. The International library of famous literature : selections from the world's great writers, ancient, mediaeval, and modern, with biographical and explanatory notes and with introductions. lad of twenty, hurried to thethrone by his fathers death, in the midst of turmoil withinand foes without, surrounded by doubtful friends and timidadvisers, without treasury, without allies — and yet at once andwithout hesitation asserting his military genius, defeating hisbravest enemies, cowing his disloyal subjects, crushing sedition,and then starting to conquer Asia, and to weld together twocontinents by
. The International library of famous literature : selections from the world's great writers, ancient, mediaeval, and modern, with biographical and explanatory notes and with introductions. lad of twenty, hurried to thethrone by his fathers death, in the midst of turmoil withinand foes without, surrounded by doubtful friends and timidadvisers, without treasury, without allies — and yet at once andwithout hesitation asserting his military genius, defeating hisbravest enemies, cowing his disloyal subjects, crushing sedition,and then starting to conquer Asia, and to weld together twocontinents by a new policy — this wonder was indeed likely tofascinate the world, and if his successors aped the leftward in-clination of his head and the leonine sit of his hair, they weresure enough to try to imitate what was easier and harder — theways of his court and the policy of his kingdom. Quite apart from his genius, which was unique, his positionin Greece was perfectly novel, in that he combined Hellenictraining, language, and ideas with a totally un-Hellenic thing— royalty. For generations, the Macedonian kings had beentrying to assert themselves as real Greeks. They had sue-. ALKXANDKK THE GREAT. 769 needed in having their splendid genealogy accepted—an un-deniable gain in those days, l>ut their ether claims were aihardly established. It it true they had entertained great poetsat their court, and had odes and tragedies composed for the benefit (A tlieir subjects, hut none of them, not even Philip, whoW8S just dead, had yet been accepted as a really naturalizedGreek. Yet Philip had eoiue closer to it than his predeox -he had spent his youth in the glorious Thebes of Kpaniinondas ;he trained himself carefully in the rhetoric of Athens, andcould compose speeches and letters which passed muster evenwith such fastidious stylists as Demosthenes. Hut though hecould assume Greek manners and speak good Greek in his seri-ous moments, when on his good behavior, it was known t
Size: 1326px × 1885px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpubli, booksubjectliterature
