murder or otherwise to betray Alexander.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 10. s. 16. 1:257}
1864. Statira, the wife of Darius, was tired of this long trip and through
distress and worry, aborted the child she was carrying and died. Alexander was
deeply grieved by this, and prepared a very elaborate and costly funeral for
her. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 10. s. 18-24. 1:259} {Justin, Trogus, l. 11.
c. 12.} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 30. s. 1. 7:311} {*Plutarch,
Fortune of Alexander, l. 2. c. 6. 4:451}
1865. While others were busy with the funeral, Tyrus or Tyriotes, a eunuch,
stole away and carried the news of her death to Darius, who was at first deeply
perplexed and troubled at it, but when he learned of the respect Alexander had
always had for her and his chaste behaviour toward her, he lifted up his hands
to heaven and prayed to the gods. He said that, if it were decreed and there
was no option left for him, he wished that no one should sit on the throne of
Cyrus other than an enemy as just and a conqueror as merciful as Alexander.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 10. s. 25-28. 1:259,261} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1.
c. 30. 7:311-315}
1866. Darius was so overcome with Alexander's great clemency and chastity
toward his wife that he again tried to make peace with Alexander. He sent ten
of his leading men to offer Alexander new conditions. He would pay thirty
thousand talents for the ransom of his mother and two daughters. He also
offered Alexander his other daughter Septina, or Statipna or Sartina or Statira,
for a wife. (Various editions of Curtius used all these variations.) Everything
lying between the Hellespont and the Euphrates he would give as a dowry.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 11. s. 1-6. 1:263,265} Alexander replied that he had
always found the money of Darius to be soliciting, sometimes his soldiers to
revolt from him, or sometimes his nearest friends to murder him. Therefore, he
was resolved to pursue him to the death, no longer as a noble enemy, but as a
malefactor and a poisoning murderer. Whatever Darius had already lost, or what
still remained in his hands, was the reward of war. Further, war would set the
bounds between their two kingdoms, and each would have what tomorrow's fortune
would give. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 11. s. 16-22. 1:269} {Justin, Trogus, l.
11. c. 12.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 54. 8:273-277} [L310]
1867. The envoys returned and told Darius that he must fight, so he promptly
sent Mazaeus ahead of him with three thousand cavalry to hold the passes through
which the enemy would come. With the rest, he marched in good battle array for
about two thousand yards and there made a stand, expecting the enemy to attack
him there. Alexander left all his luggage within his camp and setting a
reasonable guard over it, he advanced to meet the enemy. {*Curtius, l. 4. c.
12. s. 1-5. 1:271}
1868. At that very instant, a sudden panic gripped Alexander's army. The sky,
since it was the summer season, seemed to sparkle and radiate like fire. They
imagined that they saw flames of fire issuing from Darius' camp. With the sound
of trumpets, Alexander signified to them that all was well. Ordering those that
stood next to the standard in every company to lay down their weapons at their
feet, he told them to pass the word along to those next to them, to do likewise.
When this had been done, Alexander showed them that there was no cause for fear
and that the enemy was still a long way off. They finally recovered their
courage and picked up their weapons again. For extra safety, Alexander decided
to make his stand there and to fortify his camp. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 12. s.
14-17. 1:275} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4.}
1869. Alexander assembled all his forces by night and began to march about the
second watch, planning to fight as soon as it was day. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
3. c. 9. s. 2. 1:249}
1870. Mazaeus had taken up his stand with a choice company of cavalry on the
rise of a hill, to enable him to get a better view of the enemy. The next day
he left the place and returned to Darius. No sooner had he gone, than the
Macedonians captured it. They wanted the advantage of high ground, as well as a
good vantage point from which to view the enemy forces in the plain. {*Curtius,
l. 4. c. 12. s. 18-19. 1:277} [E221]
1871. Alexander commanded his mercenaries from Paeonia to march in front. He
drew his phalanx of Macedonians into two wings, both flanked with cavalry.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 12. s. 22,23. 1:277} The two camps were about eight
miles apart when the army of Alexander came to some hills from where they could
view the enemy. When he consulted his captains as to whether the main battle
should be fought closer to the enemy, or whether they should make a stand right
there until he would be able to get a better view of the ground where they were
to fight, most of them favoured the former option, but Parmenion favoured the
latter, with which Alexander agreed. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 9. s.
3,4. 1:251} Therefore, having resolved to camp on one of the hills there, he
immediately ordered the troops to build a camp at that spot, which was quickly
accomplished, while he went into his own pavilion and from there viewed the army
of the enemy in the plain below. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 12. s. 24. 1:277}
1872. Meanwhile, the horse boys, and other rag-tag boys who followed the camp,
started fighting among themselves for fun, calling the captain of the one side
Alexander and the captain of the other, Darius. When Alexander heard this, he
stopped the others from fighting and had the two captains fight between
themselves. Alexander helped captain Alexander on with his own armour, and
Philotas gave captain Darius some armour. All the army watched as these two
fought, believing it foreshadowed the outcome of the battle. It so happened
that he who played Alexander defeated the one who played Darius. According to
Eratosthenes, he was given a reward of twelve townships and the honour of
wearing a Persian garment, which he was also given. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 31. s. 1,2. 7:315,317}
1873. Alexander's friends now came to him and complained that the soldiers were
planning in their tents to take all the spoil for themselves and to put nothing
into his treasury. At this, Alexander smiled and said:
"This is very good news, my friends, that you bring me, for I see by this they
mean to fight and not to flee."
1874. Many of the common soldiers came to him to encourage him not to be afraid
of the number of his enemies, since these would not be able to endure the very
first noise or shout from them. [L311] Here, grason does not signify the smell
of them, or of their arm-pits, as Xylander translated it. (The Greek text by
Loeb translated this as the very smell of goat that clings to us. Editor.)
{*Plutarch, Sayings of Kings and Commanders (180c) 3:59}
1875. The eleventh night after the eclipse of the moon, the two armies were
stationed within sight of each other. Darius kept his men in their arms all
night and reviewed them all by torch light, so that that entire plain lying
between the Niphates and the Gordian Mountains shone with torches. While his
army was sleeping, Alexander was up with his soothsayer Aristander before his
pavilion, engaged in certain mysterious and secret rites and ceremonies, and
offering a sacrifice to the god Fear. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 31.
s. 4. 7:317} Curtius stated:
"Aristander, in a white robe, carrying bunches of vervain in his hand and his
head covered, mumbled certain prayers which the king was to say after him, to
propitiate Zeus and Minerva Victoria."
1876. Parmenion and his other friends advised him to attack Darius in the dead
of night and thereby conceal from his soldiers the terror of the battle, because
he was so heavily out-numbered. He replied that he had not come there to steal
a victory. On the contrary, Darius feared that he might be attacked in the
night. He knew his camp was not exceptionally well fortified. Therefore, he
kept his men up all night in arms, so that lack of sleep was the main reason his
men lost the battle on the following day. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c.
31. s. 4-8. 7:317,319} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 13. s. 1-16. 1:279-283}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 10. s. 1-4. 1:253,255}
1877. Alexander was troubled in his mind about what might happen the next day,
and did not sleep at all that night, until the early hours of the morning.
Then, he fell into so deep a sleep that when it was fully day, they could not
wake him. When his friends asked him what had made him sleep so soundly, he
answered as follows. It was Darius, he said, who by gathering all his forces
into one place, had relieved him of the trouble of having to think how to follow
him into various other countries. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 56. 8:279,281}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 13.} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 13. s. 16,17.
1:283} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 32. s. 1,2. 7:319}
1878. Justin said that this battle was fought by Alexander at the very end of
the fifth year and in the beginning of the sixth year of his reign, {Justin,
Trogus, l. 11. c. 14.} although Jerome, in commenting on Daniel, {Da 11}
disagreed, and stated that he overcame and killed Darius in the seventh year of
his reign. Arrian said this battle was fought when Aristophanes was archon at
Athens, in the month of Pyanopsion. The prophecy of Aristander was fulfilled in
which he said that in that very month when the moon was eclipsed, Alexander
should fight and defeat Darius. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 15. s. 7.
1:273} Both Arrian and Diodorus stated that the battle was fought in the year
when Aristophanes was archon at Athens. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 62. s. 1.
8:295} Dionysius Halicarnassus placed the battle in the following year, when
Aristophon was archon at Athens. {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, First Letter to
Ammaeus, l. 1. (12) 2:341} Aristander was correct when he foretold that
Alexander would gain that great victory over Darius in that very month. [E222]
However, Arrian mistook one month for another and said that it was in the month
of Pyanopsion, while the astronomical calculations show that the eclipse was in
the month of Boedromion. On the eleventh day after the eclipse, Alexander
fought that battle. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 31. s. 4. 7:317}
Plutarch stated that he had that victory on the fifth day of the last quarter of
Boedromion, which is the twenty-fifth day of Boedromion. This month had
thirty-one days and the date of the victory corresponded to October 1. (Loeb
text has twenty-sixth day. Editor.) {*Plutarch, Camillus, l. 1. c. 19. s.
3. 2:139} [L312]
1879. Ptolemy Lagus and Aristobulus, who were both in the battle, stated that
this battle was fought at Gaugamela, near the Bumolus River. {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 1. s. 3. 7:195,197} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 31. s. 3.
7:317} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 11. s. 4-6. 2:133} {*Ammianus
Marcellinus, l. 23. c. 6. s. 22. 2:361} Zonaras wrote it as Gausamela.
Gaugamela was only a small country village. The sound of the name is harsh on
the ear. According to Strabo and Plutarch, it meant the house of a camel, or
rather, the body of a camel, for this is what the word almg-wg meant in the
Chaldee and Syriac language. This is why, according to Arrian, it came to pass
that this glorious victory is said to have been won at Arbela, which was a large
and famous city in those parts. Strabo, too, said the same thing: namely, that
it happened this way because the other was the correct location, but Arbela was
a famous city. (This city is mentioned in Hosea. {Ho 10:14}. {See note on
3276b AM. <<616>>}) For this reason, the Macedonians first wrote in
their
writings that the battle was fought and the victory won at Arbela, and then
other historians derived it from them. These two places were not very near to
each other, since there were about ten miles between the Bumolus River, where
Gaugamela was, and the Lycus River, where Arbela stood. {*Curtius, l. 4. c.
9. s. 9,10. 1:245,247} Between:
a) Lycus and the country of Ardria, or Atyria (which was the old name for
Assyria by which Assyria was called, as Diodorus showed in the life of Trajan),
b) the borders of the region of Babylon (in which both Nineveh and Gaugamela
were located) and
c) the Capros River,
1880. at an equal distance from each of these three points, Arbela was located,
as well as the hill Nicatorium (named by Alexander after this victory near it),
which Strabo called Ninus. Hence it appears that, in Ptolemy's fifth table or
map of Asia, Arbela should be located where Gaugamela was. Both places were
located in the same place, according to him. These cities were not on the west
side but on the farther side of the Lycus River. This disagreed with
Eratosthenes, as reported by Strabo, as well as Curtius and Arrian. When all of
these are carefully compared together, we may gather that Gaugamela and Arbela
were not sixty to seventy-five miles from each other, but a little more than
just over ten miles apart. {*Strabo, l. 2. c. 1. s. 38. 1:347} {*Strabo,
l. 16. c. 1. s. 3,4. 7:195,197} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 8. s. 7.
1:249} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 11. s. 5,6. 2:133}
1881. Aristobulus reported that when the fighting was over, a description of
Darius' battle plans was found, as we read in Arrian. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
3. c. 11. s. 3. 1:257} Curtius detailed the battle plans for both armies.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 11. s. 6-13. 1:273,275} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 13. s.
26-32. 1:285-289}
1882. Darius left his chariots, threw away his weapons and mounted his mare,
which had just had a new foal. He fled as fast as she could carry him, just as
he had done at the battle at Issus, as I showed before from Aelian, {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 33. s. 5. 7:325,327} who also stated in the same place
that it was for this very purpose that Darius always had mares which had
recently foaled with him on the battle field. So, with very few in his company,
he came to the Lycus River. When he had crossed it, some advised him to destroy
the bridge after him, to hinder the pursuit of the enemy. When he considered
how many there were behind him who still needed to cross, he replied that he
would rather leave a way for a pursuing enemy, than take one from a fleeing
friend. {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 16. s. 8,9. 1:315} {Justin, Trogus, l. 11.
c. 14.} In Justin's work, we find Cydnus printed instead of Lycus. The Cydnus
River ran through the centre of the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. {See note on
3671d AM. <<1754>>} From this error Orosius, who followed Justin very
closely,
made the mistake of saying that this last great battle between Alexander and
Darius was fought at Tarsus. {Orosius, l. 3. c. 17.} [L313]
1883. When Mazaeus pressed hard against the squadron of the Macedonians,
Parmenion sent to Alexander, who had chased the enemy as far as the Lycus River,
because he wanted Alexander to come and help them. However, when Mazaeus heard
that Darius had left the battle, he also fled. He did not go by the shortest
way to Babylon, but went around over the Tigris River, which was a longer but
safer route, and so he brought what was left of his army safely to Babylon.
{*Curtius, l. 4. c. 15. s. 1-7. 1:313,315}
1884. About midnight, Darius came to Arbela. Many of his nobles and other
soldiers resorted there too. He called them together and said that his purpose
for the present was to leave all to Alexander. [E223] He would flee to the
utmost borders of his kingdom and there begin the war on Alexander afresh.
{*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 3-6. 1:327} He then went at once on horseback
and fled over the mountains of Armenia into Media. With him were a few of his
relatives and his guard. The guard was called Melophori, that is, Apple
Bearers, because they each bore a spear with a golden apple carved on its butt.
Later, two thousand mercenaries under the command of Paron of Phocaea, in Ionia,
and Glaucus of Aetolia joined him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16. s.
1-3. 1:275}
1885. When Alexander was returning from the Lycus River, he had his fiercest
battle yet with the Parthian, Indian and some elite Persian cavalry, losing
sixty men in the encounter. His captains Hephaestion, Coenus, Perdiccas and
Menidas were severely wounded, but recovered. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
15. s. 1,2. 1:271} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 16. s. 32. 1:321}
1886. In the main battle, Alexander lost at most a hundred foot soldiers,
although a thousand horses, of which half were his Companion Cavalry horses,
died from wounds or the rigours of the chase. On the other side, three hundred
thousand were killed and a much larger number taken prisoner. He captured all
the elephants, and all the chariots that were not broken in the battle.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 15. s. 6. 1:273} However, Diodorus stated
that ninety thousand of the Persian cavalry and foot soldiers died. On the
Macedonian side, five hundred were missing and a large number were wounded.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 61. s. 3. 8:293} Curtius said that forty thousand
Persians and less than three hundred Macedonians died. {*Curtius, l. 4. c.
16. s. 26,27. 1:319} The total number killed in the following three battles,
this battle, and those at Issus and at Granicus, over the previous forty or so
months, was given as follows by Orosius: {Orosius, l. 3. c. 17.}
"In such a multitude of calamities, it is incredible, that in the space of three
years in three battles, half a million cavalry and foot soldiers should be
killed. These were from a kingdom and from those countries which a few years
earlier had killed nine hundred thousand men. In addition to these three
battles in the three years, a number of cities in Asia had been destroyed,
together with their inhabitants. All Syria was laid waste. Tyre was destroyed
and all Cilicia depopulated. Cappadocia was subdued and Egypt and Rhodes sold
into slavery. Many provinces bordering on the Taurus Mountains were brought
into subjection. Mount Taurus was forced to receive the yoke which it had so
long striven to avoid."
1887. When Alexander had rested the cavalry he had with him, he set out at
midnight toward Arbela. He understood that Darius had stored all his money and
royal provisions there, and Alexander planned to capture these in a surprise
attack. [L314] The next day he came to Arbela, where he did not find Darius,
but found all his treasure, as well as his shield and bow. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 3. c. 15. s. 5. 1:273} Diodorus said that he found three thousand
talents there; Curtius said four thousand. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 64. s.
3. 8:301} All the wealth of the entire army had been stored in that place.
{*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 10. 1:329}
1888. With this battle, the empire of Persia seemed to have come to an end.
Alexander was proclaimed king of Asia and thereupon offered magnificent
sacrifices to his gods and distributed houses, territories and provinces among
his captains as it pleased him. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 34.
7:327,329}
1889. Because he knew the air would be polluted with the stench of the dead
bodies, he hurried to get away from Arbela. After four days he came to a city
called Mennis, where there was a cavern from which naphtha, or liquid brimstone
or bitumen, poured out. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 64. s. 3. 8:301}
{*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 11-16. 1:329,331}
1890. As Alexander came toward Babylon, Mazaeus, who had fled there from the
battle, humbly met him with his children, who were of age. He surrendered
himself and them, along with the city of Babylon, into his hands. Alexander
received him and his children very graciously. Bagophanes, who kept the citadel
there containing the king's treasure, did not want to be outdone by Mazaeus. He
covered the entire route along which Alexander was to pass with flowers and
garlands. On each side of the path he had placed silver altars, burning
frankincense and exuding all sorts of sweet odours. Alexander was guarded by
armed men. He commanded all the men of Babylon who came to meet him, to follow
behind him after the last of his foot soldiers. Alexander made his entrance
into the city in his chariot, and went up to the king's palace, where he viewed
the king's treasure on the following day. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 22,23.
1:333,335} {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 14.} He stayed thirty-four days and
refreshed and rewarded his soldiers. (This is according to the better copies,
and Orosius agreed with this, as did Curtius. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s.
39. 1:341} {Orsius, l. 3. c. 17.}) His army spent the same number of days
there in relaxation. Diodorus confirmed that they stayed there longer than
thirty days. They liked the spaciousness of the city and the entertainment
which they were given by the residents. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 64. s. 4.
8:301} [E224]
1891. Among those who entertained Alexander in this city were the Chaldeans.
They talked with him concerning the movements of the heavenly bodies and the
appointed changes of the seasons. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 22. 1:333}
The Chaldeans gave Callisthenes, one of Alexander's followers, their
observations of the heavenly bodies for nineteen hundred and three years of
time, dating back to the founding of Babylon, about fourteen years after the
birth of Peleg. Callisthenes later gave these records to Aristotle in Greece.
{See note on 1771 AM. <<50>>}
1892. Alexander, consulting with the Chaldeans, followed their advice and
sacrificed to Belus. He did whatever they asked of him concerning the temple
repairs. Alexander commanded the Babylonians to repair the temples which Xerxes
had previously demolished, and in particular the temple of Belus, that was
located in the heart of the city. He ordered that all the rubbish be carried
out of the temple immediately. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16. s. 4.
1:275} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 17. s. 1-6. 2:261,263} This task was
so great that it took ten thousand men two months to clear the place where the
temple stood. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 5. 7:199} When Alexander
commanded all his army to help with carrying away the rubbish, only the Jews
refused to help in that work. Hecataeus of Abdera, who was with Alexander at
the time, stated that they had gone through many other serious hardships and
many other grievous inconveniences. When Alexander heard their reasons for
refusing, he exempted them from the task. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 22.
(192,193) 1:241} [L315]
1893. Alexander was most amazed by that hole in the earth in Ecbatana or, as
other copies have it, in Batana. (Batana was meant here, which was a city
located near the Euphrates by Stephanus Byzantinus, and not Ecbatana, the city
of Media.) Flames of fire continually shot forth as from a fountain, and an
active spring of naphtha shot out fire not far from that hole. Plutarch
described these effects in more detail. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 35.
7:329-333}
1894. Alexander ordered Bagophanes, who had surrendered the citadel of Babylon,
to follow him. He committed the keeping of the citadel to Agathon, who was from
the town of Pydna, along with seven hundred Macedonians and three hundred
mercenaries. Mazaeus, who had surrendered the city to him, was made governor of
all the province of Babylon. He appointed Apollodorus from Amphipolis and Menes
from Pella, in Macedonia, to be the military commanders in Babylon and all the
other countries to the west, as far as Cilicia. For that purpose, he left two
thousand soldiers with them, with a thousand talents of silver to hire
mercenaries. He appointed Asclepiodorus, the son of Philotas, to collect his
tribute in those parts, and sent Mithrines, who had surrendered the city of
Sardis to him, to be governor in Armenia. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16.
s. 4-5. 1:275,277} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 1. s. 43-45. 1:341,343} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 64. s. 4,5. 8:301,303}
1895. From the money which he found in Babylon, he gave six minas to every
Macedonian cavalry man, five minas to every allied cavalry-man, two minas to
every Macedonian foot soldier, and two months' pay to every mercenary. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 64. s. 5. 8:303} An Attic mina contained a hundred
drachmas. Curtius confused this with the Roman denarius, and said that he gave
every Macedonian cavalry-man six hundred denarii and every foreign cavalry-man
five hundred and every Macedonian foot soldier two hundred denarii. {*Curtius,
l. 5. c. 1. s. 44,45. 1:343}
1896. Alexander was on his way from Babylon when Amyntas, the son of
Andromenes, came to him with a number of men sent to him by Antipater, the
governor of Macedonia. Macedonia had sent five hundred cavalry and six thousand
foot soldiers. Thrace sent six hundred cavalry and thirty-five hundred foot
soldiers. Peloponnesus had sent four thousand foot soldiers and three hundred
and eighty cavalry. This was according to Curtius, but Diodorus has a little
less than a thousand cavalry. With them had come the sons of fifty of the
leading nobles of Macedonia to be Alexander's bodyguards. {*Curtius, l. 5. c.
1. s. 40-42. 1:341} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 65. s. 1. 8:303}
1897. When Alexander had received these troops, he continued on his journey.
After marching six days, he came into a country called Sittacene, but Curtius
called it Satrapene. As this country abounded in provisions, he stayed there
many days, holding contests to test every man's prowess and dexterity in the
feats of chivalry. The eight best men he put in command of a thousand troops
each. He then divided his whole army into a number of brigades. Prior to this,
they had been organized into companies of five hundred, and their captains had
not been chosen by contests of skill. Previously, the cavalry of each country
had served as a national unit of its own, but now he made no distinctions based
on nationality, appointing as commanders those who were most skilled in the war,
no matter what country they were from. He reformed the martial discipline of
his army in many points, with the result that all the troops liked him better
than ever, and were even more ready to serve him as he now continued his
journey. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. s. 1-7. 1:343,345} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 65. s. 2-4. 8:303,305}
1898. As Alexander approached Susa, he was met by the son of the governor of
Susa and a courier with a letter from Philoxenus. Alexander had sent Philoxenus
away to Susa immediately after the battle at Arbela. The letters said that the
inhabitants of Susa had surrendered their city and that all the treasure had
been safely kept for him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16. s. 6. 1:277}
[E225] [L316] The son of Abulites, the governor of the city, told him the same
message. He either did this voluntarily or, according to some, at the orders of
Darius, so that Alexander would be detained there longer, which would give
Darius more time to raise a new army against him. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. s.
8. 1:347} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 65. s. 5. 8:305}
1899. Alexander entertained the young man with much grace and favour. He used
him as his guide to the Idaspes or Choaspes River. This river was a narrow and
turbulent stream. At their meeting, Abulites had given Alexander costly gifts,
including some camels known as dromedaries, which were very swift, and twelve
elephants that Darius had requested to be sent to him from India. {*Curtius, l.
5. c. 2. s. 9,10. 1:347}
1900. The day after he had left Babylon, he came to Susa. After he entered the
city, he received fifty thousand talents of silver, with all of the king's
wardrobe and other belongings. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16. s. 7.
1:277} Curtius said that he received much more silver in bars. {*Curtius, l.
5. c. 2. s. 11,12. 1:347} Diodorus calculated that it was as much as forty
thousand talents of silver and gold in bars and ingots, and nine thousand
talents of gold minted into darics. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 66. s. 1,2.
8:305,307} Plutarch mentioned forty thousand talents in coins and five thousand
talents' worth of purple from Hermione, which, although it had been stored there
a hundred and ninety years earlier, looked as fresh as it had the first day it
was put there. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 36. s. 1,2. 7:333}
1901. Alexander offered sacrifices according to the Macedonian custom and held
a torch relay race and athletic contests. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16.
s. 7. 1:277} He sat down on the royal throne of Persia, which was too high to
accommodate his size comfortably. His feet could not reach down to the step by
which he had mounted the throne. One of the pages took the table which Darius
used to eat his meals and put it under him for a footstool. When Philotas saw
this, he persuaded Alexander to take it as a sign of good luck. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 17. c. 66. s. 3-7. 8:307,309} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. s. 13-15.
1:347,349}
1902. The robes and other purple clothes which were sent to Alexander from
Macedonia along with those who had made them, he sent to Darius' mother
Sisigambis, whom he highly respected and honoured, as a son would with his
mother. With the gift he added the message that, if she liked those clothes,
she would do well to let her young granddaughters learn how to make them. When
he knew that she was quite distressed, he personally went to her and asked to be
forgiven for his ignorance of the Persian manners and comforted her again.
There is nothing that the women of Persia felt to be a greater disgrace than to
work in wool. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. s. 18-22. 1:349,351} So he left her,
as well as Darius' two young daughters and little son Ochus, at Susa, with some
tutors to instruct them in the Greek language. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 67.
s. 1. 8:309}
1903. He continued on to the farthest borders of Persia, leaving Archelaus with
a garrison of three thousand soldiers to keep the city. He appointed Xenophilus
to hold the citadel and Callicrates to gather his tributes, while committing the
civil government of the province of Susa to Abulites, who had surrendered the
city to him. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. s. 16,17. 1:349} He sent Menes back
to the coast and made him governor of Phoenicia, Syria and Cilicia. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 16. s. 10. 1:279}
1904. After a four-day march, Alexander came to the Tigris River (which the
natives called the Pasitigris River), and crossed it with nine thousand foot
soldiers and Agrian archers, three thousand Greek mercenaries and a thousand
Thracians. He went into the country of the Uxians, which bordered on the
province of Susa and extended into the main part of Persia, leaving a narrow
passage between itself and Susa. Medates, the governor of this country, had
married Sisigambis' niece.
1905. Alexander gave Tauron fifteen hundred mercenaries and a thousand Agrians
and ordered him to set out as soon as it was dark. He was to follow his guides
into the secret passes that they would show him and to advance as far as the
city which Alexander planned to besiege. Alexander took the captains of his
troops with him, his targeteers and some eight thousand other soldiers. [L317]
They marched in the third watch of the same night and by daybreak came to those
passes which opened into the Uxian country. When he had gone through them, he
arrived and besieged the city. When the Uxians saw that they were besieged on
all sides, they sent thirty men out from the citadel there to ask for his
pardon, but he refused. At length, when he received letters from Sisigambis, he
not only pardoned her kinsman, Medates, but set at liberty all whom he had taken
prisoner, who had voluntarily submitted to him. He left the city untouched and
all their land free from tribute. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 3. s. 12-15. 1:355}
Arrian, from Ptolemy Lagus' account, claimed that, because of Sisigambis'
request, he left them their lands to till but levied a yearly tribute on them of
a hundred horses, five hundred beasts of burden and thirty thousand of their
flocks and herds. This whole account is related differently by Diodorus,
Curtius and Arrian. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 3. s. 1-15. 1:351-355} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 17. s. 1-6. 1:281,283} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 67.
8:309,311} [E226]
1906. After he subdued the country of the Uxians, Alexander added it to the
province of Susa. He divided up all his forces between himself and Parmenion,
ordering that the baggage, the Thessalian cavalry, the confederates, the foreign
mercenaries and the heavily armed soldiers go with Parmenion through the plain,
while he took the Macedonian foot soldiers and the cavalry of his confederates,
sending the light cavalry ahead, with the squadron of Agrians and the archers,
to reconnoitre. They went by way of the mountains which ran along in a ridge as
far as Persia. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 3. s. 16. 1:357} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 3. c. 18. s. 1,2. 1:283}
1907. On the fifth day (according to Diodorus and Curtius), he came to the
passes of Persia called the Susian Passes. Diodorus stated that Ariobarzanes,
the Persian, held these with twenty-five thousand foot soldiers and three
hundred cavalry, while Arrian stated that he had about four thousand foot
soldiers and seven hundred cavalry. He repulsed Alexander's attack and made him
retreat about four miles from that pass. At last Alexander captured a shepherd
who had a Persian mother, but whose father had been born in Lycia, and he guided
Alexander through narrow and craggy bypaths and over various snow-covered
mountains. Alexander routed the enemy and took control of the pass, but
Ariobarzanes broke through the army of the Macedonians with some forty cavalry
and five thousand foot soldiers, resulting in a large slaughter on both sides.
Ariobarzanes hurried to get into Persepolis, which was the capital city of that
kingdom, but was unable to reach it, because the enemy was at his very heels.
Ariobarzanes attacked them and in this second battle his forces were cut to
pieces by Alexander. The following writers related this more fully in greater
detail. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 3,4. 1:355-371} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
17. s. 1-6. 1:281,283} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 68. 8:311-315}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 37. s. 1,2. 7:335} {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 4.}
1908. As Alexander was marching toward Persepolis, he received letters from
Tiridates, Darius' treasurer there, telling Alexander that when the inhabitants
of Persepolis heard of his coming, they were ready to take the king's treasure
and share it among themselves, so he wanted Alexander to come quickly to prevent
this. Alexander, leaving his foot soldiers to follow on later, travelled all
night with his cavalry and although they were already tired from so long a
journey, by daybreak they reached the Araxes River. After they had constructed
a bridge, they crossed over it along with his army. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 5.
s. 1-4. 1:371} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 69. s. 1. 8:315}
1909. When he came within a quarter of a mile of the city, about some eight
hundred (for so Diodorus, Justin and Suidas stated, in his entry under
Alexander, not four thousand, as Curtius said) poor Greek slaves led by Euctemon
of Cyme in Aeolia, came out as humble suppliants to meet him. These were the
ones whom the former kings of Persia had taken in their wars and made slaves.
They had been cruelly treated; some had their feet, hands, ears or noses cut
off, and all were branded in the face with letters or other marks. These slaves
pleaded with him to promise to do for them now what he had done in Greece, and
to deliver them from the slavery of Persian cruelty. Later, when he offered to
send an escort with them into Greece, they requested that he give them lands in
that place instead. They feared that they would not prove a comfort but an
abomination to their friends and relatives at home. [L318] Alexander approved
their request and gave each of them three thousand drachmas. (Curtius wrote
denarius instead of drachmas.) He gave every man and woman five changes of
clothes, two yoke of oxen, fifty sheep and fifty bushels of wheat. They could
now till and sow the land which Alexander had given them. Furthermore, he
exempted their land from paying any tribute and left some forces to protect them
and to see to it that no man would harm them. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 5. s.
5-24. 1:371-379} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 69. s. 2-9. 8:315-319} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 11. c. 14.}
1910. The next day, he called all the commanders and captains of his army
together to tell them that this city of Persepolis, the metropolis of Persia,
had always been against the Greeks, and that he was therefore resolved to give
all its plunder to the soldiers, with the exception of the king's palace. After
this there was a large slaughter of the prisoners whom they had taken. This he
avowed in writing as his own act, since he considered it to be to his honour
that he commanded that they, as enemies, be butchered in this fashion. Plutarch
said that he found as much treasure there as had been at Susa. Diodorus wrote
that when he came into the citadel, he found gold and silver worth a hundred and
twenty thousand talents, when gold was estimated in terms of silver. (The usual
ratio of gold to silver in antiquity was twelve or fifteen to one.) Curtius
agreed. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 37. s. 2. 7:335} {*Curtius, l.
5. c. 6. s. 1-9. 1:379,381} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 70,71. 8:319,321}
1911. When Alexander first sat down on the royal throne in Persepolis, under a
golden canopy, Demaratus the Corinthian, who was an old friend of his and his
father's, was reported to have fallen, weeping, like an old man, exclaiming that
those Greeks who had died before that day and had not lived to see Alexander
sitting on Darius' throne, had missed a great event. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 37. s. 4. 7:337}
1912. Alexander committed the keeping of the citadel of Persepolis to
Nicarchides with a garrison of three thousand Macedonians. [E227] Tiridates,
who had delivered the treasure to Alexander, retained the same position which he
had held under Darius. Alexander left a large part of his army and baggage
there and committed the keeping of the city to Parmenion and Craterus, while he,
with a thousand cavalry and lightly armed foot soldiers, went to subdue the
inner parts of Persia at the time when the Seven Stars or Pleiades were setting,
or the beginning of winter. Although plagued by storms and other tempestuous
weather on the way, he arrived at a place all covered with snow and frozen over
with ice. Seeing that his soldiers did not want to go any farther, he leaped
off his horse and went on foot over the ice and snow. When the country people,
who lived in scattered huts and cabins, saw the enemy troops, they started
killing their children and others who were not able to accompany them and fled
to the wild woods and into the snow-covered mountains. Some of them, however,
who could be persuaded to talk with Alexander, showed no fear and submitted to
him. Alexander did not allow any of his troops to harm them. {*Curtius, l. 5.
c. 6. s. 11-16. 1:383,385}
3674b AM, 4384 JP, 330 BC
1913. After Alexander had laid waste to all the country of Persia and taken its
various towns, he came into the country of the Mardi, who were a warlike people
and of very different behaviour from the Persians. After he subdued the Mardi,
Alexander returned to Persepolis on the thirtieth day after he had set out from
there, and bestowed rewards on his captains and others, every man according to
his deeds. He gave away almost everything he had acquired in Persepolis.
{*Curtius, l. 5. c. 6. s. 17-20. 1:385}
1914. This journey was undertaken, as I said before, about the time of the
setting of the Seven Stars called Pleiades. Only Curtius recorded this.
Plutarch stated that because the winter was now approaching, Alexander planned
to give his army some rest, and so he spent four months in Persia. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 37. s. 3. 7:335,337} [L319] Pliny stated that the
Greeks began their winter on the Ides of November (November 13), when the Seven
Stars set in the early morning. {*Pliny, l. 18. c. 10. 5:221} However, the
amount of time that had elapsed since the battle at Gaugamela showed that
Alexander could not have come to Persepolis before our December. Others also
cast doubt upon the Mardi expedition. Curtius stated that he did not subdue
them until after the death of Darius. {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 5. s. 11. 2:43}
This may be true, unless we distinguish the Mardi of Persia from the Mardi who
bordered on Hyrcania. {*Herodotus, l. 1. c. 125. 1:165} {*Strabo, l. 11.
c. 13. s. 6. 5:309} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 40. s. 6. 2:423} Other
writers do not agree, either, with Curtius on his observation where he said:
"He gave away almost all that he got at Persepolis."
1915. For he spoke expressly of what he got at Persepolis not of what he got at
Pasargada. (This we showed before from Jacobus Capellus. {See note on 3674a
AM. <<1910>>}) Jacobus Capellus fully agreed with what Curtius had
written
earlier, that Alexander commanded horses and camels to be sent for from Babylon
and Susa, to carry the hundred and twenty thousand talents which he found in
this city. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 6. s. 10. 1:318} Strabo stated: {*Strabo,
l. 15. c. 3. s. 9. 7:169}
"He carried all the money of Persia from Susa, which was full of treasure and
rich goods. It is known for certain that whatever he got in Babylon and in
Darius' camp was never included in this total. In Persia and Susa he found
forty thousand talents, some say fifty thousand talents."
1916. Diodorus Siculus stated: {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 71. s. 1,2.
8:321}
"When he was forced to lay out much of the money he had found there to pay for
the war, he planned to send part of it to Susa to be stored there in a bank. He
had to get a multitude of draught horses, carriages and three thousand camels
with pack saddles from Babylon and Mesopotamia to carry his treasure to its
destined places."
1917. Plutarch stated: {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 37. s. 2. 7:335}
"It took ten thousand pairs of mules and five thousand camels to carry away all
the money and wealth he took from there."
1918. After Darius had stayed a while at Ecbatana in Media, he gathered
together all those who were left after the defeat, and replaced the weapons they
had lost in the battle. He also sent letters to the governors in Bactria and
other countries, requesting them to remain loyal to him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 64. s. 1,2. 8:299,301} His purpose was that if Alexander stayed around
Susa and Babylon, he would stay in Media to see whether those who were around
him were prepared to unite in a new battle against Alexander. If, however, he
found that Alexander planned to pursue him, he would retire to Parthia and
Hyrcania, or even into Bactria. By laying waste to all the countries he passed
through, he would leave Alexander no possibility of following him due to lack of
forage. Therefore, he sent ahead of him all the women and the rest of excess
baggage and carriages to the Caspian Gates or passes, while he himself stayed at
Ecbatana with a small force, to see how things would unfold. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 19. s. 1,2. 1:289}
3674c AM, 4384 JP, 330 BC
1919. Alexander put on a feast to celebrate his previous victories and offered
magnificent sacrifices to his gods. He feasted his nobles with an extremely
sumptuous banquet, at which a number of whores and courtesans were also present,
each with her ruffian. Among these there was an Athenian called Thais, who was
a sweetheart of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. She thought the city should be
destroyed, to which Alexander, who was as drunk as she was, agreed. He
commanded that all Persepolis, both the palace and citadel, be burned to the
ground to the accompaniment of caroling and the playing of musical instruments.
[E228] This was against the advice of Parmenion, if only Alexander had chosen to
listen. It was true that after he had slept on it, what he had done grieved him
greatly. He said: {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 18. s. 10-12. 1:287,289}
{*Curtius, l. 5. c. 7. s. 2-12. 1:387-391} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 72.
8:325,327} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 38. 7:337,339}
"The Greeks would have been more severely avenged upon the Persians, if these
had been forced to see Alexander on the throne and in the palace of Xerxes."
[L320]
1920. The next day, he gave thirty talents to that shepherd of Lycia who acted
as his guide and showed him the way into Persia. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 7. s.
12. 1:391}
1921. After this, Alexander took Pasargada, a city built by Cyrus. It was
surrendered to him by its governor Gobares, who gave Alexander six thousand
talents. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 6. s. 10. 1:381,383} According to Strabo's
account from Aristobulus, who was present at the time, Alexander visited the
sepulchre of Cyrus. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 7. 7:165}
1922. Then he took the remaining cities of Persia, some by force, while others
voluntarily surrendered. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 73. s. 1. 8:327} This
seems to have been when the Seven Stars rose in the morning sky, which was the
time from which the ancients reckoned the beginning of summer, not at their
morning setting and the beginning of winter, when, according to Curtius,
Alexander made his journey into the heart of Persia. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 6.
s. 12. 1:383}
1923. Alexander made Phrasaortes, the son of Rheomithras, governor of Persia,
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 18. s. 10. 1:287} and then went into Media,
after getting reinforcements from Cilicia in the form of five thousand foot
soldiers and a thousand cavalry under the command of Platon, an Athenian. After
this he set out to find Darius. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 7. s. 12. 1:391}
1924. Darius had planned to leave Ecbatana and flee into Bactria, but because
he feared that Alexander might overtake him on the way, he changed his plans.
Though Alexander was about a hundred and ninety miles away at that time, no
distance seemed great enough to prevent Alexander from catching up to him.
Therefore, Darius resolved that, instead of fleeing, he would try his fortune in
another battle. He had thirty thousand men about him, of which four thousand
were Greeks under the command of Patron, and all these men were loyal to Darius.
In addition, he had four thousand archers and slingers, as well as thirty-three
hundred cavalry consisting for the most part of soldiers from Bactria under the
command of Bessus, the governor of Bactria. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 8. s. 1-4.
1:391}
1925. Diodorus stated that there were thirty thousand Persians and Greek
mercenaries. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 73. s. 2. 8:327} Arrian stated
there were only three thousand cavalry and six thousand foot soldiers. He also
said that Darius carried no more than seven thousand talents with him from
Media. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 19. s. 5. 1:291} However, Strabo said
that, when Darius fled from Media, he took eight thousand talents. {*Strabo, l.
15. c. 3. s. 9. 7:169} The men who murdered Darius rifled and shared this
money among themselves. Diodorus said that when Alexander pursued Darius, he
had the same number of talents with him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 74. s.
5. 8:333} Athenaeus, quoting Chares of Mitylene, in his fifth book of the
history of Alexander, said that it was the custom of the Persian kings, wherever
they went, to have a chamber with five chests in it at the head of the royal
bed. In these were kept five thousand talents of gold, and they were called the
royal cushion. In another chamber, at the foot of the bed, three thousand
talents of silver were always kept in three chests, and this was called the
king's footstool. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (514f) 5:315}
1926. Bessus, the governor of Bactria, and Nabarzanes, the commander of a
thousand cavalry who had followed Darius in his flight, commanded their soldiers
to seize Darius and bind him. They resolved that if Alexander overtook them,
they would purchase their freedom by delivering Darius bound into Alexander's
hands. However, if they could escape from Alexander, they would renew the war
against Alexander in their own names. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 10. 1:403-407}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 21. s. 3-5. 1:297} [L321] Justin stated that
this happened in a town in Parthia called Thara, or rather, Dara. It was called
this later by Arsaces, the first king of Parthia, in remembrance of this
villainy against Darius. Justin added that this was done in accordance with a
kind of fate which had determined that the Persian Empire should end in the land
of those who were destined to succeed the Persians in the empire. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 11. c. 15.}
1927. The king's treasure and baggage were rifled, as if it had all been
enemies' goods. Bessus and Nabarzanes, with Braza (or Barzaentes), the governor
of the Arachoti and Drangians, took Darius. They carried him away prisoner in a
cart, but to show some respect, they placed golden chains on him. They covered
the cart with a lowly, dirty covering made of skins to escape detection. They
had strangers drive it, so that if any man should ask, they would not be able to
tell who was in it. His captors, meanwhile, followed from a distance. The
Persians were won over by Bessus' generous promises, and since there was no one
else left with whom they might unite, they joined with the Bactrians. Bessus
was made general in Darius' stead by the Bactrian cavalry and the other
countries who had accompanied Darius on his flight. Artabazus and his sons,
with those whom he commanded, and the Greeks under Patron, did not go with
Bessus. They left the roadway and went up into the mountains marching away to
Parthiene. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 12. s. 16-20. 1:415,417} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 21. s. 3-5. 1:297} [E229]
1928. Alexander changed his course for Media and attacked the Paraetacenes,
subduing their country, whereupon he made Oxathres, the son of Abulitus,
governor over them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 19. s. 2. 1:289}
1929. Tabae was a town in the remotest border of Paraetacene. Alexander was
told by some who had abandoned Darius and fled to Alexander, that Darius had
hastily gone into Bactria. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 1-3. 1:417} When he
was within three day's journey of Ecbatana, he was more accurately informed by
Bisthanes, the son of Ochus who had reigned in Persia before Darius, that Darius
had fled from Ecbatana four days earlier. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 19.
s. 4. 1:291}
1930. When Alexander reached Ecbatana, the Thessalian cavalry and others of the
confederate cavalry refused to accompany him any farther. He dismissed them,
giving them leave to return to their own countries. When they left, he gave
them two thousand talents over and above their regular pay to be shared among
them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 19. s. 5,6. 1:291} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 42. s. 3. 7:349} However, Diodorus and Curtius
referred to this event as happening after the death of Darius and in a general
way, without any special mention of the Thessalian troops. They said that he
gave everyone who served in the cavalry six talents, or six thousand denarii.
{*Curtius, l. 6. c. 2. s. 17. 2:23} Curtius repeatedly called a drachma a
denarii. A thousand drachmas was equal to one talent. Diodorus added that he
gave every foot soldier ten minas, that is, a thousand drachmas, and abundant
provisions for every man for the return journey to his home country. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 74. s. 3. 8:331} Everyone who was willing to continue in
his service was given three talents in coined money. When he found that it was
a large number that was staying, he appointed Epocillus to escort the rest to
the coast of Asia. The Thessalians who were returning home left their horses
with him. He wrote to Menes, the governor in those regions, that immediately
upon their arrival they were to be furnished with shipping, and transport to the
European side. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 19. s. 6,7. 1:291}
1931. To pay the vast sums he gave to the soldiers that left, Alexander was
forced, in spite of all his haste in the pursuit of Darius, to levy a vast
quantity of money as he went along the way. Diodorus stated that he received
eight thousand talents from Darius' treasurers, over and above what they had
distributed among his soldiers in the form of cups and other rewards. This
amounted to over thirteen thousand talents. The amount they either stole, or
took by force, was calculated to be a great deal more. [L322] {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 74. s. 5. 8:333} Curtius agreed fully when he said: {*Curtius, l.
6. c. 2. s. 10. 2:19}
"In his next plundering foray, he raised twenty-six thousand talents, from which
twelve thousand talents (Justin has thirteen thousand {Justin, Trogus, l. 12.
c. 1.}) were spent in one largesse which he bestowed among his soldiers. His
treasurers brought him so much more."
1932. Alexander ordered Parmenion to take all the money which was brought to
him from Persia and store it in Ecbatana, under the keeping of Harpalus. He was
to guard it with six thousand Macedonians and some cavalry of his confederates.
So this money was now brought and stored in Ecbatana. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
3. c. 19. s. 7,8. 1:293} Some reckon it to have amounted to a hundred and
eighty thousand talents. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 9. 7:169} Diodorus
agreed, also saying that Parmenion had charge over all that treasure. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 80. s. 3. 8:351} Justin said that the treasure amounted to
a hundred and ninety thousand talents and that Parmenion was in charge of
keeping it. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 1.} Diodorus and Justin were more
accurate in naming Parmenion as the keeper of the treasure than Arrian, who
named Harpalus as holding that office. We have previously shown that Harpalus
was left behind in Babylon to gather up the tribute and perform other duties for
Alexander in those parts.
1933. Alexander sent Parmenion away with certain brigades of foreigners, the
Thracian cavalry and others, except for the troops of his Companion Cavalry.
They were to march through the country of the Cadusians, into Hyrcania. He also
wrote to Clitus, the commander of the royal squadron, ordering that as soon as
Clitus was to come from Susa to Ecbatana (for he had been left behind sick at
Susa), he should take all the cavalry that had been left there to guard the
money and march into Parthia with them, to meet him there. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 3. c. 19. s. 7,8. 1:293}
1934. Alexander took with him the troops of the Companion Cavalry, vaunt
cavalry and mercenaries led by Erigyius, the Macedonian squadron (except those
who had been left behind at Ecbatana to guard the money), the Agrians and the
archers, and went after Darius. Because he marched so fast over so great a
distance, many of his foot soldiers and cavalry were not able to follow and
perished, after having fainted along the way. Alexander continued on, however,
and on the eleventh day he came to Rhagae. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 20.
s. 1,2. 1:293} In those eleven days, he covered over four hundred miles. On
this long journey, the cavalry followed him very cheerfully, even though they
lacked water in many places. At the end of his journey, there were only sixty
with him out of that company which had set out with him from Ecbatana.
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 42,43. 7:349,351} [E230]
1935. This city of Rhagae, as mentioned in the Apocrypha, {Apc Tob 1:14 4:1}
was a day's journey from the Caspian Gates or passes for anyone riding at
Alexander's pace. Darius had already passed through them. Many of those men
who had set out with Darius on his journey, slipped away and returned home,
while many surrendered to Alexander along the way. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3.
c. 20. s. 2. 1:293,295}
1936. He gave up all hope of overtaking Darius and rested there five days.
When he had refreshed his army, he made Oxydates, a Persian whom Darius had
formerly committed to prison in Susa with the intention of decapitating him,
governor of Media. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 20. s. 3. 1:295}
{*Curtius, l. 6. c. 2. s. 10,11. 2:19,21}
1937. From there Alexander went with his army into Parthia and on the first day
camped near the Caspian Gates or passes. The next day he went through the
passes and came to places that were well populated. [L323] Here he ordered
provisions to be brought to him, as he had been told that he would be going
through countries lacking such provisions. He sent Coenus with the cavalry and
a few foot soldiers, to forage. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 20. s. 4.
1:295}
1938. Meanwhile Bagistenes, a great man in Babylon, came from Darius' camp to
Alexander. He told Alexander that Darius had not yet been arrested, but was in
great danger of either death or bonds. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 21. s.
1. 1:295} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 3. 1:417}
1939. Therefore, Alexander pursued him harder and did not wait for Coenus to
return from foraging. He took along with him the Companion Cavalry, his vaunt
cavalry {Arrian has prodromoi. Curtius wrote dimachae which were also called
amippoi. prodomoi and dimachae may refer to the same type of troops.} the
mercenary cavalry led by Erigyius, the Macedonian battalion (except those that
were to guard his treasure), as well as the Agrians and archers. Leaving
Craterus to command the rest, he ordered him to come after him at a more
leisurely pace. He travelled all that night and the next day until noon, when
he rested for a while. Then he again travelled all night, and early next
morning he came to the camp of Darius, from where Bagistenes had come to him.
Continuing on, he rode all that night until noon of the next day. He came to a
certain village where those who had the charge of keeping Darius had stayed the
day before, according to Arrian. Curtius claimed this was the place where
Bessus arrested Darius. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 21. s. 2-5.
1:295,297} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 4-8. 1:419}
1940. When he had travelled about sixty miles from the place from where
Bagistenes had first come to him and where Darius had been arrested, he found
Melon, who was Darius' interpreter. He had been unable, through weakness, to
follow Darius any farther. When he saw Alexander approaching so quickly, he
pretended to have fled over to Alexander from Darius, fearing that he would be
taken for an enemy. He told Alexander what had happened and where they had
gone. However, as his men were quite weary and needed rest, Alexander took six
thousand elite cavalry and added three hundred troops called dimachae. (Who and
what they were, you may learn from Pollus and Hesychius.) These men wore heavy
armour, yet rode on horse back, but if the need arose, they could get off their
horses and serve as foot soldiers, according to Curtius. However, Arrian stated
that when he saw that the foot soldiers could not possibly keep pace with him on
horse back, Alexander made about five hundred of the cavalry get off their
horses and commanded the captains and the best men of the foot soldiers to mount
the horses with all their armour on. He ordered Nicanor, who commanded the
targeteers, and Attalus, the captain of the squadron of Agrians, to follow, with
those who were most lightly armed, on the route that Bessus had gone with his
men, while commanding the rest to come later in ordinary formation. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 21. s. 6-8. 1:299} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 4-8.
1:419}
1941. As Alexander was busy giving orders, Orsines and Mithracenes came to him.
Because they abhorred Bessus for his treachery, they had fled from him to
Alexander. They told him that the Persians were not more than sixty miles away
and that they could lead him to them by a shorter way. He used them as guides
and set out early in the evening with a select company of cavalry, ordering the
Macedonian phalanx to follow him as fast as they could. When he had gone about
forty miles, he was met by Brocubelus (whom Arrian called Antibelus), the son of
Mazaeus, formerly governor of Syria under Darius. He told him that Bessus was
not more than twenty-five miles ahead of him and that his army, thinking they
were out of danger, was marching in no particular order. It seemed they were
bound for Hyrcania. Brocubelus said that if he hurried, he would be able to
attack them when they were all straggling from their standards. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 21. s. 7-9. 1:299} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s.
9-12. 1:421}
1942. When Bessus and his consorts found that Alexander was on their heels,
they went to Darius where he was in his poor closed cart. [L324] They wanted
him to get onto a horse and save himself by fleeing, but when he refused to do
this, Satibarzanes and Barzaentes each shot an arrow and wounded him. They also
houghed the horses that drew the cart, so that they would go no farther, and
killed his two servants, who were still attending Darius. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 3. c. 21. s. 10. 1:299} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 13-17.
1:421,423} Only his dog stayed with him. {*Aelian, History of Animals, l. 6.
c. 25. 2:43,45} [E231]
1943. When this was done, Satibarzanes and Barzaentes fled away as fast as
possible, with six hundred cavalry. So that they could not be pursued together,
Nabarzanes fled into Hyrcania and Bessus into Bactria. The rest, having lost
their captains, were scattered here and there. Only five hundred cavalry stayed
together, undecided as to whether to fight or flee. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3.
c. 21. s. 10. 1:299} {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 18. 1:423}
1944. When Alexander saw what confusion the enemy was in, he sent Nicanor to
prevent their flight, while he followed with the rest of the army. After they
had killed about three thousand who refused to yield, Alexander drove the rest
before him like so many cattle without harming them, and gave the word to stop
the killing. He had advanced so quickly, that barely three thousand of his
cavalry had followed him. The prisoners taken outnumbered those who captured
them. Fear had so completely robbed them of their senses, that they never
considered either their own number or how few the enemy troops were. {*Curtius,
l. 5. c. 13. s. 19-22. 1:423}
3674d AM, 4384 JP, 330 BC
1945. Meanwhile the horses which drew Darius' cart wandered from the road, as
there was no one to drive them. When they had gone about half a mile, they
stopped in a certain valley, exhausted from the hot weather and sore from the
injuries they had received. There was a spring of water close by. Polystratus,
a Macedonian, heard about this spring from the local inhabitants and exhausted
from the heat and his wounds, went there to quench his thirst. As he was taking
up water in his helmet, he noticed the javelins in the bodies of the horses that
drew the cart. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 18. 1:423} When he came nearer,
he saw Darius lying in the cart, seriously wounded but not quite dead. Darius
called to him for a little water. When he had drunk it, he asked him to thank
Alexander for the favour he had shown to his mother, wife and children. He
begged nothing for himself but a decent burial. He desired no revenge, but said
that if Alexander neglected to avenge his death, it might prove both
dishonourable and dangerous for him. The first concerned Alexander as being a
matter of justice, the other concerned his personal safety. Darius, as a token
of his sincerity, gave Polystratus his right hand and told him to pass the
handshake on to Alexander, as a pledge of Darius' faith, and then, having taken
hold of Polystratus' hand, he died. {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c. 15.}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 43. s. 2. 7:351,353} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 18. c. 9. s. 3. (328,329) 9:189}
1946. So Darius died at the age of fifty, in the year when Aristophontes was
archon in Athens, in the month of Hekatombaion. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
22. s. 2,6. 1:301,303} He had reigned for six years. Two hundred years had
passed from the year of the death of Cyrus, who founded the Persian Empire,
until now, which was the very beginning of the third year of the 112th Olympiad.
From this time, Calippus (a man held in high regard by Aristotle who was at that
time famous in his school at Athens, {Aristotle, Metaphysics, l. 12.}) began
his epoch or account of seventy-six years, as we discover from various
astronomical observations of Ptolemy, {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis} [L325] although
Strabo said that Darius lost his empire at the battle of Gaugamela, fought nine
months earlier. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 3. 7:197} This was confirmed by
Justin, who said that Alexander took the empire of Asia from Darius at that
time. {Justin, Trogus, l. 11.} However, since it appears that Darius was
murdered by his relatives, he lost his life and his kingdom at one and the same
time. {Justin, Trogus, l. 10. fin.} We cannot doubt that Calippus, aware of
the founding of Alexander's Empire, made this the starting point of his epoch.
(We were unable to find the time from the battle of Gaugamela to the death of
Darius in Strabo. Editor.)
The Macedonian Empire
1947. The empire of Alexander lasted five years, according to Isidorus and
Beda, from Eusebius. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:206} Africanus stated
six years and the historian who wrote in the time of Alexander Severus said
seven years, {Henry Cavisis, Antiq. Lectio., Tome 2., p. 600.} while Strabo
allowed ten or eleven years. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 24. 7:189}
Nicephorus Constantinopolitanus, in his Chronicle, stated twelve years. Clement
of Alexandria was wrong when he said it was eighteen years. {*Clement,
Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:329} It is most obvious that from the month of
Hekatombaion, when Darius died (when Aristophontes was archon at Athens), to the
month of Thargelion, when Alexander died, as we shall show presently (when
Hegesias was archon in Athens), only six years and ten months elapsed. In this
short period of time, Alexander did so many great feats of war in the east, that
he may well be said to have flown rather than to have marched over all those
regions. This is the reason why it is said that in Daniel's vision Alexander is
depicted by the symbol of a goat who came from the west over the face of the
whole earth. {Da 8:5} He never so much as touched the ground. In another
vision, Alexander is compared to a winged leopard. {Da 7:6} Jerome noted on
this passage that, of all the beasts, the leopard is the swiftest and most
impetuous. He added that nothing was accomplished as swiftly as his conquest.
He took everything, from the gulf of Venice and the Adriatic Sea, all the way to
the Indian Ocean and the Ganges River. He did this not so much in battles as by
his reputation. What he did after the death of Darius was recorded by Diodorus
(second part of his book 17), Justin (book 12), Curtius (book 5), Plutarch
(Alexander) and Arrian. I have inserted the accounts from the various authors
in this work, according to their merits. [E232]
1948. Darius was no sooner dead, than Alexander rode on his horse to the place
where he lay. When he saw his dead body, Alexander wept to see so unworthy a
death happen to so noble a person. He took his own coat and placed it over him
and immediately sent his body to his mother to be buried in a royal manner with
the kings of Persia. He also took Darius' brother Oxathres into the circle of
his friends and nobles, bestowing upon him every honour belonging to his high
place and parentage. Alexander had planned to pursue Bessus, but since he and
his army had escaped to Bactria and Alexander could not reach him at this time,
he retraced his steps again. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 43. s. 3.
7:353} {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 2. s. 11. 2:21}
1949. While he was staying at Hecatompylos, a city in Parthiene built in former
times by the Greeks, he gathered a good store of provisions. All the army grew
restless as they lay idle in their quarters, and they all wanted to return to
Greece as soon as possible. When Alexander had allayed this desire, they all
asked him to lead them wherever he wished and they would follow him. After a
three days' march through the country of Parthiene, he came into the borders of
Hyrcania, which Nabarzanes had captured. He left Craterus with the troops under
his command, along with Amyntas' brigade of six hundred cavalry and six hundred
archers. They were to keep Parthiene safe from incursions by the adjoining
countries. He commanded Erigyius to take care of the carriages and to follow
him through the plain with a considerable company to guard them. [L326]
Alexander took his targeteers, the cream of the Macedonian squadron and some
archers. When they had marched about nineteen miles, they camped in a plain
near a small river. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 23. s. 1,2. 1:303}
{*Curtius, l. 6. c. 2,4. 2:21-33}
1950. After he had refreshed his army there for four days, letters came to him
from Nabarzanes, who, together with Bessus, had murdered Darius, saying he would
surrender to Alexander. From there Alexander moved two and a half miles through
an almost impassable way, but no enemy opposed him and he got through. When he
had gone almost another four miles, Phrataphernes, the governor of Hyrcania and
Parthia, met him and surrendered to Alexander, along with all those who had fled
to him after the death of Darius. Alexander graciously received them all. He
next came to a town called Arvae, where Craterus rejoined him, having subdued
all the countries which he had passed through. With him he brought Phradates,
or Autophradates, the governor of the tribe of the Tapuri, whom Alexander
restored to his government again and sent back home. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3.
c. 23. s. 4,5. 1:305} {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 4. 2:33-39}
1951. When Alexander came to the nearest borders of Hyrcania, Artabazus, the
Persian, who was an old friend of Philip, met him. At this time he had been
banished by Ochus and had always remained most loyal to Darius. He was now
ninety-five years old, and came to Alexander with Cophes and eight other sons of
his, all born by the same mother, who was the sister of Mentor and Memnon.
Alexander received them all most graciously. Ariobarzanes and Arsames, who were
governors under Darius, came and submitted to Alexander. {*Curtius, l. 6. c.
4,5. 2:39-41}
1952. Alexander now invaded the country of the Mardians, which bordered on
Hyrcania. They held the mountain passes and met Alexander with an army of eight
thousand men. Alexander attacked the army, killed many of them and took more of
them prisoners. The rest fled into the craggy mountains. At length, they
returned Alexander's horse Bucephalas, which they had captured, and sent fifty
envoys to him to ask his pardon. When Alexander had taken hostages, he made
Autophradates governor over them as well as the Tapuri. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
3. c. 24. s. 3. 1:305} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 44. s. 3.
7:353} {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 5. 2:41-45}
1953. From there he returned within five days to the place from where he had
set out against the Mardians. Andronicus, the son of Agerrus, and Artabazus had
brought with them to Alexander fifteen hundred Greek mercenaries of Darius.
Ninety envoys, who had been sent to Darius from various countries, also came to
him. Alexander put four Lacedemonian envoys and Dropides, the Athenian, in
prison. Democrates, the other Athenian envoy who always opposed the Macedonian
party, committed suicide, because he did not expect a pardon from Alexander.
The envoys from Sinope and Heraclides, who had been sent from Carthage, were
freed by Alexander, along with the other envoys from Greece. To Andronicus he
gave the command of the Greeks who stayed in his service. Having doubly
honoured Artabazus and given him greater honours than he had held under Darius,
Alexander sent him home. {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 5. 2:41} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 3. c. 24. s. 4. 1:309,311}
1954. When these matters had been taken care of, he marched against the
greatest city in all Hyrcania, called Zeudracarta or Zadracarta, and remained
there for fifteen days. Nabarzanes came to him there, bringing many presents
with him. [E233] Among these was Bagoas, a young boy eunuch of rare beauty, who
was later held in high regard and could do whatever he wished with Alexander.
Both Darius and Alexander used Bagoas as a catamite (a boy kept for homosexual
practices). {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 5. s. 23. 2:47}
1955. Thalestris, or Minithaea, came to Alexander at this place with three
hundred ladies. She was the queen of the Amazons who lived between the two
rivers of Phasis and Thermodon. She left the rest of her army at the borders of
Hyrcania and came hoping to conceive a child by him. She stayed thirteen days.
[L327] Contrary to the stream of all geographers, Curtius in this account
located these Amazons on the borders of Hyrcania. {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 5. s.
24-32. 2:47,49} Justin, however, said that they bordered on Albania. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42 c. 3,25,35.} Clitarchus said that Thalestris came to Alexander
from the Caspian Gates and the Thermodon River, and that it took her a
twenty-five or thirty-five day journey to reach him through many countries.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 3.} The journey was at least seven hundred and
fifty miles. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 5. s. 4. 5:239} Her visit to Alexander
was recorded by Polycrates, Onesicritus, Antigenes, Histor and various others.
However, Aristobulus, Chares the historian, Ptolemy Lagus, Anticlides, Philo
Thebanus, Philip the historian, Hecataeus Eretriensis, Philippus the historian
and Duris Samius said that it was merely a fable. Alexander seemed to agree,
because in his commentaries to Antigonus, in which he recorded the events
exactly, he said that a certain Scythian offered him his daughter for a wife,
but no mention is made of an Amazon. It is also reported that, many years
later, Onesicritus was reading his fourth book to Lysimachus, who was ruling at
the time. When he mentioned something about an Amazon who came to Alexander,
Lysimachus smiled and said: {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 5. s. 4. 5:237,239}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 46. 7:357} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c.
13. s. 2-6. 2:247,249}
"I pray, sir, where was I all the while?"
1956. On returning to Parthiene, Alexander indulged himself in all kinds of
Persian luxuries, also commanding his nobles to take up wearing the long Persian
robe of gold and purple cloth, and if any of the common soldiers wanted to marry
a Persian, he permitted it.
1957. Bessus now wore his turban upright and pointed, along with other regal
attire, and assumed the titles of Artaxerxes and King of Asia. He gathered
together into a body all the Persians who had fled into Bactria. As well as
these, he had Bactrians, the Scythians and others who lived as far away as the
bank of the Tanais River, and so he planned to make war on Alexander.
1958. Alexander made Amminapes, a Parthian, the governor of Parthia and
Hyrcania in authority under himself. Amminapes, together with Mazacus, or
Mazaces, had delivered Egypt into his hands. Alexander had Tlepolemus, the son
of Pythophanes, one of his friends, assist Amminapes in the government.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 22. s. 1. 1:301} However, Curtius said that
he made Menapis (for so he called Amminapes), who had previously been banished
by Ochus and had fled to Alexander's father Philip for refuge, governor of
Hyrcania. {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 4. s. 25. 2:39} Justin said that when
Alexander had subdued Parthia, he made a certain nobleman of Persia, called
Andragoras, its governor. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 4.} It was from him
that the kings of Parthia were descended, since Arsaces mentioned him as the
founder of the Parthian kingdom. Justin also called him Andragoras. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 41. c. 4.}
1959. After this, Alexander came to Susia, a city of the Arians. Satibarzanes,
governor of the Arians, came to him, and Alexander restored his government to
him. He sent Anaxippus, one of his Companion Cavalry, to run the government
with him, giving him forty mounted archers to attend him, whom he could put in
places which he considered most appropriate in order to keep the Arians from
being plundered or injured by his army as it passed by. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
3. c. 25. s. 1,2. 1:311}
1960. Alexander was now ready to march against Bessus. When he saw that his
army was so loaded with spoil and luxurious goods that they were in no condition
to march, he first commanded his own goods to be burned, and then theirs,
keeping only what was necessary for their immediate needs. {*Curtius, l. 6.
c. 6. s. 14-17. 2:53}
1961. Nicanor, the son of Parmenion and captain of the Argyraspides (that is,
of the silver shields, or targeteers), died suddenly, and everyone mourned his
passing. [L328] Alexander was especially grieved and would have stayed to be
present at his funeral, but lack of provisions made it impossible for him to do
so. He therefore left Nicanor's brother Philotas there, with twenty-six hundred
men, to take care of the funeral, while he went on his journey in pursuit of
Bessus. {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 6. s. 18,19. 2:55}
1962. Satibarzanes, to whom Alexander had restored his government over the
Arians, as mentioned earlier, murdered Anaxippus along with his forty mounted
archers. He gathered all the forces he could to the chief city of the Arians
called Chortacana, or Artacoana. When he heard that Alexander was coming, he
planned to go and join with Bessus in a common war against the Macedonians.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 25. s. 5. 1:313} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c.
78. s. 1. 8:343} [E234]
1963. When Alexander heard of this, he interrupted his journey into Bactria and
marched seventy-five miles in two days to reach Artacoana. Satibarzanes, with
two thousand cavalry (for that was all he could gather at that time), fled into
Bactria to Bessus. The rest escaped to the mountains. Alexander pursued
Satibarzanes for a long time, but was not able to overtake him. He attacked
those who were in the mountains and took the craggy rocks to which thirteen
thousand armed Arians had fled. Then Alexander returned to Artacoana, which
Craterus had besieged in the meantime. Craterus was fully prepared for an
assault and was waiting for Alexander to lead it, so that the honour of taking
the city would fall to Alexander, not him. Joab did the same for David. {2Sa
12:27,28} When Alexander came, he found them ready to plead for his mercy, so he
pardoned them and lifted his siege, restoring to every man what was his. Within
thirty days, he had taken all the cities of that country and made Arsaces their
governor. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 25. s. 5-7. 1:315} {*Curtius, l.
6. c. 6. s. 21-34. 2:55-59}
1964. Fresh troops and supplies came to Alexander at this stage. Zoilus
brought him five hundred cavalry from Greece, while Antipater sent him three
thousand soldiers from Illyria. Philip, the son of Menelaus, brought him
mercenary cavalry from Media, along with a hundred and thirty of the Thessalian
cavalry to whom, at Ecbatana, Alexander had given leave to return home, but they
had refused and stayed on with Alexander. From Lydia came twenty-six hundred
foreign foot soldiers with three hundred cavalry under the command of
Andromachus, according to Arrian. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 25. s. 4.
1:313} {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 6. s. 35. 2:59}
1965. With these new forces, Alexander came to the capital of the Drangianes
(whom Arrian calls the Zarangians), whose governor was Barzaentes. He was one
of the men who, with Bessus and Nabarzanes, had turned on Darius. He feared
punishment from Alexander and fled away to the Indians on the western side of
the Indus River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 25. s. 8. 1:315} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 78. s. 4. 8:345}
1966. Alexander spent nine days in the capital city of the Drangian country.
Some of his own people began to plot his death. Dymnus, a Macedonian, revealed
to Nicomachus, his catamite and Alexander's bard, that three days from then
Alexander would be murdered, and that he was in on the plot with various nobles.
Although Nicomachus had been sworn to secrecy by Dymnus, he told the matter to
his brother Ceballinus, asking him to tell the king about it. Since Ceballinus
could not easily get to Alexander, he first told Philotas about it, but when he
found that Philotas was indifferent, and possibly in on the plot, Ceballinus
went to Metron, a noble young gentleman who was in charge of the artillery. He
advised Metron to tell Alexander about it immediately. When Alexander heard
about it, he at once ordered all those in the plot to be arrested. When Dymnus
was arrested, he knew why, and killed himself with his sword. When Ceballinus
was questioned, he protested that the very hour he had heard of it he had
mentioned the matter to Philotas, requesting him to tell the king. [L329] When
questioned about this, Philotas said it was true, but claimed he had meant no
harm and had only done nothing through carelessness, considering it to be a
baseless rumour. But when Philotas was put on the rack, he confessed all and
was executed with the rest of the conspirators. Philotas was the son of
Parmenion, who was next to Alexander in authority. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c.
79,80. 8:345-349} {*Curtius, l. 6. c. 7-11. 2:69-111}
1967. Alexander, the Lyncestian, was also called before a council of the
Macedonians for his previous conspiracy, for which he was in prison for three
years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 80. s. 2. 8:349} {*Curtius, l. 7. c.
1. s. 6-9. 2:117,119} This is that same Alexander Aeropus who, before the
battle at Issus four years earlier, had been put in prison for plotting
Alexander's death. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1-10. 1:103-107}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 32. s. 1,2. 8:207} {Justin, Trogus, l. 11. c.
7. s. 1.} {See note on 3671b AM. <<1740>>} Aeropus had plotted
Alexander's
death several times previously. Alexander spoke the following to his council of
Macedonians: {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 8. s. 6,7. 2:297}
"Alexander, the Lyncestian, was twice arraigned for two counts of treason
against my life. I have twice taken him out of the hand of justice and when he
was convicted a third time, I gave him a reprieve and kept him in prison these
three years. (For so it should be according to the true Palatine Manuscript and
not two years, as in the ordinary printed books.) Until now you desired that he
be given his just punishment."
1968. When he was questioned concerning the latest attempt on Alexander's life,
he could not answer without faltering. Therefore, without any more ado, he was
thrust through with lances by those who stood about and heard him at the bar.
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 1. s. 8,9. 2:119}
1969. After the body of Alexander, the Lyncestian, was carried from the place,
the king still remained in the judgment seat. He had Amyntas, Attalus and
Simias, the sons of Andromenes and all very close to Philotas, brought to the
bar. When Polemon, another son of Andromenes and the youngest of them all,
heard that Philotas had been put on the rack, he fled, but was captured and
brought to judgment. Finally, Alexander acquitted them all, as a result of the
general intercession of all those who were present. Then he immediately sent
Polydamas, whom Parmenion loved very much, with two Arabians on dromedary
camels, into Media. [E235] They were to get there before the news of the death
of Philotas reached those lands. They had letters for Cleander, Sitalces and
Menidas, the commanders in the army under Parmenion, to kill him. He was the
governor of Media and had the greatest reputation and authority in the army
after the king himself. Parmenion was now seventy years old. After he had read
Alexander's letter and was reading the second letter written to him in the name
of his son Philotas, he was stabbed to death. Cleander sent his head to the
king and would barely allow the rest of his body to be buried. Strabo stated
that this all happened within eleven days, whereas an ordinary journey normally
took thirty to forty days just in travelling time. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2.
s. 10. 7:145} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 1,2. 2:119-141} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
3. c. 26. s. 1-4. 1:315,317}
1970. Alexander feared that the glory of his actions in their entirety might be
blemished by the cruelty of his most recent actions by the way he had dealt with
those plotting his death, and so he did what Gaus had previously once done.
{See note on 3620 AM. <<1574>>} He let it be known that he was about
to send
some of his friends back to Macedonia, and advised all those men who wanted to
write to their friends in those parts not to miss this opportunity of sending a
note back home, since they were going farther east. Every man wrote a letter,
and he ordered that all the letters be brought to him. In this way he found out
what everyone thought of him. He put all those whom he found to be either weary
of the war or unhappy with his actions into one company, which he called the
unruly company, and put Leonnidas, formerly an intimate friend of Parmenion's,
in charge of it. Then he divided the Companion Cavalry into two regiments,
assigning the one part to be commanded by Hephaestion and the other by Clitus.
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 2. s. 35-38. 2:141,143}
1971. When Alexander had settled matters among the Drangians, he marched toward
those who formerly were called Agriaspe, or Arimaspians. In former times Cyrus,
who transferred the rule from the Medes to the Persians, called them the
Benefactors, on account of a good deed which they had done him. [L330]
Alexander was warmly received and entertained by them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 81. s. 1,2. 8:351,353} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 3. s. 1. 2:143}
1972. After staying in that country five days, he received news that
Satibarzanes, with two thousand cavalry from Bessus, had attacked the Arians and
made them defect from Alexander, so he sent six thousand Greek foot soldiers and
six hundred cavalry under the command of Erigyius and Caranus against
Satibarzanes. Diodorus said that Stasanor shared the command together with
Artabazus, the Persian, Andronicus and Phrataphernes, the governor of Parthia.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 81. s. 1,2. 8:351,353} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3.
c. 28. s. 2,3. 1:321} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 4. s. 33-40. 2:161-163}
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 3. s. 2,3. 2:145}
1973. Alexander stayed with the Euergetae and sacrificed to Apollo. He
committed Demetrius, one of the captains of his bodyguard, to prison, because he
suspected him of conspiracy with Philotas, and replaced him with Ptolemy, the
son of Lagus. To the Euergetae he gave a large sum of money and whatever land
they desired, which was not much. When he was welcomed by the Gedrosians, who
bordered on the Euergetae, he also rewarded them according to their deeds.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 27. s. 5. 1:319} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 3.
s. 3. 2:145}
3675a AM, 4384 JP, 330 BC
1974. After he had spent sixty days with the Euergetae, he appointed Amedines,
who, according to Curtius, had been Darius' secretary for some time, as their
new governor. However, Arrian said he left them as a free state. Diodorus
stated that he made Tiridates the governor of both the Euergetae and the
Cedrosians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 81. s. 2. 8:353} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 3. c. 27. s. 5. 1:319} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 3. s. 4. 2:145}
1975. Alexander left them and marched into Bactria against Bessus, subduing the
Arachosians along the way. Part of his army, which was formerly commanded by
Parmenion, joined up with him. Among them were six thousand Macedonians and two
hundred nobles, men of honour, and these were the very pith and marrow of all
his army. He appointed Menon as governor of the Arachosians and left him four
thousand soldiers and six hundred cavalry to keep order in the country.
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 3. s. 4,5. 2:145}
1976. Alexander led his army into the country of the Parapanisadae about the
time of the setting of Pleiades (in the early morning), the beginning of winter.
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 17. 7:25} All the country was covered with snow.
The days were obscurely dark, rather than light, so that a man could hardly
discern anything close by. In this vast wilderness, Alexander's army endured
the misery of lack of food, cold, weariness and even despair. Many died from
the cold, and many men's feet rotted off their legs from frost bite. At last
they came into a warmer country with more provisions. The army was relieved,
and the whole country was quickly brought into subjection. {*Curtius, l. 7.
c. 3. s. 6-18. 2:145-149}
1977. Alexander went to the Caucasus Mountains, which some called Parapanisus.
He crossed the mountains in a sixteen or seventeen day march, and built a city
near the foot of the mountains, at the place where that particular mountain pass
opens into Media, naming the city after himself, Alexandria. He also built
various other cities, each a day's journey from Alexandria, relocating seven
thousand inhabitants of the countries in that area into these new cities.
[E236] He put three thousand of those who followed the camp into these cities,
and let as many of those who had grown unserviceable in the wars settle there,
as wanted to. He made Proexes, a Persian, governor of all that region and left
one of his friends, Niloxenes, as ruler over them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c.
83. s. 1-3. 8:357,359} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 3. s. 19-23. 2:149-151}
1978. When the Macedonians and Arians were fighting, Satibarzanes, who
commanded the enemy, came between the two armies. Pulling off his helmet, he
said who he was, and challenged to a duel any man who dared. Erigyius, the
general of the Macedonian army, took up the challenge and ran his spear through
his body, killing him. [L331] When the barbarians, who were there under
compulsion rather than willingly, saw that their captain was dead, they trusted
Erigyius and laid down their arms and submitted to him. {*Curtius, l. 7. c.
4. s. 33-40. 2:161,163}
3675b AM, 4385 JP, 329 BC
1979. Bessus and those Persians who had joined him in seizing Darius, with
about seven thousand Bactrians and some of the Dahae, who lived east of the
Tanais River, foraged the country bordering on the Caucasus Mountains. They
hoped that by ravaging and destroying all the countries which lay between them
and Alexander, they would effectively stop him from coming that way for fear of
starving his army. Nevertheless, Alexander went on under extreme difficulty, in
much snow, with too little food. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 28. s. 8.
1:323}
1980. When winter was almost over, as he was moving north, he had India on his
right and crossed over the mountains into Bactria. Not a tree was to be seen
all the way, except for a few shrubs. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 10.
7:147} Along the route, his troops found a quantity of Indian grain, from which
the common soldiers squeezed a type of juice pressed from sesame, which they
used for oil to ease the pain of their cold joints. This oil was sold for two
hundred and forty denarii per pitcher, while a pitcher of wine fetched three
hundred denarii. There was very little wheat to make bread with. In his
hunger, the common soldier sustained himself by catching river fish and eating
whatever herbs he could find, but even these foods were not enough. They were
told to kill their draught animals and eat them, which kept them alive until
they came into Bactria. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 4. s. 22-25. 2:157} Strabo
added that they were forced to eat it raw for lack of fire to roast it with. To
settle their stomachs, they had a supply of a herb called silphium, which helped
their digestion.
1981. Bessus was terrified by Alexander's rapid advance. After he had first
sacrificed to his gods, he feasted his friends and captains. As they ate, they
discussed the war at hand. He bragged of a kingdom which he had acquired by
treachery, but he was hardly in his right mind. He boasted that the cowardice
of Darius had enhanced the fame and glory of the enemy. He resolved to march
with his army into Sogdiana, where he would have the Oxus River as a wall
between him and Alexander until help came in from other parts. When all the
rest were as drunk as he was, Gobares (according to Curtius; or Bagodoras,
according to Diodorus), a Median and a soothsayer by profession, advised him
that when he was sober and had come to his senses, he should submit to
Alexander. Bessus was so enraged that he drew his sword, and those with him
could barely restrain him from killing Gobares. In the meantime, Gobares fled
and came to Alexander the following night. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 4. s. 1-19.
2:151-157} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 83. s. 7-9. 8:361}
1982. On the fifteenth day after he had set out from his new city of Alexandria
and his winter quarters, he came to Adrapsa, a city of Bactria or Drapsaca,
according to Arrian. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 10. 7:147} After he had
refreshed his army, he marched to Aornus and Bactra, the two largest cities of
Bactria, and took them on the first assault. He put a garrison into the citadel
of Aornus under the command of his Companion Cavalry man, Archelaus. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 3. c. 29. s. 1. 1:325}
1983. Bessus had seven or eight thousand Bactrians in his army, who remained
loyal to him and thought that Alexander would never follow them into that cold
climate, but rather go into India. However, when they saw that Alexander was
marching toward them, every man stole away to his own home, leaving Bessus all
alone. He was left with a small retinue of his servants and tenants, who
remained loyal to him. After they had crossed the Oxus River by boat, they
burned the boats so that Alexander would not be able to make use of them. They
went to a place called Nautaca, in the country of Sogdiana, to raise new forces
from those parts. [L332] Spitamenes and Oxyartes followed him with some cavalry
from Sogdiana and as many of the Dahae as had come to him from the bank of the
Tanais River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 28. s. 8-10. 1:323,325}
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 4. s. 20,21. 2:157}
3675c AM, 4385 JP, 329 BC
1984. Alexander made Artabazus the governor of Bactria. He left his wagons
behind there with a guard to watch them. Taking the rest of the army, he set
out at night and came into the desert of Sogdiana. [E237] When he had gone
about fifty miles, he found no water at all, and the next day his whole army was
dying of thirst. Later, when they found water, more men died from drinking too
much than he had ever lost in any battle. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 5. s. 1-16.
2:163-167}
1985. Toward evening, Alexander came to the Oxus River, where he spent that
night greatly disturbed, as he waited for the rest of his army to come.
1986. Before he crossed the river, he picked from his Macedonians those who
were not fit to fight, either because of age or wounds, and selected nine
hundred from the Thessalians who were following him as volunteers. He gave
everyone in the cavalry two talents, and to each foot soldier he gave three
thousand denarii, or drachmas. He dismissed them to go home and join their
families, and thanked the rest for promising to go on with him in the war.
1987. He also sent his friend Stasanor to the Arians to seize Arsaces, their
governor, because he seemed to be up to no good. He appointed Stasanor to be
governor in his place. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 29. s. 5. 1:327}
1988. There was no timber there for making boats. Therefore, having grown
impatient at the delay, he had the hides which covered the soldiers' tents taken
down, stuffed with straw and sewn or tied together. In five days, he ferried
his army across the river on these leather rafts. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 5. s.
17,18. 2:167,169}
1989. Spitamenes was Bessus' most respected and honoured friend. As soon as he
heard that Alexander had crossed the Oxus River, he told Bessus that his two
trusted aides, Dataphernes and Catanes, were plotting against him, but in actual
fact all three were plotting against Bessus. When Bessus went to apprehend
them, he was tricked and was apprehended himself. Catanes laid hold on Bessus,
removed his regal diadem from his head and tore to pieces the robe which he
wore, and which he had taken from the body of Darius. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 5.
s. 23-26. 2:169,171}
1990. Having crossed the Oxus River, Alexander soon marched to the place where
Bessus was. On the way, he received news from Spitamenes and Dataphernes that,
if he cared to send any one of his captains with a large enough guard, they
would deliver Bessus into his hands, and so Alexander sent Ptolemy, the son of
Lagus, with three companies of cavalry, the regiment of foot soldiers of
Philotas, a thousand of the silver targeteers, the entire squadron of the
Agrians and one half of the archers. In four days, Ptolemy marched with these
men to the place where Spitamenes and his army had camped the day before,
whereas this was normally a ten day journey. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
29. s. 6,7. 1:327,329}
1991. Meanwhile, Alexander came to a little town of the Branchidae, the
inhabitants of which had been relocated there from Miletus by Xerxes many years
earlier, as a reward for their work on his behalf, in betraying Miletus and
pulling down the temple of Apollo Didymeon. {See note on 3526a AM.
<<1165>>} As
this town had become the home of traitors, it was now completely plundered and
then totally destroyed. All the inhabitants, men, women and children, were
killed with the sword. [L333] Had this been executed on the traitors
themselves, it would have been an act of justice, and not of cruelty, but now
the children suffered for their forefathers' faults, even though they had never
seen Miletus, much less betrayed it to Xerxes. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 5. s.
28-35. 2:171-175} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 11. s. 4. 5:285}
1992. As Alexander was on his march, Bessus was brought to him not only bound
but stark naked, a sight delighting all the men, both Greeks and barbarians.
All those bringing him were rewarded for their efforts. The prisoner was
committed to the keeping of Oxathres, Darius' brother, whom Alexander had made
one of the captains of his bodyguard. Oxathres planned to have him bound to a
cross, after his ears and nose had been cut off and his body shot through with
arrows. His dead body would be watched, so that no bird could land on it.
After Bessus was scourged with whips, he was remanded to Bactria and his death
deferred, because he was to be executed in the place where he had murdered
Darius. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 5. s. 36-43. 2:175,177}
1993. Alexander had reinforced his army, as he had lost many troops in crossing
over the Caucasus Mountains, on the journey to the Oxus River and on his march
to the Tanais River. This was not the river which divided Europe from Asia and
emptied the Maeotis Lake (Sea of Azov) into the Black Sea. It is another Tanais
River, also called Jaxartes, which Pliny said the Scythians called Silis, and
according to Aristobulus, the inhabitants in the area called Orxantes.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 30. s. 6-9. 1:331,333} {*Pliny, l. 6. c.
18. 2:375}
1994. At this place certain Macedonians went foraging and were not as careful
as they should have been. They were attacked by certain natives from the
mountains, who killed many of them, but captured even more. These natives
numbered thirty thousand men, but Curtius said there were twenty thousand men.
To fight against these natives, Alexander quickly gathered whatever companies as
he had closest at hand. During this battle, he was shot in the leg with an
arrow, and when the shaft was pulled out, the head stayed in. Arrian stated
that the hill was taken, and that less than eight thousand of the thirty
thousand enemy troops escaped. [E238] Curtius, however, stated that on the next
day after he had been hurt, these barbarians voluntarily surrendered to him,
sending him the prisoners which they had taken and making their peace with him.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c. 30. s. 10,11. 1:333} {*Curtius, l. 7. c.
6. s. 1-9. 2:177,179}
1995. He moved his camp while being carried on an ordinary stretcher, which
every man was happy to take turns in carrying. In four days he came to
Maracanda, the principal city of all Sogdiana, whose wall was almost nine miles
in circumference. He left a garrison to keep the city, while he went and wasted
and burned the nearby towns. A few days later, envoys came to him from the
Scythians, called Abis. These had lived as a free state ever since the death of
Cyrus, but now they surrendered to him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 1. s.
1,2. 1:337} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 6. s. 10-12. 2:179,181}
1996. The barbarians living near the river captured and killed the Macedonian
soldiers that had been left there in the garrison. They started to fortify
their cities, while many of the Sogdians joined with them and were encouraged by
those who had taken Bessus' side. They caused some of the Bactrians to defect
as well. The Susians and Bactrians had seven thousand cavalry, which helped to
encourage the rest to defect. Alexander sent Spitamenes and Catanes, who had
delivered Bessus into his hands, to repress them, but they turned out to be the
principal ring-leaders of that rebellion. They said that Alexander had sent for
all the Bactrian cavalry so that he could kill them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4.
c. 1. s. 4,5. 1:337,339} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 6. s. 14,15. 2:181}
1997. When Alexander heard about this, he attacked the city of Gaza and sent
Craterus against Cyropolis. Having taken Gaza, he killed everyone in it who was
of age and destroyed the city, selling the women and children into slavery.
[L334] This was to be an example to others. Within two days, he had taken four
other cities in those parts and treated them in the same manner, after which he
marched off to Cyropolis. Eighteen thousand men had fled there, because the
place was well fortified and a good refuge. Not only did he lose the bravest
and best men of his army in that siege, but he himself was in extreme danger,
taking such a blow to the neck with a stone, that his eyes were dazzled and he
fell to the ground unconscious for a time. However, he showed invincible
courage in the face of casualties that would have daunted other men. Although
his wound had not yet completely healed, he assaulted the place more fiercely
than ever before, his anger spurring on his natural fighting abilities. As soon
as the city had been taken, eight thousand of the enemy were killed, while the
rest fled into the citadel, but after Alexander had besieged it for only one
day, they surrendered for lack of water. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 2,3.
1:339-345} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 6. s. 16-23. 2:183,185}
1998. Alexander ordered Cyropolis to be levelled to the ground. Of the seven
cities which the natives had fortified for themselves, only one now remained to
be taken, and he took it on the very first assault. Ptolemy, however, said that
it surrendered to him. Aristobulus said that the men taken in it were
distributed throughout the army and kept bound until Alexander left that
country. This would leave no one behind who had had a part in that revolt.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 3. s. 5. 1:345}
1999. Meanwhile, the Scythians of Asia came with a large army to the bank of
the Tanais River, having heard that the countries on the other side were up in
arms against Alexander. They planned that if the inhabitants of these countries
were to revolt in large numbers, they would join with them against Alexander and
attack the Macedonians. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 3. s. 6. 1:345}
2000. Spitamenes stayed within the walls of Maracanda, besieging the garrison
of the Macedonians who were in the citadel there. To fight against him,
Alexander sent Menedemus, Andromachus and Caranus along with sixty of the
Companion Cavalry, eight hundred of his mercenaries led by Caranus, and fifteen
hundred mercenary foot soldiers. (Curtius said three thousand.) Alexander gave
them Pharnuches as an interpreter, because he spoke the barbarians' language and
could therefore best serve to negotiate with them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4.
c. 3. s. 6,7. 1:345} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 6. s. 24. 2:185}
2001. Alexander came back to the bank of the Tanais River and made a wall
around his camp. He turned it into a city with walls of almost eight miles in
circumference, and called the city after his own name, Alexandria. The work was
done so quickly that, within seventeen days of the walls going up, it was filled
with houses. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 6. s. 25-27. 2:185,187} However, Justin
said that in seventeen days he built a wall around it which was six miles in
circumference. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 5.} Arrian stated that in twenty
days the city was enclosed with a wall. He gave the city to his Greek
mercenaries to live in, along with any of the natives in the area who wished to
live there. Any of his Macedonians who had become unserviceable for the war
were allowed to live there too. He also settled some of his prisoners there, to
fill this newly built city. By paying their ransom to their various masters, he
made them freedmen and citizens of this city, to which he also relocated the
inhabitants of three cities which Cyrus had built. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4.
c. 4. s. 1. 1:347}
2002. The king of the Scythians, whose kingdom lay beyond the Tanais River,
knew that the city had been built purposely to restrain his ambitions. He sent
his brother Carcasis to take and demolish it, and to drive away the Macedonians
from beside the river. These Scythians rode up and down on the other side of
the river in full view of Alexander, shooting arrows and hurling insults at him
and his Macedonians. [E239] Alexander had not yet fully recovered from his
wound. [L335] His voice failed him, and he could not stand unaided or sit on
horseback, which meant he could not order what he wanted done. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 4. s. 2,3. 1:347} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 7. s. 1-4.
2:187}
2003. Spitamenes, besides his own men, had with him some six hundred Dahae and
wild Scythian cavalry. These attacked and killed a part of the army that had
been sent by Alexander to relieve those who were besieged in the citadel at
Maracanda. Aristobulus said that when the Macedonians were fighting, so large a
number of Scythians suddenly emerged from the neighbouring gardens that they
killed almost all the Macedonians. Barely forty cavalry and three hundred foot
soldiers escaped. Curtius mentioned only that two thousand foot soldiers were
lost in that defeat. Alexander, however, to hide the greatness of that loss,
ordered those who returned to his camp not to speak a word about it, on pain of
death. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 5,6. 1:353-357} {*Curtius, l. 7. c.
7. s. 30-39. 2:197,199}
3675d AM, 4385 JP, 329 BC
2004. Alexander put his heavily armed foot soldiers into as many boats as he
could make, while the rest swam on leather bags stuffed with straw. They
crossed the Tanais River with incredible courage and attacked and routed the
Scythians. Even though Alexander was quite weak, he pursued them for ten miles.
In this battle, sixty Macedonian cavalry and almost a hundred foot soldiers
died, and about a thousand were wounded. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 4. s.
4-9. 1:347-351} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 8,9. 2:197-211}
2005. Not long after this, Scythian envoys came to him to justify what had
happened. They said that this war had not been fought against him by the
Scythian nation, but by only a few of their number, who lived by robbery and
plundering, and that the law-abiding inhabitants would yield to him. Alexander
accepted this and replied kindly. He released all the prisoners without a
ransom, so that these warlike people would see that his battle with them was for
honour, not revenge. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 5. s. 1. 1:351}
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 9. s. 17,18. 2:211}
2006. When the Sacae saw this, they sent their envoys to him, offering him
their service, and he dealt as graciously with them. He had Euxenippus, a young
gentleman whom he loved very dearly and who was as close to him as Hephaestion
was, to keep them company and to entertain them. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 9. s.
17-19. 2:211,213}
2007. Alexander took half of the Companion Cavalry, all his targeteers,
archers, Agrians and the best of the whole Macedonian squadron and marched to
Maracanda, because he had been told that Spitamenes had returned there to
besiege the Greeks in the citadel. He marched about ninety miles in three days,
and came to the city early the next day. When Spitamenes heard of his approach,
he lifted his siege and fled. Alexander pursued him as fast as he could. On
the way he came to the place where the Scythians had killed his Macedonians, so
he had their bones gathered and buried with a proper Macedonian funeral. After
this, he followed the enemy until he came into the desert. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 4. c. 6. s. 3-5. 1:357} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 9. s. 20,21. 2:213}
2008. By this time Craterus, marching at a slower pace, as he had been told to
do, came to Alexander with the largest part of the army. To punish the Sogdians
for revolting from him, Alexander divided his army into two parts and ordered
them to burn every place and kill all males of age. In this manner he overran
that entire region, through which the Polytimetus River ran. Beyond it, the
river ran underground and all the country was a desert, totally devoid of cities
and inhabitants. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 6. s. 5-7. 1:359}
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 9. s. 22. 2:213} [L336]
2009. Diodorus estimated that Alexander killed a hundred and twenty thousand
Sogdians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 0. 8:111} Thirty of the most noble of
them, all men of great strength, were brought to Alexander. He marvelled at
their undaunted courage when in the face of death, and freed them on the
condition that they would henceforth be loyal to him. They kept their word and
when they returned home, they made all their people submit to Alexander.
Alexander took four of them to be in his bodyguard, and no Macedonians proved
more faithful to him than these men were. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 10. s. 1-9.
2:213,215}
2010. He left Pencolaus there with a garrison of three thousand foot soldiers
(since no more were needed), while he came into Bactria. Alexander called
together everyone there and ordered that Bessus be brought to him. Alexander
reproached him for his treachery to Darius and had his nose and ears cut off.
He sent Bessus to Ecbatana, so that he might be executed there before the Medes
and Persians. Plutarch said that Alexander ordered both his arms and legs to be
tied to two trees that were bent down, so that when the trees were released,
they would tear him to pieces. Diodorus wrote that the brother of Darius and
his other relatives railed and bitterly reproached him in many speeches, after
which they cut his whole body into pieces and then put them into slings and
scattered them abroad. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 10. s. 10,11. 2:215,217}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 7. s. 3. 1:361} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1.
c. 43. s. 3. 7:353} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 83. s. 9. 8:361} [E240]
2011. About that same time Phrataphernes, the governor of Parthia, came to him
with Stasanor, who had been sent into Aria to apprehend Arsaces. Stasanor
brought Arsaces, bound in chains, together with Barzaentes, whom Bessus had made
governor of Persia under him, as well as other men who had been involved in the
revolt of Bessus. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 7. s. 1. 1:359}
2012. Epocillus and Melanidas came to Alexander from the Asian sea coast.
Ptolemy, the commander of the Thracians, who had escorted the old soldiers whom
Alexander had dismissed to go home as well as the money sent by Menetes, also
came. Ptolemy and Melanidas brought with them four thousand foot soldiers and a
thousand mercenary cavalry. Alexander or Asander came from Lycia with an equal
number of foot soldiers and five hundred cavalry. Asclepidorus, the governor of
Syria, sent him just as many. Antipater sent him eight thousand Greek
mercenaries and six hundred cavalry under the command of Asander and Nearchus.
(There are problems with the Greek text in this passage from Arrian. Editor.)
{*Curtius, l. 7. c. 10. s. 11,12. 2:217} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c.
7. s. 2. 1:359}
2013. With this larger army, he proceeded to set in order the disturbances
caused by that general revolt from him. Many, especially the Sogdians, had gone
into walled towns and cities and set up their own defences, and would not submit
to the governor whom he had set over them. Therefore, he left Polyperchon,
Attalus, Gorgias and Meleager in Bactria to keep order, so that they would not
revolt again, nor draw others into rebellion. After a four day march, Alexander
came to the bank of the Oxus River. Because this river had a muddy bottom and
was very filthy and unhealthy to drink, the soldiers started digging wells for
water, but found none. At last they saw a spring rising up in the king's
pavilion, which they claimed had suddenly arisen there, because they had not
seen it earlier. Plutarch reported that Proxenus, a Macedonian and master of
the king's wardrobe, dug a place near the Oxus River to pitch the king's
pavilion. He found a spring of a fatty and oleaginous or oily liquor that
Alexander, in his letters to Antipater, stated was one of the greatest miracles
that the gods had shown him. [L337] Arrian went further, saying that he found
two fountains, one of water and the other of oil, which had recently sprung up
near the place where Alexander's tent stood. When Ptolemy brought Alexander
word, he at once (as he was directed by his soothsayers) offered sacrifices to
his gods. Aristander told him that the fountain of oil foreshadowed the great
labour and travail that he was to endure, but in the end he would be crowned
with victory. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 15,16. 1:391} {*Curtius, l. 7.
c. 10. s. 13,14. 2:217} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 57. s. 4,5.
7:387,389}
2014. When he had crossed the Ochus and Oxus Rivers, he came to the Marginia or
Magriana River, around which he built six towns, two on the south side and four
on the east side. They were built close together, so each town could help the
other if needed. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 10. s. 15,16. 2:217} Strabo stated
that he built eight towns in Bactria and Sogdiana. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 11.
s. 4. 5:283} Justin mentioned twelve, and noted that he put those in his army
into them who were rebellious and seditious, and hence got rid of them.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 5.}
3676a AM, 4385 JP, 329 BC
2015. Ariamazes of Sogdiana, with a thirty-thousand-man army, climbed to the
top of a high rock, called Oxus by Strabo, and made provision for a two-year
siege. This rock was about nineteen thousand feet high and nineteen miles in
circumference. Alexander made generous promises to three hundred gallant young
lads who volunteered to climb the rock. Using cramp-irons where needed, they
were able to climb the rock slowly. Thirty-two died in the attempt, because
they either slipped, or the rock broke from under them. The Sogdians were
astonished as if by a miracle, to see that men had managed to get up there.
Since they thought there were more coming who were better armed than they were,
they surrendered. Ariamazes, their leader, was quite afraid. He and the chief
men of the country came down to the king in his camp. Alexander had them well
whipped and later crucified at the base of the hill. He distributed the rest as
slaves among the new cities which he had previously built with the money he had
taken from the country. Artabazus was left to keep the Sogdians and the
neighbouring countries under subjection. {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 10,11.
2:215-227} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 17. 1:395-399} {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 4. n. 29. in Alexander} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 11. s. 4.
5:283,285}
2016. After Alexander had taken the Oxus Rock in Sogdiana, he could see the
enemies in various parts. He divided his whole army into five brigades, of
which Hephaestion commanded the first, Ptolemy Lagus, the second, Perdiccas, the
third, Coenus and Artabazus the fourth and Alexander the fifth. The next day
Alexander marched toward Maracanda, while the rest ranged here and there as they
wished. (Curtius' account differed from Arrian's account. {*Curtius, l. 8.
c. 1. s. 1-4. 2:233} Editor.) If they found that any had fled to citadels or
other places of strength, they attacked and captured them, but if they
surrendered, they were treated mercifully. When all these five brigades had
taken in most of Sogdiana, they met at Maracanda. Alexander sent Hephaestion to
establish colonies in various parts. [E241] He sent Coenus and Artabazus to
Scythia, because he had heard that Spitamenes had gone there. He took the rest
of the army into Sogdiana, and easily regained any places that the rebels had
fled to. Those who surrendered without fighting, he relocated in those towns
which he had to subdue by force, ordering that their lands be divided among
these new inhabitants. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 16. s. 1-4. 1:391}
2017. While these things were happening, Spitamenes, the rebels of Bactria, and
a company of Sogdians who had fled from there into Scythia, along with some six
or eight hundred cavalry of the Massagetae who had come to him, went to a
certain citadel which had been built and was being manned against the Bactrians.
[L338] Making a surprise attack on the garrison, they killed everyone inside and
put the commander in prison. Proud of their deeds, they went soon after to take
the city of Zariaspa, which they failed to do, but they carried away much spoil
from the country around it. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 16. s. 4,5.
1:393}
2018. To suppress this rabble, Attinas, the governor of the country, led out
some three hundred cavalry, unaware that the enemy had planned to ambush him.
As well as these troops, he took some of Alexander's cavalry that had been left
sick at Zariaspa and were now recovered, and who were under the command of
Pithon, the son of Sosicles, and Aristonicus, a harpist. These two gathered
some eighty mercenary cavalry troops from those who were left in the garrison at
Zariaspa, along with some of Alexander's Companion Cavalry, since they planned
to go in a company with Attinas into the country of the Massagetae. Suddenly,
however, Spitamenes and his troops rose from the thickets and woods and attacked
them, killing seven of Alexander's Companion Cavalry and sixty of the
mercenaries. Aristonicus, who was also killed in that battle, conducted himself
more like a soldier than a musician. Spitamenes killed Attinas and his entire
company in this encounter, and Pithon was wounded and captured. News of this
ambush quickly reached Craterus and he attacked the Massagetae with all his
cavalry troops, and routed them. He pursued them until they reached the
wilderness of the country in which they were fighting. After a fierce battle,
the Macedonians routed them. When the Massagetae saw that a hundred and fifty
of their cavalry had been killed, they fled and easily saved themselves in that
wilderness. The Dahae lost at least a thousand men. This put an end to the
rebellion in those parts. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 1. s. 3-10. 2:233,235}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 16,17. 1:393,395}
2019. After Alexander had subdued all Sogdiana for the second time, he returned
to Maracanda. An envoy from the king of the Scythians, who lived on the
European side north of the Bosphorus, came to Alexander with a present and
offered him the king's daughter in marriage. Alexander mentioned this in his
letter to Antipater, as I said previously. If Alexander declined the proposal,
the envoy's alternate plan was to have Alexander allow his Macedonian nobles to
marry into the most important families of the Scythians. The envoy offered
that, if Alexander wished, the king would come in person to receive his commands
from Alexander.
2020. At the same time, Phrataphernes, or Pharoemenus, who governed the
Chorasmians, a people bordering on the countries of the Massagetae and Dahae,
sent his messengers to declare his readiness to receive Alexander's commands.
Having graciously heard both the envoy's and the governor's errands, Alexander
stayed there, awaiting the return of Hephaestion and Craterus. {*Curtius, l.
8. c. 1. s. 7-10. 2:235}
2021. As soon as Hephaestion and Craterus arrived, Alexander and his army
attacked the country of Bazaria, or Basists, according to Diodorus. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 0. 8:111} Here there was virgin forest in which, as it
happened, a large lion attacked Alexander. Lysimachus, who later became the
king of Thrace, offered to interpose himself with his hunting spear, but the
king would not allow it and asked him to stand aside. When the lion came on,
Alexander held his ground and killed him with only one blow. After his army had
killed some four thousand wild beasts in that forest, he and the entire army had
a large feast in the woods. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 1. s. 11-19. 2:235,237}
2022. When Alexander returned to Maracanda, Artabazus resigned as governor of
Bactria because of his age. Alexander gave this command to an old soldier of
his father's called Clitus, the son of Dropidas of Macedonia and the brother of
Hellanica, or Lanica, Alexander's nurse. She was a woman whom Alexander had
always respected and loved as his own mother. [L339] In a dream, Alexander
happened to see Clitus sitting among Parmenion's sons in black robes, and all
were dead. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 50. s. 3. 7:369} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 17. s. 3. 1:395} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 1. s. 11-21.
2:235,237}
2023. The third day following this dream was a holiday to Bacchus, when
Alexander usually offered the yearly sacrifice to him. Someone at that time had
brought him fruit from Greece, and because he marvelled at their fresh colour
and good appearance, he sent for Clitus, to show him the apples and to give him
some. Clitus left the sacrifice which he was about to make. As he was rushing
to the king, he was followed by three sheep with flour and salt on their heads,
as they had already been prepared to be offered. [E242] When the king heard of
this, he asked his two principal soothsayers, Aristander and Cleomenes, the
Spartan, what this meant. They told him that it was an abominable sign,
whereupon Alexander remembered his dream. He ordered them to go quickly and
offer a sacrifice for him. Clitus came to the feast which the king put on after
he had sacrificed to Castor and Pollux. When Alexander was quite drunk, he
began to brag greatly about his own acts and devalue the deeds of his father
Philip. Most of those present at the feast applauded him, whereas Clitus, on
the other hand, upheld the deeds of Philip and spoke honourably of his
achievements, decrying the present times and sometimes saying some disgraceful
things about Alexander. Alexander rose in a rage intending to kill Clitus, who
(according to Aristobulus) escaped out the back door and leaving the trenches,
got into the citadel to Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. Both of them returned to the
feast and Clitus sat in the same seat again. Ptolemy, observing Alexander
calling out for Clitus, said that Clitus was here, and what did he want to do
with him? Whereupon Alexander ran Clitus through with his spear and killed him.
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 50,51. 7:369-373} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4.
c. 8. s. 1-9. 1:363-367} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 1. s. 21-52. 2:239-247}
2024. Later, when Alexander considered the vileness of this act, he grew as
angry with himself as he had formerly been with Clitus. Resolving to make
amends, he secluded himself for three whole days and did not have food or drink,
or pay any heed to what might become of him.
2025. When he had by now continued fasting into the fourth day, the captains of
his bodyguard broke in on him. After a long time, they were able to persuade
him to eat again. His soothsayers told him that this had happened because he
did not sacrifice to Bacchus, so he soon went and sacrificed to him, glad to
hear that this event came from the anger of the gods rather than from the malice
of his heart. Aristander reminded him of his dream and of the sheep, telling
Alexander that what had been done, had been done by fate and could not have been
avoided. Callisthenes, the philosopher and relative of Aristotle, agreed with
Aristander in this. Anaxarchus of Abdera, a subtle teacher, went much further
in this shameless flattery. He quoted an old proverb that Justice and Law
always sit at Zeus' elbow, from which he concluded that whatever kings did, was
to be considered right and just. To lift Alexander's spirits, all the
Macedonians unanimously declared that Clitus had been fairly treated and justly
put to death. They would have forbidden his burial, if the king himself had not
ordered it. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 52. 7:375,377} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 9. s. 1-9. 1:367-371} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 2. s.
1-12. 2:247-249}
2026. When he had spent ten days in settling his mind over this, he sent
Hephaestion with part of his army into Bactria, where he was to prepare
Alexander's winter quarters. To fill the position which had been intended for
Clitus, Alexander made Amyntas, the son of Nicolaus, governor of Bactria, and
left Coenus there with his own and Meleager's brigade. He also left four
hundred of the Companion Cavalry and mounted spearmen, together with the
Bactrians and Sogdians who were under the command of Amyntas, ordering everyone
to be subject to Coenus and to spend that winter in Sogdiana. [L340] He wanted
to keep order in that country and hoped to capture Spitamenes, if should he
happen to come into those parts for his winter provisions. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 4. c. 17. s. 3. 1:395,397} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 2. s. 13. 2:251}
2027. Alexander journeyed to Xenippa, which bordered on Scythia, and to where
the Bactrians who had revolted from him had retired to. As soon as it became
known that Alexander was coming, the natives drove out the Bactrians, who
therefore gathered themselves into a body of twenty-five hundred cavalry and
attacked Amyntas, a commander of Alexander's. There was a long and fierce
skirmish between them, until the Bactrians fled after losing seven hundred men,
of whom three hundred were taken prisoner. They had killed eighty Macedonians
and wounded three hundred and fifty more. However, when they yielded to
Alexander again, they were pardoned. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 2. s. 14-18.
2:251,253}
2028. After this, Alexander went with his army to a place called Nautaca, whose
governor, Sisimithres, had two sons born from his own mother, since it was
lawful, with those people, for children to have intercourse with their parents.
Sisimithres captured the gates or passes which open through the mountains into
his own country. With a strong force he had fortified the pass well, which was
also naturally well defended by an extremely swift and violent river in front of
it and a large rock at its back. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 2. s. 19-22. 2:253}
Arrian said that this rock was at Pareitacene and was twelve thousand feet high
and about seven and a half miles in circumference. He named the the rock,
Chorienes, after the one who kept it. However, Strabo, together with Curtius
and Plutarch, called it Sisimithres' Rock and located it in Bactria. These men
said it was almost two miles high and ten miles in circumference. It had a
large plain of good land on the top and was well able to support five hundred
men. They also said that on this rock (not on that other rock in Sogdiana)
Oxyartes had his daughter Roxane with him, whom Alexander later married.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 21. s. 1,2. 1:407} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 58. 7:389,391} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 9. s. 4. 5:285} [E243]
2029. Although Alexander saw that this pass was naturally well fortified and
strongly defended, his battering rams quickly made a breach in the
fortifications. He entered the outer fortifications and approached the rock, at
the base of which there was a vast bog caused by the rain which fell from the
rock and was trapped there. He did not know how to fill it in quickly.
Meanwhile, he had the beech trees which grew there in abundance, cut down and
made into long stakes which his army drove down into the bog. All day long he
stayed to encourage the work. Perdiccas, Leonnatus, and Ptolemy, the son of
Lagus, the captains of his personal guard, divided the rest of the army into
three parts and continued the work at night. They could not advance more than
thirty feet by day and less by night, even though all the army incessantly
worked at it, because the rock was so craggy and the work was very difficult.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 21. s. 3-6. 1:409}
2030. At that time Oxyartes, a great man of that country, a prince and the
father of Roxane, was with Alexander. When Alexander asked him about the spirit
and courage of Sisimithres, he answered that he was the most cowardly man that
ever lived. Alexander replied: {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 58. s. 2.
7:389,391}
"Surely you have said enough to teach me that it is possible to take this rock,
since you tell me that the one defending it is so weak."
2031. Alexander sent Oxyartes to Sisimithres to demand that he surrender at
once with his mother, children and all that were dear to him. [L341]
Sisimithres surrendered immediately. Alexander, with five hundred of his silver
targeteers, went up into the rock to view its situation and strength. When he
had offered sacrifices to Minerva Victoria, he left Sisimithres as the governor
of that citadel and the surrounding country, as he had been before. Alexander
gave him hope of a larger dominion, should he perform well and faithfully in
this command. At Sisimithres' request, Alexander took along his two sons to
serve Alexander in the wars. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 21. s. 6-9.
1:409,411} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 2. s. 23-33. 2:255,257}
2032. He left his Macedonian squadron behind to capture the other places which
had revolted from him, while he advanced with his cavalry up a steep and rocky
way. He had not gone far, but all his cavalry horses were exhausted by the
journey and could not follow him any farther. Each day, his company became
fewer and fewer, and even all the young gallants, who never wished to be far
from him, stayed behind, except for Philip, the brother of Lysimachus. He was
wearing his full body armour and other arms, an incredible thing to do. Even
though he was on foot, he kept up with Alexander for over sixty miles, despite
the fact that Alexander rode and often changed his horse. When they came into a
wood where the enemy attacked the king, Philip stepped between them and rescued
Alexander from that danger. The barbarians were routed and the woods cleared of
them, but when they were gone, Philip fainted from over-exertion and collapsed
between Alexander's own hands and died. No sooner had this happened, then
Alexander was told that Erigyius, one of his greatest captains, had died. He
had both their funerals observed with all the honour that could be given them.
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 2. s. 33-40. 2:257,259}
2033. Spitamenes came to Gabae with a rabble of three thousand wild Scythians
who followed him. Gabae was a strong Sogdian town that was located near the
border with the Massagetae. He easily persuaded them to join him in plundering
the country of the Sogdians. When Coenus heard of his coming, he attacked him
with his army and killed eight hundred of them, while he lost only twenty-five
of his cavalry and twelve of his foot soldiers. The Sogdians who escaped, along
with some Bactrians, deserted Spitamenes on the way and surrendered to Coenus.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 17. s. 4-6. 1:397}
2034. When the Massagetean Scythians saw how badly things had gone, they
plundered all the wagons of the Bactrians and Sogdians and accompanied
Spitamenes into the deserts of Scythia. When they heard that Alexander was
coming after them and planned to follow them into those very deserts, they
decapitated Spitamenes and sent his head to Alexander, hoping by this to make
him stop chasing them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 17. s. 7. 1:397,399}
However, Curtius wrote that when Alexander was not far off, Spitamenes' own wife
met him with her husband's head in her hand. When he saw it, he abhorred the
sight and had her put out of the camp, so that the vileness of such an act would
not corrupt his Greeks with these barbarian ways. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 3. s.
1-15. 2:259-263}
2035. When the Dahae heard what had become of Spitamenes, they tied up
Dataphernes, his partner in that revolt, and delivered him to Alexander, while
they themselves submitted to him. Coenus and Craterus, with Phrataphernes, the
governor of the Parthians, and Stasanor, the governor of the Arians, returned to
Alexander at Nautaca when they had completed their missions. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 18. s. 1,2. 1:399} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 3. s. 16.
2:263} [E244]
3676b AM, 4386 JP, 328 BC
2036. Alexander rested his army at Nautaca because it was now the middle of
winter. Arrian expressed this as in the depth of winter. [L342] He thought
about how to avenge the subjects' wrongs, which they had suffered through the
pride and avarice of their rulers. As a result of that, he ordered that
Phrataphernes be governor of Hyrcania and the countries of the Mardi and Tapuri.
He wanted him to bring him Phradates, who was the governor there. Alexander had
often sent for him, based on complaints he received, but he would not come, so
Phrataphernes was to bring him to Alexander under a sufficiently strong guard.
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 3. s. 16,17. 2:263}
2037. He removed Arsames from the government of the Drangians and put Stasanor
in his place. Arsaces (according to Curtius) or Atropates (according to Arrian)
was made governor over Media to replace Oxydates, because the king thought that
Oxydates was not loyal to him. The province of Babylon, after the death of
Mazaeus, was committed to Deditamenes, or to Stamines (according to Arrian).
Sopolis, Epocillus and Menidas were sent into Macedonia to bring him a fresh
supply of soldiers from there. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 18. s. 2,3.
1:399} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 3. s. 17. 2:263,265}
2038. Three months after this, he started to march into a country called
Gazaca. The third day into the journey, there was a dreadful storm and it was
extremely cold. His whole army was in danger of perishing in this storm.
Curtius described this event in great detail, telling of the fierceness of the
storm and the king's fortitude in enduring it. He showed his wisdom and
humanity in keeping the army together and comforting the poor weather-beaten
soldiers in that distress. However, about two thousand perished of the poorer
sort of soldiers, the support personnel and hangers-on. Curtius further added
what was also recorded by Valerius Maximus and Frontinus. While Alexander was
warming himself at a fire, he saw an elderly common soldier of the Macedonians,
half frozen with cold and benumbed in his wits no less than in his limbs.
Alexander took him and sat him down in his own chair, telling him that it would
be for his good, whereas in Persia, anyone who sat in the king's chair was
executed. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 5. c. 1. ext. 1. 1:453,455} {*Frontinus,
Stratagems, l. 4. c. 6. s. 3. 1:307} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 4. s. 1-17.
2:265-269}
2039. The next day, he called his friends and captains together. He made a
proclamation that whatever any man had lost in that storm, he would personally
make good to him again. This he did to the smallest detail. For example,
Sisimithres had brought along with him many beasts of burden and draught
animals, two thousand camels, and whole flocks and herds, and these were now
distributed among the army, compensating them for their losses and saving them
from the famine. Thereupon, the king declared publicly how much he was indebted
to Sisimithres for that courtesy. He ordered every soldier to take enough food
for eight days, and then they went to capture the Sacae who had revolted from
him. When they had gathered all the spoil of that country, Alexander gave
thirty thousand head of cattle to Sisimithres from the spoil. {*Curtius, l. 8.
c. 4. s. 18-20. 2:269}
2040. Alexander married Roxane, the daughter of Oxyartes. Strabo stated that
this took place at the rock or citadel of Sisimithres when it was first
surrendered to him. Many of his Macedonians followed Alexander's example and
married foreign wives from the more illustrious families of the foreign
countries. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 0. 8:111} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 4. s.
21-30. 2:271,273} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 11. s. 4. 5:283,285}
3676c AM, 4386 JP, 328 BC
2041. Now he focused completely on the war against India. So that everything
would be safe and quiet behind him, he conscripted thirty thousand men from
every province, whom he planned to take with him into India. They would serve
both as soldiers and as pledges of the fidelity of those whom he left behind.
He moved into Bactria and sent Craterus with six hundred of the Companion
Cavalry, his own foot soldiers with the regiments under Polyperchon, Attalus and
Alcetas, to pursue Austanes and Catanes, who were the only ones remaining of the
rebels of Pareitacene. A great battle was fought between them, and Catanes was
killed, while Austanes was taken prisoner and brought alive to Alexander. The
Greeks lost a hundred and fifty cavalry and about fifteen hundred foot soldiers.
After this, Craterus went into Bactria and Polyperchon subdued the country of
Bubacene for Alexander. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 22. s. 1-3. 1:413}
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 5. s. 1-3. 1:273}
2042. Alexander assumed divinity and affirmed that he was the son of Zeus.
[L343] He was no longer to be addressed in the Macedonian custom, but would be
adored with prostration after the fashion of the Persian kings. There were
plenty of court flatterers to feed this desire of Alexander's. These are the
curse of all kings, and by their tongues more kings have perished than by the
sword of their enemies. [E245] The main ones around Alexander were Agis of
Argos, the worst flatterer that ever was, after Choerilus, also Cleo of Sicily
and Anaxarchus, an orator. Callisthenes, an honest philosopher and a scholar of
Aristotle, opposed Alexander in this and paid for it with his life. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 52. s. 1,2. 7:375} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 5. s. 5-8.
2:275}
2043. Hermolaus was a gallant youth and one of the king's company of pages, and
had been instructed in the basics of philosophy by Callisthenes. He was once
hunting with Alexander and killed a boar which Alexander had aimed at. Upon
this, Alexander commanded him to be taken away and whipped, which the youth took
badly and so started a conspiracy to kill Alexander. First, he conspired with
Sostratus, the son of Amyntas, a youth like himself, of the same rank. Then he
conspired with Antipater, the son of Asclepiodorus, governor of Syria and others
of the same company of pages. When the conspiracy was exposed by Epimenes, one
of the conspirators, they were all executed and Epimenes was rewarded. In his
letters to Craterus, Alcetas and Attalus, written at that time, Alexander stated
that they had confessed that the conspiracy was among themselves only, without
the encouragement of anyone else. However, in another letter written later to
Antipater, he accused Callisthenes also of the crime, saying:
"The youths indeed were stoned to death by the Macedonians, but the sophist I
will punish, together with those who sent him to me and those who harbour in
their cities men who conspire against my life."
2044. In these words, at least, he directly revealed a hostility to Aristotle,
in whose house Callisthenes, on account of his relationship, had been reared,
being a son of Hero, who was a niece of Aristotle. When he had seized
Callisthenes, he kept him in irons for seven months to have him judged and
condemned in a court of justice when Aristotle would be present. Chares, the
Mitylenian, stated that when Alexander was in the country of the Mallians and
Oxydracans in India, he was recovering from a wound received in a battle.
Seventeen months had passed since the conspiracy, and Callisthenes died from
obesity and the disease of lice. However, Aristobulus and Ptolemy stated that
the pages confessed on the rack that Callisthenes had put them up to it. Again,
Ptolemy said that Callisthenes was first racked and later hanged. However,
Aristobulus said that he was carried about in chains with the army, and so died.
So we see that these great authors and those who were present in the army and
waited on Alexander at the very time when these things happened, do not agree
with each other. However, there is no doubt about the time when this happened.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 13,14. 1:381-387} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 6-8.
2:283-303} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 52,53. 7:375-385}
2045. Alexander left Amyntas in Bactria with thirty-five hundred cavalry and
ten thousand foot soldiers. Toward the end of spring (according to Arrian),
Alexander moved with his army from there toward India to make the ocean, and the
utmost border of the east, the boundary of his empire. He prepared his army in
their attire for this great plan of his. He had all their shields covered with
silver plate and their horse bridles made of beaten gold, and he enriched their
body armour with gold or silver. [L344] He had a hundred and twenty thousand
men with him on the Indian expedition. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 22. s.
2. 1:413} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 5. s. 3,4. 2:273,275}
2046. Alexander crossed the Caucasus Mountains in ten days and came to his city
of Alexandria, which he had built in Parapamisadae. He replaced its governor
because of his bad behaviour, and relocated more people into his new city from
the neighbouring countries. Any Macedonians who were unserviceable for the war
were allowed to live there. He made Nicanor the governor of the city and made
Tyriespis the commander of the whole region of Parapamisadae and of all that
territory as far as the Cophen River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 22. s.
4,5. 1:413,415} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 9. s. 3,4. 2:303,305}
2047. From there he went to the city of Nicaea and sacrificed to Athena. He
then marched to the Cophen River. He sent a herald who ordered Taxiles and the
rest of the governors of the countries lying between the Cophen and the Indus
Rivers to come to him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 22. s. 6. 1:415}
3676d AM, 4386 JP, 328 BC
2048. Taxiles and other petty kings under his government came and met with
Alexander. They received his orders and told him that he was now the third son
of Zeus that had come into those parts. They had only heard of Father Liber
(Dionysus or Bacchus) and Hercules, but now they were happy to see him
personally present among them, which was the reason why they brought him rich
presents and promised to send him twenty-five elephants. Alexander entertained
them very graciously and asked them to go with him to be his guides through the
passes of that country. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 22. s. 6. 1:415}
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 1,2. 2:313}
2049. When he saw that no one else came, he divided his army and sent
Hephaestion and Perdiccas toward the Indus River, into the country called
Peucelaotis. The armies led by Gorgias, Clitus and Meleager, and half the
company of the Companion Cavalry, as well as all the mercenary cavalry, were
told to capture any town they found, by whatever means. [E246] When they came
to the bank of the Indus River, they were to start building boats for crossing
over it into further countries. Taxiles was sent with them, as well as other
commanders from those parts. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 22. s. 7,8.
1:415} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 2. 2:313}
2050. Astis, the governor of the country of Peucelaotis, revolted and died in
the city to which he withdrew. Hephaestion came and besieged it and one month
later took and sacked it. The governor was killed and Sangaeus was made
governor in his place. Previously, Sangaeus had defected from Astis and had
fled to Taxiles, which fact helped Alexander trust him all the more. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 22. s. 8. 1:415,417}
2051. Alexander, with his troop of silver targeteers, the Companion Cavalry,
Hephaestion and the troop of those who were called asthetairoi, his archers,
Agrians and javelin men, all marched into the country of the Aspians, Thyraeans
and Arasocans. They journeyed to the Choes River, a route which was mostly
mountainous and rocky. When they had crossed that river, Alexander commanded
Craterus to come after him with the foot soldiers, while he took the whole body
of his cavalry and eight hundred Macedonians and targeteers on horseback and
marched off quickly. He had heard that the people of that country had fled,
some to the mountains and others to fortified cities, because they all planned
to fight him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 23. s. 1,2. 1:417}
2052. Alexander easily routed those who came to oppose him, driving them back
into the town by the way they had come out. He easily defeated the townsmen,
who all stood in battle array before their walls, and forced them to take refuge
within their walls again. Craterus arrived with the foot soldiers, and so, in
order to strike the greatest terror into the minds of a country of a people who
did not know what kind of men the Macedonians were, he ordered the army not to
spare a single life. [L345] They set fire to the outer works which they had
made. As Alexander rode about the walls, he was wounded by an arrow in the
shoulder through his armour, but it was a minor wound. Ptolemy and Leonnatus
were both wounded at this same time. Then Alexander saw a place where the wall
was the weakest, and pitched his camp against it. The next day, early in the
morning, he easily took the outer wall, which was not very strong. The
inhabitants made some resistance at the inner wall, but when the Macedonians had
scaled the walls and the townsmen felt the arrows showering down on them, the
soldiers within broke out of the gates and ran in all directions to the nearby
mountains. Many of them escaped and saved themselves there, but were followed
and overtaken by the Macedonians, who killed most of them. The townsmen who
remained behind were all killed, and the city was levelled to the ground.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 23. s. 1-5. 1:417,419} {*Curtius, l. 8. c.
10. s. 4-6. 2:315}
2053. After Alexander had subdued another weak country, he advanced to the city
of Nysa, which was located at the foot of a hill called Meros and was said to
have been built in ancient times by Bacchus. At the entreaty of Acuphis, the
chief man of the city, who had been sent to him along with thirty other leaders,
he spared the inhabitants of Nysa. They were only commanded to give him three
hundred horses, after which he restored their freedom and allowed them to live
after their own laws, having made Acuphis governor of the city and the province
of Nysa. Alexander took Acuphis' son and grandchild as hostages. He sacrificed
there to Bacchus under this god's other name of Dionysus. He made merry and
feasted his friends and all his Macedonians, who wore garlands of ivy on their
heads and sang praises to Dionysus with all his titles and names. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 5. c. 1,2. 2:3-7} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 7-18.
2:315-319}
Calling him Bacchus, Bromius and Lyaeus,
Born of the fire, twice born and not like others,
But the only one that ever had two mothers.
2054. Ovid spoke of him in a similar fashion, although on a different occasion.
{*Ovid, Metamorphoses, l. 4. (11-14) 3:179} See also Philostratus.
{*Philostratus, Apollonius, l. 2. c. 2. 1:121}
2055. From there, he went to a country called Daedala, the inhabitants of which
had all fled to the woods and mountains, so he went through Acadira, which had
also been deserted by its inhabitants. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 19.
2:319}
2056. When the city of Ardaca surrendered, he left Craterus there with other
commanders of the foot soldiers. They were to capture places that would not
voluntarily surrender and to order matters there as they saw fit. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 23. s. 5. 1:419} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 5.
2:315}
2057. Alexander took his silver targeteers, his squadron of Agrians and Coenus'
and Attalus' brigades, the body of his own cavalry and at most four companies of
the Companion Cavalry and one half of his mounted archers, and went to the
Euaspla River, where the governor of the Aspasians was. After a lengthy
journey, he and his army came the next day to a city called Arigaeum. [E247] As
soon as the inhabitants heard that he was coming, they set their city on fire
and fled to the mountains. The Macedonians chased them and killed a vast number
of them, while Ptolemy killed their captain in hand-to-hand combat and brought
his armour back with him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 24. s. 1-5.
1:419,421}
2058. Alexander came to the city of Arigaeum with his foot soldiers, who were
riding on horseback. They got off their horses and attacked the natives. After
a long skirmish, the natives were forced to flee for refuge to the mountains.
Craterus joined Alexander with the main body of the army when he had fully
completed the task he had been sent to do. [L346] Alexander commanded him to
rebuild Arigaeum, which the inhabitants had burnt down, and to repopulate it
with people from the surrounding area who wanted to live there, and with those
Macedonians who were no longer fit for military service. Alexander went to the
place to where he had been told that the natives had fled. When he came to the
foot of a mountain, he pitched his camp there. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c.
24. s. 6,7. 1:421,423}
2059. Meanwhile Ptolemy, who had been sent to forage, went farther on with a
small troop to discover what lay ahead. He sent word back to Alexander that
there seemed to be more fires in the enemy's camp than there were in Alexander's
camp, whereupon Alexander left part of his army in the camp and went with the
remainder to view those fires for himself. When he had examined the situation
well, he divided the company he had brought with him into three parts. One part
he gave to Leonnatus, one of the captains of his bodyguard, with the brigade of
Attalus and Balacrus. Ordering Ptolemy to take charge of the second one, he
gave him a third part of his own silver targeteers, the brigade of Philip and
Philotas with two thousand archers, all the Agrians and half of the whole
cavalry. The third part he himself led to a spot where he noticed the largest
number of the enemy to be. The enemy, having confidence in their numbers and
supposing the Macedonians to be few in number, left the mountain and came down
into the plain. A bloody battle ensued, which the Macedonians won. Ptolemy,
who led one of the three brigades of Macedonians, reported that almost forty
thousand prisoners were taken in that battle, and more than two hundred and
thirty thousand oxen. Alexander selected the best of the oxen and sent them
back to Macedonia, to breed them there for use in the tillage of the ground.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 24,25. 1:423,425}
3677a AM, 4386 JP, 328 BC
2060. Alexander went from there into the country of the Assacenians, who were
said to have mustered two thousand cavalry, thirty thousand foot soldiers and
thirty elephants to fight against him. It was also said that Assacanus (which
seems to have been the common name by which all their kings went) had recently
died, and that his mother Cleophis commanded that entire force. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 25. s. 5. 1:425,427} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s.
22,23. 2:319,321}
2061. When Craterus had finished rebuilding the city of Arigaeum, he brought
all his heavily armed foot soldiers to Alexander with battering rams and other
equipment for a siege, should that be required. Alexander advanced toward the
Assacenians with the Companion Cavalry, his mounted javelin soldiers, with
Coenus' and Polyperchon's companies, with the archers and a thousand Agrians.
He marched through the country of the Guraeans and had great trouble crossing
the Guraeus River. When the natives heard of his coming, they did not dare to
fight him in one body, but divided their army and dispersed themselves. Each
went into their cities, where they planned to make a stand. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 4. c. 25. s. 6,7. 1:425,427}
2062. First, Alexander went with his army to Massaga, the largest city of the
Assacenian country. It was enclosed with a wall of about four-and-a-half miles
in circumference and was defended by thirty thousand men, which included seven
thousand mercenaries from the inner parts of India. These came out to fight at
the foot of a hill about a mile from the Guraeus River and were forced to flee
back into their city when they lost about two hundred men. Shortly after this,
Alexander drew up his main battle line of the Macedonians before the gates of
the city. He was wounded in the calf of his leg by an arrow shot from the wall.
In pain, he cried out even though they told him he was Zeus' son, yet, when
wounded, he felt pain like any other man. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 26.
s. 1-4. 1:427,429} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 23-30. 2:323} When he saw
the blood running down his body, he cited a saying from Homer that this was
indeed blood, but not: {Homer, Iliad, l. 5. c. 340.} {*Plutarch, Alexander,
l. 1. c. 28. 7:307}
"Such blood as from the blessed gods does flow." [L347]
2063. After nine days of the siege, the courage of the defenders began to
weaken. They saw Alexander's works, the incessant labour of the besiegers, what
vast valleys they filled up, what towers they built and how they made them run
on wheels, so that when their captain was shot through with an arrow from a
battering ram, their courage failed completely. They abandoned the idea of
holding out any longer and retired into their citadel, from where they sent
messengers to beg for a pardon and to surrender. [E248] Cleophis the queen,
with a large number of noble ladies all pouring wine into golden basins, came
out to Alexander. The queen laid her young son at his feet and not only
obtained his pardon but was restored to her father's kingdom. This was due more
to her good looks than to Alexander's generosity, since men commonly said that
all this was merely the price of a night's lodging and that she got her kingdom
back again by using her allurements to achieve what she could not achieve by
force. After that, she was known among the Indians as the king's concubine. In
that siege Alexander lost no more than twenty-five men. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
4. c. 26,27. 1:429,431} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 30-35. 2:323,325}
2064. The Indian mercenaries from the central regions of India, who had taken
part in the siege, caused Alexander more trouble than all the rest. According
to the terms of the truce, they were allowed to depart with their arms, but they
camped about ten miles from there. When Alexander was told about this, he was
very angry with them and attacked them. He said that he had indeed allowed them
to depart with their arms, but not so that they could ever use them against the
Macedonians. The Indians, unaware of the great danger they were in, locked
themselves closely together to form a ring and placed their wives and children
in the midst of the circle. When the enemy attacked, they withstood them very
courageously. Whenever a man was killed, one of the women took up his arms and
took his place in the ring. At last they were overcome by the numbers of the
enemy and they all died in that spot. Alexander gave the women who were left
and the rest of the rabble to his cavalry. This massacre of the Indians
blemished Alexander's glory and proved a lasting blemish on all his former noble
actions. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 27. s. 3,4. 1:431,433} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 84. 8:361-365}
2065. Alexander sent Coenus to a strong and rich city called Bazira, supposing
that the inhabitants would readily submit when they heard what had happened at
Massaga, but they refused to surrender. He sent Alcetas, Attalus and Demetrius,
the commander of the cavalry, to besiege the city of Ora until he arrived. The
inhabitants of Ora staged an attack on Alcetas, but the Macedonians easily
pushed them, repelled them, and quickly besieged them on that side. Alexander
heard that Abissares was secretly intending to move more of the natives in to
defend it, so he sent word to Coenus to build a strong citadel at Bazira and
leave a large enough garrison in it to prevent the natives from tilling their
ground, whereupon he was to return to Alexander with the rest of the army.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 27. s. 5-8. 1:433}
2066. The inhabitants of Bazira saw that Coenus had gone with most of his army
and had left the rest in the citadel. They ventured out into the open field,
ready for battle. When five hundred had been killed and seventy more taken
prisoner, the rest retreated into the city. They were more securely besieged
than before and did not venture out of the gates. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4.
c. 27. s. 8,9. 1:433,435}
2067. Alexander took the city of Ora at the first assault and took all the
elephants he could find there. When the inhabitants of Bazira heard this, they
were afraid of also being taken, so they all fled out of the gates in the dead
of the night, and climbed up onto a rock called Aornus. The rest of the cities
in the area did likewise, every man taking his weapons there with him.
Alexander put garrisons in Ora and Massaga, strengthened the walls of Bazira,
and captured the towns which the inhabitants had abandoned. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 4. c. 27. s. 9. 1:435} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 28. s. 1-5.
1:435} [E249] [L348]
3677b AM, 4387 JP, 327 BC
2068. When Taxiles died, his son Omphis, or Mophis, who had persuaded his
father to submit to Alexander, sent to him inquiring as to his wishes, and
wanting to know whether he would be the next king, or whether he was to live as
a private citizen until Alexander should come. Although word was returned to
him that he should reign, he nonetheless held off for the present. Meanwhile,
when Hephaestion and Perdiccas, who had been sent to construct a bridge over the
Indus River, came his way, Omphis received them with all honours and freely
supplied them with provisions, but did not go out to meet them as they
approached, so that he might not seem to be depending for favours on anyone
other than Alexander himself. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 12. s. 4-6. 2:333}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 86. s. 4. 8:371} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c.
30. s. 9. 1:447}
2069. When Alexander came to Embolima, or Ecbolima, a city not far from the
rock of Aornus, he left Craterus there with some of the army. Alexander ordered
him to make provisions of grain and other necessities for a long period, in case
the siege of Aornus were to last a long time and Alexander was unable to capture
it on the first attack. Alexander took his Agrians and archers, Coenus'
brigade, those who were the nimblest and best armed of the Macedonian squadron,
two hundred of the Companion Cavalry and a hundred mounted archers, and marched
to the rock. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 28. s. 7,8. 1:439}
2070. According to legend, when Hercules was in those parts, he attempted to
take that stronghold, but failed, because he was thwarted by an earthquake, and
so Alexander was all the more eager to take the rock and outdo Hercules.
According to Diodorus, the rock was about thirteen miles in circumference and
ten thousand feet high. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 85. s. 3. 8:367} Arrian
said that the rock was twenty-five miles in circumference and about seven
thousand feet high at its lowest point. At the foot of it, facing south, the
Indus River ran, not far from its source. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 28.
s. 3. 1:437} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 8. 7:11} The rest was covered
with vast bogs and inaccessible cliffs. In one of these cliffs, in a cave
containing three beds hewn out of the rock, lived a poor old man with his two
sons, and Alexander promised him eighty talents if he would show him a way up
the rock. The man told him there was but one way and showed him where it was.
When Alexander found no other way except that one, he manned that spot so
strongly that those on the rock could not possibly receive any relief from
others. Then he put his army to work, casting up a mound of earth and rubbish
so high, that at least he could now come to fight with them at closer range. He
launched an assault on them which lasted nine whole days and nights, without
cessation. Alexander lost many of his men in the fighting and in climbing the
rocks. Among those who died were Chares and a person called Alexander.
Although he had no hope of taking it, he nevertheless pretended to carry on the
siege, all the while leaving open one passage which led to the rock, making it
possible for them to flee. Those on the rock, overcome by his persistency and
resolution, took advantage of a dark night and all fled the rock. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 29-30. 1:439-445} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 11. s. 2-25.
2:325-331}
2071. When Alexander saw no activities on the rock the next day, he sent
Balacrus to see what had happened. He brought word that the enemy had all gone,
so Alexander took some of the captains of his bodyguard and seven hundred of his
silver targeteers and led the way up onto the rock. The rest of the Macedonians
followed, helping each other climb up as best they could. Alexander then
ordered them to pursue the enemy, which they did, killing many of them in the
chase, since many fell over the rocks and were dashed to pieces. When Alexander
had conquered the place, he offered many sacrifices, and built altars to Minerva
Victoria on the rock. He left a garrison there and made Sisicottus, or
Sisicostus, the governor of that place and of the country around it. Sisicottus
had previously come from India to Bessus in Bactria. When Alexander had subdued
Bactria, Sisicottus with his men had joined with Alexander and served him
faithfully ever since. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 30. s. 3,4. 1:445}
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 11. s. 22-25. 2:331} [L349]
2072. Alexander left Aornus and went into the country of the Assacenians. He
was told that the brother of Assacanus, the last king, with a number of
elephants and a number of the local inhabitants as well as some from bordering
countries, had fled to the mountains in those parts. When Alexander came to the
city of Dyrta, he found no one, either there, or in the surrounding country
side. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 30. s. 5. 1:445}
2073. The next day he sent out Nearchus with a thousand silver targeteers, some
lightly armed troops and the Agrians, all of whom had been assigned to him,
while Antiochus was given three thousand silver targeteers. These were sent out
as scouts, to see if they could find any of the natives whom they could ask,
among other things, about the elephants. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 30.
s. 6. 1:447}
2074. Alexander marched on toward the bank of the Indus River, sending an army
ahead of him to clear his way. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him
to have gone through. When he found that Erices controlled the narrow passes,
he left Coenus to bring on the main body of the army later, at a less strenuous
pace, while he advanced with his slingers and archers, cleared the forest and
made a safe way for the army that would follow later. Diodorus called this
Indian leader Aphrices, and said that he had twenty thousand men and fifteen
elephants with him. Whether out of hatred for this Erices, or Aphrices, or to
ingratiate themselves with Alexander, the Indians killed him and brought his
head and arms to Alexander, who pardoned them, but did not honour them, lest
others should follow their example. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 30. s. 7.
1:447} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 12. s. 1-3. 2:331,333} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 88. s. 2,3. 8:369,371}
2075. In sixteen days he reached the Indus River and captured the city of
Peucelaotis, not far from there, which surrendered to him. He left Philippus
there with a garrison of Macedonians to keep order. He also subdued a number of
smaller towns lying along the river, while Cophaeus and Assagetes, the governors
of that country, attended him as he went from place to place. From some natives
whom he had taken prisoner, Alexander learned that the men of that country had
all gone to Barisades (or perhaps Abisares) and that the elephants had been left
grazing on the banks of the Indus River, so he ordered them to show him the way
to the place where the elephants were. They caught all but two, which fell over
the rocks and died. The rest were taken and trained for service, and were added
to his army. He found good trees for timber there, which he ordered to be cut
down for making boats. When the boats were launched, he sailed in them to the
bridge of boats which Hephaestion and Perdiccas had built for him. Realising
that they would have more rivers to cross, they constructed their boats in such
a way that they could easily be disassembled and carried on carts. [E250]
Besides these boats, they built two others of thirty oars apiece, and many more
smaller craft. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 4. c. 28. s. 6. 1:437} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 4. c. 30. s. 7-9. 1:447} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 86. s.
3. 8:371} {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 12. s. 4. 2:333}
2076. Alexander stayed there thirty days to rest his army. In that time he
offered magnificent sacrifices to his gods and entertained his cavalry and foot
soldiers by the riverside. He made one of his friends, Nicanor, governor of all
that region on the west side of the Indus River. After this he crossed the
river with his army on the bridge that had been constructed at Peucelaotis.
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 28. 7:47} Again he sacrificed to his gods, as
was the custom of the Greeks. It was the beginning of spring when Alexander
came into the region which lay between the Indus and the Hydaspes Rivers. This
was recorded by Aristobulus, who was with him at that time, and by Strabo.
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 17. 7:25} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 86. s.
3. 8:371} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 3. s. 5,6. 2:11} [L350]
3677c AM, 4387 JP, 327 BC
2077. When Alexander was about eight miles away, Omphis, the son of Taxiles,
met him with an army and elephants spaced at equal distances among the
companies. At first Alexander did not know whether he came as a friend or a foe
and prepared for a battle. When Omphis saw Alexander's actions, he halted his
army and rode quickly by himself to Alexander and surrendered both himself and
his kingdom (which was not much larger than Egypt) into his hands. When
Alexander asked him whether he had mostly labourers or soldiers in his kingdom,
he replied that he was at war with two kings and hence must, of necessity, keep
more soldiers than labourers in his kingdom. His enemies were Abisares and
Porus, who reigned on the other side of the Hydaspes River. With Alexander's
permission, Omphis assumed the title and office of a king and after the custom
of his country, was known by the name of Taxiles, for that name went with
whoever ruled the kingdom. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 12. s. 4-14. 2:333,335}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 86. s. 5,6. 8:371}
2078. The city of Taxila, after which the king was named, was larger than all
the other cities lying between the Indus and Hydaspes Rivers. All its
inhabitants joined with Omphis in entertaining Alexander very joyfully. On the
fourth day after his arrival there, Omphis told Alexander with how much grain he
had furnished Hephaestion for his army. He presented both Alexander and all his
friends with crowns of pure gold, in addition to giving them a large number of
cattle, three thousand oxen and almost ten thousand sheep. Arrian added that he
sent Alexander seven hundred Indian cavalry and two hundred talents of silver,
but Curtius mentioned only eighty talents of coined silver money. {*Curtius, l.
8. c. 12. s. 11-16. 2:335,337} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 3. s. 5,6.
2:11}
2079. Alexander was very impressed with this treatment, and sent him back the
two hundred talents of silver, with an additional thousand talents of his own.
He also sent many dinner plates of gold and silver, with a great deal of Persian
attire and thirty of his own horses with their equipment. Alexander's
liberality, while pleasing Omphis and obliging him to greater loyalty, deeply
offended his friends. One of these, Meleager, was eating at supper when, quite
drunk, he told Alexander that he was very glad to see that he had found a man
here in India whom he thought worthy of a thousand talents. Alexander,
remembering his regret at killing Clitus, did not seek revenge, but only said:
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 12. s. 17,18. 2:337}
"Jealous men are nothing less than their own worst tormentors."
2080. The next day, Abisares, king of the Indian mountaineers, sent his own
brother to him with other envoys, to present him with money and elephants,
submitting himself and all that he had to Alexander's disposition and pleasure.
When Alexander had made a firm league with him, he sent the men back to
Abisares. Other envoys with presents also came to him from Doxareus, who was a
governor in those regions. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 13. s. 1. 2:337} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 5. c. 8. s. 3. 2:27}
2081. In the country of Taxila, Alexander again offered his usual sacrifices
and staged shows and contests with his cavalry and foot soldiers. He left
Philip, the son of Machatas, with a garrison in the city, as the governor in
those parts, while any in Alexander's army that were unfit for military service
were left behind in the country of Taxila. He then went on toward the Hydaspes
River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 8. s. 3. 2:27}
2082. Alexander thought his fame would cause Porus readily to submit to him.
He sent a message to him through Cleochares, asking for tribute from him and
ordering him to meet Alexander at the border of his kingdom. [L351] Porus
answered that he would comply with the second of these two commands and would
meet him at the border of his kingdom with his army. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 13.
s. 2. 2:337}
2083. There was another Porus, however, a king of a neighbouring country in
India, who was the nephew of the first Porus. Because he hated his uncle, he
sent envoys to Alexander, offering himself and all his kingdom at his service.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 21. s. 3. 2:67} [E251]
2084. Alexander sent Coenus back to the Indus River with orders to dismantle
the boats and bring them overland to him in carts. The smaller boats came apart
in two sections, while the larger ones were in three sections, and they were all
transported to the Hydaspes River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 8. s. 4,5.
2:27,29}
2085. When they had been reassembled and launched, he used them to return to
Taxila with his army. Receiving five thousand Indians whom Taxiles and others
had brought to him, he returned to the banks of the Hydaspes River. On the way,
Barzaentes, who had been governor of the Drangians at various times as well as
the instigator of the revolt of the Arachosians, was taken prisoner and brought
to Alexander along with thirty of his elephants. This was a large prize, for
the Indians trusted more in their beasts than in their men. Damaraxus, a petty
king in those parts and a confederate of Barzaentes, was also taken, bound and
brought to him. Both were committed to prison and the elephants enlisted into
Alexander's service and sent to Taxiles, or Omphis. Alexander advanced and came
to the Hydaspes River, where he executed Barzaentes for his former treason
against his master Darius. {*Curtius, l. 8. c. 13. s. 3-5. 2:337,339}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 8. s. 5. 2:29} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
25. s. 8. 1:315}
2086. Porus was camped on the other side of the Hydaspes River and planned to
stop Alexander. He was a man of large stature and a brilliant mind. He was
said to be seven and a half feet tall, although Plutarch said that he was six
foot three inches tall. His body was so large that his coat of armour was twice
as large as any other man's, and he rode on an elephant taller than all the
rest, on which he sat like an ordinary man does on horseback. Curtius said that
he placed eighty-five large elephants in the forefront of his battle formation.
Diodorus said he had thirty, while Arrian claimed that he had almost two hundred
elephants, three hundred chariots and thirty thousand foot soldiers in his army.
Diodorus stated that he had more than a thousand chariots and fifty thousand
foot soldiers, although Plutarch said he had twenty thousand soldiers, as well
as two thousand cavalry, while Diodorus made that three thousand, and Arrian
four thousand, cavalry. The Hydaspes River ran between the two armies. Porus
with his elephants always appeared at the head of his army, ready to hinder the
crossing of Alexander. Alexander commanded that noises be made daily in his
army such that the men would become accustomed to similar noises from the
barbarians and so find them less terrifying. After a while, on a dark stormy
night, he crossed the river with certain of his foot soldiers and most of the
choice cavalry. In the midst of a violent thunderstorm, he crossed some
distance up the river onto a small island, and although he saw some of his men
hit by lightning and others seriously hurt, he was determined to cross over and
hide on the other side. The river was swollen with the rain and undermined its
banks in many places due to the swiftness of the current. Alexander reached the
bank, where he could hardly stand because of the instability of the ground and
the undermining of the banks. When the Macedonians saw this, they also forced
themselves onto the land, since they were up to their very arm pits in water.
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 13. s. 5-27. 2:339-345} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c.
9-12. 2:29-37} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 19. s. 1. 2:59} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 87. s. 2. 8:373} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 60.
7:395,397} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 62. s. 1. 7:401} [L352]
2087. Having crossed the river, he went ahead of his foot soldiers for two and
a half miles with his cavalry and engaged a thousand enemy cavalry and sixty
chariots. He captured all the chariots and killed four hundred of the cavalry.
When Porus learned that Alexander had crossed the river, he attacked him with
all the troops he had, except for the ones he left to take care of the
Macedonian army that had not yet crossed over. Alexander feared the number of
the enemy and their elephants. He attacked one wing of the enemy with some of
his men and commanded the rest to attack the other wing. When the natives were
hard pressed at any point, they always retired in a group to the elephants as a
place of refuge. The battle grew confused on every side and Alexander could
scarcely route them until about two o'clock in the afternoon. Alexander
described the battle in detail in his own letters. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 60. s. 5,6. 7:397}
2088. Aristobulus said that in the former of these two battles Alexander killed
four hundred cavalry and captured sixty chariots, and that Porus' son was killed
in the battle. However, Ptolemy, claimed Porus' son attacked with two thousand
cavalry and a hundred and twenty chariots. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 13.
s. 3-6. 2:43,45} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 60. s. 5,6. 7:397} As
far as the latter engagement fought with Porus was concerned, Alexander did not
go into any detail. Arrian gave more information concerning the number killed,
saying that the Indians lost almost twenty thousand men and three thousand
cavalry. All their chariots were scattered and two of Porus' sons were killed.
Spitaces, who commanded all that region of India, and all the commanders of the
elephants and the cavalry and the generals of Porus' army to a man, were killed
in the battle. All the elephants not killed in the battle were captured. Of
Alexander's foot soldiers, he lost eighty of the six thousand engaged in the
first battle, as well as ten of the mounted archers who had led the first
assault, twenty of the Companion Cavalry and two hundred other troopers.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 18. s. 2,3. 2:55} [E252] Diodorus stated that
about twelve thousand died, including the two sons of Porus, all the chief
commanders of his army and all the bravest of his captains that he had. Nine
thousand prisoners were taken and eighty elephants captured. Two hundred and
eighty of the Macedonian cavalry died, along with more than seven hundred foot
soldiers. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 89. s. 1-3. 8:377,379}
2089. When Porus was taken, Alexander asked him how he wanted to be treated.
He replied:
"Like a king."
2090. Alexander asked him again whether he wanted anything else, and his answer
was that:
"Like a king."
2091. He said that that encompassed it all. When Alexander saw his noble and
royal disposition, he treated him accordingly and included him in the number of
his friends. He restored him to his kingdom again, which contained about three
hundred cities and reached from the Hydaspes River to the bank of the Acesines
River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 19. s. 1-3."2:59}"{*Strabo, l. 15.
c. 1. s. 29. 7:49}
2092. Arrian stated that these things took place after the summer solstice,
during the rainy season in India, when the Hydaspes River would swell greatly,
whereas a man could wade across it in the middle of winter. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 5. c. 9. s. 4. 2:31} Jacobus Capellus compared another place in Arrian,
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 21. s. 2-5. 2:277,279} where he wrote the
same thing about the Euphrates River, saying:
"It is fordable in the winter. When the spring approaches, and much more when
the sun returns from its summer solstice, it grows deep and overflows its
banks."
2093. The Greeks called the four seasons of the years by the name of tropics.
[L353] They might just as easily have divided the year into two parts, summer
and winter. Summer would start at the vernal equinox and winter from the
autumnal equinox. However, Arrian was speaking after the manner of the east
when he said:
"As the spring approached and after this toward the summer season, the rain
began to fall there and the waters to rise."
2094. Aristobulus was an eye-witness of those Indian regions and was present
with Alexander at the Hydaspes River, and he said that at the beginning of the
spring, the rains began to fall and then grew stronger from day to day. Strabo
said the same. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 18. 7:27}
2095. This battle was fought between the vernal equinox and the summer
solstice, a fact plainly stated by Arrian when he said: {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
5. c. 18. s. 3. 2:59}
"This was the end of the battle fought by Alexander against Porus and his
Indians on the other side of the Hydaspes River in the year when Hegemon was
archon of Athens in the month of Mounychion."
2096. In that year, that month corresponded almost entirely to our month of
May, according to the Julian Calendar. The summer solstice did not happen until
Alexander came to the Acesines River, as I shall show later from Nearchus.
2097. Alexander was glad of this victory, which opened the way to the farthest
borders of the east, and so he had all those of his men who had died in the
battle honourably buried. He sacrificed to the Sun, as the giver of this
victory and held games and contests, both on foot and horseback, at the Hydaspes
River near the place where he had crossed. Since there were all possible kinds
of provisions available there, he stayed for thirty days to rest his wearied
companies. To cheer up his soldiers for the remainder of this war, he called
them together and gave them a pep talk, commending their prowess and valour. He
told them that all the forces of India had been quashed by their single day's
work, and everything else was a rich spoil for them to take. He gave crowns to
the chief commanders of his army to wear, and each of them received a thousand
pieces of gold, while he rewarded the rest according to each man's place and
rank in the army. Philostratus described the monument he erected there.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 20. s. 1. 2:61} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s.
1-8. 2:365,367} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 89. s. 3-6. 8:379}
{*Philostratus, Apollonius, l. 2. c. 43. 1:229}
2098. Alexander planned to go and see the Indian Ocean as soon as he set foot
in India, so he had his shipwrights build boats for that purpose. In the
Emodian hills nearby, there was an abundance of tall fir trees with a quantity
of cedar and pine trees, as well as other timber fit for ship building, but when
they went to cut them down, they found very many large snakes, as long as
twenty-four feet. In those wooded mountains they also found rhinoceroses, which
were quite rare in other countries, as well as a large number of long-tailed
apes, some quite large. When the Macedonians saw a number of the apes ranging
on the side of a hill in an array somewhat like soldiers, they at first thought
they had seen an enemy. Crying out Arm, Arm, they arranged themselves to attack
them. It was not until Taxiles, who was with Alexander at the time, told them
what they were, that the fray ended. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 29.
7:49,51} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 89,90. 8:379,381}
2099. Alexander built two cities there, one on each side of the Hydaspes River.
The one, on this side of the river, was at the place where he had crossed and
the other, on the other side, was the place where he had fought this battle.
[E253] [L354] This city he named after the victory over the Indians, giving it
the Greek name of Nicaea. The other one he called Bucephalon or Bucephalis,
after his horse, Bucephalas. He had died there, not of any wound received in
the battle (as some have it {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 5. c. 2. s.
5. 1:385}), but worn out from travel and old age. He was thirty years old,
according to Arrian and Onesicritus, as cited by Plutarch. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 5. c. 19. s. 5,6. 2:61} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 61. 7:399}
The king gave his horse a solemn funeral and built a monument, around which he
then built a city. {*Pliny, l. 8. c. 64. 3:109} Near these cities, on the
Hydaspes River which ran between the two kingdoms of Porus and Taxiles, he built
his navy for the ocean. Both of these men helped him greatly in building this
fleet. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 32. 7:55} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 3. s.
22. 2:393}
2100. Alexander left Craterus there with a part of his army to finish building
these two cities and their walls, while he went further into India against those
who bordered on Porus' kingdom. Aristobulus called the kingdom Glauganica, but
Ptolemy called it Glausa. He took one half of the Companion Cavalry along with
him, the best men from every squadron, with all his mounted archers, his
squadron of Agrians and the other archers. Thirty-seven cities surrendered to
him on this expedition, the smallest of which had at least five thousand
inhabitants, and many had more than ten thousand. In addition, many towns and
villages surrendered to him, some of which were as large as the cities. All
this territory he added to Porus' kingdom and having made both Taxiles and Porus
his good friends, Alexander also sent Taxiles back to his own kingdom again.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 20. s. 1-4. 2:63}
2101. At the same time, envoys came to Alexander from Abisares, who promised to
be at his command, provided that Alexander would not require him to give up his
kingdom, for if he were enslaved to another man, he could neither reign nor live
without a kingdom. Thereupon, Alexander sent back word to him that since he
would not come to Alexander, Alexander and his army would take the pains to go
to him, and that this would cost Abisares dearly. Envoys also came to him from
those Indians who lived as free states, and from another Porus, who was also a
king of the Indians. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 20. s. 5,6. 2:63,65}
{*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 7,8. 2:367}
2102. Phrataphernes, the governor of Parthia and Hyrcania, came to Alexander at
this time with the Thracians that Alexander had left with him. Messengers came
to him from Sisicottus, governor of the Assacenians, to tell him that the
Indians had murdered his vice-governor and had revolted from him. Alexander
sent Philippus and Tyriespis against them with an army, ordering them to
suppress the rebellion of the Assacenians and to keep that province in order.
About this time, Cleophis, the queen of the Assacenians, bore Alexander a son,
whom she named after Alexander who later became king of that country. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 12. c. 7.} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 20. s. 7. 2:65}
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 3. s. 17. 2:263}
2103. The other Porus, who was the nephew of the one whom Alexander had
overcome, feared his uncle Porus more than he feared Alexander. He left his
kingdom and fled into the country of the Gandara, taking with him as many as
would follow him and were fit to bear arms. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 21.
s. 3. 2:67} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 91. s. 1. 8:383}
3677d AM, 4387 JP, 327 BC
2104. With his army, Alexander crossed over the violent Acesines River, which
was almost two miles wide. Those who crossed on bags made from skins did much
better than those in the boats. Those who crossed in boats were dashed
repeatedly on the rocks in the way, and some boats sank, drowning some of the
army. Alexander left Coenus with his brigade on the near side, to provide for
the crossing of those supplying grain and other things for the army, and to
protect them from any attackers. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 20,21.
2:65,67} [L355]
2105. Nearchus, who was in the army at this time and was cited by Strabo, said
that Alexander first camped by the riverside, but was later forced to move his
camp to higher ground to escape the flood waters. This happened at about the
summer solstice. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 18. 7:27} Arrian said that
Alexander's army escaped from the Acesines River when it flooded all the country
at midsummer. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 4-6. 2:323}
2106. There were vast forests and shady trees of an enormous size and
incredible height. Some were over a hundred feet high and so thick that five
men could barely get their arms around them. They cast a shadow of three
hundred feet from their limbs. For the most part, they were like large beams
bowing downward to the ground, from where they then grew up again. The new
plant was not nourished by the same bough, but rooted itself where the bough
touched the ground. For more information about the banyan tree see Pliny.
Strabo stated from Aristobulus that fifty men could sit at dinner under one of
these trees. {*Pliny, l. 12. c. 11. 4:17} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s.
21. 7:33,35} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 9,10. 2:367} {*Arrian, Indica, l.
1. c. 11. s. 7. 2:337}
2107. There were also a large number of deadly snakes, which were small and
very colourful, but their bite was so deadly that it caused sudden death to any
one who was bitten. To avoid this danger, the Macedonians hung their beds from
the limbs of the trees and slept above ground, which meant that they got little
sleep. [E254] At length, they learned a remedy for the snake bite from the
native people, who showed them a root to eat, if any man happened to be bitten.
{*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 12-14. 2:369} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 90.
s. 6,7. 8:383}
2108. Alexander sent Porus back to his own kingdom with orders to return with
an army of the choicest and ablest Indians that he could find, along with any
elephants he had. After the army had crossed the deserts, they came to the
Indian river of Hyarotis or Hydraotes, which was as wide as the Acesines River,
but not as violent. Everywhere he went, he left garrisons in convenient places,
so that Craterus and Coenus might safely come to him with the grain which they
were to gather from all the places they went. He committed part of his army to
Hephaestion, giving him charge of two squadrons of foot soldiers, both his own
and Demetrius' squadrons of cavalry and half his archers. He sent them into the
country of that Porus who had fled away, and ordered him to transfer the kingdom
to his friend King Porus. If he were to find any other Indian country,
bordering on the Hydraotes River, which organized themselves as free states, he
should add them all to Porus' kingdom. Alexander crossed the Hydraotes River
with less trouble than he had had crossing the Acesines River. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 5. c. 21. s. 4-6. 2:69} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 13,14.
2:369}
2109. Next to this river, there was a grove of shady trees not usually seen in
other parts, and wild peacocks that flew up and down in the trees. Alexander
advanced and took over other countries, some of which surrendered, while others
were taken by force, because in some cases he was forced to chase and overtake
them, and make them yield to him. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 14. 2:369}
2110. Meanwhile, Alexander was told that there were other Indian states, and a
people called the Cathaeans, who intended to fight him if he came into their
countries. They joined with other free states of India to form an alliance with
them in this action, including other countries in those regions belonging to the
Oxydracans and the Mallians. A short time earlier, Abisares and Porus, with
their joint armies, along with many other confederate Indians, had gone to
subdue them, but had been unable to do so. [L356] These Indians awaited
Alexander's arrival in Sangala, a large city of the Cathaeans, which was
surrounded with a wall and a bog. These Cathaeans are called the Calthaei by
Polyaenus. Diodorus called them the Cathari and stated that it was law, agreed
to by all these countries, that when a husband died, his wife would be cremated
with his body at the time of the husband's death. Strabo also noted this about
the Cathaeans. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 63. 7:109} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 5. c. 22. s. 1,2. 2:69,71} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4.} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 91. s. 3,4. 8:385} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 30.
7:53}
2111. Alexander entered these parts and on the second day came to a city called
Pimprama. That particular country of the Indians was named after the Adraistae
or, according to Diodorus, the Andrestae. These came to him and surrendered
conditionally. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 22. s. 3. 2:71} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 91. s. 2. 8:383}
2112. Alexander rested his soldiers there the next day, and on the third day he
marched to Sangala, where the Cathaeans and their allies awaited his arrival.
They stood in battle array on the rise of a hill before the city. Instead of a
trench between them and the enemy, they had positioned three rows of chariots
locked closely together. Alexander quickly scattered the chariots and they all
fled back into the city, where Alexander immediately besieged them. He cast up
a double trench around the city, except where the bog hindered his men. He
positioned Ptolemy there with three thousand of the silver targeteers, all the
squadron of Agrians and one company of archers to guard that quarter. All the
chariots which he had taken were placed along an escape route from the city, to
prevent them from escaping. When attempting to escape in the fourth watch of
the night, the inhabitants fell over those chariots and were beaten back by
Ptolemy, who killed five hundred of them and forced them to retreat behind their
gates again. Meanwhile, Porus came to him with the rest of his elephants and
five thousand Indians. Alexander's battering rams were assembled and approached
the wall. The Macedonians did not have to batter the inner wall, but only
undermined the outer earthwork, made of brick. They raised their ladders
against the inner wall, thus taking the city by assault. Seventeen thousand
inhabitants were killed, seventy thousand taken prisoner, three hundred chariots
were captured and five hundred horses were taken. Alexander lost less than a
hundred men in this siege, but twelve hundred more were hurt, including
Lysimachus, one of the captains of his bodyguard. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5.
c. 22-24. 2:71-79} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 15-18. 2:369}
2113. After Alexander had buried his dead according to the Macedonian customs,
he sent Perdiccas with sufficient forces to ravage and plunder all the country
round about. He sent Eumenes, the secretary (that is the Eumenes who was
secretary to King Philip at various times, {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 1.
8:79} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}) with three hundred cavalry to two cities which
had allied themselves with the men of Sangala. He was to offer them a pardon
and receive them in mercy, but when the townsmen heard what had been done at
Sangala, they all fled the town before he came. All those unable to escape
through infirmity were killed by Eumenes, to a total of five hundred. Alexander
gave up the idea of overtaking the rest and returning to Sangala, he utterly
destroyed it. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 24. s. 6,7. 2:79} {*Curtius,
l. 9. c. 1. s. 19. 2:371} [E255]
2114. Alexander went to besiege another strong town into which a large number
of people from weaker places had fled. When they asked his mercy and opened
their gates to him, he pardoned them, took hostages and marched away to the next
town, which was a very large and populous one. There he had the hostages
presented before the walls. Since those in the town knew them as their
neighbours, they desired to speak with them. By telling them what a merciful
man Alexander was, and how dreadful he was to his enemies, the hostages easily
persuaded them to yield to him. [L357] Prior to this, people had wrongly
thought Alexander was more like a bandit, but now that they knew that he behaved
more like a conqueror, the rest of the cities surrendered without a fight.
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4. n. 30. in Alexander} {*Curtius, l. 9. c.
1. s. 20-23. 2:371}
2115. From here he went into the kingdom of Sopithes, who, at more than six
feet, was taller than all the men of those parts. Coming from his chief city
with his two mature sons, he gave Alexander his golden rod, all set with beryl
stones, and surrendered himself, his children and all his kingdom to Alexander,
who gave him his kingdom back again. A few days later, he feasted Alexander and
all his army in a very sumptuous manner and personally gave Alexander many large
and costly gifts. He also gave him a hundred and fifty Indian dogs which were,
so the saying went, a cross-breed between dogs and tigers, and very strong and
courageous. To prove this, he had four of them attack a very large lion.
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 31. 7:55} {*Aelian, History of Animals, l. 8.
c. 1. 2:175,177} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 91,92. 8:383-387} {*Curtius, l.
9. c. 1. s. 24-34. 2:373-375}
2116. Meanwhile, Hephaestion returned to him with the troops he had taken with
him, having subdued all the countries of the Indians far and wide, wherever he
had gone. Alexander spared no honour for him, and praised him before the army.
{*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 35. 2:375} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 93. s.
1. 8:387}
2117. Alexander left Sopithes in his kingdom, as he had found him. He advanced
still farther to the next country, where Phegeus was king. All the inhabitants
welcomed the Macedonians, and Phegeus went out personally to meet Alexander with
gifts and presents, submitting himself wholly to his will. Alexander
re-established him in his kingdom and was royally entertained with all his army,
staying there two whole days. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 1. s. 36. 2:375}
2118. On the third day, he departed from there and came to the Hyphasis or
Hypanis River, which was almost a mile wide and thirty-six feet deep, and had a
very strong current. It was very rocky under the water and quite difficult to
cross. Phegeus told him what he wanted to know about the other side of the
river. There was a vast desert of eleven or twelve-days' journey to cross,
bounded by the Ganges River, which was the largest in all of India. Beyond the
river lived various peoples, known as the Gangaridae or Gongaridae, and the
Prasians, or Praendians, or Praesiaeans, or Pharrasians, or Tabraesians, for
they were known by all these different names. Their king was called Aggrammes.
(Diodorus called him Xandrames.) He had an army of twenty thousand cavalry, two
hundred thousand foot soldiers, two thousand chariots and three or (as Diodorus
said) four thousand elephants, all trained and equipped for war. {*Curtius, l.
9. c. 2. s. 1-4. 2:375,377} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 93. s. 2-1.
8:387}
2119. These things seemed incredible to Alexander, but when he questioned Porus
further, Porus told him that the might and power of that king and his kingdom
were very great indeed and no less than what he had been told. However, the
current king was of ignoble birth and no better than a poor barber's son, and
was hated and scorned by his subjects. Androcottus, who was then but a youth,
had not only seen Alexander but according to Julian, had also been ordered to be
executed for a certain saucy prank he had played on Alexander, and would have
died had he not fled. Justin stated that he later said that Alexander had
conquered almost all of India, and that the part he missed was of little note,
since the king there was too wicked, base, hated and deeply scorned by his
people. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c.
62. s. 4. 7:403} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 2. s. 5-9. 2:377}
2120. Alexander began to reflect that his soldiers were all tired out and spent
with the length of the war. [L358] Every man began to look for an end to these
dangers and for the reward and fruit of all his labours. They had now been in a
continual perilous war for eight full years for it had been that long since he
had become king. It so happened that, for seventy consecutive days, it poured
with rain, accompanied by violent thunderstorms, according to Diodorus, who said
that to pacify the soldiers, Alexander gave them permission to plunder an
extremely rich and bountiful country of the enemies and to take all for
themselves. While they were busy doing this, he called together their wives and
children and there made a law that the wives would receive their monthly
allowance in grain, while their children would receive a service bonus in
proportion to the military records of their fathers. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 2.
s. 8-11. 2:377,379} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 94. 8:391,393} [E256]
2121. When the soldiers returned home laden with wealth and riches, Alexander
called them all together. He made a prepared speech to request them to
accompany him cheerfully to the conquest of the Gangaridae. Coenus, the son of
Polemocrates, replied in the name of the whole army and concluded by saying that
they all desired an end to the war. The Macedonians would not listen to
Alexander's request. Ptolemy reported that he went on and offered sacrifices
for the crossing of the river. When the entrails portended only direful things
if he proceeded, he called together his friends and those who were the oldest,
and most intimate with him. He first told them and afterward declared to all
the army that since all things seemed to be against his going any farther, he
was now content and resolved to return home. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 94.
s. 5. 8:393} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 25-28. 2:81-95}
2122. Pliny wrote that, notwithstanding all this, he crossed the Hypanis River
and erected altars on the other side. This is very improbable, since a similar
action occurred in the same place, the mention of which in Alexander's own
letters confirms as much. I think that those words refer not to his crossing
over the Hypanis or Hyphasis River, but to that which had occurred previously,
concerning the order and location of his camps and journeys from place to place.
These were described and recorded by Diognetus and Baeton, his two principal
harbingers and camp masters. For who can believe that Alexander, without his
army and without any reason for going any farther, would offer to cross on his
own such a dangerous river as this was. Had he done so, the enemy on the other
side would have attacked him and hindered his work. Strabo noted that he went
no farther eastward because he had been forbidden to cross the Hypanis or
Hyphasis River. Plutarch also stated that during his time, the kings of the
Praesiaeans, or Prasians, crossed the river to his side and worshipped on those
altars which Alexander had set up then, offering sacrifices on them after the
custom of the Greeks. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 21. (63) 2:385} {*Strabo, l. 15.
c. 1. s. 32. 7:57} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 62. s. 4. 7:401}
2123. Alexander divided his army into various companies. He had twelve altars
built, all of square stone, on the west side of the Hyphasis River and not on
the east side. Each altar was seventy-five feet high, and together they looked
like so many large towers, but were of a larger size than the towers that were
usually constructed. On these altars, he offered sacrifices to his gods
according to the Greek custom. After holding athletic and equestrian games for
his men, he then made his camp three times larger in every respect than it had
ever been done before. Making trenches fifty feet wide and ten feet deep, he
had the earth cast up from the ditch and a good wall made around the trench. He
commanded his foot soldiers that they should set up two bedsteads in their
tents, each of them seven and a half feet long. The cavalry men were also to do
this, as well as make mangers for their horses as large as they had been every
other time. They were to do the same with their weapons, horse bits and other
equipment which they were leaving behind. [L359] They should make them in the
same proportion and hang them up. This was to give posterity a fictitious
impression of his greatness. Philostratus described the inscriptions and titles
of his altars. {*Philostratus, Apollonius, l. 2. c. 43. 1:229} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 5. c. 29. s. 1,2. 2:95} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 95. s.
1-3. 8:393,395} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 3. s. 19. 2:393} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 62. s. 3,4. 7:401,403}
2124. When these things had been done, he returned via the same route he had
come to the Hydraotes River. He crossed it and came back to the Acesines River.
2125. There he found that the city which he had left Hephaestion to build, had
already been built, so he relocated into this city as many of the neighbouring
people as wanted to live there, and left those of his mercenary soldiers there
who were unfit for military service. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 29. s.
3. 2:97}
2126. Arsaces, who ruled over all the people in the province bordering on the
kingdom of Abisares, came to Alexander with the brother of Abisares and his
associates. They brought him presents of the most valuable items in those
countries, while Abisares sent thirty elephants and a message to say that he
would also have come to him but for the fact that he was sick. Alexander sent
messengers to Abisares who confirmed his story, whereupon he made Abisares
governor of that province under himself and made Arsaces subject to him,
appointing what tribute they should pay him. Alexander again offered sacrifices
at the Acesines River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 29. s. 4,5. 2:97}
2127. He crossed the Acesines River and came to the Hydaspes River. With the
help of his soldiers, he repaired whatever the flooding of that unruly river had
destroyed of his two cities, Nicaea and Bucephalis, which had recently been
built there. From the time that he had left there until his return, it had
rained continuously, with monsoon winds, according to Aristobulus as cited by
Strabo. Diodorus stated that the rain lasted seventy days, with violent
thunderstorms. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 5. c. 29. s. 4,5. 2:97} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 94. s. 2. 8:391} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 17. 7:25}
[E257]
3678a AM, 4387 JP, 327 BC
2128. On the banks of the Hydaspes River, Alexander had built a large number of
ships, two of which had three banks of oars, because he planned to sail down to
the Indian Ocean with his cavalry and foot soldiers. For this venture, he
gathered all the Phoenicians, Cypriots, Carians and Egyptians who followed his
camp, and put them aboard his ships. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 1. s. 6.
2:103}
2129. At the same time, Coenus, who was one of his best and closest friends,
died. Alexander grieved his death and had him buried as honourably and lavishly
as that time and place permitted. However, he was mindful of the speech which
Coenus had made on behalf of the army requesting to return home and it gave him
this biting taunt. Had Coenus known what little time he had to live, he would
never have made so long a speech. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 2. s. 1.
2:103}
2130. He received fresh troops from Greece, who were auxiliaries and mercenary
soldiers under their various commanders, thirty thousand foot soldiers and six
thousand cavalry in all. They also brought elegant suits of armour for
twenty-five thousand foot soldiers and a hundred talents of medical supplies.
Memnon also brought him five thousand cavalry from Thrace, beside those which
came from Harpalus, and seven thousand foot soldiers. He also brought weapons
inlaid with silver and gold, which Alexander distributed in the army, ordering
that the old ones be burned. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 3. s. 20,21. 2:393}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 95. s. 3-5. 8:395}
2131. Harpalus, who, according to Curtius, had sent Alexander the new supplies,
was the same person whom Alexander had entrusted with the keeping of his
tributes and treasure in the city and province of Babylon, and whom he had left
as his overseer over that entire country. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c.
35. s. 8. 7:333} [L360] However, he had given the government of it to
Mazaeus, who had surrendered it to Alexander in the first place, and when
Mazaeus died, Ditamenes succeeded him in that charge. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 65. s. 3. 7:409} Although Diodorus called Harpalus the governor of
that province, he further stated that Harpalus, hoping that Alexander would
never return alive from India, gave himself over to all manner of intemperance
and luxury, sparing no expense. First, he indulged all manner of whoredom and
luxury with the women of that country, progressing to every kind of unseemly and
unseasonable delights and pleasures, and squandering the king's money committed
to his charge. He ordered various fish to be brought to him from as far off as
the Red Sea (Persian Gulf. Editor.) and was so lavish in his feasting and
everyday diet, that every man was ashamed of him. He sent for a noted strumpet,
Pythonice by name, from as far away as Athens and when she died, he sent for
another one, called Glycera, from the same place. Consequently, Theopompus
complained to Alexander in a letter, telling him that Harpalus had spent more
than two hundred talents in constructing two tombs for Pythonice when she died,
one at Athens and another at Babylon. He also dedicated a grove, an altar and a
temple to Pythonice, by the name of Venus Pythonica, and set up Glycera's statue
in brass at Tarsus in Syria, where he let her live in the king's palace. He
commanded the people to address her by the title of a queen and reverence her as
such. {*Athenaeus, l. 13. (586c) 6:161} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 108. s.
4-6. 8:435,437}
2132. Cleander, Sitacles and Heracon in Media behaved similarly, hoping that
Alexander would never return alive from India. They plundered private men's
estates, pulled down temples and ravished the young virgins of the noblest
families, as well as indulging in much other villainous conduct toward the
citizens under them and their belongings. The very name of a Macedonian was
odious to all the countries on account of their avarice and extravagance of
every kind. Worst of all, Cleander, who had himself first ravished a noble
virgin, later gave her to his slave as his concubine. {*Curtius, l. 10. c.
1. s. 1-5. 2:469} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 27. s. 4,5. 2:185}
2133. Alexander prepared for his voyage to the ocean. When he saw old grudges
rekindling between Porus and Taxiles, he reconciled them again, making them
pledge friendship to each other, and then sent them away to their own kingdoms.
He had made Porus king, as before, of all the countries lying between the
Hydaspes and Acesines Rivers. In addition, he gave him all the free states
which he had subdued between the Acesines and Hypanis Rivers, containing over
two thousand cities. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 2. s. 1. 2:103} Others
said that in these fifteen countries there were more than five thousand large
cities, besides towns and villages. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 60. s.
8. 7:399} In fact, the region lying between the Hydaspes and Hypanis Rivers
contained no more than nine countries with five thousand cities, with each city
being as large as Cos in Meropis. (This was according to Apollodorus, who wrote
of the affairs of Parthia, as reported by Strabo. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s.
3. 7:5}) Strabo considered his opinion to be a little excessive. {*Strabo, l.
15. c. 1. s. 32. 7:57} He said it seemed that this number was expressed
somewhat hyperbolically, and therefore Pliny took it to be the number of all the
cities which Alexander subdued in the whole of India. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 21.
(59) 2:383} [E258] Those who were with Alexander on his expedition reported that
there were five thousand towns and cities, each as large as Cos, in that part of
India which he subdued, or in these nine countries. Philippus, who was one of
Alexander's company of friends, was appointed governor of a country beyond the
Indus River by Alexander. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1. s. 21. 2:473} [L361]
2134. The cavalry from the city of Nysa was sent back home. Craterus and
Hephaestion were commanded to march ahead of him into the capital city of
Sopithes' kingdom and there await the arrival of Alexander's fleet. Craterus
marched along one side of the Hydaspes with some of the cavalry and foot
soldiers, while Hephaestion was on the other side with a larger force and two
hundred elephants. The entire army at this time consisted of a hundred and
twenty thousand men, including those whom he had brought from the sea coast.
The men whom he had sent to levy fresh troops also returned to him, bringing
with them men from various countries, with different types of weapons.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 2. s. 1,2. 2:103} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1.
c. 19. s. 1-5. 2:361,363} Plutarch said that he had a hundred and twenty
thousand foot soldiers and fifteen thousand cavalry at this time, and that less
than a quarter of them survived the return trip home. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 66. s. 2. 7:411}
2135. Curtius said that this fleet had a thousand ships, of which, according to
Diodorus, two hundred were open and the rest were barges propelled by oars.
Arrian said that he had only eight hundred boats, some for transporting the
horses and the rest were cargo vessels for grain and other provisions. However,
according to Ptolemy Lagus, Alexander had almost two thousand boats and ships of
various types. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 19. s. 7. 2:363} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 2. s. 3,4. 2:105} {*Curtius, l. 7. c. 2. s. 3,4.
2:105} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 95. s. 4,5. 8:395}
2136. The admiral of this fleet was Nearchus from Crete, while Evagoras from
Corinth was in charge of all the provisions. On Alexander's ship, the captain
was Onesicritus from Astypala. Arrian recorded the name of every captain for
each ship. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1-12. 2:357-361}
2137. When the preparations were complete, Alexander sacrificed to his native
gods and to the other gods, according to the advice of the priests. These
included Neptune, Amphitrite and the Nereides or Sea Nymphs. Most importantly,
he sacrificed to the ocean, to the Hydaspes River, the Acesines River into which
the Hydaspes flowed, and to the Indus River which received them both. He held
various sorts of games, music, wrestling and the like, with prizes for those who
would enter the contests. He distributed animals to every company, so that they
could make their own sacrifices. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 3. s. 1,2.
2:105}
2138. In the morning, the army boarded the ships. This included the silver
targeteers, the archers and the Companion Cavalry, totalling eight thousand
troops, and happened not many days before the setting of the Pleiades.
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 17. 7:25} This was about the end of our October.
Alexander went aboard and poured out a golden vial of wine from the prow of the
ship into the river. He called on the Acesines, Hydaspes and Indus Rivers all
at once. Later, when he had offered to his progenitor Hercules, to Ammon and
the rest of the gods in his customary manner, the trumpet sounded at his
command. This was the signal to drag down the vessels into the water and start
the journey, which was duly done. An order was given as to how far every barge,
horse carrier and ship of war was to stay away from every other vessel, to
prevent collisions. They were to keep their rank and position and not out-row
each other, as if this were a race. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 19. s. 1-9.
2:361,363} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 3. s. 1-3. 2:105}
2139. In this manner, Alexander came on the third day to the place where he had
appointed Craterus and Hephaestion to meet him. He stayed there two days, so
that Philip might catch up to him with the rest of the army. Alexander had sent
him to the Acesines River with orders to follow the river downstream. [L362] He
sent away Craterus and Hephaestion again, with orders to march overland.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 4. s. 1. 2:109}
2140. Alexander followed the Hydaspes River, which was at least two and a half
miles farther than going by land, to a spot where he landed his soldiers and
from there went to Sibarus, the country of the Sibians. These were said to be
the descendants of those men who had besieged the Aornus Rock with Hercules.
When they were unable to take it, or to march any farther with him, they were
left there by him. Their clothes were nothing but skins of wild beasts and
their weapons were only clubs. Although the Greek manners and customs had long
gone, nevertheless one could easily perceive some traces and marks of their
Greek origin among them. When Alexander pitched his camp near the chief city of
their country, their principal men came to him and were admitted into his
presence. Reminding him of their Greek origin and the reverence they had for
the Greeks, they offered him their service in whatever way it pleased him,
bearing in mind that they were fitting for men of like blood with him and his
Greeks. They testified to this with the extraordinary presents they gave to
him. Alexander received them very graciously and made them a free state,
entitled to live according to their own laws. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 96.
s. 2,3. 8:397} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 1-3. 2:395} [E259]
2141. From there, he rode farther into the country for about thirty miles and
after he laid waste to all the fields, he came to and besieged the chief city of
that country. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 4. 2:395}
2142. The Agalassians opposed him on the bank of a river with forty thousand
foot soldiers and three thousand cavalry. He crossed the river and quickly
routed them, after killing most of them. The rest ran into the towns, but he
captured them, killed those who were of age and sold the rest as slaves.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 96. s. 3. 8:397} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s.
4,5. 2:395}
2143. Other inhabitants there also took up arms and about twenty thousand
gathered together in one city. He broke into the city by brute force, but when
they barricaded their streets and fought on from the battlements of their
houses, he was forced to retire, leaving many of his Macedonians behind dead.
In a rage he therefore set fire to the houses and burned both the city and most
of the people in it. When three thousand who had fled into the citadel sued for
pardon, he gave it to them. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 6,7. 2:397} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 96. s. 4,5. 8:397,399}
2144. He then returned to join his friends aboard ship, and proceeded at full
speed into the countries of the Mallians and Oxydracans, because he had been
told that they were two very populous and warlike countries. The inhabitants
had carried their wives and children into fortified places and intended to meet
him in battle. Therefore he hurried all the more, so that he might attack them
while they were still making preparations and would not be fully ready for him.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 4. s. 3. 2:109}
3678b AM, 4388 JP, 326 BC
2145. On the fifth day of sailing down the river, he came to the confluence of
the Acesines and Hydaspes Rivers, which met in a very narrow channel. This
caused the river to run with an extremely violent and rapid current, creating
many whirlpools. Many of their ships sprang leaks and two of the largest of
them ran foul of each other, broke up and sank, drowning their passengers.
Alexander's own ship was sucked into one of these whirlpools, and was in extreme
danger of sinking and drowning Alexander. When they had gone a little farther,
the channel became wider and the stream grew calmer. The ships approached the
west bank and found a safe harbour to shelter in behind a bank which ran out
into the river breaking the violence of the river and so enabling them to draw
their ships to land. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 4,5. 2:109-113} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 97. 8:399,401} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 6-14.
2:397,399}
2146. Alexander set up altars on the river bank and sacrificed to his gods for
having escaped so great a danger. He then marched about four miles farther into
the country and attacked the natives who would not submit to him, thereby
preventing them from helping the Mallians. He returned to his ships again,
where he was met by Craterus, Hephaestion and Philip, who had brought their
armies to help him. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 14. 2:399} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 4,5. 2:113} [L363]
2147. The countries of the Oxydracans and Mallians lay between the confluence
of the Hydaspes River with the Acesines River and the confluence of the Acesines
River with the Indus River. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 19. s. 6-8. 2:363}
These countries were usually at war with each other but had now united against
their common enemy, Alexander. To make their alliance even more secure, they
exchanged ten thousand virgins to intermarry. They had eighty thousand foot
soldiers and ten thousand cavalry besides seven hundred chariots. Curtius said
there were ninety thousand foot soldiers and nine hundred chariots. Justin and
Orosius called these people the Mandri or Ambri, and the Sabracans, or Subagrans
or Sugambrians and said that they had sixty thousand cavalry. The Mallians and
Oxydracans (who in Diodorus were incorrectly named Sydracae) are known by all
these names in various editions of the text. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 9.}
{Orosius, l. 3. c. 19.} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 15,16. 2:399} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 98. s. 1,2. 8:399}
2148. The Macedonians thought that they had left all danger behind and looked
forward to an end to all the fighting. When they saw themselves engaged in a
new war, with fiercer and more warlike countries than they had previously faced
in any part of India, they were terrified. They once again began to murmur and
rebel against Alexander, who pacified them with a good speech and made them all
happy again. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 16-24. 2:399,401}
2149. The commander-in-chief of all this native army was a man of proven valour
who had been chosen from among the Oxydracans. Pitching his camp at the foot of
a hill, he made many fires, in order to make his army seem all the larger. They
made much loud noise and shouting, as was the custom of their country, to
terrify the Macedonians. The next morning, Alexander was full of hope and
confident of victory and attacked them after having encouraged his soldiers.
The enemies, whether out of fear or some disagreement among themselves, all ran
off, fleeing to the mountains and woods, and when the Macedonians were unable to
overtake them, they started rifling their camp. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s.
24-25. 2:401,403}
2150. When Alexander had rigged his navy, he sent Nearchus down river with it
into the country of the Mallians, ordering him to be there three days before the
army. Alexander crossed the Hydaspes River and ordered Craterus, who was on the
west bank of the river, to take charge of the elephants, of Polyperchon's
brigade, of his mounted archers and of Philip's regiment. [E260] He ordered
Hephaestion to march five days ahead of him, while Ptolemy was to march three
days behind him. This ensured that whoever escaped from Hephaestion, would fall
into the hands of either one or other of them. He ordered those going ahead of
him to go to the confluence of the Acesines and Hydraotes Rivers, which was the
farthest border of the Mallians, just as the confluence of the Acesines and
Hydaspes Rivers was the border of the Oxydracans. They were to stay there and
await his arrival, and that of the armies of Craterus and Ptolemy. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 5. s. 5-7. 2:113}
2151. Alexander took his regiment of silver targeteers, his squadron of
Agrians, Pithon's brigade and all his archers on horseback, as well as half of
the Companion Cavalry. He went through a sandy, dry country into the region of
the Mallians, to attack them before either the Oxydracans could come to help
them, or they could go to the Oxydracans. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 6.
s. 1. 2:115}
2152. The first day, he camped near a little river about twelve miles from the
Acesines River. When they had rested for a while, he ordered every man to fill
all the bottles he had, with water. They marched on for the remainder of that
day and the next night, covering some fifty miles. On the next morning, they
attacked a large number of the Mallians who, never thinking that he would come
through that dry wilderness, were walking abroad idly outside the city. [L364]
He killed most of them, and the rest fled into the city and locked the gates.
Instead of using a trench, Alexander had his cavalry surround the walls until
his foot soldiers arrived. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 6. s. 2,3. 2:115}
2153. As soon as the foot soldiers came, he sent Perdiccas away with his own
troops, Clitus' cavalry and the Agrians, to besiege another town of the
Mallians, where he understood many of the Indians to have gathered together. He
did not want them to make any assault until he came, but to keep them entrapped,
and so prevent them from spreading the news that he had come into the country.
He began to make his approaches, and to assault the city which he had besieged.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 6. s. 4. 2:115,117}
2154. He killed many of them in the assault, and the rest left the walls and
fled to the citadel. When he took that, he killed two thousand people.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 6. s. 5. 2:117}
2155. When Perdiccas came to the city which he had been commanded to besiege,
he found that all the inhabitants had fled. When he found that they had only
recently escaped, he followed them as fast as he could, killing all the ones he
overtook, while the rest escaped into the bogs and marshes. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 6. c. 6. s. 6. 2:117}
2156. When Alexander had rested and refreshed himself and his army, he set out
at the first watch of the night. At daybreak they came to the Hydraotes River,
where he found that many of the Mallians had already crossed, but he attacked
and killed the rest who were crossing the river. Then he crossed the river with
his army and overtook those that had crossed earlier, killing many of them and
taking others prisoner. Most of them, however, escaped into a well fortified
city. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 7. s. 1,2. 2:117,119}
2157. When his foot soldiers came up, Alexander sent Pithon against the enemy
with his own and two other regiments of cavalry. On the first attack, he chased
them into the town and took it. All those who were not killed, were taken as
slaves, and Pithon then returned to the camp. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c.
7. s. 3. 2:119}
2158. Alexander led his army against a city of the Brachmanes, where he
understood more of the Mallians to have fled. As soon as he arrived, he
besieged it very securely on all sides with his squadrons. The soldiers
immediately left the walls and fled to the citadels. When this city was
captured, some of the inhabitants set their own houses on fire and threw
themselves into the flames, while others died fighting. About five thousand
perished and few were captured alive. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 7. s.
4-6. 2:119,121}
2159. Alexander stayed there one day, to give his soldiers a rest. The next
day he marched against the other towns of the Mallians, but found that all the
cities had been abandoned and the inhabitants had all fled to the desert. He
stayed there one day. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 8. s. 1. 2:121}
2160. The next day he sent Pithon and Demetrius, the captain of a regiment of
cavalry, back to the riverside, also sending other troops and companies with
them, because he wanted them to deal with any that had escaped to the woods. If
they did not surrender, they were to be killed, and so a great many were killed
by them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 8. s. 2-4. 2:121} [E261]
2161. Alexander marched against the capital city of the Mallians, having
learned that many others had fled there. When this large city heard of his
coming, the inhabitants fled and crossed over the Hydraotes River, forming
themselves into battle array on its high cliffs, as if to stop him from crossing
there. [L365] Alexander immediately followed them with his cavalry, ordering
his foot soldiers to come later. When he was in the middle of the river, the
Indians, although they were in good battle array, abandoned the place and fled.
There were at least fifty thousand of them, and Alexander saw that they were in
a strong compact body. Since his foot soldiers had not come to him, he kept
circling around and making charges without coming into close quarters with the
Indians. He did not think it wise to fight with them at that time. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 8. s. 2-6. 2:121,123}
2162. As soon as the Agrians, the other well-ordered squadrons and the archers
came, the main battle using the foot soldiers began. The Indians all fled and
ran away to the next fortified city, with Alexander in pursuit. When they
arrived there, Alexander at once surrounded the city with his cavalry before the
foot soldiers came, and killed many of those who had fled. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 6. c. 8. s. 7,8. 2:123}
2163. Demophon, a soothsayer, spoke with Alexander and told him that he had
observed, by certain signs and prodigies, that Alexander was in great danger.
He wanted Alexander to stop, or at least to defer this siege. Alexander
reproached him sharply for disheartening the soldiers while they were in action.
He divided his army into two parts, with himself leading one part and Perdiccas
commanding the other. Together they went to scale the wall. The Indians could
not endure the attack and all fled into the citadel, abandoning their stations
on the wall. Alexander himself, with those about him, broke open the first gate
and entered into the city. He began to set ladders against the citadel wall,
and when he saw that his Macedonians were not following as quickly as he would
have wished, he took a ladder himself and setting it against the wall, climbed
onto its top. Peucestes was carrying Alexander's shield, which Alexander had
taken from the temple of Athena in Troy. In all previous encounters, he had
always been ahead of Alexander, but this time he was behind him. After him on
the same ladder came Leonnatus, one of the captains of his bodyguard. Abreas,
one of the soldiers who was receiving double pay, was on another ladder. When
the silver targeteers heard of the danger Alexander was in, they fought to set
up the ladders so thickly, that the ladders broke and everyone came tumbling to
the ground. In this way, they were of no use and hindered others, who could
have helped, from getting up. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 4. s. 26-33. 2:403,405}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 9. s. 1-4. 2:125,127} {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 21. (152) 3:509}
2164. Alexander was shot at from every direction from the adjoining towers,
though no man dared come and fight hand to hand with him on the wall. Alexander
leaped off the wall down into the citadel yard and putting his back to a wall
there, killed with his own hand those who came to attack him. After he had
killed the captain of the Indians who came boldly to attack him, no one dared
come near him, but all shot at him from a distance. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6.
c. 9. s. 5,6. 2:127}
2165. Meanwhile, Peucestes, Leonnatus and Abreas leaped down from the wall into
the yard after him and came to his rescue. Abreas was shot in the head through
his face and died there. Alexander, as Ptolemy reported, received so great a
wound in his chest, that his very breath came out at the wound with his blood.
Peucestes, who interposed with Athena's buckler in his hand, and Leonnatus, who
took in his own body the blows which were meant for Alexander, were likewise
seriously wounded. All agreed that Peucestes had defended him with his
Palladian buckler, which is the reason why Pliny called him the saviour of
Alexander the Great. {*Pliny, l. 34. c. 19. (67) 9:177} Not everyone agrees
concerning the actions of Leonnatus and Abreas. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, was
present to rescue him, which was affirmed by Clitarchus, Timagenes and
Pausanias. [L366] Ptolemy, however, denied this claiming that he had been
fighting with the enemy elsewhere all the while. Curtius said that the
carelessness of those old historians was so great, it was hard to know what to
believe. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 2. 1:29} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 6. c. 10. s. 1-4. 2:127-131} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 11. s.
8. 2:135} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 5. s. 1-21. 2:405-411} {*Pausanias, Attica,
l. 1. c. 6. s. 2. 1:29}
2166. At last, the Macedonians broke into the citadel and killed everyone there
with the sword. They spared neither man nor woman, old nor young. They brought
Alexander out upon their shields, not knowing whether he was dead or alive. The
treatment of his wounds was more excruciating than the wounds themselves, but he
endured the pain and started to recover. It was almost impossible to convince
the army of this, as it was widely rumoured that he had died from his wounds.
So, as soon as he possibly could, he had himself carried to the riverside, from
where he sailed down in a barge to the place where his army was camped at the
confluence of the Hydraotes and the Acesines Rivers. Hephaestion was in charge
of the army there, and Nearchus of the navy. As soon as he stepped ashore, he
permitted his soldiers to kiss his hand and refusing his stretcher, mounted his
horse so all could see him. [E262] Then he alighted and went on foot to his
pavilion. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 5. s. 19-30. 2:411-415} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 6. c. 10,11. 2:129,131}
2167. When Alexander's wounds had been healing for seven days, he heard that
the Indians were convinced he was dead. He had two barges joined together and
had his royal pavilion spread across them, open on every side, so all could see
he was still alive. This would put an end to the rumour of his death among the
enemies. From there, he travelled down the river and ordered that no boats
should come near the barge he was in, for fear of jolting his weak body with the
beating of the oars. In this manner, they came on the fourth day to a country
that had been deserted by its inhabitants. It had abundant provisions of grain
and cattle, and since the place pleased him well, he stayed there to refresh
both himself and his army. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 6. s. 1-5. 2:415}
2168. Nearchus, the admiral, reported that Alexander's friends accused him for
acting like a soldier, rather than a king or captain in the army. When
Alexander grew angry at this remark, his disapproval was obvious in his
expression on his face. A certain old Boeotian put him in good humour again by
reciting an old limerick: {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 13. s. 4,5. 2:139}
"It stands to reason that he who would do a great thing, must suffer something
too."
2169. Curtius mentioned a speech made to him by Craterus in the name of his
friends for the same purpose. Alexander replied that a man must never be
without an occasion by which to win glory: {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 6. 2:415-423}
"Having conquered both continents in the ninth year of my reign and
twenty-eighth year of my life, does it seem to you that I can pause in the task
of completing my glory, to which alone I have devoted myself?" {*Curtius, l. 9.
c. 6. s. 21. 2:421}
2170. Curtius quoted him as having said this. However, the chronologically
correct time was the tenth year of his reign (which agrees well enough with this
saying), in his thirtieth year.
2171. Alexander stayed there many days, until he was fully recovered from his
wounds, and built more ships. There were about three thousand Greek soldiers
whom he had located in certain cities he had built in the countries of Bactria
and Sogdiana. They grew tired of living among those barbarous people and
encouraged by the supposed news of Alexander's death, they defected from the
Macedonian government and killed some of the leaders among their own countrymen.
They took up arms and seized the citadel of the city of Bactra, which was not as
carefully guarded as it should have been. They drew the inhabitants into this
revolt with them. [L367] The leader of this conspiracy was Athenodorus, who
assumed the title of a king, not so much out of a desire for a kingdom, but to
bolster his plan to have the men follow him back to Greece. Biton, or Bicon,
was a Greek. Because of a grudge, and out of envy against Athenodorus, he
invited him to a banquet and had Boxus kill him. The next day, Biton called a
company together and there persuaded some that Athenodorus would have killed
him. Others, who thought it was nothing but mere roguery on Biton's part,
quickly persuaded still others, and they all took up arms to kill him. The
leaders among them persuaded the rest against this, and everything settled down
again. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 99. s. 5,6. 8:405} {*Curtius, l. 9. c.
7. s. 1-6. 2:423,425}
2172. Biton, having escaped this action, began to plot the deaths of those who
had saved his life. When they discovered this, they seized him and Boxus,
killing Boxus immediately. They planned to put Biton on the rack, but suddenly,
and for no apparent reason, the Greeks, like madmen, all rose up in arms, so
they did not rack Biton for fear of a rescue by the multitude. Although he was
naked, he fled to the Greeks. When they saw his distress and that he was ready
to be racked, they changed their minds and rescued him from the danger he was
in. Biton returned to his native land with the rest of the Greeks who defected
from Alexander. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 7. s. 7-11. 2:425,427}
2173. Meanwhile the Mallians, who were left, sent their messengers to Alexander
to surrender their country to his mercy, and the Oxydracans likewise
surrendered, sending the captains and chief men of every city, and with them a
hundred and fifty of the principal men of the whole country, to Alexander. He
wanted them to send him a thousand of their principal men, or as Curtius said,
twenty-five hundred cavalry, whom he would keep as hostages, or as soldiers to
serve him until he had ended his war with the Indians. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
6. c. 14. s. 1-3. 2:141} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 7. s. 12-14. 2:427}
2174. Alexander invited all the principal men and petty kings of these
countries to a feast where he ordered a hundred golden beds to be set up at a
reasonable distance from each other. Each one of those beds was enclosed with
curtains made of purple and gold. The purpose of the feast was to display
whatever the old luxury of the Persians together with the new extravagances of
the Macedonians, could afford. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 7. s. 15. 2:427}
2175. Dioxippus, the Athenian, was at this feast. Dioxippus was a famous
athlete and one of whom Alexander made much of, for his great strength of body
and courage. [E263] Choragus was a Macedonian of mighty strength, who had shown
his courage in many a battle. When Choragus was drunk, he challenged Dioxippus
to a fight. The next day Dioxippus came, stark naked and anointed all over with
oil, with nothing but a truncheon and a cloak for his armour. He approached the
Macedonian, who came in armed with sword, buckler, pike and a javelin, and
Dioxippus laid him to the ground at his feet. Aelian said Dioxippus killed the
man. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 7. s. 16-22. 2:427-431} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 100. 8:407,409} {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (251a) 3:131} {*Aelian, Historical
Miscellany, l. 10. c. 22. 1:329} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 12.
c. 58. 1:401} {*Plutarch, On Being a Busybody, l. 1. c. 12. 6:505}
{?Pliny, l. 35. c. 11. Dioxippus not mentioned in this book. Editor.}
2176. The Macedonians and Alexander took this defeat as a disgrace on the
Macedonian nation before these barbarians, and were embarrassed by it. A short
time later, at another feast, a golden cup disappeared and was planted in
Dioxippus' room. Dioxippus, who was suspected of taking it, was so upset by
this, that he wrote a letter to Alexander and then killed himself. {*Curtius,
l. 9. c. 7. s. 23-26. 2:431} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 101. 8:409,411}
2177. Alexander shipped his cavalry, seventeen hundred of the Companion Cavalry
and about ten thousand of his foot soldiers downstream. [L368] He travelled
only a short distance on the Hydraotes River, until he came to the confluence of
this river and the Acesines River. He sailed down the Acesines River, finally
coming to the confluence of the Acesines and Indus Rivers, where he stayed with
his navy until Perdiccas reached him with the main body of the army. Along the
way he subdued the Abastanes, who were a free state among these Indians.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 14. s. 4,5. 2:143} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6.
c. 15. s. 1. 2:143}
2178. While he stayed there, other ships of thirty oars apiece came to join
him, and certain cargo ships recently built in the country of the Xathrians,
which was another free state in those regions. Envoys came and submitted to him
from the Ossadians, also a free state. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 15. s.
2. 2:143}
2179. Likewise, the messengers of the Oxydracans and Mallians returned to him
with presents, among which were a small quantity of linen cloth, a thousand
Indian shields and a hundred talents of white iron. They also brought large
lions and tigers which had been tamed, the skins of large lizards, and tortoise
shells. There were three hundred cavalry and one thousand and thirty chariots
as well, each drawn by four horses. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 1-3. 2:433}
Arrian also mentioned that they sent him a thousand men for hostages, who were
the bravest and best men they could find from among them. They also sent five
hundred manned chariots equipped with soldiers to fight, which was more than
what Alexander had asked of them. Arrian added that Alexander accepted their
chariots and returned their hostages again. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 14.
s. 3. 2:141}
2180. Alexander commanded them to pay him such tribute as they had formerly
paid to the Arachosians, and appointed Philip to be their governor. His
government was to extend to the confluence of the two rivers, the Indus and
Acesines, and no farther. We can hardly believe Plutarch, where he said that
the extent of Philip's government was three times the size of Porus' kingdom,
especially if it was as large as Plutarch stated it to have been. To guard that
province, Alexander left him all the Thracian cavalry and such companies of foot
soldiers as he thought fit and necessary for the purpose. Moreover, he had a
city built at the confluence of those two rivers. Thinking it would quickly
grow quite large and famous, he constructed a large number of docks for ship
building. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 15. s. 2. 2:143,2:145}
2181. At that time Oxyartes, the father of Roxane whom Alexander had married,
came to him. Alexander cleared him of all suspicion of having had any part in
the revolt of the Greeks who were in Bactria. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c.
15. s. 3. 2:143-145} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 10. 2:435}
3678c AM, 4388 JP, 326 BC
2182. After this, Polyperchon was sent to Babylon with an army. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 12. c. 10.} Craterus was ordered to take the elephants with most
of the remaining army and to march down on the east bank of the Indus River.
This route was easier for the heavily armed foot soldiers and since not all the
bordering countries were friendly. Alexander took some choice companies and
sailed down the Indus River to the ocean. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 15.
s. 4. 2:145} It is said that he went at least seventy-five miles a day on the
river, and yet the journey lasted a full five months. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 21.
(60) 2:383}
2183. In the voyage down the river, the first country Alexander came to was
that of the Sabracans or Sambestans. This was a country as large as any in
India, both in total population and in the number of warriors. It was governed
by a democratic government throughout all their cities. When they heard of the
coming of the Macedonians, they armed sixty thousand foot soldiers and six
thousand, or (as Curtius said) eight thousand, cavalry with five hundred
chariots. (Loeb copy of Curtius had six thousand. Editor.) These were under
the command of their three most skilled captains. When the navy arrived there,
they were frightened by the strangeness of the sight. [L369] They recalled the
invincible glory of the Macedonians and took the advice of the old men among
them, who said they should avoid so imminent a danger by submitting to the
Macedonians. [E264] Thereupon, they sent messengers and surrendered themselves
wholly into Alexander's hands, and he graciously received them. They gave him
many gifts and the honour befitting a demigod. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s.
4-8. 2:433} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 102. s. 1-3. 8:411,413} {*Pliny, l.
19. c. 5. 5:435}
2184. Four days later, he came to a country which lay on both sides of the
river, belonging to the Sodrians (or Sogdians, as in Arrian) and Massanians.
Alexander received them as graciously as he had received the previous group of
people. Here, on the bank of the Indus River, he built another Alexandria and
selected ten thousand men to populate it. He made places for merchants and
docks for shipping, and repaired any of his ships which were damaged. He made
Oxyartes, his father-in-law, and Pithon, governors of all the country from the
confluence of the Acesines and Indus Rivers to the sea, and also included all
the sea coast. He sailed down the river and quickly came into the country of
King Musicanus, and he was arriving before Musicanus the king had even heard of
his coming. Not knowing what else to do, Musicanus immediately went out to meet
him and presented him with the choicest gifts that India had to offer, and in
particular, with all his elephants. He surrendered himself and all his kingdom
into his hands and asked a pardon for not having done it sooner. Alexander
pardoned him and asked about the country, and the city there. (For more details
see Strabo's account, which he based on Aristobulus and Onesicritus.) Alexander
restored him to his kingdom, as he was in his previous role. {*Strabo, l. 15.
c. 1. s. 21. 7:33} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 33,34. 7:57-61}
{*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 8-10. 2:435} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 15.
s. 2-7. 2:143-147} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 102. s. 4,5. 8:413}
2185. It was there that he heard in person the complaints, brought by his
accusers, Tyriespis or Terioltes, whom he had made governor over the
Parapanisadae. Finding him guilty of many acts of cruelty and avarice, he
executed him there and gave that government to his father-in-law, Oxyartes.
{*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 9,10. 2:435} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 15.
s. 3. 2:145}
2186. He ordered Craterus to build a citadel at the city of Musicanus. This
was completed before Alexander left the region. He saw that that location was
excellent to keep the neighbouring tribes in check and to maintain order.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 15. s. 7. 2:147}
2187. From there, he sailed on with his archers, the Agrians and all the
cavalry he had on board, until he came to another country of the Indians, called
Praestans. He marched against their king, Porticanus or Oxycanus, because the
king did not come to meet him, nor did he send envoys to him. Alexander
captured two of the largest cities in the kingdom. Porticanus was in one of
these, which Alexander took on the third day of his siege. Porticanus fled into
the citadel and sent envoys to treat for conditions, but before they reached
Alexander, two large pieces of the wall fell down to the ground. The
Macedonians rushed into the citadel through these breaches, and Porticanus, with
the few who were with him, stood his ground on their guard. They were all
killed and the citadel was pulled down, while all those in the town were sold as
slaves. The spoil was given to the soldiers, and Alexander kept only the
elephants for himself. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 16. s. 1,2. 2:149}
{*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 11-14. 2:435,437}
2188. Diodorus said that Alexander first gave those two cities over to his
soldiers to be plundered, and then he burned them. After that, he went and
captured all the rest of the cities and towns and destroyed them. By this
action, he struck terror into all the neighbouring countries, so the rest of the
countries merely had to hear of his coming to send envoys and surrender to
Alexander without any resistance, as Arrian noted. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c.
102. s. 5. 8:413} [L370]
2189. After this, Alexander entered the country of the Brachmanes, where Sambus
or Sabus or Samus, according to Curtius, or Sabbas, according to Plutarch, or
Ambigerus, according to Justin, or Ambiras, according to Orosius, was king.
When he heard that Alexander was coming, he fled. When Alexander came near his
main city, called Sindomana or Sindonalia, he found the gates wide open for him.
Sambus' servants came to meet him, with presents of money and elephants. They
told him that Sambus had fled, not out of hostility toward Alexander, but
because Sambus feared Musicanus, as they were enemies, and Alexander had
pardoned him and let him go.
2190. Alexander captured this and many other places. He went and took another
city by force which had revolted from him, putting to death many of the
Brachmanes who had caused the revolt, since it had been at their instigation
that Sambus, who had recently submitted to him, and the cities of his kingdom,
had revolted from him. Curtius said that Alexander took the city by undermining
the wall, and that the natives stood amazed to see men rise from the ground in
the middle of the city.
2191. Clitarchus, according to Curtius, said that there were eight thousand, or
rather (as Diodorus and others stated) eighty thousand men killed in that
country. A large number were sold as slaves. The Brachmanes had brought these
disasters on themselves, but the rest, who simply submitted to him and asked for
his pardon, were not harmed. [E265] King Sambus saved himself and got away as
far as he could with thirty elephants. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 16. s.
3-5. 2:149} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 14-16. 2:437} {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 102. s. 6,7. 8:413,415}
2192. Alexander captured ten men of the gymnosophists, who had persuaded Sambus
to flee, and had caused much trouble for Alexander and his Macedonians. He
asked them some hard and obscure questions, and threatened to hang every man if
they did not answer these questions, which were recorded by Plutarch. When
Alexander heard their replies, he gave them many honours for their trouble and
dismissed them. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 64. 7:405-409}
2193. In the meantime, Musicanus revolted and Alexander sent Pithon against him
with an army. He destroyed some of the cities in his kingdom and put garrisons
in others, building citadels to keep the inhabitants in line. He captured
Musicanus and brought him to Alexander, who immediately had him crucified in his
own kingdom, along with as many of the Brachmanes as had encouraged him to
revolt. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 16. 2:437} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6.
c. 17. s. 1,2. 2:151}
2194. Alexander returned to the Indus River, where he had ordered his navy to
wait for him. They sailed down the river again and came to a city called
Harmatelia or Harmata, which belonged to Sambus and the Brachmanes. The
inhabitants trusted in their strength and the fortifications of their city, and
so shut their gates to him. Alexander ordered five hundred of his Agrians to go
beneath the walls with their arms. If the townsmen sallied out against them,
they were to retreat. Three thousand attacked the five hundred, who fled as
they had been ordered to. The enemies pursued them and unsuspectingly came
across the other companies, which were waiting in ambush for them. Alexander
was personally waiting for them. In the ensuing battle, six hundred were
killed, a thousand captured and the rest fled back into the city and stayed
there. On Alexander's side, many were grievously wounded, almost to the point
of death. The Indians had poisoned the heads of their weapons with a deadly
poison. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, was among the wounded, and almost died. It
is said that in his sleep Alexander saw a herb which was a remedy for that type
of poison. The herb was squeezed into a drink and taken to neutralise the
poison, and many of the wounded made use of that medicinal herb and recovered.
It is most likely that someone who knew the medical value of that herb told
Alexander about it, and that this fable was made up to flatter and honour him.
[L371] So said Strabo, who stated that this story happened among the Oritae, of
whom we shall speak later. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 17-28. 2:437-441}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 103. 8:415-419} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 7.
7:139}
2195. When Alexander started to besiege Harmatelia, which was a strong and well
fortified city, all the inhabitants came out to him and humbly begged his
pardon. They surrendered themselves and their city to his will, and so he
pardoned them. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 28. 2:441}
3678d AM, 4388 JP, 326 BC
2196. Moeris, the king of Patala, which was the neighbouring country, came to
Alexander and put himself and his kingdom wholly into his hands. When Alexander
had freely restored him to his kingdom again, he ordered Moeris to provide for
his army. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 17. s. 2. 2:151}
2197. Alexander commanded Craterus to take with him the regiments of Attalus,
and Meleager and Antigenes with some of his archers, and those of the Companion
Cavalry and Macedonians who were unfit for the war. He was ordered to take them
to Macedonia by way of Carmania, through the countries of the Arachotians and
Zarangians, or Drangians. Some of the rest of the army were led by Hephaestion
along one side of the Indus River, while the mounted javelin men and the Agrians
were led by Pithon along the other side. He was ordered to get inhabitants for
the cities which Alexander had built, and if any new revolts happened in those
parts, he was to put them down. When that was done, he was to come and join the
rest of the army at Patala. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 17. s. 3,4.
2:151,153}
2198. When Alexander had now sailed down the river for three days, he received
news that Moeris, with a large number from Patala, had left the city and fled to
the mountains and woods, so he hurried as fast as he could to get there.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 17. s. 3. 2:153}
2199. Strabo stated from Aristobulus that Alexander came into Patala at about
the setting of the Dog Star (Sirius), having spent ten full months on his trip
down the river. He had set out shortly before the setting of the Seven Stars
(Pleiades). Alexander arrived in Patala at about the end of our July, having
set sail at the beginning of the tenth month prior to this. Hence, it appears
that he spent nine full months sailing down the Hydaspes, Acesines and Indus
Rivers, which we determine from the rising and setting of these stars. We find
Plutarch's account in this matter inaccurate. He stated: {*Strabo, l. 15. c.
1. s. 17. 7:25} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 66. s. 1. 7:411}
"that his sailing down the rivers to the sea took him up to seven months."
[E266]
2200. Alexander came to Patala and found no inhabitants in the city or the
countryside, but he found large numbers of flocks and herds of cattle there, and
grain in great abundance. He quickly sent his fastest soldiers to overtake
those who had fled. As they overtook them, they were to send them off to catch
up with the rest, and to persuade them to return. They were promised peace, and
their home and belongings, in both the city and country. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
6. c. 17. s. 4. 2:153}
2201. Alexander ordered Hephaestion to build a citadel at Patala, and sent
others into a region of theirs which was totally destitute of water, to dig
wells to make it more habitable. Some of the natives attacked and killed them,
but since the natives had lost many of their own in the battle, the rest fled
away to the woods and mountains. When Alexander heard what had happened to his
men, he sent more men to help them complete the work. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
6. c. 18. s. 1. 2:153}
2202. Alexander asked Nearchus, his admiral, to select some suitable season of
the year to set out from the mouth of the Indus River, and to sail along until
he came to the Persian Gulf and to the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.
{*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 21. s. 1. 2:367} [L372] Plutarch said Alexander
made Nearchus the admiral of the fleet and Onesicritus its chief pilot.
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 66. s. 2. 7:411} Onesicritus, in his
account, said that Nearchus was the admiral. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c.
21. s. 3. 2:163} Pliny called Onesicritus a commander of the fleet. {*Pliny,
l. 6. c. 24. (81) 2:399} Strabo more correctly called him the chief pilot,
and Nearchus the admiral. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 28. 7:49} {*Strabo,
l. 15. c. 2. s. 4. 7:133,135} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 5. s. 6.
2:217} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 18. s. 9. 2:359,361}
2203. At Patala, the Indus River divided into two large branches, both of which
retained the name of the Indus River until they emptied into the sea. These two
branches created a triangular shaped island between them, after which the city
of Patala was named. This island was larger than the Nile delta in Egypt.
Onesicritus stated that each side of this island was two hundred and fifty miles
long, while Aristobulus said that the side facing the ocean was about a hundred
and twenty-five miles long. The land was marshy where the rivers emptied into
the sea. Nearchus, and later Arrian, said that this side was two hundred and
twenty-five miles wide, while Pliny said that it was two hundred and twenty
miles wide. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 33. 7:59} {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 23.
(80) 2:399} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 20. s. 2. 2:159}
2204. Alexander planned to sail down to the sea by the western branch. He
selected his fastest ships, all of two decks, all his galleys of thirty oars
apiece, and some fast barques. He captured some guides who knew the river, and
set out, telling Leonnatus to keep up with him, with a thousand cavalry and
eight thousand foot soldiers, along the river bank. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6.
c. 18. s. 3,4. 2:155}
2205. The morning after he set out, a violent wind arose. The wind and tide
crossed each other to create large waves on the river, so that his ships
collided with each other. Most of them were leaking, and many of the ships of
thirty oars apiece broke apart before they could reach an island in the middle
of the channel. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 18. s. 5. 2:155}
2206. Alexander was forced to stay there a long time to build new vessels to
replace those that had been lost. His river guides had fled, and as he was
unable to replace them, they were forced to go on without them. When they had
gone fifty miles, the pilots were all agreed and told Alexander that they could
smell the sea, which meant the ocean could not be far away. So he sent some men
ashore to get some of the natives who, he thought, might be able to confirm
this. They searched for a long time for people in their huts. Finally they
found some people, whom they asked how far away the sea was. They replied that
they did not know what the sea was, nor had they ever heard of any such thing,
but if they went on for three days, they would come to salt water which mixed
with the fresh. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 9. s. 1-6. 2:441,443}
2207. Arrian stated that when certain Macedonians went ashore, they found some
Indians whom Alexander used for guides on the river for the rest of the journey.
They came to the place where the river widened to twenty-five miles, which was
its greatest width. The wind blew very strongly from off the sea, and they were
again forced to take refuge in a creek into which his guides directed him.
Curtius said that he came to salt water on the third day, as he had been
foretold. There he found another island in the river, and they observed that
the boats did not move as fast there as they had been travelling because of the
incoming tide. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 18. s. 4,5. 2:155} [L373]
2208. While they lay there at anchor, some of the men went foraging, unaware
that a new danger now confronted them. A very large tide (which to this day was
usual in Cambay, where the Indus River emptied into the sea) came in upon them
and flooded all the countryside. Only the tops of some hills were above water,
like so many little islands, and those who had gone ashore resorted to these
hills. [E267] When the sea had gone out again and had left the land dry, as
before, their ships were left high and dry. Either they were stuck nose first
into the bank, or they had fallen over on their side. When the next tide came
in, those ships which had stood upright on their keels in the mud, floated again
with the rising of the water and were not damaged, but those that had settled on
hard ground when the sea had gone out, had fallen on their sides. When the tide
returned, these ships were driven against one another, or smashed and broken on
the shore. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 19. s. 1-3. 2:157} {*Curtius, l.
9. c. 9. s. 2-27. 2:443-449}
2209. Everything was repaired as well as time and place would permit.
Alexander sent two barques down the river to view the island at which the guides
had told him that he must land, if he wanted to sail out into the ocean. The
natives called this island Cilluta, Alexander called it Scillustis and others,
Psiltucis. They brought word back to him that the island was large and afforded
excellent ports and lots of fresh water. Alexander ordered the whole navy to
sail to this island, while he took some of the better vessels and went ahead, to
ascertain whether there was a barrier at the mouth of the river, or a safe
passage out into the open ocean. When he had gone fifty miles, he saw yet
another island lying farther out in the open ocean. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 66. s. 1,2. 7:411} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 19. s. 3,4.
2:157}
2210. Alexander returned to the former island lying at the mouth of the river,
and came ashore at one of its capes. He offered sacrifices to certain gods, to
whom he claimed Jupiter Ammon had commanded him to sacrifice. The next day he
sailed to another island lying out in the same ocean, and offered more
sacrifices to other gods in the same manner as he had done previously, saying
that what he had done was at the command of Jupiter Ammon. He sailed far out of
the mouth of the Indus River into the open ocean. There he sacrificed to
Neptune certain oxen he had on the ship, and threw them overboard into the sea,
after having also made a drink offering and having first poured that into the
sea. Then, he threw a golden vial into the ocean, followed by various golden
bowls, for a thank offering. Since he planned to send Nearchus to the Persian
Gulf, he prayed that he might arrive there safely. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6.
c. 19. s. 4,5. 2:157,159}
2211. Justin stated that when Alexander returned to the mouth of the Indus
River, he built a new city called Barce there as a memorial, and erected some
altars. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 10.} Curtius said that he set out at
midnight with a small company of ships when the tide began to go out, and went
about fifty miles into the open sea, far out from the mouth of the Indus River.
When he had gone this far, he sacrificed to the gods of those seas and the
neighbouring lands, and then returned to the rest of his navy. {*Curtius, l.
9. c. 9. s. 27. 2:443-449} Diodorus stated that he went out into the main
ocean with some of his closest friends, landed at two little inlets and there
offered a magnificent sacrifice to the gods. He threw into the sea a number of
very expensive golden cups and made drink offerings to the sea. When he was
finished, he built some altars in honour of Tethys and Oceanus. Now that he had
finished his intended voyage into the east, he returned with his navy up the
river. On that journey he came back to a prosperous and famous city called
Patala, which had a government that was very similar to that of Sparta. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 104. s. 1,2. 8:419}
2212. Like Sparta, they had two kings, who were descended from two houses and
inherited their office from their fathers. The kings were in charge of military
matters, while civil affairs were managed by a council of elders. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 104. s. 2. 8:419}
2213. When Alexander returned up river to Patala, he found the citadel
completed according to his directions, and Pithon had returned with his army,
having completed his assigned task. [L374] Alexander planned to leave a part of
his navy at Patala, which is the name by which the city is known to the Indians
of Cambais to this very day. Hephaestion was put in charge of constructing the
ports and docks for the navy, at this spot where the Indus River divided into
two branches. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 20. s. 1,2. 2:159}
2214. Meanwhile, Alexander made another journey to the ocean along the the
eastern channel of the same river, to determine which of the two channels
afforded the better and easier journey to the ocean and back again. When he was
almost at the mouth of the second channel, he came across a lake in the channel,
which had been formed either by the river's meandering or by water flowing in
there from other parts and making the river wider there than elsewhere. The
lake looked like an arm of the sea. He left Leonnatus there with most of his
army and with all his smaller ships, while he went on with his ships of thirty
oars apiece and those with two tiers of oars. Again he sailed out into the vast
ocean, and found that this was the more spacious channel of the two to navigate
for taking commerce to Patala. [E268] He went ashore with some of the cavalry
and made a three day journey along the sea coast, exploring the coast where he
had sailed. He had wells dug in various places to provide fresh water for his
navy, should they need it. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 20. s. 2-4.
2:159,161}
2215. Curtius said that the next day, following his return from the ocean, he
sailed up the river to a certain salt water lake. Some of the men went into it,
not knowing anything about it, and developed an infectious scab that spread to
others. However, they quickly found an oil which cured it. If this was the
same lake which I previously mentioned from Arrian, then in all this history
concerning Alexander's last return from the ocean, it was not mentioned by any
author except for Arrian. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 10. s. 1,2. 2:451}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 20. s. 3. 2:161}
2216. When Alexander returned to Patala the second time, he sent a part of his
army to dig those wells mentioned before, by the seaside, ordering them to
return to Patala as soon as they were done. He sailed into the lake again and
there constructed new ports and more docks for his ships. He left a garrison
there and stored a four month supply of grain and other supplies for the coastal
voyage. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 20. s. 5. 2:161} Now it seems that
he built the city called Potana at this lake, in order to provide him with a
good port for his navy in that part of the ocean. (Diodorus {*Diod. Sic., l.
3. c. 47. s. 9. 2:233} compared with Agatharchides, Excerpts of Photius,
Cod. 250. c. 51 and with this place in Arrian.)
2217. Curtius wrote that Alexander stayed on the island of Patala with his
army, awaiting the arrival of spring, and during that time he built many cities
there. As winter was drawing to an end, he burned his ships, which were now
unserviceable, and marched away by land. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 10. s. 4.
2:451} Strabo stated that he left India toward the summer season (which, in his
reckoning, always began with the spring). {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 5.
7:135} I think he would not have said this, had he better considered what he
said later about Alexander concerning this voyage, and which was affirmed by
Nearchus, who was his admiral. He said: {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 5.
7:135}
"When the king was now completing his journey, Nearchus himself began his voyage
in the autumn when the Pleiades or Seven Stars began to appear in the evening."
2218. It is therefore obvious that Alexander had sent Leonnatus ahead of him in
September, to dig wells in suitable places for the army in their overland march
through a dry and desert country. He burned his ships, which were leaky, and
marching from Patala, he came with all his army to the bank of the Arbies or
Arabis River. [L375] This river separated India and the Arbites, or the
Arabites (whom Dionysius Periegetes called the Aribes, and others call Abrite),
from the Oritans. For the Arbites inhabited that part of the coastline of India
which lay between the Indus and Arbis Rivers, a distance of a hundred and
twenty-five miles, according to Nearchus. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 1.
7:129} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 25. s. 3. 2:381} These were the Indian
people living farthest to the west. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 25. s. 3.
2:381} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 2. 2:527} They were neighbours to the Oritans and
spoke their own language, which was different from that of the Indians.
{*Pliny, l. 6. c. 25. (95) 2:411} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 22. s. 10.
2:373}
2219. These Arbites or Arabites were a free state living under their own laws.
Since they were not strong enough to withstand Alexander, nor willing to submit
to him, they fled away to the woods and wildernesses as soon as they heard of
his coming. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 21. s. 4. 2:163,165}
2220. Alexander turned the rest of his army over to Hephaestion, while
Alexander took half of his silver targeteers, some of his archers, some
regiments called Asthetairoi and a troop of the Companion Cavalry. Taking one
troop from every regiment of cavalry, and all his mounted archers, he kept the
ocean on his left and journeyed westward. He ordered a number of wells to be
dug along the coast, to supply his navy with fresh water when they passed by on
their way to the Persian Gulf. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 21. s. 3,4.
2:163}
2221. As soon as Alexander had left, the inhabitants of Patala were inspired
with fresh courage and the desire for liberty. They attacked Nearchus and the
army that was left with him, forcing him to flee to his ships. He had no wind
to sail with, {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 5. 7:135} because it was a poor
time for sailing before the beginning of winter, which in those parts began with
the setting of the Pleiades in the month of our November. {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 6. c. 21. s. 1,2. 2:163}
3679a AM, 4388 JP, 326 BC
2222. Therefore, Nearchus prepared to make the voyage as soon as the Etesian or
trade winds had ended. All summer long, these winds blew from the sea to land
and made all navigation along that coast impossible. When Nearchus had
sacrificed to Zeus, the deliverer, and held certain gymnastic games, he set sail
from there in the 11th year of Alexander's reign. This was the time when
Cephisodorus was the archon of Athens. He left on the 20th day of the month of
Boedromion, or October 1 according to the Julian Calendar. (This I have already
shown in my discourse of the solar year among the Macedonians. {Ussher,
Macedonian and Asiatic Year, l. 1. c. 2.} [E269] {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c.
21. s. 1. 2:367}) We find the name of Cephisodorus four years earlier, in the
third year of the 113th Olympiad, and also three years later, in the second year
of the 114th Olympiad. This was the year following Alexander's death, according
to the tables of the archons of Athens. If this name was correctly recorded by
Arrian at this point, then this Cephisodorus may be the same person, because of
the closeness of the times. The following discrepancies occurred between
Diodorus Siculus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Arrian for in the recording of
the names of the archons of Athens in the fourth year of the 113th Olympiad:
[L376]
Olympiad 113
Year
Diodorus
Dionysius
Arrian
1
Euthycritus
Hegemon
Hegemon
2
Chremes
Hegemon
Chremes
3
Anticles
Chremes
Cephisodorus
4
Sosicles
Anticles
Anticles
2223. Pliny stated that Alexander built a city at the place where Nearchus and
Onesicritus started on their intended voyage. It is the same city we find
called Xylinepolis. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 26. (96) 2:411} It is amazing that at
the same time Pliny said that no one could tell where or on what river it had
been built, for where should it be, but on the island of Patala, where they were
left by Alexander to wait for a suitable season to begin their voyage? Where
else but on the Indus River, where along which the navy sailed and on which the
fleet made its way down to the ocean. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 21. s. 2.
2:369}
2224. The first day after they sailed from the port of Xylinepolis to go down
the Indus River, they came to a good, deep channel called Stura, about thirteen
miles from the port, and there they anchored for two days.
2225. The third day they sailed and came to another channel about four miles
downstream, where they found the water to be a little brackish, because the tide
had come up that far and mixed with the fresh water, leaving a taste of salt in
the place even at low tide. The name of the place was Caumana.
2226. They went on from there and came to a place about three miles farther
down on the river, called Coreetis.
2227. Setting sail again, they had not gone far when they spied a rocky reef
just inside the mouth of the Indus River and stretching to the shore, which was
also very rocky. They put in with the tide where the ground was softer and
provided a better landing-place for the ships. Then they made a ditch about a
thousand yards long through the reef to the sea, and sailed the ships through
this channel.
2228. Sailing on for another nineteen miles, they came to a sandy island called
Crocala and stayed there another day. On the mainland near the island lived the
Indian tribe called the Arabies, from the Arabius River. This river divided
them, as mentioned before, from the Oritans. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 21.
s. 3-8. 2:369}
2229. Their journey was described in detail by Arrian from Nearchus' accounts,
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 21. s. 3. 2:163} and later by Jo. Baptisa
Ramusius. {Ramusius, Navigations. l. 1. fol. 169.} The high points of the
voyage were described by Pliny, as recorded from Onesicritus by King Juba. The
following words of his indicate this: {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 26. (96) 2:411}
"It is fit I should here set down what Onesicritus recorded of this voyage,
wherein he sailed from India into the very centre of Persia at the command of
Alexander. From him the story is related again by King Juba."
2230. This also helps us to understand these next words of Pliny:
"The voyage of Nearchus and Onesicritus had neither names of places where they
landed, nor distances from one place to another."
2231. That is, as it was described by Juba or Onesicritus himself. For both
accounts were derived from Nearchus, as from Arrian noting from his account and
had recorded his history using these accounts.
2232. The night after Alexander had crossed the Arbis or Arabius River, he
marched through a large part of the sandy country and came, on the following
morning, into places that were well inhabited and civilised. Leaving the foot
soldiers to follow in good array, he went on horseback with several troops and
squadrons in very good order. They were widely spread out, to enable them to
take in and clear all the country before them, but when they were attacked by
the Oritans, many of them were killed or taken prisoner. Then they came to the
bank of a small river and camped there. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 21. s.
4,5. 2:165} [E270]
2233. Alexander divided his company into three brigades. He gave one to
Ptolemy to lead along the coast, and a second to Leonnatus to take through the
middle of the country and across its plain, while he took the third brigade and
marched into the hilly and mountainous country of that region. [L377] He wasted
everything he came across, thereby enabling the soldiers to enrich themselves,
and killed many tens of thousands of the inhabitants. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 104. s. 5-7. 8:421,423}
2234. When Alexander was joined by Hephaestion, who had the larger part of the
whole army under his command, he marched forward to Rhambacia, which was the
principal division of all that country. When he found a spot by the seaside
that was safe from every wind and weather, he at once ordered Hephaestion to
build a city there, which on completion was called Alexandria, and into which he
relocated the Arachosians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 104. s. 8. 8:423}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 21. s. 5. 2:165}
2235. Alexander took half of his silver targeteers, the Agrians, and a squadron
of cavalry and mounted archers, and marched away to the borders of the Oritans
and Gedrosians, where he had been told there was a narrow pass separating the
two countries. Both countries were camped there with their armies to keep the
pass. No sooner had they heard of his coming, than most of them abandoned the
place and fled, whereupon the leaders of the Oritans went to him and submitted
themselves and their whole country to him. The only command which Alexander
gave them, was to recall their countrymen to their homes. They were to assure
them that in so doing, they would receive no harm and all would be well with
them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 22. s. 1,2. 2:165,167}
2236. Alexander made Apollophanes joint governor of the Oritans with Leonnatus,
a captain of his bodyguard, with whom he left all his Agrians and some of his
archers. He ordered Leonnatus to await the coming of the fleet into those
parts. In the meantime, they were to go and help with the building of a new
city and to arrange everything there for the well-being of the people.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 22. s. 3. 2:167}
2237. He then marched with most of his army, for now Hephaestion had joined up
with him again, into the country of the Gedrosians, which had largely been
abandoned by its inhabitants. Aristobulus said that the Phoenicians who
followed the army as traders, bought up what was being offered for sale there in
this desert. They loaded their camels with myrrh and spikenard which grew in
abundance there. The whole army used them for bed coverings. The spikenard,
over which they walked, gave off a delightful smell, that spread far and wide.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 22. s. 3-8. 2:167,169} {*Strabo, l. 15. c.
2. s. 3. 7:133}
2238. He sent Craterus ahead of him into the midland countries with a part of
the army. He was to subdue Ariana or Aria (this is what all the regions to the
west of India, even as far as Carmania, were called) and to go into those places
through which Alexander planned to go. Craterus marched through the countries
of the Arachotians and the Drangians, and subdued by force the country of the
Chaarene, who refused to submit. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 5. 7:135}
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 11. 7:147,149} When Ozines, whom Arrian called
Ordanes, and Tariaspes, two Persian nobles, revolted in Persia, Craterus subdued
them by force and placed them in irons. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 10. s. 20.
2:457} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 27. s. 3. 2:183}
2239. Alexander, with another part of the army, went through the country of
Gedrosia, which was about sixty miles from the sea. He marched up to
seventy-five miles at night through a barren, craggy, dry and desolate country.
Alexander wanted to go all along the sea coast to discover suitable places where
he could build ports and make provision for his fleet which was to come that way
by his orders. He had wells dug and ports made for his navy. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 23. s. 1. 2:169} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 5,6.
7:135,137}
2240. To this end, he sent Thoas ahead of him with a competent company of
cavalry, to scout the sea coast. He was to see whether there were any good
landing places or fresh water near the shore, or other suitable provisions for
them. [L378] When he returned to Alexander, he told him that he had found some
poor fishermen there, who lived in little cottages built from shells and covered
over with the bones of fish and their backbones served as rafters. What little
water these men used, they had to dig for in the sand, and the water was not
always fresh. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 23. s. 2,3. 2:171}
2241. Alexander finally came into a country of the Gedrosians where there was a
supply of grain. Seizing it all and sealing the sacks with his own signet, he
placed it on wagons and sent it all away to the coast. While he went on to the
next ports, the soldiers broke the seals, opened the sacks and ate all the grain
to satisfy their extreme hunger. [E271] Those who were the leaders in this
matter, were the ones who had been entrusted with guarding the grain. When
Alexander realised that it had been done out of hunger, he overlooked it. He
sent all over the country to get more grain and had Cretheus carry it away to
the coast to supply the fleet and the army. At that very time, the fleet landed
in those parts. Alexander ordered the natives to go farther up into the country
to bring from there as much flour, dates and sheep as they possibly could, and
to carry this to the seaside, where it was to be sold to the army. He sent
Telephus, one of his friends, to get additional provisions of flour, and when he
found a quantity of it, although not much, he carried it to another port,
according to his orders. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 23. s. 4-6.
2:171,173}
2242. Meanwhile, some of the Oritans who lived in the mountains attacked
Leonnatus' brigade, killing a large number of them, and then withdrew to safety
again, according to Diodorus. Then the whole country of the Oritans joined with
other neighbouring countries to make an army of about eight thousand foot
soldiers and four hundred cavalry, and led a general revolt. Leonnatus attacked
and killed six thousand of their foot soldiers and all their leaders. He
himself lost fifteen cavalry, a few foot soldiers and Apollophanes. He was the
governor of that country and had been appointed by Alexander, as we noted
before. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 105. s. 8. 8:427} {*Curtius, l. 9. c.
10. s. 19. 2:457} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 5. s. 5. 2:217}
{*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 23. s. 5. 2:375,377}
2243. Nearchus landed at this place with his fleet and loaded provisions of
grain provided by Alexander, which would serve the army on board for ten days.
He repaired his ships that were leaking, and left any unfit sailors to serve on
land with Leonnatus, taking others from his companies in their place. {*Arrian,
Indica, l. 1. c. 23. s. 6-8. 2:377}
2244. Philip, whom Alexander had made governor over the Oxydracans and
Mallians, was attacked and murdered by his own mercenary troops. The murderers
were attacked by the Macedonians, who were his guard, and were soon seized and
cut to pieces for their deeds. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 27. s. 2.
2:183}
2245. It is said that Alexander endured more hardships and suffered more losses
in the country of the Gedrosians than he had in all of Asia. Of that army with
which he went into India, he scarcely brought a quarter back with him out of
Gedrosia. They endured grievous diseases, poor diet, burning heat, deep sands,
famine and shortages of water. Nearchus said that Alexander had known of the
difficulties of going that way. Purely from self-willed ambition, which
reigned, or rather raged, in him, he was determined to force his way through.
Someone had told him that Semiramis and Cyrus had gone that way into India.
Therefore he was determined to return by that same way out of India, although he
had been told that she was forced to save herself by fleeing from there with
only twenty men in her company, and Cyrus with only seven. Alexander thought he
would enhance his reputation if he were able to get out with his army safe and
sound, when they had suffered there so much. [L379] Therefore, Nearchus claimed
that the desire to return home by this route was partly due to this ambition and
partly in order to favour and relieve his navy, which had been appointed to meet
him in those parts. His guides lost their way through those vast sands, because
the wind had covered all the tracks which led through the desert. Alexander had
a hunch that the way must lie to his left, and so, taking a small company of
cavalry with him, he went to see whether he could find the seashore. All their
horses except for five were exhausted by the length and heat of the journey, so
he left them behind and went with those five and came to the sea coast. He dug
for a while and found fresh water to drink. He then immediately sent back for
his whole army to come there to him, and when they arrived, he marched forward
for seven days along the sea coast, finding plenty of fresh water all the way.
Once his guides recognised the way again, they led him up into the midland
countries, as he had wanted. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 5. 7:7} {*Strabo,
l. 15. c. 2. s. 5,6. 7:135,137} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 24-26.
2:173-183}
2246. After two months he left the country of the Oritans and came to the chief
city of the Gedrosians, called Pura. He rested his army there and refreshed
them with feasting, which was very fitting and a good time for him to do so.
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 7. 7:139} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 27.
s. 1. 2:183} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 66. s. 3. 7:411}
2247. From Pura he sent away the swiftest couriers that he could possibly find
to Phrataphernes, whom he had left as governor of Parthia, and to the two
governors of the provinces of Drangiane and Aria, which lay at the foot of the
Taurus Mountains. They were ordered to assemble as many camels, dromedaries and
others, with all kinds of beasts of burden, as they possibly could, and these
were all to be loaded with all manner of supplies and sent at once to meet him
as soon as he entered into the country of Carmania. [E272] These letters were
speedily carried to them and obeyed, so that when he came into Carmania, he
found abundant provisions at the appointed place, ready for him and his army.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 105. s. 7. 8:425} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 10. s.
22. 2:457}
2248. Menon, the governor of the Arachosians, had recently died. Alexander
appointed Sibyrtius as governor of both Arachosia and Gedrosia. {*Curtius, l.
9. c. 10. s. 20. 2:457}
3679b AM, 4389 JP, 325 BC
2249. As Alexander was marching toward Carmania, he received news of the death
of Philip, the governor of the Oxydracans and Mallians, so he wrote to Eudamus
and Taxilas and in his letters gave them the charge of those two provinces,
until he would send a governor to replace Philip. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6.
c. 27. s. 2. 2:183}
2250. As soon as he entered Carmania, Astaspes, the governor of that province,
met him. It was suspected that he planned to revolt from Alexander while the
latter was in India. Alexander concealed his anger toward him and received him
very graciously and while treating him according to his rank and station, all
the while tried to determine if the charges were true. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
6. c. 27. s. 2. 2:183} {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 10. s. 21. 2:457}
2251. Craterus came to Alexander with the rest of the army and the elephants,
bringing with him Ordanes, or Ozines, and Zariaspes, whom he had taken into
custody for trying to revolt in Persia. Stasanor, the governor of the provinces
of Parthia and Hyrcania, came to him with the captains and commanders of all
those forces which he had previously left with Parmenion in the province of
Media, namely Cleander, Sitalces, Heracon and Agathon, who brought him five
thousand foot soldiers and a thousand cavalry. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c.
27. s. 3. 2:183,185} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1. s. 1. 2:469}
2252. Various governors in different parts of India sent him a large number of
horses and other beasts of burden. Some were for pack animals and others for
military use, and they came from every country of his dominions in India.
[L380] Stasanor and Phrataphernes brought him a large number of draft horses and
camels, which Alexander distributed among those who wanted to use these animals
to carry their goods. He gave some to select captains and the rest he
distributed among the soldiers, by troops and companies, as he saw the need. He
also armed his soldiers with new weapons because they were now drawing near to
Persia, which was a peaceful and very wealthy country. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
6. c. 27. s. 6. 2:187}
2253. Alexander (as Arrian reported from Aristobulus) offered a sacrifice of
thanksgiving to his gods for his victory over the Indians and for the safe
journey of his army from Gedrosia. He entertained his armies with sports of
music, wrestlings and the like. He also added Peucestes to his bodyguard, the
one who had covered him with his shield in the country of the Mallians. At that
time, only seven men had this honour: Leonnatus, Hephaestion, Lysimachus,
Aristonous (all born in Pella), Perdiccas, a Macedonian, Ptolemy, the son of
Lagus, and Pithon. The eighth man was Peucestes, for his bravery in saving the
king from the Mallians. Other writers, including Diodorus, Curtius and
Plutarch, stated that Alexander imitated Bacchus by spending seven days crossing
through Carmania with his army in a drunken manner. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c.
106. s. 1-3. 8:427} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 67. 7:413}
{*Plutarch, Fortune of Alexander, l. 1. c. 11. 4:415} {*Curtius, l. 9. c.
10. s. 23-30. 2:457-461} {*Curtius, l. 3. c. 12. s. 18. 1:143}
{*Curtius, l. 8. c. 10. s. 13-18. 2:317,319} Arrian thought this was
unlikely, since neither Ptolemy, Aristobulus or any other credible writer
mentioned it. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 28. s. 1-4. 2:187,189}
2254. Astaspes, the governor of Carmania, was put to death and was replaced by
Tlepolemus. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 10. s. 29,30. 2:461} {*Arrian, Anabasis,
l. 6. c. 27. s. 1. 2:183} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 36. s. 8.
2:413}
2255. Cleander and Sitalces, who had killed Parmenion at Alexander's orders,
were accused before Alexander for many villainies (which I mentioned before),
which they had done, along with their subordinates and the army. Their act of
killing Parmenion could not atone for the large number of villainies and the
gross misbehaviour with which they were charged. Therefore Alexander put them
in chains, to be executed when he thought fit, but he executed the six hundred
private soldiers whom they had used to perform their villainies. At the same
time, Alexander had Ozines and Zariaspes, whom Craterus had brought as
prisoners, executed for attempting to rebel in Persia, as we noted before.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 27. s. 3-5. 2:185} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1.
s. 2-9. 2:469}
2256. Meanwhile, Nearchus had sailed along the coast of the Arabians, the
Oritans, the Gedrosians and the Icthyophagians (so called because they lived
only on fish), and arrived in the Persian Gulf. He came to Harmozia or Armusia
(which is now called Orus or Ormusa) and there brought his ships to land. He
went overland with a small retinue to Alexander, since a Greek from Alexander's
army told Nearchus that Alexander was not more than a five days' journey from
there. [E273] He found Alexander in a coastal town called Salmus, sitting in
the open theatre, occupied with putting on a stage play there. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 28. s. 5,6. 2:189,191} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c.
33-36. 2:403-413} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 106. s. 4. 8:429}
2257. Alexander there sacrificed to Zeus, the Saviour, to Hercules and Apollo,
the deliverers from evil, and to Poseidon, for bringing his army safely across
the ocean. He conducted sports events, games of music and other gymnastic
exercises, and held a pageant that was led by Nearchus. All the army sought to
get flowers and garlands to bestow on him. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 36.
s. 1-3. 2:411,413}
2258. When Alexander had heard the entire story of the voyage, he sent Nearchus
back to the fleet with only a small army to escort him, as the whole country
through which he was to pass was considered to be friendly. Alexander wanted
him to sail up as far as the mouth of the Euphrates and be ready to row up to
Babylon when ordered to do so. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1. s. 10-16.
2:471,473} [L381]
2259. Tlepolemus had barely been made governor of Carmania, when the natives
rebelled and took over the strategic and strongest places in the country. On
his return journey, they also attacked Nearchus in various places, so that he
was forced to flee, as often as two or three times in a day, but after much
trouble, he safely reached the coast. He sacrificed to Zeus, the Saviour, and
held athletic games. Then he set sail from Organa and following the coast of
the Persian Gulf, finally came to the mouth of the Euphrates River. {*Arrian,
Indica, l. 1. c. 36,37. 2:413,415}
2260. When Alexander received letters from Porus and Taxiles saying that
Abisares was dead, he gave his kingdom to Abisares' son. He sent Eudemon or
Eudamus, who was commander of the Thracians, to take over the government of the
Oxydracans and Mallians and to replace Philip, who had been killed. {*Curtius,
l. 10. c. 1. s. 20. 2:473} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 27. s. 2.
2:183}
2261. Alexander sent Hephaestion, with the larger part of the army and with the
wagons and elephants, to go from Carmania to Persia by sea. The Persian Gulf
was always calm in the winter and there were abundant supplies in those parts.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 28. s. 7. 2:191}
2262. Stasanor was sent back to his government. Alexander, with the choicest
of his foot soldiers, the Companion Cavalry and some of his archers, marched to
Pasargada in Persia. He gave money to the women as was the custom of the
Persian kings, who, whenever they came into Persia, gave every woman there a
piece of gold. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 29. s. 1. 2:191} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 69. s. 1. 7:417}
2263. As soon as he entered Persia, he was met by Orsines, or Orxines, who had
been appointed governor there after the death of Phrasaortes, and had held that
position since the time of Alexander's absence while in India. Under Orsines'
authority, the Persians had been kept in subjection and in allegiance to
Alexander until he would appoint another governor to replace the dead one.
Orsines was descended from one of the seven princes of Persia and traced his
lineage from Cyrus. He came and met Alexander, and presented him and all his
friends with rich gifts, but failed to give anything to Bagoas, the eunuch, and
Alexander's other homosexual lovers, saying it was not the Persian custom to
show any respect to men who allowed themselves to be sexually used as women.
This proved, later, to be the reason for his death. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1.
s. 22-26. 2:475} {*Curtius, l. 4. c. 12. s. 8. 1:273} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 29. s. 1,2. 2:191}
2264. While he was at Pasargada, Atropates, the governor of Media, arrived,
bringing with him the prisoner Baryaxes, a Median who had worn his turban
upright and had called himself king of the Medes and Persians. For this reason
he brought him as a prisoner to the king, along with all those who had been part
of the conspiracy, and Alexander had them all executed immediately. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 6. c. 29. s. 3. 2:191,193}
2265. Alexander was offended most of all at the vandalism of Cyrus' monument,
which he found to be completely broken down and spoiled. All the precious
things which he had previously seen there, except for a lector and a golden
coffin in which his body had been placed, had been stolen. The coffin had been
broken and the lid of the coffin taken off by those sacrilegious thieves, and
the body itself tumbled from it. They had also tried to hew in pieces and smash
the coffin, so that they could carry it away more easily in pieces, but as this
had proved impossible for them, they had left it behind. Alexander ordered
Aristobulus to rebuild the sepulchre. The parts of Cyrus' body which remained
were to be placed into the coffin again, and a new cover made for it. He was to
restore everything as it had been before, and then he was to seal the door which
led into the mausoleum where the body lay, with lime and stone and place the
impression of Alexander's seal upon it. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 7,8.
7:165-169} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 29. s. 4-11. 2:193-197} {*Curtius,
l. 10. c. 1. s. 30-35. 2:477} [E274] [L382]
2266. After this, Alexander commanded that the magi who guarded the sepulchre
be racked, to make them confess who had committed this sacrilege. When they
told him nothing, they were let go. Plutarch, however, said that Polymachus, a
noble from Pella, was put to death by Alexander for pillaging the sepulchre.
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 69. s. 1,2. 7:417}
2267. From Pasargada, Alexander marched to Persepolis, the royal seat of the
kings of Persia. On his previous visit he had set it on fire and burned it to
the very ground. However, on his return there, he regretted having done this.
Orsines, their governor, was falsely accused of many misdeeds. He was said to
have spoiled and robbed the king's houses and the sepulchres of the dead, and
executed many of the Persian nobility. In particular, Bagoas, the eunuch, put
it into the king's head that perhaps it had also been Orsines who had robbed the
sepulchre of Cyrus, for he said that he had heard Darius say there were three
thousand talents stored there. Bagoas persisted so far with Alexander that he
immediately caused the noblest person of all the Persian nation, and Alexander's
most affectionate servant, to be crucified without delay. Hence, Bagoas had
revenge against Orsines because he disapproved of Bagoas' homosexual lifestyle.
Not content, Bagoas laid his hand on Orsines as he was being led away to be
executed. Orsines, with a glance at him, said: {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c.
30. s. 1,2. 2:197} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1. s. 30-38. 2:477,479}
"I have heard that women once reigned in Asia; this, however, is something new,
for a eunuch to reign!"
2268. At the same time, Phradates, who had formerly been governor of the
Hyrcanians, Mardians and Tapurians, was suspected of making himself a king and
was executed. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1. s. 39. 2:479} {*Curtius, l. 8. c.
3. s. 17. 2:263}
2269. Alexander made Peucestes the governor of Persia. He had proven his worth
many times over, especially in that danger which had befallen Alexander among
the Mallians. Of all the Macedonians, only Peucestes adopted the Median clothes
and started to learn the Persian language and set out to manage everything
dressed in Persian attire. Alexander commended him highly for this, and the
Persians were pleased to see him use the Persian rather than the Macedonian
manner of dress. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 30. s. 2,3. 2:197,199}
2270. A new fancy now struck Alexander. He wanted to go down the Euphrates and
Tigris Rivers to see the Persian Gulf and see how those rivers entered into the
ocean. This he had done before at the mouth of the Indus River. He also
planned to sail around the coast, first of Arabia and then of all Africa,
intending to return into the Mediterranean Sea and to Macedonia by the way of
Pillars of Hercules. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 1. s. 1-3. 2:203} Since
he was in this frame of mind, he ordered the governors of Mesopotamia to cut
timber in Mount Libanus (Lebanon) and to carry it to Thapsacus, a city in Syria.
They were to make keels on which to construct large ships. These were not all
of seven banks of oars high, as Curtius said, but some were of one size and some
of another, as we shall see shortly from Aristobulus. Seven hundred ships were
to be constructed, and all were to be brought overland to Babylon, while the
kings of Cyprus were ordered to provide brass, equipment and sails for this
fleet. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 1. s. 17-19. 2:473}
2271. Nearchus and Onesicritus arrived with the fleet at the mouth of the
Euphrates River and anchored at Diridotis, the main market town of the whole
province of Babylon, where the merchants of Arabia sold their frankincense and
spices. When they heard that Alexander wanted to go to Susa, they went back and
over to the mouth of the Pasitigris River. They rowed up that river and came to
a country that was well inhabited and with plentiful provisions. When they had
rowed about nineteen miles, they came to a harbour, where they stayed and waited
for the return of those men whom Nearchus had sent to find out where Alexander
was. While he was waiting, Nearchus sacrificed there to the gods, who had
delivered him, and held games. All the sailors were involved in this pastime
and merriment. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 41,42. 2:425-429}
2272. Calanus was an Indian and belonged to the gymnosophists, or the sect of
philosophers who went naked. In all his seventy-three years, he had never felt
an ache in his bones or other sickness in his body. It so happened that he now
became ill with his first sickness, at Pasargada. He began to feel sick and
grew weaker every day. [L383] When he came to the borders of Susa (for it was
there that this happened, according to Diodorus, and not in a suburb of the city
of Babylon, as Aelian claimed), he asked Alexander if he would make a large pile
of wood. When he had climbed on top of it, he wanted some of his servants to
set it on fire. At first, Alexander endeavoured to dissuade him from his plan,
but he could not. Calanus told him he would simply die some other way.
Alexander ordered a pile of wood to be arranged as Calanus desired and had
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, take care of this. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany,
l. 5. c. 6. 1:217,219} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 107. 8:431,433}
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 4. 7:7} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 64.
7:109-113} {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 68. 7:119-121} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
7. c. 3. s. 1-6. 2:207-211} As Calanus was going to the pile of wood, he
greeted all the rest of his friends and kissed their hands and bade them
farewell, but he would not kiss Alexander's hand, for he said that he would meet
with him at Babylon and greet him there, by which he meant that Alexander would
die at Babylon, and so he predicted his death there. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l.
1. c. 69. s. 3,4. 7:419,421} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 18. s. 6.
2:267} {*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 1. c. 23. 20:275,277} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 1. c. 8. ext. 10. 1:121} [E275]
2273. Nearchus stated that as soon as the fire was started, Alexander had the
trumpets sound. All the army who were there gave a shout, as if ready to join
in a battle, while the elephants, at the same time, made a noise like they were
in the habit of doing when they entered into a battle. It was as if all had
planned to honour the funeral of Calanus. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 3.
s. 6. 2:211}
2274. Chares of Mitylene added that Alexander, to honour Calanus' funeral,
proclaimed a prize for the musicians and wrestlers. To please the Indian
nation, he held a drinking match, which was a custom of theirs, awarding a crown
worth one talent to the one who could drink the most, thirty minas for the
second prize and ten minas for the third prize. Alexander held a feast for his
friends and captains, at which Promachus drank the most. He drank about three
gallons and was awarded first prize, but he died three days later. Thirty-five
of the rest were chilled by the event and died immediately, while six others
died shortly thereafter in their tents. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 70.
s. 1. 7:419} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 2. c. 41. 1:113}
{*Athenaeus, l. 10. (437ab) 4:479}
3679c AM, 4389 JP, 325 BC
2275. Nearchus and Onesicritus continued their course up the Pasitigris River
with their naval forces and came to a recently built bridge over which Alexander
was to pass with his army. They sailed into the land of Susia and laid anchor.
{*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 42. 2:427,429} Pliny said they found him at Susa,
observing a holiday. This was seven months after Alexander had left them at
Patala, and in the third month after they had set sail from there. But it was
really in the sixth month, since we have already shown that they left Patala in
the next month after he had left them behind at the city of Patala. {*Pliny, l.
6. c. 26. (100) 2:415}
2276. When the naval and land forces came together, Alexander again offered
sacrifices for both his navy's and army's preservation, holding athletic games
as a part of the proceedings. Wherever Nearchus went throughout the camp, every
man scattered flowers and placed garlands on him. {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c.
42. 2:429}
2277. After Alexander had sent Atropates away to his province, he marched to
Susa. Abulites, who had made no preparation at all for his entertainment, only
presented him with three thousand talents of silver, which Alexander ordered him
to lay before his horses. When they would not do it, Alexander asked for what
purpose this money was, then. Plutarch said that Alexander laid Abulites in
irons and ran his son Oxathres, or Oxyartes, through with a javelin. Arrian
said that he put both the father and the son to death for their bad conduct in
the government at Susa. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 4. s. 1. 2:211}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 68. s. 4. 7:415,417}
2278. Many of the people of the countries which he had conquered came in and
complained about their governors. [L384] These governors had never even dreamed
that Alexander would ever return alive from India, and so they had committed
many and monstrous outrages on the temples of their gods, the sepulchres of the
dead and on the persons and property of their subjects. Alexander ordered all
of those governors to be executed in full view of those who had come to complain
against them, without any regard for nobility, favour or service they had done.
He executed Cleander and Sitalces, whom he had condemned while he was still in
Carmania, because they were as guilty as the rest. Heracon, who up to this time
had escaped scot-free, but was now being accused by the men of Susa of robbing
and ransacking their temple, was convicted and executed. Alexander was ready to
listen to even the slightest accusation about trivial matters, and to punish it
with death and torment. He did this even for small offences, because he thought
that those who acted improperly in small matters, intended greater evils in
their mind. {Lu 16:10} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 4. s. 1-3. 2:211,213}
2279. When the fame of Alexander's severity against his officials spread, many
feared what would become of them, knowing how they had behaved. Some got all
the money they could and fled to parts unknown, while others, who commanded
mercenary troops, openly revolted from Alexander. This prompted Alexander to
send letters to all the governors of the countries throughout all Asia, ordering
them to disband and send away all the mercenary troops. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17.
c. 108. s. 6-8. 8:437}
2280. No sooner had the mercenary troops been discharged, than they wandered
all over Asia, without any work. They lived from the spoil of the country,
until at length they all came together in one body at Taenarum in Laconia.
Likewise, all the remaining commanders and governors of the Persians gathered
together what men and money they could and came to Taenarum, where they all
combined their forces. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 108. s. 6-8. 8:437,439}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 21. s. 1. 9:73}
2281. Alexander married Statira, the eldest daughter of Darius, and according
to Aristobulus, he married Parysaris, the youngest daughter of Ochus, as well.
He gave Drypates, the youngest daughter of Darius and his own wife's sister, in
marriage to Hephaestion. [E276] To Craterus he gave Amestrine, the daughter of
Oxyatres, the brother of Darius. Perdiccas married the daughter of Atropates,
the governor of Media. Nearchus married the daughter of Spitamenes, the
Bactrian. To Ptolemy, the son of Lagus and the captain of his bodyguard, and to
Eumenes, he gave the two daughters of Artabazus and sisters of Barsine, by whom,
though not in lawful wedlock, Alexander had a son called Hercules. Ptolemy's
wife was called Artacama, or Apama, while Eumenes married Artonis. In Arrian
the name Barsine was written for Statira. However, Plutarch called Eumenes'
wife Barsine instead of Artonis. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 1. s. 1.
8:81} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 4. s. 4-8. 2:213,215}
2282. Alexander gave wives from the most illustrious families among the Medes
and Persians to all the rest of his friends. The number, according to Arrian,
was eighty or ninety according to Aelian, or ninety-two, according to Chares, or
a hundred, according to Plutarch. {*Plutarch, Fortune of Alexander, l. 1. c.
7. 4:401} These marriages of Alexander and his friends were all made and
solemnised at the same time, and Alexander bestowed a dowry on each one of them.
For five days they celebrated these marriages with pomp, magnificent feasts and
parties, according to Aelian. He gave a golden vial to each of the nine
thousand guests, with which to make the sacrifice of a drink offering. [L385]
He gave wedding gifts to each one of the rest of the ten thousand Macedonians
who had previously married wives from Asia. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 4.
s. 4-8. 2:213,215} {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 8. c. 7. 1:267}
{*Athenaeus, l. 12. (538c) 5:433} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 70. s.
2. 7:419}
2283. Moreover, he considered it appropriate at this time to pay every one of
his soldiers' debts from his own funds. He ordered that each one should submit
a bill for what he owed, and they would be given the money to pay their debt.
At first very few handed in their bills, because they feared that this was
merely a scheme of Alexander's to find out who among them could not live on
their pay, because of their riotous living. Among those who submitted a bill
was Antigenes, who had only one eye since he had lost the other under Philip at
the siege of Perinthus by an arrow shot from the wall. He pretended to be more
in debt than he actually was, and brought a man to the pay master who affirmed
that he had lent Antigenes so much money, whereupon Antigenes received the money
he had asked for. Alexander, who was later informed of this abuse, was very
angry and removed him from his office, forbidding him ever to come within his
court again. Antigenes took this ignominy to heart and contemplated committing
suicide. When Alexander heard of this, he forgave him and allowed him to enjoy
his money.
2284. When Alexander discovered that many who were truly in debt would not turn
in their names to be given money to pay their debts, he publicly denounced them
for being so distrustful of him. He said that a king should only be honest with
his subjects just as the subjects should believe the king was totally honest and
fair to them. Then he had tables with money on them set out in various places
of the camp, and whoever brought in his bill of what he owed received his money
immediately, without so much as being asked what his name was. Then they began
to believe that Alexander was a man of his word.
2285. The money he distributed among his soldiers, according to Justin and
Arrian, amounted to about twenty thousand talents. It is likely that Diodorus
was more accurate when he said it was less than ten thousand talents. Curtius
and Plutarch said that of the ten thousand talents brought, there were only a
hundred and thirty left after all the debts had been paid. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 70. s. 2-4. 7:421} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 5.
s. 1-4. 2:215,217} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 109. s. 1. 8:439} Curtius
said: {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 2. s. 9-11. 2:485,487}
"So that army, the conqueror of so many of the richest countries, carried off
from Asia more victory than booty."
2286. Alexander at this time gave other gifts to various men in the army,
either according to the honour that rank conferred or to conspicuous courage
displayed in dangers. To those who had excelled in bravery he gave, in
addition, crowns of gold to wear. The first one was given to Peucestes, who had
protected him with his shield against the Mallians. The next he gave to
Leonnatus, who on that same occasion had also fought most courageously in his
defence, and had at numerous times behaved most bravely in the country of the
Oritans. The third he gave to Nearchus, who had brought his navy and army
safely from India over the ocean on ships. The fourth crown was given to
Onesicritus, the pilot of the king's ships, and Hephaestion and the other
captains of his bodyguard also received crowns. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c.
5. s. 4-6. 2:217}
2287. Meanwhile, the governors of various cities he had built and of various
provinces he had subdued brought thirty thousand troops to him at Susa from
Persia and other countries. {See note on 3676c AM. <<2040>>} These
were all
good, strong young men, who were selected by the king's command and trained in
the Macedonian military manner. [E277] They were all gloriously armed and
camped before the walls of Susa. When they had proven their readiness and skill
in military discipline before Alexander, he richly rewarded them and called them
the Epigoni (Successors), that is members of a later troop, replacing those who
had gone before them in feats of chivalry and conquering the world. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 6. s. 1. 2:217} [L386]
3679d AM, 4389 JP, 325 BC
2288. Alexander had turned over most of his army to Hephaestion, to be led to
the coast of the Persian Gulf. He had ordered his navy to come to the country
of Susa, and he himself sailed there with his silver targeteers, his phalanx, or
main squadron, and part of his Companion Cavalry. They sailed down the Eulaeus
River into the Persian Gulf. Before he arrived there, he abandoned many of his
ships, which were leaking or damaged. With some of the remainder, he sailed
from the mouth of that river by sea to the Tigris River. The rest he sent up
the channel connecting the Tigris with the Eulaeus River, and so they all
reached the Tigris River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 7. s. 1,2.
2:221,223}
2289. Alexander sailed along the shore of the Persian Gulf which lay between
the mouth of the Eulaeus and Tigris Rivers, and came to his camp. Hephaestion
was waiting with the army for his arrival. Alexander returned again to the city
of Opis on the bank of the Tigris River, and as he went along, he had all the
dams, locks and sluices removed which the Persians had constructed on that river
to hinder enemy access by sea to Babylon, saying they were devices of little
worth. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 7. s. 3-7. 2:223,225} {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 1. s. 9. 7:205}
2290. As soon as he came to Opis, he called all his army together and disclosed
his plans to them. He wanted to discharge all those who through age or for any
other reason, found themselves unfit for military service. These would be free
to return home, while he promised to make conditions for those who stayed
extremely good and to bestow such gifts upon them as would make the eyes of
those who were idle at home, ache. This would encourage the rest of the
Macedonians to come and share with them in their fortunes.
2291. His intention in all this was to honour the Macedonians, but they took it
to mean that he was ashamed of them and counted them no better for his wars than
a company of useless men. They seemed anxious to recall every other grievance
and occasion for discontent which he had caused them. He was wearing a Median
robe, and all those marriages he had made had all been solemnised after the
Persian manner. Peucestes, his governor of Persia, had turned completely
Persian, both in clothing and language, and Alexander delighted too much in
these new customs and foreign fashions. The Bactrians, Sogdians, Arachosians,
Zarangians, Arians, Parthians and Persian cavalry, who were called Euaca, were
mixed with and counted among the Companion Cavalry. A fifth brigade of cavalry
had been set up, which was not made up entirely of foreigners, but an increasing
number of his cavalry were from foreign countries, nevertheless. Cophes, the
son of Artabazus, Hydarves and Artiboles, the two sons of Mazaeus, Itanes, the
son of Oxyartes and brother to Roxane, Alexander's wife, Aegobares and his
brother Mithrobaeus were in this new regiment, while Hydaspes, a Bactrian, was
the commander over that regiment. Instead of the Macedonian spear, they used a
javelin, after the custom of the foreign countries. He had created a new
company of young foreigners whom he called Epigoni and had armed them after the
Macedonian manner. Finally, he despised and scorned the Macedonian discipline
and customs in all things, and even the Macedonians themselves. Therefore the
army all cried out, desiring to be discharged and no longer wishing to serve in
the wars. They told him that he and his father Ammon could go and fight from
now on if they wanted to, since he had grown weary of his own soldiers and no
longer cared for those who had previously fought for him.
2292. In this revolt, Alexander, enraged as he was, leaped down from the place
where he had stood speaking to them. With whatever captains he had around him,
he flew in among them and took thirteen of the chief rebels who had stirred up
this sedition among the rest. [L387] He handed them over to the sergeants, to
be bound hand and foot and thrown into the Tigris River. So great was either
the dread of Alexander upon them, or Alexander's own resolution in executing
them according to the marshal discipline, that they took their death with
resignation. Then Alexander went to his lodging, accompanied only by his
friends and the captains of his bodyguard. He neither ate nor slept, nor
allowed any man to come into his presence, throughout that day and the next one.
2293. On the third day, he ordered the Macedonians to stay in their tents and
called his foreign soldiers together. [E278] When they came, he spoke to them
through an interpreter and ordered their perpetual loyalty to himself and to
their former kings. Recalling all the many favours and honours which he had
conferred upon them, he reminded them that he had never treated them as
conquered persons, but as fellow soldiers and partners in all his conquests and
he had mixed the conquered with the conquerors through intermarriage. He said:
"Therefore, count not yourselves as made, but born my soldiers. The kingdoms of
Asia and Europe have all become one. What was novelty before, is now grown
natural by long use and custom, and you are no less my countrymen than you are
my soldiers."
2294. After this he chose a thousand tall young men from among them and
appointed them as his personal bodyguards. He gave the chief commands of the
army to the Persians, also calling these his relatives and friends, and called
the various troops and companies by Macedonian names. He allowed only them the
privilege to be admitted to kiss his hand. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4. n.
7. Alexander}
2295. The Macedonians saw the king emerge guarded only by Persians, and noted
that all the sergeants and other attendants were Persians. Only Persians were
promoted to all the places of dignity and honour, while the Macedonians were set
aside with scorn and infamy, and so their courage failed and they conferred some
time among themselves. Then, running all together to the king's lodging, they
threw off all their clothes right down to their waistcoats. Throwing down their
arms at the court gates, they stood outside, begging to be admitted. They
offered to turn over every instigator of that rebellion and asked the king to be
satisfied with their deaths rather than their disgrace. Although Alexander was
no longer angry, he would not admit them. They continued their crying and
howling all the more and would not go away, but remained there two whole days
and nights. They called on him by the name of lord and master, and vowed not to
leave his gate until he would show them mercy. On the third day, he came out to
them and saw their humiliation and dejection before him, together with their
genuine sorrow. He heard their pitiful complaint and the lamentation they were
making, and moved with compassion for them, he wept a long time over them. He
stood for some time as if he would speak to them, but could not, and they
continued before him all the while on their knees.
2296. Callines, a man venerable on account of his age and held in great esteem
in the regiment of the Companion Cavalry, spoke to him:
"This, oh king, is what grieves your Macedonians, that now you have made some of
the Persians your cousins and have received these to kiss your hand and have
deprived your Macedonians of this honour."
2297. He would have proceeded, but Alexander interrupted him, saying:
"I now make you all my cousins, and from henceforth will call you by that name."
2298. When he had said this, Callines stepped forward and went up to kiss his
hand, and as many others as wanted to, did likewise. Every man took up his arms
again and they all returned with joy and triumph into the camp.
2299. Then Alexander sacrificed to the gods as he was accustomed to do. He
made a general feast for all the army, at which he sat down first, then his
Macedonians were seated, and then the Persians. After them, the rest were
seated according to their various ranks and stations in the army. Then
Alexander took from the bowl and drank, and so it went round among the
Macedonians. [L388] The Greek prophets and Persian priests poured forth their
prayers, and among all the favours they asked for him from their gods, was that
they grant a concord and unity of empire between the Macedonian and Persian
kingdoms. It is said that there were nine thousand guests who sat at this
feast, and that they all pledged this concord and sang the same Paeana, or song
of joy and gladness to Apollo, which they used to sing when they returned to
their camp from a victory. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 8-11. 2:225-241}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 71. 7:421,423} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 2,3.
2:487-501}
2300. Alexander crossed over the Tigris River and camped in a country called
Cares. Crossing the region called Sittacene in a four day march, he came to
Sambana, where he camped seven days and then arrived at Celones after a further
three day journey. Xerxes had earlier formed a colony there with the people
whom he had brought from Boeotia. Then, turning aside from the route to
Babylon, he went to see the country of Bagisthane, which abounded with fruit and
every other commodity that was good for one's health and pleasure. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 110. s. 4,5. 8:441,445}
2301. Meanwhile, Harpalus, a Macedonian who was the chief baron and treasurer
of all the king's money in Babylon, and of the revenues of that whole province,
was well aware of his wastefulness and bad conduct in that office. He also knew
what Alexander had done to many other governors when complaints had been made
about them by their subjects. Taking five thousand talents of silver and six
thousand mercenaries, he fled from Asia and came with them to Taenarum in
Laconia, where he left them. Others, who had not been able to stay in Asia, had
already exiled themselves there. {See note on 3679b AM. <<2280>>}
[E279] He
went to Athens in a humble manner, but when Antipater and Olympias wished to be
rid of him, he handled people of Athens by bribing Demosthenes and other orators
there, and so was able to escape and return safely to his company at Taenarum.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 108. s. 6-8. 8:437,439} {*Diod. Sic., l. 18.
c. 21. s. 1. 9:73} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 35. s. 5. 1:199,201}
{*Plutarch, Demosthenes, l. 1. c. 25. 7:61,63} {*Plutarch, Phocion, l. 1.
c. 21,22. 8:191-195} In Arrian there is a blank left where Harpalus' flight
from Babylon should have been recorded, together with the subsequent journey of
Alexander, as appeared in Photius. {Photius, Bibliotheca, c. 91.} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 12. s. 7. 2:245} There was an action brought against
Harpalus for bribes he had received, according to Dionysius Halicarnassus, as
recorded at the end of his letter to Ammaeus concerning Demosthenes, when
Anticles was archon at Athens. This was, as I said before, in this fourth year
of the 113th Olympiad, according to his account. {*Dionysius Halicarnassus,
Ammaeus, l. 1. (12) 2:345}
2302. Hephaestion and Eumenes had an argument about a certain gift and
exchanged many harsh words. Alexander settled their differences and made them
friends again, even though Hephaestion was unwilling at first and Alexander had
to threaten him. Eumenes, however, was content with the settlement. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 13. s. 1. 2:245} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 2.
s. 4,5. 8:83}
3680a AM, 4389 JP, 325 BC
2303. From there, Alexander went into a country where large herds of horses
belonging to the Persian kings grazed. In this place, called the Nesean
country, a hundred and fifty or sixty thousand of the king's horses had been
kept in the past. When Alexander came there, he found about fifty thousand
horses, {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 13. s. 1. 2:245} {*Strabo, l. 11.
c. 13. s. 7. 5:311} while Diodorus stated there were about sixty thousand
horses. Most of the horses had been stolen. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 110.
s. 6. 8:443}
2304. When Alexander had camped there thirty days, he marched on again and
seven days later came to Ecbatana, the chief city of all Media, which had a
circumference of over thirty-one miles. After he transacted the business that
was urgent, he was once more occupied with theatres and festivals, since three
thousand artists had come to him from Greece. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 110.
s. 6. 8:443} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 13. s. 2,3. 2:249} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 72. s. 1. 7:425}
2305. Apollodorus of Amphipolis, one of Alexander's Companion Cavalry officers,
was commander of the force Alexander left behind with Mazaeus the governor of
Babylon. [L389] When Apollodorus heard what had happened to other governors
Alexander had placed over his kingdom, he was afraid, just as his friend
Harpalus had been before him. Apollodorus had a brother called Pythagoras, who
was a soothsayer. When he consulted him by letters to find out what was likely
to happen to him, Pythagoras wrote back wanting to know whom it was he feared,
since he wanted his fortune told. He replied that it was for fear of Alexander
and Hephaestion, whereupon Pythagoras looked into the entrails of a beast for
Hephaestion. When he found that its liver had no lobes, he wrote a reply and
sent it from Babylon to his brother in Ecbatana, telling him not to fear
Hephaestion for he would die soon. Aristobulus stated that this letter was
written the very day before Hephaestion died. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c.
18. s. 1-3. 2:263,265} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 21. (152) 3:511}
2306. Hephaestion loved wine too much and became sick because of this. He was
a young soldier who would not keep any diet he was told to follow. While his
physician Glaucias was away for a time, he ate dinner just as he did every other
time. He had a roasted guinea fowl and took a large draught of chilled wine
after it, causing him to become sick and to die seven days later.
2307. On the same day, gymnastic games were being performed before Alexander by
the pages of the court. When he was told of Hephaestion's illness, he suddenly
arose from the games and went to see Hephaestion. When he got there, he found
him dead. As a result, he did not eat for three days nor take care of himself,
but lay all the while either sullenly silent, or impatiently lamenting the loss
of his friend Hephaestion. Later, he changed his attire and shaved himself,
ordering that all the soldiers and even the horses and mules be totally shorn.
He had the pinnacles taken from the walls in Ecbatana and all other cities and
towns around there, because he wanted them to look poorly so they would appear
to lament and bewail his death. He crucified Hephaestion's poor physician,
because he had been unable to help him, as well as ordering that no sound of
pipe or flute be heard in all the camp and a general mourning be observed for
Hephaestion in all the provinces. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 14. s. 1-7.
2:249-253} {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 110. s. 7,8. 8:445} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 72. s. 1.3. 7:425} {*Plutarch, Pelopidas, l. 1. c.
34. s. 2,3. 5:429} {Epictetus, l. 2. c. 22.} {*Aelian, Historical
Miscellany, l. 7. c. 8. 1:251}
2308. Alexander gave Hephaestion's body to Perdiccas to be carried to Babylon.
[E280] He intended to give him a most magnificent funeral and often spoke with
the principal architects around him about making a most splendid monument for
him. He spoke most with Stasicrates, who knew of innovations used in designing
and erecting vast buildings. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 72. s. 3.
7:425}
2309. Eumenes was afraid that Alexander might think that he was glad about
Hephaestion's death, so he encouraged Alexander all the more in this project and
suggested to him new ways of honouring Hephaestion. He dedicated himself and
his arms to Hephaestion. Various others of Alexander's friends followed
Eumenes' example and did likewise. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 2. s.
4,5. 8:83} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 14. s. 9. 2:253}
2310. Moreover, since Hephaestion had been the colonel of the regiment of
Alexander's Companion Cavalry, Alexander did not replace him, lest the name of
Hephaestion should be forgotten among them. He called that regiment
Hephaestion's regiment, just as he named the standard after him which he
presented to them to go before them whenever they went into battle. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 14. s. 10. 2:253}
3680b AM, 4390 JP, 324 BC
2311. Finally, to lift his spirits, Alexander started a needless war. He split
his army with Ptolemy and went off to hunt men, determining to clear the country
as he would clear a forest of wild beasts. He attacked the Cossaeans, a people
who bordered on the Uxians and lived in the mountainous parts of Media. [L390]
The Persian kings had never managed to bring them under their subjection. Nor,
in all these wars, had these people ever become discouraged or thought that the
Macedonians were such great warriors that they needed to be afraid of them.
First, he took the passes leading through the mountains into their country and
wasted their borders. Then, he went farther on and routed them in various
conflicts. He destroyed them mercilessly wherever he went and called that
Hephaestion's funeral feast. According to Arrian, Nearchus also stated that
Alexander attacked these Cossaeans in the depths of winter, when they little
dreamed of any enemy coming upon them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 15. s.
1-3. 2:255} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 40. s. 1-11. 2:423,425} {*Strabo,
l. 11. c. 13. s. 6. 5:307,309} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4. n. 31.
in Alexander}
2312. The Cossaeans saw that they were being badly defeated, and were grieved
to see what large numbers of them were being taken prisoner. They were forced
to redeem the lives of their fellows with their own slavery, and surrendered
entirely to Alexander's will and pleasure. He granted them peace on the
condition that they would always obey the king, and do whatever he commanded.
So Alexander returned with his army after he had subdued all that country in the
space of forty days. He built various cities in the most difficult passes of
the country. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 111. s. 4-6. 8:447,449} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 15. s. 1-3. 2:255}
2313. Alexander sent Heraclides into Hyrcania with certain shipwrights, to cut
timber there for building ships. These were all to be men of war, some with
decks, some without, after the Greek design. He had a great desire to see the
Caspian Sea and to establish to whom it belonged. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7.
c. 16. s. 1-4. 2:257,259}
3680c AM, 4390 JP, 324 BC
2314. When he had crossed with his army over the Tigris River, he marched
straight toward Babylon, making many camps along the way and resting his army in
various places. Whenever he was on the move, he made easy marches. When he was
about forty miles from Babylon, he was met by the Chaldean priests and prophets,
who had been sent to him by one of their own company, called Bellephantes. They
advised him that under no circumstances should he go to Babylon, for if he did,
he would die there. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 112. s. 1-3. 8:449}
2315. When Alexander was told by Nearchus (for Bellephantes was not bold enough
to speak directly with Alexander) what the Chaldean's message was, he sent many
of his friends to Babylon, but he turned aside from Babylon and would not enter
it. He camped about twenty-five miles from it at a place called Bursia. This
is possibly the same place which Ptolemy called Bersita, a city long since
destroyed. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 112. s. 4. 8:451}
2316. At that place, Anaxarchus and other Greeks persuaded him not to regard
these predictions of the priests and magicians, but rather to reject and despise
them as vain and false, whereupon he quoted that iambic verse of Euripides:
"Who best can guess, he the best prophet is."
2317. Then the Chaldeans requested that if he must enter the city, he should at
least not enter it with his face toward the west, but should rather take the
trouble to go around it and enter it looking toward the east. Aristobulus
stated that he heeded this request. On the first day he marched as far as the
Euphrates River. On the next day, he had the river on his right hand and
marched south along its bank. He wanted to march along that side of the city
which faced the west so that he might come in facing the east. [E281] When he
found that way to be marshy and hard for his army to pass over, he neglected
that express point of their counsel also, and entered Babylon with his face
toward the west. {*Seneca the Elder, Suasoriae, l. 4. 2:545-551} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 21. (152) 3:511} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 16-19.
2:259-269} [L391]
2318. When Alexander arrived at the walls of the city, he looked and he noticed
a flock of crows, fighting and killing each other. As some fell down dead close
to him, Apollodorus told him that he had a brother in the city called
Pythagoras. He was skilled in the art of soothsaying by looking into the
entrails of beasts offered for sacrifice, and had already consulted the gods
that way concerning Alexander. Whereupon Alexander immediately sent for him and
asked him what he had found out concerning him. He told Alexander that he had
found the liver of the beast to be without any lobes, and when Alexander asked
what that meant, Pythagoras replied that some great evil was hanging over his
head. (Appian wrote that he said to Alexander that he would die shortly.)
Alexander was not offended by him. In fact, from that time on, Alexander
consulted him all the more because of his candour in dealing with him. This
much Aristobulus related as having learned directly from Pythagoras. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 18. s. 3-6. 2:265,267} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1.
c. 73. s. 1,2. 7:427}
2319. The Babylonians entertained his army in a very courteous manner, as they
had done the last time he had been there. They all indulged in ease and luxury,
and there was no lack of anything that their hearts desired. {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 112. s. 6. 8:451}
2320. While Alexander resided at Babylon, envoys came to him from all the
different regions and countries of the world. For beside those who came out of
Asia representing cities, princes and countries there, many others came from
countries in Europe and Africa. From Africa came the Ethiopians who lived near
the temple of Ammon, as well as envoys from the Carthaginians and other Punic
countries bordering all along the Mediterannean coast of Africa from as far west
as the Pillars of Hercules and the western sea. Envoys also came from Europe,
from various cities of Greece and Macedonia, and from the Thracians, Illyrians
and Scythians. The Bruttians, Lucanians and Etruscans came from Italy along
with representatives from the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. They also came
from Spain and Gaul, names and countries which the Macedonians had never even
heard of before. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 15. s. 4-6. 2:255,257}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 113. s. 1,2. 8:453}
2321. Alexander had them all placed on a list and determined whom he would see
first in order, in the process of hearing them all. He decided he would see
those first who had come about religious matters, followed by those who had
brought him presents. Next, he would see those who had come about wars they
were having with neighbouring countries, after which he would hear those who had
come about private and particular interests. Lastly, he intended to see those
who had come to show why they had not restored to their homes and estates again
any Greeks who had been banished by them from their cities and countries.
Athenaeus cited Ephippius Olynthius, who stated that in order to hear them, he
had a throne of gold set up there in the garden, and seats of silver for his
friends, with whom he then took his place to hear these envoys. His main
purpose was to hear them out, and then to answer them in such a way that they
would be content and he could send each man away satisfied and well-pleased.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 113. s. 3,4. 8:453,455} {*Athenaeus, l. 12.
(537d) 5:429}
2322. The first ones to see him were those who had come from the city of Elis.
After that, he saw those who had come from the temple and city of Ammon, from
Delphi, from Corinth, Epidaurus and other places, and heard each of them in
order of the dignity and fame of their various temples, rather than of the
cities from which they came. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 113. s. 4. 8:455}
2323. When he had heard the envoys from Epidaurus and granted their request, he
sent a present and oblation with them to their god Aesculapius, adding these
words:
"Esculapius had dealt unfavourably with him, in recently taking away from him a
friend whom he loved as dearly as his own life."
2324. He took all the statues of illustrious persons, images of the gods or any
other consecrated thing that Xerxes had previously taken from Greece and which
he had set up or otherwise placed in Babylon, Susa, Pasargada and elsewhere in
all Asia. Alexander ordered the envoys of Greece to take these statues back
home again with them. Among all those sent back, he had the brass statues of
Harmodius and Aristogiton returned to Athens, with the image of Celcaen Artemis.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 19. s. 1,2. 2:267,269}
2325. Concerning the restitution of the exiles from Greece, he sent this short
letter by Nicanor, a native of the city of Stagyra, to be read and proclaimed at
the next Olympic games: {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 8. s. 2-5. 9:35} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 113. s. 1. 8:453} [L392]
"King Alexander, to the exiles of Greece sends greeting: We were not the reason
that you were banished, but we will take care to see that you are all restored
to your former estates except such as are banished for outrageous crimes.
[E282] Concerning these things, we have written to Antipater and ordered him to
proceed, by way of force, against all such as shall oppose your restitution."
2326. When he had taken care of all the envoys, he started to prepare for
Hephaestion's funeral, ordering all the cities in the region to contribute
whatever they possibly could to the funeral. Moreover, he expressly ordered all
the cities and countries of Asia to put out the fire which the Persians called
the Holy Fire, until after the funeral, a custom associated with the funerals of
the kings of Persia. This action was taken as an ill omen about the king
himself, and as portending his death. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 114. s.
4,5. 8:457}
2327. Thereupon, all his chief commanders and friends made medallions of
Hephaestion carved from ivory or cast in gold or some other costly metal.
Alexander called together the best workmen available, and a large number of them
broke down the wall of Babylon for about two thousand yards. Removing its
brick, they first levelled the spot and then built a square funeral pyre
sixty-five yards high and two hundred yards long on which the body was to be
burned. Diodorus described the work in detail, giving the total cost of this
splendid funeral. The mourners, the soldiers, the envoys and natives of the
country tried to outdo each other in giving to this project, and more than
twelve thousand talents were collected. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 12.}
Plutarch and Arrian said that it was about ten thousand talents. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 17. c. 115. 8:457-461} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 72. s. 3,4.
7:425,427} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 14. s. 8-10. 2:253,255}
2328. Alexander first threw Hephaestion's weapons into the fire and then threw
in the gold and silver, along with a robe of great value and esteem among the
Persians. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 7. c. 8. 1:251} Beside this,
Alexander held athletic and musical games far beyond all that he had ever done
before. The number of the winners and value of the prizes was larger than
anything done previously. It is said that there were no less than three
thousand who entered the games for all types of prizes. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l.
7. c. 14. s. 10. 2:253,255}
2329. It so happened that Philip, one of the king's friends, returned to him
from the temple of Ammon where he had been sent. He brought word from the
oracle there that Hephaestion could be sacrificed to as a demigod. This greatly
pleased Alexander, who first of all offered to him according to that custom,
then sacrificed to him ten thousand beasts of all kinds and put on a magnificent
feast for all the people. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 115. s. 6. 8:461} He
ordered Cleomenes, the governor of Egypt and a lewd man, to erect temples in
Hephaestion's name. {See note on 3673b AM. <<1844>>} He also ordered
that no
written contract would be good or valid, if Hephaestion's name was not
subscribed to it, adding the following in the letter which he wrote to Cleomenes
about this matter: {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 14. s. 7. 2:253} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 23. s. 6-8. 2:285,287} [L393]
"For if I shall find that you have duly erected temples to Hephaestion in Egypt
as to a demigod, I will not only pardon you of all your past offences, which you
have committed in your government, but whatever you shall do after this shall
never be laid to your charge by me."
2330. As a result, many cities started building temples and shrines to
Hephaestion, erecting altars, offering sacrifices and observing holidays in his
name. The most religious oath that a man could take was if he swore by
Hephaestion that it is true or false. Death was the reward for any man who
faltered or failed in his devotion to him. Many dreams were said to have been
of him, and his ghost was said to have appeared to many. Many words were
recorded which his ghost had spoken and the answers which it gave. Sacrifices
were offered to him as to a tutelar god and a revenger of all evil. Initially,
Alexander was wonderfully pleased with such fancies in other men, but after a
while he began to believe them himself. He bragged that not only was he himself
Zeus' son, but he could also make gods of other men. At this time it happened
also that Agathocles, a Samian and one of Alexander's best captains, was in
extreme danger of losing his life. He was accused of having been seen to weep
as he passed by Hephaestion's tomb. He would undoubtedly have died for it, had
not Perdiccas helped him out by making up a lie and swearing to it by
Hephaestion. He said that Hephaestion had appeared to him as he was hunting and
told him that Agathocles had indeed wept for him, but not as for one who was
dead and now vainly being called upon and worshipped as a god. He wept only out
of an appropriate remembrance of the former intimacy and familiarity that had
existed between the two of them. But for this tale, Agathocles, a great soldier
and loyal to Alexander, would have died for being so kind to his deceased
friend. {*Lucian, Slander, l. 1. (17) 1:379}
3680d AM, 4390 JP, 324 BC
2331. The 114th Olympiad was celebrated at Elis, and all agree that Alexander
died in that year, {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 22. (185) 1:239} which was
the time when Agesias or Hegesias was the archon at Athens. {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 113. s. 1. 8:453} [E283] It was confirmed by Arrian that Alexander
died toward the end of the year of his archonship, in that same Olympiad year,
which shall be confirmed by the month when he died. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7.
c. 28. s. 1. 2:297}
2332. At the general assembly of all Greece at the Olympic games, Alexander's
letter ordering that all exiled persons be restored to their homes and estates
again was read publicly by the one who announced the winners in the games.
Nevertheless, the Athenians and Aetolians protested against it. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 18. c. 8. s. 6,7. 9:35,37} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 5.}
2333. According to Aristobulus, Alexander received his fleet while he was at
Babylon. Part of it sailed down the Euphrates into the Persian Sea under the
command of Nearchus. Some of the ships had been built in Phoenicia and Cyprus.
Two of the Phoenician ships had five tiers of oars, while three ships were four
tiers high and twelve were three tiers high. Thirty ships had thirty oars each.
All these ships had been taken apart and carried overland in pieces to the city
of Thapsacus, where they had been reassembled and sailed down the Euphrates
River to Babylon. Alexander also had some other ships built at Babylon from the
cypress trees which he found in the gardens there, because there was no other
timber in those parts fit for ship building. Moreover, all other provisions for
shipping were brought to him at Babylon from Phoenicia and other cities lying
along the sea coasts in Asia, whilst shipwrights and mariners of all types came
to him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 19. s. 3,4. 2:269} {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 1. s. 11. 7:209}
2334. Alexander had a port made at Babylon that was large enough to hold a
thousand warships. [L394] He had built dockyards there and sent Miccalus, a
Clazomenian, into Phoenicia and Syria with five hundred talents, to persuade or
hire as many seamen as he possibly could to come and serve him. Alexander
planned to make several colonies on the Persian Gulf and assured them that these
places would be as lavish to dwell in as any places in Phoenicia. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 19. s. 4-6. 2:269,271}
2335. All these naval preparations were made to attack the Arabians, with the
pretext that, among all other countries, they alone had not sent envoys to him
or shown him any respect. The real reason was that he had an inordinate desire
to be sovereign over all. He had heard that they worshipped only two gods, Juno
and Bacchus, and he considered himself worthy to be worshipped as a third god
among them, if he could overcome them and restore their pristine liberty to
them, as he had done to the Indians. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 19. s.
6. 2:271} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 11. 7:211}
2336. Alexander was told that Arabia, which bordered on the sea coast, was as
large as all India and had many islands lying along its coast. He ordered
Archias, Androsthenes (this was that Androsthenes of Thasos mentioned by Strabo
and Theophrastus {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 3. s. 2. 7:301,303} {Theophrastus,
Plants, l. 2. c. 7.}) and Hieron of Solos to set sail from Babylon with three
ships of thirty oars apiece, and sail around the peninsula of Arabia. They were
to find out what they could about all the ports in that region. Concerning
these ports, Arcmas brought him word that there were two islands which lay out
in the sea at the mouth of the Euphrates River. The smaller one, which was
fifteen miles offshore, he consecrated to Artemis, and Alexander named this
island Learus, according to Aristobulus. The larger island was a day's and a
night's sailing from the shore in the same latitude, and was called Tylos.
Hieron, however, who went farther than any of the rest, brought him word that
the peninsula was of a vast size and had a cape which ran far out into the
ocean. Those who had come by sea from India with Nearchus maintained that they
had not sailed a great distance from that peninsula before arriving at the mouth
of the Euphrates River. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 20. s. 1-10.
2:271-277} {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 43. 2:429-433}
2337. While his ships of war were being built and a harbour was being dug at
Babylon, Alexander sailed from there down the Euphrates River for a distance of
a hundred miles, to the mouth of the Pollacopas River. They rowed up and down
and according to Aristobulus, Alexander sometimes steered his own boat. He saw
some ditches which he had scoured by those that were with him. They dammed up
the mouths of some and opened others. They saw one dike among the rest on the
Arabian side, toward its marshy places, the outlet of which was difficult to dam
because of the weakness of the soil. So Alexander opened a new mouth about four
miles from the other, in firmer and harder ground, forcing the water course in
that direction. He saw many monuments there of the old Assyrian kings and
princes who lay buried in that marshy country and in the middle of those lakes.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 21,22. 2:277-281} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s.
11. 7:209}
2338. They sailed through those lakes into the body of Arabia, where Alexander
built a walled city and planted a colony of mercenary Greeks, volunteers and
anyone who because of age or for other reasons had grown unfit for the war.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 21. s. 7. 2:279} [E284]
2339. He began to laugh and scoff at the Chaldeans and their predictions,
because he had entered Babylon and left it safely with his fleet. Therefore, he
sailed all the more boldly through those lakes in the direction of Arabia,
having Babylon on his left hand. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 21. s. 7.
2:279} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 21. (152) 3:511} [L395]
2340. When some of his army wandered up and down in those parts and were lost
for lack of a pilot, Alexander sent them one who brought them into the right
channel again. Then, there arose a strong wind which separated Alexander's ship
from the rest of the fleet and hurled the king's hood off from his head and into
the water. His turban or diadem which was fastened to it, was rent from it and
driven by the wind onto a large reed growing close to the sepulchre of one of
the kings who was buried there, as mentioned before. One of the mariners saw it
and swam to it. He picked it up and put it on his own head on his return, for
fear of getting it wet. Aristobulus said that the mariner who did this was a
Phoenician, and that he was well scourged for presuming to put the king's turban
on his head. After this accident Alexander consulted a soothsayer and was
advised to offer a magnificent sacrifice to the gods and to be very diligent and
devout in it. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 116. s. 5-7. 8:465} {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 22. s. 2-5. 2:281} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
9. (56) 2:211}
2341. When Alexander was told that the Athenians and Aetolians would not obey
his edict concerning the restoring of their exiles, he ordered a thousand
warships to be built. He planned to make a war in the west and to begin it with
the destruction of Athens, but died before he could do this. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 13. c. 5.} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 2. s. 1-7. 2:485}
3681a AM, 4390 JP, 324 BC
2342. When Alexander returned to Babylon, he indulged in its luxuries. He was
so addicted to gluttony and drunkenness that in the diaries that were kept by
Eumenes Cardianus and Diodorus Erythraeus, it is often found that on such and
such a day or night Alexander was carried to bed drunk. {*Athenaeus, l. 10.
(434b) 4:467} {Plutarch, Symposium, l. 1. c. 6.} One example of this was
cited by Aelian, based on Eumenes' account. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l.
3. c. 23. 1:157} I thought it good to insert it here, so that it may show
that there is an application for my treatise on the Macedonian year, compared
with the days of our Julian Calendar. I first corrected that place in Aelian
where it is recorded without making any sense, and where it is given as the
month called Dios. (Current Loeb text amended and omitted the last sentence and
changed the 24th to the 27th. Editor.) {Ussher, Macedonian and Asiatic Year}
"On the fifth of the month of Dios (our September 28), he drank until he was
drunk at Eumaus' house. He did nothing at all that day except to rise and order
his captains where they should march tomorrow. He told them that he would be
going very early. On the seventh day (our September 30), he dined with
Perdiccas and started drinking again. On the eighth (our October 1), he slept
all day and on the 15th of the same month (our October 8), he was drinking
again. The next day (our October 9), he slept it off all day, according to his
custom. Upon the 24th (our October 17), he ate at Bagoas' lodging, which was
two hundred yards from the king's palace. Then on the third (or rather the
5th), he slept it off again."
3681b AM, 4391 JP, 323 BC
2343. When Alexander saw Babylon excel both in greatness and in every other
aspect, he planned to embellish it as much as he could and to make it the place
of his residence for the rest of his life. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 3. s. 10.
7:169} He resolved to rebuild the temple of Belus and raise it from its ruins.
Some say he planned to make it more magnificent than it had ever been before,
but because the Babylonians in his absence went on more slowly with that work
than he would have liked, it was his intention to have all his army work on it.
As the work would require much labour and lots of time, he was not able to go
through with it as he wanted to, because he died soon after this. {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 1. s. 5. 7:199} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 17. s. 1-6.
2:261,263}
2344. Alexander dreamed that Cassander had killed him. He had never seen the
man in all his life, but when he happened to see him shortly after this, he
recalled his dream. [L396] At first this alarmed him, but when he understood
that he was a son of Antipater, he dispelled any fear of harm from him,
especially from poison, which was even at that time being prepared for him. He
cheerily uttered a certain Greek verse purporting: {*Valerius Maximus, l. 1.
c. 7. ext. 2. 1:91,93}
So many dreams,
So many lies.
2345. When Cassander saw the foreign people prostrating themselves as they came
to him, he started to snicker, since he had never seen this done before.
Alexander was furious and wrapping both his hands in Cassander's long hair, he
beat his head against the wall. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 74.
7:429,431}
3681c AM, 4391 JP, 323 BC
2346. A rumour was circulated that Antipater had sent a poison by Cassander to
deliver to Antipater's brother, Iollas, the cupbearer to the king. Iollas was
supposed to have poisoned Alexander's last drink. It was also said that
Antipater had at the same time sent Craterus back with a company of old soldiers
to kill Alexander. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 10. s. 14,15. 2:557} [E285]
Concerning the poison of which Alexander is said to have died, see Andreas
Schottus' collections on the subject from various authors, compiled as part of
his comparison of the lives of Aristotle and Demosthenes (to the first year of
the 114th Olympiad. See also Mathaus Raderus, on Curtius. {*Curtius, l. 10.
c. 3. 2:501}) As far as Craterus and his old soldiers, who had been sent away
with him into Macedonia, are concerned, Justin, Arrian and Plutarch reported
that this event happened before the death of Hephaestion. It nevertheless must
have happened at this time and not before, as is shown by many other arguments,
in particular, that Craterus, with his old maimed soldiers, had not come into
Macedonia but was still in Cilicia at the time of Alexander's death. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 12. s. 3,4. 2:243} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c.
71. s. 5. 7:423}
2347. Those among the Macedonians who found themselves unable through age or
other weaknesses of body to follow the war any longer, and who were willing,
were dismissed by Alexander to return into their own country. Their number, at
this time, came to ten thousand. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 4. s. 2. 9:19}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 109. s. 1,2. 8:439} Justin stated that it was
eleven thousand. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 12.} To each he gave not only
his full pay for the time of service, but also money for the journey home. Any
who had children from Asian wives, were asked by Alexander to leave them with
him, since he feared the possibility that the half breeds might in time stir up
some rebellion in Macedonia by contending with the wives and children who
already lived there. He promised that when the children were grown up, they
would be trained in marshal discipline after the Macedonian custom, and then
they would be sent home to them. Justin said that those who returned had
received their full pay for the duration of their journey. Plutarch stated that
the children of the deceased continued to receive their fathers' pay. He
further added that Alexander wrote to Antipater ordering that those who returned
should have the best places given to them in the theatres, and should sit there
with garlands on their heads. When they parted, they all wept, including
Alexander. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 12. s. 1,2. 2:241} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 71. s. 5. 7:423} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 3. 2:501}
2348. Together with these, various friends were sent home, including Clitus,
Gorgias, Polydamas, Adamas and Antigenes. They were all under the command of
Craterus, but if Craterus should happen to die on the way, as he was at that
time quite weak and sickly, Polyperchon was to assume command. He ordered
Craterus to take over the government of Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly and of free
Greece from Antipater, who in turn was to come to Alexander and bring with him
an army of lusty young Macedonians to replace the old men whom he had sent home
to him. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 12. s. 3,4. 2:242} [L397]
2349. When Craterus was sent to lead some old, worn-out soldiers into Cilicia,
he also received written orders from Alexander. Diodorus, using Alexander's own
commentaries, stated the main points to have been these: He was to have a
thousand war ships of three tiers of oars built, that would be a little larger
than ships of that type were normally. These were to be constructed in
Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia and Cyprus for his wars against the Carthaginians and
others bordering on the sea coasts of Africa, Spain and the islands as far as
Sicily. He was to give orders that Alexander's route along the sea coast of
Africa, as far as the Pillars of Hercules, was to be prepared for him. He was
to set aside fifteen hundred talents to build six magnificent temples, and in
various places he was to make ports suitable to receive such a large fleet. He
was to take men from Europe into Asia, and likewise from Asia into Europe, to
live in any new cities that he would build on either continent. Alexander hoped
that by intermarriage he might establish a peace between the two main continents
of the world. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 4. s. 1-6. 9:19-23} These were his
plans, of which Lucan spoke in this manner: {*Lucan, l. 10. (36-44) 1:593}
His purpose was the Atlantic Sea to sail;
Nor fire, nor water, nor the Libyan sand,
Nor Ammon's Syrtes could bound his vast desires.
He would into the western clime wave have gone,
Where the sun stoops to fall into Tethys' lap;
And to have marched quite round about the poles,
And drunk the Nile's water, where it first doth rise,
Had not death met him and his journey stayed.
Nothing but nature could a period bring,
To the vast projects of this mad-cap king.
2350. A little before his death, envoys came to him from Greece to acknowledge
him as a god. They wore crowns of gold and placed them on his head. {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 7. c. 24. s. 3. 2:287}
2351. Peucestes returned from Persia with about twenty thousand Persians, and
along with them also brought a large company of Cossaeans and Tapurians to
Babylon for his service. [E286] These countries bordered on Persia and were
considered to be more warlike than any other countries. Philoxenus came with an
army from Caria and Menander from Lydia with another army, while Menidas brought
an army of cavalry. Alexander commended the devotion of the Persian nation, and
especially Peucestes for his just and discreet government among them. He ranked
both them and those who came from the coast with Philoxenus and Menander on a
par with his Macedonian squadrons. He had frequent naval exercises in which
there were often naval battles on the Euphrates River between the ships of three
and those of four tiers of oars, while the mariners and the commanders in these
exercises worked hard to outdo their opponents, because Alexander always
bestowed crowns upon and honoured those that did the best. {*Diod. Sic., l.
17. c. 110. s. 2. 8:441} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 24. s. 1.
2:287}
2352. Once, when he was ordering those companies who had come with Philoxenus
and Menander among his Macedonian squadrons, he happened to be thirsty. He left
his throne, and some of his friends seated on the thrones next to his also left,
to attend him. It so happened that a certain lowly man (some say that he was
committed to custody, but had no irons on him) came through the middle of all
the bodyguards and other officers who stood closely around the throne, and sat
down on Alexander's throne. The bodyguards dared not pull him off the throne
because there was a Persian law to the contrary, but they tore their clothes,
beat their faces and pounded their breasts, taking this as an exceedingly
ominous omen against the king. [L398] When Alexander heard this, he caused the
man to be racked, to ascertain whether or not he had done it as part of a plot
with others, and for what purpose. When he answered that what he had done had
only been out of a light humour and fantasy which came into his head, the
soothsayers told him that it was all the worse a sign for that reason. Diodorus
said that at their advice the poor fellow was killed for this act, in the hope
that if there were any bad luck in this, it might happen to him and not to
Alexander. Plutarch stated the same, adding that when he was on the rack and
asked to give his name, he replied that he was Dionysius of Messenia. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 17. c. 116. s. 2-4. 8:463} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 24.
s. 2,3. 2:287,289} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 73. s. 3,4. 7:429}
2353. A few days later Alexander sacrificed to his gods in thanksgiving for his
good successes, this time adding more to the sacrifices than normal, at the
advice of the priests. After that, he started feasting with his nobles and sat
up doing this until late into the night. He also distributed beasts for
sacrifices among the soldiers and gave them wine to drink. When he was leaving
the feast, he was told that Medius, a Thessalian, had prepared a banquet to
which he was inviting him and all his company. At the banquet sat twenty
guests, and Alexander drank to their health as they did likewise to his,
according to Athenaeus as recorded from certain memorials, commonly attributed
to Nicobule. {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (434c) 4:467,469} {*Athenaeus, l. 12.
(537d) 5:429}
2354. Alexander had called for a cup containing six quarts, according to
Ephippius, from a book which he wrote about the death and burial of Alexander
and Hephaestion, as recorded by Athenaeus. {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (434a)
4:465,467} He ordered Proteas, a Macedonian, to drink to him. Proteas called
out for the cup to be brought to him and spoke many words greatly honouring
Alexander. He took the cup and drank from it with such grace that all the table
commended him highly for it. After a while, Proteas called for the same cup
again and drank it to Alexander, who took it and pledged him a large draught,
but could not drink it and let the cup fall from his hand. He slumped on the
cushion and presently fell sick and later died. This was that Herculean cup
that proved fatal to Alexander. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 117. s. 1.
8:465,467} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 75. s. 3. 7:433} {*Seneca,
Epistles, l. 1. c. 83. s. 22,23. 5:273} {*Athenaeus, l. 11. (469d) 5:71}
{Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 5. c. 21.}
2355. Aristobulus said that when he grew light-headed with his fever and very
thirsty, he called for a draught of wine, which cast him into a frenzy. So, on
the 30th day of the month of Daisios, that is, on the 24th of our May, Alexander
died. Others say that he died on the 6th day of the Athenian month of
Thargelion, {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 2. c. 25. 1:97} which would
be on May 18. In the diaries that were kept of the king's actions, it is said
that he died on the 28th day of the month of Daisios, or the 22nd of our May.
Therefore, it is certain that he died in the month of Daisios according to the
Macedonian account, and in our month of May, although the writers disagree on
the day of the month.
2356. From the diaries, Arrian and Plutarch described in detail the events that
happened during his last sickness. No one can tell us who wrote those diaries
about Alexander's deeds. Whether Eumenes Cardianus or Diodorus Erythraeus or
Strattis Olynthius did this, we do not know. [E287] The author kept a diary of
his deeds in four books, and one additional book relating to Alexander's death,
according to Suidas. Whoever it was that owned the diaries, they contain the
clearest account of what happened, which is the reason why I thought it best to
include what I found in Plutarch from these diaries. I compared them with the
days of the Macedonian month of Daisios and our month of May using my own
discourse of the Macedonian year. (The footnote in the Loeb series of Curtius
agreed with the date Ussher gave for Alexander's death. The footnote in
Plutarch stated it was June 13, 323 BC. Editor.) {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1.
c. 76. 7:435 (footnote)} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 5. s. 6. 2:516 (footnote)}
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 25,26. 2:289-295} Plutarch wrote: {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 76. 7:433,435} [L399]
"The 18th of the month of Daisios (May 12), he slept in a bath for his fever.
The next day (May 13), after he had washed, he went to his chamber and spent
that day there playing dice with Medius, and then washed again. Toward the
evening, after his customary sacrifice, he ate a little of his supper and the
next night had a grievous bout of fever. On the 20th day (May 14), when he had
walked, he again very solemnly offered sacrifices. While reclining in a bath,
he listened to Nearchus as he told him of the things that had happened to him on
his voyage, and what wonders he had seen in the ocean. On the 21st (May 15),
while doing the same things as on the previous day, his fever increased. The
next day (May 16), his fever grew very high and he was carried to lie in a
chamber near the large bath. There he talked with his commanders about putting
approved men in, to fill vacancies in the army. On the 24th (May 18), his
sickness grew much worse, and he offered sacrifices, to which he was carried.
He ordered the principal commanders who were then in the court to stay with him,
but the commanders of the divisions and companies were to remain outside and
watch. On the 25th (May 19), he was carried to the palace on the other side of
the river which gave him a little relief, but his fever did not leave him. When
the commanders came to him, he did not speak to them at all, and the same
happened on the 26th (May 20). Thereupon the Macedonians, thinking that he had
died, came flocking to the chamber door with a loud noise and threatened his
friends who were there, should they refuse to let them in. The doors were
opened and every common soldier passed by his bedside. That same day, Pithon
and Seleucus were sent to Serapis' temple to find out whether Alexander should
be moved there, or not. They brought back the answer from the oracle that he
should stay where he was. He died on the 28th day (May 22), in the evening."
2357. Now, whereas I said that all the Macedonians passed by Alexander's
bedside, it is to be understood that they came in at one door and went out by
another. {Lucian, Pseudomenos} Although he had grown weak and faint with the
severity of his sickness, he nevertheless raised himself upon his elbow and gave
every one of them his hand to kiss as he passed by. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 5.
c. 1. ext. 1b. 1:455} This may seem more incredible in itself, considering
the position into which he put himself. He stayed in that position while every
man in the army, from the first to the last, had passed by and kissed his hand.
{*Curtius, l. 10. c. 5. s. 3. 2:515}
2358. When the soldiers had gone, he then turned to his friends and asked them,
After I am gone, will you find a king worthy of such men? When no man answered
that question, then again he spoke, saying that he could not answer it either.
Therefore, he foresaw how much Macedonian blood would be shed before this matter
would be settled, and with what large slaughters and shedding of blood they
would solemnise his funeral and sacrifice to his ghost when he was gone. He
ordered his body to be carried to the temple of Ammon and to be buried there.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 15.} When his friends asked him to whom he would
leave his kingdom, his answer was To the strongest. Then he took off his signet
and gave it to Perdiccas. They all took this to mean that he was commending the
government of his kingdom to Perdiccas' care and trust until his children should
come of age. {Emilius Probus, Eumenes} Again, when Perdiccas asked Alexander
when he wished divine honours to be paid to him, he replied that he wished it at
the time when they themselves were happy. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 5. s. 2-6.
2:515,517}
2359. Eratosthenes, in his Canons (mentioned by Clement {*Clement, Stromateis,
l. 1. c. 21. 2:332}), said that twelve years had passed between the death of
Philip and the change, that is, the death of Alexander. This is the same number
given him in these sources {Apc 1Ma 1:7} {Chronicles of the Jews} {*Tertullian,
Answer to the Jews, l. 1. c. 8. 3:159} [L400] {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek
Eusebius, p. 124} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 1. (11) 7:7}
{Orosius, l. 3. c. 23.} {Jerome, Daniel 11} {Theodoret, Daniel 11} although
Gellius allowed him only eleven years. {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 17.
c. 21. s. 34,35. 3:283} Julius Africanus, and from him Eusebius, said that
it was twelve years and six months, while Diodorus said that it was twelve years
and seven months, but Livy, and after him Emilius Probus, said it was thirteen
years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 117. s. 5. 8:467} {Emilius Probus,
Eumenes} {*Livy, l. 9. c. 18. s. 10,11. 4:235}
2360. There are just as many differences among writers concerning the years of
his life, as there are of his reign. Cicero stated: {*Cicero, Philippics, l.
5. c. 17. 15:305} [E288]
"What shall I say of Alexander the Macedonian, when he set himself the goal of
great achievements from his very youth and was not deterred from them except by
death in the thirty-third year of his life."
2361. Justin said that he died at the age of thirty-three years and one month.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. fin.} However, Philostratus, Eusebius, Jerome and
other writers who followed Eusebius, said that he only lived thirty-two years.
{*Philostratus, Sophists Herodes, l. 2. c. 1. (557) 3:165} {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:206} {*Eusebius, Constantine, l. 1. c. 7. 1:483}
{Jerome, Daniel 8,11} All of whom can nevertheless be reduced to that period
given by Arrian, who said that he lived thirty-two years and took up eight
months of the thirty-third year, as Aristobulus said. However, he reigned
twelve years and eight months. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 28. s. 1.
2:297}
2362. Immediately after Alexander's death, a great dispute arose between the
cavalry and foot soldiers of the army concerning the settling of the present
state of things. They were ready to fight and to take up arms about it, but on
the advice of the nobles and commanders, the matter was settled. It was agreed
that the supreme authority, or rather a bare name and shadow of such, should be
committed to Aridaeus, the brother of Alexander and son to his father Philip.
He was the son of Philinna of Larisa, a common dancer, as mentioned by Ptolemy,
son of Agesarchus, in his history of Philopator. {*Athenaeus, l. 13. (578a)
6:121} She had been Philip's mistress. {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 2.}
{*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 77. s. 5. 7:437} When he was proclaimed
king by common consent, they called him by the name of Philip. Joint ruler with
him was the son that Roxane would bear. She was eight months pregnant with
Alexander's son, according to Justin, while Curtius said she was six months
pregnant. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 6. s. 9. 2:529} No consideration was given
to his son Hercules, who was then living at Pergamum, because he was born of
Barsine who was never married to Alexander. Aridaeus was deficient in intellect
owing to a bodily disease. This, however, did not come upon him in the course
of nature or of its own accord, indeed, it is said that as a boy he displayed an
exceeding gifted and noble disposition: but afterwards Olympias gave him drugs
which injured his body and ruined his mind. For this reason, Perdiccas, to whom
Alexander had handed his signet in the hour of his death, was made regent and in
effect, absolute king. The charge of the army and of all its affairs was
committed to Meleager, the son of Neoptolemus, together with or under Perdiccas.
The command of the cavalry, which was the most honourable position in all the
army and which, after Hephaestion's death, had been given to Perdiccas, was now
assigned to Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, but like the other, together with or
under Perdiccas. Added to this, the oversight of the kingdom and its treasure
was commended to Craterus' trust. See also Dioxippus and Arrian, in their books
written about what happened after the death of Alexander. {*Diod. Sic., l.
18. c. 1-3. 9:13-19} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 1-4.} {*Curtius, l. 10.
c. 6,7. 2:525-539} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 3. 8:85} {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 77. s. 5. 7:437} {Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 82,92}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (52) 2:203} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 9. (57) 2:213} [L401]
2363. Censorinus noted that the years of Philip were reckoned from the death of
Alexander, and always started from the first day of that month which the
Egyptians call Thoth. {Censorinus, De Die Natali} The Egyptian astronomers
applied this calculation of times to their own epochs, to simplify calculations.
They set this period as beginning with the first day of Thoth, at the start of
the 425th year of Nabonassar, that is, on the 12th of November in 324 BC. This
was in the seventh month prior to the true time of Alexander's death. It was
from the beginning of that month of Thoth that Ptolemy, in his manual Canons of
Astronomy (not yet published), deduced the epoch or rising of all the stars of
which he in his Preface Ad Syrus said:
"Here were fixed the epochs, or start of all accounts, according to the meridian
of Alexandria which was in Egypt, from the first day of the Egyptian month of
Thoth in the first year of Philip who succeeded Alexander, the founder of this
city."
2364. This was not Philip, the father of Alexander (as some have imagined), but
was referring to Philip, Alexander's brother and nearest successor to Alexander.
The Alexandrians, for honour's sake, called Alexander their founder, as indeed
he was. It was added:
"For from the first day of his (meaning Philip Aridaeus') reign, the times of
the Manual Canons of Ptolemy (who in them followed the common account or
calendar of the Egyptians) were taken."
2365. This is according to the rectifying of the Egyptian year (reduced to the
Alexandrian account, which Theon also used in his canon) are calculated. This
we also find in the Greek collections published by Scaliger in his Eusebian
Fragments. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 48} Hence it was that in
the letter to Apollophanes, falsely attributed to Dionysius, the Areopagite, as
found in Hilduinus {Hilduinus, Areopagatica}) these astronomical tables are
called The Canon of Philip Aridaeus.
2366. The dead body of Alexander had lain on his throne for seven days,
according to Justin. (Aelian said thirty days. {*Aelian, Historical
Miscellany, l. 12. c. 64. 1:405}) All the while, men's thoughts were taken
up with the settling of the present state, and so they did not give Alexander a
proper burial. Yet, in all that time, no putrefaction, or the least
discolouring of the flesh of his body, could be seen. The very vigour of his
countenance, which is the reflection of the spirit that is in a man, still
remained the same. [E289] The Chaldeans and Egyptians were commanded to take
care of the body, but when they came to do it, they did not at first dare
approach to touch him, because he looked alive. After saying their prayers, so
that it might be no sin for them, as mere mortals, to lay their hands on so
divine a body, they started to work and dissected him. The golden throne, where
he lay, was all stuffed with spices and hung about with pennants and banners and
other emblems of his high estate and fortune. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 10. s.
9-13. 2:555,557}
2367. (Recently the theory has been put forward that Alexander died from
typhoid fever. This disease is caused by drinking impure water and can be fatal
in twenty to thirty per cent of the cases. Historical accounts stated that
before he died, Alexander had chills, sweat, exhaustion, extremely high fever
and severe pain. He eventually fell into a coma and died. This fits the
description of typhoid fever. The severe pain may have been caused by typhoid
fever perforating the bowel. History notes that his body did not begin to decay
until several days after he died. There is a rare complication caused by
typhoid fever, called ascending paralysis. The paralysis gradually seizes the
whole body and depresses the breathing. Alexander may have appeared to have
been dead before he actually died. {*Discover, Alexander the Infected, October
1998, 1:22} Editor.)
2368. Aridaeus was in charge of his funeral and of providing a chariot to carry
the body into the temple of Ammon. We do not know whether this Aridaeus was
Alexander's brother, as Justin stated, {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 4.} and
Dexippus also, as from Scaliger {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius (Ad
Fragmenta), p. 84.}, or whether he was another Aridaeus, of whom we shall see
more later from Diodorus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 3. s. 5. 9:19}
Aridaeus spent two whole years in preparation. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 28.
s. 2. 9:93} [L402] When Alexander's mother Olympias learned that he was
unburied for so long, she cried out in great grief of heart and uttered these
words: {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 13. c. 30. 1:437,439}
"Oh my son, you who would needs be counted among the gods and was in earnest
about it, could you not now have that which every poor man has, a little earth
and a burial?"
2369. Meanwhile, when Sisigambis, the mother of Darius, heard of his death, she
was very sorrowful and dressed herself in mourning attire. When her niece and
nephew, Drypates and Oxathres, came and fell at her knees, she looked away from
them and refused either to eat or to go outside any more, and as a consequence
she died of hunger five days later. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 118. s. 3,4.
8:469,471} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 1} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 5. s.
21-25. 2:521,523}
2370. Roxane, who was quite pregnant, was favoured by the Macedonian army. She
grew envious of Statira, the eldest daughter of Darius, who was also one of
Alexander's wives, so she sent letters inviting her to come to see her, but as
soon as she came, Roxane had both her and her sister Drypetis, Hephaestion's
widow, murdered. She threw both their bodies into a well and covered them with
earth. All this she did with Perdiccas' knowledge and assistance. {*Plutarch,
Alexander, l. 1. c. 77. s. 4,5. 7:437}
2371. Later, Roxane gave birth to a son whom they named Alexander and whom the
common soldiers proclaimed as king. {Photius, Bibliotheca, c. 92., from
Arrian} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3. 1:29} {Eusebius, Scaliger's
Greek Eusebius (Ad Dexippus), p. 48.}
2372. Perdiccas ordered a purification of cleansing by a solemn sacrifice for
the whole army, because there had been many disputes among them since the death
of Alexander. The Macedonian manner of cleansing the army was as follows. They
cut a dog in two and laid the one half on the one side and the other on the
other side of the field to which the army was to come, after which the army was
to pass between the parts in solemn procession. As the army passed, Perdiccas
had some three hundred soldiers thrown among the elephants to be trampled to
death, and Curtius stated that thirty of them died. These men had followed
Meleager when, at the first assembly of the Macedonians after the death of
Alexander, he had got up and left them in a rebellious manner. All this had
taken place in full view of the army and in the presence of Aridaeus. Meleager
had Aridaeus wrapped in purple clothes like a child and put on the royal throne.
{*Plutarch, Fortune of Alexander, l. 2. c. 5. 4:445} Meleager did not move
for the present because no violence threatened him, but when he saw they were
after his life, he fled to a temple, where he was seized and killed. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 13. c. 4.} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 9. s. 16-21. 2:551,553}
{Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2373. Diodorus stated that Alexander had made his last will and testament and
had left it at Rhodes for safekeeping. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 80. s. 3.
10:355} Ammianus thought that in his will he wanted to leave everything in the
hands and power of one man. {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 23. c. 6. s. 8.
2:353} Curtius stated: {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 9. s. 5. 2:553}
"Some have the opinion that a distribution of the provinces was made by
Alexander in his last will and testament. However, we have found that this was
false, although stated by various writers."
2374. Nevertheless, the writer of the first book of Maccabees seemed to be of
the first opinion, as reported and believed by so many writers. They say that
Alexander, in his own lifetime, divided his kingdom among his most illustrious
and noble officers. {Apc 1Ma 1:6,7} The chronologer of Alexandria (from whom
those barbarous and broken Latin fragments published by Scaliger are taken
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 58,59}) affirmed the division of the
provinces, which Justin and other writers report to have been carried out by
Perdiccas in the following manner, based on Alexander's will. [L403] {Justin,
Trogus, l. 13. c. 4.} {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 10. s. 1-4. 2:553} {Photius,
Bibliotheca, cod. 92., from Arrian} {Photius, Bibliotheca, col. 82., from
Dexippus}
2375. In Europe, all of Thrace with the Chersonesus and other countries
bordering upon Thrace as far as Salmydessus, a city on the edge of the Black
Sea, were committed to Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, a Pellean. [E290] The
region which lay beyond Thrace belonging to the Illyrians, Triballi, and Agros,
together with Macedonia and Epirus, stretching as far as the Ceraunian
Mountains, as well as all of Greece, was assigned to Antipater and Craterus.
This was the division of Europe. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 9. s. 1-4. 2:553}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 3. 9:15-19}
2376. In Africa, all of Egypt and everything else Alexander had captured in
Cyrene or Libya, with all of that part of Arabia which borders on Egypt, was
allotted to Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, of whom Pausanias said that he was
honoured with the surname of Deliverer by the people of Rhodes. {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 8. s. 6. 1:41} The truth is, that the Macedonians always
believed that Ptolemy was a bastard son of Philip, Alexander's father, because
when his mother Arsinoe was pregnant by Philip, she was cast off by him and
married a poor fellow of Macedonia called Lagus. This is the reason why it
happened that some while later (as Plutarch stated), when Ptolemy wanted to mock
a pedant by asking him: {*Plutarch, On Anger, l. 1. c. 9. 6:123}
"Who was Peleus' father?"
2377. The pedant replied:
"I shall tell you, if you will first tell me who Lagus' father was."
2378. By this, he intimated the baseness of Ptolemy's birth on his father's
side. {*Curtius, l. 9. c. 8. s. 22-24. 2:439} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1.
c. 6. s. 1. 1:29} {Suidas, Lagus}
2379. Cleomenes, who had been left by Alexander to gather up the tributes and
other incomes of those parts, was ordered to turn over that province to Ptolemy
and to hold his office as under him. Ptolemy entered that province shortly
after the death of Alexander and died about forty years later. Hence, many
writers stated that he reigned in Egypt for forty years. {*Lucian,
Octogenarians, l. 1. (12) 1:231} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:207}
{Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 225.} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1.
c. 21. 2:329} {Epiphanius, De Mensuris et Ponderibus} After him, his posterity
down to Cleopatra held that kingdom under the title and name of Ptolemy.
2380. In Asia Minor, Eumenes Cardianus was assigned all of Cappadocia,
Paphlagonia and all the regions lying on the Black Sea as far as Trapezus, a
colony of the Sinopians. Alexander had not subdued these people because he had
been involved in a major war against Darius. Now Eumenes was ordered to make
war on Ariarathes, who had been the only one of these peoples to have resisted
Alexander. Antigonus was made governor of Pamphylia, Lycia, Lycaonia, and
Greater Phrygia. Lesser Phrygia, which lies on the Hellespont, was committed to
Leonnatus. The government of Lydia, both the inland country and the parts on
the sea coast taking in Aeolia and Ionia, was given to Menander, who had
previously received it by grant from Alexander. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 3. c.
6. s. 7,8. 1:241} Diodorus incorrectly wrote the name of Meleager here.
Caria was given to Cassander, the son of Antipater, while Cilicia and Isaura
were given to Philotas.
2381. In upper and greater Asia, all of Syria and Phoenicia was committed to
Laomedon of Mitylene. The petty kings of the isle of Cyprus ruled as it had
been granted them by Alexander. Neoptolemus was set over Armenia, and
Arcesilaus was over Mesopotamia, as well as becoming governor over the province
of Babylon. [L404] Atropates, the father-in-law of Perdiccas, had been left as
governor of Media by Alexander himself. Justin and Orosius said that, in this
division, Atropates was made the governor of Greater Media and Perdiccas'
father-in-law of the Lesser, {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 4.} {Orosius, l. 3.
c. 23.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 3. s. 3. 9:19} whereby Orosius forgot
that Atropates and Perdiccas' father-in-law were one and the same person.
Later, when Antipater had better considered the matter, Antipater made a second
distribution in Triparadisus, acknowledging that Media had been assigned to
Pithon. {Orosius, l. 15. p. 660.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 39. s. 6.
9:121,123} {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 11. s. 12. 9:259,261} Nor is it likely
that the son-in-law would in any way diminish the authority of his father. The
rule and government of nearer Bactria and Sogdiana was put into the hands of
Philip, and Oropius jointly held the government of Sogdiana with him. Dexippus
said that after Oropius had received that kingdom through Alexander's
generosity, he was removed from it again for treason. The government of Persia
was given to Peucestes. Hyrcania and Parthia (for they went together {*Strabo,
l. 11. c. 9. s. 1. 5:271}) were given to Phrataphernes. In Carmania,
Tlepolemus held the government, while in the Parapamisus, the government was
given to Oxyartes, or Oxathres, the father of Roxane, Alexander's wife. In Aria
and Drangiane, bordering on the Taurus Mountains, the government was given to
Stasanor of Solos. The provinces of Susa, consisting of Scynus, Arachosia,
Gedrosia and Sibyrtius, continued with the governors that Alexander had
assigned. All the coast of India from Parapanisus and the junction of the
Acesines and Indus Rivers right down to the ocean, was given to Pithon, the son
of Agenor. The Oxydracans and Mallians were given to Eudemus, or Eudemon, the
commander of the Thracian companies. The rest of India was given to King Porus,
to Taxiles and to the son of Abisares, who each ruled the same territories that
Alexander had assigned to them. [E291]
2382. When this division had been made, every man had his share as if it had
been allotted to him from heaven. They used the opportunity to increase their
power and their pleasure, for not long after, they behaved more like kings than
governors. They added to their kingdom, and left it to their posterity.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 4.} Immediately upon the death of Alexander, that
vast empire bearing the name of the Macedonians was divided into several
kingdoms. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 9. s. 7. 13:273} However, no man assumed the
title of a king as long as any of Alexander's children were alive, because of
the great respect they had for him. Although they had the power of a king, they
willingly refrained from using the title while ever Alexander had a lawful
biological heir alive to succeed him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 2.} All of
this was foretold long before by the Holy Spirit. {Da 11:4}.
3681d AM, 4391 JP, 323 BC
2383. The instructions given by Alexander to Craterus were referred by
Perdiccas to the general assembly of the Macedonians for consideration.
Although they did not disapprove of them in principle, they nevertheless ordered
by general consent that none of them be followed up, because they were so
exceedingly grand and difficult to carry out. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 4.
s. 1-3. 9:19,21}
2384. The old Greek soldiers, whom Alexander had left in garrisons and colonies
in upper Asia and various provinces, became homesick and desired to see their
native country. Because they saw themselves as having been ejected, as it were,
and cast out into a distant and remote corner of the world, they joined together
and revolted from the Macedonian state, choosing Philon, an Aenian, to head up
this conspiracy. They assembled twenty thousand foot soldiers and three
thousand cavalry, all of whom were old, proven and expert soldiers. Against
these, Perdiccas sent Pithon, who had been one of the captains of Alexander's
bodyguard. He was a man full of spirit and able to command. He had three
thousand Macedonian foot soldiers and eight hundred cavalry, chosen by lot. He
went to the governors in all those parts, with letters and instructions to
furnish him with an additional ten thousand foot soldiers and eight thousand
cavalry. [L405] Pithon planned to win over those old Greeks to himself by all
possible means. He hoped that with their help and his forces, he might be able
to establish himself all the better and subdue all those upper provinces. When
Perdiccas perceived this, he tried to thwart his plan by ordering that when he
had overcome the rebels, Pithon was to kill them all and divide their spoil
among his soldiers. Pithon, corrupted Letodorus, who commanded a rebel brigade
of three thousand men and defeated the rebels when Letodorus' troops suddenly
withdrew from the battle. After Pithon had defeated the rebels and did not kill
them, but gave them permission to return to their own places. However, the rest
of the Macedonians, remembering the order Perdiccas had given them, killed every
one of the rebels and shared their spoil. So Pithon failed in his scheme and
returned to Perdiccas with his Macedonians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 7.
9:29-33} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. Prologue}
2385. When Ptolemy had quietly taken possession of Egypt, he acted fairly in
all things toward the people of the land. He used eight thousand talents to
hire a mercenary army and to pay those who came to him as a result of observing
how justly he administered Egypt. When he was told that Perdiccas planned to
take over Egypt, he joined himself firmly in league with Antipater, {*Diod.
Sic., l. 13. c. 14. s. 1,2. 9:51} and won the loyalty of the neighbouring
kings and princes by favours and good deeds. {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 16.}
Having discovered that Cleomenes, whom Perdiccas had given to him for a
lieutenant, was a spy, he cut his throat and placed strong garrisons of his own
all over Egypt. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3. 1:29}
3682a AM, 4391 JP, 323 BC
2386. Leonnatus and Antigonus were commanded to use force to make Eumenes the
governor of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia. Antigonus, however, because he was
proud and wanted the position for himself, refused to obey Perdiccas' command,
as opposed to Leonnatus who came down with his army from the upper provinces to
Phrygia and promised Eumenes help. Here, however, Hecataeus, the tyrant of
Cardia, joined with Leonnatus and advised him to go rather to the assistance of
Antipater and the Macedonians who were besieged in Lamia. Leonnatus therefore
determined to cross over to Greece, invited Eumenes to go with him, and tried to
reconcile him with Hecataeus. For they had a hereditary distrust of one another
arising from political differences; and frequently Eumenes had been known to
denounce Hecataeus when he was a tyrant and to exhort Alexander to restore its
freedom to Cardia. Therefore at this time Eumenes declined to go on that
expedition against the Greeks, saying he was afraid that Antipater, who had long
hated him, would kill him to please Hecataeus. Then Leonnatus took him into his
confidence and revealed to him all his purposes. He really planned to go and
take over Macedonia. When he was unable to win over Eumenes, he planned to
secretly murder him. [E292] Eumenes, either because he was afraid of Antipater,
or because he despaired of Leonnatus as a capricious man full of uncertain and
rash impulses, or he found out about the plot against him, escaped by night with
his carriages. He had only three hundred cavalry with him and two hundred of
his bodyguard, as well as gold worth five thousand talents in money. When he
came to Perdiccas, he told him all Leonnatus' plans, causing Perdiccas to
receive him as a loyal friend and make him a member of his council. Perdiccas
appointed him as governor over Cappadocia. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 3.
s. 2-7. 8:85-89} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
2387. When Leonnatus arrived to help Antipater, he was killed in a battle by
the Greeks. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 15. s. 1-4. 9:53,55} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 13. c. 5.} {*Plutarch, Phocion, l. 1. c. 25. s. 3. 8:201}
{Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2388. When Thibron captured Harpalus in a battle in Crete, he killed him.
Harpalus had fled there from Asia and had taken all the king's money with him.
Thibron got all the treasure, his army and the fleet. He left Cydonia, a city
in Crete, and sailed with six or (as Diodorus stated) seven thousand men to the
country of Cyrene, having been invited there by the exiles of the Cyrenians and
the Barcenses. {*Diod. Sic., l. 17. c. 108. s. 4-8. 8:435-439} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 19. s. 2-5. 9:69} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 3. s. 17.
8:203} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} [L406]
2389. In a battle against the Cyrenians, Thibron slaughtered them and took many
prisoners. He then seized their port and prepared to take the city itself, but
agreed to a peace if they would pay him five hundred talents of coined money and
give him half their chariots equipped for service. He sent envoys to the other
neighbouring cities to join with him, pretending that he would make war on Libya
and subdue it. As well as this, he seized all the merchants' goods that were in
the port and gave them to the soldiers as plunder, thereby making them more
eager to follow him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 19. s. 3-5. 9:69}
2390. Mnasicles, a man of Crete and one of Thibron's captains, had a fiery
disposition. He defected from Thibron to the Cyrenians, and by pointing out
Thibron's cruelty and unfaithfulness, he persuaded them to break their covenant
with him and to fight for their former freedom. Consequently, when they had
paid only sixty of the five hundred talents, they refused to pay any more.
Thibron planned to destroy them and seized eighty of their men whom he found in
the port. With his own men, and the men from Barca and Hesperis, he came up to
the walls of the city, where they did all they could to take it, but when they
failed, they retired to the port. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 20. s. 1,2.
9:71}
2391. The Cyrenians left sufficient troops to keep the town and with the
remainder went foraging into the neighbouring parts. When the people sent to
Thibron for help, he immediately went with all the troops that he could muster
to relieve them against the Cyrenians. When Mnasicles saw that there were very
few soldiers left in the port, he wanted those who were left in the city to
sally out and attack the port. The people of the city were easily persuaded to
do this and followed him and attacked the port, which they easily took, because
Thibron and most of his men were absent. Any goods they found there belonging
to the merchants were faithfully restored to the owners. Mnasicles started to
fortify the port against Thibron, in case he should return. Things went badly
for Thibron, for he had not only lost the port, but with it all the provisions
stored there. However, when he captured another town, called Taruchira, his
hopes were raised again. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 20. s. 3-6. 9:71,73}
2392. Thibron's sailors and sea-going soldiers were expelled from the port.
They had no food and were forced to plunder the country for it on a daily basis.
After a time, the men of the country discovered their camps and lay in wait for
them. They slaughtered many, and took prisoner as many again as they had
killed. Those who survived escaped to their ships and sailed for other
confederate places. On their way, a violent storm arose which sank many of the
ships. Of those which escaped, some were driven ashore in Egypt and some on the
isle of Cyprus. Those who had encouraged the Cyrenians now fought against
Thibron and killed many of his men. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 20,21.
9:73,75}
2393. Craterus left Cilicia with six thousand of those old soldiers who had
first accompanied Alexander into Asia. Along the way, he gathered four thousand
troops, besides a thousand Persian archers and slingers and fifteen hundred
cavalry, as he hurried to help Antipater. Arriving in Thessaly, he yielded
authority to Antipater and they both camped on the bank of the Penius River. In
the month of Mounychion (our April), they fought a battle with the Greeks and
defeated them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 16. s. 4,5. 9:59} {*Plutarch,
Phocion, l. 1. c. 26. s. 1. 8:201} {*Plutarch, Demosthenes, l. 1. c.
28. s. 2. 7:71} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} [L407]
2394. After Jaddua, his son Onias succeeded him in the priesthood at Jerusalem
and held the position there for twenty-one years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 11.
c. 8. s. 7. (347) 6:483} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:207} [E293]
2395. Thibron had hired new soldiers from Taenarum in Laconia, soldiers who
wandered around Laconia and were out of pay. He started a new war with the
Cyrenians, who asked for help from the Africans and Carthaginians. Together,
they assembled an army of thirty thousand men. After a long and bloody battle,
they lost many men and Thibron won. The Cyrenians lost all their own commanders
and made Mnasicles their general. Thibron grew proud of this victory and
attacked and captured the port of Cyrene. Every day he assaulted the city. As
the siege continued, causing shortages of provisions, the Cyrenians began to
fight among themselves. The common people carried the day and expelled the rich
from the city. Some of those who were expelled defected to Thibron and others
went into Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 21. s. 1-7. 9:73,75}
2396. Those who fled into Egypt asked Ptolemy to restore them to their country.
With his help, they returned with an army and naval forces under the command of
Ophellas, a Macedonian. When those who had defected to Thibron heard this, they
prepared to defect to Ophellas, but Thibron, hearing of their intentions,
executed them. When the leaders of the common people of Cyrene were frightened
by the return of their exiles, they made peace with Thibron and joined with him.
In a major battle they were all utterly vanquished by Ophellas. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 18. c. 21. s. 8-7. 9:73,75}
2397. In his escape, Thibron was attacked by some Africans who seized him and
carried him off to Epicides, who held the town of Teuchira in those regions,
under Ophellas. The men of that place, with Ophellas' permission, first
scourged him with whips and then sent him to be crucified at the port of Cyrene.
Since many of the Cyrenians were still fighting among themselves, Ptolemy made a
journey there by sea. When he had settled everything there, he returned by the
same seaward route. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2398. When Perdiccas had Philip and the royal army at his command, he went
against Ariarathes, the petty king of Cappadocia, who had not accepted Eumenes
as governor there, as he had been ordered. At that time, Ariarathes gathered a
large army of thirty thousand foot soldiers and fifteen thousand cavalry. In
two battles, Perdiccas killed four thousand men and took five thousand
prisoners, including Ariarathes himself. He first tortured him and all who were
allied with him, and then crucified them, but pardoned the rest. When he had
settled all matters in Cappadocia, he committed its government to Eumenes, as
had originally been determined. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 16. s. 1-3. 9:57,59} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 3.
s. 6. 8:87} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (8) 2:253}
2399. Eumenes committed the various cities of his government to his most
trusted friends and gave them garrisons. Without imposing on Perdiccas, he
appointed judges and tax collectors as he saw fit, but having done this, Eumenes
returned with Perdiccas out of respect for him and so that he would not be a
stranger at court. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 3. s. 7. 8:89}
2400. Perdiccas and King Philip left Cappadocia and went into Pisidia. They
planned to destroy two cities, one belonging to the Larandians, the other to the
Isaurians. [L408] In Alexander's lifetime, these cities had killed Balacrus,
the son of Nicanor, whom he had placed over them. They took Laranda on the
first assault, killing all who were of age and selling the rest for slaves, and
laid the city level with the ground. When the people of Isaura saw that they
were besieged, they set the city on fire, planning to kill themselves and
destroy the city. The soldiers, however, to whom Perdiccas had given the spoil
of the city, quenched the fire and found a large accumulation of silver and gold
there. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 22. 9:77-81} Justin said that this was done
by the Cappadocians, when they saw that Ariarathes had been taken. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 13. c. 6.} Orosius agreed. {Orosius, l. 3. c. fin.}
2401. Antipater's son Jollas accompanied by Archias, came to Perdiccas from
Macedonia. Jollas brought them Nicaea, Antipater's daughter, to be Perdiccas'
wife. Long before this, when his affairs had been more uncertain Perdiccas had
betrothed her, thereby hoping to secure Antipater's loyalty. Now that he had
quietly managed to get the royal army and the administration of the kingdom into
his hands, he planned to marry Cleopatra, the daughter of Philip, the father of
Alexander and thus Alexander's sister. Eumenes urged him to marry Nicaea, so
that he would more easily have access to a ready supply of the Macedonian youth
and that he would not have Antipater for an opponent in his undertakings.
Therefore, he married Nicaea when she came, doing this mainly on the advice of
his brother Alcetas. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 23. s. 1-3. 9:81} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 13. c. 6.} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} [E294]
2402. Cynna was another daughter of Philip's and a sister of Alexander, but not
by the same mother, and Cynna brought her daughter Adea who was later called
Eurydice, and was to be married to Philip Aridaeus. However, Perdiccas and his
brother Alcetas had Cynna killed, whereupon the Macedonians became enraged, and
in order to pacify them, Perdiccas was forced to give her daughter to Aridaeus
in marriage. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} There she was named, not
Cynna, but Cynane, yet that same Arrian, in another place, called her Cyna.
{*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 1. c. 5. s. 4. 1:21} Diodorus and Athenaeus called
her Cynna. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 52. s. 5. 9:373} {*Athenaeus, l. 13.
(557c) 6:13}
2403. Perdiccas sent Eumenes away from Cilicia, under the pretence of having
him take care of his own government in Cappadocia, but his real reason was that
Perdiccas might have control of the government of Armenia. Neoptolemus had
thrown the country into confusion, but using flattery, Eumenes prevailed with
him to such an extent that although he was of a high and intemperate spirit,
Eumenes was able to keep him under control. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 4.
s. 1,2. 8:89}
2404. When Eumenes found that the Macedonian squadron had grown insolent and
hostile, he raised an army of cavalry from the provinces in those regions, by
remitting to them all payment of tribute and granting them other immunities. He
furnished cavalry to those whom he most trusted and put them under his command.
Encouraging their loyalty to him with his generosity and the bounteous favours
he bestowed on them, he kept them in shape by continual labours and journeys
which he had them undertake, and so, in a short time, he had about six thousand
cavalry troops. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 4. s. 2,3. 8:89,91}
3683a AM, 4392 JP, 322 BC
2405. In Greece, Antipater and Craterus made war on the Aetolians. When
continual battles forced Craterus' old soldiers to spend the winter in regions
covered with snow, they almost perished due to lack of supplies. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 18. c. 24,25. 9:83,85}
2406. Eumenes carried Perdiccas' gifts to Cleopatra at Sardis. Perdiccas was
now resolved to rid himself of Nicaea, Antipater's daughter, and to take
Cleopatra to be his wife, a fact which Menander, the governor of Lydia,
mentioned to Antigonus, who was an intimate friend of Antipater. {Photius,
Bibliotheca, from Arrian} Perdiccas repeatedly made false charges against
Antigonus and tried to have him unjustly executed. [L409] Antigonus indicated
that he was coming to the hearing, but secretly sailed off with his son
Demetrius and some other friends in an Athenian ship. They fled to Europe to
join Antipater there. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 23. s. 3,4. 9:81,83}
3683 AM, 4393 JP, 321 BC
2407. Aristander, a soothsayer of Telmessus, proclaimed that it had been
revealed to him by the gods that the land in which Alexander's body would rest
would be the happiest of all countries and forever free from all foreign
invasions. Consequently, there was much strife among the leaders of Macedonia
about who should get the body. The main disagreement was between Perdiccas and
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 12. c. 64.
1:405,407} Perdiccas arranged with his friends to have the body carried to
Aegae. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3. 1:29}
2408. However, Aridaeus, who had custody of the body, thwarted Perdiccas and
carried it to Ptolemy as he was journeying from Babylon via Damascus to Egypt.
Although he met with many impediments from Polemon, a good friend of Perdiccas,
he nevertheless carried it into Egypt, as he had planned to do. {Photius,
Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2409. Aridaeus spent two full years in preparations for this funeral, and its
magnificence was recorded in detail by Diodorus. Finally, he moved the body
from Babylon with a very large number of workmen to clear the way and level it
where needed. Many others attended the funeral and followed him. Ptolemy, with
his whole army, went as far as Syria to meet him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c.
28. s. 2-6. 9:93,95} He took the corpse and first buried it at Memphis with
all rites and ceremonies after the Macedonian custom. According to Pausanias,
it was moved to Alexandria a few years later, not by this Ptolemy Lagus, but by
his son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. {*Curtius, l. 10. c. 10. s. 20. 2:559}
{*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3. 1:29} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1.
c. 6. s. 8. 1:35} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 8. 8:35,37}
2410. Perdiccas called a council of captains and friends in Cappadocia and
asked them whether he should first march with his army into Macedonia against
Antipater, or into Egypt against Ptolemy. Some were of the opinion to go into
Macedonia first, but it was resolved that it was best to begin with Ptolemy in
Egypt, otherwise Ptolemy might come and take over Asia while Perdiccas was
engaged in Europe. Therefore Perdiccas gave Eumenes, in addition to what he had
already, the provinces of Caria, Lycia and Phrygia, with the government of all
that part of Asia lying between the Taurus Mountains and the Hellespont.
Eumenes was ordered to take charge of all the garrisons in Cappadocia and
Armenia, and to use them to check the actions of Antipater and Craterus, to
fortify every place on the Hellespont, and to prevent their landing in case they
were to come into those parts by sea. [E295] Perdiccas further ordered his
brother Alcetas, and Neoptolemus, to obey Eumenes in all matters. He wanted
Eumenes for the present to use his discretion to do things as he thought best.
Cilicia was taken from Philotas and committed to Philoxenus. Perdiccas left
Damascus to conceal his actions better. He took Aridaeus and Alexander, the son
of Alexander the Great by Roxane, along with him, and marched toward Egypt to
fight with Ptolemy. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 25. s. 6. 9:87} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 29. s. 1-6. 9:95,97} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 6.}
{*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 5. s. 1,2. 8:91} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
{Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3.
1:29,31}
2411. Antipater and Craterus were told by Antigonus that Perdiccas had married
Cleopatra and planned to invade Macedonia, with the intention of setting himself
up as absolute king and removing them from their governments. [L410] So they
made peace with the Aeolians and left Polyperchon to manage affairs in Greece
and Macedonia, while they hurried into the Hellespont on the Asian side, and
kept those who had been appointed to keep that passage busy by sending daily
embassies to them. They also sent envoys to Ptolemy, who was just as much a
deadly enemy to Perdiccas as they were, desiring him to join with them. They
sent to Eumenes and Neoptolemus as well, who at that time were both in good
standing with Perdiccas. Neoptolemus defected from Perdiccas and joined them,
but they could not win over Eumenes. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 29. s. 4,5.
9:97} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 6.} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2412. Alcetas, Perdiccas' brother, flatly refused to bear arms against
Antipater and Craterus. Neoptolemus envied the power of Eumenes and while
secretly joining Antipater and Craterus, he also plotted to kill Eumenes and
betray all his army into their hands. When Eumenes discovered this, he was
forced to fight it out with the traitor in a battle. He made a large slaughter
of Neoptolemus' men, took all his baggage and won the remainder of his troops
over to his side. Eumenes became stronger with the addition of so many good
Macedonian soldiers to his former army. Neoptolemus escaped with only three
hundred cavalry and fled to Antipater and Craterus, who again sent envoys to
Eumenes to win him over, promising that he should not only hold what he had but
also have more provinces given to him. When he replied that he would rather
lose his life than break his word to Perdiccas, they responded by dividing their
army in two. Antipater marched with one into Cilicia and from there to Egypt,
to join forces with Ptolemy against Perdiccas, while the other stayed behind
with Craterus to fight with Eumenes.
2413. When Eumenes saw the enemy coming on, he feared lest his soldiers,
knowing against whom he was to fight, would not go with him but disband and
desert him. Therefore he led them about by an unfamiliar way, where they might
not easily hear how the matters went. There were already rumours buzzing in
their midst that Neoptolemus was approaching, together with Pigris, with an army
of Cappadocian and Paphlagonian cavalry. By carefully choosing his ground
everywhere he went, Eumenes arranged it so that he could force the enemy to
fight with the cavalry rather than the foot soldiers, because Eumenes had a much
stronger cavalry, but was weaker than the enemy in foot soldiers. He had twenty
thousand foot soldiers from various countries and some five thousand cavalry,
and he trusted the latter to carry the day. Craterus had a little more than two
thousand cavalry and as many foot soldiers as Eumenes. However, his soldiers
were all old veteran Macedonians who had proved their valour, and he trusted
that they would secure the victory for him.
2414. These armies met in Cappadocia. Craterus had the right wing and
Neoptolemus the left. Eumenes put none of his Macedonians to fight against
Craterus, but only two regiments of foreign cavalry led by Pharnabazus, the son
of Arabazus, and Phoenix of Tenedos. He wanted them to attack the enemy
quickly, without any shouting or words. Eumenes, with a company of three
hundred cavalry, attacked Neoptolemus like lightning. Craterus acted very
bravely and valiantly, but his horse stumbled and a certain Thracian, or rather,
according to Arrian, a Paphlagonian, put a lance through his side and knocked
him to the ground. As he fell, one of Eumenes' captains recognised him and did
what he could to save him, but he died of his wound. Meanwhile, Eumenes and
Neoptolemus met and fought with each other. Both got off their horses to the
ground, so that they might easily see with what deadly hatred they encountered
each other. [L411] Their spirits were more hostile than their bodies could be.
Eumenes wounded Neoptolemus in one of his hamstring muscles, and even though his
hamstrings were cut and he fell, his courage held him up and he raised himself
up on his knees. He continued fighting and gave Eumenes three wounds, one in
his arm and the other two in his thigh, none of which was mortal. After the
second blow, Eumenes made a full blow at him and struck off his head. [E296]
This was about ten days after the earlier victory that he had had over him.
{*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 6-8. 8:93-101} {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c.
29-31. 9:97-103} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13.
c. 6.}
2415. When Eumenes saw Craterus brought half dead from the battle, he did all
he possibly could to save his life. When he died, he wept bitterly over him and
with outstretched arms lamented his fate. He had held a high position and the
two liked each other very much. He gave him an honourable burial and sent his
bones home to Macedonia to his wife and children. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1.
c. 7. 8:101} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
2416. Both the leaders were killed and many others, especially of the better
troops, were taken prisoner. The rest of the cavalry fled back to the main
squadron of the foot soldiers to a more secure defence. Eumenes was content
with what he had done, sounded a retreat and setting up a monument in the place,
buried his dead. The enemy foot soldiers were trapped and could not escape
without Eumenes' permission, so they surrendered. They swore oaths of loyalty
to him and received permission to buy food in the surrounding area, but as soon
as they had acquired food and recovered their strength, they broke their oath
and returned to Antipater. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 32. s. 2-4.
9:103,105} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
2417. Perdiccas, with the two kings, Aridaeus and the young child Alexander,
came into Egypt with his army and camped near Pelusium. While he was busy in
clearing an old ditch, an extraordinary flood of the Nile destroyed all his
works. Although Ptolemy had cleared himself publicly of all those crimes with
which Perdiccas had charged him and the army was not enthused with this
campaign, Perdiccas was still determined to make war on him. {*Diod. Sic., l.
18. c. 33. s. 1-4. 9:105} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2418. When Perdiccas finally realised that many of his friends had abandoned
him and had fled over to Ptolemy, he assembled all his commanders and captains.
He tried to win them over with gifts, generous promises, fair words and his good
behaviour toward them. Then he noiselessly moved his camp in the night and
camped on the bank of the Nile River, not far from a certain citadel called the
Citadel of Camels. At day break, he crossed the river with his army and
elephants and attacked the citadel, but was valiantly repulsed by Ptolemy and
gladly retreated into his camp again. The next night, he moved as quietly as
possible and came to a place opposite Memphis. There the river parted and made
an island suitable to camp on. In crossing the river to the island, he lost
more than two thousand men. At least a thousand, who were being tossed up and
down in the water for a long time, were devoured by the crocodiles and other
large animals in the river. Ptolemy took these bodies as they were cast ashore
on his side of the river and gave them a proper funeral, then he sent their
bones to their friends and kinsmen in the army. As a result, the minds of the
soldiers became much more fiercely enraged against Perdiccas and were more
inclined to Ptolemy than ever before. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 33-36.
9:105-113}
2419. Then a rebellion arose in the camp in which about a hundred of the chief
commanders, including Pithon, defected from Perdiccas. [L412] Pithon was a very
brave man, noted for his virtue and valour, and was held in highest esteem among
all of Alexander's Companion Cavalry. Some of the cavalry conspired secretly
together and went to Perdiccas' pavilion and killed him. He had now held that
government three full years, or at least, for the third year running. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 36. s. 2-5. 9:113,115} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 8.} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3.
1:29,31} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
2420. The next day, when the whole army had been called together, Ptolemy
crossed the river and came to the two kings. He presented both them, and others
of the nobles, with expensive gifts and behaved himself fairly and in a humble
manner toward them all. When he had apologised for what he had done, he
realised that the army was destitute of provisions, so he supplied them with
plenty of grain and all other necessities, making it publicly evident that he
was heartily sorry and bemoaned the present state and condition of Perdiccas'
friends. If he saw any Macedonian in any distress or danger, he did what he
could to relieve and help him. By such gracious behaviour, he could easily have
become the guardian of the two kings, as Perdiccas had been, but he persuaded
them to make Pithon and Aridaeus, who transported the body of Alexander, the
guardians of the two kings, Aridaeus and the young child, Alexander, to which
they all agreed. Pithon was the man who had previously quieted the disturbances
of the Greeks in upper Asia, while Aridaeus had formerly had the duty of
conveying the body of Alexander from Babylon. They had supreme power over all
the armies, as Perdiccas had, when this had first been established. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 36. s. 6,7. 9:115} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
[E297]
2421. Two days after the death of Perdiccas, news arrived of Eumenes' victory
in Cappadocia and of the death of Neoptolemus and Craterus. Had this come two
days earlier, it would no doubt have saved Perdiccas' life. For who, after that
success, would have dared to stir against him? The Macedonians were enraged at
the death of Craterus and declared Eumenes a public enemy, along with fifty of
his friends. Included on this list were Pithon Illyrius (for so I find in
Justin, as also in Arrian {*Arrian, Indica, l. 1. c. 18. s. 6. 2:359}),
Pithon, the son of Craterus, who was from Alcomene, a city in Illyria,
{Stephanus, de Urbibus} and Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas. The generals who
were against them were Antigonus and Antipater. For this reason Antigonus was
sent for from Cyprus and ordered, along with Antipater, to come quickly to the
two kings. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c.
8.} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 8. s. 1,2. 8:101} {*Diod. Sic., l. 18.
c. 37. s. 1,2. 9:117}
2422. In Egypt, all who had any association with Perdiccas were executed,
including his sister Atalanta, whom Attalus, the admiral of Perdiccas' fleet at
Pelusium, had married. When he heard of the deaths of his wife and of
Perdiccas, he weighed anchor and sailed to Tyre. Archelaus, a Macedonian and
the governor there, entertained him with every respect and affection. He
surrendered the city and gave him the eight hundred talents which Perdiccas had
deposited there.
2423. Attalus stayed at Tyre, receiving and helping all of Perdiccas' friends
who had escaped from the camp at Memphis. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 37. s.
3,4. 9:117}
2424. Eurydice, the wife of King Aridaeus, did not want the two guardians to
make any important decisions without her. At first, they refused to comply with
her request. Later they told her plainly that she had nothing to do with
matters of state, and that they would be responsible for her only until
Antigonus and Antipater were to come. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
[L413]
2425. Pithon and Aridaeus, who were the two guardians, left the Nile River with
the two kings and the army and came to Triparadisus in upper Syria. Eurydice
was meddling in matters of state and would cross the guardians on many
occasions. Pithon was offended by this, and all the more so, when he saw that
the Macedonians were inclined to obey her commands. He called the Macedonians
together and resigned his guardianship before them all, whereupon they chose
Antipater to be the guardian in his stead, with all the sovereign power
associated with it. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 39. s. 1-4. 9:119,121}
2426. The army now demanded of Antipater all the rewards for their long labour
in all those wars in which Alexander had made them serve. When Antipater had
nothing to give them at the time, he told them that their demands were just and
reasonable, and that he would shortly look into the king's treasury and find out
whatever he had laid aside. This speech gave the army little satisfaction, so
that when Eurydice also helped foment discontent with him, the minds of the
common soldiers were stirred up to rebel against him. At the same time,
Eurydice made a public declamation against him, which was read to the people by
Asclepiodorus, her secretary. When Attalus agreed and made a speech of his own,
Antipater barely escaped out of their hands with his life, while Antigonus and
Seleucus stood up in his defence, thereby risking their own lives also.
2427. Therefore, when Antipater had escaped to his own army, the chief
commanders of the cavalry came together. After much ado, they pacified the
multitude, and so Antipater was sent for again and asked to resume the sovereign
power and use it as he had formerly done. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 39. s. 3,4. 9:121}
2428. After this, at Triparadisus, Antipater made a new distribution of the
governments of the provinces. He partly ratified what had formerly been done in
that region and made some alterations as required. He left Ptolemy what he had,
for it was hard to remove him to any other government, since he was firmly
entrenched in Egypt. Mesopotamia and the country of Arbela were assigned to
Amphimachus, the king's brother. Babylon went to Seleucus, Parthia to Philip,
Aria and Drangiane to Atasander of Cyprus. Bactria and Sogdiana went to
Stasanor of Solos in Cyprus. Media, as far as to the Caspian Gates, was taken
from Atropates, the son-in-law of the deceased Perdiccas, and given to Pithon,
the son of Crateas, or Craterus. Thereupon, Atropates named the Lesser Media
Atropatene after himself, and revolted from the Macedonian government, declaring
himself its absolute king, and his posterity held it until the time of Strabo.
{*Strabo, l. 11. c. 13. s. 1. 5:303} Antigenes (whose name was incorrectly
recorded as Antigonus by Diodorus), captain of the silver targeteers, was given
the province of Susa, because he had been the first to go against Perdiccas.
[E298] To him were given three thousand of the most active Macedonians in the
recent sedition. The rest of the provinces of upper Asia were left in the hands
of those who formerly had them, with the exception of Patala, which was the
largest city of all India and was assigned to King Porus by this settlement,
according to Arrian. This we find hard to believe.
2429. In Asia Minor, Cappadocia and Paphlagonia were taken from Eumenes and
given to Nicanor. Lydia (not Lycia, as Diodorus wrote) was given to Clitus.
Lesser Phrygia, extending all the way to the Hellespont, went to Aridaeus.
Caria, with Greater Phrygia, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, and Lycia, went to Cassander
to govern, as he had previously done. Diodorus wrote Cilicia, instead of Lycia,
even though a little earlier he had said Cilicia was given to Philoxenus. More
correctly, as Arrian has it, the province was confirmed to him, since I showed,
a little before, from Justin, {Justin, Trogus, l. 13. c. 6.} that Perdiccas
had taken that province from Philotas and given it to Philoxenus. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 39. s. 5-7. 9:121-125} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
[L414]
2430. Antigonus was nicknamed the Cyclops, because he had only one eye.
{*Aelian, Historical Miscellany, l. 12. c. 43. 1:387} Antipater made him
general of the king's army and in particular commander of those forces which
Perdiccas had formerly. He also committed to him the care of the two kings and
sent him to make war on Eumenes, which he was anxious to do. Based on this,
Appian said that Antipater made him overseer of all Asia. {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (53) 2:203,205} Diodorus called him absolute commander,
or general, of all Asia but Antipater attached his own son, Cassander, the
governor of Caria, with Antigonius as his general of the cavalry. He did this
so that if Antigonus should go about establishing himself, he might have someone
to keep an eye on him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 39. s. 7. 9:123} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 40. s. 1. 9:125} {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2431. At the same time, Antipater made Autolychus, the son of Agathocles,
Amyntas, the son of Alexander and brother to Pencesta, as well as Ptolemy, the
son of Ptolemy, and Alexander, the son of Polyperchon, captains of the bodyguard
to the two kings. He received great approval among all the men for his good
management and proper administration of affairs in his guardianship. Then he
journeyed with the two kings to Macedonia. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 39. s. 7. 9:123,125}
2432. When Eumenes heard that he had been declared an enemy by the Macedonians
and that Antigonus had been sent against him, he voluntarily announced the
matter to the army. He feared that if the news were to reach them from another
source, it might possibly make matters worse than they were, or that their
courage would be dampened if they were taken by surprise. At least in this way
he would find out how his army took the news and what their attitude was toward
him. He told them plainly that if anyone was afraid because of this news, he
was free to leave and go wherever he wished. With these words he so won over
the men and secured their loyalty to him, that they all bade him be of good
cheer, declaring that they would cut that decree of the Macedonians into pieces
with their swords. {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 1.}
2433. Moreover, when news of that decree came to Alcetas, the brother of
Perdiccas, he fled and ingratiated himself with the Pisidians. For while he was
among them, whenever he got plunder from the enemy, he gave them half. He was
always friendly and courteous to them in his speeches and often invited their
principal men to feasts, honouring them with gifts and presents, and in this way
won their hearts to him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 46. s. 1,2. 9:139}
2434. Attalus, who was the chief admiral of the navy and who had been among the
first to defect from Antipater, fled and banded himself with the rest of the
exiles. He got together an army of ten thousand foot soldiers and eight hundred
cavalry, and with these troops he set out to capture Cnidos, Caunus and Rhodes,
but Demaratus, the admiral of Rhodes, valiantly held him off. {Photius,
Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
3684a AM, 4393 JP, 321 BC
2435. Eumenes took as many horses as he wanted from the king's herd, which was
on Mount Ida. When he sent an account of their number in writing to the king's
revenue officers, Antipater laughed at it. He said that he was surprised to see
Eumenes so cautious that he should either think himself to be accountable to
them for the king's goods, or expect that others would account for them.
{*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 8. s. 3. 8:103}
2436. From there he marched with his army, not into Aetolia, as written in the
printed copies of Justin, but as a manuscript copy has it, into Etulia or
Etulane. This is a part of Lesser Armenia in Cappadocia (according to Isaacus
Vossius, a most learned young man and my very good friend, who noted this from
Ptolemy). Here he levied money from the cities in those regions, and if any
refused to pay their contribution, he plundered them as though they were
enemies. [L415] Moving on again from there, he went to Sardis, to Cleopatra,
the sister of Alexander the Great. He hoped that her presence, as royalty by
his side, would strengthen the loyalty of the officers of his army toward him.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 1.} When it happened that Antipater also passed
through Sardis on his way to Macedonia, Eumenes decided to fight in the plains
of Lydia. [E299] He was the stronger in cavalry and was keen to let Cleopatra
see of what mettle he was made. Cleopatra, however, fearing that Antipater and
the Macedonians might charge her with being the instigator of this war against
them, persuaded Eumenes to leave Sardis. But when Antipater came, he
nevertheless rebuked her for having any association with Eumenes and Perdiccas.
She stood her ground, however, and defended her actions, blaming Antipater for
this state of things. Finally, they parted on good terms with each other.
{*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 8. s. 4,5. 8:103} {Photius, Bibliotheca,
from Arrian}
2437. Therefore Eumenes left the country of Lydia and marched away into upper
Phrygia. He made his winter quarters in Celaenae and sent a message to Alcetas
and his associates, {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 8. s. 5. 8:103} advising
them to assemble their forces into one body and to make a united attack on a
common enemy. When they could not agree among themselves, nothing was done.
{Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian} Alcetas, Polemon and Docimus could not agree
about who should be the leader, whereupon Eumenes cited the old proverb:
{*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 8. s. 5. 8:103}
"Of perdition no account is made."
2438. Eumenes promised to pay his army within three days and sold all the towns
and cities of that country, which were filled with men and cattle. Thereupon,
the captains and commanders took them off his hands and having received
battering rams from him, went and entered the towns by force, sold everything
and fully paid each man. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 8. s. 5,6. 8:103}
2439. Antipater did not yet dare fight with Eumenes, but sent Cassander to
fight with Alcetas and Attalus. They fought and departed on equal terms, but
Cassander fared the worse in the battle. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2440. Cassander broke off his friendship with Antigonus, but his father
Antipater persuaded him to befriend him again. When Cassander met with his
father in Phrygia, he advised his father not to go too far away from the kings,
nor to rely too much upon Antigonus. But by his temperate and discreet
behaviour on all occasions, Antigonus did what he could to make Antipater trust
him. Whereupon Antipater set aside his displeasure toward him and turned the
forces which he had brought with him from Asia over to Antigonus. These were
eighty-five hundred Macedonians and just as many cavalry from his confederates,
as well as some seventy of his elephants. Antigonus, who was to use these
forces to make war against Eumenes, accepted the task, while Antipater journeyed
to Macedonia together with the kings. {Photius, Bibliotheca, from Arrian}
2441. The whole army cried out for their wages, and Antipater promised to pay
them when he came to Abydus. He told them that perhaps he would give them the
whole amount which Alexander had promised, and if not, at least most of it.
Encouraging them with this hope, he quietly marched to Abydus. When he came
there, he stole away by night with the two kings in his company, and crossed
over the Hellespont to Lysimachus. On the next day, the army followed him
without any further demands for their pay. [L416] So said Arrian, and here
Arrian ends his ten books which he wrote about the deeds of Alexander.
{Photius, Bibliotheca, c. 92. from Arrian}
3684b AM, 4394 JP, 320 BC
2442. Antigonus assembled all his forces from their winter quarters to march
against and subdue Eumenes, who at that time was in Cappadocia. Everywhere in
Eumenes' camp there were notices promising a hundred talents, good conditions
and positions of authority as well to the one who would bring Eumenes' head to
Antigonus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 1.} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c.
8. s. 6,7. 8:103,105} When Eumenes discovered this, he immediately called all
the soldiers together and first thanked them all that there was no one in so
large a number who would break his oath with Eumenes for the sake of a reward.
Eumenes cleverly intimated to them that these notices were his own, and that he
had used them to determine their loyalty to him. Consequently, if the enemy
should do the same again later, the army would imagine it to be just another
ploy by Eumenes to determine their loyalty. Thereupon, they all called out and
vowed their service to protect his life. {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 1.} They
decreed among themselves that a thousand men should be chosen from the main part
of the army for his daily guard and that they would take turns every night to
watch over him. Those who were chosen were glad of the service and willingly
received from Eumenes the kind of gifts that the the Macedonian kings normally
bestowed on their friends. For Eumenes gave them purple hats and robes which,
among the Macedonians, was always deemed a great favour from their kings.
{*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 8. s. 6,7. 8:103,105} [E300] However, one of
his chief commanders, Perdiccas, defected from him, along with three thousand
foot soldiers and five hundred cavalry. When Perdiccas had journeyed three
days, Eumenes sent Tenedos, a Phoenician, with four thousand select foot
soldiers and a thousand cavalry to overtake them. This he did, attacking them
by surprise at night, while they were all asleep. He took Perdiccas prisoner
and brought all the soldiers back to Eumenes, who picked out the chief
instigators of this revolt and executed them, while the rest were distributed in
small numbers among his other companies. He spoke kindly to them and treated
them courteously, thereby again winning over their affections. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 18. c. 40. s. 2-4. 9:125}
2443. After this, Antigonus communicated through a secret messenger with
Apollonides, one of the commanders of the cavalry under Eumenes. By making
generous promises, he had him betray Eumenes and forsake and turn against him in
the middle of the battle. At this time, Eumenes was camped in the country of
Orcynia in Cappadocia, which was a place suitable to fight in with the cavalry.
Antigonus went there with his army and took over all the upper ground near the
foot of the mountains. His army had consisted of ten thousand foot soldiers who
were mainly Macedonians and men of admirable strength and courage, as well as
two thousand cavalry and thirty elephants. In Eumenes' army there were at least
twenty thousand foot soldiers and five thousand cavalry. The battle began very
fiercely and Eumenes' side was winning, but when Apollonides defected to the
enemy with his regiment of cavalry, Antigonus won. Eumenes lost eight thousand
men and all his supply train in that battle. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 40.
s. 5-8. 9:125,127} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 9. s. 2. 8:105}
2444. Eumenes did not allow the traitor to escape, but seized him and hanged
him while he was in the very act of his villainy. Eumenes fled in the opposite
direction from the way that his pursuers took. He turned back shortly after,
passed by the enemy and returned to the place where the battle had been fought.
There he camped and gathered together the dead bodies, but since the place
lacked firewood, he took the doors and gates of the towns and villages in the
area, had them broken up, and made piles on which to burn his dead. The
captains were burned separately from the common soldiers. When Antigonus later
returned to the place, he was amazed at this bold act of his and the
undauntedness of his great courage. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 9. s. 2.
8:105,107} [L417]
2445. By chance, Eumenes came across Antigonus' wagons. Although he could have
taken many prisoners, and a substantial number of slaves with many goods, he did
not. He feared lest his men, when they had acquired so much wealth, would grow
less keen to fight and to move quickly, because of all the goods they had picked
up. Eumenes ordered that each man should feed his horse well and refresh
himself, after which they were to be ready to attack the enemy. Meanwhile, he
secretly sent to Menander, who had been positioned to guard the enemy's luggage,
to move immediately from the plain to the foot of the mountain, because he
feared that Menander might suddenly be surrounded by hostile cavalry. When
Menander saw the potential danger, he moved quickly. The enemy said that they
were very much indebted to Eumenes for sparing their children from slavery and
their wives from rapine. Antigonus, however, told them that Eumenes had not
done it for their sakes, but so as not to burden his troops with useless goods
in their flight. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 9. s. 3-6. 8:107,109}
2446. Eumenes went from there and secretly persuaded a great many of his men to
leave him for the present. This was either from an honest concern for them, or
because they had now become too few to oppose the enemy and yet were too many to
conceal with him in his flight. He came to Nora, which was a strong citadel and
which Strabo said was called Neroassus in his time. It was located near
Cappadocia and Lycaonia. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 2. s. 6. 5:357} He had five
hundred cavalry and two hundred foot soldiers with him. (Although Diodorus said
that there were not more than six hundred in total.) As many of his friends as
asked his permission to leave, were each embraced in a fair and courteous manner
and dismissed. They wanted to leave either because of the desolation of the
place or the scarcity of fresh provisions. He freely gave them the food that
they found there. The place was not more than about four hundred yards in
circumference and contained abundant provisions of grain, salt and water, but
there was no supply of fresh food to be had. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 41.
s. 1-3. 9:127,129} {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 2.}
2447. Antigonus arrived at this spot and before he besieged it, he sent to
Eumenes to come to a talk. When Eumenes required hostages, Antigonus refused,
but asked him to come out to his superior. Eumenes again sent him word:
"As long as he wore a sword by his side, he would acknowledge no superior."
2448. Thereupon, when Antigonus sent him his own brother's son, called Ptolemy,
as had been requested, Eumenes came out and they embraced each other very warmly
and genuinely. As they discussed various matters, Antigonus noticed that
Eumenes never mentioned anything concerning his own security or pardon, but
still continued to demand that his former governments be confirmed and he be
compensated for his losses. The bystanders stood amazed at this and wondered at
the constancy of his courage and the magnanimity that he demonstrated. [E301]
Antigonus told him that he would talk with Antipater concerning these matters.
So, with much ado, he returned to his citadel again, safe from the violence of
the crowd. Antigonus built a double wall with trenches around the citadel and
left enough men to maintain the siege, after which he then moved his camp.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 41. s. 4-7. 9:129,131} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l.
1. c. 10. 8:109,111} {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 2.}
2449. After a while, Eumenes sent messengers to Antipater to make peace. One
of these was Hieronymus, the historian, who was born in Cardia, as Eumenes was.
In the meantime, he provided food for his company and though he was short on
provisions, he nonetheless cheerfully accepted what he had. He invited them all
in their turn to his table, where he entertained them with pleasant discourses
and good speeches, instead of better food. As often as he chose to, he would
sally forth and either burn or destroy Antigonus' works. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18.
c. 42. 9:131,133} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 11. 8:111} {Emilius
Probus, Eumenes} {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 2.} [L418]
2450. He feared that he might lose all his horses from lack of exercise, since
they were always confined to one place. He ordered every day that his horses be
propped up with their front feet above ground and be made to stand on their hind
feet, so that with striving and much struggling, they might get exercise, and
sweat. He gave them boiled barley to eat, so that they could digest it more
easily. When at last he came out of the citadel, everyone was amazed to see his
horses so fat and sleek, as if they had been kept in the best pasture of the
country all the while. {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 4. c. 7. s. 34. 1:323}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 42. s. 3-5. 9:131,133} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l.
1. c. 11. s. 3,5. 8:113} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
2451. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, knew that Phoenicia and Coelosyria would be
very advantageous to him for the defence of Egypt and also for the capture of
Cyprus. He thought much about how he could take them over. Therefore he tried
to persuade Laomedon, who had been made governor of those two provinces, first
through Perdiccas and later through Antipater, to turn them over to him,
offering him a vast sum of money in return. When this did not work, he raised a
large army and having made his trusted friend, Nicanor, its general, he sent him
to take this area by force. Nicanor marched into Syria and took Laomedon
prisoner, but he bribed his keepers and escaped to Alcetas in Caria. In a short
time, Nicanor had subdued all Phoenicia and Syria, stationing garrisons there
before returning to Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 43. 9:133} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (52) 2:203} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6.
s. 4. 1:31}
2452. Ptolemy attacked the various regions of Phoenicia and Syria. When he had
captured Jerusalem by deceit, he deported a hundred thousand men into Egypt. Of
these he selected thirty thousand of the ablest, whom he armed and took into his
army at greater than normal pay. He committed his garrison towns and citadels
in Egypt into their trust, and sold the rest for slaves among his soldiers.
This was not necessarily Ptolemy's doing, but came from the desire of the
soldiers, who wanted the Jews, rather than any other people, to help to do the
menial tasks related to war. {Aristeas, Septuagint Interpreters} {Aristeas,
Letter to Ptolemy Philadelphus} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 1. s. 1.
(1-10) 7:3-7} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:207}
2453. Concerning the capture of Jerusalem, Agatharchides of Cnidos described it
in his book about the successors of Alexander the Great: {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
12. c. 1. s. 1. (1-10) 7:3-7} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 22. (209-212)
1:247,249}
"They, who are called Jews, live in a most fortified city which the natives call
Jerusalem. They keep every seventh day as a holiday. They do not involve
themselves in war, husbandry or any other type of work on this day. They only
hold up their hands in hallowed places and stay there praying until the evening
with outstretched hands. When Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, entered their city
with his army, all men observed the folly of them that were observing the
Sabbath. So the country became enslaved under a bitter master and their law was
found to be nothing else but a foolish custom."
2454. Appian added that Ptolemy demolished the walls of the city. When he had
left garrisons in Syria, he returned to Egypt by sea. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 8. (50) 2:199} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (53) 2:203}
2455. Concerning this Jewish deportation into Egypt, Josephus wrote:
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 1. s. 1. (7-10) 7:5,7}
"Ptolemy carried away many captives from the hill country of Judea, the places
bordering on Jerusalem, from Samaria and from Mount Gerizim into Egypt. He made
them to dwell there. [L419] He found that the men of Jerusalem kept their oaths
from the reply which they made to Alexander's messengers after the last defeat
of Darius. Therefore, he decided to put many of them in his garrisons and
citadels. When he had settled many of them in Alexandria, he gave them the same
privileges which the Macedonians had. He bound them all with an oath to be
loyal to his posterity because he had bestowed such generous favours on them."
2456. Again, Josephus said: {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 4. (44) 1:309,311}
"Ptolemy Lagus committed all his citadels and places of strength to his
Alexandrian Jews. He thought they would be kept most safely in their hands
because of their fidelity and integrity. [E302] So that he might reign most
securely in Cyrene and other parts of Libya, he sent many of those Jews to live
in that country."
2457. Jason of Cyrene, from whose writings the second book of the Maccabees was
collected, {Apc 2Ma 2:23} was descended from these Jews, as well as Simon of
Cyrene, who bore the cross of Christ, {Mt 27:32} and of whom mention is made in
Acts. {Ac 2:10 6:9}
3685a AM, 4394 JP, 320 BC
2458. While Eumenes was trapped in Nora, Antigonus besieged it, putting a
double wall around him. He marched with his army against Alcetas and Attalus,
first going into Pisidia, where Alcetas and his forces were. In seven days he
marched about three hundred miles to the city of Cretopolis. Because he came
upon them so suddenly and unexpectedly, he was able to take over some suitable
hills and places of advantage there. In his army, besides his elephants, were
forty thousand foot soldiers and seven thousand cavalry. However, Alcetas dared
to meet him in the open field with only sixteen thousand foot soldiers in his
army and nine hundred cavalry from his friends. Because Antigonus had the
advantage of the ground and had a much stronger force, he routed him and took
both Attalus and Docinius, Polemon and many other chief captains as prisoners.
He showed them his mercy and exercised great clemency and humanity toward them.
He distributed the rest of the prisoners among his own companies, thereby
greatly increasing his own army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 44,45. 9:135,137}
2459. Alcetas fled to Telmessus, a city of Pisidia, with his bodyguard, his
sons and other Pisidians who served him. The Pisidians numbered about six
thousand and were all very strong and valiant men, who promised never to forsake
him. Therefore, when Antigonus with all his army came before the walls of
Telmessus, he demanded that Alcetas be delivered to him. The older men wanted
to turn him over but the younger men met together at night and swore an oath not
to forsake him, in spite of any danger that might ensue. Nevertheless, the
elders of the city secretly sent a messenger to Antigonus to let him know that
they would deliver Alcetas into his hands, dead or alive. The plan was that he
would send the soldiers to a skirmish and pretend to flee and retreat to a
reasonable distance from the walls of their city. This was done, drawing the
young men out of the city. In the meantime, the elders with their men attacked
Alcetas, who killed himself rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. His
body was placed on a funeral bier and wrapped in a coarse cloth. While the
young men were fighting, his body was sent to Antigonus. For three days,
Antigonus exposed it to all the contumelies and indignities that could be
imagined, and finally had it cast out unburied. When the young men returned
from the battle and heard what had happened in their absence, they were enraged
at the elders. They seized part of the city and resolved at first to set it all
on fire, but changed their minds and started plundering and wasting the enemies'
country in the area. When they learned that Antigonus had left the corpse of
Alcetas behind, they took it up and gave it an honourable burial. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 45-47. 9:137-143}
3685b AM, 4395 JP, 319 BC
2460. Antipater became sick, and before his death made Polyperchon guardian of
the kings and sovereign commander in his place. [L420] Polyperchon was almost
the oldest man of all who had served under Alexander, and was held in very great
esteem among the Macedonians. However, Cassander, Antipater's son, was not
content with his office of general of the cavalry. He was enraged to see that
Polyperchon was preferred over him as the guardian and sovereign of the realm.
He began to plot with his friends to get the kingdom into his own hands and
secretly sent his agents to Ptolemy to renew his former friendship with him. He
wanted him to enter into an alliance with him and sail with his fleet from
Phoenicia into the Hellespont. He did the same with the other commanders and
cities, and urged them to join forces with him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c.
47-49. 9:143-147} {*Plutarch, Phocion, l. 1. c. 31. 8:217}
2461. When Antigonus returned with his army from Pisidia into Phrygia to the
city of the Cretenses, he was there informed about all these matters by
Aristodemus of Miletus. This pleased him greatly, for he also aspired to
supreme sovereignty. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 12. s. 1. 8:115} He
had been left as sole and absolute commander of all Asia by Antipater and had a
larger army there than anyone else. He planned to seize all the king's treasure
there while there was no one to oppose him. He had in his army, at the time,
sixty thousand foot soldiers, ten thousand cavalry and thirty elephants, and
realised that he had the means, if needed, to increase his army at his pleasure.
He could get troops from foreign countries, and Asia was well able to feed and
pay them all abundantly. So he called a council of his friends, declaring to
them that his purpose was for the good of them all, and then assigned them to
various offices and commands. With generous promises he secured them to be
loyal to him and help him do what he planned. He resolved to go throughout all
Asia, putting out the governors and replacing them with ones of his own
choosing. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 50. 9:149-151} [E303]
2462. When Aridaeus, who had the government of Phrygia on the Hellespont, knew
what Antigonus was up to, he went and attacked the large city of Cyzicum, which
would be most suitable for his needs. He had an army of more than ten thousand
mercenary foot soldiers, a thousand Macedonians, five hundred Persian archers
and slingers and eight hundred cavalry, as well as every kind of battering ram.
The men of Cyzicum, under the pretence of a treaty for peace, obtained a truce
for a time. They dragged out the discussions for the surrender, while they
secretly sent to Byzantium for help and supplies of men and equipment of all
types for their defence. As they sailed along their own coasts with their
warships, they gathered men from the country and put them in the city, along
with any supplies they brought with them. Aridaeus, as he later found out, had
been fooled by the men of Cyzicum, and had to return to his own government
again. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 51. 9:151-155}
2463. When Antigonus was at Celaenae, he hurried away with twenty thousand
select foot soldiers and three thousand cavalry to relieve Cyzicum, hoping to
ingratiate the city to him, but he came too late. He sent messengers to
Aridaeus to rebuke him for his actions. He required Aridaeus to give up his
government and to live henceforth as a private citizen with only the revenue
from one city to live on. When Aridaeus refused to comply, he placed guards
about the gates and on the walls and various other places of the city where he
was. Then he sent away a part of his army, under a commander, to side with
Eumenes. They were to raise the siege from the citadel of Nora and help Eumenes
out of that danger. This was to help Aridaeus make a league with Eumenes
against Antigonus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 52. s. 1-4. 9:155,157} [L421]
2464. Probus stated that Eumenes, toward the beginning of the spring, under the
pretence of submitting himself to Antigonus, daily entreated for conditions. At
last Eumenes tricked him, and he and all his people escaped from the citadel.
{Emilius Probus, Eumenes} However, Justin said that Antigonus raised the siege
when he found that Antipater had sent relief to Eumenes. {Justin, Trogus, l.
14. c. 2.} Diodorus and Plutarch stated that Eumenes, through the mediation of
Hieronymus Cardianus, his countryman and true friend, was allowed to come out on
his word, and so it was. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 12. s. 2,3.
8:115,117} {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 50. s. 4,5. 9:151}
2465. Antigonus, wondering how to get everything under his control, sent for
Hieronymus, the historian, to come to him, and used him to send a message to
Eumenes to cut a deal. He wished to forget what had happened between them in
the battle at Cappadocia, and would now be pleased to join with him in a firm
league of love and friendship, and an association of arms. He offered to give
him far more wealth than he had lost and a better province than he had ever had
before. He would make him the best among all his friends and partaker of all
his plans and fortunes. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 50. s. 4,5. 9:151} When
Antigonus had drawn this up in the form of an oath, to bind each other to strict
observance of the conditions, he sent it to Eumenes. Eumenes took it and
amended it in some points, then he asked those Macedonian captains who were in
the siege against him, to judge which of the two was the better and less
ambitious. Among everything else, Antigonus made mention of the kings in a
formal manner, but in the performance of all services and conditions, he
referred only to himself, and they were made in his own name. Whereas Eumenes,
in his draft, mentioned Olympias first, with the two kings. Secondly, he
arranged the oath on such terms as purported that he would reckon all those to
be friends and foes, who were friends and foes not only to Antigonus, but to
Olympias and the two kings as well. When this seemed to them to be the more
reasonable of the two, Eumenes took his oath. Because he had taken the oath,
they promptly raised their siege and sent to Antigonus, asking him to bind
himself to the same oath as Eumenes had. Meanwhile, Eumenes sent back home
again whatever Cappadocian hostages he had. Antigonus wrote back a sharp and
taunting letter to those Macedonians for presuming to amend anything in the
wording of the oath which he had prescribed for Eumenes to take. He wanted them
to besiege Eumenes again, but this order came too late. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l.
1. c. 12. s. 2,3. 8:115,117}
2466. When Eumenes, against all his expectations, had escaped after a year's
close siege, he stayed for a time in Cappadocia, gathering together his old
friends and soldiers who were now scattered about the country. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 18. c. 50. s. 4,5. 9:151} He started all over again from nothing. The
friends of those hostages whom he had released lent him horses, wagons and
tents, and in a short time about a thousand cavalry, from the old regiments
which were foraging up and down the country, came to him. {*Plutarch, Eumenes,
l. 1. c. 12. s. 3. 8:115} [E304] Eumenes was a most active and industrious
man, and there were others there who were just as devoted to the state as he
was, and so it happened that large numbers of soldiers came flocking to him.
Within a few days, in addition to the five hundred friends who were with him in
the citadel, he had acquired two thousand men who were all ready to serve him.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 53. s. 4,5. 9:157-161}
2467. Antigonus sent some of his forces to besiege Aridaeus, the governor of
Lesser Phrygia. He personally marched with most of the army into Lydia to expel
Clitus from his government. Clitus, however, had been forewarned and
immediately packed every one of his towns and places of defence with strong
garrisons. He went into Macedonia to acquaint the kings and Polyperchon, their
guardian, of Antigonus' doings and his planned revolt from the Macedonian
government. He asked for help against him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 52. s.
5,6. 9:157}
2468. Antigonus captured Ephesus at his first coming, because some within the
city betrayed it into his hands. [L422] Later, Aeschylus of Rhodes arrived
there, bringing four ships from Cilicia with six hundred talents that were to be
sent to the kings in Macedonia. Antigonus seized it all for his own use, saying
that he had need of it to raise and pay foreign soldiers with. By this act, he
plainly showed his intention to be independent and to rebel against the kings.
After this, he proceeded to take the rest of the cities, some by force and
others by fair words. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 52. s. 6,7. 9:157} It is
from the time of this revolt that Dexippus, Porphyry and Eusebius calculated the
eighteen years of his rule. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
48,164,226.}
2469. When Cassander had crossed the Hellespont, he went to Antigonus in Asia,
to seek his help and assure him of Ptolemy's support. Antigonus was glad of his
coming and at once offered to help him by land and sea. This he did under a
pretence, as if he intended to him for his father Antipater's sake. Whereas his
main purpose was to embroil Cassander in as many wars and troubles as he
possibly could in Europe thereby enabling Antigonus to move about more freely,
take over Asia and make himself king there. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 54.
9:161,163}
2470. Polyperchon, the guardian of the kings and curate of the Macedonian
empire, sent letters to Eumenes in the two kings' names, requiring him to be
loyal to the kings and fight against Antigonus, as he had done before. He gave
Eumenes the choice of coming into Macedonia and there being a guardian of the
two kings, jointly with him, or of staying in Asia. If he stayed, he would
receive supplies of men, money and equipment to oppose Antigonus, who had now
openly declared himself a rebel against the kings. If he needed larger forces,
Polyperchon would be ready, with the kings and all the power that the kingdom of
Macedonia could muster, to cross the seas and to come into Asia to join forces
with him. Similar letters were sent to the treasurers in Cilicia, requiring
them, from the money which was at Quinda or Cyinda (where the kings' treasure
for Asia was kept, according to Strabo), immediately to pay him five hundred
talents toward his recent losses. From the rest of the kings' money, they were
to give him as much as he should ask for, to hire and pay for foreign soldiers.
He also wrote letters to Antigenes and Tentamus, who between them commanded
three thousand silver targeteers under Antigonus. They were to defect to
Eumenes and help him all they could. Polyperchon did this as the man who had
been made absolute commander and governor of all Asia under the kings.
Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, did her part and wrote similar
letters, requiring all men to come and aid both herself and the kings. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 18. c. 57,58. 9:167-173} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes} {*Plutarch,
Eumenes, l. 1. c. 13. 8:117} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 10. 6:341,343}
2471. Eumenes left Cappadocia with only five hundred cavalry and two thousand
foot soldiers. He could not wait for the arrival of those who had promised to
enlist themselves under him. They had not yet come because Menander was coming
with a large army and would not permit Eumenes to stay in Cappadocia, as he had
been declared a public enemy of Antigonus. This army arrived three days later
and went after Eumenes, but when they saw that they could not possibly overtake
him, they returned into Cappadocia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 59. s. 1,2.
9:173}
2472. Eumenes made long marches and having passed the Taurus Mountains, came
into Cilicia, where he was met by Antigenes and Tentamus, captains of the silver
targeteers, with their friends. They obeyed the command of the kings.
Congratulating him on his fortunate escape from so many great dangers, they
offered him their service and promised to stand by him in his worst dangers.
[L423] Then the regiment of about three thousand Macedonian silver targeteers
arrived and pledged their loyalty to him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 59. s.
3-6. 9:173,175} [E305]
3686 AM, 4396 JP, 318 BC
2473. Eumenes feared the envy of the Macedonians if he were to assume the role
of absolute governor of the place, since he was a foreigner born in Cardia in
the Chersonesus of Thrace. First, he declined to accept the five hundred
talents which had been given to him for his losses, saying that he did not need
so large a sum, since he was not assuming any government there. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 18. c. 60. s. 1-3. 9:175,177} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 13. s.
2,3. 8:117} Then he pitched his tent in the name of Alexander and called it
Alexander's pavilion, pretending that he had been warned to do so by a vision in
a dream. He had a golden throne placed there, with a sceptre and a diadem.
They met there every day to consult about matters, and he hoped to minimise any
envy toward himself by seeming to administer all things under the majesty and
title of Alexander. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 60,61. 9:177,179} {*Plutarch,
Eumenes, l. 1. c. 13. s. 3,4. 8:117,119} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4.} By behaving as an ordinary man in all the
meetings and speaking to every man with good, courteous language, he removed all
thoughts of envy toward him. He behaved like this toward the silver targeteers,
who were all Macedonians, and was highly esteemed by them, so much so that every
man said that he, of all men, was most worthy to have the guardianship of the
kings. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 61. s. 2,3. 9:179,181} He was so
honourable in his speech that he did not hesitate to call them his fellow
soldiers or his masters, and his companions in those eastern wars. He told them
that they were the only men who had conquered the east, the only men to have
outdone Bacchus and Hercules with their victories. They were the men who had
made Alexander great, and it was through them that he had attained divine
honours and immortal glory in the world. Eumenes desired that they should not
look on him as their commander, but as their fellow soldier and a man of their
own company. {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 2.}
2474. Eumenes selected certain choice men from his friends and giving them much
money, he sent them to hire soldiers, promising generous pay. Thereupon, some
went into Pisidia, Lycia and the places bordering these countries. Others went
into Cilicia, Coelosyria, Phoenicia and the isle of Cyprus, doing their best to
hire as many soldiers as they could. Many Greeks, who saw what generous pay was
being offered, also came, so that in a short time they had gathered ten thousand
foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry, besides the silver targeteers and the
men whom Eumenes had brought with him from Cappadocia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18.
c. 61. s. 4,5. 9:181}
2475. Ptolemy came with his navy to a port called Zaphyrium in Cilicia. He
sent some of his agents to solicit the silver targeteers to defect from Eumenes,
since he had been proclaimed as an enemy, with the death sentence awaiting him.
He also sent to the chief officers at Quinda and advised them not to issue any
money to Eumenes. No one listened to Ptolemy, because the kings, their governor
Polyperchon and Olympias, Alexander's mother, had written to them, requiring
them in all things to obey Eumenes as the commander-in-chief of the kingdom.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 62. s. 1,2. 9:181,183}
2476. After this, Antigonus sent one of his good friends, Philotas, with thirty
Macedonians in his company, to the silver targeteers, to sound them out. They
first asked their captains and chief soldiers if they could be bribed to kill
Eumenes, now that he was in their hands. They found no man agreeable to their
desires except for Teutamus, who was one of the captains of the silver
targeteers. He agreed and tried to win over Antigenes, his colleague, to help
in this foul deed. Antigenes was not at all interested, and prevailed with
Teutamus to abandon his plan. He showed him that there were better things and
better reasons for trusting Eumenes, a man of moderate fortune and limited
power, than trusting Antigonus, who had already grown too powerful. [L424]
Antigonus would cast them aside once he had managed to get everything into his
hands, and would replace them with his own friends. Philotas then sent to the
chief captains a letter from Antigonus that was directed to the soldiers in
general, requiring them to kill Eumenes on sight. It threatened that if they
did not do it, Antigonus would come shortly and attack them with his army to
make examples of them for their disobedience. This terrified the soldiers, but
Eumenes came to them and persuaded them to follow the orders of their kings and
not listen to the words of a man who had now openly proclaimed himself a rebel.
After speaking many things, Eumenes saved himself from imminent danger and made
the troops more loyal to him than ever. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 63,64.
9:185-189}
2477. Eumenes ordered them to march into Phoenicia, where he assembled all the
ships he could from all the coastal towns, to make a strong navy. He planned
that Polyperchon, with a fleet at his command, should, at any time, sail with
his forces from Macedonia to Asia to fight against Antigonus. For this reason
Eumenes stayed even longer in Phoenicia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 64. s.
6. 9:189} [E306]
2478. Meanwhile Polyperchon made Clitus, the governor of Lydia, admiral of the
fleet and sent him into the Hellespont with the order to stay there and ensure
that no ships passed that way from Asia into Europe. He wanted him to help
Aridaeus, the governor of Lesser Phrygia, who had fled with whatever men he had
into the city of the Cyonians for fear of Antigonus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c.
72. s. 2,3. 9:207}
2479. Clitus came into the Hellespont to protect the cities of Propontis,
having joined Aridaeus' army together with his own. Then Nicanor, the captain
of the garrison of Munychia, welcomed Cassander, who had put all his navy to
sea. He took Antigonus' fleet with him, so that he had more than a hundred
ships in his fleet. In a naval battle not far from the city of Byzantium,
Clitus won, sinking seventeen of the enemy's ships and capturing at least forty
more, with all the men in them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 72. s. 2-4.
9:207,209} Clitus was overjoyed. Previously, he had merely taken three or four
ships of the Greeks near the isle of Amorgus, one of the Cyclades. He allowed
himself to be called Poseidon and carried a trident. {*Plutarch, Fortune of
Alexander, l. 2. c. 5. 4:447}
2480. When Antigonus heard of the loss of his navy at sea, he sent for some
ships from Byzantium and put as many archers, slingers, targeteers and other
such lightly armed men in them as he thought would fit. They landed on the
European side and attacked Clitus' men, who had gone ashore and were busy making
their camp. They frightened them and forced them to retreat to their ships
again, in the process of which their baggage was lost and many men were taken
prisoner. In the meantime, Antigonus procured other ships of war, into which he
put many of his best soldiers. He sent them to the same place with a strict
charge to attack their enemies valiantly, and then they would no doubt overcome
them. These came by night under the command of Nicanor, their captain, and
attacked at the break of day. [L425] He routed them on the very first assault
and sank some of their ships with the prows of their own ships. They captured
other ships complete with the men in them, who surrendered. Finally they took
all the rest of the ships and men, except for Clitus, who abandoned his ship and
fled to land, hoping to get into Macedonia, but on the way he was attacked by
Lysimachus' soldiers, who killed him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 72. s. 5-9.
9:209,211}
2481. After Antigonus had given this great defeat to the enemy, he became
master of the sea, and hurried to make himself absolute monarch of all Asia. To
this end, he selected twenty thousand of the best foot soldiers and four
thousand cavalry from his army and marched toward Cilicia, with the intention of
scattering those companies of Eumenes that were there, before his whole army
came together. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 73. s. 1,2. 9:211}
3687a AM, 4396 JP, 318 BC
2482. Twenty-third Jubilee.
2483. When Eumenes heard about Antigonus' plans, he tried to persuade
Phoenicia, where he then was, and which was at that time unjustly occupied by
Ptolemy, to obey the kings. When he was unsuccessful in this, he left and went
through Coelosyria, hoping to get into those regions which are called the upper
provinces. {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 73. s. 2,3. 9:211} He had the silver
targeteers with him, including their captain, Antigenes. These had wintered in
the villages of Babylonia known as the villages of the Carians. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 19. c. 12. s. 1. 9:259}
3687b AM, 4397 JP, 317 BC
2484. Eumenes sent from there to Seleucus, the governor of Babylonia, and to
Pithon, the governor of Media, to come with him to help the kings against
Antigonus, who had rebelled against them. Seleucus sent him word that he would
do what he could for the kings, but he would not help Eumenes, who had for a
long time been a person condemned by the council of Macedonians. He secretly
sent to Antigenes and the silver targeteers, to kill Eumenes, but they refused.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 12. s. 2,3. 9:259,261}
2485. Eumenes had the loyalty of his soldiers. He marched to the bank of the
Tigris River and camped there, about forty miles from Babylon, where he lost
some of his men in an uprising of the natives against him. From there, he
planned to go forward to Susa to gather his soldiers from the upper provinces
and to take the kings' money, which was stored there, for his own needs.
Seleucus caught up with him near the Euphrates River. Eumenes almost lost his
whole army in a sudden flood caused by Seleucus when he opened the head of an
old dam and let in the water, flooding his camp and almost drowning everyone.
Consequently, Eumenes and his men were forced to flee from there to higher
ground. They spent that day figuring out how to recover things. The next day
they got about three hundred flat-bottomed boats and transported the main part
of the army, without being hindered by the enemy, because Seleucus had nothing
but cavalry with him and they were out-numbered by Eumenes. [E307] When night
came, Eumenes returned with his Macedonians to take care of the wagons which had
been left behind. They crossed the river and there, with the help of the
natives, found a place to let out the water by another way, to make all that
country dry and passable again. When Seleucus heard about this, he wished to
rid his country of such guests. As soon as he possibly could, he sent
messengers to offer them a truce, and thus he allowed them to march away without
bothering them. So once again, beyond all his expectations, Eumenes escaped
from Seleucus and came with his army into Persia, to the country of Susa.
[L426] He had sixteen thousand foot soldiers and thirteen hundred cavalry. When
he had refreshed his army after their hard and miserable march, he sent to the
commanders of the upper provinces, requesting them to send men and money to him
for the service of the kings. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 12,13. 9:261-265}
2486. Attalus, Polemon, Antipater and Philotas, all of them captains who had
been captured in the defeat of Alcetas, had been committed to prison in an
exceedingly strong citadel. When they heard that Antigonus had marched up into
the upper provinces (Diodorus said that at that time he was in Mesopotamia),
they found a sword for each man. Although there were only eight in their group,
at midnight they attacked four hundred men who were in the garrison. First they
seized Xenopithes, the captain of the garrison, and threw him off the rock of
the citadel, which was about two hundred yards high. When they had killed some
and overpowered the rest, they set fire to the houses within the citadel, at
which point those who were outside waiting to see how the matter would go, made
a move, and about fifty were received into the citadel. When they came in, they
could not agree among themselves as to whether they should hold the place and
await supplies from Eumenes, or abandon it and every man go his own way, since
the soldiers of the other garrisons were not far off. About five hundred foot
soldiers and four hundred cavalry, as well as about three thousand natives,
appointed a new captain and came to besiege the citadel. Docimus, who had
advised that they leave the place, saw an unguarded way down the hill and sent a
messenger to Statomice, the wife of Antigonus, who was close by. He and another
man got out and went to her. However, she did not keep her word with him and
held him captive again. The man who had gone with him guided the enemy up to
the citadel. They outnumbered the defenders and took over a strong place
inside, but Attalus, with the rest who had been of the opinion to defend the
citadel, nevertheless kept on fighting bravely from day to day for sixteen
months. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 15. s. 6. 9:271} {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 16. 9:273,275}
2487. When Pithon, the governor of Media, had killed Philotas, who was governor
of the upper provinces, he replaced him with his own brother, Eudamus.
Thereupon the other governors united their forces, fearing they would be treated
in the same way, because they knew that Pithon was a man of a violent
disposition. They attacked and defeated him and having killed many of his men,
they drove him from all of Parthia. He went into Media, hoping to get relief
there, but finding none, he went to Babylon and there sought help from Seleucus.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 14. s. 1,2. 9:265}
2488. Eumenes stayed in the country of Susa. Lacking supplies, he divided his
whole army into three brigades. Even so, as he marched through the country, he
found a great scarcity of grain everywhere. He was forced to give them rice
instead, and a variety of Indian wheat and the fruit of the palm tree, which was
in great abundance there. He had previously sent the kings' letters to the
governors of the upper provinces, requesting help. Again, he sent more letters
of his own to them, requesting them to come to him into the country of Susa with
all their forces. His messengers, however, found them all in one place,
fighting Pithon. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 13. s. 6,7. 9:265}
2489. The leader of them all, and the man most watched, was Peucestes, whom
Alexander had previously made the chief captain of his bodyguard and the
governor of Persia. He had with him ten thousand Persian archers and slingers.
From the other countries he had taken three thousand Macedonians, with six
hundred cavalry from the Greeks and Thracians, along with four hundred Persian
cavalry. Tlepolemus (or Polemon, Loeb variant reading. Editor.), a Macedonian
and governor of Carmania, had fifteen hundred foot soldiers and seven hundred
cavalry. [L427] Sibyrtius, the governor of Arachosia, had a thousand foot
soldiers and six hundred and ten cavalry. Androbazus had twelve hundred foot
soldiers and four hundred cavalry that had been sent by Oxyartes, the governor
of Parapanisada. Stasanor, the governor of Aria and Drangiane, had fifteen
hundred Bactrian foot soldiers and a thousand cavalry. Eudamus (whom Arrian
called Eudemus and Curtius calls Eudemon), the governor of the Oxydracans and
Mallians, brought three hundred foot soldiers and five hundred cavalry from
India, plus a hundred and twenty elephants. He had acquired these animals when
he had treacherously killed Porus, the king of the Indians. In total, they had
eighteen thousand and seven hundred foot soldiers (although the numbers add up
to twenty-one thousand) and forty-six hundred cavalry. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 14. s. 5-8. 9:267,269} [E308]
2490. When they had all come to Eumenes in the country of Susa, they called a
public council. There was a hot dispute, especially between Peucestes and
Antigenes, the captain of the silver targeteers, about the choice of a general.
Eumenes removed the reasons for that dispute by erecting a pavilion for
Alexander and putting his throne in it. All meetings about public affairs were
conducted there, and all the governors and generals jointly decided what to do.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 15. s. 1-3. 9:269}
2491. When they were all together at Susa, Eumenes took from the kings'
treasury as much as the kings' service required. (The kings' letters to the
keepers of their treasure had ordered that they give money only to Eumenes, and
only as much as he needed.) He gave the Macedonians six months' advance pay, and
gave two hundred talents to Eudamus, who had brought the elephants from India.
This was under the pretence of defraying the cost of the beasts, but it was
intended to secure his loyalty, because Eumenes knew that if any controversy
occurred, the side with the elephants would most likely win. The rest of the
governors paid for their own soldiers, whom they had brought with them. When
this was done, Eumenes stayed in Susiana for a while to refresh his army after
their hard journey. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 14. s. 4-6. 9:271}
2492. Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, murdered Philip Aridaeus,
one of the two kings, and his wife Eurydice. He had reigned for six years after
the death of Alexander, {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 5.} or six years and four
months, according to Diodorus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 11. s. 4,5.
9:257} Porphyry said that this happened about the 22nd day of our September.
{Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 228.}
3688 AM, 4398 JP, 316 BC
2493. Cassander, the son of Antipater, besieged Olympias, with her grandchild
Hercules, the son of Alexander the Great and his mother Barsine, in the
Macedonian town of Pydna. At the beginning of the next spring, they ran out of
provisions and Olympias was forced to dismiss her soldiers. She surrendered to
Cassander on the condition that she would be allowed to live. {*Diod. Sic., l.
19. c. 36. s. 1-5. 9:329} {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 49,50. 9:363-369}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 6.}
2494. Antigonus left Mesopotamia and came into the country of Babylonia, where
he allied himself with Seleucus and Pithon. After receiving some supplies from
them, he made a bridge of boats over the Tigris River and crossed it there. He
quickly marched off to fight against Eumenes. However, Eumenes was notified
ahead of this and ordered Xenophilus, the keeper of the citadel in Susa, to pay
Antigonus none of the kings' money, nor was he even to talk to him. Eumenes
went with his armies and manned the bank of the Tigris River along its entire
length, from its source to the sea, with citadels, which were built on its bank.
Since that was a considerable undertaking, Eumenes and Antigenes had Peucestes
send them ten thousand more archers from Persia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
17. s. 2-4. 9:275,277} [L428]
2495. Antigonus went with his army to the king's palace in Susa and made
Seleucus the governor of that country. He left a sufficiently large army with
him and wanted him to besiege the citadel. Xenophilus, the treasurer, refused
to obey his commands. About the rising of the dog star (Sirius), Antigonus and
his army marched at night to the Coprates River where it joins the Tigris River.
He lost a large number of his men, because the season was so hot. Finding that
river to be about four hundred feet wide, he got together a small quantity of
flat-bottomed boats and used them to get some of his foot soldiers across,
telling them to wait for the rest to cross. Eumenes was notified of this by his
scouts as he was about ten miles from the place. He crossed the Tigris River on
a bridge and came with four thousand foot soldiers and thirteen hundred cavalry.
He found that three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred cavalry of
Antigonus' army had already crossed over, but there were at least six thousand
who were foraging about the country. He suddenly attacked them and routed them,
forcing the Macedonians who fought, into the river. They ran headlong into
their boats, which sank from overloading, and few escaped. About four thousand,
who did not venture into the river, were taken prisoner, according to Diodorus.
Plutarch, however, said that when Antigonus crossed the Pasitigris River, the
rest of the commanders did not know what had happened. Eumenes himself met him
with his own company and killing many of his men, filled the river with dead
bodies and took four thousand prisoners. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 17. s.
2-4. 9:279-283} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 14. s. 1-3. 8:121}
2496. When Antigonus saw that he could not cross that river, he retired with
his army toward a city of Badace that was located on the Eulaeus River. He
stayed there for a few days to refresh his army, which was exhausted from the
extreme heat, after which he planned to go to Ecbatana. He did not follow the
highway because of the extreme heat, and because the journey would take at least
forty days. He went instead by way of the Cossaeans, which was shorter and not
so hot. In spite of this, he lost a large number of men and risked the lives of
the rest. [E309] After nine days, when they had yet to come to any habitable
place in Media, the whole army began to grumble, for they had received three
major setbacks within forty days. Antigonus ordered Pithon to go throughout all
Media, which he did, bringing him two thousand cavalry, a thousand equipped
cavalry horses, and enough equipment to outfit his army again. He also brought
five hundred talents from the king's treasury. Antigonus distributed the
cavalry among his other troops and gave the horses to those who had lost their
own. He gave the beasts of burden freely to those who wanted them. By this, he
quickly regained the love and favour of his army again. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 18-20. 9:279-287}
2497. Eumenes and his men left Pasitigris for Persia and after a twenty-four
day march, came to the royal seat of the kingdom called Persepolis. There his
whole army was entertained and most magnificently feasted by Peucestes, the
governor of that province. Sacrifices were offered to the gods, including
Alexander and Philip. Plutarch added that each man was given a sheep for his
own particular sacrifice. Eumenes alone knew that it was Peucestes' intention
to ingratiate himself with the army and to gain command of it, and sovereign
power for himself. In the name of Orontes, the governor of Armenia and a good
friend of Peucestes, he forged a letter addressed to himself, and written in the
Syriac script. It stated that Olympias, with Alexander's youngest son, had
defeated Cassander and had recovered the kingdom of Macedonia again. It said
also that Polyperchon, with the main force of the king's army and his elephants,
had crossed into Asia against Antigonus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 21-23.
9:287,293} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 14. s. 3. 8:121} {Polyaenus,
Strategmata, l. 4.} [L429] These letters passed as authentic, and so everyone
thought that Eumenes would be the most important man and in a position to
advance whom he pleased and to punish whom he thought fit. Therefore they
resolved to depend on him, and any that opposed him were called into question by
him before the courts. He started with Sibyrtius, the governor of Arachosia,
and so made them all afraid. In the meantime, he courted Peucestes' loyalty and
told him of the great honour and wealth he would give to him when the time came,
and with this tactic he prevented him from doing anything else against him.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 23. s. 2-4. 9:293}
2498. Because he wished to ingratiate the rest of the commanders and governors
of the provinces to himself, he made out as though he needed more money and
consequently exhorted them to contribute what they could spare for the king's
service. Having thus collected four hundred talents, he now made those who had
previously seemed most fickle toward him, most loyal to him, for fear of losing
the money which they had lent him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 24. s. 1-3.
9:295} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 13. s. 6. 8:119}
3689a AM, 4398 JP, 316 BC
2499. In Asia Minor, Attalus and the rest of the commanders with him were at
last forced to surrender. They had endured a siege of sixteen months and
suffered much hardship. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 16. s. 5. 9:275}
2500. In Greater Asia, Antigonus moved with his army from Media into Persia.
Eumenes prepared to march against him, and offered sacrifices and started
feasting with his captains. He enjoyed their pleasure and became quite drunk
and sick, which delayed his march for a few days. As a result, his soldiers
said that while other generals could feast, Eumenes could do nothing but command
and fight. After a little while, he recovered and went on his march. Peucestes
and Antigenes led the troops, and Eumenes was on a litter, following on behind
with the elephants. The two armies were within a day's journey of each other,
when the scouts came in and brought news of their approach. They reported the
number of the enemy and the way by which they were coming, whereupon both armies
prepared for the battle. When Eumenes, who was lying on his litter, did not
come into the camp, the chief soldiers in every company resolved not to go any
farther unless Eumenes came into the camp to move among them. Consequently he
was carried on his litter and went in this manner from one quarter to another
throughout the army, giving orders everywhere for the arranging of the troops.
Meanwhile Antigonus looked on and laughed at him for his efforts. So each side
prepared for the battle which never happened, because the ground between the two
armies was so poor to fight on. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 25. 9:297,299}
{*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 14. 8:121,123}
2501. They approached within six hundred yards of each other and spent four
days in small skirmishes and foraging in the surrounding country, as each side
was very hungry and needed supplies. On the fifth day, Antigonus again tried to
make Eumenes' army betray him, by offering large rewards, but his agents were
sent away by the enraged Macedonians, who threatened them with harm if they were
to come again on that errand. After this, Eumenes received news that Antigonus
planned to move his camp by night and take a three-day journey to a place called
Gabene, which had an abundant supply of provisions. So Eumenes sent some
trusted men, who pretended to be deserters, to inform Antigonus that Eumenes
would attack his camp that night. [E310] While Antigonus was preparing for the
attack, Eumenes stole away with his army to go to Gabene before Antigonus, so he
could find a good location for his camp. When Antigonus learned that Eumenes
had tricked him, he followed him, even though Eumenes had a six-hour head start.
He wanted Pithon to follow safely later with the main body of the army.
Antigonus, with a company of the swiftest cavalry that he could choose, got
ahead of Eumenes and showed himself upon a hill where Eumenes could see him.
