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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013

http://archive.org/details/lifeofalexandergOOwill

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

THE LIFE OF

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

By THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, M.A.

VICAR OF LAMPETER

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

ARTHUR M. CURTEIS, M.A.

FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD

AND WITH NOTES BY

HENRY KETCHAM

ILLUSTRATED

A. L. BURT COMPANY, o» o» i jt ^ * * PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK

Copyright, 1902,

By E. a. brainerd,

65V

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction v

CHAPTER I. Of the Birth, Education, and early Life of Alexander. . • • 1

CHAPTER II. The Assassination of Philip 14

CHAPTER III. Transactions in Europe previous to the Invasion of Asia. 18

CHAPTER IV.

State of the Civilized World, and of the Resources of the two Contending Parties, at the period of Alexander's In- vasion of Asia 46

CHAPTER V. First Campaign of Asia 51

CHAPTER VI. The Second Campaign in Asia, B. C. 333 85

CHAPTER VII. Third Campaign, B. C. 332 117

• • •

111

iv CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER VIII. Fourth Campaign, B. C. 331 143

CHAPTER IX. Fifth Campaign, B. C. 330 178

CHAPTER X. The Sixth Campaign, B. C. 329 201

CHAPTER XI. Seventh Campaign, B. C. 328 234

< haiti: re xir.

Eighth Campaign, B. C. 327 239

CHAPTER XIII. Ninth Campaign, B. C. 32G 272

CHAPTER XIV. Ninth Campaign, B. C. 325 319

I CHAPTER XV. Transactions of the Tenth Year in Asia, B. C. 324 340

CHAPTER XVI. Last Year of Alexander's Life, B.C. 323 383

INTRODUCTION.

BY ARTHUR M. CURTEIS, M. A.

Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.

It has been said that none of mortal birth ever went through such an ordeal as Alexander the Great ^ and Arrian insists on certain points which ought not to be forgotten in forming an estimate of his hero. He was the son of the able and unscrupulous Philip and of the violent Olympias. He was brought up in a court notoriously licentious. He was a king at twenty — the greatest monarch of the world before thirty. A general who never knew defeat, he was -urrounded by men vastly inferior to himself, who intrigued for his favor and flattered his weakness. Thus inheriting a fierce and ambitious temper, and placed in circumstances calculated to foster it, it would have been little short of a miracle had Alex- ander shown a character without alloy. To stand on a pinnacle of greatness higher than man had ever

iched before, and to be free at the same time from vanity, would have required a combination of virtues impossible before Christ, perhaps never possible,^ Alexander was beyond question vain, impulsive, pas-

Vi INTRODUCTION.

sionate, at times furious ; but he had strong affections, and called out strong affections in others. (A man of energy and ambition, he was the hardest worker of his day both in body and mind. Incapable of fear, he foresaw difficulties or combinations which others never dreamed of, and provided against them with successj Amid endless temptations this son of Philip remained comparatively pure. Unlike his fellow- countrymen, he was (says Arrian) no great drinker, ' though he loved a banquet and its genial flow of con- versation. On one point in his character Arrian dwells with an admiration in which we may heartily join. Alexander, he says, stood almost alone in his readiness to acknowledge and express regret for hav- ing done wrong. That in his later days, and when he had succeeded to the position of the Great King, he adopted the Persian dress and customs may be ascribed to the same motive which induced him him- self to marry, and to press his officers and soldiers to marry, Asiatic women, a politic desire not indeed to ape the ways of foreigners, but to amalgamate his diverse subjects into one body. And if, over and above this, he went so far as to claim divine honors as the son of a god, we may remember that of all men Greeks were most easily thrown off their balance by extraordinary prosperity, as were Miltiades and Alkibiades, Pausanias and Lysandros, and that few men of his day or country were more susceptible to the charm of heroic and legendary associations than was Alexander. Elated, therefore, by success, and genuinely wrought upon by the legends which were as

INTRODUCTION. vii

the air ho breathed, he sot an extravagant value on obtaining a public recognition of the super-human nature of hid pow< re, in which, perhaps, he had even (•Mine to believe himself.

It has been Baid in depreciation of Alexander that hia conquests were needle-.- and the bloodshed wan- ton, that lie gave the final Btroke to the ruin of free Bellas, and that whatever benefits Asia derived from it- conquests by Greeks were due rather to Alexan- der's bu< >rs than to himself. These objections are in the spirit as they are true in the letter. For on the first of these points we shall go altogether astray unless we place ourselves at the point of view of a Greek of the fourth century. His view of the relation- h tween himself and a barbarian (and all who were not Greeks were barbarians) was something similar to that of a mediaeval Christian towards a Mohammedan, or of a Mohammedan towards an in- fidel The natural state of things between them was war; and for the vanquished there remained death to the men, slavery or worse for women and children. Any milder treatment was magnanimous clemency. For years before Alexander, the idea of a war of re- vel (gainst Persia had been rife. That he should invade Asia, therefore, and put down the Great King,

and harry and day his subjects, would seem to almost

( - eek right and proper.

A few here and there indeed were eleardioaded

enough to see that the elevation <>{ ICacedon meant thed of all of fn ( •. It clearly was so. And

yet, if we look the facts in the face, we observe (be

yiij INTRODUCTION.

free life of Greece in the fourth century assuming a phase incompatible in the long run with freedom. It was the day of orators, not of statesmen or warriors — of timid action and peace at any price. It was a time of isolation, when (thanks to Sparta) the glorious opportunity of a free Hellenic nation had been forever lost, and when the narrow Greek notion of political life within the compass of city walls and no further had reasserted itself. It was the day of mercenary forces, when free men talked of freedom but did not fight for it. It was a time of corruption, when politi- cians could be bought, and would sell their country's honor. Indeed, considering that the hegemony of Macedon was distinctly less oppressive than that of Sparta, we may well believe that while cities, like Athens or Sparta, which had once been leaders them- selves felt a real humiliation in subjection to Mace- don, many less prominent states felt it to be a change for the better, in proportion as such government was less oppressive than rulers of the type of the Spartan harmosts or the Thirty Tyrants at Athens. Tech- nically the Macedonian conquest did put an end to Hellenic freedom. On the other hand, that freedom was fast tending towards, if in some cases it had not already passed into, the anarchy which belies free- dom, or the pettiness which cramps it.

Lastly, we may allow that in all probability Alex- ander neither intended nor foresaw half the benefits which resulted from his career to Asia and the world, without saying more than has to be said of every man iof commanding and progressive ideas. It is not, as a

INTRODUCTION. lx

rule, given to men to see the fruit of their labors. [Nevertheless the world combines to honor those who initiate its varied steps of progress. The change for the better which Alexander's conquests made in Asia can hardly be exaggerated. Order look the place of disorder. The vast accumulations of the Persian kings, lying idle in their coffers, were once more brought into circulation, and at least tended to stimu- late energy and commercial activity. Cities were founded in great numbers. New channels of com- munication were opened between the ends of the empire. Confidence was restored ; and it may fairly be added that only the king's own premature death cut short the far-sighted plans which he had devised for the gradual elevation of his Asiatic subjects to the level of his European, and which, indeed, had already begun to work the results which he intended. It is true we can trace no signs of political reform in Alexander's projects ; but Asiatics had never known any but despotic government, and beyond question were unfit for any other; while a king of Macedon would probably look on government by free assem- blies with as much contempt and suspicion as a Tsar of Russia in our own day. Even Greece, which gained no direct benefit from the Macedonian empire, was yet indirectly a gainer, in the fact that it was her language which was the medium of communication, her literature which modified the religion that came back to her and to Europe from Asia. It was Alex-* ander who planted that literature and language in [Asia; and it was to Alexander that the great

X INTRODUCTION.

Christian cities of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexan- dria always looked back with reverence as in some sort their founder and benefactor.

It would be difficult to conclude this short sketch of a heroic life more aptly than in the words of Bishop Thirlwall. " Alexander was one of the greatest of earth's sons — great above most for what he was in himself, and, not as many who have borne the title, for what was given to him to effect; great in the course which his ambition took, and the collateral aims which ennobled and purified it, so that it almost grew into one with the highest of which man is capable, the desire of knowledge and the love of good — in a word, great as one of the benefactors of his kind."

AUTHOK'S PBEFACE.

Greece, its islands, and the western part of Asia Minor, have, from the earliest ages, been the prin- cipal scene of the great struggle between the eastern and western worlds. Between the European and Asiatic, even under the same latitude, there exists a marked difference in feelings, manners and char- acter. That this difference is independent of climate and of country, and attributable to long-established habits, and a system of education transmitted down from the remotest ages, is apparent from the well- known facts, that the Greek at Seleucia on the Tigris, at Palmyra, Antioch, and the Egyptian Alex- andria, continued to be still a Greek ; while the Arab in Andalusia and Grenada was still an Arab, and the Turk in Europe has retained all the feelings, manners and customs of his oriental ancestors. It is not wonderful therefore that two races, so inherently different from each other, should, where limitary, be engaged in perpetual warfare. The great struggle has, in general, been in the vicinity of those narrow seas that separate Europe from Asia. It has now con- tinued, with strange vicissitudes, for more than six-

xi

Xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

and-twenty centuries, and longer too, if we add well- founded traditions to historical records, and yet there appears no sign of an approaching termination. By a curious inversion of their relative positions, the Eu- ropeans are on the banks of the Ganges and on the shores of the Caspian, and the Asiatics on the banks of the Danube and the shores of the Adriatic. But my present object is, not to trace the result of the struggle down to our days, but to give a short sketch of its leading events previous to the invasion of Asia by Alexander.

I pass over the conquest of the Peloponnesus by the Phrygian Pelops, the establishment of a Phoeni- cian colony in Boeotia, and of other oriental settlers in various parts of Greece. I dwell not on the Argo- nautic expedition, the conquest of Troy by Hercules, the seizure and occupation of Rhodes and its depend- ant islands bv his immediate descendants, not from any doubt of the facts, but because they are not in the right line that conducts us down to the expedition of Alexander.

The result of the second Trojan war was far dif- ferent, as the superiority attained by the Europeans in that contest enabled them to seize all the inter- vening islands, and to occupy the whole Asiatic coast, from Halicarnassus to Cvzicus, with their Dorian, Ionian and ^Eolian colonies. The first and last did not spread much, but the Ionians, the descendants of the civilized Achaeans and Athenians, flourished greatly, covered the seas with their fleets, and studded the shores of the Euxine with wealthy and splendid

AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Xiii

cities. These colonists in Asia were the founders of Grecian literature. From them sprung Homer and Hesiod, Alcrcus and Sappho, Thales and Herodotus. And had they possessed a system of civil polity adapted for the purpose, they possessed strength, knowledge and energy sufficient to have conquered all Asia. But their circle of action was narrowed by their confined views of constitutional governments. Even Aristotle, superior as he was to his countrymen, wrote, in much later times, that a hundred thousand and ^.ve thousand citizens were numbers equally in- compatible with the existence of a free state, as the greater number would render deliberation impossi- ble, and the less be inadequate for the purposes of self-defence. This limitation was grounded on the principle, that every Greek had an imprescriptible right to attend and vote in the great council of the nation, and to be eligible, in his turn, to the highest offices of the state. To fulfil these duties ablv and with advantage to the commonwealth, the constitu- tion supposed all free citizens to be gentlemen or wealthy yeomen, able to live upon their own means, without devoting themselves to any particular pro-^ fession or pursuit. The number of such men, in comparison with the great mass of the population condemned to hopeless slavery was very limited. Sparta, in the days of Aristotle, contained only nine thousand citizens. The loss of seven hundred war- riors, at the battle of Leuctra, had consequently proved fatal to her Grecian supremacy. The num- ber of Athenian citizens varied from twenty to thirty

xiv AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

thousand. When therefore one thousand, probably the prime and flower of the nation, had fallen at Chaeroneia, the blow was regarded as irreparable, and all thoughts of further resistance abandoned.

Hence it is apparent that the erection of any pow- erful monarchy, in the vicinity of states constituted on this principle, must eventually prove fatal to their independence. Such was the fate of the Grecian colonies in Asia. Their neighbors, the Lydians, un- der the government of the Mermnadse, a native dy- nasty, had become a powerful race ; and the discovery of the gold excavated from Mount Tmolus, or sifted from the bed of the Pactolus, furnished them with the means of supporting a regular army. After a lengthened contest they therefore succeeded in re- ducing to subjection all the continental Greeks. The conquered and the conquerors were united by Cyrus to his new empire, and became Persian subjects un- der Cambyses and Darius. The Ionians revolted from the latter, but were subdued after an unavail- ing struggle. At the commencement of the revolt, the Athenians sent a fleet to aid their colonists. The combined Athenian and Ionian forces marched to Sardes, and burnt the Lydian capital. This rash act drew on Athens and on Greece the whole ven- geance of the Persian monarchs. After a long and deadly contest the Greeks repelled the invaders, pur- sued them into Asia, and for a time liberated their Asiatic fellow-coimtrymen. But their own civil contests diverted their attention from foreign objects, and their splendid victories had no further result

AUTHOR'S PREFACE. XV

The same may be said of the two campaigns of Agesilaus in Asia, for the management of which Xenophon has praised him far beyond his merits. Then followed the disgraceful peace of Antalcidas, which once more consigned the Asiatic Greeks to the tender mercies of a Persian despot. From that period Persia changed her policy, and spared neither money nor intrigues in attempting to embroil the Grecian states with each other. For this conduct she had sufficient cause, for the expedition of the ten thousand had revealed to the hungry Greeks her weakness and their own strength. They had there- fore, of late, been eager to free themselves from the harassing contests of the numerous aristocracies and democracies, and to unite, under one head, in a serious and combined attack upon the Persian mon- archy.

Jason, the Thessalian, had nearly matured his plans, and had he not been suddenly arrested in his career, the Greeks would have probably invaded Asia under him as their captain-general: but his assassination only postponed the great event.

Philip, the son of Amyntas, had followed the path marked out by Jason ; and, by patience, prudence and vigor, succeeded in his great object. The Thebans and Athenians, who contested the Macedonian su- premacy in the field, were defeated; and the Spar- tans, too proud to submit, too weak to resist, sullenly stood aloof from the general confederation, and with- held their vote from the Macedonian captain-general. But Persia was again saved from invasion by the

xvi AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

death of Philip; and Alexander succeeded to his throne and pretensions, in the twentieth year of his age.

Note. — The materials of the work have been principally drawn from Arrian and Strabo. Curtius, Plutarch, and Athenaeus, have furnished some illustrations, although I have thought it my duty to reject many of their anecdotes.

In chronology, Mr. Fynes Clinton's Fasti Hellenici, a work worthy of the better days of classical literature, has been my guide. Mr. Clinton will see that I have differed from him in the arrangement of the later years. He overlooked the winter passed in the mountains between Cabul and the Indus, and hence was obliged to add a year to the residence at Babylon.

In geography I have availed myself of all the labors of my predecessors, but have also found cause to dissent from them in many important points. My reasons for so doing are de- tailed at length in a work now in the press, but which will not probably make its appearance before this be published. In the mean time, I can only request the learned reader to suspend his judgment.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT-

CHAPTEE I.

OF THE BIRTH, EDUCATION, AND EARLY LIFE OF

ALEXANDER.

'Alexander, the third king of Macedonia of that name, and commonly surnamed the Great, was born at Pell a three hundred and fifty-six years before Christ. His father Philip traced his origin through Temenus, the first Heracleid king of Argos, to Her- cules and Perseus. The family of his mother Olym- pias was no less illustrious ; for thje royal race of Epirus claimed to be lineally descended from Neop- tolemus, Achilles, and Peleus. As he could thus refer his origin to Jupiter by the three different lines of Perseus, Hercules, and Peleus, it is impossible for us in the present day to calculate the impression made on his vouthful mind bv so illustrious a descent. It is certain, however, that, from his earliest days, he proposed to himself to rival, and, if possible, surpass the renown of his ancestors.

Philip received the news of the birth of his son in>

1

2 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 356.

mediately after the capture of the city of Potidsea, the peninsular situation of which had enabled it long to resist the Macedonian arms. On the same day he received intelligence of a victory gained by Par- menio over the Illyrians, and of the success of his horses in bearing away the first prize at the Olym- pic games. In after times the Asiatics remarked, with superstitious awe, that the magnificent temple of Diana at Ephesus had been destroyed by fire on the night of Alexander's birth, and that the general conflagration of Asia had been typified thus early by the destruction of its most splendid ornament. Per- haps it ought to be remarked, as a proof of the eager and restless spirit of the times, that the incendiary, who ought to have remained nameless, was willing to purchase deathless notoriety at the expense of his life, and preferred an infamous death to an unrecorded life. Such a state of morbid feeling could be pro- duced only in times of great and common excite- ment.

Nothing certain is known respecting the infancy and childhood of Alexander. The letter which Philip is supposed to have written to Aristotle on the birth of the prince, is, I fear, a forgery. For it is rather incompatible with the fact, that Aristotle did not take the immediate charge of his duties until his pupil had attained his fifteenth year. But as the philos- opher's father had been the favorite physician in the Macedonian court, it is not unlikely that even the earlier years of the prince were under the superinten- dence of his great preceptor, and that his primary"

Mtat. 1— 7.J EARLY EDUCATION. 3

education was conducted according to his suggestions. If such was the case, we can easily deduce the princi- ples on which both the earlier and more mature edu- cation of Alexander was conducted, from Aristotle's Treatise on Politics, where they are developed.

He divides a regular course of education into three parts. The first comprises the period from the birth to the completion of the seventh year. The second from the commencement of the eighth to the comple- tion of the eighteenth year, and the third from the eighteenth to the twenty-first.

According to Aristotle, more care should be taken of the body than of the mind for the first seven years: strict attention to diet be enforced, and the infant from his infancv habituated to bear cold. This habit is attainable either by cold bathing or light clothing. The eye and ear of the child should be most watch- fully and severely guarded against contamination of every kind, and unrestrained communication with servants be strictly prevented. Even his amuse- ments should be under due regulation, and rendered as interesting and intellectual as possible.

It must always remain doubtful, how far Olym- pias would allow such excellent precepts to be put in execution. But it is recorded that Leonnatus, the governor of the young prince, was an austere man, of great severity of manner, and not likely to relax any adopted rules. He was also a relation of Olympias, and as such might doubtless enforce a system upon which no stranger would be allowed to act. The great strength, agility, and hardy habits

4 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 348.

of Alexander, are the best proofs that this part of his education was not neglected, and his lasting af- fection for his noble nurse Lannice, the daughter of Dropidas, proves also that it was conducted with gen- tleness and affection.

The intellectual education of Alexander would, on Aristotle's plan, commence with his eighth year. About this period of his life, Lysimachus, an Acar- nanian, was appointed his preceptor. Plutarch gives him an unfavorable character, and insinuates that he was more desirous to ingratiate himself with the royal family, than effectually to discharge the duties of his office. It was his delight to call Philip, Peleus ; Alexander Achilles, and to claim for himself the honorary name of Phoenix. Early impressions are the strongest, and even the pedantic allusions of the Acarnanian might render the young prince more eager to imitate his Homeric model.

Aristotle mentions four principal branches of edu- cation as belonging to the first part of the middle period. These are literature, gymnastics, music, and painting, of which writing formed a subordinate branch. As the treatise on politics was left in an unfinished state, we have no means of defining what was comprehended under his general term literature, but commencing with reading and the principles of grammar, it apparently included composition in verse and prose, and the study of the historians and poets of Greece. During this period the lighter gymnas- tics alone were to be introduced, and especially such exercises as are best calculated to promote graceful-

JEtat. 7—15.] EDUCATION— ARISTOTLE. 5

ness of manner and personal activity. Aristotle had strong objections to the more violent exertions of the gymnasium during early life, as he considered them injurious to the growth of the body, and to the future strength of the adult. In proof of this he adduces the conclusive fact that in the long list of Olympic victors only two, or at most, three instances had oc- curred in which the same person had proved victor in youth and in manhood. Premature training and over- exertion he, therefore, regarded as injurious to the constitution.

JSTot only the theory of painting, but also a certain skill in handling the pencil, was to be acquired. Aris- totle regarded this elegant art as peculiarly conduc- ing to create a habit of order and arrangement, and to impress the mind with a feeling of the beautiful.

JVIusic both in theory and practice, vocal and in- struental, was considered by him as a necessary part of education, on account of the soothing and puri- fying effects of simple melodies, and because men, wearied with more serious pursuits, require an ele- gant and innocent recreation. By way of illustra- tion, he adds that music is to the man what a rattle is to the child. Such were the studies that occupied the attention of the youthful Alexander between the seventh and fourteenth year of his age. When he was in his eleventh year, Demosthenes, ^Eschines, and eight other leading Athenians, visited his father's court as ambassadors, and Philip was so proud of the proficiency of his son, that he ventured to exhibit him before these arbiters of taste. The young

6 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 342.

prince gave specimens of his skill in playing on the harp, in declamation, and in reciting a dramatic dialogue with one of his youthful companions. But if we can believe iEsehines, Demosthenes was partic- ularly severe on the false accents and Dorian into- nations of the noble boy.

In his fifteenth year he was placed under the im- mediate tuition of the great philosopher, according to whose advice I have supposed his earlier educa- tion to have been conducted. In the year B. C. 342, Aristotle joined his illustrious pupil, and did not finally quit him until he passed over into Asia.

