CHAP. XCIII.] REQUISITIONS OF ALEXANDER FROM TYRE. 181

at this qualified adhesion, in which he took note only of the point refused,-Alexander dismissed the envoys with angry menaces, and immediately resolved on taking Tyre by force'.

dispositions

duct of

Those who (like Diodorus) treat such refusal on Exorbitant the part of the Tyrians as foolish wilfulness, have and connot fully considered how much the demand included. Alexander. When Alexander made a solemn sacrifice to Artemis at Ephesus, he marched to her temple with his whole force armed and in battle array3. We cannot doubt that his sacrifice at Tyre to Herakles - his ancestral Hero, whose especial attribute was forcewould have been celebrated with an array equally formidable, as in fact it was, after the town had been taken. The Tyrians were thus required to admit within their walls an irresistible military force; which might indeed be withdrawn after the sacrifice was completed, but which might also remain, either wholly or in part, as permanent garrison of an almost impregnable position. They had not endured such treatment from Persia, nor were they disposed to endure it from a new master. It was in fact hazarding their all; submitting at once to a fate which might be as bad as could befall them after a successful siege. On the other hand, when we reflect that the Tyrians promised every thing short of submission to military occupation, we see that Alex

1 Arrian, ii. 16, 11. τοὺς μὲν πρέσβεις πρὸς ὀργὴν ὀπίσω ἀπέπεμψεν, &c. Curtius, iv. 2, 5. "Non tenuit iram, cujus alioqui potens non erat," &c.

2 Diodorus, xvii. 40. Οἱ δὲ Τύριοι, βουλομένου τοῦ βασιλέως τῷ Ηρακλεῖ τῷ Τυρίῳ θῦσαι, προπετέστερον διεκώλυσαν αὐτὸν τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσόδου.

3

Arrian, i. 18, 4.

4

Arrian, ii. 24, 10.

ander, had he been so inclined, could have obtained from them all that was really essential to his purpose, without the necessity of besieging the town. The great value of the Phenician cities consisted in their fleet, which now acted with the Persians, and gave to them the command of the sea1. Had Alexander required that this fleet should be withdrawn from the Persians and placed in his service, there can be no doubt that he would have obtained it readily. The Tyrians had no motive to devote themselves for Persia, nor did they probably (as Arrian supposes) attempt to trim between the two belligerents, as if the contest were still undecided2. Yet rather than hand over their city to the chances of a Macedonian soldiery, they resolved to brave the hazards of a siege. The pride of Alexander, impatient of opposition even to his most extreme demands, prompted him to take a step politically unprofitable, in order to make display of his power, by degrading and crushing, with or without a siege, one of the most ancient, spirited, wealthy and intelligent communities of the ancient world.

Tyre was situated on an islet nearly half a mile from the mainland3; the channel between the two

1 This is the view expressed by Alexander himself, in his address to the army, inviting them to undertake the siege of Tyre (Arrian, ii. 17, 3-8).

2 Arrian, ii. 16, 12. Curtius says (iv. 2, 2), “ Tyros facilius societatem Alexandri acceptura videbatur, quam imperium." This is representing the pretensions of the Tyrians as greater than the fact warrants. They did not refuse the imperium of Alexander, though they declined compliance with one extreme demand.

Ptolemy I. (son of Lagus) afterwards made himself master of Jerusalem, by entering the town on the Sabbath, under pretence of offering sacrifice (Josephus, Antiq. Jud. xii. 1).

3 Curtius, iv. 2, 7, 8. The site of Tyre at the present day presents

СНАР. ХСІІІ.]

SIEGE OF TYRE.

183

to besiege

situation of

being shallow towards the land, but reaching a He prepares depth of eighteen feet in the part adjoining the Tyrecity. The islet was completely surrounded by pro- the place. digious walls, the loftiest portion of which, on the side fronting the mainland, reached a height not less than 150 feet, with corresponding solidity and base'. Besides these external fortifications, there was a brave and numerous population within, aided by a good stock of arms, machines, ships, provi sions, and other things essential to defence.

