knights-companions. When he reached Canopus, he sailed westward along
the coast, and landed at Rhacotis, a small village on the spot where
Alexandria now stands. Here he made no stay; but, as he passed through
it, he must have seen at a glance, for he was never there a second time,
that the place was formed by nature to be a great harbour, and that with
a little help from art it would be the port of all Egypt. The mouths of
the Nile were too shallow for the ever increasing size of the merchant
vessels which were then being built; and the engineers found the deeper
water which was wanted, between the village of Rhacotis and the little
island of pharos. It was all that he had seen and admired at Tyre, but
it was on a larger scale and with deeper water. It was the very spot
that he was in search of; in every way suitable for the Greek colony
which he proposed to found as the best means of keeping Egypt in
obedience. Even before the time of Homer, the island of Pharos had
given shelter to the Greek traders on that coast. He gave his orders
to Hinocrates the architect to improve the harbour, and to lay down
the plan of his new city; and the success of the undertaking proved
the wisdom both of the statesman and of the builder, for the city of
Alexandria subsequently became the most famous of all the commercial and
intellectual centres of antiquity. From Rhacotis Alexander marched along
the coast to Parastonium, a distance of about two hundred miles
through the desert; and there, or on his way there, he was met by the
ambassadors from Cyrene, who were sent with gifts to beg for peace,
and to ask him to honour their city with a visit. Alexander graciously
received the gifts of the Cyrenæans, and promised them his friendship,
but could not spare time to visit their city; and, without stopping, he
turned southward to the oasis.

At Memphis Alexander received the ambassadors that came from Greece to
wish him joy of his success; he reviewed his troops, and gave out his