Identifier: storyofancientna00west (find matches)
Title: The story of the ancient nations : a text-book for high schools
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Westermann, William Linn, 1873-1954
Subjects: History, Ancient
Publisher: New York : London : D. Appleton and Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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his period the schemes ofAlexander widened as his conquests extended, and we enterupon the third state of his development. His purpose was tomingle the races of men under his power into one great race,a true world-empire. He himself married the beautifulRoxane, a princess of Bactria, whose father he had conquered.In every way he encouraged his Greek and Macedonianofficers and soldiers to take Persian wives in order to promotethe good feeling between the two great races among his sub-jects. Some historians regard this ideal as foolish and im-possible. Nevertheless it was a great design, sprung fromthe brain of one who regarded no difficulty as insurmount-able. 264. Change in Alexander.—The vast and ceaseless laborswhich he had undertaken began in these years to tell uponeven the strong constitution of the young Macedonian.A change in his attitude toward himself and his work isclearly noticeable. The Macedonians were always harddrinkers. The necessity for stimulants seemed to increase
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ALKXAXDER THE GREAT 209 its hoM upon Alexander, and as it grew the outbursts ofpassionate anger, which sometimes appeared in his boyhood,were more frequent. In Egypt Alexander had been pro-claimed a god by the priests of Zeus Amman. This was anOriental custom, to worship their kings as gods. The ideaappealed to the mystic strain in the young kings nature.Perhaps, too, he thought it good policy to let the Persiansworship him as they had worshipped their king.-, before him;he did not. however, demand this worship of his Macedoniancompanions. The flattery bestowed upon him was not liked by someof the Macedonians who had grown up with him and sharedin all his labors and his glory. At a drinking bout hisfoster-brother, Clitus the Black, the; son of his old nurse,reminded him insolently that his power rested upon theblood of the Macedonians who had fought and died for him.In the drink-heated quarrel which followed, Clitus cast, inAlexanders teeth the fact that, he had saved his life at theG

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