Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/178

 146 HISTORY OF GKEECK. commenced (October 332 b. c), was an affair of holiday and triumph. Mazakes, the satrap of Egypt, having few Persian troops and a disaffected native population, was noway disposed to resist the approaching conqueror. Seven days' march brought Alexander and his army from Gaza to Pelusium, the frontier fortress of Egypt, commanding the eastern branch of the Nile, whither his fleet, under the command of Hephajstion, had come also. Here he found not only open gates and a submissive governor, but also crowds of Eg}'ptians assembled to welcome him.^ He placed a garrison in Pelusium, sent his fleet up the river to Memphis, and marched himself to the same place by land. The satrap Mazakes surrendered himself, with all the treasure in the city, 800 talents in amount, and much precious furniture. Here Alexander reposed some time, offering splendid sacrifices to the gods generally, and especially to the Egyptian god Apis ; to which he added gymnastic and musical matches, sending to Greece for the most distinguished artists. From Memphis, he descended the westernmost branch of the Nile to Kanopus at its mouth, from whence he sailed westerly along the shore to look at the island of Pharos, celebrated in Homer, and the lake Mareotis. Reckoning Egypt now as a portion of his empire, and considering that the busmess of keep- ing down an unquiet population, as well as of collecting a large revenue, Avould have to be performed by his extraneous land and sea force, he saw the necessity of withdrawing the seat of government from Memphis, where both the Persians and the natives had maintained it, and of founding a new city of his own on the seaboard, convenient for communication with Greece and Macedonia. His imagination, susceptible to all Homeric im- pressions and influenced by a dream, first fixed upon the isle of Pharos as a suitable place for his intended city.-^ Perceiving soon, however, that this little isle was inadequate by itself, he included it as part of a larger city to be founded on the adja- cent mainland. The gods were consulted, and encouraging re- sponses were obtained ; upon which Alexander himself marked out the circuit of the walls, the direction of the principal streets, ^Arnan, iii. 1,3; Curtius, iv. 7,1,2; Diodor. xvii. 49. •Cnrtius. iv.8, 1-4; Plutarch, Alexand. 26.