CHAPTER VIII.
Alexander the Great.
The further course of Greek history 155
Droysen's _Geschichte des Hellenismus_ 155
This period much neglected by English historians 155
Nature of our authorities 156
Alexander's place in history still disputed 157
Grote's unfairness in accepting evidence against him 157
Droysen's estimate 158
Tendency to attribute calculation to genius 158
Its spontaneity 159
Alexander's military antecedents 159
He learns to respect Persian valour and loyalty 160
He discovers how to fuse the nations in Alexandria 160
His development of commerce 161
Diffusion of gold 161
Development of Alexander's views 162
His romantic imagination 162
No pupil of Aristotle 162
His portentous activity 163
Compared with Napoleon 163 and Cromwell 164
Use of artillery 164
Vain but not envious 165
His assumption of divinity questioned 165
An ordinary matter in those days 166
Perhaps not asserted among the Greeks 166