Chapter XV: Part 15

Enraged at these words, Alexander exclaimed, "You villain, am I then a bastard?" and threw a drinking cup at him. Philip, seeing this, rose and drew his sword to attack Alexander; but fortunately for both he was so excited by drink and rage that he missed his footing and fell headlong to the ground. Hereupon Alexander mocking him observed, "This is the man who was preparing to cross from Europe to Asia, and has been overthrown in passing from one couch[404] to another."

After this disgraceful scene, Alexander, with his mother Olympias, retired into Epirus, where he left her, and proceeded to the country of the Illyrians. About the same time Demaratus of Corinth, an old friend of the family, and privileged to speak his mind freely, came on a visit to Philip. After the first greetings were over, Philip enquired whether the states of Greece agreed well together. "Truly, King Philip," answered Demaratus, "it well becomes you to show an interest in the agreement of the Greeks, after you have raised such violent quarrels in your own family."

These words had such an effect upon Philip that Demaratus was able to prevail upon him to make his peace with Alexander and to induce him to return.

X. Yet when Pixodarus, the satrap of Karia, hoping to connect himself with Philip, and so to obtain him as an ally, offered his eldest daughter in marriage to Arrhidæus, Philip's natural son, and sent Aristokrites to Macedonia to conduct the negotiations, Olympias and her friends again exasperated Alexander against his father by pointing out to him that Philip, by arranging this splendid marriage for Arrhidæus, and treating him as a person of such great importance, was endeavouring to accustom the Macedonians to regard him as the heir to the throne. Alexander yielded to these representations so far as to send Thessalus, the tragic actor, on a special mission to Pixodarus in Karia, to assure him that he ought to disregard Arrhidæus, who was illegitimate, and foolish to boot, and that it was to Alexander that he ought to offer the hand of his daughter.

Pixodarus was much more eager to accept this proposal than the former, but Philip one day hearing that Alexander was alone in his chamber, went thither with Philotas, the son of Parmenio, an intimate friend, and bitterly reproached him, pointing out how unworthy it was of his high birth and glorious position to stoop to marry the daughter of a mere Karian,[405] and of a barbarian who was a subject of the King of Persia.

Upon this he wrote to the Corinthians to send him Thessalus in chains, and also banished out of his kingdom Harpalus, Nearchus, Erigyius, and Ptolemæus, all of whom Alexander afterwards brought back and promoted to great honours.

Shortly after this, Pausanias was grossly insulted by the contrivance of Attalus and Kleopatra, and, as he could not obtain amends for what he suffered, assassinated Philip. We are told that most men laid the blame of this murder upon Queen Olympias, who found the young man smarting from the outrage which had been committed upon him, and urged him to avenge himself, while some accused Alexander himself. It is said that when Pausanias came to him and complained of his treatment, Alexander answered him by quoting the line from the Medea of Euripides, in which she declares that she will be revenged upon

"The guardian, and the bridegroom, and the bride,"

alluding to Attalus, Philip, and Kleopatra.

However this may be, it is certain that he sought out and punished all who were concerned in the plot, and he expressed his sorrow on discovering that during his own absence from the kingdom, Kleopatra had been cruelly tortured and put to death by his mother Olympias.

XI. At the age of twenty he succeeded to the throne of Macedonia, a perilous and unenviable inheritance: for the neighbouring barbarian tribes chafed at being held in bondage, and longed for the rule of their own native kings; while Philip, although he had conquered Greece by force of arms, yet had not had time to settle its government and accustom it to its new position. He had overthrown all constituted authority in that country, and had left men's minds in an excited condition, eager for fresh changes and revolutions. The Macedonians were very sensible of the dangerous crisis through which they were passing, and hoped that Alexander would refrain as far as possible from interfering in the affairs of Greece, deal gently with the insurgent chiefs of his barbarian subjects, and carefully guard against revolutionary outbreaks. He, however, took quite a different view of the situation, conceiving it to be best to win safety by audacity, and carrying things with a high hand, thinking that if he showed the least sign of weakness, his enemies would all set upon him at once. He crushed the risings of the barbarians by promptly marching through their country as far as the river Danube, and by winning a signal victory over Syrmus, the King of the Triballi. After this, as he heard that the Thebans had revolted, and that the Athenians sympathised with them, he marched his army straight through Thermopylæ, with the remark that Demosthenes, who had called him a boy while he was fighting the Illyrians and Triballi, and a youth while he was marching through Thessaly, should find him a man when he saw him before the gates of Athens. When he reached Thebes, he gave the citizens an opportunity to repent of their conduct, only demanding Phœnix and Prothytes to be given up to him, and offering the rest a free pardon if they would join him. When, however, the Thebans in answer to this, demanded that he should give up Philotas and Antipater to them, and called upon all who were willing to assist in the liberation of Greece to come and join them, he bade his Macedonians prepare for battle.

