No More Learning

3] L After Demetrius was killed, and his rival removed, Perseus grew not only more careless in his behaviour towards his father, but even more insolent, conducting himself, not as heir to the crown, but as king. 2 Philippus, offended at his manner, became every day more concerned for the death of Demetrius, and began at length to suspect that he had been deceived by treachery, and put to the torture all the witnesses and informers. 3 Having, by this means, come to the knowledge of the deception, he was not less afflicted at the dishonesty of Perseus than at the execution of the innocent Demetrius, whom he would have avenged, had he not been prevented by death; 4 for shortly after he died of a disease contracted by mental anxiety, leaving great preparations for a war with the Romans, of which Perseus afterwards made use. 5 He had induced the Scordiscan Gauls to join him, and would have had a desperate struggle with the Romans, had not death carried him off.

6 The Gauls, after their disastrous attack upon Delphi, in which they had felt the power of the divinity more than that of the enemy, and had lost their leader Brennus, had fled, like exiles, partly into Asia, and partly into Thrace, 7 and then returned, by the same way by which they had come, into their own country. 8 Of these, a certain number settled at the conflux of the Danube and Save, and took the name of Scordisci. The Tectosagi, on returning to their old settlements about Toulouse, were seized 9 with a pestilential distemper, and did not recover from it, until, being warned by the admonitions of their soothsayers, they threw the gold and silver, which they had got in war and sacrilege, into the lake of Toulouse; 10 all which treasure, a hundred and ten thousand pounds of silver, and fifteen hundred thousand pounds of gold, Caepio, the Roman consul, a long time after carried away with him. 11 But this sacrilegious act subsequently proved a cause of ruin to Caepio and his army. The rising of the Cimbrian war, too, seemed to pursue the Romans as if to avenge the removal of that devoted treasure. 12 Of these Tectosagi, no small number, attracted by the charms of plunder, repaired to Illyricum, and, after spoiling the Istrians, settled in Pannonia.

13 The Istrians, it is reported, derive their origin from those Colchians who were sent by king Aeetes in pursuit of the Argonauts, that had carried off his daughter, 14 who, after they had sailed from the Pontus Euxinus into the Ister, and had proceeded far up the channel of the river Save, pursuing the track of the Argonauts, conveyed their vessels upon their shoulders over the tops of the mountains, as far as the shores of the Adriatic sea, knowing that the Argonauts must have done the same before them, because of the size of their ship. 15 These Colchians, not overtaking the Argonauts, who had sailed off, remained, whether from fear of their king or from weariness of so long a voyage, near Aquileia, and were called Istrians from the name of the river up which they sailed out of the sea.

16 The Dacians are descendants of the Getae. This people having fought unsuccessfully, under their king Oroles, against the Bastarnae, were compelled by his order, as a punishment for their cowardice, to put their heads, when they were going to sleep, in the place of their feet, and to perform those offices for their wives which used previously to be done for themselves. Nor were these regulations altered, until they had effaced, by new exertions in the field, the disgrace which they had incurred in the previous war.

[32. 4] L Perseus, having succeeded to the throne of his father Philippus, applied to all these nations to join him in a war against the Romans. 2 In the meanwhile a war broke out between king Prusias, to whom Hannibal had fled when peace was granted Antiochus by the Romans, and Eumenes; a war which Prusias was the first to begin, having broken his treaty with Eumenes through confidence in Hannibal.

3 Hannibal, when the Romans, among other articles of peace, demanded from Antiochus that he should be surrendered to them, received notice of this demand from the king, and, taking to flight, went off to Crete. 4 Here, when he had long led a quiet life, but found himself envied for his great wealth, he deposited some urns, filled with lead, in the temple of Diana, as if thus to secure his treasure. 5 The city, in consequence, being no longer concerned about him, as they supposed that they had his wealth in pledge, he betook himself to Prusias, putting his gold into some statues which he carried with him, lest his riches, if seen, should endanger his life. 6 Prusias being subsequently defeated in a battle by land, and transferring the war to the sea, Hannibal, by a new stratagem, was the cause of procuring him a victory; for he ordered serpents of every kind to be enclosed in earthen pots, and to be thrown, in the hottest of the engagement, into the enemy's ships. 7 This seemed at first ridiculous to the Pontic soldiers, that the enemy should fight with earthen pots, as if they could not fight with the sword. But when the ships began to be filled with serpents, and they were thus involved in double peril, they yielded the victory to the enemy.

8 When the news of these transactions was brought to Rome, ambassadors were despatched by the senate to require the two kings to make peace, and demand the surrender of Hannibal. But Hannibal, learning their object, took poison, and frustrated their embassy by his death.

9 This year was rendered remarkable by the deaths of the three greatest generals then in the world, Hannibal, Philopoemen, and Scipio Africanus. 10 Of these three it is certain that Hannibal, even at the time when Italy trembled at him, thundering in the war with Rome, and when, after his return to Carthage, he held the chief command there, never reclined at his meals, or indulged himself with more than one pint of wine at a time; 11 and that he preserved such continence among so many female captives, that one would be disposed to deny that he was born in Africa. 12 Such, too, was his prudence in command, that though he had to rule armies of different nations, he was never annoyed by any conspiracy among his troops, or betrayed by their want of faith, though his enemies had often attempted to expose him to both.

BOOK 33

[33. 1] L The Romans carried on the Macedonian war with less disturbance to their country than the Punic war, but with more renown, as the Macedonians surpassed the Carthaginians in honour, and were animated, moreover, by their glory in having conquered the east, and supported also by the auxiliary forces of all the neighbouring princes. 2 The Romans, accordingly, both raised a greater number of legions, and called for assistance from Masinissa, king of Numidia, and all the rest of their allies; while notice was also given to Eumenes, king of Bithynia, to aid them in the war with his whole force. 3 Perseus, besides his Macedonian army, which had had the reputation of being invincible, had supplies for a ten years' war, collected by his father, in his treasures and magazines. Elevated by these resources, and forgetful of his father's fortune, he bade his soldiers think of the past glory of Alexander. 4 The first engagement was one of cavalry only; and Perseus, being victorious in it, attracted the favourable regard of all who had previously been in suspense. 5 Yet he sent ambassadors to the consul to ask for peace, which the Romans had granted to his father even when conquered, offering to defray the expenses of the war, as if he had been defeated. But the consul P. Licinius offered him terms not less harsh than he would have offered to a vanquished enemy. 6 In the meantime, the Romans, under the dread of so formidable a war, created Aemilius Paulus consul, and conferred upon him, out of due course, the command in the Macedonian war. Aemilius, when he had reached the camp, lost no time in coming to a battle. 7 The night before it was fought, the moon was eclipsed; a phenomenon which all interpreted unfavourably for Perseus, and presaged that the downfall of the Macedonian empire was portended.

[33. 2] L In this engagement, Marcus Cato, the son of Cato the orator, while he was fighting, with extraordinary bravery , among the thickest of the enemy, fell from his horse, and continued his efforts on foot. 2 A number of the enemy gathered about him when he fell, with loud shouts, as if they would kill him as he lay on the ground, but he, recovering himself sooner than they expected, made great slaughter among them. 3 The enemy flocking round him, however, to overpower him with their numbers, his sword, as he was aiming at a tall fellow among them, fell from his hand among a troop of his opponents; 4 when he, to recover it, plunged in among the points of the enemy's weapons, protecting himself with his shield, while both armies were looking on, and, having regained his sword, though not without receiving many wounds, he got back safe to his friends, amidst a loud shout from the enemy. The rest of the Romans, imitating his boldness, secured the victory. 5 King Perseus fled, and arrived, with ten thousand talents, at Samothrace; and Cnaeus Octavius, being sent by the consul in pursuit of him, took him prisoner, with his two sons Alexander and Philippus, and brought him to the consul.

6 Macedonia, from the time of Caranus, who was the first that reigned in it, to Perseus, had thirty kings; under whose government it continued for nine hundred and twenty-three years, but possessed supreme power for only a hundred and ninety-two. 7 When it fell under the power of the Romans, it was left free, magistrates being appointed in every city; and it received laws from Paulus Aemilius, which it still uses.

8 As to the Aetolians, the senators of every city in the country, whose fidelity had been suspected, were sent, together with their wives and children, to Rome; where, to prevent them from raising any disturbance in their country, they were long detained; and it was not without difficulty, and after the senate had been wearied with embassies from the cities for their release, that they were allowed to return to their own country.

