fteen carriages filled
with the children and their attendants, and three or four hundred
ladies of the court, all dressed like queens. After the family there
came a train of many hundreds of camels and mules, carrying the royal
treasures.

It was in this style that Darius set out upon his expedition, and he
advanced by a slow progress toward the westward, until at length he
approached the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. He left his treasures
in the city of Damascus, where they were deposited under the charge
of a sufficient force to protect them, as he supposed. He then
advanced to meet Alexander, going himself from Syria toward Asia Minor
just at the time that Alexander was coming from Asia Minor into Syria.

[Illustration: PLAIN OF ISSUS.]

It will be observed by looking upon the map, that the chain of
mountains called Mount Taurus extends down near to the coast, at the
northeastern corner of the Mediterranean. Among these mountains there
are various tracts of open country, through which an army may march to
and fro, between Syria and Asia Minor. Now it happened that Darius, in
going toward the west, took a more inland route than Alexander, who,
on coming eastward, kept nearer to the sea. Alexander did not know
that Darius was so near; and as for Darius, he was confident that
Alexander was retreating before him; for, as the Macedonian army was
so small, and his own forces constituted such an innumerable host, the
idea that Alexander would remain to brave a battle was, in his
opinion, entirely out of the question. He had, therefore, no doubt
that Alexander was retreating. It is, of course, always difficult for
two armies, fifty miles apart, to obtain correct ideas of each other's
movements. All the ordinary intercommunications of the country are of
course stopped, and each general has his scouts out, with orders to
intercept all travelers, and to interrupt the communication of
intelligence by every means in their power.

In consequence of these and other circumstances of a similar nature,
it happened that Alexander and Darius actually passed each other,
without either of them being aware of it. Alexander advanced into
Syria by the plains of Issus, marked _a_ upon the map, and a narrow
pass beyond, called the Gates of Syria, while Darius went farther to
the north, and arrived at Issus after Alexander had left it. Here each
army learned to their astonishment that their enemy was in their rear.
Alexander could not c