§ 1. Education of Alexander. § 2. Rejoicings at Athens for Philip's death. Movements in Greece. § 3. Alexander overawes the malcontents, and is appointed generalissimo for the Persian war. § 4. Alexander subdues the Triballians, Getæ, Illyrians, and Taulantians. § 5. Revolt and destruction of Thebes. § 6. Alexander prepares to invade Persia. Nature of that empire. § 7. Alexander crosses the Hellespont. § 8. Battle of the Granicus. § 9. Alexander overruns Asia Minor. The Gordian knot.

§ 10. March through Cilicia. Battle of Issus. Victory. § 11. Conquest of Phoenicia. Siege of Tyre. § 12. Alexander marches into Egypt. Foundation of Alexandria. Oracle of Ammon. § 13. Battle of Arbela. § 14. Alexander takes possession of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. § 15. March to Ecbatana, and pursuit of Darius. Death of Darius. § 16. March through Hyrcania, Asia, and Drangiana. Conspiracy of Philotas. § 17. Alexander crosses the Oxus. Death of Bessus. Reduction of Sogdiana. Alexander marries Roxana. § 18. Murder of Clitus. § 19. Plot of the pages. Alexander invades the Penjâb, and defeats Porus. Marches as far as the Hyphasis. § 20. Descent of the Hydaspes and Indus. § 21. March through Gedrosia. Voyage of Nearchus. § 22. Arrival at Susa. Intermarriages of the Greeks and Persians. Mutiny of the army. § 23. Death of Hephæstion. Alexander takes up his residence at Babylon. His death. § 24. Character.

§ 1. NOTWITHSTANDING the suspicions of Olympias and Alexander, it does not appear that Philip had ever really entertained the design of depriving Alexander of the throne. At the time of his father's death he was in his twentieth year, having been born in B.C. 356. At a very tender age he displayed a spirit

which endeared him to his father. His early education was entrusted to Leonidas, a kinsman of his mother, a man of severe and parsimonious character, who trained him with Spartan simplicity and hardihood; whilst Lysimachus, a sort of undergovernor, early inspired the young prince with ambitious notions, by teaching him to love and emulate the heroes of the Iliad. According to the traditions of his family, the blood of Achilles actually ran in the veins of Alexander; and Lysimachus nourished the feeling which that circumstance was calculated to awaken by giving him the name of that hero, whilst he called Philip Peleus, and himself Phoenix. But the most striking feature in Alexander's education was, that he had Aristotle for his teacher, and that thus the greatest conqueror of the material world received the instructions of him who has exercised the most extensive empire over the human intellect. It was probably at about the age of thirteen that he first received the lessons of Aristotle, and they can hardly have continued more than three years, for Alexander soon left the schools for the employments of active life. At the age of sixteen we find him regent of Macedonia during Philip's absence; and at eighteen we have seen him filling a prominent military post at the battle of Charonea.

§ 2. On succeeding to the throne, Alexander announced his intention of prosecuting his father's expedition into Asia; but it was first necessary for him to settle the affairs of Greece, where the news of Philip's assassination, and the accession of so young a prince, had excited in several states a hope of shaking off the Macedonian yoke. Athens was the centre of these movements. Demosthenes, who was informed of Philip's death by a special messenger, resolved to avail himself of the superstition of his fellow citizens by a pious fraud. He went to the senate-house and declared to the Five Hundred that Jove and Athena had forewarned him in a dream of some great blessing that was in store for the commonwealth. Shortly afterwards public couriers arrived with the news of Philip's death. Demosthenes, although in mourning for the recent loss of an only daughter, now came abroad dressed in white, and crowned with a chaplet, in which attire he was seen sacrificing at one of the public altars. He also moved a decree that Philip's death should be celebrated by a public thanksgiving, and that religious honours should be paid to the memory of Pausanias. Phocion certainly showed a more generous spirit in disapproving of these proceedings. "Nothing," he observed, "betrays a more dastardly turn of mind than expressions of joy for the death of an enemy. And truly you have fine reason to rejoice, when the army you fought with at Cha

ronea is only reduced by one man !" In this last remark, indeed, he depreciated the abilities of Philip, as much as Demosthenes was inclined to underrate the abilities of Alexander. During his embassy to Pella, the Athenian orator had conceived a mean opinion of the youthful prince, whom he now compared to Homer's Margites, and assured the Athenians that he would spend all his time in either prosecuting his studies, or inspecting the entrails of victims. At the same time Demosthenes made vigorous preparations for action. He was already in correspondence with the Persian court for the purpose of thwarting Philip's projected expedition into Asia; and he now despatched envoys to the principal Grecian states for the purpose of exciting them against Macedon. Sparta, and the whole Peloponnesus, with the exception of Megalopolis and Messenia, seemed inclined to shake off their compulsory alliance. Even the Thebans rose against the dominant oligarchy, although the Cadmea was in the hands of the Macedonians.