BOOK 34

[34. 1] L The Carthaginians and Macedonians being subdued, and the power of the Aetolians weakened by the captivity of their leading men, the Achaeans were the only people of all Greece who seemed to the Romans, at that time, to be too powerful; not, indeed, from any extraordinary strength existing in any individual city, but because of a confederacy maintained among all the cities. 2 For the Achaeans, though distributed through several towns, like so many different members, yet formed but one body and had but one government, and warded off danger from any single city by the united strength of all. 3 To the Romans, therefore, as they were seeking a pretext for war, fortune opportunely presented the complaints of the Spartans, whose lands the Achaeans, in consequence of hatred subsisting between the two people, had laid waste. 4 Answer was accordingly made by the senate to the Spartans, that "they would send commissioners into Greece, to examine into the affairs of their allies, and to prevent further injury;" 5 but secret directions were at the same time given the commissioners, that "they should dissolve the confederacy among the Achaeans, and make each city independent of the rest, that they might thus the more easily be reduced to obedience, while, if any cities were obstinate, they might be humbled by force. " 6 The commissioners, in consequence, having summoned the chief men of the cities to meet them at Corinth, read to them the decree of the senate, and signified what their intentions were; 7 declaring it "expedient for all, that each city should have its own independent laws and government. " 8 When this communication was known throughout the city, the people being thrown as it were into a fury, massacred all the foreigners that were there, 9 and would have laid violent hands on the Roman commissioners themselves, had they not fled away in haste as soon as they found a disturbance rising.

[34. 2] L When the news of these occurrences reached Rome, the senate at once decreed war against the Achaeans, giving the conduct of it to the consul Mummius, who, conveying over his army with the utmost expedition, and actively providing himself with all necessaries, proceeded to offer the enemy battle. 2 As for the Achaeans, as if they had undertaken a matter of no difficulty in going to war with the Romans, every thing was neglected and out of order amongst them. 3 Thinking of plunder, too, and not of fighting, they brought vehicles to carry away the spoils of the enemy, and stationed their wives and children on the hills to view the engagement. 4 But when the battle commenced, they were cut to pieces before the eyes of their kindred, and afforded them only a dismal spectacle and sad remembrances of grief. 5 Their wives and children, also, were changed from spectators into prisoners, and became the prey of the enemy. 6 The city of Corinth itself was razed to the ground, and the inhabitants sold for slaves, that, by such an example, a dread of insurrection might be thrown on other cities.

7 During these transactions, Antiochus, king of Syria, made war upon Ptolemy king of Egypt, his elder sister's son, a prince naturally inactive, and so weakened by daily luxurious indulgence, that he not only neglected the duties of his royal station, but even, through excessive gluttony, had lost all human feeling. 8 Being expelled from his throne, he fled to Alexandria to his younger brother Ptolemy, and, having shared the kingdom with him, they jointly sent ambassadors to the Roman senate, imploring assistance, and the protection of their alliance; and their solicitations prevailed with the senate.

[34. 3] L Accordingly Popilius was despatched, in the character of ambassador, to Antiochus, to desire him "to refrain from invading Egypt, or, if he had already entered it, to quit it without delay. " 2 Having found him in Egypt, and the king having offered to kiss him (for Antiochus, when he was a hostage at Rome, had been friendly with Popilius among others), Popilius said that "private friendship must be set aside, when the commands of his country stood in the way," 3 and having produced and delivered to him the decree of the senate, but observing that he hesitated, and referred the consideration of it to his friends, he drew a circle round him with a staff which he carried in his hand, so large that it also enclosed his friends, and desired him "to decide on the spot, and not to go out of that ring, till he had given an answer to the senate whether he would have peace or war with Rome. " 4 This firmness so daunted the king's spirit, that he replied that "he would obey the senate. "

5 Antiochus, on returning to his kingdom, died, leaving a son quite a boy. 6 Guardians being assigned him by the people, his uncle Demetrius, who was a hostage at Rome, and who had heard of the death of his brother, went to the senate, and said that "he had come to Rome as a hostage while his brother was alive, but that now he was dead, he did not know for whom he was a hostage. 7 It was therefore reasonable," he added, "that he should be released to claim the throne, which, as he had conceded it to his elder brother by the law of nations, now of right belonged to himself, as he was superior to the orphan in age. " 8 But finding that he was not released by the senate (their private opinion being that the throne would be better in the hands of the young prince than in his), he left the city on pretence of going to hunt, and secretly took ship at Ostia, with such as attended him in his flight. 9 On arriving in Syria, he was favourably received by the whole people, and the orphan being put to death, the throne was resigned to him by the guardians.

[34. 4] L About the same time, Prusias, king of Bithynia, conceived a resolution to kill his son Nicomedes, with a desire to benefit his younger children by a second marriage, whom he had sent to Rome. 2 But the design was betrayed to the young prince by those who had undertaken the execution of it, and who exhorted him, since he had become an object of his father's cruelty, to anticipate his schemes, and turn the villainy on the head of its contriver. " Nor was it difficult to prevail upon him; 3 and when, being sent for, he had come into his father's dominions, he was immediately selected as king. 4 Prusias, deprived of his throne by his son, and reduced to a private station, was forsaken even by his slaves. 5 While he lived in retirement, he was killed by his son, with no less guilt than that with which he himself had ordered his son to be put to death.

BOOK 35

[35. 1] L Demetrius, having possessed himself of the throne of Syria, and thinking that peace might be dangerous in the unsettled state of his affairs, resolved to enlarge the borders of his kingdom, and increase his power, by making war upon his neighbours. 2 Accordingly, being incensed with Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, for having disdained to marry his sister, he kindly received his brother Orophernes, who had been unjustly deprived of the throne, and who came to him as a suppliant; and, rejoicing that a plausible pretext for war was afforded him, determined to reinstate him in his dominions. 3 But Orophernes, with extreme ingratitude, having entered into a compact with the people of Antioch, at that time enraged against Demetrius, formed a plot to expel him from his throne by whom he was to have been restored to his own. 4 The conspiracy being discovered, Demetrius spared indeed the life of Orophernes, that Ariarathes might not be freed from the dread of war on the part of his brother, but caused him to be apprehended, and kept a close prisoner at Seleuceia. 5 Nor were the people of Antioch so alarmed at this discovery as to desist from their rebellion. 6 Being in consequence attacked by Demetrius, but receiving aid from Ptolemy king of Egypt, Attalus king of Asia, and Ariarathes of Cappadocia, they suborned one Balas, a young man of mean condition, to claim the throne of Syria, on pretence that it had been his father's, by force of arms; 7 and that nothing might be wanting to render him insolent, the name of Alexander was given him, and he was reported to be the son of King Antiochus. 8 And such was the detestation of Demetrius among all classes, that not only royal power, but also nobility of birth, was unanimously attributed to his rival. 9 Alexander, in consequence, amidst this wonderful change of fortune, forgetful of his original meanness, and supported by the strength of almost all the east, made war upon Demetrius, and, having defeated him, deprived him at once of his throne and his life. 10 Demetrius, however, did not want courage to resist him in the field; for he both routed the enemy in the first encounter, and, when the kings renewed the contest, he killed several thousands in the struggle. 11 But at last he fell, with his spirit still unsubdued, and fighting most valiantly, among the thickest of the enemy.

[35. 2] L At the commencement of the war, Demetrius had entrusted two of his sons to a friend of his at Cnidus, with a large quantity of treasure, that they might be removed from the perils of the war, and might be preserved, if fortune should so order it, to avenge their father's death. 2 The elder of the two, Demetrius, who had passed the age of boyhood, hearing of the luxurious life of Alexander (whom his unexpected grandeur, and the fascination of enjoyments to which he was a stranger, held captive as it were in his palace, idling away his days among troops of concubines), fell upon him, with the assistance of some Cretans, when he was quite at his ease, and free from all apprehension of danger. 3 The people of Antioch, too, to atone for their injuries to the father by new services, devoted themselves to him; and his father's soldiers, fired with love for the young prince, and preferring the obligation of their former oath to the haughty rule of the new king, ranged themselves on the side of Demetrius; 4 and thus Alexander, cast down with no less violent a freak of fortune than that with which he had been raised, was defeated and killed in the first battle, paying the penalty of his conduct both to Demetrius whom he had slain, and to Antiochus, from whom he had pretended to derive his birth.

BOOK 36

[36. 1] L Demetrius, having gained possession of his father's throne, and being spoiled by his good fortune, fell, from the effects of the vices of youth, into habits of indolence, and incurred as much contempt for his slothfulness, as his father had incurred hatred for his pride. 2 As the cities, in consequence, began every where to revolt from his government, he resolved, in order to wipe off the stain of effeminacy from his character, to make war upon the Parthians. 3 The people of the east beheld his approach with pleasure, both on account of the cruelty of Arsacides, king of the Parthians, and because, having been accustomed to the old government of the Macedonians, they viewed the pride of the new race with indignation. 4 Being assisted, accordingly, by auxiliary troops from the Persians, Elymaeans, and Bactrians, he routed the Persians in several pitched battles. 5 At length, however, being deceived by a pretended offer of peace, he was made prisoner, and being led from city to city, was shown as a spectacle to the people that had revolted, in mockery of the favour that they had shown him. 6 Being afterwards sent into Hyrcania, he was treated kindly, and suitably to the dignity of his former condition.

