30 M A C 
the Carthaginians atid Italians, is more than probable. 
All thefe defigns, however, were fruitrated by his death, 
which happened at Babylon in 3S3 B. C. He is faid to 
have received feveral warnings of his approaching fate, 
and to have been advifed to avoid that city ; which advice 
he either defpifed or could not follow. He died of a fever 
after eight days’ illnefs, without naming any fucceflor ; 
having only given his ring to Perdiccas, and left the king¬ 
dom, as he faid, “to the molt worthy,” 
The character of this great prince has been varioufly re¬ 
presented ; but molt hiltorians feem to have looked upon 
him rather as an illuftrioufe madman than one upon whom 
the epithet of Great could be properly bellowed. From a 
careful obfervation of his cohduCl, however, it mult ap¬ 
pear, that he pofleffed not only a capacity to plan, but 
like wife to execute, the greatell enterprises that ever en¬ 
tered in'to the mind of any of the human race. From 
w hatever caufe the notion originated, it is plain that he 
imagined himfelf a divine perfon, and born to lubdue the 
whole world ; and, extravagant and impracticable as this 
fcheme may appear at prfefent, it cannot at all be looked 
upon in the fame light in the time of Alexander. The 
Greeks were in his time the moll powerful people in the 
world in refpeCl to their fklll in the military art, and the 
Perfians were the molt powerful with refpeCl to wealth and 
numbers. The only other powerful people in the world 
were the Carthaginians, Gauls, and Italian nations. From 
a long feries of wars which the Carthaginians carried on 
in Sicily, it appeared that they were by no means capable 
of contending with the Greeks-, even when they had an 
immenfe fuperiority of numbers ; much lefs then could 
they have fuflained an attack from the whole power of 
Greece and Afia united. The Gauls.and Italians were 
indeed very brave, and of a martial dilpofition ; but they 
were barbarous, and could not have refilled armies well 
difciplined and under the command of fuch a Ikilful leader 
as Alexander. Even long after this time, it appeared that 
the Romans themfelves could not have refilled the Greeks-; 
fince Regulus, after having defeated the Carthaginians and 
reduced them to the utmoll diflrefs, was totally unable to 
refill a Carthaginian army commanded by a Greek gene¬ 
ral, and guided by Greek difcipline. 
Thus it appears, that the fcheme of Alexander cannot 
by any means be accounted that of a madman, or of one 
w ho projects great things without judgment or means to 
execute them. If we confider from his aflions the end 
Which moll probably be had in view, could his fcheme 
have been accoroplilhed, we (hall Snd it not only the 
greatell but the belt that can poflibly be imagined. He 
did not conquer to deltroy, enllave, or opprefs ; but to 
civilize and unite the whole world as one nation. No 
fooner was a province conquered, than he took care of it 
as if it had been part of his paternal inheritance. He al¬ 
lowed not his foldiers to opprefs and plunderthe Perfians, 
■which they were very much inclined to do ; on the con¬ 
trary, by giving into the oriental culloms himfelf, he 
ftrove to* extinguilh that inveterate hatred which had fo 
lon°- fubfilted between the two nations. In the Scythian 
countries which he lubdued, he purfued the fame excel¬ 
lent plan. His'courage and military Ikill, in which he 
never was excelled, were difplayed, not with a view to 
rapine or defultory conquell, but to civilize and induce 
the barbarous inhabitants to employ themfelves in a more 
proper way of life. “ Midll the hardships of a military 
life (fays Dr. Gillies), obftinate fieges, bloody battles, 
and dear-bought viClories, he ftill relpeCled the rights of 
mankind, and praClifed the mild virtues of humanity. 
The conquered nations enjoyed their ancient laws and pri¬ 
vileges ; the rigours of defpotifm were foftened ; arts and 
induflry encouraged ; and the proudefl Macedonian go¬ 
vernors compelled, by the authority and example of Alex¬ 
ander, to oblerve the rules of jultice towards their meanell 
fubjeCls. To bridle the fierce inhabitants of the Scythian 
.plains, he founded cities and eltablifhed colonies on the 
banks of the Xaxartes and Oxus 5 and thole dellruClive 
EDON. 
campaigns, ufually aferibed to his refliefs aClivity and 
blind ambition, appeared to the difeernment of this ex¬ 
traordinary man not only eflential to the fecurity of the 
conquelts which he had already made, but neceffary for 
the more remote and fplendid expeditions which he (till 
purpofed to undertake, and which he performed with lin¬ 
gular boldnefs and unexampled fuccefs-. 
