1 INVASION OF ALEXANDER. 59
2 had not as yet emerged from a state of barbarism, Alexander met on the
3 banks of the Indus tribes who had made great progress in the arts and sciences.
4 The education of Alexander was first confided toa maternal relation,
5 Leonidas, then to Lysimachus, and, finally, to Aristotle, of whom it is justly
6 said that the master was worthy of the pupil and the pupil worthy of the
7 master. Withdrawing him to a distance from the court, this great philo-
8 sopher instructed his pupil in every branch of learning, especially in the
9 arts of government and war. He inspired his mind with military ardour
10 and invigorated his body by athletic sports. At an early age Alexander
11 greatly distinguished himself in war against the Thebans. His father, Philip,
12 embracing him after the victory, said: “My son, seek for thyself another
13 kingdom, for that which I have is too small for thee.” A quarrel took place
14 between the father and the son, when the former repudiated Olympias. Alex-
15 ander took his mother’s side and fled to Epirus, to save himself from his
16 father’s vengeance, but was soon after restored to favour and accompanied
17 Philip in his expedition against the Trihalli, when he saved his father’s life
18 in the battle-field. On the assassination of Philip, Alexander ascended
19 the throne, in 336B.c., at the early age of twenty. .With the exception
20 of the Jews, all the nations of the world were at that time idolaters.
21 The empire of Persia, founded by the great Cyrus, comprised the whole
22 of Asia then known, besides Egypt, and was governed by Darius, called,
23 before his accession, Codomannus, the great-grandson of Darius II, com-
24 monly called Nothos. It was divided into one hundred and twenty provinces
25 ruled by satraps, and the limits of the empire included the portion of the
26 Panjab lying on both sides of the Indus, though the country had never been
27 thoroughly subjugated. The people of Persia professed the religion of
28 Zoroaster. The small but powerful country of Greece was divided into
29 several States which were constautly at war with each other. Soon after his
30 accession to the throne, Alexander conquered Thrace and reduced Thebes,
31 which, in consequence of its refusal to surrender, he razed to the ground,
32 putting six thousand of the inhabitants to the sword and carrying away
33 thirty thousand men asslaves. In his celebrated march across the Hellespont,
34 he defeated an army of 110,000 Persians, on the banks of the Granicus,
35 with an army of less than half that number, killing with his own lance
36 the son-in-low of Darius. He conquered city after city in Asia Minor,
37 and inflicted a great defeat on the Persians at Issus, in which all the trea-
38 sures, as also the family of Darius, fell into the conqueror’s hands, by whom
39 they were treated with great tenderness. Darius twice made overtures
40 for peace, offering all Asia up to the Euphrates to the conqueror, but
41 Alexander refused to accede to his terms, saying: “ Darius must recognise
42 me as the ruler of Asia and the lord of all his subjects.” Upon this
43 Parmenio, one of Alexander’s generals, referring to the advisability of accept-
44 ing the Persian offer, exclaimed: “I would do it if I were Alexander.”
45 “So would I,” replied the king, “if I were Parmenio.”
46 He now turned his arms against Syria and Phoenicia, occupied the great
47 city of Damascus, and conquered all the cities on the shore of the Mediter-
48 ranean. Tyre, the western emporium of commerce, resisted his arms, but was
49 reduced and destroyed after a seven months’ siege. By the monopoly of the
50 trade of this city Alexander became the arbiter of the destinies of the world.
51 He then marched to Jerusalem and received the submission of Palestine,
52 after which he delivered Egypt from the Persian thraldom, restored its old
53 institutions, and founded, on the coast of the Mediterranean, the city of
54 Alexandria, which he used as a grand depét for arms. Marching then to the
55 Libyan desert, he visited the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and was saluted by
56 His education.
57 Quarrel between him
58 and his father,
59 Alexander ascends
60 the throne of Macedon,
61 336 B.C.
62 The Persian empire.
63 Panjiba part of thit
64 empire.
65 Alexander's cele-
66 brated march across
67 the Hellespont.
68 Defeat of the Per-
69 sians at Issus,
70 Conquest of Tyre.
71 Submission of
72 Palestine.
73 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh J i eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com