Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 1.djvu/30

 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS ALEXANDER THE GREAT (356-323 B -c-) A LEXANDER THE GREAT, SOn of daughter of Neoptolemus of Epirus, was born at Pella, 356 B.C. His mind was formed chiefly by Aristotle, who instructed him in every branch of human learning, especially in the art of government. Alexander was sixteen years of age when his father marched against Byzantium, and left the government in his hands during his absence. Two years afterward, he dis- played singular courage at the battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.), where he over- threw the Sacred Band of the Thebans. " My son," said Philip, as he embraced him after the conflict, " seek for thyself another kingdom, for that which I leave is too small for thee." The father and son quarrelled, however, when the former divorced Olympias. Alexander took part with his mother, and fled to Epirus, to escape his father's vengeance ; but receiving his pardon soon afterward, he returned, and accompanied him in an expedition against the Triballi, when he saved his life on the field. Philip, being appointed generalissimo of the Greeks, was preparing for a war with Persia, when he was assassinated (336 B.C.), and Alexander, not yet twenty years of age, ascended the throne. After punishing his father's murderers, he marched on Corinth, and in a gen- eral assembly of the Greeks he caused himself to be appointed to the command of the forces against Persia. On his return to Macedon, he found the Illyrians and Triballi up in arms, whereupon he forced his way through Thrace, and was everywhere victorious. But now the Thebans had been induced, by a report of his death, to take up arms, and the Athenians, stimulated by the eloquence of Demosthenes, were preparing to join them. To prevent this coalition, Alex- ander rapidly marched against Thebes, which, refusing to surrender, Was con- quered and razed to the ground. Six thousand of the inhabitants were slain, and 30,000 sold into slavery ; the house and descendants of the poet Pindar alone being spared. This severity struck terror into all Greece. The Atheni- ans were treated with more leniency. Alexander, having appointed Antipatcr his deputy in Europe, now prepared
 * Philip of Macedon and Olympias,