is great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against him, at the
head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of Macedonian
officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand foot and seven
thousand horse. In studying the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the
peculiar advantage of deriving our information from two of Alexander's
generals of division, who bore an important part in all his enterprises.
Aristobulus and Ptolemy--who afterward became king of Egypt--kept
regular journals of the military events which they witnessed, and these
journals were in the possession of Arrian when he drew up his history of
Alexander's expedition.

The high character of Arrian for integrity makes us confident that he
used them fairly, and his comments on the occasional discrepancies
between the two Macedonian narratives prove that he used them sensibly.
He frequently quotes the very words of his authorities; and his history
thus acquires a charm such as very few ancient or modern military
narratives possess. The anecdotes and expressions which he records we
fairly believe to be genuine, and not to be the coinage of a
rhetorician, like those in Curtius. In fact, in reading Arrian, we read
General Aristobulus and General Ptolemy on the campaigns of the
Macedonians, and it is like reading General Jomini or General Foy on the
campaigns of the French.

The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of Alexander's army
seems reasonable enough, when we take into account both the losses which
he had sustained and the reenforcements which he had received since he
left Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen, who know with what mere handfuls of
men our own generals have, at Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and other
Indian battles, routed large hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers
that we read of in the victories won by the Macedonians over the
Persians presents nothing incredible. The army which Alexander now led
was wholly composed of veteran troops in the highest possible state of
equipment and discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader, and
full of confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny.

The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of his
infantry. This force had been raised and organized by his father,
Philip, who, on his accession to the Macedonian throne, needed a
numerous and quickly formed army, and who, by lengthening the spear of
the ordinary Greek phalanx, and increas