An. 370. Ægus 10. Ophellas, prince of Libya and Cyrene, being slain by Agathocles king of Sicily, Ptolemy again Alexander recovered these provinces. Ophellas was a soldier of Alexander's, and, after his death, followed the fortune of Ptolemy, and went with him into Egypt. From thence he was sent by him to reduce Libya and Cyrene to his obedience, these being provinces assigned to Ptolemy, as well as Egypt and Arabia, on the division of the empire; in which expedition having succeeded, and being thereon made governour for Ptolemy of these countries, he seized them for himself; and Ptolemy's other engagements, against Antigonus and Demetrius, not giving him leisure to look that way, he continued undisturbed in the possession of them till this year. But Agathocles being now in Africa making war against the Carthaginians, and finding he wanted more strength to carry it on, invited Ophellas into an alliance with him, promising him no less than the empire of all Africa for the reward of the undertaking. This bait was readily swallowed by Ophellas; and therefore having gotten together an army of twenty thousand men, after a long march, he joined Agathocles with them in the territories of the Carthaginians. But the wicked tyrant, when strengthened by so great a reinforcement, having gained all that he intended, treacherously cut off Ophellas, and used his army only for his own interest. How this succeeded with him, I shall not here relate. All that is to my purpose is, to shew how Ptolemy after this again recovered the provinces of Libya, and Cyrene for Ophellas being thus slain, and this ill-projected expedition having drained those countries of all their forces, they forthwith fell again under the power of Ptolemy, without opposition, and he and his successors continued to hold them as provinces of the kingdom of Egypt for seyeral ages after. And, under the protection of those princes, the colony of the Jews, which had been there planted by this first Ptolemy (as hath been abovementioned) increased, and grew to a great number. For, in the y Diod. Sic. lib. 20. Justin. lib. 22, c. 7. z Joseph, de Bello Judaico, lib. 7, c. 31. time of Vespasian, no fewer than three thousand of them were put to death in that country for one mutiny; and yet, within a few years after, a under the reign of Trajan, they mastered the whole province, and slew of the other inhabitants of it above two hundred thousand persons; which could not have been done, had not they been a great number that effected it. This Ophellas had for his wife Eurydice, a fair Athenian lady, of the descendants of Miltiades. On the death of her husband, she returned to Athens, where Demetrius, meeting her the next year after, fell in love with her, and took her to wife. An. 306. Alexander Ægus 11, For Demetrius came thither in the beginning of that year, to restore, as he pretended, the liberties of that and the other cities of Greece; but in reality to expel thence the garrison of Cassander, and depress his power in those parts; which having fully effected by driving Demetrius Phalereus out of that city, he returned again to his father. This Demetrius Phalereus had governed Athens under Cassander ten years. And never were the Athenians under a more just government, or enjoyed greater peace and happiness than while he presided over them; and, in acknowledgment hereof, they erected for him as many statues in that city, as there were days in the year; and than this a greater honour was never done to any citizen of that place: and of all this, and much more, was he well deserving: for he was not only a learned philosopher, but also a person of great wisdom, justice, and probity, and these virtues he exercised in a very eminent degree through all the acts of his government. On his now being dispossessed of it, he retired to Cassander, and, after his death, went into Egypt to Ptolemy, and is said there & to have had the chief management of Ptolemy's lib a Xephilin. in Trajano. b Plut in Demetrio. c Diodor Sic. lib. 20. Plut. in Demet. d Laertius in Vita Demet. Phalerei. Diodor. Sic. lib. 18. e Cic. de Legibus, lib. 2. & in Oratione pro Rabirio. Ælian. Hist. Var. lib. 3, c. 17. f Laer. ibid. Plin. lib. 34, c. 5. Strabo, lib. 9. Corn. Nep. in Miltiade. Plut in Libro de Reipublicæ Gerendæ Præceptis. g Arist. Joseph. Antiq. lib. 12, e. 2. rary, and to have procured for it that translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek which we now call the Septuagint; of which we shall treat hereafter in its proper place, where we shall have occasion to speak more of him. Demetrius, on his return from Athens, was sent by his father with a great fleet and army, to dispossess Ptolemy of the island of Cyprus; and therefore, sailing thither, he made a descent upon it at Carpasia ; and, having taken that city and Urania, he marched to Salamine, the capital of the whole island. Menelaus, the brother of Ptolemy, who was then chief commander for him in Cyprus, being at that time with most of his forces in Salamine, went forth on his approach to that place, and gave him battle; but, being overborne by the number and valour of the enemy, he was forced to retreat into the city, with the loss of one thousand of his men slain, and three thousand taken prisoners, and there prepare for the bearing of a siege. From whence Ptolemy, having an account sent him of his misfortune, got ready a