ALE 



From Ecbatana lie mnnrhed agaiiid tlic CofTa-ans, and fub- 

 diud them ; and he thjn purfiud his courfe towards Baby- 

 lon, uh.-if he formed a variety of projefts, for improving 

 th; city aiid extending his domi-iions. tie propofcd invading 

 and conquering Arabia, draining the Babylonian fens, and 

 conllriiaing in the city a bafon, capable of containing a 

 thoufand gallies. But before he could execute any of thefe 

 prand fchemes, he was fcized with a fever, which, as fome 

 fsy, was occafioned, or at Icaft aggravated, by excefs of drink- 

 ing, and which in a few days terminated in liis death. He 

 died on the 2 ill of April, in the fecond year of the 114th 

 OK-mpiad, B. C. 323, after he had lived 32 years and eight 

 months, and reigned 1 2 years and eight months. When his 

 principal courtiers, perceiving his death to be inevitable, 

 alked him to whom he left the empire, he anfwered, " to 

 the moll worthy :" and when Perdiccas enquired at what 

 time they fliould pay him divine honours, he replied, " when 

 you are happy ;" and having pronounced thefe words, he 

 expired. When Alexander's corpfe had been embalmed 

 after the manner of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, Arida;us, 

 bis bailard brother, who" had been declared king, was ap- 

 pointed to convey it to the temple of Jupiter Ammon. Two 

 whole years (fceiElian.lib. xiii. c. 30. tom. ii. p. 898.) were 

 em.ploycd in preparing for this magnificent funeral, which 

 made Olympias bewail the fate of her fon, who having had 

 the ambition to rank himfelf among the gods, was fo long 

 deprived of burial, a privilege allowed to the meancft of 

 mortals. The funeral procefiion, conducted by Aridxus, 

 was fingulariy fp'lendid ; and fome of our readers may pro- 

 bably he amu'fed by the following brief account of it. It 

 was preceded by pioneers, who cleared the way ; and it con- 

 fided firfl; and principally of a fuperb chariot in which the 

 remains of the king were conveyed. The naves and fpokes 

 of the axle-trees of this carriage were covered with gold, 

 and their extremities, made of gold, reprefented the mufclea 

 of lions biting a dart. It was drawn by 64 mules, har- 

 nedcd to four draught-beams or poles ; and thefe mules 

 were adorned with crowns of gold, and collars enriched with 

 precious Hones and golden bells. On the chariot was erefted 

 3 pavilion of folid gold, 1 2 feet wide and 1 8 feet long, fup- 

 ported by Ionic columns; and the iniide was ornamented 

 with jewels, dlfpofed in the form of (bells. The circum- 

 ference was beautified with a fringe of golden net-work, to 

 Ir.e threads of which were fufpended large beUs, the found 

 of which might be heard at a great diftance. The external 

 decorations confifted of four relievoes. The firft reprefented 

 Alexander feated in a militaiy chariot, with a fplendid fcep- 

 ter in his hand, and furrounded on one fide with a troop of 

 Macedonians in amis, and on the other with an equal number 

 of armed Perfians ; and thefe were preceded by the king's 

 equerries. In the fecond were feen elephants harneffed, with 

 a band of Indians feated before, and a band of Macedo- 

 nians, feated behind, and armed for battle. The third ex- 

 hibited feveral fquadrons of horfe in military array. The 

 fourth reprefented (hips prepared for battle. The entrance 

 of the pavilion was guarded by golden lions. The four 

 corners were adorned with llatues of gold, reprefenting 

 victories, with trophies of arms in their hands. Under the 

 pavilion was placed a fquare throne of gold, adorned with 

 tlie heads of animals, with golden circles round their necks, 

 and to which were attached crowns, glittering with the moft 

 brilliant colours, and fuch as were carried about at the cele- 

 bration of facred folemnities. At the foot of the throne 

 was placed the coffin of Alexander, formed of beaten gold, 

 and half filled with aromatic fpices and perfumes ; and the 

 toiHn was covered by a pall of purple, wrought with gold. 



