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39 - History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Vol II by John Bagnell Bury · History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Vol II

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Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen, Parts three, four and five of A History
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Speaker 1: of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great Volume two.
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Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Morgan Scorpion. A History
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Speaker 1: of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Volume
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Speaker 1: two by John bagnell Bury Chapter eighteen, Parts three, four
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Speaker 1: and five. Part three Alexander's return to Babylon. No enterprise
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Speaker 1: of Alexander was so useless and none so fatal as
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Speaker 1: the journey through the desert of Gadrosia, the land which
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Speaker 1: is now known as the mechron of the inhospitable character
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Speaker 1: of the country. He must have had general information, but
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Speaker 1: he had no idea of the hardships and terrors of
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Speaker 1: the mother which awaited him. His guiding motive in choosing
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Speaker 1: this route was to make provisions for the safety of
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Speaker 1: the fleet, to dig wells and store food at certain
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Speaker 1: places along the coast. He also had in view the
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Speaker 1: subjugation of the Oretai, a hardy, warlike people who dwelled
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Speaker 1: in the mountains on the eastern limit of the wilderness.
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Speaker 1: But if it had been only a matter of subduing
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Speaker 1: the Orotas, this could easily have been accomplished by an
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Speaker 1: expedition from Patala. The march through the Mecuan and the
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Speaker 1: voyage of Niachus were interdependent parts of the same adventure,
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Speaker 1: and so timid were the mariners of those days that
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Speaker 1: the voyage into unknown waters seemed far more formidable than
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Speaker 1: the journey through the waste. With perhaps thirty thousand men,
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Speaker 1: Alexander passed the mountain wall which protects the Indus Delta,
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Speaker 1: and crossing the River Arbis, he reduced the Oratai to subjection.
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Speaker 1: He chose their chief village, Rumbachia, for the foundation of
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Speaker 1: a colony, the Orotae Alexandria. It was important to have
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Speaker 1: stayedations on his projected ocean route. Then he descended into
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Speaker 1: the waste of Gadrosia. No resistance met him here, for
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Speaker 1: there was no folk to resent his intrusion, only a
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Speaker 1: few miserable villages in the hills, or more miserable fishing
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Speaker 1: helmlets on the coast. The army moved painfully through the
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Speaker 1: desert of rocks and sand, waterless and barren, and part
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Speaker 1: of the scanty provisions that the foragers obtained had to
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Speaker 1: be stored on the shore for the coming of the fleet.
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Speaker 1: It was often almost impossible to step through the deep,
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Speaker 1: sinking sand. The pitiless heat rendered night marches necessary, and
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Speaker 1: those marches were frequently of undue length, owing to the
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Speaker 1: need of reaching a spring of water. Alexander himself is
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Speaker 1: said to have trudged on foot and shared all the
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Speaker 1: hardships of the way. It was doubtless the doncombatants and
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Speaker 1: camp followers who suffered most. At length, the waist was crossed,
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Speaker 1: and leaving the coast regions, the remnant of the army
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Speaker 1: marched north to Pura, the residence of the Satrope of Gadrosia.
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Speaker 1: It is said that the survivors, exhausted and disheveled, were
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Speaker 1: the smaller part of the army which had set forth
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Speaker 1: from India two months before, and the losses of that
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Speaker 1: terrible Gadusian journey exceeded the losses of all Alexander's campaigns,
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Speaker 1: but this is probably a heightened statement of the calamities
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Speaker 1: of the march. Having rested at Pura, the king proceeded
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Speaker 1: to Kerman, where he was joined by Kreteras who had
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Speaker 1: suppressed the revolt in Aracosia. Presently news arrived that the
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Speaker 1: fleet had reached the Kerman coast, and soon Niachus arrived
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Speaker 1: at the camp and relieved Alexander's anxiety. He too had
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Speaker 1: a tale to tell of hardships and perils. The hostile
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Speaker 1: attitude of the Indians when Alexander's back was turned, had
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Speaker 1: forced him to start a month before the season of
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Speaker 1: the east winds and contrary south winds kept him for
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Speaker 1: twenty four days in a haven at some distance to
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Speaker 1: the west of the Delta. Then a storm wrecked three
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Speaker 1: of his ships near Cocalla. During the rest of their voyage,
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Speaker 1: the seafarers were sore, bestead by want of sweet water
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Speaker 1: and provisions, but the king was overjoyed that they had
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Speaker 1: arrived at all. Niarchus was dismissed to complete the voyage
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Speaker 1: by sailing up the Persian Gulf on the Pasitigris River
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Speaker 1: to Susa Apeiston was sent to make his way thither
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Speaker 1: along the coast, while Alexander himself marched through the hills
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Speaker 1: by Persepolis and Passergadai. It was high time for Alexander
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Speaker 1: to return. There was hardly a satrap Persian or Macedonian
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Speaker 1: in any land who had not oppressed his province by
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Speaker 1: violence and rapacity, and some, in the expectation that the
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Speaker 1: king would never come back from the far East, had
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Speaker 1: formed plots for establishing independent principalities in Kerman, in Persis,
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Speaker 1: and at Susa. The most pressing business of the king
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Speaker 1: was to re establish his authority by punishing, without favor
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Speaker 1: or mercy, the governors and officers who were found guilty
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Speaker 1: of treason and oppression. Many satraps were deposed or put
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Speaker 1: to death. Atrapatis of Media was one of the few
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Speaker 1: who had been faithful to his charge. But the military
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Speaker 1: garrison of Media had not behaved so well, and none
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Speaker 1: of Alexander's dooms that this juncture was more effective than
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Speaker 1: the execution of two officers and six hundred soldiers for
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Speaker 1: having plundered the temples and sepulchers of that province. Of
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Speaker 1: all evil deeds, that perhaps which most vexed the king
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Speaker 1: was the opening and plundering of the sepulcher of Cyrus
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Speaker 1: at Pasargadae. It was more than a common sacrilege. It
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Speaker 1: was an outrage against the majesty of kings. He tortured
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Speaker 1: the Medians, who were the guardians of the tomb, but
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Speaker 1: did not discover the author of the outrage. One guilty
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Speaker 1: minister fled at Alexander's approach. This was the treasurer her Palace,
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Speaker 1: who had once before been untrue to his charge, but
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Speaker 1: had been forgiven and entrusted with the royal treasures of Persia.
