he was met by Amphitryon, and was killed by an accidental blow. This deed, though involuntary, lost Amphitryon the kingdom, which he would otherwise have enjoyed in right of his wife. Sthenelus, the brother of Alcmena, availing himself of the public odium against Amphitryon, drove him from Argolis, and seized upon the vacant throne, the possession of which devolved, at his death, upon his son Eurystheus. Amphitryon fled to Thebes, where he was purified by Creon; but when he expected that Alcmena, who had accompanied him hither, would have given him her hand, she de

Having shown much kindness and attention to the persons whom Croesus had sent to Delphi for the purpose of consulting the oracle, that monarch invited him to Sardis, and gave him permission to carry from the royal treasury as much gold as he could bear off with him at one visit. Herodotus (6, 125) gives an account of the mode in which he availed himself of the royal offer, filling with gold his arms, the folds of his habit, his large shoes worn expressly for the occasion, and having not only his hair powdered with golddust, but his mouth full of it. To these Croesus even added other valuable presents; and to this source He-clined, on the ground that she was not satisfied with rodotus traces the wealth of the family. We must not, the punishment inflicted by her father on the Telehowever, regard this Alcmeon as the founder of the boans, and intended to give her hand to him who line. (Compare Alemæon II.)-IV. The last of the should make war upon them. Amphitryon, in conseperpetual archons at Athens, was succeeded by Cha- quence of this, made an alliance with Creon and other rops, the son of Eschylus, as decennial archon. neighbouring princes, and ravaged the isles of the TeBoeckh (Explic. ad Pind., Pyth., 7, p. 301) makes him leboans. While Amphitryon was absent on this exnot to have belonged to the family of the Alcmæonida pedition, Jupiter, who had become enamoured of Alcproper, but to have been reckoned among the Alemæon-mena, assumed the form of Amphitryon, related to idæ merely because his mother belonged to that house. her all the events of the war, his success over the foe, -V. A natural philosopher. (Vid. Supplement.) and finally persuaded her to a union. Amphitryon, ALCMEONIDE, a noble family of Athens, descended on his return, was surprised at the indifference with from Alemæon. (Vid. Alcmeon II.) When driven which he was regarded by Alcmena; but, on coming to from Athens by the tyranny of the Pisistratidæ, they an explanation with her, and consulting Tiresias, the first endeavoured to return by force of arms; but hav- famous diviner of Thebes, he discovered that it was ing met with a serious check at Lipsydrion, in the no less a personage than Jove himself who had asPæonian borough of Attica, they turned their atten- sumed his form. Alcmena brought forth twins, Hertion to a surer and more pacific mode of operation. cules the son of Jupiter, and Iphicles the progeny of The temple at Delphi having been burned, and having her mortal lord. According to the ancient poets, remained in ruins for some considerable time, the Alc- Juno retarded the birth of Hercules until the mother mæonidæ, after their defeat, engaged with the Am- of Eurystheus was delivered of a son, unto whom, by phictyonic council to rebuild the structure for the reason of a rash oath of Jupiter's, Hercules was made sum of 300 talents. They finished the work, however, subject. It seems that the day on which Alcmena in a much more splendid manner than the terms of was to be delivered in Thebes, Jove, in exultation, their contract required, and attained, in consequence, to announced to the gods that a man of his race was that great popularity. By dint of the favour with which day to see the light, who would rule over all his neighthey were now regarded, as well as by means of a bours. Juno, pretending incredulity, exacted from him large sum of money, they prevailed upon the Pytho- an oath that what he had said should be accomplishness, whenever application of a public or private na- ed. Jupiter, unsuspicious of guile, gave it, and Juno ture was made from Lacedæmon to the god at Delphi, hastened down to Argos, where the wife of Stheneto conclude the answer of the oracle, whatever it might lus, the son of Perseus, was seven months gone of a be, with an admonition to the Lacedæmonians to give son. The goddess brought on a premature labour, and liberty to Athens. This artifice had the desired effect; Eurystheus came to light that day, while she checked and, though Sparta was in friendly relations with the the parturition of Alcmena, and kept back Lucina. Pisistratidæ, it was determined to invade Attica, (Vid. Galanthis.) The oath of Jove was not to be which was accordingly done, and the result was, that recalled, and his son was fated to serve Eurystheus. the Spartans expelled Hippias, and restored the Alc- (Hom., Il., 19, 101, seqq. - Ovid, Met., 9, 285, seqq. — mæonide (B.C. 510). The restored family found Anton. Lib., c. 29. Keightley's Mythology, p. 310, themselves in an isolated position, between the nobles, seqq.) According to Pherecydes (ap. Anton. Lib., c. who appeared to have been opposed to them, and the 33), when Alcmena, who long survived her son, died, popular party, which had been hitherto attached to the and the Heraclidae were about to bury her at Thebes, Pisistratidæ. Clisthenes, now the head of the Alc- Jove directed Mercury to steal her away, and convey mæonidæ, joined the latter party, and gave a new con- her to the islands of the blessed, where she should esstitution to Athens. He abolished the four ancient pouse Rhadamanthus. Mercury obeyed, and placed tribes, and made a fresh geographical division of Atti- a stone instead of her in the coffin. When the Herac ca into ten new tribes, each of which bore a name de- lidæ went to carry her forth to be buried, they were rived from some Attic hero. The ten tribes were sub- surprised at the weight, and, on opening the coffin, divided into districts of various extent called demes or found the stone, which they took out, and set it up boroughs, each containing a town or village as its chief in the grove where her Heroüm stood at Thebes: place. The constitution of Clisthenes had the effect ὅθιπέρ ἐστιν τὸ ἡρῶον τὸ τῆς ̓Αλκμήνης ἐν Θήβαις. of transforming the commonalty into a new body. The whole frame of the state was recognized to correspond with the new division of the country. To Clisthenes, also, is ascribed the formal institution of the

