3\ 
MAC 
Conveyed from the Perfian gulf into the interior parts of 
his Afiatic dominions, while by the Arabian gulf they 
fhould be carried to Alexandria, and diftributed to the 
reft of the world. 
“Grand and extenfive as thefe fchemes were, the pre¬ 
cautions employed, and the arrangements made for carry¬ 
ing them into execution, were fo various and fo proper, 
that Alexander had good reafon to entertain fanguine 
hopes of their proving fuccefsful. At the time when the 
mutinous fpirit of his foldiers obliged him to relinquifli 
«. his operations in India, he was. not thirty years of age 
complete. At this enterprifing period of life, a prince of 
a fpirit fo aftive, perfevering, and indefatigable, muft 
have foon found means to refume a favourite meafure on 
which he had been long intent. If he had invaded India 
a fecond time, he would not, as formerly, have been 
obliged to force his way through hoftile and unexplored 
regions, oppofed at every ftep by nations and tribes of 
barbarians whofe names had never reached Greece. All 
Afia, from the lhores of the Ionian fea to the banks of 
the Hyphafis, would then have been fubjeft to his domi¬ 
nion ; and through that immenfe ftretch of country he had 
cftablifhed fuch a chain of cities or fortified ftations, that 
his armies might have continued their march with fafety, 
and have found a regular fucceflion of magazines provided 
for their fubfiftence. Nor would it have been difficult for 
him to bring into the field forces fufficient to have achieved 
the conqueft of a country fo populous and extenfive as 
India. Having armed and difciplined his fubjects in the 
eaft like Europeans, they would have been ambitious to 
•imitate and to equal their inftruftors; and Alexander 
might have drawn recruits, not from his fcanty domains 
in Macedonia and Greece, but from the vaft regions of 
Afia, which in every age has covered the earth, and afto- 
nifhed mankind, with its numerous armies. When at the 
head of fuch a formidable power he had reached the con¬ 
fines of India, he might have entered it under circum- 
ftances very different from thofe in his firft expedition. 
He had fecured a firm footing there, partly by means of 
the garrifons which he left in the three cities which he had 
built and fortified, and partly by his alliance with Taxiles 
and Porus. Thefe two Indian princes, won by Alexan¬ 
der’s humanity and beneficence, which, as they were vir¬ 
tues feldom difplayed in the ancient mode of carrying on 
war, excited of courfe a higher degree of admiration and 
gratitude, had continued fteady in their attachment to the 
Macedonians. Reinforced by their troops, and-guided by 
their information as well as by the experience which he 
had acquired in his former campaigns, Alexander muft 
have made rapid progrefs in a country where every in¬ 
vader from his time to the prefent age has proved fuccefsful. 
“ But this and all his other fplendid fchemes were ter¬ 
minated at once by his untimely death. In confequence 
of that, however, events took place which illuftrate and 
confirm tl\e juftnefs of the preceding fpeculations and 
conjectures, by evidence the molt ftrikingand fatisfaftory. 
When that great empire, which the fuperior genius of 
Alexander had kept united and in fubjeCtion, no longer 
felt his fuperintending controul, it broke into pieces, and 
its various provinces were feized by his principal officers, 
and parcelled out among them. From ambition, emula¬ 
tion, and perfonal animofity, they foon turned their arms 
againft one another ; and, as feveral of the leaders were 
equally eminent for political abilities and for military 
ikill, the conteft was maintained long, and carried on with 
frequent viciffitudes of fortune. Atnidft the various con- 
vulfions and revolutions which thefe occafioned, it was 
found that the meafuresof Alexander for the prefervation 
of his conquefts had been concerted with fuch fagacity, 
that, upon the final reftoration of tranquillity, the Mace¬ 
donian dominion continued to be eftabliftied in every part 
of Afia, and not one province had fhaken off the yoke. 