7 During the course of these proceedings, Trypho, in Syria, who had exerted his efforts to be made by the people guardian to Antiochus, the step-son of Demetrius, killed his ward, and seized upon the Syrian throne. 8 When he had enjoyed it for some time, and the liking of the people for his new government began at length to wear off, he was defeated in a battle by Antiochus, the brother of Demetrius, who was then quite a boy, and who had been educated in Asia; and the throne of Syria again returned to the family of Demetrius.

9 Antiochus, remembering that his father had been hated for his pride, and his brother despised for his indolence, was anxious not to fall into the same vices, and having married Cleopatra, his brother's wife, proceeded to make war, with the utmost vigour, on the provinces that had revolted through the badness of his brother's government, and, after subduing them, re-united them to his dominions. 10 He also reduced the Jews, who, during the Macedonian rule under his father Demetrius, had recovered their liberty by force of arms; and whose strength was such, that they would submit to no Macedonian king after him, but, electing rulers from their own people, harassed Syria with fierce wars.

[36. 2] L The origin of the Jews was from Damascus, a most famous city of Syria, whence also the Assyrian kings and queen Semiramis sprung. 2 The name of the city was given it from King Damascus, in honour of whom the Syrians consecrated the sepulchre of his wife Arathis as a temple, and regard her as a goddess worthy of the most sacred worship. 3 After Damascus, Azelus, and then Adores, Abraham, and Israhel were their kings. 4 But a prosperous family of ten sons made Israhel more famous than any of his ancestors. 5 Having divided his kingdom, in consequence, into ten governments, he committed them to his sons, and called the whole people Jews from Judas, who died soon after the division, and ordered his memory to be held in veneration by them all, as his portion was shared among them. 6 The youngest of the brothers was Joseph, whom the others, fearing his extraordinary abilities, secretly made prisoner, and sold to some foreign merchants. 7 Being carried by them into Egypt, and having there, by his great powers of mind, made himself master of the arts of magic, he found in a short time great favour with the king; 8 for he was eminently skilled in prodigies, and was the first to establish the science of interpreting dreams; and nothing, indeed, of divine or human law seems to have been unknown to him; 9 so that he foretold a dearth in the land some years before it happened, and all Egypt would have perished by famine, had not the king, by his advice, ordered the corn to be laid up for several years; 10 such being the proofs of his knowledge, that his admonitions seemed to proceed, not from a mortal, but a god. 11 His son was Moses, whom, besides the inheritance of his father's knowledge, the comeliness of his person also recommended. 12 But the Egyptians, being troubled with scabies and leprosy, and moved by some oracular prediction, expelled him, with those who had the disease, out of Egypt, that the distemper might not spread among a greater number. 13 Becoming leader, accordingly, of the exiles, he carried off by stealth the sacred utensils of the Egyptians, who, endeavouring to recover them by force of arms, were obliged by tempests to return home; 14 and Moses, having reached Damascus, the birth-place of his forefathers, took possession of mount Sinai, on his arrival at which, after having suffered, together with his followers, from a seven days' fast in the deserts of Arabia, he consecrated every seventh day (according to the present custom of the nation) for a fast-day, and to be perpetually called a sabbath, because that day had ended at once their hunger and their wanderings. 15 And as they remembered that they had been driven from Egypt for fear of spreading infection, they took care, in order that they might not become odious, from the same cause, to the inhabitants of the country, to have no communication with strangers; a rule which, from having been adopted on that particular occasion, gradually became a custom and part of their religion. 16 After the death of Moses, his son Aruas was made priest for celebrating the rites which they brought from Egypt, and soon after created king; and ever afterwards it was a custom among the Jews to have the same chiefs both for kings and priests; and, by uniting religion with the administration of justice, it is almost incredible how powerful they became.

[36. 3] L The wealth of the nation was augmented by the duties on balm, which is produced only in that country; 2 for there is a valley, encircled with an unbroken ridge of hills, as it were a wall, in the form of a camp, the space enclosed being about two hundred acres, and called by the name of Hierichus; 3 in which valley there is a wood, remarkable both for its fertility and pleasantness, and chequered with groves of palm and balm-trees. 4 The balm-trees resemble pitch-trees in shape, except that they are not so tall, and are dressed after the manner of vines; and at a certain season of the year they exude the balm. 5 But the place is not less admired for the gentle warmth of the sun in it, than for its fertility; for though the sun in that climate is the hottest in the world, there is constantly in this valley a certain natural subdued tepidity in the air.

6 In this country also is the lake Asphaltites, which, from its magnitude and the stillness of its waters is called the Dead Sea; 7 for it is neither agitated by the winds, because the bituminous matter, with which all its water is clogged, resists even hurricanes; nor does it admit of navigation, for all inanimate substances sink to the bottom; and it will support no wood, except such as is smeared with alum.

8 The first that conquered the Jews was Xerxes, king of Persia. Subsequently they fell, with the Persians themselves, under the power of Alexander the Great; and they were then long subject to the kings of Syria, under its Macedonian dynasty. 9 On revolting from Demetrius, and soliciting the favour of the Romans, they were the first of all the eastern people that regained their liberty, the Romans readily affecting to bestow what it was not in their power to give.

[36. 4] L During the same period, in which the government of Syria was passing from hand to hand among its new sovereigns, King Attalus in Asia polluted a most flourishing kingdom, which he inherited from his uncle Eumenes, by murders of his friends and executions of his relatives, pretending sometimes that his old mother, and sometimes his wife Berenice, had been destroyed by their wicked contrivances. 2 After this atrocious outburst of rage, he assumed a mean dress, let his beard and hair grow like those of persons under legal prosecution, never went abroad or showed himself to the people, held no feasts in his palace, and behaved in no respect, indeed, like a man in his senses; so that he seemed to be paying penalty for his crimes to the manes of those whom he had murdered. 3 Abandoning the government of his kingdom, too, he employed himself in digging and sowing in his garden, mixing noxious herbs with harmless ones, and sending them all indiscriminately, moistened with poisonous juices, as special presents to his friends. 4 From this employment he turned to that of working in brass, and amused himself with modelling in wax, and casting and hammering out brazen figures. 5 He then proceeded to make a monument for his mother, but while he was busy about the work, he contracted a disorder from the heat of the sun, and died on the seventh day afterwards. By his will the Roman people was appointed his heir.

6 There was however a son of Eumenes, named Aristonicus, not born in wedlock, but of an Ephesian mistress, the daughter of a player on the harp; and this young man, after the death of Attalus, laid claim to the throne of Asia as having been his father's. 7 When he had fought several successful battles against the provinces, which, from fear of the Romans, refused to submit to him, and seemed to be established as king, Asia was assigned by the senate to the command of Licinius Crassus, 8 who, being more eager to plunder the treasures of Attalus than to distinguish himself in the field, and fighting a battle, at the end of the year, with his army in disorder, was defeated, and paid the penalty for his blind avarice by the loss of his life. 9 The consul Perperna being sent in his place, reduced Aristonicus, who was defeated in the first engagement, under his power, and carried off the treasures of Attalus, bequeathed to the Roman people, on ship-board to Rome. 10 Marcus Aquilius, Perperna's successor, envying his good fortune, hastened, with the utmost expedition, to snatch Aristonicus from Perperna's hands, as if he ought rather to grace his own triumph. 11 But the death of Perperna put an end to the rivalry between the consuls.

12 Asia, thus becoming a province of the Romans, brought to Rome its vices together with its wealth.

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Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories
- books 37 to 39
Translated by Rev. J. S. Watson (1853). See key to translations for an explanation of the format.

← Previous books (31-36)

BOOK 37

[37. 1] L After Aristonicus was taken prisoner, the people of Massilia sent ambassadors to Rome to intercede for the Phocaeans their friends, whose city and even name the senate had ordered to be destroyed, because, both at that time, and previously in the war against Antiochus, they had taken up arms against the Roman people. The embassy obtained from the senate a pardon for them. 2 Rewards were then bestowed on the princes who had given aid against Aristonicus; to Mithridates of Pontus was allotted Greater Phrygia; to the sons of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, who had fallen in that war, were assigned Lycaonia and Cilicia; 3 and the Roman people were more faithful to the sons of their ally, than their mother was to her children, since by the one the kingdom of the young princes was increased, by the other they were deprived of life. 4 For Laodice, out of six children, all boys, whom she had by king Ariarathes (fearing that, when some of them were grown up, she would not long enjoy the administration of the kingdom), killed five by poison; 5 but the care of their relatives rescued from the barbarous hands of their mother one infant, who, after the death of Laodice (for the people killed her for her cruelty), became sole king.

