been shown there for a sight to the people, was carried to prison, where he was strangled. Such were the consequences of king Attalus's will. Mithridates, in a letter which he wrote afterwards to Arsaces, king of Parthia, accuses the Romans of having forged a false will of Attalus's, in order to deprive Aristonicus, the son of Eumenes, of his father's kingdom, which appertained to him of right: But it is an avowed enemy who charges them with this. It is more surprising that Horace in one of his odes, seems to make the Roman people the same reproach, and to insinuate, that they had attained the succession by fraud: Nor have I seiz'd, an heir unknown, However, there remains no trace in history of any secret intrigue or solicitation to that effect on the side of the Romans. I thought it proper to relate all the consequences of this will without interruption. I shall now resume the thread of my history. 9 Hor. Od. xviii. l. ii. 1. 5. * Simulato impio testamento; filium ejus (Eumenis) Aristonicum, quia patrium regnum petiverat, hostium more per triumphum durere. Apud SALLUST. in Fragm. 377 A. M. SEET. V. Antiochus Sidetes besieges Jolm Hyrcanus in Jerusalem. That city surrenders by capitulation. He makes war against the Par thians, and perishes in it. Phraates, king of the Parthians, defeated in his turn by the Scythians. Physcon commits horrid cruelties in Egypt. A general revolt obliges him to quit it. Cleopatra, his first wife, is replaced upon the throne. She implores aid of Demetrius, and is soon reduced to leave Egypt. Physcon returns thither, and re-ascends the throne. By his means Zebina dethrones Demetrius, who is soon after killed. The kingdom is divided between Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius, and Zebina. The latter is defeated and killed. Antiochus Grypus ascends the throne of Syria. The famous Mithridates begins to reign in Pontus. Physcon's death, SIMON having been slain by treachery, with two 3869. of his sons, John, another of them, surnamed Ant. J.C. Hyrcanus, was proclaimed high-priest and prince of the Jews in his father's stead. Here ends the history of the Maccabees. 135. Antiochus Sidetes, king of Syria, made all pos sible haste to take the advantage which the death of Simon gave him, and advanced at the head of a powerful army to reduce Judæa, and unite it to the empire of Syria. Hyrcanus was obliged to shut himself up in Jerusalem, where he sustained a long siege with incredible valour. Reduced at length to the last extremity for want of provisions, he caused proposals of peace to be made to the king. His condition was not unknown in the camp. Those who were about the king's person pressed him to take advantage of the present occasion for 1 Maccab. xvi. Joseph. Antiq. A. xiii. c. 16. Died. Eclog. i. p. 901. exterminating the Jewish nation. They represented to him, recurring to past ages, that they had been driven out of Egypt as impious wretches, hated by the gods, and abhorred by men; that they were enemies to all the rest of mankind, as they had no communication with any but those of their own sect, and would neither eat, drink, nor have any familiarity with other people; that they did not adore the same gods; that they had laws, customs, and a religion entirely different from that of all other nations; that therefore they well deserved to be treated by other nations with equal contempt, and to be rendered hatred for hatred; and that all people ought to unite in extirpating them. Diodorus. Siculus, as well as Josephus, says, that it was from the pure effect of the generosity and clemency of Antiochus, that the Jewish nation was not entirely destroyed on this occasion. He was well pleased to enter into a treaty with Hyrcanus. It was agreed, that the besieged should surrender their arms; that the fortifications of Jerusalem should be demolished; and that a tribute should be paid to the king for Joppa, and for the other cities which the Jews had out of Judæa: and peace was concluded upon these conditions. Antiochus also demanded, that the citadel of Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and would have put a garrison into it; but Hyrcanus would not consent to that, upon account of the miseries which the nation had suffered from the garrison of the former citadel, and chose rather to pay the king the sum of five hundred talents, which he demanded as an equivalent. The capitulation was executed, and for those articles which could not be immediately fulfilled, hostages were given, amongst whom was a brother of Hyrcanus. Scipio Africanus the younger, having gone command in Spain, during the war with Numantia, 3870. Antiochus Sidetes sent him rich and magnificent Ant. J.C. to A.M. 134. Five hundred thousand crowns. с Epit. Liv. 1. lvii, A.M. Ant. J.C. 131. presents. Some generals would have appropriated them to their own use. Scipio received them in public, sitting upon his tribunal in the view of the whole army, and gave orders that they should be delivered to the quæstor*, to be applied in rewarding the officers and soldiers who should distinguish themselves in the service. By such conduct a generous and noble soul is known. d Demetrius Nicator had been kept many years 3873. in captivity by the Parthians in Hyrcania, where he wanted nothing except liberty, without which all else is misery. He had made several attempts to obtain it, and to return into his own kingdom, but always without success. He was twice retaken in the midst of his flight, and punished only with being carried back to the place of his confinement, where he was guarded with more care, but always treated with the same magnificence. This was not the effect of mere goodness and clemency in the Parthians; interest had some share in it. They had views of making themselves masters of the kingdom of Syria, however remote they were, and waited a favourable opportunity, when, under colour of going to re-establish Demetrius upon the throne they might take possession of it for themselves. Antiochus Sidetes, whether apprized of this design or not, thought proper to prevent it, and marched against Phraates at the head of a formidable army. The Parthians' late usurpation of the richest and finest provinces of the East, which his ancestors had always possessed from the time of Alexander, was a strong inducement to him for uniting all his forces for their expulsion. His army consisted of upwards of fourscore thousand men, well armed and disciplined. But the train of luxury had added to it so * Justin. I. xxxviii. c. 9. & 10. 1. xxxix. e. 1. Oros. 1. v. c. 1. Valer. Max. 1. ix. c. 1. Athen. l. v. p. 210. & l. x, p 439. & 1. xii. p. 540. Joseph. Antiq. xiii. c. 16. Appian. in Syr. p. 132. The questor was the treasurer of the army. great a multitude of surttlers, cooks, pastry-cooks, confectioners, actors, musicians, and infamous women, that they were almost four times as many as the soldiers, for they were, reckoned to amount to about three hundred thousand. There may be some exaggeration in this account, but, if two-thirds were deducted, there would still remain a numerous train of useless mouths. The luxury of the camp was in proportion to the number of those that administered to it. *Gold and silver glittered universally, even upon the boots of the private soldiers. The instru ments and utensils of the kitchen were silver, as if they had been marching to a feast, and not; to a war. Antiochus had great success at first. He beat Phraates in three battles, and retook Babylonia and Media. All the provinces of the East, which had formerly appertained to the Syrian empire, threw off the Parthian yoke, and submitted to him, except Parthia itself, where Phraates found himself reduced within the narrow bounds of his ancient -kingdom. Hyrcanus, prince of the Jews,, açcom-panied Antiochus in this expedition, and having had his share in all these victories, returned home laden with glory, at the end of the campaign and the years t The rest of the army passed the winter in the East. The prodigious number of the troops, including the train before-mentioned, obliged them to separate, and remove so far from each other, that they could not easily rejoin and form one body, in case of an attack. The inhabitants, whom they plundered extremely in their quarters, to be revenged upon them, and to get rid of troublesome guests whom nothing could satisfy, conspired with the Parthians to massacre them all in one day in their Argenti aurique tantum, ut etiam gregari milites caligas aure figerent, proculcarentque materiam, cujus amore populi ferro dimcant. Culinarum quoque argentea instrumenta fucre, quasi ad epulas non ad bella pergerent, JUSTIN. A. M. 3874. Ant. J.C. 130. |