[ 209 ] 



great splendor, as between men of whom a great portion were 

 doomed never to meet again. After which the king made ample 

 presents to the courtiers, dividing among his friends even the royal 

 domains and hereditary revenues. On this occasion there fell from 

 him that remarkable expression which so strikingly displayed the 

 grandeur of his designs and the extent of his views, fully demon- 

 strating that he had no idea of a speedy return, if ever, to his here- 

 ditary kingdom of Macedon; for, when one of his courtiers, struck 

 with the prodigality of his donations, asked him what he reserved 

 for himself, Alexander replied, HOPE : in other words I have no 

 occasion for the riches of Macedon ; the treasures of Asia, the sub- 

 jugated world, will shortly be mine*. 



When the army assembled at Amphipolis, on the river Strymon, 

 in order to pass over Hellespont into Asia, it amounted, according 

 to Arrian, as before observed, to thirty thousand foot and five thou- 

 sand horse ; the former commanded by Parmenio, the latter by the 

 generals Philotas and Galas. Thence they inarched to Sestos, 

 where they embarked on board a fleet of one hundred and sixty 

 galleys, of three benches of oars, besides others of smaller burthen. 

 When the vessel which contained Alexander had reached the mid- 

 dle of the streight, he sacrificed a bull to Neptune, and poured out 

 a libation to the Nereids from a golden cup. On approaching 

 the continent, which was to be the scene of his future glory, Alex- 

 ander, in a transport of joy, launched a javelin, which struck deep 

 into the earth ; and, when the ship reached it, he leapt in complete 

 armour upon the shore, sacrificed to the tutelary gods of Greece, 

 and immediately hastened to that Ilium of which his favourite 

 Homer had early charmed him with the affecting tale. The 

 electric effect which a visit of this kind, to a spot so consecrated 



* Diod. Sic. lib. svii.p. 361. 



Vol. in. 2 D 



