CHAPTER VIII.

THE REIGNS OF DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

BAGOAS, having been long virtually sovereign of the empire, would doubtless have ascended the throne had he had the least confidence that the nobles of Media and Persia would have submitted to an Egyptian eunuch. While, however, he felt it absolutely necessary to conciliate them, he was fixed in purpose to maintain his position. Pride of power to command rendered him incapable of reverence for authority so as to obey. He probably choose Codomanus, not merely because he was of the royal race, but because he had been distinguished by vanity rather than pride, and by love of splendour more than desire of power. He may therefore have calculated that he would be able to direct all his public actions by gratifying his predominant passions to an extent which his previous circumstances could never have led him to imagine or anticipate. Darius Codomanus appears to have passed his youth in comparative obscurity; and his first employment was one of the least respectable among the servants of government. He was first known as one of the couriers. who carried dispatches from the court to the governors of the provinces. He owed his appointment to the government of Armenia to a remarkable instance of courage in the Cadusian war. A champion of the enemy had offered to fight in single combat any one of the Persian army; Darius was the only one who accepted the challenge; he slew his opponent, but had he not been viewed unambitious of any other distinction than that of a brave soldier, the fact of his belonging to the royal family would have certainly prevented his sovereign, the murderer of his kindred, from exalting him to the office of a governor. He had not, however, been long king when he manifested his purpose to perform the duties of his office;

and to prove that he was the first in power as well as in dignity. This roused the indignation of Bagoas; and he conspired to remove him by poison. His treachery was discovered, and Darius made him drink the prepared poison. His throne was apparently established; and his court speedily appeared in all the grandeur of the East. He was admired for his noble aspect, being the most beautiful man of his empire; respected for his heroism, and loved for his mild and generous dispositions and polite manners. But he knew the danger of his station, and he heard in the distance the sound of the tempest which suddenly laid his honour in the dust, and swept from the earth the dominion of Persia.

The same year beheld the commencement of the reign of Darius Codomanus, and that of his conqueror, Alexander the Great. The success of the latter in the vast enterprise to which Providence ordained him, chiefly arose out of the state and relations of his kingdom at the time of his father's death. Mankind no longer, indeed, trembled at the name or voice of the kings of Persia, the nominal arbiters of the world; but their wealth still commanded armies tremendous in power. This was visible in the inexpressible miseries endured, in almost every part of the empire, during the sanguinary deeds of the recent beast of prey who had swayed the sceptre almost twenty-one years; and several of the able captains of his triumphant armies survived, seemed fully qualified to preserve in subjection the empire which he had restored to comparative tranquillity. The Grecians continued to vindicate their claims to unparalleled wisdom and unconquerable courage. Nevertheless, the nations had repeatedly witnessed that a Grecian army was not invulnerable. The Grecian states, never cordially united, had exceedingly wasted their strength by internal factions, or defensive and aggressive war. Though they retained their jealousy and hatred of the Persians, and ambition of supremacy over all nations, nevertheless, past experience and observation would have countenanced the opinion that there was more reason to apprehend their progressive decay, loss of liberty, or destruction, than their attainment of universal empire. No intelligent and impartial reader of Grecian history will assert that Alexander the Great surpassed, as a statesman or military captain, all who had previously governed the Grecian states. Personally contemplated, he certainly deserves not more celebrity than several other Grecians whose individual or successive services had scarcely been effectual to preserve their country from en

tire prostration before the throne of Persia. Alexander was, therefore, doubtless principally indebted, in subserviency to Divine Providence, for his more exalted destiny, to the peculiar state and relations of Macedon at the period of the death of his father Philip. This prince was accounted the seventeenth king of a family who regarded themselves Greeks; but the more cultivated inhabiants of Greece Proper dis claimed all relationship to the Macedonians, and denominated them barbarians. Philip, however, early became identified with the Greeks, and was justly acknowledged one of the most accomplished statesmen and captains of his age, completely eclipsing the glory of his ancestors. At the age of ten years he was sent to Thebas, and entrusted to the care of its famous general Pelopidas, who placed him in the house of his friend Epaminondas, still more illustrious as a philosopher, politician, and warrior. He carefully educated him with his own son; their common tutor was one of the most eminent of the Pythagorean philosophers, and most probably Epaminondas carried Philip with him in some, if not in all his campaigns, that he might acquire full knowledge of the art of war. Philip was always proud of having been the pupil of Epaminondas, and resolved to imitate his example; but the moral principles which he had been taught never governed his life. He returned to his own country in his twentieth year. Four years later he succeeded to the throne, and sometime afterwards married Olympias, a grand-daughter of Aletes, king of Epirus, who gave birth to Alexander on the very day that the great temple of Diana at Ephesus was set on fire and consumed by the fool Erostratus, who desired, like many counted wise, to perpetuate his fame by some means, however mischievous.

