238 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the case was heard over again, and decided in the appellant's 

 favor. 



Another episode, which bade fair to have very serious results, 

 happened the year before he died. He had recently divorced his 



SATYR PUNISHING A SAILOR, FROM THE CHORAGIC MONUMENT. 



wife Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, and was cele- 

 brating his marriage to a new wife, Cleopatra. At the wedding 

 banquet, where the wine flowed very freely, her uncle Attalus 

 made some insulting remarks about the young prince Alexander, 

 who at once rose in his place at the table and threw a goblet at 

 his head. This enraged the king, who sprang from his seat, drew 

 his sword, and rushed at his son to kill him. But, in his rage and 

 intoxication, Philip slipped and fell to the ground. Then Alex- 

 ander, rather unfilially, shouted out : " See now, men of Macedon, 

 this man, who is preparing to cross from Europe to Asia, can not 

 step from one couch to another without falling ! " 



When Alexander came to the throne, a year later, the im- 

 provement in manners was but temporary. At first, indeed, the 

 young king, with his companions in arms, devoted all their ener- 

 gies to affairs of state and war. Two years after he came to the 

 throne he crossed the Hellespont, and with a small but picked 

 army routed the vast, unwieldy hosts of the Great King. In a 

 few campaigns he conquered Asia Minor, and even led his victo- 

 rious forces into India. But with success came intemperance, and 

 his brief and glorious career closed in disgrace. 



In the garb of Dionysos, accompanied by a band of drunken 

 roisterers, he entered Car mania in triumph. At Samarcand, in- 

 flamed by wine, he killed with his own hand his friend Clitus, 

 who had saved his life at the battle of the Granicus. At Persep- 

 olis, in a drunken frenzy, urged by dissolute companions, he set 

 fire to the famous palace of the Great Kings, and although, 



