 1 His childhood and youth Alexander the Great died when he was quite young. He was but thirty-two years of age when he ended his career, and he was about twenty when he commenced it. It was only for a period of twelve years that he actually engaged in performing the work of his life. Napoleon was nearly three times as long on the great field of human action. Notwithstanding the briefness of Alexander's career, he ran through, during that short period, a very brilliant series of exploits, which was so bold, so romantic, and which led him into such adventures and scenes of the greatest magnificence and splendour, that all the world looked on with astonishment then, and mankind have continued to read the story since, from age to age, with the greatest interest and attention. The secret of Alexander's success was his character. He possessed a certain combination of mental and personal attractions, which, in every age, gives to those who exhibit it a mysterious and almost unbounded ascendancy over all within their influence. Alexander was characterised by these qualities in a very remarkable degree. He was finely formed in person, and very pre-possessing in his manners. He was active, athletic, and full of ardour and enthusiasm in all that he did. At the same time he was calm, collected, and considerate in emergencies requiring caution, and thoughtful and fast-seeing in respect to the bearings and consequences of his acts. He formed strong attachments, was grateful for kindness shown to him, considerate in respect to the feelings of all who are connected with him in any way, faithful to his friends, and generous towards his foes. In a word he had a noble character, though he devoted its energies unfortunately to conquest and war. He lived in fact in an age when great personal and mental powers had scarcely any other field for their exercise than this. He ended upon his career with great ardour, and the position in which he was placed gave him the opportunity to act in it with prodigious effect. There were several circumstances combined, in the situation in which Alexander was placed, to afford him a great opportunity for the exercise of his vast powers. His native country was on the confines of Europe and Asia. Now Europe and Asia were, in those days as now, marked and distinguished by two vast masses of social and civilised life, widely dissimilar from each other. The Asiatic side was occupied by the Persians, the Medes, and the Assyrians, the European side by the Greeks and Romans. They were separated from each other by the waters of the Hellespunt, the Aegean Sea, and the Mediterranean, as will be seen by the map. These waters constituted a sort of natural barrier, which kept the two races apart. The races formed accordingly, two vast organisations, distinct and widely different from each other, and of course rivals and enemies. It is hard to say whether the Asiatic or European civilisation was the highest. The two were so different that it is difficult to compare them. On the Asiatic side there was wealth, luxury and splendour. On the European, energy, genius and force. On the one hand were vast cities, splendid palaces, and gardens, which were the wonder of the world. On the other, strong citadels, military roads and bridges, and compact and well-defended towns. The Persians had enormous armies, perfectly provided for. With beautiful tents, horses elegantly comparisoned, arms and munitions of war of the finest worksmanship, and officers magnificently dressed, and accustomed to a life of luxury and splendour. The Greeks and Romans, on the other hand, prided themselves in their compact bodies of troop, enured to hardship and thoroughly disciplined. Their officers gloried not in luxury and parade, but in the courage, the steadiness and implicit obedience of their troops, and in their own science, skill and powers of military calculation. Thus there was a great difference in the whole system of social and military organisation in these two quarters of the globe. Now Alexander was born the heir to the throne of one of the Grecian kingdoms. He possessed, in a very remarkable degree, the energy and enterprise and military skill so characteristic of the Greeks and Romans. He organised armies, crossed the boundary between Europe and Asia, and spent the twelve years of his career in a most triumphant military incursion into the very centre of the seat of Asiatic power, destroying the Asiatic armies, conquering the most splendid cities, defeating or taking captive the kings and princes and generals that opposed his progress. The whole world looked on with wonder to see such a course of conquest, pursued so successfully by so young a man, and with so small an army, gaining continual victories as it did over such vast numbers of foes, and making conquests such accumulated treasures of wealth and splendour. The name of Alexander's father was Philip. The kingdom over which he reigned was called Macedon. Macedon was in the northern part of Greece. It was a kingdom about twice as large as the state of Massachusetts, and one third as large as the state of New York. The name of Alexander's mother was Olympias. She was the daughter of the king of Ipirus, which was a kingdom somewhat smaller than Macedon, and lying westward of it. Both Macedon and Ipirus will be found upon the map at the commencement of this volume. Olympias was a woman of very strong and determined character. Alexander seemed to inherit her energy, though in his case it was combined with other qualities of a more attractive character, which his mother did not possess. He was, of course, as the young prince, a very important personage in his father's court. He knew that at his father's death he would become king of Macedon, and he was consequently the object of a great deal of care and attention. As he gradually advanced in the years of his boyhood, it was observed by all who knew him that he was endued with extraordinary qualities of mind and of character, which seemed to indicate, at a very early age, his future greatness. Though he was a prince, he was not brought up in habits of luxury and effemency. This would have been contrary to all the ideas which were entertained by the Greeks in those days. They had, then, no firearms, so that in battle the combatants could not stand quietly, as they can now, at a distance from the enemy, coolly discharging musketry or cannon. In ancient battles the soldiers rushed toward each other, and fought hand to hand in close combat, with swords or spears or other weapons requiring great personal strength, so that headlong bravery and muscular force were the qualities which generally carried the day. The duties of officers, too, on the field of battle, were very different then from what they are now. An officer now must be calm, collected and quiet. His business is to plan, to calculate, to direct and arrange. He has to do this sometimes, it is true, in circumstances of the most imminent danger, so that he must be a man of great self-possession and of undaunted courage. But there is very little occasion for him to exert any great physical force. In ancient times, however, the great business of the officers, certainly in all the subordinate grades, was to lead on the men, and set them an example by performing themselves deeds, in which their own great personal prowess was displayed. Of course it was considered extremely important that the child destined to be a general, should become robust and powerful in constitution from his earliest years, and that he should be anured to hardship and fatigue. In the early part of Alexander's life this was the main object of attention. The name of the nurse who had charge of our hero in his infancy was Lannacy. She did all in her power to give strength and hardyhood to his constitution, while at the same time she treated him with kindness and gentleness. Alexander acquired a strong affection for her, and he treated her with great consideration as long as he lived. He had a governor also in his early years, named Leonatus, who had the general charge of his education. As soon as he was old enough to learn, they appointed him a preceptor also. To teach him such branches as were generally taught to young princes in those days. The name of this preceptor was Lycemicus. They had no printed books, but there were a few writings on parchment rolls which young scholars were taught to read. Some of these writings were treatise on philosophy. Others were romantic histories, narrating the exploits of the heroes of those days, of course with much exaggeration and embellishment. There were also some poems, still more romantic than the histories, though generally on the same themes. The greatest productions of this kind were the writings of Homer, an ancient poet who lived and wrote four or five hundred years before Alexander's day. The young Alexander was greatly delighted with Homer's tales. These tales are narrations of the exploits and adventures of certain great warriors at the Siege of Troy, a siege which lasted ten years, and they are written with so much beauty and force, they contain such admiral delineations of character, and such graphic and vivid descriptions of romantic adventures, and picturesque and striking scenes, that they have been admired in every age by all who have learned to understand the language in which they are written. Alexander could understand them very easily, as they were written in his mother tongue. He was greatly excited by the narrations themselves, and pleased with the flowing smoothness of the verse in which the tales were told. In the latter part of his course of education, he was placed under the charge of Aristotle, who was one of the most eminent philosophers of ancient times. Aristotle had a beautiful copy of Homer's poems, prepared expressly for Alexander. Taking great pains to have it transcribed with perfect correctness, and in the most elegant manner, Alexander carried this copy with him in all campaigns. Some years afterward, when he was obtaining conquests over the Persians, he took, among the spoils of one of his victories, a very beautiful and costly casket, which King Darius had used for his jewellery, or for some other rich treasures. Alexander determined to make use of this box as a depository for his beautiful copy of Homer, and he always carried it with him, thus protected, in all his subsequent campaigns. Alexander was full of energy and spirit, but he was, at the same time, like all who ever become truly great, of a reflective and considerate turn of mind. He was very fond of the studies which Aristotle led him to pursue, although they were of a very obstruc and difficult character. He made great progress in metaphysical philosophy and mathematics, by which means his powers of calculation and his judgment were greatly improved. He early invents a great degree of ambition. His father Philip was a powerful warrior, and made many conquests in various parts of Greece, though he did not cross into Asia. When news of Philip's victories came into Macedon, all the rest of the court would be filled with rejoicing and delight, but Alexander on such occasions looked thoughtful and disappointed, and complained that his father would conquer every country and leave him nothing to do. At one time some ambassadors from the Persian court arrived in Macedon when Philip was away. These ambassadors saw Alexander, of course, and had opportunities to converse with him. They expected that he would be interested in hearing about the splendours and pomp and parade of the Persian monarchy. They had stories to tell him about the famous hanging gardens, which were artificially constructed in the most magnificent manner, on arches raised high in the air, and about a vine made of gold, with all sorts of precious stones upon it instead of fruit, which was wrought as an ornament over the throne on which the king of Persia often gave audience. Of the splendid palaces and vast cities of the Persians, and the banquets and fates, and magnificent entertainments