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

654 BELITTLING ALEXANDER.and manners was so largely a political requirement, that itcan be hardly ascribed to personal motives, even if we fullyacknowledge his overweening vanity. His public claim tosuperhuman lineage was not remarkable ; for the descent ofthe Macedonian kings from Hercules was allowed by thejudges at the 01}Tnj)ian games when Macedon was but a smallkingdom.We can get far closer to the kernel of Alexander's characterby the study of those who lived nearer to his age, thanby relying on the cold, statistical criticism of to-day. Altogethertoo much time has been devoted tobelittling Alexander.The king of Macedon had innumerable enemies inGreece ; Alexander had more ; many outspoken ones, manybackbiters. That every scintilla of ill which could be saidof him was set down in malice by some one, and by hostsbelieved, is as natural as that his admirershim.should overpraiseArrian draws principally from the relations of Ptolemy,son of Lagus, the very best of witnesses, and of Aristobulus,also one of Alexander's officers ; from the story of Nearchusand others who saw and were pai't of what they narrated, andfrom the diary of Eumenes, the secretary, and Alexander'sown letters. In some respects what Alexander's laudatorshave said may be overdrawn, but Arrian has from them givenus the only history which yields to the military man a crispidea of how this great captain wrought ; and those thingswhich are susceptible of exaggeration are not of the essence.Losses may be diminished to place the courage of the Macedoniansin higher relief ; the numbers of the enemy slainmay be increased. But as to what Alexander did, all agreehow he did it, Arrian best explains, and its bare recital sufficesto make him in intellect, moral force, excellence of heart,and splendor of physique incomparably the first ofmen.The life work of Philip had been transcendent. That of