PERGAMUS.

THE kingdom of Pergamus takes its name from a city in the province of Mysia, which was its capital. Its limits were generally uncertain: its kings, though of a moderate rank, attained to extraordinary power, and were the chief supporters of the Romans in Asia. They afterwards became the dependants, and lastly the subjects of those, whose conquests they had assisted.

The founder of the kingdom of Pergamus was Philetarus, a Paphlagonian eunuch, of mean descent, who seized on the castle of Pergamus, which had been committed to his care by Lysimachus, king of Thrace, and appropriated the royal treasures there deposited to his own use. With the assistance of a numerous body of mercenaries, he kept possession of his new territory, till the eightieth year of his age, and was succeeded by one of his brothers, named Eumenes, whose son Attalus inherited the sceptre.

The Romans were under great obligations to Eumenes II. He watched over their affairs, in the neighbourhood, as he did over his own, and it was through him they were informed of the projects, which Antiochus the Great was forming against them. His states were often a prey to hostile incursions, and his capital even experienced a siege, in consequence of his attachment to the republic. Eumenes exposed not only his troops but his person, for the Romans, in the battle of Magnesia, the success of which was chiefly owing to his courage and bravery. They rewarded him for this service by augmenting his kingdom, with some of the provinces taken from Antiochus. The attachment of Eumenes to the Romans, induced Hannibal to excite against him Prusias, king of Bythinia.

Eumenes gave a great proof of this attachment, by going himself to Rome, to unveil to them the secret designs of Perses, king of Macedonia. On his return, Perses caused

him to be attacked on the road by assassins, who imagined that they had buried him under a shower of stones; but he was carried off by some faithful servants, who took care to get his wounds dressed. He was supposed to be dead, and his brother Attalus, without making much enquiry, assumed the crown, and married his wife Stratonice. Eumenes returned, and it appears that his benevolent character was well known, since neither his brother nor his wife attempted to conceal themselves. Having both gone to meet him, he embraced them tenderly, and only whispered to Attalus, “another time when you wish to espouse my wife, wait at least till I am dead.".

It may be believed that the connexion between Eumenes and the Romans, cemented by mutual services, would never have been broken: but sometimes a mere trifle is sufficient to embroil old friends. The consul, Marius, through haughtiness, or other motives, refused the king of Pergamus permission to encamp, with his suite, within the Roman entrenchments. This insult made him instantly retire, and he carried back his troops into his own territories. Perses took advantage of this opportunity to solicit the alliance of Eumenes, and the reasons assigned by the Macedonian ambassador were, that no real friendship could ever exist between a king and a republic. "The Romans," said he, “are irreconcileable enemies to all kings, but are artful enough never to attack more than one at a time, making use of the treasures of the one, to attack the other; and they employ this policy, till they have destroyed them all." The Romans never forgave their old ally for this kind of defection. The king of Pergamus, after the defeat of Perses, was desirous of exculpating himself for his conduct; and with that view, sent his brother Attalus to Rome. The resentment of the Romans was so great against Eumenes, that they endeavoured to prevail on his brother to demand the crown for himself; but he generously resisted their seduction.

As Eumenes imagined that his presence might produce a change of opinion in his favour, he set out for Italy; but he had no sooner arrived, than the senate sent to inform him,

that they would not give him an audience, and to desire him to return, without loss of time. When he went back to his kingdom he dispatched Athenæus, and another of his brothers, to avert the blow with which he believed he was threatened from his old friends. The Romans sent to Asia, two commissioners, who issued a public invitation to all those, who had complaints against Eumenes, to repair to them at Sardis. They listened with great attention to the accusations brought against the king of Pergamus. Eumenes felt in a sensible manner the insult offered to him by this measure, but being afraid of involving himself in a war, dangerous in itself, and which his age would render still more formidable, he once more sent to Rome his brother Attalus. This prince required only from his inexorable persecutors, that he might be suffered to end his days in peace, and his wish was gratified, for he died soon after.

