CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library PA 3935.E5A3 1884 Anabasis of Alexander: or. The history o 3 1924 026 460 752 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026460752 THE ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER. THE ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER; OR, i^e Pislorg of tl^e ffiars anir Cottqnjcsts of '^hxmhtx tl^t (irtat. LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH A COMMENTARY, FROM THE GREEK OF ARRIAN THE NICOMEDIAN, BY E. J. CHINNOCK, M.A., LL.B., L0ND9N, Rector of Dumfries Academy. HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXXIV. /\ . 5"b "g 5~ r. f ^5- A3 Butler & Tanner. The Selwood Fiintiug Works, Frome, and London. PREFACE. When I began this Translation^ more than two years ago, I had no intention of publishing it; but as the work progressed, it occurred to me that Arrian is an Author deserving of more attention from the English- speaking races than he has yet received. No edition of his works has, so far as I am aware, ever appeared in England, though on the Continent many have been pub- lished. In the following Translation I have tried to give as literal a rendering of the Greek text as I could with- out transgressing the idioms of our own language. My theory of the duty of a Translator is, to give the ipsissima verba of his Author as nearly as possible, and not put into his mouth words which he never used, under the mistaken notion of improving his diction or his way of stating his case. It is a comparatively easy thing to give a paraphrase of a foreign work, presenting the general drift of the original ; but no one, unless he has himself tried it, can understand the difficulty of trans- lating a classical Author correctly without omission or mutilation. In the Commentary which I have compiled, continual ]?eference has been made to the other extant authorities on the history of Alexander, such as Diodorus, Plutarch, Curtius, Justin, and Aelian ; so that I think I may safely vi Preface. assert that, taking the Translation and the Notes to- gether, the book forms a complete history of Alexander's reign. Much geogi'aphical and other material has also been gathered from Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, and Ammi- anus; and the allusions to the places which are also mentioned in the Old Testament are given from the Hebrew. As Arrian lived in the second century of the present era, and nearly five hundred years after Demosthenes, it is not to be expected that he wrote classical Greek. There are, however, at least a dozen valuable Greek authors of this century whose works are still extant, and of these it is a safe statement to make, that Arrian is the best of them all, with the single exception of Lucian. I have noticed as many of his deviations from Attic Greek constructions as I thought suitable to a work of this kind. A complete index of Proper Names has been added, and the quantities of the vowels marked for the aid of the English Reader. In the multiplicity of references which I have put into the Notes, I should be sanguine if I imagined that no errors will be found; but if such occur, I must plead as an excuse the pressure of work which a teacher in a large school experiences, leaving him very little energy for literary-labour. E. J. C. Dumfries, December, 1883. CONTENTS. Si.a3 Life and Writings of Arrian 1 Arrian's Preface ... BOOK I. CHAP. I. Death of Philip and Accession of Alexander. — His "Wars with the Thracians 8 II. Battle with the TribalUans 12 III. Alexander at the Danube and in the Country of the Getae 14 IV. Alexander destroys the City of the Getae. — The Am- bassadors of the Celts 16 V. Eevolt of Clitns and Glaucias 18 VI. Defeat of Clitus and Glaucias 22 VII. Eevolt of Thebes (September, e.g. 335) . . 25 / VIII. FaU of Thebes .... ... 28 1 IX. Destruction of Thebes ... . .31 X. Alexander's DeaUngs with Athens 34 XI. Alexander crosses the Hellespont and visits Troy . . 36 XII. Alexander at the Tomb of Achilles. — Memnon's advice Rejected by the Persian Generals .... 38 XIII. Battle of the Granicus (B.C. 384) 41 XIV. Arrangement of the Hostile Armies .... 43 XV. Description of the Battle of the Granicus ... 45 XVI. Defeat of the Persians. — Loss on Both Sides . . 47 XVII. Alexander in Sardis and Ephesus .... 50 XVIII. Alexander marches to Miletus and Occupies the Island of Lade 52 XIX. Siege and Capture of Miletus 65 JXX. Siege of HaHoarnassus. — Abortive Attack on Myndus 58 \XXI. Siege of Halicamassus 61 viii Contents. XXII. *Siege of Halicamassus ^^ XXIII. Destruction of Halicamassus.— Ada, Queen of Caria 64 XXIV. Alexander in Lycia and Pamphylia "° XXV. . Treason of Alexander, Son of Aeropua ... 68 XXVI. Alexander in Pamphylia.— Capture of Aspendus and Side 70 XXVII. Alexander in Phrygia and Pisidia ... 72 XXVIII. Operations in Pisidia 74 XXIX. Alexander in Phrygia .... 76 BOOK II. I. Capture of Mitylene by the Persians.— Death of Memnon 78 II. The Persians capture Tenedus. — ^They are Defeated at Sea "... 80 III. Alexander at G-ordium ....... 82 IV. Conquest of Cappadooia. — Alexander's Illness at Tarsus 84 V. Alexander at the Tomb of Sardanapalus. — Proceedings in Cilicia 87 VI. Alexander advances to Myriandrus. — Darius Marches against him 89 VII. Darius at Issus. — Alexander's Speech to his Army 91 VIII. Arrangement of the Hostile Armies ... 94 ^ IX. Alexander changes the Disposition of his Forces . i 97 ,-X. Battle of Issus 99 XI. Defeat and Plight of Darius 101 XII. Kind Treatment of Darius's Family . . . .104 XIII. Flight of Macedonian Deserters into Egypt. — Pro- ceedings of Agis, King of Sparta. — ^Alexander occupies Phoenicia 106 XIV. Darius's Letter, and Alexander's Reply . . . Ill XV. Alexander's Treatment of the Captured Greek Ambas- sadors. — Submission of Byblus and Sidon . . . 114 XVI. The Worship of Hercules in Tyre. — The Tyrians re- fuse to admit Alexander 117 XVII. Speech of Alexander to his Officers .... 120 XVIII. Siege of Tyre. — Construction of a Mole from the Mainland to the Island 121 XIX. The Siege of Tyre 123 XX. Tyre Besieged by Sea as well as Land .... 124 XXI. Siege of Tyre 127 Contents. ix CHAP. PAQE XXII. Siege of Tyre.— Naval Defeat of the Tyrians . . 129 XXIII. Siege of Tyre 131 XXIV. Capture of Tyre 132 XXV. The Offers of Darius rejected.— Batis, Governor of Gaza, refuses to Submit 134 XXVI. Siege of Gaza ... .... 136 XXVII. Capture of Gaza . 137 BOOK III. I. Conquest of Egypt.— Foundation of Alexandria . . 140 II. Fouxidation of Alexandria. — Events in the Aegean . 142 III. Alexander visits the Temple of Ammon . . 144 IV. The Oasis of Ammon 147 V. Settlement of the AfEairs of Egypt 148 VI. March into Syria. — Alexander's Kindness to Harpalus and his other early Adherents 150 VII. Passage of the Euphrates and Tigris ... 152 VIII. Description of Darius's Army at Arbela . . 154 IX. Alexander's Tactics. — His Speech to the Officers . . 157 X. Rejection of Parmenio's Advice 159 XI. Tactics of the Opposing Generals .... 160 XII. Alexander's Tactics ...... 168 XIII. The Battle of Arbela 164 XIV. Battle of Arbela.— Plight of Darius ... 166 XV. Defeat of the Persians and Pursuit of Darius . . 168 XVI. Escape of Darius into Media. — March of Alexander to Babylon and Susa 170 XVTI. Subjugation of the Uxians 174 XVIII. Defeat of Ariobarzanes and Capture of Persepolis . 176 XIX. Darius pursued into Media and Parthia . . .179 XX. March through the Caspian Gates .... 181 XXI. Darius is Assassinated by Bessus .... 182 XXII. Reflections on the Pate of Darius . . . 186 XXIII. Expedition into Hyrcania 187 XXIV. Expedition against the Mardians .... 189 XXV. March to Bactra. — Bessus aided by Satibarzanes . 191 XXVI. Philotas and Parmenio put to Death . . . 193 XXVII. Treatment of Amyntas. — The Ariaspians . 196 XXVIII. Alexander crosses the Hindu-Koosh . . 196 X Contents. CHAP. ^^^^ XXIX. Conquest of Bactria, and Pursuit of Bessus across theOxus 199 XXX. Capture of Bessus.— Exploits in Sogdi3,na ■ 201 BOOK IV. 205 206 208 210 212 214 216 218 221 223 I. Rebellion of tiie Sogdianians .... II. Capture of Five Cities in Two Days III. Storming of CyropoUs. — Eevolt of the Scythians IV. Defeat of the Scythians beyond the Tanais . V. Spitamenes destroys a Macedonian Detachment VI. Spitamenes driven into the Desert VII. Treatment of Bessus VTII. The Murder of CUtus . . . . IX. Alexander's grief for Clitus X. Dispute between Callisthenes and Anaxarchus XI. Callisthenes Opposes the Proposal to honour Alexander by Prostration . 225 XII. Callisthenes refuses to Prostrate himself . . 228 XIII. Conspiracy of the Pages .... . 229 XIV. Execution of Callisthenes and Hermolaus . . . 231 XV. Alliance with the Scythians and Chorasmians . . 233 XVI. Subjugation of Sogdiana. — ^Revolt of Spitamenes 235 XVII. Defeat and Death of Spitamenes .... 237 XVIII. Oxyartes Besieged in the Sogdiaji Rock . . 239 XIX. Alexander Captures the Rock and Marries Roxana 241 XX. Magnanimous Treatment of the F amil y of Darius . 242 XXI. Capture of the Rock of Chorienes .... 244 XXII. Alexander reaches the River Cabul, and Receives the Homage of Taxiles 246 XXIII. Battles with the Aspasians 248 XXIV. Operations against the Aspasians .... 250 XXV. Defeat of the Aspasians. — The Assaoenians and Guraeans Attacked . . .... 252 XXVI. Siege of Massaga 254 XXVTI. Sieges of Massaga and Ora 255 XXVIII. Capture of Bazira. — Advance to the Rock of Aomus 257 XXIX. Siege of Aornus . . . . . 260 XXX. Capture of Aornus. — ^Arrival at the Indus . . 262 Contents. XI BOOK V. <^^^^- PAGB I. Alexander at Nysa 265 II. Alexander at Nysa 267 III. Incredulity of Eratosthenes. — Passage of the Indus . 269 rV. Digression about India 270 V. Mountains and Eivers of Asia 273 VI. General Description of India 274 VII. Method of Bridging Eivers . v 277 VIII. March from the Indus to the Hydaspes . . .279 IX. Porus obstructs Alexander's Passage . . . 280 X. Alexander and Porus at the Hydaspes . . 282 XI. Alexander's Stratagem to get across .... 283 XII. Passage of the Hydaspes .... . 284 XIII. Passage of the Hydaspes 285 XIV. The Battle at the Hydaspes . . .287 XV. Arrangements of Porus 288 XVI. Alexander's Tactics 290 XVII. Defeat of Porus 291 XVIII. Losses of the Combatants. — Porus Surrenders . 293 XIX. Alliance with Porus. — Death of Buoephalas . . 295 XX. Conquest of the Glausians. — Embassy from Abisares. — Passage of the Acesines 297 XXI. Advance beyond the Hydraotes ... . 299 XXII. Invasion of the Land of the Cathaeans . . 301 XXIII. Assault upon Sangala 302 XXIV. Capture of Sangala 304 XXV. The Army refuses to Advance. — Alexander's Speech to the Officers 306 XXVI. Alexander's Speech (eontin/ued) .... 308 XXVn. The Answer of Coenus 311 XXVm. Alexander resolves to Eeturn .... 313 XXIX. Alexander recrosses the Hydraotes and Acesines . 314 BOOK VI. I. Preparations for a Voyage down the Indus . . . 317 II. Voyage down the Hydaspes 318 III. Voyage down the Hydaspes (continued) . . . 320 IV. Voyage down the Hydaspes into the Acesines . 321 V. Voyage down the Acesines 323 VI. Campaign against the Malhans 324 xii Contents. CHAJ. 'ABE VII. Campaign against tte Mallians (continued) . . ■ 826 VIII. Defeat of the Mallians at the river Hydraotes . 328 IX. Storming of the Mallian Stronghold .... 329 X. Alexander dangerously Woimded 331 XI. Alexander "Wounded 333 XII. Anxiety of the Soldiers about Alexander . . . 336 XIII. Joy of the Soldiers at Alexander's Eecovery . . 336 XIV. Voyage down the Hydraotes and Acesines into the Indus 338 XV. Voyage down the Indus to the Land of Musicanus . 340 XVI. Campaign against Oxycanus and Samhus . . . 342 XVII. Musicanus Executed. — Capture of Patala . . . 343 XVIII. Voyage down the Indus 345 XIX. Voyage down the Indus into the Sea . . . 346 XX. Exploration of the Mouths of the Indus . . .348 XXI. Campaign against the Oritians . - . . . . 349 XXII. March through the Desert of Gadrosia . . 351 XXIII. March through the Desert of Gadrosia . . . 353 XXIV. March through Gadrosia 355 XXV. SufPerings of the Army 356 XXVI. Alexander's Magnanimous Conduct .... 358 XXVII. March through Cai'mania. — Punishment of Vice- roys 360 XXVIII. Alexander in Carmania . . . . ' . 362 XXIX. Alexander in Persis. — Tomb of Cyrus Repaired . 364 XXX. Peucestas appointed Viceroy of Persis . . . 367 BOOK VII. I. Alexander's Plans. — The Indian Philosophers . . . 369 II. Alexander's Dealings with the Indian Sages . . 371 III. Self-sacrifice of the Jndian Oalanus .... 372 IV. Marriages between Macedonians and Persians . . 374 V. The Soldiers Rewarded 376 VI. An Army of Asiatics Trained under the Macedonian Discipline ■ . 373 VII. Navigation of the Tigres 379 VIII. The Macedonians Offended at Alexander . . . 381 IX. Alexander's Speech 3g3 X. Alexander's Speech (continued) 38g XI. Reconciliation between Alexander and his Army . .387 Contents. xiii CHAP. PAQB SII. Ten Thousand Macedonians sent Home witli Craterus. — Disputes between Antipater and Olympias . . 390 XIII. The Nisaean Plain.— The Amazons . . . .393 XrV. Death of Hephaestion 395 XV. Subjugation of the Cossaeans. — Embassies from Dis- tant Nations 398 XVI. Exploration of the Caspian. — The Chaldaean Sooth- sayers 400 XVII. The Advice of the Ohaldees rejected . . . .402 XVIII. Predictions of Alexander's Death .... 404 XIX. Embassies from Greece. — Uleet prepared for Invading Arabia 406 XX. Description of Arabia. — Voyage of Nearchus . . 408 XXI. Description of the Euphrates and the Pallaoopas . 411 XXII. An Omen of Alexander's Approax;hing Death . . 412 XXIII. The Army Recruited from the Persians. — Hephaes- tion's Memory Honoured .... 414 XXIV. Another Omen of Alexander's Death . . . 417 XXV. Alexander Seized with Eever 418 XXVI. Alexander's Death 420 XXVII. Rumour that Alexander was Poisoned . . . 421 XXVIII. Character of Alexander 422 XXIX. Apology for Alexander's Errors .... 424 XXX. Eulogy of Alexander ... ... 425 Index of Proper Names 429 ERRATA. - _o" — Vorjr lines from the bottom, for Anab. t. 1, read t. 5, 1. Page 8. Note 1, for Diod., xix. 93, 94; read xvi. 93, 94. Note 3, for Diod., xvi. 85 ; read xvii. 4. Page 48. For Onares read Omares. Page 108. (Note) for Zeph. i. 2 ; read 11. Page 116. (Note) for Paradise Lost, viii. 18 ; read i. 446. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ARRIAN. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF AERIAN. Alt, we know of Arrian is derived from the notice of him in the Bihliotheca of Photius, who was Patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century^ and from a few incidental references in his own writings. We learn from Suidas that Dion Cassius wrote a biography of Arrian ; but this work is not extant. Flavius Arrianus was born near the end of the first century of the Christian era, at Nicomedia, the capital of Bithynia. He became a pupil of the famous Stoic philosopher Bpictetus, and afterwards went to Athens, where he received the surname of the " younger Xenophon/' from the fact that he occupied the same relation to Bpictetus as Xenophbn did to Socrates.^ Not only was he called Xenophon by others, but he calls himself so in Gynegetieus (v. 6) ; and in Periplus (xii. 5 ; xxv. 1), he distinguishes Xeno- phon by the addition the elder. Lucian {Alexander, 56) calls Arrian simply Xenophon. During the stay of the emperor Hadrian at Athens, a.d. 126, Arrian gained his friendship. He accompanied his patron to Rome, where he received the Roman citizenship. In consequence of this, he assumed the name of Flavins.^ In the same way the Jewish historian, Josephus, had been allowed by Vespasian and Titus to bear the imperial name Flavius.^ Photius says, that Arrian had a distinguished career in Rome, being entrusted with various political offices, and at last reaching the supreme dignity of consul under ^ Cf. Arrian {^Gynegetieus, i. 4). ^ See Dio Cassius, Ixix. 15. 3 Cf. Josephus {Vita ipsius, 76). 7 B 2 The Anabasis of Alexander. Antoninus Pius.^ Previous to this he was appointed (a.d. 132) by Hadrian, Governor of Cappadocia, which province was soon after invaded by the Alani, or Mas- sagetae, whom he defeated and expelled.^ When Marcus AureUus came to the throne, Arrian withdrew into private life and returned to his native city, Nicomedia. Here, according to Photius, he was appointed priest to Demeter and Persephone. He died in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The earlier literary efforts of Arrian were philosophical. After the expulsion of the philosophers from Rome, by Domitian, Epictetus delivered his lectures at Nicopolis, in Epirus, where it is probable that Arrian was his pupil. I. These lectures were published by Arrian, under the title of Discourses of Epictetus, in eight books, the first four only of which have come down to us. He tells us himself in the introduction to this work, that he strove as far as possible to preserve the very words of his teacher as mementoes of his method of reasoning and diction. Gellius (xix. 1) speaks of a fifth book of these Discourses. II. He also compiled The Enchiridion of Epictetus, an abstract of the philosophy of Epictetus, which is still extant. This manual of the Stoic moral philosophy was very popular, both among Pagans and Christians, for many centuries. III. Another work by Arrian, in twelve books, distinct from the above, is mentioned by Photius under the title of "'OfjLiXiat ^EirtKTijTov," or Friendly Conversations with Epictetus. Of this only a few fragments survive. IV. Another lost work of Arrian on the life and death of Epictetus is mentioned by Simplicius in the beginning of his Commentary on the Enchiridion. V. Besides editing these philosophical works, Arrian ' Cf. Lucian (Alexander, 2). ' See Dio Cassius, Ixix. 15. I Life and Writings of Arrian. 3 wrote many original books. By far the most important of these is the Anabasis of Alexander, or the History of Alexander the Great's Campaigns. This is one of the most authentic and accurate of historical works. Though inspired with admiration for his hero, the author evinces impartiality and freedom from hero-worship. He exhibits great literary acuteness in the choice of his authorities and in sifting evidence. The two chief sources from which he drew his narrative were the histories written by Ptolemyj son of LaguSj and Arjs- tobulus, son of Aristobulus, both of whom were officers in Alexander's army. Other authorities quoted by Arrian himself were : — Eratosthenes, Megasthenes, Nearchus, Aristus, and Asolepiades. He also made use of Alexander's letters, which he mentions five times ; ^ only once, however, quoting the exact words of the writer. The last authority which he mentions, is the/ Royal Diary kept by Eumenes, of Cardia, the private secretary of Philip as well as of Alexander, and by the historian Diodotus, of Erythrae. It is used by Arrian only dnce,^ as it is by Plutarch.* VI. The work named Indica, is a description of India, and was usually united in manuscripts with the Ana- "basis, as an eighth book. Though it may be looked upon as a supplement to the Anabasis, Arrian often refers in the one work to the other.* From this we may infer that the author wished the Indica to be considered a distinct book from the Anabasis; and from the remark in Anab. v. 1, it is clear that it was composed after the Anabasis. This book is written in the Ionic dialect, like the History of Herodotus and the Indica of Ctesias. The latter untrustworthy book Arrian wished to supplant ' See Anabasis, i. 10, 4 ; ii. 14, 4 ; ii. 25, 3 ; vi. 1,4; vii. 23, 7. " Anab., vii. 25. ' Life of Alexander, chap. 76. * See Anab. v. 5, 1 ; 6, 8; vi. 28, 6 ; Indica, 19, 21, 23, 82, -10 ec. 4 The Anabasis of Alexander. by his own narrative, principally based on the works of Megasthenes and Nearchus. VII. Photius mentions among Arrian's historical- works : — The Events after Alexander, in ten books, which gives the history of Alexander's successors. Photius (cod. 92) hits preserved many extracts from this work. VIII. Biffuynica in eight books, a work often quoted by Eustathius in his commentaries to the Iliad and to Dionysius Periegetes. In regard to the contents of this book, Photius (cod. 93) says: — " The - Bithynica commences from the mythical events of history and comes down as far as the death of the last Nicomedes, who at his death bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans, who had never been ruled by a king after the expulsion of Tarquin." IX. Parthica, in seventeen books. See Photius ,(cod. 58). X. History of the Alani. See Photius (cod. 93). Only fragments of this and the Parthica remain. ^I. Besides the large works, we learn from Photius (cod. ©3) that Arrian wrote th.e biographies of the Corinthian Timoleon and of the Syracusan Dion. Lucian (Alex. 2), also states that he wrote the life of Tilliborus, the notorious robber of Asia Minor. XII. A valuable geographical work by Arrian has come down to us, called " IlepiirXov^ ttovtov Ev^elvov," a description of a voyage round the coasts of the Buxine. This naval expedition was executed by him as Governor of Cappadocia. The Alani, or, Albani of the East, a tribe related to the Massagetae, were threatening to invade his province, and he made this voyage with a view of fortifying the most important strategic points; on the coast. From section 26 of the Periplus we find that this voyage must have taken place about the year 131 or 132 A.D. ; for the death of King Cotys II., noticed^ Life and Writings of Arrian. 5 ia that passage as just dead, is proved by Bockh's investigations to have occurred in 1 31 a.d. Two other geographical works, The Periplus of the Bed Sea and The Periplus of the Euxine, formerly ascribed to Arrian, are proved to belong to a later date. XIII. A work on Tactics, composed 137 a.d. In many parts this book agrees nearly verbally with the larger work of Aelian on the same subject ; but; Leo Tactions (vii. 85) expressly mentions the two works as distinct, XIV. An Array of Battle against the Alani, is a fragment discovered in the seventeenth century in the Description of his Battles with the Alani, who invaded his province, probably 187 a.d., as Arrian had previously feared.^ XV. A small work by Arrian on the Chase, forms a supplement to Xenophon's book on the same subject. It is entitled Gynegeticus of Arrian or the second Xenophon the Athenian. The best editions of the Anabasis are the following : — The editio princeps by Trincavelli, Venice, 1535 ; Gerbel, Strassburg, 15b9; Henri Estienne, 1575; N. Blancardus, Amsterdam, 1668; J. Gronovius, Leyden, 1704; G. Eaphelius, Amsterdam, 1757; A. C. Borkeck, Lemgovia, 1792; P. Schmieder, Leipzig, 1798; Tauchnitz edition, Leipzig, 1818; J. O. Ellendt, Konigsberg, 1832; C. W. Kriigef, Berlin, 1835; F, Diibner, Paris, 1846; K. Abicht, Leipzig, 1871. ' See Photius (codex 58) ; Dio Cassias, liix. IS. AREIAN'S PREFACE. I. HAVE admitted into my narrative as strictly authentic all the statements relating to Alexander and Philip wbich Ptolemy, son of Lagus,^ and Aristobulus, son of Aristo- bulus,^ agree in making; and from those statements ' which differ I have selected that which appears to me ' Ptolemaeus, surnamed Soter, the Preserver, but more commonly known as the Son of Lagus, a Macedonian of low birth. Ptolemy's mother, Aisinoe, had been a concubine of Philip of Maeedon, for which reason it was generally believed that Ptolemy was the ofispring of that king. Ptolemy was one of the earliest friends of Alexander before his accession to, the throne, and accompanied him throughout his campaigns, being one of his most skilful generals and most intimate friends. On the division of the empire after Alexander's death, Ptolemy obtained the kingdom of Egypt, which he transmitted to his descendants. After a distinguished reign of thirty-eight years, he abdicated the throne to his youngest son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. He survived this event two years, and died B.C. 283. He was a liberal patron of literature and the arts, and wrote a history of the wars of Alexander, which is one of the chief authorities on which Arrian composed his narrative. For his beneficence, see Aelian (Varia Ilistoria, xiii. 12), Not only Arrian, but Plutarch and Strabo, de- rived much information from Ptolemy's work, which is highly com- mended by Athenaeus. * Aristobulus of Potidaea, a town in Macedonia, which was after- wards called Cassandrea, served under Alexander, and wrote a history of his wars, wbich, like that of Ptolemy, was sometimes more pane- gyrical than the facts warranted. Neither of these histories has sur- vived, but they served Arrian as the groundwork for the composition of his own narrative. Lucian in his treatise, Quomodo historia sit conscribenda, ch. 12, accuses Aristobulus of inventing marvellous tales of Alexander's valour for the sake of flattery. Plutarch based bis Life of Alexander chiefly on the work of this writer. We learn from Lucian [Macrobioi, c. 22), that Aristobulus wrote his history at the advanced age of eighty- four. He was employed by Alexander to superintend the restoration of Cyrus's tomb {Arrian, vi. 30). 6 Arrian's Preface. 7 the more credible and at the same time the more deserving of^ record. Different authors have given different accounts of Alexander's life; and there is no one about whom more have written, or more at variance with each other. But in my opinion the narratives of Ptolemy and Aristobulus are more worthy of credit than the rest; Aristobulus, because he served under king Alexander in his expedition, and Ptolemy, not only because he accompanied Alexander in his expedition, but also because he was himself a king afterwards, and falsification of facts would have been more disgraceful to him than to any other man. Moreover, they are both more worthy of credit, because they compiled their histories after Alexander's death,, when neither com- pulsion was used nor reward offered them to write anything different from what really occurred. Some statements made by other writers I have incorporated in my narrative, because they seemed to me worthy of mention and not altogether improbable ; but I have given them merely as reports of Alexander's proceedings. And if any man wonders why, after so many other men have written of Alexander, the compilation of this history came into my mind, after perusing^ the nar- ratives of all the rest, let him read this of mine, and then wonder (if he can). ■ dva\4yofj.at in the sense of reading through = avayiyvioirKuv , is found only in the later writers, Arrian, Plutarch, Dion, CalUmachus, etc. THE ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. Death op Philip and Accession of Alexandbe. — His Wars with the Theacians. It is said that PMUp died ^ when Pythodemus was archon at Athens,' and that his son Alexander,* being then ' B.C. 336. He was murdered by a young noble named Pausanias, who stabbed him at the festival which he was holding to celebrate the marriage of his daughter with Alexander, king of Epirus. It was Buspeoted that both Olympias and her son Alexander were implicated in the plot. At the time of his assassination Philip was just about to start on an expedition against Persia, which his son afterwards so successfully carried out. See Plutarch {Alex., 10) ; Diod., xix. 93, 94 ; Aristotle {Polit., v. 8, 10). ^ It was the custom of the Athenians to name the years from the president of the coUege of nine archons at Athens, who were elected annually. The Attic writers adopted this method of determining dates. See Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities. 3 Alexander the Great was the son of Philip II. and Olympias, and was born at Pella B.C. 856. In his youth he was placed under the tuition of Aristotle, who acquired very great mfluence over his mind and character, and retained it until his pupil was spoiled by his un- paralleled successes. See AeUan (Varia Historia, xii. 54). Such was his ability, that at the age of 16 he was entrusted with the govern- ment of Macedonia by his father, when he marched against Byzan- tium. At the age of 18 by his skill and courage he greatly assiated Philip in gaining the battle of Chaeronea. When Philip was mur- dered, Alexander ascended the throne, and after putting down re- bellion at home, he advanced into Greece to secure the power which his father had acquired. See Diod., xvi. 85 ; Arrian, vii. 9. Alexander's Wars with the Thracians. 9 about twenty years of age, marched into Peloponnesus ^ as soon as he had secured the regal power. There he assembled all the Greeks who were within the limits of Peloponnesus/ and asked from them the supreme command of the expedition against the Persians, an , office which they had already conferred upon Philip. He received the honour which he asked from all except the Lacedaemonians/ who replied that it was an hereditary custom of theirs, not to follow others but to lead them. The Athenians also attempted to bring about some political change ; but they were so alarmed at the very approach of Alexander, that they conceded to him even more ample public honours than those which had been bestowed upon Philip.* He then returned into Mace- donia and busied himself in preparing for the expedition into Asia. However, at the approach of spring (b.c. 335), he marched towards Thrace, into the lands of the IViballians and lUyrians,^ because he ascertained that these nations were meditating a change of policy; and at the same time, as they were lying ton his frontier, he thought it inexpedient, when he was about to start on a campaign so far away from bis own land, to leave them behind him ' See Justin, xi. 2. ' " Arrian speaks as if this request had been addressed only to the Greeks within Peloponnesus ; moreover he mentions no assembly at Corinth, which is noticed, though with some confusion, by Diodorus, Justin, and Plutarch. Cities out of Peloponnesus, as well as within it, must have been included ; unless we suppose that the resolution of the Amphictyonio assembly, which had been previously passed, was held to comprehend all the extra-Peloponnesian cities, which seems not probable." — Grote. * Justin (ix. 5) says : " Soli Lacedaemonii et legem et regem con- tempserunt." The king here referred to was Philip. ■' See Justin, xi. 3 ; Aeschines, Contra Gtesiphontem, p. 564. » The Triballians were a tribe inhabiting the part of Servia bor- dering on iBulgaria. The lUyrians inhabited the eastern coast of tbe Adriatic Sea, the districts now called North Albania, Bosnia, Dalmatia and Croatia. 10 The Anabasis of Alexander. without being entirely subjugated. Setting out then from Amphipolis, he invaded the land of the people who were called independent Thracians,i keeping the city of Philippi and mount Orbelus on the left. Crossing the river Nessus,^ they say he arrived at mount Haemus ^ on the tenth day. Here, along the defiles up the ascent to the mountain, he was met by .many of the traders equipped with arms, as well as by the in- dependent ThracianSj who had made preparations to check the further advance of his expedition by seizing the summit of the Haemus, along which was the route for the passage of his army. They had collected their waggons, and placed them in front of them, not only using them as a rampart from which they might defend themselves, in case they should be forced back, but also intending to let them loose upon the phalanx of the Macedonians, where the mountain was most precipitous, if they tried to ascend. They had come to the conclusion* that the denser the phalanx was with which the waggons rushing down came into collision, the more easily would they scatter it by the violence of their fall upon it. But Alexander formed a plan by which he might cross the mountain with the least danger possible ; and since he was resolved to run all risks, knowing that there were no means of passing elsewhere, he ordered the heavy- armed soldiers, as soon as the waggons began to rush down the declivity, to open their ranks, and directed that those whom the road was sufficiently wide to permit 1 We learn from TImcydides, ii. 96, that these people were called Dii. ^ The Nessus, or Nestus, is now called Mesto by the Greeks, and Karasu by the Turks. 8 Now known as the Balkan. The defiles mentioned by Arrian are probably what was afterwards called Porta Trajani. Cf. Vergil (Georg., ii. 488) ; Horace {Carm., i. 12, 6). < ireirolTji'To :— Arrian often forms the pluperfect tense without the augment. Siaa-KeSdirovai, : — The Attic future of this verb is dtacrKeSw, Cf. Aristoph. {Birds, 1053). . AIt"xander's Wars with the Thracians. 11 to do so should stand apart, so that the waggons piight roll through the ga.p; but that those who were hemmed m on all sides should either stoop down together or even fall flat on the ground, and lock their shields compactly together, so that the waggons rushing down upon them, and in all probability by their very impetus leaping over them, might pass on without injuring them. And it turned out just as Alexander had conjectured and exhorted. For some of the men made gaps in the phalanx, and others locked their shields together. The waggons rolled over the shields without doing much injury, not a single man being killed under them. Then the Macedonians regained their courage, inasmuch as the waggons, which they had excessively dreaded, had inflicted no damage upon them. "With a loud cry they assaulted the Thracians. Alexander ordered his archers to march from the right wing in front of the rest of the phalanx, because there the passage was easier^ and to shoot at the Thracians where they advanced. He him- self took his own guard, the shield-bearing infantry and the Agrianians,^ and led them to the left. Then the archers shot at the Thracians who sallied forward, and repulsed them; and the phalanx, coming to close fighting, easily drove away from their position men who were light-armed and badly equipped barbarians. The con- sequence was, they no longer waited to receive Alexander marching against them from the left, but casting away their arms they fled down the mountain as each man best could. About 1,500 of them were killed ; but only a few were taken prisoners on account of their swiftness of foot and acquaintance with the country. However, all the women who were accompanying them were captured, as were also their children and all their booty. ' The Agrianes were a tribe of Eastern Paeonia who lived near the Tiiballians. They served in the Macedonian army chiefly as cavalry and light infantry. 