The Thebans, although greatly outnumbered, fought with superhuman valour; but they were taken in the rear by the Macedonian garrison, who suddenly made a sally from the Kadmeia, and the greater part of them were surrounded and fell fighting. The city was captured, plundered and destroyed. Alexander hoped by this terrible example to strike terror into the other Grecian states, although he put forward the specious pretext that he was avenging the wrongs of his allies; for the Platæans and Phokians had made some complaints of the conduct of the Thebans towards them. With the exception of the priests, the personal friends and guests of the Macedonians, the descendants of the poet Pindar, and those who had opposed the revolt, he sold for slaves all the rest of the inhabitants, thirty thousand in number. More than six thousand men perished in the battle.

XII. Amidst the fearful scene of misery and disorder which followed the capture of the city, certain Thracians broke into the house of one Timoklea, a lady of noble birth and irreproachable character. Their leader forcibly violated her, and then demanded whether she had any gold or silver concealed. She said that she had, led him alone into the garden, and, pointing to a well, told him that when the city was taken she threw her most valuable jewels into it. While the Thracian was stooping over the well trying to see down to the bottom, she came behind, pushed him in, and threw large stones upon him until he died. The Thracians seized her, and took her to Alexander, where she proved herself a woman of courage by her noble and fearless carriage, as she walked in the midst of her savage captors. The king enquired who she was, to which she replied she was the sister of Theagenes, who fought against Philip to protect the liberty of Greece, and who fell leading on the Thebans at Chæronea. Alexander, struck by her answer, and admiring her exploit, gave orders that she and her children should be set at liberty.

XIII. Alexander came to terms with the Athenians, although they had expressed the warmest sympathy for the Thebans, omitting the performance of the festival of Demeter, out of respect for their misfortunes, and giving a kindly welcome to all the fugitives who reached Athens. Either he had had his fill of anger, like a sated lion, or possibly he wished to perform some signal act of mercy by way of contrast to his savage treatment of Thebes. Be this as it may, he not only informed the Athenians that he had no grounds of quarrel with them, but even went so far as to advise them to watch the course of events with care, since, if anything should happen to him, they might again become the ruling state in Greece. In after times, Alexander often grieved over his harsh treatment of the Thebans, and the recollection of what he had done made him much less severe to others. Indeed, he always referred his unfortunate drunken quarrel with Kleitus, and the refusal of the Macedonian soldiers to invade India, by which they rendered the glory of his great expedition incomplete, to the anger of Dionysius,[406] who desired to avenge the fate of his favourite city. Moreover, of the Thebans who survived the ruin of their city, no one ever asked any favour of Alexander without its being granted. This was the manner in which Alexander dealt with Thebes.

XIV. The Greeks after this assembled at Corinth and agreed to invade Persia with Alexander for their leader. Many of their chief statesmen and philosophers paid him visits of congratulation, and he hoped that Diogenes of Sinope, who was at that time living at Corinth, would do so. As he, however, paid no attention whatever to Alexander and remained quietly in the suburb called Kraneium, Alexander himself went to visit him. He found him lying at full length, basking in the sun. At the approach of so many people, he sat up, and looked at Alexander. Alexander greeted him, and enquired whether he could do anything for him. "Yes," answered Diogenes, "you can stand a little on one side, and not keep the sun off me." This answer is said to have so greatly surprised Alexander, and to have filled him with such a feeling of admiration for the greatness of mind of a man who could treat him with such insolent superiority, that when he went away, while all around were jeering and scoffing he said, "Say what you will; if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."

Desiring to consult the oracle of Apollo concerning his campaign, he now proceeded to Delphi. It chanced that he arrived there on one of the days which are called unfortunate, on which no oracular responses can be obtained. In spite of this he at once sent for the chief priestess, and as she refused to officiate and urged that she was forbidden to do so by the law, he entered the temple by force and dragged her to the prophetic tripod. She, yielding to his persistence, said, "You are irresistible, my son." Alexander, at once, on hearing this, declared that he did not wish for any further prophecy, but that he had obtained from her the response which he wished for. While he was preparing for his expedition, among many other portents, the statue of Orpheus at Loibethra, which is made of cypress-wood, was observed to be covered with sweat. All were alarmed at this omen, but Aristander bade them take courage, as it portended that Alexander should perform many famous acts, which would cause poets much trouble to record.

XV. The number of his army is variously stated by different authorities, some saying that it amounted to thirty thousand foot and four thousand horse, while others put the whole amount so high as forty-three thousand foot and five thousand horse. To provide for this multitude, Aristobulus relates that he possessed only seventy talents, while Douris informs us that he had only provisions for thirty days, and Onesikritus declares that he was in debt to the amount of two hundred talents. Yet although he started with such slender resources, before he embarked he carefully enquired into the affairs of his friends, and made them all ample presents, assigning to some of them large tracts of land, and to others villages, the rents of houses, or the right of levying harbour dues. When he had almost expended the whole of the revenues of the crown in this fashion, Perdikkas enquired of him, "My king, what have you reserved for yourself?" "My hopes," replied Alexander. "Then," said Perdikkas, "are we who go with you not to share them?" and he at once refused to accept the present which had been offered to him, as did several others. Those, however, who would receive his gifts, or who asked for anything, were rewarded with a lavish hand, so that he distributed among them nearly all the revenues of Macedonia; so confident of success was he when he set out. When he had crossed the Hellespont he proceeded to Troy, offered sacrifice to Athena, and poured libations to the heroes who fell there. He anointed the column which marks the tomb of Achilles with fresh oil, and after running round it naked with his friends, as is customary, placed a garland upon it, observing that Achilles was fortunate in having a faithful friend while he lived, and a glorious poet to sing of his deeds after his death. While he was walking through the city and looking at all the notable things, he was asked whether he wished to see the harp which had once belonged to Paris. He answered, that he cared nothing for it, but that he wished to find that upon which Achilles used to play when he sang of the deeds of heroes.

