History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 10 (of 12)Rappoport, A. S. (Angelo Solomon)
History
History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 10 (of 12)
Rappoport, A. S. (Angelo Solomon)
Egypt -- History
The wars between Philadelphus and his great neighbour, Antiochus Theos,
seem not to have been carried on very actively, though they did not
wholly cease till Philadelphus offered as a bribe his daughter Berenice,
with a large sum of money under the name of a dower. Antiochus was
already married to Laodice, whom he loved dearly, and by whom he had two
children, Seleucus and Antiochus; but political ambition had deadened
the feelings of his heart, and he agreed to declare this first marriage
void and his two sons illegitimate, and that his children, if any should
be born to him by Berenice, should inherit the throne of Babylon and the
East. Philadelphus, with an equal want of feeling, and disregarding the
consequences of such a marriage, led his daughter to Pelusium on her
journey to her betrothed husband, and sent with her so large a sum of
gold and silver that he was nicknamed the "dower-giver."
The peace between the two countries lasted as long as Philadelphus
lived, and was strengthened by kindnesses which each did to the other.
Ptolemy, when in Syria, was much struck by the beauty of a statue of
Diana, and begged it of Antiochus as an ornament for Alexandria. But as
soon as the statue reached Egypt, Arsinoe fell dangerously ill, and she
dreamed that the goddess came by night, and told her that the illness
was sent to her for the wrong done to the statue by her husband; and
accordingly it was sent back with many gifts to the temple from which it
had been brought.
While Berenice and her husband lived at Antioch, Philadelphus kindly
sent there from time to time water from the sacred Nile for her use, as
the Egyptians believed that none other was so wholesome. Antiochus,
when ill, sent to Alexandria for a physician; and Cleombrotus of Cos
accordingly went, by command of Ptolemy, to Syria. He was successful
in curing the king, and on his return he received from Philadelphus a
present of one hundred talents, or seventy-five thousand dollars, as a
fee for his journey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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