ostracism.

ALCMAN. Vid. Supplement.

ALCMENA, was daughter of Electryon, king of Mycense, and Anaxo, whom Plutarch calls Lysidice, and Diodorus Siculus Eurymede. She was engaged in marriage to her cousin Amphitryon, son of Alcæus, when an unexpected event caused the nuptials to be deferred. Electry on had undertaken an expedition against the Teleboans, or subjects of Taphius, in order to avenge the death of his sons, whom the sons of Taphius had slain in a combat. Returning victorious,

ALCON, I. a statuary, who made an iron statue of Hercules, kept at Thebes. Pliny assigns the reason for the choice of this metal, when he says, "Laborum dei patientia inductus" (35, 14). — II. A surgeon under Claudius. (Vid. Supplement.)-III. A son of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and father of Phalerus.

ALCYONE, or HALCYONE, I. daughter of Eolus, married Ceyx, who was drowned as he was going to consult the oracle. The gods apprized Alcyone in a dream of her husband's fate; and when she found, on the morrow, his body washed on the seashore, she threw herself into the sea. To reward their mutual affection, the gods metamorphosed them into halcyons, and, according to the poets, decreed that the sea should remain calm while these birds built their nests

from B.C. 369 to B.C. 367, and not, according to the common account, for one year merely. Ptolemy Alorites, however, who slew him, was neither king nor the son of Amyntas, although called so by Diodorus (15, 71). It seems probable, from a comparison of Æschines (de Fals. Leg., p. 32) with a fragment in Syncellus (Dexippus ap. Syncell., p. 263, B.). that Ptolemy was appointed regent in a regular way, during the minority of Perdiccas; that he afterward abused his trust, and was, in consequence, cut off by Perdiccas. The duration of his administration, three years, is mentioned by Diodorus (15, 77).

