298 HISTORICAL TALES.

to those of the Persians. During the interval there
had been no progress in the army of Persia, while
Epaminondas had greatly improved the military art
in Greece, and Philip of Macedon, his pupil, had
made of the Macedonian army a fighting machine
such as the world had never before known. This
was the army which, with still further improve-
ments, Alexander was leading into Asia to meet the
multitudinous but poorly armed and disciplined Per-
sian host.

The second reason was that Alexander, while the
best captain of his age, had opposed to him the
worst. It was the misfortune of Persia that a new
king, Darius Codomannus by name, had just come to
the throne, and was to prove himself utterly inca-
pable of leading an army, unless it was to lead it in
flight. It was not only Alexander's great ability,
but his marvellous good fortune, which led to his
immense success,

The Persians had had a good general in Asia
Minor,—Memnon, a Greek of the island of Rhodes.
But just at this time this able leader died, and Darius
took the command on himself. He could hardly
have selected a man from his ranks who would not
have made a better commander-in-chief.

Gathering a vast army from his wide-spread do-
minions, a host six hundred thousand strong, the
Persian king marched to meet his foe. He brought
with him an enormous weight of baggage, there
being enough gold and silver alone to load six hun-
dred mules and three hundred camels; and so con-
fident was he of success that he also brought his