12 The Anabasis of Alexander. CHA.PTER II. Battle with the Tktballians. Alexandee sent the booty away southward to the cities on the seashore,! entrusting to Lysanias and Philotas ^ the duty of setting it up for sale. But he himself crossed the summit, and advancing through the Haemus into the land of the Triballians, he arrived at the river Lyginus.^ This river is distant from the Ister * three days' march to one intending to go to the Haemus. Syrmus, king of the Triballians, hearing of Alexander's expedition long before, had sent the women and children of the nation on in advance to the Ister, ordering them to pass over into one of the islands in that i-iver, the name of which was Peuce.^ To this island also the Thraoians, whose terri- tories were conterminous with those of the Triballians, had fled together for refuge at^the approach of Alexander. Syrmus himself likewise, accompanied by his train, had fled for refuge to the same place. But the main body of the Triballians fled back to the river, from which Alexander had started the day before. When he heard of their starting, he wheeled round again, and, marphing against them, surprised them just ' Perhaps Neapolis and Eion, which were the harbours of Philippi and Amphipolis. 2 This officer was commander of the royal body-gnard. His father was Farmenio, the most experienced of Alexander's generals. 3 Thuoydides says (Bk. ii. 96) : " On the side of the Triballians, who were also independent, the border tribes were the Treriaus and the Tilatsans, who live to the north of mount Scombrus, and stretch to- wards the west as far as the river Osoius. This river flows from the same mountains as the Nestus and the Hebrus, an uninhabited and extensive range, joining on to Ehodope." The Osoius is now called Isker. It is uncertain which river is the Lyginus ; but perhaps it was another name for the Osoius. * Also named Danube. Cf. Hesiod {Theog., 339) ; Ovid (Met., ii. 249) ; Pindar (Olym. iii. 2i). ' It is uncertain in what part 6f the Danube this island was. It cannot be the Pence of Strabo (vii, 8). Cf. Apollonius Ehodim (iv. 809) ; Martialis (vii. 84) ; Valerius Flaccus (viii. 217). Battle with the Triballians. 13 as they were encamping. And those who were surprised drew themselves up in battle array in a woody glen along the bank of the river. Alexander drew out his phalanx into a deep column, and led it on in person. He also ordered the archers and slingers to run forward and discharge arrow's and stones at the barbarians, hoping to provoke them by this to come out of the woody glen into the ground unencumbered with trees. When they were within reach of the missiles, and were struck by them, they rushed out against the archers, who were undefended by shields, with the purpose of fighting them hand-to- hand. But when Alexander had drawn them thus out of the woody glen, he ordered Philotas to take the cavalry which came from upper Macedonia, and to charge their right wing, where they had advanced furthest in their sally. He also commanded Heraclides and Sopolis^ to lead on the cavalry which came from Bottiaea ^ and Amphipplis against the left wing; while he himself extended the phalanx of infantry and the rest of the horse in front of the phalanx and led them against the enemy^s centre. And indeed as long as there was only skirmishing on both sides, the Triballians did not get the worst of it ; but as soon as the phalanx in dense array attacked them with vigour, and the cavalry fell upon them in various quarters, no longer merely striking them with the javelin, bat pushing them with their very horses, then at length they turned and fled through the. woody glen to the river. Three thousand were slain in the flight ; few of them were taken prisoners, both because there was a dense wood in front of the river, and the approach of night deprived the Macedonians of certainty in their pur- suit. Ptolemy says, that of the Macedonians themselves eleven horsemen and about forty foot soldiers were killed. ' These two generals are mentioned (iii. 11 infra) as being present at the battle of Arbela. Sopolis is also mentioned (iv. 13 and 18 infra). ^ Bottiaea was a district of Macedonia on the right bank of the Azius. 14 The Anabasis of Alexander. CHA.PTBR III. Alexandek at the Danube and in the Codntey of the Getae, On the third day after the battle, Alexander reached the river Ister, which is the largest of all the rivers ia Europe, traverses a very great tract of country, and separates very warlike nations. Most of these belong to the Celtic race,^ in whose territory the sources of the river take their rise. Of these nations the remotest are the Quadi^ and Marcomanni*; then the lazygianns,* a branch of the Sauromatians ^ ; then the Getae,^ who hold ' The classical writers have three names to denote this race : — Celts, Galatians, and Gauls. These names were originally, given to all the people of the North and West of Europe ; and it was not till Caesar's time that the Bomans made any distinction between Celts and Germans. The name of Celts was then confined to the people north of the Pyrenees and west of the Bhine. Cf . Ammianus (xv. 9) ; Herodotus (iv. 49) ; Livy (v. 33, 84) ; Polybius (iii. 39). " Arrian is here speaking, not of Alexander's time, but of his own, the second century of the Christian era. The Quadi were a race dwelling in the south-east of Germany. They are generally mentioned with the Marcomanni, and were formidable enemies of the Bomans, especially in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, when Arrian wrote. This nation dis- appears from history about the end of the fourth century. 3 The Marcomanni, like the Quadi, were a powerful branch of the Suevic race, originally dwelling in the south-wesb of Germany ; but in the reign of Tiberius they dispossessed the Boii of the country now called Bohemia. In conjunction with the Quadi, they were very formidable to the Bomans until Commodus purchased peace from them. The name denotes "border men." Cf. Caesar {Bel. Gal., i. 51). •* The lazygians were a tribe of Sarmatians, who migrated from the coast of the Black Sea, between the Dnieper and the Sea of Azov, in the reign of Claudius, and settled in Dacia, near the Quadi, with whom they formed a close alliance. They were conquered by the Goths in the fifth century. Cf. Ovid {Tristia, ii. 191). ' Called also Sarmatians. Herodotus (iv. 21) says that these people lived east of the Don, and were allied to the Scythians. Subsequent writers understood by Sarmatia the east part of Poland, the south of Bussia. and the country southward as far as the Danube. « These people were called Dacians by the Bomans. They were Thraoians, and are said by Herodotus and Thucydides to have lived Alexander at the Danube. 15 the doctrine of immortality ; then the main body of the Sauromatians ; and, lastly, the Scythians/ whose land stretches as far as the outlets of the river, where through five mouths it discharges its water into the Euxine Sea.^ Here Alexander found some ships of war which had come to him from Byzantium, through the Euxine Sea and up the riyer. Filling these with archers and heavy-armed troops, he sailed to the island to which the Triballians and Thracians had fled for refuge. He tried to force a landing; but the barbarians came to meet him at the brink of the river, where the ships were making the assault. But these were only few in number, and the army in them small. The shores of the island, also, were in most places too steep and precipitous for landing, and the current of the river alongside it, being, as it were, shut up into a narrow channel by the nearness of the banks, was rapid and exceedingly difficult to stem. Alexander therefore led back his ships, and determined to cross the Ister and march against the Getae, who dwelt on the othe?r side of that river ; for he observed that many of them had collected on the bank of the river for the purpose of barring his way, if he should cross. There were of them about 4,000 cavalry and more than 10,000 south o£ the Danube, near its mouths. They subsequently migrated north of this river, and were driven further west by the Sarmatians. They were very formidable to the Eomans in the reigns of Augustus and Domitian. Dacia was conquered by Trajan ; but ultimately aban- doned by Aurelian, who made the Danube the boundary of the Roman Empire. About the Getae holding the doctrine of immortality, see Herodotus (iv. 94). Cf. Horace (Garm., iii. 6, 13 ; Sat., ii. 6, 53). ' The Scythians are said by Herodotus to have inhabited the south of Eussia. His supposition that they came from Asia is doubtless correct. He gives ample information about this race in the fourth book of his History. ' Herodotus (iv. 47) says the Danube had five mouths; but Strabo (vii. 3) says there were seven. At the present time it has only three mouths. The Greeks called the Black Sea irovros cH^eivos, the sea kind to strangers. Cf. Ovid (Tristia, iv. 4, 55): — "Frigida me cohibent Euxini litora Ponti, Diotus ab antiquis Axenus ille fuit." ] 6 The Anabasis of Alexander. infantry. At the same time a strong desire seized him to advance beyond the Ister. He therefore went on board the fleet himself. He also filled with hay the hides which served them as tent-covermgs, and collected from the country around all the boats made from single trunks of trees. Of these there was a great abundance, because the people who dwell near the Ister use them for fishing in the river, sometimes also for journeying to each other for traffic up the river ; and most of them carry on piracy with' them. Having collected as many of these as he could, upon them he conveyed across as many of his soldiers as was possible in such a fashion. Those who crossed with Alexander amounted in nilmber to 1,500 cavalry and 4,000 infantry. CHAPTER IV. Alexander Desteots the City op the Getae. — The ' Ambassadors op the Celts. Thet crossed over by night to a spot where the corn stood high ; and in this way they reached the bank more secretly. At the approach of dawn Alexander led his men through the field of standing corn, ordering the • infantry to lean upon the corn with their pikes ^ held transversely, and thus to advance into the untilled ground. As long as the phalanx was advancing through the stand- ing corn, the cavalry followed ; but when they marched out of the tilled land, Alexander himself led the horse round to the right wing, and commanded Nicanor ^ to lead the phalanx in a square. The Getae did not even sustain the first charge of the cavalry ; for Alexander's audacity ' The saiissa, or more correctly sarisa, was a spear peculiar to the Macedonians. It was from fourteen to sixteen feet long. See Grote's Greece, vol. xi. ch. 92, Appendix. ^ Sou of Parmenio and brother of Fhilotas. The Ambassadors of the Celts. 17 seemed incredible to thenij in having tlius easily crossed the Isterj the largest of rivers, in a single night, withoat throwing a bridge over the stream. Terrible to them also was the closely-looked order of the phalanx, and violent the charge of the cavalry. At first they fled for refuge into their city, which was distant about a parasang ■"■ ' from the Ister ; but when they saw that Alexander was leading his phalanx carefully along the river, to prevent his infantry being anywhere surrounded by the Getae lying in ambush ; whereas he was leading his cavalry straight on, they again abandoned the city, because it was badly fortified. They carried off as many of their women and children as their horses could carry, and betook themselves into the steppes, in a direction which led as far as possible from the river. Alexander took the city and all the booty which the Getae left behind. This he gave to Meleager ^ and Philip * to carry off. After razing the city to the ground, he offered sacrifice upon the bank of the river, to Zeus the preserver, to Heracles,* and to Ister himself, because he had allowed him to cross J and while it was still day he brought all his men back safe to the camp. There ambassadors came to him from Syrmus, king of the Triballians, and from the other independent nations dwelling near the Ister. Some even arrived from the ' The parasang was a Persian measure, containing thirty stades, nearly three and three-quarter English imles. It is still used by the Persians, who call it ferieng. See Herodotus (vi. 42) and Grote's History of / Greece, vol. viii. p. 316. 2 Son of Neoptolemus. After Alexander's death Meleager resisted the claim of Perdiecas to the regency, and was associated with him in the office. He was, however, soon afterwards put to death by the order of his rival. ' Son of Machatas, was an eminent general, slain in India. See vi. 27 infra. * The Macedonian kings believed they were sprung from Hercules. See Curtius, iv. 7. C 18 The Anabasis of Alexander. Celts who dwelt near the Ionian gulf.^ These people are of great statnre, and of a haughty disposition. All the envoys said that they had come to seek Alexander's friendship. To all of them he gave pledges of amity, and received pledges from them in return. He then asked the Celts what thing in the world caused them special alarm, .expecting that his own great fame had reached the Celts and had penetrated still further, and that they would say that they feared him most of all things. But the answer of the Celts turned out quite contrary to his expectation ; for, as they dwelt so far away from Alexan- der, inhabiting districts difBcult of access, and as they saw he was about to set out in another direction, they said they were afraid that the sky would some time or other fall down upon them. These men also he sent back, calling them friends, and ranking them as allies, , making the remark that the Celts were braggarts.^ CHAPTER V. Revolt op Clitus and Glaucias. He then advanced into the land of the Agrianians and Paeonians,* where messengers reached him, who reported that Clitus, son of Bardylis,* had revolted, and that ' The Adriatic Sea. ' Cf. Aelian [Varia Eistoria, xii. 23) ; Strdbo, Tii. p. 293 ; Aristotle (A'icom. Ethics, iii. 7 ; Eudem. Eth., iii. 1 ) : — olov ol KcXroi irpis toi Ki/iara ifTrXa iiravTuai Xo/36iTes ; Avimiamis, xv. 12. * The Paeonians were a powerful Thracian people, who in early times spread oyer a great part of Thrace and Macedonia. In historical times they inhabited the country on the northern border of Macedonia. They were long troublesome to Macedonia, but were subdued by Philip the father of Alexander, who, however, allowed them to retain their own chiefs. The Agrianians were the chief tribe of Paeonians, from whom Philip and Alexander formed a valuable body of light-armed troops. * Bardylis was a chieftain of Illyria who carried on frequent wars with Revolt of Clitus and Olaucias. 19 Glauoias/ king of the Taulantians,^ had gone over to him. They also reported that the Autariatians ^ intended to attack him on his way. He accordingly resolved to commence his march without delay. But Langarus, king of the Agrianians, who, in the lifetime of Philip, had been an open and avowed friend of Alexander, and had gone on an embassy to him in his private capacity, at that time also came to him with the finest and best armed of the- shield-bearing troops, which he kept as a body-guard. When this man heard that Alexander was inquiring who the Autariatians were, and what was the number of their men, he said that he need take no account of them, since they were the least warlike of the tribes of that district ; and that he would himself make an inroad into their land, so that they might have too much occupation about their own affairs to attack others. Accordingly, at Alexander's order, he made an attack upon tl^m ; and not only did he attack them, but he swept their land clean of captives and booty. Thus the Autariatians were indeed occupied with their own affairs. Langarus was rewarded by Alexander with the greatest honours, and received from him the giEts which were considered most valuable in the eyes of the king of the Macedonians. Alexander also promised to give him his sister Oyna * in the Macedonians, but was at last defeated and slain by Philip, B.o. 359. Clitus had been subdued by Philip in 349 B.C. ' This Glaueias subsequently afforded asylum to the celebrated Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, when an infant of two years of age. He took the child into his own family and brought him up with his own children. He not only refused to surrender Pyrrhus to Cassander, but marched into Epirus and placed the hoy, when twelve years of age, upon the throne, leaving him imder the care of guardians, B.C. 807. '' The Taulantians were a people of lUyria in the neighbourhood of Epidamnus, now called Durazzo. 3 These were an Illyrian people in the Dalmatian mountains. * Cyna was the daughter of Philip, by Audata, an Illyrian woman. See AthencBUS, p. 55? D. She was given in marriage to her cousin Amyntas, who had a preferable claim to the Macedonian throne as the 20 The Anabasis of Alexander. marriage when he arrived at Pella.^ But Langarus fell ill and died on his return home. After this, Alexander marched along the river Erigon/ and proceeded to the city of Pelium ; ^ for Clitus had seized this city, as it was the strongest in the country. When Alexander arrived at this place, and had encamped near the river Eordaicus,* he resolved to make an assault upon the wall the next day. But Olitus held the moun- tains which encircled the city, and commanded it from their height; moreover, they were covered with dense thickets. His intention was to fall upon the Macedonians from all sides, if they assaulted the city. But Glauoias, king of the Taulantians, had not yet joined him. Alexander, however, led his forces towards the city ; and the enemy, after sacrificing three boys, an equal number of girls, and three black rams, sallied forth for the purpose of receiving the Macedonians in a hand-to-hand conflict. But as soon as they came to close quarters, they left the positions which they had occupied, strong as they were,^ in such haste that even their sacrificial victims were captured still lying on the ground. On this day he shut them up in the city, and encamp- ing near the wall, he resolved to intercept them by a circumvallation ; but on the next day Glaucias, king of son of Philip's elder brother, Ferdiccas. This Amyntas was put to death by Alexander soon after his accession. Cyna was put to death by Alcetas, at the order of Ferdiccas, the regent after Alexander's death. See Diodorus, xix. 52. 1 The capital of Macedonia. On its site stands the modern village of Neokhori, or Tenikiuy. Philip and Alexander were born here. * A tributary of the Axius, called Agrianus by Herodotus. It is now called Tsoherna. ' This city was situated south of lake Lychnitis, on the west side of the chain of Scardns and Findus. The locality is described in Livy, xxxi. 39, 40. * Now called Devol. ' The use of koItol with a participle instead of the Attic xalirep is frequent in Arrian and the later writers. Revolt of Clitus and Glaudas. 21 the Taulantians, arrived with a great force. Theiij indeed, Alexander gave up the hope of capturing the city with his present force, since many warHke troops had fled for refuge into it, and Glaucias with his large army would be likely to follow him up closely if he assailed the wall. But he sent Philotas on a foraging expedition, with the beasts of burden from the camp and a sufficient body of cavalry to serve as a guard. When Glaucias heard of the expedition of Philotas he marched out to meet him, and seized the mountains which surrounded the plain, from which Philotas intended to procure forage. As soon as Alexander was informed that his cavalry and beasts of burden would be in danger if night overtook them, taking the shield-bearing troops,^ the archers, the Agrianians, and about four hundred cavalry, he went with all speed to their aid. The rest of the army he left behind near the city, to prevent the citizens from hasten- ing forth to form a junction with Glaucias (as they would have done), if all the Macedonian army had withdrawn. Directly Glaucias perceived that Alexander was advanc- ing, he evacuated the mountains, and Philotas and his forces returned to the camp in safety. But Clitus and Glaucias still imagined that they had caught Alexander in a disadvantageous position ; for they were occupying the mountains, which commanded the plain by their height, with a large body of cavalry, javelin-throwers, and slingers, besides a considerable number of heavy - armed infantry. Moreover, the men who had been • The Hypaspists — shield-bearers, or guards — were a body of infantry organized by Philip, originally few in number, and employed as personal defenders of the king, but afterwards enlarged into several distinct brigades. They were hoplites intended for close combat, but more lightly armed and more fit for rapid evolutions than the phalanx. Like the Greeks, they fought with the one-handed pike and shield. They occupied an intermediate position between the heavy infantry of the phalanx, and the peltasts and other light troops. See Grote's Greece, vol. xi. ch. 92. 22 The Anabasis of Alexander. beleaguered in the city were expected to pursue tte Mace- donians closely if they made a retreat. The ground also through which Alexander had to march was evidently narrow and covered with woodj on one side it was hemmed in by a river, and on the other there was a very lofty and craggy mountaiuj so that there would not be room for the army to pass, even if only four shield- bearers marched abreast. CHAPTER VI. Defeat or Olitus and Glaucias. Then Alexander drew up his army in such a way that the depth of the phalanx was 120 men ; and stationing 200 cavalry on each wing, he ordered them to preserve silence, in order to receive the word of command quickly. Accordingly he gave the signal to the heavy-armed infantry in the first place to hold their spears erect, and then to couch them at the concerted sign ; at one time to incline their spears to the right, closely locked together, and at another time towards the left. He then set the phalanx itself into quick motion forward, and marched it towards the wings, now to the right, and then to the left. After thus arranging and re-arranging his army many times very rapidly, he at last formed his phalanx into a sort of wedge, and led~it towards the left against the enemy,, who had long been in a state of amazement at seeing both the order and the rapidity of his evolutions. Consequently they did not sustain Alexander's attack, but quitted the first ridges of the mountain. Upon this, Alexander ordered the Mace- donians to raise the battle cry and make a clatter with their spears upon their shields;, and the Taulantians, being still more alarmed at the noise,, led their army back to the city with all speed. i A Defeat of CUtus and Qlaudas. 23 As Alexander saw only a few of the enemy still oc- cupying a ridge, along which lay his route, he ordered his body-guards and personal companions to take their shields, mount their horses, and ride to the hill; and whfen they reached it, if those who had occupied the position awaited them, he said that half of them were to leap from their horses, and to fight as foot- soldiers, being mingled with the cavalry. But when the enemy 'saw Alexander's advance, they quitted the hill and retreated to the mountains in both directions. Then Alexander, with his companions,^ seized the hill, and sent for the Agrianians and archers, who numbered 2,000. He also ordered the shield-bearing guards to cross the river, and after them the regiments of Macedonian infantry, with instructions that, as soon as they had succeeded in cross- ing, they should draw out in rank towards the left, so that the phalanx of men crossing might appear compact at once. He himself, in the vanguard, was all the time observing from the ridge the enemy's advance. They, seeing the force crossing the river, marched down the mountains to meet them, with the purpose of attack- ing Alexander's rear in its retreat. But, as they were just drawing near, Alexander rushed forth with his own division, and the phalanx raised the battle-cry, as if about to advance through the river. When the enemy saw all the Macedonians marching against them, they turned and fled. Upon this, Alexander led the Agrian- ians and archers at full speed towards the river, and suc- ceeded in being himself the first man to cross it. But 1 The heavy cavalry, wholly or chiefly composed of Macedonians by birth, was known by the honourable name of iralpoi, Conapanions, or Brothers in Arms. It was divided, as it seems, into 15 l\ai, which were named after the States or districts from which they came. Their strength varied from 150 to 250 men. A separate one, the 16th He, formed the so-called agema, or royal horse-guard, at the head of which Alexander himself generally charged. See Arrian, iii. 11, 13, 18. 24 The Anabasis of Alexander, when lie saw the enemy pressing upon the men in the rear, he stationed his engines of war upon the bank, and ordered the engineers to shoot from them as far forward as possilile all sorts of projectiles which are usually shot from military engines.^ He directed the archers, who had also entered the water, to shoot their arrows from the middle of the river. But Glaucias durst not advance within range of the missiles ; so that the Macedonians passed over in such safety, that not one of them lost his life 'in the retreat. Three days after this, Alexander discovered that Clitus and Glaucias lay carelessly encamped ; that neither were ' their sentinels on guard in military order, nor had they protected themselves with a rampart or ditch, as if they imagined he had withdrawn through fear; and that they had extended their line to a disadvantageous length. He therefore crossed the river again secretly, at the approach of' night, leading with him the shield-bearing guards, the Agrianians, the archers, and the brigades of Perdiccas ^ and Coenus,' after having given orders for the 1 In addition to his other military improvements, Philip had organized an effective siege-train with "projectile and battering engines superior to anything of the kind existing before. This artillery was at once made use of by Alexander in this campaign against the Illyrians. 2 Perdiccas, son of Orontes, a Macedonian, was one of Alexander's most distinguished generals. The king is said on his death-bed to have taken the royal signet from his finger and to have given it to Perdiccas. After Alexander's death he was appointed regent ; but an alliance was formed against him by Antipater, Oraterus, and Ptolemy. He marched into Egypt against Ptolemy. Being defeated in his attempts to force the passage of the Nile, his own troops mutinied against him and slew him (B.C. 321). See Diodorus, xviii. 36. For his personal valour see AeUan (Varia Historia, xii. 39). ' Coenug, son of Polemocrates, was a son-in-law of Parmenio, and one of Alexander's best generals.' He violently accused his brother-in- law Philotas of treason, and personally superintended the torturing of that famous officer previous to his execution {Cwtius, vi. 36, 42). He was put forward by the army to dissuade Alexander from advancing beyond the Hyphasis {Arrian, v. 27). Soon after this he died and was Bevolt of Thebes. 25 rest of the army to follow. As soon as he saw a favour- able opportunity for the attack, without waiting for all to be present, he despatched the archers and Agrianians against the foe. These, being arranged in phalanx, fell unawares with the most furious charge upon their flank, where they were likely to come into conflict with their weakest point, and slew some of them still in their beds, others being easily caught in their flight. Accordingly, many were there captured and killed, as were many also in the disorderly and panic-stricken retreat which ensued. Not a few, moreover, were taken prisoners. Alexander kep" up the pursuit as far as the Taulantian mountains ; and as many of them as escaped, preserved their lives by throwing away their arms. Olitus first fled for refuge into the city, which, however, he set on fire, and with- drew to Glaucias, in the land of the Taulantians. CHAPTER VII. Revolt op Thebes {Septemher, B.C. 335). While these events were occurring, some of the exiles who had been banished from Thebes, coming to the city by night, and being brought in by some of the citizens, in order to efiect a change in the government, appre- hended and slew outside the Cadmea,^ Amyntas and 'Timolaus,* two of the men who held that fortress, having no suspicion that any hostile attempt was about to be made. Then entering the public assembly, they incited buried with all possible magnifioenoe near that river, B.C. 327 (Arrian, Ti. 2). 1 The Cadmea was the Acropolis of Thebes, an oval eminence of no great height, named after Cadmus, the leader of a Phoenician colony, who is said to have founded it. Since the battle of Chaeronea, this citadel had been held by a Macedonian garrison. 2 Amyntas was a Macedonian officer, and Timolaus a leading Theban of the Macedonian faction. 26 The Anabasis of Alexander. the Thebans to revolt from Alexander, holding out to them as pretexts the ancient and glorious words, liberty and freedom of speech, and urging them now at last to rid themselves of the heavy yoke of the Macedonians. By stoutly maintaining that Alexander had been killed in Illyria they gained more power in persuading the multitude;^ for this report was prevalent,^ and for many reasons it gained credit, both because he had been absent a long time, and because no news had arrived from him. Accordingly, as is usual in such cases, not knowing the facts, each man conjectured what was most pleasing to himself. When Alexander heard what was being done at Thebes, he thought it was a movement not at all to be slighted, inasmuch as he- had for a long time sus- pected the city of Athens and deemed the audacious action of the Thebans no trivial matter, if the Lacedae- monians, who had long been disaffected in their feelings to him, and the Aetolians and certain other States in the Peloponnese, who were not firm in their allegiance to him, should take part with the Thebans in their revo- lutionary efEort. He therefore led bis army through Eordaea and Elimiotis^ and along the peaks of Stymphaea and Paravaea,^ and on the seventh day arrived at Pelina* in Thessaly. Starting thence, he entered Boeotia on the sixth day ; so that the Thebans did not learn that he had passed south of Thermopylae, until he was at Onchestus^ with the whole of his army. Even then the authors of the revolt asserted that Antipater's army had arrived out of Macedonia^ stoutly affirming that ' Cf. Aelian {Varia Historia, xii. 57). ^ These were two provinces in the west of Macedonia. 3 Two divisions of Bpirus. * A town on the Feneus in Hestiaeotis. ' A town in Boeotia, on the lake Copais, distant 50 stades north-west of Thetes. B,evolt of Tliebes. 27 Alexander himself was dead, and being, very angry witli those who announced that it was Alexander himself who was advancing.^ For they said it must . be another Alexander, the son of Aeropus, who was coming.^ On the following day Alexander set out from Ouchestus, and advanced towards the city along the territory conse- crated to lolaus j^ where indeed he encamped, in order to give the Thebans further time to repent of their evil resolutions and to send an embassy to him. Bat so far were they from showing any sign of wishing to come to an accommodation, that their cavalry and a large body of light-armed infantry sallied forth from the city as far as the camp, and, skirmishing with the Macedonian outposts, slew a few of their men. Alexander here- upon sent forth a party of his light-armed infantry and archers to repel their sortie; and these men repelled them with ease, just as they were approaching the very camp. The next day he took the whole of his army and marched round towards the gate which led to Eleutherae and Attica. But not even then did he assault the wall itself, but encamped not far away from the Oadmea, in order that succour might be at hand to the Macedonians who were occupying that citadel. For the Thebans had blockaded the Oadmea with a double stockade and were guarding it, so. that no one from without might be able to give succour to those who were beleagured, and that the garrison might not be able, by making a sally, to do them any injury, when they were attacking the enemy outside. But Alexander remained encamped near the 1 It seems from Plutarch, that Alexander was, really wonndecl in the head by a stone, in a battle with the lUyrians. 2 This Alexander was also called Lynoestes, from being a native of Lyncestis, a district of Macedonia. He was an aooomplioe in Philip's murder, but was pardoned by his successor. He accompanied Alexander the Great into Asia, but was put to death in b.o. 330, for having carried on a treasonable correspondence with Darius. See Arrian, i. 25. ^ The friend and charioteer of Hercules. 28 The Anabasis ef Alexander. Cadmea, for lie still wiahed rather to come to friendly- terms with the Thebans than to come to a contest with them.i Then those of the Thebans who knew what was for the best interest of the commonwealth were eager to go out to Alexander and obtain pardon for the com- monalty of Thebes for their revolt ; but the exiles and those who had summoned them home kept on inciting the populace to war by every means in their power, since they despaired of obtaining for themselves any indul- gence from Alexander, especially as some of them were also Boeotarchs.2 However not even for this did Alex- ander assault the city. CHAPTER YIII. Fall ot Thbbks. But Ptolemy, son of Lagus, tells us that Perdiccas, who had been posted in the advanced guard of the camp with his own brigade, and was not far from the enemy's stockade, did not wait for the signal from Alexander to commence the battle ; but of his own accord was the first to assault the stockade, and, having made a breach in it, fell upon the advanced guard of the Thebans.^ 1 He sent to demand the surrender of the anti-Macedonian leaders, Phoenix and Prothytes, but offering any other Thebans who came out to him the terms agreed upon in the preceding year. See Plutarch {Life of Alexander, 11) ; and Diodorua, xvii. 9. 