The captain of your brother Philometor's Philobasilistes is bought over, and will stand by us; but his price was high--Komanus was forced to offer him twenty talents before he would bite." "He shall have them," said the king laughing, "and he shall keep them too, till it suits me to regard him as suspicious, and to reward him according to his deserts by confiscating his estates.

Well! proceed." "In order to quench the rising in Thebes, the day before yesterday Philometor sent the best of the mercenaries with the standards of Desilaus and Arsinoe to the South.

Certainly it cost not a little to bribe the ringleaders, and to stir up the discontent to an outbreak." "My brother will repay us for this outlay," interrupted the king, "when we pour his treasure into our own coffers.

Go on." "We shall have most difficulty with the priests and the Jews.

The former cling to Philometor, because he is the eldest son of his father, and has given large bounties to the temples, particularly of Apollinopolis and Philae; the Jews are attached to him, because he favors them more than the Greeks, and he, and his wife--your illustrious sister--trouble themselves with their vain religious squabbles; he disputes with them about the doctrines contained in their book, and at table too prefers conversing with them to any one else." "I will salt the wine and meat for them that they fatten on here," cried Euergetes vehemently, "I forbade to-day their presence at my table, for they have good eyes and wits as sharp as their noses.