Q. Curtius, lib. x.

lib. xiii.

B.C. 324.

though never so acknowledged. He was put into the highest offices by Philip, without raising in Alexander's mind the distrust which might have been felt if Ptolemy had boasted that he was the elder brother. He had earned the good opinion of Alexander by his military successes in Asia, and had gained his gratitude by saving his life when he was in danger among the Oxydracæ, near the river Indus; and moreover, Alexander looked up to him as the historian whose literary powers and knowledge of military tactics were to hand down to the wonder of future ages those conquests of which he was an eye-witness.

Alexander's victories over Darius, and march to the river Indus, are no part of this history: it is enough to say that he died at Justinus, Babylon, eight years after he had entered Egypt; and his halfbrother Philip Arridæus, a weak-minded unambitious young man, was declared by the generals assembled at Babylon to be his successor. His royal blood united more voices in the army in his favour than the warlike and statesmanlike character of any one of the rival generals. They were forced to be content with dividing the provinces between them; some hoping to govern by their power over the weak mind of Arridæus, and others secretly meaning to make themselves independent.

In this weighty matter, Ptolemy showed the wisdom and judgement which had already gained him his high character. Though his military rank and skill were equal to those of any one of the generals of Alexander, and his claim by birth perhaps equal to that of Arridæus, he was not one of those who had aimed at the throne; nor had he even aimed at the second place, but left to Perdiccas the regency, with the care of the king's person, in whose name that ambitious general vainly hoped to govern the whole of Alexander's conquests. But Ptolemy, more wisely measuring his strength with

ALEXANDER.

29 the several tasks, chose the province of Egypt, the province which was of all others, from its insulated position, the easiest to be held as an independent kingdom against the power of Perdiccas: and, when Egypt was given to Ptolemy by the council of generals, Cleomenes was at the same time and by the same power made second in command, and he governed Egypt for one year before Ptolemy's arrival.

Arrian.

ap. Photium, lib. x.

Cleopatra. *Cleopatra Ptolemy Memphites. *Ptolemy *Alexander I. Cleopatra. Tryphæna. Selene. Ptolemy Cocce. Eupator.

Apion,

Soter II.
1

king of Cyrene.

PTOLEMY THE SON OF LAGUS,

OR PTOLEMY SOTER.

WHENEVER a man of ambition aims at raising himself by means of industry and ability to a higher rank in the world than that in which he was born, if he seeks to throw off his family and to break those ties by which he fancies that he is held back, the opinion of the world as certainly chains him to the load that he wishes to rise from. Any body with less good sense and knowledge of mankind than Ptolemy would have called himself the natural son of Philip Amyntas, and would have wished his relationship with Lagus to have been forgotten; but we may be sure that in that case the name of Lagus would have been thrown at him as a reproach, and he more wisely took it as his title; instead of being ashamed of his father's name he ennobled it, and took care that his children and his children's children should be proud of being of the family of the Lagidæ.

He was one of those who, at the death of Alexander, had raised their voices against giving the whole of the conquered countries to one king; he had wished that they should have been shared equally among the generals as independent kingdoms; but in this he was overruled, and he accepted his government as the lieutenant of Philip Arridæus, though no doubt with the fixed purpose of making Egypt an independent kingdom. On reaching Memphis, the seat of his government, his whole thoughts were turned toward strengthening himself against Perdiccas, who hoped to be obeyed,

B. C. 322.

Pausanias, lib. i. 6.

in the name of his young and weak-minded king, by all his fellow

generals.

The Greek and foreign mercenaries, of which the army of Alexander was made up, and who were faithful to his memory and to his family, had little to guide them in the choice of which leader they should follow to his distant province, beside the thought of where they should be best treated; and Ptolemy's high character for wisdom, generosity, and warlike skill had gained many friends for him among the officers: they saw that the wealth of Egypt would put it in his power to reward those whose services were valuable to him; and hence crowds flocked to his standard.

On reaching their provinces, the Greek soldiers, proud of their conquests and of their late king, always called themselves Macedonians; they pleased themselves with the thought that the whole of the conquered countries were still governed by the brother of Alexander; and no one of his generals was unwise enough, in his wildest thoughts of ambition-whether aiming like Ptolemy at founding a kingdom, or like Perdiccas at the government of the world,―to throw off the title of lieutenant to Philip Arridæus, and to forfeit the love of the Macedonian soldiers and his best claim to their loyalty.

The first act of Ptolemy was to put to death Cleomenes, who had been made receiver-general of the taxes by Alexander, and who had afterwards been made sub-governor of Egypt by the same council of generals which had made Ptolemy governor. This may easily have been called for by the dishonesty and crooked dealing which Cleomenes had been guilty of in getting in the taxes; and while the whole tenor of Ptolemy's life would disprove the charge, we must not accuse him of being led to this deed because he might have looked upon Cleomenes as the friend of Perdiccas, or because