Chances of

the Tyrians their re

solution not

It was not without reason, therefore, that the Tyrians, when driven to their last resource, entertained hopes of holding out even against the formidable arm of Alexander; and against Alexander as he able. then stood, they might have held out successfully; for he had as yet no fleet, and they could defy any attack made simply from land. The question turned upon the Phenician and Cyprian ships, which were for the most part (the Tyrian among them) in the Ægean under the Persian admiral. Alexander-master as he was of Aradus, Byblus, Sidon, and all the Phenician cities except Tyrecalculated that the seamen belonging to these cities. would follow their countrymen at home and bring away their ships to join him. He hoped also, as the victorious potentate, to draw to himself the willing adhesion of the Cyprian cities. This could hardly have failed to happen, if he had treated the Tyrians with decent consideration; but it was no longer certain, now that he had made them his enemies.

What passed among the Persian fleet under nothing in the least conformable to the description of Alexander's time. Arrian, ii. 18, 3; ii. 21, 4; ii. 22, 8.

Autophradates in the Egean, when they were informed, first that Alexander was master of the other Phenician cities-next, that he was commencing the siege of Tyre-we know very imperfectly. The Tyrian prince Azemilchus brought home his ships for the defence of his own city'; the Sidonian and Aradian ships also went home, no longer serving against a power to whom their own cities had submitted; but the Cyprians hesitated longer before they declared themselves. If Darius, or even Autophradates without Darius, instead of abandoning Tyre altogether (as they actually did), had energetically aided the resistance which it offered to Alexander, as the interests of Persia dictated the Cypriot ships might not improbably have been retained on that side in the struggle. Lastly, the Tyrians might indulge a hope, that their Phenician brethren, if ready to serve Alexander against Persia, would be nowise hearty as his instruments for crushing a kindred city. These contingencies, though ultimately they all turned out in favour of Alexander, were in the beginning sufficiently promising to justify the intrepid resolution of the Tyrians; who were farther encouraged by promises of aid from the powerful fleets of their colony Carthage. To that city, whose deputies were then within their walls for some religious solemnities, they sent many of their wives and children2.

Azemilchus was with Autophradates when Alexander declared hostility against Tyre (Arrian, ii. 15, 10); he was in Tyre when it was captured (Arrian, ii. 24, 8).

2 Curtius, iv. 2, 10; Arrian, ii. 24, 8; Diodor. xvii. 40, 41. Curtius (iv. 2, 15) says that Alexander sent envoys to the Tyrians to invite them to peace; that the Tyrians not only refused the propositions, but

CHAP. XCIII.]

DIFFICULTIES OF THE SIEGE.

185

constructs a

the strait

between

Tyre and

the main

defeated.

Alexander began the siege of Tyre without any Alexander fleet; the Sidonian and Aradian ships not having mole across yet come. It was his first task to construct a solid mole two hundred feet broad, reaching across the half mile of channel between the mainland and the land. The project is islet. He pressed into his service labouring hands by thousands from the neighbourhood; he had stones in abundance from Palætyrus, and wood from the forests in Lebanon. But the work, though prosecuted with ardour and perseverance, under pressing instigations from Alexander, was tedious and toilsome, even near the mainland, where the Tyrians could do little to impede it; and became far more tedious as it advanced into the sea, so as to be exposed to their obstruction, as well as to damage from winds and waves. The Tyrian triremes and small boats perpetually annoyed the workmen, and destroyed parts of the work, in spite of all the protection devised by the Macedonians, who planted two towers in front of their advancing mole, and discharged projectiles from engines provided for the purpose. At length, by unremitting efforts, the mole was pushed forward until it came nearly across the channel to the city-wall; when suddenly, on a day of strong wind, the Tyrians sent forth a fireship loaded with combustibles, which they drove against the front of the mole and set fire to the two towers. At the same time, the full

put the deputies to death, contrary to the law of nations. Arrian mentions nothing about this sending of deputies, which he would hardly have omitted to do had he found it stated in his authorities, since it tends to justify the proceedings of Alexander. Moreover it is not conformable to Alexander's temperament, after what had passed between him and the Tyrians.