great fleet with all the expedition he was able, and sailed thither for his succour. This brought on a great fight at sea between the contending princes; in which Demetrius having obtained the victory, Ptolemy was forced to take his flight back into Egypt with eight ships only, leaving all behind him in the power of the conqueror: whereon the whole island of Cyprus, with all the forces, shipping, and magazines, that Ptolemy had therein, fell into his hands. The prisoners at land amounted to about seventeen thousand men, besides the mariners taken on board the fleet. Menelaus the brother, and Leontiscus the son of Ptolemy, being among the captives, Demetrius sent them both home, with their friends and dependants, without ransom, in remembrance of the like kindness shewn him by Ptolemy after the battle of Gaza. All the rest he incorporated into his own forces; so that hereby he very much increased his military strength both by sea and land, as well as enlarged his father's dominions, by adding this large and rich island to them. h Plut. in Demet. Diod. Sic. lib. 20. Just. lib. 15, c. 2. Antigonus, on the news of this victory, being very much elated by it, thenceforthi assumed the title of king, and wore a crown, and sent another crown to Demetrius, and gave the title of king to him also; and from this time they both used it in all their epistles, orders, decrees, and other writings: which the Egyptians hearing of, that Ptolemy, to whom they bore great affection, might not seem lessened by his misfortunes, they gave him also the same title. This example being followed by Lysimachus, Cassander, and Seleucus, they also about the same time assumed the title of kings, each in their respective territories; in which they had all along before usurped the regal authority. By this time Seleucus was grown very great in the East. For, having slain Nicanor in battle, who was sent against him by Antigonus, he not Alexander only secured to himself hereby Media, AsÆgus 12. syria, and Babylon, but, carrying his arms farther, reduced under him Persia, Bactria, Hyrcania, and all the other provinces on this side the Indus, which Alexander had before made himself master of. 1 An. 305. Antigonus, to pursue the blow which Demetrius had given Ptolemy in Cyprus, drew together into Syria an army of near one hundred thousand men for the invading of Egypt, hoping there to get as easy a victory over him as he had at Cyprus, and so dispossess him of that country also. While he marched thither with his bulky army, Demetrius his son coasted him with as great a fleet at sea, till they came both to Gaza; where, having concerted matters between them, Demetrius sailed to make a descent upon the country at one of the mouths of the Nile, while Antigonus invaded it by land. It was not without great difficulties that Antigonus passed the deserts that lay between Palestine and Egypt, and, when he was arrived in Egypt, he found much greater. And Demetrius met with no less at sea; for storms had much shattered his fleet, and Ptolemy had so well guarded i Plutarch. in Demetrio. 1 Maccab i, 9. k Appian. in Syriacis. 1 Diodor. Sic. lib. 20. Diodor. Sic. lib. 20. Diodor. Sic. lib. 19, 20. Justin. lib. 15, c. 2. Justin. lib. 15, c. 4. all the mouths of the Nile, that he could find no access to put on shore at any of them. Neither could Antigonus make any better progress with his army at land; for Ptolemy had so carefully provided against him in all places, and so strongly guarded all passes and avenues, that he could make no impression upon him any where, and (what afflicted him most) great numbers of his men daily deserted from him to the enemy. For Ptolemy having sent boats to several places on the river, where Antigonus' soldiers came for watering, caused it to be there proclaimed from those boats, within their hearing, that whoever should come over to him from Antigonus' army, if he were a common soldier, he should have two minas, and, if a commander, a talent ;" whereon great numbers of them, as well commanders as private soldiers, especi ally of the mercenaries, went over to him, and that not only for the sake of the reward, but especially out of the greater liking they had to Ptolemy; for Antigonus being a crabbed old man, and very haughty, morose, and severe, Ptolemy, by reason of the benignity of his temper, and his humane and courteous carriage, to all he had to do with, had the affections of all men much beyond him. Antigonus, therefore, after he had in vain hovered over the outskirts of Egypt, till all his provisions were spent, finding he could gain no advantage on Ptolemy, but that his army daily diminished by sickness and desertions, and he could no longer subsist the remainder in that country, was forced to return back into Syria with battle and disgrace, having lost great numbers of his men at land, and many also of his ships at sea, in this unsuc cessful expedition. Hereon Ptolemy wrote to Lysimachus, Cassander, and Seleucus, of his success; and, having renewed his league with them against this their common enemy, he became thenceforth firmly settled in his kingdom, and was never after any more disturbed in it. And therefore Ptolemy the astronomer here placeth the beginning of his reign, and from hence m About six pounds five shillings of our money. n About one hundred and eighty-eight pounds of our money. o He was now about eighty years old. |