The master was worthy of his pupil, and the pupil of his master. The mental stores of Aristotle were vast, and all arranged with admirable accuracy and judgment. His style of speaking and writing pure, clear, and precise ; and his industry in accumulating particular facts, only equalled by his sagacity in drawing general inferences. Alexander was gifted with great quickness of apprehension, an insatiable desire of knowledge, and an ambition not to be satis- fied with the second place in any pursuit.

Such a pupil under such a master must soon have acquired a sufficient knowledge of those branches de- scribed before, as occupying the middle period of edu- cation. He would then enter on the final course in- tended for the completion of his literary studies. This comprehended what Aristotle calls Matheses, and included the branches of human learning ar- ranged at present under the general term mathema- tics. To these, as far as they could be scientifically

JKtat. 15.] EDUCATION— METAPHYSICS. 7

treated, were added moral philosophy, logic, rhetoric, the art of poetry, the theory of political government, and the more evident principles of natural philo- sophy. On these subjects we still possess treatises written by Aristotle, in the first place most probably for the use of his pupil, and afterwards published for the public benefit.

We learn also from a letter of Alexander preserved by Plutarch, that Aristotle had initiated his pupil in those deep and mysterious speculations of Grecian philosophy, which treated of the nature of the Deity, of the human soul, of the eternity and other qualities of matter, and of other topics which prudential rea- sons prevented the philosopher from publicly explain- ing. As the letter gives a lively idea of the exclusive ambition of Alexander, I here insert it. It was occa- sioned by the publication of Aristotle's treatise on that branch of knowledge called from that very book Metaphysics.

" ALEXANDER TO ARISTOTLE, HEALTH.

Xh

ILYou did wrong in publishing those branches of science hitherto not to be acquired except from oral instruction. In what shall I excel others if the moro profound knowledge I gained from you be communi- cated to all. For my part I had rather surpass the majority of mankind in the sublimer branches of learning than in extent of power and dominion — Farewell Pj?

8 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 342.

LBut the great object of Aristotle was to render his pupil an accomplished statesman, and to qualify him to govern with wisdom, firmness, and justice, the great empire destined to be inherited and acquired by him.J It was his province to impress deeply upon his mind the truths of rnoxal philosophy, to habituate him to practice its precepts, to store his mind with historical facts, to teach him how to draw useful in- ferences from them, and to explain the means best cal- culated to promote^ the improvement and increase the stability of empires!

It is difficult to say what were the religious opin- ions inculcated by Aristotle on his pupil's mind. In their effects they were decided and tolerant. We may therefore conclude that they were the same as are expressed by Aristotle, who maintained the universal- ity of the Deity and the manifestation of his power and will under various forms in various countries.

As in modern, so in ancient times, great differences of opinion prevailed on the subject of education. Some directed their attention principally to the con- duct of the intellect, others to the f ormation of moral feelings and habits, and a third party appeared more anxious to improve the carriage and strengthen the bodv bv healthful exercise than to enlighten the mind. Aristotle's plan was to unite the three systems, and to make them co-operate in the formation of the per- fect character, called in Greek, the xaXog xai ayaOog. In truth, no talents can compensate for the want of moral worth ; and good intentions, separated from talents, often inflict the deepest injuries, while their

iEtat. 16.J EDUCATION— ARISTOTLE'S VIEWS. 9

possessor wishes to confer the greatest benefits on mankind. Nor can it be doubted, that a sound con- stitution, elegance of manner, and gracefulness of person, are most useful auxiliaries in carrying into effect measures emanating from virtuous principles, and conducted by superior talents.

It is not to be supposed that Aristotle wished to instruct his pupil deeply in all the above-mentioned branches of education. He expressly states that the liberally educated man, or the perfect gentleman, should not be profoundly scientific, because a course of general knowledge, and what we call polite litera- ture, is more beneficial to the mind than a complete proficiency in one or more sciences ; a proficiency not to be acquired without a disproportionate sacrifice of time and labor.

It was also one of Aristotle's maxims that the education should vary according to the destination of the pupil in future life ; that is, supposing him to be a gentleman, whether he was to devote himself to a life of action, or of contemplation. Whether he was to engage in the busy scenes of the world, and plunge amidst the contentions and struggles of polit- ical warfare, or to live apart from active life in philosophic enjoyments and contemplative retire- ment. Although the philosopher gave the preference to the latter mode of living, he well knew that his pupil must be prepared for the former ; for the throne of Macedonia could not be retained by a monarch devoted to elegant ease, literary pursuits, and refined enjoyments. The successor of Philip ought to pos-

10 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 356.

sess the power of reasoning accurately, acting deci- sively, and expressing his ideas with perspicuity, ele- gance, and energy.

I have mentioned these particulars because it would be difficult to form just conceptions of the character of Alexander without taking into consider- ation, not only the great advantages enjoyed by him in early youth, but also the recorded fact that he availed himself of these advantages to the utmost. Amidst his various studies, however, Homer was the god of his idolatry; the Iliad, the object of his enthu- siastic admiration. The poet, as Aristotle emphati- cally names him, was his inseparable companion: from him he drew his maxims; from him he bor- rowed his models. The preceptor partook in this point of the enthusiasm of his pupil, and the most accurate copy of the great poem was prepared by Aris- totle, and placed by Alexander in the most precious casket which he found among the spoils of Darius.

Eager as Alexander was in the pursuit of knowl- edge, it must not be supposed that Philip would allow his successor to form the habits of a recluse ; on the contrary,] he early initiated him in the duties of his high station. At the age of sixteen he was ap- pointed Regent of Macedonians while his father was detained at the siege of Byzantium, and on a prior occasion astonished some Persian deputies by the pertinency of his questions, and the acuteness of his intellect. His studies were diversified even by the toils of war£ and in his eighteenth year he commanded the left wing of the army at the celebrated battle of

JEtat. 19.J PHILIP'S MARRIAGE— DEATH. H

Chseroneia, and defeated the Thebans) before Philip had been equally successful against the Athenians. In the following year Philip destroyed the peace of his family by marrying Cleopatra the niece of Attalus, one of his generals, and by disgracing, if not divorcing, Olympias. Philip had married many wives, but they were the sisters or daughters of Thracian, Illyrian, and Thessalian chiefs, and prob- ably not entitled to the honors of sovereignty. But his marriage with a Macedonian lady of high rank and powerful connections could only tend to a formal rupture with Olympias. To widen the breach Philip changed his bride's name from Cleopatra to Eurydice, his mother's name. That this was done by way of declaring her the legitimate queen, may be inferred from the fact that when a princess called Adea married Aridams, Alexander's successor, her name also was changed into Eurydice. ( The natural consequence was, that Alexander became suspicious of his father's intention about the succession, and a misunderstanding took place, which ended in the flight or banishment of several of the prince's most intimate friends, and in his own retirement with his mother into her native country. Subsequently /a rec- onciliation took place, and Olympias and the prince returned into Macedonia.^ Alexander, the reigning king ofJEmrus, and the brother of Olympias, accom- panied them, and the re-union was celebrated by his marriage with Cleopatra the daughter of Philip. During the. festivities attendant on the nuptials, Philip was assassinated by Pausanias, one of the

■ \

12 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 356.

great officers of his guards. As this event led some writers to question the fair fame of Alexander, it will be necessary, in order perfectly to understand the subject, briefly to glance at the previous history of the Macedonian monarchy.

( Note. — Alexander, as son of Philip II. of Macedon and Olym- pias, may be cited as a marked instance of hereditary genius. The two parents were possessed of marked abilities, and, wide- ly as they differed, partly because they differed so widely, the union has been considered ideal, at least from the intellectual standpoint. ( Philip having spent his youth as a hostage in Thebes, where he was practically a guest in the house of Epaminondas the illustrious statesman and general, was familiar with Greek culture*. Personally he was intellectual, sagacious, crafty, and unscrupulous, a perfect specimen of the "practical politician." Olympias, on the other hand, was highly emotional, and, according to the barbaric idea of the religion of that day, intensely religious. According to Plu- tarch, in the practice of the " mysteries," or ritual, she was " wont in the sacred dances to have about her great tame serpents, which, sometimes creeping out of the ivy and the mystic fans, and sometimes winding themselves about the staffs and the chaplets which the women bore, presented a sight of horror to the men who beheld." She was not of a jealous disposition, but was remarkably tolerant of her hus- band's irregularities.

From these parents Alexander received his native genius. He also had the benefit of personal association with both of them during the formative period of his youth, for he was in his seventeenth year when the quarrel occurred that for a time separated his parents. Philip, like many other intel- lectual men — David, Solomon, Napoleon — was extremely sensual, but he did not allow his sensuality to interfere with his cool, calculating intellect. Nor did Olympias take offence at the plurality of his wives and concubines until the marriage with the Macedonian princess, Cleopatra, threatened the dis placement of Alexander as heir to the throne.

Mt&t. 19.] TRAITS OF ALEXANDER'S PARENTS. 13

With such parents Alexander spent more than sixteen years of his life, and his tutor was the great philosopher Aristotle, whose philosophic thought has formed the best thinking of the world for over two thousand years. Whether the details of Aristotle's plan of education were perfect or not, is a minor consideration ; the important fact is that Alexander was intimately associated with the man behind the philosophy.

It may further be mentioned that among the contemporaries of Alexander were Plato, Xenophon, Isocrates, Demosthenes, and iEschines. Though he did not personally know all these, lie was familiar witli their names and their thoughts, and to an alert mind like his, the very air was full of inspiration.

CHAPTEK II.

THE ASSASSINATION OF PHILIP.

Philip was slain late in the autumn of the year B. C. 336. He had succeeded in all his projects, and intended with the spring to lead the combined forces of Greece into Asia. He was celebrating the nuptials of his daughter Cleopatra with Alexander, King of Epirus, with great pomp, and magnificence. The religious sacrifices, the processions, the theatrical representations, and the attendant festivities, were on the most splendid scale, and testified to the world the joy of Philip in being reconciled to his son and the royal family of Epirus.

On one of these public days, Pausanias, whose office furnished him with ample opportunities, stabbed his sovereign to the heart as he was entering the theatre. He was immediately cut to pieces by the guards, who were too much attached to Philip to hesi- tate under such circumstances. This event appears to have paralyzed the conspirators, who apparently were ill prepared for such a result. In the confusion Alexander, the son of Aeropus, was the first to buckle on his armor, to seek the prince, and escort him to the palace. The troops and the leading Macedonians were summoned to a tumultuary assembly and Alex-

14

JEtat. 20.] THE ASSASSINATION OF PHILIP. 15

ander was declared king by general acclamation. He returned thanks in an energetic speech ; and expressed his hopes that his conduct would soon cause them to say that nothing but the name of their king had been changed.

Even Justin allows that his first care was to put his father's assassins to death. Pausanias had al- ready expiated his guilt with his life. The three leading men that suffered on the occasion, were Hero- menes,Arrhabaeus, and Amyntas,the son of Perdiccas. Alexander, the son of Aeropus, was also accused of having participated in the plot, nor was there much doubt of his guilt. His conduct after the assassina- tion ensured his safety, although it did not prove his innocence. Amvntas, the son of Antiochus, another prince of the blood royal, either from fear, conscious guilt, or treasonable intentions, escaped into Asia. He was received with open arms by the Persian court, and at a later period entrusted with the command of the Greek mercenaries in the service of Darius.

It is more than probable that the conspirators were in correspondence with the Persian court, and that ample promises of protection and support were given to men undertaking to deliver the empire from the impending invasion of the Captain General of Greece. Alerander, in his answer to the first proposals of Darius, openly charges the Persians with having been the instigators of his father's murder ; and the trans- actions connected with Amyntas, the son of Antio- chus, and Alexander the Lyncestian, hereafter to be noticed, show that the Persian court of that day was

16 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 336.

as little scrupulous about the means of destroying a formidable enemy as it had been in the days of Clearchus. Demosthenes was then the principal agent of Persia in Greece, and Charidemus, one of his great friends and supporters, was at ^Egse when Philip's death occurred. The event was public, and could not be concealed. The deputies of all Greece were assembled there ; and no private messenger from Charidemus to Demosthenes could have outstripped the speed with which the news of such an event passes from mouth to mouth in a populous country; not to mention that Charidemus would not have been the only deputy likely to dispatch a messenger on such an occasion. Yet Demosthenes announced the death of Philip to the Athenian assembly long before the news reached Athens from any other quarter. He confirmed the truth of his assertion with an oath, and ascribed his knowledge of the event to an immediate revelation from Jupiter and Minerva. The accuracy of his information and the falsehood respecting the alleged sources of his intelligence, almost indisputa- bly prove that he was an accessory before the fact, and that he had previous notification of the very day on which the conspirators were to act.*

* The reconciliation between Philip and Olympias was, as stated above, attended with, or possibly occasioned by the marriage between the king of Epirus, who was a brother of Olympias, and Cleopatra a daughter of Philip. The marriage festivities were arranged on an imperial scale. Princes and statesmen were present, and powerful cities, including even Athens, had their representatives at the ceremonies in honor of the event.

^Etat. 20.] THE ASSASSINATION OF PHILIP. 17

On the second and great day of the festival, Philip walked to the theatre ostentatiously separated from his body-guard. The assassin, concealed near the door of the theater, felled his victim with his sword, sprung upon a horse that was in readiness, and might have escaped but for an accident by which he was thrown from his horse.

The motive of the assassin, Pausanias by name, was per- sonal, even though in carrying out the scheme he may have become a tool of Persia. He esteemed himself grossly insulted by Attains, a prominent general in Philip's army, tailing to secure redress from Philip, he sought revenge by the murder of the latter. Pausanias was a member of the king's body- guard. 2

• .'

CHAPTEK III.

TRANSACTIONS IN EUROPE PREVIOUS TO THE INVASION OF ASIA.

Alexander had scarcely completed his twentieth year when he was thus suddenly called to fill his father's place. His difficulties were great, and ene- mies were rising on every side. The federal empire established by Philip was threatened with instant dis- solution. The Barbarians on the wTest, north, and east of Macedonia were preparing to renounce their subjection, and resume their hostility and predatory habits. In southern Greece Sparta, standing aloof from the general confederacy, claimed the supremacy as due to her, and presented a rallying point for the disaffected. Athens, smarting under her humiliation, and eager for novelty, was ready to renounce her forced acquiescence in the terms of the union, and renew her engagements with Persia. But Alexander was equal to the crisis. After punishing the mur- derers of his father, and arranging the internal affairs of Macedonia, he marched to the south at the head of a chosen body of troops.

The Thessalians had been for many years the firm

18

Mat. 20.] MARCH INTO GREECE. 19

friends and supporters of the Macedonian kings. They had restored Amyntas to his throne; and Philip, in conjunction with the noble family of the Aleuadae, had rescued them from the domination of tyrants. The Thessalians, in return, elected him as the national chief, and under his patronage enjoyed peace and tranquillity, to which they had long been strangers. But as in all Grecian states there existed violent factions, perhaps we ought to give credit to those historians who write that an attempt was made to occupy the pass of Tempe, and prevent Alexander from entering Thessaly. If such were the case, it proved unavailing and the king reached Larissa with- out any serious resistance. The General Assembly of Thessaly was called together, and by an unanimous vote decreed the same authority and honors to the son as had been enjoyed by the father. His Thessalian friends escorted him to Thermopylae, where the Amphictionic Council had been summoned to meet him. The assembled deputies recognized him as one of their number, and as the successor of his father in the important office, to which the execution of the decrees of the council belonged.

Hence he hastened to Corinth, where a Pan-Hel- lenic Council met, in which he was appointed Cap- tain-General of the Greek confederacy, and empow- ered to make war on the Persians, their common enemies. The Lacedaemonians again dissented, and proudly alleged that it had been always their practice to lead, and not to follow. The Athenians, whose conduct could not bear strict investigation, were more

20 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 336.

»

lavish of their honors to Alexander, than they had been to Philip.

It is impossible to account for his great success in these delicate negotiations without confessing that all his proceedings must have been guided by the most consummate wisdom. But Alexander had made no change among his father's ministers; the spirit of Philip still presided in the council-room and the interpreters of his opinions predominated there. Antipater and Parmenio are repeatedly mentioned by the Athenian orators as the two great ministers of Philip. To the former he trusted in civil, to the latter in military affairs. Two anecdotes, recorded by Plutarch, are well adapted to throw light upon the supposed characters of the two men. Their truth, in such a case, is of little importance.

Philip at times loved to drink deeply. On one occasion when he observed his party rather reluctant to steep their senses in forgetfulness, " Drink," said he, " drink ; all is safe, for Antipater is awake." In allusion to the numerous generals whom the jealousy of the Athenian democracy united in the command of their armies, and whom its impatience often re- placed by an equal number, Philip said, " Fortu- nate Athenians, in possessing so many generals, while I have never seen one but Parmenio."

Greater credit is due to Alexander in this respect, as these two great men naturally adhered to Philip in the misunderstanding that took place between him and his son ; and the youthful monarch had personal friends, of distinguished merit, who at his father's

jfetttt. 20.] DIOGENES. 21

death were exiles on his account. These were Har- palus, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, Nearchus, Erygius, and his brother Laomedon. They were of course recalled from exile, but their promotion to high offices was slow, though certain. Their names will often recur during the following life.

Diogenes, commonly called by the Greeks 6 xuwv, or the dog, and from whom the Cynic philosophers were named, resided then at Corinth. His contempt for all the decencies and proprieties of civilized life, joined to great rudeness of manner and readiness in sharp and pithy replies, had procured him great notoriety. His usual residence was a tub, placed under the walls of the Corinthian gymnasium. From this he declaimed to all willing listeners against the habits of civilized life, and upon the great superiority of savage existence. Alexander was tempted to visit him ; and after questioning him respecting his doctrines, requested to know if he could be of any service. " Be so good " (said the basking philosopher, true to his principles) " as to stand from between me and the sun." The king was so much struck with the independent spirit manifested in this reply that he said to his officers, " Were I not Alexander, I should wish to be Dio- genes." The king was young, the philosopher far advanced in years, yet their death occurred about the same period. Diogenes was one morning found dead in his tub, with his face enveloped in his cloak. His friends and disciples, for he had many, could not decide whether his death had been caused by a volun-

22 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 336.

tary suppression of breath, or by indigestion. More probably from the latter cause, as his last meal had been the raw leg of an ox; at least so says his biographers and namesake Diogenes Lsertius. V After having thus successfully arranged the affairs of Southern Greece, and succeeded in all his projects, Alexander returned to spend the winter in Macedo- nia, and to prepare for an early expedition against his more turbulent northern and western neighbors. With the spring he marched against the Thracians of Mount Haemus and its vicinity.

The army set out from Pella, reached Amphipolis, crossed first the Strymon, then the Nestus, and in ten marches from the banks of the latter river arrived at the southern foot of Mount Hsemus the modern Bal- kan. He found the defiles in possession of the moun- taineers and other independent Thracian tribes. They had occupied the summit of a mountain that completely commanded the pass, and rendered ad- vance impossible. Alexander carefully examined the mountain range, but failed to discover any other practicable defile. He determined therefore to storm the enemy's position, and thus force his way. The mountain's brow was crowned with a line of waggons, intended not only to serve as a rampart, but to be rolled down precipitously upon the ascending phal- anx. In order to meet this danger, Alexander or- dered the soldiers to open their ranks where the ground would allow it, and permit the waggons to pass through the intervals ; where that was impossible to throw themselves on the ground, lock their shields

JEt&t. 20.] MOUNT H^EMUS. 23

together in that position, and allow the waggons to roll over them. The shields of the Macedonian phalanx could be interlinked in cases of necessity. This enabled them to disperse the pressure of the wheels among many bucklers. And when the first shock had been withstood the waggons glided lightly over the brazen pavement and quitted it with a bound, i

A few were injured by the crush, but not a man was killed. Encouraged by the success of their new manoeuvre, they rose, charged up the hill, gained the summit, and the victory was won ; for the half-armed barbarians could not withstand the charge of the ser- ried line of pikes, and fled over the hills in every direction.

The pass by which Alexander crossed Mount Hserrms continues to be the main road between the plains of Hadrianople and the vale of the Danube. It follows the course of the Adra, one of the tribu- taries of the TIebrus or Marizza; it then crosses the main ridge, and descends along the Iatrus, still called the Iantra, into the vast plain between the northern foot of Hsemus and the Danube. This plain, at the period of Alexander's invasion was possessed by the Triballi, a warlike Thracian tribe, against which Philip had often warred with varying success. They had not long been masters of the country, because in the time of Herodotus it formed the principal seat of the Geta?, whom the Triballi drove beyond the Dan- ube. The modern maps of this country, except on the line of the great roads, are not to be trusted.

24: ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

Even Macedonia, until within a century, was, to a great extent, unexplored, and the site of its ancient cities was only matter of conjecture. Syrmus, the Triballian chief, did not wait to be attacked, but retired with his court and family into a large island in the Danube. The Greeks named it Peuce, prob- ably from the number of' its pine-trees. Strabo places it twelve miles from the sea, and adds that Darius bridged the Danube either at its lower or upper end. But his Byzantine epitomist, who was perfectly acquainted with the coast, describes it as a triangle, inclosed between the two main branches of the Danube and the sea. The latter description is still applicable, and the name of Piczina is easily identified with Peuce or Peucine.

