Publisher's Synopsis
One day a terrible event transpired in the ancient city of Ephesus. The magnificent temple of Diana, one of the famous Seven Wonders of the World, was in flames. The people from all parts of the country flocked to the scene of the imposing conflagration. This marvelous temple had been built at the expense of all Asia Minor. One hundred and twenty-seven kings had contributed one hundred and twenty-seven magnificent columns of Parian marble, which were sixty feet in height, and wrought by the most famous artists. Pliny says that two hundred and twenty years were occupied in rearing this vast structure. But now the flames mount higher and higher. All the efforts of the distracted people to subdue them are in vain. See! The rapacious tongues of fire are nearing the sacred image of the goddess, which the Ephesians believed had fallen from heaven. Why does not Diana, the great goddess, prevent the destruction of his, her most imposing and sacred shrine? The people call upon her in their wild despair; but still the flames devour with fury the magnificent structure, and the air is rent with the cries of the horror-stricken multitude. That very night, while the heavens were still red with the lurid light of the burning temple, another event occurred upon the other side of the Aegean Sea, in the royal palace of the kingdom if Macedon. A tiny infant first opened its eyes upon this strange world; and above his royal cradle, king and nobles bent in gratified delight, and welcomed the little stranger with proud joy. But what had this helpless babe to do with the burning temple in Ephesus? This baby was the infant Alexander the Great; and so superstitious were the people of those times that in order to explain the strange fatality of a great goddess like Diana allowing her magnificent temple to be burned and destroyed without any miraculous intervention on her part, to punish such a sacrilegious desecration of her shrine by wicked mortals, the historians of those days declared that as Diana was at that time lending her aid and presence to insure the future greatness of the new-born infant Alexander, it was on account of her absence on so beneficent an errand, that her temple was not guarded from this impious destruction. But what mortal had so dared to insult the gods, as to apply the torch to this most sacred shrine? At last it was discovered that a person named Herostratus had fired the temple; not by accident, but with wicked intent. Upon being put to the torture in order to force him to confess the motive for so infamous a crime, he declared that it was to immortalize his own name, that he might be known to all posterity as the destroyer of this famous structure. A decree was then published that all should be prohibited from mentioning his name. But this decree only caused greater curiosity, and scarcely one of the historians of those times failed to mention the name of this wicked and vain man. These events happened about-356 B.C. Alexander was born the heir to the throne of one of the Grecian kingdoms. His father was King Philip of Macedon. The kingdom of' Macedon was in the northern part of Greece. The mother of Alexander was Olympias, the daughter of the king of Epirus, which was a kingdom lying west of Macedon. Olympias was a woman of very strong character, but possessed also some unlovely traits. His father, King Philip, was a great warrior, and during the boyhood of Alexander, he made many conquests in various parts of Greece. Alexander was much favored in the circumstances of his early life, and also in the possession of a superior mind, and handsome face and figure, and most winning manners. He was born to rule; and had he always used his many gifts as wisely as he employed his executive powers and physical courage, he would have been one of the greatest of men, whereas now he can be called only one of the greatest of conquerors, whose life was marred by some of the most terrible of vices.