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Speaker 1: He squandered his master's money in riotous living at Babylon,
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Speaker 1: and as the news of these scandals reached Alexander in India,
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Speaker 1: he deemed it prudent to move westward. Taking a large
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Speaker 1: sum of money, he went to Calichia and and hiring
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Speaker 1: a bodyguard of six thousand mercenaries, he lived in royal
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Speaker 1: state at Tarsus with Glicora and Athenian courtesan. On Alexander's return,
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Speaker 1: Tarsus was not safe, and he fled to Greece, where
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Speaker 1: we shall meet him presently. Having punished with a stern
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Speaker 1: hand the misrule of his Satraps, Macedonian and Persian alike,
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Speaker 1: Alexander began to carry out schemes which he had formed
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Speaker 1: for breaking down the barrier which divides the East from
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Speaker 1: the West. He had unbarred and unveiled the Orient to
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Speaker 1: the knowledge and commerce of these Mediterranean peoples. But his
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Speaker 1: aim was to do much more than this. It was
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Speaker 1: no less than to fuse Asia and Europe into a
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Speaker 1: homogeneous unity. He devised various means for compassing this object.
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Speaker 1: He proposed to transplant Greeks and Macedonians into Asia and
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Speaker 1: Asiatics into Europe as permanent settlers. This plan had indeed
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Speaker 1: been partly realized by the foundation of his numerous mixed
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Speaker 1: cities in the far East. The second means were the
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Speaker 1: promotion of intermarriages between Persians and Macedonians, and this policy
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Speaker 1: was inaugurated in magnificent fashion at Susa. The king himself
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Speaker 1: espoused Statira, the daughter of Darius, his friend had faced On,
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Speaker 1: took her sister, and a large number of Macedonian officers
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Speaker 1: wedded the daughters of Persian grandees. The naptials were celebrated
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Speaker 1: on the same day, and according to the Persian fashion,
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Speaker 1: Alexander is said to have feasted nine thousand guests. Of
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Speaker 1: the general mass of the Macedonians, ten thousand are said
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Speaker 1: to have followed the example of their officers and taken
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Speaker 1: Asiatic wives. All those were liberally rewarded by Alexander. He
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Speaker 1: looked forward to the offspring of these unions as a
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Speaker 1: potent instrument for the further fusing of the races. It
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Speaker 1: is to be noticed that Alexander, already wedded to the
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Speaker 1: princess of Sogdiana, adopted the polygamous custom of Persia, and
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Speaker 1: he even married another royal lady, Parisatus, daughter of Okus.
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Speaker 1: These marriages were purely did by policy. They were meant
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Speaker 1: as an example, for Alexander never came under the influence
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Speaker 1: of women. The bridles of Susa were a lesson in
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Speaker 1: political marriages on a vast scale. But the most effective
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Speaker 1: means for bringing the two races together was the institution
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Speaker 1: of military service on a perfect equality. With this purpose
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Speaker 1: in view, Alexander, not long after the death of Darius,
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Speaker 1: had arranged that in all the eastern provinces, the native
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Speaker 1: youth should be drilled and disciplined in Macedonian fashion, and
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Speaker 1: taught how to use the Macedonian weapons. In fact, Hellenic
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Speaker 1: military schools were established in every province, and at the
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Speaker 1: end of five years an army of thirty thousand Hellenized
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Speaker 1: barbarians was at the Great King's disposition. At his summons
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Speaker 1: This army gathered at Susa, and its arrival created a natural,
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Speaker 1: though unreasonable feeling of discontent among the Macedonians, who divined
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Speaker 1: that Alexander aimed at making himself independent of their services.
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Speaker 1: His schemes for transforming the character of his army were
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Speaker 1: also in indicated by the enlistment of Persians, Bactrians, Aryans
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Speaker 1: and other orientals in the Macedonian cavalry regiments, and the
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Speaker 1: enrolling of nine distinguished Persians in the Royal a gamer itself.
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Speaker 1: The general dissatisfaction was not allayed by the king's liberality
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Speaker 1: in defraying all the debts of the soldiers, amounting perhaps
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Speaker 1: to two millions. Alexander left Sussa for Egbatana. In spring.
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Speaker 1: He stailed down the river passer Tigris to the Persian Gulf,
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Speaker 1: surveyed part of the coast, and sailed up the Tigris,
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Speaker 1: removing the weirs which the Persians had constructed to hinder navigation.
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Speaker 1: The army joined him on the way, and he halted
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Speaker 1: at Opis. Here he held an assembly of the Macedonians
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Speaker 1: and formerly discharged all those about ten thousand in number
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Speaker 1: whose old age or wounds had rendered unfit for warfare,
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Speaker 1: promising to make them comfortable for life. He fondly thought
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Speaker 1: that his words would be welcomed with delight, but he
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Speaker 1: was disappointed. The smoldering discontent found a voice. Now the
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Speaker 1: cry was raised, discharge us all, and some tauntedly added,
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Speaker 1: go and conquer with your father Ammon. The king may
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Speaker 1: well have been taken aback. The men, who on the
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Speaker 1: banks of the Hyphasis had declared themselves worn out with
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Speaker 1: war and toil, and sick with yearning for their homes,
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Speaker 1: were now indignant when he honorably discharged their veterans. Alexander
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Speaker 1: leaped down from the platform into the shouting throng. He
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Speaker 1: pointed out thirteen of the most forward rioters and bade
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Speaker 1: his hypatists seize them and put them to death. The
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Speaker 1: rest were cowed amid a deep silence. The king remounted
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Speaker 1: the platform, and in a bitter speech, he discharged the
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Speaker 1: whole army. Then he retired into his palace, and on
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Speaker 1: the third day summoned the Persian and Median nobles and
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Speaker 1: appointed them to post of honor and trust, which had
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Speaker 1: hitherto have been billed by Macedonians. The names of the
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Speaker 1: Macedonian regiments were transferred to the new Barbarian army. When
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Speaker 1: they heard this, the Macedonians, who still lingered in their quarters,
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Speaker 1: miserable and uncertain whether to go or stay, appeared before
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Speaker 1: the gates of the palace. They laid down their arms
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Speaker 1: submissively and implored admission to the king's presence. Alexander came out,
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Speaker 1: and there was a tearful reconciliation which was sealed by
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Speaker 1: sacrifices and feasts. This dramatic incident possesses no historical importance,
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Speaker 1: like the action of the troops on their fasis, and
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Speaker 1: it is only significant in so far as it marks
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Speaker 1: the last futile explosion of Macedonian sentiment against the liberal
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Speaker 1: policy of the king, the final protest of men who
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Speaker 1: knew they would have to acquiesce in a new order
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Speaker 1: of things. The veterans started for home under the leadership
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Speaker 1: of Quatuas Andpercon. They left behind the children whom Asiatic
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Speaker 1: women had borne to them, the king, promising to bring
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Speaker 1: them up in Macedonian fashion. Craterus was to supersede Antipater
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Speaker 1: as regent of Macedonia, and Antipater was to come out
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Speaker 1: to Asia with a fresh supply of troops. This arrangement
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Speaker 1: was desirable on account of the estranged relations which existed
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Speaker 1: between Antipater and the Queen Mother, whose letters to Alexander
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Speaker 1: were always teeming with mutual accusations. The summer and the
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Speaker 1: early winter were spent at the Median capital. Here, a sorrow,
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Speaker 1: the greatest that could befall him befell Alexander. Three thousand
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Speaker 1: professional players, or dionysiac artists as they were called, had
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Speaker 1: arrived from Greece, and Egbatana was festive with revels and
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Speaker 1: dramatic exhibitions. In the midst of this gaiety, her faceton
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Speaker 1: fell ill, languished for seven days, and died. Alexander was
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Speaker 1: plunged into despair at losing the friend of his bosom.
