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

WOULD ROME HAVE STOOD? 655Alexander surpasses anything in history. Words fail todescribe the attributes of this monarch as a soldier. Theperfection ofall he did was by no means understood by hishistorians. But to comjiare his deeds with those of othercaptains excites our wonder. Starting with a handful of menfrom Macedonia, in four years one grand achievement afteranother and without a failure had placed at his feet the empireof the Great King. Leaving home with an enormousdebt, in fiftymoons he had possessed himself of all the treasuresof the earth. Thence, with marvelous courage, endurance,intelligence and skill he completed the conquest of theentire then known world, marching twenty-two thousandmiles in his eleven years' campaigns. And all this before hewas thirty-two. There is no other instance in the world'shistory, it has been observed, of a small nation overrunningthe earth, and impressing itself for all ages on the countriesoverrun. Persia had conquered the world, had threatenedGreece, had in a measure asserted her authority over theislands of the ^gean, and fully over the Greek cities of thecoast, and yet she went down before Alexander's sword.His health and strength were still as great as ever ; his voracityfor conquest greater, as well as his ability to conquer.It is an interestingquestion, had he not died, what wouldhave become of Rome. The Roman infantry was as good ashis ; not so their cavalry. An annually elected consul couldbe no match for Alexander. But the king never met in hiscampaigns such an opponent as the Roman Republic, nor hisphalanx such a rival as the Roman legion would have been.That was reserved for Hannibal, It is altogether probable,had Alexander lived to carry his career of conquest westward,that Rome in her then condition would have succumbedto his arms, and the history of the world have been modified.For Alexander was master of the art of war ; the Romans