The Washington times., 1920-04-18

his elephants back TO meet his
conaueror: Treat me royalty,
Alexander" That was all the big
king would say. Alexander, well
pleased, restored him to power, as
he did many other kings, and all
priests, whatever their religion,
telling them to go ahead running
things as usual, subject to MS
orders.
Alexander, perhaps uncertain as
to the best religion. kept on good
terms with all He personally Of
fered sacrifices to Apis, the Egypt
ian bull, instead of killing and eat
ing him, as a Persian conqueror OF
Egypt had done. That wouio
make a picture, the sacred Dull
supposed TO embody the great
Egyptian god Ptah. the world
builder" looking on mildly while
Alexander, world conqueror,
kneeled and offered him q special
sacrifice. You might find the bones
of that bull now, in the tombs OF
the Serapeum, if you knew where
TO look for il.
Crossing the Hsllespont In his
invasion of Asia, Alexander steered
his flagship himself. He stopped IN
the middle Of the channel to sacri-
fice a bull to Poseidon, god OF the
waters and the Mercedes. One or
binary bull he sacrifices to water
god, another bull he worships.
Tactful man, no wonder he sue
ceeds, in politics as In war.
For twelve years, Alexander
Travelled conquering, and every
day during the twelve years would
delight the soul Of any great MIN
producer. :,
Wandering of two hundred
miles through the desert to hear
himself proclaimed son OF a god,
leaping from, the wall at Multan.
alone, into the heart OF q citadel
and the midst of the enemy, where
his life nearly ended, racing. torch
in hand, through the magnificent
palace Of Xerxes with the courte-
san, That's, at his side, setting hre
everywhere, the vicious Greek girl
having urged the outrage to
avenge the Greeks Of long ago,
cutting the Gordian knot with .
blow OF his sword, the proof that
he could solve questions somehow.
lining up the Hindoo gymnoso-
phists to answer his questions.
promising death to the one that
should first answer badly-there
were pictures enough In that LIE.
For a great picture consider
Alexander's second marriage to
Statisa, oldest daughter of King
Darius. 1t took place in "a hall
of q hundred couches leach couch
large enough for two to recline at
table,, each couch, made of twenty
minas' worth Of silver, was deck
ed as for wedding"
Alexander and ninety-one Of his
friends and great generals were
all married to Persian girls at the
same time. He thought he was
wiping out geographical distinc-
tons and uniting the peoples OF
Europe and Asia.
He was mistaken. Asia Is Asia
still, and Europe, Europe. But II
was the worlds fanciest wedding,
as described by the master of cere-
monies. The court for the we'd
ding was half mile round. the
tent upheld with columns thirty
feet high. plated with silver and
gold, decorated with precious
stones. The wedding feasts last
ed five days; Alexander was fast
using up his terrific constitution.
Concerts and exhibitions of differ
ent kinds varied the monotony, all
started by the blast of trumpet
in military style. What Roxane,
with her baby on her knee, thought
about it, We don't know. She was
not there, and women's rights
were scare then.
The best picture--where would
you find the actor to make it
shows Alexander defying his re-
bellious soldiers, rushing among
them, empty handed, seizing first
one, then another, calling them by
name and putting them under ar
rest. Here are samples Of his
famous talk to them:
"My father Philip found you poor
and vagabond, clad in skins. He
gave you the soldiers cape, made
you masters instead of slaves.
From my father I received an
inheritance of few gold and sill
yer goblets, a treasury containing
less than sixty talents and five
hundred talents of debts. / bor-
rOwed eight hundred more, and
opened you way across the Hclles-
pont, Ionia, Aeolia, both Phrygias,
and Lydia ! overran, and the fruits
of victory came to you. The bless
ings Of Egypt and Cyrene fell into
your lap. Syria, Palestine, Mcso-
pOtsmia are your possessions.