§ 3. But the activity of Alexander disconcerted all these movements. He retained the Thessalians in obedience partly by flattery, partly by a display of force, and having marched through their territory, he assembled the Amphictyonic Council at Thermopyla, who conferred upon him the command with which they had invested his father during the Sacred War. He then advanced rapidly upon Thebes, and thus prevented the meditated revolution. The Athenians were now seized with alarm, and sent an embassy to deprecate the wrath of Alexander, and to offer to him the same honours and privileges which they had before conferred upon Philip. Demosthenes was appointed one of the envoys, but when he had proceeded as far as the confines of Attica, he was filled with apprehension respecting Alexander's intentions, and found a pretence for returning home. The other ambassadors were graciously received, and their excuses accepted. Alexander then convened a general congress at Corinth, which, as on the former occasion, was attended by all the Grecian states except Sparta. Here he was appointed generalissimo for the Persian war in place of his father. Most of the philosophers and persons of note near Corinth came to congratulate him on this occasion; but Diogenes of Sinopé, who was then living in one of the suburbs of Corinth, did not make his appearance. Alexander therefore resolved to pay a visit to the eccentric cynic, whom he found basking in the sun. On the approach of Alexander with a numerous retinue, Diogenes raised himself up a little, and the monarch affably inquired how he could serve him? "By standing out of my sunshine," replied the churlish philosopher. Alexander was struck with surprise at a behaviour to

which he was so little accustomed ; but whilst his courtiers were ridiculing the manners of the cynic, he turned to them and said, "Were I not Alexander, I should like to be Diogenes."

§ 4. The result of the Congress might be considered a settlement of the affairs of Greece. Alexander could very well afford to despise Sparta's obsolete pretensions to the supremacy of Greece, and did not deem it worth while to undertake an expedition for the purpose of bringing her to reason. He then returned to Macedonia, in the hope of being able to begin his Persian expedition in the spring of B.C. 335; but reports of disturbances among the Thracians and Triballians diverted his attention to that quarter. He therefore crossed Mount Hæmus (the Balkan) and marched into the territory of the Triballians, defeated their forces, and pursued them to the Danube, where they fortified themselves in an island. Leaving them in that position, Alexander crossed the river by means of a fleet which he had caused to be sent from Byzantium, and proceeded to attack the Getæ. The barbarians fled at his approach, and Alexander, who had acquired a large booty, regained the banks of the Danube, where he received the submissions of the Danubian tribes, and admitted them into the Macedonian alliance. Thence he marched against the Illyrians and Taulantians, who were meditating an attack upon his kingdom, and speedily reduced them to obedience.

§ 5. During Alexander's absence on these expeditions, no tidings were heard of him for a considerable time, and a report of his death was industriously spread in Southern Greece. The Thebans rose and besieged the Macedonian garrison in the Cadmea, at the same time inviting other states to declare their independence. Demosthenes was active in aiding the movement. He persuaded the Athenians to furnish the Thebans with subsidies, and to assure them of their support and alliance. But the rapidity of Alexander again crushed the insurrection in the bud. Before the Thebans discovered that the report of his death was false, he had already arrived at Onchestus in Baotia. Alexander was willing to afford them an opportunity for repentance, and marched slowly to the foot of the Cadmea. But the leaders of the insurrection, believing themselves irretrievably compromised, replied with taunts to Alexander's proposals for peace, and excited the people to the most desperate resistance. An engagement was prematurely brought on by one of the generals of Alexander, in which some of the Macedonian troops were put to the rout; but Alexander coming up with the phalanx, whilst the Thebans were in the disorder of pursuit, drove them back in turn and entered the gates along with them, when a

fearful massacre ensued, committed principally by the Thracians in Alexander's service. Six thousand Thebans are said to have been slain, and thirty thousand were made prisoners. The doom of the conquered city was referred to the allies, who decreed her destruction. The grounds of the verdict bear the impress of a tyrannical hypocrisy. They rested on the conduct of the Thebans during the Persian war, on their treatment of Platea, and on their enmity to Athens. The inhabitants were sold as slaves, and all the houses, except that of Pindar, were levelled with the ground. The Cadmea was preserved to be occupied by a Macedonian garrison. Thebes seems to have been thus harshly treated as an example to the rest of Greece, for towards the other states, which were now eager to make their excuses and submission, Alexander showed much forbearance and lenity. The conduct of the Athenians exhibits them deeply sunk in degradation. When they heard of the chastisement inflicted upon Thebes, they immediately voted, on the motion of Demosthenes, that ambassadors should be sent to congratulate Alexander on his safe return from his northern expeditions, and on his recent success. Alexander in reply wrote a letter, demanding that eight or ten of the leading Athenian orators should be delivered up to him. At the head of the list was Demosthenes. In this dilemma, Phocion, who did not wish to speak upon such a question, was loudly called upon by the people for his opinion; when he rose and said that the persons whom Alexander demanded had brought the state into such a miserable plight that they deserved to be surrendered, and that for his own part he should be very happy to die for the commonwealth. At the same time he advised them to try the effect of intercession with Alexander; and it was at last only by his own personal application to that monarch, with whom he was a great favourite, that the orators were spared. According to another account, however, the wrath of Alexander was appeased by the orator Demades, who received from the Athenians a reward of five talents for his services. It was at this time that Alexander is said to have sent a present of 100 talents to Phocion. But Phocion asked the persons who brought the money-"Why he should be selected for such a bounty ?" "Because," they replied, "Alexander considers you the only just and honest man." "Then," said Phocion, "let him suffer me to be what I seem, and to retain that character." And when the envoys went to his house and beheld the frugality with which he lived, they perceived that the man who refused such a gift was wealthier than he who offered it.

§ 6. Having thus put the affairs of Greece on a satisfactory GR.

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