ALESIA OF ALEXIA, a famous and strongly fortified | erously slain by Ptolemy Alorites, after having reigned city of the Mandubii, in Gallia Celtica. It was so ancient a city, that Diodorus Siculus (4, 19) ascribes the building of it to Hercules. (Compare the learned and ingenious remarks of Ritter, in his Vorhalle, p. 378, on the subject of the Celtic Hercules.) It was situate on a high hill, supposed to be Mount Auxois, near the sources of the Sequana or Seine, and washed on two sides by the small rivers Lutosa and Ozera, now Lose and Ozerain. Alesia was taken and destroyed by Cæsar after a famous siege, but was rebuilt, and became a place of considerable consequence under the Roman emperors. It was laid in ruins in the 9th century by the Normans. At the foot of Mount Auxois is a village called Alise (Depart. Côte d'Or), with several hundred inhabitants. (Flor., 3, 10.-Cas., B. G., 7, 69.)

ALESIUM, a mountain in the vicinity of Mantinea, on which was a grove dedicated to Ceres; also the temple of the equestrian Neptune, an edifice of great antiquity, which had been originally built, according to tradition, by Agamedes and Trophonius, but was afterward enclosed within a new structure by order of Hadrian. The mountain was said to have taken its name from the wanderings of Rhea (Tò opos Tò 'Aλýσιον, διὰ τὴν ἄλην, ὡς φασι, καλούμενον τὴν Ῥέας. -Pausan., 8, 10).

mus,

ALEXANDER III., surnamed the Great, son of Philip of Macedon, was born in the city of Pella, B.C. 356. His mother was Olympias, the daughter of Neoptoleking of Epirus. Leonnatus, a relation of his mother's, an austere man, and of great severity of manners, was his early governor, and at the age of eight years, Lysimachus, an Acarnanian, became his instructer. Plutarch gives this individual an unfavourable character, and insinuates that he was more desirous of ingratiating himself with the royal family than of effectually discharging the duties of his office. It was his delight to call Philip, Peleus; Alexander, Achilles ; and to claim for himself the honorary name of Phoenix. Early impressions are the strongest, and ALETES (ATN), a son of Hippotes, and descend-even the pedantic allusions of the Acarnanian might ant of Hercules in the fifth degree. He is said to have render the young prince more eager in after life to imtaken possession of Corinth, and to have expelled the itate the Homeric model. In his fifteenth year, AlexSisyphide thirty years after the first invasion of the ander was placed under the immediate tuition of the Peloponnesus by the Heraclidæ. His family, some- celebrated Aristotle. The philosopher joined his royal times called the Aletidæ, maintained themselves at pupil B.C. 342, and did not finally quit him until he Corinth down to the time of Bacchis. (Paus., 2, 4, came to the throne. The master was worthy of the 3; 5, 18, 2.—Strab., 8, p. 389.-Callim., Frag., 103. scholar, and the scholar of his master. The mental -Pind., Olym. 13, 17.) Velleius Paterculus (1, 3) stores of Aristotle were vast, and all arranged with calls him a descendant of Hercules in the sixth de- admirable accuracy and judgment; while, on the other gree. He received an oracle promising him the sov- hand, Alexander was gifted with great quickness of ereignty of Athens, if during the war which was then apprehension, an insatiable desire of knowledge, and going on its kings should remain uninjured. This an ambition not to be satisfied with the second place oracle became known at Athens, and Codrus sacri- in any pursuit. At a distance from the court, this ficed himself for his country. (Vid. Codrus.-Conon., great philosopher instructed him in all the branches of Narrat., 26.) Other persons of this name are men- human knowledge, especially those necessary for a tioned in Apollod., 3, 10, 6; Hygin., Fab., 122; and ruler, and wrote, for his benefit, a work on the art of Virgil, En., 1, 121; 9, 462. government, which is unfortunately lost. As Macedon was surrounded by dangerous neighbours, Aristotle sought to cultivate in his pupil the talents and virtues of a military commander. With this view he recommended to him the reading of the Iliad, and revised this poem himself. The poet, as Aristotle emphatically names Homer, was the philosopher's inseparable companion: from him he drew his precepts and maxims; from him he borrowed his models. The preceptor imparted his enthusiasm to his pupil, and the most accurate copy of the great poem was prepared by Aristotle, and placed by Alexander in a precious casket which he found among the spoils of Darius. frame of the young prince was, at the same time, formed by gymnastic exercises. He gave several proofs of manly skill and courage while very young; one of which, the breaking in of his fiery courser Bucephalus, which had mastered every other rider, is mentioned by all his historians as an incident that convinced his father Philip of his future unconquerable spirit. When he was sixteen years old, Philip, setting out on an expedition against Byzantium, delegated the government to him during his absence. Two years later (B.C. 338), he performed prodigies of valour in the battle at Charonca, where he obtained great reputation by conquering the sacred band of the Thebans. "My son," said Philip, after the battle, embracing him, "seek another empire, for that which I shall leave you is not worthy of you." The father and son, however, quarrelled when Philip repudiated Olympias. Alexander, who took the part of his mothALEXANDER II., son of Amyntas II. He was treacher, was obliged to flee to Epirus to escape the ven

