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by the bedside, entreating his master to be of good courage and trust to his care.

8. The medicine, indeed, was so strong, and overpowered his spirits in such a manner, that at first he was speechless, and discovered scarcely any sign of sense or life. But afterward he was relieved by this faithful physician, and recovered so well that he was able to show himself to the Macedonians, whose distress did not abate till he came personally before them. . . .

[By the victory which he gained over Darius at Issus, a short time afterward [333 B.C.], the Persian camp, including the monarch's magnificent tent, fell into his posses. sion. Plutarch thus continues.]

9. As soon as he had put off his armor, he went to the bath, saying to those about him, "Let us go and refresh ourselves, after the fatigues of the field, in the bath of Darius." "Nay, rather," said one of his friends, "in the bath of Alexander; for the goods of the conquered are, and shall be called, the conquerors." When he had taken a view of the basins, vials, boxes, and vases curiously wrought in gold, smelled the fragrant odors of essences, and seen the splendid furniture of the spacious apartments, he turned to his friends and said, "This, then, it seems, it was to be a king!"

10. As he was sitting down to table, an account was brought him that among the prisoners were the mother and wife of Darius, and two unmarried daughters; and that upon their seeing his chariot and bow they broke out into great lamentations, concluding that he was dead. Alexander, after some

pause, during which he was rather commiserating their misfortunes than rejoicing in his own success, sent Leonatus to assure them "that Darius was not dead; that they had nothing to fear from Alexander, for his dispute with Darius was only for empire; and that they should find themselves provided for in the same manner as when Darius was in his greatest prosperity."

11. If this message to the captive princesses was gracious and humane, his actions were still more so. He allowed them to do the funeral honors to what Persians they pleased, and for

that purpose furnished them out of the spoils with robes, and all the other decorations that were customary. They had as many domestics, and were served, in all respects, in as honorable a manner as before; indeed, their appointments were greater. But there was another part of his behavior to them still more noble and princely; though they were now captives, he con-sidered that they were ladies, not only of high rank, but of great modesty and virtue, and took care that they should not hear an unbecoming word, nor have the least cause for alarm. Nay, as if they had been in a holy temple, or asylum of virgins, rather than in an enemy's camp, they lived unseen and unapproached, in the most sacred privacy.

[After the battle of Arbela (331 B.C.), Alexander found himself entirely master of the Persian empire; but not having yet satisfied his lust for conquest, he continued his march, defeated the Scythians on the banks of the I-axʼar-tes, and took possession of Maracanda (Samarcand). Here he slew his friend Clitus at a banquet, in the manner related below by Plutarch.]

12. After they were warmed with drinking, somebody began to sing verses of one Pranicus, or, as others will have it, of Pierio, written in ridicule of the Macedonian officers who had lately been beaten by the barbarians. The older part of the company were greatly offended at it, and condemned both the poet and the singer; but Alexander, and those about him, listened with pleasure, and bade him go on. Clitus, who by this time had drunk too much, and was naturally rough and forward, could not bear their behavior. He said, "It was not well done to make a jest, and that among barbarians and enemies, of Macedonians that were much better men than the laughers, though they had met with a misfortune."

13. Alexander made answer, "That Clitus was pleading his own cause, when he gave cowardice the soft name of misfortune." Then Clitus started up, and said, "Yet it was this cowardice that saved you, son of Jupiter as you are, when you were turning your back to the sword of Spithrida'tes. It is by the blood of the Macedonians and these wounds, that you are grown so great, that you disdain to acknowledge Philip for your father, and will needs pass yourself off for the son of Jupiter Ammon."

14. Irritated at this insolence, Alexander replied, "It is in this villainous manner thou talkestof me in all companies, and stirrest up the Macedonians to mutiny; but dost thou think to enjoy it long?" "And what do we enjoy now," said Clitus; "what reward have we for all our toils? Do we not envy those who did not live to see Macedonians bleed under Median rods,* or sue to Persians for access to their king?" While Clitus went on in this rash manner, and the king retorted upon him with equal bitterness, the old men interposed, and endeavored to allay the flame.

15. Meantime, Alexander turned to Xenod'ochus, the Cardian, and Arte'mius, the Colopho'nian, and said, "Do not the Greeks appear to you among the Macedonians like demi-gods among so many wild beasts?" Clitus, far from giving up the dispute, called upon Alexander, "to speak out what he had to say, or not to invite freemen to his table, who would declare their sentiments without reserve. But perhaps," continued he, "it were better to pass your life with barbarians and slaves, who will worship your Persian girdle and white robe without scruple."