]Sk>r ought it to be regarded as wonderful that a river of the size and rapidity of the Danube has effected so slight a change during twenty centuries. For although it cannot be denied, mathematically speaking, that the annual tribute of soil carried by rivers to the sea must, in the countless lapse of ages, wear down the mountains and fill the seas, yet, as far as I have been enabled to form a judgment the actual changes within, the last two thousand years have been very trifling.

Within three days' march of the Danube Alexan- der crossed a stream called by Arrian, Lyginus. The name is not found in other authors, and was probably given upon the spot to one of the slow streams that meander through the plain. In English its name is equivalent to the willow-river. Alexander was

iEtat. 21.] DEFEAT OF THE TRIBALLI. 25

marching upon Peuce when he received information that the great body of the Triballi had taken circuit, passed to his rear, and posted themselves on the banks of the Lyginus. This movement must have inter- cepted all communication between him and Macedo- nia. He immediately turned round, marched his army back, and found the Triballi drawn up in the wood that lined the banks of the stream. A sharp engagement took place, in which the Triballi were not inferior as long as it continued a contest of missiles, but when the cavalry supported by the phalanx had reached their main body, the charge was irresistible, and they were driven first into the ravine and .then into the river. Three thousand Triballi were slain ; the prisoners were few, as the enemy could not be safely pursued through the thickets that covered the banks of the Lyginus.

Alexander then resumed his march in the direction of the island, and in three days arrived at the point where the Danube divided round it. Here he found his fleet that had sailed from Byzantium for the pur- pose of co-operating with the land army. He em- barked a few troops on board the ships, which were not numerous, and attempted to make a descent upon the upper angle of the island. The ships descended the main stream, but the troops failed to make their landing good at the point, and if they swerved either to the right or to the left, the current, always strong below the point of division, hurried them down. To these difficulties was added the resistance of the enemy, who crowded to the banks and fought bravely

26 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 336.

in defence of their last refuge. The attempt, there- bre, failed, and the ships were withdrawn. The invader of such a country cannot retreat with npunity. The first news of a serious repulse fol- jwed by a movement to the rear, converts every bar- barian into an eager, resolute, and persevering assailant. The Getse, the ancient enemies of Philip, were collecting in crowds on the opposite bank. Alex- ander finding the island impregnable, determined to cross the main stream and attack the Getse. He ordered rafts on inflated skins to be constructed, and collected the numerous canoes used by the natives both for fishing and piratical purposes. In these and on board his own fleet he threw across in the course of one night, a thousand cavalry and four thousand infantry.

The troops landed in a plain waving deeply with standing corn.* The phalanx marched first, and grasping their long pikes in the middle, levelled the opposing grain and formed a wide road for the cav- alry. On reaching the open ground they discovered the Getic forces. But these, alarmed by the unex- pected boldness of the movement, and astonished at Alexander's success in crossing the Danube in one night and without constructing a bridge, waited not to be attacked, but fled to their city. There they hastily placed their wives, families, and more por- table valuables upon their numerous horses and re- tired into the desert. Their town was captured, and

* The word refers here to the grass cereals, — wheat, rye, barley, — not to Indian corn.

^Etat. 21.] GETJE— CELT^E. 27

the booty considerable; for the demand of the Greek market had thus early converted these Scy- thians into an agricultural and commercial people. While the soldiers were employed in conveying the plunder to the right bank, Alexander offered sacri- fices on the left to Jupiter the Preserver, to Hercules, the supposed ancestor of the Scythian nations and to the river god who had permitted him to cross his mighty stream in safety. The same day witnessed the commencement and the termination of the expe- ditions, for before night had closed upon them all the troops had regained their former camp.

The Getse at this period were in a depressed state, otherwise Alexander might have had cause to repent this act of aggression. As it was, the result was for- tunate, for all the neighboring tribes sent deputies re- questing peace and alliance. Even Syrmus, dazzled by the brilliancy of the exploit, renewed the treaty which had existed between him and Philip. The barbarians on both sides of the Danube had been engaged in long and bloody wars with Philip. Strabo even hints that in his war with Ateas, King of the Getse, Philip had penetrated to the vicinity of the Borysthenes. All, therefore, had been taught by ex- perience to acknowledge the superiority of the Mace- donian arms and discipline, and were now unwilling to renew the contest with their former conquerors, who, as was proved by the skill and vigor of their youthful king, had lost no advantage by the death of his father.

Among other ambassadors came deputies from the

28 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

Celta?, who lived to the north-east of the Adriatic gulf. These were probably Scordisci, a Celtic tribe of great power and name, who had seized the country immediately to the west of the Thracian Triballi. Alexander, whose whole heart was fixed upon the Per- sian expedition, spared no means likely to conciliate his turbulent visitors. The deputies were feasted with all the magnificence which camp accommoda- tions would allow. The wine circulated freely, and in the moment of exhilaration, Alexander asked whom or what they most dreaded ? Perhaps the king ex- pected a passing compliment to Macedonian valor and his own rising reputation. But the Celts were not inclined to gratify his vanity at the expense of their own self-importance, and proudly answered, " our onlv fear is lest the sky should fall on us." From some acquaintance with Celtic dialects and their figu- rative mode of expression, I venture to interpret the above answer as equivalent to the English expression, " we fear no enemies but the gods." A bold answer never displeased Alexander: he declared the Celta? his friends, and formed an alliance wTith them. He added, however, that the Celts wrere great boasters; a character which, from the Scordisci down to the Gascons and the modern Celts of Ireland, they mo3t undoubtedlv have deserved.

As Alexander was marching back from the Danube, intelligence met him that two Illvrian chiefs, Cleitus the son of Bardylis, and Glaucias, Prince of the Tau- lantii, were in arms and preparing to assert their independence. He had now reached Pseonia, situ-

iEtat. 21.] P^fEONIANS— LANGARUS. 29

ated between the rivers ISTestus and Strymon. It had formerly been independent, but Philip had annexed it to Macedonia. We are informed by Hippocrates, that the Pseonians were once a more civilized race than the Macedonians. Asteropseus, their chief in the Trojan war, is described by Homer as possessing singular dexterity in the use of arms. He engaged Achilles in single combat, and is the only warrior to whom Homer ascribes the honor of wounding that redoubtable hero. According to their own account, recorded by Herodotus, they were a Teucrian colony. The interesting description given of them in his Fifth Book, represents them as a fine race of people, distinguished for their ingenuity and industrious habits. It is to the age of their supremacy that Thracian civilization and Linus, Orpheus, and Mu- saBus should be referred. The nation was divided into several tribes or clans, of whom the Agrians, oc- cupying the upper vale of the Strymon and the vicin- ity of Mount Panga3us, were at this period the most predominant.

Langarus, the Agrian chief, had been the youthful companion of Alexander, and their intimacy had ripened into friendship. He now came to receive the commands of his sovereign, and to communicate all the information which he had gathered respecting the enemies' motions. Cleitus and Glaucias had sum- moned other Illyrian tribes to their assistance, and among them had engaged the Autariatas to invade Macedonia from the north, while they entered it from the west. It is a curious instance of the migratory

30 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

habits of these tribes, that Alexander had to ask Lan- garus who these Autariatse were who threatened to attack his flank. The Agrian replied that they were the weakest and most insignificant of the Illyrian na- tions, and that he would engage to invade their terri- tories, and find ample work for them in their own country. But in Strabo's time the Autariatse were the most powerful tribe in Illyricum, and occupied the whole country between the Agrian borders and the Danube. Alexander proposed to cement the friendship existing between him and the Pseonian chief by giving him his sister Cyna in marriage. But the premature death of Langarus at the close of the campaign, prevented the accomplishment of his wishes. The fact, however, is important, as it proves that Cyna was already a widow, and that con- sequently, Amyntas the son of Perdiccas, had been put to death immediately after the assassination of Philip.

The operations of Langarus enabled Alexander to direct all his efforts against the western Illyrians. Cleitus, his present opponent, was the son of the famous bandit Bardylis, who, through the various trades of charcoal-burner, robber, warrior, and con- queror, had become a powerful prince. He fell in a great battle when ninety years old, after witnessing the total defeat of his troops by Philip. This suc- cess enabled the latter to make the lake, Lychnidus or Ochrida, the boundary between him and his restless neighbors. Alexander marched up the river Erigon, entered Illyricum, and found Cleitus posted advan-

JStet 21.] CAMPAIGN IN ILLYRIA. 31

tageously on the hills above the city of Pellium. Alexander encamped on the banks of the river, and prepared to attack the town. The Illyrian troops, anxious to save their city, partially descended from their commanding position, and drew the king's attack upon themselves. He routed them, and gained the post occupied shortly before by Cleitus and his chiefs. A shocking spectacle here awaited the victor's eyes. Three young maidens, three youths, and three black rams, had been immolated to the god of war. Their gloomy superstition taught them to believe that the united blood of the thrice three victims would form a potent charm of victory, or at least secure the lives of the leading chiefs.

The majority of the enemy had taken refuge in Pellium, round which Alexander was preparing to draw lines of circumvallation, when the arrival of Glaucias, chief of the Taulantii, at the head of a numerous army, compelled him to desist. The Mace- donians were thus placed in a critical situation, as the enemy were far superior in cavalry and light troops, and the narrow and rugged ravine in which they were engaged did not allow the phalanx to act with effect. Their foraging parties were intercepted, and as pro- visions could not be procured, a retreat became neces- sary. The Illyrians had already occupied the hills in the rear, and regarded their success as certain. It was not without great difficulty that Alexander extri- cated his troops from their dangerous situation. He formed his phalanx into a deep column where the pass required it, he gradually extended it into line

32 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

where the valley became wider. He protected the flanks as well as he could by his light troops, and or- dered the phalanx when threatened with a serious attack froni either side, to bring their spears later- ally to the charge, instead of projecting them to the front. By retiring cautiously in this manner, he gained the brow of the hill, whence, if he could in safety cross the river that flowed at its foot, his army would be comparatively secure.

The descent was considerable, and the enemy on both flanks and in the rear were ready to fall on the troops while descending and in the act of fording the river. To obviate the danger, Alexander himself, with the engines attached to the army, first crossed and disposed them in the most commanding positions on the opposite bank. The phalanx was then ordered to descend from the hill and ford the river with the greatest rapidity, consistent with the preservation of order. The enemy pursued, but the discharge of missiles from the engines checked their advance, and enabled the Macedonians to pass over in safety.

Here Alexander halted for two nights, and re- freshed his troops after their fatigues. The Illy- rians, with the usual confidence of barbarians, did not pursue their advantage, but gave themselves up to exultation and festivities. Their whole armv en- camped loosely on the heights, no regular watches were established, no ramparts thrown up, nor fears en- tertained that the fugitives might become assailants. Alexander observed their negligence, and, as the dan-

iEtat. 21.] VICTORY OF ALEXANDER. 33

gers of his position would not allow him to be mag- nanimous, determined to steal a victory.

In the silence of the third night, he formed his troops into columns, re-passed the river, surprised the Illyrians in their tents, routed them in all directions, slew the greater part, and pursued the remainder to the borders of the Taulantii. Those who did escape threw away their arms, and thus incapacitated them- selves for future operations. The blow was so severe that the Illyrians gave no further molestation to Macedonia during Alexander's reign. Cleitus took refuge first in Pellium, but set it on fire in despair, and retired into the territories of his ally.

This victory was very seasonable, as important tid- ings from the south rendered Alexander's presence in that quarter indispensable. Philip, after the bat- tle of Chseroneia, had banished the leaders of the democracy, and placed a garrison in the Cadmeia, the citadel of Thebes. The exiles availing themselves of Alexander's absence, returned suddenly, entered Thebes by night, surprised Amyntas and Timolaus the Macedonian governors, and put them to death. These officers suspecting no danger had quitted the Cadmeia and resided in the city. With the dawn the exiles, supported by their accomplices, summoned the Thebans to an assembly. Under the specious names of liberty, independence, and deliverance from the Macedonian yoke, they exhorted them to revolt. They scrupled not to assert that the king had fallen in the Illyrian campaign ; and their assertions received

the more credit, because the partial success of the 3

34: ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

enemy had intercepted all communications between Alexander and Greece.

In an evil hour the assembly listened to the agita- tors, and Thebes revolted. The Macedonian garri- son was still in the Cadmeia. It was, therefore, en- circled with a double line of circumvallation, for the sake both of repressing its sallies and starving it into submission. The work had scarcely been completed, when Antipater at the head of the troops of the con- federacy arrived in the neighborhood.

In the meantime the revolt of Thebes threw all Greece into a state of excitement. Demosthenes, according to his own confession, had been mainly in- strumental in encouraging the exiles to make the attempt.* He now exerted all his eloquence to in- duce the Athenians to follow their example. Even when the assembly had prudently decreed to wait for

* Demosthenes was one of the most successful political agitators in history. He was "a politician with a consistent program, but a thoroughly practical politician, to whom it seemed well to do evil that good might come." His one motive, a truly patriotic one from his standpoint, was hatred of the Macedonians. To accomplish his end, he accepted from Persia a corruption fund amounting to $350,000. He traveled from place to place, wherever there was Macedonian sympathy, to check the growing sentiment by the power of his eloquence. He scrupled at nothing that would further his aims and help his party. Alexander later referred to Demosthenes when he upbraided Darius: — "Your agents corrupted my friends [by your bribes] and were striving to dissolve the league which I had formed among the Greeks." It was the influence of Demosthenes that occasioned the dis- astrous revolt of Thebes.

^Etat. 21.] MARCH INTO BCETIA. 35

further information respecting the reported death of Alexander, the orator ceased not to intrigue with the neighboring states and to aid the Thebans from his own private resources. The Lacedaemonians not in- cluded in the confederacy, were known to be anxious for the formation of a powerful anti-Macedonian league. The court of Persia had already placed large sums of money at the disposal of its Grecian agents, and active exertions would ensure an ample supply of the sinews of war from the treasures of the Great King. Still, if we can believe iEschines, the Persian agents behaved most culpably on the occasion, as the garrison of the Cadmeia, composed of mercenaries, offered to deliver the citadel to the Thebans for the paltry sum of five talents, which nevertheless, Demos- thenes refused to advance.

Alexander saw that the long-continued labors of his father and his own fair prospects of a glorious career were likely to prove vain, and that another desperate struggle against Persian gold and Grecian valor awaited the Macedonian arms. His deep conviction of the importance of the crisis may be inferred from the rapidity of his movements. In seven days he passed from the scene of warfare along a rugged and mountainous road to Pellene or Pellinseum on the banks of the Peneius. In six more days he reached the gates of Thermopylae, and soon after encamped at Onchestus, a small town crowning the summit of a hill between Thebes and the lake Copias. The de- luded Thebans could not believe that the King him- self had thus suddenly arrived from the mountains of

36 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

Illyricum. It was only a body of troops sent from Macedonia to reinforce Antipater ! Even when the truth could no longer be concealed, and Alexander was known to be their commander, the ringleaders boldly affirmed, that it could not be Alexander the King, but the son of Aeropus the Lyncestian.

Their doubts were not destined to continue long; for the king, the next day after joining Antipater, approached the city, and encamped near the conse- crated grove of Iolaus, the friend and companion of Hercules. He hoped the Thebans would repent, and acknowledge their error. But so far from doing this, they sallied forth in considerable numbers, and slew a few Macedonians. Alexander contented himself with repulsing the attack. ISText day he marched round the city, and encamped on the road leading to Athens. In this position he intercepted all communi- cation with their well-wishers in the south, and was near his own troops in the Cadmeia, from the foot of which nothing separated him but the cumvallation constructed by the Thebans. His wishes and interest were to recover Thebes by gentle means. On this day the assembly met within the city, and the Macedonian party proposed to send a deputation in order to see what grace they could ob- tain from the king. But the ringleaders, who, with- out a doubt, must have suffered the same fate which they had inflicted on Amyntas and Timolaus, per- suaded the majority of the citizens that their cause was common, and that there was no safety except in arms.

Mta.t. 21.] ASSAULT ON THEBES. 37

It should also be remembered, that Grecian cities had not in previous wars been liable to immediate capture by force of arms. Starvation or treachery were the only means of gaining possession of fortified towns. All the forces of the Peloponnesians and their allies had failed to capture the small city of Platsea by open force. They had rolled down the forests of Mount Cithgeron, piled them in huge heaps, and set them on fire, in hopes of burning out the brave little garrison ; but all their efforts failed, and it re- quired a blockade of three years before they could gain possession of the place. The interval between the siege of Tyre by Alexander and the surrender of Plata3a does not amount to a century, while a thou- sand years, in the gradual progress of human inven- tion, are scarcely sufficient to account for the differ- ence between the science and enterprise of the two besieging parties. Even the Athenians, supposed to be more advanced in the art called wall-fighting by the Spartans, were ruined, because they could not destroy the paltry fort of Deceleia, within half a day's march of the Parthenon. Nor were the Mace- donians distinguished for their greater success in this species of warfare, as Perinthus and Byzantium long withstood the utmost efforts of Philip. The The- bans, therefore, had no cause to expect the terrible fate that so suddenly overtook them.

According to Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, the fatal assault was commenced more from accident than design. Percliccas being placed with his brigade of the phalanx near the circumvallation, perceived as he

38 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

thought a favorable opportunity, and, without wait- ing for orders, made a furious attack on the outer line, tore down the defences, and broke into the in- closed space. Amyntas, the son of Andromenes, fol- lowed his example, and the king seeing his troops thus far engaged, ordered the light-armed to enter the breach, while he brought his guards and the flower of the phalanx to the entrance. Perdiccas, in the mean- time, had broken through the inner line of the cir- cumvallation, and reached the open space between it and the citadel. But in the attack he received a severe wound, was carried out fainting, and narrowly escaped with life.

Within the last-described space stood a temple of Hercules, with a hollow road leading to it. The bri- gade of the wounded general, supported by the light troops, drove the Thebans before them as far as this temple. Here the latter rallied, raised the Theban war-cry, charged the pursuers, slew Eurybates the commander of the Cretan archers, and drove the as- sailants back into the breach. Alexander allowed his broken troops to disengage themselves, and then, with his men in close order, attacked their pursuers, car- ried all before him, passed the temple of Hercules, and reached the city gates together with the retreat- ing Thebans. The crush was so great, that the Mace- donians made their ground good on the inside before the gates could be closed. Others entered the Cad- meia, and being joined by the garrison, descended into the city by the temple of Amphion. This appears to have been situated at the end of the street

jEtat. 21.J CAPTURE OF THEBES. 39

leading from the citadel to the town. It was occu- pied by Thebans, who defended the post for some time. But when the division with Alexander, and others who had scaled the walls in various parts, had reached the market-place, the Thebans gave up the contest in despair. The cavalry galloped through the opposite gates, and reached Athens in safety. The infantry dispersed and saved themselves as they could. But it is not probable that many of them escaped. In the army of the confederates there were Phocians, Platseans, Thespians, and Orchomenians — men whose injuries had been great, and whose ven- geance was dreadful. No mercy was shown to age or infancy ; the distinctions of sex were disregarded. The virgin at the foot of the altar met with the same fate as the warrior who refused quarter, and struck at the enemy while life remained. The Macedo- nians at last succeeded in staying the butchery, and saving the surviving inhabitants.

The ultimate fate of Thebes was then submitted to the decision of the Assembly of the Confederates. According to the terms of their decree, the Cadmeia was occupied by a garrison ; the city was levelled with the Aground ; the territory, with the exception of lands consecrated to religious purposes, was confis- cated, and the captured Thebans, with their wives and families, were condemned to be sold by public auc- tion. All priests and priestesses, all the friends of Philip and Alexander, all families publicly connected with the Macedonians, were exempted from the con- sequences of this decree. The exceptions are com-

40 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

prehensive enough to embrace every f amily; a single member of which had made the slightest opposition to the late revolt. Alexander personally interfered in behalf of the descendants of the great lyric poet of Thebes : these remained uninjured, both in person and fortune. The very house which he had hallowed by his residence was left standing among the ruins. The greatest of modern poets has amply repaid the honors conferred on his brother bard :

" Lift not thy spear against the muse's bower, The great Emathian conqueror bad spare The house of Pindarus when temple and tower Went to the ground." *

We involuntarily invest a nation with a species of existence independent of the ever-shifting individuals that compose it. This abstraction is in ordinary thought and language imagined to exist for centuries, deserving gratitude in age for the good deeds of youth, and obnoxious in decrepitude and feebleness for the crimes of its earlier existence. Thus the accu- mulated guilt of centuries becomes concentrated in one unhappy generation ; and the penalties due to the numerous offences of their forefathers, are exacted with interest from the individuals then happening to exist.

* The Macedonian vengeance on Thebes was terrific. Six thousand were killed in the capture of the city, and all the rest were sold into slavery, the only exceptions being the priests and priestesses, the family of Pindar, and those visitors who were friendly to Alexander. The city was entirely destroyed, only the house of Pindar remaining uninjured in the midst of the ruins.

JBtat. 21.] TERROR AT ATHENS. 41

This is an instinctive feeling, never to be eradi- cated by philosophical reasoning, and has been im- planted for wise purposes in the human breast. For a community, abstraction as it is, possesses public feelings, a sense of right, and a respect for justice and mercy, that can never be violated without the most destructive reaction upon itself. And a nation that has lost its character, loses self-respect, and becomes as reckless in its future conduct as the malefactor whom public justice has degraded from his place in society.