6 Mithridates also, being cut off by sudden death, left a son, who was likewise named Mithridates, 7 and whose greatness was afterwards such that he surpassed all kings, not only of his own but of preceding ages, in glory, and carried on war against the Romans, with various success, for forty-six years, 8 during which, though the most eminent generals, Sulla, Lucullus, and others, and at last, Cnaeus Pompeius, overcame him, yet it was only so that he rose greater and more glorious to renew the contest, and was rendered even more formidable by his defeats. 9 And he died at last, not from being overpowered by his enemies, but by a voluntary death, full of years and on the throne of his ancestors, and leaving his son his heir.

[37. 2] L The future greatness of this prince even signs from heaven had foretold; 2 for in the year in which he was born, as well as in that in which he began to reign, a comet blazed forth with such splendour, for seventy successive days on each occasion, that the whole sky seemed to be on fire. 3 It covered a fourth part of the firmament with its train, and obscured the light of the sun with its effulgence; and in rising and setting it took up the space of four hours. 4 During his boyhood his life was attempted by plots on the part of his guardians, who, mounting him on a restive horse, forced him to ride and hurl the javelin; 5 but when these attempts failed, as his management of the horse was superior to his years, they tried to cut him off by poison. 6 He, however, being on his guard against such treachery, frequently took antidotes, and so fortified himself, by exquisite preventives, against their malice, that when he was an old man, and wished to die by poison, he was unable. 7 But dreading lest his enemies should effect that by the sword which they could not accomplish by drugs, he pretended a fancy for hunting, in the indulgence of which he never went under a roof, for seven years, either in the city or the country, 8 but rambled through the forests, and passed his nights in various places among the mountains, none knowing where he was. He accustomed himself to escape from the wild beasts, or pursue them, by speed of foot, 9 and by this means, while he avoided the plots laid for him, he inured himself to endure all manner of bodily exertion.

[37. 3] L When he assumed the government of the kingdom, he turned his thoughts, not so much to the regulation of his dominions, as to the enlargement of them. 2 He in consequence subdued, with extraordinary success, the Scythians, who had previously been invincible, who had cut off Zopyrion, the general of Alexander the Great, with an army of thirty thousand men, who had massacred Cyrus, king of the Persians, with two hundred thousand, and who had routed Philippus, king of Macedonia. 3 Having thus increased his forces, he made himself master of Pontus, and afterwards of Cappadocia. 4 Fixing his thoughts on the conquest of Asia, he went privately, with some of his friends, out of his kingdom, and travelled through the whole of it without the knowledge of anyone, making himself acquainted with the situations of the towns and the nature of the country. 5 He next went into Bithynia, and, as if he were already master of Asia, took note of whatever might aid him in attempting the conquest of it. 6 He then returned into his country, when they had begun to suppose that he was dead, and found an infant son born to him, of whom his wife Laodice, who was also his sister, had been delivered in his absence. 7 But amidst the congratulations that he received on his arrival, and on the birth of his son, he was in danger of being poisoned; for his sister and wife Laodice, believing him dead, had yielded herself to the embraces of his friends, and, as if she could conceal the crime, of which she had been guilty, by a greater, prepared poison for him on his return. 8 Mithridates, however, having notice of her intention from a female servant, avenged the plot upon the heads of its contrivers.

[37. 4] L When winter came on, he did not spend his time in feasts, but in the field, not in idleness, but in exercise, not among companions in licentiousness, but contending among his equals in age, either in riding, running, or trials of strength. 2 He inured his army also, by daily exercise, to endure fatigue equally with himself; and thus, while he was himself unconquerable, he rendered his army unconquerable likewise. 3 Entering then into an alliance with Nicomedes, he invaded Paphlagonia, and divided it, after it was conquered, among his allies. 4 But when information reached the senate that it was in possession of the two kings, they sent ambassadors to both, desiring that "the country should be restored to its former condition. " 5 Mithridates, thinking himself now a match for the power of the Romans, haughtily replied, that "the kingdom had belonged to his father by inheritance, and that he wondered that a dispute, which had never been raised against his father, should be raised against himself;" 6 and, not at all alarmed by threats, he seized also on Galatia. 7 As for Nicomedes, he replied that "as he could not maintain that he had any right to the country, he would restore it to its legitimate sovereign;" 8 and, altering his son's name to Pylaemenes, the common name of the Paphlagonian kings, he assigned it to him; and thus, as if he had restored the throne to the royal line, he continued to occupy the country on this frivolous pretext. 9 The ambassadors, when they found themselves thus set at nought, returned to Rome.

BOOK 38

[38. 1] L Mithridates having commenced his cruelties by killing his wife, resolved also on removing the sons of his other sister Laodice, (whose husband Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, he had treacherously cut off by the agency of a certain Gordius,) thinking that nothing was gained by the death of the father, if the young princes should possess themselves of his throne, with a desire of which he himself was strongly inflamed. 2 As he was meditating on this scheme, Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, proceeded to occupy Cappadocia, while it was left defenceless by the death of its sovereign; 3 and Mithridates, on receiving intelligence of his movements, sent assistance to his sister, on pretence of affection for her, to enable her to drive Nicomedes out of Cappadocia. 4 But Laodice had already made a compact to marry Nicomedes; 5 and Mithridates, being indignant at this arrangement, expelled the garrisons of Nicomedes from Cappadocia, and restored the throne to his sister's son; an act of the highest merit, had no treachery followed it. 6 But some months after, he pretended that he wished to restore Gordius, whom he had used as his agent in the assassination of Ariarathes, to his country; hoping that, if the young man opposed his recall, he should have a pretext for war, or, that if he consented to it, the son might be taken off by the same instrument by which he had procured the death of the father. 7 When the young Ariarathes understood his intention, he expressed great indignation that the murderer of his father should be recalled from banishment, especially by his uncle, and assembled a great army. 8 Mithridates, after bringing into the field eighty thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and six hundred chariots armed with scythes, while Ariarathes, by the aid of the neighbouring princes, had no less a force), fearing the uncertain event of a battle, turned his thoughts to treachery, 9 and, inviting the young prince to a conference, and having, at the same time, a weapon concealed in his lower garments, he said to the searcher, who was sent by Ariarathes, after the manner of princes on such occasions, to examine his person, and who was feeling very carefully about his groin, that "he had better take care, lest he should find another sort of weapon than he was seeking. " 10 Having thus covered his treachery with a joke, he killed his nephew, (after drawing him aside from his friends as if to confer with him secretly), in the sight of both armies, and bestowed the kingdom of Cappadocia on his own son, a child eight years old, giving him the name of Ariarathes, and appointing Gordius his guardian.

[38. 2] L The Cappadocians, however, being harassed by the cruelty and licentiousness of their rulers, revolted from Mithridates, and sent for the brother of their king, who was also called Ariarathes, from Asia where he was being educated. 2 Upon this prince Mithridates again made war, defeated him, and drove him from Cappadocia; and not long after the young man died of a disease brought on by anxiety. 3 After his death, Nicomedes, fearing lest Mithridates, from having added Cappadocia to his dominions, should also seize upon Bithynia which was near it, instructed a youth, of extraordinary beauty, to apply for the throne of Bithynia from the senate, as having been his father's, pretending that Ariarathes had not had two sons only, but a third. 4 He sent his wife Laodice, also, to Rome, to testify that her husband had three children born to him. 5 Mithridates, when he heard of this contrivance, despatched Gordius, with equal effrontery, to Rome, to assure the senate that "the young prince, to whom he had assigned the throne of Cappadocia, was the son of that Ariarathes who had fallen in the war against Aristonicus when giving assistance to the Romans. " 6 But the senate, perceiving the ambitious designs of the two kings, who were seizing the dominions of others on false pretences, took away Cappadocia from Mithridates, and, to console him, Paphlagonia from Nicomedes; 7 and that it might not prove an offence to the kings, that any thing should be taken from them and given to others, both people were offered their liberty. 8 But the Cappadocians declined the favour, saying that "their nation could not subsist without a king. " Ariobarzanes was in consequence appointed their king by the senate.