and celebrations which they used to have there, they found, however, to their surprise, that Alexander was not interested in hearing about any of these things. He would always turn the conversation from them to inquire about the geographical position of the different Persian countries, the various routes leading into the interior, the organisation of the Asiatic armies, their system of military tactics, and especially the character and habits of Artaxerxes, the Persian king. The ambassadors were very much surprised at such evidences of maturity of mind, and of far-seeing and reflective powers on the part of the young prince. They could not help comparing him with Artaxerxes. Alexander, said they, is great, while our king is only rich. The truth of the judgment which these ambassadors thus formed in respect to the qualities of the young Macedonian, compared with those held in highest estimation on the Asiatic side, was fully confirmed in the subsequent stages of Alexander's career. In fact, this combination of calm and calculating thoughtfulness, with the ardour and energy which formed the basis of his character, was one great secret of Alexander's success. The story of Busephalus, his famous horse, illustrates this in a very striking manner. This animal was a war-horse of very spirited character, which had been sent as a present to Philip while Alexander was young. They took the horse out into one of the parks connected with the palace, and the king, together with many of his courtiers, went out to view him. The horse pranced about in a very furious manner, and seemed entirely unmanageable. No one dared to mount him. Philip, instead of being gratified at the present, was rather disposed to be displeased that they had sent him an animal of so fiery and apparently vicious a nature that nobody dared to attempt to subdue him. In the meantime, while all the other bystanders were joining in the general condemnation of the horse, Alexander stood quietly by, watching his motions and attentively studying his character. He perceived that a part of the difficulty was caused by the agitations which the horse experienced in so strange and newer scene, and that he appeared also to be somewhat frightened by his own shadow, which happened at that time to be thrown very strongly and distinctly upon the ground. He saw other indications also that the high excitement which the horse felt was not viciousness, but the excess of noble and generous impulses. It was courage, ardour, and the consciousness of great nerves and muscular power. Philip had decided that the horse was useless, and had given orders to have him sent back to Thessaly whence he came. Alexander was very much concerned at the prospect of losing so fine an animal. He begged his father to allow him to make the experiment of mounting him. Philip at first refused, thinking it very presumptuous for such a youth to attempt to subdue an animal so vicious that all his experienced horsemen and grooms condemned him. However, he at length consented. Alexander went up to the horse and took hold of his bridle. He padded him upon the neck and soothed him with his voice, showing at the same time, by his easy and unconcerned manner, that he was not in the least afraid of him. A spirited horse knows immediately when one approaches him in a timid or cautious manner. He appears to look with contempt on such a master, and to determine not to submit to him. On the contrary, horses seem to love to yield obedience to man, when the individual who exerts the obedience possesses those qualities of coolness and courage, which their instincts enable them to appreciate. At any rate, Bicephalus was calmed and subdued by the presence of Alexander. He allowed himself to be caressed. Alexander turned his head in such a direction as to prevent his seeing his shadow. He quietly and gently laid off a sort of cloak which he wore, and sprang upon the horse's back. Then, instead of attempting to restrain him, and worrying and checking him by useless efforts to hold him in, he gave him the reign freely, and animated and encouraged him with his voice, so that the horse flew across the plains at the top of his speed. The king and courtiers looking on, at first with fear and trembling, but soon afterward with feelings of the greatest admiration and pleasure. After the horse had satisfied himself with his run, it was easy to reign him in. And Alexander returned with him in safety to the king. The courtiers overwhelmed him with their praises and congratulations. Philip commended him very highly. He told him that he deserved a larger kingdom than Macedon to govern. Alexander's judgment of the true character of the horse proved to be correct. He became very tractable and docile, yielding a ready submission to his master in everything. He would kneel upon his forelegs at Alexander's command, in order that he might mount more easily. Alexander retained him for a long time, and made him his favourite warhorse. A great many stories are related by the historians of those days of his sagacity and his feats of war. Whenever he was equipped for the field with his military trappings, he seemed to be highly elated with pride and pleasure, and at such times he would not allow anyone but Alexander to mount him. What became of him at last is not certainly known. There are two accounts of his end. One is that on a certain occasion Alexander got carried too far into the midst of his enemies, on a battlefield, and that after fighting desperately for some time, Luciferus made the most extreme exertions to carry him away. He was severely wounded again and again, and though his strength was nearly gone he would not stop, but pressed forward till he had carried his master away to a place of safety, and that then he hopped down exhausted and died. It may be, however, that he did not actually die at this time, but slowly recovered. For some historians relate that he lived to be thirty years old, which is quite an old age for a horse, and that he then died. Alexander caused him to be buried with great ceremony, and built a small city upon the spot in honour of his memory. The name of this city was Busephalia. Alexander's character matured rapidly, and he began very early to act the part of a man. When he was only sixteen years of age, his father Philip made him regent of Macedon, while he was absent on a great military campaign among the other states of Greece. Without doubt Alexander had, in this regency, the council and aid of high officers of state of great experience and ability. He acted, however, himself in this high position, with great energy and with complete success, and at the same time, with all that modesty of deportment, and that delicate consideration for the officers under him, who, though inferior in rank, were yet his superiors in age and experience, which his position rendered proper, but which few persons so young as he would have manifested in circumstances so well calculated to awaken the feelings of vanity and elation. Afterward, when Alexander was about eighteen years old, his father took him with him on a campaign toward the south, during which Philip fought one of his great battles at Caronia in Biosia. In the arrangements for this battle Philip gave the command of one of the wings of the army to Alexander, while he reserved the other for himself. He felt some solicitude in giving his young son so important to charge, but he endeavoured to guard against the danger of an unfortunate result, by putting the ablest generals on Alexander's side, while he reserved those on whom he could place less reliance for his own. Thus organised the army went into battle. Philip soon ceased to feel any solicitude for Alexander's part of the duty. Boy, as he was, the young prince acted with the utmost bravery, coolness and discretion. The wing which he commanded was victorious, and Philip was obliged to urge himself and the officers with him to greater exertions, to avoid being outdone by his son. In the end Philip was completely victorious, and the result of this great battle was to make his power paramount and supreme over all the states of Greece. Notwithstanding, however, the extraordinary discretion and wisdom which characterised the mind of Alexander in his early years, he was often haughty and headstrong, and in cases where his pride or his resentment was aroused, he was sometimes found very impertuous and uncontrollable. His mother Olympias was of a haughty and imperious temper, and she quarrelled with her husband King Philip. Or perhaps it ought rather to be said that he quarrelled with her. Each is said to have been unfaithful to the other, and after a bitter contention, Philip repudated his wife and married another lady. Among the festivities held on the occasion of this marriage, there was a great banquet, at which Alexander was present. And an incident occurred which strikingly illustrates the impetuosity of his character, one of the guests at this banquet, in saying something complementary to the new queen, which Alexander considered as in disparagement of the character of his mother, and of his own birth. His anger was immediately aroused. He threw the cup from which he had been drinking at the offender's head, Attilus, for this was his name, threw his cup at Alexander in return. The guests at the table where they were sitting rose, and a scene of uproar and confusion ensued. Philip, incensed at such an interruption of the order and harmony of the wedding-feast, drew his sword and rushed toward Alexander, but by some accident he stumbled and fell upon the floor. Alexander looked upon his fallen father with contempt and scorn, and exclaimed, What a fine hero the states of Greece have to lead their armies, a man that cannot get across the floor without tumbling down. He then turned away and left the palace. Immediately afterward he joined his mother Olympias, and went away with her to a native country, Ephraius, where the mother and son remained for a time in a state of open quarrel with the husband and father. In the meantime Philip had been planning a great expedition into Asia. He had arranged the affairs of his own kingdom, and had formed a strong combination among the states of Greece, by which powerful armies had been raised, and he had been designated to command them. His mind was very intensely engaged in his vast enterprise. He was in the flow of his years and at the height of his power. His own kingdom was in a very prosperous and thriving condition, and his ascendancy over the other kingdoms and states on the European side had been fully established. He was excited with ambition and full of hope. He was proud of his son Alexander, and was relying upon his efficient aid in his schemes of conquest and a grandisement. He had married a youthful and beautiful bride, and was surrounded by scenes of festivity, congratulation, and rejoicing. He was looking forward to a very brilliant career. Considering all the deeds that he had done, and all the glory which he had acquired, as only the introduction and prelude to the far more distinguished and conspicuous part which he was intending to perform. In the middle of his career in the meantime, ardent and impetuous, and eager for glory as he was, looked upon the position and prospects of his father with some envy and jealousy. He was impatient to be monarch himself. His taking sides so promptly, with his mother in the domestic quarrel, was partly owing to the feeling that his father was a hindrance, and an obstacle in the way of his own greatness and fame. He felt within himself powers and capacities, qualifying him to take his father's place, and reap for himself the harvest of glory and power which seemed to await the Grecian armies in the coming campaign. While his father lived, however, he could be only a prince. Influential, accomplished, and popular it is true, but still without any substantial and independent power. He was restless and uneasy at the thought that, as his father was in the prime and vigour of manhood, many