Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/199

 ALEXANDER. 191 place he sat down before was Gaza, one of the largest cities of Syria, where this accident befell him. A large bird flying over him, let a clod of earth fall upon his shoulder, and then settling upon one of the battering en- gines, was suddenly entangled and caught in the nets composed of sinews, which protected the ropes with which the machine was managed. This fell out exactly according to Aristander's prediction, which was, that Alexander should be wounded, and the city reduced. From hence he sent great part of the spoils to Olym- pias, Cleopatra, and the rest of his friends, not omitting his preceptor Leonidas, on whom he bestowed five hun- dred talents weight of frankincense, and an hundred of myrrh, in remembrance of the hopes he had once ex- pressed of him when he was but a child. For Leonidas, it seems, standing by him one day while he was sacrific- ing, and seeing him take both his hands full of incense to throw into the fire, told him it became him to be more sparing in his offerings, and not be so profuse till he was master of the countries which those sweet gums and spices came from. So Alexander now wrote to him, say- ing, " We have sent you abundance of myrrh and frank incense, that for the future you may not be stingy to the gods." Among the treasures and other booty that was taken from Darius, there was a very precious casket, which being brought to Alexander for a great rarity, he asked those about him what they thought fittest to be laid up in it ; and when they had delivered their various opinions, he told them he should keep Homer's Iliad in it. This is attested by many credible authors, and if what those of Alexandria tell us, relying upon the author- ity of Hera elides, be true, Homer was neither an idle, nor an unprofitable companion to him in his expedition. For when he was master of Eg}-pt, designing to settle a colony of Grecians there, he resolved to build a large and