Eumenes assumed that Antigonus was there with all of his army and made his stand
before he had reached the exact spot where he had intended to pitch his camp and
there arranged his army in battle array. [L430] In the meantime, Antigonus'
army came upon him, and so these two great generals used their wits and tricked
each other. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 25,26. 9:297-303}
2502. In the country of Paraetacene, these two generals arranged their army in
excellent formation and with great judgment, as Diodorus described in detail.
Eumenes had with him thirty-five thousand foot soldiers, sixty-one hundred
cavalry and a hundred and fourteen elephants. Antigonus had twenty-eight
thousand foot soldiers, more than eighty-five hundred cavalry and sixty-five
elephants. The battle was bravely fought on each side until almost midnight, as
the moon was almost full. When each side was exhausted from fighting, they
stopped and went back to their camps. Antigonus lost thirty-seven hundred foot
soldiers and fifty-four cavalry, and had about four thousand wounded men.
Eumenes lost five hundred and forty foot soldiers and a very small number of his
cavalry, while more than nine hundred were wounded. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
27-31. 9:303-317}
2503. Eumenes wanted to bury the dead as a sign of a total victory, but the
army would not allow it, because they wanted to go to the place where their
belongings were. Since that was some distance away, Eumenes was forced to allow
them to do it.
2504. Antigonus forced his men to camp near the place where the battle had been
fought and where his men lay dead. They buried them and Antigonus said he had
the victory, claiming:
"He who had power to bury his dead, was ever to be counted conqueror of the
field."
2505. The bodies were buried by the break of day. He detained the herald who
came to him from Eumenes to beg the bodies of the dead. He sent him back again
at night and gave them permission to come and bury the bodies the next day.
2506. When he had sent away the herald, he marched away with all his army and
by a series of long marches came to Gamarga in Media, which was far away from
Eumenes. Pithon was governor of this country, which had abundant provisions and
was able to maintain a very large army. When Antigonus had been defeated by
Eumenes in the country of Paraetacene, he went away to take up his winter
quarters in Media, in a place called Gadamala or Gadarla according to Diodorus,
or Gadamarla according to Polyaenus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 31,32.
9:315-319} {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 37. s. 1. 9:331} {Emilius Probus,
Eumenes} {Polyaenus, Strategmata}
2507. Eumenes heard through his scouts that Antigonus had not followed him.
His army was not up to it, and he wanted to bury his dead. Among these dead was
Ceteus, who had commanded those who had come to join him from India. His burial
caused a fierce argument between his two wives, as each wanted to have the
honour of being burned alive with him. The younger of the two won the argument
and went into the fire, because the older wife was pregnant. She was given the
choice to live, but she pined away from grief and also died. Diodorus described
this in detail. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 33,34. 9:319-323}
2508. When Eumenes had finished burying his dead, he went to Gabene. This was
some distance from where Antigonus was with his army. It was about a
twenty-five day journey if one went through the inhabited country, but if one
went through the desert, they were only a nine days' journey apart. They
wintered far from each other and gave their armies a chance to rest and recover
their spirits again before the next spring. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 34. s.
7,8. 9:323,325}
2509. Meanwhile, Cassander, the son of Antipater, was keen to make himself
absolute king of Macedonia. He had Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great,
murdered, and married Thessalonice, the daughter of Philip (not of Aridaeus, as
Justin thought) and Alexander's half-sister. Having done this, he sent
Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great, with his mother, Roxane, who was very
great with child, to be kept in the citadel at Amphipolis. {*Diod. Sic., l.
19. c. 52. s. 1-4. 9:371,373} {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. fin.} [L431]
2510. While Eumenes' soldiers were resting, they grew heady and insolent. In
spite of their commanders, they camped where they wanted to, all over the
country of Gabene. Some of their tents were more than a hundred and twenty-five
miles from their headquarters, {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 15. s. 3.
8:125} as they had chosen their own quarters, not according to any discipline or
order of war, but to satisfy their own wishes and preferences. {Emilius Probus,
Eumenes} [E311]
2511. When Antigonus was told of the disorder in Eumenes' camp, he decided to
attack. He let it be known that he would march with his army from Media into
Armenia. However, in the depth of winter, at about the winter solstice, he
departed from the customary route and marched through the desert. He made fires
in the daytime and put them out at night to escape detection, but after they had
spent five days on this tedious journey, the soldiers started making fires at
night as well as by day, because of the extreme cold. Some of those who lived
in the desert saw this and using dromedaries, which commonly run two hundred
miles in a day, they notified Eumenes and Peucestes of this. {*Diod. Sic., l.
19. c. 37. 9:331,333} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 15. s. 3,4. 8:125}
{Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
3689b AM, 4399 JP, 315 BC
2512. Peucestes was terrified when he heard this and thought of running away,
but Eumenes calmed things down and said he would take charge. The enemy would
not be coming into those parts for at least three or four days, or as Emilius
has it, more than five days. Therefore, he sent messengers into every part to
require his troops to come to their headquarters. Then, he went about with
certain speedy officers and had fires made everywhere on the hilly countryside
so Antigonus would see them. When Antigonus was within nine miles from Eumenes,
he saw those fires and began to think that he had been betrayed and his purposes
revealed by some of his own people. He thought Eumenes was coming to attack him
with his whole army. Not wanting to risk his tired army against Eumenes' fresh
and lusty soldiers, he turned aside from the plain into a more winding way,
where he stayed one whole day to rest his men and to refresh his beasts, so that
they would be in better shape to fight, if they had to. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 38. 9:333-337} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 15. s. 3-7. 8:125,127}
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4.}
2513. Meanwhile, most of Eumenes' army came to their headquarters. When his
soldiers saw his surpassing skill and wisdom in organizing things, they wanted
him to organize everything himself. As a result, Antigenes, who had always been
loyal to him, and Teutamus, the two commanders of the silver targeteers, were
envious, and plotted with the other captains of the army to kill him. When
Eudamus, who commanded the regiment of the elephants, and Phaedimus (being two
of those who had lent Eumenes money and so feared losing it if he died) found
out about this, they immediately told Eumenes. Eumenes said that he had to deal
with a large herd of wild beasts. He set about making his will and then burned
his cabinet of papers, lest after his death they should tell tales and prove
dangerous to the people that had written them. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c.
16. s. 1-3. 8:127,129}
2514. Diodorus described in detail the day of the battle between Antigonus and
Eumenes. Antigonus had with him twenty-two thousand foot soldiers and nine
thousand cavalry, with sixty-five elephants. Eumenes' army consisted of
thirty-six thousand and seven hundred foot soldiers, six thousand and fifty
cavalry and a hundred and fourteen elephants. The field where they fought was
very spacious, and a sandy desert. Such a dust was stirred up when the cavalry
first charged, that any man standing only a short way off would not be able to
see what was going on. [L432] When Antigonus saw this, he promptly sent some
Median cavalry and some Tarentines from Italy to attack the baggage of the
enemy, which was about a thousand yards from the battle. Peucestes, the
governor of Persia, was frightened by Antigonus and got out of the dust cloud
with his horse, taking with him some fifteen hundred more troops. However, the
silver targeteers on Eumenes' side made a strong attack on Antigonus' main
battle line, killing more than five thousand and routing the rest, and this
happened without losing a single man. So Eumenes won, and did not lose more
than three hundred men in the battle. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 39-43.
9:337-347} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 16. s. 3-6. 8:129,131}
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4.}
2515. After the battle, the Macedonians saw that their wagons had all been
taken, with their wives, children and everything else that was dear to them, so
there was great sorrow in the camp. Eumenes sought to pacify them by reminding
them that they had killed five thousand of the enemy and if they would only be
patient, the enemy would be forced to ask for peace and then all would be well
again. They had lost about two thousand women, a few children and servants, and
these would more readily be regained by pressing the victory, than by letting it
go, now that victory was so close at hand. [E312] However, the Macedonians
started railing at him and told him plainly that they would neither flee, now
that they had lost their wives and children, nor bear arms against them. Then
Teutamus, of his own accord, sent a messenger to Antigonus to request him to
send back to them again the goods he had taken. So the bargain was driven
between them that if they surrendered Eumenes into his hands, they would get
back their belongings, whereupon the Macedonians, ten thousand Persians who had
come with Peucestes, the various governors of other regions and most of the
soldiers, left Eumenes and went to Antigonus' camp. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
43. s. 7-9. 9:349} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 17. 8:131} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 14. c. 3.}
2516. Before they went, the silver targeteers broke in on Eumenes, took his
sword from his hand and bound his hands behind him with a garter. On the fourth
day after the battle, they delivered him bound to Nicanor, who had been sent by
Antigonus to receive him. Eumenes requested nothing of Nicanor except that he
would lead him through the midst of the Macedonians and give him permission to
speak his last words to them. When this had been done, he walked ahead of his
keepers into Antigonus' camp, followed by the army which had betrayed their own
commander and who were now themselves no better than so many captive slaves.
They went proudly into their conqueror's camp, and to make it a complete
triumph, the elephants and the auxiliaries from India brought up the rear.
Antigonus, out of real shame and reverence for the old friendship that had been
between them, did not allow Eumenes to be brought into his sight, but assigned
him into the custody of certain soldiers. {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c.
17,18. 8:131-135} {Justin, Trogus, l. 14. c. 4.}
2517. Among those who were wounded, they brought Hieronymus of Cardia, the
historian. He had always been held in great esteem by Eumenes, and after
Eumenes' death, Antigonus held him in great favour also. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 44. s. 3. 9:351} Hieronymus wrote a book concerning the successors of
Alexander the Great and the general history of his own time. {*Diod. Sic., l.
18. c. 42. s. 1. 9:131} {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l.
1. c. 5. s. 1. 1:19} {*Diod. Sic., l. 18. c. 42. s. 1. 9:131}
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 23. (213) 1:249}
2518. Antigonus, who now had Eumenes and all his army in his hands, first laid
hold on Antigenes, the commander of the silver targeteers. He put him alive
into a coffin and burned him to ashes. [L433] Then he executed Eudamus, who had
brought Eumenes elephants from India, along with Celbanus and some others who
had opposed him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 44. s. 1-3. 9:349,351}
2519. When Onomarchus, the captain of the watch, asked Antigonus how he wanted
Eumenes to be kept, he replied that he was to be kept as one would keep a raging
lion or an unruly elephant. Later he relented and ordered that his heavy chains
be removed and a boy of his own be allowed to attend him and to help to bathe
him. He also allowed Eumenes' friends to visit him and to supply him with
necessities. Although his own son Demetrius and Nearchus the Cretian wanted to
spare him and tried to save his life, almost all the others that were around
Antigonus urged him to kill Eumenes. In spite of all this, Antigonus took seven
days to think about it, but when he feared that his army might rebel, he ordered
that no man would be allowed to go near Eumenes. He ordered him to be given no
food, because he said that he would not kill the man who had formerly been his
friend. When Eumenes had neither eaten nor drunk anything in eight days, and
the camp was suddenly to be moved, a man was sent who cut Eumenes' throat.
Antigonus knew nothing of this and out of respect for his former friendship,
ordered his corpse to be turned over to his closest friends to be buried as they
thought fit. They burned it in an honourable and military way, with all the
army following the bier and witnessing the burning. They gathered his bones
into a silver urn and took care to deliver them to his wife and children in
Cappadocia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 44. s. 1-3. 9:349,351} {*Plutarch,
Eumenes, l. 1. c. 18,19. 8:135,137} {Emilius Probus, Eumenes}
2520. Antigonus returned into Media with his whole army and spent the rest of
the winter in a town not far from Ecbatana. He distributed his army here and
there all over that province, and especially in the country of Rages. It was
called that from ver, because more than two thousand cities and towns in those
regions had been destroyed by earthquakes, according to Strabo, based on
Posidonius' account. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 9. s. 1. 5:273} Antigonus
discovered that Pithon, the governor of Media, was trying to ingratiate himself
with many of Antigonus' soldiers with generous gifts and promises, and trying to
encourage them to revolt from him. Antigonus handled the matter very astutely.
He let it be known that he planned to make Pithon the governor of the upper
provinces and give him a sufficiently large army for that purpose. [E313] He
also wrote letters to Pithon and earnestly asked him to come quickly to him, to
enable them to consult together on some important matters, so that he could
march at once into Asia Minor. Persuaded by these and other letters sent to him
from his supposed friends, Pithon, who was then in the remotest parts of all
Media in his winter quarters, came to Antigonus. As soon as Antigonus had him,
he called him before a council of war, who quickly found him guilty and chopped
off his head. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 44. s. 4,5. 9:351} {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 19. c. 46. s. 1-4. 9:355,357}
3689c AM, 4399 JP, 315 BC
2521. Antigonus gathered all his army together and committed the government of
Media to Orontobates, a Median. He made Hippostratus the general of his army,
with thirty-five hundred foreign foot soldiers under him, but Antigonus took the
main body of his army to Ecbatana, where he acquired five thousand talents of
solid silver. Then he marched into Persia and after a twenty day march, arrived
at Persepolis, its capital city. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 46. s. 5,6.
9:357}
2522. While Antigonus was on his way there, the friends of Pithon (those who
had been in on Pithon's conspiracy, of which Meleager and Menoetas were the most
notable) and followers both of Pithon and of Eumenes who were scattered abroad,
met together. [L434] They had about eight hundred cavalry, with which they
first attacked the lands and possessions of the Medes who refused to join with
them in this rebellion. Then they attacked the camp of Hippostratus and
Orontobates by night. They almost overcame the outer works, but had to retire
because they were outnumbered, since they had only been able to persuade a few
Medes to follow them. Some of the nimblest of the cavalry made many incursions
on the country people and raised many disturbances among them. Eventually they
were trapped in a place surrounded by rocks and cliffs, where some were killed
and the rest captured. Meleager, Ocranes and the most valiant men among those
who would not surrender, died fighting. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 47.
9:357,359}
2523. As soon as Antigonus came to Persia, the people honoured him like a king
and proclaimed him master of all Asia. Calling a council of his friends, he
propounded to them the matter of the government of the various provinces to be
considered. They decided to give Carmania to Tlepolemus, Bactria to Stasanor
and Parapanisada to Oxyartes, the father of Roxane, since they could not easily
remove them from their positions. Evitus was sent to Aria, but died soon after
he arrived there, so Evagoras, who was a man of outstanding valour and sober
judgment, replaced him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 48. s. 1,2. 9:359}
2524. Antigonus sent for Sibyrtius from Arachosia, who was his friend. He
confirmed him in his government of that province and gave him a thousand of the
most rebellious silver targeteers, who had betrayed Eumenes. He appointed them
to him under the pretence of their helping Sibyrtius in the war, but his real
reason was to kill them, for he ordered Sibyrtius to use them in the riskiest
work, until he had killed them all. Antigonus did not want any of them ever to
return to Macedonia or see Greece again. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 48. s.
3,4. 9:359,361} {*Plutarch, Eumenes, l. 1. c. 19. s. 2. 8:137}
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4.}
2525. When Antigonus found that Peucestes was highly respected in Persia, he
planned to remove him from his government. When all the Persians complained
about this, Thespius, one of their leaders, spoke up publicly against it, saying
that the Persians would only be governed by Peucestes. Antigonus had Thespius
killed and made Asclepiodorus the governor of Persia. He strung Peucestes along
with vain hopes of better things, until he had drawn him from Persia. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 19. c. 48. s. 5,6. 9:361}
2526. While Antigonus was on his way to Susa, Xenophilus, who had the keeping
of the king's treasure at Susa, was sent by Seleucus to meet Antigonus at
Pasitigris, offering him his service in whatever he required. Antigonus
received him very graciously and pretended that he honoured him more than all
his friends, because he feared that Seleucus might happen to change his mind and
keep him out when he came to Susa. After he entered the citadel of Susa, he
took it over for himself. He also took the golden vine and a number of objects
of art totalling fifteen thousand talents, and made all of it into coins. In
addition to the crowns of gold and other presents, and spoil taken from the
enemy, which amounted to a further five thousand talents, he took twenty-five
thousand talents out of Media. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 48. s. 6-8.
9:361,363}
3689d AM, 4399 JP, 315 BC
2527. Antigonus appointed Aspisas, a native of the country, as the new governor
of the province of Susa. He planned to carry away all this money to the sea
coast in Asia. He had wagons made for this purpose and journeyed toward
Babylon. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 55. s. 1. 9:381}
2528. After twenty-two days, he arrived at Babylon, and Seleucus, the governor
of that province, received him with every kind of royal present imaginable and
feasted his whole army. [E314] Antigonus wanted him to give an account of all
the money in the public treasury which he had received while there, since he had
been appointed to his position. [L435] Seleucus replied that he was not bound
to give an account for what had been given to him by the Macedonians for the
service which he had done for Alexander in his lifetime. When hostilities grew
daily between them, Seleucus knew he was too weak to tackle Antigonus and feared
that he might be killed like Pithon. So he stole away with only fifty cavalry
in his company and fled to Ptolemy in Egypt. All the world spoke of how good
Ptolemy was to all those that fled to him for refuge. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 55. s. 2-5. 9:381,383} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (53)
2:205}
2529. Antigonus was quite happy that he had been able to take over Babylon
without having to kill his old friend, but the Chaldeans told him that if he let
Seleucus go, all Asia would be his and he would one day lose his life in a
battle against him. He regretted that he had let him go and sent men after him
to capture and bring him back again. After they had pursued him for a time,
they gave up and returned to Antigonus, {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 55. s.
6-9. 9:383,385} who thereupon removed Blitor, the governor of Mesopotamia, for
allowing Seleucus to pass that way. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9.
(53) 2:205}
2530. When Seleucus arrived safely in Egypt, Ptolemy entertained him very
graciously. When he told Ptolemy all the things Antigonus had done against him,
he persuaded Ptolemy to fight against Antigonus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
55. s. 6-9. 9:383,385} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 4,5. 1:31}
3690a AM, 4399 JP, 315 BC
2531. From there, Seleucus went to Europe with some of his closest friends to
persuade Cassander, who at that time commanded everything in Macedonia, and
Lysimachus, who was over Thrace, to wage war on Antigonus. Antigonus suspected
his intentions and sent his agents to Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus, to
request their loyalty and friendship to him as in former times. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 19. c. 56. s. 1-4. 9:385,387} However, Seleucus carried the day, so
that they all joined together with him in a firm league against Antigonus.
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (53) 2:205}
2532. Antigonus had made Pithon, who came from India and was the son of Agenor,
governor of Babylon. Then he marched toward Cilicia and came to Mallos, a city
in Cilicia. There he distributed his army into their winter quarters, since it
was the time when Orion set in the early morning, in our month of November. He
received ten thousand talents in the city of Quinda, in the same province, while
he received a further eleven thousand talents from the yearly revenue of the
province. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 56. s. 4,5. 9:387}
2533. When Antigonus had gone into upper Syria, envoys came to him from
Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus. They came to him as he sat in council and
made their demands according to the instructions given them. Antigonus was to
surrender all Cappadocia and Lycia to Cassander. Phrygia, bordering on the
Hellespont, was to be turned over to Lysimachus, while all Syria was to be given
to Ptolemy and the province of Babylon to Seleucus. All the public money which
he had taken since the death of Eumenes was to be shared equally among them.
Antigonus replied roughly that he was now making war on Ptolemy, and that it was
his purpose not to have any partners, in either the peril or the profit.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 57. s. 1,2. 9:387,389} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 9. (53) 2:205} {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 1.}
3690b AM, 4400 JP, 314 BC
2534. When the envoys returned with this answer, Ptolemy, Cassander and
Lysimachus immediately prepared to fight against Antigonus by sea and land.
[L436] When Antigonus realised what a gathering storm was about to break over
his head, he sought the alliances of other cities, countries and princes to help
him in this war. To this end, he sent Agesilaus to the king of Cyprus and
Idomeneus and Moschion to Rhodes. He sent his nephew Ptolemy to Cappadocia with
an army. Aristodemus was sent into Peloponnesus with a thousand talents to hire
soldiers there. He placed couriers and watchmen throughout all Asia, which he
controlled, to quickly send him news of anything that happened. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 19. c. 57. s. 2,5. 9:389,391}
2535. When this was done, he marched into Phoenicia and camped near Tyre. He
ordered them to provide him with a fleet and sent for the petty kings and
governors of those parts to come to him. When they came, he asked them to join
with him in providing a fleet and in building more ships, since all the ships
that belonged to Phoenicia were at that time with Ptolemy in Egypt. He ordered
them to bring him four and a half million measures of wheat, which was the
annual cost of keeping his army. He then had men fell timber and build ships,
using eight thousand men and a thousand beasts of burden to move the materials
for the ships from Mount Libanus (Lebanon) to the seaside. {*Diod. Sic., l.
19. c. 58. s. 1-4. 9:391,393} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (53)
2:205} {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 1.} [E315]
2536. While Antigonus was busy building a fleet and had his camp by the
seaside, Seleucus sailed past with a hundred well-outfitted ships, sailing along
in a scornful manner under their very noses. Antigonus' new associates were
greatly troubled by this, but Antigonus encouraged them by saying that by the
end of the summer, they would see him put to sea with a fleet of five hundred
ships as good as those. Meanwhile, Agesilaus returned with his embassy from
Cyprus, bringing word that Nicocreon and the most powerful kings of that island
had already confederated with Ptolemy, but that Cition, Lapithus, Marion and
Cerynia would join with Antigonus. So Antigonus left three thousand men under
the command of Andronicus to maintain the siege against Tyre, while he marched
with the rest of the army against Gaza and Joppa, which held out against him,
and took them by force. Any of Ptolemy's men that he found there, he
distributed among his own companies to serve him in his wars. He placed
garrisons in both places to keep them in submission, then returned to his
standing camp before Tyre and made all necessary preparations for a siege
against it. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 58,59. 9:393,395} {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (54) 2:207} {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 1.}
2537. At the same time Ariston, who had been entrusted to carry Craterus'
bones, delivered them to Phila, the daughter of Antipater, who had first been
married to Craterus and now to Demetrius. Antigonus had persuaded her father to
have his son Demetrius marry her. Demetrius was not happy with the match,
because she was so much older than he. Antigomus would always toast Demetrius
in the feast with that saying from Euripides:
"Where there is gain, against nature's dictates must one wed."
2538. He substituted off-hand must one wed for the similar inflection must one
serve. He meant that a man must do anything to serve his own ambitions. Phila
was a woman who was reputed to excel both in wit and wisdom, by which she often
repressed the tumultuous spirits of the most turbulent soldiers in the army. At
her own cost, she arranged for marriages for the sisters and daughters of the
poorer people among them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 59. s. 3-6. 9:395}
{*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 14. 9:33,35}
2539. Aristodemus was sent with other captains into Laconia, where he got
permission from the Spartans to raise soldiers, and so acquired eight thousand
troops from Peloponnesus. [L437] Aristodemus, in a conference with Polyperchon
and his son Alexander made a firm alliance with Antigonus. Aristodemus made
Polyperchon commander over the forces which he had raised in Peloponnesus and
had Alexander sail over into Asia to Antigonus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 60.
s. 1,2. 9:395,397}
2540. Ptolemy, another of Antigonus' captains, went with an army into
Cappadocia. He found the city of Amisus besieged by Asclepiodorus, a captain of
Cassander. He raised the siege and secured the place, and Asclepiodorus left
under a truce. Subject to certain conditions, he recovered that whole province
for Antigonus. He marched through Bithynia and came up behind Zibytes, king of
Bithynia, while he was busy in the siege of two cities at once. One city
belonged to the Astacenians, and the other to the Chalcedonians. Ptolemy forced
him to raise his siege from both cities, whereupon they both surrendered to
Ptolemy and gave him hostages as a pledge of their loyalty. Then Ptolemy moved
toward Ionia and Lydia, because Antigonus had written to him to secure that
coast as quickly as possible. He had been informed that Seleucus was sailing
into those parts with his fleet, but Seleucus had indeed already come, and had
besieged the city of Erythrae which was on the peninsula opposite Chios. When
he heard that Ptolemy, the nephew of Antigonus, was coming, he left it and went
away as he had come. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 60. s. 2-4. 9:397}
2541. Meanwhile, Alexander, Polyperchon's son, came to Antigonus. Before the
whole army, including the Macedonians who were not in the army, Antigonus
publicly announced to them what Cassander had done, saying that he would avenge
the murder of Olympias by Cassander and deliver Roxane and her son, Alexander,
from the prison in Amphipolis. He would break off the yoke which Cassander had
laid upon all the cities of Greece by putting his garrisons into them.
Antigonus sent back Alexander, Polyperchon's son, into Peloponnesus with a
further five hundred talents. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 61. s. 1-5.
9:397,399} {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 1.}
2542. When Antigonus had received a fleet from Rhodes to go with his other
recently built ships, he sailed for Tyre. Since he was master of the sea, he
blockaded the people of Tyre by sea and starved them, thereby throwing that city
into great distress. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 61. s. 5. 9:399,401}
2543. When Ptolemy of Egypt heard the declarations Antigonus had made before
the Macedonians, about delivering all the Greeks from the rule of Cassander,
Ptolemy did the same. He wanted all the world to know that he was no less
zealous for the liberty of all the Greeks than Antigonus was. [E316] Asander,
the governor of Caria, who was a man of great power and had many large cities
under his command, joined with Ptolemy. Although Ptolemy had previously sent
three thousand soldiers to the kings of Cyprus, he now sent them ten thousand
more under the command of Myrmidon, an Athenian, along with a hundred ships
commanded by Polyclitus, making his brother Menelaus general over the whole
force. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 62. s. 1-4. 9:401}
2544. When these came to Cyprus, Seleucus and his fleet met them. In a council
of war, they determined their plan of action. They decided that Polyclitus
would sail to Peloponnesus with fifty ships and there make war on Aristodemus,
Polyperchon and Polyperchon's son, Alexander. Myrmidon with an army of
mercenaries would go into Caria to help Asander, the governor of that province,
against Ptolemy, a captain of Antigonus who was warring with Asander. Seleucus
and Menelaus would stay in Cyprus to support Nicocreon, the king, and the rest
of their confederates, against their enemies who were making war against them.
When they had divided their forces, Seleucus went and took Cerynia and Lapithus.
When he persuaded Stasioecus, king of the Marenses, to join his side, he then
forced the prince of the Amathusians to give him hostages to ensure his future
safety. The city of Cition would not come to an agreement with him, so he
besieged it with his whole army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 62. s. 5,6.
9:401,403} [L438]
2545. About the same time, forty ships sailed to Antigonus from the Hellespont
and Rhodes, under the command of one Themison their admiral. Then Dioscorides
came with eighty more ships. Antigonus already had a navy of a hundred and
twenty ships of his own, which had recently been built in Phoenicia, so now,
counting the ones besieging Tyre, he had a navy of two hundred and forty ships.
Of these, ninety were of four tiers of oars, ten of five, three of nine, ten of
ten and thirty were open galleys. He divided this navy and sent fifty of them
into Peloponnesus, and the rest he committed to help his friends as required.
He wanted the isles which were still holding out against him to join his side.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 62. s. 6-9. 9:403,405}
2546. Polyclitus, Seleucus' lieutenant, sailed from Cyprus and came to
Cenchrea, which was the port of Corinth. When he found that Alexander,
Polyperchon's son, had defected from Antigonus to Cassander and was no longer an
enemy, he sailed for Pamphylia. From there, he sailed to Aphrodisia in Cilicia,
where he learned that Theodotus, the admiral of Antigonus' navy, had sailed from
Patara, a port of Lycia, with the Rhodian fleet which was manned by sailors from
Caria. He also learned that Perilaus, with a land army, was following along the
shore for the defence of the fleet, if required. In this case he used his wits
to defeat him. He landed his men and placed them near a suitable place where
the land army would have to pass. He and his fleet went and anchored behind a
cape nearby and awaited the coming of the enemy. It so happened that when
Perilaus' army came, he fell into the ambush that had been laid for him. He was
taken prisoner, while some of his men were killed and the rest were captured
alive. When the fleet at sea saw the land army engaged, they hurried to their
relief. In this confusion, Polyclitus attacked them with his ships in good
formation and easily routed them. So Polyclitus captured all their ships and
most of the men in them. Theodotus, their admiral, died shortly after this from
his wounds. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 64. s. 4-7. 9:407,409}
2547. When Polyclitus had had such good success, he first sailed back to Cyprus
and later to Pelusium in Egypt, where Ptolemy richly rewarded him for so great a
service. He promoted him to a far higher elevation in rank and position of
honour than he had before, because he was responsible for such a great victory.
He released Perilaus and some other prisoners whom Antigonus had asked for
through a messenger he had sent to him. Ptolemy went to Ecregma to confer with
Antigonus, but when Antigonus refused to grant him what he demanded, he left and
returned to Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 64. s. 8. 9:409,411}
3691a AM, 4400 JP, 314 BC
2548. Cassander sent an army from Macedonia into Caria, wanting to help the
cities which had allied themselves with Ptolemy and Seleucus. He also wanted to
prevent Antigonus from coming into Europe. The commanders of this army,
Asander, the governor of Caria, and Prepelaus, heard that Ptolemy, Antigonus'
general in those regions, had the winter quarters for his army there, and was
also busy at the time in burying his father who had recently died. They sent
Eupolemus with eight thousand foot soldiers and two hundred cavalry to a place
near Caprima in Caria, to lie in ambush for him. Ptolemy found out about it
through some men who defected to him and after getting together eighty-three
hundred foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry, he attacked them in their
trenches and found them off guard and asleep. [E317] He took Eupolemus prisoner
and forced all the rest to surrender unconditionally. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 68. s. 2-8. 10:17,19}
3691b AM, 4401 JP, 313 BC
2549. When Antigonus saw that Cassander wanted to be master of Asia, he left
his son Demetrius in Syria with instructions to intercept Ptolemy's men, because
he suspected that they were coming farther up into Syria with an army. [L439]
He left his son with ten thousand mercenaries, two thousand Macedonians, five
hundred from Lycia and Pamphylia, four hundred Persian archers and slingers,
five thousand cavalry and forty-three elephants. He left four men as
counsellors, Nearchus, Pithon who had recently come from Babylon and was the son
of Agenor, Andronicus and Philip. These were all men of mature age and
judgment, who had served Alexander the Great in his exploits, while Demetrius
was a young man, not more than twenty-two years old. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
69. s. 1,2. 10:19,21}
2550. Antigonus took the rest of the army and went to cross the Taurus
Mountains. He encountered very deep snow and lost many of his men, prompting
him to return to Cilicia. He was told of an easier, less dangerous way to cross
the mountains. He came to Celaenae in Phrygia and set up the winter quarters
for his army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 69. s. 3. 10:21}
2551. After Tyre had withstood a fifteen-month siege, it conditionally
surrendered to Antigonus. The men of Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, were allowed
to leave with their belongings. Andronicus was stationed there to hold the
place with a garrison. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 61. s. 5. 9:399,401}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 86. s. 1. 10:69}
2552. Antigonus sent for Medius to come to him with his fleet, which he had in
Phoenicia. On his way, he met with the fleet from the city of Pydna, which he
captured and brought to Antigonus with all the men in it. {*Diod. Sic., l.
19. c. 69. s. 3. 10:21}
2553. Asander, the governor of Caria, was overwhelmed by the enemy and came to
the following agreement with Antigonus. He would give all his army to
Antigonus, all the Greek cities there could live according to their own laws,
and Asander would continue to hold the government, which he had there, as a
grant from Antigonus and would be a loyal friend to Antigonus. As security, he
gave his own brother Agathon as a pledge, but a short time later he changed his
mind. He freed his brother from them and sent his agents to Ptolemy and
Seleucus, asking them to come speedily and help him. Antigonus took this rather
badly, and sent his naval and land forces to attack the free Greek cities. To
this end, he made Medius the general of his army, and Docimus the admiral of his
navy. When they came to the Milesians, they encouraged the inhabitants to fight
for their freedom. The Milesians captured the citadel, placed a garrison there
and restored the city to her original freedom again. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
75. s. 1-4. 10:39,41}
2554. Meanwhile, Antigonus besieged and took Tralles and attacked the city of
Caunus. He sent for his fleet and took the city, except for the citadel. He
made a trench around it and made continual assaults on it in places where it
seemed he might be able to break through. He had sent his nephew Ptolemy to the
city of Iasus, to compel that city to support Antigonus, so that at that time
all these cities came under his control. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 75. s.
5,6. 10:41}
3692 AM, 4402 JP, 312 BC
2555. The Cyrenians defected from Ptolemy Lagus and fiercely besieged the
citadel there. They had almost taken it, when messengers from Alexandria came
and tried to persuade them to stop, so they decapitated them and worked harder
than ever to take the citadel. Ptolemy was rather upset by this and sent his
captain Agis there with an army, as well as sending a navy, under the command of
Epaenetus, to help Agis. Agis vigorously pursued the war against the rebels and
took the city of Cyrene. [L440] He imprisoned the instigators of this sedition
and then sent them bound to Alexandria, while disarming the rest. When he had
set things in order there, he returned to Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
79. s. 1-3. 10:51}
2556. After this success in Cyrene, Ptolemy sailed with his fleet to Cyprus, to
fight against those who were rebelling there against their kings. He captured
and executed Pygmalion, who was negotiating with Antigonus. He imprisoned
Praxippus, king of Lapithia and the ruler of Cerynia, who was suspected of a
revolt. He also imprisoned Stasioecus, a petty king of Marion, and destroyed
their city, relocating the inhabitants from there to Paphos. After this, he
made Nicocreon the commander over all Cyprus, giving him the cities, together
with the revenues of all the kings whom he had expelled from their dominions.
Then he went with his army into upper Syria and sacked the cities of Poseidium
and Potamos in Caria, after which he sailed quickly and took Malus in Cilicia.
He sold all the inhabitants into slavery and wasted all the region around there.
When he had made his army rich from plunder, he sailed back again to Cyprus.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 79. s. 4-7. 10:51,53} [E318]
2557. Meanwhile, Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, stayed in Coelosyria,
awaiting the coming of the Egyptians. When he heard what damage Ptolemy had
done to so many cities in Syria, he left Pithon, the son of Agenor, in command
of that region, leaving his heavily armed soldiers and elephants with him, while
he, with his cavalry and companies of lightly armed soldiers, rushed toward
Cilicia to help save them from Ptolemy. He arrived too late and found that the
enemy had already gone. He speedily returned to his camp again, but lost many
of his horses on the way because he pressed them too hard to make the journey so
quickly. In six days, he marched from Malus, which is normally a twenty-four
day journey by ordinary marches. So that through rapid travel, none of the
servants of the cavalry were able to keep up to them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19.
c. 79. s. 4-7. 10:51,53}
2558. When Ptolemy saw that everything was going according to his plans, he
returned to Egypt. Not long after, Seleucus urged him to attack Antigonus,
because Seleucus hated Antigonus. Therefore Ptolemy planned to march into
Coelosyria and attack Demetrius. After he had gathered all his army together,
he marched from Alexandria to Pelusium. He had eighteen thousand foot soldiers
and four thousand cavalry, of which some were Macedonians and some were
mercenaries. Some Egyptians helped carry their arrows and weapons, and other
baggage of the army, and some went as soldiers. When they crossed the desert
from Pelusium, Ptolemy camped near the old city of Gaza and awaited the enemy's
arrival. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 80. s. 4,5. 10:55}
2559. In the 117th Olympiad, Ptolemy defeated Demetrius, the son of Antigonus,
in a major battle near Gaza. After this, Ptolemy was also called Poliorcetes,
that is, the city taker, according to Castor, the historian, as cited by
Josephus. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 22. (185) 1:237,239} Diodorus gave
the details of the battle in his history of that Olympiad. He said that eight
thousand were taken prisoner and about five hundred were killed, but this should
be amended from Plutarch, who said that five thousand were killed. Among the
nobles who were killed was Pithon, the son of Agenor, who was at that time joint
commander with Demetrius, and Boeotus. He had had spent a long time with
Antigonus, Demetrius' father, and was most knowledgeable about his plans and
affairs. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 81-85. 10:55-67} {*Plutarch, Demetrius,
l. 1. c. 5. s. 2. 9:13}
2560. Ptolemy and Seleucus took Gaza, but Demetrius, escaped aided by a good
pair of spurs, reached Azotus at around the following midnight, after riding
about thirty-four miles. [L441] From there, he sent messengers to request the
bodies of his dead for burial. Ptolemy and Seleucus readily granted this, and
also sent back his own pavilion with all its furniture, gratis and without
seeking ransom. They added a generous message that they were not fighting for
pay but for honour, and to determine who should wear the garland. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 19. c. 85. s. 3. 10:67,69} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 5.
s. 3,4. 9:15} {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 1.}
2561. Demetrius was no longer able to hold out in the position he was in. He
sent a messenger with letters to his father, who was in Phrygia, asking for help
and wanting him to come quickly. Demetrius said he was coming to Tripolis in
Phoenicia. He sent for the soldiers who were in Cilicia and elsewhere in
garrisons remote from the enemy's quarters, to come to him. {*Diod. Sic., l.
19. c. 85. s. 5. 10:69}
2562. When Antigonus heard the news, he said that Ptolemy had this time gained
a victory over beardless boys, but that next time he would be fighting against
men. In order not to discourage his son, and because his son wanted another
battle with Ptolemy, Antigonus said he could fight with him alone if he wanted
to. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 6. s. 1. 9:15}
2563. Ptolemy sent the prisoners whom he had taken, to Egypt, where they were
distributed among the various regiments of his fleet. When he had honourably
interred his dead troops, he marched on and attacked the cities and fortified
locations of Phoenicia, some of which he besieged, while others were persuaded
to yield to him. When he had captured Sidon, he went and camped before Tyre.
He sent to Andronicus, the captain of the garrison, to surrender the city to
him, while making him generous promises of wealth and honour. He, however,
replied that he would never betray the trust which Antigonus and his son
Demetrius had put in him, and said many harsh things against Ptolemy. But a
little later, his soldiers rebelled and he was taken by Ptolemy, who overlooked
the harsh words he had spoken against him and greatly rewarded him. He took
Andronicus into the number of his friends and regarded him highly. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 19. c. 86. 10:69,71}
2564. Seleucus took with him a thousand foot soldiers from Ptolemy and three
hundred cavalry, according to Appian. Diodorus said they were only eight
hundred foot soldiers and two hundred cavalry. With so small a force, he went
to recover his government of the province of Babylon. When he came with them
into Mesopotamia, he dealt with the Macedonians he found living there in
Carrhae. [E319] He persuaded some to follow him, while others had to be forced
to go along with him on his journey. No sooner had he set foot within the
territory of Babylon, than the inhabitants came flocking to him, offering him
their service in the recovery of his government. Polyarchus also, who held some
office among them, came to him to receive his commands, and brought a thousand
armed troops to him. When those who sided with Antigonus realised his
popularity with the people, they all fled to the citadel which was commanded by
Diphilus, but Seleucus besieged it and took it by force. He released from there
the children and friends of his that Antigonus had imprisoned when Seleucus had
fled to Egypt for fear. When this had been accomplished, he began raising
soldiers in the country. He bought horses and distributed them among those who
were able to ride them. He behaved fairly and in a friendly manner toward all
of them, securing their loyalty so that they were all prepared to risk any
hazard with him. So, once again, for the third time, he recovered all his
government of Babylon. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 90,91. 10:77-81} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (54) 2:207}
2565. Nicanor, whom Antigonus had made governor of the province of Media,
marched against Seleucus with ten thousand foot soldiers and seven thousand
cavalry. Seleucus immediately went to meet him with a little over three
thousand foot soldiers and four hundred cavalry. [L442] When he had crossed the
Tigris River, he heard that the enemy was not far off, so he hid his men in the
marshes around there and planned to ambush Nicanor. When Nicanor came to the
bank of the Tigris River, he could not find the enemy and camped near a royal
station. Little did he think that the enemy was so near. The following night
he was not even thinking about the enemy, and so did not post a proper military
watch. Seleucus attacked him and raised a great tumult in his army. When the
Persians joined the battle, Euager, their general, was killed, as were some of
their other commanders. After this battle, most of Nicanor's army abandoned him
and defected to Seleucus. They did not like the strait they were in, nor did
they care for Antigonus. Whereupon Nicanor, fearing what would happen next if
his soldiers were to turn him over to Seleucus, stole away with a few of his
friends and fled home again through the desert into Media. {*Diod. Sic., l.
19. c. 92. 10:81,83}
2566. Even though Seleucus had acquired this powerful army, he still behaved
well toward everyone and easily subdued the provinces of Media, Susa and the
other bordering countries. He quickly sent Ptolemy word about how he had
regained his full regal power and majesty. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 92. s.
5. 10:83} Based on this, Eusebius counted this as the first year of Seleucus'
reign. All the historians noted that the Edesseni began their epoch here. The
story of the Maccabees' account of the Greek reign also began here. Without a
doubt this is from the autumn of this very year, that is, from September or
October of the year 312 BC or 4402 JP. The writer of the second book of
Maccabees calculated his Greek years by starting at that time, and the Jews
reckon their Eram Contractium, that is, their Account of Contracts from this
time, and those of Edessa, and other Syrians, their Epoch of the Seleucian
Kingdom, and the Arabians, the years of Alexander Dehiplarnain, as they called
them. The writer of the first book of Maccabees, however, began his account of
the Greek year from the previous spring to this autumn, and Ptolemy of
Alexandria began his Chaldean account from the next spring. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis}
3693a AM, 4402 JP, 312 BC
2567. While Ptolemy of Egypt stayed behind in Coelosyria, he sent one of his
friends, a Macedonian called Cilles, against Demetrius with a large army.
Demetrius was camped in upper Syria, and Ptolemy wanted Cilles to fight with him
and either drive him from Syria, or confine him there and destroy him.
Demetrius was told by his spies that Cilles and his army were carelessly camped
at Myus, without keeping a proper watch. So Demetrius left his baggage behind
him and marched away with a company of lightly armed troops. They travelled all
night, and a little before daybreak they attacked Cilles' camp, turning it into
chaos, and captured Cilles together with seven thousand soldiers, as well as
much booty. Since he thought Ptolemy was coming later with all his army,
Demetrius pitched his camp in a place where he had a swamp on one side and large
marshes on the other to protect him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 93. s. 1-3.
10:81,83} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 6. 9:15,17}
2568. Demetrius sent news of this good success to his father Antigonus at
Celaenae in Phrygia. He asked him quickly to send an army, or to come in person
into Syria. When Antigonus read the letter, he was overjoyed by the news of the
victory and his son's conduct in managing the battle. He had shown himself a
man worthy of wearing the crown after Antigonus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
93. s. 3,4. 10:83} Demetrius, with his father's permission, sent Cilles and
all his friends back to Ptolemy again, and so was no longer indebted to Ptolemy
for his former kindness to him. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3.
9:17} [E320] [L443]
2569. Antigonus moved from Phrygia with his army and in a few days crossed the
Taurus Mountains and came to his son Demetrius. Ptolemy followed the advice of
his council and decided to leave Syria. Before he left, he laid waste and
destroyed the main cities which he had captured. These included Ace (later
called Ptolemais) in Phoenician Syria, Joppa, Samaria and Gaza in Syria. He
took whatever he could carry from there, and returned to Egypt loaded with
wealth. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 93. s. 3-7. 10:85,87}
2570. A large number of men who lived there noticed his good temperament and
mild nature, and so wanted to return with him to Egypt. Among these was
Ezechias, a high priest of the Jews. (Perhaps a secondary one, for the chief
high priest at that time was Onias I.) Ezechias was about sixty-six years old
and highly respected among his people, very eloquent and with much experience in
the affairs of the world. This and much more concerning this Ezechias was
recorded by Hecataeus, the historian (who conversed with him in Ptolemy's army),
in a peculiar treatise which he wrote about the Jews. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1.
c. 22. (186-190) 1:239} He told a long story about another Jew with whom he
became acquainted, named Mosollamus. His story was this:
"When I went toward the Red Sea, there was one among the rest of a troop of
cavalry of the Jews, who escorted us, a man called Mosollamus. He was a very
intelligent man and the best archer of the entire company. He noticed a certain
seer in the company stand still and request that all the company do the same,
while he observed a certain bird flying, so that he could divine by it.
Mosollamus asked him why he was standing still. The seer showed him the bird he
was watching and said that it would be best for the company to stay there, if
the bird were to stay where it was. If it arose and flew ahead of them, then
they should go forward too. If it flew back, then all the company ought to
return also. Mosollamus said nothing, but drew his bow and shot and killed the
bird. The seer and others present there were angry about this and reproved him
for his actions. He replied by asking why they were angry with him, and why
they had picked up this unlucky bird. How could this bird, which had not known
what was about to happen to it, predict what would happen to them on their
journey? If it had had any knowledge of things to come, it would never have
come there to be shot to death by Mosollamus, a Jew."
2571. Many things besides this are told by Josephus {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1.
c. 22. (200-204) 1:245,247} in the same book concerning the Jews. He said
that at that time there were fifteen hundred priests who received tithes, and
governed all things belonging to the commonwealth. Demetrius of Phalerum, in
his letter to Ptolemy Philadelphus (found in Aristeas and Josephus), gave the
reason why no heathen poet or historian mentioned either of those sacred books,
or anything about those men who lived according to the rules set down in them.
These books contained a sacred and venerable rule which was not to be uttered by
unhallowed mouths. {Aristeas, Septuagint Interpreters} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
12. c. 2. s. 14. (111) 7:55}
3693b AM, 4403 JP, 311 BC
2572. Antigonus had recovered all Syria and Phoenicia without fighting a
battle. He journeyed to the country of the Arabians, called the Nabateans, and
because he thought they had never really favoured his actions, he appointed one
of his friends, Athenaeus, with four thousand foot soldiers and six hundred
light cavalry, to attack them and get as much spoil as he could. About that
time of the year, all the neighbouring countries came together to a common
market, to sell their wares. [L444] It was the custom of the Nabateans to go to
this market. They left their wealth and the old men, with their wives and
children, on the top of a rock. Athenaeus waited for this opportunity and
quickly marched to this rock. He left the province of Edom and marched about
two hundred and seventy-five miles in the space of three days and three nights.
At about midnight, he surprised the Arabians and captured the rock, killing some
of the soldiers there and taking some prisoners, but leaving their wounded
behind. He took a large quantity of their myrrh and frankincense, with five
hundred talents of silver, but he did not stay there more than three hours, lest
the neighbouring countries attack him, instead returning immediately. When they
had gone about twenty-five miles and could go no farther because they were so
tired, they rested and did not set a watch, because they thought the people
could not reach them for two or three days. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 94. s.
1. 10:87} {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 95. s. 1-3. 10:91,93}
2573. When the Arabs heard what had happened from those who had seen the enemy
army, they left the market and returned to the rock. The wounded told them
which way the army had gone, and the Arabs followed them. [E321] Athenaeus' men
were keeping no watch, because they were weary and fast asleep after their long
journey, so some of their prisoners stole away from them and told the Arabs
where the enemy camp was. They hurried to the place and arrived about the third
watch in the morning. They attacked their trenches and killed eight thousand of
them as they lay sleeping in their tents. Any who resisted were killed. They
utterly destroyed all their foot soldiers and only fifty of their cavalry
escaped, and most of them were wounded, too. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 95.
s. 4-7. 10:93,95} So the Nabateans recovered their goods and returned to the
rock. They sent a letter to Antigonus written in Syriac, in which they
complained about Athenaeus and his wrong-doing, and apologised for their
actions. Antigonus wrote back again, cunningly telling them that Athenaeus had
been treated well enough by them. He blamed Athenaeus for his actions, assuring
them that he had issued no such order. When he had appeased and deceived these
poor Nabateans, Antigonus a little later selected four thousand foot soldiers
from all his army. They were lightly armed and the swiftest on their feet that
he could find. He added four thousand cavalry to the troops and wanted them to
take a supply of food that would not need to be cooked, in their knapsacks for
the journey. He had his son Demetrius command them, and sent them away early in
the night with orders to avenge his loss. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 96.
10:95,97} Demetrius travelled three days' journey through the desert and hurried
to attack them by surprise. However, the scouts saw them coming and made fires
to signal their coming into that country, whereupon the Arabs at once climbed to
the top of their rock. There was only one way to get up, and that was by
climbing by hand. They left their belongings there with a sufficiently large
guard to keep them. The rest went and drove away their cattle, some to one
place, some to another, in the desert. When Demetrius came to the rock and saw
that all the cattle had been driven away, he started to besiege the rock. They
manfully defended it and due to the advantage of the position, had the upper
hand that day. Finally Demetrius was forced to withdraw. Since he saw that he
could not defeat them, he made peace with them. They gave him hostages and the
gifts that had been agreed upon between them. He moved about forty miles with
his army and camped near the Dead Sea. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 97.
10:95,97} Plutarch said that he went there with a large booty and seven hundred
camels. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 7. s. 1. 9:17} [L445]
2574. When Demetrius returned to Antigonus, he told his father what had
happened. Antigonus blamed him for making peace with the Nabateans, and said
that those barbarous people would become more insolent because they had escaped.
However, he commended him for discovering the Dead Sea, as he might raise some
yearly revenue for himself from there. He made Hieronymus Cardianus, the
historian, his treasurer for that revenue. Josephus noted that he was made
governor of Syria by Antigonus. Josephus deservedly condemned Hieronymus for
making no mention of the Jews in his writings, since he lived near them and
almost among them. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 1. c. 23. (214) 1:249,251}
Hieronymus was commanded to build ships and to gather together in one place all
the bitumen or liquid brimstone that could be extracted from that lake. Six
thousand Arabians attacked them as they were in their ships gathering this
brimstone, and killed almost all of them with arrows, and so Antigonus lost all
hope of making any regular revenue that way. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 100.
s. 1,2. 10:103,105}
2575. Antigonus learned from letters sent by Nicanor, the governor of Media,
and others, how Seleucus was prospering in those parts. He sent his son
Demetrius with five thousand Macedonian foot soldiers, ten thousand mercenaries
and four thousand cavalry, with orders to march to the very walls of Babylon.
After he had recovered that province, he was to march down to the sea.
Demetrius left Damascus in Syria and went to execute his father's commands. As
soon as Patrocles, whom Seleucus had left as governor of Babylon, heard that
Demetrius was coming into Mesopotamia, he did not dare to impede his coming,
because he had only a small force with him. He ordered the rest of the people
to leave the city, and to flee when they had crossed the Euphrates River. Some
should go into the desert, while others should go over the Tigris River into the
province of Susa and to the Persian Sea. He, with the forces he had, would
trust in the sandbars of the rivers and dikes of the country as defences,
instead of so many fortresses and bulwarks. He stayed within the bounds of his
own government and planned how to entrap his enemy. He kept Seleucus in Media
informed of how things were going with him and requested that help be speedily
sent to him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 100. s. 3-6. 10:105,107}
2576. When Demetrius came to Babylon and found the city itself devoid of
inhabitants, he started to besiege the citadels that were there. When he had
taken one, he gave its spoil to the soldiers. [E322] He turned out Seleucus'
men and put his garrison of seven thousand soldiers in their place, but was not
able to take any other citadels, and after a long siege he departed and left
Archelaus, one of his loyal friends, to maintain the siege with five thousand
foot soldiers and a thousand cavalry. When Demetrius had run out of the time
that his father had allowed for this expedition, he ordered his soldiers to
steal for themselves whatever they could from that province, after which he
journeyed back to Asia. By this action, he left Seleucus more firmly
established and better settled in his government than before. Men questioned
why Demetrius would waste and spoil the country, if he planned to take it over.
For this reason, the Chaldeans reckon the beginning of the Seleucian reign in
Babylon from this time, rather than an earlier time. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c.
100. s. 3-6. 10:107,109} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 7. s. 2,3.
9:17,19}
2577. Demetrius returned to Asia and quickly raised the siege which Ptolemy had
laid to Halicarnassus. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 7. s. 3. 9:19}
2578. Cassander, Ptolemy and Lysimachus made peace with Antigonus on the
following conditions. Cassander would command everything in Europe until
Alexander, the son of Roxane, came of age. Lysimachus would hold Thrace, and
Ptolemy Egypt, along with the bordering countries of Libya and Arabia. [L446]
Antigonus would have the command of all Asia to himself. This agreement did not
last long, for they all used any excuse to encroach on one another's territory.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 105. s. 1. 10:117,119}
2579. Cassander saw that Alexander, the son of Roxane, was growing up, and
heard a rumour among the Macedonians that they thought it was about time that
the young king should now be freed from his prison and rule the kingdom.
Alarmed by this, he ordered Glaucias, the keeper, to murder Roxane and her son,
the king, and to bury their bodies in some secret place, concealing their deaths
by every possible means, all of which he did. {*Diod. Sic., l. 19. c. 105.
s. 2-4. 10:119}
2580. Parysades, the king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, died after ruling for
thirty-eight years. He left his kingdom to his oldest son, Satyrus, who held
the kingdom for only nine months. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 22. s. 1.
10:197,199} {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 23. s. 7. 10:203}
3694 AM, 4404 JP, 310 BC
2581. In Peloponnesus, Ptolemy, one of Antigonus' captains, defected from him
to Cassander's side. He sent soldiers to a very loyal friend of his called
Phoenix, to whom he had also committed the management of the government of the
Hellespont, advising him to man his citadels and cities and to be on the alert
and no longer serve Antigonus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 19. s. 2. 10:193}
2582. On the other side, Ptolemy of Egypt complained about Antigonus, who,
contrary to the agreement, had put his garrisons into various Greek cities on
the asian side. Consequently, he sent Leonides, his captain, to Cilicia
Trachea, to take over some cities and places that belonged to Antigonus, while
also sending his agent to some cities held by Cassander and Lysimachus, to say
that they should follow his advice and not allow Antigonus to become too
powerful. {*Diod. Sic., 1. 20. c. 19. s. 3,4. 10:193}
2583. Antigonus sent his younger son Philip to fight against Phoenix and others
who had revolted from him in the Hellespont. His son Demetrius was sent into
Cilicia against Ptolemy of Egypt, and both routed the captains of Ptolemy and
recovered the cities which he had taken. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 19. s.
5. 10:193}
2584. Polyperchon, in Peloponnesus, complained about Cassander and his
government of Macedonia. He sent for Hercules, a son of Alexander the Great by
Barsine, who was now seventeen years old, as well as sending to those who were
enemies of Cassander, to seek their help in establishing this young man in his
father's kingdom. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 20. s. 1. 10:195}
2585. When Ptolemy of Egypt had all Cyprus under his command, he learned that
Nicocles, the king of Paphos, had negotiated secretly with Antigonus. Ptolemy
sent two confidants of his, Argaeus and Callicrates, with orders to kill
Nicocles. They crossed over into Cyprus, taking with them a certain number of
soldiers from Menelaus, who commanded the army there. They surrounded the house
of Nicocles and then told him what Ptolemy wanted Nicocles to do, and advised
him to find another kingdom. First, he tried to clear himself of the charges.
When he realised that no one was listening to him, he drew his sword and killed
himself. When his wife, Axiothea, heard of her husband's death, she took her
daughters, who were all young virgins, and killed them, and tried to make the
wives of Nicocles' brothers die with her. Ptolemy had not requested this, but
had ordered that they be spared. The brothers of Nicocles died when they shut
themselves in the palace and set fire to it. So the entire family of the kings
of Paphos came to a tragic and lamentable end. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 21.
10:195,197} {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 8.} [E323]
2586. Around this time, Agathocles, king of Sicily, was sailing toward Africa
to make war upon the Carthaginians. [L447] A total eclipse of the sun occurred
and it was so dark, that the stars appeared in the sky and the day was turned
into night. This happened on August 15, 310 BC or 4404 JP, according to the
astronomical tables. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 5. s. 5. 10:155,157}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 22. c. 6. s. 2.}
2587. When Epicurus was thirty-two years old, he taught publicly for five
years, in both Mitylene and Lampsacus. {*Diogenes Laertius, Epicurus, l. 10.
c. 10. (15) 2:543}
2588. In Cimmerian Bosphorus, Eumelus, the younger brother of Satyrus, allied
himself with some of the neighbouring natives and laid claim to the kingdom of
his elder brother. When Satyrus discovered this, he went against him with a
large army and crossed the Thapsis River. Satyrus approached Eumelus' quarters
and surrounded Eumelus' camp with his carts and wagons, in which he had brought
a large quantity of provisions. He arranged his army in the field for battle
and as was the custom of the Scythian kings, led the centre of his army's battle
line. He had less than two thousand Greeks and as many Thracians, while all the
rest were Scythians who had come to help him. They numbered twenty thousand
foot soldiers and at least ten thousand cavalry. Eumelus was being helped by
Aripharnes, king of Siraces, with twenty thousand cavalry and twenty-two
thousand foot soldiers. Satyrus routed Aripharnes and then defeated his brother
Eumelus, with his foot soldiers. He forced them all to retreat to Aripharnes'
palace, which was surrounded by a river with steep rocks and thick woods.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 22. 10:197-201}
2589. At first, Satyrus went and wasted the enemy's country and set fire to
their villages, from which he gathered much spoil. Then, making his way through
their marshy country, he came to their wooden citadels and took them. He
crossed the river and cut down a large forest through which he had to pass to
get to the king's palace. He had his whole army work at this for three days,
until they came to the walls of the citadel. Meniscus, who was leading the
mercenary companies, got through a passage in the wall, and although he fought
very courageously, he was outnumbered and was forced to retreat. Satyrus, who
had come to his aid, was wounded in the arm with a spear and was forced to
retire to his camp, where he died the following night of his wound. Meniscus
broke off the siege and withdrew the army to a city called Gargaza, from where
he carried the king's body down the river to a city called Panticapaeum, to
Satyrus' brother Prytanis. He gave it a magnificent burial and laid the body in
the king's sepulchre, after which he went to Gargaza and took over the army and
the kingdom. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 23. 10:201,205}
2590. Agents from Eumelus came to Prytanis to propose that the kingdom be
divided between them. Prytanis would have none of it and left a strong garrison
at Gargaza. He returned to Panticapaeum to settle the affairs of his kingdom.
After a while, Eumelus, with the help of some barbarians, captured Gargaza and
various other towns and citadels. Later, he defeated Prytanis in a battle and
trapped him in an isthmus near Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov). He forced Prytanis
to surrender, imposing the condition that he give up all his army and leave the
kingdom. Nevertheless, when Prytanis returned to Panticapaeum, where the kings
of Bosphorus kept their standing court, he again endeavoured to recover his
kingdom. He was foiled in this, and fled to a place near there called the
Gardens, where he was killed. His brother Eumelus reigned in his place for five
years and five months. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 24. s. 1,2. 10:205}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 25. s. 3. 10:209}
3695 AM, 4405 JP, 309 BC
2591. To establish his kingdom, Eumelus killed all the friends, wives and
children of both his brothers, Satyrus and Prytanis. [L448] Only Parysades,
Satyrus' son, who was only a youth, escaped. Using a swift horse, he fled to
Agarus, king of the Scythians. When Eumelus saw that the people grieved over
the loss of their friends whom he had murdered, he called them all together. He
apologised for his actions and gave them back their ancient form of government
as well as restoring to the citizens of Panticapaeum their former exemptions,
promising to free them from all tribute. He was not sparing in his use of
persuasive words to win over the hearts of the people to him once again, and so
he regained their good will. He ruled with justice and moderation and was held
in esteem by them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 24. s. 3-5. 10:205,207}
2592. When Ptolemy Lagus of Egypt heard that he had again lost everything in
Cilicia, he sailed over with his fleet to Phaselis and took that city by force.
From there, he passed into Lycia and in an assault took Xanthus and the garrison
of Antigonus that was there. Then he attacked Caunus, which surrendered to him,
after which he also attacked the citadels that were within it and took them by
assault. He utterly destroyed Heracleum, whereas Persicum was surrendered to
him by the soldiers who held it. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 27. s. 1,2.
10:211,213} [E324]
2593. Then, Ptolemy Lagus sailed to Cos and sent for Ptolemy, Antigonus'
nephew, who had an army committed to him by Antigonus, to come to him. He
defected from his uncle and completely sided with Ptolemy Lagus. He left
Chalcis, and arrived at Cos. At first, Ptolemy Lagus received him in a very
courteous manner, but after a while he observed his indolence and how he tried
to win over his officers by gifts and secret meetings with them. Fearing the
worst, he put him in prison, where he poisoned him with a drink of hemlock.
Ptolemy Lagus secured Ptolemy's soldiers with generous promises and distributed
them in small numbers among the rest of his army. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c.
27. s. 3. 10:213}
2594. Cassander feared that the Macedonians might defect to Hercules, the son
of Alexander the Great, who was then fourteen years old (according to Justin, or
else seventeen, according to Diodorus). Cassander befriended Polyperchon and
used him to have Hercules and his mother Barsine secretly murdered and their
bodies hidden deeply enough in the ground to prevent the truth from accidently
coming to light during their solemn funerals. Now that Alexander's two sons
were both dead and there was no biological heir left to succeed him, every
governor made himself king of the province which he held, just as if he had
captured it in battle. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 28. 10:213,215} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 15. c. 2.}
3696 AM, 4406 JP, 308 BC
2595. Ptolemy sailed from Myndus along the islands which were along his way,
and came to Andros, where he expelled the garrison that was there and restored
the city to her former liberty. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 37. s. 1.
10:241}
2596. Cleopatra, the daughter of Philip and sister of Alexander the Great, was
incensed against Antigonus. Of her own accord, she planned to go to Ptolemy and
tried to leave Sardis, but the governor there, whom Antigonus had charged not to
hurt her, prevented her from leaving. Later, at Antigonus' command and with the
help of some of the women about her, Cleopatra was murdered. To allay
suspicion, Antigonus had some of these women who had murdered her executed,
while he buried Cleopatra with all the magnificence possible to him. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 20. c. 37. 10:241,243}
2597. Ophellas, who had expelled Thibron and subdued the Cyrenians for Ptolemy,
now claimed Cyrene with the cities and adjoining regions as his own. [L449]
Still not content, he began to look for greater things. While he was thinking
about this, Orthon of Syracuse came to him with a message from Agathocles,
asking him to join in arms with him against the Carthaginians, and telling him
that if he subdued them, Agathocles would make him sovereign of all Africa.
This fuelled his ego and he listened to him. He sent his agent to Athens, the
former home of his wife Eurydice, the daughter of Miltiades, to ask for their
help and alliance in this war. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 40. 10:249,251}
3697 AM, 4407 JP, 307 BC
2598. Many Athenians and other Greeks willingly listened to this motion. They
hoped through this to gain a share of the richest pieces of all Africa, with all
the wealth of Carthage for themselves. Ophellas was outfitted for this
expedition, and was given an army of ten thousand foot soldiers, six hundred
cavalry and a hundred chariots, with more than three hundred charioteers and men
to fight beside them. Not counting the followers of the camp, he had more than
ten thousand with him, who brought along their wives and children, with their
baggage. This looked more like a colony going to be established than an army
marching against an enemy. When they had marched for eighteen days and gone
about thirty-seven miles, they came to a city called Automula on the western
border of Cyrene, where they camped and rested themselves. Then, they moved on
again and travelled through a dry desert country that was full of poisonous
snakes. At last, after two months of miserable travel, they came to Agathocles'
camp and pitched their own camp close to his. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c.
41,42. 10:251-255}
2599. When Agathocles heard of Ophellas' coming, he went to meet him, and
advised him to rest and relax after so tedious and difficult a journey. When
they had dined together many times, Ophellas adopted Agathocles as his son.
Later, when most of Ophellas' army was foraging in the country, Agathocles
suddenly called an assembly of his own army and in their presence accused
Ophellas, who was to have helped him in this war, of betraying him. When he had
incensed the multitude, he drew out his whole army in formation against Ophellas
and his Cyrenians. Ophellas was shocked at this unexpected turn of affairs and
had his men defend themselves, but the enemy was too quick for him and he too
weak for them, and so he was killed. [E325] After his death, Agathocles
persuaded those who were left to lay down their arms and then told them what
great things he would do for them. He persuaded them to take their pay from him
and so took over Ophellas' army. Those whom he found to be unfit for the war,
he sent to Syracuse. Some arrived there, but most perished in a fierce storm on
the way. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 42. s. 3-5. 10:255,257} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 22. c. 2.}
2600. After Ophellas' death, Cyrene and all Libya returned to Ptolemy's
government again. {Suidas, in Dhmhtr}
3698 AM, 4408 JP, 306 BC
2601. Demetrius Poliorcetes, or as Pliny rendered it, Expugnator Urbum, that
is, the City Taker, was furnished with two strong armies, one on land and
another at sea. Equipped with all the weapons and every other provision for the
war, they left Ephesus with five thousand talents of silver, to liberate the
Greek cities. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 45. s. 1. 10:265} They came to
Piraeus, the port of Athens, with two hundred and fifty ships on the 26th day of
the month of Thargelion, about May 31. They were received into Athens and took
the city of Megara. Since Cassander had put a garrison under the command of
Dionysus into Munychia, which was the citadel of Athens, Demetrius razed it to
the ground. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 8,9. 9:21-25} [L450]
2602. This happened in the year when Anaxicrates was archon at Athens.
Philochorus, who lived at this very time, recorded this, among others.
{Philochorus, Attic, l. 8.} This was cited by Dionysius Halicarnassus.
{*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Dinarchus, l. 1. (3) 2:259} It was toward the end
of Anaxicrates' archonship, in the second year of the 118th Olympiad.
2603. Eurydice returned to Athens. She was the widow of Opheltas, or Ophellas,
who was governor of Cyrene and who had been killed the previous year.
Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, married her, which the Athenians considered a
great honour for them. They were the first to address Demetrius and Antigonus
by the title of king. Otherwise, they had denied that title to anyone else,
because they saw it as the only mark of royalty which belonged exclusively to
Philip, Alexander and his posterity. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 14. s.
1,2. 9:33} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 10. s. 2,3. 9:25}
2604. Demetrius was recalled from Greece by his father Antigonus to make war
upon the captains of Ptolemy in Cyprus. He sailed first to Caria and then to
Cilicia, from where he got supplies of ships and men, and then sailed to Cyprus
with fifteen thousand foot soldiers, four hundred cavalry and a fleet of a
hundred and ten very fast ships, of three tiers of oars apiece, and fifty-three
that were slower. The rest were cargo ships to transport the men, horses and
equipment.
2605. He landed and first camped near the shore not far from Carpasia. He drew
up his ships to land and there fenced them with a deep trench and ramparts.
Then he went and took Urania and Carpasia by force. Leaving a sufficiently
large guard to defend his trenches around the fleet, he marched at once to
Salamis. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 47. s. 1,2. 10:271}
2606. At that time Menelaus, the brother of Ptolemy and chief commander of the
island, was at Salamis. When he saw the enemy within five miles of the city, he
drew out twelve thousand foot soldiers and eight hundred cavalry from the
adjoining garrisons, and went to attack him, but was overcome by the enemy and
fled. Demetrius hotly pursued him to the very gates of the city and there
captured three thousand men and killed a thousand. He distributed the prisoners
among his own companies to serve him. When he found they were constantly ready
to defect to Menelaus again, because their wealth was in Ptolemy's hands in
Egypt, he shipped them all away to Antigonus, his father. {*Diod. Sic., l.
20. c. 47. s. 3,4. 10:271,273}
2607. Antigonus at that time was building a city in upper Syria by the Orontes
River. He called it Antigonia, after himself, and spent large amounts of money
on its construction. The walls were about nine miles long, and the place was
very well located to control Babylon and the upper provinces, and also the lower
ones as far down as Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 47. s. 5,6. 10:273}
2608. Menelaus fled back to Salamis and determined to endure a siege. He sent
a messenger to Ptolemy for more help and told him what danger he was in.
Demetrius set to work preparing his battering rams to take the city by force.
He had one special machine which he called the Helepolis, that is, the
City-Taker. It was about a hundred and thirty-five feet high and had a base
half that length. Each of its four wheels was twelve feet high. He also had
various other large rams, and galleries for them. At night, those within the
city threw wood down on them and shot fire brands which consumed many of the
machines, with most of the men that guarded them. Yet Demetrius would not stop,
but pressed the siege both by sea and land, believing that in time he would
capture the city. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 48. 10:275,277} [E326]
2609. When Ptolemy heard of the loss of his men, he sailed with a
well-furnished army for sea and land and arrived at Paphos in Cyprus. [L451] He
took boats from the neighbouring cities and went to Citium, about twenty-five
miles from Salamis. His whole fleet consisted of a hundred and forty or, as
Plutarch has it, a hundred and fifty ships. The largest was of five tiers of
oars and the smallest had four tiers of oars. These were accompanied by two
hundred cargo ships containing at least ten thousand soldiers. He sent orders
to Menelaus that, at the moment when he saw them in the heat of the battle, he
was to attack from the port of Salamis with sixty ships, assaulting the rear of
the enemy and disorganizing them in any way he could. Demetrius foresaw what
would happen. He left part of his army to maintain the siege by land and
ordered Antisthenes, his admiral, to lie at the mouth of the harbour of Salamis
with ten ships of five tiers of oars apiece to hem the fleet in, so they could
not get out. When he had arranged his land army on the shore of the forelands
overlooking the sea, he arranged his fleet of a hundred and eight or, as
Plutarch has it, of a hundred and eighty ships in battle formation. Some were
of seven tiers of oars, but most were four tiers of oars. {*Diod. Sic., l.
20. c. 49,50. 10:277,279} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 15. s. 1,2.
9:37}
2610. Ptolemy was in the wing, where he utterly routed the enemy and sank some
of their ships, while he captured others with their men in them. When he
returned, he intended to do the same with the rest of the enemy forces, but he
found that his left wing had been completely routed by Demetrius, and that he
was in hot pursuit of them. Therefore, he sailed back to Citium. Demetrius
committed his warships to Neon and Burichus, to pursue the enemy and rescue
those who were swimming in the sea, while he returned to his own port, from
where he had set out. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 52. s. 2,3. 10:287}
2611. Meanwhile, Menelaus sent out his sixty ships, as he had been commanded,
under the command of Menoetius, who fought with those ten ships that had been
sent to keep him in. He broke through them and caused them to flee for safety
to the army that was on land. When Menoetius' men saw that they had come too
late to act according to their instructions, they returned again to Salamis.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 52. s. 4,5. 10:287}
2612. Ptolemy saw he could do no good in Cyprus and returned to Egypt with only
eight ships, whereupon Menelaus surrendered the city as well as all his land and
sea forces to Demetrius. He had twelve hundred cavalry and twelve thousand
heavily armed foot soldiers. In a short time, Demetrius captured all the
island's remaining cities and citadels and distributed the garrison soldiers
among his own companies, which amounted to sixteen thousand foot soldiers and
six hundred cavalry. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 53. s. 1-4. 10:289}
{*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 16. s. 1,2. 9:37} {Justin, Trogus, l. 15.
c. 2.}
2613. He had taken a hundred cargo ships containing almost eight thousand
soldiers, and forty warships with their crews. About eighty ships had been
damaged in the battle and leaked, and they drew these to land below their camp
near the city. Demetrius had twenty of his own ships badly damaged in this
battle, but these were repaired and were as good as new again, according to
Diodorus. However, Plutarch said seventy of Ptolemy's ships were captured with
their crews and soldiers, while the rest, who were in the cargo ships, were
mainly slaves, friends and women. They had weapons and money to pay the
soldiers and engines of war. Nothing escaped, and Demetrius took it all and
carried it to his camp. Among the rest, there was a lady named Lamia, who was
initially famous for her excellent skill in playing upon the recorder, and later
became a notorious harlot. [L452] Although she was well past her prime,
Demetrius, who was much younger than she was, fell in love with her. She caught
and enamoured him to such an extent with the pretence of her talk and behaviour,
that he became as much in love with her as other women were with him. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 20. c. 52. s. 6. 10:289} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 16.
s. 3,4. 9:37,39}
2614. Demetrius buried the bodies of the enemy who had been killed with a very
honourable burial. He dismissed those he had taken prisoner and gave the
Athenians arms enough to furnish twelve hundred men. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l.
1. c. 17. s. 1. 9:39} He sent home Leontiscus, Ptolemy's son, Menelaus'
brother and his other friends, with suitable provisions for their journey along
the way. He did not forget what Ptolemy had formerly done to him in a similar
situation. He engaged in these reciprocal displays of affection and kindness in
the very heat of war, that it might be evident that their dispute was for the
sake of honour, and not from hatred. It was the fashion in those days to wage
war more religiously than men are now inclined to observe the laws of friendship
in time of peace. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 2.}
2615. Demetrius sent Aristodemus, the Milesian, to his father, with news of
this victory. This Aristodemus was considered to be the foremost flatterer in
the entire court. When he came to Antigonus, he stood still for a while and
held him in suspense as to what the news might be. Finally, he burst out with
these tidings:
"God save the King Antigonus, we have overthrown King Ptolemy at sea. Cyprus is
ours. We have taken prisoner twelve thousand and eight hundred of his men."
2616. Antigonus replied to him: {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 17. s.
2-5. 9:39,41}
"God save you, too. Nevertheless, because you held me in suspense so long
before you told me your good news, you shall be punished in the same way, too.
For you shall stay a while, before you receive your reward for your good news."
[E327]
2617. Antigonus was puffed up with pride by this victory and subsequently
assumed to himself a crown and the title of king. Thereupon, Ptolemy did the
same, lest he should in any way seem to have been defeated by this or be held in
less regard by his subjects. In all his letters from that time on, he swore
himself to be king. Other governors of the provinces followed their example.
Seleucus, who had recently subdued the upper provinces to himself, did likewise,
as did Lysimachus and Cassander, when they saw that now there was neither mother
nor brother nor son of Alexander the Great left alive. {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 9. (54) 2:207} {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 2.} {*Diod. Sic., l.
20. c. 53. 10:289} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1,2. 9:41}
3699 AM, 4409 JP, 305 BC
2618. Seleucus proclaimed himself king of Babylon and Media, since he had
personally killed Nicator, or Nicanor, whom Antigonus had placed there as
governor. He assumed the surname of Nicator or Nicanor (for this is what we
find stamped on his coins, also), not from that Nicator or Nicanor whom he
killed, but from the many great victories which he had gained. After he had
subdued the Bactrians, he proceeded and took in all the rest of the countries
which Alexander had formerly subdued, as far as the Indus River, and added them
to his own dominion. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.} {*Ammianus Marcellinus,
l. 23. c. 6. s. 3. 2:351} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (55)
2:207}
2619. King Antigonus' (for so we must call him from now on) youngest son died
and Antigonus buried him in royal style. He called Demetrius home from Cyprus
and commanded his whole army to meet at his new city of Antigonia, as he planned
to march from there into Egypt. Leading the foot soldiers himself, he went
through Coelosyria. He had an army of eighty thousand foot soldiers and about
ten thousand cavalry, and he made Demetrius the admiral of his fleet, ordering
him to keep close to the shore, within sight of the army. He had a hundred and
fifty warships and a hundred cargo ships that carried an enormous supply of all
types of weapons. The pilots told him that now was the time that the seven
stars (Pleiades) were ready to set, and that they would set on the eighth day
from then, at the beginning of November. Hence, it was not a good time to sail.
Antigonus replied that they were too timid to make good sailors. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 20. c. 73. 10:337,339} [L453]
2620. Antigonus came to Gaza with his army and planned to attack Ptolemy before
Ptolemy was ready for him. He commanded his soldiers to take ten days' supply
of food with them. With the camels from Arabia, he loaded a hundred and thirty
thousand bushels of grain and an enormous supply of fodder for the beasts of
burden. He carried his weapons in wagons and went through the desert, which
caused some trouble for the army. They crossed various marshy places on the
way, especially around the place called Barathra. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c.
73. s. 3. 10:339}
2621. Demetrius sailed with his ships from Gaza at about midnight and had calm
weather for several days. The taller ships were forced to tow the cargo ships
with ropes. After this, and as soon as the seven stars had set, a northerly
wind rose upon them. Many of the ships of four tiers of oars were driven ashore
near the city of Raphia, where there was no good harbour for them. Of those
carrying the weapons, some sank and the rest retired to Gaza again. Some of the
best of them bore up and came to below the cape of Casius. That cape is not far
from the Nile River and is not suitable for shipping, especially if there are
any storms. There was no way to get near it, so every ship dropped anchor a
quarter of a mile from land and was forced to ride out the storm in a heavy sea.
In the midst of all this danger, they were driven to extremity, for had the
storm lasted only one day longer, they would have used all their fresh water and
would have died of thirst. The storm ceased and Antigonus arrived at the place
with his army and camped there. The weather-beaten men came ashore and
refreshed themselves in the camp. Nevertheless, this storm claimed three ships
of five tiers of oars, from which some men escaped alive to reach land. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 20. c. 74. 10:339,341}
2622. Antigonus moved from there and placed his army a quarter of a mile from
the Nile River. But Ptolemy, who had manned all the banks of the river with
strong garrisons, sent some men in river boats to go as close to the farther
bank as they safely could and proclaim that if any of Antigonus' army would come
to him, he would give a common soldier two minas and a captain a whole talent
for his trouble. No sooner had this proclamation been made than a large number
of Antigonus' mercenaries wanted to leave. Some of his captains also wanted to
go. But when Antigonus realised that a large number of his men were deserting
him, he positioned archers, slingers and various engines of war, to keep them
from crossing over the water in boats. If they found any that went, he put them
to death with horrible torments. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 75. s. 1-3.
10:341,343} [E328]
2623. Antigonus gathered together his ships, which had come to him, although
they were late. He went to a place called Pseudostomon, where he planned to
land some of his men. However, he found a strong garrison of the enemy there
and was beaten off with bows and slings and other engines of war. Therefore, as
the night drew on, he went his way and ordered the captains of every ship to
follow the lantern of the admiral. So they came to the mouth of the Nile River,
which is called Phatniticum. The next morning, he found that many of his ships
had lost their way and he did not know where they had gone. He was forced to
anchor there and send the swiftest ships he had all over the sea to look for
them and bring them back. Meanwhile, as time wore on, Ptolemy had been alerted
to the approach of the enemy. He immediately went to the aid of his men and
arranged his army all along the shore, in sight of the enemy. Demetrius could
find no landing place there, either. He was told that if he were to land in the
surrounding area, the country was naturally fortified with marshes and moorish
grounds. [L454] He set sail and returned home. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c.
75,76. 10:343}
2624. As he was going, a violent wind came up from the north and drove three of
his ships of four tiers of oars and some other transports onto the shore, where
they all fell into Ptolemy's hand. After much trouble, the rest got to
Antigonus' camp. Ptolemy had placed strong garrisons at each of the mouths of
the Nile River and had an enormous number of river boats everywhere. These were
supplied with arrows and slings and men who knew how to use them well. These
troubled Antigonus very greatly, for the mouth of the river at Pelusium was
strongly guarded by Ptolemy. Antigonus could make no use of his ships at all,
and his land forces were also in trouble. The Nile River started swelling at
the coming of the sun into Cancer. When the sun entered Leo, the Nile River
overflowed all its banks, and was now so high that they could do little. What
was worse, he was running out of food for the men and fodder for the animals,
because they had stayed there so long. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 76. s.
2-4. 10:343,345}
2625. When Antigonus saw that his army was demoralised, he called them all
together. Before them all, he asked the captains whether it was better to stay
and fight, or to return to Syria for the time being. They would then return
next year, better prepared and when the waters would be lower. When every man
wanted to go, he ordered his soldiers to gather up their belongings. His navy
followed them along the shore, and he returned to Syria. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20.
c. 76. s. 5,6. 10:345} The pointlessness of this expedition had been
foreseen in a dream by Medius, one of Antigonus' friends. For it appeared to
him that he saw Antigonus with all his army compete in a race at Olympus, called
Diaulus, that is, a double course. When they first set out, they seemed to run
very well. After a while they grew weaker. When they came to the race-post
around which they had to turn to return to the barriers from where they had set
out (for that was the nature of this double course), they were so out of breath
that they could go no farther. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 19. s. 1,2.
9:43}
2626. Ptolemy was glad to see that the enemy was gone. He offered sacrifices
to his gods for this great benefit they had bestowed on him. He made a
magnificent feast for his friends and wrote letters to Seleucus, Lysimachus and
Cassander, telling of his good success. He did not forget to tell them how
large an army had defected over to him from Antigonus. Now that he had rescued
Egypt a second time and acquired it by his sword, he thought he might lawfully
consider it his own, and returned in triumph to Alexandria. {*Diod. Sic., l.
20. c. 76. s. 6,7. 10:345,347} Hence it was, that Ptolemy started the
beginning of his reign over Egypt from this time. He calculated that the time
from the death of Alexander the Great to this time was nineteen full years. For
the nineteenth year from the death of Alexander the Great ended, according to
his account, with the date of November 6, 305 BC or 4409 JP. {Ptolemy, Canon of
Kings}
2627. While these things were happening in Egypt, Dionysius, the tyrant of
Heraclea in Pontus, died. He reigned thirty-three years, according to
Athenaeus, although Memnon said that he reigned only thirty years, and Diodorus
said thirty-two years. He was incredibly fat. Besides being mentioned by
Memnon and Nymphis of Heraclea, this fact was noted by Athenaeus in his twelfth
book of the city of Heraclea, in the place mentioned, as well as by Aelian. He
had two sons by Amastris or Amestris, the daughter of Oxyartes, brother of
Darius, the last king of Persia. She had first been given in marriage to
Craterus by Alexander. The older of the sons was called Clearchus, the younger
Oxathres, according to Diodorus, Zathras and Dionysius. [L455] Therefore, in
his last will, he joined some others with her in the administration, so that the
government of his kingdom and the charge of his two children, who were still
very young, would not go entirely to his wife. {*Aelian, Historical Miscellany,
l. 9. c. 13. 1:291,293} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (549d) 5:493} {Memnon,
Excerpts of Photius, l. 1. c. 5.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 77. s. 1.
10:347}
3700 AM, 4410 JP, 304 BC
2628. Menedemus sailed to Patara in Lycia with the command of three ships, each
of which was between two and three tiers of oars apiece. [E329] He captured a
ship of four tiers of oars coming from Cilicia, that had on board royal robes
and the rest of an outfit that Phila had taken great pains to make ready and
send off to her husband Demetrius Poliorcetes. All of this was sent by
Menedemus to Ptolemy in Egypt, an affront that enraged Demetrius against the
Rhodians, causing him to besiege their city. When this had been going on for a
year, the Athenians mediated an agreement that the Rhodians would help Antigonus
and Demetrius in their wars against any country except for Ptolemy's, and so the
siege was lifted. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 93-100. 10:389-407} {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 21,22. 9:49-53}
2629. As soon as this war was over, the Rhodians sent some of their priests to
consult the oracle of Ammon, wanting to know whether or not they should worship
Ptolemy as a god. When they were told they should, they consecrated a square
grove in their city to him. They built a gallery about two hundred yards long
on each side and called it Ptoleum or Ptolemy's Gallery. They were also the
first to surname Ptolemy Soter, or Saviour, because he had saved them from the
violence of Antigonus and Demetrius, and that not with his soldiers.
{*Pausanius, Attica, l. 1. c. 8. s. 6. 1:41} Also, Ptolemy had saved
Alexander the Great in the city of the Oxydracans, as some have thought. {See
note on 3678b AM. <<2165>>} {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 6. c. 10. s.
1-4.
2:127-131} {Stephanus, On the word Oxudrac} {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 100.
10:407,409}
2630. After reigning six years, Eumelus, the king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, died
in an accident. He was hurrying home from Scythia to a certain solemn sacrifice
that was to be offered at the time. He was in a four-wheeled coach, drawn by
four horses and covered with a canopy. As he approached his palace, the horses
took a fright and ran away with him. When the driver could not hold them,
Eumelus feared that they might run down some precipice and leaped from the
coach. His sword caught in the wheel and he was dragged along with the coach
and killed. His son Spartacus succeeded him and reigned twenty years. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 20. c. 100. s. 7. 10:409} {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 25. s. 4.
10:209}
3701 AM, 4411 JP, 303 BC
2631. Seleucus crossed the Indus River and made war on Sandrocottus, or
Androcottus. After Seleucus had restored his government in the east,
Sandrocottus had murdered all the governors whom Alexander had appointed, and
taken over all of India. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.} {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (55) 2:209}
2632. As Seleucus was going to make this war, a wild elephant of enormous size
met him along the way and approached him as if it were tame. He went up to it
and the animal allowed him to get on and ride it. This beast proved to be a
prime and singularly good elephant for the war. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c.
4.} Sandrocottus crossed over all India with an army of six hundred thousand men
and subdued it. {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 62. 7:401} He made himself
king over them and freed them from a yoke of strangers, only to bring them under
his yoke. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.}
2633. Megasthenes lived with Sibytrius, governor of the Arachosians, and often
speaks of his visiting Sandracottus, the king of the Indians. [L456] {*Arrian,
Anabasis, l. 5. c. 6. s. 2. 2:19} Megasthenes said that Sandrocottus had
an army of forty thousand men. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 53. 7:87} (The
original copy of Ussher had four hundred not forty as the modern Loeb editions
of Strabo have. Editor.)
3702 AM, 4412 JP, 302 BC
2634. Cassander, king of Macedonia, sent his envoys to Antigonus, wishing to
make a peace with him. Antigonus refused, unless Cassander would surrender
unconditionally to him. After a conference between Cassander and Lysimachus,
king of Thrace, they both agreed to send their envoys to Ptolemy, king of Egypt,
and to Seleucus, king of the upper provinces of Asia. Decrying the pride and
arrogance of Antigonus expressed in his answers, they showed these two kings how
this war involved them, too. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 106. s. 2,3.
10:423,425} Consequently, they realised that Antigonus planned to take them on,
one at a time, because they were not united against him. So they appointed a
place where they all agreed to meet, having resolved to contribute their various
forces to carry on this war. Cassander could not be there, because the enemy
was so close to him, so he sent Lysimachus with all the forces he was able to
spare, together with abundant provisions for them. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c.
2.}
2635. Seleucus made a marriage alliance with Sandrocottus, the king of India,
and gave him all those regions bordering the Indus River which Alexander had
taken from the Arians. Seleucus received from Sandrocottus a gift of five
hundred elephants in return. (Seleucus had previously made these regions his
colonies and had set governors over them.) {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 2. s. 8.
7:143} {*Plutarch, Alexander, l. 1. c. 62. s. 2. 7:401} {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (55) 2:209} When Seleucus had thus made peace in the
east, he prepared for the war in the west against Antigonus with his allies,
according to their agreement. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.}
2636. Lysimachus crossed over into Asia with his own army and came up against
Lampsacus and Parium. Because they readily submitted to him, he restored their
ancient liberty to them. When he had taken Sigeum by force, he put a strong
garrison in it. [E330] He then committed six thousand foot soldiers and a
thousand cavalry to Prepelaus and sent him to take the cities of Ionia and
Aeolia. Lysimachus besieged Abydus with all types of battering rams and other
weapons of war, but when Demetrius sent an army to defend the place, he lifted
the siege. After having captured the Hellespont and Phrygia, he went on and
besieged the city of Synnada, where Antigonus stored his treasure. Lysimachus
persuaded Docimus, a commander of Antigonus, to defect to his side. Docimus
helped take Synnada and other citadels belonging to Antigonus and captured
Antigonus' treasure. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 107. s. 1-3. 10:425,427}
2637. Meanwhile, Prepelaus, who had been sent to make war upon Ionia and
Aeolia, took Adramyttium on the way, and besieged Ephesus, where he so terrified
the inhabitants that they submitted to him. He found Rhodian hostages there,
whom he sent home again to their friends, nor did he harm any of the Ephesians.
He only burned all the ships which he found in their harbour, because the enemy
still controlled the sea, and the whole outcome of the war was uncertain. After
this, the people of Teos and Colophon joined the common cause against Antigonus.
But the Erythreans and Clazomenians were helped by forces sent by sea, and he
was not able to overcome them, so he wasted their territories and went to
Sardis. There he was able to persuade Antigonus' captains and Phoenix to
defect, enabling him to take all the city except for the citadel, which was held
by Philip, a friend of Antigonus, and so would not defect to him. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 20. c. 107. s. 1-3. 10:425,227} [L457]
3703 AM, 4413 JP, 301 BC
2638. Antigonus was at that time fully occupied holding games and feasts at his
new city of Antigonia. He had proclaimed expensive prizes for those who would
enter the contests, and offered large wages to all the skilled artisans that he
could hire. When he heard how Lysimachus had come into Asia and what large
numbers of his soldiers had defected to him, he stopped the games, but
distributed over two hundred talents among the athletes and the artisans who had
come. Then he went as quickly as he could, making long marches with his army to
meet the enemy. As soon as he arrived at Tarsus in Cilicia, he advanced his
army three months' pay from the money which he had taken with him from the city
of Quinda. Besides this, he had brought three thousand talents along with him
from Antigonia, so he would not run out of money. He crossed over the Taurus
Mountains and hurried into Cappadocia. He subdued those who had revolted from
him in upper Phrygia and Lycaonia, and made them help him in the wars, as they
had previously done. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 108. s. 1-3. 10:429,431}
2639. When Lysimachus heard of the enemy's approach, he consulted with his
council concerning this imminent danger and what to do. Their advice was not to
risk a battle until Seleucus came from the upper provinces, but to get into the
strongest, most fortified place. He should entrench himself in the strongest
manner that he possibly could, with ramparts and palisades, and await the coming
of the enemy. Lysimachus followed this advice. As soon as Antigonus came
within sight of Lysimachus' camp, he drew out in battle formation and tried
unsuccessfully to provoke Lysimachus to a battle. Antigonus captured all the
passes that could be used to supply food for the camp, causing Lysimachus to
fear that he might be taken alive by Antigonus when his food ran out. So he
moved his camp by night and marched about fifty miles to Dorylaeum and camped
there, as there was an abundant supply of grain and other provisions in those
parts, and he had a river at his back. Therefore, they raised a work there and
enclosed it with an exceedingly deep trench with three rows of stakes on the top
of it. He made the camp as secure as he could. When Antigonus found that the
enemy had gone, he pursued as fast as he could and approached the place where
Lysimachus was entrenched. When he realised that Lysimachus did not want to
fight, he started to make another trench around his camp to besiege him there.
To that end, he had all types of instruments brought there for a siege, such as
missiles, arrows and catapults. Although many skirmishes were fought around the
trenches, because Lysimachus' men fought from their works to hinder the enemy,
Antigonus' side prevailed. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 108. s. 1-3. 10:431}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 109. s. 1. 10:431,433}
2640. In time, Antigonus' works were almost finished around him and Lysimachus'
provisions began to run out. Therefore, Lysimachus took the advantage of a
stormy night and got away with his army. They travelled through mountainous
country and came to his winter quarters. The next morning, when Antigonus saw
that the enemy was gone, he marched after him through the plain of the country,
but because there had been so much rain and the way was poor and very muddy, he
lost many of his pack animals and some of his men on that journey. [E331] The
whole army was greatly distressed, and so, to spare his army and because the
winter was approaching, he abandoned the pursuit for that time. He looked
around for the best places in which to winter, and distributed his army there.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 109. s. 2-5. 10:433}
2641. Similarly, Lysimachus sent his army to winter in the country of Salonia.
He had made generous provisions for them from Heraclea, because he had made an
alliance with that city by marrying Amastris, who was the widow of Craterus and
the guardian of his two young children, as well as the governess of that city.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 109. s. 6,7. 10:433} {Photius, Bibliotheca, c.
5. from Memnon} [L458]
2642. At this time, Demetrius made a truce with Cassander and was sent for by
his father from Greece. He steered a straight course through the isles of the
Aegean Sea and came to Ephesus, where he landed his army and camped before the
city, making it submit to him as before. He allowed the garrison which
Prepelaus had put there to depart safely, while he put a strong garrison of his
own into the citadel, and then marched away with the rest of his army as far as
the Hellespont. He subdued Lampsacus and Parium, and from there went to the
entrance of Pontus and camped near a place called the Temple of the
Chalcedonians. He fortified it and left three thousand foot soldiers, with
thirty warships, to keep it, while he sent the rest of his army to winter in
various places around there. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 111. s. 2,3.
10:439,441}
2643. About this time, Mithridates, who was subject to Antigonus, was suspected
of favouring Cassander's party and was killed at the city of Cius in the country
of Mysia. He had reigned for thirty-five years over Cius and Myrlea, {*Diod.
Sic., l. 20. c. 111. s. 4. 10:441} and various authors mention him. This
Mithridates was the son of Ariobarzanes, a man of the royal blood of Persia. He
was descended from one of those seven men who had destroyed the Magi there, as
noted by Polybius, Florus and Sextus. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 43. s. 2.
3:105} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 1,2. 1:179} {Sextus Aurelius, l. 1. c.
76.} He was surnamed the Founder, and left the succession of the kingdom of
Pontus after him to a line of men culminating in Eupator, or that Mithridates
who maintained so long a war against the Romans. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s.
42. 5:453} This fact was also mentioned by Tertullian, who wrote: {*Tertullian,
De Anima, l. 1. c. 46. 3:224}
"I learn from Strabo that Mithridates got the kingdom of Pontus by a dream."
2644. Antigonus had dreamed that he had a field full of a golden harvest, but
that Mithridates came and cut it and carried it away into Pontus. As a result,
Antigonus planned to capture and kill him. When Mithridates was told this by
Demetrius, he fled away with only six cavalry in his company and fortified a
certain town in Cappadocia. There, many men joined his cause and so he obtained
Cappadocia and also many other countries of Pontus. He left them to the eighth
generation after him, before the Romans took over his kingdom. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 4. 9:11,13} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2.
(9) 2:253} Lucian, from Hieronymus Cardianus and other writers, stated that he
lived for eighty-four years and that his son, also called Mithridates, succeeded
him in his kingdom. He added Cappadocia and Paphlagonia to his dominions, and
held them for thirty-six years. {*Lucian, Octogenarians, l. 1. (13) 1:233}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 111. s. 4. 10:441}
2645. Cassander sent Plistarchus into Asia to help Lysimachus with an army of
twelve thousand foot soldiers and five hundred cavalry. When he came to the
entrance of Pontus, he found that the strait was held by the enemy. Giving up
his attempt to get through that way, he went to Odessus, which was between
Apollonia and Callantia, opposite Heraclea. Some of Lysimachus' men were there.
He did not have enough ships there to transport his army, so he divided his army
into three parts. The first part that set out, landed safely at Heraclea. The
second part was defeated by the enemy, who held the strait of Pontus. The third
part, which included Plistarchus, almost completely perished in a violent storm.
Most of the ships with their men were lost, and his ship also sank. It was a
large warship of six tiers of oars, and only thirty-three of the five hundred
men in it escaped. Plistarchus held on to part of the wreckage from the ship
when it sank and was cast ashore, half dead. He recovered a little and was
carried to Heraclea, where he regained his strength and went to Lysimachus'
winter quarters. He had lost most of his army on the way. {*Diod. Sic., l.
20. c. 112. 10:441,443} [L459]
2646. About the same time, Ptolemy came from Egypt with an extremely
well-outfitted army and subdued all the cities of Coelosyria. While besieging
Sidon, he heard a false rumour that a battle had been fought in which Seleucus
and Lysimachus had been beaten, that they had fled to Heraclea and that
Antigonus was moving quickly into Syria with his victorious army. Ptolemy
believed the rumour and made a truce with the Sidonians for five months. After
putting garrisons into the other cities in those parts which he had taken, he
returned into Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 113. s. 1,2. 10:443}
2647. While these things had been going on, twenty-eight hundred of the
soldiers had defected to Antigonus, who entertained them very courteously and
furnished them the pay that they claimed Lysimachus owed them. [E332] In
addition, he gave them a large amount of money as a reward for their actions.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 113. s. 3,4. 10:443,445}
2648. At the same time, Seleucus came down from the upper provinces into
Cappadocia with a large army, and wintered his army in tents which he had
brought already made for them. His army consisted of twenty thousand foot
soldiers, twelve thousand cavalry including his mounted archers, four hundred
and eighty elephants and a hundred scythed chariots. These kings' forces
assembled to fight it out in the following summer, to see who would be the
master. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 113. s. 4,5. 10:445}
2649. Pythagoras had been the former soothsayer of Alexander the Great and of
Perdiccas, and was now employed by Antigonus. He started his divinations of the
bowels of beasts that were being offered in sacrifices. When he found the
strings or filets in the liver missing, he told Antigonus that this indicated
his death. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 18. s. 5. 2:267}
2650. Alexander the Great also appeared to Demetrius in his sleep. He was
gloriously armed and asked Demetrius what rallying cry he and his father planned
to give to his army prior to battle. Demetrius replied:
"Zeus and Victory."
2651. Then Alexander replied: {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 29. s. 1,2.
9:69,71}
"Therefore, will I go over to your enemies, for they will take me for theirs."
2652. When Antigonus heard that there were so many kings assembled against him,
he boastfully said that he would scatter them all like so many birds out of a
bush, but when the enemies approached, he was observed to be more quiet than
usual. He showed his son to his army and told them that this was the man that
must be his successor, at which they marvelled even more, especially Demetrius.
Antigonus talked with him alone in his tent many times, whereas prior to this,
he would never share any secret at all with his son. When his army was fully
ready in battle array, and Antigonus was leaving his pavilion to go to them, he
stumbled and fell flat on his face, a fact which greatly troubled him. He got
up again and begged the gods to send him either a victory that day, or a death
devoid of pain. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 28. s. 2. 9:67,69}
{*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 29. s. 2. 9:71}
2653. The battle between these many kings was fought at the beginning of the
year at Ipsus, a town in Phrygia. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c. 18. s. 5,6.
2:267} {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 2,3. 9:355} {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (55) 2:209} {*Diod. Sic., l. 21. c. 1. s. 1. 11:3}
{Porphyry, Chronology, Olympiad 119. Year 4.} In this battle Antigonus and
Demetrius had more than seventy thousand foot soldiers, ten thousand cavalry,
seventy-five elephants and a hundred and twenty chariots between them.
{*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 28. s. 3. 9:69} Demetrius, with most of
his cavalry, charged Antiochus, who was the son of Seleucus and later, his
successor in the kingdom. [L460] Demetrius most valiantly routed him, but
rashly pursued him too far. This was the reason for his father's defeat that
day. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 29. s. 3. 9:71} In that pursuit
Pyrrhus conspicuously displayed his valour and his worth. He was only seventeen
years old and had been expelled from his kingdom by the Molossians. He had
allied himself with Demetrius, who had married his sister Deidamia, who had been
intended for Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great, by Roxane. {*Plutarch,
Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 1-3. 9:353,355}
2654. When Seleucus saw that Antigonus' battalion was destitute of all help
from their cavalry, he acted as if he was going to attack them, but instead he
wisely invited them to defect to him. A large number of them did so and the
rest fled, while Seleucus turned on Antigonus. One of them cried out, saying:
"These come upon you, oh king."
2655. He answered:
"But Demetrius will come and help us."
2656. While he stood waiting for Demetrius to come back and rescue him, the
enemy came on and showered their javelins as thick as hail on him. In that
storm he fell and died, whereupon all forsook him and fended for themselves.
Only Thorax of Larisa stayed by Antigonus' body, {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1.
c. 29. s. 3-5. 9:71,73} which was later taken up and buried in a royal
manner. {*Diod. Sic., l. 21. c. 1. s. 4b. 11:5,7} Plutarch stated that
when Antigonus was on his recent expedition into Egypt, he was then a little
less than eighty years old. Appian stated that he was over eighty years old on
that expedition. He lived eighty-six years, according to Porphyry. {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 226. last line} However, the historian
Hieronymus Cardianus, who lived with him, stated that he only lived eighty-one
years. {*Lucian, Octogenarians, l. 1. (11) 1:231}
2657. When Demetrius saw that all was lost, he fled away to Ephesus as fast as
he could, with five thousand foot soldiers and four thousand cavalry. Everyone
there began to fear that, because of a lack of money, he might plunder the
temple of Diana. When he thought he would not be able to restrain his soldiers
from doing this, he left there as quickly as he could. {*Plutarch, Demetrius,
l. 1. c. 30. s. 1,2. 9:73} Taking his mother Stratonice and all his
treasure with him, he sailed to Salamis on the isle of Cyprus, which at that
time was under his command. {*Diod. Sic., l. 21. c. 1. s. 4b. 11:7}
2658. After the kings had achieved this great victory, they started dividing up
the large kingdom of Antigonus and Demetrius among themselves, and adding these
new lands to their existing kingdoms. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 30.
s. 1. 9:73} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (55) 2:209} {*Polybius, l.
5. c. 67. s. 7-13. 3:165,167} [E333]
2659. When they could not agree on how to divide the spoil, they split into two
sides. Seleucus allied himself with Demetrius, and Ptolemy joined with
Lysimachus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.} Seleucus and Ptolemy were the two
strongest of the whole group. Consequently, the dispute between them was
continued by their posterities under the names of the Seleucians, or kings of
the north, and the kings of Ptolemy, or the kings of the south. This was
foretold in Daniel. {Da 11:5-20}
2660. Simon, the son of Onias, succeeded him in the priesthood at Jerusalem.
He was surnamed The Just, because of his great zeal and fervency in the worship
of God and the great love which he had for his countrymen, the Jews.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 5. (44) 7:25} In the Apocrypha we find
this testimony given about him:
"Simon was the high priest, the son of Onias, who in his lifetime repaired the
house again and in his days fortified the temple. He had built the foundation
for the high double walls and the high fortress of the wall about the temple.
In his days, the cistern to hold water, which was round like the sea, was
covered with plates of brass. He took care of the temple, that it should not
fall, and fortified the city against besieging. [L461] How he was honoured in
the midst of the people at his coming from the sanctuary!" {Apc Sir 50:1-5}
2661. See Salianus and Scaliger. {Salianus, Annals - 3675 AM, Tom. 5.}
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius (Animadversions), num. 1785.} This man was
said to have been high priest for nine years. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek
Eusebius, p. 50.}
3704 AM, 4414 JP, 300 BC
2662. On April 23, Seleucus offered sacrifices to Zeus on Mount Casius and
consulted him concerning a place to build a city. An eagle came and caught away
a piece of flesh from the altar. She was said to have let it fall in a place
near the sea below Palaeopolis (this was a little city built in previous times
by Syrus, the son of Agenor, on a hill there), in a coastal town of Pieria.
Immediately after that, Seleucus started to lay the foundation of a large city
which he built there and named Seleucia, after himself. {Johannes Malela,
Chronology} However, others say that it was not the action of the eagle that he
followed, but the flash of lightning that appeared to him which was the reason
why lightning, from then on, was always celebrated with set hymns and praises in
that place, as if it were itself a god. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9.
(58) 2:215,217}
2663. Seleucus came to Iopolis, a city built in the hill country of Silphium.
There, on the third day after his arrival, which was the first of the month of
Artemisios, or our May, he offered sacrifices to Zeus the Thunderer in a certain
shrine said to have been built there in ancient times by Perseus, the son of
Danae. Later, when he arrived at Antigonia, he offered sacrifices to Zeus on
the altars recently built there by Antigonus. Seleucus, with Amphion the
priest, prayed that Zeus would show him by some sign whether he should live in
Antigonia and rename the place, or whether he should go and build a new city in
another place. It is said that at that moment, once again, an eagle came and
caught away a piece of the flesh from the altar and let it fall near the hill of
Silphium. So it was that he laid the foundation of his wall opposite the hill
on which Iopolis was built, near the Orontes River, where there was a town
called Botzia. This was at sunrise on the 22nd day of the month of Artemisios.
He named this city after his son, Antiochus and later built a temple there to
Jupiter Botzius. This and other things are related by Johannes Malela of
Antioch, concerning the origin of that city. {Johannes Malela, Chronology}
Eusebius also stated that this city was built by Seleucus in the twelfth year of
his reign. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:209} This Syrian city was later
made into a tetrapolis, that is, a fourfold city. It was divided into quarters,
creating four cities, each of which had a proper wall built around it, while one
common wall enclosed them all. The first city was built by this Seleucus
Nicator, the second was the work of the inhabitants themselves, while the third
was finished by Seleucus Callinicus and the fourth by Antiochus Epiphanes.
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 4. 7:241,243}
2664. Seleucus named this city after his son Antiochus. This is confirmed by
Malela, Cedrenus and Julian the Apostate. {Julian, Misopogone} However, Strabo,
Appian and Trogus Pompeius stated that he called it Antioch after his father,
Antiochus. Justin said that he consecrated the memorial of a twofold beginning
there, {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.} saying that he called the city by the
name of his father Antiochus, and consecrated its fields to Apollo. This he did
because his mother Laodice wanted him to believe that he was born of her by
Apollo, and so Daphne was consecrated to Apollo. Daphne is a suburb of Antioch,
a place famous for the grove of laurel trees that grew there over an area of no
less than ten miles around. Therefore it is to this day called Daphne near
Antioch, {Apc 2Ma 4:33} while the city of Antioch itself is referred to as
Antioch near Daphne by other writers. [E334]
2665. Seleucus utterly demolished Antigonia and carried the materials down the
Orontes River to Antioch. He relocated fifty-three hundred Macedonians and
Athenians whom Antigonus had moved there to his new city. {Johannes Malela,
Chronology} [L462] Diodorus said that Seleucus did destroy Antigonia and added
that he relocated its inhabitants to his new city of Seleucia. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 20. c. 47. s. 5,6. 10:273} However, while Strabo also mentioned the
inhabitants of Antigonia being relocated to Antioch, he added that some of the
families and offspring of Triptolemus and those Argives who had long ago been
sent with him to seek out Io, were settled there by Seleucus. {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 2. s. 5. 7:243} These were those Greeks from Peloponnesus of whom
Stephanus Byzantius said that they were settled in Antioch near Daphne.
Johannes Malela also stated that: (cf. Scaliger's notes on the 1713. number of
the Eusebius' Chronicles)
"Seleucus personally sought out some of the Greeks from Ionia and relocated
those Greeks who lived in Iopolis, to Antioch. He made them citizens there as
men who were more sacred and generous than the rest."
2666. Lysimachus, the king of Thrace, married Arsinoe, the daughter of Ptolemy.
This was not Ptolemy Philadelphus, as Memnon stated {Memnon, c. 5.} but Ptolemy
I, the son of Lagus, surnamed The Deliverer. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c.
31. s. 1. 9:77} {Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 2.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 24.
c. 2.} {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 9.} Ptolemy had married Eurydice. {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 6. 1:33} His former wife, Amastris, the widow of
Dionysius, the tyrant or usurper of Heraclea, grew so offended, that she left
him and returned to Heraclea. There she built a city near the Black Sea which
she called Amastris, after herself, and sent for people from Selsamus, Cytorum,
Cromna, Teos and other places to live there. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 5.}
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 10. 5:385}
3705 AM, 4415 JP, 299 BC
2667. Seleucus followed the example of Lysimachus and sent his envoys to
express his desire to marry Stratonice, the daughter of Demetrius and Phila,
whereupon Demetrius took his daughter along with him and sailed for Syria with
his whole fleet, which was attending him at Athens. On the way they landed in
Cilicia, which was held by Plistarchus, the brother of Cassander, to whom it had
been allotted by general consent of the kings, after the battle in which
Demetrius' father Antigonus was killed. Plistarchus, offended that Demetrius
had landed in his territory, complained to him about Seleucus. For Seleucus,
without the consent of the other kings, Ptolemy and Lysimachus, had entered into
a league with Demetrius, a common enemy to them all. Demetrius was quite upset
by this and went from there to Quinda, where he found what remained of the old
treasury of Alexander's twelve hundred talents. Taking it all away with him, he
weighed anchor and sailed away as fast as he could. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l.
1. c. 31,32. 9:77}
2668. Seleucus came to meet Demetrius and his wife Phila at a place called
Orossus, and invited them to dine with him at his pavilion in his camp.
Demetrius subsequently invited him aboard his ship of thirteen tiers of oars
high. They spent whole days together in friendly conversation, without arms or
guards around them. At length, Seleucus married Stratonice and with great pomp
returned with her to Antioch. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 31. 9:77}
2669. When Demetrius had taken over Cilicia, he sent his wife Phila to her
brother Cassander to make apologies for such matters as Plistarchus may have
charged him with. While she was away, his other wife, Deidamia, came to him
from Athens and she died shortly thereafter. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c.
32. 9:77,79}
3706 AM, 4416 JP, 298 BC
2670. Seleucus wanted Demetrius to sell him Cilicia for a certain sum of money,
but he refused. Seleucus, in anger, demanded that Sidon and Tyre be given to
him by Demetrius. This seemed an injurious act on his part, that, having made
himself lord and possessing everything from India to the Syrian Sea, he was
nevertheless of so poor a spirit as to trouble his father-in-law, who was under
a cloud of adverse fortune, for two cities as poor as Tyre and Sidon. [L463]
Consequently, Demetrius stoutly answered that even if he were defeated a
thousand times over, he still would never buy a son-in-law at so dear a price.
So he started to fortify those two cities, which were such thorns in Seleucus'
side. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 32. 9:77}
3707a AM, 4416 JP, 298 BC
2671. Cassander died after ruling Macedonia for nineteen years. He left three
sons, Philip, Antipater and Alexander, who were born by Thessalonice, the sister
of Alexander the Great. All these reigned after their father for only forty-two
months. This is according to Dexippus and Porphyry, as recorded in Eusebius.
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 48,228.} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:208} [E335]
2672. Philip, the oldest of the three, died of consumption shortly after his
father's death. His two younger brothers, Antipater and Alexander, died
fighting about the kingdom. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 1.} {*Pausanias,
Boeotia, l. 9. c. 7. s. 1-4. 4:203,205} {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c.
6. s. 2,3. 9:361} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 36. s. 1. 9:87}
2673. Dexippus and Eusebius called this Antipater by the name of Antigonus.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:209} Hermippus meant the same person when he
said that Demetrius of Phalerum, after the death of Cassander and out of the
fear he had of Antigonus, fled to Ptolemy, surnamed The Deliverer. {*Diogenes
Laertius, Demetrius, l. 5. c. 5. (78) 1:531}
2674. At the same time, Pyrrhus remained in exile, with Ptolemy in Egypt. He
married Antigone, the daughter of Berenice, the queen, by Philip, her former
husband. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 4. 9:355,357} {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 8. 1:33}
3707b AM, 4417 JP, 297 BC
2675. With the help of Antigone, his wife, Pyrrhus obtained a fleet of ships
and money from Ptolemy and set sail for his old kingdom of Epirus. He came to
an agreement with Neoptolemus, who had usurped his kingdom, to hold it jointly
with him. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 5. s. 1,2. 9:357} {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 8. 1:33}
2676. Eupolemus, the historian, wrote a chronology from Adam and the coming of
the children of Israel from Egypt down to the fifth year of Demetrius. He
calculated that the death of Demetrius' father Antigonus occurred in the twelfth
year of Ptolemy as reckoned from the death of Alexander the Great's children.
{See note on 3695 AM. <<2165>>} He did this in his book of the kings
of Judah,
according to Clement. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:332}
3708 AM, 4418 JP, 296 BC
2677. Demetrius Poliorcetes, that is City Besieger, or City Taker, wasted the
city of Samaria, which Perdiccas had formerly rebuilt. {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:209,210}
3709 AM, 4419 JP, 295 BC
2678. Velleius Paterculus stated that Pyrrhus began his reign when Quintus
Fabius was in his fifth consulship and Decius Mus was consul for the fourth
time. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 1. c. 14. s. 6. 1:37} That was the time
when Neoptolemus was killed and Pyrrhus took sole possession of Epirus. He
remembered how much he had been indebted to Berenice and Ptolemy, through whose
favour he had recovered his kingdom, and named the son, whom Antigone gave him,
after Ptolemy. When he had built a new city on a neck of land in Epirus, he
named it after his wife's mother, Berenice. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c.
5,6. 9:357-361}
3710a AM, 4419 JP, 295 BC
2679. In the thirty-sixth year of the first Calippic period, the 25th day of
the month of Posideion, in the 454th year of Nabonassar, the 16th day of
Paophus, three hours after midnight on the 21st day of our December, Timocharis
at Alexandria in Egypt observed the following: the moon rose to her farthest
height north and touched the most northerly star in the head of Scorpio.
{Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 7. c. 3.}
3710b AM, 4420 JP, 294 BC
2680. In the same year, on the 15th day of the month of Elaphebolion, the fifth
of the month of Tybus, four hours before midnight on the ninth of our May,
Timocharis observed the conjunction of the moon with Spica in Virgo. {Ptolemy,
Great Syntaxis, l. 7. c. 3.}
2681. Thessalonice, the queen and widow of Cassander, the daughter of Philip
who was the father of Alexander the Great, born to the daughter of Nicasipolis,
was murdered by Antipater, her own son. She pleaded for her life because she
was his mother, but to no avail. The reason was that when the kingdom had been
divided between him and his brother, she had seemed to favour her youngest son,
Alexander. [L464] Alexander sought to avenge the murder of his mother and asked
for help from his friends, Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and Demetrius Poliorcetes in
Peloponnesus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 1.} {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c.
6. s. 2. 9:361} {*Pausanias, Boeotia, l. 9. c. 7. s. 3. 4:203,205}
2682. Lysimachus, the king of Thrace, feared Demetrius' arrival. He persuaded
his son-in-law, Antipater to fight an old common enemy and set past differences
aside. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 1.} Knowing full well that Pyrrhus would
do anything for Ptolemy's sake, he sent some forged letters to Pyrrhus from
Ptolemy. These advised him to accept a gratuity of three hundred talents from
Antipater and to stop his expedition into Macedonia in support of Alexander
against his brother. Pyrrhus recognised this trick of his. When he opened the
letter, he did not find the usual greeting from Ptolemy to him, which was, The
father, to the son, health and happiness. Instead of this, it said, King
Ptolemy to King Pyrrhus, health and happiness. When Demetrius suddenly attacked
Macedonia, he foiled all these schemes of Lysimachus. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l.
1. c. 6. s. 3,4. 9:361,363}
2683. Ptolemy of Egypt captured the whole isle of Cyprus from Demetrius, except
for the city of Salamis, where he besieged Demetrius' mother and children, who
were there. When he finally captured the city, he sent them home to Demetrius
with an honourable escort and with rich presents for their journey. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 34. s. 3,4. 9:87}
2684. When Demetrius captured Alexander, he killed him and took over the
kingdom of Macedonia. [E336] {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 1.} {*Pausanias,
Boeotia, l. 9. c. 7. s. 3. 4:205} {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 7. s.
1. 9:363} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 36. 9:87-91} {Plutarch,
Shamefacedness} He held it for seven years, as Plutarch affirmed. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 44. s. 7. 9:113}
3711 AM, 4421 JP, 293 BC
2685. At that time, Lysimachus was fighting a war started against him by
Dromichaetes, the king of the Getes. So he would not be forced to fight against
the king of the Getes and Demetrius at the same time, he gave up that part of
Macedonia which belonged to his son-in-law Antipater and so made peace with
Dromichaetes. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 1.} {*Strabo, l. 7. c. 3. s.
8. 3:203}
2686. Dromichaetes captured Lysimachus, but treated him very kindly. {*Strabo,
l. 7. c. 3. s. 8. 3:203} {*Diod. Sic., l. 21. c. 12. 11:17-32}
Lysimachus gave him his daughter in marriage, and that part of Thrace which lay
beyond the Ister River, for a dowry. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s.
6. 1:45,47}
2687. Clearchus, the king of Heraclea in Pontus, had gone to help Lysimachus in
his war against the Getes and was taken prisoner together with Lysimachus. When
Lysimachus had achieved liberty for himself, he wisely secured Clearchus'
liberty also. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 6.}
3712 AM, 4422 JP, 292 BC
2688. When Simon, surnamed the Just, who was the high priest at Jerusalem,
died, he left behind him only one son, Onias. Simon's brother, Eleazar, became
the high priest of the Jews. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 5.
(43,44) 7:25} He was said to have held that office for thirty-two years.
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 50,162.} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:210}
2689. After Lysimachus returned from the war with the Getes, Agathocles, his
oldest son, who, as some report, had been taken prisoner in the first battle in
which he took part, was married. He took Lysandra for a wife, who was the
daughter of Ptolemy of Egypt, surnamed The Deliverer, and Ptolemy's wife,
Eurydice. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 6,7. 1:47}
2690. After this, Lysimachus sailed into Asia with his navy and captured those
who were in subjection to Antigonus and Demetrius. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1.
c. 9. s. 6,7. 1:47} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 44. s. 1,2. 9:109}
While he besieged Ephesus, the Ephesians were helped by Mardro, an old pirate
who often brought them rich prizes which he had captured. Lysimachus bribed him
and had him betray the city to him. He gave Mardro some valiant Macedonians,
whose hands were then bound behind them by Mardro, before he brought them like
prisoners into Ephesus. [L465] These men waited for an opportune time to get
weapons from the citadel in which they were kept, and so took the city for
Lysimachus. {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 3. c. 3. s. 7. 1:217} The city of
Ephesus was located on low ground, and some time later was completely flooded by
the sea. In Stephanus Byzantinus we may read an epigram made by Duris,
concerning this flood. Lysimachus moved the city to another place and rebuilt
it, calling it after his new wife Arsinoe, but after his death the city quickly
assumed its old name of Ephesus. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 21. 6:221}
{Stephanus, de Urbibus, on Ephesus} To populate his new city, he destroyed the
two cities of Lebedos and Colophon and relocated their inhabitants to the new
city. Phoenix, in his poetry, grievously deplored this action involving the
destruction of these two famous cities. {Phoenix, Iambics} {*Pausanias, Attica,
l. 1. c. 9. s. 7. 1:47}
3713 AM, 4423 JP, 291 BC
2691. Seleucus wanted to populate the cities he had built in Asia and lower
Syria, especially Antioch, which was the metropolis of all the rest. He
relocated the Jews from their own dwellings into these cities and gave them the
same privileges, prerogatives and immunities that the Macedonians had both in
towns and cities. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:210} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
12. c. 3. s. 1. (119) 7:61} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 4. (38,39)
1:307} Seleucus named sixteen of the cities Antioch, after his father Antiochus.
Five of them he named Laodicea, after his mother Laodice. He named nine of them
Seleucia, after himself, while three of them were named Apamea, after his wife.
He named one after his former wife, Stratonice, and to the rest he gave Greek
and Macedonian names as he thought best, that is: Berrhoea, Edessa, Pella and so
forth. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (57) 2:213,215}
3715 AM, 4425 JP, 289 BC
2692. When Agathocles, the tyrant of Sicily, was about to die, he shipped his
wife Thoxena off to Egypt with his two children, whom he had had by her and who
were very young, and sent along with them all his treasure, his family and
costly furniture. Because he was one of the richest kings, and his wife had
originally come from Egypt, he feared that as soon as he was dead, they would
suffer and his kingdom would be plundered. His wife begged to stay with him to
the end, for she said she had married him for better or worse. At last she and
her children left him, but not without much sorrowing. Even his young children
could scarcely be pulled away from him. As soon as they were gone, he died.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 23. c. 2.} [E337]
2693. Clearchus and Oxathres, the two kings of Heraclea in Pontus, murdered
their mother. When Amastris was on board a ship to leave them, she was thrown
overboard in a most barbarous manner and drowned in the sea. {Memnon, Excerpts,
c. 6.}
3716 AM, 4426 JP, 288 BC
2694. Lysimachus desired to revenge the death of Amastris, to whom he had been
married for a long time. He came into Heraclea and showed every fatherly
affection toward Clearchus and those who were closest to him, but then first
killed him and after that his brother Oxathres. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 7.} This
was seventeen years after the death of the father of Clearchus, as recorded in
Diodorus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 77. s. 1. 10:347} When he had
conquered that city and its territory, he took all the treasure belonging to
those kings and whatever they had of value and leaving the city in full liberty,
he returned to his own kingdom. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 7.}
2695. Strato of Lampsacus, the son of Arcesilaus, and surnamed Physicus,
succeeded Theophrastus in his school. Strato was the teacher and tutor to
Ptolemy Philadelphus, who gave Strato eighty talents for educating him.
{*Diogenes Laertius, Strato, l. 5. c. 3. (58) 1:511}
2696. Demetrius Poliorcetes was trying to recover all the dominions of his
father Antigonus. [L466] He was now ready to land in Asia with an army so large
that no man since the days of Alexander the Great up to that time, had had a
larger army. He had more than ninety-eight thousand foot soldiers and a little
less than twelve thousand cavalry. His fleet consisted of five hundred ships,
some of which were extremely large, as they had fifteen or sixteen tiers of
oars. Before he left on this expedition, he made a firm league with Pyrrhus,
because he feared that Pyrrhus might possibly create trouble in his absence and
interfere with his plans. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 43. s. 2-5.
9:107,109} {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 1,2. 9:363}
3717 AM, 4427 JP, 287 BC
2697. Seleucus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus also feared what Demetrius' intentions
might be. Combining their forces into one body, they made war on Demetrius in
Europe. All three sent envoys to Pyrrhus in Epirus and requested that he invade
Macedonia. They urged him to disregard the league he had made with Demetrius,
since Demetrius had no intention of peace, but planned to be free to wage war
where he pleased. Pyrrhus readily agreed to this. He defeated Demetrius' army,
routed him and took over the kingdom of Macedonia. This was the first time that
Pyrrhus acquired any elephants. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 44.
9:109-113} {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 3-5. 9:365} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 16. c. 2.} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 10. s. 2. 1:49}
2698. Lysimachus came and pretended that he, as well as Pyrrhus, had a hand in
the defeat of Demetrius and wanted half the kingdom of Macedonia. Pyrrhus
doubted the loyalty of the Macedonians toward himself and agreed, and so
Macedonia was divided between the two by cities and regions. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 44. s. 7. 9:113}
2699. Lysimachus found that his son-in-law Antipater complained publicly that
his father-in-law had, by these machinations, cheated him of the kingdom of
Macedonia. So Lysimachus killed him, and when his daughter Eurydice,
Antipater's widow, was grieved by the death of her husband, he committed her to
prison. Thus the whole house of Cassander paid for the destruction of Alexander
the Great's family, either by their own deaths or in the destruction of
Cassander's own family by various murders, torments or parricides until his own
family line was utterly destroyed. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 2.}
2700. When Demetrius was stripped of his kingdom, he fled to Cassandria. His
wife Phila was consumed with grief and unable to endure seeing her husband
become a private citizen in a foreign country, she gave up all hope for the
future and poisoned herself. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 45. s. 1.
9:113}
2701. When Demetrius besieged Athens, which had revolted from him to Pyrrhus,
Crates, the philosopher, was sent to him in an embassy, and persuaded Demetrius
to lift his siege. So he assembled all his ships and boarded them with his
eleven thousand foot soldiers in addition to his cavalry, sailed away into Asia
and captured all Caria and Lydia from Lysimachus. There, not far from Miletus,
Eurydice, the sister of his wife Phila, met him and brought with her Ptolemais,
her daughter by Ptolemy of Egypt. Demetrius' son-in-law Seleucus had previously
spoken to Ptolemy, asking that he give her to him. Therefore Demetrius now
married her through the good will of Eurydice, and fathered a son by her, also
called Demetrius, who later reigned in Cyrene. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1.
c. 46. s. 2,3. 9:117} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 53. s. 4. 9:135}
2702. In this expedition, Demetrius captured many towns and cities. Some he
persuaded to defect to him, while others he took by force. Some defected to him
from Lysimachus, and these gave him a good supply of men and war materials.
When Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus, came toward him with an army, he marched
up into Phrygia. He planned to invade Armenia and thereby provoke a rebellion
in Media. [E338] He wanted to see how loyal the upper provinces of Asia were to
him, because he hoped to find a good refuge there, if required. He had often
beaten Agathocles, who was following him, in small battles, but had never
engaged him in a major battle. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 46. s. 4,5.
9:117}
2703. Nevertheless, he often lacked food for himself and fodder for his horses.
He found himself under severe pressure, especially through an error he made in
crossing the Lycus River, whereby he lost many of his soldiers, who were swept
away by the violence of the river. [L467] After a famine, a pestilence killed
eight thousand of his troops, forcing him to return with the remainder to Tarsus
in Cilicia. He planned to refrain from any oppression of the people of
Seleucus, whom he did not want to offend in any way, but this was not to be.
When he considered the extreme necessity that his army was in and the fact that
Agathocles controlled all the passes of the Taurus Mountains, he wrote letters
to Seleucus. He complained of his own poor fortune and humbly besought Seleucus
to be compassionate to him, since he was a poor relative of his, and one who had
suffered enough to be pitied even by an enemy. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1.
c. 46,47. 9:119}
3718a AM, 4427 JP, 287 BC
2704. Seleucus had compassion on the distressing state of his father-in-law.
He wrote to his commanders and officers in those parts to supply Demetrius with
all supplies in a kingly manner, and not to allow his army to be short of
anything. But Patrocles, an intimate friend of Seleucus, planted suspicions
against Demetrius in Seleucus' head, so that Seleucus led an army against him
into Cilicia. Demetrius wondered at this sudden change in Seleucus and withdrew
into the craggy Taurus Mountains, from where he sent his agents to Seleucus to
request that he be given permission to attack some free state of the barbarians.
He would then spend the remainder of his life there, without ranging over the
world any longer. If Seleucus would not permit this, then he asked permission
to winter quietly where he was, and not to be exposed to the force and fury of
his enraged enemy in the extremity in which he now was. Seleucus was suspicious
of these requests, and so granted him only that after he had surrendered his
best friends to him for hostages, he could then spend two months of his winter
quarters in Cataonia, a country bordering upon Cappadocia. Meanwhile Seleucus
blocked all the passes which led from there into Syria. {*Plutarch, Demetrius,
l. 1. c. 47,48. 9:119,121}
2705. Demetrius was now trapped like a wild beast in a den. He had Agathocles,
the son of Lysimachus, on the one hand and Seleucus on the other, to watch him.
He then used force and wasted some of the provinces which belonged to Seleucus,
in every encounter getting the better of Seleucus. When Seleucus let his
scythe-bearing chariots attack him, Demetrius on several occasions routed them
also and put his enemies to flight. He took the mountain passes and drove out
the garrisons which Seleucus had placed there to hold them. Growing confident
of his own strength, he now resolved to settle the matter in a pitched battle
with Seleucus. Suddenly he became very sick, which laid him low and dashed his
hopes of better things in this world. In that sickness, all his soldiers
abandoned him, with some defecting to his enemies and others disbanding and
going where they pleased. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 3.} {*Plutarch,
Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 12. s. 6. 9:381} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 48.
s. 2-4. 9:121,123} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 10. s. 3. 1:51}
3718b AM, 4428 JP, 286 BC
2706. While Demetrius was trapped by Seleucus in Syria, Lysimachus attacked
Pyrrhus in Macedonia, and won all of it from Pyrrhus within five years and six
months. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 3.} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 10.
s. 3. 1:51} {Dexippus} {Porphyry}
2707. After a period of forty days, Demetrius recovered from his sickness. He
took the remaining soldiers and moved his camp, letting on that he would march
into Cilicia. The next night, without the sound of a trumpet, he turned around
another way. When he had crossed the range of Amanus, he ravaged and plundered
all that country as far as Cyrrhestica, a region in Syria. When Seleucus came
there with his army and camped not far from him, Demetrius and his men attacked
him at night, while he slept. Seleucus, however, had received notice of his
coming through some who had defected to him. He got out of his bed and
commanded an alarm to be sounded. While he was putting on his shoes, he cried
out to his friends that they had to deal with a fierce, wild beast. [L468] When
Demetrius realised, by the noise which he heard in the enemy camp, that his
attack was no longer a surprise, he retired and went his way. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 49. s. 1,2. 9:123,125}
2708. As soon as it was day, Seleucus followed and overtook him. Demetrius
ordered one wing of his army to be led by a captain of his, and led the other
himself. He routed the wing of the enemy on his side. Then Seleucus leaped off
his horse and took off his helmet. With a shield in his hand, he showed himself
bare-faced to the mercenaries of Demetrius' army and exhorted them to leave
Demetrius and defect to him. He urged them to know that it was more as a favour
to them than to Demetrius that he had for so long refrained from attacking them.
[E339] Whereupon they welcomed him and hailed him as their king, and abandoned
Demetrius to serve Seleucus. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 49. s. 2,3.
9:125}
2709. Demetrius thought this would be the last reversal of his fortunes and the
worst thing that could befall him. He retired to the passes of the Amanus
Mountain and spent that night in a dense forest with the few friends whom he had
left. He planned to go from there to the city of Caunus in the hope of finding
his fleet and fleeing to some other country. Just when he realised that he did
not have so much as one day's provision for those who were with him, it so
happened that an old friend of his, Sosigenes, came and brought him four hundred
pieces of gold. Hoping that this money would pay for his needs on his journey
to the coast, he set out by night to cross the top of the mountain, but when he
saw the enemy campfires everywhere and realised that the enemy was blocking his
way, he was forced, in great despair, to return to the place from where he had
set out. When one of the company told him that he would do well to surrender to
Seleucus, Demetrius drew his sword and would have killed himself on the spot.
But his friends persuaded him not to, and he sent to Seleucus and surrendered
himself to him, together with all that he had. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1.
c. 49. s. 3-5. 9:125,127}
2710. When Seleucus heard the message, he ordered his servants to outfit a
royal pavilion in a most regal manner to welcome Demetrius. He sent
Apollonides, who had formerly been an intimate friend of Demetrius, to comfort
him and to tell him that there was no cause for fear, since he was coming to an
old friend and son-in-law of his. When Seleucus' servants heard this, first one
by one and then later they all flocked in large numbers to Demetrius. Their
action provoked envy instead of compassion toward Demetrius, which caused his
foes to thwart Seleucus' good intentions to him. They told Seleucus that no
sooner would Demetrius be seen in their camp than Seleucus would be faced with a
great revolution in the camp. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 50. s. 1-3.
9:127}
2711. Consequently, Pausanias was sent with a company of about a thousand men,
made up of cavalry and foot soldiers. They separated him from everyone else and
instead of bringing him to Seleucus, carried him away to a certain cape in
Syria, where he was kept under a strong guard for the rest of his days. He was
given an adequate allowance and lacked neither money, nor the freedom to enjoy
walks, gardens, places of hunting, or any other recreations that his heart could
desire. His friends, who had followed him, were free at any time to see him and
talk with him. Not a day passed, while he was there, that someone did not come
to see him with friendly messages from Seleucus, to encourage him to be of good
comfort and to hope for further liberty on reasonable terms. Seleucus said that
he would free Demetrius as soon as Antiochus (who was Seleucus' son) came with
his wife Stratonice. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 50. s. 4-6. 9:129}
However, Diodorus stated that he was kept prisoner at Pella all this time.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 21. c. 20. 11:39}
2712. Finding himself in this position, Demetrius wrote to his son, and to
other captains and friends of his at Athens, Corinth and other places, saying
that they should give no credence to any letters that might happen to come to
them as being sent in his name or sealed with his seal. They should act as if
he were dead and respect his son Antigonus in the kingdom. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 51. s. 1. 9:129} Thus Porphyry started Antigonus'
reign over Greece from this time, that is, from the tenth year before Antigonus
added the kingdom of Macedonia to his other dominions. [L469] Porphyry further
stated that Antigonus was surnamed Gonatas after a place called Goni in
Thessaly, where he grew up. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 226.}
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:211} When Antigonus heard the news of his
father's captivity, he took it very hard. He clothed himself in mourning
clothes and wrote letters to various kings, as well as to Seleucus. He did this
in a humble manner, offering himself, and whatever he could call his, as a
pledge to Seleucus for his father. Similar letters and messages came to
Seleucus from various cities and kings on Demetrius' behalf. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 51. s. 2. 9:131}
2713. Only Lysimachus in his letters advised Seleucus to be careful how he let
the man go. He said Demetrius was ambitious and a turbulent spirit, too
ambitious of sovereignty and too inclined to encroach upon the rights of all the
other kings. He offered Seleucus two thousand talents if he would kill him, but
Seleucus, who had never had a good opinion of Lysimachus, utterly detested him
after reading his letter and thought he was a barbarous and loathsome person.
He told Lysimachus' envoys in no uncertain terms what he thought of their
attempts to persuade him to break the promise he had given and to murder someone
who was so closely related to him. Nevertheless, Seleucus immediately wrote
letters to his son Antiochus, who was in Media at the time, advising him how to
deal with Demetrius now that he had him. Seleucus planned to free him and
restore him to his former glory as a king, and so he thought it fitting to share
this honour with Antiochus, since he had married Demetrius' daughter Stratonice
and had children by her. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 51. s. 2,3.
9:131} {*Diod. Sic., l. 21. c. 20. 11:39} [E340]
3719 AM, 4429 JP, 285 BC
2714. Demetrius was confined to that cape in Syria. At first he exercised
himself in hunting and other sports, but gradually he grew idle and reckless and
spent most of his time eating and playing dice. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1.
c. 52. s. 1. 9:131}
2715. Ptolemy of Egypt, surnamed Soter (or Saviour), had children first by
Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater, and then by Berenice, whom Antipater had
only sent into Egypt as a companion with his daughter. He was now near death
and appointed Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, one of his sons, whom he had by
Berenice, to succeed him in the kingdom. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6.
s. 8. 1:33} Justin stated that he turned his kingdom over to his son while he
was still in very good health, and that he told the people his reasons for doing
this. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 2.} However, Lucian and Porphyry stated
that when he had reigned thirty-eight years by himself, he then made his son
viceroy in the kingdom and so held the kingdom jointly with him for two years.
{*Lucian, Octogenarians, l. 1. (12) 1:231} {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek
Eusebius, p. 225.} However, I calculated that it was in the thirty-ninth year
after the death of Alexander that he took his son, Philadelphus, into the
consortship of the kingdom with him. To mark this, Dionysius, the astronomer,
began a new era starting from the summer of this year, 3719 AM, as Ptolemy
showed in his work from Dionysius' celestial observations. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis} This Dionysius was none other than that same man Dionysius whom
Ptolemy Philadelphus sent into India. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 21. (59) 2:383}
2716. Hermippus said that Demetrius of Phalerum advised Ptolemy to appoint one
of his sons born by Eurydice as viceroy, and not a son by Berenice Heraclides.
In his epitome of the successions of Sotion, he stated that when Ptolemy wanted
the kingdom to be given to his son, Philadelphus, Demetrius said to him:
{*Diogenes Laertius, Demetrius, l. 5. c. 5. (79) 1:531}
"Sir, take heed what you do; if you give it away once, you will never have it
again."
2717. In spite of this, the father publicly gave his son the kingdom and served
him as one of his ordinary guard. He said that it was much better to be the
father of a king than to have a kingdom. {Justin, Trogus, l. 16. c. 2.}
[L470]
2718. Ptolemy was surnamed Ceraunus, that is Lightning. This was either for
his speed and promptness in handling business or for his fierceness of nature,
and he was the other son of Ptolemy but by Eurydice. Memnon stated that when he
saw his younger brother made king ahead of him, he fled to Seleucus out of fear.
Seleucus pitied him in his situation, seeing him as the son of a friend, and
entertained him with a generous and honourable allowance. He promised that as
soon as his father died, he would set him on his throne in Egypt. {Memnon,
Excerpts, c. 9,13.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 10. (62) 2:225}
3720 AM, 4430 JP, 284 BC
2719. Cyril stated that in the 124th Olympiad the image of Serapis was brought
to Alexandria from Sinope on the Black Sea, in the reign, as some thought, of
Ptolemy Philadelphus. {Cyril, Against Julian, l. 1.} But this should be under
Ptolemy I, his father, since, as was noted before, they reigned jointly in the
beginning of this Olympiad. Envoys were sent from Ptolemy I to Scydrothemis,
who was the king of Sinope in Pontus at that time, dealing with this very
matter. Cornelius Tacitus described this in detail. {*Tacitus, Histories, l.
4. c. 81-84. 3:159-167}
2720. In the same Olympiad, Sostratus of Cnidos built the lighthouse on Pharos
at Alexandria. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:211} Pliny stated: {*Pliny, l.
36. c. 18. 10:65}
"The lighthouse built by a king on the isle of Pharos, at the port of
Alexandria, is very famous. This cost eight hundred talents to build. Ptolemy,
the king, was very generous in that he allowed Sostratus, the architect of that
great work, to name it. The use of the tower was to hold a beacon of light in
it to help those who travelled by sea at night. By day, it showed them the
entrance into the port and warned of the shoals near it."
2721. When Strabo called Sostratus the friend of kings, he was referring to the
two Ptolemys, father and son, who, as I have shown before, held that kingdom in
consortship together at this time. He cited the inscription which Sostratus
himself had made there: {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 6. 8:25}
"Sostratus of Cnidos, the son of Dexiphanes, a friend of the kings, for the
safety of the seamen."
2722. Lucian stated the same, except that he said that Sostratus somewhere
cunningly inserted and of himself, and not, as Pliny claimed, by the permission
and good liking of the two kings. For when he built the lighthouse, he engraved
this inscription somewhere on the inside of it. Then, he plastered it over and
on that plaster wrote the name of that Ptolemy who was reigning at the time. He
thought that in a short time it would come to pass (as indeed it did) that the
upper inscription would fall off together with the plaster and then his own
name, which was engraved underneath in good stone, would appear. {*Lucian, How
to Write History (62) 6:71,73} [E341]
2723. To ensure a safe means of getting supplies to Pharos, which lay about a
mile from the mainland, a large causeway was constructed to join the island to
the continent. Hence it was no longer a distinct island but was joined to the
continent at Rhacotes, a suburb of the city of Alexandria. Julius Caesar
stated: {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (112) 2:357}
"On the island there is a tower called Pharos, of great height, a work of
wondrous construction, which took its name from the island. This island, lying
opposite Alexandria, makes a harbour, but it is connected with the town by a
narrow roadway like a bridge, piers nine hundred feet in length having been
thrown out seawards by former kings."
2724. The Latin for the last phrase, "by former kings" is superioribus regibus.
For that is what it should say, as Broadaeus, Scaliger and Salianus have noted,
and not a superioribus regionibus, as the common printed copies have it.
2725. For we can in no way give credence to that fable of Ammianus Marcellinus
{*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 22. c. 16. s. 9. 2:299} [L471] or Johannes
Malela, {Johannes Malela, l. 9. c. 2.} or the author of the Fasti Siculi or
George Cedrenus and Johannes Tzetza, who imagined that both the lighthouse
itself and its causeway were the work of Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.
2726. Spartacus, the king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, died after he had reigned
twenty years. It seems he was succeeded by his son, Parysades. {See note on
3694 AM. <<2588>>} {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 100. s. 7. 10:409}
2727. Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had been confined in a cape of Syria for three
whole years, became sick and died. This was caused partly by laziness and
partly by overeating, {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 52. s. 4. 9:133} and
occurred seventeen years after his father Antigonus died. Dexippus, Porphyry
and Eusebius said that Seleucus was ill-spoken of throughout the world because
of his death. Indeed, he regretted it often and blamed himself for having been
so jealous and suspicious of him. When Demetrius' son Antigonus heard that the
body of his father was on its way to him, he put to sea with all the ships that
he could find and met them around the isles. There he received the ashes of his
body and placed them in a golden urn, which he then covered with a purple veil
and put a diadem or golden crown on it. He gave him a royal funeral after
having first carried the urn along with him to Corinth. Then he went to
Demetrias, a city named after his father and populated by him with men taken
from the smaller towns and villages of Iolcus in Thessaly. {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 52. s. 4. 9:133}
2728. Seleucus had now acquired all that Demetrius had possessed in Syria and
Asia, and he made both these kingdoms into one unified empire. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:210,211} At that time, while the Jews paid him three
hundred talents yearly for their tribute, they did not, however, have a foreign
ruler over them, but were governed by their high priests and according to the
customs of their country. {*Sulpicius Servius, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 17.
11:106}
3721a AM, 4430 JP, 284 BC
2729. In this year, Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, surnamed Soter, died. He had
made his son viceroy with him in the kingdom for almost fifteen months,
according to the calendar of Dionysius. This was about thirty-nine years and
four months after the death of Alexander the Great. (Others said it was a full
forty years, but Claudius Ptolemy said that it was thirty-nine years. {Ptolemy,
Canon of Kings}) He had lived a full eighty-four years. {*Lucian,
Octogenarians, l. 1. (12) 1:231} The countries and kingdoms which he had held
in his possession were all listed by Theocritus, the poet. {Theocritus, Idyll.
17.} These were—Egypt, Phoenicia, Arabia, Syria, Libya, Ethiopia, Pamphylia,
Cilicia, Lycia, Caria and the isles of the Cyclades. The truth is that he was
said to have allied himself with Seleucus against Demetrius on the express
condition that the dominion of all Asia should go to Seleucus but that Phoenicia
and Coelosyria would be his. However, the Seleucians denied this and said that
Ptolemy entered into an alliance against Antigonus not to gain anything by it
for himself but to help Seleucus in the claim which he laid to Coelosyria.
After the death of Antigonus, Cassander and Lysimachus gave Coelosyria to
Seleucus. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 67. s. 6-8. 3:165} There is no doubt, as
Theocritus also stated, that at certain times Phoenicia and Syria belonged to
Ptolemy. After the death of Antigonus, Ptolemy again subdued Syria for himself.
{*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 6. s. 8. 1:33} Yet we have already shown
that Tyre and Sidon were in the possession of Demetrius Poliorcetes. After his
death, if not before, both those places and all the rest of Syria were
controlled by Seleucus.
2730. Josephus said that Ptolemy Philadelphus reigned for thirty-nine years.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 1. (11) 7:7,9} [L472] It seems he
counted from the time that he first reigned jointly with his father, for Clement
of Alexandria said he reigned only thirty-seven years after his father's death.
Claudius Ptolemy said it was thirty-eight years {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} and so
did Porphyry, Eusebius and others. Whereas, according to my account, he reigned
thirty-seven years and almost eight months after his father's death, but one
month short of thirty-nine years in all. Although the length of his reign is
uncertain, it is known for sure that he put to death his younger brother Argaeus
because the latter had been guilty of plotting his death. He executed another
brother of his, born of Eurydice, because he was found to be instigating a
revolt in the isle of Cyprus. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 7. s. 1.
1:35} [E342] Going by those actions, he little deserved that generous name of
Philadelphus, that is, a Lover of His Brethren. Theocritus said that he had
33,339 cities in his dominions and was said to have been so great a power that
he exceeded his father, Ptolemy I. {Theocritus, Idyll. 17.} Jerome confirmed
this from his histories in commenting on Daniel, {Da 11} and so did Appian from
the records of the kings of Egypt, in his preface to his history of the Romans.
{*Appian, l. 1. c. 0. s. 10. 1:15,17} To support this further we could add
what Athenaeus said about his fleets and the incredible size of his ships.
{*Athenaeus, l. 5. (203-206) 2:421-433}
3721b AM, 4431 JP, 283 BC
2731. In the forty-seventh year of the first period of Calippus, in the eighth
day of the month of Anthesterion, in the 465th year of Nabonassar's account, the
29th day of the month of Athyr, three hours before midnight, at the end of the
29th day of our January according to the Julian calendar, Timocharis observed at
Alexandria that the fourth part of the moon covered a third part of a star in
Virgo (or Pleiades), or nearly a half. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 7. c.
3.}
2732. Lysimachus, who was now king of Thrace and Macedonia, was persuaded by
his wife Arsinoe (by whom he also had children) to murder his oldest son
Agathocles, even though he had intended him to be his successor in his kingdom,
and Lysimachus had achieved so many glorious victories through him. It is
uncertain whether he was killed by poison or at the hands of Ptolemy Ceraunus,
the brother of his wife Arsinoe. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 1. 6:165}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 1.} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 10. s. 3.
1:51} {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 9.}
2733. After his son was killed, he did not hesitate to kill those nobles of his
who lamented his son's death, whereupon those who escaped, as well as the
captains of his armies in all regions, defected to Seleucus. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 17. c. 1.} The murders of his nobles made all the people abhor him, with
the result that whole cities defected from him to Seleucus. {Memnon, Excerpts,
c. 9.}
2734. Lysandra, the daughter of Ptolemy Soter and sister to Arsinoe, defected
to Seleucus along with her brothers and her children born to her through
Agathocles. Alexander, another son of Lysimachus' other wife Odryssias, also
fled to Seleucus. They all came to Babylon and petitioned Seleucus to make war
on Lysimachus. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 10. (64) 2:229}
{*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 10. s. 4. 1:51}
2735. At the same time, Philetaerus of Paphlagonia, a eunuch who had a good
education in his youth, was the keeper of all Lysimachus' treasure that was
stored at Pergamum. Grieved by the murder of Agathocles and by Arsinoe, who
daily accused him to Lysimachus, he seized the city of Pergamum, which stood on
the Caicus River. He then sent to Seleucus, offering Seleucus both himself and
all the treasure belonging to Lysimachus which he had there under his charge.
He made a practice of siding with the strongest and keeping them in line with
good promises and offices as opportunities arose, and so he held the citadel
there and the government of the place for twenty years. {*Pausanias, Attica, l.
1. c. 10. s. 4,5. 1:51,53} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 1. 6:163,165}
Appian called him The Prince of Pergamum, {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
10. (63) 2:227} but some old annals of Huber Goltsis Thesauro, called him
Regem, that is, King, for this indeed was the man who was the founder of that
new government in Pergamum. He was sixty years old, according to Lucian.
{*Lucian, Octogenarians, l. 1. (12) 1:231,233} [L473]
3722a AM, 4431 JP, 283 BC
2736. In the 48th year of the first Calippic period, on the 25th day of the
month of Pyanopsion, the 466th year of Nabonassar, the 7th day of the month of
Thoth, three and a half hours before midnight, on the 9th day of our November,
Timocharis at Alexandria observed the conjunction of the moon with Spica in
Virgo, in its northern parts. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 7. c. 3.}
3722b AM, 4432 JP, 282 BC
2737. Antiochus, also surnamed Soter, son of Seleucus Nicator, fell in love
with Stratonice, one of his father's wives by whom his father had a son. Aware
of the strength of his own desire, he neither attempted anything on her nor
revealed anything of what was troubling him, but lay in bed and would have died
in that melancholy, had not the cause of his problem been discovered by
Leptines, a mathematician, or as others say, Erasistratus. (He was a physician,
Aristotle's grandchild by his daughter and a disciple of Chrysippus, according
to Pliny. {*Pliny, l. 29. c. 3. (5) 8:185} That was the Chrysippus who was
a Cnidian and a physician, {*Diogenes Laertius, Chrysippus, l. 7. c. 7.
(186) 2:295} although some others say he was a scholar under Theophrastus, as
Laertius stated elsewhere. {*Diogenes Laertius, Theophrastus, l. 5. c. 2.
(57) 1:509} [E343] His followers went by the name of Erasistrataeans. Later
Galen wrote a book on Phlebotomie. {Galen, Bloodletting}) Erasistratus, who was
sitting with Antiochus, noticed that when Stratonice came in, his colour always
rose and his pulse beat high. When she went away, he grew pale and waned again
and was short of breath and panted. He discovered what his problem was and told
Seleucus about it, whereupon Seleucus was content to part with her to his son,
although he loved her most dearly. Calling his army together, Seleucus married
her to his son before them all. At that time, Seleucus had seventy-two
provinces under him, the larger part of which he gave to his son, namely the
upper provinces, which were all east of the Euphrates River. He reserved for
himself only those countries which lay to the west, between the Euphrates River
and the Mediterranean Sea. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 10. (59-62)
2:217-225} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 5. c. 7. ext. 1. 1:529,531} {*Plutarch,
Demetrius, l. 1. c. 38. 9:93-97} {Lucian, De Syria Dea} {Galen, On
Foreknowing} {Julian, Misopogone}
3723 AM, 4433 JP, 281 BC
2738. Lysimachus crossed over into Asia to make war on Seleucus. This was the
last battle fought between the survivors of Alexander the Great, of whom thirty
four were already dead and these were the last two alive. This battle was
fought in Phrygia, which bordered on the Hellespont, Psi Koroupedion, according
to Porphyry. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 228.} Lysimachus
personally fought very bravely. After he had lost many of his men, he was
wounded with a large spear by Malacon, a Heraclean. Lysimachus had lived to see
the death of fifteen of his children and was one of the last surviving members
of his family. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 10. s. 5. 1:53} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 10. (62) 2:225} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
10. (64) 2:229} {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 9.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 1,2.}
{Orosius, l. 3. c. fin.} Appian said he lived seventy years, Justin and
Orosius said seventy-four, but Hieronymus Cardianus, the historian who lived at
that time and was held in great esteem, said that he died at eighty. {*Lucian,
Octogenarians, l. 1. (11) 1:231}
2739. When Lysimachus had fallen, his dog stayed by the body and drove all the
birds and animals away from it. Finally, Thorax, from the country of Pharsalia,
found the almost putrefied body after a long search and recognised it by his dog
lying beside it. Alexander, his son by Odrysias, got the body from Lysandra
after much ado and many requests. He carried it into the Chersonesus of Thrace
and buried it there, but the bones were later moved to the temple in Lysimachia
by its citizens, where they were placed in an urn, and from henceforth the name
of the temple was Lysimachium. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 10. (64)
2:229} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 10. s. 5. 1:53}
2740. After Lysimachus' death, his kingdom became part of Seleucus' kingdom.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 9.} Seleucus was very pleased with himself after so great
a victory, because he now saw himself as the last one alive of all that company
which had been known as Alexander's companions in arms. He said that to be a
Conqueror of Conquerors was a gift from the gods, not man. {Justin, Trogus, l.
17. c. 1,2.} [L474]
2741. The men of Heraclea in Pontus heard that Lysimachus was dead and that he
had been killed by a countryman of theirs. In the eighty-fourth year after
Clearchus I had subdued them, they wanted to recover their native liberty, which
Lysimachus had again taken from them after the deaths of their local tyrants.
They behaved valiantly to recover it. After the death of the two brothers,
Clearchus II and Oxathres, Lysimachus had restored their liberty for a while,
but afterward, at the requests of his wife Arsinoe, he had made a new war on
them. {Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 3.} When he had taken their city, he
appointed Heraclitus Cimaeus, a man loyal to Arsinoe, governor over them. After
Lysimachus' death, the men of Heraclea offered Heraclitus a safe passage and a
large sum of money to leave, on the condition that they would again have their
liberty. He was very angry at this and ordered some of them to be executed.
When the citizens discovered this, they secretly made a deal with the chief
officers of the garrison under Heraclitus to free them and to pay them all their
back wages. The officers took Heraclitus and put him in prison, where they kept
him for a while until, realising they were free from all danger, they demolished
the citadel which Lysimachus had built to control them. Then they sent an
embassy to Seleucus to tell him what they had done, and they made Phocritus the
governor of their state. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 8-10.}
2742. Zipoetes, a petty king of Bithynia, was angry with the men of Heraclea,
first on account of Lysimachus and now Seleucus, because both of these were his
enemies, so he attacked them and did as much damage as he could. Although his
men were not caught, they often received as much harm as they inflicted.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 11.} [E344]
2743. Meanwhile, Seleucus sent Aphrodisias to the cities of Phrygia and nearby
places to take care of his tribute and affairs. After he had settled the
business he was sent on, he returned to Seleucus, praising many cities but
accusing the Heracleans of many things, especially of not being loyal to
Seleucus. At this, the king was enraged and scorned the embassy sent to him by
the Heracleans. He spoke harshly to them, but there was one of them, called
Camaeleon, who was not intimidated. He spoke thus to Seleucus:
"Sir, Hercules, Carron."
2744. (The word Carron, in the Dorian dialect or language, means he that is the
strongest.) Seleucus, not knowing what the word meant, continued his tirade
against them and ordered them to leave. Consequently, these messengers who had
been sent knew that it was of no use for them either to stay there or to return
home again. When Heraclea heard the news, they fortified their city as best
they could and sought foreign aid by sending their envoys for help to
Mithridates, king of Pontus, and to the states of Byzantium and Chalcedon.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 12.}
2745. Those who had been banished and were living in exile from the state of
Heraclea met together and came to an agreement among themselves. The deal was
this. At this meeting Nymphidius persuaded them to work toward a restitution to
their country, by telling them it would not be hard to do this if they would
seek restitution in a fair and non-violent way. They were all easily persuaded
by him, whereupon everything happened as they had desired. It was hard to tell
who was happier, the returning exiles or the citizens who received them. Those
who were returning treated the citizens who had expelled them very kindly, while
the citizens allowed none of them to be short of anything they required for
daily living. In this way they grew more united into one body again and
returned to their original state of government. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 12.}
[L475]
3724 AM, 4434 JP, 280 BC
2746. Seleucus planned to end his days in his old and his former native country
of Macedonia and so, he crossed over the Hellespont and went to Lysimachia.
There by chance he noticed a certain altar standing in a conspicuous place and
asking what the name of this altar was, he was told it was called Argos. Now it
is said that he had been forewarned by an oracle to beware of Argos. When he
further asked why it was called Argos, he was told that it had been built either
by the Argonauts on their way to Colchis, or by the Achaeans who had besieged
Troy, for which reason the people in the neighbourhood still called it Argos,
either as a corruption of the name of the ship Argo, or stemming from the native
place of the sons of Atreus. As he was still listening to this story, Ptolemy
Ceraunus, who was standing behind him, ran him through with his sword and killed
him. Ptolemy was the son of Ptolemy I by his wife Eurydice, and brother to
Arsinoe, the widow of Lysimachus, and now he had killed his great benefactor,
who had kept him and had always wanted him with him. So, within seventeen
months after the death of Lysimachus, Seleucus lost both the kingdom of
Macedonia, which he had taken from Lysimachus, and his own life. {Memnon,
Excerpts, c. 13.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 2.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 10. (63) 2:225,227}
2747. Arrian stated that Seleucus was the greatest man who had lived after
Alexander the Great, and that he had the most noble spirit of them all, as well
as having the largest dominions of any of them. {*Arrian, Anabasis, l. 7. c.
22. s. 5. 2:281} He died in the forty-third year after the death of
Alexander, in the thirty-second year of the Greek, or Seleucian, Calendar.
Appian said he lived seventy-three years, but Justin said it was seventy-eight
years. His body was burned by Philetaerus, the king of Pergamum, who redeemed
it from Ceraunus with a large sum of money. He sent his ashes to his son
Antiochus who buried it at Seleucia-by-the-Sea, where he erected a temple to his
father, and made a precinct around it. The precinct was called Nicatorium,
after his surname. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 10. (63) 2:227} Justin
stated that both he and his sons and grandchildren after him were all born with
the sign of an anchor on one of their thighs, which was a natural birthmark of
that family. {Justin, Trogus, l. 15. c. 4.} In his book Catalogue of Famous
Cities Ausonius, in speaking of Antioch, said: {Ausonius, Ordo Urbium Nobilium,
l. 2}
She for her founder did Seleucus praise,
Who wore a native anchor on his thigh;
A true impress of his nativity,
And birthmark on all his progeny.
2748. Polybius noted that Ptolemy I, Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy Ceraunus
all died in the 124th Olympiad. {*Polybius, l. 2. c. 41. s. 1-3. 1:343}
[E345] Ptolemy I died in the first year of that Olympiad and Lysimachus and
Seleucus in the last year. However, since Ceraunus did not die until the latter
end of the first year of the next Olympiad, Polybius seems to have omitted him
when mentioning the concurrence of their deaths later in the same book.
{*Polybius, l. 2. c. 71. s. 1-6. 1:413,415}
2749. After Ceraunus had murdered Seleucus, he escaped on a swift horse to
Lysimachia, where he proclaimed himself king and surrounded himself with
bodyguards. He went to the army, who of pure necessity received him and hailed
him as king, even though they had sworn allegiance to Seleucus only a short time
before. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 13.}
2750. When Antigonus, surnamed Gonatas, the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, heard
how Seleucus had been murdered, he made an expedition into Macedonia, planning
to get there with his army and naval forces before Ceraunus could. However,
Ceraunus had all Lysimachus' fleet in readiness, and set out and met him at sea
in a good battle formation. [L476] As a part of his navy, ships had been sent
from Heraclea in Pontus, some of six, some of five tiers of oars. These types
of ships were called Aphracta, but the largest ship of all had eight tiers of
oars and was called the Leontifera. She was admired by all for her large size
and exquisite construction. In her were a hundred oars per tier, so that on
each side there were eight hundred rowers, which made sixteen hundred in all.
On the upper deck or hatches there were twelve hundred fighting men who were
under two special commanders. When the battle began, Ceraunus won and Antigonus
was forced to flee with all his navy. In this battle, the ships from Heraclea
performed the best and among them the Leontifera proved to be the best of all.
After being routed, Antigonus fled into Boeotia, while Ptolemy Ceraunus went
into Macedonia, where he stayed quietly for two years. {Memnon, Excerpts, c.
14,15.} That was for seventeen months, according to Dexippus and Porphyry, who
related this matter more precisely. (Ptolemy Philopator [c. 244-205 BC] built
an even larger warship. It was four hundred and twenty feet long, fifty-seven
feet wide and seventy-two feet high to the top of her gunwale. From the top of
her stern-post to the water line was seventy-nine and a half feet. It had four
steering oars forty-five feet long, and had forty banks of oars, with the oars
on the uppermost tier being fifty-seven feet long. The oars were
counterbalanced with lead to make them easier to handle. It had a double bow
and a double stern and carried seven rams, of which one was the leader and the
others were of gradually reducing size. It had twelve under-girders nine
hundred feet long. She was manned by four hundred sailors to handle the rigging
and the sails, four thousand rowers and two thousand eight hundred and fifty
men-in-arms to make up a total of seven thousand and fifty men. This ship was
too large to be of much practical use. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (203f-204b)
2:421,423} {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 43. s. 4. 9:109} Editor.)
2751. Ceraunus grew in favour in the eyes of the people because of his father
Ptolemy I of Egypt and for the revenge which he had taken for Lysimachus' death.
He first tried to win over Lysimachus' sons and desired to marry Arsinoe, their
mother, and his own sister. He told them that he would adopt them as his
children, hoping they would not attempt anything against him out of respect for
their mother or to him as their new father. He sent letters to his brother
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, soliciting his friendship. He claimed that
he had utterly forgotten the loss of his father's kingdom and that he would
never seek to get from his brother that to which he had already more honestly
attained by getting it from an enemy. {Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 2.} He also
made peace with Antiochus, whose father, Seleucus, he had murdered. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 24. c. 1.}
2752. Neither did he forget to solicit the friendship of Pyrrhus, the king of
Epirus, thinking that Pyrrhus' support would sway many to his side. Pyrrhus
made generous use of everyone else's property and used it as if it were his own.
In this spirit, he began to help the Tarentines in Italy against the Romans. He
sent to borrow ships from Antigonus Gonatas to transport his army into Italy,
while sending to Antiochus, the son of the deceased Seleucus, to borrow money,
because he seemed to have much more wealth than he had men. He asked Ptolemy
Ceraunus to furnish him with some companies of soldiers from Macedonia, so
Ceraunus lent Pyrrhus five thousand foot soldiers, four thousand cavalry and
fifty elephants for two years of service only. For this favour, Pyrrhus married
his daughter and left him as protector of his kingdom of Epirus during his
absence, because he feared that while he was away with the best of his army in
Italy, someone might take advantage of his absence and plunder his kingdom.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 2.}
2753. Therefore Pyrrhus nonetheless made Ptolemy, his fifteen-year-old son by
Antigone the daughter of Berenice, governor of his kingdom, and placed him under
the authority of Ptolemy Ceraunus, the king of Macedonia. Pyrrhus sailed with
his army and landed in the port of Tarentum, now called Otranto, in Italy. He
took his two younger sons with him, Alexander and Helenus. They were very young
and he took them for comfort in this distant war. {Justin, Trogus, l. 18. c.
1.} He did not wait for spring but sailed there in the middle of the winter,
according to Zonaras' account from Dionysius Halicarnassus. This was in the
fourth year of the 124th Olympiad. {*Polybius, l. 2. c. 41. s. 11,12.
1:345}
2754. Following the death of his father Seleucus, Antiochus Soter held the
kingdom of Syria for nineteen years. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:212}
{Porphyry} {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 19. 11:106} After
many battles, he barely recovered all his father's dominions. In the end he
sent an army, under the command of Patrocles, to cross the Taurus Mountains,
choosing Hermones, born at Aspendus, to serve as his captain. [L477] Patrocles
was to attack Heraclea in the country of Pontus, but when he received
satisfaction from an embassy sent to him by the Heracleans, he halted the
expedition and made a firm league with them. [E346] He altered his course and
passing through the country of Phrygia, came into Bithynia, where he was
ambushed by the Bithynians and perished with all his army. In this battle,
Patrocles behaved most valiantly and personally did many exploits against the
enemy. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 16.} When Zipoetes, the king of Bithynia, had
thus destroyed Antiochus' army, he built the city of Liparus at the foot of the
hill and named it after himself. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 21.}
2755. At the end of the 50th year of the first Calippic period, which was the
44th year from the death of Alexander the Great, Aristarchus of Samos observed
the summer solstice. This was after Meton had first observed the lunar cycle a
hundred and fifty-two years or eight complete lunar cycles earlier (from
Hipparchus' book De Anni Magnitudine, as quoted by Ptolemy). {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.} {See note on 3572 AM. <<1275>>}
2756. Arsinoe, the widow of Lysimachus, married her own brother, Ptolemy
Ceraunus and received him into her city of Cassandria. He seized the citadel
and took and killed her two sons, whom she had by Lysimachus. The one, who was
sixteen years old, was called Lysimachus, and the other, who was only three
years old, was called Philip. He killed them both in the arms of their mother,
who then tore her clothes and pulled out her hair. She was hauled out of the
gates of the city with only two servants and banished to the isle of
Samothracia. {Justin, Trogus, l. 24. c. 2,3.} {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 15.}
3725 AM, 4435 JP, 279 BC
2757. In the beginning of the second year after Pyrrhus' arrival in Italy, the
Gauls invaded Greece. {*Polybius, l. 1. c. 6. s. 5,6. 1:17} They divided
their whole army into three parts and assigned each part a task. One part, led
by Cerethrius, attacked Thrace and Triballi. The second group attacked Paenonia
and were led by Brennus and Acichorius. The third group, led by Belgius,
attacked Macedonia and Illyria. {Justin, Trogus, l. 24. c. 5.} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 25. c. 2.} Pausanias incorrectly called him Bolgius. {*Pausanias,
Phocis, l. 10. c. 19. s. 7. 4:475}
2758. Ptolemy Ceraunus (meaning Thunderbolt, because he was so rash) was driven
on by the madness of his wicked mind. He and a small, poorly organized company
went to war with Belgius. Ptolemy thought wars were as easily waged as murders
were committed. When the king of the Dardanians offered to help him against
these newly arrived Gauls with twenty-thousand men, Ptolemy refused the offer.
When the Gauls sent messengers to him offering him peace for money, he replied
that he would not give them peace unless they surrendered their arms and the
leaders of their army for hostages, as signs of their loyalty to him. Not able
to agree, the two sides fought a battle in which the Macedonians were defeated
and fled. Ptolemy was grievously wounded, and when the elephant on which he
rode was also wounded, it became unruly and threw him off its back. He was
captured by the Gauls and torn to pieces. His head was cut off, put on the
point of a spear and carried about to terrify the enemy. Few of the Macedonians
escaped, while the majority were either killed or taken prisoner. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 24. c. 4,5.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 25. c. 2.} {Memnon, Excerpts,
c. 15.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 22. c. 3,4. 11:49,51} {*Pausanias, Phocis, l.
10. c. 19. s. 7. 4:475}
2759. Ptolemy's brother Meleager succeeded him in the kingdom of Macedonia, but
after two months the Macedonians kicked him out as not being worthy of the
position. They replaced him with Antipater, the son of Philip, who was brother
to Cassander. {Justin, Trogus, l. 12. c. 14.} He was nicknamed the Etesian
because he held the office for only forty-five days, which is about how long the
Etesian winds used to blow on that coast each year. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek
Eusebius, p. 228.}
2760. When Brennus (who, some say, was by birth a Prausian, {*Strabo, l. 4.
c. 1. s. 13. 2:205}) heard of this great victory by Belgius, he did not want
to let this golden opportunity of getting all the riches of the east slip from
his hands. [L478] He gathered together a hundred and fifty thousand foot
soldiers and fifteen thousand cavalry of his Gauls and marched quickly into
Macedonia. {Justin, Trogus, l. 24. c. 6.} When he came into the country of
the Dardanians, a people in Illyria, he was forced to stay there because of a
rebellion which arose in his army. About twenty thousand of his men (Suidas
also has this number under the entry Galatae), with Leonorius and Lutarius as
their captains, defected from him and went into Thrace. By fighting, and
selling peace to those who would buy it from them, they finally came to
Byzantium. After they had wasted the country of Propontis for a while and made
it a tributary to them, they took over all the cities in those parts. {*Livy,
l. 38. c. 16. s. 1-4. 11:51}
3726a AM, 4435 JP, 279 BC
2761. Sosthenes, a leader in Macedonia, assembled the youth and brave men of
the country and attacked the Gauls that were in the land, quelling them after
many encounters and defending the country against their further plundering.
[E347] For this great service, he was chosen to be king at a time when many of
the nobles were striving for the kingdom. He was selected, even though he was a
man of humble birth and parentage and not of royal blood. When they wanted to
make him king, he refused, insisting that they take their oath that they swear
allegiance to him as their captain only, {Justin, Trogus, l. 24. c. 5.} a
capacity in which he then governed the country for two years. {Porphyry}
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:211,213}
2762. When Brennus came into Macedonia, he started plundering the country.
Sosthenes met him with his army, but was hopelessly outnumbered, so that the
Macedonians were quickly defeated and fled to their cities. While they stayed
confined to their cities, Brennus and his army overran and plundered all the
country. {Justin, Trogus, l. 24. c. 6.}
2763. Leonorius and Lutarius used trickery to capture Lysimachia and so took
over the whole region, and when they came down from there into the Hellespont
and saw how short a distance it was across to Asia, they planned to go there.
They sent their agents to Antipater, the governor of the Hellespont, to help
them make the journey. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 16. s. 4,5. 2:53}
2764. When Zipoetes had reigned in Bithynia for a full forty-eight years and
had lived seventy-six years, he died, leaving four sons. The oldest was
Nicomedes, and he succeeded his father in the kingdom. He proved to his
brothers that he was not a brother, but a butcher. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 21.}
The youngest, who was called Zipoetes and whom Livy called Ziboetas, held the
sea coast of Bithynia, {*Livy, l. 38. c. 16. s. 9. 11:53} which was known
as Thracian Thyniaca or Asiatica. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 18.}
2765. After the death of Zipoetes, Antiochus Soter prepared to make war upon
Bithynia. Nicomedes sent and asked for help from the city of Heraclea,
promising to help them should the need arise, whereupon they sent him help.
This provided the opportunity for them later to recover Cierus, Teos and the
land of Thinis at great cost. When they went to recover the city and territory
of Amastris (which had also been taken from them) they did not consider either
war or money too great a cost to pay for its recovery. Eumenes, however, who
only held it as governor, chose, out of sheer spite, to turn it over gratis to
Ariobarzanes, the son of Mithridates, king of Pontus. He did this, rather than
surrender it to the state of Heraclea on any terms. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 18.}
3726b AM, 4436 JP, 278 BC
2766. Brennus and Acichorius left Macedonia with the Illyrians (as Appian
stated,) whom they called Autarians, and the Celts, whom they called Cimbrians.
They went into Greece with an army of a hundred and fifty-two thousand foot
soldiers and twenty thousand and four hundred cavalry. Every cavalryman had two
footmen attending him, so that if the cavalryman was killed, one of them could
take his place. [L479] When they went to plunder the temple at Delphi, they
were driven off by thunder and lightning. They experienced earthquakes and the
ground sank from under them on Mount Olympus. Because it was winter, there were
bitter frosts and snow, and they were miserably distressed in many ways. The
Phocians killed almost six thousand of them, and panic and fear struck the whole
army. That night, a frost killed more than ten thousand men and as many again
perished there from hunger. Brennus, their leader, was wounded. Because of
this shameful defeat, he drank himself drunk, fell on his own sword and died.
When Acichorius saw how the leaders of this war had been punished, he hastily
left Greece with a company of ten thousand poor, maimed soldiers. But the
continual storms of rain and snow, with bitter frosts and famine and what was
worst of all, the perpetual walking, utterly wasted the bodies of this unlikely
army. All the countries through which they passed on their return journey
attacked them as they went, scattering them and making a prey of them.
{*Pausanias, Phocis, l. 10. c. 19-23. 4:473-507} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1.
c. 4. s. 1-6. 1:19-23} {Justin, Trogus, l. 24. c. 6-8.} {*Diod. Sic., l.
22. c. 9. 11:61-65} {*Appian, Illyrian Wars, l. 10. c. 1. (5) 2:61}
{*Polybius, l. 2. c. 20. s. 6,7. 1:291} This disaster happened in the
second year of the 125th Olympiad, when Anaxicrates was archon of Athens.
{*Pausanias, Phocis, l. 10. c. 23. s. 14. 4:507}
3726c AM, 4436 JP, 278 BC
2767. When those of Illyria, called Autarians, who survived this misfortune,
arrived home in their own country, they found themselves plagued with a large
number of frogs. They killed so many that they polluted the very rivers with
the rotting bodies. The foul air rising from their dead bodies caused a
pestilence to spread throughout all the country. They were forced to flee from
their native land but carried the plague along with them, so that no country
would receive them and they were forced to go on a twenty-three day journey,
until they came into the country of the Bastarnians. There, they built cities
in which to live. But the land of the Celts was plagued with earthquakes and
whole cities were swallowed up. [E348] These disasters continued to happen to
the Celts, until at last they, too, were forced to leave their habitation and
went wandering until they came to the country of the Illyrians, who had been
partners with them in their action at Delphi. They easily defeated them, since
the Illyrians were consumed with the plagues. However, they also caught the
infection by touching their goods. Once again they were forced to leave, and so
they wandered until they came to the Pyrenees Mountains. {*Appian, Illyrian
Wars, l. 10. c. 1. (4) 2:59} All these horrid, strange and supernatural
plagues and punishments happened to these Gauls and others for the sacrilegious
acts they had committed against their idols. We can indeed affirm that truth
spoken by the wise man about those who swore falsely by their idols:
"For it was not the power of those by whom they swore: (nor of the gods whom
these men have robbed) but it is the just vengeance upon sinners from the true
God, that punishes the offence of the ungodly." {Apc Wis 14:31}
2768. The Cordistae had been a part of those Gauls who had attempted the
plundering of Delphi. It is said that Bathanattus, their captain, settled them
near the bank of the Ister River, and it is after him that the way by which they
returned was later called Bathanattus' way. {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (234b)
3:53,55} These are the same Gauls whom Strabo called the Scordisci. They
settled on the bank of the Ister River, expelling the Autarians or Autoriates
from their lands. {*Strabo, l. 7. c. 5. s. 2. 3:253,255} {*Strabo, l. 7.
c. 5. s. 11. 3:271,273}
2769. Those Gauls, as I said before, went from Thrace down to the strait of the
Hellespont. After a rebellion among them, Leonorius, with most of his men,
returned to Byzantium, from where he had come. Lutarius took five ships from
the Macedonians who had been sent to him by Antipater as envoys, but they were
really spies. He used these ships to transport his men into Asia, a few at a
time. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 16. s. 3-8. 11:51,53}
2770. Zipoetes (the son of the deceased King Zipoetes) and the Bithynians
defeated the state of Heraclea. When help came to them from other parts,
Zipoetes was forced to flee. The Heracleans gathered the bodies of their dead,
burned them and carried their bones into the city. They laid them up in their
sepulchres together with the bones of other men who had excellently served their
country. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 18.}
3726d AM, 4436 JP, 278 BC
2771. About the same time, Antiochus Soter and Antigonus Gonatas made elaborate
preparations to go to war against each other. [L480] Because Nicomedes, the
king of Bithynia, sided with Antigonus, but other kings with Antiochus,
Antiochus for the present set aside the war with Antigonus and first marched
against Nicomedes. He in turn was forced to get what help he could from other
parts, sending to his friends, the Heracleans, from whom he got thirteen ships
of three tiers of oars apiece, with which he went to engage Antiochus at sea.
They met at sea, but after looking at each other for a while, each side withdrew
and nothing happened. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 19.}
2772. The men of Byzantium were worn out with the continual attacks and
plundering of the Gauls. They sent envoys to their friends, the Heracleans, and
received a thousand pieces of gold from them. (Some say that it was four
thousand pieces.) Not long after this, Nicomedes came to an agreement with these
Gauls, the terms of which were: {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 20,21.}
"Thus they should forever continue firm and fast friends to Nicomedes and his
heirs. That they should not, without his knowledge and consent, lend a helping
hand to any who by embassies should seek assistance from them in their wars.
They should be friends to his friends and foes to his foes. Furthermore, that
they should help those of Byzantium, if the occasion arose. Likewise, that they
should maintain league and friendship with the Tianians, Heracleans,
Chalcedonians, Cierians and some other states which had other countries under
their jurisdiction."
2773. Leonorius, with the help of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, crossed from
Byzantium into Asia. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 16. s. 7. 11:53} {*Strabo, l. 12.
c. 5. s. 1. 5:469} This crossing of the Gauls into Asia happened in the
third year of the 125th Olympiad. {*Pausanias, Phocis, l. 10. c. 23. s.
14. 4:507}
2774. However, the people of Byzantium were not rid of those plundering Gauls
yet, for some of those who had been at Delphi with Brennus and had escaped that
danger, came into the Hellespont under their captain, Comontorius. They planned
to go no farther, since they liked the country around Byzantium, and so they
settled there. After they had conquered the Thracians, they made Tylis the
capital city of their kingdom, and caused Byzantium to fear them just as the
other Gauls before them had done. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 46. s. 1-3.
2:413,415}
3727 AM, 4437 JP, 277 BC
2775. Ptolemy Philadelphus was a great patron of learning and all liberal arts
and sciences. He built a very famous library at Alexandria, in that quarter of
the city known as Brachium. He committed the task of getting books of every
kind and from every country to Demetrius of Phalerum, upon whose advice he also
sent to have the holy writings of the Jews translated from Hebrew into Greek, a
task undertaken by seventy-two translators in the seventh year of his reign.
[E349] This translation was called the Septuagint, {Epiphanius, De Mensuris et
Ponderibus} and Tertullian wrote concerning it: {*Tertullian, Apology, l. 1.
c. 18. 3:32}
"The most learned king of all the Ptolemys was surnamed Philadelphus and was
most interested in all forms of literature. I think he endeavoured to outdo
Pisistratus in the matter of libraries. These are but monuments, which either
antiquity or curiosity could provide for perpetuating man's fame to posterity.
He was guided in this by Demetrius of Phalerum, a most excellent scholar and
humanitarian in those days, whom he had set over that work. He asked the Jews
if he could have their books also."
2776. Ptolemy was very zealous in the study of human learning. This was
confirmed by Phylarchus the historian, as related by Athenaeus, {*Athenaeus, l.
12. (536e) 5:425} and is given in more detail by Vitruvius, {*Vitruvius, l. 7.
c. 0. s. 4,5. 2:65,67} who showed that Ptolemy, when he had finished this
large library at Alexandria, instituted certain games in honour of Apollo and
the Muses. He invited all the writers in the common arts and sciences (not as
others were wont to do, wrestlers and the like) to compete for the prizes, and
awarded generous prizes to the winners. [L481] Vitruvius also related how
Ptolemy entertained Zoilus, surnamed Homeromastix, that is, the Scourge of
Homer, when he came to him. {*Vitruvius, l. 7. c. 0. s. 8. 2:69}
2777. Ptolemy acquired Aristotle's books. When Aristotle died, he left his
library to Theophrastus, and Theophrastus, in his last will and testament, left
it to Nileus, {*Diogenes Laertius, Theophrastus, l. 5. c. 2. (53) 1:505} who
took it to the city of Scepsis. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 54. 6:111}
{*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 26. 4:407} Ptolemy bought these books from him,
as well as buying others at Athens and Rhodes, and brought them all to
Alexandria. {*Athenaeus, l. 1. (3b) 1:11} But Strabo and Plutarch, and
elsewhere in his writings Athenaeus also, stated that Theophrastus' books, and
with them Aristotle's entire library, came into the hands of Nileus and his
heirs, and that much later, in the days of Sulla, his descendants sold them for
a large sum of money to Apellicon of Teos. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 54.
6:111} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 26. 4:407} {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (214e)
2:471}
2778. Demetrius of Phalerum was a great grammarian, commended by Tertullian,
and an outstanding philosopher, as well as having previously been a great
statesman and an excellent governor in Athens. He was succeeded by Zenodotus of
Ephesus, who, according to Suidas, was the first editor of Homer's books. After
him came Aristophanes, who read, with great diligence and industry, all the
books of that large library in the order in which they had been placed, a fact
which was affirmed by Vitruvius. {*Vitruvius, l. 7. c. 0. s. 6,7. 2:67}
This was at a much later time. {Aristeas, Septuagint Interpreters} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 1. (12) 7:9} {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 9. c. 42.
(458b) 1:486}
2779. When Demetrius of Phalerum was asked by King Ptolemy how many myriads, or
tens of thousands, of books he had collected, he answered about two hundred
thousand, but that he hoped before long to have half a million books. So he had
accumulated about two hundred thousand books, a fact we learn from Aristeas and
from those copies of Aristeas' writings which Josephus and Eusebius used. The
smaller sum of fifty-four thousand and eight hundred, which was found in
Epiphanius, who wrote long after these other writers, was incorrect.
2780. Demetrius of Phalerum advised the king, as I said before, to acquire the
sacred writings of the Jews. Aristeas, who was an attendant in the king's
presence at that time, advised him to buy them by giving all the Jews who were
then slaves in Egypt their freedom and sending them home. It is said that their
number came to a hundred thousand. In our copy of Aristeas it is said that each
one of them cost the king twenty drachmas, but in Josephus it is a hundred and
twenty. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 3. (28) 7:17} One hundred and
twenty drachmas make thirty shekels in silver. This was the full price of a
slave in Exodus, {Ex 21:32} and was also the amount for which our Saviour was
sold by Judas the traitor. The twenty drachmas, which we find in our Aristeas,
when multiplied by a hundred thousand, amounts to two million drachmas. When
divided by six thousand, it makes an Attic talent. The total amount was about
three hundred and thirty-three Attic talents. The price which Ptolemy paid to
redeem the Jews from their masters came to more than four hundred talents, as
was affirmed by Josephus and by Aristeas. There were more than ten thousand
slaves freed. [L482] In this redemption of the Jewish slaves from their
masters, a similar price was paid for every nursing child among them together
with the mothers who nursed them. Hence it was that Josephus said that Ptolemy
paid about four hundred and sixty talents, instead of six hundred and sixty
talents, which our common editions of Aristeas state. {Aristeas, Septuagint
Interpreters} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 3. (33) 7:19}
2781. From among these Jews, Ptolemy selected the youngest and ablest for his
army, and employed the rest in his private affairs. This was confirmed in his
letters to Eleazer, the high priest. For in addition to the one true letter of
the king's, Epiphanius recorded two forged ones. [E350] They are different both
in style and meaning from the one we find recorded in Aristeas and Josephus.
This latter one begins thus:
"For a treasure that is hidden and a fountain sealed up, what profit is there?"
2782. Whereas in the Greek letter attributed to the king, he did not know a
Hebrew proverb that was taken from the Apocrypha. {Apc Sir 20:30 41:14}
"wisdom if be hidden, and a treasure unseen, what profit is there of either of
them?"
"...for wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is in
them both?"
2783. With his letter, he also sent expensive gifts for the use of the temple
at Jerusalem. His two servants, Andreas and Aristeas, delivered these to
Eleazer, the high priest. One of the gifts was a golden table two cubits long
(two and a half cubits, according to Josephus) and not less than half a cubit
thick, of solid gold and not gold plate. He also sent twenty goblets of solid
gold and thirty of solid silver. To make these, he used more than fifty talents
of gold, seventy talents of silver and five thousand precious stones. The value
of these stones was about two hundred and fifty talents of gold. Besides all
this, he sent a hundred talents toward sacrifices and other uses in the temple.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 5. (40-42) 7:23}
2784. Eleazer, the priest, received these presents. After the captivity, some
people were still left from the ten northern tribes of the twelve tribes of
Israel. {See note on 3468c AM. <<952>>} From each of the twelve
tribes he chose
six men who surpassed all others in eminence. These men, who were mature in
age, of noble birth and well educated, were to translate God's Law from Hebrew
into Greek. The names of these seventy-two elders are recorded by Aristeas.
The last one was called Ezekiel. I think he was the same man of whom Eusebius
{*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 9. c. 38. (436d) 1:467} said that he had written a
tragedy about the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. The name of
Ezekiel shows that he was Jewish and not a Greek, as Clement of Alexandria and
Eusebius thought.
2785. Eleazer also wrote a letter back to the king. Aristeas gave us the
salutation, God save you. Eusebius more correctly had: If you and the Queen
Arsinoe your sister are well, then all is well and as we desire it should be.
Philadelphus was married to Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace
and Macedonia, by whom he had Ptolemy Euergetes and Berenice. After she died,
he married a second Arsinoe, his own sister. [L483] After the death of
Lysimachus, her first husband, she was married to Ptolemy Ceraunus, her own
brother. But she died before she bore any child to Philadelphus. He loved her
so much that he named a district in Egypt Arsinoites, after her. {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 7. s. 1.-3. 1:35,37} He made a statue of her out of
topaz, six feet high, and consecrated it in a temple known as the golden temple.
{*Pliny, l. 37. c. 32. 10:253} At his orders, Timochares, the architect,
made an arched roof entirely of lodestone, so that beneath it an image of her
made of iron would cling to it and seem to hang there in mid air. {*Pliny, l.
34. c. 42. 9:235} Concerning Timochares, Ausonius said: {Ausonius, Idyllion,
9.}
Who for a monument of incestuous love,
By Ptolemy's command did make to hang
Arsinoe in the air of an Egyptian temple.
2786. These seventy-two translators came to Alexandria and gave the king the
things Eleazer had sent to him. These included various parchments on which the
law was intricately written with golden letters in the language of the Jews.
The parchments were so joined together that the seams could not be discerned by
the eye of man. It so happened that they arrived there at the time when Ptolemy
received news of a great victory gained by him at sea against Antigonus. The
writers who wrote of this naval battle said that it happened about this time. I
cannot agree with those who relate it to that time when Antigonus Gonatas made
war on the Athenians and besieged their cities by sea and land. What we find
recorded in Justin and Pausanias did not happen until after the death of
Pyrrhus, and before the death of Aretas, or Areus, the first king of Lacedemon.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 26.} {*Pausanias, Laconia, l. 3. c. 6. s. 4. 2:35}
This was between the years 272 and 264 BC (4442 - 4450 JP). For although this
Areus came at that time with his army and Patrocles with Ptolemy's fleet to help
the Athenians, Areus returned home without any battle having been fought.
Pausanias stated that Patrocles did not do anything either to relieve them.
{*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 1. s. 1. 1:3} {*Pausanias, Laconia, l. 3.
c. 6. s. 4,5. 2:35,37}
2787. Ptolemy entertained and feasted the seventy-two translators for seven
days (Josephus stated twelve days), in a most sumptuous and magnificent manner.
After that, he appointed Dorotheus to take care of them and to supply them with
everything they needed, ensuring that they did not lack anything. [E351] Now
and then, the king himself would question them concerning affairs of state and
of morality. They extemporaneously answered him with very prudent and
well-thought-out answers, according to Aristeas, who derived everything he wrote
from the king's diaries. The king gave them each three talents and a boy
servant. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 12. (94-100) 7:51}
2788. Three days later, Demetrius walked with the translators along the
causeway called the Heptastadium, which was fourteen hundred yards long. He led
them over the bridge onto the isle of Pharos, where he settled them in a good
house on the north shore of the island, far from any noise or tumult. They
started to work on the translation as exactly as possible from the original
manuscripts. Demetrius had each day's work copied precisely. Every day they
worked until three o'clock in the afternoon and then they went and relaxed.
They had everything abundantly provided for them. Their meals were of the same
lavish kind that was provided for the king's own table, since Dorotheus had them
fed by orders of the king. Moreover, very early every morning, they came to
court and bade the king good morning, before returning to their place, where
they washed their hands, as was their custom, and said their prayers. Then they
applied themselves to read and to interpret, point by point. [L484] Epiphanius
differed in his account from Aristeas and Josephus. He said that they were put
into thirty-six rooms, two to a room, where they worked from the break of day
until the evening, when they were put into thirty-six boats, two to a boat, and
brought back to the king's palace to eat supper. I do not know whom he followed
in the earlier part of this narration, but the latter, it seems, was a product
of their fables, since they imagined that the causeway had not been made, or at
least not been finished, until Cleopatra's time. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12.
c. 2. s. 13. (101-109) 7:51-55}
2789. It happened that the work of the seventy-two translators was finished in
seventy-two days, as if it had been deliberately so planned. When it was
completed, Demetrius called all the Jews together in the location where the
translation had taken place and read it all in the presence of the translators.
Having completed such a good work, they were highly commended and magnified by
all the Jews who were there. Demetrius was also highly praised by the Jews.
They asked him to deliver a copy of the translated Law to their rulers. When it
had been read to them right through, the priests and elders among the
translators and the officers of the Jews stood up and said:
"Forasmuch as this translation was carefully and accurately done, it is
befitting that it should remain as it is, and that no changes be made to it."
2790. When all had approved of this with great acclamation, Demetrius declared
a great curse (as was customary) on any man who should alter it, either by
adding anything to it, or by taking anything from it.
2791. When the king had read it through completely, he greatly admired the
wisdom of God, and commanded that all possible care be taken of these books and
they be carefully stored and kept. He also expressed his desire that the
translators, after they had returned home, should often come and visit him. He
gave each of them three good changes of clothes, two talents of gold, a cup of
one whole talent and the complete furnishings for a room.
2792. In addition he gave them for Eleazar, the high priest, ten beds with
silver feet and expensive furnishings to go with them. He also sent a cup of
thirty talents, ten garments, a purple robe, an expensive crown, a hundred
pieces of linen as fine as silk, shallow bowls, cups, libation bowls and two
golden goblets to sacrifice with. In his letters he requested Eleazar to permit
any of these men to come and visit him, should they desire to do so at any time.
Ptolemy really wanted to talk with such men, and would rather spend his money on
them than in any other way. {Aristeas, Septuagint Interpreters} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 12. c. 2. s. 13-15. (107-118) 7:53-59}
2793. The Gauls who had been left by Brennus to keep Macedonia when he went
into Greece, did not want to be idle while their companions were working. So
they outfitted fifteen thousand foot soldiers and three thousand cavalry and
attacked the Getes and the Triballi and routed them. {Justin, Trogus, l. 25.
c. 1.}
3728 AM, 4438 JP, 276 BC
2794. When Antigonus Gonatas had lost a battle at sea, as was said before, to
Ptolemy Philadelphus, he made a peace with Antiochus Soter. {Justin, Trogus, l.
25. c. 1.} He went into Macedonia, where his father Demetrius Poliorcetes had
reigned at times. Antigonus went there in the tenth year after he first became
king of Greece, and reigned for thirty-four years. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek
Eusebius, p. 229.} His heirs reigned there until Perseus was defeated by the
Romans, and so the kingdom of Macedonia ended. {*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1.
c. 53. s. 4. 9:135} [L485]
2795. When the Gauls had defeated the Getes and Triballi, they sent their
envoys to Antigonus, king of Macedonia, to offer him peace in return for his
money. [E352] At the same time they wanted to spy on his army and see his camp.
Antigonus entertained and feasted them in a sumptuous manner, but the Gauls,
seeing an enormous amount of silver and gold brought out for the feast, were
greedy and wanted it. Therefore, they went back more his enemies than when they
had come, and they all resolved to attack him. Antigonus suspected this, and
ordered that every man should take with him what he could and hide in a nearby
wood. When the Gauls came, they took what they found there and went on to the
coast. While the Gauls were busy preparing the ships, the sailors and a part of
Antigonus' army who had fled there with their wives and children to save
themselves, attacked them suddenly. They killed them and wrought such havoc
among them that Antigonus subsequently had quite a reputation among the Gauls
and in all the surrounding countries. {Justin, Trogus, l. 25. c. 1,2.}
2796. These Gauls were under seventeen commanders, of whom Leonorius and
Lutarius were the main leaders. Several times they passed over into Asia,
before they all came together again into one body and offered their assistance
to Nicomedes against Ziboetas, the younger, who held that part of Bithynia lying
along the coast. These forces, and others who came from Heraclea in Pontus,
crushed poor Ziboetas to pieces, and so all Bithynia came into the hands of
Nicomedes. When the Gauls had wasted all that country, they shared its spoil
among themselves, dividing the kingdom between themselves and Nicomedes and
calling their portion Gallogracia, which later became known as Galatia. {*Livy,
l. 38. c. 16. s. 9. 11:53} {*Livy, l. 38. c. 17. s. 10. 11:59}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 25. c. 2.} {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 20.}
2797. Of the twenty thousand men the Gauls had, only ten thousand were armed,
but even these few troops struck terror into all the countries on this side of
the Taurus Mountains. Not only the places they went into, but also the ones
into which they did not go, submitted to them, whether they were far away or
close to them. They consisted of three countries of their own, the
Tohstobogians or the Tolostobogians (coming, as was thought, from the Gauls, who
were called the Boii), the Trocmians and the Tectosagians. They divided all
Asia between them and settled there. The Trocmians settled in the Hellespont
and all that region, Aeolia and Ionia was allotted to the Tolostobogians, and
the Tectosagians occupied the inland or middle part of Asia, making their
headquarters on the bank of the Halys River. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 16. s.
10-13. 11:53,55} {Suidas, Galatia}
2798. Demetrius Byzantius wrote thirteen books concerning this crossing of the
Gauls from Europe into Asia. {*Diogenes Laertius, Demetrius, l. 5. c. 5.
(83) 1:537} Phaennis, who lived forty or so years before this happened, was said
to have foretold this event by way of an oracle in these words: {*Pausianus,
Phocis, l. 1. c. 15. s. 3. 4:451}
The Gauls shall pass the straits of the Hellespont,
And ravage all the land of Asia.
Yet worse things have the gods in store for them
Who on the sea coast of that land do dwell.
3729 AM, 4439 JP, 275 BC
2799. In the 126th Olympiad, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the son of Aglai or,
according to others, of Ambrosius, was born. [L486] He was a scholar of Aristo
Chius, the philosopher, and of the grammarian Lysanias of Cyrene, and of
Callismachus of Cyrene, a poet. {Suidas, Eratosthenes}
3730a AM, 4439 JP, 275 BC
2800. In this year, Curius Dentatus fought with Pyrrhus in Italy. He killed
twenty-three thousand of his men and captured his camp, forcing Pyrrhus to
retreat to Tarentum. {Eutropius, l. 2.}
2801. The envoys, whom Pyrrhus had sent to the kings of Asia and to Antigonus
Gonatas for help with men and money, returned without either. Pyrrhus called
the princes of the Epirotes and Tarentines together and concealing the contents
of the letters, told them that supplies would come very speedily. When news of
this came to the Roman camp that there were many supplies coming to him from
both Macedonia and Asia, the Romans did not attempt any more actions against
him. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 13. s. 1. 1:63} Pyrrhus acted as if he
would move with his army from Tarentum, but never said why. Meanwhile, he
wanted his confederates to continue the war, and committed the keeping of the
citadel at Tarentum to his son Helenus and to Milo, one of his friends.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 25. c. 3.} After having spent six whole years on the war
in Italy and Sicily, he had lost many of his men, and so, with no hope left of
doing any good, he returned to Epirus with the eight thousand foot soldiers and
five hundred cavalry remaining to him. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 26. s.
2. 9:431} [E353]
3730b AM, 4440 JP, 274 BC
2802. When Curius was consul, he held a triumph for the defeat of Pyrrhus. He
was the first to bring elephants (four in total) to Rome. {Eutropius, l. 2.}
The people were eager during that triumph to get a look at these beasts that had
turrets on their backs, and of which they were very afraid. The beasts
themselves seemed to have sensed their captivity by holding down their heads as
they followed the victorious horses in the triumph. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 17.
s. 28. 1:67} This triumph happened in the month of January or February, as
gathered from the marble fragments of the record of their triumphs.
2803. With the help of some of the Gauls, Pyrrhus made some inroads upon
Macedonia, where Antigonus Gonatas reigned. He captured many cities, and two
thousand of Antigonus' soldiers revolted from him. This raised Pyrrhus' hopes
still more, so that he marched directly against Antigonus himself to force a
battle with all his forces, both Macedonians and Gauls. The Gauls, who brought
up the rear, fought very bravely that day. Many were cut to pieces and died
there. The captains of the elephants were vexed by the enemy and surrendered to
Pyrrhus with their elephants. The Macedonian foot soldiers were shocked at this
defeat and heard Pyrrhus both calling them all in general, and calling on their
captains and chief officers by name, to surrender to him. They left Antigonus
and defected to Pyrrhus. Antigonus saved himself by fleeing, but Pyrrhus
pursued him to the coast. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 26. s. 2-5.
9:431,433} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 13. s. 2. 1:63,65}
2804. After this victory, Pyrrhus took the richest and best spoils from the
Gauls and hung them in the temple of Athena in Itonia, which was between Phera
and Larisa. He subdued all upper Macedonia and Thessaly, {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus,
l. 1. c. 26. s. 5-8. 9:433,435} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 13. s.
3,4. 1:65} figuring this made up for the loss of Italy and Sicily. He sent for
his son Helenus from the citadel of Tarentum, where he had left him. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 25. c. 3.}
2805. Pyrrhus had plundered the city of Aegae, which was the royal seat and the
burial ground of the former kings of Macedonia. To keep it, he left the Gauls
there who had followed him in this war. [L487] They were told that much
treasure was stored in the tombs of the kings, according to the custom of the
times. So they broke into the tombs and took away any treasure that was there.
They threw the kings' bones about the streets and trampled them under their
feet. When Pyrrhus found that their actions caused the Macedonians to murmur
against him, he did not rebuke them publicly, because he knew he needed them for
future wars. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 26. s. 6,7. 9:433} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 22. c. 12. 11:73}
2806. Antigonus, with a small number of cavalry that followed him, came to
Thessalonica, where he waited to see how events would unfold, and what would
become of Macedonia, now that he had lost it. He planned to capture it back
again with the help of any mercenary Gauls he was able to hire, but Ptolemy, the
young son of Pyrrhus, utterly defeated him, so that he escaped with only seven
in his company. He skulked up and down and did not try to recover his kingdom
any longer, but only sought to save his own skin. {Justin, Trogus, l. 25. c.
3.} Pyrrhus reproached him and called him an impudent fellow, for in spite of
the condition he was in, Antigonus would not wear a common cloak as other Greeks
did, but persisted in wearing his purple robe. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c.
26. s. 7. 9:435}
3731 AM, 4441 JP, 273 BC
2807. In the year when Gaius Fabius Licinius and Gaius Claudius Caninas were
consuls of Rome, Ptolemy Philadelphus heard of the great defeat of Pyrrhus by
the Romans, and how the Roman power was beginning to grow in the world, so he
sent his envoys with presents from Alexandria to Rome and made a league with
them. {Eutropius, l. 2.} {*Livy, Fragments, l. 14. 4:551} {*Dionysius
Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l. 20. c. 14. 7:425} {Zonaras, l. 2.} The
Romans were glad to see that so great a king as he, had sought their friendship.
So they, likewise, sent him their envoys, Quintus Fabius Maximus, Numerius
Fabius Pictor and Quintus Ogulnius, who received expensive presents from the
king. (Valerius Maximus wrote Gurges for Maximus. Editor.) As soon as they
came home and before they went to the Senate to relate what had happened, they
went and put everything they had received from him into the treasury. They
rightly knew that they should reap no benefits except praise and honour from a
public service for the commonwealth. Everything was restored to them again by a
decree of the Senate and by the general vote of the people, and the quaestors
were commanded to go and return to each of them what the king had given them.
So that in these things the bounty and magnificence of Ptolemy, the sincerity of
the envoys, the equity of the Senate and the entire population of Rome, they had
the praise and honour due to them. {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Roman
Antiquities, l. 20. c. 14. 7:425} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 3. s. 9.
1:175,177}
3732 AM, 4442 JP, 272 BC
2808. In the 13th year of Dionysius' calendar, on the 25th day of Aegon or
Capricorn, in the 52nd year from the death of Alexander the Great, the 476th
from the beginning of Nabonassar's account, on the 20th day of Athyr (17th of
our January), in the morning, Dionysius observed the planet of Mars to be under
the northerly part of the forehead of Scorpio. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l.
10. c. 9.} [E354]
2809. When Pyrrhus had subdued the kingdom of Macedonia, he now began to look
for the sovereignty of all Greece and Asia. {Justin, Trogus, l. 25. c. 4.}
Before he had entirely subdued all Macedonia, he was sent for by Cleonymus of
Sparta to come and help him in his wars at Laconia. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1.
c. 13. s. 4. 1:65} Areus, their king, was away in Crete helping the men of
Gorryna, who were at that time oppressed with a war. Therefore, Pyrrhus went to
help him with twenty-five thousand foot soldiers, two thousand cavalry and
twenty-four elephants. With so large an army, Pyrrhus thought that instead of
recovering Sparta for Cleonymus, he could take over all of Peloponnesus.
{*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 26,27. 9:435,437}
3733a AM, 4442 JP, 272 BC
2810. In the 13th year of Ptolemy Philadelphus (in some copies it is
incorrectly written, and a half) in the 476th year of Nabonassar, on the 17th
day of the month of Mesore, the 11th of our October, twelve hours after the
setting of the sun, Timocharis observed the planet of Venus to be completely
eclipsed in the morning. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 10. c. 4.} [L488]
2811. While Pyrrhus besieged Sparta, a company of women led by Archidamia
defended it against him until the return of Areus from Crete. Acrotatus, the
son of Areus, valiantly drove back Ptolemy, the son of Pyrrhus, when he made an
assault and would have broken through into Sparta with two thousand Gauls and
some select companies from Chaonia. Whereupon Pyrrhus despaired of
accomplishing anything and withdrew, taking the spoil of the country and
planning to winter there. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 27-30. 9:437-447}
2812. While the war was going on in Laconia, Antigonus recovered the cities of
Macedonia and marched down with his army into Peloponnesus. He wanted to fight
with Pyrrhus again because he knew if Pyrrhus succeeded there, he would return
to continue the war in Macedonia. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 13. s. 7.
1:69} When Pyrrhus was on his way to Argos, he was attacked from the rear by
Areus, the king, who then cut off some of the Gauls and Molossians who were
bringing up the rear. Oryssus of Crete killed Ptolemy, the son of Pyrrhus, who
fought valiantly for his father. {*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 30.
9:447,449} When Pyrrhus saw his son's dead body, he said that this death
happened to him not as soon as he had feared it would, nor as soon as it had
been deserved, because of his son's great rashness in actions. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 25. c. 4.}
2813. It is said that on the very night that Pyrrhus entered into Argos, a
screech owl came and sat on the top of his spear. {*Aelian, History of Animals,
l. 10. c. 37. 2:333} The next day, Pyrrhus was killed by a tile which a poor
old woman threw down on his head. His head was cut off by Zopyrus, a soldier of
Antigonus, and carried to Aleyoneus, the son of Antigonus, who took it and
dashed it on the ground at Antigonus' feet, as he sat with his friends about
him. Antigonus rebuked him very sharply for so greatly insulting so great a
person, because he did not consider the frailty of human life. He took the head
and put his hood over it, and then wore it for a garment in the manner of the
Macedonians. He buried Pyrrhus' body very honourably. When Helenus, the son of
Pyrrhus, was brought to him as a prisoner, Antigonus wanted him to adopt both
the manner and the spirit of a king. He gave him the bones of his father in a
golden urn, which he wanted him to carry into Epirus to his brother Alexander.
Antigonus treated Pyrrhus' friends, who had been captured, with every respect.
{*Plutarch, Pyrrhus, l. 1. c. 34. 9:457-461} {Justin, Trogus, l. 25. c.
5.} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 5. c. 1. ext. 4. 1:459}
3733b AM, 4443 JP, 271 BC
2814. When the people of Tarentum heard of the death of Pyrrhus, they sent to
Carthage to ask for help against the Romans and against Milo, who was holding
the city with a strong garrison of Epirotes. When Milo was besieged on all
sides, by the Romans on land and the Carthaginians at sea, he surrendered the
citadel to Papirius Cursor, the Roman consul. They agreed to let Milo and his
soldiers leave safely for their own country with their money and other baggage.
The city was also surrendered to Papirius by its townsmen, who gave up their
arms, their ships and themselves to him. This was the end of the war of
Tarentum against the Romans. {*Dio, l. 10. (42) 1:373 (Zonaras, l. 8. c.
7.)} {Orosius, l. 4. c. 3.} {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 3. c. 3. s. 1.
1:213}
3734 AM, 4444 JP, 270 BC
2815. After the death of Strato, who was the master of the school of the
Peripatetics for eighteen years, Lyco of Troas, the son of Astyanax, succeeded
him. He was an eloquent man and very capable to instruct and bring up the
youth. {*Diogenes Laertius, Strato, l. 5. c. 3. (58) 1:511} {*Diogenes
Laertius, Lyco, l. 5. c. 4. (65) 1:519}
3735 AM, 4445 JP, 269 BC
2816. Attalus the younger, the brother of Philetaerus, had a son born whom he
also called Attalus. This son later reigned in Pergamum, and lived for
seventy-two years. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 41. s. 8,9. 5:177} {Suidas,
Attalus} {*Livy, l. 33. c. 21. s. 1. 9:335}
3736a AM, 4445 JP, 269 BC
2817. The Twenty-fourth Jubilee. [E355]
3738 AM, 4448 JP, 266 BC
2818. Mithridates died after reigning in Pontus for thirty-six years, and his
son Ariobarzanes succeeded him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 20. c. 111. 10:441}
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 17,25.} [L489]
3740a AM, 4449 JP, 265 BC
2819. In the 21st year of Dionysius' calendar, on the 22nd and 26th day of the
sign of Scorpio, in the 484th year of Nabonassar, on the 18th and 22nd day of
the month of Thoth and on the 14th and 18th of November according to the Julian
calendar, Dionysius observed the planet Mercury in the morning. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 9. c. 10,11.}
3741 AM, 4451 JP, 263 BC
2820. Philetaerus, the Teian who was born at Teium in Pontus, ruled Pergamum
for twenty years and died when he was eighty years old. He was succeeded by
Eumenes I, the son of his older brother. He ruled for twenty-two years.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 8. 5:381} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2.
6:165,167} {*Lucian, Octogenarians, l. 1. (12) 1:231}
2821. The first Punic or Sicilian war started this year between the Romans and
the Carthaginians. This was the first time the Romans had left Italy and fought
their first naval battle. The Carthaginians had invaded Sicily. This war
lasted twenty-four years without stopping. {*Polybius, l. 1. c. 12. s.
5-9. 1:31}
2822. In this same year, Diognetus was the archon at Athens. The chronologer
of Paris noted this in his canon, or order of times. Mr. Selden recently
published this in his Marmora Arundelliana.
3742 AM, 4452 JP, 262 BC
2823. Dionysius, the astronomer, observed Mercury three times. The first time
was in the 23rd year of Dionysius' calendar, on the 29th (it should be the 19th
or 20th, according to the position assigned to the sun) of the sign Hydra or
Aquarius, in the 486th year of Nabonassar on the 17th of the month Choiak (on
the 11th of our February), in the morning. The second time was on the fourth of
the sign Taurus, or the first of Phamenoth the Egyptian month (for in Claudius
Ptolemy we must here write A for L). This was on the 26th of our April, in the
first hour of the evening. The third time was in the same year of Nabonassar,
but the 24th day of the Dionysian account, on the 24th day of Leonion, or 30th
day of Paynus, or the 23rd of our August, in the evening. Dionysius'
observations were recorded by Claudius Ptolemy from the writings of Hipparchus.
{Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 9. c. 7.}
2824. Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, enlarged the city of Astacus and renamed it
Nicomedia after himself. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:213} {*Pausanias,
Elis I, l. 5. c. 12. s. 7. 2:449} {Trebellius, Pallio, in Gallienis.}
{*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 22. c. 9. s. 3. 2:245} Memnon said that he
built Nicomedia opposite the city of Astacus, as did both Strabo and Pliny.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 21.} They thought they were really two distinct cities.
2825. When Eumenes I had taken many cities and places around Pergamum, he
defeated Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, near Sardis. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4.
s. 2. 6:165}
3743 AM, 4453 JP, 261 BC
2826. Antiochus of Syria died after he had killed one of his sons and declared
the other his successor. {Justin, Trogus, l. 26. c. 0.} For his great
victory over the Gauls who came across to Asia from Europe, Antiochus was
surnamed Soter, that is Their Deliverer. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
11. (65) 2:229} Lucian described this victory over the Gauls in more detail.
{*Lucian, Slip of the Tongue in Greeting (9) 6:183} {*Lucian, Zeuxis or
Antiochus (8-12) 6:163-169} He was succeeded by his son Antiochus, whom he had
by Stratonice, the Milesian. The Milesians were the first who surnamed him
Theos because he ridded them of their tyrant, Timarchus. {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 11. (65) 2:229} Tatian, the Assyrian, inferred in his writings
that Berosus, who was a priest of Bel in Babylon, dedicated his three books of
the Chaldean history to this Antiochus. {*Tatian, Address to the Greeks, l. 1.
c. 36. 2:80} Berosus published the observations of the stellar motions among
the Babylonians for a period of four hundred and ninety years. {*Pliny, l. 7.
c. 56. 2:637} (Loeb edition incorrectly translated the number as four hundred
and ninety thousand. The Loeb Latin text has four hundred and ninety. Editor.)
This is the number of years from the beginning of the epoch of Nabonassar's
account, as other learned men understand this. We also find this to have ended
six years before the start of the reign of this Antiochus. [L490] Porphyry,
Eusebius, Sulpicius Severus, Johannes Malela of Antioch and all others agree
that Antiochus reigned fifteen years.
2827. Antiochus gave the Jews living in Ionia equal rights and privileges with
the Gentiles, and allowed them to live according to their own religion and the
customs of their country. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 3. s. 3.
(132-134) 7:67} At various times, he made war on Ptolemy Philadelphus and fought
against him with all the forces he could raise from Babylon and all the east.
Ptolemy wanted to end this bloody war and gave him his daughter Berenice for a
wife, while Antiochus' former wife Laodice was still living. Laodice had borne
him two sons, Seleucus Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax, that is, Hawk. Ptolemy
accompanied his daughter as far as Pelusium and there, with her, gave Antiochus
an enormous quantity of gold and silver for a dowry. Hence Ptolemy was called
the dowry giver. {Jerome, Da 11} At great expense, he supplied her with water
from the Nile River, which was to be carried to her, so that wherever she was,
she would only drink that water. {*Athenaeus, l. 2. (45c) 1:197} Appian was
incorrect in saying that Berenice and Laodice were both daughters of this
Ptolemy. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (65) 2:231} [E356]
3745 AM, 4455 JP, 259 BC
2828. Josephus wrote that Eleazar, the son of Onias, was succeeded in the
priesthood at Jerusalem by his uncle Manasseh, the son of Jaddua. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 1. (157) 7:83} He was the high priest for
twenty-six years. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 50.} {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:213}
3746 AM, 4456 JP, 258 BC
2829. Laodice bore to Antiochus Theos a son called Antiochus who, as mentioned
before, was called Hierax. {See note on 3760 AM. <<2845>>}
3747 AM, 4457 JP, 257 BC
2830. In the 28th year of Dionysius' calendar, the 7th day of the month of
Didymon, in the 491st year of Nabonassar, on the 5th day of the month Pharmuthi,
and the 28th of our July, Dionysius observed the planet Mercury in the evening
near the sign of Gemini, toward its southern head. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l.
9. c. 7.}
3750 AM, 4460 JP, 254 BC
2831. The second period of Calippus began in this year.
3753 AM, 4463 JP, 251 BC
2832. Aratus of Sicyon, at the age of twenty, delivered his native city from
the tyranny and oppression of Nicocles and joined with the Achaean League.
{*Polybius, l. 2. c. 43. s. 3. 1:347} He sent to Ptolemy Philadelphus in
Egypt and from him got a hundred and fifty talents, which he bestowed among his
poor countrymen. This was partly used in redeeming those who had been taken
prisoner. Those who had been expelled from their country were now restored, but
they would give no rest to those who now possessed their lands and estates.
Therefore, Aratus made another journey to Ptolemy and asked him for money to
settle all the differences among his countrymen and all legal actions between
them. On the journey, he sailed through a violent storm and contrary winds. He
finally came to Egypt where he obtained a boon of a further one hundred and
fifty talents for his country's good. He took forty talents along with him and
returned into Peloponnesus. {*Plutarch, Aratus, l. 1. c. 13. s. 4. 11:31}
3754 AM, 4464 JP, 250 BC
2833. This year, Manlius Vulso and Attilius Regulus were consuls in Rome.
{*Polybius, l. 1. c. 39. s. 15. 1:111} This was the fourteenth year of
this first Carthaginian war. The Parthians, under their captain Arsaces, broke
off the Macedonian rule and revolted from them. {Justin, Trogus, l. 41.} This
man, Arsaces, is called Aski or Askam by the later Persian writers, and
Mircondus calls him Chapur. He began his reign there in the seventy-second year
after the death of Alexander the Great, which was one year before the consulship
of Manlius and Attilius in Rome and three years before the 133rd Olympiad.
Eusebius noted that this Arsaces and his Parthians defected at that time and
rebelled against Antiochus Theos. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:214}
However, the Parthians observed a holiday when Arsaces defeated Seleucus
Callinicus, the son and successor of Antiochus, and took Callinicus himself
prisoner. This holiday was celebrated with a great festival and was observed on
the anniversary of their liberty. {*Athenaeus, l. 4. c. 14. (153a) 2:197}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 41. c. 4.} [L491] Therefore both Justin and Appian
thought that the Parthians began their revolt under Seleucus and not under
Antiochus, his father. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (65) 2:231}
Moreover, the Parthians honoured Arsaces by calling their dynasty of kings after
him, by the name of Arsaces. {Justin, Trogus, l. 41. c. 5.} {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 1. s. 28. 7:237}
2834. The Parthians, together with the Persians, which the later Persian
writers confound, and make one people with the Parthians (for more about this
see {Schikard, Tarich, p. 101,102} and our third note on the Acts of Ignatius),
revolted from the Persian Empire. Arrian noted this in his annals as preserved
by Photius. {Arrian, Parthicus} {Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 58.} Arrian
mentioned the reason for this revolt from the Persian Empire. It was because
this Arsaces and Tiridates, the sons of Phripites or Priapatius who was the son
of Arsaces, had first killed Pherecles (or Agathocles, as we find him called by
Georgius Syncellus). He was the governor of that country and had been appointed
by Antiochus Theos. The governor and five others had wanted to have homosexual
intercourse with Tiridates. Arsaces and Tiridates expelled the Macedonians and
took over the kingdom. Their successors later fought with the Romans and
contended with them for the empire of the world. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 6. s.
4. 5:247}
2835. At the same time, Theodotus, who had a thousand cities of the Bactrians
under his control, revolted from the Macedonians. The whole east followed their
example and revolted. {Justin, Trogus, l. 41. c. 4.} Others say that the two
kings of Syria and Media defected. Euthydemus persuaded the Greeks who
inhabited Bactria to revolt from the Macedonians. Thereupon when Arsaces saw
Diotus, or Theodotus, grow so powerful among the Bactrians, he persuaded the
Parthians also to revolt from the Macedonians. Apollodorus, in his books of the
Parthian affairs, stated that the Greeks who lived in Bactria became very strong
and invaded India. They went so far that, after they had crossed the Hypanis
River, they went as far as the Isamus River, farther than Alexander had gone in
his conquest of India. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 9. s. 2. 5:273,275} {*Strabo,
l. 15. c. 1. s. 3. 7:5} [E357]
3758 AM, 4468 JP, 246 BC
2836. Seleucus, king of Syria, was overcome with love for his former wife
Laodice and her children and began to court her again. A short time later she
began to fear his fickleness and thought that his affections might again turn to
Berenice, his second wife, so she poisoned him. {Jerome, Da 11} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (65) 2:231} To conceal this wicked deed of hers,
she had Artemo, who looked very much like him, lie in his bed and pretend to be
sick. By his face and the imitation of Seleucus' speech, he deceived all that
came to see and visit him in his sickness. In this way, she concealed the death
of the true king until she had arranged a suitable successor. {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 9. c. 14. ext. 1. 2:389} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 12. (53) 2:541}
{Solinus, c. 1.} Through her, Seleucus, the oldest son of Seleucus by Laodice,
succeeded him in the kingdom. He was surnamed Callinicus because of the many
victories which he won. (There were none that I know of.) Due to his large
beard, he was called Pogon, meaning a beard. {*Polybius, l. 2. c. 71. s.
3,4. 1:413} He ruled for twenty years. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:214}
2837. In Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus died. He had lived luxuriously and had
not hesitated to say that he would live for ever, and that he alone had found
the way to immortality. He died forty years after the death of Ptolemy Lagus,
his father. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (536e) 5:425} [L492] Ptolemy, surnamed
Euergetes, his son, succeeded him. He was born of Arsinoe, the daughter of
Lysimachus, and reigned twenty-five years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} {*Clement,
Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:329} {Jerome, Da 9} It is said that in his time a
phoenix appeared, which came to Heliopolis, followed by a large flock of other
birds. Everyone marvelled at the beauty of the phoenix. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
6. c. 28. 4:201}
2838. Laodice turned Berenice and her young son, whom she had by Ptolemy, over
to Icadion and Genneus (or Coeneus) to have them murdered. These were two
important men in Antioch. {Jerome, Da 11} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
11. (65) 2:231} When Berenice heard that they were coming to murder her, she
shut herself up in Daphne, a citadel or suburb of Antioch which I mentioned
earlier. When the cities of Asia heard that she and her young son were
besieged, they remembered her and respected her high calling and that of her
son. Out of compassion, they sent her help from every direction. Her brother
Ptolemy also, who was surnamed Euergetes, was fearful of the danger his sister
was in. Leaving his kingdom, he went as quickly as he could, with as many
forces as he could gather, to help her. {Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c. 1.}
Before any help arrived, the young son was taken through the schemes of Laodice
and carried off. When Berenice, his mother, heard of this, she armed herself
and got into a chariot. She pursued Coeneus, the perpetrator of that act of
butchery. When she overtook him, she was helpless against him with her spear,
so she took a stone and knocked him down. She forced her chariot over the
actual body of the knave and breaking through the middle of the companies, she
went directly to the house where she had heard that they had laid the body of
her murdered son. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 10. ext. 1. 2:357,359}
2839. The murderers of the child took another child very much like him and
brought him out to show him to the people, with a royal guard around him, as
though it were the same child. However, they had a strong guard of mercenary
Gauls attack Berenice. These turned the strongest part of the place, or the
citadel of Antioch, over to her. They swore their loyalty to her and entered
into a covenant with her. She heeded the advice of Aristarchus, her physician,
who persuaded her to make a covenant of friendship with them. But they simply
used their oath as a stratagem, to get near her, and tried to cut her throat.
The women about her defended her as well as they could, and many of them died in
the battle. However three of them who survived—Panariste, Maria and
Gethosyne—took her body and laid it in her bed as if she had only been wounded
and was not quite dead. They let it be known that she might recover, and held
the people in suspense until the coming of Ptolemy. {Polyaenus, Strategmata, l.
1.}
2840. All the cities of Asia which had revolted from Seleucus sent their ships
and joined with Ptolemy. They were either going to defend Berenice if she were
still alive or to avenge her murder, if she were dead. {Justin, Trogus, l. 27.
c. 1.} When Ptolemy came, he killed Laodice and entered Syria, marching as far
as Babylon. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (65) 2:231} He took over
Coelosyria from Seleucia. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 58. s. 11. 3:145} Syria,
Cilicia, the upper provinces beyond the Euphrates and almost the whole of Asia
became his. {Jerome, Da 11} Even from the Taurus Mountains to India, he took
everything without fighting a battle. That is, if we can believe Polyaenus'
account, given in the record cited above, with which we may also compare what we
find on the monument of Euergetes, called Monumentum Adulitanum, published at
Rome in the year 1631 by Leo Allatrus. It said:
"After his father died, Ptolemy became king of Egypt, Libya, Syrian Phoenicia,
Cyprus, Lycia, Caria, and the Cycladian Isles. He gathered an army of foot
soldiers and cavalry with a fleet of ships and elephants from Troglodyte and
Ethiopia. [E358] He had some elephants from his father and he brought the rest
from there into Egypt. He trained these forces in the art of war and they were
well equipped. [L493] With these forces he sailed into Asia and conquered all
the land on this side of the Euphrates River, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Ionia, the
Hellespont and Thrace, together with all their forces and other elephants from
India and all the kings of these countries. He crossed over the Euphrates River
and conquered Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susia, Persia, Media and all the countries
as far as Bactria."
2841. When Euergetes had conquered all Syria, he came down to Jerusalem and
offered many sacrifices of thanksgiving to God. He dedicated to him gifts
worthy of such a great victory. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 5. (48)
1:311,313}
3759 AM, 4469 JP, 245 BC
2842. Euergetes was called back by a rebellion of his own people in Egypt.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c. 1.} While he himself held Syria, he entrusted
Cilicia to his friend Antiochus and put Xanthippus in control of the provinces
beyond the Euphrates. He wasted all the kingdoms of Seleucus and carried off
forty thousand talents of silver and all the rich vessels that were there, as
well as taking twenty-five hundred images of their gods. Among these images
were the images which Cambyses had previously taken from Egypt to Persia. On
account of this action, the Egyptians surnamed him Euergetes, when they saw
their gods come home. {Jerome, Da 11} In that monument mentioned earlier,
called Monumentum Adulitanum, we find written concerning him:
"Ptolemy had returned those gods which the Persians had previously taken and
carried from Egypt, along with other treasures stored there. He sent his army
to let in the water in ditches recently dug for that purpose."
2843. After the departure of Ptolemy from Syria, Seleucus outfitted a large
fleet to attack the cities that had revolted from him. A sudden storm sank the
whole fleet, causing all the cities and countries which had defected to Ptolemy
because they hated Seleucus, to return to him out of sympathy for this great
disaster at sea. {Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c. 2.}
3760a AM, 4469 JP, 245 BC
2844. In the 67th year according to the Chaldean calendar, on the fifth day of
the month of Apellaios, and in the 504th year of Nabonassar, 27th of the month
of Thoth, the 18th day of our November, the planet Mercury was observed in the
morning to have been toward the north of the uppermost star in the head of
Scorpio. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 9. c. 7.}
3760 AM, 4470 JP, 244 BC
2845. Seleucus Callinicus began to make war on Ptolemy Euergetes, but after
being utterly routed he fled to Antioch. From there, he wrote to his brother
Antiochus and begged his help, offering him all of Asia on this side of the
Taurus Mountains for his trouble. At this time, Antiochus was not more than
fourteen years old and was very greedy for a kingdom. He seized on the
occasion, but not out of brotherly love. He acted like a robber (laron, Ussher
cited in Oxford English Dictionary as using this term) and sought to strip his
brother of all that he had in his time of need. Although he was a child, he
nonetheless behaved more like a man with this impious resolve. On account of
this, he was surnamed Hierax, that is, Greedy Hawk. He was more like a
rapacious and filthy eagle, because he was always ready to fall upon every man's
estate. {Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c. 2.} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 14.
7:259}
3761 AM, 4471 JP, 243 BC
2846. At this time, the people of Smyrna and Magnesia, in the month of Lenaeon,
entered into a league between themselves to maintain the honour and greatness of
Seleucus. We find this league preserved to this very day, transcribed from the
Marmora Arundelliana, those marble stones which the Earl of Arundel brought from
those parts, and published by Mr. J. Selden, as noted before.
2847. When Ptolemy saw that this young Antiochus sided with Seleucus, he made a
ten-year truce with Seleucus, lest he should be forced to fight both of them.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c. 2.} In this long time of peace, he sent for
Eratosthenes of Cyrene from Athens and made him the keeper of his library at
Alexandria. {Suidas, Eratosthenes} {Suidas, Apollonius} Ptolemy Euergetes
followed after his father Philadelphus in promoting the magnificence of this
library and with it, all types of learning. [L494] He was a scholar of
Aristarchus, the philosopher, and wrote certain historical commentaries himself.
{*Athenaeus, l. 2. (71b) 1:311} About his diligence in getting works into his
library from the ancient writers, Galen in commenting on the third book of
Hippocrates (of Epidemic Diseases) said:
"He ordered all their books which came into Egypt to be brought to him. He had
copies made of them and gave the copies back to the owners who brought the
originals. The originals were placed in his own library with this inscription,
from out of ships so that it might appear that they came from such ships as had
arrived there."
2848. He left fifteen talents in Athens as a security deposit, so he could
borrow the works of Sophocles, Euripides and Eschylus, to transcribe them. He
was to get his money back when he returned them. He had them written out most
exquisitely on excellent parchment, and then kept the originals. [E359] He sent
these copies back to them again and asked them to keep his deposit of fifteen
talents and allow the originals to remain with him.
3762a AM, 4471 JP, 243 BC
2849. Antigonus Gonatas died after he had reigned in Macedonia for thirty-four
years and in Greece for forty-four years. He lived eighty years, according to
Medius and other writers. Porphyry said he lived eighty-three years. {*Lucian,
Octogenarians, l. 1. (11) 1:231} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
229.}
2850. Antigonus Gonatas was succeeded by his son Demetrius, who reigned ten
years. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 229.} {*Polybius, l. 2. c.
44. s. 1,2. 1:349} During this time he subdued all of Cyrene and Libya.
After the death of her husband and brother Alexander, Olympias, the daughter of
Pyrrhus, who was the king of Epirus, gave her daughter Pthias to Demetrius. He
was already married to the sister of Antiochus, king of Syria. When Demetrius
turned her out, she went to her brother Antiochus and stirred him up to make war
on her husband, because of the wrong he had done to her. {Justin, Trogus, l.
28. c. 1.} During all this time there was no other king named Antiochus, apart
from Antiochus Hierax. He wanted to take the whole kingdom from Seleucus, his
older brother. Justin called both these brothers kings. {Justin, Trogus, l.
44. c. 1.} Justin and Polyaenus stated that Antiochus went into Mesopotamia,
where Seleucus had built a city called Callinocopolis, according to the Fasti
Seculi, in the first year of the 134th Olympiad. At that time, neither
Antiochus nor Seleucus controlled Syria, {Justin, Trogus, l. 27. (Prologue)}
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4. Antiochus Hierax} for Ptolemy Euergetes, the
king of Egypt, governed it.
3762b AM, 4472 JP, 242 BC
2851. At this time, Antiochus tried to take over all Asia proper from his
brother Seleucus. Antiochus raised a mercenary army of the Gauls to fight
against Seleucus. They fought near the city of Ancyra and Seleucus was defeated
by the extraordinary prowess of the Gauls. The Gauls then supposed that
Seleucus had been killed in the battle and turned on Antiochus who had hired
them. When he knew what was happening, he bought their loyalty and was forced
to make a league with these mercenaries. However, Eumenes, with a fresh army of
his own, attacked and routed Antiochus and his Gauls, who were all tired out,
with many having been wounded from the recent battle with Seleucus. In this
way, Eumenes got most of Asia under his control. {Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c.
2,3.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c. 0.}
3763 AM, 4473 JP, 241 BC
2852. Eumenes, who was the nephew (the son of Philetaerus' older brother
Eumenes) and adopted son of Philetaerus, king of Pergamum, drank until he was
drunk and died as recorded by Ctesicles in his third book of Chronicles.
{*Athenaeus, l. 10. (445d) 4:517,519} Attalus, the cousin and adopted son of
Eumenes, succeeded him. Attalus was son of Attatus, the the younger brother of
Philetaerus, and born of Antiochis, the daughter of Achaeus. [L495] Attalus
used his great wealth cautiously and magnificently. He thought that he should
be called a king and then convinced other men, also, that he deserved to be a
king. So, after he had defeated the Gauls, he assumed the title of a king. He
ruled wisely and his house continued to the third generation. {*Polybius, l.
18. c. 41. 5:175,179} {*Livy, l. 33. c. 21. s. 1,2. 9:335} {*Strabo, l.
13. c. 4. s. 2. 6:165,167} Suidas reported an oracle which was given to him
by the prophetess at Delphi, which said:
Go on Taurocerus, thou a crown shalt wear,
And thy sons' sons, and there an end shall be.
2853. Now it is thought that this Eumenes was surnamed Taurocerus, because
there were a pair of bull's horns added to a statue of him. Also in the oracle
by Phaennes, he foretold the slaughter which Attalus would one day make of the
Gauls. Attalus is called Tauri Filius, that is, the Son of a Bull.
{*Pausanias, Phocis, l. 10. c. 15. s. 3. 4:451} It said this:
For Jove shall quickly send them a saviour.
Son of a Bull and by Jove nurtured,
Which on the Gauls shall bring a dismal day.
2854. Concerning this battle fought between Attalus and the Gauls, Livy said:
{*Livy, l. 38. c. 16. s. 14,15. 11:55}
"Attalus was the first in Asia who refused to pay tribute to the Gauls. Fortune
there, beyond all expectation of men, favoured this bold attempt of his and in a
battle he fought and defeated them."
2855. However, Polyaenus told of a scheme which Sudines, a Chaldean soothsayer,
used to motivate his soldiers for this battle when they were quite dispirited.
{Polyaenus, Strategmata, l. 4. Attalus} Sudines was the Babylonian
mathematician whom we find mentioned by Strabo. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s.
6. 7:203} [E360] Vettius Valens of Antioch said he used Sudines' astronomical
tables to determine the motions of the moon.
2856. In the 45th year according to Dionysius' calendar, on the 10th day of the
month of Parthenion or the sign of Virgo, eighty-three years after the death of
Alexander, on the 17th day of the month of Epeiph (September 3), the planet
Jupiter eclipsed the southern star of the constellation of Asellus, that is,
Little Asses. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 11. c. 3.} (The Aselli are two
stars in the constellation of Cancer the Crab. {*Pliny, l. 18. c. 80.
5:411})
3764 AM, 4474 JP, 240 BC
2857. Lacydes of Cyrene, the rector of the new academy in Aeolia, succeeded
Arcesilaus of Potana in the 4th year of the 134th Olympiad. Lacydes kept his
academy in a certain garden which Attalus, the king, had provided there for that
purpose. {*Diogenes Laertius, Lacydes, l. 4. c. 8. (59,61) 1:435,437}
3768 AM, 4478 JP, 236 BC
2858. In the 75th year according to the Chaldean calendar, on the 14th day of
the month of Dios in the 512th year of Nabonassar, the ninth of the month of
Thoth (July 29), in the morning, the planet of Mercury was seen near the beam
star in the sign of Libra. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 9. c. 7.}
3771 AM, 4481 JP, 233 BC
2859. Onias II became high priest. He was the son of Simon the Just. After
Simon, Eleasarus had carried out the office of the high priest at Jerusalem,
because Onias was still quite young. After Eleasarus, Manasses became high
priest until Onias came of age. Josephus said Onias was a dim-witted man and in
his old age finally came to be prince and high priest among the Jews. In this
office, he behaved in a most unworthy and base manner, and was only concerned
about money. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 1. (157,158) 7:83}
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 50.} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:215} It is said that he was the high priest for fourteen years. [L496]
2860. In his days, the Samaritans grievously vexed the Jews. They plundered
the country and carried the people away as captives. Onias refused to pay the
twenty talents of silver imposed upon the land by the kings, because he was very
covetous of money. This sum had been paid by his predecessors from their own
wealth, to relieve the people. In a rage, Ptolemy Euergetes sent a messenger to
Jerusalem and threatened Onias that if he did not quickly send in his arrears of
tribute, he would immediately distribute the land among his soldiers and settle
new colonies of his own there. At that time, there was a man named Joseph, the
son of Tobias, who, although only a young man, was held in high regard among all
men for his prudence, justice and other virtues. He lived in the country at a
place called Phicola, where he had been born. He was told of the arrival of
these envoys at Jerusalem by his mother, who was the daughter of Simon the Just
and sister to this Onias the priest. So he came to Jerusalem and undertook to
be part of an embassy to Euergetes concerning this matter. He so ingratiated
himself to King Ptolemy and his queen, Cleopatra, that he appeased the king's
wrath. He also obtained a company of two thousand soldiers to collect the
tributes and other profits for the king from Coelosyria, Phoenicia, Samaria and
Judea. He held that office for twenty-two years and in that time doubled the
king's revenues, increasing them from eight thousand to sixteen thousand talents
a year. He brought this into the king's treasury along with all the goods of
the thieves and confiscated goods which the tax collectors had previously kept
and divided among themselves. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 2-10.
(160-227) 7:83-115}
3772 AM, 4482 JP, 232 BC
2861. In Macedonia, Demetrius died, leaving his very young son, Philip, as
king. Antigonus was made his guardian. He was known for the great and
extraordinary promises which he made to all sorts of men. He was nicknamed
Doson, that is, one who was ever full of promises and no action. He married the
mother of Philip and took over the kingdom. {Justin, Trogus, l. 28. c. 3.}
He ruled for twelve years. {Dexippus} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius}
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:215}
3773 AM, 4483 JP, 231 BC
2861a. Spurius Carvilius divorced his wife for barrenness. This was the first
divorce that occurred in Rome since the city was founded over five hundred years
earlier. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 2. c. 1. s. 4. 1:131} {*Aulus Gellius,
Attic Nights, l. 4. c. 3. s. 2. 1:323}
3774 AM, 4484 JP, 230 BC
2862. Lyco of Troas died. He was head of the school of the Peripatetics for
forty-four years. Strato of Lapsacus was the previous head of the school until
his death. Lyco lived for seventy-four years. {*Diogenes Laertius, Lyco, l.
5. c. 4. (68) 1:521}
3775 AM, 4485 JP, 229 BC
2863. In the 82nd year according to the Chaldean calendar, the 5th day of the
month of Xanthikos, in the 519th year of Nabonassar, the 14th day of the month
of Tybi (March 1), in the evening, Saturn was observed to be two fingers width
below the southern shoulder of Virgo. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 11. c.
7.}
3778a AM, 4487 JP, 227 BC
2864. When Antiochus Hierax was in trouble, he fled to Ptolemy Euergetes in
Egypt, who threw him into prison. He escaped with the help of a certain harlot
who used to come to him. On his escape, he fell into the hands of some thieves,
who killed him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 17. c. 3.}
3778 AM, 4488 JP, 226 BC
2865. At about the same time, Seleucus Callinicus, the older brother of
Antiochus, fell off his horse, broke his neck and died, {Justin, Trogus, l. 17.
c. 3.} leaving two sons. The older one was Seleucus Ceraunus, who was
physically weak and poor, and could not keep order in his army. The younger was
called Antiochus and was later surnamed the Great. After the death of his
father, he went into upper Asia. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 48. s. 5,6. 2:417}
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 40. s. 4-7. 3:99} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
11. (66) 2:231} [E361] Seleucus Ceraunus reigned only three years. {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:215} {*Sulpicius
Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 19. 11:107}
3781a AM, 4490 JP, 224 BC
2866. Seleucus Ceraunus marched against Attalus, who had controlled all of Asia
on the western side of the Taurus Mountains. He left his kingdom in the care of
Hermias, a Carian, and crossed over the Taurus Mountains with a large army.
{*Polybius, l. 4. c. 48. s. 7. 2:417} {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 40. s.
5-7. 3:99}
3781b AM, 4491 JP, 223 BC
2867. In Phrygia, Seleucus was poisoned by his two friends, Apatarias and
Nicanor. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 40. s. 5-7. 3:99} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 11. (66) 2:231} {Jerome, Da 11} {Justin, Trogus, l. 29. c. 1.}
[L497] In his army was Achaeus, the son of Andronicus, who was the brother of
Laodice, Seleucus' wife. She was at that time in exile with Ptolemy in Egypt.
Achaeus, as a kinsman to Seleucus, avenged his death and killed the two men who
had murdered Seleucus. He managed all matters in the army with extraordinary
skill, wisdom and magnanimity. Even though he could now crown himself king and
all men wanted him to do so, he would not, choosing instead to reserve the role
for Antiochus, the young son of Seleucus Callinicus. Achaeus marched with the
army from place to place throughout Asia and recovered all that his father had
lost on the western side of the Taurus Mountains. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 48.
s. 8-20. 2:419}
2868. The army that was in Syria sent to Antiochus, who was in Babylon, wanting
him to come and assume the kingdom. {Jerome, Da 11} This he did when he was
less than fourteen years old. {Justin, Trogus, l. 29. c. 1.} {*Polybius, l.
4. c. 2. s. 5-8. 2:301} Porphyry and Eusebius said that he reigned
thirty-six years.
2869. Antiochus committed to Achaeus the whole rule and government of all Asia
on the western side of the Taurus Mountains. He made Molon the governor of
Media, and Alexander, Molon's brother, governor of Persia. In court, Hermias
the Carian controlled all. A man of a fierce and cruel nature, he punished even
small offences very severely and made them seem all the greater by the
aggravating words he said. He made false charges against various people and
proved to be merciless and an inexorable judge. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 40,41.
3:99}
2870. Cleomenes, the king of Lacedemon, was defeated by Antigonus Doson, king
of Macedonia near Sellasia. He was expelled from his kingdom and sailed from
Gythiom in a ship he had prepared beforehand in case it should be needed.
Taking some of his friends along with him, he sailed into Egypt to Ptolemy
Euergetes. (He had previously sent his children and his mother Cratesiclea to
Ptolemy as pledges, when Ptolemy had initially promised him help.) When he
arrived, Ptolemy honourably entertained him. {*Polybius, l. 2. c. 69. s.
10,11. 1:411} {Justin, Trogus, l. 28. c. 4.} {*Pausanias, Corinth, l. 2.
c. 20. s. 8-9. 1:353,355} {*Plutarch, Cleomenes, l. 1. c. 27-32.
10:113-125}
3782 AM, 4492 JP, 222 BC
2871. The two brothers—Molon, the governor of Media, and Alexander, the
governor of Persia—despised the youth of Antiochus, their king. They thought
that Achaeus could easily be persuaded to join with them, since all of them
feared the power of Hermias in the court and his malice and cruelty. The two
brothers together conspired with their provinces to revolt from Antiochus.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 41. s. 1. 3:99}
2872. In the regions of Caria and the isle of Rhodes, there was a very strong
earthquake which destroyed their houses along with the large colossus or image
of Zeus at Rhodes. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:216} {Orosius, l. 4. c.
13.}
2873. Ptolemy Euergetes gave Cleomenes some hopes that he would send him back
into Greece with a well-furnished navy and restore him to his kingdom again.
Because of his loving nature, Ptolemy gradually developed a closer, warmer
relationship with him day by day. Meanwhile, he gave him twenty-four talents
yearly for his entertainment. With this he lived frugally and maintained
himself and those with him. {*Plutarch, Cleomenes, l. 1. c. 32. s. 2.
10:123,125}
3783 AM, 4493 JP, 221 BC
2874. Ptolemy died before he could help Cleomenes regain his kingdom.
{*Plutarch, Cleomenes, l. 1. c. 33. s. 1. 10:125} He either died of a
natural sickness, {*Polybius, l. 2. c. 71. s. 2,3. 1:413} [L498] or
through the wicked action of his own son, called Philopator, which name means
lover of his father and is said to have been given to him in a sarcastic manner.
Justin stated: {Justin, Trogus, l. 29. c. 1.}
"When Ptolemy had murdered his father and his mother (whom Strabo called
Agathoclia {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:43}), he took Egypt into his
hands. Because of his vile deed of murdering his parents, he was surnamed
Philopator by the country."
2875. Pliny stated that this Ptolemy was called by another nickname, Tryphon,
from his effeminate and luxurious lifestyle. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 56. (208)
2:647} The Fasti Siculi stated:
"Ptolemy Philopator, who was also called Gallus, son of Ptolemy Euergetes, was
also surnamed Tryphon...."
2876. Justin incorrectly attributed the surname of Tryphon to his father
Euergetes. {Justin, Trogus, l. 27. c. 0.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 0.}
[E362] The collector of the Great Etymology concurred with him that the other
name of Gallus was given to Philopator. He noted that Philopator was called
Gallus because he was inclined to go about with an ivy bush around his head and
other parts of his body, as was the custom of the Gauls, who were priests of
Cybele. He did this when he observed the holy days of Bacchus. He was so
effeminate and debauched with drinking, that when he was in his best state and
uncommonly sober, he would even then run about the streets with the dancers, and
bells jangling about him. {*Plutarch, Cleomenes, l. 1. c. 33. s. 1,2.
10:125} Polybius noted that he spent the whole of his reign in revellings. He
gave himself over to every imaginable sensual and filthy lust of the flesh, and
to daily drinking and carousing. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 34. 3:83,85}
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 37. s. 10,11. 3:93} Strabo added that he, and all the
Ptolemys who came after him, grew rich, and never managed that state well.
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:43} Ptolemy Philopator reigned for
seventeen years. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c.
21. 2:329} {Porphyry} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:216}
2877. Philopator feared his brother Magas who, with the help of his mother
Berenice, had ingratiated himself with the army. So he consulted with Sosibius,
his right-hand man, and with others, how to get rid of both of them, which
worried these men greatly. They feared lest the great courage of Berenice
should prevail and all this matter would come to nothing. Therefore, they were
forced to flatter all the court and to give them their agreement in important
matters, in case their plot progressed and went on and succeeded as they had
planned. However, Sosibius went further. He talked to Cleomenes, the king of
Sparta, who at that time greatly needed the king's help, and who was a very wise
and politically astute man with much experience in matters of the world. When
he told Cleomenes of the plot, Cleomenes dissuaded him from it. He said that
the king had need of more sons and brothers for the security and preservation of
his kingdom, rather than to destroy those whom he already had. Sosibius had
told him that the king could never be sure of the mercenary soldiers as long as
Magas was alive. Cleomenes told him not to worry about that, for among his
mercenaries Cleomenes had three thousand Greeks from Peloponnesus and a thousand
from Crete, who would follow him if he gave the word. This encouraged Sosibius,
so that he murdered Berenice and her son Magas and all their relatives.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 36. 3:89,91} {*Polybius, l. 14. c. 12. 4:461}
{*Plutarch, Cleomenes, l. 1. c. 33. 10:125,127}
2878. Philopator had first murdered his father, then his mother, and now had
killed his brother, too. As though all had been well with him, he gave himself
over more than ever to wanton living. All the court followed him in this
lifestyle, including his friends at court and his main commanders in the army.
The whole body of the army, from the highest to the lowest, eschewed martial
discipline and indulged themselves in taverns and brothels. {Justin, Trogus, l.
30. c. 1.} [L499]
2879. Antiochus was advised by his counsel how to put down that rebellion of
the two brothers, Molon and Alexander, in Media and Persia. Epigenes was the
man who secured for Antiochus the loyalty of the army that had been gathered
together for Seleucus. A man of great credit and reputation in the army,
Epigenes advised that Antiochus should personally march against them with his
army. Hermias, however, advised the king to go into Coelosyria himself and
recover it, and instead send Xenon and Theodotus, surnamed Hemiolius, to subdue
the two brothers. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 41,42. 3:101-105}
2880. During this rebellion, and while Antiochus was besieging Zeugma in
Seleucia, Diognetus, his admiral, came to him from Cappadocia escorting Laodice,
the daughter of Mithridates, the king of Pontus. As soon as she arrived,
Antiochus married her. When he came to Antioch from the upper regions, he had
her proclaimed queen, and then he prepared for the war. {*Polybius, l. 5. c.
43. s. 1-4. 3:105}
2881. At the same time Molon, who had his brother Alexander to help him in all
his affairs, marched with a large army against Xenon and Theodotus, the king's
commanders. Molon and Alexander were sent into those parts and scared Xenon and
Theodotus so much that they did not dare stay in the fields, but secured
themselves in walled cities. At this time, Molon controlled the country of
Apollonia and had plenty of provisions. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 43. s. 5-8.
3:105,107}
3784a AM, 4493 JP, 221 BC
2882. Meanwhile Philip, the son of Demetrius, became king in Macedonia after
the death of Antigonus, his guardian and father-in-law. He was fourteen years
old and reigned forty-two years. {Justin, Trogus, l. 28. c. fin.} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 29. c. 1.} Dexippus, Porphyry, Eusebius and Polybius noted that
these three, Philip of Macedonia, Ptolemy Philopator of Egypt and Antiochus the
Great of Syria, all came to their kingdoms within the time of the 139th
Olympiad. {*Polybius, l. 2. c. 71. s. 5,6. 1:415} Antiochus became king
in the first year of this Olympiad, Ptolemy Philopator succeeded his father in
the third year, and Philip of Macedonia became king in the fourth year.
Polybius noted that around that time almost all the kingdoms of the world had
new kings. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 2. s. 5-11. 2:301} [E363] Justin and
Polybius also noted that Ariarathes became king of Cappadocia at around the same
time. {Justin, Trogus, l. 29. c. 1.}
2883. After the death of Antigonus, the Aetolians united with the Lacedemonians
and together fought the Achaeans and Macedonians. Cleomenes asked Philopator of
Egypt if he would furnish him with means and some soldiers and allow him to
return to his own country. When he realised that Philopator was not going to do
this, he began asking the king more often to allow him and his small company to
leave. The king cared little for the business of the state or what the result
of his actions would be, and paid no attention to Cleomenes. However, Sosibius,
who was the chief man of all those around the king as far as the matters of the
kingdom were concerned, advised him, as well as the rest of the council, to keep
Cleomenes. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 35. 3:85-89}
2884. Molon tried to cross the Tigris River to besiege Seleucia, but was
prevented in this by Zeuxis, who had taken all the boats on the river. So Molon
changed his plans, went to Ctesiphon and made his winter quarters there.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 45. s. 3,4. 3:109}
2885. Antiochus was told that Molon was coming and that his men had yielded
ground to him. So he resolved to abandon going against Ptolemy in Coelosyria
and instead to march in person against Molon. However, Hermias did not change
his original plans and sent Xenoetas, an Achaean, against Molon with a
well-outfitted army. Xenoetas had absolute power to use the army to accomplish
his ends. [L500] Hermias brought the young king back again to Apamea and there
assembled an army for him. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 45. s. 5-7. 3:109,111}
2886. Xenoetas came to Seleucia with his army and sent for Diogenes, the king's
governor of the province of Susa, and for Pythiades, the governor of the coasts
of the Persian Gulf. Together with their forces, he marched with the Tigris
River at his back. He camped with his army in the very face of the enemy. The
next day, he seized Molon's camp, which Molon had left that night. The invading
army started drinking and rioting in the camp. When Molon saw his opportunity,
he came back the following night and attacked and recovered his camp in the dead
of night, also capturing the enemy camp. Xenoetas was killed by an unknown
soldier while fighting in the darkness. Molon came with his army up to Seleucia
and took it with the first assault, because Zeuxis had fled the city along with
Diomedon, the governor of the place. He then subdued the whole province of
Babylonia, as well as the one bordering the Persian Gulf, and took the city of
Susa. Leaving some troops there to besiege the citadel into which Diogenes,
their commander, had fled, he returned to Seleucia on the Tigris River and
refreshed his army. He took over the country that bordered the river as far as
Europus, a city in those regions. In Mesopotamia, he controlled everything as
far as Dura. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 46-48. 3:113-119}
2887. After that meeting held by Sosibius, Cleomenes was committed into
custody. He waited for the time when Philopator had gone to Canopus with his
court, and led his keepers to believe that the king would let him go free soon.
While they grew careless about him and lay fast asleep as a result of their
heavy drinking, he and his friends broke out of prison at noonday. He wanted to
instigate a rebellion among the people but finding himself unable to do so, and
having no hope of escape left, both he and his followers killed themselves.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 38,39. 3:95,99} This was three years after his defeat
in Laconia. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 35. s. 7,8. 2:387} When Philopator heard
of this, he commanded Cleomenes' body to be hung on a cross and executed
Cleomenes' mother Cratesiclea and her sons, with all the women who attended her.
{*Plutarch, Cleomenes, l. 1. c. 38. s. 2,3. 10:137}
2888. Antiochus set out from Laodicea with his whole army and having crossed
the desert, he came to the defile of Marsyas, which was between Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon. He spent many days in marching his army through this defile and
captured those places that were on his way, or close to it. He finally came to
Gerra and Brochi, two citadels built on the narrow pass which led into this
defile. These were held by Theodotus, who was an Aetolian and governor of
Coelosyria for Philopator. When Antiochus saw these citadels, he planned to
attack them, but when he found out that they were very strong fortifications and
that Theodotus was very courageous, he abandoned the place and left.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 59,60. 3:145-151} Theodotus was not rewarded by
Philopator for this. On the contrary, when he was summoned to Alexandria, he
barely escaped with his life. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 40. s. 1-3. 3:97,99}
[E364]
2889. Antiochus heard of the utter destruction and slaughter of his men with
their general Xenoetas, and of Molon's victory. Through this action, all the
upper provinces were now lost, and controlled by Molon. He abandoned his
intended journey and thought about how to regain this lost territory.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 48. s. 17. 3:117} Hermias could not oppose the
general vote of all the rest in the council, who persuaded the king to go, but
he had his way in one thing. He forged certain letters as written from Molon to
Epigenes, and put them in a packet with other letters to him. By that means, he
had Epigenes put to death as an informer for Molon. The king marched against
Molon and coming to the Euphrates River, he added to his army the rest of his
forces that were there, before arriving at Antioch, which is in Mygdonia. This
was about the beginning of winter and he stayed there almost until the next
spring. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 49-51. 3:121-125} [L501]
3784 AM, 4494 JP, 220 BC
2890. After spending forty days there, he went on to Libba and held a council.
Following the advice of Zeuxis rather than that of Hermias, he crossed over the
Tigris River with all his army and marched toward Dura. At the news of his
approach, the captains of Molon raised the siege of Dura. Advancing hence and
marching continuously for eight days, Antiochus' troops crossed the Oreicum
Mountain and came to Apollonia. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 51,52. 3:125,127}
2891. Although Molon seriously feared that his army might abandon him, he still
attacked the king. Making two wings, he put his brother Neolaus in charge of
the left wing and led the other himself. When the battle started, his right
wing remained loyal to him and fought very stoutly against their countrymen, but
the left wing defected to the king. When Molon realised this, and saw that he
was about to be wholly surrounded by the enemy, he fell upon his own sword. The
rest of his friends who had been part of this conspiracy against the king,
escaped to their homes and killed themselves. When the wing which Neolaus was
leading surrendered to the king, Neolaus escaped to Persia to Alexander, Molon's
brother. Having first killed Molon's mother and his children, Neolaus advised
Alexander to kill himself and then he, too, committed suicide. The king
commanded Molon's body to be hung on a cross in the most conspicuous place in
Media, while he castigated his rebel army with bitter words for their foul and
disloyal actions toward him. Finally, he gave them his right hand and received
them back into his favour and service again. He appointed some to escort them
back into Media from where they had come, and to settle them in that province
again. Meanwhile, he went down from those upper parts to Seleucia, where
Hermias was treating the inhabitants very harshly. Hermias planned to extract a
fine of a thousand talents from them. The king reduced the fine to a hundred
and fifty talents and left Diogenes to govern Media. He made Apollodorus
governor of the province of Susiana and sent Tychon, the chief secretary of the
army, to govern the regions bordering the Persian Gulf. {*Polybius, l. 5. c.
52-54. 3:127-135}
2892. At the time when Antiochus made this war on Molon, Theodotus, the
Aetolian, who was governor under Philopator of Coelosyria, returned from
Alexandria. He thought that Philopator was a worthless fellow and that he would
get nothing of value from his princes. With the troops he had with him, he
seized Ptolemais and Tyre through Panaetolus. Theodotus resolved to come to
some agreement with Antiochus to place all Coelosyria under his control, and
this he did a little later. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 61,62. 3:151-155}
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 40. s. 1-3. 3:97,99}
2893. Attalus, king of Pergamum, had a son born of Apollinis of Cyzicum called
Attalus Philadelphus, who lived eighty-two years. {*Lucian, Octogenarians, l.
1. (12) 1:233} About the same time, Antiochus had a son born to him, called
Seleucus who was surnamed Philopator.
3785a AM, 4494 JP, 220 BC
2894. Jubilee 25
2895. After his son was born, Antiochus planned to attack Artabarzanes, who had
obtained the kingdom of Atropatene and the other countries in that area.
Artabarzanes feared the coming of the king. Since he was now old and decrepit,
he made peace with the king on the best terms he could get. {*Polybius, l. 5.
c. 55. 3:135,137}
2896. While the war went on between Antiochus and Artabarzanes, Achaeus
besieged Attalus in his capital city of Pergamum and took all the places around
there. He made a league with Ptolemy Philopator of Egypt and planned to capture
Syria before Antiochus could return to defend it. With the help of the
Cyrrhestians, who had revolted from Antiochus, he planned to take over that
kingdom. [E365] To that end, he left Lydia with his whole army and marched in
the direction of Syria. [L502] When he came to Laodicea in Phrygia, he placed a
crown on his head and there began to assume the title of a king. He did this
whenever he received envoys from other princes and whenever he had the
opportunity of writing to them. He entertained Siveris, who had been banished
from his own country and who was the main one urging him on to be a king.
Continuing his journey toward Syria, he approached Lycaonia, where his army
began to rebel, complaining that they were fighting against Antiochus, who was
their natural king. So Achaeus, seeing that his plans incited such a response,
abandoned his schemes and went no farther. Moreover, he told the army that he
had never planned to lead them into Syria against Antiochus, but only to waste
the country of Pisidia where he was leading them. This they did, and when they
had enriched themselves with its spoil, they returned home again as loyal as
ever to him. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 2. s. 5,6. 2:301} {*Polybius, l. 4.
c. 48. s. 1-5. 2:417} {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 57. 3:141,143}
2897. After the war between Antiochus and Artabarzanes was over, Apollophanes,
a physician of Seleucia, greatly feared Hermias. So he figured out a way to
bring him into disfavour with the king. Thereupon, the king feigned to be sick
and had Hermias taken from his house and murdered by some men to whom he had
assigned the task. At the same time, the women of Apamea stoned Hermias' wife
to death, while the boys did the same to his sons. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 56.
3:137-141}
2898. When Antiochus had returned home and had sent his soldiers to their
winter quarters, he sent many threatening letters to Achaeus. {*Polybius, l.
5. c. 57. 3:141,143}
3785 AM, 4495 JP, 219 BC
2899. The Jewish high priest, Onias II, died and was succeeded by his son,
Simon II. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 10. (225) 7:115} He was high
priest for twenty years. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius}
2900. At the beginning of spring, Antiochus called all his army to Apamea.
Apollophanes, his physician, persuaded him to go to Seleucia, which was called
Pieria. So he sent Diognetus, his admiral, there with his fleet, and sent
Theodotus Hermiolius with a suitable force to take over the passes into
Coelosyria. He had received information from some informers among the
Seleucians in the town, whom he had won over to him by large amounts of money
and generous promises. He captured one of the suburbs and then the inhabitants
opened the gates of the city to him. When he was inside, he treated the
inhabitants very kindly, but put garrisons into their citadel and port.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 58-61. 3:143-151}
2901. While the king was busy in settling matters there, he received letters
from Theodotus, the Aetolian, to ask him to go into Coelosyria. He was now
ready to turn it over to the king. Consequently, the king marched there, but
Nicolaus, a captain of Philopator's, discovered this plot and besieged Theodotus
in Ptolemais. When Nicolaus heard of Antiochus' arrival, he raised the siege
and sent Lagoras, a Cretian, and Dorymenes of Aetolia, with troops to hold the
pass that led into Coelosyria near Berytus. Antiochus easily defeated these
troops. When Theodotus and Panaetolus saw the siege raised from before
Ptolemais, where they and their friends had been confined, they went and met
Antiochus on the way. They turned over Tyre and Ptolemais and all that was in
them to Antiochus. In these two ports, they found forty ships which were turned
over to Diognetus, the admiral. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 61,62. 3:151-155}
{*Polybius, l. 4. c. 37. s. 4,5. 2:393}
2902. Antiochus was told that Philopator had gone to Memphis, that all
Ptolemy's forces were gathered at Pelusium and the sluices of the Nile had all
been opened to let the sea in to spoil all the fresh water there. So he changed
his plans of marching to Pelusium and went into Coelosyria, where he went from
one place to another and sought to subdue them all. Some he took by force and
others surrendered, based on the reasonable conditions he offered them. The
weaker places generally yielded to him when he first asked. The rest remained
loyal to Philopator, their king, and Antiochus spent much time in besieging
them. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 62. s. 4-6. 3:155} [L503]
2903. Meanwhile, Philopator did not concern himself with anything. But
Agathocles and Sosibius, who managed everything under him, prepared for war.
They kept everything as secret as they could, so Antiochus would not know what
was happening. They secretly solicited help from the states of Cyzicum,
Byzantium, Rhodes, Aetolia and others to mediate for a peace between the two
kings. In the interim, they made every provision possible for the war that they
could. To the best of their ability, they trained and exercised their men in
all types of feats of chivalry and martial discipline. {*Polybius, l. 4. c.
38. s. 5,6. 2:393} {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 62,63. 3:155,157} [E366]
2904. At this time, there was a new war between the Byzantines and the
Rhodians. The cause of the war was the fact that the Byzantines were being
forced to pay a heavy tribute to the Gauls, and hence were charging a toll on
every ship that passed by them into the Pontus Sea. {*Polybius, l. 1. c. 6.
s. 6. 1:17} {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 37,38. 2:393,395} {*Polybius, l. 4. c.
46,47. 2:413,415}
2905. Thereupon, the Rhodians sent to Prusias, king of Bithynia. (That was the
Prusias whom Memnon surnamed The Lame.) {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 29.} They made an
alliance with him, even though, previously, he had normally been their enemy.
But because the Byzantines were trying to form an alliance with Attalus and
Achaeus, who were hostile to Prusias, he now came to this agreement with the
Rhodians. They would take charge of the war at sea and he would conduct the war
on land. He immediately seized Hieron, which had been a port of theirs on the
Asian side. This place had previously been owned by the merchants who traded in
the Pontus, but the Byzantines had recently bought them out. They themselves
used it, as well as all that portion of Mysia in Asia which they had controlled
many years earlier. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 47-50. 2:415-421}
2906. When the Byzantines saw the Rhodians had an alliance with Prusias, they
tried to get help from Attalus and Achaeus. Attalus wanted to help, but because
Achaeus was pressing so heavily on him, he could offer very little help.
Achaeus, whose dominions stretched far and near on the west side of the Taurus
Mountains and who had recently assumed the title of king, promised them all the
help that he could give. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 48. s. 1-3. 2:417} They
also sent for Tiboetes from Macedonia to be their general in this war against
Prusias. They thought that the whole kingdom of Bithynia belonged as much to
Tiboetes as to Prusias, the nephew of Tiboetes. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 50. s.
9,10. 2:423}
2907. Prusias feared the coming of his uncle Tiboetes and pulled down all
citadels and places of any strength that existed in the kingdom. {*Polybius, l.
4. c. 52. s. 8,9. 2:427}
2908. The Rhodians tried to draw away Achaeus from helping the Byzantines.
They sent to Ptolemy, because they wanted him to give them Andromachus, who at
that time was a prisoner in Alexandria. They wanted to present him to his son
Achaeus as a gift from them. When this had been done, along with some other
deeds of honour extended to him by the Rhodians, the Byzantines lost their main
supporter in the war. When Tiboetes was being escorted from Macedonia, he died
on the way, which greatly thwarted their purposes. Cavarus was a petty king of
the Gauls who lived in Thrace. {*Polybius, l. 8. c. 22. 3:505} {*Athenaeus,
l. 6. (252d) 3:137} He came to Byzantium at that time and mediated a peace
between Byzantium and Prusias and the Rhodians. [L504] The Byzantines agreed to
stop charging any more tolls on their ships and Prusias was to restore what he
had taken from Byzantium. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 52. s. 3-10. 2:425,427}
2909. At the same time, Mithridates, king of Pontus, made war on the people of
Sinope. These had borrowed a hundred and forty thousand drachmas from the
Rhodians, money which they used to fortify their city and the whole of the
peninsula on which their city was located. {*Polybius, l. 4. c. 56.
2:433,435}
3786a AM, 4495 JP, 219 BC
2910. Antiochus besieged Dura in Phoenicia, a city which Claudius Ptolemy
called Adora. But because the place was naturally well fortified, he could not
take it. Nicolaus, a captain of Philopator's, sent them relief. Because winter
was coming, Antiochus was content to make a truce with them for four months,
which some envoys sent by Philopator had persuaded him to do. He would not
grant a longer truce, nor spend more time there than necessary, away from his
own dominions. It was obvious that Achaeus intended to invade his kingdom and
there was no doubt that Philopator was helping Achaeus. Therefore, he sent away
the envoys and put garrisons in suitable places. He left everything there to
the care of Theodotus, while he returned to Seleucia. He sent his army to their
winter quarters but made no effort to keep them in military condition. He
thought that the rest of the cities would submit to him without a great deal of
fighting, because he had already acquired a part of Coelosyria and Phoenicia.
So he thought he could win the war with words, rather than by fighting.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 66. 3:159-163}
3786 AM, 4496 JP, 218 BC
2911. In the spring, however, events did not unfold as he had planned. He took
his army from their winter quarters and intended to attack his enemies by sea
and land, and to subdue by force the remainder of Coelosyria that was
withstanding him. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 68. s. 1,2. 3:167}
2912. Philopator committed the charge of all his wars to Nicolaus, the
Aetolian, and made Gaza the storehouse for the war effort, placing all his
provisions for the war there. [E367] He sent his armies by land and sea,
appointing Perigenes as the admiral of his naval forces. Even though he only
had thirty war ships, he had four hundred cargo ships. {*Polybius, l. 5. c.
68. s. 2-6. 3:167,169}
2913. Antiochus had marched as far as Marathus when envoys came to him from the
isle of Aradus, desiring his friendship. He agreed to this, and also settled
the differences between them and their neighbours who lived on the continent,
making them good friends after that. Antiochus entered into Phoenicia by way of
Theuprosopon and came to Berytus. On his way, he attacked Botrys and took it.
He burned Trieres and Calamus to the ground. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 68. s.
6-8. 3:169}
2914. Before the main battle, he divided his army into three parts. He gave
one part to Theodotus, the other to Menedemus and the third he reserved for the
naval battle under the command of Diocles. He had made Diocles the governor of
Parapotamia, which bordered on the Euphrates River. Antiochus, with bodyguards
around him for protection, went to see how the battle was going and to help if
needed. Diognetus prepared the naval forces for Antiochus and Perigenes did the
same for Philopator. Each kept as close to the land as he possibly could. At
last, when a general signal was given, the battle was joined on land and sea.
At sea, neither side won and they parted on even terms. On land, Theodotus
routed Nicolaus after a strong fight. In the chase, two thousand of Nicolaus'
men were killed and at least that many taken prisoner, while the rest fled into
Sidon. [L505] When Perigenes saw that the land battle had been lost, he
retreated by sea to Sidon. Without delay, Antiochus came there with his whole
army and besieged it. He did not attack it, because there were many men inside
it and they had many provisions to keep them alive. {*Polybius, l. 5. c.
69,70. 3:171,173}
2915. When Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius Longus were consuls
at Rome, Hannibal made a difficult crossing of the Alps and came down into Italy
in the summer of that year. {*Livy, l. 21. c. 18. s. 1. 5:49} {*Livy, l.
21. c. 38. 5:111,113} This was in the latter end of the second year of the
140th Olympiad, and it is from that time that we indicate the start of the
second Carthaginian War, or the War of Hannibal. This is described in detail by
Polybius and Livy. Silius Italicus described it in poetry, and Appian in his
history. {*Appian, Hannibalic War, l. 7. c. 1-9. (1-61) 1:305-399} This war
enhanced the fame of the Carthaginians and Romans all over the world. The
effect was first felt in Greece, then in Asia, properly so called, and its
islands. All men began to look to them and no longer to Philip, Antiochus or
Ptolemy. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 105. s. 7,8. 3:253}
2916. In the same summer that Hannibal came into Italy, Antiochus attacked
Palestine. He ordered Diognetus, his admiral, to take his foot soldiers to
Tyre. Antiochus himself marched with his army to Philoteria, a city seated on
the Lake of Tiberias, into which the Jordan River flowed. From there, the river
ran through the country adjoining the city of Scythopolis, which Josephus called
Bethshan in the tribe of Manasseh. When he had captured both of these cities
and left garrisons to hold them, he crossed the mountains and came to Atabyrium.
This was the city called Tabor, which was located on a hill whose top was almost
two miles in circumference. Antiochus drew them out in small skirmishes. He
had his vanguard go close to the walls and then feign to flee, all of which they
did. When the townsmen came out and pursued them, they were attacked by those
who lay in ambush, so that many were killed. With the remainder of the army,
Antiochus then attacked and captured the city. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 70. s.
1-10. 3:173,175}
2917. At the same time, Ceraeas, a commander of Ptolemy Philopator, defected
from him to Antiochus. Antiochus received him so graciously that Hippolochus of
Thessaly defected with his entire cavalry of four hundred. Antiochus left a
strong garrison in Atabysium and went and subdued Pella, Camus and Gephrus,
which surrendered to him. After this great success, the Arabians, who bordered
on those parts, unanimously joined their forces with those of Antiochus.
Antiochus was encouraged by these events and trusted in the resources of Arabia.
He marched into the country of Galatis, subdued the area and took the city of
Abila. All the men who were under the command of Nicias came to help them.
Only Gadara remained to be taken, and it was reputed to be by far the strongest
city in all that region. So Antiochus came and showed himself before it. He
began to cast up his works against them, and the very sight of this so terrified
the inhabitants that they surrendered to him. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 70,71.
3:175}
2918. In the same summer in Pamphylia, the people of Pednelissus were besieged
by the Selgians and were in danger of being taken. They sent and asked for help
from Achaeus, who immediately sent six thousand foot soldiers and five hundred
cavalry under the command of Garsieres. [E368] He planned to enter the town by
way of the pass of Milyas, but found that the Selgians controlled the passes, so
he made out as if he were leaving. When the Selgians saw him go, they went on
their way too. Some went to the camp and others to their harvest, which was
ready to be gathered. [L506] Once Gasieres was sure of this, he turned back
quickly and without any opposition, crossed the pass of Milyas near Climax.
There he left a strong guard and then committed the whole war and defence of
Pednelissus to Phaylus. He was going to Perga, and stirred up all the people of
Pamphylia and Pisidia to come and help the distressed citizens of Pednelissus.
Thereupon, the people of Aspendus sent them four thousand foot soldiers and
those of Aetenna sent eight thousand men. Because of their rash actions, the
Selgians were badly defeated and lost ten thousand men. They fled home to Selge
with Phaylus in close pursuit. They were so afraid that they immediately sent
Logbasis to sue for peace, but instead he betrayed them. When a truce was
declared, the enemy soldiers came freely into Selge. The townspeople secretly
sent to Achaeus and put themselves at his mercy, to deal with them as he thought
best. Meanwhile, Logbasis plotted to betray the town to their enemies. When
his plan was ready to be carried out, his plot was discovered and they executed
him, his fellow conspirators and all the enemies in the area. Then Achaeus
began seriously to negotiate a peace between them, to which the men of Selge
were agreeable. It was agreed that they were to pay four hundred talents
initially and a further three hundred later. The Pednelissians were to restore
all their prisoners to them without ransom. When Achaeus had acquired control
of Milyas and the greater part of Pamphylia, he immediately marched to Sardis.
After having constantly harassed Attalus in war, he now began to threaten
Prusias. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 72-77. 3:179-191}
2919. While Achaeus was busy in making war against the men of Selge, Attalus
was not idle. He enlisted the Gauls of Europe, called the Tectosagians. He had
sent for them from Europe to fight against Achaeus, because of their reputation
for valour. He marched through the cities of Aeolia and other nearby cities,
which had all submitted to Achaeus out of fear. All Cyme, Smyrna and Phocaea
voluntarily yielded to Attalus. Those of Aegae and Temnus yielded to him out of
fear at his first approach. Envoys came to him from the Teians and
Colophonians, and when they had given hostages, he controlled them subject to
the conditions they had been under before. Continuing on, he crossed the Lycus
River and came into the country inhabited by the Mysians. Passing through that,
he came to the borders of the Carseae. He so frightened these people, and the
men who kept Didymatiche and Themistocles, whom Achaeus had left to be held for
him, that they surrendered them to Attalus. He moved on from there and ravaged
all the plain of Apia, passed Mount Pellicas and camped on the bank of the
Megistus River. While he was there, the moon was totally eclipsed. The Gauls
were weary of so long an expedition with their wives and children in their
company, and so pretended that this eclipse was a bad omen and refused to go any
farther. On September 1, near the beginning of the night, the moon was eclipsed
for more than an hour. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 77,78. 3:191,193}
2920. Attalus feared that his Gauls might defect to Achaeus and so attack his
countries. He did not kill them because they came from Europe to Asia on the
promise he would not harm them. So he escorted them all back safely to the
Hellespont where they had first landed, gave them lands to live on and promised
that, if at any later time they should need his help, he would be ready to aid
them. He summoned the men of Lampsacus, Alexandria, Troas and Illium and
commended them for remaining loyal to him, after which he returned with his army
to Pergamum. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 78. 3:193,195}
3787a AM, 4496 JP, 218 BC
2921. Antiochus was told that a large enemy army was assembled in the Arabian
city of Rabbatamana, or Rabbath-Ben-Ammon. [L507] After Antiochus had plundered
all the country around there, he marched toward the city. He approached the
little hills where the city stood, and went and viewed the enemy. He learned
that there were only two ways to get into the city, so he located his batteries
against those two places to break down the wall. Nicarchus was in charge of the
one site and Theodotus the other. When they breached the wall, much to their
surprise, the inhabitants quickly repaired the breaches. Though Antiochus' men
laboured day and night without stopping, and with all their might, to get into
the city, they were unable to do so, because the damage was repaired as fast as
they could inflict it. Finally, one of the prisoners in the camp showed them an
underground way that the inhabitants used to get their water. [E369] He quickly
sealed it up and the city was forced to surrender for lack of water. When the
king had captured the place, he left Nicarchus, with an adequate garrison, to
hold it. He sent Hippolochus and Ceraeas, who had defected from Ptolemy, with
five thousand foot soldiers to the country adjoining Samaria, to govern that
province and to protect his friends in those regions. He himself went with his
army to Ptolemais to winter there. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 71. s. 3-12.
3:175-179}
3787b AM, 4497 JP, 217 BC
2922. Gnaeus Servilius started his consulship at Rome on the Ides of March
(March 15). Among the omens that were told to the Senate was the fact that in
Sardinia the sun was dimmer than it normally was. In Apri, the sun and the moon
seemed to fight with each other. {*Livy, l. 22. c. 1. s. 5-13. 5:199-203}
Gaius Flamminius, the other consul, who was with the army in the spring of this
year, was disastrously defeated by Hannibal at Lake Trasimene in Etruria. He
and fifteen thousand of his men were killed. {*Livy, l. 22. c. 4-7.
5:213-223} On February 11 there was an eclipse of the sun in Sardinia.
3787c AM, 4497 JP, 217 BC
2923. Polybius stated that as well as that great battle at Trasimene, another
battle was fought in the east between Antiochus and Philopator, over Coelosyria.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 105. s. 3. 3:253} This was fought toward the latter
end of the third year of the 140th Olympiad, at a place called Raphia. He
described it thus: {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 80. s. 3-6. 3:197}
"In the beginning of this spring, Antiochus and Ptolemy had made final
preparations for war. The fate of Coelosyria was to be decided in the next
battle. Therefore, Ptolemy left Alexandria with seventy thousand foot soldiers,
five thousand cavalry and seventy-three elephants. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 79.
s. 1-3. 3:197} First, he camped at Pelusium, where he stayed until the rest of
his army came to him. When he had given every man his allowance of grain, he
marched on through a desert country near the Casius Mountains and Barathra and
came to Gaza. After a five-day march, he came to his planned destination and
camped within six miles of Raphia. This is the first city of Coelosyria, except
for Rhinocolura, which a man would meet when he leaves Egypt for Coelosyria."
2924. At the same time, Antiochus arrived there with his army of sixty-two
thousand foot soldiers, six thousand cavalry and a hundred and two elephants.
Passing the walls of Raphia, he camped on the first night about two thousand
yards from Ptolemy's camp, while the next day he came within a thousand yards of
it. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 80. s. 4-7. 3:197,199}
2925. At that time, Theodotus, the Aetolian, who had previously been well-known
in Ptolemy's court and knew his daily routine well, tried to kill Ptolemy.
[L508] About the break of day, he and two others came inside his trenches. The
next night they got into the king's pavilion, hoping to kill him while he was
alone. However, Dositheus, who was a Jew by birth but no longer observed the
Jewish religion, had moved the king to another tent. He had common men occupy
the king's bed that night. When Theodotus broke into the king's tent that
night, he wounded two of the guards and killed Andreas, the king's chief
physician. So the king returned untouched to his own tent again. {*Polybius,
l. 5. c. 81. 3:199} {RApc 3Ma 1:2,3}
2926. After the armies had camped there for five days, the battle started.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 82. s. 1,2. 3:199,201} When Antiochus appeared to be
winning, Arsinoe, Ptolemy's sister, went among the soldiers with her hair
hanging about her ears and cried to them that they should fight bravely and
defend their own wives and children. She promised them that if they won, they
would each be given two minas in gold. This revitalised the army and they
killed many of the enemy and took many prisoners. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 83.
3:203,205} {RApc 3Ma 1:4,5}
2927. In that battle, Antiochus lost almost ten thousand foot soldiers and more
than three hundred cavalry, while more than four thousand were taken prisoner.
Three elephants were killed in the battle and two died later from their wounds.
Ptolemy lost fifteen hundred foot soldiers and seven hundred cavalry. Sixteen
of his elephants were killed and the rest were captured. {*Polybius, l. 5. c.
86. s. 4-6. 3:211}
2928. When Antiochus had buried his dead, he returned home with the rest of his
army. Ptolemy went back again to Raphia and the rest of the places that had
been taken from him. They voluntarily surrendered to him and vied with each
other to be the first to recognise his kingship. This was particularly true of
the Coelosyrians, because they had always been inclined to serve the Ptolemys.
On this occasion, they exceeded all others in honouring him with crowns,
sacrifices, altars and other expressions of their affection. {*Polybius, l. 5.
c. 86. s. 7-11. 3:211,213} Ptolemy visited the nearby cities and bestowed
gifts on their temples, thereby encouraging the people to remain loyal to him.
{RApc 3Ma 1:6,7} [E370]
2929. The Jews sent some of their Sanhedrin and elders to offer him their
service and to present him with gifts. They congratulated him after so great a
victory, but he happened to be more anxious to visit their city and honour it
with his presence. When he came, he greatly admired the beauty of their temple
and would have gone into the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could enter
there, and then only once a year. When the Jews refused that request, the king
wanted all the more to enter it. He went into the temple, and all the temple
was filled with crying and howling, and the city was in a tumult. Then Simon,
the high priest, knelt down in the temple, that is between the temple and the
altar, and prayed to God for help in this time of trouble. Thereupon, the king
fell into such a horror of mind and body that he was unable to speak, and was
carried half dead from the temple. {RApc 3Ma 1:8-2:33}
2930. As soon as Antiochus had returned to Antioch, he sent Antipater, his
brother's son, and Theodotus Hemiolius as his envoys to Ptolemy to sue for peace
between them. [L509] Ptolemy was content with this surprise victory and with
the recovery of Coelosyria. After a few sharp words with the envoys and
complaining about the unjust dealings of Antiochus, he granted a truce for a
year. He sent Sosibius to ratify it with Antiochus. {*Polybius, l. 5. c.
87. s. 1-6. 3:213} {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 1.}
3787d AM, 4497 JP, 217 BC
2931. When Ptolemy had spent three months in Syria and Phoenicia settling
matters there, he left Andromachus from Aspendus in Asia to govern all that
country, while he returned to Alexandria with his friends and his sister
Arsinoe. His subjects, knowing his lifestyle, marvelled at his success in this
war against Antiochus. Antiochus ratified the truce in the presence of Sosibius
and began a war on Achaeus, as he had previously planned to do. {*Polybius, l.
5. c. 87. s. 6-8. 3:213,215}
3788 AM, 4498 JP, 216 BC
2932. Antiochus spent the winter in making his provisions with every possible
care. The next spring he crossed the Taurus Mountains and having made a league
with Attalus, he started his war on Achaeus, {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 107. s.
4. 3:257} by besieging him in Sardis. Daily there were skirmishes between the
two sides, as each side tried to get the upper hand by any means they could.
{*Polybius, l. 7. c. 15. s. 1. 3:437}
2933. When the Gauls whom Attalus had settled in the Hellespont besieged the
city of Illium, the inhabitants of Alexandria Troas sent their captain Themistes
with four thousand men. He expelled them from all the territories of Troas. He
took all their provisions and attacked them on every side. When the Gauls could
no longer stay there, they went and took over the city of Arisba and the
territories of Abydus, using them as a base to take over the rest of the
surrounding country. Thereupon, Prusias, king of Bithynia, went out and
attacked them. After he had defeated them, he attacked their camp and
slaughtered their wives and children and any of them that remained, giving their
spoil to his soldiers as their reward. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 111. s. 1-7.
3:265}
2934. When Ptolemy returned to Egypt, he resumed his old lifestyle and wallowed
in all manner of gluttony and luxury. {*Polybius, l. 14. c. 12. s. 3.
4:461} He grew increasingly mad because of this way of living, in which he
indulged himself with uncleanness and lechery. He also vexed the Jews of
Alexandria with infamous and false reports spread against them. He tried by
every means to turn them away from the true worship of the living God, and
commanded that those who refused be killed. He expelled them from all offices
of dignity, and with hot irons branded them in the face with the sign of an ivy
leaf, which was the sign of Bacchus. He allowed those that abandoned their
religion, to enjoy equal rights and privileges with the native Macedonians in
Alexandria. {RApc 3Ma 2:25-30}
2935. Many abandoned their religion and others bought their peace with money.
They saved their lives and escaped having their faces branded. Those who
continued in the religion of their forefathers, while remaining loyal to the
king, excommunicated and had no dealings with those who had apostatised from
their religion. By this action, the Jew's enemies assumed that they really
opposed the king and were trying to make his subjects defect. [E371] [L510]
Philopator became very angry with the Jews in Alexandria and throughout all
Egypt. He ordered that they be gathered into one place so he could destroy them
all. The king's officers were allowed forty days to do this, from the 25th day
of the month of Pachon to the 4th day of the month of Epeiph, according to the
fixed year of Alexandria. Some later historians assumed, without any basis,
that this calendar was never used until after the naval battle at Actium between
Augustus and Antony. This period was from May 20 to June 29. Three days were
allotted for the massacre, that is, from the 5th to the 7th of Epeiph,
inclusively. {RApc 3Ma 2:31-4:21 6:38,39}
2936. At the appointed time, the Jews of Alexandria were all brought into the
hippodrome. They were first reviled and humiliated by all that passed by. Then
the king called for Hermon, the master of the elephants. He ordered him to
cause his five hundred elephants to drink wine mingled with myrrh or
frankincense before the following day. This would make them become more fierce
and completely mad. He would then let them go and drive them on the Jews, to
tear and trample them all to pieces. The next day, the king fell into a dead
sleep and did not awake until dinner-time. By that time all the people that had
come there to see the event had gone home again. On the third day, when the
elephants were all prepared and ready to attack the Jews, two angels appeared,
who were very terrible to look at. They came down from heaven and so amazed all
the people who were there, that they stood still and did not move. The king
fell into a trance and relented of his fury toward those poor prisoners. Most
interestingly, the elephants did not attack the Jews, but turned around and
attacked and trampled the soldiers behind them. {RApc 3Ma 5:1-6:21}
2937. Then the king commended the Jews for their loyalty and released them from
their fetters. He acknowledged that their God had delivered them. For a period
of seven days, from the 7th to the 14th of Epeiph (July 2-9), he feasted them.
After this, the Jews obtained permission from the king to execute those Jews who
had apostatised from their religion. They maintained that those who, for their
belly's sake, had forsaken the laws and commandments of their God, would never
prove loyal to their king. They killed three hundred on the way as they moved
around from place to place, before finally coming to Ptolemais on the Nile River
in Arsinoise's Nome. (A Nome is an administrative division of ancient Egypt.
Editor.) It is called Rhodophorus from the abundance of roses which grew there.
Their fleet attended them there for seven days, while they all made a feast of
thanksgiving together. The king himself gave every man a generous allowance for
his homeward expenses, and so they returned home joyfully. Some went by land,
others by sea, and some by the river. {RApc 3Ma 6:22-7:23}. Phlostorgius, in
the beginning of his Ecclesiastical History, called his book the Librum
Portentosum, that is a Book of Miracles.
2938. The Egyptians grew insolent and proud because of their success against
Antiochus at the battle of Raphia. They never liked Philopator after that, so
they sought a captain of their own, with enough power to quell the likes of him.
This they did shortly thereafter. {*Polybius, l. 5. c. 107. s. 1-3.
3:257}
3789 AM, 4499 JP, 215 BC
2939. Philopator was now forced to make war on his rebellious subjects.
{*Polybius, l. 5. c. 107. s. 1. 3:257} His recent actions ensured the
loyalty of the Jews. Eusebius and Jornandes stated that about this time there
were approximately sixty thousand Jews killed in a battle. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:216} {Jornandes, De Regnorum ac Temporum Succession}
[L511] Such a large slaughter may have been what prompted Demetrius, who wrote a
book of the Kings of the Jews, to think it reasonable to record the years from
the captivity of Babylon, or the carrying-away of the Jews into Assyria, down to
the reign of this Philopator. This was noted by Clement of Alexandria.
{*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:332} From there we gather that
Demetrius, the historian, wrote after the days of Philopator but before that
vast desolation brought upon the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes. Had he known of
the latter, he would have described it in the same terms in which he described
the earlier calamities of the Jews.
2940. With the exception of the citadel, the city of Sardis was taken by
Antiochus through the work of Lagoras, the Cretian, in the second year after
Antiochus besieged it. {*Polybius, l. 7. c. 15-18. 3:437-445}
2941. Sosibius managed all the affairs in Egypt, under Philopator. He
conferred with Bolis, a Cretian, how to deliver Achaeus, who was besieged in the
citadel at Sardis, from this danger. [E372] Bolis made an arrangement with
Cambylus, the captain of the Cretians who served under Antiochus, and got
Achaeus out of the citadel, but Sosibius delivered him alive into Antiochus'
hands. Antiochus first had his hands and his feet cut off. Then he had his
head chopped off and sewn into an ass's belly, while his body was hung on a
cross. In the citadel, some sided with Ariobazus, the governor of Sardis,
others with Laodice, the widow of Achaeus and daughter of Mithridates, king of
Pontus, since these two were at odds with each other, but they quickly resolved
to surrender themselves and the citadel to Antiochus. {*Polybius, l. 8. c.
15-34. 3:481-501}
3790 AM, 4500 JP, 214 BC
2942. Lacydes of Cyrene was the head of the new academy for twenty-six years.
He was the only man who resigned the position while he was alive. He turned it
over to Telecles and Evander, both from Phocaea. {*Diogenes Laertius, Lacydes,
l. 4. c. 8. (60,61) 1:437}
3792 AM, 4502 JP, 212 BC
2943. Antiochus attacked Media and Parthia, and other provinces which had
revolted from his ancestors. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (65)
2:231} He made an expedition against Arsaces, who was the main founder of the
Parthian Empire. {*Polybius, l. 10. c. 27-31. 4:165-179}
3793 AM, 4503 JP, 211 BC
2944. When Publius Sulpicius and Gnaeus Fulvius were consuls of Rome, the
praetor Laevinus made a league with the Aetolians in Greece and Attalus, king of
Pergamum, in Asia. {*Livy, l. 26. c. 26. 7:91-95} {Justin, Trogus, l. 29.
c. 4.} {Eutropius, l. 3.} Attalus kept the agreement with the Romans until he
died. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 41. s. 9,10. 5:177}
3794 AM, 4504 JP, 210 BC
2945. Marcus Atilius and Manius Acilius were sent as envoys from Rome to
Ptolemy and Cleopatra at Alexandria in Egypt, to remind them of the league and
to renew it. They gave him a purple toga and tunic, and a throne made entirely
of ivory, while she received an embroidered palla and a purple cloak. {*Livy,
l. 27. c. 4. s. 10. 7:215} {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 1,4.} {OED—palla:
A loose outer garment or wrap worn out of doors by women (sometimes by men); an
outer robe, mantle.}
3795 AM, 4505 JP, 209 BC
2946. Ptolemy Epiphanes was born to Ptolemy Philopator by his wife Eurydice,
who was also his sister. When Ptolemy Epiphanes was five years old, he
succeeded his father in the kingdom of Egypt. {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c.
1,2.} First, his birthday was solemnly celebrated by all the great men and other
citizens of Syria and the countries in his dominion. [L512] Every man made the
journey to Alexandria to congratulate him on the birth of his son. Among these
was Joseph, the Jew, the son of Tobias and of the daughter of Simon the Just,
the high priest. Joseph was the collector of Ptolemy's tributes throughout
Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine. He sent his youngest son Hyrcanus, who was born
of the daughter of Solimius, his older brother, to kiss the king's hand. He
sent letters to his agent Arion, who managed all his money at Alexandria, where
he had over three thousand talents. Arion was to supply him with money to buy
the most expensive present for the king that that money could buy. The most
expensive present the king had received to that point was not worth more than
ten talents. Hyrcanus brought with him a hundred beautiful boys and as many
maidens, and gave them a thousand talents to offer to the king. The boys were a
gift for the king and the girls a gift for Cleopatra, the queen. The king
greatly admired so magnificent and unexpected a present as this, and royally
entertained the young man with every honour and royal gifts. He wrote royal
letters of commendation to Joseph's father and brethren, and to all his
commanders and chief officers in those parts, and then dismissed Joseph in a
most honourable fashion. But Joseph's brethren (who were seven in number but
begotten by another wife) were jealous of the great honour the king had extended
to him, so they met him on the way, intending to murder him. Though his father
was aware of this, he did not care, because he was angry with him for the
extravagant cost of the gift he had given to the king. When his brothers
attacked him, he killed two of them, along with various others in their company.
When he reached Jerusalem, no man there would look upon him, so, fearing the
worst, he exiled himself to the regions beyond Jordan. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
12. c. 4. s. 7-9. (196-222) 7:101-113}
3796a AM, 4505 JP, 209 BC
2947. Philip, king of Macedonia, fought two battles against the Aetolians.
Although they received help from Rome, and from Attalus the king, as well as
receiving ships from Prusias, king of Bithynia, they were defeated both times.
Attalus and Publius Sulpicius, the proconsul in those regions, wintered that
year in the isle of Aegina. {*Livy, l. 27. c. 33. 7:343} {*Polybius, l.
10. c. 41. 4:203-207}
3796 AM, 4506 JP, 208 BC
2948. At the beginning of spring, Sulpicius and Attalus joined together and
sailed to Lemnos. From there, they came into Euboea and captured the cities of
Oreum and Opus. When Attalus heard that Prusias, the king of Bithynia, had
invaded his kingdom, he left the Romans and the war in Aetolia and sailed into
Asia. Philip came to Aetolia, where he had arranged for some envoys from
Ptolemy and from the Rhodians to meet him. [E373] While they tried to end the
war in Aetolia, news arrived that Machanidas, the tyrant of Lacedemon, was ready
to attack the Eleans while these were busy about their solemn games at Olympus.
{*Livy, l. 28. c. 5-7. 8:17-29} This summer began the 143rd Olympiad.
3797 AM, 4507 JP, 207 BC
2949. Polybius stated that Arsinoe, the queen and sister of Ptolemy, was
murdered by Philammon, as arranged for by Sosibius. {*Polybius, l. 15. c.
25. s. 1-13. 4:519-523} Justin stated that Philopator killed Eurydice, who
was his wife and sister. {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 1.} It seems that
Polybius' Arsinoe, Justin's Eurydice and Livy's and Josephus' Cleopatra were all
the same person.' {See note on 3794 AM. <<2945>>} {See note on 3795
AM.
<<2946>>}
2950. When she was dead, whatever her name was, Philopator fell in love with
Agathoclia, a female musician, and with her brother Agathocles in a homosexual
way. To everyone's amazement, he put Agathocles in charge of his kingdom. But
he was not familiar with the ways of the court or state affairs, so Agathoclia
and Agathocles had the assistance of their mother Oenanthe. She endeared
herself to the king, winning his affection through her children. Agathocles
always stayed near the king and ruled the whole state, while the two women gave
all the offices and military positions of the state to whomever they pleased.
The king himself, who was now in their hands, had the least power and authority
of anyone in his own kingdom. {*Polybius, l. 15. c. 25. s. 1-24.
4:519-527} {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 1,2.} {Plutarch, Eroticus (Dialogue on
Love?)} {*Plutarch, Cleomenes, l. 1. c. 33. s. 4. 10:125} {*Athenaeus, l.
6. (251e) 3:135} {*Athenaeus, l. 13. (576f) 6:113} {Jerome, Da 11} [L513]
2951. The people were looking for someone who could execute their anger on
Agathocles and Agathoclia. They were forced to bide their time for the present,
and placed their hopes on Tlepolemus. {*Polybius, l. 15. c. 25. s. 25.
4:527} This young man conducted himself well and had done military exploits. At
that time, he was managing the king's treasure. But because he used the funds
not as an officer, but rather like a young heir, he was soon disliked, then
hated, by the royal court. Ptolemy, the son of Sosibius (of whom I spoke
earlier), returned with the other envoys from Philip in Macedonia, where it
seems they had been sent the previous year. When he began to speak his mind
rather freely about Tlepolemus, he found that every man at court agreed with
him. {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 21,22. 5:43-47}
3798 AM, 4508 JP, 206 BC
2952. This discontent was fanned when the courtiers complained about Tlepolemus
in a public assembly. In his defence, Tlepolemus planned to accuse them all to
the king. Sosibius heard this. He had both the keeping of the king's seal and
custody of the king. He gave the seal to Tlepolemus, who thereafter ran
everything in the state just as he pleased. {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 22. s.
7-11. 1-5:47,49}
3799 AM, 4509 JP, 205 BC
2953. During the consulship of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Publius Licinius
Crassus, the college of the Decemviri found the following written in Sibylline
books which they kept:
"Whenever a foreign enemy were to make war on Italy, he might be driven out
again and overcome if the image of the mother of the gods at Ida, which had
fallen from heaven, were sent for and brought to Rome."
2954. Consequently, five envoys were sent to King Attalus to desire the image
from him and to bring her to them by sea. These five each had a ship of five
tiers of oars for the journey. To obtain a favourable reply, they were to
ingratiate themselves as soon as they arrived and to promote a good opinion of
the Roman name and the majesty of their state. Attalus received and entertained
these envoys very benevolently at Pergamum. He led them to Pessinus in Phrygia
and turned the sacred stone over to them which the people who lived there said
was the mother of the gods. He asked them to take it to Rome as they had
requested. {*Livy, l. 29. c. 10,11. 8:245-249}
2955. Justin stated that Antiochus' expedition subdued all the upper provinces
of Asia as far as Bactria. There he spent a long time trying unsuccessfully to
expel Euthydemus from that province. He was finally forced to come to an
agreement and make a league with him. To ratify this, Euthydemus sent his own
son Demetrius to Antiochus. Antiochus saw his behaviour and judged him a man
worthy to be a king. First, he promised to give him one of his daughters to
marry, then he gave his father permission to assume the title of king. Lastly,
they subscribed to the other articles of the league between them, and Antiochus
took his oath for their true observance. Then Antiochus distributed provisions
generously among his soldiers and moved his camp. Euthydemus had given him all
the elephants which he had with him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 0.}
{*Polybius, l. 11. c. 39. s. 1-11. 4:303} [E374]
2956. Antiochus crossed the Caucasus Mountains and re-entered India. He
renewed the league and friendship he had made previously with King Sophagasenus,
who then gave Antiochus more elephants. Hence, Antiochus had a hundred and
fifty elephants in all. He distributed more grain among his army and so
returned. He left Androsthenes of Cyzicum to bring him the treasure later,
which Sophagasenus had promised him. {*Polybius, l. 11. c. 39. s. 12,13.
4:303}
3800a AM, 4509 JP, 205 BC
2957. He then came to Arachosia. When he had crossed the Erymanthus River, he
went through the country of Drangiane and came into Carmania. [L514] Since
winter was coming, he placed his troops around the country. {*Polybius, l. 11.
c. 39. s. 13-16. 4:303,305}
3800 AM, 4510 JP, 204 BC
2958. The Romans made a peace with Philip, king of Macedonia. The parties to
the league were Philip, Prusias, king of Bithynia, the Romans, the state of
Illium and Attalus, king of Pergamum. {*Polybius, l. 11. c. 6. s. 9,10.
4:243}
2959. Philopator died at Alexandria. Ptolemy, surnamed Epiphanes, that is The
noble succeeded him. Appian surnamed him Philopator also, after his father's
surname. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 1. (1) 2:105} He assumed the
throne when he was four years old, according to Jerome. {Jerome, Da 11}.
Justin said he was five years old at the time. He reigned twenty-four years.
{Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:329}
{Porphyry} {Jerome} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:217}
2960. Philopator's death was concealed for a long time, while Agathoclia and
Oenanthe, her mother, rifled the king's treasury. They got all his money and
put the affairs of state under the control of their lewd companions. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 30. c. 2.} Finally, Agathocles assembled the leaders of the
Macedonians. He came with his sister Agathoclia and the young king, and told
them that when the king was dying he had committed the care of the child to his
sister. He produced the testimony of Critolaus, who said that Tlepolemus was
about to invade the kingdom and become the next king of Egypt. He said the same
things wherever he went, but the people scorned him. To make his disagreement
with Tlepolemus more obvious to everyone, he took Danae, Tlepolemus'
mother-in-law, from the temple of Demeter (or Ceres). He dragged her through
the open streets and put her in prison. He seized Moeragenes, one of the guard,
because he gave information about all these things to Tlepolemus and favoured
him. (He could do no less, out of regard for the friendship which existed
between him and Adaeus, the governor of Bubastus.) Agathocles turned him over to
his secretary, Nicostratus, to be tortured, but he mysteriously escaped the rack
and got away stark naked. He fled to the Macedonians and stirred them up
against Agathocles. {*Polybius, l. 15. c. 26-28. 4:531-537}
2961. When all the people came flocking to the court in a tumultuous manner,
Agathocles took the king with him and went and hid himself in a place called
Syringes. This was a gallery or walkway which, on every side, had three walls
and gates to go through before one could enter it. The Macedonians forced him
to hand the king over to them. Once they had him, they brought him out to the
people and sat him on a royal throne, which brought great joy and comfort to all
who saw him. Shortly after this, they brought out Agathocles, who was
well-fettered. The first person who met him cut his throat. Then Nicostratus
was brought, and then Agathoclia with her sisters and their entire generation.
Finally, Oenanthe was hauled from the temple of Thesmophoria. They were all
stark naked and were placed on horses and brought into the stadium. Here they
were all turned over to the people, to do with as they liked. Some started
tearing them with their teeth, some lanced them with their knives and others
pulled out their eyes. Those who had been killed, were pulled to pieces until
there was nothing left. At that same time, also, the maidens who had attended
Arsinoe while she was alive, heard that Philammon had come from Cyrene to
Alexandria. Since he was chiefly responsible for her murder, they broke into
his house and killed him with staves and stones. They found and strangled his
little child, then dragged his wife stark naked into the street and cut her
throat. {*Polybius, l. 15. c. 29-33. 4:537-551} When the fury of the people
had been exhausted, the management of the affairs of the kingdom was committed
to Aristomenes, who was born in Acarnania. {*Polybius, l. 15. c. 31. s.
6,7. 4:545} {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 53-55. 5:201-209} [L515] He was made
governor over the king and the kingdom, and administered its affairs with a
great deal of moderation and wisdom. {*Diod. Sic., l. 28. c. 14. 11:241}
2962. When Antiochus, the king of Syria, and Philip, the king of Macedonia,
heard of the death of Philopator, they plotted how to get his kingdom and divide
it between them. They encouraged one another and planned to murder the young
king. {*Polybius, l. 15. c. 20. s. 1-2. 4:509} {*Livy, l. 31. c. 14.
s. 5. 9:43} {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 3.} Polybius stated: {*Polybius, l.
3. c. 2. s. 8. 2:7} [E375]
"When King Ptolemy had died, Antiochus and Philip agreed together to divide the
estate of the young king between them. Philip started this wicked deed by
capturing Egypt and Caria and Antiochus took over Coelosyria and Phoenicia."
2963. Jerome, on Daniel, {Da 11} said:
"Philip, king of Macedonia, and Antiochus the Great conspired together and made
war on Agathocles (he should have said, Aristomenes) and the young king, Ptolemy
Epiphanes. The condition was that each would take those of his dominions which
bordered his own kingdom."
2964. Josephus gave more detail when he said: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c.
3. s. 3. (129-137) 7:65-71}
"When Antiochus the Great reigned in Asia, both Judea and Coelosyria lived in a
continual state of trouble. There was a constant war going on. First,
Antiochus fought with Philopator and later with Epiphanes, his son. Whether he
won or lost, these countries were blighted by him and were tossed and tumbled
between his prosperous and adverse fortunes like a ship in the sea between
contrary waves. Finally, Antiochus had the upper hand and added Judea to his
dominions. When Philopator was dead, Epiphanes sent a large army into
Coelosyria under his general, Scopas. He recovered both Coelosyria and our
country for him again...."
2965. He basically said that Antiochus, after a long war with Philopator and
Epiphanes over of the land of Judea, finally took it from Epiphanes. Epiphanes,
through his general, Scopas, recovered it from him again. However, he lost it a
second time to Antiochus. Eusebius missed this and said that in the tenth year
of Philopator:
"Antiochus had overcome Philopator and added Judea to the rest of his
dominions."
2966. Eusebius wrote that in the first year of Epiphanes: {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:217}
"Ptolemy Epiphanes, by his General Scopas, took Judea."
2967. However, after Antiochus' defeat at Raphia, we do not find anywhere that
he made war on Philopator again. The league which was made after that battle,
was first broken by Antiochus in the very first year of Epiphanes. Scopas was
not in charge of that war, as appeared later. This is shown by Jerome, where he
said: {Jerome, Da 11}
"When Ptolemy Philopator was dead, Antiochus broke the league he made with him.
He led an army against Ptolemy's son, who was then only four years old and was
surnamed Epiphanes."
3801 AM, 4511 JP, 203 BC
2968. When Gnaeus Servilius Caepio and Gaius Servilius Geminus were consuls in
Rome, it was observed at Frusino that the sun seemed to be surrounded with a
little circle and then that circle again was surrounded by a larger body of the
sun. {*Livy, l. 30. c. 2. s. 12. 8:373} This seems to have been the total
eclipse of the sun that happened on May 6, according to the Julian Calendar.
[L516]
2969. The Carthaginians were worn down by the continual victories of Publius
Scipio and gave up hope of defeating him. So they recalled Hannibal from Italy
to help them. After Hannibal had been in Italy for sixteen years, he now left
and returned to Africa. {*Livy, l. 30. c. 9. s. 5-9. 8:393,395} {*Livy,
l. 30. c. 38. s. 1,2. 8:465}
2970. Philip, king of Macedonia, sent Heraclides, a Tarentine and an extremely
vicious fellow, to Rhodes to destroy their fleet. He then sent envoys to Crete
to stir them up to a war against the Rhodians. {*Polybius, l. 13. c. 4.
4:415,417} [E376]
2971. There was a naval battle near the isle of Lade between Philip, king of
Macedonia, and the Rhodians. He captured two of their ships of five tiers of
oars apiece. The rest of their fleet fled into the open sea, where they were
beset by a bad storm and driven ashore, first at Myndus and the next day at Cos.
The Macedonians followed behind the sterns of the ships they had taken and went
into Lade, which was opposite Miletus. There they refreshed themselves in the
Rhodian camp which had been abandoned by them. When the Milesians heard about
this, they gave Philip and Heraclides crowns as they entered Miletus.
{*Polybius, l. 16. c. 15. 5:31}
3802 AM, 4512 JP, 202 BC
2972. Philip needed grain and continued to waste all Attalus' country, even to
the very walls of Pergamum. He was unable to take any of his cities, because
they were so well fortified. Neither could he get grain or other spoil from the
country, because Attalus had anticipated his actions. So he attacked the temple
and altars and destroyed them. He even broke their stones in pieces, so that
they could never be put together again. He utterly destroyed the Nicephorian
Grove, which was growing near the city of Pergamum, and levelled many temples
and shrines in the area to the ground. Upon leaving there, Philip first went
toward Thyatira, but then turned back again. He went to a field called Thebes,
where he hoped to get some booty, but being unsuccessful, he went on to a place
called Hiera Come. He sent messengers to Zeuxis, the governor of Lydia under
Antiochus, and asked him for provisions for his army under the peace treaty
between Antiochus and Philip. At first Zeuxis acted as if he would honour the
treaty, but then resolved to do nothing to help Philip. {*Polybius, l. 16. c.
1. 5:3,5} {*Diod. Sic., l. 28. c. 6. 11:233}
2973. Philip conducted another naval battle against Attalus and the Rhodians
near the isle of Chios, in which sixty Rhodians and seventy of Attalus' men were
killed. Philip lost three thousand of his Macedonians and six thousand sailors,
while two thousand Macedonians and seven hundred Egyptians were taken prisoner.
Even though Philip had been defeated, he maintained his honour in two ways.
First, he forced Attalus to flee to Erythrae and had driven the admiral's ship
ashore and captured his ships. Secondly, when he landed on the shore at
Argennus, a cape in Ionia, he made his stand to recover what he could of his
navy. {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 2-7. 5:5-19}
2974. When Philip besieged Prinassus, a city of Caria, he was unable to take it
by force, but captured it at length by a stratagem. {*Polybius, l. 16. c.
11. 5:23,25} He put garrisons into Iasus, Bargylia and the city of Euromus.
{*Polybius, l. 16. c. 12. 5:26,27} {*Polybius, l. 17. c. 2. s. 3,4.
5:89}
3803a AM, 4512 JP, 202 BC
2975. Publius Cornelius Scipio utterly defeated Hannibal in Africa in the last
battle of the second Carthaginian war. We read in Zonaras that the
Carthaginians were amazed by a total eclipse of the sun which happened at this
time. {*Dio, l. 17. (78) 2:267 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 14.)} However, there was
no total eclipse. [L517] Livy said that the body of the sun at Zama did indeed
seem to be somewhat darkened. {*Livy, l. 30. c. 29. 8:469-473} {*Livy, l.
30. 8:551 (Appendix)} From the astronomical tables we know that there was a
very small eclipse of the sun in this year, on the 19th of our October. Some
say that Hannibal fled from the battle and reached the sea coast, where he found
a ship ready for him. He sailed directly into Asia, to King Antiochus. When
Scipio demanded that the Carthaginians hand over Hannibal, they replied that he
was no longer in Africa. {*Livy, l. 30. c. 37. s. 13. 8:509} Others more
correctly stated that Scipio in fact never did demand him from them.
{*Plutarch, Flamininus, l. 1. c. 9. s. 6. 10:347}
3803b AM, 4513 JP, 201 BC
2976. When Philip came toward Abydus, they shut their gates against him. They
would not even let the messengers in whom he sent to them. So he besieged the
place for a long time. For them to be able to be delivered from him, they
wanted Attalus and the Rhodians to hurry to their aid. But Attalus sent them
only three hundred men, and the Rhodians, who were anchored at Tenedos with
their whole fleet, sent them only one ship of four tiers of oars to help. The
walls of the city were surrounded with engines of war. At first, the men in
Abydus held Philip's men off very courageously making it impossible for them to
get in by land or by sea. Later, a breach was made in the main wall, but they
had cast up another within it. The Macedonians went to undermine that wall
also. Consequently, the people of Abydus were forced to send to Philip, seeking
a conditional surrender. They wanted safe conduct for the Rhodian ship together
with the soldiers and mariners on board, and for Attalus' men who were in the
town. Lastly, they asked that they themselves might leave with only their
clothes on their backs. But they could get no answer from him, unless they were
prepared to unconditionally surrender to him. Therefore, becoming very angry in
their indignation and despair, they made fifty of their leaders swear publicly
that if they saw the inner wall taken by the enemy, they would go and kill every
man's wife and children and throw his silver, gold and jewels into the sea.
When this had been agreed upon, the soldiers determined that they would either
vanquish their enemies or die fighting for their country. {*Livy, l. 31. c.
14. s. 4. 9:43} {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 30,31. 5:67-71}
2977. About that same time, Attalus and the Rhodians sent envoys to Rome, to
complain of the wrongs done to them by Philip and his Macedonians. They were
told that the Senate would take care of the affairs of Asia. {*Livy, l. 31.
c. 2. s. 1-3. 9:7} {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 3.}
2978. Three envoys were sent from Rome to Ptolemy and Antiochus, to put an end
to all differences between them. The envoys were Gaius Claudius Nero, Marcus
Aemilius Lepidus and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus. They came to Rhodes and
hearing of the siege of Abydus, they wanted to talk with Philip. {*Livy, l.
31. c. 2. s. 3,4. 9:7} However, they followed their orders for the present,
and continued on their journey to Ptolemy and Antiochus. They sent Aemilius,
the youngest of the three, to Philip. When he met with him at Abydus, Aemilius
told him that the Senate of Rome wanted him to stop making war on any Greek
city. He was not to lay hands on anything that belonged to Ptolemy, the king of
Egypt. [E377] If he complied, he would live in peace, but if he did not, he
should know that the Romans were resolved and ready to make war on him. Philip
returned this reply: {*Livy, l. 31. c. 18. s. 4,5. 9:55} {*Polybius, l.
16. c. 34. 5:73-77} {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 27. s. 4,5. 5:61}
"Your age, good appearance and above all, the name of a Roman, make you speak so
boldly. However, I would tell you to remember the league and to keep peace with
me. [L518] If not, I am also resolved to do my best and to make you know and
feel that the power and name of a Macedonian is in no way inferior to, or less
noble than, that of a Roman."
2979. Justin stated that Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was also sent into Egypt by
the Romans to govern the kingdom of Egypt on behalf of this young Ptolemy
Epiphanes. {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 3.} This may have happened for one of
two possible reasons. They may have received an embassy sent to them from
Alexandria to take over the guardianship of the young king and to defend the
kingdom of Egypt. Antiochus and Philip were said already to have divided the
kingdom between them. {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 2.} Another possibility is
that the father committed this charge to them on his deathbed. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 31. c. 1.} Concerning this, Valerius Maximus said: {*Valerius Maximus, l.
6. c. 6. s. 1. 2:67}
"The King Ptolemy had left the people of Rome as the guardian of his son while
he was under age. Therefore, the Senate sent Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the High
Pontiff and then twice elected as consul, to Alexandria. He was to take care of
the child's estate. He was a very honest and most upright man. He was well
versed in their own affairs and exercised his duty for the benefit of Egypt, not
for himself."
2980. He said this because he thought that this man had executed the office of
a guardian in Egypt while he was High Pontiff, and when he had already been
consul in Rome twice. But Epiphanes had died before that happened. The reason
for the error was this: he had seen some coins depicting both the title of
Lepidus' position and his office as a guardian in Egypt. For to this day there
are still some silver coins to be found, bearing the following inscription.
Each of these coins said on one side Alexandrea, while on the other it had
S.C.M. Lepidus Pont. Max. Tutor Reg. On the image side is a picture of a man
putting a crown on the head of a young man who is standing on his right with a
sceptre in his hand.
2981. When the Athenians saw their territory wasted by Philip, they sent and
asked for aid from every country, from the Romans, the Rhodians, Attalus and
Ptolemy. {*Livy, l. 31. c. 5. s. 7. 9:17} {*Livy, l. 31. c. 9. s.
1-3. 9:17}
2982. Therefore, the envoys of the Romans and Rhodians met with Attalus in
Athens, where they agreed, by common consent, to help them. For this, the
Athenians at once decreed excessive honours, both to Attalus and to the
Rhodians, going so far as to name one of their own tribes after Attalus and to
add it to the ten that they they already had. {*Livy, l. 31. c. 15. 9:47}
{*Polybius, l. 16. c. 25,26. 5:55-59}
2983. While the Romans were busy preparing for war against Philip, envoys from
Ptolemy, or rather from his guardians, arrived in Rome, to inform them that the
Athenians had sought help from the king against Philip. Although the Egyptians
were confederates both of the kings and of the Romans, Ptolemy would not send
any military support without the consent and authority of the people of Rome.
The envoys said that if the Romans would help the Athenians, Egypt would keep
out of it. But if the Romans did not want to get involved, Egypt could easily
supply the Athenians with enough forces to overcome Philip. The Senate decreed
that the king should be thanked for his kindness and be told that the Romans
planned to defend and maintain their own friends and confederates themselves.
Should they need anything for the war, they would tell him. They knew very well
that the king's military forces were very large and were required for the
defence of his own state. The Senate ordered presents to be sent to the king's
envoys, with each one receiving five thousand asses of money. {*Livy, l. 30.
c. 9. s. 1-5. 9:27}
2984. In the fifty-fourth year, for so it was written in the Greek manuscript
at Lambeth (not the fifty-second, as in the common edition), of the second
period of Calippus, in the 547th year of Nabonassar, on the 16th day of the
month of Mesore, the 22nd of our September, seven hours after noon, the moon was
eclipsed at Alexandria. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4. c. 11.} [L519]
3804a AM, 4513 JP, 201 BC
2985. Toward the latter end of autumn, Consul Publius Sulpicius Galba crossed
over into Macedonia against Philip with an army. He was met by envoys from
Athens who desired that he would raise the siege on Athens. Thereupon, he sent
Gaius Claudius Cento with twenty warships and a thousand soldiers to relieve
Athens. Philip himself was not involved in this siege, as he was engaged with
the siege of Abydus. {*Livy, l. 31. c. 14. s. 1-4. 9:43}
2986. The men of Abydus recalled their oath and fought so hard that when the
night should have ended the battle between them, Philip was amazed at their
courage, or rather at their rage, in fighting. [E378] He was forced to withdraw
and to sound a retreat. Glaucides and Theognetus conferred with some of the
elders of the town, who had the hardest part to play in this tragedy. They saw
that there were but few of their men left after the battle, and that these were
wearied from wounds and loss of blood. As soon as it was day, they sent their
priests, in their robes, to surrender the town to Philip. When the inhabitants
heard this, they were so desperate with rage that each man immediately ran to
kill his wife and children, and then they killed each other. The king was
amazed at their fury and ordered his soldiers to stay away, saying that he would
give the Abydenians three days to die. In that time, they carried out more
barbarous acts of cruelty on each other than they would have expected from an
enraged enemy. No one who was not in prison and who was free to kill himself,
was taken alive by the enemy. The king seized all their wealth, which they had
gathered into one place for the purpose of destroying it, and departed, after
leaving a garrison in the place. {*Livy, l. 31. c. 17. 9:51,53} {*Polybius,
l. 16. c. 33. 5:73}
2987. When he came to Bargylia, he was very troubled to see the Romans, the
Rhodians and Attalus allied to make war against him. When his army was almost
famished, Zeuxis, the governor of Lydia, and the cities of Mylasa, Alabanda and
Magnesia sent him some small provisions to relieve them. Against his nature, he
flattered any who brought him supplies, and when they stopped, he plotted
against them. Philocles formed a plan to take Mylasa but when it failed through
his own folly, Philip went and wasted the territory of Alabanda. Although these
were his good benefactors, he treated them like public enemies. The only reason
he gave was that his soldiers needed food. {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 24.
5:53,55}
3804b AM, 4514 JP, 200 BC
2988. In the 55th year of the second period of Calippus, in the 548th year of
Nabonassar, on the 9th of the month of Mecheir, at about midnight of the
beginning of March 20, there was a total eclipse of the moon at Alexandria.
{Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4. c. 11.}
2989. The next summer, the Romans, with the help of Attalus and the Rhodians,
made war on Philip and his associates in Macedonia. {*Livy, l. 31. c. 28.
9:81,83}
2990. Scopas, a prominent man in Aetolia, was sent from Alexandria by Ptolemy
with a large amount of money with which he hired six thousand foot soldiers, in
addition to cavalry, and shipped them away to Egypt. He would have left no one
in Aetolia who could serve in the military, if he would have had his way, but
Damocritus reminded them of the war in which they were ready to engage, and of
the vulnerability of the country should they all leave. For this reason, a
large number of the men who were going changed their minds and stayed at home.
It is uncertain whether he did this out of a true zeal for his country, or if
Scopas did not bribe him to the same extent as he had the others. {*Livy, l.
31. c. 43. 9:125,127}
2991. About this time Joseph, the son of Tobias, died, and the people of
Jerusalem were thrown into an uproar by the quarrelling of his sons. The older
brothers tried to make war on their youngest brother Hyrcanus, of whom I have
spoken before. [L520] Many of the Jews favoured the older brothers, and the
rest favoured Simon, the high priest, because of his family ties. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 10. (223-227) 7:113,115}
2992. In the 55th year of the second period of Calippus, in the 548th year of
Nabonassar, on the 5th of the month of Mesore, at three o'clock after midnight,
on September the 12th, there was a total eclipse of the moon at Alexandria.
{Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 4. c. 11.}
2993. Before the autumnal equinox, Oreus surrendered to Attalus. Attalus was
present at the feast of Ceres in Athens. When he had sent home Agesimbrotus and
the Rhodians, he returned into Asia. {*Livy, l. 31. c. 47. s. 1-4.
9:137,139}
3805 AM, 4515 JP, 199 BC
2994. After Simon II died, his son Onias III succeeded him in the high
priesthood of the Jews. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 1. (237)
7:121} He was a good man, who was gracious, well respected, meek and very
cautious in his speech. From his youth he behaved in a very virtuous manner.
{Apc 2Ma 15:12} In the Fasti Siculi (for here Scaliger's Greek Eusebian
Fragments fail us), he was said to have been high priest for twenty-four years.
3806a AM, 4515 JP, 199 BC
2995. Ptolemy Epiphanes sent a large army into Coelosyria under the command of
Scopas. With the use of force, he recovered many cities for Ptolemy, including
Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 3. s. 3. (131-137) 7:67-71}
Polybius added: {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 39. 5:81,83}
"Scopas, the general of Ptolemy's army, marched into the upper regions and
subdued the country of the Jews in the winter season."
2996. Jerome said this: {Jerome, Da 11}
"When Antiochus held Judea, Scopas, the Aetolian, was sent as general of
Ptolemy's forces. He fought valiantly against Antiochus and captured Judea and
returned into Egypt." [E379]
2997. Meanwhile, Antiochus invaded Attalus' kingdom, which was undefended at
that time, because its forces were being employed for the Romans in the
Macedonian war. {*Livy, l. 32. c. 8. s. 9-11. 9:175}
3806b AM, 4516 JP, 198 BC
2998. When the Senate of Rome had considered complaints made by Attalus, they
sent their envoys to Antiochus. They told him that at that time the Romans were
making use of Attalus' military forces against the Macedonians, a common enemy
to them both, and so they would be pleased if he did not meddle with the kingdom
of Attalus. It was befitting that these kings, who were in league and
friendship with the people of Rome, should also live in peace among themselves.
Antiochus, when he heard this, withdrew and ceased from any further war against
Attalus. Attalus sent his envoys to the Senate of Rome to thank them for this
great favour they had done for him. He gave them a crown of gold for the
Capitol, weighing two hundred and forty-six pounds. {*Livy, l. 32. c. 8.
9:175,177} {*Livy, l. 32. c. 27. 9:237}
3806c AM, 4516 JP, 198 BC
2999. At this time, two fleets from Asia joined the Roman fleet, the one under
Attalus, the king, consisting of twenty-four ships of five tiers of oars apiece,
and the other from Rhodes, of twenty decked ships, commanded by Agesimbrotus.
These pursued Philip as fast as they could. {*Livy, l. 32. c. 16. s. 6-8.
9:197}
3806d AM, 4516 JP, 198 BC
3000. That summer, Antiochus took in all the cities of Coelosyria which Ptolemy
controlled. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 19. s. 8,9. 9:331} When Antiochus defeated
Scopas in a battle, he recovered all the cities of Syria and grew friendly and
well disposed toward the Jews. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:218}
3001. Antiochus met Scopas at the head of the Jordan River, where the city of
Panium was later built, and there defeated him. When he had recovered the
cities which Scopas had taken from him, along with Samaria, the Jews voluntarily
submitted to him. [L521] They received his whole army, with his elephants, into
their city, and supported and helped them in the siege of the citadel where
Scopas had put a garrison. Josephus confirmed this from a letter which
Antiochus had written to Ptolemy, the captain of the garrison. He stated, from
Polybius, that Antiochus took in Batanea, Samaria, Abila and Gadara after the
defeat of Scopas. The Jews who lived at Jerusalem, where the famous temple was,
surrendered to him. Antiochus took and destroyed Gaza, which had withstood him
and had sided with Ptolemy. All this was also written in the same book by
Polybius. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 3. s. 3. (132-136) 7:67,69}
{*Polybius, l. 16. c. 39. 5:81,83}
3002. Zeno of Rhodes, in his Local History mentioned by Laertius, had described
in detail this battle between Antiochus and Scopas at Panium, near the source of
the Jordan River. {*Diogenes Laertius, l. 7. c. 35. 2:145,147} This, along
with other excerpts of his from Polybius, was given to us by the most learned
Henric Valesius. Antiochus routed Scopas and pursued him to Sidon, where he
besieged him with ten thousand troops. Ptolemy sent three famous captains,
Europus, Menocles and Damozenus, to rescue him, but they were unable to raise
the siege. Finally Scopas surrendered due to hunger, and he and his troops were
allowed to leave the place, stark naked. {*Polybius, l. 16. c. 18-20.
5:37-43} {Jerome, Da 11}
3807a AM, 4516 JP, 198 BC
3003. With that victory at Panium, Antiochus recovered all Phoenicia,
Coelosyria and the other cities in the country of Syria. Although these
territories rightfully belonged to the kings of Egypt, {Justin, Trogus, l. 31.
c. 1.} Antiochus left these lands to be held by the kings of Syria from then
on. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 1. 6:3} Antiochus himself returned to winter in
Antioch. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 19. s. 8. 9:331}
3004. In the 551st year of Nabonassar and the three proceeding years, on the
17th day of the month of Athyr, which day is unmoveable, the Egyptians
celebrated the feast of Isis. {*Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, l. 1. c. 13.
(356D) 5:37} {*Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, l. 1. c. 39. (366E) 5:95,97} This
was on December 28. {Ussher, Macedonian and Asiatic Year, c. 7.} Eudoxus
placed the winter solstice at this time. Dositheus noted this in his Octaeris
(which, Censorinus stated, was attributed to Eudoxus) or in his Parapegma
appended to it, which he published at Coloniae near Athens (or rather, at Coloni
in Aeolia). This is how it came to pass, as mentioned by Geminus, that the
Greeks were of the opinion that the feast of Isis was always kept on the winter
solstice, {Geminus, l. 6.} which was the shortest day of the year. He also
stated there that this error had previously been noted by Eratosthenes, in his
commentary De Octaeteride.
3005. In this winter season, Philip came to talk with the Roman consul Titus
Quinctius Flamininus. He wanted to know the conditions for peace. Among the
conditions that Flamininus mentioned was that Philip should restore to Ptolemy,
king of Egypt, all the cities which he had taken since the death of Ptolemy
Philopator, his father. {*Polybius, l. 18. s. 12-14. 5:87} {*Livy, l. 32.
c. 35. s. 9-12. 9:261,263} [E380]
3807b AM, 4517 JP, 197 BC
3006. In the same year there was an earthquake in the middle of the stretch of
sea between the two islands of Theramenes (or Thera) and Therasia. This created
a new island with hot springs. [L522] That same day, an earthquake in Asia
shook Rhodes and many other cities, and destroyed many houses there. Some
cities were completely swallowed up. Thereupon, their priests and soothsayers
predicted that the rising Roman Empire would swallow up and devour both the
kingdoms of Macedonia and Asia. {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 4.}
3807c AM, 4517 JP, 197 BC
3007. At the beginning of spring, Flamininus sent for Attalus to join him in
Elatia. Together they went to Thebes to try to persuade the Boeotians to join
the league with the Romans. Attalus addressed them in a speech and spoke with
more force than his voice could endure. He had grown old by now, and he
suddenly lost the ability to speak and collapsed. He was sick there in Thebes,
and one side of his body was paralysed. Flamininus saw that he was in no danger
of dying, but needed time to recover from the weakness of his body. So he left
him there and returned to Elatia, from where he had come. {*Livy, l. 33. c.
1,2. 9:279-283} {*Plutarch, Flamininus, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3. 10:339}
3008. At the same time, Antiochus sent his two sons, Ardyes and Mithridates,
ahead of him by land with instructions to wait for him at Sardis. He set sail
with a hundred decked ships and other smaller vessels, planning to try to do
what he could to win over the cities of Caria and Cilicia, which were controlled
by Ptolemy. He hoped to assist Philip by sea and land. First he took over
Zephyrium, Soli and Aphrodisia, and then rounded the cape of Anemurium, a
foreland of Cilicia. Selinus, and the other towns, cities and citadels all
along that coast, surrendered without resistance, either from fear, or to gain
his favour. At length he came to Coracesium, which shut its gates to him, much
to his surprise. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 19,20. 9:331,333}
3009. While Antiochus besieged Coracesium, Rhodes sent envoys to him. They
told him that they would oppose him if he did not stay on the other side of
Nephelis, a cape of Cilicia. This was not because they had any grudge against
him, but to keep him from joining with Philip, and so that he might not
interfere with the Romans, who had now undertaken to procure and maintain the
liberty of Greece. When he heard this, he controlled his anger, telling them
only that he would send his envoys to Rhodes to deal with this matter. They had
instructions to renew the leagues that had formerly been made between them and
him and his forefathers. They were to tell the Rhodians not to fear his coming
to them, for he would do neither them nor any of their friends any harm, and he
would not infringe on his friendship with the Romans. His reply satisfied them.
{*Livy, l. 33. c. 20. s. 7-10. 9:333}
3010. The Rhodians laid claim to Peraea, on the continent of Asia, opposite
Rhodes. It had always been in the possession of their ancestors, but had now
been invaded and was being occupied by Philip. At this time Pausistratus, the
Rhodian general, had routed Deinocrates and the Macedonians. Had he followed up
on his victory and marched straight to Stratonicia, it would have been his for
the asking. But they returned to their camp, which gave Deinocrates and the
remainder of his army time to get into the city. So the Rhodians were unable to
take it. This story is described in more detail by Livy. {*Livy, l. 33. c.
18. 9:323-329}
3011. Attalus was carried sick from Thebes by sea to his city of Pergamum,
where he died. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 21. s. 1,2. 9:335} {*Polybius, l. 18.
c. 41. 5:175,177} {*Plutarch, Flamininus, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3. 10:339} He
lived seventy-two years and was king for forty-four years, according to Livy,
Polybius, and Suidas. {Suidas, Attalus} Strabo said that he only reigned for
forty-three years. [L523] He was survived by his wife, Apollonis, of the city
of Cyzicum, and four children, Eumenes, Attalus, Philetaerus and Athenaeus.
{*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2. 6:167} {*Livy, l. 33. c. 21. s. 4,5.
9:335} Eumenes, who was the oldest, succeeded him in the kingdom. {*Strabo, l.
13. c. 4. s. 2. 6:167} Plutarch stated that the two younger brothers, both
of a brave and lusty spirit, nonetheless exhibited a deep respect for Eumenes.
{*Plutarch, On Brotherly Love, l. 1. c. 5. 6:259} They were like guards
about him to protect his crown and dignity. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 41. s.
9.10. 5:177} {Suidas, Attalus} This is the reason why their mother would often
say that she was a happy woman, not because of her wealth, or because she was a
queen, but because she saw her two younger sons being excellent guards of the
oldest son. [E381] The two sons always had their swords with them, yet Eumenes
lived in their midst without the least dread or fear of them. {*Plutarch, On
Brotherly Love, l. 1. c. 5. 6:259} The filial duty and respect which they
all bore to Apollonis or Apollonias, their mother, was recorded in more detail
in Polybius and Suidas. {*Polybius, l. 22. c. 20. 5:387,389} {Suidas,
Apollonius}
3807d AM, 4517 JP, 197 BC
3012. Philip's army of foot soldiers and cavalry were defeated in the battle
fought at Cynoscephalae, in the country of Thessaly. {Apc 1Ma 8:5,6} Flamininus
offered him a truce because he understood that Antiochus was marching from Syria
with an army, to come into Europe. So he made a truce with him for four months,
to give Flamininus time to send to Rome and submit everything to the will and
pleasure of the Senate. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 39. s. 4-7. 5:173,175}
{*Livy, l. 33. c. 13. s. 14,15. 9:311,313}
3013. When the Rhodians heard of the defeat of Philip, they still defended the
cities that were allied with Ptolemy and were in danger of being invaded by
Antiochus. To some they sent help and to others a letter telling them they
would defend them against the aggression of Antiochus. Letters were sent to
Caunus, Myndus, Halicarnassus and Samos. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 33. s. 10-13.
9:333,335} However, this was not sufficient. Antiochus, in spite of this,
surprised Coracesium, Corycus, Andriace, Limyra, Patara and Xanthus, all of
which belonged to Ptolemy. Lastly, he took the city of Ephesus. {Jerome, Da
11}
3808a AM, 4517 JP, 197 BC
3014. Antiochus spent his winter at Ephesus and tried to subdue all of Asia
into the empire his forefathers once had. He saw that the rest of the cities
would easily be taken but found that Smyrna in Aeolia and Lampsacus in the
Hellespont were planning to fight, hence, he advised them to surrender, like the
rest. He threatened them in case they would not, fearing that the rest might
follow their example in opposing his plans. When this did not work, he sent
some companies from Ephesus to besiege Smyrna, and others from Abydus to besiege
Lampsacus. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 38. 9:379,381} Consequently, both these
cities, as well as others that joined with them, sent their commissioners to
Flamininus to ask for help against Antiochus. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11.
c. 1. (2) 2:107}
3015. When Marcus Claudius Marcellus assumed his office of consul, envoys
arrived at Rome to ask for a league to be made with Philip. As a result of
this, the Senate passed the following decree:
"Everywhere the Greeks in both Europe and Asia should be free and live after
their own laws. Those who were under Philip's dominion, or had any garrisons of
his in them, should, before the celebration of the next Isthmian games, turn
them over into the hands of the Romans. From those who were in Asia, such as
Euromum, Pedasa, Bargylia, Iassus, Abydus, Thasos, Myrina and Perinthus, Philip
should withdraw his garrisons and leave them free. He should not renew his war
with Eumenes, the new king (for Valerius Antias observed that special notice was
taken of him) who was the son of Attalus. [L524] Concerning the liberation of
the Ciani, Titus Quinctius Flamininus should write letters to Prusias that the
will and pleasure of the Senate was...."
3016. To ensure the execution of this decree, the Senate sent ten commissioners
into Greece. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 44. 5:183} {*Livy, l. 33. c. 30.
9:359,361}
3808b AM, 4518 JP, 196 BC
3017. After the Isthmian games were over, the general liberty of Greece was
proclaimed by the public crier. Flamininus and the ten commissioners who had
come from Rome, listened to Hegesianax and Lysias, who were envoys from
Antiochus to Flamininus. These were told to tell Antiochus that he must not
meddle with any free city in Asia, much less make war upon them. He must get
out of any places he now controlled which had formerly belonged to either
Ptolemy or Philip. He was ordered not to enter Europe himself and not to send
any of his forces there. They added that they would soon journey to Antiochus
themselves. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 47. s. 1-6. 5:191,193} {*Livy, l. 33.
c. 33,34. 9:367,369}
3018. When the assembly was dismissed, the ten commissioners divided among
themselves the work they had to do. Every man went to see the region assigned
to him, to be liberated according to the decree. Publius Lentulus went by sea
to Bargylia in Asia, and freed that city to live according to their own laws.
Lucius Stertinius did the same at Hephaestia, in Thasos and the cities of
Thrace, and wherever he went. Publius Villius and Lucius Terentius journeyed to
Antiochus, and Gnaeus Cornelius went to King Philip. {*Polybius, l. 18. c.
48. s. 1-3. 5:195} {*Livy, l. 33. c. 35. 9:371} {*Plutarch, Flamininus,
l. 1. c. 12. s. 1. 10:355}
3808c AM, 4518 JP, 196 BC
3019. At the beginning of spring, Antiochus went by sea from Ephesus to the
Hellespont. With his land army, he crossed from Abydus and added them to his
naval forces. He landed in the Chersonesus and took over any cities that
surrendered to him out of fear. From there he went to Lysimachia, which had
been utterly destroyed a short time earlier by the Thracians. [E382] He began
to rebuild it and to make it the capital for his son Seleucus' kingdom in those
regions. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 33. s. 8-14. 9:381} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 1. (3) 2:109}
3020. Everything was going as well as Antiochus could have imagined. However
Lucius Cornelius, who had been sent by the Senate of Rome to make peace between
Antiochus and Ptolemy, came to Selymbria. Publius Lentulus from Bargylia,
Lucius Terentius and Publius Villius from Thasos were three of the commissioners
who had gone to Lysimachia. Lucius Cornelius came from Selymbria and met them
there at Lysimachia. A few days later, Antiochus came there from Thrace and met
them. Hegesianax and Lysias, who had previously been sent as envoys from
Antiochus to Flamininus, happened to be there at the same time. In the
conference, Lucius Cornelius said that he thought it reasonable that Antiochus
should restore to Ptolemy all the cities and places of Ptolemy's kingdom that he
had recently taken from him. Further, he should withdraw his garrisons from all
the places which belonged to Philip, because the Romans had now defeated him.
They warned him not to meddle with any free state. Antiochus replied that he
first of all wondered what right the Romans had to quarrel with him about the
cities in Asia, since he did not question them on what they did in Italy. He
was content that the cities in Asia should enjoy their liberty, but they should
thank him for it, and not the Romans. As far as Ptolemy was concerned, they
were already good friends and he was about to make a marriage alliance with him.
{*Polybius, l. 18. c. 49-51. 5:197-201} {*Livy, l. 3. c. 49,50.
9:383-387} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 1. (3) 2:109}
3021. Lucius Cornelius continued, and told him that it was reasonable that the
envoys of Lampsacus and Smyrna should be called and allowed to speak for
themselves, and so they were summoned. Parmenion and Pythodorus represented the
city of Lampsacus, and Coeranus spoke for Smyrna. [L525] They spoke boldly and
freely for their own cause. Antiochus was enraged to see that he was being
called before the Romans for what he had done in Asia, as if they were his
judges. He ordered Parmenion to hold his peace and said that he moved that the
controversy be decided before the Rhodian judges, and not the Romans, whereupon
that conference broke up and nothing was done. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 52.
5:201}
3022. Polycrates, who was governor of Cyprus, was in charge of collecting the
the king's revenue. He handed the government over to his successor, Ptolemy of
Megalopolis, and returned to Alexandria. He turned over a large sum of money to
King Epiphanes, who was glad to receive it, and Polycrates was thought highly of
by all. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 54. 5:203}
3023. Shortly after this, the Aetolians revolted under their captain Scopas,
who had a large company of soldiers under him. Since the king was but a child,
Scopas could do what he liked. While he dawdled his time away, his plans were
cut short. When Aristomenes found out that Scopas' friends went to him in his
own house and used to sit in council together with him, he sent a company of the
guards and summoned him before the king's council. Scopas was surprised and
grew so wild and devoid of reason that he did not carry out his plans, nor did
he obey the summons of the king, as he should have done. Aristomenes knew what
state Scopas was in, and sent a company of soldiers who surrounded the house.
Ptolemy, the son of Eumenes, brought him before the king. {*Polybius, l. 18.
c. 53. s. 4-11. 5:203}
3024. He was brought before the council. First the king charged him and then
Polycrates and Aristomenes did. He was quickly found guilty and condemned by
the king's council and by all the envoys of the foreign countries who were
there. For Aristomenes, having intended to accuse him, had purposely brought
together various illustrious personages of the Greeks and the Aetolian envoys,
who had been sent there at that time to work out a peace between the king and
themselves. Dorimachus, the son of Nicostratus, was one of these envoys. After
these had all spoken, Scopas and all his cohorts were cast into prison. The
next night, Aristomenes had him and all his family poisoned. He had
Dicaearchus, who was a most impious wretch, racked to death. Dicaearchus had
been the admiral of Philip's navy and had harassed the Cyclades Islands. He had
erected two altars in a certain port there, the one to Impiety and the other to
Lawlessness, and he had sacrificed to them both as to two gods. To the rest of
the Aetolians who wanted to return, the king gave them permission to do so, and
to take with them what belonged to them. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 54.
5:203-207}
3025. When this business of the Aetolians had been settled and all was quiet,
the whole court started the solemn revels which they used to have when anyone
was made king. This event was called the Proclamation or Anacleteria. The king
was then not old enough to run the government, but the court thought that if it
were known abroad that the king had now attained to ruling in his own person,
things would go better and it would be more peaceful in the kingdom. [E383] So
they made every provision they could to perform this solemnity for the honour of
the kingdom. {*Polybius, l. 18. c. 55. 5:207,209}
3026. While the conference at Lysimachia was going on between Antiochus and the
commissioners from Rome, an unconfirmed source reported what had happened to
Scopas at Alexandria, and that Ptolemy was dead. [L526] Hence that conference
came to naught, since neither party would act until they knew exactly what had
happened. Lucius Cornelius, whose proper errand was to make peace with both the
kings, desired some time to talk directly with Ptolemy. He wanted to get there
as soon as possible, before anything could be resolved there after the king's
supposed death, to help establish the state. Antiochus made no doubt of his
intentions. If the king were indeed dead, Egypt would be his. So he sent away
the commissioners and left his son Seleucus with his army to continue rebuilding
Lysimachia. He himself sailed to Ephesus with his whole fleet and from there
sent envoys to Flamininus, to ask him to continue the league and friendship
between them. He set sail again and stayed close to the coast of Asia until he
came to Lycia. At Patara, he was told for certain that Ptolemy was alive, and
so he abandoned his journey to Egypt. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 41. s. 1-6.
9:387} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 1. (4) 2:111}
3809a AM, 4518 JP, 196 BC
3027. Antiochus hurried toward Cyprus, which he certainly hoped to get. When
he had rounded the cape of the Chelidonian foreland, his sailors mutinied and he
was forced to stay in Pamphylia for a while, at the mouth of the Eurymedon
River. From there, he sailed to a place called the Head of the Saris River. A
severe storm almost drowned him and all his fleet. Many of his ships were
driven ashore, and many sank with all hands. A number of sailors and common
soldiers, as well as his nobles and leaders, died in that storm. He salvaged
what he could from the wreck, and since he was in no position to go on to
Cyprus, he sailed to Seleucia in Syria and there started to rebuild his navy.
He married his two children, Antiochus and Laodice, to each other, then sailed
again for Antioch because winter was approaching. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 41. s.
6-9. 9:387,389} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 1. (4) 2:111}
3809b AM, 4519 JP, 195 BC
3028. The Decemviri, or ten commissioners, returned to Rome and told the Senate
about Antiochus and his return into Syria. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 43. s. 5,6.
9:395} Hannibal's enemies at Carthage informed the Senate of Rome that he and
Antiochus were sending letters to each other on a daily basis. Although this
was false, those who feared these men believed the false report. So they sent
envoys to the council at Carthage, complaining to them that Hannibal was working
with Antiochus, and telling them to get rid of Hannibal by any means. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 31. c. 1,2.} {*Livy, l. 33. c. 45. s. 6-8. 9:397,399}
{*Livy, l. 33. c. 47. s. 6-10. 9:3403}
3029. Flamininus' reply to Antiochus' envoys, when they asked for a league, was
that he could do nothing now that the ten commissioners were gone. The envoys
would do well to go after them and make their application to the Senate at Rome.
{*Livy, l. 34. c. 57. 9:561,563}
3030. Hannibal stole away from Carthage and came safely to Tyre. There he was
received by the founders of Carthage as though he were in his home country.
After he had rested there for a few days, he sailed to Antioch. When he found
that Antiochus had left, he spoke with his son there, who was celebrating a
solemn festival in Daphne. Having been courteously entertained by him, he set
sail again and followed Antiochus, overtaking him at Ephesus. Antiochus, who
was trying to decide whether or not he should make war on the Romans, was
completely taken by surprise when Hannibal came to him. From now on he thought
not so much of the war itself, as of what great things he would get by
conquering the Romans. {*Livy, l. 33. c. 48,49. 9:403-407} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 31. c. 1,2.} {Emilius Probus, Hannibal}
3031. Phormio, a philosopher of the Peripatetic text, had in his school
disputed at great length on the subject of the duty and office of a commander of
an army, and of the military art and the ordering of a battle. [L527] Finally,
Hannibal could contain himself no longer, and cried out that he had heard many a
doting fool in his days, but a bigger fool than this Phormio was, he had never
heard. {*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 2. c. 18. (75) 3:255}
3809c AM, 4519 JP, 195 BC
3032. Titus Quinctius Flamininus joined with Eumenes and the Rhodians and
fought very successfully against Nabis, the tyrant of Lacedemon. {*Livy, l.
34. c. 29-37. 9:491-515}
3033. When Marcus Porcius Cato was consul, the city of Smyrna began to build a
temple to the city of Rome. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 56. 4:101} At their
example, the Alabandians not only built another temple to her, but instituted
some anniversary plays and games in honour of her as a proper goddess. {*Livy,
l. 43. c. 6. s. 5,6. 13:23} [E384]
3810 AM, 4520 JP, 194 BC
3034. Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the son of Aglaus, died. He was not only a
grammarian, though that was his main profession, but also a poet, a philosopher
and a geometrician, for he excelled in all these areas. {*Lucian,
Octogenarians, l. 1. (27) 1:243} Apollonius Alexandrinus succeeded him in
managing the library at Alexandria. He was a scholar of Callimachus, who wrote
the Argonautica. Because he lived at Rhodes for many years, he was surnamed
Rhodius. {Suidas, Apollonius}
3035. Antiochus was aware of the loyalty of the Jews for him. He conferred
more great favours on them and he highly commended them in his letters.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:218} Josephus preserved these letters in his
works. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 3. s. 3. (129-153) 7:65-79} In an
address to Ptolemy's government, he mentioned many gifts of his and immunities
granted, both to the city of Jerusalem and also to the temple there. In another
letter to Zeuxis, he ordered that two thousand Jewish families living in the
provinces of Babylonia and Mesopotamia be settled in Phrygia and Lydia. He
hoped their presence would keep order there.
3811 AM, 4521 JP, 193 BC
3036. Antiochus prepared to make war in Greece and to begin his war against the
Romans there. When he told Hannibal what he planned to do, Hannibal told him
that the Romans could only be conquered in Italy. Hannibal asked for a hundred
of his warships with ten thousand foot soldiers and a thousand cavalry. With
this fleet he would first sail into Africa, where he knew he could instigate a
fresh rebellion among the Carthaginians. If that failed, he would land in some
part of Italy and there begin the war against them anew. When he had persuaded
the king to let him do this, he did not personally go to Africa (as Emilius
Probus thought {Emilius Probus, Hannibal}), but sent Aristo, a Tyrian born at
Ephesus, under the guise of a merchant, to trade at Carthage. He was to prepare
their minds for a revolt against the Romans. However, Hannibal's enemies laid
hold of Aristo at Carthage. They spent many days in consultation, trying to
determine what to do with him and whether they should send him to Rome to
demonstrate their innocence in this matter. Aristo escaped, however, and sailed
back to Hannibal again, whereupon they sent envoys to the consuls and the Senate
at Rome to tell them what had happened. {Justin, Trogus, l. 31. c. 3,4.}
{*Livy, l. 34. c. 60,61. 9:569-575} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 2.
(7,8) 2:115-119}
3037. Meanwhile, Antiochus sent Lysias, Hegesianax and Menippus as his envoys
to Rome to determine the feelings of the Senate. [L528] They went under the
pretence of trying to arrange a league and friendship between him and them.
They told the Senate that the king wondered why they should order him to get out
of the cities of Aetolia and Ionia, to forego the tributes due to him from other
places, and not to meddle with matters in Asia and countries of his ancient
inheritance in Thrace. These were not commands that ought to be given to
friends of theirs, such as he was, but to conquered enemies. They were told
that they should go and ask Flamininus and the ten commissioners who had
formerly been sent into Greece. When they came to the commissioners, the
commissioners insisted that Antiochus should either stay out of Europe, or allow
the Romans to take care of what they already had in Asia and acquire more there
if they could. The envoys told them plainly that they could not negotiate a
deal by which the king's rights and dominions might be impaired in any way. So
this matter was left unresolved and the envoys were sent away. {*Livy, l. 34.
c. 57-59. 9:561-569} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 2. (6) 2:113,115}
3038. Scarcely had the envoys left, when news came from Carthage that Antiochus
was busy preparing for war against the Romans, and that Hannibal was his
general. They were afraid that a fresh war might start from Carthage. {*Livy,
l. 34. c. 60. s. 1-3. 9:569}
3812a AM, 4521 JP, 193 BC
3039. Antiochus gave his daughter to Ptolemy in marriage at Raphia in
Phoenicia, or rather in Palestine, and returned to Antioch. {*Livy, l. 35. c.
13. s. 4,5. 10:39} He was now fully resolved to make war against the Romans
and thought it best to league himself by marriages and alliances with as many
kings and princes in the area as he could. Therefore he sent his daughter
Cleopatra, surnamed Syra, to Egypt, to marry Ptolemy. He gave Ptolemy a dowry
for her, consisting of all Coelosyria, which he had previously taken from
Ptolemy. This he did to pacify Ptolemy and to keep him from joining with the
Romans in this war. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 1. (5) 2:111,113}
Jerome cited Eucles of Rhodes as saying that when Antiochus planned to get Egypt
for his dominion, he espoused his daughter Cleopatra in the seventh year of the
young Ptolemy's reign. {Jerome, Da 11} However, Jerome followed Eusebius, who
said it was the thirteenth year of Ptolemy's reign. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:218} [E385] According to our calculations, it was in the twelfth year that
he sent her to him. Ptolemy received a dowry of all Coelosyria and Judea.
Antiochus did not get Egypt, however. Ptolemy and his council perceived his
plans and were more cautious in their affairs, while Cleopatra took her
husband's side, rather than her father's. Josephus wrote that Antiochus gave
his daughter Cleopatra as a wife for Ptolemy, along with her dowry of
Coelosyria, all of Phoenicia, Judea and Samaria. The tribute from these places
was equally divided between the two kings. The prominent men in each of these
countries gathered the tribute for them and paid it to them. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 1. (154.155) 7:81}
3040. He offered another daughter, Antiochis, in marriage to Ariarathes, the
king of Cappadocia. His third daughter he sent to Eumenes, the king of
Pergamum. When Eumenes saw that he planned to make war against the Romans and
that this was the reason for the marriage, he refused the offer. When his two
brothers, Attalus and Philetaerus, wondered why he should refuse such an offer
made to him by a neighbouring king as important as Antiochus, Eumenes told them
a great war was coming. He said that if the Romans won, as he truly thought
they would, he would be able to hold his own with them. If Antiochus won, then
Eumenes' fortune would either be to be turned out of his kingdom by a powerful
neighbouring prince, or to be forced to live under him. Concerning this, see
Eumenes' speech in Polybius. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 18-21. 5:269-279}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 1. (5) 2:113} {*Livy, l. 35. c. 14.
10:39,41}
3812b AM, 4522 JP, 192 BC
3041. Antiochus crossed the Taurus Mountains and marched through Cilicia,
reaching Ephesus at the very end of winter. {*Livy, l. 35. c. 13. s. 4.
10:39}
3042. From there, at the beginning of spring, he sent his son, Antiochus, back
into Syria to take care of matters both there and in the remote parts of his
eastern dominions, while he himself was busy in the west. Antiochus and his
whole army went to invade the Pisidians who lived around Sida. {*Livy, l. 35.
c. 13. s. 5. 10:39} [L529]
3043. At that time, envoys from Rome arrived at Elaea to see Antiochus. They
came under the pretence of an embassy, but were there to see first-hand what
preparations he had made. They spent much time in speaking with Hannibal to try
to cool his anger toward them. In case that failed, they hoped to make
Antiochus jealous of Hannibal because he frequently spoke with the Romans. The
envoys who, along with others, met with Antiochus at Lysimachia were Publius
Sulpicius and Publius Villius. {*Livy, l. 34. c. 59. s. 8. 9:569} {*Livy,
l. 35. c. 13. s. 6,7. 10:39} {Justin, Trogus, l. 31. c. 4.}
{*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 1. c. 8. s. 7. 1:61} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 2. (9) 2:119}
3044. The envoys went up from Elaea to Pergamum, where Eumenes' palace was.
Their instructions were to confer with Eumenes first, before they went to
Antiochus. Eumenes did the best he could to have them make war on Antiochus.
Sulpicius stayed behind sick at Pergamum, but when Publius Villius heard that
Antiochus was warring against Pisidia, he went to Ephesus. During the few days
that he stayed there, he made it a point to speak to Hannibal as often as he
could. He wanted to know his intentions and to mitigate his anger toward the
Romans by assuring him that they intended him no further harm. {*Livy, l. 35.
c. 13,14. 10:39,41}
3045. Claudius Quadrigarius, who followed the account of the Greek history of
Acilius, stated that Publius Scipio Africanus was in this embassy, and that he
was the one who spoke with Hannibal at Ephesus. He mentioned one talk of theirs
in particular. Africanus asked Hannibal whom he believed to be the greatest
general in the world? Hannibal replied that Alexander the Great was the
greatest. When asked whom he thought was second, he answered Pyrrhus. When
asked who, then, was third, he replied, he himself. At that, Scipio burst out
laughing and asked him what he would have done, had he defeated Scipio. To
which Hannibal replied that he would have counted himself ahead of both Pyrrhus
and Alexander, and all the others that had ever existed. His perplexing and
intricate answer was but a trick of Punic wit, and Scipio was taken in by it as
with a pretty form of flattery. He was not considered to be better than all the
generals, yet he had vanquished a better man than Alexander. {*Livy, l. 35.
c. 14. s. 5-12. 10:41-45} {*Plutarch, Flamininus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 3.
10:383} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 2. (10) 2:119,121}
3812c AM, 4522 JP, 192 BC
3046. Villius went from Ephesus to Apamea and there Antiochus heard about the
Roman envoys coming to meet them. They discussed almost the same points which
had been discussed between Flamininus and the other commissioners on one side,
and his envoys on the other, at Rome. When news came of the death of his son
Antiochus, who had recently been sent into Syria, the conference was suspended.
Villius did not want to be there at this sad time and went to Pergamum while the
king and court were all in mourning. The king stopped all preparations for the
war and went to Ephesus. {*Livy, l. 35. c. 15. 10:45,47} [E386]
3047. The Roman envoys were told to come to Ephesus. They met in conference
with Minnio, a principal counsellor and favourite of the king. In his
discourse, Minnio accused the Romans of intending to make war against Antiochus
under the pretence of setting Greece at liberty. The Romans were holding so
many famous countries, which had formerly lived in freedom and according to
their own laws, in subjection to them and were making them pay tribute to Rome.
Sulpicius replied for the Romans, for he had now recovered from his sickness.
He called the envoys of the other states present there as witnesses for the
Romans, as they had been instructed to do by Eumenes. Then the conference
degenerated into a brawl. {*Livy, l. 35. c. 16-17. 10:47-51}
3048. When Antiochus had heard the embassy of the Rhodians, he told them that
if he and the Romans came to an agreement and a league, they would all be free,
along with the people of Byzantium and Cyzicum, as well as other Greeks living
in Asia. The Aetolians and Ionians would still be under the control of the
kings of Asia. [L530] Therefore, when they could get nowhere with the king, the
Roman envoys returned to Rome, since this had indeed been the least part of
their errand, as they had primarily come to spy on him. {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 3. (12) 2:123}
3813a AM, 4522 JP, 192 BC
3049. After this, the Aetolian envoys came to the king. They offered to make
him commander of all the forces they had raised and persuaded him by every means
to go over to Greece. They said that Greece was ready to receive him, and that
he should not stay until his armies came down to him from the remote and inner
parts of Asia. This made Antiochus all the more eager to go into Greece as soon
as possible. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 3. (12) 2:123,125}
{*Polybius, l. 3. c. 3. s. 3. 2:9} {Justin, Trogus, l. 30. c. 4.}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 32. c. 1.}
3050. Before he sailed, he went up to Illium and sacrificed to Athena. He
returned to his fleet and sailed with forty decked ships, sixty open vessels and
two hundred cargo ships. These were loaded with all types of provisions and
sailed at the rear of the fleet. His whole army consisted of ten thousand foot
soldiers and five hundred cavalry, with six elephants. This was barely enough
to take over Greece, if no one was there to defend it. How inadequate were
these forces to stand up against the Roman military might. {*Livy, l. 35. c.
43. s. 3-6. 10:127}
3051. Eumenes sent his brother Attalus to Rome to let them know that Antiochus
had crossed over the Hellespont with his army. So the Aetolians were ready to
rise up in arms as soon as he landed. The Senate thanked Attalus and his absent
brother Eumenes, while Attalus was housed at public expense, and given presents.
{*Livy, l. 35. c. 23. s. 10,11. 10:67}
3813b AM, 4523 JP, 191 BC
3052. About the middle of winter, Antiochus consulted with Demetrius on how to
carry on the war. Hannibal gave sound advice, if only it had been followed. It
was not, except that Polyxenidas was sent to bring the rest of the fleet and
army from Asia. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 5-8. 10:169-181} {Justin, Trogus, l. 31.
c. 5,6.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 3. (13,14) 2:125-129}
3053. Antiochus fell in love with a young maiden of Chalcis, the daughter of
Cleoptolemus, his host. Even though Antiochus was almost fifty, he set aside
the matters of the war and thought only of marrying her. He called her by the
name of Euboea and spent all the next winter in banqueting and revels.
Likewise, his army spent all that season in luxury and pleasure. {*Polybius, l.
20. c. 8. 5:223} {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (439ef) 4:491,493} {*Diod. Sic., l.
29. c. 2. 11:247} {*Livy, l. 36. c. 11. s. 1-3. 1:189,191} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 3. (16) 2:133}
3054. Manius Acilius Glabrio, the consul, left Rome dressed in military
uniform, to go against Antiochus. This was on the 5th day of the Nones of May
(May 3). We deduced this date from an eclipse that happened the following
January. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 3. s. 14. 10:165}
3055. About the same time, envoys came to Rome from two kings, Philip of
Macedonia and Ptolemy of Egypt. Both offered their help against Antiochus with
money and grain. Ptolemy brought a thousand pounds in gold and twenty thousand
pounds in silver. Nothing was accepted, and the Senate thanked them for their
good will. When both of them offered to come into Aetolia in person with their
armies, the Senate answered that they would not trouble Ptolemy. However, the
Senate and people of Rome would be happy if Philip would assist Manius Acilius,
their consul, with whatever he needed. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 4. s. 1-5.
10:165,176}
3813c AM, 4523 JP, 191 BC
3056. Antiochus was defeated at Thermopylae in a battle against the consul
Marcus Acilius, and Cato, a general in that army. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 15-19.
10:201-219} {*Plutarch, Cato Major, l. 1. c. 13,15. 2:337-343} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 4. (17-20) 2:133-141} {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 2.
c. 4. s. 4. 1:127} [E387] [L531] He was forced to flee back to Asia and came
to Ephesus with his new wife. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 21. s. 1. 10:221}
{Justin, Trogus} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 4. (20) 2:139} {*Polybius,
l. 20. c. 8. 5:223} {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (439ef) 4:491,493} Cicero wrote
that Cato, in speaking of himself, said that he fought at Thermopylae under
Manius Acilius Glabrio in the fourth year that he (Cato) had been military
tribune. {*Cicero, De Senectute, l. 1. c. 10. (32) 20:41} Plutarch and Livy
stated that he was sent to Rome by the consul Acilius with the news of that
victory. {*Plutarch, Cato Major, l. 1. c. 14. s. 3,4. 2:343} {*Livy, l.
36. c. 21. s. 4,5. 10:223} Antisthenes, the historian, noted the actions by
Buplagus the Syrian and Publius a Roman captain after this battle at Thermopylae
as recorded by Phlegon. {Phlegon, De Mirabilibus, c. 3.}
3057. When Antiochus was at Ephesus, he became careless and unafraid of the
Romans, believing that they would never cross over into Asia. When Hannibal had
roused him from these idle thoughts, he sent for his forces from the inland
countries to come down quickly to the coast. He prepared his navy and made
Polyxenidas, an exile of Rhodes, his admiral. He again crossed over into the
Chersonesus and fortified it, putting garrisons into Sestus and Abydus, where he
thought the Romans would try to cross over into Asia. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 26.
10:235,237} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 4. (21) 2:141}
3814a AM, 4523 JP, 191 BC
3058. Gaius Livius Salinator was sent to succeed Attalus in the navy. On his
way to Asia, Eumenes routed Polyxenidas, Antiochus' admiral. He sank ten of his
ships and captured thirteen more, losing only one ship himself, and that one was
from Carthage! They pursued Polyxenidas as far as Ephesus. They then sent back
the Rhodian fleet of twenty-five ships, which had arrived after the battle.
Eumenes and his ships came to Canas, a town of Lycia. Because the winter was
coming, they drew their ships to land and fortified the place where they were
staying with works for their defence. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 43-45. 10:277-285}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 5. (22) 2:143,145}
3059. While this naval battle was being fought at Coricus, Antiochus had gone
to Magnesia near the mountain of Sipylus to gather his land forces together.
When he heard of his naval defeat, he began to prepare a new navy, so that he
might not appear to have been vanquished from the sea. He sent Hannibal into
Syria to get ships from the Phoenicians, and ordered Polyxenidas to make up his
fleet again by repairing those ships that had been damaged in the battle and
building new ones. Meanwhile, he made his winter quarters in Phrygia. He sent
for help from all his regions, even from Galatia. {*Livy, l. 36. c. 41. s.
6,7. 10:275} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 8. s. 1-4. 10:313} {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 5. (22) 2:145} Using both fear and his money, he also convinced
them to join in arms with him, because he thought their height and courage would
terrify the Romans. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 2. (6) 2:115}
3060. The envoys from Ptolemy and Cleopatra arrived at Rome to congratulate
them on having driven Antiochus out of Europe. The envoys persuaded them to
cross into Asia, all the way to Syria. They declared that they were ready to do
whatever the Romans would request. The Senate sent thanks to the king and queen
for their good will and gave each of the envoys four thousand asses of money.
{*Livy, l. 37. c. 3. s. 9-11. 10:299,301}
3061. Antiochus left his son Seleucus in Aeolia with the army, to hold the sea
coast there in order. They were being bothered from every direction, by the
Romans on one side and Eumenes on the other. Seleucus spent all that winter at
times helping his friends and at other times plundering those whom he could not
win over to his side. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 8. s. 5,6. 10:313,315}
3814b AM, 4524 JP, 190 BC
3062. About the middle of winter, Eumenes, with a company of two thousand foot
soldiers and a hundred cavalry, came to Canas where the Roman fleet was
wintering. [L532] There he told them that, if they wanted to, they could get
much spoil from the country around Thyatira. He did not leave until he had
persuaded Livius, the admiral, to let him have five thousand men. He set out
with these and brought them back again within a short time, loaded with an
enormous amount of plunder. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 8. s. 6,7. 10:315}
3063. In the interim, a rebellion took place in Phocaea, where some were trying
to draw the common people to Antiochus. The wintering of the Roman navy there
had taxed them very heavily. They had been required to furnish them with five
hundred outer garments and five hundred undergarments. Grain had become scarce,
so that the ships and garrison were forced to move from there and quarter
elsewhere. After this, the faction siding with Antiochus was no longer afraid,
even though the elders and chief men of the city stood firmly for the Romans.
However, the leaders of the faction for Antiochus prevailed with the common
people. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 9. s. 2-5. 10:315} [E388]
3064. Consequently, the magistrates of Phocaea feared the opinion of the common
people. They wisely sent their agents to Seleucus, to ask him not to come near
their city because they were resolved to do nothing until they saw the outcome
of the war. When Seleucus was told that the common people were wholly for his
father and that they were short of grain, he did not reply, but immediately
marched toward them with his army. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 6. s. 4-6.
5:245}
3065. At Rome, both the new consuls, Lucius Scipio and Gaius Laelius Nepos,
were keen to go into Greece. Publius Scipio Africanus, speaking on behalf of
his brother Lucius, said that if they wished to send his brother there, he would
go with him as his lieutenant. His words carried the day. They said who was
more appropriate to fight against Hannibal, as the brother of Scipio Africanus
who had already vanquished him once? {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 7.
15:475} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 1. s. 7-10. 10:293} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 5.
c. 5. s. 1. 1:509} {Justin, Trogus, l. 31. c. 7.}
3066. In those days, when Lucius Scipio was on his way against Antiochus and
while the anniversary games were being celebrated in honour of Apollo, an
eclipse occurred on the 5th of the Ides of July (July 11). On a very clear day,
it suddenly grew dark through an eclipse of the sun. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 4.
s. 4,5. 10:301} This eclipse of the sun at Rome was confirmed by the
astronomical account and happened on March 14 of the Julian calendar. Hence,
the calendar was out by a hundred and twenty-five days. January 1 really
occurred on August 29! So great was the confusion of the Roman calendar in
those days. This is treated in more detail in Livy. {*Livy, Appendix, l. 33.
13:87,89}
3814c AM, 4524 JP, 190 BC
3067. At about the beginning of spring, Pausistratus with thirty-six Rhodian
ships, Livius with thirty Roman ships and Eumenes with seven of his, sailed into
the Hellespont. Livius first sailed into the port which was known as the
harbour of the Achaeans. From there Livius went up to Illium and sacrificed to
Athena. Livius made a speech to, and a good impression on, the envoys of some
of the neighbouring cities, Eleus, Dardanus and Rhoetium. These all came and
voluntarily surrendered themselves to Livius. He left ten ships to blockade
Abydus and went with the rest of the ships to the other side, to besiege Sestus.
After these had surrendered, he prepared to return to the Asian side to besiege
Abydus. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 9. s. 6-11. 10:315,317} {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 5. (23) 2:147}
3068. While these things were happening in the Hellespont, Polyxenidas, the
admiral of King Antiochus, told Pausistratus, the admiral of Rhodes, that he
would betray the whole of Antiochus' fleet, or most of it, into his hands.
Pausistratus believed Polyxenidas and went to Samos. Because he did not keep a
proper watch, as he should have done, he was killed and the twenty-nine ships
which he had under his command were lost. [L533] Of all his fleet, only five
ships from Rhodes escaped, and two from the Isle of Cos. {*Livy, l. 37. c.
9-11. 10:315-325} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 5. (24) 2:147,149}
3069. At the same time, Seleucus recovered Phocaea after a gate of the city was
opened to him, and he and his army gained entry that way. While these things
were happening in Aeolia, Abydus had endured the siege for a number of days and
continued to hold out through the valour of the king's garrison. Finally,
everyone grew weary of the business and the chief magistrates of the city, with
the ready consent of the captain of the garrison, sent to Livius to ask for
conditions of surrender. It was at that very time that Livius heard of the
destruction of the Rhodian navy, and so would no longer stay to take in Abydus
and to keep the Hellespont. He and all his fleet set sail for Phocaea. When he
found that it was held by a strong garrison of the king and that Seleucus was
not far off with his army, he started wasting the sea coast. Taking what spoil
he could find in the area, he stayed only until Eumenes could reach him with his
fleet. Then he planned to go to Samos, where he finally arrived, badly
weather-beaten. Here he united his fleet with that of the Rhodians, which now
consisted of twenty ships under the command of Eudamus. {*Livy, l. 37. c.
11,12. 10:325,327}
3070. After Livius had added the Rhodian ships to his fleet, he immediately
sailed to Ephesus. There he arranged his ships in battle array before the very
mouth of the port. When no one came out against him, he divided his fleet into
two parts. One part anchored in the very haven of the enemy, while the other
landed their men. These had ranged far and wide in that vicinity and gathered a
vast amount of spoil and were just returning with it to their ship when
Andronicus, a Macedonian (Appian called him Nicander) and captain of the
garrison in Ephesus, sallied out against them and forced them to retire to their
ships. They abandoned most of their booty and at once returned to Samos, where
they were to be met by Lucius Aemilius Regillus, the praetor, who was to succeed
Livius in the charge of the navy. As Regillus was coming there from the Isle of
Chios, Livius sent out two good ships of Rhodes, of four tiers of oars each,
along with Eumenes himself, in person, with two more ships of five tiers of oars
each, to meet him. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 13. 10:325-331} {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 5. (25) 2:149,151} [E389]
3071. After sitting at Samos in council about naval matters, Aemilius sailed
with all his fleet to the very mouth of the port of Ephesus to terrify the
enemy. Livius went to Patara in Lycia. Aemilius was driven from Ephesus by a
storm and so returned to Samos. The cities of Miletus, Myndus, Halicarnassus,
Cnidos and Cos, which Livius sailed passed, readily accepted him. Lycia did not
welcome him, for he encountered not only a storm at sea but also the enemy at
land. Therefore, he returned to Greece again. After this, he spoke with the
two Scipios, who were in Thessaly at the time, so that he might then return to
Italy. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 14-16. 10:331-339}
3072. At Samos, Aemilius, the praetor, and Eumenes received letters from the
Scipios, saying there was a truce with the Aetolians and they were to march
toward the Hellespont. The Aetolians had informed Antiochus and his son
Seleucus about this, also. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 8. 5:249}
3073. Eumenes sent his agents into Achaia to make an alliance with them which
the people had ratified in a general assembly, and also sent him a company of
tall young men to assist him. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 3. 5:239}
3074. Aemilius with all his fleet sailed past Miletus and the other cities of
that coast and landing in the Bay of Bargylia, they went to Iasus. The city was
held by a garrison of Antiochus' men, so they sent to the magistrates and other
chief men of the city to persuade them to surrender. When they were told that
they would do nothing, Aemilius drew up to the walls in order to besiege it.
But the exiles of Iasus, who were among the Rhodians, prevailed with them and
through Eumenes' mediation, they pulled back and abandoned the siege. {*Livy,
l. 37. c. 17. s. 1-8. 10:339,341} [L534]
3075. The people of Heraclea in Pontus sent envoys to Aemilius. He sent them a
very kind and favourable answer in writing, purporting that the Senate of Rome
would be their good friends. Further, neither their counsel nor their concerns
would be ignored whenever the Heracleans should have an occasion to use them.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 28.}
3076. While Eumenes was away helping the Romans and Rhodians attack the sea
towns of Lycia, Seleucus and his army invaded his country. They first came in a
hostile manner to Elaea. When they were unable to take the city, they wasted
all the country around it. From there, Seleucus marched with all his forces to
Pergamum itself, the capital city of this kingdom. Attalus, Eumenes' brother,
drew out and pitched his camp before the city walls, where he had engaged in
many skirmishes with the enemy. He was too weak to fight them, so he withdrew
behind the walls and remained there and the city was besieged. {Memnon,
Excerpts, c. 28.}
3077. About the same time, Antiochus went from Apamea and first camped at
Sardis, not far from his son Seleucus, near the head of the Caicus River. He
had with him a large army made up of men from various countries. The strongest,
most frightening squadron in it was from the Galatians, and consisted of four
thousand soldiers. With these and a few others, he went to ravage and waste all
the country about Pergamum from one end to the other. {Memnon, Excerpts, c.
28.}
3078. At Samos, Eumenes heard this and so was called away to take care of his
own affairs at home. He sailed with all his men and came to Elaea, from where
he went to Pergamum before the enemy heard of his arrival. He frequently sailed
out from there and engaged in some small skirmishes with the enemy. A few days
later, both the Roman and the Rhodian fleet came from Samos to Elaea to help
him. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 28.}
3079. Antiochus heard that there were so many fleets coming together into the
same port. A consul was already in Macedonia with his army and making
provisions at the Hellespont for his crossing into Asia. Antiochus thought it a
good time to try for a peace with Eumenes, the Romans and the Rhodians all at
once. So he moved his camp and came to Elaea. After taking a little hill
opposite the city, he left all his foot soldiers and with his cavalry (about six
thousand men) went down into a plain close to the walls of the city. He sent
some commissioners into the city to ask for peace. Whereupon Lucius Aemilius
sent for Eumenes to come there to him from Pergamum. Eumenes advised what he
considered to be the best course of action. Eudamus and Pamphilidas, the
commanders of the Rhodian fleet, were also there, giving advice, and said the
Rhodians were not against a peace. Eumenes said that it was not in the
interests of their honour to make a peace treaty. However, they were unable to
settle the matter at that time, so Aemilius sent Antiochus word that no peace
could be made before the coming of the consul. [E390] When he heard this reply,
Antiochus started wasting the country all around Elaea. He left Seleucus to
continue the siege before Pergamum and marched away in a rage with the rest of
his army. He did not stop until he came into that rich country which was called
Thebes' Campus, that is, the plain of Thebes. He created all manner of havock
there and greatly enriched all his army for the time being. {*Polybius, l. 21.
c. 10. 5:251,253} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 18,19. 10:341-347}
3080. At the same time, the Achaeans sent Diophanes of Megalopolis, with a
thousand foot soldiers and a hundred cavalry, to Elaea for Eumenes. {*Polybius,
l. 21. c. 3b. 5:239,241} These were old veterans and their captain had been
trained under Philopoemen, the most famous commander of all the Greeks in his
time. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 20. s. 1-3. 10:347} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 9.
5:249} [L535]
3081. As soon as they had landed, Attalus sent some men to show them the way
and so brought them to Pergamum. As soon as these Achaeans arrived, they made
continual sallies against Seleucus to make him withdraw and leave that country.
Nevertheless, Seleucus stayed in the area and annoyed his foes and helped his
friends in those regions. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 5. (26)
2:151,153} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 20,21. 10:347-351}
3082. While Antiochus marched in a hostile manner to Adramyttium, Aemilius and
Eumenes came by sea to rescue it. Consequently, Antiochus did not attack the
town, but started plundering the country around it. He captured Peraea, a
colony of the Mitylenians. Likewise, he took Cottos, Corylenus, the
Aphrodisians and Prinne on the first assault. He then returned to Sardis by way
of Thyatira. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 21. s. 4-7. 10:351,353}
3083. The Roman fleet, together with the Rhodians and Eumenes, first went to
Mitylene and from there returned to Elaea. They sailed to Phocaea and anchored
at Bacchium, an island very close to the city of Phocaea. They plundered their
temples and monuments, which they had previously spared. When they came to the
city, they found that a company of three thousand of Antiochus' foot soldiers
had managed to get in there before they came. Hence, they did not besiege the
place, but returned to the island where they had been before. After first
ravaging the country around there, the Roman fleet returned to Elaea, and
Eumenes and the Rhodians to Samos. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 21,22. 10:353}
3814d AM, 4524 JP, 190 BC
3084. About midsummer, the Rhodian fleet fought with Antiochus' navy. The
Rhodian fleet had thirty-two ships of four tiers of oars and four others of
three tiers of oars. Hannibal brought a fleet of thirty-seven ships from Syria,
some of which were of an extraordinary size. The battle took place at Sida, a
cape of Pamphylia. The Rhodians routed Hannibal, but could not pursue him,
because their sailors were weak and sickly. However, to prevent him from
joining with the old fleet, they sent Chariclitus and twenty ships to Patara and
the harbour of Megiste. Shortly after this, they sent Pamphilidas with four
more ships, {*Livy, l. 37. c. 23,24. 10:357-361} and so Hannibal was
blockaded in Pamphylia. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 6. (28) 2:157}
{Emilius Probus, Hannibal}
3085. When Antiochus came to Sardis, he sent envoys with letters to Prusias,
the king of Bithynia, who was surnamed Cynegus, that is, The Hunter. He wanted
Prusias to join with him against the Romans. This initially worried Prusias.
However, other letters came to him from the two brothers, Lucius and Publius
Scipio, telling him not to fear the Romans. This was confirmed to him when,
shortly after this, an embassy was sent to him from Rome. Its leader was Gaius
Livius, who had recently commanded their fleet. When Prusias spoke with them,
he resolved to side with the Romans and to break off entirely with Antiochus.
{*Polybius, l. 21. c. 11. 5:253-257} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 25. s. 5-14.
10:363,365} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 5. (23) 2:147} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 1. (2) 2:241,243}
3086. When Antiochus saw no further hope of getting Prusias on his side, he
moved from Sardis to Ephesus. There, he inspected his fleet, which had been in
preparation for a long time. He saw no other way of preventing the Romans from
moving their land army into Asia than to make himself absolute master of the
sea. He resolved to do what he could and to risk a naval battle. {*Polybius,
l. 21. c. 11. s. 13. 5:257} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 26. s. 1-3. 10:365}
[L536]
3087. Therefore, he immediately went to see whether he could take Notium, which
was a town of the Colophonians not far from where he was at Ephesus. He hoped
that when the Romans came by land to relieve their confederate town, Admiral
Polyxenidas would then have an opportunity for a major naval victory.
Polyxenidas at that time had eighty-nine or ninety good ships under his command.
Aemilius and the Rhodians fought with him at Myonnesus. Livy said that Aemilius
had fifty-eight ships and the Rhodians, twenty-two. Appian said the Rhodians
had twenty-five. Polyxenidas was defeated and with a good wind at his back,
fled quickly back to Ephesus. He lost forty-two ships (not twenty-nine only, as
Appian stated) of which thirteen quickly came into the hands of the enemy with
all their men on board. The Roman fleet had only two leaking ships and a few
others damaged. [E391] Polyxenidas captured a Rhodian ship and took it with him
to Ephesus. This battle took place in December (as the year went at that time
in Rome). {*Livy, l. 37. c. 30. 10:377-381} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11.
c. 5. (27) 2:153,155} This was the time stated by Macrobius: {Macrobius,
Saturnalia, l. 1.}
"...the 11th of the Calends of January (December 20) was a feast dedicated to
their Lares (that is, their household gods). At this time, Lucius Aemilius
Regillus, praetor, in the war against Antiochus, vowed to build a temple in the
Campus of Mars."
3088. Livy stated that his vow was performed eleven years later. {*Livy, l.
40. c. 52. s. 4,5. 12:161} There is also a copy (but most inaccurately
written) of:
"a table, containing the manner of this victory, hung up by him on the doors not
only of his new temple but also in Jupiter's temple in the Capitol."
3089. Antiochus, who was disturbed by the news of this defeat, was poorly
advised to withdraw his garrison from Lysimachia, lest the garrison should fall
into Roman hands. Raising his siege from Colophon, he retired to Sardis. He
sent letters to Ariarathes, his son-in-law in Cappadocia, to bring him troops,
both from there and everywhere else that he could find men. {*Livy, l. 37. c.
31. s. 1-4. 10:381} Meanwhile, he lay idly at Sardis wasting his time, which
might have been better spent in ordering his affairs elsewhere. {*Polybius, l.
21. c. 13. 5:257}
3815a AM, 4524 JP, 190 BC
3090. After this naval victory, Aemilius sailed straight to Ephesus and
arranged his ships in battle formation before the very mouth of the port. This
publicly showed that Antiochus had lost the mastery of the sea. Aemilius sailed
to Chios and repaired his ships which had been damaged in the battle. He sailed
to Phocaea, which had recently revolted from the Romans. First he tried to take
it directly, but it later surrendered to him. He could not prevent his soldiers
from plundering it, but he returned their city, their lands and their laws to
them. With the approach of winter, he stayed there because the place had two
ports. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 31,32. 10:381-387}
3091. About the same time, Lysimachia, which was well supplied with all types
of provisions, welcomed the Roman generals and the two Scipios when they
arrived. The Romans continued through the Chersonesus to the Hellespont and
found everything already prepared by Eumenes for their crossing. They crossed
over as if into a friend's country, and no one hindered their journey. {*Livy,
l. 37. c. 33. 10:387,389}
3092. Antiochus was at his wits' end and did not know what to do, so he sent
Heraclides of Byzantium to sue for peace with the Romans. He had instructions
both to the council of war there in general, and to Publius Scipio Africanus in
particular. The council answered him that he must pay the cost of this war and
surrender all Asia on the west side of the Taurus Mountains to the Romans.
Antiochus could not imagine anything worse than if he were to be utterly
defeated, so he abandoned any attempts for peace and prepared for war.
{*Polybius, l. 21. c. 13-15. 5:257-265} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 6. s.
7-9. 11:253,255} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 34-37. 10:389-399} {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 5. (29) 2:157-161} [L537]
3093. Lucius Scipio, the consul, journeyed to the Hellespont or Dardanus and
Rhetaeus. All the people of both places came joyfully from their cities to
greet him and his men. From there he went to Illium and pitched his camp in the
plain opposite the city walls. He went up into the city and the citadel, and
sacrificed to Athena as the goddess and protector of that place. There was much
joy and mutual congratulations between the men of Illium and the Romans. They
recounted how Aeneas and his captains, who had set out from Troy to eventually
found Rome, were their countrymen. The Romans were just as proud that they were
descended from them. They were like parents and children who had been separated
by a long absence and were now joyfully reunited. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 37. s.
1-3. 10:395.397} {Justin, Trogus, l. 31. c. 8.} Demetrius of Scepsis said of
himself that when he had come to Illium as a boy, he had seen their houses lying
in such a poor state that they did not so much as have roof tiles with which to
cover them. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 27. 6:53}
3094. Scipio left there and on the sixth day of marching, came to the head of
the Caicus River, where Eumenes met him with his forces. They made provision
for food to carry with them for many days, as they planned to attack Antiochus
and settle the business before winter came. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 37. s. 4,5.
10:397}
3095. Publius Scipio Africanus became sick and was carried to Elaea. He left
his substitute, Gnaeus Domitius, to take over his responsibilities. Antiochus
intercepted Scipio's son in a plain near Thyatira, not far from the enemy. He
sent the young Publius Scipio home to his father without a ransom. This was to
ease his mind and to help him get well again. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 15.
5:262,263} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 37. s. 6-11. 10:397,399} {Justin, Trogus, l.
31. c. 7.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 6. (30) 2:161} {Aurelius
Victor, De Viris Illustribus, c. 64.} {*Dio, l. 19. (62) 2:317} [E392]
3096. The Senate and people of Heraclea in Pontus sent an embassy to the
Scipios, and desired that they would ask them to ratify and confirm the league
which Aemilius had previously made with them. This was done. They also
requested that Antiochus might be received into the favour and friendship of the
people of Rome. Having drawn up a general decree of the people at Heraclea,
they sent it to Antiochus and advised him to abandon the war against the Romans.
{Memnon, Excerpts, c. 28.}
3097. Florus stated that Antiochus had equipped his army with very large
elephants all decked out and glittering with gold, silver, purple and ivory from
elephants. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 24. s. 16,17. 1:123} In the Apocrypha we
read that he had a hundred and twenty elephants. {Apc 1Ma 8:6} This is likely
correct, for he had a hundred and two when he fought with Ptolemy and a hundred
and fifty later. {See note on 3787c AM. <<2923>>} {See note on 3800a
AM.
<<2956>>} Livy said he had only fifty-four elephants, sixty thousand
foot
soldiers and almost twelve thousand cavalry. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 37. s. 9.
10:399} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 39. s. 13. 10:405} Appian stated that he only
had seventy thousand troops in all. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 6.
(32) 2:165} However, Florus greatly exaggerating when he said: {*Florus, l. 1.
c. 24. s. 16. 1:123}
"He had three hundred thousand foot soldiers and an equal number of cavalry and
scythed chariots in the field that day."
3098. Appian stated that the Romans had only thirty thousand foot soldiers.
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 6. (31) 2:163} Livy said that of these,
about two thousand Macedonians and Thracians were left to defend the camp.
{*Livy, l. 37. c. 39. s. 12,13. 10:405}
3099. This battle was fought near Magnesia at the foot of the Sipylus Hill.
Hannibal was not there, since he was still bottled up in Pamphylia with the
fleet which he had brought from Syria. Publius Scipio Africanus was not there
either, because he was sick and in the city of Elaea. The day of the battle was
misty. Antiochus, with so large an army, could not see both wings of his army
at once. The dampness ruined the strings of the bows and thongs with which they
shot their arrows. Nevertheless, they forced the right wing of the Roman army
to run and flee to their camp. [L538] When Aemilius, who was on the left wing,
saw them coming, he sent out his men to meet them. They threatened to kill them
with their swords unless they returned into the battle. Thereupon, they found
themselves hemmed in with their friends ahead of them and the enemies behind.
Aemilius also offered to go with them himself with two thousand of his men. So
they turned around and ran desperately into the throng of the enemy and made a
vast slaughter of them. This was the turning point in the battle. Antiochus
lost fifty thousand foot soldiers and three thousand cavalry. {*Livy, l. 37.
c. 41-43. 10:409-419} {Eutropius} Livy said fourteen hundred were taken
prisoner, while Justin said there were eleven thousand captured. A few of the
elephants were killed and fifteen were taken with their masters. A few of the
Romans were wounded. They lost not more than three hundred foot soldiers and
twenty-four cavalry. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 44. s. 1,2. 10:419} Eumenes lost
twenty-five men.
3100. Antiochus escaped with a few in his company. More joined him along the
way and he arrived at Sardis with a moderately sized army about midnight. He
heard that his son Seleucus and various of his friends had fled to Celaenae,
near which the new city of Apamea had been built. Before day, he went on
horseback with his wife and daughter and joined him there, having left Xeno to
hold Sardis. He made Timo the governor of the province of Lydia and left some
of his captains there to salvage what they could from this disaster. The next
day he went to Syria. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 44. s. 5-7. 10:419} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 6. (36) 2:173} {*Dio, l. 19. (2) 2:321 (Zonaras, l.
9. c. 20.)}
3101. When Polyxenidas, Antiochus' admiral, heard of this defeat, he left
Ephesus and sailed as far as Patara in Lycia. For fear of the Rhodian fleet,
which lay not far from Megiste, he went ashore with a few of his company and
reached Syria by land. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 45. s. 1-3. 10:421}
3102. After this victory, envoys from all parts flocked to Scipio. They first
came from Thyatira and Magnesia. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 44. s. 5. 10:419} Then
they came from Sardis, Tralles, Ephesus and that Magnesia which was on the
Meander River. They all surrendered themselves to him, after which all the
cities of Asia did likewise. They submitted themselves wholly to his mercy and
the sovereignty of the people of Rome. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 45. s. 1-3.
10:421}
3103. The consul then went to Sardis, and his brother Publius Scipio came from
Elaea to meet him as soon as he was able to travel. About the same time Musaeus
was sent as a herald from Antiochus. Through the mediation of Publius Scipio,
he obtained permission for Antiochus to send envoys to the consul to sue for
peace. Shortly after this, Antiochus sent envoys from Zeuxis, the governor of
Lydia, and Antipater's brother's son came to Publius Scipio. They first talked
with Eumenes, who was not friendly toward them because of the former quarrels
between Antiochus and Eumenes himself. So the envoys worked through Publius
Scipio, to address the consul directly. [E393] The consul called a full council
and having listened to them, offered the king the same conditions that he had
sent him from the Hellespont, before the battle at Magnesia. Publius Scipio
publicly proclaimed that the Roman custom was not to be humiliated by defeat nor
to become haughty in victory. Therefore, Antiochus was to leave Europe and part
with all of Asia on the west side of the Taurus Mountains. He would have to pay
the cost of this war. He was to pay fifteen thousand Euboean talents, five
hundred immediately, twenty-five hundred when the Senate and people of Rome had
ratified the peace, and a thousand talents a year in twelve instalments over
twelve years. He was to pay four hundred talents to Eumenes for his damages and
the balance of grain which was owing to Eumenes' father. He had to surrender to
the consul, Hannibal, the Carthaginian, and to Thoas, the Aetolian, and some
others who had been the first instigators of this war. Lastly, Antiochus would
have to deliver twenty hostages, to ensure compliance with these conditions.
[L539] When Antipater and Zeuxis had accepted these conditions, it was
unanimously agreed to send envoys to Rome for their ratification, whereupon the
meeting adjourned. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 16,17. 5:265-269} {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 29. c. 8. s. 10. 11:255,257} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 45. 10:421-427}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 31. c. 8.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7.
(38,39) 2:177-181}
3104. After this, the consul divided his army and sent them away to their
winter quarters. Some went to Magnesia, and some to Tralles and Ephesus.
{*Livy, l. 37. c. 45. s. 19,20. 10:425} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 17. s.
11,12. 5:269}
3105. The consul went to Ephesus and Antiochus sent him five hundred talents as
agreed for a down payment, as well as the hostages whom he was to hand over.
{*Livy, l. 37. c. 45. s. 20. 10:425} Among them was Antiochus, the king's
youngest son. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (39) 2:181} However,
Zonaras stated that it was Gnaeus Manlius Vulso, who succeeded Scipio, who first
demanded the king's youngest son for a hostage. {*Dio, l. 19. (2) 2:321
(Zonaras, l. 9. c. 20.)}
3815b AM, 4525 JP, 189 BC
3106. Marcus Aurelius Cotta was sent to Rome by the consul, with Antiochus'
envoys. Eumenes and his envoys also went, as well as envoys from Rhodes,
Smyrna, and almost all of the cities and states on the west side of the Taurus
Mountains. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 52. s. 1,2. 10:441,443}
3107. Manius Acilius Glabrio entered Rome in a triumph over Antiochus and the
Aetolians. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 46. s. 2,3. 10:427}
3815c AM, 4525 JP, 189 BC
3108. Gnaeus Manlius Vulso, the consul, went into Asia to take over the army
which was under Lucius Scipio. He brought with him from Rome four thousand foot
soldiers and two hundred cavalry, while the Latins sent eight thousand foot
soldiers and four hundred cavalry. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 50. s. 1,2. 10:437}
At almost the same time as Manlius, the consul, landed in Asia, Quintus Fabius
Labeo came as the praetor to take charge of the fleet. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 60.
s. 1. 10:477} When the new consul arrived at Ephesus at the beginning of the
spring, Lucius Scipio turned the army over to him. After he had reviewed the
troops, he made a speech to incite them to prepare for a war against the Gauls,
or Galatians. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 60. s. 1,2. 10:477} {*Livy, l. 38. c.
12. s. 2. 11:37,39} Fabius set sail with the fleet for Crete, to liberate any
Romans and other Italians who were slaves there, after which he returned to
Ephesus and sent three ships to Thrace. He ordered Antiochus' garrisons to
withdraw from Aenos and Maronea, and then these places were restored to their
original liberty. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 60. s. 3-7. 10:477,479}
3109. About the beginning of summer, Eumenes and the envoys came to Rome.
Cotta first told the Senate and later the common people what had happened in
Asia. Then Eumenes was asked by the Senate to speak. He told them what he had
done in their service and what his request to them was, while being very
moderate in his presentation. The Rhodians, however, opposed him because of
their own interests and because they sought the liberty of the Greek cities and
states in Asia. After both parties had been heard, the Senate decreed that all
the regions on the west side of the Taurus Mountains which belonged to Antiochus
would be given to Eumenes. But Lycia and Caria, as far as the Meander River,
were given to the Rhodians. The rest of the cities in Asia, which had been
tributaries to Attalus, would pay tribute to Eumenes, whereas those that were
tributaries of Antiochus would be free and pay no tribute at all. {*Polybius,
l. 21. c. 18-24. 5:269-287} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 52-56. 10:441-467} {*Livy,
l. 38. c. 38. 11:123-131} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (44)
2:191} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 11. 11:257}
3110. Antipater and Zeuxis, the envoys of Antiochus, had a session in the
Senate and obtained a confirmation of peace for Antiochus on the same conditions
that Scipio had given him in Asia. A while later, the people also ratified
this. Then they made a solemn league with Antipater, chief of the embassy for
Antiochus, with sacrifices in the Capitol to confirm the agreement. {*Polybius,
l. 21. c. 24. 5:285,287} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 55. s. 1-3. 10:461} [L540]
This league was etched in brass and solemnly hung up in the Capitol, as other
leagues were. A copy of it was sent to Manlius Vulso, the consul, who had
succeeded Scipio in Asia. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (39) 2:181}
[E394]
3111. Under this treaty, Antiochus himself and his successors would pay a large
tribute to the Romans. {Apc 1Ma 8:7} He would give hostages for security, as
well as a part of his kingdom. According to this agreement, Antiochus was to
pay twelve thousand talents over twelve years. These were Euboic talents, not
Attic talents, as Livy seems to have misunderstood from Polybius. They were of
the purest Attic silver and weighed eighty Roman pounds each. In addition, he
had to give five hundred and forty thousand bushels of grain and twenty
hostages. The hostages would be changed every three years. Even though he lost
part of the kingdom, he still controlled Commagene, Syria and Judea. {Memnon,
Excerpts, c. 28.} In addition, he had all the upper provinces beyond the
Euphrates River, like Babylonia, Assyria, Susiana, and the rest. In lower Asia
he had Cilicia, although he was forbidden to come into the ports of Cilicia with
his ships; he also had the territory west of the Calycadnus River and the cape
of Sarpedon, with the condition that he could not wage war there. {*Polybius,
l. 21. c. 42. 5:333-339} {*Livy, l. 38. c. 38. 11:123-131} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (38,39) 2:177-181}
3112. When the Senate heard from the envoys of Smyrna and the other states of
Asia, they sent ten commissioners, as was their ancient custom, to manage all
matters in Asia and to settle any differences between the states. {*Polybius,
l. 21. c. 41. s. 6-10. 5:333} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 11. 11:257}
{*Livy, l. 37. c. 55. s. 7. 10:463}
3815d AM, 4525 JP, 189 BC
3113. At the time that there was peace between the Romans and Antiochus, there
was a riot in Rome. In Asia, Gnaeus Manlius did what he could to stir up
trouble there. He tried to get his hands on Antiochus if at all possible, but
failed, because Antiochus knew the consul's real intentions. Although he was
often asked to come to a conference with the consul, he kept himself aloof and
would not come to him. The consul was keen to get him and came with his army to
the divide almost at the top of the Taurus Mountains, but he was unable to pick
any quarrel against him or his allies. Therefore, the consul attacked the
Galatians, under the pretence that they had previously helped Antiochus in his
war. There was no point driving Antiochus beyond the Taurus Mountains unless
these fierce and warlike people were also subdued. Since Eumenes was at that
time out of the country at Rome, the consul, who had moved from Ephesus to
Magnesia, sent for Eumenes' brother, Attalus, to come to him from Pergamum.
When Attalus received this summons, he came to him with a thousand foot soldiers
and about five hundred cavalry. Together they went to the Harpasus River.
Athenaeus, another brother of Eumenes and Attalus, came to him with Leusus of
Crete and Corragus, a Macedonian. Between them, they brought an additional
thousand foot soldiers from various countries and three hundred cavalry.
{*Livy, l. 38. c. 12,13. 11:37-41}
3114. Envoys from the state of Alabanda came to the consul and requested help
in subduing a citadel that had recently revolted from them. The consul helped
them recover the citadel, after which he continued on to the city of Antioch on
the Meander River. Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, also came there, as he was
legally entitled to do by the articles with Scipio. He came to supply grain for
the Roman army. The inhabitants of Taba, a city of Cilicia bordering upon
Pisidia, attacked the army of the Romans and for their pains paid twenty-five
talents and ten thousand bushels of wheat. The inhabitants asked for mercy. On
the third day after the Romans came back to the Casus River, they went to attack
the city of Eriza, which they took on the first assault. {*Livy, l. 38. c.
13,14. 11:41-45} [L541]
3115. Moagetes, the tyrant, who had three cities under him, Cibyra, Syleium and
Ad Limnen, was a cruel and crafty man. He could barely be persuaded to purchase
his peace at the price of a hundred talents and ten thousand bushels of grain.
{*Livy, l. 38. c. 13,14. 11:41-45} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 33,34.
5:315-319}
3116. When the consul had crossed the Colobatus River, envoys came to him from
Isiodenses, asking for help. The men of Termessa, a city in Pisidia, had joined
with the inhabitants of Philomelus and plundered their country and city. They
had besieged their citadel, into which all their citizens had fled for safety
with their wives and children. The consul took control of the situation and
marched toward Pamphylia. He raised the siege of Isiodenses and pardoned the
men of Termessa, after they had paid fifty talents of silver. The people of
Aspendus and of Pamphylia were treated likewise. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 15.
11:45,49} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 33,34. 5:319,321}
3816a AM, 4525 JP, 189 BC
3117. The consul returned from Pamphylia to start his war against Galatia. He
captured the city of Cormasa, where he found a great deal of booty. He left
there and as he proceeded on his way through the marshes of that country, envoys
came to him from the city of Lysinoe and submitted to him. After having granted
them his mercy, he came to the plain of Sagalassus in Pisidia. Since no embassy
came out to meet him, he sent out parties to plunder the fields. [E395] Envoys
came to him and presented him with a crown of gold of fifty talents in weight
and with twenty thousand bushels each of barley and wheat, so he made peace with
them. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 15. s. 7-12. 11:49} {*Polybius, l. 21. c.
35,36. 5:319,321}
3118. From there he went to the Rhotrine Springs, the source of the Obryma
River, and camped at a place called the Acordos Come. The next day Seleucus
came to him from Apamea. The consul sent away to Apamea those of his soldiers
who were sick, or otherwise unserviceable. He was supplied with guides, but
found the cities everywhere abandoned by their inhabitants, in fear of his
coming. His army had so much spoil, that they were barely able to march five
miles a day. Marching at this rate, they came to the Old Beudos and on the
third day after that, into the country of Galatia. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 15. s.
12-15. 11:49}
3119. There the consul camped for a few days, during which time he sent his
envoys to Eposognatus, who alone of all the kings of that country had remained
loyal to Eumenes and had never helped Antiochus against the Romans. Eposognatus
subsequently went to the rest of the kings of that country and asked them to
submit to the Romans on fair and reasonable terms. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 18. s.
1-3. 11:61} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 37. 5:321} At that time three kings were
ruling these Gauls, who were still known by their old names of the
Tolostobogians, Tectosagians and Trocmians. The three kings were Ortiagon,
Combolomarus and Gaulotus. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 19. s. 1-3. 11:65,67} Of the
three, Ortiagon was a man of great reputation for his bounty, prudence and
martial valour, and was believed at that time to be harbouring the ambition of
controlling the whole country. {*Polybius, l. 22. c. 21. 5:389} {Suidas,
Ortiagon}
3120. Meanwhile, envoys came from Oroanda to the consul as he camped in a
village called Tyscon. They wanted his friendship, which he finally gave to
them for two hundred talents. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 18. s. 1-3. 11:61}
3121. While the Romans besieged Cuballum, which was a citadel of the Galatians,
the enemy's cavalry arrived. They attacked and killed some of the Roman army
and caused quite a disruption. The consul repelled the attack and killed some
of them as they were fleeing. Without stopping anywhere on the way, he came
with his army to the Sangarius or Sagaris River, which is a river in Galatia
running through Phrygia into the Pontic Sea. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 18. s. 5-8.
11:63}
3122. Since the river was too deep to ford, he made a bridge, by means of which
he crossed the river. Two Galli, or eunuchs of Cybele, the mother of the gods,
were sent from Pessinus by her priests, Attis and Battacus, and met him there
with ornaments and other trinkets on them. They prophesied in a fantastic way
and told him that the mother of the gods had sent them to offer the Romans the
victory and sovereignty over that country. [L542] The consul replied that he
accepted the offer and pitched his camp in that very spot. {*Livy, l. 38. c.
18. s. 9-11. 11:63,65} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 37. s. 4-7. 5:321,323}
3123. The next day he came to Gordium, which had been abandoned by the
inhabitants, but was full of all kinds of provisions. While he was there,
Eposognatus came to him and said that he had spoken with the kings of the Gauls,
but could not bring them to listen to reason. They, with their wives and
children and most of their wealth, were all retiring to Mount Olympus, where
they planned to defend themselves, trusting in their arms and the location of
the place. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 18. s. 12-15. 11:65} {*Polybius, l. 21. c.
37. s. 8,9. 5:323} Some men of the tribe of Oroanda came soon after with more
detailed news. The Tolostobogians had already taken Mount Olympus and the
Tectosagians had taken another hill, called Magaba. The Trocmians had left
their wives and children with the Tectosagians and had joined forces with the
Tolostobogians. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 19. 11:65,67}
3124. The camp of these Gauls, on Mount Olympus, was attacked and taken by the
consul and Attalus. Claudius Quadrigarius said that they fought twice on Mount
Olympus. Forty thousand men were killed. However, Valerius Antias said only
ten thousand were killed. There is no doubt that forty thousand were killed,
since they had all sorts of people, young and old, of either sex on the mount,
making it more like a colony than an army for fighting against an enemy. The
consul burned all their arms in one large fire and had all their spoil brought
to him. He either sold all that could be sold or equally divided it among his
soldiers. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 20-23. 11:67-81}
3125. However, the war with the Tectosagians still waited to be fought. So the
consul marched toward them and came to a place called Ancyra, which was a large
city thereabouts. They camped less than ten miles from the enemy. There,
Chiomara, Ortiagon's (or Orgaigo's) wife, was taken prisoner. [E396] A certain
centurion had ravished her and when she got her chance, she cut off his head and
took it to her husband who had gone home from Mount Olympus. She threw the head
at his feet, at which he was astonished and said, "Ah my wife, it is good to
keep faith." "Yes," she replied, "but it is better still that only one man who
has lain with me should remain alive." {*Livy, l. 38. c. 24. 11:83.85}
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 27. s. 6. 1:129} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 38.
5:323,325} {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 55.} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 6. c. 1. ext. 2. 2;13} This story was more fully related by
Polybius, who said that he spoke with Chiomara herself at Sardis. He added that
he was amazed at the wisdom of the woman. {*Plutarch, Bravery of Women
Chiomara, l. 1. c. 22. (258e) 3:557,559}
3126. While the consul camped at Ancyra, some envoys from the Tectosagians came
to him, asking him not to move his army from there, but to come out for a
parley. They wanted this done before their kings agreed to a treaty with him
about a peace. Under the pretence of a parley, they ambushed a party of the
Romans, and since they outnumbered the Romans, they killed many of them. They
would have done more damage, had not others of their number, who were abroad
foraging, heard their cry and come to their rescue. {*Polybius, l. 21. c.
39. 5:325,327} {*Livy, l. 38. c. 25. 11:85-89}
3127. The Romans were enraged at this. The next day the whole army marched and
came to where they were. They spent two days in viewing and considering the
situation of the hill where they were. On the third day, the consul drew out
his army and divided them into three brigades. The main force of the enemy was
in the Tectosagians and Trocmians, who numbered fifty thousand foot soldiers
plus the cavalry. Since they could make no use of their cavalry on that craggy
ground, they added ten thousand of them to their foot soldiers. The
Cappadocians who were sent by Ariarathes and others in the left wing who were
sent by Morzius, added a further four thousand troops. [L543] When the battle
began, the Gauls were defeated and the Romans slaughtered a great many of them.
The rest fled and every man fended for himself. In the chase, the Romans killed
another eight thousand and the rest escaped over the Halys River.
3128. The next day, the consul viewed the spoil, as well as the prisoners. The
men were gnawing the chains they were tied to, using their teeth, and were
offering themselves to be choked by each other. The spoil was very great, as
this was a most greedy and rapacious country, which for so many years had taken
spoil from all Asia on their side of the Taurus Mountains. The Gauls who had
escaped came together later, naked and wounded, having lost all they had. So
they agreed among themselves to send to the Romans and sue for peace. The
consul wanted them to follow him to Ephesus. It was past mid-autumn and he was
anxious to get out of that cold air near the snowy Taurus Mountains and go to
the sea coast to winter his army. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 26,27. 11:89-93}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (42) 2:187,189} {*Florus, l. 1. c.
27. s. 1-5. 1:127}
3129. At Rome, on the Calends or 1st of February (according to their year, but
September 27 by ours), Lucius Aemilius Regillus held a triumph over Antiochus
for the victory which he had won at sea. {*Livy, l. 37. c. 58. s. 3-5.
10:473}
3130. About this time, the ten commissioners left Rome for Asia, accompanied
by, among others, those envoys who had come from Asia. They came to Brundisium.
Lucius and Publius Scipio came from Asia to land in Italy, and a few days later
they entered Rome with a triumph. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 24. s. 16,17.
5:287} Lucius Scipio held a triumph over Antiochus on the last day before March
of the intercalary month, or the 16th of our November. This was almost a year
after his consulship had expired. So that he might not appear inferior to his
brother Africanus in any point, everyone surnamed him Asiaticus. {*Livy, l.
37. c. 58,59. 10:473-477}
3131. Gnaeus Manlius Vulso remained in Asia as a proconsul for another year
after his term as consul had expired. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 37. s. 1. 11:121}
3816b AM, 4526 JP, 188 BC
3132. In the fourth year of the 147th Olympiad, envoys came to Manlius the
proconsul while he was wintering at Ephesus. They came from all the cities,
states and countries in Asia on the west side of the Taurus Mountains, to
congratulate him on his victory over the Gauls. They presented him with crowns
of gold, while he entertained them all with so much respect and favour, that he
sent them away more glad and joyful than when they had come. Envoys from the
Gauls came to him as he had arranged, to find out on what conditions they could
have their peace. He said that he would speak with them about that matter when
Eumenes came, and not before. Envoys also came from Ariarathes, king of
Cappadocia, to ask the consul's pardon and to make good his offence with money
in that he had assisted Antiochus, his father-in-law, in his war. He was fined
six hundred talents of silver, although Appian said it was only two hundred.
Musaeus also came to him from Antiochus. Manlius answered that he would meet
with him at the borders of Pamphylia, and would take the twenty-five hundred
talents and the grain which he was to pay, according to the agreement made with
him by Lucius Scipio. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 40. 5:329,331} {*Livy, l. 38.
c. 37. 11:121,123} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (42) 2:187,189}
[E397]
3816c AM, 4526 JP, 188 BC
3133. At the beginning of the spring, the consul reviewed his army. He and
Attalus left Ephesus and on the eighth day came to Apamea. When they had spent
three days there, they left and in a further three days came with their army
into Pamphylia to the place which the consul had appointed for his meeting with
Antiochus. He stayed there for three days and distributed among his army the
wheat which Antiochus had sent, while the money he had sent was consigned to one
of the officers to be conveyed to Apamea. [L544] He next went to Perga, the
only place in all that country which was defended by a garrison. As he
approached it, the captain of the garrison came out to meet him and asked for a
truce for forty days, to enable him to ask Antiochus what he should do about the
surrender of the place to the consul and to receive his answer. This was
granted and on the set day, the garrison left. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 37. s.
9-11. 11:123}
3134. About the same time, near the beginning of summer, the ten commissioners
arrived at Ephesus with Eumenes. They stayed for only two days to settle their
stomachs after the voyage, then they left and came to Apamea. When the
proconsul heard of their coming, he sent his brother Lucius Manlius with four
thousand soldiers to Oroanda to demand of them the money that was in arrears.
The proconsul requested that the envoys of Antiochus follow him, and returned to
Apamea with his army. Finding Eumenes there with the ten commissioners, he held
a meeting with them to determine what should be done. First, all agreed to
ratify the peace previously made with Antiochus, that it be observed just as it
had been drawn up by the Senate. (The details of the agreement were accurately
given by Polybius and Livy.) Manlius, the proconsul, took a solemn oath in the
presence of the king's envoys to observe the agreement. After that, he sent
Quintus Minucius Thermus, a colonel, and his own brother Lucius Manlius, who had
just returned from Oroanda with the money which he had been sent for, to
Antiochus. They were to take the same oath from Antiochus and to ratify all its
conditions. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 41-43. 5:331-339} {*Livy, l. 38. c.
38,39. 11:123-131} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (39) 2:181}
3135. The proconsul wrote letters to Quintus Fabius Labeo, who commanded the
navy, to go at once to Patara. He was to burn or destroy all the king's ships
that were there. {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 43. 5:339} {*Livy, l. 38. c. 39.
s. 1-3. 11:131}
3136. Labeo left Ephesus and came to Patara, where he burned or destroyed fifty
of the king's ships. On the same journey, he recovered Telmessus, surprising
the men there by the sudden coming of the Roman fleet. He sailed from Lycia,
sending word to Ephesus for ordering those who were left there to follow him.
Passing through the middle of the islands on his way into Greece, he stayed a
few days at Athens until his ships from Ephesus arrived, and then the whole
fleet sailed for Italy. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 39. s. 3,4. 11:131}
3137. In accordance with the peace treaty, the proconsul received from
Antiochus the elephants which were at Apamea, according to Polybius. He then
gave them all to Eumenes, after which he mediated in the disagreements between
the cities and states resulting from the war and the new peace. Ariarathes, the
king of Cappadocia, had half his fine removed for Eumenes' sake, to whom he had
then recently betrothed his daughter. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 39. s. 5-7.
11:131}
3138. At Apamea, the proconsul and the ten commissioners heard all the
representatives that came to them. With the consent of all parties, they
selected neutral places in which to hear about the differences between city and
city with respect to boundaries, revenue and the like. The proconsul and the
commissioners relieved the Colophonians, who lived in Notium, as well as the
inhabitants of Cyme and Mylasa, from ever having to pay tribute. The
Clazomenians were freed from tribute and the isle of Drymussa, lying opposite
their city, was assigned to them. The Milesians were given back the place
called Sacer Ager, that is, the Sacred Land, which they had abandoned for fear
of their enemies. For their zeal and readiness to help in the war, the peoples
of Chios, Smyrna and Erythrae were given all the lands they wanted to have, and
were given a singular recommendation for their actions. The inhabitants of
Phocaea had their laws and liberties fully restored to them, along with all the
territory which they had possessed before the war began. {*Livy, l. 38. c.
39. s. 8-15. 11:133} {*Polybius, l. 21. c. 45. 5:339,341}
3139. To Illium, they gave the cities and lands of Rhoetium and the Gergithes,
not so much for any great service which they had done, but because the people of
Illium were related to the Romans from the distant past. {*Livy, l. 38. c.
39. s. 10. 11:133}
3140. Previously, there had been a few places belonging to Eumenes at Pergamum
and under its jurisdiction. [L545] These extended only to the seaside near the
Elaitic and Adramyttium Gulfs, according to Strabo. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1.
s. 51. 6:103} [E398] To Eumenes they gave Lysimachia and the Chersonesus of
Thrace on the European side, while in Asia he received all Lycaonia, Myllus,
Greater and Lesser Phrygia and all the countries of Lydia and Ionia. The towns
which were free when the battle was fought with Antiochus were exempted. They
also gave him Tralles, Ephesus and Telmessus in Lycia. Since he had previously
controlled Mysia, before King Prusias had captured it, this land was restored to
him. They deferred the allocation of Pamphylia to the Senate, as Eumenes'
envoys said it was on the west side of the Taurus Mountains and the envoys of
Antiochus said it lay beyond it. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 39. s. 14-17.
11:133,135} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 56. s. 1-4. 10:463,465} {*Polybius, l. 21.
c. 45. s. 9-12. 5:341,343}
3141. The two Rhodian envoys, Theaedetus and Philophron, wished to have Lycia
and Caria, according to a former decree of the Senate. Hipparchus and Satyrus,
the envoys from Illium, most earnestly asked the commissioners to consider the
blood ties between them and the Lycians, and to pardon the Lycians. The
commissioners tried to satisfy both parties as best they could. They did not
fine the Lycians as a favour to those from Illium. However, they assigned the
whole country of the Lycians to the Rhodians to satisfy their wishes, as well.
The city of Telmessus and its citadels, and the country belonging to Ptolemy of
Telmessus, were not given to Rhodes. Caria and everything beyond the Meander
River was given to the Rhodians, with the exception of those places which had
been free on the day before the battle against Antiochus at Magnesia. {*Livy,
l. 38. c. 39. s. 13. 11:133} {*Livy, l. 37. c. 56. s. 5,6. 10:465}
{*Polybius, l. 22. c. 5. 5:351,353}
3142. The Lycians protested publicly that they would risk anything rather than
be subject to Rhodes. They claimed that they were assigned by the commissioners
as friends and associates to them, not as subjects. {*Polybius, l. 22. c. 5.
s. 10. 5:353}
3143. The commissioners, according to the articles of the peace, demanded
Hannibal from Antiochus. When Antiochus told Hannibal this, he fled from there
and went to Gortyna in Crete. {Justin, Trogus, l. 32. c. 4.} {Emilius
Probus, Hannibal} Yet the story is that, when Antiochus was defeated by the
Romans, Hannibal first fled to Artaxas (or Artaxias), the Armenian, whom he gave
much good counsel. He told Artaxas to build the capital city, which was named
after him and called Artaxata or Artaxiasata, in Armenia. {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 31. s. 3,4. 2:573} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 14. s. 6. 5:325,327}
Artaxas and Thariadis or Zariadris were two captains in Antiochus' army. By his
consent they had previously ruled over all Armenia. The one had ruled over
Greater Armenia and the other over Lesser Armenia. After Antiochus' defeat,
they had joined with the Romans and had each obtained from them the title of a
king in his own dominions. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 14. s. 5. 5:323,325} It is
most likely that, at the time when they made friends with the Romans, Hannibal
escaped from there also and fled into Crete.
3144. When Antiochus had lost all of Asia, he said that he was very grateful to
the Romans for taking that troublesome area from him and confining him to a more
manageable estate. {*Cicero, Pro Dejotaro, l. 1. c. 13. 14:535} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 4. c. 1. ext. 9. 1;359,361}
3817a AM, 4526 JP, 188 BC
3145. When Gnaeus Manlius and the ten commissioners had now settled all issues,
they went toward the Hellespont with the entire army and planned to settle
matters in Galatia on the way. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 40. s. 1-3. 11:135}
{*Polybius, l. 21. c. 45. s. 12. 5:343}
3146. They summoned these petty kings to them and gave them such conditions of
peace as they thought fit, the substance of which was this: they were to keep
peace with Eumenes and were warned to stop their warring customs and stay within
their own lands. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 40. s. 1-3. 11:135} [L546] These lands
were that part of Phrygia, Paphlagonia, and Mysia, which bordered on Mount
Olympus and Cappadocia. This had previously been occupied by them, and was now
called Galatia. {*Dio, l. 19. (63) 2:323 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 20.)} The
Romans imposed a tribute on them. {Apc 1Ma 8:2} to chastise the Galatians for
their insolence toward them, after which the Romans assumed the entire
sovereignty of Asia on the west side of the Taurus Mountains. They made the
mountains the eastern boundary of the empire for that time, in this way sparing
the inhabitants there from having to live in terror of those fierce and
barbarous Gauls, as they had formerly done. {*Polybius, l. 3. c. 3. s.
4,5. 2:9} {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 6. (14) 9:27} {*Livy, l.
