But admitting the incorrectness of the details of the tradition as given by Josephus, there are several points which confirm the truth of the main fact. Justin says that "many kings of the East came to meet Alexan- der wearing fillets" (xi, 10) ; and after the capture of Tyre "Alexander himself visited some of the cities which still refused to submit to him" (Curt, iv, 5, 13). Even at a later time, according to Curtius, he executed vengeance personally on the Samaritans for the mur- der of his governor Andromachus (Curt, iv, 8, 10). Besides this, Jewish soldiers were enlisted in his army (Hecat. ap. Josephus, Apion, i, 22) ; and Jews formed an important element in the population of the city which he founded shortly after the supposed visit. Above all, the privileges which he is said to have con- ferred upon the Jews, including the remission of trib- ute every sabbatical year, existed in later times, and imply some such relation between the Jews and the great conqueror as Josephus describes. Internal ev- idence is decidedly in favor of the story even in its pic- turesque fulness. From policy or conviction, Alexan- der delighted to represent himself as chosen by destiny for the great act which he achieved. The siege of Tyre arose professedly from a religious motive ; the battle of Issus was preceded by the visit to Gordium ; the invasion of Persia by the pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon. And if it be impossible to determine the exact circumstances of the meeting of Alexander and the Jewish envoys, the silence of the classical histo- rians, who notoriously disregarded (e. g. the Macca- bees) and misrepresented (Tac. Hist, v, 8) the fortunes of the Jews, cannot be held to be conclusive against the occurrence of an event which must have appeared to them trivial or unintelligible (Jahn, Arcfoeol. iii, 300 sq. ; Ste. Croix, Examen critique, etc., Paris, 1810 [in Eng. Bath, 1793] ; Thirl wall, Hist, of Greece, ii, 193 sq.; and, on the other side, Ant. van Dale, Dissert, super A ristea, Amstel. 1705, p. G9 sq. ; Favini, Be A lex. M. ingress. Hierosolyma, Flor. 1781). See Persia.
The tradition, whether true or false, presents an aspect of Alexander's character which has been fre- quently lost sight of by his recent biographers. He was not simply a Greek, nor must he be judged by a Greek standard. The Orientalism, which was a scan- dal to his followers, was a necessary deduction from his principles, and not the result of caprice or vanity (comp. Arr. vii, 29). He approached the idea of a universal monarchy from the side of Greece, but his final object was to establish something higher than the paramount supremacy of one people. His purpose was to combine and equalize, not to annihilate ; to wed the East and West in a just union — not to enslave Asia to Greece (Plut. dc Alex. Fort, i, 6). The time, indeed, was not yet come when this was possible, but if he could not accomplish the great issue, he prepared for its accomplishment.
The first and most direct consequence of the policy of Alexander was the weakening of nationalities, the first condition necessary for the dissolution of the old religions. The swift course of his victories, the con- stant incorporation of foreign elements in his armies, the fierce wars and changing fortunes of his successors, broke down the barriers by which kingdom had been separated from kingdom, and opened the road for larger conceptions of life and faith than had hitherto been possible (comp. Polyb. iii, 59). The contact of the East and West brought out into practical forms thoughts and feelings which had been confined to the schools. Paganism was deprived of life as soon as it was transplanted beyond the narrow limits in which it took its shape. The spread of commerce followed the progress of arms ; and the Greek language and literature vindicated their claim to be considered the most perfect expression of human thought by becoming practicalhy universal. The Jews were at once most exposed to the powerful influences thus brought to bear upon the East, and most able to support them.
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In the arrangement of the Greek conquests which ! followed the battle of Ipsus, B.C. SOI, Judaea was ; made the frontier land of the rival empires of Syria j and Egypt, and though it was necessarily subjected to the constant vicissitudes of war, it was able to make | advantageous terms with the state to which it owed allegiauce from the important advantages which it offered for attack or defence. See Antiochus. In- ternally also the people were prepared to withstand the effects of the revolution which the Greek dominion ! effected. The constitution of Ezra had obtained its full development. A powerful hierarchy had succeed- ed in substituting the idea of a church for that of a stats, and the Jew was now able to wander over the world and yet remain faithful to the God of his fathers. See Dispersion. The same constitutional change j had strengthened the intellectual and religious position I of the people. A rigid " fence" of ritualism protected the course of common life from the license of Greek manners ; and the great doctrine of the unity of God, which was now seen to be the divine centre of their system, counteracted the attractions of a philosophic pantheism. See Simon the Just. Through a long course of discipline, in which they had been left un- guided by prophetic teaching, the Jews had realized the nature of their mission to the world, and were waiting for the means of fulfilling it. The conquest of Alexander furnished them with the occasion and the power. But, at the same time, the example of Greece fostered personal as well as popular independence. Judaism was speedily divided into sects, analogous to the typical forms of Greek philosophy. But even the rude analysis of the old faith was productive of good. The freedom of Greece was no less instrumental in forming the Jews for their final work than the con- templative spirit of Persia, or the civil organization of Rome ; for if the career of Alexander was rapid, its ef- fects were lasting. The city which he chose to bear his name perpetuated in after ages the office which he providentially discharged for Judaism and mankind ; and the historian of Christianity must confirm the judgment of Arrian, that Alexander, " who was like no other man, could not have been given to the world without the special design of Providence" (Arr. vii, 30). See Alexandria. And Alexander himself appreciated this design better even than his great teacher ; for it is said (Plut. De Alex, i, G) that when Aristotle urged him to treat the Greeks as freemen and the Orientals as slaves, he found the true answer to this counsel in the recognition of his " divine mission to unite and reconcile the world." — Smith. See Sects, Jewish.