l broils." Just then
Midas came up, driving the cart in which his father and mother were
seated. The assembly thought at once that this must be the cart meant
by the oracle, and they made Gordius king by acclamation. They took
the cart and the yoke to preserve as sacred relics, consecrating them
to Jupiter; and Gordius tied the yoke to the pole of the cart by a
thong of leather, making a knot so close and complicated that nobody
could untie it again. It was called the Gordian knot. The oracle
afterward said that whoever should untie this knot should become
monarch of all Asia. Thus far, nobody had succeeded.

Alexander felt a great desire to see this knot and try what he could
do. He went, accordingly, into the temple where the sacred cart had
been deposited, and, after looking at the knot, and satisfying himself
that the task of untying it was hopeless, he cut it to pieces with his
sword. How far the circumstances of this whole story are true, and how
far fictitious, no one can tell; the story itself, however, as thus
related, has come down from generation to generation, in every country
of Europe, for two thousand years, and any extrication of one's self
from a difficulty by violent means has been called cutting the Gordian
knot to the present day.

[Illustration: THE BATHING IN THE RIVER CYNDUS.]

At length the whole army was assembled, and the king recommenced
his progress. He went on successfully for some weeks, moving in a
southeasterly direction, and bringing the whole country under his
dominion, until, at length, when he reached Tarsus, an event occurred
which nearly terminated his career. There were some circumstances
which caused him to press forward with the utmost effort in
approaching Tarsus, and, as the day was warm, he got very much
overcome with heat and fatigue. In this state, he went and plunged
suddenly into the River Cydnus to bathe.

Now the Cydnus is a small stream, flowing by Tarsus, and it comes down
from Mount Taurus at a short distance back from the city. Such streams
are always very cold. Alexander was immediately seized with a very
violent chill, and was taken out of the water shivering excessively,
and, at length, fainted away. They thought he was dying. They bore him
to his tent, and, as tidings of their leader's danger spread through
the camp, the whole army, officers and soldiers, were thrown into the
greatest consternation and grief.

A violent and protracted fever came on. In the