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Speaker 1: He fasted three days, and the whole empire went into mourning.
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Speaker 1: It is said that he crucified the miserable physician, whose
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Speaker 1: skill had been found Wanting inconsolable, the lonely monarch might
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Speaker 1: well be he could have other boon companions, other faithful
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Speaker 1: counselors and devoted servants, but he knew that he would
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Speaker 1: never find another to whom he would simply be my friend.
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Speaker 1: Alexander and not my Lord the King. The body was
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Speaker 1: sent to Babylon to be burned. Ten thousand talents were
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Speaker 1: set apart for a funeral of unsurpassed magnificence. Alexander set
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Speaker 1: out for Babylon towards the end of the year, and
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Speaker 1: on his way he enjoyed the excitement of hunting down
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Speaker 1: the Cossayans, a hill folk of Lewistan who made brigandage
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Speaker 1: their trade. The slaughter of these robbers, who were chased
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Speaker 1: to their mountain nests, was described as an offering to
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Speaker 1: the spirit of her face done. As Alexander advanced to Babylon,
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Speaker 1: ambassadors from far lands came to his camp. The Brucians,
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Speaker 1: Leuchenyans and Etruscans, the Carthaginians and the Phoenician colonies of Spain, Celts,
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Speaker 1: Scythians of the Black Sea, Libyans and Ethiopians had all
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Speaker 1: sent envoys to court the friendship of the monarch, who
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Speaker 1: seemed already to be lord of half the earth. A
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Speaker 1: feeling of dread was beginning to quiver faintly through the
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Speaker 1: Western world, that the conqueror of the East would presently
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Speaker 1: turn the path of his progress to the west, Carthage
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Speaker 1: might feel a tremor lest he should come against her,
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Speaker 1: the champion of Hellenic Sicily, and do unto her what
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Speaker 1: he had done to the eld Attire. But from the
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Speaker 1: city of Italy, which was destined to destroy the power
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Speaker 1: of Carthage and become the partial inheritor of Alexander's empire,
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Speaker 1: no ambassador came. When Alexander approached within sight of Babylon,
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Speaker 1: he was met by a deputation of priestly stargazers, who
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Speaker 1: counseled him not to enter the city, for their god,
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Speaker 1: Bell had revealed to them that it would not be
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Speaker 1: for his prophet. He replied to the Chaldeans with a
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Speaker 1: verse of Euripides, the best seer, he who guesseth well,
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Speaker 1: and entered at the head of his army. One of
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Speaker 1: his first cares was to take measures for the rebuilding
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Speaker 1: of the Temple of Bell, unduly retarded by the wilful
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Speaker 1: neglect of the Chaldean priests, who were unwilling to appropriate
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Speaker 1: their revenues for the purpose. It had been thought that
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Speaker 1: their attempt to divert the king from entering Babylon may
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Speaker 1: have had a motive connected with their negligence Section four
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Speaker 1: preparations for an Arabian expedition Alexander's death. Ever since the
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Speaker 1: successful voyage of Naachus, the brain of Alexander was filled
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Speaker 1: with maritime enterprises. He was bent on the exploration of
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Speaker 1: the northern and the southern Oceans. He had already sent
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Speaker 1: Heraclides and a company of shipwrights to the Hyrcanian Mountains
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Speaker 1: to cut wood in the forests and build a fleet
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Speaker 1: to navigate the Caspian Sea and discover its supposed communication
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Speaker 1: with the Eastern Ocean. But his more immediate and serious
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Speaker 1: enterprise was the circumnavigation and conquest of Arabia. His Eastern
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Speaker 1: empire was not complete so long as this peninsula lay
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Speaker 1: outside it. He knew of the rich spice lands of
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Speaker 1: Arabia Felix, but he had no conception of the vast
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Speaker 1: extent of the desert, which renders a land invasion so
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Speaker 1: difficult and so unremunerative. The possession of this country of sand, however,
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Speaker 1: was not his main object. It was only an incident
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Speaker 1: in the ground range of his plans. His visit to
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Speaker 1: India and the voyager of Niarchus had given him new ideas.
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Speaker 1: He had risen to the conception of making the Southern
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Speaker 1: Ocean another great commercial sea like the Mediterranean. He proposed
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Speaker 1: to make the sea board of the Persian Gulf a
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Speaker 1: second Phoenicia, and he sent to the Syrian coast for
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Speaker 1: seamen to colonize the shores of the mainland and the islands.
16:19
Speaker 1: He hoped to establish a regular trade route from the
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Speaker 1: Indus to the Tigris and the Euphrates, and thence to
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Speaker 1: the canals which connected the Nile with the Red Sea.
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Speaker 1: If he had lived to accomplish this, he might have
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Speaker 1: renewed the project of King Neko and hun a walterway
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Speaker 1: through the neck of the sewers. Mighty Babylon would then
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Speaker 1: be in close connection with the new oceanic trade. Argaces
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Speaker 1: from Alexandria or Patala could cood sail into her wharves.
