speech of alexander to his officers.

“friends and allies, i see that an expedition to egypt will not be safe for us, so long as the persians retain the sovereignty of the sea; nor is it a safe course, both for other reasons, and especially looking at the state of matters in greece, for us to pursue darius, leaving in our rear the city of tyre itself in doubtful allegiance, and egypt and cyprus in the occupation of the persians. i am apprehensive lest while we advance with our forces towards babylon and in pursuit of darius, the persians should again forsooth conquer the maritime districts, and transfer the war into greece with a larger army, considering that the lacedaemonians are now waging war against us without disguise, and the city of athens is restrained for the present rather by fear than by any good-will towards us. but if tyre were captured, the whole of phoenicia would be in our possession, and the fleet of the phoenicians, which is the most numerous and the best in the persian navy, would in all probability come over to us. for the phoenician sailors and marines will not put to sea in order to incur danger on behalf of others, when their own cities are occupied by us. after this, cyprus will either yield to us without delay, or will be captured with ease at the mere arrival of a naval force; and then navigating the sea with the ships from macedonia in conjunction with those of the phoenicians,121 cyprus at the same time coming over to us, we shall acquire the absolute sovereignty of the sea, and at the same time an expedition into egypt will become an easy matter for us. after we have brought egypt into subjection, no anxiety about greece and our own land will any longer remain, and we shall be able to undertake the expedition to babylon with safety in regard to affairs at home, and at the same time with greater reputation, in consequence of having cut off from the persian empire all the maritime provinces and all the land this side of the euphrates.”