soldier having accidentally killed a cat, neither the fear of Gabinius, nor the authority of Ptolemy, could prevent the people from tearing him to pieces upon the spot, to avenge the insult done to the gods of the country; for cats were of that number.

e

Nothing further is known with respect to the life of Ptolemy Auletes, except that C. Rabirius Posthumus, who had either lent him, or caused to be lent him, the greatest part of the sums he had borrowed at Rome, having gone to him, in order to procure payment when he was entirely re-instated, that prince gave him to understand that he despaired of satisfying him, unless he would consent to take upon him the care of his revenues, by which means he might re-imburse himself by little and little with his own hands. The unfortunate creditor having accepted that offer out of fear of losing his debt if he refused it, the king soon found a pretence for causing him to be imprisoned, though one of the oldest and dearest of Cæsar's friends, and though Pompey was in some measure security for the debt, as the money was lent, and the obligations executed in his presence, and by his procurement, in a country house of his near Alba.

Rabirius thought himself too happy in being able to escape from prison and Egypt, more miserable than he had gone thither. To complete his disgrace, he was prosecuted in form as soon as he returned to Rome, for having aided Ptolemy in corrupting the senate, by the sums he had lent him for that purpose; of having dishonoured his quality of Roman knight, by the employment he had accepted in Egypt; and, lastly, of having shared in the money which Gabinius brought from thence, with whom, it was alledged, he had connived. Cicero's oration in his defence, which we still have,

e Cic. pro Rabir. Posth.

is an eternal monument of the ingratitude and perfidy of this unworthy king.

Ptolemy Auletes died in the peaceable possession of the kingdom of Egypt, about four years after his re-establishment. He left two sons and two daughters. He bequeathed his crown to the eldest son and daughter, and ordered by his will that they should marry together, according to the custom of that house, and govern jointly. And because they were both very young (for the daughter who was the eldest, was only seventeen years of age) he left them under the tuition of the Roman senate. This was the famous Cleopatra, whose history it remains for us to relate. We find the people appointed Pompey the young king's guardian, who some years after so basely ordered him to be put to death.

Cæsar de Bello Civ. 1. v.

& Eutrop. 1. vi.

A. M.

3953. Ant. J. C.

51.

Ant.J.C.

48.

SECT. II. Pothinus and Achillas, ministers of the
young king, expel Cleopatra. She raises troops
to re-establish herself. Pompey after having
been overthrown at Pharsalia, retires into Egypt.
He is assassinated there. Cæsar, who pursued
him, arrives at Alexandria, where he is informed
of his death, which he seems to lament.
He en-
deavours to reconcile the brother and sister, and
for that purpose sends for Cleopatra, of whom
he soon becomes enamoured. Great commotions
arise at Alexandria, and several battles are fought
between the Egyptians and Cæsar's troops, where-
in the latter have almost always the advantage.
The king having been drowned in flying after a
sea fight, all Egypt submits to Cæsar. He sets
Cleopatra, with her younger brother, upon the
throne, and returns to Rome.

A. M. LITTLE is known of the beginning of the reign 3956. of Cleopatra and her brother. That prince was a minor, under the tuition of Pothinus the eunuch, and of Achillas, the general of his army. Those two ministers, no doubt, to engross to themselves the whole administration of the public affairs, had deprived Cleopatra, in the king's name, of the share in the sovereignty left her by the will of Auletes. Injured in this manner, she went into Syria and Palestine to raise troops in those countries, in order to assert her rights, by force of arms.

It was exactly at this conjuncture of the quarrel between the brother and sister, that Pompey, after having lost the battle of Pharsalia, fled to Egypt; conceiving, that he should find there an open and secure asylum in his misfortunes. He had been

b Plut. in Pomp. p. 659-662. Appian. de Bel. Civ. p. 480-484. Diod. 1. xlii. p. 200-206.

Id. in Cæs. p. 780, 731.

Cæs. de Bel. Civ. 1. iii.

the protector of Auletes, the father of the reigning king, and it was solely to his influence that he was indebted for his re-establishment. He was in hopes of finding the son grateful, and of being powerfully assisted by him. When he arrived, Ptolemy was upon the coast with his army, between Pelusium and mount Casius, and Cleopatra at no great distance at the head of her troops also. Pompey, on approaching the ⚫ coast, sent to Ptolemy to demand permission to land, and enter his kingdom.

The two ministers, Pothinus and Achillas, consulted with Theodotus, the rhetorician, the young king's preceptor, and with some others, what answer they should make; Ptolemy in the mean time waited the result of that council, and chose rather to expose himself to be the foot-ball of three unworthy persons who governed the prince, than to owe his safety to Cæsar, who was his father-in-law, and the greatest of the Romans. This council differed in opinion; some were for receiving him, others for having him told to seek a retreat elsewhere. Theodotus approved neither of these methods, and displaying all his eloquence, undertook to demonstrate, that there was no other choice to be made, than that of ridding themselves of him. His reason was, because if they received him, Cæsar would never forgive the having assisted his enemy: if they sent him away without aid, and affairs should take a turn in his favour, he would not fail to revenge himself upon them for their refusal. That therefore there was no security for them, but in putting him to death, by which means they would gain Cæsar's friendship, and prevent the other from ever doing them any hurt; for, said he, according to the proverb, "Dead men do not bite."

This advice prevailed, as being in their opinion, the wisest and most safe. Septimius, a Roman officer in the service of the king of Egypt, and some others, were charged with putting it into execution. They went to take Pompey on board a shallop, under the

66

pretext that large vessels could not approach the shore without difficulty. The troops were drawn up on the sea-side, as with design to do honour to Pompey, with Ptolemy at their head. The perfidious Septimius tendered his hand to Pompey in the name of his master, and bade him come to a king, his friend, whom he ought to regard as his ward and son. Pompey then embraced his wife Cornelia, who was already in tears for his death; and, after having repeated these verses of Sophocles, Every man who "enters the court of a tyrant becomes his slave, "though free before," he went into the shallop. When they saw themselves near the shore, they stabbed him before the king's eyes, cut off his head, and threw his body upon the strand, where it had no other funeral than what one of his freed-men gave it with the assistance of an old Roman, who was there by chance. They raised him a wretched funeral-pile, and covered him with some fragments of an old wreck, that had been driven ashore there.

Cornelia had seen Pompey massacred before her eyes. It is easier to imagine the condition of a woman in the height of grief from so tragical an object, than to describe it. Those who were in her galley, and in two other ships in company with it, made the coast resound with the cries they raised, and weighing anchor immediately, set sail before the wind, which blew fresh as soon as they got out to sea this prevented the Egyptians, who were getting ready to chase them, from pursuing their design.

Cæsar made all possible haste to arrive in Egypt, whither he suspected Pompey had retired, and where he was in hopes of finding him still alive. That he might be there the sooner, he carried very few troops with him; only eight hundred horse, and three thousand two hundred foot. He left the rest of his army in Greece and Asia Minor, under his lieutenantgenerals, with orders to make all the advantages of