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Accordingly the command was given to desist from any attack upon Alexandria, and the Syrian mercenaries prepared to evacuate the land of the Ptolemies. But the rage and disappointment of Antiochus knew no bounds. The imperious commands of the haughty Romans roused him to positive phrenzy. His private life had long since procured for him the title of Epimanes, “the madman,” instead of Epiphanes, “the illustrious25.” Uniting “the quick and versatile character of a Greek with the splendid voluptuousness of an Asiatic26,” he thought nothing of debasing the royal dignity by mingling with the revels of his meanest subjects. He would scour the streets, visit the lowest places and the commonest baths, or, like Peter of Russia, converse with the artizans in their shops respecting their various trades. Sometimes he would mingle with some drunken revellers, and amuse them by singing or playing on his flute. At other times he would array himself in a white robe like the candidates for office at Rome, and in this guise go about the streets of Antioch, saluting the citizens, taking them by the hand, and supplicating their votes for some Roman office, of which in all probability they had never heard the name. Having in this way obtained a sufficient number of votes he would, with all the solemnity of a tribune or an ædile, take his seat in the market-place after the Roman fashion, and deliver judgment with all the gravity of a Roman magistrate. Immoderately fond of wine, he became under its influence a madman, and when thwarted in any design his fury knew no bounds. At the same time he was bigoted and intolerant to an extent almost incredible. His favourite deity was Zeus Olympius, and in his honour he was in the habit of celebrating games at Daphne, which exceeded in splendour anything that his predecessors had ever attempted, and erected a magnificent temple, at which he offered the most sumptuous and extravagant sacrifices.