E G ' 
to their father, becaufe he prided hhnfelf on his thill in 
playing on the flute, and debafed himfelf fo far as to 
contend for the prize in the public games. He was alfo 
called Dionvfms Ncos , or the new B'acchus, from the great 
pleafure which he took in imitating the effeminacies ot 
the Bacchanals, dancing in a female habit, and in the 
fame meafures that they ufcd during the folemnities of 
their god. Strabo afferts, that lie .furpalfed aH his pre- 
deceflbrs in the effeminacy of his manners* and \vas no 
lefs contemptible on that account, than his grandfather 
Phyfcon was infamous for wickednefs. 
As Ptolemy the fucceffor of Auletes, who fucceeded 
to the throne in the year before Clnift 48, was a minor 
under Pothinus an eunuch and Achillas the commander 
in chief of the army-, thefe minifters, with a felf-interefted 
view, deprived Cleopatra of Iter fliare in the regal autho¬ 
rity, and compelled her to quit the kingdom. This 
princefs, who was the famous Cleopatra that had after¬ 
wards a confiderable (hare in occafioning the civil wars 
of Rome, and wi;ofe high fpirit could never bear an in- 
fult, retired immediately into Syria, and having raifed a 
powerful army, prepared to affert her right by force of 
arms. Ptolemy, receiving intelligence of her return at 
the head of her troops, affembled all his forces, and 
marched out againft her. Both armies encamped between 
mount C a fins and Pelufium, each obfervant of th.e other’s 
motions, but neither inclined to venture an engagement. 
Such was the (ituation of affairs, when Pompey, having 
loft the battle of Pharfalia, arrived off Pelufium, ex¬ 
pecting to find a-fecure afylum in Egypt from the further 
perfecution of his enemies. He therefore fent to inform 
the king of his arrival, and to folicit permiflion to enter 
his kingdom. To this meffage Ptolemy, who was but 
thirteen years of age, returned no anfwer ; but the two 
minifters, Achillas and Pothinus, confulted with Theo- 
dotus a rhetorician* tfnd fome others, on the nature of 
Pompey’s requeft. Some voted for his reception, alleg¬ 
ing that it would be an everlafting reproach to the Egyp¬ 
tian nation if they fhould refufe to fuccour a man in his 
diftrefs, who had been the conftant protestor of Auletes, 
and was the acknowledged guardian of the prefent king. 
Others were for defiring him to depart in queft of fome 
other afylum; but Theodotus displayed all hiseloquence 
to (hew that it was moft advifable to murder him. This 
diabolical advice was readily embraced, and put in exe¬ 
cution ; as dated under the article Rome. Caefar being 
informed, in the mean time, that his adverfary had fteered 
his courfe towards Egypt, purfued him thither, and ar¬ 
rived at Alexandria juft as the news of the perfidious af- 
faflination was brought to that city. Theodotus is faid 
to have prefented him with the head and ring of his de- 
ceafed rival; but he melted into tears at the fight, and 
ordered the head to be interred in a proper place with 
the accuftomed folemnities. Ctefar, on his firft landing, 
appears to have been in imminent danger from the lower 
clafs of A.lexandrians, who were all in confufion on ac¬ 
count of Pompey^s death. He, however, obtained admif- 
fion into the royal palace, where he fliut himfelf up, 
with part of his men, till the tumult was appeafed. He 
then ventured to appear in public ; and, having concili¬ 
ated the efteem of the populace by his affable behaviour, 
he vifited the curiofities of that (lately metropolis, and 
aflifted at the public harrangUes of the young rhetoricians 
and orators ; but, that he might not devote his whole 
time to diverfion, while detained by contrary winds, he 
began to folicit the payment of the money that was due 
to him from Auletes, and to take cognizance of the mif- 
underftanding between the prince and his fifter Cleopatra. 
For this purpofe he fummoned a general affembly ; and, 
caufing the will of Auletes to be publicly read, he de¬ 
creed, as guardian and arbitrator, that Ptolemy and Cleo¬ 
patra fhould reign jointly in Egypt, according to their 
father’s exprefs defire : and that Ptolemy the younger 
fon, and Arfinoe the younger daughter, fhould jointly 
exercife the regal authority in Cyprus, which had'for 
Vol. VI. No. 351. ■> 
P T. S 09 
fome time been in the poftefTion of the Romans. The 
Alexandrians were all fatisfied with this decree except 
Pothinus, who, dreading the refentment of Cleopatra, 
infpired the people with new jealdufies, and folicited 
Achillas, by private letters, to advance with his army 
from Pelufium to drive Ccefar from the metropolis. 
