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ALEMANNI-D'ALEMBERT.

conquered and drove them beyond the
Rhine, in 236. After his death, they
again invaded Gaul; but Posthumius de-
feated them, pursued them into Germa-
ny, and fortified the boundary with ram-
parts and ditches; of which the mounds
near Phöring, on the Danube, the rampart
extending through Hohenlohe to Jaxthau-
sen, and the ditch with palisadoes on the
north side of the Maine, are remnants.
(See Devil's Wall.) But the A. did not
desist from their incursions, and were
successively repulsed by Lollianus, the
successor of Posthumius, by the emperor
Probus, in 282, and afterwards by Con-
stantius Chlorus. Nevertheless, during
the disturbances in the empire, and until
Constantine became its sole master, they
occupied the tract from Mentz to Stras-
burg. At last, Julian was sent, when
Caesar, to Gaul, in 357. He again repulsed
the A., and forced their princes, of whom
there were then eight, to sue for peace.
Their whole force, in the chief battle
against Julian, amounted to 35,000 men.
When the migration of the northern tribes
began, the A. were among the hordes
that overran Gaul. They spread along
the whole western side of the Rhine, and,
in the latter half of the 5th century, over
all Helvetia. At last, Clovis broke their
power in 496, subdued them, and de-
prived them of a large portion of their
possessions. Many of them fled to The-
odoric, king of the Ostrogoths, into Italy
and the Alps; the greater part, however,
returned to their own country.

structers, who thought they had found in
him a second Pascal to support the cause
of the Jansenists, with whom they were
closely connected. He wrote, in the first
years of his philosophical studies, a com-
mentary on the epistle of Paul to the
Romans. But, when he began to study
mathematics, this science captivated him
so much, that he renounced all theologi-
cal disputes. He left college, studied
law, became an advocate, but did not
cease to occupy himself with mathemat-
ics, though he was almost entirely desti-
A pamphlet on the
tute of property.
motion of solid bodies in a fluid, and an-
other on the integral calculus, which he
laid before the academy of sciences in
1739 and 1740, showed him in so favora-
ble a light, that the academy received
him, in 1741, into the number of its mem-
bers. He soon after published his famous
works on dynamics, Traité de dynamique,
and on fluids, Traité des fluides. In
1746, his Theory of the Winds obtained
the prize offered by the academy of Ber-
lin, of which he was chosen a member.
Among his communications to this acade-
my, two are highly distinguished-that on
pure analysis, and the one which treats of
the vibrations of strings. He also took a
part in the investigations which completed
the discoveries of Newton respecting the
motion of the heavenly bodies. Whilst
Euler and Clairaut were engaged in these,
he delivered, in 1747, to the academy of sci-
ences, a solution of the problem proposed
to determine what disturbances are occa
sioned by the mutual attraction of the plan
ets, in their elliptical revolutions round the
sun, and what their motion would be, if
they were acted on only by the attractive
power of the sun. He continued these
labors for several years, and published, at
intervals, various important astronomical
treatises, including one on the precession
of the equinoxes; also his experiment on
the resistance of fluid bodies, and a num-
ber of dissertations on other subjects;
works, of the value of which there is but
one opinion among scholars, but which
produced a coldness on the part of Euler
and others.-In the first fervor of his
fondness for mathematics, he had, for a
time, become indifferent to belles-lettres;
but his early love of them soon revived,
after his most important discoveries,
when mathematical investigations ceased
to afford him so rich a harvest of new
truths, or he felt the necessity of relaxa-
tion.

ALEMBERT, Jean le Rond d', one of the most distinguished mathematicians and literary characters of the 18th century, was born in Paris, in 1717, but was exposed by his parents, madame de Tencin and the poet Destouches, provincial commissary of artillery. The child appeared so weak, that the police officer, instead of carrying it to the foundling hospital, committed it to the care of the wife of a poor glazier. Perhaps he had secret instructions to do so; for, although his parents never publicly acknowledged him, they did not withdraw their care from him; on the contrary, his father afterwards settled upon him an income of 1200 livres, a sum which was then sufficient to procure the necessaries of life. He showed much facility in learning, and at the age of 4 years, was sent to a boarding-school. He was but 10 years old, when the principal; a man of merit, declared that he could teach him no more. He entered the college Mazarin at the age of 12. His talents surprised his in13*