ALEUADE. Vid. Supplement.
ALEUAS. Vid. Supplement.

ALEXAMENUS, I. a native of Teos. (Vid. Supplement.)-II. A general of the Etolians, who, with a body of his countrymen, slew Nabis, tyrant of Sparta. He had been sent at the head of a band of auxiliaries, by the Etolians, ostensibly to aid Nabis, but in reality to get possession of Lacedæmon. The inhabitants, however, rallied after the fall of the tyrant, defeated the Ætolians, who were scattered throughout the city and plundering it, and slew Alexamenus. (Liv., 35, 34, seqq.) ALEXANDER, a name of very common occurrence, as designating not only kings, but private individuals. We will classify the monarchs by countries, and then come to private or less conspicuous personages.

1. Kings of Macedonia. ALEXANDER I., son of Amyntas, and tenth king of Macedon. He ascended the throne 497 B.C., and reigned 43 years. It was he who, while still a youth, slew, in company with a party of his young friends, habited in female attire, the Persian ambassadors at his father's court, having been provoked to the act by their immodest behaviour towards the females present at a banquet. With this prince the glory of Macedon may be said to have commenced. He enlarged his territories, partly by conquest, and partly by the gift which Xerxes bestowed upon him, of all the country from Mount Olympus to the range of Hamus. (Herod, 5, 18, seqq.-Justin, 7, 3.)

