Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/136

 304 HISTORY OF GREECE. " Dicono tcnci e tale ordlne, clic non e possibile entrai e tra loio, no acco» tarseli, quanto e la pioca lunga. Sono ottime genti in cauipagna, i far ffiornata : ma per espugnare tcrre non vagliono, o poco nel diten- derlo : ed universaluioite, dove non possano tenereT ordine loro del- la uiilizia, non vagliono." CHAPTEll XCIII. SECOND AND THIRD ASIATIC CAMPAIGNS OF ALEXANDER — B.TTLE OF ISSUS — SIEGE OF TYRE. It was about February or March 333 b. c, when Alexander reached Gordium ; where he appears to have halted for some time, giving to the troops Avho had been with him in Pisidia a repose doubtless needful. "While at Gordium, he performed the memorable exploit familiarly known as the cutting of the Gordian knot. There was preserved in the citadel an ancient waggon of rude structure, said by the legend to have once belonged to the peasant Gordius and his son Midas — the primitive rustic kings of Phrygia, designated as such by the gods, and chosen by the people. The cord (composed of fibres from the bark of the cornel tree), attaching the yoke of this waggon to the pole, was so twisted and entangled as to form a knot of singular complexity, which no one had ever been able to untie. An oracle had pronounced, that to the person who should untie it the empire of Asia was destined. When Alexander went up to see this ancient relic, the surround- ing multitude, Phrygian as well as Macedonian, were full of ex- pectation that the conqueror of the Granikus and of Halikarnas- sus would overcome the diificulties of the knot, and acquire the pro- mised empire. But Alexander, on inspecting the knot, was as much perplexed as others had been before him, until at length, in a fit of impatience, he drew his sword and severed the cord in two. By every one this was accepted as a solution of the problem, thus making good his title to the empire of Asia ; a belief which the