was partially revived, but did not become formidable till the accession of foreign states (243-229). Many great names appear in connexion with it; such as the virtuous Aratus, Philopomen, and Lycortas. The Romans endeavoured to excite quarrels between the different members, with the view of checking their rising power; yet Philopomen, the last of the Greeks, maintained their dignity, at the very time when the Romans presumed to speak as arbitrators. He was taken prisoner by the Messenians, and poisoned at the age of seventy; and the venal Callicrates who could hear unmoved "the very boys in the streets taunt him with treachery," became his successor. The conquest of Macedonia led to the destruction of the Achæan League. Above 1000 of the most eminent members were summoned to Rome, 167, and kept in prison seventeen years without a hearing; and when at length they were allowed to return home, they excited a war against the common enemy. Their heroic efforts proved vain against dishonesty within and the powerful arms of Rome without. With the taking of Corinth vanished the last hopes of Grecian independence, and under the title of Achaia the country lost even its name, 146 B. c.

EGYPT.

THE PTOLEMIES.-Ptolemy I., 323 B. c., the son of Lagus and supposed brother of Alexander, was governor of Egypt, which title he changed for that of king after the battle of Ipsus, 301. He wished to form a state on the model of Greece, and with that design beautified Alexandria, and laid the foundations of its celebrated library. His empire increased every day in wealth, learning, and civilisation. It is said of him that he never went to war without necessity, and that he was always successful. He was named Soter (Deliverer) by the Rhodians, whom he had protected against the attacks of Demetrius Poliorcetes, 304. His son, the second of the name, who had ascended the throne in 286 as joint king, became sole monarch two years after. It was in irony that he was styled Philadelphus, having put one brother to death and banished another. In the patronage he bestowed upon learning, he excelled even his father at his court were entertained the astronomer-poet Aratus; the grammarians Aristophanes and Aristarchus ; Theocritus, and Lycophron the celebrated commentator; the historian Manetho; the mathematicians Conon, Euclid, and Hipparchus; Callimachus and Zenodotus, the latter famous for his notes on Homer. By his order the Septuagint transla

tion of the Hebrew Scriptures was prepared; the lighthouse of the Pharos erected; and the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea cleared out. Ptolemy III., 246, trod in the steps of his father and grandfather; his grateful subjects styled him Euergetes (the Benefactor). Before his death in 221, his government extended westward to Cyrene, as well as over Cole-Syria, Phonicia, Lycia, Caria, and Cyprus in the north. Egypt was singularly fortunate in having three great kings in succession. The change which ensued was produced in the natural course of events, for it was impossible that a prosperous court could remain untainted by luxury. Ptolemy IV. Philopator, a debauched and cruel monarch, was ruled by crafty favourites, who likewise endeavoured to maintain their power during the early part of the reign of the youthful Ptolemy V. surnamed Epiphanes; but the nation, to avoid the dangers impending from the attacks of the Macedonian and Syrian monarchs, intrusted the regency to the senate of Rome, 202.

The internal government of Egypt appears latterly to have been in most respects similar to that of ancient times. The division into nomes continued; the regal power was limited; the priestly caste with their ancient forms of religion still existed. Under Ptolemy II. Egypt was inferior to Rome alone. Theocritus, probably with the exaggeration of a poet, speaks of its 33,000 cities; at all events, it was the greatest mercantile nation then existing. By its caravans and its fleet of merchant ships, it collected in its warehouses the silks and spices of India, the purple of Phoenicia, the precious metals of Spain and Thrace, and the ivory of Ethiopia. The revenue, without including the corn-tax, which was paid in kind, amounted to 14,800 silver talents (about four millions sterling).

Consult: Sharpe's Egypt under the Ptolemies.

PARTHIA

LIES between Media and Aria, southward from Hyrcania. The tyranny of the Syrian viceroy, Agathocles, drove the inhabitants into rebellion. Arsaces, by his military talents, raised himself to power, and with him begins the numerous family of the Arsacidæ, 256 B. c. The Euphrates, the Indus, and the Caspian Sea soon became the boundaries of a kingdom remarkable in history for little more than its obstinate wars against the Romans, in one of which Crassus was defeated and killed, 53 B. C. His death was avenged some years afterwards by the consul Ventidius; but Julian the Apostate, despising the lessons of experience, invaded the country and perished with a numerous army. The regal power was extinguished by the Sassanides, A. d. 226.

This empire was divided into satrapies, and contained several small tributary kingdoms, with some Græco-Macedonian settlements. The constitution was monarchical and aristocratic. The supremacy of the Parthians, a people jealous of all strangers, interrupted the commerce between the East and West, until a new route was opened by Palmyra and Alexandria.

SECOND CENTURY.

ROME.-197, Battle of Cynocephala.-190, Defeat of Antiochus the Great.-168, Battle of Pydna.-146, Corinth and Carthage burnt.— 133, Fall of Numantia.—133 and 121, Gracchi.—111, Jugurthine War. -102, Cimbric War.

JUDEA.-166, Judas Maccabæus.-130, Independent.-106, Aristobulus. INVENTIONS, &c.-190, Pumps by Hero of Alexandria.-142, Precession of Equinoxes, Latitude and longitude, Spherical Trigonometry, by Hipparchus.

LITERATURE.-Polybius, Aristarchus, Bion and Moschus, Ennius,

Terence.

ROME.

