Those who (like Diodorus) treat such refusal on the part of the Tyrians as foolish wilfulness,[310] have not fully considered how much the demand included. When Alexander made a solemn sacrifice to Artemis at Ephesus, he marched to her temple with his whole force armed and in battle army.[311] We cannot doubt that his sacrifice at Tyre to Herakles—his ancestral Hero, whose especial attribute was force—would have been celebrated with an array equally formidable, as in fact it was, after the town had been taken.[312] The Tyrians were thus required to admit within their walls an irresistible military force; which might indeed be withdrawn after the sacrifice was completed, but which might also remain, either wholly or in part, as permanent garrison of an almost impregnable position.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 everything short of submission to military occupation, we see that Alexander, 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 Phenician cities consisted in their fleet, which now acted with the Persians, and gave to them the command of the sea.[313] Had Alexander required that this fleet should be withdrawn from the Persians and placed in his service, there can be no doubt that he would have obtained it readily.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 undecided.[314] 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. [310] Diodorus, xvii. 40. Οἱ δὲ Τύριοι, βουλομένου τοῦ βασιλέως τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ Τυρίῳ θῦσαι, προπετέστερον διεκώλυσαν αὐτὸν τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσόδου. [311] Arrian, i. 18, 4. [312] Arrian, ii. 24, 10. [313] 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). [314] 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.