was dead, that it was Pausanias, a man of high standing and
influence, a general officer of the guards. He had had horses
provided, and other assistance ready, to enable him to make his
escape, but he was cut down by the guards before he could avail
himself of them.

An officer of state immediately hastened to Alexander, and announced
to him his father's death and his own accession to the throne. An
assembly of the leading counselors and statesmen was called, in a
hasty and tumultuous manner, and Alexander was proclaimed king with
prolonged and general acclamations. Alexander made a speech in reply.
The great assembly looked upon his youthful form and face as he arose,
and listened with intense interest to hear what he had to say. He was
between nineteen and twenty years of age; but, though thus really a
boy, he spoke with all the decision and confidence of an energetic
man. He said that he should at once assume his father's position, and
carry forward his plans. He hoped to do this so efficiently that every
thing would go directly onward, just as if his father had continued to
live, and that the nation would find that the only change which had
taken place was in the _name_ of the king.

The motive which induced Pausanias to murder Philip in this manner was
never fully ascertained. There were various opinions about it. One
was, that it was an act of private revenge, occasioned by some neglect
or injury which Pausanias had received from Philip. Others thought
that the murder was instigated by a party in the states of Greece, who
were hostile to Philip, and unwilling that he should command the
allied armies that were about to penetrate into Asia. Demosthenes, the
celebrated orator, was Philip's great enemy among the Greeks. Many of
his most powerful orations were made for the purpose of arousing his
countrymen to resist his ambitious plans and to curtail his power.
These orations were called his Philippics, and from this origin has
arisen the practice, which has prevailed ever since that day, of
applying the term philippics to denote, in general, any strongly
denunciatory harangues.

Now Demosthenes, it is said, who was at this time in Athens, announced
the death of Philip in an Athenian assembly before it was possible
that the news could have been conveyed there. He accounted for his
early possession of the intelligence by saying it was communicated to
him by some of the gods. Many persons have accordingly supposed th