ully regulated and
fixed. The empire of Alexander was then divided into four kingdoms, by a
solemn treaty, as had been foretold by Daniel. Ptolemy had Egypt, Libya,
Arabia, Coelesyria, and Palestine. Cassander, the son of Antipater,
obtained Macedonia and Greece. Lysimachus acquired Thrace, Bithynia, and
some other provinces on the other side of the Hellespont and the
Bosphorus. And Seleucus had Syria, and all that part of the greater Asia
which extended to the other side of the Euphrates, and as far as the river
Indus.

Of these four kingdoms, those of Egypt and Syria subsisted, almost without
any interruption, in the same families, through a long succession of
princes. The kingdom of Macedonia had several masters of different
families successively. That of Thrace was at last divided into several
branches, and no longer constituted one entire body, by which means all
traces of regular succession ceased to subsist.

I. The Kingdom of Egypt.

The kingdom of Egypt had fourteen monarchs, including Cleopatra, after
whose death, those dominions became a province of the Roman empire. All
these princes had the common name of Ptolemy, but each of them was
likewise distinguished by a peculiar surname. They had also the
appellation of Lagides, from Lagus the father of that Ptolemy who reigned
the first in Egypt. The fourth and fifth volumes contain the histories of
six of these kings, and I shall give their names a place here, with the
duration of their reigns, the first of which commenced immediately upon
the death of Alexander the Great.

(M14) Ptolemy Soter. He reigned thirty-eight years and some months.

(M15) Ptolemy Philadelphus. He reigned forty years including the two years
of his reign in the lifetime of his father.

(M16) Ptolemy Euergetes, twenty-five years.

(M17) Ptolemy Philopator, seventeen.

(M18) Ptolemy Epiphanes, twenty-four.

(M19) Ptolemy Philometor, thirty-four.

II. The Kingdom of Syria.

The kingdom of Syria had twenty-seven kings; which makes it evident, that
their reigns were often very short: and indeed several of these princes
waded to the throne through the blood of their predecessors.

They are usually called the Seleucidae, from Seleucus, who reigned the
first in Syria. History reckons up six kings of this name, and thirteen
who are called by that of Antiochus; but they are all distinguished by
different surnames. Others of them assumed different names, and the last,
A