2 The Boeotarchs were the chief magistrates of the Boeotian confederacy, chosen annually by the different States. The number varied from ten to twelve. At the time of the battle of Delium, in the Peloponnesian war, they were eleven in number, two of them being Thebans. See Grote, History of Greece, vol. ii. p. 296. ' Arrian says that the attack of the Macedonians upon Thebes was made by Perdiccas, without orders from Alexander ; and that the capture was effected in a short time and with no labour on the part of the captors (ch. ix.). But Diodorus says that Alexander ordered and arranged the assault, that the Thebans made a brave and desperate resistance for a Fall of Thebes. 29 Amyntas/ son of Andromenes, followed Perdiocas, be- cause he had been stationed with him. This general also of his own accord led on his brigade when he saw that Perdiccas had advanced within the stockade. When Alexander saw this, he led on the rest of his army, fearing that unsupported they might be intercepted by the Thebans and be in danger of destruction. He gave instructions to the archers and Agrianians to rush within the stockade, but he still retained the guards and shield- bearing troops outside. Then indeed Perdiccas, after forcing his way within the second stockade, fell there wounded with a dart, and was carried back grievously injured to the camp, where he was with difficulty cured of his wound. However the men of Perdiccas, in com- pany with the archers sent by Alexander, fell upon the Thebans and shut them up in the hollow way leading to the temple of Heracles, and followed them in their retreat as far as the temple itself. The Thebans, having wheeled round, again advanced from that position with a shout, and put the Macedonians to flight. Eurybotas the Cretan, the captain of the archers, fell with about seventy of his men ; but the rest fled to the Macedonian guard and the royal shield-bearing troops. Now, when Alexander saw that his own men were in flight, and that the Thebans had broken their ranks in pursuit, he attacked them with his phalanx drawn up in proper order, and drove them back within the gates. The Thebans fled in such a panic that being driven into the long time, and that not only the Boeotian allies, but the Macedonians themselves committed great slaughter of the besieged (Diod. xvii. 11-14). It is probable that Ptolemy, who was Arrian's authority, wished to exonerate Alexander from the guilt of destroying Thebes. ' Amyntas was one of Alexander's leading offiaers. He and his brothers were accused of being accomplices in the plot of Philotas, but were acquitted. He was however soon afterwards killed in a skirmish {Arrian, ui. 27). *, . 30 The Ajiabasis of Alexander. city through the gates they had not time to shut them ; for the Macedonians, who were close behind the fugitives, rushed with them within the fortifications, inasmuch as the walla were destitute of defenders on account of the numerous pickets in front of them. When the Mace- donians had entered the Cadmea, some of them marched out of it, in company with those who held the fortress, into the other part of the city opposite the temple of Amphion,^ but others crossing along the walls, which were now in the possession of those who had rushed in together with the fugitives, advanced with a run into the market-place. Those of the Thebans who had been drawn up opposite the temple of Amphion stood their ground for a short timej but when the Macedonians under the command of Alexander were seen to be press- ing hard upon them in various directions, their cavalry rushed through the city and sallied forth into the plain, and their infantry fled for safety as each man found it possible. Then indeed the Thebans, no longer defend- ing themselves, were slain, not so much by the Mace- donians as by the Phocians, Plataeans and other Boeotians,^ who by indiscriminate slaughter vented their rage against them. Some were even attacked in the houses, having there turned to defend themselves from the enemy, and others were slain as they were suppli- cating the protection of the gods in the temples ; not even the women and children being spared.* ' The mythical founder of the -waUs of Thebes. See Pausanias (ix. 17). * The Thebans had incurred the enmity of the other Boeotians by treating them as subjects instead of alhes. They had destroyed the re- stored Plataea, and had been the chief enemies of the Phocians in the Sacred War, which ended in the subjugation of that people by Philip, See Smith's History of Greece, -p^p. 467, 473, 506. ' More than 500 Macedonians were killed, while 6,000 Thebans were slain, and 30,000 sold into slavery. See Aeliau {Varia Historia, xiii. 7) ; Diodoriia (xvii. 14) ; Pausanias (viii. 30) j Plutarch (Life of Alexander, 11). Destruction of Thebes. 31 CHAPTER IX. Destruction of Thebes. This was felt by the Greeks to be a general calamity for it struck the rest of the Greeks with no less con- sternation than it did those who had themselves taken part in the struggle, both on account of the magnitude of the captured city and the celerity of the action, the result of which was in the highest degree contrary to the expectation both of the sufferers and the perpetrators. For the disasters which befell the Athenians in relation to Sicily,^ though in regard to the number of those who perished they brought no less misfortune to the city, yet, because their army was destroyed far away from their own land, being composed for the most part rather of auxiliary troops than of native Athenians, and because their city itself was left to them intact, so that afterwards they held their own in war even for a long time, though fighting against the Lacedaemonians and their allies, as well as the Great Kingj these disasters, I say, neither produced in the persons who were themselves involved in the calamity an equal sensation of the misfortune, nor did they cause the other Greeks a similar consternation at the catastrophe. Again, the defeat sustained by the Athenians at Aegospotami^ was a naval one, and the city received no other humiliation than the demolition of the Long Walls, the surrender of most of her ships, and the loss of supremacy. However, they still retained their hereditary form of government, and not long after recovered their former power to such a degree as not only to build up the Long Walls but to recover the rule The sale of the captives realized 440 talents, or about £107,000 ; and Justin (xi. 4) says that large sums were offered from feelings of hostility towards Thebes on the part of the bidders. ' B.C. 415-413. See Grote's Greece, vol. vii. 2 B.C. 405. See Thucydidet (ii. 13) ; Xenophon {Bellenics, ii. 2). 32 The Anabasis of Alexander. of tlie sea^ and in their turn to preserve from extreme danger those very Lacedaemonians then so formidable to them,^who had come and almost obliterated their city. Moreover, the defeat of the Lacedaemonians at Leuotra and Mantinea filled them with consternation rather by the unexpectedness of the disaster than because of the number of those who perished.^ And the attack made by the Boeotians and Arcadians under Epaminondas upon the city of Sparta, even this terrified both the Lacedaemonians themselves and those who participated with them in the transactions at that time,^ rather by the novelty of the sight than by the reality of the danger. The capture of the city of the Plataeans was not a great calamity, by reason of the small number of those who were taken in it; most of the citizens having long before escaped to Athens.* Again, the capture of Melus and Scione simply related to insular States, and rather brought disgrace to those who perpetrated the outrages than produced great surprise among the Grecian com- munity as^ a whole. But the Thebans having effected their revolt suddenly and without any previous consideration, the capture of the city being brought about in so short a time and without difficulty on the part of the captors, the slaugh- ter, being great, as was natural, from its being made by men of the same race who were glutting their revenge on them for ancient injuries, the complete enslavement of a city which excelled among those in Greece at that ' By Conon's victory at Cnidus, e.g. 394. ' At Leuctra they lost 400 Spartans and 1,000 other Lacedaemonians. See Xen. (Hellen., \i. 4). ' The Achaeans, Eleans, Athenians, and some of the Arcadians, were allies of Sparta at this crisis, b.c. 369. See Xeu. {Hellen., yii. 5)i Diodonis (xv. 85). * B.C. 426. See Thuc, iii. 52, etc. • B.C. 416 and 421. See Thuc, v. 32, 84, etc. Destruction of Thebes. 33 time both in power and warlike reputation, all this was attributed not without probability to the avenging wrath of the deity. It seemed as if the Thebans had after a long time suffered this punishment for their betrayal of the Greeks in the Median war,^ for their seizure of the city of Plataeae during the truce, and for their complete enslavement of it, as well as for the un-Hellenic slaughter of the men who had surrendered to the Lacedaemonians, which had been committed at the instigation of the Thebans; and for the devastation of the territory in which the Greeks had stood in battle-array against the Medes and had repelled danger from Greece; lastly, because by their vote they had tried to ruin the Athenians when a motion was brought forward among the allies of the Lacedaemonians for the "enslavement of Athens.^ Moreover it was reported that before the disaster many portents were sent from the deity, which indeed at the time were treated with neglect, but afterwards when men called them to remembrance they were compelled to consider that the events which occurred had be^n long before prognosticated.^ The settlement of Theban affairs was entrusted by Alexander to the allies who had taken part in the action. They resolved to occupy the Cadmea with a garrison ; to raze the city to the ground; to distribute among themselves all the territory, except what was dedicated to the gods ; and to sell into slavery the women and children, and as many of the males as survived, except those who were priests or priestesses, and those who were bound to Philip or Alexander by the ties of hospi- tality or had been public agents of the Macedonians. It 1 These persons must have forgotten that Alexander's predecessor and namesake had served in the army of Xerxes along with the Thebans. See Herodotus vii. 173. 2 Plutarch (Lysander, 15) says that the Theban Erianthus moved that Athens should be destroyed. ^ See Aehan (Varia Eistoria, zii. 57). V 34 The Andhasis of Alexander. is said that Alexander preserved the house and the descendants of Pindar the poet, out of respect for his memory.^ In addition to these things, the allies de- creed that Orchomenus* and Plataeae should be rebuilt and fortified. CHAPTER X. Alexander's Dealings with Atheks. As soon as news of the calamity which had befallen the Thebans reached the other Greeks, the Arcadians, who had set out from their own land for the purpose of giving aid to the Thebans, passed sentence of death on those who had instigated them to render aid. The Bleans also received back their exiles from banishment, because they were Alexander's adherents ; and the Aetolians, each tribe for itself, sent embassies to him, begging to receive pardon, because they also had at- tempted to effect a revolution, on the receipt of the report which had been spread by the Thebans. The Athenians also, who, at the time when some of the Thebans, escap- ing from the carnage, arrived at Athens, were engaged in celebrating the Great Mysteries,^ abandoned the sacred rites in great consternation, and carried their goods and chattels from the rural districts into the city. The people came together in public assembly, and, on the motion of Demades, elected from all the citizens ten 1 Plutarch (Alexander, 13) tells us that Alexander was afterwards sorry for his cruelty to the Thebans. He believed that he had incurred the wrath of Dionysus, the tutelary deity of Thebes, who incited him to Idll his friend OUtus, and induced his soldiers to refuse to follow tn'Tn into the interior of India. 2 Orohomenus was destroyed by the Thebans b.o. 364. See Diod., xv. 79 ; Demosthenes (Contra Leptimem, p. 489). It was restored by Philip, according to Pausanias, iv. 27. ' The Great Mysteries of Demeter were celebrated at Eleusis, from the 15th to the 23rd of the month Boedromion, our September. Alexander's Dealings -with Athens. 35 ambassadors, men whom they knew to be Alexander's special adherents, and sent them to signify to him, though somewhat unseasonably, that the Athenian peo- ple rejoiced at his safe return from the land of the Illyrians and Triballians, and at the punishment which he had inflicted upon the Thebans for their rebellion. In regard to other matters he gave the embassy a courteous reply, but wrote a letter to the people de- manding the surrender of Demosthenes and Lycurgus, as well as that of Hyperides, Polyeuctus, Chares, Chari- demus, Bphialtes, Diotimus, and Moerocles;i alleging that these men were the cause of the disaster which befell the city at Ghaeronea, and the authors of the sub- sequent offensive proceedings after Philip's death, both against himself and his father.^ He also declared that they had instigated the Thebans to revolt no less than had those of the Thebans themselves who favoured a revolution. The Athenians, however, did not surrender the men, but sent another embassy to Alexander,^ en-„ treating him to remit his wrath against the ^persons whom he had demanded. The king did remit his wrath against them, either out of respect for the city of Athens, or from an earnest desire to start on the expedition into Asia, not wishing to leave behind him among the Greeks any cause for distrust. However, he ordered Charidemus alone of the men whom he had demanded as prisoners and who had not been given up, to go into banishment. Charidemus therefore went as an exile to King Darius in Asia.* ' All these nine men were orators except Chares, Charidemus, and Ephialtes, who were military men. Plutarch {Life of Demosthenes, 23) does not mention Chares, Diotimus, and Hyperides, but puts the names of CaUisthenes and Damon in the list. 2 See Aeschines [Adversus Ctesiphontem, pp. 469, 547, 551, 603, 633) ; Plutarch {Demosthenes, 22 ; Phocion, 16) ; Diodorus, xYii. 5. ' At the head of this embassy was Phocion. '' He was put to death by Darius shortly before the battle of Issus, for 36 The Anahdsis of Alexander. CHAPTER XI. Alexandbe Crosses the Hellespont and Visits Teot. Hating settled these affairs, lie returned into Macedonia. He then offered to the Olympian Zeus the sacrifice which had been instituted by Archelaus/ and had been cus- tomary up to that time; and he celebrated the public contest of the Olympic games at Aegae.^ It is said that he also held a public contest in honour of the Muses. At this time it was reported that the statue of Orpheus, son of Oeagrus the Thracian, which was in Pieris,^ sweated incessantly.* Various were the explanations of this prodigy given by the soothsayers ; but Aristander,' a man of Telmissus, a soothsayer, bade Alexander take courage; for he said it was evident from this that there would be much labour for the epic and lyric poets, and for the writers of odes, to compose and sing about Alexander and his achievements. (B.C. 334.) At the beginning of the spring he marched towards the Hellespont, entrusting the affairs of Mace- donia and Greece to Antipater. He led not much above advising him not to rely on his Asiatic troops in the contest with Alex- ander, but to subsidize an army of Grecian mercenaries. See Curtius, iii. 5 ; Diodorus, xvii. 30. • Archelaus was king of Macedonia from B.C. 413-399. He improved the internal arrangements of his kingdom, and patronised art and litera- ture. He induced the tragic poets, Euripides and Agathon, as well as the epic poet Choerilus, to visit him ; and treated Euripides especially with favour. He also invited Socrates, who declined the invitation. ^ Aegae, or Edessa, was the earlier capital of Macedonia, and the burial place of its kings. Philip was murdered here, B.C. 336. <' A narrow strip of land in Macedonia, between the mouths of the Haliaomon and Peneus, the reputed home of Orpheus and the Muses. * Cf. ApoUonim Ehodim, iv. 1284 ; Livy, xxii. i. 6 This man was the most noted soothsayer of his time. Telmissus was a city of Caria, celebrated for the skill of its inhabitants in divina- tion. Cf. Arrian {Anab. i. 25, ii. 18, iii. 2, iii. 7, iii. 15, iv. 4, iv. 15) ; Herodotus, i. 78 ; and Cicero {De Divinatione, i. 41) Alexander Crosses the Hellespont and Visits Troy. 37 30,000 infantry together with light-armed troops and archers, and more than 5,000 cavalry .^ His march was past the lake Cercinitis,^ towards Amphipolis and the mouths of the river Strymon. Having crossed this river he passed by the Pangaean mountain,^ along the road leading to Abdera and Maronea, Grecian cities built on the coast. Thence he arrived at the river Hebrus,* and easily crossed it. Thence he proceeded through Paetica to the river Melas, having crossed which he arrived at SestuSj in twenty days altogether from the time of his starting from home- When he came to Elaeus he offered sacrifice to Protesilaus upon the tomb of that hero, both for other reasons and because Protesilaus seemed to have been the first of the Greeks who took part with Agamemnon in the expedition to Ilium to disembark in Asia. The design of this sacrifice was, that his disembarking in Asia might be more fortunate than that of Protesilaus had been.^ He then committed to Par- menio the duty of conveying the cavalry and the greater part of the infantry from Sestus to Abydus ; and they were transported in 160 triremes, besides many trading vessels.* The prevailing account is, that Alexander started from Elaeus and put into the Port of Achaeans,^ that with his own hand he steered the general's ship 1 Diodorus (xvii. 17) says that there were 30,000 infantry and 4,500 cavalry. He gives the numbers in the different brigades as well as the names of the commanders. Plutarch (Life of Alexander, 15) says that the lowest numbers recorded wera30,000 infantry and -£000 cavalry ; and the highest, 34,000 infantry and%000 cavalry, tf-, cJL-^^Ji.: FUidrs^v^ 2 This lake is near the mouth of the Strymon. It is called Prasias by Herodotus (v. 16). Its present name is Tak-hyno. 3 This mountain is now called Pimari. Xerxes took the same route when marching into Greece. See Herodotus, v. 16, vii; 112 ; Aeschylus (Fersae, 494); Euripides (Rhesus, Q22, 972). * Now called Maritza. See Theocritus, vii. 110. 6 Cf. Homer (Iliad, ii. 701) ; Ovid (Epistolae Heroidum, jdii. 93) ; Herodotus (ix. 116). The Athenians supplied twenty ships of war. See Diodorus, xvii. 22. A landing-place in the north-west of Troas, near Cape Sigaeum. 88 The Anabasis of Alexander. acrossj and that wlieii he was about the middle of the channel of the Hellespont he sacrificed a bull to Poseidon and the Nereids, and poured forth a libation to them into the sea from a golden goblet. They say also that he was the first man to step out of the ship in full armour on the land of Asia,^ and that he erected altars to Zeus, the protector of people landing, to Athena, and to Heracles, at the place in Europe whence he started, and at the place in Asia where he disembarked. It is also said that he went up to Ilium and ofi'ered sacrifice to the Trojan Athena; that he setup his own panoply in the temple as a votive offering, and in exchange for it took away some of the consecrated arms which had been preserved from the time of the Tr(^an war. These arms were said to have been carried in front of him into the battles by the shield-bearing guards. A report also prevails that he offered sacrifice to Priam upon the altar of Zeus the household god, deprecating the wrath of Priam against the progeny of Neoptolemus, from whom Alexander himself derived his origin. CHAPTER XII. Alexakdbr at the Tomb of Achilles. — Memnon's Advice Rejected by the Persian Genekals. When he went up to Ilium, Menoetius the pilot crowned him with a golden crown ; after him Chares the Athenian,^ coming from Sigeum, as well as certain others,- both Greeks and natives, did the same. Alexander then encircled the tomb of Achilles with a garland ; and it is said that Hephaestion * decorated that of Patroclus in the ' Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 17 ; Justin, xi. 5. ' The celebrated general, mentioned already in chap. 10. ^ Son of Amyutas, a Macedonian of Fella. He was the most intimate Alexander at the Tomb of Acldlles. 39 same way. There is indeed a report that Alexander pronounced Achilles fortunate in getting Homer as the herald of his fame to posterity .^ And in truth it was meet that Alexander should deem Achilles fortunate for this reason especially; for to Alexander himself this privilege was wanting, a thing which was not in accor- dance with the rest of his good fortune. His achieve- ments have, therefore, not been related to mankind in a manner worthy of the hero. Neither in prose nor in verse has any one suitably honoured him; nor has he ever been sung of in a lyric poem, in which style of poetry Hiero, Gelo, Thero, and many others not at all comparable with Alexander, have been praised.^ Conse- quently Alexander's deeds are far less known than the meanest achievements of antiquity. I'or instance, the march of the ten thousand with Cyrus up to Persia against King Artaxerxes, the tragic fate of Clearchus and those who were captured along with him,^ and the march of the same men down to the sea, in which they were led by Xenophon, are events much better known to men through Xenophon's narrative than are Alexander and his achievements. And yet Alexander neither accom- panied another man's expedition, nor did he in flight from the Great King overcome those who obstructed his march down to the sea. And, indeed, there is no other single individual among Greeks or barbarians who achieved exploits so great or important either in regard to number or magnitude as he did. This was the reason friend of Alexander, with whom he had been brought up. Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, xii. 7). 1 Plutarch {Life of Alex., 15), says that Alexander also went through the ceremony, still customary in his own day, of anointing himself with oil and running up to the tomb naked. Cf. Aelian {Varia Historia, x. 4) Cicero {Pro Archia, oh. 10). 2 By Pindar and Baochylides. 2 See Xenophon's Anabasis, Book ii. 40 The Anabasis of Alexander. which induced me to undertake this history, not thinking myself incompetent to make Alexander's deeds known to men. For whoever I may be, this I know about myself, that there is no need for me to assert my name, for it is not unknown to men ; nor is it needful for me to say what my native land and family are, or if I have held any public office in my own country. But this I do assert, that this historical work is and has been from my youth up, in place of native land, family, and public offices to me ; and for this reason I do not deem myself unworthy t6 rank among the first authors in the Greek language, if Alexander indeed is among the first in arms. Prom Ilium Alexander came to Arisbe, where his entire force had encamped after crossing the Helles- pont; and on the following day he came to Percote. On the next, passing by Lampsacus, he encamped near the river Practius, which flows from the Idaean mountains and discharges itself into the sea between the Hellespont and the Euxine Sea. Thence passing by the city of Colonae, he arrived at Hermotus. He now sent scouts before the army under the command of Arayntas, son of Arrhabaeus, who had the squadron of the Companion . cavalry which came from Apollonia,^ under the captain Socrates, son of Sathon, and four squadrons of what were called Prodromi (runners forward). In the march he despatched Panegorus, son of Lycagoras, one of the Companions, to take possession of the city of Priapus, which was surrendered by the inhabitants. The Persian generals were Arsames, Rheomithres, Petines, Niphates, and with them Spithridates, viceroy of Lydia and Ionia, and Arsites, governor of the Phrygia near the Hellespont. These had encamped near the city ' A town in the Macedonia district of Mygdonia, south of Lake Bolbe. It is now called Polina. Battle of the Granicus. 41 of Zeleia with the Persian cavalry and the Grecian mer- cenaries. When they were holding a council about the state of affairs, it was reported to them that Alexander had crossed (the Hellespont). Memnon, the Rhodian/ advised them not to risk a conflict with the Macedonians, since they were far superior to them in infantry, and Alexander was there in person ; whereas Darius was not with them. He advised them to advance and destroy the fodder, by trampling it down under their horses' hoofs, to burn the crops of the country, and not even to spare the very cities. " For then Alexander,'' said he, " will not be able to stay in the land from lack of provisions." ^ It is said that in the Persian conference Arsites asserted that he would not allow a single house belonging to the people placed under his rule to be burned, and that the other Persians agreed with Arsites, because they had a sus- picion that Memnon was deliberately contriving to pro- tract the war for the purpose of obtaining honour from the king. CHAPTER XIII. Battle' OE the Geanicus (b.o. 334). Meantime Alexander was advancing to the river Granicus,^ with his army arranged for battle, having drawn up his ' We find from Diodorm (xvii. 7), that the Persian king had subsidized this great general and 5,000 Greek mercenaries to protect his seaboard from the Macedonians. Before the arrival of Alexander, he had succeeded in checking the advance of Parmenio and Callas. If Memnon had lived and his advice been adopted by Darius, the fate of Persia might have been very different. Cf. Plutarch (Life of Alex., 18). 2 Diodorus (xvii. 18) says that Memnon, while advising the Persian generals to lay waste the country, and to prevent the Macedonians from advancing through scarcity of provisions, also urged them to carry a large force into Greece and Macedonia, and thus transfer the war into Europe. ' The Granicus rises in Mount Ida, and falls into the Propontis near CyzicuB. Ovid [Metam., xi. 763) calls it Granicus picomis. 42' Tlie Anabasis of Alexander. heavy-armed troops in a double phalanx, leading the cavalry on the wings, and having ordered that the baggage should follow in the rear. And Hegelochus at the head of the cavalry, who were armed with the long pike,i and about 500 of the light-armed troops, was sent by him to reconnoitre the proceedings of the enemy. When Alexander was not far from the river Granicus, some of his scouts rode up to him at full speed and announced that the Persians had taken up their position on the other side of the Granicus, drawn up ready for battle. Thereupon Alexander arranged all his army with the intention of fighting. Then Parmenio approached him and spoke as follows : " I think, king, that it is advisable for the present to pitch our camp on the bank of the river as we are. For I thin!k that the enemy, being, as they are, much inferior to us in infantry, will not dare to pass the night near us, and therefore they will permit the army to cross the ford with ease at day- break. For we shall then pass over before they can put- themselves in order of battle ; ' whereas, I do not think that we can now attempt the operation without evident risk, because it is not possible to lead the army through the river with its front extended. Besides, it is clear that many parts of the stream are deep, 'and you see that these banks are steep and in some places abrupt. There- fore the enemy's cavalry, being formed into a .dense square, will attack us as we emerge from the water in broken ranks and in column, in the place where we are weakest. Afc the present juncture the first repulse would be diflScult to retrieve, as well as perilous for the issue of the whole war." But to this Alexander replied : " I recognise the fovea ' This was a brigade of about 1,000 men. See Livy, xxxvii. 42. ^ irotpecuronev. This future is used by the later writers for the Attic inro(t>6iand the Arabs were carrying torches to set fire to the military engines, and from their commanding position above hurling missiles at the Macedonians, who were defending themselves from lower ground, were driving them down from the mound which they had made, then Alexander either wilfully disobeyed the soothsayer, or forgot the prophecy from excitement in the heat of action. Taking the shield-bearing guards, he hastened to the rescue where the Macedonians were especially hard pressed, and prevented them from being driven down from the mound in disgraceful flight. But he was himself wounded by a bolt from a catapult, right through the shield and breastplate into the shoulder. When he perceived that Aristander had spoken the truth about the wound, he ' Compare Arrian, i. 11 and 25 ; ii. 18. Plutaroli [Alex., 25) says that the bird was entangled and caught among the nets and cords. See also Curtius, iv. 26. ih: ^''^ Anabasis o/^/'^foasarader. rejoiced, bee. *^ /ue thought he should also capture the ( city by the aid of the soothsayer. And yet indeed he was not easily cured of the wound. In the meantime the military engines with which he had captured Tyre arrived, having been sent for by sea ; and he ordered the mound to be constructed quite round the city on all sides, two stades ^ in breadth and 250 feet in height. When his engines had been prepared, and brought up along the mound, they shook down a large extent of wall; and mines being dug in various places, and the earth being drawn out by stealth, the wall fell down in many parts, subsiding into the emptied space.^ The Macedonians then commanded a large extent of ground with their missiles, driving back the men who were defending the city, from the towers. Nevertheless, the men of the city sustained three assaults, though many of their number were killed or wounded ; but at the fourth attack, Alexander led up the phalanx of the Macedonians from all sides, threw down the part of the wall which was undermined, and shook down another large portion of it by battering it with his engines, so that he rendered the assault an easy matter through the breaches with his scaling ladders. Accordingly the ladders were brought up to the wall ; and then there arose a great emulation among those of the Macedonians who laid any claim to valour, to see who should be the first to scale the wall. The first to do so was Neoptolemus, one of the Com- panions, of the family of the Aeacidae ; and after him mounted one rank after another with their officers. When once some of the Macedonians got within the wall, they split open in succession the gates which each party happened to light upon, and thus admitted the whole army into the city. But though their city was now in 1 A stadium equalled 606| feet. ' Qi. Thucydides, ii. 76 (description of the siege of Flataeae). Capture of Gaza. 139 the tands of the enemy, the Gazaeans nevertheless stood together and fought ; so that they were all slain fighting there, as each man had been stationed. Alexander sold their wives and children into slavery ; and having peopled the city again from the neighbouring settlers, he made use of it as a fortified post for the war.^ 1 Diodorus (xvii. 48) saya that the siege of Gaza lasted two months. Polybius (xvi. 40) speaks of the resolution and valour of the Gazaeans. We learn from Curtius (iv. 28) and from Dionysius of Halicarnassus (De Gompositione Verborum, pp. 123-125) that Alexander treated the brave Batis with horrible cruelty. He ordered his feet to be bored and brazen rings to be put through them, after which the naked body was tied to the back of a chariot which was driven by Alexander himself round the city, in imitation of the treatment of Hector by Achilles at Troy. Cf . Arrian, vii. 14. Dionysius quotes from Hegesias of Magnesia, who wrote a history of Alexander, not now extant. Curtius says that nearly 10,000 of the Persians and Arabs were slain at Gaza. Strabo (xvi. 2) says that in his time {i.e. in the reign of Augustus) the city still remained desolate, as it was left by Alexander. BOOK III. CHAPTER I. Conquest of Egypt." — Foundation of Alexandeia. Alexander now led an expedition into Egypt, whither he had set out at first (from Tyre); and marching from Gaza, on the seventh day he arrived at Pelusium ' in Egypt. His fleet had also set sail from Phoenicia to Egypt ; and he found the ships already moored at Pelusium.^ When Mazaces the Persian, whom Darius had appointed viceroy of Egypt/ ascertained how the battle at Issus had resulted, that Darius had fled in disgraceful flight, and that Phoenicia, Syria, and most of Arabia were already in Alexander's possession, as he had no Persian force with which he could ofier resistance, he admitted Alexander into the cities and the country in a friendly ' Pelusium is identical with the Hebrew Sin (a marsh) the most easterly city of Egypt, which is called in Ezekiel xxx. 15, the strength of Egypt, because it was the key to that country from its frontier position. Cf. Herodotus, iii. 5. Strabo (xvii. 1) says it was situated near marshes. It stood east of the Pelusiao branch of the Nile, about 2J miles from the sea. This mouth of the river was choked up with sand as early as the first century of the Christian era {Lucan, viii. 465). Sennacherib advanced as far as this city, and here Cambyses defeated the Egyptians, B.C. 525. Iphicrates the Athenian advanced to Pelusium with the satrap Pharna- bazus, B.C. 373. Cf. Vergil (Geor^ic, i. 228); Martial, nm.. 9; Silius, iii. S7 5. 2 Curtius (iv. 22) says that this fleet was under the -command of Hephaestion. ' His predecessor, Sabaces, was slain at Issus. See Arrian, ii. 11 supra. 140 Conquest of Egypt. 