188 pliny's natural history. [Book VI l. 



Berenice was the only woman who was daughter, sister, and 

 mother of conquerors in the Olympian games.'*' The family 

 of the Curios''^ has been the only one to produce three orators 

 in succession ; that of the Fabii alone has given three chiefs 

 of the senate in succession, Fabius Ambustus, his son Fabius 

 Kullianus, and his grandson Quintus Fabius Gurges.'- 



by Ajasson : — 1, Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemiis, king of Epirus, wife 

 of Philip II., king of Macedon, and mother of Alexander the Great, king 

 of Macedon. 2. Roxana, daughter of king Darius Codomannus, and wife 

 of Alexander the Great ; her son by whom was proclaimed king by certain 

 generals of Alexander, but was shortly after slain at Amphipolis. 3. Lao- 

 dice the Younger, daughter of king Antiochus Soter, sister and wife of 

 Antiochus Theos, and mother of king Seleucus Callinicus. 4. Berenice, 

 daughter of king Ptolemy Philadelphus ; married to her brother king 

 Ptolemy Euergetes, and mother of Ptolemy Philopater, by whom she was 

 put to death. 5. Cleopatra, daugliter of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria : 

 she became the wife of king Ptolemy Epiphanes, and was mother of king 

 Ptolemy Philometor. 6. Cleopatra Cocce, daughter of Ptolemy Philo- 

 metor, married her uncle, king Ptolemy Physcon, and became mother of 

 kings Ptolemy Lathyrus and Alexander I. 7. Cleopatra, another daughter 

 of Ptolemy Philometor, married first to Alexander Balas, the usurper of 

 the tlirone of Scythia, then to king Demetrius Nicator, and then to An- 

 tiochus Venator. Her sons by Nicator were Seleucus V. and Antiochus 

 Gryphus, both of whom became kings of Syria ; and her son Cyzicenius 

 by Antiochus Venator, likewise became king of Syria. 8. Selene or Cleo- 

 patra, daughter of king Ptolemy Physcon, was married, first, to king 

 Ptolemy Lathyrus, secondly, to king Antiochus Gryplnis, and thirdly, to 

 king Antiochus Eusebes. She was mother of king Antiochus Asiaticus. 

 In all, she had nine kings as her near relations or connections. 9. Stra- 

 tonice, daughter of king Demetrius Poliorcetes, was married first to king 

 Seleucus Nicator, and then to king Antiochus Soter, and was mother of 

 king Antiochus Theros. 



''^ Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 15, gives nearly the same account of a per- 

 son whom he calls Pherenice ; from the resemblance of the names, it has 

 been supposed, that they may both refer to the same individual. — B. 



71 He alludes to the three persons, father, son, and grandson, known by 

 the name of C. Scribonius Curio. The first was prfetor B.C. 121, one 

 of the most distinguished orators of his time. His sou, who acquired 

 some reputation as an orator, was tribune of the people b.c. 90, prfetor 

 B.C. 82, and consul in b.c. 76, with Cn. Octavius. He is represented as 

 being possessed of great eloquence, and of extreme purity and brilliancy of 

 diction, but to have had none of the other requisites of an orator. Like his 

 son, he enjoyed the friendship of Cicero. The younger Curio was an orator 

 of great talents, which, from want of industry, he left uncultivated. Cicero 

 endeavoured to direct his talents into a proper channel, but all in vain, 

 and he remained to the end a man of worthless and profligate character. 

 He was married to Fulvia, who afterwards became the wife of Antony. 



'2 Hardouin observes, that M. Fabius Ambustus was three times consul, 



