or Macedon, a celebrated kingdom of Macedonia, antiquity, was bounded on the E. by the Ægean Sea, on the S. by Thessaly and Æpirus, on the W. by the Ionian Sea or Adriatic, on the N. at first by the river Strymon and the Scardian Mountains, but afterwards by the River Nessus or Nestus. In a direct line the whole country extended only 150 miles; but it was lengthened out to about three times that extent by the windings of the coast, in which almost every convenient situation was converted into a Grecian seaport. The country was naturally divided by the Thermaic and Strymonic gulfs, into the provinces of Pieria, Chalcis, and Pangaesus. The middle region, which took its name from a city of Embræa, whence it had been originally peopled, was very fertile and pleasant; and the interior, being diversified by lakes, rivers, and arms of the sea, was extremely convenient for inland navigation, whilst the towns of Amphipolis, Potidaea, Acanthus, and many others, afforded marts for the commerce of the republics of Greece, as well as of Thrace and Macedonia. On one side of this district were the mountains of Pangaesus, and on the other the plains of Pieria. The Pangaean Mountains, which extended 90 miles towards the E. and the River Nessus, though proper neither for corn nor pasture, produced plenty of timber for ship-building; whilst the southern branches of the mountains contained rich veins of gold and silver. Pieria extended 50 miles along the Thermaic Gulf, as far as the confines of Thessaly and Mount Pindus.

In the most ancient times this country was called Εύμαχος, from Εύμαχος, one of its princes. The name of names, Macedonía is said to have been derived from Macedo, a descendant of Deucalion; though others suppose it to have been only a corruption of Μυγδονία, a district of the country. In those remote ages of antiquity, Macedonia, like most other countries of Europe, was divided into a great number of petty principalities, of which scarcely even the names are now known.

That section of the race which went under the name of Macedonian, and which afterwards swallowed up all the rest and became known as the Macedonians, had their origin at Ægæ or Edessa, corresponding with the site of the modern Vodhena. And though, in after times, the royal residence was removed to Pella, yet the original centre was always retained as the burial-place of their kings, and the hearth around which the national reverence and affection clung.

The origin of the Macedonian people and that of the Macedonian monarchy are quite distinct. The former have been regarded as of Illyrian, the latter of Hellenic race. We learn from Polybius, the best authority which we possess (xxviii., 8, 9), that the Macedonian language was different from the Illyrian,—a circumstance which, in the opinion of Mr Grote (History of Greece, vol. iv., p. 14), is sufficient to cast serious doubt on the supposed Illyrian descent of those races.

All the stories relative to the early history of the Macedonian monarchy—and they were various—agree in tracing the origin of the family to the Temenids of Argos. There is an air of genuineness about the tradition of Herodotus (viii., 137-138). According to this historian, Perdiccas, a Temenid, with two brothers of the same race, being driven from their native Argos into Macedonia, were compelled, from straitened circumstances, to serve as shepherds to the petty King of Labrea. A prodigy happened to Perdiccas, which at once indicated his future success, and led to his present dismissal by the Labreae. His escape being secured by the rising of a river, which was afterwards held sacred by the Macedonian kings, this hardy shepherd established himself near the garden of Midas, on Mount Bermius, and from him sprang the royal line of Edessa. It was a common Greek opinion, moreover, during the reign of Alexander, son of Amyntas, that the family of that prince was of Hellenic extraction; so much so, that he found a place Macedonia, at the Olympic games, to which none but a genuine Greek could lay claim.

To command was the prerogative of the Greek mind, and for a courageous Argeian to acquire ascendancy and transmit authority over the Macedonian barbarians was doubtless a task of comparatively little difficulty. From the legend alluded to till the reign of Amyntas (520-500 B.C.) and his son Alexander (480 B.C.), we have nothing but a long blank. Names or dates there are none; yet, we can dimly infer the growing influence and importance of the Temenids. They acquire Pieria, a place of great importance, lying between Mount Bermius and the sea. Amyntas accordingly heired an extensive dominion on his coming to the throne. During his reign he kept up a friendly connexion with the Pisistratidae at Athens, a relationship afterwards continued between his son Alexander and the Athenians. It was during the reign of Amyntas that Macedonia first became formally subject to the Persian power. Darius intrusted his officer Megabazus with the important task of ratifying the submission which Amyntas had proposed, and the Persian warrior and diplomatist fulfilled his mission so well, that after marrying the sister of Amyntas, he returned to his master with a new province added to his empire.

The Macedonians distinguished themselves in the time of the Persian invasion of Greece by furnishing their allies with 200,000 recruits; though some cities, particularly Potidea, Olynthus, and Pallene, adhered to the Grecian interest. The last two were taken and razed, and the inhabitants massacred by the Persians; but Potidea escaped by reason of the sea breaking into the Persian camp, where it did great damage. Alexander, however, afterwards thought proper to court the favour of the Greeks, by giving them intelligence of the time when Mardonius designed to attack them. The remaining transactions of this reign are entirely unknown, further than that the king enlarged his dominions as far as the river Nessus on the E., and the Axios on the W.

Alexander I. was succeeded by his son Perdiccas II., who is said to have inherited his father's abilities, though not his integrity. From the duplicity with which he acted, both to the Greeks and the Persians, it does not appear, indeed, that he had much to boast of as to the latter quality. In the Peloponnesian war he espoused the cause of the Spartans against the Athenians, from whom he was in danger by reason of their numerous settlements on the Macedonian coast, and their great power by sea. For some time, however, he amused the Athenians with a show of friendship; but at last, under pretence of enabling Olynthus and some other cities to recover their liberties, he assisted in destroying the influence of the Athenians in those places, hoping to establish that of the Macedonians in its stead. But this design failed of success; the Olynthian confederacy was broken up; and the members of it became subject to Sparta, until at last, by the misfortune of that republic, they grew sufficiently powerful, not only to resist the encroachments of the Macedonians, but to make considerable conquests in their country.

Perdiccas II. was succeeded about 416 B.C. by Archelaus I. He enlarged his dominions by the conquest of Pydna and other places in Pieria, though his ambition seems rather to have been to improve his dominions than greatly to extend them. He facilitated communication between the principal towns of Macedonia, by cutting straight roads through the greater part of the country; he built walls and fortresses in such places as afforded favourable situations; he encouraged agriculture and the arts, particularly those subservient to war; he formed magazines of arms; he raised and disciplined a considerable body of cavalry; and, in a word, he added more to the solid grandeur of Macedonia than had been done by all his predecessors put together (Thuc. ii. 100). Nor was he regardless of the arts of peace. His palace was adorned by the works of the Grecian painters. Euripides was long entertained at his court; Socrates was earnestly solicited to live there; men of merit and genius in the various walks of literature and science were invited to reside in Macedonia, and treated with distinguished regard by a monarch equally attentive to advance his own glory and promote the happiness of his subjects.

This great monarch died after a reign of six years, a space civil dis- by far too short to accomplish the magnificent projects he had formed. After his death the kingdom fell under the power of usurpers, or of weak and wicked monarchs. A number of competitors constantly appeared for the throne; and these by turns called to their assistance the Thracians, Illyrians, Thessalians, the Olynthian confederacy, Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. Bardyllis, an active and daring chief, who, from being the head of a gang of robbers, had become sovereign of the Illyrians, entered Macedonia at the head of a numerous army; deposed Amyntas II., father of Philip; and set up in his stead one Argaeus, who consented to become tributary to the Illyrians. Another candidate for the throne, named Pausanias, was supported by the Thracians; but, by the assistance of the Thessalians and Olynthians, Amyntas was at length enabled to resume the government. After his restoration, however, the Olynthians refused to deliver up several places of importance belonging to Macedonia, which Amyntas had either intrusted to their care, or which they had taken from his antagonist. Amyntas complained to Sparta, and that republic readily complied with his wishes. Two thousand Spartans, under the command of Eudamidas, were ordered into Macedonia, where they performed essential service. The appearance of a Spartan army at once encouraged the subjects and allies of the Olynthians to revolt; and the city of Potidea, a place of great importance in the isthmus of Pallene, surrendered soon after his arrival in the country. Elated with his success, Eudamidas approached so near the city of Olynthus, that he was unexpectedly attacked, defeated, and killed, in a sally of the citizens. He was succeeded by Teleutias, brother of Agesilaus, who had under his command a body of ten thousand men, and was further assisted by Amyntas, king of Macedonia, and Derdas his brother, the governor or sovereign of the most westerly province of Macedonia, which abounded in cavalry. By these formidable enemies the Olynthians were discomfited in a series of battles, obliged to shut themselves up in their city, and prevented from cultivating their territory; upon which Teleutias advanced with his whole forces to invest the city itself. The Olynthians allowed them to come on, and the Lacedemonians imprudently advanced under the towers and battlements of the city. The townsmen then mounted the walls, and discharged upon them a shower of darts, arrows, and other missile weapons, whilst the flower of the Olynthian troops, who had been purposely posted behind the gates, sallied forth and attacked them with the greatest fury. Teleutias, attempting to rally his men, was slain in the first onset; the Spartans who attended him were defeated, and the whole army dispersed with great slaughter, and obliged to shelter themselves in the towns of Acanthus, Apollonia, Spartolus, and Potidea.

The Spartans, undismayed by this disaster, prosecuted the war with much spirit. The Olynthians held out for nine or ten months, but were at last obliged to submit on very humiliating conditions. They formally renounced all claim to the dominion of Chalcis, and ceded the Macedonian cities to their ancient governor; and in consequence of this, Amyntas left the city of Ægæ, or Edessa, where till now he had held his royal residence, and fixed it at Pella, a city of great strength and beauty, situate upon an eminence, which, together with a plain of considerable extent, was defended Macedonia, by impassable morasses, and also by the rivers Axios and Lydias. It was distant about 16 miles from the Ægean Sea, with which it communicated by means of the above-mentioned rivers. It was originally founded by the Greeks who had conquered and peopled it; but, in consequence of the misfortunes of Olynthus, it now became, and continued ever after to be, the capital of Macedonia.

Pausanias: Amyntas being thus established in his dominions, continued to enjoy tranquillity during the remaining part of his life. The reign of his son Alexander was short, and disturbed by invasions of the Illyrians, from whom he was obliged to purchase a peace. He left behind him two brothers, Perdiccas and Philip, both very young, so that Pausanias again found means to usurp the throne, being supported not only by the Thracians, but by a considerable number of Greek mercenaries, as well as a powerful party in Macedonia itself. In this critical juncture, however, Iphicrates the Athenian happening to be on an expedition to Amphipolis, was so warmly addressed by Eurydice, the widow of Amyntas, in behalf of her two sons, whom she presented to him, that he interested himself in their behalf, and got Perdiccas, the eldest, established on the throne. During the minority of the young prince, however, his brother Ptolemy, who was his guardian, openly aspired to the throne; but he was deposed by the Theban general Pelopidas, who reinstated Perdiccas in his dominions, and in order to secure the dependence of Macedonia upon Thebes, carried along with him thirty Macedonian youths as hostages, amongst whom was Philip, the younger brother of the king. Perdiccas, elated by the protection of such powerful allies, now forgot Iphicrates and the Athenians, and even disputed with them the right to the city of Amphipolis, which had been decreed to them by the general council of Greece, but which his opposition rendered it impossible for them to recover. In a battle with the Illyrians, the Macedonians were defeated with the loss of 4000 men, and Perdiccas himself was taken prisoner, and soon afterwards died of his wounds.

The kingdom was now left in the most deplorable state. Amyntas, the legitimate heir to the throne, was an infant; the Thebans, in whom Perdiccas had placed so much confidence, were deprived of the sovereignty of Greece; the Athenians, justly provoked at the ungrateful behaviour of the late monarch, showed a hostile disposition; the Illyrians ravaged the western, and the Paeonians the northern quarter of the kingdom; the Thracians still supported the cause of Pausanias, and proposed to send him into Macedonia at the head of a numerous army; whilst Argæus, the former rival of Amyntas, renewed his pretensions to the throne, and by flattering the Athenians with the hopes of recovering Amphipolis, easily induced them to support his claims, in consequence of which they fitted out a fleet, having on board 3000 heavily armed soldiers, which they sent to the coast of Macedonia.

