look into the well, she suddenly thrust him into the mouth thereof, and stoned him to death.

Now because the Athenians had received into their city so many of the Thebans as had escaped and fled unto them for succour, Alexander would not grant them peace, but upon condition to deliver into his hands both their orators, which persuaded this second revolt, and their captains; yet in the end, it being a torment unto him to retard the enterprise of Persia, he was content that the orators should remain, and accepted of the banishment of the captains; wherein he was exceeding ill advised, had not his fortune, or rather the providence of God, made all the resistance against him unprofitable: for these good leaders of the Grecians betook themselves to the service of the Persian, whom after a few days he invadeth.

SECT. II.

How Alexander, passing into Asia, fought with the Persians upon the river of Granicus.

WHEN all was now quieted at home, Alexander, committing to the trust of Antipater both Greece and Macedon, in the first of the spring did pass the Hellespont, and being ready to disembark, he threw a dart towards the Asian shore as a token of defiance, commanding his soldiers not to make any waste in their own territory, or to burn or deface those buildings which themselves were presently and in the future to possess. He landed his army, consisting of two and thirty thousand foot, and five thousand horse, all old soldiers, near unto Troy, where he offered a solemn sacrifice upon Achilles' tomb, his maternal ancestor.

But before he left his own coast, he put to death, without any offence given him, all his mother-in-law's kinsmen, whom Philip his father had greatly advanced, not sparing such of his own as he suspected. He also took with him many of his tributary princes, of whose fidelity he doubted; thinking by unjust cruelty to assure all things, both in the present and future. Yet the end of all fell out contrary to

the policy which his ambition had commended unto him, though agreeing very well with the justice of God; for all that he had planted was soon after withered and rooted up; those whom he most trusted were the most traitorous; his mother, friends, and children fell by such another merciless sword as his own; and all manner of confusion followed his dead body to the grave, and left him there.

When the knowledge of Alexander's landing on Asia side was brought to Darius, he so much scorned the army of Macedon, and had so contemptible an opinion of Alexander himself, as having styled him his servant on a letter which he wrote unto him, reprehending his disloyalty and audacity, (for Darius entitled himself king of kings, and the kinsman of the gods,) he gave order withal to his lieutenants of the Lesser Asia, that they should take Alexander alive, whip him with rods, and then convey him to his presence; that they should sink his ships, and send the Macedons taken prisoners beyond the Red sea, belike into Ethiopia, or some other unhealthful part of Africa.

In this sort did this glorious king, confident in the glittering, but heartless multitude which he commanded, dispose of the already vanquished Macedonians: but the ill destinies of men bear them to the ground, by what strong confidence soever armed. The great numbers which he gathered together, and brought in one heap into the field, gave rather an exceeding advantage to his enemies, than any discouragement at all. For besides that they were men utterly unacquainted with dangers, men who by the name and countenance of their king were wont to prevail against those of less courage than themselves, men that took more care how to embroider with gold and silver their upper garments, as if they attended the invasion but of the sunbeams, than they did to arm themselves with iron and steel against the sharp pikes, swords, and darts of the hardy Macedonians; I say, besides all these, even the opinion they had of their own numbers, of which every one in particular hoped that it would not fall to his turn to fight, filled every of them with the care of their own safety, without any intent at all

to hazard any thing but their own breath, and that of their horses, in running away. The Macedonians, as they came to fight, and thereby to enrich themselves with the gold and jewels of Persia, both which they needed, so the Persians, who expected nothing in that war but blows and wounds, which they needed not, obeyed the king, who had power to constrain them in assembling themselves for his service; but their own fears and cowardice, which in time of danger had most power over them, they only then obeyed, when their rebellion against so servile a passion did justly and violently require it. For, saith Vegetius, Quemadmodum bene exercitatus miles prælium cupit, ita formidat indoctus; nam sciendum est in pugna usum amplius prodesse quam vires; "As the well-practised soldier desires to come "to battle, so the raw one fears it: for we must under"stand, that in fight it more avails to have been accustomed "unto the like, than only to have rude strength." What manner of men the Persians were, Alexander discovered in the first encounter; before which time it is said by those that writ his story, that it was hard to judge, whether his daring to undertake the conquest of an empire so well peopled with a handful of men, or the success he had, were more to be wondered at. For at the river of Granick, which severeth the territory of Troy from Propontis, the Persians sought to stop his passage, taking the higher ground and bank of the river to defend, which Alexander was forced (as it were) to climb up unto, and scale from the level of the water. Great resistance, saith Curtius, was made by the Persians; yet in the end Alexander prevailed. But it seems to me, that the victory then gotten was exceeding easy, and that the twenty thousand Persian footmen, said to be slain, were rather killed in the back in running away, than hurt in the bosoms by resisting. For had those twenty thousand foot and two hundred and fifty horsemen, or, after Plutarch, two thousand and five hundred horsemen, died with their faces towards the Macedonians, Alexander could not have bought their lives at so small a rate, as with the loss of four and thirty of all sorts of his