He entered on this new career with his introduction to the Encyclopédie, and it will always be a pattern of style in

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treating of scientific subjects, uniting, as it does, elegance and precision. D'A. comprised, in this introduction, the essence of all his knowledge of mathematics, philosophy and literature, acquired in a study of 20 years, and this was all that was known at that time, in France, on these subjects. He undertook to prepare the mathematical part of the Encyclopédie, and wrote a great number of excellent articles. His name being prefixed to this work, he shared its fate, and exposed himself to numberless quarrels. D'A. soon after entered the French academy, and continued to cultivate the belleslettres, together with mathematics. His literary works, on account of their profoundness and accuracy, met with the approbation of all sound minds; they are distinguished by purity of language, clear ness of style, and force of thought. Although he experienced much persecution on account of his connexion with the Encyclopédie, and was neglected by the government of his country, he would not accept the invitations of Frederic II to settle in Berlin, nor the offers of the Russian empress, who desired him to take charge of the education of her son, with a pension of 100,000 livres. His country learned his worth from foreigners; and the king of Prussia gave him a pension, when the academy of sciences, at Paris, refused him the salary to which he was justly entitled. Though his income was always moderate, his beneficence was great. He lived above 30 years, in the plainest manner, in the house of the woman who had brought him up, and left these lodgings only when his health compelled him. His long attachment to Mlle. de l'Espinasse shows that he was not destitute of a feeling heart. Valuing independence more than any thing else, he avoided the society of the great, and sought only that into which he could enter with cheerfulness and frankness. The reputation which he enjoyed, the intimate friendship between him and Voltaire, and his great merits, procured him many enemies. He had a literary contest with J. J. Rousseau, on account of an article on Geneva, intended for the Encyclopédie. His religious character seems to have been that of a sober deist. He died of the stone, being unwilling to submit to an operation, in 1783, in the 66th year of his age. Frederic II, who had, in 1763, become personally acquainted with d'A., maintained a correspondence with him, which was published after the death of both, and is very inter

esting. The enemies of d'A., with a view of depreciating his merits, called him a good geometrician among the literati, and a good belles-lettres scholar among the geometricians. The truth is, that his rank is somewhat higher in geometry than in belles-lettres; but, owing to the influence of style upon the fate of writings, his works in the department of belles-lettres, will continue to interest longer than his mathematical treatises. The former are collected in the Œuvres philosophiques, historiques et littéraires de d'Alembert, 18 vols. Paris, 1809. Condorcet has drawn his character in his Éloge.

ALENÇON, capital of the French department of the Orne, on the Sarthe, contains 1528 houses, and 13,500 inhabitants, a college, a société d'émulation, a library, and considerable manufactories of bonelace, etamine, woollen stockings, leather, &c. The diamonds of A., so called, are found in the neighboring quarries. 3000 women are employed here in manufacturing point-lace. Also a kind of linen, toile d'Alençon, enjoys much reputation. The neighboring country has become richer by the division of the large estates, and the town itself more industrious.

ALENIO, Julius; a Jesuit, born at Brescia, in the territory of Venice. He was a missionary in China, arrived, in 1610, at Macao, and left several works in the Chinese language. He died 1649.

ALEPPO, or HALEP; capital of the Asiatic pashalic of the same name, which is the second in the Turkish empire, and comprises the northern part of Syria, including mount Lebanon. It contains 9,800 square miles, and 450,000 inhabitants. The Orontes, abounding in fish, is the only river of the pashalic, which, under any other government, would long since have been connected, by a canal running through a level plain, with the Euphrates. The country produces chiefly wheat, barley, cotton, indigo, sesamum, &c., and, in the mountains, mulberry, olive and fig-trees. Halep, the seat of a pasha of three tails, a Greek patriarch, an Armenian, a Jacobite, and a Maronite bishop, is, within the walls, about 34 miles in circumference; including the suburbs, however, about 7 or 8. It contains 14,137 houses, 200,000 inhabitants (24,000 of whom are Christians), 100 mosques, 3 Catholic churches, 1 Protestant church, a synagogue, many manufactories of silk cotton, &c. It carries on considerable trade, forming the centre of the intercourse between the Persian gulf and the

