The Prince in his early youth had Nature for his guide,--and that great Monitress then led him to accomplish his first victory: for the untameable horse, Bucephalus,--the Mazeppa-charger of Macedonia,--was not subdued from merely having the Lord of Wit or Wisdom by his side, but because he exercised the high gift for which he had been so justly named.[12] He, therefore, _did_ turn the head of the proud animal "towards the East;" and in paying this supposed tribute to Apollo, he compelled the fiery steed _to gaze upon the dazzling Sun_!--and while thus partially blinded by the brilliant rays, the dauntless rider mounted him, and the noble animal, feeling for the first time the weight of man,--the lash and the deep-wounding spur,--forth he bounded like an earthly Pegasus,--clouds of sand and dust rising from beneath his earth-spurning, and indignant hoofs, concealed from the royal Father's sight the form of his princely Son, and the now maddened steed:--yet on he flew, like a Sirocco blast before the hurricane--his eyes still towards, and in, the dazzling Sunlight:--but, ere Apollo had reached the zenith, the horse and rider returned to the royal presence, the latter triumphant, and the former for the first time subdued, and gazing upon his shadow! Thus by Nature, and her laws, did he tame the fiery spirit! [12] Viz., the word Alexander, in the original formation, signified _Lord of Wit, i. e. Wisdom_, in ancient days. It was a similar thought that led him to conceive the means for subduing the apparently unconquerable spirit of the proud Tyrian, safe within his untouched Island-Citadel,--as that which led him upon the plain of Macedon, to master the white steed Bucephalus--who now stood prancing upon the moonlit shore of ancient Tyrus, with his Princely Master upon his gracefully-curved back as upon a throne of ivory:--from this regal seat,--while the noble steed gazed upon the phosphoric sparkles of the radiant sea, as the waves cast them at his feet,--the pupil of Aristotle contemplated the apparently hopeless Siege of the commercial emporium of the World! That contemplation placed before him the fact, that Nature was to be subdued before the successful appliances of Art could be brought to bear upon and support his resolution. It forced upon him the conclusion that he had not only to war against Island walls, and Patriot hearts within,--but against another kingdom over which the trident monarch--Neptune--reigned, guarding with safety and with honour the renowned "Queen of the Sea,"--that he must drive back that victorious ally before he could even hope to capture her coronet of freedom! He remembered, too, that both the Babylonian and the Persian had retired, leaving their victories imperfect by not subduing the Island;--this was an additional reason why he resolved to conquer, that his military glory should, in the estimation of posterity, be beyond any predecessor.