Well, with a lot of luck and much of the advice posted above, the nightmare is over. After taking Antioch (and thus securing the whole Levant), Memphis was shortly taken as was Tarsos. The bulk of the Egyptian armies are smashing themselves to bits against the walls of Memphis (manned by Arabian slingers and mercenary Cretan archers).

My economy still sucks, but it looks like things will be getting better... Alexandria will shortly come under my possession. All of these new possessions have been fitted with Type 4 government, which I find more profitable for the Saba. The smart(est) thing to have done, I suspect, would've been to enslave every major Ptolemy settlement I took, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it - especially not while using an unselfish general. I suppose for the more steel-hearted, this whole nightmare could've been avoided.

I still can't recruit anything better than Pantodapoi in most cities, but most of my battles now are quite low in non-Pantodapoi casualties. So it works out. According to the Ledger, the Egyptians are still the top dog in the game, but the worst of their onslaught seems to be over! The worst battle with them to date saw my side lose almost a quarter of my men. Mostly pantodapoi, I believe, although I'm sure a sizable number of my skirmishers have bit the dust.

Incidentally, I found where the last Seleucids were hiding! Lesser Armenia of all places. They apparently have been holding out decently there against the distracted Ptolemies.

It's 6 years after the original post and at last, I feel like I can breathe!