r son at peace with
her brother, Antiochus Epiphanes, but upon her death, Leneus and the
eunuch Eulaius, who then had the care of the young king, sought to
reconquer Coele-Syria; and they embroiled the country in a war, at a
time when weakness and decay might have been seen in every part of
the army and navy, and when there was the greatest need of peace.
Coele-Syria and Phoenicia had been given to Ptolemy Epiphanes as his
wife's dower; but, when Philometor seemed too weak to grasp them,
Antiochus denied that his father had ever made such a treaty, and got
ready to march against Egypt, as the easiest way to guard Coele-Syria.

By this time the statesmen of Egypt ought to have learned the mistake
in their foreign policy. By widening their frontier they always weakened
it. They should have fortified the passes between the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean, not cities in Asia. When Antiochus entered Egypt he was
met at Pelusium by the army of Philometor, which he at once routed in
a pitched battle. The whole of Egypt was then in his power; he marched
upon Memphis with a small force, and seized it without having to strike
a blow, helped perhaps by the plea that he was acting on behalf of his
nephew, Ptolemy Philometor, who then fell into his hands.

On this, the younger Ptolemy, the brother of Philometor, who was with
his sister Cleopatra in Alexandria, and was about fifteen years old,
declared himself king, and sent ambassadors to Rome to ask for help
against Antiochus; and taking the name of the most popular of his
forefathers, he called himself Euergetes. He is, however, better known
in history as Ptolemy Physcon, or _bloated_, a nickname which was
afterwards given to him when he had grown fat and unwieldy from the
diseases of luxury.

Comanus and Cineas were the chief advisers of the young Euergetes; and
in their alarm they proposed to send the foreign ambassadors to meet the
invader on his march from Memphis, and to plead for peace. This task
the ambassadors kindly undertook. There were then in Alexandria two
embassies from the Achaians, one to renew the treaty of peace, and one
to settle the terms of the coming wrestling match. There were there
three embassies from Athens, one with gifts from the city, one about the
Panathenaic games, and one about the celebration of the mysteries. There
was also an embassy from Miletus, and one from Clazomenae. On the day of
their arrival at Memphis, Antiochus feasted these numerous am