Philip, the late king's brother, no sooner heard of his defeat and death, than he set out privately from Thebes, and on his arrival in Macedonia found matters in the situation which we have just described. Fired with an insatiable ambition, it is probable that from the very first moment he had resolved to seize the kingdom for himself; yet it was necessary at first to pretend that he assumed the throne only to preserve it for his nephew. Philip, as has already been mentioned, had been carried off as a hostage by Pelopidas, but for a long time past had remained in such obscurity that historians are not agreed as to his place of residence, some placing him in Thebes, and others in Macedonia. It is certain, however, that from the age of fifteen he had been very much in the family of Epaminondas, from whose lessons he could not but derive the greatest advantage. It is also probable that he accompanied this celebrated general in many of his expeditions; and it is certain that, with an attendance suitable to his rank, he visited most of the principal republics, and paid great attention to their institutions, both civil and military. Having easy access to whomsoever he pleased, he cultivated the friendship of the first people in Greece. Even in Athens, where no good will subsisted to Macedonia, the philosophers Plato, Isocrates, and Aristotle, cultivated his acquaintance; and the connection he formed with the principal leaders of that republic in the early period of his life no doubt contributed greatly to the accomplishment of the designs in which he afterwards proved so successful.

Philip's return to Macedonia instantly changed the face of affairs. The Macedonian army, though defeated, was not entirely destroyed; and the remainder of them secured themselves in the fortresses which had been built by Arhimelus. There were also considerable garrisons in the fortresses and walled towns scattered over the kingdom; and the Illyrians, who had made war only for the sake of plunder, soon returned home to enjoy the fruits of their victory. His other enemies, the Thracians and Paeonians, were much less formidable than the Illyrians, being still in a very rude and uncivilized state, incapable of uniting under one head in such a manner as to bring any formidable army into the field. Whilst the Illyrians therefore gave up the campaign through mere caprice and unreadiness, Philip himself applied to the Paeonians, and by fair promises and flattery, prevailed upon them to desist. The King of Thrace, by means of a sum of money, was easily induced to abandon the cause of Pausanias; so that Philip, freed from these barbarians, was now at liberty to oppose the Athenians, who supported Argæus, and threatened a very formidable invasion.

The appearance of the Athenian fleet before Methone, and the presence of Argæus at the head of a numerous army in Pieria, filled the whole country with consternation; and Philip, who was by no means deficient in the talents necessary to recommend himself to the good graces of the people, took the opportunity of getting Amyntas set aside and himself declared king, for which proceeding indeed the danger of the times afforded a very plausible pretext. In the meantime, Argæus advanced with his Athenian allies towards Edessa, or Ægæe, but was defeated by Philip in a general engagement, in which Argæus himself, with the flower of his army, was cut in pieces, and the rest taken prisoners. This first instance of success contributed greatly to raise the spirits of Philip's party; and he himself took care to improve it in the best manner possible. Having made a great number of prisoners, both Macedonians and Athenians, he determined, by his treatment of them, to ingratiate himself with both parties. The former were called into his presence, and, after a gentle reprimand, admitted to swear allegiance to him, after which they were distributed throughout the army. The Athenians were entertained at his table, and dismissed without ransom, and their baggage was restored to them. The prisoners were just allowed time to return to their native city, and to spread abroad the news of Philip's generosity, when they were followed by ambassadors from Macedonia with proposals for peace. As he knew that the loss of Amphipolis had greatly irritated them, he now thought proper to renounce his jurisdiction over that city. It was accordingly declared free and independent, and subject only to the government of its own free and equitable laws. This prudent conduct, together with his kind treatment of the prisoners, so wrought upon the minds of the Athenians, that they consented to the renewal of a treaty which had formerly subsisted between them and his father Amyntas. Thus he found means to remove all jealousy of his ambition, and to induce them to engage in a ruinous war with their allies, which occupied their attention until Philip had an opportunity of getting matters so well established that it was impossible to overthrow him. The new king being thus at liberty to regulate his domestic concerns, began to circumscribe the power of his chiefs and nobles, who, especially in the more remote provinces, paid very little regard to the authority of the kings of Macedonia. To counteract the ambition of these chiefs, Philip chose a body of the bravest Macedonian youths, whom he entertained at his own table, and honoured with many testimonies of his friendship, giving them the title of his "companions," and allowing them constantly to attend him in war and hunting. Their intimacy with the sovereign, which was considered as a sure indication of their merit, obliged them to use superior diligence in all the severe duties of military discipline; so that they thus formed a useful seminary for future generals, by whom both Philip and Alexander were afterwards greatly assisted in their conquests.

Whilst the king thus took the best methods to render himself secure at home and formidable abroad, the Paeonians again began to make incursions into the kingdom. The death of Agis, their king, however, who was a man of great military skill, deprived them of almost all power of resistance when they were attacked. Philip, in consequence, overran their country with little opposition, and reduced them to the state of tributaries to Macedonia. No sooner was this accomplished, than he undertook a winter's campaign against the Illyrians, who had long been the natural enemies of Macedonia. After an ineffectual negotiation, he was met by their leader Bardyllis at the head of a considerable body of infantry, but with only 400 horse. They made a gallant resistance for some time; but being unable to contend with so skilful a general as Philip, they were defeated with the loss of 7000 men, amongst whom was Bardyllis, who fell at the age of ninety.

By this disaster the Illyrians were so much disheartened, that they sent ambassadors to Philip, humbly begging for peace upon any terms. The conqueror granted them the same conditions which had been imposed upon the Paeonians, viz., becoming tributary, and yielding up to him a considerable part of their country. This territory, hitherto unconnected with any foreign power, gradually sunk into such absolute dependence upon Macedonia, that many ancient geographers supposed it to be a province of that country.

Philip had no sooner reduced the Illyrians, than he began to put in execution greater designs than any which he had yet attempted. Sensible of the importance of Amphipolis, as a maritime station, he directed all his efforts towards the reduction of that city. It had indeed been declared independent by Philip himself in the beginning of his reign; but this was only to prevent a rupture with the Athenians, who still asserted their right to it as an ancient colony, though, by reason of the perfidy of Charidemus, a native of Euboea, they had hitherto failed in their attempts to recover it. The Amphipolitans, however, having once enjoyed the sweets of liberty, prepared to maintain themselves in their independence. In the meantime, the hostile designs of Philip, which all his precaution had not been able to conceal, alarmed the inhabitants to such a degree that they thought proper to put themselves under the protection of the Olynthians. By them they were readily received into the confederacy, and, trusting to the strength of their new allies, behaved in such an insolent manner to Philip, that he was not long in finding a specious pretext for hostility; on which the Olynthians, greatly alarmed, sent ambassadors to Athens, requesting their assistance against such a powerful enemy. Philip, however, justly alarmed at such a formidable conspiracy, sent agents to Athens with such expedition that they arrived there before anything could be concluded with the Olynthian deputies. Having gained over the popular leaders and orators, he deceived and flattered the magistrates and senate in such an artful manner, that a negotiation was instantly set on foot, by which Philip engaged to conquer Amphipolis for Macedonia, the Athenians, upon condition that they surrendered to him the strong fortress of Pydna, a place which he represented as of much less importance to them; promising also to confer upon them many other advantages, which, however, he did not specify at that time. Thus the Athenians, deceived by the perfidy of their own magistrates, elated with the hopes of recovering Amphipolis, and outwitted by the superior policy of Philip, rejected with disdain the proffers of the Olynthians.

The ambassadors of Olynthus returned home highly disgusted with the reception they had met with, but had scarcely time to communicate their news to their countrymen, when the ambassadors of Philip arrived at Olynthus. He pretended to console with them on the affront they had received at Athens, but also testified his surprise that they should court the assistance of that distant and haughty republic, when they could avail themselves of the powerful kingdom of Macedonia, which wished for nothing more than to enter into equal and lasting engagements with their confederacy. As a proof of his moderation and sincerity, he offered to put them in possession of Anthemus, an important town in the neighbourhood, of which the Macedonians had long claimed the jurisdiction; making many other fair promises, and, amongst the rest, that he would reduce for them the cities of Pydna and Potidaea, which he chose rather to see in dependence on Olynthus than Athens. Thus he prevailed upon the Olynthians not only to abandon Amphipolis, but to assist him with all their power in the execution of his designs.

Philip now lost no time in executing his purposes against Amphipolis, and pressed the city so closely that the people were glad to apply to the Athenians for relief. Accordingly, they despatched two of their most eminent citizens, Hierax and Stratocles, to represent the danger of an alliance between Philip and the Olynthians, and to profess their sorrow for having so deeply offended the parent state. This representation had such an effect, that though the Athenians were then deeply engaged in the Social War, they would probably have paid some attention to the Amphipolitans, had not Philip taken care to send them a letter with fresh assurances of friendship, acknowledging their right to Amphipolis, and which he hoped shortly to put into their hands in terms of his recent agreement. By these specious pretences the Athenians were persuaded to pay as little regard to the deputies of the Amphipolitans as they had already done to those of the Olynthians; so that the city, unable to defend itself alone against so powerful an enemy, at last surrendered at discretion in the year 357 before Christ.

Finding that it was not his interest at this time to fall out with the Olynthians, Philip cultivated the friendship of that republic with great assiduity; and took the cities of Pydna and Potidaea, which he readily yielded to the Olynthians, though they had given him but little assistance in the reduction of these places. Potidaea had been garrisoned by the Athenians, and them the artful king sent back without ransom, lamenting the necessity of his affairs, which obliged him, contrary to his inclination, to oppose their republic. Though this was rather too gross, the Athenians were then so much engaged with the Social War, that they had not leisure to attend to the affairs of other nations. Philip made the best use of his time, and next projected the conquest of the gold mines of Thrace. These had formerly been worked by colonies from Thasos and Athens; but the colonists had long since been expelled by the barbarous Thracians, who knew not how to make use of the treasure they were in possession of. Philip took the trouble to descend into the mines himself, in order to inspect the works; and, having caused them to be repaired, planted a Macedonian colony at Crenide, bestowed upon it the name Macedonia, of Philippi, and drew annually from the gold mines to the value of nearly 1000 talents, or £200,000 sterling, an immense sum in those days. The coins struck here were likewise called Philippi.

Philip having obtained this valuable acquisition, next undertook to settle the affairs of Thessaly, where everything was in the greatest confusion. This country had been formerly oppressed by Alexander, tyrant of Phera, after whose death three others appeared, viz., Tiasiphonius, Pitholaus, and Lycophron, the brothers-in-law of Alexander, who had likewise murdered him. By the united efforts of the Thessalians and Macedonians, however, these usurpers were easily overthrown, and effectually prevented from making any disturbances for the future; and the Thessalians, from a mistaken gratitude, surrendered to Philip all the revenues arising from their fairs and towns of commerce, as well as all the conveniences of their harbours and shipping; a concession which Philip took care to secure in the most effectual manner.

Having now not only established his sovereignty in the most effectual manner, but rendered himself very powerful and formidable to his neighbours, Philip determined to enjoy some repose from his fatigues. Having formed an alliance with Arybbas, King of Epirus, he, in the year 357 B.C., married Olympias, the sister of that prince; a match thought the more eligible, as the kings of Epirus were supposed to be descended from Achilles. The nuptials were solemnized with great pomp at Pella, and several months were spent in shows and diversions, during which Philip showed such an extreme proneness to vice of every kind, as disgraced him in the eyes of his neighbours, and most probably laid the foundation of his future domestic unhappiness. So much was this behaviour of the Macedonian monarch taken notice of by the neighbouring states, that the Paeonians and Illyrians threw off the yoke, engaging in their schemes the King of Thrace; and notwithstanding the insane state of that prince, their designs were now carried on with more judgment than was usual with barbarians. Philip, however, notwithstanding his dissipation, got warning of his danger in sufficient time to prevent the evil consequences which might have ensued had the confederates had time to bring their schemes to a proper bearing. Early in the spring of 356 he took the field with the flower of the Macedonian troops. Having marched in person against the Paeonians and Thracians, he despatched Parmenio, his best general, into Illyria. Both enterprises proved successful; and whilst Philip returned victorious from Thrace, he received an account of the victory gained by Parmenio; a second messenger informed him of a victory gained by his chariot at the Olympic games; and a third announced that Olympias had been delivered of a son at Pella.