The

geance of his father, but he soon obtained pardon and sequent results were shown in the reduction of almost returned. He afterward accompanied Philip on an the whole of that country. A dangerous sickness, expedition against the Triballi, and saved his life in a however, brought on by bathing in the Cydnus, checkbattle. Philip, having been elected chief commander ed for a time his career. He received a letter from of the Greeks, was preparing for a war against Per- Parmenio, saying that Philip, his physician, had been sia, when he was assassinated, B.C. 336. This occur- bribed by Darius to poison him. Alexander gave the rence, at an eventful crisis, excited some suspicion letter to the physician, and at the same time drank the against Alexander and Olympias; but as it was one potion which the latter had prepared for him. Scarcely of his first acts to execute justice on those of his fa- was he restored to health when he advanced towards ther's assassins who fell into his hands, several of the the defiles of Cilicia, whither Darius had imprudently nobility being implicated in the plot, this imputation betaken himself with an immense army, instead of rests on little beyond surmise. It is more than prob- awaiting his adversary on the plains of Assyria. The able that the conspirators were in correspondence with second battle took place near Issus, between the sea the Persian court, and that ample promises of protec- and the mountains, and victory again declared for the tion and support were given to men undertaking to Macedonian monarch. The Macedonians conquered deliver the empire from the impending invasion of the on this day, not the Persians alone, but the united efcaptain-general of Greece. Alexander, who succeed-forts of Southern Greece and Persia; for the army of ed without opposition, was at this time in his twentieth Darius, besides its eastern troops, contained thirty year; and his youth, in the first instance, excited sev- thousand Greek mercenaries, the largest Greek force eral of the states of Greece to endeavour to set aside of that denomination mentioned in history. It was the Macedonian ascendency. By a sudden march into this galling truth that, among other causes, rendered Thessaly he, however, soon overawed the most active; the republican Greeks so hostile to Alexander. All and when, on a report of his death, chiefly at the in- the active partisans of that faction were at Issus, nor stigation of Demosthenes and his party, the various were the survivors dispirited by their defeat. Agis, states were excited to great commotion, he punished king of Sparta, gathered eight thousand who had rethe open revolt of Thebes with a severity which ef- turned to Greece by various ways, and fought with fectually prevented any imitation of its example. In- them a bloody battle against Antipater, who with difduced to stand a siege, that unhappy city, after being ficulty defeated the Spartans and their allies. Withmastered with dreadful slaughter, was razed to the out taking these facts into consideration, it is imposground, with the ostentatious exception of the house sible duly to estimate the difficulties surmounted by of the poet Pindar alone; while the unfortunate sur- Alexander. After the defeat at Issus, the treasures viving inhabitants were stripped of all their posses- and family of Darius fell into the hands of the consions and sold indiscriminately into slavery. Intimi- queror. The latter were treated most magnanimousdating by this cruel policy, the Macedonian party ly. Alexander did not pursue the Persian monarch, gained the ascendency in every state throughout who fled towards the Euphrates, but, in order to cut Greece, and Athens particularly disgraced itself by him off from the sea, turned towards Cale-Syria and the meanness of its submission. Alexander then pro- Phoenicia. Here he received a letter from Darius, ceeded to Corinth, where, in a general assembly of proposing peace. Alexander answered, that if he the states, his office of superior commander was rec- would come to him he would restore, not only his ognised and defined; and in the twenty-second year mother, wife, and children, without ransom, but also of his age, leaving Antipater, his viceroy, in Macedon, his empire. This reply produced no effect. The he passed the Hellespont, to overturn the Persian em- victory at Issus had opened the whole country to the pire, with an army not exceeding four thousand five Macedonians. Alexander took possession of Damashundred horse and thirty thousand foot. To secure cus, which contained a large portion of the royal treasthe protection of Minerva, he sacrificed to her on the ures, and secured all the towns along the Mediterraplain of Ilium, crowned the tomb of Achilles, and con- nean Sea. Tyre, imboldened by the strength of its gratulated this hero, from whom he was descended insular situation, resisted, but was taken, after seven through his mother, on his good fortune in having had months of incredible exertion, and destroyed. The such a friend as Patroclus, and such a poet as Homer capture of Tyre was perhaps the greatest military to celebrate his fame. The rapid movements of Alex- achievement of the Macedonian monarch; but it was ander had evidently taken the Persian satraps by sur- tarnished by his cruel severity towards the conquered, prise. They had, without making a single attempt to thirty thousand of the inhabitants having been sold by molest his passage, allowed him, with a far inferior him as slaves. Some excuse, however, may be found fleet, to convey his troops into Asia. They now re- in the excited feelings of the Macedonian army, ocsolved to advance and contest the passage of the river casioned by numerous insults on the part of the TyriGranicus. A force of twenty thousand cavalry was ns; by acts of cruelty towards some of their Macedrawn up on the right bank of the stream, while an donian captives; and also by the length and obstinacy equal number of Greek mercenaries crowned the hills of the siege; for more men were slain in winning in the rear. Unintimidated, however, by this array, Tyre, than in achieving the three great victories over Alexander led his army across, and, after a severe con- Darius. Alexander continued his victorious march flict, gained a decisive victory. The loss on the Per- through Palestine, where all the towns surrendered sian side was heavy, on that of their conquerors so except Gaza, which shared the fate of Tyre. Egypt, extremely slight (only eighty-five horsemen and thirty wearied of the Persian yoke, received him as a delivfoot soldiers) as to lead at once to the belief, that the erer. In order to confirm his power, he restored the general, who wrote the account of Alexander's cam- former customs and religious rites, and founded Alexpaigns, mentioned the loss of only the native-born andrea, which became one of the first cities of ancient Macedonians. Splendid funeral obsequies were per- times. Hence he went through the desert of Libya, formed in honour of those of his army who had fallen; to consult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, an adventure various privileges were granted to their fathers and resembling more the wildness of romance than the sochildren; and as twenty-five of the cavalry that had berness of history, and which has on this very account been slain on the Macedonian side belonged to the been regarded by some with an eye of incredulity royal troop of the "Companions," these were honour- It rests, however, on too firm a basis to be invalidated. ed with monumental statues of bronze, the workman- After having been acknowledged, say the ancient wriship of the celebrated Lysippus. The immediate con- ters, as the son of the god (vid. Ammon), Alexander, sequence of this victory was the freedom and restora- at the return of spring, marched against Darius, who tion of all the Greek cities in Asia Minor, and its sub- in the mean time had collected an army in Assyria,