Achillas embraced the propofal; and, approaching Alex¬ 
andria with twenty thoufand regular troops, put all 
things into confufion. Cadar, being in no condition to 
hazard an engagement, refolved to keep within the. walls 
of the city, and ported his men fo advantageoufly in the 
ftreets and avenues of the quarter where he refided, that 
he found no difficulty in repelling the attacks oi his ene¬ 
mies. Achillas, being thus foiled by the dictator’s pre¬ 
cautions, changed his meafures, an^ went to attack the 
port, with the hope of fecuring the fleet, that he might 
flint up the Romans by fea, and cut off the poflibility of 
their receiving fuccours on that fide ; but Csefar, repuif- 
ing him there, caufed the Egyptian veffels to be fet on 
fire, and at the fame time placed a (Irons garrifon in the 
tower of Pharos, by which means he fecured his com¬ 
munication vyith the fea. Some of the burning fhips 
happening to drive towards the fhore, communicated 
their fldmesamong the neighbouring houfes, whence the 
conflagration extended to the Bruchion, and conlumed 
the noble library, which had been tiie work of many 
kings, and contained four hundred thoufand manuferipts. 
Caefar now wrote for fpeedy fuccours to Domitius Cal- 
vinus, his lieutenant in Afia; and in the mean time for¬ 
tified the quarter of the city which he pofleffed -with 
walls, towers, and other works, including within them 
the royal palace, a theatre, which he ufed as a citadel, 
aud a paflage to the harbour. Ptolemy, who was fill I de¬ 
tained by Caefar, received intelligence of all that palled, 
through his chief minifter Pothinus ; but at length the 
correfpottdence was difeovered, and Pothinus was doomed 
to fufler death for his treafon. This execution alarmed 
.Ganymede, an eunuch who was charged with the educa¬ 
tion of Arfinoe, and who had been privy to the infidioiis 
pradlices of Pothinus ; he'therefore conveyed the young 
princefs fecretly to tHe Egyptian army, who were over¬ 
joyed at her arrival, and immediately proclaimed her 
queen ; and Ganymede, having caufed Achillas to be 
put to death upon a falfe accufation, obtained tite com¬ 
mand of the army, and aflumed the adminiftratton of all 
other affairs. He contrived many artful ftratagems to 
diftrefs Ca;far during the ceurfe of the war; and by 
flopping up the communications between the refervoirs 
in Caefar’s quarters, and thofe in the reft of the city, he 
contrived to turn the fea-water into the former, and by 
that means fpoiled all the frefh water that was kept in 
them. This produced the utmoft diftrefs among tiie Ro¬ 
mans, until the dictator obviated the inconvenience, by 
caufing wells to be funk till fprings of frefh water were 
difeovered. Caefar having now intelligence that a legion 
fent by Cal vinus was detained on the neighbouring coafts 
of Libya by contrary winds, lie advanced with his whole 
fleet to convoy it fafely to Alexandria. Ganymede in- 
ftantly affembled all his naval force, with a defign to 
intercept him on his return ; but fie was repulfed, and 
w.ould have loft the whole of his fleet, it Caefar had not 
been compelled by the approach of night to retire with 
his auxiliaries into the harbour. To repair this misfor¬ 
tune Ganymede drew together all the fhips that were in 
the private arfenals, and in tiie mouth of the Nile, with 
which he again attacked the Romans, but without fuc- 
cefs. Caefar, anxious to improve his victory, attempted 
to feize the ifle of Pharos, and the mole called the tiep- 
tatfadium, by which it was joined to the continent; 
but, after he had effedfed a landing, he was repulfed, 
with the lofs of more than eight hundred men, and was 
himfelf expofed to the moft imminent danger in his re¬ 
treat ; for his veflel being ready to fink, he threw him- 
felf into the fea, and with great difficulty fwam to the 
next fhip. 
The 