This was the celebrated Alexander, to whom the diviners prophesied the highest prosperity and glory, as being born in such auspicious circumstances. A short time after the birth of Alexander, Philip wrote a letter to the philosopher Aristotle, whom he chose as preceptor to his son. The letter was written with great brevity, containing only the following words:—“Know that a son is born to us. We thank the gods not so much for their gift, as for bestowing it at a time when Aristotle lives. We assure ourselves that you will form him a prince worthy of his father, and worthy of Macedonia.”

Philip next set about the further enlargement of his territories, which were already very considerable. He easily perceived that the affairs of the Greeks were coming to a crisis, and he determined to watch the issue of their mutual dissensions. He found occasion of interference for the first time with the affairs of Greece, at the outbreak of the Phocian or Sacred War. The true cause of the persecution of the Phocians, it is believed, was the hatred with which that people had inspired the Thebans by refusing them aid in their recent contest with Sparta. Private individuals also of the neighbouring communities advanced doubtful motives of personal offence. Such were the passions which moved the Thebans to a course of rash and cruel warfare, which eventually brought their own ruin, and led to the destruction of Grecian freedom. Prompted by ambition and avarice, they aspired to absolute control in the Amphictyonic Council, and to undivided authority over the temple of Delphi and its treasures, then in the rightful possession of the Phocians. A quarrel was sought with this offending people. They were charged by their rapacious neighbours with having cultivated lands which had been devoted to the god of Delphi. Ascendant in the council, the Thebans easily found means of criminating the Phocians; they accordingly condemned that much-wronged people to pay a fine, for the liquidation of which their entire country was pronounced forfeit to the god. The Phocians boldly seized upon Delphi, and appealed to arms (B.C. 357); and under the encouragement of Athens and Sparta, they engaged in a long and sanguinary war with Thebes and her allies. It was during this contest that Philip first gained a footing in Thessaly. This he effected by aiding certain of the Thessalian nobles against the tyrants of Phera, who had the Phocians and Athenians for their allies. This movement brought Philip into collision with the Athenians. When that republic attempted, together with the people of Methone, to thwart the influence of Philip on the coasts of Thrace, he suddenly made a descent upon that place, and made it his own after a determined siege, in which he lost an eye by an arrow shot.

During all this time the Phocian war raged with the greatest fury, and involved in it all the states of Greece. Lycophron, one of the Thessalian tyrants whom Philip had formerly deprived of his authority, had again found means to re-establish himself; and his countrymen having taken part with the Phocians, Lycophron called on Onomarchus, the Phocian general, to protect him against the power of Philip, by whom he was sensible that he would soon be attacked. The king accordingly marched into Thessaly with a considerable army, and defeated Phyllalus, the brother of Onomarchus, whom the latter had sent into the country with a detachment of 7000 men. After this he besieged and took the city of Pegase, driving the enemy towards the frontiers of Phocia. Onomarchus then advanced with the whole army; and Philip, though inferior in numbers, did not decline the engagement. The Phocians at first gave ground, on which the Macedonians pursued, in good order; but coming near a precipice, on the top of which Onomarchus had posted a detachment of soldiers, the latter rolled down stones and fragments of the rock in such a manner as did dreadful execution, and threw them into the utmost disorder. Philip, however, rallied his troops with great presence of mind, and prevented the Phocians from gaining any further advantage; saying, as he withdrew his troops, that they did not retreat through fear, but only like rams, in order to strike with the greater vigour. Nor was he long before he made good his assertion; for, having recruited his army with the greatest expedition, he returned into Thessaly at the head of 20,000 foot and 500 horse, and was there met by Onomarchus. The Macedonians at this time were superior in number to their enemies; and Philip, moreover, took care to remind them that their quarrel was that of heaven, and that their enemies had been guilty of sacrilege, by profaning the temple of Delphi. That they might be still more animated in the cause, he put crowns of laurel on their heads. Thus fired with enthusiasm, and having besides the advantage of numbers, the Phocians were altogether unable to withstand them. They threw away their arms and fled towards the sea, where they expected to have been relieved by Chares, who, with the Athenian fleet, was Macedonia near to the shore; but in this they were disappointed, for he made no attempt to save them. Upwards of 6000 perished in the field of battle or in the pursuit, and 3000 were taken prisoners. The body of Onomarchus being found amongst the slain, was, by order of Philip, hung upon a gibbet, as a mark of infamy, on account of his having polluted the temple; and the bodies of the rest were thrown into the sea, as being all partakers of the same crime.

The Olynthians now applied to Athens for aid against the ambitious schemes of their former ally of Macedonia: a call to which the Athenians, moved by the voice of Demosthenes, gave a ready response, and sent successive reinforcements to their relief. Philip ultimately defeated this allied force, and subsequently captured Olynthus (B.C. 347). The Athenians and Macedonians concluded a treaty of peace the following year, from which the Phocian allies of Athens, by the unprincipled dexterity of Philip, were excluded. That brave and unfortunate people now found themselves at the mercy of their more powerful enemies. The Thebans, who had borne an unequal share in the conflict, now in their hour of need solicited the willing aid of Philip. Passing the unguarded defiles of Thermopylae, he made a swift descent upon Greece proper, and from the misconduct and treachery of the Phocian leaders, was entirely successful. The Phocians were compelled to surrender at mercy, and the Amphictyons, in solemn council, decreed that their towns should be destroyed, their inhabitants disarmed and heavily assessed, and that their Delphic privileges and votes in the council should revert to the pious Macedonian. Thus ended the Sacred War (B.C. 346).

Athens and Macedon were now gradually approaching a collision: the former had for a lengthened period struggled for the independence of Greece, while the latter aspired to general supremacy in her government and councils. But Athens had not only to maintain a contest with the Macedonian,—she had discontented factions within her own borders more dangerous to her safety than even her northern foe. There was an aristocratic and a democratic party. The voice of the former was for peace, that of the latter for war. The peace party regarded resistance against such odds as fatal. They looked on the democrats with contempt; and with a painful assurance of the utterly degenerate character of that faction, probably saw no cure for the evils of intestine strife except a diversion against Persia, headed by Philip of Macedon. The peace party was led by the tried patriots Isocrates and Phocion; but there were men of a very different stamp who found shelter among them. The pay of Philip had wrought its way among the base and the treacherous. Chief of these hirelings were the orators Æschines and Demades. The democratic party, on the other hand, eager for the license and plunder which hang in the skirts of war, were guided by the base Chaereas and the mercenary Charidemus. But this party was fortunate enough to have among its ranks a patriot of generous enthusiasm and of noble independence, who, while he was alarmed at the unscrupulous ambition of Philip, was yet determined to offer a brave resistance to the formidable front of the aspiring king. This was none other than the celebrated Demosthenes. (See DEMOSTHENES.)

After the Phocian war had been brought to a close, Philip directed his efforts to the consolidation of his empire in the north of Greece. The towns of the Propontis and the Thracian Chersonese he soon made his own. He invested Perinthus and Byzantium; but the voice of Demosthenes was now raised against him. Phocion, with an armament of Athenians, bore down upon him and compelled him to raise the siege of those cities. But the triumph of the orator and the disappointment of the prince were alike momentary. The one had to act upon a fickle and divided multitude, the other upon splendidly disciplined armies. The plans of the one were open to all, those of the other were shrouded in the profoundest mystery till the moment for action brought them to the light. In the following year, appointed by the obsequious Amphictyons to chastise the people of Amphissa for cultivating certain devoted lands, Philip, after reducing that city, seized Elateia at the head of 32,000 veteran soldiers. Alarm and dismay seized the Athenians, but the eloquence of Demosthenes, by gaining over the Thebans and Corinthians, revived the expiring courage of the republicans. Consummate generalship and discipline, however, proved more than a match for numerical superiority, and the fatal battle of Chaeronea (B.C. 338) saw the confederates defeated, and the liberties of ancient Greece extinguished for ever. Nothing attested more the efficiency of Philip's improved phalanx than this bloody victory. (For a full account of this military organization, see ARMY; also, Grote's History of Greece, vol. xii., c. 92.) After the battle, Philip immediately stopped the slaughter; and (if we may credit the story) when, on revisiting the field after a night's carouse, he beheld the Sacred Band of the Thebans lying in swathes where the scythe of war had mowed them down, he burst into tears, and exclaimed,—"Perish they who imagine those to have done or suffered wrong." This burst of generous feeling did not, however, extend to the Thebans who survived. The hostile party in their city he treated with great harshness and severity, while he conducted himself towards the Athenians with the utmost clemency. (See Grote's History of Greece, vol. xii., c. 90.)

To all appearance the great object of Philip's ambition was now within his grasp. In consideration of the wrongs which Persia had inflicted upon Greece, it was resolved in the assembly that war should be declared on a national scale against that power, with the King of Macedonia as the commander of the expedition. But another was destined to enjoy the laurels which Philip had all but won. While celebrating the nuptials of his daughter Cleopatra Death of with the King of Epirus, a young Macedonian of his own Philip body-guard, named Pausanias, stabbed him to the heart. (B.C. 336.) As the assassin died on the spot, his motive for the deed could not be ascertained; but it was generally supposed to have arisen from personal revenge, on the king's refusal to redress a foul insult received from the uncle of the queen. Some say he was secretly urged to commit the deed by Olympias (now superseded by the new queen, Cleopatra), and her son Alexander, who had quarrelled with his father a short time previously. Thus fell this aspiring king at the early age of forty-seven (B.C. 336), full of life and energy, with a vista of glory opening up before him. Despite the scantiness of our information respecting him, the great outlines of his character and achievements can be easily traced. He raised the Macedonian kingdom from a narrow territory to a vast possession, reaching from the shores of the Propontis to the Thermaic Gulf. He was possessed of fine political and military talent, and fortune smiled on his endeavours; but the splendour of his name is dimmed by base perfidy and gross intemperance. Theopompus, his contemporary and warm admirer, stigmatizes his conduct as follows:—"His Macedonian and Grecian body-guard, 800 in number, was a troop in which no decent man could live; distinguished indeed for military bravery and aptitude, but sated with plunder, and stained with such shameless treachery, sanguinary rapacity, and unbridled lust, as befitted only Centaurs and Lestrygons." There can be little doubt that the hopeless degeneracy of Grecian spirit and national feeling acted as a foil to Philip's brilliant talent for conquest.

No sooner did the news of Philip's death reach Athens, than, as if all danger had been past, the inhabitants showed the most extravagant signs of joy. Demosthenes and his party put on chaplets of flowers, and behaved as if they had gained a great victory. Phocion reproved them for this madness bidding them remember that "the army which This reproof, however, had very little effect. The people heard with pleasure all the harsh things which the orators could say of the young Alexander, King of Macedonia, whom they represented as a giddy, wrong-headed boy, ready to grasp all things in his imagination, and able to perform nothing. The affairs of Macedonia indeed were in a very distracted state on the accession of Alexander; for all the neighbouring nations had the same notion of the young king with the Athenians; and, being irritated by the usurpations of Philip, immediately revolted, and the states of Greece entered into a confederacy against him. The Persians had been contriving how to transfer the war to Macedonia; but as soon as the news of Philip's death reached them, they behaved as if all danger had been terminated.

At the same time, Attalus, one of the Macedonian commanders, aspired to the crown, and sought to draw off the soldiers from their allegiance.

In the councils held upon this occasion, Alexander's best friends advised him rather to make use of dissimulation than force, and to try to cajole those whom they thought he could not subdue. These advice, however, were ill suited to the temper of their monarch. He thought that vigorous measures only were proper, and therefore immediately led his army into Thessaly. Here he harangued the princes so effectually, that he thoroughly gained them over to his interest, and was by them declared general of Greece; upon which he returned to Macedonia, where he caused Attalus to be seized and put to death.

