a
force larger than his own. He crossed the river in face of the Jewish
army, and routed it with great slaughter. The Jewish historian adds,
that between thirty and fifty thousand men were slain upon the field
of battle, and that the women and children of the neighbouring villages
were cruelly put to death.

Cleopatra now began to fear that her son Lathyrus would soon make
himself too powerful, if not checked in his career of success, and that
he might be able to march upon Egypt. She therefore mustered her forces,
and put them under the command of Chelcias and Ananias, her Jewish
generals. She sent her treasure, her will, and the children of
Alexander, to the island of Cos, as a place of safety, and then marched
with the army into Palestine, having sent forward her son Alexander with
the fleet. By this movement Lathyrus was unable to keep his ground in
Coele-Syria, and he took the bold step of marching towards Egypt. But
he was quickly followed by Chelcias, and his army was routed, though
Chelcias lost his life in the battle. Cleopatra, after taking Ptolemais,
sent part of her army to help that which had been led by Chelcias; and
Lathyrus was forced to shut himself up in Gaza. Soon after this the
campaign ended, by Lathyrus returning to Cyprus, and Cleopatra to Egypt.

On this success, Cleopatra was advised to seize upon the throne of
Jannseus, and again to add to Egypt the provinces of Palestine
and Coele-Syria, which had so long made part of the kingdom of her
forefathers. She yielded, however, to the reasons of her general
Ananias, for the Jews of Lower Egypt were too strong to be treated with
slight. It was by the help of the Jews that Cleopatra had driven her son
Lathyrus out of Egypt; they formed a large part of the Egyptian armies,
which were no longer even commanded by Greeks; and it must have been by
these clear and unanswerable reasons that Ananias was able to turn
the queen from the thoughts of this conquest, and to renew the league
between Egypt and Judaea.

Cleopatra, however, was still afraid that Lathyrus would be helped by
his friend Antiochus Cyzicenus to conquer Egypt, and she therefore kept
up the quarrel between the brothers by again sending troops to help
Antiochus Grypus; and lastly, she gave him in marriage her daughter
Selene, whom she had before forced upon Lathyrus. She then sent an
army against Cyprus; and Lathyrus was beaten and forced to fly from the
island.

In the middle of this rei