XVI. Meanwhile the generals of Darius had collected a large army, and posted it at the passage of the river Granikus, so that it was necessary for Alexander to fight a battle in order to effect so much as an entrance into Asia. Most of the Greek generals were alarmed at the depth and uneven bed of the river, and at the rugged and broken ground on the farther bank, which they would have to mount in the face of the enemy. Some also raised a religious scruple, averring that the Macedonian kings never made war during the month Daisius. Alexander said that this could be easily remedied, and ordered that the second month in the Macedonian calendar should henceforth be called Artemisium. When Parmenio besought him not to risk a battle, as the season was far advanced, he said that the Hellespont would blush for shame if he crossed it, and then feared to cross the Granikus, and at once plunged into the stream with thirteen squadrons of cavalry. It seemed the act of a desperate madman rather than of a general to ride thus through a rapid river, under a storm of missiles, towards a steep bank where every position of advantage was occupied by armed men. He, however, gained the farther shore, and made good his footing there, although with great difficulty on account of the slippery mud. As soon as he had crossed, and driven away those who had opposed his passage, he was charged by a mass of the enemy, and forced to fight, pell-mell, man to man, before he could put those who had followed him over into battle array. The enemy came on with a shout, and rode straight up to the horses of the Macedonians, thrusting at them with spears, and using swords when their spears were broken. Many of them pressed round Alexander himself, who was made a conspicuous figure by his shield and the long white plume which hung down on each side of his helmet. He was struck by a javelin in the joint of his corslet, but received no hurt. Rhœsakes and Spithridates, two of the Persian generals, now attacked him at once. He avoided the charge of the latter, but broke his spear against the breastplate of Rhœsakes, and was forced to betake him to his sword. No sooner had they closed together than Spithridates rode up beside him, and, standing up in his stirrups, dealt him such a blow with a battle-axe, as cut off one side of his plume, and pierced his helmet just so far as to reach his hair with the edge of the axe. While Spithridates was preparing for another blow, he was run through by black Kleitus with a lance, and at the same moment Alexander with his sword laid Rhœsakes dead at his feet. During this fierce and perilous cavalry battle, the Macedonian phalanx[407] crossed the river, and engaged the enemy's infantry force, none of which offered much resistance except a body of mercenary Greeks in the pay of Persia. These troops retired to a small rising ground, and begged for quarter. Alexander, however, furiously attacked them by riding up to them by himself, in front of his men.

He lost his horse, which was killed by a sword-thrust, and it is said that more of the Macedonians perished in that fight, and that more wounds were given and received, than in all the rest of the battle, as they were attacking desperate men accustomed to war.

The Persians are said to have lost twenty thousand infantry, and two thousand five hundred cavalry. In the army of Alexander, Aristobulus states the total loss to have been thirty-four men, nine of whom were foot soldiers. Alexander ordered that each of these men should have his statue made in bronze by Lysippus; and wishing to make the Greeks generally partakers of his victory, he sent the Athenians three hundred captured shields, and on the other spoils placed the following vainglorious inscription:[408] "Alexander, the son of Philip, and the Greeks, all but the Lacedæmonians, won these spoils from the barbarians of Asia." As for the golden drinking-cups, purple hangings, and other plunder of that sort, he sent it nearly all to his mother, reserving only a few things for himself.

XVII. This victory wrought a great change in Alexander's position. Several of the neighbouring states came and made their submission to him, and even Sardis itself, the chief town in Lydia, and the main station of the Persians in Asia Minor, submitted without a blow. The only cities which still resisted him, Halikarnassus and Miletus, he took by storm, and conquered all the adjacent territory, after which he remained in doubt as to what to attempt next; whether to attack Darius at once and risk all that he had won upon the issue of a single battle, or to consolidate and organise his conquests on the coast of Asia Minor, and to gather new strength for the final struggle. It is said that at this time a spring in the country of Lykia, near the city of Xanthus, overflowed, and threw up from its depths a brazen tablet, upon which, in ancient characters, was inscribed a prophecy that the Persian empire should be destroyed by the Greeks. Encouraged by this portent, he extended his conquests along the sea coast as far as Phœnicia and Kilikia. Many historians dwelt with admiration on the good fortune of Alexander, in meeting with such fair weather and such a smooth sea during his passage along the stormy shore of Pamphylia, and say that it was a miracle that the furious sea, which usually dashed against the highest rocks upon the cliffs, fell calm for him. Menander alludes to this in one of his plays.