Mediterranean sea. Most of the inhabitants are Mohammedans, the rest Jews, oriental Christians, and Europeans. The city lost two thirds of its houses, and 8000 inhabitants, by the earthquakes in 1822 and 1823. Lon. 37° 10 E.; lat. 36° 11' N. ALESIA, the capital of the Mandubii, a Gallic people, who dwelt in what is now Burgundy, was an important fortress, the siege and taking of which was, undoubtedly, the greatest military exploit of Cæsar. All Gaul had risen against the Romans, even the Ædui, the old allies of the oppressors; but Cæsar conquered them under Vercingetorix, and besieged them in Alesia. 80,000 men were shut up in the town; Cæsar, with 60,000 troops, lay before it. He erected, immediately, a line of contravallation, extending 4 leagues, in order to reduce the place by famine, since its situation on a hill, 1500 feet high, and on all sides abrupt, between the rivers Ope and Operain, rendered an attack impossible. Vercingetorix, after making several furious but unsuccessful sallies, called all the Gauls to arms, and, in a short time, 250,000 men appeared before the place. Cæsar had, in the mean time, completed his line of circumvallation, protecting himself against any attack from without by a breast-work, a ditch with palisadoes, and several rows of pit-falls. These defences enabled him to repel the desperate attack of 330,000 Gauls against the 60,000 Romans under his command, though he was assailed both in front and rear. The Gauls were unable to force his lines at any point. Vercingetorix, reduced to extremity by hunger, was compelled to surrender, without having carried into execution his design of murdering all the persons in the town who were unqualified for battle. But the whole tribe of the Mandubii, which had been expelled from the city by the Gauls, and were not allowed by the Romans to pass into the open country, died of famine between the two camps. Afterwards, A. rose again to a flourishing condition, until it was destroyed, in 864, by the Normans. Vestiges of wells, aqueducts, broken tiles, coins and the like, found in the fields where A. once stood, prove the former existence of the eity. At the foot of the ancient citadel (now mount Auxois), is a village called Alise (depart. Côte d' Or), with several hundred inhabitants.

ALESSANDRIA. (See Alexandria.) ALEUTIAN ISLANDS; a group belonging to Russia, and separating the sea of Kamtschatka from the northern part of

the Pacific ocean, extending nearly 700 miles from E. to W., from lon. 169° to 183° E.; lat. 53° N. They form a chain connecting Asia and America, and include what have generally been called, in English geographical works, the Fox islands, Behring's and Copper islands, and the group formerly divided into the Aleutian and Andrenovian isles, altogether above 100, comprising about 10,000 square miles, all rocky, some containing volcanoes and hot springs. The most known and largest are the Oonalashka, Behring's island and Kodiak. The principal place is Alexandria, the seat of the governor, and the chief emporium. No tree grows on these islands, and no domestic animal thrives there; but they afford an abundance of valuable fur and of fish. The inhabitants belong to the same stock with the natives of Kamtschatka; they are a harmless race of hunters and fishers. Their number has been reduced by the small pox and the venereal disease to 1000. The Russians, to whom they pay tribute, visit these inhospitable islands only for the sake of fur. The officers of the Russian-American company treat the inhabitants so cruelly, that Krusenstern made a report about it to the Russian government.Müller's Sammlung Russischer Geschichte, vol. iii.; Coxe's Account of the Russian Discoveries; Tooke's View of the Russian Empire; Krusenstern's Voyage round the World; Cooke, &c.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, Son of Philip of Macedon, was born in Pella, B. C. 356. His mother was Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus of Epirus. In his early youth, he showed the marks of a great character. When he heard of the victories of Philip, he exclaimed, "My father will not leave any thing for me to do." Philip confided the charge of his education first to Leonidas, a relation of his mother, and to Lysimachus; afterwards to Aristotle. At a distance from the court, this great philosopher instructed him in all the branches of human knowledge, especially those necessary for a ruler, and wrote for his benefit a work on the art of government, which is unfortunately lost. As Macedon was surrounded by dangerous neighbors, Aristotle sought to cultivate in his pupil the talents and virtues of a military commander With this view he recommended to him the reading of the Iliad, and revised this poem himself. The copy revised by Aristotle was the favorite book of A., who never lay down without having read some pages in it. At the same time he forined

