that at the death of Demetrius this tendency was to a certain extent
checked, since Eucratidas was then able to extend his sway over almost
the whole of the Bactrian territory. But the old evil recurred shortly,
though in a less pronounced form. Eucratidas, without being actually
supplanted in the north by a rival, found that he could devote to that
portion of the Empire but a small part of his attention. The southern
countries and the prospect of southern and eastern conquests engrossed
him. While he carried on successful wars with the Arachotians, the
Drangians, and the Indians of the Punjaub region, his hold on the more
northern countries was relaxed, and they began to slip from his grasp.
Incursions of the nomad Scyths from the Steppes carried fire and
sword over portions of these provinces, some of which were Even, it is
probable, seized and occupied by the invaders.

Such was, it would seem, the condition of Bactria under Eucratidas, the
contemporary of Mithridates. In Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes had succeeded
his brother Seleucus IV. (Philopator) about a year before Mithridates
ascended the Parthian throne. He was a prince of courage and energy;
but his hands were fully occupied with wars in Egypt, Palestine, and
Armenia, and the distant East could attract but a small share of his
thought or attention. The claim put forward by Egypt to the possession
of Coele-Syria and Palestine, promised to Ptolemy V. (it was affirmed)
as a dowry with Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus the Great, led to
hostilities in the south-west which lasted continuously for four years
(B.C. 171 to B.C. 168), and were complicated during two of them with
troubles in Judaea, rashly provoked by the Syrian monarch, who, unaware
of the stubborn temper of the Jews, goaded them into insurrection.
The war with Egypt came to an end in B.C. 168; it brought Syria no
advantage, since Rome interposed, and required the restitution of
all conquests. The war with the Jews had no such rapid termination.
Antiochus, having not only plundered and desecrated the Temple, but
having set himself to eradicate utterly the Jewish religion, and
completely Hellenize the people, was met with the most determined
resistance on the part of a moiety of the nation. A patriotic party
rose up under devoted leaders, who asserted, and in the end secured, the
independence of their country. Not alone during the remaining years
of Epiphanes, but for half a century after his death,