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

232 TROY.ished on the Trojan shore, steered the vessel with his ownhand, and landed on Cape Sigeum, not far from the tombs ofAjax, Achilles, and Patroclus.Having in mid-channel againsacrificed to Poseidon and the Nereids, he was himself thefirst man to step, in full armor, upon the coast of Asia, havingfrom the bows of his boat first cast his spear as a symbolofconquest upon the land of the Persian foe.Troy was then visited, Alexander heading the chosen troopshe had brought with him, and due sacrifices were made to thegods and to the shade of Priam. Especially to Achilles didthe king make sacrifice, whileHephsestion, his bosom friend,poured libations to Patroclus. From the temple of Athene,on the heights ofIlium, Alexander took certain arms, said tohave been carried by the Homeric heroes, — perhaps evenby Achilles, — leaving his own panoply in their place.Thesehistoric arms were thereafter always carried near him inbattle by some specially selected brave man. Here alsogames and feasts were held. The midtiplicity of these sacrificeswas inaccordance with the customs of the Greeks, andwas, moreover, inunison with Alexander's somewhat superstitiousnature. The landing was marked by the erection ofaltars and memorials, and by the founding ofa new Troy.In all such matters Alexander gives us an index to hischaracter. We may better liken him to an Homeric Greekthan to an ordinary mortal.Great in love and hate, in commonsense and superstition, in generosity and savage rage, hewas Achilles come to life. The vEacidoe had indeed a fit representativein Alexander. But grafted on this heroic characterwas all that Greek intelligence could lend it ; and thisit was which enabled him to grow into the greatest soldierwhom perhaps the world has ever seen.The army was herewas as follows —:reviewed, and, according to Diodorus,