152

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

his body by gymnastic exercises. When very young, as every body knows, he tamed the horse Bucephalus, which no one else dared to mount. When he was 16 years old, Philip, setting out on an expedition against Byzantium, delegated the government to him during his absence. He performed prodigies of valor, two years later (338), in the battle at Chæronea, where he obtained great reputation by conquering the sacred band of the Thebans. "My son," said Philip, after the battle, embracing him, "seek another empire, for that which I shall leave you is not worthy of you." The father and son, however, quarrelled when Philip repudiated Olympias. A., who took the part of his mother, was obliged to flee to Epirus, to escape the vengeance of his father; but he soon obtained pardon, and returned. He afterwards accompanied Philip on an expedition against the Triballi, and saved his life in a battle. Philip, having been elected chief commander of the Greeks, was preparing for a war against Persia, when he was assassinated, B. C. 336. A., not yet 20 years of age, ascended the throne, punished the murderer, went into the Peloponnesus, and received, in the general assembly of the Greeks, the chief command in the war against Persia. After his return, he found the Illyrii and Triballi in arms, went to meet them, forced a passage through Thrace, and was every where successful. But the Thebans, having heard a rumor of his death, had taken up arms, and the Athenians, urged by Demosthenes, were about to join them. A. hastened to prevent this junction, appeared before Thebes, and, having summoned it in vain to surrender, took and destroyed the city. 6000 of the inhabitants were put to the sword, and 30,000 carried into captivity. The house and family of the poet Pindar alone were spared. This severity terrified all Greece. The Athenians suffered less. A. demanded only the banishment of Charmides, who had spoken most bitterly against him. Leaving Antipater to govern in his stead in Europe, and being confirmed as commander in chief of the Greek forces, in the general assembly of the Greeks, he crossed over into Asia, in the spring of 334, with 30,000 foot and 5,000 horse. To secure the protection of Minerva, he sacrificed to her, on the fields of Ilium, crowned the tomb of Achilles, and congratulated this hero, from whom he was descended through his mother, on his good fortune in having had such a friend as Patroclus, and such a poet as

Homer. When he approached the Granicus, he learned that several Persian satraps, with 20,000 foot, and as many horse, awaited him on the other side. A., without delay, led his army through the river, and obtained a complete victory; having overthrown, with his lance, Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darius, and exposed himself to every danger. The Macedonians, encouraged by his example, bore down every thing before them, and the whole army crossed the river. The Greek auxiliaries of the Persians, who were formed in phalanxes, resisted longer, and were all destroyed, except 2000, who were taken prisoners. A. performed splendid funeral ceremonies in honor of those of his army who had fallen, and granted privileges to their fathers and children. Most of the cities of Asia Minor, even Sardis, opened their gates to the victor. Miletus and Halicarnassus resisted longer. A. restored democracy in all the Greek cities. In passing through Gordium, he cut the Gordian knot, and conquered Lycia, Ionia, Caria, Pamphylia and Cappadocia. But a dangerous sickness, brought on by bathing in the Cydnus, checked his course. On this occasion he showed the elevation of his character. He received a letter from Parmenio, saying that Philip, his physician, had been bribed by Darius to poison him. A. gave the letter to the physician, and at the same time drank the potion which he had prepared for him. Scarcely was he restored to health, when he advanced towards the defiles of Cilieia, whither Darius had imprudently betaken himself, with an immense army, instead of awaiting his adversary on the plains of Assyria. The second battle took place near Issus, between the sea and the mountains. The disorderly masses of the Persians were broken by the charge of the Macedonians, and fled in wild confusion. On the left wing, 30,000 Greeks, in the pay of the Persian king, resisted longer; but they also were obliged to yield. The treasures and family of Darius fell into the hands of the conqueror. The latter were treated most magnanimously. A. did not pursue Darius, who fled towards the Euphrates, but, in order to cut him off from the sea, turned towards Cœloyria and Phœnicia. Here he received a letter from Darius, proposing peace. A. answered, that, if he would come to him, he would restore to him not only his mother, wife and children without ransom, but also his empire. This answer produced no effect. The victory at Issus

