OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF BRITAIN. 315 



inclusive, unto Bactria, and the borders of the East 

 India; and yet nevertheless was over-run and con 

 quered, in the space of seven years, by a nation not 

 much bigger than this isle of Britain, and newly 

 grown into name, having been utterly obscure till 

 the time of Philip the son of Amyntas. Neither 

 was this affected by any rare or heroical prowess in 

 the conqueror, as is vulgarly conceived, for that 

 Alexander the Great goeth now for one of the 

 wonders of the world ; for those that have made 

 a judgment grounded upon reason of estate, do find 

 that conceit to be merely popular, for so Livy pro- 

 nounceth of him, &quot; Nihil aliud quam bene ausus 

 &quot; vana contemnere.&quot; Wherein he judge th of vastness 

 of territory as a vanity that may astonish a weak 

 mind, but no ways trouble a sound resolution. And 

 those that are conversant attentively in the histories 

 of those times, shall find that this purchase which 

 Alexander made and compassed, was offered by 

 fortune twice before to others, though by accident 

 they went not through with it; namely, to Agesilaus, 

 and Jason of Thessaly : for Agesilaus, after he had 

 made himself master of most of the low provinces of 

 Asia, and had both design and commission to invade 

 the higher countries, was diverted and called home 

 upon a war excited against his country by the 

 states of Athens and Thebes, being incensed by their 

 orators and counsellors, which were bribed and cor 

 rupted from Persia, as Agesilaus himself avouched 

 pleasantly, when he said, That an hundred thousand 

 archers of the king of Persia had driven him home : 