In the spring of the next year (335 before Christ), Alexander resolved to subdue the Triballians and Illyrians, who inhabited the countries now called Bulgaria and Slavonia, and had been very formidable enemies to the Macedonian power. In this expedition he discovered, though then but twenty years of age, a surprising degree of military knowledge. Having advanced to the passes of Mount Haemus (the Balkan), he learned that the barbarians had posted themselves in the most advantageous manner. Upon the tops of the cliffs, and at the head of every passage, they had placed their carriages and waggons in such a manner as to form a kind of parapet, with their shafts inwards, that when the Macedonians should have half ascended the rock, they might be able to push these heavy carriages down upon them; and they reckoned the more upon this contrivance, because of the close order of the phalanx, which, they imagined, would be terribly exposed by the soldiers wanting room to stir, and thereby to avoid the falling waggons. But Alexander, having directed his heavy-armed troops to march, gave orders that, where the way would permit, they should open to the right and left, and suffer the carriages to go through; but that, in the narrow passes, they should throw themselves on their faces with their shields behind them, that the carts might run over them. This had the desired effect, and the Macedonians reached the enemy's works without the loss of a man. The dispute was then quickly decided. The barbarians were driven from their posts with great slaughter, and left behind them a considerable booty for the conquerors.

The next exploits of Alexander were against the Getes, the Tanantii, and some other nations inhabiting the country upon the other side of the Danube. These he also overcame; showing in all his actions the most perfect skill in military affairs, joined with the greatest valour. In the meantime, however all Greece was thrown into commotion by a report which had been confidently spread abroad, that the king was dead in Illyria. The Thebans, on this news, seized Amyntas and Timolaus, two eminent officers in the Macedonian garrison which held their citadel, dragged them to the market-place, and put them to death without either form of process or any crime being alleged against them. Alexander, however, did not suffer the Thebans to remain long in their mistake. He marched with such expedition, that in seven days he reached Pallene in Thessaly; and in six days more he entered Boeotia, before the Thebans had any intelligence of his having passed the Straits of Thermopylae. Even then they would not believe that the king was alive, but insisted that the Macedonian army was command by Antipater, or by one Alexander the son of Erotes. The rest of the Greeks, however, were not so hard of belief, and therefore sent no assistance to the Thebans, who were thus obliged to bear the consequences of their own folly and obstinacy. Their city was taken by assault, and the inhabitants were for some hours massacred without distinction of age or sex, after which the houses were demolished, excepting that of Pindar, the famous poet, which was spared out of respect to the merit of its owner, and because he had celebrated Alexander, King of Macedonia. The lands, except those destined to religious uses, were shared amongst the soldiers, and all the prisoners sold as slaves, by which 440 talents were brought into the king's treasury.

By this severity the rest of the Grecian states were so thoroughly humbled, that they thought no more of making any resistance, and Alexander had nothing further to hinder him from pursuing his favourite project of invading Asia. Very little preparation was necessary for the Macedonian monarch, who went as to an assured conquest, and reckoned upon being supplied chiefly by the spoils of his enemies. Historians are not agreed as to the number of his army. Arrian says that there were thirty thousand foot and five thousand horse. Plutarch tells us that according to a moderate computation, Alexander had thirty thousand foot and five thousand horse; and that according to the largest estimate, he had thirty-four thousand foot and four thousand horse. As to his fund for the payment of the army, Aristobulus says it was but seventy talents; and Onesicritus, who was also present in this expedition, not only takes away the seventy talents, but affirms that the king was two hundred in debt. As for provisions, there was just sufficient for a month and no more; and to prevent disturbances, Antipater was left in Macedonia with twelve thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse.

The army having assembled at Amphipolis, Alexander marched thence to the mouths of the River Strymon; then cut across Mount Pangaeus, he took the road to Abdera. Crossing the River Ebrus, he proceeded through the country of Pactis, and in twenty days reached Sestos; thence he marched to Eleusa, where he sacrificed on the tomb of Protesilaus, because he was the first amongst the Greeks who at the siege of Troy set foot upon the Asiatic shore. He did this that his landing might be more propitious than that of the hero to whom he sacrificed, who was soon afterwards slain. The greatest part of the army, under the command of Parmenio, embarked at Sestos, on board of a hundred and sixty galleys of three benches of oars, besides small craft. Alexander himself sailed from Eleusa; and when he was in the middle of the Hellespont, offered a bull to Neptune and the Nereids, pouring forth at the same time a libation from a golden cup. When he drew near to the shore, he launched a javelin, which stuck in the earth; then, in complete armour, he leaped upon the strand; and having erected altars to Jupiter, Minerva, and Hercules, he proceeded to Ilium. Here again he sacrificed to Minerva; and taking down some arms which had hung in the temple of that goddess since the time of the Trojan war, he consecrated his own in their stead. He sacrificed also to the ghost of Priam, to avert his wrath on account of the descent which he himself claimed from Achilles.

In the meantime the Persians had assembled a great army in Phrygia, amongst whom was one Memnon, a Rhodian, the best officer in the service of Darius. Memnon gave it as his opinion that they should burn and destroy all the country round, that they might deprive the Greeks of Macedonia, the means of subsisting, and then transport a part of their army into Macedonia. But the Persians, depending on their cavalry, rejected this salutary advice, and posted themselves along the river Granicus, in order to await the arrival of the Greeks. Alexander, as soon as he had performed all the ceremonies which he judged necessary, marched directly towards the enemy. In the engagement which ensued on the banks of that river, the Persians were defeated, and Alexander became master of all the neighbouring country, which he immediately began to take care of, as if it had been part of his hereditary dominions. The city of Sardis was immediately delivered up; and here Alexander built a temple to Jupiter Olympus. After this, he restored the Ephesians to their liberty, ordered the tribute which they formerly paid to the Persians to be applied towards the rebuilding of the magnificent temple of Diana, and having settled the affairs of the city, marched against Miletus. This place was defended by Memnon with a considerable body of troops, who had fled thither after the battle of Granicus, and therefore made a vigorous resistance. The fortune of Alexander, however, prevailed; and the city was soon reduced, though Memnon with part of the troops escaped to Halicarnassus. After this, the king dismissed his fleet,—a proceeding for which various causes have been assigned, though it is probable that the chief reason was to show his army that their only resource now lay in subverting the Persian empire.

Almost all the cities between Miletus and Halicarnassus submitted as soon as they heard that the former was taken; but Halicarnassus, where Memnon commanded with a very numerous garrison, made an obstinate defence. Nothing, however, was capable of resisting the Macedonian army. Memnon was at last obliged to abandon the place; upon which Alexander took and razed the city of Tralles in Phrygia, received the submission of several princes tributary to the Persians; and having destroyed the Marmaritans, a people of Lycia, who had fallen upon the rear of his army, put an end to the campaign; after which he sent home all the new-married men, which endeared him more to his soldiers than almost any other action of his life.

As soon as the season would permit, Alexander quitted the province of Phaselus; and having sent part of his army through the mountainous country to Perga, by a short but difficult road, took his route by a certain promontory, where the way is altogether impassable except when the north winds blow. At the time of the king's march the south wind had held for a long time; but of a sudden it changed, and blew from the north so violently, that, as he and his followers declared, they obtained a safe and easy passage through divine assistance. He continued his march towards Gordium, a city of Phrygia; the enemy having abandoned the strong pass of Telmissus, through which it was necessary for him to march. When he arrived at Gordium, and found himself under the necessity of staying there some time till the several corps of his army could be reunited, he expressed a strong desire of seeing Gordius's chariot, and the famous knot in the harness, of which such strange stories had been published to the world. The cord in which this knot was tied was made of the inner rind of the cornel tree; and no eye could perceive where it began or ended. Alexander, when he could find no possible way of untying, and yet was unwilling to leave it tied, lest it should cause some fears in the breasts of his soldiers, is said by some authors to have cut the cords with his sword, saying, "It matters not how it is undone." A great tempest of thunder, lightning, and rain, happening the succeeding night, it was held declarative of the true solution of this knot, and that Alexander would become master of Asia.

The king having left Gordium, marched towards Cilicia, where he was attended with his usual good fortune, the Persians abandoning all the strong passes as he advanced. As soon as he entered the province, he received advice that Arsaces, whom Darius had made governor of Tarsus, was about to abandon it, and that the inhabitants were very apprehensive that he intended to plunder them before he withdrew. To prevent this, the king marched incessantly, and arrived just in time to save the city. But his saving it had well nigh cost him his life; for, either through the excessive fatigue of marching, as some say, or, according to others, by his plunging when very hot into the River Cydnus, which, as it runs through thick shades, has its waters excessively cold, he fell into such a distemper as threatened immediate dissolution. Philip the Arcæanian alone preserved self-command enough to examine the nature of the king's disease, the worst symptom of which was a continual shivering, which he removed by means of a potion, and in a short time the king recovered his usual health.

Soon after Alexander's recovery, he received the agreeable news that Ptolemy and Asander had defeated the Persian generals, and made great conquests on the Hellespont, and a little after that he met the Persian army at Issus, commanded by Darius himself. A bloody engagement ensued, in which the Persians were defeated with great slaughter (B.C. 333). The consequences of this victory were very advantageous to the Macedonians. Amongst the number of those places which, within a short space after the battle of Issus, sent deputies to submit to the conqueror, was the city of Tyre. The king, whose name was Azelmicus, was absent in the Persian fleet; but his son was amongst the deputies, and was very favourably received by Alexander. The king probably intended to confer particular honours upon the city of Tyre, for he acquainted the inhabitants that he would come and sacrifice to the Tyrian Hercules, the patron of their city, to whom they had erected a most magnificent temple. But these people, like most other trading nations, were far too suspicious to think of admitting such an enterprising prince with his troops within their walls. Alexander then assembled a council of war, in which he insisted strongly on the disaffected state of Greece (for most of the Grecian states had sent ambassadors to Darius, to enter into a league with him against the Macedonians), the power of the Persians by sea, and the folly of carrying on the war in distant provinces, whilst Tyre was left unreduced behind them; he also remarked, that if once this city was subdued, the sovereignty of the sea would be transferred to them, because it would fix their possession of the coasts; and as the Persian fleet was composed chiefly of tributary squadrons, those tributaries would fight the battles, not of their late, but of their present masters.

For these reasons the siege of Tyre was resolved on. The town was not taken, however, without great difficulty, and which provoked Alexander to such a degree that he treated the inhabitants with the greatest cruelty. After the reduction of Tyre, Alexander, though the season was already far advanced, resolved to make an expedition into Syria; and in his way thither proposed to chastise the Jews, who had highly offended him during the siege of Tyre; for when he sent to them to demand provisions for his soldiers, they answered, that they were the subjects of Darius, and bound by oath not to supply his enemies. The king, however, was pacified by their submission, and not only pardoned them, but conferred many privileges upon them.

From Jerusalem Alexander marched directly to Gaza, Egypt sub the only place in that part of the world which still held out for Darius. The governor Bates defended the place with great valour, and several times repulsed his enemies; but at last it was taken by storm, and all the garrison slain to a man; and this secured to Alexander an entrance into Egypt, which having before been very impatient of the Persian yoke, admitted the Macedonians peaceably. Here the king laid the foundations of the city of Alexandria, Macedonia, which for many years afterwards continued to be the capital of the country. Whilst he remained here, he also formed the singular design of visiting the temple of Jupiter Ammon. As to the motives by which he was induced to take this extraordinary journey, authors are not agreed; but certain it is, that he hazarded himself and his troops in the highest degree, there being two dangers in this march, which, with the example before him of Cambyses, who lost the greater part of his army in it, might have terrified anybody but Alexander. The first was the want of water, which, in the sandy deserts surrounding the temple, is nowhere to be found; the other, the uncertainty of the road from the fluctuation of the sands, which, changing their situation every moment, leave the traveller neither a road to walk in, nor a mark to march by. These difficulties, however, Alexander overcame, though not without a miraculous interposition, as is pretended by all his historians.

Alexander having consulted the oracle, and received a favourable answer, returned to pursue his conquests. Having settled the government of Egypt, he appointed the general rendezvous of his forces at Tyre. Here he met with ambassadors from Athens, requesting him to pardon such of their countrymen as he found serving the enemy. The king being desirous to oblige such a famous state, granted their request, and also sent a fleet to the coast of Greece, to prevent the effects of some commotions which had lately happened in Peloponnesus. He then directed his march to Thapsacus; and having passed the Euphrates and Tigris, met with Darius near Arbela (Erbil), where the Persians were again overthrown with prodigious slaughter, and by this victory Alexander became in effect master of the Persian empire.