16:47
Speaker 1: Alexander destined Babylon to be the capital of his empire,
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Speaker 1: and doubtless it was a wise choice. But its character
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Speaker 1: was now to be transformed. It was to become a
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Speaker 1: naval station and a center of maritime commerce. Alexander set
17:01
Speaker 1: about the digging of a great harbor with room for
17:04
Speaker 1: a thousand keels, and designed the buildings of shipsteads. The
17:09
Speaker 1: fleet of Niarchus sailed up the Euphrates and met the
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Speaker 1: king at Babylon, but this fleet was not sufficient for
17:15
Speaker 1: the approaching enterprise. Orders had been sent to Phoenicia for
17:19
Speaker 1: the building of new warships twelve trirems, three quadririms, four quinquerriams,
17:25
Speaker 1: and thirty of the smaller thirty odd barks. These were
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Speaker 1: constructed in pieces, conveyed overland to Sapsacus on Euphrates, and
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Speaker 1: there put together. Other ships of cypress wood were also
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Speaker 1: built in Babylonia. The expedition was to set forth in
17:44
Speaker 1: the summer, and the king occupied part of the intervening
17:47
Speaker 1: time in a voyage down the Euphrates to visit the
17:49
Speaker 1: Palacopas Canal. The snows of winter melting in the late
17:54
Speaker 1: springtide on the north slopes of the Armenian Mountains used
17:58
Speaker 1: to swell the waters of the Euphrates and force it
18:00
Speaker 1: to overflow its banks in the Babylonian Plain. About ninety
18:05
Speaker 1: miles below Babylon, a canal had been dug to drain
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Speaker 1: the superfluous waters into the marshes, which stretched for leagues
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Speaker 1: and leagues southwestward. In the autumn, the canal was closed
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Speaker 1: by a sluice to prevent the water leaving its bed,
18:18
Speaker 1: but the sluice was out of working order, and Alexander
18:21
Speaker 1: devised a better place, connecting the canal with the river
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Speaker 1: at a different point. He sailed up the canal, lost
18:28
Speaker 1: his way for a while among the swamps, and selected
18:31
Speaker 1: a new site for a new city, whose building was
18:34
Speaker 1: immediately begun. We may guess that the city was meant
18:37
Speaker 1: to be the first of a string of fortresses stretching
18:40
Speaker 1: across the desert from Babylonia to the Red Sea. On
18:44
Speaker 1: his return to Babylon, he found some new Western troops
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Speaker 1: which had arrived from Carrier and Lydia, and a body
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Speaker 1: of twenty thousand Persians who had been recruited by Peuquestus.
18:54
Speaker 1: He proceeded to carry out a sweeping military reform at
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Speaker 1: which his mind must have been working for some time past.
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Speaker 1: It was nothing less than a complete transformation of his
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Speaker 1: father's for Lanx. In fact, of the Hellenic hobblety system.
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Speaker 1: Alexander had done much with the well drilled for Lanx,
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Speaker 1: but his experience had taught him that it was far
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Speaker 1: from being the ideal infantry. The advantages of its sheer
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Speaker 1: weight and solid strength were more than counterbalanced by its
19:21
Speaker 1: want of mobility. Alexander invented a means of increasing the
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Speaker 1: mobility with as little as possible diminution of the weight.
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Speaker 1: He inserted the fresh body of twenty thousand Persians into
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Speaker 1: the Macedonian for lanx in the following way. The old
19:35
Speaker 1: depth of the file, namely sixteen men, was retained, but
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Speaker 1: of these only four were Macedonian pikemen, the men of
19:43
Speaker 1: the first three ranks and the hindmost man of all
19:47
Speaker 1: the twelve intervening places. The fourth of the fifteenth ranks
19:50
Speaker 1: were filled by Persians, likely armed with their native bows
19:53
Speaker 1: and javelins. This new phalanx required a new kind of tactics,
19:58
Speaker 1: which must have consisted in opening out the ranks so
20:01
Speaker 1: as to allow the archers and javelin men to deploy
20:03
Speaker 1: into their intervals and discharge their missiles, and then closing
20:07
Speaker 1: up again in order to advance in a serried mass.
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Speaker 1: Each filed bristling with three no longer with five spear points.
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Speaker 1: It was a thoroughly original idea, this combination of heavy
20:18
Speaker 1: and light troops into a tactical unity, but it would
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Speaker 1: need all the skill of the great Master to bring
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Speaker 1: it to perfection. The strange thing is to find Alexander
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Speaker 1: introducing this new system, which implied a complete change in
20:31
Speaker 1: the drill, on the very eve of his setting forth
20:33
Speaker 1: on the Arabian expedition. We are tempted to think that
20:37
Speaker 1: he had already made experiments, perhaps with that army of
20:40
Speaker 1: thirty thousand Orientals drilled in Macedonian fashion, which had come
20:44
Speaker 1: to him at Susa. The tactical reform had also its
20:47
Speaker 1: political bearings. It was another step in the direction of
20:51
Speaker 1: fusing the Macedonian Persian together and marrying Europe with Asia.
20:57
Speaker 1: There was one thing very near to the King's heart
21:00
Speaker 1: still to be accomplished. Before he set out the funeral
21:03
Speaker 1: of her Faiston. The Oracle of Ammon had been consulted,
21:07
Speaker 1: touching the honors which should be paid to the dead man,
21:09
Speaker 1: and had ordained that he might be honored as a hero.
21:13
Speaker 1: In accordance Therewith, Alexander ordered that chapel should be erected
21:16
Speaker 1: to her Fiston in Egyptian Alexandria and other cities never
21:21
Speaker 1: were obsequi so magnificent as those which were held at Babylon.
21:25
Speaker 1: The funeral fire splendidly decked with offerings towered to the
21:29
Speaker 1: height of two hundred feet. All was in readiness at
21:33
Speaker 1: length for the expedition to the south. On a day
21:36
Speaker 1: in early June, a royal banquet was given in honor
21:39
Speaker 1: of Niarchus and his seamen, shortly about to start on
21:42
Speaker 1: their oceanic voyage. As Alexander was retiring to his chamber
21:47
Speaker 1: at a late hour, a friend named Medius carried him
21:49
Speaker 1: off to spend the rest of the night in about
21:51
Speaker 1: of hard drinking. On the morrow, he slept long. In
21:55
Speaker 1: the evening, he dined with Medius and another carousal followed.
21:59
Speaker 1: After a both and a meal in the early hours
22:01
Speaker 1: of the morning, he fell into a feverish sleep. On awakening,
22:06
Speaker 1: he insisted upon preparing the daily sacrifices according to his
22:09
Speaker 1: wont but the fever was still on him. He could
22:12
Speaker 1: not walk and was carried to the altar on a couch.