141 way.i Alexander introduced a garrison into Pelusium, and ordering the men in the ships to sail up the river as far as the city of Memphis/ he went in person towards Heliopolis,^ having the river Nile* on his right. He' reached that city through the desert, after getting possession of all the places on the march through the voluntary surrender of the inhabitants. Thence he ^ Curtius (iv. 29) says that Mazaoes surrendered to Alexander treasure to the amount of 800 talents, nearly £200,000. ^ Memphis, the capital of Egypt, is called in the Hebrew Bible, Noph. In Hosea ix. 6 it is called Moph. The Egyptian name was Menoph, of which both Moph and Noph are contractions. The name signifies place of Ftah, the Egyptian name for Vulcan. Memphis stood on the west bank of the Nile, and is said by Herodotus (ii. 99) to have been founded by Menes. It had a circumference of fifteen miles. Its numerous temples were famous and are mentioned in the poems of Martial, Ovid, and TibuUus. It never recovered the devastation committed by Cambyses, who was exasperated by its resistance. The rise of Alexandria as the capital under the Ptolemies, hastened the decline of Memphis. At Gizeh, near Memphis, are the three great pyramids, being of the height respectively of 460, 446, and 203 feet. Not far off are six smaller ones. Near the second pyramid is the Sphinx, out out of the solid rook, which was probably an object of worship. Cf. Apollodorus, ii. 4. 3 Heliopolis is known in Hebrew as On, which is an Egyptian word meaning Sun. It is mentioned in Gen. xli. 45, 50 ; xlvi. 20. In Ezek. XXX. 17, it is called Aven, which is the same word in Hebrew as On, with a variation of the vowels'. In Jer. xliii. 13 it is called Beith-Shemesh, which in Hebrew means Bouse of the Sun, a translation of the Egyptian name. The Greeks called it Heliopolis, City of the Sun. The great temple of the Sun and its priesthood are described by Herodotus and Strabo. There are still remaining a beautiful obelisk of red granite nearly 70 feet high, and the brick wall of the temple 3,750 feet long by 2,370 feet broad. Cf. Apollodorus, ii. 4. * The word Nile never occurs in the Hebrew Bible ; but that river is called Yeor (river). In Amos viii. 8 it is called Year Mitsraim, the river of Egypt ; but it is usually called simply Yeor, the river. In Isa. xxiii. 3 the corn of Egypt is called the harvest of Yeor, or the Nile. In like manner Avon, Ganges, Ehine, mean river. The Greek name' Neilos, or Nile, means a bed with a stream, and was originaUy applied to the land of Egypt, as the vaUey of the Nile. It rises in the lake Victoria Nyauza, and has a course of 3,800 miles. In Isa. xxiii. 3 and Jer. ii. 18 the Nile is called Shichor (turbid). In Homer (Odys., iv. 477, etc.) the river is caUed Egypt as well as the country. Cf. Ammianus, xxii. 15. 142 The Anabasis of Alexander. crossed the stream and came to Memphis; where he offered sacrifice to Apis ^ and the other gods, and cele- brated a gymnastic and musical contest, the most dis- tinguished artists in these matters coming to him from Greece. From Memphis he sailed down the river to- wards the sea, embarking the shield-bearing guards, the archers, the Agrianians, and of the cavalry the royal squadron of the Companions. Coming to Canobus,* he sailed round the Marian lake,^ and disembarked where now is situated the city of Alexandria, which takes its name from him. The position seemed to him a very fi.ne one in which to found a city, and he foresaw that it would become a prosperous one.* Therefore he was seized by an ardent desire to undertake the enterprise, and himself marked out the boundaries of the city, point- ing out the place where the agora was to be constructed, where the temples were to be built, stating how many there were to be, and to what Grecian gods they were to be dedicated, and specially marking a spot for a temple to the Egyptian Isis.^ He also pointed out where the wall was to be carried round it. In regard to these matters he offered sacrifice, and the victims appeared favourable. CHAPTER II. Foundation op Alexandria. — Events in the Aegean. The following story is told, which seems to me not un- ' The Bull of Memphis, sacred to Ftah, the god of fire. See Herodotus, iii. 27, 28; Strabo, xvii. 1; Ammianus, xxii. 14; Ovid (Met., ix. 690). 2 Now AbouMr, about 13 miles north-east of Alexandria, near the westernmost mouth of the Nile. Cf. Aeschylus {Supp., 311 ; Prom., 846) ; Strabo, xvii. 1, 17 ; Tacitus {Ann., ii. 60). ' Usually called Lake Mareotis, now Marifit. Cf . Vergil (Georgic, ii. 91). * We learn, from Gurtiris (iv. 38), that Alexander at first resolved to build the city on the island of Pharos, but finding it too small, built it on the mainland. ' A goddess representing the moon, and wife of Osiris the sun-god. Events in the Aegean. 143 worthy of belief ^ : — that Alexander himself wished to leave behind for the builders the marks for the bound- aries of the fortification, but that there was nothing at hand with which to make a furrow in the ground. One of the builders ^ hit upon the plan of collecting in vessels the barley which the soldiers were carrying, and throw- ing it upon the ground where the king led the way ; and thus the circle of the fortification which he was making ^ for the city was completely marked out. The soothsayers, and especially Aristander the Telmissian, who was said already to have given many other true predictions, pondering this, told Alexander that the city would become prosperous in every respect, but especially in regard to the fruits of the earth. At this time Hegelochus * sailed to Egypt and informed Alexander that the Tenedians had revolted from the Persians and attached themselves to him ; because they had gone over to the Persians against their own wish. He also said that the democracy of Chios were intro- ducing Alexander's adherents in spite of those who held the city, being established in it by Autophra,dates and Pharnabazus. The latter commander had been caught there and kept as a prisoner, as was also the despot Aristonicus, a Methymnaean,^ who sailed into the har- bour of Chios with five piratical vessels, fi.tted with one and a half banks of oars, not knowing that the harbour was in the hands of Alexander's adherents, but being misled by those who kept the bars of the harbour, because forsooth the fleet of Pharnabazus was moored in it. All ' Of. Strdbo (xvii. 1) ; Plutarch (Alex. , 26) ; Diodorus (xvii. 52) ; Curtius (iv. 33) ; Ammianus (xxii. 16). 2 We find from Valerius Maximum (i. 4) and Ammianus, I.e., that his name was Dinocrates. 3 Kruger substitutes iTrevUi. ioxiiroia, comparing iv. 1, 3, and 4, 1 infra, • See Arrian, ii. 2 supra. 5 Methymna was, next to Mitylene, the most important city in Lesbos. 144 The Anabasis of Alexander. the pirates were there massacred by the Chians ; and Hegeloohus brought to Alexander, as prisoners Aristo- nicus, Apollonides the Chian, Phisinus, Megareus, and all the others who had taken part in the revolt of Chios to the Persians, and who at that time were holding the government of the island by force. He also announced that he had deprived Chares^ of the possession of Mitylene, that he had brought over the other cities in Lesbos by a voluntary agreement, and that he had sent Atnphoterus to Cos with sixty ships, for the Coans them- selves invited him to their island. He said that he him- self had sailed to Cos and found it already in the hands of Amphoterus. Hegelochus brought all the prisoners with him except Pharnabazus, who had eluded his guards at Cos and got away by stealth. Alexander sent the despots who had been brought from the cities back to their fellow-citizens, to be treated as they pleased ; but Apollonides and his Chian partisans he sent under a strict guard to Elephantine, an Egyptian city.^ CHAPTER III. Alexandee Visits the Temple of Ammon. After these transactions, Alexander was seized by an ardent desire to visit Ammon ^ in Libya, partly in order 1 Chares was an Athenian who had been one of the generals at the fatal battle of Chaeronea. Gwriius (iv. 24) says that he consented to evacuate Mitylene with his force of 2,000 men on condition of a free departure. * On an island in the Nile, of the same name, opposite Syene. It served as the southern frontier garrison station. ^ The temple of Jupiter Ammon was in the oasis of Siwah, to the \7est of Egypt. Its ruins were discovered by Browne in 1792. This oasis is about 6 miles long and 3 broad. The people called Libyans occupied the whole of North Africa excluding Egypt. In Hjebrew they are called Lubim (sunburnt). See 2 Chron. xii. 3 ; xvi. 8 ; Dan. xi. 43 ; Nah. iii. 9. Of. Herodotus, ii. 32 ; iv. 168-199. Alexander Visits the Tem/ple of Amman. 145 to consult the god, because the oracle of Ammon was said to be exact in its information, and Perseus and Heracles were said to have consulted it, the former when he was despatched by Polydectes ^ against the Gorgons, and the latter, when he visited Antaeus ^ in Libya and Busiris ^ in Egypt. Alexander was also partly urged by a desire of emulating Perseus and Heracles, from both of whom he traced his descent.* He also deduced his pedigree from Ammon, just as the legends traced that of Heracles and Perseus to Zeus. Accordingly he made the expedition to Ammon with the design of learning his own origin more certainly, or at least that he might be able to say that he had learned it. According to Aris- tobulus, he advanced along the sea-shore to Paraetonium through a country which was a desert, but not destitute of water, a distance of about 1,600 stades.^ Thence he turned into the interior, where the oracle of Ammon was located. The route is desert, and most of it is sand and destitute of water. But there was a copious supply of rain for Alexander, a thing which was attributed to the influence of the deity ; as was also the following occur- rence. Whenever a south wind blows in that district, it heaps up the sand upon the route far and wide, rendering the tracks of the road invisible, so that it is impossible to discover where one ought to direct one's course in the sand, just as if one were at sea; for there are no landmarks along the road, neither mountain anywhere, nor tree, nor permanent hill standing erect, by which travellers might be able to form a conjecture of the right course, as ' King of the island Seriphus. Cf. Herodotus, ii. 91. " The gigantic son of Poseidon and Ge. ' King of Bgypt, who was said to have sacrificed all foreigners that visited the land. ■* Perseus was the grandfather of Alemena, the mother of Hercules. ' About 183 miles. This city lay at tjje extreme west of Egypt, in Marmarica. 1 146 The Anabasis of Alexander. sailors do by the stars.i Consequently, Alexander's army lost the way, and even the guides were in doubt about the course to take. Ptolemy, soil of Lagus, says that two serpents went in front of the army, uttering a voice, and Alexander ordered the guides to follow them, trusting in the divine portent. He says too that they showed the way to the oracle and back again. But Aristobulus, whose account is generally admitted as cor- . rect, says that two ravens flew in front of the army, and that these acted as Alexander's guides. I am able to assert with confidence that some divine assistance was aflforded himj for probability also coincides with the supposition j but the discrepancies in the details of the various narratives have deprived the story of certainty.^ ' "For some distance onward the engineers had erected a line of telegraph poles to guide us, but after they ceased the desert was abso- lutely trackless. Our guides were the stars — had the night been overcast the enterprise would have been impossible — and we were steered by a naval officer, Lieutenant Eawson, who had doubtless studied on previous nights the relation of these celestial beacons to the course of our march. The centre of the line was the point of direction ; therefore he rode between the centre battalions {75th and 79th) of the Highland Brigade. Frequently in the course of the night, after duly ascertaining what dark figure I was addressing, I represented to him that his particular star was clouded over ; but he always replied that he had another in view, a second string to his bow, which he showed me, and that he was convinced he had not deviated in the least from the proper direction. And he was right, his guidance was marvellously correct ; for his reward, poor feUow, he was shot down in the assault, niortally wounded. Here we were adrift, but for the stars, in a region where no token existed on the sur- face by which to mark the course — any more than on the ocean without a compass — and the distance to be traversed was many miles." — Sir Edward Hamley : " The Second Division at Tel-el-Kebir," nineteenth Century, December, 1882. * Strabo (xvii. 1) quotes from Callisthenes, whose work on Alexander is lost. He agrees with Aristobulus about the two ravens. Callisthenes is also quoted by Plutarch (Alex., 27) in regard to this prodigy. Curtius (iv. 30) says that there were several ravens; and Diodorus (xvii. 49) speaks of ravens. The Oasis of Ammon. 147 CHAPTER IV. The Oasis of Ammon. The place where the temple of Ammon is located is entirely surrounded by a desert of far-stretching sand, which is destitute of water. The fertile spot in the midst of this desert, is not extensive ; for where it stretches into its greater expanse, it is only about forty stades broad.^ It is full of cultivated trees, olives and palms ; and it is the only place in those parts which is refreshed with dew. A spring also rises from it, quite unhke all the other springs which issue from the earth.^ For at mid-day the water is cold to the taste, and still more so to the touch, as cold as cold can be. But when the sun has sunk into the west, it gets warmer, and from the evening it keeps on growing warmer until midnight, when it reaches the warmest point. After midnight it goes on getting gradually colder : at day-br^ak it is already cold ; but at midday it reaches the coldest point. Every day it under- goes these alternate changes in regular succession. In this place also natural salt is procured by digging, and certain of the priests of Ammon convey quantities of it into Egypt. For whenever they set out for Egypt they put it into little boxes plaited out of palm, and carry it as a present to the king, or some other great man. The grains of this salt are large, some of them being even longer than three fingers' breadth ; and it is clear like crystal.^ The Egyptians and others who are respectful to the deity, use this salt in their sacrifices, as it is ' Nearly five miles. Cf. Lucan, ix. 511-543. ' This Fountain of the Sun, as it is called, is 30 paces long and 20 broad ; 6 fathoms deep, with bubbles constantly rising from the surface. Cf . Herodotus, iv. 181 ; Lucretius, vi. 849-878 ; Ptolemy, iv. 5, 37. ' This is what we call sal ammoniac, known to chemists as hydro- chlorate of ammonia. The dactylos was the smallest Greek measure of length, about ^^^ of an inch. ' 148 The Anabasis of Alexander. clearer than tliat which is procured from the sea. Alex- ander then was struck with wonder at the place, and consulted the oracle of the god. Having heard what was agreeable to his wishes, as he himself said, he set out on the journey back to Egypt by the same route, according to the statement of Aristobulus ; but accord- ing to that of Ptolemy, son of Lagus, he took another road, leading straight to Memphis.^ CHAPTER V. Settlement oe the Afpaies op Egypt. At Memphis, many embassies from Greece reached him ; and he sent away no one disappointed by the rejection of his suit. From Antipater also arrived an army of 400 Grecian mercenaries under the command of Menidas, son of Hegesander : likewise from Thrace 500 cavalry, under the direction of Asclepiodorus, son of Eunicus. Here he offered sacrifice to Zeus the King, led his soldiers fully armed in solemn procession, and celebrated a gym- nastic and musical contest. He then settled the affairs of Egypt, by appointing two Egyptians, Doloaspis and Petisis, governors of the country, dividing between them the whole land; but as Petisis declined his province, Doloaspis received the whole. He appointed two of the Companions to be commandants of garrisons : Pantaleon the Pydnaean in Memphis, and Polemo, son of Megacles, a Pellaean, in Pelusium. He also gave the command of the Grecian auxiliaries to Lycidas, an Aetolian, and ap- ' We learn from Strabo (xvii. 1), on the authority of Callisthenes, that the declaration of the oraole of Ammon was confirmed by thoge of Apollo at Branchidae near Miletus, and of Athena at Erythrae iu Ionia. Plutarch (Alex., 28) and Arrian (vii. 29) assert that Alexander set afloat the declaration that he was the son of Zeus to overawe the foreigners over whom he was extending his rule. ^^mie lement of the Affairs of Egypt. 149 pointed E agnosias, son of Xenophantes, one of the Com- panions, to be secretary over the same troops. As their overseers he placed Aeschylas and Bphippus the Chalci- dean. The government of the neighbouring country of Libya he granted to ApoUonius, son of Charinus; and the part of Arabia near Heroopolis^ he put under Cleomenes, a man of Naucratis.^ This last was ordered to allow the governors to rule their respective districts according to the ancient custom; but to collect from them the tribute due to him. The native governors were also ordered to pay it to Cleomenes. He appointed Peucestas, son of Macartatus, and Balacrus, son of Amyntas, generals of the army which he left behind in Egypt ; and he placed Polemo, son of Theramenes, over the fleet as admiral. He made Leonnatus, son of Anteas, one of his body-guards instead of Arrhybas, who had died of disease. Antiochus, the commander of the archers, also died ; and in his stead Ombrion the Cretan was appointed. When Balacrus was left behind in Egypt, the allied Grecian infantry, which had been under his command, was put under that 6t Calanus. Alexander was said to have divided the government of Egypt among so many men, because he was surprised at the natural strength of the country, and he thought it unsafe to entrust the rule of the whole to a single person. The Eomans also seem to me to have learned a lesson from him, and therefore keep Egypt under strong guard ; for they do not send any of the senators thither as proconsul for the same reason, but only men who have the rank among them of Equites (Knights).^ ' Ewald and others think that Heroopolis was identical with the Baamses of the Bible. Baamses, or Barneses, is a Coptic word meaning " the son of the sun." ' A city founded by the Milesians on the Canopio branch of the Nile. It remained a purely Greek city, being the only place where Greeks were allowed to settle and trade in Egypt. Cf. Herodotus, ii. 97, 135, 178, 179. ' Cf. Tacitus {Historiae, i. 11). 160 The Anabasis of Alexander. CHAPTER VI. , March into Steia.-^Alexandee's Kindness to Haepalus and his other early adherents. As soon as spring began to appear, lie went from Mem- phis to Phoenicia, bridging the stream of the Nile near Memphis, as well as the canals issuing from it. When he arrived at Tyre, he found his fleet already there.^ In this city he again offered sacrifice to Heracles, and 'cele- brated both a gymnastic and musical contest. While there, the state vessel called the Paralus came to him from Athens, bringing Diophantus and Achilleus as envoys to him j and all the crew of the Paralus were joined with them in the embassy.^ These men obtained all the requests which they were despatched to make, and the king gave up to the Athenians all their fellow- citizens who had been captured at the Granicus.^ Being informed that revolutionary plans had been carried out in the Peloponnese, he sent Amphoterus thither to assist those of the Peloponnesians who were firm in their sup- port of his war against Persia, and were not under the control of the Lacedaemonians. He also commanded the Phoenicians and Cyprians to despatch to the Peloponnese 100 other ships in addition to those which he was sending with Amphoterus. He now started up into the interior ' We learn, from Gurtius (iv. 34), that Alexander went to Samaria to chastise the inhabitants, who had burnt his deputy, Andromachus, to death. " From early times the Athenians kept two sacred vessels for state purposes, the one called the Paralus and the other Salaminia. In the earliest times the former was used for coasting purposes, and the latter for the journey to Salamis. Hence their respective names. See Dr. Smith's Diet, of Antiquities. Aesohines, in his oration against Ctesiphon (p. 550), asserts that he was informed by the seamen of the Paralus that Demosthenes on this occasion sent a letter to Alexander soliciting pardon and favour. ' Cf. Aelian, Varia Historia, i. 25 ; Curtius, iv. 34. March into Syria. 151 towards Thapsacus and the river Euphrates, after placing Coeranus, a Beroean i over the levy of tribute in Phoenicia, and Philoxenus to collect it in Asia as far as the Taurus. In the place of these men he i entrusted the custody of the money which he had with him to Harpalus, son of Machatas, who had just returned from exile. For this man at first had been banished, while Philip was still king, because he was an adherent of Alexander ; as also was Ptolemy, son of Lagus, for the same reason ; likewise Nearchus, son of Androtimus, Brigyius, son of Larichus, and his brother Laomedon. For Alexander fell under Philip's suspicion when the latter married Eurydice ^ and treated Alexander's mother Olympias with dishonour. But after Philip's death those who had been banished on Alexander's account returned from exile and were received into favour. He made Ptolemy one of his con- fidential body-guards; he placed Harpalus over the money, because his bodily strength was unequal to the fatigues of war. Erigyius was made commander of the allied Grecian cavalry ; and his brother Laomedon, be- cause he could speak both the Greek and Persian lan- guages and could read Persian writings, was put in charge of the foreign prisoners. Nearchus also was appointed viceroy of Lycia and of the land adjacent to it as far as mount Taurus. But shortly before the battle which was fought at Issus, Harpalus fell under the influence of Tauriscus, an evil man, and fled in his company. The ' Beroea was a city of Macedonia, on the Astraeus, a tributary of the Haliacmon, about 20 miles from the sea. ^ Other historians call this queen Cleopatra. She was the daughter of a Macedonian named Attains. Plutarch {Alex., 9 and 10) says that she was cruelly put to death by Olympias during Alexander's absence. Justin (ix. 7 ; xi. 2) states that Olympias first slew her daughter on her mother's bosom and then had Cleopatra hanged ; while Alexander put to death Caranns, the infant son of Philip and Cleopatra. Paiisanias (viii. 7) says that Olympias caused Cleopatra and her infant son to be roasted on a brazen vessel. Of. Aelian (Varia Historia, xiii. 35). 152 The Anabasis of Alexander. latter started off to Alexander the Epirotei in Italy, where he soon after died. But Harpalus found a refuge in Megaris, whence however Alexander persuaded him to return, giving him a pledge that he should be none the worse on account of his desertion. When he came back, he not only received no punishment, but was even reinstated in the office of treasurer. Menander, one of the Companions, was sent away into Lydia as viceroy ; and Clearchus was put in command of the Grecian auxiliaries who had been under Menander. Asclepiodorus, son of Bunicus, was also appointed viceroy of Syria instead of Arimmas, because the latter seemed to have been remiss in collecting the supplies which he had been ordered to collect for the army which the king was about to lead into the interior. CHAPTER VII. , Passage of the Bupheates and Tigris. Alexander arrived at Thapsacus in the month Hecatom- baion,^ in the archonship of Aristophanes at Athens ; and he found that two bridges of boats had been constructed over the stream. But Mazaeus, to whom Darius had committed the duty of guarding the river, with about 3,000 cavalry, 2,000 of which were Grecian mercenaries, was up to that time keeping guard there at the river. For this reason the Macedonians had not constructed the complete bridge as far as the opposite bank, being afraid that Mazaeus might make an assault upon the bridge where it ended. But when he heard that Alexander was approaching, he went off in flight with all his army. • This king was brother of Alexander's mother Olympias, and husband of Cleopatra the daughter of Philip and Olympias. He crossed over into Italy to aid the Tarentines against the Lucanians and Bruttians, but was eventually defeated and slain near Paudosia, B.C. 326. ' June-July, b.o. 331. Passage of the Euphrates and Tigris. 153 As soon as lie had fled, the bridges were completed as far as the further bank, and Alexander crossed upon- them with his army.^ Thence he marched up into the interior through the land called Mesopotamia, having the river Euphrates and the mountains of Armenia on his left. When he started from the Euphrates he did not march to Babylon by the direct road ; because by going the other route he found all things easier for the march of his army, and it was also easier to obtain fodder for the horses and provisions for the men from the country. Besides this, the heat was not so scorching on the indirect route. Some of the men from Darius's army, who were dispersed for the purpose of scouting, were taken prisoners ; and they reported that Darius was encamped near the river Tigris, having resolved to prevent Alex- ander from crossing that stream. They also said that he had a much larger army than that with which he had fought in Cilicia. Hearing this, Alexander went with all speed towards the Tigris; but when he reached it he found neither Darius himself nor any guard which he had left. However he experienced great diflBculty in crossing the stream, on account of the swiftness of the current,^ though no one tried to stop him. There he made his army rest, and while so doing, an eclipse of the moon nearly total occurred.^ Alexander thereupon ' We learn, from Gurtius (iv. 37), that Alexander took eleven days to marqli from Phoenicia to the Euphrates. " Curtius (iv. 37) says that Tigris is the Persian word for arrow ; and that the river was so named on account of the swiftness of its current. The Hebrew name is Chiddekel, which means arrow. See Gen. ii. 14 ; and Dan. i. 4, where it is called the great river. The name Tigris is derived from the Zend Tighra, which comes from the Sanscrit Tig, to sharpen. It is now called Dijleh. It joins the Euphrates 90 miles from the sea, and the united stream is called Shat-el-Arab. Its entire length is 1,146 mUes. In ancient times the two rivers had distinct mouths. So the Ehon formerly had several mouths. See Livy, xxi. 26. Strabo (iv. 1, 8) says that Timaeus gave it five mouths ; Polybius gives it two ; others give seven. ' This eclipse occurred September 20th, b.o. 331. 154 The Anabasis of Alexander. offered sacrifice to the moonj the sun and the earth, ■whose deed this was, according to common report. Aristander thought that this eclipse of the moon was a portent favourable to Alexander and the Macedonians ; that there would be a battle that very month, and that victory for Alexander was signified by the sacrificial vic- tims. Having therefore decamped from the Tigris, he went through the land of Aturia,^ having the mountains of the Gordyaeans ^ on the left and the Tigris itself on the right ; and on the fourth day after the passage of the river, his scouts brought word to him that the enemy's cavalry were visible there along the plain, but how many of them there were they could not guess. Accordingly he drew his army up in order and advanced prepared for battle. Other scouts again riding forward and taking more accurate observations, told him that the cavalry did not seem to them to be more than 1,000 in number. CHAPTER Vlir. Desceiption of Daeius's Aemt at Aebela. Alexandee therefore took the royal squadron of cavalry, and one squadron of the Companions, together with the Paeonian scouts, and marched with all speed; having ordered the rest of his army to follow at leisure. The Persian cavalry, seeing Alexander , advancing quickly, begau to flee with all their might. Though he pressed close upon them in pursuit, most of them escaped ; but a few, whose horses were fatigued by the flight, were slain, others were taken prisoners, horses and all. From these they ascertained that Darius with a large force was ' The part of Assyria lying between the Upper Tigris and the Lycus was called Aturia. ^ Galled Carduohi by Xenophon. These mountains separate Assyria and Mesopotamia from Media and Armenia Description of Darius' s Army at Arbela. 155 not far off. For tte Indians who were conterminous with the Bactrians, as also the Bactrians themselves and the Sogdianians had come to the aid of Darius, all being under the command of Bessus, the viceroy of the land of Bactria. They were accompanied by the Sacians, a Scythian tribe belonging to the Scythians who dwell in Asia.^ These were not subject to Bessus, but were in alliance with Darius. They were commanded by Mavaces, and were horse-bowmen. Barsaentes, the viceroy of Arachotia, le^ the Arachotians ^ and the men who were called mountaineer Indians. Satibarzanes, the viceroy of Areia, led the Areians,* as did Phrataphernes the Parfchians, Hyrcanians, and Tapurians/ all of whom were horsemen. Atropates commanded the Medes, with whom were arrayed the Oadusians, Albanians, and Sace- sinians.^ The men who dwelt near the Red Sea* were marshalled by Ocondobates, Ariobarzanes, and Otanes. The Uxians and Susianians ' acknowledged Oxathres son of Aboulites as their leader, and the Babylonians were commanded by Boupares. The Carians who had ^ C{. Aeliau (Varia Historia, xii. 38). ' Arachosia comprised what is now the south-east part of Afghanistan and the north-east part of Belooohistan. ' Aria comprised the west and north-west part of Afghanistan and the east part of Ehorasan. * Parthia is the modern Khorasan. Hyroania was the country south and south-east of the Caspian Sea. The Tapurians dwelt in the north of Media, on the borders of Parthia between the Caspian passes. Cf. Ammianus, xxili. 6. * The Oadusians lived south-west of the Caspian, the Albanians on the west of the same sea, in the south-east part of Georgia, and the Saoesinians in the north-east of Armenia, on the river EJir. " The Bed Sea was the name originally given to the whole expanse of sea to the west of India as far as Africa. The name was subsequently given to the Arabian Gulf exclusively. In Hebrew it is called Yam-Svjah (Sea of Sedge, or a seaweed resembling wool). The Egyptians called it the Sea of Weeds. ' The Uxians occupied the north-west of Persis, and Susiana was the country to the north and west of Persis. 156 The Anabasis of Alexander. been deported into central Asia, and the Sitacenians^ had been placed in the same ranks as the Babylonians. The Armenians were commanded by Orontes and Mithraustes, and the Cappadocians by Ariaces. The Syrians from the vale between Lebanon and Anti- Lebanon {i.e. Coele-Syria) and the men of Syria which lies between the rivers^ were led by Mazaeus. The whole army of Darius was said to contain 40,000 cavalry, 1,000,000 infantry, and 200 scythe-bearing chariots.^ There were only a few elephants, about fifteen in number, belonging to the Indians who live this side of the Indus.* With these forces Darius had encamped at Gaugamela, near the river Bumodus, about 600 stades distant from the city of Arbela, in a district everywhere level ; ^ for whatever ground thereabouts was unlevel and unfit for the evolutions of cavalry, had long before been levelled by the Persians, and made fit for the easy rolling of chariots and for the galloping of horses. For there were some who persuaded Darius that he had forsooth got the ' The Sitacenians lived in the south of Assyria. ^Terdxaro. is the Ionic form for rerayiUvoi ^aav. ^ The Greeks called this country Mesopotamia because it lies' between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. In the Bible it is called Paddan-Aram (the plain of Aram, which is the Hebrew name of Syria). In Gen. xlviii. 7 it is called merely Paddan, the plain. In Hos. xii. 12, it is called the field of Aram, or, as our Bible has it, the country of Syria. Elsewhere in the Bible it is called Aram-naharaim, Aram of the two rivers, which the Greeks translated Mesopotamia. It is called " the Island," by Arabian geographers. ' Curtius (iv. 35 and 45) states that Darius had 200,000 infantry, 45,000 cavalry, and 200 scythed chariots ; Diodorus (xvii. 53) says, 800,000 infantry, 200,000 cavalry, and 200 scythed chariots; Justin (xi. 12) gives 400,000 foot and 100,000 horse ; and Plutarch {AUx., 31) speaks of a million of men. For the chariots of. Xenophon {Anab., i 8, 10) ; Livy, xxxvii. 41. * This is the first instance on record of the employment of elephants in battle. ' This river is now called Ghasir, a tributary of the Great Zab. The village Gaugamela was in the district of Assyria called Atuiia, about 69 miles from the city of Arbela, now called Erbil. Alexander's Tactics. 157 worst of it in the battle fought at Issus, from the narrow- ness of the battle-field ; and this he was easily induced to believe. CHAPTER IX. Alexandee's Tactics. — His Speech to the Officers. When Alexander had received all this information from the Persian scouts who had been captured, he remained four days in the place where he had received the news ; and gave his army rest after the march. He meanwhile fortified his camp with a ditch and stockade, as he in- tended to leave behind the baggage and all the soldiers who were unfit for fighting, and to go into the contest accompanied by his warriors carrying with them nothing except their weapons. Accordingly he took his forces by night, and began the march about the second watch, in order to come into collision with the foteigners at break of day. As soon as Darius was informed of Alexander's approach, he at once drew out his army for battle; and Alexander led on his men drawn up in like manner.' Though the armies were only sixty stades ^ from each other, yet they were not in sight of each other, for between the hostile forces some hills intervened. But when Alexander was only thirty stades distant from the enemy, and his army was already marching down from the hills just mentioned, catching sight of the foreigners, 'he caused his phalanx to halt there. Calling a council of the Companions, generals, cavalry oflBcers, and leaders of the Grecian allies and mercenaries, he deliberated with them, whether he should at once lead on the phalanx with- out delay, as most of them urged him to do ; or, whether, as Parmenio thought preferable, to pitch their tents" there for the present, to reconnoitre all the ground, in order to ' About 7 miles. 