The suddenness of the blow, and the severity with which it was followed up, struck terror into the bold- est leaders of the Anti-Macedonian party. The Arcadians were already on the road to Thebes when its fate was announced. It is difficult to account for the real cause of their conduct ; some impute it to the gift of ten talents which Antipater, previous to Alexander's arrival, had sent to them ; others impute it to the terror caused by the fall of Thebes. The result is not disputed ; the troops, as in many other similar cases, brought their leaders to trial, and put them to death.

The Athenians being more deeply implicated in the intrigue, felt proportional alarm. The presence of the Theban fugitives announced the ruin of Thebes to the citizens, then engaged in celebrating the Eleusinian mysteries. The holy rites were inter- mitted ; Eleusis, its temple, and goddesses forsaken, and all the inhabitants, with their more valuable efforts, took refuge within the walls of Athens. Nor

42 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

was the alarm causeless, for the Thessalians of the confederacy had already decreed to march into Attica, ■ and Alexander himself was known to be exasperated against the Athenian leaders.

Demosthenes, a great statesman and matchless ora- tor, was not a good man. His failings, perhaps his vices, were notorious. But his devotion to the cause of Athenian supremacy was boundless. His zeal, his activity, and, at times, his success in that cause, had distinguished him as the champion of the Greeks against the encroachments of Philip. When the battle of Chseroneia had raised the Macedonians to the supremacy, successively possessed by Lacedaemo- nians, Athenians, and Thebans, Philip had laid aside all animosity, and permitted Athens to enjoy an un- qualified independence. But in the mind of Demos- thenes the defeat of his measures deeply rankled, and he welcomed the tidings of Philip's murder with un- manly exultation. He advised the Athenians to offer the same sacrifices on the occasion as were cus- tomary when intelligence of a victory arrived. He went further, he proposed to deify the assassin, and erect a temple to his memory. He had loaded the youthful king with the most opprobrious epithets, and pronounced him a new Margeitis. The name was well known in Greece ; for Margeitis was the hero of a mock heroic poem, attributed to Homer : the inter- est of which depended on the ludicrous situations in which the vanity, folly, and cowardice of the hero were perpetually involving him. Demosthenes and his party had, therefore, much to fear, and little to

Mint. 21.] DEMOSTHENES— CHARIDEMUS. 43

hope from Alexander. Short time, however, was left for deliberation when the assembly met and decreed that ten citizens should wait on the young king, and congratulate him on his safe return from Thrace and Illyricum, and on the suppression of the Theban revolt. Demosthenes was appointed one of this depu- tation, but his heart failed him, and he returned from the centre of Mount Cithseron. This fact, mentioned by iEschines, proves the truth of Plutarch's assertion, that the first deputation consisted of the Anti-Mace- donian party, and that Alexander refused to admit them to an audience.

The assembly, therefore, met a second time, and Demades, Phocion, iEschines, with several others, known friends to the Macedonian interests, were deputed to the king. These were received with affa- bility and kindness, and were, perhaps, the advisers of the letter which they brought from Alexander. In this he required the Athenians to surrender eight orators, of whom the principal were Demosthenes and ITypereides, and two oratorical generals, Chares and Charidemus. He proposed to bring them to trial be- fore the deputies of the Grecian confederacy. He accused them of being the common disturbers of Grecian tranquillity, of having caused the Chaero- neian war, and its calamities, of being the authors of the gross insults offered to his father's memory, and to himself. He added that he knew them to be as guilty of the Theban revolt as the actual agents. De- mosthenes had no courtesy to expect from the Mace- donian ; and, even if the natural magnanimity of the

44 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

king should induce him to overlook the insults offered to himself, yet filial piety might compel him to take vengeance for the indecent outrages offered to his father's memory. The orator, therefore, exerted all his eloquence to dissuade the assembly from comply- ing with the king's demand. He described himself and fellow demagogues as the watchful dogs, Alexan- der as the wolf, and the Athenians as the simple sheep of the fable. His eloquence prevailed, and a third deputation was sent, beseeching the king to remit his anger against the accused, for the sake of his Athe- nian friends. Alexander after the destruction of Thebes, could afford to be merciful, and withdrew his demand. Charidemus alone was excepted, and compelled to retire from Greece.* It is impossible to account for the king's inflexibility in his case, with- out inferring that he had discovered proofs of his con- nection with his father's assassins. The banished general withdrew to the Persian court.

Alexander returned to Macedonia after a cam- paign hitherto unrivalled in Grecian history, and which alone was sufficient to prove that no equal mili- tary genius had yet appeared among men. The inva- sion of Thrace, the passage of Mount Hsemus, the defeat of the Triballi, the passage of the Danube, the victory over the Gets?, the march into Illyricum, the defeat first of Cleitus, then of the united troops of Cleitus and Glaucias, the rapid descent into Boeotia, the more rapid conquest of Thebes, and the settlement

* It was Charidemus who sent to Demosthenes the news of the assassination of Philip, news accepted by the recipient as good tidings,

Mtat. 21.] PIERIA-ORPHEUS. 45

of all the excited nations of Southern Greece, were all crowded into one spring, summer and autumn. The winter was spent at ^Eg£e, the primitive capital of Macedonia. There, with due pomp and magnifi- cence, he offered sacrifices to the Olympian Jove, and diversified the festivities of the court with gymnastic contests and theatrical representations.

Not far from the city of Dium, and at the eastern foot of Mount Olympus, a monument and statue had been erected in memory of the Thracian Orpheus. The country was the ancient Pieria, and the natives referred to their own Pimpleian spring as the origi- nal and favorite resort of the muses. They observed with awe that the statue of the father of song con- tinued for many days during this winter to be be- dewed with apparent perspiration.

The prodigy was duly reported, the diviners con- sulted, and an answer received from the most saga- cious of their number, pronouncing the omen pro- pitious, and auguring brilliant success to Alexander, and proportionate labors to the poets. The inter- pretation perhaps would have been more germane had the cold sweat of the tuneful bard been attributed to an overwhelming anticipation of the frigid con- ceits of Choerilus, and the other poetasters of Alex- ander's court.

The omen and its explanation were, however, hailed with delight, and sacrifices, with due honors, offered to the muses. But they are capricious in their favors, and never smiled on the efforts of the versifiers of Alexander's great actions.

CHAPTER IV.

STATE OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD, AXD OF THE RE- SOURCES OF THE TWO CONTENDING PARTIES AT THE PERIOD OF ALEXANDER^ INVASION OF ASIA.

To speculate on the condition of the rest of the known world at this period would be worse than idle, for we know nothing of it. I shall, therefore, confine myself to the consideration of the state of the three great powers which then predominated on the shores of the Mediterranean. These were the Persian, Carthaginian, and Grecian nations.

The Persian dynasty, after a continued series of able and magnificent monarchs, had been threatened with destruction during the long and feeble reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon. In the north the Caducians had renounced their allegiance, and baffled the king's personal attempt to reduce them to subjection. In the south, Egypt had recovered and asserted in arms her ancient independence. In the west, the great satraps of Asia Minor had openly revolted, and with- held the usual tribute from their great sovereign. Artaxerxes Ochus, who succeeded to his father's throne, had been signally defeated in his attempt to recover Egypt, and his misfortunes led to the immediate revolt of Phoenicia, Cyprus, and the other

46

Mtsit. 21.] PERSIA— CARTHAGE. 47

maritime powers. But the empire had been saved from impending dissolution, by the vigor of the eunuch Bagoas, the chief minister of Ochus, and by the military talents of his associate, Mentor, a Rho- dian soldier of fortune. Phoenicia and Egypt had been reconquered, and the western provinces re- united to the empire. These were placed under the unlimited control of Mentor, while Bagoas super- intended the internal government. During the short reign of Arses, the successor of Ochus, these ministers, freed from domestic troubles, had been enabled to direct their attention to Greece. And we have the testimony of Demosthenes, that Philip's operations against Perinthus and Byzantium had been baffled by the mercenary troops of Persia. The lineal de- scendants of Darius Nothus ended with Arses, and Codomannus, said to have been the surviving repre- sentative of Achaemenes by a collateral branch, was raised to the throne by Bagoas, and assumed the name of Darius. The whole empire acknowledged his authority, and the personal courage which he had displayed in early youth, induced his subjects to expect a vigorous administration from his mature years. His resources were ample ; his treasures full, and, if he distrusted the valor of his own people, he could command the services of the most valiant and skilful warviors then existing. But the death of Philip had freed the Persian court from immediate terror, and little danger was anticipated from the efforts of the boy Alexander.

The Carthaginian empire had been gradually rising

48 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 335.

in importance ; Northern Africa and Southern Spain might be regarded as component parts of it. The western islands in the Mediterranean had been sub- dued, and the Carthaginians were pressing hard on the Sicilian Greeks. But they were not likely to in- terfere in the present contest, except as the allies of their mother city Tyre.

The Greeks in Italy were rapidly losing their military superiority, and the Lucanians and Sam- nites, exercised in continual wars with Home, as yet unknown in the history of the world, were threaten- ing the degenerate colonists with subjugation. The Greeks in Asia and Asiatic islands had long been familiarized with Persian despotism, and nothing but decided success on the part of their liberators was likely to make them active partizans of a cause to which they had so often proved victims. Within Greece itself there existed a warlike population, ill adapted, from want of concert and pecuniary re- sources, for a combined and continued exertion; yet fully able to resist all foreign aggression, or active interference with their liberties. Justin calculates, and apparently without exaggeration, that the states to the south of Macedonia could, at this period, bring two hundred thousand men to the field.

The Macedonian supremacy depended upon opi- nion and the good will of the majority of the con- federates. Without this it was a mere name. Gently and generously as it was used, the Spartans under Agis nearly succeeded in overthrowing it, even while Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire appeared

JEtat. 21.] RESOURCES. 49

almost certain. And the Athenians, after his death, fairly drove Antipater from the field, and blockaded him within the walls of Lamia. The seasonable arrival of the great general Craterns, with the Macedonian veterans, gave the victory at the end of the second campaign to Antipater; yet both these generals failed to snbdue the more warlike and resolute ^Etolians. Without taking these facts into consideration it is impossible fairly to estimate the difficulties encountered and surmounted by Alex- ander.

The Macedonian had no resources for the main- tenance of the future war except in his own great mind. The orators of Southern Greece were loud in their assertions, that Philip owed all his success to his unsparing profusion of money. With this he burst asunder the gates of hostile cities ; with this he purchased the services of party leaders. If it were so, their virtue must have been cheaply estimated, for Philip could not have purchased it at a dear rate. He was poor at the commencement of his reign, and poorer at his death. Alexander at his accession found sixty talents* in his treasury, and a few gold

* The word talent referred to weight, not to a specific coin. It originated in Babylon, but spread through Assyria, Pheni- cia, Greece, and other countries, differing considerably in value. The Attic talent averaged about the value of $1,200, while the Assyrian talent is estimated at from $1,550 to $2,000, the average being about $1,700. If the talent be estimated at the value of $1,700 in the narratives of Alexander, the reader will not go far astray.

The purchasing power of money is as important as th« 4

50 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

and silver cups in the palace. But the debts amounted to five hundred talents and before he could move from Macedonia he had to mortgage the royal domains for eight hundred more.

Nearly two hundred years had elapsed since the commencement of the wars between Greece and Persia ; it would, therefore, be folly to say that they were ignorant of each other's mode of warfare, or that one party enjoyed any advantage over the other with respect to arms and discipline. The Persians could command the services of the best tacticians, armorers, engineers, and soldiers of Greece ; and it is a curious fact that Alexander had to combat full fifty thousand Greeks, before he entered Svria.

The infantry of the invading army, according to the best authorities, consisted of twelve thousand Macedonians, seven thousand confederates, five thousand mercenary Greeks, the same number of Thracians, Triballians, and Illyrians, and one thou- sand Agrians. The cavalry amounted to fifteen hundred Macedonians, fifteen hundred Thessalians, nine hundred Thracians and Preonians, and six hundred confederates. The whole force, therefore, was thirty thousand infantry, and four thousand five hundred cavalry.

fineness of the gold. Gold was relatively cheaper as com- pared with silver in ancient times than to-day, the ratio between the two being about 13 1-3 to 1. The day's wages of the laborer was a mere pittance as compared with that of modern times ; but it must on the other hand be remembered that in a primitive state of society and in a semi-tropical climate, the wants of the laborer were relatively few and simple.

*&*

SiFjh

CHAPTER V.

FIRST CAMPAIGN IN ASIA.

In- the spring of the year B. C. 334, Alexander placed himself at the head of his assembled forces, and marched to Amphipolis. Passing by the cities Abdera and Maroneia, he crossed, first, the Hebrus, and then the Melas. On arriving at Sestus he found his fleet, consisting of one hundred and sixty triremes, already assembled. Parmenio was ordered to super- intend the passage of the troops, while Alexander indulged his youthful feelings of enthusiasm and poetry in performing pilgrimages to the shrines con- secrated by the genius of Homer. At the southern point of the Thracian Chersonese was the tomb of Protesilaus.* There Alexander sacrificed to the manes of the hero who had first set his foot on the hostile shore of Asia, and besought his influence to save him whose intentions were the same from a similar fate. He then embarked, and steered for the Achaean harbor. On gaining the middle of the

* Protesilaus, a leader of Thessalian forces against Troy, was the first to leap from the vessel upon Trojan soil, and the first to suffer death, being slain, according to tradition, by Hector.

51

52 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

Hellespont, a bull, the Homeric sacrifice to Neptune, was offered to the Deities of the sea, and due libations made from golden cups. With his own hand he steered the vessel, and when it neared the shore, was the first to spring on Asiatic ground. He was in complete armor, and brandished his spear, but there was no Hector to encounter the new Protesilaus, nor a Laodameia * to lament him had he fallen. The in- habitants of the Troas were peaceful ^Eolians, more inclined to remain neutral spectators of the contest, than to side actively with either party.

If Achilles had his Patroclus, Alexander had his Hephsestion, a young nobleman of Pella ; an early partiality for whom had ripened into a steady friend- ship, equally honorable to both parties. The tumuli of the two Homeric friends were still conspicuous; while, therefore, Alexander duly honored the monu- mental pillar of Achilles, Hephsestion offered gar- lands and sacrifices at that of Patroclus.

Thence Alexander ascended to the sacred and storm-exposed city of Priam, worshipped in the temple of the Ilian Minerva, and hung his own arms as a votive offering on the walls. In exchange he took down a suit of armor said to have been worn by one of the Homeric heroes. The shield, of great size and strength, might have graced the left arm of the Telamonian Ajax, and in all his after fields was borne before Alexander by one of his armor-bearers.

* The affection of Laodameia for her husband Protesilaus is famous. Woodsworth has a beautiful poem upon the legend of Laodameia.

Mtzt. 22.] PERSIAN LEADERS. 53

The venerable Priam was not forgotten and the descendant of Pyrrhus sought by sacrifices to avert the anger of the royal shade. Would that he had also honored the tomb of the amiable and patriotic Hector! But the representative of Achilles had no sympathy to spare for the slayer of Patroclus.

He turned with scorn from the lyre of Paris, accustomed to guide the voices of feeble women, but eagerly demanded a sight of the harp with which Achilles had soothed his soul and sung the glorious deeds of heroes.

The Troad is almost a peninsula, placed between the Gulf of Adramyttium, on the south, and the Gulf of Cyzicus, on the north. In the intermediate space rises Mount Ida, stretching westward to Cape Lectus or Baba, and eastward as far as the vale of the Rhyn- dacus. The common road, leading from the Troad to the south-eastern provinces, crossed the western extremity of Mount Ida, and passed through Antan- drus and Adramyttium. But Alexander was not allowed to choose his road.

The Persian satraps had been evidently taken by surprise by the rapid movements of the invader. They had thus, without making a single attempt to molest the passage, allowed him with a far inferior fleet to convey his troops into Asia. Receiving in- telligence that they were rapidly collecting their forces at Zeleia, on the Propontis, he determined to march in that direction.

The army under the command of Parmenio had advanced from Abydos to Arisba, where the king

54 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

joined it. Next day he advanced to Percote, and the day after, leaving Lampsacus on the left, encamped on the banks of the Practius. This river, flowing down from Mount Ida, enters the northern part of the Hellespont. It bears no name on modern maps, but Percote and Lampsacus still exist as Bergase and Lamsaki, Colonas and Hermotus, the next stations, are both obscure. The first was inland from Lamp- sacus, and was, perhaps, connected with the tomb of Memnon, mentioned by Strabo.

During this advance the Persian camp became the scene of much discussion. The death or removal of Mentor had left the satraps without a commander-in- chief. His brother Memnon was present, but merely as an auxiliary, not entrusted with the command even of the Greek mercenaries. Spithridates, the satrap of Lydia and Ionia, was the highest officer, but does not appear to have possessed more authority than Arsites, the governor of the Hellespontian Phrygia, the scene of action. Pour other Persians, Arsames, Bheomithres, Petenes, and Niphates, are mentioned by Arrian as equal in authority to Spith- ridates and Arsites. A council of war was held, to which Memnon was admitted. His advice was to burn and lay waste the country, to avoid a battle, and in the words of a modern Persian, " to encircle the enemy with a desert." But Arsites declared that he would not permit a single habitation entrusted to his care to be wilfullv destroved. As Alexander's advance left no alternative between risking a battle and leaving Ionia and Lydia open to an invader, the

^Etat. 22.] PARMENIO'S ADVICE. 55

spirited resolution of Arsites was more in accordance with the feelings of the satraps than the cautious advice of Memnon. They, therefore, determined to advance and contest the passage of the Granicus. Strabo writes that the Granicus, the iEsipus, and the Scamander rise from the same part of Mount Ida, and that a circle of twenty stadia would enclose the three sources. The Granicus must, therefore, from the length of its course, be a considerable river, and in spring, when increased by the melting snows of Mount Ida, present a formidable appearance. Behind this natural barrier the Persians drew up their forces.

On advancing from Hermotus, Alexander had received the submission of the city of Priapus, thus named from the worship of the Hellespontian god. The army was preceded by strong reconnoitering parties, composed of the Prodromi, employed to exam- ine the roads and report obstacles. The main body was not far from the Granicus, when the scouts re- turned and announced the position of the enemy on the opposite bank. Alexander began immediately to form his line and prepare for battle, when Par- menio, whose great reputation in war gave him weight and influence, attempted to check the eagerness of his youthful sovereign by the following observa- tions :

" It appears advisable to encamp for the present on the river's side as we are. For the enemy, far inferior in infantry, will not in my opinion dare to spend the night in our vicinity ; so that we may cross with ease in the morning, before their troops can be

56 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

formed and brought to oppose us. But the attempt at present appears dangerous, because we cannot lead our army in line through the river, as many parts of it are evidently deep, and the banks are, as you see, very high, and in some places precipitous. When, therefore, our men reach the opposite bank in dis- order and in separate columns, they will be exposed to the attacks of the enemy's cavalry drawn up in line. Should this our first attempt prove a failure, the immediate consequences must prove disastrous, and the final issue of the contest be seriously af- fected."

Alexander replied —

" I am aware of all this, Parmenio, but feel ashamed, after crossing the Hellespont without diffi- culty, to allow this petty stream to prevent us from fording it as we are. I regard such conduct as incon- sistent with the glory of the Macedonians, and my own eagerness to encounter dangers. I feel also that the Persians, if they do not instantly suffer evils correspondent to their fears, will recover their cour- age, as being able to face the Macedonians on the field of battle."

Had the passage of the Granicus been the sole object, the veteran general's proposition was no doubt the safest. For we know, from the writings of Xenophon, that a Persian army, consisting princi- pally of cavalry, could not safely encamp near an enemy superior in infantry. But Alexander felt the necessity of making a strong impression, and refused to steal an advantage, as much from a chivalrous irn-

^Etat. 22.] ORDER OF BATTLE. 57

pulse, as from a well-grounded belief that one field fairly and openly won is, in its ultimate effects, worth ten advantages attained by stealth, stratagem, or treachery.

Immediately above the right bank of the Granicus there was a step, or narrow strip of level ground, extending from the river to the foot of a long line, of low hills, running parallel with the stream. The Persian cavalry, 20,000 in number, were drawn up in line on this step. The hills in their rear were crowned by an equal number of Greek mercenaries under the command of Omares, a Persian.

The Macedonian phalanx was composed of eight brigades, containing 2000 men each, and commanded by eight generals of equal rank. These could act separately or conjointly, as every brigade was com- plete in itself. It was divided into regiments of 1000 each, commanded by their own colonels. Each regiment was composed of two battalions of 500 each, officered in the same manner. Each battalion was subdivided into eight companies, led by their own captains. Eor the purpose of command the Mace- donian army was divided into two wings. Alex- ander always commanded the extreme right, and the most confidential officer the extreme left. The bri- gades of the phalanx were attached arbitrarily either to the right or the left wing. On the present occa- sion, the right wing consisted of the Companion cavalry, the Agrian infantry, and the archers under Philotas, the heavy lancers, and the Preonians under Amyntas, the son of Arrhabseus, and the royal foot

58 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

guards, also honored with the title of Companions, under Nicanor, the son of Parmenio. Next to him were drawn up five brigades of the phalanx com- manded successively by Perdiccas, Ccenus, Craterus, Amyntas, the son of Andromenes, and Philip, the son of Amvntas. All were under the immediate com-

b

mand of Alexander.