long years must elapsed before he could emerge from this confined and subordinate condition. His restlessness and uneasiness were, however, suddenly ended by a very extraordinary occurrence, which called him, with scarcely an hour's notice, to take his father's place upon the throne. CHAPTER II Philip was suddenly called upon to succeed his father on the Macedonian throne in the most unexpected manner, and in the midst of scenes of the greatest excitement and agitation. The circumstances were these. Philip had felt very desirous, before setting out upon his great expedition into Asia, to become reconciled to Alexander and Olympias. He wished for Alexander's cooperation in his plans, and then, besides, it would be dangerous to go away from his own dominions, with such a son left behind, in a state of resentment and hostility. So Philip sent kind and conciliatory messages to Olympias and Alexander, who had gone, it will be recollected, to Ephraius, where her friends resided. The brother of Olympias was king of Ephraius. He had been at first, incensed at the indignity which had been put upon his sister, by Philip's treatment of her. But Philip now tried to appease his anger also, by friendly negotiations and messages. At last he arranged a marriage between the king of Ephraius, and one of his own daughters, and this completed the reconciliation. Olympias and Alexander returned to Macedon, and great preparations were made for a very splendid wedding. Philip wished to make this wedding not merely the means of confirming his reconciliation with his former wife and son, and establishing friendly relations with the king of Ephraius. He also prized it as an occasion for paying marked and honourable attention to the princes and great generals of the other states of Greece. He consequently made his preparations on a very extended and sumptuous scale, and sent invitations to the influential and prominent men far and near. These great men, on the other hand, and all the other public authorities in the various Grecian states, sent compliments, congratulations, and presents to Philip. Each seeming ambitious to contribute his share to the splendour of the celebration. They were not wholly disinterested in this, it is true. As Philip had been made commander-in-chief of the Grecian armies, which were about to undertake the conquest of Asia. And as, of course, his influence into power and all that related to that vast enterprise would be paramount and supreme. And as all were ambitious to have a large share in the glory of that expedition, and to participate as much as possible, in the power and in the renown which seemed to be at Philip's disposal. All were, of course, very anxious to secure his favour. A short time before they were contending against him. But now, since he had established his ascendancy, they all eagerly joined in the work of magnifying it and making it illustrious. Nor could Philip justly complain of the hollowness and falseness of these professions of friendship. The compliments and favours which he offered to them were equally hollow and heartless. He wished to secure their favour as a means of aiding him up the steep path to fame and power which he was attempting to climb. They wished for his, in order that he might, as he ascended himself, help them up with him. There was, however, the greatest appearance of cordial and devoted friendship. Some cities sent him presence of golden crowns, beautifully wrought and of high cost. Others dispatched embassies, expressing their good wishes for him, and their confidence in the success of his plans. Athens, the city which was the great seat of literature and science in Greece, sent a poem in which the history of the expedition into Persia was given by anticipation. In this poem Philip was, of course, triumphantly successful in his enterprises. He conducted his armies in safety through the most dangerous passes and defiles. He fought glorious battles, gained magnificent victories, and possessed himself of all the treasures of Asiatic wealth and power. It ought to be said, however, injustice to that poet, that, in narrating these imaginary exploits, he had sufficient delicacy to represent Philip and the Persian monarch by fictitious names. The wedding was at length celebrated in one of the cities of Macedon, with great pomp and splendour. There were games and shows and military and civic spectacles of all kinds to amuse the thousands of spectators that assembled to witness them. In one of these spectacles they had a procession of statues of the gods. There were twelve of these statues, sculpted with great art, and they were born along an elevated pedestals, with sensors and incense, and various ceremonies of homage, while vast multitudes of spectators lined the way. There was a thirteenth statue, more magnificent than the other twelve, which represented Philip himself in the character of a god. This was not, however, so impious as it would at first seem. For the gods whom the ancients worshipped were, in fact, only deification of old heroes and kings, who had lived in early times, and had acquired a reputation for supernatural powers by the fame of their exploits, exaggerated in descending by tradition in superstitious times. The ignorant multitude accordingly, in those days, looked up to a living king with almost the same reverence and homage which they felt for their deified heroes, and these deified heroes furnished them with all the ideas they had of God, making a moniker God, therefore, was no very extravagant flattery. After the procession of the statues passed along, there came bodies of troops, with trumpet-sounding and banners flying. The officers rode on horses, elegantly comparisonned, and prancing proudly. These troops escorted princes, ambassadors, generals, and great officers of state, all gorgeously decked in their robes and wearing their badges and insignia. At length King Philip himself appeared in the procession. He had arranged to have a large space left in the middle of which he was to walk. This was done in order to make his position the more conspicuous, and to mark more strongly his own high distinction above all the other patentons present on the occasion. Guards proceeded and followed him, though at considerable distance, as has already been said, he was himself clothed with white robes, and his head was adorned with a splendid crown. The procession was moving toward a great theatre, where certain games and spectacles were to be exhibited. The statues of the gods were to be taken into the theatre, and placed in conspicuous positions there, in view of the assembly, and then the procession itself was to follow. All the statues had entered, except that of Philip, which was just at the door, and Philip himself was advancing in the midst of the space left for him, up at the avenue by which the theatre was approached, when an occurrence took place by which the whole character of the scene, the destiny of Alexander, and the fate of fifty nations, was suddenly and totally changed. It was this. An officer of the guards, who had his position in the procession near the king, was seen advancing impetuously toward him, through the space which separated him from the rest, and before the spectators had time even to wonder what he was going to do, he stabbed him to the heart. Philip fell down in the street, and died. A scene of indescribable tumult and confusion ensued. The murderer was immediately cut to pieces by the other guards. They found, however, before he was dead, that it was Porcinius, a man of high standing and influence, a general officer of the guards. He had had horses provided, and other assistants ready to enable him to make his escape, but he was cut down by the guards before he could avail himself of them. An officer of the state immediately hastened to Alexander, and announced to him his father's death, and his own ascension to the throne. An assembly of the leading councillors and statesmen were called, in a hasty and tumultuous manner, and Alexander was proclaimed king with prolonged and general acclamations. Alexander made a speech in reply. The great assembly looked upon his youthful form and face as he arose, and listened with intense interest to hear what he had to say. He was between nineteen and twenty years of age. But though thus really a boy, he spoke with all the decision and confidence of an energetic man. He said that he should at once assume his father's position, and carry forward his plans. He hoped to do this so efficiently that everything would go directly onward, just as if his father had continued to live, and that the nation would find that the only change which had taken place was in the name of the king. The motive which induced Porcinius to murder Philip in this manner was never fully ascertained. There were various opinions about it. One was that it was an act of private revenge, occasioned by some neglect or injury which Porcinius had received from Philip. Others thought that the murder was instigated by a party in the states of Greece, who were hostile to Philip, and unwilling that he should command the allied armies that were about to penetrate into Asia. Demosthenes, the celebrated orator, was Philip's great enemy among the Greeks. Many of his most powerful oratations were made for the purpose of arousing his countrymen to resist his ambitious plans, and to curtail his power. These oratations were called his Philippics, and from this origin has arisen the practice, which has prevailed ever since that day, of applying the term Philippics to denote, in general, any strongly denounceatory harangues. Now Demosthenes, it is said, who was at this time in Athens, announced the death of Philip in an Athenian assembly before it was possible that the news could have been conveyed there. He accounted for his early possession of the intelligence by saying it was communicated to him by some of the gods. Many persons have accordingly supposed that the plan of assassinating Philip was devised in Greece. That Demosthenes was a party to it, that Porcinius was the agent for carrying it into execution, and that Demosthenes was so confident of the success of the plot, and exalted so much in this certainty, that you could not resist the temptation of thus anticipating its announcement. There were other persons who thought that the Persians had plotted and accomplished this murder. Having induced Porcinius to execute the deed by the promise of great rewards. As Porcinius himself, however, had been instantly killed, there was no opportunity of gaining any information from him on the motives of his conduct, even if he would have been disposed to impart any. At all events, Alexander found himself suddenly elevated to one of the most conspicuous positions in the whole political world. It was not simply that he succeeded to the throne of Macedon. Even this would have been a lofty position for so young a man. But Macedon was a very small part of the realm over which Philip had extended his power. The ascendancy which he had acquired over the whole Grecian Empire, and the vast arrangement he had made for the incursion into Asia, made Alexander the object of universal interest and attention. The question was whether Alexander should attempt to take his father's place in respect to all this general power and undertake to sustain and carry on his fast projects, or whether he should content himself with ruling in quiet over his native country of Macedon. Most prudent persons would have advised a young prince, under such circumstances, to have decided upon the latter course. But Alexander had no idea of bounding his ambition by any such limits. He resolved to spring at once completely into his father's seat, and not only to possess himself of the whole of the power which his father had acquired, but to commence immediately the most energetic and vigorous efforts for a great extension of it. His first plan was to punish his father's murderers. He caused the circumstances of the case to be investigated. And the