"an untruth violates this law and common compact." How greatly is this enormity encreased, when the sanctity of an oath has intervened, and the name of God been called upon to witness it, as is the custom always in treaties ?

"Were

sincerity and truth banished from every other part of the "earth," said John I. king of France, upon his being solicited to violate a treaty, "they ought to be found in the "hearts and in the mouths of kings.'

The circumstance which prompts politicians to act in this manner is, their being persuaded that it is the only means to make a negotiation succeed. But, though this were the case, yet can it ever be lawful to purchase such success at the expense of probity, honour, and religion? "If your father-inlaw (Ferdinand the Catholic,)" said Lewis XII. to Philip "archduke of Austria, "has acted perfidiously, I am deter"mined not to imitate him, and I am much more pleased in having lost a kingdom (Naples), which I am able to reco"ver, than I should have been had I lost my honour, which "C never can be recovered."

But those politicians who have neither honour nor religion deceive themselves, even in this very particular. I shall not have recourse to the Christian world for princes and ministers, whose notions of policy were very different from these. To go no farther than our Greek history, how many great men have we seen perfectly successful in the administration of public affairs, in treaties of peace and war, in a word, in the most important negotiations, without once making use of artifice and deceit? An Aristides, a Cimon, a Phocion, and so many more, some of whom were so very scrupulous in matters relating to truth as to believe they were not allowed to tell a falsehood even laughing and in sport. Cyrus, the most famous conqueror of theEast, thought nothing was more unworthy of a prince, nor more capable of drawing upon him the contempt and hatred of his subjects, than lying and deceit. It therefore ought to be looked upon as a certain truth, that no success, how brilliant soever, can or ought to cover the shame and ignominy which arise from breach of faith and perjury.

à Mezerai.

b Mezerai.

THE HISTORY

OF

ALEXANDER.

SECT. I.

Alexander's birth. Aristotle appointed his preceptor. He breaks Bucephalus.

"ALEXANDER was born in the first year of the 106th Olympiad.

The very day he came into the world, the celebrated temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was burnt. It is well known that this temple was one of the seven wonders of the world. It had been built in the name and at the expense of all Asia Minor. A great number of years were employed in building it. Its length was 425 feet, and its breadth 220. It was supported by 127 columns, 60 feet high, which as many kings had caused to be wrought at a great expense, and by the most excellent artists, who endeavoured to excel one another on this occasion. The rest of the temple was equal to the columns in magnificence.

с

d Hegesias, of Magnesia, according to Plutarch, says, "That it was no wonder the temple was burned, because "Diana was that day employed at the delivery of Olympias, to facilitate the birth of Alexander." A reflection, says our author, so very ƒ cold, that it might have extinguished the fire. Cicero, who ascribes this saying to Timæus, declares it a very smart one, at which I am very much surprised. Possibly the fondness he had for jokes, made him not very delicate in things of this kind.

Qne Herostratus had set fire to the temple on purpose.

a A. M. 3648. Ant. J. C. 356. Plin. I. xxxvi. c. 14.

Pliny says 220 years which is not probable.

c Anciently almost every city was governed by its particular king.

d Plut. in Alex. p. 655.

e He was a historian, and lived in the time of Ptolemy son of Lagus. f I do not know whether Plutarch's reflection be not still colder. g Concinne, ut multa, Timæus; qui, cum in historia dixisset, qua nocte natus Alexander esset, eadem Dianæ Ephesiæ templum deflagravisse, adjunxit: mi nime id esse mirandum, quod Diana, cum in partu Olympiadis ad esse voluisset, abfuisset domo. De Nat. Deor. l. ii. n. 69. h Valer. Max. 1. viii. c. 14.

Book XV. Being put to the torture, in order to force him to confess his motive for committing so infamous an action, he owned that it was with the view of making himself known to posterity, and to immortalise his name, by destroying so noble a structure. The states-general of Asia imagined they should prevent the succcess of his view, by publishing a decree, prohibiting the mention of his name. However, their prohibition only excited a greater curiosity; for scarce one of the historians of that age has omitted to mention so monstrous an extravagance, and at the same time to tell us the name of the criminal.

a The ruling passion in Alexander, even from his tender years, was ambition, and an ardent desire of glory; but not for every species of glory. Philip, like a sophist, valued himself upon his eloquence and the beauty of his style; and had the vanity to cause to be engraved on his coins the several victories he had won at the Olympic games in the chariot race. But it was not to this his son aspired. His friends asking him one day, whether he would not be present at the games above mentioned, in order to dispute the prize, for he was very swift on foot; he answered, "That he would " contend in them, provided kings were to be his antago"nists."

Every time news was brought him that his father had taken some city or gained some great battle, Alexander, far from sharing in the general joy, used to say, in a plaintive tone of voice, to the young persons that were brought up with him, "Friends, my father will possess himself of every "thing, and leave nothing for us to do."

