1. Alexander the Great wished to unite the whole world into one vast
empire. 2. He intended that all the different peoples should conform to
common laws and that their sons-and-daughters should speak one common
language, and in spite of their love for their national languages,
should leave-off speaking them. 3. Possibly he might have accomplished
his object to some extent (217), if he had not died suddenly when he
was only thirty-two years old. 4. His soldiers marched weeping past his
tent, to bid farewell to their dying leader. 5. They must have esteemed
him very highly! 6. It was Alexander who founded the city of Alexandria,
in Egypt, where approximately three hundred years before Christ the
famous Alexandrian library was located. 7. It contained an enormous
collection-of-books -- almost seven hundred thousand. 8. Alas, this
extensive library was destroyed by fire! 9. Alexander, who "sighed for
other worlds to conquer," did not even know of the existence of North
and South America, Australia, or even of England and Northern Europe.
10. Beside his Asiatic empire, he knew very little of Asia, even of
China, with its millions of inhabitants. 11. How small the world was in
those days!