Seleucus Philopator, whom we last heard of as king of Syria, was
assassinated by one of his nobles—Heliodorus—in the twelfth year
of his reign. Antiochus his younger brother had been a hostage at
Rome, and being, according to agreement, exchanged in B.C. 175 for
Philopator’s son Demetrius, he was returning to Syria. At Athens,
on his journey home, he heard of the death of Seleucus, and the
attempt of Heliodorus to usurp the kingdom. By the help of Eumenes
Heliodorus was expelled and Antiochus installed, to the satisfaction
of the people, who gave him at first the surname of Epiphanes. He is
the Antiochus Epiphanes whose cruelties are recorded in the books
of the Maccabees. He died mad at Tabae in Persia, B.C. 164. See
31, 11. For the following extract preserved by Athenaeus, see the
translation of Livy, 41, 19.
[Sidenote: Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 175-164.]
+1.+ Antiochus Epiphanes, nicknamed from his actions Epimanes (the
Madman), would sometimes steal from the court, avoiding his attendants,
and appear roaming wildly about in any chance part of the city with one
or two companions. His favourite place to be found was the shops of
the silversmiths or goldsmiths, chatting and discussing questions of
art with the workers in relief and other artists; at another time he
would join groups of the people of the town and converse with any one
he came across, and would drink with foreign visitors of the humblest
description. Whenever he found any young men carousing together he
would come to the place without giving notice, with fife and band, like
a rout of revellers, and often by his unexpected appearance cause the
guests to rise and run away. He would often also lay aside his royal
robes, and, putting on a tebenna,[143] go round the market-place as
though a candidate for office, shaking hands and embracing various
people whom he intreated to vote for him, sometime as aedile, and
sometimes as tribune. And when he got the office and took his seat
on an ivory curule chair, after the fashion of the Romans, he heard
law cases which came on in the agora, and decided them with the
utmost seriousness and attention. This conduct was very embarrassing
to respectable people, some of whom regarded him as a good natured
easy-going man, and others as a madman. In regard to making presents,
too, his behaviour was on a par with this. Some he presented with
dice made of gazelle horn, some with dates, others with gold. There
were even instances of his making unexpected presents to men whom he
met casually, and whom he had never seen before. In regard to public
sacrifices and the honours paid to the gods, he surpassed all his
predecessors on the throne; as witness the Olympieium at Athens and
the statues placed round the altar at Delos. He used also to bathe in
the public baths, when they were full of the townspeople, pots of the
most expensive unguents being brought in for him; and on one occasion
on some one saying, “Lucky fellows you kings, to use such things and
smell so sweet!” without saying a word to the man, he waited till he
was bathing the next day, and then coming into the bath caused a pot
of the largest size and of the most costly kind of unguent called
_stactè_ to be poured over his head, so that there was a general rush
of the bathers to roll themselves in it; and when they all tumbled
down, the king himself among them, from its stickiness, there was loud
laughter....