"Like Alexander, if I wish to meet
A man, at once I find him in the street;
And, were I forced to journey o'er the sea,
The sea itself would calm its waves for me."

Alexander himself, however, in his letters, speaks of no such miracle, but merely tells us that he started from Phaselis, and passed along the difficult road called Klimax, or the Ladder.[409] He spent some time in Phaselis, and while he was there, observing in the market-place a statue of Theodektes, a philosopher, who had recently died, he made a procession to it one day after dinner, and crowned it with flowers, as a sportive recognition of what he owed to Theodektes, with whose philosophical writings Aristotle had made him familiar.

XVIII. After this he put down a revolt among the Pisidians, and conquered the whole of Phrygia. On his arrival at Gordium, which is said to have been the capital of King Midas of old, he was shown the celebrated chariot there, tied up with a knot of cornel-tree bark. Here he was told the legend, which all the natives believed, that whoever untied that knot was destined to become lord of all the world. Most historians say that as the knot was tied with a strap whose ends could not be found, and was very complicated and intricate, Alexander, despairing of untying it, drew his sword and cut through the knot, thus making many ends appear. But Aristobulus tells us that he easily undid it by pulling out of the pole the pin to which the strap was fastened, and then drawing off the yoke itself from the pole.

He now prevailed upon the people of Paphlagonia and Kappadokia to join him, and also was encouraged in his design of proceeding farther into the interior by receiving intelligence of the death of Memnon, the general to whom Darius had entrusted the defence of the sea coast, who had already caused him much trouble, and had offered a most stubborn resistance to him. Darius, too, came from Susa, confident in the numbers of his army, for he was at the head of six hundred thousand men, and greatly encouraged by a dream upon which the Magi had put rather a strained interpretation in order to please him. He dreamed that he saw the Macedonian phalanx begirt with flame, and that Alexander, dressed in a courier's cloak like that which he himself had worn before he became king, was acting as his servant. Afterwards, Alexander went into the temple of Belus, and disappeared. By this vision the gods probably meant to foretell that the deeds of the Macedonians would be brilliant and glorious, and that Alexander after conquering Asia, just as Darius had conquered it when from a mere courier he rose to be a king, would die young and famous.

XIX. Darius was also much encouraged by the long inaction of Alexander in Kilikia. This was caused by an illness, which some say arose from the hardships which he had undergone, and others tell us was the result of bathing in the icy waters of the Kydnus. No physician dared to attend him, for they all thought that he was past the reach of medicine, and dreaded the anger of the Macedonians if they proved unsuccessful. At last Philip, an Akarnanian, seeing that he was dangerously ill, determined to run the risk, as he was his true friend, and thought it his duty to share all his dangers. He compounded a draught for him, and persuaded him to drink it, by telling him that it would give him strength and enable him to take the field. At this time Parmenio sent him a letter from the camp, bidding him beware of Philip, who had been bribed to poison him by Darius with rich presents, and the offer of his own daughter in marriage. Alexander read the letter, and showed it to no one, but placed it under his pillow. At the appointed hour, Philip and his friends entered the room, bringing the medicine in a cup. Alexander took the cup from him, and gave him the letter to read, while he firmly and cheerfully drank it off. It was a strange and theatrical scene. When the one had read, and the other had drunk, they stared into each other's faces, Alexander with a cheerful expression of trust and kindly feeling towards Philip, while Philip, enraged at the calumny, first raised his hands to heaven, protesting his innocence, and then, casting himself upon his knees at the bed-side, besought Alexander to be of good cheer and follow his advice. The effect of the drug at first was to produce extreme weakness, for he became speechless and almost insensible. In a short time, however, by Philip's care, he recovered his strength, and showed himself publicly to the Macedonians, who were very anxious about him, and would not believe that he was better until they saw him.

XX. There was in the camp of Darius a Macedonian refugee, named Amyntas, who was well acquainted with Alexander's character. This man, when he found that Darius wished to enter the hilly country to fight Alexander amongst its narrow valleys, besought him to remain where he was, upon the flat open plains, where the enormous numbers of his troops could be advantageously used against the small Macedonian army. When Darius answered that he feared Alexander and his men would escape unless he attacked, Amyntas said, "O king, have no fears on that score; for he will come and fight you, and I warrant he is not far off now." However, Amyntas made no impression on Darius, who marched forward into Kilikia, while at the same time Alexander marched into Syria to meet him. During the night they missed one another, and each turned back, Alexander rejoicing at this incident, and hurrying to catch Darius in the narrow defile leading into Kilikia, while Darius was glad of the opportunity of recovering his former ground, and of disentangling his army from the narrow passes through the mountains. He already had perceived the mistake which he had committed in entering a country where the sea, the mountains, and the river Pyramus which ran between them, made it impossible for his army to act, while on the other hand it afforded great advantages to his enemies, who were mostly foot soldiers, and whose numbers were not so great as to encumber their movements.