38. c. 40. s. 1-3. 11:135}
3147. Manlius gathered all the ships which he could get along that entire
coast. Eumenes came to him with his ships, and he used them to cross into
Europe with his army. {*Livy, l. 38. c. 40. s. 3,4. 11:135}
3148. Antiochus marched with his army into his upper provinces (or, as Jerome
on Daniel stated, going to the remotest cities of his dominions.) {Jerome, Da
11} He proclaimed his son, Seleucus Philopator, as his successor. {Apc 2Ma
9:23} [E399]
3817 AM, 4527 JP, 187 BC
3149. Antiochus committed a sacrilege on his gods, either because he felt
over-burdened by the heavy tribute imposed by the Romans or simply because he
was greedy and used the Roman tribute as an excuse. He had heard that the
temple of Zeus Belus in Elymais had large quantities of silver, gold and other
precious jewels stored there, so he planned to seize everything. He came into
Elymais and pretended that the inhabitants there had revolted from him. His
army raided the temple at night and took an enormous amount of wealth from
there. When the people heard about this, the peasants of the country came in
and attacked his army and killed him with his entire army. {*Diod. Sic., l.
28. c. 3. 11:231} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 15. 11:259,261} {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 1. s. 18. 7:223} {Justin, Trogus, l. 32. c. 2.} Jerome said that
he was killed in a battle against the inhabitants of Elymais. {Jerome, Da 11}
Aurelius Victor, however, stated that he was killed by his drinking companions,
some of whom he had beaten in a drunken fit and misused at a feast. {Aurelius
Victor, De Viris Illustribus, c. 54.} Zonaras noted that this happened in the
year when Gaius Flamininus and Aemilius Lepidus were consuls of Rome. {*Dio, l.
19. (64) 2:327 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 21.)}
3150. After his death, Seleucus, surnamed Philopator, or, according to
Josephus, Soter (which was indeed the surname of his son, Demetrius), succeeded
him in the kingdom. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 11. (234) 7:119}
He reigned twelve years and was a lazy man, who also had little power because of
his father's great defeat by the Romans. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8.
(45) 2:191} {Porphyry} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:219} {*Sulpicius
Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 19. 11:107} When he assumed the kingdom,
he had a son called Demetrius, whose surname was Soter. According to Polybius,
he was twenty-three years old when his uncle Antiochus Epiphanes died.
{*Polybius, l. 31. c. 2. s. 5,6. 6:167} It is this Seleucus who is
referred to in the Apocrypha: {Apc 2Ma 3:1-3}.
"When the Holy City lived in complete peace, its laws were excellently well
executed because of the piety of Onias, the high priest. He was utterly opposed
to all ungodliness. It came about that even kings themselves honoured this
place and adorned the temple with many rich offerings. Seleucus, king of Asia,
himself furnished all the cost for the public ministry of the sacrifices out of
his own coffers."
3151. When Philopoemen was the chief magistrate of the Achaeans, Demetrius of
Athens came as an envoy of Ptolemy from Alexandria to renew his league with the
Achaeans. They were very glad about this and sent him their envoys, Lycortas,
the father of Polybius the historian, Theodoridas and Rositeles of Sicyon.
[L547] They were to take their oath to the king and also to receive his oath to
them. {*Polybius, l. 22. c. 3. s. 5,6. 5:345,347}
3818a AM, 4527 JP, 187 BC
3152. Gnaeus Manlius Vulso, contrary to the votes of the ten commissioners,
held a triumph in Rome over the Gauls in Asia, on the fifth day of March.
{*Livy, l. 39. c. 6. s. 3-5. 11:235} {*Livy, l. 38. c. 58. s. 11,12.
11:205} Hannibal, having nothing else to do, wrote a book in Greek about the
consul's deeds in Asia. He learned Greek at Illium from Sosilus, a
Lacedemonian, who recorded the deeds of Hannibal in seven volumes. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 26. c. 4. 11:183}
3818b AM, 4528 JP, 186 BC
3153. When Aristaenus was the chief magistrate in Achaia, the envoys who had
been sent from there to king Ptolemy returned home. The general assembly of
that country met at Megalopolis, and before this assembly Lycortas declared that
they had taken their oath to the king according to their commission and had
received his oath to them. He added that they had brought a present from the
king to the people of Achaia. They had received two hundred talents of coined
bronze and enough brass arms to furnish six thousand targeteers. {*Polybius, l.
22. c. 9. s. 1-3. 5:361}
3154. Eumenes also sent his envoys to that meeting, to renew the league with
them which had formerly existed between them and his father. He promised to
give them a hundred and twenty talents which they could lend at interest, so
that its income would help defray the cost of those who periodically came to
their assemblies. They were all tempted by his generosity, but declined it.
{*Polybius, l. 22. c. 7. s. 2,3. 5:357} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 17.
11:261,263} [E400]
3819 AM, 4529 JP, 185 BC
3155. Eumenes' envoys came to Rome to request the ownership of the cities of
Thrace, Aenus and Maronea, which they claimed belonged to Eumenes, having been
given to him by the Romans. They complained that Philip, the king of Macedonia,
had seized them by force and put garrisons in them. He had also taken some
inhabitants from there and settled them in Macedonia. To settle the matter, the
Senate sent Quintus Caecilius Metellus, Marcus Baebius and Tiberius Sempronius
as a commission to Thessaly to hear both sides of the dispute. {*Polybius, l.
22. c. 11. s. 2-4. 5:369} {*Polybius, l. 23. c. 1. 5:393,395} {*Livy,
l. 39. c. 24. s. 12-14. 11:291}
3820 AM, 4530 JP, 184 BC
3156. When they returned to Rome, the envoys on either side told the Senate
that there was nothing but what they had already said before the commissioners
at Thessaly. The Senate decreed a second commission, under Appius Claudius,
with instructions to expel all the garrisons from Aenus and Maronea and to
remove all the sea coast of Thrace from the jurisdiction of Philip and his
Macedonians. {*Polybius, l. 22. c. 11,12. 5:367-373} {*Polybius, l. 23.
c. 4. s. 7,8. 11:401} {*Livy, l. 39. c. 33. s. 3,4. 11:323}
3157. At the same time, the two head men of Sparta, Arcus and Alcibiades, came
to Rome. They complained bitterly in the Senate about the Achaeans, whereupon
the Senate thought fit to refer that cause to those same commissioners.
{*Polybius, l. 23. c. 4. s. 1-7. 5:401} {*Pausanias, Achaia, l. 7. c.
9. s. 1-7. 3:217-221}
3158. Lycortas of Megalopolis, Polybius' father and the praetor of Achaia,
called an assembly of the country. At that assembly, Arcus and Alcibiades, who
had gone to complain about them at Rome, were condemned to die for this act.
{*Livy, l. 39. c. 35. s. 7,8. 11:329} {*Pausanias, Achaia, l. 7. c. 9.
s. 1-7. 3:217-221} [L548]
3159. Some time later, the Roman envoys came into Achaia and the common council
of Achaia met before them at Clitor in Arcadia. {*Livy, l. 39. c. 35. s.
8. 11:329} {*Polybius, l. 22. c. 12. s. 10. 5:373} Their coming did not
please the Achaeans, especially when they saw Arcus and Alcibiades (whom they in
a recent assembly had condemned to death) come with the envoys. Lycortas, like
a magistrate, very boldly pleaded and upheld the cause of the Achaeans. The
commissioners, however, did not pay much attention to what he said and declared
publicly and with joint consent that Arcus and Alcibiades were honest men. They
had done the Achaeans no wrong at all and prevailed even to the point of having
the sentence against them reversed. {*Livy, l. 39. c. 36,37. 11:329-341}
{*Pausanias, Achaia, l. 7. c. 9. s. 7. 3:221}
3160. When Hannibal had lived very quietly at Gortyna in Crete for a long time,
many envied him because of his great wealth. In desperation, he filled some
large chests with lead and deposited them in the temple of Diana. As a result,
when the people had been given such a pledge as that, they were less envious of
him. In the meantime, he stole away to Prusias, surnamed the The Hunter, king
of Bithynia. Hannibal had melted his gold into hollow statues of brass which he
carried away with him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 32. c. 4.} {Emilius Probus,
Hannibal}
3161. A little later, Prusias broke his league with Eumenes, the king of
Pergamum, now that he had Hannibal to manage his war for him. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 32. c. 4.} There was a fierce war between them, both on land and sea, but
with the help of the Romans, Eumenes overpowered him. Because Prusias was poor
and weak, Hannibal procured for him the help of some other kings and states, and
those peoples from very warlike countries. {Emilius Probus, Hannibal} Among
others, he got the help of Philip, the king of Macedonia, who sent him
Philocles, his general, with a large army, to help him. {*Polybius, l. 23. c.
3. s. 1,2. 5:399}
3821a AM, 4530 JP, 184 BC
3162. In the 149th Olympiad, when Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Quintus Fabius
Labeo first entered into their consulship, an embassy came to Rome from Eumenes,
carried by his youngest brother, Athenaeus. Bringing with him a crown of gold
of fifteen thousand gold staters, he complained that Philip had not withdrawn
his garrisons from Thrace and that he had sent help to Prusias, the king of
Bithynia, who had wilfully broken his league and made war on Eumenes.
{*Polybius, l. 23. c. 1. s. 4-7. 5:395} {*Livy, l. 39. c. 46. s. 9.
11:367} With the other envoys from Lacedemon, Arcus and Alcibiades came to the
Senate. {*Polybius, l. 23. c. 4. s. 1-3. 5:401}
3821b AM, 4531 JP, 183 BC
3163. After Prusias had been defeated by Eumenes on land, he tried to defeat
him at sea, but he was too weak for Eumenes. Hannibal advised him to try to
accomplish by craft what he could not do through sheer force. So he put a
number of all kinds of snakes into earthen vessels, which were to be hurled
aboard the enemy's ships in the thick of the battle. He ordered his soldiers
and sailors to attack only the ship that Eumenes was in and defend themselves
against the rest as well as they could, using these snakes. So that they would
know for certain which ship Eumenes was in, Prusias sent a letter to him
beforehand by a herald, which was full of contempt and abuses against Eumenes.
So when the battle started, Prusias' men fought only against the ship in which
Eumenes was in, forcing him to flee. He would have died, had he not landed on a
shore where he had beforehand placed a company of troops for such emergencies.
When Eumenes' other ships pressed close to the enemy, these threw their earthen
pitchers full of snakes at them. They landed on the decks and broke, releasing
the snakes. At first this seemed ridiculous to them, but when they could not
move anywhere in the ship for the snakes and found themselves as bothered by
their bites as by the arrows of their enemy, they abandoned the battle and fled
to their sea camp on the shore. {Justin, Trogus, l. 32. c. 4.} {Emilius
Probus, Hannibal} [E401] [L549]
3164. Hannibal's tricks defeated Eumenes in that battle. In various other
engagements, Hannibal used different tricks to overcome Eumenes. Once, when he
advised Prusias to fight, he refused, because he said the entrails of the beasts
forbade him to. Hannibal replied: {*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 2. c. 24.
20:431} {Plutarch, On Exile} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 3. c. 7. ext. 6.
1:315}
"Really? Would you rather trust a lump of calf flesh, than a veteran general?"
3165. When news of these events reached Rome, envoys were immediately sent by
the Senate to make a peace between the two kings and to demand that Prusias hand
over Hannibal. {Justin, Trogus, l. 32. c. 4.} Polybius stated that at that
time Titus Quinctius Flamininus was sent as an envoy both to Prusias and also to
Seleucus, the king of Syria. {*Polybius, l. 23. c. 5. s. 1. 5:403} Livy
said that Lucius Scipio Asiaticus and Publius Scipio Nasica were sent with
Flaminius to Prusias as a commission. {*Livy, l. 39. c. 56. s. 6. 11:399}
3166. Agesipolis, who was a minor and too young to be the king of Sparta, was
sent to Rome with others from among those who had been banished from Lacedemon.
On the way he was killed by pirates. {*Polybius, l. 23. c. 6. 5:407,409}
Agesipolis was the son of Cleomenes, the king of Sparta, who had been killed in
Alexandria. {See note on 3784 AM. <<2887>>} He had legally been
appointed for
their king by the ephors, but had been turned out again by those usurping
tyrants who had taken over the state, namely Lycurgus, Machanidas and Nabis.
{*Polybius, l. 4. c. 35. s. 10-13. 2:389} Since the lawful king was now
dead, Arcus (whom I mentioned before from Polybius, Livy and Pausanias) was a
most earnest and strong defender of his country's liberty against the Achaeans,
whose power was now controlled by the Romans. He seems to have acquired the
title of a king among them, since both Josephus and Eusebius stated that Arcus,
the king of Lacedemon, sent an embassy with his letters to Onias III, the son of
Onias the high priest at Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s.
10. (225) 7:115} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:217} These letters were
preserved in Josephus and in the Apocrypha. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4.
s. 10. (225-227) 7:115} {Apc 1Ma 12:1-23} This book was translated from the
Hebrew (for it was originally written in Hebrew, as Jerome stated) and retained
throughout the brevity and Hebrewisms characteristic of it. In these letters,
mention was made of the blood relationship between the Jews and Lacedemonians.
This seems to have been taken from the mythological writings of the Greeks such
as was that of Claudius Iolaus in Stephanus Byzantinus in the word Judea. The
name of the Jews came from Judeus Spartones, a fellow soldier of Bacchus in his
wars, although Pausanias stated that Spartones' names were completely unknown to
the Spartans or Lacedemonians of his time. {Pausanias, Corinth, l. 2. p.
58.}
3167. Eumenes started to make war with Prusias, king of Bithynia, and Ortiagon,
one of the kings of the Gauls. {Justin, Trogus, l. 32. Prologue} {*Polybius,
l. 3. c. 3. s. 6,7. 2:9}
3822a AM, 4531 JP, 183 BC
3168. I think the death of Hannibal occurred in the consulship of Lucius
Aemilius Paulus and Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus, for Polybius and Valerius Antias
both stated this. It was not in the year before, as stated by Atticus and by
Livy, who copied him. Nor was it in the following year, as Sulpicius and Probus
wrote. {Emilius Probus, Hannibal} Livy described in detail how he died.
{*Livy, l. 39. c. 51. 11:379-383} {Justin, Trogus, l. 32. c. 4.}
{*Plutarch, Flamininus, l. 1. c. 20. 10:379,381} {*Dio, l. 19. (65) 2:331
(Zonaras, l. 9. c. 21.)} {Emilius Probus, Hannibal} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 2. (11) 2:121}
3169. Hannibal stayed in a little citadel Prusias had given him. In it he made
seven doors which did not look like doors from the outside. [L550] If anyone
should come to attack the place, they would not place any guards there, because
these did not appear to be doors. Consequently, when he heard that the king's
soldiers were in the porch to break in on him, he went to get out at one of
these blind back doors. When he found that, contrary to his expectation, men
were there to take him and the place was totally surrounded, he poisoned himself
with the poison he always carried with him. He died at the age of seventy
years. Concerning his death, it is said that this oracle was uttered long
before:
"The Libyssan earth, Hannibal's remains shall cover."
3170. He had always understood the word Libya, or Libyssa, as referring to
Libya in Africa. However, there was a little village in Bithynia near the
seaside by the same name. Pliny said: {*Pliny, l. 5. c. 53. 2:333}
"There was in those parts a little town called Libyssa, where now there is
nothing worth seeing, except for Hannibal's tomb." [E402]
3171. Pharnaces, the king of Pontus, suddenly attacked the city of Sinope and
captured it. It remained his possession, and that of his successors, from that
time on. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 11. 5:387,389}
3822 AM, 4532 JP, 182 BC
3172. In the second year of the 149th Olympiad, envoys came to Rome from the
two kings, Eumenes and Pharnaces, who were at war with each other. Envoys came
from Rhodes and complained of the injustice done to them by Pharnaces at Sinope.
Thereupon, Quintus Marcius and others in commission with him were sent as envoys
to examine the case of Sinope and to settle all differences between the two
kings. {*Livy, l. 40. c. 2. s. 6-8. 12:7} {*Polybius, l. 23. c. 9.
5:411-415}.
3173. During the reign of Seleucus, Hyrcanus (the son of Joseph and the nephew
of Tobias) went and subdued the Arabs on the east side of the Jordan River. He
built a good and extremely well fortified citadel, entirely of white marble,
which he called Tyre. It was located in the regions of Arabia and Judea on the
other side of the Jordan River, not far from the land of Heshbon. He was
governor of all that region during the last seven years of Seleucus' reign.
During that entire time, there was a constant war with the Arabians and he on
numerous occasions slaughtered large numbers of them, besides taking many
prisoners and slaves. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s. 11. (229-233)
7:117,119}
3174. Marcius and his commissioners returned to the Senate after they had
investigated the situation between Eumenes and Pharnaces, and reported what they
had found. They said that Eumenes was fair and temperate in all his ways, but
that Pharnaces was very greedy and hot-tempered. They said he was the most
violent and dangerous king they had ever come across. {*Polybius, l. 24. c.
1. s. 2,3. 5:437} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 22. 11:273}
3823a AM, 4532 JP, 182 BC
3175. Ariarathes, the king of Cappadocia, joined with Eumenes, of Pergamum, to
make war on Pharnaces, king of Pontus. All three sent their envoys to Rome at
the same time. When the Senate had heard them all, they said that they would
send commissioners into those countries once more, with power to hear and
determine all matters between them. {*Polybius, l. 40. c. 1. 5:437,439}
{*Livy, l. 40. c. 20. s. 1,2. 12:63,65}
3823b AM, 4533 JP, 181 BC
3176. Pharnaces scorned the Romans and in the middle of winter sent Leocritus
with an army of ten thousand men to harass and ravage all the country of
Galatia. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 14. s. 1,2. 5:461,463}
3177. The next spring, Pharnaces personally mustered all his forces as if to
attack Cappadocia. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 14. s. 2. 5:463}
3178. Eumenes was grieved to see him transgress all bounds of law and honesty
in this manner. He and his brother Attalus, who had recently returned from
Rome, marched into Galatia against Leocritus, but they did not find him there.
[L551] Cassignatus (or rather Eposognatus, as Fulvius Ursinus thought it should
be) and Gaezatarix sent their envoys, asking them not to harm them, as they were
ready to do whatever they were told to do. Eumenes rejected them, as men who
had previously lied and broken their faith and word to him, and he and his
brother continued on against Pharnaces. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 14. s. 3-7.
5:463}
3179. In four days, Eumenes and his brother marched from Calpitus or Calpia, a
city of Bithynia, to the Halys River. On the sixth day, they came to Parnassus,
a city in Cappadocia. There Ariarathes, the king of that country, joined his
army with theirs. They all came into the plain of Mocissus and there pitched
camp. They were barely settled, when news came that the commissioners had come
from Rome to make a peace between them. So Eumenes sent away his brother
Attalus to welcome them into those regions, while he in the meantime doubled his
army and put them all into the best shape he could. {*Polybius, l. 24. c.
14. s. 8-11. 5:463}
3180. The commissioners arrived and asked both parties to be at peace. Eumenes
and Ariarathes replied that they wanted peace with all their hearts and would do
anything else that the commissioners might be pleased to ask. When the
commissioners asked that during the treaty they withdraw their forces from the
enemy's country, Eumenes readily assented and the following morning ordered his
forces back into Galatia. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 15. s. 1-6. 5:465}
3181. The commissioners then talked with Pharnaces and could not get him to
come to any conference if Eumenes was to be there. After much ado, they
persuaded him to send his envoys to some place on the coast with full power to
make an agreement there, and to give his word that he would abide by the
agreement. When his envoys came to the appointed place, the conference began.
Eumenes was ready to yield to any conditions, but the envoys of Pharnaces
behaved in such a way that the commissioners easily realised that Pharnaces had
no intention of coming to any agreement. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 15. s.
7-11. 5:465,467}
3182. Therefore, the conference broke off and no peace was made between them.
When the commissioners left Pergamum and Pharnaces' envoys departed, the war
went on between them as before. [E403] Eumenes on his part started to prepare
everything necessary for it, but at the earnest insistence of the Rhodians, who
sought his help against the Lycians, he left Pharnaces alone for that time and
went to help them. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 15. s. 12,13. 5:467}
3183. Leocritus, the general of Pharnaces' forces, besieged Tius (or rather,
Teos), a town in Pontus. He forced the garrison, which consisted entirely of
mercenary soldiers, to surrender the town to him on the condition that they
would be granted safe conduct. Later, Leocritus received an order from
Pharnaces to kill them all, because they had previously offended him. He
pursued them on their way and killed them all. {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 23.
11:273}
3184. When Seleucus had assembled a reasonably sized army, he went to help
Pharnaces. He was ready to cross the Taurus Mountains when he remembered that
he was breaking the peace agreement with the Romans. So he followed good
advice, stopped the expedition and returned home again. {*Diod. Sic., l. 29.
c. 24. 11:273}
3824 AM, 4534 JP, 180 BC
3185. After this, Pharnaces entered into an agreement with Attalus and those
associated with him. They entered into a solemn league between themselves.
Eumenes was sick at Pergamum at the time, but had now recovered. He ratified
what Attalus had done and then sent Attalus and the rest of his brothers to
Rome. Everyone who knew what service they had done for the Romans in the wars
in Asia welcomed them heartily. The Senate provided lodgings and a generous
allowance for them at the public expense. [L552] Attalus complained to the
Senate of the wrongs that Pharnaces had done to them, desiring the Senate to
chastise him commensurate with the severity of his offence. They answered him
graciously and promised to send then commissioners who would make a final accord
between them. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 5. 5:441} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c.
22. 11:271,273}
3186. Ptolemy Epiphanes desired a closer alliance with the Achaeans, so he sent
his envoys to them and promised them ten ships, each of fifty oars apiece and
fully outfitted. The Achaeans, considering this an offer too good to be
refused, as it amounted to the value of almost ten talents, willingly accepted
it. They sent him their envoys, Lycortas with his son, Polybius (that is, the
historian), even though he was legally too young to be an envoy. With them,
they sent Aratus, the son of Aratus the Sicyonian, with instructions to thank
the king for both the arms and the money he had previously sent them through
Lycortas. They were to receive from him the ten promised ships and to bring
them into Peloponnesus. However, the embassy never went farther than Achaia
because they received news that Ptolemy had died. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 6.
5:443,445}
3187. At the time when Ptolemy laid a trap to deceive Seleucus, he sent an army
on foot to go against him. When one of Ptolemy's captains asked him where he
would get the money to go through with what he planned to do, Ptolemy replied:
{*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 29. 11:271}
"My friends are my money bags."
3188. This saying spread quickly and his friends and captains in the army heard
it. Thinking it meant that he planned to enrich himself by impoverishing them,
they poisoned him. {Jerome, Da 11} Ptolemy Epiphanes, in Priscian, the
grammarian, is said by Cato to have been a most excellent and bountiful king.
The truth is that, for a long time, he behaved himself very nobly and well.
Later he was influenced by some followers of the court. He forced Aristomenes,
whom he had formerly honoured like a father, to drink hemlock, which killed him.
He did other acts of violence and cruelty and ruled his people more like a
tyrant than a king. Because of these actions, he was so hated and despised by
his subjects that they were ready to depose him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 28. c.
14. 11:241} {*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 29. 11:271}
3189. When he died, he left two sons who were not of legal age. The older was
called Philometor; the younger, Physcon. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4.
s. 11. (235,236) 7:119} Ptolemy Philometor (whom Epiphanius incorrectly called
Philopator) reigned after his father for thirty-five years. {Ptolemy, Canon of
Kings}. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:329} {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:220} Others tell us the same length of time, minus only three months.
3825 AM, 4535 JP, 179 BC
3190. Pharnaces laid waste to Galatia and planned to invade Cappadocia. (There
is a missing fragment in this part of Polybius' account, so we do not have all
the details. Editor.) Eumenes counterattacked and Pharnaces found himself
outpowered by this unexpected and violent attack of the enemy. He sent his
envoys to Eumenes and Ariarathes and sued for peace. So this war between
Eumenes and Ariarathes on the one side and Pharnaces and Mithridates, the king
of Armenia, on the other concluded on the following conditions. Pharnaces would
not enter Galatia, and would break off all former agreements and leagues made
with the Galatians. He would likewise leave Paphlagonia, but would now send
back home, with their arms, those inhabitants whom he had deported from there.
He would restore to Ariarathes all the places he had taken from him, along with
any hostages he had received from him. He would restore all the prisoners whom
he had taken without a ransom, and would turn over those who had left their king
and defected to him. [E404] He would restore to Morzius and Ariarathes the nine
hundred talents which he had taken from them, and give a further three hundred
to Eumenes for his war expenses. Mithridates, the king of Armenia, would pay
three hundred talents for having made war on Ariarathes and thereby breaking the
league which he had made with Eumenes. This league included all the important
men of Asia as well as Artaxias, a petty king of Greater Armenia, and
Acusilochus. [L553] On the European side, Gatalus, a Sarmatian, was part of
this league, as were the free states of Heraclea, Mesembria, Chersonesus and
Cyzicum. As soon as the hostages arrived from Pharnaces, the armies disbanded
and every man went home. {*Polybius, l. 24. c. 14. 5:461,467} {*Polybius,
l. 25. c. 2. 5:469,471}
3826a AM, 4535 JP, 179 BC
3191. Teos was a town in Pontus which Prusias had been required to restore to
Eumenes, according to the league. Eumenes freely gave it back to him again, for
which Prusias was grateful. {*Polybius, l. 25. c. 2. s. 7. 5:469}
3192. After the death of Philip, the king of Macedonia, his son Perses, or
Perseus, succeeded him in the year when Quintus Fulvius and Lucius Manlius were
consuls at Rome. He reigned eleven years, {*Livy, l. 45. c. 9. s. 3,4.
13:271} or rather, ten years and eleven months, as Porphyry more exactly said.
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 229.} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:220}
3826b AM, 4536 JP, 178 BC
3193. The third period of Calippus began.
3194. The Lycians sent their envoys to Rome to complain of the cruelty of the
Rhodians, to whom they had been made subject by Lucius Cornelius Scipio. The
envoys said that the bondage which they had endured under Antiochus was, in
comparison to this, an excellent form of liberty and freedom. They claimed
there was now no difference between them and the very slaves whom they bought in
the market. The Senate was moved by this piteous complaint and gave them their
letters to carry to the Rhodians. They reminded the Rhodians that the Romans
had put the Lycians under their rule and protection, but that they were still to
be free states under the sovereignty of the people of Rome. {*Livy, l. 41. c.
6. s. 8-12. 12:203,205}
3827 AM, 4537 JP, 177 BC
3195. Prusias married the sister of Perseus, and Perseus married Laodicea, the
daughter of Seleucus. The Rhodians used their fleet to to pick her up and
convey her into Macedonia to her husband. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 12. s. 3-4.
12:325} {*Polybius, l. 25. c. 4. s. 9,10. 5:475,477} {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 9. (57) 2:213}
3196. The Rhodians persisted in their ways and now made open war on the poor
Lycians. The men of Xanthus sent their embassy to the Achaeans and to the
people of Rome for help. Nicostratus headed up the embassy. {*Polybius, l.
25. c. 4. s. 1-4. 5:475}
3197. The Lycians had already been subdued by the Rhodians before their envoys
could get a hearing with the Senate of Rome. It was not until Tiberius
Sempronius Gracchus and Gaius Claudius Pulcher, the consuls of that year, had
gone out against the Histrians and Ligurians, that they saw the Senate. When
they were admitted, they plainly showed them the cruelty and oppression of the
Rhodians against the poor Lycians. They prevailed with the Senate to send
envoys to Rhodes. They were to let them know that when the Senate had perused
the acts and records which the ten commissioners had drawn up in Asia, they had
found the following. The Lycians had been consigned by the Romans to the
Rhodians, not as a gift to do with as they liked, but to use them as friends and
associates. This message met with the approval of the common people in Rome,
who had been offended with the Rhodians for their officiousness in bringing
Perseus' wife home to him. They would have been pleased to have seen the
Rhodians and the Lycians fight it out, so that the Rhodians might have some
opportunity to spend their treasure and provisions, of which they had so much.
{*Livy, l. 41. c. 6. s. 8-12. 12:201} {*Polybius, l. 25. c. 4. s.
4-8. 5:475}
3828a AM, 4537 JP, 177 BC
3198. When the Roman commissioners came to Rhodes, the inhabitants were in an
uproar. They said that since everything was now well settled in Lycia, why did
they want to create an opportunity for more trouble there? When the Lycians
heard the content of the declaration the Senate had made on their behalf, they
began to revolt and protest publicly that they would endure anything to recover
their just rights and liberty again. The Rhodians thought that the Senate had
been misinformed and misused by some false accusations from the Lycians, so they
sent Lycophron, their envoy, to Rome. When the Senate had heard his errand,
they gave him an immediate answer. {*Polybius, l. 25. c. 5. 5:477}
3828b AM, 4538 JP, 176 BC
3199. Simon was a man of the tribe of Benjamin and the head keeper of the
temple. He had a disagreement with Onias III, who was the high priest. [L554]
When he could not get his way, he went to Apollonius, the governor of Coelosyria
and Phoenicia, and told him that there was an enormous amount of money in the
treasury of the temple, of which the priests made no use. Therefore, it would
be better in the king's coffers. When Apollonius told Seleucus this, he sent
his treasurer Heliodorus to Jerusalem to get the money from there. When he
arrived, Onias, the high priest, told him that it was true that there was some
money in the temple, but that it was the money of widows and orphans, who had
deposited it there for safe-keeping. [E405] Some of the money belonged to
Hyrcanus, the nephew of Tobias, who was a most honourable person. {See note on
3822 AM. <<3173>>} He said that what was there amounted to less than
four
hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold. Such was the holiness of the
place and of the matter itself that no man should take the money. When
Heliodorus disregarded the words of Onias, resulting in a tumult of the people
who lamented the profaning of their temple, he was struck down by the angel of
God in that very spot. He was carried half-dead to his lodging by his own
servants who were close by. After he was restored to health through the
intercession and prayers to God made by Onias, the high priest, he returned to
Seleucus. He magnified the holiness of the temple and the power of the God who
lived there. This story is recorded in the Apocrypha {Apc 2Ma 3} and by
Josephus in his book, psyi autocratorov logiomou. Josephus wrote Apollonius for
Heliodorus. (So also did the Fasti Siculi.) This showed that this event
happened a little before the death of Seleucus; otherwise Heliodorus would have
returned after the death of Seleucus. By the articles between Antiochus and the
Romans, Antiochus was to change his hostages and send new ones in place of the
old at the end of every three years. To replace Antiochus Epiphanes, who was
then a hostage at Rome and who was the younger son of the former Antiochus,
Seleucus sent his son Demetrius. {Apc 1Ma 1:10} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11.
c. 8. (47) 2:195}
3200. Simon, the Benjamite, that traitor of his country and the one who told of
the money deposited in the temple, brought an accusation against Onias, the high
priest. Onias was a man who was well respected both in the city and the country
of the Jews. Simon said Onias had incited Heliodorus against the Jews and
plotted all the evil against himself and the king. When matters went so far
that many murders were committed by Simon and his faction in the city,
Apollonius grew very angry and backed Simon up in what he did. Onias went to
Seleucus. {Apc 2Ma 4:1-6} The writer of Jason of Cyrene seems to indicate that
Seleucus was dead before Onias arrived, although Eusebius said that he found the
king alive and had Simon banished by him. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:219,221}
3201. So I have brought this chronicle of Asia and Egypt to the beginning of
the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and the history of the Maccabees. I shall
continue it until the time of the utter destruction of Jerusalem under the
Emperor Vespasian. This, together with the Annals of the New Testament and a
brief history of the church during that time until the beginning of the fourth
century after Christ, I plan to write following this, if God grant me life and
health.
Glory be to God on High.
FINIS
Volume II
The Latter Part
of
THE ANNALS
of
JAMES USSHER,
Archbishop of Armagh:
Containing besides that of the
M A C C A B E E S
AND
N E W T E S T A M E N T
the History of all the remarkable
Occurrences transacted during the
R O M A N E M P I R E, which began
under Gaius Julius and Octavius Caesar;
With the most considerable Events
in all Asia and Egypt:
CONTINUED
From the beginning of the Reign of
Antiochus Epiphanes,
to the beginning of the Empire
of Vespasian, and the utter
Destruction and Abolition
of the Temple and Commonwealth
of the Jews.
L O N D O N,
Printed by E. Tyler, for F. Crook,
and G. Bedell, 1658
(From the original Title Page)
The Epistle to the Reader
3202. You have here the other volume of my annals, which you will find records
more fully the history of Rhodes and the isles between Asia and Europe. Whereas
previously, to make the work more manageable, I decided to associate these with
Greece, I later also considered it appropriate to place them with Asia, since,
in the division of the Eastern Empire, the province of the isles is counted as
part of Asia. The facts which I put forward as a part of this history, are
presented to you on the authority of the authors who related them. I have left
the judgment of such things to those learned men who make it their business to
deal with them. In the citing of Cornelius Tacitus, I have followed the edition
of Bereggerus and Freinshemius, since that edition is divided into chapters.
But since its dealing with the history of the apostolic times does not appear to
be adequate, I shall (if God Almighty affords me life and strength to finish
that work) give you an account in my Sacred Chronology. [E409] [K1]
A CHRONICLE
OF
The Asiatic and Egyptian Affairs,
carried on from the
beginning of the times of the MACCABEES,
until the Destruction of the
Jewish Commonwealth
under Vespasian.
3829 AM, 4539 JP, 175 BC
3203. Antiochus, son of Antiochus the Great, returned from Rome (where he had
been held hostage) and came to Athens. His brother Seleucus had been murdered
through the treachery of Heliodorus. But Eumenes and Attalus expelled
Heliodorus, who had intended to take over the kingdom of Syria. They gave
Antiochus that kingdom, hoping by this good turn to obligate him to be their
friend. They began to grow jealous of the Romans because of some small
injustice they received. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (45)
2:191,193}
3204. Demetrius, son of Seleucus, to whom the kingdom rightly belonged, was ten
years old and was being held hostage at Rome at this time. Apollonius had been
raised with him and was a good friend of Seleucus. After the death of Seleucus,
Apollonius left the court to go to Miletus. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 13. s.
2-4. 6:187} The Syrians called their new king Antiochus Epiphanes, or
Illustrious, because when strangers tried to take over the kingdom, he appeared
very brave to his people, vindicating his ancestor's title. {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (45) 2:193} Polybius thought he should more correctly be
called Epimanes, or the Madman, because of his wild behaviour. {*Athenaeus, l.
2. (45c) 1:197} {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (193d) 2:377} {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (439a)
4:489}
3205. When he became king of Syria, he behaved most unusually for a king.
First, he secretly left his royal palace, and without the knowledge of his
servants. He unadvisedly wandered about the city in the company of only one or
two companions. Moreover, he was pleased to talk and drink with the common
people and with foreigners and strangers of the lowest estate. If he heard of
any young men that were having a merry party, he came to the revels with his
wine and music. This so startled those present with the strangeness of the
action that they either fled when he came, or from fear sat still in silence.
Lastly, he put aside his royal garment and donned a coat like the ones worn by
the officials of Rome. He greeted every ordinary man that he came across and
sometimes asked to be given the position of an aedile, or that of a tribune of
the people. [K2] At last, by the will of the people, he obtained the place of a
magistrate. According to the Roman custom, he sat in his ivory chair and gave
judgment. [E410] He settled the law suits and disputes of the citizens with
such industry and diligence, that everyone who was wise had grave doubts about
his actions. Some thought he was indiscrete, some imprudent and others mad.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 32. 11:277,279} Athenaeus made similar
observations. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (193d) 2:377} {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (439a)
4:489} {*Polybius, l. 26. c. 1. 5:481-485} Livy recorded this also, as one
may see in the fragment which Charles Sigonius falsely attributed to Perseus.
{*Livy, l. 41. c. 20. 12:246-251}
3206. Antiochus began his reign in the 137th year, and died in the 149th year
of the kingdom of the Greeks, or the Macedonians, from the time of Seleucus.
{Apc 1Ma 1:10 6:16} Johannes Malela of Antioch, in his Chronicle, said he ruled
twelve years, but Porphyry, Eusebius, Jerome, Sulpicius Severus and others say
only eleven. To reconcile this, we must say that Antiochus began to rule at the
end of the 137th year and ended his reign at the beginning of the 149th year
from the spring of the season, as this author tends to reckon, that is, eleven
years plus a few months.
3207. At first, Antiochus was not acknowledged as king by those who favoured
Ptolemy Philometor, but some time later he obtained the title under the pretence
of clemency. {Jerome, Da 11} He made an alliance with Eumenes and powerfully
ruled over Syria and the neighbouring countries. The government of Babylon was
committed to Timarchus, but the custody of the treasury to Heraclides' brother.
Heraclides and his brother had previously been his favourites in immorality.
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (45) 2:193}
3208. Hyrcanus, the son of Joseph and grandchild of Tobias, saw Antiochus
becoming very strong. Since he was afraid of coming under his rule and possibly
being punished for what he had done against the Arabians, he killed himself, and
Antiochus seized his entire estate. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 4. s.
11. (234-236) 7:119,121}
3209. Jason, son of Simon II, the high priest, coveted the high priesthood of
Onias III, his brother. In order to obtain the priesthood for himself, he
promised Antiochus three hundred and sixty talents of silver and eighty talents
from other sources. Moreover, he added a further one hundred and fifty talents
if he in return was given authority to set up a gymnasium to train the youth at
Jerusalem and subdue the people of Jerusalem under the same conditions as
applied to the citizens of Antioch. The covetous king readily agreed to these
proposals. Jason removed his brother Onias and became the high priest. When he
had taken over the government, he began to treat his own countrymen like Greeks
and eliminated the royal privileges which had been granted by special favour to
the Jews and which had been obtained through John the father of Eupolemus, who
later went to Rome as an envoy. He dismantled the governments which were the
lawful governments and brought in new customs contrary to the law. {Apc 2Ma
4:7-11} Josephus affirmed that Onias III, who died about this time, was removed
and replaced by his brother Jesus, who changed his name to Jason. After three
years, Jason was removed from the high priesthood by the actions of Menelaus,
the new high priest, and Tobias' sons (or grandchildren of Hyrcanus' brother).
(This passage is quite confused in Josephus' account according to the footnote
in Loeb edition of Josephus. Editor.) At this time, the Greek customs were
introduced. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 1. (237-241) 7:121,123}
However, the same writer, in his small treatise of the Maccabees, stated matters
differently and close enough to the Maccabean account (except for the error in
the annual tribute): [K3]
"Antiochus removed Onias from the high priesthood and substituted Jason, his
brother. Jason promised to pay him the sum of three thousand six hundred and
sixty talents yearly. When he became priest and leader of the people, he
subdued the country and abandoned their ancient customs and institutions and led
them into every conceivable iniquity. He established a gymnasium in the
fortress of our country and abolished the care of the temple."
3830 AM, 4540 JP, 174 BC
3210. In the seventh year of Philometor, the 574th year of Nabonassar and on
the 27th day of the month of Phamenoth, according to the Egyptians (May 1), the
moon was eclipsed two hours after midnight at Alexandria. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 6. c. 5.}
3211. The Greeks made a six month truce in their hostilities, but later a more
serious war started. However, when Quintus Minucius, the commissioner, arrived
with ten ships from the Romans to settle their disputes, they again hoped for
peace. {*Livy, l. 41. c. 25. s. 7,8. 12:273}
3212. About the same time, Eumenes incited the Lycians to revolt from the
Rhodians. Eumenes' garrisons attacked certain citadels and lands located in the
farthest reaches of the continent opposite the Rhodians. {*Polybius, l. 25.
c. 5. s. 5. 5:477} {*Polybius, l. 27. c. 7. s. 6-8. 5:501} {*Livy, l.
41. c. 25. s. 7,8. 12:273} {*Livy, l. 42. c. 42. s. 6-8. 12:419}
3213. King Antiochus granted those apostate Jews who agreed with Jason, the
false high priest, the right to live according to the ordinances of the
Gentiles. They erected a gymnasium beneath the very tower of Zion. [E411] They
forced the leading young men to obey the laws of the school by wearing a hat and
by concealing their circumcision, so that when they were fighting naked, they
would still look like Greeks. The Greek fashions and the heathen customs became
so popular, that the priests no longer had the courage to serve at the altar.
They despised the temple and neglected the sacrifices, and eagerly became
involved in the games. {Apc 1Ma 1:11-15 2Ma 4:12-15} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
12. c. 5. s. 1. (241) 7:123}
3214. When Antiochus attended the games that were held every fifth year at
Tyre, the impious Jason sent there from Jerusalem special messengers who were
inhabitants of the city of Antioch. They carried three hundred (or, as it is
much more correctly recorded in the manuscript book of the Earl of Arundel's
library, three thousand and three hundred) drachmas of silver for the sacrifice
to Hercules. However, the bearers of the money used it to build ships. {Apc
2Ma 4:18-20}
3831 AM, 4541 JP, 173 BC
3215. King Antiochus' envoys came to Rome, with Apollonius as the head of the
delegation. The Roman envoys who returned from Syria said that he was highly
regarded by the king and most friendly toward the Roman people. When they came
before the Senate, they brought the tribute due from the king and excused its
late payment. They also brought a gift in the form of vessels of gold weighing
five hundred pounds. Apollonius added:
"The king requested that the association and friendship which they had with his
father, should be renewed with himself. The Roman people should lay such
injunctions on him as were right to impose on a faithful and confederate king.
He would not be found wanting in any area of service to them. The king noted
that the attitudes of the Senate had been so great toward him while he was at
Rome and such had been the civility of the youth that he was treated by all as a
king and not as a hostage." [K4]
3216. The envoys received a kind answer and Aulus Attilius, praetor of the
city, was asked to renew the league with Antiochus which had existed with his
father. The praetors of the city received the money, the censers and the golden
vessels. It became their duty to distribute these among the temples at their
discretion. The envoy Apollonius was sent a reward of a hundred thousand ass —
pieces of coin. His lodging was given to him gratis and his expenses were paid
while he stayed in Italy. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 6. s. 6-12. 12:309,311}
3217. Antiochus had a son, Antiochus Eupator. The father died when his son was
nine years old. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (46) 2:193} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (66) 2:233}
3218. Cleopatra, the beloved mother of Ptolemy Philometor, the daughter of
Antiochus the Great and the sister of Antiochus Epiphanes, died. As a dowry,
she had received all of Coelosyria from her father (or at least a large part of
it). Lomus and Eulaeus, the eunuch and foster-father of Philometor, governed
Egypt. Eulaeus persuaded Ptolemy to demand Coelosyria from Antiochus Epiphanes,
claiming it had been fraudulently seized. This constituted the basis of the war
between the uncle and the youth, as Porphyry related from the Alexandrian
Histories of Callinicus Sutorius. {Jerome, Da 11} The justification for
Philometor in demanding Coelosyria back was that Antiochus the Great, father of
Epiphanes, had unjustly taken Coelosyria away from Ptolemy Epiphanes, father of
Philometor, when he had been under age. Later, Antiochus had restored it to him
with his daughter Cleopatra, as her dowry. Antiochus Epiphanes, on the
contrary, asserted that from the time when his father had overcome the father of
Philometor at Parium, Coelosyria had always been subject to the kings of Syria,
and he firmly denied that it had been given by his father to Cleopatra, the
mother of Philometor, for her dowry. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 20. 6:41,43}
{*Polybius, l. 28. c. 20. s. 8,9. 6:41,43}
3219. It was at that time that Philometor began to reign and the coronation
ceremonies were performed. {Apc 2Ma 4:21} Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, surnamed
Macron, displayed his wisdom. At the time that he had received the government
of the isle of Cyprus, when the king was a child, he had given none of the
king's money to the stewards, and now, when the king had come of age, he sent an
enormous amount of money to Alexandria. The king and all the courtiers very
highly commended his earlier parsimony. {*Polybius, l. 27. c. 13. 5:513}
3220. Antiochus sent Apollonius, son of Menestheus, to Egypt to the coronation
of Philometor, the king. When Antiochus realised that he was in disfavour with
Philometor, he fortified himself against him. After he came to Joppa, he
journeyed to Jerusalem, where he was honourably received by Jason and the city.
He entered the city by torchlight accompanied by great shouting. From there,
Antiochus went into Phoenicia with his army. {Apc 2Ma 4:21,22}
3832 AM, 4542 JP, 172 BC
3221. Three years after Jason had been made high priest by Antiochus, he sent
Menelaus, the brother of Simon the Benjamite, a traitor, to bring the promised
money to the king and to advise him of essential matters. Menelaus used the
opportunity provided by this his embassy for his own advantage. [E412] In the
same way that Jason had usurped his brother Onias, Menelaus usurped Jason. He
promised the king three hundred talents of silver over and above what Jason had
promised, so that he would be the high priest instead of Jason. {Apc 2Ma
4:23-25} {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 18. 11:106} [K5]
Josephus stated that Menelaus was first called Onias and was brother to Onias
III and to Jason himself, and the youngest son of Simon II, the high priest.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 1. (239) 7:121} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 3. s. 1. (41) 8:21}
3222. When Menelaus secured the government of Judah, he expelled Jason to the
country of the Ammonites. He did not pay any of the money he had promised to
the king. {Apc 2Ma 4:25-27}
3223. When Gaius Popilius Laenas and Publius Aelius Ligur were consuls,
Valerius Antias stated that Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, came to Rome. He
accused Perseus, the king of the Macedonians, of crimes and wanted to know who
was backing his war effort. (The annals of most of the historians and those to
whom you would give the greater credit, affirmed that Eumenes came to Rome in
person. Livy.) Eumenes was entertained with the highest honour and brought into
the Senate. He said that the reason he had come to Rome, apart from the desire
to see the gods and men by whose benevolence he was in such a good position, was
that he might publicly advise the Senate to oppose the actions of Perseus.
{*Livy, l. 42. c. 11. 12:321-325} {*Appian, Macedonian Affairs, l. 9. c.
11. (1,2) 2:29,31} This matter was kept so secret, that prior to the war being
finished and the capture of Perseus, it was not known what Eumenes had said or
what the Senate had replied. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 14. s. 1. 12:331}
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 2. c. 2. s. 1b. 1:137}
3224. Some days later, Satyrus, a leader of the envoys of the Rhodians, accused
Eumenes before the Senate. He said Eumenes had stirred up the country of the
Lycians against the Rhodians and caused more trouble in Asia than Antiochus.
Although Satyrus made a good speech, Eumenes continued to be held in high regard
by the Romans. He was shown every honour and given very generous gifts, with a
chariot of state and an ivory staff. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 14. s. 6-10.
12:333,335} {*Appian, Macedonian Affairs, l. 9. c. 11. (3) 2:31,33} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 29. c. 34. 11:279}
3225. Eumenes returned to his kingdom from Rome. He left Cirra for the temple
of Delphi in order to sacrifice to Apollo. On the way he was ambushed by men
hired by Perseus. They rolled two large stones down on him, one bruising the
king's head and the other injuring his shoulder. They heaped many stones on him
after he fell from a steep place. The next day, when he revived, his friends
brought him to the ship, and they sailed from there to Corinth. From Corinth,
their ships were carried across the neck of the isthmus to Aegina. His recovery
was kept so secret, that the news of his death was reported in Asia and Rome.
{*Livy, l. 42. c. 15,16. 12:335-339} {*Appian, Macedonian Affairs, l. 9.
c. 11. (4) 2:33}
3226. Attalus gave more credit to these reports than he should have done. He
did not confer with the governor of the citadel of Pergamum as to who should be
the next king, but assumed the kingdom himself and married Stratonice, his
brother's wife, the daughter of Ariarathes, king of the Cappadocians. He rushed
too quickly into her embraces, for not long afterward he heard that his brother
was alive and was coming to Pergamum. He set aside his diadem and carrying a
halberd according to custom, he and the guard went to meet Eumenes. Eumenes
greeted him in a friendly and honourable manner and cheerfully greeted the
queen. However, he nonetheless whispered into his brother's ear:
Until thou seest that I am dead,
Approach not rashly to my bed. [K6]
3227. Eumenes treated Attalus with the same friendship as before for the rest
of his life, in spite of these events. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 15,16. 12:335-339}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 29. c. 34. s. 2. 11:281} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Kings
and Commanders (184b) 3:83} {*Plutarch, On Brotherly Love, l. 1. c. 18.
6:311}
3228. Because of the recent wickedness of Perseus against him, as well as the
ancient hatred between their countries, Eumenes prepared for war with all his
strength. Envoys came to him from Rome and congratulated him on his escape from
so great a danger. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 18. s. 4,5. 12:343}
3229. After that, Ariarathes, the king of the Cappadocians, had two daughters
and one son by his wife Antiochis, daughter of Antiochus the Great. The son was
first named Mithridates and later called Ariarathes. [E413] As his wife had
thought she would be barren, she had procured two other sons for him. Hence the
king sent Ariarathes, the older of the two procured sons, to Rome with a good
estate. The younger was called Holophernes, or Horophernes, and was sent into
Ionia. Ariarathes did not want them to contend with his genuine son for the
kingdom. {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 19. s. 6-8. 11:369,371} Therefore, in
this year he sent Ariarathes, his genuine son, to be educated at Rome, so that
from childhood he might be accustomed to the manners and men of Rome. He
requested that they would permit him not to be under the custody of hosts, as
was the custom with private individuals. He wanted him under the charge of
public care and tuition. The embassy of the king was well received by the
Senate and they decreed that Gnaeus Sicinius, the praetor, should appoint a
furnished house, where the king's son and his retinue might live. {*Livy, l.
42. c. 19. s. 3-8. 12:345,347}
3230. The Romans sent envoys to their confederate kings, Eumenes, Antiochus,
Ariarathes, Masanissa and to Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Others were sent into
Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Acarnania and the islands. They were to unite in a
war against Perseus. {*Appian, Macedonian Affairs, l. 9. c. 11. (4) 2:33}
Tiberius Claudius Nero and Marcus Decimius were sent to confirm the loyalty of
Asia and the islands, and were also commanded to go to Crete and Rhodes to renew
the friendships with them. They were to find out whether their confederates had
been swayed by King Perseus. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 19. s. 7,8. 12:347}
3833a AM, 4542 JP, 172 BC
3231. When the envoys that had been sent to the confederate kings returned from
Asia, they reported that they had conferred with Eumenes in Asia, Antiochus in
Syria and Ptolemy in Alexandria. Each of these men had been solicited by the
embassies of Perseus, but had remained loyal to the Romans and promised to do
what the Romans thought best. Likewise, they reported that the confederate
cities remained loyal, with the possible exception of Rhodes, which was inclined
toward Perseus. The Rhodian envoys came to clear themselves of these charges,
which they knew to be circulating as rumours. It was thought fitting that when
the new consuls entered their office, a Senate should be convened for them.
{*Livy, l. 42. c. 26. s. 7-9. 12:365,367}
3833b AM, 4543 JP, 171 BC
3232. The consuls, Publius Licinius Crassus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, along
with all the kings and cities in Asia and Europe, now turned their attention to
the pending war between Macedonia and Rome. Eumenes was eager for the war
because of long-standing animosities between the two peoples and because Perseus
had almost killed him at Delphi. Prusias, the king of Bithynia, resolved to
stay out of the conflict. He did not think it right to fight with the Romans
against his wife's brother. If Perseus should win, he could easily obtain
pardon through his wife, who was the sister of Perseus. Ariarathes, the king of
the Cappadocians, promised to help the Romans. He had an alliance with Eumenes
and joined all councils of war and peace. [K7] Antiochus eyed the kingdom of
Egypt, for he despised the youth of the king and the sloth of his tutors. He
thought the dispute over Coelosyria would be a good reason for the war against
Egypt. He could fight this war, while the Romans were busy in the Macedonian
war. However, he generously promised help to all the kings, the Senate and
their envoys through his own envoys. The young Ptolemy was still controlled by
his tutors. These prepared for war against Antiochus, with the intention of
retaking Coelosyria. They also made generous promises for the Macedonian war.
{*Livy, l. 42. c. 29. s. 1-7. 12:373,375} Ptolemy, king of Egypt,
Ariarathes of Cappadocia, Eumenes of Asia and Masanissa of Numidia all helped
the Romans. {Orosius, l. 4. c. 20.}
3233. Three envoys, Aulus Postumius Albinus, Gaius Decimius and Aulus Licinius
Nerva, were sent from the Romans to Crete, which had sent archers for the war.
{*Livy, l. 42. c. 35. s. 7. 12:397}
3234. Three other envoys, Tiberius Claudius, Spurius Postumius and Marcus
Junius, were sent into the islands and the cities of Asia. They were to urge
their confederates to help fight against Perseus. They concentrated their
efforts on the larger cities first, for they knew that the smaller cities would
follow the lead of the larger ones. The Rhodians were judged to be the
wealthiest and to have the most business interests in that region. They
supplied forty ships by the authority of Hegesilochus, who was at that time the
Prytanis, or head of the government. As soon as he knew the Romans planned to
wage war with Perseus, he exhorted his citizens to ally themselves with the
Romans. They should send the same help to the Romans that they had given in the
war with Antiochus and before that, with Philip. The Rhodians should enlist the
help of their naval allies to assemble this fleet. They should eagerly do this,
to effectively kill the rumours spread against them by Eumenes. Consequently,
when the envoys from Rome came, the Rhodians showed them a fleet of forty ships
prepared and equipped for war. [E414] Their action had a great influence on the
rest of the cities of Asia. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 45. 12:427,429} {*Polybius,
l. 27. c. 3. 5:493}
3235. After Perseus had a conference with the Romans, he wrote down all the
reasons supporting his position, and what the other side had alleged. This was
contrived in such a way as to put him in a favourable light, and was copied and
sent by couriers to the other cities. However, he ordered Antenor and Philip to
go as envoys to Rhodes. When they arrived there, they gave the letters to the
magistrates. After a few days, the envoys from Perseus were to request the
Rhodians that for the present they would not take sides in this war. If the
Romans were to undertake a war with Perseus and the Macedonians, contrary to the
laws of the league, the Rhodians should endeavour to bring them back to the
terms of the agreement, which would be in everyone's interest. The Romans ought
to be more intent than others on preserving law and liberty, since they were the
guardians of the liberty of Greece and Rhodes. Therefore, they ought to enforce
the compliance of those who were not so inclined. [K8] When the envoys had
spoken these things, their speech seemed reasonable to everyone, but the
opposing side prevailed, nonetheless. On the other points, they yielded
courteously to the envoys. In reply, the Rhodians requested that Perseus not
demand anything that would be against the will of the Romans. Antenor did not
accept this, and used the courtesy of the Rhodians to return to Macedonia.
{*Polybius, l. 27. c. 4. 5:495,497} {*Livy, l. 42. c. 46. s. 1-7.
12:429,431}
3236. While the navy was stationed around Cephallenia, Gaius Lucretius, the
Roman praetor, sent a letter with the Romans requesting the ships to be sent to
him. This letter, which he gave to Socrates, a gymnastic trainer, to deliver,
came to Rhodes at the time when Stratocles was the head of the council, or
Prytanis, in the latter half of that year. When the matter was debated, it
seemed fitting to Agathagetus, Rhodophon, Astymedes and many others that the
Rhodians should, without any further delay, send the ships and ally themselves
with the Romans. However, Dinon and Polyaratus, who did not approve of those
things which had previously been decreed in favour of the Romans, argued that
the letter had not been sent from the Romans but from Eumenes, the enemy of the
Rhodians. They claimed Eumenes was determined to draw them into the war and
engage the people in unnecessary expenses and troubles. They said that the
letter had been brought to Rhodes by an obscure person, a gymnastic trainer.
However, the Romans used great care to pick out men most suitable for such a
task. Stratocles, the chief officer or Prytanis opposed these men by speaking
at length against Perseus and generously commending the Romans. He prevailed
with the Rhodians that a decree should be made to send the ships. Therefore, of
the six ships that were ready, they sent five to Chalcis under the command of
Timagoras, and one to Tenedos, under the command of Nicagoras. Nicagoras was
unable to capture Diophanes at Tenedos, where he had been sent by Perseus, but
he captured Diophanes' ship with all its crew. {*Polybius, l. 27. c. 7.
5:499-503}
3237. From the embassy that came from Asia, the Romans heard about the state of
the Rhodians and the rest of the cities. They convened a Senate for the envoys
of Perseus. {*Polybius, l. 27. c. 6. 5:497,499} {*Livy, l. 42. c. 46.
s. 7. 12:431} So it was at that time that these envoys, Solon and Hippias
endeavoured to relate all the circumstances and to lessen the tension. However,
they defended the crime and treachery against Eumenes with special zeal, because
the matter was well known. When they had finished their speech, the Senate, who
had previously decreed the war, denounced them and whoever else had happened to
come to Rome from Macedonia. They were to depart immediately from within the
walls of Rome and be out of Italy within thirty days. {*Polybius, l. 27. c.
6. 5:497,499} {*Livy, l. 42. c. 46. s. 1-7. 12:429,431} {*Diod. Sic., l.
30. c. 7. s. 1. 11:283}
3238. Notice was sent to Eumenes that he should, with all his strength, help in
the war against Perseus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 33. c. 1.} He came by sea to
Chalcis in Boeotia with his brothers, Attalus and Athenaeus. His brother
Philetaerus stayed at Pergamum to safeguard the kingdom. Together with Attalus
and four thousand foot soldiers and a thousand cavalry, Eumenes went from
Chalcis into Thessaly, to Gaius Licinius Crassus, the consul. [E415] [K9]
Meanwhile, Athenaeus was left behind at Chalcis with two thousand foot soldiers,
and when Marius Lucretius came there with an army of ten thousand soldiers, he
took these troops with him to the siege of Haliartus. {*Livy, l. 42. c.
45,46. 12:463,465}
3239. About the same time, warships arrived at Chalcis from their other
confederates: two Phoenician ships of five tiers of oars, two from Heraclea in
Pontus of three tiers of oars, four each from Chalcedon and Samos. Furthermore,
Rhodes sent five ships of four tiers of oars. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 46. s.
6,7. 12:465} Gaius Lucretius, the praetor, and brother of Marcus, returned the
ships to the confederates when he saw that there would be no naval war. {*Livy,
l. 42. c. 46. s. 7. 12:465} {*Polybius, l. 27. c. 7. s. 16. 5:503}
However, together with his brother, the praetor attacked Haliartus and after it
had surrendered to him, levelled it to the ground and then took Thebes without
any opposition. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 63. s. 3-12. 12:489}
3240. While these affairs were going on in Boeotia, Licinius, the consul,
Eumenes and Attalus engaged Perseus in Thessaly. In the first conflict, no one
won a clear victory. About thirty men were killed on Eumenes' side, including
Cassignatus, the captain of the Gauls. In the second battle, Perseus was
victorious. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 58-62. 12:469-487} But even though he won and
asked for peace from Licinius, he did not get it. {*Livy, l. 42. c. 62. s.
15. 12:487} {*Polybius, l. 27. c. 8. 5:503-507} {*Appian, Macedonian
Affairs, l. 9. c. 12. (1) 2:41}
3241. Perseus sent Antenor to Rhodes to redeem the captives that had sailed
with Diophanes. There was a long discussion over this issue by those who
governed the country, about what ought to be done. It seemed best to Piplophron
and Theaedetus that the Rhodians should not entangle themselves in the affairs
of Perseus. However, Dinon and Polyaratus wanted to get involved. At last they
came to an agreement with Perseus concerning the captives. {*Polybius, l. 27.
c. 14. 5:515}
3242. When Antiochus clearly saw Egypt preparing to wage war over Coelosyria,
he sent Meleager to Rome as an envoy. Through him he declared to the Senate
that he was being wrongly invaded and that since Ptolemy was an ally of Rome,
just as he was, allies should not be fighting with each other. {*Polybius, l.
27. c. 19. 5:521} {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 1. 6:3,5}
3243. When the war began between Antiochus and Ptolemy over Coelosyria, the
envoys of both kings came to Rome. Antiochus sent Meleager, Sosiphanes and
Heraclides. Ptolemy sent Timothy and Damon. Meleager came in order to tell the
Senate that Ptolemy had first wrongly provoked Antiochus and wanted to put him
out of a country that was rightfully his. Timothy was sent to renew the
friendship with the Romans and to observe Meleager's dealings with them. When
he had renewed the friendship and received favourable answers to his requests,
he returned to Alexandria. The Senate told Meleager that they would have
Quintus Marcius write to Ptolemy as he thought best on his own authority.
{*Polybius, l. 28. c. 1. 6:3,5} {*Diod. Sic., l. 30. c. 2. 11:283,285}
3244. Antiochus defeated Ptolemy's commanders between Pelusium and Mount
Casius. He spared the king because of his youth and pretended to be his friend.
He went up to Memphis and took over the kingdom, claiming that he would be
careful about the affairs of the land. Therefore with a small company of
people, he subdued all of Egypt. {Porphyry, Callinicus Sutorius} {Jerome, Da
11} Ptolemy Macron, the son of Dorymenes, to whom Philometor had committed the
government of Cyprus, seems to have defected to Antiochus at this time and
surrendered the island to him, {Apc 2Ma 10:13} [K10] whereupon the care of
Cyprus was committed to Crates. {Apc 2Ma 4:29} Antiochus made Ptolemy the
governor of Coelosyria and Phoenicia, {Apc 2Ma 8:8} and admitted him into his
inner circle of friends. {Apc 1Ma 3:38}
3834a AM, 4543 JP, 171 BC
3245. Jubilee 26.
3246. Perseus was defeated by Licinius the consul, Eumenes, Attalus and
Misagenes, the prince of the Numidians. When Perseus reached Pella, he sent his
army into their winter quarters. The consul returned to Latissa and sent
Eumenes and Attalus home. He placed Misagenes with his Numidians and the rest
of his own army in their winter quarters throughout Thessaly. {*Livy, l. 42.
c. 65-67. 12:495-505}
3247. Sostratus, the governor of the citadel of Jerusalem, was in charge of
collecting the king's revenues there. When he requested the money promised to
Antiochus by Menelaus, both of them were summoned to Antioch by the king.
Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus in charge of the high priesthood, while
Sostratus left Crates, who was governor of Cyprus, in his place. {Apc 2Ma
4:27-29} [E416]
3248. In Cilicia, the men of Tarsus and Mallos revolted because Antiochus had
given the cities to Antiochis, his concubine, as a gift. The king hurriedly
came to appease them, leaving Andronicus in charge at Antioch. {Apc 2Ma
4:30,31}
3249. Menelaus took advantage of the king's absence. With the help of
Lysimachus, the king's deputy, he stole some gold vessels from the temple at
Jerusalem. Some he gave to Andronicus and some he sold in Tyre and the
surrounding cities. When Onias III, the legal high priest, knew of this, he
impeached Menelaus for this sacrilege. Onias hid himself in a sanctuary at
Daphne, which was near Antioch. {Apc 2Ma 4:32,33} This sanctuary was in the
middle of a grove and was dedicated to Apollo and Artemis. {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 2. s. 6. 7:245} It was a spacious facility and had been built by
Antiochus. {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 22. c. 13. s. 1. 2:269}
3250. At the request of Menelaus, Andronicus had Onias leave the sanctuary and
promised him his safety, but then had him murdered. {Apc 2Ma 4:34,35}
3251. When Antiochus returned to Antioch from Cilicia, the Jews of that city
and those in many other countries complained to him of the unjust murder of that
most holy old man. Antiochus was deeply moved, to the point of tears, and
commanded that Andronicus be stripped of his royal attire and led around the
city. He was killed in the same place where he had murdered Onias. {Apc 2Ma
4:35-38}
3834b AM, 4544 JP, 170 BC
3252. After many sacrileges had been committed at Jerusalem by Lysimachus, with
the consent of Menelaus, the people assembled against Lysimachus, since many
gold vessels had already been taken away. To protect himself, he gathered three
thousand troops under Auranus, who was an old and foolish man. In the riot,
some picked up stones, some large clubs, some picked up dirt and threw this at
Lysimachus and his soldiers. In the uproar, many were wounded, some were killed
and the rest fled. [K11] Lysimachus was killed near the treasury. {Apc 2Ma
4:39-42}
3253. When Antiochus came to Tyre, three men were sent from the elders at
Jerusalem to testify against Menelaus, as having been a partner in the
sacrileges and wickedness of Lysimachus. However, even though Menelaus was
convicted, the king freed him when he was promised large sums of money by
Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes. Menelaus had bribed Ptolemy to help him.
Through Ptolemy, Menelaus was acquitted and allowed to continue as the high
priest. The three innocent persons who pleaded for the city, the people and the
holy vessels, were condemned to die. The men of Tyre gave them a magnificent
funeral. {Apc 2Ma 4:44-50}
3254. About that time, Antiochus prepared his second expedition into Egypt. It
happened that for forty days strange visions were seen at Jerusalem of armed
horsemen and of foot soldiers in battle in the air, portending their future
problems. {Apc 2Ma 5:1-4}
3255. Antiochus planned to add the kingdom of Egypt to his own. He entered
Egypt with a vast company, with chariots, elephants, horsemen and a large navy.
He made war against Ptolemy, king of Egypt, who turned and fled away, and many
were killed. Afterward, the victors seized the fortified cities in the land and
Antiochus took the spoils of Egypt. {Apc 1Ma 1:16-19}
3256. A false rumour of Antiochus' death was circulated. Jason took with him
no less than a thousand men and made a surprise attack on the city of Jerusalem.
Menelaus fled into the citadel, but Jason slaughtered his own citizens
unashamedly. However, he was unable to take over the government and was forced
to flee in shame. He returned back to the country of the Ammonites, but having
been accused before Aretas, the king of the Arabians, he did not dare show his
face there. He was forced to flee from one city to another and was hated by all
men because he had forsaken their laws. He was proclaimed a public enemy of his
own country. {Apc 2Ma 5:5-10}
3257. Antiochus, in Egypt, heard that the rumour of his death had made the
people of Jerusalem very glad. Because he suspected from the rebellion of Jason
that Judea would revolt, he was very angry. {Apc 2Ma 5:11} {Josephus, Maccabean
War} After having subdued Egypt in the 143rd year of the Greeks, or Seleucus, he
went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a large army. {Apc 1Ma 1:20,21}
3258. Josephus wrote that, in the 143rd year of the Seleucians, he took the
city without a battle. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 3. (246,247)
7:125} [E417] The men of his own faction opened the gates to him. However, in
the Apocrypha, the city was said to have been taken by force of arms. {Apc 2Ma
5:11} Elsewhere, Josephus contradicts himself and stated that Antiochus took the
city by force, and added that Antiochus was enraged at the memory of the things
which he had endured in the siege. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 0. s.
7. (19) 2:11,13} Moreover, the men of Jerusalem made an attack against
Antiochus while he besieged the city, and were killed in the conflict.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 10. s. 1. (436) 4:303} [K12]
3259. When the city had been captured, the soldiers were ordered to kill anyone
they met. Cruelly, they killed everyone, regardless of age or sex. In three
days, eighty thousand men were missing, forty thousand of whom had been killed
and the rest sold into slavery. {Apc 2Ma 5:11-14}
3260. Antiochus was not content with this and went into the temple, with
Menelaus, who had betrayed their laws and country, as his guide. He wickedly
seized the holy vessels and anything else that had been dedicated by other kings
to the glory and honour of the place. {Apc 2Ma 5:15,16} He took the golden
altar, the lampstand with all its vessels, the table of the showbread, the
pouring vessels, the vials, the censers of gold and the veil. He removed the
crowns and the golden ornaments that were fastened to the temple doors. He
pulled off the gold from everything that was covered with gold, and stole all
the silver, the lovely vessels and all the hidden treasures that he found. {Apc
1Ma 1:23,24}
3261. Polybius of Megalopolis, Strabo of Cappadocia, Nicolaus Damascene,
Timagenes, Castor the historian and Apollodorus wrote that Antiochus was short
of money and broke his league. He assaulted the Jews, his confederates and
friends, and plundered the temple that was full of gold and silver, sparing
nothing of value. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 7. (84,85) 1:327} His large
tribute to the Romans forced him to gather money by pillaging and not to miss
any opportunity of plundering. {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c.
19. 11:107} Those who were the enemies of the Jews affirmed that many other
things were done by him because he hated the Jews and had contempt for their
religion. Diodorus stated: {*Diod. Sic., l. 34. c. 1. s. 3,4. 12:55}
"When Antiochus Epiphanes had overcome the Jews, he entered into the Holy of
Holies of God, where only the priests could lawfully go. There he found a
marble statue of a man with a long beard, holding a book in his hand and sitting
on an ass. He thought him to be Moses, who had built Jerusalem, founded the
nation and established those laws that are hated in all nations. He desired to
remove this reproach to the nations and endeavoured to abrogate the laws.
Therefore, he sacrificed a large sow to the statue of the founder, Moses. He
poured blood on the altar of God that stood in the open air, as well as on the
statue. He boiled the flesh of the sow and commanded that the holy books
containing their laws be marred and obliterated with the broth. He commanded
that the eternal flame, which always burned in the temple, be extinguished. He
compelled Menelaus, the high priest, and other Jews to eat swine's flesh."
3262. However, we disagree with the testimony of all who would reproach the
Jews as being a wicked people, for even Strabo commended the Jews as being just
and religious persons. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 37. 7:285}
3263. When Antiochus had captured the city, he sacrificed swine on the altar
and with the broth of its flesh he sprinkled the temple. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 8. s. 2. (243) 7:349}
3264. Antiochus carried eighteen hundred talents from the temple and quickly
returned to Antioch. He appointed governors to vex the country. He appointed
Philip, who was a Phrygian and more of a barbarian than Antiochus, to be over
Jerusalem. He also appointed Andronicus at Gerizim in Samaria. In addition to
these, he left Menelaus, who was worse than all the rest and who had a most
malicious attitude toward the Jews, to rule the citizens with a heavy hand.
{Apc 2Ma 5:21-23} [K13]
3265. The envoys of Asia were heard in the Senate at Rome. The Milesians,
mindful of the fact that they had so far done nothing, promised their readiness
to do whatever the Senate should command, to help the war against Perseus. The
Alabandians stated that they had erected a temple to the city of Rome and
instituted anniversary games to the goddess. They brought a golden crown
weighing fifty pounds, which they might place in the Capitol as a gift to
Jupiter. They also brought three hundred shields for the cavalry, which they
were willing to give to whomever the Senate should appoint. The people of
Lampsacus brought an eighty pound crown and made the following reasoned appeal:
"How that they had defected from Perseus when the Roman army had come into
Macedonia. They had been under the jurisdiction of Perseus and before that, of
Philip. With regard for this, and in return for having handed everything over
to the Roman commanders, they requested only that they might be received into
the friendship of the Roman people. [E418] Should a peace be made with Perseus,
they did not wish to be under Perseus' authority any longer."
3266. A civil answer was returned to the rest of the envoys. Quintus Maenius,
the praetor, was commanded to enrol Lampsacus as allies. Rewards were given to
them all, amounting to more than two thousand asses of money for each of them.
The Alabandians were commanded to carry the shields back with them to Aulus
Hostilius Mancinus, the consul in Macedonia. {*Livy, l. 43. c. 6. s. 1-10.
13:21-25}
3835a AM, 4544 JP, 170 BC
3267. It was decided by the common agreement of the Achaeans that all the
honours of Eumenes which were considered by them as unseemly and repugnant to
the laws, should be removed. Sosigenes and Diopithes from Rhodes were judges in
the matter at that time, and because they were offended by Eumenes, they
destroyed all his honours in the cities of Peloponnesus. {*Polybius, l. 28.
c. 7. s. 1-11. 6:15-17}
3835b AM, 4545 JP, 169 BC
3268. While Aulus Hostilius, the consul, wintered in Thessaly with his forces,
Attalus, who at that time was wintering at Elatia, was informed that his brother
Eumenes had been most distressed because they had taken away his grandest
honours by a public decree. After Archon, the leader of the Achaeans, had been
told by Attalus about this matter, he agreed to help Attalus. Attalus sent
envoys to the common council of the country, to negotiate with them concerning
restoring the honours to the king. Thereupon, through the persuasion of
Polybius, the historian, a decree was made that the magistrates be commanded to
restore everything connected with the honour of Eumenes. Those honours that
were not in the common interest of the Achaeans, or were contrary to the laws,
were not to be restored. In this way, Attalus rectified at that time the
miscarriages that had been rashly committed in Peloponnesus concerning his
brother Eumenes' honour. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 7. 6:15-19} {*Polybius, l.
16. c. 25,26. 5:55-59}
3269. At the beginning of the spring, Quintus Marcius Philippus, the consul,
was sent against Perseus. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 1. s. 1. 13:91}
3270. The Achaeans published a decree concerning the sending of auxiliaries to
Marcius, the consul, which was brought to him by Polybius. Telocritus was to be
their envoy to Attalus, to bring him that decree whereby the honours of Eumenes
had been restored to him. At the same time, the Achaeans heard that the
Anacleteria had been celebrated in honour of Ptolemy, the king, as was the
custom for the kings of Egypt when they reached legal age. As a token of their
joy in this, they sent envoys for the renewing of the friendship that existed
between the Achaeans and the kings of Egypt. Alcithus and Parsiadas were chosen
to do this. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 12. 6:25,27}
3271. About that time a wicked act, and most abhorrent to the institutions of
the Greeks, was committed on the island of Crete. [K14] Between the people of
Cydonia and Apollonia there was a common bond of friendship and a league of
peace. When the tables of that league were ratified on each side by oath, they
were fastened to the image of Idaean Zeus for all to see. In spite of this, the
people of Cydonia broke the league at a time of peace, when they were being
treated by Apollonia as friends. They surprised their city, killed all the men
with the sword and plundered their goods. They divided their wives, their
children and all their land among themselves. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 14.
6:31} {*Diod. Sic., l. 30. c. 13. 11:297}
3272. The people of Cydonia were afraid of the Gortynians. Previously, their
city had almost been taken by a surprise attack by Nothocrates, so they sent
envoys to Eumenes asking for help based on their league with him. The king
chose Leon as captain, sending him there speedily with a band of three hundred
soldiers. When these forces arrived, the people of Cydonia gave the keys of the
gates to Leon and put the whole city under his control. {*Polybius, l. 28. c.
15. 6:31,33}
3273. At the urging of Eulaeus, the eunuch, Ptolemy started a new war to
recover Coelosyria. So Antiochus made his third expedition into Egypt and
subdued it. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 18-20. 6:39-43} When the Egyptians fled,
Antiochus could have killed them all with his cavalry, but he restrained his
troops and ordered that they should be taken alive. For this kindness, he
gained both Pelusium and a little later, all of Egypt. {*Diod. Sic., l. 30.
c. 14. 11:297}
3274. The opposing factions at Rhodes grew daily after they had heard about the
Roman Senate's decrees that from now on, those matters were to be done according
to the dictates of the Senate, and not of their own magistrates. Philophron and
Theaedetus persuaded them to send envoys to Rome. [E419] At the beginning of
the summer, Hegesilochus, the son of Hegesias, Nicagoras and Nicander were sent
as envoys to Rome. Hagepolis, Ariston and Pasicrates were sent to Quintus
Marcius Philippus, the consul, and to Gaius Marcius Figulus, the admiral of the
fleet. They had all been commanded to renew the friendship with the Roman
people and to answer the accusations of some against Rhodes. Hegesilochus had
also been ordered to request permission to send grain. Hagepolis overtook
Quintus Marcius, who was camped at Heraclea in Macedonia. When he had carried
out his orders, the consul said that he paid no heed to those who slandered the
Rhodians and asked the envoys not to put up with anyone who did such things. He
treated them very kindly and wrote to the Roman people about this. Hagepolis
was overwhelmed by the courtesy of the consul. Marcius took him into a private
meeting, where he said he wondered why the Rhodians did not try to reconcile the
kings who were fighting over Coelosyria, since they were in a position to do so.
[K15] Hagepolis subsequently went to Gaius, the admiral of the fleet, and was
even more favourably entertained by him than he had been by Marcius. He
returned to Rhodes a short time later and related both what had happened and how
well he had been treated by both the Roman commanders. The expectations of all
the Rhodians were raised to a high pitch, but not in the same way. Most of the
older ones were very pleased about the friendship of the Romans, while the
younger ones were troubled by these actions. They thought that this excessive
kindness of the Romans was a sign that they were terrified by the imminent
danger and that matters were not unfolding as they should. Later, Hagepolis
sided against them and secretly took orders from Marcius to propose, in the
council of the Rhodians, the making of a peace treaty agreement between the
kings. Dinon had no doubts at all but that the affairs of the Romans must be in
a dreadful mess. So envoys were sent to Alexandria to put an end to the war
between Antiochus and Ptolemy. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 16,17. 6:33-37}
3275. Toward the end of the summer, Hagesilochus and other envoys from Rhodes
came to Rome and were very graciously entertained. It was common knowledge that
the Rhodians were divided by civil disputes. Agathagetus, Philophron, Rhodophon
and Theaedetus placed all their hopes in the Romans. Dinon and Polyaratus, on
the other hand, trusted in Perseus and the Macedonians. It happened frequently
that, when matters had been debated equally well on either side and with
different conclusions, the Senate ignored the internal differences at Rhodes,
although they were well aware of them. The Senate granted a licence to them to
export a hundred thousand bushels of wheat from Sicily. {*Polybius, l. 28. c.
16. 6:33,35}
3276. After Egypt had been subdued by Antiochus, Comanus and Cineas discussed
with king Ptolemy what was to be done. It was decided that a council be
created, composed of the chief captains who would be in charge of settling
matters. The council decided that any Greeks whom they might be able to find
there should go as envoys to Antiochus, to negotiate with him about a peace.
{*Polybius, l. 28. c. 19. s. 1,2. 6:39}
3277. At that time two envoys arrived from the country of the Achaeans.
Alcithus, the son of Xenophon of Aegina, was to renew their friendship with the
king. Pasiadas had been sent about the matter of the war between Ptolemy and
Antiochus. The Athenians sent envoys, headed by Demaratus, concerning a certain
donation, and these men brought up two religious matters, as well. The first,
concerning the feast of Athena, called Panathenaea, was mentioned by Callias,
the pancratiast, or conqueror at the games. The other, concerning the
mysteries, was handled by Cleostratus, who, in the course of the discussion,
made a speech to the king. Miletus was represented by four envoys, Eudemus,
Icesius from Clazomene, Apollonides and Apollonius. {*Polybius, l. 28. c.
19. s. 3-6. 6:39}
3278. Together with these, Ptolemy, the king, sent his own envoys, Tlepolemus
and Ptolemy, the teacher of rhetoric. They sailed and came to Antiochus, who
received them courteously and on the first day invited them to a sumptuous
feast. The next day he gave them the liberty of a personal conference and asked
them to declare their purpose. The envoys of the Achaeans were the first to
speak with him. [E420] Then Demaratus spoke, who had been sent by the
Athenians. [K16] He was followed by Eudemus, from Miletus. All affirmed that
the war had been started at the instigation of Eulaeus, the eunuch. After they
had emphasised how young Ptolemy was, they all deplored the war between the
kings. Antiochus agreed with their speeches and more fully explained himself,
defending his rights. With great earnestness he sought to prove that Coelosyria
belonged to the kings of Syria. He denied what the envoys from Alexandria
alleged, namely that Coelosyria had been given as a dowry with Cleopatra, the
mother of Philometor, who now reigned. After much discussion, he proved his
point to everyone present. At that time, he sailed to Naucratis. There he
spoke in a kindly manner, and treated the citizens well. To each Greek resident
he gave a gold stater, which was valued at 16 shillings eight pence. (Value at
1650 AD. Editor.) He journeyed to Alexandria and promised to reply to the envoys
after Aristides and Theris had returned because he wanted the Greeks to know and
witness his actions. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 19. s. 7-13. 6:39-43}
3279. Philometor was being taught by Eulaeus, the eunuch, in pleasure and
effeminate ways. He became so slothful that, since he was so far removed from
all danger and separated from the enemy by a great distance, he surrendered his
large and wealthy kingdom without fighting for it. {*Diod. Sic., l. 30. c.
17. 11:301,303}
3280. Antiochus took the crown from Philometor after he had reigned eleven
years. The Alexandrians committed the management of affairs to Euergetes, his
younger brother. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 54,225.} They later
nicknamed him Cacergetes, or the Malefactor, as opposed to Euergetes, which
means Benefactor. {*Athenaeus, l. 4. (184c) 2:313} {*Athenaeus, l. 12.
(549d) 5:493} However, from the large size of his body and the largeness of his
paunch, he was nicknamed Physcon, or Gore-belly. This was added after his name
and is read on his coins. PTOLEMAIOU FUSKWNOS EUERGETOU
3281. Epiphanius called this Ptolemy Ptolemy Philologus, because of his love of
knowledge. {Epiphanius, De Mensuris et Ponderibus} He was one of Aristarchus'
scholars and he wrote historical observations which were frequently cited by
Athenaeus. {*Athenaeus, l. 2. (71b) 1:311} This second Euergetes wrote the
things we took from Athenaeus and Galen about the first Ptolemy Euergetes. {See
note on 3761 AM. <<2847>>} At this time Eumenes, the son of Attalus,
reigned in
Asia, of whom Strabo stated that he furnished Pergamum with libraries.
{*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2. 6:167} It is likely that the following things
which Vitruvius mentioned refer to this same Ptolemy: {*Vitruvius, l. 7. c.
0. s. 4. 2:65}
"The Attalian kings were inclined to the wonderful delights of learning when
they had erected a famous library at Pergamum for the common enjoyment of all.
Ptolemy was zealous to do the same at Alexandria."
3282. Pliny stated: {*Pliny, l. 13. c. 21. (70) 4:141}
"Subsequently, parchment was invented at Pergamum when, according to Varro,
owing to the rivalry between King Ptolemy and King Eumenes about their
libraries, Ptolemy suppressed the export of paper."
3283. Ptolemy Philometor was driven from his kingdom and fled to his younger
brother Ptolemy Euergetes at Alexandria. {Justin, Trogus, l. 34. c. 2.}
Since Alexandria was not under the power of Antiochus, they made him co-ruler
with his brother in the kingdom. [K17] This was in the twelfth year of
Philometor's reign and the fourth year of Euergetes' reign. {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 54,225.} After a while, however, they expelled
Philometor and banished him. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 21,22. 6:43,45}
{*Polybius, l. 29. c. 23. s. 3-5. 6:81,83}
3284. Antiochus seized on that occasion and took over the government of the
banished prince. He used the specious pretence of bringing him home again to
justify his Egyptian war. This is what he told the envoys whom he sent into all
the cities of Asia and Greece. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 19. s. 6-14. 13:151,153}
{*Livy, l. 45. c. 11. s. 8. 13:279}
3836a AM, 4545 JP, 169 BC
3285. Antiochus, through the pretence of bringing the older Ptolemy back to his
kingdom, fought a war with his younger brother Euergetes, who at that time
possessed Alexandria. He defeated him in the naval battle at Pelusium. He
crossed the Nile with his army on a bridge which he hastily built, and besieged
Alexandria. Thereupon, the younger Ptolemy and Cleopatra, his sister, sent
envoys to Rome. They asked the Senate to send assistance to the kingdom and to
those princes who were friends to the empire, and reminded them that the people
of Rome had this obligation to Antiochus. So great was their authority with all
the kings and nations that if they were but to send envoys declaring that it did
not please the Senate that a war was being fought between their allies,
Antiochus would immediately depart from Alexandria and withdraw his army into
Syria. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 19. s. 6-11. 13:151} [E421]
3286. When Antiochus was unable to break down the wall of Alexandria, he left.
{*Livy, l. 45. c. 11. s. 1. 13:277} In spite of his withdrawal, Meleager,
Sosiphanes and Heraclides were sent to Rome as envoys. They were given a
hundred and fifty talents, of which fifty talents were to be spent on a crown to
be given to the Romans, and the remainder was to be divided among certain Greek
cities. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 22. 6:45}
3287. About that time, the envoys of the Rhodians, headed by Praxon, arrived at
Alexandria to negotiate a peace. Shortly after this, they went to the camp of
Antiochus, where they were permitted to see the king. They had a long discourse
about the mutual alliances between both the kings and the advantages that would
accrue to each if peace were made. But the king interrupted the envoy in his
speech and said that there was no need of any further discussion, as the kingdom
belonged to the older Ptolemy, and he had long since made a peace with him and
was his friend. If the Alexandrians now wished to recall him from banishment,
Antiochus would not prevent it. {*Polybius, l. 28. c. 23. 6:45}
3288. Leaving the older Ptolemy at Memphis, Antiochus pretended to fight for
Ptolemy's kingdom and gave him the rest of Egypt. After that, he left a strong
garrison at Pelusium and withdrew his army into Syria, considering it prudent to
allow the civil war in Egypt to continue. He could always use it as a pretence
to re-enter Egypt with his army to help the older brother. {*Livy, l. 45. c.
11. s. 2. 13:277}
3289. King Eumenes came from Elaea with twenty decked ships to the shores of
Cassandria, where he met with Gaius Marcius Figulus, who was a praetor and the
admiral of the Roman fleet. Prusias sent five ships there. {*Livy, l. 44. c.
10. s. 12. 13:123} At the same time Marcius, with the help of Demetrius,
tried in vain to take the city of Cassandria. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 11,12.
13:123-129} It was rumoured that Cydas, the Cretian, and Antimachus, the
commander in Demetrias, were negotiating a peace between Eumenes and Perseus.
Cydas, who was one of Eumenes' intimate friends, had previously been seen
talking with a certain countryman of his, Chimarus, at Amphipolis. [K18] Later,
at Demetrias, he was seen talking with a certain captain of Perseus by the name
of Menecrates, and then again with Antimachus, under the very walls of the city.
Eumenes left Demetrias and sailed to Quintus Marcius, the consul, to
congratulate him on his arrival into Macedonia, after which he left for his own
kingdom of Pergamum. Gaius Marcius Figulus, the praetor, sent part of the fleet
to winter at Sciathum and went with the rest of the ships to Oreus in Boeotia.
{*Livy, l. 44. c. 24. s. 9-11. 13:169} {*Livy, l. 44. c. 13. s. 9-11.
13:131,133}
3290. Reports varied concerning Eumenes. Valerius Antias wrote that although
the praetor summoned the king with frequent dispatches, he had not even received
the naval assistance from him. Neither did Eumenes, on his way to Asia, part on
good terms with the consul, being indignant because he was not permitted to
encamp in the Roman area. He could not even be persuaded to leave behind any of
the Galatian cavalry he had brought with him. Attalus, his brother, remained
with the consul and was loyal to him throughout the war. {*Livy, l. 44. c.
13. s. 12-14. 13:133} Velleius Paterculus wrote that King Eumenes was
indifferent to that war and lent his brother no assistance. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 1. c. 9. s. 2. 1:21}
3291. At Rome, the envoys of Pamphylia brought a golden crown into the Senate,
made of twenty thousand philips. At their request, they were allowed to put the
crown in the temple of Jupiter and to sacrifice in the Capitol. Their desire of
renewing friendship was graciously granted and each received a gift of two
thousand asses of money. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 14. s. 1-4. 13:133,135}
3292. At that time, envoys came from King Prusias to help make a peace with
King Perseus. They received an audience with the Senate. Prusias said that he
supported the Romans then, and that he would stand by them during the war.
However, when the envoys had come to him from Perseus with the desire to end the
war, he had promised them to intervene on their behalf with the Senate. He
hoped that if they could be persuaded to end their displeasure with himself, he
could be of assistance to them in making a peace with both parties. {*Livy, l.
44. c. 14. s. 5-8. 13:135}
3293. The embassy from Rhodes was more arrogant over the same issue. They
recounted the deeds which they had done for the Roman people and how they had
been largely responsible for the victory over Antiochus. They added that, at
the same time there had been peace between the Macedonians and the Romans, they
had an alliance between themselves and King Perseus. [E422] This they had
broken against their will, not through any provocation against them on his part,
but because it had pleased the Romans to draw them into the war. Now, in the
third year of the war, they were feeling the brunt of it. Because of the
interruption of commerce, their island was being reduced to poverty, as they had
lost their revenues that came by sea and their food supply had been cut off.
When they had no longer been able to endure this, they had sent envoys into
Macedonia to Perseus, telling him that the Rhodians would be happy if he would
make peace with the Romans. The Rhodians indicated to Perseus that they would
send to the Romans to declare this, and would consider what should be done
against those who failed to end the war. Claudius Quadrigarius said that no
answer was given to these persons. A decree of the Senate was recited in which
the Roman people announced that the Carians and Lycians were now free, and that
letters should immediately be sent to both countries to inform them of this.
When they heard this, the head of the Rhodian delegation, whose magniloquence
the Senate house had scarcely been able to contain just a moment earlier, fell
down astonished. Others said that the Senate replied that from the beginning of
the war, the Roman people had been told by reputable persons that the Rhodians
had secret talks against Rome with King Perseus. [K19] If this had been
doubtful before, the envoys' words had made it plain. This fraud, which had
been secret in the beginning, had now largely been exposed. What the Rhodians
were about to consider, the Romans knew themselves. Most certainly the people
of Rome would appropriately reward each city for its part in the war when
Perseus was defeated, which they hoped would be soon. However, each of the
envoys was offered a gift of two thousand asses of money, which they refused.
{*Livy, l. 44. c. 14,15. 13:135-139}
3294. Dio gave the following account of the matter. King Perseus had requested
peace from the Romans and might have obtained it except for the presence in his
embassy of the Rhodians. The Rhodians feared lest the Romans should lack an
adversary and had joined their envoys with the envoys of Perseus. The envoys
from Rhodes were anything but moderate and behaved most unsuitably for people
purporting to be looking for peace. They had more than just requested a peace
for Perseus, they had virtually given it to him. They proudly spoke of other
things and finally threatened that they would attack those who failed to make
peace. So it happened that although the Romans suspected them of siding with
Perseus, the Rhodians' behaviour caused the Romans to consider them more odious,
and blocked Perseus' chances of getting peace. {*Dio, l. 20. (66) 2:339,341
(Zonaras, l. 9. c. 22.)}
3836b AM, 4546 JP, 168 BC
3295. About the beginning of the consulship of Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Gaius
Licinius, the Alexandrian envoys from Ptolemy and Princess Cleopatra were called
into the Senate. They were dressed in dirt-stained white clothing and had long
straggling beards and hair. They entered the Senate with olive branches and
then prostrated themselves, requesting that the Senate help their kingdom and
princess, who were Roman allies. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 19. s. 6-14.
13:151,153}
3296. They told the Senate that Antiochus had seized the rest of Egypt and
still remained there, hoping to conquer Alexandria as well. The Senate was
concerned at the power of this king, so they decreed to send an embassy to help
make peace and to determine firsthand what was happening there. {*Polybius, l.
29. c. 2. 6:47}
3297. They therefore immediately sent Gaius Popilius Laenas, Gaius Decimius and
Gaius Hostilius as envoys to conclude the war between the kings. They were
ordered to go to Antiochus first, then to Ptolemy. They were to say that if
they did not stop this war, they would no longer be considered allies of Rome.
{*Livy, l. 44. c. 19. s. 13,14. 13:153}
3298. These men accompanied the envoys from Alexandria and left on their
journey within three days. Envoys from Macedonia arrived on the last day of the
Quinquatria, or the feast of Athena's birthday. They said that Eumenes and his
fleet came and went like an unpredictable storm, as the king was not constant in
his loyalties. Although they said many things against Eumenes, they attested to
the extraordinary loyalty of Attalus. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 20. 13:153,155}
3299. At the time when the envoys who had been sent to Egypt left Rome, the
following was recorded in an ancient diary of this year (which Pighius had
inserted into the second book of his annals in the 585th year of the city):
"The third day of the Nones of April (April 3), Gaius Popilius Laenas, Gaius
Decimius and Gaius Hostilius were sent as envoys to the kings of Syria and Egypt
to discuss the war between them. [E423] These envoys, with a number of their
adherents and kindred, sacrificed early in the morning in the temple of Castor
to the household gods of P. R. (People of Rome. Editor.) They offered a bull
and so completed their sacrifice."
3300. However, the 3rd day of the Nones of April (April 3), as the year at Rome
then stood, was January 23. [K20] This is according to the Julian account, as
we deduce from the eclipse of the moon which happened five months later, on June
21.
3301. After Antiochus and his army had returned into Syria, Ptolemy Philometor
wisely considered the danger he was in. He sent envoys first to Alexandria to
his sister Cleopatra and then to his brother Euergetes and his friends,
confirming a peace with them. His sister helped him greatly through her advice
and intercession on his behalf. After a peace had been made by the public and
common consent, he returned from Memphis and was received into Alexandria. He
reigned together with his brother and the common people accepted this. In this
war, they had no supplies from Egypt, either during the siege, or after it was
lifted. Their condition was brought very low. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 11. s.
1-7. 13:277,279} {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 23. s. 4,5. 6:81,83}
3302. This should have been reason for Antiochus to be glad, had he actually
brought his army into Egypt to restore Ptolemy to the throne. However, he was
so offended that he prepared for war against them both more eagerly and
maliciously than he had done against them individually. Then he sent his fleet
to Cyprus and defeated the Egyptian ships and the captains of Ptolemy. {*Livy,
l. 45. c. 11. s. 8-11. 13:279,281} {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 26. 6:89}
3303. Both brothers shared the throne and were militarily quite weak. They
sent envoys to Eumenes, to Dionysodorus and to the Achaeans, to request a
thousand foot soldiers and two hundred cavalry. They wanted Lycortas to be
captain of all the auxiliary forces and his son Polybius to be captain of the
cavalry. They also wrote to Theodoridas of Sicyon, to hire a thousand mercenary
soldiers. {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 23. s. 5-7. 6:83}
3304. Perseus, king of the Macedonians, and Gentius, king of the Illyrians,
united in league together by giving pledges to each other. They decreed that
envoys should be sent to Rhodes, in the hope that the city which at that time
was the major naval power might, by the authority of two kings, go to war
against the Romans. The envoys were sent to Thessaly and ordered to be ready to
sail. There they met with Metrodorus who had recently come from Rhodes, and who
affirmed that on the authority of Dinon and Polyaratus, principal men of the
city, the Rhodians were prepared for war. The brothers Hippocritus and Diomedon
from among the men of Cos, and Dinon and Polyaratus in Rhodes, spoke boldly for
the Macedonians and accused the Romans, while publicly advising an alliance with
Perseus. Metrodorus was made the leader of this confederate embassy with the
Illyrians. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 23. s. 7-10. 13:165} {*Polybius, l. 30. c.
7. s. 9,10. 6:113} {*Diod. Sic., l. 30. c. 9. 11:291,293}
3305. Perseus had sent Telemnastus, the Cretian, as envoy to Antiochus, and
advised him not to miss the opportunity, nor to think that the proud and
insolent injunctions of the Romans pertained only to Perseus. Rather, he should
know that the Romans would shortly treat him in the same way, unless he helped
Perseus settle matters between the Romans and the Macedonians. Should this not
prove possible, then at least he could help Perseus against the Romans.
{*Polybius, l. 29. c. 4. s. 8-10. 6:53} {*Livy, l. 44. c. 24. s. 1-6.
13:167}
3306. At the same time, Perseus again sent Herophon as an envoy to Eumenes, who
had already been on two embassies to Eumenes. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 24. s. 11.
13:169} [K21] He hoped that by offering money, he could solicit Eumenes either
to side with Perseus, or to reconcile Perseus to the people of Rome, or failing
that, simply to remain neutral. He hoped that he would be able to succeed in
one of these points or at the very least achieve by that solicitation what he
did in fact achieve, namely that Eumenes would become more suspect to the
Romans. However, Eumenes despised the friendship of Perseus. For making peace,
he demanded fifteen hundred talents and for remaining neutral to both sides, a
thousand talents. Perseus promised to give the sum required for his help in
getting a peace, but not before it had been accomplished. He would, however,
deposit it in the temple at Samothracia until the peace had been concluded.
{*Appian, Macedonian Affairs, l. 9. c. 18. (1) 2:45} As that island was
under Perseus' own jurisdiction, Eumenes saw that it signified nothing more than
if the money had been at Pella, and insisted that he should bring part of the
money for the present. This did not happen either. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 25.
13:169-173} Herophon returned home and the negotiations were kept secret. To
avoid suspicion, both sides said that the negotiations had concerned the
redemption of captives. [E424] Eumenes told the same to the consul. {*Livy, l.
44. c. 27. s. 13. 13:179}
3307. The Rhodians disagreed among themselves, but the party which favoured
Perseus prevailed. It seemed good that envoys should be sent to settle the war
between Perseus and the Romans. So the main leaders of their councils
immediately sent Hagepolis, Diocles and Clinombrotus as envoys to Rome, while
sending Damon, Nicostratus, Hagesilochus and Telephus to the consul and Perseus.
They also sent envoys to Crete to renew the friendship with all the Cretians.
They were to advise them to be mindful of the times and the imminent danger.
They should be friends with the people of Rhodes and they should have the same
friends and enemies as the Rhodians had. They were sent to each city, as well,
to entreat with them about these same matters. {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 10.
6:63,65}
3308. The envoys of the Ptolemys, the kings, came into Peloponnesus while it
was still winter. Then, in an assembly of the Achaeans celebrated at Corinth,
they renewed their ancient friendship after much discussion. Presenting their
view of the afflicted condition of the kings, they requested aid. The multitude
were ready to give their assistance, not with a part of their forces only but if
need be, with all their strength. However, Callicrates, Diophanes and
Hyperbatus opposed this decision. So, in debating against them, Lycortas and
Polybius pointed out the imminence of the peril that threatened Egypt. They
exhorted the Achaeans not to neglect this opportunity, but mindful of their
agreement, of the benefits they had received and especially of their sworn word,
to confirm the proposed treaty. When the multitude had again jointly agreed
that assistance should be given, Callicrates frustrated that debate by
intimidating the magistrates with the assertion that the laws gave no authority
to such assemblies to commit auxiliary troops. {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 23,24.
6:81-85}
3309. A little later, a council was called in the city of the Sicyonians, in
which the magistrates and everyone over the age of thirty were present.
Andronidas and Callicrates spoke for a time about making peace. After much
discussion, a courier arrived at the theatre. He brought letters from Quintus
Marcius, the proconsul, in which he was supposed to exhort the Achaeans. They
were to comply with the desire of the Romans and endeavour to reconcile the
kings. [K22] Polybius, out of respect for Marcius, retired from the discussion.
Thereupon the Achaeans sent as envoys: Archon of Aegira, with Arcesilaus and
Ariston of Megalopolis, to make a peace between the Ptolemys and Antiochus. The
envoys from Alexandria lost all hope of help and returned home. {*Polybius, l.
29. c. 25. 6:87,89}
3310. Perseus had his winter quarters at Phila. He drew his forces into Ionia,
where he could intercept the wheat that was being conveyed from there to the
Romans. {*Appian, Macedonian Affairs, l. 9. c. 18. (1) 2:49} Antenor and
Callippus were the admirals of the navy, and Perseus sent them with forty small
boats and five larger cutters called Pristes (because they resembled a large
fish), to Tenedos. From there they dispersed around the Cyclades Islands, in
order to capture the ships that came into Macedonia with wheat. These ships
sailed from Cassandria, after which they first came to the havens which lay
opposite Mount Athos, and from there they sailed in a calm sea to Tenedos.
Perseus' men sent away the Rhodians' open vessels under Eudamus, their captain,
without any harm and treated them very civilly. These were later told that
fifty of their cargo ships had been blockaded by the warships of Eumenes under
the command of Damius at the very mouth of the haven at Mount Athos. Perseus'
fleet dispersed their enemies and opened the blockade, escorting them into
Macedonia with ten small scout ships. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 28. s. 1-5.
13:179,181}
3311. Nine days later, those small vessels returned to the fleet lying at
Sigeum. From there, they sailed to Subota, which is an island lying between
Elaea and Chios. However, the following day, thirty-five ships arrived which
they called horse-transports. They came from Elaea with the cavalry of the
Gauls and horses sent from Eumenes to Attalus. These were bound for Phanae, a
cape of Chios, from where they were to sail over into Macedonia. Antenor set
sail from Subota, between the cape of Erythrae and that of Chios, where the sea
is very narrow, and suddenly attacked these ships. When there was no hope of
resisting, some who were near the shore of the continent, swam to Erythrae.
Some hoisted sail and beached their ships on Chios. They left their horses
behind and fled to the city. The small vessels of Perseus' fleet had delivered
their armed men nearer the city, at a spot more convenient for landing. The
Macedonians defeated the Gauls and killed some as they fled, while others were
intercepted in front of the gate and killed. About eight hundred Gauls were
killed (seven hundred, as Gruter's edition had it), and two hundred were taken
alive. Some of the horses drowned in the sea when the ships sank and some were
hamstrung by the Macedonians on the shore. [E425] Antenor commanded those same
ten vessels that he had sent before, to convey twenty of the best horses to
Thessaly with the captives and to return to the fleet as soon as possible. He
would meet them at Phanae. The navy stayed almost three days at the city. From
there they went to Phanae and sailed across the Aegean Sea to Delos, transported
in the ten vessels which had returned earlier than expected. {*Livy, l. 44.
c. 28. s. 6-16. 13:181-185}
3312. While these things were happening, the Roman envoys, Gaius Popilius,
Gaius Decimius and Gaius Hostilius, came to Delos after they had sailed from
Chalcis with three ships of five tiers of oars. There they found forty ships of
the Macedonians and five ships from King Eumenes which had five tiers of oars.
The sanctity of the temple and the island gave security to all people.
Therefore, the Romans, the Macedonians and the naval allies of Eumenes all
intermingled and talked together in safety, because respect for the temple made
this place a safe haven. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 29. s. 1-3. 13:185}
3313. Antenor, Perseus' admiral, received word from the watch-towers that cargo
ships were seen at sea. He pursued them with some of his ships, while he sent
the rest around the Cyclades Islands. He either sank or plundered all the
ships, except those bound for Macedonia. [K23] Popilius and the navy of Eumenes
helped as many as they could. They escorted them by night in groups of two or
three vessels and so deceived the Macedonians. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 29. s.
3,5. 13:185}
3314. About that time, Parmenion and Morcus, the envoys of Gentius, king of the
Illyrians, came to Rhodes along with Metrodorus, the envoy of Perseus. Perseus'
authority had increased at the sight of the warships which passed up and down
along the Cyclades Islands and the Aegean Sea, and because of the large number
of the horsemen who had been killed. His prestige was further enhanced by the
alliance between Gentius and himself and the rumour that large numbers of the
Gauls' cavalry and foot soldiers were coming to help him. These things
encouraged Dinon and Polyaratus, who favoured Perseus, but depressed Theaedetus,
who did not support him. Therefore, the Rhodians decreed to give a friendly
answer to both the kings and to indicate to them that they had resolved to use
their authority to put an end to the war. They encouraged them to agree to a
peace. Moreover, the envoys of Gentius were entreated with great courtesy in
their public place of assembly. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 29. s. 6-8. 13:185-189}
{*Polybius, l. 29. c. 11. 6:65}
3836c AM, 4546 JP, 168 BC
3315. In the beginning of the spring, Antiochus set out for Egypt with his army
and came into Coelosyria near Rhinocolura. He met the envoys of Ptolemy
Philometor, who thanked Antiochus for restoring him to his kingdom. They asked
that Antiochus should not undo his act of kindness, but say what he wanted done,
rather than turn from an ally into an enemy by taking military action.
Antiochus replied that he would recall his fleet and reduce his army under no
other terms than that Ptolemy would surrender all of Cyprus to him, as well as
Pelusium and the land that was adjacent to that mouth of the Nile River. He
named a day by which he had to receive an answer. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 11. s.
9-11. 13:279,281}
3316. Antiochus sent Apollonius, the overseer for the collection of his tribute
(called meridarch {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 5. (261) 7:135} or
musarch in the Apocrypha {Apc 1Ma 1:29 2Ma 5:24}), with an army of twenty-two
thousand men into the cities of Judea. This was two full years after he had
plundered the temple at Jerusalem. They had been ordered to kill all the mature
young men and sell the women and children. {Apc 1Ma 1:30 2Ma 5:24}
3317. Apollonius subsequently arrived at Jerusalem without any sign of
hostility. He restrained himself until the Sabbath day, when he killed all who
came to perform religious duties. He marched about the city with his forces and
killed a large number of people. After he had plundered the city, he set it on
fire and pulled down the houses and the walls. He led away the women and
children as captives and seized the cattle. {Apc 1Ma 1:31-34 2Ma 5:25,26}
Josephus attributed to Antiochus himself the things that were done by his
officers. He mentioned the following: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s.
4. (248-256) 7:127-133}
"...after the sacking of the whole city, either to have killed the inhabitants
or to have led them away captive together with their children and wives to the
number of ten thousand...."
3318. Judas Maccabeus left with nine others and spent his life in the
mountains, where they foraged like wild beasts. They fed on herbs, so that they
would not be involved with the pollution, or the prohibited meats, or the
idolatry, or the contamination and desolation of the sanctuary, which had now
happened. {Apc 2Ma 5:27 1Ma 1:39-41} It was three and a half years later before
the restitution and purification of the temple was made by this same Judas
Maccabeus. {Apc 1Ma 4:43-54} [E426] [K24] Josephus implied that during this
time the city of Jerusalem was oppressed by Antiochus, and stated that the
service of the daily sacrifice ceased and the sanctuary was desolate.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 0. s. 7. (19) 2:13} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 12. c. 7. s. 6. (321) 7:167} He mentioned the length of the time of
this desolation of the sanctuary, as Hippolytus affirmed. {Caten. Grac., Da
8:11-14}
3319. Later, they built a large wall in the city of David, or Zion, secured
with strong towers, which was to form a citadel for them. A garrison of wicked
men held the place, and there they deposited the spoils of Jerusalem. Those
Jews who visited the temple often risked their lives in so doing. Much innocent
blood was shed and the sanctuary was defiled. The inhabitants of Jerusalem fled
and the city became a habitation of strangers, and foreign to her own citizens.
{Apc 1Ma 1:33-40}.
3320. The envoys of the Rhodians came to the camp of the Romans with the same
instructions concerning peace which had so highly incensed the senators at Rome.
They were heard with much more discontent by the council of war. However,
though some would have had them violently expelled from the camp, the council
declared that they would give them an answer after fifteen days. In the
meantime, so that it would be evident how little they regarded the authority of
the Rhodians to broker for peace, they began to plan how to carry out the war.
{*Livy, l. 44. c. 35. s. 4-7. 13:205}
3321. The day before Perseus was defeated, Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, the tribune
of the soldiers of the second legion, assembled the soldiers with the permission
of Lucius Aemilius Paulus, the consul. He told them that on the following night
they should not be alarmed by an eclipse of the moon. This eclipse would occur
from the second to the fourth hour of the night and was a natural event that
could be predicted, not a sign or evil omen. {*Livy, l. 44. c. 37. s. 5-7.
13:215} Concerning eclipses, Pliny wrote that Gallus was the first of the Romans
to discover the reason for solar and lunar eclipses. {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 9.
(54) 1:203} Cicero quoted Cato, when talking to Scipio, as saying about Gallus:
{*Cicero, De Senectute, l. 1. c. 14. (49,50) 20:61}
"We beheld Gaius Gallus, the intimate acquaintance of your father (Aemilius
Paulus), even to greatly exhaust himself in his endeavours of measuring, almost
bit by bit, the heavens and the earth. How often did the morning surprise him,
when he began to observe anything at night? How oft did the night come on him,
when he began to observe in the morning? How was he delighted when he foretold
to us the eclipses of the sun and moon a great while before they happened?"
3322. The eve of the day before the Nones of September (September 4), the moon
was eclipsed at the appointed hour. To the Roman soldiers, this seemed to be
almost a divine thing. The Macedonians took it as a sad omen, portending the
fall of their kingdom and a disaster for their country. {*Livy, l. 44. c.
37. s. 8,9. 13:217} {Justin, Trogus, l. 33. c. 1.} {*Valerius Maximus, l.
8. c. 11. s. 1. 2:255} {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 1. c. 12. s. 8.
1:83} The astronomical account showed that the eclipse of the moon was on the
21st day of June, according to the Julian account, in the eighth hour after
noon. At this hour in Macedonia, the soldiers were about to retire for the
evening. {*Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 7. 6:399} When
Paulus entered into his second consulship, the Ides of March (March 15) happened
on January 4, according to the Julian reckoning.
3323. The next day, Perseus was defeated and the kingdom of the Macedonians
came to an end. {Apc 1Ma 8:5} [K25] From the time of Caranus, it had stood for
six hundred and twenty-six years. However, while the Roman empire was rising,
the remains of the Macedonian empire survived in the Seleucids of Syria and the
Ptolemys of Egypt. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 9. 13:271,273} {Justin, Trogus, l.
33. c. 2.} {Eusebius, Chronicles, Col. 242.} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:222}
3324. The third day after the battle, Perseus and about five hundred Cretians
fled to Amphipolis in Thrace, but were not allowed to enter the city. Their
money, in the form of gold and silver, was brought to the ships which were
anchored at Strymon. Perseus arrived at the river. To those Cretians who were
following him only for his money he gave fifty talents from his own treasure.
He sent cups and goblets, with other gold and silver vessels, and left them on
the bank to be scrambled for by these Cretians, while Perseus and his followers
boarded the ships in a disorderly manner. One ship was overloaded and sank
right there in the mouth of the river. On that day, he came to Galipsus, or
Alepsus. The next day, he reached the island of Samothracia with two thousand
talents, and humbly sought refuge in the temple of Castor and Pollux. {*Livy,
l. 45. c. 2. s. 5,6. 13:253} {*Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus, l. 1. c. 23.
6:415-419} [E427]
3325. When news of the Roman victory had reached Asia, Antenor, who was waiting
at Phanae with a fleet of ships, sailed from there to Cassandria. {*Livy, l.
45. c. 10. s. 1. 13:273}
3836d AM, 4546 JP, 168 BC
3326. Gaius Popilius was anchored at Delos to safeguard ships bound for
Macedonia. After he had heard of the Roman victory in Macedonia and the
departure of the enemy's ships from that area, he dismissed the ships of
Attalus. He set sail for Egypt to finish the job he had started. He wanted to
meet with Antiochus before he captured Alexandria. After the envoys had sailed
past Asia, they came into Loryma, which was a haven about twenty miles from
Rhodes and directly opposite the city. The leaders of the Rhodians met them and
asked them to put in at Rhodes. The rumour of the Roman victory had reached
even Rhodes. They said that it affected the honour and safety of the city and
that the Romans should understand that everything that had previously occurred
at Rhodes, was currently causing unrest at Rhodes. They could report at Rome
what they had learned first-hand, not what they heard through rumour. Although
the envoys at first refused, the Rhodians, after a time, persuaded them to make
a short interruption in their voyage for the safety of a confederate city. When
they arrived at Rhodes, the same persons, by their urging, convinced them to
come into their public assembly. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 9. s. 1.-8.
13:273,275}
3327. The arrival of the envoys increased, rather than diminished, the fear of
the citizens. Popilius recounted everything that anyone had spoken or done in a
hostile manner during the time of the war. Since he was a man of a harsh
disposition, his stern countenance and incriminating voice aggravated the
grievousness of the things that had been spoken. So, because there was no basis
for his personal displeasure with the city, they concluded from the bitterness
of one single Roman senator how the whole Senate felt toward them. The speech
of Gaius Decimius was more mild, as in most of the things alleged by Popilius he
said that the fault lay not with the people, but with a few rebellious men who
had stirred them up. These men, whose tongues were for sale, had produced
decrees full of flattery of the king, and the envoys they had sent had been
such, that the Rhodians were no less ashamed of this than they were repentant.
The people heartily approved of this speech, because it laid the blame on a few
guilty parties and not on the people in general. [K26] Therefore, when the
leader replied to the Romans, the speech of those who endeavoured to mitigate
the charges brought by Popilius was in no way as popular as the view of those
who agreed with Popilius in singling out for punishment the persons responsible
for the crimes. Thereupon, those Rhodians who had previously been arrogant,
acting as if they had conquered Philip and Antiochus, and were stronger than the
Romans, were now terrified in the presence of the envoys. A decree was quickly
passed that whoever proved to be guilty of having favoured Perseus and having
said anything against the Romans, should be condemned to death. When the Romans
came, some left the city and others committed suicide. The envoys did not stay
at Rhodes for more than five days and then went on to Alexandria. After they
had left, the Rhodians were no less zealous in carrying out this decree. The
cause of the action was mainly due to the clemency of Gaius Decimius. {*Livy,
l. 45. c. 9. s. 8-15. 13:275,277} {*Dio, l. 20. (68) 2:355}
3328. After the news of Perseus' flight had been brought to Rome, the Senate
thought it appropriate that the Rhodian envoys who had come to negotiate a peace
with Perseus should be called before their assembly. The envoys, of whom
Hagepolis was the leader, entered the Senate. They said that they had been sent
to bring to an end a war that would have been grievous and incommodious to the
whole of Greece and costly and harmful to the Romans themselves. Now, since it
had been concluded in a way the Rhodians had always desired, they congratulated
the Romans on it. When Agesipolis had briefly spoken these words, he left the
assembly. The Senate made use of that occasion, because they planned to
disgrace the Rhodians publicly and make an example of them. They replied that
the Rhodians had dispatched that embassy neither for the benefit of Greece, nor
out of concern for the Roman people, but on behalf of Perseus. If their care
had been as it was claimed, envoys would then have been sent denouncing the war,
when Perseus' army entered into Thessaly and for two years, either besieged or
terrified the cities of Greece. At that time, no mention of peace had been made
by the Rhodians. But after they had heard that the forest had been crossed and
that the Romans had passed into Macedonia and Perseus was hemmed in, the
Rhodians had sent their embassy. Their purpose had been to deliver Perseus from
his imminent danger. [E428] It was therefore the senators' judgment that they
ought not to bestow the accustomed rewards or any benefit upon, nor give a
courteous answer to, the envoys. {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 19. 6:73} {*Livy, l.
45. c. 20. s. 4-10. 13:311,313}
3329. Thoas had been sent as a courier from Rhodes by Dinon to Perseus, and had
often sailed into Macedonia. With the turn of affairs in Rhodes, he fled in
fear to Cnidos, where the Cnidians granted him safe custody. After the Rhodians
granted him safety, he was returned to Rhodes. When examined, he confessed
everything. He fully admitted to all the notes of the letters which had been
intercepted and to the letters sent each way from Dinon and Perseus.
Consequently, Dinon was convicted, and executed, as an example to others.
{*Polybius, l. 30. c. 8. s. 5-8. 6:115}
3330. Gnaeus Octavius had managed the Macedonian war with Paulus Aemilius.
When Octavius' fleet arrived at Samothracia, he honoured the sanctity of the
temple of Castor and Pollux and left Perseus alone. But he kept him from the
sea and so prevented him from escaping. {*Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus, l. 1. c.
26. s. 1. 6:423} All the while he endeavoured to make him surrender,
sometimes by threats and sometimes by raising his hopes. Whether accidental or
contrived, this business was assisted by Lucius Attilius, an illustrious young
man. [K27] When he saw the people of Samothracia assembled together, he
addressed them with the permission of the magistrate. He complained that the
supposed sanctity of the island was being violated by the presence of Evander,
the Cretian. It was he who had almost murdered Eumenes at Delphi and now,
together with Perseus, was seeking refuge in the temple. Theondus, who was the
chief magistrate among them (and whom they called king), saw that the whole
island was in the power of the Romans. He demanded of Perseus that Evander
surrender himself for trial. Perseus did not want to do this, because he saw
that the crime would also involve him. He had Evander murdered and bribed
Theondus to tell the people that Evander had committed suicide. However, by
killing his only remaining friend, who had been involved with him in so many
enterprises, he alienated the affections of all who were with him. When
everyone else defected to the Romans for their own safety, he was forced to
think about how to escape. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 5,6. 13:259-263}
3331. Therefore, Perseus secretly arranged an escape with Oroandes, the
Cretian, to whom the coast of Thrace was well known, because he once used to
trade in that country. Perseus was to board a ship that was anchored at the
cape of Demetrias, so that Oroandes might convey him to Cotys, the king of the
Thracians. At sundown, as much money was brought to the ship as could secretly
be transported. When it was on board, Oroandes sailed for Crete as soon as it
was dark. Later, around midnight, the wretched Perseus went himself out with
his children and his wife by a back door into a garden next to his bedroom.
After scrambling with difficulty over a wall, they reached the sea. Unable to
find the ship in the harbour, he walked a while on the shore. Finally, fearing
the approach of dawn, he hid in a dark corner in the side of the temple.
{*Livy, l. 45. c. 6. s. 2-6. 13:263,265} {*Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus, l.
1. c. 26. s. 2-6. 6:423,425}
3332. After that, at the command of Octavius, the prae-tor, it was proclaimed
by the crier that if the royal children of the princes who had been chosen to
wait on the king and other Macedonians, and who were from Samothracia, would
come over to the Romans, they would be safe. They would have their freedom, and
all that they had with them or had left behind in Macedonia would be theirs.
They all came over and gave their names to Gaius Postumius, the tribune of the
soldiers. Ion, the Thessalian, surrendered to Octavius the young children of
the king, who had been committed to his trust. No children were left with the
king except Philip, the oldest. Thereupon, Perseus surrendered himself and his
son to Octavius. He blamed fortune and the gods in whose temple he was, because
they had not helped him. He was ordered to be put aboard the flagship and
whatever money was left was brought there. The fleet at once sailed back to
Amphipolis. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 6. s. 7-12. 13:265,267}
3333. Antiochus came to take over Pelusium. When he had crossed over the
Leusines River, which was four miles from Alexandria, he met the Roman envoys.
As they approached, he greeted them and put out his right hand to Popilius. He
gave Antiochus the documents which he held in his hands, containing that decree
of the Senate which said he was to end the war against Ptolemy at once.
Popilius urged him to read it before he did anything else. When he had read the
documents, he said that he would consult with his friends as to what he ought to
do. With a vine twig that he had in his hand, Popilius drew a circle around the
king and demanded his answer before he left the circle. The king was astonished
at this unusual and imperious action. After he had thought a while, he said:
[E429] [K28]
"I will do what the Romans command."
3334. Thereupon, Popilius put out his right hand to the king as to a
confederate and friend. Antiochus felt secretly that he had been humiliated but
withdrew his forces from Egypt into Syria on the appointed day. (For instead of
agrian in Polybius, we assume that surian ought to be substituted from Livy.) He
thought it expedient to yield for the present. {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 27.
6:89-93} {*Livy, l. 45. c. 12. s. 1-8. 13:281,283} {*Cicero, Philippics,
l. 8. c. 8. 15:385} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 1,2. 1:25}
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 6. c. 4. s. 3. 2:47} {Justin, Trogus, l. 34. c.
3.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (66) 2:231,233} {*Plutarch, Sayings
of Romans (202f) 3:203,205}
3335. When the Samaritans saw the Jews being most miserably oppressed by
Antiochus, they claimed to be descendants of the Sidonians. In this way, they
obtained letters from Antiochus to Apollonius, the king's governor, and Nicanor,
the king's steward, stating that they should not be subject to the same
oppression as the Jews were. Since the temple at Gerizim had not yet been
honoured with the name of any god, it was from this time on to be called by the
name Diov Ellhniov, or Zeus Hellenios. This was discussed in Josephus where
both the letter and the reply from Antiochus were given. This was dated in the
46th year (but I do not know from what epoch the account is determined), on the
18th day of the month Hekatombaion. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 5.
(257-264) 7:133-137}
3336. After Antiochus had left Egypt, the Roman envoys, by the authority
invested in them, confirmed the union between the two brothers, who were barely
friends with each other. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 12. s. 5. 13:283} Gaius
Popilius requested as a favour from the kings that they free Menalcidas, the
Lacedemonian who had energetically availed himself of the distressed condition
of the kingdom to obtain his own restoration. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 16.
6:129} Popilius commanded them to send Polyaratus, who had been the chief
supporter of Perseus at Rhodes, to Rome. Menalcidas was dismissed by Ptolemy,
but he hesitated to send Polyaratus to Rome, as he had great respect for
Polyaratus and Rhodes. Therefore, he sent him to Rhodes and delivered him into
the custody of one of his friends, Demetrius. He sent him to Rhodes with
letters for the Rhodians explaining his journey. However, Polyaratus arrived at
Phaselis. He took herbs with him, for strewing on the altar, and priestly
ornaments, and fled to the sanctuary of the town. {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 27.
s. 9. 6:91} {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 9. s. 1-5. 6:115,117} {*Polybius, l.
30. c. 16. s. 1,2. 6:129}
3337. When Popilius had settled affairs at Alexandria, he sailed to Cyprus and
sent back to Syria the fleet and army of Antiochus, who were there because they
had recently captured Cyprus from the Egyptians. {*Polybius, l. 29. c. 27.
s. 9,10. 6:91,93} {*Livy, l. 45. c. 12. s. 7.8. 13:283}
3338. The kings of Egypt had now been delivered from the war against Antiochus.
One of the first things they did was to send Numenius, one of their friends, as
an envoy to Rome, to thank them for the favours which they had received from
them. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 16. 6:129}
3339. When the Phaselites sent to Rhodes, asking them to take Polyaratus from
them, the Rhodians did indeed send a ship. However, they forbade Epichares, the
captain of the ship, to allow him aboard the vessel, because the Alexandrians
had been ordered to set the man ashore at Rhodes. Therefore, the ship came to
the Phaselites. Epichares refused to allow Polyaratus onto his vessel, while on
the other hand Demetrius, into whose custody he had been entrusted by the king,
ordered the man to get on. The Phaselites urged him to go, fearing that they
might become offensive to the Romans. Polyaratus was grieved and went aboard
the ship again with Demetrius. [K29] However, at the first opportunity when
they landed, he quickly fled directly to Caunus. He complained of his situation
and begged their assistance, but they refused, because they were tributaries to
the Rhodians. He secretly sent to the people of Cibyra, requesting admission
into their city. He asked for someone to come and safely escort him there. He
was known in that city because the children of Pancrates, the tyrant, had been
educated with him. The people of Cibyra consented and Polyaratus was brought to
Cibyra. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 9. s. 5-15. 6:117,119}
3340. Popilius and the embassy returned to Rome from Antiochus. They reported
about the differences they had settled between the kings and that Antiochus'
army had left Egypt for Syria. Later, the envoys of the kings themselves came.
The envoys of Antiochus declared that the peace which had been approved by the
Senate seemed more appropriate to the king than any victory. They also reported
that he had obeyed the commands of the Roman envoys as if they had been direct
commands from the gods. [E430] After this, they congratulated the Senate on the
conquest of Perseus. Had they asked the king for anything, he would have gladly
given it. The envoys of Ptolemy, in the name of the king and Cleopatra, thanked
them also, saying that they were more indebted to the Senate and the Roman
people than to their parents or to the immortal gods. They had been delivered
from a most miserable siege and had received their paternal kingdom back, which
they had almost lost. The Senate replied that Antiochus had acted correctly in
obeying the envoys and that it was acceptable to the Senate, the Roman people
and to the princes of Egypt. If any benefit and advantage came to Ptolemy and
Cleopatra because of Rome, the Senate was glad of it. The Senate told them that
if they wished to preserve their kingdom, the best way was to maintain the
friendship with the Roman people. Gaius Papirius, the praetor, was commanded to
take care of the gifts that were sent to the envoys according to the custom.
{*Livy, l. 45. c. 13. s. 1-11. 13:287}
3341. A joint embassy came to Rome from the brothers Eumenes, Attalus and
Athenaeus, to congratulate them on the overthrow of Perseus. {*Livy, l. 45.
c. 13. s. 12. 13:287}
3837 AM, 4547 JP, 167 BC
3342. By a public edict, Antiochus ordered all the countries that were subject
to him to observe the same way of divine worship and set aside their peculiar
customs. They were all to adopt the same religion as the Greeks under the
punishment of death to those who refused. Over every country he appointed
overseers who were to compel them to do this. {Apc 1Ma 1:43-52,63}
3343. Antiochus sent an old man of Athens into Judea and Samaria, that he might
force the Jews to stop observing the divine law and defile the temple at
Jerusalem. He called their temple Zeus Olympus and the temple at Gerizim Zeus
Hospitable, or the friend of strangers. He thought this was a more appropriate
name for the Samaritans, since they were strangers in the Jewish land. {Apc 2Ma
6:1-6}
3344. Through envoys, the king sent proclamations to Jerusalem and the cities
of Judah, that they were to follow the rites of the Gentiles and remove the
sacrifices from the temple. They were forbidden to keep the Sabbaths and feast
days. They were to pollute the sanctuary and its priests and to erect altars,
groves and temples to idols. They were to sacrifice swine and other unclean
beasts, and they had to allow their children to remain uncircumcised. [K30]
They were, in other words, to defile themselves with every impure thing, so that
they would forget the law and change all the ordinances of their God. {Apc 1Ma
1:44-51} From now on, it would be a crime to observe the Jewish religion. {Apc
2Ma 6:6}
3345. A decree also came to the neighbouring cities of the Greeks at the
suggestion of Ptolemy, the son of Donymenes. {Apc 2Ma 4:45} They should proceed
against the Jews in like manner and compel them to partake in their sacrifices.
Those who did not adopt Greek customs were to be executed. {Apc 2Ma 6:8,9}
3346. The other countries obeyed the instructions of the king. Many Israelites
agreed to his religion, sacrificed to idols and profaned the Sabbath. {Apc 1Ma
1:44 2:18} For many of the people who forsook the law joined them and drove the
Israelites into hiding in dens and every place of refuge they had. {Apc 1Ma
1:51-53} Others were forced by bitter compulsion to eat of the sacrifices on the
monthly celebration of the king's birthday. When the feast of Bacchus was held,
they were compelled to be in a procession to Bacchus, carrying ivy. {Apc 2Ma
6:7}
3347. The temple was filled with riot and revelling by the Gentiles who
riotously spent their lives with harlots and defiled themselves with women in
the holy precinct of the temple. They brought in things that were not lawful
and the altar, too, was filled with profane things which the law forbade. {Apc
2Ma 6:4,5}
3348. On the 15th day of the month of Chisleu (which is part of our November
and part of December) in the 145th year of the kingdom of the Greeks, they
erected the abomination of desolation, the detestable idol of Zeus Olympus, on
the altar. They built altars for idols throughout the cities of Judah and
burned incense at the doors of their houses and in the streets. {Apc 1Ma
1:54-56} [E431]
3349. When they had cut to pieces any books of the law which they found, they
burned them in the fire. By the king's command, they executed anyone they found
with a book of the testament or who approved of the law. {Apc 1Ma 1:56,57} In
referring to books of the law, we do not mean just the Mosaic Pentateuch. With
the later Hebrews, who from hence derive the origin of that Petaroth or ordinary
lecture after which the people were dismissed (according to Elias Levita, in his
Tischbi, on the word rjp), the whole scripture of the Old Testament is meant.
{Joh 10:34 15:25 1Co 14:21} Josephus said of the same events: {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 4. (256) 7:133}
"Wherever any holy book was found, both the copy of the law and those in whose
possession it was found, perished miserably."
3350. Sulpicius Severus wrote: {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c.
19. 11:107}
"The holy volumes of the law and the prophets were consumed in our fires."
3351. On the 25th day of the month of Chisleu, sacrifices were offered on the
idol altar which had been erected on the altar of God. {Apc 1Ma 1:54,59} This
was the 145th year of the reign of the Seleucids in the 153rd Olympiad.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 5. s. 4. (248) 7:127} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
12. c. 7. s. 6. (321) 7:167}
3352. At the same time, two women who had circumcised their children, were
accused. Their children were clinging to them, their arms about their mothers'
necks. After they had been publicly led through the city, they were thrown down
headlong from a wall. [K31] Their families and those who had circumcised the
infants were killed. {Apc 1Ma 1:61 2Ma 6:10}
3353. The Galatians under Advertas, their leader, attacked the kingdom of
Eumenes and caused quite a disruption, until a truce was made for the time of
winter. The Gauls went home again and the king withdrew to Pergamum to his
winter quarters, where he became sick with a serious disease. {*Polybius, l.
30. c. 1. s. 1-3. 6:95} {*Livy, l. 45. c. 19. s. 3. 113:303}
3837b AM, 4547 JP, 167 BC
3354. When Antiochus saw that his edicts were despised by the people, he forced
everyone, by using torture, to eat unclean meats and to renounce Judaism.
{Josephus, Maccabean War} However, many of the Israelites were fully resolved
not to eat any unclean thing and chose to die, so that they would not be defiled
with those meats, or profane the holy covenant. {Apc 1Ma 1:62,63}
3355. Therefore, Antiochus sat in a prominent place, as a king with his
assessors and his army complete with their weapons around them. He ordered
every Hebrew to be seized and be forced to eat swine's flesh and things that had
been offered to idols. If any should refuse the profane meat, they were to be
executed, after being racked on wheels. {Josephus, Maccabean War}
3356. Among the many that were taken, a leader, Eleazar, was captured. He was
a ninety-year-old priest who was a famous scribe and most expert in the
knowledge of the laws. He was well-known to many of the followers of Antiochus
and was brought before them. He refused to eat swine's flesh, nor did he
pretend to have eaten it. He chose to undergo the most cruel torments rather
than to violate the law. {Josephus, Maccabean War} {Apc 2Ma 6:18-31}.
3357. After him, seven young brothers were brought before Antiochus, along with
their most courageous mother. Because they refused to taste swine's flesh, they
were tortured to death with newly invented torments and treated with extreme
cruelty. The most noble martyrdom of these persons is found described in the
Apocrypha {Apc 2Ma 7} and in the small treatise of Josephus, dealing with the
subject of the Maccabees, entitled Of the Empress Reason. In the Latin
paraphrase of this, written by Rufinus, these persons were reported to have been
brought from their citadel, named Sasandrum, to the king at Antioch. Their
names were Maccabeus, Aber, Machir, Judas, Achas, Areth and Jacob. The mother's
name was said to be Solomona. However, the later Hebrew historians called her
Hannah.
3358. In Judah at about this time, an elder of Jerusalem, named Razis, gave a
notable example to others. He risked his body and soul for the defence of the
Jewish religion. For this love to his country he was called The Father of the
Jews. {Apc 2Ma 14:37,38}
3359. The king's officers, who were forcing men in Judea to this apostasy, came
to the city called Modin, with the intention of compelling the Israelites to
sacrifice to idols. {Apc 1Ma 2:15} Modin was a city near Diospolis, as Eusebius
related in his book. Mattathias, the son of Jonathan, who was the son of
Simeon, lived there at that time. He was a priest of Jerusalem of the family of
Jehoiarib, who was the first among the twenty-four courses of priests. {1Ch
24:7} He had five sons, John called Caddis or Gaddis, Simon called Thassi, Judas
called Maccabeus, Eleazar called Abaron or Avaran, and Jonathan called Apphus.
{Apc 1Ma 2:1-5} Those seven martyrs who died at Antioch, were called Maccabean
Brethren after their older brother Maccabeus. [E432] [K32] So the custom
prevailed that all of Mattathias' five sons, from Judas Maccabeus, to the rest
were called by this surname, as Josephus thought. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 2. s. 3. (37) 2:21} Because of the record of the prowess and glory
they achieved, {Apc 1Ma 2:66 3:4,9 4:25} they all became known by the common
name of Maccabees. But their father Mattathias, or Matthias, was called the son
of Asamonaeus by Josephus, Eusebius and the lesser Seder Olam of the Hebrews.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 1. s. 3. (36) 2:21} {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:223} {Seder Olam} Josephus also called him the son of
John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamonaeas. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c.
6. s. 1. (265) 7:137} The ordinary Hebrews thought Mattathias was called
Asamonaeus and that from him that surname had descended to his posterity. R.
David Kimchi thought this was based on the Psalms {Ps 68:5-32} where he renders
the word Mynmvx as princes.
3360. Antiochus' officers earnestly exhorted Mattathias, when he was brought to
them, to set an example by yielding obedience to the king because he was a
prince and an illustrious person, and a great man in the city of Modin. He was
strengthened by the presence of his sons and brethren. Mattathias refused to do
as he was asked and killed a certain Jew whom he saw sacrificing on the heathen
altar, at the same time also killing Apelles, the king's commissioner, who was
forcing men to sacrifice there. He threw down the altar and after that exhorted
all who were zealous of the law to follow him. He fled with his sons into the
mountains, leaving all their goods behind in the city. {Apc 1Ma 2:16-28}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 6. s. 2. (268-272) 7:139,141}
3361. Then many who desired justice went down into secret places and together
with their children and wives and cattle, lived in caves. When this was made
known to Philip (the Phrygian whom Antiochus had left as governor at Jerusalem
{Apc 2Ma 5:22}), the king's commanders pursued them with the garrison of the
citadel of Jerusalem. When they could not persuade them to obey the king's
commandment, they threw fire into the cave on the Sabbath day. They killed
about a thousand people, including their wives and children with their cattle.
Those who were trapped there, offered no resistance and honoured the Sabbath
day. {Apc 1Ma 2:29-38 2Ma 6:11} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 6. s. 2.
(272-276) 7:141,143}
3362. When Mattathias and his friends were told of this, they grieved for them.
They decided that from then on they would attack the enemy and drive them out.
{Apc 1Ma 2:39-41} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 6. s. 2. (276-278) 7:143}
3363. The company of the Assideans joined them. These were religious men who
voluntarily offered themselves to defend the law with arms, along with all those
who had been compelled to flee from the wicked. After setting up an army, they
killed some of the impious men and forced others to flee to other countries.
Meanwhile, Mattathias and his friends marched up and down the country and threw
down altars. They circumcised all the uncircumcised children they found in the
land of Israel. They chased the enemy and had good success. {Apc 1Ma 2:42-48}
3364. Fearing the Romans, the people of Cibyra did not want Polyaratus, the
Rhodian, among them. [K33] They were unable to take him to Rome, because they
were not skilled sailors. They sent an embassy to Rhodes as well as into
Macedonia to Lucius Aemilius Paulus, the proconsul, asking them to take the man.
The proconsul wrote to the people of Cibyra that they should keep Polyaratus in
custody and deliver him to Rhodes. He ordered the Rhodians that he should
secretly be brought to Rome by sea. So this was done and Polyaratus was at last
brought to Rome. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 9. s. 16-19. 6:119}
3365. King Eumenes sent his brother Attalus to Rome for help to settle the
invasion of the Galatians. He was also to congratulate the Senate on the
victory over Perseus. Attalus happily led this embassy, because he had assisted
the Romans in that war and had exposed himself to all kinds of danger as a
willing and devoted confederate. Perhaps he might find out, through some
evidence of favour and benevolence, just how acceptable that service had been to
the senators. In case he should also be tempted to procure the kingdom for
himself, Eumenes sent Stratius the physician to Rome after his brother. He was
a person who was highly trusted by Eumenes and had great authority with him. He
was to be a faithful spy of the things done by his brother and a trusty monitor,
if he should see him depart from his fidelity to Eumenes. {*Polybius, l. 30.
c. 1,2. 6:95,97} {*Livy, l. 45. c. 19. s. 1-9. 13:303,305}
3366. All men at Rome received Attalus with kindness, for they knew him and
what he had done for them in the war, and considered him a friend. [E433] When
a larger number than he expected came to honour him, he became proud, not
knowing the true reason for which he was being so kindly entertained. Most of
the Romans did not like Eumenes. They believed that he had acted deceitfully in
this war, had previously had conferences with Perseus and had been waiting to
take advantage of any difficulty the Romans may have had. Some high officials
were eager to draw Attalus into a private discussion and encourage him to lay
aside the mission he had undertaken for his brother and to entreat on his own
behalf. They said that the Senate was alienated from his brother and keen to
give Attalus his brother's kingdom. As a result of this, it happened that
Attalus' mind became so puffed up, that he even asked some of these officials to
bring the matter to the Senate for debate. However, Stratius the physician, a
person of outstanding prudence and powerful eloquence, persuaded him otherwise.
He told him that in actual fact he was even now reigning with his brother and
would, in the future, be left the undoubted successor to the kingdom. This may
not have been too far off, since Eumenes was quite sick and was expected to die
at any time. He reminded him that the new disruption in the kingdom, from the
insurrection of the Gauls, could scarcely be handled by both of them acting
together, much less if there was a civil war in the kingdom. So, when Attalus
came into the Senate, he first expressed joy at the overthrow of Perseus and
then talked of his own active part in that war. Lastly, he requested the Senate
to send envoys to the Galatians. By their authority they should make them stop
this war and return to their own lands. He also spoke of the cities of the
Enions and the Maronites, requesting that they be given to him. [K34]
Concerning the accusation against his brother and the division of the kingdom,
he said nothing. {*Polybius, l. 30. s. 2,3. 6:97-101} {*Livy, l. 45. c.
19,20. 13:305-311}
3367. The Senate thought that Attalus would come to them again and discuss the
matter of the kingdom, so they promised him to send envoys. They were very
generous in the gifts they gave him, which were given according to custom.
Moreover, they promised to give him the cities he had asked for. After all this
had been done for him, Attalus left the city, and the things the Senate hoped
for did not happen. The senators were frustrated and while Attalus was still in
Italy, they declared Aenus and Maronea to be free and reneged on the promise
they had made to Attalus. However, the embassy headed by Publius Licinius
Crassus was sent to the Galatians. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 3. s. 5-8.
6:101}
3368. Among the many embassies that had come from Asia and Greece, after
Attalus, the envoys of the Rhodians drew the most attention. They had a
two-fold mission at this time. First came Philocrates and then later Philophron
and Astymedes. When the Rhodians had received the reply that had been given to
Hagepolis shortly after the battle with Perseus, they knew the senators were
angry with them. When they heard their threats, they immediately sent these
embassies. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 4. s. 1,2. 6:101} {*Livy, l. 45. c.
20. s. 4,5. 13:311}
3369. The envoys first appeared in white clothing, as a sign of rejoicing over
the Roman victory. Had they come in dirty clothes, they might have looked like
mourners for the misfortune of Perseus. The senators had consulted with Marcus
Junius, the consul, while the envoys stood in the public assembly. They wanted
to determine whether they would give them accommodation, a hearing and rewards.
They decided that no rite of hospitality should be given to them. The consul
left the Senate and the Rhodians told them they had come to congratulate them on
their victory and clear the accusations against their city. When they requested
permission to appear before the Senate, they were told that the Romans usually
gave their confederates and friends hospitality, lodging, entertainment and also
a Senate hearing. However, the Rhodians had not been considered confederate
friends in that war. On hearing this, they all prostrated themselves on the
ground and begged the consul and everyone present. They requested that they
should not consider new and false incriminations that were injurious to them any
more than they considered their previous service, to which the Romans were
witnesses. They immediately put on mourning clothes and went up and down with
prayers and tears to the houses of the chief persons. They pleaded with them
that they might first be told the reason before they were condemned. {*Livy, l.
45. c. 20. s. 4-10. 13:311,315} [E434]
3370. Marcus Juventius Thalua, the praetor whose job it was to oversee the
affairs between the citizens and foreigners, stirred up the people against the
Rhodians. He set a dangerous precedent of not going through the Senate or the
consuls. He made a motion that Rome should declare war on Rhodes and one of the
magistrates of that year should be sent with a fleet to manage the war, in the
hope that he would be the one to lead the force. Marcus Antonius and Marcus
Pomponius, the tribunes of the people, opposed this motion. The praetor and
tribunes disputed this matter. The tribunes succeeded in persuading the
assembly to defer the matter until the arrival of Aemilius, the general.
{*Livy, l. 45. c. 21. 13:313,315} Antonius violently removed the praetor
from the desk and brought the envoys of the Rhodians to the Senate, where they
made their speeches. Philophron spoke first, and then Astymedes. {*Polybius,
l. 30. c. 4. s. 5,6. 6:103} {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 5. 11:319-323}
[K35] The latter part of Astymedes' speech is found in Livy, but the first part
is missing. Polybius stated that Astymedes put his speech among his letters and
gave them to the public. However, the same author observed about this speech
that it was not liked by the more prudent persons because (perhaps in the first
part of it, which is missing in Livy) he undertook the defence of his own
country in such a way as to accuse the rest of the Greeks.
3371. After the speech was over, all the envoys fell down on their faces and in
a humble manner cast down the olive branches. At length, they got up again and
left the assembly. When the vote was held, those who held the office of consuls
or praetors or envoys in Macedonia, or who had been involved in the war, were
most enraged against the Rhodians. But the Rhodian cause was advanced by Marcus
Porcius Cato, who, in spite of his naturally stern disposition, at that time
proved himself to be a gentle and meek senator. He added the speech which he
spoke in the Senate on their behalf, to the fifth book of his Beginnings.
Finally, the senators severely upbraided the Rhodians with many things. The
reply given to the Rhodians was so phrased that while they were not turned into
enemies, they did not continue to be allies. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 5. s.
1-2. 6:105,107} {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 5. s. 3. 11:321} {*Livy, l. 45.
c. 25. s. 1-4. 13:329,331}
3372. When the answer was given, Philocrates immediately went to Rhodes while
Astymedes remained at Rome, so that he might know what was going on and notify
his countrymen accordingly. The Rhodians were relieved that the fear of war had
passed and while they took the rest of the news sadly, they accepted the
situation. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 5. s. 1-2. 6:105,107} {*Livy, l. 45.
c. 25. s. 5,6. 13:331}
3373. Publius Licinius and the rest of the envoys who had been sent with
Attalus to end the war between the Gauls and King Eumenes, arrived at Synnada.
At this time Eumenes, who in the beginning of the spring had now recovered, was
up and around and had gathered his army together at Sardis from various places.
At Synnada, the Roman envoys conferred with Solovettius, the captain of the
Gauls, and Attalus went along with them. He would not enter into the camp of
the Gauls, lest his presence should inflame the situation. Publius Licinius
talked with the captain of the Gauls, and found that he was even fiercer after
his talk. So much so, that it seemed strange that the words of the Roman envoys
should prevail to such an extent among those rich kings, Antiochus and Ptolemy,
that they had been prepared to make peace, when they carried no weight
whatsoever with the Gauls. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 34. s. 10-14. 13:367}
3374. Toward summer, the Rhodians sent Theaedetus (the copies of Livy have
Theodotus), the admiral of the fleet, with a crown to the value of ten thousand
or, as we read it in Livy, twenty thousand gold pieces, to enable them by all
means to procure the friendship with the Romans. They hoped that this could be
asked of the Romans in such a way that the Rhodian people would not need to vote
on it, in the event that it should be committed to writing. They feared that
should they also fail to obtain it, over and above the failure of their embassy,
this refusal would disgrace them further. In actual fact, however, the Rhodians
had assisted the Romans for over forty years. [K36] They had continued in their
friendship, but had never bound themselves to them by a league of amity. [E435]
They had not at any time wanted to cut off from the kings the hope that the
Rhodians might come to their assistance, should the need arise. Nor did they
want to deprive themselves of the chance of profiting from the goodwill and good
fortune of these kings. Now, however, they most earnestly endeavoured to
procure this honour, though not because they were enamoured with new
confederates or stood in fear of anyone other than the Romans themselves, but
because they hoped thereby to reduce the Roman suspicion of them. {*Polybius,
l. 30. c. 5. s. 3-10. 6:107,109} {*Livy, l. 45. c. 25. s. 5-10.
13:331,333} {*Dio, l. 20. (68) 2:355,357}
3375. Theaedetus had barely arrived at Rome from Rhodes when the Caunians
revolted from Rhodes. The people of Mylasa occupied the towns of the
Euromenses. The Rhodians quickly sent Lycus with an army and with the help of
Cibyra, forced the Caunians to submit to their government. In a battle near
Orthosia, they defeated both the Mylasians and the Alabandians, who had taken
away the province of the Euromenses. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 5. s. 11-16.
6:109} {*Livy, l. 45. c. 25. s. 11-13. 13:333}
3376. At the same time, the Senate published a decree granting liberty to the
Carians and Lycians, which, after this war, made the Rhodians fearful, as they
thought they had wasted their money in giving the crown and had entertained vain
hopes of friendship with the Romans. So the Rhodians lost Lycia and Caria,
after they had been forced to endure their wars to gain them. {*Polybius, l.
30. c. 5. s. 11,12. 6:109} {*Livy, l. 45. c. 25. s. 5,6. 13:331}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 7. (44) 2:191}
3377. When Theaedetus was granted a hearing in the Senate, he entreated them
concerning the issue of entering into a league with the Rhodians. While the
senators made delays, he died at the age of eighty years. Later, the Caunians
and Stratonicians, who were in exile, came to Rome. When they had been heard by
the Senate, the Senate decreed that the Rhodians had to withdraw their garrisons
from Caunus and Stratonicia. As soon as this answer became known, Philophron
and Astymedes quickly returned to their country, fearing that if the Rhodians
were not to recall their garrisons, new calamities would befall their city.
{*Polybius, l. 30. c. 20. 6:137}
3378. About the same time, the Cnossians and Gortynians waged war with Rhaucus.
They made a league among themselves, confirmed by an oath, that they would not
end the war before they had taken Rhaucus by force. {*Polybius, l. 30. c.
23. s. 1,2. 6:141}
3379. When the Rhodians were notified about the Caunians, they realised the
Romans were still angry with them, and so they obeyed the decree of the Senate.
{*Polybius, l. 30. c. 23. s. 2,3. 6:141} Thus, they lost Caunus, which
they had bought from the commanders of Ptolemy for two hundred talents, and they
also lost Stratonicia, which they had received as a generous gift from Antiochus
and Seleucus. Both cities had been paying a hundred and twenty talents yearly
to the Rhodians. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 31. s. 6,7. 6:157}
3380. The Rhodians sent an embassy to Rome, headed by Aristoteles. They were
earnestly to ask for friendship with the Romans. About midsummer, the envoys
arrived and were heard before the Senate, where they said that the Rhodians had
obeyed everything they had been asked to do, and so with many reasons they urged
the senators to grant them amity. [K37] However, the Senate's reply contained
no mention of amity for the Rhodians. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 23. s. 3,4.
6:141}
3838a AM, 4547 JP, 167 BC
3381. At the beginning of autumn, Lucius Aemilius Paulus appointed Gaius
Sulpicius Gallus to oversee the army, while he went with a small retinue to view
Greece. His son Scipio and Athenaeus, a brother of Eumenes the king, were his
bodyguards. He granted liberty to Macedonia and enacted laws befitting for
confederates. After settling the matters of state, he instituted games at
Amphipolis, for which he had long been preparing. He had sent messengers into
the cities of Asia and notified their kings but in Greece he personally visited
the cities and notified their governors. For this great gathering of Europe and
Asia, a multitude came from every quarter. While some came to congratulate the
Romans, others came to see the sight of such a large army and naval force.
Provisions were abundant and cheap, so that most received gifts of food for
their needs and enough to take back home. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 27-33.
13:339-361}
3382. Labeo was sent by the Romans to destroy Antissa on the island of Lesbos
and to resettle the inhabitants in Methymna. When Antenor, Perseus' admiral,
had sailed near Lesbos, the inhabitants received him and furnished him with
supplies. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 31. s. 12-15. 13:357} [E436]
3383. Prusias (Venator), the king of Bithynia, came to Rome with his son,
Nicomedes. The Senate sent Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the quaestor, to meet him
at Capua and decreed that a most excellent house should be rented for him at
Rome. Provisions were to be charged to the public account for himself and all
his retinue. He was entertained and treated like a good friend by the whole
city of Rome. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 44. s. 4-7. 13:405} {*Valerius Maximus,
l. 5. c. 1. s. 1e. 1:441}
3384. After he entered the city with a long train, he went from the gate and
the judgment seat of Quintus Cassius, the praetor, to the forum. A large crowd
was on every side. He said that he had come to worship the gods who lived at
Rome, as well as to greet the Senate and the Roman people. He congratulated
them on their victory over Perseus and Gentius, the kings, who had increased
their empire by subduing the Macedonians and Illyrians. When the praetor had
told him that, if he pleased, he would hold a Senate for him that day, he
requested a delay of two days, so that he might visit the temples of the gods,
the city and his friends. Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the quaestor, was appointed
to him as a guide. On the third day, Prusias came to the Senate and
congratulated them on their victory. He mentioned his part in that war and
requested that he might be allowed to perform his vow by offering ten large
sacrifices in the Capitol at Rome and one at Praeneste to the god, Fortune.
These were his vows for the conquest won by the people of Rome and that his
friendship with the Romans would be renewed. He wanted the land that had been
taken from King Antiochus and was now occupied by the Gauls, although the Romans
had given it to no one. Last of all, he entrusted his son Nicomedes to the
Senate. Because he was supported by all those who had been commanders in
Macedonia, his remaining requests were granted. Concerning the land, they said
they would send envoys to inquire whether it belonged to the Roman people and
had been assigned to anyone. They willingly accepted Nicomedes. Ptolemy, king
of Egypt, whose kingdom had been preserved by the Romans when Antiochus had
invaded it, testified to the care the Roman people took of the children of their
confederate kings. It was commanded, moreover, that beasts and other things
that were needed for sacrifices, whether to be offered by the king at Rome or at
Praeneste, should be given to him at the public expense, just as to the Roman
magistrates. [K38] Twenty warships from the fleet which lay at Brundisium
should be given to him, which he could use until he reached the fleet that had
been assigned to him. Also, Lucius Cornelius Scipio should accompany him and
should pay all his expenses until they were to sail. It is reported that the
king was overjoyed at the kindness of the Roman people. He refused the gifts
that were given to him, but commanded his son to accept the gift of the Roman
people. These things about Prusias were related by the Roman writers. {*Livy,
l. 45. c. 44. s. 4-21. 13:405-411}
3385. Polybius and other Greek authors wrote that when he came into the Senate,
he bowed low and kissed the threshold of the Senate, and called the senators his
tutelary gods. It was not so much that he spoke honourably to the hearers, as
that he spoke in a manner demeaning to himself. For this extraordinary action,
he received a more courteous answer from the Senate. {*Livy, l. 45. c. 44.
s. 20,21. 13:409,411} {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 18. 6:131} {*Diod. Sic., l.
31. c. 15. 11:345,349} {*Dio, l. 20. (69) 2:357} However, after he had
stayed in the city about thirty days, he left for his kingdom. {*Livy, l. 45.
c. 44. s. 21. 13:411}
3386. About this time news arrived that Eumenes was on his way to Rome. If he
were to be excluded from Rome, he might be thought to be an enemy because he had
remained neutral in the Macedonian war. If he were to be admitted, people would
think he had been exonerated. Consequently, a general law was passed that no
king should be permitted to come to Rome. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 19. s.
1-9. 6:131,133} {*Livy, l. 46. 14:11} After it became known that Eumenes had
arrived at Brundisium in Italy, they sent the quaestor to him to bring him this
decree. He was to ask whether Eumenes had to address the Senate about anything,
and if he had no request to make to the senators, then he should tell the
quaestor and quickly leave Italy. After the king had met with the quaestor and
understood the wishes of the Senate, he said nothing to him about business and
assured him that he needed nothing. In this way, the Romans prevented Eumenes'
arrival at Rome and procured something else that was of great concern to them.
The kingdom of Pergamum was in great danger from the Galatians. There was no
doubt that by this disgraceful rejection of Eumenes, the courage of all his
friends would be lessened, while the Galatians would be twice as courageous in
waging war. This happened at the beginning of winter. {*Polybius, l. 30. c.
19. s. 7-14. 6:133,135} [E437]
3838b AM, 4548 JP, 166 BC
3387. Mattathias exhorted his sons to the study of piety and to defend the law
of God. He commended Simon to them as a counsellor and father, but Judas
Maccabeus as the commander of their wars, because from his youth he had been
very brave. After this, he blessed them and died, in the 146th year of the
kingdom of the Greeks. For one year he had governed their miserable and
banished troops. His sons buried him in the sepulchres of their fathers at
Modin and all the Israelites bewailed him with great lamentation. {Apc 1Ma
2:49-70} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 6. s. 3,4. (279-284) 7:143-147}
3388. Judas Maccabeus' brothers, and all who had followed his father, helped
him as he took his father's place. {Apc 1Ma 3:1,2} He went secretly into the
villages and exhorted his countrymen and gathered them together with those who
had remained loyal to the Jewish religion. [K39] They assembled six thousand
men and called on the Lord to take pity on his profaned temple and the ruined
city, and to hear the blood that cried to him and remember the unjust death of
the innocent infants and the blasphemies that were being committed against his
name. They asked that he would demonstrate his hatred against the wicked. {Apc
2Ma 8:1-4}
3389. In the meantime, when Antiochus heard of the games held by Aemilius
Paulus in Macedonia, he planned to hold more magnificent games than Paulus had
held. He sent envoys and observers into the cities to declare that games would
be held by him at Daphne, near Antioch. It was his intention that from all
Greece, {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 25. s. 1,2. 6:143} or from all parts of the
world, {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 16. 11:351,353} famous men would eagerly
come to that show. Polybius described the games in detail.
3390. First there were five thousand men in their prime dressed like Roman
soldiers, with hooked breastplates. These were followed by just as many
Mysians. Next came three thousand lightly armed Cilicians, wearing golden
crowns, followed by three thousand Thracians and five thousand Gauls. Next came
twenty thousand Macedonians, of whom ten thousand bore golden shields. Then
came two hundred and fifty pairs of gladiators, who were followed by a thousand
horsemen from Nisa and three thousand horsemen from Antioch. Most had crowns
and trappings of gold, and the rest, trappings of silver. These were followed
by about a thousand cavalry of their confederates and friends, who were all
furnished with golden trappings. Next came a thousand more cavalry of their
associate friends, adorned in the same way. Besides these, a thousand choice
men marched, who were excellent horsemen. They were followed by about a
thousand called Agema by the Greeks, who were the crack cavalry troops. Lastly
came fifteen hundred horsemen in complete armour from head to toe, called the
Cataphracti by the Greeks, because both men and horses were covered with arms of
mail. All these persons wore purple coats, some of which were interwoven with
gold and bore the image of beasts. After these paraded a hundred chariots with
six horses abreast and forty chariots with four horses abreast. There was a
chariot drawn by a pair of elephants and another with two horses. These were
followed by thirty-six elephants in single file with their trapping.
3391. Next came about eight hundred youths with golden crowns and almost a
thousand fat oxen with three hundred cows for sacred purposes, plus men carrying
eight hundred elephants' tusks. Then, men carried whatever they said or
believed were gods or demigods. Many carried images of their heroes, some of
which were gilded over while others were clothed in golden robes, and each one
was gallantly adorned with his eulogy and motto, according to the legend written
about him. To these were added the images of the Night, of the Day, of the
Earth, of the Heaven, of the Morning and of the Noon. The slaves belonging to
Dionysius, the king's secretary, walked in this pompous train carrying silver
vessels, none of which weighed less than a thousand drachmas. These were
followed by six hundred more of the king's slaves, carrying vessels of gold.
Then came about two hundred women, whose job it was to sprinkle the spectators
with sweet ointments from their golden urns. In the rear came eighty women
gloriously clothed and adorned with costly garments, who were carried in litters
with golden legs. Five hundred came in litters with silver legs. These were
the most remarkable things in the pageantry. [K40]
3392. After this, a large number of sporting contests, and fencing and hunting
events were held for thirty days. Throughout this time, a variety of ointments
was provided by the king for all who played for any prize. To this end, fifteen
golden jars were supplied, full of ointments of saffron. An equal number
contained cinnamon and spikenard. These ointments were given out freely for the
first five days. For the rest of the games, ointments of fenugreek, marjoram
and orris were given out freely. At times a thousand, and at other times
fifteen hundred tables were most richly spread for the guests. All these things
were magnificently executed. He paid for these from what he had cheated King
Philometor out of, in Egypt, while he was still a minor. [E438] Other funds
came from the spoils of the many temples he had plundered. {*Athenaeus, l. 5.
(210d-211a) 2:451,453} {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (289f-290a) 4:301,303} {*Polybius,
l. 30. c. 25,26. 6:143-149}
3393. However, the glory of this preparation was eclipsed and debased by the
unworthy conduct of the king. For he went riding up and down on a little riding
pony ordering some to stand, others to pass, just as it suited him. He did this
in such a way that, had it not been for his diadem, no one would have thought
him a king, since he barely qualified as a servant. During the whole time of
the feast, he stood at the doors of the rooms where the feast was being held.
He escorted some in, others he seated at the tables, as well as ushering in the
servants who brought in the dishes. Sometimes he walked around, sometimes he
sat down and at times he lay on the floor. Often he would run around to remove
a dish or a cup from the table. In drinking with his guests, he now and then
drank to those who drank to him. He sported and jested with those who were so
inclined. Moreover, many had left because the feast went on for such a long
time. He came in a disguise brought in by the actors and lay on the ground
along with them as if he had been one of their company. Finally, roused by the
sound of music, he got up and started dancing and acting his part with
ridiculous gestures. All were so ashamed of the king's behaviour, that they
left the feast. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 26. s. 5-8. 6:149} {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 31. c. 16. s. 2,3. 11:353,355}
3394. The show finally finished. Tiberius Gracchus was sent by the Senate as
an envoy to Antiochus. He was to determine what the king was up to and spy on
his affairs. The king entertained him with such cheerfulness and alacrity, that
he did not suspect a plot, or discover the least hint of alienation in him for
what had happened at Alexandria. Tiberius opposed those who wanted to impeach
him. Antiochus gave his royal palace to the envoys of Rome, which was as good
as giving them his very diadem. Notwithstanding all this ceremony, his will and
affection were most irreconcilably alienated against the Romans. {*Polybius, l.
30. c. 27. 6:149,151} {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 17. 11:255}
3395. While Antiochus was at leisure in the games at Daphne, Judas Maccabeus
was busy in Judea. Greatly helped by his brothers, he drove out the enemy,
killed his apostate countrymen and purged the land of its uncleanness.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 6. s. 4. (286) 7:147} He made surprise
attacks on cities and villages and burned them. He controlled the most
strategic places and routed large numbers of his enemies. [K41] He usually
attacked by night to avail himself of the element of surprise. The fame of his
valour spread everywhere. {Apc 1Ma 3:8,9 2Ma 8:6,7}
3396. Envoys were sent from the Galatians in Asia to Rome. The Senate granted
them freedom to rule themselves, as long as they stayed within their land and
did not attack other lands. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 28. 6:151}
3397. Python was sent to Rome on a mission from Prusias, the king of Bithynia.
He complained to the Senate about Eumenes, who had pillaged Prusias' territories
and seized some places for himself. He further accused Eumenes of refusing to
stop his encroachment on Galatia and of not submitting to the decrees of the
Senate, but instead only advancing his own interests. Whereas Prusias, on the
other hand, was obeying the desires of the Roman people and wanted his country
to be governed by the precepts of the Senate. Others, likewise, came from the
Asiatic cities with fresh accusations, hinting at an alliance between Eumenes
and Antiochus against the Romans. When the Senate had heard these things, they
neither refuted the accusations nor said what they would do. They kept
everything secret and carefully monitored the actions of Eumenes and Antiochus
with increasing suspicion. Meanwhile, they satisfied the Galatians in some
matters and helped them affirm their freedom. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 30.
6:153,155} {*Livy, l. 46. 14:11}
3398. Astymedes, the Rhodian envoy, pleaded his country's cause at Rome before
the Senate. He was more moderate now and not as heated in his speech as during
his previous embassy. He omitted all recriminations and made it his only
business at the time to show that his countrymen had suffered sufficiently and
well beyond the degree of the offence. His main complaint was that the Rhodians
had lost the revenue from their harbour. In regard to that, the Romans had
discharged Delos from paying tribute and had also taken from the people the
liberty which they had formerly enjoyed of determining tariffs and other matters
of public concern. The custom duties, which had in former times netted a
million drachmas, now barely amounted to a hundred and fifty thousand. [E439]
He said that the Senate knew that only a few were engaged in criminal behaviour
and these had been punished by the people. So he requested that they would not
show their displeasure against those who had not been involved in any way, but
to receive them into their grace and favour as they had done before. Their
country stood more in need of friends in peacetime than an ally for war. His
speech seemed so appropriate for the present condition of the Rhodians.
Tiberius Gracchus (who had recently returned from Asia, where he had been an
envoy) said that the Rhodians had submitted themselves to the decrees of the
Senate, and that all those had been executed who previously had anything to do
with bringing the Rhodians into disfavour with the Romans. He silenced his
adversaries and prevailed with the Romans that they should take the Rhodians
into their alliance. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 31. 6:155-159}
3399. Tiberius could not tell the Senate anything more about the plans of
Eumenes and Antiochus than what they had known before Tiberius had left Rome.
The kings had entertained him most graciously. {*Polybius, l. 30. c. 30. s.
6-8. 6:155}
3400. Apollonius, the governor of Samaria, raised a large army from among the
Gentiles and Samaritans and attacked the Jews. However, Judas Maccabeus killed
him and many others, while the rest fled. [K42] Judas took the spoil, including
Apollonius' own sword, which from then on he always used in the war. {Apc 1Ma
3:10-12} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 7. s. 1. (287) 7:147}
3401. Seron, who governed Coelosyria, heard that Judas was well-equipped with
an army and that large numbers were coming to him from all parts. Seron
mustered all the forces under his command, including the renegade Jews, and
camped near the route to Bethhoron. Judas routed his whole army and eight
hundred of them were killed. The rest fled into the land of the Philistines
near the sea coast. {Apc 1Ma 3:13-24} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 7. s.
1. (288-292) 7:149,151}
3839a AM, 4548 JP, 166 BC
3402. As soon as the news of this defeat reached Antiochus, he was so furious
that he immediately levied all the troops of his kingdom. He gave them a year's
pay and ordered them to be ready for service. After this salary had been paid,
he saw that his treasury was empty. The Jewish revolt was depriving him of
three hundred talents of silver each year. Also, intense persecution raged in
the Greek cities and in many regions, thus reducing his revenues, as he did not
spare the Gentiles either, while he tried to make them forsake their ancient
superstitions and conform to his worship. He persecuted them to such an extent,
that he feared he would not find enough to defray his expenses and gratuities.
In this regard, he was very generous and surpassed all the kings that had gone
before him. So he determined to go into Persia to get money there. {Apc 1Ma
3:27-31} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 7. s. 2. (293,294) 7:151,153}
{*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 21. 11:107}
3403. Before he left, he appointed Lysias, of Syrian royalty, as governor over
all the regions from the Euphrates River to the borders of Egypt and entrusted
him with the care of his son Antiochus Eupator. He committed half of all his
forces and his elephants to him, ordering him utterly to root out the name of
the Jews and to give their country to strangers. Antiochus left with the rest
of his sons from Antioch near Daphne in the 147th year of the kingdom of the
Greeks. He crossed over the Euphrates River and marched into the high
countries. {Apc 1Ma 3:32-37}
3404. Philip, whom Antiochus had appointed over Jerusalem, saw how Judas
Maccabeus grew stronger and stronger every day. He wrote to Ptolemy (son of
Dorymenes), the governor of Coelosyria, for help. Ptolemy immediately sent
Nicanor, the son of Patrocles, a most trusted friend, with more than twenty
thousand soldiers from all countries. He was to exterminate the Jews. Ptolemy
also sent Gorgias, a captain who was quite experienced in military affairs, as a
joint commander. {Apc 2Ma 5:22 8:8,9}
3405. Lysias also sent them Ptolemy as a reserve. Under these three
commanders, Ptolemy, Nicanor and Gorgias, were forty thousand foot soldiers and
seven thousand cavalry. They marched with their entire army and camped near
Emmaus in the plain country. {Apc 1Ma 3:38-40}
3406. Since Antiochus was two thousand talents in arrears to the Romans,
Nicanor intended to settle the account from the sale of the captive Jews. For
that purpose, he invited a thousand merchants from the cities near the sea
coast, and promised them ninety slaves for one talent. {Apc 2Ma
8:10,11,14,34,36} [K43] No sooner did this become known, than the merchants of
the country came to the camp with their attendants, to purchase the Jews for
slaves. [E440] Large numbers also came from Syria and from the Philistines to
barter for slaves. {Apc 1Ma 3:41}
3407. Jerusalem had now been abandoned by its inhabitants and the temple
profaned. In these distressing times, Judas Maccabeus moved with his army to
Maspha, or Mizpah, where the Jews used to worship before the temple was built.
{Jud 11:11 20:1 21:5,8 1Sa 7:5,6 10:17} He proclaimed a fast and with most
fervent prayers asked the Lord's protection for his small army. He had only six
thousand men (seven thousand, in the Latin edition) against this large force.
After this, in accordance with the law, he sent away any who had betrothed wives
or planted vineyards or were afraid. {De 20:6-8} He divided his army into four
squadrons of fifteen hundred men and gave command of each squadron to one of his
brothers. The army moved and camped on the south side of Emmaus, opposite the
enemy. Judas earnestly exhorted them to behave valiantly, even to the point of
dying for their country and the laws of their God. He ordered them to be ready
for the battle the next day. {Apc 1Ma 3:42-60 2Ma 8:12-22}
3408. That night, Gorgias planned a surprise attack. He took five hundred foot
soldiers and a thousand choice cavalry and came toward the Jewish camp. He had
the garrison soldiers of the citadel of Zion for his escort. When Judas found
this out, he wisely used this opportunity to attack the enemy while they were
divided. He marched immediately to Emmaus against Nicanor, while Gorgias, their
normal commander, was absent. When Gorgias came to the Jewish camp by night, no
one was there. He thought they had fled and searched for them in the mountains.
At the break of day, Judas showed himself in the plains of Emmaus with three
thousand men who had neither armour nor swords. {Apc 1Ma 4:1-6}
3409. Judas encouraged his soldiers for the battle and gave the word to fight.
By the help of God, he led the troops against Nicanor and killed more than nine
thousand and wounded and maimed most of Nicanor's army. They were all routed.
The Jews pursued some of them from Emmaus as far as Gazara (as the Greek copy of
the Maccabees, in the end in Arundel's library, had it) or Gadara (according to
Josephus). Others fled to the plains of Idumea, still others as far as
Palestine, Azotus and Jamnia. In all, about three thousand stragglers were
killed. {Apc 1Ma 4:8-15 2Ma 8:23,24}
3410. Among those that fled were the merchants, who had been certain of victory
and of getting a good bargain in slaves, but who now became targets themselves.
The Jews seized their money with which they had intended to buy them. When they
had pursued them for a great distance, they sounded a retreat for the evening on
which the Sabbath began. After they had gathered up the arms of the vanquished
army and taken the spoils from them, they prepared for the observance of the
Sabbath. [K44] They praised the mercy of God for this marvellous deliverance.
{Apc 2Ma 8:25-27}
3411. Judas restrained his Jews, who were eager for plunder, because he feared
an encounter with Gorgias, who had now returned from his fruitless expedition
and whose forces were in the mountains. From the smoke of the burning tents,
the enemy knew what had happened and that the other division of their army had
been routed. When they saw Judas on the plain, standing in battle array ready
to engage them, they all scattered into the neighbouring countries. The land
was thus cleared of the enemy. Judas returned to the spoil, where he found
plenty of gold, blue silk, purple of the sea, which the Phoenician merchants had
left behind them, and much wealth. {Apc 1Ma 4:16-23} All this the soldiers
shared among themselves, having first set aside a portion for the maimed, widows
and orphans. Then, together, they earnestly entreated the Lord that he would
continue to be gracious and reconciled to his servants. {Apc 2Ma 8:28,29}
3412. After this, the Jews fought with Timothy and Bacchides, Antiochus'
captains, and in that battle killed more than twenty thousand of the enemy.
They took over the citadels and divided much spoil among themselves. They set
aside some for the maimed, orphans, widows and aged persons, dividing it into
portions equal with their own. Then they had gathered up the arms and disposed
of them in the most convenient places. They carried the remainder of the spoil
to Jerusalem. They also killed Philarches, one of Timothy's men, who was a most
wretched fellow and a notorious persecutor of the Jews. In the midst of the
solemn festival which they had instituted for their recent victory, they burned
Callisthenes alive, after he had taken sanctuary in a little house. He had
burned the holy gates. [E441] Nicanor stripped himself of all his glorious
clothes, to be less conspicuous. After fleeing like a solitary fugitive through
the midland country to Antioch, he confessed that the Jews were utterly
unconquerable, because they had God for their protector. {Apc 2Ma 8:30-36}
3413. Lysias was told of what had happened by one who had escaped. He was
perplexed and discouraged because the things which he had wanted to happen in
Israel did not occur, and the king's orders had been thwarted. {Apc 1Ma
4:26,27}
3839b AM, 4549 JP, 165 BC
3414. Therefore, the next year, which was the 148th of the kingdom of the
Greeks, Lysias hurried into Judea through Idumea with sixty thousand foot
soldiers and five thousand cavalry. Judas Maccabeus marched toward him as he
was camped at Bethsura, on the borders of Judea. First, he publicly implored
the help of God and then started the battle. Lysias saw how the Jews broke
through their enemy's ranks, like so many madmen, without fear of death. His
men fled and five thousand were killed there. He returned to Antioch and
planned a new expedition after he had gathered a larger army. {Apc 1Ma 4:28-35}
3415. Antiochus Epiphanes undertook an expedition against Artaxias, the king of
the Armenians, who was marching from the eastern parts. Antiochus killed most
of his army and took Artaxias prisoner. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8.
(45) 2:193} {Porphyry} {Jerome, Da 11}
3416. Prusias, the king of Bithynia, strongly condemned Eumenes, the king of
Pergamum, who was already under suspicion by the Romans. Letters had been
intercepted that intimated an alliance with Perseus against the Romans. Prusias
had also prevailed with the Galatians, the Selgenses and many other people of
Asia, to complain about Eumenes. [K45] Attalus and Athenaeus were sent to Rome
by their brother Eumenes, where, in an audience with the Senate, they cleared
him of all the crimes of which he had been accused. Then they returned to their
country with many honours conferred on them. However, for all this, the Senate
still suspected an alliance between Eumenes and Antiochus. They sent Gaius
Sulpicius Gallus and Marius Sergius as envoys with instructions to examine
closely the affairs of Antiochus and Eumenes. They were to see if there were
any preparations being made for war and if there was any alliance between them
against the Romans. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 1. 6:165,167} {*Diod. Sic., l.
31. c. 17. 11:357,359}
3417. When Gaius Sulpicius Gallus entered Asia, he unwisely made a proclamation
throughout the chief cities there. He asked anyone who had any accusations
against King Eumenes to come to Sardis at a set time. When he arrived, he sat
on the bench made for that purpose and spent ten days hearing all sorts of
things against Eumenes. He was looking for something to impeach him with,
because he was a vain person and hoped to be honoured by finding fault with
Eumenes. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 6. 6:173}
3418. When they had some relief from their enemies, Judas Maccabeus and his
brothers came up to Jerusalem with all their forces. They retook the temple and
the city, except for the citadel of Zion. They demolished the altars and
shrines that the Gentiles had built in the public streets. Judas commanded some
men to attack those who were in the citadel of Zion. He spent most of his time
in cleansing the temple. His spirit was stirred up by the ravages and
devastation he saw. {Apc 1Ma 4:36-41 2Ma 10:1,2}
3840a AM, 4549 JP, 165 BC
3419. Judas assigned the priests, who knew the law, to cleanse the sanctuary
and move the defiled stones into an unclean place. They pulled down the altar
of burnt offerings, which had been profaned by the Gentiles. Its stones were
stored in the mount of the temple until the time when a prophet should come who
might tell them what ought to be done with them. They built another of whole
stones on which no iron tool had been used, according to the law. {De 27:5,6}
They repaired the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. They hallowed the courts
and made new holy vessels. They brought the lampstand, the altar of incense and
the table into the temple. They burned incense on the altar and lit the lamps
on the lampstand. They placed the showbread on the table, hung the curtains and
saw through to its conclusion everything they had started. {Apc 1Ma 4:42-51 2Ma
10:3}
3420. On the 25th day of the 9th month, called Cisleu, or Chisleu, in the 148th
year of the kingdom of the Greeks, they rose early in the morning and started a
fire by striking stones one against the other. On their new altar of burnt
offering, they offered sacrifices according to the law. {Apc 1Ma 4:52,53 2Ma
10:3} [E442] This was two years after Judas had succeeded his father Mattathias
in the government, but three whole years since the Gentiles had first sacrificed
in that place. For on the very same day of the same month on which they had
profaned the old altar, Judas consecrated the new one. {Apc 1Ma 4:54 2Ma
10:3-5} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 7. s. 6. (316-322) 7:163-167}
3421. This dedication was joyfully celebrated with songs, hymns, citherns,
harps, and cymbals. All the people fell prostrate on the ground and worshipped
and blessed the God of heaven who had given them good success. They entreated
him that he would not allow them to fall into such calamities ever again. [K46]
They prayed that if at any time they should provoke him, he himself would
chasten them in mercy and that they might not be delivered up to the blasphemous
and barbarous Gentiles. They kept the dedication of deliverances, or peace
offerings, and of praise. They decked the forefront of the temple with golden
crowns and shields. They repaired the gates and chambers on the sides of the
temple and made doors for them. {Apc 1Ma 4:54-58 2Ma 10:4-6}
3422. Then, Judas and his brethren and all the congregation of Israel ordained
a feast to be observed throughout the whole country of the Jews. The days of
the dedication of the altar were to be observed annually with mirth and gladness
for eight days, starting with the 25th day of the month of Chisleu. {Apc 1Ma
4:59 2Ma 10:8} After they had kept the eight days, they kept the feast of
tabernacles. They recalled how not long ago they had kept that feast while
living around the mountains and caves like wild beasts. Now, they carried green
boughs, fair branches and palms. They sang praises to him who had brought the
purification of his holy place to such a good conclusion. {Apc 2Ma 10:6,7}
Hence it was that in the letters which the council at Jerusalem wrote to the
Jews in Egypt, these days were called the days of tabernacles of the month of
Chisleu. {Apc 2Ma 1:9,18} In the gospel they are called the feast of dedication
of the Jews, or the feast of lamps. {Joh 10:22} This festival commemorated
either unexpected removal of their religion and liberties, as Josephus
intimated, or the relighting of the lamps in the temple for both events occurred
on the same day of the year. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 2. s. 3.
(46-57) 7:249-255} {Apc 1Ma 4:49,50 2Ma 10:3} Also, to this very day, the Jews
in their synagogue still continue their custom of celebrating this feast with
the lighting of lamps.
3423. When they had repaired the temple, they fortified Mount Zion with high
walls and strong towers to contain the enemy. They feared that the men
garrisoned in that citadel would sally out against those worshipping at the
temple. They fortified Bethsura, which was about half a mile away, {Apc 2Ma
11:5} so that the people might have a garrison as a defence against Idumea.
{Apc 1Ma 4:60,61 6:7-26}
3840b AM, 4550 JP, 164 BC
3424. When the surrounding countries heard of the building of the altar and the
dedication of the sanctuary, they were very displeased. So they plotted how
they could destroy all the Jews, and began to massacre all the Jews who lived in
any of their quarters. {Apc 1Ma 5:1,2}
3425. Antiochus Epiphanes crossed the high country beyond the Euphrates River.
He heard that the city of Elymais in Persia (called Persepolis {Apc 2Ma 9:2})
was a very wealthy city. Its temple was richly appointed and had gold
coverings, breast plates and arms left there by Alexander the Great, Philip's
son. Appian stated that the temple was dedicated to Venus of Elymais, but
Polybius and Diodorus said that it was to Artemis (or Diana) in Elymais.
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (66) 2:233} {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c.
18a. 11:361} {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 9. 6:117} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12.
c. 9. s. 1. (354) 7:185} {Jerome, Da 11} When Antiochus greedily tried to
plunder the city, the citizens rose up in arms against him. He was defeated and
forced to retreat with much dishonour. {Apc 1Ma 6:1-4 2Ma 9:1,2} [K47]
3426. When he arrived at Ecbatana, he was told of the defeat of Nicanor and
Timothy in Judea. He left there for Babylon. Near the borders of Persia, he
also heard of the great defeat inflicted on Lysias' army, how the image of
Jupiter Olympius had been cast out of the temple at Jerusalem, and that the
sanctuary and Bethsura had been fortified. Therefore, full of fury, he set out
to avenge himself on the Jews for the disgrace he had recently suffered at their
hands. He ordered his chariots to go at full speed, to hasten the journey home.
He proudly bragged that as soon as he arrived at Jerusalem, he would make that
city a common burying place for the Jews. {Apc 1Ma 4:4-7 2Ma 9:3,4} Tacitus
stated: {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 8. 3:189}
"King Antiochus endeavoured to reform their religion and to bring in the cities
of the Greeks. [E443] He was hindered by the Parthian war in his plan of
destroying that most base nation."
3427. Scarcely had these proud words left Antiochus' mouth, when he was struck
with an incurable disease in the bowels and extreme pains. Although his body
was quite sick, his mind was still sharp. Still breathing out his threats
against the Jews, he ordered his chariot driver to increase his pace. It
happened that he fell out of his chariot on this fast journey. He was badly
hurt, his whole body was bruised and his limbs put out of joint. After he was
taken up from the ground, he was carried about on a horse litter. Worms bred so
fast in his body, that whole streaks of flesh sometimes dropped from him. While
he was still alive in such a pitiful state and because of his stench, none could
endure to carry him and he became offensive to his whole army. {Apc 2Ma 9:5-10}
He was forced to stop his journey to Babylon and to stay at Tabis, a town of
Persia. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 9. 6:177} {Jerome, Da 11} He continued
bedridden for many days, and pined away. {Apc 1Ma 6:8,9} {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 11. (66) 2:233}
3840c AM, 4550 JP, 164 BC
3428. In the 149th year of the kingdom of the Greeks, which began from the
beginning of the spring, Antiochus Epiphanes gave up any hope of recovering. He
called his friends to him and publicly acknowledged that all these miseries had
happened to him because of the harm he had done to the Jews. Now, to his great
grief, he had to die in a strange land. {Apc 1Ma 6:10-13,16} When he could no
longer endure his own smell, he said:
"It is appropriate to be subject to God and a man who is mortal should not
proudly think of himself as if he were God."
3429. In this prayer to God, he vowed that he would allow the people of
Jerusalem and all other Jews everywhere the free use of their own constitutions,
and that in future they should enjoy the freedom of being able to live by their
own laws and customs. He promised he would beautify the temple with the rarest
of gifts and restore all the holy vessels. The costs of the sacrifices would be
defrayed from his own treasury and he himself would also become a Jew. He
promised to go through all the inhabited world and declare the power of God.
When he saw no lessening of his pains, he wrote very courteous letters to the
Jews and earnestly entreated them to remain loyal to him and to his son. While
Antiochus was still alive, he had already, as was the normal custom, appointed
his son to be the next king. {Apc 2Ma 9:11-27}
3430. He called Philip to him, who was his close friend and had been raised
with him. {Apc 2Ma 9:29} He appointed him over the whole kingdom and committed
his crown, his robe and his signet to him. It was his intention that after he
had brought back his son Antiochus from Antioch, where he had left him with
Lysias, Philip should raise him to be the next ruler of the kingdom, since he
was only nine years old. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (66) 2:233}
[K48] So in the 149th year of the kingdom of the Greeks, Antiochus died a
miserable death in a strange land on the mountains of Parata near Babylon. {Apc
1Ma 6:14-16 2Ma 9:28} Curtius cited Grotius as saying that the town of Tabae was
located there. {*Curtius, l. 5. c. 13. s. 2. 1:417} Polybius said that he
died at Tabae in Persia. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 9. 6:177} Jerome told, from
Polybius and Diodorus, how Antiochus was frightened by certain phantoms and
visions, went mad and at last had a disease which killed him. {Jerome, Da 11}
He attributed Antiochus' calamity to his sacrilegious designs on Diana's temple,
but Antiochus himself professed in the presence of all his friends that the
basis of all his misery was the fact that:
"He had robbed the temple at Jerusalem and sent forces to destroy the Jews
without any cause." {Apc 1Ma 6:12,13}
3431. His corpse was carried out by Philip, who, because he feared Antiochus'
son, then withdrew himself into Egypt to Ptolemy Philometor. {Apc 2Ma 9:29} He
planned to raise forces against Lysias. When Lysias had heard of Antiochus
Epiphanes' death, he had set up the king's son Antiochus, who had been under his
guardianship during his minority years, on the throne in his father's place, and
called him Eupator. {Apc 1Ma 6:17} Appian stated that the Syrians gave him that
surname in honour of his father and confirmed that Lysias was his guardian and
responsible for his upbringing. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (46)
2:193}
3432. Antiochus Eupator was now in actual possession of the crown and preferred
to let Lysias manage the realm. In particular, he gave him control of
Coelosyria and Phoenicia. Ptolemy Macron, Dorymenes' son, who had formerly had
that honour under Antiochus Epiphanes, {Apc 2Ma 8:8 1Ma 3:38} poisoned himself
when he was accused to Eupator of favouring the Jews. He saw the great
injustices that had been done to them and tried to see to it that they would be
shown justice and that their affairs might be managed in a peaceable manner.
[E444] He had been called a traitor for turning over Cyprus, which had been
committed to his trust by Philometor, to Antiochus Epiphanes. {Apc 2Ma
10:11-13} Polybius gave him this commendation: {*Polybius, l. 27. c. 13.
5:513}
"Ptolemy Macron, the governor of Cyprus, behaved himself not like a typical
Egyptian, but was prudent and valiant among the best."
3433. Gorgias, who had the command of all the regions around Judea, hired
soldiers and continually pressed the war against the Jews. The Idumeans were
allied with him and got control of the best places. They accepted the Jerusalem
renegades and attacked the Jews, doing all they could to keep the war going.
{Apc 2Ma 10:14,15}
3434. Consequently Judas Maccabeus attacked the sons of Esau who had besieged
the Jews, at Arabattine, a region of Idumea. He stormed their garrisons and
took control of them. Over twenty thousand were killed and he seized all their
spoils. {Apc 1Ma 5:3 2Ma 10:16,17}
3435. He recalled the injury done to the Jews by the children of Baean, who had
hidden themselves in secret ambushes along the way where the Jewish army was to
pass. After their last defeat, the Baeanites had escaped with nine thousand men
to two very strong citadels which were well supplied with everything necessary
to endure a siege. [K49] So Judas Maccabeus left his brother Simon, with Joseph
and Zacchaeus, to besiege them. He marched away to relieve some other places
that stood in more need of his help. The men who were with Simon were greedy
for money, so they made a deal with the besieged for seventy thousand drachmas
and allowed some to escape. As soon as Maccabeus learned this, he convened the
governors of the people and in their presence executed all those who were
involved in this treachery. He took both the garrisons with little trouble and
burned them to the ground, utterly destroying more than twenty thousand of their
number. {Apc 1Ma 5:4,5 2Ma 10:16-23}
3436. From there, he passed over to the Ammonites, where he found a very large
force under Timothy's command. He had often fought them and defeated them. He
took Jazer and its towns and returned to Judea. {Apc 1Ma 5:6-8}
3437. After his last defeat, Timothy recruited multitudes of foreign forces and
cavalry from Asia. He returned confident of being able to conquer Judea.
Maccabeus and those who were with him, after a serious humiliation and
supplication to God, marched from Jerusalem and fought the enemy a great
distance from the city. They were encouraged by visions of some horsemen in the
heavens fighting for them. They killed twenty and a half thousand of the
enemy's foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry. Timothy escaped to a very strong
garrison called Gazara, where his brother Chereas was governor, but the garrison
was finally taken. Timothy and his brother were found hiding together with
Apollonius in a pit and all three were killed with the sword. {Apc 2Ma
10:24-38}
3438. The Trocmians, a people of Galatia, tried to get a foothold in
Cappadocia. When this failed, they sent letters to the Romans hoping to turn
them against King Ariarathes. The Romans soon sent an embassy there, headed by
Marcus Junius. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 8. 6:175}
3841a AM, 4550 JP, 164 BC
3439. The autumn began the 149th year of the account of the contracts or
Dhilkarnain, as noted by the writer of Second Maccabees. In the Chaldee account
used in the king's edicts, {Apc 2Ma 11:21} and in Ptolemy's account, the number
148 was used. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 9. c. 7.} {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 11. c. 8.} This was also a sabbatical year.
3440. The Gentiles around the region of Gilead assembled against the Jews who
were near their borders and planned to exterminate them. They killed a thousand
Jews who lived in the land of Tob. {Jud 11:3} They led away their wives and
children as captives and took their goods and household belongings. Timothy
hurried with an army to besiege the Jews of Gilead who had taken refuge in the
garrison in Dathema. This was not the same Timothy who was killed with his
brother Chereas, but another man with the same name. At the same time, others
from Ptolemais, Tyre, Sidon and all of Galilee of the Gentiles held a meeting to
wipe out the Galilean Jews. {Apc 1Ma 5:9-15}
3441. The Gileadites and Galileans sent letters to Judas and his brothers,
earnestly asking them to hurry to their aid to help them. Thereupon Judas,
having first consulted with those at Jerusalem, divided his whole army into five
brigades. He sent his brother Simon with three thousand men to help the
Galileans, while he and his brother Jonathan took along eight thousand to help
the Gileadites. [E445] [K50] He left the rest of the army with Joseph, the son
of Zacharias, and with Azarias, for the defense of Judea. He strictly charged
them not to fight with the Gentiles under any circumstances until he and the
other men returned. {Apc 1Ma 5:16-20}
3442. As soon as Simon entered Galilee, he attacked the Gentiles and chased
them to the very gates of Ptolemais. There they killed three thousand men and
took their spoil. After he had rescued the Galileans and the men of Arbattis in
the plain with their wives, children and all they had, he brought them into
Judea with great joy. {Apc 1Ma 5:21-23}
3443. Before Judas could get to the Gileadites, many of them were besieged in
Bosora, Bosor, Alema, Casphor, Maked, Carnaim and other cities in Gilead. {Apc
1Ma 5:26,27}
3444. By that time, Judas and his brother had crossed the Jordan River and had
gone on a three day march through the Arabian Desert. The Nabateans met him and
told of what had happened to the Gileadites. They added that on the next day,
the enemy planned to attack the garrisons and to kill everyone in them, all in
one day, just as fast as they could capture them. At this news, Judas turned
aside with his army to Bosora, by way of the wilderness. After they had
captured the city, they killed all the males, pillaged the city and then burned
it to the ground. He left at night and marched toward the citadel, where he
found the enemy around daybreak, engaged in placing the battering rams against
the citadel. Those within the city prayed to God for help. Judas' men marched
in three divisions to the rear of the enemy. They blew trumpets and lifted up
their voice in prayer. Timothy's camp knew that it was Maccabeus who was so
near and fled from him as fast as they could. In the pursuit, Judas killed
eight thousand of the enemy. After this, he went to Maspha and took it by
storm. He killed all the males and after they had plundered the place, they set
it on fire. From there he went and took Casphor, Maked, Bosor and the other
cities of the country of Gilead. {Apc 1Ma 5:24-36}
3445. While Judas and Jonathan were in Gilead and Simon was in Galilee opposite
Ptolemais, Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, who had been left behind
to hold Judea, heard of their gallant achievements. They were ambitious to get
themselves a name as great as the others, so, contrary to orders, they took
their army as far as Jamnia, planning to fight the Gentiles. However, Gorgias
assembled all his forces from the city against them and drove them back to the
very borders of Judea. Two thousand Jews were killed that day. {Apc 1Ma
5:55-62}
3841b AM, 4551 JP, 163 BC
3446. Lysias was the protector and kinsman of the young king, Eupator, and he
effectively ran the kingdom. He was greatly upset at what had happened and
mustered almost eighty thousand men with all his own cavalry and eighty
elephants. He marched against the Jews with the intention of making Jerusalem a
Greek city, with the temple a tributary, and selling the office of the high
priest every year. When he entered Judea, he besieged Bethsura, a strong
citadel about half a mile from Jerusalem. However, Maccabeus' army was guided
by an angel and killed eleven thousand of the enemy's foot soldiers and sixteen
hundred cavalry. All the rest fled, including Lysias. Many were badly wounded
and others threw away their arms and fended for themselves. {Apc 2Ma 11:1-12}
[K51]
3447. Lysias thought about his defeat and about God, who fought the battles for
the Jews. He sent envoys to them to sue for peace and said that he would agree
to all reasonable terms. He said he would use his influence to gain favour with
the king. Judas Maccabeus agreed and wrote what he thought would be in the best
interest of the Jews. This letter was sent at the hands of John and Absalom and
contained what Lysias should ask the king for, on behalf of the Jews. The king
granted every request. {Apc 2Ma 11:13-15} Both the letter from King Antiochus
to Lysias and from him to the Jews are contained in the Apocrypha. {Apc 2Ma
11:22-26} These are dated in the year (of the Chaldee account) 148, on the 24th
day of the month of Dioscorinthius, as it is in the Greek copies. In the Latin
copy, {Apc 2Ma 11:16-21} this month in the Chaldee year seems to be intercalated
between Dystos and Xanthikos (in which are written the following letters of the
King and of the Romans to the Jews, concerning this peace). Therefore, in the
Greek edition of the book of Esther (now seen in the noble Earl of Arundel's
library), this is called the month of Adar-Nisan and Dystos-Xanthikos, and by
the modern Jews, Veadar, or the other, Adar. However, our Syriac interpreter of
the second book of the Maccabees has substituted in its place the Syrian name of
Latter Tishri.
3448. In this same 148th year (of the Chaldee account), on the 15th day of the
month of Xanthikos, according to the Chaldean reckoning, letters were sent to
the Jews from King Antiochus {Apc 2Ma 11:27-33} [E446] and from Quintus Memmius
and Titus Manlius (otherwise called Manius or Manilius), the envoys from Rome.
At that time, they came to the king at Antioch. {Apc 2Ma 11:34-38} Then Lysias
came to the king, after the covenants from the king to the Jews had been drawn
up. {Apc 2Ma 12:1}
3841c AM, 4551 JP, 163 BC
3449. At about the beginning of the spring, the 150th year of the kingdom of
the Greeks began, which was the mode of reckoning used by the writer of the
first book of the Maccabees.
3450. Demetrius, the son of Seleucus Philopator, had been held hostage at Rome
for many years and was now twenty-three years old. He requested of the Senate
that, with the help of the people of Rome, he be restored to his own kingdom,
which had been unjustly usurped by the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, his uncle.
He said that he would always look on Rome as his native country, consider the
senator's sons as brothers and the senators as fathers. Notwithstanding all
this flattery, the Senate esteemed it more expedient for them to have Syria
governed by a child rather than a man. They voted that Demetrius should be
detained at Rome and the kingdom be confirmed to the child which Antiochus had
left behind. However, before long they sent Gnaeus Octavius, Spurius Lucretius
and Lucius Aurelius as envoys to run that kingdom according to the wishes of the
Senate. They thought no one would oppose them, since the king was still only a
child and the princes of the court would be inclined to the Senate, because the
Romans had not turned the kingdom over to Demetrius, which the princes had
greatly feared might happen. The Senate was told that Antiochus had acquired
elephants in Syria and many more ships than the Senate had allowed him to have.
They ordered their envoys to burn the ships and hamstring the elephants. In
other words, they were to do what they could to bankrupt the king's treasury.
{*Polybius, l. 31. c. 2. 6:167,169} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8.
(46) 2:193} {*Dio, l. 20. 2:361 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 25.)} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 34. c. 3.}
3451. The envoys also received instructions to visit the Macedonians, who were
not accustomed to a democratic government and had made no use of a common
council. There were factions and seditions among them. In addition, the envoys
had orders to make a diligent enquiry into the affairs of the Galatians and the
kingdom of Ariarathes. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 2. s. 12-14. 6:169} [K52]
However, by his great civility in a conference with Junius and the former
envoys, Ariarathes sent them away with a good opinion of himself. {*Polybius,
l. 31. c. 3. 6:169,171}
3452. The peace between Eupator and the Jews had no sooner been made than it
was broken by those who had command in the adjacent lands. Timothy, Apollonius,
the son of Genneus, Hieronymus, Demophon and Nicanor, the governor of Cyprus,
would not allow the Jews to live in peace. The citizens of Joppa tricked more
than two hundred Jews, who lived among them, onto their ships. They sailed from
shore and threw them all overboard. {Apc 2Ma 12:2-4}
3453. When Judas Maccabeus heard of this piece of treachery, he came to Joppa
by night and burned their port and their ships. He killed all those who had
fled there. When he learned that the Jamnites had plotted against the Jews who
lived among them, he did the same by night to their port and fleet. The flames
of the fire were visible as far away as Jerusalem, which was thirty miles away.
{Apc 2Ma 12:5-9}
3454. When Judas' army had gone about a mile from there on their march against
Timothy, the nomads of Arabia attacked them with at least five thousand foot
soldiers and five hundred cavalry. After a fierce battle, the Arabians were
defeated. They agreed to supply them with cattle and other needs and hence made
peace with Judas. {Apc 2Ma 12:10-12}
3455. Judas' soldiers stormed the city of Caspis and took it. The city was
fortified with a bridge and surrounded with walls and inhabited by people from
various countries. So great was the slaughter of the citizens that an adjacent
lake, a quarter mile wide, was red with blood. {Apc 2Ma 12:13-16}
3456. Leaving there, they travelled about a hundred miles to Characa, to the
Jews who were called Tubieni, because they lived in the land of Tob. Timothy
had left the place, although he had not finished his business there, but he had
left behind a very strong garrison. Dositheus and Sosipater, two of Judas'
captains, attacked the garrison and killed about ten thousand of the men that
Timothy had left to hold it. {Apc 2Ma 12:17-19}
3457. After this defeat, Timothy raised a new army of a hundred and twenty
thousand foot soldiers and twenty-five hundred cavalry from all the surrounding
countries, with mercenaries from the Arabians. He sent away the women and
children and other supplies to Carnion, or Carnaim, a place that was hard to
besiege and difficult to approach because of the narrowness of the entrance.
Timothy camped opposite Rhaphon, on the other side of the brook. Judas, placing
himself in the vanguard, crossed the brook with all his forces and advanced
toward the enemy. He totally routed that Gentile army. [E447] Some fled this
way and others that way, in such a great disorder that they were often harmed by
their own men and wounded by the points of their own swords. Judas eagerly
pursued them and killed nearly thirty thousand men. {Apc 1Ma 5:37-43 2Ma
12:20-23}
3458. Timothy was captured by Dositheus and Sosipater. He craftily persuaded
them to let him escape with his life because he had many of the Jews' parents
and brothers in his power. If he were put to death, these would likewise be
killed. When he agreed to their safe return, they let him go for the sake of
their brethren. {Apc 2Ma 12:24,25} [K53]
3459. Judas marched on to the city of Carnaim and to the temple of Atargatis
which was located there and to which many of the enemy had fled for refuge.
Judas burned the temple along with everyone in it and demolished the city,
killing twenty-five thousand. {Apc 1Ma 5:43,44 2Ma 12:26,27}
3460. Judas brought back all the Israelites who were in Gilead with their
wives, children and all their belongings. He planned to bring them into Judea.
They came as far as Ephron, a very large and well-fortified city that stood in
their way. It was inhabited by people from many countries. The walls were
well-manned and the city had in it a good supply of engines and ammunition.
When Judas and his army had to pass through it, the citizens closed their gates
against them and barricaded them up with stones. However, after a day and a
night's battery they forced their way through and demolished the city to the
ground. They took all the spoil, killed all the males, numbering almost
twenty-five thousand, and marched over the dead bodies to get through it. {Apc
1Ma 5:45-51 2Ma 12:27,28}
3461. After this, they passed over Jordan into a large plain before Bethshan,
{Apc 1Ma 5:52} which the Greeks called Scythopolis, {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12.
c. 8. s. 5. (348) 7:181} about seventy-five miles from Jerusalem. As soon
as they entered the town, the Jews who lived among them, met them and told them
how friendly the Scythopolitans had always been with them. They related how
kindly they had treated them in their adversities. Thereupon, they thanked them
sincerely and requested that their friendship toward their country might
continue in times to come. {Apc 2Ma 12:29-31}
3462. Judas brought up the rear of his army and encouraged them all the way
until he came back to Judea. {Apc 1Ma 5:53} They arrived at Jerusalem about the
feast of Pentecost {Apc 2Ma 12:31} and went up to Mount Zion with joy and
gladness. They offered burnt offerings because they had not lost a man and all
returned to their homes in peace. {Apc 1Ma 5:54}
3463. After Pentecost, Judas and his brothers, with three thousand foot
soldiers and four hundred cavalry, marched against Gorgias who commanded Idumea,
intending to fight with him. {Apc 2Ma 12:32,33 1Ma 5:65}
3464. In that battle, some of the Jews were killed. Dositheus, one of
Bacenor's troops and a strong man, had taken Gorgias prisoner. Having grabbed
him by his coat of mail, he was leading him away when a Thracian soldier came to
him and cut off his shoulder, so rescuing Gorgias, who escaped into Marisa. The
men who followed Judas were wearied with the long battle. When Judas had called
on the Lord and sung psalms and hymns in his mother tongue, he made a sudden
attack on Gorgias' forces, putting them to flight. {Apc 2Ma 12:33-37}
3465. After this victory, he called together his army and withdrew to the city
of Adullam. When the Sabbath came, they purified themselves and kept that day.
The next day, Judas' soldiers gathered up the bodies of those who had died in
the battle, intending to bury them. Under each man's coat, they found things
consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites, which was a thing prohibited by Jewish
law. {De 7:25,26} It was now clear to all why they had died, so they prayed and
beseeched God that the sin might be utterly rooted out. [K54] Arundel's book
and the Aldin edition stated that they beseeched God that they might not be
utterly destroyed for that sin. Moreover, they made a contribution of two
thousand or three thousand drachmas of silver (as the Greek copy of Arundel's
and my own Syriac book have it, or twelve thousand, as the Latin copies have it)
and sent it to Jerusalem to make a sin offering. {Apc 2Ma 12:38-43}
3841d AM, 4551 JP, 163 BC
3466. Then Judas and his brethren went against the Edomites and attacked them
in the south of Judea, smiting Hebron and its villages. They dismantled the
fortifications and burned the towns around the area. From there, they went
through Samaria, planning to go into the land of the Philistines. At that time,
some priests who had been keen to show their valour in a skirmish and had acted
unwisely, were killed. [E448] Judas went down into the land of the Philistines,
toward Azotus. After he had overturned their altars, burned their graven images
and taken away the spoils of the cities, he returned into Judea. {Apc 1Ma
5:65-68}
3467. Antiochus' soldiers, who were garrisoned in the tower at Jerusalem,
confined the Jews in the temple area and always tried to find ways to annoy them
and strengthen the Gentiles. Judas and all the people besieged them in the
150th year of the Greeks. He placed his battering rams and engines against
them. However, some of the besieged escaped, and some wicked Jews also allied
themselves to these men. They persuaded Antiochus Eupator, the king, swiftly to
subdue the rising power of the Jews. {Apc 1Ma 6:18-27}
3468. As a result, the king summoned together all his friends and the
commanders of his army and his cavalry and also acquired forces from other
kingdoms. His whole force consisted of a hundred thousand foot soldiers and
twenty thousand cavalry, as well as thirty-two elephants trained for war. {Apc
1Ma 6:28-30} In the second book of the Maccabees we read that in the 149th year
of the account, that is, of the contracts, Judas Maccabeus received news that
Antiochus Eupator had gone against Judea. His Greek forces numbered a hundred
and ten thousand foot soldiers and fifty-three hundred cavalry, twenty-two
elephants and three hundred scythed chariots. {Apc 2Ma 13:1,2}
3469. Menelaus, the usurping high priest, sided with this power in the hope
that he would obtain from Eupator that honour which he had previously in name
only. {Apc 2Ma 13:3}
3470. King Eupator was highly enraged and came resolved to bring far greater
harm on the Jews than his father had ever done. When Judas heard about this, he
commanded the people to call on God night and day for protection. After he had
called a council of war, he resolved to march against the king and camped near
Modin. {Apc 2Ma 13:9-14}
3471. When the king's army had marched through Idumea, they attacked Bethsura
with their engines of war, but the men of Bethsura sallied forth valiantly and
burned the engines. Judas camped in Bethzachariah opposite the king's camp.
{Apc 1Ma 6:31,32} He told his men that victories were from God. Then he took
with him the most valiant men and attacked the enemy's camp by night, advancing
as far as the king's own pavilion. [K55] In this battle, he killed almost four
thousand men and their best elephants, along with all who attacked him. When
the morning dawned, he withdrew victoriously. The entire enemy camp was filled
with dread and horror at his exploits. {Apc 2Ma 13:15-17}
3472. Early in the morning, the king marched with his army and camped near
Bethzachariah. He drew up his men into battle array and ordered that the juice
of grapes and mulberries be placed before the elephants, as he thought that this
would make them more fierce in the battle. These beasts were distributed
throughout the army and to each beast were assigned a thousand well-armed foot
soldiers and five hundred cavalry. Each elephant's back carried a wooden room
that held thirty-two soldiers plus the Indian to steer the elephant. Their
armour made such a glorious show, that the neighbouring hills glittered from the
reflection of the sun on their shields of gold and brass. {Apc 1Ma 6:33-41}
3473. Judas and his army engaged the enemy and killed six hundred men of the
king's party. At this point, Eleazar, surnamed Savaran (or Avaran, Judas'
brother {Apc 1Ma 2:5}), saw an elephant in royal harness and taller than any of
the others. Thinking the king was riding on its back, he went for it and
slaughtered his enemies on both sides. He crept under its belly and killed the
beast, but was himself killed as the beast fell on him. When the Jews saw the
vast forces of the king and their strength, they retired from battle. {Apc 1Ma
6:42-47}
3474. When the king returned to besiege Bethsura, he was engaged by Judas in
skirmishes in which the king was sometimes driven off and sometimes Judas had to
retreat with losses. However, Judas tried to relieve the besieged and sent them
the things they needed. Rhodocus, a person in the Jewish army, told the enemy
of this, and so, after the Jews had inquired into the matter, Rhodocus was
seized, put on the rack and kept in prison. Then the king talked a second time
with the men of Bethsura and persuaded them to surrender to him. {Apc 2Ma
13:19-22} After the peace had been concluded between them, the Jews all marched
out of the city. They had been forced to surrender for lack of provisions to
sustain the siege, because that year was the sabbatical year, in which it was
not lawful to sow their land. After the king had taken Bethsura, he placed a
garrison there to keep it. {Apc 1Ma 6:49,50} [E449]
(Since this was a sabbatical year, it verifies Ussher's calculations that a
Jubilee was every forty-nine, not every fifty years. Otherwise, this would not
have been a sabbatical year. This also confirms the date for the first
sabbatical year. {See note on 2560a AM. <<334>>} {See note on 2609a
AM.
<<344>>} Editor.)
3475. From there, the king's army went up to Jerusalem and camped against Mount
Zion and the sanctuary for many days. They used their artillery with engines,
and had instruments to cast fire, machines to shoot arrows and catapults to lob
stones. The besieged also made engines to thwart the enemies' weapons. They
held them off for a long time, but supplies began to grow scarce for both
parties because this was the Sabbatical year. Those in Judea who had been
delivered from the Gentiles had eaten up the supply of their store. Very little
was left in the sanctuary because the famine was so severe among them, and so
they were forced to disperse into various places. {Apc 1Ma 6:51-54} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 12. c. 9. s. 5. (375-378) 7:195,197}
3476. Meanwhile Philip, whom Antiochus Epiphanes, by his last will and
testament, had named as guardian of his son Eupator and who had been appointed
ruler under him over the whole kingdom, had already returned from Egypt. He
came from Media and Persia with the forces which Epiphanes had left there and
planned by force to recover his rights, which Lysias had usurped. {Apc 1Ma 3:37
6:55,56 2Ma 13:23}
3477. When Lysias heard of this, he persuaded the king and the commanders of
the army to make peace with the whole country of the Jews and to permit them to
enjoy their own laws as in former times. [K56] He said that their own army was
growing weaker every day, the provisions for the camp running out, the place
they were besieging was well-fortified and the affairs of their own kingdom were
more urgent and important. {Apc 1Ma 6:57-59}
3478. The king and his nobles agreed with Lysias and sent to the besieged about
terms of peace. The conditions were accepted and the covenants confirmed with
an oath. Upon that, the besieged marched from the garrison and the king entered
Mount Zion, offered sacrifice, honoured the temple and behaved benevolently
towards the place. A little later, when he had contemplated the strength of the
place, he broke his oath and ordered the walls to be pulled down. {Apc 1Ma
6:60-62 2Ma 13:23}
3479. The king appointed Maccabeus, or Higemonides (according to the Greek
context and my Syriac version), to be the governor from Ptolemais to the
Gerrhenians, or as far as Egypt. The boundary of his jurisdiction was Mount
Gerar, according to Ptolemy's account. {Apc 2Ma 13:24}
3480. While the king was visiting Ptolemais, the citizens there, who had always
hated the Jews, were quite upset by the peace made with Judas. {Apc 1Ma 12:48}
In a rage, they wanted to nullify the covenant, but Lysias went up to the
judgment seat and defended the matter. He calmed the tumult and pacified the
citizens. {Apc 2Ma 13:25,26} Josephus stated that the rule of the Asmoneans
lasted a hundred and twenty-six years, to the taking of Jerusalem by Herod and
the killing of Antigonus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 4. (490)
7:703} In another place, Josephus stated that the time was a hundred and
twenty-five years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 6. s. 3. (162,163)
8:447} However, this happened in the 126th year from this time, so that the
start of this rule was from the time of the peace agreed on between Antiochus
and Maccabeus.
3842a AM, 4551 JP, 163 BC
3481. From this autumn began the year of accounts of the contracts, the 150th
year, which the writer of the second book of the Maccabees used.
3482. Antiochus Eupator hurried to Antioch with Lysias, his guardian, and
brought Menelaus, the high priest, along with him as a prisoner. {Apc 1Ma 6:63
2Ma 13:26} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 9. s. 7. (385) 7:201} Lysias had
accused him of being the sole cause of the whole Jewish war and the primary
instigator of all their evils. Thereupon, by orders of the king, Menelaus was
sent to Berea in Syria, where he was let down into a tower filled with ashes and
so died the kind of death his life deserved. {Apc 2Ma 13:4-8}
3483. This wretched Menelaus was killed in the tenth year after he first
usurped the priesthood at Berea. This was correctly written in Josephus, in the
first instance, but not the second instance when he erroneously wrote Berytus.
(This variant was removed in the modern Greek text of Josephus. Editor.) The
king substituted another in his place, one who was just as wicked, called
Alcimus, or Jacimus. He was descended from Aaron, but not of the high priest's
bloodline. Lysias persuaded the king to transfer that honour to another family.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 9. s. 7. (385) 7:201} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
20. c. 10. s. 3. (235) 10:125}
3484. When Onias, son of Onias III the high priest, saw that the high
priesthood had been given to Alcimus, he went into Egypt. After he had
ingratiated himself with Ptolemy Philometor and his wife Cleopatra, he obtained
permission to build a temple of God in the city of Heliopolis similar to the one
at Jerusalem. They would also appoint him the high priest there. Josephus
wrote this in his Jewish Antiquities, contradicting what he had formerly written
in his work on the Jewish Wars. [E450] [K57] There he had said that Onias'
flight and his building of the temple in Egypt happened while Antiochus
Epiphanes was still living. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 9. s. 7.
(387,388) 7:201} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 1. s. 1. (31-33) 2:19}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 10. s. 2. (422-424) 4:425}
3485. About this time, Ptolemy Philometor and his younger brother Ptolemy
Euergetes II had a falling-out. The Senate of Rome wrote letters to their
envoys, Gnaeus Octavius, Spurius Lucretius and Lucius Aurelius, to do what they
could to make peace. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 2. s. 13,14. 6:169} After they
had ruled together peacefully for six years as joint rulers, the younger brother
expelled Philometor and ruled alone. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
54,225.}
3486. When the older Ptolemy was expelled from his kingdom, he went to Rome for
help. He had very few in his retinue and travelled in poor clothes. {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 5. c. 1. s 1f. 1:443} As he was on his way to the city on foot,
he was noticed by Demetrius, Seleucus' son, who was very troubled at this sight
and promptly provided a royal robe and a diadem for him, and a horse adorned
with golden fittings. He went with his own servants and met Ptolemy twenty-six
miles from the city. After a civil greeting, he advised him to put on these
trappings and to enter Rome more like a king, lest he appear contemptible.
Ptolemy thanked him very much for his goodwill toward him, but he did not accept
these things for himself. Ptolemy wanted rather to be allowed to rest a while
with Archias in one of the towns along the way. {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 18.
11:359}
3487. Finally, he came to Rome and lodged at an Alexandrian painter's house.
As soon as the Senate heard of it, they sent for him and made a most thorough
apology because they had not, according to the usual custom, sent the quaestor
to wait upon him, nor had they entertained him at the public expense. They
assured him that those omissions were not to be imputed to any disrespect of
theirs toward him but merely to his own coming to them so suddenly and so
privately. Upon that, they conducted him from the court to the house of public
entertainment and persuaded him to take off his sordid clothes. They settled on
a day for a meeting. They also took care that presents were sent to him daily
by the treasurers. By their kind treatment of him, they restored Ptolemy from
the low condition he was in to his former kingly eminence. This caused him to
hope more for Rome's assistance than to fear his low estate. {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 5. c. 1. s. 1f. 1:443}
3488. As soon as Gnaeus Octavius and Spurius Lucretius, the Roman envoys, came
to Ariarathes, the king of the Cappadocians, they enquired into the battles
between him and the Galatians. He told them the whole matter in a few words,
adding that he was willing to agree to use them as arbitrators. Most of his
speech concerned Syria, for he knew that Octavius was going there. He showed
them also what a weak condition that state was in and how great the similarity
was between his own weak state and Syria. As well as this, he expressed his
preference to escort them with his forces and to be ready on all occasions to
help them, until they had returned safely from Syria. The king's goodwill and
desire to accommodate them was much appreciated by the envoys. They told him
that at present they had no need of his company, but in case of some future
emergency, should the need arise, they would not hesitate to inform him. They
said that after this they would always include him as a most sincere friend to
the Romans. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 8. s. 4-8. 6:175,177} [K58]
3489. King Eupator, with the help of his guardian Lysias, had quickly pacified
the disturbances in Syria. When he returned to Antioch, he found Philip in
command there, so he fought him and took the city. {Apc 1Ma 6:63} After he had
captured Philip, he had him killed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 9. s. 7.
(386) 7:201}
3842b AM, 4552 JP, 162 BC
3490. Octavius, Lucretius and Aurelius, the three Roman envoys, followed their
instructions from the Senate when they came into Syria. They saw to it that the
elephants were killed and the ships of the navy burned, and then attended to
everything else with the interests of Rome in mind. This grieved Leptines, who
therefore stabbed Gnaeus Octavius, the head of the embassy, at Laodicea, as he
was preparing himself in the gymnasium. Leptines testified that the deed had
been carried out lawfully and at the instigation of the gods. Octavius was the
first one, of that family from which Caesar Augustus later descended, to have
the consulship. Lysias, Eupator's guardian, who was reputed to be the chief
instigator of the people against the Romans, took care of the funeral for
Octavius. [E451] In the king's name, he at once sent envoys to Rome to
apologise for the deed and testify to the king's innocence, as not having been
an accessory to this in any way. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 2. s. 11-14.
6:169} {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 12. s. 4. 6:183} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 9.
c. 2. 15:405} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (46) 2:193,195} {*Dio,
l. 20. 2:361,363 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 25.)} Julius Obsequens confirmed that
the killing of Octavius happened when Gaius Marcius and Publius Scipio Nasica
were consuls. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 15. 14:249}
3491. At that time there lived in Syria a grammarian named Isocrates, who
belonged to a company of men who made public recitations. He was a prating
braggart who was hated by the Greeks. Alcaeus, in his public speeches, used to
make fun of him. As soon as Isocrates had come to Syria, he had begun to
reproach the Syrians as being stupid. He did not stay within the bounds of his
profession and began to talk of state matters and pass his judgment on them. He
defended the justice of the murder of Octavius and wanted the other Roman envoys
killed as well, so no one would be left to take the news back to Rome. Through
this, the Romans might be made more humble and might cease interfering in the
business of others. {*Polybius, l. 32. c. 2. s. 4-8. 6:235}
3492. Through their envoys, Canuleius and Quintus, the Romans restored Ptolemy
Philometor to his kingdom and reconciled him to his younger brother, Euergetes,
having decreed that the kingdom should be divided between them. Philometor was
to take Egypt and Cyprus as his share, Euergetes was to get Cyrene. This
agreement was confirmed by all manner of religious ceremonies and by the mutual
pledging of their faith to each other. Euergetes, however, hurried away to Rome
to try to have the covenant voided. After which Philometor sent Menyllus of
Alabanda there also, as his envoy. He was to be his advocate and representative
in his quarrel with Euergetes. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 19,20. 6:201,203}
{*Livy, l. 46. 14:11} {*Dio, l. 20. 2:359,361 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 25.)}
3493. Ariarathes, the king of Cappadocia, died and his son Ariarathes, surnamed
Philopator, succeeded him by right of inheritance. As soon as he had performed
his father's funeral with the utmost magnificence, he sent his envoys to Rome to
renew the league and alliance with the people of Rome. He had first been called
Mithridates, but after he came of age, he was known by his father's name of
Ariarathes. When he was crowned, he treated his friends, nobles and subjects
with due respect, so that he soon won the affections of all. [K59] He was
experienced in Greek and studied philosophy, with the result that Cappadocia,
never before known to the Greeks, soon became a home for learned men. {*Livy,
l. 46. 14:11} {*Dio, l. 20. 2:359 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 24.)} {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 31. c. 19. s. 6-8. 11:369}
3842c AM, 4552 JP, 162 BC
3494. This spring began the 151st year of the kingdom of the Greeks, which is
used in the first book of the Maccabees.
3495. When the envoys of Ariarathes, the new king of Cappadocia, arrived at
Rome, they asked the Senate to embrace their king fully, with love and
affection, as he had always wished the Romans well. The Senate renewed the
league and amity, as the envoys requested, and highly commended the king's
affections to them. They entertained the envoys very civilly. After this,
Tiberius Gracchus returned from his embassy in Asia and related many notable
expressions of the affections of this king and of his father, and indeed, of the
whole kingdom, toward the people of Rome. {See note on 3833b AM.
<<3232>>}
{*Polybius, l. 31. c. 3. 6:170,171}
3496. The Rhodians requested through Cleagoras and Lygdamis, their envoys at
Rome, that they might be permitted to retain Lycia and Caria on the same terms
as before. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 4. 6:171}
3497. At that time, Calynda in Caria revolted from Caunus, whereupon the Caunii
attempted to besiege them. The Calyndians first requested help from the
Cnidians and they were able to hold the enemy off for a while. Since the
outcome of the war was uncertain, they sent an embassy to the Rhodians and
surrendered themselves and their city into their hands. The Rhodians accepted
this and accordingly sent supplies by both sea and land. They raised the siege
and took the city into their own jurisdiction. Soon after this, the Senate
confirmed the right to and possession of the city to them. {*Polybius, l. 31.
c. 5. 6:171,173}
3498. Ariarathes, the king of Cappadocia, had heard from his envoys, who had
returned from Rome, that he was in good favour with the Romans. He considered
himself secure in his kingdom and offered sacrifices to the gods and feasted his
nobles. Moreover, he sent envoys to Lysias at Antioch to get the bones of his
sister and his mother Antiochis, the daughter of Antiochus the Great. He gave
the envoys instructions before they left and prayed for their success. He told
them it would be best not to mention the death of Octavius, even though he was
quite displeased by it, as he thought this might provoke Lysias and he would not
grant his request. [E452] Lysias allowed him to have the bones and as soon as
they were brought to him, he carried them out very solemnly and placed them very
carefully in his father's tomb. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 7. 6:173,175}
3499. After the two Ptolemys (brothers) had divided the kingdom between them,
the younger Ptolemy went to Rome to invalidate the partition agreed upon with
his brother. He said that he had not voluntarily done as he was commanded but
had yielded from necessity, having been forced to by the difficult
circumstances. Therefore he requested the Senate to give him Cyprus, otherwise
his portion would be much less than his brother's. For the other side,
Menyllus, Philometor's envoy, stated what was also confirmed by the Roman
envoys' testimony, how the younger Ptolemy had retained not only Cyrene but also
his very life because of the help of his brother. [K60] Since he was generally
hated, he saw it as a great favour that the kingdom of Greece had sided with
him, which was more than he could have hoped for, or any man would have dreamed
of. After Ptolemy's reply the Senate was urged to consider that the sharing of
the kingdom was not quite finalised, partly out of their own interest in seeing
that kingdom divided. For, should the occasion arise, they would have less
trouble subduing it if it were divided than if it were united. So they granted
the younger brother's demands and immediately sent their envoys, Titus Torquatus
and Gnaeus Merula, with instructions to reconcile the two brothers and to give
Cyprus to the younger brother. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 10. 6:177-181}
3500. News reached Rome of the killing of Gnaeus Octavius. When the envoys of
Antiochus Eupator, whom Lysias had sent, arrived at Rome, they showed that their
king was in no way involved in the murder. The Senate sent the envoys back
again and decided nothing on the issue, because they were determined not to
reveal their thinking on the matter. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 11. s. 1,2.
6:181} However, they ordered that a statue in memory of Octavius be erected in
the place of common pleas. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 9. c. 2. 15:405}
3501. Demetrius was greatly disturbed by the news of that accident. He sent
for Polybius the historian and asked him whether or not it was wise to ask the
Senate again about his own affairs. Polybius warned him to be careful of
dashing himself twice against the same stone. He told him that he had better
attempt some noble exploit worthy of a kingdom, hinting by this that Demetrius
should steal away from Rome as soon as he could. However, Demetrius followed
the counsel of Apollonius, his close friend, who was a good man, but very young.
Demetrius came into the Senate and requested that he might at least have his
liberty and no longer be detained as a hostage at Rome, seeing that they had
confirmed the kingdom to Antiochus Eupator. The Senate, for all this, stood by
their decree. As a result, Demetrius consulted first with Diodorus, who was a
crafty fellow who had recently arrived from Syria and had previously educated
him. Then he talked with Polybius about how he might make his escape.
Menyllus, Ptolemy Philometor's agent, who by Polybius' means (since Polybius was
intimately acquainted with him) had been admitted into the discussion under the
pretence of providing for Demetrius' return home. Menyllus publicly hired a
Carthaginian ship which was about to sail to Tyre to bring the firstfruits of
the Carthaginians to their ancestral gods, according to their custom. When
everything was ready, Demetrius sent his tutor, Diodorus, ahead into Syria to
hear what was being said and to feel the pulse of the people. Demetrius only
took a few with him as companions on his journey. He dined at a friend's house
with them and sent the rest away to Anagnia, where he said he would come hunting
the next day. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 11-13. 6:181-187}
3502. At the time, Polybius was sick in bed. He was afraid that Demetrius
might spend too much time drinking and miss the opportunity to escape. Since
the night was passing, he sent him a sheet sealed up with these lines written on
it: {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 13. s. 7-14. 6:187,189}
He that delays, incurs the fates
Of a deadly night—boldness success creates.
Adventure, come what can, let all,
Rather than thou, thyself, shouldest fall.
3503. [E453] [K61] Polybius added this saying of Epicharmus: {*Polybius, l.
31. c. 13. s. 13,14. 6:189} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 1. c. 19. 22:89}
Be sober and remember to distrust;
These are the very sinews of the mind.
3504. As soon as Demetrius read the note, he understood immediately what these
instructions meant and from whom they came. So, pretending to be sick, he and
his friends left the company. He told his plan to Nicanor and the rest of his
friends. He came by night to Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber River. Menyllus
had preceded them and communicated with the officers of the ship, saying that he
had a message from the king (Ptolemy) to the effect that he must himself remain
in Rome for the present, but must send on to him in advance the most trustworthy
of his young soldiers, who would give him all the news about his brother. About
the end of the third watch of the night, Demetrius arrived with eight friends,
five servants and two lackeys. Menyllus commended these to the captain of the
ship, who knew nothing of the plot, and they set sail around daybreak. No one
at Rome missed him until four days later, when they looked for him, but could
not find him. On the fifth day, the Senate met over the matter, but Demetrius
was now six days from the city by sea and had gone as far as the Straits of
Messenia. The Senate thought it would be of no use to pursue him, since he had
such a head start on them. A few days later, they sent Tiberius Gracchus,
Lucius Lentulus and Servilius Glaucia as envoys whose business it was to see how
things were going in Greece. After that, they were to find out what Demetrius
was up to, see how the kings felt toward Rome and settle their differences with
the Galatians. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 14. 6:189-193}
3505. In the meantime, Demetrius had arrived in Lycia, from where he wrote the
Senate that he was not marching against Antiochus, his uncle's son, but against
Lysias, with a resolution to avenge Octavius' death. He won Tripolis in Syria
over to his side by saying he had been sent by the Senate to take possession of
the kingdom, for no one dreamed of his escape. He captured Apamea and having
mustered all his forces together, marched toward Antioch. He killed the young
king, Antiochus Eupator, and Lysias, when they came out to give him a friendly
greeting. They had not wanted to take up arms for fear of displeasing the
Romans. He won the approval of all in Syria and took over the kingdom. {*Dio,
l. 20. 2:363,365 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 25.)} {Justin, Trogus, l. 34. c. 3.}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (47) 2:195}
3506. We read in the Apocrypha that in the 151st year of the kingdom of the
Greeks, Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, escaped from Rome and came with a few
men to a city on the sea coast that is Tripolis of Phoenicia and began to reign
there. He entered into the palace of his ancestors at Antioch near Daphne, the
metropolis of Syria. His soldiers seized Antiochus and Lysias and killed them
at his orders. {Apc 1Ma 7:1-4} In the Apocrypha {Apc 2Ma 14:1,2} we read that
after three years, or in the third year, from the beginning of Antiochus
Eupator, or the purging of the temple by Judas Maccabeus as mentioned in the
Apocrypha, {Apc 2Ma 10:1-10} Judas was told of the arrival of Demetrius at
Tripolis, and that he had taken the country with a large army and navy and had
killed Antiochus and Lysias, his tutor. However, both Josephus and Eusebius
stated that Antiochus Eupator only reigned two years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
12. c. 10. s. 1. (390) 7:203} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:223} [K62]
On the other hand, Porphyry and Sulpicius Severus stated that he reigned only
eighteen months. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 228.} {*Sulpicius
Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 23. 11:108}
3507. Demetrius removed Heraclides from the charge of the treasury in Babylon.
Antiochus Epiphanes had appointed him to that position. Demetrius also killed
Heraclides' brother, Timarchus, who had been appointed governor of Babylon by
Antiochus Epiphanes. Timarchus had rebelled against Demetrius and was running
the place poorly. The Babylonians were the first to surname Demetrius Soter, or
Protector. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (47) 2:195}
3842d AM, 4552 JP, 162 BC
3508. Alcimus had obtained the high priesthood from Antiochus Eupator, but was
not accepted by the people. In the period of the confusion under Antiochus
Epiphanes, he had wilfully defiled himself. {Apc 2Ma 14:3} In an attempt to get
the priesthood confirmed to him by Demetrius Soter, he addressed the king. He
was accompanied by other wicked and apostate Israelites who maligned their
countrymen, especially the Asmoneans. They said the Asmoneans were guilty of
killing the king's friends and banishing them out of the country. Demetrius
resented the substance of their complaints. Thereupon, he sent a large force
into Judea under Bacchides, the governor of Mesopotamia and an intimate and
faithful friend of his, along with Alcimus, to whom he had given the priesthood.
When they had entered the land, they thought they had won over Judas Maccabeus
and his brethren with their talk about peace. However, the Jews did not believe
them when they saw their large forces. {Apc 1Ma 7:5-11} [E454]
3509. A company of scribes headed by the Assideans came to Alcimus and
Bacchides and desired peace from them. They said:
"One who is a priest of the seed of Aaron has the charge of this army, and he
will not do us any wrong."
3510. After they had committed themselves to his safety, that wicked priest
broke the agreement and his oath and executed sixty of their scribes in one day.
The historian applied the saying of the psalmist to this event: {Ps. 79:2, 3}
"The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of
the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood
have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury
them."
3511. Many were terrified by this act of wickedness and fled from the city.
{Apc 1Ma 7:12-19}
3512. Bacchides left Jerusalem and camped in Bezeth, or Bethzetha, from where
he sent out men to capture many of those who had forsaken him. He killed some
of the Jews and cast them into a deep pit. After that, he committed the country
to Alcimus' care and left him a sufficiently large force to help him, while he
himself returned to the king. All the rebellious among the people joined
Alcimus, who had done everything to ensure the priesthood for himself. When
they had subdued Judea, they created great havoc in Israel. Thereupon, Judas
Maccabeus went throughout the whole land of Judea and took vengeance on all who
had revolted from him. He was so successful, that the enemies were confined to
their garrisons and did not make any more incursions into the country. {Apc 1Ma
7:19-24}
3513. The younger Ptolemy left Italy and came into Greece, where he hired an
army of very strong men. He also hired Damasippus, a Macedonian who, after
having killed the members of the council at Phacus, a town of Macedonia, had
escaped from there as fast as he could with his wife and children. Ptolemy left
and came to Peraea, a land opposite Rhodes. After he had been courteously
treated by the people, he planned to set sail for Cyprus. However, when
Torquatus and the rest of the Roman envoys saw the large number of mercenary
soldiers he had, they remembered their instructions from the Senate, in which
they had been expressly charged to control him without fighting. [K63]
Eventually, they prevailed upon him to disband his mercenaries as soon as he
came to Sida and not to make his intended voyage to Cyprus. He was to do his
best to meet with them over the matter of Cyprus. In the meantime, they would
be going to Alexandria to persuade the king to agree to his requests. They
would meet him at the appointed place and bring the king himself along with
them. These propositions had such influence on the younger Ptolemy, that he
gave up the idea of conquering Cyprus and dismissed his mercenary soldiers. He
went directly to Crete, taking Damasippus along with him and Gnaeus Merula, one
of the envoys. As soon as he had hired a thousand soldiers, he departed to
Libya and kept them at the port of Apis. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 17.
6:195,197}
3514. In the interim, Torquatus and Titus came to Alexandria and did what they
could to persuade the older Ptolemy to come to an agreement with his brother and
give him Cyprus. Ptolemy gave in on some things, while he listened to others
merely to buy time. His younger brother, who was camped before Apis in Libya as
agreed, was very displeased that nothing had as yet been concluded concerning
the surrender of Cyprus. He sent Gnaeus Merula to Alexandria, hoping to
accomplish his plans through him and Torquatus. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 18.
s. 1-5. 6:197}
3843a AM, 4552 JP, 162 BC
3515. Hipparchus of Bithynia attempted to transmit to posterity the exact
number of the stars and to catalogue the constellations using particular
instruments he had invented. He showed their positions and their magnitudes.
Pliny maintained that his work never received sufficient recognition. {*Pliny,
l. 2. c. 24. 1:239} In his book, Hipparchus wrote that in the 27th year of
the third Calippic period, on the 30th day of the Egyptian month of Mesore
(September 27), around sunset, he observed the autumnal equinox. {Ptolemy,
Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.}
3516. This autumn began the 151st year of the account of the contracts as used
in the second book of the Maccabees. In this year (for so the Greek copies
compute, and my Syriac Interpreter, whereas the Latin edition reads 150),
Alcimus came to King Demetrius and gave him a golden crown, a palm and boughs
which were used in the temple. {Apc 2Ma 14:3,4} He saw how Judas Maccabeus and
the Assideans who were with him had greatly increased in power. They would not
allow him to come near the holy altar. Using this opportunity, he eagerly
accused them to the king as the instigators of all the rebellions and as
disturbers of the common peace in Judea. He complained most bitterly about
this, claiming he had been divested of the high priesthood, which had been the
glory of his ancestors. [E455] He was confident that as long as Judas was
alive, Demetrius would never enjoy the kingdom in peace. This was confirmed by
his friends and other implacable enemies of Judas. Demetrius was so angry that
he sent Nicanor, his general, into Judea with orders to destroy Judas and
disperse his associates, the Assideans. He was to place Alcimus in the high
priesthood. The Gentiles who had fled from Judea for fear of Judas, flocked to
Nicanor. They were pleased about the calamities which were likely to befall the
Jews. {Apc 2Ma 14:3-14 1Ma 7:25,26}
3517. When the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming and of the alliance of the
Gentiles with him, they cast dust on their heads and prayed to God. [K64] There
was a short skirmish between Simon, Judas' brother, and Nicanor near the village
of Dessaro. Nicanor had heard of the prowess and valour of Judas and his
company in defending their country and was afraid of fighting with him. So he
sent Poseidonius, Theodotus and Matthias to make a peace with him. When they
had discussed the matter among themselves, Judas presented it to the people, who
unanimously approved the articles. A day was appointed in which Judas and
Nicanor were to meet but Judas did not trust the enemy, and placed some armed
men in several convenient places for security in case of any violence. However,
the conference was very peaceful and concluded in a league without the king's
knowledge. Nicanor then stayed a while in Jerusalem and dismissed the companies
which he had earlier collected. He lived on such friendly and familiar terms
with Judas, that Judas persuaded him to marry a wife from among their people.
{Apc 2Ma 14:15-25}
3518. As soon as Alcimus saw what had happened, he spoke to Demetrius a third
time, to complain about Nicanor and accuse him of plotting against the king.
Demetrius was so disturbed by all this, that he immediately wrote to Nicanor to
let him know how very upset he was by his dealings with Judas Maccabeus. He
ordered Nicanor to send Judas bound to Antioch. This Nicanor was very reluctant
to do, since it would break their articles of peace and since Judas had done
nothing wrong. However, he knew enough not to cross the king and so watched for
a convenient time to execute the king's command through craft. {Apc 2Ma
14:26-29}
3519. Ptolemy Philometor detained the Roman envoys at Alexandria for forty days
with his entertainment. This was against their will, since no business was
transacted. The Cyrenians and some other cities revolted from Euergetes, the
younger brother. Ptolemy Sympetesis, whom Euergetes had appointed over the
whole realm when he himself had sailed away to Rome, had taken the side of the
insurgents, and news of this reached Euergetes. He was also told that the
Cyrenians already had an army prepared for war. He feared that while he was
trying to add Cyprus to his kingdom, he would lose Cyrene. He set aside all
other matters and left Apis, where his navy was anchored in the harbour. He
marched to the Great Slope, as they called it, and planned to go to Cyrene from
there. He found that the pass was being held by the Libyans and the Cyrenians,
so he shipped half his men with orders to sail around the pass and to make a
surprise attack on the enemy. He led the vanguard and with the rest of the army
tried to capture the hill. As soon as the Libyans realised they were
surrounded, they abandoned their stations. Hence, the king took the top of the
hill and captured the citadel and the place beneath it called Four Towers, which
contained plenty of water. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 18. s. 1-12. 6:197,199}
3520. From there, he marched through the wilderness in six days, while the
soldiers under Mochyrinus followed him by sea. When the Cyrenians heard of his
coming, they drew out their army of eight thousand foot soldiers and five
hundred cavalry against him. They could guess Philometor's disposition by what
he had done at Alexandria. They saw no traces of a king in Euergetes, only a
tyrant, and could not be persuaded to voluntarily submit to him. [K65]
Therefore, they fought and defeated him. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 18. s.
12-16. 6:199,201}
3843b AM, 4553 JP, 161 BC
3521. Judas Maccabeus noticed that Nicanor had grown more reserved than before
and that his dealings had become more harsh than they usually were. Believing
he was up to no good, Judas gathered many of his associates and withdrew himself
from Nicanor's sight. {Apc 2Ma 14:30}
3522. Nicanor came to Jerusalem with large forces and with his persuasive
speeches drew Judas to a meeting. However, the enemy planned to seize Judas and
carry him away, while they were greeting one another. [E456] When Judas became
aware of this, he was very afraid of him and did not want to see him any more.
Nicanor, realising that his plan had been discovered, marched against Judas to
fight him beside Capharsalama. Nicanor's side lost five thousand men and the
rest fled to the city of David. {Apc 1Ma 7:27-32}
3523. After this, Nicanor went to Mount Zion, where he was met by some of the
priests and elders of the people. They came from the sanctuary to greet him
peaceably and to show him the burnt sacrifice that had been offered for the
king. He scoffed at and slighted them, commanding them to turn over Judas.
They swore with an oath that they did not know where he was. Nicanor stretched
out his right hand toward the temple and swore that unless Judas and his forces
were delivered into his hands, he would, when he returned in peace, burn the
house of God, destroy the altar and erect in its place another glorious temple
to Bacchus. Thereupon, the priests entered the temple and stood before the
altar, with great lamentations beseeching God to frustrate Nicanor's threats and
avenge his blasphemies. {Apc 1Ma 7:33-38 2Ma 14:31-36}
3524. Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, who was called The Father of the
Jews on account of his love and affection for the citizens, came to Nicanor.
Therefore, because of who this man was, Nicanor thought that if the man was
killed, he would be able to do what he pleased with the Jews. He sent about
five hundred soldiers to seize him. When they had forced the outer gates of the
tower where he was and were ordered to burn the other doors, Razis stabbed
himself with his own sword. When he realised that, because of his haste, his
wound was not mortal, he threw himself headlong from the wall. Afterward,
running to a steep rock when he was almost dead, he ripped out his bowels and
with both his hands threw them among the throng, and so he died. {Apc 2Ma
14:37-46} Concerning this event, see Augustine. {Augustine, Epistle to
Dulcitius, n. 61.} {Augustine, Against Gaudentius, l. 2. c. 23.}
3525. When Nicanor saw that Judas was not in Jerusalem, but in the regions of
Samaria, he marched from Jerusalem and camped in Bethhoron, while more troops
came from Syria to join him. Judas camped in Adasa, about four miles from the
enemy, with three thousand men. Nicanor tried to start the battle on the
Sabbath day, but was before long admonished by some Jews who were compelled to
march with him, to reverence that day and the God who instituted it. He railed
on them with a most horrid blasphemy, but was unable to carry out his plan of
fighting on the Sabbath. Maccabeus encouraged his troops from the law and the
prophets. Moreover, he had them remember their former encounters and told them
about his dream. [K66] He had seen Onias III praying for the people and the
prophet Jeremiah reaching out to him with a golden sword. In this way, he
encouraged the troops. After that, being well-armed with prayers and a sure
confidence in God, they attacked the enemy on the 13th day of the 12th month of
Adar. Nicanor was the first to die in the battle, whereupon the rest threw away
their arms and fled. The Jews chased them for a whole day from Adasa to Gazara
and sounded an alarm after them with their trumpets. At this, all the Jews from
the various surrounding towns hurried to the slaughter of their fleeing enemies.
At least thirty-five thousand were killed and not one of the enemy army
survived. Then, they fell on the spoil and took the prey. They cut off
Nicanor's head and arms with the shoulder and brought them to Jerusalem. They
hung his head on a high tower by his right hand, which he had so proudly
stretched forth against the house of God. Judas ordered the tongue of this
wicked fellow to be cut out, chopped in pieces and fed to the birds. In
commemoration of this victory, it was enacted by a general decree that a great
holiday should be kept annually on the 13th day of the 12th month, called Adar
in the Syriac, the day before the feast of Mordecai. {Apc 1Ma 7:39-49 2Ma
15:1-37} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 10. s. 5. (406-412) 7:211-215}
3526. This ends the history contained in the second book of the Maccabees and
is a summary of the five books of Jason, a Jew of Cyrene. After Nicanor's
death, Judea had rest from wars for a while. {Apc 1Ma 7:50} During that time,
Judas Maccabeus heard of the great power of the Romans and their humanity toward
any who were in distress. He also knew how greatly Demetrius feared the Romans.
Therefore, he sent Eupolemus the son of John, and Jason the son of Eleazar, as
agents to the Senate at Rome, in his own name, as well as that of his brother
and the commonwealth of the Jews. They were to negotiate an association and
alliance with the people of Rome by which they hoped to free themselves of the
heavy yoke of King Demetrius and the empire of the Greeks. {Apc 1Ma
8:1,17,18,31,32}
3527. Gnaeus Merula finally returned from Alexandria to Euergetes and told him
that his brother Philometor would not agree to any of his demands. [E457] He
impressed upon him that the brothers had to abide by the covenants which had
initially been ratified. When Euergetes heard this, he ordered Comanus and his
brother Ptolemy to go to Rome as his envoys, along with Merula. They were to
entreat the Senate concerning the wrongs done to him by his brother and to tell
them of Philometor's contempt for the Romans. On their way they met Titus
Torquatus, who was Gnaeus Merula's colleague in the embassy. He had also left
Alexandria, without having completed the business for which he had gone there.
At the same time, Philometor sent Menyllus of Alabanda as an envoy to the
Senate. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 19,20. 6:201}
3528. After Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his whole army had been destroyed
in the battle, he sent Bacchides and Alcimus into Judea for the second time and
gave them the right wing, or the better part of his army. They marched on the
route to Gilgal, and camped at Masaloth, or Massadoth, which is in Arbela. When
they captured it, they killed many people. {Apc 1Ma 9:1,2}
3843c AM, 4553 JP, 161 BC
3529. In the first month of the 152nd year of the kingdom of the Greeks, they
marched toward Jerusalem to find Judas Maccabeus and from there they marched to
Berea (or Beerzath, as it is in Arundel's copy), with twenty thousand foot
soldiers and two thousand cavalry. [K67] Judas was camped in Eleasa with three
thousand choice men. When they saw the large number of the enemy, they were
very afraid and many deserted him, so that he had only eight hundred left in the
camp. With these few he attacked Bacchides' vast army and fought from morning
till night. At last he routed the enemy's right wing, where Bacchides was, and
pursued them to Mount Azotus. However, those in the left wing chased Judas and
the men with him. Judas died fighting valiantly and the rest promptly fled.
Then Jonathan and Simon took up the body of their brother Judas and buried it in
the sepulchre of their fathers at Modin, and Israel mourned over him for many
days. {Apc 1Ma 9:3-21} Judas was killed in the sixth year after the death of
his father Mattathias.
3530. After the death of Judas, wicked men, who previously had stayed out of
sight for fear of Judas, appeared all over Israel. There was a severe famine in
those days, which caused the whole country to side with them and submit to
Bacchides, in order to have access to more provisions. Bacchides promoted these
wicked men to the position of rulers in the land. When they found any of Judas'
friends, they brought them to Bacchides to be tormented and reviled, so that
there was great affliction in Israel. There had been nothing like this since
the time of the last prophets of the Old Testament. {Apc 1Ma 9:23-27}
3531. In the meantime, the envoys who had been sent to Rome by Judas Maccabeus
concluded a peace and an association with the people of Rome. The articles were
written in tables of brass and said that the Jews should assist the Romans, and
the Romans the Jews, against the common enemy. The Senate also wrote letters to
King Demetrius, advising him to stop oppressing the Jews, or else they would
wage war with him both by sea and on land to support this people, who were now
their friends and confederates. {Apc 1Ma 8:19-32} Justin stated: {Justin,
Trogus, l. 36. c. 3.}
"When they had revolted from Demetrius (having procured an alliance with the
Romans), they were the first among all the eastern people to obtain their
liberty. At that time, the Romans were very free in giving away what was not
their own."
3532. Josephus noted that this was the first league ever known to exist between
the Romans and the Jews. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 10. s. 6. (419)
7:219} It was written differently, with the following forged subscription
appended.
"This decree of the Senate was written by Eupolemus, son of John, and Jason, son
of Eleazar (the Jewish agents): when Judas was high priest and his brother Simon
was the general."
3533. Jonathan was the most likely one to have been the general while Judas was
alive. It was not until Jonathan died that Simon became the general. A little
earlier, Josephus incorrectly wrote that when Alcimus died, the people voted
Judas to be the next high priest. {Apc 1Ma 9:54-56} That was incorrect, because
this passage shows that Alcimus died after Judas, and Josephus later admitted
his error, saying that Jacimus or Alcimus had no successor at all and Jerusalem
had no high priest for seven whole years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 10.
s. 3. (235) 10:125}
3534. There was a long and acrimonious debate in the Senate between the envoys
of both the Ptolemys. Titus and Gnaeus, who had been sent as envoys by the
Romans, testified on Euergetes' behalf and promoted his cause. [K68] The Senate
ordered that Menyllus, Philometor's envoy, should leave Rome within five days
and the league between them and Philometor was void. The Senate sent Publius
Apustius and Gaius Lentulus as envoys to Euergetes. [E458] They went to Cyrene
at once and with great care informed him of what had been done. This inflated
his hopes so that he soon levied an army and plotted how to take over Cyprus.
{*Polybius, l. 31. c. 20. 6:201,203}
3843d AM, 4553 JP, 161 BC
3535. All Judas Maccabeus' friends met and chose Jonathan as the general in his
place. He was the brother of Judas and was surnamed Apphus. As soon as
Bacchides heard this, he planned to kill him. Jonathan, his brother Simon, and
the men who were with him found out about this. To thwart him, they fled into
the desert of Tekoa and camped by the pool of Asphar. Jonathan sent his brother
John, surnamed Gaddis, with a band of soldiers, to ask the Nabatean Arabs to
leave their wagons with them, for they had many wagons. However, the children
of Jambri from Medeba met them on the way and attacked and killed John and his
company. They seized the spoil and went on their way, but their victory was
short lived. Jonathan and his brother Simon heard that these sons of Jambri
were having a large wedding and were bringing the bride from Nadabatha with
great pomp and a long train of nobles, as she was the daughter of a prince in
Canaan. They attacked them from an ambush and killed four hundred, while the
rest fled to the mountains. They seized all their spoil and marched back to the
marshes of Jordan, having now fully avenged the blood of their brother. {Apc
1Ma 9:28-42} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 1. s. 1-4. (1-21) 7:229-237}
3536. Bacchides followed Jonathan closely and on the Sabbath day came to the
banks of the Jordan River with a large army. The two armies met in battle and
Jonathan tried to kill Bacchides, but he deflected the blow. However, a
thousand of Bacchides' men were killed, although Josephus said two thousand.
Jonathan knew he could not cope with such a large force, so he and his men
leaped into the Jordan River and crossed over to the other side, and the enemy
did not attempt to follow him. Bacchides returned to Jerusalem and built
fortified cities in Judea and citadels in Jericho, Emmaus, Bethhoron, Bethel,
Thamnatha, Pharathoni and Taphon. He strengthened them with high walls, gates
and bars and put garrisons in all of them, then used these places as bases from
which to attack and annoy the Jews. He fortified Bethsura, Gazara and the tower
at Jerusalem, and supplied them with men and provisions. He seized the sons of
the country's chief men as hostages and imprisoned them in the tower at
Jerusalem. {Apc 1Ma 9:43-53} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 1. s. 5.
(22-25) 7:235,237}
3537. Mithrobuzanes, one of the sons of Zadriades, king of Lesser Armenia, had
escaped to Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia. Artaxias, the king of Greater
Armenia, who had been conquered by Antiochus Epiphanes, wanted his old kingdom
back, so he sent an embassy to Ariarathes and asked him to side with him. They
would murder one of the two brothers whom he had under his power at that time
and Artaxias would divide Sophene between himself and Ariarathes. Ariarathes
detested this treachery and sharply rebuked the envoys. [K69] He sent letters
to Artaxias, admonishing him not to do such a wicked act. As well as that, he
restored Mithrobuzanes to his father's kingdom. {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c.
21,22. 11:369,371}
3844a AM, 4553 JP, 161 BC
3538. Ariarathes very royally received the Roman envoys, Tiberius Gracchus,
Lucius Lentulus and Servilius Glaucius, in Cappadocia. Demetrius Soter sent
Menocharis there, so that he could seriously debate with the Roman envoys about
the settling of his kingdom. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 32,33. 6:229} He also
offered King Ariarathes a marriage with his sister, who was related to Perseus,
king of the Macedonians, but he declined, for fear of offending the Romans.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 28. 11:389,391} {Justin, Trogus, l. 35. c. 1.}
3844b AM, 4554 JP, 160 BC
3539. Menocharis returned to Demetrius at Antioch and gave an account of his
conferences with the Roman envoys. The king, deeming it very necessary in his
present situation to gain the favour of the Roman envoys, set aside all other
matters and sent an embassy to them, first into Pamphylia, then again to Rhodes.
He said he would do whatever he could for the Romans if they would only confirm
his title as king. Tiberius favoured him and helped him considerably to obtain
the legal right to his kingdom. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 33. 6:229,231}
3540. Leptines, who had stabbed Gnaeus Octavius, the Roman envoy, at Laodicea,
went to King Demetrius and told him not to be troubled by the death of Gnaeus,
nor to act harshly toward the Laodiceans because of this. He planned to go to
Rome and state before the Senate that he had done this act and that the gods
approved of it. He went cheerfully, of his own accord, and was conveyed from
there to Rome without any guard or bonds. As for Isocrates, the grammarian, who
had got himself into trouble with his vicious tongue, he went completely mad
when he realised the trouble he was in. [E459] When he saw the irons being put
about his neck and the shackles on his hands, he totally neglected his personal
duties, including his appearance and clothes. {*Polybius, l. 32. c. 3.
6:235,237}
3844c AM, 4554 JP, 160 BC
3541. In the 153rd year of the kingdom of the Greeks, in the second month,
Alcimus commanded the wall of the inner court to be pulled down. This wall
divided the court of the people from that of the Gentiles and had been built by
Zerubbabel and the prophets. However, God shut the mouth of this profane high
priest by striking him with a sudden palsy. He could not speak another word or
give any orders concerning his own house. He died in great torment in the third
year after having usurped the high priesthood. {Apc 1Ma 9:54-56} Josephus said
in one place that he was high priest for four years, but later said it was only
three years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 12. c. 10. s. 6. (413) 7:215}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 10. s. 3. (237) 10:127} He added that after
Alcimus' death, Jerusalem went seven whole years without a high priest. Seven
years and five months elapsed between the second month of the 153rd year, in
which Alcimus died, and the seventh month of the 160th year, when Jonathan
became the high priest. {Apc 1Ma 10:21}
3542. When Alcimus died, Bacchides returned to King Demetrius and Judea had two
years of peace. {Apc 1Ma 9:57}
3845a AM, 4554 JP, 160 BC
3543. About the 155th Olympiad, envoys came to Rome from Ariarathes, the king
of Cappadocia, with a crown valued at ten thousand pieces of gold. [K70] They
told the Senate how their king had graciously received Tiberius Gracchus and
that on their account he had refused any alliance with Demetrius and the offer
of marriage with his sister. They added that he was most willing to serve the
Romans in whatever they wanted him to do. When Tiberius Gracchus and the rest
of the envoys confirmed this as to be true, the Senate accepted the crown and
received it as a great favour. The Senate gave them a staff and an ivory seat
which the Romans highly esteemed. These envoys had been sent to the Senate by
Ariarathes immediately before the beginning of winter. {*Polybius, l. 30. c.
32. 6:229} {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 1. s. 1,2. 6:233} {*Diod. Sic., l. 31.
c. 28. 11:391}
3845b AM, 4555 JP, 159 BC
3544. When the new consuls, Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella and Marcus Fulvius
Nobilior, assumed office, a joint embassy arrived from Prusias, the king of
Bithynia, and the Galatians and complained to the Senate against Eumenes, the
king of Pergamum. Attalus, who had been sent there by his brother, Eumenes, to
plead his cause, was also heard. He was completely cleared of all the
accusations and a great deal of honour bestowed on him. He was received and
dismissed with great courtesy, for although the hearts of the senators were
opposed to King Eumenes, whom they hated, they really liked Attalus. They hoped
he would take over the kingdom from his brother and so they treated him royally.
{*Polybius, l. 30. c. 32. 6:332} {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 1. 6:233}
3845c AM, 4555 JP, 159 BC
3545. Menocharis and other envoys came to Rome from Demetrius Soter, the king
of Syria. They brought a crown worth ten thousand pieces of gold as a present,
sent by the king as a token of his gratitude for the kind treatment he had
received while he was a hostage at Rome. They turned over Leptines, who had
killed Gnaeus Octavius, the envoy, and Isocrates, the grammarian, who had
publicly defended the murder. Isocrates presented a strange spectacle to
everyone. His face looked frightful, and as fierce as the face of any man must
of necessity look who, in the space of a whole year, had neither washed, nor
trimmed his nails or cut his hair. The movement of his eyes showed that he was
mad. Any who had met him by chance, would have preferred the attack of a wild
beast instead. Leptines, on the other hand, was totally unaffected and ready to
come into the Senate at any time. He freely confessed the murder to anyone who
talked with him. He was confident the Romans would not harm him, and he was
right. The senators had debated about this for a long time. At length, the
Senate heard the envoys and received the crown from them. The senators made no
mention of these two men, as if this was a fault chargeable to all the Syrians.
It was the policy of the Senate to keep this matter to themselves, so that they
might avenge this crime as often as they pleased. They replied to Demetrius
that the Senate was ready to be friendly to him, provided he became their
tributary again, as before. {*Polybius, l. 31. c. 2,3. 6:235-239} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 31. c. 29,30. 11:391} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (47)
2:195}
3546. Orophernes, or Holophernes, spoke to Demetrius Soter, the king of Syria,
and complained that Ariarathes, his younger brother, had driven him out of the
kingdom of Cappadocia. [E460] Although Ariarathes was not the lawful heir, he
had either been put in by Queen Antiochis or adopted by her, as Zonaras related
from Dio, as we said before and which we quoted previously from Diodorus. {See
note on 3832 AM. <<3229>>} Demetrius still bore a grudge against
Ariarathes for
having slighted the offer of his sister in marriage, so he agreed to the request
and gave Orophernes a thousand talents to help dethrone Ariarathes. [K71] This
was over and above the help he had received from Eumenes, the king of Pergamum.
{*Polybius, l. 3. c. 5. s. 1,2. 2:13} {*Livy, l. 47. 14:13} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 35. c. 1.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (47) 2:195}
{*Dio, l. 20. 2:359 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 24.)}
3547. When Eumenes, the king of Pergamum, was on his deathbed, he bequeathed
his wife Stratonice, the sister of Ariarathes, who had recently lost his
kingdom, to his brother Attalus. {*Plutarch, Sayings of Kings and Commanders
(184b) 3:83} Eumenes reigned for thirty-eight years. If we subtract the years,
as computed by Strabo, of the reigns of his brother and son, who succeeded him
from the interval inserted in the Roman history between his becoming king and
the time when Pergamum ceased to be a kingdom, more than thirty-eight years
elapsed. Therefore, Eumenes died in the very beginning of the thirty-ninth
year. However, Strabo incorrectly stated that he reigned forty-nine years. He
left Attalus Philometor, whom his wife Stratonice had borne to him, to inherit
the kingdom after him. However, since his son was so young, he appointed his
brother Attalus Philadelphus as guardian over him and the kingdom, and he
managed its affairs for twenty-one years. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2.
6:167}
3846a AM, 4555 JP, 159 BC
3548. In the morning at about sunrise on the first day of the Egyptian
Additionals, or September 27, in the 20th year of the Calippic Period,
Hipparchus made a second observation of the autumnal equinox. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.}
3549. After Orophernes had expelled his brother Ariarathes, it was necessary
for him to manage things with great prudence and ingratiate himself into the
people's hearts by acts of forbearance and graciousness. This he did not do,
but tried to get as much money together as he could, at the same time most
wickedly killing many people. He gave fifty talents to Timothy, whom he later
sent to Rome as an envoy. He gave Demetrius seventy and promised to pay another
six hundred talents soon, along with another four hundred later. When he
realised that he was hated by the Cappadocians, he started to plunder all the
people and take the wealth of the nobility into his treasury. {*Diod. Sic., l.
31. c. 32. 11:393}
3550. Orophernes had been educated in Ionia. {See note on 3832 AM.
<<3229>>}
He had little regard for the traditional customs of his country and introduced:
{*Polybius, l. 32. c. 11. s. 10. 6:253} {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (440b)
4:493}
"The refined debauchery of Ionia."
3551. After amassing a vast sum of money, he deposited four hundred talents
with the Prienians, in case events should turn against him. They later
faithfully returned the money to him. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 6. 6:269}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 32. 11:393,395}
3846c AM, 4556 JP, 158 BC
3552. After Jonathan and his company had lived in peace for two years, some
lying Jews suggested to Bacchides that there was a good chance of taking them
all by surprise in one night. Therefore, Bacchides approached them with a large
force and secretly sent letters to all his friends in Judea, asking for help
with his plan of capturing Jonathan and his company. However, their plot was
discovered by Jonathan and his men, who seized and executed the fifty men in the
country who were involved in this plot. {Apc 1Ma 9:57-61}
3553. Then Jonathan and Simon and the men with him moved to Bethbasi (or
Bethlagan, as Josephus wrote), situated in the wilderness. They repaired its
walls, which were in ruins, and fortified it. As soon as Bacchides heard about
this, he mustered up all his forces and summoned his adherents in Judea to come
join him. [K72] Then, he went and laid siege to Bethbasi, fighting against it
for many days with his engines of war. Meanwhile Jonathan left his brother
Simon in the city and crossed the country with a small troop. He killed
Odoarkes, or Odomera, and his brethren, and the sons of Phasiron, in their
tents. When he began to kill all he met and break into the enemy forces, Simon
and his company sallied forth from the city and burned the engines. Defeated in
this fight and enraged to see his plans thwarted, Bacchides directed his anger
against the wicked wretches who were the cause of this expedition and killed
many of them. When Jonathan learned that he planned to return into his own
land, he sent envoys to him to negotiate with him about making a peace and to
ask him to return the prisoners he had taken from Judea. Bacchides very readily
agreed to the proposal and said he would do nothing against Jonathan all the
days of his life. Therefore he returned to his own land and never again entered
Judea with an army and so the wars ended in Israel. [E461] Jonathan lived in
Michmash, in the tribe of Benjamin, and began to judge his people and uproot the
wicked from the land. {Apc 1Ma 9:62-73}
3847a AM, 4556 JP, 158 BC
3554. Hipparchus made a third observation of the autumnal equinox in the 21st
year of the Calippic Period, about noon on the first day of the Egyptian
Additionals, on September 27. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.}
3847b AM, 4557 JP, 157 BC
3555. When Ariarathes was deprived of his kingdom, he came to Rome as a humble
suppliant and sought the help of the consul, Sextus Julius Caesar. His clothes
showed the great distress he was in. Demetrius sent an embassy under Miltiades,
who came to oppose Ariarathes' accusations against Demetrius and to bring
charges against Ariarathes. Orophernes also sent his envoys, Timothy and
Diogenes, to present a crown at Rome and to renew their alliance and
association. Their main purpose was to justify and defend Orophernes' actions
and to accuse Ariarathes. Diogenes and Miltiades had the upper hand in the
private conferences. They were bold and told whatever lies suited them, so they
prevailed over Ariarathes. When the matter was discussed publicly, they dared
to contradict him and said whatever they liked, whether it was true or not,
because there was no one there to refute what they said. {*Polybius, l. 32.
c. 10. 6:249,251} Finally, the Senate decreed that since Ariarathes was a
friend and associate of the people of Rome, he and Orophernes should reign
together as brothers and partners in the kingdom. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 8. (47) 2:195} {*Dio, l. 20. 2:359 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 24.)}
3556. Ptolemy Euergetes tried to capture Cyprus and was defeated there in a
battle with his brother Philometor. Philometor besieged him in the city of
Lapithus until the city was in dire straits. When Philometor captured him, he
spared him because he was his brother and was of a mild disposition. He also
feared the Romans. He forgave him, entered into a covenant with him and gave
him back the rule of the Cyrenians. Instead of Cyprus, he gave him some cities
with an annual allowance of grain. He also promised to give him his own
daughter. [K73] Thus, after many hard feelings, this war between the two
brothers was quickly settled in a peaceful manner. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 11.
s. 6. 6:277,279} {*Polybius, l. 39. c. 7. s. 5-7. 6:451} {*Dio, l. 20.
2:361 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 25.)} {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 33. 11:397}
{*Livy, l. 47. 14:13}
3557. When Orophernes realised that the Romans had taken away what he had
formerly enjoyed, he resolved to pay his mercenary soldiers as soon as possible,
because he feared that they might rebel for want of pay. Since he was short of
money, he pillaged the temple of Zeus located at the foot of Mount Ariadne,
which, up until that time, had never been touched. From the plunder, he was
able to pay his soldiers what he owed them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 31. c. 34.
11:397,399}
3558. Attalus, Eumenes' brother and successor in the kingdom of Pergamum, drove
Orophernes and Demetrius Soter from Cappadocia and restored Ariarathes to the
throne. {*Polybius, l. 32. c. 12. 6:253} {*Dio, l. 20. 2:359 (Zonaras, l.
9. c. 24.)}
3559. Demetrius Soter offered Archias five hundred talents in return for
betraying Cyprus to him, also promising him other rewards and honours, provided
he would help him. As Archias was going about this task, he was apprehended by
Ptolemy Philometor. When he was questioned about what he was doing, he hung
himself with the rope of the curtain which was drawn before the hall.
{*Polybius, l. 33. c. 5. 6:267,269} {Suidas, Rrsteinein, Rrssaggelia}
3560. After Ariarathes had been restored to the kingdom of Cappadocia, he
demanded that the Prienians pay the four hundred talents which Orophernes had
deposited with them. They replied honestly that as long as Orophernes was
alive, they would not give the money to anybody but the one who had entrusted it
to them. Consequently, Ariarathes sent troops to pillage the country and
Attalus helped him. Indeed, Attalus instigated this, since there was a private
grudge between him and the Prienians. There was a large slaughter of men and
beasts and some were killed at the very gates of the city. However, the
Prienians could not defeat them, so they sent their envoys to the Rhodians and
finally asked the Romans for protection, but Ariarathes did not regard all this
news seriously. The Prienians had faithfully restored to Orophernes the money
that he had deposited with them, for which act Ariarathes imposed a large fine
on them and without just cause afflicted them with extremely oppressive
miseries. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 6. 6:269,271} [E462]
3848 AM, 4558 JP, 156 BC
3561. When Prusias Venator, the king of Bithynia, had some differences with
Attalus, Attalus sent Andronicus, Prusias Nicomedes and Antiphilus as envoys to
Rome. As a result, the Senate sent Publius Lentulus to find out what was
happening. When Andronicus had arrived before from Attalus, he began to charge
Prusias with having been the first to invade but the Romans were not impressed
with what he said. Prusias' envoys had protested that no such thing had
happened, which made the Senate give less credit to what was being alleged
against Prusias. After a more detailed enquiry into the business, the Senate
was uncertain about how well they could trust these envoys. They sent two more
envoys of their own, Lucius Apuleius and Gaius Petronius, to see how matters
stood between these two kings. {*Polybius, l. 32. c. 16. 6:259,261}
3849a AM, 4558 JP, 156 BC
3562. When Prusias had defeated Attalus, he entered Pergamum and having made
expensive sacrifices, he went into the temple of Asclepias. [K74] As soon as he
had concluded his offerings, he returned to the camp. The next day, unable to
capture Attalus, he brought his forces to Nicephorium, which was near the walls
of Pergamum. He began to pillage all the temples and rifled and ransacked the
images and statues of the gods. In the end, even the image of Asclepias, to
whom he had offered so many vows and sacrifices on the previous day, was not
spared. It was an excellent piece made by Philomachus, or Phyromachus, and
Prusias had his soldiers carry it away. From there, he marched with his army to
Elaea and tried to besiege the city. He saw that this was not going to be
successful because Sosander, the foster brother of Attalus, was in the city with
a strong garrison and drove him off. He went away by ship to Thyatira and on
the way sacked the temple of Artemis, or Diana, at Hiera Come. The temple of
Apollo Cynnius at Temnus was also sacked and burned to the ground. When he had
done this, he returned home, having lost most of his foot soldiers to famine and
dysentery. He had no better luck with his fleet. A violent storm at Propontis
wrecked most of his ships and most of the soldiers and mariners drowned, while
the rest were cast ashore. {*Polybius, l. 32. c. 16. 6:257,259} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 31. c. 35. 11:399} {Suidas, Prouiav}
3563. After Attalus had been beaten by Prusias, he sent his brother Athenaeus
along with Publius Lentulus, to tell the Senate what had happened to him.
{*Polybius, l. 33. c. 1. 6:263}
3849b AM, 4559 JP, 155 BC
3564. When these two had told the Senate what Prusias had been up to, the
senators immediately ordered that Gaius Claudius Cento, Lucius Hortensius and
Gaius Aurunculius should go as envoys with Lentulus. They were to order Prusias
to stop his hostilities against Attalus. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 1. 6:263}
3565. When Publius Scipio and Marcus Marcellus were consuls, the Athenians sent
three of the most famous philosophers of that age as envoys to the Senate and
people of Rome. Carneades, an academic from Cyrene, Diogenes, the Stoic from
Babylon, and Critolaus, the Peripatetic, were sent to obtain a release from the
fine of five hundred talents. This had been the judgment against the Sicyonians
and had been ordered by the Senate for their devastation of Oropus. When the
envoys were brought into the Senate, they used Caecilius, or Gaius Acilius, a
senator, as their interpreter, even though each of them had previously shown
their abilities and discoursed in a large assembly of people. At the time,
Rutilius and Polybius stated that it was admirable to hear the eloquence of
these three philosophers as they spoke. Carneades was hot and fiery, Critolaus
was witty and smooth and Diogenes grave and sober in his style. Clitomachus, in
his history written in Greek, related how Carneades, for whom Clitomachus was
the speaker, and Diogenes, the Stoic, had stood before the Senate in the
Capitol. Antony Albinus, who was then the praetor, had said in jest to
Carneades:
"In your view, oh Carneades, I am not a real praetor [because I am not a wise
man], nor is this a real city, nor its state a real state."
3566. He replied to the praetor:
"In the view of our Stoic friend here you are not."
3567. (The humour in this requires an understanding of Stoic philosophy.
Editor.) As soon as Carneades had finished speaking, Cato the Censor thought it
best to send these envoys away at once, because while he argued, the truth could
not easily be discerned. The fame of these philosophers spread all over the
city and the Roman youth set aside all other pleasures and delights and followed
after philosophy as if they were mad. [K75] Cato feared that the youth would
pursue all their studies in this area and prize the glory of eloquence more than
that of action and martial discipline. He moved that all philosophers should be
sent out of the city in a civil manner. When he came into the Senate, he
rebuked the senators for having allowed these envoys, who were able to persuade
them of whatever they pleased, to stay so long among them without being given an
answer. [E463] Therefore, he also advised that they should, without further
delay, end the matter and decree something concerning the embassy, so that they
could send them home to argue among their young Greeks, rather than spoil the
youth of Rome. These were to be ordered strictly to obey the laws and
magistrates, as in former times. {*Cicero, Academica, l. 2. c. 45. 19:645}
{*Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, l. 4. c. 3. 18:333,335} {*Cicero, De
Oratore, l. 2. c. 37. (155,156) 3:311} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 30. 2:579,581}
{*Plutarch, Cato Major, l. 1. c. 22. 2:369,371} {*Aulus Gellius, Attic
Nights, l. 7. c. 14. s. 1-9. 2:127-131} {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c.
5.}
3850 AM, 4560 JP, 154 BC
3568. At the same time that the Senate sent Quintus Opimius, the consul, to
wage war with the Oxybians of Liguria, the younger Ptolemy Euergetes came to
Rome. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 9. s. 8. 6:273} No sooner had he entered the
Senate than he accused his brother Philometor of having set an ambush for him,
showing them the scars from the wounds he had received. He tried to use
inflammatory language to stir up the people and so create sympathy for himself.
The elder Ptolemy had sent Neolaides and Andromachus as envoys to answer the
charges made by his brother. The Senate, however, because they seemed to
believe the claims of the other brother, would not allow them to speak, but
ordered them to leave Rome at once. Five envoys were selected, headed by Gnaeus
Merula and Lucius Thermus, and each was assigned a ship of five tiers of oars.
Their commission was to escort the younger Ptolemy and give him Cyprus. The
Senate also wrote to their allies in Greece and Asia requesting them to help
Ptolemy recover Cyprus. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 11. 6:277,279}
3569. When the envoys from Rome met with Prusias, they forbade him in the
Senate's name to take any further hostile action against Attalus, an ally and
confederate of the Romans. They charged him strictly either to submit to the
Senate's decree or to come to the borders with a thousand cavalry and there to
argue the case with Attalus, who was coming there with the same number. Prusias
saw Attalus' small retinue and hoped to surprise him. He sent his envoys a
little ahead, as if intending to follow after with his thousand men. However,
he drew up his whole army as if he had come to fight, and not to talk. Attalus
and the Roman envoys were warned and hurried away. Prusias, however, seized the
Roman wagons, took Nicephorium and demolished it. He burned the temples within
the city and forced Attalus and the Roman envoys to flee to Pergamum for refuge,
which he then besieged. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 1. (3)
2:243,245}
3570. When Hortensius and Aurunculius returned to Rome from Pergamum, they
declared with what great contempt Prusias had received the injunctions of the
Senate. In violation of the league between them, he had used every violence
against them and Attalus, after he had besieged them in Pergamum. The senators
were so highly incensed and moved by this affront, that they decreed that ten
envoys should be sent at once, among whom were Lucius Anicius, Gaius Fannius and
Quintus Fabius Maximus. These were ordered to end the war and to compel Prusias
to make reparation to Attalus for the damages he had sustained in this war.
{*Polybius, l. 33. c. 7. 6:271} [K76]
3571. While it was still winter, Attalus gathered a large army. Ariarathes and
Mithridates, his confederates, had sent both foot soldiers and cavalry under the
command of Demetrius, Ariarathes' son. While Attalus was preparing for war, the
Roman envoys met him at Cadi. After they had talked with him, they went
directly to Prusias. As soon as they arrived there, they told him he had
displeased the Senate greatly. Prusias promised he would do some of the things
the Senate required of him, but rejected most of them. Whereupon the Roman
envoys, whom he had offended greatly by his obstinacy, renounced the friendship
and alliance which had formerly existed between them. They all left him and
journeyed to Attalus. Prusias meanwhile regretted what he had done and went
after the envoys, begging and beseeching them for a long time. When he saw that
it was all to no avail, he let them go and returned home. He did not know what
to do. In the meantime, the Romans advised Attalus to keep his army within the
boundaries of his kingdom and not commit any acts of hostility against anyone.
He should secure his own cities and villages against invasion. Then the envoys
went their separate ways. While some went to Rome to tell the Senate of King
Prusias' impertinence, others went into the country of Ionia and still others to
the Hellespont and into adjacent lands to Byzantium. All of them went with the
intention of making the rulers break their alliance with Prusias and join
Attalus, to help him in whatever way they could. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 12.
6:279,281}
3572. Soon after this, Attalus' brother Athenaeus came with a large fleet of
eighty decked ships. Five of them, which had been used in the war in Crete,
came from the Rhodians. [E464] Twenty came from the Cyzicenians, twenty-seven
from Attalus, while the rest were from his confederates. He sailed directly to
the Hellespont. When he sailed past any cities that were under Prusias'
command, he went ashore and wasted their surrounding countryside. {*Polybius,
l. 33. c. 13. s. 1-3. 6:281}
3573. As soon as the Senate had heard the envoys who had returned from Prusias,
they sent three others, Appius Claudius, Lucius Oppius and Aulus Postumius.
When these arrived in Asia, they concluded the war and prevailed with both the
kings to agree on these conditions:
"Prusias would immediately give Attalus twenty decked ships. He would pay him
five hundred talents over twenty years. Each was to keep what had belonged to
him before the start of the war. Moreover, Prusias was to make good the damage
he had done to the countries of Methymna, Aegae, Cyme and Heraclea and to pay
them a hundred talents."
3574. After both parties had signed the covenants, Attalus returned home with
all the forces he had brought by sea or land. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 13. s.
4-10. 6:281,283} When Prusias saw how his subjects hated him for his tyranny
and how his son Nicomedes was loved by them, he grew jealous of his son and sent
him away to Rome to live. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 1. (4)
2:245}
3575. When Antioch revolted from Demetrius Soter, Orophernes entered into a
league with them and plotted to dethrone him. Demetrius had recently been
restored to his kingdom and had not fully established himself. When Demetrius
learned about his plans, he spared his life because he did not want Ariarathes
to be saved from the fear of war at the hands of his brother. [K77] However, he
seized him and commanded him to be kept as a prisoner at Seleucia. The people
of Antioch were not put off by the discovery of the plot, but applied themselves
all the more to their plan. They allied themselves with Ptolemy, king of Egypt,
Attalus, king of Asia and Ariarathes of Cappadocia, who was attacked by
Demetrius. The men of Antioch bribed a certain obscure youth, a foreigner, who
was to lay claim to the kingdom of Syria as being his father's kingdom, and to
try to recover it by force. So that the affront would be complete, they called
him Alexander and said that he was a son of King Antiochus. Such was the
universal hatred of Demetrius, that the strength and power befitting a king, as
well as the royal extraction, was conferred on his rival with everyone's
consent. {Justin, Trogus, l. 35. c. 1.}
3576. Livy said about this Alexander: {*Livy, l. 52. 14:43}
"He was an obscure person, whose descent was not very well known."
3577. Athenaeus stated: {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (211a) 2:453,455}
"He was the supposed son of Antiochus Epiphanes."
3578. Appian said: {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (67) 2:233}
"He was a person who added himself into the family of those who were descended
from Seleucus."
3579. Sulpicius Severus stated: {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c.
24. 11:109}
"He was a youth raised at Rhodes, who falsely bragged about himself as being the
son of Antiochus."
3580. Strabo surnamed him Balas, and Josephus, Balles. {*Strabo, l. 16. c.
2. s. 8. 7:247} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 8. (119) 7:285}
(The Loeb edition does not have the spelling variation of Balles. Editor.)
3581. In the middle of the summer, Heraclides, whom Antiochus Epiphanes had
formerly appointed over the treasury at Babylon, brought Alexander Balas, the
pretended son of Antiochus Epiphanes, with him to Rome along with Laodice, the
daughter of Antiochus Epiphanes. While Heraclides stayed at Rome, he wore the
clothes of some great person and conducted himself very craftily, purposely
stretching out the time, in the hope of influencing the Senate to favour his
plans. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 15. 6:283}
3851a AM, 4560 JP, 154 BC
3582. While Attalus, the son of King Eumenes (in whose name his uncle Attalus
was governing the kingdom of Pergamum), was still a child, he came to Rome to
ingratiate himself with the Senate and renew the friendship and right of
hospitality that had formerly existed between his father and the people of Rome.
He was treated with most extraordinary civility by the Senate. His father's
friends received an answer according to their wishes. After being shown
suitable honours for a child of his age, he left Rome within a few days for the
return journey. All the cities of Greece through which he passed gave him a
cordial and generous reception. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 18. s. 1-4. 6:287}
3583. Demetrius, later called Nicator, son of the then reigning Demetrius Soter
in Syria, was in Rome at the same time. His reception was ordinary, since he
was a child, and he did not stay long. {*Polybius, l. 33. c. 18. s. 5.
6:2897,289}
3851b AM, 4561 JP, 153 BC
3584. Heraclides stayed a long time in Rome and came into the Senate with
Laodice and Alexander Balas. First, the youngster made a short speech in which
he asked the Romans kindly to remember that friendship and alliance which had
formerly been in place between them and his father Antiochus, and that they
would consequently help him recover his kingdom. Failing that, he sought
permission to return to Syria and asked that they would not oppose any of those
who were ready to help him regain his father's kingdom. [E465] Heraclides spoke
next. After he had extolled the merits of Antiochus for a long time, he
condemned Demetrius (Soter). He concluded that it was right and just to grant
the youth (Alexander) and Laodice, who were the lawful seed of King Antiochus,
permission to return to their country. Very little, if anything, of what he
said was liked by the sober-minded senators, who thought that everything he had
said was fiction. [K78] They utterly detested Heraclides. The least of the
senators, whom Heraclides had made his friends by means of his deceptions, all
agreed that a decree of the Senate should be made to this end:
"The Senate had given to Alexander and Laodice, children of a king who had been
a friend and an associate of the people of Rome, permission to return to their
father's kingdom by right of former inheritance and to assist them, according to
their decrees."
3585. After this, Heraclides soon hired soldiers and drew a very large number
of persons to his side. He came to Ephesus, where he began to prepare in
earnest for the war which he had planned so long for. {*Polybius, l. 33. c.
18. s. 6-14. 6:289}
3851c AM, 4561 JP, 153 BC
3586. In the 160th year of the kingdom of the Greeks, Alexander Balas, who was
pretending to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, captured Ptolemais, a city of
Phoenicia, which was betrayed to him by the soldiers who were garrisoned there.
{Apc 1Ma 10:1} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 2. s. 1. (35) 7:243} They
detested Demetrius' behaviour, because he was of a harsh disposition and very
insolent. He secluded himself in the royal palace with four towers which he had
built not far from Antioch, and allowed no one to see him. He did not care
about public matters, but trifled his time away in idleness. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 2. s. 1. (35,36) 7:243,245}
3587. When Demetrius Soter heard that Alexander had been received into
Ptolemais and had begun to reign there, he mustered together a very large force
and planned to march against him and fight with him. {Apc 1Ma 10:1,2} After
considering the hazards of the war, Demetrius sent two of his sons, Demetrius
Nicator and Antiochus Sideres, who were later kings of Syria, to his army at
Cnidos with a large amount of gold. This was to protect them, should the war
turn out badly, in which case, they would be alive to avenge their father's
quarrel. {*Livy, l. 52. 14:43} {Justin, Trogus, l. 35. c. 2.}
3588. Demetrius wrote letters to Jonathan, renewing peace with him and giving
him authority to levy forces and to provide arms to help him in the war against
Alexander. He ordered that the hostages who were being kept in the citadel, be
released. When Jonathan read the letters publicly at Jerusalem, those who held
the citadel became fearful and turned the hostages over to him, and he then gave
them to their parents. {Apc 1Ma 10:3-9}
3851d AM, 4561 JP, 153 BC
3589. Jonathan wisely made good use of this opportunity and began to repair
Jerusalem. He took care to build up the walls and Mount Zion all around and
surround Mount Zion with square stones to fortify it. The foreigners who were
in the citadels that Bacchides had built left their strongholds and hurried away
to their own land. Only some of the apostates and deserters of the law were
left who used Bethsura as their place of refuge. {Apc 1Ma 10:10-14}
3590. When Alexander had, in the meantime, heard of the good promises which
Demetrius had made to Jonathan through his letters, he also sent letters
courting his friendship and association. He ordained him as the high priest of
that country and honoured him with the title of being called the king's friend,
sending him a purple robe and a crown of gold. {Apc 1Ma 10:15-20}
3852a AM, 4561 JP, 153 BC
3591. Jonathan assumed the high priesthood in the seventh month of the 160th
year of the kingdom of the Greeks at the Feast of Tabernacles. {Apc 1Ma 10:21}
This was the ninth, not the fourth, year (as Josephus stated) after the death of
his brother Judas. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 2. s. 3. (46) 7:249}
[K79] For by Josephus' account, Judas did not die before the 164th year of the
Greeks. This contradicted the history of the Maccabees. {Apc 1Ma 9:3,18,54}
This error generated another, in that Judas supposedly succeeded Alcimus in the
high priesthood. We have shown previously that this was wrong, and it was later
acknowledged by Josephus also. He clearly stated later that no one succeeded
Jacimus, or Alcimus, but that the city was without a high priest for seven whole
years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 10. s. 3. (237) 10:127} After seven
years and five months had expired, Jonathan now assumed the office of the high
priesthood. He was the first of the Asmoneans who descended from Jehoiarib, who
was of the priestly line, to hold the office of the high priest. He was not
descended from Jaddua, the high priest, whose heir, Onias, was living in Egypt
with Ptolemy Philometor at this time.
3592. Demetrius Soter was grieved that the Jews were inclined to side with
Alexander. He hoped to win them over by forgiving the arrears of tribute and
all the tribute by which the Macedonians had previously so miserably oppressed
that country. He made generous promises of other honourable concessions, but
Jonathan and the Jewish people were not greatly influenced by this. [E466] They
knew that this offer came from a man who, by his former actions, had clearly
shown his hatred of them. They realised Demetrius would not keep his word if he
were to escape the troubles he was in, so they abandoned him and sided with
Alexander. He had been the first to make an offer of peace with them and from
that time on, they were his confederates in the war. {Apc 1Ma 10:22-47}
3852b AM, 4562 JP, 152 BC
3593. Andriscus of Adramyttium, a contemptible person, claimed that he was the
son of Perseus, the last king of the Macedonians, and changed his name to
Philip. He tried to create a rebellion in Macedonia. When no one paid any
attention to him, he went into Syria and spoke to Demetrius Soter, whose sister
was Perseus' wife, thinking he might get some help from him. To accomplish this
more readily, he devised the following tale. He said he was descended from King
Perseus by a concubine and had been given to a woman of Crete to receive his
education. This had been done so that some of the royal family might be
preserved, in case Perseus lost his war against the Romans, in which he had been
engaged at the time. After Perseus' death, he had been kept in ignorance of his
lineage and had believed until he was twelve that the man with whom he had been
brought up at Adramyttium was his father. Later, the man became sick and was
about to die, and before he died, he told him the truth. He gave him a little
book which his reputed mother had signed with King Perseus' signet, and which he
was to have given him when he came of age. Until then, everything was to have
been kept secret. When he had come of age, the book, in which two treasures
were left to him by his father, was to be given to him. Then, the woman who
knew that he was not her own son, but a secret son, had told him of his true
descent. She had begged him earnestly to withdraw from those regions before
Eumenes, who was Perseus' sworn enemy, found out about it, since she feared that
they might be put to death. For this lie, he was arrested by King Demetrius and
sent to Rome. When it became obvious that he was neither the son of Perseus nor
had possessed anything else of note, he was slighted and condemned. He later
left Rome and took over Macedonia. {*Livy, l. 48. 14:27,29} {*Dio, l. 21.
2:383 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 28.)}
3854 AM, 4564 JP, 150 BC
3594. Alexander Balas assembled a large army made up of the soldiers who had
revolted from King Demetrius in Syria and the auxiliaries of Attalus,
Ariarathes, Jonathan and especially of Ptolemy Philometor. He fought against
Demetrius and was routed by the left wing of Demetrius' army which pursued him
so hard that they also had the plunder from his camp. [K80] Whereas the right
wing, in which Demetrius himself fought, was forced to give ground. Even though
many of his troops fled, Demetrius conducted himself very valiantly by killing
some of his enemies and chasing others, who were not able to withstand the
violence of his charge. He was caught in a deep and impassable slough from
which he could not escape, because his horse kept falling as he went. Though
the enemy surrounded him and shot him with arrows, he nevertheless fought very
gallantly on foot, until he fell down dead from his many wounds. {Apc 1Ma
10:48-50} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 2. s. 4. (58-61) 7:255,257}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 35. c. 1.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (67)
2:233} Demetrius died after having reigned in Syria for twelve years. When the
rest of the kings conspired against him, he lost his life and his kingdom
together at the same time. {*Polybius, l. 3. c. 5. s. 2,3. 2:13}
Porphyry, who knew Demetrius well, and Eusebius and Sulpicius Severus all agree
that he ruled twelve years. However, Josephus said he ruled for only eleven.
{Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 228.}
3595. After the death of Demetrius, who was survived by his two sons, Demetrius
and Antiochus, and just prior to the Macedonian War, a comet the size of the sun
appeared. At first its orb was fiery and ruddy, casting a clear light that
brightened up the night. After that, it began to lessen in size and its
brightness waned, until it finally disappeared. {*Seneca, Natural Questions, l.
7. c. 15. s. 1. 10:259}
3596. After Alexander, with (as Appian stated) the special help of Ptolemy
Philometor, had killed Demetrius and taken his kingdom, he sent envoys to
Ptolemy to arrange a marriage between him and his daughter. Ptolemy readily
agreed and with his daughter Cleopatra immediately left Egypt for Ptolemais.
She was a woman born to ruin the kingdom of Syria. This marriage happened
toward the end of the 162nd year of the kingdom of the Greeks. {Apc 1Ma
10:51-58}
3597. Jonathan was invited to this wedding by Alexander. He presented the two
kings and also their friends with gold, silver and many other gifts, hoping to
ingratiate himself to them. [E467] At the same time, some wicked men came from
the land of Israel to accuse Jonathan, but Alexander refused to listen to them
and commanded that Jonathan be clothed in purple and be seated next to him. He
also ordered the peers of his realm to accompany him into the centre of
Ptolemais. A proclamation was made, forbidding anyone to speak against him or
to molest him in any way, whereupon his accusers vanished from his sight. The
king also showed him a great deal of honour by promoting him among those who
were said to be his most intimate friends. He made him general over his forces
in Judea and shared the dominion with him in his own court. So Jonathan
returned to Jerusalem in peace and great joy. {Apc 1Ma 10:59-61}
3598. Onias, the son of the high priest Onias III, lived as a renegade with
Ptolemy Philometor at Alexandria. He saw that there was no hope of recovering
the high priesthood of Jerusalem, since it had been passed to the family of the
Asmoneans. He aspired to make a name for himself for all of posterity. He
petitioned King Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra, who was not only the king's wife
but also his sister, at a time when Ptolemy was waging war in various countries.
[K81] He noted that the Jews had their temples in Coelosyria, Phoenicia and
Leontopolis, in the nome of Heliopolis in Egypt, and in various other places.
This was the cause of all the strife that they so frequently experienced. Onias
therefore requested that he might have permission to purify an old ruined
temple, not yet consecrated to any god, which he had found standing near the
citadel of Bubastus in the plain. He also wanted to build another temple in the
same spot to the Almighty God, patterned exactly like the one at Jerusalem in
size and shape. Then the Jews who lived in Egypt would be able to keep their
assemblies there. This would be a good means of preserving unity among
themselves and preparing them to serve the king when required to do so. He
justified his actions by saying that the prophet Isaiah had foretold that in the
latter days an altar to the Lord God would be erected in Egypt. Isaiah had also
prophesied many other things concerning that land. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 3. s. 1-3. (62-73) 7:257-263}
3599. Onias had not planned to build a new temple when he had first come into
Egypt to Philometor and Cleopatra. Only later did he decide to do this, after
he had served them well in the Egyptian and Syrian wars. Josephus stated that
Philometor and Cleopatra committed the management of their whole kingdom to the
Jews and appointed Onias and Dositheus (both Jews) over the whole army.
{*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 5. (49) 1:313} Again, that prophecy of Isaiah
which Onias wrested to support his sacrilegious ambition, really concerned the
spiritual kingdom of our Lord Christ. It is found in Isaiah: {Isa 19:18,19}
"In that day shall there be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the
language of Canaan, and sworn to the Lord of Hosts; one shall be called a city
of destruction (of Heres, or, of the sun). In that day shall there be an altar
to the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord at its
border."
3600. Here for Mrxh rye, city of destruction, is the similar orxh rye, which
was rendered the city of the sun, where the only difference between sun and
destruction is that the e is pointed differently. This is how Symmachus
interpreted it and Jerome rendered it:
"One of them shall be called the city of the sun."
3601. The Chaldee Paraphrase joined them together:
"The city of the sun which shall be destroyed."
3602. This may be the reason, as Scaliger guessed, why Onias chose the nome of
Heliopolis to build the temple. (Heliopolis means city of the sun. Editor.)
3603. When Onias was given a plot of land in the nome of Heliopolis, about
twenty-three miles from Memphis, he built a temple there. This was not as large
or as costly as the one at Jerusalem. The towers were similar, made of large
stones and rising to a height of ninety feet. The altar was a copy of the one
at Jerusalem and was furnished with the same utensils, except for the lampstand.
Instead of the lampstand, he made a golden lamp which sparkled, as it were, with
a beam of light, and hung it on a chain of gold. He surrounded the temple with
a wall of brick containing gates of stone. The king gave a grant of a large
portion of land and revenue, so that the priests might be supplied with
necessities for the worship of God. Onias also found some Jews living in the
same area as he, who were priests and Levites, so he employed them in his
temple. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 3. s. 3. (72,73) 7:261,263}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 10. s. 2,3. (420-432) 4:425-429}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 9. s. 4. (190) 2:89} The priests who
ministered in Onias' temple were considered little better than the priests of
the high places, who were not permitted (as appears from Second Kings {2Ki
23:9}) to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord at Jerusalem, but only
to eat unleavened bread like the unclean priests among their brethren. {Meshna,
Minhoth, c. 13. s. 10.} [E468] [K82]
3604. At Alexandria, a dispute arose between the Jews and the Samaritans
concerning their holy rites. One contended that the temple at Jerusalem was the
only lawful temple, and ordained by Moses, while the other party contended for
Gerizim. Both sides appealed to Ptolemy Philometor and his friends for a
hearing and decision on the matter. They wanted the losers to be executed.
Sabbaeus and Theodosius pleaded for the Samaritans and Andronicus, the son of
Messalamus, for the Jews. They took their oaths by God and the king that they
would use no arguments other than those which they found in the law. They asked
the king that he would put to death whoever lost. The king, with many of his
friends at the council, heard the whole debate. Finally, they were persuaded by
Andronicus' arguments and determined that the temple in Jerusalem was the one
which had been built according to Moses' directions. Sabbaeus and Theodosius
were sentenced to death, as it had been agreed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
3. s. 4. (74-79) 7:263,265}
3605. At the same time Aristobulus, a Jew who was a Peripatetic philosopher,
became famous at Philometor's court in Egypt. He wrote a commentary on Moses
which he dedicated to the king. In its preface there is a famous passage that
was quoted by Clement of Alexandria and by Eusebius. {*Eusebius, Gospel, l.
13. c. 7. (653d) 1:710} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 22. 2:334} In his
book, Aristobulus copied large sections from the books of Aristotle.
{*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 8. c. 9. (375d) 1:406}
3855 AM, 4565 JP, 149 BC
3606. The third Carthaginian war started this year. Mithridates Euergetes, who
was the first of the kings of Pontus and a confederate of the people of Rome,
brought a number of ships against the Carthaginians. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (10) 2:255} Both the consuls were sent to manage this
war. Marcus Manilius managed the army and Lucius Marcius Censorinus was admiral
of the fleet. They were secretly instructed not to stop the war until Carthage
was demolished. {*Livy, l. 49. 14:29,31} {*Appian, Punic Wars, l. 8. c.
11. (75) 1:527}
3607. Andriscus, or the false Philip, secretly escaped from Rome. He levied an
army and captured all Macedonia and the royal ensigns. Where he could not
achieve this with the consent of the inhabitants, he used force of arms, and
this took place in the third year of the 157th Olympiad. He also thought of
invading Thessaly and adding it to his domains, but at the instigation of the
Roman envoys, it was defended with the help of the Achaeans. {*Livy, l. 49,50.
14:31-37} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 1. c. 11. s. 1-3. 1:27} {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 229.}
3608. When Prusias Venator, the king of Bithynia, learned that his son
Nicomedes was in good favour at Rome, he ordered him to go to the Senate, as he
wanted the arrears of the money which he owed to Attalus to be cancelled. He
also sent an envoy, Menas, as his assistant, who was secretly ordered to murder
Nicomedes if the king failed to get his request. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 1. (4) 2:243} This would give the kingdom to his younger sons, who
were his by a second wife. {Justin, Trogus, l. 34. c. 4.} One, who was named
after his father, had no teeth in his upper jaw, which instead was one bone that
grew out so evenly, that it did not disfigure him or cause him any problems when
chewing. {*Livy, l. 50. 14:31} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 1. c. 8. ext. 12.
1:123} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 16. (69) 2:551}
3609. Prusias sent out his envoy Menas with some small ships and two thousand
soldiers, while Attalus sent Andronicus as an envoy to oppose the request.
[K83] He demonstrated quite clearly that the fine which had been imposed on
Prusias, was far less than the booty he had obtained by pillaging the country.
Menas saw that there was little hope of obtaining his request of getting
Prusias' fine removed, and he also realised in what high esteem Nicomedes was
held in Rome. He did not know what to do, as he dared not kill Nicomedes or
return to Bithynia. In this state of indecision, he remained at Rome.
Nicomedes called him to a meeting which he did not find too disagreeable. They
conspired against Prusias and drew Andronicus into their confederacy, in order
that he might persuade Attalus to help establish Nicomedes in Bithynia. They
all met together at Bernice, a little town in Epirus, and went aboard a ship by
night. They wanted to determine what was the best way to accomplish this
business. After the discussion, they went their way that same night. In the
morning, Nicomedes came ashore in his purple robe and with his crown on his
head, like a king. Andronicus, attended by five hundred soldiers, met him a
little later and greeted him as a king. Menas pretended not to know that
Nicomedes was in the company until then. Menas ran around the two thousand
soldiers he had brought with him and encouraged them to side with the one who
seemed most deserving. [E469] He intimated that Prusias was now an old man and
Nicomedes was in his youth. The Bithynians were weary of Prusias and wished for
his son. The leading Romans liked this youth extremely well. Andronicus, who
was now captain of his guard, had assistance promised from Attalus, a
neighbouring king of a large kingdom, who was also a bitter enemy to Prusias.
Menas reminded them of Prusias' cruelty and antics, for which he was hated by
everybody. As soon as Menas saw the dislike of Prusias' villainies in these
soldiers, he took them all to Nicomedes. He was the second after Andronicus to
greet him as king, and he brought two thousand soldiers with him as a guard.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 1. (4,5) 2:245-249}
3610. Attalus was very eager to accept the youth and sent orders to Prusias to
turn over to his son some cities to dwell in and fields for provisions. Prusias
answered that he would soon give Attalus' whole kingdom to him, for whose sake
it was that he had formerly invaded Asia. After saying this, he sent some
envoys away to Rome to accuse Nicomedes and Attalus and summon them both to a
trial. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 1. (6) 2:249}
3611. Nicomedes was encouraged by Phaellon, or rather Phaennis, Epirus' seer,
who predicted success, as well as by the instigation of Attalus, and so he waged
war with his father Prusias. {Zosimus, History, l. 2.} As soon as he and
Attalus arrived in Bithynia with their forces, the Bithynians began to revolt.
Because of this, Prusias did not dare to entrust himself to any of his own
subjects. Hoping that the Romans would relieve him, he waited for this and
secured himself in a citadel at Nicaea. From his father-in-law Diegylis, a
Thracian, he had received five hundred Thracians, whom he appointed to be his
bodyguard. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 1. (6) 2:249}
3856a AM, 4565 JP, 149 BC
3612. The praetor of Rome did not conduct the envoys from Prusias to the Senate
as soon as they arrived, since he hoped to show Attalus a courtesy. After he
had ushered them into the Senate, the Senate chose some envoys who might settle
the war. One had been wounded in the head with a large stone and was badly
disfigured from the scars. A second one was lame in his feet and the third was
a fool. Cato Censorinus, who died soon after this at the age of ninety-four,
said in jest that the Romans sent an embassy that had neither head, feet nor
heart. {*Livy, l. 50. 14:33} {*Plutarch, Cato Major, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1,2.
2:327} {*Plutarch, Cato Major, l. 1. c. 1. s. 6. 2:305} {*Plutarch, Cato
Major, l. 1. c. 27. s. 4. 2:385}
3613. When the envoys came into Bithynia, they ordered both sides to lay down
their arms. [K84] Nicomedes and Attalus indicated they would submit to the
authority of the Senate. However, the Bithynians, who had been instructed and
previously told by Nicomedes and Attalus what they should do, said obstinately
that they could no longer endure Prusias' tyranny, especially as they had shown
him by this present engagement how much they disliked his government. Since the
Bithynians had not as yet made these grievances known to the Senate, the envoys
returned home again, having accomplished nothing. Prusias gave up expecting
help from the Romans, nor had he sought help elsewhere, because he had believed
that the Romans would help him. He crossed over to Nicomedia, planning to
fortify it and from there to prevent the enemy from getting in. However, the
townsmen deserted their king and opened the gates to the enemy. Thereupon,
Prusias fled to the temple of Zeus and trusted he would be protected by the
religion and respect associated with such a place. In spite of this, Nicomedes
sent some of his party, who killed Prusias there. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 1. (7) 2:249,251} Diodorus Siculus stated that Prusias had fled,
for his own security, to the altar of Zeus, where he was killed by the hand of
his son, Nicomedes. {*Diod. Sic., l. 32. c. 21. 11:433} Strabo stated he
was killed by Attalus. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2. 6:167,169} Livy said
he was killed by his son, with the help of Attalus. {*Livy, l. 50. 14:35}
Zonaras from Dio said he was killed by his own subjects. {*Dio, l. 21. 2:383
(Zonaras, l. 9. c. 28.)} Polybius stated that he was so hated by the
Bithynians, that they all rose up against him in such numbers and with such
violence as if it were their plan not only to revolt from him but mostly to
avenge themselves upon him for the notable injustices of his government.
{*Polybius, l. 36. c. 15. 6:379} {Suidas, Prousiav}
3614. In Macedonia, Andriscus, or the false Philip, fought with Juventius, the
Roman praetor, who had been sent against him with a legion. He won the battle
and killed Juventius and most of the Roman army. From there, he invaded
Thessaly and wasted most of the country, then took the Thracians into an
alliance. {*Livy, l. 50. 14:31} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 30. 1:133} {Eutropius,
l. 4.} {*Dio, l. 21. 2:383,385 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 28.)} {Orosius, l. 4.
c. 20.} With these successes, he began to commit acts of cruelty and tyrannical
deeds. There was not a wealthy person whom he did not put to death on false
accusations. [E470] He did not spare even his most intimate friends, killing
many of them. Naturally of a fierce and bloody disposition, he was proud and
haughty in his everyday behaviour, and in the end he was deeply engaged in
covetousness and all manner of vice. {*Diod. Sic., l. 32. c. 17. s. 1.
11:429}
3856b AM, 4566 JP, 148 BC
3615. In Syria, Alexander Balas gave himself over entirely to riotous living
and luxury, while his friend Ammonius managed the affairs of the kingdom. He
killed all the king's friends, as well as Laodice, the queen, who was the
daughter of Antiochus Epiphanes and Antigonus, who was the son of Demetrius.
{*Livy, l. 50. 14:33} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 6. (106-108)
7:279} {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (211a-e) 2:453-457}
3616. In the 165th year of the Greeks, Demetrius, the oldest son of Demetrius
Soter, was now in his prime. He heard of the degenerate lifestyle and luxury of
Alexander, to whom were coming those vast incomes of the kingdom, of which he
could scarcely dream. All the while he stayed like a prisoner in his own
palace, among a company of courtesans. He raised a large force of mercenary
soldiers from Lasthenes, a Cretian, who sailed with this army from Crete to
Cilicia. Alexander was so terrified at this news, that he hurried away from
Phoenicia to Antioch to settle things before Demetrius arrived. The government
of Antioch had been committed to Hierax and Diodotus, also called Tryphon. {Apc
1Ma 11:39 10:67,68} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 3. (86-90)
7:269,271} {Justin, Trogus, l. 35. c. 2.} {*Diod. Sic., l. 32. c. 27. s.
9c. 11:445}
3617. Apollonius, the governor of Coelosyria who was surnamed Daus by Josephus,
joined Demetrius and made him general over the forces which he was sending
against those Jews who had remained loyal to Alexander. When Apollonius had
raised a large army, many defected from Alexander to Demetrius out of fear.
[K85] He camped at Jamnia and sent to Jonathan, the Jewish general and high
priest, boastfully challenging him to meet him in the plain and fight, if he
dared. This inflamed Jonathan so much, that he immediately marched from
Jerusalem with ten thousand men. His brother Simon met him to help him. They
camped before Joppa, but Apollonius' soldiers, who were garrisoned there, shut
them out. So they laid siege to the place and began to use their batteries
against it, which so dismayed the citizens that they immediately opened the
gates and surrendered the city. {Apc 1Ma 10:69-76}
3618. As soon as Apollonius heard of the loss of Joppa, he marched to Azotus
with three thousand cavalry and his eight thousand foot soldiers, according to
Josephus. He placed in ambush a thousand cavalry who were to attack Jonathan's
rearguard, as soon as he had passed the place where the ambush lay. Then
Apollonius would charge the enemy's vanguard, so that the Jews were to be
attacked at both ends. As soon as Jonathan passed the place, he saw the ambush
coming to surround his camp. He commanded his men to stand still and deflect
the enemies' arrows with their shields. The cavalry had worn themselves out and
exhausted their arrows, because they had been attacking from the morning until
night. Then, Simon led his forces up against the enemy's foot soldiers and
defeated and routed them. The enemy cavalry fled to Azotus and entered
Bethdagon, their idol temple, seeking safety. Jonathan, however, burned Azotus
and the surrounding cities and took much spoil. He burned Dagon's temple to the
ground and all who had fled there died in the flames. Nearly eight thousand men
were killed by the sword and in the fire. Jonathan left there and camped before
Askelon, where the men of the city treated him very nobly. After this victory,
Jonathan returned to Jerusalem as a conqueror, with his army loaded with much
booty and spoil. When King Alexander heard the news of Jonathan's successes, he
continued to show his respects to him and sent him a golden buckler, which was
usually given only to those of royal blood. He also gave him Accaron with its
territories (a city of the Philistines), to belong to him and his heirs for
ever. {Apc 1Ma 10:77-89}
3619. After the Carthaginians had defeated Calpurnius Piso, the consul, at
Hippagreta, they sent their envoys to Macedonia to Andriscus, the alleged son of
Perseus. They urged him to persist courageously in his war against the Romans
and promised that he would never lack money or shipping from Carthage.
{*Appian, Punic Wars, l. 8. c. 16. (110,111) 1:595,597}
3620. Quintus Caecilius Metellus, the Roman praetor (not the consul, as both
Florus and also the Latin interpreter of Pausanias' Achaia had it), was sent
against Andriscus with a large army and came into Macedonia. There he persuaded
the commissioners, whom the Senate had sent to gather information on the affairs
in Asia, that before they went to Asia, they would go first of all to the
commanders of the Achaeans and order them to stop the war they were fighting
with the Lacedemonians. [E471] They sent the message they had received from
Metellus to Damocritus and the Achaeans, who were just about to attack the
Lacedemonians. When the commissioners saw that they had no effect on the
Achaeans, they went on to Asia. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 5. 1:135}
{*Pausanias, Achaia, l. 7. c. 13. s. 1-3. 3:239,241}
3621. When Metellus entered Macedonia, Attalus brought his fleet to help him
and so kept Andriscus away from the sea coast. Andriscus brought up his army a
little beyond Pydna. [K86] Although his cavalry had defeated the enemy, he
nevertheless pulled back for fear of the Roman foot soldiers. He divided his
army into two brigades and sent one of them into Thessaly to waste that country,
while keeping the other with him. Metellus put little stock in the enemy forces
and marched toward them. When he had beaten Andriscus' troops, Andriscus fled
into Thrace. After he had levied a new army, he fought with Metellus, but was
defeated. He fled to Byzes, a petty king of Thrace, who betrayed him into the
hands of Metellus. One Alexander, who also was pretending to be the son of
Perseus, gathered an army and seized part of the country beside the Nestus
River. Metellus pursued him as far as Dardania. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s.
2. 6:169} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 1. c. 11. s. 1,2. 1:27} {*Florus, l.
1. c. 30. 1:133,135} {*Dio, l. 21. 2:385 (Zonaras, l. 9. c. 28.)} The
false Philip was utterly defeated, with the loss of twenty-five thousand of his
soldiers. He was taken prisoner and Macedonia was recovered by the Romans.
{Eutropius, l. 43.} This happened when Spurius Postumius and Lucius Piso were
consuls, in the 4th year of the 157th Olympiad, at the close of the year.
{*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 19. 14:253} {Porphyry, Scaliger's
Greek Eusebius, p. 229.}
3857 AM, 4567 JP, 147 BC
3622. Publius Cornelius Scipio, the consul, fought a naval battle at Carthage.
In addition to his own ships, his fleet had five ships from the Sidetes which
Mithridates, the king of Pontus, had sent to him. {*Appian, Punic Wars, l. 8.
c. 18. (123) 1:621} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (10) 2:255}
3623. The inhabitants of Aradus planned to destroy the city of Marathus in
Phoenicia. They communicated secretly with Ammonius, who at that time was
viceroy in Syria under Alexander Balas, and offered him three hundred talents to
betray Marathus to them. After that, Ammonius sent Isidorus to Marathus, with
instructions to pretend he was there on business, when the true reason was to
seize Marathus and give it to the Aradians. The Marathians were aware that the
king favoured the Aradians more than themselves and denied the king's soldiers
entrance into their city. From among their oldest citizens, they selected ten
of the most distinguished and sent them as suppliants to the isle of Aradus.
These men took along some of the oldest images of their gods that they had in
their city, in the hope of thereby appeasing the fury of the Aradians. The
Aradians were extremely displeased and ignored their humble speeches.
Disregarding all reverence for the gods, they broke the images and most
shamefully trampled them under their feet. When they tried to stone the envoys
to death, some of the older men who intervened, had trouble getting them to
prison safely. The envoys protested and pleaded the privileges of suppliants
and of the sacred gods. Even though the rights of envoys were not to be
violated, these men were massacred by a company of impudent young fellows.
Immediately afterwards, the authors of this villainy came into the assembly.
Having taken the signet rings from the Marathians whom they had killed, they now
forged letters to the Marathian people in the envoys' names, in which they said
that the Aradians would quickly send them some supplies. They hoped to deceive
the Marathians and have the Aradian forces admitted into their city, in the
belief that they had come to help them. For this reason, the Aradians seized
all the ships belonging to private men, in the fear that someone might possibly
reveal their plot to the Marathians. In spite of all this, a certain sailor who
was a friend of the Marathians, pitied their sad situation. He usually sailed
in the neighbouring sea. But since his ship had also been taken, he boldly swam
across the mile wide strait by night and told the Marathians that the Aradians
planned to attack them. When the Aradians realised that their plot had been
revealed, they abandoned their plan of sending them letters. {*Diod. Sic., l.
33. c. 5. 12:13-17} Instead, they openly attacked Marathus and captured the
city, demolishing it and sharing its territory among themselves. {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 2. s. 13,14. 7:257,259} [K87]
3858a AM, 4567 JP, 147 BC
3624. A fourth observation of the autumnal equinox was made by Hipparchus at
midnight, in the 32nd year of the 3rd Calippic period, on the 3rd day of the
Egyptian Additionals (at the beginning of September 27), in the 178th year from
the death of Alexander. The 177th year was ending and the 178th was about to
start in two days. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.}
3858b AM, 4568 JP, 146 BC
3625. In the same year of the same Calippic Period, the 178th year from the
death of Alexander, on the 27th day of the Egyptian month of Mecheir (March 24),
in the morning, Hipparchus wrote that he observed the vernal equinox. {Ptolemy,
Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.} [E472]
3626. When Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Mummius were consuls, Carthage
was demolished. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 1. c. 12. s. 5. 1:31} On this
occasion, Scipio, considering the changeableness of human affairs, was fearful
lest the same fate should happen sometime to Rome. He said this:
The day shall come when sacred Troy shall fall,
And Priam with his stock sink therewithal.
3627. He told this to his teacher Polybius, who was present at the time and had
inserted this passage in his history. {*Appian, Punic Wars, l. 8. c. 19.
(132). 1:637}
3628. Lucius Mummius, the consul, who had been sent by the Senate to end the
Achaean war, came to the Roman army at early dawn with a small company. He
ordered Metellus who was in charge of the Achaean war to go and settle the
Macedonian War. When Metellus had finished that war, he was to march with all
his forces within Macedonia to the isthmus. Mummius stayed in the isthmus until
he had drawn up his whole army, which consisted of thirty-five hundred cavalry
and twenty-three thousand foot soldiers. There were some archers from Crete in
this army, while Philopoemen came from Pergamum on the Caicus to bring him a
brigade from Attalus. At the isthmus, the consul defeated Diaeus, who was the
last Achaean leader and the prime instigator of these Achaean disorders. On the
third day after the battle, the consul entered Corinth with his trumpets
sounding. After he had taken the spoils of the city, he levelled it to the
ground, nine hundred and fifty-two years after it had been founded by Aletes,
the son of Hippos, in 1097 BC. {*Livy, l. 52. 14:41} {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
1. c. 13. s. 1,2. 1:33} {Justin, Trogus, l. 34. c. 2.} {*Florus, l. 1.
c. 32. 1:141,143} {*Pausanias, Achaia, l. 7. c. 16. s. 1-10. 3:255-261}
{Orosius, l. 5. c. 3.} This occurred in the 3rd year of the 158th Olympiad
(for so it is in Pliny, and not the 156th), and according to Varro's
calculations, in the 608th year since Rome had been built. {*Pliny, l. 34. c.
3. (6,7) 9:131}
3629. When Polybius came from Africa to help his country, he noticed some
pictures by the most talented artists lying on the ground at Corinth and the
soldiers were playing dice on them. In his history he mentioned two pictures.
One was of Hercules being tortured in the robe of Dianira. The other was a
picture of Dionysus, drawn by Aristides of Thebes. Some think it was Aristides
who coined the proverb, Nothing in comparison with Dionysus, and this was
Aristides' picture of Dionysus. {*Strabo, l. 8. c. 6. s. 23. 4:201} When
Lucius Mummius found out that King Attalus had bought this picture of Dionysus
from among the spoils that were about to be shipped away, for six thousand
sesterces or a hundred talents, he marvelled at the high price that had been
paid. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 38. (126) 2:591} {*Pliny, l. 35. c. 8.
9:277,279} Suspecting that there might be some rare virtue which he did not know
about, he revoked the sale, in spite of Attalus' protests, and placed the
picture in Ceres' temple at Rome. {*Pliny, l. 35. c. 8. 9:277,279} He knew
so little of the value of such things that when he had culled out some exquisite
pieces and statues of the best artists to be carried into Italy, he told those
who had responsibility for them, that if they lost any of them on the way, they
would have to replace them with new ones. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 1. c.
13. 1:33,35} [K88] Any hangings and other ornaments that seemed admirable were
sent to Rome. Others of less value were given to Philopoemen and shipped to
Pergamum. {*Pausanias, Achaia, l. 7. c. 16. s. 8. 3:259}
3630. Ptolemy Philometor assembled large naval and land forces and left Egypt
for Syria under the pretence of helping Alexander Balas, his son-in-law. His
real reason was to annex the kingdom of Syria, of which Alexander had been
deprived, to his own dominions. When all the cities had received him peaceably
in accordance with Alexander's orders, Ptolemy placed a garrison of soldiers in
every one of them, pretending this to be in Alexander's interests. {Apc 1Ma
11:1-3}
3631. As soon as Ptolemy came to Azotus, the people showed him the temple of
Dagon, which had recently been burnt, and the ruins of Azotus and its
surrounding lands. He was shown the piles of the dead bodies of those who had
been killed in the war and burnt at Jonathan's command, for they had laid them
in heaps along the way that he was to come. Although they had given a biased
account of everything Jonathan had done with the deliberate intention of
maligning him, the king said nothing. Jonathan met the king at Joppa with great
pomp and was very courteously received by him. From there they went together as
far as the Eleutherus River, where Jonathan took his leave of the king and
returned to Jerusalem. {Apc 1Ma 11:4-7}
3632. Ptolemy had taken all the cities along the sea coasts as far as Seleucia,
which is located on the coast at the mouth of the Orontes River. He thought
Alexander had plotted an ambush against him because [E473] Ammonius had set an
ambush at Ptolemais to trap him. When Ptolemy demanded justice for this act by
Ammonius, Alexander would not surrender Ammonius. Consequently, Ptolemy took
his daughter Cleopatra away from Alexander and gave her in marriage to Demetrius
Soter, also promising to restore him to his father's kingdom. {Apc 1Ma 11:8-12}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 6,7. (106-110) 7:277,281} {*Livy, l.
52. 14:43}
3633. The men of Antioch deserted Alexander because of Ammonius, from whom they
had received much abuse. Ammonius planned to make an escape dressed as a woman,
but was attacked and killed. Ptolemy went into Antioch and was greeted by the
people. He crowned himself with two diadems, the one of Asia (or Syria), the
other of Egypt. He told them that he, for his part, was satisfied with his own
dominion of Egypt, and persuaded the men of Antioch to receive Demetrius. He
said that their present situation affected him far more than the recent
provocations and disputes which had happened between them and his father
Seleucus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 7. (111-115) 7:281} {Apc
1Ma 11:13} Hence, the men of Antioch gave their loyalty to the son, to atone for
the actions they had taken against his father. The old soldiers of his father
loved Demetrius and followed him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 35. c. 2.}
3634. Alexander was in Cilicia at this time, where he consulted the oracle of
Apollo and claimed to have received the following answer. {Apc 1Ma 11:14} The
oracle said that he should beware of that place which had a rare sight, an
object having two shapes. This was generally thought to refer to Abas, a city
in Arabia where Alexander was killed not long after. In this city there was a
certain woman called Herais, who was the daughter of Diophantus, a Macedonian,
and who had an Arabian woman for her mother. She married Samiades but
subsequently changed her sex and became a man, assuming her father's name of
Diophantus. She was a hermaphrodite, that is, she developed male sexual parts
as she matured. {*Diod. Sic., l. 32. c. 10. 11:447-453}
3859a AM, 4568 JP, 146 BC
3635. Hipparchus observed the fifth autumnal equinox in the 33rd year of the
third Calippic period, on the fourth day of the Egyptian Additionals (September
27), in the morning. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.} [K89]
3636. Alexander had gathered together a powerful army. He invaded Syria and
wasted all the territories of Antioch, pillaging and burning wherever he went.
Ptolemy and his son-in-law Demetrius marched toward him and defeated his forces
in a battle near the Oenopara River. Alexander escaped from the battle with
five hundred of his soldiers and quickly headed toward Abas, a city of Arabia.
He wanted to see Zabdiel, an important person of Arabia. {Apc 1Ma 11:17}
Josephus called him Zabel and Diodorus Siculus, Diocles. Two commanders of
Alexander's band, Heliades and Casius, treacherously killed Alexander. They had
previously arranged this with Demetrius, to whom they had sent an embassy to
look after their own interests. In the final battle it happened that Ptolemy's
horse was scared by the trumpetting of an elephant and threw him to the ground.
When he was down, the enemy attacked him and seriously wounded him in the head.
They would have killed him, had not his bodyguard saved him. Even so, he lay so
senseless for four whole days, that he could neither speak nor understand what
others spoke to him. Zabdiel, the Arabian, cut off Alexander's head and
presented it to Ptolemy. About the fifth day, he had some relief from the pain
of his wounds and returned to his senses. He was encouraged by the pleasing
story of the death of Alexander and the sight of Alexander's head. On the third
day after that, Ptolemy died while his wounds were being dressed and the
physicians were endeavouring to set his bones. {Apc 1Ma 11:14-18} {*Polybius,
l. 39. c. 7. s. 1-3. 6:451} {*Diod. Sic., l. 32. c. 10. 11:445,447}
{*Livy, l. 52. 14:43} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 8. 7:247} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 8. (116-119) 7:281-285}
3637. Josephus said Alexander ruled for five years after the death of Demetrius
Soter, from which we suppose that about five months are to be deducted.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 8. (119) 7:283,285} Based on the
authority of the Maccabean writer, the death of this man appears to have
happened at the same time as Philometor's. After Alexander's death, Demetrius,
son of Demetrius Soter, controlled the government of Syria in the 167th year of
the kingdom of the Greeks. {Apc 1Ma 11:19} Since he had defeated one who was
not descended from their family, he received the same surname, Nicator, or the
conqueror, as the first Seleucus of that kingly line. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l.
11. c. 11. (67) 2:233}
3638. As soon as Ptolemy Philometor was dead, the soldiers whom he had placed
in the citadels and cities for the security of Syria, were all killed by the
other soldiers in the same garrisons at the instigation of Demetrius. {Apc 1Ma
11:18} Demetrius treated the rest of Ptolemy's soldiers very unkindly,
forgetting the help that Ptolemy had given him and his alliance by marriage with
Cleopatra. [E474] These soldiers hated his ingratitude and they all retreated
to Alexandria and left only the elephants under his control. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 4. s. 9. (120,121) 7:285}
3859b AM, 4569 JP, 145 BC
3639. In Egypt, Cleopatra, the wife and sister of Philometor who had just died,
negotiated with the nobles of the realm and tried hard to get the kingdom given
to her son. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 5. (49) 1:313} {Justin, Trogus, l.
38. c. 8.} However, they sent for Ptolemy, the younger brother of Philometor,
who was surnamed Euergetes II along with Physcon who reigned in Cyrene, to come
from there to oppose her in her plans. Onias, who had recently built the temple
in the nome of Heliopolis, took up the war for Cleopatra and marched with a
small army of Jews to the city of Alexandria. [K90] This happened when Lucius
Thermus was an envoy there for the Romans. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 5.
(50) 1:313}
3640. Physcon ended the quarrel and forced Cleopatra, who was his older sister
and wife to their own brother, to marry himself. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c.
1. ext. 5. 2:305} As soon as he entered Alexandria, he commanded all those
who favoured the young child to be killed. He also killed the young child,
while he was in his mother's arms on the wedding day, in the midst of their
feasting and religious solemnities. So he went up to his sister's bed covered
with the blood of her own son. Nor was his behaviour any milder toward his
countrymen, who had invited him to the kingdom and helped him secure the throne.
He gave the foreign soldiers permission to kill as they pleased, and many were
killed everywhere. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 8.} He executed many of them
with the cruellest tortures based on false charges of treason. He banished
others and confiscated their estates, based on false charges he had made up and
forged. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 6. 12:19}
3641. When Jonathan had assembled those who were in Judea, he prepared many
engines of war and besieged the tower at Jerusalem. Demetrius Nicator was told
about this by some ungodly persons who hated their own country. At this, the
king was incensed and wrote to Jonathan to break off the siege and quickly meet
him at Ptolemais, so they could have a conference about the matter. Jonathan
did not break off his siege, but did go to the king. He was accompanied by the
elders and the priests, and they took along some presents with which they soon
pacified the king's wrath. Jonathan made so good an apology for himself, that
the king dismissed the informers, conferred the high priesthood on him and
counted him as one of his best friends. Moreover, Jonathan promised to give the
king three hundred talents, while procuring from him a release for all Judea and
the three countries annexed to it, namely Apherma, Lydda and Ramoth. They no
longer had to pay tithes and tributes, which had formerly been paid to the
kings. The king sent letters about this to Lasthenes, who, with the auxiliaries
from Crete, had restored Demetrius to the kingdom and whom he considered his
cousin and father. {Apc 1Ma 10:30 11:20-37} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 4.
s. 9. (120-128) 7:285,289}
3642. When Demetrius saw that there was now peace throughout the kingdom and no
opposition against him, he disbanded his old native soldiers. He kept in arms
only those bands of foreigners whom he had levied in Crete and the other
islands. This turned the hearts of his father's soldiers against him, because
they continued to receive their salaries from previous kings in times of peace,
so that they might be all the more willing and more cheerful to serve them in
all dangers and emergencies. {Apc 1Ma 11:38} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
4. s. 9. (129,130) 7:289,291}
3643. Diodotus, one of Alexander Balas' commanders, who later was made king and
assumed the name of Tryphon, noticed the alienation of the soldiers from
Demetrius. He was born at the citadel of Casiana in the country of Apamea and
was raised at Apamea. {Apc 1Ma 11:39} {*Strabo, l, 16. c. 2. s. 10.
7:251,253} {*Livy, l. 52. 14:45} {*Livy, l. 55. 14:55} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 13. c. 5. s. 1. (131,132) 7:291} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
11. (68) 2:233} Tryphon went to Simalcue, the Arabian, who had been entrusted
with the education of Antiochus, the son of Alexander Balas, and told him all
that Demetrius Nicator had done and the disagreements between him and the
soldiers. He urged him very strongly to give him the young child and he would
undertake to establish him in his father's kingdom. The Arabians were opposed
to this, and he stayed there many days. {Apc 1Ma 11:39,40} [E475] [K91]
3644. In the meantime Demetrius Nicator, supposing himself secure and out of
danger, executed anyone who appeared to oppose him, using unusual ways of death.
Lasthenes, who was a wicked and rash fellow and who had been appointed over the
whole kingdom, corrupted Demetrius with his flattery and put him up to all types
of villainy. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 4. s. 1. 12:7,9 (footnote 1)}
3860a AM, 4569 JP, 145 BC
3645. Jonathan sent envoys to Demetrius, asking him to remove his garrison of
soldiers from the tower of Jerusalem and all other citadels, because they
continued to attack the Israelites. Demetrius replied that he would grant
Jonathan his request and would also make him and his country glorious when the
time was more suitable for him. For the present, he wanted Jonathan to send him
some soldiers to help him against his own soldiers, who had revolted from him.
Jonathan quickly satisfied his request and sent three thousand strong men to him
in Antioch, for which the king was grateful. {Apc 1Ma 11:41-44}
3646. Demetrius was well-supplied with foreign mercenaries, in whom he placed
greater confidence than in his own troops. He commanded them to disarm the
citizens of Antioch, but the people of Antioch refused to surrender their arms
and assembling in the middle of the city, began to attack him in the palace.
The Jews hastened to relieve him and dispersed themselves within the city. On
that day, they killed nearly a hundred thousand men, burned the city and took
much booty. After that, the citizens laid down their arms and made peace with
the king. For this service, the Jews received much honour from the king and the
kingdom, and returned to Jerusalem richly laden with spoils. {Apc 1Ma 11:45-52}
{*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 4. s. 2,3. 12:9}
3647. After the destruction of most of Antioch by fire, the execution of many
for sedition and the confiscation of estates into the king's treasury, many of
the citizens were forced to escape. Out of fear and hatred of Demetrius, they
wandered about Syria and used every opportunity to avenge themselves on
Demetrius. Meanwhile Demetrius, whose actions had made him detestable to all
men, persisted in his massacres, banishments and confiscations, far surpassing
his father in cruelty. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 4. s. 3. 12:9} Moreover,
he lied to Jonathan. In spite of his flattery, he turned away his friendship
from him and afflicted him very grievously. {Apc 1Ma 11:53} He furthermore
threatened to wage war with him, unless he would pay all the tributes which the
country of the Jews had paid his predecessors. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
5. s. 3. (142,143) 7:295}
3860b AM, 4570 JP, 144 BC
3648. Finally, Diodotus, also called Tryphon, returned to Syria from Arabia
with the young Antiochus, who was the son of Alexander Balas and Cleopatra, the
daughter of Ptolemy Philometor. He set the crown on his head and proclaimed him
to be the rightful heir of the kingdom, surnaming him Theos, or Divine. He
returned with a large force, many of whom had been discharged by Demetrius. He
attacked and defeated Demetrius in a plain and forced him to flee to Seleucia.
Diodotus seized his elephants and took Antioch. {Apc 1Ma 11:54-56} {*Livy, l.
52. 14:43,45} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 5. s. 3. (143,144) 7:295,297}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (68) 2:233}
3649. Then Antiochus, or rather Diodotus, in Antiochus' name, sent letters at
the hand of envoys to Jonathan, confirming the high priesthood to him and
granting him the four territories. [K92] (Perhaps Ptolemais was added to the
three territories.) {See note on 3859b AM. <<3643>>} {Apc 1Ma
10:30,39} He
honoured Jonathan as one of the king's friends. He also sent him chargers of
gold from which to be served and gave him permission to drink from vessels of
gold, to be clothed in purple and to wear the golden buckle. Moreover, he
appointed his brother Simon as general of all the king's forces from the land of
Tyre to the borders of Egypt. {Apc 1Ma 11:57-59} Jonathan was very grateful for
the favours and honours Antiochus had so bountifully bestowed on him and sent
his envoys to Antiochus and his guardian Tryphon. He promised that he would be
their friend and associate and join in arms against their common enemy,
Demetrius. He complained about Demetrius' ingratitude, in that he had repaid
his civilities and courtesies with many shrewd actions and injustices.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 5. s. 4. (145-147) 7:297,299}
3650. After all of Syria had revolted from their king, Diodotus used
Coracesium, a citadel in Cilicia, as his headquarters. He had the Cilicians
join him in piracy at sea. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 2. 6:327} [E476]
3651. Demetrius stayed at Laodicea and spent his time idly in revelling and
luxury. He did not change his wicked ways and had learnt nothing from his
recent calamities. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 9. 12:25}
3652. At this time, Ptolemy Euergetes II, or Physcon, was made king at the
palace at Memphis according to the solemn rites of the Egyptians. Queen
Cleopatra, who was both his sister and wife and also the sister of Philometor,
bore him a son. He was so overjoyed at this that he named him Memphites,
because he was born while his father was observing the holy solemnities at
Memphis. However, even during the celebration of his son's birth, he did not
refrain from his cruel practices, but gave orders to execute some of the
Cyrenians, who were the ones who had first brought him into Egypt. They had
been too free and sharp in reproving him for his courtesan Irene, the
prostitute. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 13. 12:27}
3653. When Jonathan had received permission from Antiochus to wage war against
Demetrius' captains, he assembled his soldiers from Syria, Phoenicia and
elsewhere. He quickly passed through all the cities located beyond the Jordan
River. With all his Syrian auxiliaries, he marched to Askelon, where the
citizens very conscientiously came out to meet him. He left there for Gaza,
where he was denied entrance, the citizens shutting their gates against him.
Thereupon, Jonathan besieged the city and plundered and burned its outskirts,
forcing them by these actions to sue for peace. This was granted when they
handed over hostages, whom Jonathan sent to Jerusalem. Jonathan then marched
through the country as far as Damascus. {Apc 1Ma 11:60-62} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 13. c. 5. s. 5. (148-153) 7:299,301}
3654. The princes of Demetrius came to Kadesh, a city of Galilee, and planned
to draw Jonathan away from attacking Syria by making him come to the aid of the
Galileans. Jonathan marched against them and left his brother Simon behind in
Judea. Simon vigorously assaulted Bethsura for many days and after a long
siege, forced them to surrender. He expelled Demetrius' soldiers and put in a
garrison there instead. {Apc 1Ma 11:63-66 14:7,33} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 5. s. 6. (154-157) 7:301,303}
3655. Jonathan and his army camped by the Lake of Gennesaret. Early in the
morning they came to the plain of Asor, where Demetrius' forces attacked him
from an ambush they had placed in the mountains. [K93] As soon as the ambush
showed itself, the Jews feared they might be trapped and could all be killed.
So they all fled, leaving Jonathan in great danger. Only Mattathias, the son of
Absalom, and Judas, the son of Calphi, who were the two chief commanders of the
army, remained with him with a band of fifty very brave men. First, Jonathan
begged for God's help, and then he and the men charged the enemy and defeated
them. When those who had deserted Jonathan saw that the enemy was fleeing, they
returned into the field and pursued the enemy to their own camp, as far as
Kadesh. About three thousand of the enemy were killed that day, after which
Jonathan returned to Jerusalem. {Apc 1Ma 11:67-74} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 5. s. 7. (158-162) 7:303,305}
3656. Jonathan saw that things were now going well and sent Numenius, son of
Antiochus, and Antipater, son of Jason, as envoys to Rome to confirm and renew
the alliance and association which had formerly been started with Judas
Maccabeus. {Apc 1Ma 12:1,16} He gave them orders that on their return home from
Rome, they should visit the Lacedemonians, to remind them of the alliance and
ancient league previously made with the high priest, Onias III. He sent a
letter for the same purpose, wherein the people of Judea said, among other
things, that they continually remembered them as their own brethren when they
made their holy sacrifices and observed their devotions. {Apc 1Ma 12:2,5-18}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 5. s. 8. (163-170) 7:307-311}
3657. Jonathan got word that Demetrius' commanders had returned to fight
against him with an army far larger than they previously had. He left Jerusalem
and marched against them in the country of Amathus, which is located in the
farthest borders of Canaan. When he camped within six miles of the enemy, he
sent out his scouts to spy on the enemy's position and fortifications. Jonathan
learned through some prisoners whom the scouts had brought back, that the enemy
planned a surprise attack on them. He ordered his soldiers to stand all night
with their armour in a position of readiness to receive the enemy attack. He
placed his guards throughout the camp. When the enemy heard that Jonathan was
drawn up in battle array and was prepared for their attack, they began to be
afraid. So they stole away secretly by night, leaving campfires throughout the
camp to deceive the Jews. In the morning, Jonathan pursued them, but was unable
to overtake them because they had already crossed the Eleutherus River. [E477]
Therefore, Jonathan went into Arabia against the Zabadeans or Nabateans,
according to Josephus, killing them and taking their spoil. From there, he went
to Damascus and travelled through the whole country hunting and chasing the
followers of Demetrius. His brother Simon was not idle, either. He made an
expedition as far as Askelon and the adjacent garrison. From there, he went to
Joppa and captured it. He put his garrison of soldiers in it to hold it. There
was a rumour that the citizens planned to turn the garrison over to Demetrius'
party. {Apc 1Ma 12:24-34} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 5. s. 10.
(174-180) 7:313-317}
3658. The envoys of the Jews were brought into the Senate, where they renewed
their amity and league with the Romans, who gave them letters for the governors
of their various allies, asking them to conduct them safely to Judea. {Apc 1Ma
12:3,4} On their return home, the envoys called on the Lacedemonians, who
treated them very civilly and gave them a public decree concerning the renewing
of their amity and the preserving of the friendship between their two countries.
A copy of this is found on another occasion in the Apocrypha. {Apc 1Ma
14:22,23}
"Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and Antipater, the son of Jason, the Jews'
envoys, came to us to renew the friendship that was between us. [K94] It
pleased the people to receive the men honourably and to enter a copy of their
embassy among the public records, so that the people of the Lacedemonians might
have a memorial of this."
3659. As soon as Jonathan returned to Jerusalem, he assembled the elders of the
people and consulted with them about the building of citadels in some suitable
locations around Judea. He also wanted the wall around Jerusalem strengthened
and a high and strong wall erected between the citadel of Zion and the city, to
prevent anyone from carrying provisions from the city to the citadel. They
began their repairs and brought their new work to join up with the remains of
the old wall, toward the east by the brook Kidron. They repaired the place
known as Chaphenatha. Simon, meanwhile, went into other places of Judea, and
built Adida in Sephelah, or the plain, and reinforced it with gates and bars.
{Apc 1Ma 12:35-38}
3861a AM, 4570 JP, 144 BC
3660. In the 169th year of the account of the contracts, in the reign of
Demetrius, the Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine wrote to the Jews in Egypt about
the keeping of the feast of tabernacles in the month of Chisleu. {Apc 2Ma
1:7-9} This was the feast of the Maccabean dedication, which was observed
according to the ordinance of the Mosaic feast of tabernacles in the month of
Tishri. {See note on 3840a AM. <<3422>>}
3661. Tryphon planned to kill Antiochus and feared that Jonathan would come to
the defence of the young king. So he marched with his forces to Bethshan, which
the Gentiles called Scythopolis, hoping to surprise him. When Jonathan heard of
his coming, he marched toward him with forty thousand good men. This so
disheartened Tryphon that he did not lay hands on him, but treated him very
nobly and recommended him to all his friends. He gave Jonathan many presents
and ordered his soldiers to guard Jonathan as they guarded him. After the
meeting, he persuaded Jonathan to dismiss his army and with a few selected men
accompany him to Ptolemais, which he promised to turn over to him along with the
other garrisons and forces he had in the area. Jonathan believed him and sent
two thousand of his soldiers to Galilee and the rest to Judea, keeping only a
thousand for himself. As soon as he entered Ptolemais, Tryphon commanded the
gates to be shut. Jonathan was captured and all who had come with him were
killed. Not satisfied, however, with the massacre of those thousand, Tryphon
sent his army and some cavalry into Galilee to attack the two thousand men that
Jonathan had sent there. As soon as they heard what had happened at Ptolemais,
they prepared for battle. Tryphon's soldiers knew they were dealing with
desperate men and retreated back again. So Jonathan's soldiers safely reached
Judea and all Israel mourned the loss of their countrymen with great
lamentation. {Apc 1Ma 12:39-52}
3662. After this, Tryphon raised a large army to attack Judea and destroy it.
When Simon saw how discouraged the people were at this, he went up to Jerusalem,
assembled the people and offered to help them. So they chose him as general in
place of Judas and Jonathan, his brothers. He gathered all the men of war and
quickly completed the walls of Jerusalem, fortifying it on every side. He spent
large sums of money from his own purse to arm, and pay, all the men of war from
his own country. {Apc 1Ma 12:52,53 13:1-10 14:31,32} [E478] [K95]
3663. In addition, Simon sent Jonathan, the son of Absalom, with a reasonably
large army to Joppa. He drove out the inhabitants and occupied and fortified
the place, to use it as his sea port. {Apc 1Ma 13:11 14:5,34} From this,
Strabo, too, has noted that the Jews used this harbour. {*Strabo, l. 16. c.
2. s. 28. 7:275}
3664. Tryphon left Ptolemais with his army to march against Judea, taking
Jonathan along with him as his prisoner. Simon was camped in Adida, opposite
the plain. When Tryphon saw that the Jews were prepared for battle, he
pretended that he was keeping Jonathan prisoner for a ransom of a hundred
talents of silver. He promised to release Jonathan when this was paid, provided
that he sent two of his sons as hostages, to guard against Jonathan's attempt to
revenge his imprisonment after he was freed. However, as soon as Simon had sent
both the money and his brother's sons to him, Tryphon broke his word. {Apc 1Ma
13:12-19}
3665. When Tryphon marched against Judea, he went in the direction of the road
to Adora, or Dora, a city of Idumea, according to Josephus. However, Simon's
army followed him wherever he went. The men in the citadel of Zion at Jerusalem
sent some agents to Tryphon, very earnestly asking him to hurry through the
desert as fast as he could and to supply them with food. Tryphon was quite
ready for the expedition with his cavalry. That night, however, there happened
to be such a large snowfall that he could not possibly get to them, so he
altered his journey and marched into the country of Gilead. As soon as he came
close to Bascama, or Bascha, he killed Jonathan. After he had buried him,
Tryphon retreated back into Syria. {Apc 1Ma 13:20-24} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 6. s. 6. (208-212) 7:331,333} Jonathan lived seventeen years and
seven months after the death of his brother Judas Maccabeus. He was the high
priest for nine years and a month or two.
3861b AM, 4571 JP, 143 BC
3666. Simon sent men to bring back the bones of his brother Jonathan, which he
then buried at Modin, the city of their ancestors. All Israel lamented for him
for many days. Simon built a monument over the sepulchre of his father and his
brothers. It was very high, and made of polished white stone. He built seven
pyramids, all in a row, in memory of his father, his mother, and his four
brothers. To these he added a porch of large stone pillars, on which he had a
picture of arms and ships engraved. These were conspicuous to all who sailed by
that way. {Apc 1Ma 13:25-30} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 6. s. 6.
(208-212) 7:331,333} Josephus said that this rare sepulchre at Modin lasted to
his time, as did Eusebius of Caesarea, in his book pzei pw popikw onomatwn.
(Greek almost unreadable in the original. Editor.)
3667. The Romans and the Lacedemonians were very deeply grieved by the death of
Jonathan. As soon as they learned through Simon's envoys that he had been made
the high priest in his brother's place, they wrote to him in tables of brass
concerning the renewing of the amity and league which they had formerly made
with his brothers, Judas and Jonathan. {Apc 1Ma 14:16-19} The Romans considered
the Jews their allies, friends and brethren, and most honourably entertained
Simon's envoys. {Apc 1Ma 14:40} The inscription of the letters which the
Lacedemonians returned through the envoys, and to which they also attached a
copy of the reply they had previously sent to Jonathan, was this: [K96]
"The magistrates and cities of the Lacedemonians to Simon the high priest and
the elders and to the rest of the people of the Jews our brethren, greetings."
{Apc 1Ma 14:20-24}
3668. The letters from the Romans and the Lacedemonians were read before the
congregation at Jerusalem. {Apc 1Ma 14:19}
3669. Antiochus Theos, or the Divine, the son of Alexander Balas, was murdered
by his guardian, Diodotus, or Tryphon. He bribed the surgeons to kill Antiochus
and say that he had died of a fit while they were operating on him. Tryphon
began with his own country and seized Apamea, Larisa, Casiana, Megara, Apollonia
and the other neighbouring cities first. From there he went on to invade the
rest of Syria. He placed the royal crown on his own head and created great
desolation in the country. {Apc 1Ma 13:31,32} {*Livy, l. 55. 14:55} {*Strabo,
l. 16. c. 2. s. 10. 7:253} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 1.}
3670. When Tryphon had made himself king, he hurried to have his kingdom
confirmed by decree of the Roman Senate. To accomplish this, he sent his envoys
to the Romans with a golden statue of Victory that weighed ten thousand gold
staters. He did not doubt the success of his mission, because he had sent such
a rich gift and because it carried the name of Victory. His hopes were dashed
by the subtlety of the Senate. When they received the present, they ordered
that instead of Tryphon's name, the title of the princely youth who had been
killed by Tryphon's treachery should be engraved on it. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33.
c. 28a. 12:47} [E479] Not dismayed by this, he caused money to be minted of
which some pieces still exist. It had this inscription: BA ILEW TRUFWNO and
TRUFWNO AUTOKRATORO BA ILEW: King Tryphon and Tryphon, the Autocratic King.
After he had taken over the kingdom, he was bold enough to assume the title of
king. He changed his old name from Diodotus to Tryphon. {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 11. (68) 2:233}
3671. Sarpedon, general of Demetrius' forces, was defeated by Tryphon's army,
to whom the inhabitants of Ptolemais were allied. He retired with his soldiers
into the Mediterranean country. As the victorious forces of Tryphon were
marching along the sea coast between Ptolemais and Tyre, they were suddenly hit
by a giant tidal wave from the sea, which rose to an incredible height and
rushed onto the land with great force. Many were drowned. Some were pulled out
to sea by the retreating wave and others were left dead in hollow places. The
retreating wave left a large number of fish mingled with the dead bodies. When
Sarpedon's soldiers heard of this disaster, they quickly returned to the scene,
very pleased to see the destruction of the enemy. They gathered up a great
number of the fish and sacrificed them to Poseidon, the deliverer, before the
gates of Ptolemais, where the battle had been fought. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2.
s. 26. 7:273} {*Athenaeus, l. 8. (333cd) 4:4:13,15}
3672. Simon, the Jewish general and high priest, repaired the garrisons in
Judea. He fortified them all around with high towers, large walls, gates and
bars, and supplied them all with provisions. His greatest concern was to see
that Bethsura, which was located within the borders of Judea and had formerly
been the enemy's armoury, would be well-fortified. He put a garrison of Jews
there to secure it. {Apc 1Ma 13:33 14:7,33}
3673. Simon saw that all Tryphon did was plunder everything. He sent a crown
of gold to King Demetrius Nicator, requesting him to release Judea from having
to pay tribute. {Apc 1Ma 13:34,37 14:10,33} [K97]
3674. Demetrius heard that Simon's envoys had been very nobly entertained by
the Romans and that the Jews and the priests had passed the right to the
government and the high priesthood to Simon and his heirs. So Demetrius also
confirmed the high priesthood to Simon and made him one of his friends. {Apc
1Ma 14:38-41} He wrote a letter to him:
"King Demetrius to Simon, the high priest, and friend of the king, and to the
elders and country of the Jews, greetings:"
3675. In this way, he made a peace with them. He promised an amnesty for all
past actions, a ratification of all former covenants that had been made with
Jonathan and a grant to them of all the citadels which they had built. {Apc 1Ma
11:32-37} He granted to all in general a release from tribute, as well as
granting release from the custom taxes arising from the sale of commodities to
those at Jerusalem. Hence the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel in
the 170th year of the kingdom of the Greeks. The people began to date their
instruments and contracts as: {Apc 1Ma 13:35-42} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
6. s. 7. (213,214) 7:333,335}
"In the first year that Simon was the great high priest, general, and leader of
the Jews:"
3676. In those days, Simon besieged Gazara, which had rebelled following
Jonathan's death. After he had forced the tower with his battering engines, he
compelled the city to surrender. When the city humbly asked for his mercy, he
did not kill the citizens but drove them out of the city. After he had cleared
the houses of all their idols and other impurities, he entered the city and
praised God with hymns. He repopulated the city with those who worshipped the
true God. He fortified it and built a house in it for himself. {Apc 1Ma
13:43-48}
3862a AM, 4571 JP, 143 BC
3677. Hipparchus observed the sixth autumnal equinox in the 36th year of the
Calippic period, on the fourth day of the Egyptian Additionals (September 26),
in the evening around sunset. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.}
3678. Alexandra, who later became the queen of the Jews, was born at this time,
if she lived seventy-three years, as Josephus claimed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 16. s. 6. (430) 7:445} This is also found in the thirty-third
chapter of the Jewish History which is printed at the end of the Paris Bibles in
many languages, under the title of the second book of the Maccabees. From
Eusebius' Chronicle, we find that she was called Salina in Arabic, as we also do
from Epiphanius in the 29th heresy of the Nazarenes, and from Jerome {Jerome, Da
9:1-17 11:1-12} and Sulpicius Severus. {*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l.
2. c. 26. 11:109} Eusebius seems to have taken it, as was his practice, from
Julius Africanus, and he from Justus Tiberiensis, or some other ancient writer
of the affairs of the Jews.
3862b AM, 4572 JP, 142 BC
3679. The garrison of soldiers in the citadel at Jerusalem surrendered after
being deprived of all provision for two years. Simon expelled them all and
cleared the citadel of all the pollutions of their idols. [E480] He entered it
on the 23rd day of the second month, called Iyyar, in the 171st year of the
kingdom of the Greeks, with palm branches, harps, cymbals, viols, hymns and
songs. He ordained this day as a holy day, to commemorate the day they were
freed from a wicked enemy who troubled them greatly whenever they went to the
temple. Moreover, he made the citadel stronger than it had been and fortified
the temple mount which the citadel overlooked. This was for the greater
security of the country and the city. He lived there with his troops. {Apc 1Ma
13:49-53 14:7,36,37} [K98]
3680. Simon knew that his son John, later surnamed Hyrcanus, was a very valiant
man and appointed him captain of all his forces, while Simon lived in Gazara in
the borders of Azotus, where the enemies had formerly lived. {Apc 1Ma 13:53}
Simon had dislodged them and repopulated the place with Jews. {Apc 1Ma 14:7,34}
This was the Gadara which Strabo said the Jews later made their own. {*Strabo,
l. 16. c. 2. s. 29. 7:277}
3681. Ptolemy Philometor's daughter, Cleopatra, and Demetrius Nicator had a
son, Antiochus, later surnamed Grypus, because of his hook nose. This event
happened at this time if he lived for forty-five years, as Josephus stated.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 4. (365) 7:409}
3863 AM, 4573 JP, 141 BC
3682. Two hours before midnight, Hipparchus observed an eclipse of the moon in
Rhodes, in the 37th year of the third Calippic period, in the 607th year of
Nabonassar, on the 20th day of the Egyptian month of Tybi (January 27).
{Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 6. c. 5.}
3683. When Demetrius learned that most of his cities had revolted from him, he
thought to remove this reproach by fighting against the Parthians. At that
time, the Parthians were ruled by Mithridates, son of King Pampatius, called
Arsaces or Arsacides. This was a name common to all the Parthian kings.
Mithridates was not inferior to Arsaces, his great-grandfather and the founder
of the Parthian monarchy, from whom that surname was passed to all his
successors. By his prowess, Mithridates extended the Parthian empire as far as
the Indus River to the east and the Euphrates River to the west. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 36. c. 1.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 41. c. 5,6.} {Orosius, l. 5.
c. 4.} Before we discuss Demetrius' Parthian expedition, we shall show how
Mithridates obtained his vast dominion.
3684. At the time when Mithridates began to reign over the Parthians,
Eucratides became ruler of the Bactrians. They were both gallant men, but good
fortune was on the side of the Parthians. During the rule of Mithridates, he
led them to the highest pinnacle of sovereignty. The poor Bactrians were
involved in wars which eventually led to the loss of their dominions and
liberty. After the Sogdians, the Arachats, the Drangians and the Indians had
thoroughly weakened them by their continual wars with them, the feeble Parthians
attacked them while they were in this weakened state and overcame them.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 41. c. 6.} Arsaces, or Mithridates, followed up on his
victory as far as India and had no difficulty in subduing the country where
Porus of old had reigned, and the other countries lying between the Hydaspes and
Indus Rivers. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 18. 12:35,37} {Orosius, l. 5. c.
4.} These Bactrians were the survivors of the Greeks who had taken Bactria from
the kings of Syria, the successors of Seleucus Nicator. They also seized Ariana
and India. They controlled Pattalena and all the sea coasts along with the
kingdoms of Tessariostus and Sigartis. Apollodorus (against the common opinion,
in actual fact) affirmed in his book of the Parthian Affairs that they were
masters of a greater portion of India than Alexander and his Macedonians had
been. He added, moreover, that Eucratides had a thousand cities in India under
his own jurisdiction. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 9. s. 2. 5:275} {*Strabo, l.
15. c. 1. s. 3. 7:5} Eucratides was always at war, for he was engaged in
many wars and behaved himself with much prowess. When he was worn out from
constant warfare, he was closely besieged by Demetrius, king of the Indians.
Although Eucratides had no more than three thousand soldiers with him, he wasted
an enemy army of sixty thousand by his daily sallies against them. [K99] When
he gained his freedom in the fifth month, he subdued all India under his
command. On his journey homeward, he was killed by his own son, whom he had
made viceroy in the kingdom. His son did not try to hide his actions, but drove
his chariot through the blood and commanded that the dead body be cast aside
into some place or other and left unburied, as if he had killed an enemy and not
murdered his father. While these things were happening among the Bactrians, a
war started between the Parthians and the Medes. The initial conflicts were
indecisive, but finally the Parthians got the upper hand. Mithridates was
strengthened by this victory and appointed Bacasis over Media while he marched
into Hyrcania. As soon as he returned from there, he fought and defeated the
king of the Elymeans and annexed that country to his other dominions. [E481] By
his various conquests, he enlarged the dominion of the Parthians from the
mountain of Gaucasus as far as the Euphrates River. {Justin, Trogus, l. 41.
c. 6.} After he had defeated Demetrius Nicator's general, he invaded the city
of Babylon and all its regions. {Orosius, l. 5. c. 4.}
3685. The Greeks and Macedonians of the upper provinces did not like the
insolence of those strangers, the Parthians. They repeatedly sent embassies to
Demetrius Nicator, promising that if he would come to them, they would yield to
him and join with him in fighting Arsaces, the king of Persia and Media.
Encouraged by this, Demetrius hurried to them. In the 172nd year of the kingdom
of the Greeks, he assembled all his forces and marched into Mesopotamia. He
thought that he would soon have Babylon and Media, and that with the help of the
upper provinces he could easily expel Tryphon from Syria. When he arrived in
those regions, he was quickly joined by the auxiliaries of the Persians,
Elymeans and Bactrians, and defeated the Parthians many times. He was at last
outsmarted by one of Arsaces' nobles, who was sent to capture Demetrius on the
pretence of concluding a peace. Demetrius was surprised by an ambush and was
captured alive, after losing his whole army. They led him through the streets
of the city and showed him to the people, who mocked him. Finally, he was
imprisoned under tight security. {Apc 1Ma 14:1-3} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 5. s. 11. (181-186) 7:317,319} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 1.} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 38. c. 9.} Georgius Syncellus added that he was kept in Troas, and
was surnamed Siderites from that occasion.
3686. Although Arsaces was in control of such a vast dominion, he did not
succumb to luxury and pride, which was the usual practice of most princes. He
acted with valour against his enemies and a great deal of clemency toward his
subjects. When he had brought various countries under his command, he selected
the best institutions and laws from each of them, and introduced them to his
Parthians. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 18. 12:35,37} Demetrius, who was sent
away into Hyrcania, was treated with respect too. Arsaces gave him his daughter
for a wife and promised to restore the kingdom of Syria to him, which had been
taken from him by Tryphon. {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 1.} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 38. c. 9.} However, Appian wrote that Demetrius lived at the court of
Phraates, the brother and successor of Mithridates, and married his sister,
Rhodoguna. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (67) 2:233}
3687. In the 172nd year of the kingdom of the Greeks, on the 18th day of the
sixth month, called Elul, about the end of the third year of Simon's high
priesthood after the death of his brother Jonathan, a large assembly of the
priests and the people, and the rulers and the elders of the country, was held.
A notice was published that said how well Simon had served the Jewish people,
and the right of sovereignty was granted to him and his posterity. [K100] He
should be their governor and have control over those who managed the temple,
over the governors in the country, over the commanders in the army and the
captains of the garrisons. He should also have the charge of the holy things
and should be obeyed by all men. All contracts in the country should be signed
in his name. He should be clothed in purple and wear gold. It should not be
lawful for any of the priests or the people to repeal any of these decrees, or
contradict anything he spoke, or to hold any assembly in the country, without
his permission. No one should wear purple or use the golden buckle. Simon
accepted this and was quite content to carry out the high priest's office and to
be general and commander over the Jews, the priests and the rest of the people.
Then they commanded that this writing be put in tables of brass and be hung on
the pillars in the porches of the temple, in a public place. A copy of this
should be kept in the treasury of the temple, so that these edicts might be
available to Simon and his sons. {Apc 1Ma 14:26-49}
3864 AM, 4574 JP, 140 BC
3688. The soldiers grew weary of Tryphon's conduct and revolted from him to
Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius Nicator. At that time, she was confined in
Seleucia with her children. She sent to Antiochus, the brother of her
imprisoned husband Demetrius, and offered to marry him and give him the kingdom.
She did this partly on the advice of her friends and partly because she feared
that some of the Seleucians might surrender the city to Tryphon. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 7. s. 1. (222) 7:339}
3689. Josephus called this Antiochus, the son of Demetrius Soter, The Pious
because of his religion. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 7. c. 5. s. 3. (393)
5:569,571} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 8. s. 2. (244) 7:351} Elsewhere,
Josephus called him by his father's surname, Soter. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 7. s. 1. (222) 7:339} Justin called him Pompey. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39.
Prologue} Eusebius called him Sidetes, or Sedetes. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:227} [E482] This was either from his great love of hunting, as Plutarch
thought, which in Syriac is hryu, or from the city of Sidon, from where (as
Georgius Syncellus wrote) he came to besiege Tryphon. Justin related that he
was at first brought up in Asia by his father, Demetrius Soter, and then, with
his older brother Demetrius Nicator, entrusted to an army at Cnidos. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 35. c. 2.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36, c. 1.} Appian wrote that when
he was being educated at Rhodes, he was told the news of his brother's
confinement and what happened subsequently. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
11. (68) 2:233,235} After he had assumed the title of king, he wrote letters to
Simon, the high priest and ruler, and to the whole country of the Jews. {Apc
1Ma 15:1,2}
3690. In these letters, he complained much about the harsh treatment he had
received from his enemies and showed that he was now ready to avenge himself,
lest he seem to be a king in name only. He wanted to make Simon his friend and
so he confirmed to him all the immunities and privileges which other kings had
granted. To these he added the right to coin money with his own stamp.
Moreover, he decreed that Jerusalem should be exempted from being under the
king's jurisdiction and also promised that he would confer more and greater
favours, as soon as he was in possession of his kingdom. {Apc 1Ma 15:3-9}
3865 AM, 4575 JP, 139 BC
3691. Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and some other envoys came to Rome from
Simon, the high priest, and the people of the Jews, about renewing their league
and friendship with the Romans. They brought a large gold shield with them,
weighing a thousand pounds. The present was well received and Lucius, the
consul, gave them letters to the kings and to the provinces, prohibiting these
from attempting anything which might prejudice the Jews or help any of their
enemies. [K101] If at any time any renegade Jews should flee from Judea and
come into their land, they should turn them over to Simon, the high priest, to
be prosecuted according to the laws of their country. {Apc 1Ma 14:1-49
15:15-21}
3692. This Lucius was the same Lucius Calpurnius Piso, the colleague of Lucius
Popilius Laenas, who was sent into Spain against the Numantians. Concerning his
consulship, Valerius Maximus stated: {*Valerius Maximus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 3.
1:47}
"Publius Cornelius Hispalus, the praetor for visitors when Popilius Laenas and
Lucius Calpurnius were consuls, by his edict commanded that within ten days all
those Chaldeans were to depart from the city and from Italy, whose profession it
was, with their lies to cast mists on vain and foolish minds, by their false
interpretation of the influence of the stars."
3693. Even though Stephanus Pighius (from Cassodorus' Fasti Consulares) had
written the name of Gnaeus for Lucius of the name Lucius, which is against the
authority of the received manuscripts.
3694. Five kings received these letters: Ptolemy Euergetes II or Physcon of
Egypt, Demetrius Nicator of Syria (even though he was a prisoner of the
Parthians at this time), Attalus Philadelphus of Pergamum in Asia, Ariarathes of
Cappadocia, and Arsaces or Mithridates of Parthia. Nineteen cities, countries
and islands also received these letters: Sampsames (or, as in the Latin,
Lampsacus), Sparta, Delos, Myndus, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia,
Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Sida, Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidos, Cyprus and
Cyrene. {Apc 1Ma 15:16,22,23}
3695. In the 174th year of the kingdom of the Greeks, Antiochus Sidetes
returned to the land of his fathers, where he married Cleopatra, his brother's
wife. {Apc 1Ma 15:10} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 1.} She was upset at
Demetrius for marrying Rhodoguna. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (68)
2:235} From this time, Antiochus reigned for nine years. {Porphyry, Scaliger's
Greek Eusebius}
3696. Tryphon had a very small following, because almost all his forces had
defected to Antiochus. After his soldiers deserted him, he hurried to get into
Adora, which was a maritime city of Phoenicia. Antiochus pursued him there and
very tightly besieged the place, so that no one could get in or out. Antiochus
had an army of a hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers, with eight thousand
cavalry and a fleet. {Apc 1Ma 15:10-14}
3697. Meanwhile, Numenius and his company came from Rome and brought with them
letters to the kings and provinces and a copy of these same letters to Simon,
the high priest. {Apc 1Ma 15:15,24}
3698. Simon sent two thousand choice men with silver and gold and many engines
of war to Antiochus at the siege of Adora. He refused them all and breaking
whatever covenants he had previously made with Simon, made him his enemy. He
sent Athenobius to him to demand that he surrender Gazara, Joppa and the citadel
in Jerusalem. Antiochus also wanted the tributes of those places beyond the
borders of Judea which were occupied by Simon. In lieu of this, he demanded
five hundred talents of silver and in consideration of the harm Simon had done
and the tributes of the cities, a further five hundred talents. He threatened
war unless everything was done according to his commands. {Apc 1Ma 15:25-31}
3699. Athenobius, a friend of the king's, came to Jerusalem. [E483] As soon as
he saw Simon's splendour, his tables set with gold and silver plates, and other
furnishings of the house, he was astonished and told Simon the king's message.
[K102] Simon denied that they had seized any towns that belonged to others, and
claimed they had only recovered from the enemy by law of arms some of their own
towns which had been withheld from them. As for Joppa and Gazara, in spite of
the fact that the people had sustained much damage at the hands of the enemy, he
offered a hundred talents. In a rage, Athenobius returned to Antiochus and told
him both what he had heard and seen. Nor was the king any less passionate, when
he saw that his commands had not been submitted to, nor his great threat of war
heeded. {Apc 1Ma 15:32-36}
3700. Meanwhile, Tryphon set sail and escaped to Orthosia, which was another
maritime city of Phoenicia. {Apc 1Ma 15:37}
3701. Antiochus made Cendebeus the governor of the sea coast and gave him foot
soldiers and cavalry. He was to build Kidron (or, as the Latin edition has it,
Gedor, as in the Bible {Jos 15:58}) and to wage war on the Jews, while the king
pursued Tryphon. {Apc 1Ma 15:38,39}
3702. Cendebeus went as far as Jamnia and began to invade Judea. He took some
prisoners and killed others. When he had built Kidron (or Gedor), he stationed
some cavalry there and some companies of foot soldiers, who were to raid the
highways of Judea as the king had ordered him to do. {Apc 1Ma 15:40,41}
3866a AM, 4575 JP, 139 BC
3703. John Hyrcanus came from Gazara and told his father, Simon, what wicked
acts Cendebeus had done. Simon was now old and so he committed the war to his
two oldest sons, Judas and John. They duly selected twenty thousand men of war
from throughout the country and together with some cavalry, marched against
Cendebeus. That night they camped at Modin, their birth place, from where, on
the following morning, they engaged the enemy's powerful army. However, as
there was a brook between them, John waded across first and the rest of the
people quickly followed. He then divided his forces so that the cavalry was in
the midst of the foot soldiers and they mutually protected each other from the
enemy attacks. Then they sounded their holy trumpets and Cendebeus was routed,
while many of his army were killed. Some fled to his citadel of Kidron, which
he had recently built, and others escaped to other places. John's brother Judas
was wounded and could not give chase, but John pursued them as far as the towers
which were in the fields of Azotus, killing about two thousand men in the chase.
When he had burned the towers to the ground, he led his army safely back into
Judea. {Apc 1Ma 16:1-10}
3866b AM, 4576 JP, 138 BC
3704. At length, Tryphon retired to his own countrymen at Apamea. Frontinus
recorded the following about this event: {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 2. c.
13. s. 3. 1:197}
"All the way that he went, he scattered money on purpose to slow down Antiochus'
soldiers in their pursuit of him and so he escaped from their hands."
3705. Josephus stated that Apamea was taken by assault and Tryphon killed in
the third year after Demetrius was taken prisoner by the Parthians. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 7. s. 3. (224) 7:341} Appian wrote that he was at length
taken by Antiochus and killed, but not without much trouble. {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (68) 2:233,235} Strabo stated that he was besieged in a
certain citadel and driven to such extremities that he killed himself.
{*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 2. 6:327} Georgius Syncellus wrote that when he
was driven from Orthosia, he leaped into the fire and died.
3706. Hierax was the general for the war in Egypt because he was an excellent
soldier and very popular with the people. He was ambitious and controlled the
kingdom of Ptolemy Physcon. [K103] When he realised that Ptolemy had little
money and that the soldiers were ready to revolt to Galaestes for lack of pay,
he put down the rebellion by personally paying the soldiers. The Egyptians
publicly despised the king when they saw how childish he was in his talk, how
impudent and prone to the vilest jests, and how effeminate he was. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 33. c. 22,23. 12:41,43}
3707. In that part of Asia where Pergamum was, Attalus Philadelphus, the
brother of Eumenes, grew so restless through long idleness and peace that
Philopoemen, one of his friends, was able to influence him in any direction he
pleased. Likewise, the Romans, to mock him, would often ask of those who sailed
from Asia whether the king had any interest in Philopoemen, because he would not
leave his kingdom to any of his own sons. {*Plutarch, Old Men in Public
Affairs, l. 1. c. 16. 10:125} However, in his lifetime, he gave the kingdom
to his brother Eumenes' son, whose guardian he was until his nephew came of age.
{*Plutarch, Sayings of Kings and Commanders (184b) 3:83} {*Plutarch, On
Brotherly Love, l. 1. c. 18. 6:311}
3708. After the death of his uncle Attalus, Attalus who was surnamed
Philometor, ruled the kingdom of Pergamum for five years. He was the son of
Eumenes by Stratonice, who was the daughter of Ariarathes, the king of the
Cappadocians. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2. 6:169} [E484]
3709. He had no sooner become king, than he marred the kingdom by killing his
friends and turning against his relatives. At one time he pretended that his
mother, who was an old woman, and at another time, that Berenice, his wife, had
died through their enchantments. {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 4.} He was
jealous of the best and most eminent of his father's friends. Lest they should
engage in some treasonable act against him, he planned to kill them all. To
that end, he selected the most bloody and covetous from among his barbarous
mercenary soldiers and placed them in various private rooms in the palace. When
he called together to court those of his friends whom he held in greatest
suspicion, he turned them over to these barbarians, who killed them.
Immediately after this, he ordered them to do the same to the men's wives and
children. His other friends either had command of the army or were appointed
over cities. Some of them he killed by treachery and when he located others, he
beheaded them with their whole families. By this cruelty, he became detestable
to his own subjects and to his neighbouring countries, so much so that all under
his dominion were anxious for a new king. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 3.
12:91}
3867a AM, 4576 JP, 138 BC
3710. After this mad and furious fit was over, he put on a dirty garment and
let his hair and his beard grow, as criminals used to do. He did not appear in
public and would not show himself to the people. He did not entertain at home
and gave the appearance of being mad, seeming to be haunted by the ghosts of
those he had recently murdered. {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 4.}
3867b AM, 4577 JP, 137 BC
3711. When Attalus had resigned the government of the kingdom to his nephew, he
took up gardening and growing herbs. He mixed good plants with poisonous ones,
from which he made poisonous juices and sent them as rare presents to his
friends. {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 4.} He planted hendoryenium, which was
used to make poisoned arrows. He also studied the plants to know the nature of
their juices, seeds and fruits and to harvest them in their proper season.
{*Plutarch, Demetrius, l. 1. c. 20. s. 2. 9:47} [K104] Varro, Columella
and Pliny stated that he wrote some books about husbandry. {Varro, Human
Antiquities, l. 1. c. 2.} {Columella, De Re Rustica, l. 1. c. 1.} {*Pliny,
l. 18. c. 5. 5:203}
3712. Antiochus Sidetes attacked those cities which had revolted in the
beginning of his brother's reign. When he had conquered them, he added them to
his own kingdom. {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 1.}
3868 AM, 4578 JP, 136 BC
3713. Ptolemy Euergetes II, or Physcon, killed many of those Alexandrians who
had first called him to the kingdom. He banished a large number who had now
come of age who, in their youth, had been raised with his brother Philometor,
with whom he previously had differences. He let his foreign soldiers kill as
they pleased and blood was daily shed everywhere. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c.
8.} {*Athenaeus, l. 4. (184c) 2:313} Moreover, he divorced Cleopatra herself,
who was both his sister and wife. He first ravished her daughter, a virgin, and
then married her. These wicked deeds so appalled the people that, in fear of
death, they left their country and went into exile. So many left, that Ptolemy
and his company were left alone in that vast city. When he saw that he was a
king of empty houses rather than of men, he by his edicts invited strangers to
live there. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 8.} In this way, he repopulated the
cities and islands with grammarians, philosophers, geometricians, musicians,
school teachers, artists, physicians and many other artisans. By teaching their
arts to make their living, they produced many excellent men. It came to pass
that the liberal arts and sciences were revived in these lands. This knowledge
had been interrupted and advancement hindered by the continual wars that had
occurred during the times of Alexander's successors. {*Athenaeus, l. 4.
(184c) 2:313}
3714. Publius Scipio Aemilianus, who after the destruction of Carthage was
called Africanus, Spurius Mummius and Lucius Metellus were made envoys by the
Roman Senate to ascertain the condition of the kingdoms and cities of their
allies and to settle their differences. They made a thorough survey of Egypt,
Syria, Asia and Greece. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 2. 6:329} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 38. c. 8.} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Romans (200f) 3:191}
{*Athenaeus, l. 6. (273a) 3:227} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (549e) 5:493} Cicero
wrote that Scipio was in this famous embassy before he was made a censor, but in
Somnio Scipionis this same Cicero said that it was after he was censor and a
little before his second consulship. {*Cicero, Academica, l. 2. c. 2.
19:471} Valerius Maximus stated that this embassy took place after his two
consulships and his two chief triumphs, the Carthaginian and Numantian.
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 3. s. 13. 1:379} Polybius, in a work
describing the Numantian war (as mentioned in Cicero {*Cicero, Friends, l. 5.
c. 12. 25:367}), referred to this embassy. [E485] This we gather from
Athenaeus {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (273a) 3:227} and from Suidas under the word
Bapov, when compared with Diodorus. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 28b. 12:49,51}
Polybius said that after Scipio had been part of that embassy, he was sent to
settle the Numantian war. Given these three conflicting opinions, we thought it
best to choose the middle one.
3715. On this embassy, Scipio took a friend along with him. This was not Gaius
Lelius, as was stated in the corrupt copies of Aurelius Victor, but Panaetius,
the philosopher. {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 58.}
{*Cicero, Academica, l. 2. c. 2. 19:471} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Romans
(201a) 3:193} {*Plutarch, Philosophers and Men in Power (777ab) 10:33,35}
Athenaeus incorrectly thought it was Posidonius, the Stoic but he lived long
after Scipio. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (549de) 5:493} [K105] In his retinue Scipio
had only five servants, according to Posidonius and Polybius (so that from these
sources both Valerius Maximus, who assigned seven to him, and Aurelius Victor,
who allowed only two, should be amended). Of those, one died on the journey.
Scipio did not buy another servant, but wrote home for another one to be sent
from Rome to replace him. {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (273ab) 3:227} {*Plutarch,
Sayings of Romans (201a) 3:193} As he passed through the countries of both
allies and strangers, they were not so much impressed by his slaves as by his
various victories. Nor were they as interested in the amount of the gold and
silver that he brought with him, as in the greatness of his reputation.
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 3. s. 13. 1:379}
3869a AM, 4578 JP, 136 BC
3716. On receiving Ptolemy Euergetes' proclamation, foreigners came to
Alexandria. The envoys from Rome also arrived there. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38.
c. 8.} When Scipio left the ship to come ashore, he walked with his head
covered with his cloak, but the Alexandrians flocked about him and asked him to
show himself, because they wanted to see this great man. As soon as he
uncovered himself, they shouted with great acclamation. {*Plutarch, Sayings of
Romans (200f) 3:191}
3717. When the king came to meet the envoys, he appeared somewhat ridiculous to
the Romans. He looked horrible, short in stature, swag belly and more like a
beast than a man. This ugliness was made worse by the thin, transparent garment
he wore, as if to expose what modest men conceal. Justin described the man whom
Athenaeus, from the seventh book of Poseidonius the Stoic, and Natalis Comes,
described thus: {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 8.} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (549e)
5:493}
"His body, by reason of his luxurious living, had become gross and offensive and
his belly so big that a man could hardly encircle him with his arms. This
forced him to wear a long garment with sleeves reaching down to his ankles. He
rarely walked on foot except for this time, out of respect for Scipio."
3718. Scipio saw that the king, because of lack of exercise, could barely keep
pace with him without greatly straining himself. He whispered in Panethius'
ear: {*Plutarch, Sayings of Romans (200f) 3:191,193}
"Now the Alexandrians have reaped some fruits from our travels here, since they,
by their king's civility to us, have seen their king walking."
3719. From this we see how well Dalechamp, who translated Athenaeus, had
rendered those words:
"He never walked on foot without leaning on his staff."
3720. The king entertained the envoys very well and showed them his palace and
his treasury. Because they were virtuous, they were content with plain,
wholesome food and scorned the rich provisions as prejudicial both to the mind
and body. Those things which the king esteemed as rarities and admirable, they
only glanced at with their eyes and counted them as things of no value. They
looked at things of real worth very carefully. They noted the location of the
city and its industry, and particularly looked at Pharos and what belonged to
it. From there, they sailed to Memphis and noticed the goodness of the country,
the convenience of the Nile River, the number of the cities, the very large
population and the fortifications of Egypt. They noted the wealth and richness
of the country, and how well it was provided for in security and size. In
brief, having sufficiently admired both the populousness of Egypt and the good
locations of its cities, they thought that the kingdom of Egypt could easily
grow into a vast empire if it were fortunate enough to have good leadership.
[K106] After they had viewed Egypt well, they went to Cyprus and from there to
Syria. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 28b. 12:49}
3721. To Mithridates Euergetes, king of Pontus, was born that famous
Mithridates who was surnamed Dionysus, or Bacchus, or Eupator. Consequently, he
called the city which he subsequently built Eupatoria. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (10) 2:255} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11.
(78) 2:387} This Mithridates was both born and raised in the city of Sinope and
therefore always held it in high esteem, also making it the capital of his whole
kingdom. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 11. 5:389} [E486]
3722. In the same year that Mithridates was born, there appeared a large comet.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 37. c. 2.} This is the very same comet which Seneca
mentioned: {*Seneca, Natural Questions, l. 7. c. 15. 10:259}
"In the time of Attalus' reign, there appeared a comet which at first was small.
Later it elevated and spread itself and came as far as the equator. Its vast
extent equalled the size of the Milky Way."
3723. Eutropius and Orosius, who usually followed Livy, stated that Mithridates
lived seventy-two years. {Eutropius, l. 6.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 5.} If
Appian is correct when he stated that he lived only sixty-eight or nine years,
then this comet appeared after Attalus was dead and not in his reign. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (112) 2:457}
3869b AM, 4579 JP, 135 BC
3724. Simon, the high priest and the ruler of the Jews, visited the cities of
Judea and provided for their orderly government. He came down to Jericho with
his sons, Mattathias and Judas, in the 177th year of the kingdom of the Greeks,
in the eleventh month, which is called Shebat. There Ptolemy, the son of Abubus
and the son-in-law to Simon, the high priest, entertained them in the citadel of
Doc, which he had fortified. Ptolemy had been appointed by his father-in-law
over the province of Jericho and was a very wealthy man who had wanted to take
over the government of the country for himself. Thereupon, while he was
treating Simon and his sons to a banquet at which they drank somewhat freely, he
and his army of ruffians, whom he had placed in some secret spot, entered the
house and treacherously killed Simon, his sons and some of his servants. {Apc
1Ma 16:11-17} Josephus stated that Simon was killed at a banquet through the
treachery of his own son-in-law, after Simon had ruled the Jews for just eight
years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 7. s. 4. (228,229) 7:343} However,
we learn from the story of the Maccabees that Simon was the high priest for
eight years and three months after his brother Jonathan died.
3725. Ptolemy immediately told King Antiochus Sidetes of this villainy and
requested him to send an army to help him. He would soon deliver the country
and cities of the Jews into his hands. {Apc 1Ma 16:18} Since all of this and
the promise of getting the country for himself was known to the king so quickly,
it was suspected that the king was in on this plot all along, and that the place
of honour which the traitor wanted so much was prearranged by the king as a
reward for this deed. Jacobus Salianus observed this in the epitome of his
Annals, from which is derived that passage in Justin: {Justin, Trogus, l. 36.
Prologue}
"After Hyrcanus was killed, Antiochus subdued the Jews."
3726. Hyrcanus, the son of Simon, was incorrectly written for Simon. On the
contrary, Eusebius confused the father Simon with the son Hyrcanus when he wrote
concerning the history of the conquest of Judea by Antiochus: {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:227}
"He forced Simon the high priest to submit to conditions." [K107]
3727. This wicked Ptolemy sent his vile men to Gazara to surprise John Hyrcanus
and to kill him. He tried to influence the captains of the Jewish army and
wrote letters to them, making them generous promises if they would revolt. He
sent others to seize Jerusalem and the temple mount. However, someone ran ahead
to Gazara and told John that his father and his brothers had been killed and
that others were coming to kill him. Although John was greatly shocked by the
sad news, he killed the murderers by attacking them first. He was made high
priest in the place of his father. {Apc 1Ma 16:19-24}
3728. Here ends the first book of the Maccabees, containing the history of
forty years, which Josephus continued. He begins with an improbable account,
for he said that John Hyrcanus escaped to the city in the very nick of time and
was received into it by the people. He then shut out Ptolemy, who was
attempting to enter in by another gate. After John had performed the holy
services, he led his army from the city against Ptolemy and besieged him in the
citadel of Dagon, above Jericho. While John was endeavouring to take the
citadel, Ptolemy ordered that John's mother and his two brothers, who were with
him in the citadel, be brought out. They were to scourge them soundly with
whips and threaten to throw them down over the wall, unless he broke off the
attack. John was touched by their plight and started to lose his resolve. His
mother very resolutely exhorted her son not to stop out of his love for her, but
to do what he could to take vengeance on the traitor. However, he stopped his
batteries as often as he saw his mother being whipped. Since the sabbatical
year was approaching, in which the Jews rested from their works just as on the
Sabbath, John lifted his siege and Ptolemy escaped. After he had killed
Hyrcanus, his mother and his brothers, Ptolemy fled to Zeno, surnamed Cotylas,
who was the governor of Philadelphia. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 2.
s. 4. (57-60) 2:31} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 8. s. 1. (230-235)
7:343} [E487]
3729. Salianus, in the book of his Annals, has a similar account with a great
deal of variation concerning the people, times and places. {Salianus, Annals -
3919 AM, Tom. 6. c. 5-7.} {Salianus, Annals - 3920 AM, Tom. 6. c. 5,6.} He
noted that waging war or besieging cities or building fortifications in a
sabbatical year was not prohibited by the law of God. We add that this year was
indeed the sabbatical year, but that it began not after Simon's death, but four
months before it. That is, in the beginning of the 177th year of the account of
the contracts, as is evident from the list of the sabbatical years kept by the
Jews to these very times.
3730. Hipparchus observed the vernal equinox in the 43rd year of the third
Calippic period, after midnight, on the 29th day of the Egyptian month of
Mecheir (the beginning of March 24). At the end of the same year of the same
period, he observed the summer solstice. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 3. c.
2.}
3731. At the end of the fourth year of Antiochus Sidetes' reign and at the
beginning of the first year of Hyrcanus, Antiochus Sidetes' army invaded Judea
and wasted the country. He forced Hyrcanus to retire to Jerusalem and then
besieged it in seven places. [K108] He divided his whole army into seven
brigades, so that he could block all routes into the city. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 13. c. 8. s. 2. (236,237) 7:347}
3732. Scipio and the other Roman envoys travelled through very many parts of
the world and were generally received with much affection and love. Wherever
they went, they did their utmost to settle differences by reconciling some and
persuading others to yield to what was just and fair. Those who were obstinate
were forced to yield, and any causes they met with that were too difficult to be
decided by them, they referred to the Senate. After they had visited various
kings and countries and renewed their ancient friendship and alliance with all
of them, they returned home. Those whom they had visited sent envoys to Rome
and praised the Senate for sending such men to them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c.
28b. s. 3,4. 12:51}
3733. The siege of Jerusalem lasted a long time because of the strength of the
walls and the courage of the defendants. At last, on the other side of the
wall, where the ground was more level, Antiochus built a hundred towers, three
stories high. In them he placed bands of soldiers who daily attempted to cross
the walls. He also made a long, wide double trench, so that the besieged Jews
could not get out. However, the Jews made frequent sallies out. If at any time
they found the enemy's camp unguarded, they attacked them; but if there was good
resistance, they retreated back to the city. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
8. s. 2. (237-239) 7:347}
3734. Hyrcanus knew that the large number of people in the city would hinder
his cause by consuming the provisions. He expelled the weaker ones from the
city and only kept those who were able to fight. Antiochus would not allow them
to pass, so they were forced to wander about the walls and many died from
hunger. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 8. s. 2. (240,241) 7:349}
3870a AM, 4579 JP, 135 BC
3735. When the feast of tabernacles came, the Jews took pity on the ones around
the walls and allowed them back into the city again. They also requested
Antiochus to respect their feast and stop the hostility for seven days. This he
did and with very great pomp, he brought bulls with gilded horns to the very
gates of the city, and gold and silver cups filled with all manner of spices.
When he had given these sacrifices to the priests of the Jews and made a feast
for his army, he returned to his camp. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 8. s.
2. (241-244) 7:349,351} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Kings and Commanders (184f)
3:87}
3736. At the time of the rising of Pleiades, plentiful showers supplied the
besieged with water. Prior to this, they had been badly distressed from lack of
water. Also, the sabbatical year was over and if the Jews were to be hindered
from sowing their grounds, a famine would undoubtedly follow. Hyrcanus
considered Antiochus' justice and piety and sent envoys to him, requesting him
that he would give them permission to live according to the laws of their
forefathers. Many of the king's friends urged him to demolish the city and kill
all the Jews, because they were unsociable and distinct from all other countries
in their laws. Failing that, they urged him at least to abrogate their laws and
force them to change their manner of life. The king, however, who was of a
noble spirit and gentle in his conduct, rejected their counsel and approved of
the Jews' piety. He commanded that the besieged should deliver up their arms to
him, dismantle the city walls, pay all the tribute due from Joppa and the other
cities outside of Judea and have a garrison stationed among them. [E488] [K109]
On these conditions he would make a peace with them. They agreed to all the
king's propositions, except the one of having a garrison among them, since they
avoided all business with strangers. In lieu of that, they chose to give
hostages, among whom would be Hyrcanus' own brother, as well as five hundred
talents. Of this, three hundred were paid immediately and the rest later. So
the enemy removed the battering rams from the wall, raised the siege and freed
the Jews from further threats of hostilities. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
8. s. 3. (245-248) 7:351} {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 1. 12:53,55}
3737. When Hyrcanus opened the sepulchre of David, who had been the richest of
all the kings, he removed three thousand talents from it. Using this treasure,
he began to employ foreign auxiliaries, which the Jews had never done before.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 2. s. 5. (61) 2:31} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 7. c. 15. s. 3. (393,394) 5:571} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 8.
s. 4. (249) 7:353} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 7. s. 1. (179) 8:281}
Concerning this, see Salian's remarks. {Salianus, Annals - 3921 AM, Tom. 6.
c. 8,9.}
3738. In the first year of Hyrcanus, Matthias surnamed Ephaeus, the son of
Simon Psellus of the course of the priests of Joiarib, had by the daughter of
Jonathan the high priest, Matthius, surnamed Curtus, who was the
great-grandfather of Josephus. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 1. (1-6) 1:3,5}
3870b AM, 4580 JP, 134 BC
3739. When Publius Africanus and Gaius Fulvius were consuls, the slave war
started in Sicily. {*Livy, l. 56. 14:59} {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l.
1. c. 27b. 14:261} It was started by Eunus, a Syrian slave, born in the city
of Apamea. Fascinated by magical incantations and juggling, he pretended to
have received the knowledge of future events by the inspiration of the gods.
This first appeared to him in his sleep, but later when he was awake. Although
he failed in many of his predictions, because by chance he got some right,
nobody noticed his errors. His correct predictions were diligently noted and
applauded, so that his name became famous. At last, he pretended to be mad
while he observed the ceremonies of the goddess of Syria. He said that she had
appeared to him in his sleep and promised to promote him to regal honour. He
stirred up the slaves to appeal for their liberty and to take up arms at the
command of the gods. To prove that this was no design of his, but had first
come from the gods, he concealed a nutshell in his mouth, crammed with sulphur
and fire. His breath caused him to send out a flash of fire as often as he
spoke. This very miracle at first raised two thousand men for him from the
common people. He quickly had acquired an army of sixty thousand and broke open
the prisons by force. Thereupon, Eunus was made king by his slaves. After he
was crowned and his wife, who was also a Syrian, was proclaimed queen, he
selected the wisest from the whole company to be his council. He called himself
Antiochus and his rebels, Syrians. These men succeeded so well that Cleon,
another slave, was encouraged by this also to raise an army. He was born in
Cilicia, not far from the Taurus Mountains and had been a highway robber from
his youth. However, he submitted himself to Eunus, who made him his general.
He had an army of fifty thousand of his own soldiers (or, as it says in Livy,
seventy thousand). This took place about thirty days after the first outbreak
of the rebellion. Since the praetors were not able to quell it, the matter was
turned over to Gaius Fulvius, the consul. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 2.
12:57-71} {*Livy, l. 56. 14:59} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 7. 1:237} [K110] Eunus
caused similar rebellions in other places, and particularly at Delos. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 34. c. 2. s. 19. 12:67} This island was a shopping place for
slaves. Myriads were traded there each day, so much so, that it became a
proverb: {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 2. 6:329}
"Merchant, put in here, display your slaves, you shall sell them all off
immediately."
3740. Scipio Africanus, the other consul, marched into Spain to put an end to
the Numantian war. King Attalus sent very expensive presents to him from Asia.
{*Cicero, Pro Dejotaro, l. 1. c. 7. 14:517,519} Scipio accepted these gifts
in the sight of all his army. Antiochus Sidetes did the same thing as Attalus,
as appears from Livy: {*Livy, l. 57. 14:61}
"Though it was the fashion of other generals to conceal kings' gratuities, yet
Scipio said he would receive in public court the rich gifts which Antiochus
Sidetes sent him. He commanded the treasurer, moreover, to register them all in
the public tables, so that he might have this money to reward the gallantry of
his soldiers."
3871 AM, 4581 JP, 133 BC
3741. Attalus Philometor was the last king of Pergamum in Asia. He dedicated
himself to working in the art of brass, and decided to make a sepulchre for his
mother. He was too intent on the work, and he became sick from exposure to the
violent heat of the furnace. He died seven days later. {Justin, Trogus, l.
36. c. 4.} [E489]
3742. Eudemus of Pergamum brought Attalus' will to Rome and gave it to Tiberius
Gracchus, the tribune of the people. He also gave him the crown and purple
robes of the king of Pergamum. {*Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus, l. 1. c. 14.
10:177} The will said:
"Let the people of Rome be the heir of my goods."
3743. Hence, the people of Rome thought that the kingdom was part of the king's
goods and held that province, not by force of arms, but by virtue of that will.
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 35. 1:159} By this will Attalus bequeathed Asia to the
people of Rome, if it really was bequeathed, in order that it might be free.
{*Livy, l. 59. 14:65} Indeed, the Romans were charged with the counterfeiting
of this will in Mithridates' letter to Arsaces. {*Sallust, Letter of
Mithridates, l. 1. (8) 1:435} Horace hints that they were not the lawful heirs
to Attalus. Acron noted this in his notes on the 18th ode of the second book of
verses. {*Horace, Odes, l. 2. c. 18. (5,6) 1:157}
Neither have I, as an obscure heir,
invaded Attalus' court.
3744. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus wanted to buy the favour of the people. He
put through an agrarian law which was named after him as the Sempronian law.
The land in Asia was to be farmed out by the Roman censors, and to this end he
published a law to the people. It said that as soon as the money bequeathed by
King Attalus had arrived, it should be divided among the citizens, who, in line
with the Sempronian law, were to rent the lands for farming and to buy farming
implements. He denied that the Senate had anything to do with the cities of the
kingdom of Attalus. He intended to refer them to an assembly of the people.
{*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 1. c. 58. 7:285} {*Livy, l. 58. 14:61,63}
{*Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus, l. 1. c. 14. 10:177} {Orosius, l. 5. c.
8.} In an assembly of the tribunes held that summer, it was moved that he might
continue as tribune of the people for the next year. He was stabbed while in
the Capitol at the arrangement of Publius Cornelius Nasica, the Pontifex
Maximus. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 2. (16) 3:33,35} Scaevola and Pison
were consuls in the same summer when Attalus died. {Asconius Pedianus, Against
Verres II, l. 2.} [K111]
3872a AM, 4581 JP, 133 BC
3745. Aristonicus pretended to be descended from royal blood, according to
Velleius Paterculus. He was, indeed, the son of King Eumenes and the brother of
the dead Attalus, although not by lawful wedlock, but by an Ephesian courtesan,
the daughter of a harpist. He invaded Asia to obtain the right of his father's
kingdom. Most of the cities that had previously lived under the king's
government were easily persuaded to side with him. Those few that feared the
Romans and so opposed him, he took by force. {*Livy, l. 59. 14:65} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 4. 1:55} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 38. 6:247}
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 35. 1:159} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 4.} {*Plutarch,
Flamininus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 6. 10:385} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c.
3. (18) 3:35,37} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (12) 2:259}
{Eutropius, l. 4.}
3746. The first place which he persuaded to revolt was a little town called
Leucae. However, he was soon driven out, after losing a naval battle with the
Ephesians near Cyme. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 38. 6:247}
3872b AM, 4582 JP, 132 BC
3747. From there, Aristonicus marched into the midland, where he assembled a
large company of poor persons and slaves, whom he incited to stand up for their
liberty. He called them the Heliopolitans. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 38.
6:247} Wherever slaves lived under a hard master, they stopped serving him and
ran away to Aristonicus, who defeated many cities. Aristonicus first attacked
Thyatira, then Apollonia and later the other garrisons. {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
1. s. 38. 6:247} He took Myndus, Samos and Colophon by force. {*Florus, l.
1. c. 35. 1:161}
3748. To stop him, all the cities around there sent their forces. Nicomedes,
king of Bithynia, Ariarathes of Cappadocia, Phylaemenes of Paphlagonia and
Mithridates of Pontus brought their forces to join the Romans in opposing him.
As well as that, five envoys came from Rome. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 38.
6:247,249} {Justin, Trogus, l. 37. c. 1.} {Eutropius, l. 4.}
3749. This was the 38th year under Ptolemy Euergetes II or Physcon, the start
of his reign being counted from the time he began to reign with his brother
Philometor. {See note on 3835b AM. <<3280>>} Jesus, the son of
Sirach, who was
born at Jerusalem, came into Egypt and lived there. He translated the book of
his grandfather, Jesus, whom the Greeks called Panaretos and Ecclesiasticus,
from Hebrew into Greek, as he stated in the preface to his translation. Jerome,
in his 115th Epistle, said he had seen this very book in the Hebrew, with this
inscription:
"The parables of Jesus, son of Sirach."
3750. Publius Rupilius was promoted from the position of a Sicilian tax
collector to the honour of consulship. [E490] He then put down the insurrection
of the slaves in Sicily. {*Livy, l. 59. 14:65} {Asconius Pedianus, Against
Verres II, l. 4.} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 2. c. 7. s. 3. 1:181} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 6. c. 9. s. 8. 2:87,89} When he besieged Tauromenium, he took
Comanus, Cleon's brother, prisoner as he was stealing out of the city. A little
later, at Sarapion, a Syrian betrayed the citadel to him and he was able to
seize all the fugitives in the city. After he had racked them, he killed them
all. From there he marched to Enna, where he fought with Cleon, the general,
who had marched out of the city to fight him. Cleon conducted himself very
gallantly and received many wounds before he fell. As soon as the general was
killed, that city was also betrayed to the consul. Eunus, the king of the
rebels, took a thousand of his bodyguards along with him and escaped as fast as
he could to the craggy mountains for his safety. For fear of the pursuers they
hid in caves, from where he and four more of his company were dragged out and
cast into prison at Morgantina. He lay there so long, that his body putrefied
and was infested with lice. This was a lamentable death, but his rash actions
deserved no better. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 2. s. 20-23. 12:67-71}
[K112]
3873 AM, 4583 JP, 131 BC
3751. In the eighth year of Antiochus Sidetes, about ten o'clock in the morning
on the 21st day of the month of Peritios, or February, there was an earthquake
at Antioch in Syria. This is recorded in the Chronicles of Johannes Malela of
Antioch.
3752. When Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Publius Licinius Crassus were consuls,
the question was put to the people as to whom they wanted to have in charge of
managing the war against Aristonicus. Crassus, who was both consul and Pontifex
Maximus, threatened to impose a fine upon Flaccus, his colleague in the
consulship and a priest of Mars, if he left the holy services. The people
removed the fine, but enjoined the priests to obey the Pontifex. For all that,
the people would not consent that the managing of the war should be given to a
private person. Although Scipio Africanus, who the year before had triumphed
over the Numantians, was the man they wanted, they voted that the war should be
entrusted to Crassus, the consul, rather than to Africanus, who was merely a
private citizen. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 8. 15:477} So, for the
first time ever, the Pontifex Maximus left Italy. {*Livy, l. 59. 14:65}
3753. Antiochus Sidetes marched with his army against Phraates, who had
succeeded his brother, Arsacides or Mithridates, in the kingdom of Parthia. He
intended to get back his brother Demetrius Nicator. Twice Phraates had captured
him as he was fleeing away and sent him back into Hyrcania to his wife Rhodoguna
and his children. This was not out of kindness toward them, or respect for his
own alliance with them, but because Phraates aspired to the kingdom of Syria.
Therefore, he wanted to use Demetrius against Antiochus, his brother, as the
opportunity might present itself and as the events of the war might require.
Consequently, Antiochus thought it best to strike first; so he led his army,
which he had already hardened in the wars he had fought with his neighbours,
into Media against the Parthians. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 9,10.} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42. c. 1.} {*Livy, l. 59. 14:67} {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (439e)
4:491} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (540b) 5:443} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
11. (68) 2:235}
3754. As he lived, so he waged war. He had three hundred thousand (Orosius
said two hundred thousand) menial servants who followed his army of eighty
thousand (Orosius said a hundred thousand) men. {Orosius, l. 5. c. 10.} Most
of these servants were cooks, bakers and actors. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c.
10.} Antiochus regularly each day entertained such a large number of guests
that, besides what was eaten at table and taken off by heaps, every one of the
guests carried away whole joints of meat untouched. They had meat from
four-footed beasts, birds and sea fish already dressed. Moreover, many desserts
of candied honey were provided, and many coronets of frankincense and myrrh,
with knots and ribbons of gold which were let down at length and were as long as
a man. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (540c) 5:443} {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (210d) 2:451}
The soldiers imitated his blind and mad excesses. They drove silver nails into
the soles of their shoes, prepared silver vessels for kitchen service and
adorned their tents with tapestries. All this would seem more like a booty to
encourage the enemy, than a means to slacken the hands of a courageous man or to
discourage him from pursuing a victory. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 1.
ext. 4. 2:305} {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 10.}
3755. As soon as Antiochus came into those regions, many of the eastern kings
surrendered themselves and their kingdoms to him and cursed the insolence of the
Parthians. He soon engaged the enemy and having won three battles, he was about
to seize Babylonia. He became so famous that the Parthians had nothing left but
their own country and the people generally defected to Antiochus. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 38. c. 10.} [K113]
3756. In this expedition, John Hyrcanus, the Jewish high priest and ruler,
followed Antiochus with his supplies. Nicolaus Damascene, in his general
history, stated this concerning him:
"Antiochus had erected a monument near the Lycus River where he had defeated
Indates, the Parthian general. [E491] There he waited for two days, at the
request of Hyrcanus, the Jew. It happened to be the time of one of the Jews'
solemn festivals, during which it was not lawful for the Jews to travel."
3757. It was the feast of Pentecost, which occurred after the Sabbath. During
this time, the Jews were prohibited from taking any journey. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 8. s. 4. (253) 7:355} When it was over, John defeated
the Hyrcani and because of this was surnamed Hyrcanus, as Eusebius and Sulpicius
Severus assumed. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:228} {*Sulpicius Severus,
Sacred History, l. 2. c. 26. 11:109} He returned home again with a great
deal of honour.
3758. Publius Crassus, the consul, came into Asia to put down King Aristonicus.
Through his studiousness, he became so expert in the Greek language, that he
knew it exactly, even down to the five dialects into which it was divided. This
earned him a great deal of respect and love among the allies, when they noticed
him answer their requests in the very same dialect that they themselves had
used. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 8. c. 7. s. 6. 2:227} {Quintilian, l. 11.
c. 2.}
3759. When Crassus was preparing to besiege Leucae, he wanted a strong and
large beam to make a battering ram for the walls of the town. He wrote to the
chief carpenter of the Mylatta (or Mylasa? Loeb text corrupted at this point.
Editor.), who were confederates and allies of the Romans. He wanted the larger
of the two masts which he had seen there sent to him. The carpenter understood
what he wanted, but sent the smaller of the two masts, thinking it more suitable
for the purpose and easier to ship. Crassus ordered him to be sent for. When
he demanded why he had not sent the mast he asked for, Crassus was not put off
by his excuses and reasons and commanded him to be stripped and whipped.
Crassus thought that all respect due to superiors would soon disappear, if a man
were allowed to respond to a command, not with the exact obedience which is
expected, but with a meddlesome interpretation of his own. {*Aulus Gellius,
Attic Nights, l. 1. c. 13. s. 11-13. 1:69}
3874a AM, 4583 JP, 131 BC
3760. Antiochus Sidetes divided his army up among the cities for their winter
quarters because it was so large. When he expected these cities to provide free
board for his soldiers and the soldiers behaved themselves poorly, the cities
defected from him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 10.} Athenaeus, one of
Antiochus' captains, was the most intolerably insolent of all, no matter where
he went to spend the winter. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 17. s. 2.
12:105}
3761. Publius Crassus, the proconsul of Asia, had a very strong force and had
troops sent to him from the kings of Bithynia, Pontus, Cappadocia and
Paphlagonia. Nevertheless, when he fought with the enemy at the end of the
year, he was defeated. After a large slaughter of his army, the army was forced
to flee. He himself was captured by an ambush of Thracians near Leneas, between
Elea and Smyrna, where Aristonicus had a number of troops garrisoned. The
consul, mindful of the fact that he was descended from an honourable family and
that he was a Roman citizen, thrust the stick he was using to guide his horse
into the eye of the Thracian who had charge of him. The man was so enraged
because of the pain, that he ran his sword into Crassus' side, who thus died in
a way that avoided disgrace and servitude. His head was presented to
Aristonicus and his body interred at Smyrna. [K114] {*Livy, l. 59. 14:65}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 4. s. 1. 1:55} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1.
s. 38. 6:249} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 3. c. 2. s. 12. 1:247} {*Florus, l.
1. c. 35. s. 4-6. 1:159,161} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 4.} {*Julius
Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 28. 14:263} {Eutropius, l. 4.} {Orosius, l.
5. c. 10.}
3874b AM, 4584 JP, 130 BC
3762. When Marcus Perperna, the consul who succeeded Crassus, heard of his
death and the defeat of the Roman army, he hurried into Asia. He surprised
Aristonicus, who was taking a holiday as it were, because of his recent
conquest, and routed him because he was without his forces. He escaped to
Stratonicia, to where the consul followed him and then besieged the city so
tightly, that he forced it to surrender for lack of provisions. He took
Aristonicus prisoner and kept him in bonds. {*Livy, l. 59. 14:65} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 4. s. 1. 1:55} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 38.
6:249} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 3. c. 4. s. 5. 1:285} {*Florus, l. 1. c.
35. s. 6,7. 1:161} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 4.} {Eutropius, l. 4.}
{Orosius, l. 5. c. 10.}
3763. Belossius Cyme thought so highly of Tiberius Gracchus that he said if
Gracchus had commanded him to set fire to the Capitol, he would have done it
with no regrets. After the death of Tiberius Gracchus, he left Rome for Asia
and went to Aristonicus. When he witnessed the reversal of Aristonicus'
fortunes, he killed himself. {*Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus, l. 1. c. 20. s.
4. 10:193,195}
3764. Just before the capture of Aristonicus, news came to Rome that the image
of Apollo at Cyme had wept for four days. The soothsayers were so appalled at
this sign that they would have thrown the image into the sea, had not the old
men of Cyme interceded. [E492] The most expert soothsayers said that this sign
showed the downfall of Greece, from where the image had been brought. At this,
the Romans sacrificed and brought offerings into the temple. {*Julius
Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 28. 14:263} {*Augustine, City of God, l. 3.
c. 11. 2:47}
3765. Phrygia was recovered by the Romans. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l.
1. c. 28. 14:263}
3766. Phraates sent Demetrius Nicator into Syria with a company of Parthians to
seize that kingdom. He hoped thereby to draw Antiochus from Parthia and so to
save his own country. In the meantime, since he could not overcome Antiochus in
battle, he endeavoured by every means to surprise him with stratagems. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 38. c. 10.}
3767. The cities in which Antiochus' army had taken up their winter quarters,
found it a burden to supply quarters to the insolent troops, and so revolted to
the Parthians. On a set day, all of them attacked the army as it was dispersed
in the various quarters. They placed ambushes so that they could not come to
help one another. As soon as Antiochus heard of this, he marched to relieve
those who were nearest to him, taking that company which was with him. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 38. c. 10.}
3768. The swallows built nests in Antiochus' pavilion, but he ignored the
portent and fought with the enemy. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c.
28. 14:263} He behaved more gallantly than both his army and Phraates, whom he
met in the way. At the end, his army deserted him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38.
c. 10.}
3769. The first man who deserted Antiochus was Athenaeus, who fled to some of
those villages which he had provoked by his insolence when he was quartered
among them. They shut their gates against him and he was denied food by
everyone. He was forced to wander up and down the country until he died from
hunger. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 17. s. 2. 12:105,107}
3770. Julius Obsequens, Justin, Josephus, Eusebius and Orosius stated that
Antiochus was killed by the Parthians in that battle. {*Julius Obsequens,
Prodigies, l. 1. c. 28. 14:263} {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 10.} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 39. c. 1.} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 8. s. 4. (253)
7:355} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:228} {Orosius, l. 5. c. 10.} [K115]
Appian stated he killed himself after losing the battle. {*Appian, Syrian Wars,
l. 11. c. 11. (68) 2:235} Aelian said that after he lost the battle, he
threw himself down headlong from a steep place. {*Aelian, History of Animals,
l. 10. c. 34. 2:331} Some modern writers think he was stoned to death by the
priests of the temple of Nannea in Persia, where he went with the remainder of
his army to plunder the temple. They agreed with Rupert Tuitiensis, who thought
that this was the same Antiochus who was mentioned in the letter written by the
Jews at Jerusalem to their brethren in Egypt. {Tuitiensis, De Victoria Verbi
Dei, l. 10. c. 6,16,24.} {Apc 2Ma 1:10-17}
3771. Arsaces, as Phraates was known by the common name of the kings of
Parthia, buried the body of Antiochus. Athenaeus quoted Posidonius of Apamea as
stating, in the sixteenth book of his histories, that Phraates reproved
Antiochus' debauchery: {*Athenaeus, l. 10. (439e) 4:491}
"Your wine and your rashness, oh Antiochus, your two great confidences, have
deceived you. For you hoped, in your large cups, to have swallowed down the
kingdom of Arsaces."
3772. After Phraates conducted Antiochus' funeral in a royal manner, he was
enamoured with Demetrius' daughter, whom Antiochus had brought along with him
and married her. He began to regret having sent Demetrius away, so he quickly
sent some cavalry to bring him back. The attempt was a waste of time, as they
found Demetrius already established in his kingdom, so they returned back to the
king.
3773. Antiochus and his army were defeated in Parthia and his brother Demetrius
was freed from his captivity under the Parthians and restored to his kingdom.
At the time, all Syria bemoaned the loss of the army. However, Demetrius seemed
to consider it a stroke of good luck, as he could not have managed it better
himself. One of them was taken prisoner and then freed, while the other was
killed. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 1.}
3774. After the death of Antiochus, the Jews never permitted a Macedonian king
to rule over them, but created magistrates from among their own number. They
annoyed Syria with continual wars and subdued many parts of Syria and Phoenicia.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c. 1.} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 37. 7:285}
After the death of Antiochus, Hyrcanus revolted from the Macedonians and never
again sent them any supplies, either as a subject or a friend. At the first
rumour of Antiochus' death, Hyrcanus led his whole army against the cities of
Syria, on the assumption that they would have few troops to defend them, and
this was indeed true. He stormed Medeba, which is mentioned in the Apocrypha,
{Apc 1Ma 9:36} and captured it with some difficulty after a six-month siege. He
next conquered Samega and its adjacent towns. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
9. s. 1. (254,255) 7:355} [E493]
3775. In the meantime, Phraates resolved to start a war in Syria in vindication
of Antiochus' attempt to take over the kingdom of Parthia. He was thwarted and
was called home to put down a rebellion of the Scythians. The Scythians had
been hired by the Parthians to help them against Antiochus. However, since they
did not arrive with their supplies until the war was over, the Parthians reduced
their pay and justified it by saying they had come too late. The Scythians were
upset after they had marched so long for nothing. They asked that they might be
given their pay because of their tedious march, or else be given some other work
to do. When the Parthians gave them a rough answer which offended them, they
started plundering the country. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 1.}
3776. While Phraates was away fighting the Scythians, he left Himerus behind as
viceroy. A Hyrcanian by birth, Himerus had been highly favoured by Phraates as
a young man, but he now forgot his former lowly position and the fact that he
was acting on behalf of another. He instigated a great deal of tyranny and
vexed the Babylonians and many other cities, for no reason at all. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42. c. 1.} [K116] He made many of the Babylonians his slaves and
with their whole families, dispersed them into Media. He set the market place
on fire, and some temples of Babylon, as well as pulling down all the most
beautiful places in the city. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 21. 12:109}
Posidonius of Apamea, in the sixteenth book of his histories, also mentioned the
extravagant government of Himerus. {*Athenaeus, l. 11. (466b) 5:33} He stated
that Lysimachus, a Babylonian, invited him and three hundred others to supper.
When the food had been taken away, he presented to each one of those three
hundred the silver cup from which they had been drinking, which weighed four
pounds.
3777. In Egypt, Ptolemy Euergetes II, or Physcon, had reigned for fifteen years
after his brother Philometor. {*Diod. Sic., l. 33. c. 6. 12:19} His
cruelty made him so odious to those same foreigners whom he had invited to
Alexandria, that they set his royal palace on fire. They stole away secretly to
Cyprus with his son Memphites, whom his sister Cleopatra had borne him, and with
his wife, the daughter of the same Cleopatra. The people then conferred the
kingdom on Cleopatra, his sister and divorced wife, so Ptolemy hired an army and
waged war against his own sister and his native country. {*Livy, l. 59.
14:67} {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 8.} {Orosius, l. 5. c. 10.}
3875a AM, 4584 JP, 130 BC
3778. John Hyrcanus took Sichem and Gerizim and demolished the temple of the
Cuthites, two hundred years after it had been built by Sanballat. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 9. s. 1. (255) 7:355}
3779. Marcus Perperna was careful to have Aristonicus and the treasure which
Attalus had given in his legacy to the people of Rome, shipped away from there.
Manius Aquilius, the consul who was his successor, did not take kindly to this
action. He immediately hurried to Perperna, intending to get Aristonicus from
him, because he thought Aristonicus belonged in his triumph, rather than to
Perperna's. However, Perperna's death settled the matter, as he took sick at
Pergamum on his return and died. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 38. 6:249}
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 3. c. 4. s. 5. 1:285} {Justin, Trogus, l. 36. c.
4.} {Eutropius, l. 4.} {Orosius, l. 5. c. 10.}
3875b AM, 4585 JP, 129 BC
3780. Aquilius, the consul, finished the remainder of the Asian war. He forced
some cities to surrender by poisoning their water supply. Although this made
for a quick victory, it spoiled his reputation and made him dishonourable.
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 35. s. 7. 1:161}
3781. Most of the Asians, who for four whole years had helped Aristonicus
against the Romans, turned their loyalty back to Rome from fear. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (12) 2:259} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 9. (62) 2:353,355} Lydia, the ancient seat of the kings, Caria, the
Hellespont and Greater and Lessor Phrygia by joint surrender, all put themselves
under the power of the Romans. {Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
3782. The people of Massilia (which is Marseilles) sent their envoys away to
Rome to mediate on behalf of their founders, the Phoenicians, whose city and
name the Senate had ordered to be totally destroyed, because they had fought
against the people of Rome, both in the war with Aristonicus and previously with
Antiochus the Great. The Senate granted them their pardon. {Justin, Trogus, l.
37. c. 1.}
3783. The Romans gave Greater Phrygia to Mithridates Euergetes, king of Pontus,
as a gift for helping them against Aristonicus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 37. c.
1.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 5.} It is generally believed, however, that
Manius Aquilius was generously bribed for his pains, and therefore gave it to
him. [K117] Consequently, after the death of Mithridates, the Senate took
Phrygia away from his son, who was not of legal age, and made it a free and
independent state. His complaints about this were noted by Justin. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (12) 2:259} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 8. (57) 2:343} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 3. (22) 3:43}
{Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 5.} [E494]
3784. Aquilius with ten commissioners reorganized Attalus' dominion into the
form of a province and made it a tributary. They called it Asia, after the name
of the continent. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2. 6:169} {*Strabo, l. 14.
c. 1. s. 38. 6:249}
3785. Ariarathes, the king of Cappadocia, was killed in the war against
Aristonicus and left behind six sons by his wife Laodice. The people of Rome
gave them Lycaonia and Cilicia for their father's good service. Laodice was
jealous of her sons and because she feared that when they came of age she would
be deprived of the kingdom, she poisoned five of them. But one young son
escaped his mother's cruelty through the help of his family. He became ruler
after the people had killed Laodice for her cruelty. {Justin, Trogus, l. 37.
c. 1.}
3786. John Hyrcanus took Adora and Marisa, which were cities of Idumea. When
he had subdued all the Idumeans, he had them circumcised under penalty of losing
their country. They loved their native country and so were circumcised and kept
all the other Jewish laws, after which they were counted as Jews. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 9. s. 2. (257,258) 7:357} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15.
c. 7. s. 9. (254) 8:119,121} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 4. c. 4. s. 4.
(281,282) 3:241} Strabo stated that these Idumeans were originally Nabateans,
but had been driven from there after some sedition. They had joined themselves
to the Jews and submitted to their laws. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 34.
7:281} He added that Herod, the king of the Jews, came from there, virum
indigenam, A stranger born. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 46. 7:299}
Antigonus said he was an Idumean, that is, a half Jew. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
14. c. 15. s. 2. (403) 7:661} For although Stephanus Byzantinus wrote (in
voc. Idoumaiov) that the Idumeans were originally Hebrews, yet Ammonius, the
grammarian, in his book De Differentius Verborum, from Ptolemy's first book, De
Rege Herode (perhaps that Ptolemy who was Herod's lieutenant {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 16. c. 7. s. 2. (191) 8:285}), noted this difference between the
Idumeans and the Jews:
"The Jews are such as were so naturally from the beginning. The Idumeans were
not Jews from the beginning, but Phoenicians and Syrians who were conquered by
the Jews. They were compelled to be circumcised, to unite their country to the
Jews' country and to be subject to their laws. Therefore, they were called
Jews."
3787. They were called Jews, not because of their descent, but in regard to
their religion and manner of life. For there were other men who were called
Jews, though they were born strangers, because they lived according to the
Jewish rites and constitutions. {*Dio, l. 37. (17) 3:127} Hence it was that
the kingdom of Herod and his posterity were called Myrgh twklm, The Kingdom of
the Proselytes, by the Hebrews. (It was not Hagarens, as it was rendered by
Munster in Seder Olam Minore, and by Scaliger in Judaici Computi Spicilegio book
seven of de Emendatione Temporum.) For among the Jews, the term proselytes of
righteousness, as they called them, came to be used of the Idumeans at this
time. These proselytes were always counted as and given the same honour as
other Jews.
3788. Ptolemy Physcon recalled his oldest son from Cyrene and killed him,
because he feared the Alexandrians would set him up as king against him. [K118]
Thereupon, the people pulled down his statue and his images. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 38. c. 8.} Ptolemy thought that this had been done at the instigation of
his sister Cleopatra and not knowing how to be avenged in any other way, he
ordered his son Memphites, who was a promising young child he had by Cleopatra,
to be killed before his eyes. He had his head, hands and feet cut off and put
into a chest covered with a soldier's coat. He gave them to one of his servants
to carry to Alexandria and to present them to Cleopatra on her birthday, when
she was at the height of her happiness over a birthday gift. This was a
grievous and sad spectacle for the queen and the entire city. The whole merry
mood of the celebration was changed and the court mourned this act. The nobles
turned their festival into a funeral and showed the mangled limbs to the people,
to let them see what they themselves might expect from their king, who had
murdered his own son. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 8.} {*Diod. Sic., l.
34/35. c. 14. 12:101,103} {*Livy, l. 59. 14:67} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9.
c. 2. ext. 5. 2:317}
3789. Ptolemy saw how detestable he had become in his country and feared the
worst, so he tried to secure his throne with more cruelty. He thought that if
the common people were killed, his throne would be more secure. At a time when
the public place of exercise was full of young men, he surrounded it and burned
it. Those that escaped the fire were killed by the sword. {*Valerius Maximus,
l. 9. c. 2. ext. 5. 2:317}
3790. In his war against the Scythians, Phraates led the army of those Greeks
whom he had captured in the war against Antiochus. He behaved himself very
arrogantly toward them and did not consider their hostility toward him because
of their captivity. [E495] He had exasperated them with new indignities, so
that as soon as they saw the Parthian army give ground, they wheeled around to
the enemy and carried out the long-desired revenge for their captivity.
