86 ALEXANDER AT BABYLON. 



So ended Alexander's journey of conquest, which 

 was marked, not only by heaps of bones on battle-fields 

 and by the blackened ashes of ruined towns, but also 

 by cities and colonies which he planted as he passed. 

 The memory of that extraordinary man has never 

 perished in the East ; the Turcomans still speak of 

 his deeds of war as if they had been performed a few 

 years ago: in the tea booths of Bokhara, it is yet the 

 custom to read aloud the biography in verse of 

 Secunder Rooni, by some believed to be a prophet, 

 by others one of the believing genii. There are still 

 existing chiefs in the valleys of the Oxus and the 

 Indus who claim to be heirs of his royal person, and 

 tribes who boast that their ancestors were soldiers of 

 his army, and who refuse to give their children in 

 marriage to those who are not of the same descent. 



He returned to Babylon and there found ambas- 

 sadors from all parts of the world waiting to offer him 

 the homage of their masters. His success was in- 

 credible ; it had not met with a single check ; the 

 only men who had ever given him cause to be alarmed 

 were his own countrymen and soldiers ; but these also 

 he had mastered by his skill and strength of mind. 



The Macedonians had expected that he would ad- 

 here to the constitution and customs of their own 

 country, which gave the king small power in time of 

 peace, and allowed full liberty and even license of 

 speech on the part of the nobles round the throne. 

 But Alexander now considered himself not king of 

 Macedonia but Emperor of Asia, and successor of Darius 

 the King of Kings. They had supposed that he 

 would give them the continent to plunder as a car- 

 case, that they would have nothing to do but to plun- 

 der and enjoy. They were disappointed and alarmed 