From the opportunity Philip had enjoyed of thoroughly knowing the relations and affairs of the states of Greece, it is possible, as historians intimate, that the sovereignty of them was the chief object of his ambition from, if not before, his first entrance into public life; and this at least is plain, that the schemes which he devised and pursued for many years were viewed by the best judges as tending to the entire subjugation of Greece. Macedon, which he owed to his ancestors, consisted of no more than a small and comparatively poor portion of Thrace; he was not slow to extend his dominions in that country and Illyria. He enlarged his territories and influence much more by policy and dissimulation than by arms, and this he was enabled to do more efficiently after he obtained possession of Crenides, which he named Philippi; for

there he opened gold mines, which every year produced upwards of a thousand talents, that is, about an hundred and forty-four thousand pounds sterling,-a prodigious sum of money in that age. By this means money became much more current in Macedon than before, and Philip first caused the golden specie to be coined there, which outlived his monarchy. Superiority of finances is of endless advantage to a state, and no prince understood them better than Philip, or neglected them less. By this fund he was enabled to maintain a powerful army of foreigners, and to bribe a number of creatures in most of the cities of Greece. Demosthenes says that when Greece was in its most flourishing condition, gold and silver were. ranked in the number of prohibited arms; but Philip thought, spoke, and acted in a quite different manner. It is said, that consulting the oracle of Delphos, he received the following answer:-"Make coin thy weapons, and thou'lt conquer all." The advice of the priestess became his rule, and he applied it with great success. He owned that he had carried more places by money than arms; that he never forced a gate till after having attempted to open it with a golden key and that he did not think any fortress impregnable into which a mule laden with silver could find entrance It has been said that he was a merchant rather than a conqueror, that it was not Philip, but his gold, which subdued Greece, and that he bought its cities rather than took them. He had pensioners in all the commonwealths of Greece, and retained those in his pay who had the greatest share in the public affairs. And, indeed, he was less proud of the success of a battle than that of a negociation; well knowing that neither his generals nor his soldiers could share in the honour of the latter.

The times were auspicious to his acquisition of the ascendancy in Greece. Athens, Sparta, and Thebes had successively attempted to give law to all Greece, and in their struggles had destroyed their own resources and deluged the states in blood. That, however, which they never fully could attain he easily seized by putting an end to what was called the "sacred war," which distracted and spoiled Greece ten years. It derived its name from its origin,-the supposed profanity of the Phoceans in taking possession of the district adjacent to Delphi, which was regarded as consecrated to Apollo. They afterwards still more provoked the wrath of the more devout Grecians by employing the treasures of the temple to repel the armies sent against them.

Representatives from all the States were accustomed to assemble to deliberate on affairs in which they were all interested. These were called "the Council of the Amphyctions." Philip, by his intrigues, succeeded to procure admission into this council, and consequently to cause his kingdom to be acknowledged as one of Greece; and, by similar means, he prevailed on the Council to appoint him generalissimo of all the Greeks and finally, which was perhaps the ultimate end of his policy, to be commissioned to make preparations for the invasion and conquest of Persia; in which enterprise all the states were called on to afford him every possible means of support. But his glory suddenly vanished; domestic misery was his lot Olympias embittered his life, and he sought relief by drowning her, and marrying Cleopatra, a beautiful daughter of Attalus, one of the chief captains of his army. Among the many splendid follies of the marriage festival was a procession from the palace to the theatre. Before him were carried thirteen statues of gods, one of which, exceeding all the rest in magnificence, represented the vain monarch. he proceeded, one of his chief officers, to whom he declined to do justice, stabbed him with a dagger, in the presence of the vast multitude assembled, which caused his instant death, in the forty-seventh year of his age.

As

No one ever more completely disregarded the maxims of wisdom for which he has been celebrated: of this, one instance suggested by the last scene of his life is sufficient proof. He exulted in being adored as a god, while he treated such conduct in any other person with utter contempt. Thus, when Menecrates, supposing himself Jupiter, addressed him in these words, "Menecrates Jupiter to Philip greeting," he answered, "Philip to Menecrates, health and reason and to correct the delusion of the physician, he invited him to a grand entertainment, and placed before him incense and perfumes, which at first transported him with joy on finding himself publicly acknowledged as a god. But hunger recalled him to his senses, and receiving nothing to eat, he quickly left the company. Philip knew well the importance of knowledge; and hence he was most solicitous that his son Alexander should receive the most complete education which could be procured in Greece, justly regarded the most enlightened country in the world. This induced him to place him early under the care and tuition of Aristotle, the most eminent and admired pupil of Plato. Josephus relates a remarkable anecdote of Aristotle, extracted from Clearchus, one