After this important victory, Alexander marched directly to Babylon, which was immediately delivered up, the inhabitants being greatly disaffected to the Persian interest. After thirty days' stay in this country, the king marched to Susa, which had already surrendered to Philoxenus; and here he received the treasures of the Persian monarch, amounting, according to the most generally received account, to 50,000 talents. Having received also at this time a supply of 6000 foot and 500 horse from Macedonia, he set about reducing the nations of Media, amongst whom Darius had retired. He first reduced the Uxians, and having forced a passage to Persepolis, the capital of the empire, he, like a barbarian, destroyed the stately palace there, a pile of building not to be equalled in any part of the world, after having given up the city to be plundered by his soldiers. In the palace he found 120,000 talents, which he appropriated to his own use, and caused immediately to be carried away upon mules and camels; for he had such an extreme aversion to the inhabitants of Persepolis, that he determined to leave nothing valuable in that city.

During the time that Alexander remained at Persepolis, he received intelligence that Darius remained at Ecbatana, the capital of Media, upon which he pursued him with the greatest expedition, marching at the rate of nearly 40 miles a day. In fifteen days he reached Ecbatana, where he was informed that Darius had retired from thence five days before, with an intent to pass into the remotest provinces of his empire. At this place the Thessalian cavalry and many of the allies, having terminated their service, were dismissed with full pay. Some who preferred it were enrolled as volunteers. The king bought the horses of the Thessalians, who, with the rest of the Greeks, were conducted in safety to the Mediterranean.

On receiving fresh information concerning the state of Darius' affairs, the king again set out in pursuit of him, advancing as far as Rhagae, a city one day's journey from the Caspian Gates. There he understood that Darius had some time before passed those straits; and this information leaving him again without hopes, he halted for five days. Oxidates, a Persian whom Darius had left prisoner Macedonias, at Susa, was made governor of Media, whilst the king departed on an expedition into Parthia. The Caspian Gates he passed immediately without opposition, and he then gave directions to his officers to collect a quantity of provisions sufficient to serve his army on a long march through a wasted country. But before his officers could accomplish these commands, the king received intelligence that Darius had been murdered by one of his own subjects, Bessus, the governor of Bactria.

As soon as Alexander had collected his forces together, Hyrcania and settled the government of Parthia, he entered Hyrcania; and having, according to his usual custom, committed the greater part of his army to the care of Craterus, he, at the head of a choice body of troops, passed through certain craggy roads, and, before the arrival of Craterus, who took an open and easy path, struck the whole provinces with such terror, that all the principal places were immediately put into his hands; and soon afterwards the province of Aria also submitted, and the king continued Satibarzanes, the governor, in his employment. The reduction of this province completed the conquest of Persia; but the ambition of Alexander to become master of every nation of which he had the least intelligence, induced him to enter the country of Mardi, merely because its rocks and barrenness had hitherto prevented any one from conquering, or, indeed, from attempting to conquer it. This conquest however, he easily accomplished, and obliged the whole nation to submit to his pleasure. But in the meantime disturbances began to arise in Alexander's new empire, and amongst his troops, which all his activity could not thoroughly suppress. He had scarcely left the province of Aria, when he received intelligence that the traitor Bessus had caused himself to be proclaimed king of Asia by the name of Artaxerxes; and that Satibarzanes had joined him, after having massacred all the Macedonians who had been left in the province. Alexander appointed one Arsaces governor in the rooms of Satibarzanes, and marched thence with his army against the Zarang.

The immense treasure which the Macedonians had acquired in the conquest of Persia now began to affect their discipline. The king himself was of a most generous disposition, and liberally bestowed his gifts on those around him; but they made a bad use of his bounty, and foolishly indulged in those vices by which the former possessors of that wealth had lost it. The king did all in his power to discourage the lazy and inactive pride which now began to show itself amongst his officers; but neither his discourses nor his example had any considerable effect. The form of his civil government resembled that of the ancient Persian kings; in military affairs, however, he strictly preserved the Macedonian discipline; but then he made choice, out of the provinces, of 30,000 boys, whom he caused to be instructed in the Greek language, and directed to be brought up in such a manner as that from time to time he might with them recruit the phalanx. The Macedonians observed with great concern these extraordinary measures, which suited very ill with their gross understandings; for, after all the victories they had gained, they expected to be absolute lords of Asia, and to possess not only the riches of its inhabitants, but to rule the inhabitants themselves; whereas they now found that Alexander meant no such thing, but that, on the contrary, he conferred governments, offices at court, and all other marks of confidence and favour, indiscriminately both on Greeks and Persians. From this time also the king seems to have given proofs of a cruelty which he had never shown before. Philotas, his most intimate friend, was seized, tortured, and put to death, for a conspiracy of which it could never be proved that he was guilty; and soon afterwards Parmenio, the father of the former, and some others, were executed with- Macedonia, out any crime at all, real or alleged. These things very much disturbed the army. Some of them wrote home to Macedonia respecting the king's suspicions of his friends, and his disposition to hunt out enemies at the very extremes of the world. Alexander having intercepted some of these letters, and procured the best information he could concerning their authors, picked out these dissatisfied people, and having disposed them into a corps, gave it the title of the "turbulent battalion," hoping by this means to prevent the spirit of disaffection from pervading the whole army. As a further precaution against any future conspiracy, Alexander thought fit to appoint Hephestion and Clytus generals of the auxiliary horse; being apprehensive, that if this authority was lodged in the hands of a single person, it might prompt him to dangerous undertakings, and at the same time furnish him with the means of carrying them into execution. To keep his forces in action, he suddenly marched into the country of the Euergetae, or Benefactors, and found them full of the kind and hospitable disposition for which that name had been bestowed on their ancestors by the first Cyrus; he therefore treated them with great respect, and at his departure added some lands to their dominions, which lay contiguous, and which for that reason they had requested of him.

Alexander spent the greater part of the autumn and winter in the reduction of the region around Drangiana, the modern Afghanistan, Seistan, and western Cabool. Any resistance he met with was fitful and desultory; but his soldiers suffered severely from cold and want of food. Arrian remarks, after his own fashion,—"Alexander moved forward not a whit the less; with difficulty, indeed, through deep snow, and without provisions; but still he moved on."

He founded a new city called Alexandria ad Caucasum (Beghram? See Masson's Narrative of Journeys in Afghanistan, &c., vol. iii., c. 7), at one of the southern passes of the Hindoo-Koosh. Here he planted 7000 old Macedonian soldiers as colonists. By a fifteen days' march through snow he crossed the vast mountain range of the Hindoo-Koosh, and entered the region of Bactria.

Bessus, who had assumed the name of Artaxerxes, when he was assured that Alexander was marching towards him, immediately began to waste all the country between Paropamisus and the River Oxus, which river he passed with all his forces, and then burned all the vessels he had made use of for transporting them, retiring to Nautaca, a city of Sogdia, fully persuaded that, by the precautions he had taken, Alexander would be compelled to give over his pursuit. This conduct of his, however, disheartened his troops, and gave the lie to all his pretensions; for he had affected to censure Darius' conduct, and had charged him with cowardice, in not defending the River Euphrates and Tigris, whereas he now quitted the banks of the most defensible river perhaps in the whole world. As to his hopes, though it cannot be said they were ill founded, yet they proved absolutely vain; for Alexander, continuing his march notwithstanding the hardships his soldiers sustained, reduced all Bactria under his obedience, particularly the capital Bactria and the strong castle Aormus. In the latter he placed a garrison under the command of Archelaus, but the government of the province he committed to Ariabazus. He then continued his march to the River Oxus, on the banks of which, when he arrived, he found it three-quarters of a mile in breadth, its depth more than proportional to its breadth, its bottom sandy, its stream so rapid as to render it almost unnavigable, and neither boat nor tree in its neighbourhood; so that the ablest commanders in the Macedonian army were of opinion that the army would be obliged to march back. The king, however, having first sent away, under a proper escort, all his infirm and worn-out soldiers, that they might be conducted safely to the seaports, and thence transported to Greece, devised a method of passing this river without either boat or bridge, by causing the hides which covered the soldiers' tents and carriages to be stuffed with straw, and then tied together, and thrown into the river. Having crossed the Oxus, he marched directly towards the camp of Bessus, where, when he arrived, he found it abandoned; but at the same time received letters from Spitamenes and Dataphernes, who were the chief commanders under Bessus, signifying, that if he would send a small party to receive Bessus, they would deliver him into his hands; which they did accordingly, and the traitor was immediately put to death, after cruel mutilation.

A supply of horses having now arrived, the Macedonian cavalry were remounted. Alexander continued his march past Maracanda, the capital of Sogdia, whence he advanced to the River Iaxartes. Here he performed extraordinary exploits against the Scythians, from whom, however, though he overcame them, his army suffered much; and the revolted Sogdians, being headed by Spitamenes, gave him a great deal of trouble. Here also he married Roxana, the daughter of Oxyartes, a prince of the country whom he had subdued. But during these expeditions, the king greatly disgusted his army by the murder of his friend Clytus in a drunken quarrel at a banquet, and by his extravagant vanity in claiming divine honours. At last he arrived at the River Indus, where Hephestion and Perdiccas had already provided a bridge of boats for the passage of that river. He then ordered the vessels of which his bridge had been composed to be taken to pieces, that they might be brought to the Hydaspes (Jhelum) where he was informed that Porus with a great army lay encamped to dispute his passage.

Alexander experienced no resistance till he met the brave Indian prince, Porus, who, with a formidable force, stood on the further side of a river, prepared to dispute his passage. The Macedonians, by a series of skilful manoeuvres, eluded the watchfulness of the Indians, crossed the river at a point above where the army lay, and completely overthrew Porus and his brave host. This gigantic prince, who was mounted on an elephant, moved about among his scattered troops with signal spirit and intrepidity, cheering on the dispirited, and reviving the expiring courage of the wavering. He saw two of his sons fall by his side, and had himself received a severe wound; yet he fought on almost single-handed with the fierce energy of proud despair. It was with considerable difficulty that Alexander succeeded in preserving the life of this invincible hero. When Porus was brought before him, Alexander, over whose passionate nature external impressions exercised a strong influence, was much struck with his handsome figure and undaunted mien. He showed this prince the utmost generosity, not only by reinstating him in his kingdom, but also by extending its boundaries; and Porus proved in return a faithful ally to Alexander. "This was," says Grote, "the greatest day of Alexander's life, if we take together the splendour and difficulty of the military achievement, and the generous treatment of his conquered opponent."

To perpetuate the memory of this victory, Alexander ordered two cities to be erected; one on the field of battle, which he named Nicæa, the other on the opposite side of the river, which he called Bucephala, in honour of his horse Bucephalus, who died here, as Arrian says, of mere old age, being on the verge of thirty. All the soldiers who fell in the battle he buried with great honours, offered solemn sacrifices to the gods, and exhibited pompous shows on the banks of the Hydaspes, where he had forced his passage. He then entered the territories of the Glausa, in which there were thirty-seven good cities and a multitude of populous villages. All these were delivered up to him without fighting; and as soon as he received them, he presented them

Macedonia, to Porus, and having reconciled him to Taxiles, he sent the latter home to his own dominions. About this time ambassadors arrived from several Indian princes with their submissions; and Alexander having conquered the dominions of another Porus, which lay on the Hydriotes, a branch of the Indus, added them to those of Porus his ally.

In the middle of all this success, however, news arrived that the Cethei, Oxydraces, and the Malli, the most warlike nations of India, were confederated against the Macedonians, and had drawn together a great army. The king immediately marched to give them battle, and in a few days reached a city called Sangala, seated on the top of a hill, and having a fine lake behind it. Before this city the confederate Indians lay encamped, having three circular lines of carriages locked together, and their tents pitched in the centre. These defences being forced, they took refuge within their walls, and resolved to evacuate by night. Informed by deserters of this project, Alexander succeeded in defeating it. Next day he stormed the town, killing, as Arrian records, 17,000 Indians, and taking 70,000 captives. His own loss was less than 100 killed and 1200 wounded. After razing Sangala, he annexed the territory to the kingdom of his Indian ally.

