orseman, on another side, had his sword
raised, and would have killed Alexander before he could have turned to
defend himself, had no help intervened; but just at this instant a
third combatant, one of Alexander's friends, seeing the danger,
brought down so terrible a blow upon the shoulder of this second
assailant as to separate his arm from his body.

Such are the stories that are told. They may have been literally and
fully true, or they may have been exaggerations of circumstances
somewhat resembling them which really occurred, or they may have been
fictitious altogether. Great generals, like other great men, have
often the credit of many exploits which they never perform. It is the
special business of poets and historians to magnify and embellish the
actions of the great, and this art was understood as well in ancient
days as it is now.

We must remember, too, in reading the accounts of these transactions,
that it is only the Greek side of the story that we hear. The Persian
narratives have not come down to us. At any rate, the Persian army was
defeated, and that, too, without the assistance of the phalanx. The
horsemen and the light troops were alone engaged. The phalanx could
not be formed, nor could it act in such a position. The men, on
emerging from the water, had to climb up the banks, and rush on to the
attack of an enemy consisting of squadrons of horse ready to dash at
once upon them.

The Persian army was defeated and driven away. Alexander did not
pursue them. He felt that he had struck a very heavy blow. The news of
this defeat of the Persians would go with the speed of the wind all
over Asia Minor, and operate most powerfully in his favor. He sent
home to Greece an account of the victory, and with the account he
forwarded three hundred suits of armor, taken from the Persian
horsemen killed on the field. These suits of armor were to be hung up
in the Parthenon, a great temple at Athens; the most conspicuous
position for them, perhaps, which all Europe could afford.

The name of the Persian general who commanded at the battle of the
Granicus was Memnon. He had been opposed to the plan of hazarding a
battle. Alexander had come to Asia with no provisions and no money. He
had relied on being able to sustain his army by his victories. Memnon,
therefore, strongly urged that the Persians should retreat slowly,
carrying off all the valuable property, and destroying all that could
not be removed, taking esp