brave followers with him, and that the
torrent of invaders would pour down through the pass over their
bodies. But he considered himself stationed there to defend the
passage, and he would not desert his post. When the battle came on he
was the first to fall. The soldiers gathered around him and defended
his dead body as long as they could. At length, overpowered by the
immense numbers of their foes, they were all killed but one man. He
made his escape and returned to Sparta. A monument was erected on the
spot with this inscription: "Go, traveler, to Sparta, and say that we
lie here, on the spot at which we were stationed to defend our
country."

Alexander passed through the defile. He advanced to the great cities
south of it--to Athens, to Thebes, and to Corinth. Another great
assembly of all the monarchs and potentates of Greece was convened in
Corinth; and here Alexander attained the object of his ambition, in
having the command of the great expedition into Asia conferred upon
him. The impression which he made upon those with whom he came into
connection by his personal qualities must have been favorable in the
extreme. That such a youthful prince should be selected by so powerful
a confederation of nations as their leader in such an enterprise as
they were about to engage in, indicates a most extraordinary power on
his part of acquiring an ascendency over the minds of men, and of
impressing all with a sense of his commanding superiority. Alexander
returned to Macedon from his expedition to the southward in triumph,
and began at once to arrange the affairs of his kingdom, so as to be
ready to enter, unembarrassed, upon the great career of conquest which
he imagined was before him.

CHAPTER III.

THE REACTION.

B.C. 335

Mount Haemus.--Thrace.--The Hebrus.--Thrace.--Valley of the
Danube.--Revolt among the northern nations.--Alexander marches
north.--Old Boreas.--Contest among the mountains.--The
loaded wagons.--Alexander's victorious march.--Mouths of the
Danube.--Alexander resolves to cross the Danube.--Preparations.--The
river crossed.--The landing.--Northern nations subdued.--Alexander
returns to Macedon.--Rebellion of Thebes.--Siege of the citadel.--Sudden
appearance of Alexander.--He invests Thebes.--The Thebans refuse
to surrender.--Storming a city.--Undermining.--Making a
breach.--Surrender.--Carrying a city by assault.--Scenes of
horror.--Thebes carried by assault.--Great loss of life.--Thebes