Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/85

 FIXATIONS OF GREECE TO ALEXANDER. 53 is of uo ineaa value ; but by itself, it is weak and full of embar- rassments." Inverting the position of the parties, these words represent exactly what Greece herself had become, in reference to Macedonia and Persia, at the time of Alexander's accession. Had the Persians played their game with tolerable prudence and vigor, his success would have been measured by the degree to which he could appropriate Grecian force to himself, and with- hold it from his enemy. Alexander's memorable and illustrious manifestations, on which we are now entering, are those, not of the ruler or politi cian, but of the general and the soldier. In this character his appearance forms a sort of historical epoch. It is not merely in soldier-like qualities — in the most forward and even adventur- ous bravery — in indefatigable personal activity, and in endur- ance as to hardship and fatigue, — that he stands pre-eminent ; though these qualities alone, when found in a king, act so pow- ei-fuUy on those under his command, that they suffice to produce great achievements, even when combined with generalship not surpassing the average of his age. But in generalship, Alexan- der was yet more above the level of his contemporaries. His strategic combinations, his employment of different descriptions of force conspiring towards one end, his long-sighted plans for the prosecution of campaigns, his constant foresight and resource against new difficulties, together with rapidity of movement even in the worst country — all on a scale of prodigious magnitude — are without parallel in ancient history. They carry the art of systematic and scientific warfare to a degree of efficiency, such as even successors trained in his school were unable to keep up unimpaired. We must recollect however that Alexander found the Mace- donian military system built up by Philip, and had only to apply and enlarge it. As transmitted to him, it embodied the accumu- lated result and matured fruit of a series of successive improve- ments, applied by Grecian tacticians to the primitive Hellenic arrangements. During the sixty years before the accession of upXV fi** IJ'iv ■Kpoa'&rjKj]^ fii p e i iari rig ov afiiKpu, olov vixrjp^e ito'&' vfjiv hnl Tifj.o'&iov irpbg 'OAvvt?/orf avTtj 6e Ka^'' avrfjv aa-&evTjg kq^ noA.'kuv KaKuv iarl fieaT}],