ALE 



ALE 



tliofe tribune*, wliofc connivance had occafioncd the trmtiny, 

 Tlio grateful lection fcrvcd t'nc emperor, wlilill living, and 

 revonijeii him wlicntlcad. The difttrenee of his temper and 

 conduct on tiie oecafions above recited m\i(l be afenbed to 

 the dilferent vljrour of mind, which he puireired in liis youth 

 and iii his riper ajre. When he became cajKiIjle of taking 

 the government into his own hands, and of exerting liis 

 genius and couraj^c, no prince could more cfTeftually com- 

 mand til!; awe, as no one ever more dcferved the love, of 

 bis foldicrs. It was a frequent declaration of Alexander, 

 " the foldier does not fear his commanders, unlels he be fed 

 and clothed, and has fome money in his purfe." And 

 whilll he furnifhed lliem with mules and camels to cr.'rry part 

 of their baggage in their marches, he ufed to fay, " that 

 he took more care of his foldiers than of himfelf, becaule 

 it was on them that the welfare of the republic depended ;" 

 and he perfeftcd tiie plan which other emperors lind con- 

 certed for fecuring to the troops a decent and comfortable 

 retreat in their old age. 



Whilll Artaxerxes, the reftorerof the Perfian monarchy, 

 •was preparing to invade the ]loman dominions, Alexander 

 fent ambafladore in order to dilfuade him from engaging the 

 two empires in a long and dangerous war. The nielTage 

 was received with contempt ; nor did any of Alexander's 

 remonllrances avail to prevent the Perlian monarch from 

 ravaging Mefopotamla and entering Cappadocia. The em- 

 peror, therefore, refolved to march againft him in perfon. In 

 the fpring of the year 233, Alexander, with an army of the 

 pi-a>torian guards and part of the hardy legions of Europe, 

 advanced ton-ards the frontiers of the Roman dominions to 

 meet the great king, which was the haughty ilyle affnmcd 

 by Artaxerxes in his embafllcs ; whofe force confifted, as 

 hiftory, fcarcely credible, reports, of i 20,000 horfe, clothed 

 in complete armour of fteel, of 700 elephants, with towers 

 filled with apchers on their backs, and 1800 chariots armed 

 with feythes. Of tlie event of the battle which cnfued, liif- 

 torians have given very oontraditlory accounts. Herodian 

 afferts, and Mr. Gibbon acqiiiefces in his account, that the 

 plan of Alexander for the condudl of the war, however ju- 

 diciouily concerted, totally failed. The emperor himfelf, 

 influenced by his mother's counfcls, and pei'haps by his own 

 fears, deferted the bravcft troops and the faireft. profpcft of 

 vidlory ; and after conf.miing in Mefopotamia an madive 

 and inglorious fummcr, led back to Anlloch an army dimi- 

 nilhed by ficknefs and provoked by diiappointment. But 

 the Perfian m.onarch, in feveral obflinate engagements againll 

 the veteran legions of Rome, lotl the flower of liis troops ; 

 and inftead of expelhng the Romans from the continent of 

 Alia, found iiimftlf unable to wreft from their hands die 

 little province of Mefopotamia. Crevier and manv other 

 modern writers chufe rather to follow Lampridius, whofe 

 account is entirely different fiuin that of Herodian. The 

 Perfians, fays tliis lad author, were totally defeated, and 

 Alexander approved himfelf an intrepid foldier and a Ikilful 

 general. The great king fled before his valotu' ; an immenfe 

 booty and the eonqueft of Mefopotamia were the immediate 

 fruits of this fignal viftory. Alexander, it is faid, having 

 taken care to guard Mefopotamia with feveral well garrlfoned 

 forts, returned to Rome, A. D. 2^4, to give the fenate an 

 account of liis exploits, and was received by ptrfoiis of all 

 ranks-with the greateil demonflratiuns of joy ; and obtained 

 a fignal triumph. His triumphal car was drawn by four 

 elephants; the air refounded with acclamations, and the 

 fli(uiting attendants uneeafingly exclaimed, " Rome is happy, 

 whilll ilie fees Alexander ahve and viiitorious." 