Fortune, no doubt, greatly favoured Alexander, but yet he owed much of his success to his excellent generalship; for although enormously outnumbered by the enemy, he not only avoided being surrounded by them, but was able to outflank their left with his own right wing, and by this manœuvre completely defeated the Persians. He himself fought among the foremost, and, according to Chares, was wounded in the thigh by Darius himself. Alexander in the account of the battle which he despatched to Antipater, does not mention the name of the man who wounded him, but states that he received a stab in the thigh with a dagger, and that the wound was not a dangerous one.

He won a most decisive victory, and slew more than a hundred thousand of the enemy, but could not come up with Darius himself, as he gained a start of nearly a mile. He captured his chariot, however, and his bow and arrows, and on his return found the Macedonians revelling in the rich plunder which they had won, although the Persians had been in light marching order, and had left most of their heavy baggage at Damascus. The royal pavilion of Darius himself, full of beautiful slaves, and rich furniture of every description, had been left unplundered, and was reserved for Alexander himself, who as soon as he had taken off his armour, proceeded to the bath, saying "Let me wash off the sweat of the battle in the bath of Darius." " Nay," answered one of his companions, "in that of Alexander; for the goods of the vanquished become the property of the victor." When he entered the bath and saw that all the vessels for water, the bath itself, and the boxes of unguents were of pure gold, and smelt the delicious scent of the rich perfumes with which the whole pavilion was filled; and when he passed from the bath into a magnificent and lofty saloon where a splendid banquet was prepared, he looked at his friends and said "This, then, it is to be a king indeed."

XXI. While he was dining it was told him that the mother and wife of Darius, and his two daughters, who were among the captives, had seen the chariot and bow of Darius, and were mourning for him, imagining him to be dead. Alexander when he heard this paused for a long time, being more affected by the grief of these ladies, than by the victory which he had won. Hie sent Leonnatus to inform them, that they need neither mourn for Darius, nor fear Alexander; for he was fighting for the empire of Asia, not as a personal enemy of Darius, and would take care that they were treated with the same honour and respect as before. This generous message to the captive princesses was followed by acts of still greater kindness; for he permitted then to bury whomsoever of the slain Persians they wished, and to use all their own apparel and furniture, which had been seized by the soldiers as plunder. He also allowed them to retain the regal title and state, and even increased their revenues. But the noblest and most truly royal part of his treatment of these captive ladies was that he never permitted them to hear any coarse language, or imagine for a moment that they were likely to suffer violence or outrage; so that they lived unseen and unmolested, more as though they were in some sacred retreat of holy virgins than in a camp. Yet the wife of Darius is said to have been the most beautiful princess of her age, just as Darius himself was the tallest and handsomest man in Asia, and their daughters are said to have resembled their parents in beauty. Alexander, it seems, thought it more kingly to restrain himself than to conquer the enemy, and never touched any of them, nor did he know any other before his marriage, except Barsine. This lady, after the death of her husband Memnon, remained at Damascus. She had received a Greek education, was naturally attractive, and was of royal descent, as her father was Artabazus, who married one of the king's daughters; which, added to the solicitations of Parmenio, as we are told by Aristobulus, made Alexander the more willing to attach himself to so beautiful and well-born a lady. When Alexander saw the beauty of the other captives, he said in jest, that the Persian ladies make men's eyes sore to behold them. Yet, in spite of their attractions, he was determined that his self-restraint should be as much admired as their beauty, and passed by them as if they had been images cut out of stone.

XXII. Indeed, when Philoxenus, the commander of his fleet, wrote to inform him that a slave merchant of Tarentum, named Theodorus, had two beautiful slaves for sale, and desired to know whether he would buy them, Alexander was greatly incensed, and angrily demanded of his friends what signs of baseness Philoxenus could have observed in him that he should venture to make such disgraceful proposals to him. He sent a severe reprimand to Philoxenus, and ordered him to send Theodorus and his merchandise to the devil. He also severely rebuked a young man named Hagnon for a similar offence.

On another occasion, when he heard that two Macedonians of Parmenio's regiment, named Damon and Timotheus, had violently outraged the wives of some of the mercenary soldiers, he wrote to Parmenio, ordering him, if the charge were proved, to put them to death like mere brute beasts that prey upon mankind. And in that letter he wrote thus of himself. "I have never seen, or desired to see the wife of Darius, and have not even allowed her beauty to be spoken of in my presence."

He was wont to say that he was chiefly reminded that he was mortal by these two weaknesses, sleep and lust; thinking weariness and sensuality alike to be bodily weaknesses. He was also most temperate in eating, as was signally proved by his answer to the princess Ada, whom he adopted as his mother, and made Queen of Karia. She, in order to show her fondness for him, sent him every day many dainty dishes and sweetmeats, and at last presented him with her best cooks. He answered her that he needed them not, since he had been provided with much better relishes for his food by his tutor Leonidas, who had taught him to earn his breakfast by a night-march, and to obtain an appetite for his dinner by eating sparingly at breakfast. "My tutor," he said, "would often look into my chests of clothes, and of bedding, to make sure that my mother had not hidden any delicacies for me in them."

