rapidity which had always characterized Athenian workmen ; and Athens stood ready for a siege, for which she might fairly expect a successful issue, so long as her fleets, unaffected by the recent disasters, remained supreme at sea. The tidings

of the catastrophe had been received with dismay; but calmer thought soon showed the wide contrast between their present circumstances and the hopelessness of their position when they learned that their fleet and army had both been destroyed at Syracuse.

For the present they had nothing to fear. Philip shrank probably from an enterprise which might involve months of toil and a ruinous outlay, while it might also awaken a genuine Pan-Hellenic spirit which was now either dormant or dead. His wrath burst not on the Athenians, but on the people who had changed sides when it was too late, and had appeared with his enemies on the field of Chaironeia. His Theban prisoners were sold into slavery; and when Thebes itself, whether by blockade or otherwise, fell into his hands, many of the citizens were slain, many banished, and the old despotism of the days of Phoibidas was restored, with only the difference that the Kadmeia was held by a Macedonian instead of by a Spartan garrison. The Athenians, he saw, might be made more useful by taking another course. In the devotion of Eschines, who now threw off all disguise and proclaimed his personal friendship and affection for the conqueror, he had an instrument more powerful than squadrons of armed It was his purpose to combine the forces of the chief Hellenic cities under his own command; and to men like Eschines, who could share the drunken revels which celebrated his victory, he must look for the success of his scheme.

men.

From the mission which he had offered to undertake, Eschines came back with loud praises of the generosity which consented to release without ransom all the Athenian prisoners and to restore their frontier fortress of Oropos, on the one condition that they should publicly acknowledge Philip as supreme chief of all the Hellenes in peace and in war. terms obtained by Demades were accepted. Probably even Demosthenes felt that further resistance was for the present at least impossible, while the adulations with which his country

The

men greeted their new lord must have left him with little hopes for the future. The Athenians were now paying the penalty of the infatuation which had left the Olynthian confederacy at the mercy of the man whom they were now content to approach as apt disciples in the school of flattery.

There was, in fact, not much more work to be done. Philip passed on into Peloponesos, and treating with contempt the refusal of the Spartans to acknowledge his supremacy, summoned a congress of his dependent allies to meet him at Corinth and discuss a plan for the conquest of Persia. Among the subjects appeared the Athenians, to sanction an enterprise which the achievements of the Ten Thousand had shown to be practicable, if not easy, and which Isokrates had held up to the ambition or avarice of his countrymen. The scheme which in his Panegyric had attracted them with its glowing colors, lost its special charms when it was seen to mean nothing more than obedience to the dictates of a foreign master. To the Greeks of Lesser Asia the overthrow of the Persian despot would bring not the coveted liberty of tearing each other in pieces, but merely a change of lords. To the world at large it was a matter of not much consequence; and for themselves it may be doubted whether the strong repression of a foreign power was not a better thing than the freedom which during the whole course of their history had been little more than a fine name for feuds, factions, and internecine war.

ANTIOCHUS, surnamed the Great, was the most distinguished of those sovereigns who are known in history as the Successors, that is, of Alexander the Great. The long reign of this warlike king, the third of his name, constitutes the most eventful period of Syrian history. His kingdom, of which Antioch was the capital, included at his accession Syria, Babylonia, Media and part of Asia Minor, and he did much to recover, consolidate and enlarge his empire.

Antiochus III. was a son of Seleucus Callinicus, and was born about 238 B.C. On the death of his brother Seleucus III., surnamed Ceraunus (or the Thunderbolt), he ascended the throne in 223 B.C., at the age of fifteen. His cousin, Achæus, recovered for him all the provinces of Asia Minor, which Attalus, King of Pergamus, had annexed to that shortlived kingdom. In 220 B. C., Antiochus commanded in person an army which defeated important rebellions in Media and Persis, and made a successful expedition into Atropatene. During his absence, Achæus, discontented with a subordinate position, assumed, in Asia Minor, the diadem and the title of king. Antiochus remonstrated, but did not march immediately against him, as he was about to begin a war against Ptolemy, King of Egypt, for the possession of Cole-Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine. In this enterprise he was successful at first, and in 218 B. C., captured the chief towns of Phoenicia; but in the following year he was defeated in a great battle at

Raphia near Gaza. By the treaty then made the disputed provinces were ceded to the King of Egypt. Antiochus was now free to turn his attention to Achæus, and in 216 B.C., he led an army against the rebellious prince, whom he defeated and deprived of his conquest. Achæus having taken refuge in Sardis, Antiochus besieged that city and took it after a siege of two years in 214 B.C., and put Achæus to death.

