Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/267

 Alexander the Great and the Hellenistie Age 217 him in the Macedonians of his court a group of remarkable The suc- men, of kingly abilities such as no century of the ancient p^hfup^of world had ever yet seen. They were devoted to the royal Macedon house, and Alexander's early successes were in no small measure due to them. But their very devotion, ability, and firmness of character, as we shall see, later brought the young king into a personal conflict which contained all the elements of a tremen- dous tragedy (see p. 228). Section 36. Campaigns of Alexander the Great When Alexander was thirteen years of age, his father had Education called to the Macedonian court the great philosopher Aristotle, q" Aiexande^/ a former pupil of Plato, to be the teacher of the young prince. ^^^ ^"^^^^ Aristotle, the most gifted successor of Socrates and Plato, was treating every possible subject in learned essays and arranging the known facts and discoveries in all branches of science in a great series of treatises, which became the world's Encyclo- paedia Britannica for nearly two thousand years. Under the in- struction of this greatest of the living Greek thinkers, the lad learned to know and love the masterpieces of Greek literature, especially the Homeric songs. The deeds of the ancient heroes touched and kindled his youthful imagination and lent an heroic tinge to his whole character, while, as he grew and his mind ripened, his whole personality was aglow with the splendor of Greek genius and Hellenic culture. He came to believe abso- lutely in its power and superiority, and in its inevitable success as a civilizing influence. When Thebes revolted against Macedonia for the second time Alexander's after Philip's death, Alexander, knowing that he must take up ateadra^matlc the strugofle with Persia, realized that it would not be safe for ""pression of 00 '. his mission him to march into Asia without sfivino: the Greek states a lesson as champion ,, , of Hellas which they would not forget. He therefore captured and com- pletely destroyed the ancient city of Thebes, sparing only the house of the great poet Pindar. All Greece was thus taught to