XXIII. He was less given to wine than he was commonly supposed to be. He was thought to be a great drinker because of the length of time which he would pass over each cup, in talking more than in drinking it, for he always held a long conversation while drinking, provided he was at leisure to do so. If anything had to be done, no wine, or desire of rest, no amusement, marriage, or spectacle could restrain him, as they did other generals. This is clearly shown by the shortness of his life, and the wonderful number of great deeds which he performed during the little time that he lived. When he was at leisure, he used to sacrifice to the gods immediately after rising in the morning, and then sit down to his breakfast. After breakfast, he would pass the day in hunting, deciding disputes between his subjects, devising military manœuvres, or reading. When on a journey, if he was not in any great hurry, he used, while on the road, to practice archery, or to dismount from a chariot which was being driven at full speed, and then again mount it. Frequently also he hunted foxes and shot birds for amusement, as we learn from his diaries. On arriving at the place where he intended to pass the night, he always bathed and anointed himself, and then asked his cooks what was being prepared for his dinner.

He always dined late, just as it began to grow dark, and was very careful to have his table well provided, and to give each of his guests an equal share. He sat long over his wine, as we have said, because of his love of conversation. And although at all other times his society was most charming, and his manners gracious and pleasant beyond any other prince of his age, yet when he was drinking, his talk ran entirely upon military topics, and became offensively boastful, partly from his own natural disposition, and partly from the encouragement which he received from his flatterers. This often greatly embarrassed honest men, as they neither wished to vie with the flatterers in praising him to his face, nor yet to appear to grudge him his due share of admiration. To bestow such excessive praise seemed shameful, while to withhold it was dangerous. After a drinking bout, he would take a bath, and often slept until late in the following day; and sometimes he passed the whole day asleep. He cared but little for delicate food, and often when the rarest fruits and fish were sent to him from the sea-coast, he would distribute them so lavishly amongst his friends as to leave none for himself; yet his table was always magnificently served, and as his revenues became increased by his conquests, its expense rose to ten thousand drachmas a day. To this it was finally limited, and those who entertained Alexander were told that they must not expend more than that sum.

XXIV. After the battle of Issus, he sent troops to Damascus, and captured all the treasure, the baggage, and the women and children of the Persian army. Those who chiefly benefited by this were the Thessalian cavalry, who had distinguished themselves in the battle, and had been purposely chosen for this service by Alexander as a reward for their bravery; yet all the camp was filled with riches, so great was the mass of plunder. Then did the Macedonians get their first taste of gold and silver, of Persian luxury and of Persian women; and after this, like hounds opening upon a scent, they eagerly pressed forward on the track of the wealthy Persians. Alexander, however, thought it best, before proceeding further, to complete the conquest of the sea-coast. Cyprus was at once surrendered to him by its local kings, as was all Phœnicia, except Tyre. He besieged Tyre for seven months, with great mounds and siege artillery on the land side, while a fleet of two hundred triremes watched it by sea. During the seventh month of the siege he dreamed that Herakles greeted him in a friendly manner from the walls of Tyre, and called upon him to come in. Many of the Tyrians also dreamed that Apollo appeared to them, and said that he was going to Alexander, since what was being done in the city of Tyre did not please him. The Tyrians, upon this, treated the god as though he were a man caught in the act of deserting to Alexander, for they tied cords round his statue, nailed it down to its base, and called him Alexandristes, or follower of Alexander. Alexander now dreamed another dream, that a satyr appeared to him at a distance, and sported with him, but when he endeavoured to catch him, ran away, and that, at length, after much trouble, he caught him. This was very plausibly explained by the prophets to mean "Sa Tyros"--"Tyre shall be thine," dividing the Greek word Satyros into two parts. A well is shown at the present day near which Alexander saw the satyr in his dream.

During the siege, Alexander made an expedition against the neighbouring Arab tribes, in which he fell into great danger through his old tutor Lysimachus, who insisted on accompanying him, declaring that he was no older and no less brave than Phœnix when he followed Achilles to Troy. When they reached the mountains, they were forced to leave their horses and march on foot. The rest proceeded on their way, but Lysimachus could not keep up, although night was coming on and the enemy were near. Alexander would not leave him, but encouraged him and helped him along until he became separated from his army, and found himself almost alone. It was now dark, and bitterly cold. The country where they were was very rugged and mountainous, and in the distance appeared many scattered watch-fires of the enemy.

Alexander, accustomed to rouse the disheartened Macedonians by his own personal exertions, and trusting to his swiftness of foot, ran up to the nearest fire, struck down with his sword two men who wore watching beside it, and brought a burning firebrand back to his own party. They now made up an enormous fire, which terrified some of the enemy so much that they retreated, while others who had intended to attack them, halted and forbore to do so, thus enabling them to pass the night in safety.

