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Alexander, in the mean time, marched on, at the head of his heavy armed infantry, drawn up in two lines, with the cavalry in the wings, and the baggage in the rear. Having arrived upon the banks of the Granicus, Parmenio advised him to encamp there, in battle array; in order that his forces might have time to rest themselves, and not to pass the river till very early next morning, because the enemy would then be less able to prevent him. He added, that it would be too dangerous to attempt crossing a river, in sight of an enemy; especially, as that before them was deep, and its banks very craggy; so that the Persian cavalry, who waited their approach in battle array, on the other side, might easily defeat them, before they were drawn up; that, besides the loss which would be sustained on this occasion, this enterprise, in case it should prove unsuccessful, would be of dangerous consequence to their future affairs; the fame and glory of arms depending on the first actions.

However, these reasons were not able to make the least impression on Alexander; who declared, that it would be a shame, should he, after crossing the Hellespont, suffer his progress to be retarded by a rivulet; for so he called the Granicus, out of contempt; that they ought to take advantage of the terror which the suddenness of his arrival, and the boldness of the attempt, had spread among the Persians; and answer the high opinion the world, conceived of his courage, and the valour of the Macedonians.

The enemy's horse, which was very numerous, lined the whole shore, and formed a large front, in order to oppose Alexander wherever he should endeavour to pass; and the foot, which consisted chiefly of Greeks in Darius' service, was posted behind upon an easy ascent. The two armies continued a long time in sight of each other, on the banks of the river, as if dreading the event. The Persians waited till the Macedonians should enter the river, in order to charge them to advantage upon their landing, and the latter seemed to be making choice of a place proper for crossing, and to survey the countenance of their enemies.

Upon this, Alexander ordered his horse to be brought, commanded the noblemen of the court to follow him, and behave gallantly. He himself commanded the right wing, and Parmenio the left. The king first caused a strong detachment to march into the river, himself following it with the rest of the forces. He made Parmenio advance afterwards with the left wing: he himself led on the right wing into the river, followed by the rest of the troops; the trumpets sounding, and the whole army raising cries of joy. The Persians, seeing this detachment advance forward, began to let fly their arrows, and march to a place where the declivity was not so great, in order to keep the Macedonians from landing. But now the horse engaged, with great fury; one part endeavour.

ing to land, and the other striving to prevent them. The Macedonians, whose cavalry was vastly inferior in number, besides the advantage of the ground, were wounded with the darts shot from the eminence; not to mention that the flower of the Persian horse were drawn together in this place, and that Memnon, in concert with his sons, commanded there

The Macedonians at first gave ground, after having lost the first ranks, which made a vigorous defence. Alexander, who had followed them closely, and reinforced them with his best troops, neaded them himself, animated them by his presence, pushed the Persians and routed them; upon which, the whole army followed after, crossed the river, and attacked the enemy on all sides. Alexander first charged the thickest part of the enemy's horse, in which the generals fought. He himself was particularly conspicuous by his shield, and the plume of feathers that overshadowed his helmet; on the two sides of which, there rose two wings, as it were, of a great length, and so vastly white, that they dazzled the eyes of the beholder. The charge was very furious about his person; and, though only the horse engaged, they fought like foot, man to man, without giving way, on either side; every one striving to repulse his adversary, and gain ground upon him. Spithrobates, lieutenant-governor of lonia, and son-in-law to Darius, distinguished himself, above the rest of the generals, by his superior bravery. Being surrounded by forty Persian lords, all of them his relations, of experienced valour, and who never moved from his side, he carried terror wherever he went. Alexander observing in how gallant a manner he signalised himself, clapped spurs to his horse, and advanced towards him. Immediately, they engaged, and each, having thrown a javelin, wounded the other slightly. Spithrobates falls furiously sword in hand upon Alexander, who being prepared for him, thrusts his pike into his face, and laid him dead at his feet. At that very moment, Rasaces, brother of that nobleman, charging him on the side, gave him so furious a blow on the head, with his battle-axe, that he beat off his plume, but went no deeper than the hair. As he was going to repeat his blow on the head, which now appeared through his fractured helmet, Clitus cut off Rasaces? hand, with one stroke of his scimitar, and, by that means saved his sovereign's life. The danger to which Alexander had been exposed, greatly animated the courage of his soldiers, who now performed wonders.

The Persians, in the centre of the cavalry, upon whom the light armed troops, who had been posted in the intervals of the horse, poured a perpetual discharge of darts, being unable to sustain any longer the attack of the Macedonians, who struck them all in the face, the two wings were immediately broken and put to flight. Alexander did not pursue them long, but turned about immed

ately to charge the foot. These at first stood their ground; but, when they saw themselves attacked at the same time by the caval ry, and the Macedonian phalanx which had crossed the river, and that the battalions were now engaged, those of the Persians did not make either a long or a vigorous resistance, and were soon put to flight; except the Grecian infantry, in the service of Darius. This body of foot retiring to a hill, demanded a promise from Alex. ander, to let them march away unmolested; but, following the dictates of his wrath, rather than those of reason, he rushed into the midst of this body, and presently lost his horse, (not Bucephalus) who was killed, with the thrust of a sword.

The battle was so hot around him, that most of the Macedonians, who lost their lives on this occasion, fell here. They were opposed by men who were well disciplined, had been inured to war, and fought in despair. They were all cut to pieces, two thousand excepted, who were taken prisoners. A great number of the Persian commanders lay dead on the spot. Arsites fled into Phrygia, where, it is said, he laid violent hands on himself, for having been the cause that the battle was fought.