Alexander, still unsated with conquest, now prepared to pass the Hyphasis (Sutlej). The chief reason which induced him to think of this expedition, was the information he had received of the state of the countries beyond that river. He was told that they were in themselves rich and fruitful; that their inhabitants were not only a very martial people, but very civilized; that they were governed by the nobility, who were themselves subject to the laws; and that as they lived in happiness and freedom, it was likely they would fight obstinately in defence of those blessings. He was further told, that amongst these nations there were the largest, strongest, and most useful elephants bred and tamed; and was therefore fired with an earnest desire of reducing such a bold and brave people under his rule, and of attaining to the possession of the many valuable things that were said to be amongst them. An exorbitant, however, as his personal ambition was, he found it impossible to infuse any part of it into the minds of his soldiers, who were so far from wishing to triumph over new and remote countries, that they were highly desirous of leaving those that they had already conquered. When, therefore, they were informed of the king's intentions, they privately consulted together in the camp about the situation of their own affairs. At this consultation, the gravest and best of the soldiers lamented that they were made use of by their king, not as lions, who fall fiercely upon those who have injured them, but as mastiffs, who fly upon and tear those who are pointed out to them as enemies. The rest were not so modest, but expressed themselves roundly against the king's humour for leading them from battle to battle, from siege to siege, and from river to river; protesting that they would follow him no farther, nor lavish their blood any longer to purchase for him the fame he coveted. Alexander had too much penetration not to perceive that his troops were very uneasy. He therefore harangued them from his tribunal; but though his eloquence was great, and the love his army had for him was yet very strong, they did not relent. For some time the soldiers remained sullen and silent; and at last turned their eyes on Cenmus, an old and experienced general, whom Alexander loved, and in whom the army put great confidence. He had the generosity to undertake their cause, and told Alexander frankly, "that men endured toil in hopes of repose; that the Macedonians were already much reduced in their numbers; that of those who remained, the greater part were invalids; and that they expected, in consideration of their former services, that he would now lead them back to their native country, an act which, of all others, would most contribute to his own great designs, since it would encourage the youth of Macedonia, and even of all Greece, to follow him in whatever new expedition he pleased to undertake." The king was far from being pleased with this speech of Cenmus, and much less with the disposition of his army, which continued in a deep silence. He therefore dismissed the assembly. But next day he called another, in which he told the soldiers plainly that he would not be driven from his purpose; that he would proceed in his conquests with such as should follow him voluntarily; and that, as for the rest, he would not detain them, but would leave them at liberty to go home to Macedonia, where they might publish, "that they had left their king in the midst of his enemies." Even this expedient had no success; his army was so thoroughly tired with long marches and desperate battles, that they were determined to advance no further; upon which Alexander retired to his tent, where he refused to see his friends, and evinced the same gloomy temper that reigned amongst his troops.

For three days things remained in this situation. At last Alexander the king suddenly appeared; and, as if he had been fully determined to pursue his first design, he gave orders to sacrifice for the good success of his new undertaking. But Aristaean, the augur, reported that the omens were altogether inauspicious; upon which the king said, that since his proceeding farther was neither pleasing to the gods nor grateful to his army, he would return. When this was rumoured amongst the army, they assembled in great numbers about the royal tent, saluting the king with loud acclamations, wishing him success in all his future designs, and giving him at the same time hearty thanks, inasmuch as "he who was invincible had suffered himself to be overcome by their prayers." A stop being thus put to the conquests of Alexander, he determined to make the Hyphasis the boundary of his dominions; and having erected twelve altars of an extraordinary magnitude, he sacrificed upon them, after which he exhibited shows in the Grecian manner; and, having added all the conquered country in these parts to the dominions of Porus, he began to return. Having arrived at the Hydaspes, he made the necessary preparations for sailing down the Indus to the ocean. For this purpose, he ordered vast quantities of timber to be felled in the neighbourhood of the Hydaspes, through which he was to sail into the Indus; and by the beginning of November, he, with a fleet of 2000 boats, began his voyage down the Hydaspes. Craterus and Hephestion, with their divisions, moved down the banks of the river. The king kept on board the fleet, which was commanded by Nearchus. The main stream of the Indus was gradually reached, down which they sailed to the ocean. The entire voyage occupied nine months, from November 326 B.C. to August 325 B.C. But it is not to be supposed that Alexander contented himself with the unbroken monotony of this tedious expedition. All tribes bordering on the river which did not offer voluntary submission, were attacked, subdued, and slaughtered. Among these were the Malli. Attacking this brave people with his accustomed energy, Alexander drove them within the walls of their strongest city. Having pursued them to the gates, the king, in his hot impatience at the tardy arrival of the troops with the scaling-ladders, managed to mount the wall, and after striking down its defenders, flung himself into the fortress, where he made his way, single-handed, for a time against all opposition. He was on the point of falling, however, from a severe wound, when his soldiers dashed in, rescued their brave general, and took the citadel. The Indians were now slaughtered without mercy; but Alexander continued for some time in a very dangerous condition. However, he at last recovered his strength, and showed himself again to his army, which filled them with the greatest joy.

On the king's return to Pattala, he resolved to sail down Macedonia, the other branch of the Indus, that he might see whether it was more safe and commodious for his fleet than that which he had already tried; and for this he had very good reasons. He had resolved to send Nearchus with his fleet by sea, through the Persian Gulf, up the River Tigris, to meet him and his army in Mesopotamia; but as the possibility of this voyage depended on the ceasing of the easterly winds, there was a necessity for laying up the fleet till the season should prove favourable. Alexander, therefore, sailing through this branch of the Indus, sought on the seacoast for bays and creeks, where his fleet might anchor in safety; he also caused pits to be sunk, which might be filled with fresh water for the use of his people, and took all imaginable precautions for preserving them in ease and safety till the season would allow them to continue their voyage.

In this he succeeded to his wish; for he found this branch of the river Indus, at its mouth, spread over the plain country, and forming a kind of lake, in which a fleet might ride with safety. He therefore appointed Leonatus, and a part of his army, to carry on such works as were necessary, causing them to be relieved by fresh troops as often as there was occasion; then having given his last instructions to Nearchus, he departed with the rest of the army, in order to march back to Babylon.

Before the king's departure, many of his friends advised him against the route which he intended to take. They told him that nothing could be more rash or dangerous than this resolution. They informed him, that the country through which he was to travel was a wild uncultivated desert; that Semiramis, when she led her soldiers this way out of India, brought home but twenty of them; and that Cyrus attempting to do the same, returned with only seven. But all this was so far from deterring Alexander, that it more than ever determined him to pursue no other route. As soon, therefore, as he had put things in order, he marched at the head of a sufficient body of troops to reduce the Orite, who had never vouchsafed either to make their submission or to court his friendship. Their territories lay upon the other side of a river called Arabis, which Alexander crossed so speedily, that they had no intelligence of his march; whereupon most of them quitted their country, and fled into the deserts. Their capital he found so well situate, that he resolved to take it out of their hands, and to cause a new and noble city to be founded there, the care of which he committed to Hephaestion. Then he received the deputies of the Orite and Gedrosi; and having assured them that if the people returned to their villages, they should be kindly treated, and having appointed Apollophanes president of the Orite, and left a considerable body of troops under Leonatus to secure their obedience, he began his march through Gedrosia. In this march his troops suffered incredible hardships. The road was very uncertain and troublesome, on account of its lying through deep and loose sands, rising in many places into hillocks, which forced the soldiers to climb, at the same time that it sunk under their feet; there were no towns, villages, nor places of refreshment, to be met with; so that, after excessive marches, they were forced to encamp among these dry sands. As to provisions, they hardly met with any during their whole march. The soldiers were therefore obliged to kill their beasts of carriage; and such as were sent to bring some corn from the sea-side, were so grievously distressed, that, though it was sealed with the king's signet, they cut open the bags, choosing rather to die a violent death for disobedience than perish by hunger. When the king, however, was informed of this, he freely pardoned the offenders; he was also forced to accept the excuses, that were daily made for the loss of mules, horses, &c., which were in truth eaten by the soldiers, and their carriages broken in pieces to avoid further trouble. As for water, their want of it was a great misfortune, and yet their finding it in plenty was sometimes a greater; for, as in the one case they perished with thirst, so in the other Macedonia they were thrown into dropsies, and rendered incapable of travel. Frequently they met with no water for the whole day together; sometimes they were disappointed of it at night, in which case, if they were able, they marched on; so that it was common with them to travel 30, 40, 50, or even 60 miles without encamping. Through these hardships numbers were obliged to fall into the rear; and of these many were left behind, and perished; for indeed scarcely any of them ever joined the army again. Their miseries, however, they sustained with incredible patience, being encouraged by the example of their king, who, on this occasion, suffered greater hardships than the meanest soldier in his army.

At last they arrived at the capital of Gedrosia, where they refreshed themselves, and staid some time; after which they marched into Caramania, which being a very plentiful country, made them ample amends for the hardships and fatigues which they had sustained. Here they were joined, first by Craterus with the troops under his command, along with a number of elephants; then came Stanasor, president of the Arians, and Pharismanes, the son of Phrataphernes, the governor of Parthia. They brought with them camels, horses, and other beasts of burden, in vast numbers; having foreseen that the king's march through Gedrosia would be attended with the loss of the greater part, if not all, of the cavalry and beasts belonging to his army. During Alexander's stay in Caramania, he redressed the injuries of his people, who had been grievously oppressed by their governors during his absence. Here also he was joined by his admiral, Nearchus, who brought with him an account that all under his command were in perfect safety and in excellent condition; intelligence with which the king was mightily pleased, and, after having bestowed on him singular marks of his favour, sent him back to the navy. Alexander next set out for Persia, where great disorders had been committed during his absence. These he also redressed, and caused the governor to be crucified; appointing in his room Peucestas, who had saved his life when he fought singly against a whole garrison, as above related. The new governor was no sooner invested with his dignity than he laid aside the Macedonian garb, and put on that of the Medes, being the only one of Alexander's captains who, by complying with the manners of the people he governed, gained their affection.

Whilst Alexander visited the different parts of Persia, he took a view, amongst the rest, of the ruins of Persepolis, seeing in which he is said to have expressed great sorrow for the destruction it had formerly occasioned. From Persepolis, he marched to Susa, where he gave an extraordinary loose to pleasure, resolving to make himself and his followers some amends for the difficulties which they had hitherto undergone, purposing at the same time so effectually to unite his newly-conquered with his hereditary subjects, that the jealousies and fears which had hitherto tormented both should no longer subsist. With this view he married two wives of the blood-royal of Persia—Barsine or Statira, the daughter of Darius, and Parysatis, the daughter of Ochus. Drypetis, another daughter of Darius, he gave to Hephaestion; Amastrine, the daughter of Oxyartes, the brother of Darius, married Craterus; and to the rest of his friends, to the number of eighty, he gave other women of the highest quality. All these marriages were celebrated at once, Alexander himself bestowing fortunes upon them. He likewise directed that an account should be taken of the number of his officers and soldiers who had married Asiatic wives; and though they appeared to be ten thousand, yet he gratified each of them according to his rank. He next resolved to pay the debts of his army, and thereupon issued an edict directing every man to register his name, and the sum he owed; an order with which the soldiers complying slowly, from an apprehension that there was some design against them, Alexander ordered tables heaped with money to be set in all quarters of the camp, and caused every man's debts to be paid on his bare word, without even making any entry of his name, though the whole sum amounted to twenty thousand talents. On such had distinguished themselves in an extraordinary manner he bestowed crowns of gold. Peucestas received the first, Leonatus the second, Nearchus the third, Onesicritus the fourth, Hephaestion the fifth, and the rest of his guards had each of them one. After this he made other dispositions for conciliating, as he supposed, the differences amongst his subjects. He reviewed the thirty thousand youths whom at his departure for India he had ordered to be taught Greek and the Macedonian discipline, expressing high satisfaction at the fine appearance they made, which rendered them worthy of the appellation he bestowed on them, that of Epigoni, or successors. He promoted also, without any distinction of nation, all those who had served him faithfully and valiantly in the Indian war. When all these regulations were made, he gave the command of his heavy-armed troops to Hephaestion, and ordered him to march directly to the banks of the Tigris; whilst in the meantime a fleet was equipped for carrying the king and the troops which he retained with him down to the ocean.