[38. 3] L The king of Armenia, at this time, was Tigranes, who had long before been committed as a hostage to the Parthians, but had subsequently been sent back to take possession of his father's throne. This prince Mithridates was extremely desirous to engage as an ally in the war, which he had long meditated, against the Romans.
2 By the agency of Gordius, accordingly, he prevailed upon him to make war, having not the least thought of offending the Romans by the act, on Ariobarzanes, a prince of inactive disposition; and, that no deceit might seem to be intended, gave him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. 3 On the first approach of Tigranes, Ariobarzanes packed up his baggage and went off to Rome. Thus, through the instrumentality of Tigranes, Cappadocia was destined to fall again under the power of Mithridates. 4 Nicomedes, too, dying at the same time, his son, who was also named Nicomedes, was driven from his dominions by Mithridates, and, having gone as a suppliant to Rome, it was decreed by the senate that "both the kings should be restored to their thrones;" and Aquilius and Manlius Maltinus were commissioned to see the decree executed. 5 On being informed of this proceeding, Mithridates formed an alliance with Tigranes, with a resolution at once to go to war with the Romans; and they agreed that the cities and territory that should be taken from the enemy should be the share of Mithridates, and that the prisoners, and all booty that could be carried off, should belong to Tigranes. 6 In the next place, well understanding what a war be was provoking, he sent ambassadors to the Cimbri, the Gallograecians, the Sarmatians, and the Bastarnians, to request aid; 7 for all the time that he had been meditating war with the Romans, he had been gaining over all these nations by acts of kindness and liberality. He sent also for an army from Scythia, and armed the whole eastern world against the Romans. 8 Accordingly, without much difficulty, he defeated Aquilius and Maltinus, who had an army wholly composed of Asiatic troops, and having put them to flight, as well as Nicomedes, he was received with great joy by the various cities, 9 in which he found a great quantity of gold and silver, and vast warlike stores, laid up by the care of former princes. Taking possession of these, he remitted the cities all sorts of debts, public and private, and granted them an immunity from tribute for five years.

10 He then assembled his troops, and animated them, by various exhortations, to pursue the war with the Romans, or in Asia. 11 His speech, on this occasion, I have thought of such importance that I insert a copy of it in this brief work. Trogus Pompeius has given it in the oblique form, as he finds fault with Livius and Sallustius for having exceeded the proper limits of history, by inserting direct speeches in their works only to display their own eloquence.

[38. 4] L "It were to be wished," he said, "that it were still in his power to deliberate whether he should choose peace or war with the Romans; 2 but that resistance should be offered against aggressors, not even those doubted who were without hope of victory; for all men draw the sword against robbers, if not to save their lives, at least to take revenge. 3 But since it was not now a question, when they had come to hostilities (not merely in intention but in the field of battle), they must consider in what manner, and with what hopes, they could continue the contest which they had commenced. 4 That he felt certain of victory, if they had but courage; and that the Romans might be conquered, was known, not more to himself than to his soldiers, who had routed both Aquilius in Bithynia and Maltinus in Cappadocia. 5 And if examples from other nations would weigh more with them than their own experience, he had heard that the Romans had been overthrown in three battles by Pyrrhus, when he had with him not more than five thousand Macedonians; 6 he had heard that Hannibal continued victorious in Italy for sixteen years, and that it was not the strength of the Romans, but the violence of his own countrymen's envy and jealousy, that prevented him from taking the city of Rome itself; 7 he had heard that the people of Transalpine Gaul had invaded Italy, and founded many great cities in it, and that the same Gauls had possessed themselves of a larger territory there than in Asia, though Asia was considered by no means a warlike country; 8 he had been informed that Rome was not only taken but conquered by the Gauls, the top of one hill only being left in possession of the inhabitants, and that the enemy was not made to retire by the sword, but by gold. 9 But that the power of the Gauls, which had always so much alarmed the Romans, he himself numbered among his own forces; for that these Gauls, who inhabited Asia, differed only in situation from the Gauls who had settled themselves in Italy; 10 that they had the same extraction, courage, and mode of fighting; and that, as to sagacity, the Asiatic Gauls must have more than the others, inasmuch as they had pursued a longer and more difficult march through Illyricum and Thrace, having traversed those territories with almost more labour than it had cost them to acquire those in which they settled. 11 That he had heard that Italy itself, since the time that Rome was built, had never been fairly brought under subjection to her, but that constantly, year after year, some of its people persisted in contending for liberty, and others for a share in the government; 12 and that, by many states of Italy, armies of the Romans had been cut off by the sword, and by others, with a new species of insult, sent under the yoke. 13 But that, not to dwell on past instances, all Italy, at the present time, was in arms in the Marsian war, demanding, not liberty, but a participation in the government and the rights of citizenship. 14 Nor was the city more grievously harassed by war from its neighbours in Italy, than by intestine broils among its leading men; and that a civil war, indeed, was much more dangerous to it than an Italian one. 15 At the same time, too, the Cimbri from Germany, many thousands of wild and savage people, had rushed upon Italy like a tempest; 16 and that in wars with such enemies, though the Romans might be able to resist them singly, yet by them all they must be overpowered; so that he thought they would even be too much occupied to make head against his attack.

[38. 5] L "That they ought therefore to take advantage of the present circumstances, and seize the opportunity of increasing their power, lest, if they remained inactive while the Romans were occupied, they should hereafter find greater difficulty in contending with them, when they were quiet and unmolested. 2 For it was not a question whether they should take up arms or not, but whether they should do so at a time favourable to themselves or to their enemies. 3 That war, indeed, had been commenced against him by the Romans, when they took from him, in his minority, the Greater Phrygia, a country which they had granted his father as a recompence for the succours which he had afforded them in the war against Aristonicus, and which Seleucus Callinicus had given to his great-grandfather Mithridates, as a dowry with his daughter. 4 When they required him to quit Paphlagonia, too, was not that a renewal of hostility, a possession which had fallen to his father, not by conquest or force of arms, but by adoption in a will, and as an inheritance on the death of its own sovereigns. 5 That, under the severity of such decrees, he had not been able to soften them by compliance, or to prevent them from assuming harsher measures towards him every day. 6 For in what particular had he not submitted to their requisition? Had not Phrygia and Paphlagonia been given up? Had not his son been removed from Cappadocia, which he had gained, as a conqueror, by the common law of nations? 7 Yet his conquest had been forced from him by those who had nothing themselves but what they had got in war. 8 Was not Chrestus, king of Bithynia, on whom the senate had decreed that war should be made, killed by him for their gratification? Yet that whatever Gordius or Tigranes did, was imputed to him; 9 that liberty was readily granted by the senate to Cappadocia (liberty of which they deprived other nations), on purpose to affront him; and that when the people of Cappadocia, instead of the liberty offered them, begged to have Gordius for their king, they did not obtain their request merely because Gordius was his friend. 10 That Nicomedes had made war upon him by their direction; that when he was going to avenge himself, he was obstructed by them; and that their pretence for making war on him at present would be, that he had not given up his dominions to Nicomedes, the son of a public dancer, to be ravaged with impunity.

[38. 6] L "That it was not the offences of kings, but their power and majesty, for which they attacked them and that they had not acted thus against himself alone, but against all other princes at all times. 2 That they had treated his grandfather Pharnaces in the same manner, who, by the arbitration of his relatives, was made successor to Eumenes king of Pergamum; 3 that Eumenes himself, again, in whose fleet they had for the first time been transported into Asia, and by whose army ,rather than their own, they had subdued both Antiochus the Great and the Gauls in Asia, and soon after king Perseus in Macedonia, 4 had been treated by them as an enemy, and had been forbidden to come into Italy, though they made war, which they thought it would be disgraceful to make upon himself, upon his son Aristonicus. No king's services were thought more important by them than those of Masinissa, king of Numidia; 5 to him it was ascribed that Hannibal was conquered; to him, that Syphax was made prisoner; to him, that Carthage was destroyed; he was ranked with the two Africani, as a third saviour of the city; 6 yet a war had lately been carried on with his grandson in Africa, so implacably, that they would not save the vanquished prince, for the sake of his grandfather's memory, from being cast into gaol, and led in triumph as a public spectacle. 7 That they had made it a law to themselves to hate all kings, because they themselves had had such kings at whose names they might well blush, being either shepherds of the Aborigines, or soothsayers of the Sabines; or exiles from the Corinthians, or servants and slaves of the Etruscans, or, what was the most honourable name amongst them, the proud; and as their founders, according to their report, were suckled by the teats of a wolf, 8 so the whole race had the disposition of wolves, being insatiable of blood and tyranny, and eager and hungry after riches.

