ALEXANDER, AND WHAT WAS THE PRESENT SENT BACK TO HIM.
But it fell that some of them of Tyre had fled into the court of
Darius, and they complained to him of their city destroyed, and
“all this,” said they, “we suffered because we obeyed the great
king, the Emperor Darius.” Then began the Emperor to question them
concerning this Alexander, what manner of man he was, what was his
stature and his strength, whether he were brave or no. And they,
willing to bring shame on the name of their enemy, shewed Darius a
painting of him on parchment. But when Darius looked on it he burst
into laughter, and all men smiled, and he said: “Well for ye, ye
men of Tyre, if ye were beaten by such a man as this, for never saw
I such a warrior,” for they had painted him a little shrivelled
creature, more like an ape than a man, with long arms, and one leg
longer than the other, blinking and stupid, the most miserable
object that had ever been seen. And Darius drove the men of Tyre
from his presence, and asked his wise men concerning Alexander, who
and what manner of man he was; and they told him how he was the
king’s son of Macedon, and how they had chosen him as fit to be the
husband of Roxana, and how he had rejected him because of his small
stature.
Then Darius bade search for his portrait and bring it before him
that he might look on him; but when they sought it they found it
not among the other likenesses, for it is to be said that Roxana
the Queen had borne it with her and treasured it up with her chief
treasures. So he thought within himself that he would prove the
heart and wit of the Greek, and he commanded, and they brought him
presents for Alexander, and first was a ball covered with gold;
“for,” said he, “he must have something to play with;” then he
added a hat, “and,” said he, “this is better than a crown;” and
last they brought him a head-covering made of twigs and osiers;
“this is better for such an one as thou, O Alexander, than a bright
steel helm.” And Darius fell back upon his throne, laughing, and
ordered messengers to take them to Alexander, bearing with them a
letter under his broad seal.
So Darius called for his scribes, and they came before him, and he
ordered them to write a letter to Alexander, and this was the form
of the letter he wrote:
“DARIUS, the Emperor, king of kings, lord of lords, predecessor of
princes, equal to the Sun, the lord of the earth, to Alexander, our
subject and our servant.
“For it is reported to us that thou, through the vanity and
vainglory of thy heart, hast got together warriors to lay waste
parts of our kingdom, and hast now with thee a number of wretches,
thieves and vagabonds, and by their means dost think to wield at
thy will the power of Persia:
“Now, therefore, be warned in time, for thou art weak before me,
even if thou hadst gathered against my empire all the men in the
world outside it, for my people are so many that they are like to
the stars of heaven in number. Submit in time; the Persians are
famed to be unbeaten.
“It is told me that thou, a dwarf and weakling, dost covet the rule
of all the lands under the wide heavens, and that, like a storm of
wind-blown snow, driven hither and thither, thou passest over all
lands with a train of ruffians behind thee. I have not yet armed my
men against thee; beware, when my hand shall be raised, thy life is
done. Turn again, boy, to thy mother’s care; take these toys I send
thee. Know that the riches of Persia are so great, that a heap of
its gold would shut out the light of the sun, and blame thyself for
all the evils that shall fall on thee if thou disobey.
“Now, therefore, return at once to Macedon, or, not as the son of
Philip, but as a leader of a band of petty thieves shalt thou be
hung.”
And when the letter was written the bearer of the kind’s seal
came forward, and the letter was closed, and cords of green silk
run through the edges, and dipped in wax, and the great seal was
stamped upon the wax, and it was given to the messengers of the
king, with strait commandment that they should tarry neither
night nor day until the king’s letter was given into the hands of
Alexander.
[Illustration: When he saw the letter, his heart was filled with
rage nevertheless he read it out in the hearing of his knights &
nobles & they were moved with fear.]
Now, Alexander was standing in the midst of his barons when the
messengers of Darius arrived, and as their commandment was urgent,
he bade them to be brought to him at once. And when he saw the
letter his heart was filled with rage, nevertheless he read it out
in the hearing of his knights and nobles; and when these heard it
their hearts were moved with fear of the mighty words of Darius.
So Alexander looked on them and he saw that they were afraid, and
he spoke to them: “What now! my worthy warriors, my bold knights
and barons, the best under heaven that ever king had, let it never
be told against you that the proud boasting of a letter of Darius
brought you to doubt yourselves, else were it shame indeed. Look
you, now, every day we ride through a village you may hear as
loud a yelping from any cur at a cottage door, but loud as they
bark they never bite. But methinks his letter should rather make
you rejoice, when he tells you what treasure of gold he has, for
it needs but to be bold and that treasure shall be yours.” And
then the anger in the king’s heart broke out, and turning to the
messengers of Darius, he said: “But for ye, that dare to bring such
threats to a Greek, ye shall learn the anger of Alexander. Take
them by the throats,” said he to the attendants, “and for their
master’s sake, hang them on the gallows.”
Then the messengers were amazed, and with a keen cry called to
Alexander: “Alas, O king, what fault lies in us, if it please thee,
that we should die thus suddenly.” “The sayings of your sovereign
lord,” said he, “force me to such deeds as I would never have
done else: lo, now, he calls me a thief in this letter.” But they
fell on their knees before him and said: “O king, Darius himself
dictated those words, for he knew not of your knighthood, nor of
your strength, nor of your worthiness, and so he wrote boldly; but
grant us our lives, and leave to go, and we will show him all your
power and your might.” So Alexander forgave them and made them a
great feast in his own tent, and made much of them, so that he
won their hearts; and they said to him: “Sir Alexander, send with
us, we pray thee, but one thousand of your knights, and we will
deliver Darius into your hands.” But the king answered them with
little love: “Rejoice in your feast, O messengers; verily no knight
of mine shall be sent to aid in betraying your lord.”