Phraates was killed and the Parthian army put to the sword. {Justin, Trogus, l.
42. c. 1.}
3791. Artabanus, his uncle, succeeded Phraates in the kingdom of the Parthians.
The Scythians were contented with their victory and after they had pillaged the
country of the Parthians, they returned home again. Artabanus had started a war
with the Thogarii or Tochari, who were a people descended from the Scythians.
He was wounded in his arm and died shortly after, leaving his son, Mithridates
the Great, as his successor. Shortly after this, Mithridates waged war with
Ortoadistes, the king of Armenia. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 2.}
3792. At Rhodes, Hipparchus, at six o'clock in the morning, observed the sun in
Leo, at eight degrees thirty-five minutes, and the moon in Taurus, at twelve
degrees two minutes. This was in the 50th year of the third Calippic period, on
the 16th day of the Egyptian month of Epeiph (August 5). {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 5. c. 3.}
3876 AM, 4586 JP, 128 BC
3793. Hipparchus observed the vernal equinox in that same 50th year, on the
first day of the Egyptian month of Phamenoth (March 23). {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 2.}
3794. Hipparchus, also in the same year, observed the star in the heart of Leo,
twenty-nine degrees fifty minutes from the point of the summer solstice.
{Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 7. c. 2.}
3795. Hegelochus, Ptolemy Physcon's general, was sent against Marsyas, the
Alexandrians' general, and captured him alive, but killed his troops. When
Marsyas was brought into the king's presence, everyone believed the king would
give him a cruel death. However, Ptolemy spared him against all expectations,
for he was now beginning to regret his previous bloody actions and was very keen
by such acts of grace to reconcile himself to the people, who were extremely
alienated from him. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 20. 12:109} [K119]
3796. After the days of mourning for her son were over, Queen Cleopatra was
aware that her brother Physcon was marching against her and sent her envoys to
ask for help from Demetrius Nicator, the king of Syria. He was her son-in-law,
for Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius, was the daughter of this Cleopatra and
Philometor. She promised him that he should have the kingdom of Egypt for his
trouble. In hope of this reward, he marched into Egypt and made his first
attack on Pelusium. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 9.} {Justin, Trogus, l. 39.
c. 1.} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
3877a AM, 4586 JP, 128 BC
3797. In this year, Alexander Jannaeus, who later became the king of the Jews,
was born to John Hyrcanus. He lived for forty-nine years. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 13. c. 15. s. 5. (404) 7:431} As soon as he was born, he fell out of
favour with his father. For it is said that Hyrcanus enquired of God, who
appeared to him in his sleep, about his successor. He was very anxious to gain
favour for Aristobulus and Antigonus, whom he loved far more than their
brothers. When God told him that Jannaeus would succeed him, he was very
perplexed and sent Alexander into Galilee to receive his education. He never
allowed him into his presence again as long as he lived. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 12. s. 1. (320-323) 7:389,391}
3798. About this time, Simon the son of Dositheus, Apollonius the son of
Alexander and Diodorus the son of Jason were sent as envoys from Hyrcanus and
the people of the Jews to renew their friendship and amity with the Romans.
Fannius, the son of Marcus, was prae-tor and arranged a meeting of the Senate
for them on the 8th of the Ides of February (February 6). This was really in
November (Julian Calendar) because of the mess the Roman calendar was in. It
was ordered by a decree of the Senate that Joppa and its regions, as well as
Gazara, Pegae and the other cities which Antiochus Sidetes had taken from them,
should be restored, contrary to the former decree of the Senate. It was further
ordered that the king's soldiers were not to travel through their country, or
through any country under their command. Whatever Antiochus had gained in that
war was to be set aside. The envoys, who were being sent by the Senate, were to
take care to ensure that whatever Antiochus had taken away was restored and to
give an estimate of the damage the country had sustained in that war. Letters
of commendation were to be given to the envoys for the kings and free people, so
that these might be able to return to their home country in greater safety.
Fannius, the praetor, was also ordered to supply the envoys with money from the
public treasury, to provide for their needs on their return journey.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 9. s. 2. (259-266) 7:357-361}
3877b AM, 4587 JP, 127 BC
3799. On the island of Rhodes, Hipparchus observed the sun at seven degrees
forty-five minutes in Taurus and the moon at twenty-one degrees forty minutes in
Pisces. This was in the 197th year after Alexander's death and the 621st year
of Nabonassar, on the 11th day of the Egyptian month of Pharmuthi (May 2), in
the morning at 5:20 a.m. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 5. c. 5.} [E496]
3800. In the same year, on the 17th day of the Egyptian month of Pauni (July
7), in the afternoon at 3:20 p.m., in the same place, Hipparchus observed the
sun at ten degrees fifty-four minutes in Cancer and the moon at twenty-one
degrees forty minutes in Pisces. {Ptolemy, Great Syntaxis, l. 5. c. 5.}
3801. In the ninth year of Hyrcanus' high priesthood and reign, Alexander, the
son of Jason, Numenius, son of Antiochus, and Alexander, son of Dorotheus, who
were the envoys for the Jews, presented the Senate with a chalice and buckler of
gold, valued at fifty thousand staters, as a testimony of their ancient amity
with the people of Rome. When the envoys had received letters for the free
cities and kings, asking them to grant the men safe passage through their
countries and ports, they returned home. [K120] A copy of this decree of the
Senate was recorded in Josephus but linked to a different occasion. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 8. s. 5. (143-155) 7:523-531} For Josephus had said
earlier that Julius Caesar's letters contained a decree giving permission to
Hyrcanus II to repair the walls of Jerusalem which Pompey had demolished. I do
not know through what oversight he connected this decree instead of the other,
which in no way concerned the repair of the walls of Jerusalem. Moreover,
Josephus said that this was done in the ninth year of Hyrcanus' high priesthood
and reign, in the month of Panemos. This occurred when, as the acts themselves
confirm, this decree had been published on the Ides of December (December 13),
which was in the Julian September and the Macedonian month of Hyperberetaios.
If Caesar had made that decree in favour of Hyrcanus II, then it should have
been recorded as the twenty-seventh year of Hyrcanus, rather than the ninth. As
for his reign, nothing at all should have been noted, because Josephus himself
stated that Pompey had removed him as king and left him only in the high
priest's office. Therefore, that decree should be taken as referring to the
ninth year of Hyrcanus I, when the Jewish country was still a free state and
confederate with the people of Rome, and not to the ninth year of Hyrcanus II.
This is because it was conquered in the time of Hyrcanus II and made a tributary
of the Romans. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 4. (73) 7:485}
3802. In King Demetrius Nicator's absence, the Antiochians first revolted
because of his pride which had grown intolerable through his experiences with
the cruel Parthians. Later, the people of Apamea and the other cities of Syria
were encouraged by the Antiochians' example and also revolted from him.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 1.} Demetrius was told of this while he was in
Egypt, and so he had to march back to Syria.
3803. When Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen, had lost her best defender, Demetrius
Nicator, she packed up all her goods and hurried to Syria to her daughter,
Cleopatra the Syrian and Demetrius, her son-in-law. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39.
c. 1.}
3804. Demetrius was detested both by the Syrians and by his soldiers. They
sent to Ptolemy Physcon, asking him to appoint someone who was descended from
Seleucus and whom they might appoint as king over them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 9. s. 3. (267) 7:361} He sent them an Egyptian youth, the son of
Protarchus, a merchant, who was to seize the kingdom of Syria through force of
arms. He made up a very elegant story about how he had been adopted by King
Antiochus into the royal bloodline. The Syrians were very willing to submit to
any king whatever, rather than live under Demetrius any longer, because of his
insolence. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 1. s. 4.} Porphyry stated that this
youth was sent as the son of Alexander Balas, who alleged himself to be the son
of Antiochus Epiphanes. The youth also called himself Alexander, but the
Syrians surnamed him Zebinas, because he was generally thought to be one of
Ptolemy's slaves, whom he had purchased. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius,
p. 227.} Among the Syrians, the Hebrew word agybz, to speak the truth, meant
both bought and redeemed. This king was not ashamed of having been bought,
always putting this inscription on his coins: ALEXANDROU ZEBENNOUS BASILEWS.
3878a AM, 4587 JP, 127 BC
3805. It is reported that after this new king had arrived from Egypt with his
numerous forces, the remains of Antiochus Sidetes, who had been killed by the
king of the Parthians, were sent to Syria in a silver coffin to be interred
there. These were received with a great deal of reverence both by the cities
and by King Alexander. This ingratiated him very much with the countrymen, who
truly believed that the tears he shed at the funeral were not fake, but real.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 1.} [K121]
3878b AM, 4588 JP, 126 BC
3806. The two armies fought near Damascus and Demetrius Nicator was defeated.
When he realised that he was almost surrounded, he withdrew from the battle and
hurried to his wife Cleopatra at Ptolemais. She, however, shut the gates
against him. After he had been deserted by his wife and his sons, he fled to
Tyre with a very small retinue, hoping for sanctuary in the temple. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 39. c. 1.} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 9. s. 3. (268) 7:361,363} [E497]
3807. Porphyry stated that when Demetrius was denied entrance there, he was
killed as he was sailing to some other place. This was after he had reigned for
four years since his return from Parthia. Justin stated that he was killed at
the command of the governor, as he was first landing. Josephus stated that he
was taken prisoner by the enemy. They treated him badly and he died in custody.
Livy and Appian stated that his wife Cleopatra killed him. {*Livy, l. 60.
14:71} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (68) 2:235} In fact, it is very
probable that he was killed at Tyre and that she was an accessory. For by doing
this, the citizens of Tyre obtained their freedom and the liberty to live
according to their own laws, either from her or from Alexander Zebinas. From
this very year they began a new epoch in the reckoning of their history.
Eusebius stated that the 402nd year of Tyre was the same as the second year of
the Emperor Probus, which was 277 AD. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:228} The
judgment of Tyre inserted into the ninth action of the council of Chalcedon was
in the year after the consulship of Flavius Zeno and Postumius, and which was in
449 AD, is reckoned as the 574th year of the epoch of Tyre. Moreover, in the
inscriptions recorded by Grotius we find the city of Tyre honoured with the
commendation of being the religious and the independent metropolis of Phoenicia.
{Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 1105.}
3808. When Alexander Zebinas was in control of that kingdom, he entered into a
league with John Hyrcanus, the high priest, and things went very well for
Hyrcanus during the reign of Alexander. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 9. s.
3. (269) 7:363} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 10. s. 1. (273) 7:365}
3809. Manius Aquilius, the proconsul, returned in triumph from Asia on the 3rd
of the Ides of November (November 13), which was August in the Julian year.
This may be deduced from the fragments of the triumphal tables of marble. In
reference to this, Mithridates, in a letter to Arsaces, stated: {*Sallust,
Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (8,9) 1:435}
"The Romans unjustly pretended a will, that is King Attalus' will, and led in
triumph Aristonicus, Eumenes' son, who had attempted to recover his father's
kingdom by force of arms."
3810. Velleius Paterculus intimated that Aristonicus was led in triumph by
Manius Aquilius and later beheaded. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 4.
1:55} He was strangled in the prison at Rome by an order from the Senate.
{*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 38. 6:249} {Eutropius, l. 4.} {Orosius, l. 5.
c. 10.}
3811. Manius Aquilius was accused of bribery and, knowing that he was guilty,
bribed his judges and so was acquitted. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 3.
(22) 3:43,45}
3879 AM, 4589 JP, 125 BC
3812. When Marcus Plautius Hypsaeus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus were consuls, a
large army of locusts in Africa was blown into the sea and washed ashore at
Cyrene. This caused such an intolerable stench, that many cattle died because
of the noxious air. It is also reported that eight hundred thousand men died
from the same infection. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 30.
14:265} {Orosius, l. 5. c. 11. s. 2.}
3813. Mithridates Euergetes, king of Pontus, sent Dorylaus of Pontus and a man
expert in military affairs to Crete to hire foreign mercenaries. While he was
there, a war was started in those regions, by the Cnossians against the
Gortynians. The Cnossians appointed Dorylaus as their general, who quickly
ended the war, but this was more through luck than skill. He was highly
honoured by the Cnossians for his good service and subsequently lived among them
with his whole family. A little later he received news that Mithridates had
died. Dorylaus was the great-grandfather of the mother of Strabo, the
geographer. {*Strabo, l. 10. c. 4. s. 10. 5:133-137} {*Strabo, l. 12.
c. 3. s. 33. 5:433} [K122]
3880a AM, 4589 JP, 125 BC
3814. In the 188th year of the account of the contracts, the Jews of Palestine
with Judas and the elders of Jerusalem were about to celebrate the feast of the
dedication of the cleansing of the temple on the 25th day of the month of
Chisleu. They wrote to Aristobulus Ptolemy, Physcon's master, who was descended
from the family of the priests according to Aaron, and to the Jews in Egypt,
that they should likewise keep the feast. {Apc 2Ma 1:10,18} Rupert Tuitiensis
thought that this Judas was that same Judas the Essean, whom Josephus noted had
foretold nineteen years later the sudden death of Antigonus, the son of John
Hyrcanus. {Rupert Tuitiensis, De Victoria Verbi, l. 10. c. 15.} He seldom
failed in his prophecies. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 11. s. 2.
(310,311) 7:383} Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea thought that
Aristobulus was that certain Jewish philosopher, the Peripatetic, of whom we
made mention before. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 5. c. 14. 2:467} {*Eusebius,
Gospel, l. 8. c. 9. (375d) 1:406} {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius} {See
note on 3854 AM. <<3605>>}
3880b AM, 4590 JP, 124 BC
3815. Seleucus, Demetrius Nicator's son, seized the crown without his mother
Cleopatra's permission and reigned one year in Syria. {*Livy, l. 60. 14:71}
{Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
3816. After much trouble, Alexander Zebinas defeated Antipater, Clonius and
Aeropus, three of his most eminent commanders, who had revolted against him and
had seized the city of Laodicea from him. [E498] Nevertheless, he showed a
great deal of gallantry toward them, taking them prisoner and eventually
pardoning all their apostasy. He was naturally of a mild disposition and
pleasing temper, and displayed a wonderful disposition in all his meetings.
Hence, he was extremely well-liked by all men. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c.
22. 12:109,111}
3881a AM, 4590 JP, 124 BC
3817. Mithridates Euergetes, king of Pontus and Lesser Armenia, was killed
through the treachery of some of his closest friends. He left his wife and sons
to succeed him in the kingdom. Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, the older brother
of the two, laid claim to the whole kingdom for himself. {*Strabo, l. 10. c.
4. s. 10. 5:135} {Justin, Trogus, l. 37. c. 1.} For shortly after, he
imprisoned his mother, whom his father had intended to be viceroy with him in
the kingdom. He kept her there in bonds and because of the harsh treatment and
long imprisonment, she died there. {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 32.} Sallust stated
in his history that Mithridates was a child when he became king, after having
poisoned his mother. {Servius, Virgil's Aeneid, l. 6.}
3818. Strabo stated that Mithridates was eleven years of age when he succeeded
his father in the kingdom. Memnon said he was thirteen. We selected twelve,
based on Eutropius' account, who said that Mithridates reigned sixty years and
lived seventy-two years. Although Pliny said he reigned fifty-six years, while
Appian said fifty-seven. {*Pliny, l. 25. c. 3. 7:141} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (112) 2:455} {See note on 3869a AM.
<<3722,3273>>}
3819. Just as there appeared a comet in the year when Mithridates was born, so
one also appeared in the first year of his reign. For seventy nights and days
the whole heaven seemed to be all on fire, because its tail covered a quarter
part of the heaven, or forty-five degrees of the upper hemisphere, and outshone
the sun in brightness. Its rising and setting took four hours. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 37. c. 2.} [K123]
3881b AM, 4591 JP, 123 BC
3820. In Syria, Cleopatra killed her son Seleucus with an arrow. She did this
either because he had seized the crown without her consent, or because she
feared that he might in time avenge the death of his father Demetrius, or simply
because she had managed all things with the same fury and violence as her son
did. When Seleucus was dead, she made her other son Antiochus Grypus king, whom
she had by Demetrius and whom she had sent to Athens to receive his education.
She gave him the title of king, but ran the kingdom herself. {*Livy, l. 60.
14:71} {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 1.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11.
(69) 2:235} Porphyry stated that when Seleucus was killed through his mother's
treachery, Antiochus, the younger brother, succeeded him in the kingdom, in the
second year of the 164th Olympiad. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
227.} He added that he was called both Grypus and Philometor. Josephus referred
to him by the first surname. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 9. s. 3. (269)
7:363}
3882 AM, 4592 JP, 122 BC
3821. Alexander Zebinas was puffed up with good fortune and in his insolence
now began to despise Ptolemy himself, through whom he had come to the kingdom.
As a result, Ptolemy reconciled himself to his sister Cleopatra. He tried to
ruin Alexander's kingdom, which the latter would never have been able to obtain
had not Ptolemy sent him supplies, out of his hatred for Demetrius. To that
end, he sent a very considerable force to Grypus and offered his daughter
Tryphena to him in marriage. He hoped that the people would side with his new
son-in-law, which would be out of respect for the former confederacy and
association between them and also by virtue of his new relation and alliance.
It worked. When it was evident that Grypus was backed by as much strength as
Egypt could muster, they began by degrees to defect from Alexander. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 39. c. 2.}
3822. Alexander did not have much confidence in his army. They were not
well-trained militarily, so he did not risk a battle. After having first
collected the king's treasuries and pillaged the temples, he planned to steal
away into Greece by night. While he attempted to plunder Zeus' temple with the
help of some of his barbarians, he was seized and both he and his whole army
would likely have been destroyed, had he not soon escaped from their hands and
headed toward Seleucia. The Seleucians, however, had heard a rumour of his
sacrilege and shut their gates against him. Unable to do anything there, he
went to Posideium and remained on the sea coast. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c.
28. 12:117}
3823. Finally, Antiochus Grypus and Alexander Zebinas met in battle. Alexander
was defeated and forced to flee to Antioch. As soon as he arrived there, he
needed money to pay his soldiers, so he ordered that the statue of Victory,
which was made of beaten gold, be taken from Zeus' temple. He justified his
sacrilege with a jest:
"Zeus has lent me Victory."
3824. A few days later, he had his soldiers begin to pull down the image of
Zeus. This was to be done as quietly as possible. [E499] However, he was
surprised by the common people, who caught him in the very act, so that he was
forced to flee. At sea, he was caught in a violent storm and became separated
from his company. He was captured by pirates and turned over to Grypus, who had
him executed. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 2.} Josephus stated that he was
killed in a battle with Grypus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 9. s. 3.
(269) 7:363} Porphyry stated that he poisoned himself when he was depressed at
the loss of his army, in the fourth year of the 164th Olympiad. {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
3825. Cleopatra knew that her authority would be diminished by the victory
which her son Antiochus Grypus had won over Alexander Zebinas. [K124] As he
came from exercising or from the army (original uncertain), she presented him
with a cup of poison. Grypus had been warned of this treachery and pretended
that it was out of respect for his mother that he insisted that she drink first.
When she refused, he persistently urged her to drink. Finally he charged her
with plotting to poison him and showed her the one who had informed him of the
plot. He told her that the only way she could prove her innocence was to drink
the cup which she had prepared for her son. The queen was forced to yield and
so she died from the poison which she had prepared for another. After her
death, Grypus quickly assumed the throne and enjoyed eight peaceful years.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 2.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69)
2:235}
3883 AM, 4593 JP, 121 BC
3826. The 27th Jubilee.
3827. Lucius Opimius was the consul in the year when the tribune Gaius
Gracchus, brother of Tiberius Gracchus, was killed as he was encouraging the
common people to revolt. The air was so warm and sunny that Pliny, about two
hundred years later, reported how wines made then lasted to his time and had the
consistency of honey. {*Pliny, l. 14. c. 6. 4:223} {*Pliny, l. 14. c.
16. 4:249} In the same year a bow appeared around the sun. {*Pliny, l. 2. c.
29. 1:241,243}
3888a AM, 4597 JP, 117 BC
3828. Ptolemy Euergetes II, or Physcon, died twenty-nine years after the death
of his brother Philometor. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} {*Clement, Stromateis, l.
1. c. 21. 2:329} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:229} {Epiphanius, De
Mensuris et Ponderibus} {Jerome, Da 9} He was survived by three sons, of whom
one, Ptolemy Apion, the son of a harlot, was bequeathed the kingdom of the
Cyrenians. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 5.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 17. (121) 2:477} Cleopatra bore him the other two sons. She was the
daughter of the former Cleopatra, who had been both his sister and wife. The
younger was called Alexander and the older, Ptolemy. {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
{Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius} {Jerome, Da 9} {Epiphanius, De Mensuris et
Ponderibus} He was called Soter by Strabo. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11.
8:43} He was called Lathurus or Lathyrus by Justin, Pliny, Clement and Josephus.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 39,40. Prologue} {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 67. 1:305} {*Pliny,
l. 6. c. 35. 2:479} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 4. (370)
7:411} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:329} He was called Philometor
by Athenaeus and Pausanias. {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (252f) 3:139} {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1. 1:41} He was called Philopator, which is a
variation on Philometor, by Natalis Comes, who translated Athenaeus. This last
name was given to him because he was so despised. Pausanias noted that no king
was ever more hated by his mother than he. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9.
s. 1. 1:41}
3829. On his deathbed, Physcon left the kingdom of Egypt to his wife Cleopatra
and to the son of her choice. He hoped by this to make Egypt more quiet and
free from rebellions than the kingdom of Syria. However, in choosing either
son, the mother was sure to make the other her enemy. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39.
c. 3.} She thought that Alexander, the younger son, would prove more pliable to
her requests and asked the Egyptians to ratify this choice. She was unable to
prevail with the common people and was forced to select her older son Lathurus,
who had been banished to Cyprus by his father upon her request. The two reigned
together in Egypt for ten years. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 3.} {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1,2. 1:41} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
225.}
3888b AM, 4598 JP, 116 BC
3830. Before Cleopatra would give the kingdom to Lathurus, she took his wife
away from him, by forcing him to divorce his most beloved sister, Cleopatra, and
at the same time ordering him to marry the younger sister, Selene. In this
action she showed more partiality toward her daughters than was appropriate for
a mother, in that she took away the husband from one and gave him to the other.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 3.} These girls had another sister, Tryphena, who
was married to Grypus.
3890 AM, 4600 JP, 114 BC
3831. After Antiochus Grypus, the son of Seleucus, had enjoyed the kingdom of
Syria for eight peaceful years, his half-brother Antiochus of Cyzicenus rose up
as his rival in the kingdom. They both had the same mother, but Cyzicenus'
father was his paternal uncle Antiochus Sidetes. [K125] (The royal Syrian
genealogy was quite complicated due to excessive intermarriage. Editor.) Grypus
planned to poison his rival. Faster than Grypus thought he would be able to,
his brother raised an army to fight for the kingdom. Antiochus of Cyzicenus had
been sent away to Cyzicum by his mother Cleopatra for fear of Demetrius Nicator,
her former husband, whom she had abandoned. Antiochus had been raised there by
Craterus, the eunuch, and from there had received the surname of Cyzicenus.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 2.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69)
2:235} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 13. s. 4. (365-369) 7:411} [E500] When Grypus heard that his brother
was raising forces against him in Cyzicum, he abandoned his intended expedition
against the Jews and prepared to meet him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13.
s. 4. (369) 7:411}
3891 AM, 4601 JP, 113 BC
3832. That Cleopatra who was the former wife of Ptolemy Lathurus and was later
divorced from her husband by Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, was married to Antiochus
Cyzicenus in Syria. As her dowry, she brought him the army stationed at Cyprus.
He thought that with these forces he was a match for his brother, but when they
fought, he was defeated and fled to Antioch. Grypus pursued him to Antioch and
besieged it. Cleopatra, the wife of Cyzicenus, was in the town. As soon as it
was taken, Tryphena, the wife of Grypus ordered that her sister, Cleopatra,
should be found. She did not intend to release her, but wanted to see her
suffer, because she had invaded this kingdom mainly out of envy of her and had,
by her marriage with the sworn enemy of her sister, made herself her enemy also.
Moreover, she accused her of being responsible for bringing in the foreign
forces and for the differences between the two brothers. Since she had been
divorced from her brother, she had married out of the kingdom and one who was
not an Egyptian against her mother's will. Grypus endeavoured to prevent his
wife from acting cruelly toward her. He told her that it was against the law of
arms after a victory to act violently against women, especially those that are
blood relatives, as Cleopatra was. She was Tryphena's own sister and his first
cousin, as well as aunt to Tryphena's children. In addition to being a blood
relative, she had sought sanctuary in the temple, which had to be respected. He
concluded by saying that killing her would not reduce Cyzicenus' power, nor
would returning her to him unharmed gain Cyzicenus any advantage. Tryphena, on
the other hand, thought his words were the result of love and not from pity.
She sent some soldiers into the temple who killed Cleopatra. They first cut off
her hands as she embraced the image of the goddess, so that there would not
appear to be any less hostility between the two sisters than there was between
the brothers. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 3.}
3833. In the fourth year of her reign, Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt and the
mother of these two sisters, made Alexander, her younger son, king of Cyprus and
sent him there. She hoped that through this she would appear more formidable to
her older son Lathurus, who was her partner in the kingdom. {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 2. 1:43} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
225.}
3892a AM, 4601 JP, 113 BC
3834. At the age of sixteen, Alexander Jannaeus had a son Hyrcanus by his wife
Alexandra. Years later, when Herod heard of Caesar's victory at Actium, he
killed this Hyrcanus when he was over eighty years old. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 6. s. 2. (173) 8:83} From this we gather that this Alexandra, who is
also called Salina by the ecclesiastical writers, {See note on 3862 AM.
<<3678>>} was not the same as that Salome, the wife of Aristobulus,
whom the
Greeks called Alexandra. After the death of her husband, Alexandra made
Alexander Jannaeus, who was twenty-two years old, king in his place. Josephus
stated that he reigned twenty-seven years and lived for forty-nine years.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 15. s. 5. (404) 7:431} [K126]
3892b AM, 4602 JP, 112 BC
3835. Antiochus Cyzicenus fought with Grypus and won. He captured Tryphena,
Grypus' wife, who a little earlier had killed her sister, his wife. He did the
same to her and sacrificed her to the ghost of his wife. {Justin, Trogus, l.
39. c. 3.} He also chased his brother from his kingdom and reigned over the
Syrians in his place. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69) 2:235,237}
After this defeat, Grypus withdrew to Aspendus and from there assumed the
surname of Aspendius. Cyzicenus started to reign in the first year of the 167th
Olympiad. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
3893 AM, 4603 JP, 111 BC
3836. In the second year of the same Olympiad, Antiochus Grypus returned from
Aspendus and regained Syria, but Cyzicenus held Coelosyria, and so the kingdom
was shared between them. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
3837. As soon as Antiochus Cyzicenus had taken over the kingdom, he gave
himself up to revellings and luxury and conduct altogether unseemly for kings.
He was very fond of acting and stage players and all sorts of jugglers. He
learned their arts very well, also applying himself to playing with puppets.
His main delight was in making the images of living creatures to a size of seven
to eight feet, which he then covered over with gold and silver, enabling them to
move by themselves with various machines. Moreover, he was very fond of
hunting. He would often steal away secretly by night with a servant or two to
hunt boars, lions and leopards. Many times he risked his life by his rash
encounters with wild beasts. {*Diod. Sic., l. 34/35. c. 34. 12:133,135}
[E501] Antiochus Grypus also engaged in luxurious living, as described by
Athenaeus. {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (540b) 5:443} {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (210ef)
2:453} Athenaeus derived his material from the twenty-eighth book of the
histories of Poseidonius of Apamea.
3894 AM, 4604 JP, 110 BC
3838. The war between those two brothers weakened both of them and proved a
great advantage to John Hyrcanus. In this way, he acquired the incomes and
revenues of Judea and stored up this money for future use. He saw what
contemptible havoc Cyzicenus was creating in his brother's country, and how
Grypus received no supplies from Egypt to help him. Grypus and his brother were
draining their resources fighting one another, so that, in time, John stopped
worrying about either of them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 10. s. 1.
(273,274) 7:365}
3839. Thereupon, he marched with his army against the Samaritans, who were
under the dominion of the kings of Syria. The Samaritans had attacked the
Marisieni, who were Idumeans, and had subdued them. These had previously been
under the Jews as farmers to them, and had been in league with them. Hyrcanus
besieged Samaria, which was a well-fortified city with a trench and a double
wall ten miles long. He left his sons, Antigonus and Aristobulus, to manage the
siege, which they maintained so well, that famine raged within Samaria. The
people were driven to such extremity that they were forced to eat food not fit
for human consumption. Finally, they begged for help from Antiochus Cyzicenus.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 10. s. 2. (275-277) 7:365-367}
3895a AM, 4604 JP, 110 BC
3840. Cyzicenus came as fast as he could to relieve the Samaritans. He was
routed by Aristobulus' soldiers and the two brothers pursued him closely as far
as Scythopolis, so that he barely escaped. It is reported that on that very day
Hyrcanus, the high priest, as he was alone in the temple offering incense, heard
a voice that told him of the recent victory which his sons had won over
Antiochus. After they had beaten Antiochus, they returned back to Samaria and
forced the Samaritans to retreat within their walls. So they were constrained
once more to beg for help from Antiochus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 10.
s. 2. (277) 7:367}
3895b AM, 4605 JP, 109 BC
3841. Antiochus Cyzicenus had about six thousand soldiers that Ptolemy Lathurus
had sent him in spite of his mother, Cleopatra. [K127] She had not yet deposed
him. These soldiers wandered up and down Hyrcanus' dominions and Antiochus
plundered with his Egyptians wherever he went. He did not dare fight with John,
who was far too strong for him. He hoped that, by his pillaging of the country,
he would draw Hyrcanus away from the siege of Samaria. After he had lost many
of his men through an ambush laid by the enemy, he marched away to Tripolis. He
committed the war with the Jews to two of his commanders, Callimandrus and
Epicrates. Callimandrus fought the enemy with greater resolution than
discretion, with the result that his troops were routed and he was killed.
Epicrates betrayed Scythopolis and some other towns to the Jews, after having
been paid well for the task. All of this did not help the Samaritans. After
Hyrcanus had spent a full year besieging Samaria, he was not content with the
bare surrender of the city, but levelled it to the very ground. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 10. s. 2. (278-280) 7:367,369}
3842. The Seleucians who lived near Antioch in Syria had obtained the liberty
of living according to their own laws. They started their epoch from that time.
{Fasti Siculi, Olympiad 167., Year 4.}
3896 AM, 4606 JP, 108 BC
3843. Hyrcanus belonged to the sect of the Pharisees and as a disciple, he
favoured them. He invited some of the most eminent among them to a feast. He
took exception to Eleazar, who falsely charged that when Hyrcanus' mother had
been taken prisoner in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, she had been forced to
become a harlot. Since the scandal was not as deeply resented by the rest of
the company as he felt it should have been, he became enraged against the whole
sect of the Pharisees. At the instigation of Jonathan, a Sadducee, he deserted
the Pharisees and became a Sadducee. The Pharisees commended to the people many
commandments which they had received from their ancestors through tradition and
which were not to be found written among Moses' laws. The Sadducees said that
therefore these customs were not binding and that only what was found in Moses'
law was legally valid. As a result of this, a great dispute arose between the
two parties. The rich sided with the Sadducees, while the Pharisees appealed to
the common people. Therefore, Hyrcanus wanted to punish some of the Pharisees,
who were zealous for their laws even though Hyrcanus had abrogated them, and so
a rebellion arose among them. Although he soon settled it at the time, he and
his sons were nevertheless hated by the common people for this action.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 10. s. 6. (293-298) 7:375} [E502]
3897 AM, 4607 JP, 107 BC
3844. John Hyrcanus died after serving as high priest for twenty-nine years,
according to Eusebius, quoting from Josephus. {?Eusebius, Gospel, l. 8. c.
2.} Jerome repeated that age in his commentaries when translating Eusebius into
Latin. {Jerome, Da 9} Even though in our books, and in the old translation of
Rufinus, Josephus in his Jewish War stated this was thirty-one years (Loeb
edition has thirty-one years but the Hendrickson edition has thirty-three.
Editor.), {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 2. s. 8. (68,69) 2:35} but in
his Antiquities he says it was thirty-one years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 10. s. 7. (299) 7:377} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 10. s. 3.
(240,241) 10:129} His father Simon died in the 177th year of the kingdom of the
Greeks, in the 11th month called Shebat, {Apc 1Ma 16:14} about February 135 BC,
or 4579 JP. His wife Alexandra died about November 70 BC, or 4644 JP. There is a
difference of almost sixty-five years and nine months, so that, subtracting the
thirty-seven years which Josephus assigns to the reign of his sons and his wife,
there remain only twenty-eight years and nine months for Hyrcanus. Some of the
modern men are of the opinion, but with no good reason, that John was the writer
of the first book of the Maccabees. They say that these words in the end of the
book were added by someone else.
"As for the other things of John, both his wars, and his noble acts, in which he
behaved himself manfully, and his building of the walls [K128] (viz. of
Jerusalem, which were demolished by command of Antiochus Sidetes), and his other
deeds, behold, they are written in the chronicles of his priesthood from the
time he was made high priest after his father."
3845. These chronicles are probably what is recorded in the fourth book of the
Maccabees, which Sextus Senensis, in the end of the first book of his
Bibliotheca Sanctae, said he saw in a manuscript at Lyons, in Sontes Pagninus'
library among the Predicants, translated from the Hebrew into Greek. It began
like this:
"And after Simon was killed, John his son was made high priest in his place."
3846. It is supposed that Josephus took his information from that book. He
told of three offices which Hyrcanus held at the same time—the kingship over the
Jews, the high priesthood and the prophetic office. For Josephus stated that
because Hyrcanus often spoke with God, he obtained such a good insight into the
future that, much earlier, he had foretold the short time which his two oldest
sons would have in the kingdom that their father left them. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 2. s. 8. (68,69) 2:35} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 10.
s. 7. (299,300) 7:377,379}
3847. Concerning the tower built by John, which Herod later called the Tower of
Antonia and where he placed the robe and the rest of the high priest's
ornaments, Josephus stated: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 3. (91)
9:65}
"Hyrcanus was the first high priest by that name. He built a tower near the
temple and lived in it most of his time. Since he kept the high priest's robe,
used by nobody else but himself, in his own custody, he took it off in that
place when he put on his ordinary clothes. This custom was also observed by his
sons and their posterity."
3848. After Hyrcanus died, the stones which were set in the high priest's
breastplate and the onyx stone upon his right shoulder grew dim and lost their
lustre. The light from these stones showed God's approval of the conduct of the
Jews. Josephus stated that this showed God's displeasure with the Jews for
transgressing his laws. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 3. c. 8. s. 9. (218)
4:421} This was two hundred years before Josephus began to write his books
concerning the Jewish history. At the end of those books, he stated that he
completed them in the 13th year of Domitian's reign, in 94 AD, or 4807 JP.
3849. Judas, the oldest son of Hyrcanus, was otherwise called Aristobulus and
surnamed Philellen from his familiarity and commerce with the Greeks. He
succeeded his father in the government and the high priesthood, but he held them
for only a year. He was the first of anyone, after the return from the
Babylonian captivity, to place the crown on his head and change the state to a
monarchy. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 3. s. 1. (70) 2:35}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 11. s. 1. (301) 7:379} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 20. c. 10. s. 4. (243) 10:131} However, Strabo wrote that Judas'
brother and successor, Alexander, was the first to make himself king. {*Strabo,
l. 16. c. 2. s. 40. 7:289} It is likely that he disregarded Aristobulus,
because he only held office for such a short time.
3850. Aristobulus promoted his second brother, Antigonus, whom he liked far
more than the rest, to be a partner in the kingdom. He committed the other
three to be bound in prison. He also cast his mother into prison, as she
quarrelled with him for the government, because Hyrcanus had left her over the
entire government. He sank to new depths of cruelty when he starved her to
death in the prison. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 3. s. 1. (71) 2:35}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 11. s. 1. (302) 7:379}
3851. Cleopatra in Egypt was greatly troubled that her son Ptolemy Lathurus
shared the government of the kingdom with her, so she stirred up the people
against him. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 4.} She selected those whom she
trusted from among her eunuchs and brought them into the public assembly,
pitifully cut and slashed. [K129] She accused Ptolemy of having secretly hired
men to ambush her and disfigure her eunuchs. [E503] The Alexandrians were so
enraged at the sight, that they would have killed him. However he had secretly
sailed away out of danger and they greeted Alexander as king, who had returned
from Cyprus shortly after this event happened. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c.
9. s. 1,2. 1:43}
3852. Before Ptolemy Lathurus was banished from the kingdom, his mother
Cleopatra had taken his wife Selene from him. The indignity was the greater,
because he had two sons by her. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 4.} As for
Alexander, who was called in by his mother and made king of Egypt in his
brother's place, he was at that time in the eighth year of his reign in Cyprus,
while his mother was in the eleventh year of her reign in Egypt. {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 225.} Athenaeus noted that Alexander grew as fat
and swag-bellied as his father Physcon. He mentioned this passage concerning
him, from Poseidonius of Apamea, in the forty-seventh book of his histories:
{*Athenaeus, l. 12. (550b) 5:495}
"The king of Egypt was not popular with the common people. He was blinded by
the insinuations and flatteries of his friends and lived in continual luxury.
He could not walk a step unless he was supported by two men. In the dancing
which was the custom at the feasts, he would leap bare-foot from the higher beds
and move his body in dancing, as nimbly and actively as the best."
3898 AM, 4608 JP, 106 BC
3853. Aristobulus marched with an army into Iturea and added it to Judea.
Under penalty of banishment, he forced the inhabitants to be circumcised and to
keep the other Jewish ceremonies. Strabo affirmed this in the following words
from Timagenes, the historian: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 11. s. 3.
(318,319) 7:387}
"He (Aristobulus) was an upright man and one who furthered the Jews' interests
very much. He enlarged their territories and annexed part of Iturea to them and
secured it by the covenant of circumcision."
3899a AM, 4608 JP, 106 BC
3854. Antigonus returned in triumph from the wars at the time the Jews held
their solemn feast of tabernacles. It so happened that king Aristobulus fell
sick and stayed in his bed in the tower, which was later called the Tower of
Antonia. His brother Antigonus, however, intending to be present at the holy
solemnities, went up to the temple very gloriously attired. The main purpose of
his going there was to pray for the sick king's recovery. Aristobulus was told,
by some wicked persons who meant no good to Antigonus, that he should beware of
his brother who had a plot against him. He placed some of his guard in a dark
underground vault near the tower and gave orders that if his brother came
unarmed, no one should touch him. Otherwise, they should attack and kill him.
However, he secretly sent to him a man who was to tell him he should not come
armed. However, Salome, the queen, and the rest of wicked men who were plotting
with her against Antigonus, persuaded the messenger to tell him just the
opposite, namely that the king wanted to see him dressed in his military attire.
Judas, one of the sect of the Essenes, was famous as a person who could tell the
future. He had foretold that Antigonus would die that very day in Straton's
Tower. He did not know that there was any other Straton's Tower besides the one
which was later called the Straton's Tower in Caesarea, about seventy-five miles
from Jerusalem. Therefore, when he saw Antigonus going up to the temple that
day, he wished himself dead on the spot, because he was afraid that he might be
proved a false prophet and ruin his reputation. Shortly after this, Judas
Aristobulus heard that Antigonus had been killed in that underground place,
which was known by the same name of Straton's Tower as was that other tower in
Caesarea on the sea coast. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 11. s. 2.
(303-313) 7:381-385} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 3. s. 1-5. (70-80)
2:35-41} [K130]
3855. Aristobulus' sickness grew worse and worse, out of remorse over his
horrid murder of his brother. At last his pains were so violent that he vomited
blood. As one of his servants was carrying out the blood to empty it, it so
happened that his foot slipped and he spilt Aristobulus' blood on the very same
spot which was stained with Antigonus' blood. Aristobulus was told of the
accident and acknowledged the just judgment of God by it. He immediately gave
up the ghost in extreme anguish of body and soul. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 11. s. 3. (314-318) 7:385,385} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 3. s.
6. (81-84) 2:41,43}
3856. After Aristobulus died, his wife Salome, or Salina, whom the Greeks
called Alexandra, released his brothers, whom he had kept prisoners for a long
while. She made Alexander Jannaeus king because he was the oldest and most
moderate of them. As soon as he had the kingdom, he killed one of his brothers
when he discovered that he was plotting against him. However, he acted quite
civilly toward the other brother, who was content to live a retired life and at
ease. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 12. s. 1. (320-323) 7:389,391} He was
called Absalom and forty-two years later was taken prisoner at Jerusalem by
Pompey. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 4. (71) 7:483}
3899b AM, 4609 JP, 105 BC
3857. Alexander Jannaeus ordered the affairs of the kingdom in the way that
seemed to him most appropriate. He marched with an army against Ptolemais and
defeated the enemy in a battle. He forced the enemy to retreat within the walls
and then besieged them while he made his battering rams. [E504] At the same
time, the two brothers, Philometor, or Grypus, and Cyzicenus in Syria, were so
weakened by their battles with each other, that they took no notice of the
problems of Ptolemais. Zoilus, a tyrant, saw the dissensions between the two
brothers and used the opportunity to seize Straton's Tower and Adora. He helped
the besieged, but not very much. Ptolemy Lathurus, who had been thrown out of
the kingdom of Egypt by his mother Cleopatra, had taken over Cyprus. The men of
Ptolemais sent envoys to him, asking him to come and rescue them from the danger
they were in from Alexander. They promised that as soon as he entered into
Syria, he would have the men of Gaza and of Sidon, as well as Ptolemais' and
Zoilus' men, and many others, on his side to help. Encouraged by their good
promises, he prepared for the voyage. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 12. s.
2. (324-329) 7:391,393}
3858. Meanwhile Demenaetus, a popular and eminent authority, persuaded the men
of Ptolemais to alter their resolutions. He told them that they would be better
to take the fortunes of war with the Jews, where they might win, than to submit
to certain bondage by calling in a king over them. Moreover, in doing the
latter they would not only suffer the brunt of the present war, but would have
to expect another war from Egypt. Cleopatra would not stand by and allow
Ptolemy to gather forces from the adjacent regions, but would quickly march with
a strong force to hinder his efforts. For the queen was endeavouring to drive
him out of Cyprus, as well. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 12. s. 3.
(330,331) 7:393} His conjecture proved true. Cleopatra was not content with
having banished her son, but persecuted him up and down with war and not only
chased him out of Cyprus, but killed the general of her own army when he let him
escape, after having taken him prisoner. Justin said, if we can believe him,
that Ptolemy did not leave the island, not because he thought himself equal to
her in power, but because he was ashamed to fight against his mother. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 39. c. 4.}
3859. Although Ptolemy had heard on the way that the people of Ptolemais had
changed their minds, he still sailed on to Sycamina, where he landed his forces,
which consisted of thirty thousand cavalry and foot soldiers. He marched to
Ptolemais with all his forces and camped there. When he saw that the citizens
of Ptolemais would not allow his envoys into the town, nor would they so much as
hear them speak, he was all the more perplexed. After that, Zoilus and the
Gazeans came to him and sought his assistance against the Jews. After he had
raised the siege of Ptolemais for fear of Ptolemy, Alexander pillaged their
country. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 12. s. 3. (332,333) 7:395} [K131]
3900a AM, 4609 JP, 105 BC
3860. After Alexander Jannaeus had led his army home, he began to play tricks.
He made a secret alliance with Cleopatra against Ptolemy, but in public
proclaimed him to be his friend and ally. He promised him four hundred talents
of silver if, for his sake, he would remove Zoilus, the tyrant, and give his
country to the Jews. Ptolemy very willingly struck up the bargain with him, but
when he later realised how Alexander had negotiated secretly with his mother
Cleopatra, he broke the league he had made with him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 12. s. 4. (334,335) 7:395}
3861. The Senate had given permission to Marius, who was on an expedition
against the Cimbrians, to request supplies from the countries beyond the seas.
He wrote to Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia, for help. Nicomedes replied that
most of the Bithynians had been carried away and kept as slaves by the tax
gatherers in various places. Whereupon the Senate issued a decree, prohibiting
any free man of the allies of the people of Rome to serve as slaves in any
province. In addition, they sent orders to the governors of the provinces, to
free those who were so enslaved. {*Diod. Sic., l. 36. c. 3. s. 1,2.
12:151}
3900b AM, 4610 JP, 104 BC
3862. This decree of the Senate was duly and strictly observed as soon as it
was issued. When it was later neglected by Licinius Nerva, the praetor of
Sicily, this caused the second slave war in Sicily. The rebels made Salvius, a
soothsayer and a minstrel, their king, whom they later called Tryphon. {*Diod.
Sic., l. 36. c. 3. s. 2,3. 12:151,153} {*Dio, l. 27. (93) 2:449}
3863. When Gaius Marius and Gaius Flaccus, or rather Flavius, were consuls,
there was an eclipse of the sun at about three minutes before the seventh hour.
{*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 43. 14:277} There was an almost
total eclipse of the sun and the astronomical calculation shows that this
happened on July 19, 104 BC, or 4610 JP.
3864. When Askelon became a free state, they computed time from that point, as
was noted in the Cicilian Chronicles where they deal with the 169th Olympiad.
Eusebius' Chronicle agreed, and said that the 380th year of their epoch was the
second year of Probus, the emperor. This happened in 277 AD, or 4990 JP. [E505]
3865. Ptolemy Lathurus left his commanders with a brigade of his army to
besiege Ptolemais, which had shut its gates against him. They finally took the
city. Meanwhile he marched away with the remainder of his forces against Judea,
to pillage and subdue it. Alexander Jannaeus received news of his coming and
his actions. He gathered about fifty thousand (some writers rather think eighty
thousand) men and marched to meet him. Ptolemy made a surprise attack on
Asochis, a city of Galilee, on the Sabbath and took it. He carried away with
him about ten thousand prisoners, besides much plunder. Next, he attacked
Zephoris, which was close to Asochis. When he had lost many men in front of the
place, he withdrew to fight with Alexander Jannaeus, whom he met at the Jordan
River opposite Asophon. Alexander had eight thousand men who fought in the
vanguard, carrying shields covered with bronze, whom he called Hundred-Fighters.
These faced Ptolemy's vanguard, who also used shields of brass. Ptolemy's men
were pushed back by the first charge of the enemy, but in the end they were
persuaded by Philostephanus, who was a skilled military man, to cross over the
river to the place where the Jews were camped. [K132] The battle was waged and
no side was the victor. Finally, Ptolemy's soldiers routed the Jews and killed
so many in the pursuit, that their arms were wearied and the edges of their
swords became dull. It is said that thirty thousand Jews died in that battle.
(Timagenes stated fifty thousand in his writings.) The rest were either taken
prisoner or escaped. After the victory, Ptolemy roved about the country all
that day. At evening he retired into some of the villages belonging to the
Jews. When he saw they were crowded with women and children, he commanded his
soldiers to attack and kill indiscriminately. They chopped them in pieces to
put them into scalding cauldrons. They did this, so that those who had escaped
would believe that the enemy ate human flesh, which would make them appear more
dreadful and formidable to the onlookers. This act of cruelty was recorded by
Strabo and Nicolaus Damascene in their histories. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 12. s. 4-6. (334-347) 7:395-401}
3901 AM, 4611 JP, 103 BC
3866. Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, saw her son Lathurus daily increasing in
power. He subdued the city of the Gazeans and plundered the Jews at will. She
did not consider it wise to let him go on like this, especially when he was
doing these things so close to Egypt and longed to have the kingdom. Therefore,
to check him, she promptly raised land and naval forces which she entrusted to
Chelcias and Ananias. These were both Jews and sons of the Onias who had built
the temple in the region of Alexandria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 10.
s. 4. (287) 7:371} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 1. (348,349)
7:401} The queen did everything on the advice of these two favourites. Josephus
confirmed this from the history of Strabo the Cappadocian:
"Most of those who first entered Cyprus with us, and of those also who were sent
there later by Cleopatra, defected to Ptolemy Lathurus. Only those Jews who
were on Onias' side remained loyal. In that regard, their countrymen Chelcias
and Ananias were held in high esteem by the queen."
3867. Cleopatra deposited a considerable portion of her wealth on the isle of
Cos, where she also left her grandchildren and her last will and testament.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 4. (23) 2:281} She ordered her son
Alexander to sail toward Phoenicia with a large fleet. After the country had
revolted and flocked to her, she came to Ptolemais, where she was denied
entrance and so she resolved to take it by storm. It so happened, in the
meantime, that Chelkias, one of her chief commanders, died as he was pursuing
Lathurus in Coelosyria. Lathurus had left Syria and was hurrying to get into
Egypt because he thought that the garrisons would all have been emptied by
Cleopatra. Hence, he dreamed he could take them by surprise, but he was
mistaken. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 1. (349-351) 7:401}
3868. In the territory of Segesta and Lilybaeum, the fugitives in Sicily
appointed Athenio, a Cilician shepherd, as their king. He pretended that the
gods had told him by the stars that he would be king of all Sicily. Therefore,
it was incumbent upon him to favour the country and to spare its cattle and
fruits as if they were his own. However, as soon as Tryphon sent for him, he
submitted himself to Tryphon as king and was content with being general over the
army under Tryphon. {*Diod. Sic., l. 36. c. 5-7. 12:161-167} {*Cicero,
Against Verres II, l. 2. c. 54. 7:437} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 19. s. 10.
1:239,241} {*Dio, l. 27. (93,94) 2:451,453}
3902 AM, 4612 JP, 102 BC
3869. Cleopatra heard that her son Lathurus had attempted to take over Egypt,
but had failed. She sent a brigade of her army there and drove him out of the
country. After he had again been driven from Egypt, he spent the following
winter at Gaza. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 2. (352) 7:403}
3870. In the meantime, Cleopatra captured Ptolemais with its garrisons.
Alexander Jannaeus came to her bearing gifts. [E506] [K133] She entertained him
in a manner appropriate for someone who had been oppressed by Lathurus and had
no other refuge to turn to. Some of the queen's favourites tried to persuade
her to seize that country, also, and not to allow such a large number of good
Jews to be at the command of one single person. Ananias advised her to the
contrary, and told her that it would be most unjust for her to strip of his
fortunes a man who was her fellow warrior and Ananias' kinsman. If she did so,
she would, in a very short time, lose the affections of the whole country of the
Jews. Cleopatra followed his counsel and did him no harm at that point, while
shortly after this she renewed their former league at Scythopolis, a city of
Coelosyria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 2. (353-355) 7:403,405}
3871. As Alexander Jannaeus was now free of any danger from Ptolemy Lathurus,
he undertook an expedition into Coelosyria and besieged Gadara. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 3. (356) 7:405}
3872. Lucius Licinius Lucullus was sent by the Senate against the slaves that
had revolted. He came into Sicily with an army of seventeen thousand men
consisting of Italians, Bithynians, Thessalians, Acarnanians and Lucanians.
Athenio, the Silician, marched out to meet him with forty thousand men. He lost
twenty thousand of his men, and although he himself was badly wounded, he
escaped by feigning to be dead. {*Diod. Sic., l. 36. c. 8. s. 1-4.
12:169,171}
3873. The Jews and the Arabians raided Syria by land and the Cilicians started
a war at sea with their piracy. The Romans waged war against them in Cilicia
through Marcus Antonius, the praetor. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. Prologue} He
was the orator and grandfather of Mark Antony, who held the triumph. Marcus was
sent to that war instead of the consul and stayed at Athens many days because of
poor sailing weather. He heard Mnesarchus, Charmadas and Menedemus, who were
three very learned men, disputing there, as he later also heard Metrodorus of
Scepsis in Asia. When, with the help of the Byzantines, he arrived in the
province, he fought the pirates with good success. But in the battle he lost
Marcus Gratidius, his admiral. {*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 1. c. 18,19.
3:59,61} {*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 2. c. 88. 3:471} {*Cicero, Orator, l. 1.
c. 16. 5:343} {*Cicero, Brutus, l. 1. c. 45. 5:145} {*Livy, l. 68.
14:81} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 62. 4:407} This happened in the
consulship of Gaius Marius and Quintus Lutatius. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies,
l. 1. c. 44. 14:277} The pirates in Sicily (sic. Cilicia) were defeated by
the Romans. In another passage, Livy stated that Antonius, the praetor, chased
the pirates at sea in Sicily. (It must be read Cilicia, as in the former
citation. Loeb edition does not have this reading. Editor.) {*Livy, l. 68.
14:81} For this action he held a triumph, according to Pighius, about the end of
the 661st year of Rome. {Pighius, Annals of Rome, Tom. 3.}
3874. The fourth Calippic period begins.
3875. Alexander Jannaeus took Gadara, after he had spent ten months besieging
it. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 3. (356) 7:405}
3876. When Marius and Catulus were consuls, Archias, the poet of Antioch, came
to Rome. He later described the Mithridatic war in Greek verse and many of his
epigrams are still extant in the Greek anthology. He was chiefly responsible
for teaching Cicero. {*Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, l. 1. c. 3. (4) 11:11}
3877. Although Gaius Marius was ready to fight the Cimbrians in Gaul, he
delayed the battle. He pretended that, on the advice of certain oracles, he was
only delaying for a convenient time and place for a victory. He carried Martha,
a Syrian woman, around with him on a litter. She was reported to have skills in
prophesying. [K134] He held her in great reverence and never sacrificed without
her approval. She had formerly been with the Senate to entreat about such
matters and foretell what would happen. However the Senate ignored her and
would no longer give her a hearing. {*Plutarch, Marius, l. 1. c. 17. s.
1,2. 9:507}
3878. About the same time, Bataces or Batabaces, a priest of the Great Mother,
Cybele, came to Rome from Pessinus in Phrygia. (Pessinus was the main sanctuary
of Cybele.) He came into the Senate and told them that he had been ordered there
by his goddess with tidings of a great victory which was to happen to the people
of Rome and of the fame they would get in a war. He added that the religious
rites of the goddess had been profaned and therefore public expiation ought to
be made for the rites at Rome. He also brought along with him a garment and
other body ornaments that were new and had never before been seen by any Roman.
He also brought a golden crown of an unusual size and a long robe interwoven
with flowers and gilded. It was all very glorious and regal in appearance.
After he had made a speech to the people from the orator's speaking-desk and
persuaded them to receive his superstitious worship, he was entertained at the
public places of receipt for strangers. He was prohibited by Aulus Pompeius,
the tribune of the people, from bringing his crown with him. The other tribune
brought him to the court and questioned him about the expiation of the temple.
He responded with a very superstitious answer. After Pompeius had called him an
impostor and driven him from the court, he disbanded the assembly and went home.
[E507] He suddenly became sick with a violent fever, so that soon after this he
became speechless and was most severely tormented with a swollen throat. He
died on the third day (or, as others stated, the seventh day). Some interpreted
all this to have happened to him by a divine providence because of the indignant
manner in which he had treated the priest and the goddess. For the Romans were
naturally inclined to superstitions, which is the reason why Bataces in his holy
dress was treated so magnificently by the men and women. When he left Rome, he
was accompanied out of town with great pomp. {*Plutarch, Marius, l. 1. c.
17. s. 4-6. 9:509} {*Diod. Sic., l. 36. c. 13. 12:175-179}
3879. A servant belonging to Quintus Servilius Caepio made himself a eunuch for
the worship of the Great Mother. He was sent overseas and never again returned
to Rome. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 44a. 14:279}
3903a AM, 4612 JP, 102 BC
3880. Alexander Jannaeus captured Amathus, which was the strongest fortified
citadel of any near the Jordan River. There Theodorus, the son of Zenon, had
stored whatever he had of value. When Theodorus attacked Alexander without
warning, he recovered what he had lost and pillaged Alexander's wagons, killing
ten thousand Jews. As soon as Alexander had recovered from this loss, he
attacked the countries along that sea coast and captured Raphia and Anthedon,
which Herod later renamed Agrippias. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 4. s.
2. (86,87) 2:43} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 3. (356,358) 7:405}
3903b AM, 4613 JP, 101 BC
3881. Manius Aquilius, who was in his fifth consulship and was the colleague of
Gaius Marius, was sent as general against Athenio, the Cilician, who had been
made king of the renegades in Sicily after Tryphon's death. Manius behaved
himself gallantly in the service and won a very famous victory over the rebels.
He fought personally with King Athenio and finally overcame him. When the
soldiers strove among themselves over whose prisoner he should be, Athenio was
torn in pieces by them in the strife. {*Diod. Sic., l. 36. c. 10. 12:173}
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 19. s. 11,12. 1:241}
3882. Ptolemy Lathurus left Gaza and returned to Cyprus, while his mother
Cleopatra returned to Egypt. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 3.
(357,358) 7:405} [K135] Her harsh treatment of Lathurus frightened her younger
son Alexander so much, that it caused him to leave Cyprus. He preferred a
secure and safe life to the hazards of a kingdom. Because of this, Cleopatra
feared that her older son Lathurus might get Antiochus Cyzicenus' help in
recovering Egypt. So she sent supplies to Antiochus Grypus and also sent him
Selene, Lathurus' wife, to be married to the enemy of her former husband. She
also had her envoys recall her son, Alexander, to the kingdom. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 39. c. 4. s. 4.} This was the cause of their civil wars, mentioned by
Livy, which arose between the kings of Syria. {*Livy, l. 68. 14:83}
3904a AM, 4613 JP, 101 BC
3883. Julius Obsequens noted that the fugitives in Sicily were all killed in
various battles, at the time when Gaius Marius and Lucius Valerius were consuls.
{*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 44a. 14:279} Aquilius, the
proconsul, pursued the remaining ten thousand fugitives until he had subdued
them all. Thus the second war of the slaves ended, after it had lasted almost
four years. {*Diod. Sic., l. 36. c. 10. 12:173,175} Athenaeus stated that
a million slaves were killed in these wars. {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (272f) 3:225}
3904b AM, 4614 JP, 100 BC
3884. Gaius Marius became consul for the sixth time, mainly through the help of
Lucius Apuleius Saturninus, the tribune of the people. He banished Quintus
Metellus Numidicus, who went to Rhodes, where he devoted himself to the study of
philosophy and had time to read authors and hear the discourses of the most
eminent scholars. {*Cicero, In Pison, l. 1. c. 9. 14:165} {*Cicero, Pro
Sestio, l. 1. c. 47. 12:173} {*Livy, l. 69. 14:83,85} {*Plutarch, Marius,
l. 1. c. 28. 9:539-543} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 4. (29-31)
3:57-63}
3885. Envoys came to Rome from Mithridates with a good sum of money, hoping to
bribe the Senate. Saturninus, tribune of the people and a sworn enemy of the
whole order of senators, noticed their arrival. He thought he had a reason to
attack the Senate and berated the embassy with reproaches. The envoys, at the
instigation of the senators, called him into question for this and so muzzled
him. The Senate welcomed the embassy and promised them their help. Saturninus
was in great danger of capital punishment for violating the rights of the
envoys, whose privileges the Romans at all times held in a most religious
esteem. But the people rescued him from this danger and again made him tribune
of the people. {*Diod. Sic., l. 36. c. 15. 12:181} This action caused a
new rebellion, however, in which he was killed. This was the very year when
Gaius Marius (for the sixth time) and Valerius Flaccus were consuls. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 8. c. 5. 15:377} {*Cicero, In Pison, l. 1. c. 2. 14:147}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 4. (32) 3:63,65} {Orosius, l. 5. c. 17.}
[E508]
3906 AM, 4616 JP, 98 BC
3886. In every assembly, for two whole years, the matter of ending the
banishment of Quintus Metellus was debated. Quintus Metellus' son crossed the
forum, with his beard and hair overgrown and dressed in a dirty garment. With
tears in his eyes, he prostrated himself before the citizens and begged them to
recall his father home again. The people refused to raise the hopes of Quintus
Metellus by doing anything on his behalf that was contrary to law. However, out
of compassion for the young man and his earnest pleas, they recalled Quintus
Metellus from his banishment and gave his son the surname of Pius, on account of
the outstanding affection and care he had shown for his father. {*Diod. Sic.,
l. 36. c. 16. 12:181} Aurelius Victor, however, wrote that the father,
Quintus Metellus, was banished to Smyrna and was later recalled home by the
Calidian law. The letters of recall were brought to him as he sat in the
theatre, and although he glanced at the letters, he would not even read them
until the show was over. {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c.
62.} [K136]
3887. After Metellus returned home, Gaius Marius could not face him and so
sailed to Cappadocia and Galatia. He pretended he wanted to worship the Great
Mother, but his real plan was to start a new war. To accomplish this, he
thought it good to egg Mithridates on. He was received with every civility and
respect, while Mithridates at the time was obviously busy preparing for war.
Gaius Marius said this to the king:
"Either endeavour, oh king, to put yourself into such a state that you may be
too hard for the Romans, or else quietly submit to their commands."
3888. This saying amazed the king. He had heard of Gaius' name, but never
before had he experienced the the free-spokenness of the Roman tongue.
{*Plutarch, Marius, l. 1. c. 31. 9:549,551}
3889. Alexander Jannaeus was enraged against the citizens of Gaza, because they
had called Ptolemy Lathurus in to help them against him. So he attacked their
city and wasted the country. In the meantime Apollodotus, the commander of the
men of Gaza, with two thousand mercenaries and ten thousand of the townsmen he
had armed, sallied forth by night into the Jewish camp. In this night battle,
the men of Gaza had the upper hand since the Jews believed that Ptolemy had come
to the enemy's relief. As soon as it was daybreak and the truth of the matter
became evident, the Jews rallied forth in a body and attacked the townsmen with
all their might, killing about a thousand of them. In spite of all this, and
though their supplies grew scarce, the Gazeans would not surrender to the Jews.
They were ready to undergo any hardship rather than submit to the enemy.
Aretas, the king of the Arabians, raised their spirits for a while by saying he
would help them, which he did not end up doing. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
13. s. 3. (359,360) 7:407}
3907 AM, 4617 JP, 97 BC
3890. Lysimachus envied the great regard in which his brother Apollodotus was
held by the citizens of Gaza, and killed him. He then gathered a band of
soldiers and delivered the city over to Alexander Jannaeus. At first, he
marched in very calmly, but shortly after he turned the soldiers loose to attack
the townsmen and to kill without restraint. The Gazeans were slaughtered in
every street. However, they did not die unrevenged, but struggled with their
assailants and killed an equal number of Jews. Others retired to their houses
and set them on fire to prevent the enemy from plundering them. Still others
killed their wives and their children with their own hands, so that they might
not be led away captive. The five hundred council-men retired to Apollo's
temple, for it so happened that at the very time that the enemy was let into the
city, a council was being held there. But Alexander cut all their throats.
When he had destroyed the city, he returned to Jerusalem, about a year after he
had started his siege of Gaza. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 3.
(361-364) 7:407,409}
3891. At the same time, Antiochus Grypus was killed through the treachery of
Heracleon. He had lived for forty-five years and reigned for twenty-nine,
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 4. (365) 7:409} or, twenty-six
according to Porphyry. Eleven of those twenty-six years he had reigned alone,
the other fifteen years in joint partnership with Cyzicenus. He died in the
fourth year of the 180th Olympiad. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
227.} Grypus was survived by five sons, the first named Seleucus, who, Josephus
said, succeeded his father. Antiochus and Philip were the second and third and
were twins by Tryphena, the daughter of Ptolemy Physcon, king of Egypt.
Demetrius Eucarus was the fourth and Dionysius the fifth.
3908a AM, 4617 JP, 97 BC
3892. Mithridates Eupator, the king of Pontus, had a son born to him, named
Pharnaces, who lived fifty years. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17.
(120) 2:475}
3908b AM, 4618 JP, 96 BC
3893. When Gnaeus Domitius and Gaius Cassius were consuls, Ptolemy, who was the
king of the Cyrenians and Physcon's son by a courtesan, died. He left the
people of Rome as his heir. {*Livy, l. 70. 14:87} {*Julius Obsequens,
Prodigies, l. 1. c. 49. 14:285} {Cassidorus, Chronicle} [K137] The cities of
that kingdom were enfranchised by a decree of the Senate, according to Livy.
Although Plutarch stated that the Cyrenians were miserably harassed soon after
with continual rebellions and wars. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 2. s.
3,4. 2:475,477} [E509]
3909 AM, 4619 JP, 95 BC
3894. Anna, the prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, was
married and lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage. {Lu
2:36,37}
3895. Tigranes, son of Tigranes, who had been turned over to the Parthians as a
hostage, was restored by them to his father's kingdom of Armenia. The Parthians
received seventy valleys of land in his country as a gratuity. {*Strabo, l.
11. c. 14. s. 15. 5:339} {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 3.} {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (48) 2:197} This is deduced from the 25th year of his
reign and mention will be made later. {See note on 3439b AM.
<<4214>>}
3910a AM, 4619 JP, 95 BC
3896. Quintus Mucius Scaevola was sent as the proconsul into Asia and selected
his most intimate friend, Publius Rutilius Rufus, as his associate. Pomponius
erroneously stated that Rufus was the proconsul of Asia. {Pomponius, Civil Law}
Scaevola relied on his advice and counsel in managing the affairs of the
province and making laws. Scaevola played a significant role in restraining the
injustices and exactions of the tax collectors, who mercilessly oppressed that
province. As often as anyone who had been wronged by these tax collectors
brought their cause to him, he condemned them, no matter who they were, through
upright judges. The condemned were then turned over to the persons they had
injured, to be confined to prison by them. As well as this, he paid his own
expenses and the expenses of his retinue from his own wealth. He soon won the
hearts of all in the province toward the people of Rome. {*Cicero, De Oratore,
l. 1. c. 53. 3:165} {*Diod. Sic., l. 37. c. 5. 12:203,205}
3910b AM, 4620 JP, 94 BC
3897. Seleucus, son of Antiochus Grypus, assembled a considerable force and
marched against his uncle, Antiochus Cyzicenus. Cyzicenus came from Antioch
with his army and fought with him, but was defeated. His horse ran away with
him into the enemy's camp, and when he saw no possibility of escape, he killed
himself. He had reigned eighteen years. When Seleucus had won the kingdom, he
retired to Antioch. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.} Josephus
related that Cyzicenus was taken prisoner in the battle by Seleucus, and was
later killed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 4. (365,366) 7:409}
However, Trogus stated that he died in the battle which was fought between him
and Grypus' sons. {Justin, Trogus, l. 40. Prologue}
3898. When Gnaeus Lucius Domitius and Gaius Caelius were consuls, the Senate
decreed that it was forbidden for anyone to lend money to the Cretians.
{Asconius Pedianus, Pro Cornelio} {*Dio, l. 30-35. (111) 2:499} {See note on
3935b AM. <<4259>>}
3899. Quintus Mucius Scaevola resigned the government of Asia after nine
months, fearing lest he should become a financial burden to the treasury.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 17. 22:381} {Asconius Pedianus, In Pison} While
he held his office in Asia, he managed it so uprightly and justly, that the
Senate by decree held up Scaevola's administration as a model and form after
that time to be imitated by all those who should succeed him in that province.
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 8. c. 15. s. 6. 2:283} The Greeks also inserted a
festival day in their calendar in honour of him, which the Asians called Mucia.
{Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres II, l. 3.} {Asconius Pedianus, Against
Divinations} Concerning this, Cicero wrote: {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 2.
c. 22. 7:351}
"Although Mithridates was master of all that province in Asia, he did not
suppress the Scaevola Festival. Although he was an enemy and very violent and
cruel in other matters, he would not violate the great honour of the man who was
hallowed with the ceremonies of the gods." [K138]
3900. However, his associate, Publius Rutilius Rufus, a person of high
integrity who had helped in ridding Asia of unjust exactions and wrongs by the
tax collectors, was called into question about receiving bribes. This was
orchestrated by a factious party of the rich land-owners whom he, together with
the proconsul, had punished for exorbitantly extracting rents. He had such
complete trust and innocence that he did not let his beard grow, nor put on
unfashionable clothes, nor set aside his senatorial robes from the day that his
accusers had appointed to accuse him about this. He was not intimidated by his
adversaries, nor did he try to influence his judges. When the praetor granted
him permission to make his defense, he made a speech worthy of his position.
His attitude was such as would be appropriate for any good man, whose lot it was
to be burdened with troubles and who was more concerned about the sad state of
the republic than his own situation. He did not speak one word which could be
seen as detracting from the splendour of his previous years. {*Livy, l. 70.
14:87} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 13. s. 2. 1:77} {Orosius, l. 5.
c. 17. s. 12,13.} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres II} {*Valerius Maximus,
l. 6. c. 4. s. 4. 2:47,49} {*Dio, l. 28. (97) 2:455,457} Cicero stated:
{*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 1. c. 53. 3:165}
"Since the man was the very pattern of innocence and not one person in the whole
city of greater integrity or sanctimony: he did not petition the judges' favour
and would not so much as allow his advocates to plead his cause with greater
flourishes and embellishments than the bare account of the truth itself would
permit. In some few particulars of his defence, he used Cotta, an eloquent man
and his sister's son. Quintus Mucius also pleaded some things on his behalf
after his accustomed manner, without any flourish, his diction simple and
crystal clear."
3901. Cicero elsewhere stated: {*Cicero, Brutus, l. 1. c. 30. 5:103,105}
"At which time that most innocent person was called to trial, by whose
conviction we know the state to have been shaken. Although those two eloquent
men, Lucius Crassus and Marcus Antonius, were then in the city, he would not
have either of them for his advocate. He pleaded his own cause for himself and
Gaius Cotta said a few things, since he was the son of his sister. [E510]
Although he was a youth, he nevertheless showed himself an orator. Quintus
Mucius also spoke in court, clearly indeed and smoothly, as he always did, yet
not with such zeal and volubility as that process and the graveness of the cause
required."
3902. Thus the rich land-owners of Rome, by means of the Gracchian laws, had
gained control of the judicial system. To the great grief of the city, they
condemned Rutilius as being guilty of bribery. There was never a man alive who
was more innocent than he was. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 13. 1:77} No
sooner was sentence passed on him and an estimate made in monetary terms of what
he stood charged of in court, than he immediately parted with all that he had.
By this he demonstrated that he was altogether innocent of the crime he was
charged with. For everything that he could gather together did not approach the
amount his accusers said he had extorted in Asia. He showed that every part of
his estate had been conveyed to him on just and lawful titles. Gaius Marius was
envious of this man and hated his integrity. Rutilius did not like how matters
had gone at Rome and could not stand Marius. Therefore, he voluntarily left his
country and went into Asia to live in exile at Mitylene. {*Dio, l. 28. (97)
2:455-459} One of his friends tried to comfort and cheer him up in his
banishment by telling him that the civil wars would soon happen, and then all
the banished would be able to return home. He replied: {*Seneca, On Benefits,
l. 6. c. 37. 3:443}
"What wrong did I ever do to you, that you should wish me a more unhappy return
home than I had going into banishment? I had rather that my country should
blush at my banishment, than weep at my return home."
3903. His banishment in no way marred his former glory and wealth. All the
cities of Asia sent their envoys to wait on him. [K139] Quintus Mucius and all
those cities and kings that had formerly been under an obligation to him for any
courtesy shown them, sent him very many presents. He now had more wealth than
before his banishment. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 2. c. 10. s. 5. 1:225}
{*Dio, l. 28. (97) 2:459}
3911 AM, 4621 JP, 93 BC
3904. Antiochus Eusebes, or Pius, the son of Antiochus Cyzicenus, escaped a
plot by Seleucus, his first cousin. A courtesan, who fell in love with
Antiochus on account of his good looks, helped foil the plot. But the Syrians
ascribed his escape to his piety, for which he had the surname of Pius. He went
to Aradus and set a crown on his head, and then started a war against Seleucus.
In one battle he gave him so great a defeat, that Seleucus was never able to
fight with him again and was chased from Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
13. s. 4. (365-367) 7:409,411} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69)
2:237}
3905. Seleucus fled to Cilicia and was received by the Mopsuestians. After a
while, he began to exact tribute from them. They were so offended by his taxes,
that they set fire to his palace and burned both him and his friends alive.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 4. (368) 7:411} Appian stated that he
was burned alive in the public place of exercise, because he behaved so
violently and tyrannically. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69)
2:237} Eusebius stated that he was burned alive by Antiochus Cyzicenus' son.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:231} Porphyry, however, wrote that after he
had fled to the city and discovered that the Mopsuestians planned to burn him
alive, he committed suicide. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
3906. The twin brothers of Seleucus, Antiochus and Philip, drew up their forces
against Mopsuestia and took it, levelling it to the ground in revenge for their
brother's death. This had no sooner been done than Antiochus Pius, the son of
Cyzicenus, attacked and defeated them. When Antiochus fled from the battle on
horseback, he drowned in trying to cross the Orontes River. His brother Philip
(to whom Scaliger attributes a coin to belong, which had this inscription:
ILIPPOU EUERGETOU FILLADELFU BASIAEWS) and Antiochus Pius began their reigns
together from the 3rd year of the 171st Olympiad. Both of them had considerable
forces and fought to see who would be the sole ruler of Syria. {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
3912 AM, 4622 JP, 92 BC
3907. Ptolemy Lathurus sent to Cnidos for Demetrius Eukairos (the Ill-Timed),
the fourth son of Antiochus Grypus, and made him king of Damascus. Antiochus
Pius fought the forces with those of Demetrius and Philip and opposed them very
valiantly for a while. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 4. (370,371)
7:411,413} At length, Antiochus was defeated and was forced to flee to the
Parthians for refuge. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.} [E511]
3913a AM, 4622 JP, 92 BC
3908. When Mithridates, the king of Pontus, had seized Cappadocia, he killed
the two sons of Ariarathes, the king of Cappadocia. Ariarathes had died in the
war against Aristonicus and had two sons by Mithridates' sister, Laodice, who
was not Ariarathes' sister of the same name. Mithridates turned the kingdom of
Cappadocia over to his own eight-year-old son, Ariarathes, and appointed Gordius
as his guardian. Nicomedes Philopator, the king of Bithynia, was worried lest
after Mithridates had captured Cappadocia, he should attempt to invade Bithynia,
which bordered on it. He bribed a very handsome youth to say that he was the
third son of Ariarathes, and that he had more than two sons. He was to petition
the Senate about restoring him to his father's kingdom. He also sent to Rome
Ariarathes' wife Laodice, who was Mithridates' sister, and who, after the death
of her former husband, Ariarathes, was now married to Nicomedes. She was to
testify that Ariarathes had three sons. As soon as Mithridates heard about
this, he, with equal impudence, sent Gordius to Rome, as well. [K140] He was to
tell the Senate that the youth whom he had placed in the kingdom of Cappadocia
was descended from that Ariarathes who had died in the war with Aristonicus.
This Ariarathes had brought supplies to the Romans and had died while doing
this. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 1,2.}
3913b AM, 4623 JP, 91 BC
3909. The queen of the Samenians waged war with the Parthians. Josephus wrote
that Antiochus Pius, Cyzicenus' son, was called on to help her and fought
gallantly, but was killed in a battle. After his death, the kingdom of Syria
remained in the power of Grypus' sons: the two brothers, Philip, and Demetrius
Eukairos. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 13. s. 4. (371) 7:411,413} But
Eusebius ended the reign of Seleucus' family in the two years which he
attributed to Philip, Grypus' son. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:231}
Appian, however, stated that after this time Antiochus Pius was driven out of
his kingdom by Tigranes. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69) 2:237}
Josephus stated that Philip, with his brother, Demetrius Eukairos, waged war on
Antiochus and took over the kingdom of Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
13. s. 4. (371) 7:411,413} It seems more probable that when Antiochus Pius
returned from the Parthians, as Porphyry and Eusebius confirmed, he did not go
against his enemies but to a sanctuary and refuge for himself. He recovered
that part of Syria which Philip had usurped for two years. Philip, to recover
that loss, fought with his two brothers, Demetrius and Antiochus, and hoped to
add the kingdom of Damascus to his government. These battles between the kings
of Syria seem to be those which Livy has described. {*Livy, l. 70. 14:87}
Philip claimed for himself all the remaining parts of Syria which were not in
the hand of Cyzicenus' son. The Syrians finally grew quite weary of the various
skirmishes that Philip had with Antiochus Pius and with his brothers over eight
years. They deserted the Seleucians and voluntarily put themselves under the
command of Tigranes, king of Armenia. {Justin, Trogus, l. 40. init.} Appian
stated that the surname of Pius, which was given to Antiochus, was given to him
in derision by the Syrians because he had married Selene, who had formerly been
the wife both of his father Cyzicenus and his uncle Grypus. Appian plainly
stated that it was for this reason he was thrown out of the kingdom by Tigranes
and that it was the just judgment of God. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
11. (69) 2:237}
3910. The Senate of Rome was well aware of the plans of the two Asiatic kings
to steal away another man's kingdom by producing bogus heirs. They took
Cappadocia away from Mithridates and to even the score, they took Paphlagonia
from Nicomedes. So that neither king could claim a victory, they made both
these places a free state. The Cappadocians refused this liberty and sent
envoys to Rome to tell them that it was utterly impossible for them to live
without a king. The Romans were puzzled at this and gave them permission to
elect a king, whereupon Ariobarzanes was made king. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38.
c. 2.} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 1. 5:371,373} The Romans denounced
Gordius, whom Mithridates had commended to them. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c.
5.}
3914a AM, 4623 JP, 91 BC
3911. Lucius Cornelius Sulla's office as a praetor expired. Velleius
Paterculus stated that he was praetor the year before Lucius Caesar and Publius
Rutilius were consuls. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 15. 1:79,81} He was
appointed over Cilicia and was sent as an envoy to Cappadocia. His trip was
ostensibly to establish Ariobarzanes in his kingdom as the newly elected king.
His real intention was to crush the designs of Mithridates, whose head was full
of plots. Sulla brought no large force with him but with the help of the
allies, who readily offered their services, he killed a large company of
Cappadocians and a far larger number of Armenians, who came to assist Gordius.
He threw out Gordius and the young king Ariarathes, to whom Gordius had been
assigned as guardian by Mithridates. [E512] [K141] Sulla proclaimed
Ariobarzanes the king, according to the decree of the Senate. Mithridates did
not say anything against it at the time. {*Livy, l. 70. 14:87} {*Plutarch,
Sulla, l. 1. c. 5. s. 3. 4:335} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
8. (57) 2:343,345} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 9. (77) 3:141}
3914b AM, 4624 JP, 90 BC
3912. The Parthian envoys came to Sulla from their King Arsaces, to ask for
friendship with the people of Rome. {*Livy, l. 70. 14:87} {Sextus Rufus,
Breviary} There had never been any communication between these two peoples
before that. Orobazus, the Parthian, headed the embassy which met with Sulla,
who was near the Euphrates River. Sulla is said to have had three seats set up,
one for Ariobarzanes, another for Orobazus and the third for himself. So he sat
in between them and listened to what the envoys said. Soon after this, the
Parthian king killed Orobazus. Some say that he killed Orobazus because he had
exposed the barbarians to public derision, while still others stated the reason
for killing him was that Orobazus was an arrogant, ambitious man. It is also
recorded that a certain Chaldean in Orobazus' retinue looked carefully at
Sulla's countenance, observing the the mood, inclination and movement of his
mind and body and noting his character, by artfully observing him. He declared
publicly that it was impossible for Sulla not to become a great man soon. He
was surprised that he could tolerate his present office and that he was not
already head of everything. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 5. s. 4-6.
4:335,337} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 24. s. 3. 1:101}
3913. As soon as Sulla returned home to Rome, Censorinus impeached him for
bribery, alleging that Sulla had illegally taken a large sum of money from a
kingdom, in return for getting friendship and amity for them with the Romans.
However, he did not pursue the allegation, but but let it drop. {*Plutarch,
Sulla, l. 1. c. 5. s. 6. 4:337}
3914. Mithridates used Gordius to persuade Tigranes, the king of Armenia, to
side with him in the war which he had long been planning against the Romans.
Tigranes never dreamed that the Romans would take any exception to their war
with Cappadocia and with Ariobar-zanes, whom the Romans had set up as king over
the Cappadocians. Gordius flattered him as if he were only a stupid fellow and
one who had no spirit or life in him at all. In order to appear to be playing
fair, Mithridates offered his daughter Cleopatra to Tigranes in marriage.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 3.}
3915a AM, 4624 JP, 90 BC
3915. The commanders of Mithridates, Bagoas and Tigranes drove out
Ariobarzanes. As soon as they came, he packed and fled to Rome. Mithridates
set up Ariarathes in the kingdom. So, with Tigranes' help, Cappadocia was once
again under Mithridates' jurisdiction. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 3.}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (10) 2:255}
3916. At the same time, when Nicomedes Philopator died, the Senate of Rome made
his son Nicomedes the king of Bithynia. He was his son by Nisa, who was a
common dancer of Mithridates, as Justin called her. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38.
c. 5.} Mithridates sent an army to Bithynia under Nicomedes' older brother
Socrates, who was also called Nicomedes, and surnamed Chrestus, or The Thrifty.
After Socrates had beaten his brother Nicomedes, he took over the kingdom.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 5.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2.
(10) 2:255} {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 32.}
3917. When Nicomedes was stripped of his kingdom, he made his humble address to
Rome. Whereupon it was decreed in the Senate that both he and Ariobarzanes
should be restored to their kingdoms. To do this, Manius Aquilius, who had
quelled the slave war in Sicily, and Malthius (or, as it reads in the MS.,
Marcus Altinius), {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 5.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 2. (11) 2:255} [K142] and Lucius Cassius, who controlled the
country around Pergamum in Asia with a small army, were sent as envoys.
Mithridates was ordered to help them. But Mithridates did nothing, because the
ownership of Cappadocia was in dispute at the time and the Romans had taken
Phrygia away from him. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (11)
2:255,257} He put them off with a long story of his grievances and showed the
envoys what vast expenses he had incurred in both public and private accounts.
{*Dio, l. 30-35. (99) 2:467} Trogus recorded this speech, in which Mithridates
affirmed that his son had been turned out of Cappadocia, which, by the law of
nations, belonged to him as the victor, and also that he had killed Chrestus,
the king of Bithynia, as a favour to the Romans. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c.
5.}
3915b AM, 4625 JP, 89 BC
3918. Mithridates soon planned to fight with the Romans and drew Tigranes into
his plans through the alliance he had with him. Mithridates was to get the
cities and the fields as his share and Tigranes the people and the plunder.
Mithridates realised what a great task he had undertaken and sent his envoys
abroad for help. Some he sent to the Cimmerians, others to the Galatians, to
the Samatians and the Bastarnians. He had secured each of these countries
beforehand with gifts and favours, at the time when he had first conceived the
idea of fighting the Romans. [E513] He also commanded that an army be sent to
him from Scythia. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 3.} All those who inhabited
Tanais, the regions of the Ister River and Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov) were ready
to help him. He also sent into Egypt and Syria, to make an alliance with their
kings. He already had three hundred ships with decks and was building more
every day, while he sent for captains and pilots from Phoenicia and Egypt. He
also had his father's kingdom, which was twenty-five hundred miles wide. He got
many of the neighbouring countries on his side, including the warlike country of
the Colchians. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (15,16) 2:263-267}
He seized the country which is bounded by the Halys River as far as Amastris,
and some parts of Paphlagonia. He also annexed to his kingdom the sea coast
toward the west as far as Heraclea. On the other side, he added to Pontus, all
the land between Pontus, the Colchians and Lesser Armenia. {*Strabo, l. 12.
c. 3. s. 1. 5:371,373} Aulus Gellius wrote about the fact that he had
twenty-five countries which paid homage to him as subjects. {*Aulus Gellius,
Attic Nights, l. 17. c. 17. s. 2. 3:263} Valerius Maximus, Quintilian and
Pliny state that he had twenty-two countries under his control. {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 8. c. 7. ext. 16. 2:241} {Quintilian, l. 11. c. 2.}
{*Pliny, l. 7. c. 24. 2:563} {*Pliny, l. 25. c. 3. 7:139} Mithridates
was so well-skilled in every one of their various languages, that he never used
an interpreter on any occasion that he had to speak with the people. Sextus
Aurelius Victor stated that Mithridates could speak twenty-two different
languages. However, in the cited reference the manuscripts stated fifty,
instead of twenty-two. {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 76.}
3919. The Roman envoys, together with Cassius' soldiers and some other forces
levied from Galatia and Phrygia, had re-established the kingdoms for Nicomedes
in Bithynia and Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia. They advised both of them to attack
Mithridates' country, which bordered on theirs, and by so doing start a war.
They assured them of their help if Mithridates retaliated. Neither of them
really wanted or dared to provoke so powerful a neighbour by outright acts of
hostility but the envoys prevailed on Nicomedes to attack Mithridates.
Nicomedes owed large sums of money to the general treasury and to the envoys
themselves, in return for his restitution to the kingdom. He also owed other
money, which he had borrowed on interest from the Romans in Asia, who now called
in the loan. By this pinch and much against his own will, he was thus forced to
make inroads into Mithridates' kingdom. He destroyed and pillaged the country
as far as the city of Amastris without any resistance. [K143] For although
Mithridates was well-prepared for a battle, he restrained himself and allowed
the enemy to range at will. This way, all the world would see that he had not
started the war against the Romans, but had just cause to retaliate. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 2. (11) 2:257} {*Livy, l. 74. 14:93} {*Dio, l.
30-35. (99) 2:467} Regarding the arrogance of the Romans, Mithridates wrote to
Arsaces stating: {*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (10) 1:435,437}
"Although I was separated from their empire on every side by kingdoms and
tetrarchies, yet because it was reported that I was rich and would not be a
slave, they provoked me to war through Nicomedes. I was not unaware of their
design, but had previously given warning of what occurred subsequently...."
3920. As soon as Nicomedes had returned home with his rich plunder, Mithridates
sent Pelopidas, the orator, to the Roman generals and envoys. He knew well
enough that Nicomedes had done what he did at their instigation. He reasoned
with them over the injuries and injustices done to him by Nicomedes. Nicomedes'
envoys laid all the blame on Mithridates for starting this war. The Romans
replied that they were not happy that Nicomedes should molest Mithridates in any
way, but neither would they allow Mithridates to recover his losses by waging
war with Nicomedes. Mithridates did not receive any better satisfaction. Since
he realised that the Romans planned to thwart his actions, he sent his son
Ariarathes, with a large army, to capture Cappadocia. His son soon drove out
Ariobarzanes and reigned in his place. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
3. (15) 2:263} {*Livy, l. 76,77. 14:95,97} {Eutropius, l. 5.} {Orosius, l.
6. c. 2.} Maltius or Marcus Altinius, the Roman envoy, was defeated there at
the same time. {Justin, Trogus, l. 38. c. 4.}
3921. Mithridates sent his envoys to Rome to ask that, if the Romans counted
Nicomedes their friend, they would either persuade or compel him to do what was
right and fair. If they considered him an enemy, they should give Mithridates
permission to avenge himself upon him. The Romans did not satisfy him on any of
his demands, but threatened him instead, if he did not give back Cappadocia to
Ariobarzanes and make peace with Nicomedes. They ordered his envoys out of Rome
that very day and strictly prohibited him from sending envoys to Rome again,
unless he submitted to their injunctions. {*Dio, l. 31. (99) 2:467,469}
[E514]
3922. In the meantime, Mithridates sent Pelopidas to the Roman generals to tell
them that he had sent some envoys to the Senate to complain about them and was
therefore warning them to be present to explain their actions. They were not to
dare to do anything until they had received a decree from the Senate and people
of Rome. Since Pelopidas sounded somewhat harsh and insolent, the Romans warned
Mithridates not to meddle with Nicomedes and to leave Cappadocia, because they
would take care of restoring Ariobarzanes. They ordered Pelopidas from the camp
and warned him not to return until the king had done what he was told to do. He
was sent away with an escort, in case he should try to bribe anyone along the
way. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (15,16) 2:263-267}
3923. The Roman generals did not wait for the decree from the Senate and the
people about this war. They drew their forces from Bithynia, Cappadocia,
Paphlagonia and Galatia, and after adding to them the army that Lucius Cassius
had for securing Asia, they arranged their forces into several divisions.
Cassius camped around Bithynia and Galatia, while Manius Aquilius used his
brigade to secure the passage which Mithridates would have to use to enter
Bithynia. Quintus Oppius, meanwhile, camped in the borders of Cappadocia. Each
of them had forty thousand foot soldiers and cavalry, and they had a fleet as
well. It sailed near Byzantium under the command of Minucius Rufus and Gaius
Popilius, who were to secure the entrance to the Pontus. [K144] Nicomedes also
sent fifty thousand foot soldiers and six thousand cavalry to help them.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (17) 2:267,269}
3924. Mithridates had a quarter of a million foot soldiers and forty thousand
cavalry in his army, three hundred ships with decks and a hundred galleys with
two tiers of oars. He had made other preparations essential for so large an
army. Two brothers, Neoptolemus and Archelaus, had the command of these forces.
The king personally took charge of many things. Among the auxiliaries,
Mithridates' son Arcathias had brought ten thousand cavalry from Lesser Armenia.
Dorylaus commanded the phalanx and Craterus had the command of a hundred and
thirty chariots with scythes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (17)
2:269}
3925. As soon as the generals of Nicomedes and Mithridates located each other
in the plain near the Amnias River, they drew into battle array. Nicomedes used
every man he had, but Neoptolemus and Archelaus only used their lightly armed
foot soldiers and Arcathias' cavalry, along with some chariots. They made a
phalanx of eight thousand men who had not yet arrived, but were on the march.
The victory was uncertain. Sometimes one side had the upper hand, then the
other side. At last Mithridates' commanders, with their smaller number of
soldiers, unleashed their chariots armed with scythes and mowed the enemy down.
It was hard to believe how many were killed. Nicomedes was forced to flee into
Paphlagonia with his troops. The deserted enemy camp was plundered and the
victors took the money. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (18)
2:269,271} {Memnon, c. 33.} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 40. 5:449}
3926. When Nicomedes was chased from the field of battle, he camped near the
place where Manius Aquilius was with his brigade. Mithridates took Mount
Scoroba, which divided Bithynia and Pontus. He sent as his scouts a hundred
cavalry of Sarmatians, who attacked eight hundred of Nicomedes' cavalry and took
some of them prisoner. Neoptolemus and Nemanes, an Armenian, overtook Manius
Aquilius as he was drawing off his forces after Nicomedes had gone to Cassius.
This occurred at the stronghold of Protopachium, around the seventh hour. They
forced him to fight when he only had four thousand cavalry and forty thousand
foot soldiers with him. Of these, ten thousand were killed and three thousand
taken prisoner. After this disaster, Aquilius fled as fast as he could toward
the Sangarius River, which he crossed by night, and so escaped to Pergamum.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (19) 2:273} {*Livy, l. 77. 14:97}
3927. Cassius, Nicomedes and all the Roman envoys moved their camps and marched
to Lion's Head, which was the most well-fortified citadel in all Phrygia. They
exercised a company of new soldiers whom they had gathered together from among
the tradesmen, the husbandmen and the dregs of the people, as well as having
made a levy of the Phrygians. When they saw that these would make poor
soldiers, they dismissed them all and retreated from there. Cassius marched off
with his forces to Apamea, Nicomedes to Pergamum and Aquilius toward Rhodes. As
soon as news of this reached those who had been sent to guard the entrance into
Pontus, they scattered and handed over the inlets of Pontus and Nicomedes' ships
as a prize to Mithridates. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (19)
2:273,275} [E515]
3928. Mithridates sent home all the prisoners that he had taken in this war,
with provisions for the journey. With this act of clemency, he hoped to gain a
good reputation among his enemies. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3.
(18) 2:271} This kind gesture was so admired by everyone, that all the cities
came flocking to his side. Envoys from all the cities came to him and by their
public decrees invited him to come to them, calling him their god and deliverer.
Whenever Mithridates approached a city, the people from the surrounding cities
came flocking in white garments to greet him and received him with great joy and
acclamation. {*Diod. Sic., l. 37. c. 26. 12:231} The titles of honour
which they conferred on him, too notable and lofty for a mere mortal, were more
befitting a god. Calling him their god, they asked for his help. {*Athenaeus,
l. 5. (212d) 2:461} [K145] They called him their Lord, Father, Saviour of
Asia, Euhius, Dionysus or Bacchus, Nysius, Bromius and Liber. {*Cicero, Pro
Flacco, l. 1. (60,61) 10:509} Plutarch, in the first book of his Symposium,
gave the reason why the title of Bacchus was given more than all the rest.
{Plutarch, Symposium, l. 1.}
3929. After Nicomedes had withdrawn to Italy, Mithridates seized all of
Bithynia, so that he had nothing else to do there but to ride in circuit from
city to city, to settle things and put them in order. {Memnon, c. 33.} {*Livy,
l. 76,77. 14:95,97} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 40. 5:449,451} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (20) 2:275} From there he marched with a
considerable army into Phrygia, a province belonging to the people of Rome.
{*Livy, l. 77. 14:97} He stayed in the same quarters which Alexander the Great
had used before him, considering it a very good omen that it so happened that he
should lodge at night where Alexander himself had slept. So he overran all
Phrygia, Mysia and Asia, including the provinces which had recently been taken
over by the Romans, extending as far as to Caria and Lycia. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (20) 2:275}
3916a AM, 4625 JP, 89 BC
3930. Mithridates sent his commanders around to subdue Lycia, Pamphylia and
other places, as far as Ionia. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3.
(20) 2:275} He also invaded Paphlagonia and drove out King Pyloemen, who was a
confederate of the people of Rome. {Eutropius, l. 5.} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
2.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (58) 2:345}
3931. The Athenians sent an envoy to Mithridates. He was Athenion, the son of
Athenion the Peripatetic by an Egyptian slave girl. After his master died, he
was left as the heir, whereupon he enrolled as a free citizen of Athens. He
assumed the name of Aristion and taught young boys rhetoric and the Peripatetic
philosophy. No sooner had he wormed his way into the list of the king's
favourites, than he immediately solicited them, through his letters, to new ways
of running the state. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (211d-215b) 2:455-473} He was a most
impudent and cruel person, who imitated the vilest of Mithridates' vices.
{*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 13. s. 1,2. 4:367} {Dio, Excerpts of Valesius,
p. 649}
3932. Mithridates promised security and protection to the Laodiceans who lived
near the Lycus River, on the condition that they turn over the proconsul Quintus
Oppius. The proconsul of Pamphylia had retreated with his cavalry and mercenary
soldiers. So they disbanded the mercenaries and brought Oppius to Mithridates,
who ordered the lictors to walk ahead of Oppius in derision. Mithridates took
him wherever he went and was extremely proud that he had taken a Roman general
prisoner. {*Livy, l. 78. 14:99} {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (213a) 2:463} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (20) 2:275}
3933. Mithridates' side swept all before them in Asia as they went about
unopposed. All the cities quickly revolted from the Romans. The Lesbians
resolved to surrender to the king and turn Aquilius over to him, as he had fled
to Mitylene to recover from a disease. So they sent a company of strong youths
to Aquilius' lodging, who burst into the room where Aquilius was and seized and
bound him. The Lesbians thought that he would be a most unusual and very
gratifying present for Mithridates. {*Diod. Sic., l. 37. c. 27. 12:231}
Along with Aquilius, the Mitylenians also turned other prisoners over to
Mithridates. {*Vellerius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 18. s. 3. 1:85}
3934. The king took Aquilius, tied onto an ass, wherever he went, because he
had been the head of the embassy and the chief instigator of this war. He
forced him to proclaim to the onlookers with his own mouth that he was Manius
Aquilius. He was tied to a Bastarnian who was about seven and a half feet tall.
Sometimes he had to walk while being led on a chain by a man on horseback.
[K146] Finally, after Aquilius had been scourged and put on the rack at
Pergamum, Mithridates ordered molten gold to be poured down his throat in
atonement for Roman corruption and bribery. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (213b) 2:465}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3. (21) 2:275,277} {*Livy, l. 78.
14:99} {*Pliny, l. 33. c. 14. (49) 9:41} {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1.
c. 5. (11) 9:23} {*Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, l. 5. c. 5. 18:439}
[E516]
3935. After the king had appointed governors of the various places he had
subdued, he went to Magnesia, Ephesus and Mitylene, where he was royally
welcomed. When he came to Ephesus, the Ephesians took down all the statues of
the Romans which they had set up in their midst. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 3. (21) 2:275,277}
3936. Mithridates' generals were received favourably by the cities. In these,
they found a good supply of gold and silver which the former kings had hoarded
up, as well as a good provision for war. Because he used this, Mithridates did
not need any tribute, so he forgave the cities their arrears in both public and
private accounts and granted a release from tribute for five years. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 38. c. 3.} He said this about himself in his letter to Arsaces:
{*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (11,12) 1:437}
"I, in revenge of the injuries done to me, drove Nicomedes from Bithynia,
recovered Asia and King Antiochus' spoil, and eased Greece of that heavy burden
under which it groaned."
3937. When Mithridates returned from Ionia, he captured Stratonicia, imposed a
fine on it and left a garrison within it. Here he saw a very beautiful virgin
called Monima, Philopoemen's daughter, whom he took along with him, putting her
among his women. He continued his war with the Magnesians, the Paphlagonians
and the Lycians, because they made some resistance and would not allow him to
place his garrisons among them. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 3.
(21) 2:277} In this dispute near Mount Sipylus, the Magnesians wounded
Archelaus, Mithridates' general, who was pillaging their borders, and killed
many of his men. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 20. s. 5. 1:101}
3938. Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen, thought she had thwarted a plot by her son
Alexander and planned his overthrow. But she was seized by him and put to
death. Nor was she, who had done such wicked deeds, to be pitied in any way.
She had driven her own mother from her marriage bed and had made her two
daughters widows by forcing them to barter their husbands. She had engaged in a
war against one of her sons and had not stopped until she had banished him. She
had deprived the other of his kingdom and his father had plotted his murder.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 4.} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 3.
1:43} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (550a) 5:495} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:231}
However, Alexander reigned together with his mother for eighteen years.
{Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 225.}
3939. As soon as it became known that Cleopatra had been killed by her son
Alexander, the people were in an uproar, which forced Alexander to flee the
place. After he left, the Alexandrians sent envoys to Cyprus to Ptolemy
Lathurus, the older brother, and turned the kingdom of Egypt over to him. He
ruled for eight years, or, as Porphyry has stated more exactly, seven years and
six months. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 5} {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c.
9. s. 3. 1:43} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:232} {Porphyry, Scaliger's
Greek Eusebius, p. 225.}
3916b AM, 4626 JP, 88 BC
3940. After the death of her husband, Anna the prophetess, the daughter of
Phanuel, did not leave the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers
night and day for eighty-four years, until the time she saw Christ in the
temple. {Lu 2:37}
3941. The Italians, who had revolted from the Romans, sent to Mithridates,
asking him to march with his forces into Italy, against the Romans. They
thought that, with his help, their united forces could easily defeat the Romans.
Mithridates replied that it was his intention to march into Italy after he had
completed his conquest of Asia, which was fully occupying him at the moment.
After Mithridates' refusal to help, the Italians began to despair and lost
courage. Because of this, the war with the confederates, or the Marian War,
came to an end. {*Diod. Sic., l. 37. c. 2. s. 11. 12:193} Livy mentioned
that two galleys with four tiers of oars, sent from Heraclea in Pontus, were
among the supplies sent to the Romans from foreign lands during this war.
{*Livy, l. 72. 14:89} [K147] Memnon mentioned this in his history also.
{Memnon, c. 31.} On the Italian side, Agamemnon, the Cilician pirate, was among
those who helped them. {*Diod. Sic., l. 37. c. 16. 12:223} {Orosius, l.
5. c. 18.}
3942. Mithridates found that the citizens of Rome who were scattered throughout
the cities of Asia were a hindrance to his plans. He sent private letters from
Ephesus to the governors and magistrates of the cities, ordering that in thirty
days, all on the same day, they were to kill all the Roman and Italian citizens
with their wives and children, as well as all other free-born citizens of Italy.
Their bodies were to be left unburied, while one part of their goods was to go
to the king and the other to the assassins. He also had a public crier threaten
to fine anyone who dared to bury any of the dead, or who hid any who had escaped
the massacre. [E517] He promised a reward to those who found anyone doing this,
while promising slaves their liberty if they would murder their Roman masters
and debtors one half of their debt to kill their creditors. These instructions
were secretly sent to all of them. When the appointed day came, it was
impossible to count the large numbers of Roman citizens who were massacred at
that time, or to assess what a sad state most of the provinces were in. How
pitiful was the state of those that were killed and those who killed them.
Everyone was forced to choose between betraying his innocent guests and friends,
or being fined. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 4. (22,23) 2:279,281}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 7. (48) 2:327} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (54) 2:339} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9.
(62) 2:355} {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 3. (7) 9:21} {*Cicero, Pro
Flacco, l. 1. (57,61) 10:507,509} {Memnon, Excerpts, c. 33.} {*Livy, l. 78.
14:99} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 18. 1:85} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40.
1:181} {Eutropius, l. 5.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
3943. In Ephesus, the Ephesians dragged those who had taken sanctuary in
Diana's temple away as they were in the very act of embracing their shrines and
killed them. The people of Pergamum were killed with arrows as they clung to
the statues in the temple of Aesculapius, to which they had fled for help and
which they had steadfastly refused to leave. The people of Adramyttium killed
the Italians among them as well as their children, in the water as they
attempted to swim across the sea. The Caunians, after their victory over
Antiochus, had been placed under the Rhodians and a little before that, had been
restored to their privileges by the Senate and counted as Italians. They had
escaped to the sacred court of that city from the very altars. After their
infants had been killed before their mothers' eyes, the mothers themselves were
killed and then their husbands. The Trallians, to avoid the scandal of killing
those who lived with them, did not kill anyone themselves, but hired a bloody
fellow, Theophilus of Paphlagonia, to do the job. He acted so savagely, that he
shut them up in the temple of Concord and then attacked them with his sword,
cutting off their hands as they embraced the statues. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 4. (22,23) 2:279,281} {*Dio, l. 31. (101) 2:469,471}
3944. Publius Rutilius Rufus, who had been the consul, lived in banishment
among the Mitylenians. He escaped the king's fury against all Roman men by
dressing like a philosopher. {*Cicero, Pro Rabirio Postumo, l. 1. c. 10.
14:391} The fable of Theophanes, the Mitylenian, who recorded the affairs of
Pompey the Great, cannot be credited at all. He wrote that in the citadel of
Caenum, captured by Pompey, a speech of Rutilius was found among other precious
secrets of Mithridates, in which Rutilius blamed the king for this cruel
massacre of the Romans. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 37. 5:213} Like
Rutilius, other Romans also changed their clothes to aid them in escaping the
danger which was so imminent at the time. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (213b) 2:465}
[K148] The floating Reed Islands in Lydia saved many of the citizens. {*Pliny,
l. 2. c. 96. 1:341} However, in spite of all this, eighty thousand were
killed on that one day. {Memnon, c. 33.} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 2.
ext. 3. 2:315} It was not a hundred and fifty thousand, as stated by Plutarch
and by Dio. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 24. s. 4. 4:405} {Dio, Legat.,
36. or 37.}
3945. Mithridates sailed over to Cos, where he found a party willing to receive
him. The people of Cos gave him Alexander, the son of that Alexander who had
previously reigned in Egypt. This was the Alexander whom his grandmother,
Cleopatra, had left in Cos with a large supply of money. He adopted him and
raised him as his own son. From Cleopatra's treasures, Mithridates was
well-supplied with wealth, exquisite pieces made by craftsmen, jewels,
everything associated with women's dresses and a large hoard of money. All this
he sent away to Pontus. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 4. (23)
2:281} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (115) 2:465} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 11. (102) 3:189} Josephus, from the books of Strabo's
histories, stated that, in addition to the treasures which belonged to
Cleopatra, Mithridates carried away eight hundred talents of the Jews' money.
He thought that it had been deposited by the Jews on that island in Asia out of
fear of the Mithridatic War, and that the money was intended for the temple of
Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7. s. 2. (112,113) 7:505}
3946. In the 19th year of his reign in Egypt and his 26th in Cyprus, Alexander,
the father of this young Alexander, was defeated in a naval battle by the
Egyptians under their admiral, Tyrrus, who was of royal blood. Alexander was
forced to flee to Myra, a city in Lycia, with his wife and daughter. As he was
sailing from there toward Cyprus, he was found by Chaereas, a sea captain, and
was killed. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 225.}
3947. Athenion or Aristion, the Athenian envoy, was returning home to the
Athenians from Asia after having seen Mithridates. He was driven by a storm to
Carystus in Euboea. [E518] To bring him home, the Athenians sent some warships
and a chair supported by silver feet. Most of the city ran out to greet him.
No sooner had he gained control of the city, than he began to act like a tyrant.
He either killed those who favoured the Romans, or else turned them over to
Mithridates. To avoid this, many escaped to Amisus, a colony of the Athenians
in Asia, where they were allowed into the city. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (212bc)
2:459,461} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 6. 2:531} {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 20. s. 5. 1:99,101}
3948. The Italians who escaped from Asia found a sanctuary at Rhodes. Lucius
Cassius, the proconsul of Asia, was one of these. The Rhodians fortified their
walls and ports and positioned their engines of war, helped by men from
Telmessus and Lycia. They destroyed the suburbs when Mithridates and his fleet
approached, so that they might not be a shelter to the enemy or useful to them.
They put their ships into battle formation, some in the front and others on the
flanks. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 4. (24) 2:281,283} The
Rhodian ships were outnumbered, but in everything else, the Rhodians were
superior. They had experienced pilots and knew better how to arrange their
ships and work the oars. They had more valiant soldiers and their commanders
were more skilled and courageous. By comparison, the Cappadocians were but
freshwater soldiers who had little experience in naval battles. They did
everything in a disorderly way, which proved their undoing. {*Diod. Sic., l.
37. c. 28. 12:233}
3949. The Cappadocians were now ready to engage the enemy at sea in the
presence of their king, desiring to prove their loyalty and affection to him.
Since their only advantage was in the number of their ships, they swarmed about
the enemy ships and sought to encircle and cut them off. {*Diod. Sic., l. 37.
c. 28. 12:233} [K149] Finally, after sunset, Damagoras, the admiral of the
Rhodian fleet, attacked twenty-five of the king's ships with his six. He sank
two and forced another two to flee to Lycia. After spending the night at sea,
he returned to engage the enemy again. In this encounter, one of the Chian
ships, an ally of Mithridates, accidently bumped Mithridates' ship as he was
going about encouraging his soldiers. As the king almost fell into the enemy's
hands, he later punished the captain and pilot and was displeased with all the
Chians. Then, as Mithridates' land forces were sailing to him from Asia in
ships and galleys, a sudden storm drove them onto Rhodes. While they were
disordered and dispersed by the storm, the Rhodians attacked them. They boarded
some ships, sank some and burned others. They also captured four hundred
prisoners. At last, Mithridates brought his engines and scaling-ladders to take
the city. He was driven off and forced to retreat from Rhodes in disgrace.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 4. (25,26) 2:283-287} {Memnon, c.
33.} {*Livy, l. 78. 14:99}
3950. From there he went to Patara and besieged it. Because he did not have
materials for engines, he began to cut down Latona's grove. He had a dream
ordering him to stop and not to cut down those consecrated trees. He left
Pelopidas to carry on the war in Lycia and sent Archelaus into Greece, in order
to draw into his alliance, by any means at all, as many cities as he could.
While he entrusted his commanders with many great tasks, he busied himself in
levying soldiers, making arms and sporting about with his wife from Stratonicia.
He was also busy in the investigation of all persons who had been charged with
treason, for attempting either to kill him or to overthrow the state, or for
being in any way so inclined. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 4. (27)
2:287,289}
3951. Archelaus, the king's general, was sent ahead into Achaia with a hundred
and twenty thousand foot soldiers and cavalry. The city of Athens was
surrendered to him by Aristion, the Athenian. {*Livy, l. 78. 14:99}
{Eutropius, l. 5.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.} From there he went with his fleet
and provisions to Delos, which had revolted from the Athenians and he destroyed
other citadels as well. He also took money, dedicated to Apollo, and sent it
away with Aristion to the Athenians, with an escort of two thousand soldiers for
safety. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 5. (28) 2:289} Apellicon of
Teos, an Athenian citizen, was a most intimate friend of Athenion or Aristion,
as they were both Peripatetics. He quickly came to Delos with some companies of
foot soldiers. He stayed there a while and believing he was safe enough, did
not position his guards with the care he should have taken and did not secure
the rear of the island with a garrison or trench. Orobius, or Orbius, the
general of the Roman army, had been entrusted with Delos. He saw the man's
negligence and imprudence and arrived with his forces on a dark night. He
attacked them when they had been drinking and were in a deep sleep. He cut the
throats of six hundred of the Athenians and their auxiliaries, as if they had
been so many sheep. He took about four hundred alive. Apellicon himself,
however, who had so unworthily commanded that force, escaped. [E519] Many of
them fled to the nearby villages for safety, but Orobius pursued them and set
fire to the houses. He burned both them and their siege engines, together with
other engines that belonged to the league. When he was all done, he erected a
monument and altar with this inscription: {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (214d-215b)
2:271,273} [K150]
Here lies with the sea, a foreign nation near
The shores of Delos; which died fighting here.
When those of Athens spoiled the holy isle,
The Cappadocian king received a foil.
3917a AM, 4626 JP, 88 BC
3952. Mithridates sent Metrophanes with another band of soldiers and so
slaughtered many in Euboea, the territories of Demetrias and Magnesia, who were
opposed to the king. Bruttius, a lieutenant of Sentius the praetor, attacked
Metrophanes at sea with some small forces he had brought from Macedonia. He
sank one large ship and one ship called the Hemiolia. He killed all the men
that were on board, while Metrophanes was forced to stand by looking on. The
sight seemed so dreadful to him that he hoisted sail and got away as fast as he
could. Bruttius gave chase, but the wind favoured Metrophanes. Bruttius was
happy to give up the chase and instead attack Sciathos, an island which was
well-known as a den for barbarian thieves and robbers. As soon as he had
conquered the place, he crucified some of the slaves he discovered there and cut
off the hands of the freemen. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 5. (29)
2:291} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 11. s. 4. 4:361}
3953. One of the sons of Mithridates held the ancient kingdom of Pontus and
Bosphorus as far as the deserts above Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), and no one
opposed him. The other Ariarathes continued with the conquest of Thracia and
Macedonia. The various generals, whom Mithridates sent out with armies, stayed
in other quarters. Archelaus was in charge of them and with his fleet
controlled almost all of the sea. He brought the islands of Cyclades under his
jurisdiction and all the other islands that lay to the east of Cape Malea.
{*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 11. s. 2,3. 4:359} Eretria, Chalcis and all
Euboea came and sided with Mithridates. {Memnon, c. 34.}
3917b AM, 4627 JP, 87 BC
3954. Lucius Sulla, the proconsul, with Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the consul,
marched into Greece with five legions and several other companies to manage the
Mithridatic war. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 11. s. 5. 4:361} {*Dio, l.
31. (102) 2:471} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 5. (30) 2:293}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 7. (55) 3:103} Mithridates remained at
Pergamum during that time, where he was very busy distributing his wealth, his
principalities and places of command among his friends. The following incident
was among the many signs which happened to Mithridates while he was staying at
Pergamum. It was said that at the same instant that Sulla put to sea with his
fleet from Italy, the men of Pergamum were in the theatre, using an engine to
lower a statue of Victory bearing a crown to place upon Mithridates' head. It
happened that when the crown was just in line with his head, it fell to the
ground and was shattered. This accident was seen as a bad omen and the people
were struck with horror. Although everything was going well for him at the
time, Mithridates was also greatly dejected. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 11.
s. 1,2. 4:359}
3955. Among the other strange visions that appeared to Mithridates when he
first planned his war against the allies of the people of Rome, were these.
Julius Obsequens said this happened at the time of the consulship of Lucius
Sulla and Quintus Pompey. At Stratopedon, where the Senate usually sat, the
crows killed a vulture with their beaks. The form of Isis seemed to strike the
harp, which was a siege engine Mithridates used at Rhodes, with a thunderbolt.
A large meteor fell from heaven on the same spot. At the time that Mithridates
was busy in burning the grove dedicated to the Furies, a great laughing was
heard, but no one could be found who had laughed. [K151] When, at the advice of
the soothsayers, he was about to sacrifice a virgin to the Furies, a sudden fit
of laughing burst forth from the throat of the maiden, disturbing the sacrifice.
{*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 56. 14:293,295}
3956. At Rome, Marcus Cicero studied under Molo of Rhodes, who was the best
instructor and the most famous one for the pleading of causes. {*Cicero,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 90. 5:271} [E520] Molo was the orator from Alabanda, in
Caria, who had moved to Rhodes. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 26. 6:299} {See
note on 3927b AM. <<4088>>}
3957. When Sulla entered Attica, he sent some of his forces to oppose Aristion
in the city, while he personally marched at once to Piraeus, where Archelaus,
Mithridates' general, had retreated within the walls. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 5. (30) 2:293}
3918a AM, 4627 JP, 87 BC
3958. The winter season was drawing on and Sulla camped near Eleusis, where he
constructed a deep trench from the mountains to the sea. He wanted supplies
brought to him in ships that he sent to Rhodes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 5. (33) 2:299}
3959. Finally, in March, Sulla took Athens, which was very short of provisions.
In his commentaries he related that he took Athens: {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1.
c. 14. s. 6. 4:371,373}
"On the Calends of March (March 1), a day which corresponds very nearly with the
first of the month of Anthesterion; in this month, as it happened, the Athenians
performed many rites corresponding to the destruction and devastation caused by
the Flood, believing that the ancient deluge occurred at this time."
3960. Comparing that day with the beginning of the month of Anthesterion, it
was the time when the memory of the Ogygian Flood was celebrated by the
Athenians. In Plutarch's time, the Athenian lunar month of Anthesterion
corresponded to March. However, in the incorrect calendar of the Romans, the
month of March coincided with the Athenian month of Posideion, which was
December on the Julian calendar.
3918b AM, 4628 JP, 86 BC
3961. The Rhodians found it impossible to bring supplies to Sulla by sea
because of Mithridates' fleets, which patrolled the seas. They advised Lucius
Lucullus, a man of great repute among the Romans and one of Sulla's envoys, to
sail secretly to Syria, Egypt and Libya. He was to gather whatever ships he
could from the king's cities and bring them to add to the Rhodian fleet. He set
out in the midst of winter, undeterred by the unfavourable sailing weather.
Setting out with three Greek and three Rhodian galleys, he risked his life both
on the sea and with the many enemy ships that patrolled the area. In spite of
this, he arrived at Crete and got that island to help him. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 5. (33) 2:299} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
2. s. 1-3. 2:475}
3962. When Athens was taken, Aristion, the tyrant, and others retreated into
the citadel of Athens. After they had been besieged by Curio for a long time,
they were forced to surrender for lack of water. On the same day, and at the
very time, that Curio was bringing the tyrant from the citadel, the sky suddenly
became overcast and there was a violent rainstorm that supplied the citadel with
fresh water. Sulla executed Aristion and his company and any who held an office
among them, or had in any way violated the constitutions which the Romans had
established among them after their conquest of Greece. To all the others, he
granted his free pardon. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 6. (39)
2:309} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 14. s. 7. 4:373} {*Strabo, l. 9. c.
1. s. 20. 4:269,271} Pausanias reported that when Aristion fled to the temple
of Athena for sanctuary, Sulla commanded him to be dragged from there and put to
death. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 20. s. 7. 1:103} Others say that he
was poisoned by Sulla. {Plutarch, Sulla}
3963. Magnesia was the only city in all Asia that remained loyal to the Romans
and valiantly fought against Mithridates. {*Livy, l. 81. 14:103} [K152]
3964. Lucullus observed that the Cyrenians had always been ruled by tyrants and
were continually embroiled in war. He settled the affairs of their state and
enacted laws to secure the peace of the state for the future. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 3,4. 2:475,477} After they had been taken over by
the Romans ten years earlier, they had been grievously oppressed by Nicocrates
and his brother Leander. They had recently been relieved from this oppression
through Aretaphila, Nicocrates' wife. {*Plutarch, Bravery of Women -
Aretaphila, l. 1. c. 19. (255e-258c) 3:541-551} Ten years later, Cyrene was
made a province by the Romans, as noted by Appian. {See note on 3929a AM.
<<4099>>} Josephus stated, from the books of Strabo's histories, that
at this
time Cyrene was being disturbed by a rebellion of the Jews and that Lucullus was
quickly sent there by Sulla to pacify it. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7.
s. 2. (114) 7:507}
3965. As Lucullus was sailing from Cyrene to Egypt, he nearly lost all his
ships through a sudden attack by pirates. He personally escaped safely to
Alexandria, where he was received with a great deal of honour. The whole fleet
was gloriously decorated and went out to meet him, as was their custom any time
their king returned from the sea. Ptolemy Lathurus, whom Plutarch incorrectly
called a youth, treated him very courteously. He gave him his lodging and his
table at court, which had never before been known to occur for any foreign
commander. [E521] He allowed him four times the usual amount, to pay his
expenses. Lucullus only took what was necessary and refused all presents,
although some were worth eighty talents. It is said that he did not go to
Memphis nor went to see any of the famous wonders of Egypt. He considered those
things to be sights for tourists, but not for one who had left his general in
the open field, marching against the garrisons of the enemy. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 5,6. 2:477}
3966. Aurelius Victor wrote that Lucullus won Ptolemy, the king of Alexandria,
over to his side along with Sulla, the consul. {Aurelius Victor, De Viris
Illustribus, l. 1. c. 74.} However, Sulla was not a consul at the time, but a
proconsul. Also, Ptolemy would not ally himself with Sulla for fear of being
attacked, but he allowed Lucullus' ships to take him to Cyprus. As Lucullus was
leaving, Ptolemy greeted him and gave him an emerald set in gold. Lucullus at
first refused this, but when the king showed him the king's own picture engraved
on it, Lucullus dared not refuse, in case the king thought that he had been
unhappy with him when he left and would therefore attack him at sea.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 1. 2:477,479}
3967. Lucullus gathered a multitude of ships from among the port towns as he
sailed by, except from those who had been engaged in piracy. He sailed over
into Cyprus, having been told that the enemy was lurking around the promontories
to catch him. He sailed his fleet into the harbour and wrote to the cities
round about to provide him with winter quarters and provisions, pretending that
he would stay there with his fleet until spring. But as soon as the wind was
favourable, he put to sea again, sailing with low sails by day, while spreading
all the canvas he had by night. With this trick, he brought his fleet safely to
Rhodes. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 2,3. 2:479}
3968. Cinna, the consul, sent his colleague Lucius Valerius Flaccus into Asia
with two legions, to govern the province and to manage the war against
Mithridates. Because he was a novice soldier, Gaius Fimbria, one of the
senators, went along with him. He was a man of reputation among the soldiers.
[K153] Livy, Aurelius, Victor and Orosius called him Flaccus' envoy, but Dio, as
well as his lieutenant, Strabo, and his quaestor, Velleius Paterculus, called
him commander of the cavalry. When they undertook this task, the Senate ordered
them to help Sulla as long as he was loyal to the Senate, otherwise they should
fight with him. Soon after they had put to sea from Brundisium, many of their
ships were ravaged by a storm, and those that were damaged were burned by ships
belonging to Mithridates. {Memnon, c. 36.} {*Livy, l. 82. 14:103} {*Strabo,
l. 13. c. 1. s. 27. 6:55} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 24. 1:99}
{*Dio, l. 31. (104) 2:477} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 8. (74) 3:139}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (51) 2:333} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
2.}
3969. Mithridates' general, Taxiles, marched from Thrace and Macedonia with a
hundred thousand foot soldiers, ten thousand cavalry and ninety chariots with
scythes. He asked Archelaus to help him, so they combined their forces. They
had a hundred and twenty thousand men (Memnon stated more than sixty thousand)
consisting of Thracians, Pontics, Scythians, Cappadocians, Bithynians,
Galatians, Phrygians and others who had come from Mithridates' new provinces.
Sulla brought Lucius Hortensius along with him, who had six thousand men from
Italy. They fought with Taxiles near Chaeronia, even though Sulla only had
about fifteen hundred cavalry and fifteen thousand foot soldiers, according to
Plutarch. However, Appian stated that his entire force was so small that it was
less than a third the size of the enemy. Sulla won, killing a hundred and ten
thousand of the enemy (or a hundred thousand, as in Livy's Epitome) and
pillaging their camp. Archelaus escaped to Chalcis with not many more than ten
thousand men. Sulla stated that he lost about fourteen men, others say fifteen.
Two of those presumed dead returned to the camp at evening. {Memnon, c. 34.}
{*Livy, l. 82. 14:103} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 15-19. 4:373-391}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 6. (41-45) 2:311-319} {Eutropius, l.
5.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
3970. Sulla received news that Flaccus, the consul, who was in an opposing
political party, was sailing across the Ionian Sea with some legions on the
pretext of coming against Mithridates, but that he was in actual fact coming to
fight Sulla. Sulla marched into Thessaly to meet him. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l.
1. c. 20. s. 1. 4:391} Flaccus was an unsuitable person to lead the army.
He was poorly qualified, covetous, rigorous and cruel when punishing his
soldiers. His soldiers detested him so much, that some of those whom he sent
into Thessaly defected to Sulla. The rest would also have revolted, had it not
been for Fimbria, who was reputed to be the better soldier and of a softer
temper. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (51) 2:333}
3971. Since the Romans had no navy, Archelaus roved about the islands, quite
secure, causing havock anywhere he pleased, all along the coast. He ventured
ashore and laid siege to Zacynthus, where he was attacked in the night by some
Romans who were strangers in those parts. [E522] He hurried to his ships again
and sailed back to Chalcis, more like a pirate than a warrior. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 6. (45) 2:319}
3972. Mithridates was deeply dismayed by the news of his defeat, but not
totally discouraged. He imposed new levies on all the countries under his
dominion. Because he feared that his defeat might encourage some to revolt from
him, he thought it best to arrest all those he suspected, before the war broke
out afresh. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 7. (46) 2:321}
3973. He began with the tetrarchs of the Galatians, both those whom he had
about him as his friends, as well as those who had not as yet been subdued by
him. He killed them all, with their wives and children, except for three who
escaped. [K154] Some he surprised by treachery and the rest he massacred in one
night at a party. He jealously believed that none of them would remain loyal to
him if Sulla should chance to come into those regions. When he had confiscated
their goods, he placed garrisons into their cities and made Eumachus governor
over the whole country. Shortly after the tetrarchs escaped, they gathered a
force together and drove him and his garrisons from Galatia. Hence, Mithridates
had gained nothing from that country but money. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 7. (46) 2:321}
3974. He had been angry with the Chians ever since in the naval battle with the
Rhodians, a ship of theirs accidently happened to run against the king's ship.
First he made plans to sell the goods of all the citizens who had defected to
Sulla, after which he sent some persons to spy on the Roman faction among the
Chians. At last, Zenobius, or, as Memnon wrote, Dorylaus, arrived with an army
on the pretext of going into Greece. He surprised the Chians by night and
captured their strongest citadels. Then he placed guards at the gates of the
city and assembled the citizens. He compelled them to turn over their arms,
while the most important men's sons were taken as hostages and sent to Erythrae.
After this, Mithridates sent letters to the Chians, asking for two thousand
talents in compensation. To pay this, they were forced to take down the
ornaments from their temples and make their women give up their jewellery. In
spite of this, Zenobius picked a quarrel with them, pretending that their money
was not enough. He ordered the men to separate themselves from the women and
children, to be carried by ship to the Black Sea to Mithridates, while he
divided their lands among the Pontics. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
7. (46,47) 2:321-325} {Memnon, c. 35.}
3975. The Heracleans, who were good friends of the Chians, attacked the Pontic
ships carrying the captives on their way and brought them into their city.
These did not offer any resistance at all, as they were out-numbered. At that
time, the Heracleans relieved the Chians by giving them what they needed, and
eventually they restored them to their own country, after being very generous to
them. {Memnon, c. 35.}
3976. The Ephesians ordered Zenobius, as he approached the city with his
soldiers, to lay down his arms at the gate of the city and to enter with a very
small company. He was happy enough to do so and went to Philopoemen, the father
of Monima, one of Mithridates' favourite concubines. From there, he had a town
crier summon the Ephesians to assemble themselves together. Since they expected
nothing good from him, they deferred the assembly until the next day, while they
met together that night and urged each other to attack Zenobius. So they cast
him into prison and killed him there. They placed guards on the walls and armed
the common people, arranging them into companies which then brought home the
grain from the fields. They also made sure that the youth of the city were
prevented from causing any riots. The people of Tralles, Hypaepa, Mesopolis and
some others, among whom Orosius mentioned the people of Smyrna, Sardis and
Colophon, were all terrified by the terrible disaster that had recently happened
to the Chians. Therefore when they heard of the Ephesians' exploits, they
followed their example. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 7. (48)
2:325} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
3919a AM, 4628 JP, 86 BC
3977. Fimbria outdistanced Flaccus and got a long way ahead of him in his
march. He thought that now was a good time for some civil disorder, so, to gain
the affection of his soldiers, he permitted them to make incursions into the
countries of their allies. They could do what they pleased and take captive
anyone they met. The soldiers really liked this idea, so that within a few days
they had gathered an abundance of wealth from their plundering. [E523] [K155]
Those who had been robbed of their goods went to meet the consul Flaccus and
complained bitterly to him about the wrongs they had received. Very upset by
this, he ordered them to follow him, as he would personally see that restitution
was made to everyone who had been robbed. He threatened Fimbria and ordered
that he immediately return to the owners whatever had been taken away from them.
Fimbria placed full blame on the soldiers, claiming they had done this without
any orders from him. Secretly, however, he told them to ignore the consul's
commands and not allow anything which they had acquired by law of arms to be
taken from them. Thereupon, when Flaccus demanded that restitution be made for
their plundering, even adding threats to his commands, the soldiers refused to
obey and there was a great rebellion in the camp. {*Diod. Sic., l. 38/39. c.
8. s. 1. 12:251}
3978. When Sulla, on his march to meet Flaccus, had come as far as the town of
Meliteia, he received news from various places that the country which he had
just left was again overrun, to the same extent as before, by another army of
Mithridates. Dorylaus had arrived at Chalcis, with a large fleet carrying
eighty thousand armed men who were the most disciplined and best-trained of all
Mithridates' soldiers. He attacked Boeotia and after he had captured all that
region, he marched to fight with Sulla. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 20. s.
1,2. 4:391,393}
3979. Dorylaus was the son of Philetaerus, who was the brother of Dorylaus, the
general. {See note on 3879 AM. <<3813>>} He had been raised by
Mithridates, who
was very fond of him. When he was a man, the king promoted him to the highest
honours, the highest of which, in turn, was his appointment to the priesthood of
Comana, in Pontus. The king invited his relatives, the sons of Dorylaus, the
general, and Steropa, a Macetan woman, to come with him to Cnossus. Dorylaus,
the general, had two sons by her, Lagetas and Stratachas, and a daughter. The
daughter was later the mother of Strabo, the geographer. After the death of
Mithridates, the family lived at Cnossus. {*Strabo, l. 10. c. 4. s. 10.
5:133,135} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 33. 5:433}
3980. Dorylaus, with his eighty thousand (Plutarch and Appian) or with seventy
thousand (Eutropius and Orosius) choice soldiers, joined his forces to those of
Archelaus, who had only ten thousand of his former army left and tried in vain
to convince Dorylaus not to attack Sulla. They attacked Sulla near Orchomenus
and lost fifteen thousand men (Appian and Orosius) or twenty thousand.
(Eutropius) Archelaus' son, Diogenes, was killed and when, soon after this, they
had a second battle, the rest of Mithridates' forces were destroyed. Twenty
thousand were driven into a nearby moor, where they were butchered. They cried
for mercy, but the Romans did not understand their language and so they killed
them. Many more were forced into a river and drowned. The rest of the
miserable wretches were killed on every side. Plutarch stated that the marshes
overflowed with the blood of the dead and that a pool was filled up with dead
bodies. So much so, that, two hundred years later, in his time, many of the
barbarians' bows, helmets, pieces of steel breast-plates and swords were found
buried in the mud. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 20,21. 4:391-397} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 7. (49) 2:327,329} {*Livy, l. 82. 14:103}
{Eutropius, l. 5.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
3981. Archelaus spent two days (Plutarch) or three days (Eutropius), stripped
naked, hiding in the marshes of the Orchomenians. At last, he found a little
boat and sailed into Chalcis. Wherever he came across any of Mithridates'
forces, he hastily assembled them into a body of troops. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l.
1. c. 22. s. 4. 4:399} {Eutropius, l. 5.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 7. (50) 2:329,331} [K156] Sulla pillaged and created what havock he
could in Boeotia which was inclined to revolt to one side or the other at every
new crisis. From there, he moved on into Thessaly, where he constructed his
winter quarters. He was expecting Lucullus to arrive with ships, but when he
heard no news of his coming, he built other ships. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 8. (51) 2:331} Livy stated that Archelaus surrendered himself and
the king's fleet to Sulla. {*Livy, l. 82. 14:103} Aurelius Victor wrote that
through Archelaus' treachery, Sulla was able to intercept the fleet. {Aurelius
Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 76.} It is evident that there were
secret communications between Sulla and Archelaus for other reasons, as well.
For Sulla had given Archelaus two thousand acres in Euboea, where Chalcis was.
Sulla, however, tried to remove all those suspicions in his commentaries.
{*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 23. s. 2. 4:401} {Dio, Legat., 33. or 34.}
Although, in a letter of Mithridates to Arsaces, some expressions implied that
those suspicions were so firmly rooted in men's minds that they were not easily
removed. {*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (12) 1:437}
"Archelaus, the most unworthy of those that were under me, thwarted my plans by
his betrayal of my army."
3982. Strabo stated that Archelaus, who waged war against Sulla, was greatly
admired by the Romans, Sulla and the Senate. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 34.
5:437} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:45} [E524]
3983. In the interim, Flaccus reached Byzantium, where Fimbria had caused the
soldiers to revolt against him. Flaccus ordered his soldiers to stay outside
the walls while he entered the city. Consequently, Fimbria began to accuse
Flaccus of having received money from the citizens of Byzantium and of having
gone to pamper himself in the city while his soldiers endured the harshness of
the winter in the open fields in their tents. These speeches so greatly enraged
the soldiers, that they broke into the city and killed a few people whom they
chanced to meet on the way. They dispersed themselves into various houses.
{*Dio, l. 31. (104) 2:479}
3984. Lucius Valerius Flaccus passed through the region of Byzantium into
Bithynia and camped at Nicaea. {Memnon, c. 36.} Cicero, in his speech for that
Flaccus who was this man's son, stated: {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (61)
10:509}
"It was the same time when all Asia shut her gates to Lucius Flaccus, the
consul, or now rather proconsul, but not only received that Cappadocian
(Mithridates) into their cities, but deliberately sent to invite him to them."
3919b AM, 4629 JP, 85 BC
3985. When some differences arose between Fimbria and Flaccus' quaestor,
Flaccus was chosen as an arbitrator. He had so little regard for Fimbria's
honour, that Fimbria threatened to return home to Rome (Appian) or Flaccus
threatened to send him to Rome, whether he wanted to go or not. (Dio)
Thereupon, Fimbria so vilely reproached Flaccus, that Flaccus took away his
command and assigned someone else to replace him. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 8. (52) 2:333} {*Dio, l. 31. (104) 2:479}
3986. After this dispute, Fimbria was discharged and went to the soldiers at
Byzantium. {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 70.} He greeted
them as if he were going to Rome and wanted letters from them, to take to their
friends there. He also complained about the great injustice done to him and
reminding them of the good turns he had done for them, he cautioned them to take
heed and look out for themselves. By this, he secretly hinted that Flaccus had
some plot against them. His words were well received and they wished him well,
but they were jealous of Flaccus. Then, Fimbria ascended the platform and in
plain words incited them against Flaccus, among other things charging Flaccus
with having bribed him to betray them. {*Dio, l. 31. (104) 2:479}
3987. When Fimbria had again crossed the Hellespont, he stirred up his soldiers
to acts of plunder and every form of villainy. [K157] He exacted money from the
cities and divided it among the soldiers, whom he let do as they wished, without
restraint. Attracted by hopes of a large income, they loved Fimbria all the
more. {*Diod. Sic., l. 38/39. c. 8. s. 2. 12:251,253}
3988. When Flaccus had gone toward Chalcedon with his fleet, Fimbria took
advantage of his absence. He first began with Thermus, the propraetor who had
been left in charge. He took the fasces, the ensigns of his authority, away
from him, as if he had taken that office upon himself from the army. Then
Fimbria chased after Flaccus, but Flaccus fled and hid in a private citizen's
house. In the night, he scaled the wall and stole away, first to Chalcedon and
from there to Nicomedia, where he had the gates shut. Fimbria followed him
closely and forced the Roman consul (or rather, one who had been consul, as
Velleius stated) and the commander-in-chief of this war, to hide himself in a
well. Fimbria dragged him from there and killed him. When he had cut off
Flaccus' head, he threw it into the sea, but left the body lying unburied on the
ground. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (52) 2:333,335} {Memnon,
c. 36,42.} {*Livy, l. 82. 14:103} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 24.
1:99} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 27. 6:55} {Aurelius Victor, De Viris
Illustribus, l. 1. c. 70.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.} Fimbria then allowed his
soldiers to plunder Nicomedia. {*Diod. Sic., l. 38/39. c. 8. s. 2.
12:253}
3989. Mithridates sent an army against those who had revolted from him. After
he had defeated them, he behaved very harshly toward them. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 7. (48) 2:325} He took by force all the cities
in Asia and miserably pillaged the province. {*Livy, l. 82. 14:103} Fearing
lest others should prove disloyal, he made the cities of Greece free. Through a
public crier, he promised to cancel every debt of every debtor, all prisoners
would be allowed to live freely in their own cities and all slaves would be set
free. Through these acts of grace, he hoped that he could buy the loyalty of
all debtors, prisoners and slaves, so that they would help keep him in power.
They indeed helped him not long after this. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 7. (48) 2:325,327}
3990. Meanwhile the king's intimate friends, Mynnio and Philotimus, who were
from Smyrna, and Clisthenes and Asclepiodotus, who were from Lesbos, conspired
against Mithridates. Asclepiodotus had at times been the commander of his
mercenary soldiers. Asclepiodotus himself was the first to talk. To obtain
credence for what he was saying, he had the king lie under a couch and listen to
what Mynnio would say. The treason was thus exposed and all the conspirators
died on the rack. [E525] Many others were shrewdly suspected to have had a hand
in it. Eighty citizens of Pergamum, as well as others in other cities, were
seized because they were thought to be in on this conspiracy. Then the king
sent his inquisitors into all the regions, where they executed about sixteen
hundred men for this conspiracy. Each of the inquisitors charged their personal
enemies with treasonable conduct. Not long after this, the accusers were either
punished by Sulla, or took their own lives, or accompanied Mithridates in his
flight to Pontus. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 7. (48) 2:327}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
3991. Diodorus, Mithridates' general, who claimed to be an academic
philosopher, a lawyer and a rhetorician, killed among others all the elders of
Adramyttium to please the king. When the king was deposed, he accompanied him
into Pontus. He starved himself to death to prevent the disgrace which was
likely to happen to him, because of some great crimes with which he was charged.
{*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 66. 6:129}
3992. Lucius Lucullus, with the help of some Rhodian ships and the fleet he had
gathered together from Cyprus, Phoenicia and Pamphylia, laid waste to all the
enemy's coasts. Now and then, along the way, he fought with Mithridates' fleet.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (56) 2:343} He persuaded the
citizens of Cos and Cnidos to expel the king's garrisons and to take up arms
with him against the Samians. [K158] He drove the king's party from Chios, and
brought relief to the Colophonians by setting them at liberty and seizing
Epigonius, their king. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 3. 2:479}
Through Marena's help, he brought Mithridates' fleet to Sulla. {Aurelius
Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 74.}
3993. After Gaius Fimbria had killed Flaccus in Bithynia and taken his army,
the men made him their general. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 24. 1:99}
He gained control of a number of cities. Some voluntarily submitted to him,
while others were forced to submit. {Memnon, c. 36.} He killed many people,
not for any just reason, but merely out of cruelty and to gratify his passion.
At one time he ordered some posts to be put into the ground, to which he then
used to have men bound and scourged to death. When he saw that there were more
posts than condemned persons, he ordered his soldiers to seize some of the crowd
standing by and bind them to the posts, so that it would not seem that the posts
had been set up in vain. {*Dio, l. 31. (104) 2:481}
3994. When Fimbria entered Cyzicum, he claimed to be their friend. As soon as
he was inside, he began to charge all their wealthiest persons with some crime
or other. After he had condemned two principal men of the city, he had them
whipped with rods to terrify the rest, and then he had them decapitated and sold
their goods. This forced others, out of fear, to give him all that they had.
{*Diod. Sic., l. 38/39. c. 8. s. 3. 12:253}
3995. Mithridates, the son of Mithridates, joined with Taxiles, Diophantus and
Menander, three most highly skilled commanders. With a good army they marched
against Fimbria. Because of the large number of enemy soldiers, Fimbria lost
some men in this battle. They came to a river which separated the two armies.
In a great rainstorm that occurred before morning, Fimbria crossed the river and
so completely surprised the enemy as they lay asleep in their tents, that they
never knew he was there. He made such a wholesale slaughter of them, that very
few escaped, and those only from among the commanders and cavalry. {Memnon, c.
36.}
3996. Among those who escaped was Mithridates, the king's son. He was chased
from Asia to Miletopolis, from where he safely came to his father at Pergamum
with a company of cavalry. Fimbria attacked the king's ships as they lay in the
harbour and drove him from Pergamum. After he had taken the city, he pursued
him as he fled into Pitane. He besieged him and endeavoured to make a trench
around the place. {Memnon, c. 36.} {*Livy, l. 83. 14:105} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (52) 2:335} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
3. s. 4. 2:479} {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 70.}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
3997. Mithridates had now been driven from the land by Fimbria and was trapped
in a corner facing the sea. He summoned together all his fleet from their
various places. He did not want to fight with Fimbria, because the latter was
clever and a conqueror. When Fimbria saw what was happening, he quickly sent to
Lucullus to ask him to bring his fleet and unite with him in taking this king,
who was the most bitter and cruel enemy of the people of Rome. If Lucullus had
placed the public good ahead of his private animosities, they would have
captured Mithridates. As it was, he did not, and Mithridates escaped.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 4-7. 2:479,481} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
2.} [E526]
3998. After Mithridates escaped with his fleet to Mitylene, Fimbria went up and
down the province and levied fines on those who had supported Mithridates, and
destroyed the grounds of any who would not let him into their city. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (53) 2:335} [K159] He recovered most of Asia
for the Romans, due to the various defections of the cities from Mithridates.
{Memnon, c. 36.} {*Livy, l. 83. 14:105}
3999. When Fimbria tried to take Illium, which was built on the site of Troy,
the citizens sent to Sulla for help. After Sulla agreed to help, he warned
Fimbria not to meddle any further with those who had submitted to him. He
commended Illium for returning to the alliance they had formerly had with the
people of Rome. He also said it did not really matter to whom they submitted,
since both Sulla and Fimbria were Roman citizens and they were all descended
from the Trojans. In spite of all this, Fimbria stormed the city and entered it
on the eleventh day. He bragged that he had taken the city in only eleven days,
when Agamemnon, with a fleet of a thousand ships and the whole power of Greece,
previously had a great deal of trouble taking it in ten years. A certain man
said that the reason for this was:
"There was not among us a Hector who would stand bravely to defend the city."
4000. Fimbria indiscriminately killed everyone he came across and burned almost
the whole city. He tormented to death those who were a part of the embassy to
Sulla. He spared neither the holy artifacts nor the people who had fled to the
temple of Athena for sanctuary, but burned both them and the temple together.
Moreover, he pulled down the walls and on the following day, surrounded the city
and looked for anything that had escaped his fury. He did not allow any fair
court or consecrated house or statue to remain in the city. {*Livy, l. 83.
14:105} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 27. 6:55} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 8. (53) 2:335,337} {*Dio, l. 31. (104) 2:481} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
2.}
4001. Fimbria ordered Illium to be burned because they had been somewhat slow
in opening the gates to him. Aurelius Victor wrote that Athena's temple stood
untouched. {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 70.} He said:
"It was without all doubt preserved by the goddess herself."
4002. However, Julius Obsequens and Appian affirmed that the temple was burned,
but that the ancient image of Athena, called the Palladium, which was supposed
to have been taken by Diomedes and Ulysses at the time of the Trojan war, was
found safe and unharmed among its ruins. Fimbria discovered this, as Servius
noted, and it was later carried to Rome. {*Virgil, Aeneid, l. 2. (162-168)
1:305} However, Strabo stated that several similar images of Athena were
displayed at Lavinium, Luceria and Siris, as having been brought from Troy.
Appian wrote that this destruction of Troy occurred in the 173rd Olympiad, one
thousand and fifty years after its destruction by Agamemnon. However, according
to Eratosthenes, Apollodorus and Diodorus Siculus, there were one thousand and
ninety-nine years between the first destruction of Troy and the fourth year of
the 173rd Olympiad, when Troy, or Illium, was again destroyed. {*Julius
Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 56b. 14:297} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 8. (53) 2:335,337} {*Strabo, l. 6. c. 1. s. 14. 3:49,51} {*Diod.
Sic., l. 1. c. 4. s. 5. 1:21,32}
4003. Lucullus first routed the king's fleet near Lectum, in Troas. At
Tenedos, he saw Neoptolemus sailing toward him with a larger fleet than before.
Lucullus was sailing some distance ahead of his fleet, in a Rhodian ship with
five tiers of oars. Damagoras, who was the captain of the ship and was very
skilled in naval battles, favoured the Romans. Neoptolemus sailed toward him at
high speed, ordering the pilot to direct his forecastle against the enemy ship.
Damagoras feared the size of the king's ship and the force of its brazen prow.
Not daring to close the gap between them, he ordered the pilot to stop the
course of the ship by hastily turning her about. By breaking the blow in this
way, he caused the enemy to sail quickly on. His ship was not harmed because he
had only made contact with some sections of the ship which were underwater.
[K160] As soon as the rest of the fleet reached him, Lucullus commanded the
pilot to steer about. After displaying his valour, he compelled the enemy to
hoist sail, while he sailed as fast as he could in pursuit of Neoptolemus.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 8-10. 2:481,483}
4004. The citizens of Damascus invited Aretas, king of Coelosyria, to take over
the government, because they disliked Ptolemy Mennaeus. Aretas entered Judea
with an army. After he had defeated Alexander Jannaeus at Adida and had secured
terms of peace with him, he marched home. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 15.
s. 2. (392) 7:423,425}
4005. When Cinna and Carbo started a civil disorder in Rome, they violently
attacked the most eminent persons of the city, without any restraint. Most of
the nobility stole away, first into Achaia and later to Sulla in Asia. Within a
short time, there were many senators in his camp. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 23. s. 1-3. 1:97} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 22. s. 1. 4:397}
{*Dio, l. 31. (102) 2:471-477} They all urged him to come to the relief of his
own country, which was in extreme danger and almost lost. {Eutropius, l. 5.}
{Orosius, l. 15. c. 20.} [E527] His wife Metella stole away with great
difficulty to him barely escaping with her own life and her children. She told
Sulla that his house and its villa had been burned by the enemy and begged him,
therefore, to come and help the city. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 22. s.
2. 4:397}
4006. Mithridates, having considered how many men he had lost in the very short
time since first he had advanced into Greece, wrote to Archelaus, instructing
him to make peace with Sulla on the most honourable conditions he could get.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (54) 2:337} Sulla was now faced
with a deep dilemma. He did not want to abandon his country when it was in such
a sad state, nor did he want to leave Asia with an unfinished war with
Mithridates. Then a merchant from Delos, by the name of Archelaus, offered to
negotiate the treaty and had carried some hopes and secret instructions from
Archelaus, the king's general. Sulla was very pleased at this and hurried to go
and confer with Archelaus the general himself. They met at the seacoast near
Delos at the site of Apollo's temple. Archelaus began by urging Sulla to
abandon his Asian and Pontic expedition, and to go home to put down the civil
war there. He said that his master, the king, would supply him with whatever
silver, ships, or men, he needed. Sulla replied by telling Archelaus to abandon
Mithridates and reign in his stead. He said that he would consider Archelaus an
ally and friend of Rome, if he would turn over the king's fleet to him. But
when Archelaus detested so treacherous an act, Sulla finally proposed some
conditions of peace to be made with the king. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c.
22. s. 2-5. 4:397,399} Among these conditions was one demanding that the king
withdraw all his garrisons, except from those places in which he previously had
soldiers before the war broke out. When Archelaus heard this, he immediately
removed the garrisons. Archelaus wrote to the king concerning the other
articles to find out what the king wanted to do. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 8. (55) 2:341}
4007. When the articles had been agreed on, Sulla withdrew to the Hellespont,
and crossed through Thessaly and Macedonia. Archelaus accompanied him and Sulla
treated him very civilly. When Archelaus became quite sick near Larisa, Sulla
stopped his march and took just as much care of him as if he had been one of his
own commanders or praetors. All this increased the suspicion that Mithridates
had about Archelaus, namely, that he had not fought as well as he could have, in
the battle at Chaeronia. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 23. s. 1,2.
4:399,401} {Dio, Legat., 33. or 34.}
4008. The envoys from Mithridates came to Sulla. They said the terms about the
surrender of Paphlagonia and of the ships were unacceptable, adding that they
could get easier conditions from the other general, Fimbria. In a rage, Sulla
replied that Fimbria would smart for this, and that as soon as he was to come
into Asia, he himself would see what Mithridates wanted more, peace or war.
[K161] Archelaus interceded with Sulla, taking him by the hand and calming his
fury with his tears. At last he begged earnestly to be sent to Mithridates. He
promised that Mithridates would either conclude a peace on Sulla's terms or
else, if he refused to sign those articles, he would kill Mithridates, or
possibly (for the Greek copies vary) kill himself. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1.
c. 23. s. 3-5. 4:401,403} {Dio, Legat., 34. or 35.} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (56) 2:341}
3920a AM, 4629 JP, 85 BC
4009. Six years before he died, Alexander Jannaeus, after he had concluded a
peace with Aretas, led an army against the neighbouring people and took the city
of Dium by storm. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 15. s. 3. (393) 7:425}
4010. Archelaus returned from Mithridates and met with Sulla at Philippi in
Macedonia. He told him that everything had gone as he had wished and that
Mithridates wanted to meet with him. Consequently, Sulla marched through Thrace
to Cypsella and sent Lucullus, who had joined him with his fleet, ahead of him
to Abydus. Lucullus provided Sulla with a safe passage from the Chersonesus and
helped him in transporting the army. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 23. s. 6.
4:403} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 9,10. 2:483} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (56) 2:341,343}
4011. Sulla met with Mithridates at Dardanus, a town of Troas. Mithridates had
two hundred ships with oars, twenty thousand foot soldiers and six thousand
cavalry there with him, and a number of chariots armed with scythes. Sulla had
four regiments of foot soldiers and two hundred cavalry. Both of them went
aside to talk in the field, each with a small retinue, while their armies looked
on. Mithridates came to him and extended his right hand. Sulla asked him
whether he would accept a peace on the conditions negotiated with Archelaus.
The king demurred for a while and each of them hurled complaints and accusations
at each other. Finally, Mithridates was frightened by Sulla's passionate
speeches and consented to the articles of peace that had been offered to
Archelaus. After this, Sulla greeted him, embracing and kissing him. {Memnon,
c. 37.} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 24. 4:403,405} {Dio, Legat., 35. or
36.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 8. (56-58) 2:343-347}
4012. The articles of peace were as follows. Mithridates would be content with
what had been his father's kingdom in Pontus and would not have anything to do
with Asia or Paphlagonia. [E528] He would release all commanders, envoys,
prisoners, renegades, fugitives, the Chians and any he had carried away as
captives with him into Pontus from the various cities. He would give the Romans
seventy or (as Memnon has it) eighty ships with brass beaks and with all their
equipment. Lastly, the cities which were currently under Roman jurisdiction,
would not be questioned for having defected to the Romans. However, shortly
after, the Romans brought many of them under slavery and bondage, contrary to
the tenor of the articles for peace. {Memnon, c. 37.} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l.
1. c. 24. 4:405} {Dio, Legat., 33. or 34.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 8. (58) 2:347} {*Livy, l. 83. 14:105} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 23. s. 6. 1:99} [K162] So the first Mithridatic war, which had begun four
years earlier, was ended by Sulla. In less than three years, Sulla killed a
hundred and sixty thousand of the enemy, recovered Greece, Macedonia, Ionia,
Asia and various other countries which Mithridates had captured. He took the
king's fleet and confined the king himself to his father's kingdom. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 8. (76) 3:139} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
8. (54-58) 2:337,347} The most remarkable thing about Sulla was his discipline.
Although factions of Canna and Marius had been in Italy for three years, Sulla
nonetheless did not conceal his intention of coming against them to fight with
them. Nor did he lay aside the business he currently had in hand. He
considered that it was best first to crush the enemy and then to avenge a
citizen; first to secure from fear abroad by defeating a foreigner and only
after that to repress a rebellion at home. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
24. s. 4. 1:101} {*Plutarch, Lysander and Sulla, l. 1. c. 5. s. 1-4.
4:455,457}
4013. Mithridates surrendered his ships to Sulla with five hundred archers, as
well as the other things required in the covenant. Then he sailed with the
remainder of his ships to Pontus into his father's kingdom. {Memnon, c. 37.}
{*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 27. 6:55} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 24. s.
3. 4:405} {Dio, Legat., 36. or 37.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
8. (58) 2:347} Sulla saw that this peace did not sit well with his soldiers.
They were grieved to see the king, who was their most bitter enemy, and who in
one day had killed so many thousands of Roman citizens living in Asia, sail away
freely out of Asia. He was leaving Asia, with his treasure and the spoils he
had acquired in the war, after having almost exhausted it for some years through
plunder and force. Sulla justified himself by telling them that he was glad to
be rid of Mithridates at any cost, as he had feared he might join up with
Fimbria. Had he done that, Sulla would have been too weak to fight both of
them. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 24. s. 4. 4:405} {Dio, Legat., 36. or
37.}
4014. From there, Sulla moved to within four hundred yards of Fimbria's camp at
Thyatira. Sulla demanded that he turn over the armies to him, since he had
illegally assumed that command. Fimbria replied resolutely that he did not take
orders from Sulla, whereupon Sulla laid siege and began to make his trench.
Fimbria's soldiers came running from their garrison to greet Sulla's men and
were very helpful to them in making the trench. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c.
25. s. 1. 4:405} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (59) 2:349}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
4015. Fimbria was taken aback by this sudden turnaround of events and assembled
the rest of the soldiers to ask them to be loyal to him. When they absolutely
refused to fight against their fellow citizens, he tore his garment and shook
every one of them by the hand. He begged them not to desert him. When that was
to no avail and he saw that very many were stealing away to the enemy, he went
to the tribunes' tents, where he bribed some of them and then summoned the
soldiers again to force an oath of allegiance. When those who had been bribed
cried out that every soldier ought to be called to the oath by name, he ordered
the crier at first to name only those who were under an obligation to him for
past favours. Nonius, who had been his accomplice in every kind of villainous
exploit, was called and refused to swear. Fimbria drew his sword at him and
threatened to kill him, but because the soldiers with a united shout expressed
their disapproval of that action, he was happy to stop. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (59) 2:349}
4016. After this, Fimbria bribed a slave with money and the promise of
obtaining his freedom. He was to go to Sulla's camp and pretend to be a
renegade and so use the opportunity while there to stab Sulla. But the man's
heart began to fail him in the process and Sulla suspected by his trembling that
he had not come with good intentions. So he arrested him and the slave
confessed the whole business. This filled Sulla's army with anger and scorn.
The men standing about Fimbria's trench called him Athenio by way of reproach,
because this had been the name of the one who had, for a few days, been king
over the slaves in Sicily. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (59)
2:349,351} [E529]
4017. When Fimbria saw that this plot had failed, he gave up all hope and fled
to a strong citadel, from where he invited Sulla to a talk. Sulla would not go
himself, but sent Rutilius in his place. It cut Fimbria to the heart that Sulla
would not come to him, as this was never denied even to common enemies. He had
earnestly sought pardon on account of of his immaturity. [K163] Rutilius
replied that Sulla was willing to pardon him and allow him safe passage to the
seacoast, on the condition that he sail away and leave Asia to Sulla, since
Sulla was the proconsul there. Fimbria told him he knew of a better way than
that. He returned to Pergamum and went into Aesculapius' temple, where he
stabbed himself with his sword. When he found that the wound was not fatal, he
asked his servant to kill him. The servant did as he was asked and thereafter
killed himself. Sulla gave Fimbria's body to his chief servants, to be buried
by them. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (60) 2:351} {*Livy, l.
83. 14:105} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 24. s. 1. 1:99} {*Plutarch,
Sulla, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1. 4:405} {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus,
l. 1. c. 70.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
4018. Fimbria's army came and offered their services to Sulla, who entertained
them and added them to his own troops. Soon after, he sent Cunio with a command
to establish Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes in their kingdoms. He also sent a full
account of all the events to the Senate and took no notice at all of the fact
that they had declared him an enemy of the state. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 9. (60) 2:351}
3920b AM, 4630 JP, 84 BC
4019. Sulla rebuilt Illium, formerly called Troy, which had been destroyed by
Fimbria. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 27. 6:55} He
also settled the affairs of the province of Asia and bestowed freedom on the
inhabitants of Illium, Chios, Rhodes, Lycia, Magnesia and various other people.
He enrolled them among the allies of the people of Rome either as payment for
their help in the wars or to cheer them up after the great calamities they had
undergone because of their loyalty to the Romans. He sent his soldiers to all
the other towns to proclaim that all slaves who had received their freedom from
Mithridates had to return to their masters immediately. Many ignored the edict,
while many cities revolted because of it. Many slaves and free-born were killed
in the ensuing massacres. The walls of many towns in Asia were demolished and
some of the inhabitants were sold. Any men or cities found favouring the
Cappadocians were severely fined. The Ephesians, who in scorn had taken the
Roman offerings down from their temples, were especially punished. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (61) 2:351}
4020. When everything was peaceful again, criers were sent throughout the
province to summon the leaders of all the cities in Asia to come to Sulla at
Ephesus on a set day. As they were gathered together, Sulla made a speech to
them from the judgment seat. He told them how much the Romans had helped the
Asians and how poorly the Asians had responded. At the end of his speech, he
pronounced this sentence on them:
"I fine you a whole five years of tribute, which I charge you to pay at once,
down to the last penny. Moreover, you shall pay out the money spent on this war
and whatever further amount the present state and condition of the province
shall require. I shall lay the tax on the cities proportionally and appoint a
time for the payment. Any who default on this, I shall consider as enemies."
4021. Having said this, he distributed the fine by portions to the lieutenants
and also assigned persons to collect it. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 9. (61-63) 2:351-357} To this end, he divided Asia into forty-four regions.
{Cassidorus, Chronicle} This took place when Lucius Cinna was consul for the
fourth time and Gnaeus Papirius was consul for the second time. Cicero stated
that this tribute was imposed on all regions alike, {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 1.
c. 11. 28:423} but in another place he said that Sulla imposed it
proportionally upon all the cities of Asia. {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (32)
10:477}
4022. Plutarch wrote that Sulla, besides this fine of twenty thousand talents
which he levied from the whole, annoyed various individuals among them by
quartering his insolent and unruly soldiers in their private houses. [K164] He
ordered every landlord to pay sixteen drachmas a day to a soldier quartered in
his house. He was to provide his supper for him, as well as for any friends he
brought along to supper. A captain was to have fifty drachmas a day and two
suits of clothes, one for wearing at home and another for outside. {*Plutarch,
Sulla, l. 1. c. 25. s. 2. 4:407} Lucullus was in charge of collecting the
general tax of twenty thousand talents and of coining the money. To the cities
of Asia, this seemed a relief from Sulla's hard usage. Lucullus always behaved
himself in an inoffensive and upright manner and dealt mercifully and mildly
with them. This was befitting the sad state of affairs in Asia. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 1. 2:483}
4023. The cities, oppressed by poverty, borrowed money to pay Sulla at high
rates of interest from Roman loan sharks and mortgaged their theatres, their
gymnasiums, their walls, their harbours, and every other scrap of public
property. [E530] The soldiers were very harsh with them and pressed them for
their money. After payment had been made, they carried the money to Sulla,
while Asia bemoaned its sad state. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9.
(63) 2:357}
4024. At this same time, pirates were busy in all parts of Asia. They moved
about as openly as if they had been nothing more than so many legal fleets.
They had first been put to sea by Mithridates, who, since he was likely to lose
all he had gained in those regions, had resolved to do what mischief he could.
Now they had increased to so large a number that they were dangerous to ships
and threatened the ports, citadels and towns. It is certain that Iasus, Samos,
Clazomene and Samothracia were taken while Sulla was staying in these regions.
It is generally reported that they took many ornaments, estimated to have been
worth a thousand talents, out of the temple at Samothracia. Sulla did nothing,
either because he thought these places were unworthy of his protection because
they had behaved basely toward him, or because he hurried to Rome to settle the
civil disorders there. In either case, Sulla sailed to Greece. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (63) 2:357}
4025. Sulla offered to take Publius Rutilius Rufus, who had lived as an exile
at Mitylene, back home to Rome. He refused, however, choosing rather to stay in
exile in case he might do something that was not lawful. Rufus moved to Smyrna,
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 6. c. 4. s. 4. 2:49} {*Seneca, Epistles, l. 1. c.
24. s. 4. 4:167} {Quintilian, l. 11. c. 1.} {*Dio, l. 28. (95) 2:459}
where he was made a free citizen of that city. {*Cicero, Pro Bablo, l. 1. c.
10. 13:659} He spent his years there in study, {Orosius, l. 5. c. 17.} and
could never be persuaded to return home to his country. {*Dio, l. 28. (95)
2:459} Seneca said of him: {*Seneca, On Providence, l. 1. c. 3. s. 7.
1:19}
"Is Rutilius to be looked on as unfortunate, because those who condemned him
will plead his cause through all ages? Because he preferred to allow himself to
be expelled from his country rather than to give up his banishment? Because he
alone, of all the rest, dared to deny Sulla, the dictator, something when he was
called home, not only would not come back but went farther away?"
4026. Ovid stated of Rutilius: {*Ovid, Pontus, l. 1. c. 3. s. 60,61.
6:285}
Rutilius his fortitude admire,
Who, being called home, had rather still retire
In banishment at Smyrna, than return;
For Sulla's proffer he alone did scorn.
4027. Alexander, son of Ptolemy Alexander the previous king of Egypt, fled from
Mithridates. The Chians turned him over to Sulla, who entertained him and
treated him as a close friend. Alexander accompanied Sulla from Asia into
Greece, and from there to Rome. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 11. (102)
3:189,191} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 225. fin.}
4028. Alexander Jannaeus led his army against Essa, or Gerasa, where Theodorus,
son of Zenon, had stored everything that was of greatest value to him. After he
had surrounded the place with a triple wall, he finally captured it.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 15. s. 3. (393) 7:425} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 13. c. 13. s. 3. (356) 7:405} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 4.
s. 2. (86) 2:43} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 4. s. 8. (103,104)
2:51}
4029. Lucius Murena was left behind by Sulla with the two Fimbrian (or
Valesian) legions, to arrange matters in Asia. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 9. (64) 2:357,359} [K165] Julius Exuperantius said this concerning
Sulla: {Exuperantius, Opusculum}
"He left Murena, his lieutenant, in charge of the province and appointed him
over the Valesian soldiers whose loyalty he could not be sure of in the civil
wars. With the other part of the army he marched away to suppress the Marian
faction which had revolted."
4030. Julius wrote that passage as having taken place before Sulla started the
war with Mithridates. But at that time there were no Valesian or Fimbrian
legions, as these did not exist until after the war had ended.
4031. Lucius Lucullus was left as governor in Asia with Lucius Murena, the
praetor. Lucullus conducted himself with such discretion while he had the
command of the province, that he received much credit for it. {*Cicero,
Academica, l. 2. c. 1. 19:465} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 1.
2:483} Lucullus was kept busy in Asia and was not involved with the fighting of
Sulla and Marius in Italy. {*Plutarch, Precepts of Statecraft, l. 1. c. 12.
(806de) 10:201}
4032. Sulla sailed from Ephesus with his fleet and arrived at Piraeus on the
third day. After he had performed his religious duties, he went to the library
of Apellicon, the Teian, who had many rare books of Aristotle and Theophrastus.
{*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 26. s. 1,2. 4:407} [E531] Apellicon was rich
and had purchased Aristotle's library, as well as many other good libraries. He
had also managed to acquire, by stealth, from Metroon the originals of the
decrees that had been published in the temple of the Mother of the Gods by their
ancestors. From other cities he gathered anything that was either ancient or
secret and valued as a rarity. {*Athenaeus, l. 5. (214de) 2:471} For all
this, he was a person who was more taken with the sight of the books than the
study of them. For a large sum of money, he had purchased the books of
Aristotle and Theophrastus from the heirs of Nileus of Scepsis. Many were
spoiled by water and were worm-eaten. He repaired the places which were eaten
out and transcribed the books again, supplying the missing passages as best he
could, with the result that the books he had were full of errors. When he died,
Sulla took his library and with it enriched his own library at Rome. {*Strabo,
l. 13. c. 1. s. 54. 6:111,113} {?Lucian, Adversus Indoctum, l. 1.
(Ussher p. 531.)}
4033. Mithridates returned to Pontus and quickly subdued many of the countries
that had revolted from him when he had been in his low estate. {Memnon, c.
37.} He began with Colchis. When they saw him marching toward them, they asked
that his son Mithridates might be appointed king over them. As soon as this was
done, they returned to their obedience. The king was jealous that his son's
ambition was the reason for this action and recalled him. He kept him bound for
a while with chains of gold and killed him not long after. This was in spite of
the outstanding service his son had done for him in Asia against Fimbria.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (64) 2:357}
4034. While Sulla was at Athens, he became sick and experienced numbness in his
feet. So he sailed to Aedepsus and used the hot baths there, passing his time
by watching stage plays. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 26. s. 3,4. 4:409}
3921a AM, 4630 JP, 84 BC
4035. Sulla arrived at Brundisium with his army in the 174th Olympiad,
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 9. (79) 3:145} when Lucius Scipio Cinna and
Gaius Papirius Carbo were consuls. {*Livy, l. 83. 14:105} {*Julius Obsequens,
Prodigies, l. 1. c. 57. 14:297} {Eutropius, l. 5.} He returned into Italy
in the fourth year after leaving and not, as Julius Obsequens stated, after the
fifth year.
4036. When the Thebans revolted from Ptolemy Lathurus, he waged war against
them. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 3. 1:43}
4037. Lucius Lucullus was very keen to have the Mitylenians, who had publicly
revolted from Sulla, acknowledge their wrongdoing and submit to some easy
punishment for having followed Manius. [K166] When he realised that this
suggestion only made them more furious, he attacked and defeated them with his
fleet, so that they were forced to retire within their walls. In the course of
attacking the town in daylight, he sailed off in plain view toward Elea.
However, in the night he came back secretly and after he had cast anchor, he
placed an ambush near the city. The Mitylenians came rushing furiously from the
town in great disorder intending to seize the enemy camp because they thought
the enemy had deserted it. Lucullus attacked them before they knew what was
happening and captured a large number of prisoners. He killed any who resisted
and led away six thousand as slaves, while taking much plunder with him.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 2,3. 2:483,485}
4038. Mithridates provided a fleet and a large army to go against the
Bosphorus, which had revolted from him. The preparation he made was so
considerable, that most thought (as Cicero intimated {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia,
l. 1. c. 4. (9) 9:21}) that it was never his intention to make use of it
against the Bosphorus, but against the Romans. For he had not surrendered the
whole of Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, but had kept some parts of it for himself.
He also suspected that when Archelaus was in Greece, he had conceded more to
Sulla than was appropriate, in the articles of peace. Archelaus hurried away in
fear to Lucius Murena and at his instigation prevailed with Lucius to wage war
on Mithridates before he did. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (64)
2:359} So Archelaus defected to Sulla, whose deputy in Asia was Murena. {*Dio,
l. 39. (57) 3:393} Orosius stated that he defected to Sulla, together with his
wife and children. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.} Hence, as far as this matter is
concerned, little credit should be given to Memnon, who stated that Archelaus
stayed with Mithridates and stood with him in the last Mithridatic war. {See
note on 3919a AM. <<3981>>}
4039. Lucius Murena had a burning desire for a triumph, so he renewed the war
with Mithridates. {*Livy, l. 86. 14:109} He passed through Cappadocia and
invaded Comana, the largest city under Mithridates' command, which was famous
for its religion and costly temple. He killed some of the king's cavalry.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (64) 2:357,359} [E532]
4040. Mithridates sent envoys to Murena, who were Greek philosophers and they
condemned the king rather than commending him in their pleading the articles of
peace that had been concluded with Sulla. Murena denied ever having seen any
such covenants. Sulla had never written down any treaty, but had been content
with the carrying out of what had been agreed on between them, and left the
country. After this, Murena started plundering and not sparing the money that
had been consecrated for holy uses. Making his winter quarters in Cappadocia,
he established the kingdom more securely for Ariobarzanes than it had ever been
previously, and built the city of Ecinina on the frontiers of Mithridates'
kingdom. {Memnon, c. 38.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (64)
2:359}
3921b AM, 4631 JP, 83 BC
4041. By the mutual enmity of the Seleucians, the kingdom of Syria had been
quite exhausted by a futile war between the two Seleucian kings, and so the
people looked to foreign kings for help. Some thought to ask for help from
Mithridates, the king of Pontus, others wanted to invite Ptolemy from Egypt, but
thought better of it. Mithridates was already engaged in a war with the Romans
and Ptolemy had always been a professed enemy of Syria. Hence, they decided on
Tigranes, king of Armenia. In addition to his own strength at home, he was
allied with the Parthians and with Mithridates. He was called into the kingdom
of Syria and held it for eighteen years, until the time that Pompey took it from
him and added it to the Roman Empire. {Justin, Trogus, l. 40. c. 1,2.}
[K167]
4042. For fourteen of those eighteen years, Magadates was over Syria with an
army as Tigranes' viceroy, until the time he was forced to march off with that
army to help his king. After the defeat of Tigranes, Lucullus gave the kingdom
of Syria to Antiochus Asiaticus. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8.
(48,49) 2:197} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69,70) 2:237} In the
interim, Antiochus Pius, the father of Asiaticus, had by Tigranes been
dispossessed of Syria as far as from the Euphrates River to the sea coast, as
well as part of Cilicia. He stayed quietly for a while in another part of
Cilicia, in which neither Tigranes nor the Romans showed any interest.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (105) 2:439,441} {Justin, Trogus,
l. 40. c. 2.} His wife Selene and her two sons reigned in Phoenicia and some
other parts of lower Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 16. s. 4.
(419,420) 7:439} {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 4. c. 27. (61) 8:355}
4043. Mithridates sent envoys both to the Senate and to Sulla, to complain
about Murena. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (65) 2:361} He and
Murena sent envoys to oppose each other, and asked the Heracleans for supplies.
These saw the dreadful power of the Romans on the one side, while they feared
the closeness of Mithridates on the other side. So they told the envoys that in
such a storm of war as this, it was all they could do to protect their homes,
much less help others. {Memnon, c. 38.}
4044. Alexander Jannaeus captured Gaulana and Seleucia. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 15. s. 3. (393,394) 7:425}
3922a AM, 4631 JP, 83 BC
4045. Lucius Murena crossed over the large Halys River while it was swollen by
heavy rains and overran four hundred of Mithridates' villages. The king did not
oppose him, since he was expecting the return of his envoys from Rome. When
Murena thought he had obtained enough booty, he went back into Phrygia and
Galatia again. Calidius, who had been sent to Murena from Rome after
Mithridates' complaints, brought Murena no decree of the Senate, but instead
publicly denounced him, saying that he should not molest the king, who was a
confederate of the Romans. After this, he took him aside and was seen talking
with him privately. In spite of this, Murena continued to invade the frontiers
of Mithridates. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (65) 2:361}
3922b AM, 4632 JP, 82 BC
4046. Some advised Murena to invade Sinope and attempt to capture the king's
palace because, once that was taken, the other places would be subdued without
any difficulty. However, Mithridates had fortified that place well with
garrisons and now began to take action. {Memnon, c. 38.} He ordered Gordius to
attack the neighbouring villages, while he got together many beasts of burden,
wagons and countrymen as well as soldiers and camped on the other side of the
bank, opposite Murena's camp. Neither side fought until Mithridates had come
with a larger army, and then there was a bloody battle between them. The king
crossed over the river in spite of Murena's fighting. He defeated Murena and
forced him to retreat to a naturally fortified hill and then to move quickly
through the mountains to get to Phrygia. He lost many of his men in the flight,
as well as the battle. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (65) 2:361}
[E533]
4047. News spread quickly of this famous and swift victory and on hearing it,
many sided with Mithridates. He drove all of Murena's garrisons of soldiers out
of Cappadocia and made a large bonfire on the top of a high hill, according to
his country's custom. [K168] The fire was so large, that it could be seen at a
distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles from the sea and nobody came near
it for several days on account of the heat. He offered sacrifices to Zeus
Stratius, that is, the God of Armies. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
9. (66) 2:361,363}
3923a AM, 4632 JP, 82 BC
4048. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was appointed dictator of Rome so that he might
restore the state to its ancient customs. He allowed Marcus Tullius and
Cornelius Dolabella to be elected as consuls, although he was in charge of
everything and so also had authority over them. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1.
c. 11. (99,100) 3:183,185} In the beginning of their consulship, he triumphed
gloriously over King Mithridates {Eutropius, l. 5.} on the 3rd of the Calends
of February (January 28), as was recorded on the pieces of the marble on which
the triumph was engraved. This day occurred in the Julian month of November.
Although that triumph was very great in regard to its stateliness and the rarity
of the spoils they had taken from the king, it was nevertheless made more
excellent by the exiles. For the most eminent and chief men of the city wore
crowns on their heads and attended Sulla's chariot. They called him their
deliverer and their father, because it was through him that they had been
brought back to their native country and their wives and children had been
restored to them. {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 34. 4:433}
4049. There is one thing for which Sulla deserved commendation. When he
resigned the command in Asia, he rode in triumph and did not have around him
anyone from the towns belonging to the Romans, as he had done in many cities in
Greece and Asia. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 2. c. 8. s. 7. 1:207,209} Sulla
transferred to the treasury fourteen thousand pounds of gold and six thousand of
silver which his son, Gaius Marius, had brought to Palestrina after the burning
of the Capitol and other dedicated places. On the previous day, he had also
transferred all the other spoils of the victory, that is fifteen thousand pounds
of gold and a hundred and fifteen thousand pounds of silver. {*Pliny, l. 33.
c. 5. 9:15} From this it is evident that the triumph lasted for two days.
4050. After Alexander Jannaeus had subdued the valley known as Antiochus'
Valley and the citadel of Gamala, he removed Demetrius from the position of
governor of these places, because he had received many accusations against him.
Just at the end of the third year of his expedition, he led his army home again.
The Jews gave him a hearty welcome home for his good success. At this time, the
Jews held on to many of the cities of Syria, Idumea and Phoenicia. On the sea
coast in the Mediterranean region they captured the towns of Straton's Tower,
Apollonia, Joppa, Jamnia, Azotus, Gaza, Anthedon, Raphia and Rhinocolura. In
the interior of the country, toward Idumea, they captured Adora, Marisa and the
whole of Idumea and Samaria, as well as Mount Carmel, Mount Tabor, Scythopolis
and Gadara. In Gaulanitis, they took Seleucia and Gamala. In Moab, they
captured Essebon, Medeba, Lemba, Oronaim, Agalain (Ajalon?), Thona, Zoara, the
valley of the Cilicians and Pella. They demolished this last city, because the
inhabitants refused to submit to the Jewish ceremonies. They occupied some
other major cities of Syria which had only recently been annexed to their
kingdom. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 15. s. 3,4. (394-397) 7:425,427}
4051. Lucius Cornelius Sulla thought it was unjust that Mithridates, a
confederate of Rome, should be bothered by war. He sent Aulus Gabinius
earnestly to charge Murena to stop fighting with Mithridates and to try to
reconcile Mithridates and Ariobarzanes to each other. At that meeting,
Mithridates betrothed his four-year-old daughter to Ariobarzanes. This was only
a pretence, as he still retained a part of Cappadocia which he had garrisoned.
He organized a general entertainment for the company, during which he offered a
certain weight of gold to those who could win at drinking or eating, jesting,
singing and other solemn sports. Everyone participated except Gabinius.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (66) 2:363} [K169]
4052. Thus the second Mithridatic war ended in its third year. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 9. (66) 2:363} In this war, Murena had caused
much harm to Mithridates. He withdrew, leaving Mithridates weaker, but not
crushed. In his speech for Murena's son, Cicero said that he had been a help to
his father in his difficulties, a comfort in his labours and a rejoicer in his
victories. Cicero also stated that, on Murena's orders, the people of Milesia
built ten ships from the revenues of the people of Rome, as well as from taxes
gathered from various Asian cities. This fleet was to serve the Romans in all
wars at sea. Asconius Pedianus noted this also. {*Cicero, Against Verres II,
l. 1. c. 35. 7:217} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres}
4053. Lucius Lucullus spent the time of his quaestorship under the peaceful
conditions existing in Asia, while Murena was waging war in Pontus. {*Cicero,
Academica, l. 2. c. 1. 19:465,467}
4054. Sulla recalled Murena from Asia, {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c.
3. (8) 9:21} and Marcus Thermus succeeded him in the praetorship of Asia.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 2. 1:39} [E534] It is likely that Lucullus was
recalled from his quaestorship at the same time, together with Murena. We think
this because he sat on the bench at Rome with Aquilius Gallus, who was the judge
in Quintus' case. Gellius and Jerome said this case was pleaded by Cicero in
his 26th year, when Marcus Tullius and Gnaeus Dolabella were consuls. {*Aulus
Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c. 28. s. 3. 3:121} {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:233}
3923b AM, 4633 JP, 81 BC
4055. As soon as Alexander Jannaeus had a little relief from wars, he became
sick for three years with a fever, or Quartan Ague, caused in part by his
intemperance. In spite of this he kept up his military activities. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 4. s. 8. (105,106) 2:51,53} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 15. s. 5. (398) 7:427,429}
4056. When Lucius Murena came to Rome, he was given an honourable triumph. His
son graced his triumph with some military presents. He had served under him
while he was general and had made his father's victory and triumph the only
purpose in his fighting. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 3. (8) 9:21}
4057. Mithridates was now at peace and subdued the Bosphorus, appointing
Machares, one of his sons, to be king over that country. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (67) 2:365}
4058. Molo, the rhetorician, came with envoys to the Senate concerning the
reward for the Rhodians. He was the first of any foreign nationality to speak
in the the Senate without an interpreter. He deserved that honour for he had
aided Roman eloquence at its highest power. At that time, Cicero studied under
him as he had done also some six years earlier. {See note on 3917b AM.
<<3956>>} {*Cicero, Brutus, l. 1. c. 90. 5:271} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 2.
c. 2. s. 3. 1:139,141}
4059. Julius Caesar was sent by Marcus Thermus to be the praetor of Asia. He
sent to Bithynia to get the fleet, and stayed a while with Nicomedes. It was
rumoured that he had prostituted his chastity for the king's lust. The rumour
was strengthened when he returned to Bithynia in a very short time, on the
pretext of getting some money which was due to a certain freedman who was one of
his clients. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 2. 1:39} Suetonius cited the
elder Curio as testifying to Caesar's immoral behaviour. {See note on 3957c AM.
<<5014>>} Curio said in one of his speeches that Caesar was:
{*Suetonius,
Julius, l. 1. c. 52. s. 3. 1:103}
"every woman's man and every man's woman."
4060. Whenever Lucius Cornelius Sulla found a strong young man among the
slaves, he made him a free man. He freed more than ten thousand men who
formerly belonged to the proscribed men and called them Cornelians, after his
name. It was his plan to have the loyalty of at least ten thousand men in the
city among the common people, to side with him in all emergencies. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 11. (100) 3:187} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 12.
(104) 3:195} [K170] Servius thought that Polyhistor was one of those who were
made free citizens by Sulla. Alexander Polyhistor lived in Sulla's time and was
made free and surnamed Cornelius. {Servius, Virgil's 10th Aeneid} Suidas in
Alexandrw tw Milhsiw confirmed that he was named after his patron, Cornelius
Lentulus, to whom he was sold and whose schoolmaster he was. For Suidas called
him Melesium and said he was that grammarian Craterus' scholar. However,
Stephanus Byzantinus claimed that he was the son of Aselepiades of Cotyaeum, a
city in Lesser Phrygia and that he had written forty-two books on many subjects.
Eusebius cited him where he also cited many passages from the book which
Polyhistor wrote about the Jews. {*Eusebius, Gospel, l. 9. c. 17. (418c)
1:450}
4061. After Ptolemy Lathurus had subdued the Thebans in the third year of their
revolt, he fined them so heavily that, while they had previously been one of the
richest cities in Greece, they now were among the poorest. Pausanias related
this as if it pertained to the Boeotian Thebes, and not to the Egyptians.
{*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 3. 1:43} Whereas we have noted from
Appian that, almost at the very same time in which the Thebans revolted from
Ptolemy, the greater Thebes of Boeotia defected from Archelaus, Mithridates'
general, to the Roman general, Sulla. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
5. (30) 2:293}
4062. Ptolemy Lathurus died not long after this, six years and six months after
the death of his brother Philometor. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s.
3. 1:43} His daughter Cleopatra succeeded him and had previously been viceroy
with him. She was the wife of Ptolemy Alexander, who was the younger brother of
Lathurus and who had killed his mother. She only reigned for six months.
{Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 225.} Pausanias stated that of all
Lathurus' descendants, only Berenice was legitimate and she died before her
father. {*Pausanias, Attica, l. 1. c. 9. s. 3. 1:43} His bastard son
Ptolemy seized the kingdom of Cyprus and Cleopatra's kingdom. After this, he
seized the kingdom of Egypt and was called the New Dionysus, or Ptolemy Auletes.
That is, unless it is possible that the one whom Porphyry called Cleopatra was
the same one whom Pausanias called Berenice.
4063. Sulla sent Alexander back to Alexandria in Egypt, to be their king. He
was the son of that Ptolemy Alexander who had killed his mother. He was a good
friend of Sulla and had accompanied him from Asia. There were no longer any
male heirs and the women wanted a man of the same lineage. In this way, Sulla
hoped to get a good stash of gold from that wealthy kingdom. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 1. c. 11. (102) 3:189} [E535]
4064. When Gaius Julius Caesar captured Mitylene, he was rewarded by Marcus
Thermus with the Civic Crown. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 2. 1:39}
Mitylene was demolished to the ground, when it had been the only city still in
arms after Mithridates was defeated. {*Livy, l. 89. 14:113} So, by the law of
war and right of conquest, this noble city was brought under the jurisdiction of
the people of Rome. {*Cicero, Agrarian Law II, l. 1. c. 15. 6:413}
3924 AM, 4634 JP, 80 BC
4065. After Alexander had lived with his new wife Cleopatra, queen of Egypt,
for nineteen days, he killed her. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
225.} Appian wrote that this king was very domineering and insolent, because he
had the backing of Sulla. She was dragged out of his palace by the Alexandrians
and killed in the place of exercise. It appears, from Suetonius and Cicero,
that he reigned fifteen years after the death of his wife. {*Suetonius, Julius,
l. 1. c. 11. s. 1. 1:47} [K171] This refutes the common error of
historians who begin the reign of Ptolemy Auletes here and so confound his years
with the years of Alexander.
4066. Mithridates made raids on the Achaeans beyond Colchis (who were supposed
to be descended from those who had lost their way when returning from the Trojan
War). He lost two divisions of their army, some in battle, some in an ambush
and the rest to the harshness of the weather. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 10. (67) 2:365}
4067. When Mithridates returned home, he sent some envoys to Rome to ratify the
articles of the league between him and Sulla. Ariobarzanes also sent other
envoys, either voluntarily or at the instigation of others, to report that
Cappadocia was not entirely under his control, since Mithridates had kept back
the larger part for himself. Sulla ordered Mithridates to leave Cappadocia,
before the articles could be ratified. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
10. (67) 2:365}
4068. After the province of Cilicia was established, Gnaeus Dolabella was sent
there as proconsul. Cicero stated that in addition to the three territories of
Pamphylia, Isaura and Cilicia, three other territories in Asia were added.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 13. c. 67. s. 1. 27:155} These were the Cibyratic,
Synnadensian and Apameensean, located in the regions of Phrygia, Pisidia, and
Lycaonia. Dolabella brought Gaius Malleolus along with him as his quaestor and
Gaius Verres as his lieutenant. When they had come as far as Delos, Verres
ordered that some ancient images be stolen at night and secretly taken from the
temple of Apollo and put aboard one of the cargo ships. A violent storm
suddenly struck and Dolabella could not possibly sail. He had a great deal of
trouble even remaining at anchor in the harbour, because the large waves beat
against the ships. The ship carrying the images was wrecked by the violence of
the waves and the images of Apollo were found floating toward the shore.
Dolabella ordered that they should be returned to the temple. After that, the
storm let up and Dolabella sailed from Delos. {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l.
1. c. 17,18. 7:167-171}
4069. Verres carried away some very beautiful images from Chios, Erythrae and
Halicarnassus, as well as taking the statue of Tenes, which was also a beautiful
work, from the city of Tenedos, to the great grief of that city. It is said
that Tenes built the city and that the city was named after him. {*Cicero,
Against Verres II, l. 1. c. 19. 7:173}
4070. Verres asked Dolabella to send him to the kings Nicomedes of Bithynia and
Sadala of Thrace, who were allies of the people of Rome. He came to Lampsacus
in the Hellespont, and there Rubrius, one of his pages, attempted to bring
Verres the daughter of one Philodamus, a most eminent citizen. The Lampsacens,
stirred up by Themistagoras and Thessalus, came in a crowd at night to protect
the virgin's chastity. In the resulting uproar, Verres' lictor, Cornelius, was
killed and some of his servants, including Rubrius, received some injuries.
They had a great deal of trouble to prevent Verres' house from being burned. At
Verres' request, Dolabella turned the war, which was at that time being managed
by Dolabella in Cilicia, over to him. Verres marched from that province into
Asia and had Gaius Nero, who had succeeded Marcus Thermus in the praetorship of
Asia, convict and behead Philodamus and his son. {*Cicero, Against Verres II,
l. 1. c. 24-30. 7:185-203} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres}
3925a AM, 4634 JP, 80 BC
4071. Charidemus, a ship captain at Chios, was ordered by Dolabella to
accompany Verres' march from Asia. He came with him as far as Samos, where
Verres attacked the most ancient temple of Juno of Samos and carried off the
pictures and the images from there. [K172] The Samians went to Chios and
charged Charidemus with this sacrilege. However, he clearly showed it was not
his doing, but Verres' action, whereupon envoys from Samos came to Gaius Nero in
Asia to complain about him. They were told that complaints such as these, which
concerned the Roman envoy, should not be handled by the praetor but by the Roman
Senate. {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 1. c. 19,20. 7:173-177} [E536]
4072. The Milesians had a fleet that the Romans, by a treaty made with them,
could make use of at any time. When Verres demanded one of these ships to
escort him to Myndus, they immediately sent him the best ship they had. As soon
as Verres arrived at Myndus, he ordered the soldiers and the sailors to return
to Miletus by foot overland while he sold the ship to Lucius Magius and Lucius
Fannius. These men had left Marius' army and came to live at Myndus, but had
later sided with Sertorius and Mithridates with the result that the Senate had
declared them public enemies. When the captain of the ship reported what Verres
had done, the Milesians caused a declaration to be entered into the public
registry. However, at Verres' request, Gnaeus Dolabella did his best to punish
the captain and those who had made the declaration. In addition, he ordered
that the declaration be removed from the records. {*Cicero, Against Verres II,
l. 1. c. 34. 7:213-217} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres}
4073. Gaius Malleolus, Gnaeus Dolabella's quaestor, was killed in the war.
Verres immediately assumed the office of quaestor for Dolabella. Once he had
that office, he began to steal Asia's wealth. {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l.
1. c. 36,37. 7:219,223}
3925b AM, 4635 JP, 79 BC
4074. When the provinces were assigned to the consuls, Cilicia was given to
Servilius and Macedonia to Appius. Claudius Servilius went to Tarentum to visit
his colleague, who was sick. He journeyed to the city of Corycus and was
ordered to set out to subdue the pirates. {Sallust, History, l. 1.} {Priscian,
l. 15.} Under the leadership of Isidorus, they sailed about in the adjacent sea
between Crete, Cyrene and Achaia, and the sea off Cape Malea. Because of the
plunder the pirates accumulated there, that sea was called the Golden Sea.
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 3,4. 1:191} Julius Caesar served under Servilius
for a very short time, {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 3. 1:39} and Lucius
Flaccus was the tribune of the soldiers. {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. 10:447
(Bobbio Fragment)}
4075. Gnaeus Dolabella was recalled home from his province of Cilicia and
accused of extortion at Rome by the young man Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. He was
condemned and sent away into banishment. The amount was estimated at three
million sesterces, based on the following. His quaestor, Gaius Verres, had
exacted more than was required from the cities of Lycia, Pamphylia, Pisidia and
Phrygia in grain, hides, clothes of fur, sacks and similar wares. He did not
receive the goods, but demanded to be given the money they were worth. Verres
was the main witness against him. Verres was unwilling to give account of his
lieutenantship and his quaestorship until such time as Dolabella, who was the
only one who was aware of his crimes, had been condemned and banished.
{*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 1. c. 38. 7:223-227} {Pighius, Annals of
Rome, Tom. 3. p. 280,281,286,287.}
3926a AM, 4635 JP, 79 BC
4076. Alexander Jannaeus died in the garrisons of a fever and exhaustion from
his battles. [K173] He had reigned twenty-seven years. At the time, he was
besieging the citadel of Ragaba, which was located beyond the Jordan River. On
his death bed, he advised his wife Alexandra to hide his death from the soldiers
for a time and after she had returned victorious to Jerusalem, to give the
Pharisees a little more freedom than before. The Pharisees were able greatly to
influence the Jews, if they chose to do so, either as friend or as foe. The
common people placed a great deal of confidence in them, even though they were
inclined to impeach anyone out of envy. Alexander was disliked by the Jews
because he had offended the Pharisees, so he persuaded her to yield and allow
them to have his funeral, and that she not do anything in matters of government
without their knowledge and approval. In this way, he would receive an
honourable burial and she and her son would reign without problems. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 4. s. 8. (106) 2:53} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
15. s. 5. (398-404) 7:427-431} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 10. s. 4.
(242) 10:129}
3926b AM, 4636 JP, 78 BC
4077. Queen Alexandra, also called Selene by the ecclesiastical writers,
captured the citadel of Ragaba. She did everything her husband had requested.
She let the Pharisees make the funeral arrangements and control the kingdom,
whereby she made them her friends, when before they had been her worst enemies.
The Pharisees assembled the common people and made a speech to them, praising
the famous exploits of Alexander and bemoaning what a good king they had lost.
They so moved the people, that they all grieved in their hearts and cried. No
king before him had ever had such a stately funeral. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 16. s. 1. (405,406) 7:431}
4078. When Alexander was dying, he made his will. He left the administration
of the kingdom to his wife Alexandra and also left the election of the high
priest to her discretion. She declared Hyrcanus, her oldest son, as high
priest. [E537] She did not do this because he was the oldest, but because he
was quite pliable and would not threaten her power in any way, while her younger
son, Aristobulus, was quite content to live as a private citizen and had a more
fiery disposition than his brother. She governed the kingdom for nine years,
while her son Hyrcanus held the high priesthood. She was very gracious with the
people because of the favour she held with the Pharisees, and she seemed to be
greatly troubled by her husband's excesses. She was a queen in name only, for
the Pharisees managed all the state affairs and the people had been expressly
charged to obey them. In effect, she restored all the laws that had been made
by the Pharisees according to the traditions of their elders and which her
father-in-law, Hyrcanus, had set aside. The Pharisees ordered the recall of all
the exiles and called for the release of prisoners. She managed some things
herself and directly maintained a large number of mercenary soldiers. She
increased her strength to such an extent that she was a formidable force to the
neighbouring princes and took hostages from them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 16. s. 1,2. (407-409) 7:433} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 16. s. 6.
(430) 7:445} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 5. s. 1. (107-109) 2:53}
4079. Mithridates restored all Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, in accordance with
Sulla's orders. After this, he sent embassies to Rome to have the articles of
the peace ratified. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (67) 2:365}
4080. When Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus were consuls, Sulla died.
{*Livy, l. 90. 14:113,115} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 12. (104) 3:195}
He finished the twenty-second book of his commentaries just two days before his
death. [K174] He said that the Chaldeans had foretold for him that after he had
lived very splendidly for a while, he would die at the height of his greatness.
{*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 37. 4:441} He bequeathed his commentaries to
Lucullus in his will. On his death bed, he appointed him as the guardian of his
son and did not appoint Pompey, which was thought to be the cause of the
animosity between Pompey and Lucullus in their quest for greatness. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 4. 2:485}
4081. Marcus Cicero had spent six months at Athens with Antiochus of Askelon,
who was a most famous and wise philosopher of the ancient academies and along
with Demetrius Syrus, a highly experienced and extraordinary orator. When
Cicero heard of Sulla's death, he sailed into Asia and travelled across that
country. He exercised his gift of oratory with the best orators in those lands.
The best of these were Menippus of Stratonicia (surnamed Catocas of Caria),
Dionysius Magnes, Aeschylus, a Cnidian, and Xenocles of Adramyttium. {*Cicero,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 91. 5:273} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 4. s. 1,2.
7:89,91} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 25. 6:299} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1.
s. 66. 6:131} {*Diogenes Laertius, Menippus, l. 6. c. 8. (101) 2:105}
4082. At this time, a certain woman of Miletus was sentenced to death, because
she had induced an abortion with some medicines. She had been paid to do this
by those who were the second heirs to her estate. She got what she deserved,
for with that action she destroyed her hope of being a parent. Her name would
not be carried on and she would not have the support of a son or daughter, the
heir of a family and in all likelihood, a citizen of the state. {*Cicero, Pro
Aulus Cluentio, l. 1. c. 11. 9:255}
4083. Publius Servilius, the proconsul, subdued Cilicia. He overwhelmed the
pirates' lightly armed ships with his larger warships and gained a bloody
victory over them. {*Livy, l. 90. 14:115} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 4.
1:191} {Eutropius, l. 6.} He attacked Cilicia and Pamphylia with such force
that he almost utterly destroyed them, when in fact he only wanted to subdue
them. {Orosius, l. 5. c. 23.}
4084. When Julius Caesar heard of the news of Sulla's death, he left Cilicia
and quickly returned to Rome. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 3. 1:39}
4085. After Sulla's death, Mithridates heard nothing from the magistrates at
Rome concerning the embassy he had sent to the Senate. The king bribed
Tigranes, his son-in-law, to invade Cappadocia. The plot was not carried out
all that secretly, since the Romans had an idea of what was going on. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (67) 2:365} Sallust mentioned this in a
speech Lucius Philippus gave at the time before the Senate, against Lepidus. He
said this: {*Sallust, Philippus, l. 1. (8) 1:401}
"Mithridates lies at the borders of our revenues, which, while we yet enjoy, he
is watching for an opportunity to make war on us."
3927a AM, 4636 JP, 78 BC
4086. Tigranes surrounded Cappadocia so that no one could escape from him.
From there, he carried away captive with him about three hundred thousand people
whom he resettled in Armenia. One such place was the city where he had been
crowned king of Armenia, called Tigranocerta, that is, the City of Tigranes.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (67) 2:365} [E538] He had built
that city between Iberia and Zeugma, which lay near the Euphrates River. It was
populated with the men whom he had deported from the twelve cities of Greece
which he had conquered. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 14. s. 15. 5:339} In that
city there were a number of Greeks who had been driven out of Cilicia and many
barbarians who shared the same fate as the Greeks. He resettled the
Adiabenians, Assyrians, Gordians and Cappadocians there after he had wasted
their various countries. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 26. 2:553}
Simultaneously as he was wasting Cappadocia with his raids, he drove the
Mazacenians from their land. He deported them to Mesopotamia and populated the
larger part of Tigranocerta with these inhabitants. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 2.
s. 9. 5:367} [K175]
4087. Geminus, an excellent mathematician, wrote his book of astronomy from
which which Proclus Sphere was derived. Geminus' book was written one hundred
and twenty years after the Egyptians celebrated the festival of Isia. This
happened, according to Eudoxus, on the winter solstice, or the 28th of December.
{Geminus, l. 6.} {See note on 3807a AM. <<3004>>}
3927b AM, 4637 JP, 77 BC
4088. When Marcus Cicero came to Rhodes, he studied under Molo, whom he had
previously heard at Rome. Molo was an excellent lawyer for honest causes, and a
good writer. He was also a wise instructor, very discreet in correcting and
noting faults. In teaching Cicero, he did the best he could to keep Cicero on
the right track and to repress his youthful licentiousness and excesses.
{*Cicero, Brutus, l. 1. c. 91. 5:275}
4089. Apollonius, a great teacher of oratory, became famous at the same time.
Strabo surnamed him Malacov, or the soft, and others called him, Molo. This is
the reason that some, including Quintilian, confused him with the other man,
Molon. {Quintilian, l. 12. c. 6.} They were both Alabandians from Caria and
students of Menecles, the Alabandian. They both came from his school and
practised their art at Rhodes. Molon arrived there later than the other, which
was the reason why Apollonius, like Homer, named him Oqe molwn. {*Strabo, l.
14. c. 2. s. 3. 6:267} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 13. 6:281} {*Strabo,
l. 14. c. 2. s. 25. 6:299} Cicero always called one of them Molo and the
other Apollonius, the Alabandian. Mark Antony is introduced speaking of him as
follows: {*Cicero, De Oratore, l. 1. c. 28. 3:89}
"For this one thing, I have always liked that famous teacher, Apollonius, the
Alabandian. Although he taught for money, he yet did not allow any whom he
thought incapable of being made an orator, to waste their time with him, but
sent them home again. His custom was to exhort and persuade everyone whom he
judged most suited and inclined to it, to apply himself to that art."
4090. It was said that Apollonius was not well-versed in Latin and desired
Cicero to speak in Greek. Cicero was satisfied with the request and thought
that Apollonius would be better able to correct his mistakes. While many stood
in amazement and admired Cicero, and others strived to outdo one another in
praising him, it was observed that Apollonius did not look cheerful at any time
while Cicero was speaking. When he had finished speaking, Apollonius thought
for a good while and looked as if he were musing and pensive. At last, when he
was aware that Cicero had noted his behaviour, he said: {*Plutarch, Cicero, l.
1. c. 4. s. 4. 7:91,93}
"Truly, Cicero, I commend and admire you. Yet I cannot but pity Greece's sad
fortune when I see that the only glories which were left to us, learning and
eloquence, are through you to belong also to the Romans."
4091. Plutarch stated that Cicero heard Posidonius, the philosopher at Rhodes,
and considered himself a pupil of Posidonius. {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c.
4. s. 4. 7:91} {*Cicero, De Natura Deorum, l. 1. c. 3. (7) 19:9}
{*Cicero, De Fato, l. 1. c. 3. 4:197,199} Posidonius was a philosopher of
the Stoic sect and had been born at Apamea in Syria. In time, he was made a
citizen of Rhodes and was called a Rhodian. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 2. s. 13.
6:279} {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (246c) 3:109} However, Josephus wrote that
Posidonius and Apollonius of Malon, or Molon (as it is written elsewhere), gave
Apion, the grammarian, the material for the stories about the Jews and their
temple. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 7. (79) 1:325} With the first name, he
was referring to this Posidonius of Apamea, Cicero's teacher in the Stoic
philosophy, from the books of whose histories we have previously quoted so many
passages. [K176] With the latter name, he meant that Apollonius of whom we last
spoke, or rather Molo, his equal. Cicero stated that Molo was most accomplished
and was by some deemed to be one and the same person as that Apollonius.
{*Cicero, Brutus, l. 1. c. 91. 5:275}
4092. Publius Servilius, the proconsul in Cilicia, subdued several cities of
the pirates. {*Livy, l. 93. 14:117} He demolished the city of Isaura and
destroyed many citadels which the pirates had held along the sea coast. Strabo
said that Servilius was an acquaintance of his. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 6. s.
2. 5:475} {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 3. s. 3. 6:315} [E539] He also took Lycia
and its cities of note, besieging them and forcing them to surrender. In
addition, he roved all over Mount Olympus and levelled three large cities to the
ground, Olympus, Phaselis and Corycus. He was the first Roman to lead an army
through the Taurus Mountains. He ended his march there and controlled the side
of the mountains which faced Cilicia. He brought the Isaurians, who were quite
worn out from the wars, under the power of the Romans. {Orosius, l. 5. c.
23.} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 4,5. 1:191} {Sallust, History, l. 1.}
{Priscian, l. 15.} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres II, l. 3.} {Eutropius,
l. 6.} Cicero confirmed that the countries of Attalia, Phaselis, Olympus and
the land of Agera, Oroanda and Gedusa were added to the people of Rome by
Servilius' victory. {*Cicero, Agrarian Law I, l. 1. c. 2. 6:347} {*Cicero,
Agrarian Law II, l. 1. c. 18. 6:423} Cicero particularly added the following
information concerning Phaselis. {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 4. c. 10.
8:305,307} Phaselis, which Publius Servilius took, had not always been a city of
Cilicians and thieves. The Lycians, who were Greeks, had previously lived
there. Because it had a good location and was so elevated and strongly
fortified, the pirates who came from Sicily resorted there. The pirates were
first associated with this town by commerce and later through an alliance.
3928 AM, 4638 JP, 76 BC
4093. Lucius Magius and Lucius Fannius were renegades from Fimbria's army and
allied themselves with Mithridates. They persuaded him to ally himself with
Sertorius, who was then fighting to subdue a Spanish rebellion against the
Romans. Mithridates sent these two men to Sertorius as his envoys, with letters
promising him a supply of money and ships for the war and in return wanting him
to confirm all of Asia to him. Mithridates had surrendered Asia to the Romans
in accordance with the articles of peace between him and Sulla.
4094. The envoys came to Italy in the small ship which the Mindians had bought
from Verres. From there they hurried to get to Sertorius. The Senate declared
them enemies of the state and ordered them to be apprehended. In spite of all
that, they safely reached Sertorius, who assembled his friends and called the
meeting of his senate. He would not allow the last condition, although all the
rest were favourable. He maintained that he would never give away Asia, which
Mithridates had unjustly taken from the Romans and Fimbria had recaptured in
war. He referred them back to the articles with Sulla, which said Asia should
never be under Mithridates' power again. Sertorius would allow Mithridates to
keep Bithynia and Cappadocia, which had always been under his command and did
not belong to the people of Rome. An alliance based on the following terms was
concluded between them and confirmed by mutual oaths. Mithridates would supply
Sertorius with three thousand talents and forty ships; Sertorius, in return,
would make him a grant of Cappadocia and Bithynia. (In addition, Appian added
Paphlagonia and Galatia and even all Asia.) Sertorius would send him a general
and soldiers. Sertorius sent Marcus Marius, who was one of the banished
senators, to Asia as a general for Mithridates. [K177] (Appian called him
Varius.) He sent Lucius Magius and Lucius Fannius with him, to be his advisers.
They sailed from Dianium, a coastal town of Spain, and arrived at Sinope in
Pontus, where Mithridates was. When they told the king that Sertorius had
denied him Asia, the king said to his friends:
"What will Sertorius sitting in the Palatine demand after this? Although he is
as far away from us as the Atlantic Ocean, he thinks he can set the boundaries
of our kingdom and denounce us if we should attempt to recapture Asia?"
4095. In spite of all this, Marcus Marius made a league with him that was in
agreement with Sulla's peace treaty. The king kept Marius with himself and in a
very short time made him his general in place of Archelaus, who had deserted him
and defected to Sulla. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 4. (9-11)
9:21,23} {*Cicero, Pro Murena, l. 1. (33) 10:229} {*Cicero, Against Verres II,
l. 5. c. 59. 8:637} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres} {*Livy, l. 93.
14:117} {*Plutarch, Sertorius, l. 1. c. 23,24. 8:63,65} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (68) 2:365,367} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
4096. The Capitol, which, along with the Sibylline books, had been destroyed
seven years earlier by a fire, was rebuilt. Gaius Curio, the consul, asked the
Senate to send some envoys to Erythrae to get another copy of the Sibylline
books and bring them to Rome. Publius Gabinius, Marcus, Otacilius and Lucius
Valerius were sent on that errand. They had those verses transcribed by private
hands and then brought them to Rome. Curio and Octavius, the consuls, stored
them in the Capitol, which had been repaired again by Quintus Catulus. This was
recorded by Fenestella and cited by Lactantius Firmianus. {*Lactantius, Divine
Institutions, l. 1. c. 6. 7:16} {*Lactantius, De Ira Dei, l. 1. c. 22.
7:278} Based on this account, Varro said that Erythrae was believed to have
written these Sibylline books which the Romans had copied. [E540] He thought
this because these verses were found on the island of Erythrae, after Apollo's
temple, where the books were normally kept, was burned, if we can believe
Servius. {Servius, Virgil's Aeneid, l. 6.} For the temple which was burned was
not Apollo's, but Jupiter Capitoline's temple. After the temple was repaired,
envoys were sent by order of the Senate to Erythrae in Asia to get those verses
transcribed. However, those books which were still extant after the fire, were
brought to Rome. These did not come only from Erythrae, but were also procured
from other Italian and Greek cities. In addition, they were found in private
men's libraries under whatever name the Sibylline books went by. These books
contained many things that were found to be suppositions. The differences in
the books were detected using acrostics, as determined from Varro's own books of
divine things, as related by Dionysius Halicarnassus and by Lactantius
Firmianus. {*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l. 4. c. 62. s.
5,6. 2:469,471} {*Lactantius, Divine Institutions, l. 1. c. 6. 7:16}
Tacitus stated that: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 12. 4:175,177}
"Where the Sibylline verses differed, the correct rendering was contended for in
Samos, Troy, Erythrae, through all Africa, Sicily and the Italian colonies. The
priests were responsible to take all the care that mortal men could take, to
discover the true from the false."
4097. Pliny stated that during the time when Gnaeus Octavius and Gnaeus
Scribonius Curio were consuls, Licinius Syllanus, the proconsul, and his
company, saw a spark fall from a star. It increased in size as it came nearer
the earth, until it became as large as the moon and gave off as much light as if
it had been a cloudy day. It went up toward the heaven again and changed into
the shape of a torch. Since Syllanus was not found to be a Roman surname for
that family, Pighius thought that, instead of Licinius Syllanus, as it was
stated in Pliny, it should be Lucius Junius Syllanus. Junius, who, about this
time, was sent into Asia with the authority of a proconsul, to replace Gnaeus
Nero with his company, may have been an eye witness of this sign. {*Pliny, l.
2. c. 35. 1:239,241} [K178]
3929a AM, 4638 JP, 76 BC
4098. Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, died without any descendants and in his will
gave his kingdom to the people of Rome, whereupon his kingdom was reorganized
into a province. {*Livy, l. 93. 14:117} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 4.
s. 1. 1:55} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 39. s. 2. 1:135} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 13. (111) 3:207} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 1. (7) 2:251} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (71) 2:371}
Relating to this issue, Mithridates' complaint about the Romans in a letter to
Arsaces went as follows: {*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (9) 1:435}
"After Nicomedes was dead, they seized all Bithynia, although Nysa, whom he
called queen, unquestionably had a son."
4099. In the same year, which ended the 176th Olympiad, the Romans added Cyrene
to their empire. Ptolemy Apion, its king, who was of the house of Lagidae, had
bequeathed it to the Romans. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 1. c. 13. (111)
3:207} This king was an illegitimate son of the house of the Lagidae. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (121) 2:477} Appian showed that he was the
same person as the one that Justin said was the son of a courtesan and who
turned over Cyrene to the Romans. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39. c. 5.} However,
Justin added that part of Libya was made a province, whereas Livy had previously
stated that after Ptolemy Apion's death, the Senate of Rome enfranchised all the
cities of the kingdom of Cyrene. {See note on 3908 AM. <<3893>>} It
seems that
they may have received their grant of freedom at that earlier time, but only now
been established as a province. At that time:
"Ptolemy, the king of Cyrene, on his death bed made the Romans his heirs in his
will, in the first year of the 171st Olympiad."
4100. After this:
"Libya was left to the Romans as a legacy by King Apion."
4101. This was in the fourth year of the 178th Olympiad, as Jerome noted,
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:235} which was almost eleven years later than
Apion's account stated. Eutropius had related this very thing nine years later,
at the time of Caecilius Metellus' Cretian triumph. At that time he stated:
{Eutropius, l. 6.}
"Libya was also annexed to the Roman empire by the last will of Apion, who was
its king. Berenice, Ptolemais and Cyrene were its largest cities."
4102. Jornandes wrote:
"Libya, that is to say, all Pentapolis, was granted to the Romans by that first
Ptolemy. It later rebelled and in Apion's last will it was given to the people
of Rome."
4103. Before him, Sextus Rufus stated: {Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
"We were beholden to Ptolemy the elder's bounty for Cyrene and the other cities
of Libya's Pentapolis. Libya came to be ours by King Apion's last will and
testament."
4104. Ammianus Marcellinus agreed with him and said: {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l.
22. c. 16. s. 4. 2:297,299}
"We obtained the dryer parts of Libya by King Apion's last will. Ptolemy gave
us Cyrene and the other cities of Libya's Pentapolis."
4105. The learned Valerius noted this event in his history. He denied that
there were two Ptolemy Apions. In addition, Cicero mentioned: {*Cicero,
Agrarian Law II, l. 1. c. 19. 6:425}
"the Cyrenian lands which were Apion's."
4106. Cornelius Tacitus stated: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 14. c. 18. 5:135}
"The land which was once King Apion's was bequeathed by him to the people of
Rome, together with his kingdom." [E541]
4107. The rest of the summer and the following winter were spent by Mithridates
in preparation for war against the Romans. He cut timber, built ships and made
arms. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (69) 2:367} He reduced his
forces to the minimum and sent away the rabble from among the multitudes.
[K179] The barbarians stole all the weapons that were gilded and set with
precious stones, so Mithridates replaced these with swords similar to the Roman
ones and made good, substantial shields. He assembled a well-managed and
experienced cavalry, rather than one made up of those who were neat and
handsome. In addition, he built ships that were not adorned with gilded cabins
or fitted with baths for courtesans or delicate rooms in which to keep his
women, but were equipped with arms, arrows and munitions for war. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 3-5. 2:491,493} He distributed two million
medimni (a medimn equals about 12 gallons) of grain along the coast. In
addition to his old forces, he had other forces readily available to him:
Chalybes, Armenians, Scythians, Taurians, Achaeans, Heniochi, Lencosyrians and
those who lived near the Thermodon River, which was commonly called the land of
the Amazons. His old forces came to him from Asia. He also had supplies from
beyond the sea from Europe, from the Sarmatians, Basilians, Iazyges, Corallians,
Thracians and all the countries around the Danube River and the mountains of
Rhodope and Haemus. The Basternians, who were the most gallant men and the
bravest of them all, also helped him. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
10. (69) 2:367,369}
3929b AM, 4639 JP, 75 BC
4108. When Julius Caesar was twenty-five years old, he planned to sail to
Rhodes to study under Apollonius Molon, who was the most eminent teacher of
oratory at that time. While he was on his way in the winter time, the pirates
captured him near the island of Pharmacussa, which was near the Asian shore,
north of Miletus. These pirates were so well-equipped with ships, that they
controlled the seas. When the pirates demanded twenty talents from him for his
ransom, Caesar laughed at them, because they did not know how important a man he
was. He promised that he would give them fifty talents. He immediately sent
his companions and servants to the cities of Asia to get the money for his
release. He only kept a physician and two others with him, to attend to his
personal needs. He was alone with these three for thirty-eight days in a
company of Cilicians who were the most savage people in the world. He behaved
himself so well that he filled them with both terror and reverence. He did not
remove his shoes or unclothe himself, in case this should happen to cause some
extraordinary change of appearance and they would suspect him of something. He
had no guard other than their watchful eyes. Whenever he went to rest, he sent
someone to them to tell them to be quiet. He would play and exercise with them
as if they had been in his retinue and not he a prisoner of theirs. He wrote
verses and orations which he recited to them. If any of them did not admire and
applaud them, he would publicly call them dull fellows, barbarians, and often in
jest, would threaten to crucify them. His humour pleased them greatly and they
attributed his free-spokenness to his simplicity and youth. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 41. 1:141} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 4.
1:39,41} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 3. 7:447} It was reported that, while
he was in custody, he cried out: {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 5.
3:333}
"Oh Crassus, how great a pleasure will you taste, when you hear of my
captivity."
4109. The money from all the cities was brought to Caesar from Miletus. Caesar
would not pay the fifty talents until he had forced the pirates to release the
hostages to the cities. After this, he was put ashore. The next night, he got
as large a fleet as he could quickly assemble and sailing out from the port of
the Milesians, he went toward the same island where the pirates were still
anchored. He forced part of their fleet to flee while he sank most of the other
ships. He captured the remaining ships with their crews. He was overjoyed with
the victory of the night's expedition and handed over to his company the
pirates' money he had seized as his own booty. He imprisoned the pirates at
Pergamum. When he had finished that, he went to Junius, the proconsul of Asia,
who was in Bithynia. Junius had command of Asia and Bithynia, which had
recently been established as a province. [K180] Demanding that justice be done
to the captives, he had them crucified. This he had foretold the pirates while
he was a prisoner, but they had thought he was just joking. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 41. 1:141} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 4.
1:39,41} {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 5. 3:333} Before he captured
them, he had sworn that he would crucify them. He ordered that their throats be
cut first and they then be fastened to the crosses. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1.
c. 74. s. 1. 1:125}
4110. As spring was arriving, the third Mithridatic war started. It lasted for
eleven and a half years and ended with the death of Mithridates. Mithridates
assembled all his fleets together and sacrificed, as was his custom, to Zeus
Stratius, that is, the God of Armies. He drowned his chariot with white horses
in the sea, as a sacrifice to Poseidon. After this, he hurried to Paphlagonia
with Taxiles and Hermocrates, the generals of his army. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (70) 2:369} [E542] He had in his army a hundred and
twenty thousand (or, as Appian has it, a hundred and forty thousand) foot
soldiers, who were trained according to the Roman discipline. He had sixteen
thousand cavalry and a hundred chariots with scythes. A further large company
followed the camp to guard the ways and carry the burdens. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 4,5. 2:493}
4111. As soon as Mithridates had arrived at Paphlagonia, he made a haughty
speech to the soldiers. When he saw that he had aroused their hatred of the
Romans, he invaded Bithynia, which had recently been bequeathed to the Romans in
Nicomedes' will. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 10. (70,71)
2:369,371} Livy said that Mithridates got it all into his hands. {*Livy, l.
93. 14:117} Plutarch said that he was very willingly greeted by all the cities
of Bithynia. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 5,6. 2:493}
4112. All Asia was being most intolerably oppressed by the Roman money-lenders
and tax collectors and defected to Mithridates. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1.
c. 7. s. 5,6. 2:493} With Marcus Marius, or Varius, whom Sertorius had sent
to him from Spain to be his general, Mithridates captured some of its cities.
When they entered the cities, the king put Marius ahead of him with the rods and
fasces, as if he were the supreme magistrate, while the king followed behind, as
if he were one of his officers. He enfranchised some of the cities on his own
terms, while he granted immunity to others, but said these grants were not from
him, but from Sertorius. So Asia, which previously had been plagued by the tax
collectors and oppressed by the covetousness and abuses of the garrisoned
soldiers, began to be encouraged by this change of government. {*Plutarch,
Sertorius, l. 1. c. 24. s. 3,4. 8:67}
4113. Julius Caesar saw what havock Mithridates was making in the adjacent
countries and was ashamed to sit idly by when the allies were in such trouble.
He left Rhodes, where he had gone, and crossed over to Asia. Assembling what
forces he could, he drove the king's lieutenant clear out of the province. By
so doing, he kept those cities which, before that, had been wavering and ready
to revolt, loyal to Rome. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 4. s. 2. 1:41}
Junius, whom the people of Rome had appointed as their chief magistrate in Asia,
offered very little resistance to Mithridates because he was a coward.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 42. s. 3. 1:143}
4114. Based on Livy, Eutropius and Orosius stated that Publius Servilius ended
the war in Cilicia and Pamphylia within three years and because of this was
called Isauricus. Cicero stated that Servilius had commanded the army for five
years. {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 3. c. 90. 8:259} Consequently, we
have connected his first going into the province to the year before this fifth
year, in which he was also consul. Cicero affirmed that this man took more of
the robbers' commanders alive than all those had done who had gone before him.
{*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 5. c. 26. 8:541} [K181] Among others, he
recaptured Nico, a famous pirate, who had broken his chains and escaped with the
same gallantry that he had exhibited when he was first taken prisoner.
{*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 5. c. 30. 8:555} Ammianus Marcellinus wrote:
{*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 14. c. 8. s. 4. 1:67}
"Cilicia and Isaura were mutually engaged in a war of piracy and had some troops
of land robbers. Servilius, the proconsul, made them submit to him and after
that he made them a tributary."
4115. Jornandes wrote that Servilius overcame Pamphylia, Lycia (or rather
Cilicia and Pisidia), and reduced them all to provinces. {Jornandes, De
Regnorum ac Temporum Succession} Octavius, who was this year's consul, was sent
into the province of Cilicia. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 6. s. 1.
2:487}
4116. Wherever Servilius marched, it was a splendid sight to see the various
prisoners and captives whom he took along with him. People came flocking to him
from everywhere. They came from the towns through which they marched and also
from all the adjacent places for the express purpose of seeing this spectacle.
This pleased the people of Rome all the more, and they were more delighted with
this victory than with any that had ever been before. {*Cicero, Against Verres
II, l. 5. c. 26. 8:541,543} In this triumph he displayed the various images
and ornaments which he had taken away from the city of Olympus after he had
captured it. They were carried in state on chargers that rode ahead of him in
the triumph. All of this he later caused to be entered into the public records
and brought into the treasury. The number of those images, and the size, shape
and condition of each image were specified. {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 1.
c. 21. 7:179,181} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres} Valerius Maximus
mentioned this triumph of Servilius. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 8. c. 5. s. 6.
2:219} Eutropius and Sextus Rufus also referred to the triumph. Claudian, the
poet, said this of him: {Eutropius, l. 1.} [E543]
"Servilius charioted the untamed Isaures."
3930 AM, 4640 JP, 74 BC
4117. Marcus Antonius, the father of Mark Antony who was in the triumvirate,
obtained an unlimited commission to guard all the Roman sea coasts. He obtained
this through the favour of Cotta, the consul, and Cethegus' faction in the
Senate. Marcus Antonius Senior was an extremely vile person and his wicked
companions pillaged Sicily and all the provinces. {*Cicero, Against Verres II,
l. 3. c. 91. 8:261,263} {*Lactantius, Divine Institutions, l. 1. c. 11.
7:22} {Asconius Pedianus, Divination} {Asconius Pedianus, Against Verres}
4118. The province of Cisalpine Gaul had been allotted to Lucius Lucullus, the
consul. When Octavius, who held Cilicia, died, Lucullus befriended Cethegus by
means of Praecia, a common strumpet. Cethegus had a great deal of influence in
Rome and caused the province of Cilicia to be assigned to Lucullus. Since
Cappadocia was close to Cilicia, they voted that Lucullus should undertake the
Mithridatic War. However, Marcus Cotta, his colleague in the consulship,
prevailed with the Senate after much pleading, that he might be sent with a
fleet to guard the Propontis and defend Bithynia. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1.
c. 6. 2:487-491} So both the consuls were sent to this war, the one to secure
Bithynia and the other to pursue Mithridates in Asia. {*Cicero, Pro Murena, l.
1. (33) 10:229} {Memnon, c. 39.} {Eutropius, l. 6.} Lucullus, the consul, not
only had Cilicia allotted to him, but Asia, also (properly so called), and he
had the command of it for seven years. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 33.
1:121}
4119. Lucullus obtained a legion in Italy and with it crossed over into Asia.
He added Fimbria's legions and two other legions to his force. However, these
new additions had long ago been spoiled with luxury and covetousness, while the
Fimbrians had for a long time gone without leadership and were more intractable
and impudent. [K182] However, they were very warlike, and were very skilled and
experienced in military undertakings. Lucullus reformed the one legion and
settled the fierceness of the other. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 7. s.
1,2. 2:491} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (72) 2:373} He did
the best he could to punish the money-lenders and Roman tax collectors and make
them more moderate in their dealings, as their extortions had been the main
reason for Asia's revolt. He put down all the various rebellions of the people
when almost every country was in revolt. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 7.
s. 5,6. 2:493}
4120. Mithridates had another large army on the march, with four hundred ships
of thirty oars plus a large number of smaller ships, commonly called
Pentecouteri and Cercura. He sent away Diophantus Mathaerus into Cappadocia
with a large force, to put garrisons into the cities and to intercept and stop
Lucullus, should he attempt to enter Pontus. Mithridates kept for his own force
a hundred and fifty foot soldiers, twelve thousand cavalry and a hundred and
twenty chariots with scythes, which followed the cavalry. He had a good supply
of all types of war engines. With all of these, he marched quickly through
Timonitis, Cappadocia and Galatia and reached Bithynia within nine days.
Lucullus, in the meantime, commanded Cotta and all his fleet to stay at a port
of the Chalcedonians. {Memnon, c. 39.}
4121. Mithridates' fleet stayed near Heraclea in Pontus, but were denied use of
the harbour. However, the citizens gave them access to their market. After
some disputes between them, as are usual in such places, two of the most
prominent men of Heraclea, Silanus and Satyrus, were taken away as prisoners by
them. They would be freed only on the condition that they help Mithridates in
this war against the Romans with five frigates. Through this, the Heracleans
lost favour with the Romans. The Romans had appointed the public sale of the
citizens' goods in other cities, and they now also subjected Heraclea to sale.
The tax collectors who were to carry out this business arrived and started
exacting money, contrary to the customs of the state. The citizens grew very
perplexed, viewing this action as a prelude to slavery. Then, finding
themselves in this situation, they knew they would have to send an embassy to
the Roman Senate to ask for their favour in stopping the sale of their goods.
Persuaded by a bold, desperate fellow in the city, they murdered the tax
collectors so secretly, that no one knew of their death. {Memnon, c. 40.}
4122. Marcus Cotta heard the news of Lucullus' coming, and that he was already
camped in Phrygia and was very confident of victory over Mithridates. Cotta
hurried to fight with Mithridates before Lucullus could, so that Lucullus would
not share in the victory with him. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 8. s.
1,2. 2:493,495} In a short time, Mithridates' generals, Marius (or Varius) and
Eumachus, had assembled a large army. They fought with Publius Rutilius, Marcus
Cotta's lieutenant, at Chalcedon. [E544] Rutilius, along with the best part of
his army, was killed in the battle. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.} The Basternians
routed the Italian foot soldiers and killed many of them. {Memnon, c. 41.}
4123. Mithridates marched up to Chalcedon, where the Romans from everywhere
were coming to Cotta. Since Cotta was a novice soldier, he did not fight with
him. However, Nudus, the admiral of his fleet, with a brigade of the army, took
to the field where it was most fortified. They were beaten off from there and
fled back to the gate of Chalcedon. [K183] When they reached the gate, there
was such a crowd of them trying to get in, that those who chased them could not
shoot an arrow without missing the enemy troops. Every arrow found its target.
As soon as they had let down the bolts to secure the gates for fear of the
enemy, they drew Nudus and some other commanders up to them with ropes. All the
rest were killed in the midst of their friends and enemies. In vain they held
up their arms to them, begging also to be drawn up. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 10. (71) 2:371,373}
4124. Mithridates thought it would be best to follow up on this victory at once
and move his fleet toward the harbour. When they had broken the brazen chain
that was at the entrance of the harbour, they burned four of the enemy's ships.
They towed away another sixty by tying them to the sterns of their own vessels.
Neither Nudus nor Cotta offered any resistance, but stayed securely within the
walls. In this battle, the Romans lost about three thousand men, among whom was
Lucius Manlius, a senator. Mithridates lost twenty of the Basternians, who had
been the first to assault the harbour. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
10. (71) 2:373} Plutarch stated that Cotta lost four thousand foot soldiers on
land, besides those sixty ships with their men. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1.
c. 8. s. 2. 2:495} Memnon said that in one day the land and sea were most
disgracefully filled with the bodies of the Romans. Eight thousand were killed
in the naval battle and forty-five hundred were taken prisoner. Fifty-three
hundred of the army of Italian foot soldiers were killed. Mithridates' side
lost only about thirty Basternians and seven hundred others from his whole
company.
4125. This was the battle near Chalcedon where Marcus Aurelius Cotta, the
consul, was defeated {*Livy, l. 93. 14:117} and in a letter to Arsaces
Mithridates said: {*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (13) 1:437}
"I totally routed Marcus Cotta, the Roman general, near Chalcedon on land and
have deprived him of a most gallant fleet at sea."
4126. The sad condition of Cotta, on both sea and land, greatly increased
Mithridates' wealth and prestige, {*Cicero, Pro Murena, l. 1. (33) 10:229}
while his success depressed the enemy. Lucullus, who was camped along the
Sangarius River, heard of this great defeat and seeing his soldiers' morale
failing, encouraged them with a speech. {Memnon, c. 41.}
4127. Archelaus, who had formerly been one of Mithridates' commanders, had now
sided with the Romans. He tried to convince Lucullus that he could easily take
the whole kingdom of Pontus, now that Mithridates was in Bithynia with his army.
Lucullus replied that he would not be deemed a greater coward than the common
huntsmen, who did not dare to fight with wild beasts, but were brave enough to
go into their empty dens. After saying this, Lucullus marched against
Mithridates with his company of thirty thousand foot soldiers and twenty-five
hundred cavalry. When he first came in sight of the enemy, he was astonished to
see such a vast number and therefore chose not to fight but play for time. When
he remembered that Marius, whom Sertorius had sent from Spain to be Mithridates'
general, was marching up against him, he decided to fight and drew his troops
into battle array. Just as the army was set to fight, the sky suddenly split
apart and between both armies there seemed to fall a large flaming meteor,
resembling a hogshead in shape and silver-fiery hot. This strange sight so
frightened both armies, that they decided not to fight. They say this sign
happened in Phrygia, near Otryae. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 8. s.
3-7. 2:495,497}
4128. With his cavalry, Lucullus, the consul, fought some skirmishes with
Mithridates' cavalry and won. He also made some other raids in which he was
fortunate. This so encouraged his soldiers and made them so eager to fight,
that he had a lot of trouble in keeping them under control. {*Livy, l. 94.
14:117}
4129. Mithridates saw that the city of Cyzicum was his door of entry into all
of Asia. If he were able to take it, the whole province would be open to his
attacks, so he resolved to make it the centre of his war effort. {*Cicero, Pro
Murena, l. 1. (33) 10:229} It was the most famous city of all Asia and was a
faithful friend to the people of Rome. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c.
8. (20) 9:33} In the recent defeat at Chalcedon, it had lost three thousand
citizens and ten ships. [K184] When he thus made up his mind, the king decided
to give Lucullus the slip. As soon as he had dined, he took the opportunity of
a dense fog at night and moved his camp, so that by daybreak he had reached the
top of the Adrastia Mountain Range. This is also called Dindymus, and is
located opposite the city. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1. 2:497}
[E545] Strabo wrote that Mithridates invaded the Cyzicenians with a hundred and
fifty thousand foot soldiers and a large body of cavalry, taking the Adrastia
Mountain Range and the suburbs. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 8. s. 11. 5:501}
Appian stated that Lucullus, with thirty thousand foot soldiers and sixteen
hundred cavalry, camped opposite Mithridates' force of about three hundred
thousand men. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (72) 2:373} Orosius
stated: {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
"Indeed, it was reported that in the siege of Cyzicum he lost more than three
hundred thousand men through famine and sickness."
4130. Plutarch stated that Lucullus killed at least three hundred thousand of
Mithridates' men and support staff. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 11. s.
6. 2:505} Eutropius recorded that, in the following winter and summer, Lucullus
killed almost a hundred thousand men of the king's forces. {Eutropius, l. 6.}
4131. Mithridates surrounded the Cyzicenians with ten brigades and also
attacked them by sea with a fleet of four hundred ships. {*Strabo, l. 12. c.
8. s. 11. 5:502} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 9. s. 3. 2:499} Since
the Cyzicenians did not know what had become of Lucullus, Mithridates' forces
told them that Lucullus' tents, which were pitched before them, were the forces
of the Armenians and Medes, which Tigranes had sent to join Mithridates.
Demonax was sent to the city from Archelaus and was the first to tell them that
Lucullus was nearby. They did not believe him, thinking this was a ruse to
cheer them up. However, a boy who had been taken prisoner by the enemy escaped
and with his finger pointed out to them the place where the Romans were camped,
after which they believed the report. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 9. s.
5,6. 2:501} Lucullus sent one of his soldiers to those who understood their
language, telling them to be encouraged. This soldier had come on a raft made
of two water skins. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 16. 1:185} {Orosius, l. 6.
c. 2.}
3931a AM, 4640 JP, 74 BC
4132. Lucullus attacked Mithridates from the rear and defeated the Pontics,
gaining a glorious victory. He killed more than ten thousand soldiers and took
thirteen thousand prisoners. {Memnon, c. 42.}
4133. Lucullus saw a very convenient mountain on which to make his camp. If he
could capture it, he would have ample provisions for his army and would be able
to starve the enemy. There was one very narrow pass to it at which Mithridates
had placed a guard to secure it, on the advice of Taxiles and some of his other
commanders. Lucius Manius, or Magius, the arbitrator of the league between
Mithridates and Sertorius, secretly sent a messenger to Lucullus. He then
persuaded Mithridates to allow the Romans to pass by and to camp wherever they
chose. He lied to Mithridates by saying that Fimbria's legions, which had
formerly served Sertorius in the wars, would defect to him within a day or two,
so that he would be spared the effort of a battle and get a victory without
fighting. Mithridates did not suspect anything and allowed the Romans quietly
to enter the pass and to fortify the mountain against him. In this way, the
Romans had plentiful provisions from all the lands lying behind them, while
Mithridates was blocked by a lake, mountain and river, and able to get few
supplies by land for his camp. [K185] He could neither get out, nor force
Lucullus out, and the winter season was approaching and would likely hinder all
supplies from coming to him by sea. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
11. (72) 2:373,375}
4134. Plutarch wrote that Lucullus camped in Thrace at a place called Comes,
which was the place most suitable for obstructing all the supply lines to
Mithridates. Mithridates sent some men to Fimbria's legions to bring them over
to him. Memnon said they pretended to defect to Mithridates and then killed all
of Mithridates' envoys.
3931b AM, 4641 JP, 73 BC
4135. Nicomedes, a Thessalian, had built notable engines to batter Cyzicum.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 2. 2:501,503} One of these was
called the Helepolis, that is, The City-Taker. It was a hundred and fifty feet
high and was the most remarkable one. On this, another tower was erected on
which were placed other sorts of weapons and engines to sling stones. Before
they positioned the engines, Mithridates ordered that three thousand of the
Cyzicenians, whom he had taken, be sent to the city to urge them to surrender.
However, this did not work, because Lysistratus, their general, ordered a crier
to exhort them from the walls, saying that since it was their bad luck to have
fallen under the power of a foreigner, they should bear up under this as well as
they could. Mithridates used all the strength he could, both by sea and land,
to subdue the city. The townsmen were very busy on the inside, defending it.
[E546] The attacking forces were not able to breach the walls and could not
enter through the part that fell near the evening, because the heat of the fire
was so scorching. The Cyzicenians, meanwhile, repaired the breach at night.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (73) 2:377}
4136. At last Lucullus found a way of sending some auxiliaries to the city by
night. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 8. s. 11. 5:503} On the Dascylitis Lake there
were very large boats. He took one of the largest and carried it in a wagon to
the seaside and put as many soldiers in it as it could hold. Under cover of
darkness, they secretly got into the city and the enemy knew nothing about it.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 9. s. 6. 2:501}
4137. This was the time of Proserpina's festival, when the Cyzicenians offered
a black heifer. Although they did not have one, they made one of dough and
brought it to the altar. The heifer which had been intended for the festival
was feeding with the rest of the Cyzicenians' herds on the other side of the
sea. On the day of the festival, she left the other herds and swam over alone
to Cyzicum. She passed all the way through the enemy's fleet and by diving
underwater got through the bars which were at the mouth of the harbour. She
passed through and came into the midst of the city, to the temple of Proserpina,
where she presented herself before the altar. The Cyzicenians sacrificed her
and were greatly encouraged. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 60a.
14:301} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 1. 2:501} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (75) 2:379}
4138. It was reported that Proserpina appeared in a vision by night to
Aristagoras, who, according to Julius Obsequens, was the chief magistrate.
Plutarch gave him the title of the town clerk. She told him that she had
provided a piper against the pipers. Plutarch related it in such a way as to
indicate that she immediately sent a Libyan piper against the Pontic trumpeter.
The Cyzicenians wondered what this meant. About daybreak, there was foul
weather at sea, as from a stormy wind. The king's engines had now been drawn up
to the walls and by their creaking and crashing it was evident that there was a
storm brewing. Soon after this, an extremely violent south wind arose which,
within an hour, destroyed the rest of the king's engines. It so shook the
wooden tower erected on the engine, that it was overturned and thrown to the
ground. {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 60a. 14:301} {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 10. s. 2,3. 2:501,503} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 11. (75) 2:379} [K186]
4139. It was also reported that Athena appeared to many at Illium in their
sleep, dripping with sweat and showing that part of her shawl was cut off. She
told them that she had come from providing relief for the Cyzicenians. The
people of Illium used to show the pillars on which the decrees and letters
telling of this matter had been engraved. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 10.
s. 3. 2:503}
4140. Mithridates was advised by his friends to take his fleet and sail away
from the city. He, however, was not dismayed in the least by what had happened.
He went up to Mount Dindymus and cast up a bank from there all along to the
walls of the city, on which he built towers and from there tried to undermine
the walls. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (75) 2:379} In spite
of all this, the Cyzicenians held out so stoutly, that they very nearly captured
Mithridates alive in his own tunnel. The Cyzicenians also dug a tunnel to him,
but when he became aware of the danger he was in, he managed to get away safely.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 8. s. 11. 5:503}
4141. When winter set in, Mithridates was cut off from supplies by sea. The
army was so short of supplies, that many of them died from famine. While some
were content to eat human flesh, others fed on herbs as their only food and
became sick. All the while, the dead bodies were lying about unburied, which
caused a plague to break out. {Memnon, c. 42.} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 8. s.
11. 5:503} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 16,17. 1:185} {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 11. s. 1. 2:503} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11.
(76) 2:381} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
4142. While Lucullus had gone to capture some citadel or other, Mithridates
tried to make use of the opportunity. So he ordered some of his forces to march
home with their arms, but without being seen by the enemy. Most of his cavalry
he sent into Bithynia, as well as those horses which were beasts of burden, his
foot soldiers and all who were unfit. The horses were now weak from lack of
food and lame because, lacking shoes, their hooves were worn away. When
Lucullus heard about this, he hurried to the camp by night as fast as he could.
At daybreak, he went after them with ten companies of foot soldiers and all his
cavalry. At that instant, a violent storm struck, so that many of the soldiers,
because of the snow and other hardships, were forced to lie down from the very
cold, unable to follow. With the rest of his troops, he overtook the enemy at
the passage of the Rhyndacus River and slaughtered so many of them, that the
women of Apollonia came out and plundered the wagons and stripped the dead. In
this battle, six thousand horses, an enormous number of beasts of burden and
fifteen thousand men were captured. Lucullus carried everything away with him,
besides the pillage of the enemy's camp. If we can believe him, Orosius
reported that: [E547]
"In this battle, Lucullus killed more than fifteen thousand men."
4143. Sallust thought that this was the first time the Romans had ever seen any
camels. However, those who had been under Scipio, the general who defeated
Antiochus, and those who had fought with Archelaus at Orchomenus and Chaeronia,
would most certainly have seen camels. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 11.
s. 2-4. 2:503,505} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (75)
2:379,381} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
4144. Fannius, who had joined in with Mithridates, and Metrophanes, the king's
general, were defeated by Mamercus. They escaped into Moesia with two thousand
cavalry and went from there to Moeonia, reaching the dry, parched hills and
plains of Inarime. After they had been there a long time, they finally got out
and arrived at the king's camp without being noticed by the enemy. {Orosius, l.
6. c. 2.}
4145. Eumachus, the general, and the rest of Mithridates' generals fought in
Phrygia, killing many Romans with their wives and children. They subdued the
Pisidians, the Isaurians and also Cilicia. [K187] As they were roving about,
one of the tetrarchs of Galatia, Dejotarus, attacked them and killed them along
with many of their soldiers, thus bringing their actions to an end. {*Livy, l.
94. 14:117} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (75) 2:381} {Orosius,
l. 6. c. 2.}
3932a AM, 4641 JP, 73 BC
4146. The 28th Jubilee.
4147. The Cyzicenians undermined the mounds which the king had cast up all
along from the Dindymus Mountain to the city and burned his engines. They knew
that the enemy was severely weakened by famine and made many sallies against
them, so that Mithridates resolved to withdraw and leave. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (76) 2:381} He wrote about this in a letter to Arsaces:
{*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (14) 1:437}
"In besieging Cyzicum with a large army, I lacked provisions, since there were
none available in the area. I could get nothing from all the regions around
there and winter had blocked the sea, so that none could be expected from that
direction. I was forced (not by any compulsion of the enemy) to march back into
my own kingdom."
4148. Plutarch stated from Sallust that for two whole winters Lucullus camped
first at Cyzicum and later at Amisus. See Cicero concerning the raising of the
siege of Cyzicum. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 8. (21) 9:33}
{*Cicero, Pro Murena, l. 1. (33) 10:229} {*Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, l. 1.
c. 9. (21) 11:29,31}
4149. Mithridates suddenly resolved to leave. To keep Lucullus from following
after him too swiftly, he sent Aristonicus, the Greek admiral of his fleet, to
put out to sea. However, by some foul play, Lucullus took him prisoner just as
he was setting out from shore and seized the ten thousand pieces of gold he was
carrying with him for the purpose of bribing some of the Roman army.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 11. s. 5,6. 2:505}
4150. The king left his land forces with the generals to march to Lampsacus.
Hermaeus and Marius, the generals who had been sent by Sertorius, led thirty
thousand men to Lampsacus. However, Lucullus followed close behind them and at
last overtook them, surprising them as they were crossing the Aesepus River, the
level of which was higher than normal at the time. He took many of them as
prisoners and killed twenty thousand of them. More than eleven thousand of
these were reported to have been Marius' soldiers. The Granicus and Aesepus
Rivers ran red with blood. One of Mithridates' nobles, who knew how very
covetous the Romans were, ordered the soldiers to scatter their knapsacks and
money about deliberately, to slow down the pursuers. {Memnon, c. 42.}
{Polyaenus, Stratagmata, l. 7.} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 18. 1:185}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 11. s. 6. 2:505} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (76) 2:381,383} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
4151. Mithridates planned to return by sea and sail by night to Parium.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (76) 2:381} His soldiers were
determined to leave with him and crowded into the ships on every side. Some
were already full and others filled soon after. It happened that so many tried
to get on the ships, that some ships sank and others capsized. The Cyzicenians
saw this and attacked the enemy's camp. They cut the throats of the sick who
were left behind and carried away whatever they could find. {Memnon, c. 42.}
4152. Lucullus entered Cyzicum and was received with great joy and
magnificence. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 12. s. 1. 2:505,507} In his
honour, they later instituted some games, which they called the Lucullian Games.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (76) 2:381,383} The Romans
conferred a great deal of honour on the city and granted them their freedom.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 8. s. 11. 5:503} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 36.
4:65}
4153. After Mithridates' men had been driven to Lampsacus by Lucullus and
besieged there, Mithridates sent his fleet to transport them and the
Lamsacenians from there. He left fifty ships with ten thousand men on board for
Marius or Varius, the general from Sertorius, Alexander, a Paphlagonian, and
Dionysius, the eunuch. [K188] With the larger part, Mithridates made for
Nicomedia, but many of these, as also of those left behind, were drowned in a
storm. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (76) 2:383} [E548]
4154. As best he could, Mithridates assembled some forces in Pontus and
besieged Perinthus. He made some attempts against it, but when he was unable to
take it, he sent his forces away to Bithynia. {Memnon, c. 42.}
4155. Antiochus Asiaticus and his brother, who were the young sons of king
Antiochus Pius and who controlled part of the kingdom of Syria which had not
been seized by Tigranes, came to Rome. They requested the kingdom of Egypt,
which they believed rightly belonged to them and their mother Selene. They
stayed there almost two whole years and retained their royal retinue. {*Cicero,
Against Verres II, l. 4. c. 27. 8:355}
3932b AM, 4642 JP, 72 BC
4156. Antipas or Antipater, the Idumean, was the foremost citizen of their
country with regard to birth and wealth. He was the son of the other Antipas or
Antipater, who they say was the son of Alexander, the king of the Jews, and his
wife Alexandra. Antipater was made governor of all Idumea and was married to
Cyprus, who was born at a famous place among the Arabians. He had a son called
Herod, who later became the king of Judea. Herod was twenty-five years old when
his father placed him over Galilee. {See note on 3957c AM. <<5026>>}
{See note
on 3875b AM. <<3786>>} Nicolaus Damascene recorded Herod's life while
Herod was
still living. To gain favour with Herod, he derived Antipater's pedigree from
the princes of the Jews who had come from Babylon into Judea. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 1. s. 3. (8,9) 7:453} This is also in the 35th chapter
of the Arabic History of the Jews, which is written at the end of the Parisian
Bible. There we read that Antipater was a Jew who was descended from those who
came from Babylon with Ezra, the priest. He was appointed by Alexander Jannaeus
as governor of the country of the Idumeans and married a wife from there.
However, Julius Africanus, in a letter of his to Aristides (found in Eusebius
{*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 1. c. 6,7. 1:49-65}) and Ambrose, who
followed him, {Ambrose, Commentary on Luke 3, l. 3} stated a tradition of those
who were called the kinsmen of our Saviour according to the flesh, that
Antipater was the son of Herod from Askelon, who had charge of Apollo's temple
there. He was carried away from Askelon by some Idumean robbers, and so
Antipater was instructed in the manners and customs of the Idumeans. This was
the most common opinion of all the Christian fathers. {*Julius Africanus,
Aristides, l. 1. c. 4. 6:126}
4157. Barba came with a strong band of Italians and with Triarius, one of
Lucullus' commanders, besieged Apamea. The citizens held out for a long time,
but finally surrendered, according to Memnon. However, Appian wrote that when
Triarius arrived there, he took the city by storm and killed many of the people
of Apamea in their temples, where they had fled for sanctuary. Soon after this,
the Roman army, under Barba, took Prusias, a very well-fortified city at the
base of Mount Olympus, and pillaged it. From there, Triarius went with his army
to the city of Prusias which bordered on the sea. Prusias, the king of
Bithynia, had taken it from the Heracleans and named it after himself, but it
had previously been called Cierus, or Chius, after the river on which it
bordered. As soon as he drew near the city, the Prusians expelled the Pontics
and welcomed them in. From there Triarius and his army came to Nicaea, in which
there was a garrison of Mithridates. The Pontics knew full well that the
citizens favoured the Romans, so they stole away by night to Mithridates at
Nicomedia. Hence, the Romans got that city under their command without any
trouble. (Memnon and Appian have conflicting details for the events in this
paragraph. We left it as close to the original as possible. Editor.) {Memnon,
c. 43,49} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (77) 2:383} {Orosius,
l. 6. c. 2.} [K189]
4158. Lucullus came to the Hellespont and prepared his fleet. He arrived at
Troas and went into the temple of Venus. That same night in his sleep he
dreamed that he saw the goddess standing by him and saying:
Sleep'st thou now, lion stout?
Whole herds of fawns rove here about.
4159. While he was telling this dream to his friends, some men came to him from
Illium before daybreak, to tell him that thirteen of the king's ships, each with
five tiers of oars, had appeared at a port of the Achaeans and were bound for
Lemnos. Lucullus sailed from Troas, captured all the thirteen ships and killed
Isidorus, their admiral. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 12. s. 1-4.
2:507} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (77) 2:383,385} [E549]
4160. Lucullus followed up on his victory by going after the generals Alexander
and Dionysius, and Marius or Varius, whom Sertorius had sent to be general. He
overtook them near Lemnos, which was on the deserted island where Philoctetes'
altar with the brazen serpent was located. As he approached them, he ordered
his soldiers, prior to the battle, not to kill anyone who had only one eye. He
was referring to Marius, who had lost an eye and whom Lucullus planned to deride
before killing him. When Lucullus noticed that the enemy did not move and had
drawn all their ships to the shore, he stopped and sent two ships, to try to
draw them into a battle. They would not budge, but defended themselves from
their decks, which really galled the Romans. The place was such that they could
not turn around, nor was it possible for the ships, tossed about by the waves as
they were, to do much harm to the enemy. The enemy fleet was beached and they
had good, sure footing. So Lucullus sent a squadron of ships to the island by
another way. He landed all his best foot soldiers there, who then attacked the
enemy from the rear. Some were killed and others retreated to their ships.
They were so fearful of Lucullus, that they dared not launch into the deep, but
sailed along the coast. Consequently, they were now attacked from both land and
sea and many were killed as they tried to get away. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l.
1. c. 12. s. 2-5. 2:507,509} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11.
(77) 2:383,385} Lucullus either sank or captured thirty-two of the king's ships,
besides a number of cargo ships. Among those killed were very many who had been
proscribed by Sulla. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.}
4161. The next day, the three generals were found hidden in a cave. Lucullus
had Marius, or Varius, killed. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (77) 2:385} Alexander was reserved to be killed later
and Dionysius died soon after, from poison that he carried with him. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (77) 2:385}
4162. These were the two naval victories which Lucullus had, one at Tenedos,
the other in the Aegean Sea. Memnon mentioned them as two distinct battles.
{Memnon, c. 44.} Cicero stated that there was just one battle: {*Cicero, Pro
Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 8. (21) 9:33}
"The large and well-equipped fleet, which Sertorius' commanders were in all zeal
sailing to Italy, was defeated by Lucullus and the proconsul, Lucius Murena. Do
you think that the naval battle at Tenedos (when the enemy fleet in good hopes
and spirits made a direct course for Italy under the most experienced generals)
was defeated after a small battle or a light skirmish?"
4163. In another speech, Cicero stated: {*Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, l. 1. c.
9. (22) 11:31} [K190]
"Lucullus defeated the enemy's fleet at that incredible naval battle at
Tenedos."
4164. Lucullus sent letters to the Senate recounting his achievements, as was
the custom of conquerors. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (77)
2:385} When the Senate decreed to send him three thousand talents to procure a
fleet, he wrote back that he had no need of the money. He boasted that he was
able to drive Mithridates from the sea with the ships of the Roman allies.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 13. s. 4. 2:509,511}
4165. After this, he hurried to catch Mithridates, thinking he might find him
around Bithynia. He secured the place with the help of Voconius, whom he had
sent to Nicomedia with a squadron of ships to pursue Mithridates. However,
Voconius was busy in the religious ceremonies and holy festival days at
Samothracia and arrived too late. Mithridates set sail, hurrying to get to
Pontus before Lucullus could catch him. A storm struck and wrecked part of his
fleet. Some ships were damaged and others were sunk, so that for many days all
the coasts around there were littered with the wreckage that washed ashore.
They said that this storm was caused by Artemis of Priapus, in revenge against
the Pontics for having plundered her temple and taken down her image from its
place.
4166. Dio wrote that Mithridates was wrecked twice as he was sailing to Pontus.
Through these accidents, he lost about ten thousand men and sixty ships. The
rest were scattered by the winds. Mithridates wrote to Arsaces and said:
{*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (14) 1:437,439}
"I lost my best soldiers and my fleet by two wrecks at Parium and Heraclea."
4167. Orosius said:
"After Mithridates had manned his fleet and sailed against Byzantium (where
Eutropius said he was chased by Lucullus), he was caught by a storm and lost
eighty ships with brass prows."
4168. To conclude, Florus stated: {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 18,19. 1:185}
"A storm struck this fleet of more than a hundred ships and a very large
military force in the Pontic sea. The storm so battered it, that it looked like
it had been done by a real naval battle."
4169. The pilot of the large ship which carried Mithridates considered it
impossible to beach the ship in so violent a storm, since the ship was already
leaking and almost full of water. [E550] Mithridates, against the advice of his
friends, leaped into the ship of Selemus, a pirate who helped him get on board.
Mithridates entrusted himself to the pirates, who brought him safely to Heraclea
in Pontus, after first going to Sinope and then to Amisus. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 13. 2:509,511} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 2.} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (78) 2:385}
4170. Cotta, wanting to atone for his former losses, moved his forces from
Chalcedon, where he was camped at the time, to Nicomedia. He camped eighteen
miles from the city and was cautious how he engaged the enemy. Triarius, of his
own accord, quickly brought his army to Cotta using running marches. Then both
the Roman armies prepared to attack the city. The king, aware that Lucullus had
already obtained two notable victories over the Pontics at sea, knew that he was
no match for the Roman forces. He moved his fleet back into the river, where he
lost some ships with three tiers of oars in a storm. However, he escaped with
most of his ships to the Hypius River. {Memnon, c. 44.}
4171. Mithridates remained there because of the storm. On hearing that
Lamachus of Heraclea, an old and trusted friend of his, ruled that state, he
flattered him with many fair promises, influencing him to let him enter the city
and to do the best he could for him. [K191] Mithridates also sent him some
money for this purpose. Lamachus prepared a large feast for the citizens
outside the city. During this feast, he promised Mithridates that the gates
would not be shut. He made the people drunk, so that Mithridates might come as
planned on that very day. Mithridates came and took them by surprise as they
were sleeping, and so the city became his own while no one even dreamed of his
coming. On the next day, the king summoned the city together and spoke to them
in a very friendly manner. After he had exhorted them to remain loyal to him,
he committed the city to Connacoriges and placed a garrison there of four
thousand men. His pretence was, merely to defend and protect the citizens in
case the Romans should attack the place. From there, he sailed directly toward
Sinope. Before he left, he distributed some money among the citizens and
especially among the magistrates. {Memnon, c. 44.}
4172. After Lucullus had recovered Paphlagonia and Bithynia, he passed through
Bithynia and Galatia to invade Mithridates' kingdom. At Nicomedia, he joined
his forces with the troops of Cotta and Triarius, so that together they could
attack Pontus. {Eutropius, l. 6.} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 14. s.
1. 2:511} {Memnon, c. 45.} They received news of the taking of Heraclea when
as yet they knew nothing of the plot. They thought it had been surrendered when
the citizens voluntarily abandoned the whole city. Lucullus thought it best
that he, with the might of his entire army, should march through the midlands
and Cappadocia against the king and his whole kingdom. Cotta thought they
should try to recapture Heraclea, while Triarius thought they should take the
fleet and intercept Mithridates' ships, which had been sent into Crete and
Spain, on their return through the Hellespont and Propontis. {Memnon, c. 45.}
4173. When Mithridates heard of their plans, he prepared for war. He quickly
sent for forces from his son-in-law, Tigranes, the Armenian, and his son
Machares, who was reigning in Bosphorus, as well as from the Parthians. He also
ordered Diocles to go to the neighbouring Scythians, to solicit them with many
gifts and a large weight of gold. However, he ran away to Lucullus with the
gifts and the gold. The others also refused to meddle, while Tigranes delayed
for a long time. (Mithridates wrote that this war was begun and that from the
start Tigranes refused to help. {*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (15)
1:439}) However, he promised to send supplies, because Mithridates' daughter
wore him down until he yielded. {Memnon, c. 45.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 11. (78) 2:385}
4174. The envoy whom Mithridates sent to Tigranes was Metrodorus Scepsis, who
had left his philosophy and become a politician. Mithridates had him as such a
close friend, that he was called the king's father. He had been made a judge
and it was not lawful for any man to appeal his sentence to the king. Tigranes
asked the king's envoy what he thought of this business of sending forces
against the Romans. The envoy replied:
"As I am an envoy I advise you to send, as I am a counsellor I am against it."
4175. Tigranes sent Metrodorus back to Mithridates with his answer, but
Metrodorus died on the way. Either the king had him killed or he died of some
disease, for there was talk of both. Tigranes had informed the king of what
Metrodorus had said, believing that Mithridates would never think any the worse
of Metrodorus. To express his sorrow for what he had done, Tigranes interred
his body very nobly, sparing no expense for the funeral of one whom Tigranes had
betrayed when he was alive. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 1. s. 55. 6:113}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 14. 2:511-515}
3933a AM, 4642 JP, 72 BC
4176. Mithridates sent several generals against Lucullus. [K192] They fought
some battles, but the Romans won most of them. {Memnon, c. 45.} [E551] At
first, Lucullus was very short of food. There were thirty thousand Galatians
following the camp who were each to bring a measure of grain on their shoulders.
After he had marched a little farther, he subdued and plundered all the way. A
little later, he came to a country that had not been ravaged by war for many
years, so that a slave was sold for four drachmas and an ox for one drachma.
Goats, sheep, clothes and other things were equally cheap. They were not able
to carry away all the booty, because there was so much of it. Therefore they
left some of it behind and destroyed the rest. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
14. s. 1. 2:511} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (78)
2:385,387}
4177. After this, Lucullus attempted to subdue Amisus and Eupatoria, which
Mithridates had built near Amisus. He had named it after his own surname and
made it his royal palace. A brigade of Lucullus' army was sent to take
Themiscyra, on the Thermodon River. They used towers against Themiscyra and
cast up works, digging such large mines that the two sides often fought
underground. The townsmen opened their mines from the top and through these
holes, let down bears, other wild beasts and swarms of bees among the invaders.
The Romans met stiff resistance at Amisus, as the Amisians fought bravely in
their own defence. They sometimes sallied out in force and at other times just
a few went out. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 11. (78) 2:387}
4178. Lucullus spent much time before Amisus in a long siege. His army began
to complain at the delay and grumbled considerably that they were not allowed to
plunder any of the cities they captured. It did not matter whether the city
surrendered freely or was taken by storm. Lucullus replied that he had good
reasons for drawing out the siege. In this way, he hoped to wear down
Mithridates' forces little by little. He did not want Mithridates to think he
had overpowered him, lest he go to Tigranes for help and thus make another enemy
with whom they would have to fight. Plutarch quoted Lucullus as having said
this: {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 14. s. 4,5. 2:513}
"It is but a few days' march from Cabira into Armenia, where Tigranes lives, who
is that lazy king of kings. He is so powerful that he wrests Asia from the
Parthians, carries the Greek cities into Media, holds Syria and Palestine,
dethrones the kings, Seleucus' successors, and steals their daughters and wives
from their palaces, taking them with him as prisoners. This Tigranes is a
neighbour to Mithridates, and is his son-in-law."
4179. Cotta moved his camp and first marched with his Romans to Prusia, which
was formerly called Cierus. From there he went down to the Pontic Sea, and
moved along the sea coast. He camped before the walls of Heraclea, which stood
on the top of a hill. The Heracleans did not put too much trust in the strength
of their location, but joined with the soldiers whom Mithridates had garrisoned
among them and fought against Cotta, who made valiant attempts against them.
More fell on the Roman side than on the other, but the Heracleans received many
wounds from the Roman arrows. Therefore, Cotta gave up the attack and sounded a
retreat to his soldiers. He camped farther off and started to besiege the city.
When the Heracleans were short of food, they sent their envoys to the colonies
around them to buy food. The envoys were well received. {Memnon, c. 49.}
4180. A little before this, Triarius, who was equipped with the Roman fleet
from Nicomedia, attacked the Pontic ships which Mithridates had sent toward
Crete and Spain. When he heard that the rest of the ships had returned to
Pontus, he chased them. [K193] Many of them had been lost in storms and naval
battles in various places. He overtook them at Tenedos and attacked them.
Lucullus had seventy ships and the Pontics less than sixty. After they had
violently rammed one another with their prows, the king's side endured the enemy
attack very well for a while, but later they were forced to retire and the
Romans obtained a complete and famous victory. This was the end of the large
fleet that Mithridates had brought with him into Asia. {Memnon, c. 50.}
3933b AM, 4643 JP, 71 BC
4181. Mithridates sent abundant provisions, arms and soldiers to the besieged
Amisians from Cabira. He made Cabira his winter quarters and levied another
army of forty thousand foot soldiers and four thousand cavalry. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 15. s. 1. 2:515} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 11. (78) 2:387} Memnon said there were eight thousand cavalry.
4182. Olthacus, whom Appian called Olcaba, was a Scythian and prince of the
Dandarians, who lived around Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov). He was highly
commended for warlike exploits, counsel and civil conduct. He was in some of
Mithridates' garrisons and contested with some of the princes and his countrymen
for superiority. He promised to do a great exploit for Mithridates by killing
Lucullus. The king highly commended him, but pretended to be angry with him
over it and very formally reproached him. [E552] Thereupon, he rode off to
Lucullus, where he was treated very cordially. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
16. s. 1,2. 2:519}
4183. The first year of the 177th Olympiad was now approaching. In the spring,
Lucullus left Murena with two legions to continue the siege at Amisus, while he,
with three other legions, marched through the mountains against Mithridates.
{Phlegon, Chronicles} {Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 97., l. 5.} {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 15. s. 1. 2:515} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 12. (79) 2:387,389} Murena was a lieutenant to Lucullus, who was the
general. He was the son of that Murena whom Sulla had left as praetor in Asia.
Cicero, in a speech on his behalf, said: {*Cicero, Pro Murena, l. 1. (11)
10:199}
"During the time when he was lieutenant, he led an army, fought battles,
defeated the enemy forces, took many cities, some by storm, others by siege. He
behaved himself so well in Asia, which at that time was well provided with every
luxury, that he left not the least hint of his covetousness or luxury. He
demeaned himself so gallantly in that great war, that he did many noble acts
without the general's assistance and the general did nothing without him."
4184. Mithridates had ordered his guards to keep Lucullus out and give notice
by fires in case any unusual thing should happen. Phoenix, who was a member of
the royal blood, was in charge of the guards. According to agreement, he warned
of Lucullus' approach, but then he and all his forces defected to Lucullus. Due
to this action, the mountains could be crossed safely and Lucullus marched down
to Cabira. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (79) 2:387,389}
4185. After Mithridates crossed the Lycus River, he came into a wide plain,
where he tried to provoke the Romans to battle. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1.
c. 15. s. 1,2. 2:515} He sent Diophantus and Taxiles against them. At
first, their armies only tested each other's strength in daily skirmishes.
{Memnon, c. 45.} Later, their cavalries fought and the Romans fled. Lucullus
was forced to retreat to the mountains. In this battle, Pompeius, or Pomponius,
who was the general of the cavalry, was taken prisoner and brought to
Mithridates in a seriously wounded state. When Mithridates asked him whether,
if he allowed him to live, he would be his friend in the future, he replied:
"Truly I shall, if you will conclude a peace with the people of Rome, but if
not, I shall remain your enemy."
4186. After this reply, the barbarians would have killed him, but the king
would not allow them to do so. [K194] He said that he would not allow any
cruelty to a valiant man, merely because of misfortune. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (79) 2:389} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 15. s.
1,2. 2:515}
4187. After this, Mithridates drew his forces into battle array and stood in
that posture for many days. Since Lucullus would not come down to fight, he
looked for a way to march up to him. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
12. (79) 2:389}
4188. In the meantime, Olcaba, or Olthacus, the Scythian, who had saved many
Romans in the last battle of the cavalry, had been admitted into Lucullus' inner
circle at meal time and knew their counsels and secrets. With his usual short
dagger by his side, he came to Lucullus as he was sleeping at noon in his tent.
He said he had some matter of great importance to tell Lucullus, but Menedemus,
Lucullus' chamberlain, refused to let him in. Olcaba, fearing that he might be
questioned, stole away from the camp and rode on horseback to Mithridates.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (79) 2:389,391} {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 16. 2:519,521} He revealed to the king that another
Scythian, named Sobadacus, intended to run away to Lucullus, and so he was
immediately seized. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (79) 2:391}
4189. Lucullus was afraid to come down to the plain, because the enemy cavalry
was too strong. However, he was at a loss as to how to pass through the
mountainous region, which was a long trek, covered in woods and quite dangerous.
By chance, he came upon some Greeks who had hidden themselves in a certain cave
around there. The oldest of them was Artemidorus who, as Appian said, was a
hunter and knew the mountains well. He guided Lucullus and his army to a place
where he could safely camp and which also had a citadel overlooking Cabira.
Lucullus used this guide, kindled fires in the camp and marched away. He went
through the woods by an unused path without any difficulty and finally arrived
at that citadel. At daybreak, he was seen pitching his tents above the enemy.
He chose his place in such a way that, if he wanted to fight, he could, and if
not, he could not be forced into a battle. He still avoided the plains for fear
of the enemy's cavalry and camped where there was plenty of water. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (80) 2:391} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
15. s. 3,4. 2:515,517}
4190. Neither army thought of fighting at present. It was reported that as the
king's party was chasing a deer, the Romans came that way and stopped their
chase. A skirmish began and more came flocking in from both sides. Finally,
the Romans fled. Lucullus came down alone to the plain and ran up to the forest
from where the Romans came running. He ordered them to stop and march back
again with him against the enemies. The soldiers submitted to their general and
the others stopped fleeing also. The Romans rallied together and easily made
the enemy flee, pursuing them to their very camp. When Lucullus returned from
pursuing the enemy, he publicly disgraced those who had run away. [E553] He
took away their weapons and ordered them to dig a twelve foot trench, while all
the other soldiers stood by and looked on. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
15. s. 5-7. 2:517,519}
4191. When Lucullus ran short of food, he sent a party into Cappadocia to
forage. He often skirmished with the enemy, until at one time the king's troops
began to flee. Mithridates ran from the camp and deriding them for fleeing,
forced them back again. That put such a dread into the Romans, that they ran
back to the mountains without stopping. Although the king's troops abandoned
the chase, the Romans were so terrified, that they still kept running, thinking
the enemy was at their heels. Mithridates sent messengers to every place to
tell of his victory. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (80) 2:391}
4192. Sornatius, with ten cohorts of foot soldiers, was sent by Lucullus to get
provisions. He saw Menander, one of Mithridates' commanders, and followed after
him. [K195] He stopped until Mithridates' men came to him. Then he fought with
them and killed many, putting the rest to flight. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1.
c. 17. s. 1. 2:521}
4193. After this, Lucullus again sent Adrian with some forces into Cappadocia
to supply the army with food. Taxiles and Diophantus, Mithridates' generals,
sent Menemachus and Myron against him with four thousand foot soldiers and two
thousand cavalry. They hoped to ambush the Roman wagons as they returned to
Lucullus. {Memnon, c. 45.} {Phlegon, Chronicles, Year 1. Olympiad 177.}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 1. 2:521} Since Cappadocia was the
only place where Lucullus could expect to get supplies, Mithridates hoped to
subject him to the same kind of distress that he had been subjected to at the
siege of Cyzicum. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (81) 2:393}
4194. The king's party chanced to attack a party of the foragers in some narrow
passes. Because they did not wait until they came to a more open place, the
cavalry could not help them, whereupon the Romans drew themselves up into battle
array as fast as they could. The roughness of the places helped them. They
attacked the king's troops, killing some of them and forcing others down the
rocky precipices, while the rest fled away. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 12. (81) 2:393} After having received some troops from Lucullus, the Romans
pursued the king's troops to the very camp of Diophantus and Taxiles. In a
fierce battle, the Pontics stood their ground for a while, but as soon as their
commanders began to give ground, the whole army retreated. The commanders were
the first to tell Mithridates of this defeat. {Memnon, c. 45.} Plutarch said
that all the cavalry and foot soldiers who had come with Menemachus and Myron
were killed, with the exception of only two. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
17. s. 2. 2:521} Eutropius wrote that thirty thousand of the king's best
soldiers were routed by five thousand of the Romans. {Eutropius, l. 6.} Livy
stated that Lucullus fought against Mithridates in Pontus with very good success
and killed more than sixty thousand of the enemy. {*Livy, l. 97. 14:121} In
this figure he was including those who were killed a little later, when
Mithridates was forced to flee.
4195. Mithridates heard this news before Lucullus did. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (81) 2:393} Adrian had marched by Mithridates' camp in
great pomp and brought a large number of wagons along with him, laden with
provisions and spoil. This sight depressed Mithridates, and his soldiers began
to fear and tremble. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 2,3. 2:521}
However, the king was sure Lucullus would suddenly attack him, now that he had
lost his cavalry. He started to fear and thought of fleeing. In his pavilion,
he told his friends of the trouble they were in. They did not wait until the
trumpet sounded before gathering up their baggage, and so they had moved all
their goods from the camp before daybreak. They made up such a large company,
that the beasts of burden began to crowd one another. No sooner was this
noticed by the army, who knew the drivers of the beasts of burden, than they
feared the worst. They had not been notified and quite upset, they violently
stampeded, destroying their own fortifications. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 12. (81) 2:393} They mobbed the gates and rifled the packs. They
attacked those who were carrying them away and killed them all. Dorylaus, the
general, was killed. He only had a purple garment on his back and was killed
for that very garment. Hermaeus, the priest, was trampled to death in the
gates. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 3. 2:521,523}
4196. The soldiers ran away over the fields in disorder and everyone cared only
about himself, not waiting for orders from their generals and commanders. As
soon as the king realised the disorder and speed with which they were fleeing,
he ran out of his pavilion, hoping to say something to them. [K196] Nobody
would listen, but the mob pressed so hard on him that he fell down in the crowd.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (81) 2:393,395} Memnon wrote that
he stayed at Cabira for some time and later made his escape. {Memnon, c. 46.}
[E554] Appian stated that he soon left on horseback and fled away to the
mountains, accompanied by only a small retinue. Plutarch stated that
Mithridates had not lost a soldier and abandoned the camp with the rest of the
throng. Nor had anyone in the king's party prepared a horse for him. Finally,
though late in the proceedings, Ptolemy, the eunuch, who had a horse, saw
Mithridates tossed to and fro in the disorder. He leaped off his horse and
offered it to the king. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 4. 2:523}
4197. When Lucullus heard of the victory of his foragers and saw the flight of
their enemy, he sent a good brigade of cavalry to pursue them in their flight.
With his legions, he surrounded those who had remained in the camp and had put
themselves in a defensive position. He told his troops not to pillage the enemy
camp until such time as they had killed as many of them as possible. However,
when the soldiers saw the gold and silver vessels and the rich garments, they
ignored the general's prohibition. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12.
(82) 2:395} The king had been overtaken by a company of Galatians, who had
caught up with him in the chase. They would not have recognised him, had it not
been for one of his mules which carried the king's treasure. It had been placed
between the king and his pursuers, either of its own accord or by the king's
plan, to slow them down. For while they were busy in gathering up the gold and
quarrelling among themselves about the spoil, the king escaped. {Memnon, c.
46.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (82) 2:395} {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 5,6. 2:523} When they had taken Callistratus,
the king's secretary, Lucullus ordered that he be brought to the camp. Those
who escorted him, found he had five hundred pieces of gold in the belt he wore,
so they killed him along the way and took the money. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l.
1. c. 17. s. 7.'2:523,525} Cicero wrote this of the escape of Mithridates
from Pontus:
"Mithridates fled away and left a very large store of gold and silver and other
precious things behind in Pontus. Some of this he had received from his
ancestors and some he had taken in his first war in Asia and added it to his
other treasures. While our men were too busy in gathering up all they found,
the king escaped."
4198. Lucullus came as far as Talaura in pursuing Mithridates. This was now
the fourth day, and as Mithridates had a head start, he escaped into Armenia to
Tigranes. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 1. 2:527} (He did not go
to Iberia, as Josephus incorrectly stated. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 16.
s. 4. (421) 7:439}) Lucullus marched back again and gave the soldiers the
plunder of the king's camp. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 7.
2:525} He sent Marcus Pompey as commander-in-chief against Mithridates while he,
with all his forces, moved to Cabira. {Memnon, c. 47.} Mithridates, in a
letter to Arsaces, reported the matter in this way: {*Sallust, Letter of
Mithridates, l. 1. (15) 1:439}
"After I recruited my army at Cabira and had many battles between myself and
Lucullus, both of us were short of food. He was supplied from Ariobarzanes'
kingdom of Cappadocia, which had not been touched by the war. Since all regions
around me were wasted and destroyed, I withdrew into Armenia."
4199. Mithridates went safely to Comana and from there hurried away to Tigranes
with two thousand cavalry. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (82)
2:395} He could not, by any means, get his son-in-law to help him, for Tigranes
had disowned him, because he had lost so great a kingdom. Tigranes would not
help him in his fight, nor acknowledge him as his kinsman. However, Mithridates
procured from him a grant for the protection of his person and was assigned a
princely table in some of his citadels, nor did he lack any such obligations of
hospitality. {Memnon, c. 48.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12.
(82) 2:395} [K197] However, Plutarch wrote that Tigranes dismissed him with a
great deal of contempt and scorn. Mithridates was cooped up in some remote
corner of the kingdom in the swampy and unhealthy regions. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 22. s. 1. 2:539}
4200. When Mithridates was fleeing, he sent Bacchus, or Bacchides, one of his
eunuchs, to kill his sisters, wives and concubines, who were kept at Pharnacia,
in any way he could. {Memnon, c. 46.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
12. (82) 2:395} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 18. s. 2. 2:525}
4201. Among these were two of the king's sisters, Roxane and Statira, who had
lived as virgins for almost forty years. There were also two of his Ionian
wives: Berenice, a Chian, and Monima, a Milesian. Bacchides came to them and
told them that they must die, but that they should have the freedom to choose
what type of death they thought would be the easiest and most painless. Monima
took the diadem from off her head, made it fit her neck and hung herself by it.
But when it broke, she said:
"Oh you cursed band, will you not serve for this use?"
4202. Then she kicked it about and spat on it, and exposed her throat to
Bacchides. [E555] Berenice took a cup of poison and gave part of it to her
mother, who was also present and asked for it. So they both drank it together.
The poison worked on the weaker body, but it did not kill Berenice, since she
had not taken her full dose. Therefore, when Bacchides saw her in pain taking a
long time to die, he strangled her. It is also reported of these two virgin
sisters that Roxane drank her poison after many a curse and reproach against her
brother. However, Statira spoke nothing bitter or unworthy of him, instead
praising him highly, in that, when his own life was in danger, he should think
of them and make provision for them to die as free women and not be raped.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 18. s. 2-6. 2:525,527}
4203. When Lucullus besieged Cabira, the barbarians surrendered conditionally.
He made peace with them and took over their strongholds. {Memnon, c. 47.}
After the surrender of Cabira and many other cities, he found rich treasures and
prisons in which many Greeks, as well as many of the king's friends, were locked
up. They had long considered themselves to be dead men and were now released to
new life by Lucullus' favour. Among all these, they found Nyssa, Mithridates'
sister, and freed her. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1,2. 2:525}
4204. Most of the governors of Mithridates' garrisons defected to Lucullus.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (82) 2:395} Among these was
Moaphernes, Strabo's mother's uncle on her father's side, who had been the
governor of Colchis under Mithridates. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 2. s. 18.
5:213} He defected, because Mithridates had recently killed his first cousin
Tibius and his son Theophilus. By this action, Moaphernes was instrumental in
the defection of fifteen other garrisons from Mithridates to Lucullus.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 33. 5:435} So Pontus was wide open to the Roman
legions, when previously it had been blocked on all sides, preventing the Romans
from entering it. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 8. (21) 9:33}
{*Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, l. 1. c. 9. (21) 11:29}
4205. When the Romans had finished their work with Mithridates, they attacked
the Cretians, simply because they were ambitious to subdue that noble island.
As a reason for the attack, they gave the fact that the Cretians had favoured
Mithridates and had let him have mercenaries for his army against the Romans.
Mithridates had entered into an alliance with the pirates, whom Marcus Antonius
was chasing at the time. The Cretians had offended Antonius when he had been an
envoy and had given him two arrogant replies. [K198] As a result of that,
Antonius soon confidently invaded the island, so sure of victory that he carried
more chains than arms in his ships. But the Cretians intercepted many of his
ships and bound any prisoners they took with sails and ropes, then hung them up
and in this manner, hoisted sail and returned back triumphantly to their
harbours. Antonius became sick and died, thus ending the war which he had begun
with little success. In spite of this, he obtained the surname of Creticus.
{*Livy, l. 97. 14:121} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 42. 1:195} {Asconius Pedianus,
Against Verres} {*Appian, Sicily and the Other Islands, l. 5. c. 6. (1)
1:135}
4206. Antiochus Asiaticus, the son of Antiochus Pius, had stayed at Rome with
his brother for almost two whole years without as yet having received a promise
from the Senate of the things he had demanded concerning the kingdom of Egypt.
On his return home, he journeyed through Sicily and came to Syracuse, where he
stayed in the house of Quintus Minucius Rufus. He had brought along with him to
Rome a very elaborate lampstand covered with bright gems, with the intention of
bestowing it in the Capitol. Since the temple there was not yet completed, he
was carrying it back with him again into Syria. He intended to send it back to
the Capitol by his envoys, together with some other presents, at the time of the
dedication of Jupiter's image, which was carried out in the following year by
Quintus Catulus. Verres, the governor of Sicily, cheated him of this lampstand,
of many other cups of gold inlaid with gems and of another cup for wine which
was cut from one large gem. When he demanded them back, Verres ordered him to
leave the province before nightfall and told him that he had received news that
the pirates were coming from his kingdom into Sicily. {*Cicero, Against Verres
II, l. 4. c. 27-29. 8:357-361} {*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 4. c. 31.
8:367}
4207. After frequent massacres in Judea by the Pharisees, the old friends of
Alexander Jannaeus went to Queen Alexandra and told her what was happening.
Their leader was Alexandra's younger son, Aristobulus. [E556] They made their
addresses to the court and asked the queen if either they might all be killed
there, or that they might be dispersed into various citadels, where they could
spend the rest of their lives, safe from their enemies' treacheries. As a
result of this, and for want of better counsel at the time, she entrusted the
command of all the citadels to them, with the exception of Hyrcania, Alexandrion
and Machaerus, where she had stored her best treasures. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
13. c. 16. s. 2,3. (408-417) 7:433-437}
4208. Cotta was still besieging Heraclea and had not yet made an assault
against it with his whole army. He had only brought a few of his Romans up
against the town and had placed the Bithynians in the front lines. When he saw
how many of them were wounded or dead, he resorted to his engines. None
terrified the besieged as much as the one which they called their turtle (Latin
word was testudo). This was an engine enclosed with boards and raw hides, under
the shelter of which they could safely scale the walls. Thereupon, Cotta
brought up all his troops from the camp and led them up against a tower in which
they were very hopeful of making a breach. This tower had so far endured one or
two batteries, without sustaining any damage at all. Contrary to all their
expectations, the ram broke off from the engine. While the Heracleans were
encouraged, Cotta began to despair of ever taking the town. When, on the next
day, they used their engine again, but with little result, Cotta burned the
engine and cut off the head of the carpenter who had made it. Leaving an
adequate guard at the walls of the city, he camped with the rest of his army in
the plain of Lycia, which had plenty of provisions. He thereby reduced the city
to dire need, since all the country around Heraclea was utterly destroyed.
[K199] So they at once sent an embassy to the Sevthians, who were the
inhabitants of the Chersonesus, to the Theodosians and to the princes around the
Bosphorus. Heraclea wanted to make a league, to which they agreed. {Memnon, c.
51.}
4209. While the enemies attacked the city from without, the Heracleans were
almost as badly plagued by disputes among themselves within the town.
Mithridates' garrison was not content to eat what the townsmen lived on. They
scourged the citizens and made them provide things which at the time were quite
scarce. Conacorix, the governor, was worse than his soldiers, because he did
not restrain their insolence, but freely permitted them to do what they wanted.
{Memnon, c. 51.}
3934a AM, 4643 JP, 71 BC
4210. Lucullus subdued the Chaldeans and the Tibareni. {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 19. s. 1. 2:527} He captured Lesser Armenia, which Mithridates
had previously controlled. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 1.
2:527} {Eutropius, l. 6.} After he had gone over all Pontus and subdued the
province, he approached its coastal cities with his fleet. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (82) 2:395}
4211. Amisus was still under siege. Callimachus, the governor, had worn out
the Romans with his engine devices and his plots. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1.
c. 19. s. 1,2. 2:527,529} Lucullus came to besiege them and exhorted them to
surrender. When he realised that they would not, he moved the siege to
Eupatoria and acted as if he had been very careless in the attack. Those who
kept the garrison of Eupatoria also became careless and persisted in their false
sense of security, whereupon Lucullus commanded his soldiers quickly to scale
the walls. Therefore, Eupatoria was taken and immediately pulled down to the
ground. {Memnon, c. 47.}
3934b AM, 4644 JP, 70 BC
4212. Not long after this, Amisus, which (as Plutarch confirmed from Sallust)
had held out for another winter's siege, was taken. For at the very hour of the
day in which Callimachus usually withdrew his soldiers to allow them to refresh
themselves, Lucullus scaled the walls with his ladders. {Memnon, c. 47.}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 2,3. 2:529} When a small section of
the wall had been taken by the enemy, Callimachus burned the city, either out of
envy that the Romans should have so large a booty, or else contriving to escape
by this means. For nobody prevented any who wanted to from sailing away. As
soon as the flames caught hold on the walls, the soldiers immediately started
plundering. Out of pity for the burning city, Lucullus tried to stop the fire
from outside the walls and ordered his soldiers to help quench it. They
disregarded him, only shouting and rattling their armour. So Lucullus was
forced to give the plunder to the soldiers, in an effort to save the city from
being burned to the ground. However, the soldiers did the exact opposite, for
when the fire was almost everywhere, they themselves set fire to some houses.
While the city was being taken, the fire was put out by a storm that occurred
miraculously. Lucullus repaired many places before he left. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 3-6. 2:529,531} He prevented his soldiers from
any further slaughter of the citizens and gave both the city and the surrounding
country to those who survived. {Memnon, c. 47.}
4213. Tyrannio, the grammarian, was also taken prisoner at this time. Lucullus
did not want to make him a slave, so he gave him to Murena, who freed him.
[E557] Tyrannio was a citizen of Amisus by birth and Strabo was one of his
students. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 16. 5:399} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l.
1. c. 19. s. 7. 2:531} [K200]
4214. Selene, the queen, asked the Syrians to help drive out Tigranes. She was
also known as Cleopatra, and after the death of her husband Antiochus Pius,
reigned jointly with her sons in that part of Syria which had not been captured
by Tigranes, the king of Armenia. She had some cities of Phoenicia defect from
him, as a result of which, Tigranes entered Syria with a vast army to quell the
rebellion. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 16. s. 4. (419-421) 7:439}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 1,2. 2:535} It is likely that it was
in this expedition that Tigranes recovered those seventy valleys of Armenia
which were naturally fortified with hills and mountains. When Tigranes had been
a Parthian hostage, he had given this to the Parthians as a gift. He now wasted
the countries of the Parthians around Ninus and Arbela. {*Strabo, l. 11. c.
14. s. 15. 5:339} This was undoubtedly that recent war of Tigranes against
the Parthians which is mentioned by Mithridates in his letter to Arsaces in the
next year. {*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (3) 1:433} Dio stated that
a certain disputed country was taken from the Parthians. {*Dio, l. 36. (1)
3:5 (Xiphilinus)}
4215. In the ninth year of Alexandria, queen of the Jews, Joseph was born to
Matthias Curtus, the priest's son. Joseph was the grandfather of Josephus, the
historian. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 1. (4,5) 1:5}
4216. Alexandra sent her son Aristobulus to Damascus with an army, against
Ptolemy Mennaeus, who had been a very troublesome neighbour to that city.
Alexander marched back again without any results. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13.
c. 16. s. 3. (116) 7:437,439}
4217. About this same time, it was rumoured that Tigranes had entered Syria
with an army of half a million men and that he would suddenly come into Judea.
(Some copies of Josephus read three hundred thousand. Editor.) This news so
terrified the queen and the Jews, that they dispatched envoys to him with rich
presents as he was besieging Ptolemais, which he captured soon after. When the
envoys found him there, they told him the queen and the Jews would deal honestly
and fairly with him. He commended them for coming on so long a journey to to
pay him homage, and wished them all well. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 16.
s. 4. (419,420) 7:439} Appian wrote that Tigranes overran all the countries of
the Syrians west of the Euphrates River, as far as Egypt. {*Appian, Syrian
Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (48) 2:197} Plutarch stated that he captured Palestine.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 1,2. 2:535} However, Eutropius
stated that he did not march toward Egypt beyond Phoenicia and that Tigranes was
master of only part of Phoenicia. {Eutropius, l. 6.}
4218. Lucullus sent his wife's brother, Appius Claudius, as an envoy to
Tigranes, to demand that he hand over Mithridates. {Memnon, c. 48.}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 1. 2:535} The king's captain brought
Claudius through the upper countries by a circuitous and roundabout way.
Finally one of his own freemen, a Syrian, showed him the right way. Using him
as their guide, they reached the Euphrates River in five days and came to
Antioch, which was called Epidaphne. He had been ordered to wait there for
Tigranes, who had gone to subdue some other cities of Phoenicia that were not
yet under his power. He caused many of the princes in those parts, who did not
heartily obey the Armenians, to side with the Romans. Zarbienus, king of the
Gordians, was one of them. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 1,2.
2:535}
4219. Appius promised Lucullus' help to many other cities under Tigranes'
control, that had secretly sent envoys to him, ordering them not to rebel at the
present time. The Armenians were treating the Greeks very badly. [K201] The
king was worse than the rest and grew more arrogant and conceited with his
success. He thought that whatever mortal men admire and long to have for
themselves, was there for him and specifically created for him. Many kings
waited upon him as his servants. He had four in his retinue as his attendants
and guards who, on their errands, ran on foot at his horse's side. When he sat
on his throne and answered any questions the countries had asked of him, these
men stood with their arms crossed. This posture, more than any other, was a
sign of their submission to him. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 21. s.
3-5. 2:535,537}
4220. Lucius Metellus was appointed to succeed Verres as the governor of
Sicily. {Asconius Pedianus, In Divination} Metellus set out against the pirates
in Sicily (not Cilicia, as is incorrectly written in Livy's Epitome) and was
victorious. {*Livy, l. 98. 14:121} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 3.} When the
Sicilians impeached Verres for extortion, Cicero was appointed to represent
them. Cicero had to argue against Hortensius, who was the consul elect.
{*Cicero, Brutus, l. 1. c. 92. 5:277} In this, Quintus Cecilius Niger tried
his best to prosecute the impeachment of Verres in Cicero's stead. Quintus
Cecilius Niger was Verres' quaestor on that island. [E558] He was a Sicilian by
descent (as Pedianus noted {Asconius Pedianus, Against Cecilius}), and a freeman
and a Jew by religion. Plutarch, writing in the life of Cicero, related the
jest which Cicero made about Cecilius, who was suspected of Jewish practices.
It was based on a play on the word Verres, which means castrated pig in Latin.
{*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 7. s. 4,5. 7:99}
"What has a Jew got to do with a pig?"
4221. This passage of Cicero stated the condition of things at that time:
{*Cicero, Against Verres II, l. 2. c. 31. 7:377}
"Notwithstanding all this, let him come if he please, let him engage with the
Cretians in a battle, let him free the Byzantines, let him call Ptolemy king,
let him speak and think whatever Hortensius would have him do."
4222. This agreed with another passage in a letter which Mithridates wrote the
next year to Arsaces: {*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (12,13) 1:437}
"The Cretians were at that time the only people who retained their freedom and
their king Ptolemy. A little later, Ptolemy avoided hostilities from day to day
by the payment of money, while the Cretians have already been attacked once, and
will find no respite from war until they are defeated."
4223. By comparing the two passages, we may gather that the Romans used to
their own advantage the right that Antiochus Asiaticus claimed to the kingdom of
Egypt. They deemed it convenient that Ptolemy Alexander should be called king,
as long as he would purchase the quiet possession of that kingdom by paying a
constant tribute. Also, the Romans were fully resolved to start anew the first
war with Crete, which had ended in the death of Marcus Antonius. This all
happened in the following year, as we shall see.
4224. Lucullus marched into Asia, which was still in arrears of the fine
imposed by Sulla, and imposed a twenty-five per cent tax on the crops. There
was already a tax on slaves and house property. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 12. (83) 2:399} The tax collectors and money-lenders had made havock
of the cities of Asia and had treated them very slavishly. They had been
compelled to sell their sons and their daughters into slavery and sell their
ornaments, pictures and images. In the end, they themselves became slaves to
their creditors.
4225. Lucullus took such action with these pestilent fellows that, within four
years, all obligations were satisfied and the possessions were restored free to
their owners, to inherit. The public debt, which Sulla had imposed upon Asia,
was twenty thousand talents. The creditors were allowed only double this sum,
which, together with the interest they charged, had amounted to a hundred and
twenty thousand talents. [K202] The creditors, considering this to be too hard
a measure, slandered Lucullus at Rome and set the most influential Romans
against him. However, Lucullus was very well-liked by those countries to which
he had rendered these good services. He had inspired great affection for
himself in all the other provinces, as they considered those people to be very
fortunate, whose lot it was to have such a good governor over them. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 20. 2:533,535}
4226. After Lucullus had fully settled Asia with many excellent laws and a
universal peace, he relaxed and enjoyed himself. He lived at Ephesus and
delighted the cities with processions, triumphal festivals, athletic contests
and gladiators. The cities held the holiday of the Lucullian Games to honour
him. He was not as touched by this as by the affection they bore him.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 23. s. 1. 2:543}
4227. Tigranes killed Selene, surnamed Cleopatra, after having kept her
securely as a prisoner in the citadel at Seleucia. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2.
s. 3. 7:241} Antiochus Asiaticus, who had held some hopes of recovering the
kingdom of Egypt by right of his mother, was dispossessed of the part of Syria
which she had held.
4228. As soon as Tigranes returned to Antioch, Appius, the envoy, declared
publicly that he had come to take Mithridates, as belonging to Lucullus'
triumph. If Tigranes refused to surrender him, Appius was to proclaim war
against Tigranes. Tigranes was somewhat troubled by the envoy's outspoken
behaviour, but held his peace to see what else he would say. In almost
twenty-five years, he had not heard anyone speak freely to him, until now. It
was for so many years he had reigned and shown his wanton tyranny. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 6. 2:537,539} He answered Appius that he knew
very well that Mithridates was a very wicked man, but that he had to respect the
alliance between them. All the world might well cry out against him, if he
should surrender his wife's father into the hands of his enemies. He was
therefore resolved not to desert Mithridates and if the Romans started a war, he
could put up a good fight. He was very offended at Lucullus, because in his
letter he had only greeted him as King and not as King of Kings. To get even,
therefore, he did not, when writing back, address Lucullus by the title of
Imperator. Appius returned quickly to the general. Of the many presents the
king had offered him, he had accepted only one bowl made of gold, fearful of
offending the king if he were to refuse all the presents. {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 21. s. 7. 2:539} {Memnon, c. 48.} [E559]
4229. When Tigranes learned that Zarbienus, the king of the Gordians, had
secretly allied himself with Lucullus, he killed him along with his wife and
children. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 6. 2:569}
4230. As soon as Appius had returned and the war with Tigranes had been
planned, Lucullus paid his holy vows to his gods at Ephesus, as if the victory
had already been won. He marched back into Pontus again and camped before
Sinope, or rather, besieged the king's party of Cilicians who were garrisoned
there. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 23. s. 2. 2:543} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (84) 2:399} Just as the city was being
assaulted from outside the walls by the Romans, it was being assaulted within
the walls by the commander whom Mithridates had appointed to keep the town.
This commander was called Cleochares, according to Orosius, or Bacchides,
according to Strabo. He feared treachery among the citizens and so committed
various massacres among the people. Hence, the citizens neither had heart
courageously to resist the enemy, nor were they in a position to surrender
conditionally. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 11. 5:391}
4231. Memnon described what happened as follows. The king had entrusted the
defence of the city to Leonippus and Cleochares. Leonippus saw that things were
hopeless and sent to Lucullus about surrendering the city. [K203] However, the
plot was discovered by Cleochares and Seleucus, the chief pirate, who was
Mithridates' envoy and had equal authority with the others. They called a
council and accused Leonippus. The citizens paid no attention to the
accusation, since they had a very high opinion of the man's integrity. As a
result of this, Cleochares' faction was afraid of Leonippus' following among the
common people and treacherously killed him at night. Although the common people
were deeply disturbed by this, Cleochares and his party prevailed nonetheless
and did what they pleased. They thought that by acting so high-handedly, they
could avoid being called to account for the murder of Leonippus. {Memnon, c.
55.}
4232. Meanwhile, Censorinus, the admiral of the Roman fleet, set sail with
fifteen galleys of three tiers of oars, loaded with provisions. They sailed
from Bosphorus for the Roman camp and arrived near Sinope. Cleochares' and
Seleucus' Sinopian ships, under the command of Seleucus, put to sea and fought
with Censorinus. The Italians were defeated and their ships with their
provisions were taken away as a prize. Cleochares and his colleague were elated
with this success and behaved more tyrannically than before. They summoned the
townsmen to execution without any legal processes and cruelly abused them in
other ways. It happened that Cleochares and Seleucus fell out with each other.
Cleochares deemed it best to continue the war, but Seleucus wanted to kill all
the Sinopians and surrender the city to the Romans for a good gratuity. Since
they could not agree on this matter, they put everything they had into ships and
sent them away to Machares, Mithridates' son, who was at that time living at
Colchis. {Memnon, c. 55.}
4233. About that time, Lucullus drew closer to the city and made a most intense
attack on it. Machares, Mithridates' son, sent an embassy to Lucullus,
requesting a league of friendship between them. The petition was courteously
received and he was told that there should be a firm league between them,
provided that they send no more supplies to the Sinopians. Machares kept to
this agreement, ordering that whatever was intended for the relief of
Mithridates' party, be sent to Lucullus. {Memnon, c. 56.} Machares, the king
of Bosphorus, gave Lucullus a crown valued at a thousand pieces of gold and was
admitted as an ally and confederate of the Romans. {*Livy, l. 98. 14:121}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 24. s. 1. 2:545} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (83) 2:397,399}
4234. Cleochares and Seleucus saw how things were going and realised they were
in a desperate situation. So they massacred many of the citizens and carried an
abundance of wealth to their ships. They let their soldiers plunder the town,
before burning it. After this, they burned their larger ships and with the
smaller ones sailed away by night to the inner parts of Pontus, where they
settled near the Sanegians and the Lazians. When Lucullus saw the fire, he
guessed what had happened and ordered his soldiers to scale the walls. As soon
as he entered the town, he killed eight thousand of the king's party who had
been left behind. He had great pity on the rest and hurried to put out the
fires, after which he restored the citizens' goods. Thus, by the hands of
friends and foes, this unfortunate city was ruined by those who had come to
defend it, and preserved by those who had come to ruin it. {Memnon, c. 56.}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 3.} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 23. s. 2,3.
2:543} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (83) 2:395,397}
4235. The reason why Lucullus took such care in preserving Sinope and later
enfranchising it, was this. It was rumoured to be because of some admonition
that he received in a dream. [E560] For in his sleep, someone appeared at his
bedside and spoke these words: [K204]
"Go a little forward, Lucullus, for Autolychus is coming to meet you."
4236. When he awoke, he could not possibly imagine what this meant. On the
same day that he took the city, and as he was pursuing the Cilicians, who fled
away by ship, he came across a statue lying by the sea shore. The Cilicians had
intended to make it their companion in their escape and for that reason had
wrapped it up in clothes and bound it up with cords, but had not had enough time
to get it onto the ship. When the Romans unwrapped it, Lucullus saw that it
looked like the one who had appeared to him in a dream the previous night.
Later, he learned that it was the statue of Autolychus, who was the founder of
the city of Sinope. When he heard this, he remembered the warning of Sulla, who
wrote in his commentaries that nothing is to be esteemed as so sure and certain
as what is shown in dreams. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 23. s. 2-6.
2:543,545} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (83) 2:397} This statue
of Autolychus had been made by Sthenis. Lucullus took both it and Billarus'
sphere with him, but left all other ornaments of the city behind. {*Strabo, l.
12. c. 3. s. 11. 5:391}
4237. After he was finished at Sinope, he restored Amisus to its inhabitants
who had fled away in ships. He gave them their freedom and granted the city the
right to use their own laws. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (83)
2:397} He repopulated cities for other Greeks, even for as many as asked that
favour of him, and to each city he added fifteen miles of land. Moreover, he
was kind to the Athenians who had escaped there to live in the time of Sulla,
because of Aristion's tyranny. To those still living, he gave clothes and two
hundred drachmas each and sent them back to their country. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 4-7. 2:529,531}
4238. Amasea, the country of Strabo the geographer, was still holding out
against the Romans, but yielded soon after. {Memnon, c. 56.}
4239. After Cotta had destroyed everything around Heraclea, he again attacked
the walls. Since the soldiers lacked enthusiasm for this, he gave up on it. He
sent for Triarius and ordered him quickly to blockade the way and intercept any
supplies for the townsmen, that might come by sea. {Memnon, c. 51.}
4240. Triarius arrived with his twenty-three ships and twenty Rhodian ships,
and with this fleet sailed to Pontus. When he notified Cotta of his arrival,
Cotta drew up his army to the walls of the city while Triarius showed himself at
sea. Consequently, the Heracleans, somewhat troubled at Triarius' sudden
arrival with his fleet, put to sea with thirty ships. These were not as
well-manned as they should have been, since all the other men were occupied in
defending the city against the enemy's assaults. The Rhodians first attacked
the Heraclean ships, as a result of which three Rhodian ships and five of the
Heracleans' ships were sunk. After this, the Romans entered the battle and
although soundly defeated in the battle, did more harm than they received from
the enemy. At the end, they routed the Heracleans and forced them to retreat
back to the city, with the loss of fourteen of their ships. The conquering
fleet rode into the large port and Cotta withdrew his foot soldiers from
storming the town. {Memnon, c. 52.}
4241. Each day, Triarius' men made their sallies from the port, to prevent
supplies from reaching the besieged. There was such a shortage of food in the
city that a bottle of grain was sold for eighty attics. To make matters worse,
a pestilence broke out among them that may have been caused by the unhealthy
air, or a poor diet. They did not all die in the same way, but appeared to be
suffering from different diseases. [K205] Lamachus' pangs of death were more
violent and wearying than any of the others. This disease raged most among the
soldiers of the garrison, so that a third of the three thousand soldiers died.
{Memnon, c. 52.}
3935a AM, 4644 JP, 70 BC
4242. Conacorix was now ready, because of the siege, to betray the city to the
Romans. He bought his own safety at the expense of the Heracleans. Damopheles,
a Heraclean, helped to execute the plot. He had been a great rival of Lamachus
in everything and after Lamachus' death, he was appointed over the garrison.
Conacorix did not trust Cotta, who was a devious man, but confided the matter to
Triarius. Damopheles was also anxious to conclude the matter and arrived at a
fair bargain for the surrender. When they thought they were safe, the
conspirators went about their work. However, it happened that the conspirators'
business became public knowledge, whereupon the citizens came together and
called for the governor of the city, and then for Brithagoras, who was an
eminent person of authority among his countrymen. [E561] They earnestly asked
Conacorix to secure their safety from Triarius, as well. He was very much
opposed to this, but very craftily led the Heracleans on for a while with his
flattering words. {Memnon, c. 53.}
4243. Then, in the dead of the night, Conacorix put all his men aboard ships
and left the town, which was the agreement he had made with Triarius, that they
would march away quietly with all their baggage. Damopheles opened the gates
and let in the Roman army with Triarius. Some of them came rushing in at the
gate and others clambered up the walls. When the Heracleans saw that they had
been betrayed, some of them surrendered, but the rest were killed. They
plundered their household goods and whatever things they had laid aside in hopes
of saving them. Indeed, the enemy acted very cruelly against the citizens, for
the Romans remembered the large losses they had received in the recent naval
battle and what great trouble they had encountered in assaulting the town. In
revenge, they did not spare those who had escaped to the consecrated places for
sanctuary. They killed them near the altars and the temples, even though they
begged for mercy. Their situation seemed so desperate, that many escaped over
the walls and dispersed themselves about the country, while others were forced
to flee to Cotta. {Memnon, c. 53.}
4244. Cotta was told by those who had fled to him that the city had been taken,
many men had been killed and the town plundered. Upset by this news and with
extreme indignation, he marched to the city as fast as he could. His army was
also very deeply discontented because they had missed out on the glory of their
valiant achievements and been cheated of all their plunder. So they attacked
Triarius' men most fiercely and outdid one another in killing each other. When
Triarius heard of the rebellion, he put an end to the battle by pacifying Cotta
with good words and faithfully promising them an equal share of all the plunder
they had taken in the town. {Memnon, c. 53.}
4245. Cotta was told that Conacorix had seized Teium and Amastus and at once
sent Triarius to take their cities out of his hands again. Cotta stayed at
Heraclea and took the prisoners, and any that surrendered themselves, into his
custody. He went on to other matters, and all his administration was
accomplished with great cruelty. He searched up and down in every corner for
the wealth of the city and did not spare the consecrated things. He took down
the statues and images, even the very good ones, and amassed a good number of
them. [K206] He carried Hercules from the market place, ripping off his
ornaments from the pyramid, as well as various other things from the temple and
city that were every bit as rare and beautiful as these, and put them on his
ships. For his farewell, he ordered his soldiers to bring fire and they burned
the city in many places. So Heraclea was taken and subdued, after withstanding
a two-year siege. {Memnon, c. 54.}
4246. Triarius arrived at the cities assigned to him by Cotta and recovered
them when they surrendered conditionally. He allowed Conacorix, who had meant
to conceal his betrayal of Heraclea by seizing these two cities, to sail away.
{Memnon, c. 54.}
4247. After Cotta had finished matters, he turned over all his foot soldiers
and cavalry to Lucullus, dismissed the auxiliaries he had with him from the
various allies of the Romans and then sailed away with his fleet. It so
happened that part of the fleet, which carried the spoils of Heraclea, was
overloaded and sank not far from shore, while the other part was dashed against
the sands by a contrary north wind and lost much of its cargo. {Memnon, c.
54.}
4248. Lucullus left Sornatius behind with six thousand soldiers to control the
province, while he took twelve thousand foot soldiers along with him and less
than three thousand cavalry. (Appian stated it was two legions and five hundred
cavalry.) He entered Cappadocia, where Ariobarzanes was his friend, and made
forced marches to the Euphrates River, where Cappadocia bordered Armenia.
{*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (15) 1:439} {Nonius Marcellus, see
word Naves Codicaria} {Memnon, c. 58.} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 24.
s. 1-4. 2:545,547} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (84) 2:399}
4249. At that time during the winter, the Euphrates River was swollen and
rough. Around evening, the water began to recede and by daybreak the river was
running within its own banks. At this, the inhabitants fell down in adoration
of Lucullus. The waters did not go down before, but only at the very time he
came, to allow him an easy crossing. As soon as he had crossed over with his
army, another favourable prodigy occurred. One of the oxen came to Lucullus.
These animals were consecrated to the Persian god Artemis, whom the barbarians
beyond the Euphrates River worshipped with great reverence. [E562] Usually,
these beasts could not be captured without considerable trouble. However, this
one came to him of its own accord and he sacrificed the bull to the Euphrates
River, for his easy crossing. He camped there all that day. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 24. s. 4-7. 2:547,549}
4250. During the time he was marching through Sophene, he did not offend the
inhabitants in any way, and they surrendered to him and cheerfully entertained
his army. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 24. s. 8. 2:549} He only
requested some money from them. The inhabitants of these countries did not like
fighting, so they would not interfere when Tigranes and Lucullus were fighting.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (84) 2:399}
4251. There was a citadel in those parts, where a great deal of treasure was
thought to be stored. The soldiers wanted to attack the place, but Lucullus
pointed at Taurus, which could be seen in the distance, and said:
"Let us rather attack that stronghold. What is stored here is only reserved to
reward conquerors."
4252. So they marched on, and he crossed the Tigris River and entered Armenia.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 24. s. 8. 2:549}
4253. At the same time as Lucullus was invading Armenia, Alexandra, the queen
of the Jews, became very sick. Consequently, Aristobulus, her young son,
desired the kingdom and stole out in the night, taking only one servant along
with him. He went to the citadels that were controlled by his father's friends.
Only his wife, whom he had left at home with his children, knew of his plans.
The first place he came to was Agaba, where Palaestes was in command, and he
received Aristobulus very enthusiastically. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c.
16. s. 5. (422-424) 7:441} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 5. s. 4.
(117) 2:57} [K207]
4254. The next day, the queen noticed Aristobulus' absence, but did not imagine
that he was plotting to take over the kingdom. When messenger after messenger
came and brought the news of this citadel and then of that citadel being seized
by her son, both the queen and the whole country were in confusion. They feared
that if he were to take over the kingdom, he would call them to account for
their harsh treatment of his close friends. It was therefore thought best to
lock up Aristobulus' wife and children in the citadel which was near the temple.
In the meantime, there was a large crowd of men who defected to Aristobulus in
the hope of getting something out of this revolution. Aristobulus behaved like
a king, gathering an army from Lebanon, Trachonitis and the local princes.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 16. s. 5. (424-428) 7:441,443}
4255. Thereupon, Hyrcanus, the high priests, and the elders of the Jews
addressed the queen, wanting her advice about this emergency. She told them to
do whatever they thought best in the public interest and to use the present
strength and treasure of the kingdom to carry it out. She was in such a weak
state of mind and body, that she could not help in the public administration,
and died not long after this. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 16. s. 5.
(428-430) 7:443,445}
4256. Hyrcanus, her oldest son, succeeded her in the third year of the 177th
Olympiad, when Quintus Hortensius and Quintus Metellus (later surnamed Creticus)
were consuls. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 1. s. 2. (4) 7:451} During
her lifetime, his mother had turned the kingdom over to him. Aristobulus,
however, exceeded him in strength and authority. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 6. s. 1. (120) 2:57}
4257. When the consuls cast lots for their provinces, the managing of the war
against the Cretians fell to Hortensius. However, he was more interested in the
city and the forum, in which he had the next place after Cicero, and willingly
gave this expedition to Metellus. {*Dio, l. 36. (1a) 3:3}
3935b AM, 4645 JP, 69 BC
4258. When the Senate declared war on Crete, the wisest of the Cretians thought
it best to send envoys to Rome. The envoys were to clear them of all the
allegations, to pacify the Senate with acceptable words and secure their
reconciliation. When this was agreed to, they sent thirty of their most eminent
men in this embassy to Rome. They hoped through them to obtain a new
ratification of their former contract and be thanked for the favour they had
shown the Roman quaestor and the soldiers whom they had taken prisoner in the
recent battle with Marcus Antonius. By privately visiting the senators at their
houses, the envoys won them over to their side. When they were brought into the
Senate, they answered the charges against them and reminded them about the good
services they had rendered them and their alliance in war under the Roman
general. [E563] It was resolved that the Cretians' impeachments should be
removed and that after this they would be allies of the Romans. However,
Lentulus, who was surnamed Spinther, had this decree reversed, whereupon this
particular business was debated several times by the Senate. It was concluded
that, since the Cretians had sided with the pirate ships and had shared in the
booty, they should send to Rome all their pirate ships, even including boats of
four tiers of oars, and should also return the ships they had taken from the
Romans. They were to return all prisoners, renegades and the three hundred
hostages taken from among the prominent citizens. Lasthenes and Panares, who
had both fought against Antonius, were to be surrendered. In addition to this,
the Romans also demanded four thousand talents of silver. {*Diod. Sic., l.
40. c. 1. 12:275} {*Appian, Sicily and the Other Islands, l. 5. c. 6. (1)
1:135} {*Dio, l. 34. (111) 2:499} [K208]
4259. The Romans did not wait for a reply from the Cretians back home. They
soon sent one of the consuls to collect what was being demanded and to wage war
with them should they refuse. It was certain they would not comply. For was it
not imaginable that these people—who at the beginning, before any such things
were exacted from them or before they had obtained a victory, refused to admit
to any wrong they had committed—would now, after having won a victory, meekly
submit to such haughty demands? The Romans knew full well what the outcome
would be and suspected that the envoys would try to bribe some people to
obstruct the wars. Hence, they made a decree in the Senate, prohibiting any
person from lending the envoys anything. {*Dio, l. 34. (111) 2:499}
4260. When the commands of the Senate were being debated by the Cretians, the
most politically astute were of the opinion that every detail should be
observed. Those belonging to Lasthenes' faction were somewhat disagreeable,
fearing that they would be sent to Rome and there be punished for what they had
done. So they stirred up the people and exhorted them earnestly to fight for
their liberty. {*Diod. Sic., l. 40. c. 1. 12:275}
4261. When Cotta had returned to Rome, he was highly honoured by the Senate and
given the surname of Ponticus, because he had taken Heraclea. {Memnon, c. 61.}
4262. Mithridates had lived in various places in Armenia for twenty months, but
had not yet been admitted to see Tigranes, his son-in-law. At last, overcome by
his desire to present himself, Mithridates met Tigranes with a gallant train who
received his father-in-law with princely splendour. Nevertheless, three days
passed without any conference between them. Later, he gave adequate indication
of his affection toward him by the sumptuousness of the entertainments.
{Memnon, c. 57.} Then, in the conference that was held very privately at court,
they allayed the suspicions of Metrodorus of Scepsis and other friends on both
sides. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 22. s. 1,2. 2:539} So Mithridates
was sent back again into Pontus with ten thousand cavalry. {Memnon, c. 57.}
4263. Lucullus drew up a company of troops against the city in which he had
been told that Tigranes had secured his courtesans and most of his precious
things. {Memnon, c. 58.}
4264. Tigranes hung a man as a trouble maker who brought the first news of
Lucullus' coming with his army. (Plutarch said he cut off his head.) After
that, no one brought him any news. At last, when he found that it was true, he
sent Mithrobarzanes against Lucullus with two thousand (as Appian) or three
thousand (as Plutarch has it) cavalry and a vast number of foot soldiers. He
was ordered to take Lucullus alive and bring him to Tigranes, to deter others
from doing the same. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1,2.
2:549,551} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (84) 2:399}
4265. Part of Lucullus' forces were camped and the remainder were on their
march when the scouts brought news of the enemy's approach. This made Lucullus
fear that the enemy could attack his men at a time when they were not ready for
battle. He halted the march and started to fortify his camp. He sent
Sextilius, the envoy, with sixteen hundred cavalry and almost as many foot
soldiers with orders to stop when he reached the enemy. He was not to move
until he received word that the camp was thoroughly fortified. However,
Mithrobarzanes came upon him so quickly, that he was forced to fight.
Mithrobarzanes was killed in this battle and most of the rest fled and were
killed in the pursuit. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 25. s. 3,4. 2:551}
[E564] [K209]
4266. Tigranes left Tigranocerta and committed the custody of the city to
Mancaeus. He went about the country to levy an army and retreated to Taurus,
making that place his headquarters. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 25. s.
5. 2:551,553} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (84) 2:399}
Lucullus followed him so closely, that he could not assemble an army, as
Lucullus sent Murena to attack and take all the troops he found marching to
Tigranes. Sextilius was sent another way to attack a large band of Arabians to
prevent them from coming to the king. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 25. s.
5,6. 2:553}
4267. Sextilius attacked the Arabians as they were camped before they knew what
had happened, and captured most of them. Murena marched after Tigranes, who had
a very large force, and overtook him in a rough and narrow defile. Murena
gained some advantage from the terrain and fought with Tigranes who abandoned
all his wagons and fled as fast as he could. Many Armenians died in the battle
but far more were taken prisoner. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 25. s.
5,6. 2:553}
4268. Sextilius forced Mancaeus to retreat into Tigranocerta and started
plundering the king's palace located outside the walls. He made a trench around
the city and the citadel to position the batteries and undermine the walls.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (84) 2:401} Finally, Lucullus came
to join them and closely besieged the city. He thought that Tigranes would not
allow him to besiege the city, but would come down in a rage to fight him.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 26. s. 1,2. 2:553} The barbarians hindered
his actions greatly. They shot many arrows and shot their naphtha or fire-pitch
from their engines. This naphtha was a pitchy kind of substance and was so
scalding that it burned anything it stuck to. Water would barely quench it.
{*Dio, l. 36. (1b) 3:3}
4269. Mithridates sent envoys with letters (as Plutarch stated, and not in
person), and then met with Tigranes (as Appian has it) and warned him not to
fight the Romans. He advised him to rove around the country with his cavalry.
He was to lay it waste if possible and by so doing, deprive the enemy of food.
This was what Lucullus had done to Mithridates a short time earlier at Cyzicum,
causing him to lose an army without fighting a stroke. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l.
1. c. 26. s. 3. 2:553,555} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12.
(85) 2:401}
4270. The Armenians and the Gordians joined with Tigranes. Every man of the
Medes and Adiabenians was brought by their kings. The Arabians also came in
numbers from the Babylonian Sea. Many Albanians came from the Caspian Sea,
along with the Iberians, their neighbours, who were a free people living near
the Araxes River. Some came out of love for their king and others came because
they were induced by gifts. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 26. s. 3,4.
2:553,555} Others came out of fear. For the barbarians thought the Roman army
was coming solely to ransack their countries and their wealthy temples. For
this reason many countries, including the larger ones, went to fight against
Lucullus. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 9. (23) 9:35,37}
4271. All these forces came together. At Tigranes' banquets and council rooms,
they talked only of victory and of how roughly they would handle the enemy when
they had captured them. Taxiles, who was Mithridates' envoy and his assistant,
was in danger of losing his head because in a council of war he alone opposed
fighting with the Romans maintaining that the Romans were unconquerable.
Mithridates was thought to envy the glory of the victory Tigranes would have,
should he not wait until Mithridates came and so neglect to share the glory of
the day with him. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 26. s. 3,4. 2:553,555}
However, Tigranes sent for Mithridates to come quickly to help him. {Memnon, c.
58.} [K210]
4272. Tigranes ordered about six thousand soldiers to go and defend the city
where his concubines were kept. These charged through the Roman brigades and
got into the town but when they found their return trip intercepted by a valley
of archers, they sent the king's concubines and his treasures safely away by
night to Tigranes. At daybreak the Romans and the Thracians fought with these
Armenians. They killed many of them and took at least as many prisoners.
{Memnon, c. 58.} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (85) 2:401,403}
Appian's account was corrected from Memnon's account.
4273. Tigranes marched against Lucullus with the rest of his army. He was very
troubled that he would now fight with only one of the Roman generals, Lucullus,
and not with the whole army. In his army, Tigranes had twenty thousand archers
and slingers, fifty-five thousand cavalry, and a hundred and fifty thousand
heavily armed foot soldiers, who were divided, some into regiments and some into
squadrons. There were thirty-five thousand who were set aside for the task of
barricading passes. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 26. s. 5,6. 2:555,557}
4274. As soon as Tigranes appeared at Taurus with all his host, he could
overlook from the top of a hill the Roman army that was besieging Tigranocerta.
[E565] The barbarians in the city welcomed the king's arrival with howlings and
acclamation, jeering at the Romans from the top of the walls and pointing to the
Armenians on the hill. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 27. s. 1. 2:557}
4275. Lucullus left Murena to continue the siege of Tigranocerta with six
thousand foot soldiers, while he marched against Tigranes. In his army,
Lucullus had twenty-four cohorts of foot soldiers consisting of about ten
thousand heavily armed foot soldiers, along with all his cavalry, as well as
slingers and archers, who numbered about a thousand. He camped in a large
spacious field near a river. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 27. s. 1,2.
2:557} No sooner had Tigranes seen the Roman camp, than he promptly mocked their
small numbers and reproached them, saying: {Memnon, c. 59.} {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 27. s. 3,4. 2:557,559} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 12. (85) 2:401} {*Dio, l. 36. (1b) 3:5 (Xiphilinus)}
"If these men came as envoys, there are a large number of them indeed, but if as
enemies, there are but forty companies of them."
4276. As Lucullus was wading across the river with his army, some of his
commanders advised him to be careful what he did on that day, because it was a
black or unlucky day on their calendar. For on that very day, the Cimbrians had
defeated the army under Caepio. Lucullus replied:
"We ought therefore to fight all the more bravely now, in the hope of perhaps
turning this black and dismal day into a day of rejoicing for the Romans."
4277. That day was the day before the Nones of October (October 6), {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 27. s. 7. 2:561} {*Plutarch, Camillus, l. 1. c. 19.
s. 7. 2:141} {*Plutarch, Sayings of Romans (Lucullus) (203) 13:205} according
to the Roman calendar at that time. However, according to the Julian calendar,
it was July 5 and the beginning of the fourth year of the 177th Olympiad. This
was the time of this battle according Phlegon.
4278. Lucullus knew that his soldiers were afraid of the heavily armed foot
soldiers, so he encouraged them by saying that they would have more trouble in
stripping them than in defeating them. He first charged them on the hill and
when he saw the barbarians give ground, he cried out: {*Plutarch, Sayings of
Romans (Lucullus) (203) 13:205}
"We have overcome them, fellow soldiers."
4279. No sooner was Tigranes' right wing forced to flee, than the left also
began to retreat. In the end, they all turned their backs and so the Armenians
fled in confusion and haste and the army was slaughtered. {Memnon, c. 59.} The
Romans continued the killing for fifteen miles, trampling the whole way on
bracelets and chains until night came forcing them to give up the chase. So
they started stripping the dead bodies which Lucullus had ordered them not to do
until the enemy had been soundly defeated. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 12. (85) 2:401,403} [K211]
4280. Phlegon said Tigranes' forces lost five thousand men and that a greater
number than this were taken prisoner. Orosius said that thirty thousand men
were reported killed in that battle. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 3.} Plutarch said
that more than a hundred thousand foot soldiers were killed and very few of the
cavalry escaped. The Roman army had five dead and a hundred wounded.
Antiochus, the philosopher, mentioned this battle in his treatise Concerning
Gods, saying that there had never been a day like it. Strabo related in the
first book of his Historical Commentaries that the Romans themselves were
ashamed of what they had done and jeered themselves for fighting against such
cowardly slaves. Livy said that never in all their history had the Romans been
as heavily outnumbered as twenty to one. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 28.
s. 6-8. 2:565}
4281. If we say, with Eutropius, Sextus Rufus and Jornandes, that Lucullus had
eighteen thousand men in his army, then that number, multiplied by twenty, would
make three hundred and sixty thousand in Tigranes' army, not a hundred and fifty
thousand, as Plutarch stated, but two hundred and fifty thousand foot soldiers,
according to Appian. He would not have had fifty thousand cavalry as Appian
stated but fifty-five thousand as noted by Plutarch. To this host Plutarch
added twenty thousand archers and thirty-five thousand support personnel. The
total would have been three hundred and sixty thousand. If this is correct,
then neither Phlegon's nor Memnon's account are accurate, but are far too low.
The one writer assigned forty thousand foot soldiers and thirty thousand cavalry
to Tigranes' army, while the other allowed him a total of eighty thousand foot
soldiers and cavalry altogether. As much as their accounts were underrated so
much was that of Eutropius' overrated. The Clibanarii were cavalry in
impenetrable armour as they are described by Sallust in the fourth book of his
history as cited by Nonius. {Nonius Marcellus, see word Cataphracti} Plutarch
intimated that Lucullus himself had written to the Senate that Tigranes had only
seventeen thousand of these Clibanarii in his army. So there is no doubt that
Eutropius was very much mistaken in stating that the total was six hundred
thousand. Sextus Rufus, in his Breviary, said that there were not more than
seventy-five hundred of these Clibanarii, but one hundred and twenty or thirty
thousand archers.
4282. At the beginning of the battle, Tigranes fled from the field and ran as
fast as he could to one of his citadels with barely a hundred and fifty cavalry
with him. He found his son as depressed as he was and taking off the diadem and
turban from his head, he turned his men over to his son. He tearfully urged him
to fend for himself and to try any possible strategy that had not yet been
tried. [E566] Since the young prince dared not carry the royal ensigns with
him, he committed them to a highly trusted friend to keep for him. However soon
after this, it was his friend's misfortune to be taken prisoner and brought to
Lucullus. The soldiers took the turban and the diadem and gave them to
Lucullus. {Memnon, c. 59.} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 28. s. 5,6.
2:563,565} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 3.} {*Dio, l. 36. (1b) 3:5 (Xiphilinus)}
Lucullus marched back to Tigranocerta and continued the siege with more zeal
than before. {Memnon, c. 59.}
4283. Mithridates did not hurry to the battle, because he thought that Lucullus
would manage this war with the same caution and delay as he had shown before.
Acting on this belief, he was not very fast in coming when sent for by Tigranes.
Soon after this, he chanced upon some Armenians along the way who were terrified
and ready to collapse from fear. Mithridates suspected that all was not well
with Tigranes' side. Soon after this, he met with other companies of stripped
and wounded men who told him of the great defeat. Mithridates hurried as fast
as he could to find Tigranes. [K212] When he found him desolate and depressed,
he did not gloat over his misfortune. He dismounted his horse and after
mutually bemoaning each other's sad misfortune, Mithridates turned his own
princely retinue over to him, who attended him, and encouraged him for the
future. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 1,2. 2:565,567} After he
had cheered him up a little, he gave him royal robes as rich as anything he had
ever worn and also made some proposals about levying new forces. Since
Mithridates already had a considerable army, he said there would be another
battle to reverse this misfortune. Tigranes ascribed more prowess and
discretion to Mithridates than himself and thought that he would be the better
one to deal with the Romans. Therefore he put Mithridates in charge of the war
effort. {Memnon, c. 59.}
4284. From the walls of Tigranocerta, Mancaeus saw the dismal scene of his
defeated friends. He started to disarm all the Greek mercenaries, because he
suspected they would not remain loyal. The Greeks, fearing that they could be
arrested, took precautions and drew themselves up into a body and so remained
together in this way day and night. When they saw Mancaeus marching against
them with his armed barbarians, they wrapped their clothes about their arms as
bucklers and bravely charged them. After this they had enough weapons so they
seized some citadels on the walls and called in the Romans who were besieging
them and received them into the town. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s.
2. 2:567} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 12. (86) 2:403} Dio related
that most of the inhabitants were Cilicians. When these had a disagreement with
the Armenians, they opened the town by night to the Romans who plundered
everything except what the Cilicians owned. {*Dio, l. 36. (2) 3:7} However,
Memnon stated that when Mithridates' or rather Tigranes' commanders saw how
desperate things were for their side, they conditionally surrendered the town to
Lucullus. {Memnon, c. 59.}
4285. After Lucullus had captured Tigranocerta and taken the king's treasures
that were there, he let his soldiers plunder the city. In addition to
everything else they found, they discovered eight thousand talents of coined
money. As well, Lucullus gave eight hundred drachmas from the spoil to every
soldier. He found many players there, whom Tigranes had brought together from
all over since he was about to dedicate the theatre he had built. Lucullus used
them for his contests and spectacles. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s.
3,4. 2:567} He preserved from harm many wives of the chief officers who were
taken and in this way won their husbands over to his side. {*Dio, l. 36. (2)
3:7} He fitted out the Greeks for their journey back to their country and also
permitted the Cappadocians, Cilicians and other barbarians, who had been forced
to live there, to return home. So it happened that, through the ruin of one
city (for the city was only half finished and Lucullus had demolished it and
left only a small village), many cities received back their former citizens and
hence many cities were restored. These cities later esteemed Lucullus as their
founder. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 4. 2:567} {*Strabo, l.
11. c. 14. s. 15. 5:339} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 2. s. 9. 5:367}
4286. Envoys arrived there from almost the entire east, begging his friendship.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 3.} The countries of the Sophenians allied themselves to
him. Antiochus, the king of Commagene (part of Syria near the Euphrates and
Taurus Rivers), also came. Alchaudonius, a petty prince of Arabia, and some
others sued for peace through their envoys and Lucullus received them. He added
a large part of Armenia to Rome. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 4.
2:567} {*Dio, l. 36. (2) 3:7}
4287. Gaius Metellus went to the Cretian war with three legions and defeated
Lasthenes near the city of Cydonia. [K213] He was called Imperator and
destroyed the whole island with fire and the sword. He forced the Cretians into
their citadels and cities and refused to make peace with them. {*Florus, l. 1.
c. 42. 1:197} {*Appian, Sicily and the Other Islands, l. 5. c. 6. (2)
1:135,137} {Phlegon, Chronicles, Year 4. Olympiad. 174.} {*Dio, l. 36. (19)
3:29} {Photius} [E567]
4288. Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy, was born at Auletta. She was the
last queen of Egypt of the Macedonian family and lived thirty-nine years.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 86. s. 4,5. 9:331} Tigranes and Mithridates
went around various countries and raised another army which was placed under the
command of Mithridates. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 2. 2:567}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (87) 2:405}
4289. Magadates, who managed the army in Syria for Tigranes for fourteen years,
set out from there with an army to help his king. Because of this move,
Antiochus Asiaticus, the son of Antiochus Pius and Selene, obtained the kingdom
of Syria with the help of the Syrians. He was surnamed Asiaticus because he had
been educated there. Lucullus, who had recently defeated Tigranes, did not
interfere with Antiochus' actions in Syria. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
8. (49) 2:197} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (70) 2:237} However,
Strabo wrote that Lucullus drove Tigranes out of Syria and Phoenicia and later
defeated Tigranes. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 14. s. 15. 5:339} Antiochus, the
son of Cyzicenus (or rather, his grandchild by his son), was called king of
Syria, until Pompey took away from him what Lucullus had given to him. Justin
stated that four years elapsed between the time that he received the kingdom of
Syria and the time it was taken away by Pompey. {Justin, Trogus, l. 40. c.
2.}
4290. Tigranes and Mithridates sent envoys begging aid from their neighbours
and from Arsaces, the Parthian king. They condemned the Romans suggesting that
the Romans had conquered them at a time when they were destitute and forsaken by
others, and that the Parthians would be next to be attacked. {*Dio, l. 36.
(3) 3:7}
4291. Arsaces was called by this name because it was the common name of the
kings of Parthia. His proper name was Pacorus, according to Xiphilinus, but he
was called Phradates by Memnon. Photius cited Phlegon of Tralles as saying that
in the year before, which was in the third year of the 177th Olympiad, Phraates
had succeeded Sinatrucus, the deceased king of the Parthians. {Photius,
Bibliotheca, cod. 97.} However, Dio stated that Phraates succeeded Arsaces.
{*Dio, l. 36. (45) 3:75} Appian said he succeeded Sintricus, which was
correct, as we shall see. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (104)
2:439} Arsaces had ruled the empire for six years before the third war of
Mithridates started. These words are mentioned in a letter he wrote to Arsaces
(of which we shall say more later) to prove this: {*Sallust, Letter of
Mithridates, l. 1. (13) 1:437}
"You are far removed and all others had submitted, so I again renewed the war."
4292. From this, we conclude that his proper name was either Sintricus, or
Sinatrux.
4293. Arsaces was offended with Tigranes for starting a new war about a certain
country over which they were in dispute. Tigranes gave this country back to him
again. As well as that, the Parthian king also wanted to have the large valleys
of Mesopotamia and Adiabene given to him as the reward for his alliance. When
Lucullus heard of the embassy that Tigranes and Mithridates had sent to Arsaces,
he also sent some envoys. These threatened Arsaces, if he assisted Tigranes,
and made him promises if he would side with the Romans. [K214] Lucullus' envoys
urged him either to help the Romans, or remain neutral. Arsaces secretly
promised friendship to both sides but ended up giving it to neither. {Memnon,
c. 60.} {*Dio, l. 36. (3) 3:7} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 2.
2:567} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (87) 2:405}
4294. Among the remains of the fourth book of Sallust's History, there is an
entire letter of Mithridates that was sent to Arsaces about this very affair.
In it, he seems to turn the indignation Arsaces had against Tigranes for waging
the recent war, to his own advantage. He said:
"For being guilty, you shall receive what alliance you please."
4295. He excused the great victory the Romans had won against him, by saying:
{*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (15) 1:439}
"They forced the multitude into such narrow places, that they attributed their
victory to their own strength, when in fact it was but his imprudence."
4296. Later, Mithridates stirred up Arsaces against the Romans, by saying:
{*Sallust, Letter of Mithridates, l. 1. (20-32) 1:441}
"You, for whom Seleucia is the greatest city, and to whom the kingdom of Persia
and very great riches belong, what can you look for, but deception for the
present and war in the future. The Romans have waged war everywhere but it is
most violent where the victory over their adversaries affords the richest spoil.
They invade and they beguile. One war gives rise to another. By these means,
they either thwart the schemes of, or destroy, those that fight with them. This
is not difficult, if you in Mesopotamia and we in Armenia surround their armies
while they are without food and allies and who have been saved so far only by
their good fortune and our own errors. You would then have the reputation of
bravely having assisted great kings and suppressed great robbers. This I desire
and exhort you to do, unless you had rather by our ruin enlarge the Roman empire
than by our friendship become a conqueror yourself."
4297. As soon as the unwelcome news of what Marcus Cotta had done at Heraclea
arrived at Rome, he was in public disgrace and his great riches increased their
envy. To avoid this, he brought most of the spoils back to the treasury.
However the Romans remained just as suspicious, assuming he had handed over only
a small portion of the great abundance he had taken. They also learned that the
prisoners at Heraclea were suddenly to be freed by a public decree. {Memnon, c.
61.} [E568]
4298. Furthermore, Thrasymedes from Heraclea publicly accused Cotta before an
assembly, praising the benevolence of his city to the Romans. He demonstrated
that if they had transgressed in any way, it had not been with the consent of
the city, but through the fraud of their magistrates and the power of their
adversaries. He cried as he told them about the burning of the city and
tearfully told them how Cotta had plundered everything for his private gain. A
large number of men and women captives also came with their children. They came
dressed in mourning clothes and kneeled down, holding up their hands with much
weeping. The Roman nobles were inclined to sympathise with their case when
Cotta came. After he had pleaded a little in his own language, he left again.
Carbo arose and said:
"We, oh Cotta, gave you commission to take, not to destroy the city."
4299. Others arose after him and made similar statements, expressing their
indignation against him, so that many thought he should be banished. In the
end, they only took away his dignity. To the Heracleans, they restored their
lands, sea and harbours, on the condition that none of them should be made
slaves. {Memnon, c. 61.}
4300. After this was over, Thrasymedes sent the people back to their country
but he stayed for some years with Brithagoras and his son Propylus at Rome.
Together they did the things required to represent their country. {Memnon, c.
62.} [K215]
4301. Lucullus was condemned, both by strangers and by his own citizens, for
not having pursued Tigranes, but having allowed him time to escape when he might
easily have subdued him. They believed that he had wanted to prolong his own
command. Therefore, the government of Asia (properly so called) which had
previously been committed to him, was assigned to the praetors. {*Dio, l. 36.
(2) 3:7}
4302. Lucullus went to the land of the Gordyenes and attended the funeral of
their King Zarbienus, whom Tigranes had killed. Zarbienus had secretly entered
into a league with Lucullus. Lucullus lit the fire to the pile of wood that was
decorated with royal robes, gold and the spoils which had been taken from
Tigranes. At the funeral in the presence of his friends and kindred, Lucullus
declared him his friend and a confederate of the Romans, commanding that a
beautiful monument be paid for from the king's treasury and dedicated to him.
As a result of this, the Gordyenes were so devoted to Lucullus that they would
have left their homes and followed him with their wives and children.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 7,8. 2:569}
4303. They found much silver and gold in the palace of Zarbienus and three
million bushels of grain were stored in his granaries. This was used to supply
the soldiers and it was a matter of great honour for Lucullus that he had taken
nothing from the treasury but had financed the war solely from the spoils of the
war. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 29. s. 8. 2:569,571}
4304. Lucullus welcomed the envoys from Arsaces, king of the Parthians, and
they who sought his friendship and alliance. He sent Sicilius, or Sextilius, to
Arsaces. However Arsaces, from his expertise in military matters, suspected
that he had been sent to spy out the military strength of the land rather than
to confirm the treaty. So he did not give the Romans any help but remained
neutral in the war. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 1. 2:571}
{*Dio, l. 36. (3) 3:7,8}
3936a AM, 4645 JP, 69 BC
4305. When Lucullus had learned that Arsaces was wavering in his loyalty and
that he had secretly requested Mesopotamia from Tigranes as a reward for his
friendship, Lucullus decided to consider Tigranes and Mithridates as defeated
enemies. He hurried to march against the Parthians to test their valour and
strength. Therefore, he sent a message to Sornatius, his envoy in Pontus, and
to several others there. They were to bring him the forces they had there since
he intended to advance eastward from Gordyene against the Parthians. However,
their soldiers were obstinate and could not be persuaded, saying that if they
were left there without help, they would go away leaving Pontus undefended.
Lucullus' soldiers were dejected when they heard this news. Riches and luxury
had made them long for ease and they hated the hardships of war. As soon as
they perceived the fury of the Pontics, they said these men were fit to be
imitated and esteemed, maintaining they had already deserved their rest and
discharge because of their many achievements. Hence Lucullus was forced to
forgo his expedition into Parthia. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 30.
2:571,573}
3936b AM, 4646 JP, 68 BC
4306. The island of Delos, located in the Aegean Sea, was a main centre for
merchants. This island was full of riches but although small and without a wall
it was secure and the inhabitants feared nothing. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia,
l. 1. c. 18. (55) 9:67} Then the pirate Athenodorus captured it, took the
inhabitants captive and destroyed the images of their gods. Gaius Triarius
repaired the ruins and built a wall around it, in the fourth year of the 177th
Olympiad. {Phlegon, Chronicles, l. 5.} {Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 97.}
[E569] [K216]
4307. Mithridates levied troops from every town and when he called a muster, he
established that this force consisted almost entirely of Armenians. From these
troops, he selected seventy thousand foot soldiers and half as many cavalry and
sent the rest home. He had the men arranged into companies and troops according
to the Italian discipline and he had the Pontics train them. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (87) 2:405}
4308. In that year, when Quintus Marcius was the sole consul, Lucullus was not
able to attack Tigranes until the middle of summer because it was too cold
before then. After he had passed the Taurus Mountains and had seen the green
fields, he was astonished that the season was so late there because of the cold.
However, he nonetheless came down into the plains and after being attacked by
the Armenians in two or three battles, he routed and dispersed them.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 31. s. 1,2. 2:573} {*Dio, l. 36. (4) 3:9}
While Mithridates remained on a hill with the foot soldiers and some of the
cavalry, Tigranes attacked the Roman foragers with the remainder and was
defeated. After this the Romans got their provisions in greater security. They
moved their camp nearer to Mithridates and intercepted the supplies for
Tigranes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (87) 2:405} They caused
great hardship for the enemy due to a lack of provisions. {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 31. s. 1,2. 2:573}
4309. Lucullus destroyed one section of the country, thinking that the
barbarians would be goaded into fighting for it. When he found that they would
not he marched out against them. While his cavalry was distressed by the enemy
cavalry, there was no conflict with the foot soldiers. Lucullus came in with
his shields to their relief and scattered the enemy who were not greatly harmed
by the encounter but shot their arrows back toward their pursuers. Of these,
many were killed and wounded. Their wounds were very serious and difficult to
heal because the arrows had a double point and were poisoned. They were so
constructed that the second iron point remained in the wound when the arrow was
pulled out. {*Dio, l. 36. (5) 3:9,11}
4310. In Crete, Lasthenes, the governor of Cydonia, was besieged by Gaius
Metellus, the proconsul, and fled from Cydonia to Cnossus. Panares, another
governor of the city, made peace and surrendered the city to Metellus. When
Metellus later besieged Cnossus, Lasthenes put all his wealth into a house, set
fire to it and fled from Cnossus. {*Appian, Sicily and the Other Islands, l.
5. c. 6. (2) 1:135,137} Cnossus, Cydonia and Eleutherna were taken by
Metellus along with many other cities. {*Livy, l. 99. 14:123} {*Florus, l.
1. c. 42. 1:197} {*Appian, Sicily and the Other Islands, l. 5. c. 6. (2)
1:135,137} The Cretians were besieged by Metellus for a long time, and were
brought to great extremity. They were forced to quench their thirst with their
own urine and with their cattle's urine. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 7. c. 6.
ext. 1. 2:169}
4311. Lucullus brought his army against Artaxata, Tigranes' royal residence,
where his wife and children were. Unable to stand for this, Tigranes broke camp
and after a four-day march came and camped by the Romans. Between them was the
Arsania River which the Romans had to cross to attack Artaxata. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 31. s. 4. 2:575}
4312. After Lucullus had performed his sacrifice to his gods, he drew out his
army as if he were certain of victory. He placed twelve cohorts in the vanguard
and kept the rest in reserve in case they should be surrounded by the enemy.
[K217] The enemy had a large number of cavalry while ahead of the cavalry were
the Mardian and Iberian lancers, who used arrows, also on horseback. Tigranes
had the greatest confidence in these, as being the most valiant among his
mercenaries. However, they did nothing remarkable and only skirmished for a
while with the Romans. They were not able to endure the force of the legions
and ran away with the cavalry in pursuit. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 31.
s. 5,6. 2:575}
4313. As soon as they were dispersed and Lucullus saw Tigranes' cavalry
advance, he restrained his soldiers from chasing the fleeing troops, suspecting
that Tigranes had a large number of well-trained cavalry. In the meantime, with
those accompanied by nobles and officers he had around him, Lucullus marched up
against the forces advancing toward him. The enemy was terrified and fled even
before the Romans started to charge. Of the three kings in the field at the
time, Mithridates, the king of Pontus, ran away most shamefully and could not
even tolerate the the shout of the Romans. The Romans pursued them all night
and grew weary of killing and taking prisoners and became tired from taking and
carrying away their money and spoil. Livy reported that in the former battle
more of the enemy were taken or killed but in this one it was the best soldiers
and a large number of them. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 31. s. 6-8.
2:575,577}
4314. The pirates were so powerful at this time, that they controlled the
entire sea. They intercepted provisions intended for the fleet and made a habit
of coming ashore destroying provinces and islands. The Romans, who had
conquered the whole world, could not control the seas. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 14. s. 1-5. 5:173,175} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14.
(91) 2:413} {*Dio, l. 36. (20) 3:31} {Eutropius, l. 6.} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
4.} The next year, Cicero, in his speech for the Manilian Law, reminded them of
this: {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 12. (32,33) 9:45} [E570]
"What province have you defended? Who was protected by your ships? How many
islands do you think are deserted? How many cities are either forsaken for fear
or have been taken from your friends by pirates? It was the ancient custom of
the Romans to wage war far from home and rather use their forces in the defence
of their friends' fortunes than of their own. Shall I say that for these many
years your sons have been a help to your friends and though our army was at
Brundisium, they dare not cross over but in the midst of winter? Why should I
complain about the fact that those who came to us from abroad were taken, when
the very envoys of the people of Rome are being redeemed? Shall I say the sea
is not safe for our merchants when twelve of our guard (there were two praetors,
Sextilius and Bellinus captured {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 24. s. 6.
5:177}) have fallen into the hands of the pirates? Why should I remind you of
Colophon and Samos, those two noble cities, or of many more that have been
taken, when you know your own harbours and those very parts you yourselves
inhabit have been taken by these enemies. Where was this government, when the
Roman envoys, praetors and quaestors were intercepted, when public and private
commerce from old provinces was forbidden us, when the merchandise was so
confined, that we were unable to trade either in private or in public?"
4315. In this, as in all other things, he expressed himself most eloquently.
4316. The common base of these pirates, and the main base for their activities,
was Cilicia, which was called Trachea, meaning Craggy. They had citadels,
towers and deserted islands everywhere, with secret creeks for their ships.
Many of them came from this part of Cilicia, which was called Trachea. It had
no harbours and had very high mountain peaks rising from the shore. For this
reason, these men were known to everyone by the common name of Cilicians.
[K218] This evil, which began in Cilicia, attracted the Syrians, Cypriots,
Pamphylians, Pontics and all the eastern countries together. Because of
Mithridates' war, they were more inclined to do mischief than to endure it.
They exchanged the land for the sea, so that in a short time there were many
tens of thousands of them. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (92)
2:415}
4317. The pirates had more than a thousand ships and captured more than four
hundred cities. They pillaged the temples at Claros, Didyma and Samothracia,
which had previously been sacred and untouched. They plundered what was
dedicated to Chthionian Earth at Hermione, to Asclepias at Epidaurus, to
Poseidon at the isthmus, at Taenarum and Calauria, Apollo at Actium and Leucae,
Hera at Samos, Argos and Lacinium. At Mount Olympus (a pirate stronghold in
southern Asia Minor), they offered strange sacrifices of their own and some
secret mysteries of those who worshipped Mithras or the Sun. They went out of
their way to insult any Romans. If any one of their prisoners called himself a
Roman, they at once feigned fear and knocking their knees together and falling
down at his feet, humbly implored his pardon. While he believed them to be real
and sincere, some of them furnished him with shoes, others with garments, so
that he should no longer remain unknown. When they had mocked and deluded the
man for a long time, they put down a ladder into the sea and bade him go down in
safety. If he refused, they threw him down headlong and drowned him.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 24. s. 5-8. 5:175,177}
3937a AM, 4646 JP, 68 BC
4318. About the autumnal equinox, severe storms unexpectedly struck Lucullus'
army. It snowed for most of the time and when it was clear, there was hoar
frost and ice. The ice was troublesome because the frozen rivers gave them
little water for the horses. If they broke through the ice, the pieces cut
their legs and made it difficult to cross. Because the country was forested,
they were daily covered with the snow that fell from the trees and were forced
to rest uncomfortably while still wet. Therefore they petitioned Lucullus
through their tribunes and later there was a riot in the night. Lucullus begged
them earnestly, but to no avail, and pleading with them not to give up until
they had destroyed what was the greatest work of their enemy, the Armenians,
since Carthage had been taken. For it was reported that Artaxata was built on
the advice of Hannibal, the Carthaginian. {See note on 3816c AM.
<<3143>>}
Lucullus failed in his efforts and was forced to retreat. {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 32. s. 1-3. 2:577,579} Concerning this retreat of the Roman army,
Cicero, in his speech for the Manilian Law, tried to excuse this retreat of the
Roman army as follows: {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 9. (24) 9:37}
"Although our army had taken a city in Tigranes' kingdom called Tigranocerta and
had fought several successful battles, yet were they nonetheless discouraged by
the tediousness of their march. I will not say any more here. The result was,
that our soldiers were more anxious for an early return from these regions, than
for a further advance."
4319. Lucullus returned through Armenia to Mesopotamia and crossed the Taurus
Mountains at another spot. He descended into the country of Mygdonia which was
a very warm and fruitful country. It contained a large and populous city,
called Nisibis by the barbarians, and Antioch in Mygdonia by the Greeks.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 32. s. 3,4. 2:579} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
3.} [K219]
4320. The city had been built by the Macedonians, but Tigranes had taken it and
all Mesopotamia from the Parthians. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 2. s. 3.
(68) 10:37} There he had placed his treasure and many other valuable things. It
was surrounded by a very thick double-brick wall and a ditch so deep and broad
that the wall could neither be shaken nor undermined. {*Dio, l. 36. (6) 3:11}
[E571] Tigranes' brother, Gouras, was commander and under him was Callimachus, a
brilliant engineer. He had performed noble exploits at Amisus and was respected
as a person of great knowledge in fortifications and of much experience in war.
Callimachus caused Lucullus many problems at both places, here, as well as at
Amisus. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 32. s. 4,5. 2:579}
4321. Lucullus besieged the city with all manner of engines. {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 32. s. 4. 2:579} At the beginning of the winter, the
barbarians were so sure of victory, that they started to become careless. The
Romans had already departed; however, Lucullus returned one night when the moon
was not out and a fierce thunder storm was in progress, so that the barbarians
could neither see nor hear what was happening. For this reason they had left
only a few men there and had almost deserted the outer wall and the ditch
between the walls. Lucullus, by his siege works, easily scaled over the wall
and without much trouble killed the few sentinels he found. He filled up part
of the ditch by throwing in earth, for the enemy had previously destroyed their
bridges. When the enemy was unable to harm them with their arrows or with fire
because of the rain, he occupied the ditch and promptly captured the city.
Their inner walls had not been made as strong because they were placing most of
their confidence in the outer wall. {*Dio, l. 36. (7) 3:11,13}
4322. Those who fled into the citadel, he received on terms. {*Dio, l. 36.
(7) 3:13} Gouras, the brother of Tigranes, surrendered and was treated civilly.
Lucullus put Callimarchus in chains to be punished even though he promised to
show him where large sums of money were hidden. Callimarchus had burned Amisus
and robbed Lucullus of the opportunity of showing kindness to the Greeks.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 32. s. 5. 2:579} Much money was later found
and Lucullus wintered at Nisibis. {*Dio, l. 36. (7) 3:13}
4323. In the meantime, the men who were the popular leaders at Rome envied
Lucullus and accused him of having prolonged the war out of greed and a desire
for power. One of them said that Cilicia, Asia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Galatia,
Pontus, Armenia and all the provinces as far as Phasis, had already been
conquered. Now he said Lucullus was only foraging in Tigranes' countries as
though he had been sent to plunder princes rather than to vanquish them. It was
reported that Lucius Quintus, one of the praetors, had said this and had
persuaded the people of Rome to order another commander to replace him and to
disband many of the soldiers who had faithfully served under Lucullus.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 33. s. 4,5. 2:581}
4324. In Lucullus' camp, Publius Clodius was a man of great insolence and
dissoluteness, who severely disturbed the camp. He was the brother of Lucullus'
wife, with whom he was said to be intimate for she was a lewd woman. Lucullus
removed him from his command because he had degenerated so much in his
behaviour. Clodius stirred up the Fimbrians (or Valerians) against him. By
this we mean those whom he had brought from Fimbria who had killed Lucius
Valerius Flaccus, the consul. Clodius wanted to command them. After they had
been seduced by Clodius, these men would not follow Lucullus against Tigranes or
Mithridates. [K220] Since it was winter, they extended the time at Gordyene
expecting another commander to come and replace Lucullus. {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 34. 2:581,583}
4325. When Lucullus was besieging Nisibis, Tigranes did not go to its relief
because he thought the city was invincible. He sent Mithridates into his own
country while he marched into Armenia. For a while, he besieged Lucius Fannius
until Lucullus heard about it and marched to his rescue. {*Dio, l. 36. (8)
3:13,15}
4326. Mithridates marched into Pontus which was the only kingdom he had
remaining to him. He had four thousand of his own men and four thousand from
Tigranes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (88) 2:407} He invaded
the other Armenian and neighbouring regions. He killed many straggling Romans
in a surprise attack. He fought fairly and quickly defeated and recovered many
places. The men were inclined toward him because he had been born in that
country and his father had previously ruled there, whereas they did not like the
Romans, because they were strangers and some of their governors were tyrants.
Hence, they freely came to Mithridates. {*Dio, l. 36. (9) 3:15} Cicero, in a
speech, said about this: {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 9. (24) 9:37}
"Mithridates had now acquired his own soldiers and those from his kingdom who
had joined with him, along with large numbers supplied by foreign countries and
kings. He was reinforced in this by what we have heard does in fact frequently
happen, that a prince's calamities do easily generate compassion in most men.
This is especially true if they are either kings themselves, or live under the
government of such a king, because the name of a king is very reverend and
sacred. In this way, he has done more by being defeated, than if he had been
victorious in all that he did."
4327. Mithridates defeated Marcus Fabius whom Lucullus had left as governor of
these regions. In this, he was helped by the Thracians who were angry with
Fabius, although they had previously been paid by him. [E572] The slaves in the
Roman camp also helped in the defeat of the Romans. {*Dio, l. 36. (9) 3:15}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (88) 2:407}
4328. Fabius had sent out some of the Thracian scouts, who had returned with
imprecise information so that Fabius advanced without due care and was suddenly
attacked by Mithridates. At that moment, the Thracians revolted and attacked
the Romans, routing them and killing five hundred of their number. After that,
when Mithridates promised liberty to the slaves, Fabius was afraid of all the
slaves in his camp. These also defected to Mithridates' side and would
doubtless have killed all the troops of Fabius, had not Mithridates been hurt
with a stone in the knee. Because of that, he was hit under his eye with an
arrow and was suddenly carried off the field. While the barbarians were taking
care of their king, Fabius used the opportunity to retreat safely with the rest
of his men. The Agari were a people of Scythia who were well-skilled in
medicines made from the poison of serpents, for which reason they always
accompanied the king, and they now had the care of the king. {*Dio, l. 36.
(9) 3:15,17} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (88) 2:407}
4329. After this, Fabius was besieged in Cabiris and was relieved by Gaius
Triarius, as he was marching that way from Asia to join Lucullus. He had heard
of Mithridates' success and assembled as many troops as he could. This
terrified Mithridates to such an extent that he moved his camp because he
imagined that he had the entire Roman army against him. [K221] Encouraged by
this, Triarius pursued them into the country of the Commagenians (or rather
Comana in Cappadocia, of which Dio said more later), where he fought and
defeated them. Mithridates had camped on one side of a river and the Romans
came down on the other. Hoping to find them weary after their march,
Mithridates advanced immediately, and ordered the rest to attack over another
bridge while the first group were fighting. They fought a long time but the
battle was indecisive. Because so many men had crossed over the bridge, it
collapsed, preventing Mithridates' troops from helping him, and so Mithridates
was defeated. Since it was now winter, both sides established their winter
quarters after this battle. {*Dio, l. 36. (10) 3:17}
4330. Aulus Gabinius, a tribune, persuaded the people that a commander should
be chosen from those who had been consuls. This man's command would last for
three years and he would have full and absolute power against the pirates. He
would be supplied with very large forces and many deputies. It is not certain
whether Pompey put him up to this (even though he did not ask for Pompey), or if
it was his own idea, to ingratiate himself to Pompey. Gabinius was a very
wicked man and nothing that he did was for the benefit of the republic. {*Dio,
l. 36. (23) 3:35,37} Cicero, in his speech about him after his return to the
Senate, said:
"Had he not been protected by his being a tribune, he could neither have avoided
the power of the prae-tor, the number of his creditors, nor the proscription of
his goods. At that time, had he not got that order concerning the war with the
pirates, necessity and wickedness would have constrained him to become a pirate
himself. This would have been less dangerous and detrimental to the
commonwealth, since their adversary would have been from without, not within."
4331. The Senate confirmed this order of the people although unwillingly.
{*Dio, l. 36. (37) 3:61} Velleius Paterculus related that this was like a war
and not like attacking common thieves, for the pirates had terrified the whole
world with their ships and they had achieved this not through any sudden or
secret expedition on their part. As well as that, they had destroyed some
cities in Italy. Gnaeus Pompey was sent to suppress them and was given an equal
authority with the proconsuls within fifty miles of the sea. By this decree of
the Senate, the government of the whole world was placed on one man. However
the same thing had been decreed two years earlier in the praetorship of Marcus
Antonius, as Velleius stated. (Current Loeb edition reads seven years and shows
two years as a variant reading. Editor.) {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 31.
1:117} However, it seems to me that it should be six years earlier, rather than
two, since it appears that Marcus Antonius had died three years before in the
Cretian war. Marcus Antonius died in the Cretian war, two years before the
commission of the great care of all the sea coasts within the Roman empire was
committed to Pompey, in the consulship of Lucullus and Cotta. Asconius Pedianus
stated this, in his speech about Verres' praetorship in Sicily. {See note on
3930 AM. <<4117>>} {See note on 3934b AM. <<4220>>}
4332. Under the Gabinian Law, Pompey had the command of the navy for three
years and as Plutarch said, command over all men in the provinces within fifty
miles of the sea throughout the Mediterranean. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
25. s. 2,3. 5:179} He had the power to command all the kings, governors and
cities around this sea to help him. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
13. (88) 2:407} Appian, Velleius and Plutarch said it was about fifty miles.
[K222] Xiphilinus said it was fifty miles. {*Dio, l. 36. (36a) 3:61
(Xiphilinus)} Dio said it was three days' journey from the sea, {*Dio, l. 36.
(17a) 3:27 (Xiphilinus)} and they considered a day's journey to be about sixteen
miles. [E573]
4333. Under the same law, Pompey had the power to choose fifteen deputies from
the Senate, to whom he would assign the charge of various provinces. He was
also able to take as much money as he needed from the treasury, as well as take
two hundred ships and levy what forces he pleased. However, he called an
assembly of the people, where he prevailed with them for much more and then
doubled his preparation. He outfitted five hundred ships, although Appian said
he had only two hundred and seventy, including the smaller vessels. He raised a
hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and five thousand cavalry (four
thousand, according to Appian). From the Senate, he chose twenty-four captains
for the troops (twenty-five, according to Appian) and made them officers under
him. He had two quaestors given to him and six thousand Attic talents because
the task of pursuing so many navies in so large a sea seemed so considerable.
There were many hiding places to which they could escape if attacked and then
later suddenly launch an attack from there. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 14. (93) 2:419} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 26. s. 1,2. 5:181}
3937b AM, 4647 JP, 67 BC
4334. Pompey was very well supplied with his own ships and those of his
confederates from Rhodes. He and his commanders controlled both sides of the
sea and together they boxed up the pirates in every port, bay, creek, recess,
promontory or island. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 11. 1:193} When he had
managed the matters at sea, he gave ships, cavalry and foot soldiers, along with
the praetorian standards, to the officers he had chosen from the Senate. Each
one of them had absolute authority in the place to which he was assigned. Those
pirates who were taken by one group were turned over to others, to prevent any
from having too long a pursuit or possibly prolonging the war by sailing too far
away. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (95) 2:421}
4335. To Tiberius Nero and Manilius Torquatus, Pompey assigned Spain and the
Pillars of Hercules. Marcus Pompey, his son, was assigned the Gallic and
Ligurian waters. Africa, Sardinia, Corsica and the adjacent islands were
assigned to Publius Attilius and Lentulus Marcellinus. The coasts of Italy were
assigned to Lucius Gellius and Gnaeus Lentulus. Sicily and the Adriatic, as far
as Acarnania, was assigned to Plotius Varus and Terentius Varro. According to
Pliny, the latter was the most learned of the Togatians and was presented with a
naval crown by Pompey for his efforts in this war. {*Pliny, l. 3. c. 11.
(101) 2:75} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 30. (115) 2:581} {*Pliny, l. 16. c. 3. (7)
4:391} Lucius Sisenna had the oversight of Peloponnesus, Attica, Euboea,
Thessaly, Macedonia and Boeotia. Lucius Lollius was given all the Aegean Sea
and the Hellespont. However, Florus assigned the Asiatic Sea to Caepio.
Metellus Nepos was assigned Lycia, Pamphylia, Cyprus and Phoenicia. Publius
Piso was assigned Bithynia, Thrace and Propontis. Cato besieged the straits so
tightly with his ships, that he blocked up the Propontis as if it had been a
gate. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 8-12. 1:193} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 14. (95) 2:421} Pompey, like a king of kings, oversaw everything
and demanded that everybody stay in their areas lest, while he found that the
pirates had been defeated in one place, he should be attacked from another area.
He ordered that, while all were to be ready to relieve one another, they should
not, by sailing around, make it possible for the enemy to escape. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (95) 2:421} [K223]
4336. When his forces had been dispersed over the whole sea in this manner,
Pompey began from the lower part and surrounding the enemies' navy, dragged them
as with a net into their harbours. Those who escaped, fled into Cilicia to hide
themselves like bees in a hive. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 26. s. 3.
5:183} In forty days, he and his officers had cleared the Tyrrhenian Sea, the
Libyan Sea, and the sea around Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily. He returned to
Rome and did what he wished. {*Livy, l. 99. 14:123} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (95) 2:421} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 26. s. 3.
5:183}
4337. Pompey sailed from Brundisium with sixty very good ships to start the war
in Cilicia. The enemy prepared to fight him, not because they thought they
could beat him, but because they were very oppressed and had little to lose.
They only attacked once and then found themselves surrounded. They threw away
their arms and oars and with a general shout as a sign of their submission
begged for their lives. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 12,13. 1:193} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (96) 2:421,423} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 26. s. 3,4. 5:183} Cicero stated that he had brought all Cilicia into
subjection to the Romans within forty-nine days from when he had set sail from
Brundisium. This story of the recovering of all of Cilicia in so short a time
should be seen as a rhetorical device to praise Pompey. {*Cicero, Pro Lege
Manilia, l. 1. c. 12. (35) 9:47} {See note on 3941b AM. <<4557>>}
4338. After news arrived that Mithridates had defeated Fabius and was marching
against Sornatius and Triarius, the Fimbrian (or Valerian) soldiers were ashamed
and followed Lucullus when he went to their relief. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l.
1. c. 35. s. 1. 2:585} Mithridates, in the meantime, when Manius Acilius
Glabrio and Gaius Piso were consuls, camped opposite Triarius near Gaziura.
[E574] He trained and exercised his men in full view of the Romans. He tried to
provoke him to fight, in order to engage him before Lucullus came in the hope of
defeating the Romans and thereby recovering the remainder of the kingdom.
Mithridates was not able to draw him out. Therefore he sent some of his men to
Dadasa to besiege a citadel where the Romans had stored their baggage. He hoped
that the Romans would come to its relief so that he could attack them. Triarius
was not fooled for he feared the number of troops Mithridates had. Since he
expected that Lucullus for whom he had sent, would soon come, he stayed in his
camp. When his soldiers heard that Dadasa was under siege, they were afraid of
losing the goods they had there. So they threatened, in a rebellious manner,
that unless he would lead them out, they would go to defend Dadasa without his
permission. Due to this, he marched out against his will. {*Dio, l. 36. (12)
3:19}
4339. When Triarius had come out against Mithridates, there was a violent storm
that was worse than anyone could remember. It blew the tents over in both
camps, drove the cattle from the way and knocked some of the soldiers down from
the hills. This storm forced both sides to retire. When Triarius was told that
Lucullus was near, he attacked Mithridates' camp before day, as if he wanted to
snatch the victory from Lucullus. After they had fought for a long time with
equal fortune and courage, the king trusted his own wing of troops and at length
prevailed and pressed upon the enemy. He forced their foot soldiers into a
dirty ditch where they were cut down because they had poor footing while
Mithridates lost only a few men. After his victory, he courageously pursued
their cavalry through the fields, until a Roman centurion in the guise of a
servant ran by his side as fast as his horse and gave him a deep wound in his
thigh. [K224] The centurion could not kill him because of his breastplate but
was himself quickly killed by Mithridates' troops. Mithridates was carried to
the rear of the army. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (88,89)
2:407,409} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 35. s. 1,2. 2:585} {*Dio, l.
36. (12,13) 3:19,21}
4340. After this, the king's friends sounded a retreat and called the soldiers
back from this notable victory. This was unexpected and made the men fearful
that something bad might have happened somewhere else. They gathered
tumultuously around the body of their king. Finally, Timothy the physician
stopped the bleeding and held him up on high in their sight. Had it not been
for this accident, the Romans would have been utterly destroyed but they escaped
as a result of this delay. When Mithridates came to his senses, he reproved
those who had sounded the retreat. That same day Mithridates broke camp and
marched against the Romans. The Romans were very afraid and felt utterly
deserted. More than seven thousand soldiers were killed in this battle
including a hundred and fifty centurions and twenty-four tribunes. In no other
battle before this had so many officers been lost. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 13. (89) 2:409,411} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 35. s. 1.
2:585} {*Dio, l. 36. (13) 3:21} Appian said this encounter happened near Mount
Scotius: {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (120) 2:473}
"It was a famous place in those parts by reason of Mithridates' victory,
Triarius' defeat and the loss of the Roman army."
4341. Hirtius stated that this was about three miles from Zela, a town in
Pontus. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (73) 3:127}
4342. This was the defeat to which Cicero referred in his speech for the
Manilian Law, a year and a half later: {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c.
9. (25) 9:37}
"Your army was resolute and victorious but Mithridates attacked them. Allow me
in this place, like those who write of the Roman affairs, to skip over our
misfortunes, which were so great, that the news did not come to Lucullus by a
messenger from the battle but by rumour."
4343. Later, he said: {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 15. (45) 9:57}
"After we were defeated in Pontus, about which I reminded you a little earlier
against my will, our friends and confederates were afraid and the wealth and
courage of the enemies increased. The province had no garrison or troops in
which to trust and Asia would have been lost, oh Romans, had not fortune, in the
nick of time, brought Pompey from heaven, as it were, to the relief of those
countries. His arrival stopped Mithridates though swelled with his success, and
held back Tigranes, who was threatening Asia with great strength."
4344. When Mithridates was healed of his wounds, he suspected there might be
more of the enemy among his men. He had a troop review on another pretext and
unexpectedly ordered everyone to their tents. The Romans were found alone and
killed. {*Dio, l. 36. (13) 3:21}
4345. From there, he went into Lesser Armenia. He took with him all the
provisions he could carry and spoiled the rest in case it might be useful to
Lucullus. About that time, Attidius, a Roman senator, was found guilty of
conspiracy by Mithridates. He had fled to Mithridates long ago out of fear of
justice and had been received into his favour. Out of respect for his former
office, Mithridates would not torture him but was satisfied merely with his
death. He grievously tormented his fellow conspirators but sent Attidius'
servants away untouched even though Attidius had been made privy to his plans.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (90) 2:411} [K225]
4346. Lucullus came and hid Triarius from the search of his angry soldiers.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 35. s. 2. 2:585} [E575] They had left
unburied those who had died in the battle which was thought to have been the
reason that first alienated the affections of his own soldiers. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 31. s. 5. 5:195,197}
4347. Mithridates waited with his army on a hill near Talaura for Tigranes who
was coming to him with large forces. He refused to fight until he came, but
Mithridates the Mede, one of Tigranes' sons-in-law, suddenly attacked the Romans
as they were scattered abroad and soundly defeated them. {*Plutarch, Lucullus,
l. 1. c. 35. s. 2. 2:585} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13.
(90) 2:411} {*Dio, l. 36. (14) 3:21}
4348. Quintus Marcius, who had been the sole consul in the previous year, was
sent as proconsul into Cilicia, Lucullus' main province. Marcius marched
through Lycaonia with three legions and Lucullus asked him for his help but
Marcius said his soldiers would not follow him. {Sallust, History, l. 5.}
{Priscian, l. 18.} {*Dio, l. 36. (17) 3:25}
4349. When Marcius entered into Cilicia, he graciously received Menemachus who
had revolted from Tigranes, and also made Publius Clodius commander of the navy.
Marcius had married Clodius' sister and Lucullus had married another sister of
Clodius. Clodius had fled from Lucullus in fear because of the offences he had
committed at Nisibis. {*Dio, l. 36. (17) 3:25,27}
4350. Clodius suffered a surprise attack by the Cilician pirates in which he
was taken prisoner. When they demanded a ransom for him, he sent to Ptolemy,
the king of Cyprus, to see if he would pay it. Ptolemy only sent two talents
which the pirates despised. However they feared Pompey and thought it best to
free him for nothing. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 6. s. 6. 6:385} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 2. c. 3. (23) 3:269} {*Dio, l. 36. (17) 3:25,27} {*Dio, l. 38.
(30) 3:261,263}
4351. Under the Gabinian Law, Manius Acilius Glabrio, who was the sole consul
that year, was made successor to Lucullus in the command of Bithynia and Pontus.
The Valerian or Fimbrian legion, which had previously been discharged and
re-employed, was again disbanded. These troops began to rebel and despised
Lucullus, as they luxuriated with the fruits of victory, living at ease and with
plenty when Lucullus was not around. {Sallust, History, l. 5.} {Priscian, l.
18.} {*Dio, l. 36. (14,15) 3:23}
4352. Dio stated that Publius Clodius was the main instigator of this
rebellion. Cicero affirmed this in his speech. {*Cicero, De Haruspicum
Responsis, l. 1. c. 20. 11:371} He said that when Clodius was freed by the
pirates, he treacherously corrupted Lucullus' army and he fled from there to
Rome. Dio said that he went to Antioch in Syria to help them against the
Arabians with whom they were at war. Again he stirred up a rebellion and was
very nearly killed. {*Dio, l. 36. (17) 3:27}
4353. Lucullus was in trouble daring neither to move from his place nor to stay
there. Finally, he resolved to march against Tigranes, hoping to attack him
unexpectedly or when he was tired after his march. He hoped that this would
settle the rebellions in his camp but it did not. His soldiers followed him for
a while but when they realised they were heading for Cappadocia, they all
unanimously turned their backs without speaking one word. When the Valerians or
Fimbrians heard they had been discharged at Rome and that Lucullus' command had
been given to others, they all deserted from their colours. [K226] In the
meantime, Lucullus tried to reconcile them and in great dejection with tears in
his eyes, he went to their tents and begged everyone to come back. He took some
of them by the hand but they refused his embraces. Throwing down their empty
purses, they declared that as he through them had enriched himself alone, he
should also fight alone with his enemies. {*Dio, l. 36. (15) 3:23}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 34. 2:583,575}
4354. This rebellion of the soldiers who refused to follow Lucullus, kept him
from pursuing Mithridates and Tigranes and completing his victory over them.
The Valerian Legions cried out that they had been disbanded and forsook him.
{*Livy, l. 98. 14:123} Finally, they were won over by the entreaty of their
fellow soldiers. They agreed to keep to their colours that summer on the
condition that if no one came to fight them during that time they might depart.
Lucullus was forced to agree with these men or leave that province with no
garrison to defend it against the barbarians. He did not command them or lead
them out into battle but thought it sufficient if they only stayed. He allowed
Tigranes to forage in Cappadocia and Mithridates to range over the whole
province. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 35. s. 4,5. 2:587}
4355. Lucullus had written to the Senate that he had finished the war with
Mithridates. Officers came to Lucullus to settle the affairs in Pontus assuming
everything would be peaceful there. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 35. s.
5. 2:587} {*Dio, l. 36. (43) 3:71} However, they found that he was not even
in control of his troops but was being mocked and derided by his soldiers. By
the time the summer was over, they had become so insolent and contemptuous of
their commander that they took up their arms and drew their swords. They called
for their enemies which they could not find anywhere. Shouting and throwing up
their arms they retired from the camp. They declared that the time to stay,
which they had promised Lucullus, had expired. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
35. s. 5,6. 2:587,289} [E576]
4356. When Acilius Glabrio, the consul, arrived at the province that was
assigned to him, he sent criers about announcing that the Senate had discharged
Lucullus' army and confiscated his goods because he had prolonged the war and
refused to obey their commands. When the soldiers heard this most of them
forsook him. Only a few who were very poor and did not fear their punishment
stayed with him. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 13. (90) 2:411} As a
result of this, Mithridates recovered most of his kingdom and did much damage to
Cappadocia. Lucullus did not fight with Mithridates, nor did Acilius defend the
country. For although he had hurried, as if wanting to rob Lucullus of his
victory, when he understood their condition, namely, that Lucullus came with no
army, he then prolonged his stay in Bithynia. {*Dio, l. 36. (17) 3:25}
4357. In his Manilian speech to the Romans, in which, as a favour to Lucullus,
he excused what had happened, Cicero said: {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1.
c. 9. (26) 9:39}
"Lucius Lucullus—a man who might perhaps have been able in some measure to
repair these losses—was by your orders compelled to disband a part of his
troops, who had served their time, and to hand over a part to Manius Glabrio."
4358. We conclude this section about Lucullus and will return to the war with
the pirates, or the maritime war (as Sallust and Cicero called it) that Pompey
completed this summer. [K227]
4359. Most of the pirates had sent their children, their wealth and a large
number of less useful people into their citadels and strongholds near the Taurus
Mountains. They fought with Pompey at Coracesium in Cilicia where they were
soon defeated and besieged. Finally, they sent out commissioners and
surrendered themselves, their islands and their towns, which, because of their
strength, would have been very difficult to capture. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 28. s. 1. 5:185}
4360. Pompey advanced into Cilicia with a very large number of engines,
intending to attack the pirates who were located on the rocks. This he did not
need to do, for his fame and the news of his preparation terrified the pirates
who thought that he would be more merciful if they did not fight him. Those who
commanded the large citadels of Cragus and Anticragus were the first to come in
and submit themselves, later followed by all the Cilicians on the mountains.
They turned over many arms that were either finished or still being made,
including many ships, half completed in the docks, and others ready for sail.
As well, they turned over brass and iron prepared for these ships and sails,
ropes and other material. They surrendered a large number of captives who had
been forced to ransom themselves or work in their prisons. Pompey burned the
materials, carried away the ships and sent the prisoners home. Many of them saw
their own tombstones, made for them by their relatives when they had assumed
them to be long dead. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (96) 2:423}
Thus the pirates were vanquished and all the might of the pirates was subdued in
every part of the sea in no more than three months, {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 28. s. 2. 5:187} or two months, if we are prepared to follow Lucan.
{*Lucan, l. 2. (576) 1:101}
Before twice Cynthia did wax and wane,
The frightened rover left the all horrid main
To seek a dwelling in some private plain.
4361. Pompey burned more than thirteen hundred boats and destroyed their
settlements. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 3. s. 3. 6:315} Seventy-two ships were
taken by force and three hundred and six surrendered. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (96) 2:423} Plutarch stated that eight hundred
surrendered and of these, ninety had prows of brass. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 28. s. 2. 5:187} Pliny affirmed that eight hundred and forty-six ships
were taken or sunk. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 25,26. 2:567,569} A hundred and
twenty towns, citadels and storehouses were taken and ten thousand pirates were
killed in the battle. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14. (96) 2:423}
4362. Twenty thousand of the pirates were left alive because Pompey determined
to let them live. However, he did not think it was wise to permit them to leave
or to allow many soldiers and desperate persons to stay together. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 28. s. 2,3. 5:187} In case poverty might constrain them
to future piracy, he relocated them into a certain place remote from the sea and
gave them the abandoned fields for farming. He put some in cities that were in
need of inhabitants and gave them a capacity to live without resorting to
thievery. {*Livy, l. 99. 14:123} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 32. s.
4-6. 1:119,121} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 14,15. 1:195} {*Dio, l. 36.
(37) 3:63} He ordered them to settle in Mallus, Adana, Epiphanea and other
remote towns in Cilicia Trachea. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 14.
(96) 2:423} He also settled them in a coastal town of Cilicia which had formerly
been called Soli, but which he called Pompeiopolis and which he repaired, as it
had been destroyed by Tigranes, the Armenian king. He also transferred many to
Dyme in Achaia, which lacked inhabitants. {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 3. s. 3.
6:315} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 28. s. 4. 5:187} {*Dio, l. 36. (37)
3:63} [E577] [K228]
4363. Thus, the war that had lasted so long and been so large in its extent
that it had affected all countries was concluded. Pompey prepared for it in the
middle of winter, began it in the spring and finished it in the middle of
summer. Cicero stated: {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 11. (31)
9:43,45}
"Who ever supposed that a war of such dimensions, so inglorious and so
long-standing, so widespread and so extensive could be brought to an end either
by any number of generals in a single year or by a single general in any number
of years?"
4364. Florus also said that, besides the swiftness of execution and the
satisfaction in the success, not one ship was lost. From this point on, there
would be no more pirates. This was achieved by the singular conduct of the
captain in removing those who had been so used to the sea from the sight of it
and resettling them in the midland countries. Should he not be listened to,
when he speaks of the speediness of the conquest, because what had happened only
of his success in the lower seas (which indeed in itself was truly amazing), he
attributes to the general's prowess? He said this was all finished in forty
days. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 15. 1:195} Cicero denied this and so did
Dio, saying that the greater part of the seas was made safe by Pompey in that
very year. {*Dio, l. 36. (37) 3:61} {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c.
11. (31,32) 9:45}
4365. In Crete (which Plutarch stated was the next haven of the pirates, after
Cilicia), the prisoners were so harshly dealt with, that most of them poisoned
themselves. Others sent to Pompey, although he was absent, and said that they
would surrender to him. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 41. s. 12,13. 1:193,195} At
the time, Pompey was in Pamphylia, so their envoys came there and promised that
all the cities in Crete would surrender themselves to him. He did not
disappoint them but he demanded hostages. {*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1.
c. 12. (35) 9:49} In the meantime, he forbade Metellus from interfering in
this war and wrote to the cities that they should not obey him. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 29. s. 2,3. 5:189} He also ordered Metellus to leave the
island since Pompey would take that charge upon himself as part of the charge
committed to him. {*Appian, Sicily and the Other Islands, l. 5. c. 6. (2)
1:137} He sent one of his officers, Lucius Octavius, without an army there since
he was not to go to wage war but to receive the cities into the favour of the
people of Rome. However, he shut himself up within the walls together with
those that were besieged by Metellus. He fought alongside them and made
Pompey's name odious and contemptible. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 29. s.
3,4. 5:189} {*Dio, l. 36. (18,19) 3:27,29}
4366. Metellus despised the command of Pompey, who was in another province, and
continued to pursue his intended war. He was all the more severe in the war
because he was exercising the right of a conqueror on his enemies and hurrying
to subdue them before Pompey could come. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 29.
s. 4,5. 5:189,191} {*Dio, l. 36. (17a) 3:27} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 42. s.
4-6. 1:197} He sent letters to Rome, complaining that Pompey had deprived him
of the glory of his actions who had sent his envoy into Crete to accept the
surrender of the cities. Pompey justified his actions. {*Livy, l. 99.
14:123}
4367. Cornelius Sisenna, who was governor of Greece at this time, came into
Crete with his army and admonished Metellus to spare the people. However,
Cornelius could not persuade him and did nothing that compelled him to be more
tolerant. {*Dio, l. 36. (18) 3:29}
4368. Aristion marched from Cydonia after he had defeated Lucius Balsas, who
had come out to attack him. [K229] He took Hierapydna and defended that city
against the Romans. {*Dio, l. 36. (19) 3:29}
4369. Metellus bribed many within the city of Eleuthera and took it by
treachery. The conspirators softened a large tower of brick with vinegar for
several nights. Otherwise, the tower would have been extremely hard to take.
Later, he extorted money from Eleuthera and took Lappa by force. He was not
deterred by the fact that Octavius was in command there and did him no harm. He
only killed the Cilicians he found about him. {*Dio, l. 36. (18,19) 3:29}
Metellus dismissed Octavius, after he had been mocked and abused with many
degrading actions in the camp. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 29. s. 5.
5:189,191}
4370. Octavius did not like this treatment and did not waste time as before.
He took command of Sisenna's army, as the latter had recently died of a disease.
He relieved those who were being oppressed by Metellus and then went to Aristion
where he managed their war by mutual consent and continued in that position for
some time. When they heard that Metellus was advancing against them, they
forsook their citadels and sailed away. However they were hit by a storm and
were forced to put ashore and lost many of their men. {*Dio, l. 36. (19)
3:29}
4371. Marcus Cotta had dismissed his quaestor, Publius Oppius, on suspicion of
defrauding the treasury and conspiring against him. However, Cotta himself had
gathered a large amount of money in Bithynia, for which he was accused by Gaius
Carbo, who was made consul, although previously he had only been a tribune.
{*Dio, l. 36. (40) 3:67} {See note on 3935b AM. <<4298>>} [E578]
3938a AM, 4647 JP, 67 BC
4372. After Sinatruces (whom Appian called Sintricus, and Dio referred to by
the common name of the kings of Parthia, Arsaces) died, his son Phraates
succeeded him. He was the second king of Parthia by that name, and was, by a
most impious title, called the god. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
15. (104) 2:439} {*Dio, l. 36. (45) 3:75} {Phlegon, Photius' Bibliotheca,
cod. 97.} {See note on 3935b AM. <<4291>>}
4373. Hyrcanus was driven from his kingdom by Aristobulus, his younger brother,
three months after the death of his mother Alexandra. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 6. s. 4. (180) 8:87} However, it appears that there were six years
from the time Hyrcanus began to reign, which occurred when Quintus Hortensius
and Gaius Metellus were consuls, to the latter end of the reign of Aristobulus.
It was in that year that Jerusalem was taken by Pompey, when Gaius Antonius and
Marcus Tullius Cicero were consuls. Josephus allowed three years and three
months to Aristobulus. Therefore, Hyrcanus must have ruled for about three
years, not three months. From these three years we think we must deduct two
months to make the time exact. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 1. s. 2.
(4-7) 7:451,453}
4374. About this time, they fought at Jericho and many of Hyrcanus' men
defected to his brother Aristobulus. Hyrcanus fled into the citadel where the
wife and children of Aristobulus had been placed by Alexandra, his mother. The
rest fled to the temple in fear of Aristobulus and surrendered a short time
later. Finally, the brothers came to a peace treaty. Aristobulus would rule
and his brother would be allowed to lead a private life and enjoy the wealth he
had acquired by his wits. [K230] They made this covenant in the temple and
after all oaths had been made, they embraced each other in the sight of the
people. Aristobulus took over the court and Hyrcanus retired as a private
person to Aristobulus' house. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 1. s. 2.
(4-7) 7:451,453} Thus Aristobulus held the kingdom and the chief priest's office
for three years and three months. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 10. s. 4.
(243,244) 10:131}
4375. Lucius Tullius and Aemilius Lepidus were consuls at the beginning of
their consulship in January, which was really October on the Julian calendar.
At this time, the Senate annulled a law that the night before had been passed by
the people and sponsored by Gaius Manilius, a tribune of the people. He had
bribed some of the populace to vote for this law which stated that any freed
slaves should be allowed the same voting privileges as their masters. For this
reason, Manilius feared for his safety because the common people were very
angry. To ingratiate himself with Pompey, he proclaimed another law, which
stated that the charge of the war with Tigranes and Mithridates should be given
to Pompey. He was to be assigned the legions and provinces which were under
Lucullus, as well as Cilicia, which was under the command of Marcius, the sole
consul, and Bithynia, under Acilius Glabrio. Also, there would be no change in
Pompey's maritime command. {*Dio, l. 36. (42) 3:69,71} {*Livy, l. 100.
14:125} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 33. 1:121} {Asconius Pedianus, Pro
Cornelio} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 30. s. 1. 5:191}
4376. Livy noted that this law was passed with great indignation from the
nobility. {*Livy, l. 100. 14:125} To the Senate, it seemed no less than an
obvious insult to Lucullus. Pompey was not so much being sent to succeed him in
the war as in the victory and to take possession of the spoils he had taken
rather than the administration of the war. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
35. s. 7. 2:589} Nor did it please those who were forced to recall Marcius
and Acilius from their commands before the time they had given them had expired.
{*Dio, l. 36. (43) 3:71} They were chiefly jealous of Pompey's power to whom
the whole Roman Empire was subjected by this means. For those provinces which
he did not control under the former Gabinian law, like Phrygia, Lycaonia,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, the upper Colchis and Armenia, were now under his
power, through this law. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 30. s. 2. 5:191}
Furthermore, he received the power to make war and settle a peace and by his own
will, and at his pleasure, judge anyone his enemy or make any his friend and
associate, as he thought best. He also had the command of all the armies from
Italy. No Roman before him had ever had so much power. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (97) 2:425}
4377. At this time, Cicero, who was then a praetor, made his speech for the
Manilian Law, in the 23rd year after that cruel slaughter of the citizens of
Rome which had been perpetrated in Asia in a single day, on Mithridates' order:
{*Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, l. 1. c. 3. (7) 9:21}
"He now reigns, the 23rd year from that time, and reigns not so as to hide
himself in Pontus or Cappadocia but to break out and invade the tributaries and
breathe your Asian air."
4378. Pompey was still following up on his victory over the pirates in Cilicia.
Plutarch, however, stated that the war was over and since Pompey had nothing to
do, he was visiting the cities around there. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
30. s. 1. 5:191} When he received letters from Rome, he learned what had
happened there and his friends congratulated him on the news. However, he was
reported to have frowned and struck his thigh, as though he were already weary
and discontented with his command. [K231] But they all knew he really wanted
that opportunity. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 30. s. 5,6. 5:193} {*Dio,
l. 36. (45) 3:75} [E579] Although he had earlier made a plan of sailing into
Crete to Metellus, he now abandoned that and all his maritime business, as if
nothing had been left undone. Instead, he applied himself fully to the war with
the barbarians, {*Dio, l. 36. (45) 3:75} recalling the soldiers to him and
requesting the assistance of all the kings and potentates he had received as
friends. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 31. s. 1. 5:193}
4379. Tigranes, the younger, grandchild of Mithridates by his daughter,
revolted from his father Tigranes and was defeated but not captured. He joined
up with the chief men, who were discontented with his father, and defected to
Phraates, the king of the Parthians. {*Livy, l. 100. 14:125} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (104) 2:439} {*Dio, l. 36. (45) 3:75}
4380. Pompey continued in his war with Mithridates and renewed his league with
Phraates, the king of Parthia {*Livy, l. 100. 14:125} on the same conditions
which had previously been offered by Sulla and Lucullus. Pompey said that:
{*Lucan, l. 8. (218,220) 1:463}
"If our ancient treaty holds good—the treaty which I swore to observe in the
name of the Roman Thunderer...."
4381. According to the agreement, Phraates and Tigranes, the younger, together
invaded Armenia which was subject to Tigranes. They advanced as far as Artaxata
overcoming all opposition on the way and besieged it. Tigranes, the elder,
withdrew into the mountains in fear. {*Dio, l. 36. (45) 3:75,77}
3938b AM, 4648 JP, 66 BC
4382. Pompey wanted to find out Mithridates' intentions and sent Metrophanes to
him with very friendly proposals. Mithridates had hoped that Phraates, who was
the new king of Parthia, would have joined with him and rejected the proposals.
But when he found out that Phraates had a league with Pompey and had been
engaged to invade Armenia, he had second thoughts and promptly sent envoys with
propositions of peace. Pompey demanded that he lay down his arms and surrender
those who had defected from the Romans. {*Dio, l. 36. (45) 3:75}
4383. As soon as Mithridates' army heard this, the many Roman deserters
suspected they would be turned over to Pompey. The barbarians rebelled too who
thought they would have to continue the war without their help. This would have
been disastrous for Mithridates had he not pretended that he had sent his envoys
to spy out the strength of the enemy rather than to seek peace. {*Dio, l. 36.
(45) 3:77} He swore, moreover, that he would not enter into friendship with the
Romans because they were so covetous nor would he surrender any of them or do
anything that was not for the common good. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 15. (98) 2:425}
4384. When Pompey arrived in Galatia, Lucullus came to meet him at the citadel
of Danala. {*Dio, l. 36. (46) 3:77} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 5. s. 2.
5:469,471} Lucullus, with regard to his age and the dignity of his consulships,
was the better man. However, Pompey's dignity, with respect to the number of
his commands and the two triumphs that he had enjoyed, was greater than that of
Lucullus. Both of them had garlands of laurel carried before them in honour of
their victories, but Pompey's laurels were dead and withered, because he had
come on a long journey through dry and squalid countries. When Lucullus'
lictors saw this, they courteously presented him with some of theirs which were
fresh and green. [K232] Pompey's friends looked on this sign of friendship as a
good omen signifying that he should carry the rewards of Lucullus' victories.
{*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 36. s. 1-3. 2:589,591} {*Plutarch, Pompey,
l. 1. c. 31. s. 1-4. 5:195}
4385. Lucullus told him that everything had already been subdued and that there
was no reason for this expedition at all. Also, he said that the persons sent
by the Senate had come to settle affairs. But when he failed to persuade Pompey
to go back, he started to complain and to slander him so much so that a great
argument arose between them. {*Dio, l. 36. (46) 3:77} Pompey objected to
Lucullus' covetousness and Lucullus complained about Pompey's insatiable desire
for command. Neither of them could be accused of saying anything untrue.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 33. s. 3,4. 1:121,123} {*Plutarch, Pompey,
l. 1. c. 31. s. 3,4. 5:195}
4386. For this reason, Lucullus disposed of the lands he had taken from the
enemy as he pleased besides giving away many good gifts. Pompey sharply
reproved him for this, in that he was settling and conferring honours and
rewards while the enemy was not yet defeated, something not normally done until
the war was over. Offended, Pompey moved his camp a little farther from him and
ordered that no one should obey or come near Lucullus. He made a public edict
forbidding the confirmation of Lucullus' acts or any counsel his officers might
put forward. [E580] Since Pompey had the larger army, he was the more
formidable. Pompey left Lucullus only sixteen hundred men for his triumph and
took away all his soldiers but due to their rebellious behaviour they were as
useless to him as they had been to Lucullus. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
36. s. 4-6. 2:591} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 31. s. 5-7. 5:195,197}
Only the Valerian or Fimbrian legions served Pompey faithfully, although they
had been rebellious under Lucullus. {*Dio, l. 36. (46) 3:77} {*Dio, l. 36.
(16) 3:25}
4387. Lucullus returned from there to Rome bringing along with him a good
number of books which, according to Isidorus, were part of his spoil from
Pontus. {Origen, l. 6. c. 3.} He placed them in his library, which was
always open to everyone, especially the Greeks. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1.
c. 42. s. 1. 2:605} He was also the first one to bring cherries into Italy.
{*Pliny, l. 15. c. 30. 4:359} In spite of his poor treatment by Pompey, he
was received very honourably by the Senate. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
38. s. 2. 2:595,597}
4388. When Metellus had defeated the island of Crete, he took away their laws
from an island which, before that time, had been free. {*Livy, l. 100.
14:125} He deprived them of the liberty they had for so long enjoyed, by
imposing his taxes on them. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 38. 1:133}
Orosius stated that Metellus subdued that island in two years wearing it out
with continual skirmishes. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.} Eutropius said that he
overcame the whole country in three years in several large battles. {Eutropius,
l. 6.} Velleius Paterculus agreed with him and said this: {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 34. 1:123}
"About that time, the island of Crete was subdued by the Romans. They had
resisted with an army of twenty-four thousand young men who were pernicious in
their agility, patient in respect to labour and skilful in respect to the
management of their arms. Under the command of Panares and Lasthenes, together
they had worn out the Roman armies for three years."
4389. Lucius Flaccus, along with the commander-in-chief, bore the brunt of that
war. {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (6) 10:447} Gaius Nasennius, a freedman from
Suessa, was the first centurion of the eighth cohort. {*Cicero, Letters to
Brutus, l. 1. c. 15. s. 2. 28:671} Gnaeus Plancius was a person highly
regarded by the envoys, Gaius Sacerdos and Lucius Flaccus. He was a soldier
under Quintus Metellus. {*Cicero, Pro Plancio, l. 1. c. 11. 11:441}
4390. Hence, the men of Crete, who had previously been free and had never known
any foreign command, were brought under the yoke and Metellus received the name
of Creticus in recognition of this from the Senate. {*Dio, l. 36. (17a) 3:27}
[K233]
4391. Antipas, also called Antipater, was the governor of Idumea and father of
Herod, the king of Judea. Antipater was a rich and energetic man and a
trouble-maker. He feared Aristobulus' power because of some grudges between
them and so sided with Hyrcanus' party. When the secret slander of Aristobulus
proved effective, Antipater stirred up the chief of the Jews to enter into a
conspiracy against him. He suggested it would be very unwise to let Aristobulus
occupy a position he had usurped by force, having displaced his older brother
and robbed him of the prerogative of his birth. Antipater continually worked
away on Hyrcanus. He added that his very life was in danger unless he fled, for
Aristobulus' friends were continually scheming how they would be able to confer
his authority on someone else once they had removed him out of the way.
Hyrcanus, however, was a good man and not easily moved by rumours and so gave
little credence to his information. His quiet disposition and gentleness of
mind had given him the reputation of being slothful. Antipater continued to
complain about Aristobulus as if he had plans to kill Hyrcanus. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 1. s. 3. (8-13) 7:453}
4392. Phraates decided it was likely that the siege of Artaxata would last a
long time, so he left some of his troops with Tigranes' son and returned home.
{*Dio, l. 36. (51) 3:87}
4393. Farther Spain was allocated to Gaius Julius Caesar when he was a
quaestor. He was ordered by the prae-tor to travel around the various countries
and decide matters of law. When he came to Gades, he saw Alexander the Great's
statue in Hercules' temple. He was grieved that he had done nothing of note by
the time he was thirty-four, the age at which Alexander had conquered the world.
He became greatly depressed and begged that he might be sent back to Rome so
that he could attempt some noble thing at the first opportunity. He left before
his time expired and went to some Italian colonies that were in rebellion. He
would have stirred them to do something had not the consuls kept them under
control with their legions which had been raised to go into Cilicia.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 7,8. 1:43,45}
4394. With his navy, Pompey controlled all the seas between Phoenicia and the
Bosphorus. He advanced against Mithridates with a select army of thirty
thousand foot soldiers, arranged in a phalanx, for the safe-keeping of his
country. Plutarch said that he also had two thousand cavalry, Appian said three
thousand. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 1,2. 5:197} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (97) 2:425} Since Lucullus had recently
pillaged that country, Mithridates' troops was very short of provisions. Many
fled to Pompey although Mithridates used all the severity he could to prevent
this. He crucified some, put out their eyes, or burned them alive. [E581] This
prevented many from defecting but they were very short of provisions. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (97) 2:425}
4395. Pompey placed some troops in an ambush and sent others out to face the
king's camp and provoke him to battle. They had orders to turn and flee after
the enemy came out, thereby drawing Mithridates into his trap. [K234] The king
suspected it and drew out his foot soldiers otherwise they might possibly have
pursued them as far as their camp. This was the first skirmish between the
cavalries. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (98) 2:427}
4396. Because Mithridates was outnumbered, he avoided fighting Pompey and
instead destroyed the countries through which he came. By marching up and down,
he tried to wear out his enemy or cause them to run short of provisions. Pompey
went into Lesser Armenia which was subject to Mithridates, partly to get food
and partly to take it over, since it was without enemy troops. Finally,
Mithridates also went there to prevent the province from falling into the hands
of his enemies in his absence. {*Dio, l. 36. (47) 3:77,79}
4397. Mithridates camped opposite his enemy in a strong and secure position on
a hill. He stayed there quietly with his whole army, hoping by intercepting
their provisions to cause the Romans distress and thereby to defeat them.
Mithridates was in his own country and was being kept well supplied from every
region. Below this hill there was a plain into which he sent some cavalry to
confront and cut off everyone they met. This is how it came about that many
from the enemy defected to him. {*Dio, l. 36. (47) 3:79}
4398. Pompey did not dare attack the enemy in that place and moved his camp to
another spacious area surrounded by woods. In this way he protected himself
from their troops and arrows. He laid an ambush in a convenient place then made
a few advances and faced their camp. After raising a tumult, he drew the enemy
from their works to the place he had planned and soundly defeated them. The
Romans were encouraged by this victory and Pompey sent his men to the other
regions of the country to bring in provisions. {*Dio, l. 36. (47) 3:79}
4399. Mithridates left the hill where he was camped, because he thought it was
a dry barren place. Pompey then came and occupied it and when he observed that
the plants grew so well and that there was a hollowness and convex shape of the
place, he thought there must be water there. He ordered his troops to dig wells
up and down the hill. They soon had so much water in their camp that he
wondered why Mithridates had not found it long ago. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 32. s. 1,2. 5:197,199}
4400. Mithridates camped on a mountain near Dastira in Acilisene which had
abundant water and was not far from the Euphrates River which divides Acilisene
and Lesser Armenia. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 28. 5:425} Orosius wrote
that Pompey blockaded the king's camp near the Dastracus Mountain in Lesser
Armenia and made a line around the king of about eighteen miles. {Orosius, l.
6. c. 4.} He built several citadels there, so that he could intercept their
foragers. The king did not hinder the work either out of fear or folly which
were often the forerunners of disaster. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
15. (99) 2:427} Plutarch said that Mithridates was besieged for forty-five days
but Appian said it was for fifty days. They could barely keep themselves alive,
having killed all the cattle they had only sparing the horses. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (99) 2:427} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
32. s. 3. 5:199}
4401. Finally, Mithridates discovered that the enemy had been supplied with
provisions and had captured a country in Armenia called Anaitis. Many of his
men defected to Pompey and Marius' army. The legions which Suetonius had said
were raised for Cilicia, where Pompey was governor, were coming to Pompey.
Mithridates was afraid and decided to leave that country. {*Dio, l. 36. (48)
3:79} He killed those who were sick and of no use to him. With the entire army
he went out very quietly in the night and escaped. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 15. (99) 2:427} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 3.
5:199} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.} [K235] By marching through the night, he
planned to go into Greater Armenia, which was subject to Tigranes, and there to
drive off Pompey should he pursue him. {*Dio, l. 36. (48) 3:79} {Orosius, l.
6. c. 4.}
4402. The following day after much trouble Pompey caught up to him and attacked
him from the rear. The king would not fight in spite of his friends' advice and
was satisfied merely to beat back the enemy with some cavalry. In the evening
he retired into the woods. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (99)
2:427,429}
4403. The next day Mithridates occupied a strong position that was surrounded
on all sides by rocks and had only one way in which he guarded with four cohorts
of foot soldiers. The Romans also guarded the entrance to prevent the escape of
the king. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (99) 2:429} [E582]
4404. When they arrived at the border Pompey feared that Mithridates would get
ahead of him, cross the Euphrates River and make his escape, so he resolved to
force a battle with him at night. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 3,4.
5:199} {*Dio, l. 36. (48) 3:81} By moving his camp, he deceived the barbarians
who were taking their noonday rest. He marched ahead by the same way that they
were to come. Occupying a convenient place among the hills, he drew up his men
into the highest area and waited for the enemy. The barbarians did not suspect
this and since the Romans had not fought with them, they did not even send
scouts ahead to spy out their way. {*Dio, l. 36. (48) 3:81}
4405. It is said that Mithridates had a vision in his sleep at the time which
forewarned him of what was to happen. He seemed to be sailing with a fair wind
on the Pontic Sea and came within sight of the Bosphorus. He was joyfully
overcome with a certain and unquestionable sense of safety and pleasantly began
to make conversation with those who carried him. Suddenly he found himself
deserted and tossed about on a small part of the wreckage. While he was
thinking about this vision, his friends who were close to him awoke him and told
him that Pompey was nearby. Therefore, forced to fight for his camp, he brought
out his army and both sides drew into battle array. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 32. s. 4,5. 5:199}
4406. When Pompey saw that they were prepared for a battle, he thought it best
not to fight during the night but to surround them so they could not escape. He
could attack them the next morning with his army which was much stronger.
However the more senior and leading men among his officers provoked him with
their urging to attack in the night. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s.
5. 5:199,201}
4407. Therefore, it was agreed that all the trumpets would together sound a
charge. After this, the soldiers and the whole multitude would give a shout and
then some would strike their spears against their brass vessels. The mountains
echoed and made the noise more horrible. When the barbarians suddenly heard
this at night in a deserted place, they were extremely dismayed and supposed
that some misery inflicted by the gods had befallen them. In the meantime the
Romans were throwing stones, arrows and javelins down from above on every side.
Since there were so many barbarians almost every object hit someone. After they
had shot all their arrows, they ran down violently at the barbarians. These
were kicking and pressing each other forward and so were killed because they
were neither able to defend themselves nor to attack the enemy. Most of them
were cavalry men and archers who could do little in the dark and in a confined
space. {*Dio, l. 36. (49) 3:81,83} [K236]
4408. As soon as the moon was up, the barbarians were encouraged, thinking they
could possibly repel the enemy by its light. This might have helped them except
for the fact that the moon was on the Romans' backs so that as the moon began to
rise, their shadows appeared a long way ahead of their bodies and close to the
enemy. They judged their distance by these long shadows and so did not shoot
their arrows far enough to hit the Romans who later attacked them and easily
defeated them. {*Dio, l. 36. (49) 3:83,85} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
32. s. 6,7. 5:201} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 23,24. 1:187} {Eutropius,
l. 6.}
4409. This battle took place at night. {*Livy, l. 100. 14:125} {*Dio, l.
36. (49) 3:83,85} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 6,7. 5:201}
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 23,24. 1:187} {Eutropius, l. 6.} {Orosius, l.
6. c. 4.} Only Appian said it was in the day and happened as follows. Both
armies were drawn up early in the morning when some soldiers from both sides
advanced and skirmished among the rocks. Some of the king's cavalry men came
running on foot without orders to relieve their fellow soldiers. They were
charged by a large number of the Roman cavalry and ran back to their camp in one
company to get their horses to enable them better to confront their enemy. From
a high place, the Pontics who were on guard witnessed the noise and haste as
they ran and thinking their camp had been breached in some other part, took this
to be the reason for their flight. They threw away their arms and fled but
there was nowhere to escape. They ran afoul of one another until they threw
themselves down the rocks in their haste. It was easy for Pompey to carry out
the rest, killing and taking prisoner all those that were unarmed and so
entangled among the rocks. Ten thousand were killed and their camp was taken,
along with all their ammunition and baggage. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 15. (100) 2:429,431}
4410. Plutarch stated that many more than ten thousand were killed.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 7. 5:201} Dio said that there were
very many killed and just as many taken prisoner. {*Dio, l. 36. (49) 3:85}
Eutropius stated the total was forty thousand. {Eutropius, l. 6.} Orosius
stated that this many were either killed or captured. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.}
Eutropius said Pompey lost only twenty or thirty of his men and two of his
captains, while Orosius claimed the Romans had a thousand wounded and about
forty killed.
4411. Mithridates broke through the Roman lines with a troop of eight hundred
cavalry. At length, when all the rest had abandoned him, he was left with only
three in his company. [E583] One of these was Hypsicratia, whom the king called
Hypsicrates because of her masculine spirit. Plutarch called her his concubine
but Valerius Maximus and Eutropius said she was his wife. Although she wore a
Persian man's clothes and rode on horseback, she was not tired either by the
tediousness of her own flight or by care and concern for the king. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 8-7. 5:201} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 6.
ext. 2. 1:409} {Eutropius, l. 6.} His daughter Dripetine accompanied him in
this distressing time. She had been born to him by Laodice, the queen, but was
very deformed by a double row of teeth. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 1. c. 8.
ext. 13. 1:123}
4412. Hence Mithridates, aided by a clear night, escaped through the confusion
of the battle. He walked his horse when he came into remote places and trembled
at every noise he heard. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.} Finally he came across some
mercenary cavalry and three thousand foot soldiers who escorted him into the
citadel of Sinorex where he had stored a great deal of money. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (101) 2:431} This citadel, which Plutarch
called Sinora, but Strabo called Sinoria, or Synoria, was located on the border
of Greater and Lesser Armenia. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 8.
5:201} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 28. 5:425} [K237]
4413. Mithridates gave gifts and a year's pay to those who had escorted him in
his flight while he himself took six thousand talents along with him. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (101) 2:431} He also gave expensive garments
to those who came to him from the rout, as well as giving deadly poison to his
friends to carry about with them, in case any of them should fall into the
enemy's hands. From there he marched into Armenia to Tigranes. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 32. s. 8,9. 5:201}
4414. Tigranes was pestered by the envoys from Mithridates but would not
receive Mithridates, instead throwing his envoys into prison. He pretended that
Mithridates was responsible for his son's rebellion. Since his hopes were thus
frustrated, Mithridates crossed over the Euphrates River and fled into Colchis
which had formerly been subject to him. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
15. (101) 2:431} {*Dio, l. 36. (50) 3:85} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 32.
s. 9. 5:203} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 28. 5:425} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 32. s. 9. 5:203}
4415. Mithridates did not stop and on the fourth day he crossed the Euphrates
River. They armed themselves for three days and assigned the troops he had with
him or who came to him. He came to Chotene, the chief town in Armenia. The
Choteneans and Iberians had tried to impede his march with slings and arrows but
he was able to beat off their attack. Then he advanced to the Absarus River.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (101) 2:431}
4416. Pompey sent out troops to pursue Mithridates but he had crossed the
Phasis River and escaped. So Pompey built a city at the same site where he had
won his victory between the two rivers which had their source in the same
mountain. These were the Euphrates and Araxes Rivers, located in Lesser
Armenia, and he called the city, Nicopolis which means Victory. With his
soldiers' consent, he gave this city to those who were old or lame, sick or
wounded, or who had been disbanded. Also many of the neighbouring people moved
there and the Nicopolitans lived according to the customs of the Cappadocians.
{*Dio, l. 36. (50) 3:85,87} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 28. 5:425}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (105) 2:441} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (115) 2:463} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.}
4417. Tigranes, the father, advanced against Tigranes, his son, who had been
left alone to besiege Artaxata and defeated him. First, he fled toward
Mithridates, his grandfather. But when he heard that he too had been defeated
and was more likely to be in need of help than in a position to help him,
Tigranes defected to the Romans. {*Dio, l. 36. (51) 3:87} He was willing to
help them, even though he was Mithridates' grandson by his daughter. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (104) 2:439} He met Pompey at the Araxes
River and guided Pompey and his army into Armenia against his father who was
considered a confederate of Mithridates. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 33.
s. 1. 5:203} {*Dio, l. 36. (51) 3:87} They went to Artaxata to the court of
Tigranes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (104) 2:437}
4418. When Tigranes, the father, found out about this, he was filled with great
alarm. When he heard that Pompey was of a gentle and pleasant nature, he sent a
herald to him through whose agency he turned over Mithridates' envoys whom he
had imprisoned. His son prevented him from obtaining any tolerable conditions
and Pompey still crossed the Araxes River and approached Artaxata. At length,
Tigranes surrendered the city and the entire garrison that was in it. With his
friends and kindred, he went out to meet Pompey without so much as sending a
herald ahead of them. He surrendered all his rights to him and appealed for
justice against his son. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 33. s. 2-4. 5:203}
{*Dio, l. 36. (52) 3:87,89} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15.
(104) 2:437,439} [K238]
4419. So that he might appear deserving of respect and compassion in Pompey's
eyes, he said he would retain a mediocre position, somewhere between his former
dignity and his present misery. He had taken off his gown that was half white
and his royal robe of purple but still wore his diadem and the ornaments for his
head. {*Dio, l. 36. (52) 3:89} When Pompey sent the captains and officers of
his cavalry to meet and honour him, Tigranes' friends, who were with him, fled
for they worried about their safety because they had sent no heralds ahead of
them. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (104) 2:439} [E584]
4420. When Tigranes came to Pompey's camp, which was sixteen miles away from
Artaxata, two lictors from Pompey came to him and ordered him to get off his
horse. For no man alive had ever been observed entering a Roman camp on
horseback and he had entered the works themselves, according to the customs of
his country. Tigranes obeyed unbuckling his sword and handed it over to them.
{Eutropius, l. 6.} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 33. s. 3. 5:203} {*Dio,
l. 36. (52) 3:89} Pompey saw him enter on foot after he had thrown away his
crown and prostrate himself on the ground according to the custom of the
barbarians. Touched with compassion, Pompey ran over to him, caught him by the
hand, lifted him up and replaced the crown that he had thrown aside. Pompey
ordered him to sit down on one side of him and his son on the other side, but
Tigranes' son did not rise up to greet his father, nor show him any respect.
{*Cicero, Pro Sestio, l. 1. c. 27. 12:113,115} {Eutropius, l. 6.}
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 33. s. 3-6. 5:203,205} {*Dio, l. 36.
(52,53) 3:89,91} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (104) 2:439}
{*Plutarch, Lucullus and Cimon, l. 1. c. 3. s. 3,4. 2:619}
4421. Tigranes surrendered himself and his kingdom to Pompey for he had
previously stated that there was no man in Rome, or any other country, to whom
he would have surrendered, other than to Pompey. He said that he would be
content with whatever happened to him, whether it be good or bad. He also said
that it was no disparagement to be conquered by him, whom it was a sin to
conquer, nor was it dishonourable to submit to him, whom fortune had exalted
above everyone. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 37. s. 3-5. 1:129,131} He
and his son were later invited to supper by Pompey but the son excused himself
and thereby gave Pompey a reason to be offended at him. {*Dio, l. 36. (52,53)
3:89}
4422. The next day, after their disputes had been heard, Pompey restored the
kingdom of Armenia (the ancient possession of his forefathers) to Tigranes, the
elder. Strabo said that he added the greatest and best part of Mesopotamia but
took away the countries Tigranes had gained in the war. {*Strabo, l. 16. c.
1. s. 24. 7:231,233} He imposed a fine on him of six thousand talents of
silver to be paid to the people of Rome because he had waged war with them
without a cause. He gave his son the command of Gordyene and Sophene, with the
freedom of joining the rest of Armenia to it when his father died. He gave the
treasure in Sophene (a country in the borders of Armenia) to the father,
otherwise he would not be able to pay his fine. {*Cicero, Pro Sestio, l. 1.
c. 27. 12:113,115} {Eutropius, l. 6.} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 33. s.
5,6. 5:205} {*Dio, l. 36. (53) 3:89,91} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 15. (104,105) 2:439,441} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 37. s. 3-5.
1:129,131} {*Plutarch, Lucullus and Cimon, l. 1. c. 3. s. 3,4. 2:619}
4423. Tigranes, the father, was very pleased about these conditions and the
fact that he had been called a king by the Romans. He left and went through
Cappadocia, some regions of Cilicia and all of Syria and Phoenicia, from the
Euphrates River to the sea. He had controlled these provinces, together with
part of Cilicia, after he had driven out Antiochus Pius. {Eutropius, l. 6.}
{*Livy, l. 101. 14:125} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 33. s. 4-6.
5:203,205} {*Dio, l. 36. (53) 3:89,91} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
15. (104,105) 2:439,441} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 37. s. 3-5.
1:129,131} [K239]
4424. The younger Tigranes was badly disappointed and plotted to escape.
Pompey was aware of this and restrained him but with liberty to move around. He
sent messengers to those who kept the money to demand it for Tigranes, the
elder. They refused and stated they only took orders from the younger Tigranes,
to whom they thought this country belonged. The younger Tigranes was sent to
the citadel but was shut out. Against his will, he ordered them to open to him
but the keepers refused and said he was only giving the order because Pompey was
forcing him to do so. Displeased, Pompey put the younger Tigranes in chains and
finally obtained the treasure for his father. {*Dio, l. 36. (53) 3:91}
4425. The Armenians, who had deserted the king on his journey to the Roman
camp, asked his son, who was staying with Pompey, to dispose of his father but
the son was taken and put in irons. However, while he was bound, he used his
messengers to persuade the Parthians to fight the Romans and pretended he had
been imprisoned for the triumph. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15.
(105) 2:441}
4426. After the father received his money, he handed over a greater portion of
money than had been agreed on by Pompey. He freely gave every soldier fifty
drachmas or, as Strabo said, a hundred and fifty or, according to Plutarch, half
a mina of silver. Each centurion received a thousand drachmas or, as Plutarch
said, ten minas of silver. Each tribune received ten thousand drachmas or, as
Strabo and Plutarch have it, a talent, which is six thousand drachmas. Because
of this, he was counted among the friends and confederates of the people of
Rome. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 14. s. 10. 5:331} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 33. s. 5-6. 5:205} {*Dio, l. 36. (53) 3:91} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 15. (104) 2:439} According to his custom, Pompey delivered to the
quaestor for the public use, the money that was owing to the people of Rome.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 37. s. 5. 1:131}
4427. Pompey gave Ariobarzanes the whole kingdom of Cappadocia, Sophene and
Gordyene, which he had first assigned to the younger Tigranes. This area was
later known as the province of Cappadocia. [E585] Pompey also gave him
Castabala or Gabala, a city of Cilicia, along with some others, which
Ariobarzanes later left to his sons. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
15. (105) 2:441}
3939a AM, 4648 JP, 66 BC
4428. A few days before Gaius Julius Caesar assumed the office of aedile, he
was suspected of involvement in a conspiracy with Marcus Crassus, the consul.
Publius Sulla and Lucius Antronius were also suspected, when their term as
consuls expired. They were condemned for having tried to overthrow the republic
at the beginning of the year. (January 1 corresponded to October on the Julian
calendar, when Cotta and Torquatus entered the consulship.) They had planned to
invade the Senate and kill whomever they pleased, while Crassus was to become
the dictator and Caesar would be called the master of his cavalry. The whole
state would be run as they saw fit and the consulship would be restored to Sulla
and Antronius. It was with reference to this that Cicero, in a letter to Axius,
stated that when Caesar was consul, he settled the kingdom as he had planned to
do when he was an aedile. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1,2. 1:45}
4429. Pompey left Armenia under the command of Afranius and pursued Mithridates
through the countries around the Caucasus. Of these, the largest countries
belonged to the Albanians and Iberians, who allowed him to pass through when he
first came. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 34. s. 1,2. 5:205} Livy,
however, said that Pompey fought and overcame them because they refused to allow
him access. {*Livy, l. 101. 14:125} [K240] This battle is mentioned briefly
by Plutarch and Appian, whereas Dio gives more details. Pompey divided his army
into three parts and took his winter quarters near the Cyrnus River in the
country around Tanais. In spite of this, he did not have peace. Oroeses, or
Oroezes, the king of the Albanians, inhabited the country above the Cyrnus or
Cyrus River. Florus, Eutropius and Orosius called him Orodes. {*Florus, l. 1.
c. 40. s. 27,28. 1:187,189} {Eutropius, l. 6.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.}
Oroeses advanced against the Romans, partly to gratify his friend, the younger
Tigranes, but mostly because he feared the Romans would invade Albania. He
hoped that if he made a surprise attack in the winter, they would not have
pitched their camp all in one place. Because he wanted to do some brave
exploit, he and his army advanced against the Romans in the midst of their
Saturnalia. He himself marched against Metellus Celer who had Tigranes with
him. Others went against Pompey, while still others went against the commander
of the third army, under Lucius Flaccus, because the king wanted to attack all
three at once, so they could not help one another. {*Dio, l. 36. (54) 3:93}
Appian stated that Oroeses, the king of the Albanians, and Otoces (or rather
Artoces), the king of the Iberians, set an ambush for Pompey near the Cyrnus
River with seventy thousand men. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15.
(103) 2:435,437} Plutarch stated that at least forty thousand barbarians crossed
the river against Pompey in the Roman Saturnalia festivals, which were
celebrated in the month of December. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 34. s.
2-5. 5:205,207} (In that year they occurred in September, or the Julian
October, that is, at the beginning of autumn, or winter, according to those that
divide the year into two parts only, summer and winter. This we saw in
Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War.)
4430. Metellus defeated Oroeses. Flaccus made an inner ditch around his camp
because the first ditch around his camp was too large to be defended. The
enemy, thinking he did this out of fear, advanced into the outer ditch. Flaccus
made an unexpected sally and killed many of them, both in the conflict and in
the chase. Pompey, aware of the barbarian attacks on the two camps, attacked
those who were marching against him and defeated them. He went directly against
Oroeses himself, but could not find him because after Oroeses had been beaten by
Metellus Celer and had heard that the others had also been defeated, he had
fled. {*Dio, l. 36. (54) 3:93}
4431. Pompey camped where they had crossed the Cyrnus River. He finally agreed
to their supplications and granted them peace but planned to revenge their
attacks by invading their country. Since it was winter, this would be difficult
to do. {*Dio, l. 36. (54) 3:95} Plutarch wrote that Pompey routed a large
number of them and killed nine thousand, while taking ten thousand prisoners.
