Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

220 LACK OF A FLEET.detail lie may have possessed on the to him all-important subject,he had been able to construct the skeleton of his plan, atleast as far as the great river on which lies Babylon.That his imagination carried him beyond thisthere can beno doubt. All great captains have possessed an abundantshare of imagination, or its complement, enthusiasm. Butthey have kept it well under control. In this quality Alexanderwas preeminent. We know that Philip had long cherishedthe plan of an invasion of Asia, and Alexander hadgrown up with this plan as a part of his daily food. AUthings tend to show that preparations were for years constantlyand persistently made tending towards this object.Few things teU historical truths better than the coinage of theancient countries. And in the coinage of Macedon, and ofthe cities ofAsia Minor, during the reign of Philip, and constantlyand for many years succeeding Alexander's campaigns,one may read the early purpose of conquest of bothfather and son.The policy of Macedon so far had not demanded of GreeceWith such assistance as Greece could havethe aid of a fleet.given Alexander might have seizedthe ^gean, and placedhis projected campaign on a much more certain basis. Butit was now too late to do this. He must rely on his landforces alone. Fleets then were more readily equipped andgot to sea than they are to-day, but still it would have causedsome months of delay to prepare a sviitable squadron. Alexanderwas impatient of every moment ; and it is moreoverprobable that even he did not entirely recognize its value.His finest quality was the power of quickly and thoroughlylearning from experience. He often divined, almost, longbefore the event.But the fuU advantages of a fleet had probablynot as yet gained access to his mind. Alexander haduntil now seen war only on land. He had but one hundredand sixty triremes.