the tyranny of the Semitic Assyrians, or of the Chaldeans who were, in great part, of Mongoloid blood [36]. It was doubtless the memory of this golden age, glorified as remembrances generally are by the lapse of centuries, that brought about the reaction to the Persian form of government and culture which we shall have to discuss later in the countries bled white by the Roman proconsuls. Throughout this vast realm, Alexander’s coming brought about a change such as the civilized world has never seen before or since. Among the world-conquerors who have been hailed as heroes in after times, Alexander—surely the greatest individual known to history—stands distinguished by the loftiness of his aims and the swiftness with which they were attained. It is wonderful that a boy of twenty with an army that cannot have exceeded 50,000 men all told should succeed in overcoming practically the whole of Asia in less time than it took the British Empire with the third of a million to break down the armed resistance of a few thousand Boers. More wonderful is it that he should a little later contrive to transport a force of about 100,000, comprising infantry, cavalry and artillery, over the three thousand miles that separate Macedonia from Karachi, at the same time preserving such perfect communication with his base that he seems never to have remained for long without letters from Europe, while the stream of recruits that reached him from the same source must have been continuous and unchecked[37]. Such a feat which, with all the aid which steam and electricity can give us, would still tax to the utmost the powers of our greatest modern generals, becomes almost miraculous when we think that the greater part of his line of communications must have lain through recently subjugated lands, and that his own advance led him into countries unmapped and known only to him by the half fabulous tales of his enemies[38]. But the most astonishing thing about these exploits is that they were all performed with the conscious aim of making Asia Greek[39], and in this respect, as in all others, they were both original and successful. Everywhere that Alexander passed, he left behind him cities peopled by a mixture of his own veterans, of those camp followers which, then as now, have always stuck to a European army on the march, and of natives of the country either found on the spot or drawn from some other part of Asia; and the permanence of these foundations still bears witness to the foreseeing eye of their founder. Alexandria in Egypt, Candahar, Secunderabad, all preserve to this day the memory of his royal name, and the continued importance of Khojend, Samarcand, Herat, Merv, and Cabul out of the many other Alexandrias that he established on his conquering way show that his statesmanlike perception of the chief markets of the East was as sure as his strategical insight[40]. Nor did he neglect other means of carrying out the great design that he had at heart.