100 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



is at first sight exceedingly interesting on ac- 

 count of the extraordinary number of their 

 close intermarriages. They were matched in- 

 and-in like prize cattle, but these near marriages 

 were unprolific; the inheritance mostly passed 

 through other wives. Indicating the Ptolemies 

 by numbers according to the order of their suc- 

 cession, II married his niece and afterward his 

 sister; IV his sister; VI and VII were brothers 

 and they both consecutively married the same 

 sister; VII also subsequently married his niece; 

 VIII married two of his own sisters consecu- 

 tively; XII and XIII were brothers, and both 

 consecutively married their sister, the famous 

 Cleopatra. Thus there are no less than nine 

 cases of close intermarriages distributed among 

 the thirteen Ptolemies [nine generations only]. 

 However, when we put them as below in the 

 form of a genealogical tree we shall plainly 

 see that the main line of descent was un- 

 touched by these marriages, except in the two 

 cases of III and of VIII. The personal beauty 

 and vigor of Cleopatra, the last of the race, 

 cannot, therefore, be, justly quoted in disproof 

 of the evil effect of close breeding ; on the con- 

 trary, the result of Ptolemaic experience was 

 distinctly to show that intermarriages are fol- 

 lowed by sterility." 



Nor is this all that our learned author might 

 have said. The ablest of the Ptolemies was. 