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

had opened the whole country to the Macedonians. A. took possession of Damascus, which contained a large portion of the royal treasures, and secured all the towns along the Mediterranean sea. Tyre, imboldened by the strength of its situation, resisted, but was taken, after seven months of incredible exertions, and destroyed. A. continued his victorious march through Palestine, where all the towns surrendered, except Gaza, which shared the fate of Tyre. Egypt, weary of the Persian yoke, received him as a deliverer. In order to confirm his power, he restored the former customs and religious rites, and founded Alexandria, which became one of the first cities of ancient times. Hence he went through the desert of Libya, to consult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. Some historians assert that the god recognised him as his son, but others reject all that has been related respecting this journey. At the return of spring, A. marched against Darius, who, in the meantime, had collected an army in Assyria, and rejected the proposals of A. for peace. A battle was fought at Gaugamela, not far from Arbela, in 331. Justin estimates the forces of Darius at 500,000 men; Diodorus, Arrian and Plutarch at more than double that number. Notwithstanding the immense numerical superiority of his enemy, A. was not a moment doubtful of victory. At the head of his cavalry, he attacked the Persians, and routed them immediately; he then hastened to the aid of his left wing, which had been, in the mean time, severely pressed. His wish was to take, or kill, the king of Persia. The latter was on an elevated chariot, in the midst of his body-guards. These, when they saw how A. overthrew every thing, fled. Darius then mounted a horse, and fled likewise, leaving his army, baggage and immense treasures to the victor. Babylon and Susa, where the riches of the East lay accumulated, opened their gates to A., who directed his march towards Persepolis, the capital of Persia. The only passage thither, Pyle Persidis, was defended by 40,000 men under Ariobarzanes. A. attacked them in the rear, routed them, and entered Persepolis triumphant. From this time the glory of A. began to decline. Master of the greatest empire in the world, he became a slave to his own passions; gave himself up to arrogance and dissipation; showed himself ungrateful and cruel, and, in the arms of pleasure, shed the blood of his bravest generals. Hitherto sober and moderate, this hero,

who strove to equal the gods, and called
himself a god, sunk to the level of vulgar
men. Persepolis, the wonder of the
world, he burned in a fit of intoxication
Ashamed of this act, he set out with his
cavalry to pursue Darius. Learning that
Bessus, satrap of Bactriana, kept the king
prisoner, he hastened his march with the
hope of saving him. But Bessus, when
he saw himself closely pursued, caused
Darius to be assassinated (B. C. 330), be-
cause he was an impediment to his flight.
A. beheld, on the frontiers of Bactriana,
a dying man, covered with wounds, lying
on a chariot. It was Darius. The Mace-
donian hero could not restrain his tears.
After interring him with all the honors
usual among the Persians, he took pos-
session of Hyrcania, the land of the Marsi,
and Bactriana, and caused himself to be
proclaimed king of Asia. He was form-
ing still more gigantic plans, when a con-
spiracy broke out in his own camp. Phi-
lotas, the son of Parmenio, was implicated.
A., not satisfied with the blood of the son,
caused the father also to be secretly mur-
dered. This act of injustice excited
general displeasure. At the same time,
his power in Greece was threatened.
Agis, king of Sparta, had collected 30,000
men to shake off the Macedonian yoke;
but Antipater, at the head of a numerous
army, overcame the Spartans, and dis-
solved the league of the Greeks. In the
mean time, A. marched, in the winter,
through the north of Asia, as far as it
was then known, checked neither by
mount Caucasus nor the Oxus, and
reached the Caspian sea, hitherto un-
known to the Greeks. Insatiable of
glory, and thirsting for conquest, he spar-
ed not even the hordes of the Scythians.
Returning to Bactriana, he hoped to gain
the affections of the Persians, by assum-
The discon-
ing their dress and manners, but this
hope was not realized.
tent of the army gave occasion to the
scene which ended in the death of Clitus.
A., whose pride he had offended, killed
him with his own hand at a banquet.
Clitus had been one of his most faithful
friends and bravest generals, and A. was
afterwards a prey to the keenest remorse.
In the following year, he subdued the
whole of Sogdiana. Oxyantes, one of
the leaders of the enemy, had secured
his family in a castle built on lofty rocks.
The Macedonians stormed it. Roxana,
the daughter of Oxyantes, one of the
most beautiful virgins of Asia, was among
the prisoners. A. fell in love with and
married her. Upon the news of this

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