Thus ended the exploits of Alexander, the greatest conqueror that ever the world saw, at least with respect to the rapidity of his conquests. In the course of twelve years he had brought under his subjection Egypt, Libya, Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Babylonia, Persia, with part of India and Tartary. Still, however, he meditated greater things. He had now got a great taste for maritime affairs, and is said to have meditated a voyage to the coasts of Arabia and Ethiopia, and thence round the whole continent of Africa to the Straits of Gibraltar. But of this there is no great certainty, though that he intended to subdue the Carthaginians and Italians is more than probable. All these designs, however, were frustrated by his death, which happened at Babylon in the year 323 B.C. He is said to have received several warnings of his approaching fate, and to have been advised to avoid that city, which advice he either despised or could not follow. He died of a fever, after eight days' illness, without naming any successor; having only given his ring to Perdiccas, and left the kingdom, as he said, "to the strongest."

The character of this great prince has been variously represented; but most historians seem to have looked upon him rather as an illustrious madman than one upon whom the epithet of Great could be properly bestowed. From a careful observation of his conduct, however, it must appear that he possessed not only a capacity to plan, but likewise to execute, the greatest enterprises which ever entered into the mind of any of the human race. From whatever cause the notion originated, it is plain that he imagined himself a divine person, and born to subdue the whole world; and extravagant and impracticable as this scheme may appear at present, it cannot at all be looked upon in the same light in the age of Alexander. The Greeks were in his time the most powerful people in the world in respect to their skill in the military art, and the Persians were the most powerful with respect to wealth and numbers. The only other powerful nations in the world were the Carthaginians, Gauls, and Italian nations. From a long series of wars which the Carthaginians carried on in Sicily, it appeared that they were by no means capable of contending with the Greeks, even when they had an immense superiority of numbers; and much less could they have sustained an attack from the whole power of Greece and Asia united. The Gauls and Italians were indeed very brave, and of a martial disposition; but they were barbarous, and could not have resisted armies well disciplined, and under the command of such a skilful leader as Alexander. Even long after this time, it appeared that the Romans themselves could not have resisted the Greeks, since Regulus, after having defeated the Carthaginians, and reduced them to the utmost distress, was totally unable to resist a Carthaginian army commanded by a Greek general, and trained to Greek discipline.

Thus it appears that the scheme of Alexander cannot by any means be accounted that of a madman, or of one who projects great things without judgment, and the means necessary to execute them. If from his actions we consider the end which he most probably had in view could his scheme have been accomplished, we shall find it not only the greatest, but the best, which can possibly be imagined. He did not conquer to destroy, enslave, or oppress, but to civilize and to unite the whole world as one nation. No sooner was a province conquered than he took care of it as if it had been part of his paternal inheritance. He allowed not his soldiers to oppress and plunder the Persians, which they were very much inclined to do; on the contrary, by giving in to the oriental customs himself, he strove to extinguish that inveterate hatred which had so long subsisted between the two nations. In the Scythian countries which he subdued he pursued the same excellent plan. His courage and military skill, in which he never was excelled, were displayed, not with a view to rapine or desultory conquest, but to civilize and induce the barbarous inhabitants to employ themselves in a more proper way of life. Amidst the hardships of a military life, obstinate sieges, bloody battles, and dear-bought victories, he still respected the rights of mankind, and practised the mild virtues of humanity. The conquered nations enjoyed their ancient laws and privileges; the rigours of despotism were softened; arts and industry encouraged; and the proudest Macedonian governors compelled, by the authority and example of Alexander, to observe the rules of justice towards their meanest subjects. To bridle the fierce inhabitants of the Scythian plains, he founded cities and established colonies on the banks of the Iaxartes and Oxus; and those destructive campaigns usually ascribed to his restless activity and blind ambition appeared to the discernment of this extraordinary man, not only essential to the security of the conquests which he had already made, but necessary for the more remote and splendid expeditions which he still purposed to undertake, and which he performed with singular boldness and unexampled success.

He was of a low stature, and somewhat deformed; but the activity and elevation of his mind animated and ennobled his frame. By a life of continual labour, and by an early and habitual practice of the gymnastic exercises, he had hardened his body against the impressions of cold and heat, hunger and thirst, and prepared his robust constitution for bearing such exertions of strength and activity as have appeared incredible to the undisciplined softness of modern times. In generosity and in prowess he rivalled the greatest heroes of antiquity; and in the race of glory, having finally outstripped all competitors, became ambitious to surpass himself. His superior skill in war gave uninterrupted success to his arms; and his natural humanity, enlightened by the philosophy of Greece, taught him to improve his conquests to the best interests of mankind. In his extensive dominions he built or founded not less than seventy cities; the situation of which, being chosen with consummate wisdom, tended to facilitate communication, to promote commerce, and to diffuse civilization through the greatest nations of the earth. It may be suspected, indeed, that he mistook the extent of human power, when in the course of one reign he undertook to change the face of the world; and that he miscalculated the stubbornness of ignorance and the force of habit, when he attempted to enlighten barbarism, to soften servitude, and to transplant the improvements of Greece into an African and Asiatic soil, where they have never been known to flourish. Yet Macedonia, let not the designs of Alexander be too hastily accused of extravagance. Whoever seriously considers what he actually performed before his thirty-third year, will be cautious of determining what he might have accomplished had he reached the ordinary term of human life. His resources were peculiar to himself; and such views as well as actions became him, as would have become none besides. In the language of a distinguished historian, "he seems to have been given to the world by a peculiar dispensation of Providence, being a man like to none other of the human kind."

With the death of Alexander fell also the glory of the Macedonians, who very soon relapsed into a situation as bad as, or perhaps worse than, that in which they had been before the reign of Philip. This was occasioned principally by his not having distinctly named a successor, and having no child of his own come to the years of discretion to whom the kingdom might seem naturally to belong. The ambition and jealousy of his mother Olympias, of his queen Roxana, and especially of the great commanders of his army, not only prevented a successor from being ever named, but occasioned the death of every person, whether male or female, who was in the least related to Alexander.

To have a just notion of the origin of these disturbances, it is necessary, in the first place, to understand the state of Macedonian affairs at the time of Alexander's death.

When Alexander set out for Asia, he left Antipater in Macedonia, to prevent any disturbances that might arise either there or in Greece. The Greeks, even during the lifetime of Alexander, bore the superiority which he exercised over them with great patience; and, though nothing could be more gentle than the government of Antipater, yet he was exceedingly hated, because he obliged them to be quiet. One of the last actions of Alexander's life set all Greece in a flame. He had, by an edict, directed all the cities of Greece to recall their exiles; which edict, when it was published at the Olympic games, created much confusion. Many of the cities were afraid that when the exiles returned they would change the government; most of them doubted their own safety if the edict took effect; and all of them held this preeminent decree to be a total abolition of their liberty. No sooner, therefore, did the news of Alexander's death arrive than they prepared for war.

In Asia the state of things was not much better; not indeed through any inclination of the conquered countries to revolt, but through the dissensions amongst the commanders. In the general council which was called soon after the death of Alexander, it was at last agreed, or rather commanded by the soldiers, after much confusion and altercation, that Aridaeus, the brother of Alexander, who had always accompanied the king, and had been wont to sacrifice with him, should assume the sovereignty. This Aridaeus was a man of slender parts and judgment, not naturally, but by the wicked practices of Olympias, who had given him poisonous draughts in his infancy, lest he should stand in the way of her son Alexander, or any of his family; and for this, or some other reason, Perdiccas, Ptolemy, and most of the cavalry officers, resented his promotion to such a degree that they quitted the assembly, and even the city. However, Meleager, at the head of the phalanx, vigorously supported their first resolution, and threatened loudly to shed the blood of those who affected to rule over their equals, and to assume a kingdom which nowise belonged to them. Aridaeus was accordingly arrayed in royal robes, had the arms of Alexander put upon him, and was saluted by the name of Philip, to render him more popular. Thus were two parties formed, at the head of which were Meleager and Perdiccas, both of them pretending vast concern for the public good, yet at bottom desiring nothing more than their own advantage. Perdiccas was a man of high birth, and had a supreme command in the army, was much in favour with Alexander, and Macedonians, one in whom the nobility had placed great confidence. Meleager had become formidable by the phalanx being on his side, and having the nominal king entirely in his power; for Aridaeus, or Philip, was obliged to comply with whatever he thought proper, and publicly declared that whatever he did was by the advice of Meleager; so that he made his minister accountable for his own schemes, and otherwise endangered himself. The Macedonians also, besides their regard for the deceased king, soon began to entertain a personal love for Philip on account of his moderation.

It is remarkable, however, that notwithstanding all the Meleager favours which Alexander had conferred upon his officers, murdered, and the fidelity with which they had served him during his empire, only two of them were attached to the interests of his valedictory family after his death. These were Antipater and Eumenes the Cardian, whom he had appointed his secretary. Antipater, as we have already seen, was embroiled with the Greeks, and could not assist the royal family, who were in Asia; and Eumenes had not as yet sufficient interest to form a party in their favour. In a short time, however, Perdiccas prevailed against Meleager, and caused him to be murdered; by which means the supreme power for a time fell into his hands. His first step, in consequence of this power, was to distribute the provinces of the empire amongst the commanders, in order at once to prevent competitors, and to satisfy the ambition of the principal leaders of the army. Aridaeus, and the son of Roxana, born after the death of his father, were to enjoy the regal authority. Antipater had the government of the European provinces. Craterus received the title of Protector. Perdiccas was made general of the household troops, in the room of Hephaestion. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, obtained Egypt, Libya, and that part of Arabia which borders upon Egypt. Cleomenes, a man of infamous character, whom Alexander had appointed receiver-general in Egypt, was made Ptolemy's deputy. Leoncidas had Syria; Philotas, Cilicia; Python, Media; Eumenes, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and all the country bordering on the Euxine Sea, as far as Trapezus; but these were not yet conquered, so that he was a governor without a province. Antigonus received Pamphylia, Lycia, and Phrygia Major; Cassander, Caria; Menander, Lydia; Leonatus, Phrygia, on the Hellespont.

In the meantime, not only Alexander's will, but even Alexander's remains, were so much neglected, that his body was allowed to lie seven days before any notice was taken of it, or any orders were given for its being embalmed. The only will he left was a short memorandum of six things which he wished to have done. 1. A fleet of one thousand stout galleys was to be built and employed against the Carthaginians and other nations who might oppose the reduction of the sea-coasts of Africa and Spain, with all the adjacent islands as far as Sicily. 2. A large and regular highway was to be constructed along the coast of Africa, as far as Ceuta and Tangier. 3. Six temples of extraordinary magnificence were to be erected, at the expense of one thousand five hundred talents each. 4. Castles, arsenals, havens, and yards for building ships, were to be established in proper places throughout his empire. 5. Several new cities were to be built in Europe and Asia; those in Asia to be inhabited by colonies from Europe, and those in Europe to be filled with Asiatics; that by blending the people and the manners of both, the hereditary antipathy which had hitherto subsisted between the inhabitants of these two continents might, if possible, be eradicated. Lastly, he had projected the building of a pyramid, equal in size and beauty to the largest in Egypt, in honour of his father Philip. But all these designs were, on the pretence of their being expensive, referred to a council of Macedonians, to be held nobody knew when or where.

The government, being now in the hands of Perdiccas, Macedonia, and Roxana, soon became cruel and distasteful. Alexander was scarcely dead when the queen sent for Statira and the daughters of Darius, the two daughters of Darius, one of whom had been married to Alexander, and the other to Hephestion; and as soon as they arrived at Babylon, she caused them both to be murdered, that no son of Alexander by any other woman, or of Hephestion, might give any trouble to her or her son Alexander. Sisygambis, the mother of Darius, no sooner heard that Alexander the Great was dead, than she laid violent hands on herself, being apprehensive of the calamities which were about to ensue.

War was first declared in Greece against Antipater in the year 321 B.C.; and, through the treachery of the Thessalians, that general was defeated, with the army he had under his own command. Leonatus was therefore sent from Asia, with a very considerable army, to his assistance; but both were overthrown with great loss by the confederates, and Leonatus himself was killed. In a short time, however, Craterus arrived in Greece with a great army, the command of which he resigned to Antipater. The army of the confederates amounted to about twenty-five thousand foot and three thousand horse; but Antipater commanded no fewer than forty thousand foot, three thousand archers, and five thousand horse. In such an unequal contest, therefore, the Greeks were defeated, and forced to sue for peace, which they did not obtain except on condition of their receiving Macedonian garrisons into several of their cities. At Athens also the democratic government was abrogated; and such a dreadful punishment did this seem to the Athenians, that twenty-two thousand of them left their country and retired into Macedonia.

