in encouraging the army, and establishing an opinion that Alexander's mission was from heaven. Alexander having embraced the highpriest, was conducted by him to the temple, where, after he had explained to him many prophecies in different parts of the Old Testament concerning his invasion, he taught him to offer up a sacrifice in the Jewish manner.*

Alexander was so much pleased with his reception upon this occasion, that, before he left Jerusalem, he assembled the Jews, and bade them ask any favour they should think proper. Their request was, to be allowed to live according to their ancient laws and maxims; to be exempted from tribute every seventh year, as they were by their laws exempted from labour, and could, consequently, have no harvests: they requested, that such of their brethren as were settled in Asia should be indulged in the same privileges. Thus, being gratified in all their desires, great numbers of them offered to enlist themselves in his army. Soon after the Samaritans demanded the same favours; but he gave them an evasive answer, and promised to take the matter into consideration upon his return.

From this be went on to Gaza,† where he

This story is altogether discredited by Mitford.-It is told by Josephus, and is to be met in the book of Maccabees.

The city of Gaza was situated in an extensive plain of deep sand, at a distance of about two miles from the sea-The difficulty of erecting outworks in this place was very great, as all the materials were to be brought from a distance, and the expense is supposed to have exceeded that of the siege of Tyre. One day, while Alexander was inspecting the works erecting before the town, a bird flying over him, let fall a clod of earth upon his shoulder; Aristander's interpretation of the omen was, that he should be wounded in that shoulder; and the event confirmed the truth of his prediction, for the severist wound Alexander ever received was at the siege of Caza.

found a more obstinate resistance than he had expected; but at length taking the town by storm, and having cut the garrison, consisting of ten thousand men, to pieces with brutal ferocity, he ordered Batis, the governor, to be brought before him; and having in vain endeavoured to intimidate him, commanded at last, that holes should be bored through his heels, and thus to be tied by cords to the back of his chariot, and in this manner to be dragged round the walls of the city. This he did in imitation of Achilles, whom Homer decribes as having dragged Hector round the walls of Troy in the same manner; but it was reading the poet to very little advantage, to imitate his hero in the most unworthy part of his character.

As soon as Alexander had ended the siege of Gaza, he left a garrison there, and turned the whole power of his arms towards Egypt.* In seven days' march he arrived before Pelusium', whither a great number of Egyptians had assembled, with all imaginable diligence, to own him for their sovereign; being heartily displeased with the Persian government, as likewise the Persian governors; as the one detroyed their liberty, the other ridiculed their religion. Masaces, the Persian governor, who commanded in Memphis, finding it would be to no purpose for him to resist so triumphant an army, and that Darius his sovereign was not in a condition to succour him, set open the gates of the city to the conqueror, and gave up eight hundred talents, (about one hundred and forty thousand

* Arriving at Tripolis on the Syrian coast, he found some Persian vessels, these he employed in an expedition to Cyprus, in search of auxiliaries, and returned with a considerable number of recruits, whom he led into Egypt.

pounds,) and all the king's furniture. Thus Alexander possessed himself of all Egypt, without meeting with the least opposition.

He now, therefore, formed a design of visiting the temple of Jupiter. This temple was situated at a distance of twelve days' journey from Memphis, in the midst of the sandy deserts of Lybia. Alexander having read in Homer, and other fabulous authors of antiquity, that most of the heroes were represented as the sons of some deity, was willing himself to pass for a hero, and knew that he could bribe the priests to compliment him, as of celestial origin. Setting out therefore along the river Memphis, and after having passed Canopus, opposite the island of Pharos, he there laid the foundation of the city Alexandria, which in a little time became one of the most flourishing towns for commerce in the world. From thence he had a journey of three hundred and forty miles to the temple of Jupiter; the way leading through inhospitable

The city of Alexandria, so distinguished in after ages, is deserving of greater notice than our historian has bestowed upon it. In the choice of a site, the great founder was influenced by the fol. lowing verse of Homer, which had occurred to him in a dream;

