pected from him, as he had voluntarily submitted himself, and put on the chains of the Romans with his own hands.

These motives had made a great impression on Prusias, but the letters he received at the same time from Scipio the consul and his brother, contributed very much to remove his fears and suspicions. The latter represented to him, that it was the constant practice of the Romans to bestow the greatest honours on such kings as sought their alliance; and he mentioned several examples of that kind in which he himself had been concerned. He said, that in Spain several princes, who before they were favoured with the protection of the Romans, had made a very inconsiderable figure, were since become great kings: that Massinissa had not only been restored to his kingdom, but that the dominions of Syphax had been given to him, whereby he was become one of the most powerful potentates of the universe: that Philip and Nabis, though vanquished by Quintius, had nevertheless been suffered to sit peaceably on their thrones: that, the year before, the tribute which Philip had agreed to pay, was remitted, and his son, who was an hostage in Rome, sent back to him: that as to Nabis, he would have been on the throne at that time, had he not lost his life by the treachery of the Ætolians.

The arrival of Livius, who had commanded the fleet, and whom the Romans had sent as their ambassador to Prusias, fully determined him. He made it clear to him which party might naturally expect to be victorious; and how much safer it would be for him to rely on the friendship of the Romans than on that of Antiochus.

This king being disappointed of the hopes he had entertained of bringing over Prusias to his interest, now meditated only how he might best oppose the passage of the Romans into Asia, and prevent its being made the seat of war. He imagined that the most effectual way to do this would be to recover the empire of the seas, of which he had been almost dispossessed by the loss of the two battles related above; that then he might employ his fleets against whom and in what manner he pleased; and that it would be impossible for the enemy to transport an army into Asia by the Hellespont, or by any other way, when his fleets should be wholly employed to prevent it. Antiochus therefore resolved to hazard a second battle, and for that purpose went to Ephesus, where his fleet lay. He there reviewed it, manned it to the best of his power, furnished it abundantly with all things necessary to another engagement, and sent it once more under the command of Polyxenides, in quest of the

enemy, with orders to fight them. What determined his resolution was, his having received advice that a great part of the Rhodian fleet continued near Patra; and that king Eumenes had sailed with his whole fleet to the Chersonesus to join the consul.

Polyxenides came up with Æmilius and the Romans near Myonesius, a maritime city of Ionia, and attacked it with as little success as before. Æmilius obtained a complete victory, and obliged him to retire to Ephesus, after having sunk or burned 29 of his ships, and taken 13.

* Antiochus was so struck with the news of this defeat, that he seemed entirely disconcerted; and, as if he had been depriv. ed of his senses, on a sudden he took such measures as were evidently contrary to his interest. In his consternation he sent orders for drawing his forces out of Lysimachia and the other cities of the Hellespont, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, who were marching towards those parts, with a design of crossing into Asia; whereas, the only means that remained to hinder this, would have been to leave those troops in the places where they were. For Lysimachia being very strongly fortified, might have held out a long siege, and perhaps very far in the winter, which would have greatly incommoded the enemy by the want of provisions and forage; and during the interval he might have taken measures for an accommodation with the Romans.

He not only committed a great error in drawing his forces out of those places at a time when they were most necessary in them, but did it in so precipitate a manner, that his troops left all the ammunition and provisions, of both which he had laid up very considerable quantities, behind them in those cities. By this means, when the Romans entered them, they found ammunition and provisions in such great plenty, that they seemed to have been prepared expressly for the use of their ar my; and at the same time the passage of the Hellespont was so open that they carried over their army without the least opposition at that very part where the enemy might have dispu ted it with them to the greatest advantage.

We have here a sensible image of what is so often mentioned in the scriptures, that when God is determined to punish and, destroy a kingdom, he deprives either the king, his commanders, or ministers, of counsel, prudence, and courage. With this he makes the prophet Isaiah threaten his people. 66 + For, be

* Liv. l. xxxvii. n. 31, Appian in Syr. p. 105. † If. c. iii. v. 1, 2, 3.

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"hold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jeru“salem, and from Judea, the stay and the staff, the whole stay "of bread, and the whole stay of water.- -The mighty man, " and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the "prudent, and the ancient.- -The captain of fifty, and the "honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artifi66 cer, and the eloquent orator." But a very remarkable circumstance is, that our pagan historian says here expressly, and repeats it twice, that "God took away the king's judgment, "and overthrew his reason: a punishment," says he, " that al66 ways happens when men are upon the point of falling into "some great calamity." The expression is very strong: "God "overthrew the king's reason.' He took from him, that is, he refused him sense, prudence, and judgment; he banished from his mind every salutary thought; he confused him, and made him even averse to all the good counsel that could be given him. This is what † David besought God to do with regard to Ahithophel, Absalom's minister: "O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." The word in the Latin version is very strong, infatua: the import of which is, how prudent soever his counsels may be, make them appear foolish and stupid to Absalom; and they accordingly did ap"And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "the pear so. counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of << Ahithophel :-for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good "counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might "bring evil upon Absalom."