22:16
Speaker 1: He spent the day in bed, actively engaged with the
22:19
Speaker 1: Arcus in discussing the expedition, which he fixed for four days. Hence,
22:24
Speaker 1: in the cool of the evening he was conveyed to
22:26
Speaker 1: the river and rode across to a garden villa at
22:28
Speaker 1: the other side. For six days he lay here in
22:32
Speaker 1: high fever, but regularly performing the sacrifices, and daily perforce
22:38
Speaker 1: deferring the departure of the expedition for another and yet
22:41
Speaker 1: another day. Then his condition grew worse, and he was
22:46
Speaker 1: carried back to the palace, where he won a little sleep,
22:50
Speaker 1: but the fever did not abate. When his officers came
22:54
Speaker 1: to him, they found him speechless. The disease became more violent,
22:58
Speaker 1: and a roomor spread among the Macedonian souldiers that Alexander
23:01
Speaker 1: was dead. They rushed clamoring to the door of the palace,
23:04
Speaker 1: and the bodyguards were forced to admit them. One by one,
23:08
Speaker 1: they filed past the bed of their young king, but
23:10
Speaker 1: he could not speak to them. He could only greet
23:13
Speaker 1: each by slightly raising his head and signing with his eyes.
23:17
Speaker 1: Peuqestus and some others of the companions passed the night
23:20
Speaker 1: in the temple of Serapis and asked the god whether
23:22
Speaker 1: they should convey the sick man into the temple, if
23:25
Speaker 1: haply he might be cured there by divine help. A
23:29
Speaker 1: voice warned them not to bring him, but to let
23:31
Speaker 1: him remain where he lay. He died on a June evening,
23:35
Speaker 1: before the thirty third year of his age was fully told.
23:39
Speaker 1: Such is the punctilious and authentic account of the last
23:42
Speaker 1: illness of Alexander, as it was recorded in the court diary.
23:46
Speaker 1: But it is not sufficient to enable us to discover
23:48
Speaker 1: the precise nature of the fatal disease. The untimely deaths
23:53
Speaker 1: of sovereigns at particular junctures have often exercised an appreciable
23:56
Speaker 1: influence on the course of events, But no such act
23:59
Speaker 1: of the and has diverted the paths of history so
24:01
Speaker 1: manifestly and utterly as the death of Alexander twelve years
24:06
Speaker 1: had sufficed him to conquer Western Asia untill even impress
24:09
Speaker 1: upon it, which centuries would not obliterate. And yet his
24:12
Speaker 1: work had only been begun. Many plans for the political
24:16
Speaker 1: transformation of his Asiatic Empire had been initiated, plans which
24:20
Speaker 1: reveal his originality of conception, his breadth of grasp, his
24:24
Speaker 1: firm hold of facts, his faculty for organization, his wonderful
24:28
Speaker 1: brain power. But all these schemes and lines of policy
24:31
Speaker 1: needed still many years of development under the Master's shaping
24:34
Speaker 1: and guiding hands. The unity of the realm which was
24:38
Speaker 1: an essential part of Alexander's conception, disappeared upon his death.
24:42
Speaker 1: The empire was broken up among a number of hard
24:45
Speaker 1: headed Macedonians, capable in practical rulers, but without the higher
24:49
Speaker 1: qualities of the founder's genius. They maintained the tolerant Hellenism
24:54
Speaker 1: which he had initiated. His lessons had not been lost
24:57
Speaker 1: upon them, and thus his work was not futile. The
25:00
Speaker 1: tolls of even those twelve marvelous years smoothed the path
25:03
Speaker 1: for Roman sway in the East and prepared the ground
25:06
Speaker 1: for the spread of an universal religion. It is impossible
25:10
Speaker 1: to write the history of Alexander so as to produce
25:13
Speaker 1: a true impression of his work, because in the records
25:15
Speaker 1: which we have, the general and soldier fills the whole stage,
25:18
Speaker 1: and the statesman is, as it were, hustled out. The
25:23
Speaker 1: details of administrative organization are lost amidst the sounding of
25:26
Speaker 1: trumpets and the clashing of spears. But it is the
25:29
Speaker 1: details of administration and political organization which the historical inquirer
25:34
Speaker 1: craves to know, and especially the constitution of the various
25:37
Speaker 1: new founded cities in the far East. Those novel experiments
25:40
Speaker 1: which set the Macedonian, Greek and Oriental inhabitants side by side.
25:45
Speaker 1: By their silence on these matters, the companions of Alexander,
25:48
Speaker 1: who wrote memoirs about him, unwittingly did him a wrong,
25:52
Speaker 1: and thence there has largely prevailed an unjust notion that
25:55
Speaker 1: he only knew and only cared how to conquer. It
25:58
Speaker 1: is hardly open to that this brilliant lord of well
26:01
Speaker 1: trained Myriads would have advanced to the conquest of the West.
26:05
Speaker 1: Nor can we effect a doubt that succeeding where one
26:07
Speaker 1: of his successes failed, he would have annexed Sicily and
26:10
Speaker 1: the Great Hellas, conquered Carthage, and overrun the Italian peninsula.
26:15
Speaker 1: To apprehend what his death meant for Europe, we need
26:18
Speaker 1: not travel farther in our speculations to the Indies. He
26:21
Speaker 1: would certainly have returned and carried out with fresh troops
26:24
Speaker 1: that project of visiting the Valley of the Ganges, which
26:27
Speaker 1: had been frustrated by his weary army. As it was,
26:30
Speaker 1: he had left no lasting impression upon Indian civilization, and
26:34
Speaker 1: his successors soon abandoned their hold upon the Punjab. It
26:38
Speaker 1: is needless to add that if Alexander had lived another
26:40
Speaker 1: quarter of a century, he would have widened the limits
26:43
Speaker 1: of geographical knowledge. The true nature of the Caspian Sea
26:46
Speaker 1: would have been determined, the southern extent of the Indian
26:49
Speaker 1: Peninsula would have been discovered, and an attempt would have
26:52
Speaker 1: been made to repeat the Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa. Nor
26:56
Speaker 1: could Alexander have failed, in his advanced position on the
26:59
Speaker 1: Dejects Tasaties to have learned some facts about the vast
27:02
Speaker 1: extension of the Asiatic continent to the east and north,
27:05
Speaker 1: and the curiosities of Chinese civilization. His sudden death was
27:10
Speaker 1: no freak of fate or fortune. It was a natural
27:13
Speaker 1: consequence of his character and deeds. Into thirteen years, he
27:17
Speaker 1: had compressed the energies of many lifetimes. If he had
27:20
Speaker 1: been content with the duties of a general and the statesman,
27:23
Speaker 1: laborious and wearing, though those duties would have been both
27:26
Speaker 1: to body and to brain, his singularly strong constitution would
27:29
Speaker 1: probably have lasted him for many a long year. But
27:32
Speaker 1: the very qualities of his brilliant temper, which most endeared
27:35
Speaker 1: him to his fellows, a warrior's valor and a love
27:38
Speaker 1: of good fellowship, were ruinous to his health. He was
27:42
Speaker 1: covered with scars, and he had probably never recovered from
27:45
Speaker 1: that terrible wound which had been the price of his
27:47
Speaker 1: escapade at Moltan. Sparing of himself neither in battle nor
27:50
Speaker 1: at the symposion, he was doomed to die young. Section
27:57
Speaker 1: five Greece under Macedonia. The tide of the world's history
28:02
Speaker 1: swept us away from the shores of Greece and borne
28:05
Speaker 1: breathlessly along from conquest to conquest in the triumphant train
28:08
Speaker 1: of the Macedonian We could not pause to see what
28:11
Speaker 1: was happening in the little states, which were looking with
28:13
Speaker 1: mixed emotions at the spectacle of their own civilization making
28:16
Speaker 1: its way over the earth. Alexander's victory at the gates
28:19
Speaker 1: of Issus, and his ensuing supremacy by sea, had taught
28:22
Speaker 1: many of the Greeks the lesson of caution. The Confederacy
28:25
Speaker 1: of the Isthmus had sent congratulations under golden crown to
28:28
Speaker 1: the conqueror, and when a twelvemonth later the Spartan king Aegis,
28:33
Speaker 1: a resolute man without any military ability, renewed the war
28:36
Speaker 1: against Macedonia, he got no help or countenance. Outside the Peloponnesus.