Later, their king sent envoys and Pompey made peace with him. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 34. s. 2-5. 5:205,207}
4432. Mithridates wintered in Dioscurias, where the isthmus between the Black
and the Caspian Seas begins. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15.
(101) 2:431} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 2. s. 16. 5:209}
4433. Antipater urged Hyrcanus to flee to Aretas, the king of the Arabians, and
promised to help him. He was barely able to convince him but Hyrcanus did
finally go. [K241] Arabia bordered on Judea and Antipater was sent ahead to the
king to get his promise that he would not turn Hyrcanus over to his enemies. As
soon as the king had given his word, Antipater quickly returned to Hyrcanus at
Jerusalem. He took Hyrcanus and stealing with him from the city by night, they
came, after a long journey, to a city called Petra where Aretas' palace was.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 1. s. 4. (15-17) 7:457}
4434. Antipater was very close to Aretas and requested that he would restore
Judea to Hyrcanus. [E586] His constant urgings and his presents finally
convinced him to help Hyrcanus. If the king would help him get his kingdom
back, Hyrcanus promised he would give him back a country with twelve cities
which his father Alexander Jannaeus had taken away from the Arabians. These
cities were: Medeba, Libba, Dabaloth, Arabatha, Agalla, Athone, Zoara, Oronain,
Gabalis, Arydda, Alusa and Orybda. (The Loeb edition of Josephus lists many
spelling variations for the names of these cities. Oronain could be Oronaim.
Editor.) {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 1. s. 4. (16-18) 7:457,459}
3939b AM, 4649 JP, 65 BC
4435. Ptolemy Alexander II, king of Egypt and son of Ptolemy Alexander I, was
expelled by the Alexandrians. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 11. s. 1.
1:47} Ptolemy, a natural son, replaced him and he was the son of Ptolemy
Lathurus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 39.} He was called the New Dionysus or Bacchus,
and Auletes because he followed the ways of Dionysus in a most effeminate way.
He put on women's clothes and danced to the cymbals in the celebrations of
Bacchus. {*Lucian, Slander, l. 1. (16) 1:379} He also practised their piping
so much that he boasted about it. He was not ashamed to celebrate contests in
his court in which he contested with others. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11.
8:43,45}
4436. Aretas, the king of the Arabians, defeated Aristobulus with an army of
fifty thousand men. After this battle, many of Aristobulus' men ran away to
Hyrcanus so that Aristobulus found himself abandoned and fled to Jerusalem.
Aretas brought his army with him and besieged him in the temple. The people
helped Hyrcanus while only the priests were loyal to Aristobulus. Aretas
continued the siege very vigorously with both the Jewish and Arabian armies.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 2. s. 1. (19,20) 7:459}
4437. These things took place before the time of the feast of unleavened bread.
The leaders of the Jews abandoned their country and fled into Egypt. Onias in
Judea was an honest and just man who, in a great drought, had prevailed for rain
through the piety of his prayers. When he foresaw the civil war that was to
follow, he hid himself in a cave but the Jews caught him and brought him into
their camp. They wanted him to curse Aristobulus and his side, just as he had
prayed for rain. For a long time he refused. Finally, the multitude compelled
him and he stood in their midst and prayed:
"Oh God, you who are the king of the whole universe, for as much as these that
are with me are your people and those who are besieged are your priests, I
beseech you that you would neither hear these against them nor them praying
against these."
4438. After this, some wicked men of the Jews surrounded him and stoned him to
death. God immediately revenged this wickedness and punished the slaughter of
Onias in this way. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 2. s. 1. (21-24)
7:459,461}
4439. While Aristobulus was besieged with his priests, the feast of the
passover arrived, during which it was the custom for them to make many
sacrifices to their God. [K242] Because of the siege, they asked the Jews who
were besieging them, if they would give them sacrifices at whatever price they
wanted to set. When they demanded a thousand drachmas for every ox, Aristobulus
and his priests willingly agreed to this and let down their money from the wall.
But when the Jews below had the money, they gave them no animals for the
sacrifice in return. This was the height of impiety in that they had broken
their faith with men and robbed God of his due honour. But the priests who had
been defrauded prayed to God that he would take vengeance on them and this soon
happened. A violent storm caused extensive damage to their grain so that a
bushel of wheat was sold for fifteen drachmas. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
2. s. 1. (21-24) 7:459,461}
4440. Pompey waged war with the Iberians. They very much wanted to gain the
favour of Mithridates and to drive out Pompey. Up to that point, they had never
been subject either to the Medes or to the Persians, to Alexander or the
Macedonians. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 34. s. 4. 5:207} When Lucius
Cotta and Lucius Torquatus were consuls, Artoces, the king of the Iberians,
feared that Pompey might attack him. So he sent envoys to Pompey on the
pretence of treating for peace but in the meantime prepared to make a surprise
attack on them. Pompey was aware of this and attacked their country before
Artoces had sufficiently prepared himself and secured the passes. {*Strabo, l.
11. c. 3. s. 5.5:221} Before Artoces knew anything of his coming, Pompey had
advanced as far as the city of Acropolis, located in the passes of the Caucasus
Mountains. It was fortified for the defence of that particular pass. Artoces,
having lost the opportunity of strengthening himself, became greatly alarmed.
He crossed the Cyrnus River and burned the bridge. When the city saw him flee
and realised that they were beaten, they surrendered the town. By this means,
Pompey gained control of the passes and put a garrison over them. He marched
from there and subdued the whole country on that side of the river. {*Dio, l.
37. (1) 3:99}
4441. Pompey was about to cross the Cyrnus River, when Artoces begged a truce
through his envoys. He offered to make him a bridge, as well as furnishing him
with all the supplies he needed. This he did to obtain peace. [E587] As soon
as Pompey had crossed that river, Artoces promptly fled to the Pelorus River.
He ran from Pompey whom he had helped to cross the river when he might have
prevented his crossing. Aware of this, Pompey pursued him and when he caught up
to him, he fought and easily defeated him. Before the bowmen came to fight, he
had routed them. When Artoces had crossed the Pelorus River and burned that
bridge also, he fled while the remainder were cut off. Some died in the battle
and some attempted to cross the river on foot. Many fled to the woods and held
out for some days by shooting arrows from the large trees. But Pompey had the
trees cut down and they also died. {*Dio, l. 37. (2) 3:99,101} Plutarch
reported that nine thousand were killed in the battle and more than ten thousand
were taken prisoner. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 34. s. 5. 5:207}
4442. Artoces sent envoys to Pompey to sue for peace. They brought gifts of a
bed, a table and a chair, all of gold, which he begged Pompey to accept. Pompey
took the presents and turned them over to the quaestors to be recorded in the
public records. [K243] He refused to give them peace unless Artoces was
prepared to hand over his sons as hostages. Artoces hesitated until in the
summertime, the Romans had found a ford in the river, which they crossed with
much trouble, even though no one hindered their crossing. Then Artoces sent his
sons for hostages and made peace with Pompey. {*Dio, l. 37. (2) 3:101}
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 34. s. 3,4. 5:207} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40.
s. 28,29. 1:187,189} Eutropius stated that Pompey defeated Arthaces, the king
of Iberia in battle and received him into favour while setting some conditions.
Sextus Rufus and Jonandes stated that both Iberia and their king Arthaces,
surrendered to Pompey. However, Orosius stated that he defeated Artoces, the
king of the Iberians, and subdued all of Iberia. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.}
4443. Mithridates travelled through the country of the Scythians, who were
offended by his presence. Some he persuaded to help him, while others had to be
forced. He went to the Heniochi but the Archaeans tried to resist him and were
defeated. Later, he entered into the countries around Lake Maeotis (Sea of
Azov) and defeated many of their commanders. Because of the fame of his
achievements, he was warmly welcomed. He gave and received many gifts and
formed marriage alliances with the most powerful men there. {*Livy, l. 101.
14:125} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (102) 2:433} {*Dio, l.
36. (50) 3:85} Strabo also referred to this place. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 2.
s. 1. 5:191} The Heniochi had four kings at the time when Mithridates fled
through their country into Bosphorus from Pontus. He gave up any hopes of
passing through the territory of the Zygians because the way was difficult and
the people were fierce. Therefore, he was frequently forced to follow the sea
and march along the shore with much trouble until he finally arrived among the
Achaeans who received him. (Appian said they resisted him.) There he ended his
journey of almost five hundred miles, which had begun at Phasis. Strabo listed
the countries he passed through, based on those writers who wrote about the
affairs of Mithridates. The countries, mentioned in this order were: the
Achaeans, the Zygians, the Heniochi, the Cercetans, the Moschians and the
Colchians. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 2. s. 1. 5:191} Hypsicratea, his queen,
went through all these uncivilised countries with an indefatigable mind and
body, following her distressed husband. To enable her to share in his labour
and pains more easily, she shaved her hair. She was accustomed to ride on
horseback and bear arms. Faithful in all his distresses, she was Mithridates'
greatest and most pleasant asset. He seems to have wandered with his entire
fortune and family while his wife accompanied him in his banishment. {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 4. c. 6. ext. 2 1:409}
4444. Machares, the son of Mithridates, reigned in Cimmerian Bosphorus and
favoured the Romans. He heard that in a very short time his father had overcome
so many fierce and warlike countries and crossed the borders of Scythia itself,
which had never been crossed before. He sent envoys to his father to let him
know that it was of necessity that he had been forced to agree to a friendship
with the Romans. Knowing his father's animosity, he fled into the Pontic
Chersonesus and burned his ships to prevent his father from following him. When
Mithridates procured other ships and sent them after his son, his son killed
himself. Mithridates killed all the friends that he had sent with his son as
companions when Machares had first gone off into his kingdom. Mithridates sent
his son's other friends away unharmed. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
15. (102) 2:435} However, Dio stated that the father corrupted his son's
friends with promises of safety and with bribes, persuading them to kill his
son. {*Dio, l. 36. (50) 3:85} [K244] Orosius said that Machares was killed by
his father. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 5.}
4445. Pompey made his journey into the northern parts of Scythia, navigating by
the stars as if he had been at sea and attacked Colchis. He camped at the foot
of the Caucasus Mountains and ordered their king, Orodes, to come down into the
plains. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 28. 1:189} [E588] Florus said that
Orodes was king of the Alcans, as did Eutropius and Orosius. For Orodes refers
to the name Olthaces, who, according to Appian, was the king of Colchis and who
was led in triumph by Pompey. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17.
(117) 2:467} Appian and Eutropius stated that Aristarchus was made king of
Colchis in the place of Orodes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17.
(114) 2:463} {Eutropius, l. 6.}
4446. Plutarch said that Servilius met Pompey at the Phasis River with the
fleet which had been left for the defence of Pontus. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 34. s. 5. 5:207} The pursuit of Mithridates, who had hidden himself in
the countries around Bosphorus and Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), had caused him a
great deal of trouble. Pompey went to Colchis in order to see the places of the
journeys of the Argonauts, Dioscuri and Hercules. He especially wanted to see
the place where Prometheus was said to be bound to the Caucasus Mountains.
These sights drew him from the neighbouring countries. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (103) 2:435} He also won Colchis and the hostile
countries to his side, partly by fair words and partly through fear. He
realised that his journey would be difficult by land, through many warlike and
unknown countries, but that it would be worse if he were to go by sea, because
the inhabitants were hostile and the country lacked ports. So Pompey commanded
his ships to stay there and watch Mithridates to prevent him from escaping and
to block all provisions going to him. Pompey headed off against the Albanians,
but took a roundabout way, so that they would think they were safe and he could
come upon them suddenly and thereby easily defeat them. However, Plutarch
stated that the Albanians finally revolted and that Pompey was incensed with
anger and a desire for revenge. He marched against them immediately but he then
returned to Armenia and crossed the Cyrnus River which was fordable at that time
of the year. {*Dio, l. 37. (3) 3:103} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 35. s.
1. 5:207}
4447. He crossed this river with great difficulty. The barbarians had
fortified it with long stretches of palisades. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
35. s. 1,2. 5:207,209} At a spot where the river was calm, Pompey first
crossed over with his cavalry, followed by his train and then his foot soldiers.
He used the horses to break the force of the river with their bodies and if the
current should happen to carry any part of the train away, it would land against
those who were escorting the train and so be carried no farther. {*Dio, l. 37.
(3) 3:103} Since he had come by a long, dry and rocky route, he filled ten
thousand water bottles before continuing on his journey. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 35. s. 2. 5:209}
4448. Finally, with no resistance from the enemy, he arrived at the Cambyses
River. His whole army was badly affected by the heat and by thirst, although
they had marched mainly in the night. He had selected guides from among the
prisoners but they had not shown him the easiest way. Moreover, the river
proved harmful too. The water was extremely cold and they drank too much, which
made them quite sick. They did not rest until they came to the Abas River. For
all of that time, they carried only water with them, as the inhabitants
generously supplied their needs. For this reason, they marched through and did
them no harm. {*Dio, l. 37. (3) 3:103,105}
4449. When they had crossed the river, they heard that Oroeses was coming
toward them. {*Dio, l. 37. (4) 3:105} He had sixty thousand foot soldiers in
his army and twelve thousand, or twenty-two thousand, cavalry (according to
Strabo). Most of these were poorly armed and clothed only with the skins of
wild beasts. They were under the command of Cosis, the king's brother.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 35. s. 2. 5:209} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 4.
s. 5. 5:227} Pompey wanted to draw them into a battle before they realised the
numbers of the Romans. First, he drew up his cavalry and told them what to do.
Behind them he placed his foot soldiers. He had them lie down and cover
themselves with their shields, telling them to lie still without making any
noise. In this way, Oroeses was totally unaware of them until he was engaged in
battle. He despised the cavalry believing them to be all alone and attacked
them. In an instant they fled, as they had been ordered to do by Pompey, and
Oroeses chased them furiously. The foot soldiers rose up suddenly and made a
space to allow the cavalry to retreat through their midst. Charging the enemy,
they surrounded a large number of them and killed them. The rest were killed by
the cavalry, who came around on the right hand and the left and attacked their
rear. So the cavalry also killed a large number. The enemy fled to the woods
but were killed when these were set on fire. The Romans shouted to them to
remember what had happened at the Saturnalia. At around that time, as was
mentioned previously, the Albanians had laid an ambush and made a surprise
attack on the Romans. {*Dio, l. 37. (4) 3:105,107} [K245]
4450. In the battle, Cosis, the king's brother, charged Pompey himself and with
his javelin struck him through the joint of his breastplate. Pompey ran him
through with his spear and killed him. It was reported that in this battle
certain Amazons, who lived in the mountains beside the Thermodon River, came to
help the barbarians. While the Romans were taking the plunder in the field,
they found some Amazon shields and buskins, but found no women. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 35. s. 2-4. 5:209} [E589] Appian also claimed that this
battle and the previous one with the Albanians were one and the same battle.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 15. (103) 2:435,437} However, Orosius,
like Eutropius and Sextus Rufus, stated that Pompey defeated Oroeses, the king
of the Albanians, and his commanders. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.} (This paragraph
in both the English and Latin copy is almost unreadable in the original.
Editor.)
4451. Pompey destroyed the country all around there. Finally, he was persuaded
to accept a peace from Orodes, or Oroeses, who sent Pompey a golden bed and
other gifts to make peace. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 28. 1:189} {*Dio, l.
37. (5) 3:107} {Eutropius, l. 6.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 4.} They commemorated
their Italian origins because they had followed Hercules from Mount Albanus and
so they now greeted Pompey as one of the fathers of their country. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42. c. 3.} Pompey made peace with the Albanians and all the
inhabitants along the Caucasus Mountains near the Caspian Sea, even as far as
the mountain that was in Pontus. These people had requested peace through their
envoys. {*Dio, l. 37. (5) 3:107} Strabo wrote that, from all regions
including the Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian Sea, Pompey warred
against the Iberians and Albanians. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 1. s. 6. 5:187}
Pompey wanted to see the Hyrcanian or the Caspian Sea. [K246] That plan was
thwarted by the number of deadly snakes in the area when Pompey was only three
days into his journey from there, so he went instead into Lesser Armenia.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 33. s. 3. 5:215} (This paragraph in both the
original English and Latin copies is almost unreadable. Editor.)
4452. After Pompey had crossed the Taurus Mountains, he advanced to Antiochus
Commagene and finally received him into favour. He had surrendered to Pompey at
Seleucia, a citadel in Mesopotamia with everything that he had captured in his
excursion there. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (106) 2:441}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (117) 2:469} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (121) 2:475} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 3. 7:241}
Pompey defeated Darius and the Medes, either because he had recently helped
Antiochus or because he had previously helped Tigranes. Appian stated that
Darius and the Medes were counted among the princes and peoples that Pompey
defeated. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (106) 2:441} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (117) 2:469} Velleius Paterculus numbered
Media among the countries Pompey had successfully invaded. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 40. s. 1. 1:135} However, Plutarch stated that Pompey
only sent a polite reply to the kings of the Medes and Elymeans who had sent
envoys to him. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 36. s. 2. 5:209}
4453. Phraates, the king of the Parthians, saw Pompey warring so successfully
that Armenia and the part of Pontus adjoining his country ended up being taken
by Pompey's commanders. Gabinius had crossed the Euphrates River and was
advancing toward the Tigris River. Phraates was frightened and sent envoys to
Pompey to renew the peace with the Romans that they had previously. But the
embassy was unsuccessful, because Pompey, elated with his present successes, had
hopes of future conquests and for this reason had little respect for Phraates.
Among his arrogant demands was an order that the territory of Corduene, or
Gordyene, be given to him. This was a country disputed between Phraates and
Tigranes and because the envoys did not have the authority to act on this, they
did not reply. So Pompey wrote to Phraates. {*Dio, l. 37. (5) 3:107}
4454. In his letters, Pompey neglected to give Phraates the title of King of
Kings. Everyone else gave him this title, including the Romans, and Pompey
later gave this title to the captive Tigranes when celebrating his triumph over
him at Rome. He addressed him only as a King. Phraates scorned the letter also
because his kingdom had been plundered. Pompey did not wait for a reply, but
immediately sent Afranius with an army into Gordyene. They defeated the
Parthians who had invaded it and pursued them as far as Arbela, thus restoring
the country to Tigranes. {*Dio, l. 37. (6) 3:109} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 36. s. 2. 5:209,211}
4455. Josephus stated that Gabinius was sent by Pompey from Armenia into Syria.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 6. s. 2. (127) 2:61} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 14. c. 2. s. 3. (29,30) 7:463} We believe this was Lesser Armenia,
where, according to Plutarch, Pompey retired when he had finished the war with
the Albanians. Josephus was misled by the similarity of the names and
mistakenly thought it was Greater Armenia, which is why he wrote that Gabinius
was sent into Syria at the same time that Pompey was fighting with Tigranes.
This would not have been possible unless, with Appian, he made Tigranes' defeat
come after Pompey's expedition against the Albanians. But from Livy, Velleius,
Florus, Plutarch, Eutropius and Orosius we have shown this defeat to have been
before, not after, that expedition.
4456. As soon as Scaurus came to Damascus, he found that it had recently been
captured by Metellus and Lollius. So he left there and when he had been
informed that something was happening in Judea, he went there because it was
convenient for him. As soon as he had entered the country, he met envoys from
Hyrcanus who had besieged the temple of Jerusalem, as well as from his brother
Aristobulus, who was besieged there. Both asked for his help. When Aristobulus
offered four hundred talents, Hyrcanus offered him an equal amount. [K247] But
Scaurus preferred Aristobulus and when he received his money, he sent envoys to
Hyrcanus and Aretas, the Arabian king. They were being helped by many of the
Nabateans although these were not very fitted for the war. In the name of the
Romans and of Pompey, Scaurus commanded them to lift the siege. [E590]
Frightened, Aretas withdrew from Judea into Philadelphia and Scaurus returned to
Damascus. Aristobulus gathered together all the forces he had, planning to
punish Aretas and Hyrcanus. He fought with them at Papyron and defeated them.
About six thousand of the enemy were killed, including Phallion, the brother of
Antipater. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 2. s. 3. (29-33) 7:463,465}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3. (128-130) 2:61}
4457. Pompey returned from Armenia and met with certain kings and rulers.
Plutarch stated that they were twelve barbarian kings. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 38. s. 2. 5:215} He heard their complaints and pronounced his
judgments. He confirmed some in their kingdoms, increasing some kingdoms while
removing others from their kingdoms. {*Dio, l. 37. (7a) 3:113} Valerius
Maximus referred to this famous time in history in recording the following.
4458. Ariobarzanes turned over his kingdom of Cappadocia to his son in the
presence of Gnaeus Pompey. Ariobarzanes had taken the throne at Pompey's
invitation. But when he sat on the throne, he saw his son placed with his
secretary in a place inferior to his dignity and fortune. Because he could not
stand to see his son beneath himself, he arose from his seat and put the crown
upon his head, urging him to go up to the throne. The young man at once began
to weep and as his body trembled, the crown fell to the ground. He could not
bring himself to ascend to the throne and even when his father urged him to
receive the kingdom, he refused. This matter was not settled until Pompey
concurred with his father. Pompey called his son King and ordered him to take
the crown and sit in the ivory chair. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 5. c. 7. ext.
2. 1:531}
4459. From there, Pompey went into Coelosyria and Phoenicia, which had recently
been liberated from their kings and had been invaded by the Arabians and
Tigranes. He stayed there, although Antiochus tried in vain to recapture them.
Pompey subdued them and made them into one province. They received their laws
from him and were administered according to the custom of the people of Rome.
{*Dio, l. 37. (7a) 3:113}
4460. Justin, Appian and Porphyry stated that this was Antiochus Pius, the son
of Antiochus Cyzicenus. {Justin, Trogus, l. 40. c. 2.} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (107) 2:443} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
227.} However, Appian had earlier stated more correctly that he was Antiochus
Asiaticus, the son of Antiochus Pius and Selene. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11.
c. 8. (49) 2:197} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69,70) 2:235,237}
Four years earlier, either by favour or consent of Lucullus, he had been given
permission to acquire the kingdom of Syria which Tigranes had abandoned. While
Pompey was busy with other matters, Antiochus kept it for one whole year.
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69,70) 2:235,237} This was after
Tigranes had very rightly surrendered what he had in Syria to the people of
Rome. Although he asked for his father's kingdom in Pompey's presence, Pompey
did not give it to him, even though he had done nothing against the people of
Rome. It was, of course, easy for such a large army to oppress an unarmed
prince. [K248] However, another reason was given, namely that it seemed unfair
that, after the ancient kings had been defeated by Tigranes' armies and been
driven from Syria, the kingdom should go to the defeated Seleucians rather than
to the Romans who had defeated them. Pompey did not think it was right to give
Antiochus what he had been unable to defend when invaded by the Jews and
Arabians. {Justin, Trogus, l. 40. c. 2.} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c.
8. (49) 2:197} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 11. (69,70) 2:237}
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 5. c. 7. ext. 2. 1:531}
4461. When Julius Caesar was an aedile, he won the favour of the people and
tried, through some of the tribunes, to acquire the government of Egypt by an
order from the people. There was a reason for this command, in that the
Alexandrians had driven out their prince, who was an associate and friend of the
Romans. But the Senate disallowed this commission by the people because a large
number of the aristocratic party opposed it. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c.
11. 1:47,49}
4462. Pompey was called into Egypt by Alexander II, who had been expelled, to
quell some rebellions there. He was presented with many gifts of money, as well
as clothes for his whole army. But Pompey did not go there, either out of
consideration for the envy of his enemies, or because the Sibylline oracle
forbade it, or for some other reasons. {See note on 3948a AM.
<<4658>>}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (114) 2:461}
4463. Pompey came to Damascus and moved around in Coelosyria. At that time,
envoys came to him from every place in Syria, Egypt and Judea. It appears that
it was at this same time that the twelve kings mentioned by Plutarch came to
him. Josephus mentioned this from Strabo's history: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 3. s. 1. (34-36) 7:465,467}
"An embassy came from Egypt with a crown worth four thousand pieces of gold.
Judea sent a vine, or a garden, which was a piece of workmanship entitled The
Delight. We saw this gift at Rome, where it was dedicated in the temple of
Jupiter Capitoline with this inscription: From Alexander, the king of the Jews.
It was valued at five hundred talents." [E591]
4464. This present, which had been placed in the temple at Jerusalem by
Alexander Jannaeus and which was sent to Pompey by his son Aristobulus, was
described by Pliny, in connection with the record of his Acts of Pompey's
Triumphs, as follows: {*Pliny, l. 37. c. 6. (14) 10:175}
"It was a square mountain of gold, with deer, lions and every variety of fruit
on it and a golden vine entwined around it; and a grotto of pearls, on top of
which there was a sundial."
3940a AM, 4649 JP, 65 BC
4465. Envoys again came to Pompey from Judea: Antipater for Hyrcanus and
Nicomedes for Aristobulus. Aristobulus' envoy complained about Gabinius, who
had received three hundred talents of money and later about Scaurus, who had
received four hundred talents. In so doing, Aristobulus made these men his
enemies. Pompey commanded both parties, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, to appear
before him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 2. (37) 7:467}
4466. After the treaty between Pompey and Phraates came into effect, Afranius
came to Syria. He lost his way as he went on the journey and endured much
hardship because it was winter and supplies were scarce. He would have died,
had he not been rescued by the Macedonian colony of Carrhae who helped him on
his journey. {*Dio, l. 37. (5) 3:107,109}
4467. Pompey made his winter quarters at Aspis in Pontus and received into
favour all the places in the country which had previously been hostile, a fact
we gather from the fragments of Dio. {*Dio, l. 37. (7) 3:113} The reader may
easily compare them and deduce that this happened in the consulship of Lucius
Caesar and Gaius Figulus. {*Dio, l. 37. (6) 3:109} [K249] Pompey did not
touch any of Mithridates' concubines who were brought to him but sent them back
to their parents and kindred. They were mainly the wives and daughters of
rulers and commanders. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 36. s. 2. 5:211}
4468. Dio stated that Stratonice was found in the citadel of Symphorian, or
Sinoria, and brought to Pompey. She was the daughter of a musician and one of
the king's wives or concubines. She was furious at having been abandoned by
Mithridates while he was wandering about Pontus. She sent most of the garrison
out for provisions and let the Romans in, on this single condition. If Pompey
captured her son Xiphares, he was to keep him safe for his mother. She knew of
a large treasury, that was hidden underground in numerous iron-bound brass
vessels and told Pompey where it was. He only selected the items which he
thought would add most splendour to the temple and to his triumph, then gave the
rest to Stratonice. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 36. s. 3-7. 5:211,213}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (107) 2:443,445} {*Dio, l. 37.
(7) 3:113}
4469. When Mithridates found out about this, he had her son Xiphares killed
while his mother watched from the other side of the river. He then threw away
his body without burial and refrained from all dutiful reverence in order to
make her repent of what she had done. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
16. (107) 2:445}
4470. Pompey also took that almost impregnable citadel, called Kainon Chorion,
or the New Place, where Mithridates had stored his most valuable things which
Pompey later dedicated to the Capitol. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 31.
5:429,431} Pompey took many of Mithridates' most secret records from there and
freely examined them to determine the numbers of Mithridates' troops and the
extent of his wealth. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 37. 5:213} Among the
records there were also some physical inventions of Mithridates which Pompey
ordered Lenaeus, a learned grammarian, to translate into Latin. {*Pliny, l.
25. c. 3. 7:139}
4471. Phraates sent envoys to Pompey, through whom he complained of the wrongs
he had received. Pompey had kept the younger Tigranes prisoner and Phraates
asked that his son-in-law be returned. He saw the Euphrates River as being the
boundary of his empire and warned Pompey against crossing it. Pompey replied
that Tigranes ought to be turned over to his father, rather than his
father-in-law, and that he would respect his boundaries. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 38. s. 2. 5:215} {*Dio, l. 37. (7) 3:111}
4472. In the spring, when Lucius Caesar and Gaius Figulus were consuls,
Phraates made an expedition against Tigranes. Even though he was defeated in
one battle, he later defeated his enemy. {*Dio, l. 37. (6) 3:109}
4473. At the beginning of spring, Pompey drew out his forces from their winter
quarters and marched into Damascus. On the way, he demolished a citadel in
Apamea which Antiochus Cyzicenus had fortified. Pompey also attacked the
country of Ptolemy Mennaeus, who was no less dangerous than Dionysius of
Tripolis, who had been allied to him and had been beheaded. Ptolemy redeemed
himself by payment of a thousand talents, which Pompey distributed among his
soldiers. Then Pompey also destroyed the citadel of Lysias, whose governor was
a Jew named Silas. After that, he marched past Heliopolis and Chalcis and
crossed the middle of the mountain. He came into Coelosyria from the rest of
Syria and arrived at Damascus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 2.
(38-40) 7:467,469}
4474. Pompey listened to the Jews and to Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, their
princes. [E592] [K250] They were at odds with each other, as their country was
with both of them. In their ancient laws, the Jews had a precept that they
should give obedience to the priests of God and refuse to be governed by kings.
These two men were of the priestly line but planned to change the government and
bring the people into servitude. Hyrcanus complained that his younger brother
had taken most of the country by force and invaded and usurped it. On land, he
had made hostile invasions on Hyrcanus' borders and at sea he had harbours for
his pirates. Antipater had persuaded more than a thousand of the leaders of the
Jews to confirm that what Hyrcanus said was true. On the other side,
Aristobulus pleaded that Hyrcanus had been removed because of his laziness and
that he was held in general contempt among the people of his own country. He
himself had been compelled to take over the government to prevent it from being
transferred to some other family. To attest to this, he called some insolent
young men who offended everybody by the fineness of their clothes, the exactness
of their hair and their other accoutrements. Their dress would have been much
more appropriate for a festive procession, than for a court. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 2. (41-45) 7:469-471}
4475. Pompey heard their cases and rebuked the violence of Aristobulus. He
dismissed them peaceably with the promise that he would come into their country
himself, as soon as he had settled the affairs of the Nabateans. In the
meantime, he urged them to be peaceful and treated Aristobulus with great
civility, fearing he might oppose Pompey's journey, if provoked. However he
gained no favour from Aristobulus, who had arrayed himself with as much
splendour as possible. Aristobulus did not like the way he was being treated,
because he thought it intolerable to endure anything beneath the majesty of a
king, so he left Diospolis and went to the town of Dium. From there, he went to
Judea to order his own affairs. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 2.
(41-45) 7:469-471} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 6. s. 4. (131,132)
2:61,63}
4476. When Ptolemy Alexander II was driven from Egypt, he went to Tyre and died
there. In his will, he left his kingdom of Egypt to the people of Rome. In his
first speech, made on the first day of his consulship, Cicero said this:
{*Cicero, Agrarian Law I, l. 1. c. 1. 6:343}
"The Decemviri said what was often spoken by many, that Alexander, the king, had
left his kingdom to the Romans in his last will. Will you therefore privately
give Alexandria to those whom you opposed publicly and fought with in battle?"
4477. In his second speech, he said more fully: {*Cicero, Agrarian Law II, l.
1. c. 16. 6:415,417}
"What about Alexandria and all Egypt, how secretly does it lie? How privately
is it kept? How obscurely reported to the Decemviri? Who of you are ignorant
of the fact that it is said that this kingdom was conferred on the Romans by
Alexander's last will? In this case I, though a Roman consul, am so far from
determining anything, that I withhold my opinion. For it seems to me no small
matter, not only to judge but to speak of this thing. I see him who will assert
the making of the will. I suppose there are still records in the Senate
concerning their possession of their heritage. After the time when Alexander
died, we sent envoys to Tyre for the restitution of the money that was disposed
of by us. This, I remember, I have often heard Lucius Philippus affirm in the
Senate. It is granted, almost by all sides, that he who rules at this time
(Ptolemy Auletes) is neither of the royal family nor of the honour of a king.
On the other side, it is said there is no will and that the people of Rome ought
not to appear covetous of every kingdom. It was the richness of the place and
the abundance of everything that would have attracted our citizens there.
Concerning so great an affair, Publius Rufus, with the rest of his colleagues on
the Decemviri, will judge." [K251]
4478. It was also reported that when Marcus Crassus, the censor, who tried to
make Egypt a tributary to the people of Rome, strongly opposed Lutatius Catulus,
his colleague in his office as censor, the dissension became so sharp that they
voluntarily laid down their offices and power. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c.
13. s. 1. 3:353}
4479. Pompey wanted to recover Syria and to pass through Arabia to the Persian
Gulf. In his pursuit of the Albanians, he had extended the Roman Empire almost
to the Hyrcanian or Caspian Sea, just as it was bounded by the Atlantic in the
west. Likewise, in his conquest in the east, he now wanted to extend it to the
Persian Gulf. He foresaw great difficulty in taking Mithridates, as he was more
troublesome in his flight than when he stood and fought him. He hoped to starve
him out by having his ships intercept merchants who traded into the Bosphorus
with Mithridates. He threatened them with death if he should catch them helping
Mithridates. Then, Pompey took most of his army and began his journey.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 38,39. 5:215}
4480. He invaded Coelosyria and Phoenicia. First, he overran Idumea and
Iturea. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (106) 2:443} {Eutropius,
l. 6.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 6.} These people lived in the hilly country around
Libanus (Lebanon), and invaded and plundered their neighbours, and their
retreats were very strongly fortified. On the hills were Sinna, Borrama and
other strongholds. In the valleys were Botrys and Gigartus, besides caves by
the seaside. [E593] There was a citadel on a mountain called Yeou proswpw, or
The Face of God. Pompey destroyed these places and overran Byblus, or
Palaebyblus, which was the royal residence of Cinyras. He gave the place its
liberty by cutting off the governor's head. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 18.
7:263}
4481. After Afranius had subdued the Arabians near Amanus, Pompey came down to
Syria, which had no king. He subdued it and made it a Roman province.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (106) 2:443} He received a sum of
money from Antioch and enfranchised their city but left them to use their own
laws. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.} He indulged the citizens
of Antioch by restoring the place of their public confession which was in decay.
He had great respect for them because they traced their lineage from the
Athenians. {Johannes Malela, Chronicle}
4482. Pompey gave the very strong city of Seleucia (Pieria), which was adjacent
to Antioch, its liberty, because it had refused to admit Tigranes. {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 2. s. 8. 7:249} {Eutropius, l. 6.} He released the hostages from
Antioch, and gave to Daphne a certain parcel of open land for the enlargement of
their grove. This place was delightfully pleasant and had plenty of water.
{Eutropius, l. 6.} Strabo noted that the grove was ten miles in circumference
and well-watered with springs. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 6. 7:245} Sextus
Rufus recorded that Pompey consecrated this grove of Daphne and enlarged it.
{Sextus Rufus, Breviary} Jerome added that it was planted by the hands of his
soldiers, at Pompey's orders. In his chronicle, Jerome said it was consecrated
to Apollo, which may be true, if it was in reference to the new trees that were
added. {Jerome, Eze 16} Concerning the old grove, see our notes. {See note on
3704 AM. <<2664>>} {See note on 3834a AM <<3249>>}
4483. Cato Minor was in Syria and was later called Uticensis. [K252] He was a
philosopher belonging to the sect of the Stoics. Although only a young man, he
was held in great esteem. Because of the great friendship between his father
and him, he was invited to Syria by Dejotarus, king or tetrarch of the
Galatians. He travelled through Asia and observed the manners, customs and
strength of every province he passed through. He always walked on foot, while
his friends, who accompanied him, rode. He came to see Antioch in Pompey's
absence and saw a large throng of people in white before the gate. The men were
on one side of the road and the children on the other. Thinking this ceremony
was for him, he ordered his friends to get off their horses and walk with him.
As they approached, an old man, who was ordering and commanding the whole
multitude, approached, carrying a rod and a crown in his hand. He spoke first,
addressing Cato, and without so much as greeting him, he and his followers
inquired how Demetrius was and when he would come there. Demetrius had been
Pompey's servant, but had been freed, and because he had considerable influence
with Pompey, he was revered by everybody. Cato's friends burst out laughing but
Cato cried out Oh miserable city, and passed on without giving any other reply.
Whenever he remembered it, he started laughing at himself. {*Plutarch, Pompey,
l. 1. c. 40. s. 1-3. 5:219} {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 12,13.
5:261-265}
4484. When Tigranes, the Armenian, was defeated by Phraates, the Parthian, he
requested help from Pompey, who was then in Syria. Phraates promptly sent
envoys to Pompey and these so earnestly accused both the Romans and Tigranes,
that they made Pompey afraid, as well as ashamed. So he did not help Tigranes,
nor did he later wage war against Phraates although many urged him to do so. He
said he had no commands from the people of Rome for that expedition and that
Mithridates was still at large. For the present, he was satisfied that Tigranes
would finally meet with misfortune. He extenuated Phraates' accusations and did
not refute them, saying he hoped to arbitrate the differences between Phraates
and Tigranes about their boundaries. This worked and he promised to send three
commissioners who would judge the matter. Pompey sent them and they were
received as arbitrators by the kings and settled all differences between them.
Tigranes was angry that he did not get help from the Romans. However, Phraates
wanted Tigranes to survive, since he would need his help some day, as an ally
against the Romans. It was obvious to both of them that whoever overcame the
other, was certain to have a battle with the Romans and fall more easily into
their power. When they considered this, they made peace. {*Dio, l. 37. (7)
3:111} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 39. s. 3,4. 5:217} {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (106) 2:443}
4485. While Pompey was thus occupied, Mithridates went around Pontus and took
over Panticapaeum, which was a market town in Europe, at the outlet of the Black
Sea. (A footnote in the Loeb edition suggests an error in Appian and states the
city was located at the outlet of the Sea of Azov. Editor.) {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (107) 2:443} He also sent envoys to Pompey,
who was in Syria and did not know if Mithridates was still alive. They promised
that if Pompey would restore him to his father's kingdom again, he would become
a tributary to the people of Rome. When Pompey urged that the king should come
to him, as Tigranes had done, he refused, saying this was not appropriate for
Mithridates, but said he would send his sons and some of his friends. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (107) 2:445} [E594] [K253]
4486. After these events, Mithridates summoned all the people indiscriminately,
servants, as well as free. He also made a large supply of arms, arrows and
other engines. He spared nothing, not even their oxen for the ploughing. These
he killed for their sinews to make strings for the bows. He also imposed a tax
on all the people, which was raised but did great harm to many although
Mithridates was unaware of this. Because he was troubled at the time with a
certain ulcerous disease on his face, no one was allowed to see him, except the
eunuch who was his doctor. He was finally cured and at that same time his army
was ready. It consisted of sixty cohorts, each of them containing six hundred
men, and a numerous multitude of ships, as well as strongholds which his
commanders had captured while he was sick. He led part of his army to
Phanagoria, another town also located at the mouth of the sea, so that he might
secure the pass on all sides. All this time, Pompey was in Syria. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (107,108) 2:445,447}
4487. In Bosphorus, while Mithridates was celebrating in honour of Ceres, there
was suddenly a violent earthquake which was the greatest in the memory of man
and which destroyed many cities and caused great damage to the fields. {*Dio,
l. 37. (11) 3:119} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 5.} This was not the same earthquake
that Justin mentioned, which killed a hundred and seventy thousand men and
destroyed many cities in Syria. The prognosticators said this sign predicted a
great change in affairs. {Justin, Trogus, l. 40. c. 2.}
4488. At the same time, Castor, who was commander-in-chief for Mithridates in
Phanagoria, killed Trypho as he was entering the town. Trypho was the king's
eunuch who had previously maltreated Castor. Then, stirring up the people to
fight for their liberty, Castor led them against the citadel that was being held
by Artaphernes and the rest of Mithridates' children. They gathered wood and
other combustible things together from everywhere and set the citadel on fire,
forcing Artaphernes, Darius, Xerxes, Oxathres and Eupatra, who were the children
of Mithridates, to surrender. Among these, Artaphernes was the only older
person, at forty years of age. The rest were attractive youths. Cleopatra,
another daughter, resisted against them. Her courage so delighted her father
that Mithridates sent a squadron of galleys and rescued her. After Castor had
gained control of the citadel, he sent the children to the Romans. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (108) 2:447,449} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 5.}
4489. Those citadels which were nearby and had recently been taken by
Mithridates, followed the bad example of Phanagoria and also revolted. These
were at the Chersonesus and at Theodosia, Nymphaeum and other places around
Pontus that were good military positions. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 16. (108) 2:447}
4490. Mithridates was very angry and killed some of the renegades that he had
taken, as well as many of his friends, including Exipodras, one of his children.
{*Dio, l. 37. (12) 3:119} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 5.} Mithridates saw their
great problems and suspected the entire army because they were being forced and
were under extraordinary taxes. He thought the adversity of his fortune would
always be in the minds of a changeable and coerced people. Therefore, he sent
his eunuchs to the princes of Scythia to ask about marrying their daughters. He
wanted them to come quickly to his relief with their forces. The eunuchs, who
were escorted by five hundred soldiers, had not gone far from Mithridates, when
the soldiers killed them. They did this, because the eunuchs had great
authority with the king and had always been troublesome to them. After this,
they carried the ladies to Pompey. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16.
(108) 2:447,449}
4491. Pompey left Syria and crossed into Asia, where he furthered his ambition.
He did the very thing for which he had so much reprehended Lucullus. [K254]
While Mithridates still controlled the Bosphorus and had gathered a very
considerable army, Pompey disposed of several provinces and conferred gifts.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 38. s. 1. 5:213}
4492. Livy stated that Pompey organized Pontus into the form of a province in
Mithridates' lifetime. {*Livy, l. 102. 14:125} It was added to Galatia, was
divided into eleven regions and was called Bithynia. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3.
s. 1. 5:373}
4493. Pompey captured Mithridatium from Pontus and gave it to Bogodiatarus.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 5. s. 2. 5:469} He made Archelaus, son of the
Archelaus who was honoured by Sulla and the Senate, {See note on 3919a AM.
<<3982>>} the chief priest of Luna, who was a goddess of Comana in
Pontus.
Pompey restored the princely dynasty and added to the sacred revenue of that
office the amount of two schoeni (about seven and a half miles) of land. He
ordered the inhabitants of Comana to obey Archelaus and so he was their governor
and the head of all the priests of that temple. More than six thousand temple
servants lived in the city. However, he did not have the power to sell them.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 34. 5:435} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11.
8:45} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (114) 2:463} [E595]
4494. Appian stated that Attalus had the kingdom of Paphlagonia given to him by
Pompey. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (114) 2:463} Eutropius
said it was given to Attalus and Polaemenes, and Sextus Rufus and Jornandes
stated that Polaemenes, on his deathbed, left the kingdom of Paphlagonia to the
people of Rome. Pompey gave Lesser Armenia to Dejotarus, the king of Galatia
(or rather the tetrarch), because he was an ally in the Mithridatic war.
{Eutropius, l. 6.} Pompey thought that Dejotarus was the best friend the Romans
had. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 13. 15:495} Therefore, Pompey gave him
Gazelonitis, which was part of Pontus, Pharnacia and Trapezus as far as Colchis
and Lesser Armenia, and declared him king of that region. Prior to this, he
held the tetrarchy of the Tolostobogians of Galatia which he had received by
inheritance from his father. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 13. 5:393} Pompey
left Galatia to the tetrarchs of his family. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 1.
5:373} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (114) 2:463} A little
later, it came into the hands of only three, then of two, and last of all into
the sole power of Dejotarus. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 5. s. 1. 5:469}
4495. Even though Mithridates had lost most of his children, many citadels and
his whole kingdom, he was not discouraged. He did not dwell on his debased
condition, considering that he had lost his dignity as well and had no hope of
getting any help from Scythia. He planned to journey to the European Gauls,
whom he had befriended before, and get their help. He planned to go through
Scythia and along the Ister River, so that with the Gauls he might cross the
Alps into Italy. He hoped that many Italians who also hated the Romans would
join him. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 24. 1:187} {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (109) 2:449} {*Dio, l. 37. (11) 3:117,119}
4496. The soldiers disliked these grand plans and were afraid of the boldness
of the enterprise and the length of the march. They were to fight against men
whom they were not able to handle even in their own country. They believed
Mithridates to be in such a desperate situation that he was intending to end his
life valiantly rather than as a defeated man. They stayed with him for a while
and quietly let him go on planning because he was no lowly or contemptible
prince, even under the greatest of misfortunes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 16. (109) 2:449,451} [K255]
4497. Aretas, the king of Arabia Petra (extending to the Red Sea), had often
invaded Syria previously. The Romans came to help the Syrians and defeated him.
However he still continued the war, so Pompey made an expedition against him and
his neighbours. Phraates was now behaving himself, and Syria and Phoenicia were
now tranquil. {*Dio, l. 37. (15) 3:123,125} The soldiers were not very happy
about this expedition for they thought that they should be going after
Mithridates, their old enemy, who even then was recruiting his forces. He was
preparing to march through Scythia and Paenonia to invade Italy with an army.
Pompey, however, was satisfied that it was nobler to defeat a warring foe than
to take the body of a conquered and fleeing enemy. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 41. s. 1,2. 5:221}
4498. Before Pompey began his journey, he gave a very noble and handsome burial
to the dead who had fallen under Triarius in that unlucky battle they had fought
with Mithridates in Pontus and whom Lucullus had left unburied. Aretas, who had
earlier condemned the Roman arms, was now terrified and wrote to Pompey that he
would do whatever he should command. However, Pompey, in order to ascertain his
true feelings, attacked Petra. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 39. s. 1.
5:215,217} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 41. s. 1. 5:221} He easily
defeated the king and his allies and took them into custody, after having
captured their city of Petra. {*Dio, l. 37. (15) 3:125} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
6.} However, Josephus wrote that he did not fight them and went to fight
Aristobulus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 3. (46-48) 7:471,473}
Plutarch stated that when Pompey had gone a little distance from Petra, he heard
the news of Mithridates' death and returned from Arabia, arriving at Amisus.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 41,42. 5:221,223}
4499. When Publius Servilius Rullus, the tribune of the people at Rome, assumed
his office, he passed the Agrarian law which created a commission of Decemviri.
They were to sell or distribute among the colonies all the public revenues in
Italy and Syria and the land gained by Pompey. This law was passed in January
which, as the year then went at Rome, took place in the beginning of the Julian
October. This occurred when Cicero became consul. He spoke against Rullus and
freed everyone from the widespread fear they had of this law. {*Cicero,
Agrarian Law I, l. 1. c. 1-9. 6:343-367} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 2. c. 1.
22:103} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 12. s. 1-3. 7:109}
4500. The Decemviri had the power to sell: {*Cicero, Agrarian Law I, l. 1. c.
2. 6:349}
"All those lands which Mithridates had possessed in Paphlagonia, Pontus and
Cappadocia."
4501. In his second Agrarian speech before the people, Cicero reprehended the
injustice of that popular decree in this way: {*Cicero, Agrarian Law II, l. 1.
c. 19. 6:425,427} [E596]
"Is it not so? Without terms having been arranged, without the general's report
having been heard, before the war is finished, while King Mithridates, without
an army, driven from his kingdom, nevertheless contemplating some new enterprise
against us at the end of the world, and is defended from the invincible troops
of Pompey by the Maeotis (Sea of Azov) and those marshes, by the narrow defiles
and lofty mountains; while our commander is still engaged in war and even now
the name of a war is heard in those districts—shall the Decemviri sell those
lands, over which, according to the custom, Gnaeus Pompey still ought to possess
all civil and military authority?"
4502. Lucius Valerius Flaccus, who was the praetor at Rome, was sent as praetor
into Asia. His office in Asia was for one year. Quintus Cicero succeeded
Flaccus and was the fifth one to hold that position, as Marcus Cicero, his
brother, stated in the speech in which he accused Flaccus of bribery. {*Cicero,
Pro Flacco, l. 1. (33) 10:479} [K256]
3941a AM, 4650 JP, 64 BC
4503. Pharnaces plotted against Mithridates. He was his most dearly loved son,
whom he had often confirmed as his heir to his kingdom. Pharnaces did this
either because he thought the Italian expedition would permanently alienate the
Romans, or for some other reason, or out of covetousness. Those who were guilty
of involvement in the plot were put to the rack but Menophanes persuaded
Mithridates to pardon his son. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16.
(110) 2:451} Dio, as Salianus noted, said nothing of the pardon and stated that
men who were sent to take Pharnaces were persuaded by him to join his side.
After they had taken Panticapaeum, they captured his father. He also noted that
although Mithridates was generally a very wise king, he never stopped to
consider that all the arms and the vast numbers of his subjects were of little
value, without their goodwill and love. On the contrary, if they were
unfaithful, there was the least safety in the largest numbers. Appian made the
same observation. {*Dio, l. 37. (12) 3:119,121}
4504. Pharnaces knew that the soldiers were very much against the expedition
into Italy. At night, he went to the Romans who had defected to Mithridates and
told them of the great danger involved in their crossing into Italy, which they
well knew. He promised them great things if they would refuse to go and
persuaded them to defect from his father. Then that same night, he sent
messengers to nearby camps and persuaded them to join him. In the morning,
first the Italian fugitives and then all the other adjoining camps talked about
this and so did the naval forces. With a loud shout, they proclaimed their
defection. They had not been told of this beforehand, nor were they bribed.
Either, they were induced by the example of so many whom they realised they
could not withstand, or they were overcome by the extremity of the old king's
misfortunes.
4505. When Mithridates heard the shout of the army, he sent some men to find
out what they wanted. The men were told they wanted Mithridates' son to be
king, because they wanted a young man, instead of an old one who was fond of
eunuchs and who caused the deaths of many sons, generals and friends. When
Mithridates heard this, he went out to speak to them himself. Many of his guard
defected to the fugitives, but were not accepted unless they were prepared to do
something to show their unfaithfulness to the king. They pointed to
Mithridates' horse which was killed as he was fleeing. They now greeted
Pharnaces as king, as if they had obtained their heart's desire. Some of them
took a very large skin of parchment, which they had brought from the temple, and
put it around his head instead of a diadem.
4506. The old man saw this from the upper porch and sent one person after
another to Pharnaces, to request a safe passage for himself, but none returned.
He was afraid that he might be turned over to the Romans. After praising those
men and his friends who still stood by him, he sent them to the new king. Some
were killed by the army on the way, contrary to all expectations. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (110,111) 2:451,453} When he had begged his
son in vain from the walls and realised that he would not give in, Mithridates
is said to have uttered these words when he was about to die:
"Oh country gods, if you so grant, that, at one time or another, he may receive
the same words from his children."
4507. He went to his wives and concubines and gave them poison. {Orosius, l.
6. c. 5.} [K257]
4508. Two virgin daughters had been brought up with him, Mithridatis and Nyssa,
who were betrothed to the kings of Egypt and Cyprus. They earnestly entreated
their father to let them drink their poisoned potion before him. They wanted
him to wait until they had done this. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
16. (111) 2:455} But as for Mithridates, neither the poison he always carried
about in his sword, nor the wound he had given himself with the sword, were
sufficient to kill him. Even though he walked about most strenuously, so that
the poison would spread itself through his veins and would act more quickly,
nothing happened. He had vaccinated his body against poison with daily
antidotes of medicines, which to this day are called Mithridatic Drugs. His
sword wound had been poorly executed, because of his age, his present distresses
and the partial effect of the poison, so that he had not killed himself but
still lingered. [E597] The wall had now been broken down and Bitocus, or
Bituitus, a Galatian soldier, wandered about. He was terrified by the majesty
of Mithridates' countenance. Mithridates called him back and caused the
soldier's trembling hand to put an end to his life. {*Dio, l. 37. (13) 3:121}
{*Livy, l. 102. 14:125,127} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 25,26. 1:187}
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 2. ext. 3. 2:315} {*Pliny, l. 25. c. 3.
7:139,141} {Justin, Trogus, l. 37. c. 2.} {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l.
17. c. 16. s. 1-6. 3:261,263} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16.
(111) 2:455} {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 76.} {Orosius,
l. 6. c. 5.}
4509. In this way Mithridates ended his life at Panticapaeum in Cimmerian
Bosphorus: {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 18. s. 1. 1:85}
"A man neither to be passed over in silence, nor to be spoken of without
respect. He was most eager for war, of exceptional bravery, great in spirit and
sometimes in achievement, in strategy—a general, in bodily prowess—a soldier, in
hatred of the Romans—as Hannibal."
4510. Cicero called him: {*Cicero, Academica, l. 2. c. 1. 19:467}
"The greatest king since the time of Alexander the Great."
4511. Because of these eulogies, I have been as careful about recording his
life as I was about recording that of Alexander the Great.
4512. Orosius wrote the following about the time of the Mithridatic war:
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 1. fin.}
"The Mithridatic war, or rather, to the end of the Mithridatic war, which
involved many provinces, was carried on for forty years. It began in the 662nd
year after the foundation of Rome, as I said before, {Orosius, l. 5. c. 19.}
in the same year as the first civil war began. This was in the consulship of
Cicero and Antonius. (I use the words of that excellent poet, Lucan.) The war
was scarcely ended by the infamy of the poison by Mithridates. {*Lucan, l. 1.
(337) 1:29} The war lasted thirty years. It is difficult to know why most write
forty."
4513. Justin stated that Mithridates warred with the Romans for forty-six
years. {Justin, Trogus, l. 37. c. 1.} Appian, in the beginning of his
Mithridatic Wars, said that the Mithridatic War lasted nearly forty-two years.
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (48) 2:197} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 3. (17) 2:269} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (118)
2:469} Florus agreed with Appian. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 1,2. 1:179}
(Loeb edition reads forty, not forty-two, in Florus. Editor.) However,
Eutropius only allowed forty years. {Eutropius, l. 6.} In Pliny, the record
placed by Pompey in the temple of Athena, showed that this war lasted only
thirty years. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 26. 2:569} From the beginning of the first
Mithridatic war to the death of Mithridates is only twenty-six years. This time
period included the years of peace between the two wars. To make it a round
number the war may be said to have lasted thirty years. Another example to
illustrate this tendency: Cicero, in his consulship, stated that when Gaius
Rabirus was standing his trial for treason, he upheld and defended against
detraction the authority of the Senate which had been interposed forty years
before Cicero's consulship. (Gaius Rabirius was on trial for the murder of
Saturninus thirty-six years earlier.) {*Cicero, In Pison, l. 1. c. 2.
14:147} [K258] However, Dio more accurately said that this had happened
thirty-six years earlier. {*Dio, l. 37. (26) 3:141,143} For more information,
consult Asconius Pedianus. {Asconius Pedianus, In Pison}
4514. At the time when Pompey was in Judea, he was angry with Aristobulus and
marched against him, having been urged to do so by Hyrcanus. Taking the Roman
legions and the auxiliaries he had raised in Damascus and other parts of Syria,
he went through Pella and Scythopolis and came to Coreae, near the border of
Judea toward the Mediterranean. When he learned that Aristobulus had fled into
Alexandrion, a good citadel which was located on the top of a hill, he summoned
Aristobulus to come to him. He, in turn, came to Pompey, having been persuaded
by many of his friends not to start a war against the Romans. After he had
argued with his brother Hyrcanus about the kingdom, Pompey gave him permission
to retire to his citadel again. He did this two or three times always
flattering Pompey and in the hope of getting the kingdom, feigning that he would
obey Pompey in everything. In the meanwhile, he returned to the citadel and
fearing that the kingdom might be given to his brother Hyrcanus, fortified it
and prepared for war. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 6. s. 5. (133-137)
2:63,65} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 4. (48-51) 7:473}
4515. Pompey commanded Aristobulus to surrender the citadels and wrote to the
governors about this. These would not have obeyed him, had the letters not been
written with Aristobulus' own hand. Aristobulus unwillingly submitted but then
went to Jerusalem, fully intending to prepare for war. Pompey immediately
followed him with his army, as he thought it best not to give him any time for
preparation. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 6. s. 5. (137) 2:65}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 4. (52,53) 7:475}
4516. As Pompey was marching near Jericho, a messenger came and told him that
Mithridates had been killed by his son, Pharnaces. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 6. s. 6. (138) 2:65} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 4.
(53) 7:475} The men who brought the news had wreathed their javelins' heads with
laurels. There was no high place from where Pompey could speak to the soldiers.
Since as the camp was made with turfs that had been cut and laid, one on top of
the other, they made a mound which Pompey ascended to tell his soldiers that
Mithridates had killed himself and that Pharnaces had acted on behalf of himself
and the Romans. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 41. s. 3-5. 5:221,223}
[E598]
4517. At this, the army greatly rejoiced and spent their time in sacrificing
and feasting, as though, with Mithridates' death, large numbers of their enemies
had died. Pompey was very glad that putting an end to all Mithridates' acts and
expeditions had proved much easier for him than he had thought it would be.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 42. s. 1. 5:223} Mithridates had worried
Pompey so much that, although he had conquered all his kingdom, he did not
consider the war to be over, as long as Mithridates was alive. {*Cicero, Pro
Murena, l. 1. (34) 10:231} Lucan mentioned Pompey bragging about this:
{*Lucan, l. 2. (580) 1:101}
Skulking about Pontus,
and while he watched to bring
Ruin to the Romans,
that untamed king,
With better luck than Sulla,
I have made to die.
4518. Pompey first camped at Jericho, where the very best dates were to be had,
and balsam, which was the most precious of all ointments. The following
morning, he marched toward Jerusalem. [K259] Aristobulus was sorry for what he
had done and came to meet him. He promised him money and that he would
surrender himself and the city to him. He only asked that there be no war and
for things to be settled peaceably. Pompey pardoned him and sent Gabinius with
the soldiers to receive the money but they returned without either because
Aristobulus' soldiers would not honour his promise. Pompey became very angry,
committed Aristobulus to custody and marched in person against the city. It was
strongly fortified except on the northern side, which could most easily be
battered. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 1. (54-57) 7:475,477}
4519. The citizens within the city were divided. Those who sided with Hyrcanus
said that the city should be surrendered to Pompey. Many, who feared the
determination of the Romans, agreed. However, Aristobulus' side ordered the
gates to be shut and the people to prepare for war because Pompey was holding
the king prisoner. Aristobulus' men first seized the temple and cut down the
bridge by which they had come into the city then stood, prepared to fight.
Hyrcanus' party welcomed the army into the city and turned the city and the
king's palace over to Pompey. Pompey committed these to Piso, his lieutenant,
who fortified the houses and other buildings that were near the temple. First,
he offered the besieged people conditions of peace. When they refused, Pompey
prepared for a general assault and was given every assistance by Hyrcanus.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 2. (142-144) 2:67} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 2. (58-60) 7:475,477}
4520. Pompey camped on the north side of the city, which was the easiest side
to attack. There were also high towers and a handmade ditch, in addition to a
deep valley around the temple. All places around the city sloped down quite
steeply, especially where the bridge had been removed and on the side where
Pompey was camped. However, the Romans daily raised mounts for their engines of
war and cut down trees around there, filling up the trench with materials that
the soldiers brought. The work was very difficult because the trench was so
deep and because the Jews were fighting from above. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 7. s. 3. (145-147) 2:67,69} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s.
2. (61-63) 7:479}
4521. Josephus stated that if the Jews had not observed the Sabbath, the Romans
could not have finished the earthworks, because of the Jewish resistance. The
law permitted the Jews to defend themselves against an attacking enemy on the
Sabbath but not to hinder any work that the enemy was doing. This was not a
written law but one that had been received by tradition from their doctors.
When the Romans became aware of how the Jews behaved on the Sabbath, they did
not shoot any arrows against the Jews nor fight with them in any way. They only
erected their mounds and towers and planted their engines to be able to use them
against the Jews on the next day. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 3.
(64) 7:479,481} King Agrippa said that Pompey had especially chosen those days
to carry on the war to prevent the Jews from attacking the Romans on their
Sabbath. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 16. s. 4. (392) 2:477}
4522. Pompey's letters about the death of Mithridates and the end of that war
were read in the Senate. Cicero, the consul, proposed a procession lasting
twelve days to be decreed in honour of Pompey. {*Cicero, De Provinciis
Consularibus, l. 1. c. 11. 13:571} The Romans kept these festival days, to
celebrate being freed from a great enemy. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 16. (113) 2:459} [E599] [K260]
4523. Titus Ampius and Titus Labienus, who were the tribunes of the people,
proposed a law that Pompey should wear a golden crown and the full dress of a
triumphator at the circus. At the theatre, he could wear a purple-bordered toga
and the golden crown. He only availed himself of this honour once. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 40. s. 4. 1:137} {*Dio, l. 37. (21) 3:135}
4524. At Jerusalem, the trench was being filled and the tower fitted onto the
mounts. The engines from Tyre were positioned and the Romans shot large stones
to batter the temple stones. But the towers, which were exceedingly strong and
beautiful withstood the assaults of the besiegers. The Romans were very tired
and Pompey wondered at the faithful perseverance of the Jews. Among other
things, he especially marvelled at their constantly observing the whole service
of God amid all their enemies' attacks as if they were at peace. Throughout the
duration of the attacks, they performed the daily sacrifices. Twice a day, in
the morning and at the ninth hour, the priests offered sacrifices on the altar.
They did not stop their sacrifices no matter what happened. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 4. (148) 2:69} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s.
2. (61,62) 7:479}
4525. The Latin Feriae was held at Rome. (This feast was not on a set day, but
was appointed by the magistrates.) At this feast, a comet appeared and the moon
was eclipsed on November 7, two hours after midnight. Cicero referred to this
in the second book of his consulship, mentioning it in these verses:
When Alban's snowy heaps thou viewed, and when
With glad milk the Latina celebrated, then
Comets of fire did tremble in thy sight,
And thou a conflict fancied in the night.
Which time scarce escaped inauspicious; when
The moon withdrew her light and sight from men,
And on a sudden, left a starry night.
4526. In the third month of the siege of Jerusalem, the largest tower fell,
after having been shaken by repeated battering with the ram. A large part of
the wall fell with it and through this breach, large numbers of the enemy broke
into the temple. The first man to climb the wall was Faustus Cornelius, the son
of Sulla, with his band of soldiers. Immediately after him came the centurion,
Furius, with his regiment who followed him on either side, and between them, the
centurion Fabius with a valiant band of his soldiers. These surrounded the
temple while some of the Jews tried to hide themselves. Others offered some
resistance and were killed. Although many priests saw the enemies rushing in
with their drawn swords, they were not at all dismayed and continued their
sacrifices. They were killed even as they made offerings and burned incense in
the temple because they preferred to observe their religious duty rather than
save their own lives. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 4. (148,149)
2:69} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 4. (69,70) 7:483}
4527. All the places were full of the dead. Some of the Jews were killed by
the Romans and others by their own countrymen of the opposing faction. Many
threw themselves headlong down the rocks. Others set their houses on fire and
burned themselves alive. They could not bear to watch the things being done by
the enemy. About twelve thousand Jews died, whereas very few of the Romans were
killed, but many were wounded. Among the captives was Absalom, the uncle and
father-in-law of Aristobulus and the son of John Hyrcanus, of whom Josephus
wrote that he was honoured by Alexander Jannaeus because he was content to live
a private life. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 13. c. 12. s. 1. (320-323)
7:389,391} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 4. (148,149) 2:69}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 4. (69-71) 7:483} [K261]
4528. The temple was taken on the day of the fast, when Gaius Antonius and
Marcus Tullius Cicero were consuls, in the 179th Olympiad. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 14. c. 4. s. 3. (66) 7:481} Eusebius stated that it was at the start of
the year, in the holy fast of the third month, that the city was later taken by
Sossius. {?Eusebius, Gospel, l. 8. c. 2.} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
16. s. 4. (487) 7:701} This is to be understood as the third month of the
civil year, which started in the autumn, according to the Hebrews and other
eastern accounts. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 1. c. 3. s. 3. (80,81) 4:37}
{Jerome, Eze init.} That is, it was the third month of the Syrians, which was
called the former Canun by them and called Chisleu by the Hebrews. It was on
the 28th day of this month that the Jews kept, and still keep even to this very
day, a fast to commemorate the burning of the sacred roll by the wicked
Jehoiakim. {Jer 36:9,22,23} {See note on 3398 AM. <<773-776>>} [E600]
This fast
was appointed to remember the day Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem when the
Jews first began to serve the Babylonians. A cycle (or peritrope, OED noted the
word is rare and cited this sentence in Ussher as an example. Editor.) was
noticed when, on the same day of the same month, after five hundred and
forty-three years, the temple was taken by Pompey at the time when the Jews
began to serve the Romans. Again, twenty-six years later, it was taken by
Sossius when the Jews began to serve Herod, the Idumean, and his posterity. The
28th day of the month of Chisleu corresponded to the 28th day of the Julian
December that year and (which is also worth noting) it was on a Saturday, or the
Jewish Sabbath, that the temple was taken by assault. Dio noted that this was
calculated to have been the 79th year from the 170th of the Greek empire, of
which year it was written that the yoke of the heathen was removed from Israel.
{Apc 1Ma 13:41} From this it can be seen for how short a time they enjoyed their
liberty.
4529. Pompey and many others entered the temple and saw those things which was
not lawful for anyone but the high priest to see. In the temple there was the
table, the lampstand with the lamps, all the vessels for sacrifice, the censers,
entirely made of gold, and a large pile of spices. In the treasuries of sacred
money, they found about two thousand talents. Pompey did not touch any of this
but on the next day ordered those who had the charge of the temple to purify and
cleanse it and to offer their solemn sacrifices to God. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 7. s. 6. (152,153) 2:71} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s.
4. (71-73) 7:483,485}
4530. Pompey restored the high priesthood back to Hyrcanus, because he had
willingly helped him in the siege and had hindered the Jews who were spread over
the whole country from joining with Aristobulus. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 7. s. 6. (153) 2:71} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 4. (73)
7:485} Pompey also gave him the kingdom but forbade him to wear a crown. From
this time, plus the previous nine years, in which he had been high priest during
the reign of his mother Alexandra, he held the high priest for an additional
twenty-four years which we take to be twenty-three and a half years.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 6. (153) 2:71} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 20. c. 10. s. 4. (244,245) 10:131}
4531. Pompey put to death those who were the main instigators of the war and
gave great honours and rewards to Faustus and the others who had been the first
to ascend the wall. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 6. (154) 2:73}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 4. (73,74) 7:485}
3941b AM, 4651 JP, 63 BC
4532. Pompey made the Jews tributary to the Romans. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
14. c. 4. s. 4. (74) 7:485,487} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:236}
{*Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, l. 2. c. 26. 11:110} [K262] He took
away the cities in Coelosyria which they had previously conquered and ordered
them to obey their own governors and reduced the boundaries of the country to
their ancient limits. As a favour to Demetrius of Gadara, a freedman of his (of
whose insolence Plutarch made mention {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 40.
5:217-221}), he rebuilt Gadara, which the Jews had previously destroyed. He
restored the inhabitants to their inland cities of Hippos, Scythopolis, Pella,
Dium, Samaria, Marisa, Azotus, Jamnia and Arethusa, as well as restoring the
inhabitants to any city that had been destroyed. He did the same with the
coastal towns of Gaza, Joppa, Adora and Straton's tower. This tower was later
magnificently rebuilt by Herod and called Caesarea. Pompey gave these cities
their liberty and annexed all of them to the province of Syria. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 7. (155,156) 2:73} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 4. s. 4. (75,76) 7:487}
4533. Josephus stated: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 5. (77,78)
7:487}
"Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, through their quarrelling and dissensions, were the
cause of this calamity to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. For it was at that
time, that we first began to lose our liberty and were made subject to the
government of the Romans. In addition, we were forced to surrender to the
Syrians the country we had recently taken from them in war. The Romans have
also exacted from us more than ten thousand talents in a short time."
4534. After this, Josephus stated that Crassus alone took this much from the
temple. He can be understood to be speaking here of the tributes and taxes
imposed on the people. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7. s. 1. (105-109)
7:503,505}
4535. It is interesting to compare what Josephus wrote about Pompey's action
against the Jews, with the writings of other non-Jewish historians. Cicero,
during whose consulship these things happened, was the main writer and we found
this testimony of Pompey's restraint. {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (68)
10:517}
"When Gnaeus Pompey had taken Jerusalem, he removed nothing from the temple.
From the beginning as in all things, he acted most wisely. In so large and
rebellious a city, he gave no occasion for the speeches of slanderous
detractors. I think that the religion of the Jews was no restraint to him but
this excellent commander acted out of respect for public opinion."
4536. As much as could be expected from a heathen, he made a comparison between
the Roman and the Jewish religion in this manner: {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1.
(69) 10:517,519}
"Every city has its particular religion and we have ours. While Jerusalem stood
and the Jews were in league with us, their religion abhorred the splendour of
the sacred rites of our empire, the majesty of our name and the institutions of
our ancestors. Now, which is worse, that nation has shown their opinion of us
by their arms. It is sufficiently obvious how dear they are to the immortal
gods in that they are conquered, farmed out to tax collectors and enslaved."
[E601]
4537. Livy stated: {*Livy, l. 102. 14:127}
"Gnaeus Pompey subdued the Jews and took their temple, which until that time had
been kept sacred."
4538. Unless we believe that (as they have done in other parts of their
histories) Eutropius and Orosius borrowed the following comment from Livy. It
was Eutropius who said: {Eutropius, l. 6.}
"...passing over against the Jews, he took Jerusalem, the capital of the
country, in the third month. Twelve thousand Jews were killed and the rest were
taken into league."
4539. Orosius wrote that Pompey went from Petra in Arabia against the Jews:
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 6.}
"over whom Aristobulus reigned after he expelled his brother, Hyrcanus (who was
the first king born of a priest)."
4540. This showed that he did not take this part of his history from Josephus,
but rather from someone less knowledgeable in Jewish affairs. In spite of this,
he accurately related what Pompey did: [K263]
"He sent Gabinius with an army to Jerusalem, their city. He himself arrived
later and was received into the city by the chief elders. He was driven from
the walls of the temple by the common people which made him determined to take
it. The place was well fortified by its natural location and was surrounded by
a very large wall. Even so, one legion after another attacked the walls, night
and day, without stopping. It took three months until he finally captured it
after much trouble. Thirteen thousand (Josephus and Eutropius say twelve
thousand) Jews were killed and the rest made a truce. Pompey ordered the walls
of the city to be levelled to the ground. After he had beheaded some princes of
the Jews, he restored Hyrcanus to the high priesthood and brought Aristobulus to
Rome as a prisoner."
4541. Strabo wrote:
"When Judea was now openly being oppressed with tyranny, Alexander was the first
who made himself king, instead of just a priest. His sons, Hyrcanus and
Aristobulus, fought for the government. Pompey came in and deposed and
demolished their bulwarks, after first taking Jerusalem by force. That wall was
entirely of stone and well guarded. Inside, they were well supplied with water
but outside it was very dry. Outside the wall a ditch had been cut in the rock,
sixty feet deep and two hundred and sixty feet wide. The walls of the temple
were made of the stones that had been removed from the ditch. Pompey took it,
so the report goes, by taking the opportunity of a day of fasting, in which they
abstained from every type of work. When he had filled in the ditch, he crossed
the wall using his scaling ladders. He commanded all the walls to be
demolished, and as much as he was able, destroyed all the dens of robbers and
all the places where the tyrant's treasures were stored. Two of them were
located at the entrance to Jericho, that is Threx and Taurus. The rest were
Alexandrion, Hyrcanium, Macharus, Lysias, and some places near Philadelphia,
Scythopolis and adjacent to Galilee. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 40.
7:289,291} Later, Pompey took away some places that the Jews had captured by
force and made Hyrcanus the high priest. (Josephus incorrectly said it was
Herod, not Hyrcanus, who was made the high priest. Editor.) {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 2. s. 46. 7:297,299}
4542. In Lucan, listed among the other countries that Pompey conquered, Judah
was described as follows: {*Lucan, l. 2. (590-600) 1:101}
To the Arabs and the war-like Heniochi tamed
And the fleece-deprived Colchi I am known: my famed
Ensigns the Cappadocians, and the Jews, who adore
An unknown God, and soft Sophene fear full sore:
Taurus, Armenia and Cilicia I have subdued.
4543. Plutarch stated: {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 39. s. 2. 5:217}
"He subdued Judea and took their King, Aristobulus."
4544. Appian said: {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (106)
2:441,443}
"He made war upon Aretas, the king of the Nabatean Arabians, and also on the
Jews, who had revolted from their king, Aristobulus. He took Jerusalem, a city
which, in their conceit, they thought most holy."
4545. Appian also stated elsewhere: {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8.
(50) 2:199}
"Only the country of the Jews remained unconquered, whose King, Aristobulus, the
conquering Pompey sent to Rome. He overthrew the walls of Jerusalem, the
greatest and most holy city in all that country."
4546. Tacitus stated: {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 9. 3:191}
"Gnaeus Pompey was the first Roman that conquered the Jews and entered the
temple by right of conquest. At that time it was first known that their temple
was without any images on the inside and had an empty seat. The walls of
Jerusalem were thrown down but the temple still stood."
4547. Florus said, concerning the same event: {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s.
29,30. 1:189}
"Pompey marched through Libanus (Lebanon) in Syria and through Damascus, placing
the Roman ensigns there. He passed through those sweet-smelling groves of
frankincense and balms. The Arabians were at his service. The Jews were afraid
to defend Jerusalem. He also entered the temple and saw openly the grand
mystery of that wicked nation as under a sky of beaten gold. (Concerning this,
see Lipsius. {Lipsius, Elector., l. 2. c. 5.}) [E602] [K264] The brothers
were at odds about the kingdom and Pompey was made the judge. He gave the
kingdom to Hyrcanus and put irons on Aristobulus, for refusing to abide by the
agreement."
4548. Dio said that, in the consulship of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius
Antonius, {*Dio, l. 37. (15,16) 3:125,127}
"Pompey marched into Syria Palestina because their inhabitants had invaded
Phoenicia. This country was governed by two brothers, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus,
who were at odds with each other at the time about the priesthood of God, which
is the same as ruling the kingdom, with them. One of them filled the city with
seditions. Therefore, Pompey conquered Hyrcanus without fighting because there
were no forces able to resist him. Aristobulus was besieged in a certain
citadel and was forced to accept conditions of peace. Since he would neither
give him money, nor surrender the citadel, Pompey cast him into prison and then
easily conquered the rest. The taking of Jerusalem caused Pompey much trouble.
He easily took the city and was let in by those who favoured Hyrcanus. However,
he did not easily take the temple which had been seized by the opposing faction.
It was located on a hill and fortified with a wall of stone. Had they defended
it every single day, it would never have been conquered but they did not defend
it on Saturdays. Because they rested from all work on those days, they gave the
Romans the opportunity of overthrowing the wall. Once the Romans observed this
custom of the enemies, they did nothing against the wall on the other days. But
when the week was past and Saturday arrived, they started working heartily and
took the temple by force. Finally, the Jews were overcome and did not defend
themselves. Their treasures were taken away and the kingdom was given to
Hyrcanus, while Aristobulus was carried away prisoner. These things happened in
Palestine at this time."
4549. While Pompey made war around Judea, Ptolemy (Auletes) maintained eight
thousand cavalry at his own expense and feasted a thousand guests with as many
gold drinking cups. He always changed the cups as they changed the dishes, as
Varro related. {*Pliny, l. 33. c. 47. 9:103} In a speech which is now lost,
Cicero said that Ptolemy was paid twelve thousand five hundred talents in
tribute annually from Egypt. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 13. 8:53} However,
Diodorus Siculus stated that the revenue of Egypt was only six thousand talents
at this time.
4550. Seleucis, in Palestine, was built by Pompey. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 17. (117) 2:469}
4551. Pompey left the government of Coelosyria, from the Euphrates River as far
as the borders of Egypt, to Scaurus, along with two legions. Pompey left for
Cilicia and took Aristobulus along with him as a prisoner together with his two
sons and two daughters. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 5. (79)
7:489} One son, called Alexander, escaped on the journey but the younger son,
called Antigonus, and his sisters were taken to Rome. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 7. s. 7. (158) 2:73,75}
4552. Appian wrote that when Pompey left Syria, he put his quaestor, Scaurus,
in charge. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51) 2:199} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (10) 4:393} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 6. s. 2.
(127) 2:61} Josephus added that he gave the government of Syria, as well as
Judea, to Scaurus. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 7. s. 7. (157) 2:73}
Ammianus Marcellinus affirmed this: {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 14. c. 8. s.
12. 1:71}
"After Pompey had conquered the Jews and taken Jerusalem, he organized Palestine
into a province and committed its jurisdiction to a governor."
4553. Hyrcanus retained the name of king, but without a crown. He was so
dull-witted, that the governors of Syria took the power to themselves. [K265]
They managed the tributes and all other matters in Palestine according to their
own pleasure. We shall see this later, in the government of Gabinius.
4554. When Cicero and Antonius were consuls, on the 9th day before the month of
October, a son, Octavius, was born to Octavius and his wife Atia, who was the
sister of Gaius Julius Caesar. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 4,5.
1:155,157} Octavius was later called Caesar Augustus and it was in his reign
that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, was born. {Lu 2:1,6,7}
Julius Marathus reported that a few months before Augustus was born, a prodigy
or oracle happened at Rome and became publicly known. It stated that nature was
about to bring forth a king over the people of Rome. The Senate was afraid and
made a law that no male child born that year should be raised. Those whose
wives were pregnant objected, for everyone thought this sign might apply to his
or her future son. They said this act should not be brought into the treasury
and then enrolled as law. Suetonius confirmed that Octavius' birthday was on
the 9th day before the month of October. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 5.
1:155} Augustus agreed with Suetonius in a letter to his nephew, Gaius. {*Aulus
Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c. 7. s. 3. 3:79} The new calendar, {Gruter,
Inscriptions, p. 133.} the Narbon stone, {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 229.} as
well as Dio, state that he was born on the 23rd of September. {*Dio, l. 56.
(30) 7:69} In the Julian September of thirty days, the 9th of the Calends of the
month of October is the 23rd of September, although in the Pompilian September,
which only has twenty-nine days, it is the 22nd of the same month. However,
September, as the year was at Rome (before the corrections of Julius Caesar),
happened in June 63 BC, or 4651 JP.
4555. The Catiline conspiracy broke out at Rome. Quintus Marcius Rex and
Quintus Metellus Creticus were both generals in the city. [E603] They were both
prevented from celebrating a triumph by the false accusation of a certain few,
whose custom it was to assail everything, whether true or false. {*Sallust,
Catiline, l. 1. c. 30. s. 3,4. 1:51}
4556. The Philadelphians calculated their years from the second year of the
179th Olympiad. {Fasti Siculi} This Philadelphia was not far from Judea, as
noted by Josephus, and the area was the den of many thieves. However it was
captured that year and the thieves were taken away by Pompey. This may explain
the reason for the institution of this epoch. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 6. s. 3. (129,130) 2:61} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 34. 7:281}
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 3. s. 40. 7:291}
4557. Pompey marched around the rest of Cilicia, which did not acknowledge the
Roman power. He subdued it all to Roman authority without a fight, except the
part which was occupied by the Eleuthero-Cilicians. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 17. (118) 2:469} Their town was located in Mount Amanus and they
were later conquered by Cicero, the proconsul of Syria.
4558. Pharnaces sent Pompey the embalmed body of his father Mithridates and
surrendered himself and his kingdom to him. {*Dio, l. 37. (14) 3:123} Appian
wrote that he sent it to Pompey, at Sinope, in a galley, along with those who
had captured Manius Aquilius and many Greek and barbarian hostages. Pharnaces
desired to retain either his father's kingdom or the Bosphorus, which only his
brother Machares had received from Mithridates. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l.
12. c. 16. (113) 2:459} Plutarch said that when Pompey came to Amisus, he
found many gifts sent by Pharnaces and many members of the royal family. [K266]
The corpse of Mithridates was not very easily recognisable by his face but could
be identified from the scars by those who wanted to see that sight. Pompey did
not see the corpse but sent it to Sinope. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 42.
5:223}
4559. Pompey believed that all hostility had died with Mithridates and so did
no harm to the corpse but ordered that it be buried in the sepulchre of his
fathers. {*Dio, l. 37. (14) 3:123} He turned the corpse over to those who
were to take care of it and paid for the funeral, with orders that it should be
royally interred at Sinope. He commended Mithridates for the excellence of his
exploits and declared him to have been the most famous king of his time.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (113) 2:459}
4560. Pompey admired the wonderfully rich apparel and the arms that Mithridates
wore. However, Publius stole the scabbard of his sword, which was worth four
hundred talents, and sold it to Ariarathes. Gaius, the foster-brother of
Mithridates, privately gave Mithridates' tiara, the product of wonderful
workmanship, to Faustus, the son of Sulla, who asked him for it. Pompey did not
know about this but when Pharnaces later found out, he punished the thieves.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 42. s. 3. 5:223,225}
4561. Pompey registered Pharnaces and Castor of Phanagoria among the friends
and allies of the people of Rome. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16.
(113) 2:461,463} {*Dio, l. 37. (14) 3:123} He also gave the kingdom of
Bosphorus to Pharnaces, because he had freed Italy from many difficulties, but
he was not given Phanagoria. Pompey granted that country its liberty, because
they had been the first to trouble Mithridates by revolting from him when he was
gathering up his forces again and when he had an army and a fleet. By their
example to others, they had been the cause of his downfall. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 16. (113) 2:461} After Pompey left, Pharnaces
attacked Phanagoria and their neighbours until they were forced through famine
to come out and fight with him and were defeated. He did not harm them, but
received them into friendship with him and only took hostages from them.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (120) 2:473}
4562. Pompey recovered the citadels in Pontus. They were surrendered to Pompey
personally by the garrisons which controlled them, because they thought that if
they turned them over to anyone else, the treasure would be looted and they
would be held accountable. {*Dio, l. 37. (14) 3:123} The city of Talauri was
the place where Mithridates had stored his belongings. There they found two
thousand cups of onyx stone which were welded together with gold. They also
found many cups, wine-coolers and drinking horns, as well as couches and chairs,
which were all exceptionally splendid. They found bridles for horses, as well
as trappings for their breasts and shoulders, that were all covered with gold
and precious stones. The treasurer spent thirty days recording what was found.
Part of the treasure came from Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and had been handed
down to his successors. Cleopatra had deposited part of the Ptolemy family
treasure at Cos, from where Mithridates had carried it when the citizens handed
it over to him. Some of the treasure belonged to Mithridates, who was extremely
keen to have rich household furniture. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
17. (115) 2:463,465}
4563. At Rome, at the time when the consuls were elected, Cicero, the consul,
made a speech for Murena, who was chosen consul for the following year. He was
accused of unlawful bribery to get the office. In the speech, Cicero said that
the army of Lucius Lucullus, which had come to Lucullus' triumph, came to help
Murena by demanding the consulship. Concerning this triumph, Cicero stated:
{*Cicero, Academica, l. 2. c. 1. 19:469}
"When he returned as the conqueror from the Mithridatic war, he triumphed three
years later than he ought to have done, due to the false accusations of his
enemies. [K267] We who are consuls were most honoured to bring the chariot of
this famous man into the city."
4564. Gaius Memmius had set the people of Rome against Lucullus, as maintaining
that he had embezzled much of the spoils and had protracted the war. Hence, he
persuaded the people that they should deny Lucullus his triumph. [E604] But the
noblemen and those that had the most authority mingled with the tribes. They
entreated them so much by solicitation and persuasion, that they finally
persuaded them to allow Lucullus' triumph. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c.
37. s. 1. 2:593}
4565. He did not make his triumphant entry burdensome by a lengthy show, or
with the number of things he brought there with him, as many captains had done
before him. Instead, he decorated the circus of Flamininus with a large number
of the enemy's weapons and with the king's battering engines. This sight was a
pleasant one to see. In this triumph, there was a certain company of mail-clad
cavalry men, ten chariots with scythes and sixty friends and generals of the two
kings, as well as a hundred and ten bronze-beaked ships. Also displayed was a
six foot high solid gold statue of Mithridates, a shield set with precious
stones, the crown of Tigranes, and twenty litters of silver vessels and
thirty-two litters of golden beakers, armour and coins, which were carried upon
men's shoulders. Eight mules carried golden couches, fifty-six carried silver
bullion and a hundred and seven carried silver coins worth a little less than
two million, seven hundred thousand pieces of silver. Moreover, books of
accounts were carried, recording what he had given to his own soldiers, which
was nine hundred and fifty drachmas apiece. Then Lucullus feasted all the
cities and villages around there. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 37. s.
2-4. 2:593,595}
4566. After the triumph, an account was given of the Mithridatic war. Lucullus
engaged in a lifestyle that was far more magnificent than had been the ancient
practice of temperance and the manner of life of the Romans of old. He was the
first Roman to bring in all manner of luxuries, after having received the riches
of the two kings, Tigranes and Mithridates. {Nicolaus Damascene, History, l.
27.} {*Athenaeus, l. 6. (274e) 3:235} {*Athenaeus, l. 12. (543a) 5:459}
Velleius Paterculus also confirmed that he was the first to introduce the
excessive luxury in buildings and household goods. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 33. s. 4. 1:123}
3942a AM, 4651 JP, 63 BC
4567. Pompey rebuilt Eupatoria, which Mithridates Eupator had built and named
after himself, and then destroyed it again, because it entertained the Romans.
Pompey gave it lands and inhabitants and called it Magnopolis. {*Strabo, l.
12. c. 3. s. 30. 5:429} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (115)
2:463} He built Cabira into a city and called it Diospolis. {*Strabo, l. 12.
c. 3. s. 31. 5:431} He appointed laws and statutes for the Bithynians and
the people of Pontus. Pliny, the praetor of Bithynia, mentioned these in his
letter to Trojan. {*Pliny, Letters, l. 10. c. 69. 2:265}
4568. Pompey marched from Pontus into Asia (properly so called) and wintered at
Ephesus. {*Dio, l. 37. (20) 3:131} {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 14.
s. 1. 8:265} When he had finished his task on sea and land, he ordered the
cities of Asia to furnish him with a fleet equivalent to the price Lucius Sulla
had imposed. {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (32) 10:477}
4569. Lucius Valerius Flaccus, who had been praetor at Rome in the previous
year, was praetor of Asia that year. {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (100,101)
10:551}
3942b AM, 4652 JP, 62 BC
4570. Around the end of winter, Pompey distributed the rewards to his
conquering army. Each man received fifteen hundred Attic drachmas. Plutarch
confirmed that each man received at least this much, while the tribunes and
centurions received amounts commensurate with their position. The total sum of
money was calculated to have been sixteen thousand talents. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (116) 2:465} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
45. s. 3. 5:231} [K268] He gave a hundred million sesterces to the commanders
and quaestors defending the sea coast and six thousand sesterces to each of the
soldiers, according to Pliny. {*Pliny, l. 37. c. 6. 10:177}
4571. When Decimus Julius Silanus and Lucius Murena were consuls, Metellus had
a triumph in the month of June for having conquered Crete. {Eutropius, l. 6.}
(This is as much as we can gather from the Marble Fragments of the Triumphal
Records.) This triumph was in the Julian March and one of the attractions in the
triumph was to have been the captured generals, whom Pompey had taken from
Metellus. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 40. s. 5. 1:139} With the help
of one of the tribunes, whom he had persuaded to assist him, Pompey had taken
Lasthenes and Panares, because he claimed these two generals had submitted to
him in the settlement, and not to Metellus. {*Dio, l. 36. (19) 3:29,31}
However, the triumph of Lucullus and Metellus much enjoyed the favour of every
good man because of the merits of the two generals and especially on account of
the general unpopularity of Pompey. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 34. s.
2. 1:123,125} Appian also mentioned the triumph of Metellus Creticus.
{*Appian, Sicily and the Other Islands, l. 5. c. 6. (2) 1:137}
4572. Cato came to Ephesus, to greet Pompey as someone older and greater in
dignity than he. When Pompey saw him come, he would not allow him to come to
him while he sat in his seat but went to meet Cato, as one of the most important
noblemen. Taking Cato by the hand, he embraced and greeted him. He commended
Cato in the presence of all men, both when he was present and in his absence.
But Pompey was nevertheless glad when he was gone, almost as though he could not
command as freely when Cato was there. He also commended the care of his wife
and children to Cato, a thing Pompey never did to any others who sailed to Rome,
although, indeed, Cato was related to him. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c.
14. s. 1-3. 8:265,267} [E605]
4573. Pompey had overcome many princes and kings, partly by war and partly by
allying them to himself with firm conditions of peace. He had taken no less
than nine hundred cities, rebuilt thirty-nine cities that had either been ruined
or destroyed in war (as was Mazaca, the capital city of Cappadocia), and had
enlarged eight cities and repopulated countries with colonies. Most of the
countries throughout Asia belonging to the Romans he instructed in his own laws
and ordained a commonwealth for them. Finally, he sailed from Ephesus, passing
through the islands and Greece, and travelled toward Italy in very great pomp.
{*Dio, l. 37. (20) 3:131} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (117)
2:467,469} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 45. 5:231,233}
4574. When Pompey reached Lesbos, he released the city of Mitylene of all
taxes. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 42. s. 4. 5:225} The Mitylenians had
surrendered Marius Aquilius and other prisoners, and were granted liberty by
Pompey as a favour to Theophanes. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 18. s.
3. 1:85} This was Balbus Cornelius Theophanes, a Mitylenian and a writer of
Pompey's deeds. Pompey esteemed him as one of his most intimate friends and in
the presence of the whole army, made him a citizen of Rome. When he died, the
Greeks bestowed divine honours on Theophanes. {*Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, l.
1. c. 10. (24) 11:33} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 2. s. 3. 6:143} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 8. c. 14. s. 3. 2:273} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 18.
4:185} {Julius Capitoline, Maximus and Balbus}
4575. At Mitylene, Pompey watched the poets perform plays in which Pompey's
deeds and acts were the theme of all the performances. Pompey was delighted
with the theatre and recorded the plans for it so that he could build a similar
one at Rome, only larger and more magnificent. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
42. s. 4. 5:225} [K269]
4576. When he came to Rhodes, he heard the sophists dispute and gave each of
them a talent. Posidonius had written the discourse he made before Pompey
against Hermagoras, the rhetorician, on Investigation in General. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 42. s. 4. 5:225} As Pompey was about to go into
Posidonius' house, he forbade his lictor to knock on the door in the customary
manner and he himself, to whom both the East and the West had submitted, dipped
his standard to the portals of learning. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 30. 2:579} Based
on Pompey's own account, Cicero related the following about that meeting:
{*Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, l. 2. c. 25. 18:215}
"I have often seen Posidonius myself but I will tell you what Pompey has often
said to me. When he came from Syria and arrived at Rhodes, he intended to hear
Posidonius. When he heard that he was very sick and in great pain with the
gout, he still wanted to see this famous philosopher. When Pompey had met him
and greeted him, he paid him great compliments. Pompey told him how very sorry
he was that he could not hear him. Posidonius replied that he might still hear
him, since he would not allow the pain of his body to frustrate the visit to him
of so great a man. So Pompey told me that the philosopher disputed very gravely
and fully on this subject: That there is nothing good, but what is honest. He
was all on fire, as it were, with pain, as if so many torches had been put to
him. He often said of his pain, All that you do is nothing, although you are
troublesome, yet I will never admit you are an evil."
4577. Some also say that Pompey came to Rhodes on his way to the Mithridatic
war, and that the time when he was about to march against Mithridates was the
time when he spoke to Posidonius. As Pompey was leaving, he asked him if he
would give him some advice. Posidonius repeated that verse in Homer:
"Act nobly and remember to excel over others."
4578. This was recorded from Strabo. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 1. s. 6. 5:189}
4579. When Valerius Flaccus was praetor, he commanded the cities of Asia to
furnish him with money and sailors for a fleet. This fleet was half the size of
the one Pompey used. Flaccus divided it into two squadrons, one of which was to
sail north of Ephesus and the other south. With this fleet, Marcus Crassus
sailed from Aenus, in Thrace, to Asia and Flaccus sailed from Asia into
Macedonia. Each year, in the name of the Jews, gold was exported to Jerusalem
from Italy and all the Roman provinces. For this reason, Flaccus ordered that
no gold should be exported from Asia. When almost a hundred pounds of gold was
intercepted at Apamea, it was weighed before the praetor himself in the court of
Sextus Caesius, a Roman equestrian. At Laodicea, more than twenty pounds of
gold were seized by Lucius Peducaeus. At Adramyttium, a hundred pounds of gold
were seized by Gnaeus Domitius, one of Flaccus' subordinate officers. At
Pergamum, not much gold was taken. All this gold was duly accounted for and
stored in the treasury. There was no evidence of any theft of the gold.
{*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (32) 10:477} {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (68,69)
10:517}
4580. Scaurus, who had been left governor of Syria by Pompey, marched into
Arabia. Because the way was difficult, he did not go as far as Petra, but
nevertheless wasted the country around there. [E606] He endured much suffering,
as his army was affected by famine, even though Hyrcanus, through Antipater,
supplied him from Judea with grain and other things he had need of. Antipater
was also sent as an envoy from Scaurus to Aretas, because he was his very close
friend. He tried to persuade him that he could redeem his country from
destruction by paying a sum of money, so Aretas paid him three hundred talents
on condition that the war was ended. So the war ended, to the satisfaction of
neither Scaurus nor Aretas. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 1.
(159) 2:75} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 5. s. 1. (80,81) 7:489} [K270]
Scaurus had a silver coin stamped during his aedileship. One side showed a king
in barbarous clothes kneeling before Scaurus. This king was wearing a loose
coat and hose. He was being presented with a crown by Scaurus who was riding on
a camel's back. These letters were written around the image: M. SCAVRVS AED.
CVR. EX. S. C. This meant Marcus Scaurus aedile by the decree of the Senate.
Below it was written REX ARETAS, or King Aretas. {Pighius, Annals of Rome, Tom.
3. p. 341,362.}
4581. When Pompey had sent his lieutenant Piso to seek the consulship, the
Romans deferred the request until Piso arrived. They chose Piso as consul by
general consent. This commendation of Piso by Pompey was confirmed by both his
friends and his enemies because they were all afraid of Pompey before he had
dismissed his army. {*Dio, l. 37. (44) 3:169}
3943a AM, 4652 JP, 62 BC
4582. Around the time of Publius Piso's consulship (in the Julian November),
Pompey came into Italy. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 1. c. 12. 22:29-33} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 1. c. 14. 22:39} It was feared that he would come with his army
and would order public affairs after his own pleasure, making himself lord of
all Italy and over all the might of the Romans. But as soon as he came to
Brundisium, he voluntarily discharged all his forces before any decree reached
him, either from the Senate or the people. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
40. s. 3. 1:137} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 43. s. 1,2. 5:227}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (116) 2:465} {*Dio, l. 37. (20)
3:133} Plutarch said that when Pompey had discharged his soldiers in a kindly
manner, he ordered them to meet him again at his triumph. {*Plutarch, Pompey,
l. 1. c. 43. s. 2. 5:227} However, Dio affirmed that he did not intend to
use them in his triumph. {*Dio, l. 37. (20) 3:133}
4583. In a speech at Rome, Pompey declared that he had made war, in the East,
with twenty-two kings. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 6.} At the time that he had
received command for Asia, it had been the outermost province, but now, when he
had restored it to his country again, it was the most central one. {*Pliny, l.
7. c. 26. 2:571} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 40. s. 31. 1:189}
4584. Quintus Tullius Cicero, the younger brother of Marcus, was chosen by lot
to be praetor over Asia and succeeded Lucius Valerius Flaccus. {*Cicero, Pro
Flacco, l. 1. (33) 10:479} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 1. c. 15. 22:47}
4585. When he was to go into his province, he wanted Titus Pomponius Atticus,
his wife's brother, to go with him as his lieutenant. Atticus did not consider
it fitting for him, if he could not be a praetor, to be a servant of the
praetor. {*Cornelius Nepos, Life of Atticus, l. 1. c. 5,6. 1:295,297}
Cicero was offended by this. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 1. c. 17. 22:67}
4586. Publius Clodius was accused of the revolt of Nisibis, of having entered a
temple (which it was unlawful for a man to enter) dressed as a woman, of having
defiled the wife of Metellus, the high priest, and of Gaius Caesar, and of
unseemly behaviour with his own sister. He was acquitted by the judges who had
been bribed with money. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 1. c. 13. 22:35} {*Livy, l.
103. 14:127} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 28. 7:151,153} {*Dio, l. 37.
(44,45) 3:169,171}
4587. Cicero wrote to Atticus that he had taken Syria which had been assigned
to Piso, the consul, away from Piso. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 1. c. 16. 22:57}
Therefore, Marcius Philippus, who had been praetor, was sent out as the
successor to Scaurus, whom Pompey had left in Syria. For two years Philippus
had skirmished with the Arabians, who lived near there and who had invaded
Syria. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51) 2:199} [K271]
4588. In the ninth year of the priesthood and government of Hyrcanus (that is,
from the death of his mother Alexandra, before Gabinius took the government from
him), in the month of Panemos, or June, the decree of the Athenians in honour of
Hyrcanus seems to have been published, as recorded by Josephus. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 8. s. 5. (148-155) 7:527-531} However, Josephus
connected that time to a former decree of the Roman Senate. It was set out both
in the time of the previous Hyrcanus, the son of Simeon, and as well as on the
Ides of December (December 13). {See note on 3877a AM. <<3798>>}
However, this
particular decree, made in honour of Hyrcanus, the second son of Alexander, was
written on the 11th day of the Athenian month of Mounychion (about the 28th day
of the Julian April), by Eucles, the son of Xenander, the Almusian. He was the
secretary and on the pemph apiontov of the Macedonian month of Panemos, or the
27th day (corresponding to the 20th day of the Julian June), he delivered it to
the governors and to Agathocles, who was the praetor at Athens. {Ussher,
Macedonian and Asiatic Year, l. 1. c. 1.}
3943b AM, 4653 JP, 61 BC
4589. First, Quintus Cicero relieved the cities of Asia of the financial burden
of having to provide sailors and a fleet. {*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (33)
10:479} [E607] He restored many cities that were almost deserted. Two of these
were Samos, a most illustrious city of Ionia, and Halicarnassus, a city of
Caria. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 1. c. 8. 28:413}
4590. Pompey deferred his triumph until his birthday, which he celebrated the
day before the month of October. (His birthday happened either in July or June,
of the Julian account.) Marcus Messala and Marcus Piso were consuls when this
took place as may be gathered from the Marble Fragments of the Triumphal
Records. It can be more fully deduced from the official records of Pompey's
triumphs. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 26. 2:569} {*Pliny, l. 37. c. 6. 10:173} He
had a most magnificent triumph of so many kings for two whole days. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 40. s. 3. 1:137} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12.
c. 17. (116) 2:465} Even though this triumph lasted for two days, Plutarch
said its greatness was not fully displayed because a large part of the
preparation, sufficient to have furnished another triumph, was not presented.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 45. s. 1. 5:231}
4591. Those who tried to compare Pompey with Alexander the Great in all things,
would have us believe he was not yet thirty-four years old, when he was in fact
nearly forty, if we accept Plutarch's account. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
46. s. 1. 5:233} Due to the talk of his flatterers, Pompey believed, even
from his youth, that he was like Alexander and so he imitated both his actions
and advice. {*Sallust, Speech of Macer, l. 1. (23) 1:429} {Nonius Marcellus,
under word, Aemulus} However, Velleius very elegantly observed that some men
were altogether too taken up with the age of that great man. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 53. s. 4. 1:169}
"...who were deceived by five years. Whereas setting these things right could
easily be done by calculating from the consulships of Gaius Atilius and Quintus
Servilius."
4592. While he corrected others, Plutarch made the same mistake. He said that
Pompey was nearly forty years old, when in actual fact he was about forty-five.
4593. Pompey had made his first triumph over Africa, the second over Europe and
the third over Asia. He had established the three parts of the world as
monuments of his victory. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 40. s. 4.
1:137} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 45. s. 5. 5:233} Consequently, this
great triumph was called The Triumph of the Whole World. {*Dio, l. 37. (21)
3:135} Due to this, the whole assembly greeted him by the surname of Great.
{*Livy, l. 103. 14:129} He was pleased with this surname, even though he could
have been given many new names because of his famous deeds. {*Dio, l. 37.
(21) 3:135} [K272]
4594. The preface of the triumph (as it was described by Pliny from Pompey's
own records) was this: {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 26. 2:569,571}
"When he had freed the seacoast from pirates and had restored control of the sea
to the people of Rome, he triumphed over Asia, Pontus, Armenia, Paphlagonia,
Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, the Scythians, Jews and Albanians, over Iberia, the
Isle of Crete, the Bastarnians and above all these, over the kings, Mithridates
and Tigranes."
4595. Plutarch added: {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 45. s. 2. 5:231}
"Media, Colchis, Mesopotamia and Arabia."
4596. Appian added: {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (116) 2:465}
"the Heniochi and Achaeans."
4597. Pompey brought seven hundred ships that were intact. There was a vast
number of wagons that carried the armour and also the ramming prows of the
ships. After these came a multitude of captives and pirates, who were not
bound, but clothed in their countries' clothes. After them came noblemen,
captains or sons of the kings, some of them captives and others hostages, for a
total of three hundred and twenty-four. These walked ahead of Pompey, who sat
on a lofty chariot. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (116,117)
2:465,467}
4598. Among these was Tigranes, the son of Tigranes, the king of Armenia, with
his wife and daughters and Zosime, the wife of Tigranes himself. Moreover, the
sister and five sons of Mithridates (Artaphernes, Cyrus, Oxathres, Darius and
Xerxes) and two daughters of his (Orsabaris and Eupatra) were also in the
procession. As well as this, there was Olthaces, the king of the Colchians,
Aristobulus, the king of the Jews, and the tyrants of the Cilicians. There were
women of the royal family of the Scythians, three chiefs of the Iberians, two of
the Albanians, along with Menander of Laodice, who was the general of
Mithridates' cavalry. There were also the hostages of the Albanians and
Iberians and of the king of the Commagenians. He had many other trophies in the
procession, consistent with the number of battles that either he or his
lieutenants had won in various places. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
17. (117) 2:467} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 45. 5:231,233}
4599. Although Tigranes and Mithridates were not present, pictures of them were
carried, showing how they had fought, given ground and fled. The attacks of
Mithridates were depicted and how he had secretly fled away by night. Last of
all came pictures showing his death and that of his daughters, who were his
companions in death. Tables were carried with the images of his sons and
daughters who had died before him and the figures of the barbarian gods in their
own country's attire. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (117)
2:467,469}
4600. Pompey, who was being carried in a chariot set with precious stones, was
clothed, so it was reported, in the armour of Alexander the Great. Following
his chariot came the officers who had accompanied him in this expedition, some
on horseback, while others walked. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17.
(117) 2:469} [E608] The day before the month of October, which was the day of
his birthday, Pompey brought a gaming-board with a complete set of pieces made
of two precious minerals and measured three feet wide and four feet long. On it
was a thirty pound golden Moon. Also displayed were three gold dining couches,
enough gold vessels inlaid with gems to fill nine display stands. There were
three golden images of Minerva, Mars and Apollo, as well as thirty-three pearl
crowns. There was a square mount of gold, covered with stags, lions and all
types of fruit. These were surrounded by a golden vine. {See note on 3939b AM.
<<4464>>} There was a grotto of pearls, on the top of which was a
sundial.
Pompey's own image made of pearls was there. {*Pliny, l. 37. c. 6.
10:173,175} Pompey also recorded that he carried trees in the triumph, namely
the ebony tree and the balsam tree, which only grew in Judea. {*Pliny, l. 12.
c. 9. 4:15} {*Pliny, l. 12. c. 54. 4:81} [K273]
4601. There were also carts and other vessels laden with gold and various other
ornaments. Among them was the bed of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the throne
and sceptre of Mithridates Eupator, and a solid gold statue of him twelve feet
high. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (116) 2:467} There was a
silver statue of Pharnaces, who was the first ruler in Pontus, and gold and
silver chariots. {*Pliny, l. 33. c. 54. 9:113} There were also seventy-five
million, one hundred thousand drachmas in silver coins. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (116) 2:467} Moreover, it was shown in the records that,
prior to this, all the tribute of the people of Rome had totalled only fifty
million drachmas, but together with these, which Pompey had gained for the
people of Rome, it now amounted to eighty-five million. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 45. s. 3. 5:231}
4602. A tablet was also carried, containing a summary of the things Pompey had
achieved in the east. It was inscribed with this superscription. {*Appian,
Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (117) 2:469}
"Eight hundred ships with prows were taken; eight cities built in Cappadocia,
twenty in Cilicia and Coelosyria, and in Palestine the city which is now called
Seleucis. Kings conquered: Tigranes the Armenian, Artoces the Iberian, Oroeses
the Albanian."
4603. Pliny mentioned a similar one that was placed in the temple of Minerva
and dedicated from the spoils: {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 26. 2:569}
"Gnaeus Pompey the Great, Commander-in-Chief, finished a war of thirty years.
He overthrew, routed, killed and had yielded to him twelve million one hundred
and eighty-three thousand men, sank and took eight hundred and forty-six ships,
had fifteen hundred and thirty-eight towns and citadels surrendered to him. He
conquered from the Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov) to the Red Sea and deservedly
offers this vow to Minerva."
4604. He brought twenty thousand talents into the public treasury in plate and
in gold and silver coins. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 45. s. 3. 5:231}
Among the other gifts that were dedicated by him in the Capitol was the cabinet
of King Mithridates, as Varro and other authors of the time confirmed. This
first gave the Romans an appetite for pearls and jewels. {*Pliny, l. 37. c.
5. 10:171,173} They dedicated all the most precious things of Mithridates that
had been found in Kainon Chorion. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 31. 5:429}
Also dedicated was that golden vine which had been brought from Judea.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 3. s. 1. (34,35) 7:465} At this time, six
cups of the mineral murrhine (maybe fluorspar or agate) were first brought to
Rome. These were soon commonly used and became popular material for plates and
dishes. {*Pliny, l. 37. c. 7. 10:177}
4605. When Pompey entered the Capitol in his triumph, he put none of the
captives to death, as those who had triumphed before him used to do. Instead,
he paid their expenses from the public money and sent everyone home to his own
country, except those who were of royal extraction. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars,
l. 12. c. 15. (105) 2:441} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17.
(117) 2:469} It appears incorrect that Appian added that Aristobulus was put to
death, and later Tigranes, because Aristobulus subsequently returned to his
country. Josephus and Dio confirmed both this and the fact that Tigranes was
kept in chains with Flavius, a senator, on Pompey's orders. He was released
from his custody by Clodius, the tribune of the people, a fact which Asconius
Pedianus confirmed in his writings. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 4. s. 5.
(79) 7:489} {*Dio, l. 38. (30) 3:261} {Asconius Pedianus, Pro Milone}
3944a AM, 4653 JP, 61 BC
4606. After the city of Gaza was freed from the rule of the Jews, the citizens
began the epoch of their times from this event. {Fasti Siculi, Olympiad 179.
Year 4.} The city of Gaza began its year about the 27th day of the Julian
October, as we gathered from Marcus, a deacon of Gaza, in the biography of
Porphyry, the bishop of Gaza.
4607. Cicero's brother, Marcus, was the reason that no one would excel Quintus
Cicero in the praetorship of Asia. [K274] Cicero showed this, in a letter to
him. Among other things that he had done well in the province, he listed that
the thieveries of the Mysians had been stopped and murders suppressed in many
places. Peace had settled throughout the whole province. Robbing and stealing
from travellers in the countryside, the towns and cities had also been
suppressed. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 1. c. 8. 28:413,415}
4608. Marcus Cicero had sent his memoirs about his consulship, written in
Greek, to Posidonius in Rhodes. (He was from Apamea and was a philosopher and
historian. Cicero wanted him to rewrite these in better style.) When he read
what Cicero had written, he wrote back to him that he did not have the courage
to write, but that he was clearly afraid. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 2. c. 1.
22:101}
4609. Ptolemy Auletes had a son born to him in his old age, who succeeded him
in his kingdom. Hence, he was no older than thirteen years when Pompey fled to
him after the battle of Pharsalia. {*Dio, l. 42. (3) 4:119} [E609]
3944b AM, 4654 JP, 60 BC
4610. Pompey requested that the Senate ratify all the things he had granted to
kings, governors and cities. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 2. (9) 3:245}
4611. Lucullus had spent his time in luxurious living. When the Senate asked
him to use his authority to involve himself in matters of state, he soon
attacked Pompey's legislation. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 46. s. 3.
5:235} Lucullus and Metellus Creticus had not forgotten the wrongs Pompey had
done them and so they and some of the nobility resisted Pompey. They did not
want to see what had been promised to cities distributed in accordance with
Pompey's own wishes, nor see rewards bestowed on any who should have received
retribution at his hands. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 40. s. 5.
1:139} Lucullus requested that Pompey should have to detail his proposals to the
Senate and not demand that they all be approved in one measure. Otherwise, it
would be unfair to approve all his acts before knowing what they were, as though
they had been the actions of some god. Since Pompey had disannulled some of
Lucullus' acts, Lucullus demanded that Pompey's acts should be individually
proposed in the Senate, so that the Senate could ratify those worthy of
approbation. Cato, Metellus Celer, who was the consul, and others who were of
the same opinion, vigorously supported Lucullus. {*Dio, l. 37. (49,50)
3:177,179} Lucullus also bragged that the victory over Mithridates belonged to
him, and won Crassus to his side. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 2. (9)
3:245} As a result, Lucullus obtained ratification of those decrees which Pompey
had disannulled. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 46. s. 3. 5:235} He
overturned all the constitutions that Pompey had made after having defeated the
kings. Lucullus and Cato thwarted Pompey's request that the lands be divided
among his soldiers. {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 42. s. 6. 2:607}
4612. Thwarted in the Senate, Pompey was compelled to appeal to the tribunes of
the people. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 46. s. 4. 5:235} He realised
that Lucius Flavius, the tribune, demanded that the lands be divided among
Pompey's soldiers and that all the citizens should be allowed to have their say.
He saw that, in this way, the measure might be granted more readily. Flavius
also wanted all Pompey's acts confirmed. Metellus, the consul, so vigorously
opposed him, that he was confined to prison by the tribune. The consul,
notwithstanding, resolutely persisted in his opinion, as did others also, with
the result that Pompey was finally forced to yield to his demands. Pompey
regretted that he had discharged his soldiers and thereby exposed himself to be
wronged by his enemies. {*Dio, l. 37. (50) 3:179}
4613. Meanwhile, Gaius Julius Caesar came to Rome to demand the consulship.
[K275] Pompey allied himself with him and promised that he would do his best to
help Caesar become a consul. By so doing, Pompey hoped that the acts he had
done in the provinces beyond the seas, which were opposed by so many, would
finally be confirmed by Caesar when he was consul. Pompey and Crassus had been
at great odds ever since they had held the consulship together. Caesar
reconciled them and entered into an alliance with both of them. According to
this contract, nothing would be done in the state which displeased any of the
three. This conspiracy proved destructive to the city, to all the world and to
themselves, also. {*Livy, l. 103. 14:127} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
44. 1:145,147} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 19. s. 2. 1:57} {*Plutarch,
Lucullus, l. 1. c. 42. s. 6. 2:607} {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 14.
s. 1,2. 3:355} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 47. s. 1,2. 5:237}
{*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 13. s. 2,3. 7:471,473} {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 2. (9) 3:245,247} {*Dio, l. 37. (54,55) 3:187,189}
4614. Varro, who was the best writer of this period of history, wrote about
this conspiracy of the three principal men of the city and called it trikaranon,
or the three-headed monster. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 2. (9) 3:247}
Asinius Pollio also began to write his history of the civil war from the same
book of Varro's, which was written during the consulship of Metellus Celer.
{*Horace, Odes, l. 2. c. 1. (Title) 1:107} His interpreters, Acron and
Porphyry, confirmed this, for neither believed (as many at the time thought)
that it was the dissension between Caesar and Pompey which sparked the civil
wars. The cause was their initial agreement to conspire together to root out
the aristocracy, and then subsequently, they disagreed with each other.
{*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 13. s. 2,3. 7:471,473}
4615. In this very year, the 180th Olympiad was solemnised and Herodes was
archon in Athens (a person other than that Herod of Athens, of whom Pausanias
and Gellius say that he was the most famous man of his time). {*Pausanias,
Attica, l. 1. c. 19. s. 6. 1:97} {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 1. c.
2. s. 1. 1:5} Diodorus Siculus began the history of Caesar's affairs, and
wrote that he travelled over Egypt in the reign of that Ptolemy who was called
New Bacchus. {Photius, Bibliotheca, l. 1. part. 1,2.}
3945a AM, 4654 JP, 60 BC
4616. A third year was added to the praetorship of Quintus Cicero in Asia.
Suetonius stated that he governed the proconsulate of Asia with little
distinction. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 3. s. 2. 1:155} In this
year, an excellent letter was written by Marcus Cicero relating to the good
government of a province. This was placed first among the letters that he wrote
to his brother Quintus. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 1. c. 8,9. 28:413,415}
4617. The Senate sent Lentulus Marcellinus, who had been praetor, to succeed
Marcius Philippus in the government of Syria. [E610] He had spent two years
fighting off the Arabians, who adjoined Syria and repeatedly invaded the
country. {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51) 2:199}
3945b AM, 4655 JP, 59 BC
4618. Julius Caesar, the consul, confirmed all Pompey's acts, just as he had
promised him, without slandering Lucullus or anyone else. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 2. (13) 3:251} {*Dio, l. 38. (7) 3:211}
4619. Pompey obtained the promise from the Senate that they would not confirm
the honours that Lucullus had promised to some in Pontus. He said it was unjust
that the distribution of rewards and honours should be given to one who had not
finished the war. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 33. 5:435} After filling the
city with arms and soldiers, he expelled Cato and Lucullus from the forum and
confirmed his acts by violence and force. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 48.
s. 1,2. 5:239} {*Plutarch, Lucullus, l. 1. c. 42. s. 6. 2:607,609}
4620. Suetonius wrote that Caesar, in his first consulship, made alliances and
thrones a matter of barter. [K276] He took six thousand talents from Ptolemy
alone in his own and Pompey's name. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 54.
1:103,105} Dio related that Ptolemy (Auletes) spent vast sums of money (both his
own and borrowed) on certain Romans, in the hope that the kingdom of Egypt might
be confirmed to him through them and that he might be called their friend and
ally. {*Dio, l. 39. (55) 3:387} Plutarch related that Auletes owed Caesar
seventeen million, five hundred thousand drachmas. Ten million of this Caesar
extracted when he came into Egypt, after Pompey had been killed. He released
Auletes' children from the rest of the debt. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c.
48. s. 4. 7:557}
4621. In this year, when Caesar was first consul, Auletes was taken into the
alliance of the people of Rome by a law and a decree of the Senate. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (107) 2:349} Caesar obtained this honour from the Senate
before the proscription of Ptolemy's brother, Ptolemy of Cyprus (which happened
in the next year.) {*Cicero, Pro Sestio, l. 1. c. 26. 12:111,113} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 2. c. 16. 22:155}
4622. Gaius Antonius was condemned and Cicero (his colleague in the consulship)
defended him in vain. {*Dio, l. 38. (10) 3:215} He lived as a banished man in
Cephallenia and had all the island under his command, as his own possession. He
began to build a city, but did not finish it before being recalled from exile.
{*Strabo, l. 10. c. 2. s. 13. 5:47}
4623. It was decreed that Publius Clodius should go as an envoy to Tigranes,
the king of Armenia. When he objected, he, who was a patrician, was made a
plebian by adoption, so that in this way he could be chosen as a tribune of the
people. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 2. c. 7. 22:129} {*Cicero, De Domo Sua, l.
1. c. 13. 11:177} {*Dio, l. 37. (51) 3:181}
4624. Brithagoras was a man of great authority among the Heracleans in Pontus.
He and his son Propylus went to Julius Caesar and became his friends. They
followed him as he passed up and down through all the lands for twelve years, so
that Caesar might do good to his fellow citizens. {Memnon, c. 62.}
3946a AM, 4655 JP, 59 BC
4625. Publius Clodius was made tribune of the people. To draw the new consuls
to his side, he decreed large provinces for them. To Gabinius he gave Syria,
with Babylon and Persia. To Piso he gave Achaia, Thessaly, Greece, Macedonia
and all Boeotia. {*Cicero, Pro Sestio, l. 1. c. 43. 12:161-165} {*Cicero,
De Domo Sua, l. 1. c. 21. 11:201} {*Cicero, De Provinciis Consularibus, l.
1. c. 1,2. 13:541} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 30. 7:157}
3946b AM, 4656 JP, 58 BC
4626. When Quintus Cicero had governed Asia for three years, he left the
province. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 15. s. 4. 25:141} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 6. c. 6. 22:473} Marcus Cicero was in exile in Thessaly at the
time and wrote to Atticus concerning his brother's journey. {*Cicero, Atticus,
l. 3. c. 9. 22:209}
"My brother Quintus had departed from Asia before the Calends of May (at the end
of April, which was really about the end of the Julian February), and came to
Athens on the Ides of May (May 15). He was forced to hurry lest another
calamity happen in his absence, if perchance anyone should not be content with
the ills we already suffered. Therefore, I would rather that he hurry to Rome
than come to me."
4627. The Sibylline priest in Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, was expelled from
his priesthood by a tribunal law of Publius Clodius. Brogitarus was a Galatian
and was considered to be that Bogodiatarus to whom, according to Strabo, Pompey
gave Mithridatium, after having taken the region away from Pontus. {*Strabo, l.
12. c. 5. s. 1. 5:469} He was a wicked man, who wanted the priesthood not
out of reverence for the temple, but for the power it offered. Through his
envoys to Clodius, he bought the office of the priesthood with a large sum of
money. [K277] In ancient times, the priests of Pessinus had been petty kings.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 5. s. 3. 5:471} By the same tribunal law, Dejotarus
was often thought worthy of that title by the Senate, just as much as his
son-in-law Brogitarus, who had never asked the Senate for it. When Brogitarus
simply agreed with Clodius that so much money be paid to Clodius by bond, he had
then been ordained by Clodius to be called king. Dejotarus, however, accepted
that part of the law which agreed with the Senate that he should be a king,
without giving any money to Clodius. Dejortus preserved Pessinus in their
ancient religion and would rather have his son-in-law enjoy the title by way of
a gift from Clodius, than the temple should lose her ancient religion.
{*Cicero, De Haruspicum Responsis, l. 1. c. 13. 11:351-355} {*Cicero, Pro
Sestio, l. 1. c. 26. 12:111} [E611]
4628. Clodius wanted to get his revenge on Ptolemy, the king of Cyprus, who was
the brother of Auletes, the king of Alexandria. (If we believe Velleius
Paterculus, he was very much like his brother in every aspect of his depraved
lifestyle.) Previously, when Clodius had been captured by pirates, Ptolemy had
neglected him. Now, even though Clodius lived at peace and enjoyed his ease, he
favoured a law for reducing Ptolemy's kingdom into the form of a province,
without giving any reason, or mentioning any specific wrong Ptolemy had done.
All Ptolemy's goods and money would be confiscated under this law, which would
send out Marcus Cato from the commonwealth, under an honourable title, to carry
out the law. Although Cato was also in favour of this law, he went unwillingly
to Cyprus with a quaestor, to exercise command there with praetorian power.
{*Cicero, Pro Sestio, l. 1. c. 27. 12:115} {*Cicero, De Domo Sua, l. 1. c.
8. 11:157} {*Livy, l. 104. 14:131} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 44. 1:199}
{*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 34. s. 2-4. 8:319} {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
6. s. 6. 6:385} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 45. s. 4,5. 1:149}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 3. (23) 3:269} {*Dio, l. 38. (30) 3:261}
Cicero, in his speech for Publius Sestius, said this of Ptolemy: {*Cicero, Pro
Sestio, l. 1. c. 27. 12:115}
"That miserable Cypriot, who was always an ally, was always a friend, against
whom there was never so much as the least suspicion expressed against him,
either to the Senate or to our generals, lives (as they say) to see himself, in
a situation where even his food and clothes have been confiscated. Behold, why
should other kings think that their fortune is secure, when, by this wicked
example of that regrettable year, they may see themselves stripped of all their
fortunes and all their kingdom by one tribune and six hundred artificers."
4629. Consequently, Ammianus Marcellinus was not ashamed to say that the people
of Rome invaded that island out of covetousness or because of a shortage of
money in their treasury, rather than in pursuit of justice. {*Ammianus
Marcellinus, l. 14. c. 8. s. 15. 1:73} Sextus Rufus said that the poverty
of the people of Rome and the shortage of money in the treasury provoked them to
seize this island which was so famous for its riches. Their gaining command of
it was motivated more by covetousness than justice. {Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
4630. Tigranes, the son of Tigranes, a king and an enemy, was still being kept
prisoner at the house of Lucius Flavius, who was the praetor, on Pompey's
command. Clodius, the tribune of the people, was bribed to ask Flavius to give
Tigranes permission to dine with them, so that he might see him. When Tigranes
came, he feasted him and took him from prison and let him go free. Clodius
would not hand him over when Pompey demanded him. Tigranes had escaped by ship
but was driven back by a storm. Clodius, the tribune, sent Sextius Clodius to
bring Tigranes to him. As soon as Flavius heard of it, he went to apprehend
Tigranes. Within four miles of the city, there was a skirmish and while many
were killed on both sides, Flavius' party fared the worse. Papirius, who was a
Roman equestrian, a tax collector and a very close friend of Pompey, was killed.
Flavius only just escaped to Rome alone. [K278] Clodius, the tribune,
contemptuously treated Pompey and Gabinius, who did not approve of this action.
Clodius beat and wounded their companion, then broke the fasces of Gabinius, the
consul, and confiscated his goods. {*Cicero, De Domo Sua, l. 1. c. 25.
11:213,215} {Asconius Pedianus, Pro Milone} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 48.
s. 6. 5:241} {*Dio, l. 38. (30) 3:261}
4631. Piso and Gabinius, who were the consuls, expelled Syrapis, Isis,
Harpocrates and Cynocephalus and forbade them to come to the Capitol. The
consuls overthrew their altars and curtailed the vices of their filthy and idle
superstitions. {*Tertullian, Apology, l. 1. c. 6. 3:23}
4632. Ptolemy Auletes was told by the Egyptians to request the island of Cyprus
from the Romans or to renounce the alliance he had with them, but he did not
agree to do this. So he incurred their hatred for this reason, as well as for
the high taxes he imposed on the Egyptians to pay the debt he had incurred by
purchasing the Roman alliance. Therefore, when he could neither persuade them,
nor compel them by force, to be quiet (as he had no mercenaries), he fled from
Egypt and sailed to Rome. {*Livy, l. 104. 14:131} {*Dio, l. 39. (12) 3:325}
He wanted Caesar and Pompey to use their army to restore him to power.
{*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 35. s. 2. 8:321} However, Timagenes, who,
under Augustus' reign, wrote some histories of which Seneca made mention,
affirmed that Ptolemy left the kingdom without any good reason, or that he was
not compelled to leave of necessity. {*Seneca, On Anger, l. 3. c. 23. s.
4. 1:313} Theophanes convinced him to leave Egypt by saying he would give
Pompey an opportunity to get money and to start new wars. {*Plutarch, Pompey,
l. 1. c. 49. s. 6,7. 5:245,247}
4633. When Cato sailed to Cyprus, Clodius, the tribune, would not give him any
ships, soldiers or servants to go with him. He only had two secretaries, one
was a notorious thief and the other a lackey of Clodius. As if the business in
Cyprus were but a minor matter, Clodius ordered him to restore the exiles of
Byzantium as well to keep Cato away from Rome as long as he possibly could.
{*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 34. s. 3. 8:319}
4634. Cato, through his friend Canidius, whom he sent to Cyprus ahead of him,
talked with Ptolemy and tried to persuade him to yield without fighting. [E612]
He gave Ptolemy the promise that he would neither live poorly nor in contempt
and that the people would give him the priesthood of the goddess Paphos. In the
meantime, Cato stayed at Rhodes to make preparations and to wait for an answer.
{*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 35. s. 1,2. 8:321} When Ptolemy knew what
had been decreed against him, he did not dare fight the Romans. Nor did he
think he could go on living, if he were to be expelled from his kingdom, so he
put all his treasure into ships and set sail. He hoped to sink his ships and to
die as he chose with his treasure so that his enemies would not get their hands
on it. However, because he could not endure to sink his gold and silver, he
returned home again and killed himself by drinking poison. Although he held the
title of a king, he was a slave to his money. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1.
c. 36. s. 1. 8:323} {*Florus, l. 1. c. 44. 1:199} {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
6. s. 6. 6:385} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 45. 1:149} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 9. c. 4. ext 1. 2:333} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 3.
(23) 3:269} {*Dio, l. 39. (22) 3:337} {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 14. c. 8.
s. 15. 1:73} {Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
4635. Ptolemy Auletes sailed for Rome. When he arrived at Rhodes, he wanted to
meet Cato and sent for him hoping that Cato would come to him. However Cato
replied that if Ptolemy wanted to see him, Ptolemy would have to come to him,
since he was not well. [K279] As Ptolemy came, Cato neither went to meet him
nor rose from his seat, but greeted him as he would greet one of the common
people and asked him to sit down. At first, it amazed Ptolemy and he marvelled
at such haughtiness and severity in someone who had so simple and lowly a
retinue. When they began to talk of his business, Cato accused him of being
foolish for leaving his own rich country and being willing to subject himself to
such dishonour and such great pains, simply to satisfy the covetousness of the
chief men of Rome. This he would never be able to do, even if all the kingdom
of Egypt were coined into money. Therefore, Cato counselled him to return with
his navy and to reconcile himself to his subjects, even offering to go along
with him and to help him be reconciled. The king was brought to his senses by
this speech and perceiving the truth of Cato's wisdom, intended to follow his
advice. However, his friends turned him from this good advice. As soon as
Ptolemy arrived in Rome and was approaching the door of a magistrate, he began
to lament his rash enterprise and the fact that he had scorned the divine
oracles of such a great man. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 35. s. 2-5.
8:321,333} However his coming later caused the Romans so much trouble that
Crassus used that speech of the tragedian: {*Cicero, Pro Caelio, l. 1. c. 8.
13:427}
"Would that in the forest of Pelion (the ship) had not...."
4636. The Alexandrians did not know of Ptolemy's journey to Italy and thought
that he was dead. So they set his legitimate daughter Berenice over the
kingdom, along with her older sister Tryphena, who was also older than
Cleopatra. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:47} {*Dio, l. 39. (13)
3:327} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 226.} They sent Menelaus,
Lampon and Callimachus to Antiochus Pius (or rather, Asiaticus, his son, whom
Pompey had dispossessed of his kingdom) to ask him to reign together with the
women but he became sick and died. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
227.}
4637. Both the consuls went into the provinces as soldiers, Piso into Macedonia
and Gabinius into Syria. The people followed them as they left Rome with their
curses. {*Cicero, Pro Sestio, l. 1. c. 33. 12:131} {*Cicero, In Pison, l.
1. c. 14. 14:181} When Gabinius was about to set sail for Syria, he invited
Antony, who was later in the triumvirate, to accompany him to the wars. Antony
refused to do this as a private soldier but when he was put in command of the
cavalry, he then went with him to the wars. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 3.
s. 1. 9:143}
4638. Titus Ampius obtained the province of Cilicia with the help of the
tribune Publius Clodius, which was contrary to custom. {*Cicero, De Domo Sua,
l. 1. c. 9. 11:161} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c. 3. 25:15}
4639. Cicero mentioned the following about Gabinius' journey to Syria and his
first arrival: {*Cicero, De Provinciis Consularibus, l. 1. c. 4. 13:551}
"His journey into the province was like this. King Ariobarzanes hired your
consul to commit murders as if he had been a Thracian. When he first came into
Syria, he lost many of his cavalry and later the best of his foot soldiers."
4640. Cicero, in his speech for Sestius, also mentioned the loss of Gabinius'
cavalry and foot soldiers. {*Cicero, Pro Sestio, l. 1. c. 33. 12:131}
3947a AM, 4656 JP, 58 BC
4641. Although it was said that the king of Cyprus had left a vast sum of money
behind him, Cato still determined to go to Byzantium first. Marcus Brutus, his
sister's son (and later, the murderer of Julius Caesar), was in Pamphylia, where
he was living at the time to recover his health. [K280] Cato wrote to him that
he should come to him at once from there to Cyprus because he suspected that
Canidius was meddling with the money and would appropriate some for himself.
Brutus undertook this journey very much against his will, because he thought
Cato had slandered Canidius and that this job was too menial and unsuited for
him. Though a young and studious man, Brutus conducted himself so well that
Cato commended him. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 36. s. 1,2. 8:323}
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 3. 6:131,133} [E613]
3947b AM, 4657 JP, 57 BC
4642. Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, who had escaped from Pompey while on
the way to Rome, bothered Judea with his raids. At the time, Hyrcanus was not
able to resist him, because he was determined to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem
that Pompey had thrown down. The Romans, who were there, hindered the work.
Alexander travelled through the country, arming many Jews. In a short time, he
had ten thousand heavily armed foot soldiers and fifteen hundred cavalry. He
strongly fortified Alexandrion, a citadel located near Corea, as well as
Hyrcania and Michaeron, not far from the mountains of Arabia. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 2. (160,161) 2:75} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 5. s. 2. (82,83) 7:491}
4643. Aulus Gabinius, the governor of Syria, undertook an expedition against
Alexander. He sent Mark Antony ahead with some commanders, and they joined up
with some Jews who were under their command, whose captains were Pitholaus and
Matichus. They also took some auxiliaries from Antipater and then fought with
Alexander, while Gabinius followed with the rest of the army. Alexander drew
near to Jerusalem, where the battle was then fought. The Romans killed three
thousand of the enemy and took as many prisoners. When Gabinius came to the
citadel of Alexandrion, he offered the besieged men conditions of peace and
promised them a pardon for everything that was in the past. Many of the enemy
had camped outside the citadel. When they refused all the peace overtures, the
Romans attacked them. Mark Antony behaved very valiantly and killed many of the
enemy. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 3,4. (162-165) 2:75,77}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 5. s. 2,3. (84-86) 7:491,493} Antony was
courteously entertained by Antipater and sixteen years later, when Antony was in
the triumvirate and came into Syria, he showed that he remembered this courtesy
by acting kindly toward Antipater's sons, Phasael and Herod. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 12. s. 5. (244) 2:113} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13.
s. 1. (325,326) 7:621}
4644. Gabinius left part of the army at the siege of Alexandrion and went to
visit the rest of Judea. He ordered that any cities he came across that had
been destroyed, should be rebuilt. By this means, Samaria, Azotus, Scythopolis,
Anthedon, Apollonia, Jamnia, Gamala, Raphia, Adora, Marisa, Gaza and many others
were rebuilt. These were later peacefully inhabited, after having been deserted
for so long.
4645. Having so ordered these things in the country, Gabinius returned to
Alexandrion. When the Romans intended to attack the citadel, Alexander
requested pardon through his envoys. He offered Gabinius the citadels of
Hyrcania and Machaerus and finally, Alexandrion. Gabinius, on the advice of the
mother of Alexander, levelled these to the ground, lest they should be a reason
for new wars. The woman was solicitous for her husband and children, who had
been carried captive to Rome, and favoured the Romans. She used all her charms
toward Gabinius and obtained from him whatever she desired. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 4,5. (165-168) 2:77,79} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 5. s. 3,4. (89-90) 7:493,495}
4646. After Gabinius had settled his affairs, he took Hyrcanus to Jerusalem and
committed the care of the temple and the priesthood to him. He made others of
the nobility rulers of the Jewish state. [K281] He appointed five seats for
courts and divided the whole province into so many equal parts. Some went to
court at Jerusalem, some at Gadara (otherwise Adora), some at Amathus, some at
Jericho and some at Sepphoris. Thus the Jews were freed from the command of one
single man and were willingly governed by an aristocracy. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 4,5. (169,170) 2:79} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
5. s. 4. (91) 7:495}
4647. Philip Euergetes, the son of Grypus, and Tryphena, the daughter of
Ptolemy, the eighth king of the Egyptians (who thirty-five years before had been
king of Syria), were sent for by the Alexandrians, to take over the kingdom of
Egypt. However he was hindered from doing this by Gabinius, the governor of
Syria. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 227.}
4648. At Rome, Pompey took up Ptolemy Auletes' cause, commended it to the
Senate and asked for his restoration. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:45}
However, Ptolemy requested that he might be restored by Cornelius Lentulus
Spinther, the consul, who had been given charge of the province of Cilicia.
{*Dio, l. 39. (12) 3:325,327} Spinther was also in favour of restoring Ptolemy
to his kingdom as the sole ruler. A decree of the Senate was made to that end.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c. 1. s. 1,2. 25:3,5} {*Cicero, In Pison, l. 1.
c. 21. 14:201} {*Cicero, Pro Rabirio Postumo, l. 1. c. 8. 14:385,387}
4649. It was said that the following advice was given by the same consul, that
greater authority be given to Pompey to provide grain through all the Roman
Empire by sea and land. He hoped that Pompey would be occupied in this greater
charge and that he himself would be sent to help Ptolemy. {*Plutarch, Pompey,
l. 1. c. 49. 5:245}
4650. The Alexandrians sent a hundred men to Rome, to defend their cause
against the accusations of Ptolemy as well as accuse him of the wrongs he had
done to them. The leader of the embassy was Dio, an academic. {*Strabo, l.
17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:48} {*Dio, l. 39. (13) 3:327}
4651. Ptolemy sent out certain men in various directions and laid ambushes for
the envoys. Most were killed on their journey, but some of them he killed in
the city of Rome itself. The rest, he bullied or bribed into submission.
[E614] He arranged matters in such a way, that they did not so much as dare to
bring their cause before the magistrates to whom they had been sent, or even
once make any mention of those who had been killed. {*Dio, l. 39. (13,14)
3:327} Cicero mentioned the murdering of the Alexandrian envoys, against all law
and honesty. {*Cicero, De Haruspicum Responsis, l. 1. c. 16. 11:361} He
also mentioned the beating of the Alexandrians at Puteoli. {*Cicero, Pro
Caelio, l. 1. c. 10. 13:433}
4652. This business was so commonly known, that the Senate was very angry,
especially Marcus Favonius, who stirred them up. Many envoys of their allies
who were sent to Rome, were violently killed. Cicero mentioned one in
particular, Theodosius, who was sent as an envoy from a free city. He was
stabbed at the hands of Publius Clodius and Hermarchus, a Chian. {*Cicero, De
Haruspicum Responsis, l. 1. c. 16. 11:361} Many Romans were, at that time,
corrupted by bribes, so the Senate called Dio, the leader of the embassy, to
them, so that he could testify before them to the truth of the matter. However
Ptolemy's money had prevailed to such an extent, that neither did Dio come into
the Senate, nor was any mention made, all the while that Dio was at Rome, of
those who had been killed. {*Dio, l. 39. (14) 3:327,329}
4653. Finally, Dio himself was murdered. A very learned man, he had lodged
with Lucceius. [K282] (He, too, was a most learned man, whom Cicero engaged to
write the history of his consulship. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 5. c. 12.
25:365}) Dio had known Lucceius from Alexandria. Publius Asicius was not found
guilty of this murder, nor was Ptolemy punished. Asicius was acquitted in his
trial. Pompey entertained Ptolemy at his house and helped him all he could.
Although many had taken bribes and were later accused before the judges, very
few were condemned, since there were so many who were guilty of the same fault.
Everyone helped the others, out of fear for himself. Hence, men committed
wicked deeds for the love of money. {*Cicero, Pro Caelio, l. 1. c. 10.
13:435} {*Dio, l. 39. (14) 3:329}
4654. After Marcus Cato had reconciled the banished men with the rest of the
citizens and established a firm agreement in Byzantium, he sailed into Cyprus.
The Cypriots willingly received him in the hope that they would now become
friends and allies of the people of Rome, instead of servants, as they had been.
Cato found a large and royal preparation there, in plates, tables, jewels, and
purple. All of this was to be sold for money and so he gathered a little less
than seven thousand talents of silver. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c.
36-38. 8:323-329} {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 3. 6:131} {*Strabo, l. 14.
c. 6. s. 6. 6:385} {*Dio, l. 39. (22) 3:337,339}
4655. Cato was very careful to check out and to set the highest price and
account for every last penny. He did not trust the ways of the forum but
suspected all apparitors, criers, appraisers and friends. He also talked with
those who set the price privately and he forced many to buy. He sold many
things by these means. But in this way, he offended many of his friends by
distrusting them, especially his most intimate friend, Munatius, whom he
provoked almost to an implacable offence. This gave Julius Caesar the occasion
for accusing Cato as recorded in the book that Munatius wrote, called Anticaron.
This Munatius (who was called Rufus {*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 3. s. 2.
1:367,369}) wrote a commentary about Cato and his journey to Cyprus. Thrasea
mainly followed Munatius' account. In the book, Munatius did not record that
this difference between them arose from any distrust on Cato's part. However,
when Munatius later came to Cyprus, Cato did not entertain him and preferred
Canidius over him, who was already there and who had proved his fidelity to
Cato. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 36,37. 8:323,325}
4656. In the last month of his consulship (then happening in the Julian
September), when the new tribunes of the people entered their office, Publius
Cornelius Spinther prepared to take a journey to his province of Cilicia.
Ptolemy Auletes departed from Rome, according to the passage from Fenestella, as
cited by Nonius Marcellus: {Nonius Marcellus, Fenestella, l. 22.}
"As soon as the tribunes entered their office, Gaius Cato, who was a troublesome
and bold young man and one who could speak reasonably well, began to stir up the
people with his speeches against Ptolemy, who had now left the city and against
Publius Lentulus Spinther, who was now preparing for his journey."
4657. However, Ptolemy's cause was defended by Cicero, as he himself seemed to
show, in his speech for Caelio, and as Fortunatianus more clearly confirmed, by
quoting by name that very speech of his on behalf of King Ptolemy. [K283]
3948a AM, 4657 JP, 57 BC
4658. In the beginning of the consulship of Lucius Marcius Philippus and Gnaeus
Lentulus Marcellinus, the statue of Jupiter Capitoline was struck by lightning.
This halted the restoration of Ptolemy, for when the Sibylline books were
consulted, it was reported that they had foretold that a king of Egypt with
crafty councils (as it says in Cicero {*Cicero, Pro Rabinius Postumus, l. 1.
c. 2. 14:371}) would come to Rome. Dio recorded the Sibylline sentence
relating to this suspicion of Ptolemy as follows: {*Dio, l. 39. (15,16)
3:329.331} [E615]
"If a king of Egypt needs your help and shall come here, you shall not deny him
friendship, but you shall not help him with any large forces. If you shall do
otherwise, you will have labours and dangers."
4659. The oracle was leaked to the people by Gaius Cato, the tribune of the
people. It was not lawful to disclose any Sibylline prophecies to the people,
unless the Senate had so decreed it. It seemed even less lawful, considering
how badly the people took it. Because of this, Cato feared that the sentence of
the oracle would be suppressed, so he compelled the priests to translate it into
Latin and to declare it to the people before the Senate had decreed anything
relating to it. {*Dio, l. 39. (15) 3:329,331} Notwithstanding, it was the
opinion of the people of Rome that this name of a pretended omen had been
introduced by those who were against Lentulus Spinther, the proconsul of
Cilicia. This was not so much to hinder him, as to prevent anyone from going to
Alexandria out of a selfish desire for military command and among all the rest,
Pompey was the most keen in this regard. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c. 4.
25:17}
4660. Ammonius, Ptolemy's envoy, publicly opposed the restoring of the king by
Spinther and used money to help convince others. Those few who were for the
king wanted the matter committed to Pompey. The Senate approved the forgery of
the religious oracle, not for religious reasons, but out of ill-will and hatred
of the king's large bribes. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c. 2. 25:13} {*Cicero,
Quintus, l. 2. c. 2. 28:485} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51)
2:201} {Appian, Parthian Wars, p. 134.}
4661. Pompey understood from the oracle that Ptolemy requested that Pompey
might come to his aid, instead of Spinther. There were little notes found,
thrown about in the forum and the Senate house, that indicated the same.
Thereupon, the king's letter relating to this business was read publicly by
Aulus Plautius, the tribune of the people. His colleague Caninius (Plutarch
incorrectly called him Canidius) proposed a law that Pompey, without an army and
only accompanied by two lictors, should bring the king back into favour with the
Alexandrians. Although the law did not seem to displease Pompey, it was
nevertheless decreed by the senators partly under the guise of the grain law
that had already been committed to him, as well as the pretence of a false
concern for the safety of Pompey's person (as they pretended to be afraid for
him). {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 49. s. 6. 5:245} {*Dio, l. 39. (16)
3:331}
4662. The Senate had various opinions about this business. Bibulus thought
that Ptolemy should be established in his kingdom, not with an army, but by
three envoys who were only private citizens. Crassus thought that the three
envoys should either be private citizens or men holding office. When Lupus
proposed this law, Volcatius, the tribune of the people, thought Pompey should
go. Afranius, Libo, Hypsaeus and all the close friends of Pompey agreed.
Hortensius, Cicero and Lucullus thought that it ought to be done by Lentulus
Spinther. However Servilius denied that the king ought to be established at
all. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c. 1,2. 25:3-13} [K284]
4663. In the month of February (or the Julian November), Gaius Cato published a
law to deprive Lentulus of his office. This gave his son a reason to change his
garment for poorer ones, as mentioned by Cicero. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 2. c.
3. 28:485} This meant the law of re-establishing Ptolemy in his kingdom,
according to the decree of the Senate, was granted to him in his consulship. It
is obvious from the letters of Cicero written to him, from the first book and
the seventh and subsequent letters, that, after the passing of this law,
Lentulus retained the proconsulship of Cilicia with the addition of Cyprus, as
Cato had already left Cyprus. Cyprus was now made a tributary by the Romans and
organized into a province. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c. 7. s. 4. 25:31}
{*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 14. c. 8. s. 15. 1:73} {*Strabo, l. 14. c.
1. s. 11. 8:47}
4664. When Ptolemy saw that he would not be established in his kingdom again,
either by Pompey (as was his preference) or by Lentulus, he now despaired of
ever returning at all. He went to Ephesus where he stayed in the temple of
Diana. {*Dio, l. 39. (16) 3:331}
4665. Aristobulus and his son Antigonus escaped from Rome and returned to
Jerusalem. A large number of Jews sided with him again, as they wanted a change
and he still commanded their affections. He planned to rebuild the citadel of
Alexandrion which had been torn down. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8.
s. 6. (171) 2:79} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 1. (92) 7:495}
4666. Gabinius, the governor of Syria, sent soldiers under their captains,
Sisenna (his son), Antony and Servilius, to prevent Aristobulus from seizing
Alexandrion and to capture him, if they could. For many other Jews had resorted
to him, because of the reputation that he had. Pitholaus also, the second in
command at Jerusalem, had left the Roman party and came to him with a thousand
well-armed men. Since many of those who came to him were not well-armed,
Aristobulus dismissed them as unsuitable for war. [E616] He took only eight
thousand armed men (among whom were those that Pitholaus had brought), and
marched to Machaerus. The Romans pursued them and fought with them.
Aristobulus' side valiantly held out for a good while, but after they had lost
five thousand men, they were forced to flee. Nearly two thousand fled to a
certain hill. From there, they got away and provided for their own safety as
well as they could. Another thousand, with Aristobulus, broke through the ranks
of the Romans and fled to Mathaerus, where they began to fortify the citadel.
They were not able to hold out in the siege for more than two days. After many
had been wounded, Aristobulus was taken prisoner, along with his son Antigonus,
and brought to Gabinius. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 6.
(171-174) 2:79,81} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 1. (93-97)
7:497-499}
4667. Plutarch gave more details of this event and ascribed the whole victory
to the honour of Antony. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 3. s. 1. 9:143}
"When Antony was sent against Aristobulus, who caused the Jews to rebel, he was
the first man that climbed the wall of an extremely strong citadel of
Aristobulus. Antony drove him from all his strongholds. Then, with a few men
of his, he fought and overthrew a large army, putting them all to the sword
except for a handful. Aristobulus and his son were taken prisoner."
4668. Dio incorrectly wrote that Gabinius went into Palestine and captured
Aristobulus (who had fled from Rome and incited a rebellion). Gabinius sent him
to Pompey and imposed a tax on the Jews. From there, he went into Egypt to
re-establish Ptolemy in his kingdom. {*Dio, l. 39. (56) 3:391}
4669. Tyrannio, who was teaching in Cicero's house, organized Cicero's library
with the help of Dionysius and Menophilus, who were two bookbinders sent to him
by Atticus. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 2. c. 4. 28:497} {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
4. c. 4a. 22:281,283} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 4. c. 8. 22:293} [K285] This
was Tyrannio Amisenus, who (fourteen years earlier) had been taken by Lucullus
and who had now become rich and famous in Rome and had accumulated about thirty
thousand books. {Suidas, In Voc., Tyrannio} Tyrannio had the books of Aristotle
copied from the library of Sulla. It was reported that Andronicus of Rhodes
received the copies and that he published the copies we now have. {*Strabo, l.
13. c. 1. s. 54. 6:111,113} {*Plutarch, Sulla, l. 1. c. 26. 4:407}
4670. Valerius produced witnesses testifying to the help that Marcus Cato had
been in administering the business of Cyprus. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c.
3. s. 2. 1:367,369}
"...Epirus, Achaia, the Cyclades Islands, the sea coasts of Asia, the province
of Cyprus. When he undertook the charge of bringing away the money, he took no
bribes and handled the matter fairly. For although he had the king's riches in
his own power and the required places of lodging on his trip were most
delightful cities, he behaved most discretely. Munatius Rufus, his faithful
companion in that journey, indicated as much in his writings."
4671. Cato feared a tedious journey and prepared various coffers, each of which
held two talents and five hundred drachmas. He tied each of these to a long
rope and fastened it at the end with a large piece of cork. If the ship was
sunk, the cork would indicate the place. Thus, all the money, except for a very
little, was transported very safely. Cato made two books in which he recorded
the accounts of everything he had obtained. Philargyrus, a freedman of Cato's,
was carrying one of these books when he sailed from Cenchrea and was drowned
with all his belongings. Cato took the other book himself. He came to Corcyra,
where he stayed in the market-place in his tent. The sailors made many fires
because of the cold and accidently set the tents on fire. So Cato lost that
book, also. Although the royal stewards could easily have silenced his enemies
and detractors, it bothered Cato. He had not kept these accounts to vindicate
his fidelity but to give an example of diligence to others. {*Plutarch, Cato
Minor, l. 1. c. 38. 8:327,329}
3948b AM, 4658 JP, 56 BC
4672. Cato, with great diligence, travelled up the Tiber River in light boats
that carried the riches of Cyprus as if they had been spoils taken from an enemy
and carried in a fleet. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 44. s. 5. 1:199} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 4. c. 1. s. 14. 1:351} {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 14. c. 8.
s. 15. 1:73} This brought more money to the treasury of the people of Rome
than any triumph. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 44. s. 5. 1:199}
4673. When the news of Cato's arrival became known, all the magistrates and
priests, along with the consuls (one of whom was Lucius Marcius Philippus, the
father of Marcia, Cato's wife), the whole Senate, and many of the people went to
the riverside to meet him. His arrival differed very little from the show and
splendour of a triumph. Notwithstanding, his arrogance was observed in his
arrival. He did not come ashore to the consuls and praetors who had come to
meet him, nor altered his course, but sailed past the shore in one of the king's
galleys with six tiers of oars. [K286] He did not come ashore until he and his
fleet reached the place where the money was to be landed. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 45. s. 5. 1:151} Plutarch stated that when he landed,
the consuls and the rest of the magistrates were ready to receive him with great
favour. They were happier to see Cato safely home again, than they were to see
the vast sum of gold and silver the fleet had brought. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor,
l. 1. c. 39. 8:329} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 8. c. 15. s. 10. 2:287}
[E617]
4674. As the money was being carried through the market place, the people
marvelled at the treasure, which was far greater than they had hoped for.
{*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 39. s. 3. 8:329} Cato could not be
accused by anyone, because although he had gathered together many slaves and
much money out of the king's riches, he had honestly declared everything. Cato
received no less honour than if he had returned as a conqueror from the wars.
Indeed, many men had allowed themselves to be corrupted with bribes, but because
of him it was accounted a rarer virtue to despise money than to conquer an
enemy. {*Dio, l. 39. (22) 3:339}
4675. Pliny stated that Cato brought a philosopher with him when he came back
from this Cypriot expedition. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 30. 2:581} Cato had the
Senate grant Nicias, the king's steward, his freedom, and Cato himself testified
to his fidelity and diligence. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 39. s. 3.
8:331} Clodius intended that the slaves who had been brought from Cyprus, should
be called Clodians, because he had been the one who had sent Cato there.
However Clodius was thwarted, when Cato opposed this. So they were called
Cyprians, for Cato would not allow them to be called Porcians, after his own
surname, although some were of the opinion that this should be the case. {*Dio,
l. 39. (23) 3:339}
4676. Clodius was angry with Cato, because he had opposed him, so he slandered
the service that Cato had done and demanded an account of his deeds. Even
though he did not think he could accuse Cato of any unjust act, he thought he
could get something against him, since almost all the records had been lost in
the shipwreck. Caesar helped Clodius in this business, although he was absent
and (as some reported), sent accusations against Cato to Clodius by letters.
{*Dio, l. 39. (23) 3:339,341} However, Cato told them that he had brought so
much money from Cyprus but had not received so much as one horse or soldier,
compared to Pompey, who had brought horses and soldiers from so many wars and
triumphs, when all the world had been in turmoil. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l.
1. c. 39. s. 3. 8:329}
4677. Cato opposed Cicero, who insisted that none of the things that Clodius
had done in his tribuneship should be confirmed in the Senate. He did not do
this as a favour to Clodius, but because Cato's commission for Cyprus was among
the acts that were to be revoked because the tribune who had sent him had been
chosen unlawfully. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 40. 8:331} {*Plutarch,
Cicero, l. 1. c. 34. 7:169,171}
4678. Phraates II was wickedly put to death by his sons. Orodes succeeded him
in the kingdom of the Parthians and expelled his brother, Mithridates, from
Media, where he governed. {*Dio, l. 39. (56) 3:391} The sons contended for
the kingdom and it seems that Orodes was banished first and then Mithridates as
well. However Surenas, who was a rich man and among the Parthians, second only
to the king in blood and authority, brought Orodes back again from banishment.
It was his prerogative by birth that he should always crown the new king of the
Parthians. He subdued Seleucia on the Tigris River, bringing it under the
king's dominion. Surenas was the first man to scale the walls and with his own
hands he defeated those who defended it. [K287] Although he was not yet thirty
years old, he was held in esteem for his advice in council and for his wisdom.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 6,7. 3:379} {Appian, Parthian Wars,
p. 140,141.} However, at another time Appian stated that Mithridates was driven
from his kingdom by his brother Orodes. {Appian, Parthian Wars, p. 134.}
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51) 2:201} Justin, on the other hand,
noted that Mithridates was deposed from his kingdom by the Parthian nobility
because of his cruelty, and that his brother Orodes seized the kingdom when the
throne was vacant. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 4.} However Justin incorrectly
thought this Mithridates was the same as Mithridates, the king of the Parthians,
whose famous acts gave him the surname of Great. Between this Mithridates the
Great and the one who was the brother of Orodes, there was a succession of many
kings among the Parthians. This appeared in the prologue of Justin's history.
{Justin, Trogus, l. 42. Prologue}
4679. Mithridates was driven from his kingdom, either by the Parthian nobility
or by his brother Orodes, and came to Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, when he
was preparing for an expedition against the Arabians. He reasoned with Gabinius
that he should leave the Arabians alone and go against the Parthians instead to
help restore him to his kingdom. {Appian, Parthian Wars, p. 134.} {*Appian,
Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51) 2:201} {*Dio, l. 39. (56) 3:391}
4680. On the Ides of May (May 15, which happened in the Julian February), the
letters of Gabinius were read in full to the Senate. These letters concerned
the war that he was having with the greatest countries and tyrants of Syria
(among whose names) the princes of Judea, Commagene, Chalcis, Emesa,
Thrachonitis, Batanea, and Abilene, are usually mentioned. However, the report
was not believed and so the Senate denied him the triumph he wanted at Rome.
{*Cicero, Quintus, l. 2. c. 8. 28:509} {*Cicero, De Provinciis Consularibus,
l. 1. c. 6. 13:555,557} {*Cicero, In Pison, l. 1. c. 17. 14:189}
4681. When Gabinius had sent King Aristobulus and his sons to Rome, the Senate
kept the king prisoner but immediately sent his sons back into Judea, because
they understood from Gabinius' letters that he had promised the king's mother
this in return for the surrender of the citadels. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 8. s. 7. (173,175) 2:81} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 1.
(97) 7:499} [E618] Josephus further added that Aristobulus held the kingdom and
the priesthood for forty-two months. The Arabian collector of the Jewish
History (as set forth by this same man in chapter forty at the end of the
Parisian Bibles of many languages) understood it to refer to the time of the
former government, until he was taken prisoner for the first time. However, it
seems rather that it should be taken as meaning the former and the latter time
were both taken together, so that he reigned thirty-nine months before the
former captivity and three months before his second captivity. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 20. c. 10. s. 4. (245) 10:131}
4682. Marcus Cicero, in a speech before the Senate, advised that Lucius Piso
and Aulus Gabinius (in whose consulship Cicero was banished) should be recalled
and their provinces of Macedonia and Syria assigned to the future consuls.
Among other things, he voiced the following objections against Gabinius:
{*Cicero, De Provinciis Consularibus, l. 1. c. 4,5. 13:551,553}
"When he was governor in Syria, nothing was done but some work for money with
the tyrants, confiscations, plundering, thieveries and murders. When his army
was in battle array, he, as general of the people of Rome, did not exhort his
soldiers to gain honour, but stretched out his right hand and cried that all
things had already been bought or were about to be bought by him for money. Now
he has delivered the wretched tax collectors to slavery and turned them over to
Jews and Syrians, countries that were themselves born to slavery. [K288] He has
continued in this, in that he will not do justice to a tax collector, but has
revoked all agreements made between them in which there was no unfairness. He
took away guards and released many, who were paying tribute, from the obligation
to pay. In whatever town he was, or wherever he went, he forbade any tax
collector or tax collector's servant to be there."
4683. Gabinius had afflicted Syria with many wrongs and had done more wrong to
the province than the thieves, who were very strong at that time. However, as
he considered all his achievements to be trifles, he planned an expedition
against the Parthians and made preparations for that journey. {*Dio, l. 39.
(56) 3:391}
4684. Pompey made Archelaus, the friend of Gabinius, the high priest of Comana
in Pontus. {See note on 3940a AM. <<4493>>} Archelaus was living
there with
Gabinius and the latter hoped that he would be Pompey's companion in the
Parthian wars for which he was preparing, but the Senate would not allow it.
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 34. 5:435} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11.
8:45}
4685. Gabinius led his army against the Parthians and in so doing, crossed the
Euphrates River. Ptolemy came with letters from Pompey, promising that he would
give a large sum of money to Gabinius and his army, a down payment now and the
rest when he had been restored to his kingdom. It was ten thousand talents that
Ptolemy promised Gabinius, as confirmed by Plutarch and Cicero. Cicero reckoned
the sum to be two million one hundred and sixty thousand sesterces. {*Cicero,
Pro Rabirio Postumo, l. 1. c. 8. 14:387} (Loeb text stated two hundred and
forty million. Editor.) Most of the commanders were against it and Gabinius was
also hesitant about doing it, although he would have liked to have lightened
Ptolemy of those ten thousand talents. However, Antony, who longed to do great
exploits and was keen to gratify Ptolemy's request, was quite prepared to go,
and persuaded Gabinius to undertake this war. The law forbade any provincial
governor to go beyond the bounds of his own government, or to undertake any war
on his own initiative. Based on the oracle of the Sibylline verses, the people
of Rome had totally forbidden the restoration of Ptolemy at all. However the
more he knew it to be wrong, the more he viewed the potential gains in wealth.
Hence, he abandoned the Parthian expedition and undertook the expedition against
the Alexandrians. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 7. (175,176)
2:83} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 2. (98,99) 7:499} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 3. 9:143} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51)
2:201} {Appian, Parthian Wars, p. 134.} {*Dio, l. 39. (56) 3:391}
4686. At that time, Bernice, the daughter of Auletes, held the kingdom of
Egypt. She had sent for Seleucus from Syria, who, as he said himself, was of
the stock of the Syrian kings. She married him and made him a partner in the
rule of the kingdom and of the war. He was a most repulsive man and in contempt
was surnamed Ptolemy Cocces, and Cybiosactes, meaning dealer in salt fish.
{*Suetonius, Vespasian, l. 8. c. 19. 2:295,297} He broke open the golden
coffin in which the body of Alexander the Great was buried, but did not profit
by the thievery. When the queen saw that he was such a base man, she strangled
him within a few days, because she could no longer endure his sordidness and
niggardliness. She looked for another husband of royal extraction. Some
friends brought Archelaus, the high priest of Comana, who was in Syria at the
time. He pretended to be the son of Mithridates (under whom his father
Archelaus had waged war against Sulla and the Romans). [K289] She married him
and deemed him fit to rule the kingdom under the same conditions that Seleucus
had enjoyed. He ruled the kingdom together with her for six months. {*Strabo,
l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:45,47} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3. s. 34. 5:437}
{*Dio, l. 39. (57) 3:393} [E619]
4687. Gaius Clodius, a praetor and the brother of Publius Clodius, obtained the
province of Asia through Publius Clodius. (Dio said Gaius held office that
year. {*Dio, l. 39. (21) 3:337}) {?Cicero, Atticus, l. 4. c. 14.} Gaius
Scribonius Curio was his quaestor in that province. Cicero sent many letters to
him which are still extant. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 1-7. 25:93-115}
3949a AM, 4658 JP, 56 BC
4688. Through a law made by Gaius Trebonius, the tribune of the people, the
provinces were assigned to the new consuls. Gnaeus Pompey was given Spain and
Africa and Marcus Licinius Crassus was assigned Syria with its adjacent
countries. Power was given to both of them to take as many soldiers as they
wanted from Italy and from their allies and to make peace or war with whomever
they wished. {*Livy, l. 105. 14:131} {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 15. s.
5. 3:361} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 52. s. 3. 5:251} {*Plutarch, Cato
Minor, l. 1. c. 43. s. 1. 8:339} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 3.
(18) 3:261} {*Dio, l. 39. (33) 3:355}
4689. As soon as Crassus had, by lot, obtained his province, he could not
conceal his joy and supposed that nothing better could ever have happened to
him. He would talk so vainly and childishly among his close friends, that it
was not becoming his age and wisdom. He planned the conquest of Syria and
Parthia and even had vain hopes of conquering the Bactrians, the Indians and the
Eastern ocean. However, in the decree made by the people about his government,
no mention was made of the Parthians, yet everyone knew that Crassus longed for
that conquest. When Caesar wrote to him from Gaul, he commended his resolution
and advised him to pursue it. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 16. s. 1-3.
3:361}
4690. Aulus Gabinius left his son Sisenna, who was very young, with very few
soldiers, so exposing the province he governed to the actions of pirates.
Gabinius went through Palestine to Egypt {*Dio, l. 39. (56) 3:391} against
Archelaus, whom the Egyptians had chosen to be their king. {*Livy, l. 105.
14:131} In this expedition he used his friends, Hyrcanus and Antipater, to
supply him with all the things that were necessary for the war. Antipater
helped him with money, arms, men and grain. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
8. s. 7. (175,176) 2:83} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 2. (99)
7:499}
4691. They came to a place where they had to cross through deep, dry, sandy
areas around the Serbonian fens and marshes, which the Egyptians call the blasts
of Tryphon. (Tryphon was the evil Egyptian deity buried under the Serbonian
marshes.) Mark Antony was sent ahead with the cavalry. Gabinius had made Antony
the commander of the cavalry, even though he was very young. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (8) 4:389} Antony took the pass, as well as the very large
city of Pelusium. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 3. s. 2,3. 9:143} The Jews
who inhabited Pelusium and were the guards of the pass into Egypt, were drawn to
his side. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 7. (175,176) 2:83}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 2. (99) 7:499}
4692. After the garrison of Pelusium had been conquered, Antony secured the way
for the army and settled the victory for the general with fairness. As soon as
Ptolemy had entered Pelusium, he was so inflamed with anger and hatred, that he
would have put all the Egyptians to the sword, but Antony interceded and would
not allow him to do so. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 3. s. 4,5.
9:143,145}
4693. When Gabinius had marshalled his army into two battalions, he marched
from Pelusium and on that same day, routed the Egyptians who opposed him.
{*Dio, l. 39. (58) 3:393} [K290]
4694. In a speech he made at Rome, Cicero extorted the little town of Zeugma,
located on the Euphrates River, from the ignoble King Aniochus of the
Commagenians. He also said many things against him and made everyone laugh when
he ridiculed the purple toga which the king had received during the consulship
of Caesar. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 2. c. 12. 28:521}
4695. On the Ides of February (February 13, which happened in the Julian
November), the Tyrians were admitted into the Senate, but opposing them were
many of the Syrian tax collectors. (There is a textual variation of Syrians for
Tyrians in the Loeb edition. Editor.) Gabinius was fiercely abused. However,
the tax collectors were denounced by Domitius because they had honoured Gabinius
with an escort of cavalry. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 2. c. 13. 28:525}
3949b AM, 4659 JP, 55 BC
4696. About the 4th of the Calends of May (April 27, which happened in the
Julian February), the rumour was widely circulated at Puteoli that Ptolemy was
in his kingdom. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 4. c. 10. 22:297} He was indeed in
Egypt and Gabinius had taken Archelaus, who had come out against him sooner than
had been anticipated, so that there was no more business to be done. But now
Gabinius feared that, because he had done nothing, he should receive less money
from Ptolemy than had been agreed upon. He also hoped that he would receive
more money because Archelaus was a brave man and of good reputation. He had
received a large sum of money from Archelaus, so that he let him go, as if he
had escaped from him. {*Dio, l. 39. (57,58) 3:393,395}
4697. Mark Antony had performed many noble deeds in the fights and battles. By
this, he showed himself to be a valiant and wise commander. He was honoured
with many excellent gifts, especially for his tactic of surrounding the enemy
from the rear and by that means giving the victory to those who were attacking
from the front. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 3. s. 5. 9:145}
4698. The people of Egypt marched against Gabinius from the walls of
Alexandria, under the command of Archelaus. Archelaus had ordered that the camp
should be fortified with a rampart and a ditch. [E620] They all cried out that
the work should be done with public money and not by themselves. Therefore,
their minds were so engrossed with pleasure that they could not withstand the
attack of the Roman army. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 9. c. 1. ext. 6. 2:305}
So Gabinius once again obtained a victory by sea and land. The Alexandrians
were brave and daring, and were by nature heady and inclined rashly to speak
anything that came into their minds. However they were most unfit for war,
although in seditions (a frequent occurrence among them and very serious) they
soon started to murder each other, because they thought it good to die in this
way. {*Dio, l. 59. (58) 3:393,395}
4699. When Gabinius had conquered them and killed many in the battle, including
Archelaus, he was master of all Egypt, which he then turned over to Ptolemy.
{*Dio, l. 59. (58) 3:395} {*Livy, l. 105. 14:131} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3.
s. 34. 5:437} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:47} Cicero, in a speech,
related all of this to the madness of Gabinius: {*Cicero, In Pison, l. 1. c.
21. 14:199,201}
"That vast wealth, which he had squeezed from the fortunes of the tax
collectors, from the countries and cities of the allies, was now squandered.
Part of it was devoured by his insatiable lust, part by his new and unheard-of
luxury, part by the purchases that he had made in those places that he had
totally plundered, part by bartering, and all this just for building up that
mountain of a villa at Tusculum. When the intolerable building was stopped for
a time, he sold everything out to the Egyptian king: his person, his fasces,
[K291] the army of the people of Rome, the power and the interdiction of the
immortal gods, the responses of the priests, the authority of the Senate, the
mandate of the Roman people and the fame and dignity of this empire. Whereas
the bounds of his province were as large as he wanted, as great as he could
desire, as great as he could buy with the price of my banishment, yet he could
not contain himself within them. He brought his army from Syria. How dared he
lead it out of the province? He made himself a mercenary soldier to the king of
Alexandria and what was more vile than this? He came into Egypt and fought with
the Alexandrians. When had either the Senate or the people undertaken this war?
He took Alexandria. What more could we expect from his madness but that he
would send letters to the Senate, telling of all the famous acts that he had
done?"
4700. Dio observed that he did not send the letters, lest he himself should end
up testifying to his own villainies. {*Dio, l. 39. (59) 3:395}
4701. Mark Antony contended for the dead body of Archelaus (who was his close
friend) and gave it a royal burial. He was famous among the Alexandrians for
this deed. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 3. s. 5,6. 9:145} In Pontus, the
son of Archelaus received the priesthood of Comana after his father. {*Strabo,
l. 12. c. 3. s. 35. 5:437}
4702. Gabinius left some of his soldiers with Ptolemy at Alexandria as a guard.
These later lived according to the Alexandrian manner of life, with its
licentiousness. They forgot the name and discipline of the people of Rome and
married wives, by whom they had many children. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3.
(110) 2:353} Lucan added: {*Lucan, l. 10. (400) 1:621}
…The greater part were Latins born,
But they, corrupted into foreign manners,
Did so forget themselves, they did not scorn
To obey a sergeant, follow a servant's banners,
Whom the Pharian tyrant's rule was much below.
4703. When Ptolemy was restored to his kingdom, he put his daughter, the queen
Bernice, to death. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:47} {*Dio, l. 39.
(58) 3:395} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 226.} He also killed many
of the rich noblemen because he needed much money. {*Dio, l. 39. (58) 3:395}
4704. Gaius Rabirius Postumus was a Roman equestrian who had rashly trusted
Ptolemy, both when he was in his kingdom and when he came to Rome. Ptolemy left
with his money and the money of his friends. In order to recover the money, he
was forced to change his Roman attire for the Greek attire at Alexandria. There
he had to undertake the proctorship and stewardship for the king, having been
made the king's overseer by the king. Notwithstanding, he was later put in
prison and saw many of his close friends put in bonds. Death was always before
his eyes and finally he was forced to flee from the kingdom, naked and poor.
{*Cicero, Pro Rabirio Postumo, l. 1. c. 9. 14:389,391}
4705. While Gabinius stayed in Egypt, Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, again
seized the government by force and caused many of the Jews to revolt. [E621] He
gathered a large army and foraged the country, killing all the Romans he found
and besieging all those who fled to Mount Gerizim. When Gabinius returned, he
sent Antipater, who was known for his great wisdom, to the rebellious Jews. He
was able to make many submit to him in obedience. However, Alexander, who had
thirty thousand Jews with him, fought with Gabinius near Mount Tabor, where the
Jews then lost ten thousand men. [K292] After Gabinius had settled the affairs
of Jerusalem by following Antipater's advice, he marched against the Nabateans,
whom he overcame in one battle. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 2,3.
(100,101) 7:501}
4706. King Mithridates, the son of Phraates II, was abandoned by Gabinius and
did not recover the Parthian kingdom with the help of the Arabians. (This was
commonly believed, from an incorrect interpretation of the words of Appian.
{*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11. c. 8. (51) 2:201}) In fact, Justin stated that
he retired to Babylon. When his brother Orodes had besieged Mithridates for a
long time, the latter was forced to surrender the city because of the famine.
Mithridates trusted in the fact that Orodes was his brother and surrendered to
him. However, Orodes treated him as an enemy rather than a brother and
commanded him to be killed before his eyes. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 4.}
4707. Gabinius secretly sent back Mithridates III and Orsanes, who were men of
renown among the Parthians and who had fled to him. He spread rumours among his
soldiers that they had fled. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 7.
(178) 2:83} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 6. s. 4. (103) 7:501}
4708. The Syrians did much complaining about Gabinius. They complained, among
other things, that they were grievously bothered with thieves because of his
absence. The tax collectors also complained that, because of the thieves, they
could not gather the tribute and so were deeply in debt. Angry at this, the
Romans determined to have the matter judged and were prepared to condemn him.
Cicero also vehemently accused Gabinius and was of the opinion that the
Sibylline verses should be read again. He convinced himself that there was some
punishment determined for the one who had violated the oracles. However, both
Pompey and Crassus, who were still consuls, favoured Gabinius. Pompey favoured
him for his own interests, while Crassus did it to gratify his colleague, and as
well as in return for the money that Gabinius had sent him. Since both of them
publicly defended him, they allowed nothing to be decreed against him and had
Cicero banished. {*Dio, l. 39. (59,60) 3:395,297}
4709. In his second consulship, Pompey dedicated his theatre by exhibiting most
magnificent plays and shows. {*Cicero, De Officiis, l. 2. c. 16. 21:229}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 7. c. 1. 26:5} {Asconius Pedianus, In Pison} However,
it was reported that this theatre had not been built by Pompey himself, but by
his freedman Demetrius, who was a Gadarene, with the money that he had obtained
when he was a soldier under him. He gave the honour of this work to Pompey,
lest he should be ill-spoken-of, in that a freedman of his should get so much
money and that he was able to spend so much. {*Dio, l. 39. (38) 3:363}
4710. Gabinius did not allow the lieutenant, who had been sent ahead by
Crassus, to succeed him in the province of Syria. He retained the province as
if he had received a perpetual government. {*Dio, l. 39. (60) 3:397}
4711. The tribunes of the people hindered Crassus, the consul, from raising any
soldiers and endeavoured to annul the expedition that had been decreed to him.
However when Crassus took up arms, the tribunes of the people saw that their
liberty was threatened and that they were helpless to withstand his actions for
lack of arms. So they stopped their actions, but cursed him to the pit of hell.
As Crassus went into the Capitol to make his accustomed prayers for a prosperous
journey, they told him what unlucky signs and prodigies had happened. {*Dio, l.
39. (39) 3:363-367} [K293]
4712. Ateius, the tribune of the people, was prepared to hinder Crassus'
departure, as were many others, who were offended that he should plan to make
war against men who were at peace with them and who were confederates. Crassus
feared this and wanted Pompey to go with him from the city, for Pompey was held
in high esteem with the common people. Although many were prepared to hinder
Crassus, when they saw Pompey go ahead of him with a pleasant and smiling
countenance, they nevertheless held their peace and made a path for them.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 16. s. 3,4. 3:363}
4713. When Ateius, the tribune, met Crassus, he forbade him to go any farther.
Then he ordered his attendant to arrest him and carry him to prison. However,
the rest of the tribunes would not allow it and Crassus managed to get outside
the walls. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 16. s. 4,5. 3:363} {*Dio, l.
39. (39) 3:365,367} However, Ateius ran to the gate and there started a fire.
As Crassus passed by, he cast in incense and libations upon it, pronouncing
horrible curses and calling on the terrible and strange names of the gods.
[E622] The Romans considered these secret and ancient exhortations to be of such
force that anyone so cursed could not escape their power, nor that he who cursed
anyone would ever prosper. Therefore this procedure was not employed at random
nor by many. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 16. s. 5,6. 3:363}
4714. Florus wrote that Metellus, the tribune of the people, pronounced hostile
curses on Crassus when he started his journey. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 46. s.
3. 1:211} Velleius Paterculus stated that all the tribunes of the people cursed
Crassus. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 46. s. 2. 1:151} Appian and Dio
also noted this event. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 3. (18) 3:261} {*Dio,
l. 39. (39) 3:367} Lucan stated: {*Lucan, l. 3. (126) 1:123}
…The tribunes so ill befriended
Crassus, with curses he his march attended.
4715. Cicero said that it was
mainly Gaius Ateius who
pronounced those curses and set
a sign before him, warning him
of what would happen unless he
took heed. {*Cicero, De
Divinatione, l. 1. c. 16.
20:257,259} Crassus left for the
province from the house where he
had attended a dinner party
given by Cicero, for Cicero had
dined with him in the gardens of
his son-in-law Crassipes.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c.
9. s. 20. 25:79} From there,
Cicero went to his Tusculan
villa around the 17th of the
Calends of December (or November
14, which fell in the Julian
August), and Crassus went on his
journey, clad in his armour.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 4. c.
12,13. 22:301,303} Crassus
shipped his army from
Brundisium. {*Cicero, De
Divinatione, l. 2. c. 40.
20:465}
4716. Crassus sailed from Brundisium before the storms
on the seas were over and so lost many of his ships. He
landed his army, made up of those who survived, and
marched by land through Galatia. When he found King
Dejotarus, a very old man, building a new city, he
mocked him by saying:
"Do you begin to build in the twelfth hour?"
4717. The king smilingly answered:
"Truly I think, oh Imperator, you do not go against the
Parthians early in the day!"
4718. Crassus was sixty years old and his face made him
seem older than he was. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c.
17. s. 1,2. 3:365}
3950a AM, 4659 JP, 55 BC
4719. In his absence, Cicero very earnestly defended
the cause of Crassus against the new consuls and many
who had been consuls. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 5. c. 8.
25:349}
3950b AM, 4660 JP, 54 BC
4720. Crassus did not have much to do in Syria, for the
Syrians were quiet and those who had troubled Syria were
afraid of the power of Crassus and did not stir, so
Crassus undertook an expedition against the Parthians.
There was no reason for making war upon them, only that
he had heard that they were rich. [K294] He hoped that
Orodes, who now reigned, would easily be overcome.
{*Dio, l. 40. (12) 3:421}
4721. When he heard of the riches of the temple of
Jerusalem, which Pompey had left untouched, he turned
aside into Palestine, came to Jerusalem and took away
the riches. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 13.}
4722. In the temple was a wedge of solid gold weighing
three hundred minas, or seven hundred and fifty common
pounds. It was enclosed in a hollow beam of wood on
which they hung the hangings of the temple, which were
admired for their beauty and the esteem in which they
were held. Only Eleazar, a priest, who was the keeper
of the sacred treasure, knew about this. When he saw
Crassus so greedy in gathering up the gold, he was
afraid that he would take away all the ornaments of the
temple. He turned the golden beam over to him, as a
ransom for all the rest, having first bound him by an
oath, that he would not take anything else. In spite of
this, Crassus took the oath and immediately broke it,
taking from the temple two thousand talents, which
Pompey had not touched, as well as all the rest of the
gold, which added up to eight thousand Attic talents.
Josephus tried to prove the existence of these vast
riches, for he was convinced that it would scarcely be
believed among people of other countries. He cited the
historical writings of Strabo of Cappadocia, which are
now lost, and others, that in olden times gold had been
found there, sent from the Jews who lived in Europe,
Asia and Cyrene. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7.
s. 1. (105-109) 7:503}
4723. Crassus built a bridge over the Euphrates River
and easily and safely crossed the river with his army.
He controlled many towns which voluntarily yielded to
him. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 2.
3:365} They had not expected Crassus' arrival, so that
there were scarcely any established garrisons in all of
Mesopotamia. {*Dio, l. 40. (12) 3:423}
4724. Talymenus Ilaces (or Sillaces), the governor of
that country, fought against Crassus with a few cavalry
and was defeated. He was wounded and retired to the
king, to inform him of the expedition of Crassus.
{*Dio, l. 40. (12) 3:423}
4725. In the meantime, Crassus recovered many cities,
especially those that belonged to the Greeks, including
Nicephorium. For many of the inhabitants who were
Macedonians, and Greeks who had served under the
Macedonians in the wars, feared the tyranny of the
Parthians. [E623] They hoped for a better deal from the
Romans, and Crassus knew the Greeks favoured Rome, so
they very willingly revolted from the Parthians. {*Dio,
l. 40. (13) 3:423}
4726. Only the citizens of Zenodotia, where Apollonius
was the ruler, killed a hundred Roman soldiers, after
having allowed them within their walls as though they
meant to surrender to them. Thereupon, Crassus brought
his whole army there and captured the city. He sacked
it because of this outrage and sold the inhabitants.
Although this was Crassus' first encounter with an
enemy, he allowed himself to be called Imperator, or
captain general. This turned out to his disgrace, and
resulted in his being thought of as a lowly man who did
not hope for any great things, since he was puffed up by
so small a success. {*Dio, l. 40. (13) 3:423}
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 3. 3:365}
4727. Gabinius returned into Italy when Lucius Domitius
and Appius Claudius were consuls. {Asconius Pedianus,
In Pison, Init.} These same consuls were there again who
had given judgment against Gabinius in his absence.
[K295] Although Pompey very earnestly stood up for him,
the opinion of many of the judges was against him, since
Domitius was an enemy of Pompey because of the dispute
over the demanding of the consulship and because he had
taken that office against Domitius' will. Although
Appius was a relative of Pompey, he planned that by
flattering the people that if he made any move, he would
be bribed by Gabinius. To that end he directed all his
actions. For this reason, it was decreed that the
Sibylline verses should be read over again, although
Pompey was very much against it. In the meantime, the
money that had been sent by Gabinius arrived in Rome.
This money achieved so much, that Gabinius was certain
not to suffer any great loss, whether he was absent or
present. For there was such confusion in Rome at the
time, that when Gabinius had given but part of that
money to bribe the magistrates and some of the judges,
they did not want to bring the matter to justice.
Others had learned that they could be wicked with
impunity and that money easily bought justice and
removed the threat of punishment. {*Dio, l. 39.
(60,62) 3:397-401}
4728. On the 12th of the Calends of October (September
19, which was around the Julian July), Gabinius came
into the city. On the 4th of the Calends of October
(September 27), he entered the city again by night,
{*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 1. s. 5,6. 28:563,571}
for his conscience so tormented him over his ugly
actions, that it was late when he came into Italy. He
entered the city by night and did not dare leave his own
house for many days. {*Dio, l. 39. (62) 3:401}
4729. Various factions accused Gabinius. Lucius
Lentulus, the son of the flamen, or priest, accused him
of treason. Tiberius Nero joined in this accusation
with various good men, among whom were Gaius Memmius,
the tribune of the people, and Lucius Capito. After he
was accused of treason, he appeared by the edict of
Gaius Alfius, the praetor. He was almost trampled by
the large crowd and was hated by all the people.
{*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 1. s. 5,6. 28:563,571}
4730. On the tenth day after coming into the city,
Gabinius had to give an account of the numbers killed,
of both enemies and his own soldiers. He entered the
Senate when it was poorly attended and was quite
surprised by what happened. Appius, the consul, accused
him of treason. When his name was called, he answered
not a word. When he wanted to leave, he was detained by
the consuls while the tax collectors were brought in.
He was accused on all sides. When he was wounded more
than anything by the words of Cicero, he could not
endure it any longer. With a trembling voice he called
Cicero an exile. All the Senate rose to support Cicero
and to turn against Gabinius. With a shout, they came
to where he stood to attack him. The tax collectors did
likewise, with a similar shout and with violence. On
the 6th of the Ides of October (October 10), Memmius
angrily put Gabinius before the people, so that Calidius
could not speak for him. The next day, there was a
divination before Cato at the praetor's house to appoint
an accuser against Gabinius. They selected from among
Memmius, Tiberius Nero, and Gaius and Lucius Antonius,
the sons of Marcus. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 2.
28:573,575}
4731. There were many accusations against Gabinius and
not a few accusers. The first thing that was debated
involved the crime of restoring Ptolemy to his kingdom.
Almost all the people flocked to the tribunal and they
often had a mind to pull him to pieces, especially
because Pompey was not there. Cicero had accused him
most severely. {*Dio, l. 39. (62) 3:401} Cicero
denied that he had accused him. {*Cicero, Quintus, l.
3. c. 2. 28:575} {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 4.
28:583} He did this either from fear of having any
quarrels with Pompey, or because he did not doubt that
justice would be done, whether he was there or not, or
he feared that he would be forever disgraced if such an
infamous and guilty person were to escape justice if he
pleaded against him. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 4.
28:585} [K296]
"I was much delighted with this moderation, and this
also pleased me that, when I had sharply spoken
according to both condolence and religion, the defendant
said that if he might be in the city he would give me
satisfaction. Neither did he ask me anything."
4732. Cicero stated elsewhere: {*Cicero, Quintus, l.
3. c. 9. 28:605}
"All that I did, I did with much dignity and the same
tenderness that everyone feels. I neither attacked him,
nor helped him. [E624] I was a forcible witness, but
beyond that, I did and said nothing."
4733. In this trial for treason, Gabinius was very slow
in answering and was hated by all men. Alfius was a
strong and sterling character as he presided over the
trial. Pompey was very earnest in seeking to solicit
the judges to favour him. {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c.
3. 28:581} Gabinius said that he had restored Ptolemy
for the good of the state, because he was afraid of the
fleet of Archelaus, and because he thought the sea would
be filled with pirates. He also said that he was
permitted to do it by law. {*Cicero, Pro Rabinius
Postumus, l. 1. c. 8. 14:385,387} The friends of
Caesar and Pompey were very eager to help him and said
that the Sibylline verses referred to another king and
another time. They pleaded this the most because no
specific punishment was mentioned in the oracle. {*Dio,
l. 39. (62) 3:401} Lucius Lentulus was incredibly
young to be a prosecutor. Everyone said he had
deliberately been brought in, so that Gabinius might
win. In spite of this, there had been great disputes
and entreaties by Pompey and a rumour of a dictatorship,
which caused much fear. Gabinius had not replied to
Lucius Lentulus. When the judges gave their sentence,
there were thirty-two who condemned him and thirty-eight
who absolved him. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 4. c. 18.
22:327} {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 4. 28:583}
4734. Dio stated that when Gabinius stood on trial for
very serious crimes, he spent large sums of money on
bribes. {*Dio, l. 39. (62) 3:401} When he was
absolved, he spent little for bribes on the minor
crimes, since he thought he would get off on these,
also. However, the people almost killed the jurors, but
they escaped. Gabinius was brought to trial before the
people by Memmius and freed because of the intercession
of Laelius, the tribune of the people. Valerius Maximus
stated what happened. Aulus Gabinius, in the midst of
his infamy, was subjected to trial by the people by
Gaius Memmius, his accuser. It seemed as if all his
hopes were dashed because the accusation was fully
proved and his defence was very weak. Those who judged
him, were very anxious to punish him because of an
over-hasty anger on their part. The lictor and prison
were ever before him. All this was thwarted by the
intervention of an auspicious happening. Sisenna, the
son of Gabinius, simply through the mental impulse of
amazement, fell humbly prostrate before Memmius. From
there, he hoped for some assuaging of the storm at its
source. Memmius, the insolent conqueror, rejected him
with a stern countenance and taking his ring from his
finger, let it lie on the ground a long while. This
spectacle was the reason that Laelius, the tribune of
the people, ordered that Gabinius be dismissed. We can
learn from this example, neither insolently to abuse the
success of prosperity, nor that anyone need be too cast
down by adversity. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 8. c. 1.
absol. 3. 2:191,193}
4735. In spite of this acquittal, Gabinius was on trial
again for other reasons, as well as that he had
wrongfully extorted a hundred thousand (either drachmas
or denarii) from the province. He was condemned for
extortion. [K297] Pompey, who was away from the city to
provide grain (for much grain had been ruined by the
flooding of the Tiber River), was still in Italy. He
hurried to be present at the trial but when he saw that
he had come too late, he did not leave the suburbs until
the trial was finished. Pompey called the people
together outside the walls of the city (because it was
not lawful for a proconsul to come into the city) and
spoke to them on behalf of Gabinius. He read them the
letters that he had received from Caesar concerning the
safety of Gabinius and used many entreaties with the
judges. He prevented Cicero from prosecuting Gabinius
and even persuaded Cicero to defend him! However, all
these things did not help Gabinius. The judges
condemned him, partly from fear of the people and
partly, because they had not received any large bribes
from Gabinius (who, standing accused of small wrongs,
did not bestow much money on them, confidently believing
that he would be freed). They condemned him to
banishment and Caesar later restored him and brought him
back. {*Dio, l. 39. (63) 3:401,403}
4736. Cicero acknowledged that he had very earnestly
defended Gabinius, after which these two men, who had
formerly been great enemies, became friends. {*Cicero,
Pro Rabirio Postumo, l. 1. c. 8. 14:385} Although
this favour was commended by Valerius Maximus, Dio
stated that Cicero was branded with the name and crime
of a turn-coat. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 2. s.
4. 1:363} {*Dio, l. 39. (62) 3:401} Truly, Marcus
Cicero quite forgot what he had previously written to
his brother Quintus: {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 5.
s. 5. 28:595}
"I would be ruined, had I defended Gabinius, as Pansa
thought I ought to have done."
4737. Although Cicero gave this account of his actions:
{*Cicero, Pro Rabirio Postumo, l. 1. c. 8. 14:385}
"The renewing of our friendship was the reason that I
defended Gabinius. Neither does it ever grieve me to
have a mortal hatred and immortal friendship."
4738. Timagenes, the Alexandrian (or the Egyptian,
according to some), was the son of the king's treasurer.
He was captured in the war and brought to Rome by
Gabinius. He was redeemed by Faustus, the son of Sulla,
after which he taught rhetoric at Rome under Pompey,
Julius Caesar and the triumvirs, and wrote many books.
{Suidas, in Timagenhv}
4739. When Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, the
proconsul of Cilicia, had done well in the war, his army
greeted him as Imperator, or captain general. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 1. c. 8. s. 7. 25:45} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 1. c. 9. s. 2. 25:49} [E625]
3951a AM, 4660 JP, 54 BC
4740. The Senate decreed that Appius Claudius Pulcher,
at about the end of his term as consul, was to replace
Publius Cornelius Lentulus. This law was not ratified
by the people (lex curiata) and so he went into Cilicia
at his own expense. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 1. c. 9.
s. 25. 25:87} {*Cicero, Quintus, l. 3. c. 2. s.
1. 28:577} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 4. c. 18. s. 12.
22:331} Lentulus went to meet him when he came into the
province. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 7. s. 5.
25:193} When Appius took over the command, he afflicted
the province most miserably and almost destroyed it.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 16. 22:377,379}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 1. 22:415,417}
4741. When he first took the places in Mesopotamia,
Crassus should have followed up on these initial
successes with the full force of his army and so made
good use of the fear the barbarians had of him. He
should have attacked Babylon and Seleucia, two cities
that were always enemies of the Parthians. Instead, he
was weary of being in Mesopotamia and longed for the
ease and idleness in Syria. [K298] He gave the
Parthians time to prepare for war and opportunities to
attack the Roman soldiers that were left in Mesopotamia.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 4,5.
3:365,367} {*Dio, l. 40. (13) 3:423,425}
4742. In the cities that had surrendered to him, he had
placed garrisons amounting to seven thousand foot
soldiers and a thousand cavalry, after which he returned
to Syria, to winter there. His son Publius Crassus came
to him from Julius Caesar in Gaul, who had bestowed upon
him the kind of gifts that generals usually give. He
brought with him a thousand choice cavalry. {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 4. 3:365,367}
4743. Crassus spent his time in Syria more like a tax
collector than a general. He did not spend his time in
getting arms or training his soldiers, but instead,
tallied up the revenues of the cities and spent many
days weighing and measuring the treasures of the goddess
of Hierapolis. He also demanded soldiers from various
people and then discharged them for a sum of money.
These actions brought him into contempt. As they were
leaving the temple of the goddess Venus, or Juno, at
Hierapolis, the young Crassus fell on the threshold and
his father fell on top of him. This was taken as an ill
omen. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 17. s. 5,6.
3:367} Hierapolis was the city that some call Bambyce,
others Edessa and the Syrians, Mabog. The Syrian
goddess, Atargatis, called Derceto by the Greeks, was
worshipped there. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 27.
7:235} {*Pliny, l. 5. c. 19. 2:283}
4744. Rabirius Postumus was accused of treason before
the judges, because he had followed Ptolemy to
Alexandria to get the money that he owed him.
{*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 16. s. 2. 2:33}
After Gabinius had been condemned of extortion and had
gone into banishment, Gaius Memmius accused Rabirius,
because the king had made him his dioecetes, or
treasurer. He had worn the clothes of Alexandria and
had gathered money from the tribute which had been
imposed by Gabinius and Memmius himself. Cicero
defended him at a time when it was very cold. This may
be deduced from his speech, which is still extant.
{*Cicero, Pro Rabirio Postumo, l. 1. c. 10. 14:393}
3951b AM, 4661 JP, 53 BC
4745. Marcus Crassus and his son Publius were killed
and the army was routed beyond the Euphrates River,
where it perished in shame and disgrace. {*Cicero, De
Divinatione, l. 2. c. 9. 20:395} Dio mentioned this
defeat, but Plutarch treated it more fully. {*Dio, l.
40. (27) 3:447} {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 31.
s. 6,7. 3:417} Appian in his writings copied Plutarch
word for word. {Appian, Parthian Wars} Therefore, it
will be worth the effort to record the main points of
this very famous history, taken from these accounts as
Salianus has done.
4746. Orodes, the king of the Parthians, sent envoys to
Crassus in Syria. They were to find out why Mesopotamia
was invaded and demand the reasons why he had started
this war. Orodes also sent Surana with an army, to
recover those places that had been taken or had
revolted. He personally made an expedition into Armenia
to frighten Artabazes, the son of Tigranes, lest he send
any help to the Romans. {*Dio, l. 40. (16) 3:429}
4747. The envoys of Orodes came to Crassus in Syria as
he was drawing his forces from their winter quarters.
(However, Florus stated that this took place in
Mesopotamia, when Crassus was camped at Nicephorium.)
They reminded him of the league they had made with
Pompey and Sulla, thereby declaring to him that if this
army had been sent against the Parthians by the people
of Rome, then they would have no peace with the Romans.
However if Crassus had initiated this war against the
Parthians for his own private gain and had seized his
cities, then their king would deal with him more
favourably, considering Crassus' old age, and would send
his soldiers back to the people of Rome. [K299] Crassus
was blinded by the king's treasures and did not reply,
nor did he pretend to excuse the war. Crassus said that
he would answer them at Seleucia. Then Vageses, the
chief of the envoys, smiled and striking the palm of his
right hand with the fingers of his left, said that hairs
would sooner grow there, than that Crassus would see
Seleucia. So the envoys returned and told King Orodes
that he must prepare for war. {*Florus, l. 1. c. 46.
1:211} {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1,2.
3:367,369} {*Dio, l. 40. (16) 3:429}
4748. In the meantime, certain soldiers who had been
left in garrisons in Mesopotamia, had barely escaped in
dangerous circumstances to bring Crassus news. [E626]
They told of the approach of a formidable multitude of
the Parthians, recounting what weapons they used and how
they fought. They spoke from experience! This so
discouraged the Romans, that some of the captains were
of the opinion that Crassus should stay and hold a
council about the whole business. Cassius, the
treasurer of Crassus, was one of those who urged this.
The soothsayers also tried to deter him, but Crassus
would not listen to any of them. {*Plutarch, Crassus,
l. 1. c. 18. s. 2-5. 3:369,371}
4749. Crassus was greatly encouraged by Artabazes, the
king of the Armenians, when he came into his camp with
six thousand cavalry who were said to be the king's own
guard. He promised him another ten thousand mail-clad
cavalry and thirty thousand foot soldiers, whom he would
pay. He also persuaded Crassus that he should invade
Parthia through Armenia and that he would abundantly
supply his army. The march that way would be safer,
because of the unevenness of the terrain, and so not as
much in danger of the large numbers of Parthian cavalry.
Crassus neglected this very wise counsel and thanked the
Armenian. He sent him back and told him that he would
march through Mesopotamia, where he had left many good
Roman soldiers. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 19.
s. 1-3. 3:371,373}
4750. When he came to Zeugma, on the bank of the
Euphrates River, he ignored many bad prodigies, which
Plutarch and Dio mentioned. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1.
c. 19,20. 3:373,375} {*Dio, l. 40. (18,19)
3:431-435} Julius Obsequens noted the main one: {*Julius
Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 64. 14:305}
"A sudden wind snatched the standard from the standard
bearer, and it sank in the water. A sudden black storm
of fog, that poured in on them, hindered their
crossing."
4751. In spite of this, Crassus was determined to go
on. Florus stated this: {*Florus, l. 1. c. 46. s.
3. 1:211}
"When the army had passed Zeugma, a sudden whirlwind
threw the standard into the Euphrates River, where it
sank."
4752. Crassus also ignored the counsel of Cassius. He
advised him that he should refresh his army in some of
the cities where he had a garrison, until he heard some
definite news of the Parthians. Otherwise, he should
march to Seleucia along the river, so that the ships
could supply him with food and follow the camp, while
the river would keep the enemy from surrounding him.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 20. 3:375}
4753. As Crassus was considering these things, Auganus,
or Abgarus, of Osroene dissuaded him from this good
advice. He was correctly named by Dio. {*Dio, l. 40.
(20) 3:435} Florus called him Mazaras, the Syrian.
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 46. s. 6. 1:211} The copies of
the Breviary of Sextus Rufus vary. He was called
Mazarus, Marachus, Macorus and also Abgarus. In
Plutarch, he was called Ariamnes, a captain of the
Arabians. Although in some copies of Plutarch, and in
those which Appian used, he was called Acbarus.
{Appian, Parthian Wars} This man had formerly been in
league with the Romans in Pompey's time, but now
followed the Parthians. Although he was on the
Parthians' side, he pretended that he was a good friend
to Crassus and generously gave him much money. He found
out all Crassus' plans and passed them to the Parthians.
[K300] When Crassus was determined to march to Seleucia
and from there to go to the city of Ctesiphon, Auganus
persuaded Crassus not to follow that plan, because it
would take too long. Instead, he should lead his army
directly against Sillaces and Surenas, two of Orodes'
captains. In doing this, he would turn his back on the
Euphrates River, which was his only supply line and
fortification. {*Dio, l. 40. (20) 3:435} {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 21. 3:377}
4754. He then led his army through a vast, sandy desert
plain that lacked water and any vegetation. Crassus
began to suspect treason, especially when Artabazes sent
envoys to him and told him that he could send him no
forces, because he was fighting a major war, for Orodes
had now wasted the country of the Armenians. He very
earnestly advised Crassus to come into Armenia and to
join forces with him, so that together they might fight
with Orodes. If he was not willing to do this, then he
should be sure to avoid any terrain that was most
suitable for cavalry. Crassus angrily rejected this
advice and did not write to the king. He told them that
he had no time to think about Armenia, but that on his
return he would punish Armenia for its treachery.
Abgarus left immediately, before his treachery was
discovered. He had persuaded Crassus to surround the
enemies and rout them. {*Dio, l. 40. (21) 3:435,437}
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 22. 3:379-383}
4755. They had not gone far, when a few scouts returned
(for the rest were killed by the enemy) and told them
that large forces were courageously marching on toward
them. At this, Crassus was astonished and all the army
was paralysed with fear. At first, Crassus followed
Cassius' advice and set his battle formation wide.
Presently he changed his mind and contracting his
forces, made it square and deep. He gave the leading of
one wing to Cassius and the other to his son, Gaius
Publius. He led the battle in the middle. As soon as
they came to the Balissus River, most of the commanders
tried to persuade him to camp and to lodge there for the
night. In the meantime, they should send scouts to see
what forces the enemy had and how they were armed.
Crassus ignored this good advice because his son and
some of his cavalry were eager for a battle. [E627] So
he commanded them to eat and drink while standing in
their ranks. Before everyone was able to finish this,
he marched on quickly with a sustained pace until the
enemy came into view. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c.
22. 3:379-383}
4756. Surenas had camouflaged his main forces behind
his advance guard, concealing the gleam of their armour
by having ordered them to cover themselves with robes of
skins. He positioned his troops in a suitable place to
terrify the Romans. When they tried with their lances
to make the Romans break rank, they could not. As soon
as they saw the depth of the Roman forces and that the
soldiers kept their ranks, they withdrew. Then, while
appearing to be in disarray, they surrounded the Romans
before the Romans were aware of it. Crassus commanded
his light cavalry to attack but they had not marched
very far before being showered with arrows, forcing them
to retire to the main body of troops. This was the
beginning of fear and disorder among the Romans,
especially when they saw the force of the weapons that
broke through everything and caused many nasty wounds.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 23,24. 3:387,389}
4757. The Parthians left them and began to shoot with
their arrows at the whole body of the army on every
side. No arrow fell in vain. They impacted so
forcefully that it either made a horrible wound or, most
commonly, resulted in death. The Parthians continued
shooting, even while they were withdrawing from the
Romans. [K301] The Romans took heart from the knowledge
that once the enemy had shot all their arrows, the
battle would be fought by hand-to-hand combat. However,
they soon realised that there were many camels loaded
with arrows, from which they went to replenish their
supply once they had shot all their initial stock.
Crassus began to despair, aware that there would be no
end to their shooting until they had all been killed
with their arrows. As a result, he ordered his son to
endeavour by every means to join battle with the enemy,
before they were surrounded. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l.
1. c. 25. s. 1. 3:389,391}
4758. The young Publius Crassus took with him thirteen
hundred cavalry (a thousand of which he had received
from Caesar), five hundred archers and eight cohorts of
the men-of-arms who were closest to him. He charged at
the Parthians, who deliberately fled, to draw him a good
way off from his father. Then they turned around and
shot them through with their arrows on every side.
Publius (whom Orosius commended as a very famous and
excellent young man {Orosius, l. 6. c. 13.}
{Eutropius, l. 6.}) commanded a gentleman to thrust him
through the side, because he could not use his hand,
which had been shot through. Censorinus, a senator and
orator, was said to have died in a similar way.
Magabacchus, who was a valiant man both in body and
mind, thrust himself through, as did the rest of the
nobility. The remainder fled to a hill and were killed
in the battle by the spears of the Parthians. Five
hundred were said to have been taken prisoner.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 25. 3:391-397}
4759. They cut off Publius' head and marched toward
Crassus, who was expecting the return of his son during
the time the enemy did not press them so hard. However,
messenger came upon messenger, saying that Publius was
totally defeated unless he was to receive help
immediately from a very strong force. Crassus was
planning to march with the whole army when the enemy
came upon him. Because they had become more fierce as a
result of their victory, they were making a terrible
noise as they brought the head of his son on a spear.
That spectacle broke the hearts of the Romans, in spite
of Crassus' endeavours to encourage his men to wipe the
joy of their victory from the enemy and to revenge their
cruelty. The battle was renewed, but the Romans were
again wounded on every side with their arrows. Many
died miserably, because those, who in desperation
believed they could escape the arrows, were charged with
large lances by the enemy, who had forced the Romans
into a small area. With one thrust, they struck through
two bodies. This continued as night approached and the
Parthians retired. They bragged that they would allow
Crassus one night to bemoan his son. {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 26,27.'3:397-401}
4760. That same night, Octavius and Crassus called
together the centurions and soldiers. Crassus was
overwhelmed with sorrow at the army's defeat and the
death of his son. He lay on the ground by himself in
the dark with his head covered. They feared what was
yet to come and forced the rest of the army to consider
fleeing. The army everywhere began to break camp
without any sound of trumpet. When those who were weak
knew they were being abandoned, there was great tumult
and confusion and all the camp was filled with howling
and lamentations. Then fear and terror seized those who
were marching because they thought the enemy would be
aroused by this noise and would come and attack them.
The enemy did, indeed, know that they were leaving but
did not pursue them. Three hundred light cavalry under
their captain Egnatius reached Carrhae late at night.
He called to the watch and ordered them to tell
Coponius, the governor, that Crassus had just had a
major battle with the Parthians. That was all he said,
before quickly riding off to Zeugma. Coponius assumed
by the vagueness of the message that this was not good
news. He promptly armed his men and met Crassus, who
was marching slowly because of his wounded men. He
received him and his army into the city. {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 27. 3:401-405} [E628] [K302]
4761. As soon as it was day, the Parthians went to the
Roman camp, killing four thousand men who were still
there. Many men of their cavalry were also captured as
they were wandering in the plain. Among these, there
were four cohorts led by Vargontinius, a lieutenant, who
had lost their way in the night. These retired to a
hill, which the Parthians quickly surrounded. They
killed them all in a battle except for twenty soldiers.
These broke through the midst of the enemy and safely
reached Carrhae. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 28.
s. 1,2. 3:405,407} Orosius also mentioned this
slaughter of Vargontinius. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 13.}
4762. Surenas was uncertain whether Crassus and Cassius
were at Carrhae, or had fled to some other place. So he
sent some men to Carrhae that he might discover the
truth, on the pretext of making a league with the Romans
if they would surrender Mesopotamia. The Romans
approved of this because they were in a desperate
situation. The Parthians demanded a time and a place to
be determined for Crassus and Surenas to meet. When
Surenas knew that the enemy was shut up in Carrhae, he
came up to the city the next day with his whole army and
besieged the place. He commanded the Romans that, if
they wanted any truce, they should deliver up Crassus
and Cassius as prisoners. At this, the Romans were
deeply grieved that they had been cheated so. They gave
up all hope of any help from the Armenians and
considered how they might escape by fleeing.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 28,29. 3:405,407}
4763. This meeting was to be kept secret from any of
the residents of Carrhae, but Crassus told it to
Andromachus, who was the most treacherous of men.
Crassus used him as their guide on his march,
consequently the Parthians knew all their plans because
of the treachery of Andromachus. Since it was not their
custom, nor was it safe for the Parthians, to fight at
night, Crassus went out by night. In case the enemy
would not be able to catch up, Andromachus led them back
and forth circuitously. Finally, he led them into deep
bogs and places that were full of ditches. There were
some who suspected Andromachus' frequent turnings and
would not follow him, as Cassius had retired to Carrhae
and had made his way from there into Syria with five
hundred men. Others, who found trustworthy guides, took
the way of the hill country, called Sinnaca, and before
day, retired into a safe place. These were almost five
thousand men under Octavius, who was their commander and
a valiant man. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 29.
3:407,409}
4764. Daylight overtook Crassus, who was entangled in
those difficult places and bogs because of the treachery
of Andromachus. With much difficulty, he got through
these areas, together with four cohorts of legionary
soldiers, a few cavalry and five lictors. When the
enemy approached, he fled to another hill within a mile
and a half of Octavius. It was not as well-fortified,
nor was it too steep for horses. It was below the
country of Sinnaca and joined to it by a long ridge of
land that stretched through the middle of the whole
plain. Hence, Octavius could easily see the danger that
Crassus was in, so that first he himself, then some
others, came to his aid. The rest chided one another
and followed him, and drove the enemy from the hill. He
received Crassus into their midst and surrounded him
with their shields and encouraged him. No Parthian
weapon could touch the body of their commander until the
Parthians had killed every last man who defended him.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 29. 3:409,411}
4765. Surenas saw that the Parthians were not as
courageous as they should be and that it was a dangerous
thing to fight with desperate men, especially when they
fought from higher ground. If night should overtake
them, they would not be able to take the Romans, who
would then keep to the hills and go to the Armenians,
with whose help they might then renew the war. {*Dio,
l. 40. (25,26) 3:445} Consequently, Surenas plotted
another treacherous deed. [K303] He released some
prisoners who had deliberately been allowed to overhear
some of the barbarians say that their king was not
altogether against making peace with the Romans and that
he would treat Crassus with all the civility that might
be possible if he could make peace. In the meantime,
the barbarians stopped fighting and Surenas, with some
noblemen, approached the hill with his bow unbent. He
held out his right hand and invited Crassus to make a
league with him. He told him that while Crassus had, to
this point, experienced the force of the Parthians, he
could now, if he so chose, experience his humanity.
Crassus did not go to him because he feared him and saw
no reason for this sudden change of heart. {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 1-3. 3:411,413}
4766. However, the soldiers demanded peace, even using
harsh words to Crassus. He tried to persuade them and
reason with them, saying that if they could hold out for
the rest of the day, they could march through the
mountainous terrain that night. They should not abandon
the hope of safety that was so close at hand. They
started to rebel and beat their harnesses and began to
threaten him. Afraid, he went toward the enemy, but
turned around to his own men and said: {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 3-5. 3:413} [E629]
"Indeed, even though you, Octavius and Petronius and all
you Roman commanders that are here with me, see what
violence is being done to me, yet, if ever any of you
should get away safely, say that Crassus was deceived by
his enemies and not that he was delivered up by his own
citizens."
4767. It appears as though he was trying, in saying
this, to assuage their obstinate minds by this friendly
speech, while providing for their honour. However,
Octavius and the rest did not remain on the hill, but
went down with him. Crassus forbade the lictors, who
wanted to follow him for his honour's sake, to go.
{*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 31. s. 1. 3:413}
4768. The first of the barbarians who came to meet him
were two half-breed Greeks. Dismounting from their
horses, they greeted him in Greek and asked him to send
some men ahead to see if Surenas and the others who were
coming to the parley, had arrived safely. Crassus sent
the two brothers Roscii, whom Surenas then detained.
Surenas came on horseback, but Crassus was walking.
Surenas ordered that he should be brought a horse to
take him to the riverside to write the articles of the
peace. Because the Romans were not very observant of
their covenants, Surenas gave him his right hand. When
Crassus sent for a horse, Surenas told him there was no
great need, as the king had given him one. Soon a horse
with a golden bridle was brought to him. The grooms
mounted Crassus and followed along behind him, lashing
the horse. First, Octavius took hold of the bridle and
then Petronius, one of the tribunes. Then the rest of
the Romans surrounded him to steady the horse and to
take him away from those who were pressing around
Crassus on every side. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c.
31. s. 1-4. 3:413,415}
4769. At first they were jostling and thrusting one
another until finally they started fighting. Octavius
drew his sword and killed a groom, one of the
barbarians. Another struck Octavius from behind and
killed him. Petronius had no weapon and was being hit
on his coat of mail. He got off his horse and was not
harmed. A Parthian, by the name of Pomaxathres, or
Maxarthes, killed Crassus. Others said that another man
killed Crassus, cutting off his head and right hand as
he lay dead. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 31. s.
5-7. 3:415,417} Dio left it in doubt whether he was
killed by his own men, for fear of falling alive into
the enemies' hands, or whether he was killed by the
enemies. Some reported that the Parthians poured molten
gold into Crassus' mouth in mockery. {*Dio, l. 40.
(27) 3:447} Livy stated: {*Livy, l. 106. 14:133}
"He was taken and resisted, lest he be captured alive,
and then he was killed. He was lured to a parley by a
sign given by the enemy. He would have quickly fallen
into their hands, had not the resistance of the tribunes
stirred the barbarians to prevent the flight of the
general."
4770. Florus said what was then also copied by Sextus
Rufus in his Breviary to Valentinian, the emperor:
{*Florus, l. 1. c. 46. s. 9. 1:211} {Sextus Rufus,
Breviary} [K304]
"Crassus himself was lured to a parley and might have
been taken alive, except for the resistance of the
tribunes; he escaped and while he fled, he was killed."
4771. Surenas, the general of the Parthians, took
Crassus by treachery and killed him at Sinnaca, a city
of Mesopotamia, {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 23.
7:231} although he would rather have taken him alive.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 13.} Velleius Paterculus stated
that he was killed with most of the Roman army.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 46. s. 4. 1:153}
Pliny stated that all the Lucanian soldiers, of which
there were many in the army, were killed with him.
{*Pliny, l. 2. c. 56. 1:285} Jornandes wrote that
they lost almost eleven legions and their general.
{Jornandes, De Regnorum ac Temporum Succession} It was
said that the number of those killed was twenty
thousand. Only ten thousand were taken alive by the
enemy, according to Plutarch and Appian. {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 31. s. 7. 3:417} Of the one
hundred thousand in the army, barely ten thousand
escaped into Syria. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c.
3. (18) 3:261} This happened in the month of June.
{*Ovid, Fasti, l. 6. (465) 5:355} Dio said it was in
the middle of summer. He also added that the Parthians,
at this time, again recovered all their country that was
in the vicinity of the Euphrates River. {*Dio, l. 40.
(28) 3:447}
4772. The survivors of the Roman army shifted for
themselves. Their flight had scattered them into
Armenia, Cilicia and Syria, and there was scarcely a man
alive to bring the news of the overthrow. {*Florus, l.
1. c. 46. s. 10. 1:213} As soon as this major
defeat became known, many provinces of the east would
have revolted from their alliance with, and the
protection of, the people of Rome, had Cassius not
gathered together a few soldiers from those who had
fled. He went to Syria, which was beginning to grow
proud, and managed the province with great virtue and
moderation. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 13.} This was the
same Cassius who had refused to accept the command that
the soldiers had offered him at Carrhae, out of the
hatred they had for Crassus. Crassus had been willing
to yield to him when he knew the greatness of his loss
but Cassius had refused. Now he was compelled, by
necessity, to assume the government of Syria. {*Dio, l.
40. (27) 3:445,447} He was also the treasurer of
Crassus, who kept Syria under Roman control, as well as
being the same Gaius Cassius who, together with Brutus,
later killed Julius Caesar. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 46. s. 4. 1:153} {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 56. s. 3. 1:173} {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 58. s. 1,2. 1:175}
4773. Surenas sent the head and the right hand of
Crassus to Orodes in Armenia. Through his messengers,
he spread a rumour at Seleucia that he had taken Crassus
alive. He dressed up Gaius Paccianus, a captive who
looked very much like him, and so made a ridiculous show
which they mockingly called a triumph. {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 32. s. 1-3. 3:417,419}
4774. In the meantime, Orodes was reconciled to
Artabazes, or Artavasdes, the Armenian, and betrothed
his sister to his son Pacorus. [E630] They made feasts
and revels during which many Greek verses were sung, for
Orodes understood Greek and was a scholar. Artavasdes
had written tragedies, speeches and histories. Jason,
the tragedian of Tralles, was there, singing some verses
from the Bacchus of Euripides, where Agave is about to
appear. Sillaces came into the dining room and threw
the head of Crassus down before them. Pomaxathres, or
Maxarthes, rose from supper and took it for himself,
since he thought the honour belonged to him more than to
anyone else. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 33. s.
1-4. 3:421,423}
4775. Some reported that, among other indignities, the
Parthians poured molten gold down the mouth of Crassus
and verbally insulted him. [K305] Florus recorded this
about what happened: {*Florus, l. 1. c. 46. s. 10.
1:213}
"The head and right hand of Crassus was brought to the
king and they made sport of him. They poured molten
gold down his open mouth, so that the dead and bloodless
carcass of him whose mind had been on fire with the
desire for gold while he was alive, might be burned with
gold."
4776. Sextus Rufus Jornandes said similar things about
this. {Sextus Rufus, Breviary} {Jornandes, De Regnorum
ac Temporum Succession}
4777. Not long after, Surenas was punished for his
treachery to Crassus. He was killed by Orodes, who
envied his honour. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 33.
s. 5. 3:423}
4778. At Rome, Marcus Cicero was made augur in place of
young Crassus, who had been killed in the Parthian war.
{*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 36. s. 1. 7:173}
4779. With the death of Crassus, one head of Varro's
triumvirate was cut off and the foundation was laid for
the civil wars between Pompey and Caesar. After Crassus
was killed, who had been above them both, it remained
for Caesar to eliminate Pompey, who was above him, so
that he would be the greatest. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l.
1. c. 28. s. 1. 7:511} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 53. s. 6,7. 5:255} Lucan wrote: {*Lucan, l. 1.
(125) 1:13}
Caesar would no superior fear,
Nor Pompey any equal bear.
3952a AM, 4661 JP, 53 BC
4780. During the interim, the Senate decreed that
neither any consul nor any praetor should have any
foreign province by lot, until after the fifth year of
his magistracy. A little later, Pompey confirmed this.
{*Dio, l. 40. (46) 3:477} Interrex, Servius Sulpicius,
on the 5th of the Calends of March (February 25), in an
intercalary month (about the beginning of the Julian
December), appointed Pompey as consul. {Asconius
Pedianus, Pro Milone}
3952b AM, 4662 JP, 52 BC
4781. The Parthians invaded Syria with only a small
army because they thought the Romans lacked soldiers and
a general. Consequently, Cassius easily repulsed them.
{*Dio, l. 40. (28) 3:447}
4782. Cassius came to Tyre and also arrived in Judea.
When he came the first time, he captured Tarichea and
led away about thirty thousand Jewish prisoners. He
executed Pitholaus because he had sided with
Aristobulus' faction at the persuasion of Antipater, who
could do whatever he wished with Pitholaus. For
Antipater realised that Pitholaus was in great standing
with the Idumeans and was sought after, through
courtesies and friendship, by others who were in power.
He particularly made an alliance with the king of the
Arabians, into whose custody he had committed his
children during the war that he had fought with
Aristobulus. Cassius had forced Aristobulus, the son of
Alexander, to make peace, before he moved his camp to
the Euphrates River to keep the Parthians from crossing
over. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 8. s. 9.
(180-182) 2:85} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7. s.
3. (119-122) 7:511,513}
3953 AM, 4663 JP, 51 BC
4783. When Marcus Marcellus and Gaius Sulpicius were
consuls, the league with the Rhodians was renewed. It
provided that one people should not make war on the
other, but that they should send each other mutual help.
The Rhodians also swore to have the same enemies that
the Senate and the people of Rome had. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 15. s. 2. 26:569} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (61) 4:245} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (66) 4:251} Because of this,
Posidonius of Apamea, who had a school at Rhodes, seems
to have come to Rome when Marcus Marcellus was consul.
{Suidas, in voc. posidwniv} [K306] He was a very noble
philosopher, mathematician and historian. Cicero
mentioned a globe he made: {*Cicero, De Natura Deorum,
l. 2. c. 34. (87) 19:207}
"If anyone should carry into Scythia or Britain this
globe which was recently made by a close friend of mine,
whose every turning performs the same actions as the sun
and moon and the other five planets do in the heavens
each day, who, in that barbarous land, would doubt but
that this was a most exact representation, created by a
rational being?"
4784. By the decree of the Senate and by the law of
Pompey which had been made the year before, none could
obtain either a consular or praetorian province, unless
he had been consul or praetor five years or more prior
to the appointment. Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, who had
been consul seven years earlier, and Marcus Tullius
Cicero, who had been consul eleven years ago, and yet
neither had ever been sent into any province, were
assigned provinces by lot. [E631] Bibulus was given
Syria {*Dio, l. 40. (30) 3:451} {*Dio, l. 40. (46)
3:477} and Cicero had Cilicia. {*Cicero, Friends, l.
3. c. 2. s. 1,2. 25:169} Cicero wrote that he had
now been appointed proconsul to Appius Pulcher, the
Imperator (captain general), whom he was to succeed.
(For the army had given him the title, because he had
done well in the wars in Cilicia.) Cicero also indicated
that this had happened against his will and that he had
never desired to be forced by the decree of the Senate
to go and govern in his province. As his lieutenants,
Cicero had his brother, Quintus Tullius, Gaius
Pomponius, Lucius Tullius and Marcus Anneius. His
quaestors were Lucius Messinius and Gnaeus Volusius.
4785. Plutarch said that Cicero had twelve thousand
foot soldiers in his army and twelve hundred cavalry.
{*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 36. s. 1. 7:173}
Cicero himself said that he had the command of only two
legions and these were so undermanned, {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 15. 22:375} that they were barely
able to hold one pass, as Marius Caelius stated.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 8. c. 5. s. 1. 26:117}
4786. On the 11th of the Calends of June (May 22, as
the year was then accounted at Rome, which fell on the
6th day of the Julian March), Cicero left for his
province and arrived at Brundisium. There he met with
Quintus Fabius Vergilianus, the envoy of Appius Claudius
Pulcher, whom he was to succeed. When he told him that
he needed a larger force to govern that province, almost
all were of the opinion that the legions of Cicero and
Bibulus should be supplied from Italy. The consul
Servius Sulpicius vehemently denied this request. Such
was the general agreement in the Senate that Cicero and
Bibulus should be sent quickly, that at length they were
forced to yield and make do with what troops they had.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 3. s. 1. 25:171}
4787. Before the civil war of Caesar and Pompey on the
Julian March 7, a little after noon, there was an almost
total eclipse of the sun of ten and a half digits (88%).
Dio said the whole sun was eclipsed. {*Dio, l. 41.
(14) 4:27} Lucan wrote: {*Lucan, l. 1. (540) 1:43}
…Titan hides
(When mounted in the midst of heaven he rides)
In clouds his burning chariot, to enfold
The world in darkness quite: day to behold
No nation hopes.…
4788. Cicero sailed from Brundisium and came to Actium
on the 17th of the Calends of July (June 14, or the 29th
day of the Julian March). He journeyed overland and
reached Athens on the 6th of the Calends of July (June
26, or Julian April 9). {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c.
9. 22:355} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 10. 22:355}
The day before he arrived there, Memmius had set out for
Mitylene. He had been condemned for unlawful bribery
and banished. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 11.
22:365} [K307]
4789. In the month of the Julian April, Ptolemy Auletes
died. Marcus Caelius mentioned this in a letter to
Marcus Cicero, written from Rome on the Calends of
August (August 1, or the 15th day of the Julian May).
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 8. c. 4. s. 5. 26:117} Gaius
Marcellus was chosen consul for the next year. News was
brought to Rome confirming definitely that the king of
Alexandria was dead. Of his two sons and two daughters,
he left the oldest son and daughter as heirs. To ensure
that this would be so, Ptolemy, in the same will, humbly
and earnestly entreated the people of Rome, by all the
gods and by the league that he had made with them at
Rome, to make sure the will was carried out. One copy
of his will was sent to Rome with his envoys, to be
placed in the treasury, and the other was left sealed up
and kept at Alexandria. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3.
(108) 2:351}
4790. His will directed that his oldest son, Ptolemy,
after the ancient custom of the Egyptians, should be
married to Cleopatra, his oldest daughter, and that both
of them should rule the kingdom. However, they were to
be under the guardianship of the people of Rome. {*Dio,
l. 42. (35) 4:171} Cleopatra spoke to Caesar
concerning this: {*Lucan, l. 10. (90) 1:597} [E632]
I am not the first woman to have swayed
The Pharian sceptre: Egypt has obeyed
A queen; not sex excepted: I desire
Thee read the will of my deceased sire
Who left me there a partner to enjoy
My brother's crown and marriage bed.…
4791. The copy of this will was brought to Rome.
Because of public practices, it could not be put in the
treasury and was deposited with Pompey. {*Caesar, Civil
Wars, l. 3. (108) 2:351} Eutropius stated that because
the new king was so young, Pompey was appointed his
tutor. {Eutropius, l. 6.}
4792. Marcus Cicero stayed a few days at Athens. On
the day before the Nones of July (July 6, or Julian
April 19), he sailed from the harbour of Piraeus.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 8. s. 3. 25:119} He
was carried to Zoster by a contrary wind, which detained
him there until the 7th. On the 8th of July (April 25),
he came to the village of Ceos and from there went to
Gyaros, Syros and Delos. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c.
12. 22:367} On the 11th of the Calends of August (July
22, or Julian May 5), he reached Ephesus. He sailed
more slowly because the Rhodian ships were frail. He
was met by a very large crowd and the Greeks very
readily offered themselves to him as if he had been the
praetor of Ephesus. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 13.
22:369} Quintus Minucius Thermus was at Ephesus. He was
the propraetor of the Asian governments which were
separated from the province of Cilicia. He met with
Cicero about a matter involving Cicero's lieutenant,
Marcus Anneius, who had a dispute with the Sardinians.
Cicero later wrote many letters to Thermus. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 13. c. 53-57. 27:129-139} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:397,399} Publius Silius was
propraetor of Bithynia at the time. {*Cicero, Friends,
l. 13. c. 61. 27:143}
4793. Publius Nigidius was expecting Cicero at Ephesus
and returned to Rome from his embassy. He was a very
learned man. Cratippus also came there from Mitylene to
see and greet Cicero. At that time, Cratippus was the
most highly respected of all the Peripatetics, as Cicero
stated in the preface to Plato's Timaeus, which he
himself translated into Latin. [K308]
4794. Cicero left Ephesus and travelled to Tralles by a
very dry and dusty route. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c.
14. 22:371} On the 6th of the Calends of August (July
27, or Julian May 10), he arrived at Tralles, where
Lucius Lucilius met him with letters from Appius
Pulcher. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 5. 25:177}
From these he learned that Appius had averted a
rebellion of the soldiers and that the soldiers had all
been paid to the Ides of July (July 15). {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 3. c. 14. 22:371}
4795. The day before the Calends of August (July 31, or
Julian May 14), when Sulpicius and Marcellus were
consuls, Cicero came to Laodicea, into a province which
had been almost destroyed by Appius. That day marked
the first day of the term of office that had been
assigned to him by the Senate. {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
5. c. 15. 22:373} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 16.
22:377} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:389}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:405} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 3. c. 6. s. 6. 25:189} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 15. c. 2. s. 1. 27:235} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 2. 27:247} Cicero was
told by the Cypriot envoys who came to meet him at
Ephesus, that Scaptius, Appius' governor in Cyprus, was
besieging the senate in their senate-house in Salamis,
with some cavalry troops, hoping to starve the senators
out. The same day that Cicero first entered the
province, he sent letters ordering that the cavalry
should immediately leave the island. {*Cicero, Atticus,
l. 5. c. 21. 22:407} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c.
1. 22:421}
4796. He saw, by the time of year, that he must soon go
to the army. After he had stayed three days at Laodicea
(while the money was received which was owed him from
the public treasury), on the 3rd of the Nones of August
(August 3, or Julian May 17), he journeyed to Apamea.
He stayed there four or five days, then three at Synnada
and five at Philomelus. At that town, there was a large
gathering of people. He freed many cities from the most
heavy tributes, exorbitant interest payments and large
debts. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 5. 25:181}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 2. 27:247}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 15. 22:375} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 16. 22:377} {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
5. c. 20. 22:389}
4797. Appius Claudius was allowed to stay in the
province thirty days after his successor arrived. This
was according to the law of Cornelius Sulla, the
dictator. During those days he sat judging at Tarsus,
while Cicero judged at Apamea, Synnada and Philomelus.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 6. s. 3,4. 25:185}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 8. s. 5. 25:203}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 16. 22:379} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 17. 22:381}
4798. Marcus Bibulus, the proconsul, sailed from
Ephesus around the Ides of August (August 13, or Julian
May 25) and came to his province, Syria, with the aid of
a very favourable wind. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c.
3. s. 2. 27:245} When the Senate had permitted him to
raise soldiers in Asia, he had not done so. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 15. c. 1. s. 5. 27:233} [E633] The
auxiliaries of the allies due to the harshness and
injustice of the Roman government, had either been so
weakened that they could be of little help, or so
alienated from them, that little could be expected of
them. So it did not seem wise to trust the allies for
troops. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 1. s. 5,6.
27:233,235}
4799. Before Cicero arrived in the province, the army
was scattered due to a rebellion. Five cohorts were
without lieutenant, or colonel or centurions. Cicero
stayed at Philomelus, while the rest of the army was in
Lycaonia.
4800. Cicero commanded his lieutenant, Marcus Anneius,
to escort these five cohorts to the rest of the army and
rally the whole army into one place and camp at Iconium,
in Lycaonia. When Anneius had carried this out
precisely, Cicero came into the camp on the 7th of the
Calends of September (August 24, or Julian June 7). A
few days before, in accordance with the decree of the
Senate, he had received a good band of newly recruited
soldiers, a number of cavalry, as well as voluntary
auxiliaries of the free people, from the kings who were
their allies. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s.
3. 27:247,249} [K309]
4801. Dejotarus, the son, who was declared king by the
Senate, took Cicero's sons with him into his kingdom,
while Cicero made war during the summertime. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 17. 22:379,381} {*Cicero, Atticus,
l. 5. c. 18. 22:385} Plutarch stated that Dejotarus,
the father, had killed all his other sons in order to
establish the kingdom for this one son. {Plutarch, De
Stoicorum Repugnantiis} Both the father and son reigned
together and Cicero greatly commended both of them.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 13. 15:495}
4802. Pacorus, the son of Orodes, king of the
Parthians, who was married to the sister of the king of
the Armenians, came with large forces of the Parthians
and a large band from other countries. They crossed the
Euphrates River and attacked the province of Syria.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 1. s. 2. 27:231}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 2. s. 1. 27:235,237}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 3. s. 1. 27:245}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 7. 27:251,253}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 18. 22:381,383} Orsaces
was the general and Pacorus only held the title of
general, for he was barely fifteen years old. {*Dio, l.
40. (28) 3:449}
4803. The Parthians went into Syria and when they had
subdued all the territories, they came as far as
Antioch. They hoped to win it, too, for the Romans held
that province with only a small army. The citizens
barely tolerated the domineering Romans and were
inclined toward the Parthians, since they were their
neighbours and close friends. {*Dio, l. 40. (28,29)
3:349} The proconsul Bibulus had not yet arrived in the
province. For although the province had been appointed
to him for one year only, as in Cicero's case, it was
reported that the reason he arrived so late in the
province was so that he could leave later. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 16. 22:379} {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
5. c. 18. 22:383}
4804. Cicero, on the 3rd of the Calends of September
(August 28, or Julian June 11), reviewed his army at
Iconium. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:389} On
the Calends or the 3rd of the Nones of September
(September 1 or 3), the envoys that had been sent by
Antiochus, the king of the Commagenians, arrived at the
camp at Iconium. They were the first to bring Cicero
the news that large forces of the Parthians had begun to
cross the Euphrates River. It was said that the
Armenian king would make an invasion on Cappadocia.
When the news was brought to him, Cicero was troubled.
Although there were some who thought that not much
credit should be given to the king's planned invasion,
Cicero did not think so. He was worried about Syria,
his own province, and indeed for all Asia. Therefore,
he thought it best that the army should march through
Lycaonia, the country of Isaura, and that part of
Cappadocia which bordered Cilicia. {*Cicero, Friends,
l. 15. c. 1. s. 2. 27:231} {*Cicero, Friends, l.
15. c. 2. s. 1,2. 27:237} {*Cicero, Friends, l.
15. c. 3. s. 1. 27:245} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15.
c. 4. s. 3,4. 27:249}
4805. After he had stayed ten days at Iconium, he moved
his army and camped at the town of Cybistra, in the
remotest part of Cappadocia, not far from the Taurus
Mountains. He did this to demonstrate to Artavasdes,
the Armenian king, that no matter what he intended to
do, there was a Roman army not far from his border. In
this way, he and the Parthians would think themselves
shut out of Cappadocia and so Cicero could defend
Cilicia, which bordered their country, and hold
Cappadocia. This would hinder any new plans of the
neighbouring kings who, although they were friends with
the people of Rome, did not dare to be overt enemies to
the Parthians. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20.
22:389,391} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 2. s. 2.
27:237} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 4.
27:249} [K310]
4806. Cicero sent his cavalry from Cybistra into
Cilicia, so that the news of his coming would be
conveyed to the cities in that part and the citizens
would be more loyal to him. This would allow him
quickly to stop what was being done in Syria. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 15. c. 2. s. 3. 27:237}
4807. He was careful of the charge given to him by the
Senate, that he was to defend Ariobarzanes, the king of
the Cappadocians, and ensure that he and his kingdom
were safe. With his brother, Ariarathes, and some of
his father's old friends, the king came to the proconsul
in the camp and stayed there three or four days.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 2. 22:449} [E634] They
complained of treasons that had been plotted against his
life and requested that some cavalry and Roman foot
soldiers come and guard him. Cicero exhorted his
friends to protect the life of their king taking every
care and diligence, and learn from the sad example of
his father. Cicero exhorted the king that he should
learn to reign by protecting his own life from whomever
he was certain was plotting treason against him. With
these, he could do as he wished, punishing those who
needed punishing and freeing the rest from fear. He
should use the protection of the Roman army more to
incite terror in those who were at fault, than for
fighting. Then it would come about that they would
understand, when they heard the decree of the Senate,
that Cicero would be a protector to the king whenever
needed. Concerning the king, Cicero wrote to the
consuls and Senate that he was more careful to inform
them because in King Ariobarzanes, there were such signs
of virtue, wit, fidelity and goodwill toward them, that
they were wise to give Cicero such a charge to protect
him. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 2. s. 6,7.
27:239-243}
4808. Cicero established Methras and Athenaeus, men
whom King Ariobarzanes had banished because of the
hostility of Athenais, into supreme favour and
authority. A great war would have ensued in Cappadocia
if the priest of Comana would have defended himself with
armies. Hirtius stated that the priest was considered
second only to the king in majesty, command and power,
by common consent in that country. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War l. 1. (66) 3:117,119} The priest was a
young man and some thought he might start a war, since
he had cavalry, foot soldiers and money, as well as
allies who wanted to see a revolution. However, Cicero
brought it about that he left the kingdom, so that the
king obtained the kingdom with honour and without any
revolt or war, while the authority of his court was
confirmed to him even more. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15.
c. 4. s. 6. 27:251} Even though in another letter
Cicero thought that there was nothing more pillaged than
that kingdom and no one poorer than that king.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 1. 22:419}
4809. In this way, the kingdom of Ariobarzanes was
preserved for the king. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c.
5. s. 1. 27:265,269} Cappadocia was reconciled to
obedience to him, without fighting and with a great deal
of goodwill. {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 36. s.
1,2. 7:173} As far as Ariobarzanes was concerned,
Cicero bragged about himself to Atticus: {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:395}
"Ariobarzanes lives and reigns by my means, by my advice
and authority. This happened because I kept myself away
from those who lay in wait for him and free from bribes.
Hence, I preserved both the king and the kingdom."
4810. In the meantime, Cicero heard, through many
letters and messages, that Cassius (Bibulus had not yet
arrived in Syria) was at Antioch with an army. Large
forces from the Parthians and Arabians had come to
Antioch. There was a large body of cavalry who had
passed into Cilicia and had all been killed by those
cavalry troops Cicero had sent there, assisted by a
praetorian cohort stationed in a garrison at Epiphanea.
[K311] The Parthians were in Cyrrhestica, a part of
Syria that bordered on Cilicia. Therefore, when he
realised that the forces of the Parthians had turned
from Cappadocia and were not far from the borders of
Cilicia, he left Cybistra in Cappadocia, after having
camped for five days, and led the army into Cilicia. At
the borders of Lycaonia and Cappadocia on the 13th of
the Calends of October (September 18, or Julian June
30), he received letters from Tarcondimotus and from
Jamblichus, a leading tribesman from the Arabians, who
were considered friends of the Roman commonwealth. They
said that Pacorus had crossed the Euphrates River with a
large body of Parthian cavalry and was camped at Tyba.
Cicero, shortly after, wrote to the consuls and Senate
about this. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 1. s. 2.
27:231} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 2. s. 3.
27:237} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 7.
27:251,253} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 18. 22:383}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:391}
4811. A rumour of the arrival of Cicero encouraged
Cassius, who was besieged in Antioch, and filled the
Parthians with fear, so that they left Antioch before
the arrival of Bibulus and were driven back by Cassius.
He pursued them in their retreat from the town and
killed many of them. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20.
22:389,391} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:399}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 10. s. 2,3.
25:123,125} Dio gives a fuller account of this.
4812. When the Parthians were hoping to capture
Antioch, Cassius drove them off, for they were very
awkward at storming cities. They marched toward
Antigonia. The suburbs of that city were planted with
trees and so they dared not come near it, nor were they
able to. They intended to cut down the trees and to
clear the place of forest, so that they could attack the
city more boldly on that side. This did not happen,
because it was a lot of work, time was quickly passing
and Cassius attacked any stragglers. So they retreated
from Antigonia and planned to attack another place. In
the meantime, Cassius had placed ambushes in the way
along which they were to pass. First he showed himself
to them with a few troops to draw them into pursuing
him, then he turned on them. {*Dio, l. 40. (29)
3:449,451} Orsaces, the great commander of the
Parthians, was wounded and died a few days later.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:391} [E635]
4813. In Justin, this story is not recorded as
accurately: {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 4.}
"Pacorus was sent to pursue the remainder of the Roman
army after he had achieved many things in Syria. He was
recalled home because of the mistrust of his father. In
his absence, the Parthian forces that had been left in
Syria, along with all their captains, were wiped out by
Cassius, the quaestor of Crassus."
4814. Livy stated that Gaius Cassius, the quaestor of
Marcus Crassus, killed the Parthians who had marched
into Syria. {*Livy, l. 108. 14:135} Velleius said
that he very successfully routed the Parthians that had
come into Syria. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 46.
s. 4. 1:153} Sextus Rufus said that he valiantly
fought against the Persians (which is what he called the
Parthians) who had made an invasion into Syria, and
utterly destroyed them, driving them beyond the
Euphrates River. {Sextus Rufus, Breviary} Eutropius
said that, with singular valour and great courage, he
restored the state when it was as good as lost, in that
he overcame the Persians in various battles.
{Eutropius, l. 6.} Orosius added, concerning Cassius:
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 13.}
"He overcame Antiochus in battle, killing him and his
large forces, and through war he drove out the Parthians
who had been sent into Syria by Orodes. They had
advanced as far as Antioch. He killed their general,
Orsaces."
4815. Cicero stated: {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c.
14. 15:495}
"He did many gallant things before the arrival of
Bibulus, the chief commander. He utterly routed the
greatest commanders and the large forces of the
Parthians thereby freeing Syria from a horrible invasion
of the Parthians." [K312]
4816. The 41st chapter of the Jewish History, written
in Arabic and entitled the second book of the Maccabees,
adds something about Cassius that should not be
accepted:
"He crossed over the Euphrates River and conquered the
Persians and brought them under the obedience of the
Romans. He also secured the obedience of the twenty-two
kings that Pompey had subdued and brought the countries
of the east under their obedience."
4817. Orosius mentioned how Pompey bragged that he had
made war with twenty-two kings. {Orosius, l. 6. c.
6.}
4818. The day before the Calends of October (September
29, or Julian July 11), the Senate was convened in the
temple of Apollo. (Loeb edition translated it as
September 30. The translator forgot that in the
Republican calendar, September only had twenty-nine
days, not thirty. Editor.) They decreed that henceforth
propraetors who had formerly been praetors at Rome and
had never had any command in any province should be sent
into Cilicia and into eight other provinces. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 8. c. 8. s. 6. 26:137}
4819. Cicero marched with his army through the pass of
the Taurus Mountains into Cilicia, on the 3rd of the
Nones of October (October 5, or Julian July 16). On the
Nones of October (October 7, or Julian July 18), the
Senate read the letters of Cassius, telling of his
victory. He wrote that he had single-handedly ended the
Parthian war. The letters of Cicero telling of the
Parthian uprising, were also read. Thereupon, little
credit was given to Cassius' letters. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:399} The same day, Cicero
went from the Taurus Mountains toward the Amanus
Mountain. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 8. s. 10.
25:209,211} This mountain belonged both to him and to
Bibulus and divided Syria from Cilicia. It formed a
divide for the watershed and was full of perpetual
enemies to both provinces. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2.
c. 10. s. 2. 25:123,125} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5.
c. 20. 22:391}
4820. The next day (October 8, or Julian July 19), he
camped in the plain of Mopsuestia. He wrote his eighth
letter to Appius Pulcher, whom he had succeeded in the
proconsulship, and stated: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c.
8. s. 10. 25:209,211}
"If you ask concerning the Parthians, I think there were
none. The Arabians who were there and lived like
Parthians, are all said to have pulled out. They deny
that there was any enemy in Syria."
4821. When Cicero came to Amanus, he heard that the
enemy had retreated from Antioch and that Bibulus was at
Antioch. At Amanus, he learned that Dejotarus was fast
approaching him with a large army of cavalry, foot
soldiers and his entire forces. Cicero saw no reason
why Dejotarus should leave his kingdom, so he
immediately sent letters and messengers to him to stay
there in case anything unusual should occur in his
kingdom. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 7.
27:253}
4822. Cicero considered that it was a matter of great
concern for both provinces to secure Mount Amanus and
eliminate the perennial enemy from that mountain. So he
pretended to enter some other parts of Cilicia but when
he had gone about a day's journey from Mount Amanus, he
camped at Epiphanea. On the 4th of the Ides of October
(October 12, or Julian July 23), toward evening, he
marched so quickly with his army, that on the next day,
at daybreak, he was able to go up the Amanus Mountain.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 8. 27:253}
4823. He marshalled his cohorts and auxiliaries. He
and his brother Quintus, his lieutenant, commanded some
of these, while others were under his lieutenant, Gaius
Pomptinus, and the rest under Marcus Anneius and Lucius
Tullius. They came on the enemy suddenly, before they
were aware of them, and many were killed or captured and
the rest were scattered. [K313] Fugerana (or rather,
Erana) which was more like a city than a village,
because it was the main place in Amanus, along with
Sepyra and Ceminoris (or Commoris), very stoutly
resisted for a long time. Pomptinus attacked that part
of Amanus from the break of day till ten o'clock. It
was taken and a large number of the enemy were killed.
Six well-fortified citadels were captured through their
sudden arrival and more were burned. When they had done
this, Cicero camped at the foot of the Amanus Mountain,
at the altars of Alexander by the Issus River, where
Darius had been defeated by Alexander. [E636] He stayed
four days, destroying the remainder of Amanus that
belonged to his province and in wasting the country.
For this well-deserved victory, he was called Imperator,
or Captain General, by the army. After he had spoiled
and wasted Amanus, he left it on the sixth day.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 10. s. 3. 25:125}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 4. s. 8,9.
27:253,255} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:391}
{*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 36. s. 4,5. 7:175}
4824. In the meantime, when Bibulus came to Amanus, he
began to look for a needle in a haystack in seeking
after the vain name of Imperator. However, he suffered
a great defeat. He wholly lost his first cohort and a
centurion of the vanguard who was a noble man and his
relative, Asinius Dento. He also lost Sextus Lucilius,
a colonel, who was the son of Titus Gravius Caepio, a
rich and renowned man. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c.
20. 22:391,393}
4825. Cicero brought his army to the most dangerous
part of Cilicia, which was inhabited by the
Eleutherociles. They were a cruel and fierce people,
who were well-armed. They had never obeyed their kings
and at this time were hosting fugitives. They were
daily expecting the arrival of the Parthians. Cicero
attacked their town of Pindenissus, which was located in
a steep and well-fortified site on the 12th of the
Calends of November (October 20 or Julian August 1).
They surrendered on the 57th day, on the day of the
Saturnalia (the 14th of the Calends of January, or
December 17, or the Julian September 27). He surrounded
it with a rampart and a trench and contained them with
six citadels and very large brigades. He attacked it
with a mount, engines and an extremely high tower,
employing many archers and a large number of battering
rams. On the 25th day of the siege (November 14 or
Julian August 25), Cicero wrote about this in a letter
to Marcus Caelius Rufus, who had been chosen as aedile.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 10. 25:123} This is also
mentioned in his letters, written after the capture of
the city, to Marcus Cato {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c.
4. s. 10. 27:255,257} and to Pomponius Atticus.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 20. 22:393}
3954a AM, 4663 JP, 51 BC
4826. Cicero accomplished what he had set out to do
after much work and preparation, but at no cost to the
allies. Many of his men were wounded, but the army was
safe. On the very day of the Saturnalia (the 14th of
the Calends of January, or December 17, or Julian
September 26), his forces had the city of Pindenissus at
their mercy. The entire city was either torn down or
burned. He granted his soldiers all of the spoil from
it except for the horses. The slaves were sold on the
third day of the Saturnalia. He took hostages from the
Tibareni, who were the next door neighbours to the city
of Pindenissus and just as wicked and audacious. After
this, he sent his army to their winter quarters under
his brother, Quintus. The army was to be quartered in
those places that had been taken from the enemy or that
had not been fully subdued. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5.
c. 20. 22:393} When he settled his affairs for the
summer, he appointed his brother Quintus to command in
the winter quarters and to be over Cilicia. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:403} He had planned to use
the summer months to carry out this war and the winter
months to sit in judging cases. {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
5. c. 14. 22:373}
4827. Publius Lentulus Spinther held a triumph at Rome
for Cilicia, as we gather from Cicero. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:401} {*Cicero, Friends, l.
1. c. 9. s. 2. 25:49} [K314]
4828. The son of Orodes, king of the Parthians, came
into Cyrrhestica, a country of Cilicia where the
Parthians also wintered. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c.
21. 22:399} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 1. 22:431}
4829. Cicero sent Quintus Volusius, who was a trusted
man and not liable to corruption by bribes, to Cyprus to
stay there a few days. Hence, the few Roman citizens
who had business to do there, would not be able to say
they had not been handled fairly. The inhabitants could
not be summoned to courts outside of their own island.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:403}
4830. After being well received by the cities of
Cilicia, Cicero went from the Taurus Mountains into Asia
on the Nones of January (January 5, or Julian October
13), crossing over the Taurus Mountains in the sixth
month of his command. Wherever he went, without using
any violence or reproach, but only his authority and
advice, he managed to achieve that the Greek and Roman
citizens who had withheld their grain, promised to
supply the people. For this was necessary because a
great famine raged in much of that part of Asia since
there had been no harvest. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5.
c. 21. 22:403,405}
4831. Dejotarus (whose daughter was betrothed to the
son of Artavasdes, the king of Armenia) helped Cicero
greatly. He came to Laodicea to live with Cicero's
children, and brought him news that Orodes intended to
come into those regions at the beginning of summer with
all the Parthian forces. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c.
20. 22:397} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:399}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 1. 22:431}
4832. At Laodicea, from the Ides of February (February
13, or Julian November 29) to the Calends of May (May 1
or Julian February 26), Cicero held court for the part
of Asia that belonged to him. From the Ides of February
(February 13), he held it for Cibyra and Apamea, and
from the Ides of March (March 15), for Synnada and
Pamphylia. [E637] Many cities were freed from their
debts and many had their financial burdens considerably
eased. All of them used their own laws and judgments
after being given permission to do so. They were all
greatly restored to their former condition. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 5. c. 21. 22:405} {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
6. c. 2. 22:447}
3954b AM, 4664 JP, 50 BC
4833. When Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Gaius Claudius
Marcellus were consuls, the Senate at Rome decreed a
triumph for Cicero because he had been victorious in
Cilicia. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 15. s. 1.
25:139} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 8. c. 11. s. 1.
26:155} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 5. s. 2.
27:267} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 6. s. 2.
27:271} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 13. s. 3.
27:285} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c. 1. 23:7}
4834. When Gaius Cassius, who had been Marcus Crassus'
quaestor, was about to leave Syria after the Parthian
war, he commended Marcus Fadius to Cicero who was then
at Laodicea. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 9. c. 25. s. 2.
26:279} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 14. s. 1.
27:287} Cicero wrote back and congratulated him on the
greatness of his deeds and the timing of his departure,
for he was leaving the province while he carried great
approval and was held in high esteem. Cicero advised
him to hurry to Rome for his arrival would be very
well-received because of his recent victory.
4835. Cicero commended his lieutenant Marcus Anneius,
whose wisdom, virtue and fidelity had been proven in the
war in Cilicia, to Quintus Thermus, the praetor of Asia.
Thermus was to go and settle a dispute he had with the
Sardinians and wanted Anneius to come with him. Cicero
wanted him returned by the Calends of May (May 1), when
he intended to go into Cilicia. {*Cicero, Friends, l.
13. c. 55. s. 1. 27:131,133} {*Cicero, Friends, l.
13. c. 57. s. 1. 27:137,139}
4836. Publius Cornelius Dolabella, who, a little later,
was married to Tullia, the daughter of Cicero, accused
Appius Claudius Pulcher of treason and bribery in his
office, when he demanded a triumph at Rome for the good
work he had done in Cilicia. [K315] As soon as
Dolabella appeared before the tribunal, Appius entered
the city and withdrew his demand for a triumph.
Finally, when Quintus Hortensius and Marcus Brutus
defended Appius, he was acquitted of both crimes.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 8. c. 6. s. 1. 26:121}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 8. c. 13. s. 1. 26:165}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 10. s. 1. 25:217}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 11. s. 1. 25:233}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 3. c. 12. s. 1. 25:239}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 6. 22:471} {*Cicero,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 94. 5:281}
4837. The cavalrymen, whom Gabinius had left in Egypt,
killed two sons of Marcus Bibulus, the proconsul.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (103) 2:345} {*Valerius
Maximus, l. 4. c. 1. s. 15. 1:351,353} Cleopatra,
the queen, sent the murderers to Bibulus in bonds for
him to punish them as he wished. He soon sent them back
to Cleopatra without harming them, saying that the
authority to punish them belonged to the Senate and not
to him. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 1. s. 15.
1:351,353} {*Seneca, Ad Marciam, l. 1. c. 14. s. 2.
2:45}
4838. Cicero thought of going into Cilicia on the Nones
of May (May 7). (Loeb English edition incorrectly wrote
May 15. Editor.) {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 13. s.
4. 25:137} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 2. 22:447}
However, he did not arrive at the Taurus Mountains
before the Nones of June (June 5, or Julian April 2).
Many things troubled him. A great war was on in Syria
and there were many robbers in Cilicia. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 6. c. 4. 22:463}
4839. He left there and while he was camped by the
Pyramus River, Quintus Servilius sent him letters from
Taurus that had been written by Appius Claudius Pulcher.
They were dated at Rome on the Nones of April (April 5,
or Julian February 1), and he wrote that he had been
cleared of the charge of treason. {*Cicero, Friends, l.
3. c. 11. s. 1. 25:231,233}
4840. Syria was in turmoil with the Parthian war and
there was great fear at Antioch. In spite of his sorrow
over the murder of his sons, Bibulus managed the war.
Although there were great hopes of having Cicero and his
army to help them, Bibulus was reported to have said
that he would rather endure anything than get help from
Cicero. Hence, while he wrote to Thermus, the praetor
of Asia, about the Parthian war, he never wrote to
Cicero for help even though he knew that the greatest
part of the war threatened Syria the most.
Notwithstanding, his lieutenants sent letters to Cicero,
asking him to come and help them. {*Cicero, Friends, l.
2. c. 17. 25:151-157} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c.
5. 22:469}
4841. Although Cicero's own army was weak, he had good
auxiliaries from the Galatians, Pisidians and Lycians.
He considered it his duty to have his army as near as
possible to the enemy while he was in command in that
province by the decree of the Senate. Since the term of
his office only lasted a year and had almost expired, he
agreed with Dejotarus that the king should be in his
camp with all his forces. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c.
1. 22:431} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 5. 22:469}
Cicero said about Dejotarus: {*Cicero, Philippics, l.
11. c. 13. 15:495}
"I and Bibulus were both in command of the nearby and
neighbouring provinces. Both of us were often helped by
that king with cavalry and foot soldiers."
3954c AM, 4664 JP, 50 BC
4842. The Parthians kept Bibulus besieged. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (31) 2:241} As long as the Parthians
were in the province, he stayed within the extremely
well-fortified town with his men. {*Cicero, Friends, l.
12. c. 19. s. 2,3. 26:589} [E638] He never set foot
outside the town as long as the Parthians were on the
west side of the Euphrates River. {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
6. c. 8. 22:479} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c. 2.
23:17}
4843. The Parthians left Bibulus half dead with fright.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c. 2. 23:19} By an
incredible stroke of good luck, Bibulus had set the
Parthians at odds with one another. {*Cicero, Atticus,
l. 6. c. 6. 22:473} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c.
1. 23:5} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 17. 25:151} He
befriended Ornodapates, who was a nobleman, and an enemy
of Orodes. [K316] Through messengers who went back and
forth between them, he persuaded him that he should make
Pacorus king and with Bibulus' help, make war on Orodes.
{*Dio, l. 40. (30) 3:451}
4844. Bibulus, in the letter he wrote to the Senate
concerning the things that he had done, claimed to have
done by himself alone those things which, in actual
fact, he and Cicero had done together. He also said
that those things, which Cicero had done alone, had been
done by both of them together. Cicero complained of
this in a letter he wrote to Sallust, Bibulus' quaestor.
He also noted the mark of a poor, malicious and vain
spirit, which he attributed not to Ariobarzanes, the
king, but to his son (whom the Senate called king and
whom it had commended to Cicero). {*Cicero, Friends, l.
2. c. 17. s. 7. 25:157} When Bibulus, who had done
no great deeds, tried to obtain a triumph, Cicero
thought it would be a disgrace to him not to obtain the
same also. Bibulus' army set their hopes on Cicero's
army. On the advice of his friends, Cicero also began
to think of a triumph. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c.
6. 22:475} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 8. 22:479}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c. 2. 23:17}
4845. After the danger of the Parthians had passed,
Cicero withdrew all the garrisons that he had provided
for Apamea and other places which were good and strong.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 17. s. 3. 25:153}
4846. About the 3rd of the Calends of August (July 30,
or Julian May 26), Cicero's term of office was almost
over, since it had only been for a year. According to
the decree of the Senate, someone had to replace him
when he left. So Cicero placed Gaius Caelius Caldus
over the government of the province which had now been
freed from the fear of the Parthian war. He had
recently been sent to him from Rome to be his quaestor
in place of Gnaeus Volusius, and was a noble young
gentleman indeed, but one who lacked gravity and
self-control. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 15. s.
4. 25:141} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 19. s. 1.
25:161} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 4. 22:465}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 6. 22:471}
4847. The 3rd of the Nones of August (August 3, or
Julian May 29), when his annual command had expired,
Cicero sailed to Sida, a city of Pamphylia. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 3. c. 12. s. 4. 25:243} From there, he
went to Laodicea, the farthest boundary of the province.
There he ordered his quaestor, Messinius, to wait for
him while he went to leave his accounts in the province,
according to the Julian law, in the two cities of
Laodicea and Apamea. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 7.
22:475} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 7. 25:115}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 5. c. 20. s. 2. 25:409}
Cicero had not taken a penny of the plunder from Mount
Amanus but had left it all, just as he had also left the
yearly salary which was given to him. It amounted to a
million sesterces and was put into the treasury. His
cohort grumbled at this, thinking it ought to be
distributed among them. He also safeguarded all the
public money at Laodicea that it might be safely
returned to him and to the people without any danger of
loss. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c. 1. 23:9}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 17. s. 4. 25:153}
4848. When the Senate had received Bibulus' letters,
Cato persuaded the Senate to decree that a very large
parade be held, lasting twenty days, for Marcus Bibulus.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c. 2. 23:17,19} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 7. c. 3. 23:21} Those legions were
detained, which the Senate had decreed should be sent
into Syria by Marius, who was to succeed Sallust in the
office of quaestor. The province had now been freed
from the fear of the Parthian war. {*Cicero, Friends,
l. 2. c. 17. s. 1. 25:151} The Senate decreed that
one legion from Gnaeus Pompey and another from Julius
Caesar should be sent to Bibulus for the Parthian war.
Pompey would not release any of the legions that he had
with him. However, he commanded the commissioners of
this matter to demand from Caesar the legion which
Pompey had lent to Caesar. [K317] Caesar, although he
did not doubt that his adversaries intended him to be
left without any legions, sent Pompey back his legion
and also gave another from his own number to satisfy the
decree of the Senate. Hence these two legions were
outfitted as though they were to be sent against the
Parthians. However, since there was no need of them for
that war, the consul Marcellus, fearing that they would
be sent back to Caesar, kept them in Italy and gave them
to Pompey. Although Caesar knew full well why these
things had happened, he determined to endure everything,
because he did not wish to be charged with disobedience
and because it gave him an excuse to levy more soldiers.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 1. (3) 2:5,7} {*Caesar,
Gallic War, l. 8. (54,55) 1:589,591} {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 52. s. 3,4. 5:251} {*Dio, l. 40.
(65,66) 3:505-509}
3954d AM, 4664 JP, 50 BC
4849. Cicero persuaded Quintus Thermus, the praetor,
who was to depart from Asia, to leave his quaestor, a
noble young gentleman, as governor of that province.
[E639] His name was Gaius Antonius, as Pighius wrote in
his annals. {Pighius, Annals of Rome, Tom. 3. p.
431.} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 18. s. 2.
25:159}
4850. Cicero gave the tax collectors at Ephesus all the
money which had lawfully come to him there, which was
twenty-two hundred sesterces. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 5.
c. 20. s. 9. 25:419} He was seriously hindered by
the Etesian winds and sailed from Ephesus on the Calends
of October (October 1, or Julian July 25). He landed at
Rhodes for the sake of his children. {*Cicero, Atticus,
l. 6. c. 8. 22:477} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c.
37. s. 5. 7:175} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 7.
22:475} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 2. c. 17. s. 1.
25:151} There he heard of Hortensius' death. {*Cicero,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 1. 5:19}
4851. With the winds against him, Cicero arrived at
Athens on the day before the Ides of October (October
14, or Julian August 7). {*Cicero, Friends, l. 14. c.
5. s. 1. 27:201} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 6. c. 9.
22:479}
4852. As the civil war between Caesar and Pompey
approached (Julian August 21), a little after sunrise,
the sun was eclipsed almost two digits (about 17%).
Pertronius seems to make reference to this in the signs
of this war:
For blondy Sol appeared with visage like to death,
Thou d'st think the civil wars just then began to
breathe.
4853. Bibulus left Asia on the 5th of the Ides of
December (December 9, or Julian October 1). {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 7. c. 3. 23:25}
3955a AM, 4664 JP, 50 BC
4854. On the Calends of January (January 1, or Julian
October 22), when Gaius Claudius Marcellus and Lucius
Cornelius Lentulus assumed the office of consuls, the
Senate decreed that Caesar should dismiss his army
before a certain day and that, were he to refuse, this
action would be assumed to be against the state. In
vain had Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius, the tribunes
of the people, interceded against this decree, which
marked the beginning of the civil war between Caesar and
Pompey. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 1. (2) 2:5}
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 2. c. 21. 15:115}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 49. s. 1. 1:159}
{*Dio, l. 41. (1) 4:3,5}
4855. On the day before the Nones of January (January
4, or Julian October 25), Cicero came to the city. He
was given such a welcome, that nothing could have
conferred greater honour. This took place just before
the civil war. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 16. c. 11. s.
2. 27:341} [K318] He did not enter the city. Amid
these troubles, a packed Senate earnestly demanded a
triumph for him. Lentulus, the consul, deferred this
request, in order to intensify his own honour.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 16. c. 11. s. 3. 27:341,343}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 7. c. 1. 23:9} Since the
Senate had decreed a triumph for him, Cicero said that
he would rather see peace made and follow Caesar's
chariot in a triumph than hold his own triumph.
{*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 37. s. 1. 7:175}
However, the discord increased and neither Bibulus nor
Cicero ever received a triumph. {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
9. c. 2. 23:181-185} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 9. c.
6. 23:199} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 11. c. 6. 23:367}
4856. On the 7th of the Ides of January (January 7, or
Julian October 28), the Senate decreed that the consuls,
praetors, tribunes of the people, and all the proconsuls
who were in the city (of whom Cicero was one) should do
their utmost to prevent the state from being harmed.
The tribunes of the people, who had opposed that decree
of the Senate, immediately fled from the city and went
to Caesar. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 1. (5) 2:9}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 16. c. 11. s. 2. 27:341}
{*Dio, l. 41. (2) 4:7,9}
4857. The next day, when the Senate convened outside
the city and Pompey was also present, the provinces were
assigned to private men; two of them were for the
consuls, the rest were assigned to the praetors. Syria
was given to Scipio. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 1. (6)
2:11,13} This was Metellus Scipio who had married his
daughter Cornelia, the widow of Publius Crassus who had
been killed by the Parthians, to Pompey. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 54. s. 2. 1:169} Scipio, who
three years before had been Pompey's colleague in the
consulship, this year shared Syria with him (that is,
this year being two years before Pompey was killed).
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 55. s. 1. 5:261}
{*Dio, l. 40. (51) 3:485} Sextius, or Sestius,
succeeded Cicero in the province of Cilicia. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 5. c. 20. s. 6. 25:415} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 11. c. 7. 23:369} He was sent to Cyprus,
which from this time on was distinct from Cilicia, as
the first quaestor with praetorian authority. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 13. c. 48. 27:121} The three governments
of Asia—Cibyra, Synnada and Apamea—were taken from the
province of Cilicia and given to the new proconsul of
Asia, Publius Servilius Sigonius. {*Cicero, Friends, l.
13. c. 67. 27:155} {*Cicero, De Provinciis
Consularibus, l. 1. c. 12. 13:577}
4858. On the same day, on the 8th of the Calends of
March (February 22, or Julian December 11), the Feralia
was celebrated. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 133.} [E640]
Caesar came from Corsinium to Brundisium in the
afternoon of that day and Pompey came from Canusium in
the morning. Autumn was already past. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 8. c. 14. 23:163} {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
9. c. 1. 23:177} {*Dio, l. 41. (14) 4:27}
4859. Pompey sent his father-in-law Scipio and his son
Gnaeus from Brundisium to Syria to raise a fleet.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 62. s. 2. 5:279} In a
letter that Cicero wrote on the day before the Nones of
March (March 6, or Julian December 23), he stated that
Scipio went into Syria either because the lot fell to
him, or for the honour of his son-in-law, or because he
was fleeing from an angry Caesar. {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
9. c. 1. 23:179}
4860. On the 7th of the Ides of March (March 9, or
Julian December 26), Caesar came to Brundisium and
camped before its walls, as he wrote in a letter to
Oppius and Cornelius Balbus. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 9.
c. 13a. 23:251}
3955b AM, 4665 JP, 49 BC
4861. On the 16th of the Calends of April (March 17, or
Julian January 3), according to Cicero (not three days
before March, as is recorded in Lipsius, in the 31st
epistle of the century to the Germans and Frenchmen),
the Liberalia was celebrated. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 9.
c. 9. 23:225} This is recorded in the marble records.
{Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 133.} [K319] Pompey, with all
the forces at his disposal sailed from Brundisium to
Epirus on the very day of the Liberalia, or Dionysia.
Pompey's sons were defeated at the battle of Munda in
Spain, exactly four years after the time when their
father was said to have gone to war. {*Plutarch,
Caesar, l. 1. c. 56. s. 1-3. 7:571,573} This was
the same day when their father Pompey left Italy and
made Greece the centre of the civil war. It was not
that he fled from the city to make war, as Orosius
mistakenly wrote. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 16.}
4862. The next day Caesar entered Brundisium, made a
speech and marched toward Rome. He wanted to be at the
city before the first of the next month. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 9. c. 15. 23:261}
4863. From there, Caesar sent Aristobulus to his own
country of Palestine to do something against Pompey.
{*Dio, l. 41. (18) 4:35} Josephus stated that Caesar
sent Aristobulus into Syria after freeing him from
prison. He gave him two legions to enable him to keep
the province in order more easily. Both their plans
were thwarted. Aristobulus was poisoned by Pompey's
supporters and buried by Caesar's faction. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 9. s. 1. (183,184) 2:85,87}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7. s. 4. (123,124)
7:513}
4864. Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, was beheaded
at Antioch by Scipio, according to Pompey's letters.
First, he was publicly accused of what he had done
against the Romans. But Ptolemy, the son of Mennaeus,
governor of Chalcis, which was located at the foot of
Mount Lebanon in the Lebanon valley, had sent his son
Philippion to Askelon to the wife of Aristobulus. He
sent for her son Antigonus and her two daughters. The
younger daughter was called Alexandra and Philippion
fell in love with her and married her. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 9. s. 2. (185,186) 2:87}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7. s. 4. (126)
7:515} Pompey had a year in which to raise forces.
Since he was free from war and as his enemy was not
active, he assembled a large fleet from Asia, the
Cyclades Islands, Corcyra, Athens, Pontus, Bithynia,
Syria, Cilicia, Phoenicia and Egypt. He saw to it that
a large navy was built in every place and he also
exacted large sums of money from Asia, Syria, and all
the kings, governors, tetrarchs and the free people of
Achaia. He forced the provinces that had been allocated
to him to pay him large sums of money. {*Caesar, Civil
Wars, l. 3. (3) 2:199} It was reported that sixty
ships were sent to him from Egypt by Cleopatra and
Ptolemy, who were but a child king and queen of Egypt at
the time. He also had auxiliaries from Ionia, archers
from Crete, javelin throwers from Pontus and cavalry
from Galatia. The Commagenians were sent from
Antiochus. Cilicians and Cappadocians and Lesser
Armenia supplied some troops. The Pamphylians and
Pisidians also came to him. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
2. c. 8. (49) 3:319} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c.
10. (71) 3:359}
4865. Marcus Cato was sent into Asia by Pompey to help
those who were gathering the fleet and soldiers. He
took his sister Servilia along with him and a son that
Lucullus had by her. After he had persuaded the
Rhodians to side with Pompey, he left Servilia and her
son with them and returned to Pompey. Pompey was well
furnished with very strong land and naval forces.
{*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 54. s. 1,2.
8:363,365} It was Pompey's intention to make war across
the whole world on land and sea and to stir up barbarous
kings and bring armed and cruel nations into Italy.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 8. c. 11. 23:131}
4866. Pompey also tried to draw Orodes, the king of the
Parthians, onto his side. Although Pompey was
considered an enemy after the death of Crassus, Orodes
promised him his help if he were given Syria. [K320]
Because Pompey did not grant him Syria, he brought no
forces, although otherwise the Parthians were on
Pompey's side. {*Dio, l. 41. (55) 4:95} They favoured
Pompey because of the friendship they had made in the
Mithridatic War and also because they had heard, after
the death of Crassus, that Crassus' son was on Caesar's
side and they knew that his son would revenge his
father's death, if Caesar won the war. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 42. c. 4.} [E641]
4867. Pompey used a large fleet which he had put
together from Alexandria, Colchis, Tyre, Sidon, Andros
(or rather, Aradus), Cyprus, Pamphylia, Lycia, Rhodes,
Byzantium, Lesbos, Smyrna, Miletus and Cos. They were
to intercept the provisions from Italy and to seize the
provinces from where the grain was coming. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 9. c. 9. 23:219}
4868. Pompey's son was the admiral of the Egyptian
fleet. Decius Laelius and Gaius Triarius were in charge
of the Asiatic fleet, while Gaius Cassius was over the
Syrian fleet and Gaius Marcellus over the Rhodian fleet.
Gaius Coponius commanded the light ships and the Achaean
fleet was under Scribonius Libo and Marcus Octavius.
Marcus Bibulus was the chief admiral over all the naval
forces. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (5) 2:203}
3956a AM, 4665 JP, 49 BC
4869. Julius Caesar was made dictator. After eleven
days, he and Publius Servilius Isauricus were declared
consuls and so Caesar resigned his dictatorship.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (1,2) 2:197,199}
{*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 37. s. 1. 7:531,533}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 7. (48) 3:317}
4870. It was from this first dictatorship of Caesar
that the Macedonians of Syria began their reckoning of
the time of the Caesars. (This fact was mentioned on an
old marble monument. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 287.})
The date was the 24th of the Julian September. {Ussher,
Macedonian and Asiatic Year} From that day, not only the
Macedonian, but also the Roman, emperors began their
indictions, or their cycle of fifteen years. The people
of Antioch reckoned the same way, which was divided by
fifteen and always showed the indictions of the emperors
although the form of the year was later changed and the
Macedonian months brought into conformity with the
Italian ones. The Antiochians identified the beginning
of their period, and the rest of the Eastern people the
beginning of their indictions, with the beginning of
their new year, and moved it from the 24th of September
to the first of September. No matter what may have been
said concerning the origin of the indictions (which they
commonly attributed to the times of Constantine), it
ought to be beyond controversy, that the start of the
Antiochian period is to be determined from September 49
BC, or 4665 JP.
4871. At the end of the year when Marcellus and
Lentulus were consuls, Pompey was made general of the
Romans, and the Senate, which was with him in Ephesus,
bestowed honours on kings and other people who had
earned them. Lucan mentioned: {*Lucan, l. 5. (50-60)
1:243}
Phoebus sea-powerful Rhodes rewarded was,
And Spartans rough, praised were the Athenian
Phocis made free where Massilians:
Faithful Dejotarus, young Sadala,
The valiant Cotys and Rhascyporlis [K321]
Of Macedonia were praised: Juba to thee
The Senate gives all Libya by decree.
4872. (Salala was the son of Cotys, king of Thrace,
Rhascypolis, was a commander from Macedonia. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (4) 2:201}) Lucan affirmed that it
was by the same method that the kingdom of Egypt was
confirmed to Ptolemy at this time though he was little
more than a child. Lucan mentioned the words attributed
to Pothinus, the governor of Ptolemy, referring to
Pompey: {*Lucan, l. 8. (518) 1:475}
…The Senate gave to me
The sceptre, when persuaded to it by thee.
4873. About the winter solstice, Caesar sent messengers
to the army telling them to meet him at Brundisium. He
departed from Rome in the month of December, not
expecting to assume his office as consul on the first
day of the next year. This is why Appian thought that
the account of the Roman year was the same at that time
as it was later in his own time. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 9. (48) 3:337} However, the first of
January, when Caesar was to begin his second consulship,
corresponded to the Julian October 11. [E642] Florus
made a similar mistake and asserted that Caesar had
sailed to go to the war, even though it was the middle
of winter. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 13. s. 36,37.
1:279} Plutarch also wrote that Caesar arrived at
Brundisium shortly after the winter solstice and left
there in the beginning of the month of January, which he
said corresponded to the Athenian month of Posideion.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 65. s. 2,3. 5:285}
Indeed, Caesar confirmed that he set sail with seven
legions on the day before the Nones of January (January
4) and the next day he landed at the Ceraunia Rocks.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (6) 2:203} However, this
was not the Julian January, on which the Athenian month
of Posideion fell in the time of Plutarch, but it
corresponded to the month of the Roman year used then.
The 5th of January, when Caesar landed at the Ceraunia
Rocks, corresponded to the Julian October 15, with
winter approaching. Thereupon, Pompey marched to his
winter quarters from Ephesus to Apollonia and
Dyrrachium, as Caesar showed later. By no means was it
the height of winter.
4874. Pompey provided for a large quantity of grain
from Thessaly, Asia, Egypt, Crete, Cyrene and other
countries. He planned to winter in Dyrrachium, in
Apollonia and in all the coastal towns in order to
prevent Caesar from crossing the sea, although this did
not prevent Caesar from coming. {*Caesar, Civil Wars,
l. 3. (5) 2:203}
4875. Scipio, the governor of Syria and the
father-in-law of Pompey, received some casualties near
Mount Amanus and declared himself Imperator. After
this, he imposed large sums of money on the cities and
the tyrants, as well as extracting two years of taxes
from the tax collectors of the province. From them, he
borrowed the money for the following year, while
ordering the whole province to provide him with cavalry.
When all the forces had come together, he turned his
back on the Parthians, who were enemies on his border,
and marched from Syria with his legions and cavalry.
When the soldiers complained that they would go against
an enemy but not against the consul and their
fellow-citizens, he brought the legions into the richest
cities, like Pergamum, for their winter quarters. He
gave large bribes and to bind the soldiers more firmly
to him, he allowed them to plunder these cities.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (31) 2:239,241}
4876. In the meantime, the taxes that had been imposed
on the cities, was collected in a very cruel manner.
Generally speaking, many things were done out of
covetousness. The tribute was imposed on both bond and
free. [K322] A tax was imposed on pillars and doors,
for soldiers and mariners, for arms and engines and
wagons. The fact that anything had a name, was
sufficient reason for taxing it. Governors were
appointed, who were given commands, not only over cities
and citadels, but even villages. The one who did any
given thing most outrageously and cruelly, was
considered the best man and the best citizen. The
province was full of lictors and commanders and was
over-burdened with petty governors and tax collectors,
who collected the money they were supposed to and also
lined their own pockets. They said that they had been
expelled from their own houses and country and so needed
all the things necessary. This excuse was to whitewash
their business with some honest pretence. In addition
to these exactions, large interest-bearing loans were
incurred, which mainly happen in wartime. In the matter
of loans, they said that postponing the day of payment
was termed a free gift. As a result, the debt of the
whole province was multiplied greatly in these two
years. No less money was exacted for this cause from
the Roman citizens of the province than was exacted upon
all the guilds, and a fixed amount of money was demanded
from every city. They told them that they were
borrowing this money by the decree of the Senate.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (32) 2:241,243}
4877. Moreover, at Ephesus, Scipio ordered that the
money, which had been deposited in the temple of Diana,
should be taken from there. As he entered the temple,
accompanied by all the senators whom he had called
together for this purpose, he received letters from
Pompey saying that Caesar had crossed the sea with his
legions and that he should set everything else aside and
quickly come to Pompey with his army. As soon as he had
received these letters, he dismissed the men whom he had
called to him and began to prepare for his march into
Macedonia. A few days later, he left, thereby sparing
the money at Ephesus. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3.
(33) 2:243}
4878. In the meantime, besides the Roman and Italian
legions, Pompey had two legions in his army which
Lentulus the consul had raised. He also had archers
from Crete, Lacedemon, Pontus, Syria and other
countries, making a total of three thousand and two
cohorts of six hundred slingers each. He had seven
thousand cavalry, of which Dejotarus had brought five
hundred Galatians and Ariobarzanes had brought five
hundred from Cappadocia. From Egypt came five hundred
Gauls and Germans, whom Gabinius had left at Alexandria
to guard King Ptolemy and the son that Pompey had
brought with the fleet. Tarcondarius Castor and
Domnilaus sent three hundred troops from Galatia. One
of them came along himself, the other sent his son.
[E643] Antiochus, the Commagenian, on whom Pompey had
bestowed large rewards, sent two hundred, among whom
were many archers on horseback. It was anticipated that
Scipio would bring two legions from Syria. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (4) 2:201}
3956b AM, 4666 JP, 48 BC
4879. After Caesar arrived at Ephesus, many months
passed and winter came on. Neither the ships nor
legions that had left Brundisium ever reached Caesar.
However, Mark Antony and Fusius Calenus sailed with a
fair south wind and brought three legions of veterans
with them to Caesar and one recently raised legion,
along with eight hundred cavalry. When Quintus
Coponius, who was commanding the Rhodian fleet at
Dyrrachium, tried to hinder the ships, a storm arose and
so troubled the fleet. Sixteen ships were driven
against one another and perished through shipwreck.
Most of the mariners and soldiers were dashed against
the rocks and killed. Some, who were dispersed by
Caesar's forces, were saved alive by Caesar and sent
home again. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (26,27)
2:233,235} [K323]
4880. In Egypt, the young Ptolemy, with help from his
relatives and friends, expelled Cleopatra, who was his
wife and sister, from the kingdom. {*Caesar, Civil
Wars, l. 3. (103) 2:343,354} {*Livy, l. 111. 14:139}
Lucan recorded the complaint of Cleopatra: {*Lucan, l.
10. (95) 1:597}
But all his power, will and affections be
Under Pothinus' belt.…
4881. Strabo stated how she was expelled by the lad's
friends who instigated a rebellion. {*Plutarch, Caesar,
l. 1. c. 48. s. 3. 7:557} This affair was
attributed to Pothinus (as his name reads in Caesar),
who was the governor at the time that Ptolemy ruled the
kingdom and whom the Greek writers call Potheinus, which
is more likely to be correct. After Cleopatra was
expelled, she left for Syria with her sister to raise an
army. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:47}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (90) 3:393}
4882. When Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, king of
Pontus, and himself king of Cimmerian Bosphorus, heard
that there was civil war among the Romans, he hoped it
would continue for a long time. Since Caesar was not
nearby, he revolted from the Romans in the hope of
regaining all his father's former possessions. He
committed the government and defence of Bosphorus to
Asander. Without meeting much resistance, he subdued
Colchis and all Armenia, along with the kingdom of
Moschis, where he plundered the temple of Leucothea, as
Strabo noted. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 2. s. 17.
5:213} Since Dejotarus was absent, he added to these
conquests some cities of Cappadocia and Pontus that
belonged to the jurisdiction of Bithynia. {*Dio, l.
41. (63) 4:109} He also captured Sinope and marched
toward Amisus but was at that time not able to capture
it. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (120)
2:473}
4883. Pompey secretly sent his wife Cornelia to the
isle of Lesbos, so that she could live quietly at
Mitylene, free from all the troubles of the wars.
{*Lucan, l. 5. (785) 1:299} She was accompanied by her
son-in-law Sextius and the younger son of Pompey.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 66. s. 3. 5:287}
{*Dio, l. 42. (2) 4:117} Lucan, however, said that the
younger son stayed in the camp with his father.
{*Lucan, l. 6. (825) 1:365}
4884. Lucius Hirtius (otherwise called Hirrius) was
sent as an envoy to the Parthians (as we understand from
Caesar {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (82) 2:313}), but
did not get any help from Orodes. Instead he was thrown
into prison by him contravening the universally accepted
law concerning the treatment of envoys. {*Dio, l. 42.
(47) 4:189} Orodes did this, because he was not given
Syria. {*Dio, l. 41. (55) 4:95}
3956c AM, 4666 JP, 48 BC
4885. Caesar besieged Pompey in Dyrrachium for four
months with large siege works. The fighting at
Dyrrachium was intense; in one day, six battles were
fought, three at the outer works and three at
Dyrrachium. Over two thousand of Pompey's troops were
killed, while Caesar lost about twenty men. However,
almost everyone of Caesar's troops was wounded. To
prove how intense the battle was, Caesar's troops
counted over thirty thousand arrows which they collected
after the battles. They showed Caesar the shield of
Scaeva, a centurion, which had a hundred and twenty
holes in it! Caesar promoted Scaeva and gave him two
hundred thousand sesterces. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l.
3. (53) 2:271,273} Finally, Pompey was utterly defeated
in the battle of Pharsalia. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1.
c. 35. s. 1. 1:79}
4886. Caesar came into Thessaly (when the battle at
Palaeo-Pharsalia had been fought), and a few days later
Pompey also came, when the grain started to ripen.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (49) 2:267} Appian also
confirmed that Caesar was very short of food at the time
that the battle was fought, implying that the harvest
was not yet ready. On the other hand, Pompey had
secured the roads and controlled the sea. Provisions
came to him in abundance from every quarter. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 10. (66) 3:349} Lucan stated
that it was approaching the time of the grain harvest.
{*Lucan, l. 7. (98) 1:377} It was in the middle of
summer and very hot weather, if we believe Plutarch.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 6,7. 6:135}
4887. On the same day that the battle was being fought
at Pharsalia, people at Antioch twice heard such a
shouting of an army, such sounding of alarms and
rattling of arms that the whole city ran up to the wall
with their weapons. [K324] The same thing happened at
Ptolemais. At Pergamum, from the vestry of the temple
of Bacchus, which it was only lawful for the priests to
enter, a loud noise of drums and cymbals started and
went through the whole city. A growing palm tree sprang
up to full grown size in Tralles in the Temple of
Victory between the joints of the stones below the
statue of Caesar. [E644] The Syrians also had two young
men appear to them who declared the result of the battle
and then were never seen again. {*Caesar, Civil Wars,
l. 3. (105) 2:347} {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l.
1. c. 65a. 14:307} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c.
43. s. 2,3. 7:547} {*Dio, l. 41. (61) 4:105}
4888. Almost all the countries which lived around the
sea toward the east were represented in the army of
Pompey. There were troops from the Thracians,
Hellespontians, Bithynians, Phrygians, Ionians, Lydians,
Pamphylians, Pisidians, Paphlagonians, Cilicians,
Syrians, Phoenicians, Hebrews and their neighbours the
Arabians, Cypriots, Rhodians, Cretian slingers and other
islanders. There were kings and governors: Dejotarus,
the tetrarch of Galatia and Ariarathes, the king of the
Cappadocians, Taxiles, who led the Armenians on this
side of the Euphrates and Megabates, the lieutenant of
King Artapates, who led those beyond the Euphrates.
Other minor princes helped also, according to their
power. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 10. (71)
3:359} Since most of his army consisted of Asians, who
were not used to the wars, Pompey was defeated. {*Dio,
l. 41. (61) 4:105} Petronius also stated:
He who made Pontus and Hydaspes quake,
Did quell the pirates, by his triumph shake
Three times great Jove, to whom Pontus submits wave
And likewise Posphors their submission gave
To his shame! has fled and left the name Imperator.
4889. Though Caesar had taken Pompey's files, he did
not read the private letters showing their goodwill
toward Pompey, or their displeasure with Caesar, nor did
he make copies of them. In a gesture of goodwill, he
soon burned them all lest he should be compelled by the
content of the letters to act too severely against any
man. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 25. 2:567} {*Dio, l. 41.
(63) 4:109,111} He later pardoned the kings and the
people who had helped Pompey and did not impose any
punishment on them, except for two monetary fines. For
Caesar considered that he had previously either very
few, or no dealings with any of them. However Pompey
had deserved very much at their hands and Caesar
commended those far more highly who had received favours
from Pompey and yet had forsaken him in his greatest
dangers. {*Dio, l. 41. (63) 4:109,111}
4890. Pompey left the camp and fled to Larisa, with
very few accompanying him. He did not enter the city,
although invited to do so by the citizens, lest the city
should be punished for receiving him. At a later time,
he would even ask them to seek the victor's friendship.
When he had received the necessary supplies from them,
he set off toward the sea. {*Dio, l. 42. (2) 4:117}
4891. Gaius Cassius came into Cilicia with a fleet of
Syrians, Phoenicians, and Cilicians. After having
burned Caesar's ships, he learned of the battle that had
been fought in Thessaly and departed with his fleet.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (101) 2:339,341}
4892. After the battle of Pharsalia, the Rhodian fleet
under Gaius Coponius deserted Pompey's side and returned
home. {*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 1. c. 32.
20:299} [K325]
4893. Lucius Lentulus (Crus), who the previous year had
been consul to Publius Lentulus (Spinther), and others
who had followed Pompey from the flight, arrived at
Rhodes. They were not received into either the town or
the port. After they had sent messengers to them, they
were ordered, against their will, to get out of Rhodes.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (102) 2:343}
4894. Caecilius Bassus, an equestrian on Pompey's side,
withdrew to Tyre. He hid himself in the market where
merchants used to trade, according to Livy. {*Dio, l.
47. (26) 5:169} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 11.
(77) 4:99}
4895. Marcus Claudius Marcellus was afraid of Caesar
and went to Mitylene. He lived there quite happily in
the study of good arts. (Seneca related this from
Brutus, in his conciliation to Albina.) Cicero tried in
vain to persuade him to return from there to Rome and
ask pardon of Caesar. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 4. c.
7.8. 25:281-291}
4896. Labienus left the battle at Pharsalia and brought
news of the defeat of Pompey's army to Dyrrachium, where
Marcus Cato was, with fifteen cohorts and three hundred
galleys. Thereupon, both he and Cicero, and others who
were with them, sailed away in fear. As they looked
back toward the town, they saw all their cargo ships on
fire because the remaining soldiers had burned them
since they would not follow them. [E645] Cato crossed
to Corcyra (an island located south of Epirus, in the
Ionian and Adriatic sea), where the fleet was containing
those who had fled in fear. He took the remainder that
had fled from the battle of Pharsalia, or had simply
followed Pompey. Lucius Scipio, the father-in-law of
Pompey, Labienus, Africanus and many other famous men,
escaped from the battle. A little later Octavius, who
was guarding the Ionian sea, had taken Gaius Antony with
him and joined himself with Cato's fleet. Also, Gnaeus
Pompey (oldest son of Pompey the Great), who was sailing
in the Egyptian fleet, had made incursions into Epirus.
But when his father was defeated, the Egyptians went
home and he went to Corcyra. Cassius, who had attacked
Sicily, fled along with others to Cato whom they had
observed to surpass all others in virtue. {*Cicero, De
Divinatione, l. 1. c. 32. 20:301} {*Plutarch, Cato
Minor, l. 1. c. 55. s. 3. 8:371} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (87) 3:387} {*Dio, l. 42. (10)
4:131}
4897. There, Cato resigned his command to Cicero, since
Cato was only a praetor and the others had been consuls,
which was a higher rank. When Cicero refused, as he was
not suited for military life and wanted to leave the
wars, he was almost killed. {*Livy, l. 111. 14:139}
The young Pompey and his friends called him a traitor
and drew their swords to kill him. Cato withstood them
and kept Cicero from being killed by withdrawing him
from the camp. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 55.
s. 3. 8:371} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 39. s.
1,2. 7:181}
4898. After this, the fleet was divided among Pompey's
main friends. Cassius sailed into Pontus to Pharnaces,
with the intent of stirring him up against Caesar.
Scipio sailed into Africa, with Varus and his forces
accompanying him, as well as the auxiliaries of Juba and
Moor. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (87)
3:387}
4899. Cato, surmising that Pompey had fled either into
Africa or Egypt, hurried after him. Before he sailed,
he gave all those who were not willing to follow him,
permission either to leave him or go with him.
{*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c. 56. s. 1,2.
8:371} Lucan described the voyage like this: {*Lucan, l.
9. (32-41) 1:507} [K326]
He sails to Corcyra's shore,
And in a thousand ships carries away
The conquered remnant of Pharsalia.
Who would have thought so large a fleet had held
All fleeing men? That conquered ships had filled
The straitened seas? From there they sailed away
To Ghost field Taenarum, and long Malea,
There to Cythera: Boreas blowing fair,
Crete flies and getting a good sea they clear
The Cretan coast; Phycus, that dared deny
Their men to land, they sack deservedly.
4900. Phycus was a promontory of the country of Cyrene
and a town, as the poet noted, whose plunder Cato gave
to his soldiers. Leaving Cato, we will now continue the
narrative of Pompey the Great's flight and Julius
Caesar's pursuit of him.
3956d AM, 4666 JP, 48 BC
4901. Caesar stayed two days at Pharsalia to offer
sacrifices for the victory he had won and to refresh his
soldiers, who were tired after the battle. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (88) 3:389} On the third
day, he pursued Pompey, for he thought it best to set
aside everything else and to pursue Pompey wherever he
went, lest he should be forced to raise new forces and
so renew the war against Pompey. Each day, therefore,
he went with his cavalry as far as he possibly could,
while commanding one legion to follow him in shorter
marches. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (102) 2:341}
4902. Pompey came to the sea and rested all night in a
fisherman's cottage. [E646] About daybreak, he boarded
a ferry and taking all the freemen with him, ordered all
the slaves to go to Caesar without any fear; then he
left the land. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 73. s.
3. 5:307} Concerning this, Lucan wrote: {*Lucan, l. 8.
(33-36) 1:439}
Now to the shore he came where Peneus ran
Red with Pharsalia's slaughter to the main;
There a small barque unfit for seas and winds,
Scarce safe in shallowest rivers Pompey finds
And goes aboard.…
4903. As he sailed along the shore in this boat, he saw
a large ship under sail, whose captain was Peticius, a
Roman citizen. He knew Pompey and took him from the
boat into the ship, together with the two Lentuli (who
had been consuls who, as we have shown from Caesar's
writings, were prevented from landing in Rhodes),
Favonius (who had been praetor {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 53. s. 1. 1:167}), and all the others who had
wanted to come. Shortly after this, King Dejotarus, who
trusted the omens deduced from the flight of birds, came
to Pompey when he thought the birds portended good
success for Pompey. {*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 1.
c. 15. 20:253,255} When the men saw him riding toward
them from the land, they took him in as well.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 73. s. 5-7.
5:307,309}
4904. At anchor one night, Pompey called on his friends
at Amphipolis. After he had received money from them
for his necessary expenses and realising that Caesar was
coming after him, he left that place. {*Caesar, Civil
Wars, l. 3. (102) 2:341,343}
4905. When he sailed past Amphipolis, he reached shore
at the isle of Lesbos within a few days. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (102) 2:343} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 74. s. 1. 5:309} {*Dio, l. 42. (2) 4:117}
4906. He sent for his wife to come from Mitylene to the
shore where together they bewailed their bad fortune.
Then she ordered her baggage to be brought from the town
and called her maidservants to come to her. [K327]
Pompey, however, refused to come into the town of the
Mitylenians, even though they came to greet him and
invited him in. He advised them to obey the conqueror
and not to be afraid because Caesar was merciful and
generous. Then he turned to Cratippus, the philosopher,
for he had come from the town to visit him, and bewailed
his misfortune and disputed some things concerning
providence with him. The philosopher affirmed that:
"Because of the poor government of the commonwealth,
there was need of a monarchy."
4907. He asked Pompey: {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c.
75. 5:311,313}
"How and by what token can we believe that you would
have used your good fortune better than Caesar, if you
had overcome Caesar?"
4908. He was detained there for two days by a storm.
Taking other light ships, he put all his belongings into
four galleys, which came from Rhodes and Tyre, and
sailed along the coast to Cilicia with his wife and
friends, stopping at harbours along the way to take on
fresh water and supplies. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3.
(102) 2:343} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 76. s. 1.
5:313} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (83)
3:381} {*Dio, l. 42. (2) 4:117}
4909. Lucan added: {*Lucan, l. 8. (203-210) 1:453}
So hid the stars, and land discovered
When those that from Pharsalia's battle fled
To Pompey came, and first from Lesbos' shores
He met his son; then kings and senators:
For Pompey yet (although at that sad time
Vanquished and fled) had kings to wait on him;
Proud sceptred kings that in the east did reign
Attended there in banished Pompey's train.
Then Pompey King Dejotarus commands,
To go for help to farthest eastern lands. [E647]
4910. Pompey issued Dejotarus with instructions to go
and request help from the Parthians (which he never
did). Lucan, the poet, continued to describe Pompey's
journey: {*Lucan, l. 8. (243-254) 1:455}
…The king took leave at shore
And by the Icarian rocks great Pompey gone
Leaves Ephesus and sea calm Colophon,
Shaving small Samos' foamy rocks he goes,
A gentle gale blows from the shore of Cos:
Cnidos and sun-honoured Rhodes he leaves
And sailing straight in the mid-ocean saves
Telmessus' long and winding circuits. First
Pamphylia greets their eyes: but Pompey durst
Commit his person to no town but thee,
Little Phaselis: thy small company
And few inhabitants could not cause fear:
More in thy ships than in thy walls there were. [E648]
4911. The first town that Pompey entered was Attalia,
in Pisidia. Some ships reached him there from Cilicia,
bringing some soldiers, also, and about sixty senators.
When he heard news that his navy was safe and that Cato
had crossed into Africa with a strong force of soldiers
that he had collected from the flight, he began to
regret that he had fought with Caesar so far away from
the help of his fleet. But it was too late now to
change what had been done. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 76. s. 1-3. 5:313,315} Lucan stated that, at
Selinus in Cilicia, Pompey began to discuss with
Lentulus, who had been the previous year's consul, and
with the rest of the senators, about a safe place to
retreat. {*Lucan, l. 8. (262-265) 1:455,457} [K328]
4912. Pompey sailed to Cyprus from Cilicia. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (102) 2:343} Those who came to offer
him their service at Paphos, assured him that Cicero had
very honourably referred to him. {*Cicero, Philippics,
l. 2. c. 15. 15:103} He also knew that, with the
general agreement of all the Antiochians and Roman
citizens who traded there, the citadel of Antioch had
already been taken, simply to keep him out. It was also
reported that these people had sent messengers to all
the neighbouring cities to tell any who had retired
there from the flight not to come to Antioch. If they
did, it would be at the risk of their lives, because a
report was circulating around the cities about Caesar's
coming there. When Pompey heard this, he set aside his
intentions of going into Syria. Taking away the money
that belonged to the guilds, as well as taking from
private persons, he shipped this large sum of money to
defray the charges of the army. He took two thousand
well-armed soldiers some of whom he took from the
families of the guilds or forced from the merchants,
together with anyone else he thought fit for this
purpose and sailed to Pelusium. {*Caesar, Civil Wars,
l. 3. (103) 2:343}
4913. Theophanes from Lesbos and Pompey's other friends
persuaded him to forget about every other place and go
into Egypt. It was within a three days' journey and was
a rich and powerful country. He could expect help from
the king, who was his charge, especially since Pompey,
with the help of Gabinius, had restored his father to
his kingdom, and the son was not ungrateful but had sent
ships to Pompey to use against Caesar. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 53. s. 1,2. 1:167}
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 76. s. 5,6.
5:315,317} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (84)
3:381} {*Dio, l. 42. (2) 4:117,119} As soon as that
opinion prevailed, Pompey and his wife boarded a ship of
Seleucis and set sail from Cyprus. Some accompanied him
in warships and others in merchant ships. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 77. s. 1. 5:317} Lucan described
this voyage thus: {*Lucan, l. 8. (460-466) 1:471}
Pompey departing thence, his course he bend,
Round all the Cypriot Rocks that southward tend,
And got into the interposed main;
Nor by the night's weak light could he attain
Mount Casius, but with struggling sails and strength,
A lower port of Egypt reached at length,
Where parted Nile's greatest channel flows,
And to the ocean at Pelusium goes.
4914. Lacking galleys, Caesar crossed the Hellespont in
small ships. As he was crossing in a ferry boat,
Cassius was coming to Pharnaces with ten warships and
met Caesar in the middle of the crossing. Caesar did
not avoid him but heading straight toward him, advised
his adversary to surrender. Cassius was astonished at
the incredible boldness of Caesar and thought that
Caesar had deliberately sailed against him. He held
Caesar's hand to help him from the galley and humbly
asked his pardon. He immediately turned over the fleet
of seventy ships to him—if we can believe Appian.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 63. 1:115} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (88) 3:389,391} {*Dio, l.
42. (6) 4:125,127}
4915. As soon as Caesar arrived in Asia, he granted
liberty to the Cnidians as a favour to Theopompus, who
had collected fables. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c.
48. s. 1. 7:555} He received the Ionians and Aeolians
into favour and pardoned those other countries, living
in the lesser Asia, who asked Caesar's pardon through
their envoys. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13.
(89) 3:391} [K329] Caesar only asked money from them and
rewarded them with a further benefit. He freed Asia
from the tax collectors who had caused it distress and
converted a portion of the customs into a convenient
payment of tribute. {*Dio, l. 42. (6) 4:127} A third
of the tribute he remitted to all the inhabitants of
Asia. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 48. s. 1.
7:555}
4916. Titus Ampius intended to remove the money from
the temple at Ephesus and called the senators of that
province to witness how much money he took. But when he
heard that Caesar was coming, he was forced to flee.
Thus, Caesar twice saved the money at Ephesus.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (105) 2:347}
4917. Since no one knew for certain where Pompey
planned to flee, Caesar took part of his journey alone
with Marcus Brutus, who had defected to him from
Pompey's side and whom Caesar esteemed among his best
friends. Caesar asked his opinion and because they
could make no certain conjecture about Pompey's flight,
they intended to take the most probable journey and,
setting aside all other places, headed straight for
Egypt. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 6. s. 3-6.
6:137} They feared that if Pompey should get control of
that kingdom, he could again rally his forces. {*Dio,
l. 42. (7) 4:127} Therefore, Caesar crossed to Rhodes
and without waiting until all his army had arrived, he
continued on with the ships of Cassius and the Rhodian
galleys, with only the forces he had with him. He told
no one where he planned to go and set sail about
evening, ordering all the ships' captains to follow the
light of the admiral's galley by night, and his own flag
by day. Once they were far from land, he ordered his
ship's captain to direct his course for Alexandria and
they arrived there on the third day. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (89) 3:391}
4918. Lucan described this voyage of Caesar more like a
poet than a historian. He mentioned that Caesar stayed
at Illium and the places around there, then sailed from
there and came into Egypt on the seventh night.
{*Lucan, l. 9. (1003-1007) 1:579,581} [E649]
…This said, to shore
He hastens, takes shipping, and to Coreus lends
His full-spread sails, with haste to make amends
For these delays and with a prosperous wind,
Leaves wealthy Asia and fair Rhodes behind:
The west wind blowing still, the seventh night
Discovers Egypt's shore by Pharian light;
But ere they reach the harbour, day appears,
And dims the night by fires.…
4919. Caesar more clearly explained what happened:
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (106) 2:347,349}
"After Caesar had spent a few days in Asia, he heard
that Pompey had been seen at Cyprus. Caesar conjectured
that Pompey had sailed to Egypt, since he had ties with
that kingdom and other opportunities in that place.
Caesar came to Alexandria with two legions, one which he
had ordered to follow him from Thessaly, and another,
under his lieutenant, Fusius, which he had ordered to
come to him from Achaia, with eight hundred cavalry in
the ten Rhodian ships and a few from Asia. In these
legions were thirty-two hundred men. The rest were so
weakened by their wounds from battle and by the hardship
and length of the journey, that they could not catch up
to Caesar. [K330] Caesar trusted in the fame of what he
had done and did not hesitate to advance with weak
supports, thinking that every place would be equally
safe for him."
4920. Lucan described in detail when Pompey came into
Egypt, ahead of Caesar: {*Lucan, l. 8. (467-469)
1:471}
That time was come wherein just Libra weighs
The hours and makes the nights equal with days;
Then pays the winter nights' hours which the spring
Had taken away.…
4921. Lucan knew that it was the end of September, as
the year was then accounted, that Pompey came into
Egypt. He also knew that, in the Julian year which was
being used in his time, the sun was entering Libra at
the end of the same month. Consequently, not
considering the different account of the times, he wrote
that Pompey came into Egypt at about the autumnal
equinox. This was the time when the sun began to enter
into Leo, around the beginning of the Dog Days, and the
Nile River began to flood. It was in Libra when the
river usually receded within its banks.
4922. Not far from Pelusium, one of the mouths of the
Nile, around Mount Casius, which is located between the
borders of Egypt and Arabia, King Ptolemy, with large
forces, was waging war with his sister Cleopatra, whom
he had expelled from the kingdom a few months earlier.
His camp was not far from Cleopatra's camp. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (103) 2:343,345} {*Plutarch, Pompey,
l. 1. c. 77. s. 1,2. 5:317} {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 12. (84) 3:381} {*Dio, l. 42. (3) 4:119}
Caesar stated that Ptolemy was only a boy in age.
Hirtius said he was a boy in his middle years.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (24) 3:47} Strabo
said he was a very young boy. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1.
s. 11. 8:47} Dio stated he was only a boy. {*Dio, l.
42. (3) 4:119} Orosius stated he was a young man.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 15.} Plutarch stated he was a very
young man. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 77. s. 2.
5:317} Velleius said he was nearer a boy than a man.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 53. s. 1. 1:167}
Appian wrote that he was, at most, only thirteen years
old. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (84) 3:383}
4923. When Pompey saw such a large army on the shore,
he dared not land unless it were safe for him to do so.
{*Lucan, l. 8. (470,471) 1:471}
Finding the king to keep within the Casian Mount,
He turned aside.
4924. He sent some of his followers to the king to tell
him humbly of his arrival. They were to entreat him,
for the sake of the friendship he had held with his
father and the benefits confirmed on the king, that to
receive Pompey into Alexandria and protect him with his
forces from this calamity. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3.
(103) 2:345} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 78. s.
1,2. 5:319} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (84)
3:381,383} {*Dio, l. 42. (3) 4:119} [E650] After the
men who had been sent from Pompey had delivered their
message, they began to talk more freely with the king's
soldiers encouraging them to perform their duty to
Pompey and not despise his ill-fortune. Among their
number were many of the soldiers whom Gabinius had
received from Pompey's army in Syria and had taken to
Alexandria to establish Ptolemy. At the conclusion of
that war, he had left them with Ptolemy, the father of
the lad. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (103) 2:345}
4925. The king did not reply, but his friends, who had
the administration of the kingdom, did: Achillas an
Egyptian, who was the general, and Pothinus, a eunuch,
who was the treasurer of the kingdom. They began to
discuss Pompey's situation and held a council in which
they talked with other officers, including Theodotus.
[K331] He was from either Cos, or Samos, and was a
mercenary teacher of rhetoric. He exercised great
authority with the king since he was the king's
schoolteacher. {*Livy, l. 112. 14:141} {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 77. s. 2,3. 5:317} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (84) 3:383}
4926. In this council, some were of the opinion that
Pompey was to be received, while others thought that he
should be kept from entering Egypt. However, Theodotus,
who boasted of his eloquence and skill in arguments,
stated that both sides were mistaken. There was only
one expedient thing to do: they should receive him and
put him to death. At the close of his speech, he added:
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 77. s. 4. 5:319}
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 6. s. 5,6. 6:137}
"A dead man does not bite."
4927. The rest, in fear, followed his opinion, later
claiming to have done so to prevent Pompey from
tampering with the king's army and thereby seizing
Alexandria and Egypt. If they were to condemn his
misfortune, as is commonly done in times of trouble,
many of his friends would become enemies. Hence,
publicly, they gave a kind answer to those who had been
sent to them from Pompey and invited him to come to the
king. However, secretly, they sent the following men to
kill Pompey: Achillas, the king's general and a man of
singular audacity, and Lucius Septimius, who had been a
centurion under Pompey in the wars against the pirates.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (104) 2:345}
4928. These men, together with Salvius, another
centurion, and three or four such officers, went aboard
a little ship and came to Pompey. Meanwhile, the whole
army lined the shore in battle formation, as if in
honour of his arrival. The king was at their head and
clothed in his robes. There were many of the king's
ships around, full of men, to make sure Pompey could not
escape, should he change his mind. As the little ship
approached, Septimius arose first and greeted Pompey in
Latin by the name of Imperator. Achillas greeted him in
Greek and asked him to come aboard their little ship, as
it would be impossible to land in Pompey's large ship,
because the sea was full of sand bars. He said the king
wished to see him as soon as he could, along with all
the chief men in Pompey's entourage. All those who had
sailed with him, came and advised him to sail out to sea
again while they were out of danger from the Egyptian's
weapons. When Pompey saw the army in battle array,
noted the small ship that was sent to him, and that the
king had not come to meet him, nor any of the chief
noblemen, he also began to suspect foul play. However,
he embraced Cornelia, who had already bewailed his
death. He ordered two centurions, and his freeman
Philip and a servant called Scynes, to board the little
ship ahead of him. Then Achillas helped him with his
hand while Pompey also entered the ship. Just before
turning to his wife and son, Pompey spoke those lines of
Sophocles:
Who deal with tyrants, they shall surely be
Enslaved, though before they be never so free.
4929. As they sailed, there was a dead silence and his
suspicion increased. He held a book in his hand, in
which he had written the speech he intended to give to
Ptolemy, and he began to read it as they approached the
shore. [K332] The men had determined to kill Pompey
before they reached land because they feared that, when
he met with Ptolemy, he would be rescued either by the
king, or by the Romans he had with him, or by the
Egyptians, who bore him much goodwill. Cornelia stood
with his friends from the ship and in great suspense
watched the whole thing. Pompey began to be encouraged
because, at his landing point, he saw many of the king's
friends come running to greet him with honour. [E651]
However, as Philip lent him his hand to help him up,
Septimius first came at him from behind and ran him
through, after which Salvius and Achillas thrust him
through with their swords. Pompey had no way of
defending himself, or escaping. With both his hands, he
hid his face with his gown. He neither spoke, nor did
anything unworthy of himself, but only gave a groan as
he patiently received all their thrusts. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (104) 2:345} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 78,79. 5:319,323} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2.
c. 12. (85) 3:383} {*Dio, l. 42. (4) 4:121,123}
4930. When his wife and his friends on the ships saw
this, they gave a great shriek which was heard even on
the shore. They held up their hands to heaven and
implored the gods, who were the revengers of covenant
breaking. Then they quickly weighed anchor and fled.
{*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 80. s. 1. 5:323}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (85) 3:385} Some
of them were taken by the Egyptians, who pursued them,
while some escaped and sailed as far as Tyre, where they
were shown hospitality by the Tyrians in their flight.
{*Dio, l. 42. (5) 4:125} {*Dio, l. 42. (49) 4:193}
Of those who escaped, his wife Cornelia and his son
Sextus Pompeius fled to Cyprus. {*Livy, l. 112.
14:141} The rest of Pompey's fleet was captured and
everyone in it was very cruelly murdered. Then Quintus
Pompey, the Bithynian, was killed. Cicero mentioned
that he lived at that time. {*Cicero, Brutus, l. 1.
c. 68. 5:207} Lentulus, who had been consul, was
killed at Pelusium. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 15.} He was
the same Lucius Lentulus who had been the consul in the
previous year and of whom Caesar wrote that he was
captured by the king and killed in prison. {*Caesar,
Civil Wars, l. 3. (104) 2:345} Plutarch noted that he
went to Cyprus together with Pompey, but did not leave
Cyprus for Egypt until a long time after the burial of
Pompey. A little after leaving Cyprus, he was captured
at sea and killed. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 80.
s. 4. 5:325}
4931. Gaius Caesar and Publius Servilius were consuls
when Pompey was killed in his fifty-eighth year, the day
before his birthday. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
53. s. 2,3. 1:167} On that very day, in earlier
times, he had triumphed over Mithridates and the
pirates. {*Dio, l. 42. (5) 4:125} That triumph had
lasted for two days and had started on the 3rd of the
Calends of October (September 28). {*Pliny, l. 7. c.
26. 2:569} {*Pliny, l. 37. c. 6. 10:173} Plutarch
was incorrect when he said Pompey lived fifty-nine years
and died the day after his birthday. {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 79. s. 4. 5:323} The last day of
September, which was the last day of the life of Pompey,
was the Julian July 25. The Roman calendar was in such
a mess at that time.
4932. Septimius cut off the head of Pompey and kept it
until Caesar arrived, as he hoped for a large reward.
{*Lucan, l. 8. (606,607) 1:483} The body was thrown
naked from the ship, to be seen by all who wanted to see
it. Philip, his freedman, stayed by it until all had
satisfied their eyes. Then he washed it with sea water
and wrapped it in a coat of his own. Because he had
nothing at hand, he looked around the shore and found
the broken planks of an old fishing boat. [K333] This
was enough to burn the naked body, but not completely.
As he was gathering the planks together and laying them
in order, a grave old citizen of Rome, who had served
under Pompey in his younger days, came and helped him to
perform the funeral rites. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1.
c. 80. s. 1-3. 5:323,325} Appian wrote that a
certain man buried Pompey on the shore and made a little
monument for him, and another man added this
inscription: {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 12. (86)
3:385}
…Scarce would the temples hold
That which is covered over with a little mould.
4933. The trunk of Pompey's body was cast into the Nile
and later burned. {Aurelius Victor, De Viris
Illustribus, l. 1. c. 77.} It was buried by Servius
Codrus, who wrote this on his tomb: HERE LIES POMPEY THE
GREAT. Lucan wrote: {*Lucan, l. 8. (715-720) 1:491}
…To the shore did fearful Codrus come
Out of his lurking hole that was before
Great Pompey's quaestor, and from Cyprus' shore
Had followed him; he by the shades of night
Durst go true love had vanquished terror quite
To find his slaughtered lord, along the sand,
And through the waves to bring the trunk to land.
4934. [E652] For the poet was more correct when he said
that his body was in the sea, than was Aurelius Victor,
who said it was in the Nile River. It was shown by
other writers that Pompey was killed and buried not far
from Mount Casius. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 33.
7:279} {*Pliny, l. 5. c. 12. 2:269} This was the end
of the great Pompey's life, who was considered to be the
most powerful of the Romans. He was surnamed Agamemnon,
because he also had the command of a thousand ships, but
then died near Egypt in a little ship, like one of the
smallest Egyptian boats. He had been given an oracle a
long time earlier, that had made him suspect all the
clan of the Cassian family. In the end, he was killed
and buried near Mount Casius. {*Dio, l. 42. (5)
4:125} This mountain is located not far from the border
of Judea, which he first subjected to the Roman yoke.
4935. Those who were together with Cato arrived in
Cyrene and heard of the death of Pompey. {*Dio, l. 42.
(13) 4:135} Cornelia and her son-in-law, Sextus
Pompeius, sailed to Cato from Cyprus. Lucan stated:
{*Lucan, l. 9. (117-119) 1:513}
They first arrived on Cyprus' foamy shore,
From there a mild east wind commanding bore
Their ships to Cato's Libyan Camp.
4936. Lucan added, furthermore, that the son of Pompey
(Gnaeus, the elder), who was with Cato, there learned
from his younger brother Sextus, who was with Cornelia,
about the death of his father. Cornelia burned the
remains of Pompey. At her example, the rest of the army
made funeral piles and performed funeral rites to the
ghosts of those who had died at Pharsalia. Cato made a
funeral speech in memory of Pompey.
4937. After this, they had different ideas about what
to do. Those who had no hope of obtaining pardon from
Caesar, stayed with Cato. Others left and went where
chance took them. [K334] Still others went directly to
Caesar and obtained pardon. {*Dio, l. 42. (10,11)
4:131} Cornelia was given a pardon and returned safely
to Rome. {*Dio, l. 42. (5) 4:125} In Mount Albanus,
she buried the remains of her husband that were brought
to her. {*Lucan, l. 8. (769,770) 1:495} {*Plutarch,
Pompey, l. 1. c. 80. s. 6. 5:325}
4938. Cato's soldiers, who were chiefly mariners of
Cilicia under their King Tarcondimotus, had been ready
to leave him, but stirred by the words Cato spoke to
them, they returned to their duty. {*Lucan, l. 9.
(219-229) 1:521}
4939. Cato was permitted by the citizens to enter
Cyrene, when, only a few days earlier, they had shut
their gates against Labienus. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor,
l. 1. c. 56. s. 2,3. 8:371,373} Lucan stated:
{*Lucan, l. 9. (296-301) 1:527}
Their second labour is
To scale Cyrene's lofty walls, on whom
Cato no vengeance took when overcome
Though they against him shut their gates to him
Revenge sufficient did their conquest seem.
He hence to Libyan Juba's kingdom goes.
4940. Cato was told that Scipio, the father-in-law of
Pompey, had been welcomed by King Juba and that Attius
Varus, to whom the province of Libya was given by
Pompey, had joined them with his army. {*Plutarch, Cato
Minor, l. 1. c. 76. s. 3. 8:373}
4941. Three days into his pursuit of Pompey, Caesar
reached Alexandria. King Ptolemy was still around Mount
Casius. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (89)
3:391} Lucan said it was seven days, not three.
{*Lucan, l. 9. (1004) 1:581} He found that the
Alexandrians were in rebellion over the death of Pompey,
so that he dared not go ashore immediately, but left the
shore and stayed off-shore for some time. {*Dio, l.
42. (7) 4:127} Lucan stated: {*Lucan, l. 9.
(1007-1010) 1:581} [E653]
…where, when he saw the shore
With giddy tumult all confused over,
Doubting if safe to trust them, did forbear
To bring his ships to land.…
4942. When he found out that Pompey was dead, Caesar
first left his ship and heard the shouting of the
soldiers whom Ptolemy had left as a garrison in the
town. He saw them come running out to him, because his
fasces was being carried before him. The crowd claimed
that, by this act, the royal authority had been
infringed. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (106) 2:349}
{*Dio, l. 42. (7) 4:127} Concerning this event, Lucan
wrote: {*Lucan, l. 10. (11-13) 1:591}
But perceiving that the throng
Of people murmured that in Egypt he
Bare the ensigns up of Rome's authority
He finds their wavering faiths.…
4943. In spite of this, Caesar entered Alexandria while
it was in a turmoil, without any danger to himself.
{*Livy, l. 112. 14:141} He withdrew by fleeing into
the palace but the weapons were taken from some of his
soldiers. The crowd retreated, as all the ships came to
shore. {*Dio, l. 42. (7) 4:127}
4944. Caesar was very angry when Theodotus offered him
the head and signet of Pompey. He took the ring and
started to weep. {*Livy, l. 112. 14:141} {*Plutarch,
Caesar, l. 1. c. 48. s. 1,2. 7:555} [K335] We read
that the head of Pompey was presented to Caesar with the
ring by Achillas, the captain of Ptolemy's guard, and
was wrapped in an Egyptian covering. {Aurelius Victor,
De Viris Illustribus, l. 1. c. 77.} Caesar had it
burned with many and very precious fragrances, while he
did not stop weeping. Lucan made mention of the head
that was given to him by the captain of the guard:
{*Lucan, l. 9. (1011,1012) 1:581}
Bringing his king's dire guise, great Pompey's head,
With an Egyptian mantle covered.
4945. Both Dio and Lucan thought Caesar was being a
hypocrite and the tears were not genuine. {*Dio, l.
42. (8) 4:129} {*Lucan, l. 9. (1035-1041) 1:583}
Caesar at his first gift would not refuse
Nor turn his eyes away, but fixedly views
Till he perceived it was true, and plainly saw,
It was safe to be a pious father-in-law:
Then shed forced tears and from a joyful breast
Drew sighs and groans, as thinking tears would best
Conceal his inward joy.
4946. Concerning the burial of the head, Lucan
introduced Caesar, commanding: {*Lucan, l. 9.
(1089-1093) 1:587} [E654]
…But do you inter
This worthy's head, not that the earth may bear
And hide your guilt; bring fumes and odours' store,
To appease his head, and gather from the shore
His scattered limbs; compose them in one tomb.
4947. However, Caesar ordered the head to be buried in
the suburbs and there dedicated a temple of Nemesis, or
Revenge. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (90)
3:393}
4948. To demonstrate more of his goodwill toward
Pompey, he kindly entertained Pompey's friends and
associates, who had been captured by the king as they
wandered in that country. He won them to himself by
favours he did for them and wrote to his friends at Rome
that the greatest and most pleasant fruit he derived
from his victory, was that he was daily able to save
some citizens who had opposed him. {*Plutarch, Caesar,
l. 1. c. 58. s. 2. 7:577}
4949. Before his army reached him and because he lacked
the companionship of his own friends, Caesar gave
himself to idle pursuits. He courteously entertained
everyone he met and walked about to see the city. He
admired its beauty and stood to hear many of the
philosophers. His leisure gained him favour and good
reputation with the people of Alexandria. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (89) 3:393} Lucan said that
he visited the temples and the tomb where the body of
Alexander the Great lay: {*Lucan, l. 10. (14-22)
1:591}
Then with a look still hiding fear goes he,
The stately temple of the old god to see;
Which speaks the ancient Macedonian greatness.
But there delighted with no objects' sweetness,
Nor with their gold nor gods' majestic dress,
Nor lofty city walls, with greediness,
Into the burying-vault goes Caesar down.
There Macedonian Philip's mad-brained son,
The prosperous thief, lies buried: whom just fate
Killed in the world's revenge.… [K336]
4950. Caesar transferred the government of Asia and the
neighbouring provinces to Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus,
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (34) 3:65} and
ordered him to take the armies that were in Asia with
him and make war on King Pharnaces. {*Dio, l. 42.
(46) 4:187} When Caesar saw that there were many riots
daily at Alexandria, because of the great gathering of
the multitude, and that many soldiers were being killed
in various areas of the city, he ordered that the
legions he had gathered from Pompey's soldiers be
brought to him from Asia. He was detained in Alexandria
by the Etesian winds, which blow contrary to those who
sail from there. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (107)
2:349} These are the northern winds, which stop blowing
about the end of the Julian August, as we may learn from
the Ephemerides of Geminus and Ptolemy, as well as in
Pliny and Columella. {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 47. 1:265}
{Columella, De Re Rustica, l. 2.} From this source we
also discover the error of Lucan, who stated {*Lucan, l.
8. (167-169) 1:449} that Pompey came to Egypt at the
time of the autumnal equinox. Lucan also told of Cato's
weary march with the legions through the African desert
(concerning this, see Livy {*Livy, l. 112. 14:141}),
after he heard of the death of Pompey. {*Lucan, l. 9.
(250-949) 1:523-575} He said it was undertaken by him in
the winter that followed this equinox.
4951. When Cato left Cyrene, he tried to cross the Gulf
of Surtis with his fleet, but a storm cast him into the
marshes of Tritonis. [E655] So Sextus Pompeius was left
with some of the forces in the more fruitful places of
Africa while Cato intended to march overland because the
sea was now impassable because of storms. He wanted to
find the king of Mauritania, as Lucan described:
{*Lucan, l. 9. (368-374) 1:533}
Part of the fleet got off from hence again,
And from the Syrtes driven, did remain
Under great Pompey's oldest son's command,
On this side Garamantians in rich land:
But Cato's virtue brooking no delay,
Through unknown regions led his troops away,
To encompass round the Syrtes by land, for now
The stormy seas unnavigable grow
In winter time.…
4952. Plutarch affirmed that this overland march took
place in the winter. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l. 1. c.
76. s. 3. 8:373}
4953. His army suffered miserably in the country of the
Nasamones, which was near the Syrtes. The winds blew
the sand about, water was scarce and they encountered a
large number of different varieties of snakes. Cato
arrived at the temple of Jupiter Ammon, where he was
advised by Labeinus to consult the oracle about his
future fortune. He refused and finally, after wandering
two months through the sandy deserts of Africa, he
reached Leptis and spent the winter there. {*Lucan, l.
9. (379-949) 1:533-575} After winter, he assembled his
ten thousand soldiers again. {*Plutarch, Cato Minor, l.
1. c. 76. s. 4. 8:373}
4954. Caesar was detained at Alexandria by the Etesian
winds and spent his time in Egypt in raising money and
deciding the controversy between Ptolemy and Cleopatra.
{*Dio, l. 42. (9) 4:129} Some of the vast sum of money
that was owed to him by Ptolemy Auletes, the father of
the young king, he collected, to pay the costs of his
army. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 48. s. 4.
7:557} The Egyptians did not take kindly to Caesar's
collection procedures. They, of all people, were
extremely superstitious worshippers of a multitude of
gods and did not approve of Caesar taking the things
that were dedicated to their gods. {*Dio, l. 42. (34)
4:167} [K337] Although in this he was deceived by the
king's guardians, who claimed that the king's treasury
was empty, in order to stir up the people to hate
Caesar. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 15.} To encourage this
unrest, Pothinus, the eunuch, a man who held greatest
authority, spoke and did many things in public. For he
gave the soldiers old and musty grain and told them that
they should be satisfied because they were being fed at
the expense of another. He ordered that his own supper
should be served up in wooden and earthen dishes and
said that Caesar had taken away all the gold and silver
plate for the payment of the debt. {*Plutarch, Caesar,
l. 1. c. 48. s. 3,4. 7:557}
4955. Caesar thought that the controversies of the king
and queen belonged to the people of Rome and to him,
because he was a consul. They were associated with his
office because, in his former consulship, an alliance
had been formed with the elder Ptolemy, both by
legislative enactment and by decree of the Senate.
Therefore, he told them that it was his wish that both
King Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra dismiss their
armies. They should settle their controversies before
him, through the law, rather than between themselves, by
fighting. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (107) 2:349}
4956. The death of Pompey was not believed at Rome
until later, when his signet ring was sent there. It
had three trophies engraved on it or, as Plutarch
thought, a lion holding a sword. {*Plutarch, Pompey, l.
1. c. 80. s. 5,6. 5:325} Then the Romans strove to
see who would give Caesar the greatest number of
honours. He was given power to deal with Pompey's side
as he wished. He was given authority to make war and
peace with whomever he wanted, without consulting the
Roman people. He was made consul for five years. He
was made dictator for a whole year, not the normal six
month period. He was to have the authority of a tribune
as long as he lived and to sit with the tribunes and
together with them determine any action that was to be
taken. This had never been done before. {*Dio, l. 42.
(20) 4:145} [E656]
4957. When Caesar had accepted these honours, he
immediately entered into the office of dictator,
although he was out of Italy. {*Dio, l. 42. (21)
4:149} Josephus correctly began his rule from this time,
assigning it a period of three and a half years.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s. 1. (270)
7:593} In Syria, while the Antiochians seem to reckon
the times of the Caesars from his first dictatorship,
the Lacedemonians appear to do so from his second
dictatorship. Eusebius, in his Chronicle (at the second
year of the empire of Probus), showed that the Laodicean
epoch was later than the Antiochian epoch, but only by
one year.
3957a AM, 4666 JP, 48 BC
4958. Velleius Paterculus stated that the king and
those who exercised authority over him, attempted
treason against Caesar. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 54. s. 1. 1:169} Suetonius affirmed this of King
Ptolemy himself. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 35.
s. 2. 1:81} Eutropius and Plutarch stated that the
eunuch Pothinus was the instigator of the treasons
plotted against him. Caesar began to feast whole nights
in his own defence. Pothinus would tell him that it was
now time to stop and attend to his important business
and return to his feasting later. Caesar replied that
he did not need any advice from any of the Egyptians.
He secretly sent for Cleopatra from the country.
{Eutropius, l. 6.} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 48.
s. 5. 7:559}
4959. Previously, Cleopatra had pleaded her case before
Caesar through other men. As soon as she knew that
women were his weakness, she requested that she
personally might plead her case before him. {*Dio, l.
42. (34) 4:167} [K338] This was granted and she took
only one of her friends with her, Apollodorus Siculus.
They sailed to the palace in a light ship as soon as it
was dark. Since she could not easily hide herself, she
laid herself inside a bed-sack that was then folded up
and tied up with a cord by Apollodorus and carried up
through the gate to Caesar. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1.
c. 49. s. 1,2. 7:559} Lucan described her arrival to
Caesar like this: {*Lucan, l. 10. (53-60) 1:595}
Now the young king, came from Pelusium,
Had pacified the people's wrath: in whom
As hostage of his peace in Egypt's court
Caesar was safe; when, lo, from Pharos' port,
Bribing the keeper to unchain the same,
In a small galley Cleopatra came,
Unknown to Caesar entering the house
The stain of Egypt, Rome's pernicious
Fury, unchaste to Italy's disgrace.
4960. Cleopatra fell at Caesar's feet and asked for her
part of the kingdom. She was an exceedingly beautiful
woman and this act enhanced her beauty a great deal.
She did seem to suffer an injury as great as the hatred
of the king himself who had murdered Pompey. The king
had not done this on account of Caesar and would just as
easily have killed Caesar had he been able to.
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 13. s. 56. 1:285} When Caesar
saw Cleopatra and heard her speak, he at once became her
slave. As soon as it was day, he sent for Ptolemy and
mediated a peace between them. He became Cleopatra's
advocate when previously he was her judge. Both this
and the fact that Ptolemy saw his sister with Caesar
before he had known about it, so inflamed the lad with
anger that he ran out to the people. He shouted that he
had been betrayed and took his crown and threw it to the
ground. {*Dio, l. 42. (35) 4:169}
4961. After this, a large uproar resulted. Caesar's
soldiers took Ptolemy and carried him inside, but the
Egyptians were all in an uproar. Had Caesar, who was
afraid, not gone to talk to them from a safe position
and promised them that he would do what they wanted,
they could easily have captured the palace on the first
assault, as they had infiltrated it by sea and land.
The Romans, who had thought they were among their
friends, had no way of resisting. {*Dio, l. 42. (35)
4:169,171}
4962. After these events, Caesar went out to the
people, together with Ptolemy and Cleopatra, and read
the will of their father. It stated that, according to
the ancient custom of the Egyptians, the two should be
married to one another and should hold the kingdom in
common while being under the protection of the people of
Rome. [E657] Caesar added that it was his role, since
he was now dictator and had all the power of the people
of Rome, both to take care of the children and to see
that their father's will was followed. Therefore, he
gave the kingdom of Egypt to Ptolemy and Cleopatra. He
gave Cyprus to Arsinoe and Ptolemy, the younger, for he
was so afraid at the time, that he would willingly have
given anything of his own, rather than have taken away
anything that belonged to the Egyptians. In this way,
the riot was appeased. {*Dio, l. 42. (35) 4:171}
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (108) 2:351} {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (33) 3:63,65} {*Livy, l. 112.
14:141} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 49. s. 1,2.
7:559} [K339]
4963. King Dejotarus came to Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus,
Caesar's lieutenant in Asia, and requesting him not to
allow Lesser Armenia, his own kingdom, nor Cappadocia,
the kingdom of Ariobarzanes, to be occupied and
plundered by Pharnaces. Unless Pharnaces' activities
were checked, they would not be able to do as they had
been commanded, nor pay the money that they had promised
to Caesar. Domitius immediately sent messengers to
Pharnaces, ordering that he should get out of Armenia
and Cappadocia. Thinking this order would carry greater
weight if he came closer to these countries with his
army, he selected a legion from the three legions he had
with him. He took the thirty-sixth and sent the other
two into Egypt to Caesar, who had written to him, asking
for them. In addition to the thirty-sixth legion, he
added two more that he had received from Dejotarus.
They were disciplined and armed after the Roman manner.
Dejotarus gave him a hundred cavalry as well, and
Domitius took an equal number of troops from
Ariobarzanes. He sent Publius Sestius to Gaius
Plaetorius, his quaestor, to bring him a legion which he
had hastily raised and also sent to Quintus Patiscius in
Cilicia, to bring more troops. All these forces were
ordered by Domitius to meet at Comana as quickly as
possible. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (34)
3:65,67}
4964. In the meantime, the envoys brought back an
answer from Pharnaces, saying that he had left
Cappadocia and that he had recovered Lesser Armenia,
which he ought to keep, since it had belonged to his
father. Furthermore, all the business to do with
Pharnaces should be referred to Caesar himself, for he
was prepared to do whatever Caesar should decide. He
had left Cappadocia because he could more easily defend
Armenia since it was nearer to his own kingdom than
Cappadocia. When Domitius heard his reply, he still
thought that he should get out of Armenia, since he had
no more right to Armenia than to Cappadocia. His
request, that the whole business should be tabled until
Caesar came, was unjust, for nothing would change in the
meantime. After Domitius had replied, he marched with
his forces into Armenia. In the meantime, Pharnaces
sent many embassies to Domitius, entreating for peace
and offering him expensive presents. Domitius
constantly refused them all and answered the envoys that
he did not consider that nothing was dearer to him than
to recover the dignity of the people of Rome and the
kingdom for their allies. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l.
1. (35,36) 3:67,69}
4965. While Caesar carried on the war at Alexandria,
Dejotarus did what he could for Caesar and supplied
Gnaeus Domitius' army with lodgings. He added his own
forces to those of Domitius, as Cicero confirmed in a
speech he made on his behalf. {*Cicero, Pro Dejotaro,
l. 1. c. 5. 14:513}
4966. In Egypt, the eunuch Pothinus, who had the
oversight of all the king's treasure and of the whole
kingdom, was afraid that he might be punished for the
earlier sedition of the Egyptians, of which he had been
the chief ringleader. He was the instigator of a new
and difficult war. He first complained among his own
friends that the king had been called to plead his cause
before Caesar. In others, whom he planned to have on
his side, he sowed a suspicion that Caesar, to appease
the riot, had indeed given the kingdom to both parties
but that in the process of time, he would give it to
Cleopatra alone. By letters and messengers he solicited
Achillas, who was commander-in-chief of all the king's
forces. He first appealed to him with his own promises
and flattered him with promises from the king, that he
alone should lead the king's entire army of foot
soldiers and cavalry from Pelusium to Alexandria.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (108) 2:351} {*Dio, l.
42. (36) 4:171,173} [K340]
4967. Caesar did not have enough troops to overcome the
enemy, if he were forced to fight outside the town. The
only thing that he could do, was to stay within
Alexandria and wait and see what Achillas planned to do.
He wanted the king to send some of his most confident
friends, who also held the greatest authority, as envoys
to Achillas. Dioscorides and Serapion, who had been
envoys at Rome and had exercised great authority under
his father, were sent to Achillas by the king to declare
Caesar's intentions. As soon as they came to him, and
before Achillas knew why they came, he ordered them to
be taken and killed. Dioscorides was wounded and taken
away by his own men for dead and Serapion was killed.
After this, Caesar arranged matters so that he got the
king under his own power. [E658] He thought that the
king's title would hold great authority among his own
countrymen and that this war might then appear to have
been undertaken through the outrage of a few private men
and thieves, rather than on the advice of the king.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (109) 2:351,353} {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (26) 3:53}
4968. Achillas had substantial forces with him. They
were twenty thousand trained and armed troops. These
included the soldiers of Gabinius, who were now
accustomed to the life and licentiousness of the
Alexandrians and had forgotten the name and discipline
of the people of Rome. They were joined by a company of
thieves and robbers from Syria, Cilicia and the
neighbouring provinces. Moreover, there were many
condemned persons and banished men present. All Roman
fugitives were safe and well taken care of at
Alexandria, on the condition that, when required, they
enlisted with the soldiers. If anyone was apprehended
by his master, he was rescued again by a concourse of
soldiers. They defended the violence of their
companions, because they were just as guilty and feared
their own punishment. According to the old custom of
the Alexandrian army, these men used to demand that the
king's friends be put to death, and to plunder rich
men's goods to increase their pay. They were in the
habit of besieging the king's palace, of banishing some
and recalling others from banishment. There were also
two thousand cavalry, many of whom had served a long
time in the wars of Alexandria. {*Caesar, Civil Wars,
l. 3. (110) 2:353,355}
4969. Achillas trusted in these forces and despised the
small number of Caesar's soldiers. He captured
Alexandria and attempted to break into Caesar's house.
However, Caesar had stationed his cohorts in the passes
and they withstood the assault, while simultaneously
fighting at the harbour, where the fiercest fighting of
all took place. At the same time, the enemy brought
their forces to fight in many passes and also
endeavoured, with many troops, to seize the warships.
Fifty of these ships had been sent to help Pompey and
when the battle in Thessaly was over, they had returned.
They were all galleys of three or five tiers of oars,
well-rigged and all fitted out with tackling for
sailing. In addition to these, twenty-two ships were
always stationed there at Alexandria to guard the city.
They were all decked and fitted out with ramming prows.
If the enemy had seized these and robbed Caesar of his
fleet, they would have had the harbour and the whole sea
at their command and would have kept all provisions and
any help from coming to Caesar, which is why this was
the hottest part of the battle. [K341] Caesar
recognised the importance of the fleet and the harbour
for their safety, so he overcame the problem by burning
these ships and the rest that were in the arsenal
because he could not defend them with the few troops
that he had. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (111)
2:355,357} Lucan stated: {*Lucan, l. 10. (497-503)
1:627,629}
Nor over the ships alone do flames prevail;
But all the houses near the shore assail,
The south winds feed the flame, and drive it on
Along the houses with such motion,
As through the heavens fiery meteors run,
That, wanting fuel, fed on air alone.
4970. When this fire had spread to part of the city, it
burned four hundred thousand books that were stored in
the adjoining houses. This was a singular monument to
the care and industry of their ancestors, who had
gathered together so many great works of famous writers.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 15.} Seneca quoted Livy as saying
that this was a famous tribute to the glory of and the
care taken by the earlier Egyptian kings. Seneca stated
that only forty thousand books were destroyed.
{*Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, l. 1. c. 9. s.
4,5. 2:247} Aulus Gellius and Ammianus Marcellinus
stated that seven hundred thousand were burned. {*Aulus
Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 7. c. 17. s. 3. 2:139}
{*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 22. c. 16. s. 13.
2:303} Indeed, at the end of the Alexandrian war, the
city was plundered by the soldiers. However, Plutarch
stated that the fire was increased by the arsenal and
the library was burned at the beginning of this war.
{*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 49. s. 3,4. 7:561}
Dio confirmed that the storehouses, granaries and
library were burned, together with the arsenal. {*Dio,
l. 42. (38) 4:175} [E659]
4971. After the fleet was burned and the enemy was
still engaged in fighting, Caesar landed his soldiers
from the other ships at the island of Pharos (which was
joined to the city by a narrow neck of land, nine
hundred feet long, and formed the harbour) and placed a
garrison there. As soon as he had done this, he was
able to bring grain and troops to him by ship.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (112,113) 2:357} Lucan
wrote of the taking of Pharos by Caesar: {*Lucan, l.
10. (512-514) 1:629}
Two helps on Caesar both that citadel bestow:
Commands the seas, the foe's incursions stayed,
And made a passage safe for Caesar's aid.
4972. In other parts of the town, they fought so that
neither of them had the upper hand. Neither side gave
ground because of the narrowness of the places and only
a few were killed on either side. After Caesar had
taken the most important places, he fortified them by
night. On that side of the town, there was a small
section of the palace where they had first brought him
to live. A theatre, which was joined to the house, was
like a citadel and had a road to the harbour and the
arsenal. He daily strengthened these fortifications so
that they would be like a strong wall for him and so
that he might not be forced to fight except when he
wanted to. {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (112) 2:359}
4973. The Egyptians feared that Caesar, who had won the
battle at sea, would now seize the harbour of the city.
So they built a rampart to bar his entrance and only
left a little space. But Caesar blocked that space by
sinking cargo ships filled with stones. [K342] This
blocked all the enemy's ships in the harbour so they
could not leave. In this way, he could get what he
needed with less trouble. He was now also able to get
water because Achillas had taken all water from him by
cutting the conduits. {*Dio, l. 42. (38) 4:175}
4974. Caesar sent into all the neighbouring countries
and called for help from there. {*Caesar, Civil Wars,
l. 3. (112) 2:357} He sent for the whole fleet from
Rhodes, Syria and Cilicia. He ordered them to bring
archers from Crete and cavalry from Malchus, the king of
the Nabateans. He ordered battering-rams, grain and
other supplies to be brought to him. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (1) 3:11} He told Domitius
Calvinus of his danger and requested that he send him
supplies by every means, as soon as he possibly could.
He wanted him to come to Alexandria through Syria.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (9) 3:23} Mithridates
of Pergamum was a man of great nobility in his country,
with knowledge and valour in the wars, who was held in
great esteem and who enjoyed personal honour and
friendship with Caesar. He was sent into Syria and
Cilicia to expedite the supplies. {*Caesar, Alexandrian
War, l. 1. (26) 3:51} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
8. s. 1. (127,128) 7:515} {*Dio, l. 42. (41) 4:181}
4975. In the meantime, a eunuch named Ganymedes stole
away Arsinoe, who was only carelessly guarded, and
carried her to the Egyptians. They made her queen and
fought the war with more enthusiasm than before, because
they had acquired one of the family of the Ptolemys as a
commander. {*Dio, l. 42. (39) 4:175} Lucan wrote
thus: {*Lucan, l. 10. (519-522) 1:629}
Arsinoe, from court escaped, goes
By Ganymedes' help to Caesar's foes,
The crown (as Lagus' daughter) to obtain.
4976. Caesar wrote this: {*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3.
(112) 2:359}
"The young daughter of King Ptolemy hoped to take over
the kingdom and escaped from the palace to join Achillas
and commanded in the war together with him.
Immediately, there was a dispute as to who would be the
chief commander. The matter was aggravated by many
bribes among the soldiers. Each strove to get the
goodwill of the soldiers to their own detriment."
4977. While these things were being done among the
enemies, Pothinus, the king's governor and administrator
of the kingdom for Ptolemy, sent messengers to Achillas
telling him to pursue the issue and not desist in the
war. But when the messengers were approached and
apprehended, Pothinus was put to death by Caesar.
{*Caesar, Civil Wars, l. 3. (112) 2:359} [E660] After
this, Caesar kept the young king in strict custody, thus
further exasperating the minds of the Egyptians. {*Dio,
l. 42. (39) 4:177}
4978. While these things were happening in Egypt,
Domitius Calvinus marched against Pharnaces with long
and continual marches. He camped not far from
Nicopolis, a city of Lesser Armenia built by Pompey,
which Pharnaces had already seized to live in. About
seven miles from there, Pharnaces had made ambushes for
him which failed. The next day, Domitius moved closer
and brought his camp to the very edge of town.
Pharnaces set his men in battle array after his own
custom and fashion. The following night, Pharnaces
intercepted the messengers who were bringing the letters
to Domitius concerning the Alexandrian affairs. From
this, he learned of the danger Caesar was in and the
recalling of Domitius. He considered it as good as a
victory if he stalled for time. Domitius, now more
concerned with the danger of Caesar than his own,
brought his soldiers from the camp and prepared to
fight. He placed the thirty-sixth legion in the right
wing, the Pontic troops on the left and the legions of
Dejotarus in the middle of the battle formation. [K343]
When both armies were in battle array, the battle
started. The Pontic legion was almost entirely lost and
most of Dejotarus' soldiers were killed. The
thirty-sixth legion retreated into the mountains and
only lost about two hundred and fifty men. In spite of
this, Domitius rallied the remains of his scattered army
and returned to Asia by safe journeys through Cappadocia
since winter was now approaching. {*Caesar, Alexandrian
War, l. 1. (36-40) 3:69-77} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
2. c. 13. (91) 3:395} {*Dio, l. 42. (46) 4:187}
4979. Caesar and the Alexandrians fought hard against
one another with fortifications and works. Most of all,
Caesar tried to isolate that section of the city which a
marsh had made the narrowest, from the the rest of the
city. Using works and ramparts, he hoped that the city
would first be divided into two sectors. Then his army
would be united under him again although in two adjacent
sectors of the city. Also, should they find themselves
in any danger, help could be brought to him from the
other sector of the city. Most importantly, he wanted
the abundant freshwater supply from the marsh. The
Alexandrians sent messengers into every part of Egypt to
enlist men. They brought all sorts of engines and
weapons into the town which were described in detail by
Hirtius. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (1-3)
3:11-15}
4980. When Caesar saw the numbers of the enemy
increasing, he began to entertain the idea of an
agreement between them. He ordered that Ptolemy be
placed where he might be heard by the Egyptians. He was
to tell them that he was not harmed in any way and that
there was no need for this war. They should make peace
and he would take care that the conditions were kept.
The Egyptians, however, suspected that he had been
deliberately coerced into this by Caesar and still
carried on their war. {*Dio, l. 42. (39) 4:177} They
said that Caesar had to be driven out quickly. Because
of the storms and the season of the year, Caesar was
unable to receive help by sea. {*Caesar, Alexandrian
War, l. 1. (3) 3:15}
4981. In the interim, the dissension increased between
Achillas, the general of the old army, and Arsinoe, the
younger daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. Both were plotting
and scheming against each other. While Achillas aimed
at taking over the kingdom, Arsinoe thwarted him with
the help of Ganymedes, the eunuch, and her
foster-father. She took over the kingdom and put to
death Achillas, pretending that he would have betrayed
the fleet. After he was killed, she alone enjoyed the
whole kingdom and Ganymedes was made the general of the
army. Once he had assumed that charge, he increased the
soldiers' pay and acted with similar care and discretion
in all things. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (4)
3:15,17} {*Dio, l. 42. (40) 4:177,179}
4982. Alexandria was riddled with underground channels
that connected to the Nile River, by means of which,
water was brought into private houses. The water
settled with time and became drinkable. Ganymedes
blocked those channels in all the places of the city
where Caesar's forces were besieged. He pumped salt
water into these channels so Caesar's forces did not
have fresh water to drink. They began to think of
fleeing, but this advice was not well received and
Caesar ordered that wells should be dug in the night. A
large quantity of fresh water was found and all the
laborious work of the Alexandrians came to nought.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (5-9) 3:17-23} [K344]
4983. The next day, the thirty-seventh legion arrived.
It was made up of those soldiers of Pompey's army who
had surrendered themselves and been shipped by Domitius
Calvinus. They came to the shores of Africa a little
above Alexandria, with supplies of grain, arms, weapons
and engines. The other legion, which he had sent by
overland through Syria, had not yet reached Caesar.
With the Etesian winds continually blowing, these ships
rode at anchor and could not get into the harbour. When
Caesar realised this, he sailed and ordered his fleet to
follow him. He did not take any soldiers with him, in
case he might leave the citadels short of men to defend
them. [E661] When he came to a steep place called the
Chersonesus, he sent some sailors ashore for fresh
water. Some of them were intercepted, and told the
enemy that Caesar was indeed in the fleet and had no
soldiers in the ships. Therefore, they rigged their
whole navy and met up with Caesar as he returned with
the legion of Domitius. Although Caesar did not want to
fight that day, a Rhodian ship, which was positioned in
the right wing and at some distance from the rest, was
attacked by four decked warships of the enemy and some
open ones. Caesar was forced to help them and got the
victory. If night had not fallen and stopped the
battle, Caesar would have defeated the whole fleet of
the enemy. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (9-11)
3:23-27}
4984. Although the Egyptians had been defeated, they
were nevertheless encouraged again by Ganymedes. Even
though they had lost a hundred and ten warships in the
harbour and arsenal, they earnestly started to repair
their fleet. To that end, they gathered together all
the ships from all the mouths of the Nile River and from
the private arsenals belonging to the king. In a few
days, beyond all expectations, they made a fleet of
twenty-two ships. They had galleys with four tiers of
oars and five with five tiers, plus many smaller and
undecked ones. They furnished them with soldiers and
outfitted them for battle. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War,
l. 1. (12,13) 3:27,29} They opened the entrance of the
harbour and placed their ships in the path of the
Romans, causing them much trouble. {*Dio, l. 42. (40)
4:177}
4985. Caesar had nine Rhodian ships (for of the ten
that had been sent, one was lost on the voyage along the
Egyptian shore), eight ships from Pontus, five Lycian
ships and twelve from Asia. Of these, ten were with
five tiers and four tiers of oars respectively. The
rest were cargo ships and many were not decked. With
these, Caesar sailed about Pharos and took up a position
opposite the enemy's ships. There were sandbars between
the two fleets with a very narrow passage. They stayed
in that position for a long time, while they waited to
see who would be the first to cross the passage. The
one who crossed first would easily be overcome by the
whole enemy fleet before the rest could pass and come to
the battle. The Rhodian ships asked that they might be
the first to cross. By their singular skill, they
withstood the whole fleet of the enemy and never turned
their sides to them, thus making a safe passage for the
rest to follow and so come to the battle. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (13-15) 3:29-33}
4986. Caesar won the victory and did not lose a single
ship. On the Alexandrian side, one galley with five
tiers of oars was captured and one with two tiers of
oars. All the soldiers and sailors on these were
captured, too. Three ships were sunk and the rest fled
to the nearby town of Pharos where the citizens defended
them from the citadels and buildings which were above
them and so kept Caesar from getting close. They were
routed out of there immediately by the hard work of the
Romans and lost both the town and the island and many of
their men. The island was joined to the continent by a
double bridge, one of which was abandoned by the enemy
and so the Romans easily captured it. On the other
bridge, through the rashness of some, the Romans were
attacked and routed, so that they fled to their ships.
Some of them got to the ships, which sank due to the
number and weight of the men. Some fought and not
knowing what to do, were killed by the Alexandrians.
[K345] Some Romans escaped to safety on the ships that
were at anchor. A few swam to the next ships. Caesar
retired onto his own ship. When a large number who were
following him tried to get onto his ship, he guessed
what would happen. He jumped from the ship and swam to
those ships which were farther off. From there, he sent
boats to help those who were in danger and saved some of
them. His own ship sank when it was overloaded with the
large number of soldiers and a number of troops drowned.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (16-21) 3:33-45}
4987. Although Hirtius never mentioned it, the
following interesting detail of the battle was noted by
Suetonius and by Orosius, who copied Suetonius. When
Caesar escaped by swimming to the next ship, he held up
his left hand so that his war commentaries should not
get wet. This is also mentioned by Plutarch and Dio,
while Appian related the story thus: Caesar, alone on
the bridge, was surrounded by the enemy that was
pressing on him. He cast off his purple coat and leaped
into the sea. The king's soldiers pursued him and he
swam a long time underwater, only lifting his head to
get air. He swam to a lone ship nearby and by holding
up his hands to them, was recognised and saved. But
Suetonius wrote that he held his soldier's coat in his
mouth and dragged it behind him so that the enemy could
not get it. However, Florus and Plutarch stated that he
left it in the waves, either by chance or on purpose, so
that the enemies, who were pursuing him, would shoot at
it with their arrows and stones. When the Egyptians got
the coat, they fastened it to a monument, which they had
erected for their routing of the enemy, as if they had
taken the general himself. So said Appian and Dio.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 64. 1:115} {Orosius,
l. 6. c. 15.} {*Dio, l. 42. (40) 4:179} {*Plutarch,
Caesar, l. 1. c. 49. s. 4. 7:561} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (90) 3:393} {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 21. (150) 3:505,507} {*Florus, l. 2. c.
13. s. 59,60. 1:285,287}
4988. In this battle, about four hundred soldiers from
the legions were killed. [E662] A few more of the
soldiers, who belonged to the fleet, as well as some
sailors, were also killed. The Alexandrians built a
citadel there and strengthened it with many engines of
war. They took the stones from the sea and made use of
the place more freely, as the base for sending out their
ships. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (21) 3:43,45}
4989. Meanwhile, Mithridates of Pergamum quickly
gathered large forces from Syria and Cilicia through the
extreme goodwill of the cities and his own diligence.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (26) 3:51} When he
came to Askelon by himself, he sent for Antipater, the
governor of Judea, to come to him. He brought three
thousand soldiers with him and through his influence
managed to achieve in getting Hyrcanus, the high priest,
and other governors to join their forces together.
Strabo related this from Hypsicrates, who was a
historian of the Phoenicians. For Antipater had agreed
with the princes of the Arabians that they should also
come to Caesar's aid. Through Antipater's efforts and
exceptional determination Iamblicus, the governor,
Ptolemy's son and Tholomy, the son of Soemus, who lived
at Mount Libanus (Lebanon), and almost all the cities of
Syria, sent help for Caesar. They did not want to be
outdone by Antipater in their zeal for Caesar.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 8. s. 1. (127-132)
7:515-519}
4990. When the Alexandrians saw that the Romans became
more zealous through the losses they had recently
sustained and that they were encouraged by losses as
well as by success, they sent envoys to Caesar. They
wanted him to let their king go free and come to them,
for a large number were weary of the war and would do
whatever the king wished them to do. [K346] Caesar
thought that, through the king, they might become
Caesar's friends and stop fighting. Although Caesar
knew that the fidelity of both the king and the
Alexandrians was suspect, he let him go. He knew that
the enemy's strength would not be increased by the
king's going to them and the war against a king would be
all the more glorious. Caesar advised him to take care
of his kingdom and to honour the fidelity that he owed
to Caesar and the people of Rome. The king tearfully
faked his joy and asked not to be released. But when
Caesar sent him away, he eagerly pursued the war against
Caesar. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (23,24)
3:45-49} {*Dio, l. 42. (42) 4:181}
4991. The Alexandrians found that their new general
made them no stronger and the Romans were no weaker.
Worse, the soldiers daily mocked the king's youth and
weakness. They were very distressed and did not know
how to help themselves. There were reports that large
forces were coming to Caesar by land from Syria and
Cilicia about which Caesar had heard nothing. They
determined to intercept the provisions which were being
brought to the Romans by sea. So they rigged their
ships, stationed them in convenient places in the
channel around Canopus and watched for ships bringing
the provisions. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (25)
3:49} Since the soldiers from Syria, whom Caesar had
sent for, were now approaching, they guarded all the
shores and did much harm to these forces. Those who
were on the Libyan side, brought some help to Caesar.
At the mouths of the Nile River, the Egyptians made many
fires, as though they were Romans. By this deceit, they
took many, so that the rest did not dare to come there.
{*Dio, l. 42. (40) 4:179}
4992. Thereupon, Caesar commanded that his fleet, over
which Tiberius Nero was the commander, be rigged. In
this fleet, the Rhodian ships included their flagship,
the Euphranor, which had been in every battle and had
always been victorious, but was unlucky in this battle.
When they came to Canopus, both fleets were positioned
facing one another. The Euphranor, according to Nero's
custom, started the battle and sank one of the enemy's
ships. She followed the chase of the next ship too far
and Nero's own side was too slow in following him. He
was all alone surrounded by the Alexandrians. He fought
valiantly in the battle and died alone with his
conquering ship. However, the enemies were defeated in
this battle which Tiberius Claudius Nero had started so
that his own side could safely sail to land. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (25) 3:49,51} {*Dio, l. 42.
(40) 4:179}
4993. About the same time, Mithridates from Pergamum
came overland from Syria across its border with Egypt
bringing large forces to Pelusium. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (26) 3:51} He tried to go
upstream by the mouth of the Nile River which is at
Pelusium. The Egyptians had blocked the entrance by
night with their ships, which they had carried into the
channel. He transported his ships there, for the
channel did not reach all the way to the sea, and went
into the Nile River with his ships. He suddenly
attacked those who were guarding the mouths of the Nile
River from the sea and from the river simultaneously.
He took control of the mouths and attacked Pelusium with
his fleet and his land forces. {*Dio, l. 42. (41)
4:181} This town had been controlled by Achillas with a
strong garrison because of its strategic position. All
Egypt was thought to be sufficiently fortified by Pharos
against any access by sea, and by Pelusium, against any
access by land. But he suddenly surrounded Pelusium
with large forces. The defenders stoutly defended it
with a strong garrison of men but were overcome.
Mithridates constantly maintained the large number of
the attackers. He replaced any men who were wounded and
weary and in this way maintained a constant attack.
[E663] [K347] He overcame the city in the same day that
he attacked it and stationed a garrison of his own
there. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (26) 3:51,53}
Antipater acted valiantly, by breaking down a piece of
the wall. He was the first to break in, thus allowing
the rest to follow. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 8.
s. 1. (130,131) 7:517} After these great exploits,
Mithridates marched to join Caesar in Alexandria.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (26) 3:53} As he
advanced toward Alexandria, he learned that Dioscorides
was coming to fight them. Mithridates ambushed and
killed him. {*Dio, l. 42. (41) 4:181} By the
authority which normally belonged to the victor, he
peacefully subdued all the districts along his line of
march and won them over to friendship with Caesar.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (26) 3:53}
4994. The Egyptian Jews, who lived in that part of the
country called Onias, would not allow Mithridates and
Antipater to march to Caesar. Antipater tried to win
them over to his side, since they were fellow
countrymen. He showed them the letters from Hyrcanus,
the high priest, in which they were invited to be
friends to Caesar and to provide him with food and
supplies for his army. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
8. s. 1. (131,132) 7:517,519} However, Asinius Pollio
(that is, Trallianus, a writer of the civil war) wrote
that Hyrcanus, the high priest, himself invaded Egypt
with Mithridates, as Josephus related from Strabo.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 8. s. 3. (130)
7:521} Also, the words of Caesar about Hyrcanus, which
were inscribed by him on a brazen table in memory of
Hyrcanus' deeds, seem to confirm this: {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 10. s. 2. (192,193) 7:551}
"In the last Alexandrian war, he came to our aid with
fifteen hundred soldiers and was sent by me to
Mithridates. He surpassed all those in his company in
valour."
4995. The Jews, the inhabitants of the country of
Onias, willingly submitted, because of the authority of
Antipater and Hyrcanus. When those who lived around
Memphis heard this, they sent for Mithridates to come to
them also, and when he came, they, too, joined his side.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 8. s. 1. (131,132)
7:517,519}
4996. King Ptolemy knew that Mithridates was rapidly
approaching the place which is called Delta because of
its similarity to the Greek letter D, and which was not
far from Alexandria. Ptolemy knew that he would have to
cross the Nile River. Therefore, he sent large forces
against him so that he could either defeat him or
prevent him from joining Caesar. The forces that first
crossed over the river at the delta, met with
Mithridates and began the battle. They hurried, to
prevent those who followed from sharing in the victory.
Mithridates withstood their attack with great prudence.
He entrenched his camp after the Roman custom. When he
saw the attackers carelessly and proudly coming right up
to his fortifications, he made a general sally and
killed a large number of them. The rout was so
complete, that they would all have been killed had the
rest not hidden themselves in secret places or retired
to the boats they had used to cross the river. After
they had recovered somewhat from their defeat, they
joined with those who were following and began a fresh
attack on Mithridates. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l.
1. (27) 3:53,55}
4997. This battle was fought near the place which is
called the Camp of the Jews. Mithridates commanded the
right wing and Antipater the left wing. Mithridates'
wing began to waver and would very likely have been
routed, had not Antipater quickly marched along the
riverside with his forces. They had already defeated
the forces opposing them and now came to Mithridates'
rescue. They forced the Egyptians, who were defeating
Mithridates, to flee. [K348] They so hotly pursued
those who fled, that Antipater took over the enemies'
camp. He shared the plunder with Mithridates, then
pursued the enemy, leaving Mithridates far behind him.
Mithridates lost eight hundred of his men and Antipater
only fifty (or eighty {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
9. s. 4. (190-192) 2:89}). When Mithridates told
Caesar of these things, he stated plainly that Antipater
was the cause of the victory and of their preservation.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 8. s. 2. (133-136)
7:519}
3957b AM, 4667 JP, 47 BC
4998. King Ptolemy marched out to surprise Mithridates,
almost at the same time that Caesar came to rescue him.
The king took the quickest route by the Nile River where
he had a large fleet already rigged. Caesar did not
take the same route so that he would not be forced to
fight a naval battle on the river. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (28) 3:55} Therefore, he sailed
by night as though he were hurrying to one of the mouths
of the Nile. He carried many lights on all his ships,
so that the Egyptians would think he was sailing in that
direction. At first, he went out with his fleet but
later he put out his lights and sailed back again. He
sailed around the city and arrived at a peninsula on the
Libyan side where he landed his soldiers. They marched
around the marsh and met with the king's forces before
these could attack Mithridates. {*Dio, l. 42. (43)
4:183} He defeated them and was received safely with his
army. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (28) 3:55}
4999. The king and his army took up the higher ground
in a place that was naturally well-fortified. Caesar
was about seven miles from him and there was a river
between them. If he crossed the river, he would have to
fight with the Alexandrians. He crossed it and killed a
large number of the Alexandrians who tried to hinder his
crossing. Caesar camped a short distance from the
king's camp, which he had joined to his camp by the
outer works. His soldiers pursued the Alexandrians, who
fled from there, right up to their camp and came up to
their fortifications. [E664] They began to fight
bravely at a distance but were wounded with arrows
coming from various places. The men, who were behind
them, fought from the river where there were many ships
that were well-manned with slingers and archers.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (29,30) 3:57,59}
5000. Caesar knew that his men were fighting as well as
they could, yet they could not prevail, because of the
difficulty of the terrain. He saw that the highest
place of the camp was deserted by the Alexandrians
because it was naturally well-fortified. They had come
down to where the battle was, partly to see and partly
to fight. So he commanded his cohorts to go around the
camp and capture the highest ground. He put Carfulenus
in command of this, for he was an excellent man both in
valour and knowledge of military affairs. As soon as
they arrived at the camp, they found that only a few
were left in it. Caesar's soldiers fought bravely and
the Alexandrians, frightened by the shouting and
fighting of their adversaries, began a general rout.
The Romans were so encouraged by their disorder, that
they captured almost the whole camp on all sides. First
they took the highest place of the camp and then the
Romans ran down and killed a large number in the camp.
To escape this danger, the Alexandrians fled and cast
themselves in large numbers over the rampart on the side
facing the river. The other side was being overwhelmed
with the great violence of the battle, so that the rest
on the side facing the river had the easier escape.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (31) 3:59,61} [K349]
5001. It is certain that the king fled from the camp,
that he was received into a ship and that he died there
when the overloaded ship sank, because of the large
number who swam to the ships that were nearest.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (31) 3:61} {*Livy, l.
112. 14:141} {*Dio, l. 42. (43) 4:185} {Orosius, l.
6. c. 16.} His body wallowed in the mud and rolled to
the bank of the Nile. It was identified by the golden
breastplate which he wore (such as the Ptolemys used to
wear, as Julius Capitoline confirmed, in his work on
Maximinius the Younger). {*Florus, l. 2. c. 13. s.
60. 1:287} {Eutropius, l. 6.} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
16.} After the death of his father, Auletes, he lived
three years and eight months, which is why Porphyry
attributed four years to his reign. {Porphyry,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 226.}
5002. In this battle, twenty thousand men were killed
and twelve thousand surrendered. Seventy warships were
captured. Caesar lost five hundred men. {Orosius, l.
6. c. 16.} Antipater, whom Caesar had used for valiant
service in the most dangerous tasks he faced, was also
wounded in this battle. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
8. s. 2. (136) 7:519}
5003. Because of this great victory, Caesar confidently
marched to Alexandria by land the next day with his
cavalry. As conqueror, he entered that part of the town
which was being held by a garrison of the enemies.
However, all the townsmen tossed away their arms and
left the citadel. They put on the clothes they usually
wore when they wanted to supplicate their governors.
Bringing out all the sacred things of their religion,
with which they were accustomed to appease the offended
and enraged minds of their kings, they came and met
Caesar and submitted to him. Caesar placed them under
his protection and comforted them. Passing through the
enemy's fortifications, he reached his own part of the
town, with great shouting from his own soldiers. They
not only rejoiced that the battle had been successful,
but also, that his arrival was so joyful. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (32) 3:61,63}
5004. In the marble calendar records, {Gruter,
Inscriptions, p. 133.} on the date of the 6th of the
Calends of April (March 27), it is thus noted: HOC DIE
CAESAR ALEXAND. RECEPIT. This day Caesar recovered
Alexandria. However, that day was the 14th of the
Julian January. Hence, the Alexandrian war was over.
Caesar had fought this war in an unfavourable place and
at a poor time for fighting since it was in the winter.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 35. s. 1. 1:81}
5005. After Caesar had conquered Egypt, he did not
subject it to the dominion of the Romans, but gave it to
Cleopatra, for whose sake he had carried on the war. He
was fearful that the Egyptians might not like being
under a queen and that by this he would stir up the
Romans against him, both on account of his actions and
for being too familiar with Cleopatra. Therefore, he
ordered that she should marry her other brother, who was
still alive, and that they should hold the kingdom in
common between them. This he did only for appearance's
sake. For, in actual fact, the whole kingdom had been
entrusted to Cleopatra, for her husband was only a child
of age eleven. Hence, Strabo said he was exceedingly
young. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:47}
However, she could do anything with Caesar. Therefore,
under the pretence of marriage with her brother and of
sharing the kingdom equally with her husband, she alone
ruled over all. She was also too familiar with Caesar.
These things Dio had related more honestly. {*Dio, l.
42. (44) 4:185} Hirtius stated them more mildly, in
favour of Caesar, thus: {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l.
1. (33) 3:63}
"After Caesar had conquered Egypt, he made those kings,
whom Ptolemy had appointed in his will and earnestly
asked the people of Rome that they would not alter it.
Since the king, the older of the two sons, was dead, he
turned over the kingdom to the younger son and to
Cleopatra, the older of the two daughters. [E665]
[K350] She remained under his protection and quarters."
5006. Suetonius stated: {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c.
35. s. 1,2. 11:81}
"After Caesar had gained the victory, he granted the
kingdom of Egypt to Cleopatra and her younger brother.
He was afraid to make it a province lest, at some time
or another, they had a rebellious leader, who might
start a new rebellion."
5007. Cleopatra and Caesar often feasted together and
sat up until daybreak. He sailed with her on the Nile
River with four hundred ships. He was in the same
galley with her, which was called Thalamegos. He
crossed Egypt as far as Ethiopia, but his army refused
to follow him any farther. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1.
c. 52. s. 1,2. 1:101} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2.
c. 13. (90) 3:393}
5008. At Alexandria, Caesar erected a brazen pillar
which recorded the liberties that he had granted to the
Jews. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 10. s. 1.
(188,189) 7:549} {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 4. (37)
1:307}
5009. Pharnaces had become famous because of his
successes. He hoped all things would happen to Caesar
as he wanted it to. Pharnaces seized Pontus with all
his forces and conquered it. He was a most cruel king.
Because he thought he should have better luck than his
father had, he conquered many towns and plundered the
goods of the citizens of Rome and of Pontus. He decreed
punishments worse than death itself for those who
deserved praise for either beauty or age. He captured
Pontus when there was no one to defend it and bragged
that he had recovered his father's kingdom. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (41) 3:77}
5010. He displayed his cruelty particularly on Amisus,
a city of Pontus. After it had resisted for a long
time, he won it by storm, then put all the adult men to
death and made all the boys, eunuchs. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (91) 3:395} {*Dio, l. 42. (46)
4:187}
3957c AM, 4667 JP, 47 BC
5011. Asander, to whom Pharnaces had committed the
government of Bosphorus, tried to curry favour with the
Romans, in the hope of getting the kingdom of Bosphorus
for himself. He organized an insurrection against his
master. {*Dio, l. 42. (46) 4:187,189}
5012. Caesar sent letters from Egypt to Marcus Cicero
telling him to stay where he was and to retain the name
of Imperator for the victory he had won in Cilicia.
Gaius Pansa carried these letters to him. Cicero
postponed the grant of the laurelled fasces and the
ceremony for such a time as he considered more
appropriate. {*Cicero, Pro Ligario, l. 1. c. 3.
14:465} For after he had left the province of Cilicia,
he had not as yet entered Rome, but was accompanied
everywhere by his lictors, hoping in vain for a triumph.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 11. c. 6. 23:367} Caesar's
letters were delivered to Cicero on the 3rd of the Ides
of August (August 11, or Julian May 31). {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 14. c. 24. 27:223}
5013. After Pharnaces had captured Bithynia and
Cappadocia, he planned to take Lesser Armenia. So he
incited all the kings and tetrarchs of that country to
rebel. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 50. s. 1.
7:561} He also marched into Asia hoping for the same
success that his father Mithridates had enjoyed there.
{*Dio, l. 42. (46) 4:187}
5014. Appian stated that Caesar spent nine months in
Egypt, {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (90)
3:393} and that Cleopatra would have kept him there
longer or accompanied him on his voyage to Rome.
Pharnaces forced him to leave Egypt against his will and
held up his rapid march into Italy. {*Dio, l. 42.
(47) 4:189} A short time later, Cleopatra gave birth to
a son by him whom the Alexandrians called Caesarion.
{*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 49. s. 5. 7:561} This
name was given to the son by the mother, with the
permission of Caesar himself. {*Suetonius, Julius, l.
1. c. 52. s. 1,2. 1:101} [K351] Plutarch seemed to
intimate that, after Caesar's death, she had too much
familiarity with his enemy, Gnaeus Pompey, the oldest
son of Pompey the Great. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
25. s. 3. 9:193} Suetonius cited the elder Curio as
witnessing to Caesar's immoral behaviour. Curio said in
one of his speeches, that Caesar was: {*Suetonius,
Julius, l. 1. c. 52. s. 3. 1:103} {See note on
3923b AM. <<4059>>}
"every woman's man and every man's woman."
5015. Caesar removed Arsinoe, the younger sister of
Cleopatra, from the kingdom in whose name Ganymedes had,
for a long time, reigned most tyrannically. He wished
to prevent a future rebellion that might arise through
seditious men, so he wanted to keep her away until time
had confirmed the authority of the king. He took his
sixth veteran legion and left three other legions there,
so that the king's authority might be confirmed. But
the king could not retain the affections of his own
subjects, because both he and his queen were staunch
friends of Caesar. Nor could they claim any basis for
their authority, since they were new to the throne.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (33) 3:63,65}
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 76. s. 3. 1:129,131}
5016. After Caesar had settled everything, he marched
overland into Syria. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1.
(33) 3:65} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 35. s. 2.
1:81} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 49. s. 5.
7:561} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (91)
3:395} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 16.} Josephus wrote that he
sailed to Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 8.
s. 3. (137) 7:521} Hirtius later confirmed this.
5017. The news of Caesar's departure from Alexandria
reached Italy on the 3rd of the Nones of July (July 5,
or Julian April 23). {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 11. c.
20. 23:411} Gaius Trebonius left Caesar at Antioch and
set out from Seleucia Pieria. After a twenty-eight day
journey, on the 16th of the Calends of September (August
15, or Julian June 3), Trebonius arrived in Italy.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 11. c. 23. 23:419} From this
it is deduced that Caesar was at Antioch on the 15th of
the Calends of August (July 18, or Julian May 6). (Loeb
edition of text has 17th of Calends of September.
Editor.)
5018. Johannes Malela of Antioch noted that on the 12th
day of the month of Artemisios, or May, an edict was
publicly proposed in the city of Antioch, concerning the
empire of Julius Caesar. {Johannes Malela, Chronicle
(Unpublished), l. 9.} On the 20th of the same month,
another edict was sent out from Julius Caesar concerning
the liberty of the same city. It said: Julius Caesar to
the metropolis of Antioch, the holy and privileged
asylum and refuge against the vigour of the law.
Finally, on the 23rd day, Caesar, the dictator, entered
Antioch. [E666] However, that edict clearly shows that
he was in Antioch on the 20th day. It should be said
that he left the city on the 23rd day, having arrived
before that.
5019. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, came to Caesar
to complain to him about his father's misfortune. For
siding with Caesar, he was poisoned by Pompey's side.
His brother had been beheaded by Scipio. Antigonus
wanted Caesar to have pity on him because he had been
expelled from his father's kingdom. As well, he accused
Hyrcanus and Antipater of having used force to take over
the government. They did not hold back from wronging
him. He also accused them of having sent help into
Egypt to Caesar, not so much out of goodwill, but in
fear of the ancient animosity and so that they would not
be punished for their loyalty to Pompey. However,
Antipater pleaded his own cause, justifying himself and
accusing Antigonus. He recalled what work he had
undertaken for Caesar in the most recent wars. He
showed all the wounds he had sustained and let them
testify to the truth of his words. When Caesar heard
this, he made Hyrcanus the high priest and having
offered Antipater any government he asked for, made him
governor of Judea. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
10. s. 1-3. 2:91,93} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
8. s. 4,5. (140-144) 7:521-525} [K352]
5020. Caesar also decreed that Hyrcanus and his
children should retain the government and high
priesthood of the Jews in perpetuity according to the
custom of the country. Hyrcanus was included in the
number of Caesar's friends and allies. If any
controversy was to arise involving the discipline of the
Jews, Hyrcanus should decide it. Moreover, he would not
be forced to quarter soldiers in winter, nor would he
pay taxes. A brazen table containing these things was
to be erected in the Capitol and in the temples at Tyre,
Sidon and Askelon. It was engraved in Latin and Greek.
These decrees were to be sent into every place.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 10. s. 3. (196-198)
7:553}
5021. After Caesar had stayed in almost all the cities
of Syria that were of any note, he distributed rewards
both publicly and privately to those who deserved them.
He was made aware of and settled old controversies. He
also took kings and tyrants, governors of the provinces
and borders (who all came to him) under his protection,
on conditions which he imposed on them for the keeping
and defending of the provinces. He dismissed his
friends and the friends of the people of Rome.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (65) 3:115,117}
5022. At Tyre, Caesar took away all the things that
were dedicated to Hercules because they had received
Pompey and his wife during their flight. He did not do
this out of malice but because he needed the money.
{*Dio, l. 42. (49) 4:193}
5023. After some days had been spent in the province of
Syria, he handed the command of the legions and Syria
over to Sextus Caesar, his friend and relative.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (66) 3:117,119} Dio
wrote that he committed all matters to the charge of
Sextus, his praetor and cousin. {*Dio, l. 47. (26)
5:171} Appian stated that a legion was left in Syria by
him, even when he was thinking about the Parthian war.
The honour of governor was granted to his relative,
Sextus Julius, who was a young man. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (77) 4:97,99} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (58) 4:239}
5024. After Caesar had ordered the affairs in Syria, he
went to Cilicia in the same fleet with which he had
come. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (66) 3:117}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9. s. 1. (156)
7:531} He called all the cities of this province to him
at Tarsus. There, he set in order all matters to do
with the province and the neighbouring cities but did
not stay there long, because he wanted to settle the war
in Pontus. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (66)
3:117}
5025. There he pardoned King Tarcondimotus (mentioned
previously {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 1. s. 2.
27:231}), who had a region of Cilicia under him and had
greatly helped Pompey by sea. {*Dio, l. 41. (63)
4:109}
5026. After Antipater had followed Caesar from Syria,
he returned into Judea. As he was making his rounds
through the province, he repressed, by using both
threats and reasoning, all those who were rebellious.
He told them that if they were content with their prince
Hyrcanus, they would live happily in their own land.
But if they thought they could do better by rebelling,
they would have himself as master instead of governor,
Hyrcanus as a tyrant instead of a king, and Caesar and
the Romans would be their very bitter enemies, instead
of princes. [E667] Because of this, Antipater would
definitely not allow anything to be changed from what
they agreed on. When Antipater realised that Hyrcanus
was dull and idle, he settled the state of the province
as he pleased. He made his older son, Phasael, the
governor of Jerusalem and the neighbouring countries and
gave the care of Galilee to Herod, who was his second
oldest son and a very young man. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 10. s. 4. (201-203) 2:93,95}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9. s. 1,2. (156-158)
7:531,533}
5027. Josephus stated that Herod was only fifteen years
old at that time. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9.
s. 2. (158) 7:533} [K353] The following references
retain the same number. {Rufinus, in his translation of
Josephus} {Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 258.}
{Pseudogoronides the Hebrew, l. 5. c. 3.} {Nicephorus
Callistus, Ecclesiastical History, l. 1. c. 6.}
However, Ptolemy and Nicolaus Damascene, the first
historians who wrote of Herod, and from whom Josephus
took his information, wrote twenty-five instead of
fifteen. It was an easy mistake for the transcribers to
confuse: ke for ie. It was forty-three and a half years
from this time to the death of Herod. If we add
twenty-five years to this, we get his age at death as
being sixty-eight and a half years. Had he lived six
months longer, he would have been in his seventieth
year. Josephus himself acknowledged that, when Herod
was dying, he was almost in his seventieth year.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 6. s. 1. (147)
8:439}
5028. Phasael had a son born to him who was also called
Phasael by the mother, Salampsio, the daughter of Herod
and Mariamme. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s.
4. (130) 9:89} He was only seven years old when his
father died. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 14. s.
1. (371,372) 7:645}
5029. Pharnaces planned an expedition against Asander,
who had revolted from him in the Bosphorus. When he
heard that Caesar was rapidly approaching Armenia, he
was terrified and more afraid of Caesar, who was leading
the invasion, than of his army. He sent many envoys to
negotiate for peace before Caesar came too close.
Hoping to avoid this immediate danger by any means, he
made the fact that he had never helped Pompey his main
pretence. He also hoped to be able to induce Caesar to
some peace terms because he was hurrying into Italy and
Africa. Then, after his departure, he would be free to
renew his planned war. Caesar suspected as much and
courteously entertained his first and second envoys, to
enable him to take him by surprise while he was still
hoping for peace. {*Dio, l. 42. (47) 4:189,191}
5030. Caesar made long marches through Cappadocia and
stayed two days at Mazaca. Then he came to Comana, the
most ancient temple of Enyo, or Bellona (goddess of
war), in Cappadocia. She was worshipped with such great
devotion that her priest was considered by the whole
country to be second only to the king in majesty,
command and power. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 2. s. 3.
5:351,353} Caesar decreed this priesthood on Lycomedes
of Bithynia, who was a most noble man and of the family
of the Cappadocian kings. He thus recovered the right
that was undoubtedly his, although it had long been
interrupted. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (66)
3:117,119} Although Caesar confirmed to others, who had
sided with Pompey against him, the positions of
authority which they had received from Pompey, he
transferred the priesthood of Comana from Archelaus to
Lycomedes. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17.
(121) 2:475} Pompey had given it to Lycomedes' father
Archelaus, the husband of Cleopatra's elder sister, whom
Gabinus had killed in Egypt. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 3.
s. 34. 5:437}
5031. When Caesar neared Pontus and the borders of
Galatia, Dejotarus, the tetrarch of Galatia, came to
him. He was claiming the state of Lesser Armenia which
the Senate had granted to him, but which was being
disputed by the rest of the tetrarchs, who said it had
never belonged to him, either by law or custom.
Dejotarus set aside his royal robes and dressed like a
common man who was guilty. He fell prostrate at
Caesar's feet and begged his pardon for having served in
Gnaeus Pompey's army. He made the excuse that he had
not known what was happening in Italy and that he had
been forced to do this because he had been surrounded by
Pompey's armies. [K354] Caesar rejected his excuse but
said he would grant him his request because of his old
acquaintance and friendship, on account of the dignity
and age of the man and at the entreaty of many of
Dejotarus' friends and acquaintances, who came to
intercede on his behalf. Caesar restored his royal
robes to him, saying that he would later decide the
controversies of the tetrarchs. However, he ordered
that Dejotarus' legion be brought to him, which
Dejotarus had formed from his own men, who were trained
in the Roman discipline. Caesar also wanted all his
cavalry to be brought to him to serve him in the Pontic
war. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (67) 3:119}
Caesar fined his old acquaintance, Dejotarus, a sum of
money and gave Lesser Armenia, which had been given to
Dejotarus by the Senate and was currently occupied by
Pharnaces, to Ariobarzanes, the king of Cappadocia.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 2. c. 37. 15:157,159}
{*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 1. c. 15. 20:255}
{*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 2. c. 37. 20:461}
{*Dio, l. 42. (46) 4:187}
5032. Cicero made a speech on behalf of this king
Dejotarus, saying that Domitius had paid his fine two or
three times over, by selling his own private goods at a
public sale. Caesar could then use the money in the
war. [E668] Also, to gain Caesar's favour, he spoke to
Caesar thus about the matter: {*Cicero, Pro Dejotaro, l.
1. c. 13. 14:535}
"He remembers what you have helped him to retain, not
what you have helped him to lose. Nor does he think
that he was punished by you, but since he thought that
many things were to be given by you to many men, he did
not oppose your taking some from him who was on the
opposing side. Oh Caesar, you have given all things to
Dejotarus, since you have granted the name of king even
to his son. As long as he retains and keeps this title,
he thinks that kindness of the people of Rome and the
opinion held of him by the Senate has been no whit
diminished."
5033. When Caesar arrived in Pontus, he made a
rendezvous of all his forces in one place. They varied
in number and in martial discipline, except for the
sixth legion, which was a veteran legion that he had
brought with him from Alexandria. However, due to the
labours and hazards they had undergone, difficulties
both by sea and land and numerous skirmishes, they were
so undermanned that they were less than a thousand men.
The remainder were three legions, one from Dejotarus and
two that had been in the battle which Gnaeus Domitius
had fought with Pharnaces. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War,
l. 1. (69) 3:121}
5034. Pharnaces was frightened by the approach of
Caesar and sent envoys to negotiate for peace. They
brought him a golden crown when he was twenty-five miles
away and very foolishly offered him their king's
daughter in marriage. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c.
13. (91) 3:395} First of all, they begged that he would
not come as an enemy, for Pharnaces would do anything
whatever he ordered him to do. They especially reminded
him that Pharnaces had sent no forces to Pompey against
Caesar, whereas Dejotarus had sent some troops, but had
still been received into Caesar's favour. Caesar
replied that he would be very favourably inclined toward
Pharnaces, if he would do everything as he had promised.
But he advised the envoys in mild terms, as was his
custom, that they should not object to him about
Dejotarus, nor brag too much about the favour that they
had not sent help to Pompey. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War,
l. 1. (69,70) 3:123,125} He also accused Pharnaces of
having been wicked and ungrateful toward his benefactor.
{*Dio, l. 41. (63) 4:109} {*Dio, l. 42. (47)
4:189,191} In summing up, he ordered him to get out of
Pontus and to send back the household slaves of the tax
collectors. He was to restore to him the allies and
citizens of Rome who were in his possession. If he
would do this, Caesar said that he would then accept
those presents which generals were accustomed to receive
from their friends after a war was happily ended.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (70) 3:125}
5035. Pharnaces freely promised all things, hoping that
Caesar would want to hurry to Rome and so believe his
promises more willingly. [K355] He began to go more
slowly about his business, to ask for more time for his
departure, to interpose new conditions and in short, to
disappoint Caesar. Caesar recognised his craftiness and
rushed through his business all the more, so that he
would be able to come and fight with him sooner than
anyone would expect. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1.
(71) 3:125}
5036. As soon as Caesar arrived at Pharnaces' camp, he
said: Shall not now this parricide (murderer of a
parent) be punished? Mounting his horse, he routed the
enemy at the first shout that was given, and carried out
a large slaughter. Caesar was helped by a thousand
cavalry who followed him when he first rushed into the
battle. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (91)
3:395} {*Dio, l. 42. (47) 4:189} The same day that he
reached the enemy after his march, Caesar went to fight
with the enemy. He was troubled at times by the enemy's
cavalry and their chariots armed with scythes, but he
finally obtained the victory. Julius Frontinus noted
that Caesar marshalled his army on a hill, which made
for an easier victory. {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 2.
c. 2. s. 4. 1:99} The arrows, which were shot from
above onto the barbarians below, quickly made them flee.
Dejotarus was in the battle with Caesar against
Pharnaces, risking his life. {*Cicero, Pro Dejotaro, l.
1. c. 5. 14:513}
5037. This battle was fought around Mount Scotius,
which was not more than three miles from the city of
Zela. It was near there that Mithridates, the father of
Pharnaces, had defeated Triarius and the Roman army with
a large slaughter. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1.
(72) 3:125,127} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 50.
7:561} {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17.
(120) 2:473} {*Dio, l. 42. (47) 4:191} On this
mountain, Pharnaces (that we may report the story of
this battle more accurately from Hirtius) had repaired
the old works of his father's camp, five miles from the
enemy, so that he could control the valleys adjoining
the king's camp. The next night, in the fourth watch,
Caesar left his camp with all his legions, but without
any baggage, and captured the very place where
Mithridates had fought against Triarius.
5038. As soon as it was day and Pharnaces became aware
of this, he drew out all his forces in front of his
camp. They were either encouraged by the good fortune
Mithridates had enjoyed in that place, or persuaded by
tokens and ceremonies (which, as Caesar later heard, he
scrupulously observed), or filled with contempt for the
number of the Roman forces. Many of these had already
been defeated under Domitius. Pharnaces, taking the
initiative, attacked the Romans in an uneven place as
they were fortifying their camp and terrified them.
[E669] As they were suddenly called from their work,
they were not set in battle array. The king's chariots,
which were armed with scythes, created chaos among the
soldiers. But these chariots were quickly overcome by a
large number of arrows. The main body of the enemy
followed the chariots and fought hand to hand. They
were overcome first in the right wing, where the sixth
legion composed of old veterans had been placed, then
the left wing and then the main body, where the entire
forces of the king were routed. Many of the soldiers
were either killed or trampled by their own men. Those
who hoped to escape through their swiftness, threw away
their arms and crossed the valley. But they were met by
the Romans coming from the higher ground and perished.
The Romans, encouraged by this victory, did not hesitate
to climb up that steep place and attack their works,
thereby quickly capturing the enemy's camp from the
cohorts that Pharnaces had left for its defence.
{*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (73-76) 3:127-133}
[K356]
5039. In this way, Caesar ground Pharnaces into the
dust in a single battle or rather, part of a battle,
like lightning which came, hit and departed, all in one
instant. Nor was it a vain boast of Caesar's that he
had overcome the enemy before having set eyes on him.
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 13. 1:287} Caesar bragged that he
had come to the enemy, he had seen him, and he had
conquered him, all on the same day and in the same hour.
{*Dio, l. 42. (48) 4:191} In his letters sent to Rome,
he wrote these three words to his friend Amanitius:
VENI, VIDI, VICI, I came, I saw, I conquered.
{*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 50. s. 2. 7:563}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (91) 3:395}
Within five days of his arrival and within four hours of
having come in sight of him, he had vanquished Pharnaces
in only one battle. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c.
35. s. 2. 1:81} He often remarked on the good luck of
Pompey, who happened to get his greatest honour in the
Mithridatic War over so cowardly an enemy. {*Suetonius,
Julius, l. 1. c. 35. s. 2. 1:81} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (91) 3:395}
5040. Pharnaces fled with a few cavalry after his whole
army had been either killed or captured. When the
Romans invaded his camp, it gave him an opportunity to
escape. Otherwise, he would have been brought alive
into Caesar's hands. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1.
(76) 3:133} He fled to Sinope with a thousand cavalry.
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (120)
2:473}
5041. Caesar was overjoyed that he had ended so major a
war in so short a time. In recalling the sudden danger,
he was all the more joyous, because the victory had come
so easily, after so many difficulties. {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (77) 3:133} Caesar gave the
soldiers all the king's baggage and the spoils, even
though they were considerable. {*Caesar, Alexandrian
War, l. 1. (77) 3:135} {*Dio, l. 42. (48) 4:191} On
this site, Mithridates had set up a monument for the
victory he had won over Triarius. Since it had been
consecrated to the gods, it was not lawful for Caesar to
pull it down. So he set up one in front of it for his
victory over Pharnaces, whereby he obscured it and in a
way, threw down the monument which Mithridates had
erected. After this, he recovered everything Pharnaces
had taken from the Romans or their allies. He restored
to everyone what each had lost, except for a part of
Armenia, which he gave to Ariobarzanes, as well as
requiting the city of Amisus for the calamity it had
endured, by giving it its liberty. {*Dio, l. 42. (48)
4:191} He ordered the sixth legion to go to Italy to
receive the rewards and honours due to them and sent
home the supplies that Dejotarus had brought. The two
other legions he left in Pontus with Caelius Vinicianus.
He passed through Galatia and Bithynia into Asia. He
paid attention to and settled all the controversies of
all these provinces and gave laws to tetrarchs, kings
and cities. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1. (78)
3:135}
5042. As he passed through Asia, he collected money,
which raised great anger against the tax collectors who
exacted it secretly from all the people. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (92) 3:397} (Publius
Servilius Isauricus, the colleague of Caesar and Cicero
in the Augurship, was proconsul there. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 13. c. 68. 27:157})
5043. Brithagoras was a man of great authority among
the Heracleans in Pontus and had followed Caesar
wherever he went. He had even returned to this place
again about a matter that concerned his countrymen.
When Caesar was preparing to return to Rome, Brithagoras
died. He was worn out with old age and continual
labours, and his death was greatly mourned by his
countrymen. {Memnon, Excerpts of Photius, c. 62.}
5044. Caesar made Mithridates of Pergamum the king of
Bosphorus (who had carried on the war in Egypt to a good
conclusion and very speedily). [K357] He was of the
family of the kings and had a royal education.
Mithridates, the king of all Asia, had taken him away
from Pergamum when he was only a child and carried him
into his camp and kept him for many years. By this
action, namely by putting a king over them who was very
friendly toward them, Caesar greatly strengthened the
provinces of the people of Rome against the barbarians
and enemy kings. {*Caesar, Alexandrian War, l. 1.
(78) 3:135} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 3. 6:169}
{*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (121)
2:475}
5045. He ordered Mithridates to make war upon Asander
and become the master of Bosphorus, in order to revenge
Asander's treachery against his friend. {*Dio, l. 42.
(48) 4:191,193} [E670] Caesar also granted him the
tetrarchy of the Trocmians in Galatia, which bordered on
Pontus and Cappadocia. This belonged to him by his
mother's right, but had previously been seized by
Dejotarus and been in his possession for some years.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 2. c. 37. 15:159} {*Cicero,
De Divinatione, l. 2. c. 37. 20:461} {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (78) 3:135} {*Strabo, l. 12.
c. 5. s. 2. 5:469} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 3.
6:169,171} {*Dio, l. 42. (48) 4:191}
5046. After this, Caesar sailed into Greece and Italy,
raising large sums of money under any pretence whatever,
as he had done before. He exacted some money that had
previously been promised to Pompey, as well as feigning
other excuses to raise money. He also received many
golden crowns from the princes and kings, in honour of
his victories. He declared that there were two things
by which empires were gained, retained and increased:
soldiers and money. Each helped the other and if one of
them failed, the other must also fail. {*Dio, l. 42.
(49) 4:193}
5047. It does not appear that he was at Athens on the
Calends of September (September 1, or Julian June 17),
for many things were reported to have detained him in
Asia, especially Pharnaces. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 11.
c. 21. 23:413,415} However, Pharnaces was conquered so
suddenly, according to Livy, and everything settled so
quickly, that he came to Italy sooner than anyone had
imagined. {*Livy, l. 113. 14:143} {*Caesar,
Alexandrian War, l. 1. (78) 3:135}
5048. Caesar came to Rome just at the end of the year
in which he had been made dictator. (This office had
never been an annual office.) He was declared consul for
the next year. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 51. s.
1. 7:563}
5049. Pharnaces turned over Sinope to Domitius
Calvinus, who had been left by Caesar to continue the
war against him. Domitius Calvinus accepted the peace
terms and dismissed him with his thousand cavalry.
Pharnaces then killed the horses of the cavalry, which
grieved his men. From there, Pharnaces sailed and fled
into Pontus. {*Appian, Mithridatic Wars, l. 12. c.
17. (121) 2:475} Appian stated that Pharnaces fled back
into the kingdom of Bosphorus that had been given to him
by Pompey. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 13. (92)
3:395}
5050. Herod, the prefect of Galilee, captured Hezekiah,
a Jew, and his many accomplices in thievery who were
accustomed to invade Syria with his bands. Herod put
him to death and this gained him much favour with the
Syrians. Then he governed the province of Syria.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 10. s. 5.
(204,205) 2:95} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9. s.
2. (158-161) 7:533,535} [K358]
5051. Phasael was jealous of his brother's glory and
won the favour of the inhabitants of Jerusalem by doing
all public business personally and not abusing his power
to harm anyone. In this way, it came to pass that
Antipater, his father, was reverenced by the whole
country as if he had been the king. However, the
fidelity and goodwill that was shown him by the people,
and which he owed to Hyrcanus, was maintained.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 10. s. 5.
(206,207) 2:95,97} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9.
s. 2. (161,162) 7:535}
3958a AM, 4667 JP, 47 BC
5052. Caesar undertook an expedition against Publius
Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompey the Great, Marcus
Cato, and Juba, the king of Numidia. On the 14th of the
Calends of January (December 17th, or Julian September
30), he came to Lilybaeum. He sailed from there on the
6th of the Calends of January (December 25), and after
four days came within sight of Africa. {*Caesar,
African War, l. 1. (1,2) 3:147,149} (Loeb English
translation has three days, whereas the Latin has four
days. Editor.) This was the year before the institution
of the new calendar, counting backward from the
following long year of four hundred and forty-five days
which made the Calends of January (January 1) the first
day of the new Julian year. This will be shown later.
Plutarch and Dio did not note this fact. Plutarch
stated that Caesar crossed into Sicily around the winter
solstice. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 52. s. 1.
7:565,565} Dio said that he went into Africa in the
middle of winter. {*Dio, l. 43. (4) 4:217} However,
Cicero clearly affirmed that he went into Africa before
winter: {*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 2. c. 24.
20:431}
"When Caesar was advised that he should not go into
Africa before winter, did he not go? No, if he had not
gone, all the forces of his adversaries would have made
their rendezvous in one place."
5053. On the Calends of January (January 1, or Julian
October 13), Caesar camped at a town called Ruspina. On
the day before the Nones of January (January 4, or
Julian October 16), the third day after he landed in
Africa, there was an extremely fierce battle, which
lasted from five o'clock in the morning until sunset, in
which Caesar defeated Labienus and Petreius. On the 6th
of the Calends of February (January 25, or Julian
November 6), he again defeated the enemy's army under
the command of Labienus and Scipio. {*Caesar, African
War, l. 1. (6-40) 3:155-209}
5054. Dio noted that Pharnaces tried to enter into the
Bosphorus by force, whereupon he was cast into prison
and put to death by Asander. {*Dio, l. 42. (47)
4:191} Appian gave more details. [E671] Pharnaces had
gathered together a band of Scythians and Sarmatians and
had captured Theodosia and Panticapaeum. When he made
war on Asander, his cavalry men, who had no horses and
were not used to fighting on foot, were defeated.
Pharnaces fought valiantly, even though he was now fifty
years old. He was wounded and killed. He had reigned
fifteen years in Bosphorus, as Appian stated, or rather,
seventeen years. That was the elapsed time from the
murder of his father Mithridates. {*Appian, Mithridatic
Wars, l. 12. c. 17. (120) 2:475}
5055. Caecilius Bassus was an equestrian who had fled
from the battle of Pharsalia after Pompey was defeated.
He lived as a private citizen at Tyre, where some of his
own side joined him. He won the favour of these men and
of the soldiers of Sextus, the governor of Syria, who
came at various times to guard the city. Since a great
deal of news was brought of Caesar's ill-fortune in
Africa, Bassus became discontented and tried to
instigate a revolt. Sextus arrested him for this,
before he was completely ready. Bassus excused himself
by saying that he had only raised forces to help
Mithridates of Pergamum capture Bosphorus. So Sextus
believed him and let him go. {*Dio, l. 47. (26)
5:169,171} [K359]
5056. The noblemen of the Jews began to detest
Antipater and his sons, because they were so highly
honoured by the Jewish nation and became rich through
the money from Hyrcanus and the revenues from Judea.
Antipater befriended the Roman generals and persuaded
Hyrcanus to send them money. He got the credit for this
gift, as if he had sent it from his own treasury rather
than having received it from Hyrcanus. When Hyrcanus
heard about this, he was not angry, but accepted it.
However, the violence and bold nature of Herod, who
wanted the government for himself, terrified the princes
of the Jews the most. For this reason, they went to
Hyrcanus and publicly accused Antipater. Most of all,
they complained about Herod because he had put Hezekiah
to death, along with many others, without having
received any order from Hyrcanus. This was in contempt
of the laws, by which no man was punished, no matter how
wicked, unless he had first been condemned by the
judges. Every day, the mothers of those who had been
killed did not stop complaining and crying in the
temple, thereby persuading both the king and the people
that Herod should give an account of his actions before
the Sanhedrin. Because of this, Hyrcanus yielded to
their requests and ordered that Herod be summoned before
the council to plead his own case. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 14. c. 9. s. 3. (163-167) 7:535-539}
5057. When Herod had arranged the affairs of Galilee as
he thought best for himself, he was warned by his father
that he should not go into the council alone. He should
take with him a moderate but adequate guard, in case he
should terrify Hyrcanus if he brought too many. Neither
should he leave himself exposed to any danger from the
trial. When Herod presented himself before the
Sanhedrin in his royal robes with his guard in arms,
they were all astonished. Nor did anyone, who had
accused him when he was absent, dare to speak a word
against him now that he was present. Everyone was
silent not knowing what to do. Then Samaias spoke, who
was one of the council. He was a just man and for this
reason not afraid and that old proverb of the Hebrews
shows that he was not a hot-spirited man.
"Be thou humble as Hillel, and not
Ndpq angry as Sameas"
5058. He accused Herod of presumption and violence, but
laid the blame on the judges and the king himself, who
had granted him such great liberty. He later said that,
by the just judgment of God, they would be punished by
Herod himself. This actually happened, for the judges
of that council and Hyrcanus were put to death by Herod
when he was king. When Hyrcanus saw that the judges
were inclined to condemn Herod, he deferred the business
until the next day. He privately advised Herod to take
care of himself. So Herod left for Damascus, as though
he were fleeing from the king, and presented himself
before Sextus Caesar. Having secured his own affairs,
Herod professed publicly that he would not appear, if he
were to be cited again before the judges. The judges
took this with great disdain and tried to convince
Hyrcanus that all these things would be his downfall.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9. s. 4,5. (168-184)
7:539-547}
3958b AM, 4668 JP, 46 BC
5059. When Caesar was in Africa, on the 12th of the
Calends of April (March 21, or Julian January 21), he
ceremonially purified his army. The next day he brought
out all his forces and set them in battle array. After
he had waited long enough for his enemies to come to
battle, he realised they were not willing to fight, so
he returned his forces to their camp. {*Caesar, African
War, l. 1. (75) 3:261} [K360]
5060. Caecilius Bassus, from letters he forged, claimed
to have received news from Scipio that Caesar had been
defeated in Africa and was dead, and that the government
of Syria had been committed to his charge. Therefore,
with the soldiers he had secured for that purpose, he
seized Tyre and from there marched toward Sextus'
forces. He was wounded and defeated and after that, did
not try to take Sextus by force. {*Dio, l. 47. (26)
5:171} [E672]
5061. On the day before the Nones of April (April 4, or
Julian February 4), in the third watch of the night,
Caesar left the town of Aggar and marched sixteen miles
that night. He began to fortify Thapsus that day, then
had a famous battle there, in which he defeated Juba and
Scipio. After this battle, Cato committed suicide in
Utica. {*Caesar, African War, l. 1. (79-93)
3:269-295}
5062. After Sextus Caesar had been bribed by Herod, he
made Herod the governor of Coelosyria. Herod was quite
upset that he had been called before the council and
planned to lead an army against Hyrcanus. However, the
entreaties of his father Antipater and brother Phasael
prevented him from invading Jerusalem. They tried to
appease him and wanted him to be content with giving
them a good fright, but doing them no harm. He was to
do no more, and obey his father, who had given him his
power and government. Herod obeyed this advice,
believing that he had done sufficient for his future
plans and had shown the country that he was a force to
be reckoned with. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9.
s. 5. (180-184) 7:543-547}
5063. In Africa, Caesar was reported to have seen a
large army in his sleep, calling to him and weeping. He
was so moved by this dream, that he immediately recorded
it in his books of memoirs. He sent some colonists from
Rome to rebuild Carthage and Corinth. {*Appian, Punic
Wars, l. 8. c. 20. (136) 1:645}
5064. Hyrcanus, through his envoys, requested Julius
Caesar to confirm the alliance and friendship which was
existing between them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
10. s. 1. (185) 7:547}
5065. Caecilius Bassus sent some of his party to Sextus
Caesar's soldiers. They were to raise their hopes and
cause them to ally themselves to Bassus. After they had
killed Sextus, they won over his own legion to Bassus'
side. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s. 1.
(268) 7:593} {*Livy, l. 114. 14:143} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (77) 4:99} {*Dio, l. 47.
(26,27) 5:171} However, this story was reported by
others like this: Sextus was a young man who liked
pleasure. He poorly mistreated the legion that Julius
Caesar had left for him in Syria. Bassus, to whom the
care of the legion had been committed, reprehended him
for this. Sometimes Sextus reproachfully rejected this
advice. Later, on one occasion when Sextus had ordered
Bassus to come, he obeyed slowly and Sextus ordered him
to be dragged before him. In this tumult, the two
started fighting. When the army could not endure this
insolence any longer, they killed Sextus with their
arrows. They soon regretted what they had done and
because they were afraid of Caesar, they made a
conspiracy to fight it out to the last man if they did
not receive a pardon and adequate assurance of it. They
also forced Bassus to join the conspiracy. After this,
they raised a new company and trained them in the same
discipline that they kept. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3.
c. 11. (77) 4:97,99} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
8. (58) 4:239,241}
5066. Bassus took over all the army, except for a few
who, having wintered at Apamea, had left for Cilicia
before his arrival. In vain he followed them there.
When he returned to Syria, he was nominated praetor and
fortified Apamea so that he could make it the seat of
the war. He enlisted all who were of full age for the
war, both freemen and servants, and gathered money and
made arms. {*Dio, l. 47. (27) 5:171,173} [K361]
5067. When Caesar had finished the African war on the
Ides of June (June 13, or Julian April 14), he sailed
from Utica. After the third day, he came to Caralis in
Sardinia. On the 3rd of the Calends of July (June 27,
or Julian April 29), he sailed by ship close to the
shore. Twenty-eight days later (Julian May 26), because
he had been hindered by storms, he arrived at the city
of Rome. {*Caesar, African War, l. 1. (98) 3:299}
5068. Caesar triumphed at Rome four times in the same
month, with a few days between each triumph. Each one
displayed different equipment and provisions.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 37. s. 1. 1:83} The
chariot for the Gallic triumph was made of citrus wood,
for the Pontic one, of acanthus, for Alexandria, of
tortoise shell, and for Africa, of ivory. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 56. s. 1,2. 1:173} In the
Pontic triumph, among the pageants and shows, he carried
before him a banner with these words, VENI, VIDI, VICI,
I came, I saw, I conquered. This did not signify the
acts achieved by him, as with other conquerors, but the
quick execution of this war. {*Suetonius, Julius, l.
1. c. 37. s. 2. 1:83} In this particular triumph,
the flight of Pharnaces made the people laugh. The
Alexandrian triumph for Egypt was held between the
Gallic and the Pontic ones. The people applauded the
deaths of Achillas and Pothinus. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 15. (101) 3:415} Arsinoe, the Egyptian
woman who at that time was considered a queen, was led
along as one of the number of the captives. This had
never happened at Rome before and raised much pity for
her with the people. After the triumph, she was
released, as a favour to her relatives. {*Dio, l. 43.
(19) 4:245,247}
5069. Her family, that is, her older sister Cleopatra
and younger brother Ptolemy, the husband of Cleopatra,
came to Rome this year, at Caesar's invitation. Caesar
appointed Cleopatra her lodging in his own house, and
sent her away with great honours and rewards, not at all
perturbed about the gossip he created by this. {*Dio,
l. 43. (27) 4:261} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c.
52. s. 1,2. 1:101} [E673] Also, in the temple of
Venus Genetrix, which he built because of a vow he had
made during the battle of Pharsalia (Dio confirmed it
was dedicated by him in this year), Caesar set up an
image of Cleopatra beside Venus. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 2. c. 15. (102) 3:417}
5070. In Syria, Gaius Antistius (Vetus) and others of
Caesar's captains, came against Caecilius Bassus with
cavalry and foot soldiers. He besieged Bassus in
Apamea. The neighbouring countries that favoured
Caesar's party sent forces to help. Antipater sent
forces with his sons, as well, both for the sake of
Sextus Caesar, who had been killed, and Julius Caesar,
who was alive, because he was a friend to both of them.
They fought for a long time, to no one's advantage. A
truce was made with no articles or covenants and they
suspended the war to bring in more auxiliaries.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 10. s. 10.
(216,217) 2:101} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 11.
s. 1. (268) 7:593} {*Dio, l. 47. (27) 5:173}
5071. Mithridates of Pergamum again plundered the
temple of Leucothea (in the country of the Moschi, near
the Phrixus River), which had previously been plundered
by Pharnaces. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 2. s. 17.
5:213} Like Pharnaces before him, he tried to seize
Bosphorus. Asander (referred to by Strabo as Calander
and Lysander) defeated him and after he had eliminated
both of them, Asander quietly enjoyed the kingdom of
Bosphorus. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 2. s. 17. 5:213}
{*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 3. 6:169} [K362]
5072. When Julius Caesar was high priest in his third
year and in the consulship of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus,
he ordered the amendment of the Roman year. He had the
help of Sosigenes in astronomical matters and of the
scribe, Flavius, in arranging the calendar. There were
twenty-three days intercalated in the month of February.
Between November and December, he interposed two other
intercalary months of sixty-seven days, so that this
year had fifteen months, or four hundred and forty-five
days. {Censorinus, De Die Natali, l. 1. c. 8.}
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 40. 1:87} {*Pliny, l.
18. c. 57. (211) 5:323} {*Dio, l. 43. (26) 4:259}
{Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c. 14.}
3959a AM, 4668 JP, 46 BC
5073. On the 5th of the Calends of the first
intercalary month (Julian September 26), Cicero made a
speech before Caesar for Quintus Ligarius. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 6. c. 14. s. 2. 25:499}
3959b AM, 4669 JP, 45 BC
5074. From the month of January, when Caesar started
his fourth consulship, the year was reckoned to start on
the first day of the new Julian year. He decreed that
this time would mark the beginning of the year in the
future. {Censorinus, De Die Natali, l. 1. c. 8.}
5075. Caesar made war in Spain with Pompey's sons on
the 11th of the Calends of March (February 19), and
captured the town of Ategna. He was called Imperator
when the Liberalia (or Lupercalia, as it was called by
Plutarch {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 61. s. 1.
7:585}) was celebrated on the 16th of the Calends of
April (March 17, as is shown from the old calendar). He
achieved a memorable victory at the city of Munda when
thirty thousand men on Pompey's side, along with the two
generals, Labienus and Attius Varus, and almost three
thousand equestrians, were killed in the battle. Caesar
lost about a thousand men and had about five hundred
wounded. After young Gnaeus Pompey, who had assumed the
office of the consul and the government, was killed, his
head was presented to Caesar as he was marching to
Hispalis. This was on the day before the Ides of April
(April 12), and the head was publicly displayed to the
people. {*Caesar, Spanish War, l. 1. (1-42)
3:311-389} In the battle against Pompey's son, his army
was afraid to join battle. Caesar dashed ahead into the
space between the armies and received two hundred arrows
on his shield, until his army, moved with shame and fear
for his safety, rushed forward and rescued him.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 21. (152) 3:509,511}
5076. The day before the Parilia, on the 12th of the
Calends of May (April 20), around evening, the news of
this victory reached Rome. {*Dio, l. 43. (42) 4:287}
The day before the Calends of May (April 30), at
Hispalis, Caesar wrote a consolatory letter to Marcus
Cicero on the death of his daughter Tullia. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 13. c. 20. 24:143} After the divorce of
her mother, Terentia, Tullia died in childbirth at
Publius Lentulus' house while her husband, Publius
Cornelius Dolabella, was in Spain with Caesar.
{Asconius Pedianus, In Pison} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1.
c. 41. s. 4,5. 7:189} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 13. c.
20. 24:143} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 2. c. 30.
15:143}
5077. Gaius Octavius, the grandchild of his sister
Julia, accompanied Caesar in this war. He was eighteen
years old and always stayed in the same house with
Caesar and rode in the same coach with him. Caesar
honoured this lad with the high priesthood. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 59. s. 3. 1:177,179}
5078. When King Dejotarus was in some trouble, he sent
Blesamius, his envoy, to Spain to Caesar. Caesar sent
him letters, which he sent to him from Tarraco, bidding
him to be of good hope and good courage. {*Cicero, Pro
Dejotaro, l. 1. c. 14. 14:537}
5079. While the war with Caecilius Bassus was going on
in Syria, Lucius Statius Murcus, who was a former
praetor, was sent by Julius Caesar as the successor to
Sextus. (In Velleius and Appian, he was called Staius,
and in Appian, Sextius. Josephus called him Marcus.
Loeb editions do not have some of these variations.
Editor.) He left Italy with three legions, but was
valiantly defeated by Bassus. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 69. s. 2. 1:199} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 10. s. 10. (216,217) 2:101,103} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s. 1. (268,269) 7:593}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (77) 4:99}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (58) 4:241} The
country had well supplied the army of Bassus. [K363]
Many Arabian princes were also allied with him in this
war and they controlled many fortified places nearby.
[E674] Among these places was Lysias, which was located
beyond the lake near Apamea, and Arethusa, the country
of Sampsiceramus and his son Jamblichus, whom Cicero
mentioned. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 15. c. 1. s. 2.
27:231} These princes governed the countries of the
Emiseni, of Heliopolis and Chalcis. They were close to
the countries who were under the command of Ptolemy, the
son of Mennaeus. He also governed Massyas and the
mountainous places of the Itureans. {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 2. s. 10. 7:253}
5080. Alchaudonius, the Arabian (called Alchaedamnus by
Strabo), was the king of the Rhambaean nomads, who lived
near the Euphrates River. They had earlier made a
league with Lucullus, but later, had sent forces to the
Parthians against Crassus. Now, both Bassus and his
enemies appealed to them for help, so Alchaudonius went
into Mesopotamia. When he reached a place that was
between Apamea and the camp of Caesar's supporters,
before he would answer either side, he proposed that he
would help those who gave him the most. In the battle,
his troops greatly overpowered the enemy with their
archery. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 10. 7:253,255}
{*Dio, l. 47. (27) 5:173}
5081. On the Ides of September (September 13), Caesar
made his last will and testament in his own house at
Laticum and committed it to the keeping of the head
vestal virgin. In it, he appointed as his heirs three
grandchildren of his sister. Gaius Octavius received
three-quarters (not half, as Livy wrote) and Lucius
Pinarius and Quintus Pedius received a quarter of the
estate. He also adopted Gaius Octavius into his family,
as well as naming many of those, who would later prove
to be his murderers, as tutors to his sons should he
happen to have any. He appointed Brutus to be one of
his secondary heirs together with Mark Antony, in case
the primary heirs were deceased. {*Livy, l. 116.
14:147} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 83. s. 1,2.
1:141} {*Dio, l. 44. (35) 4:367} {*Florus, l. 2. c.
15. s. 1. 1:301,303} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c.
20. (143) 3:491}
3960a AM, 4669 JP, 45 BC
5082. In the month of October Caesar, who had now
conquered all, entered Rome and pardoned all who had
fought against him. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
56. s. 1. 1:173} After he had performed the triumph
for Spain, at the beginning of this month, he retired
from the consulship. He instituted a new order by
substituting honorary consuls. He made Quintus Fabius
Maximus and Gaius Trebonius the consuls for three
months. {*Dio, l. 43. (46) 4:293} {Gruter,
Inscriptions, p. 298.} The former of these had been
consul and had triumphed for Spain on the 3rd of the
Ides of October (October 13). {Gruter, Inscriptions, p.
297.} Thereupon, when Chrysippus had seen the ivory
towns carried before Caesar in his triumph, and then, a
few days later, the wooden ones of Fabius Maximus, he
said the latter were nothing more than the cases for
Caesar's towns. {Quintilian, l. 6. c. 4.}
5083. Very many and great honours were decreed to
Caesar by the Senate. He was declared to be the
perpetual dictator and was called Imperator, or Emperor.
{*Livy, l. 116. 14:145} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1.
c. 76. s. 1. 1:129} This was not in the sense in
which, both before and after, the title was given to
generals for any victory they had obtained in the wars.
This signified the highest power and authority in the
state, for it was granted to him that he alone should
have soldiers and the command of the militia; {*Dio, l.
43. (44) 4:289} he alone was to take charge of the
public money, and it would not be lawful for any other
person to make use of either of these. All the
magistrates were to be subject to him, including the
magistrates of the common people. They were to swear
that they would never infringe on any of his decrees.
{*Dio, l. 43. (45) 4:291} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2.
c. 16. (106) 3:423} Velleius declared the time from
this point to his last return to the city to have been:
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 56. s. 3. 1:173}
[K364]
"His five months of his supreme power."
5084. Caesar thought of repressing the Getae, or Daci,
who had made a large invasion into Pontus and Thrace.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 44. s. 3. 1:93}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 16. (110) 3:429} To
prepare for this expedition, he sent Octavius, the son
of Atia by his sister Julia's daughter, ahead to
Apollonia. He was to study there and learn martial
discipline, as it was Caesar's intention later to make
him his fellow soldier in the Getic and Pontic war.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 59. s. 4,5. 1:179}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 8. s. 2,3. 1:161}
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 22. s. 1. 6:175}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (9) 3:533} {*Dio,
l. 45. (2) 4:407} Octavius led some very old squadrons
of Pergamum from the city to Apollonia. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 8,9. 1:159,161} {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 89. s. 1. 1:281} {*Strabo, l.
13. c. 4. s. 3. 6:171} Some squadrons of cavalry
from Macedonia came to Apollonia and Octavius trained
them. By entertaining them courteously, he developed a
very affable manner with the army. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (9) 3:533}
5085. Castor, a young man, was incited by his father,
Saocondarius (as Strabo called him), and his mother, the
daughter of King Dejotarus, so that he went to Rome to
accuse his grandfather. He corrupted Philip, Dejotarus'
servant and a physician with hopes and promises to get
him to accuse his master falsely of treason by saying
that the king would have killed Caesar when he
entertained him in his tetrarchy. [E675] The king's
envoys, Hieras, Blescenius, Antigonus and Dorylaus,
opposed this plan and offered their own lives to Caesar
for the safety and security of the two kings. (The
father and son then reigned together.) Cicero made a
speech in Caesar's house in his defence in memory of
their old friendship and familiarity. He prefaced his
remarks with the statement that it was so unusual for a
king to be guilty of treason, that it had never been
heard of before. However, because of this false
accusation, Dejotarus killed Castor (that noble
chronographer) and his own daughter in his palace at
Gorbeus. {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 5. s. 3.5:473}
{Suidas, in voc. Kastor} For more about all this
business, see our dear friend, Vossius. {Vossius, Greek
Historians, l. 1.}
5086. On the Ides of December (December 13), Quintus
Pedius triumphed for Spain (the third time within three
months), in which (as Fabius had done before him) he
used wooden pageants instead of ivory ones, which caused
much laughter. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 297.} {*Dio,
l. 43. (42) 4:285}
5087. The Parthians came to help Caecilius Bassus, but
did not stay long, because it was winter, and did not do
anything outstanding for him. Dio stated that their
arrival effectively freed Bassus from that close siege
by Antistius Vetus, as Vetus himself confirmed in his
letters to Balbus. {*Dio, l. 47. (27) 5:173}
Concerning this, Cicero wrote: {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
14. c. 9. 24:233}
"Balbus was here with me, to whom letters from Vetus
were delivered on the day before the month of January.