persons suspected of having been connected with Vosanias in the plot to be tried. Although the designs and motives of the murderers could never be fully ascertained, still several persons were found guilty of participating in it, and were condemned to death and publicly executed. Alexander next decided not to make any changes in his father's appointments to the great offices of state, but to let all the departments of public affairs go on in the same hands as before. How sagacious a line of conduct was this! Most ardent and enthusiastic young men, in the circumstances in which he was placed, would have been elated in vain in their elevation, and would have replaced the old and well-tried servants of the father with personal favourites of their own age, inexperienced and incompetent, and as conceited as themselves. Alexander however made no such changes. He continued to the old offices in command, endeavouring to have everything go on just as if his father had not died. There were two officers in particular, who were the ministers on whom Philip had mainly relied. Their names were Antipater and Parmenio. Antipater had charge of the civil. And Parmenio of military affairs. Parmenio was a very distinguished general. He was at this time nearly sixty years of age. Alexander had great confidence in his military powers, and felt a strong personal attachment for him. Parmenio entered into the young king's service with great readiness, and accompanied him through almost the whole of his career. It seems strange to see men of such age, standing and experience, obeying the orders of such a boy. But there was something in the genius, the power, and the enthusiasm of Alexander's character, which inspired Ardor in All Around Him, and made everyone eager to join his standard, and to aid in the execution of his plans. Macedon, as will be seen on the following map, was in the northern part of the country occupied by the Greeks, and the most powerful state of the Confederacy, and all the great and influential cities were south of it. There was Athens, which was magnificently built. It splendid Citadel, crowning a rocky hill in the centre of it. It was the great seat of literature, philosophy, and the arts, and was thus a centre of attraction for all the civilised world. There was Corinth, which was distinguished for the gaiety and pleasure which reigned there. All possible means of luxury and amusement were concentrated within its walls. The lovers of knowledge and of art, from all parts of the earth flocked to Athens, while those in pursuit of pleasure, dissipation, and indulgence chose Corinth for their home. Corinth was beautifully situated on Ismus, with prospects on the sea on either hand. It had been a famous city for a thousand years in Alexander's Day. There was also Thieves. Thieves was farther north than Athens and Corinth. It was situated on an elevated plain, and had, like other ancient cities, a strong Citadel, where there was at this time a Macedonian garrison, which Philip had placed there. Thieves was very wealthy and powerful. It had also been celebrated as the birthplace of many poets and philosophers, and other eminent men. Among these was Pindar, a very celebrated poet who had flourished one or two centuries before the time of Alexander. His descendants still lived in Thieves, and Alexander, sometime after this, had occasioned to confer upon them a very distinguished honour. There was Sparta also, called sometimes Lacedemon. The inhabitants of this city were feigned for their courage, hardyhood, and physical strength, and for the energy with which they devoted themselves to the work of war. They were nearly all soldiers, and all the arrangements of the state and of society, and all the plans of education, were designed to promote military ambition and pride among the officers, and fierce and indomitable courage and endurance in the men. These cities, and many others, with the states which were attached to them, formed a large and flourishing and very powerful community, extending all over that part of Greece which lay south of Macedon. Philip, as has been already said, had established his own ascendancy over all this region, though it cost him many perplexing negotiations and some hard-fought battles to do it. Sparta considered it somewhat uncertain whether the people of all these states and cities would be disposed to transfer readily to so youthful a prince as he. The High Commission, which his father, a very powerful monarch and soldier, had exhorted from them with so much difficulty. What should he do in the case? Should he give up the expectation of it? Should he send ambassadors to them, presenting his claims to occupy his father's place? Or should he not act at all? But wait quietly at home in Macedon, until they should decide the question. Instead of doing either of these things, Alexander decided on the very bold step of setting out himself, at the head of an army, to march into southern Greece for the purpose of presenting in person, and if necessary, of enforcing his claim to the same post of honour and power which had been conferred upon his father. Considering all the circumstances of the case, this was perhaps one of the boldest and most decided steps of Alexander's whole career. Many of his Macedonian advisors counselled him not to make such an attempt. But Alexander would not listen to any such cautions. He collected his forces, and set forth at the head of them. Between Macedon and the southern states of Greece was a range of lofty and almost impassable mountains. These mountains extended through the whole interior of the country, and the main route leading into southern Greece passed around to the eastward of them, where they terminated in cliffs, leaving a narrow passage between the cliffs into the sea. This pass was called the Pass of Thermopylae, and it was considered the key to Greece. There was a town named Anthelia near the pass on the outward side. There was in those days a sort of general congress or assembly of the states of Greece, which was held from time to time, to decide questions and disputes in which the different states were continually getting involved with each other. This assembly was called the Amphitionic Council. An account, as is said, of its having been established by a certain king named Amphition. A meeting of this council was appointed to receive Alexander. It was to be held at Thermopylae, or rather at Anthelia, which was just without the pass, and was the usual place at which the council assembled. This was because the pass was an intermediate position between the northern and southern portions of Greece, and thus was equally accessible from either. When proceeding to the southward, Alexander had first to pass through Thessaly, which was a very powerful state immediately south of Macedon. He met with some show of resistance at first, but not much. The country was impressed with the boldness and decision of character manifested in the taking of such a course by Sir Young a man. Then too, Alexander, so far as he became personally known, made a very favourable impression upon every one. His manly and athletic form, his frank and open manners, his spirit, his generosity, and a certain air of confidence, independence, and conscious superiority which were combined, as they always are in the case of true greatness, with an unaffected and unassuming modesty. These and other traits, which were obvious to all who saw him in the person and character of Alexander, made every one his friend. Common men take pleasure in yielding to the influence and ascendancy of one whose spirit they see and feel stands on a higher eminence and wields higher power than their own. They like a leader. It is true they must feel confidence of his superiority, but when this superiority stands out, so clearly and distinctly marked, combined too with all the graces and attractions of youth and manly beauty, as it was in the case of Alexander, the minds of men are brought very easily and rapidly under its sway. The Thessalians gave Alexander a very favourable reception. They expressed a cordial readiness to instate him in the position which his father had occupied. They joined their forces to his, and proceeded southward toward the pass of Thermopylae. Here the great council was held. Alexander took his place in it as a member. Of course he must have been an object of universal interest and attention. The impression which he made here seems to have been very favourable. After this assembly separated, Alexander proceeded southward, accompanied by his own forces, and tended by the various princes and patentons of Greece, with their attendants and followers. The feelings of exultation and pleasure, with which the young king defiled through the pass of Thermopylae, thus attended, must have been exciting in the extreme. The pass of Thermopylae was a scene strongly associated with ideas of military glory and renown. It was here that, about a hundred and fifty years before, Leonidas, a Spartan general, with only three hundred soldiers, had attempted to withstand the pressure of an immense Persian force which was at that time invading Greece. He was one of the kings of Sparta, and he had the command, not only of his three hundred Spartans, but also of all the allied forces of the Greeks, that had been assembled to repel the Persian invasion. With the help of these allies he withstood the Persian forces for some time, and as the pass was so narrow between the cliffs and the sea, he was enabled to resist them successfully. At length, however, a strong detachment from the immense Persian army contrived to find their way over the mountains and around the pass, so as to establish themselves in a position from which they could come down upon the small Greek army in their rear. Leonidas, perceiving this, ordered all his allies from the other states of Greece to withdraw, leaving himself and his three hundred countrymen alone in the defile. He did not expect to repel his enemies, or to defend the pass. He knew that he must die, and all his brave followers with him, and that the torrent of invaders would pour down through the pass over their bodies. But he considered himself stationed there to defend the passage, and he would not desert his post. When the battle came on he was the first to fall. The soldiers gathered around him and defended his dead body as long as they could. At length, overpowered by the immense numbers of their foes, they were all killed, but one man. He made his escape and returned to Sparta. The monument was erected on the spot with this inscription. Go, traveller, to Sparta, and say that we lie here, on the spot at which we were stationed to defend our country. Alexander passed through the defile. He advanced to the great city south of it, to Athens, to Thebes, and to Corinth. Another great assembly of all the monarchs and potentents of Greece was conceived in Corinth, and here Alexander attained the object of his ambition. In having the command of the great expedition into Asia conferred upon him, the impression which he made upon those with whom he came into connection by his personal qualities must have been favourable in the extreme. That such a youthful prince should be selected by so powerful a confederation of nations as their leader, in such an enterprise as they were about to engage in, indicates a most extraordinary power on his part, of acquiring an ascendancy of the minds of men, and of impressing all with the sense of his commanding superiority. Alexander returned to Macedon from his expedition to the south wood in triumph, and began at once to arrange the affairs of his kingdom. So as to be ready to enter, unembarrassed, upon the great career of conquest which he imagined was before him. CHAPTER III THE REACTION The country which was formerly occupied by Macedon, and the other states of Greece, is now Turkey and Europe. In the northern part of it is a vast chain of mountains, called now the Balkan. In Alexander's day it was Mount Hamas. This chain