28:42
Speaker 1: Some hot spirits at Athens proposed to support the movement,
28:45
Speaker 1: but the people were discreetly restrained, not only by Fochion
28:48
Speaker 1: and Demades, but by Demosthenes himself. Aegis induced the Accadians
28:54
Speaker 1: except Megalopolis, the Achaeans except Pelini, and the Aliens to
28:58
Speaker 1: join him, and, having mercenary troops besides, he got together
29:02
Speaker 1: a considerable army. It was easy to gain a few
29:06
Speaker 1: successes before the regent of Macedonia, then occupied with a
29:09
Speaker 1: rising in Thrace, had time to descend upon the Peloponnesus.
29:14
Speaker 1: The chief object of the allies was to capture Megalopolis
29:17
Speaker 1: and the federal capital of Arcadia, within the strange position
29:19
Speaker 1: of being besieged by the Arcadian federates. Anti Peter. As
29:23
Speaker 1: soon as the situation in Thrace set him free, marched
29:26
Speaker 1: southward to the relief of Megalopolis and easily crushed the
29:29
Speaker 1: Allies in a battle fought hard by Aegis. Fell fighting,
29:34
Speaker 1: and there was no further resistance. Sparta sent up hostages
29:37
Speaker 1: to Alexander, who accorded the conquered Greek's easy terms. So
29:43
Speaker 1: long as Darius lived, many of the Greeks cherished secret
29:46
Speaker 1: hopes that fortune might yet turn against Alexander, and maintained
29:50
Speaker 1: clandestine intrigues with Persia. But on the news of his death,
29:54
Speaker 1: such hopes expired and tranquility prevailed in Hellas. It was
29:58
Speaker 1: not till Alexander's returned from India that anything happened to
30:01
Speaker 1: trouble the peace, and in the meantime Greece was experiencing
30:04
Speaker 1: a relief which he had needed for two generations. A
30:08
Speaker 1: field had been opened to her superfluous children, who were
30:11
Speaker 1: pouring by thousands, or rather tens of thousands, into Asia
30:15
Speaker 1: to find careers, if not permanent homes. For Athens. The
30:20
Speaker 1: twelve years between the fall of Phoebe's and the death
30:22
Speaker 1: of Alexander were an interval of singular well being. The
30:25
Speaker 1: conduct of public affairs was in the hands of the
30:28
Speaker 1: two most honorable statesmen of the day, Fochion and Lycurgus,
30:33
Speaker 1: Supported by the orator de Mades. Fokion was able to
30:37
Speaker 1: dissuade the people from embarking in any foolhardy enterprises, and
30:41
Speaker 1: Demosthenes were sufficiently clear sighted not to embarrass, but when
30:45
Speaker 1: needful to support the policy of peace, Fokion probably did
30:49
Speaker 1: not gudge him the signal triumph which he won over
30:51
Speaker 1: his old rival as Shiny's, for this triumph had only
30:55
Speaker 1: a personal and not a political significance. Shortly before Philip's death,
31:00
Speaker 1: Testphon had proposed to honor Demosthenes, both for his general
31:04
Speaker 1: services to the state and especially for his liberality in
31:06
Speaker 1: contributing from his private post towards the repair of the
31:09
Speaker 1: city walls, by crowning him publicly in the theater with
31:12
Speaker 1: a crown of gold. The council had passed a resolution
31:17
Speaker 1: to this effect, but Eschines lodged an accusation against the proposer,
31:21
Speaker 1: whose motion technically exposed him to the graffi paranomion, and
31:25
Speaker 1: consequently the council's resolution was not brought before the people.
31:29
Speaker 1: The matter remained in abeyance for about six years, neither
31:33
Speaker 1: party venturing to bring it to an issue. Aschenes by
31:36
Speaker 1: following up his indictment of Testiphon by forcing him to
31:39
Speaker 1: bring it into court. The collapse of the attempt of
31:42
Speaker 1: aegis to defy Macedonia probably encouraged Estenes to face his
31:46
Speaker 1: rival at last. In a speech of the highest ability,
31:49
Speaker 1: Esgenius reviewed the public career of Demosthenes to prove that
31:53
Speaker 1: he was a traitor and responsible for all the disasters
31:55
Speaker 1: of Athens. The reply of Demosthenes, a masterpiece of splendid
31:59
Speaker 1: oar oratory, captivated the judges, and Ascheny's, not winning one
32:04
Speaker 1: fifth part of their votes, left Athens and disappeared from politics.
32:09
Speaker 1: It is not unfair to say that it was Demosthenes
32:11
Speaker 1: the orator, not Demosthenes the statesman, who convinced the Athenian judges.
