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Not distrusting mine health, and having great hope to escape this sickness,
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but considering that even my father, at what time he led an army into the high countries, appointed a successor
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to the end that, if any thing befell contrary to expectation or if any tidings were brought that were grievous, they of the land, knowing to whom the state was left, might not be troubled;
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again, considering that the princes who are borderers and neighbors unto my kingdom wait for opportunities, and expect what shall be the event, I have appointed my son Antiochus king, whom I often committed and commended unto many of you when I went up into the high provinces. To him I have written as followeth.
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Therefore I pray and request you to remember the benefits that I have done for you, generally and in private, and that every man will still be faithful to me and my son.