Even India, the mod remote of Alexander’s conquefts, 
.quietly fubtnitted to Python the fon of Agenor, and af- 
•.terwards to Seleucus, who fucceffively obtained dominion 
E D O N. 
over that part of Afia. Porus and Taxiles, notwithftand- 
ing the death of their benefactor, neither declined fub- 
million to the authority of the Macedonians nor made any 
attempt to recover independence.’’ 
With the death of Alexander fell alfo the glory of the 
Macedonians; who very foon relapfed into a lituation as 
bad, or vvorfe, than that in which they had been before 
the reign of Philip. This was occafioned principally by 
his not having diltinCtly named a fucceffor, and having no 
child of his own come to the years of difcretion to whom 
the kingdom might feem naturally to belong. The am¬ 
bition and jealoufy of his mother Olympias, his queen 
Roxana, and efpecially of the great commanders of his 
army, not only prevented a fucceffor from being ever 
named, but occafioned the death of every perfon, whether 
male or female, who was in the leaft related to Alexander. 
To have a juft notion of the origin of thefe difturbances, 
it is neceffary in the firft place to underftand the fituation 
of the Macedonian affairs at the time of Alexander’s death. 
When Alexander fet out for Afia, he left Antipater, as 
we formerly obferved, in Macedon, to prevent any dif¬ 
turbances that might arife either there or in Greece. The 
Greeks, even during the lifetime of Alexander, bore the 
fuperiority which he exercifed over them with great im¬ 
patience; and, though nothing could be more gentle than 
the government of Antipater, yet he was exceedingly- 
hated, becaufe he obliged them to be quiet. One of the 
laft actions of Alexander’s life fet all Greece in a flame. 
He had, by an edi£t, directed all the cities of Greece to 
recal their exiles; which edift, when it was publilhed at 
the Olympic games, created much confufion. Many of 
the cities were afraid, that, when the exiles returned, they 
would change the government ; moft of them doubted 
their own fafety if the edift took place ; and all of them 
held this peremptory decree to be a total abolition of their 
liberty. No fooner therefore did the news of Alexander’s 
death arrive, than they prepared for war. 
In Afia the ftate of things was not much better ; not 
indeed through any inclination of the conquered coun¬ 
tries to revolt, but through diffenfions among the com¬ 
manders. In the general council, which was called foon 
after the death of Alexander, after much confufion and 
altercation, it was at laft agreed, or rather commanded by 
the foldiers, that Aridasus the brother of Alexander, who 
had always accompanied the king, and had been wont to 
facrifice with him, fliould affume the fovereignty. This 
Aridasus was a man of very flender parts and judgment, 
not naturally, but by the wicked practices of Olympias,, 
who had given him poifonous draughts in his infancy, left 
he ffiould ftand in the way of her fon Alexander or any 
of his family ; and, for this or fome other reafon, Per- 
diccas, Ptolemy, and moft of the great officers, refentecl 
his promotion to fuch a degree, that they quitted the afi- 
l'embly, and even the city. However, Meleag;er, at the 
head of the phalanx, vigoroufly fupported their firft refo- 
lution, and threatened loudly to filed the blood of thofe 
who affeCted to rule over their equals, and to affume a 
kingdom which no way belonged to them. Aridasus was 
accordingly arrayed in royal robes, had the arms of Alex¬ 
ander put upon him, and was faluted by the name of 
Philip , to render him more popular. Thus were two 
parties formed, at the head of whom were Meleager and 
Perdiccas; both of them pretending vaft concern for the 
public good, yet, at bottom, defiring nothing more than 
their own advantage. Perdiccas was a man of high birth, 
and had a fupreme command in the army ; was much in 
favour with Alexander, and one in whom the nobility 
had put great confidence. Meleager had become formida¬ 
ble by having the phalanx on his fide, and having the no¬ 
minal king entirely in his power; for Aridasus, or Philip, 
was obliged to comply with whatever he thought proper ; 
and publicly declared, that whatever he did was by the 
advice of Meleager; fo that he made his minirter account¬ 
able for his own fchemes, and no-way endangered himfelf. 
The Macedonians alfo, befules their regard for the de= 
. 3 , -ceafe. 