16. Alexander, no longer able to restrain his anger, threw an apple at the face of Clitus, and then looked about for his sword. But Aristoph'anes, one of his guards, had taken it away in time, and the company gathered about him, and entreated him. to be quiet. Their remonstrances, however, were vain. He broke from them, and called out, in the Macedonian language, for his guards, which was the signal for a great tumult. At the same time he ordered the trumpeter to sound, and struck him with his fist, upon his discovering an unwillingness to obey. This man was afterward held in great esteem, because he prevented the whole army from being alarmed.

17. As Clitus would not make the least submission, his friends with much ado, forced him out of the room. But he soon returned by another door, repeating, in a bold and dis

This reproach of Clitus had reference to the practice adopted by Alexander of punishing N soldiers by causing them to be scourged by the Persians.

respectful tone, those verses from the Androm'ache of Euripides:

"Are these your customs? Is it thus that Greece

Rewards her combatants? Shall one man claim
The trophies won by thousands?"

Then Alexander snatched a spear from one of his guards, and meeting Clitus as he was putting by the curtain, ran him through the body. He fell immediately to the ground, and with a dismal groan expired.

18. Alexander's rage subsided in a moment; he came to himself; and seeing his friends standing in silent astonishment by him, he hastily drew the spear out of the dead body, and was applying it to his own throat, when his guards seized his hands, and carried him by force into his chamber. He passed that night and the next day in anguish inexpressible; and when he had wasted himself with tears and lamentations, he lay in speechless grief, uttering only now and then a groan. His friends, alarmed at this melancholy silence, forced themselves into the room, and attempted to console him. But he would listen to none, except Aristander, who put him in mind of his dream and the ill omen of the sheep, and assured him that the whole was by the decree of fate.

[He subsequently marched to India, defeated Porus, the king of that country, and was still desirous to continue his conquests; but his soldiers, worn out with their toils, peremptorily refused to proceed, and thus compelled him to return. He died a short time afterward at Babylon, of a fever brought on partly by intemperance (323 B.C.).]

Character of Alexander the Great.-Niebuhr.
[From "Lectures on Ancient History."]

1. VERY few men have acquired such an immense celebrity, both in Asia and Europe, as Alexander; and among all the great men of history, if we except Charlemagne, and, in a less degree, Constantine, he is the only one that has become a poetical being. Alexander is, for the East, what Charlemagne is for the West; and next to Rustam, he is the chief hero of the Persian fairy tales and romances. To us also he is a man or extraordinary importance, inasmuch as he gave a new ap

pearance to the whole world. He began what will now be completed, in spite of all obstacles-the dominion of Europe over Asia; he was the first that led the victorious Europeans to the East. Asia had played its part in history, and was destined to become the slave of Europe.

2. He has also become the national hero of the Greeks, although he was as foreign to them as Napoleon was to the French, notwithstanding that he traced his family to the mythical heroes of Greece. From certain statements referring to his earlier career, we must infer that, even during his lifetime, and immediately after his death, his name enjoyed that popularity among the Greeks. In the beginning of his reign, he inflicted fearful sufferings upon them, but he left Greece so soon after, and the Greeks were so quickly ready to ascribe to themselves the laurels which he won for Macedonia, and which he complaisantly shared with them, that he soon became popular among them. And when he wrote, "Alexander, king of the Macedonians and Greeks," they were rather pleased with it.

3. But his personal character will appear to us in a different light. Many a rhetorician, even in antiquity, formed a correct judgment of him. Who does not know the story of the pirate who was condemned to death by Alexander, and on being brought before him, said, that there was no difference between them. The Orientals still call him "Alexander the robber." I will not judge of him from this point of view, for the whole history of the world turns upon war and conquest; I speak only of his personal character. But, without agreeing with the declarations which have so often been made about him, I unhesitatingly declare that I have formed a very unfavorable opinion of him.

4. When I behold a young man who, in his twentieth year, ascends the throne, after having conspired against his fatherwho then displays in his policy a cruelty like that of the house of the Medici in the sixteenth century, like Cosmo de Medici and his two sons-who not only sacrifices his stepmother to Olympias, but causes the innocent infant of the unhappy Cleopatra, as well as several other near relations, to be murdered

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