Two years afterward Ptolemy the father died, and was buried by his son with a magnificence almost equal to that of his own coronation.
His body was deposited in a splendid mausoleum, which had been built for the remains of Alexander; and so high was the veneration which was felt by mankind for the greatness of his exploits and the splendor of his reign, that divine honors were paid to his memory.

Such was the origin of the great dynasty of the Ptolemies.
Some of the early sovereigns of the line followed in some degree the honorable example set them by the distinguished founder of it; but this example was soon lost, and was succeeded by the most extreme degeneracy and debasement.

The successive sovereigns began soon to live and to reign solely for the gratification of their own sensual propensities and passions.

Sensuality begins sometimes with kindness, but it ends always in the most reckless and intolerable cruelty.

The Ptolemies became, in the end, the most abominable and terrible tyrants that the principle of absolute and irresponsible power ever produced.