hat it was best to postpone pushing his
expedition forward into the heart of Persia until he should have
subdued Tyre completely, and made himself master of the Mediterranean
Sea. He said, also, that he should take possession of Egypt before
turning his arms toward the forces that Darius was gathering against
him in the East. The generals of the army concurred in this opinion,
and Alexander advanced toward Tyre. The Tyrians prepared for their
defense.

After examining carefully all the circumstances of the case, Alexander
conceived the very bold plan of building a broad causeway from the
main-land to the island on which the city was founded, out of the
ruins of old Tyre, and then marching his army over upon it to the
walls of the city, where he could then plant his engines and make a
breach. This would seem to be a very desperate undertaking. It is true
the stones remaining on the site of the old city afforded sufficient
materials for the construction of the pier, but then the work must go
on against a tremendous opposition, both from the walls of the city
itself and from the Tyrian ships in the harbor. It would seem to be
almost impossible to protect the men from these attacks so as to allow
the operations to proceed at all, and the difficulty and danger must
increase very rapidly as the work should approach the walls of the
city. But, notwithstanding these objections, Alexander determined to
proceed. Tyre must be taken, and this was obviously the only possible
mode of taking it.

The soldiers advanced to undertake the work with great readiness.
Their strong personal attachment to Alexander; their confidence that
whatever he should plan and attempt would succeed; the novelty and
boldness of this design of reaching an island by building an isthmus
to it from the main-land--these and other similar considerations
excited the ardor and enthusiasm of the troops to the highest degree.

In constructing works of this kind in the water, the material used is
sometimes stone and sometimes earth. So far as earth is employed, it
is necessary to resort to some means to prevent its spreading under
the water, or being washed away by the dash of the waves at its sides.
This is usually effected by driving what are called _piles_, which are
long beams of wood, pointed at the end, and driven into the earth by
means of powerful engines. Alexander sent parties of men into the
mountains of Lebanon, where were vast forests of cedars, which