“ From the firlf years of his reign he experienced the 
crimes of difaffeClion and treachery, which multiplied 
and became more dangerous with the extent of his domi¬ 
nions and the difficulty to govern them. Several of his' 
lieutenants early afpired at independence ; others formed 
confpiracies againfl the life of their mafter. The firlt cri¬ 
minals were treated with a lenity becoming the generous 
fpirit of Alexander; but, when Phiiotas the foil of Par- 
nienio, and even Parmenio himfelf, afforded reafon to fuf- 
peCt their fidelity; when the Macedonian youths, who, 
according to the inftitution of Philip, guarded the royal 
pavilion, prepared to murder their iovereign ; he found 
it neceffary todepart from his lenient fyftem, and to hold 
with a firmer hand the reins of government. Elated by 
unexampled profperity, and the fubmiflive reverence of 
vanquifhed nations, his loftinefs difguffed the pride of his 
European troops, particularly the Macedonian nobles, 
who had been accultomed to regard themfelves rather as 
his companions than his fubjeCls. The pretenfions which 
found policy taught him to form and to maintain, of 
being treated with thofe externa'l honours ever claimed by 
the monarchs of the Eafl, highly offended the religious 
prejudices of the Greeks, who deemed it impious to prof- 
trate the body or bend the knee to any mortal Iovereign. 
Yet, had he remitted formalities confecrated by the prac¬ 
tice of ages, he muff: infenfibly have loll the refpeCl of his 
Afiatic fubjeCls. With a view to reconcile the difeordant 
principles of the victors and vanquifhed, he aftedled an 
immediate defeent from Jupiter Ammon ; a claim liberally 
admitted by the avarice or fears of the Libyan priefts ; and 
which, he had reafon to expert, could not be very oblti- 
nately denied by the credulity of the Greeks and Mace¬ 
donians; who univerfally acknowledged that Philip, his 
reputed father, was remotely defeended from the Grecian 
Jupiter. But the fuccefs of this defign, which might 
have entitled him, as fon of Jupiter, to the fame obeifance 
from the Greeks which the barbarians readily paid him as 
monarch of the Eafl, was counteracted, at firlt by the fe- 
cret difplealure, and afterwards by the open indignation, 
of feveral of his generals and courtiers. Nor did the con¬ 
duct of Alexander tend to extricate him from this diffi¬ 
culty. With his friends he maintained that equal inter- 
courle of vifits and entertainments which characterized 
the Macedonian manners; indulged the liberal flow of 
unguarded converfation ; and often exceeded that in¬ 
temperance in wine which difgraced his age and coun¬ 
try.” 
We (hall conclude this character of Alexander with ob- 
ferving, that he had in view, and undoubtedly muff have 
accomplilhed, the fovereignty of the ocean as well as of 
the land. The violent refinance made by the Tyrians 
had (hown him the ftrength of a commercial nation ; and 
it was undoubtedly with a view to enrich his dominions 
by commerce, that he equipped the fleet on the Indus, 
and wifhed to keep up a communication with India by 
fea as well as by land. “ It was chiefly with a view to the 
former of thefe objects (fays Dr. Robertibn) that he exa¬ 
mined the navigation of the Indus with fo much atten¬ 
tion. With the lame view, on his return to Sufa, he in 
perfon furveyed the courfe of the Euphrates and Tigris, 
and gave directions to remove the cataraCls or dams with 
which the ancient monarchs of Perfia, induced by a pe¬ 
culiar precept of their religion, which enjoined them to 
guard with the utmoll care againll defiling any of the ele¬ 
ments, had conlti'iiCted near the mouths of thefe rivers, 
in order to (hut out their fubjeCls from any accefs to the 
ocean. By opening the navigation in this manner, he pro- 
poled, that the valuable commodities of India Ihould be 
conveyed 