Twenty thousand foot, and two thousand five hundred horsemen, were killed in this engagement, on the side of the barbarians: and, of the Macedonians, twenty-five of the royal horse were killed, at the first attack. Alexander ordered Lysippus to make their statues in brass, all of which were set up in a city of Macedon, called Dia; whence, they were many years afterwards carried to Rome, by Metellus. About sixty of the other cavalry were kill ed, and nearly thirty foot; who, the next day, were all laid with their arms and equipage in one grave; and the king granted an exemption to their fathers and children, from every kind of tribute and service.

He also took the utmost care of the wounded, visited them, and saw their wounds dressed. He inquired very particularly into their adventures, and permitted every one of them to relate his actions in the battle, and boast his bravery. He also granted the rights of sepulchre to the principal Persians, and did not even refuse it to such Greeks as died in the Persian service; but all those whom he took prisoners, he laid in chains, and sent to work, as slaves, in Macedonia, for having fought under the barbarian standard against their country, contrary to the express prohibition declared by Greece.

Alexander made it his duty and pleasure to share the honour of the victory with the Greeks; and sent particularly to the Athenians, three hundred shields, being part of the plunder taken from the enemy; and caused this glorious inscription to be inscribed on the rest of the spoils. "Alexander, son of Philip, with the Greeks, (the Lacedæmonians excepted) gained these spoils,

from the barbarians who inhabit Asia," The greater part of the gold and silver plate, the purple carpets, and other furniture of the Persian luxury, he sent to his mother.

& This victory not only impressed the Persians with consternation, but served to excite the ardour of the invading army. The Persians, perceiving that they were not able to overcome the Greeks, though possessed of manifest advantages, supposed that they never could be able to face them, upon equal terms; and thus, from the first mischance, they gave up all hopes of succeeding by valour. Indeed, in all invasions, where the nations invaded have been once beaten, with great advantages of place on their side, such as defensive rivers, straits, and mountains, they soon begin to persuade themselves, that, upon equal terms, such an enemy must be irresistible.

It is the opinion of Machiavel, that he who resolves to defend a passage, should do it with his ablest forces; for few regions of any circuit are so well defended by nature, that armies of such force as may be thought sufficient to conquer them, cannot break through the natural difficulties of the entrance. One passage or another is commonly left unguarded; and some place weakly defended, will be the cause of a fatal triumph to the invaders. How often have the Alps been surmounted by armies breaking into Italy? and, though they produced dreadful difficulties and dangers among those that scaled them, yet they were never found to give security to those that lay behind.

It was therefore politic in Alexander to pass the river in the face of the enemy, without marching higher, to seek an easier passage, or labouring to convey his men over it by some safer method. Having beaten the enemy, upon their own terms, he destroyed their reputation no less than their strength, leaving the wretched subjects of such a state, no hopes of succour from such unable protectors.

Soon after the battle of Granicus, he recovered Sardis from the enemy, which was in a manner the bulwark of the barbarian empire, on that side next the sea. He took the inhabitants under his protection, received their nobles with the utmost condescension and permitted them to be governed by their own laws and maxims ; observing, to his friends around him, “That such as lay the foundations of a new dominion, should always endeavour to have the fame of being merciful."

Four days afterwards, he arrived at Ephesus, carrying with him those who had been banished from thence for being his ad herents, and restored its popular form of government. He assigned to the temple of Diana, the tributes which were paid to the kings of Persia. Before he left Ephesus, the deputies of the

cities of Thrallis and Magnesia, waited upon him, with the keys of those places.

He afterwards marched to Miletus; which city, flattered with the hopes of a sudden and powerful support, shut their gates against him: indeed, the Persian fleet, which was very considerable, made a show as if it would succour that city; but, after having made several fruitless attempts to engage that of the enemy, it was forced to sail away. Memnon had shut himself up in this fortress, with a great number of his soldiers who had escaped from the battle, and was determined to make a good defence.

Alexander, who would not lose a moment, attacked it, and planted scaling ladders on all sides. The scalade was carried on with great vigour, and opposed with no less intrepidity, though Alexander sent fresh troops, to relieve each other without the least intermission; and this lasted several days. At last, finding his soldiers were every where repulsed, and that the city was provided with every thing for a long siege, he planted all nis machines against it, made a great number of breaches, and, whenever these were attacked, a new scalade was attempted. The besieged, after sustaining all these efforts with prodigious bravery, capitulated, to prevent being taken by storm. Alexander treated the Milesians with the utmost humanity, but sold all the foreigners who were found in it.

After the capture of Miletus, he marched into Caria, in order to lay siege to Halicarnassus. This city was of prodigiously diffi cult access, from its happy situation, and had been strongly forti fied. Besides Memnon, the ablest as well as the most valiant of all Darius' commanders, had got into it, with a body of choice soldiers, with a design to signalize his courage and fidelity to his sovereign. He accordingly made a very noble defence, in which he was seconded by Ephialtes, another general of great merit. Whatever could be expected from the most intrepid bravery, and the most consummate knowledge in the science of war, was, on this occasion, conspicuous, on both sides.

Memnon, finding it impossible for him to hold out any longer, was forced to abandon the city. As the sea was open to him, after having put a strong garrison into the citadel, which was well stored with provisions, he took with him the surviving inhabitants, with all their riches, and conveyed them into the island of Cos, which was not far from Halicarnassus. Alexander did not think proper to besiege the citadel, it being of little importance after the city was destroyed; which he demolished, the very foundations. He left it, after having encompassed it with strong walls, and stationed some good troops in the country.

Soon after this, he restored Ada, queen of Caria, to her king dom, of which she had sometime before, been dispossessed; and

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