13. What account is given of the interview between Alexander and the Jewish high priest? 14. Why was Egypt easily subdued? 15. What city did Alexander found in that country? 22. How did the two armies spend the night before the battle ? 26. Of what opportunity did Alexander avail himself? 28. How was the battle finally won? 29. What were the losses of both armies ? 1. THE unfortunate Dari'us fled with a small escort from the field of battle over the mountains; he had no reason to dread a very vigorous pursuit in that direction, as neither he nor Alexander could have expected that the important cities of Su'sa and Bab'ylon would have been resigned without a struggle, and their riches and importance would naturally claim the first attention of the victor. 2. The Satraps both of Babylonia and Susia'na, however, met Alexander on his march, and tendered their submission ; the enormous treasures which the monarchs of Persia had been for centuries accumulating at Su'sa were seized by the conqueror, and among other curiosities found there the statues of Harmo'dius and Aristogei'ton, which Xerxes had brought from Athens. These Alexander sent back to the Athenians, and transmitted at the same time large sums of money, to purchase the tranquillity of the Grecian states. 3. The Babylonians gladly submitted to a change of masters; their city, once the greatest in the world, had fallen into gradual decay under the dominion of Persia, and they hoped that it would once again become the seat of empire under a new dynasty. 4. Having provided for the security of these provinces, Alexander next advanced into Persia Proper, through those mountains which have been in all ages the favourite haunt of robber-hordes. Even the kings of Persia were forced to pay tribute to these fierce mountaineers, when passing from Su'sa to Persepolis. But Alexander was too confident in his own resources to purchase the forbearance of these plunderers; he refused to pay the customary tribute; and when the mountaineers attempted to impede his march, he attacked them unawares, and routed them with great slaughter. 5. The Persians, under the command of Ariobarza'nes, made one vigorous effort to defend their native land. They posted themselves in a mountainous defile, through which the entrance to Persia lay, and repulsed the army of Alexander when an attempt was made to force a passage. 6. But a circumstance similar to that which enabled the Persians to force Thermop'ylæ now gave the victory to the Greeks; some deserters showed Alexander a secret path over the mountains, and he was thus enabled to attack the enemy in the rear. Assailed at once on both sides, surprised and confounded, the army of Ariobarza nes made a very weak resistance, and the Macedonian army having once passed the defiles, found no other enemies to impede their course. 7. Persepolis was taken without a blow, and given up to be plundered; it was afterwards burned to the ground, in revenge for the cruelties practised by the Persians in Greece; or, as most authors say, at the instigation of Tha'is, an Athenian courtesan who accompanied Alexander. Alexander is said to have bitterly lamented during the remainder of his life the violent passion which led him to destroy this celebrated city. Its loss was irreparable; Persepolis was both the religious and political metropolis of the empire, and in its palaces were stored the sacred books of Zoroaster, and the authorized histories of the realm. All these seem to have perished in the conflagration; and to this cause is primarily owing the great obscurity that involves the history, the policy, and the religion of the Persians. The sculptured remains found among the ruins of Persepolis faintly supply the loss of written documents, but they serve to show the accuracy with which Persian manners are described in the Bible, and sometimes illustrate the accounts given by the Greek historians. Unfortunately these relics are neither numerous nor well preserved; the vengeance of the Greeks had been long treasured, and when the signal of destruction was given by their monarch, they performed their work with no sparing hand. Since that time Persia has been the scene of so many changes, that the ruined capital was almost forgotten, and it now stands in the midst of desolation, a melancholy monument of the frailty of human grandeur. The accompanying view of a fragment of its ruins shows, that most of the public buildings of the Persians had a historic, or religious character, being covered with sculptures either commemorating some great event, or portraying a religious ceremony. completing the conobedience the Tartar (B. C. 330.) 9. The 8. The winter was spent in quest of Persia, and reducing to tribes that border on that country. Macedo'nians were again called into active service, by the news of a large army of Scythians and other barbarous tribes having joined Dari'us. This, however, was false; that monarch now completely despaired of success, and only sought for a retreat in some distant province with the relics of his treasure. 10. Alexander immediately commenced a vigorous pursuit, but Dari'us had escaped through the passes of the mountains that skirt the Caspian Sea, before he could be overtaken. After a short delay to refresh his forces, the Macedonian monarch renewed the chase with redoubled vigour, having received intelligence that changed his hostility into pity or his former rival, 11. The Satraps, under the guidance of Bes'sus, the governor of Bactria, had deposed their unfortunate sovereign, and were hurrying him off a close prisoner to some distant retreat. Alexander, eager to rescue the unhappy prince from these traitors, redoubled his diligence, and after a fatiguing chase, overtook the army of Bes'sus. 12. The Satraps, though their army was far superior in number, did not make any attempt to resist the Macedonians; their only aim was to secure their safety by flight, and finding that their speed was retardea by their royal prisoner, they wounded him mortally, and left him to expire by the road-side. Dari'us was in the last agony of death when a Macedonian soldier came up, and brought him a little water to cool his raging thirst; he expressed great anxiety to see his generous conqueror, and thank him in person for the kindness that had been shown to his mother and family, but before Alexander came up, he expired. 13. Thus fell the sovereign of Asia, after having in the space of three years fallen from the summit of greatness to the condition of a wretched fugitive, and finally to that of a miserable captive among cruel traitors. To the charity of a private soldier he was indebted for a cup of water in his last moments, a melancholy example of human vicissitudes. His generous rival honoured his remains with a magnificent funeral, treated his family with all the respect due to their illustrious birth, and finally married one of his daughters. 14. Most of the traitors were afterwards taken and given up by Alexander to the surviving relatives of Darius, who, after the |