168 The Anabasis of Alexander. see if there was anything there to excite suspicion or to impede their progress, or if there were ditches or stakes firmly fixed in the earth out of sight, as well as to make a more accurate survey of the enemy's tactical arrange- ments. Parmenio's opinion prevailed, so they encamped there, drawn up in the order in which they intended to enter the battle. But Alexander took the light infantry and the cavalry Companions and went all round, recon- noitring the whole country where he was about to fighb the battle. Having returned, he again called together the same leaders, and said that they did not require to be encouraged by him to enter the contest ; for they had been long before encouraged by their own valour, a.nd by the gallant deeds which they had already so often achieved. He thought it expedient that each of them individually should stir up his own men separately ; the infantry captain the men of his company, the cavalry captain his own squadron, the brigadiers their various brigades, and each of the leaders of the infantry the phalanx entrusted to him. He assured them that in this battle they were going to fight, not as before, either for Coele- Syria, Phoenicia, or Egypt, but for the whole of Asia. For he said this battle would decide who were to be the rulers of that continent. It was not necessary for him to stir them up to gallant deeds by many words, since they had this valour by nature ; but they should see that each man took care, so far as in him lay, to preserve discipline in the critical moment of action, and to keep perfect silence when it was expedient to advance in silence. On the other hand, they should see that each man uttered a sonorous shout, where it would be advantageous to shout, and to raise as terrible a battle-cry as possible, when a suitable opportunity oc- curred of raising the battle-cry. He told them to take care to obey his orders as quickly as possible, and to transmit the orders they had received to the ranks with Bejection of Parmenio's Advice. 159 all rapidity; eacli man remembering that both as an individual and in the aggregate he was increasing the general danger if he was remiss in the discharge of his duty, and that he was assisting to gain a victory if he zealously put forth his utmost exertions. CHAPTER X. •Rejection op Paemenio's Advice. With these words and others like them he briefly ex- horted his .officers, and in return was exhorted by them to feel confidence in their valour. He then ordered the soldiers to take dinner and to rest themselves. It is said that Parmenio came to him in his tent, and urged him to make a night attack on the Persians; saying that thus he would fall upon them unprepared and in a state of confusion, and at the same time more liable to a panic in the dark.^ But the reply which he made, as others were listening to their conversation, was, that it would be mean to steal a victory, and that Alexander ought to conquer in open daylight, and without any artifice. This vaunting did not appear any arrogance on his part, but rather to indicate self-confidence amid dangers. To me at any rate, he seems to have used correct reasoning in such a matter. For in the night many ' accidents have occurred unexpectedly to those who were sufficiently prepared for battle as well as to those who were defi- ciently prepared, which have caused the superior party to fail in their plans, and have handed the victory over to the inferior party, contrary to the expectations of both sides. Though Alexander was generally fond of en- countering danger in battle, the night appeared to him perilous; and, besides, if Darius were again defeated, 1 Xenophon (Anab., iii. 4, 35) explains wliy this was so. 160 Tlie Anabasis of Alexander. a furtive and nocturnal attack on the part of the Mace- donians would relieve him of the necessity of confessing that he was an inferior general and commanded inferior troops. Moreover, if any unexpected defeat befell his army, the circumjacent country was friendly to the enemy, and they were acquainted with the locality, whereas the Macedonians ^ were unacquainted with it, and surrounded by nothing but foes, of whom there were a great number prisoners. These would be a great source of anxiety, as they would be likely to assist in attacking them in the night, not only if they should meet with defeat, but even if they did not appear to be gaining a decisive victory. For this way of reasoning I commend Alexander ; and I think him no less worthy of admiration for his excessive desire to fight in open daylight. CHAPTER XI. Tactics ob the Opposing Geneeals. Daeius and his army remained drawn up during the night in the same order as that in which they had first arrayed themselves ; because they had not surrounded themselves with a completely entrenched camp, and, moreover, they were afraid that the enemy would attack them in the night. The success of the Persians, on this occasion, was impeded especially by this long standing on watch with their arms, and by the fear which usually springs up before great dangers; which, however, was not then suddenly aroused by a momentary panic, but had been experienced for a long time, and had thoroughly cowed their spirits.^ The army of Darius was drawn up in the following manner: for, according to the statement of Aristobnlus, the written scheme of arrangement drawn ' (TipeU here stands for avrol. 3 See note 1 to il. 10 supra. Tactics of the Opposing Generals. 161 up by Darius was afterwards captured. His left wing was held by the Bactrian cavalry, in conjunction with the Daansi and Arachotiansj near these had been posted the Persians, horse and foot mixed together ; next to these the Susians, and then the Cadusians. This was the arrangement of the left wing as far as the middle of the whole phalanx. On the right had been posted the men from Coele- Syria and Mesopotamia. On the right again were the Medes; next to them the Par- thians and Sacians ; then the Tapurians and Hyrcanians, and last the Albanians and Sacesinians, extending as far as the middle of the whole phalanx. In the centre where King Darius was, had been posted the king's kinsmen,^ the Persian guards carrying spears with golden apples at the butt end,^ the Indians, the Garians who had been forcibly removed to Central Asia, and the Mardian archers.* The Uxians, ' the Babylonians, the men who dwell near the Eed Sea, and the Sitacenians had also been drawn up in deep column. On the left, opposite Alexander's right, had been posted the Scythian cavalry, about 1,000 Bactrians and 100 scythe-bearing chariots. In front of Darius's royal squadron of cavalry stood the elephants and 50 chariots. In front of the right wing the Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry with 50 scythe-bearing chariots bad been posted. The Greek mercenaries, as alone capable of coping with the Mace- donians, were stationed right opposite their phalanx, in ' These people were a Scythian tribe leading a nomadic life east of the Caspian. They are called Daoi by Herodotus, i. 125 ; Dahae by Ammiamis, xxii. 8, 21 ; Livy, xxxv. 48 ; xxxvii. 38 ; Vergil (Aeneid, viii. 728) ; Pliny, yi. 19 ; Strabo, xi. 7. They are mentioned in Ezra iv. 9 as subjects of Persia. The district is now called Daikh. See Fiirst'a Hebrew Lexicon, sub voce Pn. ' A title of honour. Curtius saya that they numbered 15,000. ' Cf. Herodotus, vii. 41. * This people lived to the south of the Caspian. M 162 The Anabasis of Alexander. two divisions close beside Darius himself and his Persian attendants, one division on each side.^ Alexander's army was marshalled as follows : The right wing was held by the cavalry Companions, in front of whom had been posted the royal squadron, com- manded by Clitus, son of Dropidas. Near this was the squadron of Glaucias, next to it that of Aristo, then that of Sopolis, son of Hermodorus, then that of Hera- clides, son of Antiochus. Near this was that of Deme- trius, son of Althaemenes, then that of Meleager, and last one of the royal squadrons commanded by Hegelochus, son of Hippostratus. All the cavalry Companions were under the supreme command of Philotas, son of Par- menio. Of the phalanx of Macedonian infantry, nearest to the cavalry had been posted first the select corps of shield-bearing guards, and then the rest of the shield- bearing- guards, under the command of Nicanor, son of Parmenio. Next to these was the brigade of Coenus, son of Polemocrates ; after these that of Perdiceas, spn of Orontes, then that of Meleager, son of Neoptolemus, then that of Polysperchon,^ son of Simmias, and last that of Amyntas, son of Andromenes, under the com- mand of Simmias, because Amyntas had been despatched to Macedonia to levy an army. The brigade of Oraterus, son of Alexander, held the left end of the Macedonian phalanx, and this general commanded the left wing of the infantry.* Next to him was the allied Grecian ' " Several names of various contingents stated to have been present in the field are not placed in the official return— thus the Sogdiani, the Arians, and the Indian mountaineers are mentioned by Arrian as having joined Darius (iii. 8) ; the Kossaeans by Diodorm (xvii. 59) ; the Sogdiani, Massagatae, Belitae, Kossaeans, Goityae, Phrygians, and Kataonians, by Curtitis (iv. 12)." — Grote. ^ This distinguished general succeeded Antipater as regent of Mace- donia, but was overcome by Cassander, the son of the former, and he- came subordinate to him. There were thus six taxeis, or brigades of foot Companions, as they Alexander's Tacties, 163 cavalry, under the command of Brigyius, son of Lariclius. Next to these, towards the left wing of the army, were the Thessalian cavalry, under the command of Philip, son of Menelaiis. But the whole left wing was led by Parmenio, son of Philotas, round whose person were ranged the Phar^alian horsemen, who were both the best and most numerous squadron of the Thessalian cavalry. CHAPTER XII. Alexandeb's Tactics. In this way had Alexander marshalled his army in front ; but he also posted a second array, so that his phalanx might be a double one.^ Directions had been given to the commanders of these men posted in reserve, to wheel round and receive the attack of the foreigners, if they should see their own comrades surrounded by the Per- sian army. Next to the royal squadron on the right wing, half of the Agrianians, under the command of Attains, in conjunction with the Macedonian archers under Briso's command, were posted angular-wise {i.e. in such a way that the wings were thrown forward at an angle with the centre, so as to take the enemy in flank) in case they should be seized anyhow by the necessity of folding back the phalanx or of closing it up {i.e. of deepening it by countermarching from front to rear). Next to the archers were the men called the veteran mercenaries, whose commander was Oleander. In front of the Agrianians and archers were posted the light cavalry used for skirmishing, and the Paeonians, under were called, in the phalanx of infantry at the battle of Arbela. Arrian's description of the battle at the Granicus (i. 14) seems to be erroneous in some of the words of the text ; yet it may be gathered from it that there were also six taxeis in Alexander's phalanx on that occasion also. ' See Arrian's Tactics, 29. 164 The Anabasis of Alexander. the command of Aretes and Aristo. In front of all had been posted the Grecian mercenary cavalry under the direction of Menidas ; and in front of the royal squadron of cavalry and the other Companions had been posted half of the Agrianians and archers, and the javelin-men of Balacrus who had been ranged opposite the scythe-bear- ing chariots. Instructions had been given to Menidas and the troops under him to wheel round and attack the enemy in flank, if they should ride round their wing. Thus had Alexander arranged m?itters on the right wing. On the left the Thracians under the command of Sitalces had been posted angular-w^se, and near them the cavalry of the Grecian allies, under the direction of Coeranus. Next stood the Odrysian cavalry, under the command of Agatho, son of Tyrimmas. In this part, in front of all, were posted the auxiliary cavalry of the Grecian mercenaries, under the direction of Andromachus, son of Hiero. Near the baggage the infantry from Thrace were posted as a guard. The whole of Alexander's army numbered 7,000 cavalry and about 40,000 infantry. CHAPTER XIII. The Battle op Arbela. When the armies drew near each other, Darius and the men around him were observed ; viz. the apple-bearing Persians, the Indians, the Albanians, the Carians who had been forcibly transported into Central Asia, the Mardian archers ranged opposite Alexander himself and his royal squadron of cavalry. Alexander led his own army more towards the right, and the Persians marched along parallel with him, far outflanking him upon their left.^ Then the Scythian cavalry rode along the line, ' Of. Diodorus (x?ii. 57). The Battle of Arbela. 165 and came into conflict with the front men of Alexander's array j but he nevertheless still continued to march to- wards the right, and almost entirely got beyond the ground which had been cleared and levelled by the Persians.^ Then Darius, fearing that his chariots would become useless, if the Macedonians advanced into un- even ground, ordered the front ranks of his left wing to ride round the right wing of the Macedonians, where Alexander was commanding, to prevent him from march- ing his wing any further. This being done, Alexander ordered the cavalry of the Grecian mercenaries under the command of Menidas to attack them. But the Scythian cavalry and the Bactrians, who had been drawn up with them sallied forth against them, and being much more numerous they put the small body of Greeks to rout. Alexander then ordered Aristo at the head of the Paeonians and Grecian auxiliaries to attack the Scythians ; and the barbarians gave way. But the rest of the Bactrians drawing near to the Paeonians and Grecian auxiliaries, caused their own comrades who were already in flight to turn and renew the battle ; and thus they brought about a general cavalry engagement, in which many of Alexander's men fell, not only being overwhelmed by the multitude of the barbarians, but also because the Scythians themselves and their horses were much more completely protected with armour for guarding their bodies.* Notwithstanding this, the Macedonians sustained their assaults, and assailing them violently squadron by squadron, they succeeded in pushing them out of rank. Meantime the foreigners launched their scythe-bearing charjots against Alexander himself, for the purpose of throwing his phalanx into ' See Donaldson's New Gratyhis, sect. 178. 2 Of. CuTtiui, iv. 35. "Equitibus equisque tegumenta erant ex ferreis laminis serie inter se connexis." 166 The Anabasis of Alexander. confusion; but in this fhey were grievously deceived. For as soon as some of them approached, the Agrianians and the javelin-men with Balacrus, who had been posted in front of the Companion cavalry, hurled their javelins at them ; others they seized by the reins and pulled the drivers off, and standing round the horses killed them. Yet some rolled right through the ranks ; for the men stood apart and opened their ranks, as they had been instructed, in the places where the chariots assaulted them. In . this way it generally happened that the chariots passed through safely, and the men by whom they were driven were uninjured. But these also were afterwards overpowered by the grooms of Alexander's army and by the royal shield-bearing guards.^ CHAPTER XIV. Battle of Aebela. — Flight of Daeius. As soon as Darius began to set his whole phalanx in motion, Alexander ordered Aretes to attack those who were riding completely round his right wing; and up to that time he was himself leading his men in column. But when the Persians had made a break in the front line of their army, in consequence of the cavalry sally- ing forth to assist those who were surrounding the right wing, Alexander wheeled round towards the gap, and forming a wedge as it were of the Companion cavalry and of the part of the phalanx which was posted here, he led them with a quick charge and loud battle-cry straight towards Darius himself. For a short time there ensued a hand-to-hand fight ; but when the Macedonian cavalry, commanded by Alexander himself, pressed on ' Compare the uselessness of the Persian scjthed chariots at the battle of Cunaza. See Xenophon (Anabasis, i. 8). So also at the battle of Magnesia between Soipio and Autiochns. See Livy, xxxvii. 41. Flight of Bomus. 1G7 vigorously, thrusting themselves against the Persians and striking their faces with their spears, and when the Macedonian phalanx in dense array and bristling ^ with long pikes had also made an attack upon them, all things at once appeared full of terror to Darius, who had already long been in a state of fear, so that he was the first to turn and flee.^ The Persians also who were riding round the wing were seized with alarm when Aretes made a vigorous attack upon them. In this quarter indeed the Persians took to speedy flight ; and the Macedonians followed up the fugitives and slaughtered them.^ Bimmias and his brigade were not yet able to start with Alexander in pursuit, but causing the phalanx to halt there, he took part in the struggle, because the left wing of the Macedonians was reported to be hard pressed. In this part of the field, their line being broken, some of the Indians and of the Persian cavalry burst through the gap towards the baggage of the Macedonians ; and there the action became desperate.^ For the Persians fell boldly on the men, who were most of them unarmed, and- never expected that any men would cut through the double phalanx and break through upon them.* When the Persians made this attack, the ' ■>re issuing from the furthest recess of the Euxine^ Sea, and this river Tanais, which discharges itself into the Maeotis, separate Asia and Europe, ^ just in the same way as the sea near Gadeira and the Nomad Libyans opposite Gadeira separates Libya and Europe.^ Libya also is said by these men to be divided from the rest of Asia by the river Nile. In this place (viz. at the river Tanais), some of the Macedonians, being engaged in foraging, were cut to pieces by the barbarians. The perpetrators of this deed escaped to a mountain, which was very rugged and precipitous on aU sides. In number they were about 30,000. Alexander took the lightest men in his army and marched against these. Then the Macedonians made many ineffectual assaults upon the mountain. At first they were beaten back by the missiles of the bar- barians, and many of them were wounded, includiag Alexander himself, who was shot right through the leg with an arrow, and the fibula of his leg was broken. Notwithstanding this, he captured the place, and some of the barbarians were cut to pieces there by the Mace- 1 Euxeinos (kind to strangers) ; called before the Greeks settled upon it Axenos (inhospitable). See Ovid (Tristia, iv.. 4). C£. Ammianus (xxii. 8, 33) : " A contrario per oavillationem Pontus Euxinus adpellatur, et euethen Graeoi dieimus stultum, et nootem euphronen et furias Eumenidas." 2 So Gurtivs (vi. 6) makes the Don the boundary of Etirope and Asia. " Tanais Europam et Asiam medius interfuit." Ammianus says : " Tanais inter Caueasias oriens rupes, per sinuosos labitur circumflexus, Asiamque disterminans ab Europa, in stagnis Maeotieis deliteseit." The Eha, or Volga, is first mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century of the Christian era. 2 Gadeira is now called Cadiz. The Greeks called the continent of Africa by the name of Libya. So Polybius (iii. 37) says that the Don is the boundary of Europe, and that Libya is separated from Asia and Europe respectively by the Nile and the Straits of Gibraltar, or, as he caUs the latter, " the mouth at the pillars of Hercules." Arrian here, like many ancient authors, considers Libya a part of Asia. Of. Juvenal, x. i. 204 The Anabasis of Alexander. donians, while many also cast themselves down from tte rocks and perished ; so that out of 30,000 not more than 8,000 were preserved.^ ' Curtius (vii. 23) gives an account of the massacre by Alexander of the descendants of the Branchidae, who had surrendered to Xerxes the treasures of the temple of ApoUo near Miletus, and who, to escape the vengeance of the Greeks, had accompanied Xerxes into the interior. They had been settled in Sogdiana, and their descendants had preserved themselves distinct from the barbarians for 150 years, tiU the arrival of Alexander. We learn from the table of contents of the 17th book of Diodorus, that that historian also gave an account of this atrocity of Alexander in the part of his history, now lost, which came after the 83rd chapter. Cf. Herodotus (i. 92, 157 ; v. 36) ; Strabo (xi. 11 ; xiv. 1). BOOK lY. CHAPTER I. Rebellion of the Sogdianians. A FEW days after this, envoys reached Alexander from the people called Abian Scythians, whom Homer com- mended in his poem, calling them the justest of men.^ This nation dwells in Asia and is independent, chiefly by reason of its poverty and love of justice. Envoys also came from the Scythians of Europe, who are the largest nation dwelling in that coutinent.^ Alexander sent some of the Companions with them, under the pre- text indeed that they were to conclude a friendly alliance by the embassy ; but the real object of the mission was rather to spy into the natural features of the Scythian land, the number of the inhabitants and their customs, as well as the armaments which they possessed for making military expeditions.* He formed a plan of founding a city near the river Tanais, which was to be named after himself; for the site seemed to him suitable and likely to cause the city to grow to large dimensions. He also thought it would be built in a place which would serve as a favourable basis of operations for an invasion of Scythia, if such an event should ever occur ; and not 1 See Homer's Iliad, xiii. 6. Cf. Curtius, vii. 26 ; Ammianus, xxiii. 6. 2 Cf. Thucydides, ii. 97. ' Curtius (vii 26) says, he sent one of his friends named Berdes on this mission. 205 206 The Anabasis of Alexander. only so, but it would also be a bulwark to secure the land against the incursions of the barbarians dwelling on the further side of the river. Moreover he thought that the city would become great, both by reason of the multitude of those who would join in colonizing it, and on account of the celebrity of the name conferred upon it.^ Meantime the barbarians dwelling near the river seized upon the Macedonian soldiers who were garrison- ing their cities and killed them ; after which they began to strengthen the cities for their greater security. Most of the Sogdianians joined them in this revolt, being urged on to it by the men who had arrested, Bessus. These men were so energetic that they even induced some of the Bactrians to join in the rebellion, either because they were afraid of Alexander, or because their seducers assigned as a reason for their revolt, that he had sent instructions to the rulers of that land to assemble for a conference at Zariaspa, the chief city; which conference, they said, would be for no good purpose.^ CHAPTER II. Capture op Five Cities in Two Days. When Alexander was informed of this, he gave instruc- tions to the infantry, company by company, to prepare the ladders which were assigned to each company. He then started from the camp and advanced to the nearest city, the name of which was Gaza ; for the barbarians of the land were said to have fled for refuge into seven cities. He sent Craterus to the one called Oyropolis, > This was called Alexandria Ultima, on the Jaxartes, probably the modem Khojend. ^ Of. Gwrtius (vii. 26). Zariaspa was another name for Bactra. See Pliny (vi. 18) and Straho (xi. 11). Capture of Five Oities in Two Days. 207 the largest of them all, into which most of the barbarians had gathered.^ The orders of Craterus were to encamp ^ near the city, to dig a trench round it, to surround it with a stockade, and to fix together the military engines which were required for use, so that the men in this city, having had their attention drawn to his forces,/ might be unable to render aid to the other cities. As soon as Alexander arrived at Gaza, without any delay he gave the signal to his men to place the ladders against the wall all round and to take it by assault at once, as it was made merely of earth and was not at all high. Simultaneously with the assault of the infantry, his slingers, archers, and javelin-throwers assailed the defenders on the wall, and missiles were hurled from the military engines, so that the wall was quickly cleared of its defenders by the multitude of the missiles. Then the fixing of the ladders against the wall and the mount- ing of the Macedonians were matters soon effected. They killed all the men, according to Alexander's injunctions ; but the women, the children, and the rest of the booty they carried off as plunder. Thence he immediately marched to the city situated next to that one ; and this he took in the same way and on the same day, treating the captives in the same manner. Then he marched ao-ainst the third city, and took it on the next day at the first assault. While he was thus occupied by these matters with the infantry, he sent out his cavalry to the two neighbouring cities, with orders to guard the men within them closely, so that when they heard of the capture of the neighbouring cities, and at the same time of his own near approach, they should not betake them- selves to flight and render it impossible for him to pursue them. It turned out just as he had conjectured; and 1 This city was also called Cyreaohata, because it was the furthest city founded by Cyrus, and the extreme city of the Persian empire. 208 The Anabasis of Alexander. Ms despatch of the cavalry was made just at the nick of time. For when the barbarians who occupied the two cities still uncaptured, saw the smoke rising from the city in front of them which was then on fire, (and some men, escaping even from the midst of the calamity itself, became the reporters of the capture which they had themselves witnessed,) they began to flee in crowds out of the cities as fast as each man could ; but falling in with the dense body of cavalry drawn up in array of battle, most of them were cut to pieces. OHAPTBE in. Storming op Oyeopolis. — Revolt op the Sctthians. Having thus captured the five cities and reduced them to slavery in two days,^ he went to Cyropolis, the largest city in the country. It was fortified with a wall higher than those of the others, as it had been founded by Cyrus. The majority of the barbarians of this district, and at the same time the most warlike of them, had fled for refuge thither, and consequently it was not possible for the Macedonians to capture it so easily at the first assault. Wherefore Alexander brought his military engines up to the wall with the determination of battering it down in this way, and of making assaults wherever breaches might be made in it. When he observed that the channel of the river, which flows through the city when it is swollen by the winter rains, was at that time nearly dry and did not reach up to the wall, and would thus afford his soldiers a passage by which to penetrate into the city, he took the body-guards, the shield-bearing guards, the, archers, and Agrianians, and made his way secretly into ' 5ml was not used in Attio Greek, or but seldom. It became common after the time of Alexander. Revolt of the Scythians. 209 tbe city along the channel/ at first with a few men, while the barbarians had turned their attention towards the mili- tary engines and those who were assailing them in that quarter. Having from within broken open the gates which were opposite this position, he gave an easy admit- tance to the rest of his soldiers. Then the barbarians, though they perceived that their city was already in the hands of the enemy, nevertheless turned against Alexan- der and his men and made a desperate assault upon them, in which Alexander himself received a violent blow on the head and neck with a stone, and Craterus was wounded with an arrow, as were also many other officers. Not- withstanding this, however, they drove the barbarians out of the market-place. Meantime, those who had made the assault upon the wall, took it, as it was now void of defenders. In the first capture of the city about 8,000 of the enemy were killed. The rest fled for refuge into the citadel; for 15,000 warriors in all had gathered to- gether in the city. Alexander encamped around these and besieged them for one day,^ and then they surren- dered through lack of water. The seventh city he took at the first assault. Ptolemy says that the men in it surren- dered; but Aristobulus asserts that this city was also taken by storm, and that he slew all who were captured therein. Ptolemy also says that he distributed the men among the army and ordered that they should be kept guarded in chains until he should depart from the country, so that none of those who had efiected the revolt should be left behind. Meantime an army of the Asiatic Scythians arrived at the bank of the river Tanais, because most of them had heard that some of the barbarians on the oppo- site side of the river had revolted from Alexander. They intended to attack the Macedonians, if any revolutionary movement worthy of consideration were effected. News 1 Instead of iiiiipf /iia, Siutenis reads riii^pav /jUav. P 210 The Anabasis of Alexander. was also brought that Spitamenes was besieging the men who had been left in the citadel at Maracanda. Against him Alexander then despatched Andromachus, Menede- mus, and Caranus with sixty of the Companion cavalry, 800 of the mercenary cavalry under the command of Caranus, and 1,500 mercenary infantry. Over them he placed Pharnuches the interpreter, who, though by birth a Lycian, was skilled in the language of the barbarians of this country, and in other respects appeared clever in dealing with them. CHAPTER IV. Defeat of the Scythians beyond the Tanais. In twenty days he fortified the city which he was project- ing, and settled in it some of the Grecian mercenaries and those of the neighbouring barbarians who volunteered to take part in the settlement, as well as the Macedonians from his army who were now unfit for military service.^ He then offered sacrifice to the gods in his customary manner and celebrated an equestrian and gymnastic con- test. When he saw that the Scythians were not retiring from the river's bank, but were seen to be shooting arrows into the river, which was not wide here, and were uttering audacious words in their barbaric tongue to insult Alexander, to the effect that he durst not touch Scythians, or if he did, he would learn what was the dif- ference between them and the Asiatic barbarians, he was irritated by these remarks, and having resolved to cross over against them, he began to prepare the skins for the passage of the river.'' But. when he offered sacrifice with a view to crossing, the victims proved to be unfavourable ; and though he was vexed at this, he nevertheless con- ' This city was called by the Greeks, Alexandria on the Tanais. See Curtius, vii. 28. ' Cf. Livy, xxi. 27 :— Hispani sine uUa mole in utres vestimentis oonjectis ipsi caetris superpositis inoubautes flumen tranavere. Defeat of the Scythians 'beyond the Tanais. 211 trolled himself and remained where he was. But as the Scythians did not desist from their insults, he again offered sacrifice with a view to crossing; and Aristander told him that the omens still portended danger to himself. But Alexander said that it was better for him to come into extreme danger than that, after having subdued almost the whole of Asia, he should be a laughing-stock to the Scythians, as Darius, the father of Xerxes, had been in days of yore.^ Aristander refused to explain the will of the gods contrary to the revelations made by the deity simply because Alexander wished to hear the contrary. When the skins had been prepared for the passage, and the army, fully equipped, had been posted near the river, the military engines, at the signal preconcerted, began to shoot at the Scythians riding along the river's bank. Some of them were wounded by the missiles, and one was struck right through the wicker-shield and breastplate and fell from his horse. The others, being alarmed at the discharge of missiles from so great a distance, and at the death of their champion, retreated a little from the bank. But Alexander, seeing them thrown into confusion by the effect of his missiles, began to cross the river with trumpets sounding, himself leading the way ; and the rest of the army followed him. Having firgt got the archers and slingers across, he ordered them to sling and shoot at the Scythians, to prevent them approaching the pha- lanx of infantry stepping out of the water, until all his cavalry had passed over. When they were upon the bank in dense mass, he first of all launched against the Scythians one regiment of the Grecian auxiliary cavalry and four squadrons of pike-men. These the Scythians re- ceived, a;nd in great numbers riding round them in circles, wounded them, as they were few in number, themselves escaping with ease. But Alexander mixed the archers, I See Herodotus, iv. 122-142. 212 The Anabasis of Alexander. the Agrianiaus, and other light troops under the oommand of Balacrus, with the cavalry, and then led them against the enemy. As soon as they came to close quarters, he ordered three regiments of the cavalry Companions and all the horse-lancers to charge them. The rest of the cavalry he himself led, and made a rapid attack with his squadrons in column. Accordingly the enemy were no longer able as before to wheel their cavalry force round in circles, for at one and the same time the cavalry and the light-armed infantry mixed with the horsemen pressed upon them, and did not permit them to wheel about in safety. Then the flight of the Scythians was already apparent. 