High o'er a gulphy sea, the Pharian isle

Fronts the deep roar of disemboguing Nile."-Pore. The moment he awoke he quit his bed and hastened to Pharos, where he instantly perceived the advantages of such a situation for a commercial capital, and directed Dinocrates, the architect of the new temple of Diana at Ephesus, to commence the building of Alexandria. From the period of its foundation this city continued to increase in importance, not only as an emporium of commerce, but as the seat of literature, until the invasion of the Saracens in the seventh century: here the Ptolemys collected the celebrated library, which was burned by order of the Caliph Omar, A. D. 642: and historians say, that the contents of the Alexandrian library supplied fuel for 4000 baths for the space of six months. Alexandria is also remarkable for having possessed schools of Philosophy, Astro nomy, Theology and Physic, of the highest reputation for centuries.

deserts, and plains of sand. The soldiers were patient enough for the two first days' march, before they arrived amidst the dreadful solitudes; but as soon as they found themselves in vast plains, covered with sands of a prodigious depth, they were greatly terrified. Surrounded as with a sea, they gazed round as far as their sight could extend, to discover, if possible, some place that was inhabited; but all in vain, for they could not perceive so much as a single tree, nor the least foot-steps of any land that had been cultivated. To increase their calamity, the water that they had brought in goat-skins, upon camels, now failed, and there was not so much as a single drop in all that sandy desert. They were, however, greatly refreshed by the accidental falling of a shower, which served to encourage them in their progress, till they came to the temple of the deity. Nothing can be more fanciful than the description the historians have given us of this gloomy retreat: it is represented as a small spot of fertile ground, in the midst of vast solitudes of sand; it is covered with the thickest trees, that exclude the rays of the sun; and watered with several springs, which preserved it in perpetual verdure; near the grove where the temple stood was the Fountain of the Sun, which at day-break was luke-warm, at noon cold, then towards evening insensibly grew warmer, and was boiling hot at midnight. The god worshipped in this place has his statue made of emeralds, and other precious stones: and from the head to the navel resembled a ram. No sooner had Alexander appeared before the altar, than the high priest declared him to be the son of Jupiter; the conqueror quite intoxicated with the adulation, asked, whether he should have success in his expedition? the

priest answered, that he should be monarch of the world. The conqueror required, if his father's murderers were punished? the priest replied, that his father Jupiter was immortal, but that the murderers of Philip had been all extirpated.*

Alexander having ended his sacrifice, and rewarded the priests, who had been so liberal of their titles, from that time supposed himself, or would have it supposed, that he was the son of Jupiter. Upon his return from the temple, and during his stay in Egypt, he settled the government of that country on the most solid foundation; he divided it into districts, over each of which he appointed a lieutenant, who received orders from himself alone. And thus having settled affairs there, he set out in the beginning of spring to march against Darius, who was now preparing to oppose him. He made some stay at Tyre, to settle the various affairs of the countries he had left behind; and

* What could have influenced Alexander to undertake so dangerous and unprofitable an expedition, historians do not appear satisfied of: the extravagance of his character might be considered sufficient reason, and confidence of providential protection, which he had so frequently experienced. The danger of this journey consisted not merely in the hazard of being left in want of water, but should a breeze arise his entire army might have been smothered in the clouds of sand, as occurred long before to the army of Cambyses. But he did not hesitate to tempt Fortune, who never had been inconstant to him, and in this instance she wrought a miracle in his favour, for a heavy shower falling, all the plain became hard and pleasant to the foot, and the men were supplied at the same time with abundance of water. But the most probable reason for undertaking such a journey, appears to have been a desire to imitate Perseus and Hercules, who both had consulted this oracle. Perseus, when he went against the Gorgons, and Hercules, when he marched into Lybia against Antæus, and afterwards in his Egyptian expedition against Busiris; the name Ammon is derived from the Greek word Yappos sand,