The
only cities which still resisted him, Halikarnassus and Miletus, he
took by storm, and conquered all the adjacent territory, after which
he remained in doubt as to what to attempt next; whether to attack
Darius at once and risk all that he had won upon the issue of a single
battle, or to consolidate and organise his conquests on the coast of
Asia Minor, and to gather new strength for the final struggle. It is
said that at this time a spring in the country of Lykia, near the city
of Xanthus, overflowed, and threw up from its depths a brazen tablet,
upon which, in ancient characters, was inscribed a prophecy that the
Persian empire should be destroyed by the Greeks. Encouraged by this
portent, he extended his conquests along the sea coast as far as
Phoenicia and Kilikia. Many historians dwelt with admiration on the
good fortune of Alexander, in meeting with such fair weather and such
a smooth sea during his passage along the stormy shore of Pamphylia,
and say that it was a miracle that the furious sea, which usually
dashed against the highest rocks upon the cliffs, fell calm for him.
Menander alludes to this in one of his plays.
"Like Alexander, if I wish to meet
A man, at once I find him in the street;
And, were I forced to journey o'er the sea,
The sea itself would calm its waves for me."
Alexander himself, however, in his letters, speaks of no such miracle,
but merely tells us that he started from Phaselis, and passed along
the difficult road called Klimax, or the Ladder.
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