1,000 of them fell, including Satraces, one of their chiefs ; and 150 were captured. But as the pursuit was keen and fatiguing on account of the excessive heat, the entire army was seized with thirst ; and Alexander himself while riding drank of such water as was procur- able in that country. He was seized with an incessant diarrhoea; for the water was bad; and for this reason he could not pursue all the Scythians. Otherwise I think all of them would have perished in the flight, if Alexander had not fallen ill. He was carried back to the camp, having fallen into extreme danger ; and thus Aris- tander's prophecy was fulfilled. CHAPTER V. Spitamenes Desteoys a Macedonian Detachment. Soon after this, arrived envoys from the king of the Scythians, who were sent to apologize for what had been done, and to state that it was not the act of the Scythian State, but of certain men who set out for plunder after the manner of freebooters. They also assured him that their king was willing to obey the commands laid upon him. Alexander sent to him a courteous reply, because it did not seem honourable for him to abstain from march- Bpitamenes Destroys a Macedonian Detachment. 213 ing against him if he distrusted him, and at'that time there was not an convenient opportunity to do so. The Macedonians who were garrisoning the citadel at Mara- canda, when an assault was made upon it by Spitamenes and his adherents, sallied forth, and killing some of the enemy and repulsing all the rest, retreated into the cita- del without any loss. But when Spitamenes was informed that the men despatched by Alexander to Maracanda were now drawing near, he raised the siege of the citadel, and retired to the capital of Sogdiana,^ Pharnuches and the generals with him, being eager to drive him out alto- gether, followed him up as he was retreating towards the frontiers of Sogdiana, and without due consideration made a joint attack upon the Nomad Scythians. Then Spita- menes, having received a reinforcement of 600 Scythian horsemen, was further emboldened by the Scythian alliance to wait and receive the Macedonians who were advancing upon him. Posting his men in a level place near the Scythian desert, he was not willing either to wait for the enemy or to attack them himself ; but rode round and discharged arrows at- the phalanx of infantry. When the forces of Pharnuches made a charge upon them, they easily escaped, since at that time their horses were swifter and more vigorous, while the horse of Androm- achus had been damaged by the incessant marching, as well as by lack of fodder; and the Scythians pressed upon them with all their might whether they halted or retreated. Many of them then were wounded by the arrows, and some were killed. They therefore arranged the soldiers into the form of a square and proceeded to the river Polytimetus,^ because there was a woody glen near it, and it would consequently no longer be easy for 1 This -was Maracanda, according to iii. 30 supra. There is an error in the text ; Abicht proposes to read iirl ri, Spia, instead of is ri, ^aaiXeia. 2 This river is now called Sogd, or Kohik. The Greek name signifies "very precious," a translation of the native name. Of. Strabo, p. 618. 214 The Anabasis of Alexander. the barbarians to sboot arrows at them, and their infantry would be more useful to them. But Caranus, the com- mander of the cavalry, without communicating with Andromachus, attempted to cross the river in order to put the cavalry in a place of safety on the other side. The infantry followed him without any word of command ; their descent into the river being made in a panic and without any discipline down the precipitous banks. When the barbarians perceived the error of the Macedonians, they sprang into the ford here and there, horses and all. Some of them seized and held tight those who had already crossed and were departing ; others being posted right in front of those who were crossing, rolled them over into the river ; others shot arrows at th.em from the flanks ; while others pressed upon the mqn who were just enter- ing the water. The Macedonians being thus encompassed with difficulty on all sides, fled for refuge into one of the small islands in the river, where they were entirely surrounded by the Scythians and the cavalry of Spita- menes, and all killed with arrows, except a few of them, whom they reduced to slavery. All of these were after- wards killed. CHAPTER VI. Spitambnes Dkiven into the Desert. But Aristobulus says the greater part of this army was destroyed by an ambuscade, the Scythians having hidden themselves in a park and fallen upon the Macedonians from their place of concealment, when Pharnuches was in the very act of retiring from the command in favour of the Macedonians who had been sent with him, on the ground of his not being skilled in military afiairs, and of his having been sent by Alexander rather to win the favour of the barbarians than to take the supreme com- mand in battles. He also alleged that the Macedonian Spitamenes Driven into the Desert. 215 officers present were the king's Companions. But An- dromachus, Menedemus, and Caranus declined to accept the chief command, partly because it did not seem right to make any alteration on their own responsibility con- trary to Alexander's instructions to them, and partly because in the very crisis of danger, they were unwilling, if they met with any defeat, not only individually to take a share of the blame, but also collectively to exercise the command unsuccessfully. In this confusion and disorder the barbarians fell upon them, and cut them all off, so that not more than forty horsemen and 300 foot preserved their lives .^ When the report of this reached Alexander, he was chagrined at the loss of his soldiers, and resolved to march with all speed against Spitamenes and his barba- rian adherents. He therefore took half of the Companion cavalry, all the shield-bearing guards, the archers, the Agrianians, and the lightest men of the phalanx, and went towards Maracanda, where he ascertained Spitamenes had returned and was again besieging the men in the citadel. Having travelled 1,500 stades in three days, at the approach of dawn on the fourth day he came near the city ; * but when Spitamenes was informed of Alexander's approach, he did not remain, but abandoned the city and fled. Alexander pursued him closely ; and coming to the place where the battle was fought, he buried his soldiers as well as the circumstances permitted, and then followed the fugitives as far as the desert. Eeturning thence, he laid the land waste, and slew the barbarians who had fled for refuge into the fortified places, because they were re- ported to have taken part in the attack upon the Mace- donians.* He traversed the whole country which the ' Gurtiut (Tii. 32) says that Spitamenes laid an ambush for the Maeedoniana, and slew 300 cavalry and 2,000 infantry. ' About 170 miles. • Gwrtiua (vii. 40) says that Alexander founded six cities in Bactria and Sogdiana. Justin (xii. 5) says there were twelve. 216 The Anabasis of Alexander. river Polytimetus waters in its course ; but the country beyond the place where the water of this river disappears is desert ; for though it has abundance of water, it disap- pears into the sand.^ Other large and perennial rivers in that region disappear in a similar way : — the Epardus, which flows through the land of the Mardians j the Areius, after which the country of the Areians is named ; and the Btymander, which flows through the territory of the Euergetae.^ All of these are rivers of such a size that none of them is smaller than the Thessalian river Peneius, which flows through Tempe and discharges itself into the sea. The Polytimetus is much too large to be compared with the river Peneius.^ CHAPTER VII. Treatment of Bessus. When he had accomplished this, he came to Zariaspa; where he remained until the depth of winter arrived.* At this time came to him Phrataphernes the viceroy of Parthia, and Stasanor, who had been sent into the land of the Areians to arrest Arsames.^ Him they brought with them in chains, as also Barzanes, whom Bessus had ap- pointed viceroy of the land of the Parthians, and some others of those who at that time had joined Bessus in revolt. At the same time arrived from the sea, Bpocillus,* Melamnidas and Ptolemy, the general of the Thraciansj who had convoyed down to the sea the Grecian allies and ' This is a mistake ; for it ends in a lake Deugiz near Earakoul. ' The Areius is now called Heri-rud. The Etymander is the modem Hilmend. Nothing is known of the Epardus. ^ The PeneiuB is now called Salambria. It forces its way through the Tale of Tempe, between mounts Olympus and Ossa, into the sea. Cf. Ovid (Met., i. 568-576). * On the analogy of vpiv the later prose-writers use (pa(r94vTa is a word bor- rowed from Homer and Herodotus. The Murder of Olitus. 219 tad been taken away from Tyndareus and ascribed to Zeus, some of those present, in order to flatter Alexander, maintained that Polydeaces and Castor were in no way worthy to compare with him who had performed so many exploits. Such men have always corrupted the character of kings and will never cease to ruin the interests of those who happen to be reigning.^ In their carousal they did not even abstain from (comparing him with) Heracles ; saying that envy prevented the living from receiving the honours due to them from their associates. It was well known that Clitus had long been vexed at Alexander for the change in his style of living in imita- tion of foreign kings, and at those who flattered him with their speech. At that time also, being heated with wine, he would not permit them either to insult the deity or, by depreciating the deeds of the ancient heroes, to confer upon Alexander a gratification which deserved no thanks. He affirmed Alexander's deeds were neither in fact so great or marvellous as they represented in their lauda- tion J nor had he achieved them by himself, but for the most part they were the deeds of the Macedonians. The delivery of this speech annoyed Alexander ; and I do not commend it, for I think, in such a drunken bout, it would have been sufficient if, so far as he was personally con- cerned, he had kept silence, and not committed the error of indulging in the same flattery as the others. But when some even mentioned Philip's actions without ex- ercising a just judgment, declaring that he had performed nothing great or marvellous, they gratified Alexander; but Clitus being then no longer able" to contain himself, began to put Philip's achievements in the first rank, and to ' depreciate Alexander and his performances.^ Olitas 1 Of. CwrtiM, viii. 17 : " Non deerat talia conoupiscenti pernioiosa adu- latio perpetuum malum regum, quorum opes saepius assentatio quam hostis evertit." 2 Gurtius (viii. 3 and 4) says that it was Alexander himself that spoke 220 The Ajiahasis of Alexander. being now quite intoxicated, made other insolent remarks and even greatly reviled him, because forsooth he had saved his life, when the cavalry battle had been fought with the Persians at the Granicus. Then indeed, arro- gantly stretching out his right hand, he said : — " This hand, Alexander, preserved thee on that occasion." Alexander could now no longer endure the drunken in- solence of Clitus ; but jumped up against him in a great rage. He was however restrained by his boon-compan- ions. As Clitus did not desist from his insulting re- marks, Alexander shouted out a summons for his shield- bearing guards to attend him ; but when no one obeyed him, he said that he was reduced to the same position as Darius, when he was led about under arrest by Bessus and his adherents, and that he now possessed the mere name of king. Then his companions were no longer able to restrain him ; for according to some he leaped up and snatched a javelin from one of his confidential body- guards ; according to others, a long pike from one of his ordinary guards, with which he struck Clitus and killed him.^ Aristobulas does not say whence the drunken quarrel originated, but asserts that the fault was entirely on the side of Clitus, who, when Alexander bad got so enraged with him as to jump up against him with the intention of making an end of him, was led away by Ptolemy, son of Lagus, the confidential body-guard, through the gateway, beyond the wall and ditch of the citadel where the quarrel occurred. He adds that Clitus could not control himself, but went back again, and fall- ing in with Alexander who was calling out for Clitus, he exclaimed : — " Alexander, here is Clitus ! " Thereupon he was struck with a long pike and killed. depreciatingly of Philip, and that Clitus even dared to defend the mur- dered Farmenio. • Instead of the usual reading from Kal Taih-g to xal rair-qv, Sintenis reads ol Si ffdpLffav irapa rdv (pv\dKWv nubs Kal rairyiraia-aVTa Tbv "KXetTov dtroKretvai, Alexander's Grief for Clitus, 221 CHAPTER IX. Albxandee's Geiep foe Clitus. I THINK Clitus deserving of severe censure for his in- solent behaviour to his king, while at the same time I pity Alexander for his mishap, because on that occasion he showed himself the slave of two vices, anger and drunkenness, by neither of which is it seemly for a pru- dent man to be enslaved. But then on the other hand I think his subsequent behaviour worthy of praise, be- cause directly after he had done the deed he recognised that it was a horrible one. Some of his biographers even say that he propped the pike against the wall with the intention of falling upon it himself, thinking that it was not proper for him to live who had killed his friend when under the influence of wine. Most historians do not mention this, but say that he went off to bed and lay there lamenting, calling Clitus himself by name, and his sister Lanice, daughter of Dropidas, who had been his nurse. He exclaimed that having reached man's estate he had forsooth bestowed on her a noble reward for her care in rearing him, as she lived to see her own sons die fighting on his behalf, and the king slaying her brother with his own hand.^ He did not cease calling himself the murderer of his friends ; and for three days rigidly abstained from food and drink, and paid no attention what- ever to his personal appearance. Some of the soothsayers revealed that, the avenging wrath of Dionysus had been the cause of his conduct, because he had omitted the sacrifice to that deity.^ At last with great difficulty he was induced by his companions to touch food and to pay ' Cf. Curtius (viii. 3 and 6), who calls the sister of Clitus, Hellauioe. ' From Plutarch (Alex., 13) we learn that Alexander imagined he had incurred the avenging wrath of Bacchus hy destroying Thebes, the birthplace of that deity, on which account it was supposed to be under his tutelary care. 222 The Anabasis of Alexander. proper attention to his person.^ He then paid to Diony- sus the sacrifice due to him, since he was not at all unwill- ing to attribute the fatality rather to the avenging wrath of the deity than to his own depravity. I think Alexan- der deserves great praise for this, that he did not obsti- nately persevere in evil, or still worse become a defender and advocate of the wrong which had been done, but confessed that he had committed a crime, being a man and not a god. There are some who say that Anaxarchus the Sophist* was summoned into Alexander's presence to give him consolation. Finding him lying down and groaning, he laughed at him, and said that he did not know that the wise men of old for this reason made Justice an assessor of Zeus, because whatever was done by him was justly done* ; and therefore also that which was done by the Great King ought to be deemed just, in the first place by the king himself, and then by the rest of men. They say that Alexander was then greatly consoled by these remarks.* But I assert that Anaxarchus did Alexander a great injury and one still greater than that by which he was then oppressed, if he really thought this to be the opinion of a wise man, that forsooth it is proper for a king to come to hasty conclusions and act unjustly, and that whatever is done by a king must be deemed just, no 1 Curtius (viii. 6) says, that in order to console the king, the Macedo- nian army passed a vote that Clitus had been justly slain, and that his corpse should not be buried. But the king ordered its burial. * A philosopher of Abdera, and pupU of Democritus. After Alexander's death, Anaxarchus was thrown by shipwreck into the hands of Nioocreon, king of Cyprus, to whom he had given offence, and who had him pounded to death in a mortar. ^ Cf. Sophocles (Oedipus Co?., 1382 ; Antigone, 451);; Hesiod (Opera et Diet, 254-257) ; Pindar (Olympia, viii. 28) ; Demosthenes [Advert. Arittogiton, p. 772) ; Herodotus, iii. 31. ■• Plutarch (Alex., 52) tells us that CaUisthenes the philosopher was also summoned with Anaxarchus to administer consolation, but he adopted such a different tone that Alexander was displeased with him. Dispute between Callisthenes wnd Anaxarchus. 223 matter how it is done. There is also a current report that Alexander wished men to prostrate themselves before him as to a god, entertaining the notion that Ammon was his father, rather than Philip ; and that he now showed his admiration of the customs of the Persians and Medea by- changing the style of his dress, and by the alteration he made in the general etiquette of his court. There were not wanting those who in regard to these matters gave way to his wishes with the design of flattering him;" among others being Anaxarchus, one of the philosophers attending his court, and Agia, an Argive who waa an epic poet.^ CHAPTER X. Dispute between Callisthenes and Anaxaechus. But it ia said that Callisthenes the Olynthian, who had studied philosophy under Aristotle, and waa somewhat brusque in his manner, did not approve of this conduct j and so far as this is concerned I quite agree with him. But the following remark of his, if indeed it has been correctly recorded, I do not think at all proper, when he declared that Alexander and his exploits were dependent upon him and his history, and that he had not come to him to acquire reputation from him, but to make him renowned in the eyes of men; " consequently that Alexander's par- ticipation in divinity did not depend on the false asaertion of Olympiaa in regard to the author of his birth, but on 1 Curtius (viii. 17) says that Agis was the composer of very poor poems. " Justin (xii. 6) says that Callisthenes was a fellow-student with Alex- ander under Aristotle. He composed three historical works : I. Hel- lenica, from B.C. 387 to 337 ; II. The History of the Sacred War, from B.C. 357 to 346; III. The History of Alexander. Cf. DiodoitM, xiv. 117. According to Polybius (xii. 23), he was accused by Timaeua of having flattered Alexander in his History. 22-1 The Anabasis of Alexander. what he might report to mankind in his history of the king. There are some writers also who have said that on one occasion Philotas forsooth asked him, what man he thought to be held in especial honour by the people of Athens J and that he replied : — "Harmodius and Aristo- geiton ; because they slew one of the two despots, and put an end to the despotism/' i Philotas again asked : — " If it happened now that a man should kill a despot, to which of the Grecian States would you wish him to flee for - preservation ? " Callisthenes again replied : — " If not among others, at any rate among the Athenians an exile would find preservation ; for they waged war on be- half of the sons of Heracles against Burystheus, who at that time was ruling as a despot over Greece/' ^ How he resisted Alexander in regard to the ceremony of prostra- tion, the following is the most received account.* An arrangement was made between Alexander and the Sophists in conjunction with the most illustrious of the Persians and Medes who were in attendance upon him, that this topic should be mentioned at a wine-party. Anaxarchus commenced the discussion * by saying that he considered Alexander much more worthy of being deemed a god than either Dionysus or Heracles, not only on account of the very numerous and mighty exploits ' HipparchuB was slain B.C. 514, and Hippiae was expelled from Athens B.C. 510. See Thucydides, vi. 53-59. • Eurystheus was king over Argos and Mycenae alone. ' When Conon the famous Athenian visited Bahylon, he would not see Artaxerxes, from repugnance to the ceremony of prostration, which was required from all who approached the Great King. We are also in- formed hy Plutarch {Artaxerxes, 22), that Pelopidas declined to perform this ceremony, so degrading in the eyes of the Greeks. His colleague, Ismenias, however, diopped his ring in front of the king, and then stooped to pick it up, thus going through the act of prostration. Cf. Aehan (Varia Historia, i. 21). Xenophon said to his soldiers : — oiSiva yip S,v9pt»vov Sefftrdrriv dXX4 rois Beois irpoaKweTre. {Anab., iii. 13). * Cwtius (viii. 18) says that the speech proposing to honour Alexander as a god was made by Cleon, a Sicilian Greek. Callisthenes Op'poses the Prostration. 225 whicli he had performed^ but also because Dionysus was only a Theban, in no way related to Macedonians ; and Heracles was an Argive, not at all related to them, except that Alexander deduced his descent from him. He added that the Macedonians might with greater justice gratify their king with divine honours, for there was no doubt about this, that when he departed from men they would honour him as a god. How much more just then would it be to worship him while alive, than after his death, when it would be no advantage to him to be honoured. ^__^ OHAPTBE XI. Callisthenes Opposes the Peoposal to Hono.uk Alexander bt Pkosteation. When Anaxarchus had uttered these remarks and others of a similar kind, those who were privy to the plan ap- plauded his speech, and wished at once to begin the cere- mony of prostration. Most of the Macedonians, however, were vexed ^ at the speech and kept silence. But Callis- thenes interposed and said : — " Anaxarchus, I openly declare that there is no honour which Alexander is un- worthy to receive, provided that it is consistent with his being human ; but men have made distinctions between those honours which are due to men, and those due to gods, in many different ways, as for instance by the building of temples and by the erection of statues. Moreover for the gods sacred enclosures are selected, to them sacrifice is offered, and to them libations are made. Hymns also are composed in honour of the god&, and eulogies for men. But the greatest distinction is made by the custom of prostration. For it is the practice that men should be kissed by those who salute them^; but ' dxSofUvovs. The usual reading is liaxo/ihovs. ' Of. Xenophon (Cyrop., i. i, 27) : — ^X^yeroj Toiis irvyyeveU ^iKovpras i,voieiiJ.TteaB(u airbv vifiif UepcriK^. '226 The Anabasis of Alexander. because tlie deity is located somewliere above, it is not lawful even to toucb him, and tbis is tbe reason no doubt wby he is honoured by prostration. Bands of choral dancers are also appointed for the gods, and paeans are sung in their honour. And this is not at all wonderful, seeing that certain honours are specially assigned to some of the gods and certain others to other gods, and, by Zeus, quite different ones again are assigned to heroes, which are very distinct from those paid to the deities.^ It is not therefore reasonable to confound all these distinctions without discrimination, exalting men to a rank above their condition by extravagant accumulation of honours, and debasing the gods, as far as lies in human power, to an unseemly level, by paying them honours only equal to those paid to men." He said that Alexander would not endure the affront, if some private individual were to be thrust into his royal honours by an unjust vote, either by show of hand or by ballot. Much more justly then would the gods be indignant at those mortals who usurp divine honours or suffer themselves to be thrust into them by others. " Alexander not only seems to be, but is in reality beyond any competition the bravest of brave menj of kings the most kingly, and of generals the most worthy to command an army. Anaxarchus, it was thy duty, rather than any other man's, to become the special advocate of these arguments now adduced by me, and the opponent of those contrary to them, seeing that thou associatest with him for the purpose of imparting philosophy and instruction. Therefore it was unseemly to begin this discussion, when thou oughtest to have re- membered that thou art not associating with and giving advice to Cambyses or Xerxes, but to the son of Philip, who derives his origin from Heracles and Aeacus,3 whose ' irpbaKuvTat,. Cf . Herodotus, i. 118 •■ — Toiai BeCov ri/i'ij allTrj Trpoa-K^erai. 2 Alexander's mother Olympias was dangliter of Neoptolemns, king of 'Epirus, ■who traced his descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, the grandson of Aeaous. Callisthenes Opposes the Prostration. 227 ancestors came into Macedonia from Argos, and have continued to rule the Macedonians, not by force, but by law. N6t even to Heracles himself whUe still alive were divine honours paid by the Greeks j and even after his death they were withheld until a decree had been pub- lished by the oraclQ of the god at Delphi that men should honour Heracles as a god. But if, because the discussion is held ^ in the land of foreigners, we ought to adopt the sentiments of foreigners, I demand, Alexander, that thou shouldst bethink thyself of Greece, for whose sake the whole of this expedition was undertaken by thee, that thou mightest join Asia to Greece. Therefore make up thy mind whether thou wilt return thither and compel the Greeks, who are men most devoted to freedom, to pay . thee the honour of prostration, or whether thou wilt keep aloof from Greece, and inflict this honour on the Mstce- donians alone, or thirdly whether thou wilt thyself make a difference in every respect as to the honours to be paid- thee, so as to be honoured by the Greeks and Macedon- ians as a human being and after the manner of the Greeks, and by foreigners alone after the foreign fashion of prostration. But if it is said that Cyrus, son of Cambyses, was the first man to whom the honour of prostration was paid, and that afterwards this degrading ceremony continued in vogue among the Persians and Medes, we ought to bear in mind that the Scythians, men poor but independent, chastised that Cyrus ; ^ that other Scythians again chastised Darius, as the Athenians and Lacedaemonians did Xerxes, as Clearchus and Xeno- phon with their 10,000 followers did Artaxerxes; and finally, that Alexander, though not honoured with pros- tration, has conquered this Darius." > ol \6yoi yLypovTcu. There is another reading, 6X1701 yiyvaprai,. ^ Of. Herodotus, i. 214, with Dean Blakesley's note. 228 The Anabasis of Alexander. CHAPTER XII. Oallisthenes Refuses to Peosteate Himself. By making these and other remarks of a similar kind, Callisthenes greatly annoyed Alexander, but spoke the exact sentiments of the Macedonians. When the king perceived this, he sent to prevent the Macedonians from making any farther mention of the ceremony of pros- tration. Bat after the discussion silence ensued; and then the most honourable of the Persians arose in due order and prostrated their bodies before him. But when one of the Persians seemed to have performed the cere- mony in an awkward way, Leonnatus, one of the Compan- ions, laughed at his posture as mean. Alexander at the time was angry with him for this, but was afterwards reconciled to him.^ The following account has also been given : — Alexander drank from a golden goblet the health 'of the circle of guests, and handed it first to those with whom he had concerted the ceremony of prostration. The first who drank from the goblet rose up and per- forated the act of prostration, and received a kiss from him. This ceremony proceeded from one to another in due order. But when the pledging of health came to the turn of CalHsthenes, he rose up and drank from the goblet, and drew near, wishing to kiss the king without performing the act of prostration. Alexander happened then to be conversing with Hephaestion, and conse- quently did not observe whether Callisthenes performed the ceremony properly or not. But when Callisthenes was approaching to kiss him, Demetrius, son of Pythonax, one of the Companions, said that he was doing so without having prostrated himself. So the king would not permit him to kiss him i whereupon the philosopher said :-^" I ' Curtius (viii. 20) says, that it wa3 Polysperohon who made sport of the Persian, and incurred the king's wrath. Conspiracy of the Pages. 229 am going away only witli the loss of a kiss." I by no means approve any of tliese proceedings, whicli manifested both the insolence of Alexander on the present occasion and the churlish nature of Callisthenes. But I think that, so far as regards himself, it would have been quite sufficient if he had given his opinion discreetly, magni- fying as much as possible the exploits of the king, with whom no one thought it a dishonour to associate. There- fore I consider that not without reason Callisthenes be- came odious to Alexander on account of the unseasonable freedom of speech in which he indulged,^ as well as from the egregious fatuity of his conduct. I surmise that this was the reason why such easy credit was given to those who accused him of participating in the conspiracy formed against Alexander by his pages, and to those also who affirmed that they had been incited to engage in the con- spiracy by him alone. The facts of this conspiracy were as follows :— CHAPTER XIII. CONSPIEACT OF THE PaGES. It was a custom introduced by Philip, that the sons of those Macedonians who had enjoyed high office, should, as soon as they reached the age of puberty, be selected to attend the king's court. ■ These youths were entrusted with the general attendance on the king's person and the protection of his body wEile he was asleep. Whenever the king rode out, some of them received the horses from the grooms, and brought them to him, and others assisted him to mount in the Persian fashion. They were ' Ammianus (xviii. 3) says : " Ignorans prof eoto Tetus Aristotelis sapiens dictum, qui Callisthenem sectatorem et propinquum suum ad regem .Alexandrum mittens, ei saepe mandabat, ut quam rarissime et jucunde apud hominem loqueretur, yitae potestatem et neois in acie linguae por- |tantem." 230 The Anabasis of Alexander. also companions of the king in the emulation of the chase.^ Among these youths was Hermolaus, son of Sopolis, who seemed to be applying his mind to the study of philosophy, q;nd to be cultivating the society of Callisthenes for this purpose. There is current a tale about this youth to the effect that in the chase, a boar rushed at Alexander, and that Hermolaus anticipated him by casting a javelin at the beast, by which it was smitten and killed. But Alexander, having lost the opportunity of distinguishing himself by being too late in the assault, was indignant with Hermolaus, and in his wrath ordered him to receive a scourging in sight of the other pages ; and also deprived him of his horse. This Hermolaus, being chagrined at the disgrace he had in- curred, told SosfcratuSj son of Amyntas, who was his equal in age and intimate confidential friend, that life would be insupportable to him unless he could take vengeance upon Alexander for the affront. He easily persuaded Sostratus to join in the enterprise, since he was fondly attached to him. They gained over to their plans Antipater, son of Asclepiodorus, viceroy of Syria, Bpimenes son of Arseas, Anticles son of Theocritus, and -Philotas son of Carsis the Thracian. They therefore •agreed to kill the king by attacking him in his sleep, on the night when the nocturnal watch came round to Antipater's turn. Some say that Alexander accidentally 'happened to "be drinking until day-break; but Aristo- bulus has given the following account : A Syrian woman, 'who was under the inspiration of the deity, used to fol- low Alexander about. At first she was a subject of mirth to Alexander and his courtiers; but when all that she ' Cf. Curtius (viii. 21) ; Aelian (Varia Historia, xiv. 49). After the battle of Pydna, where the Eomans conquered the JIaoedouians, the pueri regit followed the defeated Mug Perseus to the sanctuary at Samo- thrace, and never quitted him till he surrendered to the Eomans. See Livy, xIt. 6. JElxecution of Oallisthenes and Hermolaus. 231 said in her inspiration was seen to be true, he no longer treated her with neglect, but she was allowed to have free access to him both by night and day, and she often took her stand near him even when he was asleep. And in- deed on that occasion, when he was withdrawing from the drinking-party she met him, being under the inspira- tion of the deity at the time, and besought him to return and drink all night. Alexander, thinking that there was something divine in the warning, returned and went on drinking; and thus the enterprise of the pages fell through.^ The next day, Bpimenes son of Arseas, one of those who took part in the conspiracy, spoke of the undertaking to Oharicles son of Menander, who had be- come his confidential friend; and Oharicles told it to Eurylochus, brother of Bpimenes. Eurylochus went to Alexander's tent and related the whole affair to -Ptolemy son of Lagus, one of the confidential body-guards. He told Alexander, who ordered those whose names had been mentioned by Eurylochus to be arrested. These, being put on the rack, confessed their own conspiracy, and mentioned the names of certain others. CHAPTER XIV. Execution of Oallisthenes and Hermolaus. Aeistobulus says that the youths asserted it was Oallis- thenes who instigated them to make the daring attempt ; and Ptolemy says the same.