Vetus stated that Caecilius was besieged by him and had
almost been taken, Pacorus the Parthian came with
numerous forces, and so he escaped from him with the
loss of many of his men. He blamed Volcacius for this.
So it seems to me that war is near, but let Nelcias and
Dolabella take care of it."
5088. When Cicero wrote this letter, Nelcias and
Dolabella had been entrusted with the care of the
province of Syria and of the Parthian war, after the
death of Caesar.
5089. At Rome, the day before the Calends of January
(December 31), after Quintus Fabius Maximus, the consul,
was dead, Gaius Caninius Rebilus demanded the consulship
for the few remaining hours. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 14.
c. 9. 24:233} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 53. 2:627}
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 76. s. 2. 1:129}
{*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c. 15. s. 2. 2:105}
{Trebellius, Pallio and Tyrants, c. 30.} [K365]
Concerning whom Cicero sarcastically wrote the following
about him to Curtius: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 7. c. 30.
s. 1. 26:85,87} (See Macrobius also. {Macrobius,
Saturnalia, l. 2. c. 3.} {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l.
7. c. 3.})
"Know that all the time that Caninius was consul, no one
dined. However, no harm was done the whole time that he
was consul, for he was very vigilant, for he never slept
during his consulship."
3960b AM, 4670 JP, 44 BC
5090. The next day, Caesar assumed his fifth and last
consulship. He made an edict that thanks should be
expressed to Hyrcanus, the high priest and prince of the
Jews, as well as to the country of the Jews, for their
affection toward him and the people of Rome. Caesar
also decreed that Hyrcanus should have the city of
Jerusalem and should rebuild its walls and govern it
after his own will. He also granted to the Jews that
every second year there should be a reduction in their
rents and that they should be free from impositions and
tributes. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 10. s. 7.
(217,212) 7:561} Josephus seems to have been mistaken
when, in the previous chapter, he said that Caesar was
in Syria and sent letters to Rome to the consuls. The
letters said that authority should be given to Hyrcanus
to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which Pompey had
thrown down. Josephus said that shortly after this,
Caesar left Syria and Antipater started to rebuild the
walls. That decree of the Senate, which Josephus
recorded, did not apply to Hyrcanus nor to the
rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. {See note on
3877a AM. <<3798>>} {Salianus, Annals - 4007
AM, c.
36,37.}
5091. In the same fifth consulship, in the second
Julian year, the month of Quintilis was renamed July, in
honour of Julius Caesar. Mark Antony, his colleague in
the consulship, proposed this law, because Julius was
born on the 4th of the Ides of Quintilis (July 12).
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 16. (106) 3:423}
{*Dio, l. 44. (5) 4:317} {Censorinus, De Die Natali,
l. 1. c. 9.} {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c. 12.}
Thereupon, in the following month of Sextilis, Marcus
Brutus, who was the city's praetor and was to hold the
games in honour of Apollo after Caesar had been murdered
by him, wrote Nonis Jul., the Nones of July. Cicero
wrote to his friend Atticus: {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 16.
c. 1. 24:369}
"I could go on cursing all day. Could they have
insulted Brutus worse than with their July?"
5092. After Brutus was admonished for this by Cicero,
he said that he would write that the hunting which was
to take place on the day after the games to honour
Apollo, should be on the 3rd of the Ides of Quintilis
(July 13). Thus, he wrote Quintilis instead of July.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 16. c. 4. 24:381}
5093. Caesar rebuilt Carthage and Corinth, both of
which had previously been demolished, by bringing Roman
colonies there. {See note on 3858b AM.
<<3626,3628>>}
{*Dio, l. 43. (50) 4:301,303} {*Strabo, l. 8. c. 6.
s. 23. 4:203} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 3. s. 15.
8:189} [E676] Pausanias, Solinus and Appian stated that
a hundred and two years had elapsed between the
overthrow and the rebuilding of Carthage. This would
bring us to this year, when Mark Antony and Publius
Dolabella, whom Solinus named, were consuls. Appian
wrote that these cities were again rebuilt by Augustus
Caesar. {*Pausanias, Corinth, l. 2. c. 1. s. 2.
1:249} {Solinus, Carthage, c. 30.} {*Appian, Punic
Wars, l. 8. c. 20. (136) 1:645,647}
5094. At this time, the people of Rome were in a mood
to revenge the death of Crassus and the army he had
lost. They hoped utterly to conquer the Parthians. As
a result, it was decreed, by general consent, that this
war was to be headed by Caesar, and so they very
earnestly made preparations for it. [K366] The
following action was taken for the execution of that
war, so that Caesar should have sufficient officers with
him and that, in his absence, the city would not be left
without magistrates. So that the city would not choose
them while he was away and cause problems for Caesar,
Caesar intended to appoint magistrates beforehand for
the whole three years, which was how long they thought
the war would last. Caesar chose half of these, as the
law allowed him to do, but in truth, he chose all the
rest as well. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 41.
1:87} {*Dio, l. 43. (51) 4:303}
5095. Caesar planned to attack the Getes, or Dacians,
first. He sent sixteen legions and ten thousand cavalry
ahead of him across the Adriatic Sea. Then he planned
to make war on the Parthians by going through Lesser
Armenia. He did not want to come to a pitched battle
until he had tried his troops. {*Suetonius, Julius, l.
1. c. 44. s. 3. 1:93} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2.
c. 16. (110) 3:429}
5096. Caesar sent Cornificius to make war in Syria
against Caecilius Bassus, and gave him the province of
Syria. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 18,19.
26:585,587} While the legions were being brought to
Cornificius, Caesar was murdered. After that, the
province was assigned to Publius Cornelius Dolabella,
the consul, and old Africa was given to Cornificius.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 19. 26:587} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 21. 26:591} {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 4. c. 8. (57) 4:239}
5097. Caesar committed the charge and command of three
legions that he had left in Alexandria to Rufinus, the
son of a freedman of his and a former catamite (boy kept
for homosexual purposes) of his. {*Suetonius, Julius,
l. 1. c. 76. s. 3. 1:129,131}
5098. On the 7th of the Calends of February (January
26), Caesar entered the city in an ovation from Mount
Albanus for it had been decreed that during the
performance of the Latin Feriae, he should be brought
into the city in this way. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p.
297.} {*Dio, l. 44. (4) 4:315}
5099. Some had greeted him as king, as he was returning
from the sacrifice of the Latin Feriae and entering the
city from Mount Albanus. He was offended that the
people took it poorly and told them that he was Caesar,
and not a king. When they all held their peace, he
passed by them, very sad and melancholy. One of the
company put a laurel crown, tied with a white ribbon
(something they used to do to their kings), on his
statue. Epidius Marullus and Caesetius Flavus ordered
that the crown be untied and the man put into prison.
Caesar was grieved that the mention of a kingdom was not
well received, or that the glory of denying it was taken
from him. He severely reprimanded the tribunes and
removed them from their office. {*Suetonius, Julius, l.
1. c. 79. s. 1,2. 1:133} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1.
c. 60. s. 2. 7:583} {*Dio, l. 44. (4) 4:315}
{*Livy, l. 116. 14:145,147} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
2. c. 16. (108) 3:425}
5100. On the Lupercalia (which, according to the old
calendar, was celebrated on the 15th day of February),
Mark Antony, his colleague in the consulship, came
running stark naked into the midst of those who were
celebrating the feast. He fell down before Caesar, who
sat in the rostrum on his golden chair, clothed in
purple and crowned. He presented him with a diadem in
the name of the people of Rome. This was twice put on
his head by Antony, but Caesar took it off again and
laid it on his golden chair. He said that Jupiter alone
was the king of the Romans and sent the diadem into the
Capitol to Jupiter. He ordered that it should be
written in the records:
"That at the Lupercalia, Mark Antony, the consul,
offered a kingdom to Caesar, the dictator, but he would
not take it."
5101. As a result of that, it was suspected that this
had only been a trick between them and that Caesar did
in fact desire the name of king, but that he would
pretend to have been forced to take it. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 2. c. 16. (109) 3:429} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 2. c. 34. 15:149} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 3. c. 5. 15:201} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 13. c. 8. 15:563} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 56. s. 4. 1:173,175}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 12. 9:165,167}
{Cassidorus, Chronicle} [K367]
5102. After this, a rumour circulated which was neither
true nor false (which was how fables usually came about
to be made), that the priests, called Quindecimviri, had
found in the Sibylline book that the Parthians would be
overcome by the Romans, if a king were general.
Otherwise they were unconquerable. Consequently, Lucius
Cotta, one of the Quindecimviri, would propose a law in
the next Senate that Caesar should be called king. Some
thought that he ought to be called either dictator, or
emperor of the Romans, or any other name that sounded
more agreeable than the name of a king. Since all other
nations were under the command of the Romans, he should
certainly be called king. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1.
c. 79. s. 3. 1:133} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c.
60. s. 1. 7:581,583} {*Dio, l. 44. (15) 4:331}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 16. (110) 3:429}
Cicero also referred to this: {*Cicero, De Divinatione,
l. 2. c. 54. 20:495}
"We note this in the Sibylline verses, which she was
reported to have spoken in a fury and which were
interpreted by Lucius Cotta. [E677] These
interpretations were recently thought to be a man's
fabrications, as if it were maintaining that the one we
now already have for a king, must be called a king, if
we will want to be secure."
5103. Caesar prepared to leave the city as soon as he
could without having given any thought to where he would
go. However, four days before he had intended to leave,
he was stabbed in the Senate. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
2. c. 16. (111) 3:431} Sixty senators and equestrians
were involved in this conspiracy. {*Suetonius, Julius,
l. 1. c. 80. s. 4. 1:135,137} {Eutropius, l. 6.
fin.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 17.} Marcus Brutus, Gaius
Trebonius and Gaius Cassius, as well as Decimus Brutus,
one of Caesar's party, were the leaders in the
conspiracy. {*Livy, l. 116. 14:147} Caesar had come
into the Senate on the Ides of March (March 15), with
the intention of advocating the Parthian war, but as he
sat in the ivory chair, the senators stabbed him and he
received twenty-three wounds. {*Livy, l. 116. 14:147}
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 13. s. 94,95. 1:299} He was
fifty-six years old. {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c.
81. s. 4. 1:139} {*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c.
88,89. 1:147,149} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 69.
s. 1. 7:605} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 21.
(149) 3:503} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 16.
(117) 3:445}
5104. Thus he, who had fought in fifty battles, was
killed in that Senate by a number of the senators he
himself had chosen. {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 25. 2:565} He
was killed in Pompey's hall, in front of the statue of
Pompey, and many of his own centurions witnessed this.
So he fell at the hands of the noblest citizens, many of
whom also had been promoted by him. None of his friends
and none of his servants dared approach his body.
{*Cicero, De Divinatione, l. 2. c. 9. 20:395}
5105. Publius Cornelius Dolabella was twenty-five years
old and had been appointed by Caesar to be consul for
the remainder of Caesar's term, when Caesar left the
city. He snatched up the fasces and the consular
ensigns. Before them all, he vilely reproached the
author of his honour. Some say that he proposed a law,
that that day should be considered the birthday of the
city. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 17. (122)
3:453} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 58. s. 3.
1:177}
5106. The third day after the murder of Caesar,
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 2. c. 35. 15:153} when the
Liberalia was being celebrated, that being the 16th of
the Calends of April (March 17), the Senate convened in
the temple of Tellus. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 14. c.
10. 24:235} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 14. c. 14.
24:255} The consul Antony, Plancus and Cicero spoke in
favour of an act of amnesty and peace. [K368] It was
decreed that the memory of all wrongs should be blotted
out, a firm peace should be established among the
citizens and Caesar's acts should be ratified.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 1. c. 7. 15:35} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 58. 1:175,177} {*Plutarch,
Cicero, l. 1. c. 42. s. 2,3. 7:191} {*Plutarch,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 21. s. 1,2. 6:173} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 14. s. 1,2. 9:169} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 18. (135) 3:477} {*Dio, l. 44.
(34) 4:363,365}
5107. On that very day, Mark Antony first of all set
aside all hostility and accepted that Dolabella should
be his colleague in the consulship. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 1. c. 11. 15:47} Although Caesar had
previously shown that he had planned, before he left the
city, that Dolabella should be consul and Antony had
strongly opposed it. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 2. c.
32. 15:145} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 11. s.
2,3. 9:163} At first, Antony had determined not to
allow him to be consul, since he was still too young,
but fearing that he might cause a riot, he allowed it to
happen. {*Dio, l. 44. (53) 4:403}
5108. The next day, the Senate met again and assigned
provinces to Caesar's murderers. Crete went to Marcus
Brutus, Africa to Cassius, Asia to Trebonius, Bithynia
to Cimber and Cisalpine Gaul to Decimus Brutus.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 19. s. 4,5. 6:169}
5109. Of these, the last two still held the office of
praetors of the city. They did not think it wise to
enter the provinces before their term of office as
praetors in Rome had expired. When they also saw that
it was not safe for them to exercise any authority in
the city, they planned to spend the rest of the year in
Italy as private citizens. When the Senate realised
this, they appointed them to be overseers of the grain
shipments to Rome. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 1.
(2) 3:521} Brutus was in charge of the grain shipments
from Asia and Cassius from Sicily, but Cassius scorned
this office. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 15. c. 9.
24:319} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 15. c. 11. 24:323}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 15. c. 12. 24:327}
5110. Some had a plan that a private fund should be
established by the Roman equestrians for those who had
killed Caesar. They thought that this could easily be
done if the leaders of their number would bring in their
money. So Atticus was called upon by Flavius, a close
friend of Brutus, to take the lead in this business.
Atticus was always mindful of doing his friend a favour,
without causing any friction. He replied that if Brutus
wished to make use of his estate, he could do so to the
extent that his estate would permit. However, he
himself refused even to speak with anyone about this
matter, let alone join them in it. So their whole plot
was spoiled by one man's dissent. {*Cornelius Nepos,
Life of Atticus, l. 1. c. 8. s. 1-4. 1:299,301}
[E678]
5111. In the temple of Castor, some letters in the
inscriptions of the names of the consuls, Antony and
Dolabella, were struck down by lightning. Julius stated
that this portended their alienation from their country.
{*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 68. 14:311}
5112. The consul Antony persuaded his colleague,
Dolabella, since he was an ambitious young man, to
request to be sent into Syria, and to the army that had
been raised against the Parthians. He managed to
achieve that the province of Syria was allocated to
Dolabella by the votes of the people, along with the
Parthian war and the legions that had been assigned by
Caesar for that purpose. Those who had been sent ahead
into Macedonia were also given to him. Antony then
obtained Macedonia, which was not being defended by an
army, from the Senate. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c.
1. (8) 3:531} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 3.
(24) 3:563}
3960c AM, 4670 JP, 44 BC
5113. Cicero feared Antony's power and at first
determined to go with Dolabella into Syria as his
lieutenant. {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 43. s.
1,2. 7:191} On the 4th of the Nones of April (April 4),
Cicero was given the lieutenancy, so that he could enter
the position whenever he wanted to. {*Cicero, Atticus,
l. 15. c. 11. 24:325} He was persuaded otherwise by
Hirtius and Pausa, who were appointed consuls for the
next year, and so changed his mind. [K369] He left
Dolabella and planned to spend the summer at Athens.
{*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 43. s. 2,3. 7:193} He
intended to journey into Greece before the time that the
Olympian games were celebrated. {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
15. c. 26. 24:359} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 16. c. 7.
24:399} The 184th Olympiad was celebrated in this year.
5114. In the sixth month after Octavius had come to
Apollonia, he received news of his uncle's death. He
left Epirus for Italy and at Brundisium, was received by
the army, that had gone to meet him as Caesar's son.
Without any further delay, he immediately assumed the
name of Caesar and took to himself the role of being his
heir. All the more so, because he had brought a large
amount of money with him, as well as the numerous forces
that had been sent to him by Caesar. At Brundisium, he
was adopted into the Julian family, from which point on
he called himself Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius, instead
of Gaius Octavius. {*Livy, l. 117. 14:147} {*Julius
Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 68. 14:309} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (9-11) 3:533-537} {*Dio, l.
45. (3,4) 4:413,415}
5115. On account of this very name, just as if he had
been a true son, a large number of friends, both
freedmen and slaves, flocked to him. They also brought
soldiers to Brundisium, who either carried provisions
and money into Macedonia, or brought the tributes and
other money that they had exacted from the provinces.
He was encouraged and emboldened by the large number of
people who came to him. Because of the authority of the
name of Caesar, he was held in high esteem by the common
people. He journeyed toward Rome with a considerable
following, which increased daily like a flood.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (12,13) 3:537,539}
5116. On the 14th of the Calends of May (April 18),
Octavius came to Naples and the following day, he
visited Cicero at Cyme. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 14. c.
10. 24:235,237} Cicero wrote a letter to Atticus on the
10th of the Calends of May (April 22): {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 14. c. 12. 24:241}
"Octavius was with us and was very noble and friendly.
His own followers greeted him by the name of Caesar, but
Philippus would not."
5117. Octavius' mother, Atia, and his step-father,
Philippus, did not approve that he should take the name
associated with the envied fortune of Caesar.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 60. s. 1. 1:179}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 8. s. 2,3. 1:161}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (13) 3:539}
5118. A vast company of friends met Octavius as he was
coming to Rome. As he entered the city, the globe of
the sun seemed to be on his head, and bent round just
like a bow, putting a crown, as it were, upon the head
of the man who was later to be so famous. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 59. s. 5,6. 1:179} {*Julius
Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 68. 14:309}
"When he entered the city with a large number around
him, the sun was included in the circle of a pure and
unclouded sky and surrounded him with the inmost part of
the circle."
5119. Rainbows are usually bent in the clouds. That
is, a circle of various colours, as is usual in the
rainbow, surrounded the sun. {*Seneca, Natural
Questions, l. 1. c. 2. s. 1. 7:23} {*Pliny, l. 2.
c. 28. 1:241} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 95.
s. 1. 1:295} {*Dio, l. 45. (4) 4:415} {Orosius, l.
6. c. 20.}
5120. Octavius called his friends together and that
night ordered them all to be ready the next morning,
with a good number of followers, to meet him in the
forum. Octavius went to Gaius, the brother of Antony,
the city praetor. Gaius told him he accepted his
adoption. It was the Roman custom to interpose the
authority of the praetor in an adoption, and his
acceptance was registered by the scribes. Then Octavius
immediately left the forum and went to Antony, the
consul. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (14)
3:541} [K370] The consul entertained him haughtily (but
this was not out of contempt, but fear), scarcely
admitting him into Pompey's gardens and gave him little
time to speak with him. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 60. s. 3. 1:181}
5121. The annual Circus games, which had been decreed
to be solemnised in honour of Caesar in the Parilia on
the 11th of the Calends of May (April 21), were
neglected. The day before that holiday was the day the
news of Caesar's victory in Spain reached Rome. {*Dio,
l. 43. (42) 4:287} {*Dio, l. 45. (6) 4:419} [E679]
Quintus and Lamia wore crowns in Rome in honour of
Caesar. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 14. c. 14. 24:253}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 14. c. 20. 24:285}
5122. When the murderers of Caesar were sent into the
provinces which had been allocated to them by lot,
{*Dio, l. 44. (51) 4:401} Gaius Trebonius went into
his province {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 14. c. 10.
24:233} to succeed Quintus Philippus as the proconsul of
Asia. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 13. c. 73,74.
27:167,169} cf. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 13. c. 43,45.
27:115-119} Patiscus went with him as an ordinary
proquaestor. However, Publius Lentulus, the son of
Publius Lentulus Spinther, was sent by the Senate into
Asia as an extraordinary quaestor, to gather in the
tribute and to raise money. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12.
c. 14. s. 1. 26:557} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
15. s. 2. 26:569}
5123. On the 11th of the Calends of June (May 22),
Trebonius came to Athens and there found young Cicero
earnestly at his study under Cratippus. He invited them
both into his province of Asia. Cicero mentioned this
in his letters to his father, dated on the 8th of the
Calends of June (May 25). {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12.
c. 16. s. 2. 26:579} His father replied by letter.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 30. 26:617}
5124. On the 4th of the Nones of June (June 2), a law
was passed, granting the consuls the right to decide on
Caesar's statutes, decrees and proceedings. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 16. c. 18.'24:435}
5125. After Antony was appointed executor to oversee
the things which Caesar had ordered to be done, he
altered the instructions and changed them as it suited
him. He did everything the way he wanted it, as if
assigned to do so by Caesar. In this way, he gratified
cities and governors and amassed a large fortune. He
sold fields and tributes, as well as freedoms, even
those of the city of Rome and other immunities. These
he sold to individuals as well as to whole provinces and
anyone who wanted it. A record of these things was
inscribed on tables and hung up in the Capitol.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 2. c. 38. 15:159,161}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 1. s. 1. 26:519}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 60. s. 4,5. 1:181}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 15. 9:171} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 1. (5) 3:525,527} {*Dio, l.
44. (53) 4:403,405} In one of those tabled records, the
richest cities of the Cretians were freed from tributes
and it was decreed that, after the proconsulate of
Brutus, Crete would no longer be a province. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 2. c. 38. 15:159,161} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 1. s. 1. 26:519} Antony also
received a large sum of money to amend a register to
make it appear as if Caesar had made the law that the
Sicilians would be made citizens of Rome. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 14. c. 12. 24:241}
5126. As soon as King Dejotarus heard of Caesar's
death, he recovered everything by his own initiative
that had been taken from him. However his envoys were
fearful and unskilful. Without the consent of the rest
of the king's friends, they gave Fulvia ten million
sesterces as a bond and had a decree hung in the
Capitol. It ridiculously pretended that everything had
been restored to him by Caesar himself. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 14. c. 12. 24:241} {*Cicero, Philippics,
l. 2. c. 37. 15:157,159}
3960d AM, 4670 JP, 44 BC
5127. Games were to be performed to commemorate
Caesar's victory on the 13th of the Calends of August
(July 20). {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 133.} [K371]
Those who had been appointed to celebrate these games,
did not dare do it, so Octavius held them himself.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 10. 1:163} He
committed the responsibility for preparing for them to
Gaius Matius, a very learned man, who gave the following
reason to Cicero for accepting this task: {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 11. c. 28. s. 6. 26:509} {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 15. c. 2. 24:299,301}
"I have taken responsibility for the games that the
young Caesar made for the victory of Caesar. However,
it was part of my private service to him and not to the
state of the commonwealth. Yet this service I ought to
perform to the memory and honour of my best friend,
although now dead. Neither could I refuse the request
of that hopeful young man and most worthy Caesar."
5128. Dio added this: {*Dio, l. 45. (7) 4:419}
"They sacrificed with certain processions on a
particular day consecrated to Caesar for his victories."
5129. Dio confirmed that it had previously been decreed
that the days on which Caesar had obtained his victories
should be celebrated with solemn sacrifices. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 2. c. 16. (106) 3:423} {*Dio, l. 43.
(42) 4:287} It seems that all the victories he had
obtained were remembered and commemorated on this one
day and consecrated as his victory sacrifices. Lucan
stated that the day of the victory of Pharsalia, the
most famous of them all, was not included among the
feast days. {*Lucan, l. 7. (410,411) 1:399}
Rome hath oft celebrated times less dire,
But this would in oblivion have retire. [E680]
5130. Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius sent private
letters to advise Trebonius in Asia and Tullius Cimber
in Bithynia that they should secretly gather money and
raise an army. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 1.
(6) 3:527} Cimber obeyed and provided a navy as well.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 13. s. 3. 26:555}
This was the drunken Cimber who, according to Seneca,
made this joke about himself: {*Seneca, Epistles, l. 1.
c. 83. 5:267}
"Am I able to deal with anyone who cannot bear wine?"
5131. At age nineteen, Caesar Octavius gathered an
army, of his own accord and at his own expense. This
occurred on the 12th of the Calends of October
(September 20). He himself wrote about this in the
breviary of his affairs and it was inscribed in the
Ancyran Marble. {*Augustus, l. 1. c. 1. 1:345}
{Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 230.} Before the departure of
Antony from the city (which took place in the following
October), Octavius was commended to the Senate through
Cicero and others who hated Antony. Octavius tried to
gain the favour of the people and to gather an army.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 16. s. 3. 9:173} He
prepared forces against Antony, both for his own safety
and that of the state. He stirred up the old soldiers
who had been sent into the colonies. {*Livy, l. 117.
14:149} Florus stated: {*Florus, l. 2. c. 15. s.
4,5. 1:303}
"Octavius Caesar was pitied for his youth and the wrongs
he endured. He was gracious for the sake of the majesty
of the name that he had assumed. He called the old
soldiers to arms and then, as a private citizen (who
would believe it?), took on the consul."
5132. Florus was incorrect in stating that he was:
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 15. s. 2. 1:303}
"but eighteen years old"
5133. Nor was Dio correct, who wrote that he was
eighteen years old when he assumed the name of Caesar.
{*Dio, l. 45. (4) 4:515} Nor is it accurately set
forth by Seneca: {*Seneca, On Mercy, l. 1. c. 9. s.
1. 1:381}
"he was just past his eighteenth year"
5134. Neither is Velleius Paterculus correct:
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 61. s. 1. 1:181}
"he had entered his nineteenth year"
5135. Paterculus stated: {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 61. s. 1. 1:181,183}
"Octavius Caesar had turned nineteen. He dared bold
exploits and attained the highest position by his own
initiative. He had a greater mind for the safety of the
state than the Senate had." [K372]
5136. When he began to prepare an army, he was almost
twenty, and it was fifty-seven years from that time to
his death. Maximus the monk, in his calculations, also
assigned the same length of time to his government.
5137. Antony was afraid and held a meeting with him in
the Capitol, at which the two were reconciled. That
same night, in his sleep, Antony dreamed that his right
hand was struck by lightning. A few days later, it was
secretly whispered to him that Caesar was seeking to
betray him. Because he did not believe Caesar when he
tried to clear himself, their old enmity broke out
again. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 16. s. 3,4.
9:173}
5138. Antony thought that he needed a larger force. He
knew that the six legions in Macedonia were the best
soldiers and that they outnumbered his legions. There
was a large band of archers, lightly armoured men and
cavalry. All were excellently equipped. These had been
allocated to Dolabella because the Parthian war had been
assigned to him when Caesar had made preparation against
the Parthians. Antony intended to draw these to his
side because they were so close and by crossing the
Adriatic Sea, could soon be in Italy. A false rumour
was spread that the Getae had heard of the death of
Caesar and had wasted Macedonia in an invasion. Antony
demanded an army from the Senate for the purpose of
taking vengeance on the enemy. He said that the
Macedonian army had been raised by Caesar against the
Getae before he had planned to attack the Parthians and
that all things were now quiet on the Parthian border.
They eventually agreed to send one legion over to
Dolabella and Antony was chosen as the general of the
Macedonian army. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 3.
(24,25) 3:563,565} He forced the passing of a law which
changed the way the provinces were allocated. Gaius
Antony, his brother, would take Macedonia, which had
been assigned to Marcus Brutus. The consul Mark Antony
would take Cisalpine Gaul, that had been assigned to
Decimus Brutus. Antony would also command the
Macedonian army, which had been sent ahead by Caesar to
Apollonia. {*Dio, l. 45. (9) 4:434} {*Livy, l. 117.
14:149} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 4. (27)
4:3,5} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 4. (30)
4:9,11}
5139. It was reported that the legions of Alexandria
were in arms, Bassus had been sent for from Syria and
Cassius was expected. {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 15. c.
13. 24:331}
5140. When the time had arrived for the games which the
aedile, Critonius, was to hold, Caesar prepared to
display his father's golden throne and a crown. It had
been ordered by decree of the Senate that this custom be
carried on for ever, in all plays. Critonius would not
allow Caesar to be honoured in those plays, even when
Octavius held them at his own private expense. Octavius
brought him before Antony, the consul. The consul told
him that he would refer the matter to the Senate.
Octavius was vexed and said:
"Refer it and I will place the throne there as long as
the decree is in force."
5141. Antony was exasperated and forbade this in all
future plays. Julius Caesar had solemnised these plays
and they had been instituted in honour of his mother,
Venus Genetrix, when he had dedicated both a temple in
the forum, as well as the forum itself, to her. Antony
publicly hated this. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c.
4. (28) 4:5} [E681] [K373]
5142. On the 6th of the Calends of October (September
26), in the marble inscriptions of the old calendar,
{Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 135. fin.} compared with
another whole one, {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 133.} it
was engraved, VENERI. GENETRICIIN. FORO. CAESAR.
Therefore, Octavius held those games on that day to gain
the people's favour. These games had been instituted
for the completion of the temple of Venus, and he paid
for them personally, since he came from the same family,
some of whom had promised, during Caesar's lifetime, to
solemnise the temple, but had not done it. {*Dio, l.
45. (6) 4:417,419} Seneca stated that while Octavius
was doing this, a comet suddenly appeared. {*Seneca,
Natural Questions, l. 7. c. 17. s. 2,3. 10:263}
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 88. 1:147} Pliny
quoted Octavius as saying: {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 23.
1:237}
"In the very days of my plays there was a comet seen for
seven days altogether in the northern part of the
heaven. It arose about the eleventh hour of the day.
It was clear and conspicuous in all lands. The people
generally thought that by this star, it was signified
that Caesar's soul had been received into the number of
the gods. It was because of this notion that that word
was added to the image of his head which we recently
consecrated in the forum."
5143. This was also seen on some coins that were minted
after his death with the inscription DIVI JULII, or The
Divine Julius, and noted by Virgil: {*Virgil, Aeneid, l.
8. (680) 2:107}
"Thy father's star appeared in the north."
3961a AM, 4670 JP, 44 BC
5144. On the 7th of the Ides of October (October 9),
Antony came to Brundisium to meet four or five of the
Macedonian legions that he hoped to win over to his side
with money. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 23. s.
2,3. 26:597} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 6. (40)
4:31} {*Dio, l. 45. (12) 4:429,431} These legions had
been granted to him by the Senate and the people of
Rome, to be used against the Getae, but he transported
them to Italy. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 61.
1:183} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 4. (27) 4:3}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 4. (30) 4:9,11}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 7. (46) 4:41}
5145. Octavius, also, sent his friends with money to
hire those same soldiers for himself. {*Dio, l. 45.
(13) 4:429,431} He sent into Campania to enlist for his
cause those soldiers that his father had sent into the
colonies to war. First, he drew the old soldiers of
Galatia to his side, then the men of Casilinum, which
was situated on either side of Capua. He gave them five
hundred denarii each (which Appian and Dio, after the
custom of the Greeks, translate as drachmas). He
gathered together about ten thousand men, but they were
not well-armed or marshalled into companies. He marched
with them under one ensign as a guard. {*Cicero,
Atticus, l. 16. c. 8. 24:401} {*Cicero, Philippics,
l. 3. c. 2. 15:193} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 61. 1:183} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 6.
(40) 4:31} These troops were the first to be called the
Evocati, because after they had received permission to
retire from the army, they were again called into
service. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 10. c. 30. s. 1,2.
26:393,395} {*Dio, l. 45. (12) 4:429} {*Dio, l. 55.
(24) 6:457}
5146. In the meantime, the four legions from Macedonia
accused Antony for his delay in avenging Caesar's death
on the murderers. Without any acclamations, they
conducted him to the tribunal, as if demanding to hear
an explanation of this business above all else. Antony
did not handle their silence well. Unable to contain
himself, he upbraided them for their ingratitude because
they did not acknowledge how much better it had been to
go into Italy than into Parthia, nor had they shown any
vestige of thankfulness. He also complained that they
had not brought certain disturbers of the peace to him
that had been sent by that wicked young man, for that
was what he called Caesar, but he vowed that he would
find them. [K374] He said he would march with the army
to the province that had been decreed to him by the
Senate, even that fortunate Gaul. He said he would give
everyone present a hundred denarii or drachmas. The
niggardliness of his promises was greeted with laughter.
When he reacted badly to this, he was deserted, and the
general disorder increased. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
3. c. 7. (43) 4:35} {*Dio, l. 45. (13) 4:431}
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 16. c. 8. 24:401}
5147. When, according to the discipline of war, Antony
had demanded the rebels from the tribunes, he drew out
every tenth man by lot. He did not punish them all, but
only some of them, with the intention of terrifying them
little by little. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 7.
(43) 4:37} Also, in the house of his host on the bay of
Brundisium and in the presence of his extremely greedy
and cruel wife, Fulvia, he put to death some centurions
who had been taken from the Martian legion. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 3. c. 2. 15:193} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 5. c. 8. 15:277,279} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 13. c. 8. 15:565} {*Dio, l. 45.
(13) 4:431}
5148. When those of Caesar's party, who had been sent
to bribe the legions, saw that they were more incensed
by this deed, they spread handbills among the army.
They asked them to recall Caesar when considering this
business, and the cruelty of Antony, and invited them to
benefit from the liberality of the young man. Antony
promised to reward any who would tell him about them and
to punish those who did not expose the offenders. He
reacted rather poorly when none were discovered which
suggested that the army was defending them. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 7. (44) 4:37} [E682]
5149. When Octavius Caesar came to hold office, he
endeavoured to win the people to himself. Both Marcus
Brutus and Gaius Cassius gave up all hope of controlling
the opinion of the people and afraid of Caesar, they
sailed from Italy and landed at Athens, where they were
magnificently entertained. {*Dio, l. 47. (20)
5:157,159} Cornelius Nepos wrote that when Antony began
to get the upper hand, they abandoned the government of
the provinces that had been assigned to them by the
consuls and went into exile. Nepos stated: {*Cornelius
Nepos, Life of Atticus, l. 1. c. 8. s. 5,6. 1:301}
"Fearing both the arms of Antony and that they might
again increase the envy they had against Antony, they
pretended they were afraid and protested by their edicts
that they would willingly live in perpetual exile, as
long as the commonwealth was in peace. Nor would they
provide any cause for a civil war."
5150. Velleius Paterculus stated that they departed
from Italy. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 62. s.
3. 1:185}
5151. When some joined Octavius' side and some went to
Antony's, the armies sided with whoever gave them the
most. Brutus, intending to leave Italy, went through
Lucania and travelling overland, reached the sea at
Elea. From there he sailed to Athens, where he became a
student of Theomnestas, the Academic, and of Cratippus,
the Peripatetic (the Mitylenian). He studied together
with them and appeared to forget all business and live
in idleness. However, he was preparing for the war, and
within a few days, the navy of Cassius caught up with
Brutus. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 23,24. 6:177}
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 10. c. 4. 15:431}
5152. Brutus and Cassius made up their minds to invade
Macedonia and Syria by force, even though these
provinces had previously been assigned to Dolabella and
Antony. As soon as this became known, Dolabella hurried
into Syria, visiting Asia along the way to gather money
from there. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 3. (24)
3:563} For Appian thought, as Florus did, that, before
he was killed by them, Julius Caesar had decreed
Macedonia to Brutus and Syria to Cassius. {*Florus, l.
2. c. 17. s. 1-4. 1:307,309} There were other
letters granting other provinces to them in place of the
ones that were later taken from them by the consuls.
That is, Cyrene and the isle of Crete. [K375] Some
attribute both of these to Cassius, while they attribute
Bithynia to Brutus, but claim that while they had been
assigned these, they had gathered an army and money with
the intention of invading Syria and Macedonia.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 1. (2) 3:521}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 1. (6,7) 3:527,529}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 1. (8) 3:531}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (12) 3:537,539}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 2. (16) 3:545}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 5. (36) 4:23}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (58) 4:239}
5153. However, Syria had been appointed to Cornificius
by Julius Caesar, as we gather from Cicero. The fourth
day after Caesar's murder, the Senate decreed Crete to
Brutus and Africa to Cassius, as we have previously
learned from Plutarch. Cicero stated of Brutus:
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 12. 15:489,491}
"Nor did he go into his own province of Crete, but
hurried into Macedonia, which was another's. Cassius
obeyed the law of greed when he went into Syria. This
was in fact another's province, if men would abide by
written laws. But these were violated, so he lived by
the law of greed."
5154. Velleius Paterculus confirmed that both of them
seized provinces without any public authority or decree
from the Senate. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 62.
1:185} He also said that both of them lived at Athens.
Dio wrote that they heard that Caesar had increased in
strength. Crete and Bithynia, where they had been sent,
were neglected, because they thought that these
provinces would not be of much help. Instead, they
planned to take Syria and Macedonia, which did not
belong to them. At that time, both of them had men and
money. {*Dio, l. 47. (21) 5:159}
5155. Dolabella travelled through Achaia, Macedonia and
Thrace, but arrived too late in Asia. However, he had
foot soldiers and cavalry in Achaia. He met Veterus
Antistius, who had returned from Syria and had dismissed
his army, which he had mainly used against Caecilius
Bassus. He was prepared to suffer any danger, rather
than appear to give any money to Dolabella, either
willingly or by compulsion. {*Dio, l. 47. (29) 5:175}
{*Cicero, Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c. 16. s. 2.
28:673}
5156. On the Calends of November (November 1), Octavius
sent letters to Cicero, seeking his advice. He asked
whether it would be best for him to come to Rome with
those three thousand old soldiers, or if he should keep
them at Capua and keep Antony from there, or whether he
should go to the three legions of Macedonia, which had
arrived by way of the Adriatic Sea. Because they would
not accept the bribes that Antony offered them, he
thought he might be able to win them to himself.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 16. c. 8. 24:401} Octavius
numbered the centuries at Capua, {*Cicero, Atticus, l.
16. c. 9. 24:403} and journeyed to Samnium and
arriving at Cales, stayed at Teanum. There was a
marvellous crowd to meet him there and cheer for him.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 16. c. 11. 24:411}
5157. Octavius went to the common people, who had
already been prepared for this purpose by Cannutius, the
tribune of the people. In a long speech to them,
Octavius renewed the memory of his father and the brave
acts he had done. He modestly said many things about
himself, too, while accusing Antony. He commended the
soldiers who had followed him for being ready to help
the city and for having chosen him for that purpose. By
this act they should signify this to so large a crowd.
[E683] Caesar was commended for the good equipment his
soldiers had and for the large number of soldiers that
were following him. He then went into Etruria to get
more soldiers. {*Dio, l. 45. (12) 4:429,431}
5158. At this time, Marcus Cicero dedicated his three
famous books, De Officiis, to his son Marcus, who had
been a scholar of Cratippus for a whole year. {*Cicero,
De Officiis, l. 1-3. 21:1-403} (This was not the first
time he had been sent there, as Dio thought. {*Dio, l.
45. (15) 4:435} {*Cicero, Atticus, l. 16. c. 11.
24:409}) [K376] Some of the son's letters to Tiro, in
which he mentioned those who boarded with him, still
exist: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 16. c. 21. s. 5,6.
27:367}
"I have hired a place for Brutus close to me and as much
as I can from my poverty, I sustain his needs.
Moreover, I intended to make my speech in Greek before
Cassius, but I will do my practising in Latin with
Brutus. My close friends and boarders are those whom
Cratippus brought with him from Mitylene, learned men
and well approved by him."
5159. When Brutus was in financial need, he made
friends with Cicero's son and other young men who were
studying at Athens. He sent Herostratus into Macedonia
to win the favour of those who were the captains of the
armies. When he received news that some Roman ships
laden with money were sailing from Asia toward Athens
and that the admiral was an honest man and his close
friend, he went to meet him at Carystus. He persuaded
him to turn the ships over to him. {*Plutarch, Brutus,
l. 1. c. 24. s. 2-5. 6:179}
5160. On his birthday, Brutus held a large feast for
the admiral. When they began the toasts, they drank to
the health of Brutus and the freedom of the people of
Rome. Brutus took a large cup and spoke this verse
aloud without any apparent reason: {Homer, Iliad, l.
16. (849)}
Letona's son (Apollo) and cruel fate
To my success have put a date.
5161. This was taken as an ill omen of his defeat.
When he went to fight his last battle at Philippi, he
gave his soldiers the watchword, Apollo. {*Plutarch,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 24. s. 5-7. 6:179} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 17. (134) 4:367}
5162. After this, Antistius gave Brutus five hundred
thousand drachmas of the money he was carrying into
Italy. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1.
6:181} The Latin interpreter rendered it twenty thousand
sesterces while Brutus himself acknowledged the sum that
Vetus Antistius had of his own accord promised him and
gave him from his money. Brutus commended him to Cicero
in a letter, since Antistius was going to Rome to
request the praetorship. {*Cicero, Letters to Brutus,
l. 1. c. 16. s. 1. 28:671} We read in Cornelius
Nepos that Pompey Atticus also sent a present of a
hundred thousand sesterces when Brutus was expelled and
left Italy and in his absence he commanded that three
hundred thousand sesterces should be given to him in
Epirus. {*Cornelius Nepos, Life of Atticus, l. 1. c.
8. s. 6. 1:301}
5163. Cassius and Brutus parted company in Piraeus.
Cassius went into Syria to keep out Dolabella and Brutus
went into Macedonia to enable him to control Macedonia
and Greece. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 12.
15:489} {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 25. s. 3.
6:181} {*Dio, l. 47. (21) 5:159} Without any public
authorization, they seized the provinces and armies and
pretended that they were the legitimate government in
each place respectively. From those who were prepared
to give it to them, they collected money which the
quaestors were sending to Rome from the lands beyond the
seas. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 62. 1:185}
5164. Cassius got ahead of Dolabella and sailed into
Asia to Trebonius, the proconsul. After the proconsul
had been bribed, he sided with Cassius and gave him many
of those cavalry who had been sent ahead into Syria by
Dolabella. Publius Lentulus bragged in his letters to
Cicero that he was the first to turn these over to
Cassius. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 14. s. 6.
26:563} A large number from Asia and Cilicia also joined
him. Cassius persuaded Tarcondimotus and the
inhabitants of Tarsus to join an alliance with him, but
the city of Tarsus did so unwillingly. [K377] The
citizens so favoured the first Caesar and for his sake,
Octavius, that instead of Tarsus, they called their city
Juliopolis. {*Dio, l. 47. (26) 5:169}
5165. Brutus received from Apuleius all the forces he
had at the time. He also received sixteen thousand
talents in coined money, which had been collected from
the payments and tributes of Asia that Apuleius had
received from Trebonius. Brutus went into Boeotia.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 8. (63) 4:73,75}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (75) 4:267}
{*Dio, l. 47. (27) 5:159} There he gathered soldiers
from among those he found wandering about Thessaly since
the battle of Pharsalia. Some of those who had come
with Dolabella from Italy had either been left there
because of sickness, or had deserted their regiments.
He took five hundred cavalry from Cinna, which the
latter was taking to Dolabella to Asia. {*Plutarch,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1,2. 6:181} {*Dio, l. 47.
(21) 5:159} [E684] This was the occasion of which Cicero
wrote, when speaking about Brutus: {*Cicero, Philippics,
l. 11. c. 12. 15:489}
"He raised new legions and welcomed the old ones. He
took Dolabella's cavalry for himself, before Dolabella
murdered Trebonius. Brutus counted him an enemy by his
own standards. For if it were not so, how could he take
the cavalry away from the consul?"
5166. Brutus was thus appointed under the pretence of
serving the state and of undertaking a war against
Antony. He seized Greece where there were no forces
worth mentioning to oppose him. {*Dio, l. 47. (21)
5:159} {*Livy, l. 118. 14:149}
5167. From there he went to Demetrias, where he found a
large supply of arms that had been stockpiled for the
Parthian war on Julius Caesar's orders and should have
been turned over to Antony. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1.
c. 25. s. 2. 6:181} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c.
8. (63) 4:75}
5168. Brutus went into Macedonia at the time when Gaius
Antony, the consul's brother, had recently arrived there
and Quintus Hortensius, the proconsul of Macedonia, was
preparing to leave. This did not bother Brutus, as
Hortensius would soon join with him and Antony was
forbidden to meddle with anything that belonged to the
chief magistrate (Caesar now controlled everything at
Rome), and because Antony had no forces. {*Dio, l. 47.
(21) 5:159,161} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 10. c. 5.
15:433,435}
5169. A muster was held in Macedonia through the great
care and efforts of Quintus Hortensius. The legion led
by Lucius Piso, the lieutenant of Antony, was turned
over to Cicero's son, whom Brutus brought with him from
Athens. The cavalry were led into Syria in two
brigades. One brigade left its commander, the quaestor,
in Thessaly and went to Brutus, while Gnaeus Domitius
took away the other one in Macedonia from the lieutenant
of Syria. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 10. c. 6.
15:437}
5170. Brutus heard that Antony would march at once to
join the forces Gabinius had at Dyrrachium and
Apollonia. Brutus wanted to prevent this, so he quickly
journeyed through rough ways and much snow,
outdistancing those who were bringing his provisions.
As he approached Dyrrachium, he was stricken with a
bulimia because of the strain and the cold. This is a
disease that affects those who are worn out from going
through the snow and the cold. When this became known,
the soldiers left the guard and came running with food
for him. As he was being taken to the town, Brutus
behaved kindly to all for this courtesy. {*Plutarch,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 25. s. 3-6. 6:181,183} Publius
Vatinius, who was commanding in nearby Illyria, came
from there to Dyrrachium, which he had previously
captured. [K378] He had been an adversary to Brutus
throughout the entire civil war. Because of Brutus'
sickness, Vatinius' soldiers despised him and defected
to Brutus, so Vatinius opened the gates to him and
turned his army over to him. {*Dio, l. 47. (21)
5:161} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 10. c. 6. 15:437}
{*Livy, l. 118. 14:149}
5171. When a safe route became available for Dolabella
to go into Syria, he invaded Asia, which was another
man's province and was also unprepared for war. He sent
Marcus Octavius, a poor senator, with a legion to waste
the countries and attack their cities. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 11. c. 2. 15:459,461}
5172. Trebonius would not allow Dolabella into Pergamum
or Smyrna, but out of respect for his office as a
consul, allowed him to buy provisions outside the walls.
When, in a passion, Dolabella had attacked Smyrna in
vain, he went away, but by night he returned secretly
and captured Smyrna and Trebonius. Trebonius, the
proconsul of Asia, who had fortified the cities as a
refuge for Brutus and Cassius, promised that he would
let him into Ephesus. He told the soldiers he would
follow them at once to Dolabella. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 3. c. 3. (26) 3:565,567}
5173. After this, there were friendly conferences with
Trebonius. However, these were but false tokens of
great kindness in feigned affection. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 11. c. 2. 15:461} In this way,
Trebonius was deceived into promising Dolabella every
courtesy. He made provision for his soldiers and lived
together with them without any fear. {*Dio, l. 47.
(29) 5:175,177}
5174. In Egypt, the young Ptolemy, who was fifteen
years old, was poisoned in the fourth year of his reign
by his wife and sister, Cleopatra. This was the eighth
year of his sister's reign from the death of their
father, Auletes. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4.
s. 1. (88,89) 8:43} {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek
Eusebius, p. 226.}
5175. After Mark Antony, the consul, had returned from
Brundisium to Rome, he ordered the Senate to meet on the
day before the 8th of the Calends of December (November
24). When they failed to meet on that day, he deferred
it until the 4th of the Calends of December (November
28), and then ordered them to meet in the Capitol.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 3. c. 8. 15:209,211}
5176. In the meantime, Antony's Macedonian legions
rebelled on their way into Cisalpine Gaul, despising the
lieutenant who commanded them. Many of them defected to
Caesar. {*Dio, l. 45. (12,13) 4:429-433} The entire
Martian legion removed their colours and came to Caesar
and stayed in Asia. The fourth legion rebelled against
their commander, Lucius Egnatuleius, the quaestor, and
also defected to Caesar. {*Dio, l. 45. (13)
4:429,433} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 3. c. 3. 15:197}
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 4. c. 2. 15:241} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 5. c. 19. 15:311} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 11. c. 8. 15:479,481} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 13. c. 16. 15:587} {*Cicero, Friends,
l. 11. c. 7. s. 2. 26:447} {*Livy, l. 117.
14:149} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 61. 1:183}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 7. (45) 4:39,41}
[E685] Caesar received them and gave them money, as he
had previously done, thereby drawing many to his side.
By chance, he also got all of Antony's elephants as they
were being driven along. {*Dio, l. 45. (13)
4:429,431}
5177. When Antony was going into the Senate in the
Capitol on the appointed day, to complain of Caesar's
actions, he received news at the very entrance of the
court of the revolt of the legions. He was terrified
and did not dare to speak a word in the Senate
concerning Caesar. He had planned to make a motion in
the Senate, as one who had been a consul, that Caesar be
considered an enemy. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 3. c.
8. 15:211} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 5. c. 8,9.
15:279} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 13. c. 9. 15:567}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 7. (45) 4:39} [K379]
At evening on the very same day, the lots were cast
among the friends of Antony for the provinces for the
next year, so that everyone would have the province that
best suited Antony. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 3. c.
10. 15:217}
5178. Antony went to Alba to see if he could get the
soldiers of the Martian legion, who were quartered
there, to obey him again. When they shot at him from
the walls, he sent five hundred drachmas for each man in
all the remaining legions. With what forces he had
around him, he marched in warlike array to the Tiber
River and then on to Ariminum, on the border of
Cisalpine Gaul. He had three Macedonian legions with
him, since the rest had now arrived. He also had one
legion of the old veterans with the auxiliaries who
wanted to follow them, in addition to the praetorians
and young soldiers. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c.
7. (45,46) 4:41}
5179. Antony besieged Decimus Brutus in Mutina, because
he would not leave Cisalpine Gaul, since it was his
province. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 7. (45)
4:41} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 8. (49) 4:47}
Caesar Octavius sent help to him, even though he was one
of Caesar's murderers. But then, politics makes strange
bedfellows. {*Dio, l. 45. (14) 4:433} Octavius had
the two valiant legions that had come to him from
Macedonia, and one legion of new soldiers and two other
legions of veterans. The latter were not at full
strength, so he added the young soldiers to their ranks.
When the army wanted to make him propraetor, he refused
the honour they offered him. However, he hired the
mercenaries with a gift and gave each man in the two
Macedonian legions (that fought a mock battle before
him) five hundred denarii. He promised five thousand
more to the conquerors, should there be any need for a
battle. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 7. (47,48)
4:43,45} Cicero referred to this: {*Cicero, Philippics,
l. 10. c. 10. 15:445}
"The veterans who followed the authority of Caesar first
repressed the attacks of Antony. Later the Martian
legion abated his fury and the fourth legion routed
him."
5180. At Rome the Senate was convened on the 13th of
the Calends of January (December 20), when neither of
the consuls was present. Antony had sent Dolabella
ahead into Macedonia, while he besieged Mutina. On this
day, Cicero persuaded the Senate that the things
Octavius had done against Antony should be confirmed.
Praises and rewards should be given to the rebels, the
Martian legion, the fourth legion and to the veterans
that had defected to Octavius. {*Cicero, Philippics, l.
3. c. 3,4. 15:195,197} Also, Cicero proposed (without
taking any notice of the allocation of provinces which
Antony had made by lots) that Decimus Brutus and all the
rest should retain their provinces and turn them over to
no one without a decree from the Senate. The Senate
passed this decree. Cicero called the people together
and told them what had been done in the Senate.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 3. c. 15. 15:227-231}
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 5. c. 13. 15:293} {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 6. c. 3. 15:319,321} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 11. c. 6. 26:443,445} {*Cicero, Friends,
l. 12. c. 22. 26:593} {*Dio, l. 45. (15) 4:435}
3961b AM, 4671 JP, 43 BC
5181. On the Calends of January (January 1), when
Hirtius and Pausa began their consulship, Cicero made a
speech in the Senate, persuading them to make war on
Antony, and declared that honours should be decreed to
those who defended the state against him. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 5. c. 16. 15:301} The next day, the
Senate gave Caesar Octavius an extraordinary command (as
Cicero called it {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 8.
15:479,481}), with consular authority and lictors and
the ensigns of a praetor. He and the consuls were to go
to the assistance of Decimus Brutus against Antony.
Further, he should tell the quaestors and the former
consuls that he was to have authority to hold the
consulship ten years before the legal age of a consul.
The Senate also honoured him with a gold statue of
himself on horseback. [K380] It was placed in the
rostrum and had his age on the inscription. By the same
decree, all the money that he had given to the soldiers
was refunded to him from the public treasury. (Although
he had done it as a private citizen, it had nevertheless
been for the service of the state.) The gift he had
promised to give to the two Macedonian legions after the
victory, was to be given to them in the name of the
state. Also, the legions and the other soldiers that
had been hired by Caesar, were to be exempt from
military service as soon as the war was over and to have
lands divided among them. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 5.
c. 17. 15:303} {*Cicero, Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c.
24. s. 6,7. 28:709,711} {*Livy, l. 118. 14:149}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 61. 1:183}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 10. s. 2-4. 1:163}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 17. s. 1. 9:175}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 8. (50,51) 4:49,51}
{*Dio, l. 46. (29) 5:57} [E686]
5182. The office of propraetor, which had formerly been
offered to him by the army and which he had refused to
accept, was granted to Caesar Octavius by the Senate.
(A propraetor would have no authority when consuls were
serving with him.) The Senate gave him the same power as
the consuls had, in managing the war. However, a secret
order was given to the consuls to take the two
Macedonian legions which were most militarily fit, away
from him. For this was the intent of their plan: When
Antony was defeated, Caesar weakened and all Caesar's
side despised, then Pompey's side should again be
restored to the government of the state. When Pansa,
the consul, was on his deathbed, he told Octavius this.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 9. (64,65) 4:77}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (80) 4:103}
5183. When Octavius heard what had been decreed, he
accepted the honours with great joy. He was even more
overjoyed because, on the same day that he had assumed
the office of praetor, he had made a sacrifice in which
the livers of six of the sacrifices appeared double, or
folded inwards from the lowest fillets. This meant that
within the year his command would be doubled. But he
was displeased that envoys were sent to Antony and that
the consuls did not seriously prosecute the war on the
pretext that it was winter, which meant he was compelled
to spend all the winter at Forum Cornelii. {*Dio, l.
46. (35) 5:69} {*Julius Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1.
c. 69. 14:313} {*Pliny, l. 11. c. 73. 3:551}
5184. Gaius Trebonius was the first of all Caesar's
murderers to be punished. He had governed Asia by
consular power and was killed at Smyrna through the
treachery of Dolabella. Trebonius was most ungrateful
for the honours Caesar had given him and was one who had
helped murder him. It was Caesar himself who had
promoted Trebonius to the height of consular dignity.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 2. 15:461,463}
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 12. c. 10. 15:533}
{*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 37. 6:247} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 69. s. 1,2. 1:197,199}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 3. (26) 3:565,567}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (60) 4:243} {*Dio,
l. 47. (29) 5:175} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 8.} Dolabella
entered Smyrna at night and took the proconsul. After
he had censured him, he turned the proconsul over to the
banished man, Samiarius. After he had questioned him
about the public money, he tortured him with
imprisonment and scourgings and with the strappado. (A
form of punishment or torture to extort confession, in
which the victim's hands were tied across his back and
secured to a pulley. He was then hoisted from the
ground and let down halfway with a jerk.) After two days
of this, Samiarius commanded that he be beheaded and his
head carried on a spear. The rest of his body was to be
dragged and torn, then cast into the sea. Cicero's
account is more accurate than that of Appian, who stated
that this murder was committed at the command of
Dolabella when he entered into Asia having just become
consul. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 2.
15:461,463}
5185. Dio wrote that Dolabella cast his head before the
statue of Caesar. {*Dio, l. 47. (29) 5:177} [K381]
Appian stated that the order was given to place it in
the praetorian chair from where Trebonius had dispensed
justice. But the soldiers and the drudges were angry
with him for having been a partner in the conspiracy
because he had detained Antony in a conversation before
the doors of the court while Caesar was being killed.
The soldiers abused the other part of his body in
various ways, while making a football of his head in a
spot that was paved with stones. They so marred the
head, that no sign of the face remained. Strabo
affirmed that there were many parts of the city of
Smyrna that were destroyed by Dolabella. {*Strabo, l.
14. c. 1. s. 37. 6:247} (In Loeb edition footnote,
it stated the word destroyed was translated by some as
freed. Editor.)
5186. After Asia was seized by Dolabella, Publius
Lentulus, the extraordinary quaestor, quickly sent a
large amount of money to Cassius, to help him seize
Syria. Lentulus went into the adjoining province of
Macedonia to Brutus and tried, with his help, to recover
the province of Asia and its tributes. He stated this
in two letters, one of which was sent publicly to the
Senate and the other privately to Cicero. He told
Cicero that he did not see his son, because he had gone
into winter quarters with the cavalry. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 14. s. 5. 26:563} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 15. s. 1. 26:567,569}
5187. Dolabella carried on most cruelly in the province
of Asia. {*Cicero, Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c. 2.
s. 5. 28:629} {*Cicero, Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c.
4. s. 3. 28:635} He took away the Roman tributes and
taxed and vexed the Roman citizens. {*Cicero, Friends,
l. 12. c. 15. s. 1. 26:567,569} He burdened the
cities with new exactions of tributes and with the help
of Lucius Figulus, hired a navy of the Rhodians,
Lycians, Pamphylians and Cilicians. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (60) 4:243}
5188. The Rhodians were concerned about the lands that
they controlled on the continent. They sent two
embassies to Dolabella to protest his actions, because
these were against their laws and the magistrates had
forbidden it. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 15. s.
4. 26:571} Brutus wrote that Publius Lentulus was
excluded from Rhodes by the Rhodians. {*Cicero, Letters
to Brutus, l. 1. c. 4. s. 3. 28:635}
5189. Aulus Allienus, Dolabella's lieutenant, joined
him after the death of Trebonius. {*Cicero, Philippics,
l. 11. c. 12. 15:491} Dolabella sent Aulus to Egypt
to Queen Cleopatra, who favoured him because of the
acquaintance he had previously with the former Caesar.
She sent him four legions with Allienus. These were the
remainder of the troops after the defeat of Pompey and
Crassus, and were the number of those that had remained
with Cleopatra after Caesar had left. [E687] She also
had a navy ready to help him, but which could not set
sail as yet, because of the contrary winds. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (78) 4:99} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (59) 4:241} {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 4. c. 8. (61) 4:243,245} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
5. c. 1. (8) 4:389}
5190. Cicero made a speech about Bassus: {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 11. c. 13. 15:493}
"The valiant and victorious army of Quintus Caecilius
Bassus, a private citizen, had prevailed for some time
in Syria."
5191. Quintus Marcius Crispus, the proconsul in
Bithynia (as Cicero called him {*Cicero, Philippics, l.
11. c. 12. 15:491}), sent troops to Statius Murcus.
(Appian wrote Minucius for Marcius. This variation is
not in the Loeb edition. Editor.) {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 3. c. 11. (77) 4:99} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4.
c. 8. (58) 4:241} {*Dio, l. 47. (27) 5:173} Murcus
governed Syria by the decree of Julius Caesar and the
approval of the Senate. Although this year, Cimber also
tried to govern this province by the right of Antony's
lottery. Marcius arrived with three legions of his own
to aid the three legions of Murcus. He besieged the two
legions of Bassus (called tangmata by Strabo, tilh by
Appian, for it was obvious, from Cassius' letters to
Cicero, that they made only one legion. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 11. s. 1. 26:545} {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 12. s. 3. 26:549}) [K382]
Bassus so bravely withstood the siege of the two Roman
armies, that he was not subdued until he had obtained
the conditions he wanted. Then he surrendered.
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 10. 7:253} Gaius Cassius
had come with his forces after having been called there
with the consent of Murcus, Marcius and the army, as
Brutus related in his letters to Cicero. {*Cicero,
Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c. 2. s. 3. 28:627}
Bassus would not turn his army over to Murcus. If the
soldiers had not sent messengers to Cassius, Bassus
would have held Apamea, without Cassius' consent, until
it would have been taken by assault, as Cassius himself
wrote to Cicero. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 12.
s. 3. 26:549}
5192. Cassius raised the siege before Apamea, and
Bassus and Murcus were reconciled. Cassius won the two
troops that had been besieged and the six others that
had besieged them, over to his side. Cassius assumed
the ensigns of a general and commanded them by
proconsular power. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
69. s. 2,3. (271,272) 1:199} {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 11. s. 1. (218,219) 2:103} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s. 2. (271,272) 7:595}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (78) 4:99} {*Dio,
l. 47. (29) 5:177}
5193. From this time he assumed the title of proconsul,
as appeared on the inscriptions of his letters to
Cicero. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 11. 26:545
(Latin Title)} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 12.
26:547 (Latin Title)} Cicero, in his letters to him, did
not give him that title, because the Senate had not yet
given him that title. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
7. 26:535 (Latin Title)} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
8. 26:539 (Latin Title)} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
9. 26:539 (Latin Title)} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
10. 26:541 (Latin Title)} However, Appian stated
otherwise. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (78)
4:99} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (59) 4:241}
5194. While Cassius was encamped with all those forces,
torrential rain suddenly fell and wild swine rushed
through every part of the camp and greatly disorganized
everything. Some thought this was an omen about his
sudden rise to power and of his sudden overthrow, a
little later. {*Dio, l. 47. (28) 5:175}
5195. When Cassius was strengthened with these forces,
he immediately subdued all the cities of Syria. Some of
those cities he was able to subdue by his prestige and
position as the quaestor. {*Dio, l. 47. (21)
5:159,161} {*Dio, l. 47. (28) 5:173,175} Taking arms
and soldiers, he went to the cities and exacted very
heavy taxes from them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
11. s. 2. (272) 7:595} Livy wrote that he took
control of Syria with three legions which were in that
province. {*Livy, l. 121. 14:153} Velleius Paterculus
stated that he brought them under his control with the
legions in that country. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 69. s. 2. 1:199}
5196. Marcus Brutus undertook an expedition against
Gaius Antony, who was keeping Apollonia with seven
cohorts. Brutus sent public letters to Rome about the
things that he had done in Greece and Macedonia, which
were read in the Senate by the consul, Pansa. In a
speech made by Cicero, {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 10. c.
1. 15:423} the Senate passed a decree that Brutus
should retain Macedonia, Illyria, and all of Greece, as
proconsul. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 10. c. 6.
15:437} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 8. (63) 4:73}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (57,58) 4:239}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (75) 4:265,267}
5197. The body of Trebonius was brought to Rome. When
the Senate saw how disgracefully it had been treated,
they declared Dolabella an enemy of the state.
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c. 12. 15:491} {*Livy,
l. 119. 14:151} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 8.
(61) 4:71} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 8.} A day was appointed
for those on his side to leave him, otherwise they, too,
would be deemed enemies. {*Dio, l. 47. (29) 5:177}
[K383]
5198. The next day, the Senate debated about the choice
of a general to carry out the war against Dolabella.
Lucius Caesar thought that, contrary to the normal
procedure, this war should be committed to Publius
Servilius. Others thought that the consuls should cast
lots for Asia and Syria, to determine who would fight
against Dolabella. Cicero, in a speech, railed fiercely
against Dolabella. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 11. c.
12. 15:491,493} Dolabella had previously been Cicero's
son-in-law, but shortly after he had left Italy, they
had had a great falling-out. Cicero persuaded the
senators that this war should be committed to Publius
Cassius. Scaliger, in his notes on Eusebius (under the
number MDCCCCLXXIII), was not correct in his report
about the decree of the Senate concerning the command
for Cassius. He thought that Cicero's opinion had not
prevailed and that Pansa, the consul, had resolutely
opposed it. [E688] However, Cicero himself testified in
his letters to Cassius about this, and added the
following about himself: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
7. 26:537}
"I promised and also acted on it, that you had not
expected, nor should you expect anything other from our
decrees, except that you yourself should defend the
commonwealth. Although, as of yet, we had heard
nothing, either of where you were or what forces you
had, yet it was nevertheless my opinion that all the
auxiliaries and forces which were in those regions
should be under your command. I was confident that you
would recover the province of Asia for the
commonwealth."
5199. When it was not yet known at Rome that Cassius
had control of Syria, the war against Dolabella was
committed to the consuls to be fought at a time when the
present war against Antony should come to an end. The
governors of the neighbouring countries were told not to
help Dolabella. {*Dio, l. 47. (29) 5:177} With the
consuls' consent, the government of Asia was confirmed
to Publius Lentulus Spinther, who currently governed it
under the title of proquaestor and propraetor. This may
be seen in Spinther's letters to Cicero, written after
the death of Pansa and Hirtius. (He did not know of
their deaths at that time.)
5200. This decree against Dolabella was passed and
letters were sent from Antony to Hirtius, the consul,
and Octavius Caesar, the propraetor. These are given
and refuted by Cicero. Antony's letter which Cicero
refuted reads as follows:
Antony, to Hirtius and Caesar:
"When I heard of the death of Gaius Trebonius, my joy
was not greater than my grief. That a criminal has paid
the penalty to the ashes and bones of a most illustrious
man, and that the power of the gods has been revealed
before the end of the year (From this we deduce that
Trebonius was killed shortly before the Ides of March
less than a year after the murder of Caesar.) the
punishment for murder being either already inflicted or
impending, is matter for rejoicing. That Dolabella has
at this crisis been adjudged an enemy for killing an
assassin, and that the son of a buffoon seems dearer to
the Roman people than Gaius Caesar, the father of his
country, is a matter for lament. But the bitterest
thing is that you, Aulus Hirtius, though you have been
distinguished by Caesar's benefits, and left by him in a
position which you wonder at yourself—and you, oh
boy—you who owe everything to a name—that you should
strive to show that Dolabella was rightly condemned!
And that this she-poisoner should be liberated from a
siege. That you should strive that Cassius and Brutus
may be as powerful as possible. Truly you regard these
things as you did the former (what things, pray?): you
used to call the camp of Pompey the Senate. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 13. c. 10,11. 15:569-575} You have
had the vanquished Cicero for your general. You are
fortifying Macedonia with garrisons. Africa you have
entrusted to Varus, a man twice a captive. [K384] You
have sent Cassius into Syria. You have allowed Casca to
hold the tribuneship. You have taken from the Luperci
the Julian revenues. You have taken away the veterans'
colonies, though planted by law and by decree of the
Senate. You are promising to restore to the Massilians
what has been taken from them by the laws of war. You
repeat that no surviving adherent of Pompey is bound by
the Hirtian law. You supplied Brutus with the money of
Apuleius. You approved of the execution of Petraeus and
Menedemus, men who had been given the citizenship, and
guest-friends of Caesar. You did not care that
Theopompus was stripped and driven out by Trebonius, and
took refuge in Alexandria. You look on Servius Galba in
the camp girt with the identical dagger. You have
enlisted soldiers, either mine or veterans, on the plea
that it was for the destruction of Caesar's murderers;
and then these same soldiers you have set on
unexpectedly to endanger him who had been their
quaestor, or their general, or those who had been their
own fellow soldiers. In short, what is there you have
not approved or done, which, should he come to life
again, would be done by—Gnaeus Pompey himself—or his
son, should he be able to live at home. Lastly, you say
peace is impossible unless I either let out Brutus or
supply him with grain. What! is this the opinion of
those veterans of yours to whom all courses are still
open? Although you have set out to pervert them with
flatteries and poisoned gifts. But you say you are
bringing aid to the besieged soldiers. I do not mind
their being safe, and going where they wish, provided
only they suffer him to perish who has deserved it. You
write that mention has been made of peace in the Senate,
and that the envoys are five consulars. It is difficult
to believe that those who drove me headlong though I was
offering most equitable terms—and even so thinking of
yielding as to some of them—to imagine they will do
anything moderate or humane. It is hardly likely too
that those who adjudged Dolabella an enemy on account of
a most just deed can at the same time spare me who am of
the same sentiments. Wherefore do you rather consider
which is in better taste and more beneficial to your
party, to avenge the death of Trebonius or that of
Caesar; and whether it is more fitting that we would
join battle so that the cause, so often slaughtered, of
the Pompeians should more easily come to life, or should
agree together, that we may not be a derision to our
enemies. For whichever of us falls those enemies will
profit. Such a spectacle Fortune herself so far has
avoided, that she might not see two armies of one body
fighting with Cicero as trainer, who is so far fortunate
that he has deceived you with the same flowers of speech
with which he boasted Caesar was deceived. Whichever
fall, will be our profit. [E689] I am resolved to
endure no insults to myself or to my friends, and not to
desert the party Pompey hated, nor to permit the
veterans to be removed from their abodes, nor to be
dragged one by one to torture, nor to betray the pledged
faith I have given to Dolabella, Nor to be false to my
alliance with Lepidus, the most loyal of men, Nor to
betray Plancus, the partner of my counsels. If, as I
tread the path of an upright purpose, the immortal gods
shall, as I hope, assist me, I will gladly live. But if
another fate await me, I anticipate joyfully the
punishments you will suffer. For if, when conquered,
Pompeians are so insolent, what they will be as
conquerors it is you rather who will discover. Finally,
the sum of my decision tends to this: I can bear
injuries inflicted by my friends, if either they
themselves are willing to forget the commission of them,
or are ready with me to avenge Caesar's death."
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 13. c. 15-22. 15:581-599}
5201. (The preceding was taken directly from the
translation of Cicero's speech as translated in the Loeb
history books. In the original speech, Cicero reads
this letter to the Senate and comments on it as he reads
it, refuting Antony point by point. We have only
included the text of the original letter. Ussher's
Latin edition of the Annals contains this speech. The
English translation was poorly done so we decided to use
the copy from Loeb rather than retranslate it ourselves.
Editor.)
5202. The envoys, who were sent by the Senate to Antony
to make peace, were unable to reach an agreement with
him. The whole city of Rome (even those who did not go
to the war) put on their soldiers' uniforms and made a
general muster through all Italy. The armies of Aulus
Hirtius and Gaius Caesar, the propraetor, were sent
against Antony. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 6. c. 1.
15:317} {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 10. c. 10. 15:445}
{*Cicero, Philippics, l. 13. c. 17,18. 15:589,591}
{*Livy, l. 118. 14:149} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3.
c. 8. (62) 4:71} {*Dio, l. 46. (29) 5:59} [K385]
From the start of this campaign against Mark Antony,
Eusebius and Cassodorus derive the beginning of the
government of Caesar Octavius, assigning fifty-six years
and six months to it.
5203. Gaius Antony was defeated at a battle which was
fought at the Byllis River by Cicero's son, a captain of
Brutus. A little later, Antony's soldiers surrendered
both him and themselves to Brutus. For a long time,
Brutus very honourably entertained Antony, even to the
extent that he did not take the ensigns of his office
from him. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 26. s. 1-6.
6:183}
5204. From Illyria, Marcus Brutus received three
legions from Vatinius, whom he had succeeded in the
province of Illyria by a decree of the Senate. Brutus
also received one legion that he had taken from Antony
in Macedonia and four others, which he had gathered. In
all, he had eight legions, and in them were many of
Gaius Caesar's old veterans. Beyond that, he had a
large number of cavalry, lightly armed men and archers.
He praised the Macedonians and trained them after the
Italian manner. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10.
(75) 4:267}
5205. As Brutus was gathering soldiers and money, he
met with some good fortune in Thrace. Polemocratia, the
wife of a certain king who had been killed by Brutus'
enemies, was afraid lest some harm might come to her
son. So she went to Brutus and commended her son to
him, giving him her husband's treasure. He committed
the lad to the inhabitants of Cyzicum to be raised,
until he had time to restore him to his father's
kingdom. Among these treasures, he found a large
quantity of gold and silver, which he coined. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (75) 4:267}
5206. After Gaius Cassius had seized Syria, he
travelled toward Judea, because he heard that the
soldiers who had been left in Egypt by Caesar were
coming there. He easily won these troops and the Jews
to his side. {*Dio, l. 47. (28) 5:175} In Palestine,
he surrounded Allienus, the lieutenant of Dolabella, as
he was returning from Egypt with four legions, before he
was even aware of him. He forced Allienus to take his
side, since Allienus did not dare oppose his eight
legions with the four he had. Hence, Cassius controlled
twelve legions in all, which was more than he had hoped
for. As well, he had some Parthian cavalry who were
archers. He was held in high esteem by the Parthians,
ever since the time that he had been the quaestor for
Crassus because they thought he was wiser than Crassus.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 11. (78) 4:99}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (59) 4:241}
5207. As soon as he had received the forces that Aulus
Allienus had brought from Egypt, Cassius wrote some
letters to Cicero concerning these forces. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 11,12. 26:545-551} This letter
was dated on the Nones of March (March 7), from the camp
at Tarichea in Galilee: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
11. 26:545,547}
Gaius Cassius, Proconsul, sends hearty commendations to
Marcus Tullius Cicero:
"If you are well, all is right; I too am well. You must
know that I have started for Syria to join Lucius Murcus
and Quintus Crispus, commanders-in-chief. When those
gallant officers and admirable citizens heard what was
going on in Rome, they handed their armies over to me,
and are themselves administering the affairs of the
State side by side with me, and with the utmost
resolution. I beg to inform you also that the legion
which Quintus Caecilius Bassus had, has come over to me,
and I beg to inform you that the four legions Aulus
Allienus brought out of Egypt have been handed over by
him to me. [E690] For the present I do not suppose
there is any need of my exhorting you to defend us while
we are away, and the Republic too, as far as in you
lies. [K386] I should like you to be assured that
neither all of you, nor the Senate are without strong
safeguards, so that you may defend the Republic in the
best of hopes and with the highest spirit. What
business remains will be transacted with you by Lucius
Carteius, an intimate friend of mine. Farewell. Dated
the Nones of March (March 7), from camp at Tarichea."
5208. After these things, Cassius dismissed Bassus,
Crispus and any others who would not serve under him.
He did not harm them in any way. He left Statius Murcus
in the office that he had originally had and committed
the charge of his navy to him. So stated Dio. {*Dio,
l. 47. (28) 5:175} But it appears from Cassius' own
letters to Cicero that Crispus was firmly loyal to him.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 11. s. 1. 26:545}
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 12. s. 3. 26:549}
5209. Cassius exacted seven hundred talents of silver
from Judea (not of gold, as may be read in the
forty-fifth chapter of the Jewish Histories, as recorded
in Arabic by the Parisians, in the Bible of many
languages). When Antipater saw that his state was in
trouble, he feared Cassius' threats. Antipater
appointed two of his sons to gather part of the money,
and Malichus, a Jew who was his enemy, to gather another
part, with some others to gather the rest. First of
all, Herod brought a hundred talents from Galilee, which
he governed. He was greatly favoured by Cassius. Even
at that time, it was considered a good policy to win the
favour of the Romans at the expense of other men. The
officers of the other cities, every last man of them,
were sold as slaves and at that time, Cassius sold into
servitude the cities of Gophna, Emmaus, Lydda and
Thamna. Cassius was also greatly enraged, so that he
was about to put Malichus to death, but Hyrcanus sent a
hundred talents through Antipater and appeased his fury.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 11. s. 2.
(220-222) 2:103,105} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
11. s. 2. (271-276) 7:595,597}
5210. Caesar Octavius finished the war against Antony
that had been committed to him, in three months.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 10. s. 2,3. 1:163}
The war around Mutina was so well managed by him, when
he was only twenty years old, that Decimus Brutus was
freed from the siege and Antony was forced to leave
Italy in dishonourable flight and without his baggage.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 61. s. 3,4. 1:183}
Cicero described the battle in his writings. {*Cicero,
Philippics, l. 14. c. 9,10. 15:631-635} Servius
Galba, who was in the battle, stated in the beginning of
his letters to Cicero that the battle was fought on the
17th of the Calends of May (April 15). {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 10. c. 30. s. 1. 26:393} So then they
seem to have started the time of Caesar Octavius from
the third day after the victory of Mutina. They
calculated it to be fifty-six years, four months and one
day. This may be seen in Theophilus of Antioch,
{*Theophilus, Ad Autolycum, l. 3. c. 28. 2:120} as
well as Clement of Alexandria, if the errors of his
printer, who wrote forty-six for fifty-six, are
corrected. {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21.
2:333}
5211. Aulus Hirtius, the consul (the author of the
Alexandrian and African war, that had been fought by
Julius Caesar), died in the battle. The other consul,
Pansa, died from his wounds a little later. {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 25. s. 6. 26:607} {*Dio, l.
46. (39) 5:79} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 11. c. 9. s.
1. 26:451} {*Livy, l. 119. 14:151} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 61. s. 4. 1:183} Tibullus
assigned this date to the birthday of Ovid. {Tibullus,
l. 3. c. 5.} Ovid wrote that his birthday occurred:
{*Ovid, Tristia, l. 4. c. 10. (5-7) 6:197}
"When both the consuls fell with the same fate." [K387]
5212. Both the armies of the dead consuls obeyed
Caesar. {Eutropius, l. 7.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 18.}
5213. The Senate was very ungrateful to Caesar, who was
the only one of the three generals to survive. In a
triumph that was decreed to Decimus Brutus, for having
been freed from the siege at Mutina by Caesar, the
Senate made no special mention of Caesar and his army.
{*Livy, l. 119. 14:151} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 62. s. 4,5. 1:185} The envoys were sent to the
army with orders to speak to the soldiers when Octavius
was out of the way. But the army was not as ungrateful
as the Senate was. When Caesar quietly bore this wrong,
the soldiers said they would not obey any commands
unless their general was present. Without a doubt, the
Senate would have taken the legions he had from
Octavius, except that they were afraid to decree this
publicly. They were well aware of the loyalty and love
the soldiers had toward Caesar. {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 62. s. 5,6. 1:185,187} {*Dio, l. 46.
(39) 5:79}
5214. On their own initiative, the city of Tarsus
invited Dolabella into Syria and the city of Laodicea
called Dolabella into Cilicia. {*Cicero, Friends, l.
12. c. 13. s. 4. 26:555} [E691]
5215. When Dolabella was about to leave Asia, he sent
five cohorts into the Chersonesus. Brutus easily
captured these, because he had five legions, very good
cavalry and numerous auxiliaries. {*Cicero, Letters to
Brutus, l. 1. c. 14. s. 1. 28:669} This letter was
dated the 12th or the 14th of the Calends of May (April
20 or 18). Dolabella left Asia for Syria by land with
two legions and Lucius Figulus followed him with the
navy. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (60) 4:243}
5216. On the 5th of the Calends of May (April 27), the
Senate debated the issue of making war on those who were
considered enemies of the state. Servilius, a tribune
of the people, thought that Cassius should make war on
Dolabella. Caesar agreed, and decreed that Marcus
Brutus, too, should pursue Dolabella, if he thought it
profitable and for the good of the state. Brutus was to
do what he thought was best for the state. Nothing was
decreed about Cassius, nor had any letters from him come
to Rome, as yet. {*Cicero, Letters to Brutus, l. 1.
c. 9. s. 1. 28:651,653} Cassius explained the
reasons for this delay in his letters to Cicero.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 12. s. 2,3. 26:549}
5217. Dolabella went into Cilicia and Tarsus freely
yielded to him. He defeated some guards of Cassius who
were in Aegae. {*Dio, l. 47. (30) 5:177}
5218. Cassius was in Palestine at the time. {*Dio, l.
47. (30) 5:177} From there, he wrote his second letter
to Cicero from the camp, dated on the Nones of May (May
7). He described the state of his affairs like this:
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 12. s. 2. 26:549}
"I have all the armies that were in Syria. I made some
delay, while I paid the soldiers all what I promised
them, but now there is nothing to hinder me."
5219. He then exhorted Cicero to defend the dignity of
his soldiers and of the generals, Murcus and Crispus.
He added: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 12. s. 3-5.
26:549,551}
"I have heard, through letters that were written, that
Dolabella has come into Cilicia with all his forces. I
will go into Cilicia. Whatever I shall do, I will do my
best to give you prompt notification of it. I very
earnestly hope that we shall be worthy of the well-being
of the state, for then we shall be contented."
5220. As soon as Cassius had left Judea, Malichus
plotted Antipater's death. He thought that, with his
death, Hyrcanus' government would be more secure. When
Antipater found out about the plot, he went beyond
Jordan and gathered an army from the inhabitants there
and from the Arabians. [K388] Malichus was an astute
politician and denied that he had intended any treason,
swearing before Antipater and his sons that no such
thing had ever entered his mind. This was especially
necessary since Phasael had a garrison in Jerusalem and
Herod had the army at his command. So he was reconciled
to Antipater. Murcus, the governor of Syria, wanted to
execute him, but Antipater spared his life. Murcus had
found out that Malichus was going around in Judea,
seeking to create a rebellion against Rome. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s. 3. (277-279) 7:597}
5221. When Cassius and Murcus had gathered an army,
they made Herod governor of all Coelosyria. They gave
him large forces of foot soldiers, cavalry and naval
ships. They promised him the kingdom of Judea after the
end of the war they were having against Antony and the
young Caesar. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s.
4. (280) 7:599} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 11.
s. 4. (225) 2:105}
5222. Cassius appointed many tyrants in Syria, as well
as leaving Marion, the tyrant of the Tyrians in his
position, who then also ruled in Syria. Marion ejected
the garrisons that were there and captured three
citadels in Galilee, which were next to Syria.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 12. s. 2. (238)
2:111} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 12. s. 1.
(297.298) 7:607}
5223. A certain Cicereius wrote to Satrius, the
lieutenant of Gaius Trebonius, that Dolabella had been
killed by Tullius and Dejotarus and his army had been
routed. This Greek letter relating to these events was
sent by Brutus to Cicero on the 17th of the Calends of
June (May 16), {*Cicero, Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c.
12. s. 3. 28:665} but its information turned out to
be false.
5224. Dolabella left Asia and went through Cilicia into
Syria. He was refused entry into Antioch by the
garrison defending the city. {*Dio, l. 47. (30)
5:177,179} He tried many times to enter by force, but
was repulsed each time, with the loss of men. After he
had lost about a hundred men, he left many behind sick,
while he fled by night from Antioch toward Laodicea.
That night, almost all the soldiers he had enrolled in
Asia left him. Some returned to Antioch and surrendered
to the men whom Cassius had left there to control the
city. Some went down the hill of Amanus into Cilicia.
Of these, thirty came into Pamphylia, where they were
told that Cassius, with all his forces, was only a
four-day journey away, just at the time when Dolabella
was arriving there. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 15.
s. 7. 26:575,577}
5225. Dolabella had intelligence about Cassius' forces
and came to Laodicea, a city that was friendly to him.
It was located on a peninsula and faced toward the
continent. It was well-fortified and had a good harbour
facing the sea. It was very suitable for bringing in
provisions and also very convenient for sailing out when
and where they pleased. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4.
c. 8. (60) 4:243} [E692] He did not take this city by
assault because the citizens truly surrendered
themselves to him on account of the love they had for
the former Caesar. {*Dio, l. 47. (30) 5:177,179}
5226. At Jerusalem, when Antipater was feasting at
Hyrcanus' house, Malichus bribed the king's butler and
poisoned Antipater. He gathered a band of soldiers and
seized the government of the city. Phasael and Herod
were very angry and Malichus firmly denied everything.
Herod planned soon to revenge his father's death and to
raise an army for that purpose. However, Phasael
thought it better to defeat Malichus with guile in case
that Herod should start a civil war. [K389] Phasael
therefore accepted Malichus' defence, pretending to
believe him when Malichus said that he was not involved
in his father's death. Malichus built a splendid
monument for Antipater. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
11. s. 4. (281-284) 7:599}
5227. Meanwhile, Herod went to Samaria and found it in
a desperate situation. He restored order and subdued
the dissensions that existed among the inhabitants. Not
long after this, when the feast of Pentecost was
approaching, he came into the city of Jerusalem with
soldiers. Malichus was afraid and persuaded Hyrcanus
not to let him enter. Hyrcanus did this on the pretext
that, among the holy people, it was not lawful to bring
in a mixed multitude of profane men. Herod discounted
this excuse and entered the city by night, which greatly
terrified Malichus. Consequently, consistent with his
hypocrisy, he publicly and with tears bewailed the death
of Antipater as his great friend. Therefore, it was
thought good by Herod's friends to take no notice of
this hypocrisy, but again courteously to entertain
Malichus. Herod sent letters to Cassius, notifying him
of Antipater's death. Cassius knew the character of
Malichus all too well, and wrote back to Herod
suggesting that he revenge his father's death. He
secretly ordered the tribunes that were at Tyre to help
Herod in doing this. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
11. s. 5,6. (285-288) 7:601,603}
5228. In Gaul, on the 4th of the Calends of June (May
29), Marcus Lepidus allied himself with Marcus Antony.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 10. c. 23. s. 2. 26:367,369}
5229. When Publius Lentulus, the proquaestor of Asia
and propraetor extraordinary, saw that Brutus was slow
in getting into Asia and that Dolabella had left Asia,
he thought it best to return to his office from
Macedonia as soon as he could. This would enable him to
collect the tribute that was owing and gather up the
money he had left there and send it to Rome. In the
meanwhile, as he was sailing about the islands, he
learned that the navy of Dolabella was in Cilicia (or
Lycia), and that the Rhodians had furnished him with
many ships which were already being used by him.
Therefore, he returned to Rhodes with the ships that he
had, or which Patiscus, the proquaestor of Asia, had
provided. He relied on the decree of the Senate, by
which Dolabella had been declared an enemy, and on the
league that had been renewed with the Rhodians. But the
Rhodians would not strengthen the proquaestor's navy
with their ships. His soldiers were forbidden to come
into the city or the port, or anywhere in Rhodes. They
were prevented from getting any provisions, or even
fresh water. Even Lentulus himself had a difficult time
getting into the city with his ship. When he was
brought into their city and to the elders, he could
obtain nothing from them. He complained of this in
public letters he sent to the Senate and in the private
ones he sent to Cicero. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
14. s. 2,3. 26:559} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
15. s. 2. 26:569}
5230. While Lentulus and Patiscus were detained at
Rhodes, Sextus Marius and Gaius Titius, the lieutenants
of Dolabella, found out about their coming and soon
hurriedly fled from Cilicia (or Lycia) in a galley from
the navy. They left their cargo ships, which they had
spent much time gathering. There were more than a
hundred cargo ships and the smallest could carry two
thousand tons. Dolabella had provided them for this
purpose: If his hopes in Syria and Egypt were
frustrated, then he could use these ships to transport
all his soldiers and all his money and go directly into
Italy. [K390] He would ally himself with the two
Antonys, who were his relatives. For this reason,
Lentulus and Patiscus came there from Rhodes with the
ships they had, captured all these cargo ships and
restored them to their rightful owners. Then, from
there, they pursued the navy that had fled as far as
Sida, the remotest country of the province of Asia.
They knew that some of Dolabella's fleet had fled there
and that the rest, which were scattered, had sailed into
Syria and Cyprus (or Egypt). When Lentulus heard that
Cassius had a very large fleet prepared in Syria, he
returned to his office. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
14. s. 1. 26:557,559} {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c.
15. s. 2. 26:569}
5231. However, Patiscus and Cassius of Parma assembled
a fleet from the seacoast of the province of Asia and
from all the islands that would give them ships. They
soon had sailors, although the cities were very
unco-operative. They pursued the fleet of Dolabella,
which Lucilius was commanding. They encouraged them, in
the hope that Lucilius would surrender, and sailed as
fast as they could. Finally, Lucilius came to Corycus
in Pamphylia and burned the harbour and stayed there.
[E693] So they left Corycus and thought it best to go to
Cassius' camp. Another fleet, which Tullius Cimber had
assembled in Bithynia the previous year, under the
command of Turullius the quaestor, was following them
and so they came to Cyprus. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12.
c. 13. s. 3. 26:555}
5232. Cicero received letters about what Dolabella was
doing and his arrival in the city of Laodicea. Two
letters, written to Cicero, are extant. One is the
fourteenth letter from Publius Lentulus, sent from
Pamphylia on the 4th of the Nones of June (June 4), not
the 4th of the Calends of June (May 29). {*Cicero,
Friends, l. 12. c. 14. s. 1. 26:557} This is shown
from the following letter to the Senate, which was dated
from Perga and to which the letter from Lentulus
referred. {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 15. s. 1.
26:567} The thirteenth letter was later sent from
Cassius on the Ides of June (June 13), from Cyprus.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 13. s. 1. 26:551} In
the first letter, Cassius told of the trouble that
Dolabella encountered after he entered Laodicea.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 14. s. 4. 26:561}
"I hope I shall quickly bring him to punishment, for he
neither has any place to flee to, nor can he resist so
large an army as Cassius has."
5233. The second letter was from Cassius (if I am not
mistaken) of Parma, who was also one of the murderers of
Julius Caesar. He wrote that taunting letter to
Octavius which is mentioned by Suetonius, and we know
the letter was not from Cassius Longinus, who at the
time held the office of proconsul of Syria and whom he
also mentioned at the end of this letter. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 4. s. 2. 1:155} From him we
have a more accurate description of Dolabella's camp:
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 13. s. 4. 26:555,557}
"The people of Tarsus are the very worst allies and the
citizens of Laodicea are even crazier. Of their own
authority they sent for Dolabella, who had acquired a
number of Greek soldiers from both cities and made an
army. He has placed his camp before the city of
Laodicea, has broken down part of the wall and has
joined his camp to the town. Our Cassius, with ten
legions, twenty companies of auxiliaries and four
thousand cavalry, has his camp at Paltus, within twenty
miles of him. He thinks he may defeat him without once
striking a blow because wheat is now selling for three
tetradrachmas in Dolabella's camp. Unless he has
received some supplies from the ships of Laodicea, he
must shortly perish from famine. He cannot supply
himself, because of the large navy which Cassius has,
under the command of Quintilius Rufus. Those ships that
I myself, Turullius, and Patiscus have brought, will
easily assist Rufus."
5234. Dolabella had been at Laodicea some time in a
good situation. His navy had followed him quickly from
Asia. However, when he went to the Aradians to receive
money and shipping from them, he was surprised by a few
soldiers and was in extreme danger. [K391] As he fled,
he met the army of Cassius and was defeated, so he
retired to Laodicea. {*Dio, l. 47. (30) 5:179}
5235. Cassius, fearing that Dolabella might escape from
there, raised a rampart a quarter mile long across the
isthmus. It was made with stones and materials brought
from the villages beyond the city and from the
sepulchres. The messengers he sent to request ships
from Phoenicia, Lycia and Rhodes, were slighted by all
except the Sidonians. Cassius engaged in a naval battle
with Dolabella in which, after the loss of many ships on
both sides, five were taken by Dolabella, together with
all the sailors. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8.
(60,61) 4:243}
5236. Again, Cassius sent messengers to those who had
slighted his first commands and to both Cleopatra, the
queen of Egypt, and Serapion, who commanded her forces
in Cyprus. The people of Tyre, Aradus and Serapion sent
as many ships as they had, without the queen's consent,
while the queen excused herself and said that the
Egyptians were troubled with famine and pestilence, so
that she sent no ships at all. The Rhodians, too,
refused in any way to assist toward the civil wars.
They said that even the ships they had given to
Dolabella had only been to transport him and that they
did not know whether or not he used them for war.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (61) 4:243,245}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (8) 4:389}
5237. The people of Tarsus tried to keep Tullius Cimber
(who was also one of Caesar's murderers) from crossing
the Taurus Mountains as he was hurrying to help Cassius.
Fearing that Cimber had large forces with him, they left
the passes and made an agreement with him but later,
when they knew the small size of his force, they refused
him entrance into their city and did not supply him with
provisions. So Cimber thought it better to take his
forces to Cassius, than to assault Tarsus. He built a
citadel against them and returned into Syria. When the
people of Tarsus took soldiers there, they seized the
citadel and attacked the city of Adana. (It was nearby
and they had a standing controversy with the city
because they said Adana favoured Cassius' side.) When
Cassius heard of this, he sent Lucius Rufus against
Tarsus. {*Dio, l. 47. (31) 5:181}
5238. After Cassius had repaired his fleet as best he
could, and after Statius Murcus arrived with the navy he
had assembled, Cassius had two more naval battles with
Dolabella. In the first, there were equal losses on
both sides, but in the second battle, he was more
successful. On land, he had finished his rampart and
now brought the battering rams to the walls, so that
Dolabella was prevented from getting supplies by land or
sea. [E694] Lacking supplies, he soon made an attack,
but was driven back into the town. {*Dio, l. 47. (30)
5:179} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (62) 4:245}
5239. Unable to bribe the night-watch, whom Marsus
commanded, Cassius bribed the day-watch, whom Quintus
commanded, so that, while Marsus slept by day, Cassius
got in through some of the smaller gates and the city
was taken. Dolabella asked one of his guards to cut his
throat and then to escape. The guard cut Dolabella's
throat, then cut his own. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4.
c. 8. (62) 4:245} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1.
(4) 4:381,383} Seneca the Elder stated that Dellius (or
Quintus Dellius, the historian): {*Seneca the Elder,
Suasoriae, l. 1. c. 7. 2:495,497}
"was about to defect from Dolabella to Cassius on the
promise of immunity if he would kill Dolabella." [K392]
5240. Thus Cassius forced Dolabella to commit suicide
at Laodicea. {*Livy, l. 121. 14:153} {*Strabo, l.
16. c. 2. s. 9. 7:249} {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 69. s. 1,2. 1:197,199} {*Dio, l. 47. (30)
5:179} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 18.} Marsus also committed
suicide. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (62)
4:245} Marcus Octavius, Dolabella's lieutenant, did
likewise. Cassius afforded them a proper burial, even
though they had cast out Trebonius, unburied. He gave
those who had followed the camp, although they had been
declared enemies at Rome, both lodgings and immunity.
He did not punish Laodicea any more than to impose a sum
of money on them. {*Dio, l. 47. (30) 5:179,181}
However, Appian said that he plundered both the temples
and the treasury and exacted very large tribute from the
rest of the population. Also, that he executed every
nobleman and so reduced that city to a most miserable
state. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (62)
4:245}
5241. Cassius commanded the army of Dolabella to take
the military oath of loyalty to him. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (62) 4:245} Then he went to
Tarsus. When he saw that the city of Tarsus had already
surrendered to Lucius Rufus, he fined them all the
private and public money, but laid no other punishment
on them. {*Dio, l. 47. (31) 5:181} He imposed an
extremely heavy tax of fifteen hundred talents on them,
with the result that when the soldiers violently tried
to collect it, the people were forced to sell all their
public and sacred ornaments for lack of money, and broke
down the sacred and the dedicated things. When this was
not enough to pay the sum, the magistrates sold those
who had been born free, first virgins and boys. Later,
they sold women and old men, which fetched very little.
Finally, they sold the young men, many of whom killed
themselves. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (64)
4:247,249}
5242. After the capture of Laodicea, the governors came
from every place and brought crowns and presents to
Cassius. Herod expected that Malichus would be punished
there, for the murder of his father Antipater. However,
Malichus suspected this and planned to make the
Phoenicians around Tyre revolt. Since his son was being
kept in that city as a hostage, he meant to steal him
away privately into Judea. While Cassius was preparing
for war against Antony, he would stir the Jews to revolt
from the Romans and to depose Hyrcanus, so that he could
get the kingdom for himself. Herod was a shrewd
politician and when he learned of this treachery, he
invited both Malichus and Hyrcanus to supper with their
companions. At that time he sent out one of his
servants on the pretext of providing for the banquet.
But instead, he sent him to the tribunes, that these
might kill Malichus. The tribunes remembered the orders
of Cassius, so they went out and found him on the shore
near the city, where they ran him through and killed
him. Hyrcanus was so astonished, that he fainted. He
had barely come to, when he asked who had killed
Malichus. One of the tribunes said that it had been
done on the orders of Cassius. Then Hyrcanus replied:
"Truly, Cassius has preserved me and my country, by
killing the one who was a traitor to both."
5243. It is uncertain whether he spoke from fear, or
approved of the action. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 11. s. 7,8. (231-235) 2:109,111} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s. 6. (288-293) 7:603,605}
5244. On the day before the Calends of July (June 30),
Marcus Lepidus was decreed an enemy of the state because
he had entertained Antony. The others who had revolted
from the state were also declared to be enemies, but if
they chose to obey the Senate before the Calends of
September (September 1), they would be forgiven.
{*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 10. s. 1. 26:541}
Thus Cicero wrote to Gaius Cassius, the relative of
Lepidus: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12. c. 10. s. 8.
26:543} [K393]
"We would gallantly have overcome all, had not Lepidus
entertained Antony after he was pillaged, disarmed and
fleeing. For this reason, Antony was never hated by the
city as much as Lepidus. He raised war from a state
that was in trouble but Lepidus when it was in peace and
quiet."
5245. In the same letter, Cicero showed that he had
received letters from Cassius, from the camp, dated on
the Nones of May (May 7). {*Cicero, Friends, l. 12.
c. 10. s. 2. 26:543} Cassius stated that he held
Syria and that he was preparing for his expedition into
Cilicia, against Dolabella. The news of the success of
that expedition and of the defeat of Dolabella had not
yet reached Rome. He had written to Caesar of his
returning to favour, as Brutus had written to the Senate
in the same way, concerning the state of affairs.
{*Dio, l. 47. (29) 5:175,177} Brutus, in his letters
sent to Caesar, persuaded him to oppose Antony and to
side with him. {*Dio, l. 47. (22) 5:161,163} [E695]
However, in his letters to Cicero, Brutus said something
quite different, for when Cicero wrote to Caesar:
"that there was one thing desired and expected from him,
namely that he would allow those citizens to live in
peace, of whom good men and the people of Rome thought
well."
5246. Brutus wrote back to Cicero in a rage: {*Cicero,
Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c. 25. s. 1. 28:719}
"What if he will not, shall we not be? It is better not
to live, than to live with his help. I, by my loyalty,
do not think all the gods to be so opposed to the safety
of the people of Rome, that Octavius must be entreated
for the safety of one private citizen. I will not say
for the deliverers of the whole world."
5247. When the Senate was informed of the affairs of
Cassius, it confirmed him in the government of Syria
(which he held at the time) and committed the war
against Dolabella to him (which they knew had already
been ended). {*Dio, l. 47. (29) 5:175} So all the
governments beyond the sea were committed to the care of
Brutus and Cassius, in that a decree was issued that all
the provinces and armies who obeyed the Romans, from the
Ionian Sea to the east, should be obedient to these two.
The Senate approved of all the things that these men had
done and praised the armies that had surrendered to
them. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 62. s. 1,2.
1:183,185} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 8. (63)
4:73,75}
5248. Octavius saw that the actions of the Senate were
obviously to the advantage of Pompey's side and to the
detriment of Caesar's. He thought it a disgrace that
Decimus Brutus had been chosen, instead of himself, as
general in the war against Antony. Concealing his
discontent, he requested a triumph for the victory at
Mutina. He was slighted by the Senate, as though he
were demanding greater things than were appropriate for
his age. He feared that if Antony were to be utterly
vanquished, he would be slighted even more, so he began
to have some thoughts of siding with Antony, in line
with the advice which Pansa had given him on his
deathbed. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 9. (64,65)
4:75-79} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 12. (86)
4:113} An agreement with Antony was made by Marcus
Lepidus. {*Livy, l. 119. 14:151} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
18.}
5249. Therefore, an alliance for controlling the
government was started between these three. They began
by sending letters among themselves and relating how
they had been treated. Antony warned Caesar, what
formidable enemies Pompey's side had been to him and to
what heights they had risen. Brutus and Cassius were
extolled by Cicero. Antony told Caesar that he would
join his forces with those of Brutus and Cassius, who
were commanders of seventeen legions, if Caesar refused
his alliance. [K394] He added, that it was even more
important that Caesar avenge the death of his father,
than that he avenge the death of his friend. At the
advice and entreaty of the armies, an alliance was made
between Antony and Caesar, as a part of which, the
step-daughter of Antony was betrothed to Caesar.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 65. s. 1.
1:189,191} She was Claudia, the daughter of Fulvia by a
former husband, Publius Clodius, and was scarcely of
marriageable age. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c.
62. s. 1. 1:241,243}
5250. When Octavius made an agreement with Mark Antony
and Marcus Lepidus, then Octavius sent four hundred
soldiers to Rome to demand the consulship for him in the
name of the army. When the Senate began to vacillate,
Cornelius, a centurion, the leader of the men that had
brought the message, thrust his soldier's coat behind
him and showed the hilt of his sword. He boldly said
before the Senate:
"This shall do it, if you will not do it."
5251. The Senate was forced by Octavius' soldiers to
submit, after which Octavius went toward Rome with them.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 26. s. 1,2. 1:187}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 12. (88) 4:117}
{*Dio, l. 46. (43) 5:87}
5252. While he was on his journey, the praetors placed
guards in various locations of the city and seized
Janiculum, with a guard of soldiers they already had in
the city and with two legions that had come from Africa.
When Octavius entered the city, the praetors came down
from Janiculum and surrendered themselves and their
soldiers to him, while the legions voluntarily gave
their ensigns to him. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c.
13. (91) 4:123} {*Dio, l. 46. (45) 5:91,93} In the
month of August, the legions which had been brought from
Janiculum followed Octavius, just as it was in the
decree of the Senate. {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1.
c. 12.}
5253. On the first day of the choosing of consuls, as
Octavius was making an augury in the field of Mars, six
vultures appeared to him. When he had been selected as
consul and was speaking to the soldiers from the
rostrum, six vultures again appeared (some say twelve).
This was what happened to Romulus in his auguries, when
he was about to build Rome. Based on this, Octavius
hoped that he would found the city anew. {*Julius
Obsequens, Prodigies, l. 1. c. 69. 14:315}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 95. s. 1. 1:295}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 13. (94) 4:129}
{*Dio, l. 46. (46) 5:93} After he was chosen as
consul, those with him hurried to Quintus Pedius, his
colleague, whereupon he gave Octavius his rightful
portion from the inheritance of Julius Caesar.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 95. s. 2,3. 1:191}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 13. (93) 4:129}
{*Dio, l. 46. (46) 5:93}
5254. Livy said that Octavius was made consul when he
was only nineteen years old. {*Livy, l. 119. 14:151}
However, Suetonius more correctly wrote that he became
the consul in his twentieth year. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 26. s. 1. 1:187} [E696]
Eutropius agreed with this and Plutarch also confirmed
this about Octavius, in stating: {Eutropius, l. 7.}
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 27. s. 1,2. 6:185}
"when his army was placed around the city, he received
the consulship, having scarcely come to a man's estate,
since he was only twenty years old, as he relates in his
own commentaries."
5255. Velleius wrote: {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
65. s. 2. 1:191}
"he was made consul the day before he was twenty years
old, on the 11th of the Calends of October (September
22)."
5256. However, Velleius was mistaken about the day he
became consul. For there was a whole month and five
days to go before Octavius turned twenty. He was not
born in the month of September, but he first obtained
the consulship in August which was why the month of
Sextilis was first called August, as was stated by
Suetonius. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 31. s.
1,2. 1:197} {*Dio, l. 55. (6) 6:395} The decree of
the Senate, as recorded by Macrobius, also confirmed
this. {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c. 12.}
5257. Dio noted that he was made consul for the first
time on the 14th of the Calends of September (August
19), and that he later died on the same day, fifty-six
years later. {*Dio, l. 56. (30) 7:69} [K395] Tacitus
noted: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 9. 3:259}
"The same day marked the beginning of his acceptance of
the empire and the end of his life (many years later).
He died at Nola in the same house and room as his father
Octavius had."
5258. His empire is not incorrectly calculated starting
from this first consulship, which he extorted from the
Senate against their will, as Tacitus wrote, and laid
down at his own pleasure and relinquished when he
pleased. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 10. 3:263}
Octavius hypocritically thanked the Senate, pretending
to consider it a favour bestowed on him, as though the
things he had extorted by force had been freely offered
to him. The senators bragged that they had conferred
these things on him of their own volition. Moreover,
they conferred on him whom they did not think worthy of
the consulship, the right to have precedence over the
consuls after his consulship was over, whenever he
commanded the army. The consuls commanded the other
armies to obey him whom they had earlier threatened to
punish for having gathered forces on his own private
authority. The Senate assigned the legions of Brutus to
Octavius to disgrace Brutus, as they had committed the
war against Antony to Octavius to repress Brutus. In
short, the custody of the city was given to him and it
was granted that, even without any direction from the
law, he should have power to do whatever he wanted.
{*Dio, l. 46. (47) 5:97,99} He retained this power as
long as he lived, for the next fifty-six years. There
was good reason why Brutus warned Cicero about this:
{*Cicero, Letters to Brutus, l. 1. c. 9. s. 4.
28:661}
"I am afraid, that your Caesar will think himself to
have risen so high by your decrees that he will not be
likely to come down again once he is made a consul."
5259. Octavius was not content with his earlier
adoption, made by the last will of Julius Caesar, and so
he had it confirmed by a decree of the people in a full
assembly of their wards (which Antony had prevented the
previous year). By public authority, he then assumed
the name of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 13. (94) 4:129} {*Dio, l. 46.
(47) 5:97}
5260. Octavius soon passed another law absolving
Dolabella (whose death was not yet known in Rome), who
had been declared an enemy by the Senate and sentenced
to die for the death of Caesar. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 3. c. 13. (95) 4:129} Octavius did this, so that
it would be thought that he did nothing by force, but
only by law. Quintus Pedius, his colleague in the
consulship, made the law called the Pedian Law, which
decreed that all those who were involved in the murder
of Caesar would be banished and their goods confiscated.
{*Livy, l. 120. 14:151} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 69. s. 5,6. 1:199} {*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c.
3. s. 1. 2:87} {*Dio, l. 46. (48) 5:97,99} He
appointed Lucius Cornificius to accuse Marcus Brutus,
and Marcus Agrippa to accuse Gaius Cassius. Since they
were absent, they were condemned without any hearing of
their case. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 27. s.
4,5. 6:185} Capito, the uncle of Velleius Paterculus
and one of the senatorial order, supported Marcus
Agrippa against Gaius Cassius. {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 69. s. 5. 1:199}
5261. Decimus Brutus, one of the murderers of Caesar,
was absent and was also condemned. On the orders of
Mark Antony and in the house of a certain guest of his,
a nobleman called Camelius, Decimus was killed by
Capenus, a Burgundian, a year and a half after the death
of Caesar. {*Livy, l. 120. 14:151,153} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 64. s. 1. 1:189} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 14. (98) 4:135,137} {Orosius,
l. 6. c. 18.} Cicero said Decimus excelled in this
particular virtue: {*Cicero, Friends, l. 11. c. 21.
s. 4. 26:485}
"He was never afraid, nor ever disturbed."
5262. However, Seneca stated that he showed a cowardly
fear when facing death. {*Seneca, Epistles, l. 1. c.
82. s. 12. 5:249} To encourage him, Helvius Blasio, a
man who had always loved him, because they had always
been fellow soldiers, killed himself. [K396] Decimus
witnessed this and so was strengthened to endure his own
death. {*Dio, l. 46. (53) 5:109} Camelius sent the
head of the dead Brutus to Antony. When he saw it, he
gave it to his friends to bury. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 3. c. 14. (98) 4:135}
5263. Trebonius was the next to die for the murder of
Caesar. He had been the closest friend of the murderers
and he had thought it best to keep the things he had
received from Caesar, even though he had thought Caesar,
who had given him those things, had to die. [E697]
While Caesar was alive, Trebonius was the master of the
cavalry and commanded Farther Gaul. He was also elected
consul by Caesar in the year following the consulship of
Hirtius and Pansa, as well as being made governor of
Nearer Gaul. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 69. s.
1. 1:197} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 14. (98)
4:135}
5264. At the same time also, Minucius Basillus, one of
the murderers of Caesar, was killed by his own servants,
because he had castrated some of them in his anger.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 3. c. 14. (98) 4:137}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 18.}
3962a AM, 4671 JP, 43 BC
5265. When Marcus Brutus had appeased the army that was
likely to rebel at the instigation of Gaius Antony,
Brutus turned him over to Gaius Clodius at Apollonia to
be guarded. Brutus went into the higher Macedonia with
the largest and strongest part of his army and from
there crossed into Asia. He wanted to take them as far
away from Italy as possible, so that he could better
control the troops. In Asia, he received many
auxiliaries, including those from Dejotarus, a man who
was now very old and who had previously denied help to
Gaius Cassius. {*Dio, l. 47. (24) 5:165}
5266. Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus left their
lieutenants in Gaul and went to Caesar in Italy with the
largest and best part of the army. {*Dio, l. 46. (54)
5:109} When those three armies met at Bononia, an eagle
sat on Caesar's tent and drove off two ravens, which he
struck to the ground. All the army noted this and
thought it portended that a time was coming when a
difference would arise among the colleagues and that
Caesar would get the victory over the other two. {*Dio,
l. 47. (1) 5:119} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c.
96. s. 1. 1:295}
5267. These three had a three-day private conference at
the confluences around Bononia and Mutina, on a certain
little island formed by the Lavinius River. They made
peace among themselves and agreed that they should
jointly govern the state's affairs for five years.
{*Livy, l. 120. 14:153} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 16.
1:305} {*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 46. s. 2.
7:201} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 19. s. 1.
9:179} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 1. (2) 4:143}
{*Dio, l. 46. (55,56) 5:111-115}
5268. By a common decree, they decided the following
things: Caesar would turn over the consulship to
Ventidius for the rest of the year. A new office of the
triumviri would be established to avoid all civil
disorder. Lepidus, along with Antony and Caesar, would
hold that office for five years, with consular power.
The triumviri would immediately be the annual
magistrates for the city for a five year period. The
provinces were to be divided in such a way that Antony
should have all of Gaul, as well as Togata on this side
of the Alps and Comata on the other side, excluding the
province of Narbon. Lepidus should have the command of
Narbon, together with Spain. Africa, along with
Sardinia and Sicily, should be Caesar's share. In this
way the Roman Empire was divided among the triumviri.
They deferred the division of those provinces over which
Brutus and Cassius had the command. [K397] Moreover, it
was agreed among them that they should put their enemies
to death and that Lepidus should be chosen consul for
the following year, in place of Decimus Brutus. He
would have the responsibility of guarding Rome and all
Italy, while Antony and Caesar would carry on the war
against Brutus and Cassius. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
4. c. 1. (2) 4:143} {*Dio, l. 46. (55,56)
5:111,113}
5269. On the third day, the triumviri entered Rome,
each separately with his praetorian cohort and one
legion. When Publius Titius, the tribune of the people,
called an assembly of the wards, he passed a law for the
establishing of the new office. The triumviri were
given consular power for five years, to restore order to
the state. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 2. (7)
4:151} {*Dio, l. 47. (2) 5:119}
5270. When the triumviri arrived, Cicero left the city
and was assured, which also came to pass, that he could
no more escape Antony, than Brutus and Cassius could
escape Caesar. {*Livy, l. 120. 14:153} {*Seneca the
Elder, Suasoriae, l. 7. 2:595-611}
5271. The triumvirate of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Mark
Antony and Caesar Octavius commenced its rule on the 5th
of the Calends of December (November 27). This was to
continue to the days before the month of January of the
sixth year. This was evident from the Colatian Marble.
{Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 298.} At that time, Marcus
Terentius Varro had a vision in which he saw Rome rise
up with three heads. It is from that time that
Suetonius and Eutropius derive the beginning of the
government of Caesar Octavius. This was almost twelve
years (less three months) before the victory at Actium,
from which they began his monarchy. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 8. s. 3. 1:161} {Eutropius, l.
7.}
5272. On the 7th of the Ides of December (December 7),
when Caesar Octavius substituted himself and Quintus
Pedius as the consuls in place of Pansa and Hirtius,
Marcus Cicero was killed by some men who were sent from
Mark Antony. One of his ungrateful murderers was
Popillus, a tribune whom Cicero had successfully
defended against the charge of parricide. {*Plutarch,
Cicero, l. 1. c. 49. 7:207} The writer of the
dialogue of the Causes of Corrupted Eloquence, which was
ascribed to Gaius Tacitus, confirmed this from the
writings of Tiro, a freedman of Cicero's. {*Tacitus,
Oratory, l. 1. c. 17. 1:273,275} [E698] This was the
end of the life of one who was the first to deserve in
peace the triumph and laurel of the tongue, and who was
the father of eloquence and Latin learning. Julius
Caesar had previously written about him that he had
obtained a laurel far beyond all triumphs, and how much
greater an achievement it was, to have extended the
bounds of Roman learning than those of the empire.
{*Pliny, l. 7. c. 30. 2:583} These things were
recorded about Cicero by the following writers.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 66. 1:191,193}
{*Seneca the Elder, Suasoriae, l. 7. 2:595-611}
{*Plutarch, Cicero, l. 1. c. 48,49. 7:205-209}
5273. Cleopatra brought no forces to Cassius, although
he demanded auxiliaries from her with threats.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (8) 4:389}
5274. While Brutus was in Asia, Gellius Publicola
conspired against him. Mark Antony also sent some men
to rescue his brother, Gaius Antony. Therefore, Gaius
Clodius, who had been left as Antony's guard, killed
Gaius when he could no longer keep him safe. He did
this either on his own authority or on the orders of
Brutus. It was reported that Brutus had a great concern
for the safety of Gaius Antony. After he learned of
Decimus Brutus' death, he took no more care of Antony.
However, Brutus did not punish Gellius, although he was
guilty of treason against him. Gellius knew that Brutus
had always considered him among his closest friends and
that Marcus Messala, his brother, was on very good terms
with Cassius. Therefore, Brutus left Gellius alone.
{*Dio, l. 49. (24) 5:165,167}
5275. As soon as Brutus heard of the acts of Mark
Antony and the death of Gaius Antony, he feared that
some new rebellion might arise in Macedonia, so he
hurried back into Europe. {*Dio, l. 47. (25) 5:167}
[K398]
5276. The triumviri at Rome decreed the construction of
a temple to Isis and Serapis. {*Dio, l. 47. (16)
5:147}
5277. When Octavius had resigned the consulship and his
colleague Quintus Pedius was dead, the triumviri
appointed as consuls, Publius Ventidius (Bassus), the
praetor, along with Gaius Carrinatus. This may be shown
from the inscription in the Colatian Marble. {Gruter,
Inscriptions, p. 298.} They gave the praetorship to one
who was aedile. Later they removed all the praetors
from their office, five days before the office was to
expire and sent them into the provinces and appointed
others in their places as praetors. {*Dio, l. 47.
(15) 5:147} This was what Paterculus referred to:
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 65. s. 3. 1:191}
"This year saw Ventidius as both consul and praetor in
that city through which he had been led in a triumph
among the captives from Picencum."
5278. As a boy, he had been led in a triumph by Pompey.
This is described in more detail by Valerius Maximus,
Gellius and Pliny. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 6. c. 9.
s. 9. 2:89} {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c.
4. s. 1-4. 3:69-73} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 43. 2:597}
Maximus added that, as a young man, Ventidius had made
his living very humbly, by providing mules and coaches
for the magistrates who were to go into the provinces.
As a result, these verses were commonly written through
all the streets:
You augurs and haruspices draw near,
We have an uncouth wonder happened here;
He that rubbed mules is made consul here.
5279. At the end of the year, those who had recently
been elected consuls held a triumph. Lucius Munatius
Plancus triumphed for Gaul on the 4th of the Calends of
January (December 29), and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus held
a triumph for Spain on the 2nd of the Calends of January
(December 31). This is evident from the Marble Records
of Triumphs. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 297.}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 67. s. 3,4. 1:195}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 5. (31) 4:193}
3962b AM, 4672 JP, 42 BC
5280. In the fourth Julian year, a day was incorrectly
added to February. Only three years had elapsed from
the first February of the first Julian year until that
time. This error continued until the 37th Julian year.
They should have added a day at the end of every four
years, before the fifth year began. But the priests
added a day at the beginning of the fourth year rather
than at its end. So the year, which had been correctly
ordered by Julius Caesar, was disordered by their
negligence. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 31. s.
2. 1:197} {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c. 14.
fin.}
5281. After Marcus Brutus had settled everything in
Macedonia, he went back into Asia again. {*Dio, l. 47.
(25) 5:167} He took a large army with him and arranged a
fleet in Bithynia and at Cyzicum. He went by land and
settled all the cities and heard the complaints of the
governors. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 28. s. 3.
6:187} He appointed Apuleius, who had fled to him from
the proscription by the triumviri, governor over
Bithynia. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 6. (40)
4:207} [E699]
5282. The letters which Brutus wrote in a laconic style
to those who were in Asia, are still extant. Aldus
preserved them in Greek and Rainutius Florentius
translated and recorded them in Latin. Plutarch
recorded three in his writings. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l.
1. c. 2. s. 5-8. 6:131} The first one, to the
Pergamenian, can be found in the beginning of the
collection that has already been published. Another
one, which we shall recite, was to the Rhodians. [K399]
The third and shortest of all was inscribed in the
published Greek copies, to the Bithynians and in the
Latin copy of Rainutius, to the Galatians and in
Plutarch, to the Samians. It said this:
"Your councils are paltry, your subsidies slow; what do
you think will be the end of this?"
5283. Cassius intended to go into Egypt when he heard
that Cleopatra, with her large navy, was about to side
with Caesar and Antony. He thought that he could punish
her and prevent her from doing this. She was troubled
with a famine and had almost no foreign help because of
the sudden departure of Allienus with four Roman
legions. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (63)
4:245,247} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (8)
4:389}
5284. Crassus hoped that he would have a suitable
occasion for this venture, until Brutus recalled him to
Syria through one messenger after another, who reported
that Octavius and Antony were crossing the Adriatic Sea.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (63) 4:247}
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 28. s. 3,4.
6:187,189} He gave up on his Egyptian plans and again
sent his lightly armed cavalry with bribes to the king
of the Parthians, sending his envoys with them to
request more help. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 8.
(63) 4:247}
5285. Cassius left his brother's son in Syria with one
legion and sent his cavalry ahead of him to Cappadocia.
They made a surprise attack on Ariobarzanes and took
away a large amount of money and other provisions.
Cassius on his return from Syria took pity on Tarsus,
which was most miserably oppressed and he freed the city
from paying any tribute in the future. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 8. (63,64) 4:247,249} Once his
affairs were settled in Syria and Cilicia, he went to
Asia to Brutus. {*Dio, l. 47. (32) 5:183}
5286. After Cassius had left Syria, there was a
sedition at Jerusalem. Helix, who had been left there
with soldiers by Hyrcanus, revenged Malichus' death and
attacked Phasael, causing the people to take up arms.
Herod was there with Fabius, the governor of Damascus,
and planned to help his brother, but was prevented by
illness from doing so. Phasael withstood Helix's attack
and first forced him into the town, then, after agreeing
on conditions, allowed him to leave. Phasael was very
angry with Hyrcanus, who had received so many benefits
from him and had still favoured Helix and allowed the
brother of Malichus to seize some citadels for he had
held many citadels, of which Masada was the strongest.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 12. s. 1.
(236,237) 2:111} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 11.
s. 7. (294-296) 7:605,607}
5287. Brutus and Cassius were very joyful and confident
when they met at Smyrna and considered the forces which
they had. When they had left Italy, they were poor and
without arms and like abject exiles. They did not have
so much as one ship rigged, one soldier or one friendly
town. In a short time, they had met together with a
fleet and were outfitted with cavalry and foot soldiers,
as well as money to pay them. They were ready to fight
for the Roman Empire. Cassius wanted to give Brutus the
same honour that he had. Brutus frequently prevented
Cassius from doing this and often came to him, because
Brutus was the older and his body could not endure the
same amount of hardship. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c.
28,28. 6:189}
5288. Together they planned the war against the
triumviri. {*Livy, l. 122. 14:153} Brutus wanted to
go into Macedonia with their combined forces and settle
everything in one large battle. The enemy had forty
legions, of which eight had been transported across the
sea to Iconium. [K400] Cassius, on the other hand,
thought the forces of the enemy were contemptible and
that he and Brutus would not have adequate provisions
for so large a force. He believed that the best way
forward was to quell those who favoured the enemy, such
as the Rhodians and Lycians, who were strongest at sea.
Otherwise, they themselves would be attacked from
behind, while they were attacking the enemy. Cassius'
opinion prevailed. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 9.
(65) 4:249} When they heard that the triumviri were busy
settling the affairs at Rome, Cassius and Brutus assumed
that they would be kept busy enough with Sextus Pompey
who was lying in wait against them near by. {*Dio, l.
47. (32,33) 5:183,185}
5289. Moreover, at Smyrna, Brutus desired that he might
have some of the money, of which Cassius had a large
amount. Brutus said that he had spent all he had in
preparing a fleet with which they might control the
whole inland sea. Cassius' friends, however, were
against Cassius giving Brutus any money, saying it was
unjust that what they had saved by frugality and
acquired through hard work should be spent in bribing
soldiers. In spite of this, Cassius gave him a third of
everything. So both of them set about their own work.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 1-3. 6:193}
[E700]
5290. They either went themselves or sent their envoys
to draw those who had opposed them to their side. They
gathered more men and money to fight the war. All those
who lived in those parts and had formerly been not so
much as spoken to, presently came to side with them.
Although Ariobarzanes, the Rhodians and Lycians did not
oppose them, they nonetheless refused Cassius' and
Brutus' alliance. Brutus and Cassius suspected them of
favouring the opposing side because they had received so
many favours from the former Caesar. They feared that,
in their absence, these might create some disturbances
and thereby incite all the others not to keep their
promise. They determined to attack them first of all,
in the hope that with their superior forces they would
easily convince them to side with them, either willingly
or through force. {*Dio, l. 47. (33) 1:183,185}
5291. As soon as Herod had recovered, he went against
the brother of Malichus and recaptured all the citadels
he had seized. Herod also recovered three citadels in
Galilee which had been seized by Marion, the tyrant of
Tyre. He allowed all the garrison soldiers of the
tyrants to leave, on conditions. He sent some of them
home well-rewarded, thereby winning the affection of
Tyre and fostering hatred for the tyrant. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 11. s. 7,8. (296-298) 7:607}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 12. s. 2. (238)
2:111}
5292. The citizens of Tyre who had resisted Cassius,
were commended by the triumviri, and given the hope that
they would receive something for the losses they had
sustained. In the same manner, because Cleopatra had
sent help to Dolabella, she was granted that her son
Ptolemy, whom she said she had by Caesar and who was
therefore called Caesarion, should be called king of
Egypt. {*Dio, l. 47. (31) 5:181,183}
5293. Brutus demanded men and money from the Lycians,
because Naucrates, the popular leader, had persuaded the
cities to revolt. They had positioned themselves on
some hills to keep Brutus from passing through. First,
he sent his cavalry against them while they were eating
breakfast and the cavalry killed six hundred of them.
Later, he took some citadels and smaller towns and then
let them all go free without ransom, so that he might
win the favour of the country. [K401] But they were
obstinate and discontented on account of the losses they
had sustained and so despised his clemency and good
will. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 3-6.
6:193,195}
5294. In a battle, Brutus defeated the common army of
the entire country of the Lycians. He also took over
their camp, entering it as they fled. Many cities
surrendered to him. {*Dio, l. 47. (34) 5:185}
5295. Then he besieged the most warlike of them and
forced them to retire within the walls of Xanthus.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 6,7. 6:195}
These people had destroyed their suburbs, intending that
Brutus should have neither lodging nor materials. They
fortified their city well and drove the enemy from the
fortifications. They made a ditch fifty feet deep and
equally as broad, so that when they stood on the bank
they could use their javelins and arrows as if separated
from the enemy by an unfordable river. Brutus besieged
the city, pushing forward mantelets (a movable shelter
used to cover the approach of men-at-arms when besieging
a fortified place) for his men and dividing his army
into two, to continue the assault by day and night. He
brought his materials from a long distance and still
urged them on to hasten the work. They did whatever had
to be done with great earnestness and labour.
Therefore, even though he had thought at first that he
would not be able to overcome the strong resistance of
the enemy for many months, he finished the task within a
few days. With his cohorts, he assaulted and besieged
the walls with engines, close to the gate. He
continually replaced those of his men who were wearied
or wounded, with fresh men. The enemy, likewise, held
out manfully as long as the fortifications held, but
they lost heart when these were destroyed. The town was
battered with the engines. When Brutus saw what would
happen, he ordered those who were besieging the gate to
retreat. The men of Xanthus, thinking this had occurred
through negligence on the part of the guard, sallied out
by night with torches and burned the engines. However,
the Roman cohorts hurried back there, as had been
pre-arranged, and the enemy quickly fled back to the
gate. Those who kept the gate had shut it, in case the
enemy should break in together with those who were
fleeing, and so there was a great slaughter of the men
who were shut out of the town. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
4. c. 10. (76,77) 4:269,271}
5296. A river ran past the city. As some tried to
escape by swimming underwater, they were captured again
by the nets which had been let down into the river
across the channel. These nets had bells hanging at
their top, which signalled when anyone was entangled.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 6,7. 6:195}
5297. The men of Xanthus sallied out again around noon,
drove back the guards and burned all the engines. Since
the gate was open for them to return, two thousand
Romans rushed in together with the townsmen, and others
entered in a chaotic fashion. The portcullis (a heavy
iron grate) fell upon them, due either to the action of
the men of Xanthus or to the breaking of the ropes by
which it was let down. [E701] Therefore, all the Romans
who had broken in, were either beaten down or shut in,
since they could not draw it up again without ropes.
They were attacked from above by the men of Xanthus and
barely managed to get into the forum, even though it was
nearby, because the area around there was full of
archers. Since the Romans had neither bows nor arrows,
they fled into the temple of Sarpedon to avoid being
surrounded. In the meantime, the Romans outside the
city were very anxious for those who were trapped
within. Brutus was running up and down, trying at every
conceivable place to rescue them. But they could not
break open the portcullis and they had lost their
ladders and wooden towers through the fire. [K402]
However, before long, some men made ladders and others
brought tree trunks to the walls and used them for
ladders. Some fastened hooks to ropes and tossed them
up onto the walls and whenever any held, they climbed up
on them. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (78)
4:271,273}
5298. The Oenandeses, their neighbours and enemies,
were at that time the allies of Brutus. They climbed up
the steep rocks with the Romans following them at once
with determination. Many fell down as they lost their
footing, but some got over the wall and opened a little
gate. In front of the gate was a very dense palisade.
With the help of these men, the most daring got up. As
more men joined them, they went to break the portcullis,
which was not protected with iron on the inside. Others
also tried to do the same on the other side, since the
Xanthians were busy attacking those who had fled into
the temple of Sarpedon. The men broke it open from both
sides of the gate. At sunset, accompanied by a frenzied
noise, they all rushed in as one company. They gave a
loud shout, as a sign to those trapped in the temple.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (79) 4:273}
5299. The Romans rushed into the city and set some
houses on fire. First, the fire terrified those who
witnessed this being done. Those who were farther off,
thought that the city had been taken and so the
neighbours, voluntarily set their own houses on fire,
but most killed one another. {*Dio, l. 47. (34)
5:187} They withdrew inside their own houses, killing
everyone who was dear to them as these willingly offered
their throats to be cut. Such a lamentable cry went up
at that time that Brutus thought the soldiers were
sacking the city, a practice he had forbidden through
public criers. When he was better informed, he so
pitied the generous character of these men who had been
born to liberty, that he sent messengers inviting them
to peace. But they drove them back with their arrows
and having first killed all that belonged to them and
laid them on funeral piles and set them on fire, they
cut their own throats. This was Appian's account of the
story. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (80)
4:273} However, Plutarch related it as follows.
5300. Brutus was afraid that the city would be
destroyed and ordered the soldiers to put out the fire
and help the city. But a massive and incredible
desperation suddenly took hold of the Lycians, which
could well be compared to a desire for death. For, from
the wall, both freemen and slaves, old and young, with
women and children, assailed the enemy who came to
quench the fire. The Xanthians themselves brought reeds
and anything combustible to set the city on fire.
Having done this, they used every means available to fan
the flames. When all the city was ablaze, Brutus was
grieved about this and went through the city seeking to
help it. He stretched out his hands to the Xanthians
and entreated them to spare the city, but no one obeyed
him. In fact, they killed themselves in all manner of
ways, including men and women and even little children.
With loud cries and howlings, they threw themselves into
the fire and some headlong from the wall. Some offered
their naked throats to their fathers' swords, wanting to
be killed by them. After the city had been consumed in
this manner, one woman was seen hanging by a rope, her
dead child hanging at her neck. She had a fiery torch
with which she had set her house on fire. The sight
appeared so tragic, that Brutus could not bear to look
at it. [K403] When he was told of it, he started
weeping and offered a reward to any of the soldiers who
had saved a Lycian. They counted only a hundred and
fifty who had surrendered. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1.
c. 31. 6:195,197}
5301. Appian wrote that Brutus saved some slaves. Of
the freeborn, scarcely a hundred and fifty men were
saved, and any women who did not have husbands to kill
them. He added that Brutus saved all the temples he
possibly could. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10.
(80) 4:273,275}
5302. From there, Brutus went to Patara, a city which
seemed to have been the port for the Xanthians where
their ships were anchored. He ordered them to surrender
to him, or expect a similar fate to that of the
Xanthians. But the citizens would not surrender. The
slaves had recently obtained their liberty and the
freemen, who were poor, had recently had all their debts
cancelled, so they resisted surrendering to Brutus.
[E702] Therefore, Brutus sent them the Xanthians whom he
had taken captive, because they were related to each
other, thinking that when they saw their miserable
condition, the Patarenses would have a change of heart.
But they were just as steadfast as before, although he
had granted everyone his relatives as a gift. Brutus
allowed them the rest of the day for consultation and
withdrew. However, the next morning, he again brought
his forces there. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10.
(81) 4:275} {*Dio, l. 47. (34) 5:187} He set up an
auction block in a safe place under the wall and began
selling the leaders of the Xanthians. He brought them
out one by one to see whether this would move the people
of Patara. When, after he had sold a few of them, they
would not yield in spite of all this, he let the rest go
free. {*Dio, l. 47. (34) 5:187}
5303. Since Brutus had taken some of the women of
Patara captive, he let them go free, also, without any
ransom. They told their husbands and fathers, who were
the leaders of the city, that Brutus was a very modest
and just man and persuaded them to surrender to him.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 32. s. 1-3.
6:197,199} When he entered the town, he did not kill or
banish anyone. He ordered all the public gold and
silver to be brought to him and took everyone's own
personal treasure, as well, promising to punish those
who would not co-operate and to reward those who did.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (81) 4:275,277}
5304. A slave betrayed his master, who had hidden some
gold, by telling a centurion who had been sent to
collect the money. When they were all brought out, the
master was silent. However, to save her son, his mother
followed and cried that she had hidden the money.
Without having been asked, the slave replied that she
was lying and that the master had hidden the money.
After Brutus had commended the young man's patience and
the mother's piety, he dismissed both of them with the
gold. But he crucified the servant who against every
system of justice had betrayed his master. {*Appian,
Civil wars, l. 4. c. 10. (81) 4:277}
5305. At the same time, Lentulus was sent to Andriace,
which was the port of Myra, where he broke the chain
barring the mouth of the harbour and captured the
general of Myra. When Brutus had released the general,
the people of Myra surrendered and paid the money
imposed on them. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10.
(82) 4:277} {*Dio, l. 47. (34) 5:189} All the
countries of the Lycians were subdued in the same
manner, and sent envoys to Brutus. They promised to
send both men and money, according to their ability.
They found Brutus to be bountiful and indulgent beyond
all their expectations, for he sent home all the
freeborn of the Xanthians and only imposed a fine of a
hundred and fifty talents upon the Lycians, while doing
violence to no one. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 32.
s. 3,4. 6:199} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10.
(82) 4:277} {*Dio, l. 47. (34) 5:189} [K404]
5306. After Brutus had conquered the Lycians,
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 69. s. 6. 1:199}
he wrote some letters, among which this one was said to
have been sent to the Rhodians:
"We have severely punished the Xanthians when they
revolted from us. We punished everyone, including their
children, and we destroyed the city with fire and sword.
As for the people of Patara, who were faithful to us, we
have released their tributes and granted them the
freedom to live after their own laws. We have given
them fifty talents toward the rebuilding of the things
that were demolished. You have the freedom to see for
yourselves whether you will be accounted enemies, like
the Xanthians, or friends, like the people of Patara."
5307. Plutarch recorded this letter more concisely:
"The Xanthians despised our bounty and have made their
country the sepulchre of their desperation. The
citizens of Patara, who have submitted to me, have their
liberty in governing their state. Therefore, it is in
your power either to choose the opinion of the citizens
of Patara, or the fortune of the Xanthians."
5308. The Rhodian noblemen were afraid to contend with
the Romans, but the common people held a high opinion of
their own abilities, mindful of the ancient victories
which they had won over other such men. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (66) 4:249,251} They trusted so
much to their skill in navigation, that they first went
to Cassius on the continent and showed him the fetters
they had brought, as if intending to take many of their
enemies alive. {*Dio, l. 47. (33) 5:185}
5309. Cassius had to fight these people, who were
skilful at sea. For this reason, he exercised his fleet
at Myndus, having rigged and furnished it with soldiers.
The Rhodians sent envoys to him who were to entreat him
not to attack Rhodes, which had always revenged the
wrongs done to her, nor to break the league that existed
between the Romans and the Rhodians, which stated
clearly that neither people should make war on the
other. They also sent him Archelaus as an envoy, who
had formerly been his teacher at Rhodes for the Greek
language. He more humbly asked the same things of him.
Cassius replied that the league had first been broken by
the Rhodians and that he would punish them for it, if
they did not immediately surrender. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (66-68) 4:251-259}
5310. This answer terrified the wiser citizens, but the
people were more influenced by the speeches of Alexander
and Mnaseas and recalled with how much larger a fleet
Mithridates and before him, Demetrius, had invaded
Rhodes. Both had been very powerful kings.
Consequently, they appointed Alexander as Prytanis,
which is a magistrate among them of very great power,
and made Mnaseas the admiral. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
4. c. 9. (66) 4:251,253} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4.
c. 9. (67) 4:253} [E703]
5311. Alexander and Mnaseas, the commanders of the
Rhodians, sailed to Myndus with thirty-three good ships.
They hoped to make Cassius afraid through this boldness.
Since they had defeated Mithridates near this town, they
hoped to defeat Cassius also. To show their skill in
sailing, they went to Cnidos the first day. The next
day, Cassius' soldiers left the shore and sailed out
against them. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 9.
(66) 4:251} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (71)
4:259}
5312. A fierce battle took place between them. With
their small, nimble ships, the Rhodians sailed here and
there, sometimes through the enemies' ranks and
sometimes around them. On the other side, the Romans
trusted their heavier ships. As often as they laid hold
with their iron hook on any ship that sailed too close,
they prevailed as in a land battle. [K405] Cassius had
the larger number of ships and the Rhodians could not
for long use their swiftness and usual tactics, to play
with their enemies, as Cassius' more numerous ships
surrounded the Rhodian fleet. Since the Rhodians could
now only attack them from the front and then retreat, it
did them little good. Their enemies still kept
themselves close together. Also, the attacks of their
armoured prows were ineffectual against the heavy ships
of the Romans. On the other hand, the Roman ships
attacked these light ships with a direct attack, until
three Rhodian ships were taken with all the soldiers in
them. Two were damaged and sank, while the rest fled to
Rhodes, badly damaged. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
9. (71) 4:261}
5313. The Roman fleet successfully fought with the
Rhodians at Myndus. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
9. (71) 4:261} {*Dio, l. 47. (33) 5:185} Cassius
watched the sea-battle from a mountain. After the
battle, he repaired his fleet at once and went to
Loryma, a citadel of the Rhodians on the other side of
the continent. From there, he conveyed his land forces
over in cargo ships under the command of Fannius and
Lentulus. Then, with eighty warships, Cassius set out
to strike terror into the Rhodians. He trusted that his
sea and land forces would reduce the hostility of the
enemy. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (72)
4:261}
5314. When they again met him boldly, Cassius defeated
them with the help of Statius Murcus, by overcoming
their skill with the size and number of his ships. Once
they had lost two ships, the Rhodians were then
surrounded on every side. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4.
c. 9. (72) 4:261} {*Dio, l. 47. (33) 5:185}
5315. At once, all the walls were filled with soldiers
to repulse Fannius' attack from the land. Cassius was
prepared for an assault on the walls from the sea, with
his navy. Having thought that such a thing would
happen, he had brought towers with him that were in
sections, and now set them up there. Thus Rhodes, twice
beaten at sea, was now under attack both by sea and
land. They were unprepared for a sustained double
attack and it appeared that in a short time the enemy
would overpower them, or they would be starved out by
famine. When the wiser among the Rhodians realised
this, they held a secret conference with Fannius and
Lentulus. Since Cassius had suddenly come right into
the middle of the city with his best soldiers, it was
believed that some of the smaller gates had been opened
to him by citizens who secretly favoured him, so that
the city would not be miserably destroyed. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (72,73) 4:263}
5316. Cassius replied to the Rhodians, who called him
king and lord, that he was neither lord nor king, but
the killer and avenger of a lord and king. {*Plutarch,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 30. s. 3. 6:193} He sat under a
spear for his tribunal, because he wanted to be seen as
having taken the city by force of arms. He ordered his
army to be peaceful and through his public criers,
threatened death to plunderers. He summoned fifty
Rhodian citizens to appear before him, whom whom he
ordered to be executed. He ordered another twenty-five,
who did not appear, to be banished. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (73) 4:263}
5317. He plundered the Rhodians of their ships and
money. He took all the gold that belonged to either the
temples or the treasury. He even took away all the
things which were dedicated to the gods, except for the
Chariot of the Sun. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
9. (73) 4:263,265} {*Dio, l. 47. (33) 5:185} However,
not content with all that, he took whatever gold or
silver anyone owned. Through a crier, he proclaimed a
punishment to anyone who hid any and offered a reward to
those who told of it. They would get a tenth part of it
and the slaves would get their liberty. [K406] At
first, some concealed their money, in the hope that his
threats would go no further than words. When they saw
that rewards were being given to informers, they asked
that the time he had granted be extended. Some dug up
what they had hidden in the earth and others retrieved
their money from wells. This collection brought in more
than the previous one had! {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4.
c. 9. (73) 4:263,267} He had extorted eight hundred
talents from private individuals and publicly fined the
city five hundred talents more, {*Plutarch, Brutus, l.
1. c. 32. s. 4. 6:199} thus leaving the Rhodians
with nothing but their lives. {Orosius, l. 6. c.
18.}
5318. Therefore, Cassius, in a fierce and most
prosperous war, defeated Rhodes, an undertaking of great
difficulty. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 69. s.
6. 1:199} [E704] Rejoicing at his quick victory and the
large amount of money he had obtained, he left Lucius
Varus at Rhodes with a garrison. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 4. c. 9. (74) 4:265} After this, he put
Ariobarzanes, whom he had captured, to death {*Dio, l.
47. (33) 5:185} and ordered ten years of tribute from
all the provinces of Asia, which he collected in full.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 9. (74) 4:265}
5319. Cassius was told that Cleopatra was about to sail
to join Caesar and Antony with a large navy and many
forces. She had always followed that side before, on
account of the love she previously had to the former
Caesar. Now she did so far more eagerly, because of her
fear of Cassius. To prepare for her invasion, Cassius
sent Murcus into Peloponnesus with one legion and some
archers in sixty decked ships, to guard the sea lanes
around Cape Taenarum. Avoiding Cassius and Murcus,
Cleopatra set sail toward the Ionian Sea, but her fleet
was wrecked by a large storm off the coast of Libya.
The waves carried evidence of her shipwreck even into
the country of Laconia. Cleopatra became sick and
therefore returned home. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4.
c. 9. (74) 4:265} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
10. (82) 4:277} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1.
(8) 4:389}
5320. Among Brutus' letters, there was one that had
been sent to the Coans, concerning his and Cassius'
victories:
"Rhodes now truly obeys Cassius, a city more bold than
strong through her own strength. All of Lycia is now at
our command, partly conquered in war and partly through
fear of extreme hardships. This choice was truly to
their advantage. They willingly chose what, a little
time later, they would have been forced to do. You
choose, therefore, whether you would prefer to be forced
to serve, or rather be called our friends by receiving
us."
5321. Brutus returned from Lycia into Ionia and did
many memorable deeds in honouring those who deserved to
be honoured and in punishing others according to their
actions. Among others, he tortured and killed
Theodorus, the rhetorician, who was wandering in Asia.
He had been instrumental (as he himself bragged) in the
death of Pompey the Great. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1.
c. 33. 6:199,201} {*Plutarch, Pompey, l. 1. c. 77.
s. 3,4. 5:317,319}
5322. Brutus sent for Cassius to come to Sardis. As he
was approaching, Brutus went to meet him with his
friends. All the soldiers were fully armed and greeted
them both as Imperators. As often happens between two
who have many troops and friends, mutual suspicion and
accusations arose between them. First, they went alone
into a private room, shut the doors after them and asked
everyone to leave. They began to talk, then to argue
and accuse each other. Their friends were afraid of
what the outcome would be, because Cassius and Brutus
were all the more free and vehement in chiding one
another, as they became very sharp in their arguments
with each other. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 34.
s. 1-3. 6:201} [K407] All these suspicions between
them arose through false accusations, but they finally
settled everything wisely. {*Dio, l. 47. (35) 5:189}
5323. Marcus Favonius, whom Cicero mentioned to have
been a close friend of Brutus, was present there.
{*Cicero, Atticus, l. 15. c. 11. 24:323} He followed
in the footsteps of Marcus Cato, who was a philosopher.
However he was not as reasonable and was governed by
some passionate and mad purpose. He considered it a
lowly office to be a consul of Rome. With his cynical
and harsh language, he frequently alleviated the tedium
his importunity brought upon many. At this meeting
between Brutus and Cassius, he violently shoved aside
the porters who forbade him entrance and entered the
room where Brutus and Cassius were having their private
conference. With an impersonating voice, he pronounced
the verses that Homer said Nestor had used:
"But both obey me, for I your senior am"
5324. He also quoted the verses that follow on from
there. This made Cassius laugh, but Brutus kicked him
out and called him an:
"unlearned and adulterous dog"
5325. After this difference had been resolved, Cassius
arranged a supper, to which Brutus invited his friends.
As they were about to sit down, Favonius came in, fresh
from his bath. Brutus protested that he came uninvited
and asked him to use the farthest couch, but he pushed
himself in and placed himself on the central couch at
the table between them. There was both hilarity and
good conversation at the feast. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l.
1. c. 34. s. 4-8. 6:201,203.}
5326. The next day, in public judgment and with a note
of dishonour, Brutus condemned Lucius Pellius, who had
been praetor. Brutus had previously employed him and
now he was being accused of bribery by the Sardinians.
Cassius was not innocent in this matter, either. Only a
few days earlier, Cassius had privately chastised two
who had been found guilty of the same fault and having
absolved them publicly, was still making use of them.
Thereupon, Cassius accused Brutus of being too strict
and righteous, when, at such a time, he ought to behave
more civilly and with benevolence. Brutus again
admonished him to remember the Ides of March (March 15),
when they had killed Caesar, who had not so much himself
plundered all men, but had been a patron of those who
did. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 35. 6:203,205}
[E705]
5327. Labienus the younger, the son of Titus Labienus
(Caesar's lieutenant in Gaul), was sent by Cassius and
Brutus to request aid from Orodes, the king of the
Parthians. He stayed there with them for a long time
without any notice being taken of him, for the king had
no intention of helping them, but dared not deny them.
{*Dio, l. 48. (24) 5:269,271} {*Florus, l. 2. c.
19. s. 3,4. 1:317} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
78. s. 1. 1:215}
5328. Brutus ordered the whole fleet of the Lycians to
sail for Abydus, while he marched there with his land
forces. They were to wait for Cassius' arrival from
Ionia, so that they could both go to Sestus together.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 10. (82) 4:277}
5329. When Cassius and Brutus were about to leave Asia
for Europe and to transport their army to the opposite
continent, Brutus had a horrible dream. [K408] In the
dead of the night, when the moon was not shining very
brightly and all the army was in silence, a black image
of a large and horrid body stood silently beside Brutus.
It was said to offer itself to Brutus, since his lamp
was burning low. Brutus boldly asked if he was a man or
a god. The spirit replied, Oh Brutus, I am thy evil
genius, you shall see me again at Philippi. So as not
to appear afraid, Brutus said, Then I shall see you.
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 17. s. 8,9. 1:309} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 17. (134) 4:367} Plutarch gave
a more complete account in his work on Brutus. He added
that the next morning Brutus told Cassius what he had
seen and that Cassius, from the doctrine of the
Epicureans, expounded to him what was to be thought
about such dreams. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c.
36,37. 6:207,209} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 69.
s. 6-8. 7:607,609}
3963a AM, 4672 JP, 42 BC
5330. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus (the brother of
Hyrcanus), invaded Judea with the help of Ptolemy, the
son of Mennaeus, Fabius the governor of Damascus, whose
friendship he had bought, and Marion, the tyrant of
Tyre, who followed him because he hated Herod. Herod
met Antigonus when he had barely crossed the borders of
the country and drove him from there, after having
defeated him in battle. Therefore, Hyrcanus honoured
Herod with crowns as soon as he returned to Jerusalem.
He had already promised that Herod was to be considered
a member of Hyrcanus' family for marrying Mariamme (in
Syriac called Myro or Mary). She was the daughter of
Alexander, the son of Aristobulus (the brother of
Hyrcanus) and Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 12. s. 2,3.
(239-241) 2:111,113} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
12. s. 1. (298-300) 7:607} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 2. s. 5. (23,24) 8:13}
5331. At the Gulf of Melos, Cassius and Brutus numbered
their army and found they had eighty thousand foot
soldiers. Brutus had four thousand Gallic and
Lusitanian cavalry, two thousand cavalry from Thrace,
Illyria, Parthia and Thessaly. Cassius had two thousand
cavalry from the Spaniards and the Gauls and four
thousand mounted cavalry archers from Arabia, Media and
Parthia. (Justin confirmed that the Parthians had sent
help there. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 4.})
Tetrarchs from Galatia and the kings who were allies,
brought five thousand cavalry, in addition to foot
soldiers. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 11. (88)
4:289}
5332. These forces met the army of the triumviri under
Marcus Antony and Octavius Caesar at Philippi in
Macedonia. (The city was just as famous for Paul's
letter to it, as for this battle.) {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 70. s. 1. 1:201} Each side
had the same number of legions. Brutus and Cassius had
twenty thousand cavalry and Antony and Caesar had
thirteen thousand. Cassius' side did not fight the
enemy for many days, hoping to starve them through lack
of provisions. They themselves had abundant supplies
from Asia, which were being brought to them by sea,
whereas the enemy troops were in need of supplies, since
they were in the country of an enemy. The merchants
could get nothing from Egypt, as there was a great
famine there. Nor would Sextus Pompeius allow anything
to be brought from Spain or Africa. Statius Murcus and
Domitius Ahenobarbus guarded the sea lanes to Italy,
aware that Macedonia and Thessaly could not long sustain
the enemy. So Antony tried to hinder supplies from
coming to the enemy from Thasos, in their rear. Within
ten days, he made a secret passage in a narrow marsh and
erected many citadels with trenches on the far side.
Later, Cassius ran a trench from his camp to the sea
through all the marshes and made Antony's works useless.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 14. (109) 4:323,325}
[K409]
5333. When the battle began (from which Caesar and
Antony were said to have withdrawn themselves), the wing
which Brutus commanded beat back the enemy and captured
Caesar's camp. However, Cassius and his wing was routed
and his camp was taken by Antony's troops. {*Florus, l.
2. c. 17. s. 10,11. 1:311} {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 70. s. 1. 1:201} {*Plutarch, Antony, l.
1. c. 22. s. 1-3. 9:183} Cassius lost eight
thousand men, including the servants who followed the
camp, whom Brutus called Briges. Messala Corvinus, who
was present in Brutus' camp at the time, but surrendered
to Caesar a little later, said he thought twice as many
if not more were killed. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c.
45. s. 1. 6:227} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
14. (112) 4:329}
5334. After Cassius had lost his camp, he could not
return to it, but went up to a hill near Philippi to get
a better view of what was going on and what he should
do. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 15. (113)
4:329,331} [E706] Believing that the whole army had been
routed, he killed himself. {*Livy, l. 124. 14:155} He
used the same dagger with which he had killed Caesar.
{*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 69. s. 3. 7:605}
Although in another place, Plutarch, along with other
historians, stated that his head was cut off by his
freedman, Pindarus, whom Cassius had appointed for that
task after the defeat of Crassus in Parthia.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 43. s. 7,8. 6:225}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 22. s. 3,4. 9:185}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 70. s. 1-3. 1:201}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 15. (113) 4:331}
{*Dio, l. 47. (46) 5:211,213} Valerius Maximus stated:
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 6. c. 8. s. 4. 2:77}
"Pindarus had recently been freed by Cassius. When
Cassius was defeated in the battle at Philippi, Pindarus
spared him the insults of his enemies by cutting off his
head at the request of Cassius. He hid his body so it
could not be found. The gods, the revengers of so great
a wickedness, had bound Cassius' right hand, which was
used in the murder of the father of his country, with
such a weakness that he came trembling to Pindarus'
knees, lest he should pay that punishment which he had
deserved at the hand of the pious conqueror. Truly,
deified Julius, you have exacted the revenge your
heavenly wounds deserve by compelling the head that was
wickedly set against you to beg for help from a common
man. Cassius was forced, by the rage of his mind, not
to retain his life, but neither did he dare take it with
his own hand."
5335. Brutus gave the body of Cassius to his friends
and had it privately buried at Thasos, so that the army
would not be provoked to mourning and become dejected at
the sight of his funeral. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1.
c. 44. s. 1,2. 6:225,227} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
4. c. 15. (114) 4:331,333} {*Dio, l. 47. (47)
5:213} Cassius died on the same day as he had been born.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 15. (113) 4:331} In
the evening, Cassius' servant came to Antony, bringing
the soldier's coat and the sword he had recently taken
from Cassius' body. When Antony saw these, he was
greatly encouraged and set the army in battle array as
soon as it was day. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 45.
s. 1,2. 6:227}
5336. On the same day that the army of Caesar was
defeated in the battle at Philippi, the Martian legion
and other large forces that were coming to Caesar with
Domitius Calvinus from Italy, were defeated by Murcus
and Domitius Ahenobarbus in the Ionian sea. {*Plutarch,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 47. s. 1-3. 6:233} {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 15. (115) 4:333,335} Brutus did
not know of this victory for twenty days. During that
time, the soldiers of Caesar and Antony were mired in
the marshes of Philippi. They were bothered by autumn
showers that happened after the battle and turned to
ice. {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 47. s. 4-6.
6:233} During that time, many Germans fled to Brutus.
But at the same time, Amyntas, the general of Dejotarus,
and Rhascyporis, the Thracian, left Brutus' side. When
Brutus heard about this, he feared a larger revolt and
decided to gamble everything on one battle. {*Dio, l.
47. (48) 5:215} [K410]
5337. It was reported that the ghost came to Brutus
again on the night before the battle, in the same way as
before. It spoke nothing and silently vanished away.
However, Publius Volumnius made no mention of this, even
though he was a man who studied wisdom and was in
Brutus' camp and wrote about other prodigies that
happened. {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c. 69. s.
7,8.'7:607,609} {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 48. s.
1. 6:235} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 17. (134)
4:367}
5338. Antony was involved in the second battle, as well
as Caesar Octavius, even though he was weak and sickly.
Ovid wrote about the things that were done in this war
of Philippi. {*Ovid, Fasti, l. 3. (709,710) 5:173}
Caesar's first work, or worthy action rather,
Was, by just arms he did revenge his father.
5339. Ovid also wrote: {*Ovid, Fasti, l. 5. (569-573)
5:303}
This the youth vowed, when first to arms he ran,
Being the leader of them, he then began.
His stretched out hand to the soldiers while he shook,
He, them confederated, thus bespoke....
5340. Brutus was defeated in the battle and fled to a
hill by night. The next day he wanted Strabo of
Aegaeae, an Epirote, with whom he was friendly because
they studied rhetoric together, to help him kill
himself. [E707] He put his left arm over his head and
held the point of the sword in his right hand. He
directed it to his left breast, where the heart beats,
and forced it through himself. So he died, after being
run through with only one thrust. {*Livy, l. 124.
14:155} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 70. s. 4,5.
1:201,203} {*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 52.
6:243,245} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 16.
(130,131) 4:359,361}
5341. Thus this war ended the careers of Brutus and
Cassius, the murderers of Julius Caesar, their
Imperator, by whom they had been spared in the Pharsalia
battle, only to commit suicide later. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 17. (131,132) 4:361} They killed
themselves using the same swords they had used to kill
Julius Caesar. {*Dio, l. 48. (1) 5:219} With the
murder of Caesar, they lost the very liberty they had so
much wanted to see restored. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 17.
s. 1. 1:307} In under two years, they had gathered
more than twenty legions, about twenty thousand cavalry
and more than two hundred warships. They had made great
preparations and had extorted large sums of money from
men, regardless of whether these had wanted to give it
or not. They had often been victorious in the wars that
they had waged with many cities and with opposing
countries. They had exercised the command over
everything from Macedonia to the Euphrates River.
Whomever they had made war with, they had drawn to their
side. They had made use of the help of all who were
faithful to them, like kings and governors, and even of
the Parthians, despite the fact that they were enemies.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 17. (133) 4:363,365}
5342. Antony stood by the body of Brutus and modestly
upbraided him for the death of his brother Gaius, whom
Brutus had killed in Macedonia. However, Antony had
often said that he imputed the death of his brother to
Hortensius, who was the proconsul of Macedonia, rather
than to Brutus, which was why he ordered Hortensius to
be killed on Antony's brother's grave. {*Plutarch,
Brutus, l. 1. c. 53. s. 4. 6:247} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 22. s. 4. 9:185} [K411] Placing
his purple soldier's coat of great value over Brutus'
body, Antony committed the care of his funeral to one of
his freedmen, but later he killed that man, when he
learned that he had not burned that coat with him.
Antony sent Brutus' ashes to his mother, Servilia.
{*Plutarch, Brutus, l. 1. c. 53. s. 4. 6:247}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 22. s. 4. 9:185}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 17. (135) 4:369}
Octavius sent Brutus' head to Rome, so that it could be
placed under Caesar's statue. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l.
2. c. 13. s. 1. 1:167} However, on the voyage from
Dyrrachium, a storm arose and the head was cast into the
sea. {*Dio, l. 47. (49) 5:217}
5343. The nobility who escaped to Thasos now sailed
away from there. Others surrendered themselves to the
power and mercy of Messala, Corvinus and Lucius Bibulus.
Still others agreed to side with Antony for their
security. Antony himself came into Thasos and they
turned whatever money, arms, provisions or other
preparations were left, over to him. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 4. c. 17. (136) 4:371}
5344. Lucius Julius Mocilla, who had been praetor,
along with his son and Aulus Torquatus and others who
had suffered this defeat, went to Samothracia.
Pomponius Atticus ordered that all they needed should be
sent for them from Epirus. {*Cornelius Nepos, Life of
Atticus, l. 1. c. 11. s. 2,3. 1:307}
5345. After Brutus and Cassius had gone to the war,
Cassius of Parma was left in Asia with a fleet and an
army, to raise money. After the death of Cassius, he
hoped for better things from Brutus. He chose thirty of
the Rhodian ships, planning to fill them with the
sailors of the allies, and burned the rest in case the
city should rebel. After this, he set sail with his own
and the Rhodian ships. However, as soon as Brutus saw
the Rhodians were about to rebel, he sent Clodius. Once
Brutus was dead, Clodius withdrew the garrison of three
thousand men and left with Cassius of Parma. Turullius
joined them with many other ships and the money he had
exacted from the Rhodians before their revolt.
{*Appian, Civil wars, l. 5. c. 1. (2) 4:379}
5346. Anyone who had some naval forces scattered
throughout Asia, joined this fleet. They put as many
legions of soldiers on board as they possibly could.
From the islanders of the ports to which they came, they
enlisted rowers of bondmen and slaves. Cicero, the
younger, and as many of the nobility as had fled from
Thasos, also joined them. In a short time, there was a
large fleet with a large army under competent
commanders. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (2)
4:379}
5347. They sailed on the Ionian Sea to Statius Murcus
and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, who commanded large
forces. They took Lepidus with them, with another band
of soldiers who had kept Crete with one of Brutus'
garrisons. When they parted company, some stayed with
Ahenobarbus, making a faction of their own, which
controlled the Ionian Sea and did much harm to their
enemies. The rest went with Murcus and joined forces
with Sextus Pompeius. When Murcus added his large fleet
and the remains of Brutus' army to him, he doubled
Sextus' forces. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1.
(2) 4:379} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 72. s.
3-5. 1:205} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 77. s.
3. 1:215} {*Dio, l. 48. (19) 5:259} {*Dio, l. 48.
(16) 5:251} [E708]
5348. Caesar and Antony dismissed the soldiers who had
served out their time, except for eight thousand, whom
they entreated to serve under them for a further period.
[K412] They divided these between them and took one in
every hundred of their number for their bodyguard. Of
eleven legions and fourteen thousand cavalry of Brutus'
army who were left, Antony took six legions and ten
thousand cavalry, while Caesar took four legions and
four thousand cavalry. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c.
1. (3) 4:381} Moreover, it was agreed that Caesar
should give two legions of his own to go along with
Antony and that he in turn should receive two others,
which consisted of his soldiers under the command of
Calenus and which were left back in Italy at the time.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (3) 4:381} {*Dio,
l. 48. (2) 5:223}
5349. Octavius took the matter of getting the legions
from Italy upon himself so that he would be able to
repress Lepidus, the triumvir, if he caused any
problems. He also wanted to carry on the war against
Sextus Pompeius and apportion the lands promised to the
old soldiers who had been retired. Octavius returned to
Italy, but became sick on the way, so that those who
were at Rome thought that he was dead. Antony stayed to
move about the provinces beyond the sea, both to subdue
the enemies' pride and to get money for the soldiers,
which they had been promised. {*Livy, l. 125. 14:155}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 74. s. 1. 1:207}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 23. s. 1,2. 9:185}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (3) 4:381} {*Dio,
l. 48. (3) 5:223} Since they had promised every
soldier twenty thousand sesterces, they had to ensure
that they got paid. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 23.
s. 1,2. 9:185} {*Dio, l. 47. (42) 5:205}
5350. For this reason, Antony went into Greece with a
large army and at first behaved kindly toward the
Greeks. He was happy to be considered a friend of the
Greeks, especially of the Athenians, on whose city he
bestowed many gifts. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
23. s. 2,3. 9:185,187}
3963b AM, 4673 JP, 41 BC
5351. Lucius Censorinus was in Greece and went into
Asia. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 24. s. 1.
9:187} There he travelled about sending others to exact
money from the cities and to sell their territories.
{*Dio, l. 48. (34) 5:291} Also, kings keenly courted
his favour and the kings' wives, vying with each other
in their gifts and their beauty, would yield up their
honour for his pleasure. Anaxenor, a harper, Xuthus, a
musician, Metrodorus, a dancer, and all the Asian comics
and actors attended Censorinus' court, where everything
was very luxurious. Antony was here too. Eventually,
Antony was ready to go to the Parthian war and sent
Dellius into Egypt to Cleopatra. Dellius was the
historian, as Plutarch later referred to him, and was
also the one who, according to Seneca, left Cassius and
went to Antony. Dellius ordered Cleopatra to appear
before Antony in Cilicia to explain herself, because she
was said to have given much help to Cassius.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 24,25. 9:187-193}
{*Seneca the Elder, Suasoriae, l. 1. c. 7. 2:497}
5352. Apuleius, who had been proscribed by the
triumviri, was restored to his country when he turned
Bithynia over to Antony. He had been made governor of
Bithynia by Brutus. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
6. (46) 4:217,219}
5353. In Bithynia, Antony met embassies from many
different countries. The rulers of the Jews were there
to accuse Phasael and Herod, as maintaining that
Hyrcanus reigned only as a puppet and that, in actual
fact, the two brothers had all the power. However,
Antony greatly honoured Herod, who had come there to
clear himself of these accusations, and so it came about
that his adversaries were not so much as even admitted
to speak to Antony. Herod had arranged this by bribing
Antony. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 12. s. 2.
(301-303) 7:609,611}
5354. When Antony came to Ephesus, women walked ahead
of him, dressed in the clothes of the Bacchanals, and
men in the clothes of Satyrs and Pans. All the city was
full of ivy garlands and instruments of music, flutes
and pipes. They called him: {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 24. s. 3. 9:187,189} [K413]
"Dionysus, Giver of Joy and Beneficent"
5355. He made a magnificent sacrifice to the goddess
Diana, the protector of that place, and absolved the
followers of Cassius, who had fled into sanctuary there,
when they petitioned him. But he did not forgive
Petronius, who was guilty of the conspiracy against
Caesar, and Quintus, who had betrayed Dolabella to
Cassius at Laodicea. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c.
1. (4) 4:381,383}
5356. The envoys of Hyrcanus, the high priest, and of
the Jews also came to him at Ephesus. These were
Lysimachus, the son of Pausanias, Joseph, the son of
Mennaeus, and Alexander, the son of Theodorus. They
gave him a crown of gold and requested the same thing
from him as the embassy at Rome had done. They wanted
to have the Jews freed whom Cassius had taken prisoner,
contrary to the laws of war. They wanted him to send
letters to the provinces to effect this. They also
wanted their country, which had been taken from them by
Cassius, to be restored. Antony considered their
requests to be fair and granted them, writing letters to
this effect to Hyrcanus, as well as to Tyre, Sidon,
Antioch and Aradus. Josephus recorded these letters.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 12. s. 2-6.
(303,323) 7:611-619}
5357. The Greeks and other nationalities living in Asia
at Pergamum, were called to Ephesus. Antony told them
what generous promises he had made to his twenty-eight
victorious legions, some of whom they had supplied. He
had a hundred and seventy thousand men. Considering
that they had given to Cassius and Brutus, his enemies,
ten years' tribute in two years, he demanded that they
should give him as much in one year. [E709] They
complained that they had been impoverished by their
former enemies and with difficulty eventually obtained
the concession that they could pay nine years' tribute
in two years. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1.
(5,6) 4:385,387}
5358. Antony took the estates of many noblemen and gave
them to knaves and flatterers. Many begged to be given
the fortunes of some who were alive and they were given
to them, while some wanted and received the estates of
those who had died. It was reported that he gave the
goods of a citizen of Magnesia to a cook who had
excellently prepared only one supper for him. Finally,
when Antony had burdened the cities with another
tribute, Hybreas, who caused discontent in Asia, was so
bold as to say:
"If you can exact a tribute from us twice in one year,
you must also be able to make two summers and then to
yield fruits for us twice."
5359. When Asia brought in two hundred thousand
talents, Hybreas said:
"If you have not received them, demand it from those who
took it; but if you received it and do not have it, we
are undone."
5360. With this saying, he was sharply rebuking Antony,
who naively believed his own servants and was ignorant
of many things that were being done. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 24. s. 4-6. 9:189}
5361. On the orders of Antony, other tributes were
imposed in like manner on kings, governors and free
cities, each according to their abilities. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (7) 4:387}
5362. As Antony was going about the provinces, Lucius,
the brother of Cassius, and all who had heard of his
clemency at Ephesus, were afraid. They humbly came and
presented themselves to him and Antony forgave them all,
except those who were guilty of Caesar's murder. These
he would not forgive. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c.
1. (7) 4:387}
5363. He released the Lycians and Xanthians from
tribute and urged them to rebuild their city. To
Rhodes, he gave the places of Andros, Tenos, Naxos and
Myndus, but not long after this, he took them from them,
because he said Rhodes was ruling them too harshly. He
also gave liberty and freedom from tributes to the
citizens of Laodicea and Tarsus. [K414] To the
Athenians who came to him, Antony first gave Tenos and
then Aegina, Icos, Ceos, Sciathos and Patepathos.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (7) 4:387}
5364. He journeyed though Phrygia, Mysia, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Cilicia, Coelosyria, Syria Palestina, Iturea
and the other provinces of the Syrians, imposing very
heavy tributes on them all. He settled all differences
of kings and cities just as it suited him. In
particular, in Cappadocia he settled the matter of
Sisina and Ariarthes in favour of Sisina, who received
the kingdom as a favour to his beautiful mother.
However, in Syria, he removed tyrants from various
towns. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (7) 4:387}
He committed the government of Cyprus to Demetrius, the
freedman of Julius Caesar. {*Dio, l. 48. (40) 5:305}
5365. Antony promised the city of Tyre an office of
gymnasiarch, but appointed Boethus, instead of a
gymnasiarch, to be over the city. He was a poor poet
and a bad citizen, but Antony liked the poem which he
wrote about his victory at Philippi. The citizens
preferred him, because he was able to speak without
notice and unceasingly on any subject. When the
recording of the expenses to be paid in the university
was committed to his care, he was found to have stolen
the oil, among other things. When he was being accused
before Antony, he answered:
"As Homer sang the praises of Agamemnon and Achilles and
also Odysseus, so have I sung yours, therefore it is not
fit that I should be accused of these crimes before
you."
5366. The accusers replied:
"Homer stole no oil from Agamemnon and Achilles, which
you have done, and because of which you shall be
punished."
5367. Nevertheless, Boethus appeased Antony's anger
with some services and retained the government of the
city, continuing to plunder it until Antony's death.
{*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 14. 6:349}
5368. Dellius brought Cleopatra to Antony in Cilicia.
She put her confidence in her beauty and deportment.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 26. 9:193,195}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 1. (324)
7:621} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (8) 4:389}
{*Dio, l. 48. (23) 5:269} Her fabulous arrival is
described by Plutarch more in the manner of a poet than
that of a historian. She came up the Cydnus River,
which runs by the city of Tarsus, in a ship that was
covered in gold. It had purple sails fully spread, and
silver oars. They arrived to the accompaniment of the
music of flutes, pipes and harps. She rested under a
canopy of cloth of gold, in a beautiful dress, like
Venus is painted. Boys stood here and there like
cupids, fanning her. Her maidens, in the clothes of
Nereides and Graces, stood at the helms and others plied
the oars. All along the river banks, the air was filled
with most fragrant smells, because of the abundance of
perfumes. Men on both sides of the shore accompanied
her along the river's edge. The people in the city came
to see the sight, so that Antony was left alone, sitting
in the forum on his tribunal. There was a general
rumour that Venus was coming to feast with Bacchus for
the preservation of Asia. Antony sent certain men to
invite her to supper. However, she thought it was his
place to come to her, instead. To show his gentleness
and courtesy on her arrival, he obeyed her and came.
5369. Antony accused Cleopatra of not having sided with
Caesar in the last war. She objected that she had sent
four legions to Dolabella, but that her fleet had been
wrecked by storms. [E710] [K415] She told him how often
Cassius had threatened her and how she had been forced
to send aid to him. Antony was overcome and began to
fall in love with her like a young man, although he was
then forty years old. A long time ago, he had wantonly
cast his eyes on her when she had been but a girl and he
a young man who had followed Gabinius to Alexandria. At
that time he had been in charge of the cavalry.
Antony's ancient diligence and ambition promptly failed
him and no one did anything other than carry out the
commands of Cleopatra, without regard for either human
or divine law. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1.
(2) 4:379} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (8,9)
4:389}
5370. At Cleopatra's request, Antony sent murderers to
Miletus to kill her sister Arsinoe, who was a suppliant
in the temple of Artemis at Leucophrys. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 1. (9) 4:389} (The footnote in
Josephus on this event stated it was at Ephesus, not
Miletus. Editor.) However, Josephus said that she was
at her prayers in the temple of Artemis. (Loeb edition
does not give that translation. Editor.) {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 4. s. 1. (89,90) 8:43,45}
5371. Antony commanded the inhabitants of Tyre to turn
Serapion, the governor of Cyprus, who had sent aid to
Cassius and now came to beg Antony's pardon, over to
Cleopatra. Antony ordered the Aradians to turn over
another suppliant, whom they were holding at the time,
who had said that he was Ptolemy, when Ptolemy, the
brother of Cleopatra, had disappeared at the battle with
Julius Caesar on the Nile River. He also commanded
Megabyzus, the priest of Artemis of the Ephesians, to be
brought before him, because he had entertained Arsinoe
as a queen. At the entreaty of the Ephesians to
Cleopatra, Antony let him go. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
5. c. 1. (9) 4:391,393}
5372. In the meantime, Fulvia, the wife of Antony in
Italy, who was a woman in body only and more like a man,
raised a large rebellion against Caesar Octavius.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 74. s. 2. 1:207}
This action dissolved the alliance between Octavius and
Antony and the state was involved in a full-scale war
between them. Caesar could not endure the insolence of
his mother-in-law (for he had seemed to disagree rather
more with her than with Antony). He divorced her
daughter Claudia, who, he swore, was still a virgin.
{*Dio, l. 48. (5) 5:229} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 62. s. 1. 1:241,243}
5373. Thereupon, Caesar sent Cocceius and Caecina as
envoys to Phoenicia to Antony. When Caecina's task was
finished, he returned to Caesar, but Cocceius stayed
with Antony. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 6. (60)
4:477,479}
5374. One hundred of the most honourable men among the
Jews came to Daphne, near Antioch in Syria, to Antony,
who was now doting on the love of Cleopatra. They came
to accuse Phasael and Herod, having selected for this
purpose the most eloquent of their whole number.
Messala undertook to defend the young men's cause.
Hyrcanus, who had betrothed his daughter to Herod,
assisted him. After Antony had heard both sides, he
asked Hyrcanus which side he considered to be better at
governing a state. When he answered in favour of
Phasael and Herod, Antony, who loved them because he had
been kindly entertained by their father, made them both
tetrarchs. He left them the government of all Judea and
also wrote letters to this end, as well as putting
fifteen of their adversaries in prison. He would have
put them to death, had Herod not interceded for them.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 12. s. 5,6.
(243-245) 2:113,115} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
13. s. 1. (324-326) 7:621,623}
5375. A thousand men came from Jerusalem to Tyre to
meet with Antony, who had already been well-bribed by
Herod and Phasael, and Antony ordered the magistrates of
Tyre to punish the envoys. He said the men were
instigators of seditions and that the magistrates should
help the tetrarchs. However, Herod and Hyrcanus came to
them at the time, outside the city on the seashore, and
earnestly advised them to withdraw. [K416] They warned
them of the danger that would ensue if they followed
this plan, but they ignored this advice. Thereupon,
certain Jews and the inhabitants of that city rose up
against them and the Romans killed and wounded some of
them. However, Hyrcanus helped the wounded to recover
and had the dead buried, while the rest fled home. When
the people did nothing but rail against Herod, Antony,
in his displeasure, killed those he was holding in
prison. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 12. s.
6,7. (245-247) 2:115} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
13. s. 2. (327-329) 7:623}
5376. Cleopatra returned to Egypt. Antony sent cavalry
to plunder Palmyra, a city located not far from the
Euphrates River. This crime against them was committed
because they had sided neither with the Romans nor with
the Parthians. Antony hoped to enrich his cavalry. The
people of Palmyra, who lived on the frontier between the
Romans and the Parthians, were merchants who carried
Indian and Arabian wares to the Romans from Persia.
When the inhabitants of Palmyra, who excelled in
archery, had an inkling of what was afoot, they carried
their goods to the other side of the river and
positioned archers to keep the Romans off. So the
cavalry found the city empty and returned without any
plunder or bloodshed. As a result, the Parthian war
started, shortly after this. Many tyrants from Syria,
whom Antony had expelled, fled to the Parthians and
asked them to seize Syria. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5.
c. 1. (9,10) 4:391,393} [E711]
3964a AM, 4673 JP, 41 BC
5377. When Antony had imposed heavy tributes on the
people and thereby offended the city of Palmyra, he did
not stay to settle the troubles of the province. He
divided his army into its winter quarters, while he went
into Egypt to Cleopatra. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5.
c. 1. (10) 4:393} Antony left Plancas in Asia and Saxa
in Syria. {*Dio, l. 48. (24) 5:269} Decidius Saxa was
the man Cicero mentioned as having been one of Mark
Antony's guards. {*Cicero, Philippics, l. 13. c. 13.
15:577} Livy stated he was Antony's deputy in Syria.
{*Livy, l. 127. 14:157}
5378. These actions caused seditions. The inhabitants
of the island of Aradus did not obey those sent to them
to collect tributes and the islanders even killed some
of them. The Parthians, who even before had been
rebellious, now initiated many more insurrections
against the Romans. The Parthian forces were under the
command of Labienus and Pacorus, the son of Orodes.
{*Dio, l. 48. (24) 5:269}
5379. Eusebius wrote this about the Aradians:
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:240}
"Curtius Salassus was burned alive with four cohorts in
the island of Aradus, because he exacted their tributes
too zealously."
5380. Livy noted that Labienus belonged to Pompey's
party. {*Livy, l. 127. 14:157} Plutarch wrote:
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 28. s. 1. 9:197}
"When the forces of the Parthians were prepared to
attack, Labienus was made their general for the
expedition of the Parthians. When the king's general
was about to attack Syria, Antony was drawn away to
Alexandria by Cleopatra."
5381. From this, the compiler of the Parthian account
should be corrected. {Appian, Parthian Wars, p.
155,156.} He foolishly insinuated that Labienus was
brought to Alexandria by the king's captains. However,
Dio explained both the origin and progress of this
expedition as follows.
5382. After the defeat of Philippi, Labienus thought
that the conquerors would not pardon any of their
opponents. He thought it better to live with the
barbarians than to die in his own country and therefore
he stayed with the Parthians. As soon as he understood
the carelessness and indolence of Antony, his love for
Cleopatra and his journey into Egypt, he advised the
Parthians to make war against the Romans. [K417] The
Roman armies were partly cut off and partly under
strength, while the remainder disagreed among
themselves, so that it looked like civil war would break
out at any time. Therefore, he persuaded the king to
subdue Syria and the countries around it, while Caesar
was detained in Italy because of Sextus Pompeius and
Antony was giving himself over to his love in Egypt. He
also promised him that he would go as the general of
this war, in order to provoke many countries to revolt
from the Romans. This was because they were offended
with the Romans for the continual damages and tributes
with which they were afflicting them. {*Dio, l. 48.
(24) 5:269,271}
5383. When he had persuaded the king to make war, he
received many forces from him, along with his son
Pacorus. Labienus invaded Phoenicia, where he attacked
Apamea and was repulsed from its wall. He took the
garrisons that were stationed in that country by their
voluntary surrender to him. These consisted of the
soldiers of Cassius and Brutus, whom Antony had chosen
for his army and had left there to keep Syria, since
they knew the country well. Therefore, Labienus easily
persuaded them to join his side, because they already
knew him. Everyone did, except Saxa, who commanded
them. He was the brother of Decidius Saxa, the deputy
of Antony and his quaestor. {*Dio, l. 48. (25)
5:271,273}
5384. Labienus defeated Saxa in a battle due to the
size and valour of his cavalry, and pursued him as he
fled from his camp by night. He had earlier shot
notices into his camp to draw his soldiers to his side.
Saxa feared this greatly and fled. Labienus overtook
him and killed most of the men with him. When Saxa had
fled to Antioch, Labienus took Apamea, which no longer
resisted him, because it was generally reported that
Saxa was dead. He also took Antioch after Saxa deserted
it. {*Dio, l. 48. (25) 5:273}
5385. Mark Antony was splendidly entertained by
Cleopatra and wintered in Egypt without his imperial
ensigns. He did this either because he was in another
person's government and royal city, or because he wanted
to solemnise the festival days in his winter quarters.
He set aside all business for his country and wore the
Greek four-cornered robe and the white Attic shoes
called Phaecasium, which the Athenian and Alexandrian
priests used. When he went out, he went only to the
temples or places of exercise, or to the meetings of
philosophers. He always kept company with the Greeks
and courted Cleopatra, who was the main reason for his
coming, as he himself said. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
5. c. 1. (11) 4:393,395}
5386. Antony gave himself over to luxurious living with
Cleopatra and the Egyptians. He whiled his time away,
even to the point of his utter destruction. {*Dio, l.
48. (27) 5:275,277} Plutarch described at length how he
indulged himself and his son. Plutarch's account is
based on what Philotas, the Amphissian physician, who
was at Alexandria at the time, pursuing his studies,
told Plutarch's grandfather, Lamprias.
5387. Cleopatra was with him day and night. [E712] She
played dice with him, drank with him, hunted with him
and watched him exercising himself in the skilful use of
his weapons. She accompanied him by night through the
streets, as he was eavesdropping at the gates and
windows of the citizens and talked to those who were
inside. She walked with him as he was clad in the
clothes of a serving maid, for he often wore such
clothes himself. Consequently, he often returned home
well-jeered or thoroughly beaten. {*Plutarch, Antony,
l. 1. c. 29. s. 1,2. 9:201,203} [K418]
5388. Antony detained the envoys that were sent to him
from the Italian colonies, either because it was winter
or because he wanted to conceal his intentions.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 6. (52) 4:463} In the
meantime, Caesar Octavius besieged the consul Lucius
Antony, Antony's brother, at Perusia in Etruria.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 4. (32) 4:427}
3964b AM, 4674 JP, 40 BC
5389. When Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus and Asinius Pollio
were consuls, Perusia was taken by Octavius. {*Dio, l.
48. (15) 5:249}
5390. Labienus followed Saxa as he fled into Cilicia
and killed him there. {*Dio, l. 48. (25,26) 5:273}
Paterculus stated: {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
78. s. 1. 1:215}
"Labienus went from Brutus' camp to the Parthians and
led an army of them into Syria. He killed the deputy of
Antony, who had very badly oppressed the transmarine
provinces."
5391. Florus stated: {*Florus, l. 2. c. 19. s. 4.
1:317,319} (Loeb text has been amended with no footnote
to remove incorrect name. Editor.)
"Saxa (for thus it is to be read there, not Casca), the
deputy, committed suicide, so that he might not fall
into his enemies' hands."
5392. After Saxa was dead, Pacorus subdued all Syria,
with the exception of Tyre. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 78. s. 1. 1:215} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 20.
s. 5. 1:319} {*Livy, l. 127. 14:157} {*Dio, l. 48.
(25,26) 5:273} The Romans who had been left, along with
the friendly Syrians, had occupied it before. They
could not be persuaded or forced to yield because the
Parthians had no fleet with them. {*Dio, l. 48. (26)
5:273}
5393. In the second year from the time of the coming of
Antony into Syria, when Pacorus, the king's son, and
Barzapharnes, a ruler of the Parthians, had seized
Lysia, Ptolemy, the son of Mennaeus, died. His
successor in the kingdom of Lysia was his son, Lysanias.
(Dio said he was made king of the Itureans by Antony.
{*Dio, l. 49. (32) 5:407}) He became friends with
Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, a nobleman. Lysanias
found him useful and was able to influence him
significantly. (Greek text unclear. See Loeb footnote.
Editor.) {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 3.
(330) 7:623}
5394. At the beginning of the spring, Antony set out
against the Parthians. He came as far as Phoenicia and
reached Tyre. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 30. s.
2. 9:205} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 6. (52)
4:463} He sailed there as if he was intending to bring
help to the city. When he saw that all the surrounding
country had been seized by the enemy, he left on the
pretext of engaging in the war against Sextus Pompeius.
On the contrary, he used the excuse of the Parthian war
as the reason why he had not gone against Pompeius
sooner. Therefore, he pretended that it was on account
of Sextus, that he gave his allies no assistance.
Likewise, he gave none to Italy on account of his
allies. {*Dio, l. 48. (27) 5:277}
5395. As he was passing the continent and sailed by
Cyprus and Rhodes to Asia, he heard of the news of the
siege of Perusia. He accused his brother Lucius and his
wife Fulvia, but more especially Manius, who had been
his representative in Italy in his absence. He then
sailed into Greece, where he met his mother Julia and
his wife Fulvia, who had fled from Italy. As he sailed
into Italy from there, he took Sipontum. {*Dio, l. 48.
(28) 5:277} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 3. (19)
4:407,409} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 6. (52)
4:463,465}
5396. After Fulvia died at Sicyon, her husband Antony
was persuaded by his mother Julia and Lucius Cocceius to
make peace with Caesar. Antony recalled Sextus Pompeius
(with whom he had already entered into a league) into
Sicily, to arrange, as it were, for those things that
they had agreed upon. He sent Domitius Ahenobarbus into
Bithynia to govern there. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5.
c. 7. (60) 4:479} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 7.
(63) 4:485} He knew that Marcellus, the husband of
Octavia, the most dearly beloved sister of Caesar,
although by another mother, had recently died. [K419]
To more firmly ratify a peace, Octavia was betrothed to
Antony. He did not hide his involvement with Cleopatra
but he denied that she was his wife. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 7. (64) 4:487} {*Livy, l. 127.
14:159} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 31. s. 1,2.
9:205,207}
5397. They divided the Roman Empire between them. They
established Scodra, a town of Illyria located midway up
the Adriatic Gulf, as the boundary of each of their
dominions. All the eastern countries, as well as the
islands and provinces of both Europe and Asia, as far as
the Euphrates River, were allocated to Antony. The
western areas of Sardinia, Dalmatia, Spain and Gaul were
allocated to Caesar. Caesar had given the provinces of
Africa to Lepidus, the triumvir, and Sextus Pompeius had
seized Sicily. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 30. s.
3,4. 9:205} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 7. (65)
4:487} {*Dio, l. 48. (28) 5:279,281}
5398. The war against Pompeius was assigned to Caesar,
unless something else should happen, while Antony took
on the Parthian war to revenge the wrong done to
Crassus. Domitius Ahenobarbus, although he was one of
the murderers of Julius Caesar, was taken into a league
by Caesar, on the same condition as he had formerly been
taken into a league by Antony. It was added to the
league that it could be lawful for both the generals to
muster the same number of legions from Italy. It was on
these articles that this last league was made between
Caesar and Antony. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 7.
(65) 4:487} [E713]
5399. Caesar and Antony entered Rome and made a speech
about the good news of the peace established between
them. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 297.} The citizens
entertained them as in a triumph and clothed them in
triumphal robes. They had them watch the plays and
seated them in ivory chairs. {*Dio, l. 48. (31)
5:285} The marriage was solemnised between Antony and
Octavia, who was quite obviously pregnant. The law
forbade any woman to marry until ten months after the
death of her husband but the time was reduced by a
decree of the Senate. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
78. s. 1. 1:215} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 31.
s. 2,3. 9:207} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 7.
(64) 4:487} {*Dio, l. 48. (31) 5:285} Antony put
Manius to death because he had exasperated Fulvia by his
frequent complaining about Cleopatra and because he had
been the cause of so many evils. {*Appian, Civil Wars,
l. 5. c. 7. (66) 4:489}
5400. Asinius Pollio had a son born during his
consulship, whom he called Salonius. He was named after
the city of Salo of Spalato in Dalmatia. Virgil wrote
singing verses about the birth of Salonius Pollio, from
the Cymean or Sibylline poems. He classified the ages
of the world by metals and foretold that, in the tenth
and last age of the world, in which Solar Apollo was to
rule, all things would be restored, while also stating
that in this year the golden age would return again (and
with it the Virgin Erigone, or Aftraea, who had left the
earth in the Iron Age). {*Virgil, Eclogue 4. 1:29-33}
In his description, the poet seems to have inserted the
things he had heard spoken about by the Jews, since
Cicero said that there were many Jews who lived at Rome,
around the Aurelian stairs. [K420] Or else, Virgil
would have read this in the books of the Jewish
prophets, which were available in the Greek language.
{*Cicero, Pro Flacco, l. 1. (66) 10:515}
5401. Pacorus, son of the king of Parthia, captured
Syria and went into Palestine, where he deposed
Hyrcanus, who had been appointed by the Romans to govern
that country, and put Hyrcanus' brother Aristobulus in
his place. This is how Dio confused Aristobulus, the
father, with Antigonus, his son, when he later
invariably called this Antigonus the king, rather than
Aristobulus. {*Dio, l. 48. (26) 5:273} {*Dio, l. 48.
(41) 5:307} {*Dio, l. 49. (22) 5:387,389} Josephus
described the matter in detail.
5402. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, said that he
would give the Parthians a thousand talents and five
hundred women, if they would give Hyrcanus' kingdom to
him and kill Herod and all his relatives. Antigonus did
not in fact give them these, but nevertheless the
Parthians marched with their army toward Judea to claim
the kingdom for Antigonus. Pacorus, the king's son,
went by sea and Barzapharnes by land. The Tyrians shut
their gates against him but the Sidonians and the people
of Ptolemais opened their gates to him. He sent a
squadron of cavalry ahead of him into Judea under the
cupbearer of King Pacorus, to see what had to be done,
and ordered that they should help Antigonus.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 3. (331-333)
7:625} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 1.
(248,249) 2:117}
5403. The Jews who lived at Mount Carmel allied
themselves with Antigonus and were prepared to invade
the enemies' country with him. He began to get some
hope that with their help he could subdue the country of
Drymus, which was also called The Grove and may have
been the Plain of Sharon. He encountered his enemies
and chased them right up to Jerusalem. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 3. (334) 7:625,627}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 2. (250)
2:117}
5404. Antigonus' side had greatly increased in numbers
and besieged the king's house. However, Phasael and
Herod came to the assistance of the besieged, and in the
battle which was fought in the market place the young
men defeated the enemy. After pursuing them into the
temple, Herod and Phasael sent sixty men to guard them,
after they had placed them in the adjoining houses.
However, the people bore a grudge against these men and
burned them with fire. Herod was very angry and killed
many of the people. Daily skirmishes killed many.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 3. (335-336)
7:627} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 2.
(251,252) 2:117,119}
5405. When the day of Pentecost arrived, many thousands
of men, armed as well as unarmed, gathered around the
temple from all parts of the country. They seized the
temple and the city, except the king's house. Herod
guarded the king's house with a few soldiers, while his
brother Phasael held out on the walls. Aided by his
brother, Herod attacked his enemies in the suburbs and
forced many thousands to flee, either into the city or
the temple, or the outer rampart, which was near the
city. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 4.
(337-339) 7:627,629} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
13. s. 3. (253) 2:119}
5406. In the meantime, Antigonus asked that Pacorus,
the general of the Parthians, might be admitted, to
arrange a peace between them. Pacorus was entertained
by Phasael and urged him to go as an envoy to
Barzapharnes. He had laid an ambush for Phasael, who
did not go, because he suspected as much. Herod did not
approve of this planned meeting because of the
perfidiousness of the barbarians. He suggested,
instead, that he should kill Pacorus and those who had
come with him. In spite of this, Hyrcanus and Phasael
went on with their embassy. To allay suspicions,
Pacorus left Herod with two hundred horsemen and ten
whom they call Freemen, and took the envoys with him.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 4. (340-342)
7:629} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 3.
(254,255) 2:119} [E714] [K421]
5407. As soon as they had come into Galilee, the
governors of those towns came out against them in arms.
Barzapharnes welcomed them with a cheerful countenance
and gave them gifts, but later made ambushes against
them. Phasael and his entourage were brought to a place
near the seaside, called Ecdippa. Ophellius learned
from Saramalla, the richest of all the Syrians, that
ambushes had been set for Phasael and offered him boats
to escape. Phasael was unwilling to leave Hyrcanus and
his brother Herod in jeopardy and expostulated with
Barzapharnes concerning the wrongs done to the envoys.
Barzapharnes swore that these things were not true and
soon left to go to Pacorus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 13. s. 4. (343-347) 7:631,633} {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 4,5. (256-259) 2:119,121}
5408. He had no sooner gone than Hyrcanus and Phasael
were thrown into prison, after protesting the perjury of
the Parthians. A eunuch was sent to Herod also, with
orders to surprise him, if he could get him out of the
city. When Herod learned from others what had happened
to his brother, he took with him what forces he had and
put the women on horses, that is, his mother Cybele, his
sister Salome, his wife Mariamme, and her mother,
Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus. Together with
these and his youngest brother Pheroras, their servants
and the rest of the company, Herod fled by night into
Idumea, unknown to his enemies. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
14. c. 13. s. 4-7. (347-354) 7:633-637} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 5,6. (260-263) 2:123}
5409. On the journey, his mother was almost killed when
her coach overturned. Herod was so terrified in case
the enemy should overtake them while they were staying
there that he intended to kill himself with his own
sword. He was restrained by those around him and went
toward Masada, a very strongly fortified place located
in the country of Arabia and Palestine. He took the
shortest way possible. First, the Parthians pursued him
and then the Jews. When he was only about eight miles
from Jerusalem, he defeated both of them in a battle.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 8,9.
(355-359) 7:637,639} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
13. s. 7,8. (264,265) 2:123,125}
5410. After he reached Rhesa, a village of Idumea, his
brother Joseph came to him. He saw that together they
were bringing so large a multitude with them, as well as
mercenary soldiers, that the citadel at Masada, to which
they were planning to flee, would not be able to hold
them. So Herod dismissed most of them. He told nine
thousand to take care of themselves in Idumea and gave
them food. He selected the best men and his closest
friends and went into the citadel. There he left the
women with the rest of their companions, because there
was plenty of grain, water and other provisions, while
he went to Petra, a city of Arabia. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 14. c. 13. s. 9. (360-362) 7:639,641}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 8.
(266,267) 2:125}
5411. The day after he had fled from Jerusalem, the
Parthians plundered all the goods of the citizens of
Jerusalem, including the king's house. Only the
treasure of Hyrcanus, which was three hundred talents,
was untouched, and a large part of Herod's wealth, that
he had providentially carried into Idumea. Not content
with the plunder of the city, the Parthians went out of
the city and plundered the country also. They destroyed
the rich city of Marisa. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 13. s. 9. (363,364) 7:641} {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 9. (268) 2:125,127}
5412. Antigonus was brought back into his country by
the king of the Parthians and received Hyrcanus and
Phasael, who were prisoners at the time. He was deeply
grieved that the women, whom he had intended to turn
over to the Parthians, had escaped. The money, too,
which he had promised to give the Parthians, was gone.
Fearing that Hyrcanus, whom the Parthians were holding
prisoner, might be restored into his kingdom again by
the favour of the people, he cut off his ears to render
him unfit for the priesthood. [K422] The law forbade
any disfigured person from being in the priesthood. {Le
21:17-21} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 10.
(365,366) 7:641,643} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
13. s. 9. (269,270) 2:127}
5413. Phasael knew that he was to be executed. Since
he could not easily commit suicide because his hands
were chained, he beat out his own brains against a
stone. Before he was dead, he heard from a woman that
his brother Herod had escaped. He rejoiced greatly that
someone was left to revenge his death. Although the
Parthians had missed the women whom they had wanted the
most, they settled everything at Jerusalem with
Antigonus and took Hyrcanus along with them as a
prisoner into Parthia when they left. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 13. s. 10. (367-369) 7:643}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s. 10,11.
(271,272) 2:127,129}
5414. At the same time, Labienus took Cilicia and all
the cities which were located in the continent of Asia,
except Stratonicia. In fear of him, Plancus, Antony's
lieutenant in Asia, had fled to the islands. Most of
the cities Labienus took without a fight, but Mylasa and
Alabanda he took by force. When those cities had
entertained a garrison from Labienus, they revolted on a
certain festival day and killed the garrison. After
capturing Alabanda, Labienus executed the citizens. He
destroyed Mylasa after it had been abandoned by its
inhabitants. Although he besieged Stratonicia for a
long time, he was unable to take the city. [E715] At
length, when he had taken their money and robbed their
temples, he called himself Imperator and Parthicus.
With regard to the latter, he acted directly contrary to
the Roman custom, in that he took his title from those
whom he was leading against the Romans, as though it
were the Parthians and not his fellow citizens that he
had defeated. {*Dio, l. 48. (26) 5:275}
5415. Thus, the Parthians made conquests for
themselves, under the pretence of being auxiliaries for
Labienus, their captain. They invaded from the
Euphrates River into Syria as far as Lydia and Ionia and
behaved more like thieves than enemies. {*Florus, l.
2. c. 19. s. 3,4. 1:317} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 30. s. 1,2. 9:205} {*Appian, Syrian Wars, l. 11.
c. 8. (51) 2:201} {Appian, Parthian Wars, p. 134,156}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 7. (65) 4:489}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (133) 4:597} To
stop this, Antony sent his lieutenant, Marcus Ventidius
Bassus, into Asia. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 33.
s. 1. 9:209} {Appian, Parthian Wars, p. 156.}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 7. (65) 4:489}
5416. Ventidius quickly reached Labienus, before the
latter knew anything about it. Labienus, who was
without his forces, was terrified by his sudden arrival.
He had no forces with him except some soldiers gathered
from Asia, and because he did not have any Parthians, he
did not dare meet him, but fled. Ventidius followed him
with his lightly armed soldiers as he fled. When he
caught up with him at the Taurus Mountains, he would not
let him go any farther. {*Dio, l. 48. (39) 5:303}
5417. They stayed quietly in that spot for many days in
their camps opposite each other. Labienus was waiting
for the Parthians and Ventidius expected his legions.
In those days both wanted to hide. Ventidius feared the
Parthian cavalry and stayed up on high ground where he
had made his camp. The Parthians trusted in their
numbers and despised those whom they had defeated in the
past. Before joining with Labienus, they approached the
hill early in the morning. The Romans boldly came out
to meet them and the Parthians intended to go to the
very top of the hill. As they came up, the Romans ran
toward them and without much effort, forced them into a
disorderly retreat. The Romans killed some of the
Parthians, but the majority were killed in their retreat
by their own side, because they saw that some were
fleeing, while others had only just arrived at the hill.
{*Dio, l. 48. (39,40) 5:303,305} [K423]
5418. Ventidius followed the Parthians, who fled into
Cilicia to their camp, rather than going toward
Labienus. Ventidius noticed that Labienus was still
standing there. When Labienus had set his men in array,
he saw that his men were astonished at the flight of the
barbarians and so he dared not fight. He intended
instead to escape somewhere by night. When Ventidius
found out about this from some fugitives from Labienus,
he killed many of Labienus' men as they left by setting
ambushes. All the rest deserted Labienus and he fled.
{*Dio, l. 48. (40) 5:305}
5419. Labienus disguised himself and after he had
hidden in Cilicia for some time, he was sought out and
taken by Demetrius, who was governing Cyprus for Antony
at the time. {*Dio, l. 48. (40) 5:305}
5420. After this, Ventidius recovered and settled
Cilicia. He sent Pompedius Silo ahead of him with
cavalry to Mount Amanus, which was located on the border
between Cilicia and Syria. Silo went to take control of
the passes, but was unable to capture a citadel there.
He was also in extreme danger from Phranapates, the
lieutenant of Pacorus, who held that pass. Silo had
been utterly routed, but Ventidius arrived by chance, as
they were fighting. He brought him help by suddenly
attacking the outnumbered Parthians. Phranapates was
killed, along with many others. Ventidius recovered
Syria without fighting, after the Parthians had
abandoned it and only the Arabs remained. The Arabians,
fearing the punishment for their bold attacks against
Antony, did not surrender to Ventidius, even though he
attacked them for some time. {*Dio, l. 48. (41)
5:305,307}
5421. Unaware of his brother Phasael's death, Herod
went to Malchus, the king of the Arabians (Nabateans),
who was obliged to him for many favours Herod had done
for him. Herod was willing to spend three hundred
talents to redeem his brother from the enemy as soon as
he could. For this reason, he took Phasael, his
brother's son, with him, a child of seven years old, to
leave as a pledge with the Arabians. However, he was
met by some men who had been sent to him from Malchus.
They told him he should leave Malchus' kingdom because
this had been ordered by the Parthians. However, this
was only a pretence upon which he and his nobles had
agreed, so they could defraud Herod of the treasure that
his father, Antipater, had committed to their custody.
Herod was very discouraged and returned to a certain
temple where he had left many of his followers. The
next day, when he came to Rhinocolura, he heard of his
brother's death. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 14.
s. 1. (370-373) 7:643,645} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 14. s. 1,2. (274-278) 2:129,131}
5422. Malchus was sorry for his ingratitude and quickly
sent after Herod. He could not overtake him, for he had
already covered a great distance on his way to Pelusium.
Some sailors, who were about to sail to Alexandria,
denied him passage. Herod was honourably entertained by
the magistrates of Pelusium and was brought to
Cleopatra, the queen at Alexandria. [E716] She was
unable to detain him because he was in a hurry to go to
Rome, although the sea was very stormy and the political
affairs in Italy at that time were in a sorry state. It
was not yet winter time. {Salianus, Against Forniellus,
4014 AM, num. 26,27.} Ignoring the storms, Herod sailed
from Alexandria toward Pamphylia, but ran into a violent
storm and was nearly shipwrecked, so that he had to
throw most of his goods overboard and barely got to
Rhodes. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 14. s. 2,3.
(373-377) 7:647} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 14.
s. 2,3. (278-280) 2:131,133}
5423. He was met at Rhodes by two of his best friends,
Sappinas and Ptolemy. They found that the city had
suffered a great deal in the war against Cassius.
[K424] He could not be restrained, even in his present
poverty, but wanted to do something for Rhodes even
beyond his capacity. He had an immense trireme built,
after which he embarked with his friends, arriving at
Brundisium in Italy. From there, he went to Rome and
told Antony everything that had happened to him and his
family. He mentioned the violent storms and recounted
all the dangers, saying that he had withdrawn to Antony,
his only refuge, in whom all his hopes lay. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 14. s. 3. (378-380) 7:647,649}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 14. s. 3.
(280,281) 2:133}
5424. Antony was stirred by the story and also recalled
the friendship of Antipater, Herod's father. He was
especially moved both by the promise of money if he made
Herod king, and by his hatred of Antigonus, who was a
man of a turbulent spirit and an enemy to the Romans.
This made him more inclined toward Herod. Octavius was
also sympathetic because Antipater had been a fellow
soldier with his father in Egypt and because of other
courtesies which Antipater had shown his father. To
satisfy Antony, who, he knew, was well disposed toward
Herod, Octavius was willing to promote his endeavours.
Therefore the Senate was convened. Messala and
Atratinus brought out Herod. After they had praised
him, they recalled the services and goodwill that both
his father and he had done for the Romans. They accused
Antigonus for previous crimes and for his recent
sedition against the Romans, in which he had received
the kingdom from the Parthians. Antony declared to the
Senate how helpful it would be to the Parthian war that
was still raging, if Herod were to be made king.
Antigonus was declared an enemy and the title of King
was given to Herod by their general consent.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 14. s. 4. (381-385)
7:649,651} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 14. s.
4. (282-285) 2:133,135}
5425. After the Senate was dismissed, Antony and Caesar
emerged, leading Herod between them. Accompanied by the
consuls and other magistrates, they went up to the
Capitol to sacrifice and to place the decree of the
Senate there. Antony feasted the new king on the first
day of his reign. Hence, Herod obtained the kingdom in
the 185th Olympiad, not the 184th, as Josephus wrote.
Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus and Asinius Pollio were
consuls. Within seven days, Antony dismissed Herod from
Italy, who was honoured with this unexpected friendship.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 14. s. 5. (386-389)
7:653}
5426. During this time of Herod's absence, Antigonus
attacked Herod's family in Masada, who, while they had
plenty of provisions, lacked water. For this reason,
Herod's brother Joseph planned to escape to the
Nabateans with two hundred of his friends because he had
heard that Malchus now regretted the ingratitude he had
shown toward Herod. However, that night it rained and
he changed his mind when the cisterns were filled with
water. They made a gallant sally out and killed many of
Antigonus' men, both in the open field and in surprise
attacks. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 14. s. 6.
(390,391) 7:655} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 15.
s. 1. (286,287) 2:135}
3965a AM, 4674 JP, 40 BC
5427. After frightening King Antigonus out of the
country, Ventidius occupied Palestine with little
trouble. Besides accomplishing all this, he exacted
large sums of money from all men but especially from
Antigonus, Antiochus (Commagene) and Malchus, the
Nabatean, because they had given help to Pacorus.
{*Dio, l. 48. (41) 5:307} He had also come into
Palestine with the pretext of helping Joseph, but his
real purpose had been to extort money from Antigonus.
Therefore, he camped near Jerusalem and extorted as much
money from him as he wanted. [K425] In order to conceal
his fraudulent dealing, he left Silo there with some of
his forces. Antigonus was to obey Silo, so that he
would not create some new troubles. Antigonus,
meanwhile, hoped the Parthians would come to his aid.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 14. s. 6. (391-393)
7:655} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 15. s. 2.
(288-290) 2:135,137}
5428. There was, in the company of Antony, an Egyptian
astrologer who told him that although his fortune was
indeed splendid and great, it was being obscured by the
fortune of Caesar. Therefore, he persuaded him to get
as far away from that young man as he could, because he
claimed that Antony's guardian genius was afraid of
Caesar's genius. While Antony's genius was tall and
erect when he was alone, it became more languid whenever
Caesar drew near. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 33.
s. 1-3. 9:209,211}
5429. After these events, Antony went to the Parthian
war. He had all his acts, both past and future,
confirmed by the Senate. Once again, he dismissed many
of his commanders and settled all matters as he wished.
He appointed some kings on his own authority, who were
merely to pay a certain tribute. [E717] He made Herod
king of both Idumea and Samaria, Darius (the son of
Pharnaces and grandson of Mithridates) king of Pontus,
Amyntas of Pisidia, Polemon of part of Cilicia and
appointed other kings in other countries. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 8. (75) 4:505,507} When he had
committed the care of his family to Caesar, he left
Italy and took Octavia with him into Greece. He had one
son by her. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 33. s.
3,4. 9:211} He stayed in Greece for many days. {*Dio,
l. 48. (39) 5:301,303}
5430. Normally, Antony would winter his army around
him. However, to get them accustomed to plunder and
exercise, he sent some of them against the Partheni, a
tribe in Illyria who, in previous times, had been
greatly attached to Brutus. He sent others against the
Dardanians, who also lived in Illyria and were in the
habit of invading Macedonia. He ordered still others to
stay with him in Epirus, so that he would have them all
around him, since he planned to make Athens his winter
quarters. He also sent Furnius into Africa to get the
four legions from Sextius to use against the Parthians,
since he had not as yet heard that Lepidus had taken
them from Sextius. When all this had been done, he
wintered at Athens with Octavia, just as he had done
before at Alexandria with Cleopatra. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 8. (75,76) 4:507}
5431. While wintering at Athens, he heard early reports
about Ventidius' military success. He learned that the
Parthians had been defeated and Ventidius had killed
Labienus and Phranapates, or Phraates, the chief general
of king Hyrodes, or Orodes. To celebrate these
victories, Antony put on a feast for the Greeks and held
games for the people of Athens. As he was the main
person in the games, he left his imperial ensigns at
home and was seen in public with the wands that a
gymnasiarch used, clothed with coats and shoes called
Phaecasium. He joined the young gamesters and when they
had contended as long as he thought good, he ended the
games. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 33. s. 3,4.
9:211}
5432. Antony was praised at Rome and triumphs were
decreed in his name. Ventidius received no reward, as
decreed by the Senate, because he was not a general, but
was carrying on the war under the authority of another.
{*Dio, l. 48. (41) 5:307}
5433. Castor received the countries of Attalus and
Dejotarus after their deaths. {*Dio, l. 48. (33)
5:289}
5434. When Herod returned from Italy to Ptolemais, he
gathered a number of mercenaries and the men of his own
country and hurried through Galilee against Antigonus.
He was helped by Silo and Ventidius, to whom Antony had
sent Dellius (for so his name is to be read, {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 2. s. 6. (25) 8:13} [K426] not
Gellius. Loeb edition corrected the Greek text.
Editor.) with orders that they should help Herod get his
kingdom. As it happened, Ventidius was detained by the
need to settle the uprisings that the Parthians had
caused in various cities. Silo was in Judea, but had
been bribed with money from Antigonus. Nonetheless,
Herod's forces increased daily and all of Galilee, with
few exceptions, stood by Herod. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
14. c. 15. s. 1. (394,395) 7:657} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 15. s. 3. (290,291) 2:137}
5435. As Herod was marching to Masada to help his
family, Joppa refused to let him pass. He first had to
take the city out of the hands of the enemy because he
would not leave any fortification behind him on his
march to Jerusalem. Silo used this fact that Herod was
fighting at Joppa to leave Jerusalem. When the Jews
pursued him, Herod met them with a small band of men and
saved Silo, who fought very poorly. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 14. c. 15. s. 1. (395-397) 7:657,659}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 15. s. 3. (292)
2:137}
5436. After Joppa was taken, Herod hurried to Masada to
deliver his family from the siege. His army had greatly
increased in size and many of the country people joined
with him. When he freed his friends from Masada, he
approached Jerusalem in spite of Antigonus, who had made
ambushes for him in every suitable location. The
soldiers of Silo followed him, as well, and many of the
Jews were terrified by his power. When he had camped on
the west side of the city, those who held the walls on
that side shot at him with arrows and javelins, while
various men came out in troops and attacked their
quarters. Herod commanded a herald to proclaim around
the walls that he had come for the public good and the
preservation of the city and that he would pardon all
former wrongs. On the opposing side, Antigonus talked
to Silo and the Romans. He told them that it was unjust
to give the kingdom to Herod, who was not of the royal
family, and only an Idumean, that is, a half-Jew. By
custom, it ought to be given to the priests. Antigonus
allowed his men to fight the enemy from the wall, but
the enemy shot their arrows so valiantly and fought with
so much spirit, that Antigonus' men were driven from the
towers. Antigonus secretly bribed some of Silo's
soldiers, whom he knew, to demand more provisions and
money to buy them with, as well as request to be
withdrawn into more commodious winter quarters. As a
result, the army was troubled and was preparing to
leave, but Herod entreated the captains and soldiers of
Silo's army not to leave him now, as he had been sent
both by Caesar and Antony and all the rest of the
Senate. Soon he sent his soldiers into the country and
removed any pretext for Silo to leave. They returned
with an abundant supply of provisions, greater than
anyone could hope for. [E718] He ordered those of his
friends who lived around Samaria to bring grain, wine,
oil, cattle and other necessities to Jericho, so that
there would be enough for the soldiers for the future.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 1-3.
(398-408) 7:659-663} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
15. s. 4-6. (293-299) 2:139,141}
5437. When Antigonus became aware of this, he sent
troops into the country to intercept those bringing
supplies. However, Herod captured them with his ten
cohorts, five of which were made up of Romans and five
of Jews. Herod intermixed some foreign soldiers and a
few cavalry with them and went to Jericho, but found the
city empty of its inhabitants. Five hundred had fled
with their families to the tops of the hills. Herod
captured these and let them go again. The Romans
entered the city and plundered it, finding the houses
full of all manner of precious things. [K427] Herod
left a garrison and returned to Jerusalem and dismissed
the Roman army to winter in the countries that had
recently surrendered to him, which were Idumea, Galilee
and Samaria. By bribing Silo, Antigonus was granted
that some of the Roman army should be lodged in Lydda to
please Antony. Thus the Romans lived in plenty and were
freed from having to bear arms. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
14. c. 15. s. 3. (409-412) 7:663,665} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 15. s. 6. (300-302)
2:141,143}
3965b AM, 4675 JP, 39 BC
5438. Herod was not idle. He sent his brother Joseph
into Idumea with two thousand foot soldiers and four
hundred cavalry. He himself went into Samaria and there
settled his mother and the rest of his family, whom he
had taken from Masada. He then marched into Galilee and
surprised some places that were being held by Antigonus'
garrisons. When he came to Sepphoris in snowy weather,
Antigonus' men deserted it and Herod took large amounts
of provisions. From Sepphoris, he sent a cavalry troop
and three companies of foot soldiers against some
thieves, living in caves near the village of Arbela,
whom he wanted to keep in check. On the fortieth day,
Herod arrived there with the whole army and was boldly
met by the enemy. They caused his left wing to waver,
until he arrived with the main body of troops and helped
them. He forced his enemy, who was winning, to flee,
and his own men, who were fleeing, to stand. But not
content with this, he followed the chase as far as the
Jordan River. Through this, he subdued all Galilee,
except for those inhabiting the caves. He gave every
soldier a hundred and fifty drachmas and considerably
more to the captains. Then he dismissed them into their
winter quarters. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15.
s. 4. (413-417) 7:667} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 16. s. 1-3. (303-308) 2:143,145}
5439. In the meantime, Silo, who had wintered with
Antigonus, came to Herod with his captains, because
Antigonus would not provide supplies for them for longer
than one month. Antigonus had sent to the inhabitants
around the country and ordered them to destroy all the
supplies in the country and to flee to the mountains.
He had done this so that the Romans would perish through
famine. Herod, however, committed the care of the
provisions to his youngest brother, Pheroras, and
ordered him to rebuild Alexandrion. In a short time,
Pheroras had furnished the soldiers with abundance of
all necessities and rebuilt Alexandrion, which had
previously been destroyed. During this time, Antony
stayed at Athens. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15.
s. 4,5. (418-420) 7:667,669}
5440. When Publius Ventidius heard that Pacorus was
gathering an army and coming into Syria, he was afraid,
because the cities were not guarded and the armies were
still dispersed in their winter quarters. Therefore, to
stop Pacorus and buy time to get his own forces
together, he went to Channaeus, a certain governor with
whom he was well acquainted and whom he knew to be
friendly to the Parthians. Nevertheless, he treated him
with great honour, as though he were his faithful
friend, and asked his advice in some affairs. He
pretended that he was in on his most secret plans. So
he pretended to be afraid that the Parthians would not
follow their usual crossing over the Euphrates River at
Zeugma, but would use some lower part of the river,
since that area was a plain and better for the Parthian
cavalry, while the other place was hilly and favoured
him. By this means, he persuaded Channaeus and through
him deceived Pacorus, so that the Parthians took the
longer march through the plain, through which Ventidius
pretended he did not want them to do. This gave
Ventidius time to collect his forces, which was how Dio
related the story. {*Dio, l. 49. (19) 5:381} [K428]
Frontinus stated that it happened as follows.
{*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 1. c. 1. s. 6.
1:11,13} In the Parthian war against King Pacorus,
Ventidius knew that Pharnaeus, who was from the province
of Cyrrhestica and pretended to be one of his allies,
told the Parthians whatever went on in Ventidius' camp.
Ventidius used the perfidiousness of the barbarian to
his own advantage, by pretending that he was afraid that
those things which he in actual fact most wanted, would
happen. Those he was most afraid of, he pretended to
want. He was really in fact afraid that the Parthians
would cross the Euphrates River before the legions,
which he had in Cappadocia, on the other side of the
Taurus Mountains, could come to him. He very carefully
deceived the traitor, by utilising his normal spying,
into thinking that he wanted him to persuade the
Parthians that they should cross over with their army at
Zeugma, where the journey was shorter and the channel
not so deep. If they came that way, he affirmed that he
could make good use of the hills to evade the archers,
but that he was very afraid if they were to come by the
plain. [E719]
5441. Antony spent the winter at Athens in great luxury
and enjoying the pleasure of Octavia, as though he were
a different man. He returned to the old Roman virtues.
Now, the lictors were around the gates and the captains
and his guards were with him. He arranged everything in
such a way as to put men in fear of him. Envoys who had
waited a long time, now received an audience. Justice
was administered, the ships were launched and everything
was carried out promptly. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5.
c. 8. (76) 4:507,509} Finally, he took a crown from
the sacred olive tree and was ready to go to war. To
satisfy a certain oracle, he carried a vessel with him,
filled from the sacred spring called Clepsydra, near the
Athenian Acropolis. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34.
s. 1. 9:213}
5442. In Syria, Ventidius sent for Silo to go to war
against the Parthians. He ordered him to help Herod
first and then to bring Herod along with the rest of the
auxiliaries of those provinces. However Herod sent Silo
to Ventidius while he himself marched with his soldiers
against the thieves that lived in the caves. Josephus
gave more details about this. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 16. s. 4. (309-313) 2:145,147}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 5. (420-430)
7:669-673}
5443. Herod made Ptolemy governor of the country, but
his government was disturbed when the country was
invaded by those who had previously bothered it.
Ptolemy was killed, after which the invaders retired to
the marshes and inaccessible places and robbed and
invaded all that country. When Herod returned, he made
them pay dearly for their thievery. Some of the
rebellious persons were killed and others fled into
fortified places. Herod conquered them and punished
them by razing their strongholds, getting rid of the
leaders of these revolts and fining the cities a hundred
talents. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 16. s.
4. (314-316) 2:149} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
15. s. 6. (431-433) 7:673}
5444. Pacorus arrived in Syria with numerous Parthian
forces that had taken the shorter route at Zeugma while
he had brought his army around by the plain. Even
though the barbarians made a bridge between the wider
banks, it was rather unwieldy. It took forty days for
their army to arrive with its engines. Ventidius used
this time to gather his forces, which he received only
three days before the Parthians arrived. Ventidius had
allowed them to cross the river without attacking them
in their crossing, thereby making them think that the
Romans were effeminate and cowards. [K429] Ventidius
pretended fear and did not attack them, but endured the
insults of the Parthians for a long time. At last, he
sent some of the legions against them when they were
feeling secure and were not watchful. On the first
attack, the Parthians were defeated and routed. When
Pacorus saw his men fleeing, he thought that all the
legions had attacked them. Therefore, he attacked
Ventidius' camp with the main body of his army thinking
that the camp had been left without anyone to defend it.
It was located on a hill and when the Parthian cavalry
attacked it, they were easily pushed down the precipice
by a sudden sally the Romans made. However, Ventidius
did not lead the rest of the legions out from the camp
again, until the enemy had come within half a mile of
him. Then, when they were near him, he made so sudden
an assault, that their arrows were no use against him,
because he was still too far away. With this plan, he
quickly attacked the barbarians, who were
over-confident. His slingers helped him very greatly
and severely afflicted the barbarians from a distance
with their violent strokes. However, the Parthians,
many of whom were heavily armed, fought stoutly.
Pacorus himself fought valiantly and was killed. A few
courageously strove in vain for his body. Ventidius
killed all the Parthian cavalry along the entire
distance between the Orontes and Euphrates Rivers. He
killed over twenty thousand, which was the most the
Parthians had lost in any war. Any who tried to get
home over the bridge were prevented by their enemies
from doing so and were killed. Others fled into
Commagene to King Antiochus. Thus, Ventidius again
pursued the Parthians within Media and Mesopotamia, but
would not drive them any farther for fear of the envy of
Antony. {*Livy, l. 128. 14:159} {*Florus, l. 2. c.
19. s. 5-7. 1:319} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 8.
7:247,249} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 78. s.
1. 1:215} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 7.
(434) 7:673} {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c.
4. s. 4. 3:73} {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 4.}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 33. s. 4. 9:211}
{*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 1. c. 1. s. 6. 1:11}
{*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 2. c. 2. s. 5. 1:101}
{*Dio, l. 49. (20) 5:381,383} {Eutropius, l. 7.}
{Sextus Rufus, Breviary} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 18.}
5445. This very famous victory occurred in Syria
Cyrrhestica. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34. s.
1. 9:213} {*Dio, l. 49. (19) 5:381} {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 2. s. 8. 7:247,249} Pacorus was killed on the
same day of the year on which, fourteen years earlier,
his father Orodes had killed Crassus through his
captain, Surenas. {*Dio, l. 49. (21) 5:385}
{Eutropius, l. 7.} {Sextus Rufus, Breviary} {Orosius,
l. 6. c. 18.} This happened in the month of June.
{*Ovid, Fasti, l. 6. (465-468) 5:355}
5446. Ventidius made an expedition against those who
had revolted and subdued them. {*Plutarch, Antony, l.
1. c. 34. s. 2. 9:213} The Syrians had loved
Pacorus very much for his justice and clemency and had
never had a king like him. {*Dio, l. 49. (21) 5:383}
So when Syria was uncertain about the outcome of the
war, Ventidius carried about Pacorus' head to all the
cities that had revolted, thereby easily restoring order
without any fighting. {*Dio, l. 49. (21) 5:383}
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 19. s. 7. 1:319} [E720]
5447. Orodes, having previously heard that Syria had
been wasted and Asia had been seized by the Parthians,
gloried in the fact that Pacorus had conquered the
Romans. When he suddenly heard of his son's death and
the destruction of his army, he went mad out of sheer
grief. For many days, he spoke to no one, nor ate
anything. He was speechless, so that he seemed to have
been stricken dumb. After many days, when grief had
restored his voice, he did nothing but call out to
Pacorus to speak and stand beside him. Then again, with
many tears, he would bewail his loss. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 42. c. 4.} [K430]
5448. At Rome, the Senate decreed processions and a
triumph for this victory against the Parthians. As of
yet, Ventidius had never triumphed, because, according
to the laws, he was not the general in charge of the
province. These things were decreed for Antony,
because, with the death of Pacorus, he seemed to have
amply atoned for the defeat of Crassus. {*Dio, l. 49.
(21) 5:385}
5449. Ventidius led his army against Antiochus, the
Commagenian, on the pretext that he had not given him
the refugees, but what he really wanted was all of
Antiochus' treasure. {*Dio, l. 49. (20) 5:383}
5450. Ventidius attacked Antiochus and besieged him in
Samosata. Antiochus promised to give Ventidius a
thousand talents and obey Antony. Ventidius ordered him
to send envoys to Antony to ask him for peace, because
Antony had now advanced into the neighbourhood and would
not allow Ventidius to make peace with Antiochus.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34. s. 2,3. 9:213}
5451. Antony ordered Ventidius to send Machaeras to
help Herod with two legions and a thousand cavalry.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 7. (434)
7:673} Antony was happy about, but envious of, both the
victories Ventidius had gained over Labienus and
Pacorus. Ventidius had previously had great success all
by himself. Although processions and a triumph were
decreed to Antony for both the victories that Ventidius
had won, Antony nevertheless removed him from his charge
and from the government of Syria, and never used his
help again. Thus wrote Dio. {*Dio, l. 49. (21)
5:385} However, Plutarch wrote that Ventidius was
honoured by Antony and that he was sent to the triumph
by Antony. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34. s. 4.
9:215}
5452. Antigonus wrote to Machaeras, seeking his support
and offering him a large bribe. Machaeras was not
prepared to show such contempt for his superior's orders
and declined. Also, Herod had offered him a larger
bribe. However, against Herod's wishes, he feigned
friendship and went to Antigonus to spy into his
actions. Antigonus suspected him and did not allow him
in, but drove him from the walls. Machaeras realised
that Herod had given him good advice and that he had
been wrong for not following it. So he was forced to
retire to Emmaus and rejoin Herod. On his march, he
killed all the Jews he encountered, whether friend or
foe, for he was angry at the things that had happened.
Herod was grieved by his actions and went to Samaria,
planning to go to Antony to say that he needed different
men from those who were doing him more harm than his
enemies. Herod determined to subdue Antigonus by
himself. Machaeras caught up to him and begged him to
stay or, if he was determined to go on, at least to give
him his brother Joseph, so that together they could make
war against Antigonus. After much entreaty, Herod was
reconciled to Machaeras. He left Joseph, his brother,
with the army and ordered him, in his absence, to fight
with Antigonus, but take no unnecessary risks. Herod
hurried to Antony, whom he found assaulting Samosata, a
city near the Euphrates River. Herod brought
auxiliaries of foot soldiers and cavalry with him.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 7,8.
(435-438) 7:675,677} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
16. s. 6,7. (318-320) 2:149,151} (The details in
these two footnotes conflict with each other. Editor.)
5453. When Herod arrived at Antioch, he found many
there who wanted to help Antony, but did not dare to go,
because the barbarians were lying in wait along the way.
Herod offered to escort them and so he came to Samosata
to Antony, who had defeated the barbarians once or
twice. Antony entertained Herod very honourably and he
was much praised for his valour. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
14. c. 15. s. 8,9. (439-446) 7:677,679} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 16. s. 7. (321) 2:151}
5454. The siege of Samosata lasted for a long time and
the besieged acted valiantly, because they had given up
hope of peace. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34. s.
3,4. 9:213} [K431] Antony suspected that his soldiers
were alienated from him, because he had treated
Ventidius very poorly, as Dio wrote. Privately, he
mentioned some hope of peace to enable him to depart
with honour. When he could only receive two hostages
who were not noblemen and refused to give him any money,
he granted peace to Antiochus and was satisfied with
three hundred talents. Antiochus yielded to him so that
he could put Alexander to death, who had earlier fled
from him to the Romans. {*Dio, l. 49. (22) 5:385,387}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34. s. 4. 9:213,215}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 18.} [E721]
3966a AM, 4675 JP, 39 BC
5455. Therefore this war was concluded. Antony made
Gaius Sossius the governor of Syria and Cilicia, leaving
him an army. {*Dio, l. 49. (22) 5:387} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 9. (447) 7:681} He had
repeatedly been most successful while engaged in
fighting in Syria. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34.
s. 6. 9:215}
5456. Plutarch wrote that after the affairs in Syria
had been settled somewhat, Antony returned to Athens.
Josephus said that he went into Egypt, while Dio said he
intended to go to Italy. It seems that he may first
have returned to Athens and from there crossed over to
Italy, after having been called there by Caesar, and
then have returned to Athens to sail to Egypt, to spend
the winter with Cleopatra. He was sent for by Caesar
from Athens, to enable them to consult together about
the war against Sextus Pompeius. He came as far as
Brundisium with a few men, but did not find Caesar there
on the appointed day. He was frightened by a certain
prodigy: a wolf had entered his headquarters and killed
some soldiers. Therefore, he sailed back to Greece
under the pretence of the urgency of the Parthian war.
Caesar was not pleased that he had not waited for him.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 9. (78,79) 4:511,513}
{*Dio, l. 48. (46) 5:319}
5457. Joseph forgot his brother Herod's orders and
while he was away, went toward Jericho with his own men
and five Roman cohorts given to him by Machaeras. He
wanted to harvest the enemies' grain, which was now
ripe, and so he camped in the mountains. The Roman
cohorts were mostly raw soldiers, unskilled in the art
of military matters, because most of them had been taken
from Syria. He was surrounded by the enemies there and
lost six cohorts. He fought valiantly, but was killed.
When Antigonus found the dead bodies, he was so enraged
that he whipped the dead body of Joseph, even though
Pheroras, his brother, offered fifty talents to redeem
it. After this, the Galileans revolted from their
governors and drowned any who belonged to Herod's side
in the lake. Idumea, where Machaeras was fortifying
Gitta at the time, also had many seditions. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 17. s. 1. (323-326)
2:151,153} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 10.
(448-450) 7:681,683}
5458. Antony ordered Gaius Sossius to help Herod
against Antigonus and sent two cohorts with him to
Judea. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 17. s. 2.
(326) 2:151} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s.
9. (447) 7:681} He subdued the Aradians, who had
endured a siege, but were now worn out with famine and
sickness. {*Dio, l. 49. (22) 5:387} Herod was at
Daphne, in the suburbs of Antioch, when he found out
about his brother's death and the military defeat.
Herod had expected this, because of some dreams that he
had previously, so he hurried and came to Mount Libanus
(Lebanon). From there, he took eight hundred men with
him, as well as leading one cohort of the Romans, and
arrived at Ptolemais. He left Ptolemais by night with
the army and crossed Galilee. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 17. s. 3. (328,329) 2:155} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 11. (451,452) 7:683}
5459. He met his enemies and defeated them, forcing
them into the citadel from which they had come the day
before. [K432] When Herod attacked at daybreak, he was
forced to stop, because of a severe storm, and led his
men into the adjoining villages. When another cohort
arrived from Antony, those who held the citadel were
dismayed and abandoned it at night. Herod hurried to
Jericho intent on avenging his brother's death. When he
arrived, he arranged a feast for the noblemen. After
the feast was over and the guests had been dismissed, he
retired to his lodging. The room where they had eaten,
which was now empty, collapsed and no one was hurt. By
this event, everyone considered Herod to be beloved by
God since he had so providentially preserved him.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 17. s. 3.
(329-331) 2:155,157} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
15. s. 11. (453-455) 7:683,685}
5460. The next day, six thousand of the enemies came
down from the tops of the mountains to fight with Herod.
They terrified the Romans with their arrows and stones
and chased Herod's soldiers, so that the king himself
received a wound in his side. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 17. s. 4. (332) 2:157} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 12. (456) 7:685}
5461. Antigonus sent a captain by the name of Pappus
into Samaria who was eager to show off the size of his
forces and fought against Machaeras. Herod had taken
five towns and killed two thousand of the garrison
soldiers. Then he set the towns on fire and marched
against Pappus, who was camped at a village called
Isana, or Cana. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 17.
s. 5. (332,333) 2:157} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
15. s. 12. (457,458) 7:685}
5462. Many joined Herod from Jericho and Judea. When
he saw that the enemy was so bold as to come to battle
with him, he fought and defeated them. He was so
inflamed with a desire to revenge his brother's death,
that he killed those who fled, following them right into
the village. The houses were filled with soldiers and
some fled to the tops of the houses for safety. They,
too, were overcome and the houses thrown down. He found
every conceivable place filled with soldiers who had
been miserably crushed to death. The rest fled in
companies and were very afraid. Herod at once went to
Jerusalem and would have ended the war, had not a severe
winter storm hindered him. Now Antigonus began to think
of fleeing and abandoning the city. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 17. s. 6. (335-339) 2:157,159}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 12. (458-461)
7:687}
5463. In the evening, when Herod had dismissed his
friends to refresh themselves, he was still sweating in
his armour and went into a chamber to wash himself,
accompanied only by one servant. [E722] Some of his
enemies, who were armed, were inside hiding in fear.
While he was naked and washing himself, one of these
men, with his sword drawn, hurried to escape through the
doors, followed by a second and then a third—all of them
were armed. They were so astonished, that they were
glad to save themselves and did Herod no harm. The next
day, Herod cut off Pappus' head and sent it to his
brother, Pheroras, in revenge for Herod's brother's
death, whom Pappus had killed; for it was Pappus who had
killed Joseph with his own hand. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 17. s. 7,8. (340-342) 2:159,161}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 13. (462-464)
7:689}
5464. At Rome, on the 5th of the Calends of December
(November 27), Publius Ventidius Bassus had a triumph
for his victory at the Taurus Mountains and then over
the Parthians, as recorded in the Marble Records of the
Triumphs. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 297.} Ventidius
Bassus was a man of lowly parentage who, through the
favour of Antony, rose to such heights of honour, that
he was made governor of the eastern provinces. He
triumphed for his conquests over Labienus and Pacorus
and the Parthians, when he himself had twice (if we may
believe Massurius in Pliny) been led in triumph with
other captives. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 65.
s. 3. 1:191} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 6. c. 9. s.
9. 2:89} {*Pliny, l. 7. c. 43. 2:597} {*Aulus
Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c. 4. s. 4. 3:73}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34. s. 4,5. 9:215}
{*Dio, l. 49. (21) 5:385} {Eutropius, l. 7.} [K433]
{See note on 3962a AM. <<5277>>}
3966b AM, 4676 JP, 38 BC
5465. Spain was now controlled by Caesar Octavius,
after having been subdued by Domitius Calvinus, the
proconsul. The Spaniards began their computation of
time from the first of January of this year, as may be
understood from others and as well as from Eulogius, the
archbishop of Toledo, in his Memorial of the Saints.
5465a. In the beginning of spring, Antony arrived at
Tarentum with three hundred ships, from Syria, according
to Dio, or from Athens, according to Appian. He came to
help Caesar against Sextus Pompeius and when Caesar
refused his help, Antony took it badly. However, he
stayed there nonetheless, since he had unwillingly spent
so much on this navy and because he needed the Italian
legions for the Parthian war, he intended to exchange
his fleet for them. Even though, by the agreement, both
of them had power to raise soldiers in Italy, this
would, in fact, be very difficult for him, since Italy
had been allocated by lot to Caesar. Therefore, he sent
Octavia (who had accompanied him from Greece, who was
also with child at the time and by whom Antony
previously had a second daughter) to her brother,
Caesar, in the hope that she would make peace between
them. She helped arrange matters so that Antony would
deliver a hundred and twenty ships to Caesar at
Tarentum. (Plutarch wrote a hundred warships.) For
these, Caesar promised that he would send Antony from
Italy duo tagmata (as it is in Plutarch), or twenty
thousand soldiers (as Appian wrote). Moreover, besides
the covenants, Octavia obtained twenty small ships for
her brother from Antony, as Plutarch stated, or ten
combination warship and merchant vessels, which were
galleys of three tiers of oars, as Appian stated. In
return, Caesar gave Octavia a thousand men for Antony's
guard and let Antony choose them. {*Plutarch, Antony,
l. 1. c. 35. 9:215,217} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5.
c. 10. (93-95) 4:539} {*Dio, l. 48. (54) 5:335,337}
To strengthen the alliance, Caesar betrothed his
daughter Julia to Antyllus, the son of Antony, and
Antony betrothed his daughter by Octavia to Domitius
Ahenobarbus, although he was guilty of the murder of
Julius Caesar and had been proscribed. These things
were only done for show and they had no intention of
following through on them, but simply did them for
expediency's sake. {*Dio, l. 48. (54) 5:337}
5466. After the five year term of the triumvirate had
expired, they extended their power for another five
years without asking for the people's consent. {*Dio,
l. 48. (54) 5:337} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c.
10. (95) 4:539} Antony sent Octavia back to Italy, out
of fear of exposing her to danger in the Parthian war.
He commended the children that he had, both by her and
Fulvia, to Caesar, and went into Syria. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 35. s. 5. 9:217} {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 10. (95) 4:539} {*Dio, l. 48. (54)
5:337}
5467. Cleopatra built a new library in the same spot
where the old one at Alexandria had been burned in
Julius Caesar's time. The library was called the
daughter of the former one, as Epiphanius affirmed.
{Epiphanius, De Mensuris et Ponderibus} From the seventh
year of Ptolemy Philadelphus, in which we have shown, in
the year 277 BC, or 4437 JP, that the previous library
was built, Epiphanius incorrectly calculated two hundred
and forty-nine years to this time, which would bring us
to the year 29 BC, or 4686 JP, which was one year after
Cleopatra's death. The main cause of his error was
this: Epiphanius attributed thirty-two years to the
reign of Cleopatra, instead of twenty-two. [K434] If we
deduct ten years from both, we make the time between the
founding of the two libraries, two hundred and
thirty-nine years. Plutarch wrote that, at this time,
Calvisius objected to Antony: {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 59. s. 5,6. 9:271}
"that Antony had given to Cleopatra the libraries that
were at Pergamum, which contained two hundred thousand
entire books or single volumes."
5468. Strabo spoke of katoikian tou Pergamou, the
settlement of Pergamum, not of libraries that were
extant in his time. {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 2.
6:167} Lipsius incorrectly thought this. {Lipsius,
Syntagma of Libraries, l. 4.}
5469. In the beginning of the third year after Herod
had been declared king at Rome, he came with an army to
Jerusalem and camped near the city. [E723] He soon
moved closer to the place where he first planned to
assault the walls. Placing his tents before the temple,
he intended to assail the walls where Pompey had done in
the past. To that end, he surrounded the place with
three bulwarks and erected his batteries with the help
of many workmen. He brought materials from every nearby
place. He placed suitable men to oversee the works,
while he went to Samaria to solemnise his marriage with
Mariamme, the daughter of Alexander, son of Aristobulus.
She had earlier been betrothed to him. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 15. s. 14. (465-467) 7:689}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 17. s. 8.
(343,344) 2:161}
5470. After the marriage, Sossius came through
Phoenicia, after he had sent his army overland. He
arrived there himself with many cavalry and foot
soldiers. Herod also came, from Samaria, with a
considerable army of thirty thousand men. He had eleven
legions of foot soldiers and six thousand cavalry in
addition to the Syrian auxiliaries, who were not
included in the total. He made their camp at the north
wall of the city. Two generals were over the army,
Herod and Sossius, as Sossius had been sent by Antony to
help Herod. Herod started this war to oust Antigonus,
who was an enemy of the people of Rome, and to enable
him to be king in his place as the Senate had decreed.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 1. (468,469)
7:691} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 17. s. 9.
(345,346) 2:161,163}
5471. The Jews from the whole country had gathered
together at Jerusalem and were being besieged within the
walls. They offered valiant resistance, boasted much
about the temple of the Lord and wished the people well,
saying that God would not forsake his people in their
danger. They destroyed all the provisions, for both men
and animals, which were outside the city, secretly stole
supplies and made provisions very scarce for the
besiegers. However, Herod provided well for this. He
placed ambushes in suitable places and prevented their
thievery, while sending his soldiers to fetch provisions
from afar, so that in a short time the army was
well-furnished with all their supplies. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 2. (470-472) 7:691,693}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1,2.
(347-349) 2:163,165}
5472. The large number of workmen easily finished the
three bulwarks. It was now summer and the work went on
and he was unhindered by bad weather. He often battered
the walls with his engines and attacked every part of
it. The besieged fought valiantly and used all their
cunning to evade their enemies' endeavours. They often
sallied out and set fire to their works, some of which
had been completed, while some were still under
construction. They fought valiantly hand-to-hand with
the Romans and were just as brave, but not as
well-trained, as the Romans were. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 14. c. 16. s. 2. (473-475) 7:693,695}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1.
(349-351) 2:163,165}
3967a AM, 4676 JP, 38 BC
5473. The sabbatical year was now approaching and
brought a famine to the Jews who were besieged. In
spite of this, they built a new wall to replace the
sections which had been battered down by the engines.
[K435] They countermined the enemies' mines, so that
sometimes they fought hand-to-hand underground and using
despair rather than courage, they held out to the last.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 2. (475)
7:695} Pollion, the Pharisee, and his disciple, Samaias,
advised them to let Herod into the city, saying that,
because of their sins, it was inevitable that Herod
would be their king. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
9. s. 4. (175,176) 7:543} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15.
c. 1. s. 1. (3,4) 8:3,5}
5474. For five months they held out in the siege in
spite of the large army besieging them. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 1. (351) 2:165}
Finally, twenty of Herod's best soldiers got on the wall
and were followed by the centurions of Sossius.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 2. (476)
7:695}
5475. The first wall was taken on the fortieth day and
the second one on the fiftieth. Some galleries around
the temple were burned, for which Herod blamed
Antigonus, so that the people would hate him. The outer
part of the temple was taken and then the lower city.
The Jews fled into the inner part of the temple and the
upper city. Fearing that they would be hindered from
offering the daily sacrifices to God, they sent envoys
to ask permission that those beasts only might be
brought in. Herod granted this, in the hope that they
would then be less obstinate and submit themselves.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 2. (476,477)
7:697}
3967b AM, 4677 JP, 37 BC
5476. When Herod saw that this was not going to happen
and that the besieged were obstinately fighting to
protect the government of Antigonus, Herod made a
general assault and took the city. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 14. c. 16. s. 4. (487) 7:701} This was on the
Calends of January (January 1), 37 BC, or 4677 JP, on
the 2nd day of the month of Chisleu. According to the
eastern people's records of the civil year, this was in
the 3rd month, on the 28th day, when the Jews kept a
solemn fast in memory of the holy scroll that was burned
by Jehoiakim. {See note on 3941a AM.
<<4528>>}
5477. The Calends of January (January 1), because of
the incorrect intercalating done at Rome at that time,
was really the last day of December. This concluded the
first five years of the triumviri and also the
consulship of Claudius and Norbanus, to whom this
calamity of the Jews was mentioned by Dio. {*Dio, l.
49. (22,23) 5:387,389} The next day, Marcus Vipsanius
Agrippa and Lucius Caninius Gallus entered their
consulships at Rome. Josephus stated: {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 4. (487) 7:701} [E724]
"This calamity of Jerusalem happened in the consulship
of Marcus Agrippa and Caninius Gallus in the 185th
Olympiad (that is, in the third year), in the third
month, on a solemn fast day. It was as if the calamity
that had happened to the Jews twenty-seven years earlier
was about to repeat itself again at the same time for
the city was taken by Herod on the same day."
5478. However, this interval of time exceeded the true
account by one year, unless you interpret metaeth kz as
being in the year after the twenty-seventh, as in Mark.
{Mr 8:31} It was said that Christ would rise again, meta
ptirieth Chonok, after three days, which is more clearly
explained in Matthew as thpeith imira, on the third day
{Mt 16:21}. In the Apocrypha {Apc 2Ma 14:1} moyrieth
chirth, after the time of three years, is explained by
the interpreters as being the third year. In the
Catalogue of the Station of Julius Africanus, 211th
Olympiad, the games of Olympus are said to have been
celebrated by Nero, not at a lawful time, but mita xth
dno, that is, in the second year of that Olympiad.
{Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 221} Even
Josephus himself, in his Jewish War, stated mti eth duo
and in his Antiquities said deu tirw outei. {Josephus,
Jewish War - Greek Copy, l. 1. c. 11.} {Josephus,
Antiq. Greek Copy, l. 14. c. 23} [K436] (References
are to original 1654 publication of Josephus. Greek in
this passage is almost unreadable in the original
document. Editor.)
5479. After the city was captured, it was filled with
the bodies of the murdered. The Romans were incensed
that they had been forced to continue the siege for so
long and the Herodian Jews tried to eliminate the
opposing faction, so there were continual slaughters
through the porches and houses. The reverence of the
temple did not save the suppliants. They spared no one,
regardless of age or gender, not even children.
Although Herod begged and entreated them to stop, no one
obeyed him, but they all continued as if mad and showed
their cruelty without respect of age. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 2. (479,480) 7:697}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 2.
(351,352) 2:165}
5480. Antigonus came down from the town and fell at
Sossius' feet. Sossius did not show him any pity
because of the change in his fortune, but insulted him
by calling him Madam Antigone. He put him in prison and
set keepers over him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
16. s. 2. (481) 7:697,699} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 18. s. 2. (353) 2:165,167}
5481. When a number of mercenaries rushed into the
temple and even into its inner sanctuary, Herod
restrained them by entreaty, some by threats and some by
force of arms. He thought his victory would be worse
for him than if he had been defeated, if any of those
things which it was not lawful to see, were to be seen
by the common people. He forbade any plundering in the
city, as much as he was able. He entreated Sossius, as
well, and asked if the Romans wanted to make him king of
a wilderness, since the city was so depopulated by
pillaging and murders. Sossius replied that the
soldiers wanted the plunder of the city because of the
long siege they had endured. Herod answered that he
would reward every man from his own treasury and so he
freed the city from any further trouble. He kept his
promise and generously gave gifts to the soldiers and
proportionally to the commanders and royally to Sossius.
Hence, Sossius offered a crown of gold to God and left
Jerusalem, taking Antigonus with him as a prisoner to
Antony. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 3,4.
(482-488) 7:699,701} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
18. s. 3. (354-357) 2:167}
5482. Herod made a distinction between the people of
the city. He promoted those on his side and daily
killed some of those on the opposing side. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 4. (358) 2:167,169}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 1. s. 1. (1,2) 8:3}
Among those whom he killed were all those judges of the
great Sanhedrin who had accused him of some capital
crime before he was king. He spared Pollion, the
Pharisee, and his disciple, Samaias, and highly honoured
them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 9. s. 4.
(175,176) 7:543} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 1. s.
1. (3,4) 8:3,5}
5483. He gathered together all the royal ornaments. By
collections and by taking away from rich men, he
acquired a large amount of gold and silver, which he
gave to Antony and his soldiers. He put to death
forty-five of Antigonus' chief noblemen and set a watch
at the doors so that none of the noblemen would be
carried out under the pretence of being dead. All the
gold or silver that was found was brought to Herod, so
that there was no end to these miseries. The
covetousness of the needy conqueror consumed all their
goods. Since it was a sabbatical year, the fields were
not being tilled, for it was unlawful to sow them.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 4. (359)
2:169} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 1. s. 2.
(5-7) 8:5}
5484. These miserable times were witnessed by the
priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. Of the remains
of David's family, Heli and Joseph saw these things. It
was also witnessed by Anna, the prophetess, of the tribe
of Asher, and by Simeon the Just, who received an answer
from the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until
he had seen the Lord's Christ. {Lu 2:26} [K437]
5485. Antony received Antigonus, intending to keep him
prisoner with him until his triumph. He realised that
Herod was afraid in case Antigonus, when he was brought
to Rome by Antony, would contend with Herod before the
Senate for his right to the kingdom. Antony heard that
the country was ready to revolt out of hatred for Herod
and that they favoured Antigonus. Antony received large
sums of money from Herod and cut off Antigonus' head at
Antioch, after having given him the vain hope of life
right up to the end. Once this had been done, Herod was
totally free from fear. The government of the Asmoneans
had now ended. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18.
s. 3. (357) 2:167} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c.
16. s. 4. (489-491) 7:701,703} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
20. c. 10. s. 4. (245,246) 10:131} [E725]
5486. Two years and seven months elapsed from the
beginning of the priesthood and government of Antigonus
to the taking of Jerusalem. Also reckoning from this
starting point, Antigonus was killed by Antony in the
third year of the reign of both Antigonus and Herod.
This was written in the fifty-second chapter of the
Jewish History, which was written in Arabic and set
forth in the Paris Bible of many languages. However,
Josephus attributed three years and three months to
Antigonus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 10. s. 4.
(245) 10:131} If this included the time up until his
death, it would extend to August of this year.
According to our account, from the beginning of the rise
of Judas Maccabeus until now, a hundred and twenty-six
years and two or three months elapsed. Josephus agreed,
writing that the time from the founding of the
government of the Asmoneans, until it ended and
Antigonus was killed, was one hundred and twenty-six
years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 16. s. 4.
(490) 7:703} However, Josephus contradicted himself,
stating elsewhere that from the beginning of Judas
Maccabeus to the beginning of the third year of the
reign of Herod, when the siege of Jerusalem began, was a
hundred and twenty-five years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 6. s. 3. (162) 8:447}
5487. Other foreign writers have written concerning the
taking of Jerusalem and the death of Antigonus. Livy
referred to this event in his epitome: {*Livy, l. 128.
14:159}
"The Jews were also subdued by Antony's deputies."
5488. So said the old books, where it was written:
"The envoys of the Jews were killed by Antony."
5489. We have the following record of the death of
Antigonus preserved by Josephus from the books of
Strabo, the Cappadocian: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
1. s. 2. (8-10) 8:5,7}
"Antony brought Antigonus, the Jew, to Antioch and had
him beheaded. He was presumed to be the first of the
Romans to have put a king to death in this manner,
because he thought that the Jews could not tolerate
Herod as their king while Antigonus was alive. No
matter how Herod oppressed them, they would not
recognise him as king because they held Antigonus in
such high esteem. Therefore, it was thought fit to blot
out his memory by some ignominious death and lessen the
public hatred against Herod."
5490. Plutarch wrote: {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
36. s. 2. 9:219}
"He bestowed tetrarchies of great countries on many
private men and took away kingdoms from many, such as
from Antigonus, the Jew, whom he brought forth and
beheaded. No king was ever killed in this way before."
5491. Dio, when writing about Sossius, also mentioned
this: {*Dio, l. 49. (22) 5:387}
"He conquered Antigonus, who had killed a garrison of
the Romans which he had with him. Sossius was defeated
in battle at Jerusalem and forced to flee. The Jews (a
country of implacable anger, once it is stirred) did
many wrongs to the Romans, but suffered much more
themselves. First of those who were taken were fighting
for the temple of their God and then rested on a
Saturday. So excessive were they in their devotion to
religion that the first set of prisoners, those who had
been captured along with the temple, obtained leave from
Sossius, when the Sabbath day came around again, and
went up into the temple and there performed all the
customary rites, together with the rest of the people.
[K438] Antony made Herod king over these people. Antony
killed Antigonus, after he had scourged him and tied him
to a post. This had never before been done to any king
by the Romans."
5492. That is, he was beheaded at a post. Concerning
this, see the following work. {Excercitation of
Causabon on Baronius, l. 1. c. 7.} This event
happened when:
"Claudius and Norbanus were consuls"
5493. Dio implied this. {*Dio, l. 49. (23) 5:389} It
is true of Antigonus' defeat and of the taking of
Jerusalem, but not as far as the death of Antigonus is
concerned. He died when Marcus Agrippa and Caninius or
Canidius Gallus were consuls, in the next year.
5494. Nothing of note was done by the Romans this year
in Syria, for Antony spent the whole year in going into
and returning from Italy. Sossius, fearing the envy and
anger of Antony, whiled away that time and did no
gallant actions, so as not to offend Antony. He hoped
to curry favour with Antony by doing nothing. {*Dio, l.
49. (23) 5:389} When Antony returned from Italy, he
replaced him with Plancus as the governor of Syria and
appointed Gaius Furnius as his lieutenant in Asia.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (137) 4:603}
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (144) 4:615}
{*Dio, l. 48. (26) 5:275} {*Dio, l. 49. (17) 5:377}
3968a AM, 4677 JP, 37 BC
5495. After Orodes, the king of the Parthians, had long
mourned for his son, he had more problems. He had to
select a successor from his thirty sons to replace
Pacorus. Many of his concubines, who had borne him many
sons, pestered the old man to make their son the new
king. Finally, he selected the oldest, who was the
worst of them all, and made him king. {Justin, Trogus,
l. 42. c. 4.} {*Dio, l. 49. (23) 5:389} This was
Phraates III, called Phraortes by Plutarch. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 52. s. 1. 9:255} He is called
Phraates by the compiler of Appian's Parthian History,
which he transcribed word for word from Plutarch, and by
Plutarch himself at the end of his book. {*Plutarch,
Crassus, l. 1. c. 33. s. 5. 3:423} Horace, too,
referred to this time: {*Horace, Odes, l. 2. c. 2.
(17) 1:111} [E726]
"Phraates was restored to Cyrus' throne."
5496. He received the kingdom by treachery and killed
his brothers, who had been born to the daughter of
Antiochus. He did this, because they surpassed him in
every virtue and related to him on his mother's side.
He also killed his father Orodes. {*Dio, l. 49. (23)
5:389} He poisoned him as he lay sick with the dropsy.
Orodes was beginning to recover, so Phraates stopped the
slow poisoning and took a shorter route by strangling
him. {*Plutarch, Crassus, l. 1. c. 33. s. 5.
3:423}
5497. After Phraates had killed his father, he killed
all his brothers. When he saw that the nobility hated
him for his wicked acts, he ordered that his son, who
was now fully grown, also be killed, so that there would
be no one else to make king. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42.
c. 5.}
5498. After this, Phraates set about killing the
nobility and doing many wicked things. Many of the
chief men fled from him, going where they could, and
some, like Monaeses, who was a powerful nobleman, fled
to Antony. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 37. s. 1.
9:219} {*Dio, l. 49. (23) 5:389} This happened when
Agrippa and Gallus were consuls. {*Dio, l. 49. (24)
5:389}
3968b AM, 4678 JP, 36 BC
5499. The rest of the winter, when Gellius and Nerva
were consuls, Publius Canidius Crassus was left as
deputy by Antony. [K439] Around the region of Armenia,
he led his army against the Iberians. He defeated their
king, Pharnabazus, in battle and compelled him to join
forces with him. He went into Albania with him and
likewise allied that country to himself, along with
Zober, their king. {*Dio, l. 49. (24) 5:391} He went
as far as the Caucasus Mountains with the conquered
Armenians and the kings of the Iberians and Albanians,
making Antony's name famous among the barbarous
countries. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 34. s. 6.
9:215} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 3. s. 5.5:221} (In Loeb,
the footnote for Strabo incorrectly attributed this to
Crassus the triumvir. Editor.)
5500. Antony was puffed up with these successes and
relied very heavily on Monaeses, committing the Parthian
war to him. Antony promised him the kingdom of the
Parthians and granted him the revenues of those cities
of theirs which were subject to the Romans. He was to
receive this as long as the war lasted. {*Dio, l. 49.
(24) 5:391} Antony compared the fortune of Monaeses with
that of Themistocles and equally, his own riches and
magnificence to that of the kings of Persia. He gave
Monaeses three cities: Larisa, Arethusa and Hierapolis,
formerly called Bambyce. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
37. s. 1. 9:221}
5501. Phraates, the king of the Parthians, courteously
entertained the captive king, Hyrcanus, because of his
noble descent. He took him from prison and allowed him
to live in Babylon, where many Jews lived. These Jews
honoured him as their king and high priest. All those
millions of Jews, who in olden times had been deported
beyond the Euphrates River by the Assyrians (or
Babylonians) also honoured Hyrcanus. Once he realised
that Herod had been made king, he began to hope for a
favour from Herod, as Hyrcanus had saved Herod when he
had been on trial for his life. Therefore, he began to
consult with the Jews, who, out of duty, came to visit
him, about his journey. In spite of all their wise
admonitions, he could not be persuaded against his
desire to return to his own country. The tetrarchy of
Herod had been added to his former country. Herod
wanted to get his hands on Hyrcanus and wrote him that
he would request his release from Phraates and the Jews
of that land. Herod said that the Jews ought not to
envy the joint power that he would enjoy with his
son-in-law. Herod said that the time had now come, when
he would be able to repay the one who had preserved him
in the past. Herod also sent Saramalla, his envoy, to
Phraates himself, with large presents to win his favour,
so that Phraates would not prevent Herod from showing
kindness to Hyrcanus. Herod then received Hyrcanus, who
had been sent by the Parthians. He had been honourably
provided for by the Jews for the expenses of his
journey. Herod entertained him with every honour and
gave him the upper seat in all the assemblies and the
most honourable place at all the feasts. He called him
father and so in this way lulled him into a false sense
of security. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 2. s.
1-4. (11-22) 8:7-13}
5502. Herod saw to it that none of the nobility would
be appointed high priest. He sent to Babylon for a
priest of lowly parentage, with whom he was
well-acquainted. He was of the family of the priests,
but descended from those Jews who had been transported
beyond the Euphrates River. This man's name was Ananel
(or Hananeel) and Herod gave him the high priesthood.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 2. s. 4. (22) 8:13}
[E727]
5503. Mark Antony rejected all honest and salutary
counsel and sent Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra into
Syria. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 36. s. 1.
9:217} She had no sooner arrived in Syria, than she
thought about how she might get it into her possession.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4. s. 1. (88) 8:43}
[K440] She accused the Syrian noblemen to Antony and
persuaded him to put them to death, so that she would
more easily be able to take over their estates.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 4. (360)
2:169}
5504. She accused Lysanias, the son of Ptolemy
(Mennaeus), the king of Chalcis and Iturea, of favouring
the Parthians and had Antony execute him. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 4. s. 1. (92,93) 8:45} {*Dio, l.
49. (32) 5:407} (In Dio, Parthians should be read for
Pacorus.) This was fifteen years after the death of his
father Auletes, a fact which is derived from Porphyry,
where the name of Lysimachus is incorrectly written for
Lysanias. {Porphyry, Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p.
226.}
5505. Antony made Amyntas, the secretary of Dejotarus,
the prince of Galatia, to which he added part of
Lycaonia and Pamphylia. {*Dio, l. 49. (32) 5:407}
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 5. s. 1. 5:469}
5506. Antony also made Archelaus, who was not descended
from royalty, the king of Cappadocia. This Archelaus
deposed Ariarathes (who was descended from those
Archelauses who had waged war against the Romans), and
his mother was the harlot called Glaphyra. {*Dio, l.
49. (32) 5:407} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 2. s. 11.
5:371} From that lascivious epigram of Octavius Caesar,
it appears that Antony was involved with Glaphyra.
{Martial, l. 11. c. 21.}
5507. Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus and wife of
Alexander the son of Aristobulus and mother-in-law of
Herod, took it badly that her son Aristobulus, the
brother of Mariamme, was being condemned because during
his lifetime someone from another place had usurped the
high priesthood. She wrote to Cleopatra through a
certain musician, asking her to request the priesthood
from Antony for her son, but Cleopatra failed to do
this. Quintus Dellius, a friend of Antony, who
travelled into Judea from time to time, persuaded
Alexandra to send the pictures of her son Aristobulus
and her daughter Mariamme to Antony, maintaining that
once Antony saw them, he would not deny them anything.
These were sent. Dellius also added that they seemed to
be of divine origin rather than of the human race, for
he was busy on his own account, trying to entice Antony
into sexual pleasures. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
2. s. 5,6. (23-27) 8:13,15} Dellius was the historian
whom Plutarch mentioned and whose wanton letters to
Cleopatra were common, as attested by Seneca. {*Seneca
the Elder, Suasoriae, l. 1. c. 7. 2:497} Dio also
implied as much and stated that Antony used him for
immoral purposes. {*Dio, l. 49. (39) 5:421}
5508. Since Antony did not want to make Cleopatra
jealous, he did not think it proper to send for a lady
who was married to Herod. He wrote to Alexandra that
she should send her son to him on some honest pretext,
but added she should not do it if this would be
burdensome to her. When Herod found out about this, he
did not think it safe that Aristobulus, a young man of
sixteen years, in the flower of his youth, should be
sent to Antony, who was the most powerful of all the
Romans and also very much given to lust. He therefore
wrote back that if the youth left the kingdom, the whole
country would be up in arms because the Jews wanted to
revolt and have a new king. Antony was satisfied with
Herod's reply. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 2. s.
6. (28-30) 8:15,17}
5509. In the Sicilian war, Caesar Octavius and Marcus
Lepidus defeated Sextus Pompeius. Marcus Lepidus became
proud about the ability of his twenty legions and
attributed the whole victory to himself. [K441] He was
bold enough to oppose Caesar and to claim Sicily for
himself, but his army abandoned him and he was put out
of the triumvirate. He was glad to beg Caesar for his
life and goods and Caesar banished him to Circei.
{*Livy, l. 129. 14:159,161} {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 79,80. 1:217-221} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 16. 1:169,171} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c.
54. 1:235} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 11-13.
(97-127) 4:541-587} {*Dio, l. 49. (1-18) 5:339-380}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 18.}
5510. Sextus Pompeius, who had previously had a fleet
of three hundred and fifty ships, now fled into Asia
with only six or seven. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 18. s.
9. 1:317} Appian and Orosius wrote that he had
seventeen ships. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 12.
(121) 4:579} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 18.} He intended to
flee to Antony because the latter had saved his mother
from a similar danger. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c.
12. (122) 4:579}
5511. He put his daughter, his friends, his money and
all his best things into the fastest ships he had left.
Pompeius sailed by night and no one pursued him because
he left secretly and Caesar was continually preoccupied
with troubles from Lepidus. {*Dio, l. 49. (11) 5:363}
In spite of this, after he had left Messana, Pompeius
feared being followed and suspected the treachery of his
companions. After he told them that he would set sail
for the main sea, he put out the light which admirals'
ships usually carry, and sailed along the coast of
Italy. {*Dio, l. 49. (17) 5:375} When he arrived at
the cape of Lacinium, he robbed the temple of Juno of
all its offerings. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c.
14. (133) 4:597}
5512. From there he sailed to Corcyra and into
Cephallenia. He received others of his men who had been
washed in there by a storm. [E728] After he had called
them together, he took off his general's attire and told
them that if they all stayed together, it would come
about that they would not be able to be of sufficient
help to each other nor would they be able to remain
hidden. If they dispersed, however, they could flee
more easily, and so he advised everyone to fend for
himself. Most of them followed his advice and went
their various ways. He, together with some who stayed
with him, went to Lesbos. {*Dio, l. 49. (17)
5:375,379} He stayed at Mitylene, where his father had
left him before the battle of Pharsalia and from where
he had picked him up again after the defeat. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (133) 4:597}
5513. The Parthians were troubled by the defection of
Monaeses to Antony and Phraates was quite worried. He
sent messengers to Monaeses to ask for peace and with
generous promises persuaded him to come back again.
When this became known, Antony was angry but he did not
kill Monaeses, whom he still had in his power. He
thought that if he did, none of the barbarians would
ever trust him, so he used politics against the enemy.
He dismissed Monaeses as if wanting to make peace with
the Parthians through him. He sent envoys with him to
Phraates. They were to make peace, if the king would
restore the ensigns and those captives who were still
alive, whom the Parthians had taken in the defeat of
Crassus. He thought he would catch the king unprepared
for war by giving him reasons to hope for peace.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 37. s. 2. 9:221}
{*Dio, l. 49. (24) 5:391,393}
5514. In the meantime, Antony prepared for war. He
came to the Euphrates River, which he presumed would be
unguarded. When he found a strong garrison there, he
changed his plan, intending soon to go into Armenia to
make war with Artavasdes, the king of the Medes. The
king of Greater Armenia had suggested it, since
Artavasdes was the enemy of the king of Armenia. Both
kings had the same name. {*Dio, l. 49. (25) 5:393}
5515. Artavasdes, the king of the Medes, was called
Artabazes, the son of Tigranes, by Josephus.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 5. (363)
2:171} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4. s. 3.
(104) 8:51} [K442] Orosius called him Artabanus.
{Orosius, l. 16. c. 19.} Antony had used him as his
counsellor, guide and chief for the management of the
war, but then he betrayed Antony and later created
problems for the Romans. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 13. s.
4. 5:307} {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 28. 7:237}
5516. Antony sent Cleopatra back into Egypt, while he
went through Arabia into Armenia. He had ordered that
his own forces and the auxiliaries of the kings meet him
there. Among these were many friends and allies,
including Artavasdes or Artabazes, the king of Armenia,
with six thousand cavalry and seven thousand foot
soldiers. When the soldiers were mustered, the Romans
and the allies of Italy had six thousand foot soldiers,
with ten thousand of the ordinary cavalry of the
Iberians and Celts. The auxiliaries from other
countries numbered thirty thousand cavalry and lightly
armed soldiers. This was according to Plutarch.
However, Velleius Paterculus said Antony had thirteen
legions. Florus stated he had sixteen, Justin and Livy
said eighteen legions and sixteen thousand cavalry.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 37. s. 3. 9:221}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 82. s. 1. 1:223}
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 20. s. 10. 1:323} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42. c. 5.} {*Livy, l. 130. 14:161}
5517. The guide of Antony's army led them from Zeugma
to the Euphrates River almost as far as Atropatene,
which was separated from Armenia by the Araxes River.
This was a journey of a thousand miles and almost twice
as far as the shorter way. The guide led them over
mountains and byways. {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 13. s.
4. 5:307} Antony should have refreshed his army, who
were weary from this thousand mile trek, in the winter
quarters of Armenia. Since spring was coming, he should
have invaded Media before the Parthians left their
winter quarters. He could not tolerate any delay
because he wanted to be back with Cleopatra, and so he
thought more about returning quickly than about gaining
a victory. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 37,38.
9:221,223}
5518. Therefore, when he found out that the king of
Media had gone far from his country to bring help to the
Parthians, he quickly set out with the best part of his
cavalry and foot soldiers, leaving part of his army and
baggage with Oppius Statianus. He ordered them to
follow him, hoping that he would conquer Media on the
first attack. {*Dio, l. 49. (25) 5:393}
5519. Among the things that were left behind were the
battering engines, which were carried in three hundred
wagons. One ram was eighty feet long. If any of the
machines were damaged, they could not be repaired due to
the scarcity of materials in those countries because the
trees were too short and not strong enough. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 38. s. 2. 9:223}
5520. After Antony had crossed the Araxes River, he
faced problems and hardships on all sides. {Orosius, l.
6. c. 19.} As soon as he came into Artopatene, he
harassed that country and then besieged the large city
of Phraata. The wife of the king of the Medes lived
there with her children. When Antony realised his error
in leaving his engines behind, he was forced to raise a
mount near the city. This took a long time and was a
lot of work. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 38. s.
2. 9:223} This was the royal city of the Medes and was
called Praaspa by Dio, and Vera by Strabo, who cited
Dellius, the historian. Dellius accompanied Antony on
this expedition and wrote about it and commanded part of
the army. [E729] Dellius said this city was three
hundred miles from the Araxes River. {*Dio, l. 49.
(25) 5:393} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 13. s. 3. 5:305}
5521. The Parthians and Medes knew that Antony was
wasting his time in attacking that city because it was
so well-fortified with walls and men. They attacked
Statianus suddenly when he was tired from his journey,
and killed both him and all who were with him. Plutarch
reckoned they killed ten thousand men. [K443] Velleius
Paterculus said two legions were killed and all the
baggage and engines of war were taken. Polemon, the
king of Pontus, and an ally of the war, was captured and
released when he paid a ransom. This was an easy
victory for the barbarians because the king of Armenia,
who might have helped the Romans, was not at the battle.
He did not come but left Antony in order to return to
his own kingdom. {*Dio, l. 49. (25) 5:393} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 82. s. 2. 1:223} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 38. s. 2,3. 9:223,225}
5522. Although Antony hurried to help Statianus when he
heard the first news, he arrived too late, for he found
nothing but dead men. He was terrified with this defeat
but none of the barbarians opposed him, so he thought
that they had left in fear of him and was encouraged.
Soon after this, they fought and Antony routed them.
His slingers, of whom he had a large number, put them to
flight. The slingers' arrows went farther than the
enemies' arrows, so the heavily armed cavalry were not
safe from them. Not many barbarians were killed,
however, because of the swiftness of their cavalry
troops. {*Dio, l. 49. (26) 5:395}
5523. Antony resumed the assault on Praaspa. He did
little damage to the enemy and the garrison inside the
city strongly repelled their attacks, while the enemy
that was outside the city hindered them with
hand-to-hand combat. {*Dio, l. 49. (25) 5:395} The
Parthians, who came to help the besieged, threatened the
Romans most contemptuously. Antony did not want his
soldiers to lose any of their animosity. He took ten
legions, three praetorian cohorts and all his cavalry
with him and went foraging, in the hope that the enemy
would then attack him and he would be able to fight
them. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 39. s. 2.
9:225}
5524. When he had gone a day's journey, he noticed the
Parthians wheeling about behind him to hinder his
return. He ordered the signal for battle to be sounded,
but packed up his tents, as though he were preparing for
his march, not to fight. Then he marched past the
barbarians, who were drawn up in a half-moon. He gave
orders to his cavalry that the legions, as soon as they
had come together, should attack the enemy and that the
cavalry should begin the charge. The Parthians were
perplexed at the well-ordered army of the Romans. They
saw the soldiers passing by, keeping their ranks and
brandishing their javelins at them, but not speaking a
word. After the signal and a loud shout were given, the
cavalry began the attack. The Parthians resisted a
little, although the Romans were so close to them from
the start, that they were unable to use their arrows.
Soon, the legions joined the battle with great shouting
and the clattering of armour. The Parthian cavalry were
frightened and the Parthians fled before they reached
hand-to-hand combat. Antony hoped that now he would
overcome them, or at least finish the greatest part of
the war. He followed the chase very hard. After his
foot soldiers had pursued them about six miles and his
cavalry three times that distance, he counted the number
of the dead and the prisoners. They found they had
taken thirty and killed only eighty. This greatly
discouraged them, for they thought it was very hard if
they could kill so few when they were conquerors, and
yet, when conquered, they could lose as many as they had
lost when the baggage was taken. The next day, as they
were returning to their camp, they met a few of their
enemies at first, then more came and finally all of
them, as if they had not been routed earlier, but were
all fresh men. They reviled them and broke in upon them
on every side, so that the Romans were barely able to
return to their camp. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
39. s. 3-6. 9:225,227} [K444]
5525. In Antony's absence, the Medes at Praaspa
attacked the mount and terrified those defending it.
Antony was so enraged, that he decimated those who had
forsaken the place and gave the rest of them barley
instead of wheat. He killed one in ten of his own
troops who had fled. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
39. s. 7. 9:227}
5526. In the beginning, the foragers sent out by Antony
brought enough provisions for the Romans. Later, when
the Romans had consumed all the supplies nearby, the
soldiers themselves were forced to go foraging. It so
happened that if only a few were sent out, they brought
back nothing and often the foragers were killed, but if
many left, then Praaspa was short of besiegers and the
sallies of the barbarians killed many of the Romans and
many engines were destroyed. Consequently it came about
that Antony's men, who were besieging the city, ran as
short of supplies as those inside the city. The
townsmen, as well as the enemy on the outside, looked
for opportune times for sallies. With their sudden
incursions and quick retreats, they seriously troubled
those who remained in the camp each time the Roman
forces were divided. The foragers who went to the
villages were never molested, but the Parthians attacked
them unexpectedly when they were scattered on their
return to the camp. {*Dio, l. 49. (28) 5:395,397}
[E730]
3969a AM, 4678 JP, 36 BC
5527. Sextus Pompeius heard that Antony was in Media
and was making war with the Medes and Parthians.
Pompeius intended to commit himself to Antony's
protection when the latter returned. In the meantime,
he wintered in Lesbos and the people of Lesbos
entertained him very willingly on account of the good
memory they had of his father. {*Dio, l. 49. (17)
5:377} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (133)
4:597}
5528. As Antony prolonged the siege of Praaspa, the war
became very troublesome to both sides. Antony could not
get any supplies without having his men killed or
wounded. Phraates knew that the Parthians would endure
anything except a winter in the camp in a strange
country. Therefore, he was afraid that if the Romans
continued the war, his men would leave him, since the
weather would grow very cold after the autumnal equinox.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 40. s. 1,2. 9:229}
(English translation by Loeb stated it was the summer
equinox, which makes no sense. Summer has a solstice,
not an equinox. Editor.) He was also afraid that if the
siege were continued, either by Antony himself or else
with outside help, Antony would seriously weaken the
city. So he secretly sent some agents to promote the
idea of a peace between them, in the hope that it would
readily be granted. {*Dio, l. 49. (27) 5:397}
5529. Therefore, the Parthian king commanded his men to
treat the foragers more courteously when they met with
them, and to talk to them about peace. This persuaded
Antony to send a friend to request the restitution of
his ensigns and prisoners, so that he would not appear
to be satisfied only merely to depart in safety. They
replied that he should forget about those things. If he
wanted peace and security, he should leave promptly.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 40. s. 3,4.
9:229,231} Phraates was sitting on his golden throne and
twanging a bow string. After he had railed considerably
against the Romans, he promised Antony's envoys peace on
the condition that he immediately withdraw his army.
{*Dio, l. 49. (27) 5:397}
5530. Antony received this reply. Although very
eloquent in both civil and military speeches, he
nevertheless, out of shame and sorrow, did not speak to
his soldiers at that time, but got Domitius Ahenobarbus
to speak to the soldiers for him and encourage them.
Within a few days they had packed the baggage and he
departed. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 40. s. 5.
9:231} [K445] The works that he had raised for the
assault of Praaspa he left intact, as if he had been in
a friend's country. The Medes burned everything and
cast down the mount. {*Dio, l. 49. (27,28) 5:397,399}
5531. They were to return through the same plain
country, where there were no forests. A certain
Mardian, who knew the customs of the Parthians and had
fought well for the Romans at the battle where the
engines were taken, persuaded Antony that he should
march with his army via the mountains on their right
hand. He should not hazard the plain and the open
fields because the Romans were heavily armed and thus
good targets for the number of Parthian cavalry, who
were all archers. The Parthians used this occasion to
draw him from the siege by good words, so that the
Mardian would show Antony a shorter way with more
plentiful supplies for his soldiers. Antony told his
council these things and confessed that he trusted
little in the peace with the Parthians. However, he
commended the shorter way, especially since the journey
would be through a plentiful country. He asked for some
assurance from the Mardian, who surrendered himself to
be bound until he had brought the army into Armenia.
Once he was bound, he led them without problems for two
days. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 41. s. 1-3.
9:231,233}
5532. On the third day, Antony gave little thought to
the Parthians and marched confident of the peace. The
Mardian noticed that a dam of the river had recently
broken and that all the way they were to go, was
flooded. He knew that this had been done by the
Parthians to force the Roman army to halt, so he warned
Antony about it and told him to prepare for the arrival
of the enemy. Antony ordered his battle and set
distances between the ranks. In this way, those that
used arrows and slings could make an attack on the
enemies, when the Parthians opened their ranks to
surround and disorder the army. When the light-horsemen
attacked them, they were beaten back, after having given
and received many wounds. They came on again until the
cavalry from the Celts, who had been held in reserve,
gave them a fierce charge and routed them, so that they
attempted nothing more that day. {*Plutarch, Antony, l.
1. c. 41. s. 4,5. 9:233}
5533. Antony learned from this what had to be done. He
made his army march in a square body and had a strong
guard of archers and slingers in the rear and in the
flanks. He ordered his cavalry to drive the enemy back,
if they attacked them. However, if they fled, they were
not to follow the chase too far. For four days, the
Parthians received as many casualties as they caused.
They began to ease off and thought about going back,
since it was winter. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
42. s. 1. 9:235}
5534. On the fifth day, Flavius Gallus, one of the
captains and a valiant and industrious man, asked Antony
for permission to take some lightly armed men from the
rear and some cavalry from the front because he planned
to do some gallant act. [E731] With this rash attempt,
he broke in on the enemy by taking a great risk. The
Romans sent him help in small companies, which were too
weak and so were cut off by the enemy, until Antony came
with the whole strength of the army and rescued the rest
from obvious danger. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
42. s. 2-4. 9:235}
5535. Florus stated that two legions fell victim to the
Parthian arrows. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 20. s. 3.
1:321} Plutarch said that at least three thousand were
killed and five thousand wounded men were brought back
into the tents. Gallus was shot in four places and
later died from his wounds. Antony was very troubled to
see this and went and comforted the wounded. They
cheerfully took him by his right hand and asked him to
take care of himself and no longer trouble himself about
them. [K446] They called him their Imperator and told
him that if he was well, then they were all safe and in
good health. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 43.
9:237,239}
5536. This victory made the Parthians, who earlier had
been weary and in despair, so proud, that they lodged
near the Roman camp all night, in the hope that they
would soon be able to plunder all their money and
ransack their tents. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
44. s. 1. 9:239} On that night, a certain Roman,
whose life had been spared in Crassus' defeat, came in
Parthian clothes to the Roman trenches and greeted them
in Latin. Once they trusted him, he informed them of
the danger at hand and that the king was coming with all
his forces. He advised them not to march by the way
they had intended, but to go back again and take the way
through the woods and the mountains. He told them that
they might also meet with the enemy that way. {*Florus,
l. 2. c. 20. s. 4,5. 1:321} {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 82. s. 2,3. 1:225}
5537. As soon as it was day, many of the enemy came
together, with at least forty thousand cavalry. Because
they were so confident of victory, the king also sent
along his bodyguard, even though he had never been at
any previous battle. Then Antony lifted up his hands to
heaven and offered his prayers to the gods. He prayed
that if any god had been offended at his former good
fortune, the god would lay all the adversity on Antony's
head but give health and victory to the rest of the
army. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 44. s. 2,3.
9:239}
5538. The next day, the army marched on in a more
secure guard. The Parthians attacked them and were
greatly deceived in their expectations. They thought
that they had only come to pillage and plunder and not
to fight. They lost heart when they were greeted by
Roman arrows. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 45. s.
1,2. 9:241}
5539. As they were going down a certain hill, the
Parthians, who were lying in ambush for them,
overwhelmed them with their arrows as thick as hail.
Then the soldiers who carried large shields took in the
lightly harnessed men under their shields. Kneeling
down on their left knee, they held their shields over
their heads and made a roof over them. This formation
is called a testudo. In this manner, they defended
themselves and their friends from the enemies' arrows,
which fell on the convex shields and slid off the
slippery surfaces. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 45.
s. 2,3. 9:241} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 20. s. 6-8.
1:321,323} {*Frontinus, Stratagems, l. 2. c. 3. s.
15. 1:115} {*Dio, l. 49. (29,30) 5:401,403}
5540. The Parthians had never seen such a thing before
and thought that they had all fallen down because of
their wounds, or that they would soon all fall. They
cast away their bows and leaping off their horses, they
took their spears and came to kill them with their naked
swords. Then the Romans rose up again and at the
signal, widened their army and gave a shout. They
attacked their enemies in the front, killing the nearest
of them with their arrows and making them all flee.
This thing struck such amazement into the barbarians,
that one of their number said: {*Florus, l. 2. c. 20.
s. 6-8. 1:321,323} {*Dio, l. 49. (29,30) 5:401,403}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 45. s. 3. 9:241}
"Go, Romans, and farewell. Fame has with good reason
called you, who can withstand the Parthian weapons, the
conquerors of nations."
5541. There were continual skirmishes between them,
which slowed the Roman march down greatly. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 45. s. 3. 9:241} When they
marched at break of day, they were constantly bothered
by the Parthian arrows. Therefore, Antony deferred his
march until the fifth hour, thereby making his own
soldiers more confident. The Persians withdrew and they
marched without any trouble for that day. {*Frontinus,
Stratagems, l. 2. c. 13. s. 7. 1:199} [K447]
5542. The army then began to be troubled by food
shortages, because their frequent skirmishes hindered
them from foraging. They also lacked grinding mills,
which had largely been left behind. The beasts of
burden were either dead or were being used to carry the
sick and wounded men. It was reported that little more
than a quart of wheat was sold for fifty drachmas and
barley loaves for their weight in silver. Then they
were forced to eat roots and herbs. By chance, they
encountered one that, when eaten, made them mad. Those
who ate it, only dug up stones and removed them, and
thought they were doing some serious business. [E732]
At last, they vomited up a great deal of bile and died,
because they lacked wine which was the only remedy.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 45. s. 4-6.
9:241,245}
5543. The famine raged in the camp and they began to
flee to the enemy but the Parthians killed these
runaways before the eyes of the rest. They had all
planned to defect but the cruelty of the Parthians
stopped the revolt. {*Dio, l. 49. (29) 5:399,401}
5544. Antony saw large numbers of his own soldiers
dying and the Parthians continually attacking them. It
was reported that he often cried out: Oh the Ten
Thousand!, and expressed admiration for the army of
Xenophon, who had marched a far longer march from
Babylon and had often fought with their enemies but had
still come home safely. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
45. s. 6. 9:243}
5545. The Parthians could break neither the spirit of
the Romans, nor their ranks, but were themselves often
defeated and repulsed. They again began to talk
peaceably with those who went to forage and fetch water.
They showed them their unbent bows and told them that
they were departing and that they would follow them no
more. If, however, they should have some Medes follow
them for a day or two, they would not do them any great
harm, but would only secure some of the remoter
villages. They won them over with this talk and gently
took their leave of them. The Romans were very joyful.
Antony wanted to march through the plain rather than the
mountains because it was said that that route lacked
water along the way. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
46. s. 1,2. 9:243,245}
5546. While he was thinking this way, Mithridates came
to him from the enemy camp. He was a cousin of
Monaeses, to whom Antony had given the three cities.
Antony asked that some men be sent to him who understood
the Syriac or Parthian language. When Alexander came,
who was from Antioch and a good friend of Antigonus, he
was told by Mithridates that the Parthians were lying in
ambush with all their forces in those hills which he
could see beside the plains. They were waiting to
attack them as they passed across the plains. He
advised them to travel through the mountains, which had
no other inconvenience than lack of water for one day.
Antony took his advice and the Mardian guided them
through the mountains by night. He ordered his soldiers
to carry water with them, which many did, in their
helmets and leather bags. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 46,47. 9:245,247}
5547. The Parthians found out about this and contrary
to their custom, pursued them by night. At sunrise,
they overtook the rearguard of the Romans, who were
tired from the hard march and from watching. They had
gone thirty miles that night and did not think the enemy
would attack them so soon. This made them more dejected
and their thirst also increased with their fighting
because they were forced to march while fighting.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 47. s. 2,3. 9:247}
5548. In the interim, the vanguard found a cool, clear
river, but it was salty. [K448] The water from it just
increased the thirst of those who drank it. Although
the Mardian had forewarned them of this, they
nonetheless pushed aside those who would have kept them
from drinking of it and drank freely. Antony, too, was
very urgent with them and begged them to stop, telling
them that there was a river only a short way off from
which they could drink and that the rest of the way was
so rough and uneven, that the enemy could not possibly
follow them. He also sounded a retreat, so that the
soldiers could at least refresh themselves in the shade.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 47. s. 3,4. 9:247}
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 20. s. 8,9. 1:323}
5549. As soon as the tents were pitched, the Parthians
departed, according to their custom and Mithridates
returned. Alexander came to him and he told Alexander
that after they had refreshed themselves for a while,
they should all arise and hurry over the river. The
Parthians would not pursue them beyond that point. For
this, Antony gave him a large number of gold plates and
drinking cups. He took as much as he could hide in his
clothes and departed. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
48. s. 1,2. 9:249}
5550. They were not bothered on the following day's
journey, but that night they became their own worst
enemies. Those who had any gold or silver, were killed
and robbed. The pack animals (sumpters), which carried
the treasure, were plundered. Finally, all Antony's
household belongings, such as his plates and precious
tables, were broken and divided among themselves. As a
result of this tumult and uproar in the army, they
thought that the enemy had attacked the sumpters to rob
them. Antony called a freedman and ordered him to kill
him and to cut off his head, so that he would not be
taken alive by the enemy, or identified when he was
dead. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 48. s. 2,3.
9:249} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 20. s. 9,10. 1:323}
{Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
5551. As his friends were weeping around him, the
Mardian encouraged Antony, for he knew there was a river
nearby. Others told Antony that this tumult had arisen
from their own covetousness and doing wrong to one
another. [E733] Consequently, Antony gave the signal to
make camp, in order to quell these tumults and
disturbances in the army. It began to grow light and
the army fell into good order again. When the rearguard
was hit by enemy arrows, the light cavalry were
signalled to fight. The men who carried the large
shields, came together as they had done before and
defended them from the Parthian arrows. The Parthians
did not dare come too close. As they marched on a
little distance, the vanguard spotted the river. Antony
interposed his cavalry between the enemy and the army
and arranged for all the sick men to cross over first.
The men that fought were now braver and strengthened.
As soon as the Parthians saw the river, they unbent
their bows and bade them cross over with good courage
and highly commended their valour. So they took their
time crossing the river and were glad they had not
trusted in the promises of the Parthians. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 48,49. 9:249,251}
5552. After Caesar Octavius had settled his affairs in
Sicily, he entered Rome from Sicily on the Ides of
November (November 13), and made a speech. This was
noted in the marble triumphal records. {Gruter,
Inscriptions, p. 297.} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 22. 1:181} {*Dio, l. 49. (15) 5:371} {Orosius, l.
6. c. 18.} He had a gold statue erected for him in the
rostrum which showed his image, with this inscription:
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 13. (130) 4:593}
"Peace, long disturbed, he re-established on land and
sea."
5553. He was twenty-eight years old, according to
Appian: {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 13. (132)
4:595}
"This seemed to be the end of the civil dissensions.
Octavius was now twenty-eight years of age." [K449]
5554. He also received the tribunal power for life by a
decree of the Senate, who with this honour invited him
to lay down the triumvirate. He wrote privately to
Antony about this through Bibulus. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 13. (132) 4:595,597} {Orosius, l. 6.
c. 18.}
5555. Antony's men came to the Araxes River, that
divided Media from Armenia, on the sixth day after the
battle. The crossing was very difficult because of the
depth and swiftness of the river. There was a rumour
that the enemy was lying in ambush to attack them during
their crossing. After they had crossed over safely and
entered Armenia, it was as if they had recently landed
from the sea. They kissed the earth and embraced one
another with tears of joy. When they marched through a
fruitful country after such a long famine, they so
gorged themselves with food, that many began to fall
sick with dropsies and dysenteries. {*Plutarch, Antony,
l. 1. c. 49. s. 3,4. 9:253}
5556. Antony numbered his army and found that he had
lost twenty thousand foot soldiers and four thousand
cavalry. Half of these had died of diseases and not
from fighting against the enemy. {*Plutarch, Antony, l.
1. c. 50. s. 1. 9:253} Of the whole army, at least
a quarter of the men were dead or missing. The grooms
and slaves had lost about a third of their staff and
hardly anything remained of the baggage. However,
Antony called this flight his victory because he was
still alive. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 82. s.
3. 1:225}
5557. In twenty-one days, he had fled three hundred
miles. {*Livy, l. 130. 14:161} The march from
Phraata, or Praaspa, continued for twenty-seven days
altogether. During that time, the Parthians had been
repelled eighteen times in battle. The cavalry of
sixteen thousand, who were armed after the Parthian
custom and were used to fighting with the Parthians, had
been of no help to the Romans. Artavasdes had brought
them from Armenia. The Parthians would not have been
able to rally as often after their battles, considering
that they had so often been beaten by the Romans if the
Romans had the Armenian cavalry to pursue the Parthians.
Therefore, all the men encouraged Antony to punish the
Armenians. He did not do this, nor did he upbraid
Artavasdes for his treachery but showed him the same
honour and courtesy that he had always done. He did
this because he knew the army was weak and lacked
provisions. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 50. s.
2,3. 9:253,255}
5558. Now that Antony was no longer troubled by
enemies, and unwilling to winter in Armenia, he hurried
to Cleopatra. He took a quick journey in cold winter
weather and continual snows. He hurried his soldiers on
and lost eight thousand men to the extremities of the
weather. {*Livy, l. 130. 14:161} {*Plutarch, Antony,
l. 1. c. 51. s. 1. 9:255} As they crossed over the
mountains of Armenia, which were covered with snow,
their many wounds greatly bothered them and many died or
became unfit for service. Antony could not bear to hear
of these things and forbade anyone to speak to him about
it. Although Antony was angry with the king of Armenia
and wished for revenge because the king had deserted
him, he tried to win the king's favour in order to get
provisions from him. Finally, the soldiers could not
endure this journey in winter any longer. Antony
persuaded the king with flatteries and promises that if
he would let his army winter in his country, he planned
to have the army attack the Parthians again the next
spring. {*Dio, l. 49. (31) 5:403,405} [K450]
3969b AM, 4679 JP, 35 BC
5559. Finally, Antony reached Syria with barely a third
of the original sixteen legions. He returned to
Antioch, {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} where he foolishly
began to brag as if he had gained the victory because he
had escaped. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 20. s. 10. 1:323}
[E734]
5560. He came down to the seaside with a few of his
company and stayed in a citadel between Berytus and
Sidon, called White Village. He awaited Cleopatra's
arrival, pining away because of her absence. To pass
the time, he started feasting and drinking excessively.
During this time, he would arise and run to see if she
were coming, until at last she finally arrived.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 51. 9:255}
5561. Cleopatra brought a large amount of money and
apparel for the soldiers. Some reported that Antony
took the apparel she had brought, but gave his own
private money to the soldiers, as if it had been a gift
from her. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 51. s. 2.
9:255} Concerning this matter, Dio wrote that the money
which Cleopatra brought him, he gave to the soldiers.
He divided four hundred sesterces to every soldier of
the legions, and to others proportionally. When that
money ran out, he made up the rest from his own funds
and gave credit for what he had received from Cleopatra.
He also received much money from his friends and exacted
much from his allies. When he had done this, he went
into Egypt. {*Dio, l. 49. (31,32) 5:405}
5562. Herod was continually pestered with the nagging
of his wife Mariamme. She wanted him to restore the
high priesthood to her brother Aristobulus, according to
his due. So he called a council of his friends and
bitterly complained against his mother-in-law Alexandra,
as if she had secretly committed treason against his
kingdom and had endeavoured, through Cleopatra, to make
her son the new king. However, so that he would not
appear to be disrespectful to her and the rest of the
family, he said that he would now restore the priesthood
to her son. Before this, Ananel had been preferred,
because Aristobulus was so young. Alexandra was almost
beside herself for joy and grieved that she was being
suspected of treason. She wept and cleared herself of
these accusations, thanking Herod many times for her
son's honour and promising that after this she would be
most obedient to the king. Thus Herod gave the
priesthood to Aristobulus in the lifetime of Ananel. He
was only seventeen years old. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 2,3. (31-41) 8:17-21}
5563. Sextus Pompeius learned of Antony's ill fortune
in Media. Because Gaius Furnius, who was governor of
Asia at that time, was not friendly toward him, Sextus
did not stay in Lesbos. He began to hope that he should
either succeed Antony to all his power (if he were to
die), or at least receive some part of it. He was
especially encouraged by the fact that many came to him
from Sicily and from other places. Some came because of
his father's reputation, while others came because they
did not know where else to live. Hence, he took the
trappings of a general and prepared to capture Asia,
always keeping in mind the recent example of Labienus,
who had quickly overrun it. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
5. c. 14. (133) 4:597} {*Dio, l. 49. (17) 5:377}
5564. When Antony came into the country of his friends,
he heard what Pompeius had done, but promised to pardon
him and make him his friend, if he would lay down his
arms. Pompeius promised he would and wrote him back
accordingly. However, since he despised Antony for the
disastrous defeat he had received and the fact that he
had gone into Egypt so soon, Pompeius carried on his
plans anyway. {*Dio, l. 49. (18) 5:377} [K451] Not
wishing to burn his bridges, he sent messengers to
Antony and offered to be his friend and ally but the
real purpose was to spy on Antony. In the meantime, he
sent envoys to the governors of Thrace and Pontus,
thinking that if he failed to take Asia, he could flee
through Pontus into Armenia. He also sent envoys to the
Parthians in the hope that they would willingly use him
for their captain in the war against Antony, which had
not yet ended. Pompeius was a Roman and also the son of
Pompey the Great. He provided for ships and exercised
the mariners, pretending that he was afraid of Caesar
and that this preparation was for the service of Antony.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (133) 4:597}
5565. As soon as Antony heard what Pompeius was up to,
he continued on his journey but sent Marcus Titius, who
had formerly revolted from Sextus Pompeius to him, as
the general against him. He had received a fleet and
army from Syria for this purpose and was to use all his
power to resist Pompeius if he started any war. If
Pompeius would submit himself, he was to receive him
with all honour. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14.
(134) 4:599} {*Dio, l. 49. (18) 5:377}
5566. Pompeius' envoys, who had been sent to the
Parthians, were captured by Antony's captains and
brought to Alexandria. When Antony had learned all
these things from these envoys, he called the other
envoys, who had been sent to him, and brought them face
to face. They excused Pompeius as being a young man in
a desperate situation who had feared he would not be
accepted by Antony and had been forced to try the
goodwill even of countries that were the greatest
enemies of the Romans. Had he known Antony's mind,
there would have been no need of all the solicitations
and craft. Antony believed this, since he was not a
malicious man, but well-meaning and generous. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (136) 4:603} [E735]
5567. When Octavia was at Rome, she intended to sail to
Antony and Caesar agreed. The reason was not, as most
have written, out of any regard for Antony but to give
Caesar a legitimate excuse to make war against him if he
slighted or harmed her. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
53. s. 1. 9:257} She went to Athens and wintered
there. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (138)
4:607}
5568. At this time, the king of the Medes (Artarasdes)
went to war against Phraates, the king of the Parthians,
and Artabazes or Artavasdes, king of the Armenians.
Artarasdes was angry with the Armenians, because the
Romans had invaded him with their help. He was upset
with the Parthians because he had received neither any
substantial amounts of the Roman spoil, nor any honour
whatsoever. Artavasdes was also afraid that the
Parthians would take his kingdom away from him, so he
sent Polemon, the king of Pontus, as an envoy to Antony,
asking for his friendship and alliance. He wanted
Antony to come to him and promised him the help of all
his forces. Antony was pleased, for the only thing that
seemed to prevent the overthrowing of the Parthians was
his lack of cavalry and archers. He thought that he
would now benefit more from receiving them than the king
would in giving them to him. Consequently, Antony had
great expectations and once again set out to go through
Armenia. He called the king of the Medes to the Araxes
River and then started the war with Parthia.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 52. 9:255,257} {*Dio,
l. 49. (33) 5:409}
5569. Antony wrote to Octavia, who was now at Athens,
telling her to stay there and informing her of an
expedition that he was about to take. She took this
badly and thought it was just an excuse. However, she
wrote to him, wanting to know what he wanted her to do
with the things she had brought for him. [K452] She had
brought a great deal of apparel for the soldiers, many
cavalry, a large sum of money and presents for his
captains and friends. In addition, she had two thousand
men, all of them armed like the praetorian cohorts.
Niger, a friend of Antony, was sent by Octavia to tell
Antony this. He added the deserved commendations for
Octavia. Antony accepted both her own and others' gifts
and also the soldiers that she had begged from her
brother for this purpose. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 53. s. 1,2. 9:257} {*Dio, l. 49. (33) 5:409}
5570. Cleopatra was afraid that Octavia might draw
Antony from her and seemed to languish out of love for
him. She made her body so weak by her feminine tricks
that it appeared as though she could not live if she
were deprived of him. Antony, overcome by this,
abandoned his journey to the king of the Medes even
though he had received news that the Parthians were
embroiled in civil wars, and returned to Alexandria.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 53. s. 3-6.
9:257,259} From that time on, he gave himself over to
the love and wishes of Cleopatra. {*Dio, l. 49. (34)
5:409}
5571. Antony summoned Artavasdes, king of Armenia, into
Egypt as a friend. He hoped to get him into his power,
in order to be able to kill him more easily, but when
the king did not come, he suspected some deceit. He
then found other means to deceive him. Antony did not
publicly show his anger against him, so that he would
not provoke him to war. {*Dio, l. 49. (33) 5:409}
5572. Gaius Furnius, the governor of Asia (of whom we
read in Plutarch's Antony, and Jerome's Chronicle, that
he was a man of great authority and the most eloquent
among the Romans), entertained Pompeius, who came to him
at this time. Furnius was not strong enough to drive
him out, nor did he know what Antony wanted to do. When
he saw Pompeius' soldiers exercising, he also mustered
the forces who were in his province and sent for
Ahenobarbus, who commanded the army in the vicinity. He
also called for Amyntas to help him. When they came at
once, Pompeius complained that he was being considered
an enemy when he was merely expecting an answer from
Antony through the envoys he had sent to him. However,
Pompeius was planning to take Ahenobarbus through the
treachery of Curius, a close friend of his. He hoped to
hold the general hostage to exchange for himself in case
of need. The treason was discovered and Curius was put
to death after being condemned in the council chambers
of the Romans. Pompeius also killed Theodorus, a
freedman of his, who alone knew about this business, on
the assumption that he had been the one who had told his
secret. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (137)
4:603,605} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 58. s. 6.
9:271} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:241}
5573. Pompeius gave up hope that Furnius would receive
him and using treachery, seized Lampsacus, where many
Italians lived, who had been brought there as a colony
by Gaius Caesar. Pompeius paid the Italians large wages
to entice them to serve under him, so that he now had
two hundred cavalry and three legions. He attacked
Cyzicum by sea and land, but was repulsed on both
fronts, because there was a very large band of soldiers
to guard the walls, who had been brought there for
Antony. Pompeius returned to the harbour of the
Achaeans and planned to provide grain for his troops.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (137) 4:605}
5574. Furnius would not fight, but always stayed near
his camp with many cavalry. He would not allow Pompeius
to get any grain or seize any cities. Pompeius attacked
his camp in front and sent some around to attack from
the rear, so that when Furnius went out against him, he
had his camp at his back. [E736] Pompeius killed many
as they fled through the fields of Scamander. The
fields were very wet because a great deal of rain had
fallen. Those who escaped, retreated into a safe place,
but were unable to prepare for a new war. Pompeius
received men from Mysia, Propontis and other places.
[K453] These were poor men, who had been exhausted with
taxes, and served under Pompeius for money. He was now
famous for the victory he had won at the harbour of the
Achaeans. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (138)
4:605,607}
5575. Pompeius, who lacked cavalry and therefore could
not go very far to forage, heard that a squadron of
Italian cavalry had been sent to Antony from Octavia,
who was wintering in Athens, so he sent at once to bribe
them with gold. Antony's governor of Macedonia
apprehended them and divided the money among the
soldiers. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (138)
4:607}
5576. Pompeius captured Nicaea and Nicomedia, where he
gathered money in abundance because of his great and
unexpected successes. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c.
14. (139) 4:607}
5577. Furnius was camped near him. As soon as it was
spring, a fleet of seventy ships reached him from
Sicily. This was the remainder of the fleet that Antony
had lent to Caesar against Pompeius, and when the
Sicilian war had ended, Caesar had dismissed them.
Titius, too, came from Syria, with a hundred and twenty
ships and a large army. They all arrived at
Proconnesus. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14.
(139) 4:607}
5578. Pompeius, because he was not fully prepared, was
very afraid and selected the places which were most
convenient for his flight. When he was apprehended in
Nicomedia, he asked for peace through his envoys, hoping
that the favours he had previously done for Titius would
make him well disposed towards him. Titius absolutely
refused to grant any peace unless he agreed to surrender
all his ships and forces to him. {*Dio, l. 49. (18)
5:377,379}
5579. Consequently, giving up any hope of safety by
sea, Pompeius put all his heavy provisions into his
ships and set them on fire. He armed his sailors, who
would be of more use to him on land with the others.
{*Dio, l. 49. (18) 5:379} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5.
c. 14. (139) 4:607}
5580. Herod feared that his mother-in-law Alexandra
would seek opportunities to create new problems. He
ordered that she be kept within the palace and not be
permitted to do anything on her own authority. She was
guarded so strictly, that nothing she did was concealed
from him, not even what she did in her daily life. She
took this captivity very badly and sent letters to
Cleopatra, in which she complained of her harsh
treatment and sought her help. Therefore, Cleopatra
said that she should flee with her son to her in Egypt.
Alexandra had two coffins made to accommodate her and
her son similar to those which are used when men die.
She ordered the servants who were aware of the plot to
carry them out by night and take them to a ship which
had been prepared to carry them into Egypt. Aesop, a
servant, told Sabbion, a friend of Alexander's, about
this, because he thought that he was already aware of
all this before. Because Sabbion had been considered an
enemy of Herod's, ever since he had been suspected of
having been in on the plot to poison Antipater, he took
this opportunity to be restored to the king's favour by
revealing this matter. Herod played along in the scheme
until it was being executed, then surprised her during
her flight and brought her back. He pardoned her,
however, not daring to punish her for fear that
Cleopatra would not be easily satisfied but would seek
any reason for hatred against him. Therefore, under the
pretence of a magnanimous spirit, he made a show of
pardoning her solely out of clemency. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 2. (42-49) 8:21-25}
5581. Cassius of Parma, Nasidius, Saturninus, Thermus,
Antistius and other honourable friends of Sextus
Pompeius, as well as his dear friend, Fannius, and his
father-in-law, Libo, could not persuade Pompeius to
abandon the war against someone more powerful than
himself, especially when Titius arrived, whom Antony had
sent. [K454] They began to despair and defected to
Antony. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (139)
4:607,609}
5582. After Pompeius had been forsaken by his friends,
he departed into the midland country of Bithynia,
intending (as was reported) to go into Armenia. He
stole away secretly from the camp by night. Furnius,
Titius and Amyntas pursued him and by marching
excessively fast, overtook him around evening. Both
parties camped around a hill, but with neither a ditch
nor a trench, because it was late at night and they were
weary. While they were in this condition, Pompeius sent
three hundred light troops by night, who attacked them
as they were in their beds or running out from their
lodgings. In most cowardly fashion, they all fled
naked. If Pompeius had attacked them with all his
forces, or pursued them as they were fleeing, he might
have had an absolute victory, but since he did not do
this, he gained nothing whatsoever by all this. He
continued on his way to the midland country. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (140) 4:609} [E737]
5583. His enemies joined together and kept him from
foraging, so that he was very short of food. He was
forced to demand a parlay with Furnius, who had in
earlier times been a friend of Pompey the Great and who
was a man of exceptional honour and gravity. Therefore,
standing on the bank of a river that ran between them,
Pompeius told him that he would place himself under his
protection on the condition that he be brought to
Antony. Furnius answered that this was not a matter for
him but for Titius to decide. Pompeius suspected
Titius' trust-worthiness and again offered to surrender,
pleading that he be accepted. When he did not get what
he wanted, he asked to be received by Amyntas. Furnius
told him that Amyntas would do nothing to offend the
person Antony had entrusted with his business. So the
parlay broke off. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14.
(140-142) 4:609,613}
5584. Furnius' soldiers thought that, because of a very
serious shortage of food, Pompeius would surrender to
Titius the next day. As was the custom in camps,
Pompeius made many fires in the night and used
trumpeters to distinguish the watches of the night, but
he secretly withdrew with his army, without taking any
baggage or so much as telling them where they were
going. It was his intention to return to the sea and
burn Titius' fleet. He might have been able to do this,
if Scaurus had not run away from him and told of his
departure and of the way he was going, although he did
not know what Pompeius intended to do. Then Amyntas
pursued him with fifteen hundred cavalry, while Sextus
had none. As soon as he overtook him, Pompeius'
soldiers went over to him, some secretly and some
openly. Pompeius, now almost forsaken and afraid of his
own soldiers, surrendered himself without any
conditions, when he had earlier refused the conditions
of Titius. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (143)
4:613}
5585. Dio wrote that Pompeius was taken by surprise,
surrounded and captured by Titius and Furnius at
Midaeum, which was a town of Phrygia. {*Dio, l. 49.
(18) 5:379} Appian said that his army was forced by
Titius to take a solemn oath to Antony. {*Appian, Civil
Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (144) 4:615}
5586. When Antony heard what had happened, he at once
sent letters ordering that Pompeius be executed. A
little later, he changed his mind and ordered that he be
spared but the carrier of the last letters arrived
before the one that was bringing the first. Titius only
later received the letters dealing with his death, so
that he either supposed they had actually been written
last, or else he was aware of the truth, but would not
believe it. He followed the orders of the letters as
they were delivered and not as Antony had intended.
{*Dio, l. 49. (18) 5:379} [K455]
5587. There were some who reported that it was not
Antony who ordered the death of Pompeius, but Plancus.
He was the governor of Syria and was accustomed to
signing for Antony in letters of importance, as well as
using Antony's seal with his knowledge. (Yet Antony
himself would not write, either because of the
reputation of Pompeius, or because Cleopatra supported
him because of the memory of his father, Pompey the
Great.) In the event that Antony did not know, then
Plancus may have done it himself, either because he was
afraid that Pompeius could be an instigator of
dissension between Caesar and Antony, or in case
Cleopatra should favour Pompeius over himself.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (144) 4:615}
5588. Sextus Pompeius was executed at Miletus.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (144) 4:615}
{*Strabo, l. 3. c. 3. s. 2. 2:23} This happened
when Lucius Cornificius and another Sextus Pompeius were
consuls. {*Dio, l. 49. (18) 5:379} Livy wrote this
note about him: {*Livy, l. 131. 14:161}
"When Sextus Pompeius had surrendered to Antony while
still making war against him in Asia, he was conquered
by Antony's lieutenants."
5589. We read in Orosius: {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
"Pompeius fled, after being defeated numerous times on
sea and land. He was captured and a little later put to
death."
5590. Velleius Paterculus wrote with reference to
Antony: {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 87. s. 2,3.
1:233,235}
"When Antony promised that he would preserve the dignity
of Sextus Pompeius, he then killed him."
5591. He wrote in more detail: {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 79. s. 5,6. 1:219}
"Pompeius fled into Asia and was killed on the order of
Antony, whose help he implored. Pompeius had been
undecided whether to be a general or a petitioner and
now, endeavouring to retain his dignity, he begged for
his life. Antony had Pompeius' throat cut by Titius.
Due to this act, Titius was unpopular for a long time.
When he was celebrating the games in Pompey's theatre,
he was driven out of it by the curses of the people
taking part in the games he was holding."
5592. Caesar Octavius held games in the Circus because
of the death of Sextus Pompeius. He set up a chariot
before the rostrum in Antony's honour and set up statues
in the temple of Concord. He gave Antony permission to
banquet there with his wife and children, as had
previously been decreed to Octavius. For as yet he
pretended to be his friend and comforted Antony over the
Parthian expedition. In this way, Octavius tried to
cure Antony's jealousy over Octavius' victory in Sicily
and the honours decreed to him for it. {*Dio, l. 49.
(18) 5:387,389}
3970a AM, 4679 JP, 35 BC
5593. At the feast of tabernacles, the new high priest,
Aristobulus, who had just turned seventeen, offered the
sacrifice according to the law. Clothed in the priestly
attire, he approached the altar and performed the
ceremony with propriety. He was quite handsome and
taller than usual for someone his age. His features
displayed the honour of his lineage and he won the
affection of all the multitude. Everyone recalled the
worthy and memorable actions of his grandfather
Aristobulus. [E738] They were overcome with affection
for him and were so overjoyed, that they could not
contain themselves. They prayed publicly for him and
wished him much joy. They publicly proclaimed the
memory of that family and the thanks they owed it for
all their benefits, doing this more freely than was
fitting while under a king like Herod. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 3. (50-52) 8:25,27}
5594. As soon as the feast was over, he was entertained
at a banquet by his mother Alexandra. King Herod
courteously enticed the young man into a convenient
place and pretended to jest with him in the style of
young men. Because that place was too hot and they were
quickly weary, they left their games and went to the
swimming pools that were near the court, to take in the
fresh air at noon. At first, they watched some of their
friends and servants as they were swimming. At length,
the young man, at Herod's insistence, also went in to
join them. Toward evening, those who had been given
this charge, dunked him as he was swimming, as if in
sport and jest. They held him underwater and did not
stop until he drowned. [K456] This was the end of
Aristobulus, in the eighteenth year of his life and the
first year of his high priesthood. The high priesthood
immediately reverted back to Ananel. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 3. (53-56) 8:29}
5595. When this accident was reported to the women,
they were all in an uproar and did nothing but weep and
wail over the dead body of the young man. Sorrow seized
the whole city as soon as the rumour had spread abroad.
Every house bewailed the calamity, as if it had been
their own. Herod attempted by every means to make
people believe that this accident had happened without
his knowledge. He pretended to be sorrowful and
tearful. In order to give the women more comfort, he
buried the body with a most magnificent funeral. He was
extremely generous in adorning his monument and in
providing perfumes and other precious things.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 4. (57-61)
8:29,31}
5596. Aristobulus' mother Alexandra, although often
ready to commit suicide because she was aware of all
that had happened, nonetheless repressed her passion.
She behaved as though she were not suspicious, as though
she thought that her son had not been deliberately
killed, until some opportunity for revenge might offer
itself. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 5.
(62) 8:31}
3970b AM, 4680 JP, 34 BC
5597. Antony sought some way in which he could more
easily be revenged on Artavasdes, the king of Armenia.
He sent Quintus Dellius to him to ask for a marriage
between his daughter and Antony's son Alexander, whom he
had by Cleopatra, also adding many promises. Finally,
at the beginning of spring, he suddenly came to
Nicopolis, a city in Lesser Armenia that had been built
by Pompey. From there he sent for Artavasdes to come,
as if wanting to make use of both his advice and help in
the Parthian war but Artavasdes suspected treachery and
did not come. {*Dio, l. 49. (39) 5:421}
5598. Alexandra was enraged with grief and a desire for
revenge. She told Cleopatra in letters about the
treachery of Herod and of the lamentable death of her
son. Cleopatra, who had for a long time wished to help
her and now pitied the woman's misfortune, took
particular care of this matter herself. She never
stopped nagging Antony to revenge the young man's death.
She told him it was an unpardonable act that Herod, who,
thanks to Antony's help, enjoyed a kingdom that
rightfully belonged to another and had behaved with such
insolent rage against the lawful family of the kings.
Antony was persuaded by these words and after he had
come into Laodicea in Syria, he sent for Herod to appear
before him to answer to the crime against him over the
death of Aristobulus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
3. s. 5. (63,64) 8:33}
5599. Herod committed the care of the kingdom to his
uncle Joseph, and secretly ordered him to execute his
wife Mariamme if Antony should do him any harm. He told
Joseph that he loved her so much, that he would consider
it a wrong done to himself, if anyone else were to enjoy
her beauty, even after his death. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 15. c. 3. s. 5. (65-67) 8:33,35}
5600. Herod went to Antony and appeased him with the
presents he had brought from Jerusalem for this purpose.
He appeased Antony's anger through many conferences he
had with him, after which Cleopatra's charges carried
less weight with him. Antony maintained that it was not
appropriate for a king to give an account of his
actions, otherwise he would cease to be a king. Once he
had been given the honour of being a king, he should
have the free power to do as he wished. He also said
that Cleopatra should not meddle too much with other
men's governments. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 3.
s. 8. (74-76) 8:37} [K457]
5601. While Joseph was governing the kingdom that had
been committed to him, he talked at various times with
Mariamme. Sometimes it was about business and partly to
honour her. He often mentioned how much Herod loved
her, which made the other ladies laugh, especially
Alexandra. He was trying so hard to vindicate the
king's love to them, that he told them about the secret
command the king had given him. [E739] He thought that
this was the best argument in support of Herod's love,
because he could neither endure to live without her nor
be parted from her in death. The ladies did not
interpret it as an indubitable sign of Herod's love, but
abhorred the tyrannical mind of one who, even though he
were dead, would still seek to take their life.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 6. (68-70)
8:35}
5602. In the interim, a rumour spread in the city that
the king had been put to death by Antony. This
disturbed all the court, especially the ladies.
Alexandra also persuaded Joseph to take them with him
and to flee to the ensigns of the Roman legions who were
around the city. Joseph should seek the protection of
the tribune Julius, so that they would be safe and the
Romans would be well disposed towards them, if
initially, there might be any troubles around the court.
Moreover, it was hoped that Mariamme would be able to
obtain anything she wanted, if only she could get to see
Antony and might even recover the kingdom and whatever
belonged to the royal family. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 3. s. 7. (71-73) 8:35,37}
5603. As they were holding this meeting, Herod's
letters arrived, which quashed the rumour. He wrote
about the honours Antony had shown him, in public
assemblies and by inviting him to feasts. He said that
Antony was doing this in spite of the accusations of
Cleopatra, who was keen to have that country and fought
with every means she had to destroy him, so that she
could usurp his kingdom. However, since Antony had
shown that he was just, no great danger was to be
expected. He would return shortly, once he had his
kingdom and alliance confirmed by Antony. Now the
covetousness of Cleopatra no longer had any hope, since
Antony had granted her Coelosyria, instead of what she
had demanded. It had been given on the condition that
she would never again demand Judah or mention this
matter to him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s.
8. (77-79) 8:39}
5604. The moment these letters were received, the
reason for fleeing to the Romans vanished but the
resolution to do so was not kept concealed. As soon as
Herod had brought Antony a part of the way as a
precaution against the Parthians (for so he pretended),
he returned into Judea. At once his sister Salome and
his mother Cypros told him what Alexandra and her
friends had intended to do. Not content with this,
Salome accused her husband Joseph of having been too
familiar with Mariamme. She was motivated to do this by
an old grudge because the queen was a woman of a proud
spirit and among other women's chatter, had upbraided
Salome's family for their lowly birth. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 9. (80,81) 8:39,41}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14. c. 7. s. 3. (121)
7:511}
5605. Mariamme had sworn to Herod on an oath, attesting
to her chastity, and Herod had told her again how much
he loved her. She denied that it was wrong for a lover
to order that if he should die, his wife should also be
put to death. Herod thought this secret could never
have been known unless she had committed adultery with
Joseph. He wanted to kill her for this but he was
overcome with love and barely restrained himself from
doing it. He ordered Joseph to be put to death,
however, without so much as allowing him to come into
his presence, and also put Alexandra into prison, since
she was the cause of all these evils. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 3. s. 9. (82-87) 8:41,43} [K458]
5606. In the meanwhile, the affairs of Syria were
unsettled. Cleopatra never failed to prejudice Antony
against everyone and persuaded him to take the
government of every other ruler from him and to give it
to her. She wanted Judea and Arabia to be taken from
the two kings, Herod and Malchus, and given to her, and
so she plotted their destruction. Antony, however,
thought it was unjust to put two such great kings to
death as a favour to an importunate woman. In spite of
this, he no longer considered them his friends and took
part of their country from them which he gave to
Cleopatra. Besides this, he gave her all the cities
which were between the Eleutherus River and Egypt,
except for Tyre and Sidon. He knew that these two
cities had always been free, although she tried to get
them also, with her earnest entreaties. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 4,5. (359-362) 2:169}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 8. s. 4.
(300-302) 4:391,393} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4.
s. 1. (88-95) 8:43-47}
5607. In this way Cleopatra, through the generosity of
Antony, enjoyed a large part of Cilicia, the country of
Judea where the balsam grows, Arabia, Nabatea, which was
Malchus' country (that is, all the part bordering the
sea), Iturea, Phoenicia, Coelosyria, Cyprus and a part
of Crete. With his generous gifts, Antony greatly
offended the people of Rome, who were upset by the
immorality of Cleopatra, from whom he had earlier had
twins, Alexandra and Cleopatra. He named one the Sun,
and the other the Moon. She also had a son Ptolemy,
whom she named Philadelphus. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 36. s. 2,3. 9:217,219} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 36. c. 54. s. 3-6. 9:261,263} {*Dio, l. 49.
(41) 5:425} {*Livy, l. 132. 14:163} Cleopatra was said
to have understood many languages, so that she did not
need an interpreter, but could speak any of the
following: Ethiopian, Troglodyte, Hebrew, Arabian,
Syrian, Median and Parthian. Her predecessors, the
kings of Egypt, had scarcely understood the Egyptian
languages, and some of them had also forgotten the
Macedonian language. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
27. s. 3,4. 9:197} [E740]
5608. Cleopatra accompanied Antony, who was going with
his army into Armenia, as far as the Euphrates River,
before she returned. On the way back she visited Apamea
and Damascus, and then came into Judea. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 4. s. 2. (96) 8:47}
5609. In the third summer after Lepidus had been
removed from office in Sicily by Caesar Octavius, Antony
had undertaken his expedition into Armenia. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 82. s. 3. 1:223} After the
death of Sextus Pompeius, he again sent Quintus Dellius
to the king of Armenia to confer with him, while he
quickly went to Artaxata. {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 5.
c. 14. (145) 4:617} {*Dio, l. 49. (39) 5:421}
5610. In Judea, Cleopatra was entertained by Herod, who
assured her of that part of Arabia that had been granted
to her by Antony, while the revenues of Jericho were
also hers. This country grew balsam, which was the most
precious of all ointments and only grew there. There
was also a large supply of dates. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 15. c. 4. s. 2. (96) 8:47} The balsam was only
grown in the land of Judea and only in two gardens, both
of which belonged to the king. One was twenty iugera
(about thirteen acres) in size and the other was
smaller. {*Pliny, l. 12. c. 54. 4:79}
5611. Through this, Herod became good friends with
Cleopatra. She tried to entice him with her wiles,
either due to the intemperance of her lust, or else
because she was seeking an opportunity for her treachery
through this, too. She only pretended love and Herod
refused her. He had a meeting with his friends about
killing her but they restrained him from this attempt.
[K459] He appeased Cleopatra with generous presents and
paid her every kind of polite attention and then
accompanied her as far as Pelusium. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 5. (362,363) 2:171}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4. s. 2. (97-103)
8:47-51} Because he was afraid of her and also of the
Jewish people, he turned the citadel of Masada into a
refuge for himself and stored sufficient arms there for
ten thousand men. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c.
8. s. 4. (300-302) 4:391,393}
5612. In Armenia, Antony prevailed upon King Artavasdes
to come to him, through his friends' persuasion. Antony
also frightened him with the size of his forces. The
king was deceived by his many promises, since Antony, in
his letters and deeds, always behaved like his friend.
He came into Antony's camp on his assurance and was
apprehended. {*Dio, l. 49. (39) 5:421} {*Livy, l.
131. 14:161} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 14. s. 15.
5:339,341} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 82. s.
3,4. 1:225} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 50. s. 4.
9:255} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5613. As soon as Antony had captured him, he took him
around to the citadels where his treasure was stored.
He did not put him in fetters because he hoped to get
the treasure without any fighting. He pretended that he
had only taken him captive to get his money from the
Armenians, in return for their freedom and his kingdom.
This was all in vain because the men who kept the
treasure would not obey the king. {*Dio, l. 49. (39)
5:421,423}
5614. Those Armenians who bore arms, made his oldest
son Artaxes, or Artaxias, king instead of Artavasdes, or
Artabazes, who had been taken prisoner. {*Dio, l. 49.
(39) 5:421} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4. s. 3.
(104,105) 8:51} Antony bound Artavasdes with silver
chains, as if it were a lowly thing for a king to be
restrained with iron fetters. {*Dio, l. 49. (40)
5:423} By these chains, he compelled him to confess
where the royal treasure was. When he had captured the
town where the king told him the treasure was stored, he
took a large amount of gold and silver from there.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5615. After all this, Antony subdued all of Armenia,
either by force or through voluntary surrender. {*Dio,
l. 49. (40) 5:423} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4.
s. 3. (104) 8:51} When Artaxes engaged him in a
battle, Artaxes was defeated and fled to the Parthians.
{*Dio, l. 49. (40) 5:423} Antony led Artavasdes bound
into Egypt, together with his sons, who were princes, as
a present for Cleopatra, along with whatever had been
valuable in their kingdom. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 18. s. 5. (363) 2:171} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 4. s. 3. (104) 8:51}
5616. At Rome, on the Ides of September (September 13),
Gaius Sossius, the proconsul, triumphed for Judea.
(Latin copy by Ussher stated the 3rd of the Nones, or
September 3. Editor.) This appeared in the marble
triumphal records. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 297.}
3971a AM, 4680 JP, 34 BC
5617. Antony, to create a firmer tie of friendship,
obtained the daughter of Artarasdes, the king of Media,
for a marriage with his son. He left his army in
Armenia and returned into Egypt with his enormous
plunder. When he entered Alexandria in a chariot, among
other captives, he led Artavasdes or Artabazes, the king
of Armenia, before him, with his wife and children.
{*Dio, l. 49. (40) 5:423} The Romans were unhappy
about this because it seemed that the best possessions
of their country had to be shared with the Egyptians, as
a favour to Cleopatra. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
54. s. 2,3. 9:261}
5618. Antony presented Artavasdes and his family in
chains of gold before Cleopatra, at an assembly of the
people. She was on a silver-plated platform and sat in
a chair of gold. The barbarians did not show her any
respect or fall to their knees (although they were often
ordered to do so, with threats and promises). [K460]
They only called her by her own name, for which they
were considered to be high-spirited and so suffered all
the more. {*Dio, l. 49. (40) 5:423,425}
5619. Antony feasted the Alexandrians and assembled the
people in the arena where the young men exercised
themselves. On the high silver platform he placed two
golden chairs, one for himself and another for
Cleopatra, and smaller chairs for his children. [E741]
He then made a speech to the people and decreed that
Cleopatra should be called Queen of Kings, and her son
and partner in the kingdom, namely Ptolemy Caesarion,
King of Kings. He gave them Egypt and Cyprus, in a
different division from the one he had previously made.
He also told them that Cleopatra was the wife of Caesar,
the dictator, and that Caesarion was his lawful son. He
pretended that he spoke this in love for Caesar, so that
he might cause Octavius to be hated because Octavius was
not Caesar's son, but only an adopted son. Antony
allocated lands to the children he had by Cleopatra. He
gave Cyrene in Libya to their daughter, Cleopatra. He
gave Armenia to her brother, Alexander, and also
promised him Media and Parthia and all the countries
that lie beyond the Euphrates River as far as India,
after he had conquered them. Also, to Ptolemy (surnamed
Philadelphus) he gave Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and all
the countries on this side of the Euphrates River, to
the Hellespont. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 54. s.
3-6. 9:261,263} {*Dio, l. 49. (41) 5:425}
5620. Antony also brought out his sons: Alexander
wearing Median clothing which included a tiara and an
upright head-dress. Ptolemy came in boots, short cloak,
and a broad-brimmed hat surmounted by a diadem. These
were the clothes of Alexander the Great's successors and
of the Medes and Armenians respectively. As soon as the
lads had greeted their parents, the Macedonians were to
guard the one and the Armenians the other. Whenever
Cleopatra appeared in public, she wore the clothes of
the goddess Isis and so spoke to all her subjects in the
name of the New Isis. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
54. s. 3-6. 9:263} She also ordered that she should
be called Isis, or Selene, and Antony, the New Osiris
and Father Bacchus (Liber), or Dionysus, since he was
crowned with ivy and wore buskins. He was carried about
at Alexandria in a chariot, like Father Liber.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 82. s. 4. 1:225}
{*Dio, l. 50. (5) 5:445}
3971b AM, 4681 JP, 33 BC
5621. Antony went as far as the Araxes River, as though
intending to make war on the Parthians. He thought he
had accomplished enough by making an alliance with
Artarasdes, the king of the Medes. Antony and the Mede
promised each other mutual assistance, the one against
the Parthians and the other against Caesar. To seal the
pact, they exchanged some soldiers. Antony also gave
the Mede the part of Armenia that he had recently
seized. In return, Antony received the king's daughter,
Iotape, who was very young, to be the future wife for
his son Alexander (born of Cleopatra), to whom he had
given the kingdom of Armenia. The Mede also gave him
the ensigns that had been taken from Statianus. {*Dio,
l. 49. (44) 5:431,433} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
52.'9:255,257} {*Livy, l. 131. 14:161}
5622. After peace had been made with the Medes, Antony
gave Lesser Armenia to Polemon. He also gave the
consulship to Lucius Flavius (or Cluvius), who was with
him, and took him along with him. {*Dio, l. 49. (44)
5:431,433}
5623. Caesar Octavius frequently accused Antony in the
Senate and before the people and incensed the people
against him. Antony also sent recriminations against
Octavius. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 55. s. 1.
9:263} [K461] Among other things, Caesar complained that
Antony held Egypt which had not been assigned to him.
He had killed Sextus Pompeius, whom he (as he said) had
willingly spared. He had treacherously captured and
imprisoned Artavasdes and had brought great infamy upon
the people of Rome by this deed. Caesar also demanded
some of the spoils. Above all, Caesar upbraided him for
his conduct with Cleopatra for having had children with
her and for having given her all those countries. He
was especially upset because Antony had brought
Caesarion, the son of Cleopatra, into the family of
Caesar. {*Dio, l. 50. (1) 5:437} Antony affirmed to
the Senate that Caesarion had been acknowledged by
Julius Caesar as his son, and that Gaius Matius, Gaius
Oppius, and the other friends of Julius Caesar were
aware of this. Gaius Oppius, as though the matter
needed defending, wrote a book to say that Caesarion was
not, as Cleopatra maintained, Caesar's son.
{*Suetonius, Julius, l. 1. c. 52. s. 2. 1:101}
5624. When Antony was in Armenia, he ordered Canidius
to go to the coast with sixteen legions, while he took
Cleopatra with him and went to Ephesus, where all his
fleets were to meet. There were eight hundred ships, of
which Cleopatra had promised two hundred ships, twenty
thousand talents and provisions for all the army during
the war. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 56. s. 1,2.
9:265}
5625. Antony, on the advice of Domitius and some
others, ordered Cleopatra to return to Egypt and there
to await the result of the war. But fearing that Antony
and Octavia might be reconciled, she persuaded Canidius
with large bribes to speak to Antony for her. He was to
say that it was not fair that she should be sent back
when she had brought so much for the war effort. It
would not be good for the Egyptians, who made up a large
part of the naval forces, to be discouraged. Antony was
convinced and they assembled their forces and sailed to
Samos where they gave themselves over to pleasure. Just
as the order was given that all kings, governors,
tetrarchs, countries and cities located between Syria,
Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), Armenia and Illyria were to
help in the war, so it was ordered that all the dramatic
artists meet at Samos. [E742] Whereas almost all the
world was filled with weeping and wailing, this one
island alone resounded with piping and singing for many
days. The entire theatre was full of these common
players. Every city sent contributions over for
sacrifices and the kings vied among themselves as to who
would put on the greatest feast and give the greatest
presents, so that it was commonly said: {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 56. s. 2-5. 9:265,267}
"What will they do when they are conquerors in a
triumph, when the very preparation for the war is made
with such sumptuousness?"
5626. Antony sailed from there to Athens and gave
himself wholly over to seeing plays and shows.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 57. s. 1. 9:267} He
carried a golden sceptre, had a Persian scimitar by his
side and wore a purple robe studded with precious gems.
Only a crown was lacking to make him a king dallying
with a queen. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 3,4.
1:325}
5627. The king of Media used the help of the Roman
forces that Antony had left with him to defeat the
Parthians and Artaxes (or Artaxias, the Armenian), who
came against him. {*Dio, l. 49. (44) 5:433}
3972a AM, 4681 JP, 33 BC
5628. Herod duly paid the tributes of the countries of
Judea and Arabia, which Cleopatra had received from
Antony, because he did not think it safe to give her any
reason for ill-will against him. Herod had undertaken
to collect the tribute from Arabia and for some time,
had paid two hundred talents annually. [K462] Later he
was slow and remiss, scarcely paying her half, and that
very negligently. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4.
s. 4. (106,107) 8:51}
5629. Caesar and Antony accused each other while each
defended himself. This was sometimes done by private
letters sent between them. (Among these, the ones that
Antony sent to Caesar were the more petulant. Suetonius
said that he began to live with Queen Cleopatra, whom he
affirmed to have been his wife for nine years.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 69. 1:253,255})
Other letters were sent openly. Caesar pleaded his case
publicly and Antony through his letters. On these
occasions, they often sent envoys to one another to
demonstrate more fully that their cause was just and to
spy on the affairs of the adversary. In the meantime,
they got money together, as if for some other purpose,
and prepared for war as though it were to be against
other enemies. {*Dio, l. 50. (1,2) 5:437,439}
3972b AM, 4682 JP, 32 BC
5630. The new consul at Rome, Gaius Sossius (who had
triumphed for Judea), made a long speech in the Senate
on the Calends of January (January 1), praising Antony
and criticising Caesar. Gnaeus Domitius, his colleague,
because he had previously endured many calamities, did
not get involved. Sossius was ready to make an edict
against Caesar, who would have resolutely left the city,
had not Nonius Balbus, the tribune of the people,
opposed it. {*Dio, l. 50. (3) 5:439}
5631. Antony wrote to Rome to confirm the allocation of
countries that he had made at Alexandria between
Cleopatra and her children. In spite of this, these
letters were not read publicly. The consuls, Domitius
and Sossius, who favoured Antony, forbade it. Caesar
wanted everything to be made public, but since their
opinion prevailed, Caesar had the Senate agree that none
of the letters would be read that had been written about
Artavasdes, with whom Caesar had privately consulted
against Antony. Caesar also begrudged Antony a triumph.
{*Dio, l. 49. (41) 5:425,427}
5632. The Senate convened and Caesar sat between the
consuls in the curule chair, surrounded by his friends
and soldiers carrying concealed weapons. When at length
he defended himself, accusing Sossius and Antony, and
saw that no one else, not even the consuls themselves,
dared say a word, he ordered them to meet again on a
certain day, when he would show them the wrongs of
Antony in writing. The consuls did not dare to oppose
him but neither were they able to hold their peace.
They left the city privately before that day arrived and
went to Antony and many of the senators followed them.
When Caesar heard of this, he said that anyone on his
side was also free to go in safety to Antony, so that he
would not appear to have been deserted by them, because
of some wrong he had done them. {*Dio, l. 50. (3)
5:439,441} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s.
2. 1:173}
5633. After the consuls left, Caesar convened the
Senate and did and said what he pleased. When Antony
heard this, he called a council of his friends and after
many arguments on both sides, he declared war. {*Dio,
l. 50. (3) 5:441} He divorced his wife Octavia, the
sister of Caesar. {*Dio, l. 50. (3) 5:441} {*Livy, l.
132. 14:163} {Eutropius, l. 7.} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
19.} [K463]
5634. Later, Antony sent some men to Rome, to put
Octavia out of his house. She left, taking with her all
the children Antony had previously by Fulvia, except the
oldest, who lived with his father. She wept and was
most distressed because it seemed that she was one of
the causes of the civil war. [E743] The people of Rome
pitied Antony even more than her, and those all the more
who had seen Cleopatra, because she was not superior to
Octavia in beauty or youth. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 57. s. 2-3. 9:267,269}
5635. When Caesar heard of Antony's rapid and extensive
preparations, he was very astonished and feared he would
be forced to fight that summer. Caesar was very short
of funds and vexed the people of Italy with his
extractions of money. Antony's most serious mistake was
that he delayed the battle, as this gave Caesar time to
prepare and to settle the uproar over his extractions.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 58. s. 1. 9:269}
5636. After King Herod had settled the troubles of
Judea and had taken Hyrcanium (a town which the sister
of Antigonus had retained), the war started at Actium in
the 187th Olympiad, which was this summer. Herod made
great preparations to help Antony but Antony relieved
him of this obligation by saying he did not require
help. When Antony heard from Cleopatra and others of
the wrongdoings of the Arabians, who refused to pay the
tribute Antony had imposed, he ordered Herod to make war
on them. Cleopatra also persuaded Antony that it would
be to her advantage. She hoped that if Herod were to
defeat the Arabians, she would be the mistress of
Arabia, and conversely, if the Arabians defeated Herod,
she would be the mistress of Judea. As a result, Herod
returned home on Antony's orders and kept his army
there. He soon invaded Arabia, with a good army of foot
soldiers and cavalry. He went to Diospolis, where the
Arabians met him, and after a fierce battle, the Jews
won. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 19. s. 1,2.
(364-366) 2:171} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 5. s.
1. (108-111) 8:53,55}
5637. Titius and Plancus, who had previously been
consuls, were Antony's best friends. They knew all of
Antony's plans and Cleopatra secretly hated them because
they were strongly against her presence in this war.
They fled to Caesar, who readily entertained them and
got to know all Antony's actions and counsels from them,
as well as the contents of his will and its location, as
they had been witnesses to it and knew its contents.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 58. s. 2,3. 9:269}
{*Dio, l. 50. (3) 5:441} Velleius described the
actions of Plancus (who had formerly been secretary to
Antony and later Antony had made him proconsul of Asia
and then of Syria), as well as his and Titius' flight.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 83. s. 1-4. 1:225}
5638. Antony's will had been deposited with the vestal
virgins, who refused to turn it over to Caesar, but said
they would not stop him if he were to come and take it;
so he did just that. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
58. s. 3. 9:269} At first he read it privately and
noted some places which were objectionable. Later, he
read it publicly in the Senate and then to the people.
Many were offended that a man should give an account of
things to be done after his death, while he was still
alive. Even though it was considered very unjust to do
this, the things contained in the will were of such a
nature as to remove all envy from Caesar for his
actions. Antony's will stated that Caesarion was indeed
the true son of Caesar, the dictator. [K464] He
numbered the children he had by Cleopatra among his
heirs and bestowed large gifts on them. Concerning his
funeral, it said that even if he should die at Rome, he
was to be carried through the forum and sent to
Alexandria to Cleopatra. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
58. s. 3,4. 9:269,271} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 17. s. 1,2. 1:173} {*Dio, l. 50. (3) 5:441,443}
5639. These things so enraged everyone against Antony,
that they believed everything that was said about him to
be true. They believed that Antony would give Rome
itself to Cleopatra and move the empire to Egypt, if he
were to get the power into his hands. Besides, everyone
was so angry with him, that not only his enemies, but
also his friends, severely blamed him. They were
astonished at the reading of the will and came to the
same conclusion about Antony as Caesar did. {*Dio, l.
50. (4) 5:443}
5640. The recent runaway, Plancus, said many horrible
things against Antony in the Senate. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 83. s. 3. 1:227} Calvius, or
Clavisius, a friend of Caesar's, upbraided Antony's
actions, done as favours to Cleopatra, but most of his
charges were believed to be false. Antony's friends,
however, acted as intercessors to the people for him.
They sent Geminius into Greece to Antony, to implore him
not to allow himself to be voted out of office and
declared an enemy of the state. During supper,
Geminius, when provoked by Cleopatra, told her that
everything would go well if she returned to Egypt but
then he feared the queen's anger and was forced to flee
to Rome as fast as he could. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 59. s. 1-3. 9:271,273}
5641. As soon as Caesar was sufficiently prepared, he
proclaimed open war against Cleopatra, but not against
Antony. [E744] The consulship (for Antony had been
appointed consul for the next year) was also taken from
him, as well as all his other power, which he had handed
over to the pleasure of a woman. It is also said that
Cleopatra had so besotted Antony with her charms, that
he was not his own man. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
60. s. 1. 9:273,275} {*Dio, l. 50. (4) 5:443,445}
She had so enthralled him that she made him the overseer
of the exercises of the Alexandrians, while he called
her queen and lady. She had Roman soldiers in her guard
and all of them had Cleopatra's name written on their
shields. She also went into the forum with Antony and
helped him put on plays. She sat with him in judgment
and she rode on horseback with him. In the cities, she
rode around in a chariot, while Antony followed her on
foot with the eunuchs. In short, she was so bold as to
entertain hope of gaining the government over the
Romans. She always swore by a great oath, as she hoped
to make laws in the Capitol. {*Dio, l. 50. (5)
5:445,447} Her womanish desire, as well, caused her to
want to reign in Rome. {Eutropius, l. 7.} Horace wrote
about this: {*Horace, Odes, l. 1. c. 37. (6-12)
1:99}
This Queen did to
The Capitol provide,
And Empire, ruin,
Joining to her side
The dregs of the World,
being above hope now,
Ravished with madam fortune's
pleasing brow.
5642. Ovid stated: {*Ovid, Metamorphoses, l. 15.
(826-829) 4:423} [K465]
…The Egyptian spouse shall fall,
Ill trusting to her Roman General,
To make our stately Capitol obey
Of proud Canopus shall in vain assay.
5643. If Antony had been declared an enemy, those who
were with him would also have been considered enemies,
with the exception of those who had defected from him.
To avoid this happening (for the power of his friends
was to be feared), he was not verbally declared an
enemy, though he was in fact an enemy. Impunity and
commendations were propounded to those who were prepared
to forsake Antony, but war was publicly proclaimed
against Cleopatra, who, they knew, would never forsake
him. The charge against him was that he had freely
chosen to undertake a war against his own country, which
had never offended him. He had done this for the sake
of an Egyptian woman. As if there had now been an
actual war, the Romans took their soldiers' coats and
went to the temple of Bellona. There Caesar, as though
he were a herald at their request, carried out all the
things according to the tradition of the Romans before a
war was begun. {*Dio, l. 50. (5,6) 5:443-447} Caesar
added, moreover, that those in charge of the war against
the Romans were Mardon, the eunuch, and Pothinus, and
Iras, who trimmed Cleopatra's hair, and Charmion, who
managed the highest affairs of the government. (Galen
stated that Nairas and Carmio were Cleopatra's maids.
{Galen, De Theriaca ad Posonem}) {*Plutarch, Antony, l.
1. c. 60. 9:273,275}
5644. After this, the youth were earnestly called to
arms by both sides. Money was coined and everything
necessary for the war was provided. The preparation for
this war was far greater than for any of the previous
wars because so many countries sent help to each side.
Caesar had help from all of Italy, Gaul, Spain, Illyria,
both the Africas, Sardinia, Sicily and other islands
located near the previously mentioned mainlands. {*Dio,
l. 50. (6) 5:447,449} He had two hundred and fifty
warships, eighty thousand foot soldiers and twelve
thousand cavalry. Antony had more than five hundred
warships, of which some had eight or ten tiers of oars.
They were sumptuously equipped and fit for a triumph.
He had a hundred thousand foot soldiers and twelve
thousand cavalry. [E745] Antony got help from the kings
who were his subjects: Bocchus, king of Libya (who had
been ousted from his kingdom by the Romans), Tarcondemus
(or Tarcondimotus) of Upper Cilicia, Archelaus of
Cappadocia, Philadelphus of Paphlagonia, Mithridates of
Commagene and Sadalas, king of Thrace, who were all
personally present in the war. Polemon sent help from
Pontus, Malchus from Arabia, and Herod from Judea, as
well as Amyntas, the king of Lycaonia and Galatia.
Antony also commanded all the region from the Euphrates
River and Armenia right to the Ionian Sea and Illyria,
as well as from Cyrene to Ethiopia. {*Plutarch, Antony,
l. 1. c. 61. s. 1-3. 9:275,277} Consequently, all
the countries of the continent of Asia obeyed the
Romans, namely, Thrace, Greece, Macedonia, Egypt,
Cyrene, with the borders and all the neighbouring
islands. Almost all kings and princes, and all who only
bordered on these lands of the Roman Empire, obeyed
Antony. Some came in person, others sent their generals
(as it was said) to help Antony. {*Dio, l. 50. (6)
5:449}
5645. The king of the Medes sent an auxiliary force to
Antony. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 61. s. 2.
9:277} When Antony saw this, he sent them back and
recalled his own soldiers, whom he had lent to the
Medes. That king had defeated Phraates, the king of the
Parthians, and Artaxes (or Artaxias), the king of the
Armenians. [K466] Without Antony's troops, however, he
was soon defeated. In this way, the Romans lost control
of Armenia which Antony had recently conquered, together
with Media. {*Dio, l. 49. (44) 5:433}
5646. Antony feared even the over-attentiveness of
Cleopatra herself when he was preparing for the war at
Actium. He would not eat anything that had not been
previously tasted, so she was said to have used the
following means to cure him of this fear. She dipped
the uppermost flowers of her garland in poison and put
the garland on his own head. Immediately, at the height
of their mirth, she invited Antony to drink their
garlands. When Antony took it from his head, put it
into the cup and began to drink, she stopped him with
her hand and said:
"Look, I am the woman, Mark Antony, against whom, with
your new craze for tasters, you are carefully on your
guard. Such my lack of opportunity or means to act if I
can live without you!"
5647. Then she called for a prisoner and ordered him to
drink it. He died on the spot. {*Pliny, l. 21. c.
9. 6:169,171}
5648. Herod had routed the greater part of the Arabian
army at Cana in Coelosyria. Athenion, the general of
Queen Cleopatra in that country, hated Herod, so he
assembled a number of the natives and joined with the
Arabians. They carried out a large slaughter of the
Jews in the rough and difficult places, with which the
enemy was better acquainted. When the king saw that his
men were put to the worse, he sent men on horseback to
bring new troops. He, however, hurried as fast as
possible to the Jewish camp, only to find the enemy had
taken it. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 5. s. 1.
(112-119) 8:55-59}
3973a AM, 4682 JP, 32 BC
5649. From that time on, Herod began to make incursions
on the Arabians and to prey on them. He always camped
on the mountains and always avoided coming to a set
battle. He was successful with this tactic, in that he
accustomed his men to labour and continual exercise. He
was preparing himself to blot out the infamy of his
former defeat. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 5. s.
1. (120) 8:59} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 19.
s. 3. (369) 2:173}
5650. Antony intended to go into Italy before his
enemies were aware of it, and carry on the war there.
When he came to Corcyra, he heard that some light ships,
that had been sent out to spy, were anchored near the
Ceraunian Mountains. Suspecting that Caesar had come
with his whole fleet, he went back into Peloponnesus and
wintered at Patrae, since it was now the end of autumn.
He sent his soldiers into all the various locations, to
enable them to guard them better and to ensure a better
supply of food for them. {*Dio, l. 50. (9) 5:453,455}
3973b AM, 4683 JP, 31 BC
5651. Caesar sailed from Brundisium and went as far as
Corcyra. It was his intention to attack the enemy by
surprise as they made their way to Actium. However, he
was thwarted by a storm and forced to return, so that he
missed his chance. {*Dio, l. 50. (11) 5:457}
5652. While Herod made inroads on the land of Arabia in
the seventh year of his reign (this was calculated, both
here and later on, from the death of Antigonus in the
month of August, 38 BC or 4676 JP), the war at Actium
had now begun. In the beginning of the spring, Judea
was shaken by an earthquake such as it had never
experienced before. Thirty thousand people were killed
in the ruins of their houses. The soldiers were
unharmed, because they were in the open fields. This
calamity was made much worse, when the Arabians, who
were their enemies, found out about it. They became
quite proud, as if all the cities of the Jews had been
overthrown and all the men were dead, so that there were
no enemies left. For this reason, they apprehended the
envoys of the Jews who, due to this affliction, had come
to ask for peace. They killed them and then prepared
for war with renewed determination. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 19. s. 3. (370-371) 2:173,175}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 5. s. 2. (121-124)
8:59,61} [E746] [K467]
5653. Herod encouraged his men and offered sacrifices
according to the custom. He quickly crossed over the
Jordan River with his army and camped at Philadelphia.
The battle started over the citadel which was located
between him and the Arabians. The Jews won, forcing the
dismayed enemy to another battle. After continual
skirmishes, the Arabians were put to flight and in their
rout, trampled their own men when the Jews pursued them.
They lost five thousand men, while the rest were
besieged in their camp and were very short of water.
They sent envoys to Herod, who treated them with
disdain. They merely became more earnest, offering
fifty talents for their freedom, because they were so
short of water. Finally, they came out in companies and
surrendered to the Jews, so that four thousand captives
were taken in five days. On the fifth day, those
remaining in the camp came out to fight but they were
defeated and seven thousand men died. With this defeat,
the courage of the Arabians was diminished and they
declared Herod governor of their country. He returned
home with great glory. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 19. s. 5,6. (380-385) 2:179,181} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 5. s. 4,5. (147-160) 8:71-77}
5654. Hillel, a Babylonian of the family of David,
lived at Jerusalem a hundred years before the Jewish
account of the destruction of the temple. {Gemara
Babylonic. tractat. tbv c. 1.} He had a large number
of disciples, one of whom was Jonathan, the son of
Uzziel and the famous author of the Chaldee Paraphrase
of the prophets. The Pharisees were divided into two
sects, springing from a difference that arose between
Hillel and Shammai, or Sameas, whom Josephus mentioned
previously. Jerome stated: {Jerome, l. 3. on Isa
8:14}
"The Nazarites (such are those who received Christ and
yet observed the old law) interpret the two houses of
Shammai and Hillel as two families from whom sprang the
scribes and Pharisees."
5655. He added, moreover:
"Shammai and Hillel (or their two houses, of which
mention is so often made in the Talmud) sprang up not
long before the Lord was born."
5656. Phraates, the king of the Parthians, became more
insolent as a result of the victory he had over Antony.
He behaved more cruelly than before and was driven into
exile by his own subjects, whereupon Tiridates was made
the new king. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 5.} {*Dio,
l. 51. (18) 6:51}
5657. Medeius persuaded the Mysians of Asia to revolt
from Antony, and with their help he made war against
Antony. {*Dio, l. 51. (2) 6:7}
5658. Antony went to Actium, the place where he had
appointed to meet his fleet. He was not unperturbed
when he found that almost a third of his sailors had
starved to death, and simply said: {Orosius, l. 6. c.
19.}
"Well, the oars are safe, for I will not lack rowers as
long as Greece has any men."
5659. Consequently, the captains conscripted
travellers, mule drivers, harvesters and young men, but
even so the ships were not fully manned and many were
empty. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 62. s. 1.
9:277}
5660. Asinius Pollio had stayed in Italy the whole time
after the peace had been concluded at Brundisium and had
never seen Cleopatra, nor taken an active part on
Antony's side, after Antony had been so taken with her
love. When Caesar asked if he would go with him to the
war at Actium, he replied: {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 86. s. 3. 1:233} [K468]
"My services to Antony are too great, his favours to me
are better known, therefore I will have nothing to do
with your difference with him, but will be the prize of
the conqueror."
5661. Marcus Agrippa had been sent ahead by Caesar and
captured many cargo ships loaded with grain and arms, as
they were coming from Egypt, Syria and Asia to help
Antony. He crossed over the bay of Peloponnesus and
conquered Methone, which had been fortified by Antony
with a strong garrison. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} He
killed Bogud there. He also determined the best places
for the cargo ships to arrive. From there, he went into
various places in Greece, troubling Antony greatly.
{*Dio, l. 50. (11) 5:459}
5662. Caesar was encouraged by these results and set
out from Brundisium with all his forces and two hundred
and thirty ships with armed prows. He sailed into
Epirus after having crossed the Ionian Sea. {*Dio, l.
50. (12) 5:459} {*Livy, l. 132. 14:163} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 62. s. 2,3. 9:279} {Orosius, l.
6. c. 19.} He met his foot soldiers, whom he had
conscripted from around the Ceraunian Mountains and
drawn together to Actium. Using his ships, he seized
Corcyra, which had been left without a garrison. He
anchored at Fresh Harbour, because the harbour was not
salty. From there he went with his fleet to Actium,
where most of Antony's fleet was also anchored. Then he
camped at the spot where he later built Nicopolis.
{*Dio, l. 50. (12) 5:461,463}
5663. At daybreak, when Antony saw his enemies sailing
toward him, he feared that they would take his ships.
Lacking men to defend them, he placed his sailors in
arms on the forecastle and ordered them to hold up their
oars on both sides of the ships as if they were
soldiers. [E747] So he kept them in the mouth of the
harbour at Actium with the prows toward the enemy, as if
they were well equipped with rowers and ready for a
fight. Caesar was fooled by this stratagem and turned
back. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 63. s. 1.
9:279}
5664. Marcus Agrippa sailed to Leucas and took the
island and the ships that were there from under the very
nose of Antony's fleet. He also seized Patrae, after
defeating Quintus Nasidius in a naval battle, and later
took Corinth. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 84.
s. 2. 1:229} {*Dio, l. 50. (13) 5:465}
5665. Marcus Titius and Statilius Taurus suddenly
attacked Antony's cavalry and routed them. They also
joined in a league with Philadelphus, King of
Paphlagonia. {*Dio, l. 50. (13) 5:465}
5666. Gnaeus Domitius was a very gallant man, the only
one of all of Antony's party who refused to greet
Cleopatra by anything other than her own name, for which
he was intensely hated by the queen. In defecting to
Caesar, he incurred great and imminent dangers. {*Dio,
l. 50. (13) 5:465} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
84. s. 2. 1:229} While he was sick with a fever, he
took a little boat and crossed over to Caesar. Although
Antony took it badly, he opposed Cleopatra's wishes and
sent him all his baggage, together with his friends and
servants. Domitius, as though regretting his public
treasons, died soon after. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 63. s. 2,3. 9:281} He seemed to have fled from
Antony because he had lost hope in Antony's chances of
success, and many followed his example. {*Dio, l. 50.
(13) 5:465}
5667. Beginning to despair, Antony suspected all his
friends, some of whom he put to death by torture,
including among others Jamblichus, a king of part of
Arabia. He ordered that some be torn in pieces,
including Quintus Postumius, a senator. [K469] Antony
feared that Quintus Dellius and Amyntas, King of
Galatia, who had been sent into Macedonia and Thrace to
hire soldiers, would defect to Caesar. He went after
them as if wanting to help them, in case the enemy
should attack them. {*Dio, l. 50. (31) 5:465,467}
5668. In the meantime, on Antony's side, Sossius hoped
that he would be victorious if he were to attack Lucius
Taurius, who was keeping guard against Antony's fleet
with a few ships. He wanted to do this before the
arrival of Agrippa, Caesar's admiral, to enable him to
do some great exploit. Therefore he attacked him
suddenly, early in the morning, taking advantage of a
fog, in case Taurius should flee when he saw how many
ships he had. He defeated Taurius in the first conflict
and chased him but when he happened to be met by
Agrippa, he did not overtake Taurius or receive any
reward for his victory. Instead, Sossius was killed
along with Tarcondimotus and many others. (Dio was
inconsistent, for later he stated that Octavius pardoned
Sossius. Editor.) {*Dio, l. 50. (14) 5:467}
5669. This defeat, as well as the defeat of his cavalry
by Caesar's guard, changed Antony's mind about having
his camp opposite the enemies' camp. Therefore, he left
it by night and went to the other side of the narrows
where his larger forces were camped. Since he was being
blockaded from getting provisions, he held a council to
decide whether they should go to battle now, or leave
that location and fight the war later. {*Dio, l. 50.
(14) 5:467}
5670. Canidius, who commanded the legions and who had
encouraged Antony to bring Cleopatra with him, now
changed his mind and persuaded him to send her back
again. Antony should then go into Thrace or Macedonia
and decide the matter in a land battle because he was
stronger on land and could then also make use of the
fresh troops sent by Dicomes, the king of the Getae.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 63. s. 3. 9:281}
5671. Cleopatra and Antony, however, had been
frightened by some prodigies. Because of these and the
low morale, Cleopatra succeeded in persuading Antony
that the war should be decided in a naval battle.
However she prepared for her flight and packed her
baggage, as if all was lost and she did not think they
would win. She planned how she could escape more
easily. They determined not to steal away secretly, as
though they were fleeing, in case they should strike
fear into the army, which was already prepared for
battle. However, if anyone were to oppose them, they
intended to use brute force to make their way into
Egypt. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 63. s. 5,6.
9:281,283} {*Dio, l. 50. (15) 5:469}
5672. Velleius Paterculus stated that King Amyntas
defected to Caesar, while Plutarch stated that both
Amyntas and Dejotarus defected. Quintus Dellius, the
historian, also defected to Caesar, and Horace wrote an
ode about him. Either Dellius was afraid of the
treacheries of Cleopatra, of which he said Glaucus, her
physician, had told him, or else he was following his
old pattern. He had defected from Dolabella to Cassius
and from Cassius to Antony, and finally gone over from
Antony to Caesar. Messala Corinus called him the pole
vaulter of the civil wars. {*Seneca the Elder,
Suasoriae, l. 1. c. 7. 2:495,497} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 84. s. 2. 1:229} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 63. s. 3. 9:281} {*Dio, l. 50.
(23) 5:485} {*Horace, Odes, l. 2. c. 3. (1-4) 1:113}
5673. Antony's fleet was defeated twice, prior to the
last great battle. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
84. s. 2. 1:229} There was a captain of the foot
soldiers, a valiant man, who had numerous scars on his
body from having fought many battles under Antony's
command. [E748] Just as they were going to the last
battle, he cried out in Antony's presence: [K470]
"Oh noble Imperator, why do you distrust these wounds
and our swords, and put your trust in these wooden
ships? Let the Egyptians and Phoenicians fight by sea
but give us permission to fight by land, where we would
either die standing, or defeat our enemies."
5674. Antony did not reply but with a gesture and a
look as it were, bade the man be of good courage, while
he passed by without any great courage himself.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 64. s. 2. 9:283}
5675. Of the Egyptian ships, Antony and Cleopatra only
kept sixty and burned the rest. They did not have
enough soldiers to guard them because of the number of
runaways and defeats. By night, they carried aboard all
their most valuable possessions. The captains of the
galleys would only have taken their oars into the battle
and left their sails but Antony compelled them to take
the sails with them and put them on their ships. He
said it had to be done, in case any of his enemies
should escape. However, in doing this, Antony was
really providing a means for his own escape.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 64. s. 1. 9:283}
{*Dio, l. 50. (15) 5:469}
5676. Caesar had two hundred beaked warships and thirty
without beaks. His galleys were as swift as light
ships. Eight legions were in his fleet, as well as five
praetorian cohorts. Antony's fleet consisted of a
hundred and seventy ships and although they were fewer
in number, they were much larger in size and some had
ten tiers of oars. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} Florus
stated: {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 5,6. 1:325}
"We had four hundred ships and the enemy had not less
than two hundred, but what they lacked in number was
made up for in size. All the ships they had were from
six to nine tiers of oars. Moreover, they were so
raised with turrets and decks, that they resembled
citadels and cities and made the sea groan under them
and the wind out of breath to move them. Their very
size was their weakness."
5677. Caesar, in his commentaries, noted by Plutarch,
denied these statements concerning the number of
Antony's ships. He said that he took three hundred of
them. Vegetius stated that the size can be calculated
from the number of tiers of oars: {Vegetius, De Re
Militaris, l. 4. c. 17.}
"At Actium, there were ships of six and more tiers of
oars."
5678. Florus stated that: {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s.
6. 1:325}
"Caesar's ships had from two to six tiers of oars and
none larger."
5679. Strabo, along with Plutarch and Dio, positively
said that Antony had some ships that had ten tiers.
Scaliger also noted this. {Eusebius, Scaliger's Greek
Eusebius, num. 1230.} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
64. s. 1. 9:283} {*Dio, l. 50. (23) 5:485}
5680. It was reported that Sextus Pompeius had been
defeated in Sicily by the larger size of Caesar's ships.
Antony had built his ships much larger than his
enemies'. He had some of three tiers of oars, but all
the rest were from four to ten tiers. He also built
high towers on them and put large numbers of men inside,
who could then fight as if from a wall. He put all the
noblemen he had with him on board ship, in case they
should defect from him if they were left on their own,
as Dellius and some others had done, who had fled to
Caesar. He also put some archers, slingers, and armed
soldiers on board. {*Dio, l. 50. (23) 5:485} He
filled his best and largest ships, from three to ten
tiers of oars, with twenty thousand foot soldiers and
two thousand archers. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
64. s. 1,2. 9:283}
5681. When Caesar saw the preparations of the enemy and
learned of his intentions from others, but especially
from Dellius, he also prepared for the battle. {*Dio,
l. 50. (23) 5:485} For the first four days, the sea
was so rough that the battle was delayed. On the fifth
day, when the sky cleared and the storm ceased, they
came to battle. [K471] Antony and Publicola were in the
right wing, Coelius in the left, while the middle was
commanded by Marcus Octavius and Marcus Insteius.
Caesar placed Agrippa in the left wing and managed the
right wing himself. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 65.
s. 1,2. 9:283} However, Velleius Paterculus stated:
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 85. s. 1-3. 1:229}
"The right wing of Caesar's ships was committed to
Marcus Larius (or Lurius) and the left to Arruntius.
Agrippa directed the whole battle at sea. Caesar was
present anywhere he felt his presence was needed to help
the battle. The command of Antony's fleet was committed
to Publicola and Sossius."
5682. All historians agreed on the commanders of the
land forces: Taurus commanded Caesar's forces and
Canidius commanded Antony's.
5683. Antony sailed about in a row-boat, exhorting his
soldiers, encouraging them to fight valiantly, as if
they were on firm land, because the ships were so heavy
and large. Antony ordered the captains of the galleys
to receive their enemies' charge as if their ships were
at anchor, and to stay in the mouth of the gulf.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 65. s. 1,2. 9:285}
5684. It was reported that Caesar left his tent while
it was still dark, to visit his fleet. On his way he
met an ass, named Nicon (meaning Victor), and his
driver, Eutychus (meaning Prosper). After the victory,
he erected their images in brass in a temple which he
built in the very spot where he had camped.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 96. s. 2. 1:297}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 65. s. 3. 9:285} It
so happened, too, that, as he was sacrificing before the
battle, a beast was sacrificed that had its liver tissue
folded back inward. {*Pliny, l. 11. c. 73. 3:551}
[E749]
5685. Caesar went in a small boat to the right wing of
Antony's fleet, wondering why the enemy lay so still in
the gulf, and decided that they must be at anchor and so
he restrained his galleys. About noon the wind was
rising from the sea and Antony's soldiers began to get
angry that they were being held back from fighting.
Trusting in the large size of their ships, as though
they were invincible, they advanced their left wing and
as soon as they left the gulf, Caesar's men started the
battle. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 65. s. 4,5.
9:285,287}
5686. Caesar's ships were more agile and easier to
manoeuvre in battle, either in attack or retreat. The
enemy ships were heavy and unwieldy and each one of them
was attacked by many of Caesar's ships, which used
arrows and rams and shot fire-brands to overcome them.
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 6. 1:325} On the other
side, Antony's soldiers shot arrows and stones from the
wooden towers with their crossbows. They also cast
grappling-irons on the enemy's ships, if they came too
near. If the irons grabbed, they overcame the enemy,
otherwise they made a hole in their own ships and sank
them! This is how the naval battle went, both sides
using various methods to stir up the skill and courage
of their soldiers. They also heard the cries of the
soldiers on land, who gave them heart by shouting
Courage! {*Dio, l. 50. (32) 5:505,507} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 66. s. 1,2. 9:287}
5687. Agrippa extended one of his wings to surround the
enemy. On the other side, Publicola was also forced to
widen his wing and so was divided from his main body.
Antony was attacked and fought with Arruntius, but on
equal terms. Cleopatra, who for a long time had
wondered what to do and now feared that they might lose
the battle, signalled her ships. She, in a galley whose
poop deck was of gold and her sails of purple, along
with sixty of the swiftest Egyptian ships, hoisted their
main sails. They had a good wind and set sail for
Peloponnesus. As soon as Antony saw the ships of
Cleopatra under sail, he forgot everything else and
embarked in a galley with five tiers of oars. [K472] He
removed the admiral's ensign from the galley and
accompanied only by Alexas, the Syrian, and Scellius,
followed his fleeing wife. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21.
s. 8,9. 1:327} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 66. s.
3-5. 9:287,289} {*Dio, l. 50. (33) 5:507,509}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} Thus the general, who ought
to punish runaways, deserted his own army. No doubt he
would have arranged the victory according to the wishes
of Cleopatra since she was able to cause his flight at
her command. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 85. s.
3. 1:229,231}
5688. When Cleopatra saw that Antony was coming, she
raised a signal from her ship and Antony was taken on
board. He did not see her, nor was seen by her, but
went and sat down alone in the prow of the ship. He
never said a word and clapped both his hands over his
head. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 67. s. 1.
9:289}
5689. Antony's soldiers were astonished at the flight
of their general and also began to think of fleeing.
Some hoisted sail and others cast the towers and
tacklings of their ships into the sea, so that the
lightened ships could flee faster. Caesar's soldiers,
who had no sails on their ships and were only prepared
for a naval battle, did not follow those who fled. They
attacked those preparing to flee, for now they were
equal to their enemies in number. They surrounded each
of their enemies' ships with many of their own and
fought with those close by and those who were afar off.
{*Dio, l. 50. (33) 5:509} Antony's soldiers were very
brave for a long time after their general had gone and
when they lost hope of victory, they fought in order to
die. Caesar tried to pacify with words, those men whom
he could have killed with his sword. He shouted to
them, telling them that Antony had fled and demanding to
know from them, for whom and with whom they were
fighting. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 85. s.
3,4. 1:231} Finally, he was forced to order that fire
be brought from the camp, for now there was no other way
of getting the full victory. He had refrained from
setting fire to the ships in hope of getting the
enemies' treasure. Caesar's men could no longer control
themselves when the enemy's ships were on fire, much
less do any more harm to their enemies. They sailed
over to them, greedy for their money, and endeavoured to
quench the fire. Many perished by being burned with
their ships and in fighting with their enemies. {*Dio,
l. 50. (34,35) 5:511-515}
5690. When the fleet of Antony had long resisted Caesar
and was seriously damaged by the waves that were beating
against the prows of their ships, they were defeated at
about the tenth hour. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
68. s. 1. 9:293} Thus the soldiers, who had long
fought for their absent general, at last very
unwillingly laid down their arms and surrendered.
Caesar soon granted them life and pardon, before they
could even be persuaded to ask for it. It was generally
conceded that the soldiers had performed the duties of
an excellent general, and the general those of a
cowardly soldier. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
85. s. 5. 1:231}
5691. From the fifth hour (as Orosius said) to the
seventh, the battle on both sides went without any clear
outcome. [E750] However, the rest of the day and the
subsequent night, Caesar got the upper hand. {Orosius,
l. 6. c. 19.} The battle continued until late at
night, so that the conqueror was forced to stay on board
all night. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s.
2. 1:173}
5692. The battle at Actium was fought when Caesar and
Messala Corvinus were consuls. {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 84. s. 1. 1:227} The battle was on
September 2, and it was from this time that Dio began
the reign of Caesar. {*Dio, l. 51. (1) 6:3,5} [K473]
In another place, Dio said his reign lasted forty-four
years minus thirteen days, the time between his death,
on the 19th of August, and the 2nd of September, when he
had started to rule. {*Dio, l. 56. (30) 7:68} Both of
those days were excluded after the custom of Suetonius,
Aurelius Victor and Eutropius. {*Suetonius, Augustus,
l. 2. c. 8. s. 3. 1:161} They said that Caesar
governed the state on his own for forty-four years.
5693. As soon as it was day, Caesar completed his
victory. Twelve thousand of the conquered had been
killed and six or seven thousand wounded, of whom a
thousand died of their wounds. {Orosius, l. 6. c.
19.} Plutarch stated that not more than five thousand
died and three hundred ships were captured. The remains
of this large armada was carried up and down over the
whole sea in its wreckage, for the seas were cleared by
the wind and daily washed up gold and purple on the
shores, from the spoils of the Arabians, the Sabeans and
a thousand other peoples of Asia. {*Plutarch, Antony,
l. 1. c. 68. s. 1. 9:293} {*Florus, l. 2. c.
21. s. 7. 1:327}
5694. This famous naval battle was much spoken of by
the poets of that time. {*Virgil, Aeneid, l. 8.
(675-705) 2:107,109} {*Ovid, Metamorphoses, l. 15.
(826-831) 4:423} {*Horace, Epodes, l. 1. c. 9.
(1-38) 1:389,391} {Propertius, Elegies, l. 4. c. 6.}
Propertius had this memorable saying:
The cause it is the soldier animates,
Which if not good, his courage shame abates.
5695. The rejoinder is that which Messala Corvinus was
reported to have said, when commended by Caesar, with
whom he was colleague this year in the consulship.
Messala was once praised by Caesar because, though at
Philippi he had been most hostile to him and Antony for
the sake of Brutus, at Actium he had been a most zealous
adherent of his. Messala replied: {*Plutarch, Brutus,
l. 1. c. 53. s. 3. 6:247}
"Oh Caesar, you shall always find me on the better and
more just side."
5696. From the spoils of the enemy, Caesar dedicated
ten ships from Actium to Apollo, ranging from a ship of
one tier of oars up to a ship with ten tiers. {*Strabo,
l. 7. c. 7. s. 6. 3:305} {*Dio, l. 51. (1) 6:5}
5697. Caesar sent part of his fleet in pursuit of
Antony and Cleopatra, but when they could not overtake
them, they returned. {*Dio, l. 51. (1) 6:5} Some
lighter ships overtook Antony, which he was able to
repulse. Only Eurycles, a Lacedemonian, the son of
Lachares, who had been beheaded by Antony for thievery,
shook a lance at him from the deck of the ship, as if he
intended to throw it at him. He did not attack Antony's
ship, but with his prow struck another galley of the
admiral (for there were two of them). He turned her
around and captured both her and another ship, which was
loaded with very rich items and baggage. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 67. s. 2,3. 9:289,291}
5698. When he was gone, Antony returned to his former
silence and resumed his previous posture. After he had
spent three days in the prow of the ship, he was smitten
with either anger or shame. He arrived at Taenarum,
where Cleopatra's women first succeeded in getting them
to speak to each other. Later they ate and slept
together. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 67. s. 4.
9:291}
5699. Many merchant ships arrived there, as well as
some of Antony's friends, who had escaped through
flight. They brought news that the fleet was indeed
scattered, but that they believed the land forces were
intact. Antony sent messengers to Canidius, ordering
him to retire with the army through Macedonia into Asia,
as quickly as possible. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
67. s. 5. 9:291} [K474]
5700. Many of the army on land did not know of Antony's
flight. When they heard of it, it seemed incredible to
them that he should flee and leave nineteen whole
legions of foot soldiers and twelve thousand cavalry
behind. His soldiers hoped that he would show up again
somewhere else. They showed so much loyalty to him,
that when his flight was known for a certainty, they
stayed for seven days and rejected the messengers sent
to them by Caesar. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 68.
s. 2,3. 9:293}
5701. Caesar overtook them as they were marching into
Macedonia and without fighting, joined them to his army.
{*Dio, l. 51. (1) 6:5} When it was night, the general,
Canidius, left the camp and fled to Antony in great
haste. Destitute of all things and betrayed by their
leaders, they surrendered themselves to the conqueror.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 85. s. 6. 1:231}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 68. s. 3. 9:293}
Caesar added them to his own army. {*Dio, l. 51. (1)
6:5,7} [E751]
5702. Even then, many of the Roman nobility fled to
Antony, but the auxiliaries fled into their own
countries and never again waged war against Caesar.
Along with all the people who had previously been
subject to the Romans, in the course of time they
accepted conditions of peace from Caesar. {*Dio, l.
51. (1) 6:5,6}
5703. Caesar demanded money from the cities and took
away their power over the citizens, which they had
usurped in the councils of the people. From the kings
and governors, with the exception of Amyntas and
Archelaus, he took all the towns they had received from
Antony. He deposed from their thrones: Philopator, the
son of Tarcondimotus (the prince of Cilicia), Lycomedes,
who had obtained the kingdom of Pontus in a part of
Cappadocia, and Alexander, the brother of Jamblichus,
who had received a kingdom in Arabia. Alexander had
received his kingdom for accusing Caesar. He gave the
country of Lycomedes to Medeius, who had instigated the
revolt of the Mysians of Asia from Antony. He granted
freedom to the people of Cydonia and Lampe (in Crete),
because they had helped him, and rebuilt the city of the
Lampeans, which had been destroyed. The senators and
equestrians and other noblemen who had in any way helped
Antony, were either fined, put to death, or pardoned.
{*Dio, l. 51. (2) 6:6}
5704. Among those to whom he granted life, was Sossius,
who had often made war against Caesar, but had fled and
hidden, only to be found later. Caesar let him go free.
Caesar spared Marcus Scaurus, the half-brother of Sextus
Pompeius, who had also been condemned to death, for the
sake of his mother, Mucia. Among those who were put to
death was Curio, the son of that Curio whose help Julius
Caesar had often used. Caesar had only ordered that one
of the Aquilii Flori was to die, namely the one who drew
the lot; but before the lots were cast, the son offered
to die and was executed. Out of grief, the father
killed himself over his dead son's body. {*Dio, l. 51.
(2) 6:7,9}
5705. Cassius of Parma fled to Athens and was executed.
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 7. 1:89}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 87. s. 3. 1:235}
Horace asked of Albius Tibullus the poet: {*Horace,
Epistles, l. 1. c. 4. (2,3) 2:277}
"Writing something to outshine the pieces of Cassius of
Parma?"
5706. Orpheus, a poem recorded by Achilles Statius at
the end of the commentaries on the book of Suetonius, a
famous rhetorician, was thought to be one of Cassius'
poems. [K475] A poem called Brutus is also cited by
Varro. {*Varro, De Lingua Latina, l. 6. (7) 1:179} It
stated that, at Athens, Cassius was terrified by a ghost
similar to the one said to have appeared to Brutus
before the battle at Philippi. In an earlier place,
Valerius described it in these words. In the dead of
the night, as he lay in bed, while his mind was wrought
with grief and cares, he thought he saw a very large man
coming towards him. He was of a black hue with an ugly
beard and long hair. When Cassius asked who he was, he
answered, your bad angel. Terrified at so horrible a
vision and a more horrid name, Cassius called his
servants and asked them if they had seen anyone coming
or going. They replied that no one had come and he went
back to bed, but the same vision was constantly in his
mind; so he gave up trying to sleep, ordered that a
light be brought in and forbade his servants to leave
him. Valerius added that not long after this night, he
was executed by Caesar. He was among the last to be put
to death for the murder of Julius Caesar, as Trebonius
was the first to die. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c.
87. s. 3. 1:235} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} We know
this from the earlier account of Valerius Maximus, that
he was executed at Athens a little after the victory at
Actium. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 7.
1:89}
5707. At that time, Caesar sailed to Athens and was
reconciled with the Greeks. He distributed the grain
that was left from the war to the cities which were
suffering from famine and had been stripped of money,
servants and horses. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
68. s. 4. 9:295}
5708. Antony wanted to leave Taenarum for Libya and
selected one good cargo ship to hold his enormous
treasure. He gave the remaining valuable articles made
of gold and silver to his friends and ordered them to
divide them among themselves and go their own way. When
they tearfully refused, he comforted them very politely
and at length dismissed those who agreed to provide for
themselves. He wrote letters to Theophilus, his steward
in Corinth, asking him to keep them safe and give them
some hiding place until they could make their peace with
Caesar. Theophilus was the father of Hipparchus, whom
Antony greatly respected. [E752] He was the first of
his freedmen to defect to Caesar and later went and
lived in Corinth. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 67.
s. 5-7. 9:291,293}
5709. So that Cleopatra could safely sail to Egypt, she
put garlands on the prows of her ships and ordered those
songs to be sung to a pipe that are usually sung when a
victory has been won. {*Dio, l. 51. (5) 6:17}
3974a AM, 4683 JP, 31 BC
5710. When they arrived safely in Egypt, she put to
death many noblemen who had always been her enemies and
who, at that time, were elated over her defeat. She
took what they had, including the sacrifices to their
gods, even removing them from temples. When she had
gotten an enormous amount of money this way, she
prepared an army and looked for foreign mercenaries. In
the hope of making an alliance with the king of Media,
she sent him the head of the king of Armenia,
Artavasdes, or Artabazes. {*Dio, l. 51. (5) 6:17}
5711. She also embarked on a bold and great enterprise.
She planned to have her fleet cross over the isthmus
which divided the Red Sea from the Mediterranean Sea off
Egypt and is considered to be the boundary between Asia
and Libya. This isthmus is about thirty-eight miles
wide at its narrowest point. She sent her forces to the
Arabian Gulf (Red Sea) with a large amount of money, to
enable her to find some remote country with her ships,
where she could be free from slavery and war.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 69. s. 2,3.
9:295,297} [K476] The first ships which were carried
over, however, and others that were built for sailing
into the Red Sea, were burned by the inhabitants of
Arabia Petra at the instigation of Quintus Didius, the
governor of Syria. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 69.
s. 3. 9:297} {*Dio, l. 51. (7) 6:21}
5712. Antony landed in Libya and went into the desert.
He wandered up and down, alone except for his two
friends, Aristocrates, a Greek rhetorician, and
Lucilius, a Roman. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 69.
s. 1. 9:295} Later, he sailed to Pinarius Scarpus in
Libya to the army he had previously raised for the
defence of Egypt. Scarpus told those who were sent to
him that he would not entertain Antony, then killed them
and also put to death some soldiers who disagreed with
his actions. {*Dio, l. 51. (5) 6:17}
5713. When Antony learned of this revolt, he decided to
kill himself, but was prevented by his friends from
doing so. He went to Alexandria, still believing that
the legions at Actium were intact. Canidius later
brought him news that this was not so. Therefore,
Cleopatra abandoned her plans of sailing into the Red
Sea and instead, fortified the mouths of the Nile River
with garrisons. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 69. s.
3. 9:297}
5714. Antony left the city and the company of his
friends and built a house on the sea beside the isle of
Pharos. He created a mound in the sea to build on and
lived there as an exile from all men, saying he would
lead the life of Timon, the man-hater, because his
situation was so like his. He, too, had been abused by
his friends and had experienced their ingratitude.
Therefore, he would trust no man and angry with all men,
called his house Timonium. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 69-71. 9:297-301} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 9.
8:39}
5715. Herod sent to Antony, advising him to put
Cleopatra to death. He suggested that if it were done
at an opportune time, Antony could enjoy her estate and
obtain more favourable conditions of peace from Caesar.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 6. s. 6. (191) 8:91}
5716. Caesar dismissed his veteran soldiers and
Antony's army into Italy, without giving them anything,
and sent the rest into various places. He was afraid
that those who had been companions of his victory and
were dismissed without any reward, could raise some
seditions, so he sent Agrippa after them into Italy,
seemingly on some other business. Caesar settled the
affairs of Greece, as though there were no danger to be
expected from the soldiers who had been discharged. He
went into Asia to settle things there and awaited what
Antony would do. {*Dio, l. 51. (3) 6:9,11}
5717. All the people and kings refused to send Antony
and Cleopatra any help, although many of them had
received generous favours from them both. The
gladiators were a people in a most wretched state. They
had been training in Cyzicum where Antony planned to
hold triumphal games when he defeated Caesar. {*Appian,
Civil Wars, l. 5. c. 14. (137) 4:605} They had
valiantly fought for Antony and Cleopatra. As soon as
they heard what had happened, they decided to go to
Egypt to help them. Their journey upset Amyntas in
Galatia and the sons of Tarcondimotus in Cilicia, who
had formerly been good friends to Antony and Cleopatra,
but had revolted from them. Quintus Didius, the
governor of Syria, also forbade them to go through his
land, so that they were boxed in and able neither to go
into Egypt, nor to cause a revolt in Syria. Although
Didius gave them many good promises, they sent for
Antony to come to them. [K477] They thought that they
could wage war in Syria more easily, if Antony were with
them. Antony did not go, nor did he send any messengers
to them, so they reluctantly yielded to Didius, on the
condition that they would never fight as gladiators
again. Didius gave them Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, to
live in, until he knew what Caesar wanted to do. {*Dio,
l. 51. (7) 6:21,23} [E753]
5718. Didius wrote to Caesar that troops had been sent
to him by Herod, to suppress these gladiators. Caesar
also mentioned this fact in a letter he sent to Herod.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 20. s. 2. (392)
2:185} Caesar also wrote that Capidius had written to
tell him how much Herod had helped him in the war
against the monarchs of Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 6. s. 7. (195) 8:93} In the first instance,
I have written gladiators for monarchs; so it is clear
that, in both places, the name of Quintus Didius should
have been written for Ventidius and Capidius. As a
result of this action, news reached Antony at his house
at Timonium that Herod the Jew had defected to Caesar
with some legions and cohorts. {*Plutarch, Antony, l.
1. c. 71. s. 1,2. 9:301}
5719. Many things were decreed at Rome to honour Caesar
for his victory at sea. A triumph was given to him for
Cleopatra and a triumphal arch was erected at
Brundisium, with another one in the Roman forum. The
base of the Julian Temple was to be decorated with the
prows of captured ships. Every four years, a festival
was to be held in his honour. There were always to be
processions on his birthday and on the day the news of
his victory had first been brought. The vestal virgins
and the Senate, with their wives and children, were to
go and meet him as he entered the city. All the honours
associated with Antony were to be pulled down and
demolished and his birthday considered an unlucky day.
An edict was passed that no one in any family was to
have the surname of Marcus. {*Dio, l. 51. (19)
6:51,53}
5720. Caesar retired to Samos to winter there.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s. 3. 1:173}
Antony had taken away the three colossal statues made by
Myron that had stood on one base. Caesar put two of
them back on the the same base, namely Athena and
Hercules, while he carried the third, Jupiter or Zeus,
into the Capitoline and erected a temple just for it.
{*Strabo, l. 14. c. 1. s. 14. 6:213,215}
5721. When Caesar was viewing the prisoners there, an
old man, Metellus, was brought out. He had long hair
and was otherwise deformed, due to his hard life. When
the crier called his name as he stood among the
prisoners, his son, who was one of Caesar's captains,
leaped from his seat and with tears went and embraced
this man, whom he barely recognised. Then he stopped
weeping and said:
"My father, oh Caesar, was an enemy to you, I, a
companion. He has deserved punishment, I, a reward. I
request that you either grant my father his life, for my
sake, or put me to death together with him."
5722. Caesar felt pity toward them and granted Metellus
his life, even though he was his mortal enemy and had
spurned many previous offers to defect from Antony.
{*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c. 6. (42) 4:211,213}
5723. Antony left his cottage by the sea, which he
called Timonium, and went to the palace. He was
entertained by Cleopatra and turned all the city to
revelling and banqueting and liberally bestowed gifts.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 71. s. 2. 9:301}
[K478] He enrolled Caesarion, the son of Caesar and
Cleopatra, among the young men. He gave Antyllus, his
own son by Fulvia, the toga virilis, without the purple
hem. He did this, so that the Egyptians would be
happier in that they had a man to reign over them. The
others, who would have them for commanders, would also
be more satisfied, in case anything should happen to
Antony and Cleopatra. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
71. s. 2. 9:301} {*Dio, l. 51. (6) 6:17,19}
5724. After this, there was great feasting and
banqueting at Alexandria for many days. However, they
turned this gathering into another, which was not
inferior to the other in delights, luxury and splendour,
and which they called the society of:
"Partners in Death"
5725. This was for the friends of all those who would
die together. They registered their names and when it
came round to each one's turn, passed the time in
pleasures and in feasting. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 71. s. 3. 9:301}
5726. Cleopatra, furthermore, gathered various sorts of
deadly poisons, testing them on condemned persons and
animals and watching how they died. She did this daily
and of everything that she tried, she found that the
bite of the asp was the best way to die. It only
brought a sleepiness and heaviness over one, without any
spasms or pain. It caused only a gentle sweating of the
face and a languishing dullness of the senses.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 71. s. 4,5.
9:301,303}
5727. Although Antony and Cleopatra made preparations
as if they were about to make war both by sea and land,
they made provision for an alternative plan, as well.
If for any reason it should become urgently necessary,
they planned to set sail for Spain, in the hope of being
able to cause a revolt, using their money; otherwise,
they would go to the Red Sea. {*Dio, l. 51. (6) 6:19}
Florus indicated this with these words: {*Florus, l. 2.
c. 21. s. 9. 1:327} [E754]
"of whose preparation to flee into the ocean"
3974b AM, 4684 JP, 30 BC
5728. Caesar entered into his fourth consulship in
Asia. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 26. s. 3.
1:187} For the sixth time, he was called Imperator and
for the fourth time now, was consul with Marcus Licinius
Crassus. Caesar arrived at Brundisium after having been
recalled to Italy through letters written by Agrippa
from Rome. He was to repress a sedition of the
soldiers, who were demanding rewards for their services.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 73. s. 3. 9:305} They had been discharged after
the victory at Actium, out of the whole number Caesar
had earlier sent to Brundisium. {*Suetonius, Augustus,
l. 2. c. 17. s. 3. 1:173}
5729. In crossing the seas, Caesar was twice bothered
by storms, first between the cape of Peloponnesus and
Aetolia, then once again, near the Ceraunian Mountains.
In both places, some of his smaller ships were lost,
while the tackling on his ship was ripped and the helm
was broken. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s.
3. 1:173}
5730. Caesar came to Brundisium in the middle of
winter, but went no farther. He was met by the whole
Senate. (The tribunes of the people had appointed two
praetors for the government of the city, by a decree of
the Senate.) He also met with the equestrians and a
great many of the people, along with many envoys. The
very soldiers in question came there also, with some
coming out of fear of such a large crowd and fear of
Caesar himself. Germanicus said about the soldiers:
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 42. 3:317}
"That he daunted the Actium legion with his look."
5731. Some came, hoping for pay, while others were sent
for. Caesar gave some of them money and to some, who
had been with him in all his wars, he gave lands.
{*Dio, l. 51. (4) 6:13}
5732. Suetonius wrote that he did not stay at
Brundisium more than twenty-seven days, only until he
had settled his business with the soldiers. [K479] Dio
said that he went into Greece again on the thirtieth day
after having come into Italy. Because it was winter,
the ships were brought over the isthmus of Peloponnesus.
He came into Asia so quickly, that Cleopatra and Antony
heard of his departure and return at the same time.
{*Dio, l. 51. (5) 6:15} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 17. s. 3. 1:173}
5733. Antony sent Alexas or Alexander, a Laodicean, to
Herod. He had been introduced to him at Rome by
Timagenes, who had more influence on Antony than any
other Greek. Alexas was to prevent Herod from defecting
to Caesar, but Alexas betrayed Antony and stayed with
Herod. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 72. s. 2.
9:303}
5734. Alexandra hoped that Herod would be thoroughly
punished by Caesar, who was his enemy. She solicited
her father, Hyrcanus, not to allow this affliction of
their family, but to hope for better things. She also
counselled him to ask protection from Malchus, the king
of Arabia. Hyrcanus first found these suggestions
repulsive. Finally, her constant pleadings got the
better of him and cherishing higher hopes, he
contemplated the treachery of Herod. Through Dositheus,
a friend of his, he sent letters to the Arabian, asking
him to send cavalry who would escort him to the Dead
Sea, which was about forty miles from Jerusalem.
Dositheus was a relative of Joseph, who had been put to
death by Herod. His brothers, along with others, had
also been put to death, by Antony, at Tyre.
Nevertheless, to curry favour with the king, Dositheus
showed Herod the letter. Herod thanked him and asked
for a favour. He wanted him to put a new seal on the
letter, deliver it to Malchus and get his reply. The
Arabian wrote back that he was ready to help Hyrcanus
and his family, and all the Jews who belonged to that
faction. He would send a band of soldiers, who would
escort him in safety and would obey him in all matters.
After Herod had received this letter also, he summoned
Hyrcanus and asked him if he had any alliance with
Malchus, which Hyrcanus denied. Herod showed the
letters in the council of the Sanhedrin and ordered that
he be put to death. This is how these matters are
recorded in Herod's commentaries, but they are reported
otherwise by others, who say that Hyrcanus was not put
to death for this crime but for some other treasons
against the king. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 6.
s. 2. (165-173) 8:83}
5735. Antony and Cleopatra sent envoys to Caesar in
Asia. Cleopatra asked for the kingdom of Egypt for her
children and Antony asked that he be permitted to lead a
private life in Athens. If that was not granted, then
he wished to live in Egypt. Because of the lack of
friends and the distrust which they felt, due to
defections, Antony sent Euphronius, the teacher of their
children, as an envoy. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
72. s. 1,2. 9:303} Without Antony's knowledge,
Cleopatra sent Caesar a gold sceptre, a gold crown and a
golden chair, as if she were delivering her kingdom over
to him. If he really hated Antony, she hoped he might
have some pity on her. Caesar accepted the presents,
considering them to be good omens, but gave Antony no
answer. In actual fact, he publicly threatened
Cleopatra and replied that if she would lay aside her
arms and her kingdom, he would then advise what should
appropriately be done with her; privately, he promised
her impunity and her kingdom, if she would put Antony to
death. {*Dio, l. 51. (6) 6:19,21} [E755]
5736. After Herod had executed Hyrcanus, he sent a
message to Caesar, because he realised that the
friendship he had shown to Antony would not help him.
[K480] He suspected that Alexandra might use this
opportunity to incite the people to rebel and fill the
kingdom with domestic seditions, so he committed the
care of the kingdom to his brother Pheroras and left his
mother Cypros, his sister Salome, and all his family in
the citadel of Masada. He ordered that, if anything
untoward should happen, his brother Pheroras was to
assume the government of the kingdom. He also placed
his wife, Mariamme, in Alexandrion with her mother
Alexandra, because she could not get along with his
mother, and committed their custody to his steward,
Joseph, and Soemus, an Iturian. These were men who had
always been faithful to him and were now being appointed
to this duty to honour them. However, he ordered that
if they were to know for certain that any sinister
mishap had befallen him, they were to kill both the
ladies at once and to the utmost of their power,
continue the kingdom for his children and his brother
Pheroras. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 6. s. 5.
(183-186) 8:87,89}
5737. After giving these commands, Herod sent to
Rhodes, asking to meet with Caesar there. When Herod
arrived, he only laid aside his crown, but retained his
other princely attire. He was admitted into Caesar's
presence and showed still more fully the greatness of
his spirit by neither turning to supplication, as would
have been natural in the circumstances, nor offering a
petition as if in acknowledgment of transgression.
Instead, he freely confessed the alliance he had with
Antony, as well as the help by way of grain and money
which he had sent Antony, because the Arabian war had
prevented him from helping him in person. Then he added
that he was ready to be a faithful friend of Caesar.
Caesar exhorted him, restored his crown to him and
honoured him exceedingly. So, beyond all expectations,
Herod was again confirmed in his kingdom through the
free gift of Caesar and by a decree of the Senate, which
Caesar obtained for him. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 20. s. 1-2. (387-392) 2:183,185} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 6. s. 6,7. (187-196) 8:89,95}
Strabo also noted that: {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s.
46. 7:299}
"He (Herod) surpassed his ancestors to such a degree,
especially in friendship with the Romans, that he was
declared king, first by Antony and later, when Caesar
granted him the same authority."
5738. We also read that: {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5.
c. 9. 3:191}
"When Augustus was conqueror, he enlarged Herod's
kingdom, which had been given to him by Antony."
5739. To show his generosity, Herod gave presents not
only to Caesar, but his friends as well, and this beyond
his capacity. He also endeavoured to secure a pardon
for Alexas, or Alexander, the Laodicean, who had been
sent to him from Antony. Herod was unable to do so,
because Caesar had sworn that he would punish him, for
he had been the strongest defender of Antony concerning
all the machinations which Cleopatra had used against
Octavia. Consequently, Alexas, taking heart from
Herod's good reception, dared to come into Caesar's
presence. He was promptly taken, put in bonds and
carried into his own country, where he was executed on
Caesar's orders. This was during the lifetime of
Antony, whom he had betrayed. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 20. s. 3. (393,394) 2:185} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 6. s. 7. (197,198) 8:95}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 72. s. 3. 9:303,305}
5740. Antony and Cleopatra sent other envoys to Caesar.
Through them, Cleopatra promised Caesar an enormous
amount of money, while Antony reminded him of the
friendship and family ties existing between them and
made excuses for the familiarity that he had with the
Egyptian woman. Antony recalled the former alliance
between them and the deeds they had done together in
their youth. Furthermore, he turned Publius Turullius
over to Caesar. He was a senator who had been one of
Caesar's murderers and later Antony's friend. Antony
also promised that he would kill himself if, by so
doing, he might obtain security for Cleopatra. Caesar
executed Turullius on the isle of Cos, where Turullius
had felled trees from Aesculapius' Grove, for ship
timber. Caesar sent no reply to Antony. {*Dio, l. 51.
(8) 6:23} [K481]
5741. In the absence of Herod, his wife Mariamme and
his mother-in-law Alexandra were very unhappy at being
confined to the citadel as if in a prison, so that they
could neither enjoy their own estate, nor avail
themselves of other men's goods. They became very upset
when Mariamme, using her feminine flatteries, fished out
of Soemus what orders Herod had given him concerning
them. She then began to wish that Herod would never
return home, believing life with him would be
intolerable. She did not hide her discontent, but
openly said what it was that bothered her. Beyond all
expectations, Herod had returned and now told Mariamme
of the successes he had enjoyed. Not seeming to take
any notice, she would sigh at all the caresses that he
made, so that Herod plainly knew about the hatred his
wife had against him and himself wavered between love
and hatred toward her. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
7. s. 1. (202-208) 8:97-101}
5742. Before Caesar went into Egypt with his army, he
went into Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 6.
s. 7. (198,19) 8:95} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c.
17. s. 3. 1:173} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 74.
s. 1. 9:307} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5743. Phraates and Tiridates were fighting over the
kingdom of Parthia and asked help from Caesar. He did
not reply directly, but said he would consider it at
another time, because of the problems in Egypt. [E756]
In fact, he did nothing, in the hope that the civil war
in Parthia would weaken both sides. {*Dio, l. 51.
(18) 6:51}
5744. Gaius Merius was a centurion who had done
outstanding exploits in the war against Antony. In an
ambush by his enemies, he was surprised and surrounded,
then brought before Antony in Alexandria. Antony asked
him what he thought was an appropriate way to deal with
him. The centurion replied:
"Order to have my throat cut, for I can neither be
sufficiently persuaded by gifts nor by fear of death, to
stop being Caesar's soldier or to start being yours."
5745. Antony pardoned him for his outstanding
character. {*Valerius Maximus, l. 3. c. 8. s. 8.
1:327,329}
5746. Antony and Cleopatra thought it best that their
children should be sent ahead to the Red Sea, with part
of the queen's treasure. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
They placed garrisons in the two corner coasts of Egypt,
at Pelusium and Paraetonium, and prepared a fleet and
forces, for the purpose of starting the war again.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s.
12. 1:327}
5747. Antony sent his son, Antyllus, to Caesar, with a
third embassy and a large amount of gold. Caesar sent
him back again, without either granting his embassy or
giving any answer; he did, however, take his gold. For
the third time, Caesar reiterated the same numerous
threats and promises to Cleopatra. {*Dio, l. 51. (8)
6:23,25}
5748. Caesar sent Thyrsus, who was his freedman and
very discreet, to Cleopatra, to win her over to him.
{*Dio, l. 51. (8) 6:25} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
73. s. 1. 9:305} Caesar was afraid that Antony and
Cleopatra would despair of a pardon and so persist in
their intentions. They would either defeat him by their
own strength, or else go into Spain or Gaul, or
Cleopatra, as she had threatened to do, would burn all
the treasures that she had stored in her tomb. He
therefore sent Thyrsus, who conferred very courteously
with Cleopatra and told her that Caesar was in love with
her. He thereby hoped that she, who was greatly
disposed toward having all men in love with her, would
kill Antony to save herself and her money. {*Dio, l.
51. (8) 6:25}
5749. Caesar himself marched through Syria against
Antony, and his generals through Libya. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 74. s. 1. 9:307} Caesar sent
Cornelius Gallus ahead of him with four of Scarpus'
legions, which had been stationed at Cyrene to guard
that place. [K482] They made a surprise attack on
Paraetonium, which was an important city of Egypt near
the border of Libya, and captured it. {*Dio, l. 51.
(9) 6:25} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5750. When Antony found out about this defeat, he
changed his plans of going into Syria to the gladiators.
Instead, he marched toward Paraetonium, hopeful that he
could easily draw those forces away from Gallus to
himself, since he knew that they were favourably
disposed toward him, because they had been soldiers
together. If that failed, he would win them by force,
for he had brought large naval and land forces with him.
Antony was not even able to talk to these soldiers,
because Gallus ordered all the trumpeters to sound, so
that no one could hear anything. In addition, Antony
sustained some losses through a sudden sally and his
fleet was also defeated. At night, Gallus had laid a
chain, which was hidden underwater, across the mouth of
the harbour. He held the port with a concealed guard
and allowed Antony's ships to sail boldly into the
harbour in contempt of him. When the ships were in the
harbour, he used certain engines to raise the chains up
and prevent the ships from leaving. Then he either
burnt or sank the ships, which were attacked on every
side, by sea and land, and also from the houses. {*Dio,
l. 51. (9) 6:25,27}
5751. At Ptolemais, Herod very royally entertained
Caesar, as he was journeying through Syria into Egypt.
He showed every hospitality toward his army and gave
them plenty of supplies. By this, he became one of
Caesar's best friends and was in the habit of riding
about with him when he mustered his army. Herod also
entertained Caesar and his friends with the service of a
hundred and fifty men, who were clothed in very rich and
sumptuous apparel. (Loeb text amended to read
differently. Editor.) He did not allow them to want for
anything on their march to Pelusium, although those
places were barren and lacked water. Caesar's army
lacked neither wine nor water, which the soldiers
appreciated. He also gave Caesar eight hundred talents.
Indeed, he gave such a good reception, everyone thought
that it was more than the kingdom could afford.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 20. s. 3.
(394,395) 2:185,187} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 6.
s. 7. (198-201) 8:95,97}
5752. Thyrsus convinced Cleopatra that Caesar was in
love with her. She wanted it to be true, because she
had enslaved both Caesar's father and Antony in the same
way. Therefore, she not only hoped for a pardon and the
kingdom of Egypt, but for the Roman Empire itself.
{*Dio, l. 51. (9) 6:27} Antony took Thyrsus, who was
being honoured very highly by her, and whipped him
soundly, then sent him back to Caesar. He wrote that he
had done this, because he had been provoked by his
insulting pride. Antony, who was easily irritable
because of his current bad fortune, said: [E757]
"If you (Caesar) do not like this, you have Hipparchus,
my freedman. Hang him up and whip him and then we shall
be even."
5753. To remove all jealousies and suspicions,
Cleopatra marvellously honoured Antony. In the past,
she had modestly celebrated her birthday, but now she
celebrated his birthday with the greatest splendour and
magnificence she was capable of. Many were invited to
the feast—they came poor, and went away rich.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 73. s. 2,3. 9:305}
5754. It was reported that Caesar had taken Pelusium by
force, but it was really through the treachery of
Cleopatra. {*Dio, l. 51. (9) 6:27,29} There was a
common report that this town had been given to Caesar by
Seleucus, with her consent. To clear herself, she
turned Seleucus' wife and children over to Antony, so he
could execute his revenge on them. {*Plutarch, Antony,
l. 1. c. 74. s. 1,2. 9:307} After Antony was
defeated by Cornelius Gallus at Paraetonium and
immediately after that, at Pharos, he returned to
Alexandria. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} [K483]
5755. Cleopatra had storehouses and monuments built,
which were very exquisite and high. These were joined
to the temple of Isis and there she stored the most
precious things of all her royal treasures like: gold,
silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, ivory and cinnamon.
She also stored a large supply of torch wood and tow
(hemp fibre). Consequently, Caesar was afraid that he
would lose such riches and that, in despair, she would
burn them, so he daily gave her good reasons to hope
while he marched with his army toward the city.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 74. s. 2. 9:307} She
privately forbade the citizens of Alexandria to attack
Caesar, while publicly she encouraged them to do battle
with him. {*Dio, l. 51. (10) 6:27}
5756. Caesar took up his position near the hippodrome
with his army and Antony sallied out, fought valiantly
and routed Caesar's cavalry, driving them right up to
their camp. Encouraged by this victory, he entered the
palace, kissed Cleopatra while in his armour and
recommended a man to her who had fought very
courageously. Cleopatra rewarded the man with solid
gold armour and headpiece, but that very night, after
having received these, he defected to Caesar.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 74. s. 3. 9:307}
5757. Antony shot messages into Caesar's camp, in which
he promised each soldier six thousand sesterces. Caesar
voluntarily read these letters to the soldiers and by
this means caused Antony to be hated more. Caesar tried
to make them feel ashamed over the suggested treachery
and generated enthusiasm for himself. After this, the
soldiers became exceedingly angry that their fidelity
had been questioned and behaved so valiantly, that when
Antony fought in a battle using only his foot soldiers,
he was soundly defeated. {*Dio, l. 51. (10) 6:29}
Another historian also mentioned this: {*Strabo, l. 17.
c. 1. s. 10. 8:43}
"As one goes through the hippodrome, one comes to
Nicopolis, which is a settlement by the sea, no smaller
than a city. It is about four miles from Alexandria.
Caesar Augustus honoured this place, because he defeated
Antony's troops there in a battle."
5758. After this, Antony, through his envoys,
challenged Caesar to a single duel. Caesar replied that
Antony had many ways to die. Therefore, Antony thought
that he could die most honourably by being killed in
battle and determined to attack Caesar by sea and land.
At supper (as it was reported), he bade his servants
drink and feast heartily, as it was uncertain what they
would be doing tomorrow, or what master they would
serve, if he was dead and gone. This made Antony's
friends weep. Then Antony told them that he would not
lead them out to battle, since he was seeking an
honourable death for himself from it, rather than safety
and victory. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 75. s.
1,2. 9:307,309}
5759. About the middle of that night, when the whole
city was quiet and depressed in fear and expectation of
what was coming, it was reported that, suddenly, sweet
music from all types of instruments could be heard.
There was the sound of a large number of people, as at
the feasts of Bacchus, and satyr-like frisking and
dancing, as if it had indeed been the feast of Bacchus
himself, to whom Antony always most likened himself.
The noise was so loud, that this very large gathering
seemed to be located almost in the very middle of the
city. It moved toward that gate which led to the enemy
outside, then finally passed through this gate and so
vanished. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 75. s. 3,4.
9:309} [K484]
5760. Dio reported that, besides this, many other
prodigies foreshadowed the bondage of Egypt. He said it
rained in those places which had never had rain before
and it was not just water, but blood mixed with the
drops. This was not the only sign—there were flashes of
armour from the clouds as this rain fell; a dragon of an
incredible size, which hissed horribly, was suddenly
seen among the Egyptians; comets, and the ghosts of the
dead, appeared also, while the statues seemed to frown
and Apis made a mournful lowing and shed tears. {*Dio,
l. 51. (17) 6:47,49} [E758]
5761. On the first of August, as soon as it was day,
Antony went down to the harbour to organize his fleet.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} But Cleopatra had caused the
fleet to defect from him {*Dio, l. 51. (10) 6:29} and
as soon as Antony's fleet had rowed near the other
fleet, they greeted Caesar's soldiers and defected to
them. Then, combining all the ships into one fleet,
they came to attack the city. While Antony was watching
this, his cavalry deserted him, as did his foot
soldiers. He withdrew into the city and cried out that
he had been betrayed by Cleopatra, for whom he had taken
up arms. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 76. s. 1.
9:309,311}
5762. Cleopatra feared the anger and despair of Antony.
She pretended that she had done this in fear of Caesar
and that she would kill herself. She fled to her tomb
with one eunuch and two maids and sent a message to
Antony that she was dead. He believed her and therefore
wanted his faithful servant, Eros, to kill him. Eros
had long ago promised that he would kill him, if
necessity required it. He drew out his naked sword as
if to strike Antony, but turned his face from him and
killed himself. When he fell at Antony's feet, Antony
said:
"Noble Eros has shown me what must be done by myself,
but could not endure to do it for me."
5763. He stabbed himself in the belly and fell on a
bed. The wound did not bring a speedy death, for the
blood stopped flowing after he laid down. When he had
recovered a little, he asked those who stood around to
thrust him through, but they all fled from the chamber
and left him crying and writhing in pain. After this, a
great tumult arose. When Cleopatra heard it, she looked
out from the top of the tomb, for the door was so
constructed, that, once it was shut, it could not be
opened again. Only the upper parts of it had not yet
been finished. She also sent Diomedes, her secretary,
to bring Antony into the tomb to her. As soon as Antony
knew that she was alive, he arose, because he thought he
might live. However, he lost hope of living because of
his excessive bleeding and with the help of his
servants, was carried to the door of the tomb, as he
requested. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 76,77.
9:311,313} {*Dio, l. 51. (10) 6:29,31} {*Livy, l.
133. 14:163} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 11. 1:327}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 87. s. 1,2. 1:233}
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 11. 8:47} {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s. 4. 1:175} {Eutropius, l.
7.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5764. While this was happening, Dercetaeus, one of his
bodyguards, took Antony's sword and concealed it, then
stole away and ran to Caesar. He was the first one to
tell him of Antony's death, and showed him the
blood-covered sword. When Caesar heard this news, he
withdrew into the innermost room of his tent, where he
greatly bewailed Antony as his relative and colleague,
who had been his companion in many battles and in the
government of the empire. Then he took his letters and
called his friends together and read them to them,
showing them how proudly and rudely Antony had replied
to all his mild and just demands. [K485] Then he sent
Proculeius with orders to take Cleopatra alive, if
possible. Caesar was afraid to lose her treasure and
also thought that she would be a magnificent trophy in
his triumph, if he could take her alive. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 78. s. 1-3. 9:315}
5765. In the interim, Antony was drawn up into the tomb
by ropes which were hung for pulling the stones up.
{*Dio, l. 51. (10) 6:31} They said there was nothing
more lamentable than this sight. Antony was all
besmeared with blood and almost dead. He was tied to
the ropes and drawn up by the great efforts of Cleopatra
and the two servants who were with her, while those who
were underneath him, helped lift him up. Antony
stretched out his hands to Cleopatra and lifted himself
up as well as he could. As soon as Cleopatra had taken
him in, she laid him on a bed. Then she tore off her
headpiece and beat her breasts and scratched her breasts
and face with her own hands. She was all covered in
gore and blood and called him, Master, Husband and
Imperator. She almost forgot her own miseries, in
compassion for him. After Antony had appeased her grief
a little, he called for some wine, either because he was
thirsty, or because he thought it would hasten his
death. After he had drunk it, he advised her to take
care of her own affairs and to save her life, if she
could do so without dishonour. He said that, of all
Caesar's friends, she could trust Proculeius the most.
She should not lament the miserable change in his
fortune, but rejoice at the great good fortune that had
been his, because he had been the most famous and
powerful prince of all men. He was a Roman and had not
been ignobly conquered, a Roman by a Roman. He died
just as Proculeius came from Caesar. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 77,78. 9:313,315}
5766. Caesar sent Gaius Proculeius, who was an
equestrian, and Epaphroditus, his freedman. He told
them both what they should say and do. However,
Cleopatra feared that they would deal harshly with her
and stayed in the tomb. She thought there was no other
way she could procure her safety, but that she might
redeem her pardon and the kingdom of Egypt from Caesar,
through his fear of losing her money. Caesar wished to
get her money and to take Cleopatra alive, so that he
could parade her in a triumph. In spite of this, he was
unwilling to be seen to have tricked her. [E759] After
he had given her a pledge, he wanted to treat her as a
captive and to a certain extent, subdue her against her
will. {*Dio, l. 51. (11) 6:33}
The Empire of the Roman Caesars
3974c AM, 4684 JP, 30 BC
5767. Cleopatra would not entrust herself to Proculeius
but she talked with him from the building as he stood on
the outside at the door, which was at ground level.
Although the door was barred, he could hear what she was
saying. In this meeting, she asked for the kingdom for
her children. Proculeius bade her to be of good cheer
and refer everything to Caesar. When he had adequately
surveyed the place, he reported everything to Caesar,
who sent Gallus back to her, to ask her for an answer.
When he arrived at the door, he deliberately kept her
talking, while Proculeius and two servants set up
ladders and got in at the window through which the women
had taken in Antony. He immediately went down to the
door where Cleopatra sat talking with Gallus. As soon
as she saw Proculeius, she tried to kill herself with a
dagger she had on her belt. Proculeius came running,
restrained her with both his hands and took the dagger
from her. He shook her clothes for fear that she had
some poison hidden on her. This is how Plutarch related
the story. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 78,79.
9:315,317} [K486]
5768. Dio related the events like this: Gaius
Proculeius and Epaphroditus talked with Cleopatra and
offered her very tolerable conditions. Suddenly, before
she had agreed to them, they laid hands on her and
removed anything she might be able to use to kill
herself. They allowed her to stay there some days,
until she had embalmed Antony's body. Then they brought
her into the palace and gave her the customary train of
servants and honour, so that thereby she would be led to
hope that she would get what she wanted and not harm
herself. {*Dio, l. 51. (11) 6:33} As soon as
Cleopatra was captured, one of her eunuchs willingly put
asps on himself and was bitten, then fell into a grave
which he had previously prepared for himself. {*Dio, l.
51. (14) 6:39,41}
5769. At his first approach, Caesar conquered
Alexandria, which was a very rich and large city.
{*Livy, l. 133. 14:163} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s.
6. 8:23} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s. 3.
1:173} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} As he entered
Alexandria, he talked with Areius, a philosopher of
Alexandria. Caesar took him by the right hand, so his
countrymen would honour him the more, when they saw him
so honoured by Caesar. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
80. s. 1. 9:317,319} Caesar had been his student in
philosophy and was very well acquainted with him and his
two sons, Dionysius and Nicanor. {*Seneca, On Mercy, l.
1. c. 10. s. 1. 1:387} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l.
2. c. 89. s. 1. 1:281} {*Plutarch, Precepts of
Statecraft, l. 1. c. 18. 10:241} {*Dio, l. 51.
(16) 6:45} {*Dio, l. 52. (36) 6:175} {Octavius, Julius
Caesar}
5770. Then he went into the gymnasium and ascended a
tribunal, which had been set up especially for him. He
ordered the citizens, who had fallen on their knees
before him in fear, to rise. In a speech, he freely
pardoned all the people for several reasons. (He spoke
in Greek so everyone could understand him.) He pardoned
them for their founder, Alexander, their god Serapis,
for the greatness of the city and for the sake of his
friend, Areius. He also pardoned all of the Egyptians,
because he was unwilling that so many men, who had done
good service for the Romans in many other things, should
be put to death. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 80.
s. 1,2. 9:319} {*Dio, l. 51. (16) 6:45} {Julian, Ad
Alexandria, Epistle 51.}
5771. At the request of Areius, he pardoned many,
including, among others, Philostratus, who was the
ablest sophist of his time. However, when he
incorrectly said that he belonged to the school of the
Academy, Caesar hated his behaviour and rejected
Philostratus' request. As a result, Philostratus let
his beard grow long and followed Areius in mourning,
always repeating this verse:
"A wise man will a wise man save, if wise he be."
5772. When Caesar heard of this, he pardoned him, more
in order to free Areius from envy, than Philostratus
from fear. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 80. s.
2,3. 9:319}
5773. Young Antony, or Antyllus, was the older of the
two sons Antony had by Fulvia, and he was betrothed to
Caesar's daughter, Julia. He fled into the shrine of
the Deified Julius, which Cleopatra had made to honour
Julius Caesar. Caesar took him from the image of Julius
and killed him, after he had made many fruitless
prayers. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 81. s. 1.
9:319} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s. 5.
1:175} {*Dio, l. 51. (15) 6:43} {Orosius, l. 6. c.
19.} As the soldiers beheaded him, Theodorus, his school
teacher, who had betrayed him, took a most precious
jewel from his neck and sewed it into his belt.
Although he denied the deed, it was found on him and he
was crucified. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 81. s.
1. 9:319} [K487] Caesar ordered that Jullus, the other
son of Antony by Fulvia, should receive everything in
the estate. Jullus' freedmen were ordered to give him
all the things which dying men are commanded by the laws
to leave to their heirs. {*Dio, l. 51. (15) 6:45}
[E760]
5774. The children that Antony had by Cleopatra were
very honourably taken care of with their governors and
train of servants who waited on them. Caesar saved and
nourished and cherished them, no less than if they had
been linked in an alliance with him. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s. 5. 1:175} {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 81. s. 2. 9:319}
5775. Of those who favoured Antony, Caesar executed
some and pardoned others, either of his own good will or
through the intercession of friends. {*Dio, l. 51.
(16) 6:45} Among those put to death was Canidius, always
a most bitter enemy to Caesar and unfaithful to Antony.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.} He died in a more cowardly
fashion than seemed fitting for one who had bragged that
he was not afraid of death. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 87. s. 3. 1:235} Quintus Orinius was also put
to death at Caesar's own command, because he was a
senator of the people of Rome, but very dishonourably,
was not ashamed to be governor to the queen's spinners
and weavers. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5776. Antony had many children of kings and princes at
Alexandria. Some were being kept as hostages and others
on false accusations. Caesar sent some of them home,
married others to one another and kept some with him.
He returned Jotape to her father, the king of the Medes,
who had found asylum with him after his defeat. He did
not send Artaxes' brothers back, as he requested,
because he had killed the Romans who had been left
behind in Armenia. {*Dio, l. 51. (16) 6:45}
5777. When he viewed the tomb (which was of glass
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 8. 8:37}) and the body
of Alexander the Great, which had been taken out of the
vault, Caesar put a crown upon it and scattered flowers
over it and worshipped it. As he touched the body, he
broke off a piece of his nose. He was asked if he
wanted to see the bodies of the Ptolemys. The
Alexandrians really wanted him to see them, but he
refused and said that he wished to see a king, not
corpses. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 18. s.
1,2. 1:175} {*Dio, l. 51. (16) 6:45,47} For that very
reason, he would not go to see Apis, because he said he
usually worshipped gods, not cattle. {*Dio, l. 51.
(16) 6:47}
5778. Many great kings and captains desired to bury
Antony, but Caesar refused to take him from Cleopatra,
who buried him in a splendid and magnificent manner.
Caesar allowed her to take as much time as she required
for his funeral. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 82.
s. 1. 9:321}
5779. Due to all her deep sorrow and grief (for her
breasts were covered with inflammations and ulcers from
the blows she had given herself), Cleopatra developed a
fever, which she gladly used as an excuse to stop
eating, so that she would die without any more trouble.
She had a physician whose name was Olympus, to whom she
declared her real intentions and whom she used as a
counsellor and assistant in her death. Olympus recorded
this in his history of these events. When Caesar
suspected this, he threatened both her and her children.
She had allowed herself to become quite sick, but later
she let herself be cured and ate properly. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 82. s. 2. 9:321}
5780. Caesar himself came to visit her shortly after,
and comforted her. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 83.
s. 1. 9:321} She fell down at his feet and tried in
vain to seduce him, but her beauty was beneath the
prince's dignity. [K488] Although he perceived that she
intended to stir up affections in him, he concealed his
feelings and fixing his eyes on the ground, said only
this:
"Woman, be of good cheer, you shall have no harm done to
you."
5781. She was not merely requesting life, which Caesar
had promised her, but she really wanted his love and her
kingdom. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 10,11. 1:327}
{*Dio, l. 51. (12) 6:35,37}
5782. Last of all, she handed over a list to Caesar of
all the treasures she had. When Seleucus, one of her
treasurers, accused her of having omitted some things
and not having told all, she leaped up, took him by the
hair and beat him soundly. When Caesar smilingly
reproved her, she answered:
"It is not a great matter, oh Caesar, since you have
come and visited me in this condition in which I am and
have talked with me, that I should be accused by my own
servants, as if I had kept back some jewels. These were
not for myself, who am a poor wretch, but that I might
present them to Octavia and your Livia. I hoped that by
their intercession to you I might find more mercy and
favour from you."
