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But at length, when Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy, he seized upon Judea; and when Philopater was dead, his son sent out a great army under Scopas, the general of his forces, against the inhabitants of Celesyria, who took many of their cities, and in particular our nation; which when he fell upon them, went over to him.
One had gazed defiantly at the arrows of the conquerors; the other, whose head has been preserved, feeling the inevitable approach of death, anticipates, with sorrowful emotion, the end so close at hand. Philetaerus had sent this touching work to King Ptolemy to thank him for the severity with which he had chastised the daring of the barbarians, who had not spared his kingdom also.
The guardians of the young Ptolemy sent against him an army under Scopas, the Ætolian, who was at first successful, but was afterwards beaten by Antiochus at Paneas in the valley of the Jordan, three and twenty miles above the Lake of Tiberias, and driven back into Egypt.
During the long reign of Ptolemy Soter the people had been made happy by wise regulations and good laws, trade had been flourishing, the cities had greatly prospered, and the fortresses had been everywhere strengthened. The Grecian troops were well trained, their loyalty undoubted, and the Egyptians were enrolled in a phalanx, armed and disciplined like the Macedonians.
At Shaghab, then, the metalliferous "Maru" brought from the adjacent granitic mountains was crushed, and then transported for roasting and washing to Shuwak, where water, the prime necessary in these lands, must have been more abundant. Possibly in early days the two settlements formed one, the single <Greek> of Ptolemy; and the south end would have been the headquarters of the wealthy.
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, in a letter to Seleucus, just reversed the usual order, bidding him Hail at the beginning, and adding Rejoice at the end instead of wishing him Health; this is recorded by Dionysodorus, the collector of his letters. The case of Pyrrhus the Epirot is well worth mention; as a general he was only second to Alexander, and he experienced a thousand vicissitudes of fortune.
To this outline, it is supposed that Ptolemy had added a detailed account of the countries then known, which is lost. His geography, such as we have described it, consists of eight books, and is certainly much more scientific than any which had been previously written on this science.
These "Constellations of the early night That sparkled brighter as the twilight died And made the darkness glorious" were mysteries to Ptolemy and to Plato, as well as to Job. All ages of mankind must have watched and wondered, pondering over the unsolved problems.
Even at the beginning of the second century, Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria had unravelled its principal mysteries, and had given in his Optics a theory of astronomical refraction more complete than that of any astronomer before the time of Cassini; but the MSS. had unfortunately been mislaid, and Alhazen and Vitellio and Kepler were obliged to take up the subject from its commencement.
However, Zabdiel, a prince among the Arabians, cut off Alexander's head, and sent it to Ptolemy, who recovering of his wounds, and returning to his understanding, on the fifth day, heard at once a most agreeable hearing, and saw a most agreeable sight, which were the death and the head of Alexander; yet a little after this his joy for the death of Alexander, with which he was so greatly satisfied, he also departed this life.
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