Attalus the third had scarcely assumed the reins of government, when he began to play the tyrant and murderer. He caused the greater part of his relations and the friends of his family to be assassinated. The death of the unfortunate victims was followed by that of their wives and children. Attalus employed for these executions foreign soldiers, in order that his victims being unknown to those destined to butcher them, they might not escape the sword by commiseration.

After having shed streams of blood, the king of Pergamus fell into a state of deep melancholy. He remained shut up in his palace dressed in mean attire, and suffered his hair and beard to grow, without taking the least care of them. He afterwards confined himself to a garden; dug the earth with his own hands; and sowed in it herbs of every kind, some of which were poisonous. Being cruel, even in his amusements, he mixed these with wholesome pulse, and sent packets of them to persons of whose intentions he was suspicious. Finding himself deserted in his palace, shunned by his relations, his friends, and his courtiers, who dreaded his savage disposition, he undertook to exercise the trade of a founder; but he fatigued himself so much one very hot day, in casting a

statue of his mother, that he was seized with a fever, which put an end to his existence. This prince may be classed among the number of those who have written on agriculture. He understood medicine, and was extremely well versed in the knowledge of simples. A taste for the sciences seems to have been hereditary among the kings of Pergamus.

The last folly of Attalus was his will, which contained the following clause.-"Let the Roman people be the heirs of my effects." Aristonicus, a natural son of Eumenes, to whom the kingdom, for want of a legitimate heir, ought to have belonged, according to the Asiatic custom, pretended, that the word "effects," signified only his moveable property, and not his kingdom; but the senate insisted that it comprehended both. Aristonicus was favoured by the Pergamians, who, according to the historians, "being accustomed to the monarchic government, were afraid of republican despotism." Two consuls, Licinius Crassus, pontifex maximus, and Lucius Valerius Silaceus, high priest of Mars, disputed for the advantage of carrying on the war against Aristonicus, because it was believed, that great riches would be the reward of victory. Crassus obtained the command, and, contrary to all calculation, was defeated, and taken prisoner. Being unwilling to survive this disgrace, he insulted one of his guards, whom he , provoked to such a degree, that he put him to death. Perpenna, who was sent to assume the command in his stead, found Aristonicus too confident on account of his victory, and enjoying, amidst tranquillity, the pleasures of an indolent life, as if he had nothing more to apprehend. He was surprized, therefore, by the Roman general, and, after an unfortunate battle, fled to a city, the inhabitants of which delivered him

up.

He had for counsellor, or minister, a philosopher, named Blossus, who having fallen, together with Aristonicus, into the hands of Perpenna, exhorted that prince to prefer a voluntary death to shameful slavery, and he immediately set him the example. Aristonicus declined following the example, and was exposed to one ignominy more, being dragged in

triumph, and afterwards strangled in prison, by order of the

senate.

The inhabitants of the kingdom of Pergamus continued for a long time to defend themselves against the Romans. Aquilius, sent to put an end to the war, was obliged to lay siege to the greater part of the towns, in succession. Most of these, by their situation on mountains, could receive no water, but by means of aqueducts; the Roman general, instead of cutting down the aqueducts, atrociously poisoned the springs, and thus spread death and desolation throughout the places which he blockaded. The Romans, who could not be ignorant of this barbarous system of hostility, became partakers of the infamy of it, by authorizing this poisoner to govern the kingdom, and to reduce it into the form of a province.

EPHEMERAL KINGDOMS IN ASIA MINOR.

COLCHIS.

COLCHIS, NOW Mingrelia, was bounded by Mount Caucasus on the north; by Iberia on the east; by Armenia and part of Pontus on the south; and by the Euxine sea on the west. It contained many excellent mines of gold; which gave rise to the celebrated fable of the golden fleece, and the Argonautic expedition.

The inhabitants were governed, in very remote ages, by their own princes, seven of whom are mentioned in history; but nothing satisfactory is known of them. During the Mithridatic war, the Cholchians were allies of the king of Pontus; and were governed by a king of their own. In the reign of the emperor Trajan, they voluntarily submitted to the Ro