Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

among the coins of Ptolemy, the son of Juba, there is one which represents him as already king, in the lifetime of Augustus; and what is more as sole king. Now this is altogether inexplicable, if his father did not die until four or five years after the death of Augustus himself. It is entirely a gratuitous supposition to assume that he was associated with his father in his lifetime and if he had been so, the coins which were subsequently struck during the reign of Augustus must have exhibited them both in conjunction.

66

66

be

The language of Strabo is express that Juba died, before Ptolemy his son succeeded him in the kingdom. Juba," says he, “died not long ago; and Ptolemy his "son has succeeded to his dominions, being his offspring by a daughter of Antony's and Cleopatra's "." Cf. also the end of the book §. 25.707. But Strabo, it may objected, both here, and in one or two other passages of the same chapter, speaks of him as νεωστὶ τετελευτη κότα. KÓTα. There is a reference in such words to Strabo's own time and the time when Strabo was writing admits of being very exactly determined. For example, lib. iv. cap. vi. §.9. 86: §. 8. 84, 85. he mentions the reduction of the Rhæti, Vindelici, and Norici, which Dio (liv. 22.) proves to have been, U. C. 738 or 739-as thirty-three years before the time when he was writing.

Lib. vi. cap. iv. §. 2. 312 : lib. vii. cap. i. §. 4. 327. he alludes to Germanicus' triumph over the Cherusci, May 26, U. C. 770: Tacitus, Ann. ii. 42*.

Lib. xii. cap. i. §. 4. 10. he mentions the death of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia; which also was U. C. 770. Cf. Tacitus, Ann. ii. 42. Dio, lvii. 17.

* Cf. also Strabo, lib.1.cap. 2. 769 and Strabo, lib. iv. cap. iii. page 37 lib. vii. cap. i. §. 4. §. 4. page 49. with Tacitus, Ann. with Tacitus, Ann. ii. 22. U. C. i. 69. U. C. 768.

n Lib. xvii. 3. §. 7. 654.

Lib. xii. cap. iii. §. 29. 124. he alludes to the death of Cotys, king of Thrace, and to the appointment of Zeno, son of Polemo, to be king of Armenia-both of which were U. C. 771-(Cf. Tacitus, Ann. ii. 56.66 :) or the former early in U. C. 772.

Lib. xii. cap. viii. §. 18. 242: lib. xiii. cap. iii. §.5. 448. cap. iv. §. 8. 476. the earthquake in Asia is alluded to as a recent event: and that happened U. C. 770. Vide Tacitus, Ann. ii. 47. Dio, lvii. 17.

Lib. xvii. cap. iii. §. 25. 708. Achaia is spoken of as still a proconsular province, which it was not, strictly speaking, after U. C. 768: Tacitus, Ann. i. 76.

But his age is most critically determined by the last sentence of book the sixth: which shews that Germanicus was still alive when he was writing. Now Germanicus was not alive after October ninth, U. C. 772: and his death was known at Rome before the middle of December in the same year.

It is manifest, then, that Strabo was writing either U. C. 771, or early in U. C. 772. Hence, if his expression, "lately dead," concerning Juba, is to be strictly understood, it would imply that he had died U. C. 770, or early in 771: the last of which dates, and much more the first, would scarcely be reconcilable to the testimony of a coin of his, which bore date in the forty-eighth year of his reign, if deduced from U. C. 724; after the reduction of Egypt. For this coin. would not begin to bear date, before the autumnal quarter of U. C. 771. itself. And though Strabo alludes to Juba, lib. vi. cap. iv. §. 2. 312. even as governing Mauritania still; this is a statement which at that time could not be true, except as understood generally, and of the fact that his family was continuing to reign over it after him, though he himself was dead.

The truth is, nothing is more common in works

which are not professedly historical, nor tied down to the observance of the utmost strictness in reference to dates, than to find things alluded to in general terms, as of recent occurrence, which happened several years before*. We might produce numerous instances of this way of speaking, if it were necessary. Strabo in particular, from the miscellaneous and desultory character of his Geographica, is very apt to be loose and indefinite in his allusions to contemporary history; and to speak of things as connected in point of time, which were really many years asunder †.

For my own part, I see no reason why the years of the reign of Juba should not be supposed to bear date from the time of the death of his father, U. C. 708. He was carried, it is true, by Julius Cæsar to Rome, and exhibited while still a young child, or a boy, among the other trophies of the successes in Africa, at the triumph in the same year. But no further degradation appears to have attended him-and he must subsequently have been treated with uniform care and tenderness, to have received that education which made

* As for example, Lactantius, Divinæ Institutiones, lib. i. cap. 21. p. 91. Apud Cypri Salaminem, humanam hostiam Jovi Theucrus immolavit; idque sacrificium posteris tradidit: quod est NUPER Hadriano imperante sublatum. Yet Lactantius was not writing earlier than A. D. 303. and Hadrian died A. D. 138.

