intended to make his capital, he contracted a fever, which was aggravated by daily revels, and which terminated his life (323 B.C.), after a reign of twelve years and eight months. INFLUENCE OF ALEXANDER.--The Persian Empire, when it was attacked by Alexander, was a gigantic body without much vitality. Yet to overcome it, there was requisite not only the wonderful military talents of the conqueror, but the vigilance and painstaking which equally characterized him. He has been called "an adventurer." To fight and to conquer, and to spread his dominion wherever there were countries to subdue, seems to have been his absorbing purpose. The most substantial result of his exploits, which read more like fable than authentic history, was to spread _Hellenism_,--to diffuse at least a tincture of Greek civilization, together with some acquaintance with the Greek language, over the lands of the East. This was a most important work in its bearing on the subsequent history of antiquity, and more remotely on the history of all subsequent times. CHAPTER II. THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER. DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIRE.--Alexander left no legitimate children. The child of Roxana, _Alexander the Younger_, was born after his father's death. The empire naturally fell to his principal generals, of whom _Perdiccas_, having command of the great army of Asia, had the chief power. He was obliged to content his military colleagues, which he did by giving to them provinces. The principal regents, or guardians, were soon reduced to three,--_Antipater_ and _Craterus_ in Europe, and _Perdiccas_. The government was carried on in the name of Roxana's son, and of _Arrhidaeus_, the half-brother of Alexander. But _Perdiccas_ soon found that each general was disposed to be in fact a king in his own dominion. He formed the plan of seizing the empire for himself. This combined the satraps against him. Perdiccas was supported by his friend _Eumenes_, but had against him _Antipater_ and _Craterus_, the other regents, and the powerful governors, _Ptolemy Lagi_ in Egypt, and _Antigonus_ in Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphilia (322 B.C.). There followed a series of wars lasting for twenty-two years, involving numerous changes of sovereignty, and fresh partitions of territory. The rebellious satraps triumphed over the royalists, whose aim was to keep the empire intact for the family of Alexander. The ambition of _Antigonus_ to make himself the sole ruler, led to a league against him (315 B.C.). In a treaty of peace, _Cassander_, the son of Antipater, was to retain the government of Macedonia. By him _Roxana_ and the young _Alexander_ were put to death. In a second war against Antigonus, in which, as before, he was supported by his son, _Demetrius Poliorcetes_, they were completely defeated in the battle of _Ipsus_, in Phrygia (301 B.C.). Antigonus was slain: Demetrius fled to Greece. The result of this protracted contest was, that the Macedonian empire was broken