ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND DARIUS. 299

mother, wife, and children, and his whole harem,
that they might witness his triumph over the inso-
lent Macedonian.

Darius took no steps to guard any of the passes
of Asia Minor. Why should he seek to keep back
this foe, who was marching blindly to his fate? But
instead of waiting for Alexander on the plain, where
he could have made use of his vast force, he marched
into the defile of Issus, where there was only a mile
and a half of open ground between the mountains
and the sea, and where his vanguard alone could be
brought into action. In this defile the two armies
met, the fighting part of each being, through the
folly of the Persian king, not greatly different in
numbers.

The blunder of Darius was soon made fatal by his
abject cowardice. The Macedonians having made a
sudden assault on the Persian left wing, it gave way
and fled. Darius, who was in his chariot in the
centre, seeing himself in danger from this flight,
suddenly lost his over-confidence, and in a panic of
terror turned his chariot and fled with wild haste
from the field. When he reached ground over which
the chariot could not pass, he mounted hastily on
horseback, flung from him his bow, shield, and royal
mantle, and rode in mortal terror away, not having
given a single order or made the slightest effort to
rally his flying troops.

Darius had been sole commander, His flight left
the great army without a loader. Not a man re-
mained who could give a general order. Those who
saw him flying were infected with his terror and