The Romans being come into Asia, halted some time at Troy, which they considered as the cradle of their origin, and as their primitive country, from whence they set out to settle in Italy. The consul offered up sacrifices to Minerva, who presided over the citadel. Both parties were overjoyed, and much after the same manner as fathers and children, who meet after a long separation. The inhabitants of this city seeing their posterity conquerors of the west and of Africa, and laying claim

* Θεν βλάπτοντος ἤδη της λογισμός επερ ἅμασι προσιόντων άτυχεμάτων, επιγίγνεται μήν τόν διάπλον εφύλαξεν ὑπο θεοβλαβείας.

+ Infatua, quæso, Domine, confilium, Ahithophel-Domini autem nutu dissipatum est consilium Ahithophel utile, ut induceret dominus super Absalom malum. 2 Reg. c. xv. et xvii. 14. O Lord, I pray thee, “ turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness, 2 Sam. c. xiv. 31. "For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalem." Chap. xvii. v. I. Juftin. 1. xxxi. c. 8.

to Asia, as a kingdom that had been possessed by their ancestors, imagined they saw Troy rise out of its ashes in greater splendour than ever. On the other side, the Romans were in. finitely delighted to see themselves in the ancient abode of their forefathers, who had given birth to Rome; and to contemplate its temples and deities which they had in common with that city.

When advice was brought Antiochus that the Romans had passed the Hellespont, he began to think himself undone. He now would have been very glad to deliver himself from a war in which he had engaged rashly, and without examining seriously all its consequences. This made him resolve to send an ambassador to the Romans to propose conditions of peace. A religious ceremony had retarded the march of the army, it hav ing halted for several days that were the festival days at Rome, in which the sacred shields, called ancilia, were carried in solemn procession with great pomp. Scipio Africanus, who was one of the salii, or priests of Mars, whose office was to keep these shields, had not crossed the sea yet; for being one of the salii, he could not leave the place where the festival was solemnizing, so that the army was obliged to wait for him. What a pity it was that persons of so much religion were no better illuminated, and directed their worship to such improper objects! This delay gave the king some hopes; for he imagined that the Romans, immediately upon their arrival in Asia, would have attacked him on a sudden. Besides, the noble character he had heard of Scipio Africanus, as his greatness of soul, his generosity and clemency to those he had conquered both in Spain and Africa, gave him hopes that this great man, now satiated with glory, would not be averse to an accommodation; especially as he had a present to make him which could not but be infinitely agreeable. This was his own son, a child, who had been taken at sea, as he was going in a boat from Chalcis to Oreum, according to Livy.

Heraclides Byzantinus, who was the spokesman in this embassy, opened his speech with saying, that the very circumstance which had frustrated all the rest of the negociations for peace between his master and the Romans, now made him hope success in the present; because all the difficulties which had hitherto prevented their taking effect were entirely removed: That the king, to put a stop to the complaints of his still keeping possession of any city in Europe, had abandoned Lysimachia: That as to Smyrna, Lampsacus, and Alexandria of Troas, he was ready to give them up to the Romans, and any other city belonging to their allies, which they should demand

of him: That he would consent to refund the Romans half the expences of this war. He concluded with exhorting them to call to mind the uncertainty and vicissitude of human things, and not lay too great a stress on their present prosperity : That they ought to rest satisfied making Europe, whose extent was so immense, the boundaries of their empire: That if they were ambitious of joining some part of Asia to it, the king would acquiesce with their desire, provided that the limits of it were clearly settled.

The ambassador imagined that these proposals, which seemed so advantageous, could not be rejected: but the Romans judged differently. With regard to the expences of the war, as the king had very unjustly been the occasion of it, they were of opinion that he ought to defray the whole expence of it: They were not satisfied with his evacuating the garrisons he had in Ionia and Ætolia; but pretended to restore all Asia to its liberty, in the same manner as they had done Greece, which could not be effected unless the king abandoned all Asia on this side mount Taurus.

following answer: 66 I

Heraclides not being able to obtain any thing in the public audience, endeavoured, pursuant to his private instructions, particularly to conciliate Scipio Africanus. He began by as suring him that the king would send him his son without ran som. Afterwards, being very little acquainted with Scipio's greatness of soul, and the character of the Romans, he pro❤ mised him a large sum of money; and assured him that he might entirely dispose of all things in his power, if he would mediate a peace for him. To those overtures Scipio made the am not surprised to find you unacquaint. "ed both with me and the Romans, as you do not even know "the condition of the prince who sent you hither. If, as you "assert, the uncertainty of the fate of arms should prompt us "to grant you peace upon easier terms, your sovereign ought "to have kept possession of Lysimachia, in order to have shut 66 us out of the Chersonesus; or else he ought to have met us "in the Hellespont, to have disputed our passage into Asia "with us. But, by abandoning them to us, he put the yoke "6 on his own neck; so that all he now has to do is, to submit "to whatever conditions we shall think fit to prescribe. Among "the several offers he makes me, I cannot but be strongly af "fected with that which relates to the giving me back my son : "I hope the rest will not have the power to tempt me. As a "private man I can promise to preserve eternally the deepest "sense of gratitude for so precious a gift as he offers me in my