CH'A P. XXVI. The Hiftory of the Armenians. SECT. I. The Description of Armenia, 1 II. The Reigns of the Kings of Armenia Major, III. The Hiftory of Armenia Minor, CHA P. XXVII. The Hiftory of the kingdom of Pontus. SECT. I. The Defcription of Pontus, II. The Reigns of the Kings of Pontus, 363 372 407 410 415 DIRECTIONS for placing the COPPER-PLATE. Map of the Kingdoms of Armenia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Media, &c. to face p. 363 AN Univerfal History, FROM THE Earliest Accounts to the Present Time. CHA P. XXIII. SECT. VII. The Hiftory of the Reign of Antigonus, and his Son A NTIGONUS was the fon of Philip, a noble- The chaman; he efpoufed Stratonice, the daughter of racter of Correus, a young woman of remarkable beauty; Antigonus. by her he had two fons, Demetrius and Philip. We have feen in what manner he rose from being an officer in Alexander's army, to be lord of many of the fairest provinces, of which his empire was compofed; but hitherto we have treated but flightly of the manner in which he ruled them. Ambition was his capital vice, and indeed it led him into a number of bad actions; he had however several great qualities, with fome virtues (A). (A) In the midst of his profperity, he was wifer than his mafter: for when Hermodotus, a Greek poet, not contented with making him a god, ftyled him alfo "the offspring of the fun." "I cannot tell how that is, faid Antigonus; but he that empties my clofe VOL. VIII. ftool, never faid any thing of B In The Egyp• tian ex pedition. In his difpofition he was rough and boisterous, and being a great foldier, he trusted too much to arms. When his neceffities required it, he would fometimes fleece his subjects feverely, and when he was reminded that Alexander acted differently, "True, faid he; for Alexander reaped Afia, and I do but glean." In private transactions, he was ftrictly juft. The harmony in which he lived with his fon and family, conftituted his chief happiness. His fecond fon died young, but not till he had performed things worthy of his defcent. Of Demetrius we have already fpoken. The father was now in the zenith of his glory, and the fon in the prime of his age; we need not be furprifed, therefore, at their fo readily accepting the alluring honours of the regal ftate ". His army in great diftrefs,and his fleet difperfed. An expedition into Egypt was immediately refolved on, with a view to drive Ptolemy entirely out of his dominions, that they might be annexed to thofe already poffeffed by Antigonus. The powerful land-army raised for this purpose was commanded by Antigonus himfelf; the fleet, which was to accompany it, had Demetrius for its admiral. This fleet confifted of a hundred and fifty ftout gallies, and a hundred fmaller veffels; the army was compofed of eighteen thousand foot, eight thousand horse, and eighty-three elephants. The general rendezvous of the land-forces was at Antigonia, a new city built by Antigonus in Syria; the fleet anchored on the coaft; the kings expreffed an earneft defire to be in motion; but the ableft feamen in the fleet were very defirous of remaining where they were till the fetting of the Pleiades, dreading the ill weather, which till then is frequent on the coaft of Egypt; but Antigonus would not be detained, he therefore caufed provifions of all forts for ten days to be provided for his army, and having got together camels, and other beafts of burden, fufficient, as he thought, to tranfport thefe neceffaries and their baggage, he began his march through the deferts, which lie between Gaza and Egypt; in this route his army was miferably fatigued, and the fpirits of the people exceffively broken. At laft having coafted Mount Caffius, he perceived his fleet lying at anchor; but in a very indifferent state, many fhips were loft, more driven back to Gaza, and all the rest fhattered by the storm they had fuftained. Demetrius intended to have failed up one of the mouths of the Nile ; but Ptolemy had fo effectually fecured these, and had dif Diodor, Sicul. lib. xx. Plut. Apophthegm. Reg. pofed pofed his troops on the coaft fo judiciously, that no impreffion could be made; and if Antigonus had not sup plied thofe on board with water and provifions, they muft have perished in fight of the shore. This was a melancholy beginning; however, Antigonus marched on, hoping to rectify all things by his fuccefs in a battle; which Ptolemy ftudioufly avoided; he had fortified all the fords of the Nile, and occupied thefe pofts with strong detachments. He had befides an army of obfervation, with which he held Antigonus at bay, while in the interim he offered, by proclamation, every common foldier two