erted all
the plans of the Great King, who till it occurred had fully intended to
carry the war into his enemy's country. It induced Darius even to give
up the notion of maintaining a powerful fleet, and to transfer to the
land service the most efficient of his naval forces. At the same time it
set Alexander free to march wherever he liked, liberating him from the
keen anxiety, which he had previously felt, as to the maintenance of the
Macedonian power in Europe.

It now became the object of the Persian king to confront the daring
invader of his Western provinces with an army worthy of the Persian
name and proportionate to the vastness of the Empire. He had long been
collecting troops from many of the most warlike nations, and had got
together a force of several hundred thousand men. Forgetting the lessons
of his country's previous history, he flattered himself that the host
which he had brought together was irresistible, and became anxious to
hurry on a general engagement. Starting from Babylon, probably about the
time that Alexander left Gordium in Phrygia, he marched up the valley of
the Euphrates, and took up a position at Sochi, which was situated in
a large open plain, not far from the modern Lake of Antioch. On his
arrival there he heard that Alexander was in Cilicia at no great
distance; and the Greeks in his service assured him that it would not
be long before the Macedonian monarch would seek him out and accept his
offer of battle. But a severe attack of illness detained Alexander at
Tarsus, and when he was a little recovered, troubles in Western Cilicia,
threatening his communications with Greece, required his presence;
so that Darius grew impatient, and, believing that his enemy had no
intention of advancing further than Cilicia, resolved to seek him in
that country. Quitting the open plain of Sochi, he marched northwards,
having the range of Amanus on his left, almost as far as the
thirty-seventh parallel, when turning sharply to the west, he crossed
the chain, and descended upon Issus, in the inner recess of the gulf
which bore the same name. Here he came upon Alexander's hospitals, and
found himself to his surprise in the rear of his adversary, who, while
Darius was proceeding northwards along the eastern flank of Amanus, had
been marching southwards between the western flank of the same range and
the sea. Alexander had crossed the Pylse, or narrowest portion of the
pass, and had reached Myriandrus--a lit