XXV. The siege of Tyre came to an end in the following manner. The greater part of Alexander's troops were resting from their labours, but in order to occupy the attention of the enemy, he led a few men up to the city walls, while Aristander, the soothsayer, offered sacrifice. When he saw the victims, he boldly informed all who were present that during the current month, Tyre would be taken. All who heard him laughed him to scorn, as that day was the last of the month, but Alexander seeing him at his wits' end, being always eager to support the credit of prophecies, gave orders that that day should not be reckoned as the thirtieth of the month, but as the twenty-third. After this he bade the trumpets sound, and assaulted the walls much more vigorously than he had originally intended. The attack succeeded, and as the rest of the army would no longer stay behind in the camp, but rushed to take their share in the assault, the Tyrians were overpowered, and their city taken on that very day.

Afterwards, while Alexander was besieging Gaza, the largest city in Syria, a clod of earth was dropped upon his shoulder by a bird, which afterwards alighted upon one of the military engines, and became entangled in the network of ropes by which it was worked. This portent also was truly explained by Aristander; for the place was taken, and Alexander was wounded in the shoulder.

He sent many of the spoils to Olympias, Kleopatra, and others of his friends, and sent his tutor Leonidas five hundred talents weight of frankincense, and a hundred talents of myrrh, to remind him of what he had said when a child. Leonidas once, when sacrificing, reproved Alexander for taking incense by handfuls to throw upon the victim when it was burning on the altar. "When," he said, "you have conquered the country from which incense comes, Alexander, then you may make such rich offerings as these; but at present you must use what we have sparingly." Alexander now wrote to him, "We have sent you abundance of frankincense and myrrh, that you may no longer treat the gods so stingily."

XXVI. When a certain casket was brought to him, which appeared to be the most valuable of all the treasures taken from Darius, he asked his friends what they thought he ought to keep in it as his own most precious possession. After they had suggested various different things, he said that he intended to keep his copy of the Iliad in it. This fact is mentioned by many historians; and if the legend which is current among the people of Alexandria; on the authority of Herakleides, be true, the poems of Homer were far from idle or useless companions to him, even when on a campaign. The story goes that after conquering Egypt, he desired to found a great and populous Grecian city, to be called after his own name, and that after he had fixed upon an excellent site, where in the opinion of the best architects, a city surpassing anything previously existing could be built, he dreamed that a man with long hair and venerable aspect appeared to him, and recited the following verses:

"Hard by, an island in the stormy main
Lies close to Egypt, Pharos is its name."

As soon as he woke, he proceeded to Pharos, which then was an island near the Canopic mouth of the Nile, though at the present day so much earth has been deposited by the river that it is joined to the mainland. When he saw the great advantages possessed by this place, which is a long strip of land, stretching between the sea and a large inland lake, with a large harbour at the end of it, he at once said that Homer, besides his other admirable qualities, was a splendid architect, and gave orders to his workmen to mark out a site for a city suitable to such a situation. There was no chalk or white earth, with which it is usual to mark the course of the walls, but they took barley-groats, and marked out a semicircular line with them upon the black earth, dividing it into equal segments by lines radiating from the centre, so that it looked like a Macedonian cloak, of which the walls formed the outer fringe. While the king was looking with satisfaction at the plan of the new city, suddenly from the lake and the river, innumerable aquatic birds of every kind flew like great clouds to the spot, and devoured all the barley. This omen greatly disturbed Alexander; however, the soothsayers bade him take courage, and interpreted it to mean that the place would become a very rich and populous city. Upon this he ordered the workmen at once to begin to build, while he himself started to visit the shrine and oracle of Zeus Ammon. This journey is tedious and difficult, and dangerous also, because the way lies over a waterless desert, where the traveller is exposed to violent storms of sand whenever the south wind blows. It was here that fifty thousand men of the army of Cambyses are said to have been overwhelmed by the sand, which rolled upon them in huge billows until they were completely ingulfed. All these perils were present to all men's minds, but it was hard to turn Alexander away from any project upon which he had once set his heart. The invariable good fortune which he had enjoyed confirmed his self-will, and his pride would not allow him to confess himself vanquished either by human enemies or natural obstacles.

XXVII. During his journey, the signal assistance which he received from the gods in all his difficulties was more remarkable and more generally believed than the oracular response which he is said to have received, although these portents made men more inclined to believe in the oracle. In the first place, plentiful showers were sent, which quite dissipated any fears which the expedition had entertained about suffering from thirst, while the rain cooled the sand and thus tempered the hot air of the desert to a pleasant warmth. Next, when the guides lost their way, and all were wandering helplessly, birds appeared who guided them on the right path, flying before them and encouraging them to march, and waiting for those of them who fell behind wearied. "We are even assured by Kallisthones that, at night, the birds by their cries recalled stragglers, and kept all on the direct road.

When Alexander had crossed the desert, and arrived at the temple, the priest of Ammon greeted him as the son of the god. He inquired whether anyone of his father's murderers had escaped, to which the priest answered that he must not ask such questions, for his father was more than man. Alexander now altered the form of his inquiry and asked whether he had punished all the murderers of Philip: and then he asked another question, about his empire, whether he was fated to conquer all mankind. On receiving as an answer that this would be granted to him and that Philip had been amply avenged, he made splendid presents to the god, and amply rewarded the priests.