forms a broad belt of lofty, an uninhabitable land, and extends from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. A branch of this mountain range, called Rodope, extends southwardly from about to the middle of its length, as may be seen by the map. Rodope separated Macedonia from a large and powerful country, which was occupied by a somewhat rude but warlike race of men. This country was Thrace. Thrace was one great fertility basin or valley, sloping toward the centre in every direction, so that all the streams from the mountains, increased by the rains which fell over the whole surface of the ground, flowed together into one river, which meandered through the centre of the valley, and flowed out at last into the Aegean Sea. The name of this river was the Hebrus, or this may be seen distinctly upon the map. The Balkan, or Mount Hamas, as it was then called, forms the great northern frontier of Macedon and Thrace. From the summits of the range looking northward, the eyes surveyed a vast extent of land, constituting one of the most extensive and fertile valleys of the globe. It was the valley of the Danube. It was inhabited in those days by rude tribes whom the Greeks and Romans always designated as barbarians, wild and warlike, and as they had not the art of writing, they have left us no records of their institutions or their history. We know nothing of them, or of the other half-civilised nations that occupied the central parts of Europe in those days, except what their invertebrate and perpetual enemies have thought fit to tell us. According to their story, these countries were filled with nations and tribes of a wild and savage character, who could be kept in check only by the most vigorous excitation of military power. Soon after Alexander's return into Macedon, he learned that there were symptoms of revolt among these nations. Philip had subdued them, and established the kind of peace which the Greeks and Romans were accustomed to enforce upon their neighbours. But now, as they had heard that Philip, who had been so terrible a warrior, was no more, and that his son, scarcely out of his teens, had succeeded to the throne, they thought a suitable occasion had arrived to try their strength. Alexander made immediate arrangements for moving northward, with his army, to settle the question. He conducted his forces through a part of Thrace, without meeting with any serious resistance, and approached the mountains. The soldiers looked upon the rugged precipices and lofty summers before them, with awe. These northern mountains were the seat and throne, and the imaginations of the Greeks and Romans, of old Boreas, the Horry God of the North Wind. They conceived of him as dwelling among these cold and stormy summits, and making excursions in winter, carrying with him his vast stores of frost and snow, over the southern valleys and plains. He had wings, a long beard, and white locks, all powdered with flakes of snow. Instead of feet, his body terminated in tales of serpents, which, as he flew along, lashed the air, writhing from under his robes. He was violent and impetuous in temper, rejoicing in the devastation of winter, and in all the sublime phenomena of tempests, cold and snow. The Greek conception of Boreas made an impression upon the human mind that twenty centuries had not been able to efface. The north wind of winter is personified as Boreas, to the present day in the literature of every nation of the western world. The Thracian forces had assembled in the defiles, with other troops from the northern countries, to arrest Alexander's march, and he had some difficulty in repelling them. They had guarded, it is said, some sort of loaded weapons upon the summit of the Ascent, in the pass of the mountains, up which Alexander's forces would have to march. These wagons were to be run down upon them as they ascended. Alexander ordered his men to advance, not withstanding this danger. He directed them, where it was practicable, to open to one side and the other, and allow the descending wagon to pass through. When this could not be done, they were to fall down upon the ground, when they saw this strange military engine coming, and lock their shields together over their heads, allow the wagon to roll on over them, bracing up energetically against its weight. Notwithstanding these precautions, and the prodigious muscular power with which they were carried into effect, some of the men were crushed. The great body of the army was, however, unharmed. As soon as the force of the wagons were spent, they rushed up the Ascent, and attacked their enemies with their pikes. The barbarians fled in all directions, terrified at the force and invulnerability of men, whom, loaded wagons rolling over their bodies down a steep descent, could not kill. Alexander advanced from one conquest like this to another, moving toward the northward and eastward after he'd crossed the mountains, and to let lengthy approach to the mouths of the Danube. Here one of the great chieftains of the barbarian tribes had taken up his position, with his family and court, and a principal part of his army, upon an island called Piyusi, which may be seen upon the map at the beginning of this chapter. This island divided the current of the stream, and Alexander, in attempting to attack it, found that it would be best to endeavour to effect a landing upon the upper point of it. To make this attempt he collected all the boats and vessels which he could obtain, and embarked his troops in them above, directing them to fall down with the current and to land upon the island. This plan, however, did not succeed very well. The current was too rapid for the proper management of the boats. The shores, too, were lined with the forces of the enemy, who discharged showers of spears and arrows at the men, and pushed off the boats when they attempted to land. Alexander, at length, gave up the attempt, and concluded to leave the island, and to cross the river itself further above, and thus carry the war into the very heart of the country. It is a serious undertaking to get a great body of men and horses across a broad and rapid river, when the people of the country have done all in their power to remove or destroy all possible means of transit, and when hostile bans are on the opposite bank, to embarrass and impede the operations by every mode in their power. Alexander, however, advanced to the undertaking with great resolution. To cross the Danube, especially with a military force, was, in those days, in the estimation of the Greeks and Romans, a very great exploit. The river was so distant, so broad and rapid, and its banks were bordered and defended by such ferocious foes, that across its eddying tide, and penetrate into the unknown and unexplored regions beyond, leaving the broad and deep and rapid stream to cut off the hopes of retreat, implied the possession of extreme self-reliance, courage, and decision. Alexander collected all the canoes and boats which he could obtain up and down the river. He built large rafts, attaching to them the skins of beasts sewed together, and inflated to give them buoyancy. When all was ready they began the transportation of the army and the night, in a place where the enemy had not expected that the attempt would have been made. There were a thousand horses, with their riders, and four thousand foot soldiers to be conveyed across. It is customary in such cases to swim the horses over, leading them by lines, the ends of which are held by men in boats. The men themselves, with all the arms and munition and baggage, had to be carried over in the boats or up their afts. Before morning the whole was accomplished. The army landed in a field of grain. This circumstance, which is casually mentioned by historians, and also the story of the wagons in the passes of Mount Hamas, proves that these northern nations were not absolute barbarians, in the sense in which that term is used in the present day. The art of cultivation and of construction master made some progress among them at any rate, and they proved, by some of their conflicts with Alexander, that they were well trained and well disciplined soldiers. The Macedonians swept down the waving grain with their pikes, to open away for the advance of the cavalry, and in the early morning Alexander found and attacked the army of his enemies, who were utterly astonished at finding him on their side of the river. As may be easily anticipated, the barbarian army was beaten in the battle that ensued, their city was taken, the booty was taken back across the Danube, to be distributed among the soldiers of the army. The neighbouring nations and tribes were overroared and subdued by this exhibition of Alexander's courage and energy. He made satisfactory treaties with them all, took hostages, where necessary, to secure the observance of the treaties, and then recrossed the Danube and set out on his return to Macedon. He found that it was time for him to return. The southern cities and states of Greece had not been unanimous in raising him to the office which his father had held. The Spartans and some others were opposed to him. The party thus opposed were inactive and silent while Alexander was in their country, on his first visit to southern Greece. But after his return they began to contemplate more decisive action, and afterward, when they heard of his having undertaken so desperate an enterprise as going northward with his forces, and actually crossing the Danube, they considered him as so completely out of the way that they grew very courageous and meditated open rebellion. The city of Thebes did at length rebel. Philip had conquered this city in former struggles, and had left a Macedonian garrison there in the citadel. The name of the citadel was Cadmium. The officers of the garrison, supposing the tour was secure, left the soldiers in the citadel, and came themselves down to the city to reside. Things were in this condition when the rebellion against Alexander's authority broke out. They killed the officers who were in the city, and summoned the garrison to surrender. The garrison refused, and the Thebians besieged it. This outbreak against Alexander's authority was in a great measure the work of the great orator Dimusthenes, who spared no excitations to arouse the southern states of Greece to resist Alexander's dominion. He especially exerted all the powers of his eloquence in Athens, and the endeavour to bring over the Athenians to take sides against Alexander. While things were in this state, the Thebians, having understood that Alexander had been killed at the north, and supposing that, at all events, if this report should not be true, he was without doubt still far away, involved in contentions with the barbarian nations, from which it was not to be expected that he could be very speedily extracted. The whole city was suddenly thrown into consternation, by the report that a large Macedonian army was approaching from the north, with Alexander at its head, and that it was, in fact, close upon them. It was now, however, too late for the Thebians to repent of what they had done. They were far too deeply impressed with the conviction of the decision and energy of Alexander's character, as manifested in the whole course of his proceedings, since he began to reign, and especially by his sudden reappearance among them, so soon after this outbreak against his authority, to imagine that there was now any hope for them, except in determined and successful resistance. They shut themselves up, therefore, in their city, and prepared to defend themselves to the last extremity. Alexander advanced, and passing round the city toward the southern side, established his headquarters there, so as to cut off, effectually, all communication with Athens and the southern cities. He then extended his posts all around the place, so as to invest it entirely. These preparations made. He paused before he commenced the work of subduing the city, to give the inhabitants an opportunity to