Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/168

136 HISTORY OF GREECE. of the Cyprian cities. This could hardly have failed to lii.ppen if he had treated the Tyrians with decent consideration ; but it was no longer certain, now that he had made them his enemies. "What passed among the Persian fleet under Autophradates in the iE^ean, when they were informed, first that Alexander was master of the other Phenician cities ; next, that he was com- mencing the siege of Tyre — we know very imperfectly. The Tyrian prince Azemilchus brought home his ships for the de- fence of his own city ;^ the Sidonian and Aradian ships also went home, no longer serving against a power to whom their own cit- ies had submitted ; but the Cyprians hesitated longer before they declared themselves. If Darius, or even Autophradates with- out Darius, instead of abandoning Tyre altogether (as they actu- ally did), had energetically aided the resistance which itofiered to Alexander, as the interests of Persia dictated — tfie Cypriot ships might not improbably have been retained on that side in the struggle. Lastly, the Tyrians might indulge a hope, that their Phenician brethren, if ready to serve Alexander against Persia, would be nowise hearty as his instruments for crushing a kindred city. These contingencies, though ultunately they all turned out in favor of Alexander, were in the beginnmg suffi- ciently promising to justify the intrepid resolution of the Tyrians ; who were farther encouraged by promises of aid from the power- ful fleets of their colony Carthage. To that city, whose deputies were then within their walls for some religious solemnities, they sent many of their wives and children.2 Alexander began the siege of Tyre without any fleet ; the Si- donian and Aradian ships not having yet come. It was his first 1 Azemilchus was with Autophradates when Alexander declared hostility against Tyre (Airian, ii. 15,10); he was in Tyre when it was captured (Arrian, ii. 24, 8). " Curtius, iv. 2. 10: Arrian, ii. 24, 8; Diodor. xvii. 40, 41. Curtius (iv, 2,15) says that Alexander sent envoys to the Tyrians to invite them to peace; that the Tyrians not only refused the propositions, but put the dep- uties to death, contrary to the law of nations. Arrian mentions nothing about this sending of deputies, which he would hardly have omitted to do had he found it stated in his authorities, since it tends to justify the pro- ceedings of Alexander. Moreover it is not conformable to Alexander'* temperament, after what had passed between him and the Tyrians