Whilst these things were doing in Greece, disturbances began also to arise in Asia and in Thrace. The Greek mercenaries, who were dispersed throughout the inland provinces of Asia, despairing of ever being allowed to return home by fair means, determined to attempt it by force. For this purpose they assembled to the number of twenty thousand foot and three thousand horse; but they were all cut off to a man by the Macedonians. In Thrace, Lysimachus was attacked by one Seuthes, a prince of that country, who claimed the dominions of his ancestors, and had raised an army of twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse. But though the Macedonian commander was forced to engage this army with no more than four thousand foot and two thousand horse, yet he kept the field of battle, and could not be driven out of the country.

Perdiccas, in the meantime, by pretending friendship to the royal family, had gained over Eumenes entirely to his interest; and at last put him in possession of the province of Cappadocia by the defeat of Ariarathes, king of that country, whom he afterwards caused to be crucified. His ambition, however, now began to involve him in difficulties. At the first division of the provinces, Perdiccas, to strengthen his own authority, had proposed to marry Nicaea, the daughter of Antipater; and so well was this proposal relished, that her brethren, Jollas and Archias, conducted her to him, in order to be present at the celebration of the nuptials. But Perdiccas had now other objects in view. He had been solicited by Olympias to marry her daughter Cleopatra, the widow of Alexander King of Epirus, and who then resided at Sardis, in Lydia. Eumenes promoted this match to the utmost of his power, because he thought it would be for the interest of the royal family; and his persuasions had such an effect on Perdiccas, that he was sent to Sardis to compliment Cleopatra, and to carry presents to her in name of her new lover. In the absence of Eumenes, however, Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas, persuaded him to marry Nicaea; but in order to gratify his ambition, he resolved to divorce her immediately after the marriage, and to marry Cleopatra. By this last alliance he hoped to have a pretence for altering the government of Macedonia; and, as a necessary measure preparative to these, he entered into contrivances for destroying Antigonus. Unfortunately for himself, however, he ruined all his schemes by his own jealousy and precipitate cruelty. Cyane, the daughter of Philip by his second wife, had brought her daughter Ada, who was afterwards named Eurydice, to court, in hopes that King Ariades might marry her. Against Cyane, Perdiccas, from some political motives, conceived such a grudge, that he caused her to be murdered. This raised a commotion in the army, which frightened Perdiccas to such a degree that he now promoted the match between Ariades and Eurydice, to prevent which he had murdered the mother of the young princess. But, in the meantime, Antigonus, knowing the designs of Perdiccas against himself, fled with his son Demetrius to Greece, there to take shelter under the protection of Antipater and Craterus, whom he informed of the ambition and cruelty of the regent.

A civil war was now kindled up. Antipater, Craterus, Neoptolemus, and Antigonus, were combined against Perdiccas; and it was the misfortune of the empire in general that Eumenes, the most able general, as well as the most virtuous of all the commanders, was on the side of Perdiccas, because he believed him to be in the interest of Alexander's family. Ptolemy in the meantime remained in quiet possession of Egypt, but without the least intention of owning any person as his superior. However, he also acceded to the league formed against Perdiccas, and thus the only person in the whole empire who consulted the interest of the royal family was Eumenes.

It was now thought proper to bury the body of Alexander, which had been kept for two years, during all which buried in time preparations had been making for its interment. Ariades, to whose care it was committed, set out from Babylon for Damascus, in order to carry the king's body to Egypt. This was much against the will of Perdiccas; for it seems there was a superstitious report, that wherever the body of Alexander was laid, that country should flourish most. Perdiccas, therefore, out of regard to his native soil, would have it conveyed to the royal sepulchres in Macedonia; but Ariades, pleading the late king's express direction, was determined to carry it into Egypt, from thence to be conveyed to the temple of Jupiter Ammon. The funeral was accordingly conducted with all imaginable magnificence. Ptolemy came to meet the body as far as Syria; but, instead of burying it in the temple of Jupiter Ammon, he erected a stately temple for it in the city of Alexandria; and, by the respect which he showed for his dead master, induced many of the Macedonian veterans to join him, who were afterwards of the greatest service.

No sooner was the funeral over, than the parties above Perdiccas mentioned came to blows. Perdiccas marched against killed, and Ptolemy, but was slain by his own men, who, after the death of their general, submitted to his antagonist; and empire, thus Eumenes was left alone to contend against all the other generals who had served under Alexander. In this contest, however, he would by no means have been overmatched, had his soldiers been attached to him; but as they had been accustomed to serve against those very generals against whom they were now to fight, they were upon all occasions ready to betray and desert Eumenes. However, he defeated and killed Neoptolemus and Craterus; but then found himself obliged to contend with Antipater and Antigonus. Antipater was now appointed protector of the kings, with sovereign power; and Eumenes was about the same time declared a public enemy. A new division of Alexander's empire took place. Egypt, Libya, and the parts adjacent, were given to Ptolemy, because they could not be taken from him. Syria was confirmed to Leomedon. Philoxenus received Cilicia. Mesopotamia and Arbelitus were given to Amphimacus. Babylon was bestowed on Seleucus. Susiana fell to Antigonus, who commanded the Macedonian Argyraspides, or Silver Shields, because he was the first who opposed Perdiccas. Penecestes held Persia; Tlepolemus had Caranania; Python had Media as far as the Caspian Straits; Stasander had Aria and Drangia; Philip, Parthia; Stasander, Bactria and Sagdla; Sibritius, Aracopa; Oxyartes, the father of Roxana, Paropamissus. Another Python had the country between this province and India. Porus and Taxiles retained what Alexander had given them, refusing to part with any portion of their dominions. Cappadocia was assigned to Nicanor. Phrygia Major, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, and Lydia, were given to Antigonus; Caria to Cassander; Lydia to Clytus; and Phrygia the Less to Ariades. Cassander was appointed general of the horse; whilst the command of the household troops was given to Antigonus, with orders to prosecute the war against Eumenes. Antipater having thus settled everything as well as he could, returned to Macedonia with the two kings, to the great joy of his countrymen, having left his son Cassander as a check upon Antigonus in Asia.

Matters now seemed to wear a better aspect than they had yet done; and, if Eumenes had believed that his enemies really consulted the interest of Alexander's family, there is not the least doubt that the war would have been immediately terminated. He saw, however, that the design of Antigonus was altogether a selfish one, and consequently he refused to submit. From this time, therefore, the Macedonian empire in Asia ceased to exist; and the Macedonian affairs were now entirely confined to that kingdom itself, and to Greece. Antipater had not been long in Macedonia after his return, when he died; and the last act of his life completed the ruin of Alexander's family. With a view to the public good, he had appointed Polysperchon, one of the eldest of Alexander's captains, to be protector and governor of Macedonia. This failed not to disgust his son Cassander, who thought he had a natural right to these offices, and of course kindled up a new civil war in Macedonia. This was indeed highly promoted by his first actions as a governor. He began with attempting to remove all the governors appointed in Greece by Antipater, and to restore democracy wherever it had been abolished. The immediate consequence of this was, that the people refused to obey their magistrates; the governors refused to resign their places, and applied for assistance to Cassander. Polysperchon had also the imprudence to recall Olympias from Epirus, and to allow her a share in the administration, which Antipater, and even Alexander himself, had always refused her. The consequence of all this was, that Cassander invaded Greece, where he prevailed against Polysperchon. Olympias returned to Macedonia, where she cruelly murdered Ariades and his wife Eurydice. But she was herself put to death by Cassander, who afterwards caused Roxana and her son to be murdered; and Polysperchon being driven into Eotolis, first raised to the crown Hercules, the son of Alexander by the daughter of Darius, and then, by the instigation of Cassander, murdered him, by which means the line of Alexander the Great became totally extinct.

Cassander having thus destroyed all the royal family, assumed the regal title, as he had for sixteen years before had all the power. But he enjoyed the title of King of Macedonia only three years, after which he died, about 298 B.C. By Thessalonica, the daughter of Philip, King of Macedonia, he left three sons—Philip, Antipater, and Alexander. Philip succeeded him, but soon afterwards died of a consumption, and a contest immediately began between the two brothers, Antipater and Alexander. Antipater seized the kingdom, and, to secure himself in it, murdered his mother Thessalonica. Alexander invited Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, and Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, to assist him, and revenge the death of his mother. But Pyr-

rhus being bought off, and a peace concluded between the Macedonian brothers, Alexander, afraid of having too many protectors, formed a scheme of getting Demetrius assassinated. Instead of this, however, both he and Antipater were put to death; and Demetrius became King of Macedonia, four years after the death of Cassander.

In 287 before Christ, Demetrius was driven out by Pyrrhus, who was again driven out two years after by Lysimachus, who was soon afterwards killed by Seleucus Nicanor; and Seleucus in his turn was murdered by Ptolemy Caranus, who became King of Macedonia about 280 before our era. The new king was in a short time cut off, with his whole army, by the Gauls; and Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, became King of Macedonia in 278 B.C. He proved successful against the Gauls, but was driven out by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, who, however, soon disobliged his subjects to such a degree that Antigonus recovered a great part of his kingdom. But in a little time, Pyrrhus being killed at the siege of Argos in Greece, Antigonus was restored to the whole of Macedonia; but scarcely was he seated on the throne, when he was driven from it by Alexander the son of Pyrrhus. The new invader was in his turn expelled by Demetrius the son of Antigonus, who, though at that time but a boy, had almost made himself master of Epirus. In this enterprise, however, he was disappointed; but by his means Antigonus was restored to his kingdom, which he governed for many years in peace. By a stratagem he made himself master of the city of Corinth, and from that time began to form schemes for the thorough conquest of Greece. The method he took to accomplish this was, to support the petty tyrants of Greece against the free states, which indeed weakened the power of the latter, but involved the whole country in so many calamities, that these transactions round but little to the reputation either of his arms or of his honour. He died about the year 243, leaving the kingdom to his son Demetrius II.

Neither Demetrius nor his successor, Antigonus Doson, War with performed anything remarkable. In 221 B.C., the Romans, the last but one of the Macedonian monarchs. To him Hannibal, after the battle of Cannae, applied for assistance, which he refused; and the same imprudence which made him refuse this assistance prompted him to embroil himself with the Romans, and at last to conclude a treaty with them, by which he in effect became their subject, being tied up from making peace or war except according to their pleasure. In 179 B.C. he was succeeded by his eldest son Perseus, under whom the war with the Romans was renewed. Even yet the Macedonians were terrible in war; and their phalanx, when properly conducted, seems to have been absolutely invincible by any method of making war at that time known. The Romans had never encountered such a terrible enemy; and in the first battle, which happened 171 B.C., they were defeated with the loss of 2200 men, whilst the Macedonians lost no more than 60. The generals of Perseus now pressed him to storm the enemy's camp; but he being naturally of a cowardly disposition, refused to comply, and thus the best opportunity he ever had was lost. Still, however, the Romans gained little or no advantage over it, until the year 168 B.C., when Paulus Emilius, a most experienced commander, was sent to Macedonia. Perseus now put everything upon the issue of a general engagement; and Emilius, with all his courage and military experience, would have been defeated, had the Macedonians been commanded by a general of the smallest courage or conduct. The light-armed Macedonians charged with such vigour, that, after the battle, some of their bodies were found within two furlongs of the Roman camp. When the phalanx came to charge, the points of their spears striking into the Roman shields, kept the heavy-armed troops from making any mo- tion; whilst, on the other hand, Perseus's light-armed men did terrible execution. On this occasion, it is said that Emilius tore his clothes, and gave up all hopes. However, the Roman general, perceiving that as the phalanx gained ground it lost its order in several places, caused his own light-armed troops to charge in those places, whereby the Macedonians were soon thrown into confusion. Perseus with his horse took to flight, and the infantry at last did the same, but not till 20,000 of them had lost their lives.

This battle decided the fate of Macedonia, which immediately submitted to the conqueror. The cowardly king took refuge in the island of Samothrace, but was at last obliged to surrender to the Roman consul, by whom he was carried to Rome, led in triumph, and afterwards most barbarously treated. Some pretenders to the throne afterwards appeared; but being unable to defend themselves against the Romans, the country was reduced to a Roman province in the year 148 B.C.