There is an instance of this, lib. ii. cap. v. page 313. and lib. xvi. cap. iv. §. 22. 443. where he alludes to the Arabian expedition of Ælius Gallus as a recent event; yet it was forty years before U. C. 770. There is

another, lib. i. cap. i. p. 27. in which he alludes either to Crassus' or to Antony's expedition into Parthia, as τὴν νῦν στρατείαν—the latter of which was fifty years at least, before the time when he was writing. In like manner, x. 2. §. 14. 82. he speaks of Caius Antonius, Cicero's colleague in the consulate, U.C.691. as his own contemporary; eighty years after the date of that consulship. So also viii. 6. § 23. 278. he alludes to the burning of the temple of Ceres, as a recent event, which Dio, l. 10. shews to have happened U. C. 723. Cf. Zonaras, x. 28. 524. B.

1 Dio, xliii. 19: Appian, B. Civ. ii. 101: Plutarch, Julius Cæs. 55.

Deduce

him so learned and accomplished a writer. the years of his reign, from U. C. 708: and his fortyeighth would expire, U. C. 756. at which time it is quite certain that he was still alive: though he might be dead in two or three years afterwards.

Among the coins of Ptolemy his son and successor, there is one which Eckhel, vol. iv. p. 160, refers to the occasion specified by Tacitus ", U. C. 777. at the close of the war with Tacfarinas; when in return for his services in that war, the Roman senate awarded him the peculiar distinctions, formerly accorded to social or allied kings, who had deserved well of the state, in the shape of such and such presents. The numeral note on this coin is obscure. Eckhel says it denotes VI. and this, he argues, is a strong confirmation of the fact that Ptolemy began to reign, U. C. 772. Deduced from U. C. 772, the sixth of his reign might thus bear date U. C. 777. at the close of the war with Tacfarinas.

But (pace tanti viri dixerim) I can perceive nothing in the description of the coin, which appears to identify it with the occasion specified by Tacitus. Tacitus enumerates no insignia but the scipio eburnus, and the toga picta; the coin shews two curule chairs, surmounted by a crown, and on their right a spear, lying crossways. And as to the numeral character, it seems to resemble an x enclosed in a v: and it may stand for XV. XVI. or XVII. as likely as for VI,

A coin is described by Eckhel, iv. 156. among those attributed to Juba, which is to this effect: Rex Juba, regis Jubæ f. (caput diadematum) R. Ptola. XVII. Aquila. As the letter R. is agreed upon to denote Regis or Regni, what can Ptolemæi XVII. here denote but the XVII of his reign? And if this be the case, as a further conjecture, may not the two kings here have some m Annales, iv. 23. 26. 27.

[blocks in formation]

kind of reference to the two curule seats in the former instance?

We are informed by Strabo ", that Juba founded a Cæsarea in Mauritania, in honour of Augustus his patron, the name of which was formerly Iol: we are told also that he founded games, called Cæsarea, in honour of him likewise; which are commemorated upon his coins. It is exceedingly probable that these games were quinquennial; that is, celebrated at the end of every four years complete: and from one of his coins it appears that the anniversary of their celebration, in a certain instance, coincided with the thirty-second year of his reign-Eckhel, p. 156: that is, referred to U. C. 708, it coincided with U.C. 740. On this principle, they would again be in course, thirty-six years afterwards, U C. 776: which, if Juba died, and Ptolemy began to reign, U.C. 759. might be in the XVII. year of the latter.

With regard to the personal history of this Ptolemy, he was the offspring of the marriage before alluded to, between Juba and Cleopatra, the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra. According to Suetonius P, his mother's name was Selene-but this is no objection: as Cleopatra herself assumed the name of Selene. In fact Dio himself calls her by each name at once". She could not, at the time of her marriage, U. C. 724 or 725, be more than twelve or thirteen years old: for she was one of the two oldest of the children of Antony and Cleopatra $, who first met in Cilicia, U.C. 712. or 713 . We have seen from the coins of Ptolemy her son, that he began

n xvii, 3. §. 12. 665. Cf. Eutropius, vii. 10. o Plutarch, Antonius, 87. Strabo, xvii. 3. §. 7. 654. Suidas, in the short memoir which he gives of Juba, voce 'Ióẞas, calls this Cleopatra or Selene, the daughter of Caius Cæsar: by whom we must suppose him to mean Julius Cæsar. But this is a mistake. She was one of twins, Alexander and Cleopatra, the two oldest of the children of Antony and Cleopatra. Julius Cæsar certainly had a child by Cleopatra. But he was a son, and called Cæsario. Selene was no uncommon adjunct to the name of Cleopatra, with the Egyptian princesses of the Syro-Macedonian line. See Strabo, xvi. 2. §. 3. 302. P Caius, 26. q Dio, 1. 5. r li. 21. s Dio, xlix. 32. Athenæus, iv. 29: Appian, B. C. v. 1. 4. 8: Dio, xlviii. 2.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »