1. The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
2. Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with its banners at sunset was seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
3. For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed on the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still.
4. And there lay the steed, with his nostrils all wide,
But through them there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
5. And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail,
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
6. And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.
[Illustration]
_Byron._
_XX.--GLAUCON._
1. When Glaucon, the son of Ariston, attempted to harangue the people,
from a desire, though he was not yet twenty years of age, to have a
share in the government of the state, no one of his relatives, or
other friends, could prevent him from getting himself dragged down
from the tribunal and making himself ridiculous; but Socrates, who had
a friendly feeling toward him on account of Charmides, the son of
Glaucon, as well as on account of Plato, succeeded in prevailing on
him, by his sole dissuasion, to relinquish his purpose.
[Illustration: _Socrates._]
2. Meeting him by chance, he first stopped him by addressing him as
follows, that he might be willing to listen to him: "Glaucon," said
he, "have you formed an intention to govern the state for us?" "I
have, Socrates," replied Glaucon. "By Jupiter," rejoined Socrates, "it
is an honorable office, if any other among men be so; for it is
certain that, if you attain your object, you will be able yourself to
secure whatever you may desire, and will be in a condition to benefit
your friends; you will raise your father's house, and increase the
power of your country; you will be celebrated first of all in your own
city, and afterward throughout Greece, and perhaps, also, like
Themistocles, among the barbarians, and, wherever you may be, you will
be an object of general admiration." Glaucon, hearing this, was highly
elated, and cheerfully stayed to listen. Socrates next proceeded to
say: "But it is plain, Glaucon, that if you wish to be honored, you
must benefit the state." "Certainly," answered Glaucon. "Then, in the
name of the gods," said Socrates, "do not hide from us how you intend
to act, but inform us with what proceeding you will begin to benefit
the state." But as Glaucon was silent, as if just considering how he
should begin, Socrates said: "As, if you wished to aggrandize the
family of a friend, you would endeavor to make it richer, tell me
whether you will in like manner also endeavor to make the state
richer?" "Assuredly," said he. "Would it then be richer, if its
revenues were increased?" "That is at least probable," said Glaucon.
"Tell me then," proceeded Socrates, "from what the revenues of the
state arise, and what is their amount; for you have doubtless
considered, in order that if any of them fall short, you may make up
the deficiency, and that if any of them fail, you may procure fresh
supplies." "These matters, by Jupiter," replied Glaucon, "I have not
considered."
3. "Well, then," said Socrates, "if you have omitted to consider this
point, tell me at least the annual expenditure of the state; for you
undoubtedly mean to retrench whatever is superfluous in it." "Indeed,"
replied Glaucon, "I have not yet had time to turn my attention to that
subject." "We will therefore," said Socrates, "put off making our
state richer for the present; for how is it possible for him who is
ignorant of its expenditure and its income to manage those matters?"
4. "But Socrates," observed Glaucon, "it is possible to enrich the
state at the expense of our enemies." "Extremely possible, indeed,"
replied Socrates, "if we be stronger than they; but if we be weaker,
we may lose all that we have." "What you say is true," said Glaucon.
5. "Accordingly," said Socrates, "he who deliberates with whom he
shall go to war, ought to know the force both of his own country and
of the enemy, so that, if that of his own country be superior to that
of the enemy, he may advise it to enter upon the war, but if inferior,
may persuade it to be cautious of doing so." "You say rightly," said
Glaucon.
[Illustration: _Socrates and Glaucon._]
6. "In the first place, then," proceeded Socrates, "tell us the
strength of the country by land and sea, and next that of the enemy."
"But, by Jupiter," exclaimed Glaucon, "I should not be able to tell
you on the moment, and at a word." "Well, then, if you have it written
down," said Socrates, "bring it, for I should be extremely glad to
hear what it is." "But, to say the truth," replied Glaucon, "I have
not yet written it down."
7. "We will therefore put off considering about war for the present,"
said Socrates, "for it is very likely that on account of the magnitude
of these subjects, and as you are just commencing your administration,
you have not yet examined into them. But to the defense of the
country, I am quite sure that you have directed your attention, and
that you know how many garrisons are in advantageous positions, and
how many not so, what number of men would be sufficient to maintain
them, and what number would be insufficient, and that you will advise
your countrymen to make the garrisons in advantageous positions
stronger, and to remove the useless ones."
8. "By Jove," replied Glaucon, "I shall recommend them to remove them
all, as they keep guard so negligently, that the property is secretly
carried off out of the country." "Yet, if we remove the garrisons,"
said Socrates, "do you not think that liberty will be given to anybody
that pleases to pillage? But," added he, "have you gone personally and
examined as to this fact, or how do you know that the garrisons
conduct themselves with such negligence?" "I form my conjectures,"
said he. "Well, then," inquired Socrates, "shall we settle about these
matters also, when we no longer rest upon conjecture, but have
obtained certain knowledge?" "Perhaps that," said Glaucon, "will be
the better course."
9. "To the silver-mines, however," continued Socrates, "I know that
you have not gone, so as to have the means of telling us why a smaller
revenue is derived from them than came in some time ago." "I have not
gone thither," said he. "Indeed, the place," said Socrates, "is said
to be unhealthy, so that when it is necessary to bring it under
consideration, this will be a sufficient excuse for you." "You jest
with me," said Glaucon. "I am sure, however," proceeded Socrates,
"that you have not neglected to consider, but have calculated, how
long the corn which is produced in the country, will suffice to
maintain the city, and how much it requires for the year, in order
that the city may not suffer from scarcity unknown to you, but that,
from your own knowledge, you may be able, by giving your advice
concerning the necessaries of life, to support the city and preserve
it." "You propose a vast field for me," observed Glaucon, "if it will
be necessary for me to attend to such subjects."
10. "Nevertheless," proceeded Socrates, "a man can not order his house
properly, unless he ascertains all that it requires, and takes care to
supply it with everything necessary; but since the city consists of
more than ten thousand houses, and since it is difficult to provide
for so many at once, how is it that you have not tried to aid one
first of all, suppose that of your uncle, for it stands in need of
help? If you be able to assist that one, you may proceed to assist
more; but if you be unable to benefit one, how will you be able to
benefit many? Just as it is plain that, if a man can not carry the
weight of a talent, he need not attempt to carry a greater weight?"
11. "But I would improve my uncle's house," said Glaucon, "if he would
but be persuaded by me." "And then," resumed Socrates, "when you can
not persuade your uncle, do you expect to make all the Athenians,
together with your uncle, yield to your arguments?
12. "Take care, Glaucon, lest, while you are eager to acquire glory,
you meet with the reverse of it. Do you not see how dangerous it is
for a person to speak of, or undertake, what he does not understand?
Contemplate, among other men, such as you know to be characters that
plainly talk of, and attempt to do, what they do not know, and
consider whether they appear to you, by such conduct, to obtain more
applause or censure, whether they seem to be more admired or despised?
13. "Contemplate, again, those who have some understanding of what
they say and do, and you will find, I think, in all transactions, that
such as are praised and admired are of the number of those who have
most knowledge, and that those who incur censure and neglect are among
those that have least.
14. "If, therefore, you desire to gain esteem and reputation in your
country, endeavor to succeed in gaining a knowledge of what you wish
to do; for if, when you excel others in this qualification, you
proceed to manage the affairs of the state, I shall not wonder if you
very easily obtain what you desire."
_Xenophon._
_XXI.--CYRUS AND HIS GRANDFATHER._
1. When Cyrus was twelve years old, his mother Mandana took him with
her into Media to his grandfather Astyages, who, from the many things
he had heard in favor of the young prince, had a great desire to see
him. In this court young Cyrus found very different manners from those
of his own country: pride, luxury, and magnificence reigned here
universally. Astyages himself was richly clothed, had his eyes
colored, his face painted, and his hair embellished with artificial
locks; for the Medes affected an effeminate life--to be dressed in
scarlet and to wear necklaces and bracelets--whereas the habits of the
Persians were very plain and coarse.
2. All this finery had no effect upon Cyrus, who, without criticising
or condemning what he saw, was content to live as he had been brought
up, and adhered to the principles he had imbibed from his infancy. He
charmed his grandfather with his sprightliness and wit, and gained the
favor of all by his noble and engaging behavior. I shall only mention
one instance, whereby we may judge of the rest. Astyages, to make his
grandson unwilling to return home, made a sumptuous entertainment, in
which there was a vast plenty and profusion of everything that was
nice and delicate. Cyrus looked upon all this exquisite cheer and
magnificent preparation with great indifference, and, observing that
it excited the surprise of Astyages, "The Persians," says he to the
king, "instead of going such a roundabout way to appease their hunger,
have a much shorter one to the same end: a little bread and cresses
with them answer the purpose."
3. Astyages desiring Cyrus to dispose of all the meats as he thought
fit, the latter immediately distributed them to the king's
officers-in-waiting: to one, because he taught him to ride; to
another, because he waited well upon his grandfather; and to a third,
because he took great care of his mother. Sacas, the king's
cup-bearer, was the only person to whom he gave nothing. This officer,
besides the post of cup-bearer, had that likewise of introducing those
who were to have audience with the king; and, as he could not possibly
grant that favor to Cyrus as often as he desired it, he had the
misfortune to displease the prince, who took this occasion to show his
resentment.
4. Astyages, manifesting some concern at the neglect of this officer,
for whom he had a particular regard, and who deserved it, as he said,
on account of the wonderful dexterity with which he served him--"Is
that all, father?" replied Cyrus; "if that be sufficient to merit your
favor, you shall see I will quickly obtain it; for I will take upon me
to serve you better than he." Cyrus immediately equipped as a
cup-bearer, and advancing gravely with a serious countenance, a napkin
upon his shoulder, and holding the cup nicely with three of his
fingers, presented it to the king with a dexterity and a grace that
charmed both Astyages and Mandana. When he had done he threw himself
upon his grandfather's neck, and, kissing him, cried out with great
joy: "O Sacas! poor Sacas! thou art undone; I shall have thy place!"
5. Astyages embraced him with great fondness, and said: "I am highly
pleased, my dear child; nobody can serve me with a better grace; but
you have forgot one essential ceremony, which is that of tasting";
and, indeed, the cup-bearer was used to pour some of the liquor into
his left hand, and to taste it, before he presented it to the king.
"No," replied Cyrus, "it was not through forgetfulness that I omitted
that ceremony." "Why, then," says Astyages, "for what reason did you
not do it?" "Because I apprehended there was poison in the liquor."
"Poison, child! How could you think so?" "Yes, poison, father, for not
long ago, at an entertainment you gave to the lords of your court,
after the guests had drunk a little of that liquor, I perceived all
their heads were turned. They sang, made a noise, and talked they did
not know what; you yourself seemed to have forgotten that you were
king, and they that they were subjects; and when you would have danced
you could not stand upon your legs." "Why," said Astyages, "have you
never seen the same thing happen to your father?" "No, never," says
Cyrus. "What, then? How is it with him when he drinks?" "Why, when he
has drunk, his thirst is quenched, and that is all."
6. Mandana being upon the point of returning to Persia, Cyrus joyfully
complied with the repeated requests his grandfather had made to him to
stay in Media; being desirous, as he said, to perfect himself in the
art of riding, which he was not yet master of, and which was not known
in Persia, where the barrenness of the country and its craggy,
mountainous situation rendered it unfit for the breeding of horses.
7. During the time of his residence at this court his behavior
procured him infinite love and esteem. He was gentle, affable,
beneficent, and generous. Whenever the young lords had any favor to
ask of the king, Cyrus was their solicitor. If the king had any
subject of complaint against them, Cyrus was their mediator; their
affairs became his, and he always managed them so well that he
obtained whatever he desired.
_Rollin._
_XXII.--CYRUS AND THE ARMENIANS._
1. The King of Armenia who was vassal to the Medes, looking upon them
as ready to be swallowed up by a formidable league formed against
them, thought fit to lay hold of this occasion to shake off their
yoke. Accordingly he refused to pay them the ordinary tribute, and to
send them the number of troops he was obliged to furnish in time of
war. This highly embarrassed Cyaxares, who was afraid at this
juncture of bringing new enemies upon his hands if he undertook to
compel the Armenians to execute their treaty.
2. But Cyrus, having informed himself exactly of the strength and
situation of the country, undertook the affair. The important point was
to keep his design secret, without which it was not likely to succeed.
He therefore appointed a great hunting-match on that side of the
country; for it was his custom to ride out that way, and frequently to
hunt with the king's son and the young noblemen of Armenia. On the
appointed day, he set out with a numerous retinue. The troops followed
at a distance, and were not to appear till a signal was given. After
some days' hunting, when they had nearly reached the palace where the
court resided, Cyrus communicated his design to his officers; and sent
Chrysanthes with a detachment, ordering them to make themselves master
of a certain steep eminence, where he knew the king used to retire in
case of an alarm, with his family and his treasures.
3. This being done, he sent a herald to the king of Armenia, to summon
him to perform the treaty, and in the mean time ordered his troops to
advance. Never was a court in greater surprise and perplexity. The
king was conscious of the wrong he had done, and was not in a
condition to support it. However, he did what he could to assemble his
forces together from all quarters; and in the mean time dispatched his
youngest son, called Stabaris, into the mountains, with his wives, his
daughters, and whatever was most precious and valuable. But when he
was informed by his scouts that Cyrus was closely pursuing, he
entirely lost all courage, and all thoughts of making a defense.
4. The Armenians, following his example, ran away, every one where he
could, to secure what was dearest to him. Cyrus, seeing the country
covered with people that were endeavoring to make their escape, sent
them word that no harm should be done to them if they stayed in their
houses; but that as many as were taken running away should be treated
as enemies. This made them all retire to their habitations, excepting
a few that followed the king.
5. On the other hand, they that were conducting the princesses to the
mountains fell into the ambush Chrysanthes had laid for them, and were
most of them taken prisoners. The queen, the king's son, his
daughters, his eldest son's wife, and his treasures, all fell into the
hands of the Persians.
6. The king, hearing this melancholy news, and not knowing what would
become of him, retired to a little eminence, where he was presently
invested by the Persian army, and obliged to surrender. Cyrus ordered
him with all his family to be brought to the midst of the army. At
that very instant arrived Tigranes, the king's eldest son, who was
just returned from a journey. At so moving a scene he could not
forbear weeping. Cyrus, addressing himself to him, said: "Prince, you
are come very seasonably to be present at the trial of your father."
And immediately he assembled the captains of the Persians and Medes,
and called in also the great men of Armenia. Nor did he so much as
exclude the ladies from this assembly, who were there in their
chariots, but gave them full liberty to hear and see all that passed.
7. When all was ready and Cyrus had commanded silence, he began with
requiring of the king, that in all the questions he was about to
propose to him, he would answer sincerely, because nothing could be
more unworthy a person of his rank than to use dissimulation or
falsehood. The king promised he would. Then Cyrus asked him, but at
different times, proposing each article separately, and in order,
whether it was not true, that he had made war upon Astyages, King of
the Medes, his grandfather; whether he had not been overcome in that
war, and in consequence of his defeat had concluded a treaty with
Astyages; whether by virtue of that treaty he was not obliged to pay a
certain tribute, to furnish a certain number of troops, and not to
keep any fortified place in his country.
8. It was impossible for the king to deny any of these facts, which
were all public and notorious. "For what reason, then," continued
Cyrus, "have you violated the treaty in every article?" "For no
other," replied the king, "than because I thought it a glorious thing
to shake off the yoke, to live free, and to leave my children in the
same condition." "It is really glorious," answered Cyrus, "to fight in
defense of liberty, but if any one, after he is reduced to servitude,
should attempt to run away from his master, what would you do with
him?" "I must confess," said the king, "I would punish him." "And if
you had given a government to one of your subjects, and he should be
found to misbehave, would you continue him in his post?" "No,
certainly; I would put another in his place." "And if he had amassed
great riches by his unjust practices?" "I would strip him of them."
"But, which is still worse, if he had held intelligence with your
enemies, how would you treat him?" "Though I should pass sentence upon
myself," replied the king, "I must declare the truth; I would put him
to death." At these words Tigranes tore his tiara from his head, and
rent his garments; the women burst out into lamentations and outcries,
as if the sentence had actually passed upon him.
9. Cyrus, having again commanded silence, Tigranes addressed himself
to the prince to this effect: "Great prince, can you think it
consistent with your wisdom, to put my father to death, even against
your own interest?" "How against my interest?" replied Cyrus. "Because
he was never so capable of doing you service." "How do you make that
appear? Do the faults we commit enhance our merit, and give us a new
title to consideration and favor?" "They certainly do, provided they
serve to make us wiser; for wisdom is of inestimable value. Are either
riches, courage, or address to be compared to it? Now it is evident,
this single day's experience has infinitely improved my father's
wisdom. He knows how dear the violation of his word has cost him. He
has proved and felt how much you are superior to him in all respects.
He has not been able to succeed in any of his designs; but you have
happily accomplished all yours; and with such expedition and secrecy
that he has found himself surrounded and taken before he expected to
be attacked, and the very place of his retreat has served only to
ensnare him."
10. "But your father," replied Cyrus, "has yet undergone no sufferings
that can have taught him wisdom." "The fear of evils," answered
Tigranes, "when it is so well founded as this is, has a much sharper
sting, and is more capable of piercing the soul, than the evil itself.
Besides, permit me to say, that gratitude is a stronger and more
prevailing motive than any whatever; and there can be no obligations
in the world of a higher nature than those you will lay upon my
father--his fortune, liberty, scepter, life, wives, and children, all
restored to him with such a generosity. Where can you find,
illustrious prince, in one single person, so many strong and powerful
ties to attach him to your service?"
11. "Well, then," replied Cyrus, turning to the king, "if I should
yield to your son's entreaties, with what number of men, and what sum
of money, will you assist us in the war against the Babylonians?" "My
troops and treasures," says the Armenian king, "are no longer mine;
they are entirely yours. I can raise forty thousand foot and eight
thousand horse; and as for money, I reckon, including the treasure
which my father left me, there are about three thousand talents ready
money. All these are wholly at your disposal." Cyrus accepted half the
number of the troops, and left the king the other half, for the
defense of the country against the Chaldeans, with whom he was at war.
12. The annual tribute which was due to the Medes he doubled, and
instead of fifty talents exacted a hundred, and borrowed the like sum
over and above in his own name. "But what would you give me," added
Cyrus, "for the ransom of your wives?" "All that I have in the world,"
replied the king. "And for the ransom of your children?" "The same
thing." "From this time, then, you are indebted to me the double of
all your possessions. And you, Tigranes, at what price would you
redeem the liberty of your lady?" Now he had lately married her, and
was passionately fond of her. "At the price," said he, "of a thousand
lives if I had them." Cyrus then conducted them all to his tent, and
entertained them at supper. It is easy to imagine what transports of
joy there must have been upon this occasion.
13. After supper, as they were discoursing upon various subjects,
Cyrus asked Tigranes what was become of a governor whom he had often
seen hunting with him, and for whom he had a particular esteem.
"Alas!" said Tigranes, "he is no more; and I dare not tell you by what
accident I lost him." Cyrus pressed him to tell him. "My father,"
continued Tigranes, "seeing I had a very tender affection for this
governor, and that I was extremely attached to him, suspected it might
be of some ill consequence and put him to death. But he was so honest
a man, that as he was ready to expire, he sent for me and spoke to me
in these words: 'Tigranes, let not my death occasion any
dissatisfaction in you toward the king your father. What he has done
to me did not proceed from malice, but only from prejudice, and a
false notion wherewith he was unhappily blinded.'" "Oh, the excellent
man!" cried Cyrus, "never forget the last advice he gave you."
14. When the conversation was ended, Cyrus, before they parted,
embraced them all, as in token of a perfect reconciliation. This done,
they got into their chariots, with their wives, and went home full of
gratitude and admiration. Nothing but Cyrus was mentioned the whole
way; some extolling his wisdom, others his valor; some admiring the
sweetness of his temper, others praising the beauty of his person and
the majesty of his mien. "And you," said Tigranes, addressing himself
to his lady, "what do you think of Cyrus's aspect and deportment?" "I
do not know," replied the lady, "I did not observe him." "Upon what
object, then, did you fix your eyes?" "Upon him that said he would
give a thousand lives to ransom my liberty."
The next day the King of Armenia sent presents to Cyrus, and
refreshments for his whole army, and brought him double the sum of
money he was required to furnish. But Cyrus took only what had been
stipulated, and restored him the rest. The Armenian troops were
ordered to be ready in three days' time, and Tigranes desired to
command them.
_Rollin._
_XXIII.--THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE._
1. After the battle of Platæa, in which the army of the Persian king
Xerxes was defeated and destroyed, the Greek states became the
dominant power in the civilized world, and the Greek cities became
centers of influence and art. Under Pericles, the successor of
Themistocles, Athens, in richness and beauty of her palaces and
temples, arrived at a point of excellence which far surpassed anything
the world had before seen. But jealousies between different states led
to civil wars that desolated the whole land, and in the next one
hundred and fifty years scarcely any progress was made in adding to
the national strength. While these bloody wars were going on
principally between Sparta and Athens, the tribes of Macedon, a region
lying immediately north of Greece, were rapidly becoming civilized and
consolidated. In 359 B. C. Philip became the reigning monarch.
2. He was very desirous of being considered as a Greek, invited
distinguished men to his court, and ordered public rejoicings in his
kingdom when his chariots had won the prize at the Olympic games. He
was very clever, and cared little about the justice and honor of the
means by which he attained his ends, which were, to hold in subjection
all the rest of Greece, and to conquer Persia. In the first design he
succeeded, for the latter he only prepared the way for his son. He had
both to form his officers and his army. The first he attempted by
bringing the young nobles to his court, and there instructing them;
and in the last he succeeded in a remarkable manner.
3. The chief strength of the army, as he constituted it, was in the
phalanx, a body of sixteen thousand foot soldiers, fully armed in the
Greek fashion, with spears twenty-four feet long. When drawn up in
order of battle, the four front ranks held their spears pointing
outward, and stood at such a space apart, that the foremost line had
four spear-points between each man and the enemy, or on occasion they
marched with their shields touching, so as to form an almost
impenetrable wall.
4. As soon as Philip's designs against Greece were apparent, a strong
spirit of resistance showed itself, and chiefly at Athens, where the
great orator, Demosthenes, never ceased to rouse his countrymen to
maintain their freedom. Demosthenes had trained himself in eloquence
under great difficulties; he naturally either stammered, or had an
indistinct pronunciation--a defect which he cured by speaking with
pebbles in his mouth, and he used to rehearse his speeches to the
roaring sea, in order to nerve himself against the clamors of a
tumultuous assembly. He so far succeeded, that he often swayed the
minds of the Athenians; his name stands as the first of orators, and
his Philippics, as his discourses against Philip are called, are
considered as models of rhetoric.
5. At Cheronæa, in 338, a battle was fought by Philip against the
allied forces of the Athenians and Thebans. At one time the Athenians
gained some advantage, but they used it so ill, that Philip, calling
out to his troops, "They do not know how to conquer," made a sudden
charge, and routed them with great slaughter. The battle of Cheronæa
was the end of the independence of Greece, which from that time
forward became subject to Macedon, in spite of its many struggles to
shake off the yoke, and recover the liberty which had been lost for
want of a firm, united, settled government.
6. The King of Macedon next commenced his arrangements for his other
favorite scheme--the invasion of Asia; but in the year 336, in the
midst of the feasts in honor of his daughter's marriage, he was
murdered by a young Macedonian noble, who was slain in the first anger
of the surrounding guards, without having time to disclose the motive
of his crime.
7. Alexander, son of Philip and his Epirot queen Olympias, was twenty
years of age when he came to the throne. On the night of his birth the
temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was burned to the ground by a man named
Erostratus, in the foolish desire of making himself notorious, and
this Alexander liked to consider as an omen that he should himself
kindle a flame in Asia.
8. He traced his descent from his father's side from Hercules, and by
his mother's from Achilles, and throughout his boyhood he seems to
have lived in a world of the old Greek poetry, sleeping with Homer's
works under his pillow, and dreaming of deeds in which he should rival
the fame of the victors of Troy. He was placed under the care of
Aristotle, the great philosopher of Stagira, to whom, when Philip had
written to announce Alexander's birth, he had said that he knew not
whether most to rejoice at having a son, or that his son would have
such a teacher as Aristotle.
9. From him the young Alexander learned to think deeply, to resolve
firmly, and devise plans of government; by others he was instructed in
all the graceful accomplishments of the Greeks, and under his father
he was trained to act promptly. At fourteen he tamed the noble horse
Bucephalus, which no one else dared to mount; two years later he
rescued his father in a battle with the Scythians, and he commanded
the cavalry at Cheronæa, but he was so young at the time of his
accession, that the Greeks thought they had nothing to fear from him.
[Illustration: _Battle on the Granicus._]
10. There were very ungenerous rejoicings at Athens at the murder of
Philip. Demosthenes, though he had just lost a daughter, crowned himself
with a wreath of flowers, and came with great tokens of joy to announce
it to the Athenians so soon after the event, as almost to excite a
suspicion that he must have been concerned in the crime. But they found
that their joy was unfounded, for no sooner did Thebes take up arms,
than Alexander marched against it, destroyed the walls, killed many of
the citizens, and blotted it out from the number of Greek cities. The
other states did not dare to make any further opposition, and he was
thus at leisure to prepare for the invasion of Persia.
11. Leaving Antipater as governor of Macedon, he set out in the spring
of 334, at the head of thirty thousand infantry and four thousand five
hundred cavalry, and bade farewell to his native land, which he was
never to see again. He crossed the Hellespont, and was the first man
to leap on Asiatic ground; then, while his forces were landing, he
went to visit the spot which had so long been the object of his
dreams--the village which marked the site of Troy. He offered a
sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles, hung up his own shield in the
temple, and took down one which was said to be a relic of the Greek
conquerors, intending to have it always borne before him in battle.
12. His march was at first toward the east, along the shore of the
Hellespont, until at the river Granicus he met the Persians drawn up
on the other bank of the river, under the command of the satrap
Memnon. Alexander himself, at the head of his cavalry, charged through
the midst of the rapid stream, won the landing-place, and followed by
the phalanx, quickly gained a complete victory.
13. All the neighboring country fell into his hands, and after taking
possession of it, he changed his course, marching along the shores of
the Ægean, and taking all the towns. It was his first object to cut
the Persians off from their seaports, and thus deprive them of the use
of their fleet, which was so superior to his own, that he never
ventured on one sea-fight.
14. This march round the western and southern coasts of Asia Minor,
together with an expedition into the interior, occupied a year, and in
the early part of the summer, he arrived at Tarsus, in Cilicia. Here,
on entering the city, overwhelmed with heat and fatigue, he bathed in
the cold waters of the Cydnus, and the chill brought on a violent
fever, which nearly cost him his life. A letter was sent to warn him
that his physician, Philip, had been bribed by the Persian king to
poison him. While he was reading it the physician himself brought him
a draught of medicine; the king put the letter into his hand, took the
cup and drank it off, even before Philip could profess his innocence.
In three days' time he was again able to appear at the head of his
troops, and not before he was needed, for the enemy's army was near at
hand, under King Darius Codomanus himself.
15. The Persians advanced in great state. First came a number of
persons bearing silver altars, on which burned the sacred fire; then
followed the Magi, and three hundred and sixty-five youths robed in
scarlet, in honor of the days of the year. Next came the chariot and
horses of the Sun, with their attendants, and afterward the army
itself, the Immortal Band, with gold-handled lances, white robes, and
jeweled corslets, and a host of others of less note, all far more fit
for show than for battle. Darius himself, arrayed in purple robes and
glittering with jewels, was in the midst, in a chariot covered with
gold ornaments, and with him came his mother, Sisygambis, his
principal wife, his daughters, a number of other ladies, and a
multitude of slaves. This unwieldy and useless host took up their
position on the hilly ground above the city of Issus, where they were
so entangled among the rocks, that their numbers were of little profit
to them, and it was an easy victory for the Macedonians. No sooner did
Darius see that the day was against him, than he turned his chariot
and fled, leaving his family to fall into the hands of the conqueror,
while he himself hastened to Babylon to collect another army.
16. Alexander treated the mother, wife, and children of Darius with
great kindness and courtesy, sending an officer to assure them of his
protection, and going the next morning to visit them, accompanied by
his friend Hephæstion, a young man of his own age. Alexander, though
of beautiful and noble countenance, and well formed for strength and
activity, was rather short in stature, and as his dress was very
simple, Sisygambis mistook Hephæstion for the King of Macedon, and
threw herself on the ground before him; and she was greatly confused
and distressed when she discovered her error; but Alexander said, as
he raised her, "You were not deceived, for he is Alexander's other
self." He gave her the name of mother, never sat down in her presence
except at her request, and showed in every point a respect and
courtesy such as she had probably never before received from the
Asiatic princes, who always held women in contempt.
17. Pursuing his intention of first destroying the naval power of the
Persian empire, Alexander next entered Phoenicia, and readily received
the submission of Zidon, but Tyre refused to admit him within the
walls. New Tyre, which was built after the seventy years' desolation
which followed the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, stood upon an island
about half a mile from the shore, and was inhabited by a numerous and
brave people, who thought themselves secure from an enemy who had no
fleet to bring against them.
18. Alexander was, however, not to be daunted by any difficulty. He at
first attempted to build a causeway from the shore to the island, and
when the Tyrians destroyed his works he went to Zidon and there
obtained a fleet, by means of which he at length took the city after a
seven months' siege. He stained his victory by a cruel slaughter, and
made slaves of all whose lives were spared, excepting a few whom the
Zidonians contrived to conceal in their ships. This was the final fall
of the great merchant city, so often predicted by Isaiah and Ezekiel.
19. He then marched through the rest of Palestine, intending to punish
Jerusalem, which had stood loyal to Darius, and refused to send him
supplies. The Jews, on his approach, prayed for guidance and
protection, and it was revealed to Jaddua, the high-priest, that he
should open the gates and go forth in his sacred robes to receive the
Grecian conqueror. It was accordingly done; and Jaddua, in the
vestments of Aaron, came forth at the head of the choir of priests in
white garments as Alexander and the Greeks mounted the hill toward the
city. No sooner did the king meet the procession than he bent down to
the ground in adoration, and walked in the midst of the priests to the
temple, where a sacrifice was offered; and he not only spared the
Jews, but showed them much favor.
20. He told his generals that before he left Macedon he had seen in a
dream a figure exactly resembling that of the high-priest, which had
foretold all his conquests. And surely there is little reason to doubt
that such a revelation might be made to a conqueror marked out as
clearly by prophecy as Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus, before he set out on
the work appointed for him. Both his predecessors in conquest, as soon
as they came in contact with the chosen people, were taught that they
were the subjects of prophecy; and Alexander, in his turn, was shown
by Jaddua the prediction of Daniel, which spoke of him as a he-goat
(the actual ensign of Macedon), "Who came from the West, and smote the
ram, and brake his two horns, and cast him down and trampled on him."
"And the rough goat is the King of Grecia."
21. He then proceeded southward, besieged and took Gaza, after a brave
resistance, which he cruelly requited, and entered Egypt, subduing it
with little difficulty. On one of the peninsulas formed by the mouth
of the Nile, he founded a city, called after his name Alexandria,
which became the capital of Egypt under its Greek rulers, and one of
the most famous cities in the world. He made an expedition to the
temple of Jupiter Ammon, on an oasis in the Libyan desert, and
consulted the oracle there, and then after appointing a Macedonian
satrap in Egypt, retraced his steps toward the Holy Land, and marched
toward Babylonia, where Darius was again collecting his forces to
oppose him.
_Charlotte M. Yonge._
_XXIV.--ALEXANDER'S CONQUESTS._
1. Alexander crossed the Euphrates and Tigris without opposition, and
the decisive battle did not take place till he reached the plain of
Arbela, where the Persians were drawn up to receive him. The
Macedonians wished to make a night attack, but Alexander would not
permit it, saying that he disdained to steal a victory, and the combat
took place the next day.
2. The present army of Persians was drawn from the more remote
regions of Bactria and Parthia, where the men were more warlike, and
they fought better than any whom the Macedonians had before
encountered; but Darius himself fled early in the day, leaving behind
him his bow and shield; his men lost courage, and followed him, and
Alexander was left master of the field of Arbela.
3. This battle placed in his power all the western part of the Persian
empire, and he had only to march to the great cities of Babylon, Susa,
Ecbatana, and Persepolis, to take possession of the huge stores of
treasures there heaped up by the Persian kings, which he now
distributed among his followers with royal bounty. The unfortunate
Darius escaped into Bactria, where two satraps, in whom he had
confided, treacherously seized him and made him prisoner, carrying him
along with them as they fled before Alexander, until at length, being
closely pressed by the Greeks, they threw their darts at him, and left
him lying on the ground mortally wounded.
4. He was still alive when some of the Greeks came up, but died before
the arrival of Alexander. The conqueror wept as he beheld the corpse
of the last of a line of such great princes; he threw his own cloak
over it, and sent it to Babylon, where it was buried with great
magnificence.
[Illustration: _Alexander at the Dead Body of Darius._]
5. The wife of Darius had died a prisoner, but Sisygambis still
remained with her grandchildren at Babylon. Only once does Alexander
seem to have hurt her feelings, and this was through ignorance of
Persian customs. He showed her some robes of his sister's own weaving
and embroidery, and offered to have her grand-daughters instructed in
the same art, at which she wept, since Persian ladies deemed such
employments work fit only for slaves and captives, and Alexander was
obliged to explain how honorably the loom and needle were esteemed
by his own countrywomen.
6. Alexander was much attached to his own mother, Olympias, and
portions of his letters to her have come down to our time. She was a
proud and violent woman, who often interfered with Antipater, governor
of Macedon, and caused him to send many complaints to the king: "Ah!"
said Alexander, "Antipater does not know that one tear of a mother
will blot out ten thousand of his letters."
