s a great
favourite, that the orators were spared. According to another account,
however, the wrath of Alexander was appeased by the orator Demades, who
received from the Athenians a reward of five talents for his services.
It was at this time that Alexander is said to have sent a present of
100 talents to Phocion. But Phocion asked the persons who brought the
money--"Why he should be selected for such a bounty?" "Because," they
replied, "Alexander considers you the only just and honest man."
"Then," said Phocion, "let him suffer me to be what I seem, and to
retain that character." And when the envoys went to his house and
beheld the frugality with which he lived, they perceived that the man
who refused such a gift was wealthier than he who offered it.

Having thus put the affairs of Greece on a satisfactory footing,
Alexander marched for the Hellespont in the spring of B.C. 334, leaving
Antipater regent of Macedonia in his absence, with a force of 12,000
foot and 1500 horse. Alexander's own army consisted of only about
50,000 foot and 5000 horse. Of the infantry about 12,000 were
Macedonians, and these composed the pith of the celebrated Macedonian
phalanx. Such was the force with which he proposed to attack the
immense but ill-cemented empire of Persia, which, like the empires of
Turkey or Austria in modern times, consisted of various nations and
races with different religions and manners, and speaking different
languages; the only bond of union being the dominant military power of
the ruling nation, which itself formed only a small numerical portion
of the empire. The remote provinces, like those of Asia Minor, were
administered by satraps and military governors who enjoyed an almost
independent authority. Before Alexander departed he distributed most
of the crown property among his friends, and when Perdiccas asked him
what he had reserved for himself he replied, "My hopes."

A march of sixteen days brought Alexander to Sestos, where a large
fleet and a number of transports had been collected for the embarkation
of his army. He steered with his own hand the vessel in which he
sailed towards the very spot where the Achaeans were said to have
landed when proceeding to the Trojan war. He was, as we have said, a
great admirer of Homer, a copy of whose works he always carried with
him; and on landing on the Asiatic coast he made it his first business
to visit the plain of Troy. He then proceeded to Sigeum, w