submit, if they would, without compelling him to resort to force. The conditions, however, which he imposed, were such that the Thebians thought it best to take their chance of resistance. They refused to surrender, and Alexander began to prepare for the onset. He was very soon ready, and with his characteristic ardour and energy, he determined on attempting to carry the city at once by assault. Fortified cities generally require a siege, and sometimes a very long siege before they can be subdued. The army within, sheltered behind the parapets of the walls, and standing there in a position above that of their assailants, have such great advantages in the contest, that a long time after an elapses before they can be compelled to surrender, the besiegers have to invest the city on all sides, to cut off all supplies of provisions, and to then, in those days, they had to construct engines to make a breach somewhere in the city, through which an assaulting party could attempt to force their way in. The time for making an assault upon a besieged city depends upon the comparative strength of those within and without, and also still more, on the ardour and resolution of the besiegers. In warfare, an army, in investing a fortified place, spends ordinarily a considerable time in burrowing their way along in trenches, half underground, until they get near enough to plant their cannon where the balls can take effect upon some part of the wall. Then, some time usually elapses before a breach is made, and the garrison is sufficiently weakened to render an assault advisable. When, however, the time and length arrives, the most bold and desperate portion of the army are designated to lead the attack. Bundles of small branches of trees are provided to fill up ditches with, and ladders for mounting embarkments and walls. The city sometimes, seeing these preparations going on, and convinced that the assault will be successful, surrenders before it is made. When the besieged do thus surrender, they save themselves a vast amount of suffering, for the carrying of a city by assault is perhaps the most horrible scene, which the view of heaven. It is horrible, because the soldiers, exasperated to fury by the resistance which they meet with, and by the awful malignity of the passions, always excited in the hour of battle, if they succeed, but suddenly into the precents of domestic life, and find sometimes thousands of families, mothers, children, and defenseless maidens, at the mercy of those excited to frenzy. Soldiers, under such circumstances, cannot be restrained, and no imagination can conceive the horrors of the sacking of a city, carried by assault, after a protracted siege. Tigers do not spring upon their prey, with greater ferocity than man springs under such circumstances, to the perpetration of every possible cruelty upon his fellow man. After an ordinary battle upon an open field, the conquerors have only men, armed like themselves, to wreck their vengeance upon. The scene is awful enough, however here. But, in carrying a city by storm, which takes place usually at an unexpected time, and often in the night, the maddened and victorious assaulters, suddenly burst into the sacred scenes of domestic peace, and seclusion and love. The very worst of men, filled with the worst of passions, stimulated by the resistance they have encountered, and licensed by their victory to give all these passions the fullest, a most unrestricted gratification. To plunder, burn, destroy, and kill, are the lighter and more harmless of the crimes they perpetrate. Thebes was carried by assault. Alexander did not wait for the slow operations of a siege. He watched a favourable opportunity, and burst over and through the outer line of fortifications which defended the city. The attempt to do this was very desperate, and the loss of life great. But it was triumphantly successful. The thebians were driven back toward the inner wall, and began to crowd in, through the gates into the city, in terrible confusion. The Macedonians were close upon them, and pursuers in pursuit, struggling together and trampling upon and killing each other as they went, flowed in, like a boiling and raging torrent which nothing could resist, through the open archway. It was impossible to close the gates. The whole Macedonian force was soon in full possession of the now defenceless houses. And for many hours, screams and wailings, and cries of horror and despair, testified to the awful atrocity of the crimes attendant on the sacking of a city. At length the soldiery were restrained. Order was restored. The army retired to the post to sign them, and Alexander began to deliberate what he should do with the conquered town. He determined to destroy it. To offer, once for all, a terrible example of the consequences of rebellion against him. The case was not one, he considered, of the ordinary conquest of a foe. The states of Greece, thieves with the rest, had once solemnly conferred upon him the authority against which the thebians had now rebelled. They were traitors. Therefore in his judgment not mere enemies. And he determined that he should do what he should do. But in carrying this terrible decision into effect he acted in a manner so deliberate, discriminating and cautious, as to diminish very much the irritation and resentment which it would otherwise have caused. And to give it its full moral effect as a measure, not of angry resentment, but of calm and deliberate retribution, just and proper, in the first place he released all the priests. Then in respect to the rest of the population he discriminated carefully between those who had favoured the rebellion and those who had been true in their allegiance to him. The latter were allowed to depart in safety. And if in the case of any family it could be shown that one individual had been on the Macedonian treason of the other members and the whole family was saved. And the officers appointed to carry out these provisions were liberal in the interpretation and application of them, so as to save as many as there could be any possible pretext for saving. The descendants and family connections of Pindar, the celebrated poet who has already been mentioned as having born in Thebes were all pardoned also in the contest. The truth was that Alexander though he had the sagacity to see that he was placed in circumstances where prodigious moral effect in strengthening his position would be produced by an act of greater severity was swayed by so many generous impulses which raised him above the ordinary excitements of irritation and revenge that he had every desire to make the suffering narrow bounds as the nature of the case would allow it. He doubtless also had an instinctive feeling that the moral effect itself of so dreadful a retribution as he was about to inflict upon the devoted city would be very much increased by forbearance and generosity and by extreme regard for the security and protection of those who had shown themselves his friends. After all these exceptions had to be made and applied to be dismissed the rest of the population were sold into slavery and then the city was utterly and entirely destroyed. The number thus sold was about 30,000 and 6,000 had been killed in the assault and storming of the city Thus thebes was made a ruin and a desolation and it remained so a monument of Alexander's the effect of the destruction of thebes upon the other cities and states of Greece was what might have been expected it came upon them like a thunderbolt although thebes was the only city which had openly revolted there had been strong symptoms of disaffection in many other places Demosthenes who had been silent while Alexander was present in Greece during his first visit there had again been endeavouring Alexander's opposition to Macedonian ascendancy and to concentrate and bring out into action the influences which were hostile to Alexander he said in his speeches that Alexander was a mere boy and that it was disgraceful for such cities as Athens Sparta and Thebes to submit to his sway Alexander had heard of these things and as he was coming down into Greece through the city before the destruction of Thebes he said they say I am a boy I am coming to teach them that I am a man he did teach them he was a man his unexpected appearance when they imagined him entangled among the mountains and wilds of unknown regions in the north his sudden investiture of Thebes the assault the calm deliberations in respect to the destiny of the city were cautious discriminating but inexorable energy with which the decision was carried into effect all coming in such rapid succession impressed the greece and commonwealth with the conviction that the person as they had to deal with was no boy and character whatever might be his years all symptoms of disaffection against the rule of Alexander instantly disappeared and did not entirely to the terror inspired by the retribution which had been visited upon Thebes all greece was impressed with a new admiration for Alexander's character as they witnessed these events in which his impetuous energy his cool and calm decision his forbearance his magnanimity and his faithfulness to his friends were all so conspicuous his pardoning the priests whether they being for him or against him made every friend of religion inclined to his favour the same into position in behalf for the poet's family and ascendance spoke directly to the heart of every poet orator historian and philosopher throughout the country and tended to make all the lovers of literature his friends his magnanimity also in deciding that one single friend of his in a family should save that family instead of ordaining as a more shortsighted conqueror would have done that a single enemy should condemn it must have awakened a strong feeling of gratitude and regard in the hearts of all who could appreciate fidelity to friends and generosity of spirit thus as the news of the destruction of thieves and the selling of so large a portion of the inhabitants into slavery spread over the land its effect was to turn over so great a part of the population to a feeling of admiration of alexander's character and confidence in his extraordinary powers as to leave only a small minority disposed to take sides with the punished rebels or resent the destruction of the city from thebes alexander proceeded to the southward deputations from the cities were sent to him congratulated him on his victories and offering their adhesion to his cause his influence and ascendancy seemed firmly established now in the country of the Greeks and in due time he returned to Macedon and celebrated at Egea which was at this time his capital the establishment and confirmation of his power by games shows spectacles illuminations and sacrifices to the gods offered on a scale of the greatest pomp and magnificence he was now ready to turn his thoughts towards the long projected plan of the expedition into Asia End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Alexander the Great This is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lizzie Driver Alexander the Great by Jacob Abbott Chapter 4 Crossing the Hellespont On Alexander's arrival in Macedon he immediately began to turn his attention to the subject of the invasion of Asia he was full of ardour and enthusiasm to carry this project into effect Considering his extreme youth and the captivating character of the Enterprise it is strange that he should have exercised so much to liberation and caution as his conduct did really invents he had now settled everything in the most thorough manner both within his dominions and among the nations on his borders and, as it seemed to him the time had come when he was to commence active preparations for the Great Asiatic Campaign he brought the subject before his ministers and councillors they in general concurred with him in opinion there were however two who were in doubt or rather who were in fact opposed to the plan though they expressed their non-concurrence in the form