CHAPTER II.
THE PTOLEMIES.
The dynasty of the Ptolemies .-- The founder .-- Philip of Macedon .-- Alexander .-- The intrigue discovered .-- Ptolemy banished .-- Accession of Alexander .-- Ptolemy's elevation .-- Death of Alexander .-- Ptolemy becomes King of Egypt .-- Character of Ptolemy's reign .-- The Alexandrian library .-- Abdication of Ptolemy .-- Ptolemy Philadelphus .-- Death of Ptolemy .-- Subsequent degeneracy of the Ptolemies .-- Incestuous marriages of the Ptolemy family .-- Ptolemy Physcon .-- Origin of his name .-- Circumstances of Physcon's accession .-- Cleopatra .-- Physcon's brutal perfidity .-- He marries his wife's daughter .-- Atrocities of Physcon .-- His flight .-- Cleopatra assumes the government .-- Her birth-day .-- Barbarity of Physcon .-- Grief of Cleopatra .-- General character of the Ptolemy family .-- Lathyrus.
-- Terrible quarrels with his mother .-- Cruelties of Cleopatra.
-- Alexander kills her .-- Cleopatra a type of the family .-- Her two daughters .-- Unnatural war .-- Tryphena's hatred of her sister .-- Taking of Antioch .-- Cleopatra flees to a temple .-- Jealousy of Tryphena .-- Her resentment increases .-- Cruel and sacrilegious murder .-- The moral condition of mankind not degenerating.
The founder of the dynasty of the Ptolemies--the ruler into whose hands the kingdom of Egypt fell, as has already been stated, at the death of Alexander the Great--was a Macedonian general in Alexander's army.

The circumstances of his birth, and the events which led to his entering into the service of Alexander, were somewhat peculiar.

His mother, whose name was Arsinoe, was a personal favorite and companion of Philip, king of Macedon, the father of Alexander.

Philip at length gave Arsinoe in marriage to a certain man of his court named Lagus.

A very short time after the marriage, Ptolemy was born.