gloried in it;
and, as if he wished to add to the solemnity of the scene, he caused
an altar to be erected, and offered a sacrifice, by torch-light, to
the deities on whose aid his soldiers imagined themselves most
dependent for success on the morrow. Of course a place was selected
where the lights of the torches would not attract the attention of the
enemy, and sentinels were stationed at every advantageous point to
watch the Persian camp for the slightest indications of movement or
alarm.

In the morning, at break of day, Alexander commenced his march down to
the plain. In the evening, at sunset, all the valleys and defiles
among the mountains around the plain of Issus were thronged with vast
masses of the Persian army, broken, disordered, and in confusion, all
pressing forward to escape from the victorious Macedonians. They
crowded all the roads, they choked up the mountain passes, they
trampled upon one another, they fell, exhausted with fatigue and
mental agitation. Darius was among them, though his flight had been so
sudden that he had left his mother, and his wife, and all his family
behind. He pressed on in his chariot as far as the road allowed his
chariot to go, and then, leaving every thing behind, he mounted a
horse and rode on for his life.

Alexander and his army soon abandoned the pursuit, and returned to
take possession of the Persian camp. The tents of King Darius and his
household were inconceivably splendid, and were filled with gold and
silver vessels, caskets, vases, boxes of perfumes, and every
imaginable article of luxury and show. The mother and wife of Darius
bewailed their hard fate with cries and tears, and continued all the
evening in an agony of consternation and despair.

Alexander, hearing of this, sent Leonnatus, his former teacher, a man
of years and gravity, to quiet their fears and comfort them, so far as
it was possible to comfort them. In addition to their own captivity,
they supposed that Darius was killed, and the mother was mourning
bitterly for her son, and the wife for her husband. Leonnatus,
attended by some soldiers, advanced toward the tent where these
mourners were dwelling. The attendants at the door ran in and informed
them that a body of Greeks were coming. This threw them into the
greatest consternation. They anticipated violence and death, and threw
themselves upon the ground in agony. Leonnatus waited some time at the
door for the attendants to return. At length h