A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

PTOLEMA EUS. PTOLEMAEUS. 697
island of Cos, probably as early as B. c. 102 (see altogether passed over at his father's death: hut
Joseph. Ant. xiii. 13. ~ 1), where he remained till when the assassination of Berenice and the death
the year B. C. 88, when that island was taken by of Alexander II. had completed the extinctioll of
Mithridates the Great. On this occasion Alex- the legitimate race of the Lagidae (B. c. 80), Ptoander fell into the hands of the conqueror, who lemy was proclaimed king by the Alexandrians
treated him with the utmost distinction, and re- (Porphyr. ap. Euseb. Arm. p. 117). So imperfect
tained him at his own court. But the young is our history of this period that we know nothing
prince soon after found an opportunity to escape, concerning the first twenty years of his reign. But
and took refuge with Sulla, whom he accompanied of his character in general we are told that he was
on his return to Rome. Here he remained till B. C. given up to every kind of vice and debauchery,
81, when the death of Ptolemy Lathyrus without and his name is associated with those of Philopator
male issue having left the throne of Egypt vacant, and Physcon, as one of the worst rulers of the
Sulla, who was then dictator, nominated the young whole rare of the Ptolemies (Strab. xvii. p. 796).
Alexander (who had obtained a high place in his He appears to have assumed the name of Dionysus
favour) king of Egypt, and sent him to take pos- as a sort of authority for his orgies, and is said to
session of the crown. It was, however, agreed, in have been on the point of putting to death the
deference to the claims of Cleopatra Berenice, the Platonic philosopher Demetrius, for refusing to join
daughter of Lathyrus, whom the Alexandrians in his drunken revels (Lucian, de Calunmn. 16). His
had already placed on the throne, that Alexander passion for playing on the flute, to which he owed
should marry her, and admit her to share the his popular appellation, led him to institute musical
sovereign power. He complied with the letter of contests, in which he himself condescended to apthis treaty by marrying Cleopatra immediately on pear as a competitor. (Strab. I. c.; Plut. de Adul.
his arrival in Egypt, but only nineteen days after- et A4nic. 12.)
wards caused her to be assassinated: an act of But it was not his vices alone which served to
cruelty which aroused the indignation of the Alex- disgust and alienate the minds of his subjects. It
andrians, who in consequence rose against their had been a natural object of his desire to obtain
new monarch, dragged him to the gymnasium, and the countenance and protection of the Roman
there put him to death, B. C. 80. (Porplyir. aep. senate; hut, for some reason or other, it was long
Euseb. A rn. p. 117; Appian. Mithr. 23, B. C. i. 102; before he could obtain their ratification of his title
Cic. Frag. Or1. de rege Alexandr. p. 352, ed. Orell.; to the crown, and it was not till the consulship of
Trog. Pomp. Prolog. xxxix.) Caesar that he was able to purchase by vast bribes
Much difficulty and perplexity have arisen in the desired privileges (Suet. Caes. 54). But he
regard to an Alexander king of Egypt, who is had expended immense sums in the pursuit of this
alluded to in more than one passage by Cicero, as object, which he was compelled to raise by the inlhaving bequeathed his dominions by will to the position of fresh taxes, and the discontent thus exRoman people (Cic. de Leg. agrar. i. 1, ii. 16, 17; cited combining with the contempt entertained for
Fr. de Teg. Alealdrcl'ino, p. 350). It appears that his character, led to his expulsion by the Alexantile fact of this bequest was by no means very drians, in B.c. 58. On this he determined to procertain, and that it never was acted upon by the ceed in person to Rome to procure from the senate
Roman senate. But authors are not at all agreed his restoration. On his way thither he had an inwhich of the two Alexanders is here meant; and terview at Rhodes with Cato, who endeavoured,
some writers have even deemed it necessary to but in vain, to dissuade him from his purpose (Plut.
admit the existence of a third king of the name of Cat. Alin. 35). His first reception was promising,
Alexander, who died about B. C. 65. The silence and by a lavish distribution of bribes, combined
of the chronographers seems, however, conclusive with the influential support of Cicero, who proagainst this hypothesis. Niebubr, on the contrary, nounced an oration in his favour (Pro Rege Alex
coficeives Ptolemy Alexander I. to have lived on andrino), he procured a decree from the senate,
in exile till the year 65, and to have been the commanding his restoration, and entrusting the
author of this testament: but this is opposed to charge of effecting it to P. Lentulus Spinther, then
the direct testimony of Porphyry as to his death. proconsul of Cilicia. Meanwhile, the Alexandrians
Other writers suppose Alexander II. to be the sent an embassy of a hundred of their leading
person designed, and adopt the statement of Trogus citizens to plead their cause with the Roman senate:
Pompeius that he was only expelled by the Alex- but Ptolemy had the audacity to cause the deputies,
andrians, in opposition to the authority of Por- on their arrival in Italy, to be waylaid, and the
phyry and Appian, confirmed as they are by a greater part of them murdered, while the rest were
passage in Cicero, ill regard to his death. (See on prevented, either by threats or bribes, from coming
this subject Clinton, F. II. vol. iii. p. 392; Cham- forward against him. The indignation excited at
pollion-Figeac, Annales des Lagides, vol. ii. p. 247; Rome by this proceeding, however, produced a reVisconti, IcosnoqratpAie Grecque, vol. iii. p. 251; action: the tribunes took up the matter against the
Niebuhr, Kl. Schriflen, p. 302; Orelli, Ononzast. nobility, while a party in the senate strove to get the
Tullian. p. 30.) The fragmentary and imperfect commission transferred from Lentulus to Pompey,
nature of our authorities for this period of Egyptian and an oracle was produced from the Sibylline books,
history renders it scarcely possible to arrive at a forbidding the restoration of the king by an armed
satisfactory solution of this question. [E. 14. B.] force. The intrigues and disputes thus raised were
PTOLEMAEUS XI. (lIreAohEa ost), king of protracted throughout the year 56, and at length
EGCYPT, assumed the surnames or titles of NEUS Ptolemy, despairing of a favourable result, quitted
DIoNYSUS (NEos Ao'vurros), but is snore commonly Rome in disgust, and withdrew to Ephesus. (Dion
known by the appellation of AULETES (the flute- Cass. xxxix. 12-16; Cic. ad Farn. i. 1-7,
player). He was an illegitimate son of Ptolemy ad Q. Fr. ii. 2, 3, pro Rabir. 2, 3, pro Cae.
Lathyrus, and, on account of his spurious birth, 10; Porphyr. ap. Euseb. Aroms. pp. 117, 118;
his pretensions to the throne appear to have been Plut.'Potp. 49.)
a 3