of doubts these two persons were Antipater and Parmenio the venerable officers who had been already mentioned as having served Philip so faithfully and theirs transferring on the death of the father their attachment and allegiance was once to the sun Antipater and Parmenio represented to Alexander that if he were to go to Asia at that time he would put to extreme hazard all the interests of Macedon as he had to know family there was of course no direct heir to the crown and in case of any misfortune happening by which his life should be lost Macedon would become at once the prey of contending factions which would immediately arise each presenting its own candidate for the vacant throne the sagacity and foresight which these statesmen invents in these suggestions were abundantly confirmed in the end Alexander did die in Asia his vast kingdom at once fell into pieces and it was desolated with internal commotions and civil wars for a long period after his death Parmenio and Antipater accordingly advised the king to postpone his expedition they advised him to seek a wife among the princesses of Greece and then to settle down quietly to the duties of domestic life and to the government of his kingdom for a few years then when everything should have become settled and consolidated in Greece and his family was established he could leave Macedon more safely public affairs would go on more steadily while he lived and in case of his death the crown would descend with comparatively little danger of common commotion to his heir but Alexander was fully decided against any such policy as this he resolved to embark in the great expedition at once he concluded to make Antipater his vice-gerent in Macedon during his absence and take Parmenio with him into Asia it will be remembered that Antipater was a statesman and Parmenio the general that is Antipater had been employed more by Philip in civil and Parmenio in military affairs though in those days everybody who was in public life was more or less a soldier Alexander left an army of ten or twelve thousand men with Antipater for the protection of Macedon he organized another army of about thirty-five thousand to go with him this was considered a very small army for such a vast undertaking one or two hundred years before this time Darius, a king of Persia had invaded Greece with an army of five hundred thousand men and yet he had been defeated and driven back and now Alexander was undertaken to retaliate with the great deal less than one tenth part of the force of Alexander's army of thirty-five thousand thirty thousand were foot soldiers and about five thousand were horse more than half the whole army was from Macedon the remainder was from the southern states of Greece a large body of the horse was from Thessaly which as will be seen on the map was a country south of Macedon it was in fact one broad expanded valley with mountains all around torrents descended from these mountains forming streams which flowed in currents more and more deep and slow as they descended into the plains and combining at last into one central river which flowed to the eastward and escaped from the environage of mountains through a most celebrated dell called the Vale of Temple on the north of this valley is Olympus and on the south the two twin mountains Palaeon and Ossa there was an ancient story of a war in Thessaly between the giants who were imagined to have lived there in very early days and the gods the giants piled Palaeon upon Ossa to enable them to get up to heaven in their assault upon their celestial enemies the fable has led to a proverb which prevails in every language in Europe by which all extravagant and unheard of exhortations to accomplish an end is said to be a piling of Palaeon upon Ossa Thessaly was famous for its horses and its horsemen the slopes of the mountains furnished the best of pastureage for the rearing of the animals and the plains below offered broad and open fields for training and exercise in the bodies of cavalry formed by means of them the Thessalian horse were famous throughout all Greece Pucephalus was reared in Thessaly Alexander as king of Macedon possessed extensive estates and revenues which were his own personal property and were independent of the revenues of the state before setting out on his expedition he apportioned these among his great officers and generals both those who were to go and those who were to remain he evinced great generosity in this but it was after all the spirit of ambition more than that of generosity which led him to do it the two great impulses which animated him were the pleasure of doing great deeds and the fame and glory of having done them these two principles are very distinct in their nature though often conjoined they were paramount and supreme in Alexander's character and every other human principle was subordinate to them money was to him accordingly only a means to enable him to accomplish these ends his distributing estates and revenues in the manner above described was only a judicious approbation of the money to the promotion of the great ends he wished to attain it was expenditure not gift it answered adorably the end he had in view his friends all looked upon him as extremely generous and self-sacrificing they asked him what he had reserved for himself hope said Alexander at length all things were ready and Alexander began to celebrate the religious sacrifices, spectacles and shows which in those days always preceded great undertakens of this kind there was a great ceremony in honour of Jupiter and the nine muses which had long been celebrated in Macedon as a sort of annual national festival Alexander now caused great preparations for this festival in the days of the Greeks public worship and public amusement were combined in one in the same series of spectacles and ceremonies all worship was a theatrical show and almost all shows were forms of worship the religious instincts of the human heart demand some sort of sympathy and aid real or imaginary from the invisible world in great and solemn undertakings and in every momentous crisis in its history it is true that Alexander's soldiers about to leave their homes to go to another quarter of the globe and into scenes of danger and death from which it was very improbable that any of them would ever return had no other celestial protection to look up to than the spirits of ancient heroes who they imagined had, somehow or other found their final home in a sort of heaven among the summits of the mountains where they reigned in some sense over human affairs but this, small as it seems to us was a great deal to them they felt, when sacrificing to these gods that they were invoking their presence and sympathy these deities having been engaged in the same enterprises themselves and animated with the same hopes and fears the soldiers imagined that the semi-human divinities invoked by them were taken interest in their dangers and rejoiced in their success the muses, in honour of whom as well as Jupiter this great Macedonian festival was held there were nine singing and dancing maidens beautiful incontinence and form and enchantingly graceful in all their movements they came, the ancients imagined from Thrace in the north and went first to Jupiter upon Mount Olympus who made them goddesses afterward they went southward and spread over Greece making their residence at last in a palace upon Mount Pronassus which will be found upon the map just north of the gulf of Corinth and west of Piyosia they were worshipped all over Greece and Italy as the goddesses of music and dancing in later times particular sciences and arts were assigned to them respectively as history, astronomy, tragedy etc though there was no distinction of this kind in early days the festivities in honour of Jupiter and the muses were continued in Macedon nine days a number corresponding with that of the dancing goddesses Alexander made very magnificent preparations for the celebration on this occasion he had a tent made under which he said a hundred tables could be spread and here he entertained day after day an enormous company of princes, potentates and generals he offered sacrifices to such of the gods as he supposed it would please the soldiers to imagine they had proprieted connected with these sacrifices and feastings there were athletic and military spectacles and shows races and wrestling and mock contests with blunted spears all these things encouraged and quickened they are due an animation of the soldiers it aroused their ambition to distinguish themselves by their exploits and gave them an increased and stimulated desire for honour and fame thus inspirited by new desires for human praise and trusting in the sympathy and protection of powers which were all that they conceived of as divine the army prepared to set forth from their native land bidding it along and, as it proved to most of them a final farewell by following the course of Alexander's expedition upon the map at the commencement of Chapter 3 it will be seen that his route lay first among the northern coasts of the Aegean Sea he was to pass from Europe into Asia by crossing the helispond between Cestos and Abidos he sent a fleet of 150 galleys of three banks of oars each over the Aegean Sea to land at Cestos and be ready to transport his army across the straits the army in the meantime marched by land they had to cross the rivers which flow into the Aegean Sea on the northern side but as these rivers were in Macedon and no opposition was encountered upon the banks of them there was no serious difficulty in effecting the passage when they reached Cestos they found the fleet ready there awaiting their arrival it is very strikingly characteristic of the mingling of poetic sentiment and enthusiasm with calm and calculating business efficiency which shone conspicuously so often in Alexander's career that when he arrived at Cestos and found that the ships were there and the army's safe and that there was no enemy to oppose his landing on the Asiatic shore he left Parmenio to conduct the transportation of the troops across the water while he himself went away in a single galley on an excursion of sentiment and romantic adventure a little south of the place where his army was to cross there lay on the Asiatic shore an extended plane on which were the ruins of Troy now Troy was the city which was the scene of Homer's poems those poems which had excited so much interest in the mind of Alexander in his early years and he determined, instead of crossing the helispont with the main body of his army to proceed southward in a single galley and land himself on the Asiatic shore on the very spot which the romantic imagination of his youth had dwelt upon so often and so long Troy was situated upon a plane Homer describes an island off the coast named Tenedos and a mountain near called Mount Ida there was also a river called the Scamander the island, the mountain and the river remain preserving their original names to the present day except that the river is now called the Mender but although various vestiges of ancient ruins are found scattered about the plane no spot can be identified as the site of the city some scholars have maintained that there probably never was such a city that Homer invented the whole there being nothing read in all that he describes except the river, the mountain and the island his story is, however, that there was a great and powerful city there with a kingdom attached to it and that this city was besieged by the Greeks for ten years at the end of which time it was taken and destroyed the story of the origin of this war is substantially this Priam was king of Troy his wife, a short time before her son was born dreamed that at his birth the child turned into a torch and set the palace on fire she told this dream to the soothsayers and asked them what it meant they said it must mean that her son would be the means of bringing some terrible calamities and disasters upon the family their mother was terrified