[15] There is a corollary to this lesson, which my young readers ought not to forget, namely, that when Adam was placed in Paradise, he had something given him to do,—to dress the garden, and to keep it.—Gen. ii.
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.