then rolled along upon
the top of the wall till they came to stairways and slopes by which
they could descend into the city, and, pouring down through all these
avenues, they spread over the streets, and satiated the hatred and
rage, which had been gathering strength for seven long months, in
bursting into houses, and killing and destroying all that came in
their way. Thus the city was stormed.

After the soldiers were weary with the work of slaughtering the
wretched inhabitants of the city, they found that many still remained
alive, and Alexander tarnished the character for generosity and
forbearance for which he had thus far been distinguished by the
cruelty with which he treated them. Some were executed, some thrown
into the sea; and it is even said that two thousand were _crucified_
along the sea-shore. This may mean that their bodies were placed upon
crosses after life had been destroyed by some more humane method than
crucifixion. At any rate, we find frequent indications from this time
that prosperity and power were beginning to exert their usual
unfavorable influence upon Alexander's character. He became haughty,
imperious, and cruel. He lost the modesty and gentleness which seemed
to characterize him in the earlier part of his life, and began to
assume the moral character, as well as perform the exploits, of a
military hero.

A good illustration of this is afforded by the answer that he sent to
Darius, about the time of the storming of Tyre, in reply to a second
communication which he had received from him proposing terms of peace.
Darius offered him a very large sum of money for the ransom of his
mother, wife, and child, and agreed to give up to him all the country
he had conquered, including the whole territory west of the Euphrates.
He also offered him his daughter Statira in marriage. He recommended
to him to accept these terms, and be content with the possessions he
had already acquired; that he could not expect to succeed, if he
should try, in crossing the mighty rivers of the East, which were in
the way of his march toward the Persian dominions.

Alexander replied, that if he wished to marry his daughter he could do
it without his consent; as to the ransom, he was not in want of money;
in respect to Darius's offering to give him up all west of the
Euphrates, it was absurd for a man to speak of giving what was no
longer his own; that he had crossed too many seas in his military
expeditions, since he