and to avert these calamities gave the child to a slave as soon as it was born and ordered him to destroy it the slave pitted the helpless babe and not liking to destroy it with his own hand carried it to Mount Ida and there left it in the forest to die a she-bear roaming through the woods found the child and experiencing a feeling of maternal tenderness for it she took care of it and reared it as if it had been her own offspring the child was found at last by some shepherds who lived upon the mountain and they adopted it as their own robbing the brute mother of her charge they named the boy Paris he grew in strength and beauty and gave early and extraordinary proofs of courage and energy as if he had imbibed some of the qualities of his fierce foster mother with the milk she gave him he was so remarkable for athletic beauty and manly courage that he not only easily won the heart of a nymph of Mount Ida named Inoni, whom he married but he also attracted the attention of the goddesses in the heavens at length these goddesses had a dispute which they agreed to refer to him the origin of the dispute was this there was a wedding among them and one of them, irritated at not having been invited had a golden apple made on which re-engraved the words to be given to the most beautiful she threw this apple into the assembly her object was to make them quarrel for it in fact she was herself the goddess of discord and independently of her cause of peak in this case she loved to promote disputes it is an illusion to this ancient tale that any subject of dispute brought up unnecessarily among friends is called to this day an apple of discord three of the goddesses claimed the apple each insisting that she was more beautiful than the others and this was the dispute which they agreed to refer to Paris they accordingly exhibited themselves before him in the mountains that he might look at them and decide they did not however seem willing, either of them to trust an impartial decision of the question but each offered the judge a bribe to induce him to decide in her favour one promised him a kingdom another great fame and the third, Venus promised him the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife he decided in favour of Venus whether because she was justly entitled to the decision or through the influence of the bribe the story does not say all this time Paris remained on the mountain a simple shepherd and herdsman not knowing his relationship to the monarch who reigned over the city and kingdom on the plain below King Prime however, about this time in some games which he was celebrating offered as a prize to the victor the finest bull which could be obtained on Mount Ida on making examination Paris was found to have the finest bull and the king exercising his despotic power which kings in those days made no scruple of assuming in respect to helpless peasants took it away Paris was very indignant it happened however that a short time afterward there was another opportunity to contend for the same bull and Paris disguising himself as a prince appeared in the lists conquered every competitor and bore away the bull again to his home in the fastness of the mountain in consequence of this his appearance at court the daughter of Priam whose name was Cassandra became acquainted with him and inquiring into his story succeeded in ascertaining that he was her brother the long lost child that had been supposed to be put to death King Prime was convinced by the evidence which he brought forward and Paris was brought home to his father's house after becoming established in his new position he remembered the promise of Venus that he should have the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife and he began accordingly to inquire where he could find her there was in Sparta one of the cities of southern Greece a certain king Menelaus who had a youthful bride named Helen who was famed far and near for her beauty Paris came to the conclusion that she was the most lovely woman in the world and that he was entitled, in virtue of Venus's promise to obtain possession of her if he could do so by any means whatever he accordingly made a journey into Greece visited Sparta, formed an acquaintance with Helen persuaded her to abandon her husband and her duty and elope with him to Troy Menelaus was indignant at this outrage he called on all Greece to take up arms and join him in the attempt to recover his bride they responded to this demand they first sent to Priam demanding that he should restore Helen to her husband Priam refused to do so taking part with his son the Greeks then raised a fleet and an army and came to the plains of Troy encamped before the city and preserved for ten long years in besieging it when at length it was taken and destroyed these stories relating to the origin of the war however marvellous and entertaining as they are to the points which chiefly interested the mind of Alexander the portions of Homer's narratives which most excited his enthusiasm were those relating to the characters of the heroes who fought on one side and on the other at the siege their various adventures and the delineations of their motives and principles of conduct and the emotions and excitements they experienced in the various circumstances in which they were placed Homer describes with great beauty and force the workings of ambition, of resentment, of pride, of rivalry and all those other impulses of human heart which would excite and control the actions of impetuous men in the circumstances in which his heroes were placed each one of the heroes whose history and adventures he gives possessed a well-marked and striking character and differed in temperament and action from the rest Achilles was one he was fiery, impetuous and implacable in character fierce and merciless and though perfectly undaunted and fearless entirely destitute of magnanimity there was a river core to the sticks the waters of which were said to have the property of making anyone invulnerable the mother of Achilles dipped him into it in his infancy holding him by the heel the heel, not having been immersed, was the only part which could be wounded thus he was safe in battle and was a terrible warrior he however quarrelled with his comrades and withdrew from their cause on slight pretexts and then became reconciled again influenced by equally frivolous reasons Agamemnon was the commander in chief of the Greek army after a certain victory by which some captors were taken and were to be divided among the victors Agamemnon was obliged to restore one a noble lady who had fallen to his share and he took away the one that had been assigned to Achilles to replace her this incensed Achilles and he withdrew for a long time from the contest and in consequence of his absence the Trojans gained great and continued victories against the Greeks for a long time nothing could induce Achilles to return at length however, though he would not go himself he allowed his intimate friend, whose name was Patroclus to take his armour and go into battle Patroclus was at first successful but was soon killed by Hector, the brother of Paris this aroused anger and a spirit of revenge in the mind of Achilles he gave up his quarrel with Agamemnon and returned to the combat he did not remit his exaltations till he had slain Hector and then he expressed his brutal exaltation and satisfied his revenge by dragging the dead body at the wheels of his chariot around the walls of the city he then sold the body to the distracted father for a ransom it was such stories as these which are related in the poems of Homer with great beauty and power that had chiefly interested the mind of Alexander the subjects interested him the accounts of the contentions, the rivalries the exploits of these warriors the delineations of their character and springs of action and the narrations of the various incidents and events to which such a war gave rise were all calculated to captivate the imagination of a young martial hero Alexander accordingly resolved that his first landing in Asia should be at Troy he left his army under the charge of Parmenio to cross from Sestos to Aberdos while he himself set forth in a single galley to proceed to the southward there was a port on the Trojan shore where the Greeks had been accustomed to disembark and he steered his course for it he had a bull on board his galley which he was going to offer as a sacrifice to Neptune went half way from shore to shore Neptune was the god of the sea it is true that the helispont is not the open ocean but it is an arm of the sea and thus belonged properly to the dominions which the ancients assigned to the divinity of the water Neptune was conceived of by the ancients as a monarch dwelling on the seas or upon the coasts and riding over the waves seated in a great shell or sometimes in a chariot drawn by dolphins or seahorses in these excursions he was attended by a train of seagods and nymphs who half floating half swimming followed him over the billows instead of a septer Neptune carried a trident a trident was a sort of three-pronged harpoon such as was used in those days by the fishermen of the Mediterranean it was from this circumstance probably that it was chosen as the badge of authority for the god of the sea Alexander took the helm and steered the galley with his own hands towards the Asiatic shore just before he reached the land he took his place upon the prow and threw a javelin at the shore as he approached it a symbol of the spirit of defiance and hostility with which he advanced to the frontiers of the eastern world he was also the first to land after disembarking his company he offered sacrifices to the gods and proceeded to visit the places which had been the scenes of the events which Homer had described Homer had written five hundred years before the time of Alexander and there is some doubt whether the ruins and the remains of cities which our hero found there were really the scenes of the narratives which had interested him so deeply he however at any rate believed them to be so and he was filled with enthusiasm and pride as he wandered among them he seems to be most interested in the character of Achilles and he said that he envied him his happy lot in having such a friend as patroclus to help him perform his exploits and such a poet as Homer to celebrate them after completing his visit upon the plain of Troy Alexander moved toward the northeast with the few men who had accompanied him in his single galley in the meantime Parmenio had crossed safely with the main body of the army from Cestos to Abidos Alexander ever took them on their march not far from the place of their landing to the northward of this place on the left line of march which Alexander was taking was a city of Lamsakas now a large portion of Asia Minor although for the most part under the dominion of Persia had been in a great measure settled by Greeks and in previous wars between the two nations the various cities had been in possession sometimes of one power and sometimes of the other in these contests the city of Lamsakas had incurred the highest pleasure of the Greeks by rebelling as they said on one occasion against them Alexander determined to destroy it as he passed the inhabitants were aware of this intention and sent an ambassador to Alexander to implore his mercy when the ambassador approached Alexander, knowing his errand uttered a declaration in which he bound himself by a solemn oath not to grant the request he was about to make I have come, said the ambassador to implore you to destroy Lamsakas Alexander pleased with the readiness of the ambassador in giving his language such a sudden turn and perhaps influenced by his oath spared the city he was now fairly in Asia the Persian forces were gathering to attack him but so unexpected and sudden had been his invasion that they were not prepared to meet him at his arrival and he advanced without opposition till he reached the banks of the little river Granicus End of chapter 4