ALE 



The arms of the Monarch were dlfpofed in the manner in 

 which he ufcd to wear them, between the colfin and the 

 throne. The outfide of the pavilion was covered with purple 

 flowered with gold ; and the top terminated in a large golden 

 crown, refembling a duller of olive branches. The rays of 

 the fun, which darted on this diadem, as the chariot moved, 

 caufed it to emit a kind of rays refembling thofe of light- 

 ning. The chariot was followed by the royal guards, armed 

 and magnificently arrayed. Among the numerous attendants 

 and fpe£tators, who were aflembled on this occafion, Pto- 

 lemy advanced, with a numerous guard of his bed troops, 

 as far as Syria, to meet the procelTion. He prevented their 

 depofiting the coi-pfe in the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and 

 caufed it to be conveyed, firft to the city of Memphis, and 

 thence to Alexandria. Here he reared a magnificent temple 

 to the memoiy of Alexander, and rendered him all the ho- 

 nours which were ufually paid to demi-gods and heroes by 

 Pagan antiquity. Freinfiiemius, in his fupplement to Livy 

 (lib. cxxxiii. c. 6^. tom. vi. p. 910. ed. Drakenb.), relates, 

 after Leo Africanus, who lived in the 15th century', that 

 the tomb of Alexander was to be feen in his time, and that 

 it was reverenced by the Mahometans, as the monument 

 not only of an ilUillrious king, but of a great prophet. 



As to the ifTue of Alexander, we may obferve in general, 

 that by Barfina, or Arfinoe, the daughter of Artabazus, 

 and the widow of Memnon, a lady of great beauty and 

 merit, he had a fon named Hercules, who was afterwards 

 murdered ; by Roxana, the bell beloved of his wives, he 

 had a pofthumous fon, named Alexander, who for a time 

 enjoyed the title of king ; by Cleoplies, queen of part of 

 India, he had a fon named Alexander, who fucce;ded his 

 mother in her kingdom ; by Statira, the daughter of Darius, 

 he had no children, nor by Paryfatis, the daughter of 

 Ochus. 



As to the extent of the Macedonian empire, and the dif- 

 tribution of it after his death ; fee Empire. 



As to his pcrfon, Alexander was of a middle fee, with 

 his neck fomewhat awry, with full eyes, and a fierce ma- 

 jeftic countenance. Either through taite or vanity he would 

 never fuffer any portraiture to be formed of him except by 

 the greateft artifts of his age ; Praxiteles in fculpture, Ly- 

 fippus in caft metal, and Apelles in painting. 



As to his talents and charaftcr, they have been differently 

 appreciated by his biographers. From his more ancient 

 biographers, whofe memoirs are in a great meafure loft, five 

 pofterior writers have compiled the hiftory of his life, namely, 

 Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, Arrian, Q. Curtius, and Tro- 

 gus, abridged by Juftin. The Baron de St. Croix, in his 

 " Critical Inquiry into the Life of Alexander the Great by 

 the ancient Hiftorians," which firft appeared in the memoirs 

 of the French Academy of Infcriptions and Belles Letters, 

 and obtained the premium of that focicty in 1772, and of 

 which Sir R. Clayton pubhfhed an Englifh tranflation, with 

 notes and obfervations, in 1793, has appreciated the merit 

 and veracity of thefe hiftorians. Hiftorians, fays another 

 w-riter, have confidered him either as an enterprifing and 

 fuccefsful prince, the glory of whofe great aftions fcarcely 

 fulTered the blemilhes in his perfonal conduti to be feen, 

 v.'hich is the light in which Arrian has placed him ; or they 

 make his virtues and vices ahke confpicuous, which feems to 

 have been the view of Curtius. Philofophers and moral 

 writers have dealt more ftridly with him, and have therefore 

 feldom run into high panegyrics, Plutarch only excepted ; 

 who in his orations on the fortune and virtue of Alexander, 

 fpeaks as a rhetorician. The Satirift Lucian hath defcribed 

 him with great fpirit and with gonfummate judgment ; but 