^ Most writers, however, do ' For this use of SiaTlwrav, of. Aiiatopha,neB'[Knights, 695) ; Polybius (v. 26, 16) ; SiairecroiffTis air^ ttjs iTi^ovX^s. ^ Alexander wrote to Craterus, Attains, and Alcetas, that the pages, though put to the torture, asserted that no one but themselves was privy to the conspiracy. In another letter, written to Antipater the regent of Macedonia, he says that the pages had been stoned to death by the Macedonians, but that he himself would punish the Sophist, and those' who sent him out, and those who harboured in their cities 232 The Anabasis of Alesoander. not agree with this, but represent that Alexander readily believed the worst about Callisthenes, from the hatred which he. already felt towards hinij and because Hermo- laua was known to be exceedingly intimate with him. Some authors have also recorded the following particu- lars : — that Hermolaus was brought before the Mace- donians, to whom he confessed that he had conspired against the king's life, because it was no longer possible for a free man to bear his insolent tyranny. He then recounted all his acts of despotism, the illegal execution of Philotas, the still more illegal one of his father Parmenio and of the others who were put to death at that time, the murder of Clitus in a fit of drunkenness, his assumption of the Median garb, the introduction of the ceremony of prostration, which had been planned and not yet relinquished, and the drinking-bouts and lethargic sleep arising from them, to which he was addicting himself.'- He said that, being no longer able to bear these things, he wished to free both himself aud the other Macedo- nians. These same authors say that Hermolaus himself and those who had been arrested with him were stoned to death by those who were present. Aristobuliis says that Callisthenes was carried about with the army bound with fetters, and afterwards died a natural death j but Ptolemy, son of Lagus, says that he was stretched upon the rack and then hanged.'' Thus not even did these authors, whose narratives are very trustworthy, and who at the time were in intimate association with Alexander, conspirators against him. Aristotle had sent Callisthene out. Alexander refers to him and the Athenians. See Plutarch {Alex., 55). ' Cf. Arrian (vii. 29). ' Curtius (viii. 29) says that Alexander afterwards repented of his guilt in murdering the philosopher. His tragical death excited great indignation among the ancient philosophers. See Seneca {Naturales Quaestiones, vi. 23) ; Cicero {Tusc. Disput., iii. 10), speaking of Theo- phrastus, the friend of CaUistheues. Alliance with the Scythians and Clwragmians. 233 give accounts consistent with each other of events so well known, and the circumstances of which could not have escaped their notice. Other writers have given many various details of these same proceedings which are inconsistent with each other j but I think I have written quite sufficient on this subject. Though these events took place shortly after the death of Clitus/ I have described them among those which happened to Alexander in reference to that, General, because, for the purposes of narrative, I consider them very intimately connected with each other. GHAPTEE XV. Alliance with the Scythians and Choeasmians. Another embassy from the European Scythians came to Alexander with the envoys whom he had despatched to those people ; for the king who was reigning over them at the time when he sent these envoys, happened to die, and his brother was reigning in his stead. The object of the embassy was to state that the Scythians were willing to do whatsoever Alexander commanded. They were also bringing to him from their king the gifts which among them are deemed most valuable. They said their monarch was willing to give his daughter to Alexander in marriage, in order to confirm the friendship and alliance with him ; but if Alexander himself deigned not to marry the princess of the Scythians, then he was willing at any rate to give the daughters of the viceroys of the Scythian territory and of the other mighty men throughout the country of Scythia to the most faithful of Alexander's officers. He also sent word that he would come in person if bidden, in order to hear from Alexan- der's own mouth what bis orders were. At this time 1 We find from chapter xxii. that these events occurred at Baotra. 234 The Anabasis of Alexander. also came Pharasmanes, king of tlie Chorasmians/ to Alexander with 1,500 horsemen, who affirmed that he dwelt on the confines of the nations of the Oolchians and the women called Amazons,^ and promised, if Alex- ander was willing to march against these nations in order to subjugate the races in this district whose territories extended to the Euxine Sea, to act as his guide through the mountains and to supply his army with provisions. Alexander then gave a courteous reply to the men who had come from the Scythians, and one that was adapted to the exigencies of that particular time ; but said that he had no need of a Scythian wedding. He also com- mended Pharasmanes and concluded a friendship and alliance with him, saying that at present it was not con- venient for him to march towards the Euxine Sea. After introducing Pharasmanes as a friend to Artabazus the Persian, to whom he had intrusted the government of the Bactrians,' and to all the other viceroys who were his neighbours, he sent him back to his own abode. He said that his mind at that time was engrossed by the desire of conquering the Indians ; for when he had subdued them, he should possess the whole of Asia. He added that when Asia was in his power he would return to Greece, and thence make an expedition with all his naval and military forces to the eastern extremity of the Euxine Sea through the Hellespont and Propontis.* He desired Pharasmanes to reserve the fulfilment of his present promises until then. 1 The Chorasmians were a people who inhabited the country near the lower part of the river Oxus, between the Caspian and Aral Seas. ' This mythical race of warlike females is said to have come from the Caucasus and to have settled near the modern Trebizond, their original abode being in Colchis. Cf. Arrian (vii. 13) ; Strabo (xi. 5) ; Diod. (xvii. 77) ; Curt. (vi. 19) ; Justin (xii- 3) ; Homer j[IZiad, iii. 189) ; Aeschylus {Eumenides, 655) ; Herod (iv. 110-116 ; ix. 27). ' See iii. 29 supra. * Propontis means the sea before the Pontm. Compare Ovid {Tristia, i. 10, 31) : — " Quaque tenant Ponti Byzantia Httora/awces." Subjvgation of Sogdiana, 235 Alexander then returned to the river Oxus, witL the intention of advancing into Sogdiana, because news was brought that many of the Sogdianians had fled for refuge into their strongholds and refused to submit to the viceroy whom he had placed over them. While he was encamping near the river Oxus, a spring of water and near it another of oil rose from the ground not far from Alexander's own tent. When this prodigy was announced to Ptolemy, son of Lagus, the confidential body-guard, he told Alexander, who offered the sacrifices which the prophets directed on account of the phenomenon. Aris- tander affirmed that the spring of oil was the sign of labours ; but it also signified that after the labours there would be victory. CHAPTBE XVI. SaBjuaATioN OP Sogdiana. — EEVOLTor Spitamenes. He therefore crossed the river with a part of his army and entered Sogdiana, leaving Polysperchon, Attains, Gorgias, and Meleager there among the Bactrians, with instructions to guard the land, to prevent the barbarians of that region from making any revolutionary change, and to reduce those who had already rebelled. He divided the army which he had with him into five parts ; the first of which he put under the command of Hephaes- tion, the second under that of Ptolemy, son of Lagus, the confidential body-guard ; over the third he put Perdiccas ; Ooenus and Artabazus commanded the fourth brigade for him, while he himself took the fifth division and penetrated into the land towards Maracanda.-'- The others also advanced as each found it practicable, reducing by force some of those who had fled for refuge into the ' We learn, from Curtius (viii. 3), that it was at this place that Chtus was murdered. 236 The Anabasis of Alexander. strongholds, and capturing others who surrendered to them on terms of capitulation. When all his forces reached Maracanda, after traversing the greater part of the land of the Sogdianians, he sent Hephaestion away to plant colonies in the cities of Sogdiana. He also sent Coenus and Artabazus into Scythia, because he was in- formed that Spitamenes had fled for refuge thither ; but he himself with the rest of his army traversed Sogdiana and easily reduced all the places still held by the rebels. While Alexander was thus engaged, Spitamenes, ac- companied by some of the Sogdianian exiles, fled into the land of the Scythians called Massagetians,^ and having collected 600 horsemen from this nation, he came to one of the forts in Bactriana. Falling upon the com- mander of this fort, who was not expecting any hostile demonstration, and upon those who were keeping guard with him, he destroyed the soldiers, and capturing the commander, kept him in custody. Being emboldened by the capture of this fort, a few days after he approached Zariaspaj but resolving not to attack the city, he marched away after collecting a great quantity of booty. But at Zariaspa a few of the Companion cavalry had been left behind on the score of illness, and with them Peithon, son of Sosicles,^ who had been placed over the royal household of attendants at Zariaspa, and Aristonicus the harper. These men, hearing of the incursion of the Scythians, and having now recovered from their illness, took their arms and mounted their horses. Then col- lecting eighty mercenary Grecian horsemen, who had been left behind to guajd Zariaspa, and some of the royal pages, they sallied forth against the Massagetians. Fall- ' Theae were a people dwelling to the north-east of the Caspian, who were chiefly remarkable for having defeated and killed Cyrus the Great. See Herodotus, i. 201-216. 2 There were two other generals named Peithon ; - one the son of Agenor, and the other the son of Crateas. See Arrian, vi. 15, 28, etc. Defeat and Death of Spitamenes. 237 ing upon the Scythians, who had no suspicion of such an event, they deprived them of all the booty at the first onset, and killed many of those who were driving it off. But as no one was in command, they returned without any regard to order : and being drawn into an ambush by Spitamenes and other Scythians, they lost seven of the Companions and sixty of the mercenary cavalry. Aristonicus the harper was also slain there, having proved himself a brave man, beyond what might have been ex- pected of a harper. Peithon, being wounded, was taken prisoner by the Scythians.^ CHAPTBU XVII. Defeat and Death of Spitamenes. When this news was brought to Oraterus, he made a forced march against the Massagetians, who, when they heard that he was marching against them, fled as fast as they could towards the desert. Following them up closely, he overtook those very men and more than 1,000 other Massagetian horsemen, not far from the desert. A fierce battle ensued, in which the Macedonians were victorious. Of the Scythians, 150 horsemen were slain ; but the rest of them easily escaped into the desert, for it was impossible for the Macedonians to pursue them any further. At this time, Alexander relieved Artabazus of the viceroyalty of the Bactrians, at his own request, on the ground of his advanced age ; and Amyntas, son of Nicolaiis, was appointed viceroy in his stead.^ Coenus • Cttrtius (viii. 1) says that the name of the defeated general was Attinas. 2 Artabazus was in his 95th year when he joined Alexander with the Grecian troops of Darius in B.C. 330. See Cwrtius, vi. 14. His vice- royalty was destined for Clitus ; but on the death of that general it was conferred on Amyntas. See Curtitis, viii. 3. 238 The Anabasis of Alexander. was left witb his own brigade and that of Melea- ger, 400 of the Companion cavalry, and all the horse- 6,rchers, besides the Bactrians, SogdianianSj and others who were under the command of Amyntas. They were all under strict injunctions to obey Ooenus and to winter there in Sogdiana, in order to protect the country and to arrest Spitamenes, if anyhow they might be able to draw him into an ambush, as he was wan- dering about during the winter. But when Spitamenes saw that every place was occupied by the Macedonians for a garrison, and that there would soon be no way of flight left open to him, he turned round against Coenus and the army with him, thinking that he would be better able to fight in this way. Coming to Bagae, a fortified place in Sogdiana, situated on the confines of the countries of the Sogdiaaians and the Massagetian Scythians, he easily persuaded 3,000 Scythian horsemen to join him in an invasion of Sogdiana. It is an easy matter to induce these Scythians to engage in one war after another, because they are pinched by poverty, and at the same time have no cities or settled abodes, to give them cause for anxiety about what is most dear to them. When Coenus ascertained that Spitamenes was advancing with his cavalry, he went to meet him with his army. A sharp contest ensued, in which the Macedonians were victorious, so that of the barbarian cavalry over 800 fell in the battle, while Coenus lost 25 horsemen and twelve foot-soldiers. The consequence was, that the Sogdianians who were still left with Spitamenes, as well as most of- the Bactrians, deserted him in the flight, and came to Coenus to surrender. The Massagetian Scythians having met with ill-success in the battle, plundered the baggage of the Bactrians and Sogdianians who were serving iu the same army as themselves, and then fled into the desert in company with Spitamenes. But when they were informed that Alexander was already on the start to Oxya/rtes Besieged in the Sogdian Bock. 239 march into the desert, they cut off the head of Spitamenes and sent it to him, with the hope by this deed of diverting him from pursuing them.^ CHAPTER^ XYIII. OxTAETES Besieged in the Sogdian Eock. Meantime Coenus returned to Alexander at Nautaca, as also did Craterus, Phrataphernes the viceroy of the Parthians, and Stasanor the viceroy of the Areians, after executing all the orders which Alexander had given them. The king then caused his army to rest around Nautaca, because it was now mid-winter; but he des- patched Phrataphernes into the land of the Mardiaus and Tapurians to fetch Autophradates the viceroy, be- cause, though he had often been sent for, he did not obey the summons. He also sent Stasanor into the land of the Drangians, and Atropates into Media,^ with the ap- pointment of viceroy over the Medes, because Oxodates seemed disaffected to him. Stamenes also he despatched to Babylon, because news came to him that Mazaeus the Babylonian governor was dead. Sopolis, Epocillus, and Menidas he sent away to Macedonia, to bring him the army up from that country. At the first appearance of spring,^ he advanced towards the rock in Sogdiana, to which he was informed many of the Sogdianians had fled for refuge J among whom were said to be the wife and daughters of Oxyartes the Bactrian, who had deposited them for safety in that place, as if forsooth it ' Curtius (viii. 11 and 12) says that the wife of Spitamenes murdered him and carried his head to Alexander. ' The Hebrew name for Media is Madai, which means middle-land. The Greeks called the country Media, according to Polybius (t. 44), because it lies near the middle of Asia. ■ Of the year 327 B.C. 240 The Anabasis of Alexander. were impregnable. For lie also had revolted from Alex- ander. If this rock was captured, it seemed that nothing would be left to those of the Sogdianiana who wished to throw off their allegiance. When Alexander approached itj he found it precipitous on all sides against assault, and that the barbarians had collected provisions for a long siege. The great quantity of snow which had fallen helped to make the approach more difficult to the Macedonians, while at the same time it kept the barbar- ians supplied with plenty of water. But notwithstanding all this, he resolved to assault the place ; for a certain overweening and insolent bpast uttered by the barbarians had thrown him into a wrathful state of ambitious per- tinacity. For when they were invited to come to terms of capitulation, and it was held out to them as an in- ducement, that if they surrendered the place, they would be allowed to withdraw in safety to their own abodes, they burst out laughing, and in their barbaric tongue bade Alexander seek winged soldiers, to capture the mountain for him, since they had no apprehension of danger from other men.i He then issued a proclamation that the first man who mounted should have a reward of twelve talents,^ the man who came next to him the second prize, and the third so on in .proportion, so that the last reward should be three hundred darics * to the last prize- taker who reached the top. This proclamation excited the valour of the Macedonians still more, though they were even before very eager to commence the assault. ' &isa, akin to Latin cwra, a poetical and Ionic word, often found in Herodotus. s About £2,700. ' About £327. Curtius (vii. 41) says that the first prize was 10 talents, the second 9 talents, and the same proportion for the eight others, so that the tenth man who mounted received one talent. The stater of Darius, usually called a daricus, was a gold coin of Persia, See Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities. Alexander Captures the Bock and Marries Boxana. 241 CHAPTER XIX. Alexander Ca.pt(jees the Rock and Marries Roxana. All the men who had gained practice in scaling rocks in siegeSj banded themselves together to the number of three hundred, and provided themselves with the small iron pegs with which their tents had been fastened to the ground, with the intention of fixing them into the snow, where it might be seen to be frozen hard, or into the ground, if it should anywhere exhibit itself free from snow. Tying strong ropes made of flax to these pegs, they advanced in the night towards the most precipitous part of the rock, which was also most unguarded ; and fixing some of these pegs into the earth, where it made itself visible, and others into the snow where it seemed least likely to break up, they hoisted themselves up the rock, some in one place and some in another. Thirty of them perished in the ascent ; and as they fell into various parts of the snows, not even could their bodies be found for burial. The rest, however, reached the" top of the mountain at the approach of dawn ; and taking posses- sion of it, they waved linen flags towards the camp of the Macedonians,^ as Alexander had directed them to do. He now sent a herald with instructions to shout to the sentries of the barbarians to make no further delay, but surrender at once ; since " the winged men " had been found, and the summits of the mountain were in their possession. At the same time the herald pointed at the soldiers upon the crest of the mountain. The barbarians, being alarmed by the unexpectedness of the sight, and suspecting that the men who were occupying the peaks were more numerous than they really were, and that they were completely armed, surrendered, so frightened did they become at the sight of those few 1 Cf. Curtius (vii. 43), vela, signum capti vertiois. ' E 242 The Anabasis of Alexander. Macedonians. The wives and children of many important men were there captured, including those of Oxyartes. This chief had a daughter, a maiden of marriageable age, named Roxana,i who was asserted by the men who served in Alexander's army to have been the most beautiful of all Asiatic women, with the single exception of the wife of Darius.^ They also say that no sooner did Alexander see her than he fell in love with her ; but though he was in love with her, he refused to offer violence to her as a captive, and did not think it derogatory to his dignity to marry her. This conduct of Alexander I think worthy rather of praise than blame. Moreover, in regard to the wife of Darius, who was said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia, he either did not entertain a passion for her, or else he exercised control over himself,^ bhough he was young, and in the very meridian of success, when men usually act with insolence and violence. On the contrary, he acted with modesty and spared her honour, exercising a great amount of chastity, and at the same time exhibiting a very proper desire to obtain a good reputation.* CHAPTER XX. Magnanimous Treatment of the Family of Dakius. In relation to this subject there is a story current, that soon after the battle which was fought at Issus between ' Eoxana and her son Alexander Aegus were put to death by Cassander, B.C. 311. ^ Statira. She died shortly before the battle of Arbela. ^ Kaprcpbs aliToO. Cf. Theocritus^ xv. 94, aiiCav Kaprepds, * After the capture of Damascus, Alexander married Barsine, the ■widow of his rival Memnon, and daughter of Artabazus. She was distinguished for her beauty and accomplishments, having received a Grecian education. By her he had a son named Heracles. See Plutarch (Alex., 21). She and her son were put to death by Polysperchon, b.c. 309. Magnanimous Treatment of the Family of Darius. 243 Darius and Alexander, tlie eunucli who was gfaardian of Darius's wife escaped and came to him. When Darius saw this man, his first inquiry was, whether his chil- dren, wife, and mother were alive ? Ascertaining that they were not only alive, but were called queens, and enjoyed the same personal service and attention which they had been accustomed to have with Darius, he there- upon made a second inquiry, whether his wife was still chaste ? When he ascertained that she remained so, he asked again whether Alexander had not offered any violence to her to gratify his lust ? The eunuch took an oath and said : " king, thy wife is just as thou didst leave her ; and Alexander is the best and most chaste of men." Upon this Darius stretched his hands towards heaven and prayed as follows : — " King Zeus,^ to whom power has been assigned to regulate the affairs of kings among men, do thou now protect for me especially the empire of the Persians and Modes, as indeed thou didst give it to me. But if I am no longer king of Asia according to thy behest, at any rate do thou hand over my power to no other man but Alexander." Thus not even to enemies, I ween, are chaste actions a matter of unconcern. Oxyartes, hearing that his children were in the power of Alexander, and that he was treating his daughter Roxana with respect, took courage and came to him. He was held in honour at the king's court, as was natural after such a piece of good fortune.* ' Cf. Herodotus, i. 131 ; Gurtius, iv. 42. The Persians called this god Ormuzd. ^ CuTtius (viii. 16) says that Alexander saw Eoxana at a banquet given by Oxyartes in his honour. 244 Tlie Anabasis of Alexander. CHAPTBE XXI. Captuee or THE Rock of Choeienes. When Alexander had finished his operations among the Sogdianians, and was now in possession of the rock, he advanced into the land of the Paraetacians, because many of the barbarians were said to be holding another rock, a strongly fortified place in that country. This was called the rock of Chorienes; and to it Chorienes himself and many other chiefs had fled for refuge. The height of this rock was about twenty stades, and the circuit about sixty. It was precipitous on all sides, and there was only one ascent to it, which was narrow and not easy to mount, since it had been constructed in spite of the nature of the place. It ,was therefore difficult to ascend even by men in single file and when no one barred the way. A deep ravine also enclosed^ the rock all round, so that whoever intended to lead an army up to it, must long before make a causeway of earth over this ravine in order that he might start from level ground, when he led his troops to the assault. Notwithstanding all this, Alexander undertook the enterprise. To so great a pitch of audacity had he advanced through his career of success, that he thought every place ought to be accessible to him,^ and to be captured by him. He cut down the pines, which were very abundant and lofty all round the mountain, and made ladders of them, so that by means of them the soldiers might be able to descend into the ravine ^ ; for otherwise it was impossible for them to do so. During the day-time he himself superintended the work, keeping half of his army engaged in it ; and during the night his confidential body-guards, Perdiccas, ' Kriiger substituted 7repieip7e for Tepiepyei. 2 jSoTd. Cf. Xenophon (Anab., iv. 6, 17). ^ Arrian imitates Heiodotus in the use of iHis with the infinitive instead of SUT*. Capture of the Rock of Ohorienes. 245 Leonnatus, and Ptolemy^ son of Lagus, in turn witli the other half of the armjj divided into three parts, per- formed the duty which had been assigned to each for the night. But they could complete no more than twenty cubits in a day, and not quite so much in a night, though the whole army engaged in the labour ; so difficult was the place to approach and so hard was the work in it. Descending into the ravine, they fastened pegs into the sharpest and narrowest part of it, dis- tant from each other as far as was consistent with strength to support the weight of what was placed upon them. Upon these they placed hurdles made of willow and osiers, very much in the form of a bridge. Binding these together, they loaded earth above them, so that there might be an approach to the rock for the army on level ground. At first the barbarians derided, as if the attempt was altogether abortive j but when the arrows began to reach the rock, and they were unable to drive back the Macedonians, though they themselves were on a higher level, because the former had constructed screens to ward ofi" the missiles, that they might carry on their labour under them without receiving injury, Ohorienes grew alarmed at what was being done, and sent a herald to Alexander, beseeching him to send Oxyartes up to him. Alexander accordingly sent Oxyartes, who on his arrival persuaded. Ohorienes to entrust himself and the place to Alexander j for he told him that there was nothing which Alexander and his army could not take by storm ; and as he himself had entered into an alliance of fidelity and friendship with him, he commended the king^s honour and justice in high terms, adducing other examples, and above all his own case for the confirmation of his arguments. By these representations Ohorienes was persuaded and came him- self to Alexander, accompaniiea by some of his relations and companions. When he arrived, the king gave him 246 The Anabasis of Alexander. a courteous answer to his inquiries, and retained him after pledging his fidelity and friendship. But he bade him send to the rock some of those who came down with him to order his men to surrender the place ; and it was surrendered by those who had fled to it for refuge. Alexander therefore took 500 of his shield-bearing guards and went up to get a view of the rock ; and was so far •from inflicting any harsh treatment upon Ghorienes that he entrusted that very place to him again, and made him governor of all that he had ruled before. It happened that the army suffered much hardship from the severity of the winter, a great quantity of snow having fallen during the siege ; while at the same time the men were reduced to great straits from lack of provisions. But Ghorienes said he would give the army food for two months ; and he gave the men in every tent corn, wine, and salted meat out of the stores in the rock. When he had given them this, he said he had not exhausted even the tenth part of what had been laid up for the siege. Hence Alexander held him in still greater honour, inas- much as he had surrendered the rock, not so much from compulsion as from his own inclination. GHAPTER XXII. Alexander Eeaches the River Gabul, and Receives THE Homage of Taxiles. Aetee performing this exploit, Alexander himself went to Bactra; but sent Graterus with 600 of the cavalry Gompanions and his own brigade of infantry as well those of Polysperchon, Attalus, and Alcetas, against Gatanes and Austanes, who were the only rebels still remaining in the land of the Paraetacenians.^ A sharp battle was fought ^ This term is a Persian word meaning mountaineers. The tribe Alexander Beaches the River Oabul. 247 •witli thenij in whicli Oraterus was victorious j Catanes being killed there while fighting, and Austanes being captured and brought to Alexander. Of the barbarians with them 120 horsemen and about 1,500 foot soldiers were killed. When Oraterus had done this, he also went to Bactra, where the tragedy in reference to Oallisthenes and the pages befell Alexander. As the spring was now over, he took the army and advanced from Bactra towards India,^ leaving Amyntas in the land of the Bactrians with 3,500 horsej and 10,000 foot. He crossed the Oaucasus^ in ten days and arrived at the city of Alexandria, which had been founded in the land of 'the Parapamisadae when he made his first expedition to Bactra. He dismissed from office the governor whom he had then placed over the city, because he thought he was not ruling well. He also settled in Alexandria others from the neighbouring tribes and the soldiers who were now unfit for service in addition to the first settlers, and commanded Nicanor, one of the Oompanions, to regulate the affairs of the city itself. Moreover he appointed Tyriaspes viceroy of the land of the Parapamisadae and of the rest of the country as far as the river Oophen.^ Arriving at the city of Nicaea, he oEFered sacrifice to Athena and then advance^ towards the Oophen, sending a herald forward to Taxiles * mentioned liere lived between the rivers Oxus and Jaxartes, on the . borders of Bactria and Sogdiana. ' Gurtius (viii. 17) says Alexander took with him 30,000 select troops from all the conquered provinces, and that the army which he led against the Indians numbered 120,000 men. 2 This is the Indian Caucasus, or mount Parapamisus, now called Hindu-Koosh. 3 The Oophen is now called Cabul. Nioaea was probably on the same site as the city of Cabul. Others say it is Beghram. The Greek word Satrapes denotes a Persian viceroy. It is a corruption of a word mean- ing court-guardian, in the Behistun Inscriptions written Khshatrapd. See Eawlinson's Herod., i. 192. * Gurtius (viii. 43) says that Taxiles was the title which the king of this district received. His name was Omphis. 248 The Anabasis of Alexander. and tlie otter chiefs on ttis side the river Indus, to bid 'them come and meet him as each might find it convenient. Taxiles and the other chiefs accordingly did come to meet him, bringing the gifts which are reckoned of most value ampng the Indians. They said that they would also present to him the elephants which they had with them, twenty-five in number. There he divided his army, and sent Hephaestion and Perdiccas away into the land of Peucelaotis,^ towards the river Indus, with the brigades of Gorgias, Olitus,^ and Meleager, half of the Companion cavalry, and all the cavalry of the Grecian mercenaries. He gave them instructions either to capture the places on their route by force, or to bring the.m over on terms of capitulation; and when they reached the river Indus, to make the necessary prepara- tions for the passage of the army. With them Taxiles and the other chiefs also marched. When they reached the river Indus they carried out all Alexander's orders. But Astes, the ruler of the land of Peucelaotis, effected a revolt, which both ruined himself and brought ruin also upon the city into which he had fled for refuge. For Hephaestion captured it after a siege of thirty days, and Astes himself was killed. Sangaeus, who had some time before fled from Astes and deserted to Taxiles, was ap- pointed to take charge of the city. This desertion was a pledge to Alexander of his fidelity. CHAPTER XXIII. Battles with the Aspasians. Alexandee now took command of the shield-bearing guards, the Companion cavalry with the exception of ' A district between tlie rivers Indus and Attoek. Its capital, Peucela, is tlie modern Pelcheli. 2 The brigade of Clitus still bore tbe name of its commander after his death. Cf. Arrian, yH. 14 infra. Battles with the Aspasioms. 249 those wlio had been joined with Hephaestion's division, the regiments of what were called foot- Companions, the archers, the Agrianians and thfe horse-lancers, and advanced with them into the land of the Aspasians, Gnraeans and Assacenians.^ Marching by a mountainous and rough road along the river called Choes/ which he crossed with difficulty, he ordered the main body of his infantry to follow at leisure ; while he himself took all the cavalry, and 800 of the . Macedonian infantry whom he mounted upon horses with their infantry shields, and made a forced march, because he had received informa- tion that the barbarians who inhabited that district had fled for safety into the mountains which extend through the land and into as many of their cities as were strong enough to resist attack. Assaulting the first of these cities which was situated on his route, he routed, at the first attack without any delay, the men whom he found drawn up in front of the city, and shut them up in it. He was himself wounded by a dart which pene- trated 'through the breastplate into his shoulder; but the wound was only a slight one, for the breastplate prevented the dart from penetrating right through his shoulder. Leonnatus and Ptolemy, son of Lagus, were also wounded. Then he encamped near the city at the place where the wall seemed most easy to assault. At dawn on the following day the Macedonians easily forced their way through the first wall, as it had tiot been strongly built. The city had been surrounded with a double wall. At the second wall the barbarians stood their ground for a short time ; but when the scaling ladders were now being fixed, and the defenders were being wounded with darts from all sides, they no longer stayed ; but rushed through the gates out of the ^ These were tribes liviiig in the north-west of the Punjab. ^ Probably the modern Kama, a tributary of the Cabul. 