Anacleteria of Ptolemy Epiphanes
As in the lifetime of Scopas his love of money had
note
been notorious, for his avarice did in fact surpass
that of any man in the world, so after his death
was it made still more conspicuous by the
enormous amount of gold and other property found in his
house; for by the assistance of the coarse manners and
drunken habits of Charimortus he had absolutely pillaged the
kingdom.
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Having thus settled the Aetolian business to their liking, note
the courtiers turned their attention to the ceremony of instituting the king into the management of his office, called the Anacleteria. His
age was not indeed yet so far advanced as to
make this necessary; but they thought that the kingdom
would gain a certain degree of firmness and a fresh impulse
towards prosperity, if it were known that the king had assumed
the independent direction of the government. They then made
the preparations for the ceremony with great splendour, and
carried it out in a manner worthy of the greatness of the
kingdom, Polycrates being considered to have contributed very
largely to the accomplishment of their efforts. For this man
had enjoyed even during his youth, in the reign of the late
king, a reputation second to no one in the court for fidelity
and practical ability; and this reputation he had maintained
during the present reign also. For having been entrusted with
the management of Cyprus and its revenues, when its affairs
were in a critical and complicate state, he not only preserved
the island for the young king, but collected a very considerable
sum of money, with which he had just arrived and had paid to the
king, after handing over the government of Cyprus to Ptolemy
of Megalopolis. But though he obtained great applause by
this, and a large fortune immediately afterwards, yet, as he
grew older, he drifted into extravagant debauchery and
scandalous indulgence. Nor was the reputation of Ptolemy,
son of Agesarchus very different in the later part of his life.
But in regard to these men, when we come to the proper time,
I shall not shrink from stating the circumstances which disgraced their official life. . . .
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