His next expedition was to the northeast against Arsaces III. (or Artabanus), King of Parthia, in which he captured Hecatompylus, the capital of Parthia, in 213, and crossed the mountains into Hyrcania; but he soon ended the war by a treaty of peace by which the independence of Arsaces was recognized. A short war against Euthydemus, King of Bactria, ensued. Antiochus then, following in the footsteps of Alexander, marched into India (or rather Afghanistan) in 212 B.C., and renewed the alliance between Syria and several Indian princes. After an absence of seven years he returned to Syria in 205 B.C.

Still regarding the prosperous kingdom of the Ptolemies with envious eyes, he formed an alliance with Philip V., of Macedon, for the conquest of Egypt, which they proposed to divide between themselves. Having invaded Palestine, Antiochus gained a decisive victory over the Egyptians near Paneas in 198 B.C. The war was soon ended by a treaty of peace,and King Ptolemy married Cleopatra, a daughter of Antiochus. Antiochus next invaded Asia Minor, where he overcame all resistance, and then crossing into Europe about 196 B.C., took the Thracian Chersonesus. Here his triumphant progress was arrested by the Romans, whose hostility he unwisely provoked. They sent an embassy, demanding that he should evacuate the Chersonese and restore to the King of Egypt the provinces which he had acquired by conquest. demands were rejected and preparations made for war.

These

The king's resolution to reject the Roman ultimatum was confirmed by the great Hannibal, who, banished from Carthage, took refuge at the Syrian court in 195 B.C. Antiochus, however, did not follow the shrewd advice of Hannibal in respect to the conduct of the war. The Carthaginian advised the immediate invasion of Italy, while the Romans were engaged

in a war against the Gauls; but Antiochus lost time in vain efforts to negotiate with the Romans. The veteran Hannibal was employed as a subordinate commander, instead of having the chief control of the war. In 192 B.C. Antiochus ventured into Greece at the request of his allies, the Ætolians, and captured Chalcis. He was defeated at Thermopylæ in 191, by the Roman Consul Acilius Glabrio, and was compelled to return to Asia. The defeat of his fleet in two naval battles induced him to make overtures for peace, but the conditions offered by the Romans were so hard, that he resolved to try the fortune of another campaign. The Romans were masters of the sea, and their army, commanded by L. Cornelius Scipio and his brother, the famous Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal, crossed the Hellespont without opposition. 190 B.C. the Romans gained a decisive victory at the foot of Mount Sipylus, near Magnesia. Antiochus, having lost 50,000 killed in this battle, sued for peace, which was granted to him 188 B.C., on condition that he should cede to the victors all Asia Minor west of Mount Taurus, and pay a contribution of 12,000 talents. He was also required to give them his son Antiochus as a hostage. Armenia, taking advantage of his weakness, revolted in 189 B.C. and became independent.

In

The Romans now insisted on an annual tribute of 2,000 talents. As the revenues of Syria were inadequate for this demand, Antiochus attempted to plunder the treasures of a temple in Susiana or Elymais, and provoked a riot in which he was killed in 187 B.C. Though the entire career of Antiochus was consumed in war, in which he vainly emulated the conquests of Alexander the Great, he is said to have been a humane and liberal monarch and a patron of learning. was succeeded by his son, Seleucus Philopator.

THE ROMANS ENTER ON THE CONQUEST OF ASIA. When advice was brought to Antiochus that the Romans had passed the Hellespont, he began to think himself undone. He now would have been very glad to deliver himself from a war in which he had engaged rashly, and without examining seriously all its consequences. This made him resolve to send an embassador to the Romans, to propose conditions of