7. Alexander had indeed an open and affectionate heart, but he was
fast becoming too much uplifted by his successes. On Darius's death,
he took the state as well as the title of a king of Persia, wore the
tiara and robes, and claimed from the Macedonians the same servile
tokens of homage as were paid by the eastern nations, thus causing
perpetual heart-burnings among them, since they could neither endure
to see their king exalted so much further above them, nor to be placed
on the same level with the barbarians whom they despised.
8. Their jealousies troubled Alexander from the time he assumed the
tiara of Persia. He found it impossible to raise the condition of the
Persians, and treat them with favor, without offending the
Macedonians, and his temper did not always endure these provocations.
The worst action of his life was the sentencing to death, on a false
accusation, the wise old General Parmenio, and his son; and in a fit
of passion at a riotous banquet, he slew, with his own hand, his
friend Clitus, his nurse's son, who had saved his life at the battle
of Granicus. It was the deed of a moment of drunken violence, and he
bitterly lamented it, shutting himself up for several days without
allowing any one to approach him, and paying all honors to the memory
of his murdered friend.
9. His pride and vain-glory went so far, that he declared that the
oracle of Jupiter Ammon had announced that he was the son of Jupiter,
and sent to Greece to desire to be enrolled among the gods in his
life-time. Some of the Greeks were shocked at his profanity, others
laughed at him; but all the Spartans said was, "If Alexander will be a
god, let him."
10. The next four years were the most laborious of Alexander's life.
He pursued the murderers of Darius into Bactria and Sogdiana, avenged
his death, and reduced the numerous hill-forts as far as the frontier
of Scythia. Fierce insurrections broke out among the wild tribes of
Sogdiana, which it required all his activity and judgment to quell,
and more than once provoked him into cruelty, though in general,
conqueror as he was, he was no spoiler, but wherever he went founded
cities, and tried to teach the Persians the civilized arts of Greece.
11. In 326 he set out for India, as the region was called round the
river Indus. Here the inhabitants were warlike, and Porus, king of a
portion of the country, made a brave resistance, but was at length
defeated and taken prisoner. On being brought before Alexander he said
he had nothing to ask, save to be treated as a king. "That I shall do
for my own sake," said Alexander, and accordingly not only set him at
liberty, but enlarged his territory.
12. All these Indian nations brought a tribute of elephants, which the
Macedonians now for the first time learned to employ in war. Alexander
wished to proceed into Hindostan, a country hitherto entirely unknown,
but his soldiers grew so discontented at the prospect of being led so
much farther from home, into the utmost parts of the earth, that he
was obliged to give up his attempt, and very unwillingly turned back
from the banks of the Sutlej.
13. While returning, he besieged a little town belonging to a tribe
called the Malli, and believed to be the present city of Mooltan. He
was the first to scale the wall, and after four others had mounted,
the ladder broke, and he was left standing on the wall, a mark for the
darts of the enemy. He instantly leaped down within the wall into the
midst of the Malli, and there setting his back against a fig-tree,
defended himself until a barbed arrow deeply pierced his breast, and,
after trying to keep up a little longer, he sunk, fainting, on his
shield. His four companions sprung down after him--two were slain, but
the others held their shields over him till the rest of the army
succeeded in breaking into the town and coming to the rescue.
14. His wound was severe and dangerous, but he at length recovered,
sailed down to the mouth of the Indus, and sent a fleet to survey the
Persian Gulf, while he himself marched along the shore. The country
was bare and desert, and his army suffered dreadfully from heat,
thirst, and hunger, while he readily shared all their privations. A
little water was once brought him on a parching day, as a great prize,
but since there was not enough for all, he poured it out on the sand,
lest his faithful followers should feel themselves more thirsty when
they saw him drink alone.
15. At last he safely arrived at Caramania, whence he returned to the
more inhabited and wealthy parts of Persia, held his court with great
magnificence at Susa, and then went to Babylon. Here embassies met him
from every part of the known world, bringing gifts and homage, and
above all, there arrived from the Greek states the much desired
promise that he should be honored as a god. He was at the highest
pitch of worldly greatness to which mortal man had yet attained, and
his designs were reaching yet further; but his hour was come, and at
Babylon, the home of pride, "the great horn" was to be broken.
[Illustration: _Alexander the Great._]
16. In the marshes into which the Euphrates had spread since its
channel was altered by Cyrus, there breathed a noxious air, and a few
weeks after Alexander's arrival, he was attacked by a fever, perhaps
increased by intemperance. He bore up against it as long as possible,
continued to offer sacrifices daily, though with increasing
difficulty, and summoned his officers to arrange plans for his
intended expedition; but his strength failed him on the ninth day, and
though he called them together as usual, he could not address them.
Perhaps he thought in that hour of the prophecy he had seen at
Jerusalem, that the empire he had toiled to raise should be divided,
for he is reported to have said that there would be a mighty contest
at his funeral games. He made no attempt to name a successor, but he
took off his signet-ring, placed it on the finger of Perdiccas, one of
his generals, and a short time after expired, in the thirty-third year
of his age, and the twelfth of his reign.
17. There was a voice of wailing throughout the city that night. The
Babylonians shut up their houses, and trembled at the neighborhood of
the fierce Greek soldiery, now that their protector was dead; the
Macedonians stood to arms all night, as if in presence of the enemy;
and when in the morning the officers assembled in the palace council
chamber, bitter and irrepressible was the burst of lamentation that
broke out at the sight of the vacant throne, where lay the crown,
scepter, and royal robes, and where Perdiccas now placed the
signet-ring. More deeply than all mourned the prisoner, the aged
Sisygambis, who covered her face with a black veil, sat down in a
corner of her room, refused all entreaties to speak or to eat, and
expired five days after Alexander.
18. Nor did the Persians soon cease to lament the conqueror, who had
ruled them more beneficently than their own monarchs had done; their
traditions made Alexander a prince of their own, and adorned him with
every virtue valued in the East. That he had many great faults has
already been shown, and, of course, by the rules of justice, his
conquests were but reckless gratifications of his own ambition; but he
was a high-minded, generous man, open of heart, free of hand, and for
the most part acting up to his knowledge of right; and if unbridled
power, talent of the highest order, and glory such as none before or
since has ever attained, inflamed his passions, and elated him with
pride, still it is not for us to judge severely of one who had such
great temptations, and so little to guide him aright.
_Charlotte M. Yonge._
_XXV.--JUDAS MACCABÆUS, THE HEBREW WILLIAM TELL._
1. The kingdom of Judah escaped destruction at the hands of
Sennacherib, but its respite was short. Soon afterward Babylon,
closely related to Assyria, and the heir of its dominion, swept into
captivity in distant Mesopotamia nearly all that were left of Hebrew
stock. For a time, the nation seemed to have been wiped from the face
of the earth. The ten tribes of Israel that had been first dragged
forth never returned to Judea, and their ultimate fate, after the
destruction of Nineveh, whose splendor they had in their servitude
done so much to enhance, was that of homeless wanderers. The harp of
Judah, silent upon the devastated banks of the Jordan, was hung upon
the Babylonian willows, for how could the exiles sing the Lord's song
in a strange land! But the cry went forth at length that Babylon had
fallen in her turn, just as destruction had before overtaken Nineveh.