32:17
Speaker 1: Apart from his speech on the Crown, which has been
32:19
Speaker 1: described as the funeral oration on Greek freedom, Demosthenes fell
32:23
Speaker 1: almost silent during these years. He saw that public action
32:26
Speaker 1: on his part would be useless, But perhaps he worked
32:29
Speaker 1: underground In these two speeches in the matter of the
32:33
Speaker 1: Crown the most interesting passages where Eschiney's reflects on the
32:36
Speaker 1: changes which had recently come to pass over the face
32:39
Speaker 1: of the earth. We want to know what the Greeks
32:42
Speaker 1: thought of these startling changes, what they felt as they
32:44
Speaker 1: saw the fashion of the world passing, and the things
32:47
Speaker 1: which had seemed of great weight and worth in hell
32:49
Speaker 1: Us becoming of small account. Eschenuz thus uttered their surprise
32:55
Speaker 1: all manner of strange events utterly unforeseen have befallen in
32:58
Speaker 1: our lifetime. Our extraordinary experiences will seem to those who
33:02
Speaker 1: come after us like a curious tale of marvels. The
33:06
Speaker 1: king of the Persians, who dug the canal through Athos,
33:09
Speaker 1: who bridged the hellas Pont, who demanded earth and water
33:12
Speaker 1: from the Greeks, who dared in his letters to declare
33:15
Speaker 1: I am the Lord of all the world from the
33:17
Speaker 1: rising to the setting of the sun, is at this
33:20
Speaker 1: moment struggling not for dominion over other men, but to
33:23
Speaker 1: save his own life and limb phoebees. Even thebes our
33:26
Speaker 1: neighbor has been snatched in the space of a single day,
33:30
Speaker 1: out of the midst of hellas justly, for her policy
33:32
Speaker 1: was false, but assuredly she was rather blinded by a
33:35
Speaker 1: heaven sent infatuation than misled by human perversity. And the
33:40
Speaker 1: poor Lacedaemonians, who once lifted themselves up to be leaders
33:43
Speaker 1: of the Greeks, must now go up to Alexander as
33:46
Speaker 1: hostages and throw themselves upon the mercy of the potentate
33:48
Speaker 1: whom they wronged. Our own city, once the asylum of
33:52
Speaker 1: the Greek world, whither all men looked for help, has
33:56
Speaker 1: now ceased to strife for the leadership of the Greeks,
33:58
Speaker 1: for the very ground of her home is in danger.
34:02
Speaker 1: The Macedonian Empire had not yet lasted long enough to
34:05
Speaker 1: turn the traffic of the Mediterranean into new channels, and
34:08
Speaker 1: Athyn still enjoyed great commercial prosperity. She sent a colony
34:13
Speaker 1: to some unknown place on the Hadriatic sea board, to
34:15
Speaker 1: be a base of protection against the Eutruscan rovers, the
34:19
Speaker 1: big menacing eyes of whose pirate crafts were a constant
34:22
Speaker 1: terror to traders in those seas. And although peace was
34:25
Speaker 1: her professored policy, she did not neglect to make provision
34:29
Speaker 1: for war in case a favorable opportunity should come round.
34:32
Speaker 1: In the revolution of circumstance for regaining her sovereignty on sea,
34:37
Speaker 1: money was spent on the navy, which is said to
34:39
Speaker 1: have been increased to well nigh four hundred galleys, and
34:42
Speaker 1: on new ship sheds. The handsome marble store house for
34:46
Speaker 1: the hanging ship gear, designed by the architect Philo, was
34:49
Speaker 1: completed at the harbor of Zaia. It was expressly provided
34:53
Speaker 1: that the cases which lined the walls and pillars of
34:55
Speaker 1: the cool triple aisled arcade should be open in order
34:58
Speaker 1: that those who passed through may be able to or
35:00
Speaker 1: the gear that is in the gear store. The man
35:03
Speaker 1: who was mainly responsible for this naval expenditure was ly Ourgus.
35:07
Speaker 1: It is significant of the spirit of Athens at this
35:09
Speaker 1: time that wwhel Fogion and de Maadis were the most
35:12
Speaker 1: influential men in the Assembly. The finances were in the
35:15
Speaker 1: charge of a statesman who had been so signally hospitile
35:17
Speaker 1: to Macedonia that Alexander had demanded his surrender. In recent years,
35:22
Speaker 1: considerable changes had been made in the constitution of the
35:24
Speaker 1: financial offices. Eubulus had administered as the president of the
35:29
Speaker 1: Theoric Fund, but now refined the control of the expenditure
35:32
Speaker 1: in the hands of a minister of the public Revenue,
35:34
Speaker 1: who was elected by the people and held office for
35:37
Speaker 1: four years from one Panatheniak festival to another. Ly Kugus
35:42
Speaker 1: was entrusted with this post for twelve years for the
35:45
Speaker 1: first period in his own name. For the two succeeding periods,
35:49
Speaker 1: his activity was cloaked under the names of his son
35:51
Speaker 1: and another nominal minister. He acted, of course in conjunction
35:55
Speaker 1: with the Council, but the influence of the more permanent
35:58
Speaker 1: and experienced minister. Upon that annnual body was inevitably very great.
36:03
Speaker 1: The new system, it is evident, was a distinct improvement
36:06
Speaker 1: on the old. It was much better that the administration
36:09
Speaker 1: of the revenue should be managed by one competent statesman,
36:12
Speaker 1: unhampered by colleagues, and that his tenure of office should
36:15
Speaker 1: not be limited to a year. The post practically included
36:18
Speaker 1: the functions of a Minister of public works, and the
36:21
Speaker 1: ministry of Lacugus was distinguished by building enterprises. He constructed
36:26
Speaker 1: the Panatheniac Stadium on the southern bank of the Elissus.
36:29
Speaker 1: He rebuilt the Lychean Gymnasium, where in these years the
36:33
Speaker 1: philosopher Aristotle used to take his morning and evening walks
36:36
Speaker 1: teaching his peripatetic disciples. It lay somewhere to the east
36:41
Speaker 1: of the city, under Mount Lycabetus. But the most memorable
36:46
Speaker 1: work of Lacugus was the reconstruction of the Theater of Dionysus.
