That reverence for the military abilities of Asiatic generals, so
profoundly impressed on the Greeks by such engineering exploits
as the bridging of the Hellespont, and the cutting of the isthmus
at Mount Athos by Xerxes, had been obliterated at Salamis,
Platea, Mycale. To plunder rich Persian provinces had become an
irresistible temptation. Such was the expedition of Agesilaus,
the Spartan king, whose brilliant successes were, however,
checked by the Persian government resorting to its time-proved
policy of bribing the neighbors of Sparta to attack her. "I have
been conquered by thirty thousand Persian archers," bitterly
exclaimed Agesilaus, as he re-embarked, alluding to the Persian
coin, the Daric, which was stamped with the image of an archer.

THE INVASION OF PERSIA BY GREECE. At length Philip, the King of
Macedon, projected a renewal of these attempts, under a far more
formidable organization, and with a grander object. He managed to
have himself appointed captain-general of all Greece not for the
purpose of a mere foray into the Asiatic satrapies, but for the
overthrow of the Persian dynasty in the very centre of its power.
Assassinated while his preparations were incomplete, he was
succeeded by his son Alexander, then a youth. A general assembly
of Greeks at Corinth had unanimously elected him in his father's
stead. There were some disturbances in Illyria; Alexander had to
march his army as far north as the Danube to quell them. During
his absence the Thebans with some others conspired against him.
On his return he took Thebes by assault. He massacred six
thousand of its inhabitants, sold thirty thousand for slaves, and
utterly demolished the city. The military wisdom of this severity
was apparent in his Asiatic campaign. He was not troubled by any