et by Philometor, who
had brought over the Egyptian army in person. Euergetes, however, was
beaten in several battles, he was soon forced to shut himself up in
the city of Lapitho, and at last to lay down his arms before his elder
brother.

If Philometor had upon this put his brother to death, the deed would
have seemed almost blameless after the family murders already related
in this history. But, with a goodness of heart, he a second time forgave
his brother all that had passed, replaced him on the throne of Cyrene,
and promised to give him his daughter in marriage.

[Illustration: 223.jpg GARDEN NEAR HELIOPOLIS]

We are not told whether the firmness and forgiving mildness of
Philometor had turned the Roman senate in his favour, but their troops
seemed wanted in other quarters; at any rate they left off trying to
enforce their decree; Philometor kept Cyprus, and sent Euergetes a
yearly gift of grain from Alexandria.

During the wars in Syria between Philometor and Antiochus Epiphanes, at
the beginning of this reign, the Jews were divided into two parties, one
favouring the Egyptians and one the Syrians. At last the Syrian party
drove their enemies out of Jerusalem; and Onias, the high priest, with
a large body of Jews, fled to Egypt. There they were well received
by Philometor, who allowed them to dwell in the neighbourhood of
Heliopolis; and he gave them leave to build a temple and ordain priests
for themselves. Onias built his temple at On or Onion, a city about
twenty-three miles from Memphis, once the capital of the district of
Heliopolis. It was on the site of an old Egyptian temple of the goddess
Pasht, which had fallen into disuse and decay, and was built after the
model of the temple of Jerusalem. Though by the Jewish law there was to
be no second temple, yet Onias defended himself by quoting, as if meant
for his own times, the words of Isaiah, who says that in that day there
shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt. The
building of this temple, and the celebrating the Jewish feasts there,
as in rivalry to the temple of Jerusalem, were a never-failing cause
of quarrel between the Hebrew and the Greek Jews. They each altered the
words of the Bible to make it speak their own opinions. The Hebrew Bible
now says that the new temple was in the City of Destruction, and the
Greek Bible says that it was in the City of Righteousness; whereas, from
the Arabic version and some early commentarie