ed over their dainty work.

But when he understood that the royal family would rather remain idle,
he never again proposed to furnish them with occupation of any kind. On
the contrary, he was so gentle and respectful, that Sisygambis soon
learned to love him, and used to treat him like her own son.

XCVIII. ALEXANDER AT JERUSALEM.

Darius, as we have seen, had fled after the disastrous battle of Issus.
His terror was so great that he never stopped in his flight until he had
reached the other side of the river Ti'gris, where he still believed
himself safe.

Instead of going after Darius at once, Alexander first went southward
along the coast; for he thought it would be wiser to take all the cities
near the sea before he went farther inland, so as to make sure that he
had no enemies behind his back.

Marching down through Syr'i-a and Phoe-nic'ia, Alexander took the
cities of Da-mas'cus and Si'don, and came at last to Tyre, a prosperous
commercial city built on an island at a short distance from the shore.

The Tyr'i-ans would not open their gates and surrender, so Alexander
prepared to besiege the city. As he had no fleet, he began to build a
great causeway out to the island.

This was a very difficult piece of work, because the water was deep; and
while his men were building it, they were greatly annoyed by showers of
arrows, stones, and spears from the walls of the city and from the decks
of the Tyrian vessels.

A storm, also, broke the causeway to pieces once, when it was nearly
finished, and the army had to begin the work anew. The obstinate
resistance of Tyre made Alexander so angry, that he celebrated his final
victory by crucifying a large number of the richest citizens.

After offering up a sacrifice to Hercules on the flaming ruins of Tyre,
Alexander went on toward Je-ru'sa-lem. His plan was to punish the Jews,
because they had helped his enemies, and had supplied the Tyrians with
food.

The news of his coming filled the hearts of the Jews with terror, for
they expected to be treated with the same frightful cruelty as the
Tyrians. In their fear they knew not whether to surrender or fight.

Finally Jad-du'a, the high priest, had a vision, in which an angel of
the Lord appeared to him, and told him what to do. In obedience to this
divine command, he made the Le'vites put on their festal garments, and
then, dressed in his priestly robes, he led them down the hill to meet
the advancing conqueror.