Soon after his triumph, Alexander, accojnpanied bv hii 

 Vol. I. 



mother, marched againft the Gernisn-:, who had pafleJ tlir 

 Rhine, and who were making ineinfi</ns into every part of 

 Gaul. Upon his arrival in Gaul, lie fent ambalTadois to the 

 barbarians in order to treat with them ; and if Herodian may 

 be credited, to purchafe peace, which he preferred to the 

 precariou'; ilfuu of a war. Having ])alTed tlie winter in tiic 

 neiglibinirhood of the Rhine, he eii'.ploved himfelf in intro- 

 ducing di(ci])liiic among the licentious legionaof Gaul. His 

 attempts for tins jinrpofe produced ditcontent in the army, 

 which were aggravated by a perfon, originally a barbarian 

 of mean origin, whofe father was a Goth and mother an 

 Alan, and who had been raifed from the lowefl: flation to 

 the rank of a general ofiicer. This perfon was proclaimed 

 emperor by the feditious foldiers ; and made his way to the 

 throne by the inaffacic both of Alexander and his mother. 

 This event happened on the 19th of March, A. D. 235, 

 when Alexander was in his 27th year, and after he had 

 reigned 13 years. The untimely death of Alexander wa» 

 univerlally regretted. The foldicrs, who were not concerned 

 in the plot, nianitefled their refentnient by a fi>ccdy vengeance 

 in immediately killing the murderers of their prince. The 

 lenate decreed both to him and his mother divine honours ; 

 appointed for them altars, priefts and facrifices ; and infti- 

 tuted, in honour of the deceafed empenn-, an annual feaft, 

 which was celebrated on the firll of Odober, the day of 

 his nativity. Crevier's Rom. Emp. vol. viii. Book xxiv. p. 

 279 — 350. Anc. Un. Hill. vol. xiii. p. 432 — 449. Gib- 

 bon's Hill. vol. i. p. 238, 240, 337. vol. ii. p. 450. 



Alexander JE.gs.vs, a difciple of Sofigenes, and pre- 

 ceptor of Nero, by whom he is faid to have been corrupted, 

 is known as the author of a commentary on Arillotle's Me- 

 teorology ; wliich has been attributed to Alexander Aphix)- 

 diixus. isuidas. Fab. Bib. Grace, lib. iii. c. II. 



Alexandi;r ALtolvs, a grammarian of Pleuron, in 

 TEtolia, was a co itcmporary of Aratus, and celebrated among 

 the feven writers of tragedy, called ihc pki as in the time of 

 Ptolemy Philadclphus. He alfo wrote elegies, cited byAthc- 

 nxus (lib. xiv. p. 699.), and other poems, commended by 

 Servius on the loth jiineld of Virgil, and referred to by 

 Athenxus (vii. p. 283. 296.) Suidaj. Eabr. Bib. Grxc. 

 lib. ii. c. 19. 



Alexander Aphrodis.eus, fo called from a city of 

 Caria, where he was born, was ^n emintut philofopher of 

 the fchool of Ariilotle, about the clofe of the fecond or 

 beginning oT the third ucntury. flc' was appointed publiy 

 protcffor ot tlic Ariftotclian philofophy under the Roman 

 enipenn-s, Septimius Sevcrus and Caracalla, cither at Athens 

 or Alexandria, and dedicated the lirll fruits of his labours, 

 which is an excellent treatil'e, " On Fate," alferting the 

 doilrinc of Divine Providence, to thefc emperors. He was 

 iuppoled to have fo well underllood the fpeculations of his 

 mailer, and to have fo fatisfaclorily explained them, that he 

 was refpeiSted by his contemporaries as an excellent preceptor, 

 and followed by fucceeding Ariilotelians ainong the Greeks, 

 Latins and Arabians, as the bell interpreter of Ariilotle. He 

 obtained.the appellation of '• The Commentator," on account . 

 (if the number and value of his Commentaries. Hottingeraiid 

 Herbelot aifirm, that Arabic tranflatlons of his commentaries 

 are ilill extant. In his book concerning the foul, he main- 

 tained, that it is not a diftinS fubftance by itfelf, but the/or;n 

 of an organized body: he denied its immortality, and aflertcd« 

 that to maintain the poflibility of its exilling leparately from 

 the body, was as abfurd as to fay that two and two make 

 five. The works of this philofop!Krfl.ill extant are his book 

 " l)e Fate," publiilied from the prcfs of Aldus, at Venice, 

 in 1534, with a tianflation by Giutius, izmo. at Amfter- 

 4 S dam, I 