5783. Caesar was glad about this and hoped that she now
wanted to live. He told her that he would do both this
for her, and other things, beyond her expectations. He
departed, supposing that he had deceived her, but he
had, in fact, been more deceived by her. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 83. s. 3-5. 9:323,325}
5784. There was a young gentleman named Cornelius
Dolabella, who was a close friend of Caesar. This man
was in love with Cleopatra and at her request, he
secretly told her, through a messenger, that Caesar was
to journey by land through Syria and that he was
determined to send her and her children into Italy
within three days. When she learned this, she begged
Caesar to permit her to pay her last respects to Antony.
Once she had done this, she put garlands on the tomb and
kissed it. Then she ordered a bath to be made for her.
After she had bathed, she feasted sumptuously.
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 84,85. 9:325,327}
[E761]
5785. After dinner, she gave Epaphroditus, into whose
charge she had been committed, a letter to carry to
Caesar and pretended it was about some other business.
However, the letter really contained her request to be
buried with Antony. She then excused herself and sent
him on his way. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 84. s.
2. 9:325} {*Dio, l. 51. (13) 6:39}
5786. After Epaphroditus left, Cleopatra shut the doors
and only kept with her two women-in-waiting, Iras, or
Nairas, and Charmion, who usually dressed her. One of
them could expertly do up her hair and the other pared
her nails. Cleopatra adorned herself with the very best
clothes she had. Then on her left arm she put an asp,
which she had asked to have brought to her. The asp had
been covered with figs, grapes and flowers, to deceive
her guards. She died from its bite, as if she were in a
slumber. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 10.11. 1:327}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 87. s. 1,2. 1:233}
{*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 85,86. s. 3,4.
9:327,329} {Galen, De Theriaca Ad Posinem} {*Dio, l.
51. (14) 6:39,41} {Eutropius, l. 7.} {Orosius, l. 6.
c. 19.}
5787. Other historians commented on the deceptive
nature of Cleopatra and doubted whether an asp would
have been able to kill her so quickly. They questioned
if she actually died from the bite of an asp. Some say
that Cleopatra made a large, deep wound in her arm with
her teeth, or some other object, and into this wound put
poison, which she had previously prepared from an asp
and which was brought to her in a bone. After the
poison had entered her body, she peacefully ended her
life without her guards even knowing it. {Galen, De
Theriaca Ad Posinem} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 10.
8:43} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 86. s. 1-3.
9:329} {*Dio, l. 51. (14) 6:39,41} Only two little
pricks were found in her arm. [K489] Caesar, who saw
her dead body, carried a picture of her, with an asp
attached to her arm, in his triumph. {*Plutarch,
Antony, l. 1. c. 86. s. 3. 9:329} {*Dio, l. 51.
(14) 6:39} Horace said this of her death: {*Horace,
Odes, l. 1. c. 37. (25-32) 1:99}
…So stout she could
With cheerful countenance behold,
Her ruined palace, asps receive,
And of their poison them bereave:
By delay in death more keen;
Envies the Liburnians they
Should she, so great a queen,
In triumph lead a secret prey.
5788. When Caesar opened Cleopatra's letters, he knew
at once what had occurred. First, he thought to go
there himself and sent some ahead quickly, to see what
had happened. They ran there as quickly as they could
and found the guards standing before the door, not
knowing what had taken place. When they opened the
door, they found Cleopatra dead, lying on a golden bed
in all her royal robes. Iras, or Nairas, was lying dead
at her feet, where she had fallen, and Charmion,
half-dead and heavy-headed, was trimming the diadem that
she wore. When someone asked her angrily:
"A fine deed, this, Charmion!"
5789. She answered:
"It is, indeed, most fine, and befitting the descendant
of so many kings."
5790. She did not speak another word, but fell down
there by the bedside. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c.
85. s. 3,4. 9:327,329} {*Dio, l. 51. (13,14) 6:39}
When Caesar saw Cleopatra's body, he tried everything
possible to see if she could be revived. He brought in
the Psylli to suck out the venom and poison, but in
vain. (These Psylli are males, for there are no women
born in their tribe, and they have the power to suck out
poison of any reptile, if use is made of them
immediately, before the victim dies; and they are not
harmed themselves when bitten by any such creature.)
{*Dio, l. 51. (14) 6:41} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 17. s. 4,5. 1:175} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5791. Once he was certain that Cleopatra was dead,
Caesar admired and pitied her. He was very grieved,
because he thought that he had lost the main attraction
for his triumph. He ordered that her body be
sumptuously and royally buried and laid in the same tomb
with Antony. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 86. s.
4. 9:329,331} {*Dio, l. 51. (15) 6:41} He performed
this honour for them in that he had them buried in the
same sepulchre and finished the tomb which they had
begun. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 17. s. 4,5.
1:175} Caesar also ordered that her women attendants be
honourably buried. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 86.
s. 4. 9:329,331}
5792. Plutarch wrote that Cleopatra lived thirty-nine
years and reigned twenty-two, which was the number of
years from the death of her father, Ptolemy Auletes.
Some historians—Ptolemy, Clement, Porphyry, Eusebius and
others—assign only twenty-one years and two or three
months to her reign. [E762] Plutarch wrote that she
reigned more than fourteen years with Antony.
Tertullian stated that she reigned thirteen years under
Octavius, calculating the start of the government of
Antony from the death of Julius Caesar and of Octavius'
government from his first consulship. The Macedonian
Empire, according to both Ptolemy and Clement, lasted
two hundred and ninety-four years from the death of
Alexander the Great, who first founded it, to the death
of Antony and Cleopatra, with whom it fell. We deduce
the time as two hundred and ninety-three and a quarter
years. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 86. s. 4.
9:331} {Ptolemy, Canon of Kings} {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 1. c. 8. 3159} {Porphyry, Scaliger's
Greek Eusebius, p. 226.} {*Tertullian, Answer to the
Jews, l. 1. c. 8. 3:159} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:237} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21.
2:329} [K490]
5793. At this time, Caesar put an end to the civil
wars. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 12. 1:327}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 87. s. 1. 1:233}
Dionysius Halicarnassus also confirmed that he came into
Italy as soon as Augustus Caesar had put an end to the
civil wars, in the middle of the 187th Olympiad.
{*Dionysius Halicarnassus, l. 1. c. 7. s. 2. 1:23}
This was the beginning of the third year, in the month
of August, after Egypt had been reduced under the power
of the Romans and an end had been made to their civil
wars. The words of the decree of the Senate are
recorded by Macrobius. {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1.
c. 12.} Censorinus stated that the Egyptians calculated
the years of the Augusti (not of the Yewn Sebaswn, as
Scaliger thought, but of Caesar Augustus, who had the
dominion over them), from the time in which they came
under the power and government of the people of Rome.
{Censorinus, De Die Natali, l. 1. c. 21.} He said
that he wrote this book in the Philippic year of the
Augusti, two hundred and sixty-eight (for thus the best
copies have it, not two hundred and sixty-seven), and
from the death of Alexander the Great, five hundred and
sixty-two years, and from Nabonassar, nine hundred and
eight-six years. (The beginnings of these years were
taken from the first of the moveable month of Thoth of
the Egyptians.) He agreed with Ptolemy, who said that
four hundred and twenty-four Egyptian years elapsed from
the beginning of the reign of Nabonassar to the death of
Alexander, and then a further two hundred and
ninety-four years to the empire of Augustus. {Ptolemy,
Great Syntaxis, l. 3.}
5794. Therefore, that Egyptian epoch began on the first
day of the moveable month of Thoth in the year of the
Philippic account, beginning two hundred and
ninety-three years from the death of Alexander the
Great, which in turn was seven hundred and seventeen
years from Nabonassar. It was, in fact, on the first
day of the week, as is found in a writing of a certain
Jew, recorded at Norimberge with Messahala. Namely, it
was in the month of August in 30 BC, or 4684 JP, on the
31st day, which, according to the incorrect reckoning of
leap years that was being used at Rome at the time, was
called the 29th day of August. This was that epoch of
the years of Augustus, which was accommodated by Ptolemy
to the moveable year of the Egyptians. {Ptolemy, Great
Syntaxis, l. 3. c. 8.} Vettius Valens, an Antiochian,
in book 1 of Anyologwn geneyliakwn, used that epoch and
stated that Augustus ruled Egypt forty-three years, as
Philo also showed. We find, also, that there were many
who calculated Caesar's empire to be that long.
{*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 22. (148) 10:75} {Ptolemy,
Canon of Kings} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21.
2:329}
5795. Cleopatra had sent her son Caesarion, whose
father had been Julius Caesar, through Ethiopia into
India, with a large sum of money. His tutor, Rhodon,
persuaded him to return, as if Caesar had recalled him
to his mother's kingdom. As Caesar was deciding what he
should do with him, Areius, the philosopher, said to
him:
"It is not good that Caesar's name should be too
common."
5796. Consequently, Caesar put him to death, following
on the death of his mother. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1.
c. 81,82. 9:321} {*Dio, l. 51. (6) 6:17,19} {*Dio,
l. 51. (15) 6:43}
5797. The statues of Antony were thrown down, but
Cleopatra's were not touched, because Caesar, for the
sum of two thousand talents, had granted her friend,
Archibilius, that they would not be thrown down, as
Antony's were. {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 86. s.
5. 9:331} [K491]
5798. In the palace, a large amount of money was found,
which had been stored there by Cleopatra from the spoils
of almost all the temples. She had also exacted much
from those who had been found guilty of any crime, while
two thirds of their goods had been demanded of anyone
else who could not be accused of any crime. All the
soldiers' arrears were paid and Caesar also gave a
thousand sesterces to each of the soldiers he had with
him, so they would not plunder the city. Caesar also
paid all the debts he owed to anyone, and gave many
gifts to the senators and equestrians who had
accompanied him in the war. {*Dio, l. 51. (17) 6:49}
[E763]
5799. For this part of the year, Caesar chose as his
colleague in the consulship Marcus Tullius Cicero, who
was the son of Cicero the orator, whom Antony had
murdered. Cicero read out to the people the letters
that Caesar had sent to Rome about the defeat of Antony
in the Alexandrian War (not Actium, as Appian
erroneously wrote). He read the copy of the letters in
the rostrum where his father's head and hand had
previously been publicly displayed. {*Plutarch, Cicero,
l. 1. c. 49. s. 4. 7:209} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l.
4. c. 4. (20) 4:173} {*Appian, Civil Wars, l. 4. c.
6. (51) 4:229} {*Dio, l. 51. (19) 6:53}
5800. The Marble Table at Capua showed that this year,
on the Ides of September (September 13), Marcus Tullius
was chosen as the consul to replace Marcus Licinius,
{Pighius, Annals of Rome, Tom. 3. p. 495.} and that
on the same day: {*Pliny, l. 22. c. 6. 6:305}
"When Augustus was consul with the son of Marcus Cicero,
Augustus was presented with an obsidional (siege) crown
by the Senate; so inadequate was the civic crown thought
to be."
5801. Many crowns and processions were decreed for
Caesar in Rome at that time. He also had another
triumph granted him for subduing the Egyptians. The day
when Alexandria was taken was declared a lucky day, and
the inhabitants were to use that day as the starting
point in their calculations of time. Caesar was given
the tribunal power for the rest of his life. He would
have the power to help anyone asking for it within the
pomoerium or one mile beyond the walls, a privilege not
possessed by any of the tribunes. {*Dio, l. 51. (19)
6:53,55}
5802. Herod wavered between love and hatred toward his
wife Mariamme. He was continually being incensed
against her by the false accusations of his sister
Salome and his mother Cyros, who stirred him up to
hatred and jealousy against her. He may have dealt more
harshly with her, had not the news come, at just the
right time, that Antony and Cleopatra were both dead and
that Caesar had won Egypt. Herod hurried to meet Caesar
and left his family as it was. When he left, he
commended Mariamme to Soemus, and told him that he owed
him a great deal of respect for the concern he had for
her. He also gave him the government of a part of
Judea. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 7. s. 3.
(213-216) 8:103}
5803. Caesar built a city at the place where he had
defeated Antony and called it Nicopolis. He held the
same plays which he previously had held at Actium.
{*Dio, l. 51. (18) 6:49} {*Dio, l. 51. (1) 6:5}
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 10. 8:43}
5804. Caesar organized Egypt into a province, to make
it more fruitful and suitable for producing grain for
the city of Rome. His soldiers scoured all the canals
into which the Nile River overflowed and which had been
choked with mud for a long time. {*Suetonius, Augustus,
l. 2. c. 18. s. 2. 1:175} He also constructed some
new canals. {*Dio, l. 51. (18) 6:49} [K492]
3975a AM, 4684 JP, 30 BC
5805. Herod met with Caesar in Egypt and confident of
his friendship, he spoke freely with him and was highly
honoured by him. Caesar gave him the four hundred Gauls
who had formerly been Cleopatra's bodyguard and added
Gadara, Hippos and Samaria to his kingdom, as well as
the cities of Gaza, Anthedon, Joppa and Straton's Tower.
These additions increased the splendour of his kingdom.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 20. s. 3.
(396,397) 2:187} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 7. s.
3. (216,217) 8:103,105}
5806. Caesar did not commit the province of Egypt to
the Senate because of Egypt's large and fickle
population. Egypt was too important because it was the
source of grain for Rome and it had incredible wealth.
He forbade any senators to live in Egypt and he so
distrusted the Egyptians that he forbade any Egyptian to
become a senator. Other cities were permitted to govern
themselves after their own laws, but he ordered the
Alexandrians to govern the city without senators.
{*Dio, l. 51. (17) 6:47}
5807. Areius, the philosopher, refused the government
of Egypt, although it was offered to him. {Julian, Ad
Themistium} Therefore, Caesar made Cornelius Gallus, who
was of lowly estate, the governor of the province of
Egypt, thus making him the first Roman governor that
Egypt ever had. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 53.
8:135} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 66. s. 1.
1:249} {*Dio, l. 51. (17) 6:47} {Eutropius, l. 7.}
{Sextus Rufus, Breviary} Gallus was from Forum Julium,
which Virgil mentioned in his Eclogue. {*Virgil,
Eclogue, l. 1. c. 10. 1:77} {*Ammianus Marcellinus,
l. 17. c. 4. s. 5. 1:319} {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:246} There are also Erotica (love verses)
extant, which are attributed to him and which were
dedicated by Parthenius of Nice. Virgil imitated his
prose in his Latin verses, {*Aulus Gellius, Attic
Nights, l. 13. c. 27. s. 3. 2:503} {Macrobius,
Saturnalia, l. 5. c. 17.} while Tiberius also
imitated him in his Greek poems. {*Suetonius, Tiberius,
l. 3. c. 70. s. 2. 1:409}
5808. After Caesar had settled affairs in Egypt as he
thought best, he went into Syria with his land forces.
{*Dio, l. 51. (18) 6:49,51} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
Herod escorted him as far as Antioch. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 7. s. 4. (218) 8:105}
5809. Tiridates fled into Syria after being defeated
and Phraates, the conqueror, sent envoys to Caesar.
[E764] Caesar gave them both a friendly answer and did
not actually promise Tiridates any help, but gave him
permission to tarry in Syria. Phraates sent his son to
Caesar with the envoys. He kindly accepted Phraates'
son and brought him to Rome, where he kept him as a
hostage. {*Dio, l. 51. (18) 6:51} He was the youngest
son of Phraates and through the negligence of those who
guarded him, was captured and stolen away, according to
Justin, {Justin, Trogus, l. 42. c. 5.} who, however,
referred this event to a later time.
5810. Caesar departed from Syria. Messala Corvinus
deceived the Cyzicenian gladiators, who had been allowed
to live in Daphne, a suburb of Antioch. They were sent
to various places on the pretext of being enlisted in
the legions and then killed, as opportunities presented
themselves. {*Dio, l. 51. (7,8) 6:23}
5811. Caesar appointed Athenodorus as governor over
Tarsus in Cilicia. He was a citizen of that city and
the son of Sandon, a Stoic philosopher, and had been
Caesar's teacher. [K493] He restored the state, which
had been corrupted by Boethus and his soldiers, who had
domineered there right up to the death of Antony.
Athenodorus was slandered with the following graffiti:
Work for the young men,
Counsels for the middle aged,
And flatulence for the old men.
5812. He took the inscription as a joke and ordered
that Thunder for the old men be written beside it.
Someone, who was contemptuous of all decency and
afflicted with a loose bowel, profusely splattered the
door and wall of Athenodorus' house. The next day, he
said in an assembly: {*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 14.
6:351}
"One may see the sickly plight and the disaffection of
the city in many ways, and in particular from its
excrements."
5813. Caesar went into the province of Asia, where he
organized his winter quarters and settled all the
affairs of his subjects. {*Dio, l. 51. (18) 6:49,51}
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
3975b AM, 4685 JP, 29 BC
5814. On the Calends of January (January 1), Caesar
entered into his fifth consulship while on the island of
Samos. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 26. s. 3.
1:187} On the same day, all his ordinances were
confirmed by oath. At the same time that he received
letters about the Parthian affairs, the following four
things were decreed. In the Parthians' songs he should
be recognised among their gods. A tribe should be
called Julian after him. The senators who had
participated in his victory should take part in the
triumph with him and be arrayed in purple-bordered
togas. Lastly, the day on which he entered Rome should
be solemnised with public sacrifices and always be
considered sacred. {*Dio, l. 51. (20) 6:55}
5815. Caesar permitted temples to be built at Ephesus
and Nicaea (for those were considered the most famous
cities of Asia and Bithynia), and dedicated them to the
city of Rome and to his father Julius. The Romans in
these cities were to honour these deities. He also gave
foreigners, whom he called Greeks, permission to build
temples to him, which was then done by the Asians at
Pergamum and the Bithynians at Nicomedia. He permitted
Pergamum to dedicate the plays, which they called
Sacred, in honour of his temple. {*Dio, l. 51. (20)
6:57} Tacitus stated: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 37.
4:65,67}
"Augustus, of most famous memory, did not forbid a
temple to be built in Pergamum in honour of himself and
the city of Rome."
5816. The next summer, Caesar crossed over into Greece
on his way to his triumph for Actium. {*Dio, l. 51.
(21) 6:59} While he was at Corinth, a fisherman was sent
to him as an envoy from the island of Gyaros. He begged
for the tribute to be reduced, for they were compelled
to pay a hundred and fifty drachmas, when they were
barely able to pay a hundred because the island was so
poor. {*Strabo, l. 10. c. 5. s. 3. 5:165,167}
5817. When Caesar entered Rome, others offered
sacrifices (as had been decreed), and the consul,
Valerius Potitius (who replaced Sextus Apuleius),
sacrificed publicly on behalf of the Senate and people
of Rome for his coming. This had never been done for
anyone before that time. {*Dio, l. 51. (21) 6:59}
Caesar held three triumphs as he rode in his chariot:
one was for the victory in Illyria, and one each for
Actium and Alexandria. This lasted for three days, one
triumph following another. {*Livy, l. 133. 14:163}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 22. 1:181} Virgil
wrote: {*Virgil, Aeneid, l. 8. (714-717) 2:109}
But when thrice Rome with Caesar's triumphs now
Had rung, to the Latin gods he made a vow,
Three hundred temples all the city round
With joy, with plays and with applauses found.
5818. Propertius wrote: {Propertius, Elegies, l. 2.
c. 1.}
Whether of Egypt or Nile, whose
Stream into seven channels parted goes;
Or of the golden chains kings' necks surround,
Or how the Actian beaks sail on the ground. [E765]
5819. Caesar brought three triumphs into the city in
the month of August, as the words of the decree of the
Senate showed. {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c. 12.}
[K494] This did not occur on the 8th of the Ides of
January (January 6), when he was in Asia, as Orosius
wrote. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 20.} On the first day, he
triumphed for the Pannonians, Dalmatians, Japydes and
their neighbours, and for some people of Gaul and
Germany. On the second, he triumphed for his victory at
sea at Actium and on the third, for the conquest of
Egypt. The last triumph was the most costly and
magnificent and he made more preparation for it than all
the rest. In it, the effigy of Cleopatra was carried in
a bed, with an asp biting her arm, showing how she died.
Her children by Antony were led among the captives.
They were Alexander and Cleopatra, who were named the
Sun and Moon. {*Dio, l. 51. (21) 6:61,63}
5820. Alexander, the brother of Jamblichus, the king of
the Arabians, was captured in the Actian war and was led
in triumph, then later put to death. {*Dio, l. 51.
(2) 6:7} The Cleopatra who was called the Moon and was
led in triumph, was given in marriage to Juba, who was
himself led in triumph by Julius Caesar. Caesar gave
this Juba, who was brought up in Italy and had followed
his wars, both this Cleopatra and his father's kingdom
of Maurusia. He gave the two sons of Antony and
Cleopatra to them, also, namely Alexander and Ptolemy,
but Juba later had another son by his wife Cleopatra,
whom he called Ptolemy and who succeeded him in his
kingdom. {*Dio, l. 51. (15) 6:43} {*Strabo, l. 17.
c. 3. s. 7. 8:169} {*Plutarch, Caesar, l. 1. c.
55. s. 2. 7:571} {*Plutarch, Antony, l. 1. c. 87.
s. 1. 9:331}
5821. On the 5th of the Calends of September (August
28), an altar was dedicated to Victory in the
courthouse, as was noted in the old marble calendar.
{Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 133.} It was placed in the
Julian courthouse and decorated with the spoils of
Egypt. Caesar demonstrated that he got the empire
through the goddess Victory. In the temple of his
father Julius, he hung the dedicated items which came
from the Egyptian spoils. He also consecrated many
things to Jupiter Capitoline, Juno and Minerva. By a
decree of the Senate, all the ornaments which had
previously been hung up there, were removed, as being
defiled. {*Dio, l. 51. (22) 6:63} He restored sacred
edifices which had gone to ruin though lapse of time or
had been destroyed by fire, and adorned both these and
other temples with most lavish gifts. Into the shrine
of Jupiter Capitoline he brought one donation of sixteen
thousand pounds of gold, besides pearls and precious
stones, valued at fifty million sesterces. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 30. s. 2. 1:197} Rome was so
greatly enriched with the wealth of Alexandria that the
price of goods and other valuables doubled and the
interest rate fell from twelve to four per cent. {*Dio,
l. 51. (21) 6:61} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 19.}
5822. In the fifth consulship, Caesar accepted the name
of Imperator, but not, according to the old custom, for
some military victory. He had often received this title
before and also received it after this. It was now
given to him because he had saved the whole government.
This had previously been decreed to his father Julius
and his descendants. {*Dio, l. 52. (42) 6:187,189}
The following inscription was placed this year in honour
of Caesar: {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 126.}
"Senatus Populusque Romanus Imp. Caesari Divi Iuli F.
Cos. Quinct. Col. Design. Sex. Imp. Sept.
Republica conservata."
"The Senate and people to the Imperator Caesar, the son
of Julius of blessed memory, consul the fifth time,
elected the sixth time Imperator the seventh for having
saved the commonwealth."
5823. Diocles Phoenix, the son of Artemidorus, was
among the captives. He was the scholar of Tyrannio
Amisenus and had been captured by Lucullus. [K495]
Diocles was called Tyrannio, after his teacher's name.
Diocles was bought by Dimantis, a freedman of Caesar's,
and was given to Terentia, the wife of Cicero. Terentia
lived more than a hundred and three years. {*Pliny, l.
7. c. 48. 2:613} {*Valerius Maximus, l. 8. c. 13.
s. 6 2:265,267} Diocles was freed by her and taught at
Rome, where he wrote sixty-eight books. {Suidas, in
Voc. Turanniwn.}
3976a AM, 4685 JP, 29 BC
5824. Caesar summoned Antiochus of Commagene before
him, because he had treacherously killed an envoy who
had been sent to Rome by his brother, who was at
variance with him. Caesar brought him before the Senate
and when judgment was passed, he was put to death.
{*Dio, l. 52. (43) 6:191}
5825. For a whole year after Herod returned from
Caesar, his suspicions of his wife Mariamme daily
increased, as did the tensions between them. Apart from
avoiding her husband's caresses, she constantly
upbraided him for the death either of her grandfather
Hyrcanus or her brother Aristobulus, so that Herod could
barely restrain himself from striking her. When his
sister Salome heard the noise, she was greatly disturbed
and sent in the butler, who had been prepared by her a
long time before, to tell the king that he had been
solicited by Mariamme to deliver a love potion to him
which, whatever it was, he had gotten from her.
Thereupon, Herod examined the most faithful servant of
Mariamme by torture, because he knew that she would do
nothing without his knowledge. He could not endure the
torments but confessed nothing except that she had been
offended about some things that Soemus had told her.
When the king heard this, he cried out that Soemus, who
had always been completely faithful both to him and the
kingdom, would never have spoken of these things, had
there not been some more secret friendship between them.
[E766] Consequently, he ordered Soemus to be apprehended
and put to death, then called a council of his friends
and accused his wife of planning to poison him. He used
such sharp words, that those present easily understood
that the king intended her to be condemned. So she was
condemned by the common consent of everyone present.
When they thought that she should not be executed
hurriedly, but detained in one of the king's citadels,
Salome urged the king insistently to have her killed at
once, because she feared that there could be a revolt
among the people if she were alive and in prison and so
Mariamme was executed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
7. s. 4. (218-231) 8:105-111}
5826. Her mother Alexandra saw this and realised she
could expect the same treatment from Herod. To clear
herself of involvement in the same crime, she upbraided
her daughter before everyone and called her extremely
wicked and ungrateful toward her husband, saying that
she had deserved such a death, since she had dared to do
such a heinous act. Even though she pretended these
things and would pull her daughter by the hair, those
present severely condemned her hypocrisy. Her daughter
did not reply but endured the false accusation with
resolute mental and physical composure, undergoing her
death without fear. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 7.
s. 5. (232-236) 8:111,113}
5827. After she was executed, Herod began to be more
inflamed with love for her, often calling her name and
lamenting her far beyond what was becoming. Although he
tried to forget her by seeking pleasure in feasting and
drinking, nothing worked. As a result, he forgot about
the government of his kingdom and was so overcome with
grief, that he would ask his servants to call for
Mariamme as though she were still alive. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 7. s. 7. (240-242) 8:113,115}
3976b AM, 4686 JP, 28 BC
5828. While Herod was thus affected, a plague occurred,
which killed a large number of the people and nobility.
[K496] Everyone believed that this plague had been sent
because of the unjust death of the queen, which merely
increased the king's depression, until he finally hid
himself in a solitary wilderness, on the pretext of
hunting. He afflicted himself and succumbed to a
serious and painful inflammation of the neck, so that he
began to rave. None of the remedies relieved him, but
rather made the disease more painful, so that they began
to despair for his life. The physicians let him have
whatever he wanted, because the disease was so serious
and he was in so great a danger of dying, anyway.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 7. s. 7. (243-246)
8:115,117}
5829. While Herod was sick in Samaria, Alexandra tried
to capture the two citadels at Jerusalem. One was
joined to the temple and the other was located within
the city. So she plied their governors with the request
that they would surrender them to her and to Mariamme's
children, lest they be seized by others, if Herod were
to die. The men who had formerly been faithful, were
now even more diligent in their office because they
hated Alexandra and thought it a great offence to give
up on the health of their prince. These men were the
king's old friends and one of them, Achiabus, was the
king's cousin, so they promptly sent messengers to Herod
to tell him of Alexandra's actions and he soon ordered
her to be killed. At length, he overcame his disease
and was restored to his former strength, both of body
and mind but he had grown so cruel, that he was ready to
put anyone to death for the least cause. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 7. s. 8. (247-252) 8:117,119}
5830. Suetonius noted the three times that Octavius
took a census of the people. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l.
2. c. 27. s. 5. 1:191} The first one was carried
out in the lustrum, that is, the first year of the five
years, or lustrum, when he and Marcus Agrippa were
consuls. This is shown from the Marble Table of Capua.
{Pighius, Annals of Rome, Tom. 3. p. 495.} {Gruter,
Inscriptions, p. 230.}
"In my sixth consulship, with my colleague Marcus
Agrippa, I numbered the people and I made another census
after forty-one years."
5831. That is, from the censorships of Gnaeus Lentulus
and Lucius Gellius, after whom the musters were laid
abandoned.
"In the census, Rome had forty hundred thousand and
sixty three thousand citizens."
5832. That is, 4,063,000 for which Eusebius had
4,164,000. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:245}
5833. Together with Marcus Agrippa, Caesar held the
festival that had been decreed for the victory at
Actium. In this festival, he showed men and boys from
the patricians, fighting on horseback. This festival
was held every four years and was committed to the four
orders of the priests to arrange, namely the chief
priests, the augurs, the Septemviri and the
Quindecimviri. {*Dio, l. 53. (1) 6:195}
5834. In the 188th Olympiad, Thebes in Egypt was razed
to the ground by Cornelius Gallus. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:246} [E767] Georgius Syncellus,
from the writings Julius Africanus, stated that Gallus
defeated the cities of the rebellious Egyptians.
{Georgius Syncellus, Chronicles, p. 308.} With a few
men, he recovered Heroonpolis, which had revolted. He
very suddenly put down a revolt that had been raised
about taxes. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 53.
8:135,137} He drained the city through extensive
embezzlements {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 17. c. 4.
s. 5. 1:319} and erected statues for himself across
almost all of Egypt and wrote his own acts on the
pyramids. {*Dio, l. 53. (23) 6:255}
3977 AM, 4687 JP, 27 BC
5835. When Caesar was consul for the seventh time, he
read a speech in the Senate saying that he would resign
his government and turn it over to the Senate and the
people. [K497] When he had ended his speech, many spoke
and expressed the desire that he alone should take the
whole administration of the government upon himself.
Finally, they convinced him to assume the whole
government, though many believed that this was just a
ruse on his part. {*Dio, l. 53. (2) 6:199} {*Dio, l.
53. (11) 6:217,219} He did this on the 7th of the Ides
of January (January 7), as recorded on the Marble Tables
of Narbon. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 229.}
5836. In this way, Caesar had the empire confirmed to
him by the Senate and the people. To appear democratic,
he took the empire upon himself, but said he would be
very careful of the public affairs because they required
the care of someone diligent. He said explicitly that
he would not govern all the provinces. Also, he would
not govern the ones that he was governing at present, if
he could turn them over to the Senate sooner. As a
result, he restored to the Senate the weaker provinces,
because they were the more peaceable, while he retained
the stronger provinces, where there was more danger, or
that had enemies close by, or that were likely to have
seditions. He did this under the pretence that the
Senate might safely govern the best parts of the empire,
while he would assume the harder, more dangerous
provinces. This was merely a pretext to render them
disarmed and unfit for war, and so allowing him to win
both the arms and the soldiers to his side. For this
reason, Africa, Numidia, Asia and Greece, with Epirus,
Dalmatia, Macedonia, Sicily, Crete, Libya, Cyrene,
Bithynia with the adjoining Pontus, Sardinia and
Hispania Baetica were assigned to the Senate. Caesar
governed the rest of Spain, all Gaul, Germany,
Coelosyria, Cilicia, Cyprus and Egypt. He assumed this
government over the provinces for a period of ten years,
promising himself that within this time he would easily
reduce them to order. He also added, in a bragging way,
like a young man, that if he could subdue them in a
shorter time, then he would hand them over sooner, as
well, for the Senate to manage. He then appointed
patricians as governors over all the provinces.
However, over Egypt he appointed a man who was an
equestrian, not a senator, for the reasons stated
previously. {See note on 3975a AM. <<5806>>}
He gave
Africa and Asia to the ex-consuls on his own authority,
and assigned all the rest of the provinces to those who
had been praetors. He forbade that they receive any
provinces by lot, until the fifth year after they had
held an office in the city. {*Dio, l. 53. (12-14)
6:219-227}
5837. On the Ides of January (January 13), the
provinces were allocated, as Ovid noted, speaking thus
about Caesar Germanicus: {*Ovid, Fasti, l. 1.
(587-590) 5:45}
On the Ides the half-man priest in Jove's great feign
Offers the entrails of a sheep with flame,
Then all the provinces came to us, and then
Thy grandsire was Augustus named among men.
5838. On the same day, Caesar received the title of
Augustus. Censorinus {Censorinus, De Die Natali, l. 1.
c. 21.} showed that this took place on the fourth day
after the allocation of the provinces:
"On the 16th day before the Calends of February (January
17), the Emperor Caesar, the son of him of blessed
memory, on the motion of Lucius Munacius Plancus, was
greeted as Augustus by the Senate and the rest of the
citizens. He was consul for the seventh time and Marcus
Vipsanius Agrippa was the other consul, for the third
time."
5839. When Caesar had settled everything and organized
the provinces into a certain form, he was surnamed
Augustus. {*Livy, l. 134. 14:163} [K498] This name
was given to him in his seventh consulship and at the
request of Plancus, with the consent of the whole Senate
and the people of Rome. {*Dio, l. 53. (16) 6:235}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 91. s. 1. 1:243}
Suetonius wrote: {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 7.
s. 2. 1:159}
"The motion of Munatius Plancus, that Caesar should be
called Augustus, prevailed (though some were of the
opinion that he should be called Romulus, as if he had
also been a founder of the city), not only because it
was a new, but also a more honourable, name. [E768] The
sacred places and those in which anything is consecrated
by augural rites, are called Augusta, from the increase
in dignity, or from the movements or feeding of birds,
as Ennius also indicated, when he wrote: After by augury
augustus illustrious Rome had been founded."
5840. Florus stated: {*Florus, l. 2. c. 34. 1:351}
"It was also debated in the Senate whether he should be
called Romulus, because he had founded the empire.
However, the name Augustus seemed to be the more holy
and venerable, so that while he now lived on earth, he
might be deified by the name and title itself."
5841. Dio said many similar things and noted that he
was called Augustus by the Romans and the Greeks,
because of the splendour of his dignity and the sanctity
of the honour. The term Augustus signified that he was
more than human for all the most precious and sacred
objects were termed augusta. {*Dio, l. 53. (16)
6:235} cf. {Ac 25:21,25 27:24 2Th 2:4} Ovid added:
{*Ovid, Fasti, l. 1. (607-614) 5:45}
All common persons have their common fame,
But he with Jove enjoys an equal name,
Of old, most sacred things Augusta were:
Temples that name, and hallowed things, do bear:
Yea, augury depends upon this word,
And whatever more Jove does afford:
Let it enlarge his rule and live let all,
Our coast, be guarded by a fenced wall.
5842. In this way, the whole power of the people and
Senate was conferred upon Augustus. {*Dio, l. 53.
(18) 6:235} This name had previously been held sacred
and until now, no governor had dared assume it. He took
so expansive a title for the usurped empire of the
world, and from that day, its whole commonwealth and
government began to be and to remain in the possession
of one man. The Greeks called this a monarchy.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 20.} The Romans began the epoch of
their Augustus from the Calends of January (January 1).
Censorinus compared the 265th year of this account with
the 283rd year of the Julian account. He, in the next
chapter, put the consulship of Marcius Censorinus and
Asinius Gallus in the twentieth year of Augustus, which
was the 38th year of the Julian account, from the time
of Julius Caesar's calendar reform. {Censorinus, De Die
Natali, l. 1. c. 21,22.}
5843. Tralles, a city in Asia, was destroyed by an
earthquake. The gymnasium collapsed and was later
rebuilt by Tiberius Caesar. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:246} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 8. s. 18. 5:517}
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 47. 3:459}
3978 AM, 4688 JP, 26 BC
5844. Costobarus, the Idumean, and his wife Salome,
Herod's sister, had a disagreement. She, contrary to
the custom of the Jews, sent him a bill of divorce and
went to her brother Herod and told him that she
preferred her brother's goodwill over her marriage.
[K499] She said that Costobarus was plotting seditions
with Lysimachus, Antipater and Dositheus. To make her
story more credible, she said that he had now secretly
kept and guarded Baba's children, within his country,
for twelve years from the time of the taking of
Jerusalem by Herod. All this had been done without the
knowledge and goodwill of the king. As soon as Herod
knew, he sent some men to their hiding places and killed
them, along with all who were accomplices in the crime.
He did this, so all of Hyrcanus' family would be killed
thereby removing any threat to the throne, so there
would be no one to resist him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 7. s. 9,10. (253-266) 8:119-127}
5845. Herod became more secure and departed more and
more from his country's customs, which he violated with
new institutions. First of all, he instituted wrestling
every fifth year, in honour of Caesar. To hold this, he
began to build a theatre in Jerusalem and an
amphitheatre in the plain. Both were of sumptuous
workmanship, but in direct violation of Jewish customs.
[E769] There was no Jewish tradition for these shows,
but he wanted this observed and proclaimed to the
countries around him, as well as to the foreign
countries. He offered large prizes and invited athletes
and other classes of contestants and musicians and
actors. Nothing bothered the Jews as much as the
trophies, which were covered with armour and which they
thought to be images, since such were forbidden by their
law. To appease them, Herod ordered the ornaments to be
removed and showed them that the trophies were merely
wooden poles. After this was done, their anger turned
into laughter. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 8. s.
1,2. (267-279) 8:127-133}
5846. The Fifth Calippic Period began.
5847. Cornelius Gallus spoke many things against
Augustus, with great vanity. {*Dio, l. 53. (23)
6:255} Ovid wrote the following with reference to
Gallus: {*Ovid, Tristia, l. 2. (445,446) 6:87}
To court Lycoris was not Gallus' shame,
But he, when lisped by drink, defiled his name.
5848. Augustus noted Gallus' infamy and forbade him his
house, as well as to live within any of the provinces,
because he was so ungrateful and malevolent. Gallus was
also accused of robbery, of pillaging the provinces and
of many other crimes, at first by Valerius Largus, who
was a very wicked man, as well as being his associate
and friend. Later, many others, who had previously
flattered Gallus, accused him. They left him, when they
saw Largus become more powerful. It was decreed by the
whole Senate that Gallus was guilty and should be
banished. All his goods were to be confiscated for
Augustus and because of this, the Senate would offer
sacrifices. Gallus was not able to handle his grief,
fearing that the nobility were highly incensed against
him, to whom the care of this judgment had been
committed. He fell upon his own sword and by his
suicide prevented his condemnation. Gallus was forced,
by the testimony of his accusers and by the decree of
the Senate, to kill himself. Augustus actually praised
their love toward himself, for being so displeased for
his sake. In spite of this, Augustus wept and bewailed
his own misfortune, that he alone could not be angry
with his friends, as much as he was with himself.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 66. s. 1,2. 1:249}
{*Dio, l. 53. (23) 6:255} {*Ammianus Marcellinus, l.
17. c. 4. s. 5. 1:319,321} {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:246} [K500]
5849. Petronius was appointed the new governor, to
replace Gallus in Egypt. With only his bodyguards, he
withstood the charge of a number of the Alexandrians,
who threw stones at him. He killed some of them and
subdued the rest. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 53.
8:137}
5850. Polemon, the king of Pontus, was included among
the allies and confederates of the people of Rome. The
senators were given the privilege of having the front
seats in the theatres throughout his whole kingdom.
{*Dio, l. 53. (25) 6:257} It seems that it was from
him that Pontus took the name of Polemoniacus. {Justin,
Novella, 8.}
3979 AM, 4689 JP, 25 BC
5851. Ten citizens of Jerusalem conspired against
Herod, hiding their swords under their garments. One of
them was blind and joined them to show that he was ready
to suffer anything that would happen to the defenders of
their country's rights. One of the men whom Herod had
appointed to find out such things, discovered the plot
and told Herod. When the conspirators were apprehended,
they boldly drew out their swords and proclaimed that it
was not for any personal gain, but for the public good,
that they had undertaken this conspiracy. At this, they
were led away by the king's officers and executed with
all manner of tortures. Shortly after this, the spy who
had exposed the plot and was hated by everyone, was
killed by some men, cut in pieces and thrown to the dogs
in the presence of many. The murderers were not caught
until long and wearisome inquisitions had been
undertaken by Herod. With the use of torture, it was
wrung out of some silly women who had known of the act.
Then the authors of that murder were punished, along
with their whole families. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15.
c. 8. s. 3-5. (281-291) 8:133-139}
5852. So that he would be more secure from the
seditions of the tumultuous people, Herod began to
fortify Samaria in the thirteenth year of his reign (to
be reckoned from the death of Antigonus). Samaria was a
day's journey from Jerusalem and he called the place
Sebaste, which was Greek for the Latin name of Augusta.
It had a circumference of two and a half miles, and in
the very middle of a precinct three hundred yards in
circumference he built an exquisitely adorned temple.
He arranged for many of the soldiers who had always
helped him, as well as people of the neighbouring
countries, to come and live there. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 15. c. 8. s. 5. (296-298) 8:141,143} [E770]
Georgius Syncellus, quoting from Africanus, called it
the city of the Gabinians, for Samaria was destroyed by
John Hyrcanus, then rebuilt by Aulus Gabinius and
repopulated with the name of Gabiniun or Gabineiun.
{Georgius Syncellus, Chronicles, p. 308.} {See note on
3947b AM. <<4644>>} This can be understood
only as the
colony which Gabinius brought there. I am pleased that
this was also noted by that man of learning and good
breeding, James Goarus. The recent famous edition of
the Georgian Chronicle was published due to his great
industry.
5853. Herod also built another citadel, previously
called Straton's Tower, to control the country. He
named it Caesarea. He also built a citadel in the large
plain and selected men from his cavalry by lot, to guard
it. He built Gaba in Galilee and Hesebonitis in Peraea.
All these citadels were strategically located in the
country, so as to permit him quickly to put down any
rebellion of the people. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15.
c. 8. s. 5. (293,294) 8:139,141}
5854. Augustus began his ninth consulship in Tarraco (a
city of the Nearer Spain), in the 3rd year of the 188th
Olympiad. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 26. s.
3. 1:187} The Indians asked for friendly relations with
Augustus. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:246} [K501]
King Pandion sent envoys, as we have also found noted on
some Roman tables. {Georgius Syncellus, Chronicles, p.
311.}
5855. Publius Orosius stated that envoys from the
Indians came to Augustus at Tarraco, who were from the
most distant part of the east and from the Scythians
from the north, with presents from both their nations.
{Orosius, l. 6. c. 21.} Horace wrote these verses
about this occasion: {*Horace, Carmen Saeculare, l. 1.
(55,56) 1:355}
The lofty Scythian and the Indians late,
Came for the answer of their future fate.
5856. Horace, in an ode to Augustus, wrote: {*Horace,
Odes, l. 4. c. 14. (41,45) 1:341}
The yet untamed Cantaber in thee,
Mede, Indian, Scythian do mirrors see:
Thou that preservest Italy from dread,
And Rome, her glory and exalted head.
5857. Florus wrote: {*Florus, l. 2. c. 34.
1:349,351}
"The Scythians and Samatians sent their envoys and
desired friendship. The Seres (Chinese) and the
Indians, who live beneath the sun, brought presents
which included precious stones, pearls and elephants.
Nothing spoke so much for their sincerity as the length
of the journey, which had lasted four years. The
complexion of the men seemed as if they had come from
another world."
5858. Suetonius wrote: {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 21. s. 3. 1:179}
"He induced the Scythians and Indians (countries known
only by name) to make suit of their own accord through
envoys, for amity with him and the people of Rome."
5859. Eutropius also wrote: {Eutropius, l. 7.}
"The Scythians and Indians, to whom the Roman name was
unknown, sent presents and envoys to him."
5860. To conclude, Aurelius Victor listed several other
countries also:
"Indians, Scythians, Garamantians and Bactrians sent
envoys to him, to desire a league with him."
5861. After Amyntas died, Augustus did not turn over
the kingdom to his sons, but made it a Roman province.
From that time on, Galatia and Lycaonia had a Roman
governor. {*Dio, l. 53. (26) 6:261} Marcus Lollius,
the propraetor, governed that province. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:246} {Eutropius, l. 7.} {Sextus
Rufus, Breviary} The towns of Pamphylia, however, which
had formerly been given to Amyntas, were restored to
their own district. {*Dio, l. 53. (26) 6:261,263}
5862. In the thirteenth year of Herod's reign, very
grievous calamities befell the country of the Jews.
First, there was a continual drought, followed by a
famine. The change in diet necessitated by the famine,
caused a pestilent disease in the land. Herod did not
have sufficient means to supply the public needs, so he
melted down everything in the palace that contained gold
or silver. He spared nothing, no matter how exquisitely
it was made, and even melted down his own dinner plates
and cups. He made money from this and sent it to Egypt
while Petronius was governor there. [E771] Even though
Petronius was plagued by a number of people who had fled
to him from the famine, because he was privately Herod's
friend and desired the preservation of his subjects, he
nonetheless gave permission to the Jews in particular to
export grain. Petronius helped them in the buying and
shipping of the grain, so that the greatest means of the
preservation of the country was attributed to Petronius.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 9. s. 1,2. (299-316)
8:143-151}
5863. As soon as Herod received the grain, he very
carefully apportioned it to those who could not take
care of themselves. [K502] Since there were many who,
through old age or some other disability, could not
prepare it for themselves, he assigned certain cooks to
them, so that they might have their food prepared.
Because of his diligence, the people changed their minds
about him and he was praised as a bountiful and
providential prince. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
9. s. 2. (309-316) 8:147-151}
5864. From the 29th of August (that is, the 3rd day
before the beginning of the Syrian month of Elul, or of
our September), on the sixth day of the week, the
Egyptian epoch started which Albatenius calls Al-Kept
(that is, the epoch of the Coptitiae or Egyptians).
{Albatenius, Al-Kept, l. 1. c. 32.} He said the
account and order of the motions of the stars were
determined from Theon's calculations. Albatenius said
that from the epoch of Dilkarnain (or of the Seleucidae,
which he began with the Syrians, from the beginning of
Elul or September), two hundred and eighty-seven years
had passed to this time. This is how it reads in the
manuscript, not, as published, three hundred and
eighty-seven years. For in this year, the first day of
the month of Thoth—both in the moveable year of the
Egyptians as in the fixed year of the Greeks and
Alexandrians (as Theon wrote)—was found to fall upon the
same day of August 29. This happens only after the full
period of one thousand four hundred and sixty of the
Alexandrian years and one thousand four hundred and
sixty-one of the Egyptian years have passed, when their
year lines up again with the solar year and the seasons
fall on the correct dates. Theon stated:
"This renewing happened after one thousand and four
hundred and sixty years from a certain beginning of
time, namely, the fifth year of the reign of Augustus."
5865. This is according to Theon, in the explanation of
mt pente eth, that ended at this time or five years
after the beginning of the empire of Augustus. Both
Theon and Ptolemy agreed that this renewing began two
hundred and ninety-four years after the death of
Alexander, or the Philippic account. From this
Philippic account even to this renewing are two hundred
and ninety-nine years, as correctly noted in the
astronomical epitome of Theodorus Metochita. Panodorus,
the Alexandrian monk, did not intend anything else in
discussing this period and constitution of one thousand
four hundred and sixty years which happened on August 29
from the epoch about which he wrote that account. The
motions of the stars and the eclipses are to be ordered
in the astronomical calculations. However Georgius
Syncellus, who was very unskilled in these matters,
clearly perverted the meaning because he did not
understand it. {Georgius Syncellus, Chronicles, p.
312,313.}
3980a AM, 4689 JP, 25 BC
5866. Herod provided for his subjects against the
harshness of the winter, so that everyone would have
proper clothing, since their cattle were dead and there
was a shortage of wool and other things. When he had
provided for his own subjects, he also took care of the
neighbouring cities of the Syrians. He also gave seed
for sowing. All the citadels and cities, and the common
people who had large families, came to Herod for help
and he was able to help the foreigners, too. He gave
ten thousand cors of grain to foreigners and eighty
thousand cors to his own subjects. (One cor equals ten
Athenian medimni, and one Athenian medimni equals six
bushels.) {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 9. s. 2.
(310-314) 8:149,151}
5867. Since Augustus was ill, he could not attend the
marriage at Rome of his daughter and Marcellus, the son
of his sister Octavia. He solemnised it with the help
of Marcus Agrippa. {*Dio, l. 53. (27) 6:265} [K503]
3980b AM, 4690 JP, 24 BC
5868. On the Calends of January (January 1), when
Augustus entered his tenth consulship, the Senate
confirmed with an oath that they approved of all his
acts. He had promised every man in Rome four hundred
sesterces.
5869. As he approached the city, from which he had been
absent for a long time because of his illness, he said
that before he would give the money, the Senate must
give their assent. The Senate then freed him from legal
constraints and declared that he should have absolute
power and be sole emperor, with power to do as he
wished. {*Dio, l. 53. (17) 6:235} {*Dio, l. 53.
(28) 6:265,267}
5870. As soon as the grain was ready to harvest, Herod
sent fifty thousand men, whom he had fed during the
famine, back to their own countries and to his
neighbours, the Syrians. By his diligence, Herod
restored the almost ruined circumstances of his own
subjects and greatly helped his neighbours, who had been
afflicted with the same calamities. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 15. c. 9. s. 2. (312-313) 8:149}
5871. At the same time, Herod sent five hundred select
men to Caesar for his bodyguards. Aelius Gallus led
these men to the wars with Arabia, where they performed
valiantly. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 9. s. 3.
(317) 8:151} [E772]
5872. Aelius Gallus (incorrectly called Aelius Largus
in the later editions of Dio) was of the equestrian
order, according to Pliny. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 32.
2:459}
5873. He was the third governor of Egypt under
Augustus. He was also the friend and companion of
Strabo, {*Strabo, l. 2. c. 5. s. 12. 1:453,455}
who wrote that the two of them together saw the statue
of Memnon at Thebes. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 46.
8:123} Augustus sent him into Arabia with part of the
Roman garrison stationed in Egypt, so that he might try
to subdue those countries. {*Strabo, l. 2. c. 5. s.
12. 1:453,455} {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 54.
8:137} This was on the border which Egypt shared with
the Ethiopians and Troglodytes, near the Arabian Gulf
(Red Sea). The land was very narrow there and separated
the Arabians from the Troglodytes. Augustus advised him
to make peace with them if they were willing, otherwise,
to subdue them by force. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s.
32. 7:353,355}
5874. For this expedition into Arabia, Aelius built
eighty ships of two and three tiers of oars and some
light galleys at Cleopatris, which was near the old
canal of the Nile River. When there was no chance of
any naval battle with the Arabians, he corrected his
mistake and built a hundred and thirty cargo ships. He
sailed with ten thousand Roman foot soldiers and some
allied forces, which included five hundred Jews and a
thousand Nabateans under Syllaeus. {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 4. s. 23. 7:355,357}
5875. At that time, Obadas was king of the Nabateans
and was a slothful and lazy man, especially about
military matters. This was a common vice of all the
Arabian kings. He had committed the government of his
affairs to Syllaeus, who was a young, crafty man.
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s. 24. 7:357} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 7. s. 6. (220,221) 8:297}
Syllaeus had promised Aelius that he would be his guide
and would help him with provisions and anything he
should need, but he acted treacherously in all matters.
He did not lead them safely, by land or sea, but through
byways and circuitous, barren routes. He took them to
shores that were unfit for harbour and had dangerous
submerged rocks or miry bogs, because the sea never
refreshed those places. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s.
23. 7:357}
5876. After many miseries, Aelius Gallus reached the
territory of Album (Leuce Come, that is, the White
Village) in fourteen days. This was the largest trading
place of all the Nabateans. [K504] He had lost many of
his ships, along with some of his men, who died, not
from war, but from the difficult trip. These
difficulties were caused by the villainy of Syllaeus,
who had said that no army could be brought into the
territory of Album by land, when, in fact, merchants
came and went there by land, with large numbers of
camels and men. The way they took was both safe and
well supplied with provisions from one end of Arabia
Petra to the other. So many came and went in caravans,
they seemed like an army in number. {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 4. s. 23. 7:357}
5877. When the army of Aelius arrived there, it was
stricken with the diseases of stomacaccis (scurvy) and
scelotyrbe, both of which were diseases found in that
country. One was, as it were, a palsy of the mouth and
the other a lameness in the legs. These were caused by
the bad water and the plants they ate. Because of this,
Aelius was forced to stay there a whole summer and
winter, to refresh his sick men. {*Strabo, l. 16. c.
1. s. 24. 7:357,359}
5878. Zenodorus leased the land of Lysanias or the
territory of Trachonitis, Batanea and Auranitis.
Because he was not satisfied with its profits, he joined
up with the Trachonites, who lived in caves like wild
beasts. They were accustomed to rob and plunder the
Damascenes. The people who lived in those countries
were forced to complain to Varro, their governor of
Syria. They asked if he would send letters to Caesar,
telling of the wrongs done by Zenodorus. Caesar wrote
back that he would take special care utterly to root out
these thieves. Consequently, Varro attacked the
suspected places with his soldiers, purged the land from
the thieves and took away the country from Zenodorus.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 20. s. 4.
(398,399) 2:187,189} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
10. s. 1. (343-348) 8:167,169}
5879. Herod built a palace in Zion which contained two
very large and stately houses, and with which the temple
itself could in no way compare. He called one of them
Caesarea, after Caesar, and the other Agrippium, after
Agrippa. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 21. s.
1. (402) 2:189,191} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 9.
s. 3. (318) 8:153}
3981a AM, 4690 JP, 24 BC
5880. The 29th Jubilee.
3981b AM, 4691 JP, 23 BC
5881. Herod removed Jesus, the son of Phabes, from the
priesthood and replaced him with Simon, a priest of
Jerusalem, who was the son of Boethus of Alexandra and
whose daughter, Mariamme, Herod married. She was the
most beautiful woman of that time. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 15. c. 9. s. 3. (320-322) 8:153,155}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 4. (136) 9:93}
[E773]
5882. After the marriage was over, Herod began to build
a new palace, and next to it he made a town, called
Herodion, after himself. This place was about seven and
a half miles from Jerusalem toward Arabia, and was the
spot where he had defeated the Jews when he was thrust
out by the armies of Antigonus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
14. c. 16. s. 2. (481,482) 7:697,699} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 9. s. 4. (323,324) 8:155}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 18. s. 2. (353)
2:165,167} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 13. s.
8. (266) 2:125} Pliny mentioned Herodion with the
celebrated town of the same name. {*Pliny, l. 5. c.
15. 2:275}
5883. Gallus left the Nabatean village of Album with
his army and went through places so dry, that he was
compelled to carry his water on camels. This happened
to him as a result of the hostility of the guides, which
also meant that it was only after many days that he came
into the land of Aretas, who was allied with Obadas, the
king of the Nabateans. This country was hard to cross,
because of the treachery of Syllaeus. He took thirty
days to cross it, travelling on unbeaten paths, during
which time his food was used up and he was left with
very few dates and used butter instead of oil. Finally,
he came to the country of the nomads, which was mainly a
desert. It was called Ararene and was under Sabos,
their king. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s. 24.
7:359,361} [K505]
5884. Sabos was the king of Arabia Felix. No one came
out to oppose Aelius, but he continued this difficult
journey. It was a hot, sunny desert country and the
waters, which were naturally infected, caused the death
of most of his army. That disease was unlike any of
ours: The head was affected and became parched, thus
killing many. Those who escaped death, had the disease
go through their whole body, into their legs, so that
only their legs were affected. There was no other
remedy than to drink oil mixed with wine and anoint
oneself with it. Very few could do this, because
neither was readily available where they were, nor had
they brought much with them. During these misfortunes,
the barbarians, who at first had lost every battle, as
well as some towns, also used the disease as an
opportunity to recover from their losses. They attacked
the Romans, recovered their lost towns and drove the
rest of the Romans from the country. {*Dio, l. 53.
(29) 6:269,271}
5885. These were the first and only Romans to carry the
war so far into Arabia Felix, even to the famous city of
Athlula, or Athrula. {*Dio, l. 53. (29) 6:271} In
that expedition, Gallus defeated these towns, named by
previous writers: Negrana, Nestus, Nesca, Magusus,
Caminacus, Labaetia, Mariba (which was six miles in
circumference) and Caripeta, which was the farthest
place he went. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 32. 2:459} Had
Syllaeus not betrayed him, he would have conquered all
of Arabia Felix. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 53.
8:137} We now give Strabo's account of this.
5886. Fifty days were spent in travelling across
Ararene on impassable ways. When he reached the city of
the Agrans (or rather, the Negranians) in a tranquil and
fruitful country, King Sabos fled and the city was taken
on the first assault. From there, on the sixth day, he
reached the river, where the barbarians met him in
battle array and ten thousand of their number fell,
compared with only two of the Romans. The barbarians
were very cowardly and used their weapons unskilfully.
Some used the bow, the lance, the sword and the sling,
but for the most part, they used a double-edged axe.
Then Aelius took the city of Asca, which had been
abandoned by the king. From there, he came to Athrula
and easily took it, putting a garrison there. He took
supplies of grain and dates for his journey and came to
Marsiaba, a city of the Rhammanites, who were under
Ilasarus. He attacked and besieged it for six days.
Later, he abandoned the place because of lack of water.
From the captives, he understood that he was only a
journey of two days away from the area where the spices
grow; but he spent six months in getting there, due to
the deceit of his guides. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s.
24. 7:361}
5887. At last, when he discovered the treachery, he
returned by another way and in nine days reached
Negrana, where there was a battle. Then, on the
eleventh day, he came to the place called Hepta Phreata,
named after the seven wells there. He travelled through
areas that were being farmed, to the village of Chaalla
and later to Malotha, which was located by the
riverside. After that, he went through deserts, where
there was not much water, to the village of Egra (or
Hygra), which was under Obadas and was beside the sea.
In all, he spent only sixty days on his return journey,
whereas his journey there had taken him six months.
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s. 24. 7:361,363}
5888. While Aelius Gallus was waging war with part of
the Egyptian army in Arabia, the Ethiopians, who lived
beyond Egypt, were sent on a sudden invasion by their
Queen Candace (a manly woman, and blind in one eye).
[K506] At Syene, Elephantine and Philae, they surprised
the garrisons of three cohorts and carried them away as
captives. They overthrew Caesar's statues. Petronius,
the governor of Egypt, with less than a thousand foot
soldiers and eight hundred cavalry, marched out to fight
the enemy of thirty thousand men. At first, he forced
them to flee into Pselchis, a city of Ethiopia. Then he
sent to them to demand back the things which they had
taken away and also to hear their reason for starting
this war. [E774] When they said that they had been
wronged by the Nomarchs, he replied that the Nomarchs
were not lords of the country, but that Caesar was.
They asked for a time of three days to deliberate and in
the meantime did nothing to satisfy him, so he marched
toward them and forced them to fight. He soon routed
them, because they were poorly organized and badly
armed. They had large shields made of raw oxhide and
used weapons like axes and pikes, while some had swords.
A number were forced into the city, while some fled into
the deserts and others to the neighbouring island.
Petronius, after he crossed the river in boats and
ships, captured Queen Candace's captains and sent them
to Alexandria. He went to Pselchis and captured it and
when he numbered the captives and those who had died in
battle, he concluded that very few had escaped.
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 54. 8:137,139} {*Dio, l.
54. (5) 6:293,295}
5889. From Pselchis, Petronius went to Premnis, which
was a naturally well-fortified city. To get there, he
had to cross the same sand dunes which had overwhelmed
Cambyses' army in a sandstorm. {See note on 3480 AM.
<<989>>} He took it on the first assault, then
went on
to Napata (called Tanape by Dio), where Candace's palace
was and her son lived. She was in a nearby citadel and
sent envoys to negotiate for peace. She returned the
statues and the captives who had been taken from Syene;
but Petronius stormed Napata and took it, so that her
son was forced to flee. Petronius could not go any
farther because of the sand and the heat, nor easily
stay there with the whole army, so he fortified Premnis
with walls and stationed a garrison there, with enough
food for four hundred men for two years. He returned to
Alexandria and sold most of the captives. Some died of
diseases and he sent a thousand captives to Caesar, who
had recently returned from the Cantabrian war.
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 54. 8:139,141} {*Dio, l.
54. (5) 6:295}
5890. Pliny also wrote: {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 35.
2:473}
"In the time of Augustus, the Romans entered the country
of the Ethiopians under Publius Petronius, their
general, who was an equestrian and the governor of
Egypt. He overcame their towns which he found in the
same order that we list them: Pselcis, Primi, Bocchis,
Cambyses' Market, Attenia and Stadissis. At the last
place, the inhabitants had lost their hearing because of
the noise of the cataract in the Nile River. He also
sacked Napata. The farthest that he went from Syene was
eight hundred and seventy miles. It was not the Romans
who destroyed the land, but the constant wars Ethiopia
had with Egypt."
5891. Phraates III was restored to his kingdom with a
lot of help from the Scythians. When Tiridates heard of
their coming, he fled to Caesar with a large number of
his friends. He wanted to be restored to that kingdom
and promised that Parthia would be subject to Rome if
Caesar would give him that kingdom. [K507] When
Phraates heard this, he soon sent envoys to Caesar and
asked him to send back his servant Tiridates and his own
son, whom he had given to Caesar as a hostage. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42. c. 5.}
5892. When Tiridate's and Phraate's envoys arrived in
Rome, Augustus brought them both into the Senate. When
the Senate had apprised him of the matter, he heard the
demands of each party. He then told them that he would
not surrender Tiridates to the Parthians, nor would he
help Tiridates against the Parthians. Lest they should
seem to have gained nothing for their trouble, Augustus
ordered a very generous allowance to be given to
Phraates, as long as he stayed at Rome. He sent back
Phraates' son, so that, in his stead, he might recover
the captives and ensigns that had been lost in the
defeat of Crassus and Antony. {Justin, Trogus, l. 42.
c. 5.} {*Dio, l. 53. (33) 6:277,279}
5893. There were mutual grudges between Marcus Agrippa
and Marcus Marcellus, who was the nephew and son-in-law
of Augustus. Each one thought that the other was more
respected by Augustus than himself. Augustus, fearing
that the contentions would get worse if they both stayed
in the same place, promptly sent Agrippa away into Asia,
to govern those provinces beyond the sea in his place.
Agrippa left the city, but sent his lieutenants into
Syria while he stayed at Mitylene, on the isle of
Lesbos. {*Dio, l. 53. (31) 6:273,275} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 93. s. 2. 1:247} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 2. (350,351) 8:169}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 66. s. 3.
1:249,251}
5894. Augustus resigned his eleventh consulship and
made Lucius Sestius, the great favourite of Brutus,
consul in his place. The Senate decreed the following
honours to Augustus—he would be the perpetual tribune of
the common people; he could convene the Senate as often
as he wished, even though he was not a consul; he could
make whatever laws he pleased; he would always have
proconsular power, even within the walls of the city; he
would not need to renew this power; and he would always
have greater power in the provinces than even the
governors themselves. {*Dio, l. 53. (30) 6:271}
{*Dio, l. 53. (32) 6:275,277}
3982a AM, 4691 JP, 23 BC
5895. Aelius Gallus returned from the Arabian
expedition. He left the village of Egra in the kingdom
of the Nabateans and in eleven days, marched his army
across to the Myus Harbour. From there, he marched
overland to Coptus and arrived at Alexandria with the
forces that were still able to bear arms. [E775] He had
lost the rest, not in war, which had claimed only seven
men, but by famine, labour, diseases and the difficult
route. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s. 24.7:363} Some of
his medicines were mentioned by Galen and among these
was a formula which he had used to save many of his
soldiers and which he gave to Caesar. {Galen, de
Antidotis, l. 2.}
5896. Marcus Marcellus died, who was the son of
Octavia, the sister of Augustus; he was the husband of
Augustus' daughter, Julia. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 93. 1:247} {*Dio, l. 53. (30) 6:273} {*Dio,
l. 53. (33) 6:279}
3982b AM, 4692 JP, 22 BC
5897. Augustus restored the control of Cyprus and
Gallia Narbonensis to the Roman people, because these
provinces did not need any troops, while he himself took
control of Dalmatia. {*Dio, l. 53. (12) 6:221} {*Dio,
l. 54. (4) 6:291}
5898. Antic dancing and stage plays were first brought
to Rome by Pylades Cilices and Bathyllus. Pylades was
the first ever to have a choir to accompany him.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:247} {Eusebius,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius, p. 390.} {Eusebius,
Scaliger's Greek Eusebius (Animadversions), p.
155,156.}
5899. After Herod had built Sebaste, he began to build
another very magnificent city in a place by the seaside,
where Straton's Tower stood. [K508] He called it
Caesarea and constructed a harbour of admirable work,
equal in size to the harbour of Piraeus at Athens. He
finished all this in twelve years, sparing neither
labour nor cost. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c.
21. s. 5. (408-410) 2:193} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 9. s. 6. (331,332) 8:159} Eutropius
described it like this: {Eutropius, l. 7.}
"The name of Caesar was so beloved by the barbarians
that kings who were friends of the people of Rome built
cities in honour of him and called them Caesarea. King
Juba built a city in Mauritania, and in Palestine there
was another most famous city by the same name."
5900. Herod sent his sons, Alexander and Aristobulus,
whom he had by Mariamme the Asmonean, to Rome to Caesar,
to be raised there. They stayed at the house of Pollio,
who was a good friend of Herod. Caesar entertained the
young men very courteously and gave Herod the power to
select one of his sons as the heir to his kingdom.
Caesar also gave him Trachonitis, Batanea and Auranitis.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 1. (342,343)
8:165}
3983a AM, 4692 JP, 22 BC
5901. After Herod had received Trachonitis, he took
guides and went to the dens of the thieves, where he
restrained their villainies and brought peace to the
inhabitants. Zenodorus was angry from envy at having
lost his possessions to Herod. He went to Rome to
accuse Herod, but could do nothing. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 15. c. 10. s. 1,2. (344-350) 8:167,169}
5902. After Herod had greeted his best friend Agrippa
at Mitylene, he returned into Judea. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 2. (350,351) 8:169}
5903. Some citizens of Gadara went to Agrippa to accuse
Herod. Refusing even to hear their complaints, he bound
them and sent them to Herod, but Herod spared them.
Although he was inexorable toward his own people, yet he
willingly overlooked and forgave injuries received from
strangers. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s.
2,3. (351,356) 8:169-173}
5904. Augustus went into Sicily to settle its affairs.
He went to other provinces also, even as far as Syria.
{*Dio, l. 54. (6) 6:295}
3983b AM, 4693 JP, 21 BC
5905. Augustus sent for Agrippa, wishing that the
latter had more patience. (Because of some light
suspicion of harshness on whose part, under the pretence
that he could not become emperor, he had left everything
and gone to Mitylene.) Augustus asked him to come to him
from Asia to Sicily. He ordered him to divorce his
wife, although she was the daughter of Octavia,
Augustus' own sister, and to marry his daughter Julia,
the widow of Marcellus. Soon after, he sent him to
solemnise the marriage and to undertake the government
of the city of Rome. {*Dio, l. 54. (6) 6:297}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 93. s. 2. 1:247}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 63. 1:243}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 66. s. 3. 1:249}
5906. Zenodorus, in desperation, had rented out
Auranitis, a part of his country, to the Arabians for
fifty talents yearly. Although this area was included
in the grant that Caesar gave Herod, the Arabians, who
hated Herod, would in no way allow it to be taken from
them. Sometimes they laid claim to it by invasions and
force; sometimes they contended for the right of
possession before the judges. They won over some needy
soldiers who, as is often the case with wretched men,
hoped for better fortunes through seditions. Herod,
however, wisely tried to settle the matter by reason
rather than by force, so that he would not provide
opportunity for new seditions. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
15. c. 10. s. 2. (351-353) 8:171}
5907. After Augustus had ordered things in Sicily, he
crossed over into Greece and at this point took Aegina
and Eretria from the Athenians, because, as some
reported, the Athenians had favoured Antony. {*Dio, l.
54. (7) 6:299} [K509]
5908. Petronius went with troops to strengthen Premnis
against Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had
attacked the garrison of Premnis with many thousands.
He entered the citadel and strengthened it with many
provisions and compelled the queen to accept conditions
of peace. {*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 54. 8:141}
{*Dio, l. 54. (5) 6:295}
5909. Petronius ordered the envoys who were sent to
him, to go to Caesar if they wanted to demand anything.
[E776] When they denied any knowledge of Caesar or of
where they might find him, he ordered that they be
escorted to Caesar, who was at Samos. {*Strabo, l. 17.
c. 1. s. 54. 8:141}
3984a AM, 4693 JP, 21 BC
5910. After Augustus had settled his affairs in Greece,
he sailed to Samos and wintered there. {*Dio, l. 54.
(7) 6:299}
5911. The people of Armenia brought accusations against
Artabazes, or Artaxis, or Artaxias (the son of
Artavasdes, who had been captured through the treachery
of Antony), and requested that his brother Tigranes, who
was then at Rome, be their king. Augustus sent Tiberius
to drive out Artabazes and to make Tigranes king in his
place. {*Dio, l. 54. (9) 6:303} {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
2. c. 3. 3:387}
5912. The envoys of Candace came to Samos, where they
found Caesar preparing to go to Syria and to send
Tiberius into Armenia. They easily obtained from him
what they desired and he also remitted their tribute.
{*Strabo, l. 17. c. 1. s. 54. 8:141}
3984b AM, 4694 JP, 20 BC
5913. In the spring, when Marcus Apuleius and Publius
Silius were consuls, Augustus went into Asia and from
there into Bithynia. Although these provinces belonged
to the people of Rome, he handled them with as much care
as he did the provinces for which he was directly
responsible. He settled all affairs where it was
suitable. To some he gave money, while he imposed new
sums on others, over and above their regular tribute.
He took away the freedom of the Cyzicenians because, in
a certain sedition, they had put some Romans to death,
after having scourged them. {*Dio, l. 54. (7) 6:299}
5914. Augustus went into Syria in the tenth year after
his last visit to that province. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 20. s. 4. (399) 2:189} This was the
seventeenth year of the reign of Herod from the death of
Antigonus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 3.
(354) 8:171} He took their freedom away from Tyre and
Sidon, because of their factions. {*Dio, l. 54. (7)
6:299,301}
5915. Zenodorus had solemnly sworn to the Gadarenes
that he would never stop trying to free them from the
jurisdiction of Herod and the condition of being annexed
to Caesar's province. Thereafter, many of them began to
complain against Herod, calling him cruel and
tyrannical. They complained to Caesar of his violence
and rapines, and accused him of violating and razing
their temples. Herod was not frightened by this and was
prepared to answer for himself, but Caesar treated him
courteously and was not at all alienated from him by all
this tumultuous multitude. The Gadarenes perceived the
inclinations of Caesar and his friends and were afraid
that they might be turned over to Herod. The night
following the meeting, some of them cut their own
throats; others, fearing torture, killed themselves by
jumping from high places; some drowned themselves in the
river. Thus, by these actions, they seemed to condemn
themselves and Caesar immediately absolved Herod.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 3. (355-358)
8:173}
5916. Zenodorus' bowels ruptured and he lost a great
deal of blood. He died at Antioch in Syria.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 3. (359)
8:173,175}
5917. Augustus gave the tetrarchy of Zenodorus to
Herod. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 3.
(360) 8:175} {*Dio, l. 54. (9) 6:303} [K510] This was
a large tract of land located between Galilee and
Trachonitis, containing Ulatha and Paneas and the
neighbouring countries. He also made him one of the
governors of Syria and ordered the governors of that
province to do nothing without Herod's advice.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 20. s. 4. (400)
2:189} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 4.
(360) 8:175}
5918. Herod successfully asked Caesar for a tetrarchy
for his brother Pheroras. Herod gave Pheroras a hundred
talents from the revenues of his own kingdom, with the
intent that if he should happen to die, Pheroras' estate
might be assured and not subject to Herod's children.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 3. (362)
8:175}
5919. Claudius Tiberius Nero was sent with an army by
Augustus, his father-in-law, to visit and settle the
provinces which were in the east. He was an extremely
well-educated youth who had many natural talents. He
entered Armenia with the legions, subdued it and brought
it under the power of the people of Rome. He turned the
kingdom over to Artavasdes. At this, the king of the
Parthians, terrified by the reputation of so great a man
as Caesar, sent his sons as hostages to Caesar.
(Velleius Paterculus tended to flatter Tiberius
immensely.) {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 94. s.
4. 1:249}
5920. All historians also mention that Tigranes, the
son of Artavasdes, was made king of the Armenians at
that time. Artavasdes had been led captive into Egypt
by Cleopatra and Antony. His oldest son, Artaxias (whom
Dio here called Artabazes, by his father's name),
reigned in the kingdom of Armenia. {*Dio, l. 54. (9)
6:303} Archelaus and Nero expelled him by force from the
kingdom and made his younger brother king instead.
(Velleius calls him Artavasdes, after his father's name,
but all the others call him Tigranes. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 94. s. 4. 1:249}) [E777]
Thus, Josephus related the story using the name of
Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia, and the name of Nero
Caesar, although Tiberius Claudius Nero had not yet been
adopted by Caesar. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 4.
s. 3. (104,105) 8:51} The narration in Horace was
about Nero: {*Horace, Epistles, l. 1. c. 12. (25-28)
2:331}
Know further too what places do partake
Roman affairs: Cantabrian to Agrippa falls, Armenia by
Claudius Nero did take:
The younger brother Phraates has all,
Caesar's both right and rule imperial.
5921. Ovid agrees with it: {*Ovid, Tristia, l. 2.
(227,228) 6:71}
The Armenians sue for peace, the Parthian bow,
Horse, arms, and ensigns are resigned now.
5922. However, Dio affirmed that Tiberius Claudius Nero
did nothing worthy of the preparations he had engaged
in. Artabazes, or Artaxias, was killed by the Armenians
before his arrival. {*Dio, l. 54. (9) 6:303}
Concerning this incident, Tiberius boasted that he had
done everything in his own power, especially because
sacrifices had been decreed for it at the time. Tacitus
also seemed to favour his account: {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
2. c. 3. 3:387,389}
"Artaxias was killed through the treachery of his
closest friends. Tigranes was made the king of the
Armenians and brought into the kingdom by Tiberius
Nero."
5923. Tiberius led his army into the east and restored
the kingdom of Armenia to Tigranes, putting the crown on
his head in the tribunal. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3.
c. 9. s. 1. 1:325}
5924. Suetonius further said that Tiberius received the
ensigns that the Parthians had taken from Marcus
Crassus. The Parthians, at Augustus' demand, also
restored the military ensigns that they had taken from
Marcus Crassus and Mark Antony. Beyond that, they also
offered hostages when Augustus came into Syria to settle
the affairs in the east. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 21. s. 3. 1:179,181} [K511] Phraates, who had not
carried out anything he had agreed to, feared that
Augustus might make war on Parthia and sent him back the
Roman ensigns which Orodes had taken at the defeat of
Crassus and those which his son had taken when Antony
was routed. He also handed over all the captives from
the armies of Crassus and Antony, who were spread
throughout Parthia. Only a few were not returned.
These had either killed themselves out of shame or
stayed privately in Parthia. Augustus received these
things as if he had conquered the Parthians in war.
{*Livy, l. 139. 14:165} {*Florus, l. 2. c. 34.
1:351} {*Strabo, l. 1. c. 1. s. 17. 1:37}
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 1. s. 28. 7:237} {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 91. s. 1. 1:241,243} {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42. c. fin.} {*Dio, l. 54. (8) 6:301}
{Eutropius, l. 7.} {Orosius, l. 6. c. 21.}
{Cassidorus, Chronicle}
5925. Eutropius wrote that the Persians, or Parthians,
gave hostages to Caesar, a thing they had never before
done to anyone. By delivering the king's children with
a solemn procession as hostages, they secured a firm
league. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 21.} Strabo confirmed
that Phraates entrusted his sons and his grandsons to
Augustus Caesar and with the greatest possible
reverence, desired to earn his friendship by delivering
hostages to him. {*Strabo, l. 6. c. 4. s. 2.
3:147} Justin also confirmed that his sons and
grandchildren were hostages to Augustus. {Justin,
Trogus, l. 42, c. fin.} However, Tacitus gave his real
reasons for doing this: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c.
1. 3:385}
"He showed all duty and reverence to Augustus and sent
some of his children to him for the strengthening of
their friendship. He did this not so much for fear of
him, as out of distrust of the loyalty of his own
subjects."
5926. Thermusa, an Italian woman, was Phraates'
concubine, whom he later made his wife. She intended to
get the kingdom of the Parthians for her son Phraataces,
whom she had borne to the king while she was still his
concubine. She persuaded the king, who was now her
husband and with whom she could do anything she wished,
to send his lawfully begotten children to Rome as
hostages. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 4.
(39-42) 9:33,35} Phraates called Titius, who was then
the governor of Syria, to a conference. He turned his
four lawfully begotten sons over to Titius for hostages.
These were Seraspadanes, Cerospades, Phraates and
Bonones, along with two of their wives and four sons.
He feared a sedition and the possibility of some
treachery being plotted against him by his enemies.
[E778] So he sent his sons away, having persuaded
himself that no one would be able to do anything against
him, if he were to have none of the royal family of the
Arsaces to take his place, since the Parthians were
extremely fond of that royal family. {*Strabo, l. 16.
c. 1. s. 28. 7:237} In an old Roman inscription,
another son of Phraates was added with Seraspadanes (for
so it was written), who was not mentioned by Strabo. He
was Rhodaspes, a Parthian and the son of Phraates
Arsaces, the king of kings. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p.
288.} (The Loeb text for Strabo writes Rhodaspes for
Cerospades. Editor.)
5927. In the east, Augustus established his subjects
according to the Roman laws, but allowed those who were
in league with him to live according to the laws of
their ancestors. He did not consider it desirable to
take anything from his subjects, or extend the empire,
but to be content with what they had. He consequently
wrote this to the Senate and made no wars at this time.
To Jamblichus, the son of Jamblichus, he gave his
father's principality in Arabia. He also gave to
Tarcondimotus, the son of Tarcondimotus, his father's
principality in Cilicia, except for some coastal towns.
These he gave to Archelaus, along with the kingdom of
Lesser Armenia, because the Mede, who had held the
kingdom previously, had died. He gave Commagene to
Mithridates, who was only a child, because its king had
killed the father of Mithridates. {*Dio, l. 54. (9)
6:303} [K512]
5928. After Herod had escorted Caesar to the coast, he
returned into his kingdom and there built a beautiful
temple of white marble in honour of Caesar. This was
near Panium, at the foot of the hills where the springs
of the Jordan River were. He also remitted a part of
their tribute to his subjects, on the pretext that they
should have some relief after the famine. In actual
fact, however, he did it to put their minds at rest,
because they were so offended at such vast building
projects of the king, that tended toward the destruction
of their religion and good customs. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 15. c. 10. s. 3,4. (363-365) 8:175,177}
3985a AM, 4694 JP, 20 BC
5929. To prevent seditions, Herod forbade all private
meetings in the city and too many feasts. He also had
spies, who would mingle in companies and note what the
people talked about. Indeed, he himself would go in the
night, in the clothes of a common man, and mingle in the
company of the people to learn what they thought of him.
All those who obstinately disagreed with his actions, he
punished without mercy. The rest of the multitude he
bound to him with an oath in which they swore to be
loyal to him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s.
4. (366-368) 8:177,179}
5930. Herod required this oath from many followers of
the Pharisees, including Pollion and Samaias. Although
he could not make these two take the oath, he did not
punish them as he did the others, out of respect for the
reverence he bore to Pollion. Nor did he impose this
oath on the Essenes, whom he esteemed highly for
Manaemus' sake, who was a prophet. When Herod as a boy
had still been a private citizen, Manaemus had greeted
him as king of the Jews and had foretold that he would
reign as king for more than thirty years. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 4,5. (370-379) 8:183}
5931. Gaius was born to Agrippa by his wife Julia. A
yearly sacrifice was decreed on his birthday, along with
some other things. {*Dio, l. 54. (8) 6:301}
5932. Augustus returned to Samos and again wintered
there. To reward their hospitality, he granted the
Samians liberty. A great many embassies came to him
there. The Indians ratified the peace by a firm league
which they had previously sought through their envoys.
{See note on 3979 AM. <<5854>>} Among the
presents that
the Indians sent, were tigers, which had never before
been seen by either the Romans or Greeks. They also
gave him a certain young man who had no shoulders or
arms (like the statues of Mercury or Hermes), who did
everything with his feet instead of his hands. He was
said to bend a bow and shoot an arrow and sound a
trumpet. {*Dio, l. 54. (9) 6:305}
5933. Nicolaus Damascene reported that he saw these
Indian envoys at Antioch near Daphne. The letter they
brought mentioned more envoys, but he said he only saw
three alive, as the rest had died because the journey
was so long. The letter, which indicated that it was
sent by Porus, was written in Greek on parchment.
Although Porus ruled six hundred kings, he esteemed
Caesar's friendship so much, that he was ready to meet
him wherever Caesar wished and said that he would help
him in anything that was right. Nicolaus said that
these things were contained in that letter. Moreover,
they brought presents by eight naked servants, dressed
only in breeches and covered with perfumes. Among the
presents was the youth, Hermes, who had no arms, as well
as large vipers, a snake fifteen feet long, a river
tortoise about five feet long and a partridge larger
than a vulture. {*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 73.
7:125,127} [K513]
3985b AM, 4695 JP, 19 BC
5934. Also among the presents was Zarmarus, or
Zarmanochegas, one of the wise men of the Indians. He
killed himself according to the customs of his country,
out of ostentatious pride or due to old age, or to make
a display of himself before Augustus and the Athenians
(for he had come into Athens). He was made a priest of
the Greek gods and although this was done at an unlawful
time (as they reported), it was done nonetheless, as a
favour for Augustus. He believed that he had to die,
lest some adversity should happen to him if he stayed
any longer. [E779] He laughed as he leaped on the
funeral fire, his body naked and anointed. The
following inscription was written on his sepulchre:
{*Strabo, l. 15. c. 1. s. 73. 7:127,129} {*Dio, l.
54. (9) 6:305,307}
"Here lies Zarmanochegas, an Indian from Bargosa, who
immortalised himself according to the ancestral customs
of Indians."
5935. On his return to Rome, Augustus entered the city
on horseback in a triumph. He was honoured with a
triumphal arch that carried his trophies. {*Dio, l.
54. (8) 6:301}
5936. Augustus considered it very praiseworthy that,
without any fighting, he had recovered the things which
had formerly been lost in war. Therefore, he ordered it
to be decreed that sacrifices should be offered for this
reason. A temple of Mars Ultor (The Revenger) should be
built on the Capitol, in imitation of Jupiter Feretrius,
where the ensigns were to be hung up. This was done.
{*Dio, l. 54. (8) 6:301}
5937. He had formerly vowed to build this temple to
Mars, before the victory at Philippi. He now proclaimed
that he had received another like benefit from Mars, and
so he performed his vow at the end of his twenty-second
year. In this he imitated Romulus, who had killed Acro,
the king of the Coeninenses, and had hung up his arms in
the temple he had dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius.
Augustus built a temple to Mars, the Twice Revenger, and
then placed in it the military ensigns that he had
recovered from the Parthians. He also instituted the
Circus Games, to be solemnised every year in memory of
these things. Ovid wrote: {*Ovid, Fasti, l. 5.
(579-598) 5:303,305}
It does not Mars suffice once named to have gained
He prosecutes the Parthian Ensigns yet retained.
A country guarded with store of horses, bows, plains,
For rivers inaccessible remains.
Other Crassus yet much spirited by the fall,
At once of army, standard, general.
The Roman ensigns did the Parthian bear,
And, while an enemy, their eagle wear.
This blemish still had stuck; But Caesar's might,
Better defended Latium's ancient right:
He took the ensigns, cancelled that disgrace,
And made the eagle know her proper place.
What profits shooting back, thine envious land,
Thy swifter steed, oh Parthian? thy hand
Delivers back thine ensigns, and thy bow:
Thou canst no trophies of the Roman show.
A temple duly vote Bis-ultor thy
Honour receiveth most deservedly.
More honourable Romans celebrate
His plays: no scene supplies Bellona's state.
5938. [E780] [K514] Horace added: {*Horace, Odes, l.
4. c. 15. (4-8) 1:345}
…Caesar, thine age
Affords plenteous fruits to the fields,
And to Jove's Capitol our ensigns yields
From Parthian pillars snatched.…
5939. Many of Augustus' coins carried the inscription,
SIGNIS RECEPTIS, referring to the recovered ensigns.
5940. Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign (as
calculated from the death of Antigonus), told the Jews
of his intention to build the temple at Jerusalem. When
he saw that they were troubled, in case he could not
finish the new one after he had demolished the old, he
assured them that the old temple would remain intact
until all materials necessary for the new building were
ready. He did not deceive them. He provided a thousand
wagons to carry stones and selected ten thousand of the
most skilful craftsmen and also provided priestly robes
for a thousand priests. At his own expense, he trained
some of them as masons and carpenters and ordered them
to start the work, since the materials were ready.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 11. s. 1,2.
(380-381) 8:185,187}
3986 AM, 4696 JP, 18 BC
5941. When Augustus' first ten-year term had almost
expired, he extended it for another five years. He also
gave Marcus Agrippa another five years, along with some
powers that were almost the same as his, such as the
tribunal power. He said that so many years would then
be sufficient, although, shortly after, he accepted more
years of the imperial power, so that his Principality
could be made decennial. {*Dio, l. 54. (12) 6:313}
5942. The Sibylline books had become worn out with age.
Augustus ordered the priests to write them out with
their own hands, so that no other person should see or
read them. {*Dio, l. 54. (17) 6:325,327}
5943. Augustus restored Pylades, the Cilician dancer
who had been exiled from Rome because of a sedition, and
through this won the favour of the people. Once, when
Augustus reproved him because he was always quarrelling
with Bathyllus, a fellow artist and also a friend of
Maecenas, Pylades cleverly rejoined: {*Dio, l. 54.
(17) 6:327}
"It is to your advantage, oh Caesar, that the people
should devote their spare time to us."
3987b AM, 4697 JP, 17 BC
5944. All the materials necessary for starting the
temple were assembled within the time of two years.
Herod began to build the temple of Jerusalem, forty-six
years before the first passover of the ministry of
Christ. This was confirmed by the words of the Jews:
{Joh 2:20}
"This temple has been built forty and six years before
this...."
5945. The aorist tense in that verse was correctly
translated by our countryman, Tho. Lydiate.
5946. The building of the second temple under
Zerubbabel had been started in the first year of the
reign of Cyrus, and then the building programme had been
interrupted for some time. It was finally finished
after twenty years, in the sixth year of Darius, the son
of Hystaspes. Now, at this time, the magnificent
building of this new temple was begun by Herod and was
finished in nine and a half years. [K515] When
comparing the time spent in building this most
magnificent structure, with the time it took to erect
the previous temple, we must take into consideration not
only the labour for these two temples, but their
finished work also. When Herod's temple was completed:
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 5. s. 1.
(187-188) 4:57,59}
"many ages had been spent, and all the holy treasures
which had been sent there to God from all the parts of
the world."
5947. Herod did not only pay for this but for other
projects as well. Much of his wealth was spent on
generous gifts and on building so many palaces, temples
and cities. He was building the city and port of
Caesarea, which was his most costly building project, at
the same time as he was building the temple. Tacitus
called it: {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 8. 3:189}
"a temple of immense riches"
5948. The great building project of the temple, which
was begun by Herod, was carried on right up to the
beginning of the war of the Jews under Gessius Florus,
through generous gifts which were consecrated to God.
Josephus stated: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s.
7. (219,220) 10:117,119}
"When the temple was finished, the people realised that
more than eighteen thousand workmen, who had made their
living by building the temple, would be unemployed.
They were unwilling that the holy treasure should be
stored there, for fear it should become a prize for the
Romans. They wanted to provide work for the workmen,
because, if one had worked only one hour, he was
immediately paid his wages. [E781] They persuaded King
Agrippa (the younger) to build the eastern porch, which
enclosed the outermost parts of the temple."
5949. In Italy, Marcus Agrippa had Lucius by his wife
Julia, and Augustus immediately adopted both this boy
and his brother Gaius, and appointed them as his heirs
to his empire. {*Dio, l. 54. (18) 6:327}
5950. In Cyprus, many sections of its cities were
destroyed by earthquakes. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:248}
3988 AM, 4698 JP, 16 BC
5951. After Marcus Agrippa had organized quinquennial
games, which were held for the fourth time since the
battle of Actium, Augustus sent him to Syria. {*Dio, l.
54. (19) 6:331}
5952. Herod sailed for Italy to greet Caesar and to see
his children at Rome. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c.
1. s. 2. (6) 8:211} On his way, he stopped over in
Greece. He attended and was a judge at the Olympic
games in the 191st Olympiad, in which Diodorus Tyaneus
won the prize. When Herod saw that these games were too
grand for the place where they were held, due to the
poverty of the people of Elis, he gave them annual
revenues, to enable them to make their sacrifices more
splendid, and other things that might contribute to the
gracing of such great games. For his generosity, he was
declared a perpetual judge of these games. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 21. s. 12. (426,427)
2:201,203} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 5. s. 3.
(149) 8:267}
5953. When Caesar had courteously entertained Herod at
Rome, he returned his sons, who had finished their
instructions in the liberal sciences. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 1. s. 2. (6,7) 8:211} Caesar
went into Gaul. {*Dio, l. 54. (20) 6:333}
5954. Aemilius Macer, a poet of Veron, died in Asia.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:248} Albius Tibullus
wrote of him: {Tibullus, Corpus Tibullianum}
What shall poor Amor now do all alone,
Since sweet-songed Macer to the camp is gone?
5955. At Jerusalem, the priests completed the building
of the temple, properly so called, because it contained
the Holy and the Holy of Holies. [K516] This took about
eighteen months, during which time it was reported that
it never rained in the day, but only at nights. In the
following eight years, the porches, the ranges and the
rest of the buildings around the temple were all
completed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 11. s.
6,7. (421-425) 8:205,207}
5956. Two descriptions of this temple are extant: one
was by Josephus, who himself was a priest in it;
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 11. s. 5. (410-420)
8:199-205} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 5. s.
1-8. (184-247) 4:57-79} the other was by R. Judas,
almost a hundred and twenty years after the destruction
of the temple, in a book of his Mishma, which was
entitled twdym. We have a description of the former
from Ludovicus Capellus, at the end of his short history
of the Jews. The latter we have from Constantine
Lempereur, as a preface in his commentary on the book of
Middoth. In the preface he showed that the prevailing
opinion of the Jews was that the temple of Zerubbabel,
and this one of Herod, were rightly considered to be the
same building. Likewise, he showed that it was thought
that the temple that was captured by Pompey was the same
temple that was then besieged by Titus. {*Tacitus,
Histories, l. 5. c. 9. 3:191}
3989 AM, 4699 JP, 15 BC
5957. When Alexander and Aristobulus returned to Judea,
they were highly favoured by all men. Salome, the
sister of Herod, and her followers, fearing that they
would at some time revenge their mother's death, spread
gossip among the people that the sons hated their father
because he had killed their mother. However, Herod did
not yet suspect anything and treated them very
honourably, as they deserved. Since they were mature
young men, he selected wives for them. For Alexander,
he selected Bernice, the daughter of Salome, and for
Aristobulus, Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, the
king of the Cappadocians. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16.
c. 1. s. 2. (7-11) 8:211,213}
5958. Augustus restored liberty to the Cyzicenians and
also gave money to the Paphians in Cyprus, who had been
afflicted with an earthquake. He permitted, by a decree
of the Senate, that their city should be called Augusta.
{*Dio, l. 54. (23) 6:343}
5959. When Herod heard that Marcus Agrippa had again
come into Asia, he went to him. He begged him to come
into his kingdom as his friend and guest. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 2. s. 1. (12,13) 8:213}
3990a AM, 4699 JP, 15 BC
5960. Herod entertained Agrippa in all the cities he
had recently built, and showed him the buildings. He
provided the best food for Agrippa and his friends, as
well as all kinds of other delights and magnificence.
He showed him Sebaste, the port of Caesarea, and the
citadels which he had built, such as Alexandrion,
Herodion and Hyrcania. He brought him to the city of
Jerusalem, where all the people met him in their best
festive attire and with joyful acclamations. [E782]
Agrippa made a large number of sacrifices to God and
feasted the people. Although he would gladly have
stayed there longer, he nonetheless hurried to sail into
Ionia for fear of storms, since winter was now
approaching. He and his friends were honoured with
generous presents. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 2.
s. 1. (13-15) 8:213,215}
5961. After Asander, who was the king of Cimmerian
Bosphorus, died, he left his kingdom to his wife
Dynamis, the daughter of Pharnaces and grand-daughter of
Mithridates. Scribonius, who claimed to be a
great-grandson of Mithridates and to have received the
kingdom from Augustus, married Dynamis and seized the
kingdom. When Agrippa heard of this, he sent Polemon,
the king of that Pontus which bordered Cappadocia, to
make war on him. {*Dio, l. 54. (24) 6:345}
3990b AM, 4700 JP, 14 BC
5962. As soon as the Bosphorans were aware of this
deceit, they killed Scribonius and resisted Polemon, who
came against them because they feared that he would be
made their king. [K517] Polemon conquered them in
battle, but yet did not subdue them. {*Dio, l. 54.
(24) 6:345}
5963. As soon as it was spring, Herod heard that
Agrippa was going to Bosphorus with an army. He hurried
to go to him and sailed by Rhodes and Chios. He
expected to find him when he arrived at Lesbos, but he
was detained by contrary north winds and stayed at
Chios. Many came to greet him privately and he gave
them many princely gifts. He saw the portico of the
city, which had been thrown down in the war against
Mithridates and was still lying in ruins. It had not
been repaired to its former beauty and greatness,
because they were so poor. Herod gave them more than
enough money to finish restoring the gate and exhorted
them to restore the city to its former beauty and
greatness as soon as they could. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 2. s. 2. (16-19) 8:215,217}
5964. As soon as the wind changed, Herod sailed first
to Mitylene and then to Byzantium. There he found out
that Agrippa had already gone past the Cyanean Rocks, so
he followed him as fast as possible and overtook him at
Sinope, a city in Pontus, where he arrived with his
ships, much to the surprise of Agrippa. He was very
grateful for Herod's arrival and they embraced each
other with singular affection, because it was an evident
sign of Herod's fidelity and friendship that he had left
his own affairs and come to him at so opportune a time.
Therefore, Herod still stayed with him in the army and
was his companion in his labours and partaker in his
counsels. Herod was the only man who was consulted in
difficult matters because of the affection Herod had for
Agrippa and in pleasant times, for honour's sake.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 2. s. 2. (20-22)
8:217}
5965. Agrippa defeated the Bosphorans and recovered the
Roman ensigns in war, which they had long ago captured
under Mithridates. Agrippa forced them to give them
back. {Orosius, l. 6. c. 21.}
5966. Julia, the daughter of Augustus and wife of
Agrippa, went to Illium at night. It so happened that
Julia and her servants who waited on the coach were in
extreme danger while crossing the Scamander River,
because it was greatly swollen by sudden floods and the
people of Illium did not know she was coming. Agrippa
was angry that they had not helped her and fined them a
hundred thousand drachmas of silver. {Life of Nicolaus
Damascene, Excerpts from Henric Valesius, p. 418.}
5967. The envoys from Illium did not dare to oppose
Agrippa. They entreated Nicolaus Damascene, who
happened to be there, to get King Herod to speak for
them and to help them. Nicolaus did this because of the
ancient renown of the city and told the king the whole
story: that Agrippa was unjustly angry with the
Illienses, since Julia had come without notice and they
had not known of her coming because it was night. Herod
undertook the cause of the Illienses. He had their fine
removed and reconciled Agrippa to them, who was angry
with them. {Life of Nicolaus Damascene, Excerpts from
Henric Valesius, p. 418.} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16.
c. 2. s. 2. (26) 8:219}
5968. The Bosphorans finally laid down their arms and
were put under the rule of Polemon, who then married
Dynamis with the approval of Augustus. For this, there
was a procession in Agrippa's name. However, he did not
have a triumph, although it was decreed, nor did he
write anything at all to the Senate about his affairs.
[K518] In later times, others followed his example.
They did not confirm their deeds by letters, nor did
they accept a triumph, although it was offered to them.
Instead, they were content with only the triumphal
honours. {*Dio, l. 54. (24) 6:345,347}
5969. After the trouble of Pontus was over, Agrippa and
Herod came by land to Ephesus through Paphlagonia,
Cappadocia and Greater Phrygia. From there, they sailed
to Samos. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 2. s. 2.
(23) 8:217}
5970. The Illienses returned into their country,
because they had lost all hope of obtaining a pardon.
When Herod was about to go into Paphlagonia to Agrippa,
he gave Nicolaus Damascene a letter concerning the
remission of their fine. [E783] Then he carried on to
Chios and Rhodes, where his sons waited for him, while
Nicolaus sailed from Amisus and came to the port of
Byzantium. From there, he sailed to Troas and came to
Illium. After he had delivered his letter about the
remission of their fine, both he, and especially Herod,
received great honours from the Illienses. {Life of
Nicolaus Damascene, Excerpts from Henric Valesius, p.
418.}
5971. Agrippa did Herod favours in many things on their
entire journey through many cities. Through the
intercession of Herod, the cities had many of their
needs met. If anyone required an intercessor to
Agrippa, he could not obtain his suit more easily
through anyone else than through Herod. Herod also paid
Caesar's praetors the money owed by the Chians and got
them immunity, as well as assisting others in whatever
they had need of. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 2.
s. 2. (24-26) 8:217,219}
5972. When they came into Ionia, they came across a
large number of Jews who lived in that country. When
the Jews had an opportunity, they complained of the
wrongs they received from those of their countrymen who
would not permit them to live after their own laws. On
the Jewish festival days, they hauled them before the
tribunals and forbade them to send holy money to
Jerusalem. They publicly compelled the Jews to give
them the holy money intended for religious use contrary
to the privileges granted them by the Romans. Herod
made every effort to ensure that Agrippa should hear
their complaints. He allowed their case to be pleaded
by Nicolaus Damascene, who was one of Herod's friends
and who had now returned from Troas. Nicolaus pleaded
their case to Agrippa, who was accompanied by many of
the most honourable Romans as well as some kings and
princes. The Greeks did not deny anything, but only
made the excuse that the Jews, who lived among them,
were troublesome to them. The Jews proved that they
were freeborn citizens and that they lived by their own
laws, doing injury to no one. Therefore Agrippa
answered that, for his friend Herod's sake, he was ready
to grant them their request, and also because they
seemed to be demanding what was just. He therefore
ordered that the privileges which had formerly been
granted them should not be revoked and that no one
should molest them for living by their country's laws.
Then Herod rose up and thanked Agrippa in the name of
them all. After they mutually embraced each other, they
said goodbye to each other and Herod sailed from Lesbos
to Caesarea. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 2. s.
3-5. (27-62) 8:219-233}
5973. A few days later, Herod arrived at Caesarea, due
to favourable winds. From there he went to Jerusalem,
where he called all the people together and gave them a
report of his journey and how he had procured an
immunity for the Jews living in Asia. To further
gratify them, he said he would remit the fourth part of
their tribute to them. [K519] Very pleased, they wished
the king every possible happiness and departed with
great joy. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 2. s. 5.
(62-65) 8:233}
3991 AM, 4701 JP, 13 BC
5974. Augustus assumed the Roman high priesthood after
the death of Lepidus, who had previously been in the
triumviri and been the priest. Augustus could not
decide to take it from him while he was alive.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 31. s. 1. 1:197}
{*Dio, l. 54. (27) 6:355} This was done on the day
before the Nones of March (March 6). {*Ovid, Fasti, l.
3. (419-421) 5:151}
5975. When Augustus was made high priest, he burned any
books, in either Greek or Latin, that had no author's
name or were not of substance, to a total of two
thousand books, keeping only the Sibylline books. From
these, he selected some and placed them in two golden
cases at the base of the pillar where the image of
Apollo stood, on the Palatine hill. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 31. s. 1,2. 1:197}
5976. A colony was sent to Berytus. {*Eusebius,
Chronicles, l. 1. 1:249} It was highly honoured with
the favour of Augustus {Ulpian. C. Sciendum est D. de
Censibus.} and received two legions, which were sent
there by Agrippa. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 19.
7:263,265}
5977. Herod was incensed at the false accusations and
machinations of his sister, Salome, and his brother,
Pheroras, against his two sons by Mariamme, Alexander
and Aristobulus. To bring down their ambitious spirits,
he began publicly to promote his other son, Antipater,
as his heir to the kingdom. He was his oldest son, who
had been born to him when he was a private man, and his
mother was also of lowly birth. Herod had banished him
from the city in favour of his two other sons and only
gave him freedom to come there on feast days. Herod
often wrote to Caesar on his behalf and privately gave
him very great commendations. Overcome by the
entreaties of Antipater, Herod brought his mother,
Doris, into the court, who was a woman of Jerusalem whom
Herod had divorced when he had married Mariamme.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 22. s. 1.
(431-433) 2:205} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 3. s.
1-3. (66-80) 8:233-239}
3992a AM, 4701 JP, 13 BC
5978. Agrippa's ten years of government in Asia (to be
calculated from the time when he was sent by Caesar to
Asia and Syria and the time he stayed at Lesbos) were
over and he was now ready to leave. Herod sailed to
greet him and of all his sons, took only Antipater with
him. Herod gave Agrippa many gifts and asked him to
take Antipater to Rome, to be received into Caesar's
favour. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 3. s. 3.
(86) 8:241} [E784]
3992b AM, 4702 JP, 12 BC
5979. When Agrippa returned from Syria, Augustus sent
him to make war in Pannonia and granted him the tribunal
power for a further five years. When he arrived, the
Pannonians were terrified and stopped their rebellion.
On his return journey, Agrippa died in Campania. His
body was brought into the forum at Rome and Augustus
commended him in a funeral speech. {*Livy, l. 139.
14:165} {*Dio, l. 54. (28) 6:355,357}
5980. Antipater was highly honoured at Rome and was
commended by his father's letters to all his friends.
Although he was absent, he continued to stir up his
father in letters against the sons of Mariamme. He
pretended to be concerned for his father's safety, but
was in fact promoting himself by his wicked practices,
in the hope of getting the kingdom. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 16. c. 4. s. 1. (87-89) 8:241,243}
5981. Against his will, Augustus made his son-in-law,
Tiberius, his partner in the government to replace
Agrippa, because his grandsons, Gaius and Lucius, were
still children. Therefore, he betrothed his daughter
Julia, the widow of Agrippa, to Tiberius. Augustus
forced Tiberius to divorce his wife Agrippina, the
daughter of Agrippa and the grand-daughter of Pomponius
Atticus. [K520] Tiberius was upset by this, because his
wife was nursing his son, Drusus, and was expecting
another child. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 63.
s. 2. 1:243} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 7.
1:321} {*Dio, l. 54. (31) 6:363}
3993 AM, 4703 JP, 11 BC
5982. Herod had now become an enemy to his sons,
Alexander and Aristobulus. He sailed to Rome with them
to accuse them before Caesar. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 4. s. 1. (90) 8:243} In the same ship, he
took Nicolaus Damascene with him, with whom he had
studied philosophy. {Life of Nicolaus Damascene,
Excerpts from Henric Valesius, p. 421.}
5983. Herod did not find Augustus at Rome and followed
him all the way to Aquilia. Herod accused them of
treachery against him, but the young men satisfied all
who were present of their innocence. They were finally
reconciled to their father, after many entreaties and
tears. They thanked Caesar and departed together.
Antipater also went, pretending that he was glad that
they were reconciled. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c.
4. s. 1-4. (90-126) 8:243-257}
5984. A few days later, Herod gave three hundred
talents to Caesar, who was holding spectacles and giving
gifts to the people. In return, Caesar gave him half
the revenues of the copper mines of Cyprus and committed
the other half to his oversight. Caesar honoured him
with other gifts of hospitality and gave him permission
to choose which of his sons he wanted for his successor,
or whether he would rather divide his kingdom among
them. Herod was ready to divide his kingdom right then,
but Caesar would not allow Herod to do this in Herod's
lifetime. He would not deprive him of his kingdom or
his authority over his sons. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 4. s. 5. (127-129) 8:257,259}
5985. In Herod's absence, a rumour was spread that he
was dead. The men of Trachonitis revolted from him and
started their old thievery, but the captains whom Herod
had left in the kingdom were able to subdue them again.
Forty of the leaders of these thieves, terrified by what
happened to those who were captured, fled their country
for Arabia Nabatea. They were welcomed by Syllaeus, who
was an enemy to Herod, because Herod refused to give him
his sister, Salome, for a wife. Syllaeus gave them a
certain well-fortified place. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 4. s. 6. (130) 8:259} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 9. s. 1. (271-274) 8:319}
5986. Herod and his sons sailed home and on the way
came to Eleusa (its name was changed to Sebaste), a city
of Cilicia. There they met with Archelaus, the king of
Cappadocia, who very courteously entertained Herod and
rejoiced greatly that his sons were reconciled to him.
He was glad that Alexander had honestly answered the
charges made against him. They gave each other royal
gifts and parted company. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16.
c. 4. s. 6. (131,132) 8:259}
5987. When Herod returned into Judea, he called the
people together and told them what he had done on his
journey. He told them that his sons were to reign after
him, first Antipater and then Alexander and Aristobulus.
The last two were his sons by Mariamme. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 4. s. 6. (132-134) 8:259}
3994 AM, 4704 JP, 10 BC
5988. About this time, the lame man was born who was
more than forty years old when he was healed by Peter at
the gate called Beautiful at the temple. {Ac 4:22}
Agrippa was born, who was the first king of the Jews by
that name, and who died when struck by an angel when he
was fifty-four years old. {Ac 12:23} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 19. c. 8. s. 2. (350) 9:381}
5989. Augustus married his daughter Julia to Tiberius,
after having previously betrothed her to him. {*Dio, l.
54. (31) 6:363} [K521]
5990. Caesarea Sebaste was finished in the 28th year of
Herod's reign (beginning from the death of Antigonus),
in the 3rd year of the 192nd Olympiad. It was dedicated
with great solemnity and most sumptuous preparations.
Musicians were brought together, to see who was the
best. [E785] Naked wrestlers and a large number of
sword players and wild beasts were also brought there to
perform, together with whatever else was being done,
either at Rome or in other countries. These sports were
consecrated to Caesar and were to be held every fifth
year. The king provided all the preparations to be
brought there at his own expense, to show the greatness
of his magnificence. Julia, the wife of Caesar
(Josephus always called her Livia), contributed many
things toward the sports. The total cost of the event
was over five hundred talents and a large crowd came to
see these sports. Herod entertained all the envoys who
were sent to him from various countries, to thank him
for the favours they had received from him. He lodged,
feasted and entertained them, spending all the days in
seeing the sports and the nights in banquets.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 5. s. 1. (136-141)
8:261,263}
3995a AM, 4704 JP, 10 BC
5991. After the dedication and feasts, Herod began to
build another city in a place called Capharsalama (or
Capharsuluma {Apc 1Ma 7:31}), which he named Antipatris,
after his father Antipater. He built a citadel which he
called Cypros, after his mother. In honour of his dead
brother, he built a good tower in the city of Jerusalem,
not inferior to Pharos at Alexandria, and called it
Phasael. Later, he built a town by the same name in the
valley of Jericho, from which the surrounding country is
called Phasaelis. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 5.
s. 2. (142-145) 8:263,265}
3995b AM, 4705 JP, 9 BC
5992. Through their envoys, the Jews of Asia and Cyrene
complained to Augustus that the Greeks would not allow
them to practise their religion and ignored the
immunities which had been granted to them by the Romans.
The envoys wanted to obtain letters confirming these
privileges. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 6. s. 1.
(160,161) 8:271}
5993. Herod had depleted his wealth with his great
expenses and now needed money. He followed the example
of John Hyrcanus and went by night, without the
knowledge of the people, and opened David's sepulchre.
He found no money, but large amounts of costly attire
and ornaments of gold, which he removed. To atone for
this, he built a most sumptuous monument of white marble
at the entrance of the sepulchre. Nicolaus Damascene,
who recorded the acts of King Herod in his lifetime,
mentioned this monument, but nothing of the king's
breaking into the sepulchre. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 7. s. 1. (179-183) 8:281,283}
5994. Antipater continued to implicate his brothers,
Alexander and Aristobulus, by false accusations made
through others. He often seemed to be the one defending
them, so that he might more easily oppress them, by
making a pretence of goodwill toward them. In this
subtle way, he so achieved his way with his father, that
Herod thought he was his only preserver. Therefore, the
king commended his steward, Ptolemy, to Antipater and
discussed all his plans with Antipater's mother, Doris.
Everything was done according to their wishes and they
made the king displeased with those whom it was to their
advantage that he should be angry with. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 7. s. 2. (188-191) 8:285}
5995. Pheroras fell so madly in love with his own
servant, that he refused the marriage with Cypros,
Herod's daughter, who was offered to him by Herod. He
was persuaded by Ptolemy, the king's steward, to promise
to divorce his servant and to marry Cypros within thirty
days, which he failed to do. [K522] He also accused
Herod to his son, Alexander, saying that he had heard
from Salome, his sister (which she denied), that Herod
was greatly in love with Alexander's wife, Glaphyra.
This made the king highly displeased with both of them.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 7. s. 3,4. (194-208)
8:287-293}
3996 AM, 4706 JP, 8 BC
5996. The man who was diseased started to lie by the
pool of Bethesda. He was healed by Christ thirty-eight
years later. {Joh 5:5}
5997. Alexander was driven to desperation by the wiles
of his adversaries. He was reconciled to his father by
Archelaus, the king of the Cappadocians, who came to
Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 8. s. 6.
(261-266) 8:313-317}
5998. Archelaus was considered one of Herod's best
friends. He received generous gifts from Herod and
departed for Cappadocia, with Herod accompanying him as
far as Antioch. Herod and Titus, the governor of Syria,
reconciled their differences and Herod returned to
Judea. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 8. s. 6.
(269,270) 8:317}
5999. Herod went a third time to Rome to Caesar.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 9. s. 1. (271)
8:319}
6000. While Herod was away from his kingdom, the
thieves of the Trachonites, who had fled to Syllaeus,
the Arabian, molested all of Judea and Coelosyria with
their robberies. Syllaeus granted them impunity and
protection for their thievery. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 9. s. 1. (275) 8:319}
6001. When Augustus was the high priest, he restored
the incorrect intercalation of the year which had been
decreed by Julius Caesar, but which had later, through
negligence, been incorrectly intercalated. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 31. s. 2. 1:197} In thirty-six
years, twelve days were intercalated where only nine
days ought to have been intercalated. Therefore,
Augustus commanded that twelve years should pass without
any leap year at all, so that those extra three days,
which had been added over thirty-six years by the
over-zealous priests, would be eliminated in the
following twelve years. {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 6. (36)
1:191} {Solinus, c. 3.} {*Pliny, l. 18. c. 57.
(211) 5:323,325} {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c.
14.} [E786]
6002. When he corrected the year, Augustus called the
month of Sextilis August, after himself, rather than
naming the month of September after himself, even though
he was born in that month. He did this because he had
first been consul in the month of Sextilis, and also had
won many great victories in that month. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 31. s. 3. 1:197} {*Dio, l. 55.
(6) 6:395} Macrobius recorded the very words of the
decree of the Senate. {Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1.
c. 12.} He also mentioned the decree of the people
concerning the same matter. Pacuritus, the tribune of
the people, proposed the law. This occurred when Gaius
Marcius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius Gallus were
consuls. {Censorinus, De Die Natali, l. 1. c. 22.}
{*Dio, l. 55. (5) 6:391}
6003. In their consulship, a second census of the
citizens was conducted at Rome. In the census, there
were 4,233,000 Roman citizens, as was recorded in the
fragments of the Ancyran Marble. {*Augustus, l. 1. c.
8. 1:357} {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 230.} In Suidas in
Aucousy, the number was 4,101,017. Suidas very
ridiculously stated that this number was for the city,
and not the whole world.
6004. When Herod returned from Rome, he celebrated the
dedication of the temple built again by him, which had
taken nine and a half years. He dedicated it on the
very anniversary of his kingdom, on the day when he had
first received it from the Senate. It was his custom to
solemnise the day with great joy. The king sacrificed
three hundred oxen to God and many others offered
sacrifices according to their abilities. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 11. s. 6. (421-423) 8:205}
[K523]
3997a AM, 4706 JP, 8 BC
6005. Herod had found that, in his absence, his people
had been greatly harmed by those thieves from
Trachonitis. He was unable to subdue them, because they
were under the protection of the Arabians, but he could
not tolerate their attacks either, so he entered
Trachonitis and killed all their relatives. They were
all the more incensed by this, because they had a law
commanding them not to allow the slaughter of their
families to go unrevenged. Therefore, they ignored all
dangers and molested all of Herod's country with
continual excursions, plundering and carrying away their
goods. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 9. s. 1.
(276,277) 8:321}
6006. When Augustus indicated his willingness to resign
his principality, because another ten years had almost
passed, he assumed it again, as though against his will.
He made war on the Germans, sending Tiberius against
them, but he himself stayed home. {*Dio, l. 55. (6)
6:393} He also gave money to the soldiers because they
had Gaius along with them for the first time, taking
part in their military exercises. {*Dio, l. 55. (6)
6:395}
3997b AM, 4707 JP, 7 BC
6007. Dionysius Halicarnassus began to write the books
of the Roman history in the 193rd Olympiad, when
Claudius Tiberius Nero and Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso were
consuls. This he stated in the preface to these books.
{*Dionysius Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, l. 1. c.
3. s. 4. 1:11} He was considered a historian by
Clement and a rhetorician by Quintilian. {*Clement,
Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21. 2:324} {Quintilian, l. 3.
c. 1.}
6008. Herod sent to Saturninus and Volumnius, the
governors of Syria who had been appointed by Caesar,
demanding that he be allowed to punish those thieves
from Trachonitis who were wasting his country with their
invasions from Arabia and Nabatea. The governors were
told that the robbers had increased to about a thousand
and had begun to make sudden invasions and to waste both
fields and villages and cut the throats of all who fell
into their hands. Therefore, Herod demanded these
thieves be turned over to him and asked for the sixty
talents that he had lent Obadas under Syllaeus'
security. Syllaeus had expelled Obadas from the
government and was now ruling everything himself. He
denied that the thieves were in Arabia and deferred to
pay the money. This was debated before Saturninus and
Volumnius. Finally, it was determined by them that,
within thirty days, the money was to be repaid and the
runaways from both countries should be turned over to
each other. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 9. s. 1.
(277-281) 8:321,323} Syllaeus also swore, in the
presence of these governors of Syria, by the fortune of
Caesar, that he would pay the money within thirty days
and turn the fugitives over to Herod. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 10. s. 8. (346) 8:349}
6009. When the appointed time arrived, Syllaeus was
unwilling to live up to his agreement and went to Rome.
With the permission of Saturninus and Volumnius, who had
given him permission to prosecute these obstinate
people, Herod entered Arabia with an army. In three
days, he travelled as far as they usually did in seven.
When he came to the citadel where the thieves lived, he
took it at the first assault. He demolished this
fortress called Rhaeptu without doing any harm to the
inhabitants of the country. When a captain of the
Arabians came to their defence, both sides joined the
battle. A few of the Herodians were killed and about
twenty-five Arabians, along with their captain. The
rest of the Arabians fled. When Herod had avenged
himself upon the thieves, he brought three thousand
Idumeans into Trachonitis, to restrain the thieves who
lived there. He sent letters to the Roman governors,
who were in Phoenicia at the time, in which he told them
that he had only used the power they had granted him
against these obstinate Arabians, and nothing else.
[E787] [K524] When they inquired into this, they found
that what Herod had said, was true. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 16. c. 9. s. 2. (282-285) 8:323,325}
3998a AM, 4707 JP, 7 BC
6010. At Rome, Syllaeus received letters about what had
happened, but they grossly exaggerated everything.
These lies so incensed Caesar against Herod, that he
wrote threatening letters to him because he had marched
out of his kingdom with an army. At first, Caesar would
not even admit the envoys who had been sent to plead
Herod's cause. They again petitioned to be heard, but
he dismissed them without anything being done.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 9. s. 3. (286-291)
8:325,327}
6011. The Trachonites and the Arabians seized this
opportunity and attacked the garrison of the Idumeans
that Herod had sent to them. Herod was terrified by
Caesar's anger and was forced to bear it. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 9. s. 3,4. (292,293) 8:327}
6012. After Obadas, the king of the Arabians (of
Nabatea), had died, Aeneas, who changed his name and was
called Aretas, succeeded him in the kingdom. While
Syllaeus was at Rome, he used false accusations to try
to have Aretas expelled from the kingdom and to get the
kingdom for himself. He gave a great deal of money to
the courtiers and promised Caesar many great things. He
knew Caesar was offended with Aretas, because he had
dared assume the kingdom without his consent.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 9. s. 4. (294,295)
8:327,329}
3998b AM, 4708 JP, 6 BC
6013. Gaius and Lucius, the sons of Augustus by
adoption, were raised in the imperial house. They were
quite insolent even when they were very young. Lucius,
the younger of the two, entered the theatre unattended,
where he was received with a general applause. This
increased his boldness. Gaius ran for consul and was
elected by the people before he was of military age!
When Augustus heard this, he hoped that there would
never be a time when, as in his own case, the consulship
had to be given to one who was not yet twenty years old.
When his son earnestly requested this of him, he then
said that this office was to be undertaken by someone
who could both avoid making mistakes and resist the
wishes of the people. Finally, he gave Gaius the
priesthood and permission to go into the Senate and sit
with the senators, both at the spectacles and the
feasts. {*Dio, l. 55. (9) 6:401} He also granted
that, even though they were not yet seventeen, they
should be called the Princes of the Youth, but Augustus
declined the consulship for them, which they
passionately wanted. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 3.
3:247}
6014. To make his sons behave more modestly, like
private citizens, Augustus granted Tiberius the power of
tribune for five years. He assigned him to Armenia,
which had revolted after the death of Tigranes, who had
been made king by Tiberius. This did not work out as
Augustus planned and both the sons and Tiberius were
offended. The sons felt ignored and Tiberius, fearing
their anger, went to Rhodes instead of Armenia. He used
the pretence that he wanted to study the arts, but his
real reason was so that the sons would be relieved of
the sight of him and his actions. {*Dio, l. 55. (9)
6:403} He feared that his own glory could dim the
beginnings of the careers of two rising young men.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 99. s. 2. 1:257}
Some thought that Tiberius left the place and the
position of second highest in the empire, which he had
held for so long, when Augustus' sons were young men,
and that in this he followed the example of Marcus
Agrippa, who went to Mitylene when Marcus Marcellus was
admitted to public office. If Tiberius were present, he
might conflict with them and detract from their glory.
Tiberius gave this reason many years later.
{*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 10. 1:327} [K525]
6015. Some think that he went away because of his wife,
Julia, whom he dared not accuse or divorce, but whom he
could not endure any longer. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l.
3. c. 10. s. 1. 1:327} {*Dio, l. 55. (9) 6:405}
Others say that he was offended that he had not been
adopted by Caesar. Still others claim that he was sent
there by Augustus because he had acted treacherously
against his sons. {*Dio, l. 55. (9) 6:405}
6016. Concealing his true reasons, Tiberius asked
permission of Augustus, who was his father-in-law, to
leave Rome and his wife. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 99. s. 1,2. 1:255,257} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l.
3. c. 10. s. 1. 1:327} Nor did he yield to his
mother, who humbly besought him, or his father-in-law,
who complained that he, too, had been forsaken by the
Senate. When they resolutely detained him, he ate
nothing in four days until, finally, they granted him
permission to go. He went down at once to Ostia and did
not say a word to those who went with him. He kissed
very few of them before he sailed. {*Suetonius,
Tiberius, l. 3. c. 10. s. 2. 1:327} At his
departure, he opened his will and read it before his
mother and Augustus. {*Dio, l. 55. (9) 6:405}
6017. From Ostia he sailed along the coast of Campania,
where he heard of the weakness of Augustus. He stayed
there for a little while, but the rumour increased, as
though he were tarrying for an opportunity for greater
things; so he sailed to Rhodes, almost in foul weather.
{*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 1. 1:327}
He undertook his journey like a private man, except that
he compelled the Pharians to sell him a statue of Vesta,
which he dedicated in the temple of Concord. {*Dio, l.
55. (9) 6:403,405} [E788]
6018. When he arrived in Rhodes, he was contented with
a small house there and a slightly larger one in the
country. He lived a very retired life, sometimes
walking into their gymnasiums without either a lictor or
a messenger. He gave and received courtesies from the
Greeks on equal terms. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3.
c. 11. s. 2. 1:329} Nevertheless, all the proconsuls
and governors who were going into foreign provinces went
out of their way to visit him and always submitted their
fasces to him. He stated that as a private citizen in
his retirement, he was more honoured than when he had
been in the government. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 99. s. 4. 1:257} In his retirement, he diligently
listened to Theodorus, the Gadarene, who was a
rhetorician. Theodorus, however, wished to be called a
Rhodian. {Quintilian, l. 3. c. 1.}
6019. There was a great conjunction of the planets,
which only occurred once every eight hundred years.
6020. Aeneas, who was also called Aretas, the new king
of the Arabians of Nabatea, sent letters and gifts to
Caesar which included a crown worth many talents. In
his letters, he accused Syllaeus of many crimes and of
being a most wicked servant, who had poisoned Obadas.
He claimed that while Obadas was alive, Syllaeus had
done as he pleased. Caesar would not even hear his
envoys and dismissed them without anything being done,
and also despised his presents. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 9. s. 4. (296) 8:329}
6021. Herod was compelled by the wrongdoings and
insolence of the Arabians to send Nicolaus Damascene to
Rome, to see if he could get any justice from Caesar
through his friend's mediation. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 9. s. 4. (297-299) 8:329,331}
6022. The discord of Herod with his sons by Mariamme
was significantly worsened through the wiles of
Eurycles, a Lacedemonian. He was the same person
(unless I am mistaken) who, twenty-five years earlier,
had fled with Antony from the battle of Actium. He was
now being entertained by Herod and was staying at
Antipater's house. [K526] After he had ingratiated
himself with Alexander, Herod gave him fifty talents for
information against Alexander. Eurycles went to
Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia, and bragged how he
had reconciled Alexander to his father's favour again.
He received money from Archelaus as well, and returned
to Lacedemon. There he continued his wicked ways and
was banished from Lacedemon. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 25. s. 1-4. (513-531) 2:243-253} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 16. c. 10. s. 1. (300-310) 8:331-335}
6023. Herod made diligent inquiry about his sons. He
put to death, by extreme torture, many of his own
friends and those of his sons; but he found nothing
wrong, except that some were too free in what they said
about these unfortunate young men. They had complained
of their father's immoderate cruelty and of his
willingness to listen to any gossip of wicked men. They
had noted the impiety and wicked deceits of their
brother Antipater and of the faction that was united
against them, and they intended to escape further harm
by fleeing to Archelaus. His two sons did not deny
this, but Herod put them in prison, as if they had been
guilty of treason against their father. He said that he
would punish them depending on how his affairs went at
Rome. On that matter, he sent letters to Caesar by
Volumnius (the general of his army), as Josephus called
him, and Olympius, his friend. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 27. s. 1. (535) 2:255} Herod ordered that
on their trip they should stop at Eleusa, a town of
Cilicia, and give a letter to Archelaus. They were to
expostulate with him, because he was a partner in his
sons' plans. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 10. s.
7. (332) 8:343}
6024. At Rome, Nicolaus Damascene allied himself with
the Arabians who had come to accuse Syllaeus. He
claimed to be Herod's accuser before Augustus, and not
Herod's defender, otherwise he would not likely have
been allowed to speak, but would have been turned away
as others had been. When Nicolaus had publicly exposed
many of Syllaeus' crimes, he also added that Caesar had
been misled by his lies in the case of Herod. When he
had publicly shown this and had confirmed it by certain
and authentic records, Caesar condemned Syllaeus and
remanded him to the province to be punished, after he
had paid his debt. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 10.
s. 8,9. (335-350) 8:345-350}
6025. From this time, Augustus was reconciled to Aretas
and Herod. Augustus received Aretas' presents, which he
had so often rejected before. By his authority, he
confirmed the kingdom of the Arabians to him. He also
advised Herod by letter that he should call a council at
Berytus to meet with the governors of Syria, with
Archelaus, the king of the Cappadocians, and others of
his friends and noblemen, and that together they should
settle the whole business. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16.
c. 11. s. 1. (356-359) 8:353}
6026. On the isle of Cos, an earthquake destroyed much
property. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:250}
6027. The angel Gabriel (who had, at an earlier time
foretold to Daniel the coming of the Messiah {Da
9:24-27}) appeared at the right side of the altar of
incense to Zacharias, the priest of the course of
Abijah, as he was offering incense in the temple of the
Lord, according to the custom of the priest's office.
{Ex 30:7,8} [E789] He told him that he, who was now
quite old, and his aged wife, Elizabeth, who was barren,
would have a son. He would be called John, and would be
a Nazarite and the forerunner of the Lord. He would
minister in the spirit and power of Elijah. Zacharias
did not believe the promise and was struck dumb. {Lu
1:5-22}
3999a AM, 4708 JP, 6 BC
6028. After the days of his ministry were finished,
Zacharias returned home and his wife Elizabeth conceived
a son by him and hid herself away for five months,
saying: {Lu 1:23-25}
"Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days in which
he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men."
[K527]
6029. When Herod received Augustus' letters, he was
overjoyed because he had been restored into his favour
and had been given the power to do what he wanted with
his sons. Through messengers, he convened all those
whom Caesar had appointed to meet at Berytus, except for
Archelaus, who was holding his sons not far from the
city of Platana, a city of the Sidonians. First of all,
Saturninus, who had been a consul and was a man of great
dignity, spoke his opinion. He was moderate and said
that the sons of Herod were indeed to be condemned, but
not to be put to death. After him, his three sons, who
were their father's lieutenants, were of the same
opinion. On the other side, Volumnius stated that they
were to be punished with death, because they had been so
impious toward their father. Most followed his opinion.
Then the king took his sons with him to Tyre, where
Nicolaus had arrived from Rome. After Herod had
conferred with him about his sons, he ordered Nicolaus
to sail with him to Caesarea. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 11. s. 2,3. (361-372) 8:353-359}
6030. At Caesarea a certain old soldier named Tiro
smartly reprehended Herod for the wickedness he planned
against his sons and told him that he and three hundred
officers were of the same opinion. Herod ordered him to
be cast into prison. Trypho, the king's barber, used
this occasion to accuse Tiro and said that he had often
been solicited by Tiro to cut the king's throat with his
razor as he was trimming him. At once, both the barber
and Tiro and his son were tortured. His son saw his
father so cruelly treated and to free him from the
tortures, was imprudently merciful and accused him of
intending to murder the king. Then Herod brought those
three hundred officers together, with Tiro and his son,
and the barber. He accused them all before the people.
The people threw anything and everything that was handy
and killed every one of them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
16. c. 11. s. 5-7. (379-393) 8:361-365}
6031. Alexander and Aristobulus were led to Sebaste and
strangled there at their father's command. Their bodies
were buried in the citadel of Alexandrion, where
Alexander, their maternal grandfather, and many of their
family were buried. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c.
11. s. 7. (394) 8:365,367} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 27. s. 6. (550,551) 2:261}
3999b AM, 4709 JP, 5 BC
6032. When Augustus had assumed the twelfth consulship,
he brought Gaius, who was now of age, into the court and
designated him Prince of the Youth, and made him a
prefect of a tribe. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c.
26. s. 2. 1:187} {*Dio, l. 55. (10) 6:405} Augustus
also noted: {*Augustus, l. 2. c. 14. 1:367}
"All the Roman equestrians gave them silver shields and
spears."
6033. Augustus stated this in the breviary of his deeds
and also mentioned the consulship that was decreed to
both Gaius and Lucius at the time. {*Augustus, l. 2.
c. 14. 1:365,367}
"In respect of honouring me, the Senate and people of
Rome designated them consuls when they were only fifteen
years old, so that they might enter into that office
after five years, to be calculated from that day when
they were brought into the court."
6034. So it was written on the Ancyran Marble,
{*Augustus, l. 2. c. 14. 1:365,367} {Gruter,
Inscriptions, p. 231.} whereas on another Roman stone
it is said that the people created Gaius consul when he
was only fourteen years old. (By created it means
designated, for at this time his fourteenth year was
ended and he was entering into his fifteenth year.)
6035. After his brothers were dead, Antipater intended
to remove his father also. Since Antipater knew he was
hated by many in the kingdom, he endeavoured to get the
goodwill of his friends at Rome and in Judea with
bribes. He especially solicited Saturninus, the
governor of Syria, and Pheroras and Salome, the brother
and sister of Herod. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c.
1. s. 1. (1-7) 8:375} [K528]
6036. Herod sent Glaphyra, the widow of his son
Alexander, home to her father Archelaus, the king of
Cappadocia. He also gave her a dowry from the king's
treasury, in case some controversy should arise about
it. He took good care of the young children of
Alexander and Aristobulus. Antipater was grieved at
this and feared that when they were come of age, they
would restrain his power. Hence, he plotted their
destruction also, and so overcame Herod with his
entreaties, that he allowed him to marry the daughter of
Aristobulus and allowed Antipater's son to marry the
daughter of his uncle, Pheroras. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 1. s. 1,2. (11-18) 8:377-381}
6037. Herod invited Zamaris, a Babylonian Jew, and gave
him land in Trachonitis to inhabit, so that he would
guard that country against thieves. He came with five
hundred cavalry and a hundred of his relatives, and
built various citadels in several places around
Trachonitis and also at Bathyra. [E790] He gave safe
passage to the Jews who travelled from Babylon to the
feasts at Jerusalem, protecting them from the thievery
of the Trachonites and others. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 2. s. 1-3. (23-29) 8:383-387}
6038. Antipater plotted treason against his father in
which he involved his uncle Pheroras, along with some of
the king's women, who belonged mainly to the Pharisees.
Salome remained loyal to her brother Herod. The
Pharisees were a crafty people, arrogant and enemies to
kings. Subsequently, when the whole country was to
swear loyalty to the king and Caesar, they alone,
numbering more than six thousand, refused to swear. For
this reason they were fined by the king, but the wife of
Pheroras paid their fine for them. Since they were
thought to be able to foresee the future, they in return
foretold to her that it was decreed that the kingdom
would be taken from Herod and his children and would be
given to her and her husband and their children. Salome
told Herod about this and that they had solicited and
corrupted many of his courtiers with bribes. Herod
killed the leading Pharisees who were involved, along
with the eunuch Bagoas and his catamite, Karos, who had
been commended to Herod for his handsomeness. Herod
also killed whomever of his family he had found to have
conspired with the Pharisees. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 2. s. 4. (32-45) 8:393}
6039. After Herod had convicted the Pharisees and
punished them, he called a council of his friends.
Before them, he began an accusation against Pheroras'
wife. When Pheroras would not forsake her in favour of
his brother, Herod forbade Antipater to associate with
Pheroras. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 3. s. 1.
(46-51) 8:393-397}
6040. To remove all suspicion of his father from
himself, Antipater, through his friends who lived at
Rome, requested that Herod should immediately send
Antipater to Augustus. Herod sent many expensive
presents and his will along with him. In it he stated
that Antipater should be king, but that if he died, then
Herod Philip, Herod's son by Mariamme, the daughter of
Simon the high priest, would be the king. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 17. c. 3. s. 2. (52,53) 8:397}
6041. In the sixth month after John was conceived, the
angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth in Galilee, to
the most blessed virgin Mary, who was betrothed to
Joseph. They were both of the tribe of Judah and of
David's family. He greeted her and declared that she
should bring forth the Son of God and should call his
name Jesus. She was more fully instructed by the angel
about the amazing manner of her conception to be
performed by the power of the Holy Spirit, who would
overshadow her. [K529] With great faith, she said that
it should be done to her, the handmaid of the Lord,
according to his word. {Lu 1:26-38}
6042. Christ was thus conceived and the mother of the
Lord hurried into the hill country, to a city of Judah;
that is, Hebron, a city of the priests located in the
mountains of Judah. {Jos 21:10,11} When she had entered
into the house of Zacharias, the priest, and had greeted
her cousin Elizabeth, the latter felt the child leap in
her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and
declared that Mary was blessed. Mary believed this and
affirmed that the things that had been told her by the
Lord would come about. Mary imitated the song of
Hannah, {1Sa 2:1-10} and spoke that divine hymn: My soul
doth magnify the Lord.... Mary stayed with Elizabeth
for about three months. {Lu 1:39-56}
6043. Syllaeus, the Arabian, went to Rome, but had done
nothing of what Caesar had ordered him to do. Antipater
accused him before Caesar of the same crimes of which
Nicolaus Damascene had previously accused him. Also
present was another accuser, Aretas, the king of the
Nabateans, who accused him of the murder of many
honourable men without his consent. He especially
complained about the murder of Soemus, a man most famous
for every kind of virtue. He also complained about the
murder of Fabatus, Caesar's slave. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 1. c. 29. s. 3. (574-577) 2:273,275}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 3. s. 2. (53-57)
8:397,399}
6044. Herod banished his brother Pheroras into his
tetrarchy, because he so obstinately persisted in the
love for his wife. He went willingly, swearing that he
would never return until he heard of Herod's death.
Soon after that, Pheroras became sick and Herod
repeatedly sent for him to receive some private
instructions from Pheroras as he lay on his death bed,
but he refused to come, on account of his oath.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 29. s. 4.
(578,579) 2:275} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 3. s.
3. (58,59) 8:399}
6045. When Elizabeth's time had come, she gave birth to
a son. When he was to be circumcised on the eighth day,
the bystanders would have called him Zacharias, after
his father, but his parents said that he would be called
John. Zacharias had his speech restored, was filled
with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel.... {Lu 1:57-68} When Joseph
found that Mary, his betrothed wife, was pregnant, he
was willing to put her away quietly. [E791] He was told
by God in a dream that she had conceived by the Holy
Spirit and would bring forth a son, Jesus, who would
save his people from their sins. He then took her as
his wife. {Mt 1:18-24}
6046. When Pheroras became sick beyond all hope of
getting well, his brother Herod came and visited him and
very kindly sought help for him; but he died within a
few days. Herod brought his body to Jerusalem, to bury
it there, and honoured him with public mourning.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 29. s. 4.
(580,581) 2:275,277} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 3.
s. 3. (60) 8:399}
6047. Two of Pheroras' freedmen, who were most dear to
him (and who were Taphenites), told Herod how he had
been killed with poison by Doris, the mother of
Antipater. (This turned out not to be true and Pheroras
actually died of a natural death.) Herod inquired into
this alleged villainy and by luck he gradually uncovered
even greater villainies and the obvious treasons of his
son Antipater. On his journey to Rome, Antipater had
given a deadly poison to Pheroras to use to poison
Herod. [K530] Theudion, the brother of Doris, had sent
it from Egypt by Antiphilus, one of Antipater's friends,
to kill Antipater's father. Theudion had done this
while Antipater was away, so that no one would suspect
he had anything to do with his father's death.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 4. s. 1,2. (61-77)
8:401-407}
6048. Consequently, Herod expelled Doris, the mother of
Antipater, from the palace and took her jewels from her,
which were worth many talents. Herod divorced his wife,
the second Mariamme, the daughter of the high priest,
who was in on this plot. He removed her son, Herod
Philip, from his will, in which he was appointed
successor. He also deprived his father-in-law, Simon,
of the high priesthood and substituted Matthias, the son
of Theophilus, who was born at Jerusalem. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 17. c. 4. s. 2. (78) 8:407,409}
4000a AM, 4709 JP, 5 BC
6049. On the day of atonement, when there was a solemn
fast of the Jews, the new high priest, Matthias, could
not perform the divine service because he had suffered
from nocturnal pollution. So Joseph, the son of
Ellemus, was appointed to be his assistant and
substitute, since he was his relative. That same day he
entered into the Holy of Holies. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 6. s. 4. (166,167) 8:447,448}
6050. Bathyllus, the freedman of Antipater, arrived
from Rome. When he was tortured, he confessed that he
had brought a poison which he had given to Antipater's
mother Doris and to Pheroras to poison Herod. He had
said that if the first poison was too weak, they could
certainly kill Herod with this one. Antipater had his
friends at Rome send letters to the king. These accused
Archelaus and Philip, Herod's sons, of complaining about
the murder of Alexander and Aristobulus and pitying the
misfortune of their innocent brothers. At that time,
these young men were at Rome to study, but now their
father ordered them to return. After that, Antipater
bribed his friends with large gifts, getting them to
make his father suspect these two men, who stood in the
way of Antipater's ambitions. Antipater himself wrote
to his father about them, as if he were excusing them
because they were young. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17.
c. 4. s. 3. (79,80) 8:409} {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 30. s. 1. (582,583) 2:277}
6051. Augustus ordered that all the Roman world should
be taxed. This taxing first happened when Cyrenius was
governor of Syria. {Lu 2:1} From this, a little book
was made by Augustus, containing all the public riches,
as well as the number of Roman citizens and armed
allies. It listed the navies, kingdoms and provinces,
and it recorded what tribute and customs were required
to be paid. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 11. 3:267}
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 101. s. 4. 1:309}
6052. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was called Cyrenius
in the Greek, Kutiwiou or Kurniniou, and had been a
consul at Rome for seven years prior to this. Strabo
wrote about the Homonadensians, a people of Cilicia:
{*Strabo, l. 12. c. 6. s. 5. 5:479}
"Quirinius overcame them by famine and took four
thousand men and distributed them into the neighbouring
cities."
6053. Tacitus wrote: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 48.
3:597,599}
"He was a valiant warrior and ambitious in all his
duties. He had the consulship under Augustus. He was
famous, for he won the citadels of the Homonadensians by
assault and obtained the ensigns of triumph."
6054. Augustus himself had decreed that the magistrates
should not be sent into the provinces as soon as they
had left office. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 36.
1:207} They should wait five years after their term of
office expired. {*Dio, l. 53. (14) 6:227}
6055. After that, Quirinius obtained the proconsulate
of Cilicia. He could be sent into nearby Syria, either
as censor, with an extraordinary power, or as Caesar's
governor, with ordinary power. [K531] He would still
retain the proconsulship of Cilicia and Sextius
Saturninus, the governor of Syria. We have often read
in Josephus that Volumnius and Saturninus were both
equally called governors of Syria, whereas only
Volumnius, was the governor of Syria. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 1. c. 27. s. 2. (538) 2:255} [E792]
A little later, Quintilius Varus was made successor to
Saturninus, with the proconsular authority. So nothing
is incorrect, in that Quirinius may be said to have
succeeded to, or rather to have been added to, the
office of administrating Caesar's affairs, as King Herod
was. Josephus noted that Herod was to be the governor
of all Syria. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 20.
s. 4. (400) 2:189} This was so constituted by
Augustus, in order that Herod was added to the governors
and so that all things would be done according to his
wishes. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 10. s. 4.
(360) 8:175} Hence both would govern together.
Tertullian stated: {*Tertullian, Against Marcion, l. 4.
c. 19. 3:378}
"There was a tax raised under Augustus in Judea, by
Sentius Saturninus."
6056. Luke stated, when this same taxing was made: {Lu
2:1,2}
"when Cyrenius or Quirinius was governor of Syria."
6057. Luke would rather mention him than the governor
Saturninus, because he would compare this taxing with
another that was made ten years later by the same
Quirinius, after Archelaus was sent into banishment. He
stated that, of the two taxings, this was the first
taxing and this was the time of the birth of Christ.
6058. When this first taxing was enacted, Joseph went
up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth into Judea,
to the city of David, called Bethlehem. He was of the
house and lineage of David and would be taxed there with
his wife Mary, who was due to deliver. {Lu 2:4,5}
The Seventh Age of the World
4000a AM, 4709 JP, 5 BC
6059. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of the most blessed virgin Mary at
Bethlehem in the fulness of time. {Mt 1:25 2:1,5 Ga 4:4} Mary wrapped him in
swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the
inn. {Lu 2:7}
6060. The birth of our Saviour was revealed by an angel of the Lord to
shepherds who were watching their flocks by night in the neighbouring fields.
They heard the words of a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill to men. The
shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in
the manger. They told everyone what they had heard concerning the child and
came back praising and glorifying God. {Lu 2:8-20}
4000b AM, 4710 JP, 4 BC
6061. The child was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth and was given
the name Jesus, as had been foretold by the angel before he was conceived in the
womb. {Lu 2:21}
6062. The wise men from the east were guided by a star and came to Herod at
Jerusalem. [K532] When they were told that the birthplace of Christ was in
Bethlehem of Judea, they went there and entered the house which was shown to
them by the star that stood over it. They found the little child with his
mother, Mary. They fell down and worshipped him and gave him their treasures of
gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were warned by God in a dream that they
should not return to Herod, and so they departed into their own country by
another way. {Mt 2:1-12}
6063. On the fortieth day after her delivery, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem
to the temple, to present the child to the Lord according to the law of the
firstborn. She offered a pair of turtle doves for herself, or two young
pigeons, for she could not afford to offer a lamb. This was according to the
Levitical law. {Lu 2:22-24,27 Le 12:2-4,6,8}
6064. When his parents brought the child Jesus into the temple to perform the
requirements of the law, Simeon came into the temple, to whom it had been
revealed by God that he would not die until he had seen the Anointed of the
Lord. He took Jesus in his arms and praised the Lord and spoke prophecies about
Christ and his mother. At the same time, Anna, a prophetess and the daughter of
Phanuel, came up and publicly acknowledged the Lord, and spoke of him to all who
looked for redemption in Jerusalem. {Lu 2:25-38}
6065. When Joseph and Mary had carried out all the things required by the law
of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. {Lu
2:39} [E793]
6066. The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to
flee to Egypt, to save the life of the child and escape the machinations of
Herod. When he awoke, he took the young child and his mother and went by night
into Egypt, where he remained until the death of Herod. {Mt 2:13-15}
6067. Herod thought the young child was still at Bethlehem. He killed all the
children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding area, who were two
years old or less. This was in accordance with the time when the star was first
seen in the east and when the wise men enquired about the child. {Mt 2:16}
6068. Herod received letters from Antipater in Rome, in which he told him that
he had settled all his business according to his wishes and would be returning
home in a short time. When Herod wrote back to him, he concealed his anger.
Herod said he should hurry home, in case anything should happen to him (Herod)
while Antipater was away. Herod also mildly complained about his mother and
promised that he would settle all differences after his return. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 17. c. 5. s. 1. (83) 8:411}
6069. Because he was hated by everyone, Antipater had heard no news all this
time, either of the death of Pheroras, or of those things that had been brought
against him, even though seven months had elapsed. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
1. c. 31. s. 2. (606,607) 2:289} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 4. s.
3. (82) 8:409,411} On his journey, he received a letter at Tarentum about
Pheroras' death. In Cilicia, he got the letters from his father telling him to
hurry home. When he came to Celenderis, a town of Cilicia, he began to have
doubts about his return and was extremely sorrowful over the disgrace of his
mother. [K533] However, he sailed on and came to Sebaste, the port of Caesarea.
He was greeted by no one and went to Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1.
c. 31. s. 3,4. (608-616) 2:289-293} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 5. s.
1. (83-88) 8:411,413}
6070. It happened that Quintilius Varus, who had been sent as the successor to
Saturninus in Syria and had been summoned by Herod, was at Jerusalem at the same
time. Herod wanted Varus to help him with his council in his weighty affairs.
As they were both sitting together, Antipater came in, not suspecting anything.
He entered the palace in his purple robe, which he usually wore. When he
entered, the guards at the gates allowed none of his followers to come in with
him. As he approached them, his father pushed him away from him and accused him
of the murder of Pheroras, Herod's brother, and of intending to poison his
father (Herod). He told him that on the following day Varus would both hear and
decide on all matters between them. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 5. s. 2.
(89-92) 8:413}
6071. The next day, Varus and the king sat in judgment. His father Herod first
began the accusation. He left the prosecution and confirmation of it to
Nicolaus Damascene, his dear and close friend, and one who knew the whole
business. When Antipater could not clear himself of the crimes alleged against
him, Varus ordered that the poison be brought out, which he had prepared for his
father. It was given to another condemned man, who died immediately. After
this, Varus arose from the council and went to Antioch on the following day,
because this was the main palace of the Syrians. Herod soon put his son into
prison and sent letters to Caesar indicating what he had done. He also sent
messengers who might verify the cursed treason of Antipater to Caesar by word of
mouth. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 5. s. 3-7. (93-133) 8:415-433}
6072. At the same time, letters were intercepted from Antiphilus in Egypt to
Antipater, along with others from Rome which were sent to Antipater and Herod,
the king, and written by Acme. She was a Jew and a chambermaid to Livia,
Caesar's wife. She had been well-bribed by Antipater and sent a forged letter
to Herod, as if it had been written from Salome to Livia against him, in which
she expressed the desire to be given permission to marry Syllaeus. (This was
the Nabatean who was Herod's sworn enemy. A little after this, Syllaeus was
beheaded at Rome for having betrayed Aelius Gallus on the Arabian expedition and
for other crimes. {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 4. s. 25. 7:363}) Herod sent his
envoys to Caesar with a copy of these letters, together with letters of his own
against his son. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 5. s. 7. (134-145)
8:433-439}
6073. While the envoys hurried to Rome, Herod fell sick and made his will. He
left his kingdom to his youngest son, Herod Antipas, since he was now estranged
from Archelaus and Philip because of the false accusations of Antipater.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 6. s. 1. (146-148) 8:439}
6074. Judas, the son of Sariphaeus, and Matthias, the son of Margalothus, were
two of the most learned of the Jews and the best interpreters of the law. When
they realised that the king's sickness was incurable, they persuaded some young
men, who were their scholars, to pull down the golden eagle that Herod had
erected over the large gate of the temple. They went at noonday and with their
axes, pulled and hewed down the eagle, while a large number in the temple
witnessed their actions. As soon as the captain was told about this, he came
with a strong band of soldiers and seized about forty of the young men, together
with their teachers, and brought them to Herod. [E794] [K534] These continually
defended their actions and Herod ordered them to be bound and sent to Jericho.
He convened the rulers of the Jews and was brought into the assembly in a
litter, because he was so weak. He did not so much complain of the wrong done
to himself, as that done to God. They denied that they had initiated it and
Herod dealt more mildly with them. He took away the high priesthood from
Matthias, since he had known of this affair, and replaced him with Joazar, the
brother of his wife Mariamme, the daughter of Simon the high priest. He burned
alive the other Matthias, who was a partner in this sedition, along with his
companions. That night the moon was eclipsed on March 13, three hours after
midnight, according to the astronomical tables. This was the only eclipse
mentioned by Josephus in all his writings. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 6.
s. 2-4. (149-167) 8:439-449}
6075. Herod's disease grew worse, for he was inflamed with a slow fire which
could not be felt, but it burned up his very bowels. He also had the disease
called bulimia, which was a continual desire for food. To satisfy this, he was
always eating. He was also continually tortured with ulcers in his bowels and
colic pains. His feet swelled with a moist liquid, while his thighs and his
limbs rotted and were full of worms. He also had a filthy and no less
troublesome priapism and a most terrible stench. In addition, he was troubled
with convulsions and had difficulty in breathing. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17.
c. 6. s. 5. (168-170) 8:449}
6076. Although he was so grievously tormented that everyone thought he would
die from this, he himself still hoped he would get well. He very carefully sent
for physicians and sought medicines from every place. He also went beyond the
Jordan River into the hot baths at Callirrhoe, which drained into the Dead Sea.
Besides their medicinal value, the water is pleasant to drink. On the advice of
his physicians, he was placed in a bathing tub filled with oil. When he seemed
to have died, his friends suddenly cried out and bewailed him. He came to
himself and now realised there was no more hope for recovery. He ordered fifty
drachmas to be given to every soldier and was generous to his captains and
friends. Then he returned to Jericho. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 6. s.
5. (171,172) 8:451}
6077. Augustus heard of the edict of Herod, by which all the children who were
two years old or under were ordered to be killed. When he heard that one of
Herod's own sons was also killed because of this same edict, he said that:
{Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 2. c. 4.}
"It was better to be Herod's sow, than his son."
4001a AM, 4710 JP, 4 BC
6078. By an edict, Herod convened to Jericho the most noble of the Jews from
every place and locked them up in a place called the hippodrome. He told his
sister Salome and her husband Alexas that, as soon as he was dead, they were to
order the soldiers to kill all those who were confined in the hippodrome, so
that the people would have cause for sorrow. Otherwise, they would rejoice at
the death of their king, whom they hated so much. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17.
c. 6. s. 5. (173,174) 8:451,453}
6079. Letters came from Rome from the envoys who had been sent to Caesar. They
stated that Acme had been put to death by Caesar, who was angry over her
involvement in Antipater's conspiracy, and that Antipater had been left to his
father's pleasure, either to be banished or be put to death. When Herod heard
these things, he was cheered a little, but presently he was in pain again. He
was hungry and called for an apple and a knife to peel it. [K535] When he tried
to stab himself, his nephew Achiabus prevented him and called for help as he
held out Herod's right hand. A great sorrow, with fear and tumult, struck the
whole palace, as if Herod had been dead. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 7.
s. 1. (182,-184) 8:455,457}
6080. When Antipater heard the noise, he thought for certain that his father
was dead. He began to bargain with his keeper about letting him out, promising
him many things, now and in the future, when it was within his power. The
keeper told the king, who cried out in sheer anger. Although he was so near
death, he still raised himself up in his bed and ordered one of his guard to go
at once and execute Antipater. He was to be buried in the citadel of Hyrcania
without any honour. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 7. s. 1. (185-187)
8:457,459}
6081. Then Herod changed his mind and made a new will. He made Antipas, whom
he had made his successor in the kingdom, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea
instead. He gave the kingdom to Archelaus and assigned the regions of
Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, Batanea and Paneas to his son Philip in the name of a
tetrarchy. To his sister Salome he gave Jamnia, Azotus and Phasaelis, with five
hundred thousand drachmas. To the rest of his family he gave money and yearly
pensions. To Caesar he gave ten million drachmas of silver and all his vessels,
as well as gold, silver and a large quantity of precious clothes. To Livia,
Caesar's wife, and to some certain friends, he gave five million drachmas.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 8. s. 1. (188-190) 8:459}
6082. After Herod had ordered these things, he died on the fifth day after he
had executed Antipater. [E795] He had held the kingdom for thirty-four years
after having killed Antigonus, but thirty-seven years from the time that he was
declared king by the Romans. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 8. s. 1. (191)
8:459} He started to reign after the death of Antigonus in 37 BC because 31 BC
was the seventh year of his reign in which the battle of Actium was fought.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 19. s. 2. (370) 2:173,175} Hence 4 BC
would be the last year of his thirty-four year reign. He died about the 25th of
November, that is, the 7th of the month of Chisleu, which was therefore
accounted a joyful and a festival day, because on that day:
"Herod died, who hated all wise men."
6083. This was according to Edward Liveley, a most learned man, as noted in his
chronology, in the tynet tlygm, or the Volume of the Fejunii.
6084. Before the king's death became known, Salome and Alexas sent home all
those who had been locked up in the hippodrome. They said that Herod had so
ordered, that they should leave for their homes and go about their own business.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 8. s. 2. (193,194) 8:461}
6085. When the king's death was declared, all the soldiers were called into the
amphitheatre of Jericho. They first read the king's letter to the soldiers, in
which Herod thanked them for their fidelity and love to him. Herod asked that
they would be faithful to his son Archelaus, whom he had appointed to be his
successor in the kingdom. Then Ptolemy, the keeper of the king's seal, read his
will, which he could not ratify without Caesar's consent. Then there was a
shout for joy that Archelaus was king and the soldiers came flocking in with
their captains around him. They promised that they would be just as faithful to
him as they had been to his father and they prayed to God to prosper him in his
reign. Archelaus prepared most royally for the king's funeral. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 17. c. 8. s. 2. (194,195) 8:461}
4001b AM, 4711 JP, 3 BC
6086. After Herod, who sought the life of the young child Jesus, had died, the
angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in Egypt in a dream and ordered that he
should return with the young child and his mother to the land of Israel. [K536]
When he awoke, he did what he had been commanded to do. {Mt 2:19-21}
6087. When Joseph came into the land of Israel, he heard that Archelaus reigned
in Judea in the place of his father Herod and so he was afraid to go there. God
warned him in a dream and he departed into the region of Galilee (the tetrarchy
which Archelaus' father, Herod, had given to Antipas in his will). He settled
in the city of Nazareth from whence Jesus acquired the name of Nazarene and the
Christians the name of Nazarenes. {Mt 2:22,23 Ac 24:5}
6088. Herod's body was carried twenty-five miles in a funeral procession, from
Jericho to the citadel of Herodion, where he had arranged to be buried.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 1. c. 33. s. 9. (673) 2:319,321} Each day they
only travelled one mile. He was carried on a golden bier embroidered with
precious jewels and covered with a purple cloth. His body was also dressed in
purple. A diadem was put on his head, as well as a crown of gold above him and
a sceptre in his right hand. His son and his relatives walked beside the bier
and were followed by the soldiers, marshalled according to their countries.
Then came five hundred servants who carried perfumes. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 1. c. 33. s. 9. (671-673) 2:319,321} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c.
8. s. 3. (196-199) 8:463}
6089. After the funeral ceremony was over, Archelaus came to Jerusalem and
solemnised the mourning for his father for seven days, according to the
traditions of the Jews. At the end of the mourning, he provided a funeral
banquet for the people. He went up into the temple and was congratulated
wherever he went. He went up to a higher place and sat on a golden throne. He
spoke graciously and honestly to the people but he said that he would not take
the name of king until Caesar had confirmed his father's will. After the
sacrifices were over, he banqueted with his friends. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 8. s. 4. (200-202) 8:463,465} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 1.
s. 1. (1-3) 2:323-325}
6090. The friends of those whom Herod had put to death for tearing down the
golden eagle, instigated a sedition. They reproached the dead king and also
demanded that some of his friends be punished. Moreover, they wanted the high
priest Joazar removed from the priesthood. Archelaus tried to appease them, but
in vain. It so happened that, about the feast of the passover, Archelaus sent
the whole army against them and three thousand men were killed by the cavalry
around the temple. The rest fled to the adjoining mountains. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 17. c. 9. s. 1-3. (206-218) 8:467-473} {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 2. c. 1. s. 2,3. (4-13) 2:325-329}
6091. Archelaus went down to the sea with his mother Malthace, a Samaritan, to
sail to Caesar. He took along Nicolaus Damascene, Ptolemy (Herod's agent) and
his many other friends. He committed his family and kingdom to the trust of his
brother Philip. Salome, the sister of Herod, also went with him and took all
her children with her. Others of his relatives also went, on the pretext of
helping him to get the kingdom, when in fact they planned to oppose him and
accuse him of the deed which had been committed in the temple. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 17. c. 9. s. 3. (219,220) 8:473,475} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
2. c. 2. s. 1. (14,15) 2:329}
6092. As Archelaus was travelling with this group, Sabinus, Caesar's agent in
Syria, met him and said he had been sent to Judea to take charge of Herod's
property. [K537] Fortunately Varus, the governor of Syria, met him and
restrained him, for Archelaus had sent Ptolemy to bring Varus. Sabinus yielded
to the governor and did not seize the citadels of Judea nor seal up the king's
treasures. [E796] He left all things in Archelaus' control until such time as
Caesar determined something concerning them. After he had promised this,
Sabinus stayed on at Caesarea, but after Archelaus had set sail for Rome and
Varus had returned to Antioch, Sabinus went to Jerusalem and seized the palace.
He convened the captains of the citadels and the king's agents, and then
demanded the accounts from them and ordered that the citadels be handed over to
him. The captains obeyed Archelaus and kept all things as they were until the
king's return, but pretended that they were keeping them for Caesar.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 9. s. 3. (221-223) 8:475} {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 2. c. 2. s. 2. (16-19) 2:329,331}
6093. At the same time, Antipas, the son of Herod, sailed to Rome with hopes of
getting the kingdom for himself. Salome had instigated him to do this, since he
was preferred over Archelaus, because he had been appointed the successor to the
kingdom in Herod's first will, which should have had more validity than the
second. He took his mother Cleopatra, who was born at Jerusalem, with him, and
Ptolemy, the brother of Nicolaus Damascene. Ptolemy had been one of Herod's
best friends and favoured Antipas being king. Antipas purposely included the
orator Irenaeus, who was an eloquent man knowledgeable in the king's business,
to help him secure the kingdom. After Antipas came to Rome, all the relatives
sided with him, because they hated Archelaus. Sabinus, too, wrote letters to
Caesar to accuse Archelaus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 9. s. 4.
(224-227) 8:475,477} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 2. s. 3,4. (20-24)
2:331}
6094. Archelaus, through Ptolemy, showed a petition to Caesar containing his
own right to the throne and the accounts of Herod's money, which was sealed up.
When Caesar had read the petition, as well as Varus' and Sabinus' letters, he
convened his friends. He gave the first place in the council to Gaius, the son
of Agrippa and his daughter Julia, whom he had now adopted. Antipater, the son
of Salome, who was a very eloquent man, spoke against Archelaus, who was being
defended by Nicolaus Damascene. When he had finished his discourse, Archelaus
fell down at the feet of Caesar, who courteously raised him up and pronounced
that he was worthy of the kingdom. Caesar feigned that he would do nothing
unless it was prescribed in his father's will, or would be profitable for
Archelaus. When Caesar saw that the young man was made hopeful and encouraged
by his promise, he decided nothing more at that time. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 9. s. 5-7. (228-249) 8:475-487} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c.
2. s. 4-6. (24-38) 2:331-337}
6095. Varus came from Antioch to repress the seditions that had arisen in Judea
after Archelaus' departure. He punished the instigators of the sedition and
when it was mostly settled, he returned to Antioch and left one legion in
Jerusalem to prevent any further seditions. As soon as he was gone, Sabinus,
Caesar's agent, arrived there and took control of these troops. Believing he
was more than a match for the people, he tried to seize the citadels and
forcibly searched for the king's money, for his own private wealth and
covetousness. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 1. (250-253) 8:489}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 3. s. 1. (39-41) 2:337-339}
6096. Many tens of thousands came to the feast of Pentecost, not so much for
religion's sake, but to revenge themselves upon Sabinus. They not only came
from Judea, which had been more grievously afflicted, but from Galilee, Idumea,
Jericho and the towns that were beyond the Jordan River. They attacked Sabinus
fiercely, dividing their troops into three brigades. The Roman soldiers
valiantly opposed them and killed many of them. [K538] The soldiers entered the
treasure house containing the holy treasure and stole most of it. Four hundred
talents of that money was publicly brought to Sabinus. A company of the most
warlike Jews besieged the palace, but Rufus and Gratus, who had three thousand
men of the best and most warlike of Herod's soldiers under their command, allied
themselves with the Romans. In spite of this, the Jews zealously continued the
assault and undermined the walls. They exhorted their adversaries to depart and
promised them safe conduct but Sabinus did not trust them and would not withdraw
his soldiers, since he was expecting help from Varus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 10. s. 2,3. (254-268) 8:491-497} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c.
3. s. 2-4. (45-54) 2:339-343}
6097. In this state of things, various other seditions were raised in Judea and
in other places, because the country did not have a king of its own to restrain
the multitude and compel obedience to the law. Two thousand men who had served
under Herod were disbanded to live at home. They got together and attacked the
king's faction, led by Archiab, Herod's cousin and general for the king. He
dared not attack the old soldiers and so he defended himself and his side as
well as he could, by retreating to the inaccessible mountainous regions.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 4. (269,270) 8:497} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 2. c. 4. s. 1. (55) 2:343,345}
6098. Judas (the son of Ezekias, who headed a band of robbers and had, in
previous times, tried to overthrow Herod) gathered a band of desperate men at
Sepphoris, a city of Galilee, and made incursions into the king's dominion. He
captured the king's armoury and armed all his soldiers, then seized the king's
treasure in those places. After that, he began to terrorise the inhabitants and
plundered all that fell into his hands. He also aspired to the kingdom, not by
lawful means, of which he was wholly ignorant, but by force. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 5. (271,272) 8:499} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
2. c. 4. s. 1. (56) 2:345} [E797] The Hebrew word hdwhy is the same as the
Syrian word hdwt from which the names Judas and Thaddaeus are derived. {Lu 6:16
Mr 3:18} The correct name is Theudas, since this Judas seems to be none other
than the Theudas of whom Gamaliel spoke: {Ac 5:36}
"For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom
a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who were killed; and
all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to nought."
6099. In addition to these seditions, Simon, a servant of King Herod, and a
wise man esteemed among all men for his handsomeness, height and strength, dared
to assume the kingdom. He was attended by a large company, who proclaimed him
king. These were an unbridled multitude that persuaded him that he was more fit
to be the king than anyone else. He began his kingdom by plundering and burning
the king's palace at Jericho. Then he burned other palaces and gave their
plunder to his followers. He would also have done more licentious deeds, had he
not been quickly stopped. Gratus, the captain of the king's soldiers, joined
with the Roman forces and marched against Simon. There was a fierce conflict on
the other side of the Jordan. Simon's men fought in disarray and more from
courage than skill, and so were defeated. Gratus captured Simon as he was
fleeing through a narrow valley, and cut off his head. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 10. s. 6. (273-276) 8:499,501} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c.
4. s. 2. (57-59) 2:345,347} Tacitus attributed this to Quintilius Varus and
wrote the following about Simon: {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 9. 3:191}
[K539]
"After the death of Herod, Simon made himself king, without so much as looking
for Caesar's consent, but he was punished by Varus, the governor of Syria."
6100. At Ammatha, also by the Jordan River, a royal palace of the king was
burned by Simon's rabble of men. Athronges, who was an obscure shepherd and
only famous for his great height and strength, made himself king. He had four
brothers who were just as tall and strong, whom he made his captains over the
multitude that came flocking to him in this time of unrest. He wore a crown and
although he consulted others, he kept the sole command in his own hands. The
power of this man lasted a long time, for he was not a king for nothing, until
he was brought under the power of Archelaus when he returned from Rome.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 6,7. (277-280) 8:501,503} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 2. c. 4. s. 3. (60-62) 2:347}
6101. Athronges' cruelty was directed especially at the Romans and the king's
side, for he hated them both equally. His forces surprised a cohort near
Emmaus, as it was carrying food and weapons to the army. Athronges and his men
used their arrows against them and killed Arius, a centurion, along with forty
of his best foot soldiers. The rest would also have been killed, had not Gratus
arrived with the king's soldiers and rescued them but he left the dead bodies.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 6,7. (281-283) 8:503,505} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 2. c. 4. s. 3. (63) 2:347}
6102. From his letters, Quintilius Varus knew the danger that Sabinus was in
and feared the utter destruction of the third legion. He left with two other
legions (for there were only three legions at the most in all Syria), four
troops of cavalry and the auxiliaries of the king and the tetrarchs. He hurried
into Judea to help the besieged, ordering those who were sent ahead to meet him
at Ptolemais. On his way past the city of Berytus, he received fifteen hundred
auxiliaries from them. Aretas of Petra, a friend to the Romans and an enemy of
Herod, sent him a good number of cavalry and foot soldiers. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 17. c. 10. s. 9. (286,287) 8:505,507} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2.
c. 5. s. 1. (66-68) 2:349}
6103. After all the army had come to Ptolemais, Varus turned part of it over to
his son and one of his friends. They were to march against the Galileans who
bordered on Ptolemais. When they entered the country, they put to flight all
who dared oppose them. They took the city of Sepphoris and sold all the
inhabitants and burned the city. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 9.
(288,289) 8:507} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 5. s. 1. (68,69) 2:349}
6104. Varus went toward Samaria with the army, but did not harm the city
because he knew it had not been involved in the sedition. He pitched his camp
in a certain village called Arous, which was in the possession of Ptolemy. The
Arabians had burned it, because they hated Herod, as well as anyone who was
Herod's friend. He marched on and came to Sampho, which the Arabians first
plundered and then burned, even though it was well fortified. On all that
march, they burned everything and killed anyone they encountered. Emmaus was
burned on the order of Varus, to avenge his soldiers who were killed there but
the inhabitants had previously abandoned it. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c.
10. s. 9. (289-291) 8:507,509} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 5. s. 1.
(69-71) 2:349,351}
6105. When they approached Jerusalem, the Jews who were besieging the Romans on
that side were terrified as soon as they saw the army coming and abandoned the
attack they had begun. Those in Jerusalem were grievously reproved by Varus.
They excused themselves by saying that the people were in fact gathered together
for the feast, but that the sedition had not been started with their consent.
It had been caused by the boldness of the strangers who had come there. [E798]
[K540] Varus was met by Joseph, a nephew of King Herod's, by Gratus and Rufus
with their soldiers and by the Romans that had endured the siege. Sabinus would
not come, but stole away secretly and hurried to the coast. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 17. c. 10. s. 9. (292-294) 8:509} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c.
5. s. 2. (72-74) 2:351}
6106. Then Varus sent part of his army throughout all the country to capture
the instigators of this sedition. When he found them, he punished the most
guilty, while some were allowed to go free. About two thousand were crucified
for this sedition. After this, he dismissed his army, who were disorderly and
disobedient, and committed many outrages simply for money's sake. When he heard
that ten thousand Jews were gathered together, he hurried to apprehend them.
They dared not withstand him and surrendered on the advice of Achiabus. Varus
pardoned the common people for their sedition, but sent the ringleaders to
Caesar. So everything was made peaceful again and he left the same legion in
the garrison in Jerusalem, while he returned to Antioch. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
17. c. 10. s. 10. (295-297) 8:509,511} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c.
5. s. 2,3. (75-77) 2:351,353}
6107. Malthace, the mother of Archelaus, died of a sickness at Rome.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 1. (250) 8:489}
6108. When Caesar had received Varus' letter about the revolt of the Jews, he
pardoned the rest of the captains of the seditions and only punished some of
King Herod's relatives, who had fought against their own relatives, with no
regard for justice. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 10. s. 10. (298) 8:511}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 5. s. 2,3. (78,79) 2:353}
6109. At the same time, with the permission of Varus, an embassy of the Jews
arrived, who requested that they might live according to their own laws, without
a king. There were about fifty envoys, who were joined by about eight thousand
Jews who lived at Rome. Caesar had convened a council of his friends and chief
citizens in the temple of Apollo, which he had built at great expense. The
envoys, and a multitude of the Jews who followed them, also went there.
Archelaus, too, came with his company. Philip was also there, who had come from
Syria on Varus' advice to be an advocate for his brother, whom Varus wished
well. Philip also wanted a share in the division of Herod's kingdom. The
envoys were given permission to speak and began with accusations against Herod
and Archelaus and then desired that they might have no more kings. They wanted
the government to be annexed to Syria and said that they would obey the
governors sent to them from Rome. When Nicolaus Damascene had answered the
objections for Herod, who was dead, and for Archelaus, who was present, Caesar
dismissed the council. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 11. s. 1-4.
(299-317) 8:511-519} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 6. s. 1-3. (80-93)
2:353-357}
6110. A few days later, Caesar declared that Archelaus was not king, but made
him ethnarch of half of the dominion that had been left to him by his father
Herod. He promised him a kingdom if he behaved himself in such a way as to
merit a kingdom. A fourth part of their tribute was remitted, because they had
not joined the seditions. These cities were included in his government:
Straton's Tower, Sebaste, Joppa and Jerusalem. The cities of Gaza, Gadara and
Hippos were cities which followed the laws of Greece and for this reason, Caesar
annexed them to Syria. Six hundred talents annually accrued to Archelaus from
his own dominion. (Josephus, in the Jewish War, stated it was four hundred
talents. Editor.) {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 11. s. 4. (317-320)
8:519,521} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 6. s. 3. (94-97) 2:357,359}
6111. Caesar divided the other half of Herod's dominion into two parts, one for
each of Herod's sons. Herod Antipas was given Galilee with the little country
of Peraea. [K541] It was a most fertile country and was beyond Jordan, between
the two lakes of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. This generated two hundred talents
a year in revenue. Philip received Batanea with Trachonitis, as well as
Auranitis, with a certain part of the palace of Zenodorus (as they called it),
which paid a hundred talents annually. Salome, in addition to the cities which
had been left to her by her brother, received Jamnia, Azotus and Phasaelis, and
five hundred thousand drachmas of silver. Caesar gave her a palace in Askelon,
and she also received sixty talents from those places which were subject to her.
Her residence was within the dominion of Archelaus. The rest of Herod's
relatives received what was bequeathed by his will. Also, two of Herod's
daughters, who were virgins, in addition to what was bequeathed them, received a
quarter million drachmas of silver from the bounty of Caesar and were married to
the sons of Pheroras. Caesar gave his own portion of the king's estate, which
amounted to the sum of fifteen hundred talents, to his sons. He kept only a few
vessels, not so much for their value, but as keepsakes for the memory of his
friend Herod. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 11. s. 4,5. (317-323)
8:519-523} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 6. s. 3. (94-100) 2:357-361}
6112. Thus the children of Herod governed the country and were now restrained
by a threefold division. {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 9. 3:191} Strabo
added this about Herod's children: {*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 46. 7:299}
"Some of them Herod put to death himself under the charges of treachery, others
he left as his successors at his death and assigned to everyone his portion.
Caesar also highly honoured Herod's children and his sister Salome, and
Berenice, the daughter of Salome."
6113. A certain young man, a Jew of lowly parentage, was brought up in Sidon
with a Roman freedman. In his face he resembled Alexander, the son of Herod,
and so, with the help of a certain friend of his guardian he pretended to be
Alexander, who had been saved from death with his brother Aristobulus. [E799]
This man took on an accomplice who was very well acquainted with Herod's palace
and had been well instructed through this fellow's cunning and deceits. When he
had sailed into Crete, he persuaded all the Jews who came to meet him, that this
thing was so. He got money from them and sailed to the island of Melos, where
he acquired a large sum of money under the pretence that he was of the king's
family. He now hoped to recover his father's kingdom and hurried to Rome with
his friends. When he had sailed to Puteoli, he was likewise well received there
and deceived the Jews. As he was coming to Rome, all the Jews who lived there
came out to meet him. When this news was brought to Caesar, he sent Celadus
there, one of his freedmen, who had previously been very well acquainted with
the young men. Caesar ordered that if he was Alexander, he should bring him to
him. He, too, was deceived and brought him to Caesar. However, he did not
deceive Caesar, who sent this false Alexander, when he had confessed his
imposture, to the galleys as a rower, because he had a strong body. He executed
the one that had put him up to this fraud. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 12.
s. 1,2. (324-338) 8:523-529} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 7. s. 1,2.
(101-110) 2:361,363}
4002a AM, 4711 JP, 3 BC
6114. When Archelaus returned to his government in Judea, he removed the
priesthood from Joazar, the son of Boethus (or Boethus' grandchild by his son
Simon), accusing him of having favoured the seditions. He gave that office to
Joazar's brother, Eleazar. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 13. s. 1. (339)
8:529}
4002b AM, 4712 JP, 2 BC
6115. In his thirteenth consulship, Augustus brought his son Lucius into the
court. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 26. s. 2. 1:187} He conferred the
same honours on him which three years earlier he had conferred on his brother
Gaius, as shown by the inscriptions on the coins. They show ensigns of Gaius
and Lucius with bucklers and spears, with this inscription: C. L. Caesares,
Augusti. F. Cos. Des. Principes. Juvent. This means: Gaius and Lucius
Caesar, the sons of Augustus, consuls elect, Princes of Youth. [K542]
6116. In the same thirteenth consulship, he wrote on the Ancyran Marble that
he: {*Augustus, l. 3. c. 15. 1:369,371}
"gave sixty denarii to the common people that received public grain. (welfare)"
6117. He added:
"there were more than two hundred thousand."
6118. This very thing is also found in Xyphiline, in his writings based on Dio,
except that for sixty denarii, which the Greeks called drachmas, the Latin
author wrote two hundred and forty denarii. We do not know the basis for the
change. {*Dio, l. 55. (9,10) 6:405,407}
6119. When Augustus and Gallus Coninius were consuls, they satisfied the
desires of the Roman people with gladiatorial shows and a sham naval battle.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 100. s. 2. 1:257} {*Eusebius, Chronicles,
l. 1. 1:250} For these shows, Augustus brought water into the Circus.
Thirty-six crocodiles were killed. {*Dio, l. 55. (10) 6:409}
6120. He also held a naval battle and hollowed out the ground around the Tiber
River. That place was later called Caesar's Grove. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l.
2. c. 43. s. 1,2. 1:217} The hollowed place was eighteen hundred feet long
and two hundred feet wide. He had thirty warships and many galleys and smaller
boats fight. This is recorded in the breviary of his doings, which was engraved
on the Ancyran Marble. {*Augustus, l. 4. c. 23. 1:383} Augustus wrote that
this was a novelty in Rome. Ovid made mention of this: {*Ovid, Art of Love, l.
1. (171-174) 2:25}
What Caesar, when, like a naval battle by land,
Made the Persian and Cecropian beaks the sand
To ride? He brought both men and maids from the main,
And made the city all the world retain.
6121. When Augustus was preparing his games in Rome, there was trouble in
Armenia. Only Pompey had exposed the Armenians to the government of Roman
governors. They had expelled Artavasdes (or Artabazes), whom Augustus had set
over them as governor, and had substituted Tigranes in his place. To support
this revolt, they had called in the Parthians for help. So Armenia yielded to
the Parthians and the Parthians broke their alliance with Rome and seized
Armenia. {*Florus, l. 2. c. 32. 1:341,343} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 100. s. 1. 1:257} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 3. 3:387,389} {*Dio, l.
55. (10) 6:413} {Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
6122. Augustus brought Gaius and Lucius, who were still very young, into the
government service. He sent them around the provinces and armies and they had
the title of consuls elect. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 64. s. 1,2.
1:245} [E800] Hence, we read in Velleius Paterculus that Gaius went about the
provinces to settle them. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 101. s. 1.
1:259} Beatus Rhenanus thought it should read to quiet them. Lipsius thought it
should read, to visit them. (The Loeb edition of Paterculus noted three variant
readings for this passage. Editor.) This last is the best reading, as was also
recorded by Dio: {*Dio, l. 55. (10) 6:413}
"Gaius Caesar went about, as they usually do in peacetime, and viewed the
legions which were encamped by the Ister River. He never had any command in the
wars, even though wars were going on at that time. This was because he had
learned the arts in peace and security, while the dangers of the war were
committed to others to manage." [K543]
6123. At Rome in the very year that Augustus held the shows of the combatants
on land and sea, there was a filthy and horrible disaster in his own house. His
daughter Julia, who was altogether unmindful of the greatness of either her
father or her husband, left no disgraceful deed, which it was possible for a
woman to do or have happen to her, untried. She measured the greatness of her
position by her liberty in sinning and considered everything lawful if it
pleased her. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 100. s. 3. 1:259} She
reached such heights of lasciviousness that she held her excessive feasting and
drinking bouts in the very courts of justice. She abused those very courts, in
which her father had made the law against adultery, with lascivious acts. In
consequence, her father was so enraged, that he could not contain his anger
within his own house, but proclaimed these things publicly and notified the
senators about them. {*Seneca, On Benefits, l. 6. c. 32. s. 1. 3:431}
{*Dio, l. 55. (10) 6:411} He was not present, but he had a quaestor read a
note to them, declaring everything that had happened. He also kept himself from
any gathering of people for a very long time, out of very deep shame. He was
also thinking of putting his daughter to death. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 65. s. 1. 1:245} At last, she was banished to Pandataria, an island of
Campania, and her mother Scibonia voluntarily accompanied her into exile.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 100. s. 5. 1:259} {*Dio, l. 55. (10)
6:411,413} Her mother had been divorced from Caesar on the very day Julia had
been born. Lucius Martius and Gaius Sabinus were consuls at that time, in 39
BC. {*Dio, l. 48. (34) 5:291} Hence, Julia was thirty-eight years old at the
time. Macrobius confirmed she was at least that old. {Macrobius, Saturnalia,
l. 2. c. 5.}
6124. Tiberius was in Rhodes and heard that his wife Julia had been condemned
for her lusts and adulteries and that a divorce had been sent to her in his name
by the order of Augustus. Although he was glad, he still considered it his duty
to write frequently to Augustus. He begged him to forgive his daughter and
regardless of what she deserved, allow her to keep any gifts which he himself
had made to her at any time. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 11. s. 4.
1:329,331}
4003a AM, 4712 JP, 2 BC
6125. When Augustus heard that the Armenians had revolted and had been helped
by the Parthians, he was grieved and did not know what to do. He could not
manage the war himself, because he was too old. Tiberius had withdrawn himself,
and he dared not trust any of the more powerful citizens. Gaius and Lucius were
too young and unfit for such matters, but of necessity, he sent Gaius and made
him a proconsul. To give him more honour, he had him get married, as he would
then have more friends to give him wise counsel. {*Dio, l. 55. (10)
6:413,415} He married Lollia Paulina, who was either the daughter or
grand-daughter of Marcus Lollius. {*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 26. s.
3. 2:53} {*Pliny, l. 9. c. 35. 3:243} {Solinus, c. 53.} Augustus wanted
him to be an adviser for his young son. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 102.
s. 1. 1:261} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 12. s. 2,3. 1:331}
6126. When Gaius was being prepared for this expedition, Ovid mentioned the
recent naval battle which had ended. He also said: {*Ovid, Art of Love, l. 1.
(177-184) 2:25}
Caesar prepares with courage to subdue
Of the whole world the only unconquered crew,
Now must the Parthian, by him overcome,
Receive chastisement and observe his doom.
Rejoice yon buried Crassians, what you lost,
Revengefully is taken, to their cost, [K544]
By one, though captain young, yet shows the world,
Such high achievements cannot be controll'd. [E801]
6127. He added a little later:
With father's fate and gravity renowned,
Thy fighting shalt with victory be crowned:
Such expectation doth thy name obtain,
Though now of young, a prince of old thou let reign.
6128. Ovid was a very good prophet in trying to predict the outcome of this
expedition. He recorded Gaius' age correctly. His father Augustus was nineteen
years old when he gathered his army, as was shown earlier from the Ancyran
Marble. Gaius just turned nineteen when he prepared for the Armenian and
Parthian war. He was a commander in war at the very same age as his father had
been.
6129. Augustus sent Dionysius, who was a most excellent geographer, ahead into
the east, to note the geo-graphy of the land for his older son, who was to go
into Armenia. Pliny recorded information about Parthia and Arabia. {*Pliny, l.
6. c. 27-32. 2:421-459} We do not know whether it was that famous Dionysius
whose records of geography are extant in Greek poetry, or Dionysius, the son of
Diogenes, of whom Marcianus Heracleota, in his first book of journeys, said that
he measured the circumference of the earth.
6130. Gaius Caesar was assigned Armenia for his province. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 2. c. 3. 3:387,389} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 48. 3:599} He was
sent into Syria. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 101. s. 1. 1:259} He was
made the governor of the east. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 12. s. 2,3.
1:331} He was sent by Augustus to order the provinces of Egypt and Syria.
{Orosius, l. 7. c. 3.} Pliny cited the letters of King Juba, written to the
same Gaius, concerning the expedition into Arabia. {*Pliny, l. 6. c. 31.
2:445.} Gaius had only seen Arabia, but had never made any expedition there.
{*Pliny, l. 6. c. 32. 2:459}
6131. As soon as Phraates, the king of the Parthians, heard of the preparations
for war that Gaius was making against the barbarians, he sent an apology for the
things that had been done and sought peace. Caesar replied by letters and
ordered him to leave Armenia. At that time, Tigranes sent no embassy to him.
{*Dio, l. 55. (10a) 6:415-419}
4003b AM, 4713 JP, 1 BC
6132. When the time of his tribuneship was over, Tiberius finally confessed
that he had gone into his retirement only to avoid all suspicion of envy between
himself and Gaius and Lucius. There was now no danger of that, because they
were grown men and next in authority to Augustus. Tiberius requested that
Augustus give him permission to see his relatives again, since he had a great
desire to see them. This was not granted and he was warned that he should
forget about those whom he had so willingly left. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3.
c. 11. s. 5. 1:331}
6133. So Tiberius stayed at Rhodes against his will. At his mother's request,
he succeeded in being allowed to remain there as an envoy to Augustus, to cover
his ignominy. He lived only as a private citizen and was in danger and fear.
He hid in the middle of the island, to avoid being seen by those who sailed
there. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 12. s. 1,2. 1:331}
6134. When Gaius went to the Armenian war, Tiberius crossed over to Chios to
offer his service to him. [K545] He removed all suspicions about himself and
was very humble to Gaius and to his followers. {*Dio, l. 55. (10a) 6:415}
Velleius flattered Tiberius, as he always did, and wrote that Gaius gave all
honour to Tiberius as his superior. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 101. s.
1. 1:259,261} Suetonius wrote that Tiberius went, not to Chios, but Samos, to
see his son-in-law Gaius. He was not well received, because of the false
accusations of Marcus Lollius. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 12. s. 2.
1:331}
6135. Tiberius also came under suspicion due to some centurions he had
appointed. They went back to the camp again from meeting him and appeared to
have given dubious commands to many, which might tempt them to a revolt. When
Augustus heard of this suspicion, Tiberius persistently requested that Augustus
send him someone, of any rank, to be a witness to his words and deeds. Tiberius
stopped his usual riding and his other martial exercises. He went about in his
coat and shoes and laid aside his country living. For the next two years, he
lived at Rhodes in this fashion, and every day he was more despised and hated.
{*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 12,13. 1:331,333} [E802]
6136. Gaius passed through Judea and scorned to worship at Jerusalem. As soon
as Augustus learned of this, he highly commended him for it. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 93. s. 1. 1:285} {Orosius, l. 7. c. 3.} Orosius
added that Gaius came from Egypt and passed by the borders of Palestine.
6137. Dio stated that Gaius came from there into Syria and did nothing
praiseworthy. {*Dio, l. 55. (10) 6:415} Velleius Paterculus stated that he
behaved himself with such versatility, that there was much for which he could be
praised, as well as criticised. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 101. s. 1.
1:261} By virtue of the greatness and majesty of the Roman name, he settled all
things. {Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
6138. When Quirinius returned to Rome, he married that generous woman, Lepida,
who had for some time been intended to be the wife for Lucius Caesar and to be
the daughter-in-law to Augustus. After twenty years, when Gaius Marcus Valerius
Messala and Marcus Aurelius Cotta were consuls in 20 AD, or 4733 JP, he divorced
her and accused her of trying to poison him. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c.
49. 1:377,379} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 22,23. 3:557,559}
6139. When Augustus wrote the letters to Phraates, he did not call him king.
Phraates was not intimidated, but proudly wrote back again, calling himself
king, and calling Augustus nothing but Caesar. {*Dio, l. 55. (10) 6:415,417}
When Phraates knew that Gaius had come into Syria, he suspected that his
subjects would not be peaceful because they hated him. Hence, he made a peace
with Gaius on the condition that he (Phraates) would lay aside all claims to
Armenia. {*Dio, l. 55. (10a) 6:419} From this we read: {Eutropius, l. 7.}
"Augustus received Armenia from the Parthians."
6140. We read, also, that Gaius Caesar made peace with the Parthians.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:251}
6141. When Artabazes or Artavasdes had died of a disease, Tigranes sent
presents to Augustus for joy that his enemy was gone. He did not address
himself as king and begged Augustus for the kingdom. Augustus was troubled by
these things and feared a Parthian war. He accepted his presents and offered
him some hope if he went to Syria. {*Dio, l. 55. (10a) 6:415,417} Sextus
Rufus said that: {Sextus Rufus, Brevariy} [K546]
"The Armenians, who were then stronger than the Parthians, have been subdued by
Gaius. The Armenians allied themselves with the Parthians and were easily
overcome by Gaius Augustus. The Armenians thought it better to be reconciled to
the friendship of the Romans and to live in their own country than to join with
the Parthians and lose their country and have the hostility of the Romans."
4004 AM, 4714 JP, 1 AD
6142. This was the first year of the common Christian era, of which we now
calculate there to have been 1663 years (when Ussher wrote this paragraph).
Gaius Caesar was now twenty years old, and this was five years after he had been
brought into the forum. He was consul in the east, as Pighius showed from a
marble table of Naples and Anagnia. {Pighius, Annals of Rome}
6143. Also this year, when Tiberius lived at Rhodes in ostensible retirement
and actual exile, he studied nothing except anger, hypocrisy and secret
lasciviousness. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 4. 3:249} Daily he became the
object of contempt and aversion. For that reason, when his name was mentioned
in a banquet, a man promised Gaius that he would sail at once to Rhodes if he
would allow him, and bring him the head of that banished man. Tiberius was
compelled, more from danger than fear, to seek his return through his own
mother's most earnest requests. However, Augustus was determined to do nothing
about this matter except what pleased Gaius. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c.
13. s. 1,2. 1:333}
6144. After his climactic year was past, Augustus celebrated his sixty-fourth
birthday. On the 9th of the Calends of October (September 23), he wrote this
letter to Gaius.
"All hail my Gaius, my best delight, whom I always sincerely long for when you
are from me, but especially on such days as this is. My eyes always long for
Gaius and wherever you are, I hope that you are merry and in health and
celebrated my sixty-fourth birthday. For you have seen that I have passed the
sixty-third, the common climactic year of all old men. I pray the gods that for
the rest of my life that remains, I may lead it in happy circumstances for the
government and that you are healthy and behaving yourself like a man and will
succeed in my place."
6145. This was taken from a book of the letters of Augustus to Gaius, which
Aulus Gellius had preserved. {*Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 15. c. 7. s.
3. 3:79}
4005a AM, 4714 JP, 1 AD
6146. Gaius went to a conference with the king of the Parthians on an island in
the Euphrates River. Each side had a retinue of equal size. The Roman and the
Parthian army faced each other on either side of the river. First, the
Parthians were feasted by Gaius on the Roman side, and then Gaius by the
Parthians, on the Parthian side. Velleius Paterculus witnessed this event. He
was the paymaster for the troops, since he was a tribune for the soldiers.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 101. s. 1-3. 1:261}
6147. On that occasion, the Parthians told Gaius Caesar of the perfidious,
subtle and cunning councils of Marcus Lollius. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2.
c. 102. s. 1. 1:261} [E803] He was notorious for taking bribes from the
kings and for robbing all the countries of the east. Gaius excluded him from
his circle of friends, although his own wife, the daughter or grand-daughter of
this Lollius, was said to have been given a gown by Lollius that was covered
with pearls and valued at forty million sesterces. (Some say this was a third
of a million pounds of gold!) {*Pliny, l. 9. c. 38. 3:243} {Solinus, c.
55.} The more Gaius was offended with Lollius, the more he showed himself gentle
and kind to his father-in-law Tiberius. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 13.
s. 2. 1:333}
6148. Velleius did not know if the death of Lollius, which happened a few days
later, was accidental or a suicide. [K547] Pliny and Solinus stated that he
died by taking poison. Velleius stated that everyone rejoiced as heartily over
this man's death, as the city mourned the death of Censorinus, who died a little
later in that province and was very well-liked by everyone. {*Pliny, l. 9. c.
38. 3:243} {Solinus, c. 55.} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 102. s. 1.
1:261,263} It seems that this Censorinus was Gaius Marcius, who represented the
Jews of Cyrene and of Asia to Augustus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 16. c. 6. s.
2. (165) 8:273}
4005 AM, 4715 JP, 2 AD
6149. Quirinius was made adviser to Gaius Caesar, to replace Lollius. After
his service to Gaius in Armenia, Quirinius was no less attentive to Tiberius,
who was then staying at Rhodes. Tiberius acknowledged this in the Senate after
the death of Quirinius, accusing Lollius of having been the author of the
ill-will and differences between himself and Gaius Caesar. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 3. c. 48. 3:599}
6150. With Gaius' consent, Tiberius was recalled, but on the condition that he
would hold no office in the government. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 13.
s. 2. 1:333}
6151. Tiberius was very skilful in astrology. He had Thrasyllus, an
astrologer, with him, when the latter saw a ship sailing toward them in the
distance, which he said was bringing the good news from Livia and Augustus of
his permission to return from exile. Tiberius did not believe him and intended,
at that very time as they walked together, to throw him headlong into the sea,
since he believed he was a false prophet and that he had too hastily been made
the confidant of Tiberius' secrets. Dio's account was different. He stated
that at one time, as they walked by the walls, Tiberius intended to throw him
into the sea, because he knew so many of Tiberius' thoughts. He did not carry
out his intention, when he saw that Thrasyllus was gloomy. Tiberius asked him
why and Thrasyllus said he had a premonition that some peril was in store for
him. Tiberius was amazed that Thrasyllus could foresee the mere intent of the
plot and so kept him on. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 14. s. 4. 1:335}
{*Dio, l. 55. (11) 6:421,423}
6152. Tiberius had stayed at Rhodes for seven years. He returned home in the
eighth year after his departure from his country, when Publius Vinicius was
consul and Lucius and Gaius were still alive. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c.
14. s. 1. 1:333} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 99. s. 4. 1:257}
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 103. s. 1-3. 1:263} When he returned to
Rome, he introduced his son Drusus to public life. Tiberius soon moved from the
Carinae and Pompey's house to the gardens of Maecenas on the Esquiline. He led
a very retired life, merely attending to his personal affairs and performing no
public functions. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 15. s. 1. 1:335,337}
6153. As Lucius was about to join the armies in Spain, he died suddenly of a
disease at Massilia (which was Marseilles), before he could do anything of note.
This was twenty-two months before his brother Gaius' death. {*Florus, l. 2.
c. 32. 1:343} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 102. s. 4. 1:263}
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 3. 3:247} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 65.
s. 2. 1:247} {*Dio, l. 55. (10) 6:421}
6154. After Lucius' death, Augustus would have liked to have adopted Tiberius,
but he resolutely refused to do so, for he feared the envy of Gaius. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 103. s. 2. 1:263}
4006 AM, 4716 JP, 3 AD
6155. Gaius entered into Armenia and at first had good success. A little
later, Addon, or Adduus (he was also called Ador by Strabo), the governor of
Artagera, or Artagira, persuaded the citadel to revolt. He enticed Gaius to the
wall, as though he wanted to tell him some secret business, and wounded him.
Caesar's captains took the citadel by continual assault and destroyed it.
{*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 103. 1:263} {*Strabo, l. 11. c. 14. s.
6. 5:327} {*Dio, l. 55. (10a) 6:419}
6156. Florus related this story in detail. Dones, or Domitus, whom the king
had made governor of Artaxatis, or Artagera, pretended to betray the king. He
wounded Gaius, as he was looking over a scroll he had given him, containing a
record of the treasures. Gaius was indeed wounded, but in a short time
recovered from his wound. [K548] The barbarians were attacked on every side by
the army with their swords. Domitus was wounded and hurled himself upon a
burning pyre. Thus he made atonement with his life to Caesar, who outlived him.
{*Florus, l. 2. c. 32. 1:343} Sextus Rufus, in his breviary, also followed
the account given by Florus. {Sextus Rufus, Breviary} However, he recounted
this as if it related to the Parthians, and not to the Armenians. Without any
reason, Rufus added:
"The Parthians, to give satisfaction for such a bold attempt, first gave
hostages to Octavius Caesar and restored the ensigns that were taken away under
Crassus."
6157. The following is the account of all those things attributed to this
history of Gaius (incorrectly called Claudius, both here and by Jornandes, and
in that writing of the Latins which Georgius Syncellus transferred into his
Greek Chronicle) which Suetonius had in fact written about the Parthians.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 3. 1:179,181} He confused the two
accounts and combined them into one:
"The Parthians easily yielded up Armenia to (Octavius) who claimed it. They
restored the military ensigns to him that he demanded, which were taken from
Marcus Crassus and Mark Antony. Moreover, they offered hostages."
6158. At their request, Gaius made Ariobarzanes the governor over the
Armenians; he was a Mede and was very handsome and intelligent. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 2. c. 4. 3:389} [E804]
6159. Gaius was less useful because of his wound and less energetic, and his
mind was less profitable to the state. He never lacked the companionship of men
who, by their flattery, encouraged his vices. In this way, it came about that
he preferred to spend all his time in any corner of the world, rather than
return to Rome. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 102. s. 2,3. 1:263} He
became less astute through sickness and more retiring, and he desired to be
allowed to live a private life. Augustus was grieved by this and advised him
that he should return to Italy. He sailed to Lycia and died of a sickness in
the city of Limyra. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 102. s. 3. 1:263}
Tacitus noted that he died on his return from Armenia, while he was ill from his
wound. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 3. 3:247} Sextus Rufus affirmed that he
died from his wound after he returned to Syria. {Sextus Rufus, Breviary}
Suetonius confirmed that he died in Lycia, as did Dio also, and Velleius (who
was a tribune of soldiers and then served under Gaius). {*Suetonius, Augustus,
l. 2. c. 65. s. 1. 1:245} {*Dio, l. 55. (10a) 6:419,421}
6160. Augustus was deeply grieved by the death of Gaius. In a letter (using
the polite and even familiar tone customary in that most forbearing of men) that
despite this great recent bereavement of his one of his dearest friends had had
a full-dress supper party. Pollio wrote back:
"I supped after the same fashion when I lost my son Herius."
6161. Who would ask for greater grief from a friend than from a father? So
Marcus Seneca related this in the preface to his Controversies. {*Seneca the
Elder, Controversiae, l. 4. c. 0. s. 4,5. 1:427}
6162. The bodies of Gaius and Lucius were brought to Rome escorted by the
captains, armies and commanders of every city. The golden (or silver) shields
and spears, which they had received from the equestrians when they had reached
manhood, were hung up in the Senate house. {*Dio, l. 55. (12) 6:423}
Bellonius related in the second book of his observations that the epitaph of
Gaius Caesar may be seen at Hama, or Emesa, in Syria. Despite this claim,
however, his bones were buried at Rome, as this epitaph showed, which was seen
before the temple of the gods, behind the temple of Minerva: OSSA C. CAESARIS
AUGUSTI F. PRINCIPIS IUVENTUTIS. This means the bones of Gaius Caesar, the son
of Augustus, prince of youth. {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 235.} [K549] There was
a suspicion that both these brothers were taken out of the way by the deceit of
their stepmother Livia, to allow her son Tiberius to succeed Augustus in the
empire. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 3. 3:247} {*Dio, l. 55. (10a) 6:421}
6163. Augustus was made a god by the people. He did not approve and forbade it
by an edict. {*Dio, l. 55. (12) 6:423} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 53.
s. 1. 1:231,233}
4007a AM, 4716 JP, 3 AD
6164. After the third ten-year term of his government had expired, he took the
empire upon himself for another ten years. He did this as though it were on
compulsion. He had now become more mild and was reluctant to exasperate the
senators and would no longer offend anyone. {*Dio, l. 55. (12) 6:423}
6165. Augustus made Tiberius Nero his partner in the tribuneship. Tiberius
vehemently refused, both privately and in the Senate. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 103. s. 3. 1:263,265} Suetonius stated that the tribuneship was given
to him for five years. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 16. s. 1. 1:337}
Dio stated it was for ten years. {*Dio, l. 55. (13) 6:425} (The Loeb edition
of Suetonius incorrectly translated Latin as "three," not "five." Editor.)
4007b AM, 4717 JP, 4 AD
6166. The Julian calendar was now correct. The third intercalary day, which
was superfluous and had been added by the carelessness of the Roman priests, was
omitted this year, in the month of February. Later Augustus, who was the high
priest, ordered that, at the beginning of every fifth year, one day should be
intercalated, according to the edict of Julius Caesar. To ensure the perpetual
keeping of this order, he ordered that it should be engraved in a brass table.
{Macrobius, Saturnalia, l. 1. c. 14. fin.} From this institution, the
records of all subsequent times are calculated. {Solinus, c. 3.} It was no
marvel, for it was constantly observed after this, until the change of the
calendar made by Pope Gregory XIII in the year 1579 AD. Nevertheless, in case
the market, which was held by the Romans at the beginning of every ninth day,
should fall on the Calends of January (January 1), one day was often added at
the end of the previous year and was removed again in the following year. This
would keep the time in agreement with Julius Caesar's edicts. {*Dio, l. 48.
(33) 5:289} {*Dio, l. 60. (25) 7:433}
6167. After five years, Augustus brought his daughter Julia from the island to
the continent and gave her some milder conditions of exile. However, he could
not bring himself to recall her altogether. When the Roman people entreated him
for her and were very insistent with him, he used this curse publicly on them:
that they should have such daughters and such wives. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l.
2. c. 65. s. 3. 1:247}
6168. When Aelius Catus and Sentius (Saturninus) were consuls, on the 5th of
the Calends of July (June 27), Augustus adopted Tiberius Nero. {*Velleius
Paterculus, l. 2. c. 103. s. 3. 1:265} He swore before the people that he
was adopting him for the sake of the commonwealth. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 104. s. 1,2. 1:265} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 21. s. 3.
1:343} [E805] Marcus Agrippa, the brother of Gaius and Lucius, whom Julia bore
after the death of Agrippa, was adopted on the same day. {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 104. s. 1. 1:265} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 15. s. 2.
1:337} Augustus feared that Tiberius could grow proud and incite a rebellion.
Before he adopted him, he made Tiberius adopt Germani-cus, the son of his
brother Drusus, although Tiberius had a son of his own. {*Dio, l. 55. (13)
6:425} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 15. s. 2. 1:337} {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 1. c. 3. 1:247}
6169. Immediately after his adoption, Tiberius was sent into Germany, and
Paterculus went with him and served as an officer in the cavalry. He was an
eyewitness of all that Tiberius did for nine years. {*Velleius Paterculus, l.
2. c. 104,105. 1:265-269} [K550]
6170. When Tiberius had been sent into Germany, the envoys of the Parthians
came to Rome with their embassy. They were also ordered to go into the province
to Tiberius. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 16. s. 1. 1:337} There were
many contending for the Parthian kingdom and the envoys came from the noblemen
of Parthia and asked to have a king from one of the three sons of Phraates, who
were still in Rome as hostages. Vonones was preferred ahead of his other
brothers and was helped by Caesar. He was joyfully accepted by the Parthians
for some time. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 21. s. 3. 1:179,181}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 4. (50-52) 9:41} {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
2. c. 2. 3:387,389}
6171. Augustus accepted the proconsular power, so that he could complete a
census in Italy. {*Dio, l. 55. (13) 6:427}
4008 AM, 4718 JP, 5 AD
6172. The sun was partially eclipsed on March 28 about three o'clock in the
afternoon, according to the astronomical tables. {*Dio, l. 55. (22) 6:451}
6173. The toga virilis, which was the gown that the Roman men wore at age
eighteen, was given to Marcus Agrippa Postumus, who was born after the death of
his father and had never had the honours that his brothers Gaius and Lucius had
received. {*Dio, l. 55. (22) 6:451}
4009 AM, 4719 JP, 6 AD
6174. The rulers of the Jews, as well as those of the Samaritans, could no
longer put up with the tyranny of Archelaus and accused him to Caesar. They
knew that he had acted contrary to Caesar's command, since he had been commanded
by him to govern his subjects with justice and equity. When Caesar heard this,
he was very angry and sent for Archelaus' agent, who lived at Rome. He did not
write anything to Archelaus, but ordered his agent to go to Judea and bring his
master to him at once. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 7. s. 3. (111)
2:365} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 13. s. 2. (342,343) 8:531}
6175. Archelaus claimed to have had a dream foretelling this misfortune. In
it, he saw nine ears of grain which were eaten up by oxen. Simon, an Essene,
interpreted these ears to be nine years of his kingdom and said that the end of
his government was now at hand. Five days after this, the agent of Archelaus
was said to have come to Judea. He found Archelaus banqueting with his friends
and told him it was Caesar's pleasure that he must come and answer the
accusations. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 7. s. 3. (112,113) 2:365}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 13. s. 3. (345-348) 8:531,533}
4010a AM, 4719 JP, 6 AD
6176. About our November, on the 7th of the Jewish month of Chisleu, the tenth
year of Archelaus' reign began. Augustus called it an ethnarchy and the Jews
called it a kingdom. Joseph, the priest, had a son named Matthias in the tenth
year of the reign of Archelaus, as recorded in the public registers. Flavius
Josephus, the historian, was the son of Matthias. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c.
1. (5) 1:5} For this very reason, Josephus thought it best to change what he
had earlier written in his books of the wars of the Jews, about the nine years
of Archelaus. In his books of antiquities he substituted the ten years in his
kingdom and ten ears in the dream, but no such amendment was needed. Archelaus
only reigned a few days in this tenth year of his ethnarchy, or kingdom. He was
sent into banishment at the end of that year, when Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and
Lucius Aruntius were consuls. Under their consulship: {*Dio, l. 55. (27)
6:465,467}
"Herod of Palestine, who was indeed none other than this Archelaus, was accused
by his countrymen and was banished beyond the Alps and his government was
confiscated."
6177. When Caesar heard the accusations and the defence of Archelaus, he
banished him to Vienna in France and confiscated his country and his treasure.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 7. s. 3. (111) 2:365} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 17. c. 13. s. 2. (344) 8:531} [K551] This was that son of Herod, of
whom Strabo noted that he had lived in exile among the Allobrogian Gauls.
{*Strabo, l. 16. c. 2. s. 46. 7:299}
4010b AM, 4720 JP, 7 AD
6178. Augustus proscribed his only nephew, Marcus Agrippa, who was born after
the death of his father. He could not be accused of being virtuous and relied
on his brute-like physical strength. He had been convicted of no public
scandal, but Augustus confiscated all his goods into the military treasury and
banished him to Planasia, an island near Corsica. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c.
3. 3:247} {*Dio, l. 55. (32) 6:475}
6179. The government of Archelaus, which consisted of Judea (containing the
tribe of Judah and Benjamin), Samaria and Idumea, was organized into a province
and annexed to Syria. Quirinius was sent by Caesar to be the governor of Syria,
so that he could tax both this province and all Syria. He was sent to evaluate
the wealth of the Jewish estates and to sell Archelaus' property and bring its
money into his own country. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 8. s. 1.
(117) 2:367} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 17. c. 13. s. 5. (354,355) 8:535,537}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 1. s. 1. (1) 9:3} [E806]
6180. Although the Jews could barely tolerate even the mention of a tax,
Joazar, the high priest and the son of Boethus, nonetheless convinced them. He
had either been restored by Archelaus, or else had taken the priesthood back
again in his absence. Without much opposition, they allowed themselves to be
taxed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 1. s. 1. (2,3) 9:5}
6181. At the time of this taxing, Judas, a Galilean, arose and drew away many
people after him. After he died, all who had followed him were dispersed,
according to Gamaliel. {Ac 5:37} Josephus called him a Gaulanite. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 1. s. 1. (3) 9:5} He was born in the town of Gamala, but
in another place Josephus agreed with Gamaliel and called him a Galilean,
writing that he had instigated the people to revolt from the Romans when
Quirinius taxed Judea. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 1. s. 1. (3) 9:5}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 8. s. 1. (118) 2:367,369} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 20. c. 5. s. 2. (102) 10:55}
6182. Saddok, a Pharisee, was his associate and tried to stir up the people to
rebel. He said that this taxing was nothing less than an obvious sign of their
servitude and exhorted all the country to stand up for their liberty, thereby
giving them the hope that through this they would enjoy better lives. They
would be confirmed in the possession of their estates and would be considered
valiant. They could not expect any help from God if they did not help
themselves. The people readily received these speeches and were encouraged to
do something. These men troubled the country, for they committed widespread
murders and robberies. They plundered without any regard for friend or foe, and
murdered many noble personages. All this was done under the pretext of
defending the public liberty, but in actual fact it was for their private
profit. Judas and Saddok were the instigators of all these calamities and
became the example for all who wanted to encourage seditions. So this not only
disturbed the country now, but became the seeds of all the future calamities.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 1. s. 1. (4-10) 9:5-9}
6183. To the three ancient sects of the Jews (that is the Pharisees, Sadducees
and Essenes), Judas, the Galilean, added a fourth one, which he founded. Its
followers agreed with the Pharisees and affirmed that God alone is to be
accounted Lord and master of all. They would more readily endure the most
horrible torture of any kind, together with their friends and children, than
call any mortal man Lord. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 8. s. 2-14.
(119-166) 2:369-387} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 1. s. 2-6. (11-22)
9:9-21}
6184. Quirinius confiscated and sold Archelaus' goods and went through the land
with the tax. This happened in the 37th year after the victory at Actium,
beginning in September of the previous year. [K552] A sedition of the common
people was made against Joazar, the high priest, so Quirinius removed him from
his office and substituted Ananus, or Annas, the son of Seth, in his place.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2. (26) 9:23}
6185. Quirinius was accompanied by Coponius, who was of the equestrian order.
Coponius had been sent by Augustus to be the first governor of Judea, after it
was organized into a province. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 1. s. 1. (2)
9:5} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 8. s. 1. (117) 2:367} The term of
the governors seems always to have expired after three years.
4011 AM, 4721 JP, 8 AD
6186. When Coponius was governor of Judea, in the passover of this or the
following year, the priests had opened the gates of the temple about midnight
(as was always the custom at this feast). Certain Samaritans secretly entered
Jerusalem and scattered men's bones in the middle of the porch and throughout
the temple. After this, the priests watched the temple much more diligently
than before. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2. (29,30) 9:25,27}
6187. At this year's passover, in the twelfth year of his age, Christ was
brought to Jerusalem by Joseph and Mary. After the seven days of unleavened
bread were over, his parents returned home and he stayed behind. They did not
know where he was and looked for him for three days. They found him in the
temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers. He was listening to them and
asking them questions. All who heard him, were astonished at his understanding
and answers. {Lu 2:41-47}
6188. Jesus went down to Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them.
{Lu 2:51} He followed his father's trade as a carpenter and ate his bread by the
sweat of his brow. It was because of this that his fellow citizens of Nazareth
stated: Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? {Mr 6:3}
4012 AM, 4722 JP, 9 AD
6189. Ovid was banished to Tomis in Pontus, because he saw some dishonest act
of Augustus which the latter had not wanted to be seen. We read him complaining
about this misfortune: {*Ovid, Tristia, l. 2. (103,104) 6:63}
Why saw I ought? Why did I guilty make
My eyes? This sin, why did I, wretch, partake? [E807]
6190. He was also exiled for his love of books, as he himself confirmed and as
was noted by Sidonius Apollinaris and other writers, as well. {*Ovid, Tristia,
l. 2. (61-69) 6:61} We have earlier shown that he was born in the consulship
of Hirtius and Pansa, and at this time he was fifty-one years old, but the
current year had not ended. The poet records his age: {*Ovid, Tristia, l. 4.
c. 10. (95-98) 6:205}
When twice five times with olive girt the knight
Had borne away the prize (his virtue's right),
When by my prince's rage I had command
Of the Exine (Black Sea) Tomis to seek the land.
6191. That is, as it is more clearly expressed by him in the book which he
wrote against his accusers when he first arrived at Tomis: {*Ovid, Ibis, l. 1.
(1) 2:237}
When to this time ten lustrals (fifty years) I had seen.
6192. He did not confuse the Olympiads, which were every four years, with the
lustrals of the Romans, which were every five years. [K553]
4013 AM, 4723 JP, 10 AD
6193. Ovid signified that he had passed the first winter in Pontus and with
that, the first year of his banishment, for he had spent the former winter on
his journey: {*Ovid, Tristia, l. 3. c. 12. (1-4) 6:147}
Now zephyr tames the cold; the years run round,
A longer winter the Maeotae found.
The sign in Aries, the night did make
Her equal hours with the day partake.
6194. He noted the second year of his banishment: {*Ovid, Tristia, l. 4. c.
6. (19,20) 6:187}
Since I my country left, the barns twice filled
And presses, grain and wine did to them yield.
6195. Marcus Ambivius was sent into Judea by Augustus, as the second governor.
During his stay, Salome, who was the sister of Herod, died. To Julia (or Livia,
Augustus' wife), she bequeathed Jamnia, with its government, Phasaelis which was
located in the plain, and Archelaus. This last was very well planted with date
palms which bore excellent fruit. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2.
(31) 9:27,29}
4015 AM, 4725 JP, 12 AD
6196. Ovid recalled the beginning of his third winter spent in Pontus: {*Ovid,
Tristia, l. 5. c. 10. (1,2) 6:245}
Since I to Pontus came, thrice Ister stood
With frost, and thrice lay glazed
the Exine flood (Black Sea).
6197. The Senate and people of Rome, at Augustus' request, made a decree that
Tiberius should have the same power in all the provinces and armies as he
himself had. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 121. s. 1. 1:307} [E808]
Suetonius stated that the following law was proposed by the consuls: that
Tiberius should govern the provinces in common with Augustus. {*Suetonius,
Tiberius, l. 3. c. 21. s. 1. 1:343} Germanicus was consul all that year,
whom the aged Augustus commended in writing to the Senate and the latter to
Tiberius. {*Dio, l. 56. (26) 7:59} It was no wonder that the Senate should be
commended by Augustus: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 3. 3:247}
"to his son, his colleague of the empire and partner in the tribuneship."
6198. Tiberius was also made censor and committed the care of the city to
Lucius Piso, because he had spent two days and two nights in drinking with him,
since Tiberius had now been made a prince. {*Pliny, l. 14. c. 38. 4:281}
Tacitus confirmed that Piso was the prefect of the city for twenty years and did
his job well. He died when Domitius Ahenobarbus and Aulus Vitellius were
consuls in 32 AD and was honoured with a public funeral. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
6. c. 11. 4:173,175} From this can be concluded that Tiberius was now prince,
or viceroy, in 12 AD, two whole years before Augustus' death. Therefore a
distinction must be noted between the beginning of Tiberius' first being a
prince, or viceroy, and his later becoming emperor.
4016 AM, 4726 JP, 13 AD
6199. In his eulogy to Maximus, Ovid noted his fourth winter lived in exile:
{*Ovid, Pontus, l. 1. c. 2. (25,26) 6:273}
Here the fourth winter wearied me doth hold,
Resisting adverse fate, weapons, sharp cold. [K554]
6200. Annius Rufus was sent as the third governor to Judea by Augustus.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2. (32) 9:29}
4017a AM, 4726 JP, 13 AD
6201. When Lucius Munatius and Gaius Silius were consuls, the fourth ten-year
term of Augustus' empire was about to expire. Against his will, he accepted the
government of the state for another ten years and continued Tiberius'
tribuneship. {*Dio, l. 56. (28) 7:63}
4017b AM, 4727 JP, 14 AD
6202. When Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius were consuls, Augustus, in a
breviary of his acts which was engraved on the Ancyran Marble, wrote that he,
with his colleague Tiberius, had numbered the people of Rome for the third time.
In this census, the Roman citizens totalled 4,937,000. {*Augustus, l. 2. c.
8. 1:359} {Gruter, Inscriptions, p. 230.} Eusebius was incorrect when he said
that 9,370,000 were numbered. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:253} Jornandes,
in his book, followed Eusebius in this error and gave an even larger number.
{Jornandes, De Regnorum ac Temporum Succession} He added that Augustus had:
"commanded all the world to be numbered, since there was peace at the birth of
Jesus Christ."
6203. Both he and Eusebius in that place conjecture that the birth of the Lord
happened in the 42nd year of Augustus' empire.
6204. When Augustus was making the lustrum in Mars' field, there were a number
of people present there. The lustrum was a sacrifice of purification made every
five years by one of the censors when a census was completed. An eagle
fluttered about Augustus numerous times and then went and sat on a nearby temple
on the first letter of Agrippa's name. When Augustus saw this, he commanded his
colleague Tiberius to make the vows that were usually made for the next year.
For even though all things had already been prepared for the solemnities of
these vows, yet he refused to make any vows which he thought he would not live
to perform. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 97. s. 1,2. 1:297}
6205. At about the same time, the first letter of his name fell down from the
inscription of his statue in the Capitol, after it was struck by a flash of
lightning. The soothsayers said that he would live only a hundred days after
that, because the letter C denoted a hundred in Roman numerals. Also, he should
be canonized as a god, because AESAR, which was the rest of his name, meant god
in the Etruscan language. {*Dio, l. 56. (29) 7:67} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l.
2. c. 97. s. 2. 1:297}
6206. Meanwhile, Augustus wrote a summary of his doings, which he wanted to
have engraved in tables of brass and placed over his tomb. {*Suetonius,
Augustus, l. 2. c. 101. s. 4. 1:309} {*Dio, l. 56. (33) 7:73} An example
of this, which was written on the Ancyran Marble so often mentioned by us, was
the census described earlier, that he had recently taken. On his last day, he
called his friends and asked them whether it seemed to them that he had played
the comedy of life aptly. He added this remark: {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2.
c. 99. s. 1. 1:303}
Since well I played my part,
all clap your hands
And from the stage
dismiss me with applause.
6207. He added that he had found Rome made of clay, but left it to them made of
marble. He was not referring to the appearance of its buildings, but rather to
the strength of the empire. {*Dio, l. 56. (30) 7:69} So Augustus ended his
days at Nola in Campania when Pompeius Sextus and Appuleius Sextus were consuls
and so were named on his tomb. {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 123. s. 2.
1:311} {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 100. s. 1. 1:303} {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 1. c. 5. 3:251} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 7. 3:255} {*Dio,
l. 56. (31) 7:71} He died in the same house and room where his father Octavius
had died. {*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 100. s. 1. 1:303} {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 1. c. 9. 3:259} He died on the 14th of the Calends of September
(August 19), which was on the same day that he was first made consul.
{*Suetonius, Augustus, l. 2. c. 100. s. 1. 1:303} {*Dio, l. 56. (30)
7:69} [E809]
6208. Tiberius did not announce the death of Augustus before he had killed
Agrippa Postumus. To the captain who killed him and brought back word that he
had done as Tiberius had ordered, he replied that he had not ordered it and that
the captain would have to give an account to the Senate. At that time, Tiberius
tried to avoid this reproach, for later his silence consigned that matter to
oblivion. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 22. 1:347} {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
1. c. 6. 3:251,253} {*Dio, l. 57. (3) 7:119,121} [K555] After all things
that the circumstances required had been done, it was announced that Augustus
was dead and that Tiberius Nero was emperor. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 5.
3:251}
6209. Although he had every intention of taking over the empire, yet for a long
time he refused it most imprudently and held the Senate in suspense. They
begged him and fell on their knees to him. He replied with doubtful and
delaying answers, so that some upbraided him to his face for his indecision.
{*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 24. s. 1,2. 1:349} {*Velleius Paterculus,
l. 2. c. 124. s. 2. 1:311,313} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 7. 3:255}
{*Dio, l. 57. (2) 7:117}
6210. Between this new principate, as Tacitus called it, and the former, which
he had acquired two years before Augustus' death, was the following difference.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 6,7. 3:251-257} The former had extended only to
the armies and provinces of the Roman Empire, but this to the head city itself,
in which Tiberius had only had the authority of censorship and tribuneship. He
now had the Augustal Principality, that is, of governing after his own will and
being freed from all bonds of law. For Tiberius had not had equal power with
Augustus, as Lucius Varus had with Antony, the philosopher, who governed the
state with equal authority, according to Spartianus. {Spartianus, Hadrian}
{Aelius Verus} {Marcus Aurelius} His power was like that which Antonius Pius had
with Hadrian, who was adopted by him and made colleague with his father in the
proconsular power (in respect of the other provinces) and in the tribuneship (at
home), as Julius Capitoline stated. Consequently, Tiberius did not issue the
edict by which he called the senators into the Senate by the authority of his
new principate, but by the power of the tribuneship that he had under Augustus.
However, he controlled the Praetorian cohorts as emperor. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
1. c. 7. 3:255}
4018a AM, 4727 JP, 14 AD
6211. The legions of Pannonia rebelled, but were frightened by a sudden eclipse
of the moon and so submitted themselves to Tiberius. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1.
c. 28. 3:291,293} {*Dio, l. 57. (4) 7:121,123} This total eclipse happened
on September 27 at five hours after midnight, so that the moon set even during
the very eclipse.
6212. Ovid wrote to Sextus Pompeius, who was consul this year. {*Ovid, Pontus,
l. 4. c. 5. 6:439} In the next poem, to Brutus, Ovid mentioned the death
both of Augustus and of Fabius Maximus. {*Ovid, Pontus, l. 4. c. 6. (9-14)
6:441} (It was obvious from Tacitus, that Maximus died this year under Tiberius.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 1. c. 5. 3:251}) Ovid showed in these verses that he
was more than five years into his exile and that he was then entering the sixth
(of the beginning of which we are certain): {*Ovid, Pontus, l. 4. c. 6.
(5,6) 6:441}
Now one quinquennial Olympiad's run,
In Scythia I, and the second Lustral begun.
6213. In this sixth year he also remembered: {*Ovid, Pontus, l. 4. c. 10.
(1,2) 6:463}
This is the sixth summer on the Cymerian shores
That I must spend amongst these Getic boors. [E810]
4018b AM, 4728 JP, 15 AD
6214. In his eulogy to Carus, Ovid made mention of his sixth winter (from which
he counts the beginning of the seventh year of his banishment): {*Ovid, Pontus,
l. 4. c. 13. (39,40) 6:477}
This the sixth winter (my dear friend)
Must I in this cold climate spend. [K556]
6215. He also told of a poem at this time, written by him in the language of
the Getes, about the canonization of Augustus: {*Ovid, Pontus, l. 4. c. 13.
(19-23) 6:477}
Ah shame, in Getic language then did I
Compile a book, fancy my poetry;
Yea gloried in it, and soon began
Among these barbarians to be the only man.
6216. A Hebrew woman who was later restored by Christ to health, was bound for
eighteen years by Satan, starting from this date. {Lu 13:1-16}
6217. Valerius Gratus was sent by Tiberius to replace Annius Rufus as governor
to Judea. Gratus held the government for eleven years. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
18. c. 2. s. 2. (33-35) 9:29,31}
6218. When the governor of Crete died, the island was committed to the charge
of the quaestor and his assessor for the rest of the governor's term. {*Dio, l.
57. (14) 7:147}
4019 AM, 4729 JP, 16 AD
6219. The Armenians received Vonones into their kingdom after he was expelled
from his own by the threats of Artabanus, the king of the Parthians and Medes.
Vonones solicited Tiberius in vain for help, through the envoys he sent to Rome.
Since the most powerful of the Armenians followed the faction of Artabanus,
Vonones gave up all hope of recovering the kingdom. With a large amount of
treasure, he retired to Antioch and submitted himself to Creticus Silanus, the
governor of Syria. Because Vonones was educated at Rome, the governor kept him
with him in Syria and set a guard over him, but allowed him to maintain the pomp
and name of a king. Artabanus made Orodes, one of his sons, king over the
Armenians. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 4. (39-52) 9:33-41}
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 4. 3:389} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 49.
s. 2. 1:379}
4020 AM, 4730 JP, 17 AD
6220. Ovid, the poet, died in exile and was buried near the city of Tomis.
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:253}
6221. Through the letters of Livia, Tiberius had Archelaus, the king of
Cappadocia, tricked into coming to Rome. Tiberius hated him, because he had not
offered him any help in all the time he had lived at Rhodes. Livia did not hide
her son's displeasure with him, but offered him mercy if he would come and ask
for it. Archelaus did not know of the treachery or possible hostility and
hurried to Rome. He was churlishly entertained and not long after was accused
of fabricated crimes in the Senate. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 42.
3:447,449} He was accused of planning a sedition. The old king was worn out
with extreme old age and gout and was believed to be demented. He defended
himself in a letter in the Senate and pretended that he was not well in his mind
at the time, and so escaped danger for the time being. {*Dio, l. 57. (17)
7:157,159} However, not long after this he died from other causes, because he
was tired from grief and old age. Then Cappadocia was organized into a province
and committed to the government of an equestrian. {*Dio, l. 57. (17) 7:159}
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 42. 3:449} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c.
37. s. 4. 1:367}
6222. Tiberius stated that, with the profits from the kingdom of Cappadocia,
their tribute of one per cent sales tax on auctioned goods could now be reduced
to half that rate. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 42. 3:449} {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 1. c. 78. 3:377} He ordered that Cappadocia's chief city, a most
noble city called Mazaca, should be called Caesarea. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l.
1. 1:254}
6223. At the same time, following the death of Antiochus, the king of the
Commagenes, a contention arose between the nobility and the common people. The
nobility wanted the kingdom to be made into a province and the common people
wanted another king. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 42. 3:449} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 5. (53) 9:41} In similar manner, the country of
the Cilicians was in a turmoil when their King Philopator died. Many wanted it
to become a Roman province and many wanted a kingdom. [K557] The provinces of
Syria and Judea were oppressed with taxes and made a petition that their tribute
be lessened. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 42. 3:449,451}
6224. Tiberius discussed these things with the Senate and persuaded them that
these problems in the east could only be settled by the wisdom of Germanicus.
As a result, Germanicus was given charge of all the provinces east of Italy, by
the decree of the Senate. This was a greater command than anyone before him had
ever had. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 43. 3:451} Under the pretence of the
problems in the east, Tiberius intended to take him from the legions which he
usually commanded and give him charge over new provinces, which exposed him to
greater treachery and hazards. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 5. 3:391} [E811]
6225. Because the governor of Syria, Creticus Silanus, was related to
Germanicus, Tiberius appointed Gnaeus Piso as his successor. He was a
headstrong and rebellious man and was well aware of the fact that he had been
made governor of Syria to thwart Germanicus. Some believed that he had secret
orders from Tiberius to do so. Without a doubt, his wife Plancina was advised
by Augustus' widow to use female jealousy to start a quarrel with Agrippina (the
daughter of Marcus Agrippa) and Julia, the wife of Germanicus {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 2. c. 43. 3:451,453}
6226. In the same year, twelve famous cities of Asia were destroyed by an
earthquake in one night. These were Ephesus, Magnesia, Sardis, Mosthene, Aegea,
Hiero-Caesarea, Philadelphia, Temnus, Cyme, Myrina, Apollonia, and Hyrcania. It
was also recorded that large mountains were laid flat and plains raised up into
hills, while fire flashed out of the ruins. The disaster was most serious at
Sardis and created much sympathy for them. Tiberius promised them ten million
sesterces and said he would release them, for a time of five years, of all that
they were to have paid to the common treasury. Magnesia, near Mount Sipylus,
was the next most damaged. They were given relief from taxes for five years, as
well as the cities of Temnus, Philadelphia, Aegea, Apollonia, and the people who
are called the Mosthenians, or Macedonians, of Hyrcania, and those who lived at
Hiero-Caesarea, Myrina and Cyme. Tiberius sent some of the senators to them to
assess the situation and help them. This charge was committed to Marcus Ateius,
who had once been a praetor. If one who had been consul over Asia had been
sent, there might have been some envy between equals, that is, between him and
the governor of Asia, and the business would have been hindered. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 2. c. 47. 3:459,461} {*Strabo, l. 12. c. 8. s. 18.
5:515,517} {*Strabo, l. 13. c. 4. s. 8. 6:179} {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 86.
1:331} {*Dio, l. 57. (17) 7:159} {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:254}
{Orosius, l. 7. c. 4.}
6227. For this magnificent generosity to the public, a large statue of Tiberius
was erected in the forum at Rome, near the temple of Venus. Each of the cities
which were rebuilt also erected a statue of Tiberius, according to Phlegon of
Tralles in his book of wonders, recorded from Apollonius the Grammarian.
Scaliger also added that silver medals were coined to commemorate these things.
On one side of the coin was the face of Tiberius and on the reverse side was the
picture of Asia in a woman's clothing, seated, with these words: CIVITATIBUS
ASIAE RESTITUTIS, meaning for the cities of Asia restored.
4021 AM, 4731 JP, 18 AD
6228. Germanicus was sent out to settle the affairs of the east. {*Suetonius,
Caligula, l. 4. c. 1. s. 1. 1:419} He sailed to the isle of Lesbos, where
his wife Agrippina had previously given birth to Julia. He wanted to see the
places of antiquity and fame, and went to the borders of Asia, to Perinthus and
Byzantium, which were cities of Thrace. Then he entered the straits of
Propontis and the mouth of the Pontic Sea. [K558] In addition, he relieved the
provinces which were oppressed because of civil discord or by oppressive
magistrates. He sailed to Colophon and consulted the oracle of Clarian Apollo,
which told him in obscure wording, as was the manner of oracles, that his death
was near. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 54. 3:469,471}
6229. Gnaeus Piso sailed as quickly as possible past the Cyclades Islands and
using the shortest routes by sea, overtook Germanicus at Rhodes. Although Piso
was saved from danger of shipwreck by Germanicus, he was still not kindly
disposed toward Germanicus. He left Germanicus and went ahead of him to Syria,
and when he came to the legions, he tried to win them over to him with gifts and
bribes. He reached such a height of corruption, that among the common people he
was called the father of the legions. Both he and his wife Plancina, as well,
were involved in this. She incited some of the soldiers to obey her base
commands and spoke disrespectfully against Agrippina and Germanicus. It was all
the easier, because it was secretly whispered that this was being done with
Tiberius' consent. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 55. 3:471,473}
6230. Although Germanicus knew about these things, the affairs of Armenia
required his attention first. At that time, the Armenians had expelled Vonones
and had no king. (This is if we can believe Tacitus, for Suetonius stated that
the king of Armenia was conquered by Germanicus. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4.
c. 1. s. 2. 1:419} This king was Orodes, the son of Artabanus, king of the
Parthians, as it was recorded from Josephus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c.
2. s. 4. (52) 9:41}) The goodwill of the country was more inclined toward
Zeno, the son of Polemon, the king of Pontus. From his childhood, he had
imitated the customs and clothing of the Armenians in hunting and feasting and
other exercises which were greatly esteemed by the barbarians. He had won the
goodwill of the nobles and common people to himself. Germanicus intended to
make him king in the city of Artaxata and the noblemen approved of this. While
the multitudes flocked around him, the rest reverenced him as their king and
greeted him by the name of Artaxias, after the name of their city. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 2. c. 56. 3:473,475} [E812]
6231. At that time, the Cappadocians were organized into a province and Quintus
Veranius was made its governor. To give them the idea that the Roman government
would be mild, some of the tributes which they used to pay to their kings, were
reduced. Quintus Servaeus was made governor over Commagene and so this province
was ruled by a praetor for the first time. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 56.
3:475}
4022a AM, 4731 JP, 18 AD
6232. After all the affairs of the allies had been successfully settled,
Germanicus was still uneasy about Piso's arrogance. Germanicus had ordered that
either Piso himself, or his son, should lead some of the legions into Armenia
and neither had done anything. Finally, they both met at Cyrus, a city of
Syria, where the tenth legion wintered. In the presence of a few families,
Caesar had a heated discussion with Piso and Piso answered with a proud
submission, which resulted in them departing with grudges against each other.
After that, Piso was seldom at Caesar's tribunal, and if he assisted at any
time, he presented as obstinate and made it obvious that he disagreed with him.
This was also reported of him that at a banquet made by the king of the
Nabateans, large crowns of gold were given to Germanicus and Agrippina, and
small ones to Piso and the rest. The king stated that this feast was made for
the son of a Roman prince and not for the son of the Parthian king. Piso threw
away his crown and gave a diatribe on luxury. Although Germanicus found it
difficult to handle this, he nonetheless endured it all patiently. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 2. c. 57. 3:475,477}
6233. Envoys from Artabanus, the king of the Parthians, came to Germanicus to
renew the friendship and league between them. [K559] The king said that he
would yield to the honour of Germanicus to the extent that he was prepared to
come to the banks of the Euphrates River. He requested in the meantime that
Vonones should not stay in Syria, in case he might make a rebellion among the
noblemen of the country around there using secret messengers. Germanicus
answered by agreeing the alliance between the Romans and the Parthians. As far
as the king's coming was concerned, and the honour done to himself, he answered
politely and with modesty. Vonones was moved to Pompeiopolis, a coastal town of
Cilicia, not so much as a result of Artabanus' request, as to spite Piso, who
found Vonones most agreeable for the many services and gifts which he had given
to Plancina, Piso's wife. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 58. 3:477,479}
4022b AM, 4732 JP, 19 AD
6234. When Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus were consuls, Germanicus went
into Egypt to view its antiquities, but feigned a concern for the province. He
opened the granaries, brought down the price of grain and did other things to
win the favour of the people. He went about without soldiers, wore open shoes
and dressed like a Greek. Tiberius lightly reprimanded him for his behaviour
and apparel and sharply rebuked him for having entered Alexandria without the
permission of the prince, contrary to Augustus' order. However, Germanicus did
not yet know that his journey was frowned upon and sailed up the Nile River,
starting at the town of Canopus. Later, he visited the great ruins of Thebes,
where the Egyptian letters could still be seen in the old buildings which
contained their ancient wealth. He intended to see other marvels, of which the
main attraction was the stone image of Memnon. When it was illuminated by the
sun, it made a sound like a man's voice. He also saw the pyramids, as high as
mountains, built by the former kings to show their riches. He saw the
impassable sands and the handmade lake to hold the flooding of the Nile River.
Elsewhere, he saw narrow gorges and deeps impervious to the plummet of the
explorer. Then he came to Elephantine and Syene. This meant that Germanicus
spent all that summer in seeing various provinces. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2.
c. 59-61. 3:487-493}
6235. At the same time, Vonones bribed his guards and tried by every means to
escape to the Armenians and from there to the Albanians and Heniochians and to
his relative, the king of Scythia. Under the pretence of going hunting, he left
the seacoasts and took the byways. His fast horse quickly brought him to the
Pyramus River, but the inhabitants had broken down the bridges when they had
heard of the king's escape and the river was too deep to ford. As a result, he
was captured on the bank of the river and bound by Vibius Fronto, an officer in
the cavalry. Remmius Evocatus ran him through in anger, because Vonones had
first been committed to him to be guarded. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 68.
3:493}
6236. The daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, was born. She was
his only child and died when she was twelve years old. Christ restored her to
life. During this year, also, the woman became sick who had the issue of blood.
Twelve years later, she was healed by touching the garment of Jesus. {Lu
8:42,43 Mr 5:25,42}
6237. There were many false oracles that circulated as though they had been the
Sibylline oracles, concerning the destruction of Rome, which was to happen in
the nine hundredth year from its founding. Tiberius reproved them and saw all
the books which contained any prophecies. Some he rejected as of no importance
and others he accepted into the number of those which were to be approved.
{*Dio, l. 57. (18) 7:161,163} [E813]
6238. The Senate debated the issue of the elimination of the Egyptian and
Jewish religions. An act was made that those who observed them had to depart
from Italy, if they did not stop those practices by a certain day. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 2. c. 85. 3:517} [K560] They were compelled to burn all their
religious garments and everything associated with them. {*Suetonius, Tiberius,
l. 3. c. 36. 1:363,365} This may also be what Seneca referred to: {*Seneca,
Epistles, l. 1. c. 108. (22) 6:243}
"When I was a young man in the government of Tiberius, some foreign rites of the
countries were removed. It was thought incorrect to abstain from some foods and
was used as a proof of one belonging to a strange cult."
6239. A horrible crime was committed against Paulina, a noble Roman woman, by
the priests of the Egyptian religion. When it became known, Tiberius commanded
the temple of Isis to be thrown down and Isis' statue to be drowned in the Tiber
River. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 3. s. 4. (65-80) 9:51-59} A certain
impostor was the reason for the expulsion of the Jews. He had fled his country,
for fear of being punished according to their laws. He then lived at Rome and
made himself out to be an interpreter of Moses' law. He also had three
associates like himself. When the noblewoman Fulvia embraced the Jewish
religion and became their scholar, they persuaded her that she should send
purple and gold to the temple of Jerusalem, but when they had received this,
they used it for themselves. Tiberius was informed of this by his friend
Saturninus, Fulvia's husband, who complained of the wrong done to his wife.
Tiberius ordered all the Jews to get out of the city. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
18. c. 3. s. 5. (81-83) 9:59,61}
6240. From the Jews, the consuls enlisted as soldiers four thousand of the
youth who were the sons of freedmen. These were sent into Sardinia to suppress
the robbers. The consuls considered it no great loss if they should perish to
the pestilential climate. Many, who refused to be enlisted because of the
religion of their country, were grievously punished. The rest of that
nationality, or any who followed their religion, were turned out of the city
under the penalty of perpetual slavery if they did not obey. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 3. s. 5. (84) 9:61} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c.
36. 1:363} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 85. 3:517}
6241. Rhascupolis, or Rhescoporis, the king of Thrace, killed Cotys, his
brother's son, who was also his partner in the kingdom. Rhascupolis was
betrayed by Pomponius Flaccus. (Ovid mentioned Flaccus as governor of Moesia.
{*Ovid, Pontus, l. 4. c. 9. (75-77) 6:459}) He was brought to Rome, where he
was condemned and taken to Alexandria. He was killed in a way that made it look
as though he had made an attempt to flee from there. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2.
c. 67. 3:487} {*Velleius Paterculus, l. 2. c. 129. s. 1,2. 1:323}
{*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 37. s. 4. 1:367}
4023a AM, 4732 JP, 19 AD
6242. When Germanicus returned from Egypt, he found that everything he had
ordered dealing with the legions or cities had not been done, or the exact
opposite of what he had ordered had been done. Therefore, he had very harsh
words with Piso, presenting it as if Piso had disobeyed the emperor himself. As
a result, Piso decided to leave Syria, but was then detained due to Germanicus'
sickness. When he heard he was getting better and that vows were to be made for
his health, he, through his lictors, drove away the beasts brought to the altar
and disturbed the preparation for the sacrifices and the solemn meeting of the
people of Antioch, where Germanicus was. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 69.
3:493} While Germanicus was sick, Piso behaved very harshly toward him in words
and deeds, without showing any restraint. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 2.
1:421}
6243. Then, Piso went to Seleucia, expecting Germanicus to become sick again.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 69. 3:493} In the house where Germanicus lived,
they exhumed human bodies, verses and charms, his name engraved on lead sheets,
half-burned ashes mingled with corrupt blood and other sorceries. It was
believed that in this way the souls were dedicated to the infernal powers.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 69. 3:495} {*Dio, l. 57. (18) 7:163} [K561]
6244. Germanicus was very angry and renounced Piso's friendship by letters,
according to the ancient custom. Some add that he ordered him to leave the
province. Piso did not stay, but weighed anchor. However, he sailed slowly, so
that he could return sooner, if news of Germanicus' death should open a way for
him to Syria. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 70. 3:495} {*Suetonius, Caligula,
l. 4. c. 3. s. 3. 1:421,423}
6245. Germanicus was greatly weakened by his sickness and knew his end was
near. He accused Piso and his wife, Plancina, and asked his friends to avenge
it. He died, to the great regret of the province and the neighbouring people.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 71,72. 3:495-499} He died at Antioch, from an
incessant disease when he was thirty-four years old. It was suspected that he
had been poisoned and that the poison was given to him through the treachery of
Tiberius and Piso. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 1,2. 1:419,421}
6246. The day that Germanicus died, the temples were battered with a storm of
stones, altars were overturned, the household gods were thrown into the streets
by some and children were laid out to die. [E814] They reported also that the
barbarians, with whom there was civil war, or war against the Romans, consented
to a truce for public mourning. Some of their governors cut off their beards
and shaved their wives' heads, as a sign of their deepest mourning. The king of
kings did no hunting or feasting with the nobles on that day, even though it was
a holiday among the Parthians. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 5.
1:423,425}
6247. His funeral was without any images or pomp and was solemnised with the
praises and memory of his virtues. Before his body was cremated, it lay naked
in the forum of Antioch, the place destined for the final rites. It was
uncertain whether he showed any signs of poison, for there was a difference of
opinion. Those who favoured Germanicus thought he did, and those who favoured
Piso did not think so. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 73. 3:499,501} In
addition to the dark spots all over his body and the froth which came from his
mouth, the heart did not burn with the rest of his body. It was thought that it
would not be consumed by fire, if the man had died from poison. {*Suetonius,
Caligula, l. 4. c. 1. 1:419,421} In a speech Vitellius later made, he tried
to prove Piso guilty of this villainy by using this argument and publicly
testified that the heart of Germanicus could not be burned because of the
poison. Piso used the defence that the hearts of those who die of the disease
called Cardiaca Passio cannot be burned. {*Pliny, l. 11. c. 71. 3:549}
6248. Gnaeus Sentius was chosen as the governor of Syria by the lieutenants and
senators who were there. They sent Martina to Rome, a woman infamous in that
province for poisoning, but very much liked by Piso's wife, Plancina. This was
done at the request of Vitellius and Veranius, who alleged crimes and
accusations against them as if they had already been found guilty. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 2. c. 74. 3:501} Although Agrippina was worn out with grief and
sickness, she was impatient with anything which might hinder her revenge. She
sailed with Germanicus' ashes and took her children. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2.
c. 75. 3:501}
6249. Piso received news of Germanicus' death at the isle of Cos and expressed
his joy most immoderately. Plancina was more insolent, for she had been
mourning for the death of her sister at the time, but stopped wearing mourning
clothes when Germanicus died. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 75. 3:501,503}
The centurions came flocking around Piso and told him that the legions were
already at his command and that he should return to the province which had been
wrongfully taken from him and now had no governor. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2.
c. 76. 3:503} [K562] He sent letters to Tiberius and accused Germanicus of
riotousness and pride, claiming that he himself had been driven out to make way
for a revolt Germanicus was planning. Piso said that he had taken charge of the
army again with the same fidelity with which he had governed it before. He had
ordered Domitius Celer to sail to Syria with a warship across the open sea as
quickly as possible, avoiding the longer coastal route. Piso then marshalled
and armed renegades and his rascal companions. He sailed over to the continent
and intercepted an ensign of new soldiers who were going to Syria, and he also
wrote to the leaders of Cilicia to send him help. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c.
78. 3:505}
6250. Piso and his companions sailed along the coast of Lycia and Pamphylia and
met with the ships which conveyed Agrippina. They each hated one another and
prepared to fight. Equally afraid of each other, they only exchanged harsh
words. Vibius Marsus summoned Piso to return to Rome, to defend himself. He
scoffingly replied that he would come when the praetor, who knew about poisoning
cases, would appoint a day for the plaintiff and defendant. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 2. c. 79. 3:505,507}
6251. In the meantime, Domitius went to Laodicea, a city of Syria, and came to
the winter quarters of the sixth legion. It was the best one to corrupt, but he
was prevented from doing this by the commanding officer, Pacuvius Sentius.
After warning Piso by letters that he should not set out to corrupt the army or
raise any war in the province, he marched off at once with a strong force and
was ready to fight against Piso. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 79. 3:507}
6252. Piso seized the strong citadel of Celenderis in Cilicia. He had
intermixed the renegades and the new soldiers he had intercepted, with his own
troops, Plancina's slaves and the forces which the leaders of the Cilicians had
sent him. He marshalled them into the form of a legion and then he drew out his
companies before the citadel walls on a steep and craggy hill. All the other
sides were surrounded by the sea. When the Roman cohorts came, the Cilicians
fled and barricaded themselves in the citadel. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c.
80. 3:507,509} [E815]
6253. In the meantime, Piso tried in vain to attack the navy that was not far
off, after which he returned to the citadel. From the walls, he beat his breast
and called every soldier by name. He offered bribes and tried to raise a
rebellion. He succeeded so well, that the standard-bearer of the sixth legion
defected to him with his ensign. Then Sentius commanded the cornets and
trumpets to sound and made an assault on the rampart. He raised the ladders and
ordered the ablest men to follow him and others to shoot arrows, stones and
firebrands from the engines. In the end, Piso was overcome and entreated that
since he had laid down his arms, he wanted to stay in the citadel until Caesar
was consulted as to who should be the governor of Syria. These conditions were
rejected and he was granted nothing except a naval escort and a safe conduct to
Rome. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 81. 3:509}
6254. When the rumour of Germanicus' death spread, it was exaggerated by the
time it had travelled the distance to Rome. The people were deeply grieved by
his death. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 2. c. 82. 3:511} However, nothing pleased
Tiberius and Livia more. {*Dio, l. 57. (18) 7:163} No consolations or edicts
could restrain the public mourning, which lasted all the festival days of the
month of December. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 6. s. 2. 1:425}
6255. Germanicus was decreed every honour which love or imagination could
conceive. Arches were erected at Rome and on the bank of the Rhine River. On
Mount Amanus in Syria, an inscription was placed, telling of what he had done
and that he had died for the country. A sepulchre was made at Antioch for his
burial, and a funeral monument erected at Epidaphne, where he died. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 2. c. 83. 3:513} [K563]
6256. Although it was winter, Agrippina still continued her voyage by sea and
arrived at the island of Corcyra, opposite the coast of Calabria. She rested a
few days to settle her mind and then sailed to Brundisium. After she landed
with her two children, holding the funeral urn in her hand, there was a general
mourning among them all. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 1. 3:523}
4023b AM, 4733 JP, 20 AD
6257. Drusius, the son of Tiberius, along with Germanicus' brother, Claudius,
and the children of Germanicus who had remained in the city, went as far as
Tarracina to meet her. The new consuls, Marcus Valerius and Marcus Aurelius,
the Senate and a large number of the people lined the way. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 3. c. 2. 3:525}
6258. The day that the remains of Germanicus were placed in Augustus' tomb in
Campus Martius, there was a desolate silence that was sometimes broken by their
weeping. Everyone honoured Germanicus and had great sympathy for his widow
Agrippina, while they railed against Tiberius. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c.
4,5. 3:527,529}
6259. When Piso came to Rome, he landed at the mausoleum of Caesar. That day
the shore was full of people. Piso went ashore with a large company of
followers after him, while Plancina had a number of women in her train. They
both looked very cheerful and celebrated their happy return in a house which
overlooked the forum and was decked out for feasts and banquets. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 3. c. 9. 3:533,535} The next day, Fulcinius Trio accused Piso
before the consuls. Tiberius referred the whole case to the Senate. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 3. c. 10. 3:535} The day the Senate met Drusius, Tiberius made a
prepared speech and tried to accommodate and moderate the defendant's offence.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 12. 3:537,539} The accusers were given two days
to bring in their accusations and after a period of six days, the defendant had
three days to answer for himself. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 13. 3:541}
6260. As the case was pleaded, the outcry of the people could be heard before
the court. They said they would tear him to pieces if the Senate found him
innocent. They had dragged Piso's effigies to the Gemonian Stairs and began to
break them in pieces. These steps descended from the Capitol to the forum and
were used to expose the bodies of executed criminals. However, on Tiberius'
orders, they were restrained from their actions. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c.
14. 3:543} They showed the same hatred against Plancina, but she was protected
by Tiberius, through the influence of his wife. Piso knew he was finished when
his wife separated her defence from her husband's, whereupon he killed himself,
by cutting his throat with his own sword. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 15.
3:543,545}
6261. Suetonius wrote that he was almost torn to pieces by the people and was
condemned to death by the Senate. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 2. 1:421}
Dio related this account. For the death of Germanicus, Piso was brought into
the Senate by Tiberius himself. Piso requested to be given time to defend
himself and committed suicide. {*Dio, l. 57. (18) 7:165} Suetonius implicated
Tiberius in the death of Germanicus, because of Tiberius' later actions toward
Germanicus' family, and confirmed Tacitus' suspicions about a book Piso had.
{*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 52. s. 3. 1:383} Cornelius Tacitus said
that he had often heard from the old men that a little book was frequently seen
in Piso's hand, which he kept to himself. His friends said it contained
Tiberius' letters and his commission against Germanicus. Piso had planned to
disclose it to the senators and to accuse Tiberius, had he not been deluded by
Tiberius' vain promises. Piso did not kill himself, but someone was sent to
murder him. Tacitus said: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 16. 3:545,547}
"I will not confirm either of these things, although I ought not to conceal that
it was said by those who lived until I came to a man's age."
4025 AM, 4735 JP, 22 AD
6262. Licences for ordaining sanctuaries increased greatly throughout the
cities of Greece. [E816] These places became havens for debtors against their
creditors and for those who were suspected of capital crimes. In this way, the
wickedness of men was protected by the ceremonies of the gods. Tiberius ordered
that the cities should send their charters and envoys to the Senate at Rome for
confirmation. [K564] The Ephesians were first heard concerning this business;
then came the cities and places of Magnesia, Aphrodisia, Stratonicia,
Hiero-Caesarea, Cyprus, Pergamum, Smyrna, Tenos, Sardis, Miletus, Crete and
others. An honourable standard was prescribed. They were commanded to erect
altars in the temples themselves as a solemn memorial, but they should not,
under the pretence of religion, fall into rivalries in so doing. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 3. c. 60-63. 3:617-623}
6263. Gaius Silvanus was accused of bribery by his companions and banished to
the isle of Gyarus, but he was allowed to retire to the isle of Cythnus, since
Gyarus was so bleak. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 66-69. 3:627-633} Caesius
Cordus was also accused of bribery by the people of Cyrene and when convicted by
Ancharius Priscus, was condemned. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 3. c. 70. 3:633}
4026 AM, 4736 JP, 23 AD
6264. Aelius Sejanus killed Drusius with poison given him by Lygdus, a eunuch.
(Drusius was the son of Tiberius, and was his partner in the tribuneship and was
killed by Sejanus after Sejanus had committed adultery with Drusius' wife,
Livia.) {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 8-10. 4:17-21} As well, the Jews who
lived at Rome were accused by Sejanus to Tiberius of fabricated crimes, in an
effort, on his part, wholly to destroy that nationality. He knew they were the
main ones who opposed his wicked practices, and so he said that they were
conspiring against the life of the emperor. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 24.
(159) 10:81} {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 1. (1) 9:303}
6265. After Drusius' funeral was over, Tiberius returned to his accustomed
business and took no extra time off. He jeered the envoys from Illium, who came
too late to comfort him, as though the memory of grief had been blotted out. He
replied that he also was sorry when they had lost so gallant a citizen as Hector
was. {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 52. s. 2,3. 1:383}
6266. The Senate passed the decrees of Tiberius, that the cities of Cibyra in
Asia and Aegina in Achaia, which were badly damaged by an earthquake, should not
have to pay tribute for the next three years. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c.
13. 4:25} The Samians and the men of Cos sent their envoys to Rome and
requested confirmation of their ancient right of sanctuaries—one temple was for
Juno and the other for Aesculapius. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 14. 4:27}
6267. Lucilius Longus died, who had been the companion in the fortunes of
Tiberius, whether good or bad, and who, alone of all the senators, had been
Tiberius' companion when he had exiled himself to Rhodes. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
4. c. 15. 4:29}
6268. Lucilius Capito, the governor of Asia, was condemned on the accusation of
the province. In the previous year, they had brought Gaius Silanus to justice
and the cities of Asia had decreed a temple dedicated to Tiberius, his mother
and the Senate. They received permission to build it. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
4. c. 15. 4:29}
6269. Valerius Gratus, the governor of Judea, removed Ananus, or Annas, from
the high priesthood and made Ishmael, the son of Phabi, the high priest, but
soon removed him, also. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2. (33,34)
9:29}
4027 AM, 4737 JP, 24 AD
6270. Ishmael was removed from the high priesthood and Eleazar, the son of
Annas, or Ananus, who had previously been removed, was made high priest by
Valerius. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2. (34,35) 9:29}
6271. Cassius Severus, the orator, had seventeen years earlier been banished to
Crete for his vicious tongue, by the decree of the Senate. When he behaved just
as poorly there, he had all his estate taken from him. He was forbidden both
water and fire and was banished onto the stony island of Seriphos. Eight years
later, he died in extreme poverty. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 21. 4:41}
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:254}
6272. Publius Dolabella, the proconsul of Africa, summoned Ptolemy, the son of
Juba, King of Mauritania, to help him and his countrymen. He killed Tacfarinas
and put an end to the Numidian war. [K565] The king of the Garamantians had
helped Tacfarinas with light cavalry, which he had sent from a long way off.
When Tacfarinas was killed, the Garamantians sent envoys to give satisfaction to
the people of Rome. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 23-26. 4:41-47}
6273. Vibius Serenus, a banished man, was falsely accused of treason by his
son, and was condemned for an old grudge that Tiberius had against him. Asinius
Gallus was of the opinion that he should be confined to either Gyarus or Donusa.
Tiberius set aside his grudge and said that he disagreed with that sentence,
because both those islands lacked water, and anyone to whom life was granted,
was also to be granted the things necessary for life. As a result, Serenus was
banished to Amorgus, one of the islands of the Sporades. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
4. c. 28-30. 4:49-53}
6274. The ten-year term of Tiberius' empire had expired and he made no plans of
resuming it by any decree for a further ten years, nor did he want to have it
divided into ten-year periods, as Augustus had done. He just continued on by
his own authority, but the decennial plays were nevertheless held. {*Dio, l.
57. (24) 7:181} [E817]
4028 AM, 4738 JP, 25 AD
6275. Valerius Gratus removed Eleazar from the high priesthood after one year
and gave the office to Simon, the son of Camith. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18.
c. 2. s. 2. (34) 9:29}
6276. The citizens of Cyzicum imprisoned some Roman citizens, and they had not
completed the temple for Augustus, which they had started to build. For this,
they had their liberty taken from them again, which they had earned by being
besieged in the war of Mithridates. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 36. 4:65}
{*Dio, l. 57. (24) 7:183}
6277. Fonteius Capito, who had governed Asia as proconsul, was acquitted,
because it was found that he had been falsely accused by Vibius Serenus.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 36. 4:65}
4029a AM, 4738 JP, 25 AD
6278. Eleven cities in Asia vied with great rivalry to see which of them would
build the temple that was appointed for Tiberius and the Senate. Tiberius heard
their envoys disputing in the Senate for many days over this matter. The cities
of Hypaepa and Tralles, as also Laodicea and Magnesia, were eliminated as not
having enough resources to do this. The city of Illium related how Troy was the
mother of Rome, and it had a good argument, but its glory of antiquity was
doubted and it was eliminated. The city of Halicarnassus affirmed that it had
not been shaken by an earthquake for twelve hundred years and that the
foundation of their temple was upon a natural rock. The city of Pergamum was
excluded, because it already had a temple to Augustus and the senators thought
one temple was enough for them. The Ephesians and Milesians were excluded,
because their cities were already involved with the ceremonies of Apollo and
Diana. The decision was between the cities of Sardis and Smyrna, and they each
presented their case. The Senate preferred Smyrna, and Vibius Marius was of the
opinion that Manius Lepidus, who governed that province, should be placed in
charge of the new temple, in addition to his other duties. When Lepidus refused
through modesty, the Senate by lot selected Valerius Naso, who had been praetor,
for the job. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 4. c. 55,56. 4:97-101}
4029b AM, 4739 JP, 26 AD
6279. When Simon had held the high priesthood for one year, Valerius Gratus
appointed Joseph as his successor in that office. He was surnamed Caiaphas, the
son-in-law of Annas, or Ananus, who had formerly been removed from the
priesthood. {Joh 18:13} After the annual changes of the high priest were
completed, Gratus returned to Rome, after having been in Judea for eleven years.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2. (34,35) 9:29,31} Due to this last
mentioned fact, we are more inclined to connect these changes to the end of his
government, than to the beginning.
6280. Pontius Pilate was sent out as the successor to Valerius Gratus.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 2. s. 2. (35) 9:31} Philo documented
Pilate's actions in his government. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 38. 10:151}
[K566] Philo wrote that Pilate was afraid that the embassy, which had been sent
by the Jews to confiscate the bucklers dedicated to him within the Holy City,
would find out about his other crimes:
"sale of justice, rapines, slaughters, rackings, condemning innocent men to
death, savage cruelty...."
4030a AM, 4739 JP, 26 AD
6281. The thirtieth Jubilee happened in the thirtieth year of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which marked the beginning of his gospel. It was now proclaimed by the
voice of one crying in the wilderness:
"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." {Mr 1:1-3}
6282. He also proclaimed the start of the acceptable year of the Lord, or the
time of his divine pleasure, in which the God showed the Great One to the world.
{Isa 61:2 Lu 4:19}
6283. It was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (being the 13th
year of his empire, which began after the death of Augustus) when Pontius Pilate
was governor of Judea, Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother
Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch
of Abilene—under the priesthoods of Annas and Caiaphas, that the word of the
Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the desert. {Lu 3:1,2} By God's
authority, he was a Nazarite who was both a priest and prophet of the Lord and
baptized in the desert of Judea. (The area referred to is that mentioned in
Joshua. {Jos 15:1-6}) He preached the baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins. {Mt 3:1,2 Mr 1:4 Lu 3:3} By his ministry, he announced Christ, who
would come after him, and made him known to Israel. {Joh 1:7,8,13} In order
that John would know with certainty who he was, God gave him this sign. He
would know that the one on whom he saw the Holy Spirit descending and remaining,
was the one who would baptize others with the Holy Spirit. {Joh 1:33}
6284. It is most probable that his ministry began on that most appropriate day,
the tenth day of the seventh month (about the 9th day of our October); this was
the solemn fast when whoever did not afflict his soul was to be cut off from his
people. It was the day of atonement, on which the high priest went into the
holy of holies with blood that was offered to expiate the sins of the people.
On the same day, a trumpet was sounded, announcing the start of the year of
Jubilee in the land. {Le 25:9,10}
6285. Hence, John the Baptist was the preacher of repentance and remission of
sins, to be attained by the blood of Christ, who was to come. [E818] John went
into every region around Jordan, lifting up his voice like a trumpet and
proclaiming:
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
6286. Many came to him from Jerusalem, from all Judea and the regions around
the Jordan River. This would be especially true of that large multitude who
returned from Jerusalem after the feast of tabernacles was over, around the
beginning of November. Many were baptized by him in the Jordan and confessed
their sins. {Mt 3:2,3,5,6 Mr 1:5}
6287. John had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt about his waist,
like Elijah. {2Ki 1:8} He ate locusts, which was a clean, inexpensive food, {Le
11:22} and wild honey. {Mt 3:4 Mr 1:6} [K567]
6288. John sharply rebuked the Pharisees who came to his baptism. {Mt 3.7 Lu
3:7} The people asked John what they were to do and he instructed them. {Lu
3:10-14} When the people wondered if John was the Christ, John answered:
"I indeed baptize you with water, but there cometh one who is more powerful than
I, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose, he shall baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
purge his floor and gather his wheat into his barn, and will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire." {Lu 3:15-17 Mt 3:11,12 Mr 1:7,8}
4030b AM, 4740 JP, 27 AD
6289. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus came from Nazareth of
Galilee to the Jordan, to be baptized by John. {Lu 3:21 Mt 3:13 Mr 1:9} John
denied that Jesus needed any baptism from him, but the Lord urged him and said
that it was necessary, so that all righteousness would be fulfilled. Then John
baptized him. {Mt 3:14,15} Jesus was about thirty years old. {Lu 3:23}
6290. A most obvious manifestation of the trinity was given. The Son of God,
in the human nature which he had assumed, ascended out of the water and was
praying; the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God was seen in bodily form,
like a dove, descending on him. The voice of the Father was heard from heaven,
saying:
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." {Mt 3:16,17 Mr 1:10,11 Lu
3:21,22}
6291. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and returned from the Jordan. He was
driven by the Spirit into the desert, where he was tempted for forty days and
nights by Satan, while he remained among wild beasts. He ate nothing and after
this was over, he was hungry. {Lu 4:1,2 Mt 4:1,2 Mr 1:12,13}
6292. Satan then presented the Lord with a threefold temptation. When this was
over, Satan left him for a time {Mt 4:3-11 Lu 4:3-13} and the angels came and
ministered to him. {Mt 4:11 Mr 1:13} Jesus returned into Galilee in the power
of the Spirit. {Lu 4:14}
6293. Herod Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, had by Cypros, the daughter of
Phasael Agrippa the younger, a son who was the last king of the Jews. This
Herod the younger is mentioned in Acts. {Ac 25:1-26:32} He was seventeen years
old when his father died. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 4. (137)
9:93} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 9. s. 1. (354) 9:383}
4031 AM, 4741 JP, 28 AD
6294. Berenice, his sister, of whom mention is likewise made in Acts, was born.
She was later married to Herod, the king of Chalcis, and was sixteen years old
when her father died. {Ac 25:13} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 4.
(137) 9:93} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 9. s. 1. (354) 9:383}
4033a AM, 4742 JP, 29 AD
6295. The fourth year of John the Baptist's ministry started. His ministry of
preparing the people for Christ was drawing to a close, for this was his primary
purpose. The Lord himself, whose way John had prepared, now entered into his
ministry. He executed his prophetic office and sealed his ministry with famous
miracles, for John did no miracles. {Joh 10:41} John's ministry of preparation
was celebrated by Isaiah and Malachi, so many ages before. [K568] It should not
be surprising that we assigned so long a period of time to it, when one
considers that for so great a work a shorter time would have been too short,
especially without the help of miracles to accomplish all that the angel Gabriel
confirmed to his father, Zacharias, that John would do:
"Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he
shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, that he may turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just, and to prepare a people ready for the Lord." {Lu 1:16,17}
6296. The following words of Paul argue that not a short period of time, but a
full course of preaching, was to be finished by John before the coming of the
Lord:
"When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all
the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye
that I am? I am not he. But, behold there cometh one after me, whose shoes of
his feet I am not worthy to loose." {Ac 13:24,25}
4033b AM, 4743 JP, 30 AD
6297. The day after Christ had come, the Jews from Jerusalem sent some priests
and Levites of the sect of the Pharisees to John, as he was baptising at
Bethabara by the Jordan. They asked him to tell them plainly if he was the
Christ, or not. He denied that he was Elijah, or that prophet who had been
foretold by Moses. [E819] That prophet was in fact the Christ, but the Jews
thought him to be another. {De 18:15 Ac 3:22 7:37} John said he was: {Joh 1:23}
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord."
6298. Then he added that testimony about Christ which Paul so praised in Acts:
"I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not, he it
is, who cometh after me, who is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I am not
worthy to unloose." {Joh 1:19-28; 5:33}
6299. The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him and said:
"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. This is he of
whom I spoke, there cometh one after me, that is preferred before me, for he was
before me... and I saw him, and testify that this is the Son of God." {Joh
1:29-34}
6300. The next day, as John stood with two of his disciples, he saw Jesus
walking by and said: Behold the Lamb of God. When his two disciples heard this,
they followed Jesus and stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth
hour (four o'clock). Andrew was one of these two, and he brought his brother
Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw Simon, he said: You are Simon, son of Jona, you
shall be called Cephas. {Joh 1:35-42}
6301. The next day, Jesus went into Galilee and asked Philip (who was from
Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Simon Peter) to follow him. Philip found
Nathanael under a fig tree and brought him to Jesus. Jesus said that he was
truly an Israelite in whom there was no guile. Jesus then intimated that he was
that ladder of heaven (foreshadowed by Jacob's dream, {Ge 28:12}) upon which the
angels of God were seen ascending and descending. {Joh 1:43-51}
6302. On the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, to which Jesus
was invited, along with his mother and his disciples. There he turned the water
into wine, which was his first miracle. His glory was thus shown and his
disciples believed in him. {Joh 2:1-11} After this, he went down into
Capernaum, and stayed there not many days with his mother, brethren and the
disciples. {Joh 2:12} [K569]
6303. Now we have arrived at the public ministry of Christ, whose acts we have
recorded according to the four distinct passovers, which we can gather from the
harmony of the four gospels, as written by that learned man who has laboured
much in the studies of the Holy Scriptures, John Richardson, Doctor of Divinity
and worthy Bishop of Ardah, in our province of Armagh. In this record, it is
noteworthy that only Matthew neglected the order of time, which is constantly
observed by the other three gospels (if you exclude the parenthesis when John
was cast into prison by Herod). {Lu 3:19,20} [E820]
The
FIRST PASSOVER
of the
MINISTRY of CHRIST.
{Joh 2:13}
From which the first year of the
seventieth and last week of Daniel
begins, in which the covenant is
confirmed with many.
{Da 9:27 cf. Mt 26:28}
6304. Jesus went to Jerusalem for the passover. {Joh 2:13}
6305. Jesus went into the temple, where he scourged those who bought and sold
there and drove them out. As a sign of his authority, he told them how the
temple of his body would be destroyed by the Jews and be raised again by
himself. This event took place forty-six years after Herod started to build the
temple. {See note on 3987 AM. <<5944>>} {Joh 2:14-22}
6306. He performed miracles and many believed in him, but he did not commit
himself to them, because he knew what was in man. {Joh 2:23-25}
6307. He instructed Nicodemus, the disciple who came to him by night, about the
mystery of regeneration, about faith, about his death and about the condemnation
of unbelievers. {Joh 3:1-21}
4034a AM, 4743 JP, 30 AD
6308. Jesus left Jerusalem and went into the land of Judea with his disciples.
{Joh 3:22}
6309. Jesus stayed there and baptized people. (That is, his disciples baptized
people who had been baptized before, either by himself or John.) John baptized
in Aenon, for he had not yet been cast into prison. {Joh 3:22-24}
6310. John's disciples and the Jews had a discussion about purifying. {Joh
3:25} [K570]
6311. John instructed his disciples, who were envious of Jesus. John told them
about Jesus and his office and of the excellency of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. He gave this notable and last testimony to him before his own
imprisonment. {Joh 3:26-36}
6312. Herod, the tetrarch, cast John into prison for reprehending his incest
with his brother Philip's wife, as well as his wickedness. {Mr 6:17-20 Mt
14:3-5}
6313. Jesus heard that John had been cast into prison and that the Pharisees
had heard that Jesus had made and baptized many disciples, that is, at the hand
of his disciples. He left Judea, after he had stayed there about eight months,
and went into Galilee. {Joh 4:1-3 Mt 4:12}
6314. Jesus needed to go through Samaria, where he converted the Samaritan
woman near the city of Sychar, as well as the citizens of Sychar. [E821] It was
four months before the harvest (or the passover, about the middle of the ninth
month, called Abib or Nisan). {Joh 4:4-42}
6315. After having stayed two days in Sychar, he continued on to Galilee. This
was his second return from Judea to Galilee since his baptism. {Joh 4:43,44}
6316. Jesus was welcomed by the Galileans, who had seen what great things he
had done at Jerusalem. He preached with great fame in their synagogues. {Joh
4:45 Lu 4:14,15 Mr 1:14,15}
6317. In Cana, Jesus healed the sick son of a nobleman. This was the second
miracle that Jesus did, when he left Judea and came to Galilee. {Joh 4:46-54}
4034b AM, 4744 JP, 31 AD
6318. He did miracles in Capernaum and later came to Nazareth, where he had
been raised, and there entered the synagogue. As his custom was, he expounded
the prophecy of Isaiah about himself. The citizens first wondered at this, but
later were filled with wrath. They threw him out of the city and tried to push
him headlong down from a hill. However, he passed through the crowd and went on
his way. {Lu 4:16-30}
6319. He left Nazareth and lived at Capernaum. He taught them on the Sabbath
days and they were astonished at his doctrine. {Lu 4:31,32 Mr 1:21,22 Mt
4:13-17}
6320. In the synagogue of Capernaum, he cast out an unclean spirit and ordered
the spirit not to tell who he was. {Lu 4:33-37 Mr 1:23-28} [K571]
6321. He left the synagogue and went into the house of Simon and Andrew, where
he healed Simon's wife's mother, who lay sick with a fever. {Lu 4:38,39 Mr
1:29-31 Mt 8:14,15}
6322. About sunset, he healed all the sick who were brought to him and cast out
demons. He ordered the demons not to speak. {Lu 4:40,41 Mr 1:32-34 Mt 8:16,17}
6323. In the morning, he went into a deserted place to pray. When Simon and
others looked for him and tried to prevent him from leaving, he replied that he
had to preach to other cities also. {Lu 4:42-44 Mr 1:35-39}
6324. He went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and casting out
demons. {Lu 4:44 Mr 1:39}
6325. As he stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, a large multitude pressed upon
him, so he entered into Simon's ship and taught the multitude from there. {Lu
5:1-4}
6326. When he had finished speaking, the disciples went fishing at his command
and caught a large number of fish. Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John were
astonished. Jesus commanded them to follow him and he would make them fishers
of men. {Lu 5:4-11 Mr 1:16-20 Mt 4:18-22}
6327. Jesus went throughout Galilee and taught in their synagogues and healed
every disease. His fame spread throughout all of Syria and a large multitude
followed him. {Mt 4:23-25}
6328. In a certain city, he healed a leper. Jesus forbade the man to tell
anyone, but he told everyone he met. People came to him from every place, to
hear him and to be healed. So many came, that he could not publicly enter the
city and he went into deserted places and prayed. {Lu 5:12-16 Mr 1:40-45 Mt
8:1-4}
6329. After some days, he again returned to his own city of Capernaum, where he
taught them at home. In the presence of the scribes, the Pharisees and a large
crowd, he forgave the sins of someone who was sick with the palsy. The sick man
had been let down through the roof of the house and Jesus healed the disease, to
the astonishment of them all. {Lu 5:17-26 Mr 2:1-12 Mt 9:1-8} [E822]
6330. Jesus went out again along the shore and all the multitude came to him
and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw and called Levi, or Matthew, who
was sitting at the tax collector's booth. {Lu 5:27,28 Mr 2:13,14 Mt 9:9} [K572]
6331. In the house of Levi, Jesus defended himself and his disciples, for they
ate with tax collectors. He excused and vindicated them against the Pharisees,
because his disciples did not fast. {Lu 5:29-39 Mr 2:15-22 Mt 9:10-13}
6332. It came to pass on the second Sabbath, after the first (that is, the
first Sabbath of the new year, which had been instituted after the Jews left
Egypt and which began from the month of Nisan, or Abib), that Jesus went through
the grain fields. After clearing his disciples from the reproach of the
Pharisees, because they had plucked the ears of grain, he explained the doctrine
of the Sabbath. {Lu 6:1-5 Mr 2:23-28 Mt 12:1-8}
The SECOND PASSOVER
of the
MINISTRY of CHRIST.
{Joh 5:1 cf. Joh 4:3,5,35}
From which begins the second year
of the 70th week of Daniel.
6333. After these things, the feast of the Jews was approaching and Jesus went
up to Jerusalem. On the Sabbath day, he healed a man who lay at the pool of
Bethesda and who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. He responded to the
Jews, who were seeking to kill him for saying that God was his Father. {Joh
5:1-47}
6334. He went from there and again entered a synagogue and taught the people.
He healed a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees went out immediately and
discussed with the Herodians how they could destroy him. {Lu 6:6-11 Mr 3:1-6 Mt
12:9-14}
6335. When Jesus knew this, he withdrew himself to the lake side and healed the
multitudes who followed him, strictly charging them not to make him known. He
told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, because of the multitudes
who thronged him. {Mr 3:7-12 Mt 12:15-21}
6336. It came to pass in those days, that he went into a mountain to pray and
continued all night in prayer. When it was day, he chose the twelve whom he
called apostles. {Lu 6:12-16 Mr 3:13-19} [K573]
6337. Jesus went down with them and stood in a plain, where a large multitude
came to him and he healed all who were sick. {Lu 6:17-19}
6338. They went into a house and the multitude gathered again, so much so, that
they could not even eat a meal. When his friends heard of all this, they went
to seize Jesus, for they said that he was beside himself. {Mr 3:19-21}
6339. When he saw the multitude, he went up into a mountain and as he sat down,
his disciples came to him. He then preached that long and excellent sermon,
first to the apostles and later to all the people. {Lu 6:20-49 Mt 5:1-7:29}
[E823]
6340. When he had finished speaking to the people, he went into Capernaum and
healed the centurion's servant, who lay sick with the palsy and was almost dead.
{Lu 7:1-10 Mt 8:5-13}
6341. The next day, he went into the city of Nain and raised a man who was dead
and was being carried out for burial. He was the only son of a widow. After
this, his fame spread abroad. {Lu 7:11-17}
6342. While John was in prison, he was told by his disciples about the fame and
the deeds of Jesus. John sent two of them to Jesus to ask him if he was the one
they should expect, or whether they should look for someone else. After they
returned to John with Jesus' answer, Jesus gave a great testimony about John.
Then he upbraided some cities for their ingratitude. He rested in the fact of
the divine sovereignty of his Father, who hid these things from some and
revealed them to others. {Lu 7:18-35 Mt 11:2-30}
6343. Simon, the Pharisee, wanted Jesus to dine with him. As they were eating,
Simon criticised the actions of a woman, because she was a great sinner. Jesus
defended the woman, who washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with the
hairs of her head, kissing and anointing them. {Lu 7:36-50}
6344. It came about later, that he went out from the city and preached. His
disciples were with him and certain women ministered to him. {Lu 8:1-3} [K574]
6345. They brought him someone who had a demon and who was blind and dumb.
Jesus healed him and vigorously defended himself against the Pharisees and
scribes, who came down from Jerusalem and blasphemed him by saying that he cast
out demons through Beelzebub. {Mr 3:22-30 Mt 12:22-37} Some of the scribes and
Pharisees asked for a sign, but after Jesus had sharply rebuked them, he gave
them no other sign than that of Jonah. {Mt 12:38-45}
6346. While he spoke to the people, he was told that his mother and brethren
stood outside and wanted to see and speak with him. Jesus replied by declaring
to them whom he considered to be his mother, brothers and sisters. {Lu 8:19-21
Mr 3:31-35 Mt 12:46-50}
6347. That same day, Jesus left the house and sat by the shore. Large
multitudes came to him, so that he got into a boat. He sat and taught them many
things through the parable of the sower and many other parables. {Lu 8:4-18 Mr
4:1-34 Mt 13:1-53}
6348. That same day at evening, he told his disciples to sail across the lake.
When he had given an answer to some who wanted to follow him, he sent away the
multitudes. As they were sailing, a strong wind and storm came up. He rebuked
the wind and calmed the sea and saved his disciples. {Lu 8:22-26 Mr 4:35-41 Mt
8:18-27}
6349. They reached the other side, which was the country of the Gadarenes, or
Gergesenes, on the opposite shore from Galilee. When he came ashore, he was met
by two fierce men who were possessed with demons. (Mark and Luke mention only
one man.) He cast out the demons and allowed them to enter into a herd of swine.
{Lu 8:26-36 Mr 5:1-16 Mt 8:28-33} The Gadarenes asked him to leave their
country, while the previously possessed persons begged to be allowed to stay
with Jesus. This request was denied and Jesus sent them back to proclaim around
Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for them. [E824] Jesus sailed across
the lake again to his own city of Capernaum. {Lu 8:37-39 Mr 5:17-20 Mt 8:34}
[K575]
6350. It came to pass that when Jesus returned, the people gladly welcomed him,
for they had been waiting for him. He was by the shore. {Lu 8:40 Mr 5:21}
6351. The disciples of John came to him and asked why they and the Pharisees
fasted often, but Jesus' disciples did not fast? He answered their question.
{Mt 9:14-17}
6352. While he was speaking, Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, came
and begged him to heal his only daughter. She was about twelve years old and
lay at the point of death. As he was walking along and almost at Jairus' house,
a woman who had had an issue of blood for twelve years was suddenly healed by
touching the hem of Jesus' garment. The dead daughter of Jairus was restored to
life by his word alone. He strictly ordered them to tell no one about it. {Lu
8:41-56 Mr 5:22-42 Mt 9:18-26}
6353. When he departed from there, two blind men followed him, whom he healed.
He strictly ordered them to tell no one, but they told everyone they met. {Mt
9:27-31}
6354. As they went out, a dumb man who was possessed with a demon was brought
to Jesus. When the demon was cast out, the dumb man spoke and the multitude
marvelled, but the Pharisees blasphemed. {Mt 9:32-34}
6355. Jesus went all around their cities and villages, teaching them and
healing their diseases. When he came into his own country with his disciples,
he taught in their synagogue on the Sabbath day. He was once again despised by
them and called the carpenter, even though they were astonished at his doctrine.
{Mr 6:1-6 Mt 13:54-58}
6356. He went around their villages and taught them. {Mr 6:6}
6357. He was moved with compassion toward the multitude when he saw how large
the harvest was and how few labourers there were. He told his disciples that
they should pray to the Lord that he would send forth more labourers. {Mt
9:35-38}
6358. Jesus sent out the twelve apostles, two by two. He instructed them to
preach and gave them power to heal diseases. {Lu 9:1-5 Mr 6:7-11 Mt 10:1-42}
6359. It came to pass that, after Jesus had finished instructing his disciples,
he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. {Mt 11:1,12-16}
[K576]
6360. After the twelve had departed, they went through the towns, preaching the
gospel and healing everywhere. {Lu 9:6}
4035a AM, 4744 JP, 31 AD
6361. On the 17th of November, Sejanus was killed. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6.
c. 25. 4:195} After his death, Tiberius knew immediately that all the crimes
of which Sejanus had accused the Jews were imaginary. Therefore, Tiberius
commanded the governments of all the provinces that in every town, this
nationality was to be spared. Only a very few, who were guilty persons, should
be punished. They should not alter their customs, but should take note that
these men were lovers of peace and their customs were for the public peace.
{*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 24. (160) 10:81}
4035b AM, 4745 JP, 32 AD
6362. After Severus, the governor of Egypt, had died, Tiberius appointed
Flaccus Avillius, one of his friends, as his successor for six years. He
governed the province well for the first five years, as long as Tiberius was
alive. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 1. (2) 9:303} [E825]
6363. John the Baptist was beheaded. {Mt 14:10}
6364. When his disciples heard this, they came and took up the body and buried
it, and came and told Jesus. {Mr 6:27-29 Mt 14:6-12}
6365. Herod the tetrarch and others heard of the fame of Jesus and Herod wanted
to see him. {Lu 9:7-9 Mt 14:1-4}
6366. When the apostles returned, they told Jesus the things they had done.
{Lu 9:10 Mr 6:30}
6367. When Jesus had been told of the death of John and of the deeds of the
apostles, he told them to go to a deserted place and rest for a while. The
multitude had kept them so busy, they had not had time to eat. He set sail with
the twelve and privately went into a deserted place near Bethesda. When the
multitude heard about it, they followed him on foot from all the cities and came
to him. So Jesus taught and healed them. {Lu 9:10,11 Mr 6:31-34 Mt 14:13,14}
6368. Jesus went up into a mountain and sat there with his disciples. [K577]
The passover was close at hand. That evening, he fed more than five thousand
men, in addition to women and children, with five barley loaves and two little
fishes. There were twelve baskets full of the leftovers. When they wanted to
make him a king, Jesus constrained his disciples to go ahead of him to the other
side, opposite to Bethesda, toward Capernaum, while he went alone up into a
mountain. When the disciples had gone about three or four miles, Jesus walked
out to them on the sea in the fourth watch of the night. He told them not to be
afraid. Peter asked to join him and walked out to Jesus. When Peter began to
sink, Jesus rebuked him for having little faith. They were all amazed. They
landed and came to the country of Gennesaret. When he left the boat, as soon as
it became known, they brought their sick, so that they could touch the hem of
his garment, and they were made whole. {Joh 6:1-21 Lu 9:12-17 Mr 6:35-56 Mt
14:15-36}
6369. The following day after Jesus had crossed over, the people who stood on
the side of the lake Jesus had left, sailed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. He
preached to them in the synagogue of Capernaum about the bread of life and
affirmed to the Jews who murmured, that he was the bread of life. From that
time, many of his disciples left him, but the apostles did not go away.
However, he called one of them a devil. {Joh 6:22-71}
The THIRD PASSOVER
of the
MINISTRY of CHRIST
{Joh 6:4}
From which began the third year
of the 70th week of Daniel.
6370. The scribes and Pharisees who came from Jerusalem, went to Jesus. When
they saw some of his disciples eat with unwashed hands, they found fault with
them for not following the traditions of the elders. [E826] [K578] Jesus
answered them about their traditions; he told them that they frustrated the
commands of God, in order to keep the traditions of men. He taught the people,
and also told his disciples at home, that nothing which enters into a man
defiles him, but that it is what comes from within that defiles a man. {Mr
7:1-23 Mt 15:1-20}
6371. Jesus left and went into the country of Tyre and Sidon, but he could not
escape the crowds. A Canaanite woman, a Gentile of the Syrophoenician
nationality, came to him and earnestly begged him for her daughter, who was
possessed by a demon. Jesus praised her great faith and cast out the demon from
her daughter. {Mr 7:24-30 Mt 15:21-28}
6372. After he left the country of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the Sea of
Galilee through the middle of the country of Decapolis. They brought him a deaf
man, who also had a speech impediment. Jesus healed him, ordering him in vain
not to tell anyone. {Mr 7:31-37}
6373. When he went up into a mountain, he sat there and healed many, and the
multitude wondered. {Mt 15:29-31}
6374. In those days, when a very large multitude had stayed with him in the
desert for three days, he fed four thousand men, in addition to women and
children, with only seven loaves and a few little fishes. They gathered seven
baskets full of leftovers. {Mr 8:1-9 Mt 15:32-38}
6375. Immediately, Jesus dismissed the crowd and with his disciples sailed over
to the country of Dalmanutha or Magdala. {Mr 8:10 Mt 15:39}
6376. The Pharisees came and required a sign from him from heaven. Jesus
sighed deeply, then refused to give them any sign but that of Jonah. He called
them hypocrites because they knew how to tell the weather from the appearance of
the sky, but could not discern the times. He left them and sailed to the other
side. {Mr 8:11-13 Mt 16:1-4}
6377. When he and his disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to
take food with them and had only one loaf of bread with them in the ship. When
Jesus warned them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the
leaven of Herod, they reasoned among themselves that Jesus had said this,
because they had forgotten to take bread. [K579] Jesus rebuked them for having
forgotten the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and helped them understand
that he was speaking, not of the leaven of bread, but of doctrine. {Mr 8:12-14
Mt 16:5-12}
6378. Then he came to Bethsaida and a blind man was brought to him. The blind
man was led out of town, and Jesus anointed his eyes with spittle and his sight
was restored. Jesus forbade him to tell anyone about it. {Mr 8:22-26}
6379. Jesus and his disciples went into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. It
came to pass, as he was alone with his disciples, praying, and then as they were
going along the way, he asked his disciples who the people thought he was. When
they had answered, he asked them their opinion. When Peter answered that he was
the Christ, Jesus declared him blessed and gave him promises. He forbade his
disciples to tell anyone that he was the Christ. He foretold his death and
resurrection and called Peter Satan, because he rebuked Jesus for talking about
his death. Then he preached to his disciples and the multitude about that cross
which everyone must bear who will follow him. Finally, he foretold them of his
second coming. {Lu 9:18-27 Mr 8:27-38 Mt 16:13-28} [E827]
6380. About eight days after these sayings (or six intermediate days), Jesus
was transfigured on a high mountain. When they came down from the mountain, he
commanded them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until he had risen from
the dead. They kept this private and asked one another what the rising from the
dead might mean. They asked him why the scribes were saying that Elijah must
first come. From Jesus' reply they understood that Jesus was speaking of John
the Baptist as being Elijah. {Lu 9:28-36 Mr 9:1-13 Mt 17:1-13}
6381. After this, on the next day, as they were coming down from the hill,
Jesus came to his disciples. He saw a large multitude around them and the
scribes asking questions. [K580] When all the multitude saw him, they were
greatly amazed and ran at once to greet him. As he was asking about their
questions, the father of a lunatic child told him that it was about his child,
who had an unclean spirit and was deaf and dumb. His disciples had been unable
to cast him out. Then Jesus cast out the spirit and restored the child, now
well, to his father. When Jesus went home, he explained to his disciples the
reason why they had been unable to cast out this demon. {Lu 9:37-42 Mr 9:14-29
Mt 17:14-21}
6382. They departed from there and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want
anyone to know, because he was teaching his disciples about his death and
resurrection, but they did not understand this. They were deeply grieved, but
were afraid to ask him. {Lu 9:43-45 Mr 9:30-32 Mt 17:22,23}
6383. When they came to Capernaum, Peter was asked about Jesus' tribute money.
When Jesus came into the house, he anticipated Peter's question and told him
that he would find a coin in a fish's mouth and he was to use it to pay the
tribute for both of them. {Mt 17:24-27}
6384. At Capernaum, Jesus asked his disciples what they had been discussing on
the way. At first they were silent, and then they said that it was about who
would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus took a child and placed him
in their midst and taught that they should have just such childlike humility.
He warned them that the world was full of stumbling blocks and that they must
take heed that neither hand, nor foot, nor eye cause them to offend. Little
children were not to be despised. If our brother sinned against us, he was to
be reproved. He told of the power of the church to bind and loose. They were
to forgive someone who asked for forgiveness as much as seventy times seven
times, as he illustrated in the parable of the two debtors and the king. {Lu
9:46-48 Mr 9:33-37 Mt 18:1-35}
6385. John replied and said that they had seen one casting out demons through
Christ's name. Jesus taught that he was not to be forbidden and again warned
them about not offending little ones and about seeing to it that neither hand,
foot, nor eye caused them to offend. {Lu 9:49,50 Mr 9:38-50} [K581]
6386. Junius Gallio, who was trying to induce the soldiers to be loyal to the
state rather than the emperor, proposed that, when their time of service had
expired, Tiberius' Praetorian Guard should sit in the same benches with the
equestrians to see the plays. Tiberius banished him, under the pretence that
Gallio would seem to be persuading the soldiers to be loyal to the state rather
than to Tiberius. [E828] When someone wrote that it would be easy for him to
endure his banishment on so pleasant an island as Lesbos was, he was brought
back to Rome and handed over to the custody of the magistrates. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 6. c. 3. 4:157,159} {*Dio, l. 58. (18) 7:233}
6387. Cassius Severus, the orator, died in the twenty-fifth year of his
banishment on the island of Seriphos. He had been reduced to such poverty, that
he scarcely had a cloth to preserve his modesty. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:258}
6388. At Rome a proposal was made in the Senate by Quintilian, the tribune of
the people, concerning a Sibylline book. Caninius Gallus, one of the Fifteen
for Religious Ceremonies, had requested that it be included among other books by
the same prophetess and passed a decree of the Senate to ratify it. When this
was done by joint vote, Tiberius sent letters mildly rebuking the tribune as not
being well-versed in the old customs, because he was young. He attacked Gallus
very smartly, as he was a man with much experience in the ceremonies, who, in
spite of this, had introduced the business into the Senate at a time when many
of the senators had been absent. He pointed out that the author of the poem was
uncertain and the college had not delivered their opinion on it. Also, the poem
had not been revised and adjusted by the masters (of the priests), according to
the usual custom. As a result, the book was referred to the cognizance of the
Fifteen. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 12. 4:175}
4036a AM, 4745 JP, 32 AD
6389. After these things Jesus walked about in Galilee, for he would not walk
about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. The feast of
tabernacles was approaching and Jesus did not go up to the feast at that time,
as his brothers wished. As of yet, they did not believe in him. Jesus went up
after them, not publicly but privately. {Joh 7:1-10}
6390. It came to pass, when the days were approaching for his ascension, he
resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead into a village of
the Samaritans to prepare a place for them to stay. [K582] That village would
not accept him and they went into another village. He rebuked his disciples,
who wanted fire to come down from heaven upon the people. {Lu 9:51-56}
6391. As they were walking along the way, Jesus answered some who wanted to
follow him. {Lu 9:57-62}
6392. After this, Jesus sent seventy disciples, two by two, into every town and
place where he was going to proclaim that the kingdom of God was at hand, and
gave them power to authenticate their message. {Lu 10:1-16}
6393. The multitude asked after him and murmured about him. Midway through the
feast, Jesus taught in the temple. When they wondered at his doctrine, he
answered that his doctrine was not his own, but belonged to the one who had sent
him. He said many things in reply to those who reproached him and objected to
his words. Officers were sent to apprehend him. On the last and greatest day
of the feast, Jesus spoke out loudly concerning faith in him. There was a
division over him among the people, but the officers who had been sent, and
Nicodemus, defended Jesus and his cause before the Pharisees, who spoke against
Jesus. {Joh 7:11-53} [E829]
6394. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he again sat
and taught in the temple. He was not willing to condemn, in the manner of a
judge, the woman taken in adultery, but warned her to sin no more. He taught in
the treasury of the temple, affirming that he was the light of the world and
defending the fact that he testified on his own behalf. He taught many things
concerning the Father and himself, about where he was going, who he is, about
their father Abraham, about the servitude of sin and the Devil. He denied that
he had a demon, as the people thought. He said that whoever kept his sayings
would not taste death. He finished by saying that he was before Abraham. At
this, they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of
the temple, right through their midst, and so passed by. {Joh 8:1-59} [K583]
6395. As Jesus passed by, he saw a man begging, who had been blind from his
youth, and healed him. When the beggar and his parents were examined by the
authorities, he was expelled from the synagogue, after which he found and
worshipped Jesus. {Joh 9:1-41}
6396. Jesus preached that he was the door of the sheepfold and the good
shepherd. He taught about thieves and hirelings and once again there was a
division among the Jews because of these sayings. {Joh 10:1-21}
6397. The seventy returned with joy, and he further warned and instructed them.
He told them privately that they were blessed and should rejoice that their
names were written in heaven. {Lu 10:17-24}
6398. A certain lawyer asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus instructed him from the law, using the parable of the man who fell among
thieves to teach him who his neighbour was. {Lu 10:25-37}
6399. As he went on his way, he came to a certain town and was invited into the
house of Martha. She herself ministered to them, while Mary heard the words of
Jesus. Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part. {Lu 10:38-42}
4036b AM, 4746 JP, 33 AD
6400. One day, he was praying in a certain place. When he stopped, one of his
disciples asked him to teach them to pray as John had taught his disciples.
Therefore he, for the second time, prescribed to them the Lord's prayer. He
also used arguments to stir them up to constancy in prayer and for obtaining the
assurance of their faith. {Lu 11:1-13}
6401. Jesus cast out a demon from a man who was mute and the multitude
marvelled. He rebuked some blasphemers and denied that he was casting out the
demons through Beelzebub. {Lu 11:14-26}
6402. It came to pass as he spoke these things, that a certain woman in the
crowd said to him that his mother was blessed. [K584] His reply to her was that
those are blessed who hear the Word of God and keep it. {Lu 11:27,28}
6403. When the multitude had increased around him, he said that their
generation was seeking a sign, but that they would have no sign except that of
Jonah. He added that the queen of the south and the Ninevites would condemn
that generation. They were to take heed that the light that was in them was not
really darkness. {Lu 11:29-36}
6404. When he had spoken these things, a certain Pharisee invited him to dine
with him. When he wondered that Jesus had not first washed, Jesus severely
reprehended him, along with the rest of the Pharisees, for their apparent
outward holiness with hypocrisy, while inwardly there was wickedness,
covetousness and pride. He pronounced a woe on the lawyers, also. {Lu
11:37-54}
6405. In the meantime, when an innumerable company were gathered together,
Jesus warned his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which was
hypocrisy, and not to be afraid of those who kill the body. {Lu 12:1-12} [E830]
6406. One of the company asked Jesus to talk to his brother, so that he would
divide the inheritance with him. Jesus asked him who had made him a judge. On
this occasion he preached against covetousness, using the parable of the rich
man who wanted to build larger barns. He warned them against an anxious,
distrustful and unprofitable carping about the necessary things of this life and
urged them rather to seek the kingdom of God. They should be like those who
wait for the coming of their Lord, as befits a faithful and wise steward. Jesus
said that he would send the fire of division on the earth and upbraided them for
not recognising that this was the appointed time. {Lu 12:13-59}
6407. At that time, some people told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate
had mingled with their sacrifices. From this, Jesus preached about repentance
and propounded the parable of the barren fig tree. {Lu 13:1-9}
6408. He taught in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. There was a woman
who for eighteen years had suffered with a spirit of infirmity and was bent
over. He healed her on the Sabbath and defended the deed against the
indignation of the ruler of the synagogue. [K585] Then he likened the kingdom
of heaven to a grain of mustard seed and to leaven. {Lu 13:10-21}
6409. He went through all the cities and villages, teaching as he was
journeying toward Jerusalem for the feast of dedication. {Lu 13:22}
6410. Someone asked him if there would only be a few who would be saved. He
replied that they must strive to enter in at the narrow gate. {Lu 13:23-30}
6411. On the same day, some of the Pharisees came to him and warned him to
leave the area, for Herod wanted to kill him. He gave them a resolute answer.
{Lu 13:31-35}
6412. One sabbath day, he was invited into the house of one of the chief
Pharisees, to dine with him. There was a man there afflicted with the dropsy,
whom he healed. He defended the deed, although done on the Sabbath. He spoke a
parable to those who had been invited to the feast and also instructed the
Pharisee who had invited him to dine. {Lu 14:1-14}
6413. When one of those who was dining with him heard these things, he said to
him that he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God was blessed. Jesus
answered him by propounding the parable of the great supper and of each excuse
made by those who were invited. {Lu 14:15-24}
6414. There was a large multitude going with him and he turned and preached to
them that life itself is to be surrendered for Christ. He told them the
parables of the man who was about to build a tower and of the king going to war.
{Lu 14:25-35}
6415. All the tax collectors and sinners came to him to hear him, but the
scribes and Pharisees murmured. He spoke the parables to them about the lost
sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. {Lu 15:1-32}
6416. He told the disciples the parable of the unjust steward who was accused
to his master, and drew a practical application from it. The Pharisees heard
all these things and were covetous and derided him. He then preached against
them and taught many other things, also telling about the rich man who fared
sumptuously and of Lazarus the beggar. {Lu 16:1-31} [E831] [K586]
6417. Jesus warned his disciples about those who cause offences. He taught
that the brother who sinned against them was to be forgiven. {Lu 17:1-4}
6418. Then the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. He spoke about
the power of faith and told the parable of the servant who came in after working
and immediately ministered to his master. He showed them that they were
unprofitable servants when they had done all that they had been commanded, for
they had done no more than what was their duty. {Lu 17:5-10}
6419. As he was going to Jerusalem, he travelled through Samaria and Galilee.
He entered a certain village, where he was met by ten lepers. After they had
been healed and were going to the priest as Jesus had commanded, only one of
them came back to Jesus to thank him, and he was a Samaritan. {Lu 17:11-19}
6420. The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. Jesus
replied that the kingdom of God would not come with observation, but was within.
He told his disciples that just as it had been in the days of Noah and Lot, so
it will be on the day that the Son of Man will be revealed. However, he first
had to suffer many things. {Lu 17:20-37}
6421. He spoke a parable to them to illustrate that they should pray
continually. He used the example of a widow who interceded with an unjust
judge, and contrasted this with God, who is a just avenger. {Lu 18:1-8}
6422. He also spoke to some who thought that they were righteous and despised
others. He told the parable about the Pharisee and tax collector praying in the
temple. {Lu 18:9-14}
6423. At Jerusalem, during the feast of dedication in the winter time, Jesus
was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch. The Jews came around him and
asked how long he would keep them in suspense as to who he really was. He
pointed to his miracles and said that he and his Father are one. [K587] Again
they took up stones to stone him. He defended himself, proving from the
scriptures and by his works that he was God. They tried again to take him, but
he escaped from their hands. {Joh 10:22-39}
6424. Again he went beyond the Jordan River, to the place where John had first
baptized, and stayed there, and many came to him. As was his custom, he taught
them and healed them and many there believed in him. {Joh 10:40-42 Mr 10:1 Mt
19:1,2}
6425. The Pharisees came to him and tested him, asking if it was lawful for a
man to divorce his wife for any reason. Jesus denied it and said to the
Pharisees who objected, that the bill of divorce had been commanded by Moses.
Jesus taught them the true meaning of marriage. When his disciples heard this,
they said it was better for a man not to marry. {Mr 10:2-12 Mt 19:3-12}
6426. They brought little children to him, that he should lay his hands on them
and pray. His disciples tried to prevent it and Jesus rebuked them. After he
had laid his hands on the children and blessed them, he departed from there.
{Lu 18:15-17 Mr 10:13-16 Mt 19:13-15}
6427. As Jesus was leaving, a rich young ruler met him on the way and asked him
what he had to do to inherit eternal life. He called Jesus Good Master. Jesus
spoke about the title he had given him and pointed him to the commandments. He
replied that he had observed and kept them from his youth, and Jesus loved him.
[E832] However, when he told him to sell all that he had and give to the poor,
he sent him away very sorrowful. Jesus vehemently spoke against covetous rich
men. {Lu 18:18-30 Mr 10:17-31 Mt 19:16-30} Peter replied that they had left
everything to follow him. Jesus made notable promises to all who followed him,
especially to his twelve apostles. He added that many who were first would be
last. He instructed them with a parable of labourers going into a vineyard.
Many were indeed called, but few were chosen. {Mt 20:1-16}
6428. Lazarus of Bethany was sick, so his sisters sent to Jesus, to tell him of
his sickness. [K588] From the time that he heard that Lazarus was sick, he
stayed where he was for a further two days, but later he told his disciples to
go into Judea again. They reminded him that the Jews had just recently tried to
stone him there and asked him whether he really wanted to go back again. Jesus
replied that Lazarus was asleep, speaking of his death, not of his sleep, and
that they should go to him. Thomas added that they may die with him. {Joh
11:1-16}
6429. When Jesus came near Bethany, he found that Lazarus had been buried and
in the grave four days. Martha came to meet him and they talked about the
resurrection. Mary heard of his coming and quickly came to him. When Jesus saw
her weep, he also wept and went to the grave. He asked them to remove the stone
and thanked his Father for hearing him. Jesus called Lazarus from his grave.
Thereupon, many believed on him and some went to the Pharisees and told them the
things Jesus had done. {Joh 11:17-46}
6430. Therefore, the Pharisees convened a council in which Caiaphas prophesied
about Jesus. From that day on, they consulted together about how they could put
him to death. They ordered that anyone who knew where he was, should tell them,
so they could take him. On account of this, Jesus did not walk publicly among
the Jews, but went into a town called Ephraim and stayed there with his
disciples. {Joh 11:47-54}
6431. As they were on the way up to Jerusalem, Jesus went ahead of them and
they were afraid. He again took the twelve aside and began to tell them all
that would happen to him, but they did not understand. {Lu 18:31-34 Mr 10:32-34
Mt 20:17-19}
6432. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, with their mother, came to him and
asked that they might sit with him in the kingdom, one on the right hand and the
other on the left of Jesus. Jesus rebuked them and the rest were upset with the
two disciples. Jesus admonished them all by saying that he who wanted to be
great and first among them, had to be the minister and servant of all. {Mr
10:35-45 Mt 20:20-28} [K589]
6433. It happened that when he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat
begging by the roadside. When he asked who it was that was passing by and was
told it was Jesus of Nazareth, he earnestly implored his mercy, even though the
crowd rebuked him. Jesus called out to him and he received his sight and
followed him, glorifying God. {Lu 18:35-43}
6434. As Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, he saw Zacchaeus in a
sycamore tree and told him he needed to stay at his house that day. {Lu
19:1-10}
6435. As they left the city of Jericho, a large crowd followed him. He
restored the sight of two blind men (one of whom was Bartimaeus), and they
followed him. {Mr 10:46-52 Mt 20:29-34} [E833]
6436. When they heard all these things, and because they were near Jerusalem,
they thought that the kingdom of God would appear immediately. As they went
along, Jesus told the parable of the nobleman who went into a far country and
gave his ten servants ten pounds, to invest until he returned. When he
returned, he determined who had gained the most through trading and rewarded
each of them according to the proportion of their gain. {Lu 19:11-27}
6437. The passover was near and many from the country went up to Jerusalem
before the passover, to purify themselves. {Joh 11:55-57}
6438. Six days before the passover, therefore, Jesus came to Bethany. They
prepared a supper for him and Lazarus sat with him. Mary anointed his feet and
wiped them with the hairs of her head. Jesus rebuked Judas' criticism of her.
Many people gathered there, not only because of Jesus, but in order to see
Lazarus. However, the chief priests consulted how they could put Lazarus to
death, as well, since many of the Jews believed in Jesus because of him. {Joh
12:1-11}
6439. Jesus went ahead and ascended up toward Jerusalem. It transpired that
when he was near Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the Mount of Olives
(Sunday, March 29), he sent two of his disciples for the foal of an ass, that
was tied up in the town ahead. (Matthew also makes mention of the she-ass.) {Lu
19:28-35 Mr 11:1-7 Mt 21:1-7} [K590]
6440. Therefore, they brought the colt to Jesus, put their garments on it and
Jesus sat on the colt. Many people met him, who were coming to the feast. Many
cast their garments in his path and others cut down branches of trees and spread
them in the road. When he came to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the crowd
who went ahead of him and those who followed behind, cried: "Hosanna to the son
of David." Some of the Pharisees told him to rebuke his followers, but he
replied that he would not. Because of this, the Pharisees said among themselves
that the whole world was following him. {Joh 12:12-19 Lu 19:36-40 Mr 11:8-10 Mt
21:8,9}
6441. When he came near and overlooked the city, he wept over it. He predicted
her utter destruction. When he entered into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred
and asked who he was. {Joh 12:19 Lu 19:41-44 Mr 11:10,11}
6442. Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out those who were buying and
selling in it and healed the blind and the lame who were there. He justified
the children who were crying 'hosanna' in the temple, over the objections of the
Pharisees and scribes. He taught daily in the temple and those who heard him
were very attentive, but the chief priests and elders of the people tried to
kill him. {Lu 19:45-48 Mr 11:11 Mt 21:12-16}
6443. Some Greeks, who had come to worship at the feast, wanted to see him. He
told the men who told him about these Greeks, about his passion. He called on
his Father and received an answer from heaven. Some thought it was thunder and
others thought an angel had spoken to him. He again spoke of the lifting up of
the Son of Man from the earth. He gave an answer to those who asked him who the
Son of Man was. [K591] After he left there, he hid himself from them. When it
was evening, he went with the twelve to Bethany. Although he had done so many
miracles among them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word of
Isaiah might be fulfilled. [E834] However, many of the rulers believed in him,
but did not confess him publicly for fear of the Pharisees. Jesus preached
about having faith in himself. {Joh 12:20-50 Mt 11:17}
6444. The next morning, when he came from Bethany, he was hungry and saw a fig
tree which had only leaves on it. He cursed it and it withered at once. They
came to Jerusalem and entered the temple. He again expelled those who were
buying and selling, and did not want anyone to carry merchandise through the
temple. He taught them about having faith in himself. However, the chief
priests looked for ways to kill him, for they feared him, because all the people
were astonished at his doctrine. When evening came, Jesus left the city. {Mr
11:12-19 Mt 21:18,19}
6445. The next morning, as they passed the fig tree, they saw that it was dried
up from the roots, as Peter observed. Jesus preached to them about the power of
faith, especially in prayer. They again came to Jerusalem and as he walked in
the temple and taught the people, the chief priests, elders and scribes came to
him. They asked by whose authority he did these things. Jesus replied by
asking them about John's baptism. He told them the parable of the two sons and
asked them, which of the two had done the will of their father, and then applied
it to them. He further told the parable of the vineyard, that was rented out to
vine-growers who killed the heir of the vineyard, and he also made an
application of this. Therefore, from that hour, they sought to apprehend him,
but they feared the people, for the people thought he was a prophet. [K592]
Again, he propounded the parable of the king's son to them, and the refusals and
excuses of some who were invited and the wickedness and punishments of others,
especially of the one who was not wearing a proper wedding garment. Then the
Pharisees went and discussed how they could possibly trip him up in his talk.
Therefore, they sent their disciples out to him, together with the Herodians,
and these men asked him if it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. Astonished
at his answer, they left him and went their way. {Lu 20:1-26 Mr 11:13-12:37 Mt
21:19-22:46}
6446. The same day, the Sadducees came to him and asked about a woman who had
seven brothers, in turn, as her husband. They wanted to know who would be her
husband in the resurrection. When the multitude heard his answer to prove the
resurrection, they were astonished at his doctrine. Then a Pharisee, a lawyer,
tested him by asking, which was the greatest commandment in the law. After
Jesus had replied, he asked the Pharisees whose son Christ was. No man was able
to answer him, nor did anyone dare ask him any more questions after that. {Lu
20:27-44}
6447. Then Jesus spoke to the multitude and to his disciples about the scribes
and Pharisees. Eight times he pronounced a woe against them and addressing the
city of Jerusalem, he accused her of cruelty and obstinacy and foretold her
desolation. {Lu 20:45-47 Mr 12:38-40 Mt 23:1-39}
6448. As Jesus sat opposite the treasury, he commended a widow, who had thrown
in two mites, more than those who had tossed in much more. {Lu 21:1-4 Mr
12:41-44}
6449. As he went out of the temple, his disciples pointed out the magnificent
buildings and stones of the temple, and he predicted its utter destruction in
that generation. {Lu 21:5-36 Mr 13:1-37 Mt 24:1-51} [E835]
6450. As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, his disciples
asked him when these things would happen and what would be the sign of his
coming and the end of the age. He gave a lengthy reply concerning the sign of
his coming. He warned them to watch and to be ready, for they did not know the
hour when the Lord would come. {Mr 13:1-37 Lu 21:1:36 Mt 24:1-51}
6451. He taught the same things through the parable of the ten virgins and the
parable of the talents given to the servants to invest. [K593] He described the
coming judgment of those in this world using the illustration about setting the
sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left and passing sentence on each
of them. By day, he taught in the temple, but at night he went to the Mount of
Olives. All the people came to him early in the morning and he taught them in
the temple. {Lu 21:37,38 Mt 25:1-46}
6452. When Jesus had finished saying these things, he told his disciples that
after two days it would be the passover, and that the Son of Man would be
betrayed and crucified. In the palace of the high priest, the Jewish leaders
consulted together about how they could kill Jesus. They agreed that it should
not be done on the feast day, in case there should be a riot. {Mr 14:1,2 Mt
26:1-5}
6453. When he was in the house eating with Simon the Leper, Jesus defended a
woman who poured an alabaster box of ointment on his head, because his disciples
were murmuring about this. He used it to foretell his burial. {Mr 14:3-9 Mt
26:6-13}
6454. Then Satan entered into Judas, who was to betray Jesus to the Jewish
leaders. {Lu 22:1-13 Mr 14:10,11 Mt 26:14-16}
The FOURTH PASSOVER
in which CHRIST, our PASSOVER,
was sacrificed,
{1Co 5:7} and so
put an end to all the legal
sacrifices prefiguring this one.
The beginning of the fourth, or middle
year of the last week of Daniel.
{Da 9:27}
6455. On the first day of unleavened bread, when the passover was to be killed
(Thursday, April 2), his disciples asked Jesus where they should prepare it. He
sent Peter and John into the city, telling them that there they would meet a man
carrying a pitcher of water. They were to follow him to a house and ask the
owner of that house for the use of the guest chamber. They would find the guest
chamber already furnished by the good man of the house. {Mr 14:12-16 Mt
26:17-19} [K594]
6456. In the evening, Jesus went there with the twelve disciples and ate
supper. Jesus said that he had eagerly desired to eat this passover with them
before his sufferings. Taking the cup, he asked them to divide it among
themselves. He said that he would not eat of the passover or drink of the fruit
of the vine again, until the kingdom of God would come. He also said that one
of them would betray him. They became sorrowful and each individually asked if
he was the one. [E836] Jesus replied that it was the man who was dipping his
hand in the dish with him. When Judas asked if it was he, Jesus said it was.
{Lu 22:14-18 Mr 14:17-21 Mt 26:20-25}
6457. While they were eating, Jesus instituted the sacrament of his body and
blood, which were symbolised by the bread and the wine. After he had drunk the
wine, he said that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine after this, until
he would drink it anew with them in the kingdom of his Father. He stated that
the one who would betray him was eating with them. Then they began to enquire
among themselves if anyone among them would do this. {Lu 22:19-23 Mr 14:22-25
Mt 26:26-29}
6458. There was also a dispute among them over who would be the greatest.
After supper, Jesus arose and laid aside his garments. He took a towel and tied
it about his waist and began to wash and to dry his disciple's feet. At first
Peter refused to have this done to him, but later he consented. After this,
Jesus sat down and said that he had given them an example. Just as he had done,
they also should wash one another's feet. Whoever wanted to be the greatest
among them, had to become the least. He added, moreover, that he was not
speaking about everyone, for he knew whom he had chosen. When he had said these
things, he was troubled in the spirit and said that one of them would betray
him. [K595] Therefore, his disciples looked at each other and were uncertain as
to whom he might be referring to. Peter beckoned to the beloved disciple that
he should ask who it was. Jesus answered that it was the one to whom he would
give the sop after dipping it. He gave it to Judas and told him to do quickly
what he had to do. When Judas had received the sop, he went out immediately
into the night. {Joh 13:2-38 Lu 22:24-30}
6459. After Judas left, Jesus said that the Son of Man was now glorified and
God was glorified in him. He reminded them that he would be leaving them
suddenly and admonished them to love one another. He also said to Simon that
Satan had desired to sift him like wheat, but that he had prayed for him and
that when he was converted, he was to strengthen his brethren. Peter, too,
confidently replied that he would die for Jesus. Jesus answered that he would
deny him three times before the cock had crowed. Then Jesus told them all that
he who had a purse, was to take it and he who did not have a sword, was to go
and buy one. They said they had two swords, to which Jesus replied that it was
enough. {Lu 22:31-38}
6460. Jesus anticipated their sorrow over his death and comforted them, as he
usually did. He answered the questions raised by Thomas, Philip and Judas (who
was also Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus, another of the sons of Alphaeus and a
brother of James). He promised them that the Holy Spirit would be their teacher
and left them his peace. Again he reminded them of his approaching death and of
its joyful fruit. Then he said that the time had come to leave. They sang a
hymn and then left for the Mount of Olives. {Joh 14:1-31 Mr 14:26 Mt 26:30}
6461. On their way, he told them the parable of the vine and the branches and
exhorted them to bring forth fruit and to remain in the love of God toward them.
They should have mutual love one toward another and patiently endure the hatred
of the world, since it also hated Christ himself. [E837] They should not be
offended by persecution. [K596] Again he comforted them about the sorrow they
felt over his approaching death, with the promise of sending them the Comforter,
who was the Spirit of Truth and would be a witness against the world and help
them. He warned them that in a little while, they would not see him. They did
not understand what he meant. He explained it to them and said that their
anticipated sorrow would be turned into joy, just as a woman rejoiced who had
given birth to a son. He predicted his return to them and told them of the
Father's love toward them and of his willingness to hear the petitions that they
would make in his name. He said that he had come into the world from the Father
and he would leave the world again to return to the Father. His disciples said
they now understood what he meant and believed that he had come from God. Jesus
replied that the time had now come when they would all be scattered and he would
be left alone. At last, he concluded with a most divine prayer to the Father,
seeking both his own and the Father's glory, as well as praying for the apostles
and the whole company of believers. {Joh 15:1-17:26}
6462. When Jesus had spoken these things, he went with his disciples, as was
his custom, and crossed over the brook Kidron to the Mount of Olives. Then
Jesus told them that all of them would be offended because of him that night.
However, after he had risen again, he would go ahead of them into Galilee.
Peter replied that although everyone else might be offended, yet he would not
be, so Jesus told Peter that before the cock would crow, he would deny him three
times. Peter and all the disciples replied that although they would die with
him, they would never deny him. {Joh 18:1 Lu 22:39 Mr 14:27-31 Mt 26:31-36}
6463. Then they came into a place called Gethsemane, where there was a garden.
After Jesus had entered with his disciples, he told them to pray, lest they fall
into temptation. They were to sit there while he went away to pray. [K597] He
took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him and began to be very sorrowful.
He told them to stay there and watch, while he went a little farther, about a
stone's throw, and kneeled down and prayed that this cup might pass from him.
An angel appeared from heaven and strengthened him, then he returned and found
his disciples sleeping. He reprehended and admonished them and went a second
time and prayed more earnestly. He was in an agony and began to sweat drops of
blood, as it were. He came again and found them sleeping for sorrow, for their
eyes were heavy. He admonished them again and they did not know what to say.
He then left them and went away again and prayed the same words. Then,
returning to his disciples, he noted that they were still sleeping and resting.
He said that the Son of Man had been betrayed into the hands of sinners and he
told them to get up and go, for the man who had betrayed him was close by. {Lu
22:40-46 Mr 14:32-42 Mt 26:36-46}
6464. While he was speaking, Judas arrived, who knew the place, because Jesus
often went there with his disciples. He brought with him the chief priests,
Pharisees, captains of the temple, elders of the people, officers and a band of
men sent out from them. [E838] They came there with lanterns and torches and a
large number had swords and staves. Judas had given a sign, saying that the one
they were after would be the one he kissed. Judas immediately kissed Jesus.
Jesus asked Judas why he had come and whether he would betray the Son of Man
with a kiss. Jesus, who knew all that would happen to him, went out to them and
asked whom they were after. When they said they wanted Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus
told them he was the one. They drew back and fell to the ground. He asked them
again and answered them as he had done the first time, adding that if they were
only after him, to let the disciples go their way. They took him. [K598] When
those who were around him saw what would happen, they asked him if they should
fight for him and Peter struck off the right ear of Malchus, a servant of the
high priest. Jesus told Peter to put away his sword, because if Jesus wanted
to, he could call down more than twelve legions of angels. He said that it was
right that he should drink of the cup that his Father had given him and they
should allow it to happen. Jesus touched Malchus' ear and healed him, then
asked the crowd why they had come to him with swords and staves, as if he were a
thief. He told them that this was their hour, and that of the power of
darkness. Then all his disciples left him and fled. A certain young man (of
their company), who was seized, left his linen cloth behind and fled away from
them, naked. {Joh 18:2-11 Lu 22:47-53 Mr 14:43-52 Mt 26:47-56}
6465. They bound Jesus and first brought him to Annas, the father-in-law of
Caiaphas. Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest, who had previously
prophesied that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. All
the chief priests, elders and scribes of the people were gathered together.
Caiaphas asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus said that he
had spoken publicly and to ask those who had heard him. At that, one of the
officers struck him with a staff. Jesus asked him why he had hit him, since he
had answered properly. Then all the council looked for false witnesses against
him, but could find none. Finally two false witnesses came, but their
testimonies disagreed with each other. Caiaphas asked Jesus to reply to what
these witnesses had said against him, but Jesus said nothing. Then Caiaphas
adjured him that he should say whether he was the Christ. Jesus answered that
he was and that they would see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the
power of God and coming in the clouds of heaven. For this blasphemy, they
judged him guilty of death. [K599] Then they mocked and spat on him and cruelly
cuffed him and beat him with staves. They covered his eyes and asked him to
prophesy who had hit him. They spoke reproachfully against him and did many
other things and much more.
6466. Peter followed afar off, to observe the outcome of it. Another disciple
accompanied him, who was known to the high priest. He went with Jesus into the
palace, but Peter, whom that other disciple (who had spoken to the maid who kept
the door) had brought in, stood outside at the door. As Peter was warming
himself at the fire that burned in the courtyard, for it was cold, the maid who
kept the door asked him and affirmed that he was one of Jesus' disciples.
[E839] Peter denied it and claimed that he did not know him, or what the maid
was speaking about. A little later, he went out into the porch and the cock
crowed. As he was going out, another maid saw him and said to those present
that Peter had been with Jesus of Nazareth. Another person said to him that he
was one of the disciples. Then Peter again denied it with an oath. About an
hour later, those who were standing around came and said to him that his accent
gave him away. The cousin of Malchus, who was among their number, said that he
had seen Peter in the garden. As Peter was denying this, the cock crowed the
second time. Then Jesus turned around and looked at Peter. Peter remembered
the words of Jesus and went out and wept bitterly. {Joh 18:12-27 Lu 22:54-65 Mr
14:53-72 Mt 26:57-75}
6467. As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, the chief priests and
the scribes came together, led him into their council and asked Jesus if he was
the Christ. He replied that they would not believe him nor answer his questions
were he to ask them. Once Jesus said he was the Son of God, they replied that
they did not need any more witnesses. {Lu 22:66-71} [K600]
6468. In the morning, the whole multitude promptly arose and led him, bound,
from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment to appear before Pontius Pilate, the
governor (Friday, April 3). They themselves, however, did not go into the
judgment hall, in case they would be defiled and so be unable to eat the
passover. When Jesus stood before the governor, Pilate asked the crowd what his
crime was. They said that if he had not been a criminal, they would not have
brought Jesus to him. They accused Jesus of perverting the country and
forbidding anyone to pay tribute to Caesar. They also said that Jesus claimed
to be Christ, a king. Jesus refused to answer them and Pilate asked him why he
did not defend himself against their many accusations. Jesus did not even
answer Pilate so much as a word, so that Pilate marvelled. When Pilate told the
crowd to take him and judge him according to their law, they replied that they
did not have the power to kill him. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall
again and called for Jesus. He asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews.
Jesus asked Pilate whether he was asking the question of his own accord, or if
others had told him that. Pilate retorted that he was not a Jew and that Jesus'
own people and the chief priests had brought him to him. He asked Jesus what he
had done. Jesus stated that his kingdom was not an earthly kingdom. Pilate
asked if he were a king, to which Jesus said that this was the reason he had
come into the world, so that he might witness to the truth. Pilate asked him,
what truth was, and then went out again to the Jews and said Jesus was innocent.
The crowd became more hostile and said he had stirred up the people and taught
throughout all the country of the Jews, starting from Galilee even to that
place.
6469. When Pilate heard about Galilee, he asked Jesus if he were a Galilean.
[K601] When he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to
Herod, who was at Jerusalem in those days. Herod was exceedingly glad and hoped
to see some miracle. [E840] Jesus would not answer Herod or the chief priests
and scribes, who vehemently accused him. After Herod had defied Jesus and
mocked him, he sent him back to Pilate, arrayed in a gorgeous robe. That same
day, the two governors became friends.
6470. When Pilate had called together the chief priests, the rulers and the
people, he told them that both he and Herod had found Jesus innocent, and so he
would chastise Jesus and release him. It was the custom, on every feast day,
for the governor to free any prisoner the people wanted. The crowd cried out
loudly and began to demand that he do for them as he had always done.
Therefore, Pilate addressed them and asked whether they wanted him to release
the king of the Jews, or Barabbas. Pilate knew that the chief priests had
delivered him up out of envy. However these men stirred up the people to demand
that Pilate should release Barabbas to them, instead of Jesus. Barabbas was an
infamous thief who had been imprisoned for insurrection and murder in the city.
As Pilate sat in the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying that he
should have nothing to do with that just man, because that day she had suffered
many things in a dream because of him.
6471. Consequently, Pilate asked the crowd again whom they wanted to have
released, because he really wanted to release Jesus. However, they all cried
out and said they did not want Jesus, but Barabbas, and so Pilate asked them
what he should do with the man they called the king of the Jews. [K602] They
all cried out again and said he should be crucified. Pilate asked a third time
what his crime was. He had found Jesus to be innocent and wanted to chastise
him and let him go free. They cried out more earnestly and loudly, that he
should be crucified. So Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. The soldiers made
a crown of thorns and placed it on his head and clothed him with purple. They
mocked him and greeted him as the king of the Jews and beat him with staves.
Then, Pilate again went out to them and said that he was bringing Jesus, whom he
had found to be innocent, out to them. Jesus was led out, wearing the crown of
thorns and the robe. Pilate told them to look at Jesus. When the chief priests
and officers saw him, they cried out that he should be crucified. Pilate told
them to take and crucify him, but that he was innocent. The Jews replied that
he should die, because he said he was the Son of God. When Pilate heard that,
he was more afraid and went back into the judgment hall and asked Jesus where he
had come from. Jesus did not reply. Pilate admonished him to answer, and
bragged that he had the power to crucify him, but Jesus answered that he would
have no power had it not been given to him from above.
6472. From that time on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews replied that
if he did, he was not Caesar's friend. [E841] When Pilate heard this, he
brought Jesus out and sat in the judgment seat in the place called the Pavement.
It was the preparation for the passover and about the sixth hour. He told the
Jews that this was their king. They cried out that he should be crucified.
Pilate asked if he should crucify their king, but the chief priests said that
they had no king but Caesar. [K603] When Pilate saw he was getting nowhere and
that he had a potential riot on his hands, he took some water and washed his
hands before the crowd. He said that he was innocent of the blood of this just
person. All the people replied that his blood should be on them and their
children. To placate the multitude, Pilate released Barabbas. After Pilate had
scourged Jesus, he did as the crowd wanted and ordered Jesus to be crucified.
{Joh 19:1-40 Lu 23:1-25 Mr 15:1-37 Mt 27:11-31}
6473. When the soldiers of the governor had led Jesus into the hall called the
Praetorium, they called their whole band together. When they had stripped him,
they put a purple robe on him. They made a crown of thorns and put it on his
head and put a reed in his right hand. They bowed down and mocked him and
greeted him as the king of the Jews. When they had spat on him, they took the
reed and hit him on the head. After they had mocked him, they took the purple
robe off again and put his own clothes on him and led him out to be crucified.
6474. When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he
repented and brought the thirty pieces of silver back to the chief priests. He
confessed his sin to them, threw the silver pieces into the temple and went out
and hanged himself. They used the money to buy the potter's field, in order
that the prophecy might be fulfilled. {Zec 11:13 Ps 69:25 109:8}
6475. Jesus went out carrying his cross. As they were leading him, they found
Simon of Cyrene, who had come from the country. They took him and compelled him
to carry the cross after Jesus. Two thieves were also led out with him, to be
crucified. A large multitude of people followed, which included women who were
lamenting him. Turning to them, he foretold the terrible destruction of
Jerusalem. [K604] When they came to the place called Calvary, which was called
Golgotha in the Hebrew, they gave him vinegar to drink, which had been mixed
with myrrh and gall. When he had tasted it, he refused to drink it. There,
they crucified him and the two thieves, at about the third hour (nine a.m.).
One thief was on each side of him. Jesus prayed to his Father to forgive the
people, because they did not know what they were doing.
6476. Pilate wrote a superscription in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and put it on
the cross. The chief priests asked Pilate to change it, but he refused. After
they had crucified him, the soldiers divided his garments into four parts, one
for each soldier who had worked on the execution. However, they cast lots for
his seamless coat, rather than divide it up, so that the scripture might be
fulfilled. {Ps 22:18} They sat down and watched him there and the people stood
and watched.
6477. Those who passed by, reviled him and shook their heads. [E842] They told
him to come down from the cross, because he had said he could destroy the temple
and raise it up again in three days. The chief priests, also, and the rulers,
as well as the people, mocked and scoffed at him, along with the scribes and
elders. They said that he could save others, but he could not save himself. If
he really was the king of Israel and the Christ, the Chosen One of God, he
should come down from the cross and then they would believe him. They said he
trusted in God to save him, for Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. The
soldiers also came up to him and mocked him. They offered him vinegar and said
that if he was really the king of the Jews, he should save himself.
6478. The thieves, who were crucified with him, also threw the same in his
face. While one of them continued railing against him, the other was converted
and rebuked the first thief. [K605] He asked Jesus to remember him when he came
into his kingdom. Jesus promised him that that very day he would be with him in
paradise.
6479. His mother stood by his cross, as well as his mother's sister, Mary, the
wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. As Jesus' mother stood there, and the
disciple whom he loved was standing beside her, he said to his mother to behold
her son and to the disciple to behold his mother.
6480. When the sixth hour (noon) had come, there was darkness over all the land
until the ninth hour (three p.m.). In the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a
loud voice, Eli Eli, or, Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani. Some who stood nearby said
that he had called for Elijah. After this, when Jesus knew that all things had
been accomplished so that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said he was
thirsty. {Ps 69:21} Beside the cross there was a vessel full of vinegar. They
filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop, or a reed. They put it to
his mouth and said with the rest that they would wait and see if Elijah would
come and take him down from the cross. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he
said that it was finished. Once again he cried out with a loud voice and
commended his spirit to his Father. Then Jesus bowed his head and gave up the
ghost. When the centurion saw that he had cried out in this way and died, he
glorified God and testified that this was most certainly an innocent man and the
Son of God. {Lu 23:26-46 Mr 15:38-43 Mt 27:32-50}
6481. The veil of the temple was ripped in two, from the top to the bottom, and
there was an earthquake and the rocks were split. The graves were opened and
many of the saints, who had died, arose and came out of the graves after his
resurrection and went into Jerusalem and appeared to many. [K606] When the
centurion and those who were standing around Jesus witnessed the earthquake and
the things that had happened, they were terrified and testified that this was
certainly the Son of God. Then all the people who had come to watch the
crucifixion beat their chests and returned home. His acquaintances and the
women who had followed him from Galilee, stood afar off and saw these things.
Among them were Salome, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James the Less,
and Joses. When Jesus had been in Galilee, these had followed him and
ministered to him, along with many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with
him. {Lu 23:47-49 Mt 27:51-56} [E843]
6482. Because it was the Preparation Day (for that Sabbath was a high day e.g.,
not only a Sabbath but the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread), and the
Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath, they asked
Pilate that their legs might be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers
came and broke the legs of the two thieves, but not of Jesus, because he was
already dead. One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once
blood and water came out. These things took place so that the scripture might
be fulfilled that not a bone of him would be broken. {Joh 19:31-37 Ex 12:46 Nu
9:12}
6483. When evening came, because it was the Preparation, that is, the day
before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate. Joseph was a rich man
and an honourable councillor, who also looked forward to the kingdom of God. He
was a good and just man and in the council had not consented to their plans. He
was a secret disciple for fear of the Jews, but he came boldly to Pilate and
asked to be given the body of Jesus. Pilate marvelled that Jesus was already
dead and questioned a centurion about Jesus. When Pilate had it confirmed, he
gave the body to Joseph. Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus by night,
brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight. [K607]
Therefore, they took the body of Jesus and wound it in a linen cloth with the
spices, as was the custom of the Jews when burying a body. When Joseph had
wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, he laid it in his own new sepulchre, hewn
from a rock, which had not been used previously. The sepulchre was in a garden
near the place where Jesus was crucified. Joseph rolled a large stone to the
door of the sepulchre. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, who had
come with Jesus from Galilee, saw where they had laid him and sat opposite the
sepulchre. They went home and prepared spices and ointments and rested on the
Sabbath day, according to the commandment.
6484. The next day (Saturday, April 4), the Pharisees asked Pilate to secure
the sepulchre until the third day, because Jesus had said he would arise on the
third day. When Pilate agreed, they went and secured the sepulchre. They
sealed the stone and set a watch. {Joh 19:38-42 Lu 23:50-56 Mr 15:42-47 Mt
27:57-61}
6485. When the Sabbath was over (Sunday, April 5) and the first day of the week
was dawning, very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene
and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome arrived with spices. They had come to
see the sepulchre and anoint Jesus, and were wondering who would roll the stone
away from the door for them. At sunrise, they came to the sepulchre and saw
that the stone was rolled away. There was a large earthquake, for an angel of
the Lord came down from heaven and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. The
guards shook for fear and fell over as though dead. The women went in and did
not find the body of the Lord Jesus. [K608] They were very perplexed by this,
when two men in shining clothes came to them, their faces bright as lightning
and their garments white as snow. [E844] Matthew and Mark mention only one
angel. Afraid, the women bowed their faces to the earth, but the angels told
them not to be afraid, for they were seeking Jesus, who had been crucified.
They told them he was not dead, but alive, and invited the women to see the
sepulchre for themselves. They reminded them that when Jesus was still in
Galilee with them, he had told them that the Son of Man had to be delivered into
the hands of sinful men, be crucified and rise again on the third day. The
angels told them to go quickly and tell his disciples and Peter that he was
risen again from the dead. They also said that Jesus had gone ahead of them to
Galilee and that they would see him there. Then the women remembered the words
of Jesus and quickly left the sepulchre in fear, wonder and great joy. They ran
to tell his disciples, but said nothing to anyone along the way, for they were
afraid. When the women had told these things to the eleven and to all the rest,
their words seemed to them like idle tales. Mary Magdalene had told Peter and
the other disciple whom Jesus loved that they had taken away the Lord and she
did not know where they had laid him.
6486. Peter and that other disciple left for the sepulchre, but the other
disciple outran Peter and reached the sepulchre first. When he stooped down, he
saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not go in. [K609] Then Peter came and
went into the sepulchre. He saw the linen cloths lying there and the napkin
that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but wrapped
together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple went in and saw and
believed. Peter went to his own home, wondering about what had happened. As
yet they did not know the scriptures that Jesus had to rise again from the dead.
The disciples went to their own home.
6487. Mary Magdalene stood outside the sepulchre and wept. As she wept, she
stooped down into the sepulchre and saw two angels in white sitting where the
body of Jesus had been, the one at the head and the other at the feet. They
asked her why she was weeping. She told them that they had taken away her Lord
and she did not know where they had laid him. When she had said this, she
turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus asked her why she was weeping and whom she was looking for. Thinking the
man was the gardener, she asked that if he had taken the body away, he would
show her where he had put it. Jesus said Mary and she immediately recognised
him. He told her not to touch him, for he had not yet ascended to his Father,
but she was to go and tell his brethren. She went to his disciples and those
that had been with him, and found them weeping and mourning. She told them that
she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her, but they did not
believe her. The women went from the sepulchre (perhaps Mary Magdalene was
absent) to go and tell his disciples. [E845] [K610] Jesus met with the women
and greeted them and they all came and held him by the feet and worshipped him.
Jesus told them not to be afraid, but to tell his brethren to go into Galilee
and meet him there.
6488. As they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the
chief priests everything that had happened. These then met with them and
together they decided with the elders that they would give the soldiers a large
amount of money, so that in return, the soldiers would say that his disciples
had come by night and stolen the body away while they were asleep. They said
they would protect the soldiers from any harm, should the governor hear about
this. So the soldiers took their money and did as they were told. This story
was commonly reported among the Jews, even to this day. {Joh 20:1-18 Lu 24:1-12
Mr 16:1-11 Mt 27:62-28:15}
6489. That same day, two of Jesus' followers happened to be going into the
country to the village of Emmaus, which was about eight miles from Jerusalem.
As they journeyed, an apparent stranger accompanied them and they told him the
things that had happened in recent days about Jesus of Nazareth. He had been
crucified and was supposed to rise again on the third day. Jesus, for this was
the identity of the stranger, showed them from the scriptures that it was
necessary for Christ to suffer in order to enter into his glory. In the
village, as they were eating, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it
to them. He revealed himself to them and their eyes were opened and they
recognised him, at which he vanished from their sight. They left that same hour
and returned to Jerusalem, to the eleven and those who were with them. The
disciples told these two that the Lord had indeed risen and had appeared to
Simon. Then the two told them what had happened to them on the way and how they
had recognised him as he broke bread with them. The others did not believe the
two men. {Lu 24:13-35 Mr 16:12,13}
6490. In the evening of this first day of the week, while they were still
talking, they had the doors locked for fear of the Jews. Suddenly Jesus
appeared in their midst and greeted them. [K611] They were frightened and
terrified and thought they had seen a spirit, but he upbraided them for their
unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen
him since he had risen. He asked them why they were troubled and showing them
his hands and his feet, said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones. He
showed them the wounds in his hands, his feet and his side. As they were
wondering and were unable to believe for joy, he asked them if there was
anything to eat and then he ate a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. The
disciples rejoiced that they had seen the Lord. Jesus told them that what had
happened was exactly what he had told them would happen, so that everything
would be fulfilled which was written about Christ in the law of Moses, the
prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their understanding, so that they could
understand the scriptures. He told them it had been necessary for Christ to
suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, so that repentance and
remission of sins could be preached in his name in all countries. [E846] He
told them that they were witnesses of these things and giving them the promise
from his Father, he said they were to stay at Jerusalem until they would be
endued with power from on high. Again he greeted them and said that, as his
Father had sent him, so he would send them. They were to go into all the world
and preach the gospel to everyone. He who believed and was baptized would be
saved, but he who did not believe would be damned. He would give them signs to
authenticate their message—In the name of Jesus, they would cast out demons and
speak in new languages; they would take up serpents and if they drank any deadly
thing, it would not harm them; they would lay their hands on the sick and these
would recover. [K612] After he had said all these things, he breathed on them
and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. Anyone, whose sins they forgave,
would be forgiven and whose sins they retained, these would be retained. Thus
Jesus appeared five times on the very first day of his resurrection. {Joh
20:19-23 Lu 24:36-49 Mr 14:14-18}
6491. Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called Didymus, had not been with the
disciples when Jesus had first come. When the rest of the disciples told him
that they had seen the Lord, he very confidently professed that he would not
believe it without evidence. After eight days (Sunday, April 12), Thomas was
present with the rest, when Jesus came again while the doors were locked. He
stood in their midst and greeted them and abundantly satisfied Thomas' unbelief.
{Joh 20:24-29 Lu 24:16-20}
6492. Then the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus
had told them to meet him. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some
doubted. When Jesus met with them, he said that he had all power and that they
were to go and tell the gospel message to everyone. He promised to be with them
to the end of the world. After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred
brethren at once and subsequently, by James. {1Co 15:6,7 Mt 28:16-20}
6493. Later, Jesus again showed himself to his disciples at the sea of
Tiberias, or at least to seven of them, as they were fishing. After they had
fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus stood on the shore and they did not
recognise him. He told them to cast their net out on the right side of the
boat, where they then caught a hundred and fifty-three large fish. Jesus bade
them to come and dine with him and no one dared ask him who he was, for they
knew it was the Lord. When they had dined, he warned Peter three times of his
pastoral charge, and foretold how Peter would die. When Peter asked about John,
Jesus replied, but his answer was incorrectly understood by the brethren. {Joh
21:1-24} [K613]
6494. Last of all, he appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem and led them out
as far as Bethany. There he lifted up his hands and blessed them. It happened
that as he was blessing them, he was taken from them and carried up into heaven.
{Lu 24:50,51 Mr 16:19} [E847]
6495. Here ends the history of the acts of Christ recorded by the four
evangelists, and which also includes his forerunner, John the Baptist. Josephus
had a short note of honourable mention about John the Baptist: {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 2. (116-119) 9:81-85}
"Herod, the tetrarch, killed John, surnamed the Baptist, who was a most
excellent man. He motivated the Jews to the study of virtues, especially of
piety and justice. He encouraged them to be baptized, which he said would be
acceptable to God, if they made use of it, not for the remission of their sins
only, but first having their minds purged through righteousness, then they would
also purify the body. Many went out to him, especially the common people, who
were pleased with his words. Herod feared lest the great authority of the man
would cause some rebellion, because it seemed as though they would listen to
nothing but which John advised them. Herod thought it safer to take him out of
the way before there was any sedition, rather than act when it was too late.
Therefore, he commanded him to be sent as a prisoner to Machaeras and then to be
put to death."
6496. Josephus stated this about Christ, our Lord: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18.
c. 3. s. 3. (6,64) 9:49,51}
"At the same time there was a wise man named Jesus, if we may call him a man.
He was a worker of miracles and a teacher of those who willingly received the
truth. He had many Jews and Gentiles who followed him and was believed to be
the Christ. When Pilate had crucified him because of the envy of our rulers,
those who had first loved him nevertheless continued loyal in their love for him
and he appeared to them alive the third day. The prophets in their prophecies
foretold both these and many other powerful things concerning him. The
Christians, who are named after him, continue to this very day."
6497. This is how Jerome, in his book of ecclesiastical writers, has translated
this passage, and his rendering was:
"He was believed to be the Christ."
6498. This rendering should be preferred to that of Eusebius or Rufinus, or as
it is in our books: {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 1. c. 11. 1:83}
"This was the Christ."
6499. It is clear that Josephus came no nearer to our religion than King
Agrippa, to whom he was most devoted and whose confession to Paul was: {Ac
26:28}
"Almost you have persuaded me to be a Christian."
6500. Cornelius Tacitus stated: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 15. c. 44. 5:283}
"Christ was put to death by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, in the reign
of Tiberius."
6501. Eusebius also mentioned Lucian. {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l.
9. c. 6. 2:341} Lucian, the martyr, testified in Rufinus to the darkness at
that time by appealing to the writings of the heathen themselves:
"Search your writings and you shall find that, in Pilate's time, when Christ
suffered, the sun was suddenly withdrawn and a darkness followed."
6502. Before him, Tertullian had stated: {*Tertullian, Apology, l. 1. c. 21.
3:35}
"At the same moment, the day was withdrawn even when the sun was at the height.
Those who never knew that this also had been spoken concerning Christ, judged it
to be nothing but an eclipse. [K614] However, you shall find this event, that
happened to the world, recorded even in your own archives."
6503. Thallus and Phlegon of Tralles both called it an eclipse. {Thallus,
Histories, l. 3} {Phlegon, Chronicles, l. 13.} (Thallus lived at the time of
these events and wrote a history starting from the Trojan War down to the death
of Christ. Phlegon lived at the time of Hadrian and wrote a history starting
from the first Olympiad down to 140 AD. Editor.) Thallus was quoted by Julius
Africanus in his third chronography. {*Julius Africanus, Chronology, l. 1. c.
18. 6:136,137} Africanus was a contemporary of Origen. Phlegon was quoted in
Origen's book and in his 35th tract. {Origen, Against Celsus, p. 83,99. Greek
edition} Phlegon stated that in the 19th year of Tiberius (as Eustathius
Antiochus noted in Hexaemeron) and the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (that
is 33 AD), the following events took place. (Ussher has a large quote from the
Greek from Origen. Editor.) Jerome translated this into Latin in Eusebius'
Chronicle. (Ussher has a large quote in Latin from Jerome's translation of
Eusebius. Editor.) The English translation is: {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:256}
"There was the largest and most famous eclipse that had ever occurred. The day
was so turned into night at the sixth hour (noon), that the stars were seen.
Also, an earthquake in Bithynia destroyed many houses in the city of Nicaea."
6504. (Sir Robert Anderson gave the dates for the passover from 22 AD to 37 AD.
{*Anderson, The Coming Prince, 1:104} Note that the passover would start at
sundown on the previous day and end at sundown for the date shown. The passover
meal would be eaten the previous evening. These dates are:
Year
AD Passover
Day Date
22 Sunday April 22
23 Thursday March 25
24 Wednesday April 12
25 Sunday April 1
26 Thursday March 21
27 Wednesday April 9
28 Monday March 29
29 Sunday April 17
30 Thursday April 6
31 Tuesday March 27
32 Monday April 14
33 Friday April 3
34 Tuesday March 23
35 Monday April 11
36 Friday March 30
37 Thursday April 18
6505. Anderson independently confirmed the date that Ussher computed for the
passover for 33 AD. Hence we assume his other calculations are equally accurate.
In his book, he stated at length how these were done, so it appeared he did his
homework well. The day of the week was calculated independently by the editor
using the Online Bible Calendar program and was not included with the original
material by Anderson. Ironically, Anderson selected 32 AD as the year that
Christ died and goes to great pains to show why the Jews celebrated the passover
on the wrong day, that is, on Friday, not Monday. The only plausible date from
the list is 33 AD for Good Friday, as the only other date for Good Friday would
be in 36 AD, which is too late. This independently confirms the writings of
Phlegon. It is a common belief that Jesus was thirty-three years old when he
died. This is based on the assumption that he started his ministry when he was
thirty. {Lu 3:23} Luke was a very precise historian. If Jesus had been thirty
years old, he would not have said about thirty. Based on that text, the only
thing one can say for certain is that Jesus was not thirty years old at the
start of his ministry. However, he was likely about thirty when he was baptized
by John the Baptist in 27 AD. About three years elapsed between his baptism and
the start of his public ministry in 29 AD. According to what we know about when
he was born, he would have been thirty-six years old when he died. The 33 AD
date is also confirmed by John {Joh 2:20} for this establishes the date of the
first passover of Christ at 30 AD, forty-six full years after Herod started to
rebuild the temple in 17 BC. {See note on 4033b AM <<6305>>} This
synchronisation is overlooked by most modern historians. Editor.)
6506. From the historical accounts of the gospels about the sayings and acts of
Christ, Luke made this transition to the Acts of the Apostles:
"The former treatise I have made, oh Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do
and teach, until the day (Thursday, May 14) on which he was taken up, after he,
through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to his apostles whom he had
chosen: to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many
infallible proofs, being seen by them for forty days and speaking of things
pertaining to the kingdom of God." {Ac 1:1-3}
6507. When they were assembled together, the Lord commanded them that they
should not leave Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, which
was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. {Ac 1:4,5 11:16} The apostles asked the
Lord if it was at this time that he would restore the kingdom to Israel. He
replied that it was not for them to know the times that the Father had put in
his own power. However, they would receive the Holy Spirit and would bear
witness to him, not only in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but to the uttermost
parts of the earth. After he had spoken these things, and while they were
watching, he was taken up and a cloud received him from their sight. [E848]
They were also instructed by two angels in white clothes, who suddenly appeared
and told them that he would come again in the very same way as they had now seen
him go up into heaven. {Ac 1:6-11}
6508. When they had worshipped him, they returned with great joy to Jerusalem
{Lu 24:52} from the Mount of Olives, which was a Sabbath day's journey from
there. {Ac 1:12} The Syrian version gave it as seven furlongs (almost 7/8 of a
mile), as does the Theophylact, based on Josephus. However, our copies of
Josephus read that the Mount of Olives was either five furlongs (5/8 of a mile)
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 6. (169,170) 10:93} or six, as the
Greek {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 2. s. 3. (70) 4:23} or the Latin
copy had it. {Josephus, Antiq. - Latin Copy, l. 6. c. 3.}
6509. The eleven apostles stayed in an upper room in Jerusalem, together with
the women, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers, and they were of one
mind as they continued in prayer. {Ac 1:13,14} [K615]
6510. In those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, who numbered
about a hundred and twenty, and spoke to them about choosing a successor for the
traitor Judas, who had fallen down headlong and his body had burst open in the
middle. When they had prayed, they cast lots to decide between Joseph, called
Barsabas, and Matthias. The lot fell to Matthias and he was chosen to be
numbered with the apostles. {Ac 1:15-26}
6511. On the day of Pentecost (Sunday, May 24), when all the one hundred and
twenty were assembled together with one accord, there suddenly came a sound from
heaven like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they sat.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared to them and sat on each of them, and they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance. At Jerusalem, there were devout Jews from
every country under heaven. When these people heard them speaking in their own
languages about the wonderful things of God, they were all amazed. Some,
however, profanely derided the miracle, but Peter, in a most serious sermon,
refuted their charge of drunkenness, as it was only the third hour of the day
(nine a.m.). He then expounded to them about Christ from the law and the
prophets and proved that he had risen. Through the power of the Spirit, three
thousand were converted. Peter commanded them to repent and be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins. {Ac 2:1-41}
6512. They continued faithfully in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. They
broke bread together and prayed. Fear came upon every soul and the apostles
performed many signs and wonders. All who believed were united and had all
things in common and sold their possessions and goods, dividing them among all,
according to their needs. They continued daily with one accord in the temple
and breaking bread from house to house, they ate with gladness and singleness of
heart. They praised God and were highly regarded by all the people and the Lord
daily added to the church those who were being saved. {Ac 2:42-47}
6513. At about the hour of prayer, which was the ninth hour (three p.m.), Peter
and John went up together into the temple. At the gate of the temple, which was
called Beautiful, they healed a man in the name of Christ, who had been lame
from his birth and was now about forty years old. Because of this, the people
came running into Solomon's porch and then Peter expounded the mystery of
salvation through Christ and upbraided their ingratitude and exhorted them to
repentance. Many who heard him believed and the number of men was about five
thousand. However, the priests and rulers of the temple came, with the
Sadducees, and took Peter and John and put them in prison until the next day,
because it was evening by then. The next day the council was convened (which
included Annas, the high priest, who was the head of the council, along with
Caiaphas, John and Alexander and many of the high priest's relatives). When the
apostles were questioned about the miracles they had done, they boldly defended
the cause of Christ and the council forbade them to speak any more in the name
of Christ. The apostles replied that it was better to obey God than men, after
which they were threatened and released. They returned to their own home,
where, together with the whole church, they poured out fervent prayer to God for
the propagation of the gospel. [K616] The Lord answered this prayer by causing
an earthquake and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. {Ac 3:1-4:31}
6514. The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul and
they had all things in common. No one lacked anything, because as many as had
lands or houses, went and sold them and brought the money and laid it down at
the apostles' feet, to be distributed to the poor. Josephus, or Joses, a Levite
from Cyprus, whom the apostles surnamed Barnabas (that is, the son of
consolation), set the first example by selling his possessions. {Ac 4:32-37}
[E849]
6515. Ananias and his wife Sapphira fraudulently conspired to keep back some of
the money they had received for the land they sold. When they lied and said
they had given the whole amount, they were struck dead at the word and rebuke of
Peter, who exposed the fraud and avenged it by the power of the Holy Spirit, to
whom they had lied. Great fear fell on all the church and on as many as heard
of these things. {Ac 5:1-11}
6516. The apostles performed many miracles among the people and all of their
number were gathered together in Solomon's Porch. None of the rest dared join
them. However, the people esteemed them highly and the Lord added more
believers to the church. They brought the sick into the streets, so that at
least the shadow of Peter would fall on them as he passed by, and they would be
healed. A large multitude came from the cities around Jerusalem and brought the
sick and those who were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
{Ac 5:12-16}
6517. The high priest and the Sadducees who were with him were envious and cast
the apostles into prison. In the night they were freed by an angel and told to
teach the people boldly and without fear. When they were brought to the
council, they escaped death, due to the advice given the council by Gamaliel, a
Pharisee. {See note on 4007b AM. <<6098>>} He was a teacher of the
law and held
in high esteem among the people. After the apostles had been scourged, they
were freed and left the council, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to
suffer shame for the name of Jesus. They taught daily in the temple. {Ac
5:17-42}
4037a AM, 4746 JP, 33 AD
6518. The number of believers increased at Jerusalem and the money that came in
helped support the poor of the church. There arose (as it commonly happens
among a multitude) a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, because they
thought their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. The
apostles did not have time to be involved in distributing the gifts from the
rich of the church to the poor, or to manage the money that came in from the
sale of property for the church. Seven men were chosen to be stewards of the
church's goods and manage that service. These were Stephen, Philip, Prochorus,
Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. (It was evident,
because they all had Greek names, that, in this selection, there was no way the
Greeks could say they had been ignored.) The word of the Lord increased and the
number of the disciples was multiplied at Jerusalem and many of the priests were
obedient to the faith. {Ac 6:1-7} [K617]
6519. Stephen did many wonders and miracles among the people and stoutly
defended the cause of Christ against the Jews of the synagogue of the Libertines
(those freed by their masters), the Cyrenians, Alexandrians and of those from
Cilicia and Asia. He disputed with them about Christ and when they could not
resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spoke, they falsely accused him. They
captured him and brought him before the council, where they had false witnesses
who were prepared to swear that they had heard him speak blasphemous words
against the temple and the law. {Ac 6:8-15}
6520. In a long speech before the high priest, Annas, and the council, Stephen
showed that the true worship of God was observed by Abraham and his posterity
before the temple was built by Solomon and even before Moses was born. He
stated that Moses testified of Christ and that the outward ceremonies that were
given to their fathers, were only to last for a time. Then, he sharply
reprehended the Jews because they had always resisted the Holy Spirit and had
wickedly put Christ to death, of whom the prophets had foretold that he would
come into the world. At that, the council was furious with rage and they cast
this holy man out of the city and stoned him to death as he was praying for
them. {Ac 7:1-60}
6521. Before the witnesses, in accordance with the law, {De 17:7} were about to
throw the first stones at Stephen, they laid their garments at the feet of a
young man called Saul. He watched their clothes and consented to the death of
Stephen. {Ac 7:58 8:1 22:20} Saul described himself as a Hebrew of the Hebrews,
of the tribe of Benjamin, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, of which Strabo said that
it was a city famous for the study of philosophy and the liberal sciences.
{*Strabo, l. 14. c. 5. s. 13. 6:347} Saul was of the sect of the Pharisees
and the son of a Pharisee. At that time, he was studying divinity in Jerusalem,
in the synagogue of the Cilicians. He frequented the school of Gamaliel, who
was that famous teacher among the Pharisees and an extremely strict observer of
the law of Moses and of the traditions delivered to the fathers. {Ac 21:39 22:3
23:6,34 26:4,5 2Co 11:22 Ga 1:14 Php 3:5,6}
6522. Devout men carried Stephen to his burial and mourned deeply for him. {Ac
8:2}
6523. Aelius Lamia, who was the absentee governor of Syria, died at Rome.
Flaccus Pomponius, the true governor of Syria, died in the province. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 6. c. 27. 4:199} {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l. 3. c. 42. s. 1.
1:371}
4037b AM, 4747 JP, 34 AD
6524. Herod Agrippa had his daughter Mariamme by Cypros, ten years before his
death. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 4. (130) 9:89} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 19. c. 9. s. 1. (354) 9:385}
6525. After the death of Stephen, a great persecution arose against the whole
church which was at Jerusalem. {Ac 8:1 11:19} Saul, in an exceedingly great
rage, made havoc of the church. [E850] He received authority from the chief
priests and testified against the saints who were killed. He also entered into
every house and took men and women captive. He bound and put them in prison and
often beat them in every synagogue. He compelled some to deny Christ and to
blaspheme, while others, who kept the faith, he persecuted to death. {Ac 8:1
9:13,21 22:4,5,19 26:9-11 Ga 1:13,23 Php 3:6 1Ti 1:13} [K618]
6526. This persecution dispersed the church into various countries, but was for
the great advantage of the church. The apostles were left alone at Jerusalem,
while the rest, of whom there were some thousands, {Ac 2:41 4:4} were dispersed
into the regions of Judea and Samaria. They preached the gospel wherever they
went. {Ac 8:1-4} Others went to Damascus, {Ac 9:19,25} among whom was Ananias,
a devout man according to the law and one who had a good report among all the
Jews who lived there. {Ac 22:12} It was very likely that others went even to
Rome itself, and that among them were Junia and Andronicus, who were of note
among the apostles and relatives of this persecutor, Paul. They had embraced
the faith before him. {Ro 16:7} Others travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus
and Antioch and preached the word of God to the Jews only, {Ac 11:19} that is,
to those who were dispersed among the Gentiles. {Jas 1:1 1Pe 1:1}
6527. Philip was among those who went to Samaria. After Stephen, the first
martyr, he was the second in order among the seven who had been chosen. {Ac 8:5
21:8} Philip came into the city of Samaria and preached Christ there. The
people with one accord listened to what he said. They saw the miracles which he
did, for unclean spirits cried out with a loud voice and came out of many. He
healed many who were stricken with palsies, or were lame. There was great joy
in that city and many men and women believed and were baptized. Simon Magus
also listened to Philip. For a long time, Simon had bewitched the people of
Samaria with his sorceries. Everyone had said this was the great power of God.
When Simon saw the great signs and wonders which Philip did, he believed and was
baptized also. {Ac 8:5-13}
6528. When the apostles, who were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received
the word of the Lord, they sent Peter and John to them. They prayed and laid
their hands on them, and the new converts received the Holy Spirit. When Simon
Magus saw this, he offered them money so that he, too, might receive the gift of
conferring the Holy Spirit. Peter sharply rebuked his mad impiety and warned
him to repent of his wickedness and to ask pardon from God. Simon wanted the
apostles to pray to the Lord for him. When they had completed their ministry in
those regions, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in the villages
of Samaria as they went. {Ac 8:14-25}
6529. After many ages had passed since it had last been sighted, a bird called
the Phoenix returned to Egypt and the learned Egyptians and the Greeks discussed
many things about this miracle. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 28. 4:201} Dio
stated that this bird appeared in Egypt two years later. {*Dio, l. 58. (27)
7:253}
6530. Philip, the tetrarch, who was always considered a modest man and a lover
of ease and quietness, died in the twentieth year of Tiberius. He had governed
Trachonitis, Gaulanitis and Batanea for thirty-seven years and died at Julias.
He was put in a monument that he had previously built for himself, in which he
was magnificently and lavishly interred. Since Philip had died without
children, Tiberius annexed that principality to the province of Syria, but the
tributes which were collected in this tetrarchy were to be kept within the
borders of that country. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 6. (106)
9:75} [K619]
6531. At Rome, in this twentieth year of Tiberius' reign, the consuls, Lucius
Vitellius and Fabius Prisicus, held the ten-year games, so that they might, as
it were, extend the government for him, as it had previously been done
repeatedly for Augustus. {*Dio, l. 58. (24) 7:247}
6532. In this year (as Dio wrote), or three years later (as Tacitus hinted at
the end of the fifth book of his annals), this story was told. A certain young
man said that he was Drusius, Germanicus' son. He was first seen in the isles
of the Cyclades and soon after that on the continent of Greece and Ionia. He
was attended by some of Caesar's freedmen and the ignorant were attracted by the
fame of his name, because the minds of the Greeks were always ready for new and
wonderful things. For they pretended and were convinced that if this Drusius
could leave those who minded him, he would go to his father's armies and would
invade Egypt or Syria. When Poppaeus Sabinus, who was in charge of Macedonia
and Achaia, heard these things, he entered Nicopolis, which was a Roman colony.
There he found out that the young man, when examined more closely, had said that
he was Marcus Silanus' son. [E851] Many of his followers had sailed away and he
sailed out as if he was going to Italy. Tacitus said he was never seen again
and that this was the end of the matter. However, Dio added that this impostor
was willingly received by the cities and strengthened with troops. He would,
without doubt, have come into Syria and taken over the armies, had not someone
recognised him and apprehended him and sent him to Tiberius. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 5. c. 10. 4:151,153} {*Dio, l. 58. (25) 7:249} {*Dio, l. 58. (25)
7:249}
4038a AM, 4747 JP, 34 AD
6533. Philip, the Evangelist, was directed by an angel to go to Gaza, which was
in a desert. {See note on 3672c AM. <<1818>>} There he met a eunuch,
who had
charge of the treasure of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in Meroe. He was
returning in his chariot from Jerusalem, where he had been to worship. He was
reading from Isaiah, when the Holy Spirit told Philip to go to him. Philip
instructed him concerning faith in Christ and baptized him, after which Philip
was immediately snatched away out of his sight by the Holy Spirit and found
himself at Azotus. He passed through the country and preached the gospel in all
the towns, until he came to Caesarea. {Ac 8:26-40}
4038b AM, 4748 JP, 35 AD
6534. Saul was still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the
disciples of the Lord and obtained letters from the high priest (Annas, {Ac 4:6}
and the council of which he was then the head) for the synagogues of Damascus.
They stated that if he found any who were Christians, he was to bring them bound
to Jerusalem, to be punished. As he was approaching Damascus at noon, a light
from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone around him and those with him. When
they had all fallen to the ground, he heard a voice speaking to him in the
Hebrew language:
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks." {Ac 26:16}
6535. He asked who it was and was told:
"...I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I
have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness
both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I
will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles,
unto whom I now send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins, and an inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in
me." {Ac 26:15-18} [K620]
6536. Saul who was trembling and full of fear, asked what the Lord would have
him do. He was told to go to Damascus and await further instructions. The men
who were journeying with Saul were so amazed that they were speechless. They
saw the light and heard a sound of words, but did not see Christ, who was
speaking, nor understand anything that he said. {Ac 9:1-7 22:5-14 26:12-18}
6537. Saul got up from the earth, blinded by the glory of the light. They led
him by the hand to Damascus, {Ac 9:8 22:11} where he stayed for three days
without sight and did not eat or drink. There was a certain disciple named
Ananias, to whom the Lord spoke in a vision. He was told to go to the street
called Straight and enquire after Saul of Tarsus in the house of Judas. The
Lord told him that Saul was praying. (Then Saul, in a vision, saw Ananias
coming and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.) Ananias
objected that he had heard of this fellow and that he had authority from the
religious leaders in Jerusalem to arrest all the Christians. The Lord told
Ananias to go, for Saul would become a great missionary and witness for
Christianity and would suffer much for it. Ananias went to the house and laid
his hands on Saul. He told Saul that it was Jesus who had appeared to Saul on
his way to Damascus and he, Ananias, had come to restore his sight and to anoint
him with the Holy Spirit. At once, it was as if scales had fallen from his eyes
and he received his sight. {Ac 9:9-18}
6538. Ananias told him:
"...The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will,
and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou
shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why
tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the
name of the Lord." {Ac 22:14-16}
6539. Saul got up and was baptized. He ate and was strengthened. {Ac 9:18,19}
6540. Luke, in Acts, did not mention what was revealed by the Lord to Saul at
Damascus, concerning what he was to do. We learn from the book of Galatians
what happened immediately after his conversion. He was told not to confer with
men, nor go to Jerusalem to the apostles, but to spend some time in Arabia, or
places near Damascus. There he would receive the knowledge of the gospel, not
from men, but directly from Jesus Christ. {Ga 1:12,16,17} [E852]
6541. After this, Saul returned to Damascus and spent a few days with the
disciples. {Ga 1:17} He immediately preached in the synagogues that Christ was
the Son of God. All who heard these things were amazed. They asked each other
whether this was not the man who had come from Jerusalem, to tie up the
Christians and take them back to Jerusalem? Saul increased more and more in
strength and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus by teaching that Jesus
was the Christ. {Ac 9:19-22} His first preaching of the gospel was to the Jews
who lived at Damascus. {Ac 26:20}
6542. Tiberius was informed from Palestine, by Pilate, about the matters
involving Christ. [K621] Tiberius proposed to the Senate that Christ should be
considered one of the gods. The Senate opposed this, but Tiberius did not
change his mind, and threatened that:
"It would be dangerous for any to accuse a Christian."
6543. This is how it was related by Tertullian {*Tertullian, Apology, l. 1.
c. 5,21. 3:22,35} and others who followed him. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1.
1:258,259} {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 2. 1:111} Our
English writer, Gildas, stated this in a letter about the destruction of
Britain: The first persecution, which arose in Judea after the murder of
Stephen, ceased partly because of the conversion of Saul, who had greatly
promoted it, and partly due to the fear of Tiberius.
6544. Lucius Vitellius, who had been consul at Rome the year before, was sent
out by Tiberius as the proconsul for Syria. He arrived in Jerusalem, right at
the feast of the passover, and received an honourable welcome. He remitted the
whole tribute of the fruits put out for sale and allowed that the high priest's
garments, with everything that belonged to them, be stored in the temple by the
priests. These were formerly kept by the Roman governor in the citadel of
Antonia. In this way, he satisfied the Jews. He appointed Jonathan, the son of
Ananus (or Annas), as the high priest, instead of Joseph Caiaphas. He then went
to Antioch. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c. 11. s. 4. (406-409) 8:197}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 3. (90,91) 9:65}
6545. After Artaxias, the king of Armenia, had died, Artabanus, the king of
Parthia, made Arsaces, the oldest of his children, king over the Armenians.
Since Tiberius did not object or interfere, he made an attempt on Cappadocia and
demanded the treasure left by Vonones in Syria and Cilicia, as well as asserting
his right to the ancient boundaries of the Persians and Macedonians. He bragged
and threatened that he would invade all the territory that was possessed by
Cyrus or Alexander. Sinnaces was a rich nobleman who was supported by Abdus, a
eunuch. They drew the leading men of the Parthians over to themselves, but they
could find no suitable descendants of the royal family of the Arsacides, since
most of them had been killed by Artabanus, or were too young to be king. So
they sent secret messengers to Tiberius to make a request for their king,
Phraates, the son of Phraates, who was being kept hostage at Rome. He was the
son of Phraates III. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 31. 4:207,209} {*Dio, l.
58. (26) 7:251,253}
6546. Tiberius sent Phraates, sufficiently armed, into his father's kingdom and
by astute diplomacy without warfare, manipulated foreign policy while he stayed
quietly in Rome. In the meantime, these conspiracies became known. Artabanus,
pretending friendship, invited Abdus to a banquet and gave him a slow poison.
He also pretended friendship to Sinnaces with gifts, and kept him busy doing
other things. Phraates, meanwhile, when he arrived in Syria, abandoned the
Roman manner of life to which he had been accustomed, and resumed the Parthian
customs but he was unable to handle his country's customs and fell sick and
died. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 32. 4:209}
6547. After the death of Phraates, Tiberius sent Tiridates III, who was from
the same royal family and who was an enemy of Artabanus. To help him get the
kingdom more quickly, Tiberius wrote to Mithridates, the Iberian, that he should
invade Armenia. Tiberius hoped by this means to draw Artabanus from his own
kingdom, as he would go to help his son. To this end, he reconciled Mithridates
to his brother Pharasmanes, who had succeeded his father Mithridates in the
kingdom of Iberia. With large gifts, he egged on Pharasmanes himself and the
king of the Alanes to make a surprise attack on Artabanus. Tiberius made Lucius
Vitellius the general over all these preparations in the east. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 6. c. 32. 4:211} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 4.
(96) 9:69,71} {*Dio, l. 58. (26) 7:253} [K622]
6548. Using both policy and force, Mithridates induced his brother Pharasmanes
to advance his endeavours. Arsaces, the son of Artabanus, was killed by his
servants, who were bribed with large sums of gold to do this. The Iberians
invaded Armenia and destroyed the city of Artaxata. When Artabanus heard these
things, he equipped his son Orodes to avenge it. He gave him the Parthian
troops and sent others to get mercenaries. On the opposing side, Pharasmanes
allied himself to the Albanians and summoned the Sarmatians to his help, whose
princes were called Sceptruchi, or Wand-bearers. Since the Sarmatians had
received gifts, as the custom of that country was, from both sides, it supplied
troops to both sides. The Iberians controlled all the passes and so had the
Sarmatians enter Armenia by way of the Caspian passes. The Sarmatians who came
from the Parthians were easily driven back, as there was only one pass available
to them and it was between the farthest Albanian Mountains and the shore of the
Caspian Sea. It was impassable in the summer because the Etesian gales flooded
the seaboard. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 33. 4:211,213} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 4. (98-100) 9:71,73} [E853]
6549. When Pharasmanes had received reinforcements, he forced Orodes, who was
without his allies, to fight a battle, in which Pharasmanes then wounded Orodes
through his helmet. He could not hit Orodes again, because he was carried away
from him on his horse and the stoutest of his guard defended their wounded king.
Nevertheless, a false rumour spread that he had been killed, and because the
Parthians believed it and were dismayed, they lost the battle. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 6. c. 34,35. 4:217} Hence, the Parthians lost Armenia again.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 4. (98) 9:71} It was given to
Mithridates of Iberia. {*Dio, l. 58. (26) 7:253}
4039a AM, 4748 JP, 35 AD
6550. Artabanus went at once, with the whole strength of his kingdom, to
revenge this, but due to their better knowledge of the terrain, the Iberians
were successful. Artabanus would not have given up, had Vitellius not gathered
together his legions and spread a rumour, indicating he would invade
Mesopotamia. Artabanus was afraid of the Roman forces. After this, Artabanus'
fortune declined. He lost Armenia and Vitellius enticed his subjects to abandon
their king, who was a tyrant in peace and unlucky in war. At this, Sinnaces had
a secret conference with Abdagaeses and others and caused them to revolt. The
way had already been prepared by the continual Parthian defeats. His subjects
served through fear, not goodwill, and were encouraged when they had captains to
follow. Vitellius bribed some friends and relatives of Artabanus, to try to
kill him. When Artabanus learned of the conspiracy, he could find no way to
thwart it. He was in danger from his nobility and he suspected even those who
remained under his protection. He fled to the higher provinces and places near
Scythia and hoped for help from the Carmanians and Hyrcanians, with whom he was
related by marriage. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 36. 4:217,219} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 4. (99,100) 9:71,73}
4039b AM, 4749 JP, 36 AD
6551. Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, when he was in great financial need at
Ptolemais, borrowed money at interest from Protus, a freedman, as he had
previously done from his mother Bernice, who had since died. He used the help
of Marsyas, his own freedman. Protus stated that Agrippa had defrauded him of
some money and forced Marsyas to draw up a bond for twenty thousand Attic
drachmas, but to accept twenty-five hundred less. Protus yielded, because he
had no alternative. When Agrippa got this money, he went to Anthedon and
prepared to sail to Italy. When Herennius Capito, the governor of Jamnia, heard
that he was there, he sent soldiers there to exact from Agrippa the three
hundred thousand drachmas of silver that he had owed to Caesar's treasury when
he had lived at Rome. In this way, he was forced to stay, and so he made a
pretence of obeying their commands, but as soon as it was night, he cut his
cables and sailed to Alexandria. [K623] There, he offered to borrow two hundred
thousand drachmas of silver from Alexander, the alabarch. He, however, said
that he would lend him nothing, but would lend to his wife, Cypros, for in her
he admired her love for her husband and her other virtues. When she had become
his security, Alexander, the alabarch, advanced him five talents at Alexandria.
He promised to deliver the rest to him at Puteoli, because he feared Agrippa
would be a bad debt. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 3. (155-160)
9:101-105}
6552. Philo, the Jew, mentioned the arrival of Agrippa at the city of
Alexandria, when Flaccus was governor of Egypt at the time. {*Philo, Flaccus,
l. 1. c. 5. (28,29) 9:319} Josephus stated that Philo was the brother of
Alexander, the alabarch. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 8. s. 1. (259)
9:155} Jerome also stated, in his catalogue of ecclesiastical writers, that
Philo was of the same family as the priests. Because of this, Baronius
considered Philo to be none other than that Alexander who was said to be of the
family of the priests. {Ac 4:6} {Baronius, 34 AD, num. 265.} However, this was
that Alexander Lysimachus, who bore the office of alabarch (a governor of the
Jews) at Alexandria. {Juvenal, Satire, 1.} Previously, he had been the steward
of Antonia who was the mother of Emperor Claudius and he also was the father of
Tiberius Alexander, the governor of Judea. Alexander was the richest of all the
Jews of Alexandria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 5. s. 1. (276) 9:343}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 5. s. 2. (100) 10:55} He melted gold and
silver for the gates of the temple at Jerusalem (and not his father, as Baronius
wrote in the place previously mentioned.) {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 5.
s. 3. (205) 4:65}
6553. When Cypros had supplied her husband for his journey to Italy, she
returned with her children to Judea by land. When Agrippa came to Puteoli, he
wrote to Tiberius Caesar, who was then living at Capri. He told him that he had
come so far to see him and asked permission to come to the island. Tiberius
immediately wrote back a kind answer, to the effect that he would be glad to see
him at Capri. Tiberius received him with great cheerfulness when he came and
embraced him and offered him hospitality. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6.
s. 3,4. (160-162) 9:105}
6554. The next day, Caesar received letters from Herennius concerning the three
hundred thousand drachmas Agrippa owed. Tiberius ordered the people of his
household not to admit Agrippa until he had paid the debt. [E854] Agrippa was
dismayed at Caesar's displeasure and begged Antonia, the mother of Germanicus
and Claudius (later emperor), to lend him three hundred thousand drachmas, so
that he would not lose Caesar's friendship. She recalled the friendship between
herself and Bernice, Agrippa's mother, and that he had been brought up with her
son Claudius, and so lent him the money. He paid his debt, regained Tiberius'
favour and was so thoroughly reconciled to Caesar, that the latter commended his
grandson Tiberius Gemellus, the son of Drusus, to Agrippa's charge. He ordered
his grandson to accompany Agrippa wherever he went. Since Agrippa was deeply
obliged to Antonia for this benefit, he began to revere Gaius Caligula, her
grandson, who was considered gracious by everyone and was honoured for the
memory of his father. By chance, Thallus, a Samaritan, was there at the same
time, so he borrowed a million drachmas from him and repaid Antonia's debt. He
kept the rest, to enable him to attend to Gaius more honourably. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 4. (163-167) 9:105-109}
6555. Tigranes IV was the son of Alexander (who was killed by his father,
Herod) and of Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, king of the Cappadocians. He
had turned from the Jews to the Greeks' religion and was the king of Armenia for
a time. He was accused at Rome and punished there, dying without children.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 40. 4:225} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5.
s. 4. (139,141) 9:95} [K624]
6556. The Cietae, a tribe on the coast of Cilicia Trachea, were subject to
Archelaus, the Cappadocian. They were compelled, after the Roman custom, to
bring in the value of their annual revenues and to pay tribute. They migrated
to the Taurus Mountains and there defended themselves, through the strong
location of the place, against the weak forces of their king. Finally, Marcus
Trebellius was sent by Vitellius, the governor of Syria, with four thousand
legionary soldiers and some choice auxiliaries. They surrounded with works the
two hills occupied by the barbarians. The smaller hill was called Cadra and the
other one, Davara. They killed any who dared leave their strongholds and
compelled the rest to surrender for lack of water. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6.
c. 41. 4:225,227}
6557. After Artabanus had fled, the minds of the people turned to a new king.
Vitellius persuaded Tiridates to seize the opportunity, and led his legions and
auxiliaries to the bank of the Euphrates River. As they were sacrificing, some
prepared the Suovetaurilia (a boar, a ram, and a bull offered to Mars),
according to the custom of the Romans. Others prepared a horse to sacrifice, to
pacify the river. The inhabitants around the Euphrates River told them that the
river had risen greatly of its own accord, without any heavy rains. They also
said that the white froth made circles in the form of a diadem, which was an
omen of a prosperous journey. Others, however, interpreted it more astutely,
saying that the beginnings of their expedition would be prosperous, but that
this would not be long-lasting. They said this, because they gave more credit
to the things which were portended by the earth and heaven, because the nature
of rivers was not constant. If the rivers did show any good signs, they soon
disappeared. Vitellius made a bridge from boats and crossed over the river with
his army. Orospades came to his camp with several thousand cavalry and joined
him. He had once been a banished man and had brought considerable aid to
Tiberius when the latter had warred in Dalmatia. For that, Tiberius had made
him a citizen of Rome. After this present service, he entered anew into the
king's favour, and he made him governor of Mesopotamia. Not long after that,
Sinnaces joined Tigranes, as also did Abdagaeses. They were the mainstay of his
side and brought him the court treasure and royal regalia. Vitellius considered
it sufficient to have shown the Roman forces and admonished Tiridates to
remember his grandfather Phraates and his upbringing with Caesar. He should
consider the nobles, so that they would be obedient to their king, and he should
reverence the Romans. Everyone should keep their word. Then Vitellius returned
to Syria with his legions. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 37. 4:219,221}
6558. From the Parthians, Tiridates received the cities of Nicephorium,
Anthemusias and the other cities of Macedonia which spoke Greek. Halus and
Artemita, cities of Parthia, also greatly rejoiced, for they had hated the
cruelty of Artabanus, who had been brought up among the Scythians. They hoped
that Tiridates would be gentle because he had been raised among the Romans. The
Seleucians used a great deal of flattery and said their city was strong and
surrounded by walls, not corrupted with barbarity, but keeping the laws of their
founder, Seleucus. When Tiridates arrived there, they honoured him highly and
reproached Artabanus as someone who was, indeed, of the family of the Arsacides
on his mother's side, but who in all other things had degenerated. Tiridates
committed the government of the country to the people, whereas Artabanus had
given it over to the rule of three hundred of the nobility. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 6. c. 41,42. 4:225-229}
6559. Tiridates then consulted what day he should be crowned. He received
letters from Phraates and Hieron, two of the ruling nobility, who held the
strongest governments, and who desired that he wait for a time. To satisfy
these great men, he waited. In the meantime, he went to Ctesiphon, the seat of
the kingdom, to await their arrival. When they delayed from one day to the
next, Surenas, with the approval of many who were present, crowned Tiridates
according to the custom of the country. [E855] [K625] If Tiridates had entered
farther into the country and the other countries, all those who were wavering
with doubts, would have been convinced and the Parthian empire would have been
his. Instead, he stayed too long, besieging a citadel where Artabanus had
stored his treasure and concubines. He gave them a breathing-space in which
agreements could be repudiated. Phraates, Hieron and some others took no part
in the celebration on the day appointed for his coronation. Some did this from
fear and some out of envy of Abdagaeses who controlled the new king and was the
only favourite at court. These defected to Artabanus. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
6. c. 42,43. 4:229}
6560. Artabanus was discovered in Hyrcania, dressed in very humble attire and
living by hunting with a bow. At first he was fearful, as if there were some
treachery involved. When they had assured him that they had come to restore him
to his kingdom again, he stayed only long enough to assemble the Scythian
forces. (Josephus related that he got together a large army of the Dahae and
Sacae.) He went with them at once, and did not change his poor clothes, to make
the common people pity him more. Neither craftiness nor prayers were omitted,
nor anything else by which he might draw the doubtful to him or make the willing
more committed. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 43,44. 4:229,231} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 4. (100) 9:73}
6561. He then approached Seleucia with a strong force. Tiridates was afraid of
Artabanus and began to hesitate as to what action to take, whether he should
encounter him immediately or delay the war. It was Abdagaeses' opinion that he
should retire into Mesopotamia, with the river between them. In the meantime,
he should raise forces from the Armenians and Elymeans and the rest of the
countries beyond them. Then, after they had increased their forces with the
allies and any that the Roman captain would send, he should try his fortune.
His advice was followed, because of Abdagaeses' authority and Tiridates'
cowardliness. This retreat differed very little from a rout and the Arabians
first led the way. The rest either went home or to Artabanus' camp. Tiridates
returned to Syria with a small company and did not accuse them of the infamy of
treason. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 44. 4:231}
6562. Artabanus easily overcame his enemies and was restored to his kingdom.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 4. (100) 9:73} {*Dio, l. 58. (26)
7:253} He wrote letters to Tiberius, accusing him of parricides, murders,
indolence and luxury. He also told Tiberius that he would swiftly appease the
most righteous hatred of the citizens by his voluntary death. {*Suetonius,
Tiberius, l. 3. c. 66. 1:403,405} Artabanus invaded Armenia and planned to
attack Syria. {*Dio, l. 59. (27) 7:349}
6563. Gaius Caligula maintained a close friendship with Agrippa. On a certain
day, as Agrippa was riding in the same coach with Gaius, Agrippa expressed the
wish that Tiberius would shortly turn over the empire to Gaius, since he was a
more deserving person. Eutychus, who was one of Agrippa's freedmen and his
coach driver, overheard these words and said nothing. Later, Eutychus was
accused of having stolen a garment from his patron. He had stolen it and fled.
When he was brought back again, he was taken to Piso, the prefect of the city,
and asked why he had fled. He replied that he had some secrets which he wanted
to reveal to Caesar, that concerned Caesar's safety. At this, he was sent in
bonds to Capri, where he was a prisoner for a long time before it pleased Caesar
to give him any hearing. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 5. (168-170)
9:109,111}
6564. A certain impostor persuaded the Samaritans that they should meet at
Mount Gerizim, which was considered most holy by that people. He affirmed that
he would then show them the holy vessels, buried where Moses had put them.
Believing him, they took up arms and camped around a village called Tirathana,
to await the arrival of the rest, so that they could ascend the hill with the
larger company. [K626] Pilate took control of the top of the hill with his
cavalry and foot soldiers and attacked those who were camped at the village.
Some he killed, others fled and the rest were captured. He beheaded the
ringleaders and those of their number with the most power. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 18. c. 4. s. 1. (85-87) 9:61,63}
4040a AM, 4749 JP, 36 AD
6565. The leading men of Samaria appealed to Vitellius, the governor of Syria,
and accused Pilate of this slaughter. They denied that this assembly at
Tirathana had been in any way a revolt from the Romans, but simply a refuge from
the tyranny of Pilate. As a result, Vitellius sent his friend, Marcellus, to
take charge of Judea and ordered Pilate to go to Rome, to answer before Caesar
for the crimes the Jews alleged he had done. He had lived ten years in that
province, to which would be added the short time of four or five months, unless
it was that he deferred his voyage through fear of storms. (The fast of the
seventh month was past. {Ac 27:9}) He may have been detained by contrary winds
or by some delay that made him prolong his journey. Before Pilate arrived in
Rome, Tiberius had died. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 2. (88,89)
9:63,65}
6566. When Tiberius came from Capri to Tusculum, which was a region about
twelve miles from Rome, he was persuaded, although much against his will, that
he should hear Eutychus, so that they would know of what crime he was accusing
his patron. When he looked into the matter, he found that Agrippa had neglected
his commands to honour his grandson Tiberius, Drusus' son, and had wholly given
himself over to Gaius. [E856] So he ordered Macro, who had succeeded Sejanus in
the command of the praetorian guard, to bind Agrippa. Then Agrippa pleaded and
begged for pardon for the sake of the memory of Tiberius' son, with whom he had
been brought up in good friendship, and because of the services he had done for
the young Tiberius. This was all in vain, and the praetorian soldiers carried
him to prison, even in his purple robes. It was very hot weather at the time
and he was very thirsty for want of wine. He saw a servant of Gaius carrying a
pitcher of water and asked for a drink. When the servant willingly complied,
Agrippa drank it and said to him:
"Truly, lad, you have done me this service for your own good, for as soon as I
shall be free from this bondage, I will beg Gaius for your freedom."
6567. Agrippa followed through on his promise. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c.
6. s. 6. (179-194) 9:115-123}
6568. Agrippa stood bound among the other prisoners before the palace and
leaned in a melancholy posture against a tree in which sat an owl. One of the
prisoners, who was a German, saw the bird and asked a soldier who the prisoner
in the purple robe was. When he heard that he was one of the chief nobility of
the Jews, he was led to him and through an interpreter, told Agrippa that this
bird signified that there would be a sudden change in his present fortune: He
would be advanced to great dignity and power and would have a happy death. His
death was most unhappy and showed that the German was a false prophet. He added
that when he would see this bird again, he would die within five days.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 7. (195-200) 9:123,125}
6569. Antonia was grieved at the calamity of Agrippa, but thought it would be
pointless to speak to Tiberius on his behalf. However, she obtained this much
from Macro—that he might be committed to the custody of the soldiers who were
kinder and that he would have a centurion who would provide him with his food.
[K627] He was permitted the use of his daily things and his friends and
freedmen, whose services might relieve him, were allowed to come to him. Then
Silas, his friend, visited him, along with his freedmen Marsyas and Stechus.
They brought him his favourite foods and also brought garments, as if they
intended to sell them, on which he lay at night. The soldiers allowed this,
having received orders to that end from Macro. In this way, he spent six months
in prison, until the death of Tiberius. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s.
7. (202-204) 9:127}
6570. In the district of Gabalis, Herod, the tetrarch, and Aretas, the king of
Arabia Petra, had a dispute over the boundaries. Aretas had not forgotten the
wrong done to his daughter, whom Herod had married. Herod had despised her and
had married Herodias, his brother's wife, in her place. Herod and Aretas waged
war through their commanders. When the battle started, Herod's army was totally
defeated, because they were betrayed by some refugees who had been driven from
the tetrarchy of Philip and had served under Herod. Herod wrote letters to
Tiberius, telling him what had happened. Tiberius was angry at Aretas for his
bold attack, and wrote to Vitellius that he should make war on him. Tiberius
wanted Vitellius either to bring him alive or, if dead, to send him his head.
The Jews thought that Herod's defeat was the just judgment of God for the murder
of John the Baptist. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 1,2. (109-116)
9:77-81}
4040b AM, 4750 JP, 37 AD
6571. When Gnaeus Acerronius and Gaius Pontius Nigrinus were consuls, Tiberius
died on the 17th of the Calends of April (March 16). {*Suetonius, Tiberius, l.
3. c. 73. s. 1. 1:413} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 50. 4:243} It may
have been on the 26th of March, when he had reigned twenty-two years, seven
months and seven days from the death of Augustus. {*Dio, l. 58. (28) 7:257}
It was not five months and three days, as Josephus stated in the Antiquities;
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 10. (224) 9:137} nor was it six months
and three days, as he wrote in his Jewish War. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2.
c. 9. s. 5. (180) 2:393}
6572. After the death of Tiberius was known, Marsyas ran to his patron Agrippa,
whom he found bathing himself. He nodded his head and told him in Hebrew:
"The lion is dead."
6573. When the centurion who was responsible for him, heard from them that
Tiberius was dead, he took off Agrippa's bonds and wished them well. As they
were merrily eating and drinking, someone came and said Tiberius was still alive
and that he would shortly return to the city. The centurion was terrified by
this and ordered Agrippa to be pushed away from the rabble and bound and to be
more carefully guarded. The next day, Gaius sent two letters: One went to the
Senate, stating that Gaius had succeeded Tiberius in the empire; the other went
to Piso, the prefect of the city, and said the same thing, adding that he should
set Agrippa free and restore him to the house where he had previously lived.
Although he had been a prisoner, he had nevertheless lived at his own
discretion. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 10. (228-236) 9:139-143}
6574. Gaius returned to Rome, bringing the body of Tiberius. He held a very
lavish funeral with great solemnity. He would have released Agrippa on the same
day but on the advice of Antonia, he did not. She wished Agrippa well, but said
he should not free him too quickly, in case he seemed to be doing this out of
hatred for Tiberius, who had imprisoned Agrippa. [E857] Not many days later,
however, he sent for him at his house and ordered his hair to be cut, changed
his clothes and then put a crown on his head. [K628] He made him king of
Philip's tetrarchy and also gave him the tetrarchy of Lysanias. He changed his
chain of iron into a chain of gold of the same weight, and sent Marullus as
cavalry commander to Judea. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 10.
(236,237) 9:143}
6575. Gaius Caligula freed Agrippa, the grandson of Herod, from bonds which
Tiberius had put on him, and gave him his grandfather's principality. {*Dio, l.
59. (8) 7:283} Philo stated that he was honoured with the office of governor by
the Roman Senate, and that Gaius gave him the kingdom and the third part of the
old dominion that his uncle Philip had possessed. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c.
5. (25,26) 9:317} When Agrippa had received the kingdom, he asked Gaius for
Thaumastus, who had given him a drink while he was a prisoner. Agrippa gave him
his liberty and made him steward of his goods. When Agrippa died, he left him
in the same office to his son Agrippa and daughter Bernice. Thaumastus was
highly respected as long as he lived. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s.
6. (194) 9:123}
6576. Caligula gave Antiochus, the son of Antiochus Commagene, his father's
kingdom, as well as the coastal region of Cilicia. {*Dio, l. 59. (8) 7:283}
6577. Vitellius, the governor of Syria, took two legions of heavily armed foot
soldiers, as well as the foot soldiers and cavalry that had been sent by the
kings who were allies. He hurried toward Petra and came to Ptolemais. He
intended to lead his army through Judea, but the leaders of that country
approached him and asked him not to pass that way, as the customs of their
country would not permit any images to be carried there, and the Roman banners
had many images. Yielding to their request, he sent his army through the large
plain, while he himself came to Jerusalem with Herod, the tetrarch, and his
friends, to offer sacrifices to God at the next feast, which was to happen soon.
When he arrived, he was magnificently entertained by the people and stayed there
three days. In the meantime, he transferred the high priesthood from Jonathan
to his brother Theophilus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 3.
(120-124) 9:85,87}
6578. Four days later, Vitellius received letters of Tiberius' death, after
which he made the people take the oath of fidelity to the new emperor, Gaius.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 3. (124) 9:87} Thereupon, Agrippa sent
letters to Gaius and stated: {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 36. (288) 10:145}
"They greatly desired succession (Oh emperor), and it was first heard of at
Jerusalem and the same news was diffused to the neighbouring provinces from the
holy city. Since this city, of all the east, first greeted you as emperor, it
is fitting that it should be treated more graciously by you."
6579. In the councils of the Jews, in their speech made some time later to
Petronius, Agrippa said something very similar: {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 32.
(231,233) 10:121}
"When Gaius had obtained the empire, we first, of all Syria, congratulated you
with Vitellius (whose successor you are). He was in our city and had received
letters concerning this business. We spread this joyful news to other cities
and our temple was the first of all temples to sacrifice for the empire of
Gaius."
6580. Vitellius recalled his forces and abandoned his intended war, because of
the new emperor. Some reported that when Aretas had heard the news of this
expedition, he had learned from auguries that it was impossible for Vitellius'
army to come to Petra, because one of the leaders would die - either the one who
had ordered the expedition against Aretas, or the one who was leading the
expedition. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 3. (124,125) 9:87}
6581. Josephus wrote that Vitellius went to Antioch and sent his army into
their winter quarters. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 3. (124) 9:87}
[K629] This was not likely, since it was the beginning of summer. He should
have said that he went with his forces to the Euphrates River to make a league
with the king of the Parthians. It appears, from Suetonius and Dio, that this
was done, not in Tiberius' reign (as Josephus thought), but under Gaius, for
Artabanus always hated and despised Tiberius, but willingly sought an alliance
with Gaius. Vitellius, using all his diplomacy, not only had a conference with
him, but also had him worship the Roman standards. As Artabanus was crossing
the Euphrates River, he admired the Roman eagles and sacrificed to the images of
Augustus and Gaius. He agreed to the conditions of peace, which were favourable
to the Romans, and gave his children as hostages. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4.
c. 14. s. 3. 1:437} {*Suetonius, Vitellius, l. 7. c. 2. s. 4. 2:239}
{*Dio, l. 59. (27) 7:349,351}
6582. The king and Vitellius met in the middle of a bridge, each with their
guard. After they had agreed to the terms of a league, Herod invited them both
to a banquet in a pavilion he had erected at great cost in the middle of the
river. Then Vitellius returned to Antioch and Artabanus to Babylon. However,
Herod sent this news to Caesar before Vitellius' envoys could inform Caesar.
When he received his letters, Caesar wrote back to Vitellius that he had already
known of all these things through Herod's messengers. This greatly angered
Vitellius, but he did nothing about it at the time. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18.
c. 4. s. 5. (101-105) 9:73,75} [E858]
6583. Not long after, Artabanus sent his son Darius as hostage, along with many
gifts. These included Eleazar, a Jew who was ten and a half feet tall and was
called the giant. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 4. s. 5. (104) 9:75}
6584. After the Jews of Alexandria had given Gaius all the honours that were
lawful for them to decree, they came and offered the decree to Flaccus Avillius.
They wanted him to send an embassy, since they were not permitted to do so. He
said he would be pleased to send it by his messengers. He read the decree and
allowed many of its points. He smilingly said:
"Your piety highly pleases me, I will send it as you desire, I will be your
envoy that Gaius may perceive your gratitude and I will be a witness of the
peoples' modesty and obedience, well-known to me."
6585. However, he withheld this decree, in order to make it seem as though they
were the only enemies of Gaius. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 12. (97,98)
9:357}
6586. In the first year of the reign of Gaius Caligula, Josephus, the writer of
the history of the Jews, was born. He was the son of Mattathias, a priest, as
Josephus stated in his autobiography. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 1. (5)
1:5}
4041a AM, 4750 JP, 37 AD
6587. When Saul had preached the gospel at Damascus for a long time, the Jews
discussed how they might kill him and they were helped in this by the governor
under Aretas (who had recently defeated the army of Herod, the tetrarch). He
held Damascus with a garrison and watched the gates day and night, so that they
might take Saul and kill him. However, Saul was let down by a rope at night, in
a basket, and escaped from them. {Ac 9:23-25 2Co 11:32,33}
6588. After the first three years of his apostleship were over, Saul returned
to Jerusalem to see Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days. {Ga 1:18}
[K630] He tried to join with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and
did not believe that he was a disciple. However, Barnabas took him and brought
him to the apostles (that is, Peter and James, the brother of the Lord, for he
saw no other apostles, {Ga 1:19}). Barnabas told them how Saul had seen the
Lord on the road and that Jesus had spoken to him, and how Saul had preached
boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. {Ac 9:26,27}
6589. Saul spoke boldly at Jerusalem in the name of Jesus and disputed with the
Greeks, or the Jews who spoke Greek, as the Syriac version correctly translated
this passage. The Jews planned to kill him. {Ac 9:29}
6590. When Saul was in the temple praying, he fell into a trance and saw the
Lord speaking to him, to hurry and get out of Jerusalem, for the Jews would not
hear his message. He replied that the Jews knew that he had imprisoned and
beaten those in every synagogue who believed in Jesus. When the blood of the
martyr Stephen was shed, Saul was also standing by, guarding the garments of
those who killed him. The Lord told him to leave, and he would send him to the
Gentiles. {Ac 22:17-21}
6591. The brethren at Jerusalem brought him to Caesarea and sent him into his
own city of Tarsus. {Ac 9:30} He went into the countries of Syria and Cilicia.
His face was unknown to the churches of Judea, who had only heard that he was
preaching the faith which once he had destroyed, but they glorified God in him.
{Ga 1:21-23}
6592. The churches had rest throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria. They
were edified and walked in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy
Spirit, and were multiplied. {Ac 9:31}
4041b AM, 4751 JP, 38 AD
6593. Herod Agrippa had a daughter by Cypros, whom he named Drusilla (and who
later married Felix). {Ac 24:24} She was six years old when her father died.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 4. (132,133) 9:91} {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 19. c. 9. s. 1. (354,355) 9:385}
6594. Gaius Caligula forced Macro, to whom Egypt had been committed (for the
six years that were appointed by Tiberius for the government of Flaccus Avillius
had expired), and his wife, Ennia, with whose help he had acquired the empire,
to commit suicide. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 8. (60,61) 10:31} {*Philo,
Flaccus, l. 1. c. 4. (16) 9:311,313} {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 26.
s. 1. 1:457} {*Dio, l. 59. (10) 7:291}
6595. After Macro was killed, Flaccus, who was the governor of Egypt and on
whom Caligula most relied, was shrewdly afraid of Caligula. Dionysius, Lampo
and Isidorus persuaded him to use that occasion to be generous to the people of
Alexandria and befriend them. When these three said that nothing would please
the people more than allowing them to plunder the Jews, Flaccus heeded their
advice. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 4. (16-24) 9:311-317}
6596. Caligula, by a decree of the Senate, gave Sohaemus the kingdom of the
Arabians of Iturea. To Cotys he gave Lesser Armenia and some parts of Arabia;
to Rhoemetalces he gave the kingdom of Cotys, while the son of Polemon received
his father's kingdom, that is, Pontus. {*Dio, l. 59. (12) 7:295,297}
6597. In the second year of Caligula's reign, Herod Agrippa asked permission to
return home to settle the affairs of his kingdom, promising that when he had
done that, he would return. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 6. s. 11.
(238,239) 9:145} [E859] [K631] The emperor persuaded him that taking the fastest
way was by sea, saying that the Etesian winds were expected any day. He
therefore advised him to go directly to Alexandria and go home the rest of the
way by land, which would be easier than sailing all the way. Agrippa followed
his advice and went to Puteoli. There he found a ship ready to set sail for
Alexandria, and a few days later he arrived in Alexandria. {*Philo, Flaccus, l.
1. c. 5. (25-27) 9:317}
6598. The Alexandrians naturally hated the Jews and did not like the fact that
they had a king. In their gymnasium, they derided Agrippa with scurrilous
speeches and mocking verses recited by jesters. They brought in a madman by the
name of Carabas, who night and day went about naked in the streets. They put
him in an elevated position, so everyone could see him, and gave him a paper
crown and a mat for his body instead of a robe. For his sceptre, he had a piece
of a reed taken from the ground. He was adorned with the trappings of a king,
in the manner of actors, and the young men carried poles on their shoulders as a
mock guard. Others came up to greet him while some asked for justice and others
asked him for advice concerning the state. Then there was a general acclamation
by all those surrounding him, and they called him Marin, which means Lord in the
Syrian language. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 5,6. (33-39) 9:321-323} Thus
the king of the Jews was derided by others in the same manner just as the Jews
themselves, five years earlier, had mocked the true majesty of their own king,
Jesus Christ.
6599. The Jews of Alexandria informed Agrippa of the treachery that Flaccus,
the governor, had plotted for their destruction. They also gave him the writing
which they had given to Flaccus to be sent to Gaius at the beginning of his
reign. Through malice, Flaccus had made it impossible for them to send it any
sooner. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 12. (103) 9:359} {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1.
c. 28. (178-180) 10:91,93}
6600. The apostle Peter visited the churches of Judea, Galilee and Samaria and
called on the saints that lived at Lydda. There he healed Aeneas, who was sick
with the palsy and had been confined to his bed for eight years. When all who
lived at Lydda and Sharon saw this miracle, they turned to the Lord. {Ac
9:31-35} Lydda and Sharon are mentioned in the Old Testament. {1Ch 5:16 1Ch
27:29}
6601. A certain disciple, whose name was Tabitha in the Syriac language and
Dorcas in the Greek, meaning a she-goat, and who did many good deeds of charity,
died at Joppa. Because Lydda was close to Joppa, the disciples had heard that
Peter was there, so they sent two men to him, to have him come to Joppa at once.
When Peter arrived, he fell on his knees and prayed, and restored her to life.
This became known throughout all Joppa and many believed in the Lord. Peter
stayed there many days in the house of Simon, a tanner. {Ac 9:36-43}
6602. When the common people of Alexandria had regained the favour of Flaccus,
the governor, they all agreed early one morning that the statues of Caesar were
to be set up in the synagogues of the Jews. [K632] The governor allowed this to
be done without any regard for the public security, even though he knew that
there were more than a million Jews living in Alexandria and throughout all the
vast country from the descent of Libya right to the border of Ethiopia.
{*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 6. (42-43) 9:325,327} Then they assembled in
large companies and either ravaged their synagogues by cutting down their
groves, or razed them to the ground. In all the synagogues which they could not
overthrow or burn, because of the large number of Jews who lived nearby, they
set up the images of Gaius. In the greatest and most frequented synagogues they
set up statues, in elevated positions, of chariots with four brass horses. In
their zeal, they ran out of new chariots, so they took out the old rusty ones,
whose horses lacked their ears, tails, and feet, and those that had been
dedicated (as was reported) to that Cleopatra who was the great grandmother of
the last queen by that name. Gaius believed that all these things were
happening out of the love that the Alexandrians had for him. He heard about
these events through the registers sent to him from Alexandria (for he read them
more willingly than any poem or history) and from some domestic servants (of
whom many were Egyptians). They were in the habit of praising these things and
laughing at them with him. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 18. (120-126) 10:61,63}
6603. When Drusilla, his sister, died, Gaius Caligula decreed a period of
public mourning for her. Anyone who laughed, bathed or held a feast on that day
would be killed. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 24. s. 1. 1:453} {*Dio,
l. 59. (13) 7:301}
6604. Flaccus, the governor of Egypt, made an edict in which he declared the
Jews to be foreigners and did not give them the freedom to plead their cases,
but condemned them outright. [E860] The city of Alexandria had five divisions
named after the first five letters of the Greek alphabet. Two of them were
called the Jewish quarters, because most of the Jews lived there, although many
Jews had houses here and there throughout the other quarters. The common people
of Alexandria obtained permission from Flaccus to plunder the Jews. They
expelled them from four of the divisions and drove them into a small section of
the remaining division. The area could not hold them all and the Jews fled out
to the beaches, tombs and dung hills and were robbed of everything, as their
enemies ran violently through their abandoned houses. They divided the spoils,
just like a victorious army, and broke open the shops of the Jews, which were
closed at the time, because of the mourning for Drusilla's death. They carried
many things away from there and used them for themselves. The ransacking of
four hundred houses did less harm to the Jews than their loss of trade, because
once the creditors had lost their security, no husbandman, mariner, merchant or
craftsman was allowed to practise his trade. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 8.
(53-57) 9:333,335} {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 11. (94) 9:355}
6605. Their enemies thought that in no time they would see them lie in heaps,
since so many thousands of men, women and children had been pushed like beasts
into a narrow corner of the city, that they would either be killed, or die from
famine, or be stifled in that hot place. Even the neighbouring air was fouled
by their breath. They watched diligently, in case any should secretly escape.
As many as they intercepted, they first tormented and then killed, using all
manner of cruelty. Another band of them lay in wait for the Jews who arrived at
the ports. [K633] When they had taken away their merchandise, they burned the
owners in a fire made from the rudders, oars and planks of the ships. In the
middle of the city, others were burned to death in a most miserable manner.
Lacking wood, the Alexandrians used green vines and made a fire with them, into
which they cast these miserable men, who were killed from the smoke rather than
the fire. Others were dragged through the market place with cords tied to their
ankles, while the common people mocked them. They mutilated their dead bodies
and cut off their members, trampling on them with such cruelty, that they
allowed no remains to be found for burial. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 19.
(127-131) 10:63-65} Any who mourned the misfortune of their friend or relative,
were punished for their compassion. They were scourged and after they had
endured every kind of torment that bodies were able to endure, they were
crucified. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c. 9. (58-72) 9:335-341}
6606. Flaccus, the governor, ordered that thirty-eight of the senate, whom
Augustus had appointed as a public council of the Jews, be arrested in their own
houses and bound at once. They dragged these old men through the market place,
with their hands tied behind them, some bound with cords, others with chains.
They were brought into the theatre, where they were stripped and scourged as
they stood before their enemies, who sat as judges. Among these men were
Euodius Trypho and Andro, who were treated thus in the sight of those who had
robbed them of their goods. It was a custom that no one should be condemned
until the solemn celebrations and feast days of the births of the Augustans were
past. However, on one of those very days (for the birthday of Gaius was on the
last day of August), Flaccus afflicted these innocent men that day in the
following way: From the morning to the third or fourth hour of the day (nine or
ten a.m.), the Jews were scourged, hung, tied to wheels, condemned and led
through the middle of the wrestling place for punishment. Then dancers were
brought in, as well as jesters, trumpeters and other entertainments. The women
were carried away as captives for any trifling matter, not only in the market
place, but also in the open theatre. They were brought onto the stage amid
distressing accusations. When the crowd discovered that any were not Jews, they
were released, for in their haste, they mistakenly apprehended many as Jews
before determining their place of origin. If they found any Jews among the
spectators, the crowd became tyrannical and ordered the Jews to eat swine's
flesh. All the Jewish women who ate it, for fear of further torture, were let
go, but those who refused to eat it, were tortured most cruelly. {*Philo,
Flaccus, l. 1. c. 10,11. (73-96) 9:343-357}
6607. Castus, who was the boldest of the centurions, was ordered by the
governor to take the bravest of his band with him and break into the Jews'
houses, to see if they had any hidden weapons. Castus immediately did as he was
ordered. The Jews allowed the searchers into all the private areas of their
homes. Their women, who never went abroad, and the fearful virgins, who out of
modesty avoided the sight of being seen by their own kindred, were displayed to
eyes, not merely unfamiliar, but terrorising, through the fear of military
violence. However, after all this scrutiny, the arms which they were looking
for were not found. For Bassus had, a short time before, taken all arms from
the Egyptians, on the orders of Flaccus, [K634] since it was possible to observe
a large number of ships arriving at the port, full of arms suitable for
seditious men, who had often before tried to revolt. However, the Jews had
never been involved in nor been suspected of being part of any revolt. They
went about their business and behaved as good citizens of the city. {*Philo,
Flaccus, l. 1. c. 11. (86-95) 9:349-355} [E861]
4042a AM, 4751 JP, 38 AD
6608. Because of this persecution, the Jews did not observe the feast of
tabernacles around the autumnal equinox. Flaccus, the governor, was suddenly
arrested by Bassus, the centurion, while he was at a feast hosted by Stephanio,
the freedman of Tiberius Caesar. Bassus had been sent from Italy with a band of
soldiers, specifically to apprehend Flaccus. When he set sail on the return
journey at the beginning of winter, he was storm-tossed and barely arrived in
Italy after much toil. There, Flaccus was immediately welcomed by those two
malicious accusers, Lampo and Isidorus, who had incited him against the Jews.
Flaccus was condemned and stripped of all his inheritance and goods, which were
very valuable. He would have been banished to the most barren island of Gyara,
in the Aegean Sea, had Lepidus not begged that he be sent to live on Andros,
which was close to Gyara. He was killed there, on the command of Gaius, who did
the same to all the noblemen who were banished. {*Philo, Flaccus, l. 1. c.
13-21. (108-191) 9:361-403}
4042b AM, 4752 JP, 39 AD
6609. Herodias, the sister of Agrippa and wife of Herod the tetrarch, was mad
with envy to see Agrippa so glorious in his kingly majesty. She persuaded her
husband, Herod, that they should go to Rome and beg Caesar for similar honours.
Agrippa knew of their intention and preparation for the journey. As soon as he
heard that they had sailed, he sent his freedman Fortunatus to Rome also, to go
to Caesar with gifts and letters written against his uncle. Herod arrived at
Baiae, a delightful town in Campania, where Caesar was staying. He was admitted
into his presence, but before he could do anything, Caesar gave him the letters
he had received from Agrippa. These letters accused Herod of having previously
conspired with Sejanus against Tiberius and of currently favouring Artabanus,
the Parthian, over the new government of Gaius. They claimed that he had
prepared, for that purpose, enough arms to furnish seventy thousand heavily
armed foot soldiers. When Gaius asked Herod if the things which were being said
about the number of arms were true, he acknowledged it, for he could not deny
it. Gaius thought he had enough evidence of a planned revolt and took the
tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea from him, later adding it to Agrippa's kingdom,
together with all of Herod's treasure. He sent Herod to Lyons in Gaul and
condemned him to perpetual exile. When Gaius learned that Herodias was
Agrippa's sister, he allowed her to keep her own wealth. He did not think that
she would willingly be her husband's companion in exile and so promised to spare
her as a favour to Agrippa. She thanked Gaius for this favour, but professed
that she would not make use of it at this time, as she considered it a sin to
forsake her husband in his calamity, when she had enjoyed prosperous times with
him. Gaius took this as a reproach and ordered that she also be banished, with
her husband, while he gave her goods to Agrippa. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18.
c. 7. s. 1,2. (240-256) 9:145-153} So they were punished for their
incestuous marriage, eight years after John the Baptist had been beheaded by
this Herod and six years after Christ our Saviour had been mocked by the same
Herod. {Lu 23:11} [K635]
6610. Pontius Pilate was so continually vexed by Gaius, that he committed
suicide. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:260} {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History, l. 2. c. 7. 1:125} {Orosius, l. 7. c. 5.} {Cassidorus,
Chronicle}
6611. Gaius spanned the gulf between Misenum and Puteoli with a pontoon bridge
almost three and a half miles long. He crossed the bridge with his chariot,
followed by a long train of his supposed spoils. Among the hostages in the
train was the Parthian lad, Darius, who was the son of Artabanus. Gaius mocked
Darius and Xerxes, because he claimed to have made a longer bridge across the
sea than Xerxes had. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 1. s. 1. (5,6) 9:217}
{*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 19. 1:445} {*Dio, l. 59. (17) 7:311,313}
6612. Under the pretence of the German war, Gaius also went a little beyond the
Rhine River and then returned immediately, as though he intended to go into
Britain. {*Dio, l. 59. (21) 7:325}
6613. Gaius sent for Vitellius from Syria in order to execute him. He was
accused of having allowed Tiridates, whom Tiberius had sent to the Parthians as
king, to be kicked out of his kingdom by them. {*Dio, l. 59. (27) 7:351}
6614. Gaius sent Petronius to Syria as the successor for Vitellius.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 8. s. 2. (261) 9:155} His full name was
Publius Petronius. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 42. (333) 10:167} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 19. c. 6. s. 3. (301) 9:357} (Strabo also mentioned him.) {See
note on 3983b AM. <<5908>>} He was not, as Baronius thought, the
Lucius
Petronius who died long before this time, about whom Valerius Maximus mentioned
that he was born of low parentage and rose to the level of an equestrian.
{*Valerius Maximus, l. 4. c. 7. s. 5. 1:421} {Baronius, 41 AD, num. 4.}
6615. Vitellius came to Gaius Caligula and escaped death. He conducted himself
more humbly than was appropriate for his rank. [E862] Falling at Caesar's feet,
he burst out crying and called him a god and worshipped him. He vowed that if
he should escape this punishment, he would sacrifice to him. He so mollified
and appeased Caesar, that Gaius not only allowed him to live, but counted him
among his best friends. {*Dio, l. 59. (27) 7:351} He was the first who gave
Gaius the idea of being worshipped as a god. Vitellius was quite good at
flattery. When he returned from Syria, he did not dare come into Gaius'
presence, but turning himself around fell prostrate on the ground with his face
covered. {*Suetonius, Vitellius, l. 7. c. 2. s. 5. 2:239,241} Later, when
Gaius affirmed that he was talking with the Moon goddess, he asked Vitellius if
he had not seen him while he was accompanied by the goddess. Vitellius, with
his eyes cast down as though astonished and trembling, replied in a low voice
that the gods alone were permitted to see one another. {*Dio, l. 59. (27)
7:351} Thus Vitellius made this beginning. Although he had governed the
provinces with the same virtues as his ancestors, he surpassed all men in
flattery. {*Dio, l. 59. (27) 7:351} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 6. c. 32.
4:211}
6616. Then Gaius appointed himself a priest and took his horse as colleague in
his priesthood. {*Dio, l. 59. (28) 7:355} He ordered that a temple be built
to him, at Miletus in Asia, having selected that city ahead of the others,
because he said that Ephesus worshipped Diana and Pergamum and Smyrna were
dedicated to Augustus and Tiberius. [K636] The real reason was, that he wanted
to use for himself the large and beautiful temple which the people of Miletus
had built to Apollo. {*Dio, l. 59. (28) 7:351-355} He also planned to finish
the oracle, Apollo Didymeon, at Miletus. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 21.
1:447}
4043a AM, 4752 JP, 39 AD
6617. Strangers from the neighbouring countries had crept into Jamnia, a city
of Judea that was very populous. They always tried to do something which
opposed the Jewish customs. When they heard how much Gaius wanted to be
worshipped as a god and what a good friend he was to the country of the Jews,
they promptly built an altar of clay bricks to vex the Jews. The Jews were
scornful and destroyed the altar, whereupon their adversaries accused them
before Capito, the quaestor, who had the oversight of the tributes in Judea. He
wrote to Gaius and aggravated and embellished the matter. Gaius ordered that in
place of the destroyed brick altar in Jamnia, the Jews should erect a large
image in honour of him, all in gold, in the temple of Jerusalem. In this, he
was following the advice of Helicon, an Egyptian, and Apelles of Askelon, a
tragic actor. Gaius sent letters to Petronius, the governor of Syria, detailing
the dedication of the statue. He was to march from the Euphrates River against
the Jews with half the army (appointed for defence against the seditions of the
kings and countries of the east). He was to accompany the statue, not
necessarily so that the dedication would be more majestic, but so that anyone
who resisted could be executed at once. The statue was not sent from Italy, nor
was Petronius commanded to take any troops from Syria, otherwise some sudden
sedition would have occurred over the violation of the Jewish laws. Petronius
ordered a statue to be made closer at hand and sent for the best craftsmen from
Phoenicia, as well as locating the materials and a place where they could make
it at Sidon. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 30,31. (200-223) 10:103-117}
6618. In the meantime, he gathered as large an army as he could and wintered at
Ptolemais with two legions. He intended to undertake the war at the beginning
of the spring. He sent a letter to Gaius, who commended his industry and
advised him to use every force necessary in the process and so subdue the
stubbornness of that country. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 8. s. 2.
(262) 9:155,157}
4043b AM, 4753 JP, 40 AD
6619. In a dispute that arose between the Jews and the Greeks who lived in
Alexandria, three chosen envoys from each side were sent to Gaius. Philo, who
the most famous of them, headed the embassy of the Jews. Apion headed the Greek
embassy. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 8. s. 1. (257-260) 9:153,155} He
was born at an oasis in Egypt and wished to be called an Alexandrian, because he
had been made a citizen of that city. {*Josephus, Apion, l. 2. c. 3. (29)
1:303} Pliny stated that some had surnamed him The Cantankerous. {*Pliny, l.
37. c. 19. 10:225} Pliny added the following things about him, in the preface
to his whole work to Titus Vespasian: {*Pliny, l. 1. c. 0. (26) 1:17}
"Apion, the grammarian (the person whom Tiberius Caesar called the world's
cymbal, whereas he might rather have been thought to be a drum, advertising his
own renown), wrote that persons to whom he dedicated his compositions received
from him the gift of immortality."
6620. He wrote a most untruthful book against the Jews, to which Josephus
replied in his second book against Apion, as the first book was against other
slanderers of the Jews.