In the middle of the sixth century B. C., Cyrus the Mede made a
beginning of restoring the exiles, who straightway built anew the
Temple walls.
2. In David's time, the population of Palestine must have numbered
several millions, and it largely increased during the succeeding
reigns. Multitudes, however, had perished by the sword, and other
multitudes were retained in strange lands. Scarcely fifty thousand
found their way back in the time of Cyrus to the desolate site of
Jerusalem, but, one hundred years later, the number was increased by a
re-enforcement under Ezra. From this nucleus, with astonishing
vitality, a new Israel was presently developed. With weapons always at
hand to repel the freebooters of the desert, they constructed once
more the walls of Jerusalem. Through all their harsh experience their
feelings of nationality had not been at all abated; their blood was
untouched by foreign admixture, though some Gentile ideas had entered
into the substance of their faith. The conviction that they were the
chosen people of God was as unshaken as in the ancient time. With
pride as indomitable as ever, intrenched within their little corner of
Syria, they confronted the hostile world.
3. But a new contact was at hand, far more memorable even than that
with the nations of Mesopotamia--a contact whose consequences affect
at the present hour the condition of the greater part of the human
race. In the year 332 B. C., the high-priest, Jaddua, at Jerusalem,
was in an agony, not knowing how he should meet certain new invaders
of the land, before whom Tyre, and Gaza, the old Philistine
stronghold, had fallen, and who were now marching upon the city of
David. But God warned him in a dream that he should take courage,
adorn the city, and open the gates; that the people should appear in
white garments of peace, but that he and the priests should meet the
strangers in the robes of their office. At length, at the head of a
sumptuous train of generals and tributary princes, a young man of
twenty-four, upon a beautiful steed, rode forward from the way going
down to the sea to the spot which may still be seen, called,
anciently, Scopus, the prospect, because from that point one
approaching could behold, for the first time, Jerusalem crowned by the
Temple rising fair upon the heights of Zion and Moriah.
4. The youth possessed a beauty of a type in those regions hitherto
little known. As compared with the swarthy Syrians in his suite, his
skin was white; his features were stamped with the impress of command,
his eyes filled with an intellectual light. With perfect horsemanship he
guided the motions of his charger. A fine grace marked his figure, set
off with a cloak, helmet, and gleaming arms, as he expressed with
animated gestures his exultation over the spectacle before him. But now,
down from the heights came the procession of the priests and the people.
The multitude proceeded in their robes of white; the priests stood
clothed in fine linen; while the high-priest, in attire of purple and
scarlet, upon his breast the great breastplate of judgment with its
jewels, upon his head the mitre marked with the plate of gold whereon
was engraved the name of God, led the train with venerable dignity.
5. Now, says the historian, when the Ph[oe]nicians and Chaldeans that
followed Alexander thought that they should have liberty to plunder
the city, and torment the high-priest to death, the very reverse
happened; for the young leader, when he saw the multitude in the
distance, and the figure of the high-priest before, approached him by
himself, saluted him, and adored the name, which was graven upon the
plate of the mitre. Then a captain, named Parmino, asked him how it
came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the
high-priest of the Jews. To whom the leader replied: "I do not adore
him, but that God who hath honored him with his high-priesthood; for I
saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at
Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering how I might obtain the
dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass
over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and could
give me the dominion over the Persians." Then, when Alexander had
given the high-priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him and
he came into the city, and he offered sacrifice to God in the Temple,
according to the high-priest's direction, and magnificently treated
both the high-priest and the priests. He granted all the multitude
desired; and when he said to them that if any of them would enlist
themselves in his army on this condition, that they should continue
under the laws of their forefathers, he was willing to take them with
him, many were ready to accompany him in his wars.
6. But this Aryan troop that went southward is less interesting to us
than companies that departed westward, for in these westward marching
bands went the primeval forefathers from whose venerable loins we
ourselves have proceeded. They passed into Western Asia, and from Asia
into Europe--each migrating multitude impelled by a new swarm sent forth
from the parent hive behind. At the head of the Adriatic Sea an Aryan
troop had divided, sending down into the eastern peninsula the ancestors
of the Greeks, and into the western peninsula the train destined to
establish upon the seven hills the power of Rome. Already the Aryan
pioneers, the Celts, on the outmost rocks of the western coast of
Europe, were fretting against the barrier of storm and sea, across which
they were not to find their way for many ages. Already Ph[oe]nician
merchants, trading for amber in the far-off Baltic, had become aware of
the wild Aryan tribes pressing to the northwest--the Teutons and Goths.
Already, perhaps, upon the outlying spur of the Ural range, still other
Aryans had fixed their hold, the progenitors of the Sclav. The
aboriginal savage of Europe was already nearly extinct. His lance of
flint had fallen harmless from the Aryan buckler; his rude altars had
become displaced by the shrines of the new gods. In the Mediterranean
Sea each sunny isle and pleasant promontory had long been in Aryan
hands, and now in the wintry forests to the northward the resistless
multitudes had more recently fixed their seats.
7. In the Macedonians, the Aryans, having established their dominion
in Europe, march back upon the track which their forefathers long
before had followed westward; and now it is that the Hebrews become
involved with the race that from that day to this has been the
master-race of the world. It was a contact taking place under
circumstances, it would seem, the most auspicious--the venerable old
man and the beautiful Greek youth clasping hands, the ruthless
followers of the conqueror baffled in their hopes of booty, the
multitudes of Jerusalem, in their robes of peace, filling the air with
acclamations, as Alexander rode from the place of prospect, upon the
heights of Zion, into the solemn precincts of the Temple.
8. The successors of Alexander the Great made the Jews a link between
the Hellenic populations that had become widely scattered throughout the
East by the Macedonian conquests, and the great barbarian races among
whom the Greeks had placed themselves. The dispersion of the Jews, which
had already taken place to such an extent through the Assyrian and
Babylonian conquests, went forward now more vigorously. Throughout
Western Asia they were found everywhere, but it was in Egypt that they
attained the highest prosperity and honor. The one city, Alexandria
alone, is said to have contained at length a million Jews, whom the
Greek kings of Egypt, the Ptolemies, preferred in every way to the
native population. Elsewhere, too, they were favored, and hence they
were everywhere hated; and the hatred assumed a deeper bitterness from
the fact that the Jew always remained a Jew, marked in garb, in feature,
in religious faith, always scornfully asserting the claim that he was
the chosen of the Lord. Palestine became incorporated with the empire of
the Seleucidæ, the Macedonian princes to whom had fallen Western Asia.
Oppression at last succeeded the earlier favor, the defenses of
Jerusalem were demolished, and the Temple defiled with pagan ceremonies;
and now it is that we reach some of the finest figures in Hebrew
history, the great high-priests, the Maccabees.
