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THE PRINCE OF PEACE 293

successful as to gain possession of the city on the mainland, which was possibly denuded of all that was valuable, and that the Tyrians after the loss of the city on the mainland made peace with the Chaldean monarch on favourable terms. But it is certain that if Tyre was captured at all by Nebuchadnezzar, it was not then burned with fire her sea-girt fortress was not destroyed nor her naval power ruined. Though she may have lost her independence, she did not lose the important position she occupied as the greatest commercial and naval city in the world, and the naval power of the Phoenicians proved in the Persian period of the greatest possible importance to that empire.

" The case was very different when Alexander the Great, having completely shattered the might of Persia in the de cisive battle of Issus, marched with his victorious army into Syria. Alexander directed the main division of his army against Phoenicia, while he dispatched Parmenio with a strong detachment to operate against Damascus. Damascus, where Darius had deposited his riches, opened its gates to that general, who overran all the land of Hadrach, and must also necessarily have occupied Hamath, which probably submitted without a struggle. Sidon surrendered without making any resistance ; but Tyre, after a vain attempt at negotiation, ventured to resist.

" Proudly confident in the strength of their island fortress, the Tyrians mocked the attempts of Alexander to reduce their city. Every engine of war suited for defence had been stored up in their bulwarks, and every device which their skilful engineers could suggest was had recourse to, and for a time with marked success. Ye despise this land army through confidence in the place that ye dwell in is an island, but I will show you that ye dwell on a continent, was the language of Alexander. The shallow channel between the mainland and the island was at last bridged over by a huge dam of earth erected after repeated failures, and the city which had stood a five years siege from the Assyrians, a thirteen years siege from the Chaldeans, was taken after a short siege of seven months by Alexander.