250 The Anabasis of Alexander. city towards the mountains. Some of tliem were killed in the flighty and the Macedonians, being enraged because they had wounded Alexander, slew all whom they took prisoners. Most of them, however, escaped into the mountains, because they were not far from the city. Having levelled this city with the ground, he marched to another, named Audaca, which he got possession of by capitulation. He left Craterus there with the other commanders of the infantry to capture all the remaining cities which would not yield of their own accord, and to set the affairs of the whole country in such order as he should find most convenient under the circumstances. CHAPTEE XXIV. Operations against the Aspasians. Alexander now took command of the shield-bearing guards, the archers, the Agrianians, the brigade of Coenus and Attains, the royal body-guard of cavalry, about four regiments of the other Companion cavalry, and half of the horse- archers, and advanced towards the river Euaspla,^ where the chieftain of the Aspasians was. After a long journey he arrived at the city on the second day. When the barbarians ascertained that he was ap- proaching they set fire to the city and fled to the moun- tains. But Alexander followed close upon the fugitives as far as the mountains, and slaughtered many of them before they could manage to get away into the places which were diflicult of access. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, observing that the leader himself of the Indians of that district was on a certain hill, and that he had some of his shield-bearing guards round him, though he had with himself far fewer men, yet he still continued to pursue him on horseback. But as the hill was diSicult for his ' Supposed to be another name for the Choes. Operations against tJie Aspasians, 251 horse to run up, lie left it there, handing it over to one of the shield-bearing guards to lead. He then followed the Indian on foot, without any delay. When the latter observed Ptolemy approaching, he turned round, and so did the shield-bearing guards with him. The Indian at close quarters struck Ptolemy on the chest through the breastplate with a long spear, but the breastplate checked the violence o£ the blow. Then Ptolemy, smiting right through the Indian's thigh, overthrew him, and stripped him of his arms. When his men saw their leader lying dead, they stood their ground no longer; but the men on the mountains, seeing their chieftain's corpse being car- ried off by the enemy, were seized with indignation, and running down engaged in a desperate conflict over him on the hill. For Alexander himself was now on the hill with the infantry who had dismounted from the horses. These, falling upon the Indians, drove them away to the mountains after a hard struggle, and remained in posses- sion of the corpse. Then crossing the mountains he descended to a city called Arigaeum, and found that this had been set on fire by the inhabitants, who had after- wards fled. There Craterus with his army reached him, after accomplishing all the king's orders ; and because this city seemed to be built in a convenient place, he directed that general to fortify it well, and. settle in it as many of the neighbouring people as were willing to live there, together with any of the soldiers who were unfit for service. He then advanced to the place where he heard that most of the barbarians of the district had fled for refuge; and coming to a certain mountain, he encamped at the foot of it. Meantime Ptolemy, son of Lagus, being sent out by Alexander on a foraging ex- pedition, and advancing a considerable distance with a few men to reconnoitre, brought back word to the king that he had observed many more fires in the camp of the bar- barians than there were in Alexander's. But the latter 252 The Anabasis of Alexander. did not believe in the multitude of tlie enemy's fires. Discovering, however, that the barbarians of the district had joined their forces into one body^ he left a part of his army there near the mountain, encamped as they were, and taking as many men as seemed suflBcient, ac- cording to the reports he had received, as soon as they ;Could descry the fires near at hand, he divided his army /into three parts. Over one part he placed Leonnatus, the confidential body-guard, joining the brigades of Attains and Balacrus with his own ; the second divi- sion he put under the lead of Ptolemy, son of Lagus, including the third part of the royal shield-bearing guards, the brigades of Philip and Philotas, two regi- ments of horse-archers, the Agrianians, and half of the cavalry. The third division he himself led towards the place where most of the barbarians were visible. CHAPTER XXV. Defeat of the Aspabians. — The Assacenians and GuEAEANS Attacked. When the enemy who were occupying the commanding heights perceived the Macedonians approaching, they descended into the plain, being emboldened by their superiority in number and despising the Macedonians, because they were seen to be few. A sharp contest ensued ; but Alexander won the victory with ease. Ptolemy's men did not range themselves on the level ground, for the barbarians were occupying a hill. Wherefore Ptolemy, forming his battalions into column, led them to the point where the hill seemed most easily assailable, not surrounding it entirely, but leaving room for the barbarians to flee if they were inclined to do so. A sharp contest also ensued with these men, both from the difficult nature of the ground, and because the In- dians are not like the other barbarians of this district. The Assacenians and Ouraeans Attaclced. 253 but are far stronger than their neighbours. These men also were driven away from the mountain by the Mace- donians. In the same way did Leonnatus with the third division of the army ; for his men also defeated those opposed to them. Ptolemy indeed says that all the men were captured, to a number exceeding 40,000, and that 230,000 oxen were also taken, of which Alexander picked out the finest, because they seemed to him to excel both in beauty and size, wishing to send them into Macedonia to till the soil. Thence he marched towards the land of the Assacenians ; for he received news that these people had made preparations to fight him, having 20,000 cavalry, more than 30,000 infantry, and 30 ele- phants. When Craterus had thoroughly fortified the city, for the founding of which he had been left behind, he brought the heavier armed men of his army for Alex- ander as well as the military engines, in case it might be necessary to lay siege to any place. Alexander then marched against the Assacenians at the head of the Companion cavalry, the horse-archers, the brigades of Coenus and Polysperchon, the Agrianians, the light- armed troops,^ and the archers. Passing through the land of the Guraeans, he crossed the river Guraeus,^ which gives its name to the land, with difficulty, both on ac- count of its depth, and because its current is swift, and the stones in the river being round caused those who stepped upon them to stumble.^ When the barbarians perceived Alexander approaching, they durst not take their stand for a battle in close array, but dispersed one by one to their various cities with the determination of preserving these by resolute fighting. ' xal Tois ^tXois. The usual reading is rois xtXious, 1,000 Agrianians. ^ A tributary of the Oophen, probably what is now called the Lundye, ;;nnning parallel with the Kama. 3 Of. Livy, xsi. 31:— "Amnis eaxa glareosa volvens, nihil stabUe neo tutum ingredienti praebet." 254 The Anabasis of Alexander. CHAPTER XXVI. Siege of Massaga. In the first place Alexander led his forces against Mas- saga/ the largest of the cities in that district ; and when he was approaching the walls, the barbarians being emboldened by the mercenaries whom they had obtained from the more distant Indians to the number of 7^000, when they saw the Macedonians pitching their camp, advanced against them with a run. Alexander, seeing that the battle was about to be fought near the city, was anxious to draw them further away from their walls^ so that if they were put to rout, as he knew they would be, they might not be able easily to preserve themselves by fleeing for refuge into the city close at hand. When therefore he saw the barbarians running out, he ordered the Macedonians to turn round and retreat to a certain hiU distant something about seven stades from the place where he had resolved to encamp. The enemy being emboldened, as if the Macedonians had already given way, rushed upon them with a run and with no kind of order. Bnt when the arrows began to reach them, Alexander at once wheeled round at the appointed sig- nalj and led his plalanx against them with a run. His horse-lancers, Agrianians, and archers first ran forward and engaged with the barbarians, while he himself led the phalanx in regular order. The Indians were alarmed at this unexpected manoeuvre, and as soon as the battle became a hand-to-hand conflict, they gave way and fled into the city. About 200 of them were killed,, and the rest were shut up within the walls. Alexander then led his phalanx up to the wall, from which he was soon after slightly wounded in the ankle with an arrow. ' This was the capital of the Assaoenians. Curtius (viii. 37) calls it Mazagae, and describes its strong position. Siege of Massaga. 255 On the next day he brought up his military engines and easily battered down a piece of the wall ; but the Indians so gallantly kept back the Macedonians who were trying to force an entrance where the breach had been made, that he recalled the army for this day. But on the mor- row the Macedonians themselves made a more vigorous assault, and a wooden tower was drawn up to the walls, from which the archers shot at the Indians, and missiles were hurled from the military engines which repulsed them to a great distance. But not even thus were they able to force their way within the wall. On the third day he led the phalanx near - again, and throwing a bridge from a military engine over to the part of the wall where the breach had been made, by this he led up the shield-bearing guards, who had captured Tyre for him in a similar way.^ But as many were urged on by their ardour, the bridge received too great a weight, and was snapped asunder, so that, the Macedonians fell with it. The barbarians, seeing what was taking place, raised a great shout, and shot at them from the wall with stones, arrows, and whatever else any one happened to have at hand, or whatever any one could lay hold of at the time. Others issued forth by the small gates which they had between the towers in the wall, and at close quarters struck the men who had been thrown into con- fusion by the fall. CHAPTER XXVII. SlEOES OF MaSSAQA AND OeA. Alexander now sent Alcetas with his own brigade to recover the men who had been severely wounded, and to recall to the camp those who were assailing the enemy. On the fourth day he brought up anothet bridge against 1 See Bk. ii. 23 supra. 256 The Anabasis of Alexander. the wall in like manner upon another military engine. The Indians, as long as the ruler of the place survived, defended themselves gallantly ; but when he was struck and killed with a missile hurled from an engine, and as some of their number had fallen in the siege, .which had gone on without any cessation, while most of them were wounded and unfit for service, they sent a herald to Alexander. He was glad to preserve the lives of brave men ; so he came to terms with the Indian mercenaries on this condition, that they should be admitted into the ranks with the rest of his army and serve as his soldiers. They therefore came out of the city with their arms, and encamped by themselves upon a hill which was facing the camp of the Macedonians ; but they resolved to arise by night and run away to their own abodes, because they were unwilling to take up arms against the other Indians. When Alexander received intelligence of this, he placed the whole of his army round the hill in the night, and intercepting them in the midst of their flight, cut them to pieces. He then took the city by storm, denuded as it was of defenders ; and captured the mother and daughter of Assacenus.^ In the whole siege five-and-twenty of Alexander's men were killed. Thence he despatched Coenas to Bazira,^ entertaining an opinion that the inhabitants would surrender, when they heard of the capture of Massaga. He also despatched Attains, Alcetas, and Demetrius the cavalry officer to another city, named Ora, with instructions to blockade it until he himself arrived. The men of this city made a sortie against the forces of Alcetas ; but the Mace- donians easily routed them, and drove them into the city ' Curtius (viii. 37, 38) says that the name of the queen was Cleophis, and that after the surrender she gained Alexander's favour. He also informs us that the king died just before Alexander's arrival. * Probably Bajour, north-west of Peshawur. The position of Ora cannot be fixed. Capture of Bazira. 257 within the wall. But affairs at Bazira were not favour- able to Ooenus, for the inhabitants showed no sign of capitulating, trusting to the strength of the place, be- cause not only was it situated on a lofty eminence, but it was also thoroughly fortified all round. When Alex- ander learnt this, he started off to Bazira j but ascer- taining that some of the neighbouring barbarians were about to get into the city of Ora by stealth, being despatched thither by Abisares ^ for that very purpose, he first marched to Ora. He ordered Ooenus to fortify a certain strong position to serve as a basis of operations against the city of Bazira, and then to come to him with the rest of his army, after leaving in that place a suffi- cient garrison to restrain the men in the city from en- joying the free use of their land. But when the men of Bazira saw Ooenus departing with the larger part of his army, they despised the Macedonians, as not being able to contend with them, and sallied forth into the plain. A sharply contested battle ensued, in which 500 of the barbarians fell, and over seventy were taken prisoners. But the rest, fleeing for refuge into the city,^ were now more securely shut off from the country by the men in the fort. The siege of Ora proved an easy matter to Alexander, for he no sooner attacked the walls than at the first assault he got possession of the city, and captured the elephants which had been left there. OHAPTEE XXVIir. Capture of Baziea. — Advance to the Eock ow Aobnus. When the men in Bazira heard this news, despairing of ^ Tliia was the king of the Indian mountaineers. See Arrian, v. 8 infra. ^ On the ground of iv ry iroXei. |u/i0iry4vTes not being classical Greek, Kriiger has substituted in r'S 7r6Xet iv/iiredevydres, and Sintenis els t^v iroXiv ^v/i^vyivTes. No one however ought to expect Arrian to be free from error, writing, as he did, in the middle of the second century of the Christian era. S 258 The Anabasis of Alexander. their own affairs, they abandoned the city about the middle of the night, and fled to the rock as the other barbarians were doing. For all the inhabitants deserted the cities and began to flee to the rock which is in their land, and is called Aornus.^ For stupendous is this rock in this land, about which the current report is, that it was found impregnable even by Heracles, the son of Zeus. I cannot affirm with confidence either way, whether the Theban, Tyrian, or Egyptian Heracles^ penetrated into India or not ; but I am rather inclined to think that he did not penetrate so farj for men are wont to magnify the difficulty of difficult enterprises to such a degree as to assert that they would have been impracticable even to Heracles. Therefore, I am inclined "to think, that in regard to this rock the name of Heracles was mentioned simply to add to the marvellousness of the tale. The circuit of the rock is said to be about 200 stades {i.e. about twenty-three miles), and its height where it is lowest, eleven stades {i.e., about a mile and a quarter). There was only one ascent, which was arti- ■ficial and difficult ; on the summit of the rock there was abundance of pure water, a spring issuing from the ground, from which the water flowed; and there was also timber, and sufficient good arable land for 1,000 men to till.* When Alexander heard this, he was seized with a vehement desire to capture this mountain also, especially on account of the legend which was current ' This seems to be the Greek translation of the native name, meaning the place to which no bird can rise on account of its height. Of. Strabo, XV. 1. This mountain was identified by Major Abbot, in 1854, as Mount Mahabunn, near the right bank of the Indus, about 60 miles above its confluence with the Cabul. * Of. Arrian, ii. 16 supra. ' Curtius (viii. 39) says that the river Indus washed the base of the rock, and that it^ shape resembled the meta or goal in a race-course, which was a stone shaped like a sugar-loaf. Arrian's description is more likely to be correct as he took it from Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals. Advance to the Bock of Aornus. 259 about Heracles. He then made Ora and Massaga for- tresses to keep the land in subjection, and fortified the city of Bazira. Hephaestion and Perdiccas also fortified for him another city, named Orobatis, and leaving a garrison in it marched towards the river Indus. When they reached that river they at once began to carry out Alexander's instructions in regard to bridging it. Alexander then appointed Nicanor, one of the Com- panions, viceroy of the land on this side the river Indus ; and in the first place leading hia army towards that river, he brought over on terms of capitulation the city of Peucelaotis, which was situated not far from it. In this city he placed a garrison of Macedonians, under the command of Philip, and then reduced to subjection some other small towns situated near the same river, being accompanied by Cophaeus and As- sagetes, the chieftains of the land. Arriving at the city of Bmbolima,! which was situated near the rock Aornus, he left Oraterus there with a part of the army, to gather as much corn as possible into the city, as well as all the other things requisite for a long stay, so that making this their base of operations, the Macedonians might be able by a long siege to wear out the men who were holding the rock, supposing it were not captured at the first assault. He then took the bowmen, the Agrianians, and the brigade of Coenus, and selecting the lightest as well as the best-armed men from the rest of the phalanx, with 200 of the Companion cavalry and 100 horse-bowmen, he advanced to the rock. This day he encamped where it appeared to him convenient ; but on the morrow he approached a little nearer to the rock, and encamped again. ' Near mount Mahabunn are two places called Umb and Balimah, the one in the valley of the river and the other on the mountain above it. See Major Abbot's Gradus ad Aornon. 260 The Anabasis of Alexander. CHAPTER XXIX. Siege ov Aoentjs. At this juncture some of the natives came to him, and surrendering themselves^ offered to lead him to the part of the rock where it could be most easily assailed, and from which it would be easy for him to capture the place. With these he sent Ptolemy, son of Lagus, the confidential body-guard, in command of the Agrianians and the other light-armed troops, together with picked men from the shield-bearing guards. He gave this officer instructions, as soon as he had got possession of the place, to occupy it with a strong guard, and signal to him that it was held. Ptolemy proceeded along a road which was rough and difficult to pass, and occupied the position without the knowledge of the barbarians. After strengthening his position with a stockade and a ditch all round, he raised a beacon from the mountain, whence it was likely to be seen by Alexander. The flame was at once seen, and on the following day the king led his army forward ; but as the barbarians dis- puted his advance, he could do nothing further on ac- count of the difficult nature of the ground. When the barbarians perceived that Alexander could not make an assault, they turned round and attacked Ptolemy, and a feharp battle ensued between them and the Mace- donians, the Indians making great effijrts to demolish the stockade, and Ptolemy to preserve his position. But the barbarians^ getting the worst of it in the skirmish, withdrew as the night came on. Alexander now selected from the Indian deserters a man who was not only devoted to him but acquainted with the locality,^ and sent him by night to Ptolemy, carrying a letter, in which it was written that as soon as the king attacked the rock, ^ Saiiiiwv, a poetical word. CI Homer [Odyssey, viii. 159). Siege of Aornus. 261 Ptolemy was to come down the mountain upon the bar- barianSj and not be contented with holding his position in guard ; so that the Indians, being assailed from both sides at once, might -be in perplexity what course to pursue. Accordingly, starting from his camp at daybreak, he led his army up the path by which Ptolemy had ascended by stealth, entertaining the opinion that if he could force his way in this direction and join his forces with those of Ptolemy, the work would no longer be difficult for him ; and so it tiirned out. For until midday a smart battle was kept up between the Indians and the Mace- donians, the latter striving to force a way of approach, and the former hurling missiles at them as they ascended. But as the Macedonians did not relax their efforts, advancing one after another, and those who were in advance rested till their comrades came up, after great exertions they gained possession of the pass early in the afternoon, and formed a junction with Ptolemy's forces. As the whole army was now united, Alexander led it thence against the rock itself. But the approach to it was still impracticable. Such then was the result of this day's labours. At the approach of the dawn he issued an order that each soldier individually should cut 100 stakes ; and when this had been done he heaped up a great mound against the rock, beginning from the top of the hill where they had encamped. From this mound \ he thought the arrows as well as the missiles launched from the military engines .would be able to reach the defenders of the rock. Every one in the army assisted him in this work of raising the mound ; while he himself superintended it, as an observer, not only, commending the man who completed his task with zeal and alacrity, but also chastising him who was dilatory in the pressing emergency. 262 The Anabasis of Alexander. CHAPTER XXX. Captore of Aoenus. — Aeeital at the Indus. On the first day Ms army constructed •the mound the length of a stade ; and on the following day the slingers shooting at the Indians from the part already finished, assisted by the missiles which were hurled from the military engines, repulsed the sallies which they made against the men who were constructing the mound. He went on with the work for three days without inter- mission, and on the fourth day a few of the Macedonians forcing their way occupied a small eminence which was on a level with the rock. Without taking any rest, Alexander went on with the mound, being desirous of connecting his artificial rampart with the eminence which the few men were now occupying for him. But then the Indians, being alarmed at the indescribable audacity of the Macedonians, who had forced their way to the emi- nence, and seeing that the mound was already united with it, desisted'from attempting any longer to resist. They sent their herald to Alexander, saying that they were willing to surrender the rock, if he would grant them a truce. But they had formed the design of wasting the day by continually delaying the ratification of the truce, and of scattering themselves in the night with the view of escaping one by one to their own abodes. When Alexander discovered this plan of theirs, he allowed them time to commence their retreat, and to remove the guard which was placed all round the place. He remained quiet until they began their retreat ; then taking 700 of the body-guards and shield-bearing infantry, he was the first to scale the rock at the part of it abandoned by the enemy ; and the Macedonians ascended after him, one in one place another in another, drawing each other up. These men at the concerted signal turned themselves upon the retreat- ing barbarians, and killed many of them in their flight. Capture of Aornus, 263 Others retreating with panic terror perished by leaping down the precipices ; and thus the rook which had been inexpugnable to Heracles was occupied by Alexander. He offered sacrifice upon it, and arranged a fort, com- mitting the superintendence of the garrison to Sisioottus, who long before had deserted from the Indians to Bessus in Bactra, and after Alexani^er had acquired pos- session of the country of Bactra, entered his army and appeared to be eminently trustworthy. He now set out from the rock and invaded the land of the Assacenians ; for he was informed that the brother of Assacenus, with his elephants and many of the neigh- bouring barbarians had fled into the mountains in this district. When he arrived at the city of Dyrta,^ he found none of the inhabitants either in it or in the land adjacent. On the following day he sent out Nearchus and Antiochus, the colonels of the shield-bearing guards, giving the former the command of the Agrianians and the light-armed troops,^ and the latter the command of his own regiments and two others besides. They were despatched both to reconnoitre the locality and to try if they could capture some of the barbarians anywhere in order to get information about the general affairs of the country ; and he was especially anxious to learn news of the elephants. He now directed his march towards the river Indus,^ the army going in advance to make 1 Probably Dyrta was at the point where the Indua issues from the Hindu-Koosh. 2 Gronovius first introduced xal before rois yj/iXois. 3 The name Indus is derived from the Sanscrit appellation Sindhu, from a root Syandh, meaning to flow. The name Indians, or Sindians, was originally applied only to the dweUera on the banks of this river. Hindustan is a, Persian word meaning the country of the Hindus or Sindus. Compare the modern Sinde, in the north-west of India, which contains the lower course of the Indus. In Hebrew India was called Hodu, which is a contraction of Hondu, another form of Hindu. See Esther i. 1 • viii. 9. Kriiger changed udoiroieiTo into liSoirolu, 264 The Anabasis of Alexander. a road for him, as otherwise this district would have been impassable. Here he captured a few of the bar- barians, from whom he learnt that the Indians of that land had fled for safety to Abisares, but that they had left their elephants there to pasture near the river Indus. He ordered these men to show him the way to the elephants. Many of the Indians are elephant-hunters, and these Alexander kept in attendance upon him in high honour, going out to hunt the elephants in company with them. Two of these animals perished in the chase, by leaping down a precipice, but the rest were caught and being ridden by drivers were marshalled with the army. He also as he was marching along the river lighted upon a wood the timber of which was suitable for building ships ; this was ciit down by the army, and ships were built for him, which were brought down the river Indus to the bridge, which had long since been con- structed by Hephaestion and Perdiccas at his command. BOOK Y. CHAPTER I. Albxandeb at Ntsa. In this country, lying between the rivers Oophen and Indus, which was traversed by Alexander, the city of Nysa ^ is said to be situated. The report is, that its foun- dation was the work of Dionysus, who built it after he\ had subjugated the Indians.^ But it is impossible to determine who this Dionysus ^ was, and at what time, or from what quarter he led an army against the Indians. For I am unable to decide whether the Theban Dionysus, starting from Thebes or from the Lydian Tmolus * came into India at the head of an army, and after traversing the territories of so, many warlike nations, unknown to the Greeks of that time, forcibly subjugated none of them except that of the Indians. But I do not think we ought to make a minute examination of the legends which were promulgated in ancient times about the divinity ; for things which are not credible to the man who examines them according to the rule of probability, do not appear to be wholly incredible, if one adds the ^ Tius city was probably on the site ol Jelalabad. ^ i-irel re. This is the only place where Arriau uses this lonio form for the simple ivd. ' The Indians worship a god Homa, the personification of the intoxi- cating soma juice. This deity corresponds to the Greek Dionysus or Bacchus. * The slopes of this mountain were covered with vines. See Ovid (Fasti, ii. 313 ; Metamorphoses, xi. 86) ; Vergil {Geoigics, ii. 98) ; Pliny, xiv. 9. 266 The Anabasis of Alexander. divine agency to the story. When Alexander came to Nysa the citizens sent out to him their president, whose name was Acuphis, accompanied by thirty of their most distinguished men as envoys, to entreat Alexander to leave their city free for the sake of the god. The envoys entered Alexander's tent and found him seated in his armour still covered with dust from the journey, with his helmet on his head, and holding his spear in his hand. When they beheld the sight they were struck with astonishment, and falling to the earth remained silent a long time. But when Alexander caused them to rise, and bade them be of good courage, then at length Acuphis began thus to speak : " The Nysaeans beseech thee, king, out of respect for Dionysus, to allow them to remain free and independent ; for when Dionysus had subjugated the nation of the Indians, and was returning to the Grecian sea, he founded this city from the soldiers who had become unfit for military service, and were under his inspiration as Bacchanals, so that it might be a monument both of his wandering and of his victory, to men of after times ; just as thou also hast founded Alexandria near mount Caucasus, and another Alexan- dria in the country of the Egyptians. Many other cities thou hast already founded, and others thou wilt found hereafter, in the course of time, inasmuch as thou hast achieved more exploits than Dionysus. The god indeed called the city Nysa, and the land Nysaea after his nurse Nysa. The mountain also which is near the city he named Meros {i.e. thigh), because, according to the legend, he grew in the thigh of Zeus. From that time we inhabit Nysa, a free city, and we ourselves are inde- pendent, conducting our government with constitutional order. And let this be to thee a proof that our city owes its foundation to Dionysus ; for ivy, which does not grow in the rest of the country of India, grows among us." Alexander at Nysa. 267 CHAPTER II. Alexander at Nysa. All this was very pleasant to Alexander to hear ; for he wished that the legend about the wandering of Dionysus should be believedj as well as that Nysa owed its found- ation to that deity, since he had himself reached the place where Dionysus came, and had even advanced beyond the limits of the latter's march. He also thought that the Macedonians would not decline still to share his labours ii^fhe advanced further, from a desire to surpass the achievements of Dionysus. He therefore granted the inhabitants of Nysa the privilege of remaining free and independent ; and when he inquired about their laws, he commended them because the government was in the hands of the aristocracy. He required them to send 300 of their horsemen to accompany him, and to select and send 100 of the aristocrats who presided over the government of the State, who also were 300 in number. He ordered Acuphis to make the selection, and appointed him governor of the land of Nysaea. When Acuphis heard this, he is said to have smiled at the speech; whereupon Alexander asked him why he laughed. Acuphis replied : — " How, king, could a single city deprived of 100 of its good men be still well governed ? But if thou carest for the welfare of the Nysaeans, lead with thee the 300 horsemen, and still more than that number if thou wishest : but instead of the hundred of the best men whom thou orderest me to select lead with thee double the number of the others who are bad, so that when thou comest here again the city may appear^ in the same good order in which it now is." By these remarks he persuaded Alexander; for he thought he • (paveLri. Arrian does not comply with the Attic rule, that the sub- junctive should follow the principal tenses in the leading sentence. Of. V. 6, 6; 7, 5; vii. 7, 5; 15,2. 268 The Anabasis of Alexander. was speaking with prudence. So lie ordered them to send the horsemen to accompany him, but no longer demanded the hundred select men, nor indeed others in their stead. But he commanded Acuphis to send his own son and his daughter's son to accompany him. He was now seized with a strong desire of seeing the place where the Nysaeans boasted to have certain memorials of Dionysus. So he went to Mount Merus with the Companion cavalry and the foot guard, and saw the mountain, which was quite covered with ivy and laurel and groves thickly shaded with all sorts of timber, and on it were chases of all kinds of wild animals.^ The Macedonians were delighted at seeing the ivy, as they had not seen any for a long time ; for in the land of the Indians there was no ivy, even where they had vines. They eagerly made garlands of it, and crowned them- selves with them, as they were, singing hymns in. honour of Dionysus, and invoking the deity by his various names.^ Alexander there offered sacrifice to Dionysus, and feasted in company with his companions.^ Some authors have also stated, but I do not know if any one will believe it, that many of the distinguished Macedon- ians in attendance upon him, having crowned them- selves with ivy, while they were engaged in the in- vocation of the deity, were seized with the inspiration of Dionysus, uttered cries of Evoi in honour of the god, and acted as Bacchanals.* 1 Cf. Pliny (Nat. Hist., vi. 23 ; Tiii. 60 ; xvi. 62). The prdinary reading is SKari vayroia- Kal ISeiv aiaKMV. For this Kriiger has proposed 6X