[38. 7] L "But as for himself, if he were compared with them as to respectability of descent, he was of more honourable origin than that mixed mass of settlers, counting his ancestors, on his father's side, from Cyrus and Darius, the founders of the Persian empire, and those on his mother's side from Alexander the Great and Seleucus Nicator, who established the Macedonian empire; or, if their people were compared with his own, he was at the head of nations, which were not merely a match for the power of Rome, but had withstood even that of Macedonia. 2 That none of the people under his command had ever endured a foreign yoke, or obeyed any rulers but their own native princes; for whether they looked on Cappadocia or Paphlagonia, Pontus or Bithynia, or the Greater and Lesser Armenia, they would find that neither Alexander, who subdued all Asia, nor any of his successors or posterity, had meddled with any one of those nations. 3 That as to Scythia, only two kings before him, Darius and Philippus, had ventured, not indeed to reduce it, but merely to enter it, and had with difficulty secured a retreat from it; yet that from that country he had procured a great part of his force to oppose the Romans. 4 That he had entered on the Pontic wars with much more timidity and diffidence, as he was then young and inexperienced. That the Scythians, in addition to their arms and courage, were defended by deserts and cold, by which was shown the great labour and danger of making war there, 5 while, amidst such hardships, there was not even hope of spoil from a wandering enemy, destitute, not only of money, but of settled habitations. 6 But that he was now entering upon a different sort of war; for there was no climate more temperate than that of Asia, nor any country more fertile or more attractive from the number of its cities; and that they would spend a great part of their time, not as in military service, but as at a festival, in a war of which it was hard to say whether it would be more easy or more gainful, as they themselves might feel assured, 7 if they had but heard of the late riches of the kingdom of Attalus, or the ancient opulence of Lydia and Ionia, which they were not going to acquire by conquest, but to take possession of; 8 while Asia so eagerly expected him, that it even invited him in words, so much had the rapacity of the proconsuls, the sales of the tax-gatherers, and the disgraceful mode of conducting law-suits, possessed the people with a hatred of the Romans. 9 That they had only to follow him bravely, and learn what so great an army might do under his conduct, whom they had seen seizing Cappadocia, after killing its king, not with the aid of any troops, but by his own personal effort, and who alone, of all mankind, had subdued all Pontus and Scythia, which no one before him could safely penetrate or approach. 10 As to his justice, and generosity, he was willing to take the soldiers themselves, who had experienced them, as witnesses to what they were; and he had those proofs to bring of the latter, that he alone, of all kings, possessed not only his father's dominions, but foreign kingdoms, acquired by inheritance through his liberality, namely, Colchis, Paphlagonia, and the Bosporus. "

[38. 8] L Having thus encouraged his troops, he entered upon the war with the Romans, twenty-three years after his accession to the throne.

2 In Egypt, meanwhile, on the death of Ptolemy, the throne, with the queen Cleopatra his sister in marriage, was offered by an embassy to the Ptolemy who was reigning at Cyrene. 3 Ptolemy, rejoiced at having recovered his brother's throne without a struggle (for which he knew that his brother's son was intended, both by his mother Cleopatra and the inclination of the nobles), but being incensed at all that had opposed his interests, ordered, as soon as he entered Alexandria, the partisans of the young prince to be put to death. 4 He also killed the youth himself on the day of his nuptials (when he took his mother to wife), amidst the splendour of feasts, the ceremonies of religion, and in the very embraces of his parent, and thus went to the couch of his sister stained with the blood of her child. 5 Nor was he afterwards more merciful to those of his subjects who had invited him to the throne, for license to use the sword being given to the foreign soldiers, all places daily ran with blood. He divorced his sister, too, offering violence to her daughter, a young maiden, and then taking her in marriage. 6 The people, terrified at these proceedings, fled to other countries, and became exiles from their native soil through fear of death. 7 Ptolemy, in consequence, being left alone with his soldiers in so large a city, and finding himself a king, not of men, but of empty houses, invited, by a proclamation, foreigners to become residents in it. 8 While people were flocking thither, he went out to meet some Roman commissioners, Scipio Africanus, Spurius Mummius, and Lucius Metellus, who had come to inspect the dominions of their allies. 9 But he appeared as ridiculous to the Romans as he was cruel to his own subjects; for he was disagreeable in countenance, short in stature, and, from his obesity, more like a beast than a man. 10 This deformity the extraordinary thinness of his apparel, which was even transparent, made more remarkable, just as if that was affectedly obtruded on the sight which by a modest man would have been most carefully concealed. 11 After the departure of the commissioners, (of whom Africanus, as he surveyed the city, was an object of interest to the Alexandrians), finding that he had become hateful even to the foreigners whom he had invited, he withdrew secretly, for fear of plots against his life, into voluntary exile, accompanied by a son that he had by his sister, and by his wife, her mother's rival, and, having collected an army of mercenaries, made war at once upon his sister and his country. 12 He next sent for his eldest son from Cyrene, and put him to death, when the people began to pull down his statues and images, 13 and he, imagining that this was done to please his sister, killed the son that he had by her, and contrived to have the body, divided into portions and arranged in a chest, presented to the mother at a feast on his birth-day. 14 This deed occasioned grief and sorrow, not only to the queen, but also to the whole city, and threw such a gloom over a banquet intended to be most joyous, that the whole palace was suddenly filled with mourning. 15 The attention of the nobility, in consequence, being turned from feasting to a funeral, they exhibited the mangled limbs to the people, and let them see, by the murder of his son, what they were to expect from their king.

[38. 9] L Cleopatra, when the mourning for the loss of her son was over, finding herself pressed by war on the part of her brother, sent ambassadors to request aid from Demetrius king of Syria, a prince whose changes of fortune had been numerous and remarkable. 2 After making war, as has been said above, upon the Parthians, and gaining the victory in several battles, he was suddenly surprised by an ambuscade, and, having lost his army, was taken prisoner. 3 Arsacides, king of the Parthians, having sent him into Hyrcania, not only paid him, with royal magnanimity, the respect due to a prince, but gave him his daughter also in marriage, and promised to recover for him the throne of Syria, which Trypho had usurped in his absence. 4 After the death of this king, Demetrius, despairing of being allowed to return, being unable to endure captivity, and weary of a private, though splendid, life, secretly planned a mode of escaping to his own country. 5 His counsellor and companion in the scheme was his friend Callimander, who, after Demetrius was taken prisoner, had come in a Parthian dress from Syria, with some guides that he had hired, through the deserts of Arabia to Babylon. 6 But Phraates, who had succeeded Arsacides, brought him back, for he was overtaken in his flight by the speed of a party of horse sent after him by a shorter road. 7 When he was brought to the king, not only pardon, but a testimony of esteem for his fidelity, was given to Callimander, but as for Demetrius, he sent him back, after having severely reproached him, into Hyrcania to his wife, and directed that he should be kept in stricter confinement than before. 8 Some time after, when children that were born to him had caused him to be more trusted, he again attempted flight, with the same friend as his attendant, but was overtaken with equal ill-fortune, near the borders of his dominions, and being again brought to the king, was ordered out of his sight, as a person whom he could not endure to see. 9 But being then also spared, for the sake of his wife and children, he was remanded into Hyrcania, the country of his punishment, and presented with golden dice, as a reproach for his childish levity. 10 But it was not compassion, or respect for ties of blood, that was the cause of this extraordinary clemency of the Parthians toward Demetrius; the reason was, that they had some designs on the kingdom of Syria, and intended to make use of Demetrius against his brother Antiochus, as circumstances, the course of time, or the fortune of war, might require.

[38. 10] Antiochus, having heard of their designs, and thinking it proper to be first in the field, led forth an army, which he had inured to service by many wars with his neighbours, against the Parthians. 2 But his preparations for luxury were not less than those for war, for three hundred thousand camp followers, of whom the greater number were cooks, bakers, and stage-players, attended on eighty thousand armed men. 3 Of silver and gold, it is certain, there was such an abundance, that the common soldiers fastened their buskins with gold, and trod upon the metal for the love of which nations contend with the sword. 4 Their cooking instruments, too, were of silver, as if they were going to a banquet, not to a field of battle. 5 Many kings of the east met Antiochus on his march, offering him themselves and their kingdoms, and expressing the greatest detestation of Parthian pride. Nor was there any delay in coming to an engagement. 6 Antiochus, being victorious in three battles, and having got possession of Babylon, began to be thought a great man. All the neighbouring people, in consequence, joining him, nothing was left to the Parthians but their own country. 7 It was then that Phraates sent Demetrius into Syria, with a body of Parthians, to seize the throne, so that Antiochus might be recalled from Parthia to secure his own dominions. In the meantime, since he could not overthrow Antiochus by open force, he made attempts upon him everywhere by stratagem. 8 On account of the number of his forces, Antiochus had distributed his army, in winter quarters, through several cities; and this dispersion was the cause of his ruin; for the cities, finding themselves harassed by having to furnish supplies, and by the depredations of the soldiers, revolted to the Parthians, and, on an appointed day, conspired to fall upon the army divided among them, so that the several divisions might not be able to assist each other. 9 News of the attack being brought to Antiochus, he hastened with that body of troops which he had in winter quarters with him, to succour the others that lay nearest. On his way he was met by the king of the Parthians, with whom he himself fought more bravely than his troops; 10 but at last, as the enemy had the superiority in valour, he was deserted, through fear on the part of his men, and killed. Phraates had funeral rites performed for him as a king, and married the daughter of Demetrius, whom Antiochus had brought with him, and of whom he had become enamoured. 11 He then began to regret having sent away Demetrius, and hastily despatched some troops of horse to fetch him back; but they found that prince, who had been in fear of pursuit, already seated on his throne, and, after doing all they could to no purpose, returned to their king.

