Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

XX THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 259
back, completely mastered it, to the joy of Philip, who
exclaimed, " O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to
and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too small for thee."
So much for stories of the famous youth. To come
to firmer ground, we know that Alexander had the extra-
ordinary good fortune to be taught by Aristotle, and it
was he who implanted the passion for knowledge which
never weakened throughout his strenuous life. Moreover,
he was for the most part kept away from the undesirable
atmosphere of the Court and was encouraged and enabled
to devote his energies to study and to sport.
The young Prince obtained his first experience of war
at Perinthus. At the age of sixteen he was appointed
and led a successful
Regent during the absence of Philip
expedition against the rebellious Maedi. When eighteen
years old, as already mentioned, he commanded a wing at
Chaeronea, and is said to have been the first man to charge
the famous Sacred Band. Thus when he succeeded his
father not only had he considerable experience in war and
administration, but owing to the fact that Olympias was
out of favour he had known for some years that he might
have to fight for the throne. Consequently, although
but twenty, he bore an old head on his young shoulders.
His Recognition by Hellas.— Naturally enough, his
capacity was not fully realized by the hostile factions in
his own country or by the enemies of Macedonia abroad,
but it did not take long to teach them the necessary
lesson. After the usual murders of relatives, probably
due to the influence of Olympias, Alexander marched to
Thermopylae, where his succession to the chief command
against Persia was acknowledged by all the important states
of Hellas with the exception of Sparta, which, as before,
remained aloof but unimportant. This matter having been
satisfactorily settled, the young monarch turned his attention
to his hostile neighbours in the north ;
and in the year
following his succession he led his army into the Balkans.
It is related that during this campaign he averted a disaster
in a narrow gorge by a display of extraordinary resource-
fulness. The tribesmen started their heavy waggons
down the pass with a view to crushing the invaders, but