36:50
Speaker 1: It was he who built the rows of marble benches
36:52
Speaker 1: climbing up the steep side of the acropolis as we
36:54
Speaker 1: see them to day, and his original stage buildings can
36:57
Speaker 1: be distinguished amidst the ruins for from the mass of
37:00
Speaker 1: later editions and improvements, he canonized, as it were, the
37:05
Speaker 1: three great tragic poets, Iselus, Sophocles, and Euripides, by setting
37:10
Speaker 1: up their statues in the theater, and by carrying a
37:12
Speaker 1: measure that that copies of their work should be officially
37:15
Speaker 1: prepared and preserved by the state, in connection with the
37:19
Speaker 1: prosperity of Athens and her large public outlay. It is
37:22
Speaker 1: important to observe that the silver mines of Laurion, which
37:25
Speaker 1: had been closed when the Spartans occupied Decalea, and had
37:28
Speaker 1: been neglected for want of capital and enterprise throughout the
37:31
Speaker 1: whole first half of the fourth century, had been reopened
37:34
Speaker 1: and were working vigorously. They seemed to have been managed
37:38
Speaker 1: largely on a new principle, namely by private companies. The
37:42
Speaker 1: historian Xenophon had written a pamphlet on the subject of
37:45
Speaker 1: the mines as a neglected source of revenue, and it
37:47
Speaker 1: would be interesting to know whether the revival of the
37:50
Speaker 1: industry is to be ascribed directly or indirectly to the
37:53
Speaker 1: influence of his exhortations. No sign of the times which
37:57
Speaker 1: follow the defeat of Kernia is more striking than the
38:00
Speaker 1: framing of a new system for drilling the young burghers
38:02
Speaker 1: of Athens and the duties of military life. The training
38:06
Speaker 1: began when the youth, having completed his eighteenth year, came
38:09
Speaker 1: of age and was enrolled in the register of his deem,
38:12
Speaker 1: and it lasted for two years. During these two years,
38:16
Speaker 1: the young citizen was known as an aphibos, and might
38:19
Speaker 1: not appear either as a prosecutor or defendant in the
38:21
Speaker 1: law courts, except for a few cases expressly specified the
38:25
Speaker 1: general supervision. Over all the attic a f phoebe was
38:28
Speaker 1: committed to a marshal Cosmetis, who was elected by the
38:32
Speaker 1: Asthenian Assembly, and under him were ten masters of discipline Sofronistai,
38:37
Speaker 1: one for each tribe. The institution had a religious consecution.
38:43
Speaker 1: The first act in the surface of the alphoebe was
38:45
Speaker 1: solemnly to go round the temples under the conduct of
38:48
Speaker 1: the masters. Then they served for a year on duty
38:51
Speaker 1: in the guard houses at Munichia and along the coast,
38:54
Speaker 1: receiving regular military instructions from special drill masters, who trained
38:58
Speaker 1: them in the exercises of the properties and taught them
39:01
Speaker 1: how to shoot with bow and javelin, and to handle artillery.
39:05
Speaker 1: The aphiebe at each tribe ate together at barrack messes,
39:08
Speaker 1: which were managed by the masters of discipline. At the
39:11
Speaker 1: end of the first year, they appeared before an assembly
39:15
Speaker 1: in the theater, and when they had made a public
39:17
Speaker 1: display of their proficiency in the art of warfare, each
39:20
Speaker 1: received from the city a shield and a spear. The
39:23
Speaker 1: second year was spent in patrolling the frontiers of the
39:25
Speaker 1: land and guarding the prisons. The garrison and patrol duties
39:29
Speaker 1: had always devolved upon the young men of Attica, but
39:32
Speaker 1: they were now organized into a new and thorough scheme
39:35
Speaker 1: of discipline. A mild attic approach to the stone system
39:40
Speaker 1: of Sparta, it almost strikes one as a conscious effort
39:43
Speaker 1: to arrest the decline of the citizen army in the
39:45
Speaker 1: face of the encroachments of the mercenary system. The Aphibe,
39:49
Speaker 1: in their characteristic dress, the dark mantle and broad brimmed hat,
39:53
Speaker 1: are a graceful feature of Athenian life and art from
39:56
Speaker 1: this time forward. It is significant that the whole Bible,
40:00
Speaker 1: stimulated by the disaster of Chernea, was marked by a
40:04
Speaker 1: religious character, Lycurgus, who belonged to the priestly family of
40:07
Speaker 1: the Eetio Bhutads was a sincerely pious man, and impressed
40:11
Speaker 1: upon his administration the stamp of his own devotion. Never
40:15
Speaker 1: for a hundred years had there been seen at Athens
40:17
Speaker 1: such a manifestation of Zealo's public concern for the worship
40:20
Speaker 1: of the gods. The two chief monuments of the Lycurgan Epoch,
40:24
Speaker 1: the Panathenaic Stadium and the Theater of Dionysus, where it
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Speaker 1: must always be remembered religious not secular buildings. Thus Athens
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Speaker 1: discreetly attended to her material well being and courted the
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Speaker 1: favor of the gods, and the only distress which befell
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Speaker 1: her was the dearth of corn. But on the return
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Speaker 1: of Alexander to Susa, two things happened which impelled the
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Speaker 1: tranquility of Greece. Alexander promised the Greek exiles there were
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Speaker 1: more than twenty thousand of them, to procure their return
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Speaker 1: to their native cities. He sent Nacanor to the Great
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Speaker 1: Congregation of Hellas at the Olympian Festival to order the
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Speaker 1: states to receive back their banished citizens. A general reconciliation
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Speaker 1: of parties was a just and politic measure, but it
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Speaker 1: could be objected that, by the terms of the Confederation
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Speaker 1: of Corinth, the Macedonian king had no power to dictate
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Speaker 1: orders to the confederates in the management of the domestic affairs.
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Speaker 1: Only two states objected, Athens and Etolia, and they objected
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Speaker 1: because if the edict were enforced, they would be robbed
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Speaker 1: of ill gotten gains. The Aetolians had possessed themselves of
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Speaker 1: Erenidae and driven out its Acanian owners. By Alexander's edict,
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Speaker 1: the rightful inhabitants would now return to their own city
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Speaker 1: and the intruders be dislodged. The position of Athens in
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Speaker 1: Semos was similar. The Samians would now be restored to
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Speaker 1: their own lands and the Athenian settlers would have to go.
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Speaker 1: Both Athens and Etolia were prepared to resist. Another desire
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Speaker 1: was expressed by Alexander at the same time, which was
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Speaker 1: readily acquiesced. In he demanded that the Greeks should recognize
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Speaker 1: his divinity. Sparta is reported to have replied indifferently, We
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Speaker 1: allow Alexander to call himself a god if he likes.
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Speaker 1: There was not a sensible man at Athens who would
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Speaker 1: have thought of objecting. Even the bitterest patriots would have
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Speaker 1: allowed him to be the son of Zeus or Poseidon,
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Speaker 1: or whomever he chose. If the Greeks of Corinth looked
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Speaker 1: up to Alexander as their chieftain and protector, and this
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Speaker 1: was actually their position in regard to him, there was
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Speaker 1: no incongruity in the idea of officially acknowledging his divinity.
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Speaker 1: Ever since the days in which an Homeric king was
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Speaker 1: honored as a god by the people, there was nothing
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Speaker 1: offensive or at landish to a Greek ear in predicating
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Speaker 1: godhood of a revered sovereign or master. Divine honors had
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Speaker 1: been paid to Lysander, and the Greeks, in complying with
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Speaker 1: Alexander's desire, did not commit themselves more than the pupil
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Speaker 1: of the academy who erected an altar to his master
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Speaker 1: Plato end of Chapter eighteen, Parts three, four, and five.