BOOK 39

[39. 1] L After Antiochus and his army were cut off in Persia, his brother Demetrius, being delivered from confinement among the Parthians, and restored to his throne, resolved, while all Syria was mourning for the loss of the army, to make war upon Egypt, 2 (just as if his and his brother's wars with the Parthians, in which one was taken prisoner and the other killed, had had a fortunate termination), Cleopatra his mother-in-law promising him the kingdom of Egypt, as a recompence for the assistance that he should afford her against her brother. 3 But, as is often the case, while he was grasping at what belonged to others, he lost his own by a rebellion in Syria; for the people of Antioch, in the first place, under the leadership of Trypho, and from detestation of the pride of their king (which, from his intercourse with the unfeeling Parthians, had become intolerable), and afterwards the Apamenians and other people, following their example, revolted from Demetrius in his absence. 4 Ptolemy, king of Egypt, too, who was threatened with a war by him, having learned that his sister Cleopatra had put much of the wealth of Egypt on ship-board, and fled into Syria to her daughter and son-in-law Demetrius, sent an Egyptian youth, the son of a merchant named Protarchus, to claim the throne of Syria by force of arms, 5 having forged a story, that he had been admitted into the family of King Antiochus by adoption, and the Syrians, at the same time, refusing no man for their king, if they might but be freed from the insolence of Demetrius. The name of Alexander was given to the youth, and great succours were sent him from Egypt. 6 Meanwhile the body of Antiochus, who had been killed by the king of the Parthians, arrived in Syria, being sent back in a silver coffin for burial, and was received with great respect by the different cities as well as by the new king, Alexander, in order to secure credit to the fiction. This show of affection procured him extraordinary regard from the people, every one supposing his tears not counterfeit but real. 7 Demetrius being defeated by Alexander and overwhelmed by misfortunes surrounding him on every side, was at last forsaken even by his wife and children. 8 Being left, accordingly, with only a few slaves, and setting sail for Tyre, to shelter himself in the sanctuary of a temple there, he was killed, as he was leaving the ship, by order of the governor of the city. 9 One of his sons, Seleucus, for having assumed the diadem without his mother's consent, was put to death by her; the other who, from the size of his nose was named Grypus, was made king by his mother so far at least that the regal name should belong to him, while all the power of sovereignty was to remain with herself.

[39. 2] L But Alexander, having secured the throne of Syria and being puffed up with success, began, with insolent haughtiness to show disrespect even to Ptolemy himself, by whom he had been artfully advanced to royal dignity. 2 Ptolemy, in consequence, effecting a reconciliation with his sister, prepared, with his utmost effort to overthrow that power which, from hatred to Demetrius he had procured for Alexander by supplying him with troops. 3 He therefore sent a large force to the aid of Grypus and his daughter Tryphaena to marry him, that he might induce the people to support his nephew, not only by sharing in the war with him, but by contracting with him this affinity. 4 Nor were his endeavours without effect; for when the people saw Grypus upheld by the strength of Egypt, they began by degree to fall away from Alexander. 5 A battle then took place between the kings, in which Alexander was defeated, and fled to Antioch. Here, being without money, and pay being wanted for his soldiers, he ordered a statue of Victory of solid gold, which was in the temple of Jupiter, to be removed, palliating the sacrilege with jests, and saying that "Victory was lent him by Jupiter. " 6 Some days after, having ordered a golden statue of Jupiter himself, of great weight, to be taken away secretly, and being caught in the sacrilegious act, he was forced to flee by a rising of the people, and being overtaken by a violent storm, and deserted by his men, he fell into the hands of robbers, and being brought before Grypus, was put to death.

7 Grypus, having thus recovered his father's throne, and being freed from foreign perils, found his life endangered by a plot of his own mother; who, after betraying, from desire of power, her husband Demetrius, and putting to death her other son, was discontented at her dignity being eclipsed by the victory of Grypus, and presented him with a cup of poison as he was returning home from taking exercise. 8 But Grypus, having received notice of her treacherous intention, desired her (as if to show as much respect for his mother as she showed for him) to drink herself first, and, when she refused, pressed her earnestly, and at last, producing his informant, charged her with the fact, telling her, "that the only way left to clear herself from guilt, was, that she should drink what she had offered to her son. " The queen, being thus disconcerted, and her wickedness turned upon herself, was killed with the poison which she had prepared for another. 9 Grypus, accordingly, having securely established his throne, had peace himself, and secured it for his people, for eight years. 10 At the end of that time a rival for the throne arose, named Cyzicenus, a brother of his own by the same mother, and son of his uncle Antiochus. Grypus having tried to take him off by poison, provoked him the sooner to contend for the throne with him by force of arms.

[39. 3] L During these unnatural contentions in the kingdom of Syria, Ptolemy, king of Egypt, died, leaving the kingdom of Egypt to his wife, and one of her two sons, whichsoever she herself should choose; as if the condition of Egypt would be more quiet than that of Syria had been, when the mother, by electing one of her sons, would make the other her enemy. 2 Though she was more inclined to fix on the younger of her sons, the people obliged her to nominate the elder, from whom, however, before she gave him the throne, she took away his wife, compelling him to divorce his sister Cleopatra, whom he very much loved, and requiring him to marry his younger sister Selene; a determination as to her daughters not at all becoming a mother, as she took a husband from one, and gave him to the other. 3 But Cleopatra being not so much divorced by her husband, as torn from her husband by her mother, married Cyzicenus in Syria, and that she might not bring him the mere name of a wife, carried over to him, as a dowry, the army of Grypus, which she had induced to desert. 4 Cyzicenus, thinking himself thus a match for the power of his brother, gave him battle, but was defeated and put to flight, and sought refuge in Antioch. 5 Grypus then proceeded to besiege Antioch, in which Cleopatra, the wife of Cyzicenus, was; and, when he had taken it, Tryphaena, the wife of Grypus, desired that nothing should be searched for before his sister Cleopatra, not that she might relieve her in her captivity, but that she might not escape the sufferings of captivity; since she had invaded the kingdom chiefly from envy towards her, and by marrying the enemy of her sister had made herself her enemy. 6 She also charged her with bringing a foreign army to decide the disputes between the brothers; and with having married out of Egypt, when she was divorced from her brother, contrary to the will of her mother. 7 Grypus, on the other hand, besought her, that "he might not be driven to commit so heinous a crime;" saying, that "by none of his forefathers, in the course of so many civil and foreign wars, had cruelties after victory been inflicted upon women, whom their sex itself protected from the perils of war and from ill-treatment on the part of the conquerors; 8 and that in her case, besides the common practice of people at war, there was added the closest tie of blood, for she was the full sister of her who would treat her so cruelly, his own cousin, and aunt to their children. " 9 In addition to these obligations of relationship, he mentioned also the superstitious regard paid to the temple in which she had taken refuge, observing that "the gods were so much the more religiously to be revered by him, as he had been the better enabled to conquer by their favour and protection; and that neither by killing her would he diminish the strength of Cyzicenus, nor increase it by restoring her to him. " 10 But the more Grypus held back, the more was Tryphaena excited with a womanish pertinacity, fancying that her husband's observations proceeded not from pity but from love. Summoning some soldiers herself, therefore, she despatched a party to kill her sister. 11 They, going into the temple, and not being able to drag her away, cut off her hands while she was embracing the statue of the goddess. Soon after Cleopatra expired, uttering imprecations on her unnatural murderers, and commending the avenging of her fate to the outraged deities. 12 And not long after, another battle being fought, Cyzicenus, being victorious, took Tryphaena, the wife of Grypus, who had just before killed her sister, prisoner, and by putting her to death made atonement to the manes of his wife.

[39. 4] L In Egypt, Cleopatra, being dissatisfied at having her son Ptolemy to share her throne, excited the people against him, and taking from him his wife Selene (the more ignominiously, as he had now two children by her), obliged him to go into exile, sending, at the same time, for her younger son Alexander, and making him king in his brother's room. 2 Nor was she content with driving her son from the throne, but pursued him with her arms while he was living in exile in Cyprus. After forcing him from thence, she put to death the general of her troops, because he had let him escape from his hands alive; though Ptolemy, indeed, had left the island from being ashamed to maintain a war against his mother, and not as being inferior to her in forces.