and rejected the proposals of Alexander for peace. tiful virgins of Asia, was among the prisoners. AiA battle was fought at Gaugamela, not far from Arbe- exander fell in love with and married her. Upon the la, B.C. 331. Arrian estimates the army of Darius at news of this, Oxyantes thought it best to submit, and 1,000,000 of infantry and 40,000 cavalry; while that came to Bactria, where Alexander received him with of Alexander consisted of only 40,000 infantry and distinction. Here a new conspiracy was discovered. 7000 horse. On the Persian side, moreover, were at the head of which was Hermolaus, and among the some of the bravest and hardiest tribes of upper Asia. accomplices Callisthenes. All the conspirators were Notwithstanding the immense numerical superiority of condemned to death except Callisthenes, who was his enemy, Alexander was not a moment doubtful of mutilated and carried about with the army in an iron victory. At the head of his cavalry he attacked the cage, until he terminated his torments by poison. AlPersians, and routed them after a short conflict. One exander now formed the idea of conquering India, the great abject of his ambition was to capture the Per- name of which was scarcely known. He passed the sian monarch on the field of battle; and that object Indus, and formed an alliance with Taxilus, the ruler was at one time apparently within his grasp, when he of the region beyond this river, who assisted him with received, at the instant, a message from Parmenio that troops and 130 elephants. Conducted by Taxilus, he the left wing, which that general commanded, was hard marched towards the river Hydaspes, the passage of pressed by the Sacæ, Albanians, and Parthians, and he which, Porus, another king, defended at the head of was compelled, of course, to hasten to its relief. Dari- his army. Alexander conquered him in a bloody batus fled from the field of battle, leaving his army, bag- tle, took him prisoner, but restored him to his kinggage, and immense treasures to the victor. Babylon dom. He then marched victoriously on, established and Susa, where the riches of the East lay accumula- Greek colonies, and built, according to Plutarch, sevted, opened their gates to Alexander, who directed his enty towns, one of which he called Bucephala, after march to Persepolis, the capital of Persia. The only his horse, which had been killed on the Hydaspes. passage thither was defended by 40,000 men under Intoxicated by success, he intended to advance as far Ariobarzanes. Alexander attacked them in the rear, as the Ganges, and was preparing to pass the Hypharouted them, and entered Persepolis triumphant. sis, when the discontent of his army obliged him to From this time the glory of Alexander began to decline. terminate his progress and return. Previous to turnMaster of the greatest empire in the world, he became ing back, however, he erected on the banks of the a slave to his own passions; gave himself up to arro- Hyphasis twelve towers, in the shape of altars; mongance and dissipation; showed himself ungrateful and uments of the extent of his career, and testimonials of cruel, and in the arms of pleasure shed the blood of his gratitude towards the gods. On these gigantic alhis bravest generals. Hitherto sober and moderate, tars he offered sacrifices with all due solemnity, and this hero, who strove to equal the gods, and called horse-races and gymnastic contests closed the festivhimself a god, sunk to the level of vulgar men. Per- ities. When he had reached the Hydaspes, he built sepolis, the wonder of the world, he burned in a fit of a fleet, in which he sent a part of his troops down the intoxication. Ashamed of this act, he set out with his river, while the rest of his army proceeded along the cavalry to pursue Darius. Learning that Bessus, sa- banks. On his march he encountered several Indian trap of Bactriana, kept the king prisoner, he hastened princes, and, during the siege of a town belonging