One day, some ambassadors from the king of Persia being arrived at court during Philip's absence, Alexander gave them so courteous and so polite a reception, and regaled them in so noble and generous a manner, as charmed them all. But that which most surprised them was the good sense and judgment which he discovered in the several conversations they had with him. He did not propose to them any thing that was trifling, as might be expected from one of his age; such, for instance, as inquiring about the so-muchboasted gardens suspended in the air, the riches and magnificence of the palace and court of the king of Persia, which excited the admiration of the whole world; the famous golden plane-tree; and that golden vine, the grapes of which were of emeralds, carbuncles, rubies, and all sorts of precious stones, under which the Persian monarch was said frequently to give audience to ambassadors: Alexander asked them questions of a quite different nature, inquiring which was the road to Upper Asia; the distance of the se

b

a Plut in vit Alex. p. 665–668. Ib. de Fortun. Alex. p. 342. b Athen. I. xii. p. 539.

veral places; in what the strength and power of the king of Persia consisted; in what part of the battle he fought; how he behaved towards his enemies; and in what manner he governed his subjects. These ambassadors admired him all the while; and, perceiving even at that time what he might one day become, they pointed out, in a few words, the difference they found between Alexander and a Artaxerxes, by saying one to another", "This young prince is great, and 66 ours is rich." That man must be vastly insignificant, who has no other merit than his riches!

So ripe a judgment in this young prince was owing as much to the good education which had been given him as to the excellence of his natural abilities. Several preceptors were appointed to teach him whatsoever was worthy the heir to a great kingdom; and the chief of these was Leonidas, a relation of the queen, and a person of the most severe morals. Alexander himself related afterwards, that this Leonidas, in their journeys together, used frequently to look into the trunks where his beds and clothes were laid, in order to see if Olympias, his mother, had not put something superfluous into them, which might administer to delicacy and luxury. But the greatest service Philip did his son was appointing Aristotle his preceptor, the most famous and the most learned philosopher of his age, whom he entrusted with the whole care of his education. One of the reasons which prompted Philip to choose him a master of s conspicuous a reputation and merit was, as he himself said, that his son might avoid committing a great many faults, of which he himself had been guilty.

Philip was sensible how great a treasure he possessed in the person of Aristotle; for which reason he settled a very considerable stipend upon him, and afterwards rewarded his pains and care in an infinitely more glorious manner; for, having destroyed and laid waste the city of d Stagira, the native place of that philosopher, he rebuilt it, purely out of affection for him; reinstated the inhabitants who had fled from it or were made slaves, and gave them a fine park in the neighbourhood of Stagira, as a place for their studies and assemblies. Even in Plutarch's time, the stone seats which Aristotle had placed there were standing; as also spacious avenues of trees, under which those who walked were shaded from the sun-beams.

Alexander likewise discovered no less esteem for his master, whom he believed himself bound to love as much as if he had been his father; declaring, e" that he was indebted to

a Artaxerxes Ochus.

ὁ Ὁ παῖς ἔτα, βασιλεὺς μέγας ο δὲ ἡμέτερα, πλέσια.

c Plut.in. Apophtheg. p. 178. d A city of Macedon, near the sea-shore. • Ως δι' ἐκεῖνον μὲν ζῶν, διὰ τῦτον δὲ καλῶς ζῶν.

"the one for living, and to the other for living well." The progress of the pupil was equal to the care and abilities of the preceptor. He grew passionately fond of philosophy, and learned the several parts of it, but with the distinctions suitable to his birth. Aristotle endeavoured to improve his judgment by laying down sure and certain rules, by which he might distinguish just and solid reasoning from what is merely specious; and by accustoming him to separate in discourse all such parts as only dazzle, from those which are truly solid, and should constitute its whole value. He also exercised him in metaphysics, which may be of great benefit to a prince, provided he applies himself to them with moderation, as they explain to him the nature of the human mind; how greatly it differs from matter; in what manner he perceives spiritual things; how he is sensible of the impression of those that surround him, and many other questions of the like import. The reader will naturally suppose, that he did not omit either the mathematics, which are so well calculated to give the mind a just turn of thinking, or the wonders of nature, the study of which, besides a great many other advantages, shows how very incapable the mind of man is to discover the secret principles of the things to which he is daily an eye-witness. But Alexander applied himself chiefly to morality, which is properly the science of kings, because it is the knowledge of mankind, and of all their duties. This he made his serious and profound study; and considered it, even at that time, as the foundation of prudence and wise policy. How must such an education contribute to the good conduct of a prince with regard to his own interests and the government of his people?

:

The greatest master of rhetoric that antiquity could ever boast, and who has left so excellent a treatise on that subject, took care to make that science part of his pupil's education and we find that Alexander, even in the midst of his conquests, was often very urgent with Aristotle to send him a treatise on that subject. To this we owe the work intituled Alexander's Rhetoric; in the beginning of which, Aristotle proves to him the vast advantage a prince may reap from eloquence, as it gives him the greatest ascendant over the minds of men, which he ought to acquire as well by his wisdom as authority. Some answers and letters of Alexander, which are still extant, show that he possessed, in its greatest perfection, that strong, that manly eloquence, which abounds with sense and ideas; and which is so entirely free from superfluous expressions, that every single word has its meaning; which, properly speaking, is the eloquence of kings c.

a Retinuit ex sapientia modum. Tacit.

Aristot in Rhetor ad Alex. p. 608, 609. c Imperatoria brevitate. Tacit.