ncampment, where he made a blazing fire for himself
and Lysimachus, and they passed the night in comfort and safety. This
is the story. How far we are to give credit to it, each reader must
judge for himself. One thing is certain, however, that there are many
military heroes of whom such stories would not be even fabricated.

CHAPTER VIII.

ALEXANDER IN EGYPT.

B.C. 332

Alexander in Judea.--Josephus, and the character of his
writings.--Alexander's visit to Jerusalem.--Josephus's account of
it.--The high priest Jaddus.--His dreams.--The procession of
priests.--Alexander's account of his dream.--Alexander joins in the
Jewish ceremonies.--Prophecies of Daniel.--Doubts about Alexander's
visit.--Siege.--Alexander receives a wound.--Gaza taken by
storm.--Alexander's brutality to the brave Betis.--Rich
treasures.--Story of Alexander's youth.--Pelusium.--Memphis.--Fertility
of Egypt.--Deserts of Egypt.--Cause of their sterility.--The Great
Oasis.--Oasis of Siwah.--Temple of Jupiter Ammon.--Alexander aspires
to divine honors.--Alexander crosses the desert.--Its sublimity.--The
camel.--Scarcity of water.--Sand storms in the desert.--Arrival at the
Oasis.--Magnificent ceremonies.--Return to Memphis.--Alexander jokes
about his divinity.--Founding of Alexandria.--Island of Pharos.--The
light-house.--Alexandria the only remaining monument of Alexander's
greatness.

After completing the subjugation of Tyre, Alexander commenced his
march for Egypt. His route led him through Judea. The time was about
three hundred years before the birth of Christ, and, of course, this
passage of the great conqueror through the land of Israel took place
between the historical periods of the Old Testament and of the New, so
that no account of it is given in the sacred volume.

There was a Jewish writer named Josephus, who lived and wrote a few
years after Christ, and, of course, more than three hundred years
after Alexander. He wrote a history of the Jews, which is a very
entertaining book to read; but he liked so much to magnify the
importance of the events in the history of his country, and to
embellish them with marvelous and supernatural incidents, that his
narratives have not always been received with implicit faith. Josephus
says that, as Alexander passed through Palestine, he went to pay a
visit to Jerusalem. The circumstances of this visit, according to his
account, were these.

The city of Tyre, before Alexander besieged it, as