6621. The envoys of the Jews (of whom Philo, at the end of the embassy written
by himself, said there were five and not three, as Josephus stated) sailed to
Gaius in the middle of winter, to entreat him to stop the wrongs which they were
suffering. [E863] [K637] They gave him a record containing the list of all the
calamities as well as the petition against them, taken from that larger petition
which the Jews had sent him through their King Agrippa. However, their
adversaries won the favour of Helicon, the Egyptian, who was the prefect of the
emperor's chamber. They did this, not so much with money as with the hope of
future honours, which they promised to give him when Gaius came to Alexandria.
When the Jewish envoys wanted to pacify and appease Gaius, they were not allowed
access to him. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 27. (172-174) 10:89}
6622. At first, Gaius concealed his hatred against the Jews and received their
envoys in Mars' field. As he came from his mother's gardens, he greeted them
with a cheerful countenance and with his right hand, made a gesture which
indicated that he would be kind to them. He sent Homilus to them, who was the
master of the ceremonies, and through him promised that he would take care of
their cause when he had time. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 28. (181) 10:93}
Later, when he came to visit the gardens of Mecenas and Lamia, which were near
the other garden and the city, the envoys were brought in and humbly showed
their reverence to Gaius. They greeted him by the name of Augustus and he
smilingly asked them:
"Are you the ones who are hated of the gods, who alone despise me, who am
declared a god by the confession of all men, and had rather worship your unnamed
thing?"
6623. Then he held up his hands to heaven and burst into a speech which was
neither lawful to hear nor, much less, to repeat. The Jews' adversaries then
greatly rejoiced and called him by all the names of the gods. When Isidorus, a
bitter sycophant, saw how he was pleased with these titles, he said:
"You would, oh my lord, detest them and all their country more, if you knew
their impiety and malice against you. For all men kill sacrifices of vows for
your health, while only they refrain to offer sacrifice."
6624. Then the envoys cried out with one voice:
"Oh, my lord Gaius, we are falsely accused, we have sacrificed hecatombs. We
have not, as is the custom of some, brought a little blood to the altar and then
carried the flesh home to feast on. We have committed whole sacrifices to be
burned with the holy fire, and that three times. First, when you became
emperor, again when you escaped a great sickness, at which all the world was
sorrowful, and thirdly, as a vow for your victory over Germany."
6625. Gaius replied:
"Well, say it were so, that you offered sacrifice, but to another, and to me you
certainly did no sacrifices."
6626. Then horror seized the envoys, who were terrified at his last words. In
the meantime, Gaius paced throughout the houses, the halls and parlours, both on
the ground and upper floors. He specifically asked the envoys:
"Why do you not eat swine's flesh?"
6627. Finally, setting aside his fierceness, he said:
"These men seem to me not to be so much wicked, as miserable, in that they
cannot persuade themselves that I am partaker of the divine nature."
6628. He promptly left and ordered the envoys to leave. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1.
c. 44. (349-367) 10:175-183}
6629. Gaius gave the tetrarchy of Agrippa's father-in-law, Herod (who had been
banished to Lyons in Gaul), to Agrippa when he returned from his kingdom. For
when he had reigned for three years in the tetrarchy of Philip, Herod's kingdom
was given to him in the fourth year. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 8. s.
2. (351) 9:381,383} Philo quoted Agrippa as saying: {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c.
41. (326) 10:163}
"No greater fortune could befall a mortal man than that you have given me the
kingdom, which at first was merely one region, but you have enlarged by the
addition of Trachonitis and Galilee." [K638]
6630. Petronius convened the leaders of the Jewish priests and magistrates, to
pass on to them what Gaius had commanded. He was to erect Gaius' statue and
dedicate it in their temple. He urged them, patiently to bear the decrees of
his emperor, and cautioned them of the imminent danger that would ensue, were
they to disobey. The whole power of the Syrian army was ready to make havoc of
them and their country. At the first mention of these things they were so
shocked, they had not a word to say, but poured out rivers of tears, tearing out
their hair and pulling their beards in a most mournful way. However, the
citizens of Jerusalem and all the surrounding country who heard this, came
flocking together with one accord and mourned publicly. They left their houses,
towns and citadels desolate and in one group, continued their march until they
came to Phoenicia, where Petronius was. At first they made such a doleful and
deep noise, that those who were nearby could not hear, or be heard, because of
it. The calamitous times dictated what they had to do. They were organized
into six ranks, or orders: of old men, young men and boys, of old women, wives
and maidens. When they saw Petronius on a high place, all the ranks, as if at a
general command, fell prostrate on the ground and wailed, as it were, in a
mournful tone. When they were ordered to rise, they could barely be persuaded
to do so. Finally, when they did, they cast dust on themselves and hung their
hands behind them, like condemned persons. They came before him and made their
pitiful complaint and supplication. Petronius and all those sitting with him
were deeply moved. [E864] When he had consulted about the matter, he ordered
letters to be sent to Gaius, telling him that the dedication of the statue had
been deferred. The workmen needed more time to finish the colossus and time was
needed to gather grain for such an expedition. It was reported that Gaius had
intended to go to Egypt. The grain was fully ripe at the time and it was feared
that the Jews would take the loss of their religion so badly, that they would
not value their own lives and so waste and burn all the harvest throughout the
fields and mountains, in their desperation. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 32,33.
(225-253) 10:117-131}
6631. When Gaius received the letters, he concealed his anger against
Petronius, for he greatly feared the governors, because they had the power to
create seditions. This was especially true of those in large provinces with
numerous armies, like the province of Syria, which extended to the Euphrates
River. Thus Petronius, by his letters, appeased Gaius, who seemed to applaud
his prudence and skill in anticipating future problems. Gaius ordered that once
the harvest was over, he should dedicate the statue without delay. {*Philo,
Gaius, l. 1. c. 34. (254-260) 10:131,133}
6632. The envoys of the Alexandrian Jews received the message that Gaius had
ordered his colossus to be erected at the innermost entrance of the temple and
that it was to be dedicated to himself under the name of Jupiter. This news
terrified them. Together, they all entered into the conclave and deplored their
common, as well as their personal, calamity. They hoped that God, who had so
often delivered their country from ruin, would not abandon them. {*Philo,
Gaius, l. 1. c. 29. (184-189) 10:95,97}
6633. When Agrippa came to greet Gaius in his usual manner, he looked at him
sternly and said:
"Your good and honest citizens, who alone of all mankind think it scornful to
have Gaius for a god, are actually taking a course of action which is likely to
bring destruction upon themselves because of their rebellious contempt for the
law. [K639] When I ordered the statue of Jupiter to be dedicated in their
temple, they fled as one body from the city—not, indeed, like suppliants, but
truly despisers of my commands."
6634. At these words, Agrippa was so struck with horror, that he trembled and
his knees knocked together and would certainly have fallen to the ground, had
not the bystanders supported him. They were ordered to carry him home in that
condition. Due to the suddenness of the events, Agrippa had lost his memory and
had grown quite stupid and senseless. Gaius, however, was all the more
exasperated against the country of the Jews and said: {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c.
35. (261-268) 10:135,137}
"If Agrippa, who is my close friend and obliged to me by so many benefits, is so
attached to his country's customs that he cannot endure that they be violated,
even if only by my word, without fainting, what is to be expected from those who
have no tie to restrain them?"
6635. When Agrippa was come to himself, he wrote a very long letter to Gaius on
behalf of his country. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 36-41. (276-329)
10:139-165} (Philo placed a copy of it in his book.) He closed with this
epilogue:
"What will my countrymen or anyone else say of me? For either it will follow
that I betrayed my country, or I must be blotted out from the list of your
friends. Which of the two can be more unhappy? For before this, I was your
close friend, and now I shall be considered a traitor if I do not keep my
country from indemnity, nor the temple sacred. For you have the power for the
protection of men. If I am offensive to you in anything, do me the favour not
to bind me, as Tiberius did, but, lest I should live with the fear of bonds,
kill me immediately. For what need do I then have of life, since the hope of my
welfare rests wholly on your favour."
6636. Gaius seemed to be somewhat appeased by these letters and replied more
mildly, granting Agrippa the great favour that the statue should not be
dedicated. He wrote the same to Petronius, the governor of Syria, that he cause
no sedition in the temple of the Jews. In case this favour should seem too
generous, he added some terror and by writing:
"If anyone in the other province, or anywhere outside the metropolis in any
other city, shall be pleased to dedicate any temple or altar to me, let whoever
shall oppose it either be executed immediately, or sent to me."
6637. Divine providence so ordained that no one in any of the other provinces
planned to do this. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 42. (330-333) 10:165,167}
6638. When the persecution grew very severe at Babylon, a large number of the
Jews left for Seleucia. More arrived five years later from Nearda, which is a
city of Babylon, on an island in the Euphrates River, that has an academy of the
Jews. In Syriac it is called aed-rhn, as if one were to say:
"The river of knowledge."
6639. At Seleucia, the Greeks and Syrians were always at odds, but the Greek
faction was too strong for the Syrians. With the arrival of the Jews, the
Syrians made their friendship and became the stronger party. In addition, they
still increased in warlike and resolute men. Therefore, when the Greeks saw
they were becoming weaker and did not know how to change the situation, they did
as much as they could to develop friendship, in an effort to have a peace
mediated between them and the Syrians. [E865] This was easily achieved for the
chief men on both sides were involved, and they concluded and confirmed a peace
on the condition that both sides persecute the Jews. They made a surprise
attack on them and killed fifty thousand men, so that no one escaped except
those who were saved through the mercy of some friends or relatives. [K640]
They escaped to Ctesiphon, a Greek city near Seleucia, where the king used to
make his winter quarters and where he stored the majority of and the best part
of his household belongings. They settled there and established themselves
under the protection of the regal majesty. The terror of the Babylonians and
Seleucians spread over all the regions where there were Jews. In these regions,
wherever there were any Syrians together with Seleucians, they conspired the
ruin of the Jews. Hence it came about that many fled to Nearda and Nisibis,
where they had security because the cities were strongly fortified, although
otherwise they were occupied by very warlike people. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
18. c. 9. s. 9. (374-379) 9:209,211}
6640. Gaius triumphantly entered Rome on his birthday (which was the last day
of the month of August). {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 49. s. 2. 1:489}
4044a AM, 4753 JP, 40 AD
6641. When the Alexandrian envoys appeared before Gaius, Apion accused the Jews
of many things and claimed that they did not give Caesar the respect due to him.
All the countries had built temples and altars to Gaius and were worshipping
him, giving him equal honour with the rest of their deities. Only the Jews
despised to build altars to him or swear by the name of Caesar. When Apion had
alleged these and any other matters he thought would exasperate Gaius, Philo
prepared to reply. Before he could do so, he was interrupted by Caesar, who
ordered him to get out and who was so enraged, that Philo barely escaped without
harm. After Philo was put out, he encouraged those who were with him. Although
Gaius's words showed him to be very angry, they could nevertheless be assured
that God would defend and provide for them, in spite of all that Gaius would do.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 18. c. 8. s. 1. (259,260) 9:155} {*Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 5. 1:119,121}
6642. Gaius regretted the favour he had given the Jews. He ordered another
colossus, of brass covered with gold, to be built at Rome. The statue at Sidon
was left alone, lest it should cause any sedition among the people. The new
statue was to be transported secretly by ship and placed in the temple at
Jerusalem before any were aware of it. This was to be done as they sailed to
Egypt, for Gaius had a great desire to see Alexandria. He took great care in
preparing for his journey, because he intended to stay for a long time. He was
obsessed that his deification, of which he dreamed, would succeed in this city
alone, because from there the religion would spread to smaller cities. All this
was according to Philo, who was very well acquainted with these matters.
{*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 42,43. (337,338) 10:169} Tacitus should be amended:
{*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 9. 3:191}
"They were ordered by Caesar to place his statue in their temple and they chose
instead to take up arms. The death of Caesar ended the rebellion."
6643. Apelles from Askelon, who had incited Gaius against the Jews, was
punished for some other crimes he committed. Gaius had him bound and racked in
a most tormenting and drawn out manner, with some intermissions to make it more
painful. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 30. (206) 10:107}
6644. Gaius was admonished, by an oracle of the goddess of Fortune at Antium,
to beware of Cassius. Cassius Longinus, who was proconsul of Asia at the time,
was suspected, because he was of the family of Cassius, one of the murderers of
Caesar. Gaius ordered him to be bound and brought to him, and then condemned
him to death. He forgot that Chaerea, who killed him a little later on, was
also called Cassius. {*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 57. s. 3,4. 1:503}
{*Dio, l. 59. (29) 7:359}
4044b AM, 4754 JP, 41 AD
6645. Apollonius, the Egyptian, who had foretold the death of Gaius at home in
Egypt, was dragged before Gaius at Rome, on the day before Gaius' death.
Suetonius said this was on the 9th of the Calends of February (January 23).
{*Suetonius, Caligula, l. 4. c. 58. s. 1. 1:503}.) [K641] His punishment
was postponed and he escaped death, when Gaius died first. {*Dio, l. 59. (29)
7:359}
6646. Caligula reigned three years, ten months and eight days. {*Suetonius,
Caligula, l. 4. c. 59. s. 1. 1:505} {*Clement, Stromateis, l. 1. c. 21.
2:333} Dio stated it was three years, nine months and twenty-eight days. {*Dio,
l. 59. (30) 7:362} His uncle, Claudius Caesar, the son of Drusius, was
declared emperor by the praetorian guard.
6647. King Agrippa heard that the empire had been forced upon Claudius by the
soldiers. Getting through the multitude with a great deal of difficulty, he
reached Claudius and found him troubled and wanting to resign his place to the
Senate. Agrippa dispelled his fears and encouraged him to go on courageously
and assume the empire. When Agrippa was called by the Senate, he pretended that
he knew nothing of the business and arrived as if ready to dine. He asked them
what had been done about Claudius and they told him the truth and asked his
advice. He said he would avoid no danger where the dignity of the Senate was at
stake, and that he thought the best way forward was to send someone to Claudius
who could persuade him to surrender his authority. He offered to be a part of
that embassy. [E866] When Agrippa was sent with others to Claudius, he told him
plainly the state of fear the Senate was in and advised him to answer like a
prince. Agrippa was the reason that Claudius was more lenient with the Senate
than he would otherwise have been. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 4. s.
1,2. (236-247) 9:325-329}
6648. After Claudius was confirmed in the empire, he sent Mithridates of
Iberia, whom Gaius had kept in bonds, home to receive his kingdom. To another
Mithridates, who was descended from that great Mithridates, he gave the kingdom
of Bosphorus, except for a region of Cilicia, which he gave to Polemon. {*Dio,
l. 60. (8) 7:387}
6649. Claudius enlarged Agrippa's kingdom, since he had helped him to get the
empire and was at Rome at the time. Claudius also bestowed on him the honours
of a consul. He gave his brother Herod praetorian honours, the principality of
Chalcis, and permitted them to go into the Senate and to thank the senators.
{*Dio, l. 60. (8) 7:387}
6650. Claudius also proposed an edict whereby he confirmed Agrippa in the
kingdom formerly granted to him by Gaius. He praised his endeavour and his
industry and added Judea and Samaria to his kingdom. These had formerly
belonged to the kingdom of his grandfather Herod, and so he restored them as due
to the family. He also added to his kingdom Abila which had been ruled by
Lysanias and the regions around Mount Libanus which belonged to the emperor. A
league between the king and the people of Rome was engraved in brass and placed
in the centre of the forum of the city. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 5. s.
1. (274,275) 9:341,343}
6651. Claudius released Alexander Lysimachus, the alabarch, who was his old
friend and had formerly been the guardian of his mother Antonia, and whom Gaius
in his anger had committed to bonds. Bernice, the daughter of Agrippa, was
betrothed to his son Marcus, who died while married to her as her first husband.
{Ac 25:13,23} The king gave her to his brother Herod, after obtaining the
kingdom of Chalcis for him from Claudius. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 5.
s. 1. (276,277) 9:343}
6652. Claudius restored Commagene and a larger part of Cilicia to Antiochus,
whom Gaius had deprived of his kingdom. {*Dio, l. 60. (8) 7:387} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 19. c. 5. s. 1. (276) 9:343} [K642]
6653. Claudius executed Helicon, the Egyptian, who had been master of the
bedchamber to Gaius and the man who had most incited him against the Jews.
{*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c. 30. (206) 10:107} Philo's book was ironically
entitled De Virtutibus, for in it the wickedness of Gaius was clearly recounted.
Philo was said to have read it before the whole Senate at the command of
Claudius. Later, the Romans so liked this and his other works, that they
thought them worthy of being granted a place in their libraries. {*Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 17. 1:159} Among his writings were five
books about the miseries the Jews endured under the empire of Gaius, of which
three books were lost. {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 5.
1:117,119} The books about Flaccus and Philo's embassy to Gaius still exist.
6654. After Gaius was murdered, the Jews, who under him had been severely
oppressed by the Alexandrians, were encouraged and took up arms. Claudius
ordered the governor of Egypt that he should appease this sedition. At the
entreaty of Agrippa, the king of Judea, and Herod, the king of Chalcis, Claudius
sent this edict to Alexandria: {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 5. s. 1.
(278-285) 9:343-351}
"It is my will that their rites not be infringed by the madness of Gaius and
that they shall have full authority and liberty to persevere in their fathers'
religion and worship. I order both parties, as much as in them lies, to live
peaceably with one another and to endeavour to prevent all distractions or
seditions of state between them."
6655. At the entreaty of these two kings, when he had been designated consul
for the second time in the first year of his reign, Claudius permitted the Jews
in Alexandria and in his whole empire to live according to their own laws and
the customs of their ancestors. Along with this, he advised them that, under
this grace, they should live the more modestly and circumspectly and not abuse
the religions of other countries, but be content quietly to enjoy their own
customs and traditions. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 5. s. 3. (286-291)
9:351,353} When the Jews grew so numerous at Rome that the city could scarcely
hold them without tumults, he did not eject them, but forbade those who lived
after their own laws to hold meetings. Also, he disbanded the clubs which Gaius
had allowed and abolished the taverns where they met and drank. {*Dio, l. 60.
(6) 7:383,385}
6656. Through his letters, Claudius commended Agrippa to all the governors of
the provinces. He sent King Agrippa into his own kingdom to take care of it.
Agrippa made a very large expedition and came to Jerusalem, where he paid his
vows. He omitted nothing prescribed by the law. He ordered many Nazarites to
be shaven. In the holy temple over the treasury, he hung up a gold chain which
he had received from Gaius, as a memorial of his many miseries and happy
deliverances by God. When he had duly performed his vows to God, he removed
Theophilus, the son of Ananus, from the high priesthood and appointed Simon,
surnamed Cantheras, in his place. [E867] Simon was the son of Boethus, whose
daughter Herod the Great had married. Agrippa gained the goodwill and gratitude
of the people at Jerusalem, by remitting a tribute to them which was paid
annually by household. [K643] He made Silas, who was his constant companion in
all his difficulties and plans, master over all the army. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 19. c. 6. s. 1-3. (292-299) 9:353-357}
6657. A little after this, under the pretence of religion, certain rash young
men from Dora erected a statue to Caesar in the temple at Jerusalem. Agrippa,
the king of the Jews, was very angry and immediately went into Syria to
Petronius to complain about their impudent boldness. Petronius was equally
offended by this impious action, especially since it went directly against the
laws of the empire. He wrote very sharply to the magistrates of the city of
Dora, ordering them to bind and send to him those men, whoever they were, who
had dared do such actions that were so contrary to the emperor's edicts. He
ordered them never to let this happen again. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c.
6. s. 3,4. (299-316) 9:356-363}
6658. At Caesarea, Cornelius, who was a Roman centurion of a company belonging
to the Italian band, favoured the Jewish religion and studied it. He was
uncircumcised. (The Hebrews usually called such people Proselytes of the Gate,
and the Godly of the Nations.) Around the ninth hour of the day (three p.m.), he
was ordered by an angel who appeared to him, to send for Simon Peter. Simon
Peter had spent a long time at the house of Simon, a tanner at Joppa. Cornelius
obeyed the command and sent two of his household servants and a godly soldier,
who was one of those who were constantly with him. {Ac 10:1-8 9:43}
6659. The next day, as they journeyed and came near the city, Peter ascended to
the housetop to pray, at about the sixth hour (noon). While he was waiting for
dinner to be prepared, he became hungry. He saw a large linen sheet coming down
from heaven, full of all kinds of animals. He was ordered to eat freely,
without regard to what he ate. By this object lesson, Peter was taught that the
Gentiles were not to be considered unclean. The next day, Peter arrived at
Caesarea with the men who had been sent by Cornelius and six brethren who
accompanied them from Joppa. At Cornelius' house, Peter found the centurion's
whole family assembled. They were converted to faith in Christ and the Spirit
of God descended on them all of his own accord, without any laying on of hands
by Peter. Then Peter baptized them into Christ. {Ac 10:9-48 11:5-17}
6660. The apostles and brethren at Judea heard that the Gentiles had also
received the Word of God. When Peter arrived in Jerusalem, a contention arose
between those who had been converted from Judaism to Christ and Peter, because
Peter had associated with uncircumcised persons and eaten with them. Once Peter
had told them everything that had happened and verified it by the testimony of
the six men who were with him, they were satisfied. They glorified God, who had
given repentance that leads to life to the Gentiles, also. {Ac 11:1-18}
4045 AM, 4755 JP, 42 AD
6661. King Agrippa removed Simon Cantheras from the high priesthood. He would
have restored it to Jonathan, the son of Ananus, but he declined out of modesty
and because he had held the office before. Jonathan recommended it be given to
his brother, Matthias, since he thought his brother was more worthy than he.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 6. s. 4. (311-316) 9:361,363}
6662. Gaius Vibius Marsus succeeded Petronius as governor in the province of
Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 6. s. 4. (316) 9:363}
6663. Silas was the general of King Agrippa's cavalry. All along, he had been
faithful to him and had shared every danger with him, so he was a very close
friend of Agrippa. [K644] Silas began to desire equal honours with the king,
because of his close friendship. Sometimes he praised himself beyond all
modesty and recalled the hard times they had gone through together. He did this
so often, that he severely exasperated the king against him. Agrippa was so
disgusted, that he removed Silas from his command and sent him bound to his own
country, to be held in custody. A little later, the king was to celebrate his
birthday and sent for Silas to attend the kingly feast. Silas returned such a
churlish answer, that the king left him with his keepers. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 19. c. 7. s. 1. (317-325) 9:363-367}
6664. King Agrippa now turned his attention to Jerusalem. He fortified the
walls of the section called the New City and made the gates wider and higher
than they had been before, while doing all this at the public expense. He would
have completed the walls to the point where they would have been impregnable by
human force, had not Marsus, the governor of Syria, written letters to Claudius
about this. The emperor, suspecting that the Jews were about to attempt some
sedition, wrote earnestly to Agrippa that he should stop this work and he obeyed
at once. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 7. s. 2. (326-328) 9:367,369}
6665. A door of faith was now opened to the Gentiles. The men of Cyprus and
Cyrene were dispersed to Antioch after the martyrdom of Stephen and preached
Christ to the Greeks. [E868] (It was Ellhnav, Greeks in the oldest book of
Alexandria, not, as in the common edition, Ellhnisav.) A large number believed
and turned to the Lord. When the church at Jerusalem heard this, they sent
Barnabas there, who admonished them all to adhere steadfastly to the Lord. A
large number were added to the Lord. {Ac 11:20-24}
6666. A severe famine raged at Rome. Claudius provided plenty of provisions
for the immediate need and made provision for the future. Since most of the
grain and other provisions came from foreign lands and the mouth of the Tiber
River had no good ports, Claudius built the port of Ostia. {*Dio, l. 60. (11)
7:393,395} It was barely finished after eleven years, although he kept thirty
thousand men working on it constantly. {*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 20.
s. 2. 2:37,39}
6667. This famine happened in the second year of Claudius. There was also a
notable famine in his eleventh year, as mentioned by others. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 12. c. 43. 4:377} {*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 18. s. 2.
2:35,37} {Orosius, l. 7. c. 6.} This was not that world wide famine which was
foretold by Agabus; that one began in the fourth year of Claudius, as evident
from history. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:261} {Orosius, l. 7. c. 6.}
This first famine happened at the same time as Herod Agrippa's death. {Ac
12:23-25}
4046 AM, 4756 JP, 43 AD
6668. Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul and when he had located him, he
brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they met together in the church and
taught a large multitude. The disciples were first called Christians at
Antioch. {Ac 11:25,26} This name was derived from the Latin form and not from
the Greek form of the word for Christ. The term seems to have been coined by
some Romans who were in Antioch at the time.
6669. At about this time, the prophets went down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
One of these was Agabus, who declared by the Spirit that a severe famine would
occur throughout the whole world. {Ac 11:27,28}
6670. Claudius brought the Lycians, who had revolted and killed many Romans,
under his servitude again, adding their country to the prefecture of Pamphylia.
[K645] While he was examining this business in court, he asked a certain envoy,
who had been born at Rome of Lycian parents, a question in Latin. When the
envoy did not understand Latin, Claudius deprived him of his Roman citizenship,
saying it was not fitting that he should be a Roman when he could not speak
Latin. {*Dio, l. 60. (17) 7:411}
6671. At Berytus, King Agrippa built a theatre, an amphitheatre, baths and
porches, at enormous cost and celebrated their dedication most sumptuously. In
the theatre, he staged shows consisting of musical performances of the greatest
variety and in the amphitheatre, he held many gladiatorial games. Furthermore,
because he wished to gratify and please the spectators, he had two troops of
seven hundred criminals brought in to fight with each other. This staged war
was a suitable punishment for the malefactors, as well as a delight to those who
loved peace. So they were all killed by the wounds they inflicted on each
other. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 7. s. 5. (335-337) 9:373}
6672. Finally, a number of kings from the surrounding regions came to Agrippa
at Tiberius in Galilee: Antiochus of Commagene, Sampsiceramus of the Emesa,
Cotys of Lesser Armenia, Polemon of Pontus and his own brother Herod, king of
Chalcis. While they were all together, Marsus, the governor of Syria, also
arrived. Therefore, Agrippa paid his due respects to the Romans and went out to
meet him, as far as the seventh road marker (about a mile). Seeing Agrippa ride
in the same chariot with his guests, Marsus distrusted the friendship of so many
kings, so he sent his messengers to each one separately, telling them to depart
without delay. Agrippa was most deeply offended by this, so that he hated
Marsus, {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 8. s. 1. (338-342) 9:373-377} and in
his letters frequently solicited Claudius to remove Marsus from being governor
of Syria. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 1. s. 1. (1) 10:3}
6673. Agrippa transferred the high priesthood from Matthias, the son of Ananus,
to Elionaeus, the son of Cantheras. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 8. s. 1.
(342) 9:377}
4047 AM, 4757 JP, 44 AD
6674. The famine foretold by Agabus increased, and the Christians of Antioch
collected a gift for their friends living in Judea. They sent it by Barnabas
and Saul, after these two had preached the word of the Lord to the people of
Antioch for a whole year. {Ac 11:26,29,30}
6675. About this time, King Herod Agrippa (as the Syriac paraphrase correctly
called him) apprehended those who belonged to the church, {Ac 12:1} because they
opposed the institutions and rites of their country, of which Agrippa was a most
religious observer. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 6. s. 3. (300) 9:357}
6676. Agrippa killed James, the son of Zebedee and brother of John, with a
sword. {Ac 12:2} Clement of Alexandria, from the tradition of his ancestors,
added that the very same man who brought James to judgment became a Christian.
[E869] He saw how freely James gave his testimony of Jesus and that he publicly
confessed to being a Christian, in spite of having received most severe
warnings. Therefore, when they were brought together for punishment, he asked
James' forgiveness and James treated it as a small thing and said:
"Peace be to you."
6677. James kissed him and so they were both later beheaded. {*Clement,
Hypotyposes, l. 7. 2:579} {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 9.
1:127} [K646]
6678. When the king saw that the death of James pleased the people, he cast
Peter into prison during the days of the feast of unleavened bread. He was
guarded by sixteen soldiers. Agrippa intended to bring him out to the people
after the passover. The church prayed daily for him and an angel of the Lord
delivered him miraculously in the night. He went to the house of Mary, the
mother of John Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. He told them of
his deliverance, so that they could inform James, the son of Alphaeus and
brother of our Lord, and the rest of the believers. Peter then went to another
place. {Ac 12:3-17}
6679. Herod Agrippa was frustrated and in a rage, ordered the innocent keepers
to be dragged to execution. He travelled down to Caesarea and stayed there. He
was displeased with the people of Tyre and Sidon, whose land was not sufficient
to maintain them, especially in that year of famine, and who were therefore
forced to seek sustenance from Galilee and other places under Herod's
jurisdiction. Consequently, they came to him unanimously through the mediation
of Blastus, the king's chamberlain, whom they had befriended, wishing to make
peace with him. A day was appointed and Herod sat before the tribunal in his
royal attire and made a speech to them. With acclamations, the people kept
shouting that this was the voice of a god, not a man. At once, an angel of the
Lord smote him, because he had not given the glory to God. He was eaten up by
worms and died. {Ac 12:18-23}
6680. The historian Josephus mentioned this, adding that an owl appeared to
him, lest the prophecy of his German prophet should be invalid: {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 19. c. 8. s. 2. (343-350) 9:377-381}
"When Agrippa had now finished the third year of his reign and was starting his
fourth year, he went to Caesarea, which was formerly called Straton's Tower.
There he solemnised some annual plays for Caesar's health, which were attended
by a large number of noblemen and youngsters from all the province. On the
second day of this celebration, he came all dressed up in his princely robes.
These were richly and intricately woven with silver, which produced an angelic
or extraordinary lustre by the reflection of the rising sun, and struck
reverence into the spectators. Immediately some wicked men shouted from the
distance and greeted him as a god and asked him to be propitious to them.
Before this, they had only honoured him as a man, but now they saw there was
something more in him than human. He neither refused nor repelled this impious
adulation. A little later, he looked up and saw an owl over his head, sitting
on a rope that was stretched out for some occasion. He knew at once that what
had been a token of his good fortune, was now a sign of his ruin, and he was
struck to the very heart. Later his belly began to torment him more and more
grievously. Therefore, turning to his friends, he said: Behold I, who by your
greeting was called god, am now ordered from this life. My certain fate gives
the lie to your flattery. I, whom you greeted as immortal, am forced to die. I
must endure the wishes of providence, for I have not lived poorly, nor so
happily, that all men may call me blessed. When he had said those things, his
pain grew worse and worse. These things were promptly told around the country
and the rumour went out that he was dying. Immediately, therefore, all the
people, including their wives and children, were in sackcloth, according to
their country's custom, praying to God for the health of their king. They made
all places resound with their lamentations and howling. As the king, who was
lying on a high bed, looked down and saw the people prostrate on their faces, he
could not stop weeping. His pain lasted, in the most intense degree and without
interruption, for five days and then he died." [K647]
6681. Josephus stated that he reigned for seven years, four under Gaius (less
three or four months, for Gaius himself did not rule four full years), and three
under Claudius (adding, in like manner, three or four months). He stated that
his yearly revenue came to twelve million drachmas and that, because he was so
noble and generous, this was not enough and he had been forced to borrow money.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 8. s. 2. (351-352) 9:381,383}
6682. Before the king's death became known, Herod, the king of Chalcis, and
Helcias, the general of the cavalry, conferred together and sent Ariston to kill
Silas, their common enemy, as if on Agrippa's orders. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
19. c. 8. s. 3. (353) 9:383}
6683. Agrippa left only one son, Agrippa, who was seventeen and was being
educated at Rome with Claudius. He left three daughters, of whom Bernice was
married to her uncle Herod at the age of sixteen and the others were still
virgins. Mariamme was ten years old and was betrothed by her father to Julius
Archelaus, the son of Helcias. Drusilla was six years old and betrothed to
Epiphanes, son of Antiochus, the king of Commagene. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19.
c. 9. s. 1. (354,355) 9:383,385} [E870]
6684. When it was known for certain that Agrippa was dead, the people of
Caesarea and Sebaste (two cities which were built by his father) acted like
enemies of the dead prince. The common soldiers, with one accord, dragged his
and his daughters' statues from the palace and brought them into the brothels.
They abused them in such calumnious ways that it was a shame to recount. They
made feasts and banquets in every public place. To express their great
happiness, they adorned themselves with garlands and anointed their bodies.
They sacrificed and made offerings to Charon and even worshipped one another,
for the joy they felt over the death of the king. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19.
c. 9. s. 1. (356-359) 9:385,387}
6685. The word of God was sown, increased and multiplied. Barnabas and Saul
returned to Jerusalem. When they had finished their ministry there, they took
John Mark along with them. {Ac 12:24,25}
6686. Claudius deprived the Rhodians of their liberty because they had
crucified some Romans. {*Dio, l. 60. (24) 7:429}
6687. When Claudius wanted to send the young Agrippa into his kingdom to
succeed his father, Claudius' freedmen and his friends, who had much influence
with Claudius, dissuaded him. They said it was dangerous to commit so large a
kingdom to so young a youth, who had barely reached manhood. He was very
unqualified to rule there, since the kingdom required a large force of soldiers
to keep it. Claudius could not deny that they spoke rationally and truly.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 19. c. 9. s. 2. (360-362) 9:387} Although, in
actual fact, their aim was the government of that kingdom, by which to make
themselves rich. Tacitus stated: {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 9. 3:191}
"When the kings either had all died, or lost most of their territory, Claudius
made Judah into a province to be governed by Roman equestrians or freedmen."
6688. Therefore, Claudius made Cuspius Fadus governor of Judea and the entire
kingdom of Agrippa (which was much larger than the first kingdom of Herod, his
grandfather). Claudius honoured the dead king in this, in that he would not
bring Marsus, his enemy, into his kingdom. He ordered Fadus to chastise
severely the cities of Caesarea and Sebaste for their ingratitude to their dead
king and the contumely against his daughters, who were still alive. [K648] He
wanted the troops from Caesarea and Sebaste, along with the five cohorts, to
make war in Pontus. In their place, he would substitute soldiers chosen from
the Roman legions who had been ordered to defend Syria. However, the soldiers
sent an envoy to Claudius and obtained permission to stay in Judea. In later
times, they were involved in the most grievous calamity to the Jews and sowed
the seeds of the war which started when Florus was governor. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 19. c. 9. s. 2. (363-366) 9:387,389}
6689. Josephus wrote that Claudius removed Marsus as a favour to his dead
friend, Agrippa, and made Cassius Longinus the governor of Syria in his place.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 1. s. 1. (1) 10:3} Tacitus stated that this
happened three years later.
4048a AM, 4757 JP, 44 AD
6690. The Jews living beyond the Jordan River had a dispute with the
Philadelphians about the limits of the village of Zia, a place full of very
warlike people. These same Jews had taken up arms without the knowledge or
consent of their rulers and had killed many of the Philadelphians. When Cuspius
heard this, he was greatly offended. The Jews should have let him decide the
matter, if they believed that the Philadelphians had done them any wrong, rather
than so rashly take up arms of their own accord against them. So he captured
three of the ringleaders and had them bound. He executed Annibas and banished
Amaramus and Eleazar. Not long after this, he captured and condemned Tholomaeus
to death, because he was the leader of the robbers and had done many wrongs to
Idumea and Arabia. He tried to eliminate all the robbers from the whole country
of Judea. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 1. s. 1. (1-5) 10:3,5}
4048b AM, 4758 JP, 45 AD
6691. When Cassius Longinus (whom Tacitus believed to be Vibius Marsus) was
governor of Syria, he went to Jerusalem with his army, together with Cuspius
Fadus, the governor of the Jews. They convened the priests and the leaders of
the Jews and clearly explained to them the full intent of the emperor's
commands. They were to store the clothes of the high priest in the tower of
Antonia, where the Romans would guard them, as had been done in the time of
Vitellius. The Jews dared not oppose them in anything, but asked for time to
send envoys to Caesar, to try to gain from him the favour that they would not be
deprived of the privilege of keeping the holy clothes. They also wanted nothing
to be done until Caesar had replied. Fadus and Longinus said they would allow
this, if they would first give hostages while they waited for Caesar's reply.
They readily turned over their children and sent off the envoys. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 15. c. 11. s. 4. (405-407) 8:195,197} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
20. c. 1. s. 1. (6-8) 10:5,7}
6692. At the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers, such as
Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menahem, who was
educated together with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. All of them served God and
fasted. [E871] The Holy Spirit told the church to separate Paul and Barnabas
out from among their number for the task to which he had called them. These
were commended to God by the church with fasting and praying and laying on of
hands. Taking John Mark with them as a servant, they came to Seleucia. From
there they sailed into Cyprus (Barnabas' country), where they first began to
preach the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews at Salamis. {Ac 13:1-4}
6693. They travelled over that island as far as Paphos, where they came across
a false Jewish prophet, Barjesus, surnamed Elymas, or Magus. [K649] He tried to
turn away Sergius Paulus, the ruler of that country, who had a desire to hear
Saul and Barnabas. Saul sharply reproved this man, who was immediately struck
with blindness. The proconsul was stirred by this miracle and the gospel, and
was converted to the faith. From this time on, Luke in his history always calls
Saul by the name of Paul. He and those who had come with him to Paphos went on
to Perga of Pamphylia, where John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. {Ac
13:6-13}
6694. Through the intercession of Agrippa, who was with Claudius at the time,
the envoys from Jerusalem obtained confirmation of the privilege which had first
been granted to them by Vitellius, of retaining the holy garments. They also
received a written ruling about this matter from the emperor, in the fifth year
of his tribunal power, to take to the magistrates at Jerusalem. This was dated
on the 4th of the Calends of July (June 27), when Rufus and Pompeius Silvanus
were consuls at Rome. Claudius did this to please his good friends, Herod, the
king of Chalcis, and Aristobulus the younger. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 15. c.
11. s. 4. (407) 8:197} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 1. s. 1,2. (9-14)
10:7,9}
6695. About the same time, Herod, the king of Chalcis, successfully petitioned
Claudius for the authority over the temple and the holy treasury, as well as the
right to choose the high priests. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 1. s. 3.
(15,16) 10:9,11}
6696. Since there was to be an eclipse of the sun on his birthday and because
of some other portents that had already taken place, Claudius was afraid that it
could become an occasion for some sedition. Ahead of the due time, he wrote
down and had it made known that there would be an eclipse. He noted the very
time, place, and all its natural causes and showed that it was inevitable.
{*Dio, l. 60. (26) 7:433,435} The birthday of Claudius was on the first of
August, {*Dio, l. 60. (5) 7:379} on which day the sun was partially eclipsed
about two hours before noon, to a fourth part of its diameter.
6697. Herod, the king of Chalcis, removed Simon Cantheras and placed Joseph,
the son of Camei, in the high priesthood. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 1.
s. 3. (16) 10:11}
6698. Theudas, a mere impostor, by pretending to be a prophet, persuaded a
large number of the Jews to take their riches with them and follow him to the
Jordan River. He promised them that he would divide the river and make an easy
way for them to pass through. Fadus Cuspius, the governor of the Jews, sent out
some cavalry troops who overtook the company by surprise. They killed a large
number of them and took many alive. Theudas was beheaded and they took his head
to Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 5. s. 1. (97-99) 10:53,55}
6699. Paul and Barnabas left Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. When they
entered their synagogues on the Sabbath day, after the reading of the law and
the prophets, they were invited by the rulers of the synagogue to teach. After
Paul had preached an excellent sermon, the Jews left the synagogue, but the
Gentiles asked that they would expound the same things to them on the next
Sabbath day. After they had broken up, many devout Jews and religious
proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and admonished them to
continue in the grace and favour of God. {Ac 13:14-43}
6700. On the following Sabbath, almost all the city came flocking to hear the
Word of God. When the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy and
with blasphemies opposed what Paul taught. [K650] Paul and Barnabas were deeply
offended and leaving the Jews, preached only to the Gentiles. These joyfully
embraced the gospel and all those who were ordained to eternal life, believed.
The Word of God was spread over that entire country. The Jews were frustrated
in their malicious designs and stirred up many honourable religious women
(called Proselytes of the Gate by the Jews), and the chief men in the city.
They raised a commotion and drove Paul and Barnabas from their region. Paul and
Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against them and travelled to Iconium.
The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. {Ac 13:44-52}
6701. At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue of the Jews and spoke
there. A large number of Jews and Greeks believed, but the unbelieving Jews
exasperated and prejudiced the minds of the Greeks against the brethren.
However, they stayed there a long time and spoke freely, as inspired by the
Lord, who gave testimony to the word of his grace and by doing many miracles
through them. {Ac 14:1-3} It was thought to have been at this time that Thecla,
a noble maid of Iconium, was converted to Christ. Her acts are most deservedly
recorded among the Apocrypha by the seventy, a synod of bishops who met under
Gelasius. [E872]
6702. The multitude of Iconium was divided. Some were for the Jews and some
for the apostles. When it came to pass that a number of Jews and Gentiles,
together with their chief rulers, came to assault and stone them, they fled away
into the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe and the surrounding regions and
preached the gospel there. {Ac 14:4-7}
6703. At Lystra, Paul healed a man who was born lame. When the men of Lystra
would have sacrificed to Paul as Mercury, and Barnabas as Jupiter, the two men
tore their clothes, refused the honour and had much trouble restraining the
multitude from sacrificing to them. Soon after, the unbelieving Jews came there
from Iconium and Antioch and raised a tumult in which they excited the people
against them. The furious multitude stoned Paul and threw his body out of the
city, for they thought he was dead. When his disciples gathered around him, he
he got up and made his way into the city. {Ac 14:8-20}
6704. In this year, and maybe at this very time, Paul was taken into the third
heaven, where he heard unspeakable words, fourteen years before the second
letter to the Corinthians was written. {2Co 12:2-4} This may be the event that
is thought to relate to that of Triephon in Lucian, or the more ancient author
of that dialogue by Philopatris:
"When I met that Jewish bald head, I justly laughed at him who was raptured into
the very third heavens through the air. There he learned those things that were
most excellent and glorious. He renewed us by water and caused us to walk in
the steps of the blessed and redeemed us from the dominions of the wicked."
6705. So Triephon:
"God reigned on high, great, heavenly and eternal, the Son of the Father, the
Spirit, proceeding from the Father, one of three, and three of one."
6706. In a similar manner, the Christians used to preach.
6707. Paul and Barnabas left Lystra and came to Derbe. They preached the
gospel there and led many converts to Christ. {Ac 14:20,21}
6708. Among many others who were converted to Christ at this time, was Timothy,
with his holy mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois, who had taught him the
Scriptures from his infancy. [K651] Timothy was there and although still a
child, he was an eyewitness of the sufferings of his spiritual father, Paul, at
Antioch (in Pisidia), Iconium and Lystra (in Lycaonia). {Ac 16:1,2 2Ti 1:2-5
3:11-15}
6709. Paul and Barnabas went no farther than Derbe and returned to Lystra,
Iconium and Antioch. They confirmed the minds of the disciples and exhorted
them to endure affliction for their faith's sake, without wavering. They
appointed bishops over them in each of their churches and prayed for them with
fasting, commending them to the God in whom they believed. Later, they
travelled across Pisidia and came into Pamphylia. After they had declared and
spread the word of the Lord at Perga, they crossed to Attalia and sailed to
Antioch, from where they had set out. There they told the congregated churches
what God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the
Gentiles. {Ac 14:21-27}
6710. Tiberius Alexander replaced Cuspius Fadus as the governor of the Jewish
government. He was the son of Alexander, the alabarch of Alexandria (an old
friend of Claudius), who had forsaken the Jewish religion. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 20. c. 5. s. 2. (100,101) 10:55}
6711. A little after this, when the news spread through all Judea, Helena, the
queen of Adiabene (in the confines of Assyria and Mesopotamia), was converted by
a certain Jew to the worship of the true God and came to visit the temple at
Jerusalem. She wanted to worship the true God there and to pay her vows, and
made ample provision for her journey. She was delayed for a few days by her
son, Izates, who was king at the time and was later converted to the same
religion by Ananias, a Jewish merchant. When she saw many of the Jews starving
from famine, she sent some men to Alexandria for a large quantity of wheat, for
which she herself paid. She sent others to Cyprus, to get a large quantity of
figs for their relief. These quickly returned and she divided all the food to
those who needed it. When her son Izates heard of the hardships caused by the
famine, he sent money to the chief magistrates at Jerusalem. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 20. c. 2. s. 1-5. (17-53) 10:11-31}
6712. Izates, the king, sent his five sons to Jerusalem to learn their language
and customs correctly. His mother Helena also erected three pyramids, about six
hundred yards from Jerusalem, in which the bones of her son Izates were
entombed. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 3. s. 4. (71) 10:39} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 20. c. 4. s. 3. (95,96) 10:51} The monuments of Helena were
extant, not only in the time of Josephus, but in the time of Eusebius, also.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 2. s. 2. (54-55) 4:19} {*Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 12. 1:135,137} {Jerome, Epistle 27.}
4050a AM, 4759 JP, 46 AD
6713. Paul and Barnabas stayed at Antioch with the disciples for a long time.
{Ac 14:28} After that, it appears as though Paul preached the gospel even as far
as Illyria to those who never heard it before. {Ro 15:19,20} [E873] It was
there that he suffered the things which he mentioned in his second letter to the
Corinthians. {2Co 11:24-26} He mentioned that he had been whipped with rods at
Philippi and twice elsewhere by the Gentiles. Five times he received
thirty-nine stripes from the Jews. He had been shipwrecked three times and
spent all night in the sea. [K652] We find that five years elapsed between the
return of Paul and Barnabas to Antioch and their going to the council at
Jerusalem. We cannot place the above events in a better place than here, where
there is so large a gap of silence in the history of the church.
6714. When Valerius Asiaticus was consul again, the island of Therasia rose
from the Aegean Sea on a night when the moon was eclipsed. {*Seneca, Natural
Questions, l. 2. c. 26. 7:139,141} {*Seneca, Natural Questions, l. 6. c.
21. 8:189} {Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, Claudius} This eclipse was
observed on the last night of December (which ended the year that Valerius
Asiaticus was consul for the second time), and the first of January, which began
the consulships of Claudius (fourth time) and Lucius Vitellius (third time).
This little island appeared for the first time near Thera. {*Dio, l. 60. (29)
8:3,5}
4050b AM, 4760 JP, 47 AD
6715. James and Simon, the sons of Judas of Galilee, were crucified because
they incited the Jews to revolt in Quirinius' time. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20.
c. 5. s. 2. (102) 10:55,57}
6716. Herod, the king of Chalcis, removed Joseph, the son of Camei, and made
Ananias, the son of Nebedaeus, the high priest in his place. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 20. c. 5. s. 2. (103) 10:57}
6717. Gotarzes prepared to kill his father Artabanus, the king of the
Parthians, along with his wife and son. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 11. c. 8.
4:261} However, Artabanus died and left his kingdom to his son Vardanes.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 2. s. 4. (69) 10:37} Tacitus stated that
Gotarzes and Vardanes were brothers, and Josephus believed them to be Artabanus'
sons.
6718. The Parthians, fearing the cruelty of Gotarzes, invited Vardanes to be
their king. He had always been an adventurous man and in two days he covered
three hundred and fifty miles and invaded Gotarzes, who was terrified by his
sudden coming. Without delay, Vardanes seized the adjacent provinces as well.
Only the city of Seleucia refused to submit and since they had also revolted
against his father, he was very angry with them. He unwisely wasted time by
besieging their very strong city, which was fortified on the one side by a river
and on the other with a very strong guard. In the interim, Gotarzes, with the
help of the Dahae and the Hyrcanians, recruited his forces and renewed the war.
As a result, Vardanes was forced to abandon the siege of Seleucia and withdraw
to Bactria. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 11. c. 8. 4:261}
6719. The news of the Parthian discord and of their fighting to appoint a new
king, reached Rome. Mithridates, the king of Greater Armenia, was advised by
Claudius Caesar to march into Armenia. He trusted in the power and wealth of
his brother Pharasmanes, the king of the Iberians. In fact, the affairs of the
east were in such a turmoil, that Mithridates took over Armenia. The Roman
soldiers subdued the strong citadels, while the Iberian army held the field.
The Armenians did not resist, for their general, Demonax, was killed in a
battle. Immediately, Cotys, the king of Lesser Armenia, advanced there, but
Caesar convinced him otherwise through letters he sent to him. All the
countries rallied to Mithridates, who behaved more harshly than was appropriate
for a new king. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 11. c. 8,9. 4:261,263}
6720. Gotarzes and Vardanes were about to fight, when Gotarzes showed his
brother the treachery of the people and they shook hands and swore at an altar
to revenge themselves on each others' enemies. [K653] They made peace between
themselves and as Vardanes appeared to be better able to hold the kingdom,
Gotarzes retired into Hyrcania, to avoid all strife. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 11.
c. 9. 4:263}
6721. When Vardanes returned, Seleucia surrendered, in the seventh year after
its defection. After this, he invaded the strongest provinces and then planned
to recover Armenia. Vibius Marsus (or, according to Josephus, Cassius
Longinus), who was the governor of Syria, threatened him with war through his
envoy. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 11. c. 9. 4:263}
4051 AM, 4761 JP, 48 AD
6722. Ventidius Cumanus replaced Tiberius Alexander as the governor of the
Jews. Herod, the king of Chalcis, brother of that great Agrippa, died in the
eighth year of Claudius' reign. He was survived by three sons, of whom
Aristobulus had been born to his former wife, Mariamme; Berniciansus and
Hyrcanus were sons of Bernice, his brother's daughter. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
20. c. 5. s. 3. (103,104) 10:57}
6723. As the feast of the passover was approaching, many people from all
regions came to the feast. Cumanus followed the example of the previous
governors and set one cohort as a guard on the porch of the temple to preclude
any riots. On the fourth day of the feast, one of the soldiers obscenely
exposed his private parts to the crowd, who cried out and were enraged by this
action. They said that the one whom they honoured in that feast was affronted
by it, while some of the boldest of them railed against Cumanus, saying this
impudent soldier had been sent by him. [E874] When Cumanus heard this, he was
quite troubled and wanted the people to raise no commotions during the time of
the feast. When they continued to rail at him, he commanded the whole army to
proceed to Antonia, a citadel that adjoined the temple. When the common people
saw the soldiers coming, they were afraid. They began to flee in panic and
stampeded into a narrow passage, thinking that the soldiers had pursued them.
They crushed and trampled one another, so that twenty thousand of them ended up
dead. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 5. s. 3. (105-112) 10:57-61} Josephus
stated elsewhere that thirty thousand died. Other manuscripts of Josephus read
only ten thousand. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s. 1. (227)
2:413} {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 19. 1:161} Rufinus noted
that more than thirty thousand perished. Eusebius and Orosius also confirmed
Rufinus' figure. {*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:262} {Orosius, l. 7. c.
6.}
6724. Some, who had fled and escaped this tumult, robbed Caesar's servant,
Steven, on the road near Bethhoron, about twelve miles from Jerusalem, taking
all his baggage. When Cumanus heard this, he sent soldiers there with orders to
destroy the surrounding villages. In this havock, one of the soldiers brought
out the books of the Mosaic law, which he had found in one of these villages.
He tore it up before them all and railed exceedingly against the law and the
Jews. When the Jews heard this, they gathered a large company and went to
Caesarea, where Cumanus lived. They entreated him to revenge this act, not just
for their sakes, but because of the contempt for and wrong done to their God.
Then the governor, who was afraid of a revolt among the people, acted on the
advice of his friends and executed the soldier that had done this, thereby
appeasing the people. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 5. s. 4. (113-117)
10:61,63} [K654]
4052 AM, 4762 JP, 49 AD
6725. Apollonius of Tyana, on his journey to the Indians, entered the city of
Babylon in the second month of the third year of Vardanes and conferred with the
king. {*Philostratus, Apollonius, l. 1. c. 28. 1:83} {*Philostratus,
Apollonius, l. 1. c. 31. 1:87,89} {Eusebius, Treatise of Eusebius
(Hierocles)}
6726. Gotarzes regretted having surrendered his kingdom and was recalled by his
nobility, who were all the more enslaved by the peace. He gathered a large
force and fought a fierce battle with Vardanes at the Erindes River. Vardanes
won and proceeded with good success, subduing the mid countries as far as the
Sindes River, which divided the Dahae and the Arii. There his success ended,
for, although the Parthians were conquerors, they hated fighting a long way from
home. Therefore, he erected monuments glorifying his power and the subjection
of peoples that had never before been subject to the Parthians. Vardanes
returned home with great glory and became even sterner and more intolerable
toward his subjects. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 11. c. 10. 4:265}
6727. Vardanes went to Izates, the king of Abilene, and tried to persuade him
to join with him in a war against the Romans. Izates tried to change his mind
by telling him of the Roman acts and their power. Vardanes was offended at this
and promptly planned to make war against Izates, but his death prevented this
war. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 3. s. 4. (69-73) 10:37,39} When the
Parthians learned that he planned to make war with the Romans, they surprised
and killed him while he was hunting. He died in his prime, being one of the
most famous kings for one so young. If he had obtained the love of his subjects
as he had the fear of his enemies, he might have been numbered among the old
kings. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 3. s. 4. (73) 10:39} {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 11. c. 10. 4:265}
6728. The Parthian affairs were thrown into confusion by the death of Vardanes
and they did not know who would be the next king. Many favoured Gotarzes and
some wanted Meherdates (the son of Phraates III, who was the son of Zenones I);
Meherdates was a hostage with the Romans at the time. At last Gotarzes
prevailed and occupied the throne. Because of his luxurious lifestyle and
cruelty, he forced the Parthians to send a secret request to Claudius, to send
them Meherdates as their king. They complained of Gotarzes' cruelty to the
nobility and the common people. First, Gotarzes had killed his brothers, then
his close relatives, then his more distant relatives. He even killed pregnant
women and their small children. Slothful and licentious at home and unlucky in
war, he covered his foul deeds by his cruelty. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c.
10. 4:265}
6729. Didius, the Roman general, had deposed Mithridates from the kingdom of
Bosphorus and made his son Cotys, a rash young fellow, king there. Didius led
away the full power of the army and left the new king with only a few cohorts
under the command of Julius Aquila, a Roman equestrian. After he had lost
everything, Mithridates wandered about inciting the countries and gathering all
the renegades from them. He got together an army and ejected the king of the
Dandarians and took over his kingdom. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 15.
4:337} [E875]
6730. After Claudius had heard the Parthian envoys, he sent Meherdates, or
Mithridates, to be their king. He told him that he should not think of himself
as an autocrat among slaves, but as a guide of free men and that he should show
mercy and justice. He ordered Gaius Cassius, who was the governor of Syria, to
escort the young man safely to the banks of the Euphrates River. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 12. c. 11. 4:331} [K655]
6731. At this time, Cassius excelled all others in his legal skill but was
inexperienced in martial affairs because there were no wars going on. He
revived the ancient customs of exercising the legions with the same care, as if
an enemy had been invading the country. He wanted to live up to the name of the
Cassian family and his ancestors, who were held in high esteem in those
countries. When he had pitched his tents at Zeugma, where the river could be
crossed easily, he convened those who had voted to make Meherdates the king.
When the Parthian nobles and the king of the Arabians, Acbarus (or Abgarus), had
arrived, he admonished the young man, Meherdates, in their presence, not to
delay, since this caused people to lose enthusiasm and instigate treachery. He
therefore advised him to press on quickly with his plans. Meherdates despised
this good advice, through the deceit of Acbarus. Meherdates was young and
thought that all royalty consisted of unbridled luxury, so he stayed at the town
of Edessa for many days. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 12. 4:331,333}
6732. Mithridates had captured the kingdom of the Dandarians and was thinking
of invading the Bosphorus. Julius Aquila and Cotys did not think they could
handle Mithridates with their own weak forces, because Zorsines, king of the
Siracene (toward the Caucasus), had joined with Mithridates. So they sent for
foreign troops and sent envoys to Eunones, who ruled over the country of the
Aorsi (among the Scythians), and whose friendship they easily gained by showing
how Mithridates had rebelled against the Romans. Therefore, they agreed that
Eunones should fight the cavalry battles, while the Romans would handle the
besieging of their cities. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 15. 4:337}
6733. They marshalled their forces and advanced, with the Romans and the
Bosphorans defending each wing of the Aorsi from before and behind. After they
had driven the enemy back, they came to Soza, a town of the Dandarians, which
had been abandoned by Mithridates, because the loyalty of the people was
suspect. The invading forces thought it best to take it and leave a garrison
there, after which they went on into the country of the Siracians. After they
crossed the Panda River, they besieged Uspe, which was defended by walls and
moats. The walls were not made of stone, but of wickerwork hurdles with earth
between, and were weak. From the high siege towers, the Romans attacked the
besieged with firebrands and spears. If night had not come and stopped the
battle, the place would have been captured the same day. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
12. c. 16. 4:339}
6734. The next day, envoys unsuccessfully asked that those who were freeborn
might be allowed to go free, and offered ten thousand slaves. The conquerors
despised this offer, because it would be cruel to kill those who had surrendered
and dangerous to keep such a large company of prisoners. They decided to let
the matter be settled in a battle. They ordered the soldiers who scaled the
walls to kill everyone in the city. The rest of the country was terrified at
the destruction of Uspe. They realised that eminent and fortified places were
of no value, because the enemy broke through rivers and all. Zorsines thought
hard about the future of his alliance with Mithridates and whether he should
rather attend to his own distressed country. At last, he abandoned Mithridates
and gave hostages to the Romans. He fell down before the image of Caesar, in
respect to the great glory of the Roman army, who were victorious. The Romans
were unscathed and triumphant and were only a three-day journey from the Tanais
River. However, their return journey was not so successful. Some of their
returning ships ran aground on the coasts of the Tuarians and the barbarians
surrounded them, killing the captain of their cohort and many of the
auxiliaries. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 17. 4:339,341}
6735. In the interim, Mithridates had no relief and tried to decide whose mercy
he had best seek. His brother Cotys, who had earlier betrayed him, he now
feared as his enemy. Among the Romans, there was no one of sufficient authority
for his promises to carry much weight. So he fled to Eunones, entered his
palace, fell at his feet and said: [K656]
"Mithridates, hunted for by sea and land for so many years, behold, is now
present of his own accord. Use as you please the son of great Achamenes, for my
enemies have taken all other help from me."
6736. Eunones was moved by the honour of the person, the change of his fortune
and his generous petition. He wrote to Claudius and sent envoys on behalf of
Mithridates, who deserved sterner treatment. Mithridates asked for neither
power nor royalty, but simply that he should not be led in triumph nor put to
death for his faults. Claudius was undecided whether to punish or pardon him.
At last, he decided to grant a more merciful sentence. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
12. c. 18-20. 4:341-354}
4053a AM, 4762 JP, 49 AD
6737. Carenes sent for Meherdates to take over the kingdom and told him it
would be very easy if he came without delay. Meherdates was given bad advice
and did not go straight to Mesopotamia, but instead took a more roundabout way
through Armenia, at the start of the winter season, which was a difficult time
to travel. [E876] They were exhausted by the journey through the mountains when
they finally arrived in the plain country. They joined forces with Carenes,
crossed the Tigris River and marched across Adiabene in northern Assyria, whose
King Izates was publicly friendly with Meherdates, but privately loyal to
Gotarzes. In spite of their journey, they captured the ancient Assyrian capital
city of Nineveh. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 12,13. 4:331-335}
6738. Mithridates of Bosphorus was brought to Rome by Junius Cilo, the governor
of Pontus. He was said to have addressed Caesar somewhat more haughtily than
his situation warranted and to have said these words:
"I have not been sent back to you, but I have come back. If you do not believe
me, let me go again—and then try to catch me."
6739. At the rostrum, when he was exposed to public view and hemmed in on all
sides with guards, his expression remained undaunted. Consular ensigns were
given to Cilo and the praetorian ensigns to Julius Aquila. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 12. c. 21. 4:345}
6740. The Bithynians accused their governor, Junius Cilo, of taking many large
bribes. They spoke before Claudius in such a riotous fashion, that Claudius did
not understand what they were saying. He asked those who stood by, what they
had said. Narcissus lied and replied that they thanked him for Junius Cilo.
Claudius believed it and said: {*Dio, l. 60. (33) 8:25}
"Let him therefore be their governor for two more years."
6741. At this time, the Bithynians accused their governor, Cadius Rufus, of
extortion, and he was condemned. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 22. 4:347}
{*Tacitus, Histories, l. 1. c. 77. 2:121,123} (Both Loeb and Ussher
associate Cadius Rufus with this later reference in Tacitus. We did not see the
reason for the relationship. Editor.)
6742. When King Sohaemus of Iturea and King Agrippa of Judea had died, their
countries were added to the province of Syria. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c.
23. 4:347} Josephus calculated the length of the reign of Agrippa the Younger:
He stated that the beginning of the Jewish war, which started in May 66 AD, was
in the seventeenth year of King Agrippa. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c.
14. s. 4. (284,285) 2:435} It can also be calculated from the Greek money,
which stated that when Judea was taken, around September 70 AD, it was the
twenty-first year of Agrippa. Claudius did not give Agrippa the Younger his
father's kingdom of Judea, but gave him the kingdom of his uncle, Herod of
Chalcis. Agrippa also received authority over the temple and holy treasury and
the right to choose the high priests, which had earlier been granted to his
uncle Herod. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s. 1. (223) 2:411} His
father's kingdom was added to Syria, so that it should have a governor there.
[K657] However, by Caesar's choice, Ventidius Cumanus (as had previously been
the case) retained the administration of Judea and Galilee at this time, while
Felix was sent as governor of Samaria, which lay between them. Felix was a
freedman of Claudius and his mother Antonia and he had his surname of Antonius
from her and Claudius from him. He was the brother of another freedman, Pallas,
of whom Tacitus noted that he was most affectionately beloved by his patron,
Claudius. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 53,54. 4:393,395}
4053b AM, 4763 JP, 50 AD
6743. At Mount Sambulos, Gotarzes made vows to the local god; the chief cult of
this place was Hercules. Gotarzes' army was not yet strong enough, so he used
the Corma River for his defence. Although he was incited to battle by envoys
who challenged him, he delayed and moved from place to place, while sending
bribes to corrupt the loyalty of his enemies. The king of Adiabene and King
Acbarus of the Arabians (of Edessa) defected to Gotarzes because they knew from
experience that the barbarians would rather seek a king at Rome than keep
Meherdates. Meherdates was stripped of his forces and did not trust those who
remained, so he resolved to decide the matter in a battle. Gotarzes met him in
battle, confident now that he could defeat Meherdates' weakened forces. They
fought with a large slaughter and uncertain outcome. When Carenes routed his
opponents and advanced too far, fresh troops cut off his return. Meherdates
gave up all hope and relied on the promises of Parraces, his father's vassal.
Meherdates was defeated by Parraces' treachery and turned over to the conqueror.
Gotarzes sneered at Meherdates as being no relative of his and not of the royal
family of the Arsaces, but one who was a Roman and a foreigner. He cut off his
ears in contempt of the Romans and gave him his life to show his mercy.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 13,14. 4:333,335}
6744. At the age of fourteen, Josephus, the son of Matthias, was an
accomplished scholar and was consulted about the fuller sense and meaning of the
law, even by the high priests and leaders of Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Life, l.
1. c. 2. (7,8) 1:5}
6745. After Gotarzes died of a disease, Venones, the king of the Medes, was
called to rule there. He had a short and most undistinguished reign among them.
The Parthian kingdom was given to Vologeses, his son; his mother was a concubine
and he attained the kingdom with the agreement of his brothers. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 12. c. 14. 4:337} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 44. 4:377,379}
Josephus wrote that Gotarzes was killed by treachery and his brother Vologeses
succeeded him. He added that he divided the kingdom between his two brothers,
by the same father but by different mothers. [E877] Pacorus, who was the
oldest, received Media and to the younger, Tiridates, he gave Armenia.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 3. s. 4. (74) 10:39,41}
4054 AM, 4764 JP, 51 AD
6746. A war arose between the Armenians and Iberians, which was the cause of
very serious troubles between the Romans and the Parthians. Pharasmanes had
obtained Iberia by ancient possession and his brother, Mithridates, had gained
Armenia with the help of the Romans. Pharasmanes had a son called Radamistus,
who was very handsome, had proper composure, had a very strong body and was much
admired by the whole country. When he began to desire his father's kingdom, the
aged Pharasmanes was afraid and tried to divert him, by giving him the idea of
taking over Armenia. He told his son that he had defeated the Parthians and had
given the country to Mithridates. He added that it was better to use craft than
force to get it and thereby take Mithridates by surprise. Then they would
easily be able to oust him and do what they pleased. So Radamistus pretended to
have fallen out with his father and said he could not endure his stepmother's
hostility. [K658] He then defected to his uncle Mithridates and behaved himself
well, but all the while, he was seducing the Armenian nobles and leaders to
rebel. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 44. 4:377,379}
6747. Radamistus pretended to be reconciled and when he returned to his father,
he told him how far he had gone using deceit and that the rest now had to be
done by force. In the interim, Pharasmanes had trumped up some reasons for war.
He alleged that his brother, during the war against the king of the Albanians,
had opposed his appeal for Roman help and now had to pay for that wrong with his
life. He gave his son a large army, with which the latter suddenly invaded
Armenia. Mithridates, terrified and deprived of his country, was compelled to
withdraw to the citadel of Gorneas. The place was very secure, because of its
location and the strong guard under Caelius Pollio, whose centurion was
Casperius. After he tried in vain and with great loss to capture the fortress,
Radamistus then began to see if he could bribe Pollio with money. Casperius,
however, opposed the overthrow of a king and ally, because Armenia had been
given to Mithridates by the Romans and should not be sold for money. At last as
Pollio continued to plead the numbers of the enemy and Radamistus pleaded his
father's orders, Casperius stipulated a truce and left. He said that although
he had frightened Pharasmanes with wars, he would make Titus Ummidius Quadratus,
the governor of Syria, aware of the state of affairs in Armenia. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 12. c. 45. 4:381}
6748. The sixth Calippic period began.
6749. After the departure of Casperius the centurion, Pollio the prefect was no
longer under his supervision. He urged Mithridates to make a league with his
older brother, Pharasmanes. Pollio argued that Mithridates had married
Pharasmanes' daughter and was an uncle to Radamistus, as well as giving him many
other reasons. Mithridates delayed the matter, because he did not trust Pollio,
because he had seduced one of the royal concubines and had abandoned himself to
all manner of lust and luxury. He was known to be available for any villainy,
for a price. In the meantime, Casperius insisted that Pharasmanes withdraw the
Iberians from the siege. Pharasmanes gave vague answers and seemed inclined to
do it, while in the meantime he secretly sent to Radamistus, telling him to
capture the citadel as quickly as possible and by any means he could.
Radamistus secretly bribed the soldiers to demand peace and to threaten to stop
fighting. This forced Mithridates to appoint a day for a conference, and so he
left the citadel. At first, Radamistus feigned obedience, embracing him and
calling him his father-in-law and parent. He swore an oath that he would not
harm him with the sword or poison. He led him at once to a nearby grove and
told Mithridates that he had made preparations to sacrifice there, so that their
peace might be confirmed by the witness of the gods. But then Mithridates was
thrown down and bound with chains. Finally, when Pharasmanes' orders were
received, Radamistus, as if mindful of his oath, cast down his father-in-law
(Radamistus' uncle), together with his wife (Radamistus' sister), and heaped
heavy clothing on them, so that they were smothered to death. Mithridates' sons
were all killed because they cried at their parents' death. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 12. c. 46,47. 4:381-385}
6750. When Quadratus heard that Mithridates had been betrayed and killed and
Armenia was being ruled by his murderers, he called a council to explain the
business and avenge the matter. After they had debated the issue, many were of
the opinion to do nothing. However, lest it should seem that they were giving
assent to such wickedness and Caesar should order them otherwise, they sent
messengers to Pharasmanes, ordering him to get out of Armenia and to recall his
son. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 48. 4:385,387}
4055a AM, 4764 JP, 51 AD
6751. Julius Paelignus was the governor of Cappadocia and was as contemptible
for his stupidity as for his appearance. [K659] While still a private man, he
had been extremely intimate with Claudius and most amused with a life of ease
and sloth. Paelignus gathered together the auxiliaries of the provinces as if
planning to recover Armenia. He then preyed on his friends, rather than his
enemies. His troops deserted him and he was left defenceless against the
barbarian invasions. He went to Radamistus, who bribed him well. [E878]
Paelignus urged him to assume the kingly ensigns and was, in fact, the one who
authored the idea and abetted him in it. When this dishonourable conduct became
known, in order that the rest of the Romans would not be branded with Paelignus'
faults, Helvidius Priscus was sent as an envoy with a legion for a time, to take
care of these unsettled affairs. He quickly crossed the Taurus Mountains and
settled more things by diplomacy than by force. But then he was ordered to
return into Syria for fear of a new Parthian war because Vologeses planned to
invade Armenia, which was part of his ancient kingdom and was now ruled by a
wicked foreign king. He gathered an army and prepared to give his brother,
Tiridates, the kingdom, so that none of the family might be without a kingdom.
When the Parthians came, the Iberians were overcome without a fight and the
cities of Armenia, Artaxata and Tigranocerta came under their yoke. A very
terrible winter followed and an epidemic broke out among the Parthians for lack
of supplies, compelling Vologeses to evacuate the country for the time being.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 49,50. 4:387,389}
6752. Radamistus invaded Armenia now that there was no ruler there. He behaved
more cruelly than before, as if he had come against rebels who, in time, would
rebel again. Although the Armenians were accustomed to servitude, their
patience ran out and they took up arms. They surrounded the palace and forced
Radamistus and his wife Zenobia to flee on fast horses. His wife was great with
child and tried at first to endure the flight, for she feared the enemy and
loved her husband. Later with the continued haste, her womb was jarred too much
and her system was tormented with pains. She begged that she might die
honourably, rather than live in the disgrace of captivity. At first, he
embraced her, cherished her and helped her. He admired her courage and was sick
with fear that if he should have to leave her, someone might find and harm her.
At last, due to the vehemence of his love and being no stranger to wicked
exploits, he drew his sabre. After having wounded her sufficiently, he dragged
her body to the bank of the Araxes River and threw her into it, so that she
would not fall into enemy hands. Then he immediately went through to Iberia, to
his father's throne. In the meantime, some shepherds found Zenobia, obviously
breathing and alive, and thought by her appearance that she was nobly born.
They bound up her wounds and applied their country medicines. When they learned
her name and story, they carried her to Artaxata. From there, she was
officially brought to Tiridates, who accepted her courteously and took her as
his queen. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 50,51. 4:389,391}
6753. Certain professors of the name of Christ, who belonged to the sect of the
Pharisees, came down to Antioch from Judea. They said that the Gentile
Christians ought to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses in order to be
saved. They upset many of the brethren in Syria and Cilicia with their perverse
doctrine, and both Paul and Barnabas stiffly opposed them. {Ac 15:1,2,5,23,24}
Paul called them false brethren brought in unawares. {Ga 2:4} Philastrius and
Epiphanius said that Cerinthus, who was an arch heretic, was the first to hold
these heresies. {Philastrius, De Heres., c. 87.} {Epiphanius, Heresy, l. 1.
c. 28.}
4055b AM, 4765 JP, 52 AD
6754. Fourteen years after having gone to Jerusalem, which had been three years
after his conversion, Paul again went to Jerusalem, together with Barnabas. {Ga
2:1} [K660] Both of them, with some others, had been sent by the church at
Antioch to ask the verdict of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem (whose names
those disturbers had misused to bolster their own opinion), concerning the
recent controversy. {Ac 15:2,3,24}
6755. Paul went up in response to a revelation and Titus, a Greek, accompanied
him. Paul would not compel him to be circumcised, lest it should seem as though
he were giving in to the false brethren, even for a moment. {Ga 2:1-5}
6756. On their journey through Phoenicia and Samaria, Paul and Barnabas told of
the conversion of the Gentiles, to the great joy of all the brethren. When they
came to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and by the apostles and
elders. Paul and Barnabas told of the things God had done through them. {Ac
15:3,4}
6757. Paul privately related the gospel that he had preached among the Gentiles
to the leaders among the apostles, James, Peter and John (who were considered
the pillars of the church). They saw that the preaching of the gospel among the
Gentiles had been committed to Paul, just as the Jews had been to Peter. They
observed the grace that had been given to Paul and gave him and Barnabas the
right hand of fellowship, that they should perform the office of the apostleship
among the Gentiles, while they themselves would do so among the Jews. They
advised them only that they should be careful to relieve the poor at Jerusalem.
{Ga 2:2,7,9,10} [E879]
6758. In a council of the apostles and elders, held at Jerusalem, a long
dispute took place. After Peter had spoken his opinion, Barnabas and Paul told
of the great miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles. Then James
concluded that it seemed good to the apostles and elders that the Gentiles
should abstain from things sacrificed to idols, fornication, strangled animals
and eating blood. To this end, letters were written to those at Antioch and to
the rest of the brethren in Syria and Cilicia. Paul and Barnabas along with
Judas and Silas carried these letters to Antioch. After the letters had been
delivered and read, the brethren rejoiced greatly. Judas and Silas, who were
also prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brethren. {Ac 15:6-32}
6759. Later, Judas returned to the apostles and Silas thought it best to stay
at Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel along with many
others. {Ac 15:33-35}
6760. Josephus, the son of Matthias, when he was sixteen years old, began with
much effort and diligence to learn as much as he could about all three sects of
the Jews: the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c.
2. (9) 1:5}
6761. Pallas, the freedman of Claudius, was given an honorary praetorship and
fifteen million sesterces. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 53. 4:393}
6762. When the Galileans went up to the feast at Jerusalem, they had to travel
through Samaria. {Joh 4:3,4} It happened that a Galilean was murdered in a
Samaritan village called Gema, or Ginea, causing a fight between the travellers
and the villagers, in which many of the Galileans were killed. [K661] The
Jewish rulers took this very grievously and stirred up the Jews to arms,
exhorting them to defend their liberty. They maintained slavery was bad enough,
without having to suffer additional wrongs, as well. At Jerusalem, the common
people left the feast, took up arms and invaded Samaria. They would not stop,
nor did they heed the magistrates who tried to restrain them. The people also
called for help from Eleazar, the son of Dinaeus, and Alexander, who were both
captains of the thieves. They invaded the part of Samaria which bordered on the
country of Acrabatene and carried out an indiscriminate slaughter. They spared
no one on account of their age or sex and also set fire to the towns. When
Cumanus learned what had been done, he took with him one cavalry troop from
Sebaste and four cohorts of foot soldiers, together with armed Samaritans, and
set out in pursuit of the Jews. When he had overtaken them, he killed many of
the men who followed Eleazar, but took even more prisoners. When the rulers of
Jerusalem saw the magnitude of the calamity, they put on sackcloth and threw
ashes on their heads, pleading with the rest of the multitude, who who were
about to go and destroy the territories of Samaria, that they would change their
minds. When they told them how their country would be destroyed, the temple
burned and their wives and children taken captives, they begged them to put down
their arms and go home. The Jews obeyed and went home; the thieves, however,
retired to their strongholds again and from this time on, Judea was overrun by
thieves. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s. 3-5. (232-239)
2:415,417} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 6. s. 1. (118-124) 10:63-67}
6763. The leading Samaritans resorted to Ummidius Quadratus, the governor of
Syria, who was living at Tyre at the time. They begged him to take vengeance on
the Jews who had plundered and burned their towns. Some of the Jewish nobility
and Jonathan, the son of Ananus, the high priest, answered the charges. They
stated that the Samaritans had started this sedition by murdering a Jew, and
that Cumanus was the cause of all the calamities that followed, because he had
been bribed and so would not revenge that murder. When Quadratus had heard
them, he deferred his sentence, saying that he would decide the matter when he
came to Judea and would there find out the truth of the affair with greater
accuracy. So they departed and nothing was done. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
2. c. 12. s. 5,6. (239-241) 2:417} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 6. s.
2. (125-129) 10:67,69}
6764. In the meantime, Felix, by his injudicious disciplinary measures,
provoked the Jews to offend all the more. Ventidius Cumanus, who controlled
part of the province, rivalled him in all manner of wickedness. Cumanus
administered the area of Galilee and Felix the Samaritans. Both countries were
always at odds, but much more so at this time, due to the contempt of their
governors. As a result, they invaded one another and sent thieves and robbers
in to plunder. They laid ambushes and sometimes fought battles, from which they
brought the plunder to the governors. At first the governors were pleased, but
when the disorder grew intolerable, they sent soldiers to quell it, who were all
killed. The whole province would have been in an uproar, had not Quadratus
redressed the matter in time. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 54. 4:393,395}
[E880]
6765. Quadratus acted immediately, by executing the Jews who had killed the
Roman soldiers. Cumanus' and Felix's actions were reported to Claudius. When
he heard the causes of the rebellion, he gave authority to Quadratus to deal
with the matter, and even with the officials of the provinces. Quadratus
appointed Felix among the judges (because he was the brother of Pallas, the
great favourite at Rome) and received him into the tribunal, to intimidate his
accusers. [K662] Cumanus alone was condemned for the faults that both had
committed. By this means, Quadratus made peace in the province. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 12. c. 54. 4:395}
6766. The Cietae tribes of Cilicia made Troxobor their captain. They camped on
rough mountains and from there ran down to the shores and cities, where they
plundered the farmers and citizens, but most commonly the merchants and seamen.
They also besieged the city of Anemurium, as well as routing the cavalry who had
been sent from Syria under their captain, Curtius Severus. For the places
around there were suited to fighting on foot, but poor for the cavalry. Then
Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the king of that country, by using diplomacy toward the
common people and craft toward their captain, divided their forces. He executed
Troxobor and some of the ringleaders and appeased the rest through his clemency.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 55. 4:395,397}
6767. When the apostle Peter came to Antioch, he ate with and enjoyed the
fellowship of the believing Gentiles. However, when certain Jewish brethren
came there from James, he withdrew himself from the Gentiles, and some of the
Jews of the church at Antioch followed his example. Even Barnabas was led
astray by their hypocrisy. This was plainly contrary to the gospel and Paul did
not stand for it. He withstood Peter to the face and sharply reproved his
fearfulness before them all. {Ga 2:11-14}
4056 AM, 4766 JP, 53 AD
6768. When Quadratus came to Samaria, he ordered those who stood accused to
defend their actions and found that the tumult had been caused by the
Samaritans. When he went to Caesarea, he learned that some Jews were trying to
rebel, so he crucified those whom Cumanus had taken alive as prisoners. He went
to Lydda, which was almost the size of a city, and held a tribunal, in order to
hear the cause of the Samaritans once more. From a certain Samaritan he learned
that Doetus, a ruler of the Jews, had persuaded the Jews to a revolt, so
Quadratus had Doetus executed. He also beheaded eighteen Jews who had been in
the fight. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s. 6. (241-243)
2:417,419} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 6. s. 2. (129-131) 10:69,71}
6769. Quadratus sent the high priests, Jonathan and Ananias, to Caesar, as well
as Ananus, the son of Ananias, along with some of the nobility of the Jews and
of the Samaritans. He also ordered Cumanus, the governor, and Celer, the
tribune, to go to Rome, to give an account to Caesar of what they had done in
the country. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s. 6. (243,244) 2:419}
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 6. s. 2. (131,132) 10:71}
6770. After this had been done, Quadratus feared that the Jews might revolt.
He went from Lydda to Jerusalem, where he found everything quiet and the people
busy celebrating their feast of unleavened bread and offering sacrifices. So he
thought that they would be quiet and left them busy at their feast, while he
returned to Antioch. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s. 6. (244)
2:419} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 6. s. 2. (132,133) 10:71}
6771. Cumanus and the Samaritans were sent to Rome. On an appointed day, they
were ordered to defend their actions. They obtained the favour of Caesar's
freedmen and friends and would have won their case, but King Agrippa, the
Younger, who was living at Rome, saw that the rulers of the Jews were being
overpowered by the favour of the great ones. [K663] So, with persistent
entreating, he convinced Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, to persuade her
husband to hear the matter fully and execute justice on those he found to be the
authors of the sedition. Claudius yielded to their requests and when he had
heard both sides, he realised that the Samaritans had started the fighting.
Claudius executed those who had come before him to plead their cause. He
punished Cumanus with banishment and sent Celer, the tribune, to Jerusalem as a
prisoner, to be turned over to the Jews to be punished; he was to be dragged
through the city and then beheaded. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s.
7. (245,246) 2:419} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 6. s. 3. (134-136)
10:71,73}
6772. Claudius sent Claudius Felix, the brother of Pallas, to be the governor
of Judea as well as Samaria and Galilee. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c.
12. s. 8. (247-249) 2:419,421} Jonathan, the high priest, had begged Caesar
for him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 5. (162) 10:89} Suetonius
wrote: {*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 28. 2:57}
"Claudius preferred Felix, one of his freedmen, to command the cavalry or foot
soldiers and run the government of Judea. He became the husband of three
queens."
6773. Tacitus wrote: {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 54. 4:395}
"When Felix was the governor of Judea, he thought he could do any wickedness
with impunity and behaved arrogantly."
6774. He added this about his tyrannical government in Judea: {*Tacitus,
Histories, l. 5. c. 9. 3:191,193}
"Antonius Felix exercised regal power with the instincts of a slave, with all
cruelty and lust. He married Drusilla, the grand-daughter of Cleopatra and
Antony, and so was the grandson-in-law of Antony, while Claudius was Antony's
grandson." [E881]
6775. King Agrippa, the Younger, had governed Chalcis for four years. After
the twelfth year of ruling his empire, Claudius took Chalcis from Agrippa and
gave him a larger jurisdiction. He received the tetrarchy of Philip, which
contained Batanea, Gaulanitis and Trachonitis. He also added Abilene, or Abila,
which was the tetrarchy of Lysanias, and which had been governed by Varus.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 12. s. 8. (247,248) 2:421} {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 20. c. 7. s. 1. (138) 10:75}
6776. After Agrippa had been advanced through Caesar's gifts, he gave his
sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, the king of the Emesa, who consented to
be circumcised. Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, king of the Commagenians, had
refused her, because he had changed his mind and would not embrace the Jewish
religion, as he had promised her father. Agrippa gave Mariamme in marriage to
Julius Archelaus, the son of Helcias, to whom she had been betrothed by her
father Agrippa. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 7. s. 1. (139,140)
10:75,77}
6777. Josephus, the son of Matthias, began to adopt the lifestyle of Bannus,
who lived in the wilderness. He clothed himself with what the trees produced
and for his food he used those things which grew in the wild. To keep himself
chaste, he often washed himself in cold water and in this manner he lived for
three years. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 2. (11,12) 1:7}
6778. Nero, the adopted son of Claudius, took up the cause of Illium in a
speech. He said that the Romans were descended from Troy and that Aeneas was
the father of the Julian family, as well as many other ancient things, which
were probably fables. The city of Illium was freed from tribute forever,
because they were the founders of the Romans. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c.
58. 4:401} Nero read an ancient letter from the Senate and the people of Rome,
written in Greek to King Seleucus, in which they promised him their friendship
and alliance only on the condition that he should keep their relatives of Illium
free from every burden. {*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 25. s. 3. 2:51}
6779. The Rhodians repented of their old misdeeds and Claudius restored their
liberty. [K664] It was frequently either taken away or confirmed, depending on
what they had merited in foreign wars or how they had offended by having
seditions at home. {*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 25. s. 3. 2:51}
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 58. 4:401} Suetonius wrote that Nero pleaded
for the Rhodians and Illienses in Greek before his father Claudius, who had been
in his last consulship two years earlier. {*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c. 7. s.
2. 2:93,95} Claudius remitted all tribute to the city of Apamea for five years,
because their city was destroyed by an earthquake. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12.
c. 58. 4:401}
6780. After that, Claudius spoke about freeing the island of Cos from tribute.
He alleged many things about their antiquity, such as that the Argives, or
perhaps Coeus, the father of the goddess Latona (after whom the island was
named), were the ancient inhabitants. Aesculapius had brought the art of
healing there and was famous among all his posterity. Claudius gave their names
and in what epochs they had lived. Then he said that Xenophon, his own
physician, was from Cos and was descended from that family. Claudius had
yielded to his entreaty that they might henceforth be free from tribute and
permitted to devote themselves to the service of that god. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 12. c. 61. 4:405}
6781. Paul asked Barnabas to go with him again and visit the churches where
they had preached the gospel. Barnabas was determined to take John Mark with
him, but Paul did not think it good to take him since he had abandoned them in
Pamphylia {Ac 13:13} and had not gone with them to the work. Barnabas took this
badly that such dishonour should be attached to his sister's son. {Col 4:10}
The contention was so sharp, that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and
sailed to his own country of Cyprus, but Paul, having been commended to the
grace of God, chose Silas and went into Syria and Cilicia and confirmed the
brethren. {Ac 15:36-41}
6782. Paul came to Derbe and Lystra and there, among the disciples, he found
Timothy, who was born of a Greek, or Gentile, father, but his mother (Eunice)
was a believing Jew, of whom all the brethren at Iconium and Lystra gave a good
report. Paul wanted to take Timothy with him and so, to win over the Jews more
easily, he had Timothy circumcised. {Ac 16:1-3}
6783. As Paul and Silas passed through the cities, they gave them the decrees
they were to keep, which had been ordained by the apostles and elders at
Jerusalem. The churches were established in the faith and daily increased in
number. {Ac 16:4,5}
6784. When they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were
forbidden by the Spirit to preach the word of God in Asia. When they arrived at
Mysia, they planned to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them. So
they left Mysia and came down to Troas, where Paul had a vision of a man asking
them to come into Macedonia to help them. {Ac 16:6-9}
6785. When he had seen this vision, they planned to go into Macedonia, certain
that the Lord had called them there to preach the gospel. {Ac 16:10} [E882]
Thus said Luke, who from then on spoke of Paul and his companions in the first
person, whereas before he had always spoken in the third person. [K665] He
thereby showed that from that time on, he was one of Paul's companions in the
preaching of the Gospel.
4057a AM, 4766 JP, 53 AD
6786. Paul and Silas, together with Luke and Timothy, sailed from Troas and
went straight to Samothracia. The next day, they arrived at Neapolis and from
there went to Philippi, which was the main city of that part of Macedonia and a
Roman colony. They stayed there for some days. {Ac 16:11,12}
6787. On the Sabbath day, they left the city to go to the riverside, where
there was a house of prayer, and spoke to the women who came there. Among these
was Lydia, who worshipped God and was a seller of purple in the city of
Thyatira. She listened to the things which Paul said and the Lord opened her
heart and she believed in Christ. When she and her household were baptized, she
entertained Paul and his companions. {Ac 16:13-15}
6788. Later, at the place of prayer, they cast out an unclean spirit from a
servant girl who had the spirit of divination. She had followed them for many
days, crying out that these men were the servants of the most High God and
telling the way of salvation. Paul was grieved and in the name of Jesus,
ordered the spirit to come out of her. When the masters of the maid saw that
the source of their financial gain was gone, they dragged Paul and Silas into
the market place and caused a commotion before the rulers. The rulers had both
Paul and Silas publicly scourged and cast into prison. At midnight, as they
were praying and singing psalms, there was a violent earthquake and all the
doors of the prison were opened and all the prisoners' bonds were released.
Because of this, the jailor, in desperation, would have killed himself with his
naked sword, but Paul and Silas preached to him and he was converted to the
faith and baptized that same night, with all his family. When it was day, the
magistrates sent them word that they were free to go. Paul and Silas objected
about the shame and injury done to them because they had scourged them publicly
and cast them into prison without a trial. At this, the magistrates came in
person to set them at liberty with honour and asked them to depart from the
city. They went to Lydia's house and comforted the brethren who came to them,
and so left the city. {Ac 16:16-40}
6789. As they journeyed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to
Thessalonica, the main city of Macedonia, where there was a synagogue of the
Jews. {Ac 17:1-3} Paul wrote that there, after having been shamefully
mistreated at Philippi, he preached the gospel with much zeal. {1Th 2:2} As was
his custom, Paul went into the synagogue of the Jews for three Sabbaths and
reasoned with them from the scriptures concerning Christ. Some Jews believed,
along with a large number of the religious Greeks and many of the chief women.
{Ac 17:2-4}
6790. Paul taught the Thessalonians about faith in Christ and concerning the
future apostasy surrounding the the man of lawlessness and his appearing. {2Th
2:5-12}
6791. During the long time that Paul stayed at Thessalonica, he time and time
again received relief for his needs from the Philippians. {Php 4:16} The
unbelieving Jews stirred up some ignorant ruffians and caused an uproar in the
city. [K666] They dragged Jason, at whose house Paul and his companion were
staying, and some of the brethren before the magistrates and accused them in
riotous fashion. When the magistrates had taken a pledge from them, the
brethren sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. {Ac 17:5-10}
6792. There they entered the synagogue of the Jews and diligently preached
Christ from the scriptures. Those who heard the message, painstakingly compared
it with the scriptures. When the scriptures confirmed what was being said, many
of them believed, including many honourable Greek women and men. When the Jews
of Thessalonica arrived there, they stirred up the masses against Paul.
Immediately the brethren sent him away, as if he were going to the sea, but they
brought him to Athens. Paul asked that Silas and Timothy, whom he had left at
Berea, should join him quickly. {Ac 17:10-15}
4057b AM, 4767 JP, 54 AD
6793. The Jews, at the instigation of Chrestus, continually caused trouble, so
that Claudius expelled them from Rome. {*Suetonius, Claudius, l. 5. c. 25.
2:51} Suetonius (if I am not mistaken) mentioned only Chrestus. I am not
convinced that Christ, our Lord, is meant here, after whom the believers are
called Christians in another place.
6794. While Paul waited for Silas and Timothy at Athens, he reasoned in the
synagogue with the Jews and devout men, and daily in the market place with
anyone who would listen. He also argued with the philosophers of the Epicurean
and Stoic sects about Christ and the resurrection. He was brought to Mars Hill,
so that people could hear him expound about these strange gods. Paul defended
his cause in a most learned speech. He used the example of the altar dedicated
to the unknown God, as well as quoting from the testimony of Aratus, the poet,
and confirming that all were the offspring of God. It was that very God, whom
they ignorantly worshipped, that Paul was speaking to them about. {Ac 17:16-31}
[E883] The God of the Jews was known as the unknown God among the Gentiles. In
the same sense, Lucan called him the uncertain God. {*Lucan, Phalaris, l. 2.
(8) 1:27} Trebellius Pollio called him the God of uncertain power. {Pollio,
Claudius} Gaius Caligula called him the unnamed God. {*Philo, Gaius, l. 1. c.
44. (353) 10:177} The inhabitants of Mount Carmel attributed neither image nor
temple to him, but only an altar and reverence. {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 2.
c. 78. 2:285,287} Hence, the Athenians had made an Altar to Mercy in the
middle of their city, without any image. Statius stated: {Statius, Thebes, l.
12.}
God's form by pictures cannot be expressed,
He loves to dwell within the heart and breast.
6795. Among Paul's converts were Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman called
Damaris (who may have been his wife, as Ambrose, Chrysostom and Augustine
believed) and some others. {Ac 17:34}
6796. When Felix, the governor of Judea, saw Drusilla, the sister of King
Agrippa, he fell in love with her. He sent his friend, Simon, a Jew from
Cyprus, who went pretending to be a soothsayer, to persuade the woman to leave
her husband, Azizus king of Emesa, and marry Felix. [K667] Felix promised that
she would be happy if she did not refuse him. Because she wanted to escape the
malice of her sister Bernice—for she was exceedingly abused by Bernice because
of her beauty—so she broke the laws of the Jewish religion and married Felix
unadvisedly. However, Bernice, the widow of her uncle, persuaded Polemo to be
circumcised and to marry her. She thought that by doing this she might prove
the gossip false, which said that she was having illegal relations with Agrippa,
the Younger. Polemo agreed because she was rich, but the marriage did not last
long. Bernice left him (so it was reported) on account of her licentiousness.
As soon as he was abandoned by his wife, he immediately left the Jewish
religion. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 7. s. 2,3. (141-146) 10:77-81}
6797. At the same time as well, King Agrippa's third sister, Mariamme, scorned
Julius Archelaus, the son of Helcias. She went and married Demetrius, a chief
man among the Jews of Alexandria, both on account of his birth and his wealth,
and who was the alabarch at that time. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 7. s.
3. (147) 10:81}
6798. Paul sent Silas and Timothy, who had come to him from Berea, back into
Macedonia again and remained alone at Athens. He planned to return to
Thessalonica, but Satan hindered his plans, so he sent Timothy there to
strengthen and comfort the Thessalonians in the faith. {Ac 18:5 1Th 2:17,18
3:1,2}
6799. In the meantime, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, where he found
Aquila, a Jew, and his wife Priscilla, who had recently come from Italy, because
Claudius had made a decree that all Jews had to leave Rome. Paul stayed with
them, because they were both tentmakers. Paul reasoned in the synagogue every
Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. {Ac 18:1-5}
6800. Paul personally baptized the family members of Stephanus, who were the
firstfruits of Achaia and who had dedicated themselves to the ministry of the
saints. {1Co 1:16 16:15}
6801. As Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, the Jews withstood Paul's
preaching of Christ with great zeal and blasphemed him. Paul shook his clothes
in protest against them and turned to the Gentiles. He went into the house of
one surnamed Justus, who lived near the synagogue and who worshipped God. {Ac
18:6,7}
6802. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his
family and when many of the Corinthians heard the gospel, they too believed and
were baptized. {Ac 18:8} Of these, Paul himself only baptized Crispus and Gaius
with his own hand. {1Co 1:14}
6803. The Lord told Paul in a vision by night, not to be afraid and to speak
boldly. He told him that no one would harm him, for the Lord had many people in
that city. Paul stayed another eighteen months and taught the word of the Lord
among them. {Ac 18:9-11} Silvanus, or Silas, and Timothy assisted him. {2Co
1:19}
6804. After the return of Timothy from Macedonia, Paul, together with these
same two, Timothy and Silvanus, or Silas, wrote the first letter to the
Thessalonians. {1Th 3:6} [K668] He wrote some difficult things about the day of
judgment, since it was very imminent at that time. {1Th 5:1-5} He later wrote
another letter to them, in which he expounded the subject more clearly. {2Th
2:2,3} [E884] This was written during the time when he had Silvanus and Timothy
as his companions in the ministry of the gospel {1Th 1:1} and after he had been
with the Thessalonians and they had embraced the faith of Christ. {2Th 2:5}
Grotius was quite mistaken in thinking that it was written at the time of Gaius
Caligula.
6805. The Parthians invaded Armenia after driving out Radamistus, who had often
reigned there as king and often been ejected, and had finally given up the
struggle. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c. 6. 5:11} When Vologeses' son
Vardanes revolted from the king of the Parthians, the Parthians abandoned
Armenia, as if deferring the war. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c. 7. 5:13}
4058a AM, 4767 JP, 54 AD
6806. Claudius died on the 3rd of the Ides of October (October 13), when
Asinius Marcellus and Asilius Aviola were consuls. Claudius' wife Agrippina
poisoned him. {Seneca, Ludi de Morte Claudii, initio} {*Suetonius, Claudius, l.
5. c. 45. 2:79} {*Dio, l. 60. (34) 8:31} He had reigned thirteen years,
eight months and twenty days. {*Dio, l. 60. (34) 8:31} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
20. c. 8. s. 1. (148) 10:81} In the middle of the same day, the gates of
the palace were suddenly thrown open and Nero, the son-in-law and adopted son,
was declared emperor. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 69. 4:417}
6807. At the beginning of Nero's reign, Junius Silanus was the proconsul of
Asia, a nobleman and descended from the Caesars. Nero, who had barely reached
manhood, was not involved in his murder. Junius was murdered through the
treachery of Nero's mother, Agrippina. Publius Celer, an equestrian of Rome,
and Helius, a freedman, were his officers, who had the charge of the prince's
revenues in Asia, and it was they who poisoned the proconsul at a feast.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c. 1. 5:3}
6808. The envoys of Armenia pleaded their cause before Nero. When his mother
wanted to come up to the emperor's tribunal and sit with him, everyone was
stupefied for this was not to be done. Seneca advised Nero to meet his mother
and so, under pretence of doing his duty, he prevented a scandal. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 13. c. 5. 5:9}
6809. The report was brought to Rome that the Parthians had occupied Armenia.
Nero ordered that the youth of the neighbouring provinces be mustered to supply
the eastern legions, which were to be stationed near Armenia. The two old
kings, Agrippa of Judea and Antiochus IV of Commagene, were to prepare their
forces to invade Parthia. Bridges were to be built over the Euphrates River.
Nero gave Aristobulus the kingdom of Lesser Armenia and Sohaemus was given the
kingdom of Sophene, and both had royal status. He sent Domitius Corbulo to hold
Armenia and allocated the forces of the east. Some were to remain in the
province of Syria with Ummidius Quadratus, its governor, while a similar number
of citizens and allies should accompany Corbulo, with other cohorts and cavalry
who had wintered in Cappadocia. Nero ordered the confederate kings to be ready
for war if required. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c. 6-8. 5:11-15}
4058b AM, 4768 JP, 55 AD
6810. In the first year of Nero's empire, Azizus, the king of Emesa, died and
his brother Sohaemus succeeded him in the kingdom. Aristobulus, the son of
Herod, king of Chalcis, received the kingdom of Lesser Armenia from Nero, as
already mentioned from Tacitus. Nero added four cities to the kingdom of
Agrippa, together with all the land belonging to them. [K669] In Galilee, he
received the cities of Tiberias and Tarichea. In Iturea beyond Jordan, he was
given Abila and Julias. He received the land that contained fourteen villages.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 4. (158,159) 10:87,89} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 2. c. 13. s. 2. (252) 2:421}
6811. Domitius Corbulo hurried to Aegeae, a city of Cilicia, where he met
Quadratus, who had deliberately gone there, because if Corbulo had entered Syria
to receive the forces, it was likely that all men's eyes would have been on him
to the detriment of Quadratus. They each sent messengers to Vologeses, the king
of the Parthians, asking him to choose peace and send hostages to secure it. He
was to continue to respect the people of Rome, as his ancestors had done.
Either to buy time to better prepare for war, or else to remove all contenders
for the throne, Vologeses turned over the most noble of the family of the
Arsacides. Quadratus sent the centurion Insteius to receive them. When Corbulo
learned this, he ordered Arrius Varus, the captain of a cohort of foot soldiers,
to go and receive the hostages, whereupon there was a quarrel between the
captain and the centurion. So as not to air their differences in front of
foreigners, both men let the hostages decide with whom they wanted to go. They
selected the captain to escort them, because Corbulo was famous even among
Rome's enemies. Hence Corbulo and Quadratus had a falling-out: Quadratus
complained that he had been robbed of the fruits of his negotiations, while
Corbulo protested that the king had not offered hostages until Corbulo had been
chosen as the general, and that the king was afraid of him. To settle the
differences, Nero proclaimed the order that Quadratus and Corbulo, for their
prosperous success, should have their imperial fasces wreathed with laurel.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c. 8,9. 5:15,17} [E885]
6812. At the beginning of Nero's reign, all Judea was filled with thieves,
enchanters and seducers of the ignorant masses. Every day Felix put to death as
many as he could capture. Eleazar, the son of Dinaeus, who led a large band of
thieves, was persuaded by Felix to come to him. Felix had given him his word
that Eleazar would suffer no harm from him, but when he came, Felix bound him
and sent him to Rome. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 5. (160,161)
10:89} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 13. s. 2. (253) 2:423}
6813. Felix could no longer tolerate Jonathan, the high priest, who so often
and so freely admonished him over his government of the Jews. By promising him
a large sum of money, he persuaded Doras, a great friend of Jonathan, to kill
Jonathan by using some assassins. These entered the city under the pretence of
religious worship, with daggers hidden secretly under their garments. They
mingled among his family and killed Jonathan. Because that murder went
unpunished, it became an invitation to more licentiousness. Others came at
every feast and hid their daggers in the same way; mixing with the crowd, they
freely killed some of their private enemies. Some were hired for money to
murder in the city, and even in the temple. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8.
s. 5. (162-166) 10:89,91}
6814. In this way, the city became infested with thieves. The deceivers and
magicians enticed and drew multitudes into the deserts, promising to show them
signs and wonders done by the power of God. When the multitude had been
persuaded in this manner, they suffered the penalty for their folly. They were
brought back by Felix and put to death. {Mt 24:24-26} {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 2. c. 13. s. 3,4. (254-260) 2:423,425} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c.
8. s. 6. (167,168) 10:91,93}
6815. At that time, there was a certain Egyptian who called himself a prophet.
He gathered thirty thousand men, or four thousand, according to Luke, {Ac 21:38}
[K670] and brought them from the wilderness to the Mount of Olives. He told
them that from there they would see the walls of Jerusalem fall down, by which
means they would then be able to enter the city. When Felix found out, he
attacked this seduced multitude with his Roman cavalry and foot soldiers, as
well as a large number of Jews. He killed four hundred and took two hundred
prisoners alive. The rest of the multitude dispersed into their own countries.
No one knew what became of the Egyptian and the few who escaped from that
skirmish. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 6. (169-172) 10:93}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 13. s. 5. (261-263) 2:425} Lysias the
captain mentioned him to Paul when he asked whether Paul was that Egyptian who,
in earlier days had created an uproar and had led four thousand men, who were
murderers, into the desert. {Ac 21:38}
6816. When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth brought Paul
before his judgment seat. The Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the
synagogue, and beat him, and Gallio was not concerned about it. {Ac 18:12-17}
6817. Lucius Junius Gallio was the brother of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who,
together with Burrhus, commanded everything at Rome through his young student,
Nero. Gallio derided the deifying of Claudius, who had died from poisoning and
was claimed to have been taken up to heaven on a litter. He said Claudius had
received pumpkinfication not deification! {*Dio, l. 60. (35) 8:33} There is a
work extant, the Book of Controversies, by Marcus Annaeus Seneca, father of the
three sons, Novatus, Seneca and Mela. In the second volume of this work, Lucius
Seneca, in his consolation to his mother Helvia, said that: {*Seneca the Elder,
Controversies, l. 2. (3,4) 1:201}
"One of his brothers (Novatus) received honours by his industry, the other
(Mela) despised them."
6818. The first one referred to, Novatus, who had been adopted by Junius
Gallio, had been banished by Tiberius. {See note on 4035b AM.
<<6386>>} He was
also called Gallio, and the same Seneca called him Lord, because he was his
older brother, as Lipsius noted: {Lipsius, Epistle 104.}
"This was the saying of my Lord Gallio, who began to have a fever in Achaia and
immediately sailed away, crying that it was not the disease of the body, but of
the place."
4059 AM, 4769 JP, 56 AD
6819. Paul stayed many days at Corinth. After the riot at Gallio's tribunal,
Paul said goodbye to the brethren and sailed for Syria from the port of
Cenchrea. He first arrived at Ephesus, where he entered a synagogue and
reasoned with the Jews. When they wanted him to stay longer, he did not agree
to it, saying that he wanted to keep the feast at Jerusalem. He promised that
he would return to them again, if God willed. After bidding them farewell, he
left Aquila and Priscilla behind and sailed from Ephesus with the rest of his
companions. {Ac 18:18-22}
6820. Paul landed at Caesarea (Stratonis) and went to greet the church at
Jerusalem. He went down to Antioch (of Syria) and after staying there for some
time, he left and systematically crossed all the regions of Galatia and Phrygia,
to strengthen all the disciples. {Ac 18:22,23} The Galatians received him as an
angel of God, or as Jesus Christ himself. {Ga 4:14} [E886] Among other things,
he arranged that the collections for the poor should be set aside every Lord's
day. {1Co 16:1,2} [K671]
6821. After the three years which he spent living with Bannus in the
wilderness, Josephus, the son of Matthias, returned to Jerusalem. Now nineteen
years old, he began to dabble in public affairs and followed the sect of the
Pharisees, which was the closest sect to the Greek Stoics. {*Josephus, Life, l.
1. c. 2. (12) 1:7}
6822. A certain Alexandrian Jew by the name of Apollos was an eloquent man and
powerful in the scriptures. He came to Ephesus, where he was instructed in the
way of the Lord because he was fervent in spirit, speaking and diligently
teaching the things of the Lord, even though he knew only about the baptism of
John. He began to speak freely in the synagogue. Aquila and Priscilla heard
him and took him aside and expounded the way of the Lord to him more fully.
When Apollos planned to go into Achaia, the brethren exhorted him and wrote to
the disciples there to receive him. When he arrived, he helped those who had
believed, because with great zeal he convinced the Jews publicly, showing from
the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. {Ac 18:24-28}
4060a AM, 4769 JP, 56 AD
6823. When Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions of
Galatia and Phrygia. At Ephesus, he came across twelve disciples who only knew
of the baptism of John and had not yet received the Holy Spirit through the
laying-on of hands. After Paul had further instructed them in the doctrine of
Christ, he laid his hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them, at which
they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Then he went into the synagogue and spoke
freely, disputing and persuading them about the things concerning the kingdom of
God. {Ac 19:1-8}
4060b AM, 4770 JP, 57 AD
6824. Some Jews, who were hardened and who refused to believe, spoke evil of
the way of the Lord, so Paul left them, taking the disciples with him, and daily
disputed in the school of Tyrannus for two whole years. All who lived in Asia,
both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord Jesus. Paul performed many
miracles. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched his body were brought to
the sick and they were healed, and evil spirits came out of them. {Ac 19:9-12}
6825. The province of Asia accused Publius Celer of his crimes. Caesar could
not absolve him, so he delayed his trial until Celer died from old age. Celer
had killed Silanus, the proconsul, and the magnitude of this villainy only
masked Celer's other wickednesses. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c. 33. 5:55}
6826. The Cilicians accused Cossutianus Capito of being a man besotted and
defiled with every conceivable vice. He thought that, in the province, he had
the same authority to behave wickedly that he had exercised in the city of Rome.
The prosecution was so determined, that he abandoned his defence and was
condemned for extortion. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c. 33. 5:55} It was he
(according to Lipsius) who is referred to in the following lines from Juvenal:
{Juvenal, Satire, 8.}
…How the Senate's just thunderstruck
Capito and Tutor for making prize,
As pirates, of the Cilician merchandise."
6827. Quintilian mentioned: {Quintilian, l. 6. c. 1.} [K672]
"The accuser of Cossutianus seemed to us young men to speak bravely, it was in
Greek, but to this sense, He was ashamed to be afraid of Caesar."
6828. Intrigue played out on behalf of Epirus Marcellus, from whom the Lycians
were demanding restitution, was so effective, that a number of the accusers were
banished, on the grounds that they had endangered an innocent man. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 13. c. 33. 5:55}
4061 AM, 4771 JP, 58 AD
6829. The war over who would control Armenia, which had started coolly enough
between the Romans and Parthians, was now being hotly pursued. Vologeses would
not allow his brother, Tiridates, to be removed from the kingdom that he had
given him, or let him accept it as a gift from another. Corbulo thought it
worthy of the greatness of the people of Rome to recover what had previously
been captured by Lucullus and Pompey. So he prepared his army for this war in
the old manner, according to the old severity and discipline of the Romans.
Then Corbulo entered Armenia, where he destroyed some citadels and burned
Artaxata, while Tiridates did not dare do battle with him. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 13. c. 34-41. 5:57-73} [E887]
6830. Seven exorcists of the Jews, the sons of Sceva, a chief priest, called
upon those who had unclean spirits. They tried to cast out an unclean spirit in
the name of the Lord Jesus, whom Paul preached but the man who had the unclean
spirit leaped on them and forced them to flee the house, wounded and naked.
When this became known to both the Jews and the Greeks who lived at Ephesus,
they were all afraid and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Many of
those who believed, confessed and revealed their practices. Many who practised
magic, brought their books together and burned them before everyone. These
books were valued at fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word grew mightily
and prevailed. {Ac 19:13-20}
6831. As soon as Paul had left them, the Galatians {Ac 18:23} were seduced by
false brethren into believing that they were to be justified by the works of the
law. Paul sent a strongly worded letter to them, to correct this error. {Ga
1:6,7}
4062 AM, 4772 JP, 59 AD
6832. Paul planned to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and
Achaia. He said that after he had been to Jerusalem, he wanted to go to Rome,
as well. {Ac 19:21} He thought he would first go to Corinth, and from there to
Macedonia, and then return to Corinth. From there, he would travel to Judea
{1Co 1:15,16} to take the collections for the poor saints at Jerusalem. After
that, he planned to go to Rome and then on to Spain. {Ro 15:24-28}
6833. While Paul thought about this, he sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia,
but he remained in Asia for a while. {Ac 19:22} It is likely that he was in
Lydia, where he seems to have preached the gospel for nine months to the cities
which were near Ephesus. Since he spent two years teaching in the school of
Tyrannus and three months teaching in the synagogue of Ephesus, he spent three
years in total, labouring in Asia. {Ac 20:18,31} He said that a great door had
been opened for him, although there were many adversaries. {1Co 16:9}
6834. On the 2nd of the Calends of May (April 30), when Vipsanius and Fonteius
were consuls, there was an eclipse in Campania between one and two p.m.
Corbulo, the general, who was in Armenia, wrote that it was visible between four
and five p.m. {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 72. 1:313} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 13. c.
41. 5:71,73} [K673] At Rome, this eclipse was observed at the very time of the
sacrifices that were being made by the decree of the Senate, on behalf of
Agrippina, who had been killed by her son, Nero. It was so dark, that the stars
could be seen. {*Dio, l. 62. (16) 8:73} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 14. c. 12.
5:127}
4063a AM, 4772 JP, 59 AD
6835. People from the family of Chloe told Paul that there was a schism in the
church of Corinth—some said they followed Paul, some Apollos, some Cephas and
some Christ. {1Co 1:11,12 3:3,4} Apollos and some other believers went from
Corinth to Paul in Asia, {1Co 16:12} bringing with them the letter which the
Corinthians had written to Paul, in which they asked his advice about the matter
of marriage and the single life. {1Co 7:1}
6836. Paul, together with Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue at Corinth who
had been converted to Christ, wrote the first letter to the Corinthians from
Lydia. Timothy was not in Asia at the time, {1Co 16:10 Ac 19:22} so Paul sent
it with Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, who had been sent from Corinth to
visit the apostle. Apollos did not wish to return to the Corinthians at that
time. {1Co 1:1 16:12,13,17,19}
6837. In this letter, Paul ordered the incestuous Corinthian, who was immorally
living with his father's wife, to be handed over to Satan. {1Co 5} He also
corrected other errors that had crept into the church; he corrected errors in
conduct and refuted the error of the Sadducees, who said there was no
resurrection. {1Co 15} He told them that when he arrived, he would set the rest
of the church in order. {1Co 4:18,19 11:34} He intended to pass through
Macedonia, but planned to stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, unless something came
up that changed his plans. {1Co 16:5-8}
6838. Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines for Diana, feared that
he would lose his livelihood. He convened all the workmen of the same craft and
raised an uproar against Paul, claiming that Paul had persuaded the Ephesians
and almost the whole of Asia, that images made by men were not gods. They
seized Gaius and Aristarchus, who were from Macedonia and were Paul's travelling
companions, and rushed with them into the theatre. When Paul wanted to go
there, some of the disciples and some of the chief men of Asia (who financed the
plays shown in the theatre), as well as his friends, would not allow Paul to go
to the people. When Alexander the Jew tried to make his defence before the
people, a great cry went up from their midst, which lasted for almost two hours:
Great is Diana of the Ephesians. [E888] At length the tumult was settled
through the wisdom of the townclerk. After calling the brethren together, Paul
took his leave and departed for Macedonia. {Ac 19:24-41 20:1}
6839. Aquila and Priscilla left Ephesus and returned to Rome, after having
risked their lives to save Paul. {Ro 16:3,4 1Co 16:19} The Jews everywhere
returned to Rome, since the edict of Claudius, which had ordered their
expulsion, had expired after his death. {Ac 28:17-21}
6840. Paul went from Ephesus to Troas. Although he had opportunities to preach
the gospel, he was troubled because he did not find Titus there, whom he had
sent to the Corinthians with another brother. Paul sailed from there into
Macedonia, {2Co 2:12,13 12:18} [K674] where, on his arrival, he earnestly
exhorted the brethren. {Ac 20:2}
6841. Paul's afflictions continued. People opposed him and he was fearful. He
was comforted by the arrival of Titus, who told him the good news about the
Corinthian church. {2Co 7:5-16} Paul used the Corinthians as an example to stir
up the Macedonians to provide collections to be sent to Jerusalem. He said that
Achaia had been ready for this a year ago. {2Co 8:1-5 9:2}
4063b AM, 4773 JP, 60 AD
6842. When Titus told Paul how well his first letter had been received by the
Corinthians, he sent them another letter with Timothy. He told of the great
afflictions that he had suffered in Asia because of Demetrius. He said that he
had not come to them, as he had intended to do, in order to spare them. {2Co
1:8,9 17-23} He wanted them to pardon the incestuous Corinthian upon his
repentance. {2Co 6:5-11} Paul sent Titus to them again, along with another
brother, who was famous among all the churches for his proclamation of the
gospel. This man was thought to be Luke. These two were to prepare them, so
that they would have their collections ready for sending to Jerusalem by the
time Paul arrived. {2Co 8:16-19 9:3-5}
6843. Paul went from Macedonia into Greece and stayed there three months. {Ac
20:2,3} During that time, he went to Corinth and received the collections in
Achaia for the relief of the believers at Jerusalem. {1Co 16:3-5 2Co 9:4}
6844. The famous letter to the Romans was written from Corinth at this time, as
Origen confirmed, with many reasons, in his preface to the exposition of that
letter. It was dictated by Paul, written by Tertius and sent through Phoebe, a
servant of the church of Cenchrea, near Corinth. {Ro 16:1,2,22} This was at the
time that Paul was about to make his journey to Jerusalem with the collections
from Macedonia and Achaia. {Ro 15:25,26}
6845. When Paul planned to go directly from there to Syria to carry the
collections to Jerusalem, the Jews planned to ambush him. At that, he thought
it best to return to Macedonia, from where he had come, and from there he would
pass into Asia. {Ac 20:3,4}
6846. From Philippi in Macedonia, Paul sent his travelling companions ahead to
Asia. Sopater, or Sosipater, of Berea, {Ro 16:11} Aristarchus and Secundus of
Thessalonica, Gaius of Derbe and Timothy, with Tychicus and Trophimus, of Asia,
were to wait for him at Troas. Meanwhile, Paul, Luke and the rest sailed from
Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and arrived at Troas in five days.
They stayed there for seven days. {Ac 20:4-6}
6847. On the eighth day, which was the first day of the week, the disciples
assembled together to break bread. Paul preached to them, as he was leaving the
next day. He continued until midnight and restored Eutychus to life, a young
man who fell down from the third loft in the room where they were assembled.
{Ac 20:7-12}
6848. From here, Paul travelled on foot to Assos, to where Luke and his other
companions had sailed. [K675] They took him on board and sailed to Mitylene.
They left there and on the following day they sailed past Chios, arriving at
Samos on the day after that. They stayed at Trogyllium and the next day they
came to Miletus. {Ac 20:13-15}
6849. Paul hurried to be at Jerusalem in time for the feast of Pentecost.
Therefore, to save time, he bypassed Ephesus and sent messengers from Miletus to
Ephesus, to summon the elders of the church to meet with him. He delivered a
very grave speech to them, warned them of their duty and seriously exhorted them
to do it. He kneeled and prayed with them and they all wept, especially because
Paul thought he would never see them again. {Ac 20:16-38} [E889]
6850. After they had launched from Troas, they sailed straight for Cos. The
next day they came to Rhodes and from there to Patara, where they took a ship
which was sailing for Phoenicia. They sailed north of Cyprus and arrived at
Tyre. {Ac 21:1-3}
6851. They stayed with some disciples for seven days. These warned Paul
through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. However, he kneeled
down on the shore and prayed with them. He sailed from Tyre to Ptolemais and
there stayed many days with Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven
deacons {Ac 6:5} and had four daughters who were virgins and prophesied. Paul
was met by Agabus, a prophet from Judea, who bound his own hands and feet and
foretold about the bonds that awaited Paul. However the brethren were unable to
persuade Paul not to go to such a dangerous place, and he went to Jerusalem
nonetheless. The disciples accompanied him from Caesarea and brought Mnason of
Cyprus with them. He was an old disciple, with whom Paul would stay. {Ac
21:4-16}
6852. The church welcomed them with great joy. James and all the elders at
Jerusalem advised Paul to remove the stigma that he carried. It was alleged
that he taught the Jewish converts to Christianity to forsake the law of Moses.
Paul went with four men who were believing Jews and had made the vow of the
Nazarite. He purified himself with them according to the command of the law,
but this proved to be of no avail. When some of the unbelieving and rebellious
Jews of Asia, who had come to Jerusalem to the feast, saw him in the temple,
they made a great clamour and noise, and stirred up the people about Paul's
alleged crime. They said that Paul had brought Trophimus, a Gentile of Ephesus,
into the temple and had profaned the temple. When they were about to kill him,
Claudius Lysias, who was the chief captain, came with a band of men and took
Paul away to the safety of the citadel. The chief captain allowed him to speak
in Hebrew to the people. {Ac 21:17-40}
6853. The Jews were enraged and cried out more vehemently against him because
of his speech, so the chief captain Lysias ordered him to be examined by
scourging. [K676] He was spared this punishment because he was a Roman citizen.
The chief captain wanted to know of what crime the Jews had accused him. The
next day, he ordered the chief priests and all their council to come together
and then he set Paul before them and released him from his bonds. {Ac 22}
6854. As Paul was beginning to plead his cause before the council, Ananias
ordered him to be struck on the mouth. He was the high priest (the son of
Nebidius, who, although he had been removed from the high priesthood, still
seemed to be the head of the council. This was similar to what had happened
before him with Annas, or Ananus, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas).
Therefore, Paul severely rebuked him and called him a whitewashed wall. Then
Paul proclaimed openly that he was a Pharisee and that he was being queried
because of the hope of the resurrection. At this, a dissension arose between
the Sadducees, who accused him, and the Pharisees, who excused him. Then
Lysias, the chief captain, was afraid that he would be torn to pieces by them in
the course of their fighting. He removed Paul from them with his soldiers and
brought him into the citadel. The next night, the Lord appeared to Paul and
comforted him because he was downcast. The Lord encouraged Paul and told him
that he must bear witness in Rome, also. {Ac 23:1-11}
6855. When it was day, more than forty of the zealous Jews bound themselves by
an oath, neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul in an ambush.
Paul's sister's son told the chief captain about the plot and so, in the third
hour of the night, he sent Paul with a guard of soldiers to Felix, the governor
of the province. Felix took Paul to Antipatris during the night and then, the
next day, to Caesarea, where Felix had ordered that he be kept in Herod's
judgment hall. {Ac 23:12-35} All these things happened within one week, as is
evident when the two following verses are compared together. {Ac 24:1,11}
6856. Five days later, Paul was accused before the governor of Caesarea by
Ananias and the elders, through Tertullus, an orator. Paul cleared himself of
their false accusations. This was twelve days after he had been attacked in the
temple. When Felix, who had governed the Jews many years (for this was now the
tenth year of his government), had heard the accusations of the Jews, he
deferred his sentence to another time. He ordered a centurion that Paul should
be kept in custody, but that he be allowed to have some freedom. All his
visitors could come and minister to him. {Ac 24:1-23} [E890]
6857. Some days later, Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish
(the sister of King Agrippa). There was another Drusilla, besides this
Drusilla, the wife of Felix. She was the daughter of Juba, the king of
Mauritania, and was the niece of Antony and Cleopatra. Felix called for Paul
and heard him. He trembled as he heard Paul reason about faith in Christ,
righteousness, temperance and the judgment to come. He spoke with Paul quite
often and hoped to be able to redeem himself with money. He kept Paul in bonds
for two whole years. {Ac 24:24-27}
6858. Tigranocerta surrendered to Corbulo, who had subdued all of Armenia.
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 14. c. 13-26. 5:127-151}
6859. Tigranes, the son of Alexander (the son of that Alexander who was
executed by his father, Herod the Great) and of Glaphyra (the daughter of
Archelaus, the King of Cappadocia), was kept hostage at Rome for a long time.
He was sent by Nero to take the kingdom of Armenia, but was not accepted there
by the general agreement of the people. While some still loved the family of
the Arsacides and the Persians, most hated the arrogance of the Parthians and
wanted a king to be given them from Rome. [K677] He was given a guard of a
thousand legionary soldiers, three cohorts of allies and two squadrons of
cavalry, to help him defend his new kingdom more easily. The frontier regions
of Armenia were allocated to them, to defend the new king. These regions
bordered on the kingdoms of the neighbouring kings (Pharasmanes of Iberia,
Polemo II of Pontus, Aristobulus of Lesser Armenia and Antiochus IV Epiphanes of
Commagene). {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 14. c. 26. 5:151} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
18. c. 5. s. 4. (139-142) 9:95}
6860. Corbulo went into Syria to be the governor, because Ventidius Ummidius
Quadratus, who had been the governor there, had died, and so Syria had been
committed to Corbulo's charge. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 14. c. 26. 5:151}
6861. In the same year Laodicea, one of the most famous cities of Asia, was
destroyed by an earthquake. They rebuilt the city themselves, using their own
wealth. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 14. c. 27. 5:151}
4064 AM, 4774 JP, 61 AD
6862. Tarquitius Priscus was condemned for extortion when the Bithynians
brought a suit against him. The Senate remembered that he had once accused his
proconsul, Titus Statilius Taurus (II), and was delighted. {*Tacitus, Annals,
l. 14. c. 46. 5:181} {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 12. c. 59. 4:401}
6863. A contention arose at Caesarea between the Jews and the Syrians over the
equal right to privileges in the city. The Jews, who were rich, reproached the
poor Syrians. Although the Syrians were poorer, they thought they were better,
because many of them had served the Romans in the wars fought in those
territories and were natives of Caesarea and Sebaste; so they thought they were
as good as the Jews. Eventually, they began to throw stones at one another, so
that many were killed or hurt on both sides. The Jews, however, won the
victory. When Felix demanded that the Jews stop this mini-war, they refused, so
he sent soldiers among them, who killed many of them and took many prisoners.
He also allowed his soldiers to plunder many of the rich houses. The more
honourable and modest Jews feared that they would be next to suffer, so they
begged Felix that he would call off his soldiers and spare what remained. They
repented and asked Felix's pardon, which he granted. {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
20. c. 8. s. 7. (173-178) 10:95,97} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 13.
s. 7. (266-270) 2:427,429}
6864. At the same time, King Agrippa conferred the high priesthood on Ishmael,
the son of Phabi. A dispute also arose between the chief priests and the rest
of the priests and rulers of Jerusalem. Both factions were guarded by a company
of very bold and seditious men, who decided their arguments with reproachful
language and by throwing stones. No one curbed them, since the city had no
magistrates. The impudence of the high priests grew to such heights, that they
dared to send their servants to the very grain floors themselves, to take away
the tithes that were the portion of the priests. So much did the violence of
the seditious men prevail over justice, that many poor priests died from lack of
food. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 8. (179-181) 10:97,99}
4065a AM, 4774 JP, 61 AD
6865. Mark, the evangelist who had first preached Christ at Alexandria, died in
the eighth year of Nero and was buried at Alexandria. {Jerome, Scriptor.
Ecclesiastical Catalogue} The elders of Alexandria chose one of their number
whom they placed in a higher position and called a bishop. They followed a
pattern similar to an army choosing a general. Deacons, likewise, would choose
one from among their number, whom they knew to be most industrious, to be the
archdeacon. {Jerome, Scriptor. Ecclesiastical Catalogue, Epist. 85. ad
Euagrium} They chose Annianus, who was a man dear to God for his piety and
admirable in all aspects. He was the first bishop of the church of Alexandria
after Mark and was there for twelve years, from the eighth year of Nero to the
fourth year of Domitian. {Jerome, Scriptor. Ecclesiastical Catalogue}
{*Eusebius, Chronicles, l. 1. 1:265} {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l.
2. c. 24. 1:179} {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 3. c. 14. 1:233}
[K678]
4065b AM, 4775 JP, 62 AD
6866. Vologeses, the king of the Parthians, tried to restore to power his
brother Tiridates, who had been driven out of Armenia. He sent one army into
Armenia and another into Syria. Corbulo sent part of his army to Tigranes, the
king of Armenia, while he himself not only drove the Parthians from Syria, but
threatened to invade them. [E891] They stopped their war and sent envoys to sue
for peace, but Nero dismissed them without granting their request. Caesennius
Paetus was appointed general for the defence of Armenia. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
15. c. 1-7. 5:217-227}
6867. When Felix observed that the sedition between the Jews and Syrians of
Caesarea was still going on, he sent some of the nobility from both sides as
envoys to Nero, to argue their cause before him. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2.
c. 13. s. 7. (270) 2:429} He also sent some priests as prisoners to Rome for
a very minor fault. They were good and honest men and were to plead their own
cause before Nero. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 3. (13) 1:7} As well as that,
he left the apostle Paul confined, as a favour to the Jews, after having already
kept him prisoner for two whole years at Caesarea. Paul was still a prisoner
there when Porcius Festus arrived from Nero as Felix's successor in the
province. {Ac 24:27}
6868. Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea
to Jerusalem. The high priest and the rulers of the Jews accused Paul and
requested that he be brought from Caesarea to Jerusalem. They planned to ambush
and kill him on the way. Festus refused and ordered Paul's accusers to come to
Caesarea. He spent about ten more days in Jerusalem and then travelled back
down to Caesarea. The next day he sat in his tribunal and listened to the Jews
accusing Paul and Paul clearing himself of their accusations. Festus wanted to
please the Jews and asked Paul if he was prepared to have the matter of which he
was accused judged before him at Jerusalem. Paul knew the intent of the
question and at whose instigation he had asked it, and feared some kind of
treachery from the Jews. He refused to go there and appealed to Caesar. After
Festus had conferred with his council, he agreed to send Paul to Caesar. {Ac
25:1-12}
6869. After some days, Agrippa, the king, and Bernice, his sister, came to
Caesarea to greet the new governor. They stayed there for many days. Festus
did not know what to write to Caesar about Paul and so consulted with Agrippa on
the matter, who said he would be willing to hear him himself. The next day,
Agrippa and Bernice, along with the captains and the principal men of the city,
entered the place of the hearing with much pomp. Festus summoned Paul to be
brought out to them, bound in chains. {Ac 25:13-27} Paul made an eloquent
speech and demonstrated that he was innocent. The governor, who was ignorant of
these things, thought he was mad. The king, however, who was well-versed in the
scriptures, stated that Paul had almost persuaded him to become a Christian.
The whole council decided that this man had done nothing worthy of death or
bonds and furthermore, that he could have been set at liberty, had he not
appealed to Caesar. {Ac 26}
6870. The rulers of the Jews living at Caesarea went to Rome to accuse Felix.
He would have suffered punishment for the wrongs he had done to the Jews, had
Nero not pardoned him upon the entreaties of his brother Pallas, who at that
time was in great favour with Nero. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 9.
(182) 10:99} Later that year, Pallas was poisoned by Nero for keeping a large
sum of money from Nero by living so long, instead of dying, so that Nero could
get the estate. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 14. c. 65. 5:213} [K679]
6871. Two principal men of the Syrians from Caesarea bribed Beryllus with a
large sum of money. He had been Nero's schoolteacher, but was at this time his
secretary for the Greek language. He was to get the emperor to revoke the
decree so the Jews could be deprived of all authority in the city, for they
currently shared this authority with the Syrians. This he easily accomplished.
When the Jews of Caesarea learned what had happened, they continued their
seditions right up to the beginning of the wars of the Jews, which had their
seeds in this sedition. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 9. (183)
10:99,101}
6872. When Festus came into Judea, he found it most severely afflicted
everywhere with thieves who plundered the villages. The most cruel of the
thieves were called cut-throats and they were very numerous. They carried a
short, crooked sword like the Persian scimitar. Thrusting themselves into the
crowd of people who came to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast days as God had
commanded, they could easily kill as many as they pleased. They also attacked
the villages of their enemies, which they burned, after having plundered them.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 10. (185-187) 10:103} Festus pursued
and captured many of these thieves and executed a large number of them.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 1. (271) 2:429}
6873. When it was decreed that Paul would be sent to Caesar, he was turned over
to Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band, along with some other prisoners.
Julius put him onto a ship from Adramyttium, that was to sail to Asia.
Aristarchus of Macedonia, besides Timothy and Luke, accompanied Paul. The next
day, they landed at Sidon, where Julius treated Paul courteously, allowing him
to go visit his friends and to refresh himself. They sailed past Cyprus because
the winds were unfavourable. When they had sailed across the sea off Cilicia
and Pamphylia, they came to Myra, a city of Lycia. [E892] When the centurion
had found an Alexandrian ship, whose figurehead was Castor and Pollux, which was
bound for Italy, he put the captives on board. After having sailed slowly for
many days, they barely managed with difficulty to reach the sea off Cnidos and
then they sailed south of Crete, off Salmone. After passing by it with
difficulty, they came to a place called Fair Havens, on the isle of Crete. {Ac
27:1-8}
4066a AM, 4775 JP, 62 AD
6874. After the Jewish feast of the day of Atonement, in the seventh month, was
past, sailing was dangerous. Paul foresaw the danger facing them and advised
them to winter there. When that seemed to be an unsuitable port in which to
winter, they planned to winter in another port of Crete, called Phenice. As
they sailed out, they had a favourable south wind at first. A little later, a
tempestuous wind arose, called Euroclydon, by which they were driven to the
little island of Clauda. Because they were caught and tossed about by the
violent storm, they lightened the ship. On the third day, they cast out the
tackling of the ship with their own hands. They saw neither sun nor stars for
many days. When all hope of safety was gone, an angel told Paul in the night
that he had to be brought before Caesar and that God had given him all who were
sailing with him in the ship. On the fourteenth day, as they were being driven
up and down in the Adriatic Sea, the sailors thought that they were near some
land, which they later learned was the island of Melita. [K680] As they tried
to head there, the ship was broken up by the violence of the storm, but all on
board made it safely to land. Some swam, while others floated in on some planks
and boards from the ship. {Ac 27:9-44}
6874a. After they had survived the shipwreck, they were courteously taken in by
the inhabitants of Melita. They made a fire to dry their clothes and to get
warm. When Paul was bitten by a viper as he was putting some wood on the fire,
he shook it off with no ill effects. The barbarians were amazed and said Paul
must be a god. They stayed with Publius, a chief man of the island, for three
days. It so happened that Publius' father was sick with a fever and a bloody
flux. Paul healed him, as well as many others on the island. {Ac 28:1-9}
6875. Caesennius Paetus had not sufficiently fortified his winter camps nor
made provision for grain, so he quickly marched over the Taurus Mountains and
took a few citadels with some plunder. He made long marches and overran places
which he could not hold. When the provisions he had taken had spoiled, he
returned back to the place he had come from and wrote letters to Caesar in
exalted words, as though the war had been finished. This, however, was far from
the truth. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 15. c. 8. 5:227,229}
6876. In the meantime, Corbulo took special care to fortify the bank of the
Euphrates River with more garrisons and to frighten Vologeses against entering
Syria. Therefore, Vologeses turned against Paetus and attacked him so severely,
that he forced him into a dishonourable peace, which was witnessed by Monobazus,
King of Adiabene. The fortresses that Corbulo had built on the other side of
the Euphrates River were demolished. The Armenians were left to decide their
own future. At Rome, trophies and triumphal arches were set up in the middle of
the Capitoline Hill, as decreed by the Senate, in honour of the victory over the
Parthians. However, the war resumed again and all this was done only for show
and not in consideration of what had actually happened. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
15. c. 9-18. 5:229-243}
4066b AM, 4776 JP, 63 AD
6877. Paul and his companions were highly honoured by the inhabitants of Melita
and had all their needs supplied. After staying there three months, they
travelled in a ship from Alexandria which had wintered at the island, and came
to Syracuse. There they stayed for three days and then sailed on to Rhegium.
After one day, a south wind blew and on the second day they came to Puteoli,
where they found brethren who wanted them to stay with them for seven days. So
they went toward Rome, in the ninth year of Nero's reign. {Ac 28:10-14}
6878. The brethren left Rome to meet Paul while he was as far away as Appii
Forum and Three Taverns. When they came to Rome, the centurion delivered the
prisoners to the captain of the guard. Paul was allowed to live by himself with
a soldier who guarded him. After three days, he called together the leaders of
the Jews who were at Rome and told them the reason why he had been sent to Rome
as a prisoner and that he had been compelled to appeal to Caesar. They denied
that they had received any letters about him from Judea and said that they had
only heard that this heresy was being spoken against everywhere. When they had
set a day, they came to him at his lodging. Paul expounded Christ from the law
and the prophets from morning until evening. Some assented to the things that
were said and others did not believe. Paul pronounced their judgment from
Isaiah and they left him. After that, Paul turned to the Gentiles. [K681] He
remained in his own hired house for two whole years and received all who came to
him. He preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ and
no man hindered him. {Ac 28:14-31} [E893]
6879. Onesiphorus very diligently sought Paul out at Rome and when he found
him, he encouraged him. {2Ti 1:16,17}
6880. At the beginning of spring, the envoys of the Parthians brought the
messages and letters of King Vologeses to Rome. These requested that Armenia,
which the Parthians had already taken, be given to them and that a peace be
confirmed. Both these things were denied and the government of Syria was
committed to Gaius Cestius as the governor, while Corbulo managed the war. The
fifteenth legion was brought from Pannonia by Marius Celsus, while the
tetrarchs, kings, prefects and governors, and those ruling in the neighbouring
provinces, were ordered to obey Corbulo as the supreme commander. He received
the same authority that Pompey had been given in fighting the pirate war.
Paetus was sent back to Rome and feared the worst. Nero thought it enough to
scoff at him, saying that he would pardon him at once, in case he should become
sick with fear over the uncertainty surrounding Nero's actions. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 15. c. 24,25. 5:253,255}
6881. Having mustered his army, Corbulo went into Armenia, where the envoys of
Vologeses met him and requested peace. Tiridates was forced to come into the
Roman camp. He took off his crown and laid it at Caesar's image, also agreeing
to go to Rome to receive it back from Nero himself. His only condition was that
he might first go visit his family and friends. In the meantime, he left his
daughter as hostage and sent supplicatory letters to Nero. As he went away, he
found Pacorus with the Medes and Vologeses at Ecbatana. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
15. c. 26-31. 5:255-263}
6882. In Judea, Festus sent foot soldiers and cavalry against a certain
impostor, a magician, who drew men after him into the wilderness, deceiving them
with promises that they would be freed from all their misfortunes. The soldiers
killed both the seducer and his followers. {Mt 24:24-26} {*Josephus, Antiq., l.
20. c. 8. s. 10. (188) 10:103}
6883. At the same time, King Agrippa built a stately house near the porch in
the palace of Jerusalem. In previous times, this site had belonged to the
Asmoneans and was located on a high place, from where one could get a good view
of all Jerusalem. The chief men of Jerusalem were not pleased that the
sacrifices and everything that was done in the temple could easily be seen from
a private house. They therefore built a high wall, which blocked the king's
view of the city, as well as of the western porch in the outer court of the
temple, where the Roman soldiers stood guard on the feast days for the
safekeeping of the temple. Both the king and Festus, the governor of the
province, were offended by this and Festus ordered that it be pulled down.
However (with his permission), ten chief men were sent as envoys to Nero about
this matter, together with Ishmael, the high priest, and Helcias, the keeper of
the holy treasure. After Nero had heard their embassy, he forgave the Jews and
allowed the wall to remain. This was as a favour to his wife Poppaea, who
favoured the Jewish religion and became their intercessor before Nero. She
allowed the ten men to return, but kept Ishmael and Helcias with her as
hostages. [K682] When Agrippa learned this, he took away the high priesthood
from Ishmael and gave it to Joseph, surnamed Kabi, the son of Simon, who had
formerly been a high priest. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 8. s. 11.
(189-196) 10:103-107}
6884. Josephus, the son of Matthias, heard that some priests, who had been his
close friends, had been sent to Rome as prisoners by Felix. In this unfortunate
circumstance, they still obeyed their religion and lived only on figs and nuts.
He went to Rome at age twenty-six, to see if he could free them. He had a
perilous sea voyage, as their ship sank in the middle of the Adriatic Sea. Of
the six hundred who swam all night, about eighty of those swimming were more
fortunate than the rest, because they were saved and picked up by a ship from
Cyrene. Among these was Josephus. After he was set ashore, he made his way to
Dicaearchia (or Puteoli, as the Italians called it) where he became acquainted
with Aliturus, a Jewish actor who was much liked by Nero. Through him, he was
introduced to Poppaea, the empress, and by her intervention had those priests
freed at once. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 3. (13-16) 1:7,9}
6885. After Festus died in the province, Nero sent Albinus to be his successor
in Judea. King Agrippa took away the high priesthood from Joseph and gave it to
Ananas, the son of Ananas, or that Ananus who had formerly had the high
priesthood, a long time earlier. Ananus had five sons who had also been high
priests, which had never happened to any of the high priests before.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 1. (197,198) 10:107}
6886. Ananus, the new high priest, was of the sect of the Sadducees. He was a
bold and headstrong man and thought it was a good time to convene the Sanhedrin
of judges, since Festus was dead and the new governor, Albinus, had not yet
arrived. They brought James, the brother of Jesus, before them, who was accused
of transgressing the law. James was condemned and stoned. {*Josephus, Antiq.,
l. 20. c. 9. s. 1. (199,200) 10:107,109} [E894] At the time of the
passover, James was thrown down from a pinnacle of the temple and stoned. One
of them, who was a fuller, killed James by hitting him on the head with the club
he used to press clothes. Eusebius related this from the fifth book of the
history of Hegesippus. {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 23.
1:169-175}
6887. The murder of James greatly displeased all the good men and those who
kept the law. So they secretly sent a messenger to King Agrippa and requested
from him that he would order Ananus to stop acts of this kind. Some also went
to meet Albinus as he was coming from the city of Alexandria and informed him
that Ananus had no power to call a council without his permission. He was
persuaded by their words and wrote a sharp letter to Ananus, in which he
threatened to punish him. For the same reason, Agrippa later took the high
priesthood from him when he had only held it for three months and gave it to
Jesus, the son of Damnaeus. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 1.
(201-203) 10:109} After the death of James, Simon, the son of Clophas, was
appointed bishop of the church of Jerusalem. {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History, l. 3. c. 32. 1:273}
6888. As soon as Albinus came to Jerusalem, he diligently tried to restore
order by executing all the thieves. The high priest Ananias, the son of
Nebedaeus, increased more and more every day in the love and esteem of the
people and was honoured by all men for his generosity. Albinus daily honoured
the high priest for the gifts he sent to him. Ananias had some very wicked
servants, who attracted a company of headstrong men that went from farm to farm
and took away the priests' tithes, beating those who refused to give it to them.
[K683] Some of the priests also did the same, for no one was able to restrain
them. Many of the priests, who lived on those tithes, perished from hunger.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 2. (204-207) 10:109,111}
6889. At the feast of Pentecost, the thieves entered Jerusalem at night and
captured the scribe Eleazar, who was the son of Ananias, the high priest. They
held him hostage, then sent to Ananias to have Albinus free ten of the thieves
in exchange for the freeing of the scribe. Ananias was forced to obtain this
request from Albinus. This was the beginning of greater calamities, for the
thieves always found some trick to intercept some of Ananias' family, whom they
would then refuse to free until some of their own men had been freed.
Consequently, they increased in boldness and number and plundered the whole
country. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 3. (208-210) 10:111,113}
6890. At this time, King Agrippa enlarged the walls of Caesarea Philippi and
changed its name to Neronias, in honour of Nero. At Berytus, he built a theatre
at great expense and annually held games which cost him large amounts of money.
He also gave grain and oil to the people of Berytus. He decorated that city in
various places with statues and with original images made many years earlier,
transferring almost all that was ornamental in his kingdom to that city. Hence
his own subjects began to hate him, because he had stripped them of their
ornaments to adorn a foreign city. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 4.
(211,212) 10:113}
4067a AM, 4776 JP, 63 AD
6891. Four years before the Jewish war (that was carried out by Vespasian), at
a time when the city of Jerusalem enjoyed both peace and plenty, Jesus, the son
of Ananias, a countryman and one of the common people, arrived at the feast of
tabernacles and suddenly began to cry out:
"A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a
voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against the bridegroom and the
bride, a voice against all this people."
6892. He cried like this night and day, as he went through all the streets of
the city. Some of the nobility, ignoring any sign of the impending trouble,
took the fellow and scourged him with many stripes. However, he spoke nothing
privately to himself or to them that scourged him, but continued on with the
same cry. The magistrates thought he had a message from God and brought him to
the Roman governor. He was beaten until his bones showed, yet he never made an
entreaty nor shed a tear, but at every stroke replied, with as much composure as
a weeping voice would permit:
"Woe, woe, to Jerusalem."
6893. Albinus then asked who he was, where he was born and why he persisted in
crying after this manner? He gave no reply and continued ceaselessly to bewail
the city, until Albinus thought he was mad and allowed him to leave. He cried
like this most earnestly on the feast days, and continued in this for seven
years (or rather six, as Photius has it) and five months, and yet he was never
hoarse nor weary. In the end, he was killed by a stone shot from an engine at
the time of the siege. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 5. s. 3.
(300-309) 4:265-269} {Photius, Bibliotheca, c. 47} [K684]
4067b AM, 4777 JP, 64 AD
6894. At the command of King Agrippa, Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, succeeded
Jesus, the son of Damnaeus, in the high priesthood, with the latter very
unwillingly relinquishing it. Consequently, a discord arose between them. They
both had a following of resolute young fellows who started arguing and then
throwing stones. Since Ananias was the wealthiest, he used his money to get
most of them on his side. [E895] Costobar and Saul, who were of royal blood and
received special favours because they were closely related to King Agrippa, each
got together a band of rascals. Despite their royal connections, these two were
violent and as eager as any to exploit anyone weaker than themselves.
{*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 4. (212-214) 10:113,115}
6895. From this time on, the civil state of the Jews degenerated on a daily
basis. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 4. (214) 10:115} The seeds of
the future destruction were sown at this time through the number of leaders who
led these bands. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 1. (275,276)
2:431}
6896. Albinus, the governor, robbed private citizens of their goods in the name
of justice and greatly burdened the whole country with heavy taxes. For a
price, he freed not only the thieves whom the soldiers of the city had captured,
but also those whom the former governors had left in prison. Those who could
not afford to bribe him, remained in prison as the most heinous offenders.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 1. (272-276) 2:429,431}
6897. At the same time, also, the insolence of those wanting a revolution in
Jerusalem increased. The rich among them bribed Albinus to overlook their
seditions, while those who delighted in disturbances, allied themselves with
Albinus' side. Each of them had a troop of rascals and Albinus himself was over
them all, as a tyrant and a prince of thieves. He used the help of his guard to
rob the quieter sort. So it was that those whose houses were ransacked held
their peace and those who escaped were glad to flatter those who they knew
deserved death, in case they themselves should suffer the same things.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 1. (274-276) 2:431}
6898. When Rome was on fire, Nero watched it burn from Mecena's Tower and was
very greatly delighted with the beauty of the flames. He sang of the
destruction of Troy in his lyre-player's clothes, comparing the present evil to
those old ruins. {*Tacitus, Annals, l. 15. c. 38-40. 5:271-277}
{*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c. 38. 2:149,151} {*Dio, l. 62. (16-18)
8:111-115} Some noted that this fire began on the 14th of the Calends of August
(July 19), on the same day on which the Senonian Gauls had set the city on fire,
after they had taken it. Others, in their curiosity, went so far as to
calculate the very days and months that were between the two fires. They said
there were four hundred and eighteen years, four hundred and eighteen months and
four hundred and eighteen days between the two fires. {*Tacitus, Annals, l.
15. c. 41. 5:277,279}
6899. To quell the rumour that he had started the fire, Nero falsely accused
the Christians and punished them most grievously, with highly refined torments.
Those who confessed to being Christians were the first to be apprehended; then,
based on their information, a large multitude were convicted. They were hated,
not so much for allegedly having set the city on fire, as for the general hatred
that everyone bore against them. These people suffered and died most cruelly.
Some were covered with beasts' skins, to be torn by dogs; some were crucified
and some burned—when it was night, their bodies were turned into torches to give
light by night. Nero made his garden fit for the spectacle and held shows in
the circus. [K685] He mingled among the common people in the clothes of a
charioteer, or stood in a ring. The Christians were pitied, since they were not
suffering for any common good, but to satisfy one man's cruelty. {*Tacitus,
Annals, l. 15. c. 44. 5:283,285} The words of an old scholiast were
mentioned, as commenting on Juvenal's writings: {Juvenal, Satire, 1.}
Thou shalt be made a torch by night to shine
And burn impaled, name thou but Tigilline.
"If you touch Tigillinus, you shall be burned alive, as it was in the shows of
Nero, who commanded them to be made into torches, that they might give light to
the spectators. They were fastened through their throat, so that they could not
bend themselves. Nero clothed malefactors with pitch, paper and wax and set
them on fire."
6900. This was the first persecution raised against the Christians by the Roman
emperors. Suetonius, a heathen writer, mentioned: {*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c.
16. 2:107}
"The Christians were punished, who were men of a new and pernicious
superstition."
6901. Tertullian, a Christian, stated: {*Tertullian, Apology, l. 1. c. 5.
3:22}
"Search your records, then you shall find that Nero was the first that used
Caesar's sword against this sect, which at that time greatly increased at Rome.
However, we glory in the author of our condemnation for he who understands,
knows that Nero could only condemn that which is very good."
4068a AM, 4777 JP, 64 AD
6902. Nero appointed Cestius Gallus as governor of Syria and Gessius Florus of
Judea. Florus had been born in the city of Clazomene and had married Cleopatra,
a wicked woman and a friend of the Empress Poppaea, who got this appointment for
him. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 11. s. 1. (252,253) 10:135}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 3. (280) 2:433} [E896]
6903. When Albinus heard that Florus was coming to succeed him, he wanted to
gratify the citizens of Jerusalem, so he summoned all the prisoners. Those who
were notoriously guilty of any capital crime were executed, while those who were
in prison for smaller offences, he remanded to prison again and freed them on
payment of a bribe. By this means, the prisons were emptied, but Judea was
filled with thieves. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 5. (215) 10:115}
6904. In the meantime, the Levites, whose office it was to sing hymns in the
temple, went to King Agrippa and by their entreaty, persuaded him to call a
council and permit them the use of the linen robe, which at the time was only
granted to the priests. They said that this new custom would serve as a
perpetual memorial to his reign. So the king, on the advice of his council,
permitted those who sang the hymns to set aside their former clothes and wear a
linen garment, as they desired. Also at their entreaty, he allowed another part
of the same tribe, one that was allocated to the services of the temple, to
learn to sing the sacred hymns. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 6.
(216-218) 10:115}
6905. The Philippians sent Epaphroditus to Rome with money, to visit Paul in
prison and to minister to him in his needs. He became Paul's helper and fellow
soldier for the work of Christ. He did not regard his life and risked it, for
he fell seriously ill. {Php 2:25-30 4:10,14,18}
6906. Although Paul was old and in prison, he won Onesimus to Christ. He was a
servant who had fled from Colosse, from his master, Philemon. {Phm 1:9,10,15
Col 4:9,18} [K686]
6907. Timothy, who was being kept as a prisoner with Paul, was set at liberty.
{Heb 13:23}
6908. Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians through Epaphroditus, after the
latter had recovered his health. He also hoped to be able to send Timothy to
them in a little while and as soon as he would find out how they were, to be
able to come to them himself soon. {Php 2:19-29} At that time, Paul's bonds for
Christ were famous throughout the court, and even some of Caesar's palace staff
were converted to the faith. {Php 1:12,13 4:22} Since he had been sent to
prison by Caesar, he was more well known in Caesar's family and so turned the
house of persecution into the church of Christ. {Jerome, Commentary on
Philemon}
6909. Paul wrote a letter to Philemon and sent it to Colosse by his servant
Onesimus. Paul reconciled and commended Onesimus to his master and indicated
that he himself hoped to be freed from prison and wanted Philemon to prepare a
guest room for Paul. Paul used Onesimus and Tychicus to deliver a letter to the
Colossians, whom he had never seen, but who had been instructed in the doctrine
of Christ by Epaphras. {Col 1:7,8 2:1 4:7-9,18} At that time, besides Timothy
(whose name is prefixed to both of these letters), there were with Paul at Rome
the following Jews, his companions in bonds, Aristarchus of Thessalonica and
Mark, Barnabas' sister's son. {Ac 20:4} Paul instructed the Colossians to
receive Mark, should he come to them. Also with Paul was Jesus, who was called
Justus, as well as Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas and Epaphras. Paul
told of Epaphras' great affection for the Colossians, and for those at Laodicea
and Hierapolis (it was Epaphras who, together with Archippus, had supplied
Paul's ministry, but now he was absent). {Col 4:10-14,17 Phm 1:23,24}
6910. Paul also sent that same Tychicus, who had been his companion in his
travels from Asia, {Ac 20:4} back to them in Asia, so that the brethren might
know his affairs. He carried with him Paul's letter to the Ephesians. {Eph
6:21,22} Tertullian and Epiphanius confirmed what was said by Marcion, the
heretic, that this letter went by the name of the letter to the Laodiceans.
{*Tertullian, Against Marcion, l. 5. c. 17. 3:465} {Epiphanius, Heresy, l.
1. c. 42.} Grotius thought it credible enough to have been done by Paul from
the merit of the church of Laodicea. Affirming that there was no reason why he
should tell a lie in this matter and he deduced from this that the letter to the
Ephesians and the Laodiceans was written with the same words. It can be seen in
some old books (as it appears from Basil {Basil, Against Eunomius, l. 2.} and
from Jerome's commentary on this passage, relating to the apostle) that it was
generally written as follows (as was the custom with the copies of letters that
were to be sent to various places): To the Saints who are at xxxxxxxx, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus. This indicated that it had probably first been
sent to Ephesus, as the metropolis of Asia, and from there sent on to the rest
of the churches of that province (the name of each church would be inserted for
the xxxxxxxx). Some of these churches had never seen Paul, which his words
clearly bear out:
"After I heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints," {Eph
1:15}
6911. Again Paul stated:
"If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me
for you...." {Eph 3:2-4} [E897] [K687]
6912. Perhaps Marcion's idea might better relate to the Laodiceans, who had not
seen the apostle {Col 2:1} than to the Ephesians, with whom he had spent so much
time. {Ac 19:8-10 20:31}
6913. At about the same time, Paul wrote the letter to the Hebrews. Timothy
had been set at liberty, but had left him for somewhere else for a time. He
promised to visit them with Timothy, if the latter were to come shortly. In the
meantime, he sent them greetings from the brethren in Italy. {Heb 13:23,24}
4068b AM, 4778 JP, 65 AD
6914. The building of the temple was now finished and the people realised that
about eighteen thousand workmen, who had previously worked on the temple, would
be idle. They did not want the holy treasure to fall prey to the Romans, as
well as wanting to help the workmen. If they worked only one hour, they were
promptly paid. So they tried to persuade King Agrippa to repair the eastern
porch. This porch hung over a deep and narrow valley and was supported by a
wall that was six hundred feet long, built from stones that were thirty feet
square and nine feet high. Claudius Caesar had committed the charge of the
temple to King Agrippa. Agrippa believed that any large building could easily
be pulled down, but was hard to set up, and especially this porch. It would
cost much time and money to do, hence he denied their request, but he allowed
them to pave their city with white stone, if they so desired. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 7. (219-223) 10:117,119}
6915. After two years of having been detained, Paul was released. He had
taught the gospel at Rome during this period. {Ac 28:30} He seems to have gone
from there to Asia and to have lived with Philemon at Colosse. {Phm 1:22}
6916. During the feast of unleavened bread, on the 8th of Xanthikos (Niese:
April 25, Capellus: April 8), around the ninth hour of the night (3 a.m.), a
light shone for half an hour between the altar and the temple, so that it was as
bright as noon. On the same feast day, a cow that was being led to sacrifice
brought forth a lamb in the middle of the temple. The east gate of the temple
was made of brass and was extremely heavy. In the evening it could barely be
closed by twenty men and was locked with bars of iron and had bolts that were
let down deep into a threshold that was made entirely from one stone. About the
sixth hour of the night (midnight), the gate opened of its own accord. When the
watchmen of the temple reported this to the captain as they went on their
rounds, he went there and could barely shut it. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6.
c. 5. s. 3. (290-294) 4:263} Tacitus also listed similar signs of the
upcoming war. {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 13. 3:197,199} {Lu 21:25,26}
6917. Josephus relates the following and said many would be deemed as a fable
but he had it on the good authority of many eyewitnesses. On the 21st day of
Artemisios (Niese: June 8, Capellus: May 21), before sunset, all over the
country, iron chariots were seen in the air and armies in battle array, passing
along in the clouds and surrounding the cities. At the feast of Pentecost, the
priests went into the inner temple by night, according to their custom, to
perform the divine service. At first they found that the place was moving and
making a noise, then later they heard a sudden voice, which said: {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 6. c. 5. s. 3. (296-300) 4:265} {Lu 21:20}
"Let us depart hence."
6918. Paul preached the gospel on the isle of Crete, where he left Titus
behind, so that Titus might set in order the things that were lacking and ordain
elders in every city there. {Tit 1:5} [K688]
6919. King Agrippa took the priesthood from Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, and
gave it to Matthias, the son of Theophilus. The Jewish war started when he was
the high priest. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 9. s. 7. (223) 10:119}
6920. After Josephus had received gifts of money from the Empress Poppaea, he
returned to his own country. Observing many signs of sedition and rebellion
among the people there, he endeavoured in vain to dissuade them from their
unhappy enterprise. {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 3,4. (16-19) 1:9}
6921. Gessius Florus abused his authority so outrageously, that the Jews wanted
Albinus again and considered Albinus their benefactor. Although privately
Albinus was as wicked and injurious as he could possibly be, Florus openly
perpetrated his villainies and bragged publicly of the wrongs he was doing to
the country. He left nothing in the way of rapines and punishments undone, to
the height of iniquity. He was inflexible to any mercy, insatiable in his quest
for gain, equally greedy of small and great things, so much so, that he became a
partner with the thieves. Many became thieves and paid part of the booty to
him, to escape prosecution. There was no moderation in or end of their wrongs,
so that the miserable Jews, unable to endure the savage insolence of the
thieves, were constrained to abandon both their houses and religion and flee to
foreign countries. They thought this was better, even if it meant living among
the Gentiles. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 11. s. 1. (252-257)
10:135,137} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 2. (277-279)
2:431,433}
6922. Nero's wife Poppaea, who was great with child and sick, upbraided Nero as
he returned late from driving his chariot. In his anger, he killed her with a
kick of his foot. This was after the end of his Quinquennial Games, which had
been held for the second time and Nero had won first prize. [E898] These games
were instituted in 60 AD. {*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c. 35. s. 3. 2:143}
{*Tacitus, Annals, l. 16. c. 2-6. 5:339-345}
6923. Paul stayed at Ephesus for some time and then left Timothy there while he
went to Macedonia, so that Timothy would administer that church in his absence.
{1Ti 1:3 3:14,15} In Macedonia, he stayed with the Philippians, as he had
previously promised them. {Php 1:25,26 2:24}
4069a AM, 4778 JP, 65 AD
6924. Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, in which he declared that he had
delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan, because they had made shipwreck
of their faith. By being chastised, they would learn not to blaspheme. {1Ti
1:20} Hymenaeus denied the resurrection to come, as did Philetus, saying that it
was already past. {2Ti 2:17,18} Alexander seemed to be that coppersmith who had
greatly hindered Paul and had so vehemently withstood his preaching. {Ac
20:33,34 2Ti 4:14,15}
6925. Paul also wrote another letter, this one to Titus in Crete, asking that
when Paul sent Artemas or Tychicus to him, Titus would come to Paul at Nicopolis
(a place famous for the victory at Actium), where Paul planned to spend the
winter. Paul also said that he should speedily send Zenas, the lawyer, and
Apollos on their journey, so that they would lack nothing. {Tit 3:12,13}
4069b AM, 4779 JP, 66 AD
6926. After winter was over, Paul returned to Timothy at Ephesus and from there
went to Troas, where he left his cloak behind. Erastus remained at Corinth,
where he was the city treasurer. {Ro 16:23} Paul left Trophimus sick at
Miletus. {1Ti 3:14 2Ti 4:13,20}
6927. Cestius Gallus came from Antioch to Jerusalem, to make a report for Nero
on the strength and state of the city. [K689] Since he despised that country,
he asked the high priests if it were possible for them to count the people. It
was the day of the passover, when they killed sacrifices from the ninth hour to
the eleventh. There were two hundred and fifty-five thousand and six hundred
sacrifices made. Each lamb would be eaten by ten or twenty individuals. An
estimated two million, seven hundred thousand people were present for the feast.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 9. s. 3. (423-427) 4:301}
6928. When Cestius Gallus visited Jerusalem, more than three million Jews came
to him and begged him to take pity on the calamities of their country. They
asked him to remove Florus, who was plaguing their country. Although Florus was
with Gallus and in full view of the people, he was unmoved and laughed at their
cries against him. At that time, Gallus appeased the rage of the people and
promised to make Florus gentler toward them. He returned to Antioch again and
Florus brought him as far as Caesarea, deceiving him with lies while he planned
to make war on the country of the Jews. This was the best way he could think of
to hide his villainies, for, as long as the peace continued, he would always
have the Jews accusing him to Caesar. If he could make them revolt, then his
impieties would seem small, compared to the Jewish revolt. Every day he
increased their calamities more strenuously to make that country revolt from the
Roman Empire. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 3. (280-283) 2:433}
6929. Paul came to Rome for the second time and was heard and acquitted by
Nero. He mentioned this: {2Ti 4:16,17}
"In my first answer, no man stood with me, but all forsook me: I pray God it be
not laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and
strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the
Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."
6930. So, as he had earlier done for two years, so now again for a whole year,
he preached the gospel to the people of all countries, who came from every place
and flocked to Rome, to make it their home country.
6931. Demas, loving this present world more, left Paul and went to
Thessalonica, Crescens went into Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke
remained with Paul at Rome. {2Ti 4:10,11}
6932. There was an old saying that was commonly talked about right across all
the east. There was a prophecy which said that from Judea should come those who
would be masters of the world. It was later obvious, by what happened, that
this had been foretold of the Roman emperor; but the Jews applied this prophesy
to themselves and rebelled. {*Suetonius, Vespasian, l. 8. c. 4. s. 5.
2:273} The Jews patiently endured, until Gessius Florus was made governor.
{*Tacitus, Histories, l. 5. c. 10. 3:193} Under him the war began, in the
month of Artemisios, or our May, in the twelfth year of Nero's empire, the
seventeenth year of the reign of Agrippa and the second year of the government
of Gessius Florus. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 14. s. 4. (284,285)
2:433,435} {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 20. c. 11. s. 1. (257,258) 10:137} This
war was fully described by Josephus in the later part of the second book and the
five following books of his Jewish War. We have taken a summary of this from
the abridgement of the Jewish history of that most eminent man, Ludovicus
Capellus. (The day and the month given by Josephus appear to conflict with the
Loeb footnotes as computed by the modern writer, Niese, and with those given by
Capellus, whom Ussher used. The Macedonian months given by Josephus appear to
be those in common use in Syria. We listed Josephus' date, as well as the date
by Niese and Capellus. However, Niese's dates for then fall of Jerusalem and
the burning of the temple do not agree with other ancient writers. Worse he
states that the final siege of Jerusalem began on May 1 which was a new moon.
This siege happened at the beginning of the Passover, which occurred near the
full moon, but never on a new moon. Further, if the Macedonian months referred
to actual lunar months, then Niese's dates do not agree with the known lunar
cycle. Capellus assumed that Josephus used the Macedonian month names to refer
to the twelve Roman Julian months, as was the practice at Antioch. {See note on
3956a AM. <<4870>>} When this is done his dates for the fall of
Jerusalem and
the destruction of the temple agree with ancient writers. The sign in the
heavens given by Josephus occurred during the feast of unleavened bread. {See
note on 4068b AM. <<6916>>} This feast would occur after the full moon
of April
3 for that month. If Niese's date of April 25 is correct, this feast would
occur before the full moon which is impossible. We will leave it to the reader
to decide who is correct. Editor.)
6933. Nero crossed into Greece and stayed there until winter. {*Dio, l. 62.
(8) 8:149}
6934. In a long speech, King Agrippa vainly tried to dissuade the Jews from
war. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 16. s. 3,4. (344-405) 2:457-481}
[E899] A little while after he left Jerusalem, some of the seditious men took
the strong citadel of Masada by surprise and occupied it, killing all the Romans
they found there. [K690] At Jerusalem, Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high
priest, and commander of the soldiers of the temple, was a bold and factious
young man. He persuaded the priests not to offer any sacrifices except for the
Jews; none were to be offered for Caesar or the Romans. The chief priest and
the nobles, who were peaceful men, judged this rash act to be intolerable, since
they recognised it as an invitation to open rebellion. However, they could not
make these seditious men change their minds, so they sent messengers to
Caesarea, to Florus and to King Agrippa, asking them to send troops immediately
to quash the rebellion in its very beginnings. Because Florus wanted a revolt,
he did nothing. Agrippa sent two thousand cavalry who, together with the rulers
and priests and the rest of the peace-loving multitude, captured and held the
upper city from the seditious men, who held the temple and the lower city.
There were continual skirmishes between them for the next seven days. On the
feast day, as people carried wood into the temple, many murderers were admitted
into the temple. These, with the rest of their party, attacked the king's
soldiers and forced them from the upper part of the city. They drove them into
Herod's palace and burned the place where the records were kept, as well as the
palace of the Asmoneans (which was Agrippa's court at the time), and the house
of Ananias, the high priest. The next day, which was the 15th of August, they
captured the citadel of Antonia after a two-day siege, killed all the Roman
soldiers there and burned the citadel. A little later, they attacked the king's
palace. (Manahemus, the son of Judas Galilaeus, was their captain, and after he
had taken the citadel of Masada and plundered Herod's armoury, he brought his
armed murderers into Jerusalem.) After they had taken the palace and burned it,
Manahemus seized the leadership of the revolt. Immediately after this, as he
was praying in the temple, he was killed by Eleazar, the captain of the temple.
Manahemus' men were driven out, and returned to Masada under the leadership of
Eleazar, the son of Jairus, who was related to Manahemus. The seditious men,
also of Jerusalem, had put the Romans to death on the Sabbath day itself. After
the palace was won by assault, the Romans retired into the citadels of Hippicus,
Phasael and Mariamme. When they were besieged, they surrendered and turned over
their arms. They were promised safety, but the Jews broke their oath and put
them to death. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 17. s. 2-10. (408-456)
2:483-501}
6935. That same day, at Caesarea, Florus instigated the Gentiles to kill all
the Jews who lived there, and so twenty thousand were killed. The Jews
throughout the whole country were vexed in the same way. The Gentiles attacked
the villages of the Syrians and the neighbouring cities of Philadelphia,
Heshbon, Gerasa, Pella, Scythopolis, Gadara, Hippos, Gaulanitis, Kedasa,
Ptolemais, Gaba, Caesarea, Sebaste, Askelon, Anthedon and Gaza. A general
slaughter was also conducted by the Syrians of the Jews in the whole of Syria.
This was done partly from the old hatred against the Jews and their religion,
and partly for the love of plunder and desire for revenge. Only the people of
Antioch, Apamea and Sidon spared the Jews who lived among them. At Alexandria,
the metropolis of Egypt, during a sedition, fifty thousand Jews were killed in
one day by two Roman legions that were sent to put down the sedition.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 18. s. 1-8. (457-498) 2:501-517}
6936. Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, was very upset by these riotous
actions. He left Antioch for Judea with the twelfth legion, as well as King
Agrippa's soldiers and other forces. From Ptolemais, he invaded Joppa and
burned it. He sent Caesennius Gallus into Galilee, which the latter pacified.
After staying at Sepphoris, he came to Caesarea. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2.
c. 18. s. 9-11. (499-513) 2:517-523} [K691]
6937. Peter and Paul were warned, by revelation from the Lord, of their
approaching death. {2Pe 1:14 2Ti 4:6,7}
6938. Peter wrote his second letter to the Hebrews, who were dispersed
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. {2Pe 3:1 1Pe 1:1}
6939. Paul, by the hand of Tychicus, sent his second letter to Timothy at
Ephesus, where the family of Onesiphorus lived. This was after Aquila and
Priscilla had left Rome and returned to Ephesus. {2Ti 4:12,19} In this letter,
he wanted Timothy to come to him before winter and bring Mark with him, who was
very beneficial to him in the ministry. {2Ti 4:9,11,21} Paul sent greetings
from Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia. {2Ti 4:21}
4070a AM, 4779 JP, 66 AD
6940. During the feast of tabernacles, after Cestius Gallus had burned Lydda,
he marched toward Jerusalem. About seven or eight miles from there, the men of
Jerusalem met him and fought a perilous battle near Bethhoron. When fresh
troops arrived for Cestius, he forced the Jews into Jerusalem. On the 4th of
the month of Hyperberetaios (Niese: October 17, Capellus: October 4), he broke
in and captured the lower part of the city (also known as Bezetha, or the New
City and the Timber Market). Then he attacked the temple and the upper city.
He would easily have taken it, had he continued the attack more valiantly, for
most of the people favoured the Romans and only the seditious men opposed them.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 19. s. 1-4. (513-532) 2:521-529} [E900]
6941. When Cestius had almost captured the temple, he raised the siege for no
good reason and retreated to Antipatris. Many of the Romans and auxiliary
soldiers died on this march who were killed by the pursuing Jews. In their
flight, the Romans abandoned most of their baggage, ammunition, engines, slings
and other arms. The Jews later made good use of this equipment in their own
defence against the siege of Titus. This humiliating retreat happened on the
8th of the month of Dios (Niese: November 25, Capellus: November 8), in the
twelfth year of Nero. (That is, the twelfth year was over.) The thirteenth year
of Nero had begun on the 13th of the previous October. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 2. c. 19. s. 5-9. (533-555) 2:529-537}
6942. The Jews returned to Jerusalem, elated by this victory. They appointed
Joseph, the son of Gorion, and Ananus, the high priest, as governors of the city
and sent many commanders into each province to govern. As one of these,
Josephus (the writer of this war of the Jews), was sent into Galilee. After he
had fortified and walled many of the towns, he made all the preparations
necessary to endure a war because he was expecting the invasion of the Romans.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 20. s. 1-8. (556-584) 2:537-547}
6943. In the meantime, there were many riots and numerous and frequent
rebellions of the cities against Josephus. These were due to the craftiness and
fraud of John, the son of a certain Levite, and out of envy of some of the
governors of Jerusalem, who wanted the government taken from Josephus. However,
Josephus thwarted all their schemes with his prudence and patience. He forced
John to flee with his forces to Jerusalem from Gischala, a town of Galilee,
which John had fortified. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 21. s. 1-10.
(585-646) 2:547-571} At Jerusalem, Ananias, the governor of the city, made
preparations for a real war by repairing the walls and ensuring that warlike
instruments, arrows and arms, were made throughout the whole city. He
endeavoured in vain to reconcile those who were called the Zealots. He tried to
catch Simon, the son of Gioras, who was a thief, but when he sent soldiers
against him, Simon fled with his followers to the thieves who held Masada. From
there, they infested the whole country of Judea and Idumea plaguing it with
their robberies. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 2. c. 22. s. 1,2. (647-654)
2:571,573} [K692]
6944. Cestius, meanwhile, sent messengers to Nero, who was in Achaia at the
time, telling him of the troubled state of Judea. Disturbed by this news, Nero
ordered Vespasian to go there. On receiving this command, Vespasian sent his
son Titus to Alexandria, to bring the fifteenth legion from there into Judea.
Meanwhile, Vespasian himself, with the fifth and the tenth legions under his
command, went by land from Achaia into Asia and came from there into Syria and
Antioch. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 3. c. 1. s. 1-3. (1-8) 3:3,5}
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 3. c. 4. s. 2. (65) 3:23}
4070b AM, 4780 JP, 67 AD
6945. At Rome, Peter and Paul foretold that it would shortly come to pass, that
God would send a king who would overcome the Jews and who would lay their city
level with the ground. He would besiege them until they so pined with hunger
and thirst, that they would start eating one another. Finally, they would fall
into their enemies' hands and would see their wives most grievously tormented in
their sight and their virgins violated and prostituted. Their sons would be
torn asunder and their little ones dashed to pieces. Everything would be
destroyed by fire and sword and they would forever be banished from their own
lands. All this would happen, because they had exalted themselves above the
most loving Son of God, who was approved by God himself. {*Lactantius, Divine
Institutions, l. 4. c. 21. 7:123}
6946. At Antioch, Vespasian gathered together the Roman forces and the
auxiliaries from the kings. Then, from there, he went to Ptolemais and
recovered Sepphoris, which favoured the Romans. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 3.
c. 2. s. 4. (29-34) 3:11,13}
6947. Titus came from Alexandria to join his father at Ptolemais sooner than
could have been hoped for, because it was winter. Their combined forces,
together with the auxiliaries, numbered sixty thousand cavalry and foot
soldiers, besides their servants and the baggage. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
3. c. 4. s. 2. (64-69) 3:23,25}
6948. Vespasian invaded Galilee and burned and wasted the city of the
Gadarenes, which he took at the first assault. From there, he went to Jotapata
on the 21st day of Artemisios (Niese: June 8, Capellus: May 21) and fought
against it. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 3. c. 6,7. (110-160) 3:37-53}
6949. On the 29th day of June (which was the last day of that month that
happened within the reign of Nero for he died on June 9 of the following year),
Paul was beheaded at Rome, as the records of both the eastern and western church
confirm. Consequently, Chrysostom affirmed without doubt that the day of Paul's
death was known with greater certainty than the death of Alexander the Great
himself. {*Chrysostom, II Corinthians, Homily 26. c. 5. 12:402} Dionysius,
the bishop of the Corinthians, in a letter to the Romans, affirmed that Peter
also suffered martyrdom at the same time, together with him. {*Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History, l. 2. c. 25. 1:181} Origen stated that Peter was
crucified at Rome, with his head downward, as he had desired. {Origen, Genesis,
tome. 3.} {*Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 3. c. 1. 1:191} The
prediction of Christ, which he had made to Peter, was fulfilled at that time:
"When thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird
thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." {Joh 21:18,19} [E901]
6950. After a forty-seven day siege, Vespasian captured Jotapata by force and
burned it. It was valiantly defended by Josephus, who was the governor at the
time, on the Calends of July (July 1), in the thirteenth year of Nero. It was
taken on the first of the month of Panemos (Niese: July 20, Capellus July 1).
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 3. c. 7. s. 8-36. (161-339) 3:53-99} Vespasian
captured Josephus as he lay hidden in a cave and gave him his life, but kept him
prisoner. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 3. c. 8. s. 1-9. (340-408) 3:99-119}
6951. After Jotapata was destroyed, Vespasian retired to Caesarea with his
army. There he stationed two legions, to refresh themselves after the siege,
while he sent a third legion to Scythopolis, also to rest. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 3. c. 9. s. 1. (409-413) 3:119,121} He went to Caesarea Philippi,
where he and his army were feasted by King Agrippa for twenty days. There he
prepared for the siege of Tiberias and Tarichea. [K693] Tiberias surrendered
immediately and at the entreaty of King Agrippa, the city was not razed. After
Tarichea had endured a siege, it was taken by storm. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
3. c. 9. s. 7,8. (443-461) 3:129-133} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 3. c.
10. s. 1-10. (462-541) 3:133-158}
6952. Once these cities had been recovered or overthrown, almost all of Galilee
was inclined to the Romans, with the exception of Gamala in Gaulanitis, Gischala
and Mount Tabor. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 4. c. 1. s. 1. (1-2) 3:159}
4071a AM, 4780 JP, 67 AD
6953. After a whole month's siege, Gamala was taken and overthrown, on the 23rd
day of the month of Hyperberetaios (Niese: Nov 10, Capellus: October 23). A
little later, Mount Tabor was also taken by the Romans. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 4. c. 1. s. 1-10. (1-83) 3:159-183} Titus attacked Gischala, which was
being held by John and his party, made up of the seditious men. John appeared
to like the conditions of peace that were offered by Titus, but in the night he
and his party fled from the city to Jerusalem. Titus spared the city, but
placed a garrison there, and then went to Caesarea. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
4. c. 2. s. 1-5. (84-120) 3:183-193} Vespasian left Caesarea for Jamnia and
Azotus and after he had conquered them both, he returned to Caesarea.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 4. c. 3. s. 2. (130) 3:195}
6954. Meanwhile there was a great dissension throughout all Judea. Some wanted
to continue the war, while others wanted to remain under the protection of the
Romans. As a result, whole troops of thieves were gathered together all over
Judea, who plundered those wanting peace. Laden with their plunder, they were
received into Jerusalem, where they spread murders, dissensions, discords and
rapines abroad. First, they imprisoned Antipas, together with a great many
noblemen and the chief men of the city. Soon after that, they killed them
without any trial, having falsely accused them of intending to surrender the
city to the Romans. When the people attempted to rise up against them, they
seized the temple and used it as a citadel against the people. For a high
priest, they appointed Phanni by lot, who was not descended from the high
priests, but was such a clown that he scarcely knew what the high priesthood
meant. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 4. c. 3. s. 1-9. (121-161) 3:193-205}
6955. Ananus and the nobler priests stirred up and armed the people against
those Zealots, as they called themselves, and attacked them in the temple
itself, forcing them into the inner temple. The Zealots secretly sent letters
to the captains of the Idumeans, accusing Ananus of treachery. They complained
that they had been besieged in the temple while they were fighting for liberty,
and asked the Idumeans to help them. The Idumeans arrived at once with twenty
thousand men and were secretly let into the city and the temple by night, by the
Zealots. They conducted a massive slaughter in Jerusalem, with large-scale
destruction and rapines. For eighty-five hundred were killed that night and,
during the days that followed, they killed Ananus and others of the nobility to
a total of twelve thousand, besides an uncountable number of the common people.
A little later, the Idumeans began to regret this action, when they saw the
wickedness of the Zealots and saw no indication in the nobility of that
treachery of which the Zealots had accused them; so they freed two thousand,
whom they had held in prison, and then left Jerusalem and returned home. Once
they had left, the Zealots began to use more cruelty against the nobility than
before. They refused to allow any dead nobleman to be buried and killed anyone
they suspected would flee to the Romans, without burying their bodies. They
guarded all the exits and diligently watched for defectors. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 4. c. 3-6. (162-388) 3:205-271}
6956. In the meantime, a dissension arose among the Zealots. John, who had
fled from Gischala to Jerusalem, was the leader in their tyranny, and others who
before had considered him their equal, could not endure him as their superior.
[K694] Thus, while they were unanimous in robbing the common people and all
Judea, they disagreed among themselves. They followed the example of Jerusalem,
which was teeming with thieves and desperately vexed. {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 4. c. 7. s. 1,2. (389-409) 3:271-277}
6957. The Jews were destroying each other with these discords. Vespasian was
roused to action by the cries of those who fled to him, entreating him to
preserve and free their country from this sedition. As Vespasian was preparing
for the siege of Jerusalem, he did not want anyone behind him who would be able
to cause trouble while he was besieging Jerusalem; so he went with his army to
Gadara to quench those remnants of the war. This was the country on the other
side of the Jordan River and he had been summoned there by the moderate men of
the city, who wanted peace rather than war. He promptly took the city and the
seditious men fled, whereupon he sent Placidus to pursue them with his cavalry
and put them all to the sword. So he possessed all the country beyond the
river, as far as the Dead Sea, except for the citadel of Machaerus. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 4. c. 7. s. 3-6. (410-439) 3:277-285} [E902] He put
garrisons throughout the towns and arranged the winter quarters for his
soldiers, then went back to Caesarea and wintered there. {*Josephus, Jewish
War, l. 4. c. 8. s. 1. (440-443) 3:285,286}
4071b AM, 4781 JP, 68 AD
6958. Vespasian received news of the rebellions in Gaul, led by their governor,
Julius Vindex, who had armed the Gauls against the Romans. This made him more
determined to finish the war against the Jews. So, at the beginning of the
spring, he led his army out from Caesarea and overran all Judea and Idumea and
wasted it. Bringing back his army, he led them through Samaria to Jericho.
When the inhabitants fled to the mountain country opposite Jerusalem, he pursued
them and drove them from the hills. He attacked the citadels at Jericho and
other places and surrounded the Jews on every side. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
4. c. 8. s. 1-4. (440-485) 3:285-301}
6959. Nero now faced a revolt against him by Julius Vindex in Gaul. Should he
be deposed, some astrologers promised him the government of the east, some the
kingdom of Jerusalem and several the recovery of his previous fortunes.
{*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c. 40. s. 2. 2:155}
6960. Nero knew he was doomed, when he heard that Galba and Spain had revolted
from him. {*Suetonius, Nero, l. 6. c. 42. s. 1. 2:159} In the end, he
killed himself, on the 9th of June, after he had reigned thirteen years and
eight months. {*Dio, l. 63. (29) 8:193}
4072b AM, 4782 JP, 69 AD
6961. On the Calends of January (January 1), in Germany, the images of Galba
were pulled down and on the third day, the army greeted Aulus Vitellius as the
new emperor. On the 15th day of the same month, Galba was killed, seven months
after the death of Nero. {*Tacitus, Histories, l. 1. c. 55-57. 2:95-99}
6962. After Galba was killed, Otho was created emperor by his soldiers, who did
not know that Vitellius had assumed the empire. Dio stated that Otho was later
killed on the ninetieth day of his reign and Suetonius added that Otho was
buried on the ninety-fifth day. {*Dio, l. 63. (15) 8:219} {*Suetonius, Otho,
l. 7. c. 11. s. 2. 2:233}
6963. Tiberius Alexander, the governor of Egypt, was the first to have the
legions swear to support Vespasian on the Calends of July (July 1). This day
was his first day as emperor and was later kept as a festival. Then, on the 5th
of the Ides of July (July 11), his army in Judea swore their loyalty to him.
{*Suetonius, Vespasian, l. 8. c. 6. s. 3. 2:279} {*Tacitus, Histories, l.
2. c. 79. 2:287} There was only one year and twenty-two days between the
death of Nero and the beginning of the reign of Vespasian. {*Dio, l. 66. (17)
8:295}
6964. When Vespasian returned to Caesarea, he prepared to take his whole army
to besiege Jerusalem. When he received news of Nero's death, he deferred the
war against the Jews and sent his son, Titus, to Galba, who had succeeded Nero,
wanting to know what he wished to do about the Jewish war. [K695] Titus sailed
to Achaia and there heard that Galba had been killed, upon which he immediately
returned to his father at Caesarea. They were both in suspense, while the
empire seemed to be tottering, so they deferred the wars of Judea. They were
afraid that some harm would come to their own country and did not consider it a
convenient time to be invading a foreign country. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
4. c. 9. s. 2. (491-502) 3:303-307}
6965. In the meantime, Simon, the son of Gioras (about whom we wrote earlier),
who was a bold and valiant young man, left Masada, where he had fled. He went
into the mountain country of Judea to the murderers and promised liberty to the
servants and rewards to the freemen. In a short time, he had gathered a band of
thieves and gradually increased his forces. He not only wasted villages but
invaded whole cities. In no time at all, he had conquered all Idumea and wasted
Judea, until finally he arrived before Jerusalem, where he pitched his tents.
He was a terror to the people of Jerusalem, as well as to the Zealots. In this
way, the citizens of Jerusalem were sorely oppressed on both sides, from within,
by the Zealots whom John commanded, and from without, by Simon, an extremely
cruel man. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 4. c. 9. s. 3-8. (503-544)
3:307-317} In the meantime, the Idumeans who belonged to John's party and were
among his forces, had a falling-out with him. They fought with him and killed
many of the Zealots. They captured John's palace and burned it, so that he was
forced to flee into the temple with his followers. The Idumeans also feared the
citizens, in case John should make an excursion into the city by night and burn
it. They discussed the matter and sent for Simon, whom they admitted into the
city, so that they could defend themselves against John. When Simon's forces
came, they attacked the temple, but the Zealots fought valiantly. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 4. c. 9. s. 11. (566-576) 3:323-327}
6966. Vespasian left Caesarea and went to Berytus and Antioch. From there, he
sent Mucianus with troops into Italy, but Vespasian went to Alexandria.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 4. c. 10. s. 6. (620,621) 3:341} {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 4. c. 11. s. 1. (630-633) 3:343}
4073a AM, 4782 JP, 69 AD
6967. In Moesia, Antonius Primus, who followed Vespasian's party, led the third
legion into Italy against the side of Vitellius. At Cremona, he fought a battle
against Vitellius' forces and routed them. He then went to Rome, where he
joined up with Mucianus in the middle of the city and then defeated Vitellius'
army, whereupon the army dragged Vitellius himself through the forum and there
cut his throat. [E903] Mucianus made Domitian, the son of Vespasian, prince of
the empire while his father was coming from Syria. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
4. c. 11. s. 2-4. (633-655) 3:343-351}
4073b AM, 4783 JP, 70 AD
6968. When Vespasian heard these things at Alexandria, he sent his son Titus
with forces into Judea, to conclude the Judean war, while he sailed to Italy.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 4. c. 11. s. 5. (656-658) 3:349,351}
6969. While Titus was still at Alexandria, the city of Jerusalem was divided
into three factions. {Re 16:19} Simon, whom the citizens of Jerusalem had sent
for against John and admitted into the city, held the higher city and a section
of the tower. John with his Zealots had occupied the temple and the other part
of the lower city. This latter faction was again divided into two. Eleazar,
who had been the first commander and captain of the Zealots, was displeased that
John, with his boldness and craftiness, was running things all by himself. So
he left him and taking some followers with him, occupied the inner part of the
temple from where he then fought against John. Eleazar had fewer men than John,
but his position was more easily defended, because John held the outer parts of
the temple and the porches. There was a battle on two fronts, one against
Eleazar and the other against Simon. [K696] They burned many things around the
temple and ruined the grain and much of the provisions which could have lasted
them for many years of a siege. Because these things had been spoiled and
consumed, they suffered a severe famine later, when they were besieged by the
Romans. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 1. s. 1-5. (1-38) 4:3-15}
6970. Titus came from Alexandria to Caesarea, where he gathered his forces
together and then marched to Jerusalem with four legions and the auxiliaries of
the neighbouring kings. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 1. s. 6. (39-46)
4:15,17} He pitched his camp about a mile or so from the city, a little before
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. By this means, he enclosed within the city an
enormous multitude of people (about three million) who had gone up to the feast,
according to the custom. In a short time, an extremely cruel famine oppressed
the city. All food and nourishment was quickly consumed, and a most horrid and
memorable consequence of this happened at the time: A mother devoured her own
child. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 3. s. 4. (201-213) 4:237,239} {De
28:53-57} On the feast day of Unleavened Bread, about the 14th of the month of
Xanthikos (Capellus: April 14), Eleazar, who had seized the inner temple, had
opened the gate of the temple so that the people could sacrifice. John used
this opportunity and secretly sent in many from his side who were armed with
swords hidden under their garments. When they were admitted into the temple
with the rest of the multitude, they attacked Eleazar and seized the inner
temple and slaughtered many Zealots. Hence, the faction that had been threefold
had now become twofold. John had eighty-four hundred men on his side and Simon
had about ten thousand men, in addition to five thousand Idumeans. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 5. c. 3. s. 3-5. (98-130) 4:31-41} {*Josephus, Jewish War,
l. 5. c. 6. s. 1. (248-252) 4:79,81}
6971. Titus approached the walls and pitching his camp near the tower of
Psephinus, immediately raised a mount. He battered the wall with a ram and beat
it down by force. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 3. s. 4. (133) 4:41}
On the 7th of the month of Artemisios (Niese: May 25, Capellus: May 7), he broke
into the city, after the first wall was beaten down. The Jews retreated to the
inner city and Titus occupied the northern quarter of the city, up to the
citadel of Antonia and the valley of Kidron. Five days later, a certain tower
of the second wall was battered and broken down with the ram from the northern
quarter, and Titus went into the new lower city. He was driven back by the
Jews, but four days later he retook it and then prepared for the assault on the
third wall. On the 12th of the month of Artemisios (Niese: May 30, Capellus:
May 12), he ordered four mounts to be raised: two at the citadel of Antonia,
with which he hoped to gain the temple, and two at John the high priest's tomb,
by which he hoped to gain the upper city. John fought the Romans at Antonia,
while Simon fought them at John's tomb. These mounts were completed in
seventeen days, on the 29th of the month of Artemisios (Niese: June 16,
Capellus: May 29), after which the Romans began to batter the wall. John,
through a tunnel he made from Antonia, cast down one mount and burned it. Two
days later, Simon made a sally and burned the two mounts opposite him, along
with the rams and other engines. The Jews attacked the Romans in their camp,
but when Titus came from Antonia, they were forced back into the city.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 6-11. (248-490) 4:79-155}
6972. Because the previous mounts had been destroyed and burnt, Titus thought
it best to raise new ones to assault the city. He also surrounded the city with
a wall, so that no one could flee from it, nor could anything be brought into
it. So, within three days, he built a wall, about five miles long, around the
city. Around this wall he built thirteen citadels whose united circumferences
amounted to two and a half miles. [K697] As a result, famine prevailed in the
city to such an extent and raged so cruelly, that not only did the common people
die of it, but the seditious men were severely oppressed by it. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 5. c. 12. s. 1-4. (491-526) 4:155-165} So many perished
from famine and pestilence that, from the 14th of the month of Xanthikos (Niese:
May 1, Capellus: April 14) (on which day the siege began) to the 1st of the
month of Panemos (Niese: July 20, Capellus: July 1), through only one gate
(according to the account of Mennaeus, who had fled), [E904] were carried out a
hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred corpses from among the poor people,
who were buried at the common expense. This did not include those who were
buried by their relatives and friends. A little later, it was learned from
those who had fled, that a total of six hundred thousand were carried out of the
gates for burial. Later still, there were not enough people to bury the poor,
so they piled them into great heaps in empty houses and shut the doors on them.
The manner of their burial was nothing more than simply throwing them over the
walls and filling up the ditches with them. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c.
13. s. 7. (567-572) 4:177,179}
6973. In the meantime inside the city, Simon had not refrained from murders and
rapines. He killed Matthias, the high priest, whom he accused of treachery,
making out that he had wanted to flee to the Romans. (It was ironic that it was
Matthias who had let Simon into the city.) Simon also killed three of Matthias'
sons and fifteen of the noblest of the people, all of them uncondemned.
Moreover, he raged with such cruelty, that Judas, one of his captains, so
abhorred his cruelty, that he planned to turn the part of the city under his
control over to the Romans. Simon prevented him from doing so by killing him,
along with the ten men who were in on the plot. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5.
c. 13. s. 1,2. (527-540) 4:165-169} John was compelled, of necessity, to use
the sacred things of the temple for his own use. Not only did he use the
vessels of gold and silver and the money of the temple, but he was forced to
distribute to his soldiers the very oil and wine which were set apart for the
divine service. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 5. c. 13. s. 6. (562-566)
4:175,177}
6974. Titus, too, had to fetch materials from every place and cut down all the
woods and trees, even as far as eleven miles away. With great toil, he raised
new mounts in twenty-one days. He constructed four around Antonia, one on every
side of the citadel. When John vainly and in a cowardly way attempted to
overthrow these, he was repulsed by the Romans. On the 1st of the month of
Panemos (Niese: July 20, Capellus: July 1), the Romans began to batter the wall
of Antonia. On the 5th of the month of Panemos (Niese: July 24, Capellus: July
5), they made a breach and broke into Antonia, and then they pursued the fleeing
Jews right into the temple. After a long skirmish, the Romans were held off for
some time. On the 17th of the month of Panemos (Niese: August 5, Capellus: July
17), there were not enough men to offer the daily sacrifice. On that same day,
Titus asked Josephus to urge the seditious men to surrender, but in vain. Seven
days later, Titus brought his mounts nearer. He was now bringing the materials
for the mounts from a distance of twelve to thirteen miles away. He overturned
the foundations of Antonia and made an easy ascent to the temple. He broke
through by way of Antonia and seized the northern and western porches of the
outer temple court. A section of the porches, especially of those which
adjoined Antonia, was burned and destroyed by the Jews. Two days later, on the
24th of the month of Panemos (Niese: August 12, Capellus: July 24), the other
part was burned by the Romans. The Jews did not put out the fire, but let it
burn, so that the porch would be clearly separated from Antonia. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 6. c. 1,2. (1-168) 4:181-227}
6975. On the 27th of the month of Panemos (Niese: August 15, Capellus: July
27), the Jews again burned the western porch, as far as the bridge that led to
the gallery, and many Romans were burnt to death. The Jews withdrew from there,
to draw the Romans into the trap. The next day, the Romans burned all the
northern porch, right up to the eastern porch. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6.
c. 3. s. 1,2. (177-192) 4:229-235}
6976. By the 8th of the month of Loos (Niese: August 27, Capellus: August 8),
Titus was getting nowhere by battering the wall of the inner temple with the
ram, nor by undermining the foundations of the gates, because of their large
size and the fact that the stones were so strongly cemented together. [K698]
Nor could the Romans get up into the porches with ladders, for the Jews drove
them back from above. Due to the reverence of the place, Titus had not burnt
it, but necessity now compelled him to do so. He ordered the gates of the inner
temple to be set on fire and the fire caught onto the adjoining porches, until
everything was aflame. The Jews watched and wondered at it, but did not try to
stop and quench the fire, in sheer amazement. Hence, the porches burned all
that day and the following night. Titus and his captains had determined to keep
the temple from burning, but he was unable to do this. On the 10th of the month
of Loos (Niese: August 29, Capellus: August 10), when the Romans who kept the
guard in the outer range of the temple were provoked by the Jews, they made a
charge on those who were quenching the fire on the inner range and when they had
driven them into the temple itself, a Roman soldier took a flaming firebrand and
getting up on his companion's shoulders, tossed the brand through the golden
window into the houses and chambers built along the northern side of the temple.
They caught fire immediately, also burning the temple which adjoined them. In
vain, Titus ordered his soldiers to quench the fire. This happened in the
second year of Vespasian, in the same month and on the very same day of the
month that the first temple was burned by Nebuchadnezzar. {See note on 3416d
AM. <<850>>} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 4. s. 1-8.
(220-270)
4:241-257}
6977. When the temple had been pillaged and burnt, the ensigns were set up on
the eastern gate of the temple. After making sacrifices, Titus was proclaimed
Imperator by the army. [E905] From the bridge which joined the temple to the
city with a gallery, Titus, through an interpreter, exhorted the seditious men,
who had fled into the upper city, to surrender. Although he offered them their
lives, they refused his offer. They asked that they might have permission to
leave the city with their wives and children and to go into the wilderness.
Titus treated this contemptuously and threatened them with utter destruction.
He ordered all the lower city to be set on fire, including the Palace Acra,
which he had captured. Then he began to assault the upper city, which was
located on a steep rock. On the 20th of the month of Loos (Niese: September 8,
Capellus: August 20), he began to raise his mounts and completed them on the 7th
of the month of Gorpiaios (Niese: September 25, Capellus: September 7). Then he
brought his engines to the walls and after he had made a breach, the tyrants
fled with their guards in fear and amazement. On the 8th of the month of
Gorpiaios (Niese: September 26, Capellus: September 8), the Romans broke in and
destroyed everything with fire and the sword. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6.
c. 6-8. (316-408) 4:271-297}
6978. Jerusalem was destroyed on a Saturday. {*Dio, l. 65. (7) 8:271} This
was the day the Jews observe most religiously and that year the 8th of the month
of Gorpiaios (Niese: Wednesday, September 26, Capellus: Saturday, September 8)
fell on a Saturday. The city was taken and destroyed. Titus commanded all the
city and temple to be razed to its foundations and flattened, as well as being
ploughed according to the custom. He spared only the west part of the wall and
the three towers, Hippicus, Phasael and Mariamme. Because of their great beauty
and strength, he left these to posterity, as a monument to the magnificence of
that city. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 1. s. 1. (1-4) 4:307}
6979. After Titus had thus taken the city and had filled every available place
with dead bodies, the neighbouring countries wanted to crown him. [K699]
However, he replied that he was unworthy of the honour, for it was not he who
was the author of this work, but that he had given his hands to God, who had
shown his anger against the Jews. {*Philostratus, Apollonius, l. 6. c. 29.
2:111} However, there are coins of Titus which are marked with a trophy and a
triumphal chariot; and there are coins of Vespasian with the image of a woman
sitting sorrowfully under a palm tree and bearing the inscription, JUDEA CAPTA
S.C. Money was also coined around the end of the 21 year of the reign of King
Agrippa, with an inscription in Greek (but here translated into English):
"Vespasian, Emperor and Caesar, Judea was taken in the year twenty-one of
Agrippa."
4074a AM, 4783 JP, 70 AD
6980. When Titus had finished the war, he rewarded the soldiers and committed
the custody of Jerusalem to the tenth legion. The twelfth legion, which had
fought poorly under Cestius from Syria, was banished by Titus and sent to the
Euphrates River into the region of Armenia and Cappadocia. He took the fifth
and fifteenth legions to Caesarea on the coast, where he gathered together all
the plunder and the captives. Since winter was coming, it was too dangerous to
sail to Italy. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 1. s. 2,3. (5-20)
4:307-313}
6981. The two tyrants, John and Simon, were captured as they were hiding in the
vaults of Jerusalem. John was condemned to life-long imprisonment and Simon was
reserved for the triumph. In those same vaults, two thousand men were
discovered who had either perished from hunger or had killed each other, rather
than surrender to the Romans. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 9. s. 4.
(428-434) 4:301,303} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 2. s. 2. (26-36)
4:315,317}
6982. Titus stayed at Caesarea, where he celebrated the birthday of his brother
Domitian, who was born on October 24. In the course of this celebration, more
than twenty-five hundred Jews perished, either being forced to fight with wild
beasts, being burned with fire or being killed in fighting each other.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 3. s. 1. (37,38) 4:317}
4074b AM, 4784 JP, 71 AD
6983. Later, Titus came to Berytus in Phoenicia, where he stayed longer and
with great magnificence celebrated the birthday of his father, who was born on
November 17. (This was not the anniversary of his empire, which was celebrated
on the first of July, according to Suetonius and Tacitus.) A multitude of
captives also died, in a similar manner as before. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l.
7. c. 3. s. 1. (39) 4:319}
6984. Titus went to see Antioch and the other cities of Syria. He then
travelled with the fifth and fifteenth legions through Judea and Jerusalem, to
Alexandria in Egypt. From there, he sailed to Rome, where he was welcomed home
by everyone. He and his father held a triumph for the conquest of Judea.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 5. s. 1-7. (96-162) 4:337-355}
6985. The two captains of the sedition, John and Simon, were led in that
triumph, along with seven hundred other Jews who were impressive in strength and
beauty. Only Simon was killed. (He was also known as Bargiora. {*Dio, l. 65.
(7) 8:269,271}) The book of the law of the Jews was carried in this triumph as
the last of the spoils. It and the purple veil of the sanctuary were stored in
the palace. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 5. s. 3. (116-118)
4:341,343} {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 5. s. 5-7. (132-162)
4:347-355}
6986. From this victory, both father and son were given the name of Imperator.
However, neither of them was called Judaicus, although many other things were
decreed for them, especially triumphal arches. {*Dio, l. 65. (7) 8:271} There
still remains, at the foot of the hill of Palatine, a marble triumphal arch
erected to the honour of Titus. Taken from it, there is a copy, written by
Villalpandus, of the instruments of the temple which were carried in the
triumph. {Villalpandus, Ezekiel, Tom. 2. l. 5. c. 7. p. 587.} [E906]
4075a AM, 4784 JP, 71 AD
6987. Lucilius Bassus was sent as a deputy into Judea and received control of
the army from Sextus Vettenlenus Cerialis. The citadel of Herodion and its
garrison surrendered to Bassus, while a little later, he assaulted and captured
the strong citadel of Machaerus beyond Jordan. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7.
c. 6. s. 1-4. (163-209) 4:355-367} [K700]
4075b AM, 4785 JP, 72 AD
6988. Some think the eclipses described by Pliny were foretold by our Saviour.
{Mt 24:29} {*Pliny, l. 2. c. 10. 1:207}
"It happened even in our time, that there was an eclipse of the sun and moon
within fifteen days of each other when the Vespasians were emperors, and both
were consuls, the father for the third time (perhaps the fourth) and the son,
the second time."
6989. Caesar wrote to Laberius Maximus, the governor of Judea, that he should
sell all the land of the Jews. He imposed a tribute on all the Jews, wherever
they lived, and ordered them annually to bring in to the Capitol the two
drachmas which they had formerly paid to the temple of Jerusalem. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 7. c. 6. s. 6. (216-218) 4:369,371}
6990. In the fourth year of Vespasian, Caesennius Paetus, the governor of
Syria, drove Antiochus, the king of Commagene, from his kingdom. Antiochus fled
into Cilicia while his son fled to the Parthians. Later, both of them were
reconciled to Vespasian and Antiochus was restored to his kingdom. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 7. c. 7. s. 1-3. (219-244) 4:371-377}
4076b AM, 4786 JP, 73 AD
6991. The Alani invaded Media and totally laid it waste, while King Pacorus
fled before them. They later went into Armenia, where Tiridates, the king,
himself opposed them and was almost captured in the battle itself. {*Josephus,
Jewish War, l. 7. c. 7. s. 4. (245-251) 4:377,379}
4076c AM, 4786 JP, 73 AD
6992. When Bassus died, Flavius Silva replaced him in the government of Judea.
On the 15th of the month of Xanthikos (Niese: May 2, Capellus: April 15), he
used force to capture the impregnable citadel of Masada that was being held by
Eleazar, the nephew of Judas Balitaeus, the captain of the thieves. Eleazar
persuaded all the thieves in the citadel, numbering nine hundred and sixty with
their wives and children, to kill each other. First they set fire to the
citadel with all the household belongings, lest they should fall into Roman
hands. In this way, the last remains of the Jewish wars were eliminated and all
Judea was quiet. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 8,9. (252-406) 4:379-421}
6993. Many of the thieves who escaped from Judea, fled into Egypt, to
Alexandria, where they tried to solicit the Jews to revolt. However, persuaded
by their rulers, the common people attacked these thieves; they captured six
hundred of them, and handed them over to the Romans to be punished. The rest,
who escaped into Egypt and Thebes, were also captured. In connection with this,
Caesar ordered Lupus, the governor of Alexandria, to pull down the temple of the
Jews. (This temple had been built a long time ago in Egypt, by Onias, the
brother of the high priest.) Lupus, however, did no more than remove some
furniture from the temple and then sealed it up. Paulinus, his successor in the
government, removed all the furniture and sealed up the doors. He ordered that
no one be permitted to come there, so that not even a trace of religion remained
there. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 10. s. 1-4. (407-436) 4:421-429}
6994. Jonathan, a certain Jewish weaver, escaped to Cyrene, where he raised a
sedition and drew two thousand Jews into the wilderness. Catullus, the governor
of the Pentapolis of Libya, sent his cavalry and foot soldiers out and easily
defeated them. When Jonathan was brought before him, he falsely accused the
most wealthy of the Jews of being the main instigators of this revolt. Catullus
willingly listened to these accusations and immediately executed three thousand
of them. He did this without fear of retribution, because he first confiscated
their estates to Caesar's treasury. Catullus sent Jonathan with the other
captives as a prisoner to Rome, to Vespasian, to enable him to accuse of
sedition the most honest of those living at Rome and Alexandria. Among many
other things, he affirmed that Josephus, the writer of the Jewish history, had
sent him both arms and money. [K701] Vespasian knew that this accusation was
not lawfully being brought against these men and acquitted them at Titus'
entreaty, but deservedly punished Jonathan. First, he scourged him and then he
had him burned alive. Catullus also, through the mercy of the emperor, was not
punished. But not long after, he was overcome by a complicated and incurable
disease and was tortured and tormented in his mind. He thought that he saw the
ghosts of those he had killed ever before him. Finally, his bowels rotted and
spilled out of him, and he died. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7. c. 11. s.
1-4. (436-453) 4:429-435} {*Josephus, Life, l. 1. c. 76. (424,425)
1:155,157}
6995. Here Josephus ended the history of the destruction of Judea. After being
captured in this war, he was made a freedman by Flavius Vespasian, the emperor,
and assumed the name of Flavius from his patron. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 7.
c. 11. s. 5. (454,455) 4:435}
6996. Cornelius Tacitus and Suetonius related that there were six hundred
thousand Jews killed in this war. Josephus, a Jew, was a commander in that war
and also deserved thanks and pardon from Vespasian, for foretelling him that he
would be emperor. Josephus wrote that a million perished by the sword and
through famine, and that the rest of the Jews that were dispersed all over the
world and put to death in various ways, numbered ninety thousand. Orosius also
stated the same. {Orosius, l. 7. c. 9.} I cannot find the number of six
hundred thousand of those who were killed, in Suetonius' writings. [E907] In
Josephus, the number of captives was ninety-seven thousand, while the other
number of one million and one hundred thousand refers only to those who perished
in the six-month siege of Jerusalem. {*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 9. s.
3. (420) 4:299}
6997. Justus Lipsius made the following catalogue from Josephus of those who
perished outside of Jerusalem during the whole seven years. {Lipsius, de
Constantia, l. 2. c. 21.}
At Jerusalem, first killed upon the command of Florus..........630
By the inhabitants of Caesarea in hatred toward them and their
religion..........20,000
At Scythopolis (a city of Syria) ..........30,000
At Askelon in Palestine by the inhabitants ..........2,500
Likewise at Ptolemais ..........2,000
At Alexandria in Egypt under Tiberius Alexander the
Governor ..........50,000
At Damascus ..........10,000
At the taking of Joppa by Gessius Florus ..........8,400
At a certain mountain called Cabulo ..........2,000
In a fight at Askelon ..........10,000
By an ambush ..........8,000
At Aphaca when it was taken ..........15,000
Killed at Mount Gerizim ..........11,600
At Jotapata, where Josephus was ..........30,000
At Joppa, when it was taken, were drowned ..........4,200
Killed at Tarichea ..........6,500
At Gamala, killed, as well as those who threw themselves
down over a cliff ..........9,000
(The only survivors in the whole city were two women who were sisters.)
When they forsook Gischala, [K702] killed in the flight..........2,000
Killed of the Gadarenes, besides an infinite number that leaped
into the river ..........13,000
Killed in the villages of Idumea ..........10,000
At Gerizim ..........1,000
At Machaerus ..........1,700
In the wood of Jardes ..........3,000
In the citadel of Masada, who killed themselves ..........960
In Cyrene by Catullus the Governor ..........3,000
Which number of the dead, being added to those who died at
the siege of Jerusalem..........1,100,000
Total ..........1,337,490
6998. An innumerable company were omitted who perished through famine,
banishment and other miseries. (Josephus estimated that at the passover feast,
a few years earlier, there had been about three million people in Jerusalem.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 9. s. 3. (424-426) 4:301} {See note on
4069b AM. <<6927>>} There were probably this many there for the
passover when
Titus began the siege. Most were unaccounted for, which would make the official
death toll low by at least two million. Current estimates place the number of
people in Jerusalem at more than three million. Most perished! Editor.)
6999. Justus Tiberiensis, in his chronicle of the Kings of the Jews, showed
that Agrippa, the last king of the family of Herod, had his kingdom augmented by
Vespasian. {Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 33.} Dio related that he had praetorian
honours given to him. His sister Bernice, who came to Rome with him, lived in
the palace. Titus was so in love with her, that he made her believe he would
marry her and she behaved in every way as though she had been his wife.
However, when Titus became aware that the people of Rome did not take this well,
he put her away. {*Suetonius, Titus, l. 8. c. 7. s. 2. 2:311} {*Dio, l.
65. (15) 8:291} The observation of Josephus about the rest of Herod's progeny
was very memorable, namely that they all, with few exceptions, perished within a
hundred years of Herod's death, although they were very numerous. {*Josephus,
Antiq., l. 18. c. 5. s. 3. (128) 9:89}
7000. This was the end of the Jewish affairs and happened as predicted by Jesus
in the Gospels. We close this history with a quote from Bancroft: {*Klopsch,
Many Thoughts of Many Minds, 1:130}
"It is the time when the hour of conflict is over that history comes to a right
understanding of the strife and is ready to exclaim, Lo, God is here and we knew
him not!"
Soli Deo Gloria in aeternum.
FINIS
Bibliography
We would give our eye-teeth to have all the books Ussher referred to in
preparing his history. Alas, some of the material is now lost forever and was
destroyed in a fire in Dublin in 1922.
We have gone through and prepared a bibliography. We have used the history
books published by the Loeb Classical Library as the basis for most of this
work. These are serious history books written for dedicated scholars. They
have the Greek or Latin of the original writer with an English translation.
They also note all textual problems. Wherever possible, Ussher's footnotes were
updated to reflect books published by Loeb.
All footnotes in the text are delimited by {...}. They follow this simple
format:
{*Pliny, Natural History, l. 9. c. 23. (56) 3:201}
where:
* — reference verified. No "*" means we could not locate the reference because
we did not have the book or we did not have time to track it down.
Pliny — name of author
Natural History — title of book
l. 9. — Book 9 in original author's series
c. 23. — chapter 23 in original author's series
(56) — Modern reference number in the original text. Not all writers are so
indexed, e.g., Herodotus
3:201 — Loeb Series, book 3, page 201
Note that some of the original writers did not use chapter breaks, e.g., Dio
Cassius. In that case the footnote would have no chapter reference.
The writings of Josephus deserve special mention. We have cross-indexed it with
the Loeb edition and included the new indexing system for it so you can readily
cross-index it with the Hendrickson reprint of Whiston's English version. For
reasons unknown, the chapter and section numbers vary between these two
publishers. We followed Loeb for the references.
{*Josephus, Jewish War, l. 6. c. 9. s. 3. (420) 4:299}
The number in (...) is the key to Hendrickson's edition and all other editions
that follow the Greek text. Each of Josephus' books are numbered from the
beginning with a reference number in the text. This reference in the above
example is found in book 6 number 420. The Greek text also identifies this as
chapter nine section 3. This scheme has the advantage of universality in that
it is not tied to any page numbers for a given publisher.
In the bibliography, works published by Loeb are indicated by a LCL (Loeb
Classical Library) and no further publisher information is noted. These are all
published by Harvard University Press at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Loeb
reference numbers follow the the books by that author are listed after the
reference.
Format of the bibliography is: author name, book title, publisher information.
Note special abbreviations:
ANF — Anti-Nicene Fathers
NPNF1 — Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1
NPNF2 — Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2
This series of the early church writers was published by Hendrickson in 1994.
Authors Cited
Books marked with a "*" refer to ones we did not have copies of and hence could
not check the reference. This list is only partial. Ussher mentioned many
authors in passing but did not give references to their works. Likewise, the
counts represent a lower bound for the actual number of citations from a writer.
Again, Ussher mentioned cited authors without giving the reference. Since the
total work has over fourteen thousand quotes, we are not surprised Ussher did
not document them all. Most modern history books only document a fraction of
the authors they cite. These original writers account for more than 98 percent
of the footnotes!
Aelian: 165–230 AD, OCD p. 18 [Count 40]
History of Animals (LCL 446, 448, 449)
Historical Miscellany (LCL 486)
Aeschylus: 525–456 BC?, OCD p. 26 [Count 2]
Life in Persia* (LCL 145, 146)
Agathias: 532–580 AD, OCD p. 36 [Count 1]
Histories*, J. D. Frendo, 1975
Alexander Polyhistor: 1st century BC, OCD p. 60 [Count 3]
Chronography*
Ambrose: c. 340–397 AD, OCD p. 71 [Count 1]
Commentary*
Ammianus Marcellinus: c. 330–390 AD, OCD p. 73 [Count 19]
Roman History (LCL 300, 315, 331)
Apion: c. 1st century AD, OCD p. 121 [Count 1]
Egyptian Affairs*, S. Neitzel, 1977 (Only fragments exist)
Appian of Alexandria: 2nd century AD, OCD p. 130 [Count 833]
Roman History (LCL 2, 3, 4, 5)
Parthian Wars* (Only fragments exist)
Aristeas: Letter of, OCD p. 160 [Count 8]
Letter to Ptolemy Philadelphus*
Septuagint Interpreters*
Aristides: 117–181 AD, OCD p. 160? [Count 2]
Leuctia*
Rhodiaca*
Aristotle: 384–322 BC, OCD p. 165 [Count 8]
History of Animals (LCL 437, 438, 439)
Metaphysics* (LCL 271, 287)
Oeconomics* (LCL 287)
Politics* (LCL 264)
Rhetoric* (LCL 193)
Arrian: c. 86–160 AD, OCD p. 175 [Count 465]
History of Alexander and Indica (LCL 236, 269)
Affairs after Alexander*
Asconius Pedianus: 3–88 AD, OCD p. 188 [Count 26]
Against Cecilius*
Against Divinations*
Against Verres*
De Domo Sua*
In Pison*
Pro Cornelio*
Pro Milone*
Athenaeus: c. 200 AD, OCD p. 202 [Count 99]
Deipnosphistae (LCL 204, 208, 224, 235, 274, 327, 345)
Augustine: 354–430 AD, OCD p. 215 [Count 7]
Against Gaudentius*
City of God (NPNF1, Book 2) (LCL 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417)
Epistle to Dulcitius*
Augustus: 63 BC–14 AD, OCD p. 216–218 [Count 8]
The Acts of Augustus (In Velleius Paterculus LCL 152)
Aulus Gellius: 125–180? AD, OCD p. 627 [Count 28]
Attic Nights (LCL 195, 200, 212)
Aurelius Victor: 4th century AD, OCD p. 222 [Count 19]
De Viris illustribus*, H. Bird, 1994
Ausonius: 4th century AD, OCD p. 223 [Count 2]
Ordo Urbium Nobilium* (LCL 96, 115)
Idyllion*
Basil the Great: c. 330–379 AD, OCD p. 234 [Count 2]
Against Eunomius*
Hexaemeron (NPNF2, Book 8)
Berosus: 3rd century BC, OCD p. 239 [Count 5]
Chaldean History* (Only fragments exist)
Caesar, Julius: 100–44 BC, OCD p. 780 [Count 122]
Alexandrian, African and Spanish Wars (LCL 402)
Civil Wars (LCL 039)
Gallic Wars (LCL 072)
Cassidorus: c. 490-585 AD, OCD p. 298 [Count 5]
Chronicle*
Censorinus: 3rd century AD, OCD p. 308 [Count 11]
De Die Natali (The Birthday)*, N. Sallmann, 1983
Chrysostom, John: c. AD 354–407, OCD p. 329 [Count 2]
Commentaries*
II Corinthians (NPNF1, Book 12)
Cicero, Tullius: 106–43 BC, OCD p. 1558–1564 [Count 633]
Rhetorical Treatises
Brutus (LCL 342)
De Fato (LCL 349)
De Oratore (LCL 348, 349)
Orations
Agrarian Law (LCL 240)
De Domo Sua (LCL 158)
De Haruspicum Responsis (LCL 158)
De Provinciis Consularibus (LCL 447)
In Catilinam &c (LCL 324)
Philippics (LCL 189)
Pro Archia Poeta (LCL 158)
Pro Aulus Cluentio (LCL 198)
Pro Bablo (LCL 447)
Pro Caelio (LCL 447)
Pro Dejotaro (LCL 252)
Pro Flacco (LCL 324)
Pro Lege Manilia (LCL 198)
Pro Ligario (LCL 252)
Pro Murena (LCL 324)
Pro Plancio (LCL 158)
Pro Rabirio Postumo (LCL 252)
Pro Sestio (LCL 309)
Verrine Orations (LCL 221, 293)
Philosophical Treatises
Academica (Lucullus) (LCL 268)
De Amicita (LCL 154)
De Divinatione (LCL 154)
De Natura Decorum (LCL 268)
De Finibus (LCL 040)
De Officiis (LCL 30)
De Senectute (LCL 154)
Tusculan Disputations (LCL 141)
Letters
Letters to Brutus (LCL 462)
Letters to Atticus (LCL 7, 8, 97)
Letters to his Friends (LCL 205, 216, 230)
Letters to his Brother Quintus (LCL 462)
Clement of Alexandra: c. 200 AD, OCD p. 344 [Count 33]
Stromateis (ANF, Book 2) F. W. Sagnard, 1947
Hypotyposes (ANF, Book 2)
Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus: c. 50 AD., OCD p. 367 [Count 2]
De Re Rustica* (LCL 361, 407, 408)
Cornelius Nepos: c. 124–65 BC, OCD p. 396 [Count 5]
Life of Atticus (LCL 467)
Ctesias of Cnidos: late 5th century BC, OCD p. 411, 412 [Count 44]
History of Persia* (The Greek Accounts of Eastern History) R. Drews, 1973
Curtius, Quintus: 1st or 2nd century AD, OCD p. 416 [Count 349]
History of Alexander (LCL 368, 369)
Cyril of Alexandria: died AD 444, OCD p. 422 [Count 2]
Against Julian*, Ed. Migne, PG 68–77
Demosthenes, 384–322 BC, OCD p. 456–458 [Count 4]
Peace, Liberty of Rhodes* (LCL 238)
Against Leptines* (LCL 238)
Against Aristocrates* (LCL 299)
For Ctesiphontem*
Dio Cassius: c. 164–229 AD, OCD p. 299, 300 [Count 914]
Roman History (LCL 32, 37, 53, 66, 82, 83, 175, 176, 177)
Diodorus Siculus: 1st century BC, OCD p. 472, 473 [Count 835]
Bibliotheca (LCL 279, 303, 340, 375, 384, 399, 389, 422, 377, 390, 409, 423)
Diogenes Laertius: 3rd century AD, OCD p. 474, 475 [Count 39]
Lives of Eminent Philosophers (184, 185)
Dionysius of Halicarnassus: c. 1st century BC, OCD p. 478 [Count 20]
Ammaeus (LCL 466)
Dinarchus (LCL 466)
Lysias (LCL 465)
Pompey (LCL 466)
Roman Antiquities (LCL 319, 347, 357, 364, 372, 378, 388)
Dionysius Periegetes: 2nd century AD, OCD p. 478 [Count 1]
Geographical Description of the Inhabited World*
Epictetus: c. 2nd cent. AD, OCD p. 532 [Count 1]
Dissertations*, Teubner, 1894
Epiphanius: 315–403 AD, OCD p. 546 [Count 9]
Heresy*, K. Holl, 1980
Panarion*, K. Holl, 1980
De Mensuris et Ponderibus*, K. Holl, 1980
Eusebius: c. 260–339 AD, OCD p. 575,576 [Count 187]
Chronicles*, Scaliger Greek Edition 1586?
Chronicles, Latin copy, see Jerome
Ecclesiastical History (LCL 153, 265)
Preparation for the Gospel, E. H. Clifford, Baker Book House, 1981
Life of Constantine (NPNF2, Book 1)
Treatise of Eusebius (Hierocles) (LCL 17)
Eutropius: c. 4th century AD, OCD p. 577 [Count 76]
Breviary*, H. W. Bird, 1993
Exuperantius, Julius: 4th century AD?, OCD p. 581 [Count 1]
Opusculum*, N. Zorzetti, 1982
Fasti Siculi: OCD p. 588 [Count 3]
Florus: c. 2nd century AD?, OCD p. 602 [Count 106]
Abridgement of all the Wars over 1200 years (LCL 231)
Frontinus, Julius: 1st century AD, OCD p. 785 [Count 16]
Stratagems (LCL 174)
Aqueducts (LCL 174)
Galen: 129–?199/216 AD, OCD p. 621, 622 [Count 6]
Bloodletting*, C. Kuhn, 1881
De Antidotis*
De Theriaca ad Posinem*
on Foreknowing*
Gelasius Cyzicenus: [Count 1]
Acts of the Council of Nice*
Geminus: c. 50 AD, OCD p. 628 [Count 2]
Introduction to Astronomy*, Teubner, 1889
Georgius Syncellus: c. 790 AD [Count 4]
Chronicles*
Herodotus: 5th century BC, OCD p. 696–698 [Count 331]
The Histories (LCL 117, 118, 119, 120)
Hesychius: 5th century AD, OCD p. 701 [Count 3]
Lexicon of Rare Greek Words* (Schmidt, 1858–68)
Hippocrates: 469–399 BC, OCD p. 710 [Count 1]
Epidemics: (LCL 473)
Homer: c. 8th cent. BC, OCD. p. 718 [Count 2]
Iliad*: (LCL 170,171)
Horace: 65 - 8 BC, OCD p. 724–727 [Count 12]
Carmen Saeculare (LCL 33)
Epistles (LCL 194]
Epodes (LCL 33)
Odes (LCL 33)
Isocrates: 436–338 BC, OCD p. 769 [Count 21]
Works (LCL 209, 229, 373)
Jamblichus: c. 245–325 AD, OCD p. 743 [Count 2]
Life of Pythagoras*, G. Clark, 1989
Jerome: c. 347–420 AD, OCD p. 794. [Count 42]
Commentaries*
Eusebii Pamphii Chronicli Canones, Johannes Knight Fotheringham, 1923
De Locis Hebraicis* (Places in Judah)
Scriptor. Ecclesiastical Catalogue*
Johannes Malela of Antioch: c. 850 AD [Count 6]
Chronology*, unpublished manuscript (1654 AD)
Josephus: 37/38–94? AD, OCD p. 798,799 [Count 1188]
Life and Against Apion (LCL 186) (Loeb Book 1)
Wars of the Jews (LCL 203, 487, 210) (Loeb Book 2–4)
Antiquities of the Jews,
(LCL 242, 281, 326, 365, 410, 433, 456) (Loeb Book 4–10)
Whiston one volume edition, Hendrickson, 1994
Julius Africanus: 3rd century AD, OCD p. 778 [Count 9]
Chronology (ANF, Book 6)
Catalogue Stadionicarum*
Letter to Aristides (ANF, Book 6)
Julian (the apostate): 331–363 AD, OCD p. 800 [Count 4]
Ad Alexandria* (Loeb 29)
Misopogone* (satire on Hatred of Beards) (Loeb 13, 29)
Ad Themistium* (Loeb 29)
Julius Maternus Firmicus: 4th century AD, OCD p. 598 [Count 1]
Geniture of the World*, J. R. Bram, 1975
Julius Obsequens: 4th or 5th century AD, OCD, p. 1058 [Count 21]
Prodigies (LCL 404) (part of the 14th volume of Livy in the Loeb series)
Justin: 2nd–4th century AD?, OCD p. 802 [Count 431]
Epitome of Philippic Histories of Trogus Pompeius*, Yardley, 1994
Justin Martyr: c. 100–165 AD, OCD p. 802 [Count 2]
Exhortation to the Greeks (ANF, Book 1)
Novella*
Juvenal: c. 2nd century AD, OCD p. 804 [Count 4]
Satires*, W. V. Clausen, 1992 (LCL 91)
Lactantius Firmianus: c. 240–c. 320 AD, OCD p. 811 [Count 6]
De Ira Dei (ANF, Book 7)
Divine Institutions (ANF, Book 7)
Livy: 64 BC–12 AD, OCD p. 877–879 [Count 472]
History (LCL 114, 133, 172, 191, 233, 355, 367, 381, 295, 301, 313,
332, 404)
Lucan: 39–65 AD, OCD p. 94,95 [Count 50]
The Civil War (LCL 220)
Lucian: c. 120 AD OCD p. 886 [Count 20]
Adversus Indoctum*
De Syria Dea*
How to Write History (LCL, 430)
Octogenarians (LCL 014)
Phalaris*
Pseudonenos*
Slander (LCL 014)
Slip of the Tongue in Greeting (LCL 430)
Triephon*
Zeuxis or Antiochus (LCL 430)
Lyranus: [Count 1]
Days of Eternity*
Lysias: (or Lysanias of Mallus?) OCD p. 901 [Count 4]
Aristophanes*
Corinthian Auxiliaries*
Macrobius: 4th century AD, OCD p. 906,907 [Count 19]
Saturnalia*
Manetho: c. 280 BC, OCD p. 917 [Count 36]
Text reconstructed from other authors (LCL 350)
Memnon of Heraclea: 2nd century AD, OCD p. 955 [Count 141]
Works partially preserved by Photius*
Nicolaus Damascene: 1st century BC, OCD p. 1041 [Count 1]
History* (Only fragments exist in Josephus)
Nonius Marcellus: early 4 century AD?, OCD p. 1048 [Count 4]
Dictionary of Republican Latin*, W. M. Lindsay, 1901
Origen: c. 184–254 AD, OCD p. 1076 [Count 5]
peziazcat*
Against Celsum*
Orosius: c. 414 AD, OCD p. 1078 [Count 181]
Histories against the Pagans*, M.P. Arnaud-Linder, 1991
Ovid: 43 BC - 17 AD, OCD p. 1084–1087 [Count 35]
Art of Love (LCL 232)
Fasti (LCL 253)
Ibis (LCL 232)
Metamorphoses (LCL 042)
Pontus (LCL 151)
Tristia and Ex Ponto (LCL 151)
Pausanias: c. 150 AD, OCD p. 1129 [Count 90]
Attica; Corinth (LCL 93)
Laconia; Messenia; Elis I (LCL 188)
Ellis II; Achaia; Arcadia (1–21) (LCL 272)
Arcadia (22–54); Boeotia; Phocis, Ozolian Locri (LCL 297)
Illustrations and Index (LCL, 298)
Philo: 1st century AD, OCD p. 1167,1168 [Count 53]
Flaccus (LCL 363)
Embassy to Gaius (LCL 379)
Philochorus: c. 340–260 BC, OCD p. 1164 [Count 1]
Atthis*, P. E. Harding, 1949
Philostephanus: 3rd century BC, OCD p. 1171 [Count 1]
Cities of Asia*
Philostratus: 1st century AD, OCD p. 1171 [Count 9]
Life of Apollonius (LCL 16,17)
Lives of the Sophists (LCL 134)
Phlegon of Tralles: 2nd century AD, OCD p. 1172 [Count 7]
History or Mirabilibus*
Chronicles*
De Mirabilibus*
Phoenix of Colophon: 3rd cent. BC, OCD p. 1174 [Count 1]
Liambics* (LCL 259, Greek Elegy and Iambus)
Photius: c. 810–893 AD, OCD p. 1175 [Count 48]
Bibliotheca*, R. Henry, 1957–1977
Pighius: [Count 7]
Annals of Rome* (only fragments exist)
Plato: c. 429–347 BC, OCD p. 1190 [Count 5]
Republic*
Menexenus*
De Legibus*
Timaeus*
Pliny the Elder: 23/24–79 AD, OCD p. 1197,1198 [Count 135]
Natural History (LCL 330, 352, 353, 370, 371, 392, 393, 418, 394, 419)
Pliny the Younger: c. 61–c. 112 AD, OCD p. 1198 [Count 1]
Letters (LCL 55, 59)
Plutarch: 50–120 AD, OCD p. 1200,1201 [Count 1211]
Moralia,
Bravery of Women (III) (LCL, 245)
De Placitis Philosophorum* (IX)
De Stoicorum Repugnantiis* (XII) (LCL 470)
Eroticus (Dialogue on Love?)*
Fortune of Alexander (IV) (LCL 305)
Glory of the Athenians (IV) (LCL 305)
Isis and Orisis* (V) (LCL 306)
Lives of Ten Orators (X) (LCL 321)
Demosthenes
Isocrates
Malice of Herodotus (IX) (LCL 426)
Old Men in Public Affairs (X) (LCL, 321)
On Anger (VI) (LCL 337)
On Being a Busybody (VI) (LCL 337)
On Brotherly Love (VI) (LCL 337)
On Exile* (VII) (LCL, 405)
Parallel Stories (IV) (LCL 305)
Philosophers and Men in Power (X) (LCL, 321)
Precepts of Statecraft (X) (LCL 321)
Sayings of Kings and Commanders (III) (LCL 245)
Sayings of Romans (III) (LCL 245)
Sayings of the Spartans (III) (LCL 245)
Shamefacedness*
Superstition* (II) (LCL 222)
Symposium*
Parallel Lives,
Aemilius Paulus (VI) (LCL 098)
Agesilaus (V) (LCL 087)
Alcibiades (IV) (LCL 080)
Alexander (VII) (LCL 099)
Antony (IX) (LCL 101)
Aratus (XI) (LCL 103)
Aristides (II) (LCL 047)
Artaxerxes (XI) (LCL 103)
Brutus (VI) (LCL 098)
Caesar (VII) (LCL 099)
Camillus (II) (LCL 047)
Cato Major (II) (LCL 047)
Cato Minor (VIII) (LCL 100)
Cicero (VII) (LCL 099)
Cimon (II) (LCL 047)
Cleomenes (X) (LCL 102)
Crassus (III) (LCL 065)
Demetrius (IX) (LCL 101)
Eumenes (VIII) (LCL 100)
Flamininus (X) (LCL 102)
Lucullus and Cimon (II) (LCL 047)
Lucullus (II) (LCL 047)
Lysander and Sulla (IV) (LCL 080)
Lysander (IV) (LCL 080)
Marius (IX) (LCL 101)
Pelopidas (V) (LCL 087)
Phocion (VIII) (LCL 100)
Pompey (V) (LCL 087)
Pyrrhus (IX) (LCL 101)
Sertorius (VIII) (LCL 100)
Solon (I) (LCL 046)
Sulla (IV) (LCL 080)
Themistocles (II) (LCL 047)
Tiberius Gracchus (X) (LCL 102)
Polyaenus: 2nd century AD, OCD p. 1209 [Count 51]
Strategmata*, J. Melber, Teubner, 1887
Polybius: c. 200–118 BC, OCD p. 1209–1211 [Count 384]
History (LCL 128, 137, 138, 159, 160, 161)
Pomponius Mela: 2nd century AD, OCD p. 1218 [Count 1]
De Chorographia*, A Silberman, 1988
Pomponius, Sextus: 2nd century AD, OCD p. 1218 [Count 1]
Civil Law*
Porphyry: 234–c. 305 AD, OCD p. 1226,1227 [Count 62]
Against Christians*
Chronology*
Life of Pythagoras*
Priscian: 5th–6th AD, OCD p. 1247 [Count 4]
Institutions*
Propertius, Sextus: 54 BC–2 BC?, OCD p. 1258,1259 [Count 2]
Elegies* (LCL 18)
Ptolemy, Claudius: 70-161 AD, OCD p. 1273–1275 [Count 82]
Great Syntaxis (Almagest?)*, G. J. Toomer, 1984
Canon of Kings*
Geography?*
Canons of Astronomy* (Unpublished work in 1650 AD)
Quintilian: 35–125? AD. OCD p. 1290 [Count 8]
Training in Oratory* (LCL, 124, 125, 126, 127)
Salianus: [Count 6]
Annals*
Against Forniellus*
Sallust: 86-35 BC, OCD p. 1348 [Count 24]
Catiline (LCL 116)
History (LCL 116)
Letters of Mithridates (LCL 116)
Philippus (LCL 116)
Speech of Macer (LCL 116)
Seneca: 4 BC–41 AD, OCD p. 96–98 [Count 23]
Ad Marciam (LCL 254)
De Tranquillitate Animi (LCL 254)
Epistles (LCL 75,76,77)
Ludi de Morte Claudii*
Natural Questions (LCL 450,457)
On Anger (LCL 214)
On Mercy (LCL 214)
On Benefits (LCL 254)
On Providence (LCL 254)
Seneca the Elder: 50 BC?–40 AD, OCD p. 95, 96 [Count 9]
Controversiae (LCL 463,464)
Suasoriae (LCL 464)
Servius: 4th century AD, OCD p. 1395 [Count 3]
Commentary on Virgil*, Thilo and Hagen 1881–1902
Simplicius: 6th century AD, OCD p. 1409,1410 [Count 1]
De Caelo* (Latin for, About the Heavens), R. Sorabji, 1987, The Ancient
Commentators of Aristotle
Solinus, Julius: c. 200 AD, OCD p. 786 [Count 14]
Die Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium*, H. Walter, 1968
Strabo: 64 BC–21 AD, OCD p. 1447 [Count 405]
Geography (LCL 49, 50, 182, 196, 211, 223, 241, 267)
Suetonius: c. 70–130 AD, OCD p. 1451,1452 [Count 217]
De Viris Illustribus (LCL 031, 038)
Suidas: (name of a lexicon not an author), c. 980 AD, OCD p. 1451 [Count 27]
English translation*, Byzantine Humanism, 1986
Sulpicius Severus: c. 360–420 AD, OCD p. 1398 [Count 22]
Sacred History (NPNF, Book 11)
Tacitus: 56–118? AD, OCD p. 1469–1471 [Count 217]
Dialogue on Oratory (LCL 35)
Histories and Annals (LCL 111, 249, 312, 322)
Talmudists: OCD p. 1471,1472 [Count 1]
Baba-bathra*
Tatian: c. 172 AD, OCD p. 1477 [Count 2]
Oration to the Greeks (ANF Book 2)
Tertullian: c. 160–c. 240 AD, OCD p. 1487 [Count 11]
Against Marcion (ANF Book 3)
Answer to the Jews (ANF Book 3)
Apology (ANF Book 3)
De Anima (ANF Book 3)
De Pallio (ANF Book 4)
Thallus: 1st century AD, OCD p. 1491 [Count 1]
Chronology from Trojan War to 109 BC*
Theocritus: 3rd century BC, OCD p. 1498,1499 [Count 2]
Poetry*, Gow, 1952
Theophilus: c. 180 AD, OCD p. 1504,1505 [Count 3]
Ad Autolycum (ANF Book 2)
Theophrastus: 372–288 BC, OCD p. 1504 [Count 2]
Enquiry Into Plants* (LCL 070, 079)
Thucydides: c. 455–c. 400 BC, OCD p. 1516,1517 [Count 100]
History (LCL 108, 109, 110, 169)
Tibullius, Albius: 55-48–19 BC?, OCD p. 1524 [Count 2]
Corpus Tibullianum*, Lee, 1982
Elegies*, G. Lee, 1982
Valerius Maximus: 1st century AD, OCD p. 1579 [Count 94]
History (LCL 492, 493)
Varro: 116-27 BC, OCD p. 1582 [Count 3]
Human Antiquities* (De Re Rustica)
De Lingua Latina (LCL 333, 334)
Vegetius Renatus: 5th century AD, OCD p. 1584 [Count 1]
De Re Militaris*, N. P. Milner, 1993
Velleius Paterculus: 20 BC–31 AD?, OCD p. 1585 [Count 194]
History (LCL 152)
Virgil: 70–19 BC, OCD p. 1602–1607 [Count 7]
Aeneid (LCL 063, 064)
Eclogue (LCL 063)
Georgics (LCL 063)
Vitruvius: 1st century BC, OCD p. 1609,1610 [Count 6]
De Architectura (LCL 251, 280)
Xenophon: 430–360?
BC, OCD p. 1628–1631 [Count 206]
Agesilaus (LCL 183)
Anabasis (LCL 090)
Cyropaedia (LCL 051, 052)
Hellenica (LCL 088, 089)
Oeconomicus (LCL 168)
Zeno of Rhodes: 2nd century BC, p. 1635 [Count 1]
History of Rhodes, G. Lehmann, 1988
Zonaras: c. 1120 AD, OCD p. 1639 [Count 1]
History*
Zosimus: late 5th century AD, OCD p. 1640 [Count 2]
History*, Mendelssohn 1887
The following authors are not listed in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, and we
think they wrote after the classical period or lived about the time of Ussher.
Abulensis: [Count 1]
Catechism*
Abydenus: [Count 5]
Assyrian History*
Albatenius: [Count 1]
Al-Kept* (Astronomical work)
Baronius: [Count 2]
History*
Bellovacensis: [Count 1]
History*
Bochartus: [Count 1]
Sacred Geography*
Christophorus Helvicus, [Count 1]
Genealogy of Christ*
Cunaeus: [Count 1]
De Republic Hebra.*
David Paraeus* [Count 1]
Emilius Probus: [Count 64]
Life of Agesilaus*
Life of Alcibiades*
Life of Aristides*
Life of Chabrias*
Life of Cimon*
Life of Conon*
Life of Datames*
Life of Eumenes*
Life of Hannibal*
Life of Iphicrates*
Life of Lysander*
Life of Miltiades*
Life of Pausanias*
Life of Themistocles*
Eschines: [Count 2]
Against Ctesiphontem*
De False Legation*
Fortunius Licetus: [Count 1]
de Spontanco Viventium ortu*
Gruter: [Count 30]
Inscriptions*
Henric Valesius: [Count 4]
Life of Nicolaus Damascene*
Hilduinus: [Count 1]
Areopagatica*
Jornandes: [Count 5]
De Regnorum ac Temporum Succession*
Julius Capitoline: [Count 1]
Maximus and Balbinus
Justus Lipsius: [Count 4]
De Constantia*
Letters*
Syntagma of Libraries*
Lipsius: [Count 4]
De Constantia*
Elector.*
Epistle*
Syntagma of Libraries*
Nicephorus Calistus: [Count 1]
Ecclesiastical History*
Nicolaus Fullerus: [Count 1]
Miscellany*
Phavorinus: [Count 1]
Varia Historia*
Philastrius Brixiensis: [Count 1]
De Heres*
Ribera: [Count 1]
De Temple*
Ramusius: [Count 1]
Navigations*
Rupert Tuitiensis: [Count 1]
De Victoria Verbi*
Sextus Rufus: [Count 17]
Breviary*
Stephanus Byzantinus: [Count 3]
de Urbibus*
Thodores: [Count 1]
Commentary on Deuteronomy*
Ussher: [Count 11]
Egyptian Chronology*
Macedonian and Asiatic Year*
Vossius: [Count 1]
Greek Historians*
Modern writers used in revising this work
Anderson, Sir Robert. The Coming Prince. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregal
Publications, 1975 reprint.
Apocrypha. Oxford Edition, 1769 Edition; Revised Standard Version, 1957
Edition; Authorized Version. Cambridge, 1769 Edition.
Bone, Dorothy. Chronology of the Hebrew Divided Kingdom. London: Avon Books,
1997.
Bray, John. Matthew 24 Fulfilled. Lakeland, FL: John Bray Ministry, Inc., 1998
Edition.
Chilton, David. The Days of Vengeance. Tyler, TX: Dominion Press, 1987.
Concise Bible Dictionary. Addison, IL: Bible Truth Publishers.
Gill, John. Gill's Expositor. 1810. Republished on the Online Bible CD-ROM,
1995.
Grayson, A.W. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Winona Lake, IN:
Eisenbrauns, 2000.
Jones, Floyd. Chronology of the Old Testament. The Woodlands, TX: KingsWood
Press, 1999.
Klopsch, Louis. Many Thoughts of Many Minds. New York, NY: The Christian
Herald, Bible House, 1896.
Mauro, Philip. The Wonders of Bible Chronology. Swengel, PA: Reiner
Publications.
______. The Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation. Sterling VA: Grace
Abounding Ministries, 1988.
Other works used by the editor in preparing this edition:
Oxford English CD-ROM Dictionary (OED). Second Edition, 1994.
Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD). Third Edition, 1996.
Oxford Latin Dictionary (OLD). 1996 Edition.
Ussher. Annals of the World, 1654. Photocopy of Latin Edition.
Ussher. Annals of the World, 1658. Photocopy of English Edition.
Ussher referred to many other writers but did not give the exact reference. We
usually omitted these writers from this bibliography.
Biblical Book Name Abbreviations
Genesis ...........................Ge Nahum .......................Na
Exodus ...........................Ex Habakkuk ..................Hab
Leviticus .........................Le Zephaniah ..................Zep
Numbers .........................Nu Haggai .......................Hag
Deuteronomy ..................De Zechariah ...................Zec
Joshua .............................Jos Malachi .....................Mal
Judges .............................Jud Matthew ....................Mt
Ruth ................................Ru Mark ..........................Mr
1 Samuel .........................1Sa Luke ..........................Lu
2 Samuel .........................2Sa John ...........................Joh
1 Kings ...........................1Ki Acts ...........................Ac
2 Kings ...........................2Ki Romans .....................Ro
1 Chronicles ...................1Ch 1 Corinthians .............1Co
2 Chronicles ...................2Ch 2 Corinthians .............2Co
Ezra ................................Ezr Galatians ...................Ga
Nehemiah .......................Ne Ephesians ..................Eph
Esther .............................Es Philippians ................Php
Job ..................................Job Colossians .................Col
Psalms ............................Ps 1 Thessalonians .........1Th
Proverbs .........................Pr 2 Thessalonians .........2Th
Ecclesiastes ....................Ec 1 Timothy ..................1Ti
Song of Solomon ...........So 2 2 Timothy .....................2Ti
Isaiah ..............................Isa Titus ..........................Tit
Jeremiah .........................Jer Philemon ...................Phm
Lamentations ..................La Hebrews ....................Heb
Ezekiel ............................Eze James .........................Jas
Daniel .............................Da 1 Peter .......................1Pe
Hosea ..............................Ho 2 Peter .......................2Pe
Joel .................................Joe 1 John ........................1Jo
Amos ..............................Am 2 John ........................2Jo
Obadiah ..........................Ob 3 John ........................3Jo
Jonah ..............................Jon Jude ...........................Jude
Micah .............................Mic Revelation .................Re
Apocryphal Book Name Abbreviations
The following books are in the Oxford Authorized Version Apocrypha:
1 Esdras ...............1Es
2 Esdras ...............2Es
Tobit ...............Tob
Judith ...............Jdt
Rest of Esther ...............Est
Wisdom of Solomon ...............Wis
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) ...............Sir
Baruch ...............Bar
Prayer of Azariah ...............Aza
History of Susanna ...............Sus
Bel and the Dragon ...............Bel
Prayer of Manasses ...............Man
1 Maccabees ...............1Ma
2 Maccabees ...............2Ma
From the 1957 RSV Apocrypha which was not in the Oxford text.
3 Maccabees ...............3Ma
4 Maccabees ...............4Ma
Psalm 151 ...............2Ps
Citations from the Oxford Apocrypha noted as Apc and ones from the RSV Apocrypha
noted as RApc.
Appendix A: Roman Calendars
Roman Republican Calendar to end of 46 BC
Note:
1) The Roman lunar year had 355 days.
2) Calends are given for previous month.
e.g. 8th Calends of February is January 23
3) The months of January, April, June, August, September, November and December
each have 29 days. March, May, July, and October have 31 days. February had 28
days.
4) To keep the calendar in line with the solar year, February was shortened to
23 or 24 days and followed by an intercalary month of 27 days. This
intercalation was so poorly done that by the time of Caesar, the civic year was
about three months ahead of the solar year.
Roman Julian Calendar 45 BC
Note:
1) From 45 BC to 9 BC, the leap year was inserted every three years instead of
every four years by mistake. This added three extra days into the calendar.
Augustus corrected this by omitting the leap years from 8 BC to 1 AD. This
dropped the three extra days.
2) In 8 BC, Augustus took one day from February to reduce it from 29 days to 28
days and added the extra day to the sixth month on the old Roman calendar and
renamed the month August, after himself. For more details, see Ussher on 5072,
5280 and 6001.
3) In this work we give both the Julian date as well as the old Roman date that
used Ides, Nones, and Calends.
4) The months of January, August, and Decemeber each have 31 days and the Ides
on the 13th. March, May, July, and October have 31 days and the Ides on the
15th. April, June, September, and November have 30 days and have the Ides on
the 13th. In a non-leap year, February has 28 days and the Ides are on the
13th. For leap years, an extra "6th of the Calends of March" (indicated above
by "**") added to February.
Appendix B: The Forgotten Archbishop
When it comes to suggesting a date for the creation of the earth, perhaps few
people have been the butt of more ridicule on the subject from sceptics than
Archbishop James Ussher. It was Ussher who in the 1650s put forward the idea
that this occurred on October 23, 4004 BC, and this year appeared as a marginal
note in many Bibles up until about the mid-20th century. So was Ussher a wise
man, a charlatan, or just naive? And what should we think about his date?
The Scholar of Honour and Repute
James Ussher was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1581. As a young man he resolved
to devote himself wholly to the work of the Church, and the Lord honoured him in
his resolve. At 18, he entered Dublin University, which was then one of the
major universities. At 20, he was ordained a deacon and priest in the Anglican
Church at Dublin. At 26, he was appointed chairman of the Department of
Divinity at Dublin, an honour accorded to very few who were that young. He was
a professor from 1607 to 1621, and was twice appointed vice-chancellor of
Trinity College, Dublin.
From his early school days he excelled in history, and from the time he was 20,
for the next two decades, he read every history book he could get his hands on.
He excelled in church history and prepared several large authoritative works
dealing with the Irish and English churches from the times of the Apostles.
In 1625, he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, which was the highest position
in the Irish Anglican Church. An expert in Semitic languages, he argued for the
reliability of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and wrote widely on
Christianity in Asia, and other Bible-related topics.
In 1628, King James appointed him to his Privy Council in Ireland. He was
critical of the rebellion against Charles the First. However, Cromwell, who
headed the rebellion, held him in great esteem. When Ussher died, Cromwell held
a magnificent funeral for him and had him buried in Westminster Abbey.
The Only Reliable Source Document
One of Ussher's many projects was the writing, in Latin, of a complete history
of the world covering every major event from the time of creation to 70 AD. He
published this 1,600-page tome in Latin in 1650. An English translation was
published in 1658, two years after his death. This work is fascinating to read;
however, very few of us had access to it until it was republished.
In preparing this work, Ussher first made the assumption that the Bible was the
only reliable source document of chronological information for the time periods
covered in the Bible. In fact, before the Persian Empire, very little is known
about Greek, Roman, and Egyptian history, or the history of other nations. Much
rests on speculation and myths. Dates in secular history become more certain
with the founding of the Media-Persian Empire.
For events before this time, Ussher relied solely on the data from the Bible to
erect his historical framework. He chose the death of Nebuchadnezzar as a
reliable date to anchor all the earlier biblical dates to. Hence, working
backward from that date, he ended up with his date for creation of October 23,
4004 BC.
How Did He Arrive At This Date?
Nowhere in your Bible does it say that the day was October 23. Because the Jews
and many other ancient peoples started their year in the autumn, Ussher assumed
there must be a good reason for it. He therefore concluded that God created the
world in the autumn. After consulting astronomical tables he picked the first
Sunday after the autumnal equinox.
We all know that the equinox occurs around September 21, not October 23. Well,
it does now, thanks to some juggling of the calendar. In his studies, Ussher
found that the ancient Jews and the Egyptians did not use a year based on the
moon. Instead they had a year made up of 12 months, each 30 days long. At the
end of the year they tacked on 5 days. Every 4 years they added 6 days.
However, a year of 365 days is too short, and one of exactly 365.25 days is too
long. You have to drop days from it to keep the seasons from drifting.
When Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, he adopted the system we now use, with
12 months of various lengths. On September 2, 1752, 11 days were dropped from
the English calendar to make the seasons start when they were supposed to.
Another day was dropped in 1800 and again in 1900. These years would normally
have been leap years, but were made normal years to keep the calendar in line.
Today we use the Gregorian calendar which is a refinement of the Julian
calendar.
Before Julius Caesar's reform, no correcting adjustments were made to the
calendar. For the four thousand years from Caesar's time to the time of
creation almost 32 days have to be dropped to make the seasons start when they
should. Hence, by making these adjustments, Ussher arrived at the date of
October 23, not September 21.
Now you ask, how did he get the year 4004 BC?
Answer: He took the chronologies in Genesis 5 and 11, together with some other
Bible passages which we will look at. To simplify the calculations, we will tie
the chronology to the fall of Jerusalem in 588 BC. The detailed calculations
cover over 100 pages in the original document!
From Genesis 5 we get the following:
First Genealogy — Genesis 5
Verse Event Age of the Earth
1:1-31 Creation 0
5:3 Seth born when Adam was 130 130
5:6 Enos born when Seth was 105 235
5:9 Cainan born when Enos was 90 325
5:12 Mahalaleel born when Cainan was 70 395
5:15 Jared born when Mahalaleel was 65 460
5:18 Enoch born when Jared was 162 622
5:21 Methuselah born when Enoch was 65 687
5:25 Lamech born when Methuselah was 187 874
5:28 Noah born when Lamech was 182 1056
11:10 Shem born when Noah was 502 1558
7:6 Flood when Noah was 600 1656
From Genesis 11 we get:
Verse Event Age of the Earth
11:10 Arphaxad born when Shem was 100 1658
11:12 Salah born when Arphad was 35 1693
11:14 Eber born when Salah was 30 1723
11:16 Peleg born when Eber was 34 1757
11:18 Reu born when Peleg was 30 1787
11:20 Serug born when Reu was 32 1819
11:22 Nahor born was Serug was 30 1849
11:24 Terah born when Nahor was 29 1878
11:32, 12:4 Abraham born when Terah was 130 2008
12:4 Abraham enters Canaan was 75 2083
In the Bible there are some large time periods given. These enable us to do the
same calculations as Ussher, without going into all the intermediate details as
he did.
Golden Arches of Time
Abraham left Haran until the Exodus,
exactly 430 years to the day. (Ge 12:10, Ex 12:40, Gal 3:17) 2513
Exodus to start of Temple, 479 years
(1 Ki 6:1, in the 480th year or after 479 years) 2992
Start of Temple to division of the Kingdom, 37
(Solomon reigned 40 years, 1Ki 11:42,
temple started in his 4th year) 3029
Division of the Kingdom to final deportation about four
years after Jerusalem fell, 390 whole years plus
part of one year (Eze 4:4-6) 3421
Final deportation in 584 BC
Hence date creation = 584 + 3421 - 1 = 4004 BC
Now you have a rough idea of how Ussher did his calculations.
Ussher started from the Bible and not from secular history. That is why he used
a date of 588 BC for the fall of Jerusalem, and not 586 BC. He noted that the
fourth year of King Jehoiakim's reign corresponded to the first year of
Nebuchadnezzar's reign (Jeremiah 25:1). In working through the king lists of
Judah, he determined that this was in 607 BC, two years before the death of
Nebuchadnezzar's father. His father died in 605 BC and many historians
concluded that this was the start of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, when in fact he was
already ruling as viceroy for two years. It was the normal procedure to count
as the first year of the reign of a king from the year he became a viceroy.
Starting from the Bible, Ussher was able to correct this error in secular
history.
So Was Ussher Right?
Ussher was neither charlatan nor naive; in fact, he was one of the most learned
men of his day. Understanding the assumptions with which he began his
calculations (particularly the one we should all begin with, namely that God's
Word is true and reliable), we can readily understand how he arrived at his date
for creation. In fact, if one assumes that there are no deliberate "jumps" or
gaps in the later genealogies (for which the evidence in my view is inadequate),
then his date is a perfectly reasonable deduction based on his detailed
knowledge of and reverence for the Word of God.
Astronomy and Ussher
Astrogeophysicist Dr. John Eddy, who was at the time solar astronomer at the
High Altitude Observatory at Boulder, Colorado, made some revealing comments at
a symposium in 1978, as reported in Geotimes, Vol. 23, September 1978, p. 18.
"There is no evidence based solely on solar observations, Eddy stated, that the
sun is 4.5-5 x 109 years old. 'I suspect,' he said, 'that the Sun is
4.5-billion years old. However, given some new and unexpected results to the
contrary, and some time for frantic recalculation and theoretical readjustment,
I suspect that we could live with Bishop Ussher's value for the age of the earth
and sun. I don't think we have much in the way of observational evidence in
astronomy to conflict with that.' "
Appendix C: Ussher's Time Line for the Divided Kingdom
The time line for the divided kingdom has caused many problems recently for
those who do not take the Bible as their final authority. This article
documents this time line and points out the difficulties with it. Archaeology
seems to have caused the most grief, as well-meaning individuals try to
harmonize man's conjectures with the infallible Word of God.
This work is based on the Old Testament Scriptures of the Bible. Any
translation that accurately translates the current Hebrew texts into English can
be used. The LXX is inaccurate in many places and is unsuitable for this.
Likewise, any translation that is not based on the Hebrew text but uses the
Greek LXX or the Latin Vulgate suffers from the same problems. Many foreign
language versions are derived from the LXX, i.e., the Russian Synodal Bible. We
used the 1769 English Authorized Version in preparing this work.
We have reconstructed the king lists for the divided kingdom based on the work
of James Ussher's The Annals of the World. We have shown all chronological data
for the period of the kings as we have gleaned it from Kings, Chronicles,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. We have not knowingly omitted any
passages in those books that contain chronological information. We have also
documented all the supposed contradictions people have found in the
chronological data and have explained them in location. Most of these disappear
with an accurate reconstruction of the king lists. Only twice does there appear
to be a scribal error in transmission and even these do not affect the king list
chronology. The list of contradictions was taken from John Halley. (p.
396-404)
Ussher did not always state how he arrived at his findings. It was not until we
broke the years down into the seasons that we were able to reproduce his
findings. His untranslated Latin work called the Sacred Chronology holds the
detailed documentation of how Ussher arrived at his results. We plan to
translate the relevant portions at some future date.
1.0 Abbreviations
SK — Southern Kingdom
NK — Northern Kingdom
BB — Babylonian Kingdom
YDK — Year From Division of Kingdom
1Ki — 1 Kings
2Ki — 2 Kings
1Ch — 1 Chronicles
2Ch — 2 Chronicles
Isa — Isaiah
Jer — Jeremiah
Eze — Ezekiel
Da — Daniel
The year is divided into four parts as follows in the same way Ussher divided up
the year.
b — winter
c — spring and approximate start of Jewish New Year
d — summer
a — fall
Jubilee years are marked and will be explained in detail in the article for the
time period after the exodus. This article is already rather long.
* — Indicates king who was murdered by his successor or forced to commit suicide
to avoid being murdered by his successor. (e.g., Zimri)
X — Indicates king who was killed but not murdered by his successor
2.0 Terms
The first three terms are used in explaining objections to Ussher's system and
we did not otherwise use them. The three terms came from Dr. McFall.
Accession Year — This was the year a king came to the throne and was not
normally considered the first year of his reign.
Accession Year System — This computes the length of a king's reign based on the
number of Jewish New Years that happened during his reign. If a king reigned
only a week before and a week after the New Year, he would be said to reign one
year because exactly one Jewish New Year occurred in his reign. Both the Talmud
and the Mishnah specify this is the normal way to calculate the length of a
king's reign. This system was the normal way kings counted their years of
reign. If a king had no Jewish New years in his reign, the length of his reign
was normally given in months. The Accession Year System is also called
Postdating by some writers.
Non-accession Year System — The remainder of the previous king's year is counted
as the first year of his successor and also counted as the last year of the
previous king. If a king reigned only a week before and a week after the New
Year, he would be said to reign two years when using this system. This system
was not normally used, so think of it as non-standard. Only when you plot out
the actual reigns, can you determine if this system was used. The Non-Accession
Year System is also called Antedating by some writers.
Viceregent — This is like an assistant or co-king. The regular king was still
on the throne. The only example of this was Jehoram who was made viceregent
sometime in the 16th year of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was preparing to help
Ahab fight with the Syrians and appointed his son as caretaker while he would be
away. Jehoram numbered his years of reign from this point until he was made
viceroy 6 years later.
Viceroy — This position is considered to be defacto king. The viceroy's father
was still alive, but the viceroy was running the kingdom. There were two
reasons why a king made his son viceroy. First, the father was going to war and
wanted to make sure of a smooth transition in case he was killed. Secondly, the
father was in ill health and not able to manage the kingdom any more. Most
viceroyships were rather short and occurred a year or so before the death of the
king. According to the Talmud and the Mishnah {see Virtual Jerusalem website},
the viceroy always counted his first year as king when he became viceroy, not
the sole king. Ussher found no exceptions to this rule. Since appointing a
viceroy was usually a planned choice, the logical time to do this would be at
the start of the Jewish New Year in Nisan.
3.0 Assumptions
1) The biblical data, not archaeological data, is the final authority. You
cannot use secular dates from archaeologists to overthrow the biblical data.
The terminal date for biblical chronology is 562 BC with the release of
Jehoiachin and is taken from Ptolemy's king lists. {Thiele, p. 227} {Jer
52:28} This date was the anchor Ussher used for his chronology before this time.
The time from creation to the release of Jehoiachin forms a continuous
chronology in the Bible. If you do not agree with this assumption of scriptura
sola, you can justify almost any reconstruction of this period.
2) The king calculated his first year at the month of Nisan (first month of the
Jewish New Year in the spring), even though he may have reigned for a few months
in the previous year. That is, they all used the Accession Year system. This
was the rule laid down in the Talmud and the Mishnah ({J. Halley, p. 397},
{Virtual Jerusalem Website} Anstey and other chronologers cite the same rule).
Every rule has its exceptions. It seems the NK started using the Non-Accession
Year system with Jeroboam and switched to the Accession Year system after
Ahaziah. That is, the eight kings from Jeroboam down to Ahaziah all used the
Non-Accession Year system. The subsequent kings followed in his steps until
Jehoram. He started using the Accession Year system of the SK. (There is a
possibility that Amaziah also used the Accession Year system. The Scriptures
would allow either method. Since he was made viceroy by his father Ahab, we
assume this happened on the Jewish New Year and hence the Accession method would
apply to his reign.) The Accession Year system was used throughout the entire
time of the SK.
3) The king counted the first year of his reign from his viceroyship. Viceroy
years were assumed to start at the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Ussher
found no exceptions to this rule as laid down by the Talmud and the Mishnah.
{See Virtual Jerusalem website.}
Ahaziah (SK) {2Ki 8:25 2Ch 22:2} presents an interesting case which conforms to
this rule although at first glance it may not seem to. Jehoram (SK) in his 7th
year as king was struck with a disease that lasted two years (part of the 7th
year and part of his 8th year), which eventually killed him. Likely in the 7th
year Ahaziah was made viceroy because Jehoram could no longer handle the kingdom
because he was quite sick. This would be after the Jewish New Year so Ahaziah
would not normally consider this his first year of the kingdom until the next
Jewish New Year. {2Ki 8:25} We are told the he became king in the 11th year of
Jehoram or Joram (NK) {2Ki 9:29} Joram was not killed by Jehu until his 12th
year so this refers to the time when Jehoram (SK) made Ahaziah viceroy. The
Bible said he reigned for one year {2Ki 8:25} and although he reigned in part of
the 11th year of Joram (NK) his first new year did not occur until the 12th year
of Joram (NK).
4) The Babylonian kings counted the start of their reign like the kings of
Israel and Judah, only they used the starting period of Nabonassar. This epoch
started on the Wednesday evening of February 26, 747 BC. (Thiele, in an appendix
to his book Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, states without giving his
source, that this was based on a 365-day year and would regress one day every
four years. If this was so, the Babylonian New Year would be in mid-January on
the Julian calendar by the time of Nebuchadnezzar. We know the Babylonians used
a lunar calendar so this may introduce further uncertainty into the exact date
for any given year.) The fact that the Babylonian New Year started a few weeks
or months before the Jewish New Year, helps considerably in sorting out some
supposed contradictions in the biblical chronology for the period of
Nebuchadnezzar.
5) Part years may be counted as full years (see Virtual Jerusalem website). You
cannot impose 20th century western ideas of time-keeping on the Orientals either
of today or those of 3,000 years ago. This concept manifests itself in the
Non-Accession Year dating method that was initially used by the NK and never
used in the SK.
6) The phrase "in the nth year of A, B began to reign" can be understood in one
of two ways.
a) The nth year of A was the first year of the reign of B starting from Nisan.
B actually reigned a few months before Nisan but this is not counted.
This is the most frequent situation and should be followed unless there is a
good reason not to.
b) In the nth year of A was the actual time B started to reign before the month
of Nisan. The first year of the reign of B would start on the following Nisan
or the year n + 1 of A.
This situation was relatively rare. Ussher found this case only occurred eight
times.
Asa {1Ki 15:8-10}
Jehoshaphat {1Ki 22:41,42}
Jehoram {2Ki 1:17 3:1 9:29}
Jehoash {2Ki 13:10}
Amaziah {2Ki 14:1,2 17:17}
Ahaz {2Ki 16:1,2}
Hosea {2Ki 17:1}
Hezekiah {2Ki 18:1}
This situation is normally created by the Nisan to Nisan method of computing the
1st year of a king's reign. It becomes clear when you plot the kings' reigns
how this is to be interpreted in each case. If you treat this case like the
first case, you will not proceed very far before you encounter a logical
contradiction in calculating the king lists. For the reasons why Ussher treated
these kings like this, see the Latin copy of his Sacred Chronology. The author
is now translating this into English.
The usual meaning for the phrase began to reign refers to the time the king
first started to rule either as sole king (if he was not appointed viceroy
previously) or to the time when he was appointed as viceroy. Occasionally, it
refers to the time when a king began to reign as a sole king after reigning for
some months or years as viceroy. Two examples of this are Omri in 925 BC and
Jeroboam in 825 BC. In both these cases the nth year of King X refers from the
time the king first reigned as viceroy not as sole king.
Asa
From the charts for the period of 960–946 BC, we can see that if the first
Jewish New Year of Asa was the 20th year of Jeroboam, then the reign of Asa
would overlap by part of a year with his father Abijam. From the passage 1Ki
15:8–10, it most likely seems that Abijam died before Asa reigned. Also if Asa
started his reign a year early then Nadab would overlap the last year of his
father Jeroboam. It seems unlikely that both Abijam and Jeroboam would appoint
there sons a viceroys. To avoid these unlikely scenarios, it seems best to have
the first partial year of Asa correspond with the 20th year of Jeroboam.
Jehoshaphat
From the charts for the period of 915–886 BC, we can see that if the first
Jewish New Year of Jehoshaphat was the 4th year of Ahab then Ahab's son, Jehoram
would start his reign a year earlier and would overlap both Ahab and Ahab's son,
Amaziah by a year. It is highly unlikely Ahab would appoint two son's a
viceroys. The passage 2Ki 1:17 states that Jehoram reigned after the death of
Amaziah, not before. Therefore, the first partial year of Jehoshaphat's reign
must be noted as the 4th year of Ahab at avoid this contradiction.
Jehoram
From the chart for the period of 900–886 BC, we can see that if the case of
Jehoram was treated normally than he would have been reigning in the 22nd year
of Ahab and in the second year of Azariah. It is unlikely that Ahab would
appoint two son as viceroy at the same time. The passage 2Ki 1:17 states that
Jehoram reigned after the death of Amaziah, not before. Therefore, the first
partial year of his reign must be noted as the second year of Jehoram of Judah
to avoid this contradiction.
Jehoash
Explanation awaits the completion of the translation of Ussher's Sacred
Chronology from the Latin.
Amaziah
Explanation awaits the completion of the translation of Ussher's Sacred
Chronology from the Latin.
Ahaz
Explanation awaits the completion of the translation of Ussher's Sacred
Chronology from the Latin.
Hosea
If you started the reign a year earlier, Hezekiah's reign would be a year
earlier, too, and you would destroy the meaning of the sign the Lord gave to
Hezekiah.
Hezekiah
If you start the actual reign of Hezekiah a year earlier you destroy the meaning
of the sign God gave him in the last year of the attack by Sennacherib. {2Ch
32:22 Isa 37:31,32} The Jubilee year would have been a year later in the reign
of Hezekiah and the sign would be contradicted. Hence, you must start the first
partial year of Hezekiah with the 3rd year of Hoshea. See Ussher's Annals of
the World, paragraph 673ff for more details.
4.0 Constraints
1) The king lists synchronise themselves at 884 BC when Jehu killed the kings of
both kingdoms and the late fall of 722 BC or the winter of 721 BC when Samaria
fell.
2) The two intersection points with secular history are the fall of Samaria in
early 721 BC, and the death of Nebuchadnezzar in early 562 BC. The text says at
the end of three years they took it, {2Ki 18:10} which would most likely by late
winter in 721 BC or very late in the fall of 722 BC. The biblical data would
favour the late winter of 721 BC but could be harmonized with the 722 BC date if
there was data to establish that date.
Southern Kingdom 975-588 BC
Monarch Viceroy Sole Monarch
Rehoboam 975-959
Abijam 959-956
Asa 956-915
Jehoshaphat 915-890
Jehoram 898–890 890–884
Ahaziah 885–884 884
Athaliah 884–878
Joash 878–839
Amaziah 840–839 839–811
Uzziah 811–759
Jotham 759 759–743
Ahaz 743–727
Hezekiah 728 727–699
Manasseh 699–644
Amnon 644–642
Josiah 642–611
Jehoahaz 610
Jehoiakim 610–599
Jehoiachin 599
Zedekiah 599–588
Northern Kingdom 975-721 BC
Monarch Viceroy Sole Monarch
Jeroboam I 975–954
Nadab 954–953
Baasha 953–930
Elah 930–929
Zimri 929
Tibni 929–925
Omri 929–918
Ahab 918–897
Ahaziah 898–897 897
Jehoram 897–884
Jehu 884–857
Jehoahaz 857–840
Jehoash 842–840 840–826
Jeroboam II 836–826 826–785
Interregnum 785–773
Zachariah 773–772
Shallum 772
Menahem 772–762
Pekahiah 762–760
Pekah 760–740
Interregnum 740-731
Hoshea 731–721
Since the old Jewish New Year does not follow our calendar year but started
normally in April, there is some leeway of about one year in the preceding
tables for the dates. For example, the Bible does not tell us the exact month
Rehoboam died. If he died between January and the Jewish New Year of 958 BC,
then the number of his years and that of his successor's reign would still be
the same as if he had died after the Jewish New Year of 959 BC and before the
end of 959 BC in December. Hence, all things being equal, there is a 75% chance
he died in 959 BC and about a 25% chance it was early 958 BC. Therefore, you
cannot produce an absolute date for the reigns of many of the preceding kings
unless the month of the king's death is known. However, the tables are an
excellent guide to the approximate time each king reigned and the opening and
closing date for each table is accurate while the ending date for most kings and
the starting date for the next king could be the following year with a
probability of 25%.
5.0 Alias Names for Kings
The following kings went by more than one name. The date reflects the year they
started to reign.
958 BC — Abijam or Abijah (SK)
896 BC — Jehoram or Joram (NK)
878 BC — Joash or Jehoash (SK)
841 BC — Joash or Jehoash (NK)
811 BC — Uzziah or Azariah (SK)
599 BC — Jehoiachin or Jeconiah or Coniah (SK)
6.0 The Chronology of the Divided Kingdom
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 YDK
975 974 973 972 971 970 969 968 967 966 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10.. Rehoboam
NK 1..2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10.. Jeroboam
a b c d
a) Rehoboam, at age 41, reigned for 17 years {1Ki 14:21 2Ch 12:13}
b) Jeroboam reigned for 22 years. {1Ki 14:20} He used Non-Accession Year
dating. He was crowned on the 23rd of the third Jewish month called Sivan and
the Jews hold a fast in memorial of this sad event. {*Josephus, Antiq., l. 14.
c. 4. s. 3. note (a) in Whiston's translation}
c) Rehoboam forsook God in his 3rd year. {2Ch 11:17}
d) Shishak invaded Judah in the 5th year of Rehoboam. {1Ki 14:25 2Ch 12:2}
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 YDK
965 964 963 962 961 960 959 958 957 956 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 11..12..13..14..15..16..17.. Rehoboam
..1...2...3.. Abijam
. Asa
NK 11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20.. Jeroboam
a b
a) In the 18th year of Jeroboam, Abijam reigned for 3 years {1Ki 15:1,2 2Ch
13:1,2}
b) In the 20th (24th in the LXX) year of Jeroboam, Asa reigned for 41 years.
{1Ki 15:9,10}
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 YDK
955 954 953 952 951 950 949 948 947 946 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10.. Asa
.1...2...3...4...5...6.. AsaÕs Peace
NK .21.22.. Jeroboam
1.2* Nadab
1..2...3...4...5...6...7...8.. Baasha
a b c
a1) In the 2nd year of Asa, Nadab reigned 2 years, in the last part of the 2nd
year of Asa and the first part of the 3rd year of Asa. He used Non-Accession
Year dating. {1Ki 15:25}
a2) 10th Jubilee
b) In the 3rd year of Asa, Baasha murdered Nadab and reigned for 24 years. NK
used Non-Accession dating. {1Ki 15:28,33}
c) This was the start of 10 years of peace for Asa. {2Ch 14:1,6,9 15:10} The
origin was determined by counting backward from {2Ch 15:10} which was the 15th
year, 3rd month of reign of Asa.
Problem 1:
1) Asa had 10 years of peace.
a) Asa had 10 years of peace. {2Ch 14:1}
b) There was no war until the 35th year of Asa. {2Ch 15:19}
2) Asa had war with Baasha all his days. {1Ki 15:16,32}
Resolution:
1) He likely had 10 years of relative peace with no major wars before 941 BC.
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 YDK
945 944 943 942 941 940 939 938 937 936 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20.. Asa
.7...8...9..10.. AsaÕs Peace
NK .9..10..11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18.. Baasha
a b
a) The invasion of Ethiopians occurred shortly before this celebration which was
in the 35th year from the start of the divided kingdom. {2Ch 15:10 15:19} The
victory celebration was in the 15th year and the 3rd month of the reign of Asa.
{2Ch 15:10}
b) Baasha reacted to defection of his subjects to Asa and started to build Ramah
in the 36th (38th in the LXX) year from the start of the divided kingdom. {2Ch
15:9,16:1}
Problem 2:
1) Baasha attacked Asa in the 36th year of his reign. {2Ch 16:1}
2) Baasha died in the 26th year of Asa's reign.
a) In the 3rd year of Asa, Baasha murdered Nadab and reigned for 24 years. {1Ki
15:28,33}
b) Therefore he died in the 26th year of Asa.
Resolution:
1) This was in the 36th year of the divided kingdom not the 36th year of the
reign of Asa. The Hebrew could be rendered either way.
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 YDK
935 934 933 932 931 930 929 928 927 926 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 21..22..23..24..25..26..27..28..29..30.. Asa
NK 19..20..21..22..23..24.. Baasha
1.2.* Elah
1 Zimri
1.2...3...4.. Tibni
1.2...3...4.. Omri
a b
a) In the 26th (omitted by the LXX) year of Asa, Elah reigned 2 years, part of
one year and part of the next year. He used Non-Accession Year dating. {1Ki
16:8}
b1) In the 27th (omitted by the LXX) year of Asa, Zimri murdered Elah and
reigned 7 days and committed suicide to avoid being killed by Omri. {1Ki
16:10,15}
b2) Some of the people made Tibni king who reigned for 5 years. He used
Non-Accession Year dating. {1Ki 16:21}
b3) Some of the people made Omri king who reigned for 12 years. He used
Non-Accession Year dating. {1Ki 16:22}
Problem 3:
1) Baasha died in the 27th year of Asa.
a) In the 3rd year of Asa, Baasha murdered Nadab and reigns for 24 years. {1Ki
15:28,33}
2) Baasha died in the 26th year of Asa. {1Ki 16:8}
Resolution:
1) Baasha used the Non-Accession Year dating system for calculating the years of
his reign and counted the year he murdered the previous king as the first year
of his reign. Normally, he should have waited until the Jewish New Year to
calculate his first year.
Problem 4:
1) In the 26th year of Asa, Elah reigned for 2 years. {1Ki 16:8}
2) a. In the 26th year of Asa, Elah reigned for 2 years. {1Ki 16:8}
b. In the 27th year of Asa, Zimri reigned for 7 days. {1Ki 16:10}
c. Therefore Elah only reigned for one year.
(Hint: 27 - 26 = 1)
Resolution:
1) The NK used the Non-Accession dating method at this time.
Problem 5:
1) Omri started to reign in the 27th year of Asa. {1Ki 16:15-21}
2) Omri started to reign in the 31st year of Asa. {1Ki 16:23}
Resolution:
1) The first case refers to the divided reign of Omri and Tibni and the second
case refers to the start of Omri's sole reign after Tibni was killed. The text
hints at this {1Ki 16:23} where it says he only reigned for 6 years in Tirzah.
Likely, he took a year to build Samaria after defeating Tibni and then moved
into his new capital city. A king started counting his years from the year he
ascended to the throne. In this case Omri was king for about 5 years before the
31st year of Asa.
50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 YDK
925 924 923 922 921 920 919 918 917 916 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 31..32..33..34..35..36..37..38..39..40.. Asa
..1.. AsaÕs Disease
NK .5.* Tibni
.5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12.. Omri
1.2...3.. Ahab
a b c
a) In the 31st year of Asa, Tibni was killed and Omri reigned for 12 years
starting from the time of death of Zimri and he reigned 6 years in Tirzah. {1Ki
16:22,23}
b) In the 38th year of Asa, Ahab reigned for 22 years. {1Ki 16:29} He used
Non-Accession Year dating. (The LXX has 2nd year of Jehoshaphat instead of 38th
year of Asa.)
c) In the 39th year of Asa, he was diseased in his feet until he died in his
41st (40th the LXX) year. {1Ki 15:23,24 2Ch 16:12,13}
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 YDK
915 914 913 912 911 910 909 908 907 906 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 41.. Asa
.2.. AsaÕs Disease
..1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9.. Jehoshaphat
NK .4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13.. Ahab
a b c
a) In the 4th year of Ahab, Jehoshaphat, at age 35, reigned for 25 years. {1Ki
22:41,42 2Ch 20:31}
b) In his 3rd year, Jehoshaphat sent Levites to instruct the people. {2Ch
17:7-9}
c) The 11th Jubilee.
70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 YDK
905 904 903 902 901 900 899 898 897 896 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 10..11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19.. Jehoshaphat
1...2...3.. Jehoram Viceregent
NK 14..15..16..17..18..19..20..21..22.X Ahab
...1...2...3.. Peace with Syria
1...2.. Ahaziah Viceroy/king
..1.. Jehoram
a b c d
a) First Syrian invasion of NK by Benhadad. {1Ki 20:1-25 22:1,2}
b1) Second invasion by Benhadad about a year later. {1Ki 20:26}
b2) There were 3 years of peace with Syria ending with Ahab's death. {1Ki
22:1,2}
c1) a. In the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, Jehoram (NK) reigned for 12 years.
{2Ki 3:1}
b. In the 2nd year of Jehoram (SK), Jehoram (NK) started to reign. {2Ki 1:17}
This was the 18th year of Jehoshaphat in the LXX where the verse is 18 not 17.
c. Therefore, Jehoram (SK), became viceregent in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was preparing for war with Ahab against Syria and appointed his son
as viceregent for that time. (Hint: 18 - 2 + 1 = 17)
c2) In the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, Amaziah reigned as viceroy for 2 years.
Amaziah reigned for part of one and part of the next year. If Ahab appointed
him viceroy on the Jewish New Year then Amaziah used Accession Year dating. If
he was made viceroy after the New Year then Amaziah used Non-Accession Year
dating. Both possibilities exist and are agreeable to the Scriptures. Both
Jehoshaphat and Ahab planned to fight with Syria and left their sons in charge
lest any misfortune overtook them. This was a prudent precaution. {1Ki 22:51
2Ki 3:1}
d) a. In the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, Jehoram (NK) reigned for 12 years. {2Ki
3:1}
b. In the 2nd year of Jehoram's viceregency (SK), Jehoram (NK) started to
reign. {2Ki 1:17} NK used Accession dating starting with this king until the
fall of the NK.
Problem 6:
1) a. In the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, Amaziah (NK) reigned for 2 years. {1Ki
22:51}
b. Therefore Ahab must have died in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat.
2) a. Ahab became king in the 38th year of Asa and reigned for 22 years. {1Ki
16:29}
b. Jehoshaphat became king in the 4th year of Ahab. {1Ki 22:41}
c. Therefore Ahab died in 18th year of Jehoshaphat. (Hint: 22 - 4 = 18)
Resolution:
1) The first case refers to the time when Ahab made Amaziah viceroy before going
to fight with the Syrians. Both the father and son died in the 18th year of
Jehoshaphat, the father by the Syrians and the son by a disease.
Problem 7:
1) Jehoram (NK) began to reign in the 2nd year of Jehoram (SK). {2Ki 1:17}
2) Jehoram (SK) began to reign in the 5th year of Jehoram of Israel. {2Ki
8:16,17}
Resolution:
1) The first case refers from the time when Jehoram (SK) was made viceregent and
the second case refers to the time when he was made viceroy by Jehoshaphat. It
appears the years of the king's reign were counted either from the time he
became viceregent or viceroy. See discussion for "Viceregent" under "Terms" as
well as under point E in this section.
80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 YDK
895 894 893 892 891 890 889 888 887 886 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 20..21..22..23..24..25.. Jehoshaphat
.4...5...6... Jehoram
Viceregent
1...2...3...4...5...6...7.. Jehoram
Viceroy/king
.. JehoramÕs
Disease
.. Ahaziah
Viceroy
NK .2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11.. Jehoram
a b c
a) In the 5th year of Jehoram (NK), Jehoram (SK) at age 32 reigned for 8 years.
This was a unique case in the chronology and neither the Bible nor the Talmud
shed any light on how to handle it. This was the only time when a viceregent
became a viceroy. From the chart we see that Jehoshaphat made him viceroy at
the beginning of his 23rd year of his reign and he was viceroy until Jehoshaphat
died about 3 years later. {2Ki 8:16,17 2Ch 21:2,3,5,20}
b) Jehoram was diseased in his bowels for two years before he died after
reigning for 8 years. {2Ch 21:18-20}
c) In the 11th year of Joram, Amaziah was made viceroy, likely because of
Jehoram's disease which he contracted the previous year. {See a1 under 885 BC.}
{2Ki 9:29}
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 YDK
885 884 883 882 881 880 879 878 877 876 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .8... Jehoram
.1... JehoramÕs Disease
.1..X Ahaziah
.1...2...3...4...5...6...7* Athaliah
1...2...3.. Joash
NK 12..* Jehoram
.1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9.. Jehu
a b
a1) In the 12th year of Jehoram (NK), Ahaziah, at 22 years of age, reigned for
part of a year. {2Ki 8:25,26 2Ch 22:2} He had already been viceroy so when the
Jewish New Year came he started his first year of his reign. In {2Ch 22:2} his
age is given as 42 and as 20 in the LXX.
a2) Jehu killed Jehoram (NK). {2Ki 9:24,25}
a3) Jehu killed Ahaziah (SK). {2Ki 9:27}
a4) Athaliah reigned over Judah for 6 years and was killed in her 7th year.
(LXX — 8th year — {2Ch 23:1} and in {2Ki 11:4 2Ch 24:1} it is the 7th year!)
{2Ki 11:3,4,16 2Ch 22:12 23:1,15}
a5) Jehu killed Joram (Jehoram (NK)) and reigned in Israel for 28 years. {2Ki
9:14,10:36}
b) Athaliah was murdered and Joash, at age 7, reigned for 40 years.
Problem 8:
1) Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. {2Ki 8:26}
2) Ahaziah was 42 years old when he became king. {2Ch 22:2}
Resolution:
1) The writer was referring to his age from when Omri became king.
2) There was a scribal error confusing Hebrew letter KAHF (number 20) for the
letter MEM (number 40). This is the most likely explanation.
This does not alter the chronology.
Problem 9:
1) Ahaziah became king in the 11th year of Joram. {2Ki 9:29}
2) Ahaziah became king in the 12th year of Joram. {2Ki 8:25}
Resolution:
1) He became viceroy in the 11th year and king in the 12th year. Judah's King
Jehoram was not a well man. See point 3 under assumptions for a fuller
treatment of this case.
100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 YDK
875 874 873 872 871 870 869 868 867 866 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13.. Joash
NK 10..11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19.. Jehu
110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 YDK
865 864 863 862 861 860 859 858 857 856 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 14..15..16..17..18..19..20..21..22..23.. Joash
NK 20..21..22..23..24..25..26..27..28.. Jehu
..1.. Jehoahaz
ab c
a) In the 23rd year of Joash, Jehoahaz reigned for 17 years over Israel. {2Ki
13:1}
b) The 12th Jubilee.
c) Joash repaired the temple in his 23rd year. {2Ki 12:6}
Problem 10:
1) Jehoahaz's reign started in the 23rd year of Joash. {2Ki 13:1}
2) Jehoahaz's reign started in the 22nd year of Joash.
a) Jehu reigned for 28 years. {2Ki 10:36}
b) In the 7th year of Jehu, Joash reigned for 40 years. {2Ki 12:1}
c) Jehu died in the 22nd year of Joash. (Hint: 28 - 7 + 1 = 22)
d) Therefore Jehoahaz's reign started in the 22nd year of Joash.
Resolution:
1) According to the rules for Accession dating, when Athaliah was executed on
the Jewish New Year then she would have been reckoned to have reigned a whole
year instead of just part of the first day of that new year. Likewise Joash
would reckon this the first year of his reign since he also reigned on the first
day of that Jewish New Year. Otherwise if Athaliah was killed after the Jewish
New Year then Joash would have to use Non-Accession dating to remove this
contradiction. This would have been the only time in the entire SK that
Non-Accession dating was used which is most unlikely. What better time to put
an end to Athaliah's wickedness and start fresh than on the Jewish New Year?
Also, since that new year was on Friday, April 21, there would be a double
cohort of priests available to better effect the coup, the outgoing cohort whose
service would end the next day and the incoming cohort whose service would begin
on the next day which was the sabbath. Hence this would make Jehoahaz start to
rule in the 23rd not the 22nd year of Joash.
120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 YDK
855 854 853 852 851 850 849 848 847 846 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 24..25..26..27..28..29..30..31..32..33.. Joash
NK .2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11.. Jehoahaz
130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 YDK
845 844 843 842 841 840 839 838 837 836 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 34..35..36..37..38..39..40.X Joash
..1...2...3...4.. Amaziah
NK 12..13..14..15..16..17 Jehoahaz
..1...2...3...4...5...6.. Jehoash
1.. Jeroboam II
(Viceroy)
a b c
a) In the 37th year of Joash, Jehoash was made viceroy for 2 years, and reigned
for 16 years. {2Ki 13:10}
b) In the 2nd year of Jehoash, Amaziah, at age 25, was made viceroy and then
king for 29 years. {2Ki 14:1,2 2Ch 25:1}
c) In the 15th year of Amaziah, Jeroboam II began to reign as sole king for 41
years. {2Ki 14:23} However, in {2Ki 15:1} we find that Uzziah became the king
in the 27th year of Jeroboam. To reconcile this we must assume that Jeroboam
was made viceroy for 12 years in the 4th year of Amaziah or in the 6th year of
Jeroboam's father, Jehoash. (Josephus gave a similar explanation. {Josephus,
Antiq., l. 9. c. 10. s. 3. (215,216) 6:113,115}) In {2Ki 13:25} we read
that Jehoash fought and won three battles with the Syrians. We are not told
when these battles were fought but it may be after the time Jeroboam was made
viceroy. Jehoash likely appointed Jeroboam as viceroy before fighting these
major battles with an enemy that had beaten Israel before, and had killed a king
of Israel in a previous battle. This would explain the long overlap in the
reigns between the father and the son. In spite of Elisha's promises of victory
{2Ki 13:19}, Jehoash wanted to be careful just in case Elisha was wrong. The
history of the Northern Kingdom was not noted for a smooth transition of power
when a king died. Ahab appointed his son as viceroy before he went to fight
with the Syrians, as did Jehoshaphat who accompanied Ahab in the battle with the
Syrians.
Another explanation of this has been given by Lightfoot and others. They think
Uzziah reigned in the 27th year of Jeroboam and Jeroboam was not a viceroy with
his father. This would create an interregnum in the SK of 13 or so years, thus
extending the entire period of the divided kingdom by that much time to about
403 years. This is most unlikely, since the SK was politically very stable at
this time, unlike the NK.
Problem 11:
1) Jehoash began to reign in the 37th year of Joash. {2Ki 13:10}
2) a. In the 23rd year of Joash (SK), Jehoahaz reigned for 17 years. {2Ki
13:1}
b. Therefore Jehoash began to reign in the 39th or 40th year of Joash. (Hint:
23 + 17 = 40 or 23 + 17 - 1 = 39)
Resolution:
1) Jehoash was made viceroy in the 37th year of Joash. You cannot assume he
started to reign after the death of Jehoahaz without creating a logical
contradiction.
Problem 12:
1) In the 23rd year of Joash (SK), Jehoahaz's reign lasted 17 years. {2Ki 13:1}
2) a. In the 23rd year of Joash (SK), Jehoahaz reigned in the NK. {2Ki 13:1}
b. In the 37th year of Joash (SK), Jehoash reigned in the NK. {2Ki 13:10}
c. Therefore, Jehoahaz's reign lasted 15 years. (Hint: 37 - 23 + 1 = 15)
Resolution:
1) Jehoash was made viceroy for 2 years by Jehoahaz.
140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 YDK
835 834 833 832 831 830 829 828 827 826 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14.. Amaziah
NK .7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14..15..16.. Jehoash
.2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11.. Jeroboam II
(Viceroy)
. Jeroboam II
(Sole King)
a
a) In the 15th year of Amaziah, Jeroboam II began to reign as sole king for 41
years. {2Ki 14:23} Uzziah's ascension date started from time Jeroboam became
viceroy not when he became sole king.
Problem 13:
1) a. Jehu reigned for 28 years. {2Ki 10:36}
b. In the 7th year of Jehu, Joash became king and reigned for 40 years. {2Ki
12:1}
c. Therefore, Amaziah reigned in the 47th year from the start of Jehu's reign.
(Hint: 40 + 7 = 47)
2) a. Jehu reigned for 28 years. {2Ki 10:36}
b. In the 23rd year of Joash, Jehoahaz became king and reigned 17 years. {2Ki
13:10}
c. Amaziah started to reign in the 2nd year of Jehoahaz. {2Ki 14:1}
d. Therefore the start of Amaziah's reign in 49th year from the start of Jehu's
reign which would be the 4th year of Jehoahaz. (Hint: 7 + 23 + 17 + 2 = 49)
Resolution:
1) a. Joash counted the year he became king as his first year since he was
crowned on the first day of the Jewish New Year. This is in accord with the
Accession System. This accounts for one year of the difference. This reduces
both totals by one to 46 from 47 and 48 from 49.
b. Jehoahaz made Jehoash viceroy for 2 years. This subtracts 2 years from the
second total of 49, making it 47.
c. Therefore, the correct total of years for this period when one considers the
year a king became king and viceroy relationships is 47 years.
This supposed contradiction was most involved and we are surprised anyone found
it!
150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 YDK
825 824 823 822 821 820 819 818 817 816 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 15..16..17..18..19..20..21..22..23..24.. Amaziah
.1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10.. To Death of
Amaziah
NK 12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20..21.. Jeroboam II
(Viceroy)
.1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10.. Jeroboam II
(Sole King)
a
a1) In the 15th year of Amaziah, Jeroboam II reigned as sole king for 41 years
after the death of his father, Jehoash who died the same year. {2Ki 14:23}
a2) Amaziah lived for 15 years after the death of Jehoash. {2Ki 14:17,23 2Ch
25:25}
160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 YDK
815 814 813 812 811 810 809 808 807 806 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 25..26..27..28..29.. Amaziah
11..12..13..14..15.. To Death of
Amaziah
..1...2...3...4...5.. Uzziah
NK 22..23..24..25..26..27..28..29..30..31.. Jeroboam II
(Viceroy)
11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20.. Jeroboam II
(Sole King)
a b
a) In the 27th year from the viceroyship of Jeroboam II, Uzziah, at age 16 began
to reign for 52 years. This corresponds to the 15th year of Jeroboam II
reigning as sole king. {2Ki 15:1,2 2Ch 26:3}
b) The 13th Jubilee.
170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 YDK
805 804 803 802 801 790 799 798 797 796 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14..15.. Uzziah
NK 32..33..34..35..36..37..38..39..40..41.. Jeroboam II
(Viceroy)
21..22..23..24..25..26..27..28..29..30.. Jeroboam II
(Sole king)
Problem 14:
1) The first year of Uzziah's reign was the 27th year of Jeroboam II. {2Ki 15:1}
2) a. Amaziah reigned for 29 years. {2Ki 14:2}
b. Amaziah lived 15 years after the death of Jehoash (NK). {2Ki 14:17}
c. In the 15th year of Amaziah, Jeroboam II became king. {2Ki 14:23}
d. Therefore, Uzziah's first year of his reign was the 16th year of Jeroboam
II. (Hint: 29 + 1 - 15 = 15)
Resolution:
1) Jeroboam became viceroy likely when his father went to fight the Syrians in
836 BC. The first case refers to the time from his viceroyship, whereas the
second case is dated from the time he became sole king. The Talmudic rule is
that a king's first year always began with his first year as viceroy not as sole
king.
Problem 15:
1) a. In the 15th year of Amaziah, Jeroboam II became king and reigned for 41
years. {2Ki 14:23}
b. In the 27th year of Jeroboam II, Uzziah became king. {2Ki 15:1}
c. Therefore, Jeroboam was contemporary with Uzziah for 14 years. (Hint: 41 -
27 + 1 = 15)
2) a. Jeroboam II died in the 38th year of Uzziah when Zachariah became king.
{2Ki 15:8}
b. Therefore Jeroboam was contemporary with Uzziah for 38 years.
Resolution:
1) Same resolution as the previous problem. In case 2 it is incorrect to assume
that Zachariah became king the same year as Jeroboam II's death, for Jeroboam II
died in the 26th year of Uzziah, about 12 years earlier. There was an
interregnum of about 12 years before Zachariah came to the throne.
180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 YDK
795 794 793 792 791 790 789 788 787 786 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 16..17..18..19..20..21..22..23..24..25.. Uzziah
NK 42..43..44..45..46..47..48..49..50..51.. Jeroboam II
(Viceroy)
31..32..33..34..35..36..37..38..39..40.. Jeroboam II
(Sole King)
190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 YDK
785 784 783 782 781 780 779 778 777 776 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 26..27..28..29..30..31..32..33..34..35.. Uzziah
NK 52.. Jeroboam II
(Viceroy)
41.. Jeroboam II
(Sole King)
..1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9.. Interregnum
a
a) There is no king mentioned who reigned in the Northern Kingdom during this
period of about 12 years. {2Ki 14:23 15:8}
200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 YDK
775 774 773 772 771 770 769 768 767 766 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 36..37..38..39..40..41..42..43..44..45.. Uzziah
NK 10..11..12. Interregnum
.* Zachariah
* Shallum
...1...2...3...4...5...6.. Menahem
a bc
a) In the last 6 months of Uzziah's 38th year, Zachariah reigned for 6 months.
{2Ki 15:8} We assumed it was the last 6 months for sake of argument. Any 6
month period that started in Uzziah's 38th year and ended in Nisan or later in
Uzziah's 39th year would also work.
b) In the 39th year of Uzziah, Shallum murdered Zachariah and reigned one month.
{2Ki 15:13}
c) Menahem murdered Shallum and reigned 10 years. This illustrates the Nisan to
Nisan rule. Although he started to rule in the 2nd month of the 39th year of
Uzziah, his first year was not counted until the 40th year. He really reigned
more than 10 whole years but using the Nisan to Nisan method, his reign is given
as 10 years only and the months he reigned in the 39th year of Uzziah are not
counted. {2Ki 15:13,17}
210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 YDK
765 764 763 762 761 760 759 758 757 756 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 46..47..48..49..50..51..52.. Uzziah
..1...2...3.. Jotham
NK .7...8...9..10.. Menahem
..1...2.* Pekahiah
..1...2...3...4.. Pekah
a b c d
a) In the 50th year of Uzziah, Pekahiah reigned for 2 years. {2Ki 15:23}
b) In the 52nd year of Uzziah, Pekah murdered Pekahiah and reigned for 20 years.
{2Ki 15:27}
c) The 14th Jubilee.
d) In the 2nd year of Pekah, Jotham, at age 25, reigned for 16 years. {2Ki
15:32, 2Ch 27:1,8} Jewish tradition stated that Uzziah was smitten with leprosy
in the last few months of his life and Jotham reigned as viceroy during that
time. They placed this event at the same time Isaiah {Isa 6:4} had his vision
of the Lord. The text said the posts of the temple moved when the Lord spoke.
Josephus stated that an earthquake occurred and the temple's holy of holies was
rent allowing light to enter when Uzziah was in it offering his sacrifice. His
account of the earthquake is a little hard to believe. He said that half the
mountain near Eroge, was rolled half a mile by the earthquake. If this was the
case, we think all of Jerusalem would have been flattened by the force of the
quake. In Amos {Am 1:1} a memorable earthquake is mentioned. According to
Ussher's chronology, this would have been about 25 years earlier when the kings
that were mentioned in that verse were still alive. Earthquakes in Judea are
quite common. {Josephus, Antiquities, l. 9. c. 10. s. 2. (225-227)
6:119,121} {Gill's Expositor, on Isaiah 6:4, Amos 1:1} The Assyrian Eponym List
record two earthquakes (they were called plagues), one in 765 BC and one in 759
BC. The latter earthquake coincided with the death of Uzziah and was likely the
earthquake mentioned by Josephus. {Dorothy Bone, p. 204,205}
220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 YDK
755 754 753 752 751 750 749 748 747 746 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13.. Jotham
NK .5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14.. Pekah
230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 YDK
745 744 743 742 741 740 739 738 737 736 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 14..15..16.. Jotham
..1...2...3...4...5...6...7.. Ahaz
..1...2...3...4...5...6.. IsaiahÕs
Prophecy
NK 15..16..17..18..19..20.* Pekah
..1...2...3...4.. Interregnum
a b c
a) In the 17th year of Pekah, Ahaz, at age 20, reigned for 16 years. {2Ki
16:1,2, 2Ch 28:1}
b) In the first year of Ahaz, Isaiah predicted the final and utter destruction
of the Northern Kingdom in 65 years. {Isa 7:8,9}
c) There was no king mentioned in the Northern Kingdom who reigned during this
period. Hoshea murdered Pekah but was unable to gain control of the kingdom.
{2Ki 15:27,30 17:1}
Problem 16:
1) Hoshea started to reign in the 20th year of Jotham. {2Ki 15:30}
2) Jotham only reigned 16 years. {2Ki 15:33}
Resolution:
1) This was an unusual way of reckoning. For some reason, Ahaz was ignored in
Judah's king list (maybe because he was so wicked), and the time was calculated
from the start of Jotham's reign.
2) Jotham may have turned the kingdom entirely over to his son in the 16th year
of his reign and retired from public affairs and lived 4 more years. He would
have died in the 20th year from the time he became king.
Problem 17:
1) In the 20th year of Jotham (4th year of Ahaz), Hoshea killed Pekah and became
king. {2Ki 15:30}
2) Hoshea started to reign in the 12th year of Ahaz. {2Ki 17:1}
Resolution:
1) Unless we had the text for the second point we would normally assume Hoshea
reigned directly after the death of Pekah. This text said that Hoshea began to
reign in the 12th year of Ahaz. Hence, we deduce that there was an interregnum
of 9 years when there was no king. This interpretation does no violence to the
Hebrew text. The text for the first point stated he "reigned in his stead." The
text for the second case clarifies the first and stated that he "began...to
reign" in the 12th year of Ahaz.
240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 YDK
735 734 733 732 731 730 729 728 727 726 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .8...9..10..11..12..13..14..15..16.. Ahaz
.7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14..15..16.. IsaiahÕs Prophecy
..1...2.. Hezekiah
NK .5...6...7...8...9.. Interregnum
..1...2...3...4...5.. Hoshea
a b c
a) In the 12th year of Ahaz, Hosea reigned for 9 years. {2Ki 17:1}
b) In the 3rd year of Hoshea, while Ahaz was still alive, Hezekiah, at age 25,
was made viceroy then king after the death of Ahaz. He reigned for 29 years.
{2Ki 18:1,2 2Ch 29:1}
c) Hezekiah repaired the temple in the first month of the first year of his
reign. {2Ch 29:3}
Problem 18:
1) Hezekiah started to reign at age 25. {2Ki 18:2}
2) Ahaz, his father died at age 36. {2Ki 16:2}
Resolution:
1) It is not medically impossible for an eleven year old to sire a child. There
are documented cases where ten-year-old children have done this.
2) There was an error in the age of his father.
250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 YDK
725 724 723 722 721 720 719 718 717 716 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 17..18..19..20..21..22..23..24..25..26.. IsaiahÕs Prophecy
.3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12.. Hezekiah
NK .6...7...8...9... Hoshea
a b
a) In the 4th year of Hezekiah and in the 7th year of Hoshea, Assyria attacked
the Northern Kingdom and besieged Samaria for 3 years. {2Ki 17:5 18:9}
b) In the 9th year of Hoshea and the 6th year of Hezekiah, the Assyrians
captured the Northern Kingdom. This is toward the end of the 3rd year of the
siege in early 721 BC. {2Ki 17:6 18:10}
260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 YDK
715 714 713 712 711 710 709 708 707 706 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 27..28..29..30..31..32..33..34..35..36.. IsaiahÕs Prophecy
13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20..21..22.. Hezekiah
.1...2...3... SennacheribÕs War
a b cde
a) In the 14th year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib attacked Hezekiah. {2Ki 18:13, Isa
36:1} This war on Egypt and Judea lasted three whole years. {Isa 20:3} It
appears Sennacherib launched his initial attack on Hezekiah and then went and
fought in Egypt for 3 years and then returned to finish off Hezekiah.
b) a. Hezekiah reigned for 29 years. {2Ki 18:1,2 2Ch 29:1}
b. 15 years were added to Hezekiah's life. {2Ki 20:6, Isa 38:5}
c. Therefore his life was extended in the 15th year of Hezekiah. (Hint: 29 + 1
- 15 = 15)
c) Sennacherib abandons attack on Hezekiah, returns to Assyria, and is killed by
his sons. {2Ki 19:37} This was likely 55 days after his return to Assyria.
{/APC Tob 1:21}
d) Manasseh born, 3 years after Hezekiah's life was lengthened and 12 years
before his death. {2Ki 21:1}
e) The 15th Jubilee.
270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 YDK
705 704 703 702 701 700 699 698 697 696 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 23..24..25..26..27..28..29. Hezekiah
37..38..39..40..41..42..43..44..45..46.. IsaiahÕs Prophecy
..1...2...3.. Manasseh
a
a) Manasseh, at age 12, reigned for 55 years. {2Ki 21:1 2Ch 33:1}
280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 YDK
695 694 693 692 691 690 689 688 687 686 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 47..48..49..50..51..52..53..54..55..56.. IsaiahÕs Prophecy
.4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13.. Manasseh
290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 YDK
685 684 683 682 681 680 679 678 677 676 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 57..58..59..60..61..62..63..64..65. IsaiahÕs Prophecy
14..15..16..17..18..19..20..21..22..23.. Manasseh
a
a) In the 1st year of Ahaz's reign, Isaiah predicted that in 65 years, the
Northern Kingdom would be completely destroyed. This final destruction of the
Northern Kingdom happened 65 years later by Esarhaddon. {Isa 7:8,9 2Ki 17:24}
Tradition states that this was the time Manasseh was deported to Babylon. His
captivity must have been brief since the Scriptures take no notice of it. {2Ch
33:11} {See Gill 's Expositor on "Isa 7:8"}
300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 YDK
675 674 673 672 671 670 669 668 667 666 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 24..25..26..27..28..29..30..31..32..33.. Manasseh
310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 YDK
665 664 663 662 661 660 659 658 657 656 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 34..35..36..37..38..39..40..41..42..43.. Manasseh
a
a) The 16th Jubilee.
320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 YDK
655 654 653 652 651 650 649 648 647 646 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 44..45..46..47..48..49..50..51..52..53.. Manasseh
330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 YDK
645 644 643 642 641 640 639 638 637 636 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 54..55.. Manasseh
..1...2.X Amnon
..1...2...3...4...5...6.. Josiah
a b
a) Amnon, at age 22, reigned 2 years and was murdered by his subjects. {2Ki
21:19 2Ch 33:21}
b) Josiah, at age 8, reigned 31 years, then died in a battle with Egyptians.
{2Ki 22:1,23:29 2Ch 34:1}
340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 YDK
635 634 633 632 631 630 629 628 627 626 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14..15..16.. Josiah
1...2...3...4.. JeremiahÕs
Prophecy
a b c
a) In his 8th year, Josiah sought the Lord. {2Ch 34:3}
b) In his 12th year, Josiah started to clean up Judah of idols. {2Ch 34:3}
c) From the 13th year of Josiah until the 4th year of Jehoiakim was 23 years.
This time period may have started with Josiah's great cleanup of the land. {Jer
1:2 25:1,3}
350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 YDK
625 624 623 622 621 620 619 618 617 616 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 17..18..19..20..21..22..23..24..25..26.. Josiah
.5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14.. JeremiahÕs
Prophecy
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9.. EzekielÕs Prophecy
.1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8.. JudahÕs Apostasy
a b
a1) In the 18th year of Josiah, the great passover was held. {2Ki 22:3 23:23
2Ch 34:8 35:19}
a2) From the great passover until the 5th year of Jehoiachin's captivity, was 30
years. {Eze 1:1}
b) This marks the beginning of the 40 years of Judah's apostasy. After the
mountain top experience of the Great Passover, Judah's religious life went
downhill for 40 years until the last of them were deported from the land. {Eze
4:6 Jer 52:30}
The 23-year time period given by Jeremiah and the 30-year time period given for
Ezekiel spanned the reign of several kings. These served as an independent
check on the procedure used to calculate this chronology. If Ussher had not
followed the Talmudic rules, these two confirmations would not have occurred.
360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 YDK
615 614 613 612 611 610 609 608 607 606 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 27..28..29..30..31.. Josiah
15..16..17..18..19..20..21..22..23 JeremiahÕs
Prophecy
10..11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18..19.. EzekielÕs Prophecy
. Jehoahaz
1...2...3...4...5.. Jehoiakim
.9..10..11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18.. JudahÕs Apostasy
BB ....1... Nebuchadnezzar
a bc de
a) The 17th Jubilee.
b) Jehoahaz, at age 23, reigned three months. {2Ki 23:31 2Ch 36:2}
c) Jehoiakim at age 25, reigned for 11 years. {2Ki 23:36 2Ch 36:5}
d) Nebuchadnezzar was made viceroy in 607 BC just after the Babylonian New Year.
He become sole king after the death of his father in 605 BC. If Nebuchadnezzar
attacked Jerusalem in mid-February he would be in the third year of Jehoiakim's
reign. If he captured it in the month Nisan a few weeks later, he would be in
the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign. {Jer 25:1 Da 1:1} This was the biblical
evidence for the viceroyship of Nebuchadnezzar lasting for more than one year.
Secular historians only allow a one-year viceroy period for Nebuchadnezzar.
Christians who follow the secular historians, invariably reconstruct this period
covering the entire reign of Nebuchadnezzar incorrectly. Eusebius stated that
he was viceroy for 20 months and this agrees with the biblical reconstruction of
that period.
e1) The time from the start of Jeremiah's prophecies in the 13th year of Josiah
to the 4th year of Jehoiakim, was 23 years. {Jer 25:1,3}
e2) Jeremiah's prophecy in the 4th year of Jehoiakim. {Jer 36:1 45:1} Chapter
36 is chapter 43 in the LXX. Chapter 45 starts at 51:31 in the LXX.
e3) Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaohnecho in the 4th year of Jehoiakim. {Jer
46:2} Chapter 46 is chapter 26 in the LXX.
Problem 19:
1) The 4th year of Jehoiakim's reign was 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar's. {Jer
25:1 46:2}
2) In the 3rd year of Jehoiakim's reign, Nebuchadnezzar was king. {Da 1:1}
Resolution:
1) The regal years for the Babylonian kings follow the period of Nabonassar
which occurs a few weeks before the Jewish New Year. Nebuchad-nezzar's 1st year
as viceroy would overlap the last few weeks of Jehoiakim's 3rd year and most of
his 4th year.
370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 YDK
605 604 603 602 601 600 599 598 597 596 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 20..21..22..23..24..25..26..27..28..29.. EzekielÕs Prophecy
.6...7...8...9..10..11... Jehoiakim
. Jehoiachin
1...2...3...4.. JehoiachinÕs
Captivity
...1...2...3.. Zedekiah
19..20..21..22..23..24..25..26..27..28.. JudahÕs Apostasy
BB 2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11... Nebuchadnezzar
a bc d e
a) Jeremiah's prophecy was made in the 5th year and the 9th month of Jehoiakim.
{Jer 36:9} Chapter 36 is chapter 43 in the LXX. In the LXX it is the 8th year
in the 9th month.
b) Nebuchadnezzar's dream occurred in the 2nd year of his kingdom after the
death of his father. {Da 2:1}
c) Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar after serving him for 3 years.
{2Ki 24:1}
d1) Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning of his 8th year just before the Jewish New
Year in Nisan, captured Jehoiakim. At the end of his 7th year, 3023 Jews were
deported. Jehoiakim's captivity would start just before the Jewish New Year.
{2Ki 24:12 Jer 52:28} Jer 52:28 is omitted in the LXX.
d2) Jehoiachin, at age 18, reigned for last part of Jewish Year and a short time
into the next year for a total of 3 months and 10 days. Nebuchadnezzar removed
him before the Jewish New Year after his short 3 months and 10 day reign. {2Ch
36:9,10} If he only reigned after the Jewish New Year then Jehoiakim would have
reigned 12 years not 11 as the Bible stated. {2Ki 24:8 2Ch 36:9}
d3) This marked the beginning of Jehoiachin's 37 years of captivity. {2Ki 25:27
Jer 52:31}
e) Zedekiah, at age 21, reigned for 11 years, starting just after the Jewish New
Year. {2Ki 24:18 2Ch 36:10,11 Jer 52:1}
Problem 20:
1) Nebuchadnezzar's dream occurred in his 2nd year. {Da 2:1}
2) a. Daniel and his friends were on probation for 3 years. {Da 1:1,5,18}
b. 3rd and 4th year of Jehoiakim's reign overlapped the 1st year of
Nebuchadnezzar's when Daniel and his company were carried away captive. {Jer
25:1 46:2 Da 1:1}
c. Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar's dream was in his 3rd year.
Resolution:
1) The first case refers to the time from when he became sole ruler and the
second case refers to the time from when he became viceroy. Foreign kings were
not bound by Talmudic rules.
Problem 21:
1) Jehoiachin was 18 years old. {2Ki 24:8}
2) Jehoiachin was 8 years old. {2Ch 36:9}
Resolution:
1) There is likely a scribal error in {2Ch 36:9} where the Hebrew letter YODH
(number 10) was dropped from the text.
Problem 22:
1) Jehoiachin was captured by Nebuchadnezzar in the 8th year of his reign. {2Ki
24:12}
2) Jehoiachin was captured by Nebuchadnezzar in the 7th year of his reign. {Jer
52:28}
Resolution:
1) This was likely toward the end of the 7th year of Nebuchadnezzar and the
beginning of the 8th year. The process of deportation may have carried on for a
few weeks and spanned two years of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. This is the
traditional Jewish understanding of this verse.
380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 YDK
595 594 593 592 591 590 589 588 587 586 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK .5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12..13..14.. JehoiachinÕs
Captivity
.4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11.. Zedekiah
30.. EzekielÕs Prophecy
..1...2.. EzekielÕs Vision
29..30..31..32..33..34..35..36..37..38.. JudahÕs Apostasy
BB 2..13..14..15..16..17..18..19..20..21... Nebuchadnezzar
a b c d e fg h i
a1) Hananiah's false prophecy was in the 4th year and 5th month of Zedekiah and
his death was in the 7th month of the same year. {Jer 28:1,17} Chapter 28 is
chapter 35 in the LXX.
a2) Ezekiel's first vision was in the 5th year of Jehoiachin's captivity. This
was the 30th year, 4th month, and the 5th day from the time Ezekiel started to
prophesy. {Eze 1:1,2}
b) Ezekiel's vision of Jerusalem, was in the 6th year, 6th month, and the 5th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX has 5th month. {Eze 8:1}
c) Ezekiel's vision of Israel was in the 7th year, 5th month, and the 10th day
of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX omits the month and has the 15th day. {Eze
20:1}
d) Ezekiel's vision of various countries was in the 9th year, 10th month, and
the 10th day of Jehoiachin's captivity. {Eze 24:1}
e) In the 9th year, 10th month, and the 10th day of Zedekiah's reign,
Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for 3 years. The first part of Jeremiah
chapter 39 is chapter 46 in the LXX. The LXX omitted the month in this
reference. In Jer 52:4, the LXX has the 9th month instead of the 10th month.
{2Ki 25:1,2 Jer 39:1,2 52:4}
f) Ezekiel's vision of Pharaoh was in the 10th year, 10th month, and the 12th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX has 12th year, 10th month, and the 1st
day. {Eze 29:1}
g1) The 10th year of Zedekiah was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. {Jer 32:1}
Chapter 32 is chapter 39 in the LXX.
g2) In the 18th year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar deported 832 Jews. This is
omitted in the LXX. {Jer 52:29}
g3) Ezekiel's vision of Egypt was in the 11th year, 1st month, and the 7th day
of Jehoiachin's captivity. {Eze 30:20}
g4) Ezekiel's vision of Egypt was in the 11th year, 3rd month, and the 1st day
of Jehoiachin's captivity. {Eze 31:1}
h1) In the 11th year, 4th month, and the 9th day of Zedekiah and the 19th year
of Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem fell. The LXX omitted the reference to the 4th
month in Jer. 52:6 and the 19th year in Jer. 52:12. {2Ki 25:3,8 Jer 39:2
52:5,6,12}
h2) In the 11th year, 5th month, and the 7th day of Zedekiah and the 19th year
of Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem was burned. {2Ki 25:8 Jer 52:5,12}
i1) Ezekiel's vision of Israel was in the 12th year, 12th month, and the 1st day
of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX has the 10th month. {Eze 32:1}
i2) Ezekiel's vision of Israel was in the 12th year, 12th month, and the 15th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity. The 12th month was supplied from context. The
LXX incorrectly had the 1st month. {Eze 32:1,17}
i3) Ezekiel was told of destruction of Jerusalem in the 12th year, 10th month,
and the 5th day of Jehoiachin's captivity, about 6 months after the city was
burned. The LXX had the 10 year and 12th month, which was an obvious
transposition error. {Eze 33:21} Modern scholars who have incorrectly
reconstructed the chronology, assume this would have been 18 months after the
fall of Jerusalem and hence cite this as proof that the Nisan to Nisan calendar
was not used.
390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 YDK
585 584 583 582 581 580 579 578 577 576 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 15..16..17..18..19..20..21..22..23..24.. JehoiachinÕs
Captivity
.3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10..11..12.. EzekielÕs Vision
39..40. JudahÕs Apostasy
BB 22.23..24..25..26..27..28..29..30..31..3 Nebuchadnezzar
a
a1) In the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan deported 730 of the
remaining Jews. The LXX omitted this verse. {Jer 52:30}
a2) This completed the 40 years of the iniquity of Judah and the 390 years of
iniquity for Israel. {1Ki 12:26-33 Eze 4:5,6}
400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 YDK
575 574 573 572 571 570 569 568 567 566 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 25..26..27..28..29..30..31..32..33..34.. JehoiachinÕs
Captivity
13 EzekielÕs Vision
BB 2..33..34..35..36...37..38..39..40..41.. Nebuchadnezzar
...1...2...3...4 NebuchadnezzarÕs
Insanity
a b c
a) Ezekiel's vision of the temple was in the 25th year, 1st month, and the 10th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity, in the 14th year after Jerusalem fell. The chart
shows 13 full years and about 7 months from the fall of Jerusalem, so this would
be in the 14th year. The LXX correctly supplies the "1st month" which is not in
the Hebrew text but is clearly implied. {Eze 40:1}
b) Ezekiel's vision about Egypt was in the 27th year, 1st month, and the 1st day
of Jehoiachin's captivity {Eze 29:17}
c) This time marked the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity. This is a
deduction based on history. Apparently he finished the conquest of Egypt in 571
BC. He had his dream as given in Daniel 4 in 570 BC. During that year he built
up Babylon, including the famous hanging gardens. After this he was put out of
his kingdom after he bragged to himself about what he had done.
410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 YDK
565 564 563 562 561 560 559 558 557 556 BC
bcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcda
SK 35..36..37... JehoiachinÕs
Captivity
BB 42..43..44... Nebuchadnezzar
...5...6...7 NebuchadnezzarÕs
Insanity
ab
a1) The 18th Jubilee.
a2) Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his kingdom.
b1) Nebuchadnezzar died a few months after he was restored to his kingdom in the
winter of this year. According to Eusebius Nebuchadnezzar reigned for 20 months
as viceroy and 43 years as sole king. Just before his death, he predicted that
Cyrus would capture Babylon. The date of 562 BC for his death is derived from
Ptolemy's king lists. {Thiele, p. 227.}
b2) Jehoiachin was freed in a Jubilee year in the 37th year, 12th month and 27th
day of his captivity. {2Ki 25:27 Jer 52:31}
Problem 23:
1) Jehoiachin was freed on the 27th day. {2Ki 25:27}
2) Jehoiachin was freed on the 25th day. {Jer 52:31}
Resolution:
1) The decree to free Jehoiachin was determined and ratified on the 25th and
executed on the 27th day.
2) There was a scribal error.
This does not alter the chronology.
7.0 Differences Between Hebrew and the LXX Texts
1) In 20th (24th in the LXX) year of Jeroboam, Asa reigned for 41 years. {1Ki
15:9,10}
2) Baasha reacted to the defection of his subjects to Asa and started to build
Ramah in the 36th (38th in the LXX) year from the start of the divided kingdom
{2Ch 15:9,16:1}
3) In the 26th (omitted in the LXX) year of Asa, Elah reigned two years, part of
one year, and part of another. {1Ki 16:8}
4) In the 27th (omitted by the LXX) year of Asa, Zimri murdered Elah, reigned 7
days, and committed suicide to avoid being killed by Omri. {1Ki 16:10,15}
5) In the 38th year of Asa, Ahab reigned for 22 years. {1Ki 16:29} (The LXX has
2nd year of Jehoshaphat instead of the 38th year of Asa.)
6) In his 39th year, Asa became diseased in his feet until he died in his 41st
(40th in the LXX) year. {1Ki 15:23,24 2Ch 16:12,13}
7) In the 2nd year of Jehoram (SK), Jehoram (NK) started to reign. {2Ki 1:17}
This was the 18th year of Jehoshaphat in the LXX and verse is 18 not 17.
8) In the 12th year of Jehoram (NK), Ahaziah at 22 years of age, reigned for
part of a year. {2Ki 8:25,26 2Ch 22:2} In {2Ch 22:2} his age was given as 42
and it was 20 in the LXX.
9) Athaliah reigned over Judah for 6 years and was killed in her 7th year. (8th
year {2Ch 23:1} and 7th year in {2Ki 11:4 2Ch 24:1} in the LXX.) {2Ki 11:3,4,16
2Ch 22:12 23:1,15}
10) Jeremiah's prophecy was in the 5th year of Jehoiakim. {Jer 36:9} In the LXX
it was the 8th year in the 9th month.
11) Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning of his 8th year just before the Jewish New
Year in Nisan, captured Jehoiakim. At the end of his 7th year, 3023 Jews were
deported. {2Ki 24:12 Jer 52:28} Jer 52:28 was omitted in the LXX.
12) Ezekiel's vision of Jerusalem, was in the 6th year, 6th month and the 5th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX had 5th month. {Eze 8:1}
13) Ezekiel's vision of Israel was in the 7th year, 5th month, and the 10th day
of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX omitted the month and had the 15th day.
{Eze 20:1}
14) In the 9th year, 10th month, and the 10th day of Zedekiah's reign,
Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for 3 years. The LXX omitted the month in Jer
39:1,2. In Jer 52:4, the LXX had 9th month instead of 10th month. {2Ki 25:1,2
Jer 39:1,2 52:4}
15) In the 18th year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar deported 832 Jews. This was
omitted in the LXX. {Jer 52:29}
16) Ezekiel's vision of Pharaoh was in the 10th year, 10th month, and the 12th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity; the LXX had the 12th year, 10th month, 1st day.
{Eze 29:1}
17) In the 11th year, 4th month, and the 9th day of Zedekiah and the 19th year
of Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem fell. The LXX omitted the reference to the 4th
month in Jer. 52:6 and the 19th year in Jer. 52:12. {2Ki 25:3,8 Jer 39:2
52:5,6,12}
18) Ezekiel's vision of Israel was in the 12th year, 12th month, and the 1st day
of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX had the 10th month. {Eze 32:1}
19) Ezekiel's vision of Israel was in the 12th year, 12th month, and the 15th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity. The 12th month was supplied from the context.
The LXX incorrectly had the 1st month. {Eze 32:1,17}
20) Ezekiel told of the destruction of Jerusalem in the 12th year, 10th month,
and the 5th day of Jehoiachin's captivity. The LXX had the 10th year and 12th
month, which is an obvious transposition error. {Eze 33:21}
21) In the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan deported 730 of the
remaining Jews. The LXX omitted this verse. {Jer 52:30}
22) Ezekiel's vision of the temple was in the 25th year, 1st month, and the 10th
day of Jehoiachin's captivity, in the 14th year after Jerusalem fell. The LXX
correctly supplies "1st month" which was not in the Hebrew text but was clearly
implied. {Eze 40:1}
Of the 22 differences, seven are critical. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 would throw
the chronology off if the LXX was used instead of the Hebrew text. Hence, our
admonition is justified that the chronology must be based on the Hebrew text.
8.0 Summary of the Viceroy Relationships
1) In his 18th year, Jehoshaphat made Jehoram viceregent while he went off to
war with Syria.
2) In his 23rd year, Jehoshaphat made Jehoram viceroy and died two years later.
3) In his 21st year, Ahab (NK) made Ahaziah (NK) viceroy and Ahab died the same
year in a battle with Syria.
4) In his 7th year, Jehoram made Ahaziah viceroy and died the next year of a
disease of his bowels.
5) In his 15th year, Jehoahaz (NK) made Jehoash viceroy and died two years
later.
6) In his 39th year, Joash made Amaziah viceroy and died two years later.
7) In his 6th year, Jehoash (NK) made Jeroboam II (NK) viceroy before he went to
fight with the Syrians. He won, much to his surprise, and lived for another 11
years.
8) In his 52nd year, Uzziah made Jotham viceroy and died of leprosy a few months
later.
9) In his 15th year, Ahaz made Hezekiah viceroy and died the next year.
10) According to Eusebius, Nebuchadnezzar was made viceroy while his father went
off to war and was killed 20 months later.
In every case there is a good reason for these viceroy relationships. A king
was virtually abdicating the throne when he appointed his son as a viceroy.
Kings did not make such serious decisions on a mere whim. In cases 1, 3, 7, and
10, the king was going to war and wanted to ensure a smooth transition of power
in case he did not return. In the other cases, the viceroy relationship was
toward the end of the king's life and did not last for very long. The king was
likely in failing health and needed help with the administration of the kingdom.
Almost all viceroy periods were quite short, usually one or two years. The
exception was Jeroboam II, whose period lasted over 11 years. His father,
Jehoash, did not expect to defeat the Syrians even though Elisha said he would.
He thought he would come back on his shield, not holding it!
9.0 Some Objections
Modern chronology for the divided kingdom appears to be quite different than the
one developed by Ussher. In order to force fit the biblical data with the
preconceived ideas of Assyrian history, those of the Assyrian Academy must
eliminate two interregnums from the biblical data. The concept of interregnums
is not new and was common in this period of history among foreign nations.
Therefore, we should not be surprised, given the political turmoil in the
Northern Kingdom, to find one or more interregnums during the death-throes of
that kingdom. The Southern Kingdom was much more stable during this time and we
should not expect to find interregnums there.
From history, we know of at least four interregnums in foreign countries.
1) In 704 BC, after Arkeanos, there was no king in Babylon for two years. {15}
2) In 688 BC, there was no king in Babylon for eight years. {15}
3) In 687 BC, civil disorder increased in Egypt, because there was no king for
two years. {16}
4) In 637 BC, there was a one year interregnum in Babylon. {17}
All serious students of history know about these interregnums. We are not
surprised that those advocating the use of the conjectured Assyrian Chronology
to amend the Bible, conveniently forget about them, and recoil in horror at such
a concept for they know that if the concept is allowed, it is fatal to their
schemes of interpretation. Neither Dr. Thiele or Dr. McFall breathe a word
about this and indeed it is one of the best-kept secrets of the Assyrian
Academy. Indeed, Galil goes so far as to state in his basic assumptions
(without proof) there were no interregnums in the biblical chronology! This
begs the question — "How does he know?"
We shall discuss this and other the errors in the most popular modern chronology
that was developed by Dr. Thiele and refined by Dr. McFall in another article.
10.0 Interesting Observations
There was no king in the Northern Kingdom on two separate occasions, one
starting in 784 BC and the other starting in 740 or 739 BC.
Viceroy relationships are essential to the understanding of the king lists.
These become apparent as you actually plot out the data in detail. In reading
the Bible, you would not normally be aware of most of these relationships unless
you did your homework.
Jehoshaphat and Ahab both had two sons. Both had sons by the same name, Ahaziah
and Jehoram. All of them were made viceroys at one time or another. This
period in the king list was the most confusing until Jehu simplified it in 884
BC by terminating the kings!
Some have claimed that a different dating method was used by the writer of
Chronicles than the writer of Kings. We found no evidence of this. Except for
the difference in the age when two kings started to reign, all the data is
identical.
Some have claimed a different accession-year scheme was used at different times
for either of the kingdoms. That is, the Nisan to Nisan rule was abandoned for
considerable periods of time and they deliberately used a different accession
month (i.e., month Tishri to Tishri). We found no evidence to justify this
claim.
11.0 Conclusion
Ussher's results, based on the Bible alone, violate just about every "absolute
date" in archaeology. Amen. All this shows is that we may not know as much
about history as God does. This provides an excellent incentive for Christians
to reevaluate the findings of archaeology to find their mistakes. This has been
done before by Christians. Let us do the same for the rest of archaeology's
so-called "absolute dates." We will never forget what Gordon Franz, who was
guiding a tour to Israel in 1998, said on the mound of Jericho.
"Absolute truth in archaeology lasts about 20 years."
Maybe we should substitute "conjecture" for "truth!"
Archaeology is to history what evolution is to science. Evolutionists find a
fossil and make up a story to go with it. Likewise, many archaeologists find a
broken pot or a fragment of a scroll and spin a tale to explain it. If you are
well respected in the field, your story becomes the gospel until something
better comes along. This is not at all an exaggeration. The classic case was
the time when Dr. Woods examined the dates for Jericho as determined by Kathleen
Kenyon and found them too recent. She (Kenyon) excavated an eight meter square
and dated the fall of Jericho based on the type of pottery she DID NOT find!
(We are sure this had nothing at all to do with her anti-biblical bias!) This
farce rode on the coat-tails of her reputation for decades until Dr. Woods
exploded it. At the very best, archaeology can only confirm what the Bible
says, never refute it. It may give us background information to help us
understand the Bible better.
We have been able to recreate the background documentation to justify Ussher's
reconstruction of the king lists for the divided kingdom. We have been careful
to state all the assumptions we used and state all the known problems that
people have found that relate to this chronological period. We have solely
relied on the Bible for our information. We do not claim that this
reconstruction is unique. There may be other ways to do it. However, we have
shown that there exists at least one way it can be done without doing violence
to the Scriptures. That is sufficient to overthrow a host of inaccurate
reconstructions for this same time period which result in a much shorter time
for this biblical period.
We are open to suggestions and amendments. However, we will only entertain
corrections that are rooted in the Bible. Archaeological arguments that violate
the Scriptures carry no weight with us.
11.0 Bibliography
Authorized Version of the Bible, The. Cambridge, England: University Printing
House [Her Majesty's Printers], 1769.
Blaiklock, Edward (editor). The New International Dictionary of Biblical
Archaeology (IBDA). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
Bone, Dorothy M. Chronology of the Hebrew Divided Kingdom. London, England:
Avon Books, 1997.
Diodorus, Siculus. Loeb Classical Library, Book 1, Chapter 66. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1933, p. 227.
Galil, Gershon. The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Leiden; New
York: E. J. Brill, 1996, p. 120.
Gill, John. Gill's Expositor. Online Bible CD Rom, 1995; first published in
1760.
Halley Henry. Halley's Bible Handbook. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1965,
revised edition.
Halley, John W. Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Book House, 1976; first published in 1874.
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (ISBE). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
Publishers, 1929.
McFall, Dr. Leslie. "A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and
Chronicles." Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 148, number 589, January–March 1991.
Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, The. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1978.
Smith, William. Smith's Bible Dictionary (American edition). Cambridge:
Riverside Press, 1869. This is the 4-volume set, not the one-volume abridged
version.
Tadmor Hayim. The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III King of Assyria.
Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994.
Thiele, Edwin R. The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press, 1983.
———. The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel
Publications, 1994. Appendix C - Canon of Ptolemy, p. 227.
Ussher. Annals of the World. First published in 1654.
Virtual Jerusalem, Internet website: http://www.virtual.
co.il/torah/webshas/main.htm, Jerusalem. This has the whole Talmud and Mishnah
in English. There are special subsections at that site that deal with Jewish
time calculations.
Appendix D: Evidentiallism — The Bible and Assyrian Chronology
In the last 100 years, various reconstructions of Assyrian chronology have been
used to undermine the accepted chronology of the period of the divided kingdom.
Edwin Thiele's work on Hebrew chronology—as reinterpreted in the light of
Assyrian chronology—has become widely accepted by evangelicals and secular
historians. We will show Assyrian chronology is not as simple as Thiele would
have us believe and there is no reason to bend the Bible to fit the current
reconstructions of Assyrian chronology.
——————
It is refreshing to see the creation movement maturing from the strictly
evidential approach of the 1960s and 1970s to the biblically based, axiomatic
approach of recent years. This represents a shift in emphasis from science to
philosophy, from looking at theories to looking at how to build theories and
interpret facts. The emphasis is on the authority of the Bible. Our
understanding of the sciences pertaining to origins has been greatly enhanced as
a result of using this Bible first approach.
One area, which has been almost totally untouched, is the area of biblical
chronologies, especially for the period of the divided kingdom. Chronological
problems are identical to the problems faced by the creation movement in dealing
with the early chapters of Genesis. However, the arguments and logic are not
nearly so simplistic and most people surrender when confronted by a wordy
argument. Reduced to the simplest terms, we have the same problem we faced in
Genesis stated in a more complex way: What is your authority? In this article,
we will concentrate mainly on the latest accepted Assyrian chronology as
popularized by Edwin Thiele. (There is little to be gained by examining
previous reconstructions that have now been abandoned. These older abandoned
reconstructions should make us very wary of accepting newer models that likewise
conflict with the Bible.) We will show how Thiele has massaged the biblical data
to make it fit with the current understanding of Assyrian chronology. You can
guess very accurately which came out second best, the Bible or Assyrian
chronology. Thiele stated:1
"Between the absolute chronology of the Hebrews and that of their neighbours
there can be no conflict. If the biblical chronology seems to be at variance
with Assyrian chronology, it may be because of errors in the Hebrew records, but
it may also be because the data preserved in these records are not correctly
understood."
This statement sets the tone for Thiele's work. We were not aware that Assyrian
chronology was inspired!
Thiele's book, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, has been published
three times, 1951,2 1965,3 and 1983.4 There are major revisions between each
printing. We will be referring to material from all three printings but
wherever possible use the latest printing. Also, we will refer to the work by
Leslie McFall in 1991,5 which has some minor refinements to Thiele's chronology.
General Problems with Ancient History
Before we start, let's look at two well-documented examples from ancient history
that illustrate some of the problems we face in trying to reconstruct an
accurate history. Both of these deal with the life of Alexander the Great and
have abundant documentation from the ancient writers.
1. On the west side of the Hyphasis River in India, Alexander had his troops
construct an oversized camp containing extra large furnishings. He did this to
give an exaggerated impression of his armies' stature and deeds to those who saw
them in later times. If an Indian archaeologist discovered these a few hundred
years later and did not have access to the historical accounts of Plutarch,
Diodorus, Arrian, and Curtius, he may be misled and come to the wrong
conclusions about the invading army of Alexander.
2. In attacking the citadel of the Mallians in India, Alexander was severely
wounded. Depending on the accounts you read, even those who were present when
this happened disagree among themselves in important details. The Latin
historian Curtius wryly observed that so great was the carelessness of those old
historians, it was hard to know what to believe!
These two items illustrate the problems faced when dealing with secular history.
First, the accounts may have been deliberately misrepresented to glorify the
doer of the deeds. Secondly, even eyewitness accounts may conflict. (Anyone
who has sat on a jury will vouch for that.) Assyrian chronology suffers from all
this and more as we shall see. Those who accept the authority of the
Scriptures, know that only the records of the Bible are accurate when compared
to secular accounts for the same historical period.
The Problem
The problem with biblical chronology is that it does not fit with our current
understanding of Assyrian chronology. The biblical chronology is too long by
about 40 to 50 years, depending on who you read. The latest reconstruction by
Thiele is but one of many attempts in the last 100 years to adjust the biblical
account to match the current conjectured chronology of the Assyrians. Thiele
very creatively manipulated the biblical data to eliminate about 40 years of
history. He did this by constructing viceroy relationships to collapse the
length of a king's reign by overlapping it with the king's predecessor. He was
the first person we know of to make such a detailed reconstruction of the
divided kingdom using this approach. (Variations on his scheme can be traced
back at least 75 years before him.) By this, he gave his shortened chronology
much credibility. Having it published by a well-known university press instead
of by his church denomination considerably helped his cause.
Let us look at the three dates where Assyrian and biblical history are supposed
to intersect. These three dates are the main reason for abridging the biblical
chronology. These dates are 841 BC, 853 BC, and 701 BC.6 There is no mention in
the Bible of the events that supposedly happened in the years of the first two
dates. Their intersection with biblical history rests entirely on secular
interpretations of Assyrian records, not on biblical data.
841 BC
This date is documented on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. Thiele states:
"The date of 841 is established by Jehu's payment of tribute to Shalmaneser III
of Assyria in that year and, together with 853, becomes one of the basic dates
in Hebrew history. Although the Bible makes no mention of Jehu's payment of
tribute to Assyria, Shalmaneser III mentions that in the eighteenth year of his
reign he went against 'Hazael of Aram,' shut him up in 'Damascus, his royal
city,' and 'received tribute of the men of Tyre, Sidon and of Jehu, the son of
Omri.' "
From the Bible, it is easy to deduce that Jehu started to reign about 12 years
after the death of Ahab. This would fix the date for the death of Ahab at 853
BC and the first year of Jehu at 841 BC.
At first glance, this seems to be impeccable evidence for discarding the longer
biblical chronology. According to it, Ahab died in 897 BC and Jehu started to
reign about 885 BC. If this were so, obviously Jehu would be dead and gone long
before Shalmaneser III started to reign. However, remember that very few
archaeologists are Christians and most are hostile to the Word of God.
Therefore, expect anything they find to be interpreted in the worst possible way
to confound Bible-believing Christians. Once these interpretations are
published, they seem to get a life all of their own and many Christian authors
echo them without bothering to check what was actually found. This was the very
reason the Christian Church caved in on evolution and why many churches ignore
the historical portions of the Old Testament as being unreliable. It is a
slippery road to liberalism that is well greased with the opinions of scholars.
Fossils and radiometric dating seemed to provide the absolute truth as to the
age of the world until someone took the time to see what assumptions are
involved. Likewise, in this case it is extremely important to determine what
was actually found and ignore the just so stories that became associated with
the find. We had to search many sources before we found one that was honest
enough to admit what was really found and what it meant.
The basis of what Thiele stated comes from the inscriptions found on the Black
Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. We found the following in a Bible dictionary.
"The text depicts Shalmaneser's triumphs over several kingdoms of Syria and the
West. Of special interest to Bible students is one panel in the second row in
which a bearded Semite bows before the king while his servants present gifts.
The text refers to the humble suppliant as Jehu, son of Omri (a name by which
all Israelite kings were identified, whether of the Omride dynasty or not), and
describes the gifts he brought. The event, apparently from the year 841 BC,
gives us the earliest surviving picture of an Israelite and shows how such a
person might have appeared to an Assyrian sculptor. There is no evidence,
however, that the obelisk was actually depicting the Israelite monarch Jehu."7
So, except for the fact we are not certain of the actual date of the obelisk and
who is in the picture, we are in fine shape! Just as the Israelite kings were
described as sons of Omri, when many were not, likewise many may have been
identified with the name Jehu. We do not have enough evidence from secular
history to determine this.
Much more damaging is the evidence uncovered by Faulstich. He documents that
much of the information on the Black Obelisk that is attributed to Shalmaneser
was taken from earlier monuments.8 Are we so egocentric as to think historical
revisionism is a recent phenomenon? This plagiarism was so common in Assyrian
history that the father of Shalmaneser III pronounced a special curse on later
kings who tried to steal his fame by ascribing deeds he had done to themselves.
Faulstich goes on to document inconsistencies among the Black Obelisk, the
Tigris Inscriptions, the Statue Inscriptions, and the Bull-Colossi.
This type of historical revisionism results in the collapsing of historical
events into a shorter time frame. From the inspired biblical accounts, we know
this has happened. Rarely do we find historians mentioning the problems with
Assyrian chronology when they use Assyrian data to amend the biblical
chronology. Thiele and McFall are very silent on this. As in the case of
Alexander's wound, we will likely never know the correct story.
853 BC
This was the date of the famous battle of Qarqar that was fought between
Shalmaneser III and an anti-Assyrian coalition. The Bible dictionary lists
A-ha-ab-bu Sir'-i-la-a-a as supplying 2000 chariots and 10,000 men for this
battle. A-ha-ab-bu is taken to mean Ahab. Sir'-i-la-a-a is taken to mean
Israel.9 This is given as proof positive that the Ahab of 1 Kings was present at
this battle.
This word may be translated Ahab but that does not prove that it was the King
Ahab of the Bible. Several possibilities exist. In ancient history, it is the
rule, not the exception, that different writers gave the same person different
names. Consider this example:
"After Laborosoarchodus, who was disposed of by his subjects for his acts of
villainy, Nebuchadnezzar's grandchild by his daughter succeeded him. The new
king was his son by Evilmerodach and called by Berosus, Nabonidus, but by
Herodotus, Labynitus, by Abydenus, Nabannidochus and by Daniel, Belshazzar or
Baltazar."10
Nebuchadnezzar's grandson had at least four or five different names depending on
who wrote the history! Just because you see a historian use a name that is the
same as a name mentioned elsewhere by a different historian, you cannot assume
both historians are referring to the same individual. You must study the
context to be sure. This is the major failing of Assyrian history. Because the
material is so scanty and fragmentary, we often do not have enough information
to be absolutely sure of who we are reading about and if we are interpreting it
correctly. However, that has never stopped a scholar from spinning a good story
about what he thinks it says. If he has enough prestige, his story will soon
become the gospel.
Another possibility is that the person in command of the force was a general of
a king of Israel and not the king himself. Saul, David, Solomon, and Pekah had
generals over their armies and the names are recorded in the Scriptures.
The story may be improbable given the events that happened during Ahab's reign.
He suffered a three-year drought that destroyed most of the livestock in the
kingdom. Just a few years before this alleged event at Qarqar took place, Ahab
was invaded by Benhadad. In that battle, Ahab was scarcely able to muster 7,000
soldiers, much less any chariots or horsemen. However, the story is that he
sent 10,000 troops and 2,000 chariots to this battle at Qarqar. This was no
small force, especially considering the large number of chariots.
Another explanation was touched on previously—historical revisionism. The
events described here likely happened, but at an earlier date, since the
inscriptions were most likely doctored by a later king to enhance his glory.
No doubt some king from Israel sent an army to the battle of Qarqar. However,
it was not likely King Ahab. We shall see later when we look at the biblical
problems, how much the texts of the Bible were twisted to force Ahab into this
later time period when the battle of Qarqar took place.
701 BC
We are not certain why this date is essential to Thiele's chronology. If Thiele
had not made this synchronisation with Hezekiah, he would have had much less
criticism of his scheme. Thiele conjectures that this was the date that
Sennacherib invaded Hezekiah in the 14th year of his reign. By forcing this
synchronisation, Thiele ignores several synchronisations of the biblical text.
We shall discuss this under the heading of the "Third Biblical Example."
Biblical Considerations
The main problem with all attempts to harmonize the Bible with Assyrian
chronology is the violence it does to the Scriptures. To remove about 40 years
from a chronology, as well defined as the one we have in the Bible, requires
some very creative exegesis or worse, discarding numbers that do not fit our
preconceived ideas. This is a classic case of starting with evidence outside
the Bible and making the Bible say what we want to hear. In the preface to the
third edition, Thiele stated:11
"The only basis for a sound chronology of the period to be discussed is a
completely unbiased use of biblical statements in the light of all other
knowledge we can bring to bear on the problem, notably the history and
chronology of the ancient Near East."
This statement indicates Thiele's approach to the Word of God and secular
history. For Thiele used the supposed dates from Assyrian chronology, which
allegedly intersect with the biblical chronology, to force-fit the biblical data
into the mould of secular chronology. We will only deal with the most serious
problems in his work.
First Biblical Example
To collapse the biblical history, you must create overlapping reigns of kings so
that the total length of the period is significantly shortened. The fun really
begins with Uzziah. Up until then, the dates on Thiele's and McFall's
chronology are within a couple of years of the one derived from the longer
biblical chronology.
As we said, there is very little disagreement with the longer reconstruction for
the first 150 years even to the 12-year viceroyship of Jeroboam II with Jehoash.
This is not only true for Thiele but for all reconstructions done in the last
100 years that we have seen published. However, at this point, all the
chronologies diverge from the traditional chronology. Thiele stated that in the
27th year of Jeroboam, Uzziah became sole king and that he had a viceroy
relationship with his father for 24 years. The only rationale for selecting a
24-year period is that Thiele can make it fit with current archaeological
expectations. Again, Josephus and all the writers before 1850 never guessed
that there was a viceroyship of any length, much less 24 years for Uzziah. The
Bible says:
"And they brought him [Amaziah, Uzziah's father] on horses, and he was buried at
Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. And all the people of Judah
took Azariah [Uzziah] which was sixteen years old and made him king instead of
his father Amaziah." (2 Kings 14:20–21)
"In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, began Azariah
[Uzziah] the son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign. Sixteen years old was he
when he began to reign and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem...." (2
Kings 15:1–2)
By all rules of exegesis, one would conclude that Uzziah was made king when he
was 16 years old, after the death of his father. This event happened in the
27th year of Jeroboam. Not so according to Thiele and others! A little
arithmetic will show that it is rather difficult to be made king 8 years before
you were born! For if you came to the throne when you were 16 but had been a
viceroy with your father for 24 years already, you were made viceroy 8 years
before you were born! According to Thiele, McFall, and others, the text is
incorrect. It should read in the 3rd year of Jeroboam not the 27th.12 By happy
chance, by having Uzziah as viceroy for 24 years, Thiele can manipulate the rest
of the numbers for Uzziah's reign without violating too many synchronisms.
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO BIBLICAL OR SOUND LOGICAL REASON FOR THIS AMENDMENT.
Before we proceed to the next example, a little historical note is of interest.
Thiele was not the first one to propose Uzziah's imaginary viceroy relationship.
We found it in a very old Bible produced around 1900, and in the 1909
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (ISBE).13 The latter also documents
this non-existent viceroy relationship that Uzziah had with his father for
exactly the same period of 24 years. However, it creates a 12-year viceroy
relationship between Uzziah and his son, Jotham, and has Pekah becoming king in
the 52nd year of Uzziah as one would expect. Unless one checked the Bible and
found out that Pekah ruled for 20 years one would not notice a problem.
However, the ISBE chart shows Pekah coming to the throne in 736 BC. This means
his rule finished in 717 BC, four years after the fall of his kingdom of Samaria
in 721 BC. This is a tad ridiculous. No doubt, some wag pointed out this piece
of illogic to the theological "experts" and this view was quietly dropped.
This brings us to the next example and how Thiele found another place to delete
these 12 years from the chronology.
Second Biblical Example
To delete the 12 years requires incredible ingenuity. Thiele worked on the
reign of Pekah just as the ISBE had done many years earlier. Read the following
Scripture texts carefully:
"In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah [Uzziah] king of Judah began Menahem
the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria." (2
Kings 15:17)
"And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son began to reign in his
stead. In the fiftieth year of Azariah [Uzziah] king of Judah Pekahiah the son
of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.... But
Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him and smote him
in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh, and with
him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him and reigned in his room....
In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah [Uzziah] king of Judah Pekah the son of
Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years." (2
Kings 15:22–27)
There are two views on how to understand this passage.
a) The traditional view to those who are not under the influence of modern
scholarship is this. Menahem reigned for 10 years, followed by his son,
Pekahiah, who reigned for two years. Pekahiah was murdered by his commander,
Pekah, who in turn reigned for 20 years. By normal rules of exegesis, this
would be the most normal way to understand the text. Accession dating14 is used
in all these examples.
Uzzlah Regal Year Northern Kingdom King
39 Menahem, 10 years (2 Ki 15:17)
50 Pekahiah, 2 years (2 Ki 15:23)
52 Pekah, 20 years (2 Ki 15:27)
39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Years of Uzziah
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Reign of Menahem
1 2 Reign of Pekahiah
1 Reign of Pekah
b) Both Thiele and McFall would have the diagram look like this:
39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Years of Uzziah
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Reign of Menahem
1 2 Reign of Pekahiah
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Reign of Pekah
Absolutely no biblical justification is given for starting the reign of Pekah in
the 39th year of Uzziah. They say Pekah was a rival king in Gilead to both
Menahem and Pekahiah, and Pekah really started his sole reign in the 52nd year
of Uzziah. The Bible says that Pekah was the captain of Pekahiah, not a rival
king reigning in Gilead. Further, the Bible says Pekah started to reign in the
52nd year, not the 39th year, of Uzziah.
Lets look at all the kings of the Northern Kingdom who were dated by the reign
of Uzziah.
Uzziah Regal Year Northern Kingdom King
38 Zachariah, 6 months (2 Ki 15:8)
39 Shallum, 1 month (2 Ki 15:13)
39 Menahem, 10 years (2 Ki 15:17)
50 Pekahiah, 2 years (2 Ki 15:23)
52 Pekah, 20 years (2 Ki 15:27)
By all rules of exegesis, one would think these kings in the Northern Kingdom
reigned sequentially. Not so if you have the guide of enlightened scholarship.
It is obvious that Menahem's and Pekahiah's reigns overlap the first 12 years of
Pekah's reign, or is it? Both Thiele and McFall wrest the obvious meaning of
the Bible. {2Ki 15:25,27} THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO BIBLICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR
THIS. Indeed, they use different rules when it suits them. In the first
example we gave, they said the synchronisation date referred to the time when
Uzziah was made viceroy. In this case, they say the synchronisation refers to
the time when Pekah became sole king. You cannot have it both ways, and no
matter which way Thiele and McFall go, they create logical inconsistencies in
the text. Further the "just-so story" they created about Pekah is pure fiction
and contradicts the Bible. {2Ki 15:25} Pekah was a commander of Pekahiah and
not a rival king to him!
Third Biblical Example
Thiele holds to a synchronisation for the year 701 BC to make it the 14th year
of the reign of Hezekiah when Sennacherib invaded Judah. Thiele is forced to
discard three synchronisations to do this. According to the Bible:
a) Hezekiah started to reign in the 3rd year of Hoshea. {2Ki 18:1,2}
b) In the 6th year of Hezekiah and the 9th year of Hoshea, Israel was captured.
{2Ki 18:10}
c) In the 12th year of Ahaz, Hoshea began to reign over Israel. {2Ki 17:1}
Thiele claims these are late amendments to the biblical text and is honest
enough to admit he cannot make these verses fit his chronology. In forcing this
synchronisation, Theile has Hezekiah and his son, Manasseh, co-reigning for at
least 11 years. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO BIBLICAL EVIDENCE to support this aside
from this forced synchronisation.
Thiele also runs into problems with the secular chronology of Babylon. The
Bible says that Hezekiah was visited by representatives from Merodachbaladan,
the king of Babylon. According to our understanding of Ptolemy's canon, this
king ruled in Babylon from 721–710 BC and then died. If Thiele had not tried to
force this connection with Sennacherib for the year 701 BC, he would not have
had this problem.
According to Assyrian chronology, this Sennacherib, whoever he was, went on and
reigned for a number of years after this invasion. The Bible states he returned
to his own land and was killed by his sons. {2Ki 19:36,37} No great time is
implied between the unsuccessful invasion and his untimely death. According to
Tobit in the Apocrypha, Sennacherib returned and conducted some ethnic cleansing
to rid the land of Jews. About 55 days after his return, he was murdered by his
two sons. {APC Tob 1:15-22} Verse 15 states that Sennacherib's estate was
troubled. This may refer to the loss of the 185,000 men in the campaign against
Hezekiah. {2Ki 19:35} If so, it would account for Sennacherib's fury against
any Jews he found.
McFall tries to salvage the synchronisms that Thiele discards by saying Hezekiah
reigned as viceroy with his father for the first 16 years of his reign. Then he
commenced his sole reign after the death of his father in 715 BC. Thereby, the
synchronisations Thiele could not make fit, McFall does. (This solution is not
new and was proposed 40 years ago in the New Bible Dictionary. Thiele never
accepted it.) This creates some real exegetical problems, for in the 6th year of
Hezekiah, Israel fell and in the 14th year Hezekiah was invaded by Sennacherib.
By all rules of logic, you would assume about 8 years elapsed between these
events. Wrong! According to this "new math" over 22 years elapsed if you use
Thiele's dates of 723 BC for the fall of Israel and 701 BC for the invasion by
Sennacherib! McFall tries to wiggle out of this by claiming the first date (6th
year) was from the time Hezekiah was made viceroy with his father and the second
date (14th year) was dated from the time Hezekiah became sole king. How would
anyone know this if he was reading just the Bible?
Earlier Bible dictionaries like the 1909 ISBE did not require this
synchronisation and we really wonder if it is required either. The biblical
record does not list all the invasions and battles that Israel and Judah fought.
Nations generally avoid documenting their disastrous defeats so it should come
as no surprise that the earlier ill-fated invasion is passed by in silence in
the Assyrian records. Also, the name for a particular person may not resemble
the name given to him in another country. Ancient history abounds with examples
of this.
Other Issues
There are many more problems with Thiele's chronology (and McFall's amendments)
which space does not permit us to deal with. How much time should be wasted
refuting a defective system? Until we get good biblical answers for the 24-year
vice-regency of Uzziah and the 12-year overlap of Pekah with the other kings of
Israel, not to mention the many conflicts introduced by these changes, we should
not surrender the older, longer chronology of the Bible.
Since most historians for the Egyptian period have blindly accepted Thiele's
dates, they are labouring under a 40 to 50-year error when they try to align
Egyptian history with biblical history. Egyptian history is challenging enough
without being handicapped by the errors introduced by Thiele's dubious dating
procedures! It is most amusing to see them conjecture who the pharaoh of the
Exodus was in 1446 BC when the biblical date for the Exodus is closer to 1491
BC!
Conclusion
The arbitrary nature in which Thiele, McFall, and others handle the biblical
text is obvious. Their methods are no different than the methods of those who
came before them and amended the Bible based on what they thought the Assyrian
records stated. All who do this create imaginary viceroy relationships when it
suits them. Sometimes they count years from when a king became a viceroy,
sometimes from when he became sole king. The only reason for this is to escape
the logical contradictions they created by their incorrect initial assumptions.
The longer chronology consistently measures time from when a king became
viceroy. This procedure is in accord with the oldest Talmudic understanding of
how this was done. Thiele, McFall, and others sweep aside methods of
interpretation that are derived from the most ancient writers, in favour of a
new capricious way of handling the text according to the external dictates of
archaeology. Their work has indeed rendered the numbers of the Hebrew Kings
most mysterious.
Christians have largely abdicated the fields of history and archaeology to those
who are worldly wise. Many have been told, even in Bible colleges, that the
historical portions of the Bible are unreliable. This is hardly faith-building!
Fifty years ago, most Christians did not have ready access to the wealth of
material we have today concerning science and evolution. We can thank Dr. Henry
Morris and others who have followed in his steps for this. We do not have all
the answers about Assyrian chronology and how it fits with the Bible. However,
we must learn the same lesson about history as we learned about science. True
science does not conflict with the Bible. Likewise, true history agrees with
and does not refute the Scriptures. Pray that God will raise up Christians in
the field of history to help us write a true history that honours the Bible.
Lewis Dabney was a voice crying in the wilderness 140 years ago. He recognized
most clearly the problems and sounded a warning against the dangers of science,
falsely so called, to the Church. No one listened and the Church madly pursued
a course of compromise which would have destroyed her, but for the grace of God.
At that time he said, concerning attacks made by geologists against the Bible:15
"The authority of the Bible, as our rule of faith, is demonstrated by its own
separate and independent evidences, literary history, moral, internal,
prophetical. It is found by the geologist in possession of the field, and he
must assume the aggressive, and positively dislodge it from its position. The
defender of the Bible need only stand on the defensive. That is, the geologist
must not content himself with saying that his hypothesis, which is opposed to
Bible teachings, is plausible, that it cannot be scientifically refuted, that it
may adequately satisfy the requirements of all the physical phenomena to be
accounted for. All this is naught, as a successful assault on us. We are not
bound to retreat until he has constructed an absolutely exclusive demonstration
of his hypothesis; until he has shown, by strict scientific proofs, not only
that his hypothesis may be the true one, but that it alone can be the only true
one; that it is impossible any other can exclude it."
What applies to attacks on the Bible from geology applies equally to attacks
from historians and archaeologists. The Bible is the only book that provides a
continuous history from creation down to the death of Nebuchadnezzar. More
importantly, the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is without error.
Assyrian chronology is not inspired and is fraught with errors. Both Thiele and
McFall have too low a view of inspiration. If what they claim is true, why
should we ever trust any historical portion in the Bible until it has been
interpreted by the sure word of the archaeologist? If we cannot trust the
numbers in the Bible, why should we trust the words between the numbers? Are we
to trust the fallible word of sinful fallen men who have yet to get their first
theory right? Or are we to trust the infallible Word written by God, who has
yet to make his first mistake and never will?16
Addendum:
The author strongly suggests to any critics that before responding to this item,
they first download the work cited in footnote 16 and ensure that their
arguments are derived from and based on the authority of the Bible.
References
1. Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press, 1951).
2. Ibid.
3. Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (Grand
Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1965).
4. Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan Corp., 1983).
5. Leslie McFall, "A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in
Kings and Chronicles," Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 148, number 589,
January–March 1991. Guide is also available from:
http://www.btinternet.com/~lmf12.
6. See footnote 3, p. 103 and 104; see footnote 1, p. 62 and 66.
7. New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology (Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1983), entry: "Shalmaneser, Black
Obelisk of," p. 409.
8. E.W. Faulstich, History, Harmony & the Hebrew Kings (Spencer, IA:
Chronology Books, 1986), p. 143–157.
9. See footnote 7, entry: "Qarqar," p. 376.
10. James Ussher, Annales Veteris Testamenti (London, England: J.
Flesher & L. Sadler, 1650), p. 139. (This work is in Latin. In this
revised English edition, the paragraph number is 913 on page 113.)
11. See footnote 3, p. 16; see footnote 1, p. vi.
12. See footnote 3, p. 119; see footnote 1, p. 68–70 and 83. Each
edition treats this matter in less detail than the previous edition.
13. The International Bible Encyclopaedia, article entitled "Chronology
of the Old Testament" (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1929), vol.
1, p. 640. (The original publication was published in 1909. Editor.)
14. Accession dating means that a king did not start counting his years
of reign until the Jewish New Year was past. So the length of his reign
is really given in the number of Jewish New Years he celebrated.
According to the Bible this was in Nisan. (Exodus 12:2) According to
Thiele and McFall, the godly Southern Kingdom used Tishri (about
October), and the ungodly Northern Kingdom used Nisan (about April). No
convincing proof is given except they say it works.
15. Robert Lewis Dabney, Discussions of Robert Lewis Dabney (Carlisle,
PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1982), vol. 3, p. 136.
16. A detailed outline of the longer chronology is available from the
author and is available for download from Answers in Genesis website.
In it, he considers all the numbers in not just Kings and Chronicles but
from the prophets as well. All popular problems with the chronology are
addressed in detail.
Appendix E: Some Objections Considered
When we published the article "Evidentiallism — The Bible and Assyrian
Chronology," Dr. Leslie McFall raised some issues in a letter that we will now
deal with. It was quite satisfying to note that no one could point to any error
in the divided kingdom article that would require one date to be altered. That
alone is a necessary and sufficient condition to overthrow their defective
systems of chronology.
Space will only permit us to reply to one of Dr. McFall's items dealing with 2
Kings 15:8. That should be sufficient to show the bankruptcy of the chronology
based on Assyrian conjectures. We shall reply under the following heads:
a) Interregnum phobia is totally unjustified
b) Unwarranted biblical contradictions created by the Assyrian academy
c) Source of Assyrian academy conjectures — David Luckenbill's vivid imagination
d) Other problems — Sabbatic, Jubilee cycle
Dr. McFall noted two Scriptures that he claims would invalidate the concept of
interregnums in the Northern Kingdom. We will deal with the concept of
interregnums first.
Interregnum Phobia
The concept of interregnums in biblical history seems strange at first to those
who are not aware of the history for that period. The fact that the Bible does
not directly mention them should not be a concern if the information can be
logically deduced from the biblical data. The Bible does not mention viceroy
relationships or the Trinity either, but these can all be logically deduced from
the Scriptures, and few Christians doubt these. If the logical reasoning is
correct, such deductions are just as valid as the Scriptures themselves. (This
may come as a shock to "modern evangelicals" who decry the use of logic. Those
of the Reformed faith are quite familiar with this concept and have enshrined it
in Article VI of Chapter I of the Westminster Confession of Faith.) Here is a
trivial example to illustrate the point. Nowhere does the Bible say Absalom was
the son of a king of Israel. This fact can be deduced from the Bible because we
know that Absalom was the son of David and David was a king of Israel.
Therefore, applying logic, Absalom was the son of a king of Israel.
The concept of interregnums is not new and was common in this period of history
among foreign nations. Therefore, we should not be surprised, given the
political turmoil in the Northern Kingdom, to find one or more interregnums
during the death-throes of that kingdom. The Southern Kingdom was much more
stable during this time and we should not expect to find interregnums there.
From history, we know of at least four interregnums in foreign countries.
1) In 704 BC, after Arkeanos, there was no king in Babylon for two years.
{Ptolemy, Canon of Kings}
2) In 688 BC, there was no king in Babylon for eight years. {Ptolemy, Canon of
Kings}
3) In 687 BC, civil disorder increased in Egypt, because there was no king for
two years. {Diodorus Siciculus, Book 1, Chapter 66 (page 227 in Loeb edition)}
4) In 637 BC, there was a one year interregnum in Babylon. {Gershon Galil, The
Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah, p. 120.}
All serious students of history know about these interregnums. We are not
surprised that those advocating the use of the conjectured Assyrian chronology
to amend the Bible, conveniently forget about them, and recoil in horror at such
a concept, for they know that if the concept is allowed, it is fatal to their
schemes of interpretation. Neither Dr. Thiele nor Dr. McFall breathe a word
about this and indeed it is one of the best-kept secrets of the Assyrian
Academy. Indeed, Galil goes so far as to state in his basic assumptions
(without proof) there were no interregnums in the biblical chronology! This
begs the question — "How does he know?"
Therefore, the problem is not with the concept of interregnums, but with trying
to reconcile the alleged reconstructions of Assyrian history with the biblical
chronology. In order to do so, it just so happens that two interregnums in the
Northern Kingdom must be eliminated. This raises two questions.
1) Can this be done without compromising the biblical chronology? We have shown
that this is impossible but will go over the same ground in more simple terms so
you will be able to clearly see the problem.
2) How do we know the reconstruction of the Assyrian chronology is accurate?
Only Dr. McFall's letter mentions any biblical data, and we will deal with those
issues first. All biblical quotations are from the Authorized Version unless
otherwise noted.
1) 2 Kings 15:8 — This verse says that:
"In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah [Uzziah] king of Judah did Zachariah
the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months."
Dr. Mcfall says that Jeroboam II died in the 38th year of Uzziah before
Zachariah came to the throne. Although the actual verse mentions nothing of
this (however, it may be inferred from 2 Kings 14:29), let's grant this
conjecture and see if it is logically consistent with the statements of the
Scripture. If Dr. McFall can prove his claim correct from the Bible, then the
first interregnum is a fiction of Ussher. If he cannot, then the whole
Assyrian-based reconstruction of the biblical chronology is incorrect and comes
tumbling down like a house of cards.
Required to Prove: There was no interregnum after the death of Jeroboam II and
his son Zachariah reigned immediately after his father.
Proof:
"And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and
Zachariah his son reigned in his stead." {2Ki 14:28}
"In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of
Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months." {2Ki 15:8}
Before we proceed, we should note that the phrase "reigned in his stead" does
not necessarily mean the son directly reigned after his father. If there are no
other time statements relating to the transition, this may be a safe assumption
to make. You can assume that if you are making a list of kings, the son ruled
after his father in that order. This exact same Hebrew phrase occurs in 1 Kings
22:50, and even Dr. McFall admits that if you were to assume that Jehoram
started to reign after the death of Jehoshaphat you would be incorrect. How do
you know? There are other time statements that define the time when Jehoram
began to reign. These MUST be used to qualify and interpret this verse.
In the case before us, there indeed are other Scriptures containing time
statements to consider and we cannot take 2 Kings 14:28, 15:8 in isolation:
"In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah
[Uzziah] son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign." {2Ki 15:1}
Therefore, according to Dr. McFall, Uzziah must have been viceroy for 24 years
because he was made sole king in the 27th year of Jeroboam and Jeroboam died in
the 38th year of Uzziah when his son Zachariah ruled.
But the next verse states:
"Sixteen years old was he [Uzziah] when he began to reign, and he reigned two
and fifty years in Jerusalem." {2Ki 15:2}
We have arrived at a contradiction, for it is impossible to do anything eight
years before you are born! (24 - 16 = 8 years) To avoid this problem, Dr.
McFall says this refers to the first time Uzziah was made viceroy and the verses
should now be read as follows:
"In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of
Amaziah king of Judah to reign AS SOLE KING. Sixteen years old was he when he
began to reign AS A VICEROY TWENTY FOUR YEARS EARLIER. "
The text in capitals is Dr. McFall's amendment interpretation to the text. This
is a neat dodge and no proof is given. Dr. McFall is forced to put forth this
interpretation because of his premise that there are no interregnums. The
problem now gets worse, for look at these verses:
"19Now they made a conspiracy against him [Amaziah] in Jerusalem: and he fled to
Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 20And they
brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the
city of David. 21And all the people of Judah took Azariah [Uzziah], which was
sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah." {2Ki
14:19-21 with a parallel passage in 2Ch 25:27-26:1}
Ask a child what these verses mean and he will tell you without exception that
the people killed Amaziah and made Uzziah king when he was 16 years old. Here
we have a second contradiction!
Dr. McFall is aware of this and digs himself in still deeper and says the verses
must be read as follows:
"21And all the people of Judah took Azariah [Uzziah], which was sixteen years
old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 19Now TWENTY-FOUR YEARS
LATER, they made a conspiracy against him [Amaziah] in Jerusalem: and he fled to
Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 20And they
brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the
city of David." {2Ki 14:19-21}
"1Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who [was] sixteen years old, and
made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. 27Now after the time
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS LATER that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they
made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they
sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there. 28And they brought him upon
horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah." {2Ch 25:27-26:1}
The king — not the people — appointed his viceroy. Israel was not a democracy,
at least not when there was a living king as there would have been in this case
if Dr. McFall's conjecture is correct. The text in capitals is Dr. McFall's
amendment to the text. Dr. McFall forces an unnatural order on the historical
narrative by claiming that verse 21 should really come before verse 19 in the 2
Kings passage and likewise a similar transposition in the passage cited from 2
Chronicles as you can see in our reproduction. (This violates accepted rules of
Hebrew grammar.) This begs the question, if the writer of Kings got the verses
in the wrong order, why did not the later writer of the Chronicles fix it up?
The only rationale for Dr. McFall's amendment is trying to eliminate this
interregnum. It seems the Holy Spirit has gone to great pains to make such an
amendment by Dr. McFall untenable.
No proof is given for this amendment either, except for Dr. McFall's commitment
to Assyrian chronology. Stating something is so does not prove it so, at least
when I went to university. Likewise, it is a "no-no" to use your premise as
part of your proof. This logical fallacy has a cute Latin name — petito
principii — and is known in English as begging the question. The only way you
can prove there was no interregnum after the death of Jeroboam II is if you
assume there are no interregnums and then read the Scripture in that light. Dr.
McFall's rationale for this assumption is his commitment to Assyrian chronology
which forces him to delete 40 or so years from the divided kingdom. If you
honestly start from the Word of God and that alone, you will never arrive at a
chronology remotely resembling what Dr. McFall promotes. The very fact that the
best theologians down through the millennia never dreamed of this gloss Dr.
McFall and Dr. Thiele force on these Scriptures, should make one very wary of
their novel theories.
Review of Pivotal Dates in Assyrian Chronology
1. Fall of Samaria 723 BC and the Assyrian Eponym List
Lets look at a section of the Assyrian eponym list so you can see for yourself
how flimsy the evidence is for Assyrian history.
Dr. Thiele firmly declares that Samaria fell in 723 BC and adjusts the biblical
chronology two years to shift the biblically deduced date of 721 BC to 723. (If
the integrity of the Scriptures was not at stake, this is no big deal!) This he
claims is supported by the eponym list and publishes a copy of the list in
Appendix F of his work The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. Lets take a
look at what was actually published. Dr. Jones has provided this information
and I can do no better than quote him directly. {Dr. Floyd Jones, Chronology
of the Old Testament, p. 190, KingWord Press, The Woodlands, Texas, 1999}
…Unfortunately, the register is badly mutilated for the years 725–720;
nonetheless, Luckenbill has restored them to read: {Luckenbill, Ancient Records
of Assyria and Babylonia, Vol. II., p. 437. New York: Greenwood Press. 1968}
726
Marduk-bel-usur
(governor) of Amedi
in the land
725
Mahde
(governor) of Nineveh
against [Samaria]
724
Ash-ishmeani
(governor) of [Kakzi]
against [Samaria]
723
Shalmaneser
king of Assyria
against [Samaria]
722
Urt-ilia
[field-marshal]
[the foundation of the temple of Nabu was torn up (for repairs)]
721
Nabutaris
[high chamberlain]
[Natu entered the new temple
However, the fact is the eye/mind cannot properly appreciate the full
significance of the fragmented nature of the above, even with the brackets and
parenthesis present. The true extent of the mutilation can be seen below. Bear
in mind that this is how the register actually appears, only without the years
being listed.
726
Marduk-bel-usur
of Amedi
in the land
725
Mahde
of Nineveh
against
724
Ash-ishmeani
of
against
723
Shalmaneser
king of Assyria
against
722
Urt-ilia
721
Nabutaris
This then is the only Assyrian evidence which is uncontested. The rationale for
using it to establish the date for the fall of Samaria is:
1. The biblical account states that the siege of Samaria lasted three years.
2. The eponym list has the word "against" three years in succession (725–723)
with the name of enemy location completely missed.
3. The coincidence of both "three's" was deemed by Luckenbill (Olmstead also)
as the "restoration" as shown in the first listing and subsequent "fixing" of
the date of the fall of Samaria as being 723 BC.
This ends the quote from Dr. Jones. As one can see, the 723 BC date for the
fall of Samaria rests firmly on scholarly conjecture and interpolation. There
are better foundations to build a history on! There is absolutely no evidence
from the actual eponym list to contradict the established date of 721 BC or any
other date you wish for the fall of Samaria BECAUSE the translated list, when
the scholarly interpolations are deleted, NEVER MENTIONS SAMARIA!
Even worse for Luckenbill is a later independent translation of the eponym list
done in 1994 which has even less data and none of Luckenbill's interpolations.
Consider this and note the text in [ ] is conjectured:
726
Marduk-belu*-sur
[of Amedi
i[ ]
725
Mahde
of Nineveh
to [ ]
724
Ashur*-ishmeani
[of Kili]zi
to [ ]
723
Shalmaneser (V)
king [of Assyria]
t[o ]
722
Niurta-ilaya*
]
721
Nabu-taris
t]i
I marked the name changes with an "*". Note the major change in the name for
the entry for 722 BC. Luckenbill did not even mark the interpolated text
correctly! What this does establish is that Luckenbill has a very vivid
imagination and any translation he does should be carefully checked for accuracy
to make sure nothing is read into the translations.
2. Jehu and the Black Obelisk in 841 BC
Dr. Thiele accepts as an established fact that Jehu paid tribute to Shalmaneser
in 841. As we pointed out in the article, there is NO EVIDENCE that the obelisk
was actually depicting the Israelite monarch Jehu. So much for this date! Are
you surprised that the translation scholars use to justify this was done by
Luckenbill? The only rationale for even thinking it was Jehu is the alleged
presence of Ahab at the battle of Qarqar in 853 BC. Even that rests on much
conjecture! Dr. Jones pointed out that the image of the individual in the
picture shows him with a rounded beard, something the Jewish law had forbidden.
This casts further doubt that this was really Jehu.
3. Ahab and the battle of Qarqar. 853 BC
This is the most critical date, for if it can be established beyond a shadow of
a doubt, then there are serious problems with the Hebrew Bible text we have.
Again, we can do no better than quote Dr. Floyd Jones on this matter:
"Simply stated, the problem begins with the fact that the 'Monolith Inscription'
documents that in the sixth year of his reign, Shalmaneser II (III), son of
Ashur-nasir-pal (II), fought against a twelve king alliance at the battle of
Qarqar (Karkar) during the eponymous year of Daian-Assur. The inscription
states that one of the kings against whom King Shalmaneser II (III) engaged was
a certain 'A-ha-ab-bu Sir-i-la-a-a.' "
Before we continue with Dr. Jones's quote, note that Luckenbill translates this
as Ahab of Samaria, and notes that he had 2,000 chariots and 10,000 men. Now
the Hebrew and Assyrian language are quite closely related. In their
consonantal form (as we would expect to see on inscriptions), we would expect
the same names to share at least the same consonants. IN BOTH OF THESE CASES
THEY DIFFER FROM THE HEBREW CONSONANTAL FORM! Hence, it would be reasonable to
conclude that we are not talking about the same person as Ahab in the Bible.
This is especially true when we look at the history of Ahab. His kingdom had a
42-month drought. Today, much shorter droughts in Africa virtually eliminated
the livestock including horses, and no doubt this was true in Ahab's case, too.
In spite of this, we are to believe that Ahab had more chariots than even
Solomon who only had 1,400? About 70 years earlier, Israel could field an army
of 800,000 men, whereas now Ahab is hard pressed to get even one percent of this
total, yet we are to believe he had more chariots than Solomon! Where did all
the horses come from to pull these? Also, when Ahab was attacked a few years
before his death, he could only muster a force of 7,000 men. The ratio of
chariots to men does not correspond to actual battles, for the number of
chariots is much too high for the fighting force or the number for the men is
low by at least an order of magnitude or more. Something is very wrong here.
Dr. Jones1 notes further:
Most Assyriologists understand "A-ha-ab-bu Sir-i-la-a-a" to be Ahab, the
Israelite. This may be true, but there are problems associated with this
identification. First, the identification may be incorrect. "A-ha-ab-bu
Sir-i-la-a-a" may be some other historically obscure ruler, perhaps of something
no more than a city-state anywhere along the nearly three hundred mile seacoast
area of the fertile crescent. Some researchers go so far as to accuse
Shalmaneser II (III) of taking credit for this and other events which actually
belonged to his father, Ashur-nasir-pal (II). Among them, Faulstich addresses
several perceived inconsistencies or contradictions regarding military
expeditions and warns:2
"Some of the claims of Shalmaneser are preposterous, and it would be ill-advised
to reconstruct the Hebrew chronology to satisfy his inaccurate boasting."
After advancing examples, he concludes:3
"...that the inconsistencies in Shalmaneser's annals would make it impossible to
accurately date the battle of Qarqar."
Whereas we do not concur with or endorse all of Faulstich's determinations, we
cite him to expose the uncertain nature of much of the oft-cited Assyrian
assertions. Nor is Faulstich alone. Daniel David Luckenbill cautions in his
comments prior to Shalmaneser's royal annals that:
"It is possible that the first of these, which contained a full account of the
events of the year of accession, belongs to a much earlier period."4
Thus, says Dr. Jones. Space does not permit us to deal with the second verse
mentioned by Dr. McFall. See Dr. Jones's work for a full treatment of that
point.
Sabbatical and Jubilee Cycles
These two cycles run like a checksum through biblical history. When one
accurately reconstructs biblical history, he should expect the cycles to agree
with secular history, for Josephus records a sabbatical year in 163 BC and 37
BC. This agrees with the start of the first sabbatical year as deduced from the
Bible by Ussher of 1445 BC and the resulting cycles. If you start to delete
years (unless they are a multiple of 7 for the sabbatic cycle) from the Divided
Kingdom, you can no longer make the sabbatic cycle agree with the observations
of Josephus. Ussher noted some very interesting Jubilee years in history:
a) When Solomon finished the temple in the eighth month (about November) of 1005
BC, he waited until the seventh month (about October) of the following year to
dedicate this multi-billion dollar building — the seventh month of 1004 BC was
the start of a Jubilee.
b) The seventh month of the same year of Hezekiah's deliverance from the
Assyrians in 710 BC, was the start of a Jubilee.
c) The Jubilee year in 563/562 BC marked the year when Nebuchadnezzar was freed
from his insanity and Jeconiah was freed from his imprisonment.
d) The last Jubilee in biblical history heralded the start of the ministry of
John the Baptist in the fall of 26 AD.
The last three relationships are lost if one follows the Assyrian Academy's
reconstruction of biblical history. Space does not permit me to go into greater
detail on this, except to note that not one of the conjectured reconstructions
of the Divided Kingdom by the Assyrian Academy, agrees with the sabbatic cycles
and they do not even mention the subject! Ussher's reconstruction agrees
perfectly.
Conclusion:
Enough has been said to show the following:
a) Interregnums were relatively common during this period of history and to
arbitrarily exclude them based on preconceived notions is unjustified.
b) In dealing with the first interregnum in Israel, we have shown that you
cannot eliminate it without severely undermining the obvious meaning of the text
in at least five places!
c) The Assyrian data used to eliminate the interregnums in Israel is in itself
highly suspect.
d) No one could point to any error in my article on the Divided Kingdom that
required one date to change. This is not surprising since the errors noted were
mainly obscure spelling errors — blunders according to Dr. McFall! — and that
in itself undermines their position.
This is a whole new area for creationists to explore and reclaim back from the
secular scholars. Dr. Floyd Jones's ground-breaking work, Chronology of the Old
Testament, has opened the way for further research. His work is available from
AiG for those who are really serious about the farce some scholars have made of
the biblical history by their Assyrian conjectures. Dr. Jones's work contains a
much fuller treatment of the points raised in these letters plus many other
issues dealing with biblical history.
References:
1. Dr. Floyd Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament (The Woodlands, TX:
KingsWord Press, 1999), p. 159–160.
2. E.W. Faulstich, History, Harmony & the Hebrew Kings (Spencer, IA:
Chronology Books, 1986), p. 144. See p. 143–157 where he details his thesis.
3. David Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Vol. 1, sec.
626 (New York, NY: Greenwood Press, 1968), p. 157.
4. Ibid., p. 232.
Appendix F: MAPS
Ionia and Western Asia Minor
Reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Loeb Classical Library,
HERODOTUS: THE PERSIAN WARS, Books I-II, Loeb Classical Library Volume L117,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1920. The Loeb Classical Library ®
is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Thrace and the Euxine
Reprinted by permissions of the publishers and the Loeb Classical Library,
AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, Books XX-XXVI, Loeb Classical Library Volume L315,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1940. The Loeb Classical Library ®
is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Conquests of Alexander
Reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Loeb Classical Library,
DIODORUS SICULUS: LIBRARY OF HISTORY, Books XVI.66-XVII, Loeb Classical Library
Volume L422, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963. The Loeb
Classical Library ® is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of
Harvard College.
Sicily and Greece
Reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Loeb Classical Library,
DIODORUS SICULUS: LIBRARY OF HISTORY, Books XVI.66-XVII, Loeb Classical Library
Volume L422, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963. The Loeb
Classical Library ® is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of
Harvard College.
Appendix G: The Seder Olam Rabbah —Why Jewish Dating Is Different
The Seder Olam Rabbah1 or the Book of the Order of the World was compiled by
Rabbi Yose ben Halafta (died 160 AD), and is to this day the traditional Jewish
chronology.2 From this ancient work, the Jewish people reckon the current year
(2003 AD) as 5763 and understand it to be the number of years since the
creation.
At the time the Seder Olam was compiled, the Jews generally dated their years
from 312 BC—the beginning of the Seleucid era. For the next few centuries, the
Seder Olam was of interest exclusively to only students of the Talmud.3
When the centre of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe during the 8th and
9th centuries AD, calculations from the Seleucid era became meaningless. Over
those centuries, it was replaced by that of the anno mundi era (AM = "from the
creation of the world") of the Seder Olam. From the 11th century, anno mundi
dating became dominant throughout most of the world's Jewish communities.4
As Old Testament Scripture is the basis for Seder Olam dating, we would suppose
the Jewish chronology to be similar to that of Ussher's and thus expect them to
place the creation date around 6,000 years ago. Yet rather than 4004 BC, the
Seder Olam places creation at 3761. The question thus becomes: On what basis do
the Jews number their years such that a 243-year shortfall occurs?
The Missing Years:5
1. From the creation to the birth of Abraham
Ussher
2008 years
4004–1491 BC
Seder Olam
1948 years
3761–1811 BC
(exclusive reckoning)
shortfall — 5 years
Terah was 130 years old rather than 70 when Abraham was born (Ge 11:26; but cf.
Ge 11:32 12:4 where 205-75 = 130). Thus, the first deficit is about 60 years.
2. From the birth of Abraham to the Exodus
Ussher
505 years
1996–1491 BC
Seder Olam
500 years
1811–1311 BC
shortfall — 5 years
Abraham was 75 years old when the covenant was made; {Ge 12:4} the Exodus was
430 years later. {Ga 3:17 Ex 12:40-41} Without New Testament revelation for
clarification, the Seder Olam reckons five fewer years. The shortfall now
totals 65 years.
3. From the exodus to the laying of the temple foundation {1Ki 6:1}
Ussher
480 years
1491–1012 BC
(inclusive reckoning)
Seder Olam
480 years
1311–831 BC
shortfall — 0 years
As there is no difference, the total shortfall remains at 65 years.
4. From the foundation of the first temple to the consecration of the second
temple
Ussher
497 years
1012–515 BC
Seder Olam
480 years
831–351 BC
shortfall — 17 years
Differing decisions in placing the dates of the kings of Israel with respect to
the kings of Judah during the period of the divided monarchy account for these
17 years.
Thus far, the Seder Olam reckons 82 (65 + 17) fewer years over a 3,489 year span
(4004–515) from creation to the consecration of the second temple—of which the
major part concerns the age of Terah at Abraham's birth.
5. From the consecration of the second temple to its destruction by Titus of
Rome
Ussher
584 years
515 BC–70 AD
Seder Olam
480 years
351 BC – 70 AD
shortfall — 164 years
Here we see the main source of the discrepancy found in the Seder Olam's shorter
chronology. Its 420 years are divided into spans of 34, 180, 103, and 103 years
of successive foreign rule over Israel. As shown in that which follows, it is
remarkable that the 164-year disparity is almost entirely from within (a; see
below), the first or Persian period. The remaining three periods closely
approximate that of the standard chronology.6
a) 34 years (351–317 BC) for the remainder of the Persian rule over Israel: from
the dedication of the second temple to Ptolemy I Soter's invasion of Jerusalem
(Ptolemy I was one of Alexander the Great's favourite generals—also called Soter
or Saviour, 367?–283 BC. After Alexander's death in 323, he seized Egypt as his
share of the divided Greek empire and assumed the title "King of Egypt").
b) 180 years (317–137 BC) for the Grecian rule: from Ptolemy's invasion to the
times when Simon the Maccabean became ruler in Israel and Rome recognized the
independence of the Jewish state.
c) 103 years (137–34 BC) for the rule of the Hasmonean (Maccabean) family in
Israel: from Simon to the beginning of the reign of Herod the Great.
d) 103 years (34 BC–70 AD) for the Herodian rule until the destruction of the
temple.
There is some discrepancy with the standard dates in the later three periods (b,
c, & d). The standard date for Alexander's defeat of Darius is 331 BC rather
than the Seder Olam's 321. It gives Simon's rule as beginning in 142 BC (not
137) and Herod's in 37 BC (not 34).7
But what are we to understand from (a) where the Seder Olam allows only 34 years
for the remainder of the Persian period? Indeed, by Seder Olam reckoning there
are only 30 years from the dedication of the second temple to Darius' defeat at
the hands of Alexander in 321 BC and merely four years after that unto
Jerusalem's capture by Ptolemy following Alexander's death.
Moreover, here the two systems exhibit a striking contrast. The Ptolemaic
chronology lists eight Persian kings from Darius I Hystaspes to Darius III
Codomannus, the king whom Alexander overcame. However, the Seder Olam
identifies the Darius who was reigning during the dedication of the second
temple as the same Darius that Alexander defeated.8
Recording only five Persian monarchs, the Seder Olam gives the following
chronology for its 52/53-year depiction of Persian history:
1. Darius the Mede reigns 1 year
3389–3390 AM (374–373 BC)
Babylon conquered
Daniel in the lions den
2. Cyrus reigns 3 years
3390–3392 AM (373–371 BC, inclusive)
The Jews return
Second temple construction begins
3. Artaxerxes (Cambyses) reigns one-half year
3393 AM (370 BC)
Temple construction halted
4. Ahasuerus reigns 14 years
3393–3407 AM (370–356 BC)
Esther chosen Queen
Esther bears Darius the Persian
5. Darius the Persian reigns 35 years
3407–3442 AM (356 BC)
Temple construction resumes — 3408 AM (355 BC)
Second temple dedicated — 3412 AM (355 BC)
Ezra comes to Jerusalem — 3413 AM (350 BC)
Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem — 3426 AM (337 BC)
Darius defeated by Alexander — 3442 AM (321 BC)
Thus, the Seder Olam depicts the Kingdom of Persia as lasting a mere 53 years
from 374 to 321 BC, rather than about 207 years (538-331 BC).9
Over the centuries, orthodox rabbis have differed somewhat in their listing of
the Persian kings, but they generally have not departed from the 52/53-year
parameter established within the Seder Olam.10
The result of this shorting of the span of the Persian Empire is that the
paramount prophecy and major foundation block of chronology—the Daniel 9:25
seventy weeks of years—has become dislodged. Furthermore, this shorting as
perpetuated within the Seder Olam is deliberate!
While not openly admitting this, present day Jewish scholars acknowledge that
there is something enigmatic about the Seder Olam's dating. For example, after
stating that the commonly received dates in the Ptolemaic chronology "can hardly
be doubted," Rabbi Simon Schwab nevertheless goes on to uphold his own
tradition:11
"It should have been possible that our Sages—for some unknown reason—had
'covered up' a certain historic period and purposely eliminated and suppressed
all records and other material pertaining thereto. If so, what might have been
their compelling reason for so unusual a procedure? Nothing short of a Divine
command could have prompted ...those saintly 'men of truth' to leave out
completely from our annals a period of 165 years and to correct all data and
historic tables in such a fashion that the subsequent chronological gap could
escape being noticed by countless generations, known to a few initiates only who
were duty-bound to keep the secret to themselves." (emphasis Schwab's)
This is an astonishing proposal! Schwab, along with other Jewish commentators,
further suggests that the reason God directed the sages of the 2nd century AD to
become involved in falsifying the data was to confuse anyone who might try to
use the prophecies of Daniel to predict the time of the Messiah's coming.
This was supposedly done to honour Da 12:4: "shut up the words, and seal the
book, even to the time of the end." He adds that the reason the sages had
adopted the non-Jewish Seleucid Era calendar was part of the scheme to do just
that—to close up the words and seal the book of Daniel.12 Schwab also states
that if the 165 years were included it would reveal, "we are much closer to the
end of the 6th Millennium than we had surmised''13 (Schwab mentions this date as
the time when many rabbis expect Messiah to come.).
But can any sincere reader accept such a flimsy reason as justification for
distorting history? It actually accuses God himself of perpetrating a dishonest
deception.
Indeed, it is manifestly apparent that the real reasons for the deliberate
altering of their own national chronology in the Seder Olam were: (1) to conceal
the fact that the Da 9:25 prophecy clearly pointed to Jesus of Nazareth as its
fulfilment and therefore the long awaited Messiah, and (2) to make that seventy
week of years prophecy point instead to Simon Bar Kokhba!
Rabbis in the century immediately following Christ Jesus had a tremendous
problem with so direct a prophecy as Da 9:24–27. This chapter speaks of
Messiah's appearing 69 "weeks" (i.e., 69 sevens) or 483 years after the going
forth of a commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. This 538 BC prophecy
{Da 9:1} unmistakably points to the start of the ministry of Jesus Christ in 29
AD.
Such must either be acknowledged and his person accepted or completely erased
from Jewish consciousness. The latter could be accomplished if the 69 (or 70)
weeks of years could somehow be made to apply to the century after the life of
Christ. Then it would be possible for the rabbis to point to another messiah
who, as circumstances would have it, was cut off in death some 100 years after
the crucifixion of our Lord.14
The 10th day of the month Ab (c. mid-August) is a great day of sorrow to
Israel. On this day in 588 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Solomon's Temple.
Further, the second temple was laid waste by the Romans under Titus on the same
day in 70 AD. And on this very day in 135 AD, at the conclusion of a 31/2 -year
revolt, the Romans crushed the army of the "messianic" Simon Bar Kokhba (also
spelled "Cocheba").
Bar Kokhba had been declared the long-awaited Messiah by the foremost Jewish
scholar of that day, the highly venerated Rabbi Akiva (Akiba) ben Joseph. In
130 AD, Emperor Hadrian of Rome declared his intention to raise a shrine to
Jupiter on the site of the temple,15 and in 131 he issued a decree forbidding
circumcision as well as public instruction in the Jewish law.16 Having preached
peace all his life, the 90-year-old Akiva gave his blessing to the revolution by
proclaiming that Bar Kokhba was the "star out of Jacob" and the "sceptre out of
Israel." {Nu 24:17}17
In his 98th year, Akiva was eventually imprisoned and condemned to death by the
Romans.18 Among the many accolades heaped upon Akiva, that which elevated him as
a pre-eminent authority, was the acknowledging of him as "the father of the
Mishnah."19 Such prominence gave great weight to the messianic expectancy Akiva
placed upon Bar Kokhba.
Akiva's students became some of the most prominent sages of the following
generation. Among these was Yose (Josi) ben Halafta. Akiva's influence on
Halafta is apparent from a statement made concerning his education; it was
merely said that Rabbi Akiva had been his teacher.20 As his mentor, Akiva's
regard for Bar Kokhba would have been thoroughly imbedded in Yose.21
The preceding overview explains why the Seder Olam is held in such veneration
and why the Jews still use it for their national dating. Yet the fact remains
that it is a dishonest attempt to conceal the truth with regard to the Da
9:24–27 prophecy.
By removing the 164 (or 165) years from the duration of the Persian Empire,
Rabbi Halafta was able to make the 483 year Da 9:24–27 prophecy fall reasonably
close to the years prior to the 132 AD revolt during which Bar Kokhba rose to
prominence as Israel's military and economic leader.22 Then with Akiva
proclaiming, "This is the King Messiah"23 followed by "all the contemporary
sages regarded him as the King Messiah,"24 the Jewish populace united around
this false hope.
Dio Cassius states that the whole of Judea was in revolt. To quell the
rebellion, Hadrian dispatched Julius Severus, his ablest general, from Britain.
The Romans destroyed 985 towns in Palestine and slew 580,000 men. A still
larger number perished through starvation, disease, and fire. All Judah was
laid waste, and Bar Kokhba himself fell while defending Bethar.25
Even more astonishing is that "even in later generations, despite the
disappointment engendered by his defeat, his image persisted as the embodiment
of messianic hopes."26 Indeed, the consistent verdict of Jewish historians is:
"The most important historical messianic figure was surely Bar Kokhba."27
Yose ben Halafta28 and his fellow compilers of the Seder Olam sought to
terminate the 69 "weeks of years" as close to the 132 AD revolt as possible, but
they were limited as to where they could make the "cuts." As the chronology of
the Seleucid era onward was firmly fixed among the Jews, years could not be
pared from their history after 312 BC.
Since the Da 9:24–27 prophecy dealt with a decree that was biblically and
historically issued by a Persian monarch, this left only the Persian period of
history for them to exploit. The Persians had been so hated by the Greeks and
later by the Moslems that these two conquerors destroyed nearly all of the
Persian records. This has created great difficulty in recovering their sequence
of kings, the length of their reigns, and thereby their chronology. Thus, the
Persian period was readily vulnerable to manipulation.29
This author offers the conclusions given herein as the only reasonable, logical
deductions that can be drawn from the historical and biblical facts.
Floyd Nolen Jones, Th. D., Ph. D., 2003 AD, minor editing by Larry Pierce
References:
1. The Seder Olam is divided into three parts, each consisting of ten
chapters (called tractates). Part One gives the dates of major events
from the creation to the crossing of the Jordan River under Joshua's
command. Part Two extends from the Jordan crossing to the murder of
Zachariah, King of Israel. {2Ki 15:10} Chapters 21–27 of Part Three
extend to Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of the temple, and chapter 28 to
the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. Chapter 29 and the first part of 30
cover the Persian period. The remainder of chapter 30 contains a
summary of events from the conquest of Persia by Alexander to the 132 AD
Bar Kokhba (also spelled "Cocheba") revolt during the reign of Hadrian
(AD 76–138). Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing
House, Ltd., 1971), Vol. 14, "Seder Olam Rabbah," p. 1091–1092.
2. Jack Moorman, Bible Chronology: The Two Great Divides (Collingswood, NJ:
Bible For Today Press, 1999), p. 10–15. Moorman's research was a primary
source for this exposé.
3. Encyclopedia Judaica, "Seder Olam Rabbah." p. 1092.
4. Ibid.
5. Not having access to Seder Olam for this exposé, the numbers are those
recorded by Moorman. As his source occasionally reckoned exclusively or
inclusively, so did he. Most Jewish dates may be confirmed in Jack Finegan,
Handbook of Biblical Chronology (Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998), p.
130.
6. Moorman, Bible Chronology: The Two Great Divides, p. 12.
7. Ibid.
8. Martin Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology (London: Marshall Bros.,
1913), p. 23–24.
9. Moorman, Bible Chronology: The Two Great Divides, p. 12.
10. Ibid. p. 13.
11. Simon Schwab, Dr. Joseph Breuer Jubilee Volume, "Comparative Jewish
Chronology" (New York, NY: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Publications Society,
Philipp Felheim Inc., 1962), p. 188.
12. Shimon Schwab, Selected Speeches: A Collection of Addresses and Essays on
Hashkafah, Contemporary Issues and Jewish History, "Comparative Jewish
Chronology" (Lakewood, NJ: CIS Pub., 1991), p. 270–272.
13. Schwab, Dr. Joseph Breuer Jubilee Volume, p. 190–191.
14. Of course no such admission by any of the Jewish sages can be cited, but
the facts are obvious.
15. Dio Cassius, Roman History, Vol. VIII, Loeb (2000), Bk. 69, p. 447.
16. Will Durant, The Story of Civilization. Caesar and Christ, Volume 3 (New
York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1944), p. 548.
17. Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 2, "Akiva," p. 489.
18. Durant, The Story of Civilization. Caesar and Christ, p. 548–549.
19. Akiva made a preliminary gathering and formulation of the material for the
six orders (containing 63 chapters or tractates) of that religious code which
was the heart of the Talmud. Near the end of the 2nd century, Judah ha-Nasi
completed the work. Moorman, Bible Chronology: The Two Great Divides, p. 14.
20. Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 16, "Yose ben Halafta." p. 852.
21. Ibid. p. 853. Yose ben Halaft's own influence may be seen in that some
of his writings were included in Judah ha-Nasi's final editing of the Mishnah,
and his name is mentioned in 59 of its 63 tractates. Though referred to in the
Mishnah and Talmud, Halafta's Seder Olam is not a formal part of that work.
Nevertheless, it is a work of Talmudic authority, and to openly contradict it
would be unthinkable to orthodox Jews. As Rabbi Schwab stated: "...our
traditional chronology is based on Seder Olam because of the authority of its
author. It is therefore quite inconceivable that any post-Talmudic teacher
could possible 'reject' those chronological calculations which have been the
subject of many a Talmudic discussion." (Schwab, Dr. Joseph Breuer Jubilee
Volume, p. 186). Thus it is that the Seder Olam is held in such high esteem
and is still used by the Jews for their national dating.
22. Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 4, "Bar Kokhba," p. 230.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid., p. 231.
25. Dio Cassius, Roman History, Vol. VIII, Bk. 69, p. 449–450; Durant, Caesar
and Christ, p. 548.
26. Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 4, "Bar Kokhba," p. 231.
27. Ibid., Vol. 11, "Messiah," p. 1410.
28. Not only do the Jews venerate Jose because the Seder Olam had its origin in
his school, he is regarded with a near superstitious reverence. This may be
seen in that it was said: "that he was worthy of having the prophet Elijah
reveal himself to him regularly in order to teach him." Encyclopedia Judaica,
Vol. 16, "Yose ben Halafta," p. 853.
29. Yet despite all that has been said concerning the Jews veneration for Jose,
the Encyclopedia Judaica forthrightly admits: "The most significant confusion in
Jose's calculation is the compression of the Persian period, from the rebuilding
of the temple by Zerubbabel in 516 BC to the conquest of Persia by Alexander, to
no more than 34 years" (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 14, "Seder Olam Rabbah," p.
1092).
Appendix H: Archaeology and the Bible
by Phillip Climer
The December 18, 1995, issue of Time magazine had as its cover story, "Is the
Bible Fact or Fiction? Archaeologists in the Holy Land are shedding new light
on what did — and did not — occur in the greatest stories ever told." The
article describes recent archaeological finds in Israel and surrounding areas,
and then categorizes public and scholarly reaction to these finds into three
main groupings: "Jewish and Christian ultraconservatives," who do not believe
any part of the Bible is fiction; "atheists," who want to debunk the whole
Bible; and "the moderate majority," who want to be sure that the Bible is
scientifically "grounded in truth."
As Christians we fall into what Time calls the "ultraconservative" group. We
believe that the Bible is infallible not only in spiritual matters, but also in
accounts with historical and geographical content.
When archaeologists excavate biblical lands and, based on their findings, reach
conclusions that differ with the historical account of Scripture, how should a
Christian respond? To say that we accept the Word of God by faith, whatever the
claims of archaeology or any other branch of science, is the correct reply.
However, making that statement without any further explanation may sound as
though we are pitting blind irrational faith against rational scientific
research. This essay is intended to demonstrate that while the science of
archaeology may be reasonable, it is not truthful; and a faith that provides
truth is much to be preferred over a research program that does not.
Of the other two groups mentioned in the magazine article, we can easily
understand the "atheists." We accept the Bible as true; they reject it. As Time
points out, even when archaeology supports a biblical narrative, the atheists
are likely to reject both Scripture and science. Their position is one of faith
as much as is ours; it is just that the object of their faith is their own
ideas. But what is one to make of the third category, the "moderate majority"?
Many Evangelicals fall into this category, for they are delighted whenever an
archaeological find supports a part of Scripture, or as Time says, "strengthens
the Bible's claim to historical accuracy." But if a supportive archaeologist
enhances Scripture's claim to accuracy, does a scientific detractor weaken the
Bible's claim to truth? And if Christians accept only those archaeological
findings that they agree with, can they not be justly accused of being childish
in their refusal to face up to disagreeable facts?
The whole unfortunate enterprise of trying to verify the claims of Scripture
with the findings of archaeology rests on a conflict between the science of
archaeology and the Christian faith on the question, "What is truth?" To focus
on this dispute, let us confront the claims of archaeology with the simple
question, "How do you know?" The answer to this one question reveals the
principles upon which are based all claims to knowledge and truth by any
science, philosophy, or religion.
To begin with, we must know what the science of archaeology is, and the type of
claims it makes. Secondly, we must compare and contrast archaeological
information and biblical truth. Finally, against this background, let us review
the conflict that Time calls "fact vs. faith."
Archaeological Information
Archaeology is "the scientific study of extinct peoples through skeletal
remains, fossils, and objects of human workmanship (as implements, artifacts,
monuments, or inscriptions) found in the earth" (Webster's Third International
Dictionary of the English Language, 1981). Archaeologists excavate and sift
through the remains of ancient civilizations and then try to piece together
their findings into a coherent picture of how the people of that society lived,
and how its institutions functioned.
Perhaps the most important artifact that any civilization leaves behind is its
body of literature. Many societies in the ancient Middle East left their
writings in stone (the hieroglyphs of Egypt) or on soft clay tablets that
hardened into stone over time (the Babylonians and Assyrians). The ancient
Hebrews apparently used paper or possibly animal skins. Since these materials
decompose, documents written on them had to be recopied time and again.
Archaeologists generally accept hieroglyphs and clay tablets as being more
accurate than paper manuscripts, since the former are more likely to be the
original writings. There is obviously much less room for error or editing in a
document carved on stone than on a manuscript copy several times removed from
the original.
The Time article gives several examples of archaeologists rejecting biblical
manuscripts in favour of their own theories based on other artifacts. The Book
of Joshua, chapter 6, records the destruction of the walls of Jericho, allowing
the Israelites under the leadership of Joshua to conquer the city. Time tells
us that after extensive excavations at the site of ancient Jericho,
archaeologists have determined that the location was abandoned between about
1500–1100 BC. According to them, no walled cities existed during this time in
this area of Canaan. Conservative biblical scholars and archaeologists also
disagree on the date of the Israelite entrance into Canaan, but they both agree
that it falls well within the time range mentioned above. Given this
chronology, modern archaeology concludes that the Hebrews moved onto vacant or
sparsely populated land. This thinking allows no walls to come tumbling down,
and no city to conquer. The sceptics also doubt that Joshua even existed.
Without a battle, who needs a general? Now let us ask the test question: How do
they know that Jericho and its walls did not exist during this time period?
Just as our society paves over old streets and erects new buildings over the
remains of old foundations, so ancient civilizations built towns and cities over
the debris of earlier structures. When archaeologists excavate a site they
divide it into different levels, each level or layer corresponding to a defined
era of human habitation or abandonment. The methods by which a date for a
particular level is determined are quite involved, and a detailed explanation of
them is beyond the scope of this essay.
To gain some idea of what is involved, consider a future archaeologist
excavating our civilization and finding only ceramic dishes up to a certain
level. Above that level, he finds plastic and ceramic dishes. Suppose he also
finds some sort of preserved calendar dated "1950" with the plastic dishes. He
now has his dating "key": the calendar and the plastic dishes. This key tells
him that at his initial site plastic dishes were not in use before 1950. If he
encounters plastic dishes at any other site, he assumes that the level in which
he finds them was inhabited in 1950 or later. At Jericho, the scientists found
some sort of artifacts (probably pottery) at a certain level that allowed them
to date that level at 1500–1100 BC, based upon their "key" with similar
artifacts at other excavations. This particular level did not contain the
foundations or remains of any city walls, buildings, or other structures that
would indicate a city. How to explain this discrepancy with the biblical
account? The earliest extant manuscript of the Book of Joshua dates from a
period hundreds of years after the events described in the book. Sceptics
theorize that such a manuscript, in being recopied from a decaying original,
could have been altered by a zealous scribe, seeking to glorify his God and the
history of his nation by inventing a battle that never occurred and a leader who
never existed.
The archaeologists who excavated Jericho published their theory. These findings
were debated and ultimately accepted by most of the archaeological community.
Unless and until some new evidence comes along, the modern science of
archaeology has determined that the Israelite conquest of Canaan as described in
the Book of Joshua is not factual. Specifically, Joshua did not fight the
battle of Jericho. This is an archaeological "truth," or more accurately, a
testing by archaeological research methods of a biblical story, and the Bible
fails the test.
Conservative biblical scholars disagree, but their objections are tainted,
because they are trying to prove the Bible, instead of looking at it objectively
— or so the scientists say. Now if religious bias is the problem, perhaps we
could demonstrate the objectivity of archaeology in the reconstruction of
ancient civilizations by examining a site that has no religious significance
today, but one that has been widely excavated by numerous scientists. In such a
case, there would be no believers to muddy the waters for the clear-thinking
scientists. There are many such sites; perhaps the most famous is Troy.
Searching for Troy
In approximately 800 BC, a blind Greek poet named Homer composed the first (and
arguably the greatest) poem of European literature: The Iliad. This epic work
tells of a great war fought approximately 400 years earlier, between a number of
Greek city-states and the rich and powerful city of Troy, on the coast of Asia
Minor (modern-day Turkey). Perhaps the reader recalls some of the particulars
of this story. Helen, queen of Sparta, was carried off to Troy by Paris, a
prince of the Trojan royal family. Outraged, a number of Greek cities combined
forces, sailed to Troy, and besieged the city for ten long years. They were not
able to breach the massive walls of Troy, so finally they resorted to
subterfuge. By means of a giant hollow wooden idol, the famed Trojan horse, the
Greeks infiltrated Troy. The gates were thrown open, and the city was lost.
Those Trojans not killed were enslaved, and Troy itself was burned and
demolished. The victorious Greeks sailed home with the beautiful Helen, the
cause of it all, "the face that launched a thousand ships."
Since Roman times scholars have debated The Iliad: Does it describe a real war,
or is it just a myth? If there was such a war, how accurate is Homer's telling
of it? In the 1850s, modern archaeology took up the debate. For the last 140
years, team after team of scientists has excavated a now-deserted site on the
coast of Turkey. Their very impressive and voluminous findings were reviewed by
a recent documentary series on public television, "In Search of the Trojan War."
According to this program, the site suspected to contain the ruins of Troy was
continuously occupied by humans for over 5,000 years. It contains 50 separate
levels. Nine of these levels show the characteristics of true cities, that is,
walls, palaces, etc. Nine of the levels also show signs of violent destruction,
either by warfare or natural disaster, such as earthquakes.
What of Homer's Troy? Which level, if any, matches the magnificent city of The
Iliad? Did the Trojan War really happen? Almost a century and a half of modern
scientific investigation, without any religious interference or bias, has
yielded a new answer for each new investigator. The archaeological "truth"
about Troy changes with each generation of archaeologists. The original
excavator "proved" that The Iliad was as accurate as Christians believe the
Bible to be. A later archaeological team threw out most of his conclusions and
"proved" that Homer exaggerated greatly, if he told the truth at all. A
subsequent generation of diggers "proved" that an earthquake largely destroyed
Troy, and that pirates finished the job. And so on. The only points on which
all the experts agree are that the site was inhabited for thousands of years,
and it is now abandoned. But what of the sophisticated techniques for dating
artifacts and levels of occupation? Each artifact was precisely catalogued by
the team that found it. Each highly trained archaeologist looked at those
catalogued findings, possibly made some excavations of his own, and then came up
with a different interpretation to explain how all those artifacts got there.
The narrator of the documentary series takes us through these diverse theories
in six hours of analysis. At the end, he makes this startling observation on
the archaeological search for truth about the Trojan war: "There can never be a
final word, only a new interpretation by each generation in terms of its own
dreams and needs." This is the "proof," the "knowledge," and the "truth" that
modern archaeology gives us: "never a final word, only a new interpretation...."
Ever Learning...Never Able...
Returning to archaeological excavations in the lands of the Bible, let us review
the case of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. The current secular view is that
no battle took place there, and no walls existed. The proof is in the pottery,
so to speak. But the final archaeological word is not in, and it never will
come in. This is not the conclusion of a religious fanatic defending Scripture;
this is a limitation of the method of the science of archaeology, as
demonstrated in the search for Troy.
The sceptic may think that we are playing with words in reaching this
conclusion. Perhaps he would say that the present theory of "no walls at
Jericho" is substantially true, and that later excavations in the area will
"fine tune" it. The sceptic would be wrong. In archaeology, any theory, no
matter how well established, can be turned on its head by the next shovelful of
dirt at the next dig. The Time article provides us with just such an example.
Many secular archaeologists questioned the existence of King David, because
there are no records of him, dating from the time of his rule (traditional dates
1025–985 BC). As with Joshua and the conquest of Canaan, these scientists
speculate that the legend of David may have been added by a scribe recopying
documents at a much later date, trying to "improve" the history of Israel. But
in modern Israel in 1993 an inscription in stone dating from about 900 BC was
found containing the phrases "House of David," and "King of Israel." That one
inscription was enough to turn sceptical opinion around: Now archaeologists
generally accept that David really existed.
A monument and inscription from 1200 BC commemorating Joshua's victory at the
mighty walls of Jericho would similarly turn the archaeological world's theory
of the Hebrew conquest of Canaan on its head. Does such a monument exist? Who
can say? But it is certainly true that the archaeological "truth" about Joshua
and Jericho will not be the same 50 years from now as it is today, or as it was
50 years ago.
The reader may question the phrasing in saying that the truth of a past event is
going to change every 50 years. How does the truth of the past change?
Obviously, it never does. We have an account in writing of Joshua and the
Israelites conquering the walled city of Jericho. Now that event either took
place or it did not take place. The same can be said for any event for which we
have record. The Greeks sailed to Troy to get Helen, or they did not. The
theorizing of modern-day archaeologists does not change a jot or tittle of
history, because it is already past; it is out of their grasp; they can never
re-live or recall those events. Even if an archaeologist constructed a
hypothesis that was absolutely accurate in explaining the Trojan War or Joshua
and the battle of Jericho, no one could ever know it was absolutely accurate,
because no one can go back in time and test the hypothesis against reality.
This may all seem very basic, but it demonstrates that archaeological research
fails to give us historical truth not just occasionally, but consistently. No
hypothesis of history based upon archaeological research has ever or can ever be
shown to be true. The theories will continue to pour out of the minds of
archaeologists, but none of them will ever be proved, either. Naturally this
conclusion includes written records, also. We do not know if those
indestructible clay tablets of the Assyrians or Hittites are true or not, and we
never will. The same can be said for the Egyptian hieroglyphs and even for our
friend Homer. He tells a wonderful story, but we will know if Achilles and
Hector fought outside the walls of golden Troy only when we get a word from God
on the subject.
Biblical Truth
Scientifically, we do not know if the Bible is true, and we never will. That,
of course, does not derogate from the truth or authority of Scripture, for two
reasons: Scripture is self-authenticating; and science cannot prove anything
true.
Scripture teaches that from eternity past, God predetermined everything,
everyone, every action, and every moment. By his Spirit and his Word he
executed his eternal plan and brought the universe and time itself into
existence. Since he is creator of all, including time, he stands outside of it
and is therefore unchanging. When he inspired the prophets and apostles to
write down that portion of his eternal plan which he chose to reveal to us, he
directed them to write his unchanging Word describing his unchanging plan. When
it comes to the past, how could anyone possibly imagine a more authoritative
history than the Word of the one who determined that history and then brought it
to pass?
Revisiting Joshua and Jericho one last time, let us pose the same question to
the biblical narrative that we did to the archaeological theory. How do we know
that the scriptural account of the battle of Jericho is true? Because the Bible
says so. No hypotheses here, no guesses, just truth, from the God of truth, who
not only infallibly knows the events at Jericho, but also predetermined them and
brought them to pass. To doubt the veracity of any historical event in
Scripture is to doubt the very nature of God himself.
The "moderate majority" will discount the previous argument as an evasion,
circular reasoning, irrationalism, and double-talk. It is simply wrong, say
they, to believe that the Bible speaks truthfully on historical matters because
it says it does. The Bible itself must be checked, or "verified." But by what
can Scripture be corrected? What is the standard the moderates use to judge the
Bible? Archaeological methods of research can provide us with mountains of
information about — or at least mountains of — pottery and spears used in
ancient Israel, and we should respect that information, and the scientists who
work so diligently to extract and study the artifacts they find. But any theory
they devise concerning any part of biblical history is by the nature of their
own inductive method tentative and inconclusive. One cannot verify any
narrative with a worse theory. The "moderate majority" cannot legitimately test
biblical history with scientific methodology, and since there currently are no
other possibilities with which to verify it, they must either receive the
scriptural narrative in faith or reject it for no good reason.
The reader may wonder why this discussion of archaeology and the Bible has been
limited to the Old Testament, and why the subject of miracles has not been
considered more extensively. Aside from time and space constraints, there are
two main reasons: The New Testament manuscripts are now generally accepted, even
among sceptics. (A few generations ago they were not accepted as genuine, but
someone came up with a new theory and now they are.) The sceptics do not believe
what the manuscripts say, but they do, at least for the moment, accept them as
dating from the apostolic age. Second, archaeological methods of research
cannot give us a true theory of any event that is not a miracle. Given that
failure, how can archaeologists even begin to comment with any credibility upon
Bible history that contains many miracles, such as the Gospels?
"Fact vs. Faith"
The notion of "fact vs. faith," as Time put it, now can be seen in all of its
absurdity. To test any scriptural historical account by means of any theory of
archaeology is to test that which cannot be false by means of that which cannot
be true. It is the height of absurdity.
The Bible is the only means by which God reveals his plan of redemption to his
people. As such, it is primarily concerned with spiritual matters, and when we
read it we should also be primarily concerned with the spiritual knowledge it
contains. But the great drama of redemption is being played out upon the stage
of the visible universe and history. We cannot fully appreciate the scope and
grandeur of God's plan of salvation if we neglect the platform upon which it is
presented. We must not take lightly the denial of the accuracy of biblical
history by modern archaeology. If we do not proclaim the truth about Joshua and
Jericho and King David or any other historical narrative in Scripture, we are
guilty of not proclaiming "the whole counsel of God." We are in a battle for
truth, and we must look to God for patience and courage to see our way through
it.
When the youthful David visited his brothers on the battlefield, he heard
Goliath taunting Israel. He was outraged, asking, "Who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" {1Sa 17:26} David
immediately volunteered to face Goliath in combat, and he slew that blasphemer.
David had to battle the enemies of Israel militarily. Our war with the enemies
of Christ is spiritual and intellectual in nature, but it is just as real, and
even more deadly. As Christians, our posture should be one of righteous
indignation against the giant of sceptical archaeology that slurs the truth of
the Word of Almighty God. Who are these archaeologists who think they can
disprove Scripture with a piece of broken pottery dug out of the mud? Who are
the "moderate majority" who dare tell us what parts of the Bible are
"reasonable" to believe? Let us be as eager to confront the giant of
archaeology as David was to confront the Philistine champion. In the struggle
between the eternal Word of God and secular theories, we know by revelation that
God will crush all anti-Christian arguments and imaginations under our feet.
"Is not my word like fire?" says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the
rock in pieces? {Jer 23:29}
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Phillip Climer is a free-lance writer living in California.
This article was first published by the Trinity Review, number 170, April 1999.
Used by permission. Copyright (c) 1999, John W. Robbins, P. O. Box 68, Unicoi,
Tennessee, 37692. Tel: (423) 743-0199.