But in the night, one of the Persian messengers, a little man and a
crooked, having one arm longer than the other, came to the tent of
the king, and when he was admitted he asked that all men might be
put forth. So they were left alone, and the messenger drew from his
breast a leathern roll, and in it was a blue embroidered silk bag
of fair work, the lion on one side and the rising sun on the other,
and he laid it in the hand of the king. Then Alexander opened it,
and found within a scarf of green covered with fair half-open
flowers, and he looked on the messenger, and he answered: “O king,
the fairest dame in Persia sends thee this to the end that thou
mayest wear it in thy helm. One day, if the gods will, thou shalt
see her and know her name.” Then the messenger bowed low, and went
his way to his fellows, and all men slept.
The next day the messengers were called before Alexander and his
council, and a letter was given them, closely sealed up, to bear to
Darius. Now this was the form of the letter:
“I, ALEXANDER OF MACEDON, son and heir of Philip the defender of
Greece, and of Olympias the fair, to thee Darius, prince of the
Persians, the conqueror of every land--as you say yourself--thus
write under my seal.
“Let no man despise any neighbour who seems to be smaller and
poorer than himself, since the lowest is often raised to the
heavens, and the proudest ground to dust. And thou, Emperor of the
World as thou callest thyself, dost dishonour to thy name when thou
sendest such gifts out of Persia. Thou speakest as if thou wert one
of the gods that cannot die. I am but a mortal man, and will attack
thee.
“Thou hast destroyed thine own renown. If I am beaten, thou thyself
hast called me but a petty thief, and no honour shalt thou have:
if I overcome thee, the greater glory is mine, and men shall ever
tell how I have conquered a king, the greatest in the world.
Nevertheless I hope that one of thy tales is true, that of the
greatness of thy riches, for it has raised our hopes, and sharpened
our wits, and made us eager for battle, that we may the sooner
exchange our poverty for thy riches.
“But as for thy presents, know, O Darius, that the ball thou hast
sent represents the world, and thou hast handed over the mastery
of the world to me: the hollow hat held before the head when it
is bowed, shows that all kings shall bow before me: and this
headpiece of twigs is to say that ever shall I overcome, and be
overcome never. In the day of thy defeat, O Darius, remember my
interpretation of thy gifts.”
Then great gifts were given to the messengers, and they were sent
out of the camp to Darius, and Alexander made all his preparations
for the war against the Persians. But when Darius had read the
letter of Alexander, and heard the words of the messengers, he was
sore angered, and he made up his mind to fall on the Greeks and to
destroy the power of Alexander. So he wrote to two of his greatest
satraps, the duke Priam and the duke Antigonus, ordering them to
get their forces together and to go out and seize this insolent lad
who was so bold as to defy the army of the Persians, and who had
entered the borders of Asia with such a large number of followers.
“Then,” said Darius, “bring him bound to me, that he may be well
beaten with scourges and then I will sew him up in a mantle of
bright purple and send him to his mother. Since he is so proud, the
punishment of a child will be best for him, and when all is over he
may play at home at bowls or handball with his mother’s servants.”
Now this letter reached the dukes soon after they had fought a
great battle with Alexander’s men and had been defeated; so when
they had broken the king’s broad seal and turned the leaf to read
the letter, they looked on one another, and they thought that
Darius could not know what manner of man Alexander was, or how
hard it was to stand before him in battle. So Sir Priam the duke
wrote to Darius by a special messenger that this child, whom they
had been ordered to seize, had wasted all their lands, and had
passed through the province, and that when they had raised an army
to meet him, neither prince nor soldier could face him sword in
hand: and the letter ended by begging the king to come at once to
their aid with as many men as he could, that the honour of Persia
might not be put to shame.
So Darius called a council to advise him as to the best means of
meeting Alexander, but before they were met another messenger came
with tidings that the Greeks had crossed the river that was called
the boundary of Persia, and that they were now in the Emperor’s own
land. And when this was told the council all men wondered how that
Alexander should be so bold as to enter Persia, or to disobey the
letter of Darius, and they advised the king to write once again to
him, reproving him, and that if he still disobeyed, that he should
be crushed to the earth, and the king did so, for he knew not how
a man could disobey his order.
The tale tells that when this letter reached Alexander it found
him in great grief, for messengers had come from Macedon telling
that his mother was like to die, and Alexander had bidden his men
strike their tents and return home to Macedon. So the messengers
drew near trembling, and gave the letter of Darius to Alexander,
and with it was a glove full of poppy seeds, which are almost the
smallest of all seeds. So Alexander read the letter and he laughed
out, for Darius had told him that even the gods obeyed him on
earth, and now bade him return to Macedonia ere his wrath should
arise. “And as a token,” added Darius, “I send thee this glove full
of seeds, count them if thou canst, and thou hast the number of
knights in my army. But the seeds are numberless, and so are the
soldiers I rule.”
Then Alexander called to him the messengers, and said: “Hearken,
and tell the king that which you see and hear.” Then he took the
glove and poured out some of the seeds into his hand, and biting
them he said: “Here I see that the soldiers of Darius are passing
many, but they seem to be soft and feeble, as these seeds prove.
But be they soft or hard, it matters but little.” And he wrote
a letter to Darius telling him that though he was returning to
Macedon it was not on account of the threats of the Persians, but
because his mother was at point of death, and that he would return
with an army larger than before. “And in answer to thy glove full
of seeds, I send thee a purse full of black pepper, that thou mayst
see the comparison between the Persian and the Macedonian.”
[Illustration]