3 Alexander, alarmed at such cruelty on the part of his mother, deserted her also himself, preferring a life of quiet and security to royal dignity surrounded with danger; 4 while Cleopatra, fearing lest her elder son Ptolemy should be assisted by Cyzicenus to re-establish himself in Egypt, sent powerful succours to Grypus, and with them Selene, Ptolemy's wife, to marry the enemy of her former husband. 5 To her son Alexander she sent messengers to recall him to his country; but while, by secret treachery, she was plotting his destruction, she was anticipated by him and put to death, perishing, not by the course of nature, but by the hand of her son, 6 and having, indeed, well deserved so infamous an end, since she had driven her mother from the bed of her father, had made her two daughters widows by alternate marriages with their brothers, had made war upon one of her sons after sending him into exile, and plotted against the life of the other after depriving him of his throne.

[39. 5] L Neither did so unnatural a murder, on the part of Alexander, go unpunished; for as soon as it was known that the mother had been killed by the wickedness of her son, he was driven, by an insurrection of the people, into banishment, and the crown was restored to Ptolemy, who was recalled, because he had refused to make war against his mother, and to take from his brother by force of arms what he himself had previously possessed. 2 During the course of these proceedings, his natural brother, to whom his father had left the kingdom of Cyrene by will, died, appointing the Roman people his heir; 3 for the fortune of Rome, not content with the limits of Italy, had now begun to extend itself to the kingdoms of the east. Thus that part of Africa became a province of the Roman empire; and soon afterwards Crete and Cilicia, being subdued in the war against the pirates, were likewise made provinces. 4 In consequence, the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, which had been accustomed to aggrandize themselves by wars with their neighbours, being now confined by the vicinity of the Romans, and deprived of all opportunity of extending their frontiers, employed their strength to the injury of one another, 5 so that, being exhausted by continual battles, they fell into contempt with their neighbours, and became a prey to the people of Arabia, a nation previously regarded as unwarlike. 6 Their king Erotimus, relying on his seven hundred sons, whom he had had by his concubines, and dividing his forces, infested at one time Egypt, and another Syria, and procured a great name for the Arabians, by exhausting the strength of their neighbours.

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Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories
- books 40 to 44
Translated by Rev. J. S. Watson (1853). See key to translations for an explanation of the format.

← Previous books (37-39)

BOOK 40

[40. 1] L After the kings and kingdom of Syria had been exhausted by continual wars, occasioned by the mutual animosities of brothers, and by sons succeeding to the quarrels of their fathers, the people began to look for relief from foreign parts, and to think of choosing a king from among the sovereigns of other nations. 2 Some therefore advised that they should take Mithridates of Pontus, others Ptolemy of Egypt, but it being considered that Mithridates was engaged in war with the Romans, and that Ptolemy had always been an enemy to Syria, 3 the thoughts of all were directed to Tigranes king of Armenia, who, in addition to the strength of his own kingdom, was supported by an alliance with Parthia, and by a matrimonial connection with Mithridates. 4 Tigranes, accordingly, being invited to the throne of Syria, enjoyed a most tranquil reign over it for eighteen years, without having occasion to go to war either to attack others or to defend himself.

[40. 2] L But Syria, though unmolested by enemies, was laid waste by an earthquake, in which a hundred and seventy thousand people, and several cities, were destroyed; a portent which the soothsayers declared to presage a change in things.

2 After Tigranes was conquered by Lucullus, Antiochus, the son of Cyzicenus, was made king of Syria by his authority. 3 But what Lucullus gave, Pompeius soon after took away; telling him, when he made application for the crown, that he would not give Syria, even if it was willing to accept him, and much less if unwilling, to a king, who for eighteen years, during which Tigranes had governed Syria, had lain hid in a corner of Cilicia, and now, when Tigranes was conquered by the Romans, asked for the reward of other men's labours. 4 Accordingly, as he had not taken the throne from Tigranes while he held it, so he would not give Antiochus what he himself had yielded to Tigranes, and what he would not know how to defend, lest he should again expose Syria to the depredations of the Jews and Arabians. 5 He in consequence reduced Syria to the condition of a province, and the whole east, through the dissensions of kings of the same blood, fell by degrees under the power of the Romans.

BOOK 41

[41. 1] L The Parthians, in whose hands the empire of the east now is, having divided the world, as it were, with the Romans, were originally exiles from Scythia. 2 This is apparent from their very name; for in the Scythian language exiles are called Parthi. 3 During the time of the Assyrians and Medes, they were the most obscure of all the people of the east. 4 Subsequently, too, when the empire of the east was transferred from the Medes to the Persians, they were but as a herd without a name, and fell under the power of the stronger. 5 At last they became subject to the Macedonians, when they conquered the east; 6 so that it must seem wonderful to every one, that they should have reached such a height of good fortune as to rule over those nations under whose sway they had been merely slaves. 7 Being assailed by the Romans, also, in three wars, under the conduct of the greatest generals, and at the most flourishing period of the republic, they alone, of all nations, were not only a match for them, but came off victorious; 8 though it may have been a greater glory to them, indeed, to have been able to rise amidst the Assyrian, Median, and Persian empires, so celebrated of old, and the most powerful dominion of Bactria, peopled with a thousand cities, than to have been victorious in war against a people that came from a distance; 9 especially when they were continually harassed by severe wars with the Scythians and other neighbouring nations, and pressed with various other formidable contests.

10 The Parthians, being forced to quit Scythia by discord at home, gradually settled in the deserts betwixt Hyrcania, the Dahae, the Arei, the Sparni and Margiani. 11 They then advanced their borders, though their neighbours, who at first made no opposition, at length endeavoured to prevent them, to such an extent, that they not only got possession of the vast level plains, but also of steep hills, and heights of the mountains; 12 and hence it is that an excess of heat or cold prevails in most parts of the Parthian territories; since the snow is troublesome on the higher grounds, and the heat in the plains.

[41. 2] L The government of the nation, after their revolt from the Macedonian power, was in the hands of kings. 2 Next to the royal authority is the order of the people, from which they take generals in war and magistrates in peace. 3 Their language is something between those of the Scythians and Medes, being a compound of both. 4 Their dress was formerly of a fashion peculiar to themselves; afterwards, when their power had increased, it was like that of the Medes, light and full flowing. The fashion of their arms is that of their own country and of Scythia. 5 They have an army, not like other nations, of free men, but chiefly consisting of slaves, the numbers of whom daily increase, the power of manumission being allowed to none, and all their offspring, in consequence, being born slaves. These bondmen they bring up as carefully as their own children, and teach them, with great pains, the arts of riding and shooting with the bow. 6 As any one is eminent in wealth, so he furnishes the king with a proportionate number of horsemen for war. Indeed when fifty thousand cavalry encountered Antonius, as he was making war upon Parthia, only four hundred of them were free men.

7 Of engaging with the enemy in close fight, and of taking cities by siege, they know nothing. They fight on horseback, either galloping forward or turning their backs. Often, too, they counterfeit flight, that they may throw their pursuers off their guard against being wounded by their arrows. 8 The signal for battle among them is given, not by trumpet, but by drum. Nor are they able to fight long: but they would be irresistible, if their vigour and perseverance were equal to the fury of their onset. 9 In general they retire before the enemy in the very heat of the engagement, and, soon after their retreat, return to the battle afresh; so that, when you feel most certain that you have conquered them, you have still to meet the greatest danger from them. 10 Their armour, and that of their horses, is formed of plates, lapping over one another like the feathers of a bird, and covers both man and horse entirely. Of gold and silver, except for adorning their arms, they make no use.

[41. 3] L Each man has several wives, for the sake of gratifying desire with different objects. They punish no crime more severely than adultery, 2 and accordingly they not only exclude their women from entertainments, but forbid them the very sight of men. 3 They eat no flesh but that which they take in hunting. 4 They ride on horseback on all occasions; on horses they go to war, and to feasts; on horses they discharge public and private duties; on horses they go abroad, meet together, traffic, and converse. Indeed the difference between slaves and freemen is, that slaves go on foot, but freemen only on horseback. 5 They dispose of bodies by leaving them to be torn apart by birds or dogs; the bare bones they at last bury in the ground.

6 In their superstitions and worship of the gods, the principal veneration is paid to rivers. 7 The disposition of the people is proud, quarrelsome, faithless, and insolent; for a certain roughness of behaviour they think becoming to men, and gentleness only to women. 8 They are always restless, and ready for any commotion, at home or abroad; taciturn by nature; more ready to act than speak, and consequently shrouding both their successes and failures in silence. 9 They obey their princes, not from humility, but from fear. They are libidinous, but frugal in diet. 10 To their word or promise they have no regard, except as far as suits their interest.

[41.