The Life and Character of Alexander the Great.
Alexander, the son of Philip, succeeded at the age of twenty to the throne of Macedon, on the death of his father, which took place three hundred and thirty-six years before Christ.
On the night of his birth, the great temple of Diana, at Ephesus, one of the most wonderful edifices ever erected by human skill, was burnt to the ground by Eratostratus, who madly hoped to perpetuate his memory by the incendiary deed.
The first warlike expedition of Alexander was against the barbarians to the north of his kingdom. During his engagements here, a powerful confederacy was formed against him by the Grecian states; and the Thebans, upon a false report of his death, killed all the Macedonians within the reach of their fury.
Alexander speedily came against their city, took it, and utterly destroyed it: six thousand of the inhabitants were slain, and thirty thousand were sold for slaves. This dreadful example of severity spread the terror of his arms through all Greece, and those who had been opposed to him were compelled to submit.
A general assembly of the states of Greece was now summoned at Corinth. Alexander, as heir of his father, was made generalissimo against the Persians, and he immediately commenced preparations for the momentous expedition.
Alexander set off with an army of only thirty thousand foot, and five thousand horse, and provisions for a single month. He crossed the Hellespont, and marched through Asia Minor, towards Persia. Darius Codomannus resolved to crush at once this inconsiderate youth, and met him on the banks of the Granicus, with one hundred thousand foot, and ten thousand horse. The Greeks swam the river, their king leading the van, and attacking the astonished Persians, left twenty thousand dead upon the field, and put to flight their whole army. Darius was left almost alone in his lofty chariot; he had but just time to get on horseback, and gallop away from the battle.
Alexander now sent home his fleet, leaving to his army the sole alternative, that they must subdue Asia, or perish. Prosecuting their course for some time, without resistance, the Greeks were attacked by the Persians in a narrow valley of Cilicia, near the town of Issus. The Persian host amounted to four hundred thousand, but their situation was such, that only a small part could come into action, and they were defeated with prodigious slaughter. The loss of the Persians was one hundred and ten thousand, that of the Greeks very inconsiderable.
After the battle of Issus, Alexander besieged Tyre, but the Tyrians resisted him with great bravery for seven months. At length, the city was taken by storm, and thirty thousand of its population were sold for slaves, and two thousand were crucified upon the sea-shore, for no other crime than that of defending the country from an invader. The shocking cruelty of Alexander to this city, stamps him with eternal infamy.
Incensed with the Jews for not sending supplies to his army, when besieging Tyre, Alexander marched to Jerusalem, resolved upon its ruin. Jaddus, the high priest, and all the other priests of the temple, proceeded from the city to meet him, and to implore his mercy. Alexander no sooner saw the venerable procession, than he paid the high priest all the tokens of profound respect, and left them in satisfaction and peace, without the least molesting the temple or the city.
The whole of Syria had submitted to Alexander; Gaza had followed the fate of Tyre; ten thousand of its inhabitants were sold into slavery; and its brave defender, Belis, was dragged at the wheels of his victor’s chariot,—an act far more disgraceful to the conqueror than to the conquered.
The taking of Gaza opened Egypt to Alexander, and the whole country submitted without opposition. Amidst the most incredible fatigues, he led his army through the deserts of Lybia, to visit the temple of his pretended father, Jupiter of Ammon. When intoxicated with the pride of success, he listened to the base flattery of the priests; and, upon the foolish presumption of his being the son of that Lybian god, he received adoration from his followers.
Returning from Egypt, Alexander traversed Assyria, and was met at Arbela by Darius, at the head of seven hundred thousand men. Peace, on very advantageous terms, was offered by the Persians, but was haughtily rejected. The Persians were defeated at Arbela, with the loss of three hundred thousand men, and Darius fled from province to province. At length, betrayed by Bessus, one of his own satraps, he was cruelly murdered, and the Persian empire submitted to the conqueror, B. C. 330.
After the battle of Arbela, Alexander marched in triumph to the cities of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, where he found amazing treasures. Excited by intemperance, and instigated by a wicked woman, he set fire to the magnificent palaces of the Persian kings, that no one should enjoy them but himself.
Alexander, firmly persuaded that the sovereignty of the whole habitable globe had been decreed him, now projected the conquest of India. He penetrated to the Ganges, defeated Porus, and would have proceeded to the Indian Ocean, if the spirit of his army had kept pace with his ambition; but his troops, seeing no end to their toils, refused to proceed. Indignant that he had found an end to his conquests, he abandoned himself to every excess of luxury and debauchery.
Returning again to Babylon, laden with the riches and plunder of the east, he entered that celebrated city in the greatest pomp and magnificence. His return to it, however, was foretold by his magicians as fatal, and their prediction was fulfilled.
Giving himself up still further to intoxication and vice of every kind, he at last, after a fit of drunkenness, was seized with a fever, which at intervals deprived him of his reason, and after a few days put a period to his existence; and he died at Babylon, on the 21st of April, in the thirty-second year of his age, after a reign of twelve years and eight months, of the most brilliant success.
His death was so sudden and premature, that many attributed it to poison. Antipater has been accused of administering the fatal draught, but it was never proved against him.
In the character of Alexander we shall find little to admire. In the early part of his career he had shown many excellent and noble traits of character; but he met with such great and continual success in all his undertakings, that his disposition was ruined by it. At last he began to think himself something more than mortal, and made himself a god.
Yet so far was Alexander from being a god, that some of his actions were unworthy of a man. One of his worst deeds was the murder of Clytus, an old officer, who had fought under King Philip. He had once saved Alexander’s life in battle, and on this account he was allowed to speak freely to him.
One night, after having become intoxicated, Alexander began to brag of his own exploits, and he spoke more highly of them than old Clytus thought he deserved; accordingly he told Alexander that his father, Philip, had done much greater things than ever he had done.
The monarch was so enraged, that he snatched a spear from one of his attendants, and gave Clytus a mortal wound; but, when he saw the old man’s bloody corpse extended on the floor, he was seized with horror:—he had murdered the preserver of his own life!
Alexander’s remorse did not, however, last long. He still insisted on being a god, the son of Jupiter Ammon; and he was highly offended with a philosopher, named Callisthenes, because he refused to worship him: for no other crime, Callisthenes was put into an iron cage, and tormented, till he killed himself in despair.
After Alexander’s return from India to Persia, he met with a great misfortune,—it was the loss of his dearest friend, Hephestion, who died of a disease which he had contracted by excessive drinking. For three days afterwards Alexander lay prostrate on the ground, and would take no food.
He erected a funeral pile of spices, and other precious materials, so that it was as costly as a palace would have been. The lifeless body of Hephestion was then placed on the summit. Alexander then set fire to the pile, and stood mournfully looking on, while the corpse of his friend was consumed to ashes.
It would have been well if he had taken warning by the fate of Hephestion: but Alexander the Great was destined to owe his destruction to the wine-cup, the bane of more heroes than one.
There was once a certain pirate, who made great havoc among the shipping of the Mediterranean Sea. He was taken prisoner by the Macedonian soldiers, and brought before Alexander, who asked him by what right he committed his robberies. “I am a robber by the same right that you are a conqueror,” was the reply: “the only difference between us is, that I have but a few men, and can do but little mischief, while you have a large army, and can do a great deal.”
It must be confessed, that this is the chief difference between some conquerors and robbers.—Treas. of Knowledge.