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

FIVE YEARS' WORK. 359arrived In Assyria in the best of condition and morale. Insteadof the numberless chances he had neglected of crushingthe Macedonians, he was reduced to a single chance. A lostbattle now meant a kingdom lost for good.No doubt all these points had been fully discussed by thePersian strategists, who in their way were able and intelligent,though wont to be divided in counsel ;but still contidentthat on a plain their enormous numbers, especially in horse,must beyond a peradventure crush Alexander's small armyout of existence, they deemed it their best policy to allow himto reach Mesopotamia, and theregive him, far from any possibilityof retreat, the final blow.And they had preferred tolet him cross the Tigris as well as the Euj)hrates, for ontheir theory, the farther from home, themore dangerous hissituation. Moreover, behind the Tigris, should Alexanderbe defeated, he would be thrown back on themountains ofArmenia, or on Mesopotamia, where he could be easily followedup and destroyed ; while, should Darius again suffera reverse, his road was open to Babylon.Alexander had now been on the throne five years. Hehad made himself master of Greece. He had conducted asuccessful campaign against the Danube barbarians ; hadchastised the Illyrians ; had taught Greece, by the fate ofThebes, what his anger could do. He had conquered AsiaMinor ;had crossed the mightiest mountain ranges and rivershad defeated Darius in a great pitched battle, and destroyedhis army, root and branch ; he had carried through to a successfulissue the greatest siege of antiquity ; had overrunSyria, Phoenicia and Egypt, and had captured an hundredfortified cities, and built others. He had driven the Persiansfrom the -^gean, and reduced to control the entire coast-lineof the Mediterranean ; he had advanced into the heart ofthe Persian empire, and had placed behind him its two great