CHAP. 42. (41.)—RARE INSTANCES OF GOOD FORTUNE CONTINUING IN THE SAME FAMILY.
During the whole course of ages, we find only one woman,
and that, Lampido, the Lacedæmonian, who was the daughter
of a king, the wife of a king, and the mother of a king.[1]
Berenice was the only woman who was daughter, sister, and
mother of conquerors in the Olympian games,[2] The family
of the Curios[3] has been the only one to produce three orators
in succession; that of the Fabii alone has given three chiefs
of the senate in succession, Fabius Ambustus, his son Fabius
Rullianus, and his grandson Quintus Fabius Gurges.[4]
1. She was the daughter of Leotychides, and the wife of Archidamas,
and mother of Ægis. Ajasson expresses his surprise, that so diligent a
collector of facts as Pliny, should have been acquainted with only one example of this kind.—B. " The following are additional instances collected by Ajasson :-1. Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, wife
of Philip II., king of Macedon, and mother of Alexander the Great, kind.
of Macedon. 2. Roxana, daughter of king Darius Codomannus, and wife
of Alexander the Great; her son by whom was proclaimed king by certain
generals of Alexander, but was shortly after slain at Amphipolis. 3. Laodice the Younger, daughter of king Antiochus Soter, sister and wife of
Antiochus Theös, and mother of king Seleucus Callinicus. 4. Berenice,
daughter of king Ptolemy Philadelphus; married to her brother king
Ptolemy Euergetes, and mother of Ptolemy Philopater, by whom she was
put to death. 5. Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria:
she became the wife of king Ptolemy Epiphanes, and was mother of king
Ptolemy Philometor. 6. Cleopatra Cocce, daughter of Ptolemy Philometor, married her uncle, king Ptolemy Physcon, and became mother of
kings Ptolemy Lathyrus and Alexander I. 7. Cleopatra, another daughter
of Ptolemy Philometor, married first to Alexander Balas, the usurper of
the throne of Scythia, then to king Demetrius Nicator, and then to Antiochus Venator. Her sons by Nicator were Seleucus V. and Antiochus
Gryphus, both of whom became kings of Syria; and her son Cyzicenius
by Antiochus Venator, likewise became king of Syria. 8. Selene or Cleo-
patra, daughter of king Ptolemy Physcon, was married, first, to king
Ptolemy Lathyrus, secondly, to king Antiochus Gryphus, and thirdly, to
king Antiochus Eusebes. She was mother of king Antiochus Asiaticus.
In all, she had nine kings as her near relations or connections. 9. Stratoniee, daughter of king Demetrius Poliorcetes, was married first to king
Seleucus Nicator, and then to king Antiochus Soter, and was mother of
king Antiochus Therös.
2. Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 15, gives nearly the same account of a person whom he calls Pherenice; from the resemblance of the names, it has
been supposed, that they may both refer to the same individual.—B.
3. He alludes to the three persons, father, son, and grandson, known by
the name of C. Scribonius Curio. The first was prætor B.C. 121, one
of the most distinguished orators of his time. His son, who acquired
some reputation as an orator, was tribune of the people B.C. 90, prætor
B.C. 82, and consul in B.C. 76, with Cn. Octavius. He is represented as
being possessed of great eloquence, and of extreme purity and brilliancy of
diction, but to have had none of the other requisites of an orator. Like his
son, he enjoyed the friendship of Cicero. The younger Curio was an orator
of great talents, which, from want of industry, he left uncultivated. Cicero
endeavoured to direct his talents into a proper channel, but all in vain,
and he remained to the end a man of worthless and profligate character.
He was married to Fulvia, who afterwards became the wife of Antony.
4. Hardouin observes, that M. Fabius Ambustus was three times consul, Quintus Fabius Rullianus five times, and Q. Fabius Gurges three
times.—B.