mine (about fix pounds five fhillings English), and to every officer a talent, or one hundred and eight pounds, who fhould join his army. He had practifed the fame expedient when Perdiccas invaded Egypt, and he had the fame fuccefs as formerly; for numbers deferted to him; and if Antigonus had not pofted fome choice troops on the road, the greatest part of his army would have deferted. At laft tumults arifing, Antigonus faw plainly, that it would not be for his intereft to remain any longer He abanin Egypt wherefore, to avoid farther mifchiefs, he re- dons the tired with his army, and Demetrius failed back with the Egyptian expedition. fleet towards Syria. the reduction of Rhodes. To repair the credit of their arms, the kings imme- The kings diately refolved on a new expedition, which was the re- refolve on duction of the island of Rhodes. While Demetrius was employed in the fiege of Rhodes, happily for him, ambaffadors from Athens arrived to implore his affiftánce against Caffander; this circumftance gave him a pretence to make peace with the Rhodians on these terms, that they should ferve Antigonus against all his enemies, except Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Then Demetrius, failing Demetrius with three hundred and thirty gallies, and a great army obliges on board, fteered for Attica, where he landed, having Callander constrained Caffander to retire towards Macedon; but to abandon when he came near Thermopylæ, Demetrius fell upon his rear, and gave him fo rude a fhock, that his troops seemed rather to fly than to march through Theffaly. A corps of fix thousand Macedonians, left in Greece, revolted to the victor, and Demetrius returned in triumph to the fea-coaft of Peloponnefus. This extraordinary flow of fuccefs bore down before it almost all the virtues of Demetrius; for he began now to exceed Alexander in vanity, ftyling himself king of kings, drinking the healths His vanity. of Seleucus, Caffander, Lyfimachus, and Ptolemy, as debauch great officers of his state and houfhold. In debauchery y Attica. Co Who prepares to oppose it. he funk far below the dignity of human nature, indulge ing himself.not only in fenfual pleasures, but in a vice which ought to want a name; he likewife deviated into grofs impiety; and, forgetting his father's former moderation, would needs be ftyled a god, and the younger bro ther of Minerva 1. Yr. of Fl. 2046. 302. A new Caffander fearing that Demetrius would pursue the blow he had already given him, and follow him into MaAnte Chr. cedonia, fent deputies to Antigonus in Syria, in order to treat of peace; but Antigonus would hear of no other terms than his fubmitting himself, and his dominions, to confederacy his pleafure; fo that thefe negociations proved abortive, againf and Caffander was forced to fend to his old confederates, Antigonus. in order to engage them in a new alliance against this for-. midable conqueror: they readily liftened to his propofal, for they perfectly well difcerned, that when once Macedonia was fubdued, Antigonus would fall upon them next. To prevent this misfortune they entered into a treaty with Caffander. Lyfimachus having obtained from him a part of his army, paffed over into Afia, where he fell upon Phrygia, Lydia, and other provinces; proceeding with fuch fuccefs as greatly alarmed Antigonus, at that time celebrating fhews and gymnic fports at his new city of Antigonia. He did not, however, lofe his courage when he was made acquainted with this formidable confederacy; on the contrary, he could not help boasting publicly, "That he would fcatter the confederates as easily as boys do birds among the corn, by throwing a stone among them." He began to draw together his forces, and, as foon as he had affembled a fufficient army, he croffed Mount Taurus, and came down into Cilicia, where, having taken a confiderable fum out of the treasury of Quinda, he made use of it to recruit his troops, which were foon in a condition not only to recover the places that had been loft, but even to offer Lyfimachus battle. This crafty old captain kept on the defenfive, knowing, that if he lost a battle, he loft all; but that Antigonus, in fuch a cafe, had many provinces to which he might retire. Lyfimachus, therefore, propofed an accommodation, but as Antigonus refufed to treat, the winter was employed in preparations on both fides, and early in the fpring Seleucus, with his own and Ptolemy's forces, began his march in order to join Lyfimachus. Antigonus inftantly fent to recall Demetrius out of Greece, beginning now to forefee that Diodor. Sicul, ubi fupra. Plut, in Demetrio. he |
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