own. And if it were also true that Plutarch doth report, how Alexander encountered two of the Persian commanders, Spithridates and Rhosaces, and that the Persian horsemen fought with great fury, though in the end scattered; and lastly, how those Grecians in Darius's pay holding themselves in one body upon a piece of ground of advantage, did (after mercy was refused them) fight it out to the last; how doth it then resemble truth, that such resistance having been made, yet of Alexander's army there fell but twelve footmen, and two and twenty horsemen ?

SECT. III.

A digression concerning the defence of hard passages. Of things following the battle of Granick.

THE winning of this passage did greatly encourage the Macedonians, and brought such terror upon all those of the Lesser Asia, as he obtained all the kingdoms thereof without a blow, some one or two towns excepted. For in all invasions, where the nations invaded have once been beaten upon a great advantage of the place, as in defence of rivers, straits, and mountains, they will soon have persuaded themselves, that such an enemy, upon equal terms and even ground, can hardly be resisted. It was therefore Machiavel's counsel, that he which resolveth to defend a passage should with his ablest force oppose the assailant. And to say truth, few regions of any great circuit are so well fenced, that armies, of such force as may be thought sufficient to conquer them, can be debarred all entrance by the natural difficulty of the ways. One passage or other is commonly left unguarded; if all be defended, then must the forces of the country be distracted, and yet lightly some one place will be found that is defended very weakly. How often have the Alps given way to armies breaking into Italy! yea, where shall we find that ever they kept out an invader? Yet are they such as (to speak briefly) afflict with all difficulties those that travel over them; but they give no security to those that lie behind them, for they are of too large extent. The towns of Lombardy persuaded them

selves that they might enjoy their quiet, when the warlike nation of the Switzers had undertaken to hinder Francis the French king from descending into the duchy of Milan; but whilst these patrons of Milan, whom their own dwelling in those mountains had made fittest of all other for such a service, were busied in custody of the Alps, Francis appeared in Lombardy, to so much the greater terror of the inhabitants, by how much the less they had expected his arrival. What shall we say of those mountains, which lock up whole regions in such sort, as they leave but one gate open? The straits, or (as they were called) the gates of Taurus in Cilicia, and those of Thermopyla, have seldom been attempted, perhaps because they were thought impregnable; but how seldom (if ever) have they been attempted in vain. Xerxes, and long after him the Romans, forced the entrance of Thermopyla; Cyrus the younger, and after him Alexander, found the gates of Cilicia wide open; how strongly soever they had been locked and barred, yet were those countries open enough to a fleet that should enter on the back side. The defence of rivers, how hard a thing it is, we find examples in all histories that bear good witness. The deepest have many fords, the swiftest and broadest may be passed by boats, in case it be found a matter of difficulty to make a bridge. He that hath men enough to defend all the length of his own bank hath also enough to beat his enemy; and may therefore do better to let him come over, to his loss, than by striving in vain to hinder the passage, as a matter tending to his own disadvantage, fill the heads of his soldiers with an opinion that they are in ill case, having their means of safeguard taken from them by the skill or valour of such as are too good for them. Certainly if a river were sufficient defence against an army, the isle of Mona, now called Anglesea, which is divided from North Wales by an arm of the sea, had been safe enough against the Romans invading it under conduct of Julius Agricola. But he wanting, and not meaning to spend the time in making vessels to transport his forces, did assay the fords. Whereby he so amazed the enemies at