to his march with the hope of saving him. But Bessus, the Malli, was severely wounded. Having recovered, when he saw himself closely pursued, caused Darius he continued his course down the Indus, and thus to be assassinated (B.C. 330), because he was an im- reached the sea. Having entered the Indian Ocean pediment to his flight. Alexander beheld on the fron- and performed some rites in honour of Neptune, he left tiers of Bactriana a dying man, covered with wounds, his fleet; and, after ordering Nearchus, as soon as the lying on a chariot. It was Darius. The Macedonian season would permit, to sail to the Persian Gulf, and hero could not restrain his tears. After interring him thence up the Tigris, he himself prepared to march to with all the honours usual among the Persians, he took Babylon. He had to wander through immense deserts, possession of Hyrcania and Bactriana, and caused in which the greater part of his army, destitute of wahimself to be proclaimed King of Asia. He was form- ter and food, perished in the sand. Only the fourth ing still more gigantic plans, when a conspiracy broke part of the troops with which he had set out returned out in his own camp. Philotas, the son of Parmenie, to Persia. On his route he quelled several mutinies, was implicated. Alexander, not satisfied with the and placed governors over various provinces. In Susa blood of the son, caused the father also to be put to he married two Persian princesses, and rewarded those death. This act of injustice excited general displeas- of his Macedonians who had married Persian women; ure. At the same time, his power in Greece was threat- because it was his intention to unite the two nations ened; and it required all the energy of Antipater to as closely as possible. He distributed rich rewards dissolve, by force of arms, the league formed by the among his troops. At Opis, on the Tigris, he declared Greeks against the Macedonian authority. In the his intention of sending the invalids home with presmean time, Alexander marched in the winter through ents. The rest of the army mutinied; but he persistthe north of Asia as far as it was then known, check- ed, and effected his purpose. Soon after, his favoured neither by Mount Caucasus nor the Oxus, and ite, Hephæstion, died. His grief was unbounded, and reached the Caspian Sea, hitherto unknown' to the he buried his body with royal splendour. On his return Greeks. Insatiable of glory and thirsting for conquest, from Ecbatana to Babylon, the magicians are said to he spared not even the hordes of the Scythians. Re- have predicted that this city would be fatal to him. turning to Bactriana, he hoped to gain the affections of The representations of his friends induced him to dethe Persians by assuming their dress and manners; but spise these warnings. He went to Babylon, where this hope was not realized. The discontent of the many foreign ambassadors waited for him, and was army gave occasion to the scene which ended in the engaged in extensive plans for the future, when he death of Clitus. Alexander, whose pride he had offend- became suddenly sick after a banquet, and died in a ed, killed him with his own hand at a banquet. Clitus few days, B.C. 323. Such was the end of this conhad been one of his most faithful friends and brave of- queror, in his 32d year, after a reign of 12 years and ficers, and Alexander was afterward a prey to the 8 months. He left behind him an immense empire, keenest remorse. In the following year he subdued which became the scene of continual wars. He had the whole of Sogdiana. Oxyantes, one of the leaders designated no heir, and being asked by his friends to of the enemy, had secured his family in a castle built whom he left the empire, answered, "To the worthi on a lofty rock. The Macedonians stormed it. Rox- est." After many disturbances, the generals acknowl ana, the daughter of Oxyantes, one of the most beau- | edged Aridæus, a man of a very weak mind, the son