9. There dwelt at the town of Modin a priest, Mattathias, the
descendant of Asmonæus, to whom had been born five sons--John, Simon,
Judas Maccabæus, or the Hammer, Eleazar, and Jonathan. Mattathias
lamented the ravaging of the land and the plunder of the Temple by
Antiochus Epiphanes, and when, in the year 167 B. C., the Macedonian
king sent to Modin to have sacrifices offered, the Asmonæan returned a
spirited reply. "Thou art a ruler," said the king's officers, "and an
honorable and great man in this city, and strengthened with sons and
brethren. Now, therefore, come thou first: so shalt thou and thy
house be in number of the king's friends, and thou and thy children
shall be honored with silver and gold and many rewards." But
Mattathias replied with a loud voice: "Though all the nations that are
under the king's dominions obey him, and fall away every one from the
religion of their fathers, yet will I and my sons and my brethren,
walk in the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake
the law and the ordinances! We will not hearken to the king's words to
go from our religion, either on the right hand or the left."
10. An heroic struggle for freedom at once began, which opened for the
Jews full of sadness. An apostate Jew, approaching to offer sacrifice
in compliance with the command of Antiochus, was at once slain by
Mattathias, who struck down also Apelles, the king's general, with
some of his soldiers. As he fled with his sons into the desert,
leaving his substance behind him, many of the faithful Israelites
followed, pursued by the Macedonians seeking revenge. The oppressors
knew well how to choose their time. Attacking on the Sabbath-day,
when, according to old tradition, it was a transgression even to
defend one's life, a thousand with their wives and children were
burned and smothered in the caves in which they had taken refuge. But
Mattathias, rallying those that remained, taught them to fight on the
Sabbath, and at all times. The heathen altars were overthrown, the
breakers of the law were slain, the uncircumcised boys were everywhere
circumcised. But the fullness of time approached for Mattathias; after
a year his day of death had come, and these were his parting words to
his sons: "I know that your brother Simon is a man of counsel; give
ear unto him always; he shall be a father unto you. As for Judas
Maccabæus, he hath been mighty and strong even from his youth up; let
him be your captain and fight the battles of the people. Admit among
you the righteous."
11. No sooner had the father departed, than it appeared that the
captain whom he had designated was a man as mighty as the great
champions of old, Joshua and Gideon and Samson. He forthwith smote
with defeat Apollonius, the general in the Samaritan country, and when
he had slain the Greek he took his sword for his own. Seron, general
of the army in C[oe]le-Syria, came against him with a host of
Macedonians strengthened by apostate Jews. The men of Judas Maccabæus
were few in number, without food, and faint-hearted, but he inspired
them with his own zeal, and overthrew the new foes at Bethoron. King
Antiochus, being now called eastward to Persia, committed military
matters in Palestine to the viceroy, Lysias, with orders to take an
army with elephants and conquer Judea, enslave its people, destroy
Jerusalem, and abolish the nation. At once the new invaders were upon
the land; of foot-soldiers there were forty thousand, of horsemen
seven thousand, and as they advanced many Syrians and renegade Jews
joined them. Merchants marched with the army, with money to buy the
captives as slaves, and chains with which to bind those whom they
purchased. But Judas Maccabæus was no whit dismayed. Causing his
soldiers to array themselves in sackcloth, he made them pray to
Jehovah. He dismissed those lately married, and those who had newly
come into great possessions, as likely to be faint-hearted. After
addressing those that remained, he set them in the ancient order of
battle, and waited the opportunity to strike.
12. The hostile general, fancying he saw an opportunity to surprise
the little band of Hebrews, sent a portion of his host against them,
by secret ways at night. But the spies of Judas were out. Leaving the
fires burning brightly in his camp, to lure forward those who were
commissioned to attack him, he rushed forth under the shadows against
the main body, weakened by the absence of the detachment. He forced
their position, though strongly defended, overcame the army; then
turned back to scatter utterly the other party who were seeking him in
the abandoned camp. He took great booty of gold and silver, and of
raiment purple and blue. He marched home in great joy to the villages
of Judea, singing hymns to God, as was done in the days of Miriam,
long before, because they had triumphed gloriously.
13. The next year Lysias advanced from Antioch, the Syrian capital,
with a force of sixty-five thousand. Judas Maccabæus, with ten
thousand, overthrew his vanguard, upon which the viceroy, terrified at
the desperate fighting, retired to assemble a still greater army. For
a time there was a respite from war, during which Judas counseled the
people to purify the Temple. The Israelites, overjoyed at the revival
of their ancient customs, the restoration of the old worship in all
its purity, and the relief from foreign oppressors, celebrated for
eight days a magnificent festival. The lamps in the Temple porches
were rekindled to the sound of instruments and the chant of the
Levites. But one vial of oil could be found, when, lo, a miracle! the
one vial sufficed for the supply of the seven-branched golden
candlestick for a week. This ancient Maccabæan festival faithful Jews
still celebrate under the name of the Hanoukhah, the Feast of Lights.
14. Judas subdues also the Idumeans of the southward, and the
Ammonites. His brethren, too, have become mighty men of valor.
Jonathan crosses the Jordan with him and campaigns against the tribes
to the eastward. Eleazar is a valiant soldier, and Simon carries
succor to the Jews in Galilee. But at length the Macedonian is again
at hand, more terrible than before. The foot are a hundred thousand,
the horse twenty thousand; and as rallying-points, thirty-two
elephants tower among the ranks. About each one of the huge beasts is
collected a troop of a thousand foot and five hundred horse; high
turrets upon their backs are occupied by archers; their great flanks
and limbs are cased in plates of steel. The host show their golden and
brazen shields, making in the sun a glorious splendor, and shout in
exultation so that the mountains echo. In the battle that follows
Fortune does not altogether favor the Jews. In particular, the
champion Eleazar lays down his life. He had attacked the largest
elephant, a creature covered with plated armor, and carrying upon his
back a whole troop of combatants, among whom it was believed that the
king himself fought. Eleazar had slain those in the neighborhood,
then, creeping beneath the belly of the elephant, had pierced him. As
the brute fell, Eleazar was crushed in the fall. Judas was forced to
retire within the defenses of Jerusalem, where still further disaster
seemed likely to overcome him. Dissensions among themselves, however,
weakened the Macedonians. Peace was offered the Jews, and permission
to live according to the law of their fathers--proposals which were
gladly accepted, although the invaders razed the defenses of the Temple.
15. The peace was not enduring. New Macedonian invasions followed; new
Hebrew successes, the Maccabees and their partisans making up, by
their fierce zeal, their military skill, and dauntless valor, for
their want of numbers. But a sad day came at last. Judas, twenty times
outnumbered, confronts the leader Bacchides in Galilee. The Greek sets
horsemen on both wings, his light troops and archers before the
heavier phalanx, and takes his own station on the right. The Jewish
hero is valiant as ever; the right wing of the enemy turns to flee.
The left and center, however, encompass him, and he falls, fighting
gloriously, having earned a name of the most skillful and valorous of
the world's great vindicators of freedom.
_James K. Hosmer. "The Story of the Jews."_
_Putnam's "Stories of the Nations" Series._
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