On the extreme left were posted the Thessalian cavalry commanded by Calas, the son of Harpalus, the confederate cavalry under Philip, the son of Menelaus, and the Thracians under Agathon. Next to him were the three remaining brigades of the phalanx commanded in the order of their names, by another Craterus, Meleager, and a third Philip, whose brigade touched that of his namesake the son of Amyntas. All these were under Parmenio's orders.

As soon as the Persians perceived that Alexander had placed himself at the head of the Companion cavalry,* on the extreme right, they strengthened their own left with denser masses of horse. The king was easily recognized by the splendor of his arms, the white plume in his helmet, his gorgeous shield and polished cuirass, and by the magnificent and dazzling equipments of his immediate retinue. Both armies halted on the very brink of the river, and surveyed each other for some time. A deep silence prevailed during this moment of hesitation and doubt. Then Alexander mounted the gallant charger destined to carry him triumphant over so

* The Companion cavalry, so often mentioned in this book, was the mounted guard — a body of great efficiency.

-flEtat. 22.] BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS. 59

many fields and briefly exhorted his immediate com- panions to follow him and prove themselves good warriors.

Ptolemy, the son of Philip, whose right it was on that day to lead the attack, first entered the river. He was supported by Amyntas, the son of Arrha- bteus, and Socrates, who led forward the heavy lan- cers, the Pseonians, the Prodromi, and one brigade of infantry. Then the whole right wing was led by Alexander into the current amidst the sound of trum- pets and the loud paeans of the troops.

Amyntas, Ptolemy, and Socrates, soon reached the opposite bank, but struggled in vain to make their landing good, as the Persians, not content with show- ering their missiles from the upper ground, rode down and combated the Macedonians in the water. As Memnon and his sons, together with the flower of the Persian cavalry, were engaged in this quarter, they succeeded either in cutting down this vanguard or driving it back on Alexander, who was now ad- vancing. He, himself, with the Companion cavalry, charged where he saw the densest mass and the great- est number of Persian chiefs assembled. The battle was more of a personal struggle between individuals than regular charges of cavalry. In the shock Alex- ander shivered his lance to pieces and called upon Aretus, his chief groom, to furnish him with another. The same misfortune had happened to him, although he continued fighting bravely with the broken stump. Holding this up, he desired his sovereign to ask some one else. Demaratus, the Corinthian, one of the

60 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

Companions, then lent him his. The superior strength and skill of the Macedonians were now manifest, and the Persian javelins and scimetars were found ineffectual against the Macedonian lance, the shaft of which was made of tough cornel wood. The efforts of the cavalry drove the Persians from the hank, and Alexander, with the head of the column, gained the level step between the river and the moun- tains.

There he was instantly marked out by Mithri- dates, the son-in-law of Darius, who dashed at him at the head of a troop of horse drawn up in the form of a wedge, with a very obtuse angle. As Mithri- dates was in front, Alexander did not wait the attack, but spurred his horse forwards, and directing his lance against the face of his antagonist, slew him on the spot. While he was disengaging his weapon, Rhoesaces, another Persian nobleman, rode up, and with his sword struck off a part of the king's plume and helmet : Alexander pierced his breast through the corslet, and brought him also to the ground. But this could hardly have been done without wheeling round and re-charging. While he was engaged in this sec- ond single combat Spithridates, the Ionian satrap, •came behind him and had raised his scimetar to strike a blow, when his purpose was anticipated by Cleitus, the son of Dropidas, who, with one tremendous stroke, severed the Persian's shoulder from his body.

Cleitus was the brother of Larnice, the nurse of Alexander, and was captain of the royal troop of the Companion cavalry, to which in an especial manner

iEtat. 22.] BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS. 61

the safety of the king's person was entrusted. On this occasion he was at his post and did his duty. We have no reason to suppose that the light scimetar of Spithridates would have made a greater impression on the proof armor of Alexander than a similar wea- pon in the hand of Rhocsaces. But what would have been thought of the royal guards, had they allowed their sovereign, after bringing down the two foremost champions of the enemy, to be slain by the third ?

On equal ground the Persians failed to withstand the charge of the Macedonian lances, and their line gave way, first at the point where Alexander himself was engaged, finally in all directions. For Parmenio and the Thessalian and confederate cavalry had com- pletely defeated the Persian right wing. The rout was therefore general, but the actual loss of the Per- sians was not great, as there was no pursuit. Among the thousand horsemen, who fell on the field, were, in addition to the chiefs before mentioned, ISTiphates, Petenes, Mithrobarzanes, governor of Cappadocia, Arbupales, son of Darius Artaxerxes, and Pharnaces, the brother of the queen. The surviving leaders, among whom was Memnon, fled disgracefully, and left the Grecian mercenaries to their fate. These had remained in their position, idle spectators of the short but desperate contest which in a few minutes had dispelled the delusion that Greece could never fur- nish a cavalry equal to the Persian. The phalanx was not engaged ; and the defeat of 20,000 Persian horse was achieved by the light troope and cavalry alona.

62 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 434.

But as the mercenaries under Omares still kept their ground, the phalanx was brought up to attack them in front, while Alexander and Parmenio with their cavalry assailed them on both flanks. Omares fell at his post, and the whole body, with the exception of 2,000 prisoners, was cut to pieces. These saved their lives by throwing themselves on the ground and permitting the terrible phalanx to march over their bodies. Their lives were spared, but they were loaded with chains, and sent to till the ground in Macedonia. It is difficult to sympathize with men who for daily pay could be thus brought to array themselves against their fellow countrymen, and to fight the battles of barbarians against the cap- tain-general of Greece.*

Of the Macedonians, there fell twenty-five of the Companion cavalry, sixty other horsemen, and thirty foot soldiers. It must not be imagined that no more fell, but it is clear that the generals who wrote the account of Alexander's campaigns, mentioned the loss of only the native born Macedonians. The fallen

' * The brilliance of this victory may be seen in the disparity in the number of the losses. Alexander's total force numbered 35,000 ; the opposing army numbered 40,000 in all, 20.000 being Persian cavalry, and 20,000 being Greek mercenaries. Alexander's total loss was 115 killed. Of the 20,000 Persian cavalry, 1,000 were slain, while the force of Greek mercenaries in the army of Darius was entirely destroyed. Tlfe* Persian loss therefore amounted to more than one half .their army. The significance of the victory was out of all -proportion to the numbers engaged, for it made Alexander master of the whole of Asia Minor north of the Taurus.

JRtmt. 22.] BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS. 63

were all buried on the field of battle, clad in their armor, the noblest shroud, according to Xenophon, for a slain warrior. The twenty-five Companions were honored with monumental statues of bronze, the workmanship of Lysippus, the favorite sculptor of Alexander. They were erected at Dium, in Mace- donia, where they remained until the rapacious Ro- mans carried them away to Italy.

The Persian leaders were also buried with due hon- ors, as well as the mercenary Greeks who had fallen in a bad cause.

The king was particular in his attentions to the wounded ; he visited every individual, examined his wounds, and by asking how, and in what service he had received them, gave every man an opportunity of recounting and perhaps of exaggerating his deeds.

Alexander selected 300 panoplies as an offering for the Athenian Minerva. They were sent to Athens, and suspended in the Parthenon, with the following inscription :

" Alexander, the son of Philip, and the Greeks, except the Lacedaemonians, these, from the barba- rians inhabiting Asia."

This is generally regarded as a compliment to the Athenians : — if so, it was intended for the Athe- nians of former days, not for the contemporaries of Demosthenes ; for no distinction was made between the Athenians captured in the enemy's ranks and the prisoners belonging to other states.

From the very beginning Alexander regarded Asia as his own, and the Asiatics as his subjects. His

64 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

first admonition to bis soldiers was, to spare their own. There occur no instances of plunder, no sys- tem of devastation, similar to that practiced by Agesilaus and described by Xenophon. The only 2hange was to substitute a Macedonian instead of a Persian satrap. Acting on this principle, he ap- pointed Galas, the son of Harpalus, governor of the Hellespontian Phrygia, and ordered him to exact no more from the provincials than the regular revenue payable to Darius.

The chief city of the satrap was Dascylium, situ- ated on the Propontis, to the east of the Rhyndacus. Parmenio was sent forward, and took possession of it without resistance. Alexander himself visited Zeleia, a Homeric city on the banks of the " dark flowing waters ' of the ^Esepus. The river is now called Biga, and the town of the same name cannot be far from the site of the ancient Zeleia.

Alexander might have marched up the vale of the Rhyndacus, surmounted the pass called by the Turks, the Iron Gate, and descended into the plain of the Caicus. But he returned to Ilium, as distinctly men- tioned bv Strabo, and marched into Southern Asia by the more frequented road through Antandrus, Adramyttium, Pergamus, and Thyateira.

The intervening towns offered no resistance, and when within eight miles of Sardes, he was met by a deputation, headed by the principal citizens and accompanied by Mithrenes, the Persian governor of the citadel. The Lydians, once a warlike and power- ful nation, had, since their subjugation by Cyrus tbt

iEtat. 22.] SARDES— LYDIANS. 65

Elder, been Persian tributaries for nearly 200 years. The yoke was, perhaps, not burdensome, but still their happiness must have depended on the character of their satrap, at whose mercy the policy of the Per- sian government completely placed them. But their recollections of ancient glory and independence still remained. Men in their situation seldom have an opportunity of testifying their love of the latter ex- cept by changing their masters. And such a change, if unattended with danger, is always welcomed. The deputation presented the keys of the Lydian capital to the descendant of Hercules, and had they known the weak side of their new master, would have ex- pressed their joy at returning under the ITeracleid dominion, after the long continued usurpation of the Mermnadrc and Achsemenidrc.

Mithrenes, who came to surrender the citadel and the treasures entrusted to his care, was a traitor — perhaps a weak man, paralyzed by the defeat and death of Spithridates, his superior, and overcome by the prayers of the Sardians. But treason had been busy in the western provinces, and it appears unac- countable that so many of the connections of Darius should have been without command in the Persian camp, except we suppose that the satraps had dis- owned their authority, and fought the battle of the Granicus in defence of their own governments, and not of the empire.

Whatever were the motives of Mithrenes, his act

was base and fatal to his country. The citadel of

Sardes was the most important fortress in Western 5

66 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

Asia, and the surrender of it at this critical period furnished Alexander with money, of which he was greatly in need, and enabled him to pursue Memnon, the only antagonist in Asia Minor from whom he had anything to dread.

Alexander encamped on the banks of the Hermus, whence he issued a decree, by which all their laws, rights, and privileges, as existing before the Persian conquest, were restored to the Lydians. Their nomi- nal independence was also proclaimed, and hailed with as much applause as if it had been real. He then ascended to the Sardian citadel, impregnable from its natural position. A lofty mountain, trian- gular in figure, rises abruptly from the plain of the Hermus. A deep ravine, rendering the southern side a perpendicular precipice, separates it from the frowning masses of Mount Tmolus. The summit of this isolated rock was crowned by the towers and palace of the Lydian monarchs. According to a long- cherished tradition, an oracle had forewarned an ancient king of Lydia, that if he carried his son Leon, or as some translate it, the Lion, his son, round the citadel, it would always remain impregnable. He obeyed partially, but thought it useless to go round the precipitous side, which nature itself had appar- ently rendered impregnable. Alexander was struck with the boldness of the situation and extent of view from the summit. He proposed to occupy the site of the Lydian palace with a splendid temple of the Olympian Jupiter — but did not live to execute his plan. The Argives of the army, apparently in com-

JEtat. 22.] EPHESUS— GREEK PARTY SPIRIT. 67

pliment to the Heracleid connection, were left to garrison the citadel.

From Sardes Alexander marched to Ephesus. Here he came first in contact with the aristocratic and democratic factions, which for the two preceding centuries had destroyed the happiness and tranquil- lity of every Grecian city of consequence. The aris- tocratic party had always been patronized by Persia, and Memnon had lately overthrown the existing democracy at Ephesus, and committed the powers of government to the opposite party. But the news of the victory at the Granicus, followed by the rumored approach of Alexander, caused the Persians to retire to Miletus. With them also retired Amyntas, the son of Antiochus, and other Macedonian exiles, who had made Ephesus their city of refuge.

This flight restored the supremacy to the democra- tic faction, which proceeded with more violence than justice to take vengeance on its opponents. Some of the aristocratic leaders were immediately stoned to death, and a general massacre was threatened, when Alexander arrived and compelled his friends to be satisfied with a bloodless supremacy. Arrian writes, that this active interference of the king in defence of the adverse party, gave him more immediate renown than any other of his deeds in Asia Minor. The con- duct of the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, the two ^reat patrons of the opposite factions, had been so different on similar occasions, that we need not be surprised at the natural effect of Alexander's more merciful and judicious conduct.

68 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

The temple of Ephesus, destroyed by fire on the night of his birth, was in the act of being rebuilt. He assigned the revenues, paid by the city to the great king, to the promotion of the work. In after times he offered to bear the whole expense, great as it must have been, on condition of having his name alone inscribed on the building. The Ephesians prettily evaded the offer, by saying " that it did not become one god to dedicate a temple to another."

Alexander paid due honors to the great Diana of the Ephesians. The misshapen statue," the heaven- fallen idol was carried in procession, while he, at the head of his troops, formed a part of the pageantry. The disciple of Aristotle was a Polytheist in the most extensive sense of the word, and, could bow his head with equal reverence in Grecian, Tyrian, ^Egyp- tian, and Assyrian temples.

From Ephesus Alexander marched f to Miletus, the

* The image of the Ephesian Diana, with her multiplicity of breasts to signify fertility, is one of the most revolting of idols. It is strange that so hideous an image was enshrined in so beautiful a temple.

f Between Ephesus and Miletus lay the Ionic city of Priene, a city not mentioned in this narrative, but important to modern students of the period. The inhabitants of this city, grateful for their release from the yoke of the Persian Darius, gave tangible evidence of their joy by improving or rebuild- ing, the city on a magnificent scale. It was without doubt a type of the large number of cities built by Alexander, or under his patronage. This city itself early fell into disuse and ruin by reason of the disappearance of the fine harbor, but the ruins themselves remained undisturbed through many centuries. They were first visited by European antiquarians

Mat. 22.] MILETUS— PERSIAN FLEET. 69

Ionian capital, celebrated for its wealth, naval power, and colonies. The governor had promised to give up the city without resistance, but the arrival of the Persian fleet, far superior to the Macedonian, had induced him to retract his word.

Miletus was situated at the mouth of the Msean- der, which then emptied its waters into the upper end of a considerable creek. This is now filled up, and the fair harbor of Miletus converted into a fertile plain. This is a well known fact, and often paral- leled, for the undisturbed water of a long creek acted upon by an operative river, will necessarily become firm land. Nor does this admission contradict the observations formerly made on this subject, as they referred more to the action of rivers, the mouths of ft'hieh have reached the open sea.

The entrance to the Milesian harbor was narrow, but the Macedonian fleet had occupied it previous to the arrival of the Persians. The Milesians, thus blockaded by sea and land, intimated to Alexander their wish to be neutral, and their willingness to re- ceive the Persian as well as the Macedonian fleet into

in 1765 : and a century later, in 1868, the temple was excavated. It bore this inscription : —

KINO ALEXANDER DEDICATED THIS TEMPLE TO ATHENA POLIAS.

In the year I89S the work of excavating (ho city was resumed on a thorough scale, and the result is in interest second only to thai of Pompeii. An excellent account of the ruins, with ill- be found in the Century for 'May, 1C01,

from which t1 •• rea I r may '.r"t a clear and accurate idea cf the Deauty and magnificence of Alexander's Asiatic cities.

70 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 343.

the harbor. As they had not the power to enforce their proposed system of neutrality, their offer could be regarded only as an insult. As such Alexander viewed it, and told the deputy to depart instantly and warn his fellow citizens to prepare for an assault. The deed followed the word, and Miletus was carried by storm. Three hundred Greek mercenaries, partly by swimming, partly by floating on their broad shields, reached a small island in the harbor. Alex- ander admiring their gallantry, spared their lives, and incorporated them with his own troops.

Although the Macedonian fleet had prevented the Persians from entering the harbor, it was not strong enough to face the enemy on the open sea. Hence its future motions became a subject of grave delibera- tion. Parmenio proposed the embarkation of a chosen body of the land forces, and a sudden attack on the enemy's fleet. But Alexander, whose ex- hausted exchequer severely felt the na^ral expenses, was for immediately dismantling it. He refused to risk his gallant soldiers in a contest on the unsteady and tottering waves, where the superior skill of the Phoenician and Cyprian sailors might render bravery and military discipline unavailing.

Much might be said in favor of both propositions, and the arguments of the veteran general and of the monarch are equally weighty. But it may surprise a modern reader to find that, either from policy or faith, the question mainly turned on the right inter- pretation of an omen. An eagle had by chance perched on a Macedonian vessel, which had been

jEtat. 22.] MEMNON— HALICARNASSUS. 71

drawn ashore. Parmenio argued that as the bird's face was directed seaward, a naval victory was clearly indicated. Alexander, on the contrary, contended that as the ship on which the eagle had perched was on shore, the fair inference was that they were to obtain the victory by watching the enemy's motions from the shore, and preventing them from landing in any spot. His reasoning prevailed in the council, and the fleet was laid up in the harbor of Miletus. Parmenio was sent, at the head of a strong force, to receive the submission of the great cities Magnesia and Tralles, in the vale of the Meander; and Alexander himself marched along the coast to Halicarnassus.

Darius, on receiving intelligence of the defeat at the Granicus, and of the death of so many satraps, appointed Memnon his lieutenant-general, with un- limited power of action in Lower Asia and its mari- time dependencies. Memnon had collected a fleet of four hundred triremes, with which he prepared to counteract the projects of Alexander. The rapidity of the latter's movements had wrested Ionia from the empire ; but every effort was made for the preserva- tion of Caria. Halicarnassus, its capital, situated on the south-western shore of the Ceramic gulf, was carefully fortified and provisioned. It was guarded by two citadels, one called by Strabo the island-fort, and the other Salmacis, celebrated for the supposed effeminating qualities of its fountain. The island fortress is now united to the continent, and continues, under the name of Boodroom, to be the strongest

72 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

place on that coast. The city itself was protected on the land side by an immense ditch, thirty cubits wide and fifteen deep. The besiegers had to fill this, before they could bring their battering engines to bear on the wall. Menmon had abundance of troops, of all denominations and races. Xumerous sallies took place, in one of which Xeoptolemus, the son of Arrhaba?us, a Macedonian exile of high rank, fell, while bearing arms against his country. In another skirmish the Persians had become masters of the bodies of some Macedonian soldiers, which, according to the laws of Grecian warfare, Alexander demanded by herald, for the purpose of burial. Diodorus writes that Memnon complied with the request, in opposi- tion to the advice of two Athenian leaders, Ephialtes and Thrasvbulus. Mitford from this draws an infer- ence to prove the inhuman ferocity of the Demosthe- nean party : but this, like many other of his deduc- tions, is unfair.

Among the southern Greeks no skirmish, however trifling, took place that was not followed by the erec- tion of a trophy. As both parties were bound to bury their dead, the inability to do this without requesting the leave of the opposite party, was the test of defeat, and a trophy erected under such circumstances was regarded legitimate, and consequently sacred. But the Macedonians had long ceased to raise trophies, and scrupled not to destroy them if erected. The fair inference therefore from the above-mentioned fact is, that the Athenian generals were unwilling to restore the bodies unless Alexander would allow them to raise

-ffitat. 22.] EPHIALTES— MEMNON. 73

a trophy — a circumstance which, as he did not under- stand trifling in war, he was not likely to approve of.

As the works of the besiegers were advancing, the Athenian, Ephialtes, at the head of a chosen body of troops, and supported by Memnon, made a bold at- tempt to bum the works and the engines. A regular battle took place, in which the assailants were, not without difficulty, driven back. The Macedonians lost nearly as many men as at the battle of the Grani- cus. Among others fell Ptolemy, a general of the body guard ; Clearchus, commander of the archers ; and Addams, a chiliarch or colonel of a regiment. The Persians, regarding the city as no longer tenable, set it on fire, and retired to the citadels. As these appeared impregnable a body of troops was left to observe and blockade them.

The city was the capital of a race of princes, who, in subjection to Persia, had long governed Caria. Hecatomnus, in the preceding generation, had left three sons and two daughters. According to a prac- tice common among the royal families in Asia, Mau- solus, the eldest brother, had married Artemisia, the elder sister, who, by a law peculiar to Caria, was en- titled to the throne if she survived her husband. She became a widow, and tr--tified her respect for his memory by the erection of the splendid and tasteful monument that has given the name of Mausoleum to all similar structures.* Grief soon destroyed her,

* The tomb of iVfan^oln^. which was erected by his widow at Halicarnaaana about 352 B.C., vraa the most prorgeons and beautiful specimen of architectural sculpture the world has

74 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

and she was succeeded by the second brother, Hidri- eus, who had married the younger sister, Ada. She survived him, but had been dethroned by the youngest brother, Pexodarus. Orontobates, a Persian noble- man, had married his daughter, and the Persian court had thus been induced to connive at the usurper's in- justice. The deposed queen still retained the fortress of Alinda, where she was visited by Alexander, and restored to the Carian throne. She adopted her bene- factor as her son; nor did he disdain to call her mother.