MACEDON REDUCED.-The fortunate conclusion of the Second Punic War had inspired the Romans with a desire of subjugating the world. Hostilities were declared against Philip in spite of the opposition of the tribunes, and the artful Quintius Flamininus was sent against him. Much political ingenuity was displayed by these two commanders, but at length Quintius succeeded in gaining over the Achæan League, assisted by whose cavalry he utterly routed his antagonist at the battle of Cynocephalæ, 197 B. c. The treaty which followed, besides confining the king to the boundaries of Macedon, imposed a tribute of 1000 talents, and stipulated for the surrender of his fleet, as well as for the reduction of his army to 500 Roman commissioners now filled the country; but the troops were not withdrawn from the states which had been declared free at the national festival of the Isthmian games.

-men.

SYRIAN WAR.-Antiochus III. of Syria was the only remaining enemy in any degree formidable to the Romans. His dominions extended from the east of Persia to Asia Minor, and he was meditating the conquest of Egypt, when the Roman intervention was solicited in favour of Ptolemy V. Some time after, Antiochus undertook to reduce Caria and Lydia, and had crossed the Hellespont to seize on the Thracian Chersonese. At this time Hannibal, who had fled to him for refuge, offered, at the head of 10,000 men, to transfer the war to Italy. Had this

proposal been adopted, the result of the contest might have been different. To avert the impending danger, Rome gained over to her interest Eumenes of Pergamus, whose fears had been excited by the power of Antiochus. The vanity of the Greeks was flattered more than ever; Philip of Macedon was easily won over; and the fidelity of the Boeotians and Achæans was assured. The importance attached to this war was such, that the consul Cornelius forbade the senators to be absent from Rome more than one day at a time.

Antiochus commanded his army in person. He had been led to expect that all Greece would rise at his approach, but he was joined by only two or three of the smaller tribes. At Thermopyla, Cato, by a bold movement, gained the passage defended by the Syrian army, which was utterly routed, Antiochus himself scarcely halting until he reached the Asiatic continent, 191. His rear was closely pressed by the Roman legions, under the command of L. Scipio, whose brother, Africanus, was then serving as his lieutenant. The defeat at Magnesia, in 190, for ever broke the power of the Syrian empire, and the conditions of peace included the evacuation of Asia Minor, the surrender of Hannibal, and the payment of 15,000 talents. The king perished in attempting to plunder the temple of Elymais in Persia, 187 B. c.

Syria remained a separate kingdom many years, and the throne was frequently an object of violent contention, until Pompey, having defeated Mithridates and Tigranes, subdued Antiochus XI., and reduced the country to a Roman province, 65 B. c.

PERSEUS.-Fresh disputes arose with Macedon, but war did not break out until 172. The two sons of Philip were Demetrius and Perseus, the former of whom had been sent as a hostage to Rome. The policy of the senate succeeded in attaching this youth to the Roman interest, with the view of causing a disunion between the brothers. Hence Demetrius had hardly returned to Macedon before he was accused of endeavouring to assassinate Perseus. Philip, who had allowed himself to be prejudiced against his son, ordered him to be put to death, and died himself some time after under the tortures of a guilty conscience. To ascend the throne by the murder of a prince befriended by Rome, was almost equivalent to a declaration of war against the republic. But all the efforts of Roman policy were required to prevent the formation of a powerful confederacy in the East. A deceitful truce was resorted to for gaining time; and at first the war was favourable

to Perseus. At length, wearied by the slow progress of hostilities, and contrary to their usual custom, the republicans sent an old general, Paulus Æmilius, against him. The bloody and decisive battle near Pydna, 168 B. C., showed how easily a kingdom may be overturned which has only an army for its support. Perseus, after being led in triumph, was starved in prison: Macedonia was now divided into four governments; and the inhabitants were forbidden to marry, or to purchase property out of their district, under pain of death. Their gold mines were no longer to be worked, all commerce with foreigners was prohibited, and as if to insult the unfortunate, they were declared free. An adventurer, Andriscus, pretending to be the son of Perseus, placed himself at the head of the disaffected; but he was overcome by Metellus, and the native country of Alexander submitted finally to the arms of Rome, 146 B. C.

CONQUEST OF GREECE.-The Greeks perceived when too late the error they had committed in demanding Roman aid against Macedon. The members of the Achæan League still made head against the ambitious barbarians, but their utmost efforts and heroism proved vain. At Thermopylæ, and again at the Isthmus, the fortune of Italy prevailed. Corinth was taken by Mummius, who, after countenancing the most revolting cruelties, burnt the city to the ground, 146. Greece now also became a tributary province under the name of Achaia.

THIRD PUNIC WAR.t.—This war originated in domestic faction. Cato, envious of the great influence possessed by Scipio Nasica in the senate, was offended by the coldness with which he had been received as ambassador at Carthage; and the disputes with Masinissa were made the pretext for hostilities, 149. The Romans, after claiming all their ships of war, ordered the Carthaginians to quit their city, and build another in the interior. So imperious a command was not obeyed; despair furnished them with arms; the women cut off their hair to weave cordage for the ships, and gave their ornaments as a contribution towards the defence of their country. During three years the devoted city held out; but at length the younger Scipio Æmilianus obtained a footing within its walls. For six days more the inhabitants maintained an obstinate resistance,-every inch of ground was defended with desperation; and in the end, setting fire to the town, they perished in the ruins. Seventeen days the conflagration continued, and the conqueror, it is said, wept at the dreadful sight. Thus perished the mistress of the