he revolved a variety of thoughts, his son Perseus standing all the time at a distance. When word was brought Philip, that his two venerable friends were come, he withdrew to an inner apartment with them, and as many of his life guards; and permitted each of his sons to bring three persons, unarmed, along with him; and, having taken his seat, he spoke to them as 'follows.

"Behold in me an unhappy father, forced to sit as judge between my two sons, one the accuser, and the other charged with the horrid guilt of fratricide; reduced to the sad necessity of finding, in one of them, either a criminal or a false accuser. From certain rumours, which long since reached my ears, and an unusual behaviour I observed between you, a behaviour no way suiting brothers, I indeed was afraid this storm would break over my head; and yet, I hoped, from time to time, that your discontents and disgusts would soften, and your suspicions vanish away. I recollected that contending kings and princes, laying down their arms, had frequently contracted alliances and friendships; and, that private men had suppressed their animosities. I flattered myself, that you would one day remember the endearing name of brethren, by which you are united; those tender years of infancy, which you spent in simplicity and union; in fine, the counsels so often repeated by a father; counsels, which, alas! I am afraid have been given to children deaf and indocile to my voice. How many times, after setting before you examples of the

brothers, have I represented its fatal

cord between

sequences, by

showing you, that they had thereby involved them

selves in inevitable ruin; and, not only themselves, but their children, families, and kingdoms? On the other side, I proposed good examples for your imitation; the strict union between the two kings of Lacedemonia, so advantageous during several centuries, to themselves and their country; in opposition to division and private interest, that changed the monarchic government into tyranny, and proved the destruction of Sparta. By what other method, than by fraternal concord, did the two brothers, Eumenes and Attalus, from such weak beginnings, as almost reflected dishonour on the regal dignity, rise to a pitch of power, equal to mine, to that of Antiochus, and of all the kings we know of? I even did not scruple to cite examples from the Romans, of which I myself had either been an eye witness, or heard from others; as the two brothers, Titus and Lucius Quintius, who both were engaged in war with me; the two Scipios, Publius and Lucius, who defeated and subjected Antiochus; their father and their uncle, who, having been inseparable during their lives, were undivided in death. Neither the crimes of the one, though attended with such fatal consequences; nor the virtues of the other, though crowned with such happy success, have been able to make you abhor division and discord, and to inspire you with gentle and pacific sentiments. Both of you, in my life time, have turned your eyes and guilty desires upon my throne. You will not suffer me to live, till, surviving one of you, I secure my crown to the other, by my death. The fond names of father and brother are insupportable to both. Your souls are strangers to tenderness and love. A restless desire of

reigning has banished all other sentiments from your breasts, and entirely engrosses you. But come, let me hear what each of you have to say. Pollute the ears of your parent with real or feigned accusations. Open your criminal mouths; vent all your reciprocal slanders, and afterwards, arm your parricide hands one against the other. I am ready to hear all you have to say; firmly determined to shut my ears eternally, from henceforth, against the secret whispers and accusations of brother against brother." Philip, having spoken these last words with great emotion, and an angry tone of voice, all who were present wept, and continued a long time in a mournful silence.

At last, Perseus spoke as follows. "I perceive plainly, that I ought to have opened my door in the dead of night; to have admitted the assassins into my house, and presented my throat to their murderous swords, since guilt is never believed, till it has been perpetrated; and, since I, who was so inhumanly attacked, receive the same injurious reproaches as the aggressor. People have but too much reason to say, that you consider Demetrius only as your true son ; whilst unhappy I, am looked upon as a stranger, sprung from a concubine, or even an impostor. For, did your breast glow with the tenderness which a father ought to have for his child, you would not think it just to inveigh so bitterly against me, for whose life so many snares have been laid, but against him who contrived them; and you would not think my life so inconsiderable, as to be entirely unmoved at the imminent danger I escaped; nor, to that to which I shall be exposed, should the guilt of my enemies be suffered

to go unpunished. If I must die without being suffered to breathe my complaints, be it so; let me leave the world in silence, and be contented with beseeching the gods, in my expiring moments, that the crime, which was begun in my person, may end in it, and not extend to your sacred life. But, if, what nature inspires in those, who, seeing themselves attacked unawares in solitude, implore the assistance even of strangers to them, I may be allowed to do with regard to you on the present occasion. If, when I see swords drawn round me, in order to pierce my heart, I may be permitted to vent forth a plaintive and supplicating voice; I conjure you, by the tender, the dear name of father, for which, whether my brother or I have had the greatest reverence, you yourself have long known, to listen to me at this time, as if, awaked suddenly from your sleep, by the tumult of what passed last night, chance had brought you, at the instant of my danger, and in the midst of my complaints; and, that you had found Demetrius at my door, attended by persons in arms. What I should have told you yesterday, in the greatest emotion, and seized with fear, I say to you now.

Brother, it is long since we have not behaved towards one another, like persons desirous of sharing in parties of pleasure. You are fired with an insatiable thirst of reigning; but, you find an invincible

obstacle in my age, the law of nations, the ancient

customs of Macedonia; and, a still stronger circumstance, my father's will and pleasure. It will be impossible for you ever to force these barriers, and to ascend the throne, but by imbruing your hands in my blood. To compass your horrid ends, you employ

instruments of all kinds, and set every engine at work. Hitherto, my vigilance, or my good fortune, have preserved me from your bloody hands. Yesterday, at the review, and the ceremony of the tournament which followed it, the battle, by your contrivance, became almost bloody and fatal; and, had I not suffered myself and my followers to be defeated, you would have sent me to the grave. From this fight, indeed of enemies, you insidiously wanted, as if what had passed had been only the diversion of brothers, to allure me to your feast. Can you suppose, royal father, that I should have met with unarmed guests there, as those very guests came to my palace, completely armed, at so late an hour? Can you imagine, that, favoured by the gloom, they would not have strove to plunge their daggers in my heart; as the same persons, in open day, and before your eyes, almost killed me with their wooden weapons? How ! You, who are my professed enemy; you, who are conscious that I have so much reason to complain of your conduct; you, I say, come to me in the night, at an unseasonable hour, and at the head of a company of armed young men? I did not think it safe for me to go to your entertainment; and, should I receive you in my house at a time, when, heated with the fumes of wine, you came so well attended? Had I then opened my door, royal sir, you would be preparing to solemnize my funeral, at this very instant, in which you vouchsafe to hear my complaints. I do not advance any thing dubious, nor speak barely from conjecture. For, can Demetrius deny, but that he came to my house, attended by a band of young