This princess, accustomed to the refinements and delicacies of an oriental court, was shocked at the plain fare and simple habits of the Macedonian soldier. During his stay at Alinda, she regularly supplied his table from her own kitchen, and when he was departing presented him with some of her best cooks and confectioners ; but he refused to accept them, saying, " he had been supplied with better cooks by his governor, Leonnatus — a march, before day, to season his dinner, and a light dinner to pre- pare his supper." On this occasion he added, that Leonnatus used to examine the chests and wardrobes in which his bedding and cloaks were put, lest some- seen. It was justly reckoned by the ancients as one of the seven wonders of the world. In later years the building was entirely destroyed, and for centuries even its precise location was unknown ; but modern excavators have discovered the ground plan of the building and many fragments of sculpture, so that it is now possible to get a fairly correct idea of the building as it stood in its glory. The name of the architect and sculptor was Scopas.

JEtat. 22.] THREE BRIDEGROOM GENERALS. ?5

thing of luxury or superfluity should be introduced by Olympias.

The summer was now drawing to a close, and Alexander rendered it memorable by an act of kind- ness, which has been oftener praised than imitated. He granted permission to all his soldiers, who had lately married, to return and spend the winter with their brides. Xo distinction was made between of- ficers and privates ; and the whole body marched homewards under the command of three bridegroom generals, Ptolemy, the son of Seleucus, Coenus and Meleager. Should we view this as an act of policy, and not as emanating from the kind feelings of a warm heart, the success would be the same. Young warriors, with their laurels still green, returning to their homes and their youthful partners, and spread- ing over all Greece their partial accounts of the valor, generosity and kind feelings of their victorious cap- tain-general, would be the most influential agents that ever roused eager spirits to take up arms and rush to war.

Parmenio conducted the Thessalians, the Greeks of the Confederacy, and the baggage and artillery, to Sardes, into winter quarters. But winter could not arrest Alexander's own exertions. Advancing into Lycia and Pamphylia, he proceeded to wrest the whole line of sea-coast from the enemies, and thus paralyse the operations of their superior fleet. On entering Lycia, Telmissus, a city on the banks of the Calbis, and celebrated for its race of diviners, opened its gates. He then crossed the river Xanthus, and

76 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

received the submission of the cities Patara, Xanthus and Pinara. These were the seats of the Homeric heroes, Glaucus and Sarpedon, whose amiable and warlike character belonged to the Lycians in general.

It is much to the credit of Alexander's character and policy that not a sword was drawn to oppose his progress. He, according to his general principles, would respect their franchises and privileges; and they, Cretans by descent, and living apparently under the institutions of Minos, would naturally not be averse to a Greek connection.

Alexander, continuing his march up the Xanthus, arrived in that part of Lycia called, from its original inhabitants, Milyas. There he was overtaken by deputies from the important city of Phaselis, bring- ing a crown of gold and offers of submission.

In descending from Milyas to Phaselis, he had to cross a mountainous ridge, the pass over which was commanded by the Pisidian town Termessus. This he took by storm, and thus conferred a signal favor on the peaceful occupiers of the low-lands, who had long been harassed by its bandit possessors.

It was now mid-winter ; and the rich and luxurious city of Phaselis enabled Alexander to recruit the strength of his troops, and to enjoy a short repose himself. But this was disagreeably interrupted by a communication from Parmenio, announcing a traitor- ous correspondence between Alexander, the son of Aeropus, and the Persian court. We have before seen that he was almost known to have participated in the conspiracy to which Philip fell a victim, and that

-ffitat. 22.] ALEXANDER THE LYNCESTIAN. 77

nothing but his apparent exertions in favor of Alex- ander, at a very critical period, had saved him from the fate of the other traitors. He was now the first prince of the blood, in high favor with Alexander, who had lately appointed him commander-in-chief of the Thessalian cavalry. The purport of Parmenio's communication was, that he had arrested a suspi- cious-looking stranger, by name Asisines, who, when questioned, had confessed himself to be a Persian emissary: that Amyntas, the son of Antiochus, on deserting, had carried some written proposals from the son of Aeropus to Darius ; that he, the emissary, had been commissioned to confer with the Lyncestian, to offer him the Macedonian throne and a thousand talents, provided Alexander the king were put out of the way. The Persian was sent in chains to be inter- rogated by the king and council.

The king immediately placed the information be- fore his friends, who unanimously accused him of rashness, in bestowing the most important command in the army on a man whose past conduct had ren- dered him justly liable to suspicion. They advised therefore his instant removal, before he could ingrati- ate himself with the Thessalians, and be thus enabled to do mischief.

But the management of the affair required con- siderable delicacy. Parmenio had only one company of Macedonians: even the Sardian garrison was Argive, and the remainder of the force under his command consisted of the Thessalians and other Greek confederates. It appeared therefore probable,

78 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

that if the Lyncestian obtained the slightest hint of the discovery of the plot, he might excite some serious disturbance, or at least carry a part of the troops over to the enemy. Xo written orders were therefore judged prudent, but Amphoterus, an officer of high rank, was dispatched with a verbal message to Parmenio. Disguised in the native dress, and guided by Pisidians, he arrived safely at Sardes, and de- livered his orders, according to which the Lyncestian was instantly taken into custody.

Phaselis was situated at the foot of that part of Mount Taurus which terminates opposite the Che- lidonian islands. The highest point of the range, im- mediately overlooking the sea, was anciently called Solyma, from the warlike Solymi of Homer. A little to the south of this was the mountain Chimsera, with its Bellerophontic fables. It is curious that a strong flame, called by the Turks yanar, still burns there unconsumed, and proves to this day the connection between the fabulous poetry of the Greeks and nat- ural phenomena. Mount Solyma itself is 7800 feet high, and some of its eastern ridges, under the name of Climax, or the Ladder, descend almost abruptly to the western shore of the gulf of Attalia. Alexan- der therefore, in advancing from Phaselis to Perga, had either to cross the almost precipitous ridge of Mount Climax, or to march along the sea shore, at the foot of the cliffs. He preferred the latter ; and as Strabo's account of this renowned adventure is parti- cularly clear, I introduce it.

"Mount Climax overhangs the Pamphylian sea,

JEtsit. 22.] MARCH THROUGH THE SEA. ?9

but leaves a narrow road upon the beach. This, in calm weather, is dry, and passable by travellers ; but when the sea flows, the road, to a great extent, is covered by the waves. The passage over the hills is circuitous and difficult : consequently, in fine weather, the shore road is used. But Alexander, although the weather was boisterous, trusting principally to chance, set out before the swell had ceased, and the soldiers had to march during the whole day up to their middle in water."

It was a rash adventure, and attended with danger ; for had a strong south wind arisen, the whole army would have been dashed against the rocks. As, on the contrary, a smart north wind had succeeded vio- lent storms from the south, ample occasion was given to the royal sycophants to proclaim aloud, that the sea had acknowledged the sovereignty of Alexander, and obsequiously retired before its lord and master. Alex- ander himself made no miracle of the event: in his letters, as quoted by Plutarch, he simply wrote — " I marched from Phaselis by the way called Climax."

" Menander, (I quote from Langhorn's Plutarch,) in his pleasant way, refers to this pretended miracle in one of his comedies:

" How like great Alexander ! Do I seek A friend ? Spontaneous he presents himself. Have I to march where seas indignant roll ? The sea retires, and there I march."

This is in far better taste than the attempt of

80 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

Josephus to illustrate the miraculous passage of the Red Sea, by a reference to this adventure.*

Thence he visited in succession Perga, Aspendus, Side, and Sillium. At the last place his further progress eastward was arrested by hearing that the Aspendians, who had agreed to pay fifty talentsf and deliver up the horses which they were breeding for the Persian government, were inclined to evade both conditions, and preparing to withstand a siege. He instantly retraced his steps ; and, arriving sooner than these men expected, made himself master of the lower town, on the banks of the Eurymedon, and confined the Aspendians within their mountain citadel. Over- awed by this activity, they submitted to harder terms than they had before refused to execute.

Thence he returned to Perga, and marched up the narrow vale of the Oestrus, with the intention of crossing Mount Taurus and entering the greater Phrygia. During this route he had to pass through

* " Nor let any one wonder at the strangeness of the narra- tion [of the dividing of the Red Sea.] if a way were discovered to those men of old time, who were free from the wickedness of the modern ages, whether it happened by the will of God, or whether it happened of its own accord ; while for the sake of those that accompanied Alexander, king of Macedonia, who yet lived comparatively but a little while ago, the Pamphylian Sea retired and afforded them a passage through itself, when they had no other way to go ; I mean, when it was the will of God to destroy the monarchy of the Persians. And this is confessed to be true by all that have written about the actions of Alexander." — Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. II., chap. xvi.

f About $85,000?

^Etat. 22.] SAGALASSUS— CEhJEKJE. 81

the territories of the Pisida>A[ountainocrs, who re- tained a wild independence amidst their hill for- tresses, and whose hand was always raised to smite their more civilized neighbors. A strong pass in the main ridge of Taurus, and probably in the ravine of the Oestrus, was commanded by the inhabitants of a second Telmissus. Alexander forced his way through the defile, but despaired of capturing the city without his battering train. He therefore continued his march up the Oestrus. The Sagalassians, a powerful Pisidian tribe, possessed the upper part of the vale. These were joined by the Telmissians, who by moun- tain roads outstripped the Macedonian army. The united tribes fought a gallant battle in front of Saga- lassus, but were defeated, and the city was taken. The Selgse, who dwelt in the upper vales of the Eury- medon and its tributary streams, entered into alliance with Alexander, who then brought the whole of Pisidia to acknowledge his sovereignty. This winter campaign among the snows, torrents and precipices of Mount Taurus, is one of Alexander's greatest achieve- ments. Apparently he was the first foreigner that ever conquered the Pisidians.

A march of five days brought him to Cclamsc, the capital of the greater Phrygia. Its situation, at the sources of the Marsyas and of the Mseander, has been elegantly described by Xenophon. The town sub- mitted without resistance; but its citadel, crowning the summit of a dark frowning rock, equally high and precipitous, was impregnable if honestly defended. The garrison however, consisting of mercenary Greeks 6

82 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

and Carians, engaged to surrender if not relieved by a certain day. Alexander agreed to their proposal, and left fifteen hundred men to watch the fortress, and receive its submission at the appointed period. Antigonus, the son of Philip, who had married Stratonice, either the daughter or sister of the late king, was declared satrap of the greater Phrvgia. After the king's death he became one of his most dis- tinguished successors. He had hitherto been the com- mander of the Greeks of the Confederacy.

From Cela?na3 Alexander sent orders to Parmenio, to join the head-quarters at Gordium, whither he was himself marching. Here the whole army re-united ; for the bridegrooms from Macedonia, attended by a strong body of recruits, arrived there also. At the same time came an Athenian embassy, to request Alexander to liberate the Athenians captured at the Granicus. Their request was refused, as it was judged impolitic to lead others to regard the bearing arms against united Greece, in behalf of barbarians, as a light offence. They were, however, told to renew their petition at a more favorable season.

Gordium, in the time of Phrygian independence, was the capital of a powerful kingdom, and could boast a long line of resident monarchs. It was situ- ated on the left bank of the river Sangarius, and as late as Livy's age, was a commercial mart of some importance. Within the citadel were built the palaces of Gordius and Midas. Thither Alexander ascended in order to examine the famous Gordian knot, the solution of which was to indicate the future sovereign

jEtta.22.] GORDIUS— MIDAS. 83

of Asia. The tradition of the Phrygians respecting it is highly interesting, as presenting a vivid picture of the ancient Asiatics.

Gordius, according to the tale, was a husbandman, possessing a small plot of ground and two yokes of oxen, one for his plough and another for his cart. As he was ploughing his field an eagle perched upon the yoke, and remained till the termination of the day's labor. Anxious to obtain an explanation of the singular omen, he set out to consult the diviners of Telmissus. As he was approaching one of their vil- lages, he saw a young maiden who had come forth to draw water : to her he opened his case. She was of the gifted race, and advised him to return home and sacrifice to Jupiter, The King. Gordius persuaded his fair adviser to accompany him, and teach him how to perform the ceremony duly and rightly. She con- sented, the sacrifice was completed, and the grateful husbandman married the maiden. Midas was their only son, and grew up a handsome and spirited man. In the meantime, the Phrygians had suffered severely from civil dissensions. In their distress they con- sulted the gods, who answered, w that a cart should bring them a king who would terminate their internal broils." As the whole assembly was deliberating on the meaning of this oracular promise, Midas drove up his father and mother in their rustic vehicle, to the outer circle, and was immediately recognized as the sovereign promised by the oracle. In memory of the event he consecrated the cart to Jupiter The King, and placed it in the citadel, to which he gave his

84: ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 334.

father's name. The yoke was tied to the pole by a band formed of the bark of the cornel tree, and the knot on this was the celebrated test of future emi- nence.

In this account we see manifest traces of the ex- istence of a republic of husbandmen in Phrygia, who, unable to free themselves from the evils of faction in any other manner, chose, like the Israelites, a king. Long before Homer's age the Phrygians had been subjected to monarchal rule, as he makes even the aged Priam refer to his youthful campaigns on the banks of the Sangarius, when he bore arms in aid of the Phrygian kings Otreus and Mygdon, against the invading Amazons, who most probably were the loose- robed Assyrians.

Various accounts were spread of the mode in which Alexander solved the difficulty. The most prevalent is, that baffled by the complicated nature of the knot, he drew his sword and cut it asunder. This, as being supposed most accordant with his character, has ob- tained universal belief. But Aristobulus, who was probably present, wrote, that he took out the pin that traversed the pole, and was thus enabled to detect the clews before invisible. At all events he did not descend from the citadel without satisfying the public that he had fulfilled the tradition, and was thencefor- ward to be regarded as the lord of Asia.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ASIA, B. C. 333.

Alexander's object in concentrating his forces at Gordium, was the conquest of the two powerful provinces of Paphlagonia and Cappadocia. With the spring, therefore, he marched from Gordium to Ancyra, the modern Angora. Here a deputation from the Paphlagonian chiefs waited on him, profess- ing their submission, but requesting as a favor not to be visited by an armed force. Such messages in after- times met with little favor from Alexander. But the period was critical, and he knew from Xenophon, that the Paphlagonian sovereign of his day could bring 100,000 horsemen into the field. Their submission was, therefore, received, and they were ordered to place themselves under the government of Calas, the satrap of the Hellespontian Phrygia. He then ad- vanced into Cappadocia, and subdued the whole country within the Halys, and a considerable part of that beyond it. The whole of Cappadocia was en- trusted to the care of a satrap called Abistamenes by Curtius, Sabictas by Arrian. Thence he marched southward into Cilicia. The south-eastern part of Cappadocia is an elevated step, whence the waters that do not flow into the Halys, have fall sufficient to

85 *

86 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

burst through the barriers of Mount Taurus in their course to the Cilician sea. The ravines are, conse- quently, very narrow, and of great depth, and form defiles " where one man is better to prevent than ten to make way." The main pass is situated between Tyana and Tarsus, and has often been celebrated in ancient histories. But its value as a military post has been much exaggerated by historians. Of this the best proof is, that no successful defence of it is recorded in history. The main ridge of Mount Taurus is intersected in this vicinity by so many streams, that great advantages are placed at the com- mand of the assailant, and enable him to choose his point of attack.

One day's march to the north of the main pass was a fortified camp, attributed by Arrian to the Younger, by Curtius to the Elder Cyrus, who, in the campaign against Croesus, fortified it as a stationary position. As Alexander came from the Ancyra road, he did not follow the steps of the Younger Cyrus, who, we know from Xenophon, formed no stationary camp there. We may be, therefore, certain, that Cur- tius on this occasion followed the better authority. Parmenio, with the main body, was ordered to halt in this camp, while Alexander, with his own guards, the archers, and his favorite Agrians, entered the moun- tain passes by night, and turned the enemy's position. On discovering this, the defenders of the pass fled, and left the road to the plain open. !N~ext day the whole army surmounted the main defile and com- menced the descent into Cilicia. Here information

.Etat. 23.] TARSUS— ALEXANDER'S ILLNESS. 87

reached Alexander that Tarsus was threatened with conflagration by its satrap Arsames, who, according to Memnon's plan, had already laid waste a great part of the province. Alexander, with his cavalry, reached Tarsus with extraordinary speed, and saved it from destruction. But overpowered with heat and covered with dust, and seduced by the limpid appearance of the waters of the Cydnus, he imprudently bathed. Although it was summer in the plain, the stream partook more of the temperature of the melting snows of Taurus than of the circumambient atmosphere. The consequence was a violent reaction, and a fever that nearly proved fatal.

Even without the intervention of the cold waters of the Cydnus, it is almost impossible to conceive how a prince of Alexander's early age and unseasoned habits, could have borne up under the numerous men- tal anxieties, and the unceasing bodily labors endured by him since his accession to the throne. If we except the short repose at Dium, it had been one unin- terrupted scene of violent exertion. We ought not, therefore, to wonder that nature should at last vindi- cate her rights, and compel a short cessation from fatigue.

Philip, an Acarnanian, was the physician on whom, at this critical period, devolved the responsibi- lity of attending the royal patient. The fate of the two continents depended upon the result, and the Macedonians, to whom, at that moment, their king's life was literally the breath of their nostrils, were not likely to discriminate nicely between the inevitable

88 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333,

decree of nature and the work of treason. Therefore, it may truly be said, that the lives of both physician and patient trembled in the same balance. At the very turn of the disease, when the king was preparing to take a powerful medicine, he received a letter from Parmenio, announcing a strong suspicion that the Acarnanian had been bribed by Darius, and that his prescriptions were to be avoided. Alexander, like Julius Caesar, and some other noble spirits, would probably have preferred being poisoned or stabbed a thousand times, rather than prolong a wretched life under the conviction that no friends, no dependants were to be trusted. While, therefore, with one hand he presented Parmenio's letter to Philip, with the other he steadily carried the medicated potion to his lips, and drank it with unhesitating confidence. I have read, that the king before he swallowed the draught must have seen the innocence of the phy- sician in the expression of his countenance, on which conscious truth and virtuous indignation would alone be impressed. It might have been so, but the natural effect of so serious an accusation from so hiffh a quarter, joined with the known uncertainty of all remedies, would be an overpowering feeling of anx- iety, easily to be confounded with the indications of a guilty conscience. " I praise Alexander, (writes Arrian,) for the confidence he placed in his friend, and for his contempt of death." His noble conduct met with its reward. The remedy succeeded, youth prevailed, and the soldiers had soon the happiness to see their king and captain once more at their head.

^Etat. 23.] ANCHIALUS— SARDANAPALUS. 89

Then Parmenio was sent with a strong force to occupy the passes between Cilicia and Syria. He himself, with the rest of the army, marched to the sea-coast and visited the ruins of Anchialus. These, according to Aristobulus and Ptolemy, bore witness to the former existence of a mighty city. Among other remains they saw the statue of Sardanapalus, the last monarch of Upper Assyria. It crowned the summit of a monument dedicated to his memory. The hands of the statue had one palm across the other, as in the act of clapping. The inscription was char- acteristic of the man :

" Sardanapalus, the son of Anacyndaraxes, built Anchialus and Tarsus in one day. But do you, O stranger, eat, drink, and be merry, as all other human pursuits are not worth this ; ' alluding to the clap- ping of his hands.

From Anchialus he moved westward to Soli. Thence he made an incursion into the rugged Cilicia, and connected the line of his martime communica- tions with the point where the revolt of Aspendus had stayed his further progress. On returning to Soli, he received dispatches from Ptolemy, the governor of Caria, and Asandrus, his satrap of Lydia, announc- ing a complete victory over Orontobates, who had been appointed the successor of Pexodarus by Darius. The victory was followed by the capture of the for- tresses which had hitherto held out, and the accession of the island of Cos. Thus the whole of Asia Minor had been subdued in the month of September, B. C. 333.

90 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

This important victory, and his own recovery, were celebrated with public games, theatrical representa- tions, and the festivities that usually accompanied the performance of a great sacrifice. The whole army attended the image of iEsculapius, in solemn proces- sion, and the amusing spectacle of the lamp race was exhibited at night.