This is the account which most historians give about the response of the oracle; but in a letter to his mother, Alexander says that he received certain secret prophecies, which upon his return he would communicate to her alone. Some narrate that the priest, wishing to give him a friendly greeting in the Greek language, said "My son," but being a foreigner, mispronounced the words so as to say "Son of Zeus," a mistake which delighted Alexander and caused men to say that the god himself had addressed him as "Son of Zeus." We are told that while in Egypt, he attended the lectures of the philosopher Psammon, and was especially pleased when he pointed out that God is King over all men, because that which rules and conquers must be king. He himself thought that he had improved upon this by saying that although God is the common father of all men, yet that he makes the best men more peculiarly his own.

XXVIII. In his dealings with Asiatics, he always acted and spoke with the greatest arrogance, and seemed firmly convinced of his own divine parentage, but he was careful not to make the same boast when among Greeks. On one occasion, indeed, he wrote to the Athenians the following letter about their possession of Samos. "I," he said, "should not have presented you with that free and glorious city; but it was presented to you by its former master, my reputed father Philip."

Yet afterwards when he was wounded by an arrow and in great pain he said "This, my friends, is blood that runs from my wound, and not

"Ichor, that courses through the veins of gods."

Once when a great thunderstorm terrified every one, Anaxarchus the sophist, who was with him, said "Son of Zeus, canst thou do as much?" To this, Alexander answered with a smile, "Nay, I love not to frighten my friends, as you would have me do, when you complained of my table, because fish was served upon it instead of princes' heads." Indeed we are told that once, when Alexander had sent some small fish to Hephæstion, Anaxarchus used this expression ironically disparaging those who undergo great toils and run great risks to obtain magnificent results which, after all, make them no happier or able to enjoy themselves than other men. From these anecdotes we see that Alexander himself did not put any belief in the story of his divine parentage, but that he used it as a means of imposing upon others.

XXIX. From Egypt he returned to Phœnicia, and there offered magnificent sacrifices to the gods, with grand processions, cyclic choruses, and performances of tragic dramas. These last were especially remarkable, for the local kings of Cyprus acted as choragi, that is, supplied the chorus and paid all the expenses of putting the drama upon the stage, just as is done every year at Athens by the representatives of the tribes, and they exhibited wonderful emulation, desiring to outdo each other in the splendour of their shows. The contest between Nikokreon, King of Salamis, and Pasikrates, King of Soli, is especially memorable. These two had obtained by lot the two most celebrated actors of the day, who were named Athenodorus and Thessalus, to act in their plays. Of these, Athenodorus was assigned to Nikokreon, and Thessalus, in whose success Alexander himself was personally interested, to Pasikrates. Alexander, however, never allowed any word to escape him denoting his preference for one over the other until after the votes had been given, and Athenodorus had been proclaimed the winner, when, as he was going home, he said that he would willingly have given up a province of his kingdom to save Thessalus from being vanquished. As Athenodorus was fined by the Athenians for being absent from their Dionysian festival, in which he ought to have taken part, he begged Alexander to write them a letter to excuse him. Alexander refused to do this, but paid his fine himself. And when Lykon, of Skarphia, an excellent actor who had pleased Alexander well, inserted a verse into the comedy which he was acting, in which he begged to be given ten talents, Alexander laughed and gave them to him.

Darius now sent an embassy to Alexander, bearing a letter, in which he offered to pay ten thousand talents as a ransom for his wife and children, and proposed that Alexander should receive all the territory west of the Euphrates, and become his ally and son-in-law. Alexander laid this proposal before his friends, and when Parmenio said, "I should accept it, if I were Alexander." "So would I," replied Alexander, "if I were Parmenio." He wrote, however, a letter in answer to Darius, informing him that if he would come to him, and submit himself, he should be used with courtesy; but that if not, he should presently march against him.

XXX. Soon after this the wife of Darius died in child-bed, which greatly grieved Alexander, as he thereby lost a great opportunity of displaying his magnanimity: nevertheless he granted her a magnificent funeral. We are told that one of the eunuchs attached to the royal harem, named Teireus, who had been captured with the ladies, made his escape shortly after the queen's death, rode straight to Darius, and informed him of what had happened. Darius, at this, beat his face and wept aloud, saying, "Alas for the fortune of Persia! that the wife and sister of the king should not only have been taken captive while she lived, but also have been buried unworthily of her rank when she died." To this the eunuch answered, "You have no cause to lament the evil fortune of Persia on account of your wife's burial, or of any want of due respect to her. Our lady Statira, your children, and your mother, when alive wanted for nothing except the light of your countenance, which our lord Oromasdes will some day restore to them, nor was she treated without honour when she died, for her funeral was even graced by the tears of her enemies. Alexander is as gracious a conqueror as he is a terrible enemy."