Memnon had commenced naval operations with the spring. From Samos he had sailed to Chios, which was betrayed into his hands. Thence he sailed to Lesbos, and soon induced four out of the five cities of the island to renounce the Macedonian alliance, and to submit to the terms imposed on the Greeks by the peace of Antalcidas. But Mitylene, the chief city, withstood a siege. As Memnon was eagerly pressing this forward, he fell ill and died. This, according to Arrian, was the severest blow that could befal Darius. Memnon's plans were to reduce the islands, occupy the Hellespont, invade Macedonia, and sub- sidize the Southern Greeks. How far he was capable of carrying them into effect must now remain un- known. His plans procured him a great name, but his actions are not worthy of being recorded. He was a Rhodian, whose sister, a lady of great personal beauty, had married Artabazus, the Persian satrap of the Hellespontian Phrygia. Hence he became early involved in the intrigues of the Persian court. Ar- tabazus was one of the rebellious satraps, and al- though supported by Memnon, had been compelled with him and his family to take refuge in the Mace- donian court, where Philip had given them a hospita-

JBtat. 23.] DEATH OF MEMNON. 91

ble reception. The high appointment of Mentor must have introduced Memnon again upon the stage of Asiatic politics ; yet, at the commencement of the war, his situation in the Persian camp appears to have been very subordinate. At the battle on the Granicus he fought bravely, but, as a general, dis- played no more self-possession and talent than his companions. A brave man would have taken his station with the Greek mercenaries; an able man, from a fugitive cavalry 19,000 in number, and not pursued, would have rallied some, at least, and brought them back to support the retreat of the in- fantry. At Ephesus his plans were counteracted ; at Miletus he was too late ; and at Halicarnassus he lost the strongest maritime fortress in Asia, although he was master of the sea and of 400 triremes, and had unlimited resources in men and money at his com- mand. If we judge of him by his actions, we must infer that party spirit invested him with talents that did not belong to him. Pharnabazes, his sister's son, was appointed his successor. He, in conjunction with Autophradates, the admiral, forced Mytilene to sub- jection, and separated Tenedos from the confed- eracy. Here their enterprise and success ceased. Thymodes, the son of Mentor, arrived with a com- mission to convey all the Greek mercenaries to Syria. The fleet was thus left comparatively helpless.

But the hopes of the anti-Macedonian party in Greece, were great during the whole of this summer. The Persian fleet commanded the iEgean, and all the information that reached Greece was from the parti-

92 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

zans of Persia. The battle of Issus was not fought till October; not a single military exploit of conse- quence had marked the progress of the great army during the previous summer. Darius was known to have passed the Great Desert, and his camp was thronged with republican Greeks, offering and press- ing their military services ; and eager to reassert the supremacy of the Southern Greeks on the plains of Syria. The translation of the following passage from the famous speech of JEschines, will illustrate this assertion. He is addressing Demosthenes. "But when Darius had arrived on the sea-coast with all his forces, and Alexander, in Cilicia, was cut off from all his communications, and in want of all things, as you said, and was on the point, as you expressed it, of being trodden under foot, together with his troops, by the Persian cavalry ; when the citv could not bear your insolence, as you went round with your dis- patches hanging from every finger, and pointed me out as melancholy in countenance and downcast in spirits, adding, that my horns were already gilt for the impending sacrifice, and that I should be crowned with the garlands as soon as any misfortune befel Alexander, yet even then you did nothing, but de- ferred acting till a better opportunity." Demosthenes was content with speaking, but Agis, the king of Sparta, was more active : he sailed in a trireme, and had an interview with Pharnabazus at the small island of Syphnus. where they conferred on the best manner of forming an anti-Macedonian party in Greece. But the arrival of the information of the

iEtat. 23.] CHARIDEMUS-ANTIOCHUS. 93

defeat at Issus, put a sudden end to their delibera- tions.

Darius had encamped in the great plain between the Syrian Gates and the modern Aleppo. There he prepared to wait the attack of his antagonist. But the long delay caused by the illness of Alexander, by the expedition into Western Cilicia, and by the ap- parent necessity of waiting the result of the opera- tions in Caria, induced Darius to imagine that his opponent had no intention to give him battle.

The Persian king was not without Greek advisers ; among others was Charidemus, the Athenian exile. This democrat, having sought the court of a despot as a refuge, was not forgetful of his liberty of speech ; but having overstepped those limits of decorum, of which the Medes and Persians were immutably jeal- ous, was put to death. Amyntas, the son of Antio- chus, besought Darius to remain in his camp, and assured him, from his knowledge of Alexander's char- acter, that he would be certain to seek his enemy wherever he was to be found. But Darius was con- fident of success, and hostile to delay; the principal part of the equipage and court was, therefore, sent to Damascus, and the army began to march into Cilicia.

Prom Soli, Philotas with the cavalry crossed the great alluvial flat formed by the depositions of the Cydnus and the Sarus, and called the Aleian plain by the ancients, while Alexander conducted the in- fantry along the sea-coast, and visited, first, a temple of Minerva, built on a rising mound called Magarsus, and then Mallus. To this city, an Argive colony, ho

94 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

remitted all the public taxes, and sacrificed to their supposed founder, Amphilochus, with all the honors due to a demi-god. The Persians had, of late years, behaved tyrannically to most of their subjects in Western Asia. Caria, as we have already seen, had been deprived of its native princes: so had Paphla- gonia and Cilicia : for the Syenesis, (long the name of the independent kings of the latter province,) had been replaced by a satrap. The natives had, conse- quently, all welcomed with pleasure their change of masters.

At Mallus, Alexander received information of the advance of the Persian army to a place called Sochi, within two days march of the Syrian Gates. On this he summoned a council of war, and consulted it as to ulterior measures. The council unanimously advised him to advance and give the enemy battle. In accord- ance with this resolution, the army moved forwards, and in two days arrived at Castabala. There Parme- nio met the king. He had forced his way over the western ridge of Mount Amanus, through the pass called the lower Amanian gates, had captured Issus, and occupied the more eastern passes into Syria. In two days more the army surmounted the Xenophon- teian gates of Cilicia and Syria, and encamped at Myriandrus. A heavy storm of wind and rain con- fined the Macedonians within their camp during the ensuing night. Next day Alexander was surprised by the intelligence that Darius was in his rear.

The Persians had marched through the upper Amanian gates into the plain of Issus, captured that

Mt&t. 23.] THE ARMIES PASS EACH OTHER. 95

town, and put the Macedonian invalids to a cruel death. Thence Darius advanced to the Pinarus, a river that flows through the plain of Issus into the western side of the head of the gulf.

Alexander could not at first believe that Darius was in his rear; he therefore ordered a few of the Companions to embark in a thirty-oared galley, to sail up the gulf, and bring back accurate intelligence. Xothing can be a stronger proof either of the over- weening confidence or of the extraordinary imbecility of the Persian leaders, than that, with the full com- mand of the sea, with innumerable ships, and with time sufficient to have concentrated their whole naval force, they had not apparently a single vessel in the Issic gulf, or on the Cilician coast. The Companions on board the galley executed their orders, and re- ported that the curve of the bay had enabled them to see the whole country, to the west of the gates, cov- ered with the enemy's troops. Upon this Alexander summoned the generals, the chief officers of the cavalry, and the leaders of the confederates, and addressed them in a speech, of which Arrian has enumerated the principal topics.

When he had finished speaking, the veteran officers crowded round their young captain, embraced his hands, cheered his hopes by their confident speeches, and desired him to lead them to the field without delay. The day was now drawing to a close, the men took their evening meal, and the whole army, pre- ceded by a strong reconnoitring party, retraced its steps towards the gates. At midnight it re-occupied

96 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

the defile. Strong watches were stationed on the sur- rounding heights, whilst the rest were indulged with a short repose. The king ascended a mountain, whence he could see the whole plain blazing with the camp fires of the Persian host. There he erected an altar, and with his usual attention to religious duties, sacrificed by torch-light to the patron gods of the place.

With the dawn the army moved down the road, in single column as long as the pass was narrow ; but as it opened, the column was regularly formed into line, with the mountain on the right and the sea on the left hand. Alexander, as usual, commanded the right and Parmenio the left wing. Craterus under Par- menio, and Xicanor under Alexander, commanded the wings of the phalanx.

Darius, whose movements were embarrassed by the multitude of his forces, ordered his 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 light troops to cross the Pinarus, that he might have more room to form his lines. In the centre he stationed his heavv armed Greek merce- naries, 30,000 in number, the largest Greek force of that denomination mentioned in historv. On each side he distributed 60,000 Persians, armed in a simi- lar manner. These troops were called Cardaces, all natives of Persis, or Persia Proper, and trained to arms from their vouth. To the extreme left of these were posted 20,000 light troops, on the side of a hill, and threatening the rear of Alexander's right wing. To understand this, it must be supposed, that the mountain at the western foot of which the Pinaru*

JEtat. 23.] BATTLE OF ISSUS. 97

flows, curves to the east with an inclination to the south. Alexander's troops, who occupied a much shorter portion of the course of the Pinarus, were thus not only outflanked, but had their right wing completely turned.

While Darius was thus forming his line, Alexan- der brought up his cavalry, and sending the Pelopon- nesians and other confederates to the left wing, re- tained the Companions and the Thessalians. His orders to Parmenio were to keep close to the sea and avoid being turned. But when Darius had recalled his cavalry and posted it between the Cardaces of the right wing and the sea, Alexander, alarmed for the safety of his own left, weak in horse, dispatched the Thessalians by the rear to the support of Parmenio. In front of the Companions were the Prodromi and Pa3onians. The Agrians, supported by a body of archers and cavalry, were so drawn up as to face the enemy posted on the hill commanding the rear. But as Alexander had determined to make the main attack with his right wing, he made a trial of the gallantry of these troops on the enemy's left, and ordered the Agrians, the archers, and the before-mentioned cav- alry, to charge them. But instead of waiting to re- ceive the attack, the cowards, numerous as they we] retired from the side to the summit of the hill. Sat- isfied, therefore, that he had nothing to dread from that quarter, Alexander incorporated the Agrians and archers with the right wing, and left the 300 cavalry to keep their opponents in check.

The infantry with which he proposed to support 7

98 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

the charge of the Companion cavalry were the guards and the Agema, composed of the picked men of the phalanx. The phalanx itself, consisting on the pres- ent occasion of only five brigades, was drawn up to face the Greeks. The two lines were now in sight of each other, and the Persians remained motionless on the high banks of the Pinarus. The Greek tacticians had imputed the defeat on the Granicus to the false position of the cavalry, and the want of a sufficient number of Greek infantry. Here both mistakes were avoided, and a Grecian force, which even Charidemus had judged sufficient, brought into the field. They were also admirably posted, as the banks of the Pin- arus were in general precipitous, and intrenchments had been thrown up where access appeared most easy. ]STo doubt can be entertained of the very critical situa- tion in which Alexander was placed ; — all his com- munications with his late conquests were cut off, and he had no alternative between victory and starvation : but he could rely upon his troops.

As the Macedonians were advancing slowly and in excellent order, the king rode down the lines, exhort- ing them all to be brave men, and addressing by name, not only the generals but the captains of horse and foot, and every man, Macedonian, confederate, or mercenary, distinguished either for rank or merit. His presence and short addresses were hailed with universal acclamations, and urgent requests not to lose time but to lead forwards.

As soon, therefore, as the line was within reach of the Persian missiles, Alexander and the right wing

Mint. 23.] BATTLE OF ISSUS. 99

charged rapidly, crossed the Pinarus, and engaged the enemy hand to hand. The clouds of missiles did not interrupt their progress for a moment. The Cardaces, panic-struck by the suddenness and energy of the charge, fled almost without a blow ; but Darius, who with the Kinsmen and the Immortals were sta- tioned behind them, must have presented a vigorous resistance, for a considerable time elapsed before Alexander could turn his attention to the operations of his centre and left.

In the mean time, the phalanx had not been so suc- cessful. The broken ground, the river and its preci- pitous banks, ill adapted for its operations, had been ably turned to advantage by the Greeks. Yet the contest had been desperate; on one side the Macedo- nians exerted every nerve to support the reputation of the phalanx, as being hitherto invincible, and the Greeks, from a long existing spirit of jealousy, were as anxious to break the charm ; but the victory indis- putably had inclined in favor of the Greeks. They had penetrated the phalanx in various parts, and had slain Ptolemy, a general of brigade, with 120 Macedonians of rank, when Alexander, now com- pletely victorious, attacked the Greeks in flank, and instantly changed the face of affairs. The phalanx, thus relieved from the immediate pressure, finally contributed to the utter defeat of their opponents.

We hear nothing of the behavior of the Cardace in the right wing, probably their conduct was equally disgraceful with that of their countrymen on the right. The behavior of the Persian cavalry was to-

100 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

tally different. They did not even wait to be attacked on the right bank of the Pinarus, but crossed it and engaged the Thessalian and confederate horse with spirit and success. Parmenio, with all his skill, sup- ported by the acknowledged gallantry of the Thes- salian cavalry, had with difficulty maintained his position, when the decisive information reached the Persians that the king had fled. Then they also, act- ing on a well-known Asiatic principle, joined him in his flight. They were closely pursued by the Thes- salians, who overtook many, as the Persian horses were unable to move rapidly after the fatigues of the day, under the heavy weight of their steel-clad riders. Ten thousand Persian horsemen and 100,000 in- fantry are said to have fallen in this battle. Perhaps the statement is not exaggerated, for as the only mode of regaining Syria was by the vale of the Pinarus, thousands of the Persian infantry must have been crushed beneath the horses' hoofs of their own cavalry, which was the last body to quit the field.

Alexander did not pursue until he witnessed the repulse, or more properly speaking, the retreat of the Persian cavalry. Then he attempted to overtake Darius, who had fled in his chariot as long as the ground would permit him ; on reaching rougher roads he mounted a horse, and left his chariot, shield, bow, and royal robe behind him, nor did he cease his flight till he had placed the Euphrates between him and the victor. We must charitably hope that he did not finally despair of winning the field before it was too

JEtat. 23.] BATTLE OF ISSUS. 101

late to attempt to save his wife, son, and daughters. The battle lasted long, for the Macedonians marched from the gates at break of day, and night overtook Alexander after a short pursuit, when he returned and took possession of the Persian camp. Thus ter- minated this great battle, contrary to the expectation of all nations, who had universally regarded the con- test as certain of terminating in the destruction of the invader. The same feeling had partially pervaded the Macedonian camp. Harpalus, Alexander's youthful friend, whom as his constitution rendered him incapable of military duties, he had appointed his treasurer, fled into Greece a few days before the battle, and carried with him the military chest and its contents; and many of the confederates, among whom Aristodemus the Pherrean and Brianor the Acarnanian are mentioned by Arrian, deserted to the Persians. Men could hardly be brought to imagine that a force like that conducted by Darius could pos- sibly experience a defeat. It is needless to mention nations and multitudes, perhaps of no great service in the day of battle, but there were five bodies of men in the Persian army, which alone formed as formida- ble an army as ever was brought to meet an enemy. These were : —

The heavy armed Greeks 30,000

The Persian cavalry 30,000

The Immortals 10,000

The troops called the Poyal Kins- men 15,000

The Cardaces 60,000

102 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

Hence it is manifest, that the Macedonians on this day conquered not the Persians alone, but the united efforts of Southern Greece and Persia. It is this galling truth that, among other causes, rendered the republican Greeks so hostile to Alexander. All the active partizans of that faction were at Issus, nor were the survivors dispirited by their defeat. Agis, King of Sparta, gathered 8,000 who had returned to Greece by various ways, and fought with them a bloody battle against Antipater, who with difficulty defeated them, the Spartans and their allies. With- out taking these facts into consideration, it is impos- sible duly to estimate the difficulties surmounted by Alexander.*

According to Plutarch, the Macedonians had re- served for the king the tent of Darius, with all its Persian officers, furniture, and ornaments. As soon as he had laid aside his armor, he said to his friends, " Let us refresh ourselves after the fatigues of the

* Issus will easily rank as one of the great battles of the world. The number of Macedonian troops was between 40.000 and 50,000, and of that number only 450 were slain. The number of " effective " troops on the Persian side is given above as 145,000 ; but the entire number engaged on the Persian sida at Issus was 600,000, the whole Persian army being 1,000,000. The number of Persians slain was 100,000. The great disparity between the number killed on the victo- rious and the defeated sides — more than two hundred to one — was partly due to the fact that in these days a victory was always followed by a massacre. The historical result of this battle was that " it shut Asia in behind the mountains, and prepared to make the Mediterranean a European sea." — Benjamin Ide Wheeler,

Mt&t. 23.] THE WIFE AND MOTHER OF DARIUS. 103

day in the bath of Darius/' " Say rather," said one of his friends, " in the bath of Alexander, for the property of the vanquished is and should be called the /ictor's." When he viewed the vials, ewers, caskets, and other vases, curiously wrought in gold, inhaled the fragrant perfumes, and saw the splendid furni- ture of the spacious apartments, he turned to his friends and said : " This, then, it seems, it was to be a king." While seated at table, he was struck with the loud wailings of women in his immediate vicinity. On inquiring into the cause, he was informed that the mother, queen, and daughters of Darius had rec- ognized the royal chariot, shield, and robe, and were lamenting his supposed death. Alexander immedi- ately commissioned Leonnatus to inform the mourners that Darius had escaped in safety; and to add, that they were to retain their royal state, orna- ments, and titles, that Alexander had no personal animosity against Darius, and was only engaged in a legitimate struggle for the empire of Asia.

The above account " (I quote Arrian's words) is given by Aristobulus and Ptolemy. A report also prevails, that Alexander, accompanied by no one but Hephsestion, visited the princesses on the follow- ing day, and that the queen-mother, not knowing which was the king, as the dress and arms of the two were the same, prostrated herself before Hephsestion, as he was the taller. But when Hephsestion had drawn back, and one of the attendants had pointed to Alexander, as being the king, and the queen, confused by her mistake, was retiring, Alexander told her there

104 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

had been no mistake, for his friend was also Alexan- der. I have written this report not as true, nor yet as altogether to be disbelieved. But if it be true, I praise Alexander for his compassionate kindness to the princesses, and the affection and respect shown by him to his friend ; and if it be not true, I praise him for his general character, which made writers conclude, that such actions and speeches would, if ascribed to Alexander, appear probable." In the present case we must be content with the latter clause of the eulogy, for long after this, Alexander, in a letter quoted by Plutarch, writes, " For my part, I have neither seen nor desired to see the wife of Darius; so far from that, I have not suffered any man to speak of her beauty before me."

On the following day, although he had received a sword wound in the thigh, he visited the wounded, and buried the dead with great magnificence. He himself spoke their funeral oration. The soldiers and officers who had principally distinguished them- selves were publicly praised, and received honors and rewards according to their rank. Among the Per- sians slain were Arsames, Pheomithres, Atizyes, and Sabaces, the satraps respectively of Cilicia, the Greater Phrygia, Paphlagonia, and Egypt. These, and others of high rank, were buried according to the orders of Sysigambis, the mother of Darius.

Of the Greek mercenaries who fought in the battle, 4,000 accompanied Darius in his march to the Upper Provinces, 8,000 under Amyntas, the son of An- tiochus, reached Tripolis in Phoenicia. There they

iEtat. 23.] DEATH OF AMYNTAS. 105

embarked on board the fleet which had conveyed many of them from the JEgesm. Amyntas then per- suaded them to sail into Egypt and seize upon it, vacant by the death of the satrap. On landing, Amyntas first gave out that he came as the legitimate successor of Sabaces, but unable to restrain his troops from plundering and maltreating the natives, he was soon discovered to be an impostor. A war then took place, in which, after some successes, Amyntas fell. Thus perished a Macedonian prince of considerable talents, and who had distinguished himself by invet- erate enmity against Alexander.

From Cilicia, Parmenio, at the head of the Thes- salian cavalry, was sent to seize the treasures, equi- page, and court of Darius at Damascus. This easy service, accompanied with the probability of great booty, was assigned to the Thessalians as a reward for their exertions and sufferings in the late battle, Alexander himself marched southward along the coast. The island Aradus, with its dependencies on the continent, was the first Phoenician state that sub- mitted. The king was with the Persian fleet, but the prince presented Alexander with a crown of gold, and surrendered his father's possessions. Aradus was then a maritime power of some consequence. The city covered with its buildings the modern island of Rouad. It possessed another town on the conti- nent, by name Marathus. Here ambassadors from Darius overtook Alexander, and as their proposals and the answer of Alexander are highly interesting, and illustrative both of the manners and diplomacy

108 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

pnte the sovereignty with me, do not fly, but stand your ground, as I will march and attack you wher- ever vou may be."

This certainly is not worded in the style of modern dispatches : but were it made a model for drawing up such papers, the art of diplomacy might be reduced to very simple principles. There is no attempt to delude, no wish to overreach, no desire to lull his an- tagonist into a fatal security: but the final object in view, and the resolution to attain it, are distinctly mentioned, and the sword made the only arbiter of the dispute.

The Persian court, with the treasures and the fami- lies of the principal Persians, and the foreign ambas- sadors, had been captured by Parmenio. The whole body had moved eastward, but had been overtaken through the activity of the Thessalians, or the treach- ery of their own guides. The Thessalians reaped a rich harvest of booty upon the occasion. Alexander ordered Parmenio to conduct the whole convoy back to Damascus, and to send the foreign ambassadors to head-quarters. Among these were Theban, Athen- ian, and Lacedaemonian envovs. Alexander ordered the Thebans to be immediatelv set at libertv, as he felt conscious that thev -were "justified in having: re- course to any power likely to restore their country. The Lacedaemonians, with whom he was virtually at

7 %j

war, were thrown into prison, but released after the battle of Arbela. According to the law of Greece the Athenian ambassadors were traitors ; and it is difficult to say in what capacity they could appear at

Mtat 21.] MARCH TO BYBLUS. 109

the Persian court, with which, in their confederate character, they were at open war. They, however, were immediately set at large, principally, as Alexan- der himself alleged, for the sake of their chief Iphi- crates, the son of the protector of Eurydice and her infant princes.

From Marathus Alexander marched to Byhlus, an ancient town celebrated for the worship of Adonis. The king was with the Persian fleet, but the inhab- itants, like the Aradians, submitted.

The Sidonians did not wait to be summoned, but eagerly availed themselves of the opportunity of shak- ing off the Persian yoke. Twenty years had not elapsed since Sidon had been captured by Ochus, and burnt by the inhabitants in a fit of frenzy and despair. Forty thousand Sidonians are stated to have perished in the conflagration. If we can be- lieve Diodorus, the conduct of Mentor the Bhodian, on the occasion, was most execrable. He commanded the auxiliaries in the Sidonian service, and betrayed his employers into the hands of their tyrants.

Alexander was now in the centre of Phoenicia, the cradle of Greek literature, and intimately connected with the remote traditions of the earliest colonization of Greece. With Phoenicia are connected the names of Europa, Minos, and Phadamanthus, of Cadmus, Semele, and Dionysus ; and not even Egypt had left a deeper impress of her intellect and arts on the plas- tic mind of Greece. But events unhappily occurred which prevented Alexander from hailing her as the mother of letters, commerce and civilization, and

110 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

caused the siege of Tyre to be the most mournful page in his historv. While he still remained at Sidon, a Tyrian deputation waited upon him, presented him with the customary crown of gold, and expressed the wish of the Tyrians to acknowledge his authority and execute his commands. He dismissed the deputies with honor, and announced to them his intention to visit Tyre, and to offer sacrifices in the temple of Hercules; " not the Grecian hero, his ancestor," says Arrian, " but another Hercules, worshipped many ages before him in a temple the oldest known on earth." Selden, in his treatise concerning the Syrian gods, has identified this Hercules with the Scripture Moloch, on whose altars the Tyrians and their Car- thaginian colonists used, on extraordinary occasions, to offer human victims. It was consequently in the temple of Moloch, " horrid king," that Alexander wished to sacrifice, but certainly not with the im- pious rites of his oriental worshippers.

The Tyrians, imagining it more easy to exclude than to expel their royal visitor, refused Alexander admission within their walls ; and, according to Cur- tius, informed him that the original temple was still standing in Old Tyre, where the god might be duly honored.

On receiving this refusal, Alexander summoned a general council of officers, and thus spoke : —

" Friends and Allies ! In my opinion we cannot march safely into Egypt while the Persians are mas- ters of the sea ; nor pursue Darius while, in our rear, Tyre remains undecided in her policy, and Cyprus

-ffitat. 23.J SPEECH OF ALEXANDER. HI

and Egypt are in the power of the Persians. The latter alternative is peculiarly hazardous, both for other reasons and on account of the state of Greece: for should we pursue Darius and march to Babylon, I fear the Persians, taking advantage of our absence, might re-capture the maritime cities, gather a power- ful force, and transfer the war to Greece. The Lacedaemonians are already our open enemies ; and the Athenians are restrained more by their fears of our arms than affection to our cause. But if we cap- ture Tyre, and thus take possession of all Phoenicia, the Phoenician fleet, the most numerous and efficient part of the Persian navy, will most probably come over to us: for when they hear that we are in pos- session of their homes and families, the seamen and naval combatants will not be likely to endure the hardships of sea and war in behalf of strangers. Should this be the result, Cyprus must either will- ingly follow, or be invaded, and easily subdued. When we sweep the seas with the united navies of Phoenicia, Macedonia and Cyprus, our maritime su- periority will be undisputed, and the expedition to Egypt facilitated. Finally, by the conquest of Egypt, all future alarms for the safety of Greece and Macedonia will be removed, and we shall com- mence our march to Babylon with a conscious feeling of the security of our homes, and with additional fame, from having deprived the Persians of al1 com- munication with the sea, and of the provinces to the west of the Euphrates." These arguments easily in-

112 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

duced the Macedonians and their allies to commence the siege of Tyre.

The Tyrians, although not so early celebrated either in sacred or profane histories, had yet attained greater renown than their Sidonian kinsmen. It is useless to conjecture at what period or under what circumstances these eastern colonists had quitted the shores of the Persian gulf, and fixed their seats on the narrow belt between the mountains of Lebanon and the sea. Probably at first they were only fac- tories, established for connecting the trade between the eastern and western world. If so, their origin must be sought among the natives to the east of the Assyrians, as that race of industrious cultivators pos- sessed no shipping, and was hostile to commerce. The colonists took root on this shore, became pros- perous and wealthy, covered the Mediterranean with their fleets, and its shores with their factories. Tyre in the course of time became the dominant citv, and under her supremacy were founded the Phoenician colonies in Greece, Sicily, Africa, and Spain. The wealth of her merchant princes had often tempted the cupidity of the despots of Asia." Salmanassar, the Assyrian conqueror of Israel, directed his attacks against Tyre, and continued them for five years, but was finally compelled to raise the siege. Nabucha- donosor f was more persevering, and succeeded in capturing the city, after a siege that lasted thirteen years. The old town, situated on the continent, was

* Shalmaneser.

f Nebuchadnezzar, or Nebuchadrezzar. ,-

JEtat. 23.] ANCIENT TYRE. 113

never rebuilt; but a new Tyre rose from its ruins. This occupied the area of a small island, described by Pliny as two miles and a half in circumference. On this confined space a large population existed, and remedied the want of extent by raising story upon story, on the plan followed by the ancient inhabitants of Edinburgh. It was separated from the main land by an armlet of the sea, about half a mile in breadth and about eighteen feet deep. The city was encircled by walls and fortifications of great strength and height, and scarcely pregnable even if accessible. The citizens were bold and skilful, and amply sup- plied with arms, engines, and other warlike muni- tions. Apparently no monarch ever undertook a more hopeless task than the capture of Tyre, with the means of offence possessed by Alexander. But no difficulties could daunt him. Without a single ship, and in the face of a formidable navy, he prepared to take an island fortress with his land forces. His plan was to construct a mound from the shore to the city walls, erect his battering rams on the western end, there effect a breach, and carry the town by storm.

Materials were abundant; the whole shore was strewed with the ruins of old Tyre ; and the activ- ity of the leader was well seconded by the zeal of his troops. The work advanced rapidly at first. The waters were shallow, and the loose and sandy soil easily allowed the piles to reach the more solid strata below. But as the mole advanced into deeper water

the difficulties of the undertaking became more evi- 8

114 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

dent. The labor of construction was greater, the cur- rents more rapid, the progress slower, and the annoy- ance given by the enemy more effectual. Missiles, discharged from the engines erected on the wall, reached the work in front ; triremes, properly fitted out, attacked it on both flanks. The men employed found it difficult to carry on the labor, and at the same time to defend themselves. Engines were there- fore raised on the sides of the mounds, to resist the triremes ; and two wooden towers were built at the extreme end, in order to clear the city walls of their defenders. These were hung in front with raw hides, the best defence against the enemy's fire-darts.

To counteract these measures, the Tyrians con- structed a fire ship, filled with the most combustible materials, and towed it to the mound. They then laid it alongside of the wooden towers, and there set fire to it. When the flames had taken effect, a general attack was made by the Tvrian fleet in front and on both sides. The Macedonians, blinded by the smoke, and enveloped in flames, could offer no effectual re- sistance. The Tyrians ascended the mound, de- stroyed the engines, and directed the progress of the flames. Their success was complete, and in a few hours the labors of the Macedonians were rendered useless.

Alexander possessed perseverance as well as ar- dency of character. He recommenced the construc- tion of the mound on a larger scale, so as to admit more ensines and a broader line of combatants. In the interval he varied his labors by making a short

Mtat. 23.] SIEGE OF TYRE. 115

excursion against the robber tribes of Mount Lebanon. This was not a service of great danger, but the necessity of pursuing the robbers into the recesses of their mountains, occasioned the following adventure, which Plutarch has recorded upon the au- thority of Chares.

Lysimachus, his preceptor in earlier days, had ac- companied Alexander into Asia. Neither older nor less valiant than Phoenix, he claimed a right to attend his former pupil on all such expeditions. Night overtook the party among the wilds of Anti-Libanus; the rugged ground compelled them to quit their horses, but the strength of the old man began rapidly to sink under the united effects of age, fatigue, and cold. Alexander would not forsake him, and had to pass a dark and cold night in an exposed situation. In this perplexity he observed at a distance a num- ber of scattered fires which the enemy had lighted: depending upon his swiftness and activity, he ran to the nearest fire, killed two of the barbarians who were watching it, seized a lighted brand, and has- tened with it to his party. They soon kindled a large fire, and passed the night in safety. In eleven daya he received the submission of most of the mountain chiefs, and then descended to Sidon.

Tie was convinced by this time that he could not entertain any reasonable hope of taking Tyre without the co-operation of a fleet. Winter had now set in, and he had every reason to hope that the Phoenician fleets would return, and as usual, spend that season in their own harbors. He was not disappointed ; tha

116 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 333.

kings of Aradus, of Byblus, and Sidon, returned home, and finding their cities occupied by Alexan- der, placed their fleets at his disposal. A few ships also joined from other harbors. Thus the king sud- denly found himself master of more than a hundred sail. This number was soon after more than doubled by the junction of the kings of Cyprus, with a hun- dred and twenty ships of war. These were Greeks, but their seasonable arrival was too welcome to ad- mit of reproaches for past misconduct; all was for- gotten, and their present appointments confirmed.

CHAPTEE VII.

THIRD CAMPAIGN, B. C. 332.

The siege of Tyre occupied the first five months of this year, supposing it to have commenced in No- vember, B. C. 333, but if it did not commence till December, the capture did not occur till the end of June, 332. The Tyrians were surprised and dis- mayed when Alexander came with his formidable fleet in sight of their city. Their first impulse was to draw out their vessels and give battle; but the enemy's superiority disheartened them. Their next care was to prevent their own fleet from being at- tacked. To insure this they sunk as many triremes in the mouths of their two harbors as would fill the intervening space.

The island, now a peninsula, was in shape a paral- lelogram, with its longest sides exposed to the north and south ; the western end threw out a small pro- montory to the north, and in the curve thus made was the principal harbor, secured by strong piers, and a narrow entrance; off this Alexander stationed the Cyprian fleet, with orders to keep it closely blockaded. In rough weather the fleet could take refuge in the northern angle, between the mound and the shore. The opposite side was occupied by the Phoenician

117

118 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 332.

fleet, which thence "watched the southern harbor. This was the only use derived from the mound, as the city walls in front of it were 150 feet high, and of proportional solidity. Had not this wall defied the battering ram, the Tyrians had ample time and room to triple and quadruple their defences on that single point. It does not appear, however, that the mound ever reached the walls, or that an assault was made from that quarter. The camp was now filled with smiths, carpenters, and engineers, from Khodes and Cyprus, who constructed huge rafts, on which bat- tering rams and other engines were erected, and ex- posed the whole circumference of the walls to at- tack.

But it was found that these enormous masses could not approach close enough to allow the engines to be plied with effect, as the outermost foundations of the wall were protected by a breastwork of huge stones, placed there to break the violence of the waves. The Macedonians, therefore, with great labor and loss of time, had to remove these unwieldv obstacles and to clear the ground. The vessels employed in this serv- ice experienced every species of active annoyance from the Tyrians. Small boats with strong decks slipped under their sterns, and cutting their cables, sent them adrift. And when Alexander had pro- tected his working vessels with a line of boats simi- larlv decked, the Tvrian clivers eluded their vili°;ance and cut the cables close to their anchors. Chain cables were finally substituted, and the work pro- ceeded. Eopes were fastened to immense masses,

JEtat. 24.] SIEGE OF TYRE. 119

and they were drawn to the mound and sunk in deep water between its western end and the wall. It was probably these stones that, in aftertimes, converted the island into a peninsula.

At this period the Tyrians made an attempt to regain their naval superiority. They secretly pre- pared three quinqueremes, three quadriremes, and seven triremes ; these they manned with their most skilful and active sailors, and with their best armed and boldest warriors. The intention was to suprise the Cyprian fleet ; the time chosen mid-day, — when the sailors usually went ashore, and the watches re- laxed their vigilance. Then the Tyrian ships quietly glided one by one from the inner harbor, formed their line in silence, and as soon as they came in sight of the Cyprians, gave a gallant cheer and plied every oar with zeal and effect. The first shock sent down three quinqueremes, and in one of them, Pnytagoras, a Cyprian king; the rest, partly empty and partly half manned, were driven ashore, where the victors prepared to destroy them.

Alexander's tent was pitched on the shore not far from the station of the Phoenician fleet. He, like the rest, probably in consequence of the heat, used to re- tire to his tent at noon. On this day his stay had been much shorter than usual, and he had already joined the Phoenician fleet, when the alarm was given of the Tyrian sally. The crews were instantly hur- ried on board, the greater number ordered to sta- tion themselves off the southern harbor, to prevent another sally from that quarter, while he, with all the

120 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 332.

quinqueremes and five triremes, moved round the western end of the island as rapidly as the crews could row.*

The Tyrians, who from the walls viewed this movement, and recognized Alexander by his dress and arms, saw that if he succeeded in doubling the point and gaining the entrance into the northern har- bor before their ships returned, their retreat must inevitably be cut off. One universal cry was there- fore raised, and ten thousand voices called upon the detached party to return ; and when the combatants, in the moment of their triumph, disregarded sounds easily to be mistaken for cheers of applause and en- couragement, signals were displayed on every con- spicuous point. These were at length observed, but too late for the safety of the ships. A few regained the harbor, the greater number were disabled, and a quinquereme and the three quadriremes were taken without being damaged. The crews abandoned them and swam to the shore. The loss of lives was, there- fore, trifling.

The attempts to batter down the walls were no longer liable to be interrupted by the Tyrian navy, but great difficulties still remained ; for the besieged, from their commanding position on the walls, could seriously annoy the men who worked the engines. Some they caught with grappling-hooks, and dragged within the walls; others they crushed with large

* The distance around the western end of the island to the mouth of the harbor was about two miles and a half, and this could be covered in fifteen minutes.

Mia*. 34.] SIEGE OF TYRE. 121

stones or pierced with engine darts. They also threw hot sand on their nearer assailants; this penetrated the chinks of their armor, and rendered the wearer frantic with pain. Diodorus adds, and he could not have invented the tale, that from their fire-casting engines they threw red-hot iron balls among the dense masses of the besiegers, and seldom missed their* aim.

The attack on the eastern and western sides had already failed, when a more vulnerable part was found in the southern wall ; a small breach was there made, and a slight assault by way of trial given. The ensuing day was devoted to preparations for the final effort ; every ship was put in requisition and fur- nished with missiles, its proper place assigned, and orders given to attack at the preconcerted signal.

The third day was calm and favorable for the in- tended assault : two rafts, carrying the most power- ful engines and battering rams, were towed opposite the vulnerable spot, and soon broke down a consider- able portion of the wall. When the breach was pro- nounced practicable the rafts were withdrawn, and two ships of war, furnished with moveable bridges, brought up in their place. The first was manned by the guards, commanded by Admetus ; the second, by the Companion infantry, commanded by Coenus; Alexander was with the guards. The ships were brought close to the wall, the bridges successfully thrown across, and Admetus, at the head of the for- lorn hope, scaled the breach, and was the first to mount the wall; in the next moment he was pierced

122 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 832.

by a lance and died on the spot; but Alexander and his friends were close behind, and made their ground good. As soon as some turrets with the intervening wall had been secured, the king advanced along the battlements in the direction of the palace, where the descent into the city seemed easiest.

In the meantime the fleets had made two success- ful attacks from opposite quarters ; the Cyprians had forced their way into the northern, and the Phoeni- cians into the southern harbor. The crews landed on the quays, and the city was taken on all sides. Little mercy was shown, as the Macedonians had been ex- asperated by numerous insults, by the length and ob- stinacy of the defence, and the serious loss they had suffered ; for more men were slain in winning Tyre, than in achieving the three great victories over Darius. The Tvrians also had, in the time of their naval superiority and of their confidence, cruelly vio- lated the laws of war. A vessel, manned bv Mace- donians, had been captured and taken into Tyre. The crew were brought upon the walls, slaughtered in cold blood, and thrown into the sea, before the eyes of their indignant countrvmen.

In revenge, eight thousand Tyrians fell by the sword when the citv was stormed, and thirty thou- sand were sold as slaves.* The king, the magis- trates, and the principal citizens, had taken refuge in the temple of Hercules, or, more properly speaking, of Moloch. These all received pardon and liberty.

* The population of Tyre could hardly have been more than 75,000. This vengeance was therefore extremely severe.

JKt&t. 24.] FATE OF TYRE. 123

It is to be hoped that superstition alone did net cause this distinction; and that the authorities proved that the law of nations had been violated not under their sanction, but by the excesses of a lawless mob. Tyre had not tyrannically abused her supremacy over the other Phoenician states, and they actively interfered in behalf of her children in the day of distress. The Sidonians alone saved fifteen thousand from the vic- tor's wrath ; nor is it probable that any captives were carried out of Phoenicia.

The capture of Tyre was, perhaps, the greatest mil- itary achievement of Alexander; and had he spared the citizens when he had won their city, it would be a pleasing task to dwell upon the spirit, vigilance, self-resources, perseverance, and contempt of death, displayed by him during his arduous enterprise. But his merciless consignment of the wives and chil- dren of the merchant-princes of the eastern world to a state of slavery, and to be scattered in bondage among barbarian masters, sadly dims the splendor of the exploit, and leaves us only to lament that he did not act in a manner more worthy of himself and of the dignity of the captured city. It is no excuse to allege in his behalf, that it was done in accordance with the spirit of his age ; for Alexander, in feelings, in natural talents, and by education, was far beyond his contemporaries, and his lofty character subjects him to be tried by his peers, according to the general laws of humanity.

A curious anecdote connected with the siege, and illustrative of ancient manners and superstitions, is

124r ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 332.

recorded by historians. The Carthaginians, in one of their campaigns against the Sicilian Greeks, had seized and carried away a valuable statue of the Grecian Apollo. This god of the vanquished had been selected as a gift worthy of the acceptance of the mother city, and had been placed at the footstool of Moloch in his Tyrian temple. The Grecian god, in this state of degradation, was naturally suspected of rejoicing at the approach of his countrymen ; and the morbid feelings of some Tvrians deluded them so far, as to lead them to imagine that he had ap- peared to them in their sleep, and announced his in- tention to desert. The case was brought before the magistrates, who could not discover a more effectual mode of allaying the popular apprehensions than by binding the disaffected statue, with golden chains, to the horns of Moloch's altar. The Tyrian's patriot- ism was not doubted. To his custody, therefore, his fellow god was consigned.

One of Alexander's first cares, on entering the tem- ple, was with clue ceremony to release the statue from its chains, and to give it the new name of Phil-Alex- ander.

The sacrifice to Hercules, the ostensible cause of the war, was celebrated with due pomp; and the ves- sels sailed, and the troops inarched, in solemn pro- cession. The usual festivities followed, accompanied by gymnastic contests, and the whole was closed by the favorite lamp race.* The quinquereme, which he

* It will be observed that, ordinarily, victories in the Asiatic campaigns of Alexander, were followed by festivities and

JEtat. 24.] FESTIVITIES AND SPORTS. 125

had himself taken, the sole trophy of his naval wars, was dedicated with an inscription in the temple of

games. The festivities of course consisted chiefly of eating and drinking, particularly the latter. The games were of a sort that would now be called an athletic field day, but they had all the patriotic and religious associations of having come down from the heroic meets at Olympia. The chief of these games were : —

(1) The foot race, from the 200 yards dash to the long run of more than three miles. Sometimes races were run in heavy armor.

(2) The horse race.

(3) The chariot races. These varied somewhat by the number of the horses attached to the chariot. The chief test of these races was getting safely past the turning point, the goal or pillar round which the vehicles must be turned, as they traversed the course many times in each race. The very horses learned to dread this critical point at which so many chariots were wrecked and their drivers injured or killed.

(4) Wrestling.

(5) Boxing.

(6) A combination of five games called the pentathlon, the chief of which seems to have been the long jump.

(7) One of the most popular with the army of Alexander was the lamp race. This was contested between rival teams, or combinations of players. The lamp for this race was a candlestick with a shield placed at the bottom of the socket so as to shelter the flame. The lighted lamp was carried from the starting point to a certain distance by the first runner, who delivered it to the second, and he to his successor, and so on through the entire team. This race frequently took place by night. The contestants sometimes raced on foot, sometimes on horseback. Of course the lamp was to be delivered at the end of the course unextinguished.

(8) There were also dramas, poems, and music. Probably other sports were added, as is usual in the jubilation by which victors are wont to celebrate any kind of a triumph.

126 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [B.C. 332.

Hercules. So also was the battering-ram with which the walls had been first shaken. Its beam probably was formed of the trunk of one of the magnificent cedars of Lebanon.

" Arrian (says Mitford) relates, as a report gen- erally received, and to which he gave credit, that, soon after the battle of Issus, a confidential eunuch, a principal attendant of the captive queen of Persia, found means to go to her unfortunate husband. On first sight of him, Darius hastily asked, if his wife and children were living. The eunuch assuring him, that not only all were well, but all treated with re- spect as royal personages, equally as before their captivit}r, the monarch's apprehension changed. The queen was generally said to be the most beauti- ful woman in the Persian empire. How, in the usual concealment of the persons of women of rank throughout the eastern nations, hardly less in ancient than in modern days, this could be done, unless from report of the eunuchs of the palace, Arrian has not said ; but his account rather implies that her face had